happy wednesday!

Two more wake-ups till the weekend :)

... and I can't wait 'til the weekend. I plan to do a whole lot of nothing, for the first time in a loooong time.

Happy Hump Day!

I miss the ocean. I lived in Ventura, back upon a time.

I really REALLY miss getting tamales instead of cookies at Christmas time.

Hope Victor hangs in there. But if not... well... I'm sure another opportunity will present itself to try again... and again...

But those peppers are looking GREAT!

Now I'm going back to bed. I've read CAP and all is well with the world...

Whoah - way to go on the hat! Yes, unfortunately in Boston, we're still wearing hats. ugh. I love wearing handknits and all...but I kind of like the sun too.

Oh, I would LOVE to have your weather. But, I can't really complain, being as it is getting warmer by the day here in The Sunshine State and bonus! No traffic! At least none to speak of.

And double bonus: I got a comment in before the other few hundred people got here! Yea, me!

I wore those same type I-can't-believe-they-fit pants last week. This week they are in the trash bin. The lack of circulation was too much...that and the fear that they might split at work.

Laurie, if you do finish the hat and you choose to come east to wear it, you'll be welcomed with open arms--it's very close to Virginia Tech orange.

Long Live Victor!

Your hat looks awesome (I love me some orange), but I always though "whut whut" was actually spelled "w00t w00t." :)

And don't worry about us Easterners; we always wonder how y'all live with the danger of earthquakes and the total lack of winter! (Okay, I'm a Southeasterner. But I learned about winter when I lived in Michigan for five years. w00t!)

My pants are also too tight today. I have to give a talk this afternoon so I'm wearing my last suit that still fits me... a gray Jones New York number that I bought on eBay for about $40 ... I guess I need to go back online to supplement my sartorial splendor. In the meantime, thank heavens (or at least Target) for "Assets," which I learned about here. They're all that's keeping my buttons from exploding into disarray.

Viva la Victor!

I cannot handle traffic. I had to drive 30 miles to the dr yesterday morning. It took me over an hour. My usual commute is six miles in the 'burbs. I was not. happy. I got lost. My appointment was cancelled and rescheduled. I cried. Then my alternator crapped out. I should have just stayed home!

Hi Laurie - you know one of the most favorite parts of my day is to run out to my bookmarked location of CAP and see if you have posted anything!!! By the way - I think there is a lot of traffic here in Minneapolis too ... but the driving could never be as scary is driving in LA! This may be in the archives and I may have missed it - but what brought you to CA? Just wondering - other than - that it is a slice of Heaven - with Smog a la mode.

It looks beautiful here but the wind has a bite to it - so you could wear all of your cool knit things (my kids think it's shorts weather ... yesterday it was in the high 40's in the morning ... Brr!) Anyway - hope you are having a great day! It's my birthday today - celebrating Sweet 16 for the 3rd time :-).

Sue

P.S. Your friend Annie M is coming to St. Paul this weekend at the Yarnover ... I am so excited to see all the different vendors! You know ... Yarn ... and the addiction!

Keep those green pictures comin! Hopefully the weather around here will get the hint and we can have some springtime up here in the Great Land of Winter (or Pennsylvania if you want to be technical about it). I dunno what it is today but it just feels like such an awesome day. I do hope Victor pulls through. I'm rooting for the little guy! (Get it? rooting? cause he's a plant?? Ok.. I'm done ;))

It is really nice here today too! I wish I didn't have to work but the son's car is all broken down and Mom either fixes it, drives him around or lends him her car. All the options suck.
On a lighter note, Happy Birthday Dad and Abe, my favorite Bro.

If you want to doctor Victor, you could try repotting him a bit deeper (so the whole bulb is buried) in a really loose soil. Sometimes mixing in a bit of fireplace ash or lime helps--onions like their soil a bit "sweet".

Or, it could just be Darwin's Garden: survival of the fittest.

Vive le Victor!

mmmm peppers.

