From my house to yours...

Have a fabulously ghoulish Halloween!

The Office

Halloween is almost here...

What are you brewing?

Revel in the Ravelry

I'm in!

Boy, that sounds dirty out of context. Ok, for all y'all on Ravelry I'm up and running, well, more like jogging, but I'm in! So, if I haven't found you, please find me. You'll never guess what my user name is. (Here's a hint, its the name of my website and perhaps even my last name...ok, ok, radomile.)

Dude, its Thanksgiving

That was my thought looking at my datebook right now. As I am a full-fledged member of the 21st Century, of course I have the most modern appointment keeping tool available. And, there it was, staring right at me...Thanksgiving. Yes, I understand there are a few weeks until then but seriously.

10/26 - 10/28 - T is in town.

10/31 - Halloween

11/1 - S'n'B WeHo Day-of-the-Dead-Halloween Party - I'm so close to being done with my "costume" I can't stand it. Hopefully tomorrow...see T is in town entry above.

11/3 - Soap Making at UCC - I don't see it on the website but I have an email that lists it. 10am - 1pm - Fight Club! Come join me!

11/9 - 11/13 - T comes back to town.

11/17 - Brentwood Holiday Boutique - Anyone want to go with me? Its a great place to get ideas on things we can make and we can laugh at how much the parents are paying for the stuff. Think of the legendary Pidge. I'm sure we'll see stuff like that.
11/17 - S'n'B UCLA Hockey Night - Who wants to drive?

11/18 - Erin Fetherston for Target - Yes, I will have bought most of the collection on-line, but that doesn't mean I can't check it out in person as well!
11/18 - Felt Club - Ok, I've been promised that the new venue is like a bazillion times better than the last one. So, I'm willing to give this crafty gathering another go.

11/22 - Thanksgiving.

One year ago...


Three years ago...

Can't not say anything

So I was avoiding the whole fire blogging thing. But, seeing as we're on day three and I have friends and family in harm's way, I can't really post about yarn or decorations in the office before covering this.

As of 6pm last night, all friends and family were accounted for. However, that was over 12 hours ago so now we being the round-up again.

After watching both the local and national news I feel like I should say a few things to my non-so-cal friends/readers. The first fires were caused by nature. That's pretty much been established. But, anything caused by nature has to be copied by dumb-ass people so now we're dealing with arson. And no, L.A. is not on fire. I mean, don't get me wrong there are about 15 fires burning up and down southern California, but L.A. itself is not burning. Malibu is. Malibu is not only a beach community but is also filled with pretty canyons and people have horses and stuff. That's what's on fire, at least locally. For the best map I've seen yet, click here. (Thanks to s.ly)

"Ok, so you're in the city, what effects are you feeling?"

So glad you asked. It really depends on where in the city you are. For the valley kids, they're dealing with alot more of the smoke and ash than those of us on the westside are. That doesn't mean that we don't have the particulates running around. In fact, my mom who never gets allergies is suffering right now 'cause she's not in A/C all day.

"Hey, we hear you're pretty sickly. How do you keep out of harm's way?"

Another damn fine question. Those of us with respiratory issues just stay inside. I work in a small 5 story building with A/C for days so I'm really good here. And since I park in the building, I really only have to go outside between my car and my house. And, as Dick will tell you, that's all of the outside world I'm seeing. If I'm not at work, I'm in my room with my air purifier watching the news and knitting.

"So you mentioned local vs. national news, what's the difference?"

The national news is oddly amusing. The say things like "I'm standing in a place known as Canyon Country." Seriously, exact quote from NBC last night. For those of us here, that's like saying "I'm standing in a place known as Cleveland." So yeah, they don't quite understand the communities here.

The local news kids have really stepped it up the last few days. I have mad respect for what they're doing. Granted we had the Chuck Henry "Stupid Truck" incident a few years back, (he didn't leave the scene of a fire when asked and then had to be rescued by the fire department when his news van caught on fire) but the reporters this time around have been super respectful of the firefighters and have really been in the thick of things to bring everyone up to the minute news of where exactly the fires are, what homes and businesses have been lost and really what's going on. Personally, I feel better knowing what's going on rather than just guessing what's on fire and what isn't. But, I'm a little weird.

If any of y'all have any questions, let me know.

Did someone say movie?

This is my first meme and really you'd rather me do this than talk about the brushfires.

This comes courtesy of Catherine.

