December 31, 2005

Rain and rain and rain

It is the DESERT- we don't get rain for 3 days straight in December without a little bit of chaos.
Mother Nature is doing a little house keeping for 2006- She has decided to give all the bridges a nice washing on their undersides. She also decided to get a few people off their rear ends to do a bit-o work sandbag and what not.
Reno is nuts along the river, I imagine little ole' Sparks (our sister town to the east) is in a bit of a fit as well. Think good thoughts for all those that are affected

Here she is today:

(the Truckee River-- Starts at Lake Tahoe, flows thru (picking up water from various other little creeks and run off spots and into Truckee. From there she continues to pick up runoff and heads right into Reno, east to Sparks and then on to Pyramid Lake. Pyramid Lake has no outlet, and is truly a magical mystical place)

Check out the rest of my pictures.

Hope you are staying warm and dry where every you are!

Be safe tonight if you are out and about- Get dressed up in something with lots of sparkely happy daddy beads & sequins. Maybe wear a boa out of some gaudy fun fur that you made for your fabulous self- go and be full of joy- it is a new moment!

I have a few new year resolutions brewing in my mind-

KNITTING: Learn to make socks, quit waiting and just do it!

HEALTH: No more red meat, and buying organic food.

LOVE: Continue loving the hubby more and more each day and give him lots of attention that he deserves!

FRIENDS: Keep up with all those that I have made this year, get in touch with those that I have lost touch with

Live in the moment- NEVER POSTPONE JOY~

December 29, 2005

Studying...

I am TOTALLY procrastinating. I took this week off mostly because I needed to be away from my office, but also so I could catch up on all the homework for my yoga class. What I didn't realize is how out of practice I am with this sort of thing. This studying and writing thing I mean. I am reading like crazy and am supposed to be writing about what I read. But do you know how hard it is to write about anatomy without repeating the text? I am fascinated with the stuff, don't get me wrong. I totally understand why I need to know what is in there, it is just really hard to find any of it 'inspiring'. There are some serious words in that anatomy book...

The other part of the assignment this month is to write out my 6 week lesson plan for a beginner class! YIKES STRIPES! I am paralyzed.
I suppose procrastination makes you think about what it is that is "blocking" you from doing what you need to do. Is it fear? failure? Maybe a bit of both. Aren't they one in the same at times? I am worried I am not going to write what I am supposed to or I will miss the whole point of the chapter I just read.
With the lesson plan part I know my teacher will critic the work and give it back to me for revision. I expect that. I am actually looking forward to that. Getting the words for a class down on paper in the first place is the hard part. You can't just throw a bunch of postures on a page and call it macaroni. Oh, no. It is like a meal. You might have a pre dinner drink, then appetizers, then move on to soup or salad. After that you get the main course and finally on to dessert. To really do it correctly it is best to try out the sequence as you go so that you know how it will all flow together. After I have revised the work I will get a class organized and start teaching! I am totally blown away and respectful of my teachers now. I understand how nerve-racking and challenging it is to do this. IMy practice has changed forever. I am full of new knowledge with all the reading and writing I am doing and any time new knowledge is absorbed you can't be the same. It is like knitting, now that I know how to knit I can't pass a sweater, hat or scarf without analyzing the stitch and the yarn.

My best friend stopped by today to give me a belated birthday/Christmas giftee... I think this little lady is going to help me with my yoga:


Isn't this the silliest thing you have seen in a long time? To put her in perspective her mat is about as long as my index finger and she is fully magnatized and bendable.

I love her. Her name is Jane- she is my first student. I can bend her and twist her and she is never afraid to try a new asana- I am jealous, she is one of the most flexible woman I know. Best of all she has a magnetic personality!
Lester is assisting me in my studies today.

He has faithfully been sitting at my side or on my lap all day long. Look at him. What a lounge lizard.
No knitting to speak of this week... I did try and knit while heading over Donner Summit on Monday. We were on our way to see some friends in the Bay Area and the weather was, well, let's just say unsettled. I did pretty good at knitting and not looking at my work, but then I had to put a few stitch markers on and realized that I some how got off count. (I get really car sick, so reading, wrtiting and knitting aren't usually things I choose to do. But since the traffic was slow go and since we could have gotten stuck on the Summit because of snow I thought I would give it a shot.)