I have those pants too! They hang right between my "someday I will be able to fit into these I bought on sale but have never worn" and the "ooo wasn't that some good mexican food / dairy queen / bottle of wine last night"

I don't want you to be disappointed, but I think Victor is almost DONE. Not as in, like, DONE FOR, but that he achieved his higher purpose in life by becoming an real onion, and there isn't a lot more left for him to do. And you shouldn't feel bad about that, because who among us has such a clear goal in life, where we just have to breathe and soak in the water and the light and magically become what we were meant to become? Actually, now I'm kind of getting jealous of Victor.

But he might make seeds . . .

I almost did the same thing with a pair of size 12 Anne Taylor jeans this morning. I was all excited that they zipped up and was wearing them while taking the dog out. Then I came inside and between bending over to give Rex his treats and sitting down to put on real shoes I thought better of the pants. Especially since the office was going out for pizza buffet today!

But yay for us being able to zip them up!!!

Also I just want to say I'm not writing here about what happened in Blacksburg because it's too close to home for me, too horrifying, and anyway I know you can read and think and ponder about it in a million other places, online, on TV, papers, magazines. I don't understand it and can't wrap my mind around it, and I'm not ignoring the topic because I don't care ... I'm just not going to write about it because it's very upsetting and confusing and too much.

Sometimes you just want to pretend something is going to be fine and talk about a dumb hat, I guess.

Hello! I like the hat - I liked the hat of 2 years ago too - GREAT colors. Thanks to you CAP, I was finally motivated to try to knit a hat for myself in the round. I've done them on straight and then seemed, but this was so much easier than I thought it would be. Now, everything must be knit in the round and I am working on a kitty pi!! So thank you very much for the knitting inspiration!

hi, laurie!

not to put too fine a point on it, because it doesn't make all that much of a difference - but the hat you're knitting that is relaxing and fun to knit is in stockinette. garter stitch in the round is awful and horrible and shouldn't be attempted unless you hate knitting, or want to by the end of your project.
when you're knitting flat, knitting every stitch creates garter stitch - where little bumps show up on both sides of the work.
knitting in the round, knitting every stitch creates stockinette, where there's a smooth (knit) side, and a bumpy (purl) side.

as i say, it really doesn't matter. end lecture.

Oh, I remember those days of zipping up too tight jeans, I think I permanently damaged my liver or something.

Thank you for posting photos of your plants again. They warm up my soul, as I am a farm girl at heart.

With such a long winter my blood has thinned and I have no cold tolerance anymore--plus the landlady is turning off the heat during the day (it's 46 degrees right now and not much warmer inside). I am wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, a wool pullover and a wool cardigan over that--plus wool socks and this morning I had two hats on! Argh...I am turning into my grandmother.

Wonder what would happen if you cut the green back on Victor--let him work on his root-growing and then maybe some new green would pop up--or not. Hate to experiment on Victor--but since his son is waiting in the wings...?

Victor needs water! STAT!

Hey, I have the same problem as Victor with potatoes. Those guys really can grow sometimes. Happy Hump Day from the sunny South. No snow here..........just traffic, too.

Hooray for garter stitch in the round!! And please, please, keep showing sunshine-y pictures of your plants, they are like having a virtual spring instead of a real one for all of us on the East coast. I'm thinking happy pepper planting thoughts for you.

Great job on the peppers!

I get a weekly box o' veggies from a local farm near Sacramento, and every week it also comes with a letter from my farmer, Pablito. At first I thought that Pablito was a very whiny man. He was always complaining about something messing up some part of his crop.

But after readings his letters for 3 years now, I've learned a wee bit about farming. (1)Something's always going wrong for something on the farm, if you've got a lot of variety. So, you should take heart. Victor's dying back, is what happens with onions as they make themselves back into bulbs (think tulip). And this means it could be a stellar year for peppers.

you have to learn to say nor'easter like a nor'easterner. (think mark wahlberg in the 'perfect storm' -- how cute was he in that). it's a noh'eastah.

Awww, your baby chiles are so cute.
Happy hump day.

