The Destiny Manifest

It's fall!

There's a chill in the air here in South Carolina and to celebrate the end of the blazing hot summer, I knit pants!

I knit these pants from 100% wool yarn in a deep pumpkin orange with bright green leaf colorwork detail at the hemline. I have added a fully lined ankle hem to cover up the stranded back of the fair isle and to keep little toes from catching the loops. The pants also have a diamond crotch gusset, short row shaping to allow for cloth diaper room, and the Knit In Your Pants "No Strings Attached" covered elastic waistband.

I sized them at 24 months to 3T. They actually fit A perfectly and she wears from a 3T to a small 5 in store-bought pants. Measurements can be found in the listing on Midday Faire.

Colorwork Detail	Fully lined cuff

Click here to view the listing for these wool pants!!

Most Played on iTunes...

A meme I'm grabbing from the Counting Crows forums...

My Top 25 Most Played Songs

1. Forever ~ Monks of Doom (Immy!)
2. Cowboys ~ Counting Crows
3. We Both Go Down Together ~ The Decemberists
4. 40 Years ~ Counting Crows
5. Drink Me ~ Anna Nalick
6. Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect ~ The Decemberists
7. Washington Square ~ Counting Crows
8. Precious Things ~ Tori Amos
9. Buildings and Bridges ~ Ani Difranco
10. Greening of America ~ Counting Crows
11. Holiday in Spain (Live) ~ Counting Crows
12. Then I Did ~ Rascal Flatts
13. A Cautionary Song ~ The Decemberists
14. Hang Me Up to Dry ~ Cold War Kids
15. Bleed ~ Adam & Immy (w/The Negro Problem)
16. Wild World ~ Cat Stevens
17. You Can Call Me Al ~ Paul Simon
18. Pictures ~ Sheryl Crow & Kid Rock
19. Yeah You're Right ~ Glider
20. These Days ~ Jackson Browne & Warren Zevon
21. The Late Greats ~ Wilco
22. St. Robinson In His Cadillac Dream (Live) ~ Counting Crows
23. The Pretender ~ Jackson Browne
24. God Says Nothing Back ~ The Wallflowers
25. Brighter Then Sunshine ~ Aqualung

A knack for orange

You Are Cameo

You are understanding and very empathetic. You don't tend to have acquaintances. Everyone is your friend. And all of your friends tend to be friends. You have a knack for bringing very different people together.

Found over at the how about orange... blog. :)
Now go figure out what color orange YOU are.

Dashing gentlemen of summer

Everyone who knows me knows that I have a slight obsession... addiction... preoccupation... mania, if you will, for Counting Crows.

I've been nurturing this fascination since I was 13, which is when the band came into being. Anyway, this band & these guys have always been a passion of mine but it's kind of stepped up a notch or three in recent months. I have increased my bootleg mp3 collection threefold in a short amount of time... and that doesn't count all of the concert videos, torrents and photographs. The poor external hard drive, it deserves much props.

Not many people in my life appreciate this enthusiasm of mine, strangely enough. Apparently, my family doesn't care to hear every detail of the latest alt Adam did with "Round Here" or how there are TWO CC albums (squee!!) coming out within the next 6 weeks or how completely freaking amazing the gorgeous Immy was on "Hanging Tree" at the first Borgata concert last weekend or how I managed to rip the streaming Farm Aid set to avi so it can be mine forever. I mean, seriously, aren't you just on the edge of your seat hearing all that? No? So it's just me? Yeah, thought so. And you know, that's cool. I'll just blog it and bore the shit out of the 2-3 people who may bounce by here.

And what do you mean it doesn't make good fiscal sense to buy a front-row ticket from the fan club (legacy member baby!) and drive 10 hours each way in my old car to see my favorite dashing gentlemen play Toledo Zoo?

Don't worry, I didn't, but I sure wanted to. I am squirreling away pennies and forgoing the purchase of anything extra... yes, even yarn... in order to be able to attend at least the Charlotte and Atlanta shows when the next tour comes around.

Hey, it's my escape. Sue me.

