Monday, September 1, 2008

S is for Sorry

No, I'm not doing the ABC along, it just fits.   I'm sorry I haven't blogged for 2 months, I haven't even told you all I'm back from New Jersey safe and sound!  That doesn't bug me too much since you should all know by now I am a bad blogger and don't update nearly as often as I should.  
What makes me feel guilty is not thanking Criquette   for sending me a Pay it Forward (scroll down) package.  It felt just like Christmas!  


Clockwise from top: Calorimetry(see pic below) wonderful yarn, torquise(sp?) and pink and dark blue, very lovely and then such a cute cat button to top it off!  Three packets of water flavorings that I keep forgetting to try, even though I've been wondering if I would like them for awhile now.  A pretty bookmark about adopting cats and dogs.  A very cute keyring with two different sizes of paw prints in my favorite color, purple!  Already in use, just like the bookmark.  And a tin of mints with a girl knitting on the top with yarn balls all over, this will be perfect for holding stitch markers after the mints are all gone.  Where did you find them, Criquette?  I haven't seen them before.   

I received the package last Monday(I know it was a Monday, please don't tell me it was 2 weeks ago!) and figured I would make a thank you post real quick.  Yeah, I need to remember that I'm a bad blogger and that just isn't realistic for me.  After a few days I thought I should at least write a short email to Criquette to let her know it got here and that I loved it.   Then we decided to take a last minute trip out of state this weekend and I totally forgot about it.  I plan  (cross your fingers!) to tell you about our trip in another post.   Forgetting to thank Criquette isn't just bad blogging, it is bad  manners.  I'm so sorry Criquette! Thank you for all your time and effort, your choices are all perfect for me!
Only one person took me up on my offer to pay it forward, Ms. Knitingale.  She doesn't blog anymore, and I miss her!  I probably should apologize to her too, since it has been almost a year and I haven't even thought about what to make her.  I will try to get on that.  

Wish me luck,  knowing me, I'll need it!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

New Jersey Bound

Headed to New Jersey to see hubby's family so I thought I would make a quick post to get caught up.  
Charity afghan squares for the Dr Who group on Ravelry, profits to go to Doctors without Borders, made with scrap sock yarn.

Chain Chomp Hat (rav link), made for Danny (pictured).  Chain chomp is from the Mario video games, basically a big ball and chain with eyes and teeth that tries to eat you.  

My first hand spun yarn all dyed up!  Joined Karen at her guild dye day and had loads of fun!  Was a very poor blogger and forgot to take my camera.  I used acid wash dyes, but most of the ladies used natural dyes, I learned so much.  Met many great ladies, I will probably join that guild, I want to repeat the experience.  I only dyed 2 skeins, but wanted to show all the colors off, that is why there are so many pictures.





Guess who wanted to be in the pictures too?


New member of the family.  He is supposed to keep Zoey company, to bad Zoey is afraid of him. No, Dana, he name isn't Wash, but trust me, if he had been an orange cat, he would have been. As he isn't I let Techpriest name him.  So, of course, his name is Japanese.   Takun (Tock coon), from FLCL(fooly cooly) an anime show.   








I'm going to post an email hubby sent to his Dad, it is so true.


Zoey is opera.  When she is given food she looks at it and walks away.  She comes back to it later and eats it, just to be polite.  She sharpens her claws on the cardbox we gave her, she was not taught that, she just knew.  When we let her out she watches nature and when we call, she comes back in.

Takun, Tock for short, is heavy hetal.  When given food he eats it as fast as he can, growling the whole time.  He sharpens his claws on the furniture.  I am afraid when he is old enough to let out he will rob a liquor store.

While typing this I have my shirt off because it is a little warm in here.  Tock just jumped off another chair and landed on my back, dug in his claws and bit my head.

Faren had a dream that I wanted to take him back.  I told her it wasn't me, it was Zoey whispering in her ear while she was asleep.  "Send it back.  Send it back."

