Lick My Sticks

F THIS BLOG- The New Site is DONE!!

2006-03-21T21:58:01-05:00

UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS AND BLOGROLL'S!! HTTP://LICKMYSTICKS.COM has OFFICIALLY launched!!

The site is up and running with a nice long new post about sleeping with ghosts. GO, go now!!

IF YOU CAME HERE VIA A LINK PLEASE EMAIL ME AT: PAMHELME@LICKMYSTICKS.COM AND LET ME KNOW SO I CAN FIX IT!! HEAD OVER TO THE NEW SITE AT HTTP://LICKMYSTICKS.COM!!

omg, omg

2006-03-21T01:45:53-05:00

I have nearly perfected my template. I got my own header image up on that biatch like nothing! (If my dad taught me nothing else, he taught me to never read directions, get mad, bitch, secretly read them, and figure everything out yourself.) I'm pretty proud of myself, screwing around until it worked did the trick on mostly everything. I'm struggling with the link side bar set up now. I'm unsure of how to transfer all my buttons and webrings so that everything works...but once that's done...oh, baby. I'm there.

Making progress!!

2006-03-20T16:24:08-05:00

The new website is coming along, it's almost ready for official unveiling. (although melissa snuck there already!! sneaky!!) I think I've got the template buisness mostly figured out, so hopefully by the end of the week! I know you're all just on the edge of your seats.

I finished my moms eyelash scarf, which I knit on 9's so it was thick and heavy. She was totally thrilled and fascinated, she's easy to please. I'm probably casting on for jaywalkers soon, but I'm going to try the easy sock pattern with my cheap sock yarn before I dive into jaywalkers, which look somewhat difficult for a first time sock knitter.

I have a TON of blogging to do about this past weekend (my 1st anniversary). It's a pretty cool story but I'm going to save it for the new blog. For now I'm off to the gym!

xoxo

Happy St. Beer Day!!

2006-03-17T13:20:00-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I'm not religious, but I am Irish, and man do I love beer. Today is my Christmas. Everyone get drunk, be merry, and be safe!!

www.lickmysticks.com

2006-03-17T03:15:00-05:00

That's right ladies, I am the proud owner of lickmysticks.com, I've got hosting, I've transferred my blogroll. And now? I'm a little lost. I HATE every blog theme I've seen. I want to do my own but I'm not even close to that smart. I just want it to look KNITTING RELATED, not like a peaceful spring fucking day. So that's my major complaint thus far. I don't know anyone that would design me one for free....which sucks.

Overall I'm pretty terrified I'm going to hate this very quickly. But I WILL figure it out! I'm pretty computer literate, so all hope not yet abandoned here.

If any of you are doing the WordPress thing and have any helpful tips or tricks, please pass them along. I'm sure I'll eat up a good month or so trying to move everything over to the new blog. I found rockin' hosting for 5 bucks a month (and they let you pay month-to-month!) at POEhosting.com. Thus far it's been really user-friendly. I set up The Accursed's website and it was a nightmare, this has been tit easy. They have a "blog plan" that has WordPress built right in, it set most everything up for me!

In knitting news I finished the Steek Vest last night, it's pretty bulky and frumpy on me right now, I'm going to block it to death probably tomorrow (I used Wool-Ease for those who asked) and see what happens. I certainly wish it was longer, so I'm going to try and stretch some inches out of it. To celebrate this FO, I dove into my moms simple black eyelash scarf. I'm using size 9 straights so it's going to take a while, but it's thick and heavy...very nice. You know, say what you will about eyelash, sometimes a thin, black, fuzzy scarf is just the right touch! And as my mom pointed out, they don't snag your earrings! Anyway it's a nice interim project I don't have to think about. I got about a foot and a half done watching Grey's Anatomy (playing catch-up on season two, only 3 episodes in!), The Shield, Lost (Working on season one...what a cool show!) and the newest Family Guy. (I download TV shows like it's my job, I have no cable.) All in all a nice evening of R&R, I've been sick as a dog for 3 days now. :(

Well, I'm going back to wandering around WordPress lost and confused.

Just-About-FO's, New Yarn, and a New Camera!

2006-03-15T22:22:26-05:00

Oh yeah, I've been busy. I got half of my student loan in...paid some bills and of course, spent a bit on myself! Sunday I went to the mall in search of the long awaited NEW CAMERA to replace my junker Minolta X-700 (old school, but no longer my friend since it broke twice this year) and picked up a brand spanking new Canon K2, it's pretty sweet. I haven't taken it for a test run yet, but I will this week!!!

So I've FINALLY, FINALLY completed the knitting for the BACCARAT top. I hate it. I totally hate it. It doesn't fit under the arms so I need to figure something out there...and the droopy collar thing looks stupid and nowhere near as pretty as the picture. I'm hoping blocking will fix that, and my skills will fix the under arms. I'll figure something out and post a pic of me modeling it as soon as I get it finished up.