AFI's top 100 movies. Bold the ones you have seen. Strike out the ones you couldn't finish. * the ones you have seen more than once. Please note that I had to substitute striking out with italics 'cause I can't strike out in blogger. So yeah.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather *
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone with the Wind (1939)*
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler's List (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939) *
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977) *
14. Psycho (1960) *
15. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
16. 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)*
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - I know I'm going to hell for not liking this movie.
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) *
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)*
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40. The Sound of Music (1965)*
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961)*
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. Deer Hunter, The (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970)
55. North by Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975)*
57. Rocky (1976)*
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973) <-- not my fault, the DVD was totally broken.
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) *
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)*
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) *
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) *
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994)*
77. All the President's Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997) *
84. Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)*
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)*
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)*
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)*
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)*
97. Blade Runner (1982)* - Titanic before Blade Runner, surely you jest!
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)*
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

So this has been bothering me for 2 days

So yesterday I went to the Suss sale that I told you about last week. (I hope you went 'cause it was fabulous. But, if you didn't, you can join me for the next one. You know I'll be there! ) When I was there I saw my favorite yarn. I heart this yarn. Its red, its pink, its purple, its bulky, its hand dyed, its 100% wool...I mean, it just makes me happy. And, at the sale was the very last skein. So, of course I bought it.

And then...

I couldn't remember what I did with all the other skeins I bought. I mean, I remembered buying them. I remembered where I bought them, when I bought them, how much they originally retailed for and how much I paid. But, for the life of me I couldn't remember what I made. This was really bothering me...not like I couldn't sleep Saturday night (I mean, we're not talking about solving the world hunger situation) but I'm just that girl who can recall incredibly useless information like that so I felt like I was loosing my super power.

Ug.

That was yesterday morning. Finally, about 15 minutes ago, it hit me! I saw a laptop bag in Alterknits (pg. 61 for those of you who might happen to own it) that looked super cute and something, at the time a super-exciting selling point, I could actually make. This was the first felting project to which I committed time and resources. Previously I had used wool that had been gifted to me so I didn't really care if the projects worked...which of course meant they did...this was a leap of faith using my favorite yarn ever.

I know, as usual, my fine photo skilz don't quite do it justice, but it is super cute live and in person.

Situation resolved. Maybe I should think about world hunger. If I figured out the yarn issue, maybe I could make a dent.

PSA

Friends don't let friends pole dance after receiving a flu shot. That's a really bad idea.

You're welcome.

Did you know there was an earthquake yesterday?

It happened at about 1:45am. Yeah, I got the notification yesterday morning in my email but that's not how I knew about it. I knew 'cause I felt it. I was just getting to bed. You know why I was just getting to bed?




If you guessed because I was obsessively finishing the second version of the world's cutest baby hat, (blue brimmed version above) you would be correct! (Apologies to my married or out-of-town friends who live under this thin veil of illusion that I live this glamorous L.A. single girl life, though stay tuned for my pole dancing public service announcement coming up next!)

Anyways, back to the world's cutest baby hat. Seriously, my pictures don't do it justice. (Though the folks at Knitty did a damn fine job photographing it!) But, let me tell you, it really is the world's cutest baby hat.

Seriously.

Anyways, this was made from all sorts of yarn I have. As the pattern calls for double strands of 100% superwash merino wool, I sort of improvised as I don't really knit with superwash merino wool...I mean, that would be too easy.

Hat with Lime brim:

Lime: Baby Alpaca I picked up at my first crafty yard sale last year; fingering weight bordering on thread so I put 5 strands together.
Blue: Suss 100% wool (discontinued, though I will be at their sale on Saturday, 10/20/07, 9am - 4pm at 117 N. Gardner St., LA, CA 90036 - email me if you want a copy of the announcement) doubled.
Light Blue: Baby Alpaca I picked up at the yard sale listed above, again 5 strands together.
Yellow: I used the two yellows I dyed at Urban Craft Center, 100% wool, fingering weight, one strand each.
Turquoise: I used one strand of my latest creation of Kool Aid died Yarn, 100% wool, worsted weight.
Purple: 100% wool Bulky weight gifted from Melissa in her move to L.A.
Pink: Baby Alpaca...ok, you already know...same craft sale, same strands.

So yeah, point being, as long as you stay away from the bulky weights (I know I cheated but for that purple purl row it just worked for me) you really can use any yarn. Let me rephrase that, depending on the baby for whom you're making this hat, you can use any yarn. This hat is heading to Minneapolis where they actually dress children in wool to keep warm so I wasn't worried about offending a new California mom by presenting a wool infused hat. But, let me tell you between the happy personality of the hat, the super soft Alpaca and the smell of the Kool Aid and natural dyed yarns, these hats are among my favorite things I've made.

