We’re currently working on updating verypink to make the site easier to navigate, and to allow me to separate the blogging part from the videos and patterns.
If you’re here from YouTube and you’re looking for the patterns used in the videos, please visit “Designs and Free Patterns“. That will take you to all of the patterns available, including video tutorials.
If you’re here to see a cute Basenji, here you go.
I didn’t announce it here, but I recently got Whiskey River back in my home as a foster. I had him the first time back in the spring when he was a 4 month old – do check out this post if you want to be overwhelmed with puppy cuteness. His family just found out that they’re moving internationally, and they could not keep him. If he has to bounce back into the rescue system, I’m glad he gets to come back here with me.
Here is a photo of him back in May –
And here he is today, all grown up on his first birthday –
Well, I keep telling him he’s grown up today, but I’ve been around Basenjis long enough to know that he’s got another solid year of puppy behavior left to go.
Happy Birthday, Whiskey River! I’m glad you get to spend it here, on the way to your forever home.
It’s finally chilly enough in Austin to bring out the wool again, which means that Ike has been reacquainted with his favorite thing in the world.
No polar fleece, machine-washable dog blankets for this gentleman. This is a full-on Aran fisherman-style afghan, knit by yours truly. Ike gets seriously excited whenever I pull it out of the trunk, and he makes a beeline for it. Everyone in the house knows that this is HIS blanket, even though that was not my intention when I spent dozens of hours knitting it.
What can I say. He’s got good taste. And he’s willing to share a corner of it if I sit right next to him.
I’m taking the month of September to carry out an idea I’ve had for a few years – to put together a collection of patterns with a theme. The working title is “Baby Shower Knits”, and the patterns are arranged by the amount of time you have to knit a gift before the baby shower. The working title is boring, but I’m excited about the collection.
Need to crank out something awesome before a baby shower next week? Got a few weeks before your bff’s party? Three months before your niece or nephew is due? Gotcha covered.
I’ve been working on the more time-intense designs first, and I’m just so glad that the creative juice faucet hasn’t clogged. Here are some sneak-peek photos of a few of the designs:
(That last one there is still just a swatch, but I love the way the cables are showing up with this yarn, so I took a photo.)
Bonus – they’re all machine-washable, and there will be free videos to guide knitters through the trickier parts of the designs.
Working about 14 hours a day by myself has it’s drawbacks, and now you get to listen to me whine a tiny bit. MY WRIST HURTS. I NEED TO STOP WORKING AND SHOWER. MY FINGERNAILS LOOK LIKE SHIT. I SERIOUSLY NEED TO VACUUM. I HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER HUMANS.
Ha. No, really, I’m fine. Those things are all true, but I’m loving every minute of what I’m doing. Just don’t stop by my house without calling first.
I haven’t totally fallen off the face of the earth…I’m still teaching private lessons and I have a couple of classes coming up at Gauge Knits this month. Drop me a note or call Gauge if you want us to hold you a spot.
I know three bad dogs who are very happy with the opium den of beds I’ve set up for them in my office, and the amount of time I’ve been spending at home.
We’re going to start shooting more knitting videos soon, including mattress stitch, buttonholes, 3-needle bind-off, and more. What technique(s) would you like to see? Leave me a comment with your suggestion.
What do you get when you combine 15 awesome women, their knitting, wine, and brownies? Around here we call it Sweater University, a class I taught all summer long. After meeting every-other Thursday since June, last night was our final session. We called this session our “party”, which meant there was even more wine involved.
The students signed up to get classes and coaching from me on sweater knitting. Unlike other classes I teach, this one gave the students the help they needed over FOUR months, so that they could work on their sweater and get all the coaching they needed.
See Ike? He’s the only dog allowed amongst The Ladies and The Yarn. I wish I had a wide-angle lens so I could have fit everyone in a single photo!
No one was sad last night that the class is ending, because we’ve decided to continue the class, this time calling it Knitting University. We’re going to have structured lessons, plenty of coaching, and of course – wine and brownies. If you are a knitter here in Austin and you’re interested in joining us, we have room for one or two more people. Email me at staci@verypink.com and I can send you the details. UPDATE – the upcoming Knitting University class is totally full! If you’re interested in a similar class in the future, you can drop me a note.
I often teach knitting classes here at my home. On class nights I always put the dogs in my bedroom behind a baby gate and give them delicious new chew toys to keep them entertained.
During these classes, it never fails that one knitter will say, “Aww! Let them out! They’re such good dogs.” Then it also never fails that everyone else chimes in, and the dogs stand there at the baby gate with their best sad faces on. Sometimes I’ll let Ike out, but Tippy and Abe are not allowed loose around that much yarn.
After last night’s class I let the dogs out of my bedroom, and began picking up wine glasses and putting away the cookies and chocolates. (My knitting classes are AWESOME.) I turned my back on Tippy, to see he had started his own fiber project.
This is why he has to stay in lockup.
And the guilty little monster, apparently not feeling guilty at all. I’d say that was a look of pride, even.
You’ll see that I have a nice cup of coffee to keep me going while I try to make sense of this mess. Ah, Tippy.
Ugh. I recently noticed that the feed address for subscriptions to verypink was automatically changed by Feedburner due to the feed size being over 512k. WHATEVER. I don’t understand what happened, but I think I’m on my way to fixing it. What I do know is that I lost most of you as subscribers. I went from hundreds of subscribers down to TWO, all because the feed address changed.
If I have actually fixed it, verypink should automatically start showing in your blog reader again. If it doesn’t, you can resubscribe by clicking the big pink button to the left, or here.
This post is also a test, because I won’t know if my solution worked until the feed readers pick up this new post. Fingers crossed!
Blazing Texas heat, overworked air conditioner. I’m working from home about half the time, and my dogs want in-and-out, in-and-out, every hour that I’m here.
That’s my normal summertime routine, and I’m used to it, but I realize that it’s crazy. I decided to count the number of times in a day that I stop what I’m doing to either open or close the back door.
I used this knitting row katcha-counter, and I faithfully clicked every single time I had to walk to the back door for a dog.