And Laurie? I know what you mean about the VA Tech thing. I'm kind of greatful you aren't writing about it. I know you're not ignoring it or making light of it, it's just I'm bombarded from all sides with news news news but that's just not doing anything at all for me for actually coping with it.

Laurie -- I lived in L.A. for 8 years. Now I live in Boston. Our traffic is worse than L.A.s and we have the stupid weather. I want to go back!

i am so glad to see something green growing (WHY oh WHY does it keep getting cold in TEXAS in MID-APRIL??). i'm trying my own hand at herbs.. they are... struggling, yeah, that's it. but, they are doing better than my new bonsai tre, named "Bonsai-san." Why does the bonsai tree have a name? because i carry him around like a baby, trying to coax him to not be brown. i told my mom "Basically, i've been talking to a twig in a pot." and my mom says "have you thought of throwing it/him away?" heavens, no!!

Hey all you CAP readers...Our girly has only 46 votes on the bloggers choice awards web page. Follow the link and let's watch her win! She is in the "Best Hobby Blog" and she is the third one down from the top.

http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/main/login

We know she is the best but we have to tell everyone else in the world.

Over the weekend I adopted a rescue horse named "Victor." And for the past five days I've been driving myself crazy trying to remember who the other Victor was that I "knew."

Thanks for reminding me who that Victor was!

Go Victor times two!

Sometimes I turn the a/c very cold so that I have an excuse to build a fire in the fireplace... and wear a sweater.... sometimes I miss the mountains...

Laurie - Victor is a biennial. Onions are biennials grown as annuals, so we plant the seed, and harvest the onion the first year. If, as in Victor's case, we let them grow a second year, that's when they make seeds. So, Victor won't be long for this world, but like Charlotte's Web, he's in the process of making you a whole bunch of baby onions. If he blooms. So keep him happy and hope for a flower bud! Oh, and so will your entire hat be smooth on the outside, with a rolled brim? If so, you must be a "process knitter" - process knitters refer to knitting that involves knitting every stitch as garter. Product knitters refer to finished fabric with one knit row and one purl row as garter, and the round hat you're making would be a "stockinette hat" to a product knitter. Process knitters are my idols - because for them knitting is like meditation or relaxation, but for me, I get impatient and just want it done so I can wear it. :-)

"Sometimes you just want to pretend something is going to be fine and talk about a dumb hat, I guess."

It's understandable. Sometimes events are too incomprehensible for words.

LOL! I'm sitting here right now with a long shirt covering my unbuttoned pants. I know you're not dieting but I'm starting today!!

Laurie - Victor is a biennial. Onions are biennials grown as annuals, so we plant the seed, and harvest the onion the first year. If, as in Victor's case, we let them grow a second year, that's when they make seeds. So, Victor won't be long for this world, but like Charlotte's Web, he's in the process of making you a whole bunch of baby onions. If he blooms. So keep him happy and hope for a flower bud! Oh, and so will your entire hat be smooth on the outside, with a rolled brim? If so, you must be a "process knitter" - process knitters refer to knitting that involves knitting every stitch as garter. Product knitters refer to finished fabric with one knit row and one purl row as garter, and the round hat you're making would be a "stockinette hat" to a product knitter. Process knitters are my idols - because for them knitting is like meditation or relaxation, but for me, I get impatient and just want it done so I can wear it. :-)

I remember meeting the older, wiser sibling of your hat! Are you still using the same stitch marker? :)

I need me a roundish hat to work on - my dumb sock went to the frog pond (again) last night.
Have some thoughts on protecting the pepper children - something I saw in a gardening catalog. I don't have need for it (being in MN and all) but you might find it useful.
Assuming you're doing the raised bed thing - they made it look like those old wooden sandboxes we used to have with the canvas roof - only instead of canvas they had used some special netting to allow some but not all of the hot sun through...
Does that make any sense??
If I can find it I'll fire off some info in an email.

But what if I *like* snow?
...And the absence of earthquakes?

