Something Fiber this way comes

Doing lots of fiber buying and not much spinning or knitting lately.

I'll talk about the fiber in a few minutes.

I've been looking at some alternative modes of transportation. I know most of you would be opposed to this but I really miss the way it feels to ride.

I was looking at one of these
The problem is I'm 6'5" and my feet feel like they would drag and the feeling of my feet forward of my hips and shoulders just feels wrong to me. I used to ride motocross when I was younger and I prefer the feeling of my feet below me and not the Barcalounger position that most cruisers put you in.

Next was the research and the realization that buying an Italian sportbike is not a great idea for a daily commuter. The Ducati was hard to pass on but it's the opposite of the barcalounger and close to the head first luge. A few weeks ago I took a little roadtrip and looked at lots of bikes and think I've settled on this.
This is a Buell, the engine has it roots in the Harley but the rest is sport bike. I think it's a lot like buying a spinning wheel or even a car. You need to feel comfortable and it needs to fit you. This fits me and it very comfortable with my body size. I know what you are thinking, they're so dangerous and if this was a BB gun it would be "you'll shoot your eye out".

ok on to safer things. LOL

We attended the hand weavers conference in Riverside this last weekend. A lot of fiber vendors were there so it was like going to Stitches West for fiber with out having to go to Santa Clara.

This came before last weekend but it's been a while since my last post. I also have 28 ounces of black merino and 20 ounces of merino seacel and some merino silk that I won't bore you with the endless pictures. oh on to the endless pictures of what I just bought lol
I'll go in reverse this time. The family shot.
This is softer than I can share with you in pictures. It's 80/20 merino silk. Not my normal colors but I really reaching out of the box. The fiber came from a local source "Susan's Kitchen.
Here are some Batts from the same source.

Here is something that looked just like the name. One of my freinds had a booth with her hand dyed fiber and soaps Lisa. The fiber is merino tensel colorway Pearl
Some more fiber from yet another friend Lori Lawson. This is way out of her box for color selection. Merino tussah and so soft.

and last but not least some dyed fiber from Margie who was in the Capistrano Fiber Arts booth.
ok so I didn't completely go out of the box with color.
Now I need to start spinning it.

Oh my annual Cormo fleece(s) are heading to Morro Bay till June or so. more on that later. So much more to say but I need to head to bed soon.

back from a long absence

Hi there everyone. sorry for the long delay between post but life sort of gets in the way sometimes.

I started a new job recently and the hours are a bit earlier than I'm used to but I'm getting used to the 4:00 AM alarm. Sleep is overrated anyway but the weekend has become a most treasured time.

The spinning has been sporadic with some good results lately. I finished the project for the Ravelry group "Ply-by-night". The group is a spin/knit along where we all spin the same roving and then knit the same pattern.

The pictures show the progression of the project. It was spun long draw woolen style about 18 WPI. The pattern is the Morning Surf Scarf but it was knit long ways to show off the color change.

I'm currently spinning some 70/30 merino silk that I purchased from a wonderful lady I met on Plurk. Moonlight Baker has an Etsy shop with some really special fiber that I just couldn't resist.

Next on the queue is some other new fiber I just bought that is not what I would normally buy. Hey, I'm trying to step out of the box a little. Mrs. Twisted loved the colors when I showed her so she will most likely knit something for herself with it.

5.4 ounces of BFL, colorway Eowyn from Dicentra Designs. VERY soft and I think it will be pretty once it's spun.

The doorway should have some more boxes including one from knitpicks in the next week or so. I contacted the farm where my Cormo fleece come from and the shearing is in the next month or so. I'm very happy to have the knowledge that more fiber is coming my way so I can feel free to spin what I have. I know that sounds funny but I didn't want to spin it all if I couldn't get more of the same quality.

So much more to talk about but I'll do it another day.

OK that's enough for now, I'll try to blog a little more often.

Life Is Good

Do you have a nickname?

What Ho everyone. Just a little greeting ala Jeeves & Wooster. We've been loving the British series and it's a little sad because we only have three more episodes till it's over.

One of the fun quirks in the show is how most of the men have a nickname. Do you have a nickname? Most of you who know me don't realize that you know me by my nickname. I don't really care for my given name, but you don't have a choice in the matter.

