After-Christmas

Just a quick post:  Christmas was good.  We spent it w/husband's relatives in Ojai.  I'm fighting off a cold (so far I'm winning - yeah!).  Sunday I had dim sum with some of the knitting group (Rae, Renata, Melyssa, Jamie & Alexander, Velvet, Gwen & John, and Laurie/Alicesky).  Lots of good company and good food.  I was very stuffed.

I've started playing Runescape (free online role-playing game) so I'm now wasting time killling chickens and cutting down trees.  Aaagh!

On a good note:  The Kiva loan I'm involved in is fully funded.http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=78656  When I checked the Kiva website on Sunday, all their loans had been funded - Wheee!  I guess a few people used their Kiva gift cards.  Kiva now has some more loans to fund, so if you're interested check out their website.  (Ravelry has a Kiva group set up).   Kiva is a microfinance group - you loan amounts in $25 increments.  When the group you're loaning to pays back the loan, you can reloan the money or take it back.  You do need to have Paypal to be involved, so if you have a Paypal account you're set.  If you don't have a Paypal account - make sure you check the Paypal details first.  They charge you if someone pays you by credit card - I think they should give the sender of the money the option to pay the fee first, before making the receiver pay (especially when the receiver is not a business).

Anyway - Have a Happy Healthy New Year!

History - Knit-a-Thon 11/29/08

Saturday, Nov. 29th (After Thanksgiving) was the first Knit-a-Thon.  It was to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund.  The place was the West Wing of South Coast Plaza (the part that used to be known as Crystal Court).  The party was from 10am to 6pm.  I'd signed up for the 10am to noon shift.  I got there a bit early so I could get a coffee drink.  I was one of the first to arrive.  We all received a bag of coupons from South Coast Plaza, including a $5 gift certificate from Spa Gregories one of the main sponsors of the Knit-a-Thon.  Kathy Leek, who works for Spa Gregories, organized the event.

Here's the story in the OC Register.

I had made a couple of small hats that I finished at the event.  Then I started and mostly finished a pair of hand-warmers.  Kathy wanted the hand-warmers for herself, and she didn't want the ends woven in, so I gave them to her as is.  I ended up staying until about 4pm.  It was a great day.  I met quite a few nice knitters, and got a couple of ideas for scarves.  Most of the other knitters were making scarves, as that was supposed to be the item to make.  Since I didn't get that memo, I made hats.

2 packages out, 2 to go

Let's see - Tuesday was knitting night -  Starbucks locked us out (due to plumbing problems) so we went to Subway.  Nice group - Jamie and Abraham were there too.  I bought a skein of yarn from Jamie for my sister-in-law.  I forgot to take a picture of it, it was a lovely cobalt blue, almost purple.

Thursday I went to South Coast Plaza on a sort-of-shopping trip.  I didn't buy a thing from there except lunch and a hot chocolate.  I did buy a couple of things from the Container Store, including a Flat Pack for my Christmas present to myself.

Friday - I managed to get 2 packages in the mail, so now I only have 2 left (one to the East Coast, one (very large one) to Wyoming.

I've finished the Mermaid neck-warmer for my niece.  It's washed - currently drying.  Then I have to take a picture and package it.  Same for the Seafoam scarf for the waitress at Brownstone.  I have to finish the scarf I'm making for one of the Starbucks baristas and then I'm done with my 'necessary' Christmas knitting.  Then it's time to knit for myself again! 

Monday - Project Linus

The second Monday of each month is Project Linus night.  The local chapter is run by Altrusa - a local business women's group.  Blankets are given to them by all sorts of different people, including several nursing home groups.  Once a month we sew labels on them and attach tags explaining Project Linus.  Last night was a relatively small batch of blankets, so we were finished early.

The blankets are given to several local clinics and hospitals for them to give to children who are in the hospital for whatever reason.  The blankets have to be machine washable and hand-made.  It's amazing to see some of the gorgeous items that are donated to Project Linus - some of the quilts and yarn items are beautiful.

Weekend - Ravenclaw dinner, Knitting Group

Saturday was the Ravenclaw dinner organized by Nigel (our fearless Quidditch captain).  Present were Nigel, Jessie (his wife and a Gryffindor), Magical Baby Creature Rio, Jim (Chaser), Renata (Head of Ravenclaw) and myself.  We had a dinner of appetizers and desserts (yum) at the Slidebar in Fullerton.  It was a very nice evening.

