Jimmy Kimmel slams knitting

I don't usually watch late night television, but happened to catch this. Was a bit shocked to have my hobby slammed. Thanks Jimmy. Won't be watching you again.

I had actually tuned in and watched a bit of that episode. It was interesting seeing the different wheels, ages, the techniques being used. I have spun from the grease and while I don't care for it, I thought it was cool they were trying to break a record.

Out & About & a Playdate

Wednesday morning Leeloo went to visit the ladies at spinning. She really liked Shelia and didn't seem to trigger any dog allergy symptoms. Leeloo also got to meet/see a baby, Hazel in a stroller while mom Rachel held Leeloo:

Robyn with her son (18 months old) Jonathan also said hi. Gail loved snuggling a puppy and I think if she could have gotten away with it would have taken her home. ;-)  Sara brought two year old Connor, but Connor scared Leeloo, so she didn't get close. 

Wednesdays are also knit night at Whole Foods, so a trip there was in order. I didn't plan to stay to knit, just a social visit. Sharon caught sight of Leeloo and was the first to get to hold her in the puppy passing. She has a puppy Toki that is a Chihuahua/Pekingese crossbreed. He's almost seven months old and we have a playdate with him on Friday (I get to pick up some lovely merino/tencel roving Sharon is holding for me.) From Sharon she went to Karen to be held followed by Duffy. Cindy looked on and did pet her too and deem her adorable. ;-) (Cindy wasn't the only one cooing over Leeloo's adorableness, all of them will have to be watched carefully not to try to sneak her home with themselves. VBG) I then zipped her up in my jacket with her head peaking out so I could bring home some Mushroom Barley soup and a mini-baguette for dinner. The guy at the cash register didn't say anything about not bringing her inside the store, just pointed out that there were dog treats outside the doors. Very nice! (Sorry no pics because I figured it would be too difficult.)

After leaving Whole Foods we stopped in at a new store called Pet Pros and found a couple of small stuffed toys for Leeloo and a stuffed parrot for Norbert. I also picked up a little purple harness for Leeloo to wear so I can have her on a leather show lead, or another light leash, this weekend. Then we went down to the JoAnn's to pick up some Rit dye for Brandon to dye his doublet and pants he made (yes, he did all his own sewing, including some by hand!) for Faire in the Grove. He plans to spend the weekend hanging out. Leeloo and I may make an appearance on Saturday, I've been invited to bring my spinning wheel (even though its not historically accurate) and demo. While at JoAnn's Leeloo got to meet a man with a mustache and goatee. On the way home there was a quick stop into Walgreen's where she got to meet a man with a mustache. 

Whew! Busy day/night meeting lots of new people of different size and shapes and facial hair. All important things for little puppies to do. There were no shopping carts around, so I'll have to try for those this weekend. ;-)

Since the weather said that today, Earth day, was supposed to be nice, I made plans with Tammy to have her bring Kim (teenager) and Lilly, the six month old Miniature Australian Shepard for a play date. I kept Norbert inside so that he didn't try to guard Leeloo. He was most upset about people coming to visit, plus another dog and not getting to interact with them.  He did get out for a few minutes when I went in to get water for the puppies and he did really well. He did a tiny little snark with Lilly because she wasn't letting him greet her properly, from there things were fine for him. Lilly was a little stressed and peed on Kim. Overall a very enjoyable afternoon talking about dogs and their behavior and watching two puppies have fun!

ETA: Forgot to mention that as Tammy, Kim and Lilly were heading home I saw a lady walking a tiny little Papillon, named Jazzy. So Leeloo and I went to meet another little dog. She wasn't a puppy, but still looked incredibly tiny. Probably about the size Leeloo may end up.

I have three videos, one a bit large that I'll link to if you'd like to see all the action and another small one, that really has more of Leeloo.

After eating some dinner, Leeloo has spent a very quiet evening sleeping. Looks like we'll have a busy next few days with fiber and puppy fun, so more pics and possibly videos coming soon!