The coolest part about knitting in the car is to play the game of, "who else is knitting in the car". I saw one gal making something. She never looked up so I could show her that I too was a knitter. Oh-well, maybe she reads my blog out of some random chance and will say, hey! I was in the little yellow Chevy roller skate car headed over Donner Pass on the day after Christmas.... or maybe not and I just can keep dreaming.

December 28, 2005

Manos del Uruguay


manos3types2
Originally uploaded by NessieNoodle.

Look what was in my stocking!

I was home sick on the Friday before Christmas and needed a second skein of yarn to finish the capelet I was working on... I called hubby at work and asked if he could pick this up for me on his way home from work.

Well, little devil picked up a few more goodies while he was there and saved them for my stocking. When I asked him did he know how nice this yarn was he said, "I was just 'drawn' to it. I liked the colors. I couldn't decided on just one so I got them all. I think they would make a nice hat and scarf, don't you?" Hubby is too good! Great color choices I might add.
He had no idea that I had been eyeing this yarn ever time I walked into a shop that had it! My LYS just started to carry the lovely and coveted Manos.

I am a luck girl, don't ya think??

December 26, 2005

knitta, please

This is an AWESOME idea... I wanna be tagged!

See there is a Santa


Lester the Grinch
Originally uploaded by NessieNoodle.
Hope your Christmas was wonderful! And Lester does too... (He also hopes to get a large bowl of canned food in exchange for this photo being taken)

December 24, 2005

FO Anthorpology Inspired Capelet

look what I made yesterday while I was home sick. I found the pattern here (scroll down a bit and it is a free pattern download in the right hand sidebar).

I used Nashua chunky, in Oatmeal.

I am really out of it because of all the NyQuil and Theraflu running in my veins. I am walking around in a daze with by box of Puffs plus kleenex because my nose won't stop leaking. I am starting to look like Rudolph. Other than that I am great.
I am listening to "A Very Special Sedaris Christmas" on This American Life.. while hubby makes breakfast. David Sedaris has a way of getting me stoked for the holiday- go listen and laugh.


I wrapped up a few gifts for Hubby this morning when I woke up ... so now all that is left is dinner with mom tonight and church.

Enjoy the weekend everyone~

December 21, 2005

blah, blah, blah

That is how I feel today... It has been raining all day (I thought that winter meant snow. And since today is the first day of winter I am wondering where the snow is... Isn't it, "April showers" not "December showers"?)
I woke up coughing, hacking and wheezing...achy and tired. But decided I REALLY had to go into work today since I am under deadline and I am taking all of next week off.
Bad idea.
I did the minimum and then came home at noon. I took a shot of the dreaded red cough syrup and was asleep until 4pm. I must have needed it. I have been popping echinaciea like a mad woman and plopping the Airborne tablets into a big-ol glass of water. I watch it with amusement as it fizzes it's healing magic into the H2O- Once I woke up this afternoon I headed down to my favorite Chinese restaurant to get a giant vat of Hot and Sour soup. This is my cure all- and it seems to be helping already.

I have a ton to do at work. I have yoga class and few social engagements that I am supposed to be tending to this week, but it is all going to have to wait. When you feel like dog, you just want to sleep and be left alone.

On a more positive note:
We had a really nice time in Arizona. Lots of knitting, lots of food, lots of card playing (man, there was a lot of bluffing going on at that poker table!).
Here are a few pics from the weekend.

This is Lenny. He is a crazy Beagle. He enjoys getting into the trash, nipping at your rear end, escaping from the back yard and most of all stealing shoes or yarn (which ever one has been carelessly left at his disposal). He has a kink in his tail, and that is what makes Lenny, Lenny.

Hiking up the Camel Backs - Hug a saguaro for me while your down there would you? This is as close as I got.
On Monday night one of the Procrastiknitters had an SnB at her house- it was great. It had been a long time since all of us had been together. I worked on this for Hubby. I winged the pattern... Just went for it. It reminds me of one fo the ghosts from PacMan or maybe even legos. I am going to expand the ear flap so that it is a 'neck flap' as well.


