Not in the Mood

I am just not in the mood to go to work today. It isn't snowy or cold or anything like that (pretty sure Boise winter ends in February - anyone want to correct me on that and slap me out of my delusion??), I am just have zero desire to go. Also, not feeling 100% but that is neither here nor there, I'll feel the same if I am at work or home and I am not contagious so we don't have to worry about me spreading cooties.

However, I am trying to be in a very Zen mind frame about the whole thing since I should be grateful I have a job (which I love) where I get to work with really nice people and do the kind of work I enjoy doing. There have been a lot of layoffs around here, including the place where Chris works (he still has a job, thank goodness!), and it seems that there is just a funk that has descended upon Boise.

But seriously people, how could I not want to go to a place where the vending machines have Red Vines, and on my first day, I got a squishy sheep stress ball thing!!!
The previous mascot for the company was a sheep (why in the hell did they change THAT I wonder??!!) and we all got to pick a free "present" for completing our new hire orientation. When I saw the sheep in the basket mixed in with the dental floss (seriously) and company pens, I was like - Wowza, this is the happiest place on earth! - I should go get myself showered and get there, huh?

Red Vines and sheep toys, what more cold a girl ask for??

On a side sheep note, I had errands to run at lunch yesterday, and I passed a small farm with a small flock of sheep on the way, less than a mile from my office...and it made my freakin' day to know there were real sheep so close to me!! Do you think it would be inappropriate to ask them if I could come over on my lunch break to help them with the sheep. I mean, that's how you make friends right? Ask people if you can help them with their sheep? People with sheep would like that right? Not weird at all. Right???

The Story of the Dress

My apologies to anyone who is on dial up or has a slow Internet connection.
This post is very photo heavy and may take a while to download, but I think it is worth it ; )

It all started before we were even engaged. In the two weeks from the time Chris went to Boise for his interview and when they called to officially offer him the position, we were both pretty sure he would get the job, and I was pretty sure we would be getting engaged if he did. I saw the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting at Joann's and it contained the most beautiful knitted wedding dress that intrigued me as both a knitter and a potential new bride. I knew from the beginning that I didn't want a big frilly dress and that I wanted to do as much crafty stuff for the wedding as possible; this dress seemed a great way to combine the two.

Needless to say, I purchased the magazine before we were even engaged and started making arrangements. Never let it be said that I am one who lacks patience (snicker, sneer, snort - hahaha!). So I bring the magazine home and hide it with the other (only!) bridal magazine I had purchased, and felt like I was hiding porn in my parent's house or something, but we ended up getting engaged very shortly afterwards and it all worked out okay.

Then the move to Boise got under way, and due to an error in communication, all my knitting needles and the magazine containing the pattern got shipped in the moving truck and I was not able to access them until we had been here for about two months (after we bought the house). The pattern required five different size needles, some circular, some straight, and I just couldn't justify spending the money to buy all new knitting needles when it wasn't absolutely necessary. This decision was mostly influenced by the fact that I didn't have a job for almost two months and money was tight.

So, we buy the house, I get a job, and I can look at the pattern again and afford to start making plans. About the same time, I also heard about the Ravelympics (a competition that happens during the Summer Olympics and involves knitting something ridiculously hard during the time between the opening and closing ceremonies) and thought "Hey, that sounds like fun!" and so, I ordered the yarn to make the dress.

I waited patiently for the yarn to arrive, and then waited patiently for the opening ceremonies to cast on the dress. I swatched before hand and had all my needles and supplies and a time table all planned out. Then came the opening ceremonies and below is what I got done the FIRST day - it was looking good!
Things continued to go well the next day: Look! Progress!
Then there were a few days where I forgot to take daily progress pictures, but still: Look! Progress!!
Then, well, Christoper happened. All of this knitting was taking a very long time, and when I told him I needed private time for a knitting project, he couldn't see it or know what it was, and he couldn't come in the craft room, well, it made him want to stand outside the craft room door and ask me what I was doing. Repeatedly. Frequently. I started to get a little frustrated, both with the ridiculous quantity of knitting, and with my fiance (and the fact that the carpal tunnel syndrome started acting up didn't help either).