Around here, when the snow is gone, that means the mosquitoes show up. They're insane little f*ckers, and I'd much rather cover myself with layers of handknits and freeze than deal with lawnmowers and mosquitoes for months on end.

oiy.. it is 39 degrees and STILL raining here in Worcester, MA... it does get old. But we have hope, this weekend we have promises of sun and 60s, and 70s for early next week! Whoo Hoo! I can wear my handknits next winter... enough already.

I think Victor might want a much deeper pot and more compost or dirt and plenty of water. Onions can grow some really impressive flowers given the chance. It's worth a shot.

Aye...long live Victor =)

so that green stuff in those pictures... I think it's called grass? I have vague memories of it. Actually, it's quite sad to know that before the most recent 'nor'easter' the grass was actually beginning to green-up around here. Hints of spring & all that. Now, the robins are chirping but it's wierd to hear them and SEE snow. Pics on the blog... and it's still on the ground days later

Well since I have the opposite of a green thumb, I am totally not able to comment on Victor except to say that I do like the idea of naming your plants---maybe if I did that I would be more successful! But I love the new hat and perhaps by now it is already sitting jauntily on your head.......

Good fer you!

Maybe you want to spring for 5 tix to this upcoming extravaganza:
http://www.moscowcatstheatre.com/calendar/index.html

You really do have to look at the site to see what cats can do. With some motivation. Yeah. Circus cats. Hmmmmmm

Laurie, I posted one small thing on my blog about Blacksburg. Just because I couldn't really bring myself to NOT say a little something.

But it's the same reason I try not to talk about politics... there are people out in the blogosphere who are smarter than me and can talk circles around me... and some of us are here to just read and cry and pray.

Laurie, how we survive winter here in the North East.. is by curing. A lot. If winter doesn't get it's arse out of here soon.. I might have to get ugly.

I love your blog and I've been lurking for a while now, but I think you should know -- and sorry for being the bearer of bad news -- but Kitty Carlisle ("To Tell The Truth") has died. I know how much she means to you.

what a fancy knitting tote you have! Where can i buy one like it?
And my jeans aren't too tight-I just have an enormous muffin top today. Not tight at all.

OMG Kitty Carlisle!

I LOVED KITTY CARLISLE.

Laurie,
I just read that Kitty Carlisle died... I know you did that post about her months ago, but once a fan always a fan. Let's pull out our big dinner rings, chiffon and feather boas and toast her tonight!
Don't worry about Victor. He is an onion,he is tough...

Whoa - I saw knitting and had to sit down. I love the color. I'm glad things are growing in your yard! I'm still stalking trees for leaf buds here in the great state of cheese.

Oh - I used one of your lines today - so I must thank you very much. Someone was complaining about a VERY minor typing error I made. I looked them in the eye and said, "I am sorry about the typo. Please do understand though, ya'll are lucky if I remember to put my pants on for the next 4 weeks until things settle down."

cursingmama -

Are you going to the Yarnover at the Arlington High School on Rice? - it's this Saturday.

sue

I second the recommendation to go see the "Moscow Cats Theater." You won't see kitties leaping through flaming hoops, but a real cat person will be impressed. "Whoa, they trained her to do THAT?" I had the best time; me and about a hundred 11-year-old girls. :)

I was going to say something dumb, like why not give Victor some compost, 'cause "to the victor go the spoils" but I changed my mind. I'm having a very blonde day; thank God it's Wednesday.

Your hat is looking very bright and cheery today - thanks for the cheer! Whoot for the garter stitch (I have no idea what that actually IS, mind you, but if it makes you cheery hats, then Whoot!)

Laurie, your cheerfulness is a bright spot in my current CNN-centric non-stop-tragic-talk world of the last three days. A breath of fresh air. Don't apologize for not dwelling on something we in Virginia can't seem to get away from, currently. It's a relief to read about your happy-bright orange hat and your Victors and your peppers and your yay-they-fit-oops-hard-to-sit pants. Keep it comin'. :-)

Your pepper plants look like they're doing so well! yay :)

I never have the heart to REALLY thin out plants.. I always sort of just move the pulled plants to a different place so they can grow too. haha.

