yin and some motha fuckin yang, y’all
March 14, 2013
i returned from spring break this week
where several chicago men propositioned me in various capacities.
being the lady that i am
i of course bedded
none of them.
my ego sufficiently inflated, i returned
and entered what can only be called the three days of hell,
all of it connected to the real job (as cauchy calls it).
phase one of a particular project is done
and my colleagues and i are moving into phase deux.
(if any of you want to take a look, feel free)
phase one nearly did us in,
and phase deux is fixing to finish the job.
any of you who have ever tried to combine
database management,
digital cartography,
and literary analysis,
may have an inkling of our difficulties.*
and yet,
as the harlot always says,
the universe seeks balance.
and so,
after three days of
setback after setback
bad news after bad news
i received a little gifty in the mail.
any of you who’ve followed my blog
will know how much i adore gifts.
(and .gifs)
you could have knocked me over with a feather
when i got to my office mailbox to find a package
from ms. hello yarn herself.
can you believe it?
for absolutely no reason at all,
i got a gifty when i most needed it.
home made jams and over 1200yds of yarn?
almost enough to make a believer outta ya, right?
in other random news,
ages ago, i purchased colours of shetland by kate davies.
i ordered early to get two signed copies,
one for my shelf
and one for me to use.
after a month with no books in sight,
i explained the situation to kate
and she sent me two new ones at no charge.
they arrived without a hitch in about week.
two days later, the original two arrived.
so now i have four copies of colours of shetland.
what happened to the other two to delay them?
were they trapped in customs?
lost in that black hole with which we knitters are so familiar?
oh no.
nothing so simple.
what had happened was, it was
missent to mother fucking australia?
how on earth did the british postal system of all people
missend my package to australia?
i mean,
they literally sent it across the wrong ocean!
anyway,
since i hardly need four copies of the book
i’m giving away the other two.
if you want to win one,
just share this post somehow,
(there should be a little ‘share’ button at the bottom)
and leave me a comment.
the random number generator will pick a winner.
stay tuned to see what i’m knitting.
(shocker)
*any experts in any of those areas who’d like to help, especially people conversant in arcgis 10.1, hit me up! lol
Bitches Get Stitches 
March 14, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Shared! Thanks so much for the giveaway. I read Kate’s blog and have been looking at the book longingly on the Internet. Congrats on the nice present when you needed it! Good job, Universe.
March 14, 2013 at 7:19 pm
that Adrian really knows how to treat herself…and you! so jealous.
and i love your paris mapping project. a great use of technology. congrats! and good luck with whatever comes next.
March 14, 2013 at 7:37 pm
Shared on my fb page (with a note that it’s from the REAL Steven Ambrose, not our alpaca; didn’t want any confusion there) – sooo glad to see a post from you. (And seriously? Baby alpaca? In those colors? Jeebus, I’m drooling here.) The homemade jam looks pretty yummy, too. So glad you got such a lovely gifty at just the right time.
As for the wrong ocean – Mercury’s retrograde. Other than that, I got nuthin’.
Congrats on Phase 1 complete, good luck on Phase 2.
March 14, 2013 at 7:37 pm
Didn’t see the share button, but will gladly copy and paste the url in order to share your delightful day with several knitting friends – particularly one young man who has had a challenging living sit and working sit and deserves a good read! Watcha gonna make with the yarn?
March 14, 2013 at 8:00 pm
spicy balsamic tomato jam? sounds good. can I have it? and the book too? thanks!
March 14, 2013 at 9:24 pm
I have a gay son whom I adore! That’s why I enjoy your blog so much. Hope to win one of your extra books. P.s. my son can knit some mean cables 🙂
March 14, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Well, happy day for everyone! Shared on Twitter as knitterlydesign.
March 14, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Tweeted! I effing love Kate Davies.
March 14, 2013 at 11:17 pm
Lucky duck! That’s some beautiful yarn.
I tweeted.
March 15, 2013 at 1:38 am
shared!! you crack me up. thanks for that. xo 😉
March 15, 2013 at 4:26 am
I’ve been thinking about ordering this. It would be cool to win it!
March 15, 2013 at 4:27 am
As a resident of Australia, I hope your books had a fun vacation. I’d love to have one head back this way permanently. 🙂
March 15, 2013 at 4:38 am
oh my! your perils sound simialr to the ones at my job, but I am the tester that tells everyone it does not work. lol. So i cannot help you with the fixing. 😛
March 15, 2013 at 6:20 am
Great post, and the project looks really cool–good luck on the next two phases.
March 15, 2013 at 6:46 am
Shared it! The yarn is lovely too by the way!!
March 15, 2013 at 7:05 am
I tweeted it. How do you always get so many presents? Send me a present!
March 15, 2013 at 9:31 am
I tweeted you, darling. aren’t gifts the best?
March 15, 2013 at 10:09 am
That is pretty awesome. Both the package you received from Adrian and the double whammy package from Kate. I love that it traveled around the world to get to you.
March 15, 2013 at 11:25 am
That yarn would make a great catkin shawl!
