What a surprise!

Today I came home for lunch, as I usually do to make me a quick bite to eat, and there was a package waiting for me. I was caught completely off guard as I had swaps going on and no orders I'm waiting for. What did I get?

My Aunt Virgie from Bremington, Washington sent me the best gift, just because 8-) It is my very own "Edward" Apple paperweight! I love it! Something so simple and little yet so wonderful! I, as you know, am a Twilight fan, and this is super. I've placed it atop the top shelf of my book case in my office next to all my other Twilight paraphernalia.



I'll have to call my Auntie tomorrow to give her a HUGE thank you!

In other fibery news, what's on new on my needles?

The "Aztec" beanie, this is my own design, I'm knitting this for my husband. I'm using Cascade Yarns Venezia Worsted Weight yarn in color #131. This yarn is Merino Silk; the color is an ash gray, perfect for a man. My husband named it "Aztec" because it reminds him of the Aztec calendar. I've been meaning to knit him a beanie of his own for awhile now, and I did try with a different yarn, Black Malabrigo yarn, but I just wasn't getting the right stitch definition from the Malabrigo, so I frogged it.

I started this version the other day, but haven't made much progress because I need shorter circulars, these are 24'inch, and it's rather slow knitting because I to constantly adjust the stitches as I knit. I'll be picking the right length US7's up tomorrow to finish the "Aztec". I really like the way the stitch definition is coming out with this yarn. I really can't wait to get the right needles so I can finish this.





I'll keep you posted on the progress of this, I hope to finish it this weekend, but I have allot planned that won't involve knitting 8( We'll see if I can squeeze in an FO!

Have a good weekend!

~Rocky

A Mellow Mother's Day

This Mother's day was one for the record book, very mellow indeed. I got some good rest in and then my husband took me to Starbucks for a Grande Vanilla Rooibos. I've weened myself off of the Venti White Mochas and now have the Grande Vanilla Rooibos, which is just a black tea packet of vanilla flavored tea with steamed milk. It's de-li-sh! No sugar needed, simple and tasty. For the past two years I've been working on changing my eating habits. I had first started out by eating my dinner on a child sized plate with child sized portions, and also eating more in between meals. Then I weened myself down from no coke except 7up, and then down to eating more healthy raw vegetables, and so on. Come to present day and now I only drink plain water, milk, or sometimes juice, no soda. I also eat much differently, more chicken, alot more veggies, no sweets, unless I feel like it. I've actually learned to not crave anything sweet, which is pretty cool and I've learned to really love water, I never new I could. I tried having coke the other day, and ugh, it was gross to me. I even tried having one of my Venti White Mochas, and boy did I get sick, my system was rejecting it. I've also started running for the last 2 months, I run between 1-2 miles every other day, and I'm loving the feeling. I've lost so much weight, and I feel great.

A great feeling this Mother's day, sorry for the digression there, I'm just felt like sharing some of the my adventures. My husband treated me all weekend, just being at my beck and call, even though he really always is for me like that. I had a BBQ'd tri-tip, grilled asparagus, and stuffed mushrooms for dinner, hmmm! Ooh, and a drumstick for desert, YUM-O! Plus roses from my hubby. My kids bought me an awesome Twilight t-shirt from Hot Topic, I love IT! My Mother bought me the book "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer with $40 in it for spending.

Here's my happy face!



To all Mother's, "Happy Mother's Day!"

A Welcome Trance

It's been at least a week since I posted, so much has happened since then, and so little too. I'll share that I've been, not feeling well for sometime now, and finally ended up at the emergency room last week. For now, the outlook is good, there are tests I'm taking, but I feel it will turn out fine. I literally lost touch with everything during this past week, dealing with my issue, which explains my neglection to my blog.

I'm finally getting back on track, and now can start replying to emails, posts, comments, etc. I have a late swap package to get out to my Love Bites swappee, I feel so bad that it's late, but things kinda took a turn for the worse there, briefly.

I'll have to admit though, I have been in a trance, which has been most welcomed.

I've had the first novel of the Twilight series for sometime now, and yet I had never picked it up. I carried it with me everywhere, never reading more than a few pages. But since I started feeling, not well, I had an urge to pick it up and hoped that I would get lost in it, a distraction really. I was more amazed at my reaction, I was literally glued to Twilight. I immediately bought every book in the series and continued reading. I read all 4 books from a Thursday to a Sunday evening, feeling sad when I finished Breaking Dawn, knowing it was the conclusion.

When I say trance, I mean it, all I did was read, and really imagine the story. I made it to see the Twilight movie last Friday, and I loved it, though it didn't follow the book too closely, it was still one of my faves.

