Angel with a pocket full of quarters

I'm at work. I wouldn't normally do personal internet stuff at work, especially since I only work 15 hours a week at the office, but something amazing just happened.

Pasadena has free street parking until 11. I typically leave the office at 10:55 and walk over to my car and feed the meter. The little ritual started the same as always, got the quarters out of the jar, went out the back door, walked over to the car. I was about to put in a quarter when I noticed that the meter was not flashing the annoying little 0s. The meter actually read 1 hour, 41 minutes. It must be a mistake, I thought, someone clearly does not understand that you must put the quarters in the meter in front of your car.
So, I walked to the big pick up truck in front of me, ready to put in some quarters. And there on the meter were the same numbers, 1.41, staring at me. I looked at the next meter, the same thing, and the empty parking space, same thing.

A parking angel must have graced the streets that day.

I've actually considered doing the same thing, just putting a few quarters in any low meters which I happen to past. I'd be able to feel good about myself and I'd be fighting against "the man." What more could you want. Of course, I have so little money I actually went over my credit limit the other day, and I can't really see myself "casually" looking at parking meters to see if they're out. And I'm not about to make a special trip just to search out expired parking meters because actively trying to improve your good-will tally is just sad, and just defeats the whole purpose of doing good for good's sake.

Thank you to whoever put in those quarters, and to all of you out there who have put money in the parking meter of a stranger. I salute you.

Knitted gnomester

I'm working on the store sample of the knitted gnome. The pieces on the bottom are the boots, on the left is the body, arms, and then the hat. And to think it'll look even cuter when it's put together.















I went to the Pasadena Stitch n' Bitch group today.
It's a fun group, and I wouldn't be surprised if you already know all about them since half of people have blogs.
There are a number of SnB groups throughout the country.

I hadn't been to the group in over a month, but Joan was nice enough to have made me a gift bag for the group's anniversary which was last week (I think). One of the presents was some very pretty stitch markers, I'll try to take a picture of them.

Joan says she reads the blog. So if you're out there,

Thank You!

Hyperbolic Crochet oh my

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting lately, but I have been crocheting.
I did this hyperbolic crochet with a 3.25 mm hook. Yes, I agree, that is small hook.

Submitting your work at the county fair and the new S n' Bitch book

Everyone loves to be recognized. Here's two ways to flaunt your knittyness:

Enter your work to the LA county fair. The Entries must be postmarked by July 12th.
http://www.fairplex.com/2006/Competitions/Tapestry06/index.asp

And this is the email about submissions to the new SnB book.

Dearest stitchers 'n bitchers:

I'm gearing up to get cracking on my next Stitch 'n
Bitch book. It's going
to be an advanced knitting manual, and I'm looking
for patterns that
incorporate a bit of fancy-pants knitting such as
cables, lace, color work
(either intarsia or fair isle or, hell, both!),
beading, etc. The book will
be covering these techniques in great detail, as
well as much more.

Patterns can range from clothing to accessories to
household items to baby
things and pet items. Even first-time designers are
invited to contribute.
I'm looking for lively, fun projects, and I'm
especially interested in
sweaters and socks.

So put on your thinking caps, cause submissions are
due June 19, 2006!

To submit, please send the following:
1) If you have a completed project, please send a
few good-quality photos of
the item, along with a detailed description of it.

OR

2) If you can 't get a large project done in time to
meet the deadline, don't worry. Just send me a very clear, detailed sketch
of your project idea
(include basic measurements, fit information, etc),
along with a photo of a
rather large swatch (at least 10" x 10") made in the
yarns and stitch
patterns you plan to use.

Photos of projects and swatches can be emailed to me
at
stitchnbitch@bust.com, or mailed to me here: Debbie
Stoller, BUST Magazine,
78 Fifth Ave, 5th floor, New York, NY 10011.

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to include your full name,
email addresses,
daytime and evening phone numbers, and mailing
address, along with your
submissions. Include a SASE (self-addressed stamped
envelope) if you'd like
me to mail your submission back to you after I've
made my selections.

It will take me at least 2-3 weeks to make my
selections. If your project is
accepted, you will be provided with the yarn you
need to produce a sample,
which will be photographed for the book and kept by
me (to take on tour, 'natch!). You will also be paid for your submission,
your pattern will be
credited to you in the book and will run alongside a
brief bio, and of
course, you will receive a free copy of the book
once it is completed.

