Scissorina

I am happy to report that she lervs them. I am also happy to report that this is one more baby gift off my list. Yahoo!

Please Note: Sassy's gift is also done but I need to make time to go down to Brooklyn and hand it over.... Or maybe it will find itself in the mail also... so the kid can enjoy it before her 16th birthday.... ;)

PS - Just updated Fiberfly with 2 new rovings... one of which is some corriedale in the Hubba Hubba colourway I used for Clappletis... Yee!

Posted by Sarah at 1:29 PM | Comments (3)

October 16, 2006

Cl-apple-tis

Ripe for the picking, here's Clapotis during her recent trip to the orchard...

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert, Knitty Fall 2004
Yarn: Fiberfly Handpainted, Handspun 2-ply Tussah Silk, Worsted Weight, in Hubba Hubba
Needles: US8 32" circulars, Addi Turbos
Notes: My very first project where I dyed the roving, spun the yarn and knit it all up. You could call me the proud mama. I'm, like, the LAST blogger to knit this pattern, so I'll spare you the ooh's and aah's of how neat it is to drop stitches and what-not. There's a reason that this is such a popular pattern! If you haven't made one, I suggest you get a move on.

Alternate shot, if you'd like to see her spread out a bit:

We in New England were downright blessed with beautiful Autumn weather this weekend. The McNally and Barney clans decided to take full advantage of a glorious Saturday and headed to Averill Farms in Washington, CT.

Sisters MH and Heather Anne and I drove up to the orchard with Michelle, her baby boy Julian, and her family. I guess it's the whole "first baby" thing... but everything this kid does totally AMAZES me. He was ridiculously cute.

Why, here he is picking his first apple:

I mean, wtf? It really doesn't get much better than this - at least not until I get to have my own... In the meantime, I am enjoying watching the first kid in my group of friends grow up. :)

Some more pics from our appley adventure...

Zee Farm.....

Zee apples....

Zee baby in a cart....

Best part 'bout apple pickin' is all the apple eatin'....

Look at that face.... He could ask me for the keys to my car and I'd probably hand 'em right over...

Posted by Sarah at 8:50 PM | Comments (7)

October 11, 2006

My Gift To You

Thanks for all the bday wishes, everybody! :)

So, I made myself a little playlist on my birthday and thought I'd share on accounta I lerve it so very muchly.

First, some background info... I love making mixes. It used to be mix tapes. Then mix cd's. And now it's playlists. I make them all the time - and you know I'm fond of you if I make one for you. It's kind of a big deal.

I guess these days, I'm fond of myself, because this one is all me... But I love my readership enough to share mix 29.

Any fellow mix-makers out there will understand when I say sometimes you make one that really captures where you are at that moment. The past few mixes I made were just all somehow lacking.... Not this one - I've listened to it everyday and it has resonated more as we go along. I really dig 29. She's kicky, she's a little pissed off, but she somehow retains her optimism.

If you want a little insight into Snippy's little pea brain at the moment, I suggest listening to the following:

29

1. The Things That I Used To Do G. Love & Special Sauce / G. Love And Special Sauce
2. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) The Strokes (featuring the dashing Mr Eddie Vedder.... *sigh*) / You Only Live Once / Mercy Mercy Me
3. Make Me Stay Ani DiFranco / Not So Soft
4. Portions for Foxes Rilo Kiley / More Adventurous
5. Mountain Song Jane's Addiction / Nothing's Shocking
6. I Got ID Pearl Jam & Neil Young / Merkinball
7. Plainclothes Man Heatmiser / Mic City Sons
8. Brown Eyes Fleetwood Mac / Tusk
9. ...Said Sadly The Smashing Pumpkins / Rarities & B-sides
10. Dress Up In You Belle and Sebastian / The Life Pursuit (Bonus Tracks)
11. Kiss Me On My Neck Erykah Badu / Mama's Gun
12. Greek Song Rufus Wainwright / Poses
13. How Will He Find Me The Weepies / Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) - EP
14. A Case Of You Joni Mitchell / Blue
15. Song Of Sand Suzanne Vega / 99.9 F°
16. Black Boys On Mopeds Sinéad O'Connor / I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
17. Chocolate Jesus Tom Waits / Mule Variations
18. Frog on My Toe Tori Amos / Talula
19. Miss Misery (oscars) Elliott Smith / live performance
20. When the President Talks to God Bright Eyes / When the President Talks to God
21. I Want You (Live for Decades Rock Live!) Fiona Apple / I Want You (Live for Decades Rock Live!)
22. Dream A Little Dream Of Me Mama Cass With The Mamas & The Papas / Creeque Alley

Enjoy. :)

Posted by Sarah at 7:04 PM | Comments (1)

October 9, 2006

Puppy Dogs and Bull Rides: One Very Snippy Birthday

So, Saturday was birthday # 29.

How is it that I just realized - on Saturday - that I, uh, forgot to go back to school? Cuz I'm pretty sure I was supposed to do that by now....