Happy New Year!

Last night after Brandon and I picked up supplies for the evening - variety of cheeses (spreadable, gouda, feta, mozzarella), sausage log (had one already) and a sausage rope, couple different crackers and some pop. Luke brought his controller over so he was prepared and then it was preparation of the food stuffs. I cut up the sausage rope into bite sized sections and poured the second bottle of beer that Tammy had given me on top, but first I had a taste. Very good stuff and tasted awesome with the sausage. It simmers for a couple of hours on the burner. I then rinsed off the mozzarella balls and sprinkled some olive oil on top.

With my part done and orders for the boys to finish the preparations I headed over to Haggen's. It had been a couple of weeks since I'd been because of the snow and all. There was just Tiggywinkleknits, PersistentIllusion, KnitForJoy and Toolman. We caught up with looking at baby blankets for the charity, Bobbie had some preemie hats she made during MAX trips.

I picked up my prize from Judy's 'identify the tools' contest. Schaefer Yarns, Anne, Toni Morrison"
She was also working on a very cool Inca style hat for #1Son who is very lucky to be getting such a cool hat.

Just before it was time to head back home and for Cindy to head down to her evening job, Gail and Susan arrived. Susan had a couple of books she was giving away and one came home with me. Amazon has been recommending it to me, so looks like I'll be reading it some time soon. It's Fleece Navidad. (Apparently book #6 in the series and a test of the author that I will not have read the previous books.)

Here's a shot of all the great knitting books that I got as Christmas gifts, received all but one on my list so very thankful! It includes the Knit a Day Calendar too. I'd hoped for the 'Never Not Knitting' one but this has started out nice so far (I'd actually do the first project).


I did get some spinning in on Tuesday. I'm going to weigh the bobbins in their current state and see if they are close in weight before proceeding with the rest of my roving for this project. I should be able to take it with me on Sunday to ply. Both bobbins will have definitely had resting time after being spun and thus be ready for plying.

After a day at the Xbox360, I need some knitting time and I'm ready to knit again. ;^) I'm going to start on the Christmas 2009 Monthly KAL projects for January. Friday, there will be knitting with the Insomnia group, Saturday a trip down to Salem to visit with family and Sunday spinning with the Portland Spinnerati group at the Central Portland Library.

Monday William starts classes again for Winter term at PCC. Luke doesn't have classes again until the 14th at University of Idaho (yea they start classes in the middle of the week - how crazy?!). They'll try to get in as much visiting time as possible around schedules. We've missed not having Luke live with us most weekends. ;^) It's great to be a second mother without all the financial responsibilities. LOL.

Monday quickie

I have not been knitting since I finished my dad's fingerless gloves. He loved them too. My sister was happy to see her own pair of fingerless gloves. She had apparently 'borrowed' her husband's that I gave him last year because she loved how they kept her hands warm. Logan loved his hat and mittens too, so more happy knitting gift recipients.

I did some spinning Friday and Saturday and have more to do on the purple merino/tencel I picked up at Woodland Woolworks. I may be able to be plying for Wednesday knitting/spinning at Haggen's.

Sunday and today I've been out of commission from a right sided migraine. Mine are usually left sided. Might also explain the awful nausea that I woke up with.

I really need to do a couple of online classes tomorrow so I have my fingers crossed that I will be migraine free to get them done. Send healing thoughts my way please.

January knitting plans include a pair of socks and doing the mini ornaments that I didn't get done before Christmas. I can then store them away for next year. I have tentative plans for next year's gift giving and if I follow the plan, less stress will happen.

weeds, reading, knitting, school

So Brandon and I took advantage of the overcast skies this weekend to get some serious weeding done in the backyard. The previous days of such weather had caused an overgrowth in grass and other weeds since the last time through and areas that didn't get hit the first time were really lush with the pesky buggers.

