luxe

linda’s birfday lunch
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

so, i realized after giving the slippers to my mom in law that i did not photo them, as i thought i had. my memory is soooo bad. they fit her, and she said that the last pair of slippers i got her a few years ago were worn out, so this was good. she didn’t realize at first that i had made them. i think that is a complement.(?) we ate at the ligonier tavern, and our service was really bad. the food was really bad for the first time ever, as well. ah well.

we got groceries after, and jake was tired and grumpy, so we rushed. i got big notecards for writing pattern repeats on when i am taking it with, some heavy duty sleeves to protect my patterns, and looked for those zipper pouches to put my circs in a binder, to no avail. i will try to go to office depot to-morrow and look for em.

i started jake’s armwarmers, soaring on two circs rather than knitted flat. they are just black, just stockinette. boring. i need to finish the last plain inches of tivoli, but it is soooo boring and so cotton. blech!

i started filling my baby pool, a cheapy one, it is a 6 ft diameter, which is about the size of a hot tub. i came in, knitted a few rows and fell asleep for 2 hours. i haven’t even returned phone calls today, and now it is too late.

i finally watched 6 feet under, and i dunno why everyone thought he would be dead. he had the head problems before, i didn’t watch to-night’s yet.

i really really want to dye stuff to-morrow and on tuesday i am going to get all the stuff i have accumulated for my secret pal and mail it already. not that she seems to care too much. she rarely blogs and her blog is very new, also. so maybe she got caught up, and isn’t particularly into it. whatever. i was so excited, too. my bubble has been burst. and my pal is so cool. i am lucky!

i picked up shrinky dink stuff last week and gabe made one, it came out super cute. i need to get our things together and email the sampler. it is so hard to get myself and someone else organized. i can barely get my own ass in gear.

i best go check bloggies now. i have a photo of my first attempt at the amish slipper that came out big enough to fit a size 12 man’s foot, and some of lunch today if you wanna check out my zeitgeist to the left…

i keep having dreams that are set in target. nightmares, rather. in my dream, the pharmacy would not fill a script for jake and accused him of having a drug problem. a side note is that jake doesn’t take medicine for the most part. who knows? not me.

i finished slipper number 2, they look the same, are the same size, all systems go! although the heel could have used some shaping, as it is square(?) and the toe is just pulled through the stitches and secured, so there is a hole that has to be sewn up. i was going to try to use the cheap-o knitting spool i bought with all the needles and could not figure out how to use it. i went to a bunch of different sites and decided that knitting i-cord cannot possibly be any harder, no? stupid thing. i think i may just sew some buttons on the front or leave em plain, they are really pretty. i better take a photo before giving them away.

we are supposed to meet at the ligonier tavern for my mom in law’s birthday this afternoon, where hopefully she will not think that my gift is super suck city.

my mom stopped in the shop yesterday, and walked with a limp, due to her back pain, on and off, on and off? what? hm. anyway, she showed me a scarf that her friend made for her, that makes stuff for boutiques..it was eros black and gray railroad yarn and a but of fun fur at the ends(blech!) and was maybe 3 inches wide. and maybe 3 feet long. my mom was unimpressed. i asked her if she would buy a scarf like that, and she said why should she pay for knitted goods, i could just make it for her. so, rather than say, “you make much more interesting things” she acts like i run a carwash(no offense to carwash owners) and why would she pay someone else to get her carwashed? strange? she asked me to knit her a baby blanket for the twins who are slated to be born any minute, like it will take me a few days to make 2 of them and i should use nice yarn, and that will be really cheap, too. she doesn’t appreciate things that she can’t do, she just thinks, you can buy it, who cares? i wonder if the things i knit her have any value to her? it bums me out, because normally it is a reflection that you care about someone, that you spent the time to make them something, just for them, and most people really love the things i make, they mean a lot to them, but my mom is not like that. they are just things. sad. she is a hard person to be close to.

i best get up and do my thing.

have a nice sunday…
n.

work was ok. the highlight was a drunken young couple sitting on our bench that told gabe that they ran away from the carnival and had been drinking all morning. they freaked me out a bit. they asked him to come outside, and i made him lock the door until they left.

i got home and my awesome secret pal sent me this and a little glow in the dark sheep that will grace my dash…oooh yeah! i have never heard of this cute book! most of the kids clothes have some fair isle action that is beyond, me but the book is soo sooo cute! so check it out.

