Nutty for knitting.

About two years ago, I (re)discovered my love for knitting. It began when my sister-in-law visited and asked me if we had a good yarn store in Anchorage. I didn’t know, but soon found one. My first project was a Sarah Dallas block pattern throw in baby llama and (without knowing it at the time) I twisted knit the whole thing. It wasn’t until I found a dropped stitch and couldn’t understand why, after I unraveled the row and crocheted back up, it looked different from the other stitches. I took it into the aforementioned yarn store and the owner kindly explained what I had done and I realized if I was to be happy with my throw for any time to come, I had to re-unravel it and twist every stitch as I crocheted back up. Not fun, but it had a successful ending.

Now, I am knitting almost every day and I love, love, love it. My background in clothing & textiles and design drives my passion (okay, obsession) to find the perfect luxurious yarn and the most beautiful patterns. This year I hope to start designing my own patterns.

Below are a few of my favorite web haunts.

For yarn, and many more things: Purl Soho
For free patterns: Purl Bee and Ravelry.

Visit me on Ravelry.

Thank you, Kim. Here’s to knitting until our fingers fall off.

Stimulate this.

My client base is primarily small business owners. I love them. They’re the salt of the earth and they work their butts off. This past year has really been hard on them. I mean REALLY hard.

Now, before you think I’m complaining for myself, I’m not. (Well, maybe a little bit.) I don’t mind that their budgets are smaller and they have to stretch their production dollars extra thin — I love a challenge and can usually pull it off. But, there’s seriously nothing I’d rather hear more than, “Julie. We need [fill in the blank] and guess what? We have a big ass budget!”

The DOW closed above 10,000 today. Fantastic, right? Sure, it is. But the follow-up story is that due to higher than expectations profits, big fat bonuses are about to be paid out. Again. And so soon. Wow.

I’m sorry. News like that makes me want to seek medication. (Which makes me think of health care reform and then I just want to vomit…)

And I’m going to stop now, because I don’t want to start a political rant. Just want to throw some love at my clients. I hope things start to turn around for them. Soon.

On the mend.

I’m feeling much better today. My appetite is back, at any rate. And the first thing I grabbed to eat, you might wonder? A vitamin C-packed grapefruit? A calcium-rich yogurt smoothie? A protein-filled poached egg?

Of course not!

The first thing I grabbed was a bag of Archer Farms Sea Salt and Vinegar potato chips. Yep. I ate the whole thing as fast as I could. It was fantastic until about an hour later.

Ugh. I think my intestines might have a thing or two to say about my choice.

Oh well. At least they were baked, not fried.

This cold really wiped me out. And to top it off, my neck and shoulder muscles are really tense. Like the kind of tense I experience under serious project deadline pressure — only I can’t blame my work load for it this time. And I wish I had someone in my life that could/would/should massage away the pain, no begging necessary. (I won’t name names, but you know who you are!)

What a whiner I am.

But as I was saying, I am laying off the tissues today, so that’s more proof that I’m feeling better. And so are Grant and Allen, so hopefully no more sickness in the family for a while. I’m grateful for a little sun and warmer weather the past few days, which means that spring might actually be on the way…

Happy Birthday to my Mother tomorrow. Happy packing to Nepal, Karen. Happy Easter a little early to all my family and friends.

40 days to 40.

Not one to make a big deal about my birthday, this year I’m making an exception.

Every day for the next 40 days, I’m going to do something to enjoy, indulge, honor and otherwise spoil myself until I turn 40. I deserve it, dang it.

Today it begins.

Day 01: Dinner with Eric at Orso. (Had the fresh grilled halibut and tiramisu for dessert.)

Day 02: Late movie with Dean. (Saw The X-Files: I Want to Believe.)

Day 03: Hour and a half walk in the sunshine with the dogs. (It’s been sunny very few days this summer.)

Day 04: Leftover Milk Duds (from Day two’s movie) for after breakfast snack.

Day 05 – Day 10: Every spare moment spent knitting a new throw blanket for my reading chair. (I might finish it before I’m 41…)

Day 11: Ladies night out with Becky. (We went to see “Mama Mia!” Colin Firth stole the show.)

Day 12: Triple Luxe points at Banana Republic so I took the dark gray short trench coat home with me. (And a dress, two shirts and a pair of Mary Jane heels. It was triple points, after all.)

Day 13: Stayed up late to watch season one of Mad Men on DVD. (Award goes to them for their case design. Very clever.)

Day 14 – Day 20: Two words. Summer Olympics. (Technically, this started Day 13 with the opening ceremonies, but my DVR has been running non-stop. And being the multi-pleasure-tasking person that I am, my knitting project is coming right along…)

Stay tuned for more…

Day 39: Forget it. Somewhere between week two of the Olympics and all the political drama of the conventions, I completely lost track of my plan to string out the big event tomorrow. Whatever, I’m over it. Turning 40 is no big deal, right?

The pieces that are me.

Derived from my online nickname, jgourmet.com began in 1995. No, I’m not a professional chef. Yes, that’s me to the right.

The people you’ll most often hear about are my amazing husband Eric and our three children — Dean, Grant and Allen.

Things I love: My stack of books beside my bed, on my desk and by the couch. Eating out. Cooking in. Mid-Century Modern. Diet Coke with a lime. That little smile that says everything. A spotless house. My Mac. Broadband WiFi. Fresh flowers. Late night knitting therapy. A toothpaste kiss. Recycling. Coffee flavored Haagen Dazs. Low-rise boot-cut jeans.

Things I hate: Long lines, anywhere. Clutter. Internet lag. Wearing rigid contact lenses. That clanging sound the spoon makes on the cereal bowl at 5 am. Dust. Raw green peppers. Web browser incompatibility. Rush Limbaugh’s political views. On-coming headlight glare. Mosquitoes.