I realized this was not the state of mind I wanted to be in while I worked on the dress, and that I had plenty of time to finish the dress (we still had not set a date, but I knew it wouldn't be for at least nine months - HA! wrong on that one!), so I decided that once the skirt was done, it was time to be happy and spend time with the handsome man that I love and that being together with my needy little fiance boy was more important than finishing the Ravelympics.

So, I took a break from the wedding dress knitting. We took a trip back to New York, Chris' parents came out to visit. Then it was Christmas knitting time ( still owe you all several posts on that). Through all this, the dress sat, wrapped in tissue, in the closet in the craft room. After all, I had plenty of time, right? The wedding plans had fallen through a total of five times (no kidding), and while we might not have had things figured out, I knew the wedding wasn't going to be any sooner than May 2009

Well, I finished all the Christmas knitting, and had a few days off after Christmas to use kmy new spinning wheel (which has sat lonely and un-spinning since that time).

Then Chris got the message from work that he had to take all of his personal time off in the month of January. A plan was hatched since we also noticed SouthWest was having half price flights to Las Vegas, and we decided to elope without telling anyone. Suddenly, the wedding was less than a month away, and I needed to finish knitting my wedding dress!

So I began work on the top of the dress. The knitting of this part was a lot harder to me than the skirt knitting, and I really struggled with it. Mistakes were made, but I said "No big deal, I can't fix it and I can't start over, I don't have time!"
And so, I continued on like this until the pattern became second nature and I knew how to do it pretty much with my eyes closed (bit of an exaggeration there). As I came to know the pattern and what it looked like when it was adding up correctly, I realized that my attitude of "No big deal, I can't fix it and I can't start over, I don't have time!" was no longer going to cut it. The lace looked like crap, I wasn't getting gauge since the pattern was so off, things weren't lining up and I was not happy and would not be proud to wear this on my weding day. So, ONE WEEK before the dress had to be packed in a suitcase and anticipating its journey to Las Vegas, when all I had done was a skirt without the yarn ends even wove in - I started the top over again.
Its a good thing Chris went snowboarding that night because it was not pretty around the house. To say there was crying would be an understatement. To say maybe the neighbors heard some painful screaming would not be an exaggeration.
So, in the matter of one week, I managed to finish knitting the top and the waistband, seam the whole damn dress and weave in a zillion ends, crochet the armhole edging and the closure on the back, sew on the buttons, decide that the waistband seaming didn't look so great and come up with the brilliant idea to add a crochet edging to the top and bottom to cover the seam, and block the whole thing three times. I also was trying to knit my bouquet and a purse and also make my own veil (more on those later this week - none of these things ended up working out the way I wanted them to and in the end they were abandoned in favor of sanity). Basically, I did this:

Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2008

Detail of the skirt lace

Detail of the top lace - this is what it is supposed to look like!

Look Mom (and Mother in Law who was going to have to help me with the crochet parts until I put on my big girl panties and did it myself out of necessity) - I can crochet!

One of my favorite things about the dress is the button band that goes up the back...wish I could see it while I am wearing it though - that's how much I love it!

Look how delicate and lovely it is!!

And, in the end, the hardest thing was not showing the dress to Chris when it was finished. There was a triumphant howl of joy when I made the last stitch and had it on the floor blocking into shape, but the one person who I most enjoy sharing my knitting triumph with was dead set against seeing it until the wedding - which is understandable since he wanted that piece of tradition since we would be forgoing so many of them with eloping to Vegas. In the end, the look on his face when I came out wearing it was worth so much to me, I am happy I waited.
And that my dears, is the story of my wedding dress. I am excited that I will get to wear it again when we have out reception party back in New York this summer. Even though there were some problems and things didn't go exactly as I had planned, it was wonderful wearing something that I spent so much time and effort on while I married Chris, and I think it made the night even more special.