ANYWAY... I took Friday off for some me time (like I don't get enough of that living by myself. pshh.), so I took Kyra to one of her favorite places, Huntington State Park and we had ourselves a little hike'n'walk.

No matter what worries may float into my little pea-brain, this face will always make me smile. I mean... come on. She is one effing cute little dog, isn't she? I'm a lucky lady.

Here are a couple of highlights from HSP - If ever in Redding, CT, it's a sweet little nature preserve I highly reccomend. We did the main loop and a couple of side trails.

Saturday morning came and I'll be truthful... I found myself feeling a bit blue. So, I packed up the pup again and headed out the door to another of her favorite spots... the Housatonic Railbed Trail in Monroe. Sometimes you just need to get yourself moving to get yourself out of a funk. (Puppy kisses don't hurt neither.)

Upon my return, I found Mary rallying the troops for a memorable evening out. She and Scott swung by with my birthday presents (they were many and fantastic!) - the highlight was certainly.... THIS!:

Ah! Clothes, you shall no longer be pent up in big, blue rubbermaid bins at the foot of my bed! For the Universe (a la Mary and Scott) has taken pity upon you and sent forth a home for you! THANK GOD. I mean, a person can only live out of plastic bins for so long before they really start to lose it. My bedroom actually looks like a bedroom now. It's really quite something. Thanks guys. More on other gifties at a future date, for now I'll get back to the evening's festivities...

So we made the trek to Waterbury to my fave mexican place. I had shrimp chimichangas and a gallon sized margarita that my waiter insisted was onlly a "medium". Next time I'm ordering a large. I won't have to drink anything else all night...

And our big plans?

Well, Mary decided I ought to do something I'd never done before on my birthday. Something new! Something exciting! Something I wouldn't think to do!

She seemed to have tracked down the only mechanical bull in the state of Connecticut. For serious.

The place was sketchy. It was all ages. I had to wear a bracelet to be allowed at the bar. (On the bright side, the woman who took my cover charge thought I was under 21. Now there's a nice 29th bday present... of course, I took that as a sign that they saw some really rugged looking 20 year olds....but anyway...) There were people dressed in sideways turned baseball caps and giant pants line dancing. Swear on a stack, people. I've never been to such a strange, strange place.

Luckily, enough alcohol and anything becomes funny. Mary, Michelle, Jessica and I got tanked. Scott didn't. He sat there sober and miserable so he could drive our tanked asses home. Now that is what I call doing a solid. Thanks, buddy.

I recall some of the colorful characters we watched from afar that evening.... There was Denim Bolero (the fashion icon of the evening), Flashdance (who I believe had some classical training - those feet pointed out so nicely on his kicks! and such lovely turns!), Tight Jeans (Tall man, Girls jeans. No good.), Confederate Flag Hat, and Josh - our handsy waiter. Yeah. He touched me once and not again... I can dish out some dirty looks.

Once enough liquor had been consumed, I recall jumping onthe dance floor to shake my booty to some Justin Timberlake song and I tried out a line dance. Everyone was real impressed. I really don't remember it too well, but the girls insist I did very well.

Did I mention they had a mechanical bull? Look, it's not something I would normally do. Not something I would set out searching for. But, I was drunk, Mary had gone to a lot of trouble, I was never going to see Denim Bolero, Flashdance, or any of these other people again....

So, when in Rome....

Sorry for the quality.... video a la cameraphone isn't that great yet... but you get the idea...

The prize for Most Original Birthday Outing goes to Mary. It was unexpectedly entertaining. :) Turns out I needed a good laugh and I got about 4,000 that night.....

Posted by Sarah at 9:16 PM | Comments (9)

October 1, 2006

Photo Shoot Delayed...

...due to a crappy, ridiculous, ugly-Sarah-making cold.

I hate being sick. :(

So, since I can't bear the thought of photos of the way I look now being posted on the interweb, I'll share something else today.

Re: Dave the Cat.

Dave the Cat looooves to jump up on the kitchen table. And the counters. And the TV stand. And the bookcase. You get the idea.

As many of you have discerned at this point, I am not one to take crap from anyone... no matter how cute they are. I am a foot-putter-downer, friends. So, you can imagine the battle that has been raging here at Casa de la Scissorina as little kitty litter bearing kitten paws have been travelling all around my KITCHEN. (I am a freak about my kitchen being clean. A freak.)

The past couple of weeks, the attempts have slowed and I thought we were really getting somewhere.

As it turns out, he may have just gotten smarter and decided to grace the countertop appliances with his presence only while I was not around.

Here is what I found shortly after returning from the grocery store (I had just washed the dishes):

DAVE! I know it's you. Tito is too fat and lazy to try anything like this. Not to mention his ass would have knocked ALL these glasses over in the process. That, and even his paws are fat, so these prints are clearly not his.

So, the battle continues.

In the meantime, he keeps trying to get his way by wooing me with cuteness.

It's totally not working. Pshh.

Posted by Sarah at 8:18 PM | Comments (5)