Duchess, LLC (Inside an MBA students head)

A conversation in my head from the "Tasks" department

New Voice in My Head: I just got a memo about finished objects from the creativity department. Do we do Finished Objects here?

Experienced Voice: (not looking up but shaking her head) Not during intersession.

NV: Oh, of course not, not during intersessiong (pause) What is intersession?

EV: (looking up in surprise) It's that sick and cruel form of torture we have been going through the last two weeks. You didn't think it was always like this did you? Oh dear, no, it's busy here, but there is no way we could carry on that pace for long periods of time.

NV: (a clear look of relief on her face) Oh, I'm so glad you told me. I was wondering what I got myself into.

EV: (smiling) There are a few times during the year that we go through this, but it's usually more manageable. Intersession is one of the worst, and having the attic under construction, the Duke traveling, and the Scooter STILL in the shop has made it an unusually hectic one.

NV: Why do we go through intersession? It's not like Christmas, or finals where we don't have a choice.

EV: I haven't a clue, you'd have to talk to the growth and development department to find that out, but be careful if you go over there. They all have their heads in the clouds and, in my opinion, can be very dangerous at times.

NV: (getting progressively upset) Well don't they know that overloads the rest of us. I mean, look at the house, it looks like a man and two dogs have been living here alone. There are dead flowers on the table, and some of the meals we have eaten as of late are flat out embarrassing.

EV: Oh believe me, I have talked to the logic department, the stress management department, the reality check department. Evidently the growth and development department overrides all of them and believe me, they can get carried away over there.

NV: (now really upset) In addition to all of that, those four pairs of pants aren't going to hem themselves. And who is the Project Manager in the creativity department anyway. We don't have time to finish creative projects right now, what are they thinking? I'm going to complain!

EV: Now, now, settle down, you're going to have stress management up in arms. This last weekend's 'retreat' was the culmination of the intersession class that we took this year. We only have one more class to attend next week plus a couple of short papers to write, nothing major. Plus, look at everything we got done today, and that was after the voices over at self care insisted on sleeping for 12.5 hours last night. We have tomorrow off of work and we will get the flowers and the pants taken care of then.
Don't worry about the PM at creativity, she's actually very nice, and you don't want to make her mad, she's very powerful and can make life very difficult for us if she wants.
Now, you go over to self care and let them know you need some chocolate. When you come back you can send a memo over to creativity and let them know that I finished up the bib, washcloth, and bottle cozy they made for the new baby, I just forgot to take a picture before I delivered it. Oh, and don't let IT see the memo, they will be irritated that I forgot that the new cell phone takes pictures. You can also suggest that creativity get started on a blog entry recording last weekend. That will keep them busy for a while.

NV: Oh, thanks so much. I really could use some chocolate. I'll get better at this, I promise.

EV: I know you will. We all have what G&D calls a learning curve. Trust me, I know from experience, the chocolate will help. Make sure they give you the good dark stuff. Those M&M's they took with us this weekend were only semi helpful

Urban Kayaking

This is how a beautiful summer Saturday should be spent, kayaking on Lake Union and Lake Washington. We rented the kayaks from Agua Verde in Portage Bay on Lake Union, headed through the Montlake Cut (which was SUPER choppy- we saw a kayaker go over- kaya no pictures there,) and onto Lake Washington. Yes, those are freeways behind us. I DID say we were urban kayaking. Take a right, under the freeway, and toward the Arboretum.

Voila. . . I have a new botanical to hang. We have been to the Arboretum many times, but it's a whole new experience from the water.


Say hello to Mr. Turtle and Ms. Duckie. How many cities in the US can you do this without even leaving town? It was amazing.

Lastly, if anyone is wanting to adopt a sweet 4 year old boxer, see Betsy Bits's Blog, she's a super cutie!

Somethin' Fishy Goin' On Here

Isn't he CUTE?
He needs a name, any suggestions?
He's knit from Blue Sky Alpaca's pattern "One Fish, Two Fish" in the same's Dyed Cotton.


Now, to go with the them, I present FISH TACOS!
I was knitting this little guy and I thought, you know what I need, a fish taco. Is that sick that I wanted to eat what I was knitting? I'm sure this says something about my psyche, but it's too late to think about it right now.
The only fish I had in the house was in the form of salmon burgers, so salmon it was. They were delicious!
The Duke won't eat a salmon burger as a burger, but he loved it like this.

Maya, Creative Muse

I would like to introduce you to a very important, er, person. Well, she's a muse, not a person, but we'll get to that.

