No winner yet...

Eek, I went to check who was the winner of the Zira stamp contest and there was a tie. Since I didn't want to decide who would win, I'm going to leave the polls open until midnight tonight in hopes that someone else will make the decision for me.

In case you haven't noticed, I rarely if ever respond to memes. Maybe that's why people don't comment. I guess I'm not always quick to do what's trendy if my heart isn't in it. However, this most recent meme that I found through Jennifer's comment on my blog yesterday (BTW, I think that the guinea girls are more like "sipping girlie drinks under the umbrellas kinda piggies") looked so fun that I HAD to jump in. Plus I'm trying to distract you from the fact that there's no new knitting content to be seen today. I must admit that as I searched on google, some of the images were racy or disturbing. Be forwarned when you start googling for yourself. Here goes:

The place I grew up:

Norfolk, Virginia

And


Chesapeake, Virginia (okay, so Alonzo Mourning ISN'T Chesapeake but we went to the same high school in Chesapeake, I had a locker next to him and he hit on me once)

The place I live now:

Salem, VA

My name:

Tanya - pronounced Northern Style not Southern Style

My grandmother's names:

Hazel - I choose Witch Hazel because my mom calls the two of us witches after we did some wicked cool stuff with a ouija board once.

And


Ernestine

My favorite food:

Buttercream Icing - I love me some buttercream icing. However, I haven't had any in AGES :(

AND

Bacon (look up bacon images at google and check out the third one. Very interesting indeed.)

My favorite drinks:

Coffee

AND


Mojitos

My favorite songs:

Hold Back the Rain - Duran Duran

AND


Dreaming Tree - Dave Matthews Band

AND

Killing Me Softly - The Fugees

Funeral song:

Let it be - The Beatles

Favorite smells:

fresh ground coffee before its brewed

AND

Unsmoked cherry tobacco - reminds me of my grampa

Most hated smell:

Chronic halitosis aka bad breath

AND


Skunks in the summer

Favorite shoes:

Barefoot - I know that it's against the laws of nature but I hate wearing shoes

What I wanna be when I grow up:

Oprah - not for the fame, not for the money, not for the body transformation though heaven knows that would be FABO but for the ability to make a positive change in the world.

I'm not going to tag anyone (creates too much pressure in my opinion) but if you post about this meme, slip me a comment as I'd love to see your photos.

The sound of one hand clapping

The sound of one hand clapping would be pretty quiet, IMHO. That's how I feel about blogging as of late. I try to post project pictures. I post at least once a week. And yet, comments are few and far between. Yes, I'm a comment whore but only because I crave interaction with others in the world. I'm pretty lonesome as a telecommuter and work hard to connect with my fellow humans, especially fiber fiends. I can't even get people to respond to my posts on KR :( For me, no comments = no connection. Perhaps my knitting and/or spinning content is boring, my pictures aren't creative or the look of my blog too mundane. Whatever the problem is, I wish that someone would tell me. I'm open to criticism. Just don't leave me hanging. Nuff said.

In all reality, this blog is an opportunity for me to blah blah blah if for no one else but myself so I'll continue to crank out commentary. We headed to the beach for the long weekend. It was a warmer holiday weekend than in the past five years and yet it was still a bit too chilly to be at the beach. The one day that it was really nice (Sunday)and warm, I was sick in bed most of the time with the flu :( At least the three Things had a good time (I realized after taking this picture that it looks like they're all staring at that woman's butt).

And even the piggies got in on the action (Mavis was there too but as you may recall, she hates cameras so we try not to traumatize her). I honestly don't remember much about the weekend because I was in a feverish fog. I did somehow manage to spin and ply about 100 yards of the pink merino silk for H.



This is how I feel when I'm spinning it. I LOVE this stuff.