If you have any questions about the process, feel
free to email me. Thanks
in advance, everyone!

(I apologize to any of you receiving this call for
submissions more than
once; I'm just trying to get the word out to as many
of you as possible.)

xxxooo deb
-----------
Debbie Stoller
http://www.knithappens.com

It's starting to look like something ...

I've been able to work on my lace shirt recently and I finally figured out what I'm going to be doing for the top half of the shirt - knitting stockinette with big needles. Of course that meant I had to do another swatch, but that wasn't much of a sacrifice.


Debbie Stoller is doing a new book on advanced knitting - lace, fair isle, etc. and she's looking for contributions, so I'm going to be submitting the pattern. You just need to submit a picture of the work and the pattern, so I think I'm ok, unlike the LA county fair where it's actually going to be "judged" and scrutinized.

Book signing and UPS

Our first book signing was today. A woman who owns a knitting store in Big Bear was the first person to come in. She actually arrived at 10:30, half an hour before Katherine. Actually, until 12:30 she was the only person to come in for the signing, and we were all feeling bad about the whole situation. Then all of a sudden, at 12:30, there was a rush, at one point there were 6 or 7 people milling around the books and looking at the samples. Janice and Barbara, two women who also go to Jewel City Knitters, a knitting guild Jessamy and I go to, came in.

We actually didn't get the books until last night. The publishers for some unknown reason didn't seem very eager to sell us the books, so we weren't able to actually make the order until last week, despite the fact that I first contacted them a month ago. David wasn't here Friday morning to receive the package, so they left a note saying it would be delivered later, David read it would be delivered from 12:00 to 2:00 on Friday, when I got in at 2:00 I looked at the UPS paper and saw it said 12-2 on MONDAY. So, of course I freaked out. I went on their website and scheduled a same day pick up, thinking that when UPS called back to schedule a time it would be at 4 or 5 o'clock. Nope, we had to go pick it up between 8 and 9 at night.

The UPS same day pick-up turned out to be frustrating and boring to the point of mind numbing, like waiting at the DMV. It worked like an oil deficient machine. There was even a line of cars to get into the parking lot, not because there wasn't enough parking spaces, but because they had to first look on several lists to find your name (they found mine), there were the unlucky (or lucky?) few who weren't even let into the parking lot and had to wait in their car by the curb.

Apparently, after the day's deliveries all the UPS trucks in LA drive to a couple of central locations where the packages are taken off the trucks and put into a warehouse. Except, some truck drivers for one reason or another don't get to the warehouse until after 8, then some of the drivers don't even bother unload the trucks. So the 5 or so people who are working at the same day pick up have to take down everyone's name and number, then go look for a package which might not even be in the right area, sometimes even going to where the truck is parked and looking through all the packages in the truck. There were maybe 40 people who came in for their package while we were there, two of which went up to the counter and complained very loudly that they want their package NOW, and about 20 of which kept pestering the workers. It would suck to work there. I ended up waiting an hour and 45 minutes for my package. Jurassic Park 3 was playing on a TV screen hanging from the ceiling. You would think, with all the stress that's associated with the job they would pick a movie that is a little more soothing and calm. But no. Instead, occasional screams echoed throughout the building. How appropriate. I think I thought it was ok in the movie theatre, not the best movie, but it served it's purpose. But at the UPS center the movie was dull and tedious, kind of fitting actually. The bizarre thing is that after all that standing and waiting (they only had three seats), everyone I saw walking out of the room were clutching a package and smiling. I guess we have short memories.

Book Signing/Trunk Show this Saturday

We're having our first booksigning!

Katherine Lee, creator of SweaterBabe.com, is signing copies of her first book, SweaterBabe.com's Fabulous and Flirty Crochet Saturday, July 3rd, from 11-1pm.

11-1: Book Signing.
Chat with the author, get your booksigned, and admire finished samples from all of the projects on her book.
1-2: Crochet Help Session.
Ask Katherine Lee your crochet questions, or bring in a project for help. Free with purchase of SweaterBabe.com's Fabulous & Flirty Crochet.

Also, stop in for:
light refreshments
free raffle giveaways
and more!