the good and the bad

So lets see if I can do the three things good before getting to the bad. ;^)

One, I got to get out yesterday and knit in public. Two, bonus, I didn't do it alone. I got to meet Tammy at Insomnia and chat while knitting. She was also awesome in helping me to read a pattern for some fingerless gloves I was starting. I look forward to future chances to socialize with her and also knit with others.

Three.......ummm....oh yea! Norbert's ear seems to be doing well with the antibiotics. Of course I won't know for sure until the 16th when he's retested. Oh! I came up with a fourth. I had the designer of a shawl that I was trying to get started contact me with suggestions plus she added me as a friend. How cool is that? I still have to try out her suggestion of course!

So the bad, was that chart I mentioned. It was painful to get started and I ended up having to mark my purl and knit rows. Also marking which side of the chart to read from for each of those rows. Part of the problem is that I haven't done a lot of chart work and I realized that most of it has been working things in the round which is different than when you are doing it flat. I think this may have affected my work on the scalloped necklace, so I'll take this information with me when I do my next attempt. So there is some good in there too.

ETA: if you read it when it talked about the 'ugly' that's what is missing. Figured it was better not to have it out there if I was trying to a permanent job and they some how find my blog.

dogs, books, knitting, gaming

Well this weekend didn't go exactly as I had hoped for. I did stain my new desktop and have two coats of finish on it. I still need to steel wool, wipe it down and then apply another coat of finish according to Brandon.

I was able to get a coat of finish on the spindles though. I think another coat will be needed before they are ready for their hooks.

I've finished up Shaun the Sheep. I want to do another one of him changing the angle of his head, making his various bits either in the round or as i-cord. Seaming up small bits sucks.

I also finished up a cat for Bailey. It's the same pattern I used for the one for Jenna. Except I like this tail better and I decided to add a face. I think the face works for this one.

I tried doing a scalloped choker necklace that was in my queue. Poorly written instructions. I strongly disliked the I place my beads this way, but nothing written down about 'exact' placement. I also think that either I got off on my row count or there is an error in the pattern. The black cotton even done under a bright light may not have been the best bet either. I found a cool dragonfly drop charm that would look cool with the black, but I'm not sure I'll be happy with using a silver jump ring, or if it would just be easier to pre-string it like beads. It was a quick knit and didn't use a lot of yarn. I have the first one drying so I can see what other types of mods I may want to do.

Since I was blocking the choker, I got the other cotton headbands and bracelet that need to be refreshed with blocking and have them drying on the ironing board.

I've gotten some leisure reading done lately and that's really nice. Plus its whittling the stack by my bedside down to a manageable level too. I have not done any dog book reading and that's bad. Well that's not strictly true. I've gotten a few books from the library to try out to see if I want them on the list, thankfully, I'm not spending money on these books too! I do though have several Dogwise books that I really, really, really need to do reviews on. Must get those done this week!

Norbert, the 1K+ dog, had his ear unwrapped today. That was a painful experience for the both of us. The glue stuck really well on one point of his ear on the bandage so he has a little raw spot. I guess we didn't ask as many questions as we should have either. He has buttons on both sides of his ears. For some reason, Will and I both thought it was just on the inside of the ear flap, not also on the outside. Poor Boo Bear is now Button Boy wearer of the Cone of Doom, +4 Annoyance.

Norbert goes back in on Monday and they'll remove his buttons. That should be loads of fun. I'll need to remember to give him a pain pill a few hours before we go in to help out with the process. Then we'll be back in a week after that for a follow-up check on the progress of his bacterial infection to find out if its gone or not.

Nessa is definitely allergic to flax seed. I tried California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato as well as Dick Van Patten's Fish and Sweet Potato and she's got tons of her skin pocks on her chest and back legs. Poor baby.

I had hoped to start the Cleopatra Stole this weekend with the Habu Bamboo. But found that my scan of the chart sucks to the point of not being able to read it. So I'm re-checking it out from the library, but will have to wait for it since I'm #5 on the wait list.

The boys were able to have two D&D games this weekend so the whole group was happy. Brandon loved it because I suggested hamburgers on the BBQ and made my homemade potato salad for him. I enjoy listening to some of the tangents the group manages to go off on during the course of the game and throwing in my thoughts here and there.

knitting & Indy

So yesterday Brandon texts me that he wants to go to the midnight showing of the new Indy movie and really really wants me to go too. I was feeling kind of tired but willing to do go. Checked with Will and Luke and they were also up for going with the full knowledge that they would still have to go to school the next day.

