Europe! Here I come!

I am headed off for nine lovely days in Europe.  I will be starting in London for a little:

And then to Paris for a couple of days of:

And finally to Dublin for a bit of:

Prolly will be having too much fun to post ;-)  See you in a bit!

Unemployed. And nomadic. And looking for adventure?!?!

Where I spent more than 4300 hours over the last 2+ years. 

Oh, DOT.

My last day at the US Department of Transportation was Friday, and I have no immediate plans for other employment.  I moved out of my house (lovingly known as "Lamontacasa") on Saturday to couch surf for the summer.  Which makes me the most directionless I've been in, um, a long while.

Plans for the summer include a little bit of travel, some doula-ing, a little farmer's market action, gardening, and lots of gym time (I say that last one now, but who knows if that will continue to be a priority).  If this weekend is any indication of what the summer will be like, it will be one part manual labor (moving, biking, working the farmer's market, pulling weeds in the garden, surviving the 94 degree weather) and three parts being a lazy bum (i.e. knitting and watching "Modern Family" in bed while on-call). 

I'm ok with this.

Weekend Update: So Much Fakeness

I think I might let the following pictures from Madame Tussauds Wax Museum speak for themselves.  (Note: For some reason I'm feeling really embarrassed about admitting that I went to a wax museum...I would like to say that I got the tickets CHEAP...is that a good enough excuse to go?).

I got to see Daniel Webster's signature on his desk on the Senate floor once.  It was so nice to meet him in person.

Tying for creepiest statute ever is this guy....

This guy....

Tyra.... ("smile with your eyes")

And this guy.  Who am I kidding?  Larry totally wins.

This is not my first picture with Truman.  I kind of love this man.

Some of the exhibits were a little awkward.  Gary sat on a Rosa-Parks-Bus where it feels like someone is kicking your seat and yelling at you to move to the back of the bus.

There was also the option to start the next world war.....??????

Bill Clinton tried to touch my bum.

I'm so friggin' pale.

I look great in the Oval Office....just sayin'

Brangalina and I are tight.

Ella Fitzgerald ignored me as I held her hand (or maybe I was taking her pulse?  What WAS I doing there?)

I make a mean pirate.

The only thing that I am sad about is that they didn't have a wax Kim Kardashian....

Knitting Inspiration: Fashion

My sartorial wish list:

I have never seen such beautiful knitting than these awesome sweaters from Sandra Buckland

Dress from Jenna Sykes.  There is a better pic on http://knithappenskc.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

I'm trying to figure out how she made those loops.....thoughts?

Literally a "ball" gown.  Sewn together?  Actually wearable?  Or just stacked precariously?  Via

Something a little more casual for times when you need computer privacy via

And for festive occasion, there is a breast hat  via

Matching scarf?  Via

Weekend Update: Stitch and Pitch

My last experience with knitting at Nationals Stadium ended in me flipping off a stadium employee for taunting me for my "womanly" craft.  This weekend the employees contained themselves as scads of knitters showed up for Stitch and Pitch, an event where knitting at the game is not only allowed, but encouraged.

I knit my way through maybe the most interesting game the Nationals have ever played.  11 innings, loaded bases, pinch hitters, walked batters, you name it.  Yet, my sweater was still WAY more interesting: increasing at the side markers every three rows AT THE SAME TIME as adding the pocket linings.  Take THAT baseball!

Julie and Devon avoided knitting by just politely holding the yarn I gave them...

Julie's feet got cold ,so I let her put them in my purse....after removing the yarn and knitting needles.

And the nationals didn't suck that badly despite the eventual loss.  In other new, Lincoln won the President's Race.  It was rigged, I tell you!

The only truly awkward moment was when they honored the troops, asking them to stand for applause.  Some genius had decided to change the lyrics to the Cee Lo Green song to "Thank You" but of course none of us could hear the words and instead sat in horrified silence as CeeLo called his would be lover a gold digger.**  Awwwwwkwarrrrrd....

In other news, I pulled out the Schwinn

I love this thing so much.  I feel so regal cruising through traffic.  I am thankful for having a mother who saved all her quality vintage awesomeness.

And saw the sights

Is that one tall, ugly building or what?

Happy Monday!


** So apparently the "Thank You" version of the Cee Lo song is a real thing.   Still sounds crazy when you can't hear the lyrics.

A Little Bit of Spinning

Spinning.  More dryer lint-eque Merino wool.

I made my skirt, too.  It's one of my favs.

Search for Me

I was looking through my Google analytics to see what search terms people use to find my site.  May I just say: Hilaaaaarious!

The top ten are pretty much what you would expect (wool, sheep, Vagina Monologues, FemEx, etc).  But from there on it just gets bizarre.

Some of my favorites include:

• how to make a pussy with a pillow case (this makes sense since one of my posts is called "How to Make a Vagina Pillow")
• amethyst gem sauna (this person spent 10 minutes on my site, meaning they must have found what they were looking for....)
• how to make vagina with yarn
• korean girls feet
• name of shape with 2 flat sides and 2 half circles (this one completely baffles me....mostly because I, too, have no idea what to call that shape)
• ncis femsex fanfiction (I am trying to imagine the person who typed this query....)
• turquoise tangles my opera j baird 

On a semi-related note, you can now find this blog at www.ambitiousknits.com in addition to the regular www.sheepishlyambitious.blogspot.com address.   Get excited for search terms and domain names!

Urban Farming

Julie and I have embarked on an agrarian adventure.  We went during rush hour on the metro, with our granny carts, to pick up plants from Old City Green.

People kept shouting out to us "plants!" like they had never seen anyone with a granny cart full of seedlings before.

I guess not everyone has a Metro-accessible urban farm to go to.

We planted peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and herbs.

Actually, it is possible that Julie did most of the work.  She hauled all the yummy compost you see here.  Apparently we are entitled to 7 more wheel barrows full of the stuff and neither of us is jumping at the opportunity to drag it over to our plot....

I planted a solitary daisy plant in the corner.  For some reason this makes me absurdly happy.  The other two plants are sage and lemon grass.

 

It looks pretty barren, still, but there is actually lettuce and peas and carrots and beets planted here.  The garlic is looking good.

I wish we had planted these....I love peonies, but it is really not appropriate to pick them out of other people's yards, is it?