The following pictures from the afore-mentioned Toledo Zoo show on September 5, 2007 are absolutely not mine... a wonderfully talented woman named Lauren took them and you can see more of her work on her blog, including more pics from this show and also some from the Dayton, Ohio July 27, 2007 show. I saved them (and am posting them) for drooling and musical appreciation purposes only.

Adam Duritz & Dan Vickrey	Jim Bogias & Millard Powers
David Bryson	Charlie Gillingham
The amazing David Immergluck	Counting Crows - Summer 2007

Have you seen me lately?

So what have I been up to lately? Hmm... let's see...

• The girls are both back in school. A went to school all summer but she was just swimming, playing, chilling... now she's back to a real curriculum, 4k-style. L is in 1st grade and we got an awesome teacher (not that they aren't all awesome, just sayin'). She has two best friends, who by coincidence went to A's school, so they all know each other. L is going home with her best friends next Friday for her first unattended-by-Mama playdate and she's extremely excited.
• I'm chairing a major fundraising committee for the school -- the spring carnival. It's not until May 2 but preparations and planning have commenced. I am in volunteer recruiting mode and trying not to become overwhelmed at whether or not I have what it takes to make this happen.
• I have been knitting like a madwoman trying to hold her sanity together with needles and yarn.... wait. Hmm. Okay, so maybe it's not like that, it is that. Semantics. I've also taught myself how to crochet and have become somewhat addicted to making full-size amigurumi-style dolls. Here's the first.... a blond girl who kind of screams LUNA at me. She's also not 100% finished but Doll #2 overtook me so Doll #1 must wait a bit.
• I'm working! I know, holy shit, hold on to your hats and all that. I'm doing freelance web design, at home yes, but still, it's work and it pays real actual cash money. It was rather nice to pay my rent for this month before it was late. Hell, our power bill is paid. It's... an unusual but very nice feeling.

Neuroses

I don't post much here anymore. It's not lack of desire that keeps me from posting, nor is it lack of time, though I could easily blame it on both. The truth is that I don't really know what to say.

I'm better, and then I'm not. When I'm better, I like to be outside of my house, going and creating and doing, and I adjust my schedule accordingly. The busier the better... because the busy keeps me better.

When I am not, I am... not. When I am not, I long to bare all, for reasons that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it helps me to type it all out, to let people know that "I'm not okay, okay?" and yet, I can't bring myself to do it here.

I want to. I spend much time reminding myself that I'm not supposed to care what other people think, what other peoples' opinions on my current mental state might be. Truth be told, I just need to get over it. I need to take a cue from these brave folks and just... post. Better... or not.

First Grade & 4k, respectively

Midday Faire turns 3!

Midday Faire is celebrating its' 3rd birthday this August, and to honor this special occasion, I have designed this hand-knit cupcake! This cupcake has "candy" sprinkles and a candle on top and is made from a soft and springy cotton-blend yarn and stuffed with a cotton/polyester blend stuffing. It stands 7" tall (including the candle) and is 3.5" across the base, with a circumference of 10".

Perfect for pretend play, a sweet birthday surprise or even a pin cushion!

Dissolution

Andy and I were divorced at 9:30 this morning. It's really over, finally.

"And it's so hard to do
and so easy to say.
But sometimes - sometimes,
you just have to walk away."
from "Here Comes the Sun" by Ben Harper

Congratulations Colin & Stephanie!

My little brother Colin and his bride Stephanie were married yesterday at the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Highway in North Carolina. The weather was perfect... it was all very beautiful.

Colin wore a white linen "suit" (he wanted a "beachy" feel, he said) and the entire bridal party went barefoot. Stephanie wore a white satin dress with a short train that bustled up on the dress after the ceremony.

The maid of honor was Steph's best friend LeAnn and her bridesmaids were her two sisters and my sister Hilary.

The best man was one of Colin's best friends, Jason and his groomsmen were his old friend William, my brother Zeb and Hilary's boyfriend Jesse.

Here they are at the reception:

My family:

L, dancing to the music (I was the music person and got to figure out the equalizers and such, fun fun):

Sorry for all the pictures... here are more if you're interested:
Wedding Flickr Picture Set