This was one of the books that I got as a Christmas present this year and I am so glad that I did. (However, I do really wish that I could get onto whatever list it is that they send you free copies of books that are coming out soon [especially yarn/fiber related books!] for you to read and review.  Anybody have an idea on that? [I would be willing to do giveaways!])

Laurie Perry’s skills as a writer have gotten even stronger since her last book Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair which was laugh out loud funny itself.  Actually, it was more like laugh-until-you-nearly-pee-your-pants funny and her newest book is even better.  I guess that you would call it laugh-until-you-pull-a-muscle-in-your-side-and-then-pee-your-pants funny.  The hubby looked in on me several times while I was reading it trying to discern if I was laughing really hard or crying.  Seriously folks, this woman takes all that is the worst about being a single woman (and sometimes just being a woman in general) and makes you look at it, and I mean really look at it, and realize just how ridiculous it all is sometimes.  Her story about getting ready for a vacation to Hawaii literally made me laugh until I cried and anyone who has ever tried to get in shape will recognize themselves in her descriptions of her forays to the gym.

I’ve been a fan of Laurie’s Blog Crazy Aunt Purl ever since I read her first book a few years ago.  Since then, I’ve told anyone who would listen to me prattle about something like this (read: Happy Hookers crochet group) how great of a blog it is and how everybody should go out and get her books.  Or at the very least, check them out from the library.  Laurie is sort of like a much less whiny Bridget Jones (the one aspect that I always disliked about Bridget was the whiny tone she gets into often) with the much more realistic issues of cat litter (an issue that I have cussed and discussed several times myself), Target shopping (ditto) and yoga farting (haven’t hit that one yet).  I love the fact that she too has been on a date where the other participant spent more of the time on their cell phone than on conversation with the person sitting right in front of them.  At the end of this book there are knitting and crochet patterns which are mostly small projects that a beginner (or the obsessive, in the case of the rug) could easily do.

All in all, this book gets five (yarn) balls up (get yer minds out of the gutter!).  Way to go Laurie and please, don’t make us wait as long for the next one!!!

So, it’s been a few weeks since I last wrote for you my faithful readers.  I’m sure that you have also been busy with the holiday season so I hope that you don’t hold it against me too terribly much.  I’ve had an interesting holiday season working in the department store.  All I can say is that it makes me more glad than ever that I usually do all of my Christmas shopping super early.  And for all of you out there let me tell you something.  If you are rude to a store clerk, we will find ways to pay you back!  (this makes me really not to be rude to wait staff as they have control over FOOD!!!!)

However, overall, it has been an uneventful Christmas.  I got lots and lots of goodies and wanted to share a few of my favorites with y’all.

First up is this gem from my husband.  We’ve been talking about getting one of these since, oh, well…. March.  But, better late than never!

This is, what they call here, a water butt otherwise known as a rain barrel to my US friends.  Really, these make so much sense here that I find it hard to understand why everyone doesn’t have one!  The water that comes out of the tap here is loaded with calcium which makes it so that my indoor plants get that lovely crusty white stuff on the soil surface and on the pots.  This crust isn’t just unsightly, it is also in the end, harmful to the plants.  By collecting rainwater, I am hoping to avoid the whole darn issue!  Oh, yeah, and save water, always a nice thing!

Another thing that we got this Christmas was sort of a present from the hubby and I to each other.  We got a new bed.  It is a UK sized “King” which is more or less a “Queen” in the US.  We went to IKEA and each of us got a different mattress given that we both have different firmness requirements when it comes to a good nights sleep.

(photo of bed)

I also got a stand mixer to facilitate all of my making of cookies and baked goods.  The hubby and I went on a baking spree right before Christmas so that we could share yummies with the neighbors and friends around us (helps to solve the “what are we going to get the neighbors” issue rather well!  Anyway, I’m sure that it will get lots of use, just not in the month of January as my neighbors have all said, “no more!” for a little bit as they are all having trouble getting their pants (I mean trousers) fastened!