And when I ran out of grey yarn I started to work on this using some of the $2 yarn I purchased while in AZ. Here is the other yarn I purchased. It is a cotton silk blend by Noro I think it is called Lilly. I bought 2 skiens of each color. Now, what to make with it???
The Procrastinknitters will start meeting up again on a regular basis in the new year. I guess there is a new Wine Bar in town called Vino 100 that is supposed to be pretty cool. They have snacks, wine, good lighting and couches-what else could a gang of knitters want?

Here are some pictures I promised of what my Secret Pal from Knitting Chicks sent me- look at all this. I really got spoiled! Thanks again Elaine. Oh, and by the way, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the package...



This was so much fun I decided to joined up for the Felted Bag SP2.

And finally, DRUM ROLL PLEASE- a FO (well sort of). I finished one of the two Mrs. B wristwarmers for the knit along that Whit is putting on. Here is the result.

December 16, 2005

Knitting in the sun...

I am here in AZ!
Today was great.I went with my SILs and MIL to a great little yarn shop located in Carefree called Bonnie's Yarn Crafts. We probably spent an hour in there. The staff was great, really helpful and friendly. They had a great sale going too. I got some fun novelty yarn for holiday scarves as well as some Lily yarn by Noro that I am not sure what I want to do with, but just loved because of how soft it was...
After we were done we headed over to a little coffee shot called C4 and knit for about 3 hours. What fun. It was good to spend time with the fam and catch up with everyone.
The guys all went golfing for the day-

Just a little check in... all that yarn/knitting I had to report!

December 14, 2005

Secret is OUT!

I am off to sunny & warm (hopefully) Arizona tomorrow...
The same state that my lovely package for the Knitting Chicks secret pal holiday swap came from.
I wasn't supposed to open my package until the 16th but since I am going to be out of town I decided to go ahead and open it.
I wanted to be able to tell my swapper pal thank you! She did an excelent job and I really love the contents of my pacakge. Thank you Elaine!
She sent me almost as much chocolate as yarn. Some new purple folding scissors, cable needles (which I didn't have before and now I have no excuse to not learn how to cable), a cute tote bag that she decorated, a knitting magazine and two kid hat patterns. She also included a dishcloth that she made and a candle! What fun.
The best part about the package was the yarn-I really love the it. There appears to be enough there to make a sweater!... Now to just find a pattern that I like.
It is too late tonight to post the pictures I took, but will do so next week when I am more awake and have the patience/energy for dealing with Flickr and Blogger...
Thanks again! I really love the goodies you sent!

This swap was a ton of fun. I had a great time making my tote and other goodies to go inside- I will post pictures of what I sent out when I know my swapee has received her gift.

In other knitting news:
I was able to finish one of the Mrs. B wrist warmers. I really like it, but if I was going to make it again I would definitely do fewer stitches around the wrist. I had to adjust it a 15th row so that they won't fall off of my wrists. Also I think there is a mistake in the pattern... there is a part that says (p1, k3) last three stitches p1 k3.... So that makes last four stitches, not four. If you do p1, k2 it works out because you start the next round with k1 (p1 k3)... I think I will contact the designer (she probably already caught this, or maybe I was doing something wrong... but)

The black and pink/fuscia really look pretty together and I love the fuzzy-ness of two fibers together.

must sleep... Very tired and I have to get up and work tomorrow before the flight.
I promise pictures next week (maybe even some from my little vacation too!)
have a great weekend everyone in blogville...

December 11, 2005

Dyna-mite!

Today is the birthday!
I have had such a wonderful weekend already and I just can't say enough about my crazy wonderful friends and my silly sneaky husband. They plotted and planned and made me laugh to no end. If any of you are reading today I want you to all know that is all of you that make me who I am- thank you!
Flowers from Hubby on Friday at work...
I had yoga all day so I was told to meet at Taste of Thai after class... Okay so I am here in a cute new skirt and top and just waiting.
Enter Hubby who can not stop giggling and looking out the window. I keep asking him what he is up to. He won't take off his jacket even though we have been seated (later he will reveal his shirt with Napoleon on it). In walks LR... In this! HA! Cat's outta the bag, side pony and all- then TB and KA walk in all "wigged" out.
It's a Napoleon party- boy are you guys Dynamite! ar, ar!
It just kept getting sillier, and they had me put my hair in a side pony and a "Vote for Pedro" shirt...
After a yummy dinner we all trucked over to TB's house to have a piece of cake that LR "built" for me.
I am still smiling.
Tonight my mom is having us over for cake. Hubby's fam will be there along with my god-parents. It will be really nice to see everyone. I have been so busy that we haven't gotten to be around all those people at once in a while.
Despite me telling people not to get me anything, they still did... Including a few knitting items, a couple of DVD's I have been wanting and a great book (Mutant Message from Down Under) that was brought up in yoga class that I want to read...
This morning I opened up a present from my Aunt.. LOVE THE BOOK Aunt J! It is not too "sophomore" but rather a perfect reference for me to have around... Oh and the year book is cracking me up too! Thank you !!