Brandon wanted us there a full hour before the movie started, because it was also sponsored by a couple of radio stations and his favorite Rick Emerson remembers him and came up to talk to us at the end of the movie too. Since we were going to be there so early, I got started on the second Express Lane anklet. I had the toe done and was working on the first chart pattern while waiting. I think he noticed me knitting before the movie started too, but was possibly too polite to ask.

The movie was fun. Harrison is showing his age but still doing his stunts. They kind of set it up so that it was implied they might have Shia take on future 'Indy' type action. I sat there and kept commenting on all the movie similarities I spotted - The Mummy 1 & 2, National Treasure, James Dean & motorcycle riding (Luke said 'Fonzie'), Brandon picked out Close Encounters for the 'alien' aspect, and many more that my blurry brain can't remember.

knitting, spindles-stitchmarkers, yarn, swaps & dogs-

Knitting - I've finished my Yarn Harlot inspired socks - Lacy Mock Cables, started anklets based off of the pattern "Express Lane" and also started my Shaun the Sheep. I just have to put his legs on and do his 'knitting' project and he'll be done. I also made a kitty for Jenna's first birthday. She had fun playing with it. You can check out photos here and here. I'm going to do one for Bailey, so have it started also. Need to finish that second anklet soon though!

Spindles & Stitchmarkers - let's see....I acquired the dowels of various sizes. Then stained them. Marked them to the size I thought they should be so Brandon could cut them. Sanded the ends. Brandon then used an epoxy to attach the stone donuts to the dowels. The next step is to apply a finish to the dowels and again with Brandon's help attach a wire hook. A little longer process than first thought but hopefully others will also think they look nice. I have some photos of some of the stone donuts, and the current state of the spindles here. At the same location are some pictures of stitchmarkers that I made recently. Some are being gifted and some are a reuse of former bead earrings I had made.

Yarn - I finally have photos and space on Flickr for my Knit Pick Summer Sampler packs I bought, so they are in my stash. I added in the Shibui sock yarn (wyvern socks), the Habu bamboo (cleopatra wrap), and Malabrigo Lace (falling water scarf) from my inventory $$ at Knit/Purl. Okay, a good portion of the Shibui I paid for but the other two were totally inventory money. Knit/Purl has been using volunteers to help them with their inventory of the store. I had fun doing it three different times and have the yarn/roving to show for it too.

Swaps - I have participated in my first swap. I sent a package of items to a lady in Denmark. Hopefully she'll like them. We had a $15 cap, that I went a little over. Which kind of made up for the postage that it took to send it - $24. Oh my! That after spending just a few dollars to send the Blanket Buddy to Belgium. It might have been the little jewelry box I used to put the stitch markers in. Live and Learn.

Dogs - Nessa is doing much better. I still need to have her blood re-checked but our vet $$ have gone to Norbert this month. He had been having an allergy reaction to a food I tried and that caused an 'aural hematoma' on his other ear. We tried treating it ourselves but it quickly became apparent it wasn't going away on its own. So a trip into the vet who said that she needed to do surgery and use buttons to get it to heal was the only way to go. Yes, buttons like on your clothes, go figure. Plus his teeth in the last year have gotten bad due to the kibble, or he could have been hiding those back teeth from me. So that meant a teeth cleaning, and a check of a tooth that had enamel missing from it being broken. Thankfully not broken to the point of needing to remove the tooth. He also has molars that didn't grow completely and are smaller than normal and soft so those had to be checked. End result, no teeth removed, but now clean. He's hiding out in the soft crate with his 'cone of doom' with 2pts for annoyance. Norbert I'm sure is thinking of it as the 'cone of shame'.

I need to finish eating my dinner that mom called in the middle of and then feed the dogs and go from there. Just happy to finally have all the photos taken care of and some updates at Ravelry with the projects and yarns.

First some flower fun

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

"You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."

I have Socks!

It was such a Monday morning! I got out of the house late, found that they were starting roadwork just around the corner, but I needed to get gas so couldn't turn around and go another way. After getting some gas, ran through another roadwork area and then realized that not only did I leave my cell phone at home, but I also left my book at home. I did have my knitting, but there wasn't going to be enough to get me through the whole day.