And I knit some more on the never ending Tempting. Have I mentioned that I decided to use some Helen's Lace from my stash to make a more airy version of the pattern? Seemed like a good idea at the time except for the fact that its knit on tiny needles and takes forever to "grow". At this rate, I might finish it next year. It's not much to look at but here's a peek:



I'm working on several Cheeky Little Monkeys and hope to wrap them up by weeks end. A couple of people have asked about the pattern for the monkeys. Please forgive me but to be honest, I'm on the fence about publishing it. For one, I'm completely unsure about my pattern writing abilities and two, I feel so emotionally tied to the pattern that I'm not sure that I want to put it out there. It would be like giving away one of my kids. I'll keep thinking about it.

Here's one from the vault. I never showed you pictures of the finished mohair Kyoto (which is obviously too warm to wear now-a-days).



I promise you that it looks better on than off. It looks really colorful in the photo but the colors are much more muted in person. However, I still look like someone recovering from the flu so I'll spare you a photo of me in it. I'm thinking about entering it into the Knitty calendar contest. I hope to see some of the knit blogger knits in there :) Catch ya tomorrow with the contest winner.

Contest!

Let the voting begin. Now through May 31st, you can vote (check out the left sidebar) for your favorite MS&W Zira picture. The winner will be announced on June 1st. To see the pictures, check out the Cheeky Little Monkey post. Zira's resting up in MD for her world tour which will launch in June as part of my one year blogiversary. Stay tuned for more information and keep placing those pins on the world map.

Just a titch of knitting at La casita de Muse. I was able to whip up a few cheeky little monkeys that are now waiting to be felted. I'm testing out a new smaller size too and some various colors just for fun. If they turn out okay, I'll post photos next week.

On the fleece front, I experimented with KA dyeing some of the Corriedale with great results. I'm in a pink and green phase right now and am thinking that a felted pink and green tote from my handspun would be fun. Below are some transition photos of the dyed locks (which were carded and pulled through a diz), transformed into little roulades (at least that's what I call them. Sounds better than rolags), spun and plyed into variagated yarn and finally knit into a 4" x 6" swatch.

While the process takes a while, I. AM. LOVING. IT! After reading the most recent Spin-Off, I plan to do some solar dyeing over the summer. So many experiments, so little time.

So when will I have time to work on all of these projects? Wellllll, I got word that my grant funded position will probably be cut to less than 10 hours a week for the summer. After some mini panic attacks and freak out sessions, my wonderfully supportive DH (hereafter referred to as King of the Things) and I decided that its not the end of the world to take it easy for the summer. Thing 1 and 2 are will be out of school and we have nothing major (knock on wood) on the horizon. No major home improvement projects, family commitments, work commitments - nada. So I've decided to take the plunge and delve into teaching knitting and maybe some spinning over the summer from my home. If it works out and if my job is put on funding hold in the fall, I might have myself established. The worst that can happen is I get a real job. Many, many thanks to my wonderful cyberknit buds Kelly and Heaz for talking some sense into me :) I've been a pitiful little muse as of late.

Edited to add*** Has anyone taught knitting or other fiber classes? In their home? Any pitfalls that I should be aware of? Suggestions? Anyone out there? Bueller? Bueller? Someone please respond. I'm starting to wonder if this blog is working or not.

And, I'm also going to make myself a DIY project. I'm going to work hard on getting healthy - eat better, exercise more, etc. especially since work won't be a barrier. King of the Things is looking forward to lots of great cookin' and grillin' and afternoons by the pool. I'm keeping my eyes, fingers and toes crossed that it all works out but then again I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason.

Have a relaxing Memorial Day holiday. I plan to hang out on the beach sipping gurly drinks and knitting (and maybe spinning) my life away. I'll meet you all here next week!

Cheeky Little Monkey

What's more fun than a little monkey hanging in an orchid?


How's about a little monkey that knits?


Or better yet two cheeky little monkeys cheesing it up for the camera?



Meet The Cheeky Little Monkeys, my latest knitted and felted creations. They're finger puppets and no more than 4 inches tall. The knitting monkey is on its way to Jen for winning the Zira clothing contest a couple of weeks back. I believe that the remaining monkey is going to be one of the first of my knitted offerings that I put here for sale. Whaddayathink? Would you buy one for $8-$10?