i got a knitting spool last week to make i-cord. i hate making i-cord. i realized i hate trying to figure out how to use this goddamn piece of plastic even more. damn you knitting spoooooooool!!!!!!!! i feel like an idiot, considering little kids use them, except that theirs looks like a dolly with yarn going in their head and i-cord coming out their arse. then i ask myself, do i want i-cord that has come out of a dolly’s arse? nooo! no. no? no! anyone that can explain this to me? and is it just as freaking easy to do it my damn self? me thinks so.

i finished the other slipper and was thinking maybe i should embellish them a bit, although they are really really cute. i dig em. i covet them! i shall make myself, all the cats and everyone i know some! and they will wear them! i will do some as xmas pressies, also i am going to make some seatbelt thingies to keep your seatbelt from digging into your delicate neck. not yours specifically. i need to get the address of my secret pal, not that she cares, and of boooooo and mail their stuff. my secret pal that send me stuff is so awesome. i love ya secret pallly o mine!

now i will go wash away the stinky stank of the day.

smoochies y’all!

just a quickie…i finished one slipper last night, it is cute and fits me, so should fit linda. i need to finish the other before sunday which may be a challange, as i have appts at work and am supposed to go out with my family and a visiting cousin. we will see.

we hung out with butter last night and had a really nice time, uncluding mint chip custard. mmmm. i have fallen off my no sugar wagon, and desperately need to get back on. i have been craving junk that i normally never ever eat, and normally have will power of steel. i don’t know what the deal is.

i got an issue of selvedge at barnes and noble as well as readymade, and the knitters handbook, which is a nice small reference book. i have been looking at it for a while now. i used it last night for the slipper and it was really easy to use. good deal. also, i was impressed with myself after doing the slipper i saw pattern flaws, ie the heel was not shaped and there is a hole at the toe, that should have been done differently. i am growing up!!

gotta get a shower.

xo,
n.

so, i redid a client’s eyebrows yesterday. i had been really worried about it, but they came out nice, they still need some work, but they look much much better. the shop that did it originally did such a horrible job. they “fixed” it too after the initial appointment. whatever. anyway, i did needling on her as well, which is a wrinkle treatment which works really well, i did a few lines for free last week when we did the patch test and it made a big difference, we did the frown lines in between her eyebrows, she was excited. she is a bio professor and she was giggly and smiling. i remember how much i like making a difference in people’s lives and getting to know people who i ordinarily would never know, they open up and tell you about their lives, it is really nice. oh, and amy, remind me to tell you the 6 degrees of separation between you and the client….

i had a migraine again last night and my hands were killing me. i started my 3rd slipper pattern, this one from IK, third kind of yarn, and 5th(?) try. so, i have one almost done, hopefully it will work. we were supposed to eat dinner with them tonite, but my sister in law will be there and it will be after work when i am tired and grumpy and i would rather see them by ourselves, although i thought that it would be funny to put one half done slipper, needles still in it in a wrapped box as her present. she would be confused and it would be funny!! it would! ok maybe not. i tried to post pics but flickr was having indigestion and i should try back i am told. whatever flickr. i have been wearing my “cock up”s as they are called for my hands, why are they called that? they help a lot, but when i take them off, they really hurt, so i am not sure if i am making it worse.

i got a huge ottoman on wheels at the thrift store yesterday for 3 bucks. it was filthy, but after scrubbing it with soft scrub and brushes, it looks really good. gabe wants to keep it at the shop. also i moved a comfy chair to the tattoo side to hang out on. the ottoman is too big to leave there. hmmmm.

oh, “la pee la” is the brand name that we are thinking of using. i sing to the cats, in this case peeps using only la la las and their name…any opinions? you know what they say about opinions…i appreciate them.

i saw a new kitten, probably 9 months old, that hides in my flowers and attacks the squirrel that always eats there, he almost got it today, it was like wild kingdom, really crazy, i thought that poor squirrel got it. also i found a bunch of feathers nearby as well, so i think he may have gotten a bird at some point. little bugger.

i just typed this with my “cock up” on! with the metal stay in it and everything! maybe i can learn to knit with it, as well. nah.

knit wits
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

woah! so i found out that amy’s apartment building got hit by lightning(sp?). i am really really bad about checking messages, although, i did check them and must have deleted it without listening to it? what? she is fine, but her cordless phone has passed away. sorry, ame.