One of the blogs I read (mostly lurk) has a lot of amusing nicknames and it's like you are enjoying the daily interactions with each of the characters. Trainman, Brother Tightly Wound and Silver Fox are just a few that get mentioned. I know she does this to give some anonymity to them and herself with good reason.

We also have nicknames for some of the people we interact with, usually because we don't know them personally and when we mention them by nickname we know who we are referring to. A lot of this started when we lived in our old apartment. Smokerguy, Tattooguy, Weebles, Skank, Skank's Mom, Matress, Screech, Plumberguy, THEBEASTetc. They all had back stories and reasons for the names, some not so nice but well chosen based on the back story. Since moving to a nicer place, their are fewer "charaters" but we still have "Noseybody", Guido, and a few others.

There are some changes in my life. I have a new job starting soon after months of repeated interviews. I worked in the Aerospace industry off and on for years but with the recent strike at Boeing and other issues it was a good time to look elsewhere. More info to come when I have more to share....

Some of my handspun yarn has made it to a finished object. Mrs. Twisted made a beret recently from some of the 3 ply merino I spun a few months ago. You can see the whole story here and on her blog.

The first bobbin is complete of the previously mentioned superwash for the ply-by-night group. I had a chance to meet with the Tuesday night spinning group and took the operatunity to focus on finishing the first single. I know I have 6 weeks to finish spinning the fiber and knitting the scarf plus I think the Mrs will do some of the knitting on the scarf.

The lace skirt is at 30% complete and slowly moving in the right direction.

This week Mrs Twisted's sister called from the cold mountains of Vermont and asked to come visit. They're having -20 nights and single digit daytime highs while we're having unseasonably warm 80 deg temps. This is her first trip to So Ca from what I understand and all she wants is some warm weather. She hopes to be here in a couple weeks, needless to say, the wife is thrilled to have some family coming to visit. She went back there a little over a year ago for her niece's wedding but it's nice when they come this direction to visit.

Happy Monday

Hope you are all having a good 2009 so far. I know it's only day five but it seems to be flying by already.

One little picture before I move forward. Last week we had some time after Christmas and spent a day of antiquing in old town Orange. Not like we were going to buy anything but it's fun to look at all the neat stuff and maybe find some purple transferware as a mate to our plate. We had our knitting with us so we took some time to enjoy the afternoon sun and knit in the park located in the circle.


Last Thursday was my Mom's birthday and we go visit her grave with some flowers and do some reflecting. She passed 27 years ago but she lives in my heart everyday. For those of you who are familiar with Southern Ca, it's at Rose Hills. A beautiful serene place sit and think. We've seen a whole herd of deer there in the late evening in past visits and their are signs warning of mountain lions. I guess one attracts the other, I just hope we never see the cats.

We always bring our knitting and a blanket to enjoy the sun and spend some time reminiscing about our Moms. No, we didn't have someone take the picture. I was a little creative with what we had with us.

Behold the size 15 tripod. I guess that would be a bipod.

The grounds are huge and the decorations people leave are incredible. We took a drive past the main entrance and the rose gardens are trimmed back in the main garden but their are still hundred of plants in full bloom on the first day of January.

The time people took to decorate must be cathartic for them. We saw where people brought in six foot trees with glass ornaments and battery operated lights.

I think my mom would have loved it but she would have insisted that it come down promptly on the 26th because that's how it was in our home.

OK on to other news and activities.

The Ply-By-Night group in Ravelry has taken a lot of my attention lately. I won't re-hash too much but we all are starting with this fiber and the same pattern to knit.

From the beginning I wanted to make a few changes and add some creativity. I wasn't thrilled with the colorway but saw it as a challenge to make it work. Some of the other people in the group were talking about pooling or barber poling when they ply and what to do about. I wanted to control the colors as they were being spun and thought I would try two methods of carding to see what happens. I have some Bamboo that was carded in one of the methods and have seen the resultant yarn and it looked pretty good. There is a second method that I think will work as well but since the minimum order was 8oz I split the roving and made two batts of each method. I will spin all 8oz and swatch the pattern in each to make my choice for the final selection. You never know what it will look like until you actually knit it up to see what you got. Here is the end result if you don't want to watch the video ferther down in the post.