This is Maya. She is my creative muse. She does just what one might imagine a creative muse does and more. She is very good at what she does, and I am very blessed to have her around.

She's just a little thing (the photograph of her sitting in one of my calalilies gives you an idea) but she is capable of inspiring great things.

Now, muses are traditionally very attached to just one human (at least that is the case here in Yarnnation.) However, Maya isn't your every day muse. Maya wants more from life than inspiring beautiful things. While she realizes that beauty is wonderful and important, she has discovered that creativity can be useful in so many other ways.



Maya confided in me that she wanted to try her magic out on something big, something meaningful, something special.

We discussed it for several days, and then, we had an idea.

Princess P. (my little sister) is one of the most creative women that we know. She most certainly has a very talented muse of her own, but her muse hasn't been able to help her with one very important area of her life. She is quite unhappy right now with her work situation, so Maya and I agreed that some extra creativity needed to be focused in her direction.

Now this is a very big undertaking even for a muse as talented and powerful as Maya, and while the magic of the muse is personal and confidential, Maya and I agreed that it might not hurt to invite other muses to focus some of their creative powers in Princess P.'s direction. So if your muse is up for something a bit different, well she will know what to do.

Maya and I will keep you up to date on the progress.


Now, to prepare for this undertaking Maya really wanted to get geared up. So, she has been working her magic all over my house. We started out knitting the first project ever from my own hand spun yarn. Now, it has been a long time since I have knit a humble garter stitch scarf, but we really wanted something that would show off the beauty of the yarn itself. I am delighted. It still needs to be blocked, but I don't need Maya for that, so on we move to the next project.






Knitting wasn't enough for Maya this week. She had been itching to get the sewing machine out, so off to the fabric store we went. Isn't this fabric fantastic? So, we bought the fabric, but no pattern, that would have been too easy. We pulled one of my favorite skirts out of my closet and laid out some brown butcher paper. You guessed it. Together we created our own simple skirt pattern, and it came together beautifully. This is a photograph of the finished skirt, (except it still needs to be hemmed, again don't need Maya for that.) I just didn't have a good way to photograph it. When I get it hemmed I will have the Duke take a picture of it on me.


Last but not least, we tried out a new spinning technique. I purchased three solid colors of roving. I then carefully separated each of the colors into equal lengths over and over. Then, as I spun I overlapped the colors, changing to the other color when one of the two I was working with ran out. This is it plyed together. I am delighted with the effect.

Great work, Maya! I think you are up to the challenge.

What Kind of Yarn am I?

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!








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I have been in fiber over drive: casting on no less than 5 projects, aquiring (a safer word than buying) yarn for several other projects, and spin-spin-spinning! I even visited a fabric store and hauled out my sewing machine (it's' getting crazy in here people.) Unfortunatly, I am temporarily camraless (sigh) so instead you get to hear about what kind of yarn I am.

I love Merino!

Almost Paradise. . . how could I ask for more?

I think I need more days like this.

31 July 2006
Seattle, WA
Weather: Perfect

9:00: I got up to feed the dogs, then because I could, I went back to bed. Ahhhh
11:00: I got up again, dressed for the beach, ate delicious breakfast (raisin bran with fresh blueberries and almonds, with rice milk of course!) wrapped a present, and gathered the pups.
12:30: I did have to run one errand today (I did say, almost paradise,) but it was delivering flowers and presents to the Duke's co-workers, so actually it was fun.
1:00: Arrived at Magnuson Park's off leash doggie area, the biggest one around, acres and acres for my little pups to stretch their legs, and the only beach you can take your dogs to in Seattle. We headed right for the beach where Logan proceeded to harass all dogs bigger than him (You get em, Logan) and Maggie and I found a ball and jumped in the water for some swimming fetch, Maggie's favorite.
2:30: There's a no-dairy bakery on the way home, how convenient, I need a little snack. Logan is even too tired to do more than try to sniff my dairy free cookie. Good boy, Logan.
3:00: Read, vegitate, relax. . . Because I can.
4:00: A nice hot bath with Jasmine and Vanilla mmmmmmmm.
5:00: Here I sit, in my yoga clothes, with a glass of iced Evening in Missoula from Tea Cup, a scoop of Haagen Daaz Orchard Peach Sorbet, and two very tried pups. (I love tired pups.)

Plans for the evening: yoga, knit, read, maybe spin, and watch Medium (if it's not a rerun.), go to bed early.

