If it walks like a duct....

Mr. Q's been complaining for some time that he needs a new wallet. Today I finally took matters into my own hands and played with duct-i-gami. Unfortunately, I ran out of the red tape and had to use some silver. I'm going to present it as a "space-age design feature"

I'm especially proud of the little bus pass window.

Last night, after trying to soften me up with a tasty curry and some wine, "Saint Jel" tried again to lure me over to the Dark Side:



I held reasonably firm...but it was very good wine! So I'm not entirely responsible for whatever fondling (of fibre!) may have occurred. (She's heading over to Ireland for a few days next month - if anybody knows of any yarn stores in Dublin, or knows anybody who might know, please go on over to her blog & give her a shout!)

Who knew that folk music could cause such a hangover?!

I really love the afternoon/evening light this time of year:

The photo was taken en route to a gig by Mr.Q's folk trio, the Gentle Infidels. They played at Trees Organic Coffee House, which supposedly has the best cheesecake in Vancouver. I can't say whether that's 100% true (I'd need to do a more scientific study...heheheheheheh!) but I thought I should give it a shot:

It was cranberry-orange cheesecake, and very, very good. Mr.Q tried the banana-white-chocolate, which was divine! The music was good, and the Horcrux sock & I really enjoyed ourselves:

I do wish the photo did better credit to the colours in the yarn, it's gorgeous. A couple of my friends joined us for the show, and afterward we went for "one quick beer." Which turned into several pitchers and a much later night than anticipated! So I'm having a bit of a rough go of it this morning, but Mr.Q has just put a cup of strong coffee in front of me, so I expect to feel quite a bit better in short order. Happy Saturday!

The most fun you can have with no clothes on....

Is not marking the end of the week by going for a physical.

Ugh.

'Nuff said.

Going to go mix myself a Very Large Martini now.

You're all a bunch of enablers (and I hope you never stop!)

You people are not helping! I put my problems out there into the ether of cyberspace, hoping some kind soul will say just the right thing to save me from myself. Instead, you all gang up on me! Never mind that I'm happy knitting socks (but did I not feel a moment of frustration just now, while knitting, a feeling of "will this ever end?" Though that could be attributed to my over-enthusiasm in casting on no less than three different pairs. Really, that's all it is!) Nope. You all chime in "Spin! It's fun! Come over to the Dark Side!"

And still I try to resist, and still you keep at me. (Never mind that my birthday's coming up, and I keep picturing myself coming home from a celebratory trip to the yarn store with a drop spindle and a bag of roving the size of myself....I virtuously put the image out of my mind. Resist!) I try to deny the idea that Resistance is Futile. I was doing fine at that.

Until my sister offered me a date with a llama. (How am I going to explain that one to Mr.Q? "Honey, we need to talk. There's something I have to tell you. Maybe you should sit down. I've been seeing someone else....") If there are ducks, too, I give up!

Stratford-but-no-Avon

I really can't think of a clever title for a post, much as I'd like to! This is actually the third time since Sunday that I've started a post, but the last two times I just fizzled out mid-sentence and had to give it up. Here's hoping I can get through this one! Maybe the full-moon vibes can give me a boost. Or maybe I'll just turn into a were-wolf. Or, more likely, a were-alpaca.

Last night, I found myself at the mercy of Our Lady of the Epithet, Rabbitch. So far, I have been holding out on the spinning front: it looks lovely, but I'm happy knitting socks, so thanks but no thanks. However, emboldened by her recent success in convincing my pal Jel to trade her soul for fibre, she just couldn't leave well enough alone. She made me fondle her roving, people. The merino was nice. The merino-silk was lovely (baby hamsters indeed!) But I was still holding my own, until she decided to play dirty. She made me touch her baby-camel-silk.