My weekend was much more laid back than I've had in eons. I played with my new fiber all day Saturday (after housecleaning for 5+ hours - yuck). I spun and dyed some of the Corriedale that I've been working on for what seems like forever. I've been working it in smaller batches just because large batches don't seem to clean as well (at least not for me). I'm petrified to put the fleece in the washer so I'm washing it all by hand. There's no rush so I'll muddle through. Friday signalled the arrival of the last two fleeces that I bought. They're Navajo Churro and are from a non-profit - Black Mesa Weavers - that supports the Native American heritage behind this wool. I admit that I thought that the wool would be horribly course and stiff but after washing and carding it, I was surprised at how lofty and soft it is. It can have a staple length of up to 12 inches! Anyhoo, I felt good about not only supporting their way of life but spinning some very cool fleece. Check them out in May when they'll have their 2005 fleeces available. I'll post all of my spinning pictures later this week since this post is already full of graphics.

I have a short, busy week ahead of me. Thing 2 is in an in-law's wedding this weekend so we're off to the beach for two weekends in a row. I hope that the weather cooperates. It sure is cold right now. 67 degrees = brrr! In the meantime, here are some of the Zira sightings from MS&W (there I said it as I am no longer bitter). Let me tell you, this little monkey made her rounds. I've seen more pictures than these out there in bloglandia and have somehow managed to lose a couple (Help!). I'll continue to update this list until Monday, May 23rd and then voting will begin. Get your photos in to me asap so that your shot is in the running for its place on a real US postage stamp.


MinxKnits and Zira


Devashands, Vibegrrl and Zira


Pixiestikz and Zira


Keowdieknits and Zira



Harlot and Zira

Ssssomebody Ssstop Me

So I couldn't go to Maryland for that which will remain nameless. I sent Zira and am eagerly awaiting her report. Instead of stewing in the juices of my own resentment, I went insane with a newfound addiction - FLEECE. I've bought five fleeces and am bidding on another on Ebay. I can't help myself. I'm totally in LOVE with the process. I call it the "Cinderella factor". You transform these sometimes dirty, smelly, greasy blobs of fluff into the most beautiful, gossamer beings. However, my obsession was put into check by my darling husband last night while he watched me cleaning the third of the five fleeces that had just arrived in the mail. Excerpt from our conversation...

DH: You know, there are these places and I know we don't really have one here in Salem but they have them in Richmond and Virginia Beach. Maybe you've heard of them. They're called YARN shops. And you're not going to believe it but they carry wool in the form of yarn that's already been washed, spun, and even the twist has been set (he was showing off his newly aquired fiber knowledge of the process). I can take you there and buy you some. We really CAN afford it."

IM: (not looking up as I admired just how soft the newly washed Corriedale was) Uh huh. So what's your point?

DH: Do you do this because you can't afford to buy yarn?

IM: No.

DH: Why play with gammy, dirty wool then?

IM: Because the pleasure is in the process.

DH: Hmpf.

IM: Its sorta like with you there are these places where you can take the cars and have them washed, vacuumed and dried in a matter of a few minutes instead of several hours (which is his weird hobby as of late).

DH: (smiling and changing the subject) So what was the last knitting or spinning project that you actually finished? When are you going to finish my vest?

IM: Doh!!!!

Good point, touche. I haven't finished too much of anything. I have serious fiber ADD. I have knitting knick knacks all over the living room floor (its a wasted room in my opinion since no one uses it) AND all over the place in my still unfinished knitting ashram. There's dirty fleece sunning on the family room floor and clean fleece drying on the kitchen counter. Rogue and the DH sweater have yet to be completed (no use rushing since fall is several months away) and several felted projects are scattered in bags. I need some serious fiber focus. It doesn't help to read about all of your fiberexploits from this past weekend. And it also doesn't help knowing that my grant funded position might be up in a few weeks. I'm stashing now for potentially leaner times. Or so I keep telling myself. Boogie explained my addiction best in her latest post. I'm a junkie too. Sign me up for a little of each please.