So I re-planned my route to work via the closest place I stood a chance of finding a decent paperback - Albertson's. I also snagged a box lunch so I didn't have to go the school lunch way that I tried yesterday. I arrived to work 8 minutes late, then stood waiting for the lady to get off the phone so that I could pick up my key. Someone else had my key though. Sigh. So I'm arriving in the office - it's on the opposite most distant corner away from the main office - 15 minutes late.

Thankfully it was not terribly busy. In fact, I was able to sit down with my coffee and immediately start reading Cheyenne McCray's "Shadow Magic". I made good progress into that book before switching over to my sock.

I just had an inch or so of instep rounds to do before switching to the toe rounds. I was done with those by 3pm and got out my print out on how to do the kitchener stitch. More for moral support. I did have to put the sock down to have the two kids left at the end of the day out of the room. Then it was on to those last 11 stitches. Once again nicely done work and just in time for the school bell to ring. Clean everything up check around the room and on to home.

I have enough from both skeins of Felici Hummingbird that I'm sure that I can get a pair of Wyverns out of them. I probably could have done both socks from one skein but I didn't want to take the chance of running out.

I'm not sure if I'll go to the last opportunity for a parent conference at the school or not tonight. Will has straight A's again so I'm not really sure what the point would be, except to confirm that they are high and not borderline. I might see if I can get Brandon out with me to either JoAnn's or Home Depot for the spindle supplies. I have had a migraine though for the last couple of days, so it will depend on where it's letting me go.

Last night Brandon got a call from his cousin Kyle. It's Jenna's first birthday in a few weeks and so we are invited to that, but they also needed to use our Hillsboro address for the park they wanted to reserve the covered area for at Rood Bridge Park. This means I need to come up with a gift for her and so I'm thinking the the sock lamb and may be the booties or take my leftover Premiere and make the Candy Cane hat. I was kind of hoping to stay in the sock flow and use up the rest of my Hummingbird on another pair of socks. Nice toe up socks that will make it easier to use up the started skeins....

Talent Show

I think I mentioned that Will and his football/wrestling team mates had practiced the Ohio State Wrestling Teams' Talent show performance for their own talent show. Here's a You Tube version from a cell phone recording by a student at the talent show. I still have to convert mine down so that it isn't huge.

Here's another one I found that starts from the beginning. It has very poor quality graphics, but still shows some good action.

knitting, plants, beads and prom

We were up early enough to arrive at the Tualatin Valley Garden Club plant sale and purchase some large tomato plants. Last year by the time we got there, there were a few of the larger tomatoes, luckily a couple of the Romas I like to plant. Brandon picked out a third one that I can't remember the name of to add to the two Romas I picked up. We also from that vendor got a pumpkin, crook neck squash, green zucchini, colossal pepper, egg plant, anaheim chili, and giant jalapeno. There are a few other plants for the yard but for the most part we held back from making any purchases for things in the yard. I want to do a major revamp of flower beds so it didn't make sense to buy anything when I'm not sure where they would live.

From there we went into the Gem Faire that was in the building close to the plant sale at the fairgrounds. Brandon found some coins he can string and make a bracelet that he has been wanting. I found a a nice selection of stone donuts that I can make into drop spindles. I do need to make a few additional purchases before they can be put to work though. I don't have any pictures of them yet, but I'll post when they are available. I also found a nice selection of size 6 beads that I can use with knitting. My bead needle broke so I'll have to get a new one of those too. With the beads I was able to get I think I figured out $32 worth of beads for $17. Pretty good savings!

I also checked out the new location of Kathy's Knit Korner. They were supposed to be having a Grand Re-opening sale but the two skeins of yarn I purchased weren't given any sale price and I didn't see any signs on particular yarns to know if I should have asked about it or not. I was also disappointed that no one could answer my questions about the cotton-soy blend. No one knew if there was a smell issue with the soy or not, I thought I had read somewhere about it possibly being smelly with body heat. Since I was planning to use the yarn for a couple more Scalloped Edge Beaded Necklaces as gifts, I didn't want 'smell' to be part of the gift.