Remind me not to read your post while eating lunch. I started laughing, inhaled sandwich down the wrong tube, sprayed half-chewed cheese all over my keyboard and monitor in an attempt to get it out, and am still coughing. Now my coworkers are asking if I'm okay.

Isn't it nice to know you're not the only one with embarrassing moments?

I'm not sure if you've heard this or not, but Natural Balance venison & green pea cat food has been recalled - I'm not sure if you use that flavor or not, but I remember you saying something about having a frequent buyer Natural Balance card & thought I'd let you know. I'm taking my cat to the vet today. Hopefully yours are fine.

I saw that recall, Rebecca. My cats are fine (they do eat that food, and I did freak out when I saw it) but I would have seen if any one of them had been paltry the past few weeks (they prefer le Meow Mix to the healthier Natural Balance) so... I'm trying to be calm.

I am so MAD about the pet food thing. And all the news, basically. And my pants.

and I hope your cats are fine, too, though I am trying to be calm for us all! need wine!

Love the hat but it looks like stockinette, not garter stitch. When you knit in the round and all stitches are knit, not purl, you get stockinette. To get garter stitch in the round, you need to knit one round, purl one round. So which are you doing? Inquiring minds want to know.

Go hat! Go peppers! Go Victor! I wish I knew more about growing things...

I made a pair of size 12 slacks, that I had forgotten for a couple of months, to fit me!! The zipper resisted a bit but gave in. I think my legs are turning blue from lack of circulation though...

Oh dear. I hate to be Debbie Downer today but our dear sweet Kitty Carlisle died last night. She was 96.

We in New Jersey appreciate your sympathy!
Send woolens! It's cold!

Happy Hump Day! I read your blog all the time, (although I've never commented before) and I found something that may interest all your readers. There is a new book out called "Cast on, Bet's off". It's a suspence thiller about a murder committed wit size 11 Addi's! Google it, you'll find it's only available in knitting stores.

Oooooh Weeee T-Shane! I was driving in LA traffic last weekend and...just shoot me, if I ever have to do that all the time! I always think San Diego has gotten bad. Nuh Uh.

Ahhhh, it's so nice to see things growing! My poor tulips and daffodills have been snowed on too many times, they just gave up & drooped flat to the ground. Some are trying to revive themselves, but I think most of the daffys are just not coming back. We're having way chillier than normal temps here, I'm waiting for some global warming to head this way, if it snows again I'm going to jump off a bridge. Or complain a lot.

I, for one, am quite grateful for some time to think about "a dumb hat." Thank you.

Is it Friday yet? And Victor doesn't look that bad. At least he's still alive.

It's getting chilly here in DALLAS! I mean, I have to wear a sweatshirt and everything. Seriously, y'all, what is going on?

(I say all this because I am terrified of the cold and I am moving to New York next year. Someone hold me.)

Rave #4?? Nothing compared to the Aquanet I pumped into the ozone - I used to be able to withstand a Nor' Easter with hardly a flicker to my curled-up-bangs!

Also, from what I understand, you have cockroaches the size of Humvees. Or maybe that's Florida. Snakes, you have poisonous snakes, without even a soundtrack to warn you that one is coming.

Does Victor maybe need water? He looks a trifle thirsty. I could send him some, we have plenty.

Just because I am in a contrary mood today, Happy Thursday! (I'm in Japan for the time being, back to "oh god is it hot" CA soon enough) Have a great day!

Okay, when I first saw the picture of the peppers, I thought it was some kind of weird sushi.

Hi Laurie. More knitting posts, less VT and pet food news- thanks for the reprieve.

LOVE the orange color.

What are the bushes/shrubs/hedge in your yard? It looks so pretty and green.

Rave #4!! I think I helped contribute to the imminent global boil-over in high school, too!

Also had a "HEY! I zipped these pants up!!!" moment about a week ago. And then also had the "Hey - I have no blood circulating anywhere below my waist!" feeling. The jeans are folded up and looking at me every day - as an inspiration! Course they are now also covered with cat hair as Tiger seems to think they are her new bed!

Have a great day!