We got lots of lovely gifts from all over.  My mom sent a great care package with Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (can’t find it over here) French’s onions (ditto) and chocolate chips (can find but not quite the same and way more expensive).  I got lots of books and a wonderful gift certificate to the pub and other fun gifts, all in all it was a very fun and relaxed holiday.

Part of the fun of it was that it was the first time that I have had a white Christmas where I was actually living.  This isn’t a totally good thing as British drivers do not know how to drive in snowy/icy conditions! One night it took me about 2.5 hours to get home from work.  It normally takes about a half an hour.  It wasn’t really the road conditions that were the issue rather the other drivers on the road and a plethora of accidents littering the main roads.  But, as long as I’m not needing to be anywhere, the snow is fun and really, really pretty.

This is more or less what the whole neighborhood looked like!

Malcolm, the new dog, really loved the snow.  He would go outside just to play in it, which got old for those of us who were letting him in and out all of the time!

And then after all of this playing and running we get a much needed rest…

I hope that all of you have a wonderful evening and a fantastic 2010!

So, the UK has gone from having zero (or seriously close to zero) major knitting get-aways to having two in one year.  Not even in a year, in a summer!  First up is Knit Nation which is being held the 29th, 30th and 31st of July this year in London.  It’s three days of shopping and classes with the likes of: Cookie A, Judith MacKenzie McCuin, Clara Parkes, Nancy Bush and many more.  The Ravelry team is going to be giving a talk as well in addition to an awesome market place being in the works.  It’s being held at the Imperial College in South Kensington which is right by the Victoria and Albert museum as well as a bunch of other stuff.  I have signed up to take a Spinning for Lace class with Janel Laidman on Thursday, the Estonian Lace Sampler class with Nancy Bush (OMG!!) on Friday and a half-day class with Clara Parkes on Saturday called the Wonders of Wool (UK).  Since it is “just” in the city, I plan on taking the train with my friend Tini who will be staying with us for that weekend as well.  It should be interesting taking my Ashford Traveler on the commuter train into the city that first day:-)

I’m glad that Knit Nation is so close that I don’t have to worry about accommodation as it leaves me more money to spend a few weeks later at the UK Knit Camp 2010 which is being held in beautiful Stirling, Scotland.  This knitty adventure is going to be a bit longer than Knit Nation as it is going on the 6th through the 13th of August.  It’s being held on the campus of the University of Stirling and the accommodation is really reasonable.  To stay in one of the dormitories for 6 nights, it is 150  pounds.  That’s a really good deal for a room anywhere in this country, especially in the summer!  The classes that they are offering are pretty amazing, with instructors like Jared Flood, Annie Modesitt, Lucy Neatby, Norah Gaughan, Franklin Habit, and Ysolda Teague all teaching there.  There are also going to be excursions to local mills and whiskey distilleries as well as much fun and craziness had by all I am sure.  Just imagine, dormitories all filled with fiber freaks!  I have a feeling it’s going to turn into a huge, more-or-less, slumber party at some point!  Sign-up for classes for this yarn porn week open in January, though you can book your space to sleep now.  My friend Malin is planning on coming over for this one and I plan on driving up there so there is sure to be lots and lots of adventures!

So, it seems that the UK has sort of gone from zero to sixty in the span of a year in terms of knitting camps.  Hopefully this will become a regular thing that all of the British knitters can enjoy!

A few things that I am thankful for this year:

1.) My family.  We are all safe and comfortable in our lives.  Yeah, money may be a little tight this year, but remember, there are probably about a billion people on this planet who would die so that their children could have what we already do.

2.) My furry family.  They are all still healthy and safe, even with the newest member to be added.  Just think, even they are probably living better than about half a billion of those people!

3.) My friends.  This has been an extremely tough year for me what with the move and all.  I’m thankful for my friends, both old and new, who helped me though the transition.  If I am not with you this year, know that I wish that I was…

4.) The house.  We are so blessed to live in a beautiful, distinctive place filled with wonderful books and treasures (and more than a little yarn!).  We have amazing views and we live in a village where the sense of community is strong.

