Comics

I just bought my ticket to Comicon. I have always wanted to go to a comic book convention. Now I finally took the first step in going. Usually, I invite my child to everything, but not this time. I want to have fun, and she can be a big ass kill joy. 

ANYHOOSEN, I have been fascinated with comics since I was little. I remember my uncle let me read one of his Spider-Man comics and I was hooked. My dad was not having that though. He insisted that he would be a doctor if it was not for comic books. That sounded so ridiculous to my little head and even then I knew my dad was full of baloney. Especially since he had a stash of Heavy Metal and Eerie comics in the bathroom that he left laying around. There is no way a youngster should have such easy access to those titles. So anyhoo, my dad kept with his 'no comics for you, but I can read these slightly perverted titles' rule. My uncle, my cousin's boyfriend and the Sunday newspaper kept my comic buzz going.

When I was around 14, my grandfather gave me money to go buy some candy. I walked to the mom and pop shop in the hood and the comic rack I had passed by so many times before caught my eye. I stood there turning the rack, picking up a title, putting it back, turning the rack again and picking another title. There were a couple of Spider-Man titles and I picked the Amazing Spider-Man.  I took it to my grandpa's and read it before it was time for me to go back home. From there, I was Miss Comic Book USA. I used my little mad money from Grandpa to buy my comics.

When I got my first job, I spent a lot of money at Zanadu and later at the Comic Stand.  With more money, I was able to branch out and start reading more titles. I started reading Groo, Batman, X-Men and threw in a few other titles every now and again. My friends would talk about our favorite titles, I had a few friends who would accompany me to the various comic stands.  I wasn't a full blown live the life geek, but I could talk about my favorite titles all the live long day. Even though there weren't too many characters who looked like me and the efforts they did make were so stereotypical and clumsy that I wished they didn't even try, I loved them anyway.

As a side note, it really bothered me that Storm was a black woman who was a thief in Africa (black folks as thieves, how original), but part of her beauty was because she was white haired with blue eyes (come on now) and she later comes to believe that she is a goddess and she has no sense of humor (black characters- and people of color in general, are often complete fools or very stern, never the balance of characteristics afforded white characeters). This  bothered me to no end, even though in the late 80's and early 90's the X-Men titles made great efforts to fix this with characters of color who were not total stereotypes. Archangel fell in love with an African American woman, never mind that he was now blue, had wings made out of blades and major mental complications. And what is it with the blue man, black woman thing going on in the comics? Storm with Beast, Archangel with the cop, and Nightcrawler with the witch.

Forge is my favorite X-Man. He has the ability to think of an invention, and then make it. I wish I could do that. He is Native American and he was my secret comic book crush. I can admit that now as I creep into my middle ages and nobody knows my real name on this blog. And yes, I picked the picture of the stereotypical Native American, but he looks so dayum hot!

Where was I? X-Men and the Batman titles became my favorites.  The storytelling was very complex and intelligent and was way better than when I was younger. But as I grew up and and my wallet grew smaller and smaller, I had to abandon my comic collecting. I was very excited when the X-Men and Spider-Man titles were turned into movies. The first Batman efforts were not to my liking. Michael who-ever as Batman, was not cool at all. I did not want to see that movie, nor any of the others. They became dumber and dumber and I thought it was a damn shame. The new efforts with Christian Bale are waaaaayyyy better.

I keep digressing. I buy graphic novels now. Usually, they are compilations of titles like the Essential Hulk or Crisis on Infinite Earths. My collection of comics sit on the top shelf of my closet, waiting for me to cash them in since they are darn near mint.   I bought a graphic novel while I was at Zanadu to buy my tickets and it was nice to read it while on the long bus ride to our dinner. 

Now there is a comic about knitting called Handknit Heroes. It combines knitting and comics, my favorite things. I seriously would love to subscribe to this, I just have so much I want to do and not enough money to do it with.  Maybe for Christmas.

Bad Woman Yarn

Have you ever been to a store that feels like home? I have. It is Bad Woman Yarn. It is located in an old school that has been converted into a shopping center. I have tried to stop in for a year, but I could never get there during business hours or my travel companions did not want to join me. But yesterday, I finally made it. I walked up the stairs to the center and walked down the hallway. I saw a large group of women sitting in the hallway, knitting. I assumed it was a class, but it was a fun class. It reminded me of lunch during my elementry school years, a bunch of girls sitting around the table, smiling and laughing but with yarn in front of them instead of food. I walked into the store and found a smallish space filled with yarn. Beautiful.  There was even a small loft area filled with yarn. I had to wait for my sister so I looked around a couple of times, and found a table at the back of the store. I asked one of the workers if I could sit and knit, she said yes and I pulled out my knitting. All I needed was a pot of tea and a downpour of rain.

My sister called and I found out she was nowhere near the store, (expected that) so I told her we would meet closer to where my daughter was taking her class.  I packed my project up and left the little cozy store, but I know I will return.

Harmony Knitting Needles

I love my Harmonys! They are a part of the Options interchangable knitting needles that KnitPicks offers. I have a lot of knitting needles, but I basically ignore them in favor of these sweet babies. They are so pretty. And sexy. I use them for straight knitting and circular knitting and now that I have discovered the easy method of knitting small circumferences on two circulars, I need another set. 

