JessaLu Knits (and Spins!)

I may have neglected to mention that I am a member of the Spunky Club - every month I get a package from Amy with a lovely new colorway. So far I have received three packages and this weekend I finally finished the first one:

I can’t remember what kind of fiber this is and can’t find the card that came with it (I suck, I know…sorry) however I do remember that the colorway is ‘Strawberry Fields’ and I managed to get about 300 yds of sport-ish weight 2-ply yarn out of the 4oz. Ain’t it purty? ;o)

I also finished another pair of socks but there is absolutely no sunshine here today so no photos of those yet.

In other really cool news, Jessie (who is very much a Rockin’ Girl Blogger) has named lil ole me as a

It has taken me a couple of days but I managed to whittle down five RGB’s out of the 300+ blogs on my Bloglines. Here they are in no particular order:

Cynthia gets me. Really, really gets me. ;o) Now if only she would post more often…hehe

Sandy - how could I not list a fellow Brian Regan fan? I won at the staring at the sun game!!! *grin*

Bev - Rockin’ girl, rockin’ hubby (who KNITS, people - and has his own stash!), rockin’ dog and sends a mean postcard…what more can I say? I just wish she still lived in NYC so we could hang together more often :o(

Scout is totally fearless. She’s built up a successful company from nothing and is willing to IM me first thing in the morning with bookkeeping questions before I’ve finished my first cuppa. See what I mean? Fearless.

Last but definitely not least we have Carole.  Another fellow knitblogger who ‘gets’ me.  The one thing we have in common that not many other knitbloggers have is hoopskirts and time travel.  We’ve both experienced Civil War Reenacting and not only lived to tell about it but enjoyed it ;o)

Trust me, this was not an easy list.  There are so many amazing bloggers out there it was very difficult for me to pick only five.  :o(

…or something like that.

I saw this meme at Kristi’s and at Carole’s and liked the idea.  The premise is that you list the things you do that are ‘green’.  There is no tagging, if you want to participate go right ahead!

• We’ve taken our bikes out of the scary basement and have started going for rides together.  I’m trying to work on my distance so I can ride into town (5 miles one way) to try to save some gas.  Now I just need to find a helmet.  It’s hard for a kid from the 70’s to get a bike helmet - I mean, the cool kids didn’t wear helmets back then.  It was way cooler to split your head open like a melon ;o)

• I’ve changed over almost all of the bulbs to compact fluorescent.  These bulbs were pretty horrible when they first came out but now they have the ’soft white’ version which has helped with the color issues ;o)  Not only is this green but I think I’ve mentioned that I live in an old house that desperately needs a wiring update - since we’ve switched bulbs we don’t blow fuses when we make coffee anywhere near as often.

• I’m trying to not use the plastic bags at the grocery.  I have a couple of ‘freebie’ bags that I keep in the car for small trips and I just ordered some of these for big trips.  There is a bit of a stigma with this that I’m trying to get past - when I was a teen and worked at the local grocery store we used to make fun of those who brought their own bags (this was the 80’s).  I don’t want to be known as the ‘earthy-crunchy’ lady with the weird baggage ;o)

• Instead of using my usual systemic highly toxic anti-bug/anti-fungi spray on the roses, I’m using an organic alternative.  At this time two of my roses have developed powdery mildew so if it doesn’t clear up soon I may have to go back to the old standard.

• I’m also trying to buy healthier food for all of us - organic and all that.  I’ve also planted the veggie garden this year (which I need to weed desperately).

Of course, all of this is pretty much wiped out whenever I start my car and drive anywhere.  A Jeep Grand Cherokee with a v8 isn’t exactly an eco-friendly gas-sipper ;o)

Since it’s Friday I’ll also give you a bit of Eye Candy:

ETA: I’m enjoying your stories so much I’ve decided to leave this up for another day - you have until Midnight Tuesday (EST) to leave a comment/story to be entered in the drawing. (I’m also too exhausted to write a good post - I was up ’til 3am yesterday trying to get my comments to email to me…then found out that WP won’t email comments that you leave yourself…duh!)

Welcome to the new JessaLu Knits! I decided to move to a shorter url and, since I was moving anyway, to begin using Wordpress as my blogging platform. I love Serendipity but it has its limitations. Those of you who link to me, my new link is http://www.jessaluknits.com (see how easy that is? I’m just happy I don’t have to remember how to spell ‘courtesans’ anymore *g*). ;o)

So, as I mentioned, it is my blogiversary! I’ve been doing this for two years now, can you believe it? As they say, time flies when you’re having fun ;o) I’m so glad I started doing this in February 2005. It has brought me great joy and great friends (who can also be great enablers) and it has challenged me to ‘up the ante’ with my knitting. I see the beautiful work that you all do and it motivates me to do better. I’d like to thank you all for your readership and your friendship over the past two years - and I’m looking forward to many more!

To celebrate this momentous occasion I decided to have a contest - and since it’s my blog and I like to be amused I decided to pull out my favorite meme from long ago (I don’t remember where I saw this last year, I apologize for my faulty memory):

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don’t speak often, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL MEMORY OF YOU AND ME. It can be anything you want–good or bad–BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE. When you’re finished, post this on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON’T ACTUALLY remember about you.

Whomever leaves a comment (THOSE LEFT WITH a fictional memory will be entered twice) will get their name put into a hat for either a skein of sock yarn or a hank ‘o roving - winners choice :o) What are you waiting for? I can’t wait to see what you ‘remember’ about me!

p.s. If you post this on your blog, let me know!

p.p.s I’m still adding stuff to this new place - I’m sorry for the buttons and links that are still missing…

p.p.p.s. You also don’t have to change your RSS feed bookmarks - Feedburner rocks!