Here's a little sample of what I've been playing with. The photos don't really show the fawn color of this beautiful corriedale. It really isn't that dirty or greasy and just needed a light wash.

Raw fleece and some sorted batches that were waiting to be washed:


Close up of the crimp on the fleece


Washed, dried and a few combed locks (the gray swatch is from another corriedale fleece that I played with over the weekend).



Don't I sound like I know what I'm doing. I'm sure that I've botched the lingo or didn't explain something properly. Anyhoo, I'll have a ton of corriedale that I now need to decide what to do with. I love to felt with it (which is originally why I bought it) but am unsure if I can do that to it. For now, I'm content to just play with it :)

For those of you who went to that which will remain nameless this weekend, Zira was in the trusty company of dear Heather and her sister Kelly. Thanks again for letting her tag along. I've seen a couple of Zira sightings in blogland but no official submissions to the contest. If you've seen her out there or have photos, email me your links so that I can start posting them. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the beauty that is spring!

Magical Mystery Tour

Hullo All!

I'm off on my magical mystery tour to Maryland Sheep and Wool. And thanks to IndigoMuse, I have some fashionable new clothes to wear for my debut. I loved Jen's idea for a tube top but in all reality, with no boobs, I couldn't pull it off. IndigoMuse made me a black cross backed cami out of mercerized cotton with a seed stitched bottom.



The mini is made from some sort of evil Berroco cotton that made IM cuss quite a bit. However, it is a very beautiful color so I think it was worth it. And to complete the look, I have a matching neck scarf and a belly ring.



Now I'm ready to meet Yarn Harlot and all of you knit bloggers. I'll be at the meetup at 12:30 on Saturday and at the Harlot's book signing. I'll be there on Saturday and Sunday complete with a black backpack with my name on it. So if you see me, please stop, take some pictures and say "hi." See you soon...

Zira

* Edited* Kickin' Off Zira's World Tour

* Edited to include... (scroll down to the "***")

As promised, knittin' chicas, I have an exciting announcement with regard to Maryland Sheep and Wool. Because the lovely and talented IndigoMuse cannot make it to MS&W this year, she's sending me in her place. Yes, you heard it right, I'm going to make my debut at the festival. So what you say? I'll tell you why - there's a contest and prezzies involved! Here's how it will work:

* The people who are taking me are a closely guarded secret so you'll have to be on the lookout for me. I can tell you that I'll be at the Yarn Harlot's book signing. As I find out other details of where I'll be, I'll let you know.
* Spot me, Zira, at MS&W and take a picture of me. You can take a shot with me or with some of your favorite fiber or even a where's Waldo sort of shot. The more fun, the better.
* Post the picture on your blog and email IndigoMuse (indigomuseATverizonDOTnet) to let her know that you caught me at the festival.
* Links to the pictures will be posted on the IndigoMuse blog beginning the week of May 9th.
* Two or three weeks later (depending on how quickly the photos come in) we will begin a contest where everyone can vote on their favorite picture.
* The winning picture will be featured on a Stamps.com custom photo stamp!

Of course there will be other prezzies like more felted monkey finger puppets and who knows what else. I can't wait to take these picture and meet everyone. IM and I are hoping that this debute will lead to a world tour where I spend a couple of weeks here and there with some of you knit bloggers and keep a digital diary of my exploits. If some of you ladies (and guys too if you're out there) are interested, shoot us an email and we'll start a tour list. I'll probably post one more time before I head out to MS&W. Da un buen fin de semana mis amigas!

Zira

*** IM helped me add two new features to the blog's sidebar. One, is the addition of a guest map where you can add your pin to indicate where you live as we try to decide on how to plan my potential world tour (how to break up each leg, etc.). Please be sure to add your email and potential dates. Two, I've included a discussion forum where you can leave messages and have discussions with other bloggin' chicas about my tour or other topics. Hasta luego...

