YarnEnvy

Add it to the Arsenal

2012-01-21T20:30:00.000-05:00

I've learned, through experience, that when creating (cooking, knitting, etc.) if one uses the best materials and the best tools for the job, both process and product will be more greatly appreciated. I've been cooking for a long time, and have amassed most of the tools I need, but have a few more items I'd like to add to the arsenal. Most of them are pots and pans to replace the set my parents gave me one year for my birthday when it seemed I'd be moving out soon and needed to collect some of the basics. They have obviously served me well if I'm still using them, but my skills have advanced quite a bit since then.

One of these items on my shopping list is a good dutch oven. I more often than not purchase whatever Cook's Illustrated recommends, and Le Creuset is the manufacturer of their favorite dutch oven, and the same one they use just about every other episode of America's Test Kitchen. The thing is, MSRP is $400. It goes for about $300 on Amazon or at Sur la Table. Last week I got an email from Sur la Table that they were marking down the Le Creuset, in stores only, so I took a look. Sure enough, the dutch oven of my dreams was on sale for just under $225. I bought that sucker and ran (otherwise I'd be late for the Knitting Guild meeting, but whatever).

When I finally get something special like this I try to make something in it that I couldn't have made before with the tools I had. Cook's Illustrated did a recipe for french onion soup a while back that required many hours in the oven and multiple reductions and deglazings, none of which my little non-stick dutch oven would have handled. Today was an icy day with nothing on the calendar, so I used it to tackle my first french onion soup.

Here are the four pounds of raw onions before popping them in the oven:

Remind me to buy some onion goggles. Ouch!

Here they are after a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes in the oven:

And this is after three or four deglazings:

Look at all that dark browny flavor!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture after adding the broth, etc. and before eating some, but since I don't have any soup bowls that will go under the broiler, it wasn't very fancy looking. Just picture some french onion soup, and you'll get the picture.

And....Yer OUT!

2011-12-31T14:42:00.004-05:00

One thing I've learned from watching HGTV is that you should do home improvement when you're planning on living there and can enjoy it; don't wait until you're trying to sell.

Another thing I have learned, I learned shortly after moving into my house, and that is: acrylic sinks don't take well to hot oil being poured in them. In fact, acrylic sinks don't hold up well to a lot of things, and I do a lot of things in my kitchen. I'm certain they're more than acceptable for those who use their sinks only to dump what's left of their day-old bottled water. But this guy was not in great shape when I moved in and he was fading fast. See this picture? How nasty it looks? That's clean. That's bleached thoroughly a week ago. Yuck!

So I removed it.

the underside: THIS SINK IS TOO THIN!

And, after scraping off the big blobs of caulk(???) from the counter (and a lot of other nastiness) I headed to the home improvement store to procure a new sink and faucet. All of the appliances are white, but I decided to go with stainless steel, due to its durability, and hoped that it would be a neutral and not matter.

As all home improvement projects do, it became a bigger hairier deal than I could have anticipated, and involved nearly every tool I own, but I can proudly say that I did NOT get silicone in my hair (although it got everywhere else), and the project is complete to my satisfaction*. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say all of my muscles from the knees up are tired and sore from reaching and posing under the sink, and my fingertips are tender from all the shenanigans required to install the clips that hold the sink to the counter. I'm resting now, in case you care.

I think the stainless looks fine, indeed a kitchen neutral, and I love having a small side and a gigantic side. And I'm certain they are of a greater volume than the old sink. I don't care if it's not really true, I choose to believe it. I also love that the spray hose is not tangled in the water supply hoses like the old one and I can pull it out more than a foot.

* If/when this sink comes out someone will wonder what the heck was going on with this, much as I wonder about the caulk glob and spray hose situations. However, I'm confident that this sink will outlast the counter and it won't matter anymore.

How to Show an Alpaca

2011-10-26T23:51:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was the KY Classic Alpaca Show, for which I had volunteered to spin some fiber as part of the show. Check a few posts back and you should find documentation of this, and my excitement.

Well, it was quite the experience. First of all, I suppose I really am a city girl (as if there were any doubt) because it did not once occur to me that the area we were given might not actually be "paved". The entire arena was dirt-floored. So I and my Fantasia settled into the dirt along with my purse and my chair, and we sat in the dirt all day. At least it seemed to be clean dirt, with no hay or poo or other things which would be worse to sit in all day.

