Spinning. OI.

I am the type of person that will buy something and ignore it. For days, weeks, months, but then one day I will become obsessed with it. NOW NOW NOW. Currently, it is my Majacraft Suzie Pro.



As you can notice, I am putting too much twist in my yarn. I haven’t been able to balance twist and pick-up.


Also exciting news, my German friend let me know of sock yarn that in the next few months will be making the journey to America:

This yarn is not available in America. I am so excited! If you want to see the rest of the colors she received (they are gorgeous! I especially love the top which she ordered for herself!) Check out Bentota's Blog, where she has the full picture

100th post

I only noticed the number when I signed onto blogger. WOW. I just past a year blogging last month. When I started I never thought I would be able to keep this bad boy up. But besides being incredibly narcissitic, I am in denial about how much I like to talk about myself and interests. I read that the number of blogs is doubling or more every year, that there are more than 60 million worldwide, and more than 25 million in the U.S. so thanks for taking time out for mine. Not only have I enjoyed writing it, I have enjoyed getting to know other bloggers out there!

I started this blog to participate in SP, so only fitting that I thank my latest SP, Krista for being my SP8 spoiler. The final package was a fun surprise. It included a lovely introduction letter as well as bath products (apricot), yarn (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I will use for fetching), a journal, a pad of paper and pens, and finally, a needle holder that she sewed herself. I love the colors, I love polka dots, it's perfect! And evidently she is quite the sewer, something I totally envy, because I have no clue how to use my sewing machine. Can't I just learn how to make a purse lining???

Ok, so yeah there was candy too. What can I say, it was really nice. And the box, it's the first time I have gotten one of those pretty post office boxes! I have used them a ton of times, but never received one. Krista probably didnt realize this at the time, but it will be turned into a wonderful treat for the pooch. She will love to chew it up..

and I will love the 20 or so minutes that she will be entertained on her own. Thank you again Krista. I look forward to getting to know you even more through your blog.

Hopefully before I complete the next 100 posts, I will have my blog moved over to .MAC. It's slowly coming toget-- well maybe I wouldnt go THAT far, but hopefully soon. I am going to buy a domain. My blog name will stay the same. Should I buy the domain polliwannablog or polliwanna so I can always incorporate other pages besides my blog? Or is there some other name that I haven't thought of because I am too close to this venture? (Polli and Polly.com are already taken) If anyone wants to see my new temp house while I am building (you know give decorating tips what not) go here You can play what pics belong to me and what belong to MAC's Inga and Swen's freewheeling life (hint they dont have pets with them, hence their lives) But more importantly you can tell me what you feel like looking at for the next who knows how long...

So thank you Krista for spoiling and readers for reading!

Too grimey for knitting, too tired to care

OK so today I went to a speed reading class (2 of 4). So far I have improved my reading by 200 wpm. I came home today with visions of knitting, studying and vegging, but instead cleaned. I left my cellphone in the car, and when I went to the garage to retrieve it, I dont know what came over me, but I decided to mow the lawn. Like Im some meth-head house wife with a ton of energy, I thought I would tackle this. The lawn was 3 weeks overdue (ug) to be mowed. WHN kept telling me he would but never did. He has this clever ploy of saying that he doesnt want to do it in the heat, and will wait until it cools down, and OH OOPS it's already dark. Guess it will wait until tomorrow.

Reasons for me not to do it:
-Never mowed a lawn in my life (and not on any of my to do before I die lists)
-There's got to be a reason he's been putting it off (like it's not fun)
-Do I want to set the precendent that if it goes long enough I will just give in and do it?

Frankly, if we didn't live in an association I would hold out until it turned into a jungle. Though also I think of our poor girl dog that hates squatting in tall grass. This is one of those things that universal womanhood of all species would understand and men are oblivious to.

My big worry was going out there and not knowing there was some man secret to it and looking like an ass in front of the neighbors.

What I learned:
-doesnt take that long and WHN should have been out there doing it
-cords are a pain in the ass as is turning the mower

While I was mowing, a little neighborhood boy rides his training wheel bike up to me and says, "my mommy's BF mows our lawn." I said, "is he cute? Does he have a brother?" I wanted to say, yeah they all do stuff like that when they are BFs... or you look like a strong 4 year old. Want to play gardener?"

So now to the edging part. I dont know how to use the strimmer. When I turned it on, it didnt seem to be doing anything so, like any good cyber citizen, I looked for directions online. I also managed to pull it apart (dont ask me why) without having any clue how to put it back together as well as shoot a rock into my leg (OUCH). Something happened while I was strimming. I either broke it or the battery isnt charged. I did all that effort and I dont even get the feeling of finished accomplishment (which btw, the "battery is dead" is how WHN gets out of strimming almost everytime. Evidently he doesn't need that finished feeling of accomplishment.)

Anyway, hopefully WHN will be smart enough to praise the work I did and not so stupid that he mentions that it wasnt finished.

New yarn/ WIP courtesy of cellphone camera (hence not great color quality):


They're supposed to be contrasting colors, I hope these will be contrasty enough. I just didnt want the black white combo.Yarn from Knitpicks for the Sanquhaur gloves that I want to do:

I haven't used Gloss before, these are the colors off their site:



Reversal cable scarf from Scarf Style in Touch Me (god I wish I could swathe my body head to toe in this stuff) Color Terra Cotta (one of MY colors... which good for me, because I am normally drawn to colors I think our gorgeous but then look like crap on me. OK so I know when I buy them they wont be flattering for me and that I will be unhappy with the end result, but yet I cant help it.