Here’s a slice of how this normal summertime day went: 7 am – I’m just waking up, Abe wants out. Counter = 1 7 – 10:45 am – Door stays open, no activity. 10:45 am – Door closed, a/c on. Abe and Tippy are outside. 10:46 am – Abe and Tippy in. Counter = 2
10:48 am – Tippy acts like he wants out, false alarm. Counter = 3
10:50 am – Ike and Tippy out to work on their tans. Counter = 4 11 am – Ike in. Counter = 5 11:20 am – Tippy in. Counter = 6
11:50 am – All dogs in, I leave the house to run errands. 1:30 pm – I’m home, all dogs out. Counter = 7 1:51 pm – I’m trying to eat my lunch, but I stop to let dogs in. Counter = 8
2:10 pm – Ike is sweet. 2:11 pm – Abe and Tippy out. Counter = 9. 2:13 pm – Ike says he wants out, false alarm. Counter = 10 2:22 pm – Tippy in. Counter = 11 2:30 pm – Tippy gets really worked up about something in the backyard and MUST GO OUT. Counter = 12
2:30 pm – Nothing to get worked up about after all.
You get the idea. I was working from home for the rest of the day, so this went on and on. Want to know the grand total?
Yes, that says FIFTY-ONE. Fifty-one times that I stopped what I was doing to let a dog in or out. INSANE.
You might be wondering why I don’t just tell the dogs “no” when they want to go outside for the tenth time in one hour. That’s because I honestly can’t tell if they want to go out to pee, or to chase squirrels. Going outside to pee is important.
I realize that a doggie door would allow me to increase my work-at-home productivity by at least a million percent, but installing one is no easy task. My current door won’t accommodate one, and it looks like I’ll need to cut a hole in a wall instead. All that aside, I can’t even be sure the little bastards will use it once it’s there.
Here’s a cute photo of Abe, since he doesn’t appear anywhere else in this post.
Gotta run. Tippy just shoved the back door open again.
Anyway, just a note to let you know that I fixed the comments. I didn’t realize there was anything wrong (other than the fact that you folks strangely stopped leaving comments) until I was told that leaving a comment required logging in. Boo! It must have happened when I updated WordPress months ago, but I didn’t notice.
But now it’s fixed! So now you can discuss how bad my dogs are in the video below.
I read somewhere that Basenjis are difficult to train because they need to repeat an action or hear a command FORTY times before they learn it. This is complete hogwash. Basenjis only need to experience something ONCE for it to become a habit, provided it is a habit they enjoy doing. The video below is proof.
Here’s the story…bedtime is usually a very calm and quiet routine at my house. The dogs are always sacked-out by 8pm, and when I’m ready for bed I take their collars and turn off the lights in the house. Then they follow me into my bedroom to continue sleeping. Calm.
I made a mistake last week that upset this applecart. Abe was being silly at bedtime, and he tried to get Tippy to play with him. I thought it was cute and funny, so I very foolishly encouraged the behavior by roughhousing a bit with Abe. Tippy and Ike joined in, and it became a complete circus. A totally fun circus, yes, but a very bad idea at bedtime.
So this is what I’m left with. Three dogs that have adopted a new bedtime routine that includes behaving like crazed monkeys. Enjoy my pain in HD quality.
Back on December 14, 2007, I started a photography project. One self-portrait a day, posted to flickr, for one year. I decided to do it for two reasons. First, as a diary. I took the photos I wanted to show myself when I’m older. Second, to get better at photography. On December 14, 2008 I completed the project.
I gave myself a couple of weeks without taking photos, then on December 31, 2008 I started a new project. I still took a photo everyday and posted it to flickr, but they didn’t have to be selfies this time. Any ol’ photo would do.
I did well on this project for a while, then I lost my mojo. I would miss days at a time, then post photos I wasn’t really proud of. On December 6th of last year, 324 days into the project, I hit ‘Pause’. I didn’t give up on the project, but I decided to allow myself some time to get my mojo back.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, time passed. I didn’t think much about photos at all, and I even found it difficult to remember to pull out my camera for important things! How easy it was to get out of the habit. Then, a few weeks ago, I found myself sort of sad that I didn’t take many photos anymore. I actually caught myself thinking this: I wish I had a reason to MAKE myself take photos again.
DUH, Staci! Dummy! You paused your photo project! Hit ‘PLAY’!
So I did. I’m only a few days into resuming the project, but the mojo is there. I’m enjoying it again, and even working to understand more elements of photography and light. Someday I might make the brave move to change my camera settings to something other than “auto”.
*I just had to use some lyrics from the song “Whiskey River” for the title, even though I don’t know the song.
Sunday was a big day around here…Whiskey, the foster puppy, went off to his new home.
Whiskey’s rescue, foster, and adoption were all coordinated through Basenji Rescue. After getting to know him a bit, I wrote his bio, which was posted on the website for potential adopters to see.
Anyone who is interested in adopting from Basenji Rescue fills out an adoption form, then receives a home visit from a Basenji Rescue volunteer.
While reviewing the adoption forms, I was particularly interested in finding a family that already had another dog (Whiskey has never been left on his own, and he gets lonely easily), and had the time and dedication to put toward loving and training this little guy.
That’s how I found Todd and Laurie. On Sunday, they spent all day driving to Austin to pick up their new puppy. (See there? Dedication.)
Bonus! Todd and Laurie are photographers, and they’ve promised to keep me updated with emails and photos as Whiskey grows up. Here is Whiskey with his new sister, Zea. Zea was adopted through Basenji Rescue last year. photo by Todd
So far, they’re making good on their promise, and I get to see sweet photos like this. photo by Todd
More than with any other foster, I was asked this question, “How do you do it?” I suppose it’s because everyone in the world knows how easy it is to get attached to a puppy, and people wonder how I was able to keep him for three weeks, then hand him off to someone else.
There are two things that help. I received some good advice several months ago from another Rescue volunteer. She told me to always remember that the dog is a foster. Even though they live in your home and you love them as one of your own, remember that they are not yours. Surprisingly, this really helps.
The other thing that makes me able to foster is this – four dogs is really too many for me. As long as the foster is the fourth dog in the house, I am somewhat overwhelmed. Giving the foster to his new family ends up being a bit of a relief. Of course I miss the dog, but I remind myself how nice it is to have time to shave my legs and do laundry.
Whiskey has an exciting future ahead of him. I am lucky to have been a part of his life, and I’m going to love watching him grow up. Congratulations, Todd and Laurie!
A few weeks ago I started my first-ever vegetable garden. In fact, it’s my first-ever garden ever. In Seattle, I had roses and dahlias in my yard, but they were planted by the previous home owners, so I was just the new babysitter. This garden is mine, all mine.