BUT! I do have a happy project to post! I cast on for the Steek Vest in Loop-D-Loop yesterday afternoon, and I'm about half an hour away from finishing it off (however I've been distracting by blogs and Craftster all day, and thus it is not finished!) so I'll probably have that picture up tomorrow! I flew through this pattern, it's a great one for that advanced beginner who's never knit a garment before. Which for a lazy intermediate like myself, is perfect!

Before my Camera trip, Allison and I hit up A.C. Moore (who had a 30% off yarn sale going on) and Eva's Yarns (our oh-so-posh LYS) a couple times for a stash dash. I bought the Wool-Ease for the Steek Vest, suade for a belt, Beads and wire to whip up some stitch markers, and some other random stuff. At Eva's I picked up some sweet sock yarn (the red stuff) and looked for the SnB Crochet book, which sadly hadn't come in yet. I've been tempted to buy it elsewhere...but I would rather give Eva the sale than some schmuck store.

So as you can tell from the sock yarn...I will be embarking on my first pair of socks this week. I've got to finish the vest, then a quick eyelash scarf for my mom (she wanted one because the other one I made her gets caught on her earrings) and THEN on to the socks. Anyone have any pattern suggestions????

I spent the whole day adding shit to my blog, finding out Knitting Blogs deleted me AGAIN (SO not worth the effort), and delving into this flickr and blogroll fancyness. Which led me to considering just how much I loathe BlogSpirit.

I'm seriously thinking about moving to a pay site for my blog. I've had it with Blogspirit and their bullshit. Now they've thrown a random sloppy ad in my neat and clean Webrings and Cool Sites thing on top of constantly screwing up and taking me to the same HEY YOU SHOULD PAY US AND GET ALL THIS screen everytime I log in. As far as I've seen the most popular blog hosting is with Pretty Posies and TypePad...anyone have any suggestions there?

Blogspirit makes me wanna holla...I WANT OUT!!!

Free to Stitch, Free to Bitch!

2006-03-15T13:10:00-05:00

I just came across this website and I implore all you stitchin' bitches to hustle over there and show your support!! Sew Fast, Sew Easy is NOT going to get away with its bully tactics forever. Add a banner, a button, or just tell a friend. BOYCOTT SEW FAST SEW EASY!!

If you need a little encouragement consider the following:

A list of offensive acts are as follows:

Disabling a large number (exact number pending) of online shops advertising various local knitting and crafting chapters by invoking CafePress's terms of service if the chapter made use of the term "Stitch and Bitch" or any variant of those three words. CafePress' terms of service enable CafePress to shut down these online shops on the basis of an allegation of trademark infringement that does not need to be proven in court.
Causing Yahoo! Groups to shut down or threaten to shut down a large number of mailing lists (exact number pending) if they made use of the term "Stitch and Bitch" or any variant of those three words. These small social groups of knitters and crafters depend on these mailing lists to communicate, and Sew Fast/Sew Easy Inc.'s actions have caused harm to these groups' unity, lost them the ability to communicate with possible members, and/or caused Yahoo! to delete valuable membership information.
Claiming they were the very first ever to coin the phrase "Stitch and Bitch" in 1997.
Deleting all negative opinions, however civilly worded, from their guestbook and online forum. Even more appalling, they have edited the very words posted by visitors directing interested parties to local knitting and crafting chapters. Any links provided with more information on these local knitting and crafting chapters have been changed without knowledge or permission of the poster to lead back to the company's own web site.

What they're doing is WRONG. They hold the copyright for "Stitch and Bitch Cafe" and NOTHING MORE. They have no ownership of the term Stitch and Bitch and they are claiming otherwise, forcing non profit knitting groups to change their names or face legal action.

This is wrong, so take a few moments and add a button! HELL NO WE WONT GO!!

New addition!!

2006-03-08T16:45:00-05:00

Here he is! The new kitten. He's so effin adorable I can't stand it. We're working on a name, leaning on Dio. Enjoy the unbearable cuteness. Go ahead and squeel.

You know you missed me

2006-03-07T00:20:00-05:00

As you may have noticed, I've been completely MIA lately. Allow me to make excuses. After the xmas hell of trying to knit up ALL the xmas gifts I assigned myself (which I didn't finish all of, btw), I became COMPLETELY and utterly disgusted with knitting for two whole months. I needed the break though, I think. When a hobby becomes an obligation you really lose sight of why you enjoyed that hobby in the first place. So my stash, needles, and WIP's collected dust until this week.

Now I've been having massive bouts of guilt for neglecting my projects. At least once a day I'd glance over at my knitting trunk and hate myself for a few moments, but it never got me to pick it up. Last weekend, we had a 2.5 hour drive to Chicopee, MA to see Green Carnation. In a rare moment I felt the urge to bring the lacey mohair scarf I've knit and ripped out thrice now. I got a ton of it done, on a new pair of 17's (handmade birch!) that I got for xmas, and I felt a lot better. Trying to finish it a few nights later I ended up dropping a stitch somewhere, leaving me with a huge hole, no life line, and the overwhelming urge to kill myself.