Unless some kind of intervention happens, soon, I'm afraid I'm lost. I'm a little apprehensive about that fact, but really, if I were playing with fibre that pretty and yummy and silky and luscious and sensuous and mmmmm...(oh! Sorry, just having a "personal moment" there. Ahem. Deep breath. OK, back on track...) Anyway, if I had that to play with, would I really miss my soul that much? Tough decision.

In blogging news, Pam the Yarn Goddess has surprised me by nominating me for a "Rockin' Blog Girl" award. Thanks, Pam! Yer swell! I'm delighted, not least because I hadn't encountered Pam before, and I'm quite enjoying her blog. Not to mention developing a severe case of Stash Envy! As far as I can tell, the procedure is now for me to pay it forward and nominate a few fab chicas in turn. If I could, I'd nominate darned near everyone in my favourites list! But since that'd prolly be overkill, I'll stick with five:

* Jel, new-ish to the world of (regular) blogging, fibre-ninja, cheese guru extraordinaire, and just darned fabulous human bean. It takes a special person to take photos of cat puke to email you while you're on holiday, to confirm that the beasties are OK. Thanks, hon!

* Rabbitch, who continues to be a bad influence on me (please don't stop!) and who should get to be prime minister on the basis of her vocabulary alone. I mean, assbeagle by itself would be enough!

* Barb, whose blog I have only recently discovered, and which I looooove. I've even decided I need to learn to make bagels now.

* Rebecca, who has a great new cat, a love of good coffee, great taste in sock yarn, and she knows what it's like to be married to a musician, and how handy a knitting habit is at a show.

* Rachel-a-go-go, who is a writing knitter (or a knitting writer?) and a cat person, whose Digit is amazing. Also, her wife has the coolest band name ever.

There ya have it. Go forth and continue to rock your blogs!

In other news, I was accosted on the street by a perfectly-coiffed, perfectly lip-lined and eyebrow-threaded Avon lady today. She asked me how to get to a bookstore, and when I gave her (rather hazy) directions, she gushed over my "great customer service skills." She wondered if I'd ever been in sales. Or if I would like to be in sales. Since she's the District Sales Manager, and she thought I'd be great at selling Avon.

Now, I have nothing against Avon or the ladies who sell it. But the idea of me selling cosmetics and beauty products is a little absurd. (Actually, if you'll excuse my language - or not - it's totally fucking hilarious!) I managed not to laugh when she asked me "what could be more fun than talking to ladies all day about make-up and jewellery?" as I was standing there in my hiking shoes, completely un-done hair, zero make-up (I did use some moisturizer with sunscreen on my face once or twice during the summer, does that count?), and no jewellery except my wedding ring. I mean, if I want to get really fancy, I might - might - put some anti-frizz goop in my hair. Before I ignore it and let it dry on its own.

The best part of my day, though, was when Mr.Q met me at work (supposedly to take the bus home together, but really it turned out that he had to work late, so he just met me to tell me to go home by myelf.) It was sunny, and I walked him back to his work-site before heading to the bus (and then being accosted by the Avon lady) Isn't he sexy in his work get-up?

Or maybe I'm just biased. But I can live with that!

(PS - Syd from the comments on the last post: the sock yarn in the photo is Blue Moon's "Love in Idleness" - you can see the finished socks a few posts back!)

(PPS - maybe now that I've actually used the F-word, I'll get better than a PG rating for my blog...it's good to have goals!)

"Knitting makes you look so, like, OLD..."

Or so I was told by someone at work yesterday. So last night I took my decrepit old self out to meet with some other fogeys to knit. Because we're so un-hip, we went here:


Where I had this:


A traditional Mayan (Aztec?) "chocoatl" made with chocolate, hot water (instead of milk), cinnamon, honey and chiles. Also, they had very, very good chocolate truffles. Some made with tequila, that had rock-salt sprinkled on top. Sounds weird, but don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em. They were frackin' amazing.

Yep, this knitting thing is definitely making me old before my time! And I'm pretty OK with that. Though I'm thinking about getting this T-shirt.

What's wrong with this picture?

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