And by “this” I mean:
a)driving to lower Canadia twice a month to torture my brain with Nihon Vogue knitting class (I’ve cried now, Lara. Your work here is done)
b)new contacts (I’ve cried now, Dr. Sugarpockets. Your work here is done) and
c)peanut butter ginger chews (I’ve cried now, Chimes. WTF were you people thinking?!)

Pictures forthcoming of NV project #? (3? 4? - round neck pullover), in which I’ve learned several important lessons: 4×4 rib is NOT my friend on any level, weird Japanese cables are NOT my friends, setting in sleeves with Jean’s (admittedly gorgeous) crochet chain technique is hateful (see “a” above) the first… oh, 6 times through or so, dark purple vaguely fuzzy yarn is NOT my friend when it comes to the aformentioned crochet chain technique (although I looooooove this yarn), and, um… I seem to be getting really, painfully nearsighted in my advancing years (see “b” above).

Oy.

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Fifteen, indeed.

On this day, fifteen long years ago, the Booger came into the world, all tiny and toothless. Now she’s about as tall as I am, has outgrown my shoes, and has become a really wonderful person that I’m proud to know.

Happy birthday, Mouse Pie!

(this was taken last summer, I think, with my cell phone, while moving, on a road trip to Oregon, I think, and no, she’s not driving)

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My friend Angela is getting a(nother) spinning wheel, this one from a maker I’d never heard of (Crisp).

So I googled, as I am wont to do when I need to find stuff like a picture of a Crisp spinning wheel.

This, mind you, is what Teh Google offered up as “helpful” suggestions as I started to type:

(Yeah, I clicked on it, ‘cos I had to know. It’s a WOW reference. So boring. So very, very boring.)

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The Blue Moon Fiber Arts barn sale, to be specific. And a couple of random shots from the ferry, just for good measure.

The BMFA barn sale was held in, well, a barn. In Scappoose, Oregon. This place is actually a B&B, with a guest house (which we stayed in), the main house (where tasty breakfast was), and another giant-er guesthouse, plus the barn and some alpacas (llamas? I can’t remember, and I didn’t get any decent pictures of them). Most of these are from there, complete with the obligatory “box o’ stuff we came home with” shot, plus a couple of sunrises and a sunset, which go a long way towards explaining why I occasionally don’t hate my commute.

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Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday wishes! This year is getting off to a crazy start already, so my email-returning has been a bit sporadic thus far, but I really really really really appreciated all the good wishes. It was definitely one of the best birthdays in the past many years.

Nihon Vogue is crankin’ right along, with one sweater of eight completely finished and pronounced “beautiful” by Jean, one torn out three times so far (yeah, so far - it may get ripped out once more before all is said and done), and one half finished. I have to have the half-finished one done, and the next one knit to the armpits by the 20th. Ipe! I’ll get pics of the first finished one posted ASAP (I’ll be handing that one off to its recipient Thursday, so I need to get cracking on the picture taking), and will try to get some progress shots of the next three while I’m at it.

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Denver? It’s snowy, dontchaknow.

Driving to Denver over, say, CHRISTMAS, is… interesting. Also? Much less full of homeland “security”. Bonus points for that.

This is what most of our trip looked like:

Pretty, but cold. Very, very cold.

For those of you who always complain about the total dearth of pictures of yours truly, here’s not one, but TWO of the Booger and I freezing ourselves blue in front of a giant bear statue at the Natural History Museum in Denver (which is now called something else, but whatever):

and, last but not least, the ‘icy on the inside’ bit (no. don’t ask. and don’t tell me it’s on the wrong hand.)

And? Work just told me to go home, ‘cos it’s my birthday and my party is gettin’ started without me.

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