The last few days have been quite something, let me tell you!  Well, I'm going to go for now, I'll be back in a week, hopefully I'll have some new yarn porn to show you all.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

New Obsessions

I have been having a lot of fun lately.  Well, when my headaches haven't been too bad I've been having fun.  Monday Karen and I went to Lawrence to the Yarn Barn.  What should have been a 2 1/2 hr drive took about 4 hrs because of the weather.  Torrential downpours (and I do mean torrential) and nickel size hail made us wonder if we were going to make it to Lawrence.  We were actually lucky, not very far away from us there was baseball sized hail!  We stopped at Ottawa for an early lunch so hopefully the weather would pass on by. When we left the restaurant it looked like it had stopped, but after a couple of blocks the rain started again, worse than before!  Could not see a thing, so we stopped along main street till it finally cleared up.  We were only 20 miles from Lawrence and we were determined we were going to get there.  Karen had Christmas shopping to do, buying yarn for all her Christmas projects.  She bought a lot of yarn!  And don't you feel jealous she is already that far ahead?  

Me, I  was determined I was going to come home with a spinning wheel.  Tried all of them out, from the cheaper ones to the ones I knew I couldn't afford.  Majacrafts are nice!  I was really hoping though that the one that looked like the best match for me on paper would live up to my hopes of it.  At first it had a squeak I really didn't like, but oiled it up and it was a dream.  And they had the color I wanted.  I got home at 8:30, 12 hours after I left the house, I really over did it that day.  The headache told me so, specially the next day.  After I rested I had to put it together, with help from techpriest to pound in the legs, while I held them in place.  Started about 9:30, finished at 10:30.  Take a look at this beauty!


A Kromski Minstel, walnut finish.  Isn't she pretty? 


Single on the left, first finished plied yarn on MY wheel on right.  



I have been thinking about a name for her.  The first two I came up with were Kaylee from Firefly(same show where Zoey got her name) and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Well, it has to be from some Sci-Fi/Fantasy show, doesn't it?  Those are the two I identified with the most from those shows.  But right now I am also obsessed with Doctor Who (though that one isn't very new) so was wondering about picking a name from there.  Rose, Martha, Donna?  Though I love the Donna character, the name just doesn't seem to fit.  What do you guys think?  Which one would you pick?  Or do you have another name I should consider?  Ann liked Willow, but she hasn't heard about the others.  

My other new obsession is lace.  I am knitting Convertible (rav link) and it is so much fun.  It is my first lace project but it hasn't been too bad so far.  I will cross my fingers though.  The repeats are over 13 stiches and 12 rows, with ever even row purled.  

Zoey, of course, had to help take pictures.  Her tail is in the picture up above, and there she is below glaring at the camera.  Some of the closeups I had to take without flash because it was so bright.






The pattern calls for button holes on either side and uses cufflinks (buttons sewed together) to hold it closed.  That's great, but I knew I would loose those first chance I got.  That was holding me back from starting it, but looking through all the ravelry projects on it I found one that solved the problem I thought.  She had crocheted buttons for it with the same yarn.  I thought it was brilliant.  Almost invisible and you can do it as you go along.  Yeah, not quite.  She sewed them on after she finished knitting it.  Well, that doesn't mean I can't do it, right?  I found a pattern for them online, struggled with making two (it was quite a pain in the pattotie) when I realized I had forgot the buttonholes on the other side! Aggh!  But, in the meantime, the ladies at knit night at Yarns had given me a brilliant suggestion.  A bobble.  Why wouldn't a bobble work as a button?  So simple, so brilliant!   I would have never have thought of it!  So started over again and having lots of fun.  

Hopefully I'll talk to you again soon!












Saturday, April 12, 2008

Results

Well, not the results of all the lessons I was talking about last post, just two.

Ann and I had our spinning lesson today with Karen, and boy did we have fun. Of course, I was a bad blogger and forgot my camera. Don't feel to bad though, it wasn't just you guys I forgot. If you can believe it I actually forgot the roving! Good thing Ann remembered hers! They can't tell me my headache hasn't effected me, my short term memory is shot! Ann took pictures though and said she would email them to me. So, I'll wait till then for a full report of the day. But, once I got home I could take pictures of the results! Look, I made yarn!!!





Not to shabby!  Love that last picture too.  Oh, yeah, Karen had us start on spindles so we could get the hand motion down before we had to worry about using our feet too.  
Since I had the camera out, I took a picture of the results of my crochet classes too.  I think Mr.Tweety is pretty cute.  Here he is in his new home, my messy computer desk.




