The Dog of Living Dangerously

Riso our English Setter likes to work our last nerve. He knows exactly what will irk us most and he goes for it as often as he can. I was photographing my stash for Ravelry and he decided to help.

Though he is nibbling the Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy. Maybe he's just trying to get high?

More Riso modeling the stash:

A Little Celebration

After I assembled this salad this evening, I decided it looked festive - like confetti (of course the wine helped add to the ambiance). And a celebration is in order at the No-Blog House; I just got a new job!

I'm very excited; I'd been interviewing like crazy at a couple of really good silicon valley companies, and today my first-choice company offered me the job, complete with a mega-raise. I am abso-freakin'-lutely beside myself!

I start September 10th. Now I just have to be a responsible Executive Assistant and focus on wrapping things up where I am for the next 2 weeks instead of blowing it all off because I'm outta there.

I think I want another glass of wine.

Oh yes - I'm in Ravelry! If you wanna be my friend I'm noblograchel. Love Ravelry!

Could Someone Please Find Natalie Maines a Potholder?

I had a dream last night that the Dixie Chicks were playing at some small venue nearby and their guitars - electric no less - were so smokin' hot that they asked me to find them some potholders. Which were suddenly in very short supply in the South Bay. So I was trying frantically to knit a few (the ball-band pattern) before their next set started. Talk about pressure.

We're back from our mini-vacation in the mountains (Strawberry CA) with no cell or wi-fi. My son and his girlfriend joined us - they're still here. We're heading down to Santa Cruz today and then they're flying back to VT tomorrow. : ( It has been fun having them. Heather (said girlfriend) is into crochet but was interested in knitting again (she'd learned a while ago). She wanted to work on an afghan she saw in Mason Dixon, so I gave her some yarn from my stash and some needles and off she went. We went to Sonora on Sunday and I happened upon this LYS. I spotted it and immediately dashed across the street, completely abandoning my family (priorities, you know). It's a very nice little shop with yarns arranged mostly by color. They've got a lot of nice stuff so if you're ever in that area, check it out! Nice people too.

I found some lovely Inca Cotton (Oz color way), which is not only organic, it's incredibly soft. I'm going to combine it with a skein of the same yarn in a solid cream to make this:

This is the Fitted Tank from the summer issue of Knitters. It's a pretty good issue I think - there are a couple of things I'd like to make from it. The Oz (soft green) will be the main color and the cream will be the accent. I can't wait to cast on! But I've got a little more to go on my Icarus, so I'm sticking to that for now.

I also further encouraged Heather's knitting habit by picking up a skein of Lamb's Pride in a soft yellow for her, which she liked. I think I just became an enabler. I'm so proud!

Miguel doesn't want the dogs to be the only models in the house. He's 18, constantly irked about something and doesn't hesitate to let us know about it. My husband, who gives everything a nickname, refers to him as "Migraine", but we love the cranky old coot.

More on the vacation later - someone took all the pics off my camera and I can't get at them right now! Besides, we're off to spend the day in Santa Cruz.