Secondly, the alpacas sure were fun to watch. They were judged in age and color classes, and the little ones were so cute. Big ones were cute, too, but the little ones I just wanted to load in my car and take home with me.

Lastly, it was interesting to find that some alpaca farmers truly don't know how to sell their fleeces. Truly. It was explained to me by a farmer who brought her knitting over to sit and chat a while that many alpaca farms have barns full of fleeces from the dawn of time. Just sitting there. With no one to love them, or pay for them, or take them home to wash and spin and knit. My plan, and I think you'll join in with me, is to drive around the country, American Pickers-style, stopping wherever I see alpacas, looking for fleece someone's willing to part with for a reasonable sum of cash. I can see it now: picture me looking into the camera and whispering "I bet I can get $50 for that bag of fleece!" Cha-ching.

As for the spinning itself, well, it was challenging. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to straighten and fluff out the locks to get them ready to spin, and then it didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. I just have to keep telling myself that if I wanted even yarn, then I should have prepared the fiber more evenly. Good thing I like things "rustic". It's woolen-spun, and I believe that when it's plied it'll even out considerably. I sure hope so.

This is how much I can spin in about four hours, apparently.

2011-10-05T17:11:00.001-04:00

Last week Sadie and I went on our long-anticipated vacation. It was a smashing success, although we don't have a lot to show for it. Our only real objective was to relax and take regular naps, which we did. I did a lot of knitting, a little spinning, and a lot of watching HGTV, since I don't have it at home.


National Cemetery

We did have one day of sight-seeing, on which we toured the Mill Springs Battlefield and environs. We were staying on the road one takes to view the first eight stops on the driving tour, so I felt a little obligated to see what all the fuss was about. It was an interesting and moving day.

We started at the Visitors Center, next to the National Cemetery, where they have a museum and gift shop. My hosts had year-long passes available, so I took advantage while Sadie waited in the car. Then we walked over to the National Cemetery. It was a beautiful day, and a moving sight. The cemetery was established after the battle at Mill Creek, and many Civil War soldiers are buried there, but it is an active cemetery and many who have served our country since are there. I was moved but ok, until I saw this and wept:

If you can't read it, it says "Unknown US Soldier". There were many of these throughout the older section. We frequently give thanks to those who have given their lives for our country, but these men also gave up their names.

The next stop was the actual battlefield, which included a Confederate cemetery. A walking trail has been constructed that takes you around the field from Union to Confederate and back again, with informational signs along the way. Sadie and I enjoyed the walk, and it was amazing to be able to imagine what had happened here almost 150 years ago so vividly.


The mass grave of Confederate Soldiers killed at the Battle of Mill Creek

The monument to General Zollicoffer, whose body was leaned against an oak tree, now referred to as "The Zollie Tree", when he mistook the Union army for his own, told them to stop shooting at the Confederates, and was shot after his assistant verbally identified him. Or something like that; it depends on who you ask.

Headstones placed for the Confederate soldiers buried in the mass grave.

Tensioned Lazy Kate Plans

2011-09-21T21:24:00.000-04:00

Hey all! Last weekend I went to a fiber festival with "Tensioned Lazy Kate" on my list. Let me clarify: I wanted a tensioned lazy kate that didn't cost fifty dollars. None were to be had. Why so expensive?

I poked around the interwebs to find DIY solutions to my problem. I crafted a plan, and here it is for your benefit.

Disclaimer: I am not a woodworker. I do not have good tools. I do not have skills. This could be done with much more panache and skill with the right tools and skills. Much wood was splintered in the making of this tutorial.

Step one: buy some stuff.

1. A piece of wood. I got an 8"x11" oval made of oak. It was on clearance for $6. I could have gotten a cheaper piece of wood for $1.99, but the oak was heavier, and I thought that would help to anchor the kate better in use.
2. Four 6" hex bolts and nuts. I got 5/16" bolts, but I saw others on the webs use 1/4" bolts. I purchased them at Home Depot and they were about $3.50. If you use a hard enough wood, and don't plan on taking apart the pegs, you can skip the nuts.
3. A little eye. I already owned this. It would probably be under $.25 if I had to buy it.
4. A piece of linen or twine or cotton. I already owned this, and I bet you do too.
5. A wooden peg. I could only find packages of six, it was $1.50. If you live near me I'd be happy to sell you one of mine for a quarter. Otherwise, you're out of luck, you'll probably have to buy more than you need too. I got these at Hobby Lobby.
6. One thing that's not in the picture: a hair band or rubber band. I already owned this, and if you don't, I'll send you one.
Total: $11.00 (If I can sell the extra pegs, it'll only be $9.75 :) )

Step two: figure out where you want the holes.