Monday, April 7, 2008

Lessons

Around here it has been lessons all the time, well, at all the time on the weekends anyway.  

I've now had two crochet lessons on Saturdays at Yarns.  Doing good, don't think I'll go back until(unless?) I have problems with a project.  Right now I'm working on this little birdy.   Finished all the crochet and am just sewing it together.  The only problems I have crocheting is making sure I'm using the right stitch.  I thought I was using single crochet when what I was doing was half double crochet.  Ah, well, it will come to me.  I'm having fun with it, but I can't really watch TV at the same time yet.  

On Sundays I have been teaching Karla how to knit.  Two lessons so far and she is  doing pretty well.  Her tension is mostly nice and even, not to loose, not to tight.  Though she did decide to redo her long tail cast on when she tried to knit a few! Her first project is a Mark scarf from the musical Rent.  It is really just the original Harry Potter scarf in navy and white.  I've had a lot of fun passing on the obsession! 

Next Saturday (I can't wait!) Ann and I are having our first spinning lesson!  Isn't that too cool? Remember the lady I met inline waiting for the Yarn Harlot?  Yeah, we are finally getting together.  I've been researching online and I think I know what most of the lingo is talking about.  Maidens, mother of all, footman, doesn't spinning have the coolest names for stuff? I have also been looking into wheels, I keep changing my mind but I've definitely narrowed it down to four.  Ashford Kiwi and Ashford Traveller are on the same page. Kromski Sonata and the original Lendrum.  Aren't they pretty?  First I wanted the Sonata, now I'm more leaning towards the Traveller.  I certainly won't buy any until I spin and I do want to go to the Yarn Barn in Lawrence and try some wheels out.  Hopefully the three of us can take a road trip up there soon.  

Last, but certainly not least, I will be teaching a couple of classes at Yarns.  That is just amazing, isn't it?  And just a little bit scary?  Yeah, I thought so too!  Carla(not Karla!) one of the owners will be teaching with me.  She will be doing knitting in the round with magic loop, I'll be doing it with double points.  Two small classes of just the basics and one on a Saturday on socks.  We are even going to the Italian restaurant two doors down for lunch.  I'm fairly excited about that too.

Well, I do have other stuff I want to share, but this is all the important stuff.  I've really enjoyed immersing myself in different fiber pursuits.  It's a wonderful world!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

More pictures than you can shake a stick at!

Hello, everybody!  Today's post is all about pictures.  There has been a lot of pictures I wanted to post so now their are all going in the same post before I forget about them.  

First up, pictures from the guys' birthday party.   Bryan  was the king and Nathan was the prince, but the little prince would not keep his crown on!!



Yummy cake, isn't it?


The ballpit now resides in Mom and Dad's living room, but I hear Nathan has discovered how fun it is to throw the balls out of the pit, so it might go away soon.  Miranda, I burnt a cd of the birthday pictures for you, hopefully tomorrow I'll drop them off at Moms, I keep forgetting!


Around Valentine's Day Yarns had a big sale so of course I had to help them out, but trust me, not as much as some people did!  It was on a Friday Knit Night, so I got home late and the bag of yarn didn't get any farther than the living room.   Well, at least I didn't take any farther than the living room.   The cat on the other hand......

This is what we woke up to, starting in the bedroom with two balls of yarn on a pile of clothes, leading into the kitchen....


where there is a big ol huge mess!  The door straight ahead in this shot is the bedroom door, see the yarn coming out the door?  Zoey must have ran in circles in the kitchen with the yarn! Then it heads out into the living room (door on the right).


You can see the yarn better in this picture.  There are two different yarns here, see the ball of sock yarn up there?


And in the living room she must have ran around the end table!  No, I didn't kill her.


Here are pictures of Zoey's scars.  
Scar from her hernia operation. 


I was trying to get a picture of both here, there is only about 1 inch of fur between the two.  You can kinda see the bald patch on her tummy, but she was NOT helping!


See?  Not helping at all!!!


This just might be the cutest picture of Nathan ever!  And there are a lot of cute pictures of Nathan, let me tell ya!  Miranda sent this in an email, it sure cheered me up!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Excuses, Excuses

Yeah, I did it! I figured it out on my own! Yay, me! Here ya go, my excuse for the month of December.

