My Birdie Buddies

Kisses from MurphyAnd Claude hiding in the back...

Mother's Day Year Round

One of the things I like about school is that schedules keep my learning on track. Having a set dead line of homework or a test gives me the incentive to learn and process new information. I try to apply the same principles to my life, so that I can be the best person possible.

David Seah created for himself Groundhog's Day resolutions that he revisits each month. Starting with February 2nd (2/2), he continues on 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, etc. to re-assess his goals. I'm stealing this from the Flylady. This year, I am going to dedicate the 13th of each month to honor a special person in my life.

Don't wait for Mother's Day to thank the people in your life that have molded you and the ones that mother you now. Every month on the 13th for the next year; I want you to send a note to one of these people. Get out your calendar and mark this down. This way you won't forget to let them know how much you appreciate what they did and or still do for you! Don't feel sorry for yourself if your mother is no longer here. Pick someone at church or in your neighborhood that needs a kind word. It does not have to be perfect. This is just another way to Pay It Forward!!

Lost My Blogs!

In an attempt to safely secure my large collection of bookmarks, I have (of course!) deleted them all.

If anyone would care to share their favorite knitting blogs in the comments, I would be most grateful. Extra karma for blogs that feature cats or bloggers that are in or around New York.

Should I take this time to let everyone know that I had my first computer when I was like, nine years old? Over twenty years ago?? (My father worked for what was AT&T at the time, and was there to experience the creation of what we called "IBM clones." If all of this is ancient history to you, pick up Soul of the Machine by Tracy Kidder. This Pulitzer-prize winning book tells the tale of the birth of the home computer industry, and is also a great read from a management perspective. Good stuff.)

Let's all take a moment to thank AT&T, and Bell Laboratories, for their part in the computer revolution.

AT&T Computer, circa 1987. It runs Unix! It has a color monitor - green! Woot!

My Knitting Autobiography

I consider myself fortunate to be part of a family of talented, creative people. I myself have dabbled in a few crafts, mostly fiber crafts, since I was a toddler. I failed miserably at crochet as a youngster, and proceeded to convince myself that I could never knit. After all, knitting used TWO needles.

A few years ago, I became intrigued by the notion of crocheting or knitting socks after looking at a Mary Maxim catalog of my mother's. I immediately fell in love with the colorful, self striping sock yarns. It's magic! And I love funky patterns, wild colors, and knee highs. I put "learn to knit / crochet socks" on my someday / maybe list and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2005. I was working at a mind numbing job and in a wonderful, stable relationship for the first time in my life. And I was bored silly. I would come home from work, cook dinner, clean up and be completely "done" by 6 o'clock. The hours until bedtime seemed to drag. I became so obsessed with housework (Monday is recycling! Tuesday I clean the bathrooms!) that I drove my boyfriend crazy. "Get a hobby!" my boyfriend demanded lovingly. Among other things, I decided to teach myself to knit.

Being the anti-social type, I purchased two books: Stitch and Bitch and Teach Yourself Visually Knitting and Crocheting. I also purchased a random size of bamboo needles (I still don't know what size they are - 3? Smaller than 5, anyway...) and a large skein of practice acrylic Red Heart Super-Saver yarn in Delft Blue. And then with the text from S&B and the beautiful photos from Visually, I taught myself to cast on, knit, and purl. I made a conscious decision to learn continental style, since based on Debbie Stoller's description it seemed more efficient. I made various bright blue, acrylic swatches. My boyfriend asked if I was ever going to knit something. For me, I was just enjoying the act of knitting.

Then, I became bold and decided to order a project. I picked what seemed to be a simple poncho from Mary Maxim. Sadly, before I even received my kit in the mail, Martha Stewart decided to leave prison in what became the infamous "Freedom Poncho". And I realized that I could never, ever wear my poncho in public. Or, at least not for a very long time. So I had 6 skeins of Bernat Solo in Rustic and a pair of Susan Bates size 15 aluminum needles to start my stash.

It was at this time that I became obsessed with all things knitting: mainly knitting blogs, patterns and yarn. Amazing, beautiful yarn in all of its infinite creation. In all of my fiber arts, my favorite part has always been the textiles themselves - the fabric, ribbon, or yarn - and the multitude of creative possibilities that each item possesses.

I started reading a few blogs, good friends, that I still read today (and every day.) Laurie from Crazy Aunt Purl, Stephanie from Yarn Harlot, Kate from Fiber Fever... And I purchased my second project pattern and yarn. A Gedifra entrelac scarf that I still cannot knit.
Pattern: 618 from Gedifra Highlights 042
Yarn: Gedifra Fashion Trend Stripe 4679

Around this time, I decided to go back to college to obtain my Bachelors Degree. I started a program at Berkeley College for Fashion Marketing and Merchandising. Knitting was forced to compete with sleep, cleaning, and seeing my family in little was left of my time. When I picked up knitting again, I found that I could no longer knit continental and started to knit American. But I was determined to pick a project and actually knit something.