Only one thing missing. . . The Duke. No, maybe almost paradise, but not close enough without him, even if a day like this would make my high energy husband crazy. He is in workshops all this week. Siyang, as they say in the Philippines. (in translates to "oh, well" with a significant amount of longing.)

But a relaxing day none-the-less, and very enjoyable.

Yes, I will fold my clothes tomorrow. . . maybe.

Stitch and Pitch

It was pretty cool!

So Cranky is Good and Purl of a Girl and Knits and Sass
have pretty much covered it all.

I DO want to say I'm sorry to Shanny, Martine, and Jule. I couldn't remeber where my car was and we took the LONG LONG way around to find it. I was very thankful that they were with me though. Walking around SODO, with a dead cell phone, looking for my car by myself probably would have put me over the edge. They were all so gracious. I'm sure they didn't really need a good long walk at 11:00 at night, but the conversation was interesting. THANKS LADIES!!!

Daphne, Betsy, and Shannon naka-hilltop lahat!

Utah - The Fiber and Happy Pioneer Day

Logan, Maggie, I'm home, come see what your mommy was doing while she was away visiting your grandma and grandpa.

Mama, is that you? Oh, I missed you so much!














Hey look, she's knitting a sweater in this green cotton (Nautical Cotton by Louisa Harding) so she will look pretty when she's walking me this fall!
What's it going to look like Mama? Ohh, a fitted raglan cardigan, 3/4 length sleeves, and trimmed in a darker green.
I think it will be perfect for our fall walks.






This is sooooo cool mom, it looks like a leopard or something. Maybe you could knit me a toy to play with (read: destroy) out of it. I know you spun it mom, but, but, but. . . well at least could you knit dad a hat out of it so he can look cool when he walks me?















This is cool too mom, like a snake or something.













Hey, YOU, did you see what my mama did???
She took this sheep stuff (hand dyed blue face leister by local Utah company Wasatch Watercolours)

(Don't be rude Logan.)










And made this out of it. It's soooooo pretty, fit for a baby princess, like me.
It's so girly, the snake yarn in cooler.
You're a dumb boy what do you know, I'm going to bite you.
MAAAMAAA
(Maggie, don't bite your brother.)


Mama used grandma (the Queen's) knit-purl bag while she was in Utah. She liked it so well that she is knitting herself one.

Now maybe when she takes us to the park people won't ask her what she's crocheting. Duh, people, we're dogs and we know what knitting is.

I'm so happy to be home with my little pups.

Think Cool Thoughts

It's too hot to knit. . . I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's true. So now what? Spin of course, the wheel even helps circulate the air through my house.

I pulled my spinning wheel, box fan, and a folding chair onto the landing at the top of my stairs, far away from the heat of any window. I found enough energy reserve to dig out the fiber that I bought in Utah and had a pretty nice afternoon hiding out from the sun.
I am too hot to take pictures right now, so instead I found some cool looking hand dyes and cool glass tools.

If colors and textures could change the surrounding tempature, this whirl pool of roving would bring in a lovely sea breeze.


I have heard people say that they don't like glass or metal needles because they are too cold. Well, they obviously are not fair weather knitters. People who only knit in the winter don't understand why you might want a cooler needle.















Ohhhh, watermelon fresh, crisp, and cold from the river bed. . . is it strange that I equate yarn and food? I suppose not, after all, they are both basic components needed to sustain life. (did I mention that it's hot?)







And flower buttons, again in pools of glass. Just dive right in; you won't even have to dry your hair afterwards.

Utah- The Family

Sisters, Sisters. . . Princess P., and me!

Prince B. the Bad, Princess P.'s hubby, is a fiber antagonist. He makes fun of our passion, and I put ridiculous photo's of him on the internet. Princess, please , finish his sweater so he can stop saying that he never benefits from your knitting (by-the-way Prince, I do recall my little sister knitting her little fingers to the bone to produce PERSONALIZED beanies for each and every member of someone's basketball team.)
















Hemmie, the neurotic Boarder Collie.

Cache, you would never guess this regal looking Shetland Collie, is the noisiest dog you have ever met. He is a restless one year old pup. This was the only time he held still long enough to take his picture the whole time I was there, and even this took some effort.
















Sophie, the naughtiest Lakeland Terrier in the world. Good thing for her she is so stinking cute that no one has killer her yet.

Next. . . Utah The Fiber (saving the best for last!)

Utah- The Reunion

For the sake of sanity, I think I will post the Utah trip is stages. So here is the fist:

We were there for the Duke's 10 year class reunion. Fri. night was a picnic, can you tell it was 100 degrees outside by the red and shiney faces?