I'm now anxiously waiting for Midnight Sun, a character perspective, from Edward, his experiences with Bella. I've already read the first chapter, released on Stephenie Meyer's site. I can't thank her enough for sharing that chapter, but now I want more.

Because of my trance, I've completely neglected my knitting, and I feel horrible for doing so. My first true love has always been books, stories, reading, writing, all of it, before the fibery stuff came into my life. I think my hesitation to read Twilight originally came from me knowing I would have to fight my two passions, knitting & reading. I'm now trying to balance that and get my Swallowtail shawl finished in time for next week, Stitches West!

I'll find a balance, and can't wait to share my progress on my projects, oh and more to share of Rosie, my doggy. Thank you all for your comments on her, she really is a jewel for me, we love her so much. Pets, dog's especially, bring out another level of emotion that, like Edward's character in Twilight, you don't you have until you experience it. Sometimes I wonder how I ever went through my childhood without a pet?

Well, I better get going, to finish my Swallowtail, and of course I'm re-reading the Twilight series again, I went through it so fast the first time, I need a second look, although I can now get out of my trance like state.

Anyone going to Stitches West?

My First Love

My first true love is books, I love books, I love libraries, I love studies, everything that surrounds literature. I am one of those people, all you know who we are, that hoards books galore. I still have every book I ever bought, and all are still in pristeen condition. I'm also one of those people, who is really anal about keeping the book in "like new" condition. I make sure my hard backs paper covers aren't curling or ripped or creased the wrong way, and I'm equally as anal about my paper backs, where I try not to crease it. It is harder to control with paper backs, some just are worn unfortunately. But reading books, just being around books, and smelling books is really my first true love. Since I started knitting, my book purchases has severly decreased, although my passion still exists.

I have thought about purchasing audio books, but for some reason that just won't do it for me. I'm on old-fashioned book lover, I have to have the actual book, the look, feel and smell of it. This form of reading is really becoming an "old technology", with today's Internet and online columns, things have changed tremendously for written print. I aspire to be a writer, is it obvious? In fact, I'm probably going to try next year to slowly start making a career change, we'll see how it goes.

Lately as I've been knitting and working on all my projects, I've been hearing books call to me. I think about some of my favorite authors, and feel like I've ignored my friends. The genre's I love are Mystery, Drama, Documentary, and anything else that catches my eye. One of my all time favorite authors, and true master at her craft, is the great Anne Rice. I'm such a huge Anne fan, I love her writing, the way she tells her stories, the way she takes you back to a time before any of us were ever thought of, is just mesmerizing. Although she has completely vowed not to write her Vampire stories anymore, she still is my favorite. I long for another story of Marius or Lestat, which brings me to point of why I'm posting. I've seen some snippets of a new movie that caught my eye, and it is Twilight.



This movie is right up my alley, I can't wait to see this. I need to start reading the books, I might just miss the movie so I don't tarnish the books true meaning. Film adaptations of books can go good or bad, or in between. When I read my books, I usually create my own image of the characters including their voices, and when I see a film adaptation of a book, I'm either satisfied because my image is in line with what was portrayed in the movie, or I'm kind of annoyed because the image is ruined. I like to read the book before the movie, because if I read after, my images are only that of the actors. Reading is truly an imaginatory experience, it really allows your mind to open up into another world. One of my other famous authors, is Stephen King, this man is a master at storytelling and a master at character building. His pieces have such a broad range, it's unbelieveable. One of my other favorites is Margaret George, she truly outdid herself with "The Memoirs of Cleopatra: A Novel", this was book I couldn't put down. I was enthralled the entire way through the 1000 pages, in fact I read it in like I think 2 or 3 days, which was crazy, but I loved it.

Another author is Dan Brown, he's well known for having written the controversial "Da Vinci Code". I was never a fan of the book the Da Vinci Code, I read the book before the movie came out, and I forced myself to finish it. It just wasn't a page turner for me, the movie was doable, and better than the book in my opinion, not in quality of the story but in just keeping your attention. My fave of Dan Brown is "Angels and Demons", a great book, and how I came to find Dan, and really enjoyed the book. I think there is an film adaptation of this book too, but not too sure when it's set to come out.

I usually stay loyal to the authors I have on my shelf, I try to add variety, but it's hard for me, when I go to the book store, there is such a huge assortment to choose from, I get overwhelmed and usually stick to my list of authors.

My first love of mine, is still my first love, and I'll have to pay a few visits to the book store to stock up on the Twilight series, and learn all that I can about this fantastic story.

Are you a reader? Do you have favorites?

Until next time,
Rocky

P.S.
I hope I didn't bore you with this post