One problem we also have is the hazelnut (filbert) orchard behind us. It has rampant blackberry vines trying to encroach upon our property and we have to keep hacking them back. We have maybe another year before this is no longer a problem and they start building monstrosities behind us in the forms of those two store housing developments they are fond of creating. (side note: must get better paying job so we can afford to buy a minimum of two acres with neighbors at least that far away.)

There's one section under one of the apple trees that did not receive some attention. It also is housing a HUGE rhubarb that Brandon says he needs to cut back. It's his plant to play with so I don't ask. I just make it into a pie with strawberries or raspberries. We also may have lost the apricot. It just has not done well in the two years that it has been in. We'll give it another year to see if it can rebound but don't have high hopes for it.

I let Brandon do what he's been wanting to do for the last six years, rip out the roses and not relocate them anywhere in the yard. I still have some roses, wild ones in the front yard. The ones in the back were in a bad place where I couldn't see them and so were neglected. Easier to just have him clean the area out and we'll figure out something else to do with that spot.

I finished another book, Embrace the Night, this weekend and started another that I've had in my 'to be read' pile for at least six months since it has a 2007 publishing date. I have a few coming from the library but hope to get some more reading in. Still need to read those pesky dog books - after school gets out.

Knitting - I made a new black scalloped choker necklace and this version came out perfectly following the directions. It helped that I had my uber bright light shining down over my shoulder to see all the stitches clearly. I worked on it while watching movies from the library - Catch & Release I think. I worked more on the fingerless gloves but have hit the stumbling block again with the pattern directions. I was watching Georgia Rule while working on those.

We watched Beowulf as a family Sunday night and the only project that I had going was my Peace of Mind shawl and I didn't want to worry about losing count of stitches with it.

I need to pick up some pink yarn tomorrow early, so I can try to whip out a Breast Cancer Awareness scarf I found on Ravelry. Think I can have it done either by Thursday or Friday night? I have a couple hours of possible knitting time for sure Wednesday night for the Track Banquet.

School - there's only 7.5 more days left. I'm not working on Friday, so that leaves me 6 working days left of the school year. I'm not sure I want to sub next year.

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.

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.....

Spinning class

Friday I worked at Hilhi, which was nice since I hadn't worked the rest of the week. Too many playground duty subs sent my way last week. I did let Will drive to Fred Meyers to pick up a prescription he'd been wanting to get, so he had some driving time.

I then rushed to a Drop Spindle class at The Knitting Bee. Some of you may be scratching your heads over that one since you know I've already taken such a class. Different instructor and since it's been a year, I was hoping to learn something new. Anita was great and it was a totally different class than I took from Trish. I learned so much and actually walked out with a lot more spun yarn from the class too. Awesome class and I highly recommend if you have a chance to learn from Anita.

Fun talking with Kelsey, who sat in on most of the class too. She was going through multiple rovings she had on hand during the class, beautiful colors too. I shared info on Knitting Daily and showed my stuff on Ravelry to her. This helped me find some Berroco Cotton Twist to use on a couple more Scalloped Edge Bead Necklaces and a choker.

I still want to make some of my own drop spindles. Brandon thinks I may be able to try on his big lathe before making the investment in a smaller one.

I still have some corriedale roving to spin up and then ply on the drop spindle. I hope to get that spun, then plied today. I want to make one of those shoebox lazy kates too. Not that I need it for the corriedale, but I will for the roving from Knit/Purl, the Blue Face Leicester Sliver.

I think it would also be cool to make some WPI wooden tools that I saw someone had made. I think I could do nicer ones though.

Arriving back home from class to find that the D&D game was going well.

Nessa, knitting, nothing much else

Okay, there was a little "n" thing going on in the title.