I used a piece of paper and my spindles to space things out. The size and shape of your wood and what size your spindles are will affect where you want the posts to go. I traced the wood on a piece of paper, and set the spindles where I wanted them; then I pushed the bolts through the center and pushed down to make a mark on the paper. Then I used a similar technique to mark the wood with the paper. I suppose you could skip the paper and just mark the wood, but I wanted to be sure everything was even and did a little measuring and adjusting once I marked the paper.

Step three: Drill some holes.

I am not a good driller, so I drilled some little pilot holes before drilling the big holes. If you're worried about drilling all the way through the wood (and into your dining room table), you can put a rubber band around the drill bit at the depth you'd like to go.

For the four post holes, I first drilled deep holes slightly smaller than the bolts, or 5/16". Then I drilled shallow holes as big as the nuts (if you didn't get nuts, don't drill a hole for them). See?

This allowed for inserting the nuts flush, as well as leaving room for the bolts to go deeper.

Step four: Pound in the nuts.

Next I used a hammer to insert the nuts. I screwed them onto the bolts to use them as a "handle" to make it easier to get the nuts started into the wood, then I unscrewed the bolts and pounded the nuts in to be level with the face of the wood.

Here you can see a bolt/nut partly pounded in, two empty holes, and one nut that has been pounded in completely.

Once all of the nuts were inserted, I used a wrench to screw in the bolts all the way down through the deepest part of the holes. Naturally, if you didn't choose to use the nuts, just screw in the bolts.

Step five: drill more holes.

The next set of holes to drill I put between the two front posts. One was a small hole for the eye, and the other I drilled slightly smaller than the peg. Again, you can put these wherever you want, but be sure to leave room for your bobbins.

Once you screw in the eye, attach the rubber band or hair band, and tie the string to it.

In order to make the peg fit tightly, I drilled the hole slightly smaller, and sanded the peg down to fit. It was taking quite a bit of sanding, so I used the drill again, moving it around a little bit to widen the hole.

See? It fits now! The string goes from the eye to the rubber band, around the spindles, and to the peg. I can use as many or as few spindles as I want by adjusting how much string is wrapped around the peg.

Step six: finish the posts

After I was sure everything would go together right, I removed the bolts and used a hacksaw to remove the hex bolt heads, and sandpaper to smooth the edges. You could choose to leave them on, and they'd hold the bobbins on. But I don't actually plan on taking it apart that often, so I removed them so that I can take the bobbins on and off easily. If you opted for the nut-free version, you'll have to remove the heads.

The majority of the assembly took well under an hour. The most time was taken sanding the peg, and sawing the heads off the bolts. Both of these could have gone faster (and better) with better tools, like a dremel tool or the like.

I may in the future add a guide for the yarns coming off the kate; I'll put it in front of and between the eye and the peg, and probably use a large hook or eye.

And here it is in my spinning corner ready to ply something!

So! Excited!

2011-08-16T23:06:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness, so many exciting things are happening chez YarnEnvy in the near future.

First, Stitches Midwest is coming up, and that's always a good time. I've been looking forward to Stitches since sometime in May I think.

Secondly, I have scheduled a vacation for myself. Yes kids, Sadie and I are hitting the road. I am going to be away from work for an entire week, something I haven't done since I lived in Sioux Falls. I've rented a cottage near Lake Cumberland, KY and Sadie and I are going to relax, and then we're going to take a nap, and then we're going to relax some more. All I really want to do is sit quietly with no laundry or home improvement or lawn care nagging at me. And if I'm 200 miles away from the laundry and the house and the lawn, it will not bother me one iota. I promise. And since I'm just going to be in some quiet part of Kentucky, I won't feel obligated to sight-see or tour or Take In The Sights. None of it! The cottage does have WiFi, however, so I will not be disconnected from society or Netflix.

Here she is.