After a gym trip yesterday, Allison and I headed over to Eva's (our LYS, fuckin' fabulous place!) and walking around I got the charge back. We went back to my house, crashed in front of the TV in Grey's Anatomy heaven (Season one DVD on loan from our awesome Yoga instructor) and knit our little hearts out. Allison, being the bestest person in the world, managed to salvage my mohair from hell scarf, and I finished that as well as a mini-scarf that I'm now on a mission for a cute scarf pin for. Here they are:

Allison is also the bestest person in the world because she got and fixed this amazing, amazing, Sears-Kenmore sewing machine for me. It's so fucking pretty, I'm completely in love. I'm naming her Stella. However I can't find any info about her!! I've exhausted myself looking for her model number for a year, a manual, ANYTHING and I can't find anything. I emailed someone earlier who runs a HUGE site for vintage manuals, hopefully she can help me. I don't care how old she is, baby, just look at her:

I also have aquired Isabelle...my dress form that came by me for 40 bucks via Craigslist. She's smaller than me so I'm drafting ideas for a stuffed, maybe velcro, waist add-on. If it works out I'll be thrilled, the bust and shoulders are pretty much the same, but I gotta accommadate my liquid grain storage facility. I'm working on a quickie T-shirt mod and skirt to get me back in my sewing groove. (It's been about 6 or 7 months since my newer model broke.)

I've been struggling with this beautiful skein of Sari Silk I got for xmas (also from Allison, this blog is in total praise of her) and I have come to the inevitable conclusion that I should never try to wind a ball from a skien of expensive and/or fragile yarn again. This is what I'm looking at right now (and yes I am using a bottle of lube to wind balls, shut up):

The yarn is BEAUTIFUL. It's hand made out of recycled sari's and the proceeds benefit battered women in Nepal. It was the first thing I drooled on my first trip out to Eva's. (Anyone in Mass or RI, Eva's it worth the trip!) I was planning to make a shawl/poncho type thing out of it but from the tangles it's breaking apart pretty easily, I think it might be safer in scarf form. It's so beautiful I know it will become my favorite whatever I make out of it. I also picked up a ball of Yoga yarn to match my new hair color. I'm going to make a pretty neck decoration and maybe some wrist decorations with it:

Since Shagrath never came home (he ran away in early January) I've been pretty miserable without a cat around here. Sure I have my obnoxious licky pees-on-everything little lovebug Chihuahua, but I really, REALLY, miss my cat. I've had cats my whole life, it's weird not having one around. I've got a grey tiger kitten on his way hopefully this week. Just waiting on the woman to call me back. She NEVER answers her cell phone and has been going a week in between emails telling me to call her. She's getting married soon I think, so I won't blame her at all. (Been there, ugh) HOPEFULLY we'll hear from her tomorrow. I can't wait!! Will post pictures until you all vomit on the preciousness as soon as possible.

Got a new digital for xmas, by the way!

School is going GREAT this semester. My math class ended up being the wrong one and I had to switch to an American Civilization class (basically Sociology, which I'm into), erradicating the only drag class I had lined up. ALL my professors turned out to be GREAT. I like every one of them! Love my classes and I'm pulling a strong A in all of them. I'm hoping for Dean's list this semester, which will pull my GPA up from good to awesome. Feelin' good about it. Money issues are no better, Jon still has no job and the bills are just piling up. But I'm in a good mood and I'm not going to think about it. Been keeping up with the gym as best I can, been a hectic couple of weeks but we're still pulling off a minimum of 3x per week. Ideally I'd like 3 days involving some cardio, plus our yoga class. I haven't lost a pound but I look better and I feel great, so I'm not really minding that. I'd rather be healthy than skinny, it's just more important to me.

The band is going GREAT! We played a lot of great gigs the last two months. To check out pictures from the last show (this past Saturday) visit Return To The Pit- Smite The Righteous Gallery (Marshall's Pub Show) This is my favorite:

That's about it for tonight. I can pretty much promise a return to regular posting. I'm coming in and out of a weird funk lately but my itch to write and record is back in full force. I'm off to catch up on all the bad-ass knitter blogs now. I leave you with a cute picture sequence from a couple hours ago of my husband and Abbath. Awww-factor is high:

End note: Updated everything, lists, links, albums, whole 9. I'm tired now, but I feel SO much better.

Happy New Year!!

2005-12-31T13:34:35-05:00

Have a great New Year's Eve everyone!!! Be safe, get smashed, pass out...whatever your pleasure!! I'm sure there will be photos of me doing all of the above on here tomorrow!!

PS- Has BlogSpirit been giving anyone else shit regarding publishing? Mine is SAVING instead of PUBLISHING and has been for weeks...and that stupid screen trying to get you to pay that pops up everytime? Ridiculous. If I DO pay for a blog, it won't be through these creeps.