On a purely Knitter knote (with a touch of bride thrown in) - I think the best way ever to show the hand knits a good time is to knit your own wedding dress and wear it to Las Vegas. Not only do people look at you because you are wearing a wedding dress (or maybe its because you are walking around with a cutie pie fiance/husband), but when they see it looks like it is knitted, they look a little confused. Either way, lots of people staring at your beautiful handiwork, and I think the dress itself enjoyed the tour of the Las Vegas Strip, especially after spending so much time in the craft closet!

Hope you all enjoy the Superbowl - I will be making enchiladas and we are just going to chill at home and watch it here. Chris ate all the Funyuns already, but somehow, we'll manage to get through it! The salt and vinegar chips might help with that, lol. Go Steelers!

Does This Picture Give it Away??

If you guessed Chris and I went to Las Vegas and eloped, give yourself a gold star!!

And, if you guessed that the super secret knitting project was my WEDDING DRESS, double gold stars for you my friend!

This picture is of us at the Bellagio in front of their water fountains, but we actually got married at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. It was short and cute (just like me!) and we had a great time. More details to follow, but it has been a super hectic few weeks around here with lots of exciting developments (one of which is not that I am pregnant, just in case anyone was wondering). Also, I only took two days off work to go do this whole wedding thing and , lets say re-entry into normal life has not been super easy on me.

I plan to get detailed shots of the dress up to the blog and the wedding website as soon as I can, but it probably wont be until this weekend. Hope none of you are too shocked - so far everyone has taken it well and that makes us eternally happy.

That's it for now, hope you are having a lovely week, and wait until you hear the story about the dress. It definitely means the capital "K" in my new last name stands for Knitter (with a capital "K")!

Guess Where We Went This Weekend!!

Extra points if you can guess what we did! Also, the super secret knitting project will be revealed here tomorrow...and here's a hint: He loved it!

Official Upstate New York Temperature Conversion Chart

I am too tired to write anything this morning, so all you get is this little ditty that my future sister in law Patricia (aka PJ) emailed me over the weekend. We New Yorkers are a tough bunch, lol! I didn't see an author's name listed on the email, so if you wrote this and I didn't credit you, please don't sue me, just let me know your name and I'll update the post. Thanks ; )

Official Upstate New York Temperature Conversion Chart

60 above

New Jersey tries to turn on the heat.

People in Upstate New York plant gardens.

50 above

Californians shiver uncontrollably.

People in Upstate New York sunbathe.

40 above

Italian & English cars won't start.

People in Upstate New York drive with the windows down.

32 above

Distilled water freezes.

Sacandaga Lake gets thicker.

20 above

Floridians put on coats, thermal underwear, gloves and woolly hats.

People in Upstate New York throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above

Pittsburgh landlords finally turn up the heat.

People in Upstate New York have the last cookout before it gets cold.

0

People in Miami all die.

Upstaters lick the flagpole.

20 below

Californians fly away to Mexico.

People in Upstate New York get out their winter coats.

40 below

Hollywood disintegrates.

The Girl Scouts in Upstate NY are selling cookies door to door.

60 below

Polar bears begin to evacuate the Arctic.

Upstate Boy Scouts postpone "Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold enough.

80 below

Mt. St. Helen's freezes.

People in Upstate NY rent some videos.

100 below

Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.

Upstaters get frustrated because they can't thaw the keg.

297 below

Microbial life no longer survives on dairy products.

Cows in Upstate NY complain about farmers with cold hands.

460 below

ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale).

People in Upstate NY start saying...."Cold 'nuff for ya?"

500 below

Hell freezes over.

The Buffalo Bills win the Super Bowl.

Happy Monday everyone!

Stone Cold Killer

I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, is this the face of a cold, hard, killer?

The answer my friends, is yes.

Apparently, in addition to killing several small deer on a semi-annual basis, and frequently depriving countless bottles and cans of various beer of their "joi de vive," my fiance also has pretty nice mouse killing skills.

I first noticed the mousy evidence in the garage where, quite a bit of recycling sat for quite a period of time. I was putting the Christmas decorations away on Saturday, and saw what looked like egg shells and coffee grounds on the floor of the garage. Suspicious, I took care when emptying the Christmas storage containers, and there I found the turds.