I had to start by cleaning out the garden bed. There was an 8′ cactus there that had fallen over last fall, and two tons of aloe vera. (Seriously. There was enough aloe vera there to soothe the sunburns of a thousand redheads.)
Once that was all cleared out, I got on with the fun part. However, I realize there are limits as to what I can do.
Here’s the thing with my garden.
I have X amount of knowledge about gardens. If it requires X + 1, the garden will fail.
I have Y amount of patience with a garden. If it requires Y + 1, the garden will fail.
I have Z amount of time for a garden. If it requires Z + 1, the garden will fail.
So far, the garden has only required X, Y, and Z to thrive! Take a look…
Grape tomato flowers.
Happy little tomato plant.
Cucumbers that continue to grow, even though a neighbor’s cat crushed them.
Basil, loved by me and the snails.
Green beans. String beans? I don’t know if there is a difference.
Strawberries.
(I also have onions…but, wow. They don’t photograph well.)
So far, so good. I water every morning, and pull the weeds as I see them. If this is all it takes, we’re good. I’m really enjoying it, and I haven’t even picked anything yet.
In case you were wondering about what the dogs are doing this very minute, here you go. We just got back from our morning walk. Whiskey is still such a baby that our walks totally wipe him out, which is very nice. He’s teething, so it’s good when the little land shark sleeps.
I’m TRYING to write a post, but my reason for posting is making it very difficult! Let me explain.
Meet Whiskey River. He’s a 4 month-old Basenji puppy, and he’s my new foster.
Whiskey and seven of his siblings were surrendered to Basenji Rescue last week. They’ve been placed in foster homes all over the state, on their way to their forever homes. (Did I mention, they need homes?)
On Saturday, Wendy (a Basenji Rescue Coordinator) brought four of the pups over to my house for a visit, and so that I could pick my foster.
CUTE, huh? It was so much fun to see all the puppies. Ike stood back and observed, as if he was watching Animal Planet or something.
To give you an idea of how tiny these guys are, here is a shot of Whiskey next to Abe. (A “shot of Whiskey”! See that?)
I’d like to mention that all of the *good* photos in this post were taken by my friend Stephanie. This last one with Abe (the crappy one) was taken by me.
I haven’t lived around a puppy this young since Ike was this age – TWELVE years ago. Here are some things I sort of forgot about puppies:
– Puppies sleep a lot.
– Puppies have sharp teeth.
– Puppies have the attention span of a housefly.
– Puppies smell really good.
– Puppies aren’t as bright as adult dogs.
– Puppies will chew anything at mouth level.
– Puppies get lonesome if they can’t see you.
– Puppies are totally worth it.
As I’m typing this, Whiskey is asleep on my lap. I didn’t pick him as a foster as much as he picked me (and Abe). He is a sweet snuggle pup, already housetrained (with just one accident), and non-destructive. I feel lucky to be a part of this little man’s life on his way to his new home.
I’m very excited to start the release of the knitting videos we shot last month! In the two posts below, you’ll see a video in each. The first one, “Correcting a Color-Change Jog” shows you how to make your stripes look even while working in the round. The second one, “Correcting a Dropped Stitch” helps you through the panic of dropping a stitch – even if it unravels several rows.
Verypink has had an organizational overhaul to accommodate the new videos. It should be easier to find what you’re looking for when you need knitting help by visiting the Knitting Video Library page, which you can get to by clicking in “Knitting Videos” image on the left.
There are a TON more videos that I’ll be posting over the next several weeks, including lots more technique videos, and a few full lessons (like the sock knitting series).
Last but not least, here is a photo of a very bad dog who knocked a box of phad thai off the counter last night, then shared the noodle dish with his brothers. At least they left me a lime wedge.
I’m getting ready to release new knitting videos, and there are a lot of them. That means rearranging things on verypink in a way that makes sense, and uses WordPress’ organizing system. This will be messy here until I figure out what I’m doing and implement that plan.
In the meantime, here is a photo of Bad Tippy to keep you company.
This has been the norm for my bedroom for the last several days:
I’m washing and reblocking all of the handknits I wore this winter. Then I will carefully wrap each one in tissue paper and store them in a bin until next fall.
Wow, right? I’m so responsible and I take such good care of my things! Responsible Adult Award goes to Staci!
Not really. I have to learn most of my lessons the hard way, and this was no exception. I learned this latest lesson from…
I left my handknits folded in my closet last summer, and when I pulled them out in the fall, I saw that MOTHRA had made a snack of one of my socks.
Never again! I’m storing everything in bins this year. Mothra can go back to Godzilla and leave my wool alone.
This project has started me on another project. As I’m choosing the handknits to wash, I’m also creating a pile of stuff I didn’t wear this winter. I plan to unravel and reknit each one into something else. I’ve already started this project, in fact.
This is my 28thirty, a totally cute sweater that I never wore. The proportions ended up being wrong on me, I guess.
Rrrrrip! That sweater is gone. Now I have a new sweater I will actually wear.
Do I look unsure of myself here? Maybe it’s because I’ve abandoned my photo project and I hadn’t taken a self-portrait in over three months.
Next up for unraveling: Ivy. Again, a totally cute sweater that I will never wear. This yarn is too nice to go to waste.
Just popping in to show you how messy my house is…
Messiness of my house aside, I’m excited to announce that we’re shooting more knitting videos. Lots more short technique videos, and at least three more full lesson series – including toe-up socks and magic loop socks. Now that we’ve worked out the kinks and we’re old hats at this, everything is going so smoothly and quickly. (Except when production was halted for two days while I was sick.)
Parker is working like a madman to edit the videos soon after they’re shot, so I should be able to start posting them soon.
A big POO ON YOU to the United States Postal Service…
I knit this dog sweater to custom fit a handsome Basenji in Houston named Strider. His human, Lorelei, commissioned it back when the temperatures were below freezing. I knit it up and sent it off in a Priority Mail box on February 9. Here we are, March 5, and Lorelei has not received the sweater.
I’ve been around and around with the Post Office on this for the last three weeks. They finally told me this week that they can do NOTHING. Poof. It’s gone. I am now knitting a second sweater for Strider, and you can bet that I will pay the extra few bucks for delivery confirmation.
I don’t want to end on a negative vibe, so here’s a sneak peek at a new sweater design I edited/knit for my friend Snowden –
Snowden is working through sweater math for all of the sizes, and should be ready to release the pattern soon. I’ll keep you posted.
It was just a few years ago that I only knew about three other people who knit and lived with Basenjis. I know of so many more now, which is why I’ve decided to go ahead and make this pattern available.
