a little bit of baseball heresy

hold on to your pink hats girls, but i've got a bit of news for you about your boyfriend. He's a jerk. let's not dress it up. Somehow or another he was put on this pedestal of selflessness and ego strokes, and he LAPPED it up. So now, since so many people fell for this act, we're stuck with out a catcher. the sox traded away all thier prospects thinking that varitek would stick with them, (lets not even touch the fact that he was never going to stay young for a moment) Even though he's played this game before.

he played it when he was still in college, then he played it again after finishing college

Varitek opted to return to Georgia Tech for his senior year after being drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Twins in 1993. He then reentered the draft and was selected in the first round by the Seattle Mariners in June 1994, then signed with the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League because he could not come to terms with the Mariners.

Varitek never played for the Saints and eventually signed with the Mariners in April 1995, but he lost almost a full year of development.
- find the entire article here

Then he harangued the sox into a $40 million 4 year deal in 2004; and lest we forget, he has always worked with scott boras, who is world renowned as a top drawer bulldog in the dollar department. Players only work with him if their greed and ego can manage him and his. Make no mistake, it's not a coincidence that Varitek works with him.

Sorry, but when every one starts pissing and moaning about how it's just a game and how can you be so greedy, and what's the diff between 5 mil a year and 8? and All the lamentation of in this economy you're holding out, you should be so lucky as to not get laid off. All the venom sent towards manny, and teixeira, and yes, even A-Rod; you best include the captain, be that is exactly what he is right now.

Cake or Death?

em, cake please.
(click the title, it's a linkie!)


the newest issue of martha stewart has cupcakes in it. and one of them is boston cream pie cupcakes, Great idea! but i don't have the patience tonight to make 24 little tiny boston cream pies, so i went with a more traditional version.

yummy!

sweater progress

i'm working on the cabled raglan, and i have to be honest, i'm not really sure i'll like how it will come out. i knit so terribly loosely that the fabric is ending up much more holey than i like.



but i'm going to keep going, because if it does correct itself when it is blocking then it will be one of my favorites. if it doesn't sort out, i'll have to think of something, because the yarn was moderately pricey. too expensive to not make into something.

coffee cuffs

here's the one i made yesterday before soccer. (which we lost, unfortunately. we were short on boys, and then our one sub went down with an injury of sorts, and those who were left played for a long time with no subs, but i digress)

anyway, these are pretty easy to make. one could sew them by hand if they wanted, but i never want, so i used the little engine that could. All you have to do is carefully unglue the one you get from the shop, then trace it on tissue paper. then use a nice metal ruler with nice markings, and measure 1/2 inch all around the edge. connect the dots, and now you have a pattern!

cut one of the outside, one of the lining and two of muslin for the interface. make your fabric sandwich, with right sides facing, and the muslin on the outside of the sandwich. then sew along the three edges, leaving the flat end seam undone. Oh, use a 1//4 inch seam allowance! Now, clip your corners, clip your seam triangles, and turn rightside out and run an iron over it. fold in the flat end there, and press. now run a top stitch all along the edge, sewing the turning hole closed as you go. Alrighty. Now, on the ones at the coffee shop, there's the little flap there, where they apply glue- you can do the same, with a velcro coin or snaps. Me? i just sewed the flap to the edge of the cuff. it looks the same as the blue one, but it's not exactly.

here's the blue one on an actual coffee.


Here's my only concern with these neat things. What's the point if they go on a throw away cup? I know it's every litter bit helps, but here's what i would like: a plastic cup, exactly the same shape, size, volume, diameter, weight and everything as this Dunkin Donuts cup. Decor craft sells I Am Not A Paper Cup but that's not really what i'm after. i don't want porcelain. i want a plastic cup. is there no one who can help me? Perhaps i should pitch it to the dragon's den, and make a fortune selling coffee cups with coffee cuffs.

Be careful, the bevvy you are about to enjoy.....

may be very hot!

so what you need is a coffee cosy!



I made this over the weekend. it's supposed to go on coffee like those from caribou, or panera. what is strange is that i seldom stop there any more. Coffee from a Shop was one of the first things to get the ax when i was making hard financial choices. (that particular one was hard on everyone else, as the adjustment from high-caff to half-caff was significant!)

but this is a fun project, and it's totally earth friendly, as it's reusable and not made of paper. it's even made from scraps, so the fabric was re-purposed. plus- machine washable. this is a prototype, so this one will probably stay with me. now i've got my legs under me with the project i'll make a few more for my friends who might like em.

sewing shermy

here is shermy, he is helping me sew.

a winter scene

A few months ago i took rather touristic shot of memorial park in my town. it was a summer shot. Today it is snowing (again), and i thought, hmm, it might be nice to have a winter shot.