in other news, the slipper, which i did a really meticulous job on, appears to be really really small. i am trying to tweak the pattern to make it work, but i fear i will end up buying a gift. this is what happens when you start something 4 days before it needs to be done. not that it is my fault, but i never understand the last minute people. it never works out too well for me. i mean, i pack and stuff like that last minute, but in school, etc, i always had stuff done earlier. a bit earlier. hm.

gabe reminded me about the the sampler. we need to figure out our logo and BRAND NAME, we tried yesterday…also, i got the makings for shrinky dinks, so i think we may make something in that direction. i actually told jason i couldn’t work on him today because i need to finish craft stuff. the sampler gets such great publicity, that we would do well with that alone, i would think. i wish i could put cosmetic tattooing on the sampler. you know? i need to get my stuff printed out. i need to get my ass in gear. i am tired of being broke and making my husband broke despite his working like a dog.

i wore my carpal tunnel glovelets last night and my hands feel pretty good. i wish i had something i could wear whilst i tattoo and knit, these make it hard to do anything at all. really.

i best get up and going.

oh, the scarf is one of the ones i made for the boutique that the owner snagged. i should have kept it, it is awesome, no? i put hundreds of pieces of fringe throughout the whole scarf by hand and it is so pretty prettty princess. i may make myself another. it would be an awesome wrap, too. oooh.

due to my headache, this will be a quickie.

1. dead at work. worked on the stupid slipper, so stupid as to be called stooopid. dummy. anyway, decided that my mom in law may not want to deal with the brown sheep’s special care instructions. i went to the yarn store and got plymouth 25%wool 75%acrylic, 100% washing machine/dryer safe. i will photo it. more on the yarn shop further down.

2. had a past client, ex-client i should say, who has very very dark skin, who is a big pain in the ass, who i do free touch-ups on, despite the fact that it won’t make any difference because it is not going to look different, because he is very dark, is a cook, so his skin gets abused and he is an older, strange dude who probably doesn’t take care of his skin. anyway, after blowing off several touch-ups, he calls after he should be at his appointment, i am still planning to do it anyway, which is unlike me, i hate people who do not respect my time, as i do theirs, so i ask him what we are touching up, he tells me that it is “fading away”. i explain the above, for the 100th time. he sounds pissed. whatever. i leave to go around the corner for a few minutes, he leaves a message, i get back and he has called again, he says he went to another shop, not a particularly good one, i might add, and they have told him that i “ripped him off” and he will have to “have it fixed” it will cost him twice as much as i charged him. he asks if i want to talk to the guy at the shop. nope. you do what you need to do, dude. i have been nicer than anyone with a brain should have been and i cannot wait for him to go back to the shop that “fixed” his tattoo when he thinks it is “fading away” again. i might add that i have done several tattoos on him. not only did it offend me, but it really made me angry. i ranted for quite a while. it isn’t often that i have problems like that, and of the few times it happends, you know before you touch them that they will be a problem. like when i very dark skinned person insists on getting color in their tattoo and then wants it “brightened up” a month later. hm. i try to explain that if i wrote with a colored marker on them it wouldn’t show up. they don’t believe me. people who tan a lot do the same crap. i will shut up about this now.

3. my hands and arms have been hurting a lot, i got some wrist and hand thingys. they make me feel much better. they are so rigid i cannot work or knit with them on. i will sleep with them and see what happends.

4. i told my friend having marital problems that if she and he do not get therapy that things will not get better. i told her that she does and says really mean things to her husband that she would not be able to handle herself, among other things. she said she was coming out later and didn’t show up. when i called her, she said she was going to church. i think i hurt her feelings. it had to be said. i will not say anything else to her about it.

5. i went to a local art gallery that has pottery classes to ask if i could use studio space and it isn’t that expensive, so i am excited about that.

6. whilst at knitwits, i met another heather who has lamas!!! oh my!! also, she knits and spins, so i am happy to have a local spinning friend. hi heather!! it really improved my day. so thanks!

