All I Wanted Was Some Malabrigo

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little froggy for some new yarn. I really wanted to get some more Malabrigo Worsted to make a little something selfish. The nearest yarn shop that sells it is about an hour away. So I called my friend Squee and invited her to come with me. Great! Yarn company and a chance to show off my ring!

All goes well in the beginning. We stop for road sodas and are on our way. We get on the interstate - no problem. Mom returns my call en route so we're both chatting at her while I drive. Again, no problems.

Suddenly, I start fishtailing. At 70mph. With traffic in front and behind and a friggin semi next to me. Big Problem!

As soon as I figure out something is wrong, I turn on my hazard lights and pull over. Unfortunately, I'm in the passing lane so I have to pull off on the wrong shoulder. Luckily, it was wide enough for my vehicle.

Squee is giving Mom the rundown of everything that's going on and I'm just hoping traffic clears up enough so I can get to the proper side of the road.

We get over there, I get out and lookit the tires... Yep, one of my back tires has blown. Which is weird, because the tread is still really good on them. The air was fine when we left so it couldn't have been that. Upon closer inspection, the radial? blew out and I could see lots of the wire threads just hanging there.

So, now to change the tire. I have the spare in the trunk. I heave out my little hydraulic pump jack and kneel down to place it. Did I mention I have on a long skirt? Anyway, I get the jack in place and begin the process of changing the tire. (Thank You Mom! for making sure I know how to do this!) Guess what. The jack doesn't have the juice to lift up the car. Bugger.

Luckily, a nice gentleman stops and offers assistance. All I really needed was a jack, but he went on to change out the tire for us. Thank you so much, sir!!!

Next order of business: Find A Tire Shop! But first, to get to the nearest exit. That is NOT something I want to do EVER again! We had to drive ELEVEN MILES. On the INTERSTATE. On a DONUT! You can't drive more than about 45mph on one of those. By now, my nerves are pretty much shot. All thoughts of the lovely Malabrigo have been removed forcefully from my brain.

We get to a tire shop. They're closed on the weekends. *grumblegrumble*
We get directions and go to a second tire shop that we were assured is open on Saturdays. They're also closed. *grumblegrumblemutter*
We find Wal-Mart. *grumblecursegrumble* Fine. Whatever. Wal-Mart it is. By this point, I just want to get the blasted tire and go home. If I'm changing out one, I might as well change them all. And what the hell, let's get the oil changed while we're here.

**TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER**

Car's ready.

Total price: $386.77

By this time, the yarn shop would be closed by the time we got there. And I had to use the yarn fund plus about half of what I had saved for a spinning wheel for the tires. So the wheel must now wait another month or two...

At least no one got hurt.

And I still want my Malabrigo!

Dwindling

My shows keep dwindling down. Here's what I was watching in September:

Monday: House, Castle
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Eastwick
Thursday: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice
Friday: Dollhouse

Here's what I'm watching now:

Monday: House, Castle
Tuesday: V (when it returns in March-ish)
Wednesday:
Thursday: Grey's Anatomy (almost grudgingly)
Friday:

I kind of hate the half-season shows that the networks are jumping up and down on the bandwagon with right now...

A List of Ten:

As all of the witty, insightful things I was trying to recollect about the last year have fled my mind, I'm going to Diversionary Tactic #7482: A List of Ten Things. "Ten what?" you ask? Doesn't matter. So long as there's ten...

10 Places I Get Lost in on the Internet (in reverse order):

1. Ravelry (if you don't know this site, then you probably aren't a fiber enthusiast)
   
2. TV Tropes (will ruin your life)
   
3. Blogs (too many to list individually)
   
4. Zero Punctuation (for the sarcastic game review that won't spare your sensitivites)
   
5. Nostalgia Critic &
   
6. Nostalgia Chick (okay, 5 and 6 are technically the same, but I can't check one without checking the other)
   
7. Pogo (one day I will hit a JackPot...)
   
8. Armor Games (when I get bored/frustrated with Pogo)
   
9. Google (most things start here...)
   
10. Knitty (again, for the fiber enthusiasts)

And this, my dear three readers, is part of the reason my blogging became so sporadic.

Happy 2010

Compiling

I'm currently compiling my 'Year in Review' post for Thursday. This involves lots of thinking, and rereading previous posts as well.

I think I may be going cross-eyed (and possibly cross-brained, too). Maybe this year's post will be full of photos?

Swap Stuff Received

Recently I was in two swaps. Both had deadlines of Halloween.

The first (Love Bites II):



and a close up:



The second (Detritus swap):



and a close up of the yarn:



I loved everything in both boxes! I'm just not witty enough to gush properly at the moment.

New Shows!

So, here's my new weekly listing:

Monday: House, Castle
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Eastwick
Thursday: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice
Friday: Dollhouse

Weekend: Vampire Diaries (maybe)

What are you watching this season?