Z

Nekkid monkeys and such

Dear Knit Bloggin' Chicas,

I don't have to be nekkid anymore (that's how people say naked around here. Okay not everyone but quite a few do). Judging by the lack of ideas either a.) no one cares if I have clothes or not or b.)no one reads IndigoMuse's blog. No matter. I loved the ideas that were submitted. However, the one that got me the most excited and the winner of the contest was from none other than Jen over at JenLa. I'm thinking a lovely tube top in black to go with a smokin' hot pink mini skirt (I'm planning to steal some of that pink stuff that IM is spinning for Heaz - mwha haha haha) and since my feet look kinda like Ugg boots anyway, I'm just going to get IM to whip up some small, fluffy ankle warmers. I will be stylin'. I can't wait to model for you, that is if anyone even cares. Hello, is anybody there? Jen, IM asked me to tell you to email her your snail mail address so that she can send you the felted monkey finger puppet and other goodies. You chicas wait until you see how the puppet turned out. You will be wishing that you'd sent me some great clothing ideas after all.

Things have been quiet around here. IM has been out of town a lot for work and has a special event coming up (something with strawberries, I forget) that's taking up her time. She's still spinning that pink stuff but hasn't had much time to work on it. She's also trying to buy some Cotswold, Corriedale and Shetland fleece on Ebay but someone keeps outbidding her. Anyone have a good source for fleeces? She's dying to get her hands on some raw fleece (I don't know why) and isn't having much luck. Not much knitting either except on that Tempting that never seems to grow no matter how long she works on it. I think she will be knitting it forever at this rate.

I have un grande surprise for all of you tomorrow so be sure to stop by. Let's just say that it involves the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and postage stamps.

Hasta Manana...

Zira

Deadline Extended and Pretty In Pink

Okay, I'm not feeling the clothing love so either you want me to be a nekked monkey forever or Blogger's comments are giving you trouble. I prefer to believe that its Blogger's fault since how could you not love me? So, I'm going to extend the clothing idea deadline to 5 pm Sunday, April 24th and accept emailed suggestions too (just send them to indigomuseatverizondotnet. It's not that I don't love the ideas that I've gotten so far but a monkey should have lots of options, right?

Since hostage taking really isn't my "thing", I will tease you with some pictures of handspun yarn that Indigomuse has been playing with this week.
This is a sample skein and swatch of some orange and pink merino silk...


She's also spinning some fushia merino/silk. This beautiful stuff is destined for the fabulous Ms. H (who finished her Rogue this week. Now if IM would jump on the finished Rogue bandwagon). This roving is sooo scrumptious that I HAD to play in it. Don't you wish you could do this?



IM says that its like "butta" to spin. Here's a close up of the plied sample she made.



It looks good enough to eat!

And since we've been talking about me this week, I thought I might show you a picture of the most recent object of my affection.



His name is Hugh Mongous. I've been smitten with him since we first met last weekend in Virginia Beach. Isn't he a hunk? ((((Sigh)))) Have a great weekend and please send me clothes ideas. The weather is going to be a bit nipply this weekend.

TTFN...

Zira Monotito

Zira takes a hostage

Hola Bloggin' chicas,

It's me Zira. I'm looking to set the record straight. I'd rather that you not have seen the picture of me with the beer in the last post. I thought what happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas. I'm not really a lush. Really. Can't a girl just have a little fun? Besides I was on vacation.

You know, I'm just a simple little monkey. I loved my beautiful Noro sweater. It kept me warm this winter and I did look so smokin' caliente. Now, I've been reduced to this...



