Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Warning: May cause random bitch slapping

I'm in a bit off a mood so here it is: my store site is going up..slowly. I have all the pictures done, but have realized I need more info like yarn weight and length. Work is horrible, I've typed so much I have had to resort to Motrin. A client of mine says..Oh I didn't need you to do all that! GRRR
and to top it all off I am not interested in seeing any one or crafting anything.

So lets talk about the good things that have been going on. I finished the socks, found a yellow shirt and wore them to work. I liked them and so did everyone else.
Saturday I spun with friends from 915 am till 600 pm. What a hoot! Thanks ladies I needed that.
In that day I got all the dyed silk spun up and plied. It only came to an oz but Hey it's silk. And it is pretty! I got another row done on my x mas shawl. That makes 4 (I think) and one more till the lace starts.
The horseshoe motif is so in!

Anyway the title is because of the mood, and a recent episode of House. That's about all the typing I can do so..
Toodles...(ouch!)

Thursday, July 20, 2006

What the... How did that get there?

Ok, so here I am at work and I make my blog statement for the day right? Only I can't seem to get it home cause we have this fire wall. So I find a cool way which is posting comments to my own blog. They go to my e mail address and the firewall passes it right thru.
Yeah, well the problem with that (I didn't notice till today) is that my comments show up on the blog, instead of going to my e mail in secret. Bummer, but I think if I don't sign in, then they will Just go to my e mail. Maybe...
Any way, here are the posts that were supposed to be up:

Ok, I saw this blog called the Heathen Housewife. She is asking for leftover sock yarn to complete her modular blanket. At first I said whoa cool, a place to send mine! Then I thought way cooler, something to do with mine! As I flipped around her blog she was talking about on line swapping. (No this is not some swinging couple thing.) and I said I always wanted to join one of those, but I don't have the deadline kind of mind. As I read on I found this magic ball idea and thought about doing it for a friend of mine, but she has enough yarn. Knitting mini socks came next, ya know back to the leftover sock yarn cause I don't have enough to do a big blanket either, then finally combining my desire to do charity work like preemie socks! Give me a year and I'll get right on it.
I need a case of crochet hooks..Don't look at me like that, I am not turning traitor, I need it because my finishing business is taking off again.
So now that we have established that I have extra sock yarn, lets talk about why. Right now I am knitting the second bon bon sock and I started with a 3 oz ball. I still probably have 1.5 oz left and I'm doing the secondsock's last round of gusset decreases. The reason is simple, I don't make long legs. I like short cuff socks, which leaves me with a lot of leftover yarn. So I have 3 balls of brownsheep wildfoote, 4 balls of Regina in autumn colors. One color was split up, I knitted my bed socks out of one ball, and my hubby machine knitted a pair out of the other ball. Maybe I will knit a hat. Or maybe take the fuzzy stuff and knit a cuff, and use a tame color to knit the rest. Decorative warm socks. Good for kids, good for X mas. Hhhmmmmm How cool is that?
One of the vendors I saw at Iowa sheep and wool is now a supporter for Cast-On the podcast! Wow talk about a small world! Rock on.

And the next one..

Why did I get married. To tell you the truth, I keep getting married for bad reasons. Not bad like addicted to crack bad, but not the most right ones. Now I will saw why I stay married. My second husband drives me to all my fiber events. A new yarn store in Iowa? Lets go a fiber festival in Missouri? No problem, need to go pick up a loom in Grand Island, I got the keys, another fiber show in Kansas is just a trip down the street. My husband listens to me drone about fiber and actually understands what I'm saying even tho he has no interest in it whatsoever. He will even buy it for me without complaining...much
I have spots on my skin from eczema, my husband just thinks it makes me look more like the cat he thinks I am. He still tells me I'm pretty and chases me around the house.
My husband can cook, and would rather I not. (he he!) He doesn't think there are such things as women's work which means he cleans and does his own laundry.
He has a great sense of humor, he enjoys highbrow and low brow jokes as well as PUNS! This means he's warped in the same way I am.
He is not afraid to say I'm sorry and admit when he's wrong, (tho they are not always the same thing.)
Some men are frightened by a women who can take care of herself, the kids and everything else, some men take advantage of women like that. My hubby doesn't need me to be dependent on him, and is not really dependent on me.

Love him, cause what else can you do?

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Rocky Road Yarn

Congratulate me! I've finally managed to create some Rocky road yarn. I used a medium brown corridale and a dark chocolate jacobs, and an oatmeal icelandic down tussah silk mix yarn to be the cable ply. It's kinda hairy and a little rough, and the plying is a loose. Next time I will make the first ply's tighter. I may use the alpaca/wool blend next time instead of just the corridale. Also to make the icelandic/silk be more thick and thin to imitate marshmallows.
On the rest of the news it's been HOT! upper 90's and over 100's for 2 weeks, and it's just been nice in the 80's this last few days.
I have been reading blogs and laughing my butt off..see the Yarnharlot's post, then read Panopticon and if you have time the stalker link in Stephs post is hilarious. Doesn't help I've been reading Terry Pratchet again.
The knitting has given way to the spinning. I've been spinning what I thought was green Ashland bay top and getting the Fiber festival set up. My new boy Prince has an ear infection so we had to go to the vet. Everybody got their shots and boy did I get a bill!
Fiscal year's end and Johns sweater are looming in the distance, As well as the guild's open meeting in sept, the State fair (which I am not entering this year.) my birthday (sept 2) lots of overtime and my first car payment.
Didn't I tell you about that? I got a 2006 VW Jetta 2.5 Yeah, how cool is that? then on top of that since they didn't have it on the let, they let me take a turbo bug home for a week. Performance VW out on 120th and Harrison. On top of that The salesman gave me the name of an insurance rep who did both our brand new vehicles for$ 100 a month when our old ins company wanted 200. I'm sure we could have done better but right now, we're happy...
What ? oh yeah, my husband got a 2006 Toyota Scion xa All in the same weekend. What's wrong with us?
I'll tell ya what Will be wrong with us... No Money!
Toodles!