This is Ike’s Collegiate Sweater. It is 100% wool, and made to fit the unique curves of a Basenji. Free Ravelry Download.
I recommend this pattern for experienced knitters only. Because each dog is shaped differently (and there are no standard sizing charts for this!), you will need to be able to follow the sizing notes and knit this to fit your dog.
Here is a photo of the underside of the sweater…
Doesn’t it look like this horn player from Star Wars???
The last several pairs of socks I’ve made have involved row counters, charts, notes, cable needles, and Advil. I took a giant step back from all of that and made some socks that didn’t require thinking or anti-inflammatories.
Before I show you, let’s get Tippy out of the way. Tippy MOVE IT.
Here we go. These socks were knit with Aslan Trends Santa Fe sock yarn in Alaska Blue. The plies of this yarn are really tightly twisted, which gives clear definition to each stitch. And I love the colorway, which made it a pleasure to work with.
I used a standard, simple toe-up sock pattern, which means that I used every last inch of yarn with no leftovers. I knit them in a 2×2 rib for a super-stretchy, snug fit. The 2×2 rib is so mindless that these socks made awesome Netflix Knitting. And, I went up a needle size from what I normally use, so they knit up in no time.
Tippy, please.
As you can imagine, I cast-on to make an identical pair within minutes of finishing the second sock. I’m using Three Irish Girls sock yarn for these…some yarn that I used to start a pair of socks almost two years ago, but decided to rip out because they were too tight.
To end this post, I’ll show you where Tippy is right this moment. He’s in my mini photo studio, which I used as a makeshift softbox to light up these photos on this gray, rainy day. I think it’s probably still warm in there from the lights, but he’s a weirdo, anyway. Cute, but weird.
For more of Tippy’s weird cuteness, jump over to the Basenji Rescue blog where today I introduced the world to the Senji-Clean™ Advanced Dishwashing System.
This post is an announcement, mostly, because I’ve just opened a new Etsy shop called verypink knits. As you know, I knit like a fiend, but this is the first time I’ve ever put any knits up for sale. Up until now, I’ve sold knitting patterns and knitting classes to help other people make their own stuff. So this is all brand spankin’ new to me, and very exciting.
My philosophy with the store is to use the best materials in modern designs and colors to offer really nice baby stuff. My hope is that people will visit my store when they’re in the market for special baby shower gifts. When store-bought just won’t do.
Here’s a sample of one of my hat/mitts sets from the store:
And here’s how it looks on a real baby:
I had to say “real baby” there, because for once, I’m not using a Basenji to model baby knits. This is how most of my baby stuff ends up being modeled, right?
So, if you like what you see, tell your friends. I’ll be posting 0-6 month sizes soon. I have several already knit up, but I’m waiting for the sun to come out so that I can get some good photographs.
Man, I finished writing this post a while ago, I can’t believe I’m nervous to hit “Publish”! Do it, Staci! Do it! New horizons!
My New Year’s Resolution is off to a good start. It feels awkward to talk about it, but I know the whole accountability thing is a powerful motivator. (If you haven’t read why I have a resolution to lose weight, you’re missing the most interesting part of the story.)
Here’s what’s happening so far:
In my goal to lose 25 lbs, I thought that I would lose it slowly over the year, like two pounds a month. I didn’t think that through very well. Of course I’m going to lose most of the weight up front. Duh.
I have lost 8 pounds in 7 days already. OMG. A friend of mine said, “That’s impossible”. I KNOW.
Losing 8 pounds doesn’t feel like much of an accomplishment, because I tragically gained 8 pounds over the holidays. So it seems like I’m really just getting started now.
I posted the photo below to flickr shortly after Thanksgiving. I was really glad to have FINALLY found jeans that are long enough for me, but they had serious bagging in the ass area, due to my natural lack of ass. Losing weight isn’t helping this problem. They fit better if they’re fresh from the dryer, but I can’t wash my jeans 3 times a day.
This whole jeans thing is worth mentioning because of my lifelong relationship with high waters and chilly ankles. Finding long pants is like finding a pot of gold.
These first few pounds have fallen off my body with very little effort. I’m still eating. I haven’t increased my activity level. I still drink beer. I realize that I’ll probably have to step it up as I get closer to my goal, but this is pretty awesome so far.
And here ends my one-week status report. Fifty-one weeks to go.
If you’ve been following the Pona story, you know that he’s been a foster dog here at my house since September. Pona came into the Basenji Rescue system after he had been hit by a car and was picked up by Animal Control. He had a broken femur, broken tooth, heartworms, whipworms, and scratches and bruises all over his body.
But those days are long gone! He is healed, feeling good, and running around like he should. Here is a little video I shot a couple of days ago:
As you can see, the healthy Pona is very different from the Pona we saw back in September.
So, yesterday was the big day! It was time for Pona to move in with his new, forever family. As difficult as this sounds, it was actually awesome. We’ve been working on this adoption for a couple of months now, and the transition was smooth. Pona’s new daddies are Steven and Jeff, who happen to be good friends of mine.
This is one of the first things I saw when Pona and I arrived, and I reacted with all of the appropriate “awwww”s. These personalized mats show how excited Steven and Jeff have been to get their dogs.
I said “dogs” because Pona wasn’t the only adoption yesterday. They also adopted a Basenji girl named Kate.
Here are Pona and Kate in the backyard. I think “frolicking” is the appropriate word.
Pona and Kate had visited a few times before yesterday, so we already knew that they get along really well.
Can you tell that Steven has treats hidden in his hand here? Pona and Kate know he does.
Here is the whole family in a very sweet photo. Such a life change for each of them. They’re all going to have so much fun!
One last video, taken today by Steven. Pona and Kate haven’t known each other long, but they’re already acting like old pals. (Thanks, Steven. I totally stole this from your photostream without asking.) If you’d like to continue to follow Pona and Kate, you can see them on Steven’s photostream and his blog.
And me? I’m doing FINE. Surprisingly well, not one tear shed! I really thought giving Pona up would rip out a chunk of my heart, but I’m really okay. I think it’s for two reasons – first, Pona’s in an awesome home, and second, I know I will see him again. It also helps that Steven and I have kept in close touch for updates since yesterday.
Best of luck to Kate, Pona, Jeff and Steven! I’m so happy for all of you.