to all of you out there that have helped to make things so special, this is how I feel:

which brings me nicely into the next topic....
KNITTING!
Per request, here are some photos of the Mrs. Beeton thus far.... Enjoy!




December 09, 2005

Bells ring, are you listenin'

I cast on last night for the Mrs. B KAL that Whit is hosting (see the previous post for detials)and have one "bell" complete! I decided on the black with the 'wine' color kid haze.
NOTE!! To all of you who are participating, cast on Loosey-Goosey with that kid haze! Other wise you will be thinking the "B" in Mrs. B. stands for something other than Beeton. Also, I am not sure if I did my first "bell" correctly, I didn't carry the kid haze along with the MC, I think it will be okay, but I am worried it is a bit wonky... just a few words of advise. Otherwise, I am really happy with my results thus far. I will post pics on my blog this weekend if I have time.

December 07, 2005

Ms. V does Mrs. B

Okay, so that sounds like girl on girl action- What the title really means is that I, Ms. Vanessa, will be joining my first knit-a-long. Check out the new Knitty for details on Mrs. B (almost as exciting and wild as girl on girl action) And for more details about the KAL go to Whit's blog and join in the fun.

I bought this yarn (bit $ compared to what I usually buy, but it is my birthday soon and I really like this pattern),

I am going to subsitute the other yarn the pattern calls for with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I hope it works. The lady at the LYS told me that it was an equivalent....
I am trying to decide on what color I should do. I have the black, red & lilac. I am leaning towards the black just for contrast...But any of them would work. I am will sleep on it and then start tomorrow the work tomorrow at lunch.

Oh, and by the way, go over and tell Mandy hello. She had surgery today and could use all the good thoughts and hellos!

December 05, 2005

Maps Maps Maps

REVISED!! I just fixed the link, so go ahead and try it again- thanks!

Okay, I am a geographer. I play with points, lines and polygons all day. I also play with aerial photography and demographics all day too. My husband is also a geographer-This is how we met. (I talked him into traveling to Mexico for school credit during a class we were both in one day and he talked me into taking a stand by flight and a crazy bus ride to the Coast Allegre, the rest is history).
The room where our computer is has the walls covered in maps, even the shade covering the window is an old 1952 map of the us, the kind that used to hang up in class rooms-
Why I didn't jump on the Frapper band waggon sooner is beyond me. This is the sort of stuff I love.
Here it is, just one more map in my life.
Click it and give me a shout out, yo!

Or you can click on the Map it, Map it good link to the right.

It's hat, er THAT time of year again...

So here we are. It is December (well, actually December 5th). and my birthday is less than a week away, and Hannukah and Christmas are 20 days away- how on earth is it already here? what happens to time? Oh well, here is an update!
Lastweekend:

On Friday night I went to do Kirtan yoga with Dave Stringer- If you are into yoga and you know anything about Kirtan yoga you will be REALLY jeoulous. There were about 50 of us at the Yoga Loka Studio . We sang our little hearts out with this amazing man and his kick* percusionist for about 2 1/2 hours.

On Saturday we...
went hunting for a tree, and were successful.



had cocoa and peppermint schnapps- with marshmellows!...
had circus animal cookies and sausages from Butcher Boy's.
had warm feet (wool socks are the best as any knitter knows) but cold hands (how did I only grab one mitten??).
didn't get the 'burb stuck (like last year)

didn't forget to buy our tree cutting permit.
had dogs running all over the place but no kids.
had a great bunch of friends who just love to make this part of the tradition every year- Thanks gang. Happy Holidays!