Random Knitting Things You Should Know for This Pattern:

Knitting on Circular Needles: I prefer circulars to DPNs but that's just me. I did 80% of the larger hat on the circulars and flipped over to 3 DPNs to finish it.
Knitting on Double Pointed Needles: If you know the theory of DPNs, you're all good. I had never really made anything on DPNs before and this was super easy. The Blue hat was just too wee for the circulars so I used all of the DPNs in the set (5?) for this hat. The hardest thing for me was to find one of the needles when I'd put my knitting down to pet a neglected bread-stealing greyhound.
I-cord: Anything with the word idiot in the title is easy.

According to Regina, I did Fair Isle which I've never tried before. (Good thing the author didn't mention that or else I would have been too scared to try the pattern.) I've never knitted a hat on double pointed needles and I've never done that flower on the top before. And, let me tell you, out of all the things I did for the first time on the hats, that little @$%^#$ flower was my nemesis. Ug, you're at the END and it looks so easy in the pattern and yet its not WORKING. But, its fine, I now understand how to do it and its all good. I'm ok. Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts. Vacation, Hawaii, cruise to the Panama Canal....

Live and Let Dye

Ok seriously, some people pay to have people seam up sweaters they've knitted, I need to pay someone to do titles for me.

To review:

Before:

During:

After:

I have to admit, the ghetto Kool-Aid cake (the candy cane striped one in the front) is my favorite. The other happy yarn cakes of goodness turned out really well and much softer than you'd image after being tortured in dye (all be it natural) and hot water. The two yellow cakes are finding their purpose in the world's cutest baby hat. I'm sure the others will find their calling shortly.

As you sit transfixed by the candy-cane striped skein, you'll be happy to know that I'm perfecting the Kool-Aid dying recipe and will post as soon as I'm done with my experimentation. While you wait anxiously for that nugget of information, I will warn you that winding home-dyed yarn is a wee more challenging than winding usual yarn-store yarn. I mean, the skeins held. They didn't tangle or anything so they went onto the swift quite easily, but the winding itself was a bit of a negotiation between the yarn and I. If you must know, the bright yellow one and I had some choice words.

See, its not all the fault of the bright yellow skein. I accidentally started to felt the bright yellow skein while rinsing the dye out. FYI, don't do that. As someone who has both intentionally machine and hand felted items, I didn't think this would be a problem. I mean, if you've ever felted you know what I mean. When you're trying to felt something, it takes for freakin' ever. But, if you're not trying...yeah...hot water and wool really should be treated gently. But, despite the wee felting, the yarn is super soft and fabulous to knit with.

Oh. Mi. Gawd.

Its raining.

Alert the media.

Send the weatherman into the valley to interview people "braving the weather."

Everyone drive REALLY FAST.

Except for those of you who need to drive really slow.

To Dye For

If I'm not free on a Wednesday night for dinner, it usually means one thing...I'm hanging at the Urban Craft Center. This week's agenda: dying yarn.

The class was so not what I expected. First of all, the amount of yarn you get for your class dollars is outstanding. Here's on skein of the yarn before:




And for all of you at home playing along who may want to do this, Knit Picks has the best deal going. This costs $3.49. You're looking at like 440 yards of yarn goodness. I have to admit, I'm a bulky kind of girl, so I think if I were to do this at home, I'd buy the bulkier weight yarns. But, for this class, the lighter weight was awesome to work with. And, while we were dying, rinsing and hanging, I was thinking up different projects to do with my newly colored yarn.



Back to the class being not what I expected. Ok, so first we get like skeins and skeins of yarn, which was fabulously surprising. Second, I guess when I think of dye I think of Rit. I had no idea that we'd be using natural sorts of dyes like onions and sunflowers...how cool!

Angharad had all sorts of pots brewing upon our arrival. Since the natural process can be a wee unpredictable, she started without us (she didn't want us to be stuck there staring at pots waiting for the color to leave their natural elements) but explained everything she did so we could repeat it on our own. She also taught us about preparing the yarn prior to dying it and did one dry unprepped skein with the already prepped skeins to illustrate the differences in how the color attaches to the yarns....very cool.

In addition to the four natural dying batches, we each had one Kool-Aid batch. I'm so doing this at home. (Shhh, don't tell gramma, I couldn't imagine she'd enjoy that image.) Now, I had heard some not-so-favorable reviews of Kool Aid dying a few months ago, but after doing this with Angharad and downloading the instructions from the Knit Picks Website I'm super excited to try it with the wool I grabbed from the happy crafty yard sale a few weeks ago.