Christmas 2009 is over (and was very fun), so now is the time that I start looking to the new year. I probably set New Year’s Resolutions for myself about half the time, and this year I’m going to jump on a bandwagon with a lot of other Americans – sort of.
Here’s the deal. I’m going to lose weight in 2010. How trite, huh? Before you die of boredom, hear me out. I have a cunning plan. I came up with this plan about a decade ago, and I think it’s time to put it in place.
My BMI (body mass index) falls smack-dab in the middle of the normal range. Oh, this is getting more boring by the second! The point is that I’m a healthy and active person, so weight loss isn’t something I need to do for my health. It’s for my face. This is my plan…
Over the next year I slowly lose weight to get myself down to the low end of normal on the BMI scale. Because I’m 5’11″, that’s TWENTY FIVE pounds. Holy shit. Anyway, I lose this weight slowly enough so that my skin has plenty of time to keep up and stay taut, especially on my face. I will maintain this weight for the next ten years or so, until I start to see old lady wrinkles on my face. Then I just gain ten or fifteen pounds to flesh-out my face a bit, and viola! Lines gone! No plastic surgery!
I’m pretty sure you’re laughing now, but all brilliant people get laughed at, so I’m flattered. Thank you.
When this plan is a glowing success, I’ll be on the Today show and everyone will want to do it. Watch this space for the next eleven years and you’ll see.
This is the last category of my favorite photos of the year – and no, I still don’t have my photo-taking-mojo back. Here are my self-portraits.
These are my favorites of 2009 and that’s all fine and good, but I think my Favorite Self-Portrait Ever still holds its title.
One of my goals with selfies is to push the limit with how different I can make myself look from one day to the next, whether it’s staging the photo, messing with hair and makeup, or manipulating the image in software. (Truth be told, I still haven’t taken the time to learn all about my camera and it’s settings, so those variables are out.)
So now I’m left with 41 days remaining in my photo project, and very little urge to pull out my camera right now. I have to hope that 2010 is the magic year that gets me going again, because I really do enjoy it.
This is Part II of my favorite photos of 2009 series. Still trying to get my photog mojo back.
While I was loading up the coffee maker this morning, I thought about a couple of handknits that I hadn’t bothered to photograph and put on Ravelry. Then I thought of a couple more. Then I started thinking about a ton of things I made this year that hardly got any attention at all. Lame! The number of things I knit and didn’t photograph has to be upwards of 30 items, because I know I made 23 Christmas gifts that were shipped off without so much as a blurry camera phone shot.
Ah, well. Bygones. Here are my nine favorite photos of things I made this year.
I’ve recently done something I didn’t think I’d ever do. I “paused” my year-long, photo-a-day project – on day 325, no less. Poof! I lost inspiration. I found myself skipping days and taking crap pictures, so I paused the project until I can get back into it again.
For the sake of trying to jump start my inspiration as well as wrapping up the year, I browsed the photos I took in 2009 and picked out my favorites. Here’s Part 1, Basenji Bonanza.
Things have been quiet here at verypink.com, but not at Verypink Headquarters.
The weather is cooler, and the business of knitting is busier than ever. My knitting classes are full (or overflowing), and I have private lessons all day. Then there is also Christmas knitting – I’ve been finished with my Christmas gifts twice already, now I’m back to just one more. I also have two newly-finished sweater designs that are just waiting for me to release the patterns.
But I can handle all of these things without trouble, even with four dogs. The stickler is that I’m feeling tendinitis creeping into my wrist and elbow, so I need to save all of my arm/hand use for knitting, which means that I need to spend less time on the computer. The horror!
You will find a new Pona update over on the Basenji Rescue site, and I’ll post an update on everything else very soon. Even if I have to type it with my nose.
Santa Baby
Ready for Santa! A wooly Christmas jumper for your favorite little girls. This design features a pleated skirt, a peter-pan collar, a tidy turned-hem skirt, and icord edging. Just in time for the holidays, you’ll find it is a surprisingly quick knit on size 9 needles. Sizes range from 3 months to Child Size 2 (chest measurements from 16” to 21”).
A few weeks ago I got this email from a reader named Fiona:
Hi Staci,
This is possibly a little bit strange but I just wanted to write to you to say well thanks. I’ve been reading your blog for probably around about 4 years now and have always been very impressed with all your knitting. So much so that in August 2006 I decided to give it a go for myself, now both my grans knitted like demons and my mum dabbled so they had all tried to teach me before but nothing doing, so my mum was surprised to be asked to show me again. I took to the knitting this time and it stuck, after admiring your clapotis I followed the link to knitty.com, started posting on the message board there and eventually found my way into the chat room.
There, as these storys often go, I met a boy.
At the end of August that boy became my husband and we are currently in the process of getting me a visa so I can go and live with him (he’s American, I’m Scottish).
So my point, I wanted to thank you for being an inspiration and leading me to discovering a hobby that I really enjoy and which has ultimately led me to finding someone I aim to spend the rest of my life with!
All the best
Fiona H.
*Sniff*. Someone pass the tissues. What an awesome story, Fiona. Thank you for letting me share it. Best of luck to you and your husband, and may all your “pains” be “champagnes”.
Here is the progression of my Halloween costume this year:
First, I scored a black wig for $6 at Target…
Then I made a fake pregnant belly using pantyhose, fiberfill, and rubber bands…
I collected a few more bits, including black liquid eyeliner…
And, bang! Chola!
Here is one definition of Chola from UrbanDictionary.com:
hardcore latina gangbangers. They usually have thin, arched, angry looking tattooed-on or penciled-on eyebrows, brown or dark red lip liner, …tats, Converse or Nikes, flannel shirts, lots of gold jewlrey (with their name and crosses), crunchy gelled or moussed hair either down or gelled in a high perfect ponytail either straight back or gelled in a design, and they go out with cholos.
I got myself off to my friend Kristin’s Halloween party. Here I am with two of my good knitta friends, Steven and Meg, in Alison‘s awesome party photobooth.
So much fun. I always see Halloween as the first wild night of the holiday season. Onward!
Okay, judge me if you must, but I’ve been on a made-for-tv miniseries kick lately, specializing in Richard Chamberlain. Netfix is pretty great for satisfying one’s craving for such things.
First, I watched Shogun, which was 12 levels of awesome.
Samurai! Swords! Love! Hate! Kimono! Pirates!
Last night I finished The Thorn Birds. Oh, what a good story.
But I’m not posting about it today because it’s a good story. I want to talk about the age progression makeup. Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward start out as youngsters in the series, and are old wrinklies by the end.