7. my mom called me at work and said that her neck pain was so bad that if she knew how, she would kill herself. in case anyone thinks i am mean, she is the biggest drama queen in the world. i made a suggestion of acupuncture, because she insists that she has tried everything else and she said she is afraid of needles. i said that if you are suffering that much, i tiny needle that barely even goes into your skin is not a big deal. no she says. and she has to go. ok. talk later. so irritating. not to moan and groan, but the woman shops till she drops and goes out with her friends and then says that she is sooooo sick. when i am sick, i don’t do anything at all. whatever.

i just realised i haven’t really eaten today. blueberries and soda. i am going to get some grub. not grubs, that is gross.

oh, also, this little bastard squirrel in the backyard pulled the bottom out of the birdfeeder to get all the seeds and nuts and berries out. all of them. little shit. and i think a cat ate one of the birds. not my cat. a cat.

i have eyebrow tattoo woman to-morrow and butter, as well. i wish he gave me massages. bastard!!

for those of you who are local, i want to change snb to two thursdays a month at panera, any input?

and amy, congrats on your job interview!! trust that i am psychic!! i am never wrong!

also, shout out to BOOOOOOO who knew what i was talking about in better off dead! brilliant minds think alike! gorgeous and smart! what a combo! jewish and latina! bam!

smoochie-poos yinz!

33 cent mouse
Originally uploaded by natashafialkov.

so, last night i finished the first slipper, i will photo it later. not only is it huge, NOT the size of an AVERAGE woman’s foot, but huge! and ugly and shaped really oddly due to the ribbing at the toe. what a strange pattern. i hope that the store bought slipper that it is copied from doesn’t look like this. hm. so i am trying it again on smaller needles to see if i can get it to come out less baggy, although i think i may look on the web first for a better pattern. if anyone has a good slipper pattern that isn’t really difficult or knitted like a sock, because i don’t know how to do that yet, please let me know! i need to have it done by friday. or maybe i will buy a gift. i wish i would have been reminded sooner. sigh.

oh, and for those of you that didn’t know who the mailman was, it was a MAILMAN who dropped mail and threw it away and read it and then asked him if he could date his girlfriend that had just dumped him. NOT the paperboy.

today was a bit busier than it has been, which is good. i have been so broke forever, it seems. it is no fun at all. i went to the farmer’s market with jake, got a ton of crap and ate stuff that is not on my diet. i have been craving all sorts of crap and am at my cravings’ mercy. it is so not me. and no, i am not pregnant. god forbid. no offense to those of you with little cuties at home…

i started the slippers, you know the ones that have no photo or schematic with them…so i am not even sure what they will look like. why would i knit something without a photo? i am insane. clearly. anyway, i think i am almost done with the first one. i say i think, because i don’t know what it should look like. does it go this way? or this way? dunno, yinz.

i have a big kitten laying on my knitting and the pattern binder.

jake told me about one of his coworkers’ friends who has lupus and has to get chemotherapy on top of all of the immunosuppressive drugs because she has a problem where her system is killing her kidneys…i looked up the chemo treatment, i had never heard of it, wow. i cannot imagine. and the girl works still. people with that condition have to take massive doses of corticosteroids, as well. so we know how great those are for you. it scares the shit out of me. i know you can’t worry about things that haven’t happened, i normally don’t. it just really upset me. i have really bad memory problems that are getting worse. my problems with my arms, hands, legs and feet are constant, i start thinking, what would i do if i couldn’t use my hands? my lifelong fear, the reason i never wanted to ride a bike, roller skate, do anything, fear of hurting my hands. how ironic would that be?

my shop friend alex came in and told me he is a MAILMAN! how cool is that? he had mentioned it before, but he is so adorable, he will have a girlfriend in every neighborhood. i suggested a sugar mama. he said that would be fine. he best be careful what he wishes for. in fact, i know some women that may volunteer. i won’t mention any names. i asked him if he remembered the mailman from “better off dead” and he is too young to remember!! the horror!!

i best get back to knitting. i swear, no more complaining to-morrow.

and once again, thanks for showing up to read my blog, regardless of my negative attitude and bad photos, and of sending my such sweet reassurances. you are so amazing. i love you all….

xoxo,
n.

as usual, i wake up feeling crummy. i got some coffee, i feel a bit better.

my mom-in-law’s birthday is friday, so i need to get cracking on something. i think i am going to make her some knitted slippers. i got a flat pattern that should go quickly. i am not sure what to knit them out of. i have some bulky lamb’s pride in natural, which should work. it isn’t super soft, as you all know, but it will be durable. i made an attempt while i was sleeping not to curl up my hands, like my dr told me, anytime i woke up, i put my hands under my pillow and straightened them out. they feel ok today. hmmmm.

farmer’s market today. i want to stay in bed. there is a heat warning today. insane! oh, i bought the last baby pool at the store yesterday, so i will get that cranking! yay!