The following video is my first try using Microsoft Movie Maker and it was quite fun adding the little transitions and the scrolling disclaimer. This was shot using my Fuji point and shoot digital in movie mode so the quality is not the greatest and the transfer to Youtube doesn't help the quality either. I want to thank Melissa for the use of her drum carder and letting us invade her kitchen to make this video.



You can watch the video in higher quality here if you click the high quality option. Oh there is some sound too.

I can't tell how good it felt to envision something in my head and be able to execute the process so it turned out how I saw it in my mind. I was doing the happy dance for some time after we left. Being too happy to resist we stopped for some Popeye's chicken dinner as a treat. I know we fell of the wagon a little but it sure was good. The Red beans and rice is like nirvana in my mouth.

One last thing before I go. Do you enjoy House MD? The TV show with Hugh Laurie in it. We started watching Jeeves & Wooster recently and were thrilled with the show. This was a four season British show based on the novels by P.G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse. What a great show! If you enjoy British TV I would recommend this for your Netflix queue

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of you and I hope this year brings you good health and prosperity in all aspects of your life.

For me I give you a lose guide to the future, a look backward and my personal scorecard for 2008.

If you are a new reader then you can see where this is coming from.

1. I planned to return to school but my plans were thwarted. I'm looking at this as temporary setback. If my plans stay on course I'll go back mid term Spring or Summer semester at the latest.
   Score - 1 of 5
   
   
2. Vacation plans... I think we're settling on a few places that were already on the short list. This was not slated until 2009 anyway so things are good.
   Score - 3 of 5
   
   
3. The yarn diet... It was not intended to be a diet, but a change in lifestyle. We have changed our buying habits and are purchasing for projects or at least the general idea of what's in our queues. Since I started spinning my fiber buying is taking over the bulk of my interest. Fifty pounds of assorted fiber and four fleeces already planned for many handspun projects. This has gone very well this year.
   Score - 4 of 5
   
   
4. Take steps to personalize my fiber... I think this has gone further than I had expected. Our dying has grown and developed so I can obtain what we had envisioned at least with a few tries. My spinning is almost acceptable to the point I generate my own yarn in the configuration or our choice. I know this may sound confusing to most of you but I'm hard on myself and when I want a certain weight in a certain ply configuration for a project, nothing else will do.
   Score - 4 of 5
   
   
5. Improve my body... I did forgo the soda for almost 3 months. The wagon swerved a few times, I fell off and it almost ran me over but I'm back in control now. Most of my liquid consumption is still iced tea with an occasional soda as a treat instead of the norm. The biggest change came from the home cooked meals and the reduction of fast foods. I'm lighter by a few pounds and the BP is lower. There are many more things I want to do and hopefully I will this year.
   Score - 3 of 5
   
   
6. Return to my guitar... I've really failed here. I sold two of the three to reduce the life clutter, Natalie Wood is gone, Woody is gone. Betty Paige is the only one left in the family but she was the only real keeper in the herd. the biggest disappointment is that I haven't had the time or drive to play. A few days ago I pulled out our boom box to listen to a book on tape and found the cassette of my first teacher and the beginning lessens that brought back so many memories. I have located and downloaded some back up tracks of my favorite songs that I can play along with. They've removed the lead or rhythm guitar parts so you can accompany the band. A few new web sites have started this year that dissect the guitar parts note by note some in split screen to show both hands in close up. I'm not playing but still absorbing in small ways.
   Score - 1 of 5
   
   
7. Read For Pleasure... This used to be limited to lunch time reading but we started using the public library and the world of books seemed to open up. You probably read my list fiasco a few months back and I'm using various book list as a guide to give this the structure I seem to crave. Thirteen books may not be a lot to some of you marathon readers but it's the most I've ever read in one year. I've queued some books and began reading a couple that actually had some preparation. My wife thinks it's crazy to do so much research and prep to read a book but I felt it necessary in my case. I've never seen a field study for a novel before but it's interesting because it's like the author is explaining the subtle nuances that I would not fully understand otherwise. Some of our friends know our love for the Gilmore Girls and the book was referenced multiple times in the show. This just fueled my interest to learn about the author and even read his biography. My goal this year is to read at least first two of the seven books in "Remembrance of Things Past" by Marcel Proust. Along with this is the march through some of the "classics" written by Falkner, Mann, and so many others listed on my sidebar. The goal of my general reading is to double my last years total to 26 books.
   Score - 5 of 5
   
   My cumulative score as far as meeting my last years goals is 21 out of 35 or 60%. That's failing in most grading scales. Last year was far from a failure but I know their is a lot of room for improvement. I'm hardest on myself because I know I should do better and it really eats at me for not living up to my own expectations.
   