Sunday morning Will mowed the lawns, Brandon got the veggies planted and I attacked the weeds in the flower beds in the back yard. Brandon too attacked the weeds and mistook my day lily as a weed. I'm now owed a day lily replacement. We just now need to get some bark dust for the flower beds after I decide what is staying and what is going. I suspect there are a number of things going or moving. The rosemary didn't fare well over the winter and it is gone.

Will and I met Luke and Jyneal over at Men's Warehouse for tux rentals. They are both dateless through no fault of their own except waiting too long to ask a girl who didn't already have a date. It does make it a cheaper event for them though. Will went with a red vest and tie and Luke with a navy vest and tie. They'll both look pretty snazzy. Prom is next Saturday at the Melody Ballroom downtown. Jyneal offered the boys the use of her car since they don't have dates, so they'll just have the joy of trying to find parking in that area.

Today and tomorrow I'm subbing at Evergreen Middle School as their In-school Suspension officer. Means I get to watch kids how got in trouble but not enough to have a parent come get them. I knew it was going to have the potential to be terribly boring so brought along a book and my sock. I did get a lot of work done on the sock as well as a lot of pages read in my book. I may even get the sock done tomorrow, so I'll have to be sure to bring my written instructions for kitchener stitch with me.

Tonight Brandon is going with Sean to finally see Ironman. Will and Luke went on Friday as part of a group. Luke went again on Saturday with his parents, and Will went again on Sunday with his dad. I have had absolutely no interest in seeing it, so frustrated Brandon. I told him I'm totally signed up for the new Indy movie later in the month though. I have a Grad Nite Party meeting - graduation is a month away!!! Plus Will wants a haircut before prom, so it's a busy evening all round. I'm even going to try to squeeze in a walk around the neighborhood with the dogs tonight if Brandon is up to it after the movie.

I forgot that I was supposed to have an author start at the beginning of the month. I tried adding her to the group last night and sending out a welcome post, but nothing else has been posted to the list. This is a popular author so I need to check in with her. I also still need to read a few dog books that have come in to be reviewed. Sigh. It interferes with knitting. ;^)

spindle envy

I want a new spindle. I want to make a new spindle of my own. I'd really like to do one on the lathe, Brandon thinks I could start out on his big one and decide if I want a smaller one. Grizzly has a small version in the $160 range.

I have also seen a lot of people using the stone donut kinds from bead stores. The one bead store I checked out that's close to home was sadly lacking in the kinds of beads I wanted. Won't be going back there.

Why all this envy? I'm not enjoying my big heavy, non-notched, Louet. The hook also sucks, but I could probably fix that with a tweak of the pliers. I think its inhibiting me from obtaining a finer consistent single. Until I have a second spindle to test this theory on, I'm not going to play with the sliver I got from Knit/Purl.

I don't want to do the toy versions and hand-paint. I want the pretty wood or glass/stone ones. Am I weird?

Which Alan Rickman character are you? & some knitting

How funny! Brandon answered the quiz and he is 'Colonel Brandon'

Which of the illustrious Alan Rickman's characters are you?

You are Colonel Brandon from the movie 'Sense and Sensibility'. You wear funny clothes 'cause you live in the Victorian times, but that doesn't stop you from looking sexy. You own a large estate, can ride horses, appreciate music, and your daughter is a big ho. You cool, man.
Take this quiz!








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Meh - me? I'm 'Baby Alan,' the younger version of the 'real' Alan.

I'm working on that long stretch of the instep before the toes. Okay, my foot isn't that long but those last two inches can seem to be forever. Then of course it will be on to the second sock.

Yesterday a box was delivered from Knit Picks. A couple sets of dpns in the Harmony line and two sets of samplers. The Renaissance and Victorian summer yarns. You get 6 skeins of yarn in each sampler plus 5 patterns designed to make use of said yarn. I must have been tempted by their patterns, or was thinking of it as a practical 'one skein wonder' deal. I'll get to try out some yarn, mostly cotton that won't start out as dish cloths. Hopefully I can find another use for the scraps other than dish cloths too. ;^) The box came rather quickly. I think within the 5 days.

The drawback to the box is that it will cause a longer queue and items near the top will be bumped lower....the evil temptations of yarn.....

If you enjoy tea...

You hopefully won't find these offensive. (Gakked from Lili Saintcrow)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNMdUAyHxuU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA

There are more by the looks of it. I'm all out of Earl Grey, so think I'll have some Chai....