All I was trying to do was catch some sun on the beach in Santa Barbara and that crazy Indigomuse took naked photos of me. Even monkeys have their dignity. But I have fixed her and fixed her good. In addition to taking over her blog, I am holding her beloved Nikon hostage. She has lots of great photos on here that I'd bet she'd love to show you. Like pictures from her California vacation. Pictures of some recent FOs like her mohair Kyoto. Pictures from the local Spin and Knit In. But you will not be seeing these pictures until justice has been served. In return for the camera, I demand some knitted spring clothing. If you chicas wanna see some pictures, you need to post some pattern ideas in the comments. And no frumpy, dumpy clothes either. I'm a fashion monkey who needs her fix. You don't have to design the pattern, just give us some ideas for yarns and styles and I'll force Indigomuse to do the rest. The winner gets their own felted monkey finger puppet and other various and sundry goodies. The winning idea will be posted on Monday, April 25th. You have until midnight Thursday, April 21st to give it your best shot. Or the camera gets it. Comprende?

And now for my next trick, I will pull a rabbit out of this hat

Or so I thought. I have a confession to make, I haven't knit a stitch since Sunday. Either pms has its icy grip on me, I'm still bummed about missing my friends or I'm just a sack o'poo who needs to get professional help but I haven't felt like playing with my knitting since we got back into town. So last night I finally decided that I need to snap out of it. I scraped myself off the couch, went to my knitting bag, reached in and came out with...nothing. "Where the hell's Tempting?" I yelled at the bag which of course didn't answer me. I reached in again and it still hadn't come back yet. I began to panic. Where could she be? I checked everywhere in the house; upstairs, downstairs, the kid's rooms. I sat sulking on the couch, retracing my steps, struggling to rememember where my little project had disappeared to. After about 30 minutes, it dawned on me - I'd left it in the front seat of DH's car. Well, guess where his car is? At the airport. And guess when he gets back? Late Saturday. Damn. Double Damn. For a moment, I had a vision of some knitting fiend, peering into the window of his car, spying my project laying on the seat. "Hmmm," she might say. "A perfectly abandoned Tempting. Maybe they won't miss it." And I'll bet that he didn't lock the door either so she can just snatch it and run. All of those hours of boring K2P2 ribbing for nothing. I hope that Tempting is okay, all by herself. Triple Damn.

So, being without another cast on project, I decided to make it a perfect chick nite. I popped "Hero" into the DVD player, turned off all the lights and settled down fresh strawberries and cup of Chai tea made with sweetened condensed milk - YUM! What a great movie! The story, the colors, the composition, the action. I may watch it again tonight just because I can :)

I get to spin with some lovely local ladies tonight. I promise to take lots of photos and post them. In the meantime, here are a few vacation photos to tide you over. For Margene and Sandy, top down pictures from the plane over over New Mexico:


Pictures of all of the kids together near Paris in Las Vegas (nevermind Thing 1's less than enthusiastic expression. He had fun. Its just not "cool" to smile in pictures. Whatever...)



And a picture of Adri trying to pull Zira off of the "Giraffe sized" beer tap that we drank (actually the three of them drank it because I don't like beer) at the Monte Carlo Pub and Brewery. As you can see, it was huge and hard for three people and a monkey to finish. Good thing no one had to drive anywhere.



Back to the grindstone. Bleh!

Afterglow

I'm finally slogging through all of the emails, snail mail and voice mails. The suitcases are back in storage, the mountain of laundry that we generated in one week is down to one load and the pantry and fridge are restocked. We're no longer on West Coast time and the warm weather has us fooled into believing that we're still in sunny California. However, the euphoria of the vacation itself wore off today, leaving me so happy, I'm sad. Ironic, huh?

I promise to upload vacation photos and FO pictures later this week and share some of the fun that was had in LA, Santa Barbara and Las Vegas but in the meantime, I'm very content catching up on your blogs, your FOs and the many trials and tribulations that life seems to throw at all of us. I'm glowing with the peace of knowing that I have such wonderful friends in my life, in my little family's life. True friendship is a gift - it is patient, kind, understanding, non-judgmental, forgiving and most of all, loving. If we're lucky to have just one true friend in this lifetime, we should consider ourselves blessed. While I'm sad that my dear friends live over 3,000 miles away, our hearts are so intertwined and connected that no distance can break the bonds of love that we share. It is my sincere wish that each of you get to experience such a friendship at least once in your life (if you haven't already). I'm glad that I have.