1. Love the color of your newest project.
2. Sorry 'bout the onion.
3. Thanks, as always, for the laughs!

I thought the ad on your sidebar said "Runaway Knits" and I thought of your Noro scarf that went on and on and on and laughed. Then I reread the ad and it wasn't as funny.

I think Victor needs to be planted in the ground, bulb and all, but he's just going to grow more leaves and don't you eventually want to eat the onion?

Whut! Whut!

And go pepper seedlings! Yay!

Laurie--

This is a total nonsequitur, but I'm drinking a toast to Kitty Carlisle tonight while scarfing down the last of the half-price Easter candy--and I thought of you.

WWKCD?

So nice to see some greenery. After living in the Boston area for all these years, I still haven't gotten my head around the nor'easter as a separate kind of storm. I just think, Geez, look at all those branches that blew down! (Or damn, that was a lot of snow!).

Weather Girl?!

That's great! I actually am a weather girl but not the TV sort. I do weather for wild fire fighters but they all call me the weather girl. Now that I'm over 40 I embrace the "girl" bit and pretend I'm younger. Or tell them I perfer the term "Weather Nerd"...more accurate.

{yawn} No sign of Francisco yet... and Tricia? I thought it was sushi too. It's finally warm here and I'm going to dig around in my yard this weekend. The weather guy said "sunny and 70" for Saturday, o blessed guy. I think my Trillium survived the 8" of snow last week.

I'm determined to finish up three projects currently on the needles, then I may try a couple of those cute roll-edge caps too. (But I do have to get this baby blanket done, I'd like to give it to him before he starts kindergarten!) I'm a process knitter; it's always so kicky when I finish something - and it IS something!

NOTE: there is now a vaccine to prevent getting shingles. Everyone out there over 40 or so? GET IT! Don't ask me why I say this {groooaaann}

Sensational hat! I am knitting/crocheting hats for my local Wig, Hat and Scarf Library (for cancer sufferers) and your recipe for the roll brimmed hat is fabulous ;) Do you mind if I link to it on my blog?

I worry that you are already too attached to the pepper plants. I mean, don't love them like your children when they could be consumed in one night by a rabbit or a jackalope or whatever you have there in So Cal. Love them from afar like an evil stepmother. when they look nice, and give you peppers, take all of the credit. If they die or get eaten you can forget they existed and not be sad.

Oh wait, this is my relationship with all plants. Maybe that's why they all die. But I am not sad about it, so it kinda works.

sometimes, if you take a giant poop *teehee* those pants fit...for a few hours at least. ^-^
maybe kitty carlisle will be reincarnated into Victor.

Hi Laurie,
You can pinch all of the yellowish and unsightly springs off Victor; I think it'll do it good. At least aesthetically.

I voted for you! You are 64 votes and in second place...Come on everyone go Vote! http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/ <--You will have to create a username and password...but Laurie is worth it.

As for the Nor'easter...this one was a whomper! I will have yard work all summer long just cleaning the debris. But, at least the snow is finally gone!! Also, RIP Le Victor, I think he needs to be planted a little deeper.

Your hat yarn matches the color of Bossy's new shutters, which as you can imagine is causing quite the stir in Ye Olde Neighborhood.

Happy Thursday! The sun is brightly shining here today. But I have posted a link to the local paper with some amazing photos of the storm damage. We made it through fine but there are some houses that ended up in the ocean, some roads completely disappeared. Now the difference here is, weather goes away. LA traffic doesn't. Keep growing those peppers!

L-
I want to pass my condolences on the passing of your beloved Kitty Carlisle. Page 2 of the Nashville CityPaper-my first thought is I must email Laurie.

I know I am a heel for saying this, but that is stockinette stitch in the round. To get garter stich in the round, you have to alternate knit and purl rows.

oh my goodness. you are a delight! if you ever move to new jersey and are looking for a best friend, call me. i'm on it :)

Laurie,

I am moving to LA in about a month. And wondering if I should even bother driving my POS car out there.

Also, I would enjoy your general advice for a move to LA...I've never even been to the state!

I'm praying for Victor.

~Jenna