Some reflection;
My knitting has improved from last year. The fear of lace is gone and I'm much more selective in the whole scope of projects. I try to look at how can I make this my own, what can I do to add my spin on the project. Either handspun, hand dyed or modification of the pattern to fit my vision. The two main projects should be off the needles in the next month and a half or so.

My spinning is a constant learning process that I hope to take to higher levels in the near future. I joined a group on Ravelry that is short term spin to knit.
Not my favorite color combo but it's a group thing. The pattern as I mentioned in the last post is the Morning surf scarf. I'll be doing some creative drum carding the roving on Sunday to add just a little of myself to the process.The batts will have the coloring layered in one batt and positioned vertically in the other. I'll take pics and some video to document the process for my own future reference. I'm not positive that it will create the effect I have in my mind but I think so.

I want to offer a few words to all of the friends who read and occasionally comment on this blog. You know who you are. Many of you are listed on the sidebar and some are blogless but just as important to me. Each one of you adds a little something very special to my life. A smile when I need it, encouragement to push myself harder, honesty, pointed words and a kick in the pants when others are worried about being diplomatic. Thank you to each and everyone of you. I learned a long time ago to enjoy the best in people and the ones who are full of spite and anger also have a glimpse of brightness if you look for it. My Pollyannaish optimism would even make Eleanor Porter smile but I see it as my balance in life.

One parting thought that I found inside a Dove Promise chocolate. "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow"

I hope I can live so fully.

Life is Good

Beautiful Flowers and a little spinning video

Here is a little post to show why we live in Southern Ca. My condolences to the people elsewhere who are fighting the poor weather. We love to take a trip to Rogers Garden's around Christmas because they always make everything extra special. It's not far but it's worth the trip. The sun was warm and the air was a little crisp but it was wonderful. We had 65 glorious degrees of Fahrenheit today and expect 70 tomorrow. If you click on the pictures they will fill the screen with color.

They always add some Kale to make the landscape look pretty. The rest of the pictures were just the pretty flowers of which we love to go see. Oh they have Christmas ornaments inside too. We try to buy one each year to commemorate our visit. The grounds looked as immaculate as always but what an amazing job they did if you knew that we've had rain and wind off and on for the last week.


I love the Poppy Flowered Anemone especially in purple.

The honeybees don't know it's winter time here.

This was my favorite flower this trip.

I thought I would share a little spinning video of me relaxing in the Ikea chair wearing my basketball shorts and man-monkey socks in front of the fire. The fiber is superwash Merino and I'm spinning long draw woolen style. I'm not sure what the end product will be yet but probably something small because it's only 8 ounces.

I hope I didn't scare you away with my legs lol

Life is Good

Here are few post rolled all into one.

First I was tagged by UndyedYarnpire to share a picture.

The instructions were to go to the pictures folder on the computer and take the 4th picture in the folder and tell four things about it.
Here is the picture according to the guidelines. I found this online while researching a plate we bought 5 years ago.

Now I'm supposed to tell 4 facts about this picture.

1. The castle on the plate is called Stokesay
2. The plate in the picture was produced in approximately 1921 in England by Enoch Wood & Sons
   
3. It's in purple transferware that isn't all that common but we love it.
4. We paid less than $20.00 at the Rose Bowl Swap meet/Flea Market and found it it retails for about $100.00 on various online sites if you can find it.
   

I don't typically tag others but if you want to do this let me know so I can read about it.

Next up is the handmade Christmas gifts that for my kids.

The scarf was an idea from over a year ago and the decision to cast on was easy after last Christmas. My daughter loved her pink feather and fan socks so I wanted to give her another hand knit gift.

It's a little long but this is for my daughter and she loves the double wrap around the neck.