Finally, a strange turn of events. In my constant quest to take up as many hobbies as is humanly possible, I've been spinning lately, which you can see in some of my previous posts. Several of my friends spin, and they are part of a group that gets together at a local alpaca farm once a month and socializes and eats treats, and well, what's not to love, right? What I don't love is that it's on the same night of the week that I have May Festival Chorus rehearsal, and can't make it. Except this month, since it's summer, I was able to make it, and they twisted my arm on a trip to The Woolery on which I tagged along. So, there I am, spinning along on my drop spindle, perfectly content, when I hear the alpaca-farming host (a lovely lady named Linda, by the way) and my friend Lorain talking about an event for which they have 23 fleeces donated and only 8 volunteer spinners, and What Are They To Do? And of course, I happened to be free the day of the event and a fundamentally helpful person, so I volunteer to spin one of the fleeces. Lorain and Linda assure me this is within the scope of my skills, and Lorain is going to lend me one of her wheels, and really, how much more fun could one person have? Nevermind that I have only spun about four different fibers in my life, and certainly have done absolutely zip-o fiber prep.

So, here she is, laying out on my dining room table:

It is my responsibility to get this ready to spin by some weekend in October. So far, I have laid it out, looked at it, smelled it, picked out some extra stuff, and looked at it some more. I don't know what it weighs or anything. It was free. And when I dumped it out on the table, in the bottom of the bag was a commercially-spun skein of 200 yards of matching alpaca, presumably from the farm that made the donation (it's in the center of the picture, with a card tied to it). How cool is that? It's like I'm getting paid to ruin their product. Egads.

So. why am I so excited for this, when I never had any desire what-so-ever to even look at a fleece before? I think it's because the things holding me back don't apply here. 1. I'm not investing any money, only time, and I'm (clearly) not afraid of failure. I am, however, afraid of wasting money. 2. I'm not having to pick out a fleece myself, a prospect I know little of. The pressure is off. If the fleece sucks, it's not my fault. 3. I'm assured by the lovely Lorain and Linda that I don't need any fancy equipment to deal with this stuff, and I'm inclined to believe them. I did use Sadie's brush (which is glad to be getting some good use, frankly) to flick card a little bit of it and draft it into a wee bit of roving. Dirt was flying, and a good cleaning is in order before proceeding, for sure. But it's definitely do-able. And 4. I have the time and am committed. I can use my vacation to prep the fiber, and I'll be showing up and spinning my little heart out for at least one day, possibly two. This ensures that this poor little fleece will NOT live in my basement neglected until the day I die and all hobby-related activity ceases. (Which may or may not be the fate of a lot of things.)

Whew. So there it is. So much excitement. (Too bad it involves so much dirt. Those alpacas sure do like to get dirty!)

Spinning Progress

2011-07-09T20:03:00.000-04:00

Here we see a full four ounces of two-ply Romney/Alpaca blend, spun by me. Neat, huh?

And here it is after a little skeining and washing. Left is with a flash, and right is without.

And this is the next project, laid out to show the color repeat, again with and without flash.

And divided into four strips, two wound green first, and two wound magenta first.

I'm excited to start this project, since it's where I should have started in the first place. This is Blue-Faced Leicester, which is a better starter fiber than anything I've spun before. I look forward to seeing if it comes easily after all the other spinning I've done, or if there are still gaps and skills I need to practice.

Summer of the Screen Porch

2011-07-02T14:44:00.000-04:00

If I knew how delightful this would be I might have moved a little sooner on this.

It took a little trial and error and I don't profess to be a great seamstress, but I'm serviceable, and I think this'll do.

Don't you want to come over and enjoy a cold beverage with me?

Ta Da! And now for my next trick...

2011-06-25T20:17:00.001-04:00

Look! I got the couch done, including a replacement cushion. I am a rock star. Don't you want to hang out with me, knowing that I might invite you over to sit on my couch on my porch?

Finally....Sewing Some Cushions

2011-06-20T22:19:00.001-04:00

Last summer I bought a used set of furniture for my back porch, needing only a new set of cushion covers. I purchased the fabric nearly immediately, but it's been sitting in my house ever since. I'm finally getting around to sewing them.

Here's a big pile of bias tape:

Which turned into a big pile of piping:

Part of which turned into this:

One cushion complete. Not my best work, but I'm certain the rest will go more smoothly (I really do prefer to work with directions and this is why). It's certainly better than the mildewed and torn cover it had before.

(It seems on my computer that the resolution of these pictures is not so good. They were taken with my cell phone, so no surprises. But I will try to do better in the future.)