But, back to the class. Here's all but one batch o' yarn we dyed:




(I really wish I had remembered to grab my real camera as my cel phone doesn't really do this justice.) The row of yarn in the front is mine. All the skeins are there except the brown, which was still cooling. The first yarn in the front (the red one) is the Kool-Aid dye. We did a variegated sort of thing where we chose two colors. I did red and pink. (Mental note for the pink, use SEVERAL packages. Oddly, the end of the yarn sucked up the pink immediately and didn't give the rest of the half a skein a chance to grab any of the color.)

I know the yarn looks odd sitting on the rack but as it dries it looks fabulous. When I wind my skeins into happy yarn cakes, I'll post those pictures for your your (ok, really my) enjoyment.

At the end of class we had the option to let our yarn dry there or take it home. Of course, I'm all about instant gratification so I took mine home. Angharad busted out Ziploc after Ziploc to get our damp (and one wet) skeins home and included a jumbo Ziploc for easy carrying as well as instructions so that we could do this at home.

I mean, that's one of the things that's so cool at this center. They really want to teach you how to do all of this and share the joy that is the creative process. I mean, she was the one telling us how affordable Knit Picks yarn is an how much it cost so we could do this at home. That's just neat to me....that someone genuinely wants to pass on what they know to you so you can have that joy yourself. I was looking at my yarn drying at home last night and I was just pleased as punch with it.

Ok, more classes I'll be taking, please join me!

11/28 - Hand Made Soaps
12/12 - Gocco Screen Printing
12/16 - Hand Painted Yarns

Obviously, there are more classes, but those are the ones that float my boat. I'm also playing around with the idea of the sewing classes...I'll have to think more on those. But, one thing I was reminded of last night, for $25/hour (I think that's per person), they'll teach you whatever you want to know. Like, if you want to learn how to sew a skirt, you bring the pattern and fabric and she'll show you. How cool is that?

Somebody needs to buy these for me

Seriously.

And, by the way, I must confess that I totally posted this post to the wrong blog first. Yeah, HUGE blogger faux pas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

That's right, its time to start getting ready for Halloween! So, what says Halloween more than pumpkins?


I will never understand how I lived my entire life in Southern California and never knew about Lombardi's. I've driven on Bouquet Canyon like a thousand times and never knew it was just a few miles from where I was visiting. (Not that I'm blaming a certain un-named-newlywed-red-headed-stepchild. Not at all.)

Needless to say, I'm going every year now. I'm hooked. I'm talking myself out of going next weekend 'cause you know, you always need more pumpkins. (No, you don't need more pumpkins. You need to stay on the westside and stare at the pumpkins you already have.)


Ok, there are scarecrows and hot dogs and music and face painting and fresh corn and wagon rides and pumpkins and gourds and my head is going to explode....its the coolest place in the SCV. Seriously, if you need pumpkins or just a small dose of Halloween goodness, you need to go there. (And you need to take me with you 'cause I need more pumpkins.)



As k8 introduced me to the glory that is DCA, Regina introduced me to Lombardi's.

Chicks rule.

Halloween, Halloween, Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

"Halloween spooks outside your window..."

D@mn, now I have that song they play on KROQ every year stuck in my head.

Thanks to Mighty Goods, I have found the best male costume EVER!

Mighty Goods likes Julie but seriously, Captain Stubing (I think the dude above looks more like Gopher) is just the best EVER.

I heart Buy Costumes now more than ever.

To Ugo we go!

Last night I had dinner with the always charming B. You know you have a true friend when that friend is out running errands only to return to find you in their house, after letting their dog out of the kennel, with your feet up knitting away with the aformentioned dog hanging out by your side and their thinking that's a great way to start an evening.

Off to Ugo we go.

Now, I adore Culver City. I think Westwood could take a cue or two on this little slice of L.A. just improving by the day. Not only does Culver have food, but good food, interesting food. So, any suggestions B makes on a new place, I'm in.

Ugo is just darling with their main restaurant and then their separate gellato/dessert/light menu cafe next door. Because it was a nice evening we opted for the patio. Sadly, we were not informed that this patio is a smoker's paradise. (Note to smokers: This is your place. Anyone who gripes that you have no place to go and smoke, I've just given you a yummy one.) Also we were not informed that the service would be less than acceptable. (sigh) But, I will openly admit that the food was very good.

With the smoke and the level of service, there are just too many places to try in Culver City now to settle for anything less than fabulous. So, I think it'll be awhile before I give Ugo another chance-o. But, if you're a smoker and you want a friendly place to hang out, enjoy!