I do rather wish the truck wasn't there, perhaps when i go out to shovel (again) I'll see if i can score one without the truck.

The proof is in the booking!

here it is! We really are going to the west of ireland for a few days! Well, all told, it's seven days, but the last day is taken mostly by getting back to the airport and returning the car (sniff!), so that doesn't really count.

but 'tis ok! Because we've got six days of green! We'll use Ennis as a hub, because it's almost exactly equidistant between Westport and Cork City. And did you know that at that time of year in ireland sunset is around 9.15 pm? it's true! lookee here if you don't believe me! That's super fantastic because even if places we visit don't stay open that late, it means we won't have to worry about driving on the very narrow roads in the dark!

hoo hoo! the letter arrived at it's destination!

yipee! Do you know what this is? This is the letter containing my application for a renewal passport! yaaay! that means the only thing standing in my way now is the possibility that i sent the wrong form, or didn't send enough cash. It's 75 clams to renew you passport. $75! but that's ok. it's valid for ten years, so that's only Seven.fifty per year.

so here's the plan- me mam and i are headed to the west of ireland for me birthday! yippee skippy! Everyone should turn 34 at the cliffs of Moher. We're gonna use the town of ennis as a hub, rent a car and go see the towns where mam's family came from. yaaay!

january again.

january is my least favorite time of year. well, january, february and march. the whole winter is just so stifling! I was able to plow through it for the last few years, the part time job at the pharmacy was good for distraction, but now i don't have that anymore, so i've got to think of something else.

tomorrow it's supposed to snow. blech. but at least it isn't until the afternoon. perhaps i'll try to get up early in the morning, and go to the gym. i've decided to really make an effort to lose ten pounds before the spring. So today i'm going to joing the gym. the gym three days a week, soccer two days a week. hopefully that will get me back into a bit better shape. we'll see!

here's the piccy

of all us four.

A few weeks ago, molly posted a snap of everyone in her family, along with their kids, and i thought it would be a good thing to post one of the four of us. it's just the four of us, the kids weren't allowed in this, because ma already has two other piccys of us, when sean was a few months, then again when he was around twelve, and now he's thirty (yipes). so we're running a bit late on the elapsed time, but that's ok. it's actually quite nice, we're all got real live similes on our faces, because someone of us said something funny, (probably at another's expense!) hee.

by the end, even the wise men were pooped

what a day. my whole family was over at me mam's. All four of us were there- even sean and i were both able to get the day off from the harrows of retail and service industries. Plus me sisters' husbands, and the great collection of kids. No one fought; not even the kids! Everyone left feeling safe, loved and singing holiday cheer. Yet, we were all as pooped as the wisemen (who knows where baltazar is. Perhaps he's still sitting at the last pit stop, unable to bear forging on home). Ma had to change up Christmas dinner at the last minute because there was a racket on Roast Lion (pork loin and eye of the round roasted in the same pan) so we had ham and chicken tenders. Nothing spreads holiday cheer like crispy chicken tenders with buffalo dipping sauce!

I love christmas. I love how secure it makes me feel. It's like the best day for positive reinforcement! i've got the best family, and even though we probably drive each other crazy, i wouldn't trade my family for anything in the whole wide world!

Merry christmas every one.

i'm a winter wimp.

i don't groove on winter. This particular winter so far has not been my friend. Last weekend, we lost power. This weekend, we have power, but we also have 19 inches of snow from the sky. Blech! How is this possible? every so often, i toy with the idea that i would like to move away from new england to a place where it does not snow so much. Of course, lisbon or dublin would be my first choice, but it's hard to score a work permit. perhaps somewhere south. For a time i thought kentucky or tennesee might be possibilities, but having just returned from there, i think i might have to reconsider. They are too.... foreign. That would be too stressful.

Snow- it's cold. it piles up everywhere, then it gets dirty and looks really gross. When it melts it makes a big mess. And when it snows, people inexplicably lose all their common sense. Myself included. Though i do my best to stay home with my neurosis, I try not to inflict my lunacy on others. Except this past weekend, i did decide to go to the grocery before the snow came. Well, it was only me and everyone else in town! and god forbid a person might have to walk a hundred yards to the door of the store. noooo! Instead, Let's all become Parking Spot Vultures. So the poor girl, stressed already by the thought of facing a whole long weekend of being trapped in the house with cabin fever toddlers, has to feel someone's hot lexus SUV breath down her neck while she negotiates with said toddler to get into the car seat, then put all the bread and milk into the trunk. All the while the blinker is flashing the maddening impatience!