Peonies in My Front Yard

2011-05-19T17:20:00.001-04:00

Still Life with Dog and Laundry

2011-05-17T08:05:00.001-04:00

Reston, VA: We Have Lots of Big Trees

2011-05-09T23:33:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and I left work Friday at noon with great haste and determination to visit Gwen in Reston, VA, so that we could attend. I must say it was the most nearly-perfect weekend I think I've ever had. Travel was uneventful, weather was beautiful, and who could beat the company?

At the festival, I found one thing I was looking for:

A larger spindle

One thing I was probably going to find:

More fiber

And one thing I didn't know if I would find or not:

Yarn (from Davidson Farms)

Look at all the people and their cars!

And I got a lot of knitting done, too. This is the Helen's Lace shawl. I am almost half done with it.

Recently, Gwen took a trip to Japan (came back a little earthquaked out) and brought me some Japanese knitting books! They're really cool, and I can't wait to see if I can still figure them out, since they're in Japanese and all. I took a class last year at Stitches, but haven't practiced my skill since then, so I expect it to be a little rusty.

When we weren't wandering the fairgrounds we were sitting on the couch watching movies. So like I said: a nearly-perfect weekend. It was very relaxing, which really hit the spot after a busy and stressful week. Thanks again to Gwen for being a great hostess. I highly recommend her guest bedroom.

Some Real Decor...Finally

2011-04-28T22:20:00.000-04:00

Before: Random stuff that ended up on the mantle in no particular order.

After: A beautiful print that incorporates the colors in the fireplace, walls, and my chosen accent color (red). You can't see this, but the frame coordinates with the inlay in the floor.

Quite an improvement, don't you think?

Easter Road Trip 2011

2011-04-25T23:21:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter everybody!

From my lovely neighbors: a ginormous Easter basket

How was your Easter? Mine was pretty great. We always get Good Friday off from work, so Sadie and I hit the road and didn't stop until we heard the storm sirens in Jefferson City, MO. And really, we didn't even stop then, we kept going a little bit farther until we really stopped for good at Candice's house, where we promptly headed for the safety of the basement. How exciting!

Unfortunately, I am a dork, and even with my new blog-from-phone capabilities, I did not remember to take any pictures of my darling nieces-in-love (or anything/anyone else for that matter). But I will always remember the hugs they gave me at Easter service Sharing of the Peace (best Peace EVER), and the great times we had. Sadie, on the other hand, might rather forget. She was so so tired. But a good girl for the most part. She didn't even whine when little baby Joe grabbed the fur on her face as only a little baby can. Some dogs would not be so generous, and baby Joe would be scarred for life both figuratively and literally.

Ok. So, now it can stop raining, ok? Please? Somebody turn off the shower!

I'm Packin'

2011-04-21T22:20:00.000-04:00

Usually, I wouldn't be excited to be packing. But today I am. I get to use my new Ultralight Packers. I think the worst part of travel is how disorganized all your stuff gets, and I do love me some organization. They are very highly rated on the L.L. Bean site, and I'm anxious to see what all the fuss is about.

I also have a new set of Baggu bags from Nipperknits! It was like old times, winning a drawing on someone else's blog. And Jenn is an old bloggy friend of mine (she sent me some yarn to get me through a random shortage once). She's become a force in knitwear design, and it's been fun to watch her career grow. Thanks Jenn!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

2011-04-20T13:28:00.000-04:00

Possibly an old and tired blog title, but who cares? If you're actually visiting my blog, as opposed to reading it in an RSS reader, you might have noticed a few changes. Ha!

It was certainly time for a new look, and and I went back and forth between Blogger and WordPress and self-hosting, and came down with Blogger again, since it's free, and it's free to edit your code, too, unlike WordPress.com. I still have a few things to add in the sidebar, but for the most part, this is what you get. It's not exactly what I wanted, but because my HTML and CSS coding is meager, I'm going to live with it. However, I'd accept free help if you have it to offer. :)

So my blog has moved out of 2005 (does anyone else remember frappr?). I wonder what the next set of changes will be?

First Annual CTSKG Yarn Crawl

2011-04-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the first annual Cincinnati Yarn Crawl organized by the Cincinnati Tri-State Knitting Guild. What a day! We made it to all seven local shops, and everyone had a great time. By the end of the day there weren't very many of us left, and those of us remaining were exhausted. In the future we will certainly be mixing up the starting places, and we may break it up into two days.