Friday, July 14, 2006

I am in heck!

Phill the ruler of Heck is laughing at me now, can you hear it?(Dilbert ref.) Ok so the cardi from hell came back. I'm looking to flame it. Lets just say I'm glad I didn't sew down all the ends.The baby blanket and sweater both went back without a hitch. The real problem is more like I don't want to knit, I don't want to spin, and I don't want to do anything else. I have been having some luck reading, as long as it has nothing to do with the crafting stuff.
I carded up another batt of alpaca/wool, tried out some cotton angora and was not impressed with the spinning. I reorganized my books and wool storage area. (Holy freak! I have a lot of fiber.) I've been spinning some angora wool for a change but it's not getting me anywhere. The Ashland bay top is cool but it's top and kinda hurts my hands.
I finally cast on and knit the first row of the shawl, it's so tiny! I decided to knit the first 5 rows in garter stitch after all as a good edge. The 5 stitches on either side will be garter as well.
Today we finally got a new monitor. 17 inch LCD. It has 2 pixels out on the left hand side. It's barely noticeable. At least I'm not beating my monitor anymore to get the screen to realign. Also there is a lot more space on my desk(no really, stop that laughing , it's true!) tho it doesn't quite seem it...
Moving on! Still waiting for my fiber from Morning sun fiber barn, I sent them a Suffolk cross fleece at the show. If they do a good job and it doesn't cost much, I will send them my alpaca seconds, and my Columbia lamb fleece.
Well gotta go put out the flame on that cardi....

Monday, July 10, 2006

Get your head out of the wool!

And take some photos will you? What happened to the bouncy yarn, the sock photo all that you promised your faithfully readers? I saw you, finishing up that cardi and moving on to the baby afghan. Do you think they will wait for ever? Do you think they have forgotten? Well let me tell you.. They have NOT! They know you've got your head in the wool. There is the evidence..The bits of fleece on your pants, the full bobbins on your Ashford and the growing piles of washed alpaca in the basement. Nevermind the shrinking ball of Ashland Bay top that mysteriously made it's way upstairs.
I tell you fickle blogger you owe us photos Big time, and if you continue to ignore us...We will be forced to conspire with the camera against you. You've Been Warned!
The blog

Now usually I don't give in to those kind of things but when I saw the camera cord hooked to the camera and sitting on my keyboard, I figured that maybe it was time. So I give you photo's
unfortunately I found a note from the bouncy yarn. It left me for the black hole in the basement. I may find it yet and convince it to stay, but until then...

This will have to be it's replacement. The ball of yarn is destined to become that lace shawl. It's sitting on the pattern with the needles around it.
Yeah....And the cute sheep? That was a gift from some friends at my old job. Could you tell where my head was at?

Happy Birthday!

Today is my oldest daughters 13th birthday, who knew she would make it this far? At least we already knew she would be smart and pretty. Now I officially have 2 teens in my life. (Pray for me!)
Happy Birthday LaQuisha.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Shamelessly ripped off the Knitting Curmudgeon The ones in italics are answers we both have in common.

VF Proust Questionnaire

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Sitting on a back porch of my farmhouse, watching my animals, and family and knitting

2. What is your greatest fear?
Dying and finding out I was wrong about what really mattered in life.

3. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

4. Which living person do you most admire?
Stephanie pearl Mcphee

5. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Lack of courage

6. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Lack of desire to better themselves

7. What is your greatest extravagance?
Yarn, fiber

8. What is your favorite journey?
Life

9. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Godliness, especially the brand practiced by some so-called Christians.

10. On what occasion do you lie?
I don't like lying but I will skirt the truth

11. Which living person do you most despise?
George W. Bush

12. What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My eczma

13. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Oiy vey!

14. What is your greatest regret?
That my stepdad never lived long enough to know his grandchildren

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
I have had two great loves in my life, my first and second daughters.

16. When and where were you happiest?
This is divided, nursing my children, and spinning on my front porch early one spring morning.

17. Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to turn my dreams into reality.

18. What is your current state of mind?
Bored and frustrated, but sane.

19. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My eyesight

20. If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
That they would be truly happy.

21. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Stability

22. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it
would be?
I'd like to come back as myself, actually.

23. What is your most treasured possession?
My health: mental and physical

24. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
oppression

25. Where would you like to live?
In the country next to a stream surrounded by woods, backed by mountains

26. What is your most marked characteristic?
intelligence

27. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Open minded- ness

28. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Intelligence: life and academic

29. What do you most value in your friends?
Understanding

30. Who are your favorite writers?
Ann Mccaffery, Piers Anthony, Spider Robinson, Yarn Harlot

31. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Lessa from Dragonriders of Pern series

32. Who are your heroes in real life?
Any one who follows their dream

33. What is it that you most dislike?
Dishonesty and bigotry.

34. How would you like to die?
Peacefully, painlessly, without fear.

35. What is your motto?
Just because...doesn't mean.....