5.) My health.  This one is sort of ironic given that I was quite sick yesterday.  However, generally both the hubby and I are healthy.  I have a lot of friends with chronic health issues and I recognize just how horrible that can be.

6.) My safety.  I live in an incredibly safe place.  There are millions of women in this world who cannot say the same.

7.) My job.  As much as I may not really enjoy it, I have one while thousands of folks wish that they did.  Add to that, I have the option of working.

8.) That I was born in 1978 rather than 1878.  One word folks: tampons.

When you think about things like this, it makes anything in your life seem a little less dire.  Go on, think about the things that you are thankful for today, no matter where you live!

So, to elaborate on the last post a bit…

I got a job.  It doesn’t pay well and the 3 days a week that I work take a day (at least) to recover from.  I’m on my feet all day in (cue evil music here) dress shoes.  I don’t mind being on my feet a lot.  My last job had me walking all over concrete all day but it’s the dress shoes part that kills me.  I don’t know how (or why) people actually choose to wear them.  Anyway, the people who I am working with are infallibly nice and kind, it’s just sort of a tough job for someone like me to do.  Since it is only until January, I’ll stick it out and hope that my feet toughen up a little bit!

The dog that we found we are calling Malcolm (those of you who are Firefly/Serenity fans will know what I was watching before I found him!).  He’s very pretty but he is a lot of work.  He needs a run a couple of times a day or he gets really bored and antsy.  I have gotten together with a neighbor and we are going to walk together a couple of times a day as she has a lovely Golden Retriever that loves to play.  Mal keeps trying to play with Weezy and Meara but he’s just too big and is continuously stepping on them by accident.  I think that it will be good for him to get to rough-house with someone closer to his own size.

Mr Malcolm after a good run.

The weather here has been trying for the past couple of weeks.  It ranges from raining to blowing rain to gusting rain or just gusting.  You can imagine how much fun that has been to take the dogs out into.  At least it gives me some interesting clouds to look at!

My Yarn Therapy group is starting to take off in fits and starts.  I have actually had other people attending it!  I’m very pleased with the ladies that I have had attend so far.  We always get comments from folks that are having dinner in the pub as well.  I’m hoping that more will come as soon as the word gets out some more!

There is lots of stuff going on in my life currently.

I started a new job last week.  It is in retail and it is only for the duration of the holiday season.  However, as temporary as it is, it still required more or less 3 days of training.  I am only working 3 days a week, but it definitely leaves my feet a hurting.

Last week on my way home from the above mentioned job, I found a dog.  He is a sort of lurcher and we think that he was in the area due to some “gypsy” activity that included hare coursing as some people were arrested doing just that.  He’s a beautiful boy but have had my hands full as he is A.) wickedly smart, B.) not housetrained and C.) scary fast.

Also, last week the hubby was in India, so I was alone handling, urm, everything…

So, sorry about the silence.  I’ll write more when I have a chance

A couple of nights ago the hubby and I were setting up for an invigorating game of scrabble (I know, we are the most boring couple on the planet!!) and we had lit a few candles on the dinning room table.  Now, I’m not sure what Jiji thought that I was doing up there, but food (her usual motivator to do anything that requires, you know, moving [Jiji is our personal incarnation of Jaba the Hut {but without the hot, ill-fitting metal bikini clad Carrie Fisher on the end of a chain}]) wasn’t part of the package.  So, she hops up on the table to nose around and, well, not to put to fine of a point on it, sets herself on fire.  Now, something that I learned from watching the fire woosh up her side is that cat fur does not have the same flame retardant/resistant properties as wool!!! She wasn’t hurt at all, just had a bunch of her hairs singed which caused her to clean herself for hours after we brushed the cat fur charcoal off of her so that she wouldn’t ingest it.  Ahhhh, the smell of burning cat fur right before bed….

Tomorrow night is Yarn Therapy here in lovely Ivinghoe Aston.  I know I haven’t mentioned it too much of late but it seems that everyone decided to join a knitting group while I was traipsing around the US and Canada.  So, to that end I will be in the pub two nights in a row as tonight is Quiz Night!  Woo hoo!  On the first Monday of each month we have these down at the Village Swan.  Neither Tech Support nor I are any good at them usually, sort of a cultural relevancy issue mostly.  What I mean is that people who are famous here are quite often not the same famous people as in the US.  That, and we didn’t really learn Prime Ministers in the US:-)  Anyway, it’s a fun night for us as we usually learn a great deal about recent the history of our village from one of our team mates as well as it being a really good time to pump people for information about, well, stuff around here as most everyone in the village without small children tend to attend.

I also want to give a great big shout out to my friend Terri Pike who got a huge mention on Cast-On today!!  Go check out her very cool website with tutorials on how to felt.  Just remember Terri, we were on Cast-On first

I am sending to the pond once again, the gray sock.  Not only does it not fit my feet but while traveling home from the US an entire needle slid out dropping all of the stitches which, pretty bad on it’s own, was then compounded by the motion of the baggage being moved around and such making all of the dropped stitches run like wussies back down the foot of the sock until they came to the heel.  This sock is not only being frog-ponded but it will have the added pleasure of being put into the time-out corner as well!  Since that left me sans a sock to knit on, I got out the Krafty Koala sock yarn that I got at Woolfest this spring.  It’s called Tui Sock and is a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend in the colorway “Undergrowth”.  To say that I nearly had a yarngasam just balling it (get your mind out of the gutter!) would be an understatement.  This stuff is so soft and smooshy I really would love to knit a pillowcase out of it.  The color is a dark green with just hints of blue-ish in it.  I will post a picture when I find a time that I can stop fondling it.  Until then, I have some yarn to molest

Have you ever really looked at a map?  I mean really looked at one?  It’s fascinating the things that you tend to notice when you really sit down and take a good long look at a map.  When I got back to The Old Chapel I noticed that the sun was in the sky a significantly shorter period of time than it had been even in the middle of New York.  Being sometimes less than quick on the uptake it took me about a week to figure out that this must mean that England is further North than even my dear progressive Iowa.  Now, in my defense, I was seriously asleep for nearly a week, I wasn’t joking about that.  Still, I hauled out the atlas and checked it out to satisfy my curiosity.  The area of England that I live in is about 10 degrees further North than most of the contiguous United States.  So, not only am I living on an island off of another continent for the first time in my life but I am also living significantly further North than I ever have in the past.

You know what Jimmy says, “Change your latitude, change your attitude.”

I am so there.

I’m sure that some of you have noticed that I haven’t been on here in a while.  That is because, my dear readers, I have been asleep or catching up on things that needed catching up on here in The Old Chapel.  Mostly sleeping though to tell you the truth.  I turned into sleeping beauty without the spinning wheel (or being a teenager for that matter!!!).  The hubby had to leave for France the morning after I got home which was probably good for him in all reality as I was a very boring person to be around for the first few days back, I don’t even snore (I just always look a bit angry when I sleep for some reason [I think it's really a look of concentration, I take sleeping very seriously!]).

Anyway, I realize that I haven’t posted about the tail-end of my trip so here it goes:

While in Florida still, I had sort-of a crazy last day getting to see everyone that I hadn’t seen up to that point.  I was booked for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Wednesday.  It was sort of insane but very fun to get to see everyone.

On Thursday I flew out from Orlando to White Plains on AirTran.  Everything went well though I lost my sunglasses somewhere in transit (it was ok, the weather in New York was less than sunglass weather!).  I met my roommate Malin at the White Plains train station after a few navigational delays and we headed North towards Rhinebeck.  Once again I am super happy that I used Ravelry as a way to share room/rides as Malin and I hit it off amazingly well.  Well, I guess that isn’t too big of a surprise since we both traveled thousands of miles to go to a sheep and wool festival (crazy likes crazy).  The drive-up to the Hudson Valley was not as pretty as in years past as we had first rain, then sleet, then (I kid you not) snow.  As I have not driven in falling snow with insane New York drivers passing me like I’m road kill in a while (read: ever) it was a sort of disturbing drive for parts of it.  Also, because of the weather, the beautiful fall colors the area is known for were obscured.  However, we made it to our hotel without incident and went shopping.  Yes, you read that right, we went shopping.  Malin had never been to a T.J. Maxx or Marshalls or any store like that before so we went to the Marshalls nearby and she liked it (a lot).  I got a few things for home as well.  We also went to Target where I checked-off a bunch of things on my very odd list of things to get in the US including 2 extra value sized bottles of Pepto (it’s really expensive here).

On Friday Malin and I both had workshops that went all day.  It was nice to be there before the whole festival opened up as it gave both of us a chance to see just how really big the place is.  We checked-in and went off to our individual workshops.  This year they had fun goodie bags for all of the workshop participants with a pen and a button that featured Leicester Longwools, this year’s breed of sheep on it along with some candy bars and coupons for various booths.  My classes were both with Annie Modesitt who is an awesome instructor.  She’s a really fun teacher that I highly suggest that taking her classes is a must to anyone even if you think you already know everything!!!  Annie battled the noise in the building all day long and mostly kept her temper about it (I would have been about 10 bajillion times more bitchy.  I would have turned into a fire breathing knitting Godzilla of doom!!)  Malin’s class was a little less, uh, good.  The instructor for the class was ill  (a very common thing I found as I traveled, the flu was early this year) so a replacement was found a half an hour prior to the class starting.  Now, trying to set up a class on designing lace patterns on the fly cannot be easy.  I’m hoping that the committee will refund the folks in that class their money like they discussed.  Though, from what I gathered, the lady that stepped-in to teach it did as good of a job as possible on such short notice.  Anyway, at the end of the day I bought two of Annie’s books and had them signed by her.  If you haven’t already checked them out, I would totally suggest it.  They are: Knit with Courage, Live with Hope and Confessions of a Knitting Heretic.  They can both be purchased in the normal channels or via Annie’s Website.  The first class of the day I also got a copy of one of her awesome flip books detailing how to do “Grandma” knit and purl increases.

Friday night we went out to eat with a bunch of the other Rodeway Inn Raveler’s at the restaurant that is right by the hotel.  It was surprisingly nice with several birthday parties and, I think, a wedding reception going on.  The group was super fun and the food was excellent.  I got a calamari pizza that was surprisingly tasty, even cold the next day!  We left the restaurant full and pleased and really ready for bed!

Most of the "Rodeway Gang" on Friday night.

Saturday was the opening day of Rhinebeck.  Malin and I got up early and got a great parking spot close to the 4-H gate.  I can definitely say that this year wasn’t as busy as last year was.  There was only really a couple of hours that you had to fight the crowds off whereas last year it was the majority of the day.  I think that the fact that it was not the nicest weather this year had something to do with it all.  It was overcast and cold and constantly feeling as though it was going to to break into a storm at any minute for most of the day.  However, it was still the glorious insanity that is Rhinebeck and lots of goodies were bought and even more were fondled and oohed and ahhed over.   A few really fun things that we both did were knitting on the big sock (they are trying for a Guinness World Record [it’s a FREAKING big sock]) and getting to meet and have her new book “The Knitter’s Book of Wool” signed by Clara Parkes.

Still some lovely fall colors despite the rain

Goats are always fun!

The Saturday Ravelry Meet-up

Yes, there were even kangaroos there!!!

Aflac!!! Aflac!! A couple of the actual Aflac ducks.

By the end of the day, we were both pretty zonked so we stopped at the grocery store that is near the fairgrounds for some provisions and headed-out towards the Ravelry party in nearby Red Hook.  We got mildly lost (didn’t bring the parking instructions) but it was ok as we were really early still.  The parking lot at the nearby school was pretty empty when we got there and we were on the first bus.  The party was great!  With-out the parking hassles, everything went so much smoother this year compared to last.  The food was yummy the goodie bags were, well, goodie and the company was fantastic.  Malin and I were on the first bus in and the last bus out!!!  Woot woot!! Party girls!!!!  Major props to the Ravelry crew for putting together such an awesome event once again!

On Sunday we didn’t get up nearly as early nor were we out the door as fast.  Since we were checking out of the hotel, we needed to make sure that we packed everything and had it all loaded in the car for that afternoon.   Even with the later start, we got an even better parking spot on day two!  It was significantly colder than it had been on Saturday.  We kept hearing rumors about bad weather in the city which made us both nervous about getting home in a timely manner.  Plus, we were both pretty exhausted.  We went around to a few of the places that we weren’t able to get to easily on Saturday.  It was so quiet that The Fold (home of Socks that Rock) didn’t have a line.  At all.  It was amazingly quiet.  We got a few more things and watched some of the Sheep to Shawl competition and did some of the food tastings and left around 1pm.

Some of the ladies in the Sheep to Shawl competition

Blue Ribboned entries.

There was a guy there doing these awesome pumpkin carvings!

The drive back down to White Plains was pretty uneventful.  It was rainy and blowy but otherwise, no big surprises.  I dropped Malin off at the train station and made my way back to the White Plains airport where I dropped my car off and struggled to get all three of my very large bags into the airport.  I had just gotten into the door after a massive struggle when a very kind lady asked if I needed any help.  She didn’t work there, she must have just seen the look of near desperation on my face.  This kind stranger got me to the United check-in area where something even stranger faced me.  A really nice United gate worker.  He took one look at my face and had me just chill and breathe for a few minutes.  (I must’ve really looked like hell is all that  I can think!)  He then checked me in for my flights and even helped me carry my bags over to security!!!  Going through security was a breeze and I was left to chill in the airport as I was a couple of hours early.
However, as the time approached for my flight to start boarding, there was no notice anywhere.  I went over to the United counter and there was a sign saying that my flight to DC was delayed an hour.  This is seriously not good as I only had about a 50 minute transfer.  Speaking with the girl behind the counter, it pretty quickly became apparent that I was going to be spending the night somewhere that was not in the air London bound.  So, when the puddle jumper finally arrived, I got on it with a sense of resignation knowing that I either A.) would have to run like a bat out of hell for my gate or B.) would have a night in DC.  It was the latter as I missed my flight by about 10 minutes.  So, I walked over to the customer service area and amazingly my luck held as I got another very nice (though harassed) United employee who set me up for the night in a really nice resort hotel on the Potomac.  Luckily, the pub in the hotel was open until midnight so I was able to get some excellent food before going to bed.
My flight left the next morning at 9:30am and since my luggage was still in the bowels of Dulles airport, checking in was a cinch.  Everything left on time and we arrived at Heathrow a little bit early.  Really, the whole thing wouldn’t have been such a big deal if the hubby hadn’t taken the day off to hang-out with me.  I was more upset by that than anything else.  As it ended-up, I got in at around 9pm and it takes a good hour plus to get home from that airport.  The hubby had to leave for a business trip to Paris the next morning at 5am so we didn’t get a whole lot of time to spend together.

My nice room courtesy of United Airlines

See, really can't complain.

I then proceeded to sleep for the better part of the week while he was gone with at least 3 animals touching me at all times.

Milo giving me some love while I sleep

It’s good to be home.

So, this morning, I get-up, ready to tackle some not so fun things that need to be done here (dealing with the move still) and I walk out to the pimp-mobile that I was rented only to find this:

Here is a better shot (I just had to let you all see the expansiveness that is my rental car!):

Happy Monday to you too!!!