The pattern really looked sharp and distinct after the blocking.


My second project was a lot more interesting because it also included hand dying the yarn prior to knitting.

I bought almost 2,000 yards of Henry's Attic superwash merino a few years back in sportweight without a project in mind and this looked like a good fit. We picked the Syncopated Cap by Kate Gilbert. After looking through all the 100 plus projects on Ravelry and taking my Son's preference in mind I wanted to make a three color version in black, dark gray and light gray.

The shades I wanted are close to what you see here. Not solid but rather subtle changes in shade to give the effect I had in my head before we ever began to knit. I've heard or read somewhere that getting black was hard to do when dying. I had issues getting the light shades of gray, they always seemed too dark. I did numerous samples before settling on these.

Here is the WIP pic taken last Saturday evening. The knitting started late Friday night and had to be finished to hit the mail on Monday to make it there for Christmas.

The end product looked so good we want to make one for me. I want to thank Mrs. Twisted for her speedy needles when I needed it and all her help or these two gifts wouldn't have been finished in time.

After my phone call Christmas evening with the kids I knew they loved the gifts.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

We spent the day at the Beach or a portion of it. I know it was a little cold but we make it to the beach every year on Christmas and it's sort of our tradition because she comes from the North East and it's usually bitter cold and snowy there. The weather was cool and a little windy with very few joining us but a few kite surfers who were enjoying the wind and the recent storm swell.

The waves were a little blown out and unsurfable but it still felt good to enjoy the fresh air and get out of the house.


A couple weeks ago I joined a new group on Ravelry that is focused on all of us spinning the same fiber and knitting the handspun in the same pattern to see the interesting variables we all come up with. A few of my friends have been asking when I plan to knit with my handspun yarn and I guess this will be the first real project. We are planning to knit the Morning Surf scarf because it's adaptable to multiple yarn weights. I'm sure this will make at least one person out there smile, Lori of the painted fiber. :) More info after the fiber arrives in the next few days.

Life is Good

I was tagged with another Meme

Yarnpiggy tagged me Sunday morning but even though I've done this meme at least once I thought why not.

Here's how it works:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about Twistedknitster:

1. My feet are cold most of the time. They have been referred to as cadaver dogs, cadaver toes and popcicles. Even in the warm weather my feet are cold. The rumor about big feet is true... They usually have poor circulation. Ha Ha I don't even realize how cold they are because they are in some state of numbness from the cold so it's all good.

2. I have a purple transfer ware plate with the scene of a British Castle. It's from the early1920's and we found it at the Rose Bowl swap meet. I've spent many hours online looking for the other pieces in the set of 12 castles, yes in purple transfer ware.

3. My parents rented a car for me to drive to the High School Prom because my Mom didn't want me to take our 8 year old Volkswagon squareback or our 2 year old Chevrolet pick up. She said it it just wasn't right to bring a girl to the prom that way. They rented me a brand new cream colored 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo. Thanks Mom! and yes I'm that old

4. I once ate 12 Jack in the Box tacos in one sitting. (not recently, I was 17 at the time when I had 4% body fat)

5. Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite meals. We occasionally go to Norms at weird times of the day or night just to have breakfast, they're open 24/7/365.

6. My favorite gemstone is Pietersite. I first saw some while attending a gem/jewelry shows with my wife. I have a small, chatoyant collection and have dreams of one day doing a fretboard inlay on a guitar. oh I prefer the blue variety.

If you haven't done this yet here is your chance. I won't tag others since I've done this before.

We went to the spinning group tonight a little late because we had a previous obligation. I started spinning some really pretty yellow superwash merino that I carded a month or so ago. Not sure what it will become but it's very soft spun woolen style. Pictures to come soon.

The Christmas gift scarf was completed tonight. Very soft and pretty, thanks to my wife for her help knitting a little when I wasn't in the mood or busy.

Life is Good

Loss of a legend, spinning and 2nd guessing a run.

Yesterday we lost an icon from another era. RIP Betty Page. One of the original pin-ups from the 50's. . While she faded into obscurity in the 1960s after converting to Christianity and serving as a Baptist missionary in Angola, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s and had a significant cult following. Her look, including her jet black hair and trademark bangs, has influenced many and so many who didn't even know who they were emulating.

more info here
and here.