Here they are in the bloom of youth…
…And here they are as senior citizens.
The interesting thing to me is that since this show is 27 years old now, we can actually SEE how these two look as older people, and we can see the talent that went into their makeup.
This is a recent photo of Richard Chamberlain. He grew older to look EXACTLY LIKE THE MAKEUP ARTISTS THOUGHT HE WOULD.
Way to go, RC! Handsome as ever!
And a modern photo of Rachel Ward. If you ignore the gray hair from the show, they did another fine job.
With that, I think I’ve watched all of the made-for-tv mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain, so sadly, I must move on.
Next up – Secret Diary of a Call Girl. I don’t know if it’s going to be any good, but I’ll watch anything starring this man, Callum Blue. He was in Dead Like Me, another series I watched this year.
Flavor hits my lips
Sleepiness overwhelms me
Much like Pavlov’s dog.
The haiku speaks the truth! I took NyQuil last night, and before the medicine had even hit my throat, all of my muscles relaxed and begged for sleep. Classic conditioned response. I slept for 11 hours last night.
I felt the woozies of a virus coming on last night, and I like to attack the symptoms while they’re tiny and manageable before they can really get a grip on my body. My head is a little swimmy this morning, but so far so good!
I was calling Pona The Bionic Dog until today. Today Pona decided to remove his bandages, and I finally got a look at the hardware. Now he’s FrankenSenji.
I knew what was under there, but I am shocked at how it actually looks! Bolts! Rods! Pins! Surprisingly his skin looks fine and healthy, as if the hardware has always been part of his leg.
Sorry this photo is crap, but Pona is afraid of the camera. That’s right. The only Basenji in the house who doesn’t come running towards me when I pull out the ol’ Canon.
Today wasn’t supposed to be goin’-to-the-vet day, but I guess it is now…
Pona has become sort of a favorite at the vet’s office, and this is his best friend there. Her name is Laurie, and she’s the vet tech who does Pona’s bandage changes every week.
Every time we get out of the car to go into the vet’s office, Pona does his DO NOT WANT routine, and refuses to walk in the door. That’s until he sees Laurie. Then his ears perk up and he wags his tail. He willingly walks through to the back with her, because he’ll follow her anywhere.
Pona’s doing well. Another few weeks in the hardware, and his leg should be healed. He feels so good lately. He’s completely off meds and gets himself around pain-free. We should be able to start heartworm treatment soon.
Pona’s been at my house for just over a month now. He’s come a long way, and I’m so proud of him.
In case you were wondering why there hasn’t been much knitting on verypink lately…it’s because it’s all about secret Christmas knitting right now.
I just got home from walking the dogs, and my heart is still racing. While walking down the sidewalk, FOUR little dogs ran up to us from a few houses away and attacked. The biggest of the four was a Shiba Inu (Basenji-sized), a Chinese Crested (rat-sized), and two little fuzzy dogs (loaf-of-bread-sized). Do I have to even say that my four were leashed? Nah, you knew that already.
The Shiba ran to Ike and immediately started fighting, while the other three tried to get in on the action. My neighbor was right behind them, so I yelled, “GET YOUR DOGS!” over the sounds of Ike and the Shiba trying to kill each other. My neighbor had the balls to walk up to me, stop, and tell me to calm down while I was trying to separate Ike and the Shiba. I yelled again, “GET YOUR DOGS!” He shoo-ed away the Shiba then picked up one of the terriers. He apologized, and I told him that he can’t let his dogs run off-leash, even if the thinks they’re going to stay in his yard. He said, “I was only walking from the front door to the car!” I said, “Your dogs can never be out of your control! Clearly you don’t have control of these dogs!”
Once things calmed down and I saw that no one was hurt, I started to detangle my legs (and the dogs’ legs) from the four leashes that had us bound together. This guy had the nerve to say, “Ma’am! Move it along now!” I stopped, looked him in the eye, and said, “Dude. Do NOT tell me what to do. I’m trying to straighten out this mess you caused.” Again, “Ma’am! Move it along!” I said, “Do not say another single word until I can get myself detangled. Shut the f*ck up for 30 more seconds.”
He could not shut the eff up, and he continued to tell me to “move it along”. I did my best to ignore him, finished detangling, and finally got moving. He yelled, “God bless you, ma’am! God bless you! Have a nice day!” Really?
Luckily, my dogs are fine. Even three-legged Pona is fine after being totally tangled in the leashes.
You might be wondering why, as a single woman walking dogs, I’m so brave with my hollerin’. Four reasons:
1. pepper spray at the ready
2. I towered over this man in height
3. I knew I was in-the-right
4. I have a secret weapon named Ike, who can be scary and protective
Whew. I need to finish my coffee and calm down. The day can only get better from here.
I used this random title generator for the title of today’s post. Very silly. Now on to business –
This gentleman and his random number generator helped me pick the three winners for the pattern giveaway that I announced on Friday. The winners are Merrie, Reagan, and Karo. Send me your email, ladies, and get your prize!
O lovely Lofthouse
Cookie or cupcake? Which one?
My fondness is strong.
I’ll leave you today with a Pona story…I walked past the spare bedroom to see this. What? I didn’t put him up there! Pona can jump now! (left to right: Tippy, Pona, Ike. Abe was in the other room.)
Remember the Krofft Supershow on tv in the ’70s? With shows like Land of the Lost and Bugaloos? While putting this post together this morning I thought about one of those shows called Far Out Space Nuts. The title to this post is a line from that show. I remember Gilligan was in it. Anyway…
3…2…1…Blast off! It’s a launch! And a giveaway! Stuff that has been in the works for months is finally ready to go today. Back in June, Parker and I were busy shooting video –
Here is a sample of the results by way of a short promo –
I’ve also released several new patterns, including Learn to Knit Socks, which includes six instructional videos to get you through the rough spots. I just counted, and I’ve taught over 80 people to knit socks at The Knitting Nest. I’ve used what I know about what trips people up in a basic sock pattern, and hopefully made sock knitting easy as pie.
If you take a look over on my patterns page, you’ll see other new designs I’ve just released – including a hat, socks, and trick-or-treat bag. I’ve also updated my About Me page, so now it FINALLY includes Tippy as one of my dogs.
You might be wondering why everything is ready to go today, and not sooner? Well, remember my post about Spam Monsters? I had to get verypink updated to the newest version of WordPress to keep it from getting hacked several times a day. I didn’t want to add a bunch of stuff to verypink only to have it spammed and cluttered by the Monsters.
