Kung Fu Knitting

Or 10 ways to get your ass kicked to the curb 10. You never ask any personal questions, so that by the fourth date you have no idea that I have a graduate degree or what fields I studied in college. 9. You call me right after I text you. If I didn't call you, then it means that I couldn't. 8. You invite me to dinner then later ask me to cook you dinner. 7. I ask you for a later date time, then you stipulate an even later one. You then proceed to show up earlier than I asked you to, nevermind the time you wanted. 6. You show up dressed down and early. 5. You show up unwashed and early. 4. I look like a hot, foxy momma and you don't say a damn thing about it! 3. By the way, you're moving out of town in a couple of weeks??? 2. Yes, there is a thing called dinner conversation. It's interactive and generally themes build upon each other in a stimulating fashion. 1. You try to school me on rocks. If you hadn't committed numero diez you'd know that, yes, indeed, I

Look who arrived! Look what was inside! Artyarns Ultramerino - pretty like violets Thanks Bev! . I can't believe that you were my partner. It's such a small world here. I loved the Cool and Sunny socks you made out of this yarn. I hope mine turn out as nice. Bev also sent along a CD with some great tunes, chocolate, a nice textured sock pattern, and a cool postcard. Thanks! Now I have all the stuff to send along for my partner except the postcard! Look out Yarn Aboarders !

Cayli was my first swap partner on the KR Gift Elf Exchange. I had a great experience swapping with her. And over the months we have continued to communicate through each others blogs. I feel very lucky to have met her. Even luckier this week! Look at the suprise that came in the mail! All wrapped up so pretty! With a lovely card. A gorgeous handspun, handdyed yarn. With a personalized skein label. When I look at it it's telling me that it might like to be a pair of socks with a simple stitch pattern. I think it would be lovely. The colors are beautiful together. Cayli, you rock! This is such an awesome gift. Thanks for being one of the people that's been part of making my life better and better. Thanks so much!!!

Here's the proof! The top picture is me in the ring with my trainer. He's got focus mitts on that he's having me hit. (they are new and really hard, ouch!) Basically, he tells me which combinations and such to throw and he throws them at me, too. It's a really intense workout with force meeting force. The second one is me on the heavy bag. I usually go for 3 or 4 rounds on it before getting into the ring. This particular bag is pretty heavy. And having worked on it and with my trainer that day really cut up my knuckles eventhough I'm all wrapped up inside my gloves. My friend that was visiting came into the ring, and did some rounds, too. You were so cute, Mushy!

I have a wonderful friend visiting me from out of town this week so I haven't had much time to blog or comment. Sorry y'all for being a blog lurker. I'm having a lot of fun though. :-)

For some reason knitting has been a little stressful for me lately. So I decided to relax and crochet my one skein secret pal project. There's just something about crocheting that's really soothing for me, especially long rows of SC. It's just rhythmic and repetative in a nice, tranquil way. I'm using Lisa Souza Sock! Merino in Garnet. The colors are really subtle. It's rather like sunshine dapples. I'm loving the way it's looking. If you're into swapping and scarves, here's one you might enjoy and is still open: Funky Scarf Swap Thanks, Cayli for posting about it! Yesterday I did 8 rounds in the ring! It was a personal best for me. When I took off my gloves and unwrapped my hands there was skin peeling off two of my knuckles - gross but kinda burly! I've also been learning this crazy punch combination: jab, cross, jab, cross, hook, cross, step to right, jab, jab, cross, low hook, hook, cross. My trainer calls it the Willie Monroe waltz.

More Eye Candy

YAEP (Yet Another Exchange Post) I recently joined Yarn Aboard II exchange hosted by the lovely Amanda of ClothesKnit . This exchange is a little different from the norm. There are several boxes that will be sent from one person to the next until they come back to the original sender. You can only keep the box for 5 days and then you must mail it along to your Yarn Aboard pal downstream. I joined the sock yarn exchange so I bet you can guess what's in the picture. (If not, I'll tell you later) It's the yarn my pal requested. The colors are a bit unusual, but I think they look great together. I hope my pal thinks so, too. They are amongst her favorites. I just have to gather together some goodies to pop in along with the yarn. You don't know when the box will come, so you have to be prepared. As a matter of fact, I am auditioning some chocolates right now!

You know I was just thinking the other day about how happy I am. Really, my life is about 3000 times better without my Ex-Faux-SO in it. There's no one there constantantly picking on me, putting me down, stressing me out, ignoring me or any of that crap. I've stopped being afraid. I'm so much more relaxed. I enjoy everything more fully. And I can feel the pleasure of it down into my toes. It's an awakening happening in my mind and spirit and body. (Ever read The Awakening by Kate Chopin?) Of course my new, carefree life has also brought me some other problems, but for the most part I have been sailing along and experiencing things as they happen. And doing a good job getting over the rough patches I think. Sometimes I do get a little lonely, but being a little lonely is an order of magnitude better than being miserable, right? And plus, most of the time I feel pretty happy. But I am not sure that just sailing along is good enough. I think I need to find out what is it t