Well, this prompted an expedited return of said recyclables, followed by a plan of action that brought all our books and pictures back into the house (they have been in the garage since we moved in since we didn't bring any bookcases with us from NY and had no place for them). This all required moving the living room furniture around and "making creative use of space."

Then, my sweet little muffin of a man and I went shopping and got some mouse traps, hair color and roast beef. We had sandwiches, I got rid of the gray, and he set the traps (he didn't bait them, this caused some debate, but I figured this was his party, he knew how to invite people to it).

When we came out into the garage to leave for work yesterday, he said "Get in the car and I'll be there in a minute."

So of course my response was "Don't tell me what to do, I'll get in the car when I am good and ready - you are not the boss of me! I choose NOT to get in the car right now just to spite you!!"

To which he replied "I think I caught some mice and I didn't think you would want to see it."

My response "OOH, dead mice...I TOTALLY want to see that!"

Yup - he got two of them. They were tiny little field mice, very thoroughly dead and he handled the traps and got rid of them like a good little boy. It can be so nice having a guy around the house - not that I couldn't have done all this myself, but it was really nice that I didn't have to.

The point of this, besides don't leave your recycling in the garage for three months, is that you had better watch out. The man I am going to marry is dangerous - you never know when he might go off and break your neck and not even leave you a little peanut butter or cheese to entice you with.

Mice of Boise beware, Chris K has your number, and your number is up!

An Open Letter to the City of Boise

Dear Boise,

Hi. Its me, Karen. We've been together for a while now, almost eight months, and there is something we need to talk about.

No, no, it isn't that - I like you a lot more now that I have a job I enjoy and get paid well for. No, I have gotten used to all your overtly religious people telling me about their personal views all the time. Yeah, I even got used to the fact that I am surrounded by Republicans (Chris is really happy about that one!). No, those things are all fine. I've adapted.

What we need to talk about, is the snow.

"What?" you say, "The snow? What is wrong with the snow?? There is a lot less than you had to deal with back in NY. The snow in Idaho is pretty. You are a whack job."

Well, Idaho, City of Boise in particular, I don't have a problem with the snow, per se, my problem is your residents do not know how to drive in it. Now, before you say anything, you know its true baby. I understand that not everyone drives like they have some place to go around here, if you know what I am saying. Its like a Sunday drive with the AARP club every day under good conditions. What I am talking about is the fact that you only have five plows, FIVE PLOWS, to work a 130 mile stretch of interstate and and entire City. Also, not to bring up a sore issue, but one of your plows caught fire recently so now we are down to four plows. Sigh...

This just brings me to the fact that you are not doing your part to help out with the snowy problem, which, mainly is the fact that no one in this frickin' city seems to know how to drive in the snow.

There, I said it.

People will go 30 miles per hour on the highway (speed limit 75), 20 miles per hour while in a 45 zone. Now, when conditions warrant this type of lame-ass winter driving, I am all for taking it slow and getting where I need to be safely. The previous examples were not actually noted while it was actively snowing...this was just when there was snow on the side of the road and people could see it. No snow on the roads; the roads had been chemically treated and sanded (they don't use salt around here because all the runoff ends up in the river and then we have dead fishies). They were clear. Fine. Safe. Imagine how bad it is when there is, GASP!, snow falling form the sky!!!!!

Now, I hear a lot of people talking about back ice - and I understand it is a problem as well. I had an uncle die in an accident because of that and it is something I take seriously, so I feel it fair to mention that the above examples were when the temperature was well into the high thirties.

All I know is it is going to take Chris probably close to an hour today to drive 30 miles - if he is lucky. There is 1" of snow on the ground. That math don't add up.

So, City of Boise, in closing, I love you baby - don't doubt that. Maybe some winter driving classes for your citizens would be an idea, perhaps you could work out an arrangement with one of the local news programs to have it broad casted for all to see (theres not much else going on around here). Maybe another plow or two would help. Or we could just keep the snow up in the mountains where it belongs...Christmas is over, I don't need no frickin' snow now.

Love,

Karen

PS - happy new year and happy monday : )