One of her last appearances was 5 years ago, where she agreed to attend the 50th anaversary of the Playboy magazine. She was quite reclusive and the mystery was perpetuated because she never granted interviews. She posed with Anna Nicole Smith and Pam Anderson. Thanks to thebettiepage.com for the picture.

Interesting how 50 years ago this pin-up had a college education and later dedicated her life to helping others while one of the latter had problems finishing HS and lived her life one embarrassing moment after another in the tabloids to a tragic self destructing early death.

The knitting is going famously or should I say it looks like the scarf will be finished this week. :) I've been watching the wife knit her new sweater the last few days and it's looking very pretty. We named it "The Velvet Grapes of Wrath"

On the spinning front, I was asked to run the programs in our spinning guild next year but I will probably decline because of my possible limited availability. Following Janel Laidman would be difficult anyways because of her many contacts in the spinning world.

I did join a new spinning group in Ravelry. One of the ladies I know on Plurk started this group where we voted on a pattern to knit from our hand spun then the fiber content and finally the colorway. It's a 4 once pattern that many of you spinners already know because it was featured in the Fall spin-off. We voted on a half dozen patterns and the Morning Surf won easily. The fiber content is superwash merino and colorway is Sunshine of Your Love. Not my 1st choice of color but I know it will look nice so it may end up as a gift or blog give-away.
The purpose of the group was in the first round we all spin and knit to the same pattern that would facilitate a wide variety of yarn weights and all in the same color. I plan to spin a 2 ply woolen style lace/light fingering weight. Others have already expressed interest in Navajo plied and chain plied so the color effects from these different methods will be quite interesting to see.

A few nights ago I thought I would try running with some mixed results. I ran about 3 miles while it felt like 30 miles. During my run, I felt pretty good as far as the legs and feet but the inability to breath made it hard to continue at a brisk pace. Yesterday I realized the last time I did any kind of running, it was at the gym we used to belong to almost 3 years ago. The good news was I was clipping along at a 6 1/2 minute mile pace. Not too bad for an out of shape almost 50 year old man. The bad news is that I've been soaking in the jacuzzi each night since and taking anti-inflammatories because I feel like I'm a hundred years old. I know I have some knee issues including but not exclusive to the lateral meniscus the ACL and MCL in both knees. The last two days have been a nightmare going up and down the stairs leading to our Condo. No swelling but pain like I'm not used to and in places I've never felt. For years my knees have been letting me know that arthroscopic surgery was in my future. When its really quiet and I'm walking up a flight of stairs you can actually hear what sounds like "rocks in a bag" or my knees grinding with each step. Maybe I should take it easier next time?

One last thing. We have been clipping through the Netflix queue and found a gem based on recommendations from movies we've already seen. We watched the first season of Doc Martin over the last couple days and thoroughly enjoyed the show. It's life in a picturesque English town nestled in a bay with a cast of colorful locals and the idiosyncrasies of a surgeon who left a prominent position in London for the simple life of a small town doctor.

more more more

I found this on Elspeth's blog

and thought I would share with all of you

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
I was the 3rd child and my Mom was hoping for a girl so nope .

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Probably while watching a movie.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I'm left handed and no.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Black Forest Ham

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
A son who doesn't resemble a child anymore and a teen Daughter.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
No, unless I had a split personality and then I would only be friends with myself. :P

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
See above.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
nada

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
fear of heights so nada

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Oatmeal

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
yes

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I have microburst of strength.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Strawberry Cheesecake

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
mannerisms

15. RED OR PINK?
Pink if it's lingerie or deep red otherwise

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My creaky old body

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My Mom who passed and my kids who live in another state

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO DO THIS?
It's always fun to learn a little about others.

