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December 30, 2004
Impromptu
Somebody at TiVo yesterday gave Rob free tickets to last night's performance of Take Me Out at the Golden Gate. As we were driving up to the city, I happened to call Troy and I told him where we were going, and he said that's what HE was thinking about doing. So he did, and we went, and it was great, and not just because there were lots and lots of naked men onstage. Mmmm, naked baseball players.
Afterwards, we went to the Tonga Room because Troy lives in the City and HAS NEVER BEEN TO THE TONGA ROOM. Or Alcatraz. Many appropriately fruity drinks were consumed, and a good time was had by all.
Now I really need to get off my ass and get Rob up so we can pack and get the hell out of here.
Posted by Kate at 11:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDecember 27, 2004
Whew
Okay, Bianca got her baby back. All is well. They tried to make me care that JR is sad because he thinks his baby is dead, but I don't. JR is a big poopy-head. He'll get his stupid baby back eventually.
Posted by Kate at 4:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHoliday Weekend: Round One
I had an especially nice Christmas this year. Because my brother-in-law Joe is a cop and had to work on Christmas night, we shifted the entire weekend over and got an entire extra day of holiday goodness.
- On the 24th ("First Christmas Eve"), Rob picked Abbie up from the airport, and my friend Kevin came over. The four of us ate KateandRob Traditional Christmas Eve Tacos. We played Hoopla, which was incredibly fun, and had a jolly ole time.
- On the 25th ("Second Christmas Eve" or "Fondue Day"), Rob and Abbie and I drove up to Orland in the completely packed car. (What did we even do in the car? It's all a blur. I read aloud for awhile, but then I frantically knitted most of the way.) We played Pinochle and more Hoopla, ate snacks, talked on the phone to the Seattle contingent, then stuffed ourselves like turkeys on two kinds of fondue. To appease the gift-deprived, we all opened one present. Elizabeth made Abbie and I these fantastic knitting bags with heat-transfer designs on them, and inside mine was some yarn and a book about how to knit a sweater. Rock on!
Poor Rob hadn't been feeling well since lunch, so I sent him up to the Ramada Inn in Corning (this sounds callous, but it was a good idea), and I got to sleep all snuggled up out in the trailer.
- On the 26th ("Actual Christmas"), everybody but Rob and Joe got up at the butt-crack of dawn. Eventually they arrived and we ate scrambled eggs with cream cheese and mushrooms, Swedish cardamom bread, which was really the best we've ever had, and drank mimosas. Then we opened our stockings, and then our presents. I made out like a bandit. Rob got me an amazing jewelry box. Abbie got me some absolutely spectacular rosewood knitting needles, and I got a beautiful suede knitting bag and a spa bathrobe, and jewelry, and a panini machine, and all sorts of great stuff.
After the bacchanalia, we played games, drank wine and vegetated until dinnertime. We had scrumptious pie and fondue for dessert, then Abbie and Rob and Joe and I spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub. It was pouring down rain, but it's hard to be cold in a hot tub while drinking bourbon with your lovely family.
Now it's back to rehearsal. I utterly failed to paint the set last week. I really need to get it done before I leave for Seattle on Thursday. In less than a week I'll be home! Woohoo! I can smell the Pagliacci pizza already.
p.s. Bianca did NOT get her baby back. I wish I had the balls to follow through on my promise and never watch that stinking abscess of a show again, but I don't.
Posted by Kate at 12:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDecember 22, 2004
Holiday Miscellanea
If I eat another caramel, I'm going to explode. I took them off the heat a fraction of a second too late, so they're a little harder than I'd like them to be, but they are deeeee-licious. Gotta love Plugra. I really should get off my butt and get the marshmallows started.
I'm nearly finished with the man-scarf (made from Rowan Plaid), and I worked on Avery's kitten-soft scarf (made with pink Lana Grossa Estivo Print) while I was getting my hair done today. My hair is brown again! Praise Jeebus!
Speaking of The Baby Jeebus, my "Sainted Aunt" sent me a Christmas card dripping with offensive religious sentiment. To make matters worse, she hand-wrote "Jesus loves you" in it. I threw it in the recycling bin. I'm tempted to send her a card with "Satan loves you" written inside, but then that would acknowledge her card, and I'm trying to ignore her. WHY, WHY, WHY couldn't she have become Jewish or Hindu or SOMETHING NORMAL? Why did she have to embrace Nasty Fundamental Christianity? It makes me so sad. She used be so much fun. Now she's a lame-ass bigot.