 

The lovely-ness of these is that they are not only beautiful, but the points are great, the join is perfect and smooth and if there happens to be a defect, KnitPicks will stand by thier product. The join on a pair of my needles became very wonky and I just mentioned it in passing to a customer service rep and she sent me another pair for FREE.  I have used other interchangable sets and this is the best by far. I have used Denise sets, and that was ok, but the join sometimes came loose at the wrong time, the cords remained kinked, and they looked plain. Sometimes part of the knitting experience is enjoying the tools you are using. Like your needles. Wrapping beautiful yarn around some plain ass beige needles is not fun. And they don't look good when you are taking picks of your WIP to post on Ravelry.

 

The coloring is so fabulous and the more you work with the needles, the smoother they become. The colors also kinda smooth out- they are still rainbow like, but uh.... smooth. I dunno how to describe it, but it takes on a lovely quality.

 

Like I said before, I need another set. There is a new addition to the Options family called Zephyr. They are clear acrylic and also have the lover-ly join and smoothness. They are also much cheaper and that makes me so happy.  These will be my Christmas present to myself.

Audio Books

I have discovered the joy of audio books. It was by accident. I just wanted to knit but I also wanted to enjoy a good book, I never figured out how to do both at the same time without something falling to the ground.  So I checked out a mystery novel and downloaded the book onto my computer. I sat down in my comfy space and started the book and picked up my knitting. 

I was hooked.

I went back to the library and picked up a few more, including a horror novel. I didn't think it would scare me, but there were a few scenes that made me question every single creak I heard in the house. Needless to say, that became my daytime book.

I even have my favorite audio book artist, Kevin R Free.  His readings make me forget that it is a single person reading and I can hear each character's distinct personality in his readings. My favorite so far is "Bling" by Erica Kennedy.  The combination of his reading and the author's story made me laugh out loud a couple of times on the bus. That is a good way to ensure you have a seat to yourself.

My favorite author isTananarive Due.  I listened to The Good House and that book scared the mess out of me. I have Joplin's Ghost and I will start that when I finish Duma Key by Stephen King. I also have listened to Brandon Massey's books. He is often compared to Stephen King, and that is fair. I just finished listening to Thunderland which was a very good book that i finished knitting my winter slippers listening to.

I feel a little guilty about listening to rather than reading books, and when I told my daughter that we were reading for the night instead of watching TV, she told me that was cheating.  I cringed a little, but told her to can it. But when I think of all that I can do while listening to a good story, knit, clean, cook, fold clothes, I don't feel so bad.

R and R

I know I wrote about sleep already, but Rest and Relaxation are totally different. With sleep you revive your body and mind. But with R and R, you revive you body, mind and SOUL.

Many things make me happy, but I love my relaxing time. I don't need money to do it, just the time. I find many ways to relax. I go on my deck with a nice cold iced tea, knitting and just sit. Sometimes, I sit on my orange throne and veg out in front of the tv. Othertimes, I lay in my bed, daydream or noodle around with my laptop. It doesn't matter what I am doing, it is not supposed to be totally productive.

My vacation is at the end of this month and I plan on doing nothing. They call it a 'staycation' now, but I think I perfected it. Usually, we stay up late watching movies, then wake up to watch 'The View' take another nap, then take our showers, get dressed and head out. Each day we go to another part of the city. One day we will go downtown and hit up the bookstore and the mall. Actually, we go to town a few days a week. Another day, we go to the International District and go to Uwajimaya's, then we will hit up the U District where my favorite yarn store is. The Market is a afternoon all by itself, it is packed with so much to see. But at least three times during our staycation, I will drag my laptop to Tully's and do whatever until my battery goes out.

After our afternoon of fun, we either eat out or I make a simple dinner. Shoot, sometimes we eat cereal. They are usually packed full of vitamins and stuff, so don't chastise me please.

Knitting

I knit, therefore, I am.



I knit, but don't expect no complicated frilly stuff. Homey don't play that. I do quick, uncomplicated things. I have been working on a vest for the last 3 or 4 months, and I am in no particular hurry to finish it since it is now 'summer' and I don't need the extra insulation.
Knitting brings me peace and helps me work things out in my brain when I am troubled. The last week has been crazy with family issues, I knit like a fool and finished two bags, two hats and I am currently working on another. My favorite thing to do is to sit and knit. The weather has been so lovely lately that I sit outside with the sun burning my legs and knit and drink my lemonade or iced tea until it is time for me to get some real work done.

But I love the winter, the time of year when it is cool to sit on your butt and do nothing. I like to put on music, heat up a pot of tea, wrap up in my blanket on my favorite chair and knit. Sometimes I watch TV, but it is better with music. I was watching a movie and my friend was irritated that I was knitting while watching the movie. He thought I couldn't follow along with the movie while knitting. I had to educate his butt.
I have tons of knitting paraphernalia. I have a lot of knitting needles, and don't EVER ask to borrow them. I can part with yarn, but not with my needles son. I have three or four garbage bag sized bags of yarn.... I am a little more likely to part with my yarn only so I can buy more. My favorite sites for my hobby/ fetish are:

• knitpicks.com- The Harmony interchangeable needles are the shiznit and the yarn is cheap too!
• Ebay- Uhhh yeah! I have found needles by the lot, yarn and cute knitting bags here.
• Discontinuedbrandnameyarn.com- I found my favorite yarn- Lamb's Pride- here for half price.

When I recieve my Knit Picks catalog in the mail, I get so excited. I call it my porn because it makes me hot- I swear it does.

I also spend a lot of time on Ravelry.com. It is like a MySpace for knitters and crocheters. You can post pictures of your work, your stash of yarn, there are forums and groups to join and of course, there are friends to make. I belong to a lot of groups. Maybe too many.

I love knitting so much and believe in it's powers to calm and soothe that I teach a class at work and will teach anyone who asks... but bring your own stuff cause I ain't sharing.