Sunday was the knitting group's first meeting at Panera Bread in Fullerton.  We'd been meeting at the Brownstone Cafe in Fullerton, however with a broken espresso machine, off/on salsa, etc. we decided it was time to try other venues.  I liked the Panera Bread restaurant - I just have to remember to get there before 11am if I want any breakfast items.  (I really want to try the 4 cheese egg souffle - it sounds very decadent).  Anne was already there when I arrived, we were joined by Kniterotica, along with 2 others (1 whose name I didn't catch, and 1 whose name I will leave off to help preserve her anonymity)  :-).  I got a lot of knitting done on my seafoam/drop stitch scarf for the waitress Jackie at the Brownstone.  All in all, a most productive meeting.

Now, I'm working on my scarf for my barista at Starbucks.  I tried the seafoam stitch with a sock yarn, but didn't like the look, so I searched my stash again and came up with 2 skeins of Meditation by Skacel in a brownish/pink/metallic colorway.  So, I'm doing a basic K2, Yo scarf with that.  I wound my yarn to make the Mermaid neckwarmer (pattern by Anne from Handicraft Cafe), but I haven't started it yet.  Yarn by Zona (Twirlgirl Fibers).

History - working at the polling station 11/4/08

One of the problems with being the latecomer to blogging is that my history isn't in my blog, and I can't put it there in the correct time frame.  So, I'll just put it in as I remember it.

This was my third time working as the inspector for a polling station.  It was chaotic and fun as usual.  The day started way too early - I had to be there by 6am, so I got up at 5am, packed my car and hit the road.  The gate didn't open until 6am exactly, so my workers were waiting outside and starting to panic.  We got in and started setting up.  At 6:20am, the first voter got in line.  We opened at 7am without any glitches.  Having only one precinct made the process much smoother.  We had the line cleared out by 7:50am.  It helped to have a very savvy high school student handing out the paper ballots as the paper booths opened up = she would call out to the line 'Anyone want to use a paper ballot?' and would take the first person who raised their hand.  This sped the line up quite a bit.  Most people opted for electronic voting.  Half the precinct had already voted by mail/early voting, so the stream of voters was steady but not too heavy all day long.  We had two people try to bring their dogs in, and one lady with two obnoxious children/grandchildren.  We had one person with a political bumper sticker on her stroller, and one wearing a political pin.  Both removed them when asked.  I had 7 workers (usually I only have 4).  This led to a very easy day with everyone able to take 2 one-hour breaks during the day.  The two male high school students were very helpful at the end of the day - taking down the electronic booths in no time.  No injuries either. 

Our last voter was at 7:45pm, we closed the booths at 8pm, and were on our way by 8:45pm.  The female high school student followed me in her car as I dropped off the supplies/ballots/electronic bits.  That way I couldn't stop on the way and hack into the electronic machine.  :-)  I delivered everything safe and sound and was home by 9pm.  Long day but very worthwhile.  Yeah for Mr. Obama, Boo! for California passing Prop. 8

Welcome to my blog

I decided it was time to start a blog.  Since many of my other knitting acquaintances have one ...  The title is from the phrase so many of us here while knitting in public (KIP).  My usual response has been to smile and not really say anything.  I want to try and ask questions next time.  Such as:  Do you still have anything she made for you?  What was her favorite color to use?  Did she try to teach you?

For the record, my maternal grandmother (Granny K) used to knit, she taught my mother and my mother taught me.  Granny K made me some lovely doll clothes and blankets.  I still have one or two of the doll blankets she made - they were many different colors.  I believe she used up her scraps to make me the blankets.

The current picture is one of the Ravenclaw team t-shirts I made for the awesome Hogwarts party we attended in November.  Ravenclaw won!  The Quidditch World Cup, the House Championship (Quidditch) and the House Cup.  We barely managed to beat Hufflepuff by 20 points.  Since we started the day with a 20 point lead over them, and ended the day with a 20 point lead, and since we won the Quidditch game, logic leads me to believe that the Hufflepuff students were smarter than us.  (Just don't tell my fellow Ravenclaws).

The t-shirts were made by using a stencil, outlining with a copper fabric paint pen, painting with white craft paint, and then with bronze craft paint.  It was a long process (15 shirts in all).  It was a lot of fun, especially handing them out to my team members.

Sadly, that was the last full Hogwarts party. Happily, the Quidditch games will continue!