On a nicer note, my mother-in-law sent me not one, but two fabulous blazers. One is a black Liz Claiborne, which is a perfect replacement for my old nylon blazer which I loved to death, and the other is an absolutely delicious Ann Taylor blazer in a gorgeous shell-pink herringbone tweed with a notched lapel. Yum, yum, yum.
Posted by Kate at 6:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBackDecember 19, 2004
Amazing
Well, call it an Old-fashioned Christmas Miracle. I finished Rob's hat, and it looks pretty cool. It is as soft as, um, a baby alpaca. Now I just have to finish the three skillion scarves I'm making, and I'll be set.
Tomorrow I'm going to AMT with Mary to get more costumes, then I need to get cracking on my Christmas candy-n-stuff making. Also, I have to decide what's going to go into the Christmas Eve fondues. For the dessert, I'm thinking homemade caramels and marshmallows, random fruit, and maybe marzipan-stuffed dates. What else goes in chocolate? What goes in cheese fondue besides bread? Apples?
December 16, 2004
I'm SMOKIN'!
Oh, it's been such an exciting day!
First, in the middle of the night, I got really cold and stumbled to the closet to get my gigantic red Minnie Mouse nightshirt, and I accidentally pulled out my enormous Disney's California Adventure fleece sweater. This morning I went to put it on since it was on the floor, and out of the sleeve fell...my missing cashmere cable-knit sock! Woohoo! It had been missing for months, and I'd been about to throw its mate away. But instead, fortune smiled, and the socks are now on my feeties.
Then I had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and take the Yasudae to the airport. Whew! It was exciting! I almost got into a fist-fight with an overly agressive security guard/traffic cop dude at the airport.
Then I worked on Rob's hat. I have one half totally done, and I'm about halfway done with the other half.
Then I wrapped some more Christmas presents.
THEN we had our first full run-through of Our Town. It went surprisingly well, considering it was the first time we've had most of the cast there all at once. I think we're going to have a kickass show.
Don't I live a thrilling life?
Posted by Kate at 11:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDecember 13, 2004
Yes, un Tannenbaum!
I'm like, in the Christmas mood and stuff. The tree is up and there are fabulously decorated presents under it. See?
My shopping is about 80 percent done. I need to go to the cigar place, a bookstore, and Beltramo's. Also, I'm out of Christmas pins to put on the presents, and I don't have ANY stocking stuffers for Ethan. And I need to finish the purple scarf and Rob's infernal hat.
For as long as we've been together, Rob's Christmas stocking has been a blue and white striped stocking cap that I'd gotten at J. Crew. He's been asking me to make a new one, since the existing one doesn't hold a lot of loot. So I found a pattern in the slightly snotty Hollywood Knits book. I started with some cheap-ass yarn and cheap-ass needles, but it made me crazy. Yesterday we went to the fancy yarn store so I could get some nice bamboo needles, and Rob found a bin full of 100% baby alpaca yarn. It is the softest substance in the world, and it is an absolute joy to knit with. I altered the pattern slightly because the yarn's thicker than the pattern calls for, and now I'm paying for it by having to make a lot of crazy calculations. AND I made a big mistake that I saw way too late and therefore had to undo about twelve rows. Sigh. If it turns out, it really will be an old-fashioned Christmas miracle.
December 8, 2004
Purl-o-rama
Okay, I think I have the purling business down. I went to the fabulous Knitter's Studio in Menlo Park (which had not closed, but had moved down the street) and a nice lady there showed me what I was doing wrong. Actually, she wasn't all that nice about it, but I really appreciated it and thanked her profusely even though she was pretty surly. Now I'm making this fabulous scarf:
If you get it for Christmas, pretend to be surprised.
Posted by Kate at 10:33 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBackDecember 2, 2004
Knit one, purl none
Hey, readers! Wanna make ten bucks? Then come on over here and show me how to purl. I can knit just great, but I can't figure out how to purl. I have two books and I looked on the Web, but I can't seem to follow the pictures. It's driving me nuts. The garter stitch is only so interesting.
I've made two whole scarves, one that I intend to unravel because it's a big mess and I knit much of it while on the red-eye to MN and under the influence of Tylenol PM, and another scarf made of fluffy raspberry-colored yarn that I absolutely love and have already worn twice.
I guess I should just go find some nice yarn store on the Peninsula and have somebody show me what I'm doing wrong. Anybody know a good place? There was that great store in Menlo Park, but it doesn't seem to be there anymore. I'm getting pretty tired of yarn from Michael's, anyhow.
Posted by Kate at 9:53 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack