about two years ago, i asked for a "teach yourself to crochet" kit for xmas. i'd taken crafts my senior year of high school, and my teacher took it upon herself to just teach me to crochet a hat. i never finished it, and for all i know it's still sitting in a drawer in her office. so, it'd been five years since then and i wanted to pick the hobby up for real.

that xmas, i crocheted a wobbly, pitiful looking scarf. after that i started the daunting task of an afghan. it took a year to finish, but it happened.

last year, i asked for a "teach yourself to knit" kit, determined to kick my needlework skills up a notch. preoccupied with the completion of above said afghan, i didn't teach myself to knit until about two weeks ago. i'm working on a knit stitch scarf. (and is just me, or am i a slow knitter or what -- i thought i'd be done with the thing in about two days... i'm maybe a third of the way done.)

earlier this week i happened to see a new show on the diy network called knit one, purl two. it's filmed at and hosted by the owner of la knitterie parisienne -- a studio city knit shop that all the "stars" frequent. this place is down the road from me, and i'm tempted to sign up for a class... but haven't because i'm intimidated by the fact that i'd be out of my league with a bunch of knitting movie/television stars/execs among the group.

the show is neat though -- it's just the french owner, with her accent, sitting at a table with three guests (today's was, among the others, "rosario" from "will & grace"). the projects they've featured so far are a cute "tie" scarf, a hat (without using those circular needle things), a savvy tote and a beautiful blanket. i'm inspired!

thing is, there are no more upcoming shows beyond this week (that i know of) -- and, here i thought i'd stumbled upon something great.

happy halloween!!

this year i decided to try one of those patterns on my pumpkin instead of a traditional pumpkin face. um, yeah... next year remind me what a bitch that was to do.

sunday morning i made a new batch of magnets. these took hardly any time at all. and, this time i made/colored my own images.

five years ago today: i was sitting in the front parlor of the london study centre with my classmates watching rented tapes of "friends" episodes and studying for a british history exam. later, we went to a pub to legally ring in my 21st.

ten years ago today: i got my driver's license, despite the exam guy telling me i'd made an illegial turn and should have failed... but, since my driving instructor was waiting for me at the end of the test and the exam guy knew him, he passed me anyway. ahh, connections.

twenty years (oh lord! twenty?) ago today: i was six. life was easy.

twenty six years ago today: i was born at huntsville hospital around 5 am. thus, the fun began!

tonight we must set our clocks back one hour in a world-wide effort to confuse everyone for a few days.

the friday five

1. what is your favorite scary movie? i dont' like scary movies... my favorite halloween movie is the peanut's "the great pumpkin." wait, is that the only halloween movie?

2. what is your favorite halloween treat? candy corn, of course!

3. do you dress up for halloween? if so, describe your best halloween costume. i dressed up when i was in school. best costume? probably my green m&m costume. although, my mom made that for me in high school for the senior class costume party, un-halloween related. it's my favorite/most fun costume i've worn, at least.

4. do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events? not really. i've worked in haunted houses before though.

5. will you dress up for halloween this year? nope. the last time i actually dressed up for halloween was 1997.

i have nothing to say. i just am tired of that last post being at the top.

in other news, i'm forcing my little head, up there at the top, to dress up early for halloween. she feels stupid, since halloween isn't for another week.

i'm not one to usually discuss such topics... but, thermacare heatwraps are curious little things. first of all, they are indeed a godsend. while experiencing that monthly annoyance, as most women do, i came across the heat wraps in the grocery store. they didn't have the cramp/stomach "patches" i was interested in, so i got the lower back belt-type heat wrap.

you take the thing out of the packaging just before you want to use it, and magically it starts to get hot. there are alien-ish black dots that are air-activated on the thing that are really interesting. it maintains a perfect heat that's not unbearably hot, but more than luke-warm. i turned the lower back belt around and kept it on my stomach for about 12+ hours and it stayed a consistent temperature the whole time (and, even after i removed it, it stayed hot for several more hours).

i've become extremely obsessed with images for marble magnets. every magazine/catalog/etc that passes through here goes under my inspection. i have a small pile of pages waiting to be cut into tiny circles and sorted for future magnet making. it's mad really. maybe i should join a support group?

jodi got sucked into the fun this weekend.

the friday five

1. how many tv's do you have in your home? three

2. on average, how much tv do you watch in a week? more than enough. tivo makes that really easy. :) plus, if i'm doing something else, i'll turn the tv on for background noise.

3. do you feel that television is bad for young children? pretty positive it's bad for a lot of us. too much exposure and information thrown out there sometimes.

4. what tv shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken? alias, charmed, amazing race, survivor, trading spaces, any martha shows (except since she's in jail her shows are all kind of scattered right now).

5. if you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? bbc america mixed with the food network and hgtv.

the current mitsubishi commerical music for the new 2003 suv "outlander" -- the one with the african american guy driving and going through the scenes of his future -- is called: "breathe" by telepopmusik. people are asking, so there you go. :)

easy custom journals. i made two larger ones about a year ago. and today, a quick small one. inspired by mrs. stewart.

my directions and photos.

the best part of halloween. yum! most likely these will disappear long before then, though...

among other things this weekend, i finally transformed that ugly, free aol cd tin, that came several months ago in the mail, into a beautiful little storage box!

here's my experience and directions!

the friday five

1. what size shoe do you wear? sadly... size 10. since i was about 12 or so.

2. how many pairs of shoes do you own? well, last time i moved i boxed up two large boxes full... no telling how many inside; i did sell some of them at a garage sale though. but, right now in my closet there's about 10 pairs.

3. what type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)? anything with a chunky heel is good. but most often wear sneakers.

4. describe your favorite pair of shoes. why are they your favorite? my doc marten's. they're super comfy and they can withstand anything -- rain, puddles, snow, dirt, excessive walking.

5. what's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes? no more than $125. but that hardly ever happens... it's just a guess. most of the time between $50-$75 range.

my marble magnets experience, for your viewing pleasure.