Hey Dana, sorry I just now am managing to write you back.   When I stopped commenting around the blogosphere was because my husband had some health problems.  Since I really don't feel like writing it all out again and I would probably never get you emailed, I'll just copy and paste what I wrote to another friend.
I want to tell you more about the week we have had dealing with DH's crazy lymph node.  He started feeling bad two Thursdays ago, went to the dr.  the next Monday.  He gave us a good antibiotic and told us to come back if he wasn't feeling better by Wed.  Well, he wasn't, so he had DH get a cat-scan.   Couldn't tell what it was from that so we got sent to a ear, nose and throat surgeon in Hutch that same day.   That dr. threw a bomb on us when he said it might be cancer, lymphoma.  To find out he had a biopsy done, just went in with a needle to take a piece out.  Then we had to wait till Friday to get the results, which were inconclusive anyway!  So Friday(same day) he had surgery, the dr. cut a piece out and sent it off to be tested while DH was still on the table.  All they could tell was that it wasn't an aggressive cancer.  So they did rule out the worst case scenario but still didn't know what it was.  The dr. went ahead and pulled the whole thing out and sent it off to be tested.  Went back today and the dr. walked in and told us it wasn't cancer and he was very surprised about it, he was pretty sure he would be sending us off for chemo.  But they tested it all kinds of ways and did not find any malignancies, still don't know WHAT it is, some kind of infection, so they took some more blood for another round of tests.  He is on the mend though, he has felt MUCH better since they took it out.

Since then we managed to handle Christmas, it was nice but more stress.  We have a hearing for my disability on Jan. 24th, so had a meeting with our lawyer about it.  He kinda pissed me off and depressed me at the same time.  Told us we weren't doing what we should have been (why didn't he say something two years ago when we first hired him?), and that chiropractors won't count at all, and they have done the most to help me! Anyway, since then I have been slightly depressed and when that happens I tend to isolate myself without really thinking about it, such as respoding to email or even reading blogs.   My bloglines are really up there.  Things are ok and will get better.  

Zoe just had surgery for her hernia and got fixed at the same time.  So, she was abandoned and has two big incisions!  she made us feel really guilty for about two days.  The stitches on her belly she left alone so that scar is healed.  But she just couldn't leave the hernia one alone until I put Fuller Farms Tea Tree Salve on her.  I knew it wouldn't hurt her, but she sure didn't like the taste!  That incision is getting better now too.  

Thanks for checking up on me, hopefully before too long I'll feel like posting something.  Hell, I might copy and paste this up to the blog just to throw something up there! 
Faren


Both Techpriest and Zoey are doing great, though you can still see both of their scars. We actually just mailed out the last two Christmas presents to family in New Jersey, they had been finished for awhile, but I couldn't seem to get them boxed up and mailed.  And no, I didn't take pictures of any of the Christmas presents I made. Or the birthday gifts I made in January.    To distract you from those non photos how about more photos of Nathan from my birthday party?

Karla and Nathan, and below, her son and the little tike!  February 18th is his 1st birthday! Already!  You guys are right, he has gotten big!

My excuse for January??   My disability hearing and the depression caused by anticipating it.  It turns out that since they can find no cause for my headaches, I can't get disability  because of it. Might be able to get disability because of the depression caused by constantly being in pain, but not for the pain itself.   Makes sense, don't it?  

Anyway, I decided to finally mark all my bloglines as "mark as read", cause I figured it would take forever to get caught up on over 800 of them.  Of course, I have read most of your guys blogs, plus the Yarn Harlot's and Crazy Aunt Purl's, but that is all the knitting blogs I've read.  I think I'll start weeding out some of the 150 feeds I have, so it isn't so overwhelming.  

later, gater

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Is Anybody Out There?

Hey, everyone, sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for so long.  Thanks to everyone who emailed or left a comment wondering where I was.  It means a lot.  Since I want to finish this post while I still feel like it I'm going to copy an email I sent to Dana.
Ok, apparently I can't paste it, smeggin' thing!  I switched over to a mac so blogger probably doesn't like it.   I'll try to post again soon with a pretty good excuse as to why I've been gone.  Well,  it at least is good for the month of December! 
Till then here are some Nathan pictures from my birthday in November.  

Nathan and his daddy, my big brother.

And Nathan and Grandma, my mom.