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Tan leather flips

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Double Double with cheese and fries from In-and-Out.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Army Navy Football game

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Best Friends #D600FF that used to be called Orchid but I would want to be next to the purple in the box.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
The smell of Victory, Coffee before it's brewed, two stroke motorcycles, nitromethane exhaust.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My son

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
I stole it from Elspeth

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Baseball and college football

27. HAIR COLOR?
more gray than brown

28. EYE COLOR?
Caramel

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
no

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
my cooking (mexican)

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
happy endings

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The Ghost & Mrs Muir

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Oatmeal

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Spring

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
both.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Pumpkin bread, Pumpkin chiffon pie, Jello pudding cake

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
not sure

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
not sure

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Marcel Proust

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
it's a ThinkPad, no mouse pad

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
disc 3 season 7 of Gilmore Girls

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
the ocean waves

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Selected songs from both.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
The Netherlands or Asia

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I notice things that that many tend to miss

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Garden Grove Ca

Have you had your Phil today?

Today is the last post for the NaBloPoMo mini-marathon. My goal was to get back into the swing of blogging more often and I'm not sure I could continue the daily barrage but maybe 3 times a week is possible.

So, my day was not really exciting but it was productive. Multiple loads of laundry, I know not very exciting but necessary. While the clothes were doing their thing, I re-organized my share of the closet. Pulled everything out, re-folded the concert tees, sorted the different shirts and sorted everything the way I want it.

Later in the afternoon I went to the pool and read almost half of My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather. What a wonderful day, mid 70's no clouds and the slightest ocean breeze.

My wife thinks I should be cloned and she already has a name for him. Phil, since his job would be to "fill" in for me when she wants something and I'm not readily available.

I picked up Season 7 of the Gilmore Girls today because of the Christmas sales and to fill out our library. We already had the first 6 seasons but we needed the 7th instead of skipping back to the pilot without seeing the ending.

Tonight I did 5 pattern repeats (30 rows), I had to tink back one row but it's all good now. The scarf is looking better now and I'll be adding another ball of yarn tomorrow.

No great nuggets of wisdom or stories of day trips today :(

That's enough for tonight, I hope you all have a great week.

Life is good

Happy Saturday And Santa is a Homie

It's hard to tell that it's Christmas time here in Sunny southern Ca so the Decorations on the topiary dolphins in Corona Del Mar always gives an indication. Seriously, there were Christmas lights up in October and it made me want to scream. The Holidays just blur together and you don't get a chance to enjoy each of them singularly. The Grocery store was setting up displays and stocking the Christmas candies on Thanksgiving day.



I just found the most offensive yet funny Christmas item today. While walking around the grocery store we saw this. I had to go out to the car and get the camera to take a picture and a little video to share with you.

Hey, the packaging said to "TRY ME!"

Santa is a Homie with his Polar-Posse...
I guess the band "War" never imagined their song ever being used to represent a questionable Christmas toy.

Yes we laughed at this because its just so wrong. They even used a mid 60's Chevy Impala. The hydraulic suspension an undercarriage lights were just bonus.

Not much else of importance happened today but I'm hopeful for tomorrow.

Life is Good

The other side of Black Friday

Black Friday came and went, and for me the only purchase was a double pack of deodorant because it was on sale and I ran out yesterday. This year the lines of people waiting to rush in and buy what they think is a good deal didn't make me feel like I was missing something. Sure I would like to buy some of the things that were on sale but my needs are few this year. When the wants become needs without cause or reason you just have a house full of meaningless stuff. How I spent Black Friday may not have helped the economy but my happiness isn't measured by balance sheets.

I had plans to return some books to the library today but they were closed. I didn't expect the library to be closed but I guess they wanted to go shopping today too.

I started reading The Complete Short Stories of Marcel Proust without knowing what to expect. The Forward was written by Roger Shattuck a world-renowned Proust scholar and the Preface by Anatole France, a leading French poet, journalist, and novelist who later won a Nobel prize for literature. The dedication by Proust was to a friend who passed away just nine months before the book was published exuded his deepest admiration. I'm savoring this like a good meal. The style and composition of his writing is unlike what I normally read but instead of feeling foreign to me it's like listening to your favorite college professor connecting vague unrelated references into a clear message.

Do you read the preface and forward when you begin a book? Or are you one to just dive in and enjoy? In most cases I prefer just to gain a little insight on what the writer had in mind.

Here is my question to you..... Do you read multiple books at the same time? Do you have a "work" book or a "train/bus" book and also a "Home" or "quiet time" book? Do you find that you read certain genres in one environment and others when you have the alone time to relish or focus on your selection?