Giveaway! I will randomly pick three comments to this post on Tuesday, Oct 6 to win a copy of any one of my patterns.
And because I know you’re going to ask, Pona is doing fine. He’s still unable to jump on the furniture by himself, but he is getting around really well. He will sometimes put some weight on his broken leg, but he really wants to move, he just picks it up and goes “tripod” without any difficulty.
Seriously, I’m waiting for the real Pona to show himself. The real Basenji. The one who challenges me and pushes limits and gets into things and eats sofas and puts the toilet brush in my bed and…well, you get the picture. But that Pona doesn’t exist! He’s just 100% sweetness and such a good boy. Aww.
I have a new foster Basenji through Basenji Rescue…that happens all the time. No biggie, right?
But this one was a stray, and not an owner-surrender. Well, not that uncommon.
But this one tested heartworm-positive. Yikes, I’ve been here before.
But this one was hit by a car, and needed surgery for a broken bone. Oh, lordy. Been there.
This one also needed a broken tooth pulled, and had to be neutered. Really? Anything else?
Oh, yeah. Whipworms, a toenail broken off at the foot, and scrapes and bruises all over his body. Stop! No more bad news about this dog!
This is Pona, quite possibly the sweetest dog in the world.
I picked his name because “pona” is the Swahili suffix for words having to do with healing and recovery. He just had all of his surgeries on Tuesday.
He’s such a brave little champ.
Pona was brought to a shelter in a small town in Texas after he had been hit by a car. Due to costs, the shelter was going to euthanize him. Basenji Rescue was contacted, and Wendy Hodges, a coordinator here in Austin, drove nearly six hours to bring him to Austin for treatment and fostering.
This is Wendy with Pona before his surgeries.
Yeowch. This is Pona’s broken femur. See that spot that looks like two bones next to each other? That is supposed to be one long, straight bone.
The vet put a pin through the bone, and now his leg can heal.
Here’s his little shaved butt and his owey (okay, incision), as well as the location of the pin.
He isn’t allowed to walk or stand for a week, which hasn’t been a problem so far. I’m able to leave the crate open so that he can interact with the other dogs, and he doesn’t try to walk.
Now that we’re past the medical stuff, can I tell you that he is an awesome sweet dog? Just about a year old, and mellow as can be. He fit right into my pack without any trouble.
I’m really so lucky. He’s gotta be in pain. He could have turned out snarky and snappy. And he’s just the opposite.
My dogs really like him, but they still give him plenty of space to get the rest he needs.
Here’s Tippy, supervising the “bath” I’m giving Pona with some doggie wipes. (Poor Pona – he STINKS. If you can imagine the stinky bodily fluid, he’s wearing some of it. He can’t have a proper bath yet.)
See that giant lump on his side? That’s his RIBCAGE. He’s skinny.
Fortunately, that is going to be an easy thing to fix. Feeding him regular meals and not allowing him to exercise means that he should put on weight pretty quickly.
This is Pona’s future. He needs to heal a bit from his injuries, then he can hopefully start heartworm treatment in a couple of weeks. I’ll continue to foster him until he’s well, or close to it. Then we’ll find him an awesome forever home that will give him all of the love and attention he deserves.
His life is going to get better and better from here.
This is my website, and I can say whatever the hell I want, right? Okay, here it goes. I want to cause physical harm to Pona’s previous owners. I have no idea who they are, but if I ever meet them, I will punch them in the throat. They let Pona run loose without even a dog tag, and didn’t claim him at their small town animal shelter for three days, where he was forced to stay with a broken leg before he was brought to Austin for treatment. They also kept him underfed, and never had him neutered. They also didn’t bother with heartworm preventative, which is a huge thing here in Texas. WHY THE HELL DID THEY GET A DOG IN THE FIRST PLACE? Pona already suffered neglect at the hands of these people, and now he has to suffer more to get him back to good health – and it’s all their fault. Anyone want to go punch them with me?
All the punching aside, I feel fortunate to have Pona in my home. I think this is a good spot for him to recover, and he’s a joy to have around. Since my dogs are the laziest Basenjis on earth, my house is chaos-free…but the fact that I have three Basenjis means that Pona still gets nice interactions with other dogs. I also mostly work from home, which means that I’m here to tend to his needs – like carrying him outside to potty until he can walk again.
Last thing…Pona’s treatment is costing a fortune, of course. If you’re able, can you make a donation to Basenji Rescue, or buy one of our calendars? Information on both is available on the Basenji Rescue website. By the way, that’s Ike and Tippy on the calendar cover.
Thanks for listening to Pona’s story (and my rant!). Have a great weekend!
Oh, hi! I really haven’t been ignoring this website. In fact, I’m here tending to it SEVERAL TIMES A DAY, cleaning up spammer/hacker crap.
Are you seeing this site right now with lines and lines of links to European drug companies? Or links to a chiropractor in California? Or links to a website that introduces you to hot Russian women? That’s because I’ve stepped away from the computer, to take a shower or eat breakfast or work or walk dogs. I’ll be right back to clean it up. Sigh.
No more ranting. I’m well on my way to getting WordPress updated so that this won’t happen anymore. As you can imagine, I haven’t felt very inspired to post in a while, only to have my words blanketed in a sea of spam. I’m excited to get this fixed! I have so much to share, including new knitting videos!
Here’s a little catch-up of what’s been going on around here, Fast-Topic-Changing Friday style…
I had the pleasure of dogsitting Chris’ dogs for a week in August. Five dogs is a lot of dogs, but this pack together was so much fun.
Ike is the laziest alpha dog ever, which sets the tone for a very mellow pack.
Next…!
New sweater. Featherweight Cardigan using Spinning Colors yarn.
It was one year ago that Tippy came to my home as a foster dog. His name was Brucie back then, and he was on the brink of starvation and sick with heartworms. So much has changed for the better!
I’m so proud of this little man.
Next…!
Finished shawl. Ishbel, also knit with Spinning Colors yarn.
Next…!
My good friend Drew came to Austin to teach a couple of crochet classes at The Knitting Nest.
Drew and I were regular knitting buddies back in Houston, and it had been far too long since we’d seen each other. So good to see him.
Next…!
Finished hat. It’s the Vine and Leaf beret from the latest issue of Vogue Knitting.