March 15, 2013 at 11:28 am
Almost nothing better than an unexpected present (except, maybe, sex and/or chocolate). Love this giveaway of well-travelled books. Will share!
March 15, 2013 at 11:57 am
shared. Good to hear from you. Here’s to surviving part deux! Good luck!
Kate is divine. I would love to own her book! How kind of you to share!
March 15, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Shared. Hope you are all doing better! Thanks
March 15, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Shared! Glad to see that you’ve stopped by to say Hi! Sorry, work is a drag, but hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out. It’s so great to get presents in the mail!
March 15, 2013 at 2:54 pm
Wow, I’ve had parcels go astray before, but at least they stayed on the same continent 😉 The Colours of Shetland is a beautiful book and it’s been on my wish list since it came out. Great give away!
March 15, 2013 at 2:54 pm
I love the fact that they have a sticker specifically for things Missent to Australia. (shared!)
March 15, 2013 at 8:12 pm
Hey Stephen – This is Nannette (from the Gourmet Pt. Ludlow knitter’s retreat). I’m a master’s student studying GIS. What did you need w/ ArcGIS? I’m currently running 10.1 and am TAing a class “stuck” using v10.
March 15, 2013 at 10:19 pm
I’ve been lusting after this book. Thanks for the giveaway. I’m linking the blog to a friend (which is sharing!).
March 15, 2013 at 10:32 pm
You lucky son of a . . .! Baby alpaca?!? And in those colors?? I think I know of a little dog who can’t wait to model your finished creation — which he hopes he gets to keep, of course! (Baby alpaca would sooooo keep his tummy warm next winter, hint, hint.)
And the Royal Mail aren’t the only ones to get things wrong. My local US Postal Service branch managed to send a birthday card to the wrong London. Imagine my British friend’s surprise when his birthday card arrived over a month late — and with the handwritten notation “Since when is the UK in Canada??” Yep, it went to London, Ontario, first!
Wish I could help you with your project, but I’m still at the stage of cussing out Office for trying to make me do things Microsoft’s way rather than the way I want to do them!
March 15, 2013 at 10:43 pm
Oops, sorry for the name misspelling. I blame your St. Stephen’s Green Twitterfeed heading.
And your project seems very interesting. I’d like to see something similar done for well-known films set in Paris or visual artists who have lived and worked in Paris (although the Eiffel Tower may have to be left out — everybody and their mother-in-law seem to have done something with that!). I have seen one done for films set in London, showing filming locations, routes of travel or chase scenes, approximate locations of fictitious sites (the Vauxhall Cross tube stop seen in “Die Another Day”, for example), etc.
March 16, 2013 at 12:52 am
Shared on Twitter. Thanks so much for the give away. I’ve been eyeing Shetland knits, and would love a copy of the book. It is true the universe tends to balance. I’ve been having a rough time this month and am totally ready for something positive.
Alas, I have no mapping skills (though I can deliver a baby).
March 16, 2013 at 2:57 pm
I’m glad you got a present. Such gorgeous colors!
March 16, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Holy moley, that is some gorgeous yarn. Better than sleeping with all those hot guys, you lucky day. Would love to have a copy of the Davies book. Holla.
March 16, 2013 at 6:43 pm
shared on fb 🙂 So nice to hear from you! been missing your blogs! Hopefully, your project will run smoothly from here on out!
March 16, 2013 at 8:29 pm
Shared on fb and twitter, darlin’. And I’m going to stop staring at the gorgeous yarn before I drool and ruin my keyboard…
March 18, 2013 at 12:01 am
This is an awesome book!
Shared your post on google+
March 18, 2013 at 1:07 am
Australia?! Those books are well travelled. I love how they even have a sticker for that sort of situation. Like it happens often.
March 18, 2013 at 10:13 am
I shared. Adrian’s jams are the SHIT!!!
March 18, 2013 at 11:04 am
I had no idea what you were talking about as far as your project goes. However, after taking a look, all I have to say is I’m impressed! That’s quite a project.
And, if a package is going to “accidentally” go to Australia, the least they could do is add a “sorry, mate” to that sticker.
March 18, 2013 at 9:49 pm
I sure would LOVE one of those books! Not 4… just 1! I love your blog, btw!
March 19, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Thanks for a great giveaway! Ishared on Twitter (http://ow.ly/jdAIO) and on my FB page. P.S. love your blog!
March 20, 2013 at 6:37 pm
Shared and so glad you are blogging again. I’ve been lurking for a while and I really missed you.
March 20, 2013 at 6:38 pm
Reblogged this on The Bethlab.
March 20, 2013 at 6:39 pm
Shared! So glad you are blogging. I’ve been lurking and I’ve missed you!
March 24, 2013 at 2:13 am
[…] reading this, you likely like me (though it’s possible you’re just waiting to see if you won a book. no worries. we’ll get there. keep reading) and, since you like me, you like when i’m […]
April 5, 2013 at 10:07 pm
What a gifty surprise…that is awesome! So are the books you are giving away. I sure would like to have one. Being on disability, I generally only get used books. This could be my ‘surprise gifty’. LOL