It's funny how snow will turn otherwise pleasant, friendly and neighborly townies into crazed lunatics. Generally i try to keep a stiff upper lip regarding winter, but i have to admit, i lean toward the crazed side. Sigh. And yesterday was just the first day of winter. pooey.

nothing spreads holiday cheer

like a christmas clash album!


This gem (if a do say so meself) is a gift for my dear brother in law- he loves the clash. We even had a bit of hush at christmas a few years ago, because joe strummer died on 22 december, 2002. It only seems appropriate to give a gift of his music this time of year.

CBS Football:

for the love of god, and all that is holy, would you shut the hell up!

Please, just tell me the pertinent details of the effing play. don't provide me with color commentary- How bout this: you aren't all the god damned colorful. SHUT UP! I do not care that you used to play offensive line, and the cold windy rains didn't affect your play. I do not care if that referee blew the call. SHUT UP. Tell me who's got the ball, what down it is, and how far to a first down. i'd rather dead air than to listen to you pillocks so shut up!

buttony sweater progress

so, over the holiday and then the weekend i knitted like crazy. i'm hoping i'll be able to wear the sweater soon. That has taken a bit of a sidetrack though, since i've run out of yarn. pooey! Here is where i stand right now:


since now i am in neutral with the project, i decided to weave in the ends and add on the buttons. i'm quite chuffed with the button band.

i really wanted to make a pullover sweater; yet still have it look like a cardigan, though i'm not really sure why. So early on i knew i would have to make some sort of trompe-l'oeil, something that looks like a button band, but isn't, then at the top and bottom separate the halves out so they look like halves of a cardie. My idea was just a sort of concept, but i'm quite pleased to report that it TOTALLY worked! Have a look here:

adding thread to your bobbin

hey all, perhaps this is useful. loading a bobbin is pretty universal, though your machine might be sort of different than mine, the concepts are the same.

first, put your machine in neutral- on my little engine that could, i have to pull the whole purple wheel out away from the casing.

then un thread your machine so the spool is just sitting on the holder. then, find the turning point. on my machine it's the thing that looks like a screw just to the left of the tension lever. pull the thread around that, and then back toward the spool.


next, you take the thread, and thread it into the bobbin from the inside out, pull enough through so there's a bit to hold on to.


then you put the bobbin on the holder (you might need to slide the holder to one side or the other), and use the food pedal to spin it. you need to hold on to the little bit you threaded through, so it will be tight enough, and you don't want to go too fast, because it might tangle or go all wonky.

test

to see about the feedback buttons. There are buttons you can click on all the ravelry posts. blogger has incorporated them too. there are lots of neat features here on blogger. some day i'll go through them and have a look at them all. then you'll be bombarded with on-line fripperies!

a return to football!

yay! you must have been wondering where have all my silly sports gone? well, i've actually just got back on a team. last night was our first game. we smashed them. it was something line 15 or so to just two.

i think dave and dan had the most- but i lost track. next up was probably mick or perhaps jon, i only had one. but that's ok! it was very nice to get back on the field. i haven't played for many weeks, so i am slightly out of shape (100% out of shape) but that's ok, i let the young studs do all the hard work, and i celebrate the win. Just kidding!

a change of plans

for the buttony sweater! (hey, i'm nothing if not indecisive!)

So i did a bit of a swatch with bobbles over the weekend. Blech! they are a drag to knit. i'll try again when the yarn arrives, but i'm leaning toward no-go. then i considered a cable collar, and cables around the hem, and then more narrow cables along the sleeves. one something like leabhran's Coronet Hat.

but then i learned that cables often curl in, side to side- the crossover of the cable causes the pull. so that's not so appealing either.

so then i thought, perhaps a scallop edge might look neat. This one is
KnitsByRachel's Scallops Pattern Dishcloth (it's about half way down)

I'll have to try them both out.I'm sure i'll go with the scallop edge, or the bobble, as planned, since the cable is WAY more work. not the cabling itself, that's actually pretty easy, once you get your legs under you, but cables run vertically; and collars, hems, and sleeve edges run horizontally, so you have to knit the cables off line, then graft them on to the sweater. blech!

I expect the yarn to arrive today or tomorrow (hurry, kind postman!) so i'll have to give some ideas a try then. More news when it happens!

Actually, while looking for the owners of the pics, i found Coronet Cuffs.


Methinks they look pretty neat, I'm leaning a bit toward that pattern for the colalr and cuffs!