The hat is great and I really like it, but I’m surprised that I do. It has been years since I’ve found anything in Vogue Knitting that I’ve wanted to knit. Ravelry details.
Next…!
If you’ve ever photographed animals, you know that you’re pretty much at their mercy. They may or may not decide to do what you ask. They move out of the light. They wiggle. But sometimes they set themselves up for a photo without your help, and you had better have your camera ready.
Next…!
Finished top. It’s Pioneer from knitty.com, and this is a sample for a class I’m teaching this month. It is so. very. cute.
Fast-Topic-Changing-Friday. No, SUPER-Fast-Topic-Changing-Friday. That’s just the way things have been around here.
Have you ever looked ahead to your schedule, noticed that you were going to be busy, and then planned ahead to make it easy on yourself? I did laundry, caught up on emails, cleaned the house, stocked up on dog food, etc. And then…
A bunch of crazy stuff happened, throwing hundreds of tiny wrenches into my well-oiled machine. Nothing major, just annoyances, really. The kinds of things I would shrug off if they hit me one-at-a-time.
As a last straw, I started doing stupid things while trying to function in the chaos. Like realizing there was nothing to eat in the house, going to the grocery store and spending $50, and getting home to realize I hadn’t bought anything to eat. Ha!
Time to slow down and get my head on straight.
Poor Ike got sick. I’m sure because he ate something disgusting off the ground. Nothing serious, but I was worried about dehydration in this heat. He’s back to eating regularly and bossing the other dogs around.
Next…!
I think my foot is doing well. I’m able to spend some time out of the cast now, trying to get my muscles loosened up.
It isn’t totally comfortable, so I’m trying to distinguish what is injury pain vs. atrophy discomfort. I know, I know, go to the doctor, right? My visits to the doctors have been so frustrating that I’m kinda hoping my foot just gets better already.
Next…!
Aww! My breakfast made a heart!
Next…!
This is Cowboy, a foster boy I took in for 24 hours before before he went to his forever home. He was a delight! I did, however, have to stay home for those 24 hours, since there wasn’t going to be time to help acclimate him to my home more permanently. Lucky for me, Amanda brought me food that day.
Next…!
Ike and I are both on the mend.
Next…!
Tippy’s got it right. Time to slow down, catch up on baseball, buy some groceries, make fun plans for the weekend, and get a grip again. Chaos doesn’t suit us.
I posted about my broken foot last week, so I don’t need to go over that again. This week I’d like to address what is going on in my HEAD. “My Mental Illness”, as I’m kindly addressing it.
A broken foot should make one want to slow the hell down. Sit more. Put one’s foot up. Heal. Rest. Right?
Not me. My Mental Illness took over, and I was determined to keep up with my normal schedule and activities. How could a three-pound cast hold me back? I had things to do! Places to go! People to see!
I have a problem. Well, I like to think I had a problem.
I’m trying to do more of this.
In fact, I’m not only trying to sit more, but I’m also asking others for help. Oh, it makes me so anxious, but I’m doing it.
My mom has asked me to send her a daily email listing the ways I’ve allowed other people to help me. I have been able to report back an especially great kindness from my friends – they are COOKING for me! Bringing me delish food! I do love them so.
Next…!
I tilted the camera down on the tripod after taking the photo above. This was what was happening on the floor. Or, not happening.
They are very good at resting their feet.
Next…!
No reason for this photo, other than the fact that I was struck by the colors of the vintage needles against my office wall color.
Next…!
Quick update on my foot – I have no update. It’s a long story, but I have an appointment with my doctor next week, where I will get a referral to an orthopedic doctor. That doctor will be able to make sense of my MRI results.
Next…!
The knitting I’m doing right now is secret. Shhhh.
Next…!
The dogs and I are about to head out for a short walk, then I’m going to REST MY FOOT. I swear.
Have a great weekend!
P.S. to my mom – All of the photos in this post were taken in my house, which proves that I’m staying home and resting.
No, that’s not Quasimodo sneaking up behind you. It’s me. I broke my foot. Oh, I wish I had a good story to tell about the break. Like maybe…
I dropped a sledgehammer on my foot!
Rollerderby practice!
I kicked someone!
The truth is that I WOKE UP with a broken foot. I know that sounds impossible, I hardly believe it myself. I went to bed fine and walking on two feet, and woke up around 6am in pain. I knew my foot was probably broken, but people don’t wake up with broken feet, right?
Apparently, I injured my foot some time in recent history, and KILLED A BONE. Dead. Dead bone. It’s called osteonecrosis. That bone has been getting more and more brittle, just waiting for the day that I roll over in bed and break it.
This is the classic “step-thud” photo. I was on crutches the first couple of days, but I’ve been getting around in the walking cast pretty well since then.
The good news is that all of my right shoes are getting a much needed rest.
Here’s the scoop.
See that little bone chip that has decided it “needed some space” from the rest of my overbearing and controlling foot? Yeah. And the really white piece of bone it broke from is the dead part. And the bottom of the dead part is more broken mess. The doctor couldn’t tell if it’s one big broken chunk, or sort of a brittle bone crumble.
We’ll know more later today, because I had an MRI last night.
The MRI should show how much bone is dead, and if my foot can heal without surgery.
Or if my foot is going to break again next time I drop a kitchen towel on it.
Here I am filling out the forms before my MRI. Are you pregnant? No. Knocked up? No. With child? No. Preggo? No. Got a bun in the oven? No. Baby bump? No. In a family way? NO NO NO.
I swear, I answered that question 20 times last night.
Gettin’ crafty wit it.
I’ll report back with more news soon.
The dogs seem to know I’m injured, and they’re being really good. They’re being cool with short, slow walks. Well, Ike and Abe are. Tippy is a pain in the ass. Good thing he’s cute.
Regularly scheduled Fast-Topic-Changing-Friday has been postponed until next week so we can bring you…umm…this. Instead.
Video, video, video! Shooting knitting videos. I’m normally a person with very set routines and a very tidy house, but all of that has been pushed aside for this production. No complaints, trust me. It is a great project, I’m learning so much, and having a lot of fun.
We’re working long days, but always making time to catch up on baseball over lunch, and to enjoy a cold beer in the afternoon. Good times.
I started the week waiting for the a/c repairman to get here. Triple-digit temps and 1000-watt lights do not mix.
Then it was back to work.
I’m not only in front of the camera, but I’m learning to be a production assistant as well.
I can change a gel, raise a camera stand, set my microphone transmitter frequency, and bring coffee to the director.