On Sunday we put up the tree and tortured the cats. (not necissarily in that order)Lester just love Christmas time- see his spirit? He can hardly wait to get that thing off and attack all things dangly on the tree.


I still don't have a lot of ornaments, so the tree is full of silly random things including a few glow in the dark UFOs and aliens. After all, it isn't a tree unless there are glow in the dark aliens on it, Sant would never approve. I also adorned the bows with a ton of Mardi-gras beads as "garland". The tree just sparkles!
There are also some very sentimental things on the tree. There are ornaments that my mom made for my first Christmas and some that I made when I was in grade school. I have a few really special ones that my grandfather made of stained glass (I actually keep these in the kitchen window all year round so I can enjoy them all year round).

I even have packages under the tree already. One is actually for my birthday and the other is the Knitting Chicks holiday swap package-waiting patiently until the 16th for when we will all open our giftees- Looks festive!

Speaking of packages!!! Looky-looky-looky! I got this stuff in the mail today. I was going to wait until my b-day to open it up, but there is yarn involved and I knew there was yarn invovled- so it took me less then 10 minutes of thinking about it. All the while pretending like I had better mail to look over and waisting another 5 minutes to change out of my work clothes (actually that had to happen. I was at a conference today at one of the casinos and I stunk like an ashtray- yes, smoking is allowed in the casinos and no those "air filters" don't work- AT ALL).

I ripped into the bag and found 3 skiens of Adrienne Vittadini, Nadia 50% Alpaca 50% Wool, 71 yards. As well as 4 pretty stitch markers (I wasn't expected those). where did these little goodies come from???? I won the Blogs By Knitters contest a couple of days ago and this is my prize! Stop by and say hi to Rebecca and if you are interested join the Blogs by Knitters group (see the button to the right for a link).

Thank you Thank you- this is some of the nicest stuff in my stash right now! A pattern is all that I am missing now.

So, do I have anything on the sticks???
Yesssss- geesh
I got some knitting started a hat for hubby:


I also found some yarn at a good price here so I can make the Modern Bustier from the Alterknits book. I really like the pattern.

Other than that? I have just been studying for yoga - and thinking about the fact that I don't have another 'unplanned' weekend until 2006! YIKES - it is all good though.

December 01, 2005

I love rock and roll-

... Here is how the day started. I went for a walk and saw this!

it has been awesome out in the mornings. The sunrise makes the getting up at 5:30am okay with me- great reward.
When I got home hubby was in the shower and guess who was in bed- this kratin is way over the top. Lester is not your average kitty, I am pretty sure he is a little man trapped inside a fluff of orange and white fur.

Work was actually okay. I got home to cleaned up for the events later in the evening and I found a HUGE package sitting at my door stoop- I can hardly wait to open it. This is from my knitting chicks holiday swap. We are all waiting until the 16th to open. I can hardly wait to see what lies beneath the neatly folded and taped brown paper. Thanks SWAPPER!!


Called Hubby and arranged to meet him down at the Reno Hilton for dinner (this is half way home from work for him, and he can avoid the mess of the "spaghetti bowl" traffic so it worked out perfectly)

We split Mexican and had a few drinks and into the showroom to see OZOMATLI. This is the second time we have seen them live as always they are a blast. BUT I do have to say, Reno has no idea sometimes about music. These guys are sold out for their show tonight in SanFran- but not so here. There were a lot of people there but nothing like what it was when they played in San Diego the first time we saw them a year ago.
I pretty much lost my voice from singing and hollering and generally whooping it up all night. We had a ton of fun. Here are a few pictures.

I know this last one is REALLY bad, but do you see how close I am???? They are on the floor for the closing drum circle.. How cool is that?

I would also like to give props to their opening band State Radio. They were great, and I just wish I new a few more of their tunes....But the best part is I can, they have a download on their site, YES! Here are some snaps that I took, It was cool to be up so close to the stage and not have some chick stepping on me with the heel of her 'big girl boots' or have some dude spilling beer on me.
All in all it was pretty rockin'
NOT a whole lot of time to knit in the past few days... Sorry for the lack of that content. I am hoping this weekend I can start on a few projects.