Bookshelf Revisited

Remember that TBR pile I talked about a while back? Here it is revisited:

1. Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance
   
2. Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate - Kyra Davis
   
3. The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers - Angie Fox
4. Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher
5. The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
6. Speak of the Devil - Jenna Black
7. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
8. A Match Made in Hell - Terri Garey
9. Night Shift - Lilith Saintcrow
10. Hunter's Prayer - Lilith Saintcrow
11. An Ice Cold Grave - Charlaine Harris
12. Whitewash - Alex Kava
13. At Grave's End - Jeanine Frost
14. Norse Code - Greg Van Eekhout
15. Cherry Bomb - J. A. Konrath
16. Frankenstein: Dead and Alive - Dean Koontz
17. Greywalker - Kat Richardson
18. Poltergeist - Kat Richardson
    

A Knitting Checklist

Borrowed this from SleepingSi.

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

1. Afghan
2. I-cord
3. Garter stitch
4. Knitting with metal wire
5. Shawl
6. Stockinette stitch
7. Socks: top-down
8. Socks: toe-up
9. Knitting with camel yarn
10. Mittens: Cuff-up
11. Mittens: Tip-down
12. Hat
13. Knitting with silk
14. Moebius band knitting
15. Participating in a KAL
16. Sweater
17. Drop stitch patterns
18. Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
19. Slip stitch patterns
20. Knitting with bananafiber yarn
21. Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
22. Twisted stitch patterns
23. Knitting with bamboo yarn
24. Two end knitting
25. Charity knitting
26. Knitting with soy yarn
27. Cardigan
28. Toy/doll clothing
29. Knitting with circular needles
30. Baby items
31. Knitting with your own handspun yarn
32. Slippers
33. Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
34. Continental knitting
35. Designing knitted garments
36. Cable stitch patterns
37. Lace patterns
38. Publishing a knitting book
39. Scarf
40. Teaching a child to knit
41. Knitting to make money
42. Button holes
43. Knitting with alpaca
44. Fair Isle knitting
45. Norwegian knitting
46. Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
47. knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
48. Dying with plant colours
49. Knitting items for a wedding
50. Olympic knitting
51. Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
52. Knitting with dpns
53. Holiday related knitting
54. Teaching a male how to knit
55. Bobbles
56. Knitting for a living
57. Knitting with cotton
58. Knitting smocking
59. Dying yarn
60. Steeks
61. Knitting art
62. Fulling/felting
63. Knitting with wool
64. Textured knitting
65. Kitchener BO
66. Purses/bags
67. Knitting with beads
68. Swatching
69. Long Tail CO
70. Entrelac
71. Knitting and purling backwards (I'm counting this as I do it lefty anyway. I can knit right handed, and
72. purl right handed enough to teach.)
73. Machine knitting
74. Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
75. Stuffed toys
76. Knitting with cashmere
77. Darning
78. Jewelry
79. Knitting with synthetic yarn
80. Writing a pattern
81. Gloves
82. Intarsia
83. Knitting with linen
84. Knitting for preemies
85. Tubular CO
86. Freeform knitting
87. Short rows
88. Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
89. Pillows
90. Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
91. Rug Knitting on a loom
92. Thrummed knitting
93. Knitting a gift
94. Knitting for pets
95. Shrug/bolero/poncho
96. Knitting with dog/cat hair (kitty sheds into whatever I'm working on anyway.)
97. Hair accessories
98. Knitting in public

Hi there

Remember me? Yeah, I've been pulled away from the blog for a while. Life and things.

Let's see, I've been riding the bike once or twice a week, once on the weekend (when possible) and once to and from work.

I got about 4 inches lopped off of my hair, but unfortunately haven't taken a picture of the new 'do yet. I'm working on it. There will be a before/after photo as soon as I get a chance.

Oh yes, remember about a year ago when I posted about the trike race at work? No? It's back there somewhere, I swear! Anyway, it's that time of year again! And yes, I have a team ready. We race next Thursday evening. It should be interesting, as half of my old team no longer works here. I'm hoping to remember my camera to get some new pics to add.

I've been playing D&D or variations thereof with OH and 'the guys'. So far, I've only died once. That's pretty impressive for me!

That's what I've been up to, how about you?

Step Away from the Bookstore

Since joining Goodreads, I've been able to keep track of my books/authors more. Which is a good thing. Usually.

I was putting my latest purchases into my (virtual) bookshelf, and realized something.

I have 23 books waiting to be read! On my real bookshelf.

I need to stop collecting them, and actually read some of them.

Here's what's on my TBR pile (in no particular order):

• Fuzzy Navel - J.A. Konrath
• Curse the Dawn - Karen Chance
  
• Dayhunter - Jocelynn Drake
  
• Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate - Kyra Davis
  
• Dead Beat - Jim Butcher
• Double Play - Jill Shalvis
• The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers - Angie Fox
• Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella
• White Night - Jim Butcher
• Small Favor - Jim Butcher
• Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher
• The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
• Speak of the Devil - Jenna Black
• Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
• A Match Made in Hell - Terri Garey
• Night Shift - Lilith Saintcrow
• Hunter's Prayer - Lilith Saintcrow
• An Ice Cold Grave - Charlaine Harris
• Whitewash - Alex Kava
• At Grave's End - Jeanine Frost
• The Devil You Know - Jenna Black
• The Devil's Due - Jenna Black
• Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher

Those are just the ones I own. There's an additional half dozen that aren't out yet....