Nessa has been under the weather since last Tuesday. She stopped eating. This is the little girl who hasn't met a food she doesn't like, so this was a HUGE indicator that something was wrong with her. Noticed she was running a fever, found some homeopathic sulfur in the med cabinet and tried that with her. Thought I would give her a day or so to see if she would bounce back. Well Thursday she still wasn't eating and still running a fever. Brandon wanted me to see Dr. Ulbrich at Holistic Pet Vet Clinic over going to the local allopathic doctor. Since he is the main breadwinner, I went with his option. They unfortunately weren't able to get us in until Friday afternoon. She was running a temp of 104.7. No vomiting, was drinking water, and some diarrhea. Dr. U wanted to take blood and also took a fecal sample (tiny as it was). No parasites showed up in the sample, but her blood was dark and thick, showing that she was a little dehydrated.

While waiting for Will to finish his written test for his permit (finally), Dr. U called back saying that she had over 31,000 white blood cells running around (high average is 15) and that she is clearly fighting off some type of infection. Her thyroid and kidneys were also showing low so he wanted to get her an antibiotic and support for both of those. So after Will gets his permit we swing by HPVC to pick up the new supply of meds and head home. Do you know how much fun it is trying to get 12 different meds down a dog that doesn't want you to? Thankfully they had also given me a couple of syringes so that I could get the pedialyte and beef broth into and so they helped ease the way of the capsules and pills and powdered stuff.

Saturday I did get out of the house while the D&D game was going on. I met Camille at the Fairgrounds MAX stopped and we talked our way to Knit Purl for another night of inventory work. Another $20 on my gift card and I'm back up to $24. Camille splurged and bought some gorgeous (not just because I helped) Shibuiknits Silk Cloud - silk and mohair. She plans to make them into a shawl. I'm saving mine. I think though I have found what I'd like to get with the addition of another $20 - some Habu Textiles Bamboo lace weight. Two skeins of it and I'd be set for the Cleopatra shawl in my queue, plus some leftover for another project...

Just spent some time doing an added benefit for me in my queue - making sure that my notes all have the type of yarn and yardage needed. That way its an easy scan, not a 'must look up first'. Okay, it was a distraction because of looking for yarns and projects that could be supplemented with the Gemini birthday gift swap. But it's how I found the bamboo lace weight. I will hopefully work another shift of inventory at Knit-Purl to help buy it too. I can also then pick up what I've outlined for my giftee in Denmark.

I need to get started on a sock. That way I can participate in Blue Moon's Inexplicable Knitting Behavior contest. They call it a Scavenger Hunt, but it's not like we'll actually find items at the locations, we have to take photos of our sock at those locations.

My recent photos are here. Yarn and finished projects are in the April 2008 albums.

More on yarn and authors

It's amazing how you can get tongue tied when talking to someone in person that you admire. One of the things I meant to tell Lili when I gave her the herringbone cuff is that she kind of inspired me to explore the world of knitting. I think she had mentioned it a few times on her blog, she's had the cool yarn avatar on her blog too. So I tried out knitting again and it stuck. Brandon's happy about that too because he'd been wanting me to get into it for a while now.

So when I gave Lili the cuff she was noticing how it was created and we talked a bit about yarn. I told her about Yarnia, and she said that we'd have to try it out together sometime. Both our budgets allowing of course. ;^) The funny thing is there had been a conversation just before this about 'Narnia' so it was a little confusing to get wrapped around Yarnia.

Wonder if Lili has thought about getting signed up with Ravelry yet?

A bunch of local area Ravelry members will be headed to Knit-Purl Saturday evening to help with stocking. Their normal staff consist of a large number of college students who are going through finals and paper writing. They still need to add/shift stock around so decided to try this out as a method to get it done. Those who help out get reimbursed with a $10 gift certificate that can be used that night as well as pizza.

I'm either going to get some Jamieson of Shetland skeins (only $5 each on sale) or a combination of some rovings - they have a Blue Face Silver for $8.25 and some Habu Textiles Corriedale in purple and green tea that are $4.25. If I can swing it I'll get all three.