Latest STR club shipment (TItania):

Need a scarf pattern

I have 2 skeins of this super soft Malabrigo that I plan to turn into a scarf for my very tall non-knitting friend. I just have to come up with a pattern... Nothing too complicated, because it's not like she would appreciate the extra effort being a non-knitter.

If it was more varegated I would do the bi-directional scarf, but it really is more of a solid. The picture doesnt really do justice to the depth of color.

Weekend Craft Show

This weekend was the Harvest Festival. I have no idea what it is called that because we have 2 or 3 times a year. This is the first time there wasn't someone there selling knitting related things. Last time there was a vendor that took novelty yarns and sew them into strips for scarves. However, this time around the knitting community not represented.

Lots of stuff for Christmas. I did find a couple pieces of jewelry. Both made by Thomas Tucker. I love shells which this bracelet has with Nevada turqouise so it combines my love of the sea with my something from my new home.

The other piece is a green (my fav color) freshwater pearl. I love when the classic pearl is juxtaposed with a modern or rougher setting. I tried to take a photo to bring out the green, but cellphone cameras.. what can you do.

There were a ton of those motorized scooters around. I dont know if this is a Vegas thing, but there are a ton of people that how should I say, have shoes that should be wearing out but aren't. I think this trend will cause counters to be lowered so these people will be able to see the items easier, which will lead to back problems to the willingly able-bodied who then in turn will need assistance of scooters. Soon no one will walk anywhere and there will be inescapable traffic jams in everywhere.

Sadly there was a lot shoddy merchandise: Sloppy painting, bad seams etc. These items ofcourse are selling for lower prices making people feel like they are getting deals. The real artisans then ofcourse look over-priced. Or maybe it's a matter of their work not being appreciated in comparison? I guess we go through that as knitters with most non-knitters not getting the time and material expense of whipping them up a sweater.

Did you see that Interweave is having a swap? Spin to Knit I'm thinking about subjecting some poor slob out there to my spinning.

Miles and miles of i-cord

I just finished a baby hat for a friend's latest addition. And I am doing it almost completely from stash yarn! OK, so the stash in question had only been part of the stash for 26 hours, but that counts right? I mean I bought it because I thought that it's always good to have some kitchen cotton around... and evidently I was right! A day later I came up with a use for it.

The pattern calls for 75 inches of i-cord. Normally I would be crying a river, but with my new knitting machine... it is 7 minutes of work and I am lousy with i-cord. I LOVE IT!!! (And before you purists gasp at the knitting machine, it's just like a sewer using a sewing machine.)

I needed more kitchen cotton for the hat, and I was torn. Michael's didn't have the color I wanted, and the nearest store that could have it was super Walmart. We didn't have them in LA, so I admit it was a novelty for me at first when I moved here. It's this oddly Americana mishmash of great and horrible all rolled up into a megamart. However, my little liberal fairy reminded me the fact that they ruin small towns, pay their workers crap without providing insurance, isn't worth it for me to shop there, so I quickly stopped. OK so I will admit if I needed something in the middle of the night (like yarn- dont judge) I would go, but I always seemed to park my car next to the employees spending their break banging away in a car (still wearing blue vests and all, but you know night shift, bad wages and no insurance, eh let them find benefits where they can.) Suffice it to say, I stopped going to Walmart all together. So yesterday I was torn, did I want to drive the 10 minutes to Joann's or go to cross the river Styxx to Hades disguised with thos inspipid smiling faces. I admit, I succumbed. I start to walk into the mouth of the beast and a family comes out. A little old lady pushing a cart walking along side me, then says, "damn wetbacks probably were in their shoplifiting." Wasnt there that joke that old people always look so sweet until you realized most of them are racist? I just looked at her and said THANK YOU lady and turned and went back to my car. I will never ever go into a Walmart again. I just feel too dirty doing it. And at least the baby wont be wearing a hat spawned from Satan. Please don't let me find out anything bad about Joanns!

Confession time. I was dying to see the pics of little Suri Cruise. Everyone that saw her would mention her hair. I wanted to see the hair-- and that little moptop didnt disappoint. I wish though she had a monobrow like Maggie Simpson's nemesis, Baby Gerald. That would have been adorable. But I think I want all babies to look like Baby Gerald.

This guy has taken a picture of himself everyday for 6 years and put them together into a little film. Totally wild and oddly compelling. Check it out.

Courtesy of the Crafty Weasel

She says that she is helping out my current theme and also showing that her angels have their moments too. But frankly, I think she is trying to keep her rep up over there. But thank you Crafty Weasel, ferrets behaving badly (or naturally) are always welcomed here!

The good news is ferrets don't go outside so at least they aren't tracking dirt. Eventually I think her ferrets will figure out that they can use the line to slingshot each other to higher places.) It's just a matter of time.

Here is Toeboy going for his caffeine fix. If it was just regular coffee, I think he would have skipped it, but the opportunity to make extra strong coffee, a ferret wouldnt turn that down.



When I lived in California I really wanted a ferret. The anti-ferret people say that if pet ferrets were turned loose, they'd destroy the native habitat. Naturally ferrets are carnivores. My ferrets, as smart as they are, I am not sure if they got out that they would make the connection between hunting and food before they would wander up to a strange cat and get killed. I know the largest breeder of ferrets spay/nueter them before the ferrets leave to go to pet stores. (This is actually another issue- fixing ferrets too early can lead to later serious health problems.) They are naturally friendly, but they don't need attention or approval from humans like say a cat or dog. They seek me out to play, but not for any kind of petting or cuddling. I am sure there are snappy ferrets and cuddly ones, but I think your average ferret is friendly but a troublemaker.