The Duke with his beautiful cousin, the World Traveler. She is so much fun, she tried to teach us Salsa the next night, it was a failure on the dancing scale, but a great success on the fun scale.

Me, laughing at the fact that J. (the guy) is happily surrounded by three married women. I was good friends with these three in HS. I see J. several times a year, but haven't seen H. and S. for a very long time, it was great to see them.







The Duke, with two swimming buddies, C. and J. at the dinner the next night. Don't you love his shirt, it's his new 'holiday' shirt.

I Love this Man

He picked me up at the airport today. There were flowers on the front seat of the car.

This man I call the Duke, he is really more of a knight in shinning armour. His armour is one of the funny tee shirts he wears, he has a little white dog instead of a white stallion (easier to keep in the city, and better represents his affectionate side,) and has short red hair instead of long flowing hair (he finds it hard enough to keep my hair out of the drains.)

He is the perfect one for me. Heaven help me, I never knew I could love a person this much.

Leaving it all Behind

Well, the carpet is in, it looks great (if somewhat dark because all of the lamps weren't plugged in yet.)

The rest of my house, well let's just say it's a good thing that I'm sitting at the airport waiting to board a plane for Utah, because the tornado chic look was starting to wear on me.

I have delusions of it being all nice and tidy when I get back (Duke and the dogs stayed behind.) --- well, like I said, delusions.

On the knitting front, we have 8 wonderful, bright, (some might say psychedelic) dish cloths. I've knit 10, give 3 away, leaving me 7. . . Just what I need, right, one for each day of the week. (Let's just pretend I actually do laundry every 7 days and ignore the fact that I packed enough cotton yarn to knit at least three more, hummm, better make that 4-5)
















Last night the Duke looked at my bag and shook his head. There was more yarn in my suitcase than clothing. I told him that I only own 7 pairs of shoes, so leave me alone.

Next update: Tooele (pronounced To-ell-a)-- don't get too excited, I doubt it will make your 'places I must travel before I die' list.

Disturbed by Yarn???

You tell me.

This is prairie Dream: A Little massacre

by Pluckyfluff.

Interesting? yes.

Knitable? mabey.

Disturbing? a little

"HUGE BULKY skein made from white ICELANDIC FLEECE, hand-dyed fibers, silk waste, fabric, flowers, rubber cherries and a 1940's VINTAGE DOLL who's eyes open and close! and her little western chaps and prairie blouse...The entire yarn is spun with a delicate pale pink nubbly thread and a coral pink silk thread"

Vacation, all I ever wanted???

Why would I need a vacation? Maybe it has something to do with my entire house looking something like this, or the opposite rooms where all the stuff that goes in this room has been taken! Monday come soon!!! (New carpet arrives on Monday!)
Maybe it has something to do with the Duke laying down our scooter on the freeway the day before we left on vacation. Yes, Brent, pictures will follow. He is pretty OK, a minor fracture in his elbow, some very ugly bruising, and the inevitable road rash.



So, after x-rays and mechanic shop, we took off for the Oregon Coast. This is the only way to go to the beach. My beach towel acts as a blanket and I knit to keep warm. Here you see me wearing a recently finished hat (knit just for the occasion, as I was cold) and nearly finished with the second fingerless glove. The Duke, well he's the Duke, on vacation or not!

So I spend 5 blissful days knitting, spinning, and buying yarn.


I bought this yarn (3 skiens) and knit it up in 2 days. It is a wonderful kettle dyed cotton called Patagonia Yarn. I used a size 15 needle and a simple YO, K2tog, lace stitch. Here's the specs on the Yarn
Gauge: 3-3.5
Material: 100% Cotton
US Needle: US 8 - 10
Washing Instructions: Hand Wash
Weight: (2.5 - 3.5 sts/in) Bulky
Yardage: 105


I also found some Blue Moon Yarn, it's a cotton sock yarn (weird huh!) It has 4% of a fiber called Elite in it, which much give it its bounce, because it bounces like no cotton I've ever felt. I Love the colorway. No decision as to whether it will be socks or something else, although I am intrigued by the idea of knitted cotton socks.



A lovely little knot of hand dyed roving. . . not sure from whom, I was to entraced by the roving to notice the sign above it. Can't wait to see it spun up!



And last, and maybe lilttlest, but certainly not least. I saw the Duke's cousin's new baby and knew this little darling needed a strawberry hat. Isn't she the most darling little cherub?

Now, I have returned to my mess house, but thankfully, next week another knitting vacation to visit my mom. I'll bring back pictures for you!