The clock is ticking and I'm not focusing enough time on the Christmas scarf. I'll need to spend a lot more effort on this if I plan to give it as a gift this year.

Life is good

The turkey was good!

The turkey was better than years past. This was our first Thanksgiving in the last 4 that we stayed home. Last year we did the Portland whirlwind tour to test drive spinning wheels. The year before that we spent in the Bay Area so it was nice to enjoy the relaxed pace of home. After a wonderful dinner I sugested a walk on the Seal Beach Pier to get some ocean air and walk off the meal.
The Christmas lights were already up and it was very quiet tonight. One of the first times I've walked the pier and didn't see someone surfing the North side.

We decided to hit the jacuzzi after we got home and before the home made pumpkin pie. All relaxed now and full of comfort food but I'm afraid we'll have turkey for a long time. I haven't had the appetite that I used to but that's ok. The 14.02 pound turkey was the smallest I could find and it'll probably yield 4 to 5 meals disguised at burritos and who knows what else in the next week or so.

Turkey day is behind us and "Black Friday " is in progress. Are you going to fight the crowds for the that super deal? We have a Mall that opens at Midnight in an attempt to steal the shoppers from the big places. I'm not even going to venture into the fray. If you do I wish you well.

Life is Good

Happy Faux Friday

First and foremost I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

I do some reflecting at times like this and feel grateful for having two wonderful, healthy teen "children" who are the most special gifts a parent could hope for. My loving wife who I share my life with and puts up with all my faults. I feel thankful for my contact with all of you. We exchange comments on our blogs or other social network places. The ones who I have met in person are warm generous people who inspire me to new heights in my craft or share a friendship that is priceless. My life is better because of you all.

Today was a productive and good day.
Let me hit the bullets

• Netflix fiasco
• AT&T negotiations
• Finding missing yarn
  
• Finishing a book and started the next
  

Netflix had some issues and my account was put on hold for no reason at all. I called and they said it was resolved and the next day it wasn't fixed. I called again and the person closed my account and lost my whole queue. 156 movies lost, but after a 3rd call and some raised voices this too was resolved. but wait, it goes on... When they reinstated my account I was double billed, yes not only did they mess it up they double billed me for it. My 4th call resolved the billing, I will have movies on Friday and the billing cycle was moved two weeks to compensate for their error. Score one for the Twisteds.

A week ago AT&T sent me the online bill for my phone and internet. They raised my bill and it wasn't pretty. I called the customer service today and once I was able to get them to transfer my call back to the USA from India I inquired why my service was raised. After they went through the whole "rates have gone up for everyone" song and dance I quoted the advertised prices that are in the TV commercials and then told the person I was ready to cancel my service and move to cable. All of a sudden she was helpful said she could offer me a new plan and reduce the price by almost half. Funny how when times are tough and you have an option to move your service they are willing to work with you. Score two for the Twisteds.

Tonight I was watching public access and saw someone who looked like someone I went to High School with. Googled his name and the position and found out his middle name. Then went to a sealed box that contained my HS yearbooks and sure enough it was him. The surprise was when I opened the box and found a yarn kit that was missing since we moved here last August. I never opened the box because I thought it was just the yearbooks but this was in there to fill the void in the box.

Mrs. Twisted was thrilled at the discovery. Score three for the Twisteds

My last bullet was, I finished the much often interrupted Jules Verne classic Carpathian Castle. The ending was extremely good and not what I expected. For those of you who appreciate the forward thinking of Gene Roddenberry, you would love Jules Verne. He was in touch with the inventors and the dreamers and he wrote about the future or the cutting edge technology before it was common knowledge. This was his one love story that he wrote over the stretch of 30 plus years. Not like the science fiction style of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or his other adventure novels. Moving forward, I started the Complete Short Stories of Marcel Proust. I'm intrigued by the attention his novels attracted in the early 1900's and the praise of his contemporaries. This looks to be a long and hopefully enjoyable journey through his catalog of work.

Last and not least, I saw that today I passed 20,000 hits to my little blog. Still amazing to me that people read my ramblings about the crazy things that appear here. I could never predict what will inspire visits or comments. Thank you all for the visits and your comments mean so much to me.

To those of you traveling tomorrow I hope you arrive safely and everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Life is Good