Irony Hits Hard

So guess how many Thursdays there were this month? If you guessed 4 like I did then you would be WRONG. I finally decide to go to the Spinning Guild, I gather up my courage to be amongst people I don't know in a craft that I'm not completely comfortable with yet. I fight traffic for 50 minutes, figure out where the meeting is held and hmmmmmm I don't see any cars. No cars? What!? I counted and this is the 4th Thursday. Did they move it to Aurora like the first meeting I attended? I drive over there assuming that I'll just be a little late..... No cars again! So I finally I call Jeff and ask him to count the calendar. 5!?! How could that be, today at work I totally counted to make sure I wasn't an idiot (I did this in March but I caught it before I left). 5! In the span of a few hours the month grew by a whole week. Guess I'll have to mark my calendar with every 4th Thursday. I really think this was the work of the Knitting Goddess, kicking my butt for betraying my original craft and my family at knit knite. I'm sorry Goddess I will repent by paying a visit to The Naked Sheep this weekend and buying some fibery goodness pre-spun. :P

Confessions

Thursday seems to be the universal day for fiber fun. My beloved knit knite at The Naked Sheep happens every week. This is where I really got into knitting. I've meet really sweet people who have helped me through some tough stuff, both knitting wise and in general life. I've hardly seen them this summer because of that general life stuff but I miss them and the time I spend there.

Thursdays are also the day that The Aurora Handspinners Guild meets on the 4th Thursday of each month. When I first learned to spin I went to their antique spinning wheel showcase and they were very kind and helped me fix a problem with an old wheel my grandmother had. I decided to join in May and have only been to one meeting and though I felt completely inept and akward I had a good time and I just need to get over my shy self and go regularly.

The third Thursday thing is the Tigard Guild Meeting, which meets the 3rd Thursday of the month. I haven't been but it sounds fun and I know a lot of the PDX Bloggers go. Plus I read blogs from people who belong to guilds and it sounds like they get a lot of good info from them.

So here's the tough decision. Do I ditch my friendly, helpful, homey type knit knite 2 times a month, 1 time a month (then decided with one extra activity I would choose, honestly it would probably be the Spinning Guild) or stay loyal to my knit knite and miss none. I feel guilty going to something other then knit knite on Thursday but my mother instilled a good deal of guilt into me anyway so maybe I'm just being silly.

On other confession fronts...

In the struggle against weight loss, weight loss is the looser. I belong to Weight Watchers and was sucessful at first (I lost 52 lbs) but then I never got any lower and in the last year I've gained a bunch back. I need to get my butt in gear (or at least off the couch and away from knitting needles, spinning wheels or books) and exercise more and tell myself "NO" a whole lot more. I wasn't sure I wanted to talk about this on the blog, I didn't want this place to become a whine fest about how fat* I am. So instead of whineyness and obsessing about weight, I won't post about this stuff very often and I will try to include the good that's happening or the positive goals I want to accomplish in regards to weightloss. First positive thing.. I want to be able to have children without ending up with gestational diabetes or complications and once born I would like to be able to run after and play with him/her/it without falling over dead. So kids, that a good positive goal to keep in mind this week!

One last confession then I'll quit my ramblings. I love to spin and want to spin a whole lot more but I don't really know what I'm doing. I read blogs where people are talking about high whorl and ratios and I don't have a freakin clue. I just spin and it does it's thing. Does anyone know of a spinning teacher in the Portland Metro area?

* Tiggywinkle corrected me in a email earlier this week. Fat is not the correct term, fluffy shall now replace all references to the f work (ha ha)

Saturday In The Park....

That song is on repeat in my head. I had such a fun time last night. My friend didn't want to go up close to the stage so I did a little wiggle dance in my seat the whole time instead of rocking out like the people upfront. The music was great and you could hear everyone singing along but that added to the sweet atmosphere. I could tell that most of the songs brought back nastalgic memories for most people in the audience. Actually, I think it was almost more fun to see so many folks letting loose and having fun, especially the 60+ crowd. You can tell the baby boomers are maturing and rock may well take over the Laurence Welk hour. There was one lady who Lindsey and I decided had probably been to a Chicago concert in the early 70's and still had the same dress for the occasion. She didn't care that she was sitting among a sea of non-dancers, she just stood up and did her own thing to the music. The whole night made me have that "happiness is going to burst outta my chest" and "the world is a beautiful happy place after all" kinda feelings going on. It was almost a perfect summer night. (Only way it might have been better was to have the Boy with me so I could sneak a smooch during the romantic ballads).

Now for something completely different. On September 23rd the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is happening in Portland. One of the first cancers that my Grandmother had back in the 60's was breast cancer. I can remember being a small kid and seeing the shoulder pad like things she put in one side of her bra (she had partial mastectomy early on)and wondering what she did with them. Later after I realized what breast cancer was she told me more about her procedures and showed me the little black dots that resulted from early forms of radiation treatment. I decided that this year I was going to walk in her memory. I convinced Jeff to sign up (ok I signed him up and paid his fee actually :P ). So now we are a team of 2. I would love it if anyone else would want to walk. The walk is a 3.1 mile walk, it starts at 9 am and I would be happy to help pitch in for the $25.00 fee to join if that is a problem for anyone. Just let me know if you're interested by leaving a comment or emailing me at knottyknitsATgmailDOTcom. If anyone wants to make a donation to me you can go here for that. Any little bit helps and heck, if any one donates I may have a few prizes to give out....

On the knitting front I think I've decided to knit a couple 10" squares for Miner Blanket Project. They're fast, portable, I can use whatever stitch pattern sounds like fun and will hopefully bring some comfort to families who have lost loved ones. Sounds like a good project to get me outta my knitting funk.

Hope the sunshine holds and everyone enjoys their weekend!

Whew I'm done with weddings, I'm done with funerals, it's still summer and there's sunshine today! My bestest new married friend and I are cruising down to the Spirit Mountain Casino to see Chicago (flash back to 80's, 90's and Today!) and I'm very excited. I really really love the sound of a brass section in a rock band. In college we did a Marching Band feild show to a medly of Chicago so it should bring back a lot of fun memories. Plus I've never been to a Casino so it will be interesting, I may have to spend a few bucks just so I can say I've done it. Of course I have to work at 8 the next morning but I've decided I don't care how tired or unfunctional I am, I am gunna have some fun!

Speaking of fun, I keep reading about all the adventures my PDX Blogger friends are having and I feel like I've really missed out on a good thing! I wish I could go Shop Hoppin this weekend with the group but alas my parents are coming to town so we're going to the coast for the day :( Hope that they have a good time and that I can make the next one!

My knitting has been pretty quiet since the wedding... Oo oo I never posted that I did actually manage to finish the garter. It was beautiful and later I'll find my pics to post. Of course all that work and as I was tying it onto her leg the eyelets ripped apart :( I need to do some emergency repair work and give her a shadow bow so she can put a wedding pic with the garter into it. Ok back to my knitting thought.. I have a horrible case of startitis. I really want to make Phyllo. I bought the pattern for Bee Fields and even some bee-utiful lace weight yarn that my friend Bob spun and dyed but I took a look at the 18 page pattern (yes eighteen 18 5+5+5+3) and felt a little daunted, it doesn't help that I've never made a provisional cast-on and so even starting is a challenge. But I will perserver and finish this shawl, my goal is Christmas so I can give it to my Mom, well see though (I can hear my own maniacle laughing in my head when I think of that deadline.) But Monkeys call (especially with the picot edging I've seen) and so many others. We'll see what I end up working on.

Well my ride is here so I'm jetting. Hope everyone else is enjoying this August Thursday as much as I have been! (waves)