All of the shops we visited were very welcoming and gracious. It really made for a wonderful day, and we are lucky to have such a great selection of LYSs in Cincinnati. Of course, I forgot to take pictures at every single shop, so I have nothing to share, except shots of the yarn I purchased. It's Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in the colorway "Robot Overlords" (what is going on over a Lorna's these days?!? Another colorway favorite was "Zombie BBQ". What does that even mean???) I honestly don't know why I bother to take pictures any more. It never does the yarn justice, especially where reds are concerned.

Anyway, the shop sample of the pattern caught my eye, and I just had to have it; and it turned out the pattern was on the ball band. Funny I've gone this long without knowing about the label pattern for Helen's Lace, when I've certainly known of Helen's Lace for many years.

I can also now say with certainty that I made every effort to buy the Jordana Paige bag I want locally. But no one had it in the color I wanted. I have nothing to do but order it on line. L.J. Kaelms

But it's Not May Day

2011-04-10T21:41:00.006-04:00

Look what I found on my front doorstep when I arrived home this evening:

It's the smallest little bouquet in a cut-off Solo cup full of water. It looks like some of the flowers around the edge didn't take well to being cut off and have closed, but it's still a lovely little thing. The stems are wrapped in a red ribbon, and it seems a professional job to me; the pictures don't do it justice. No indication was given of the donor of this item, but it was probably my lovely and considerate neighbors.

I know that lately my blogging has been sparse. 140 characters at a time is so much more efficient. So much of the knitting news is shared via Ravelry, and progress posts have lost their charm. Nobody cares what I think of the latest Interweave, and I've forgotten when Flash Your Stash Day is. However, changes may be afoot to breathe some life into the old blog. Of course, it has to jockey for position with all of my other interests and responsibilities, so don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, here's some puppy knitting cuteness to tide you over:

That Was Close

2011-01-30T18:38:00.003-05:00

This morning I was hanging out on Ravelry and matching up patterns to my stashed yarns. I was double-checking something I had paired up earlier, and looked at this pattern:

Wicked

Much to my surprise, the Ravelry page, which previously allowed for buying and downloading the pattern, said "Note: No longer available."

What? How could that be?

I actually felt physically nervous that I might not be able to get this pattern any more. Apparently I wanted to make it more than I knew. A serious Google-hunt ensued.

Thankfully I was able to find it available on the designer's website. But lesson learned: just because a pattern is available digitally doesn't mean it will always be available. If it's a pattern you really want, don't wait.

It's Baa-ack...

2010-09-25T21:47:00.004-04:00

At Stitches Midwest I had an eye open for a new spindle (the old spindle), but they weren't as available as in past years. However, many many were to be had at A Wool Gathering.

Introducing my new spindle:

I know it's a Greensleeves, I think it's a Fox, and I don't know what the woods are. But I know they're beautiful, and have a sort of iridescence. The two following pictures are different by a quarter turn.

And here's some merino I purchased with which to practice. One ounce on the spindle, one ounce remaining. I also purchased four ounces of another fiber (Romney and Alpaca) in a color called "Tiger Eye" which I love, and hope to do it justice when I spin it.

So far, it's going all right. It was kind of like riding a bike; it came back to me quickly. Now I'm working on my technique; I have a tendency to grip the fiber too tightly and it bunches up instead of drafting smoothly all the way to the end.

I'm really longing for a wheel, but they are terribly expensive, even used, so I'm hoping that, like last time, this works its way out of my system quickly. I might have a tendency to get really excited about new things when the rest of my life is stressful. Things have not been going smoothly lately, but they will even out soon, I'm sure.

Stitches Midwest 2010

2010-08-28T18:00:00.003-04:00

Well, there's not much to share from this year. I am totally overwhelmed by all the yarn in the stash, most of which does have a destined project. I am also no longer feeling the need to take advantage of close-outs and sales. There will be more close-outs and sales in the future.

So, without further ado, here's the take:

Clockwise, from upper left: One skein Madeline Tosh Merino Light, one skein gray alpaca from Pajolo Alpacas (my Minnesota Alpaca farm friends), six skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery Wonderfully Wooly (for Norah Gaughan's Tweedy Aran Cardigan), and a Japanese knitting pattern book and the folder of patterns and info I got from the Japanese knitting pattern class I took. Technically, I got the book at a nearby Japanese bookstore, and not at Stitches proper, but whatever. The good Japanese books were all gone at the Market by the time I knew what I was looking for.

So, as you can see, it's probably the smallest take since years past when I didn't have much of a budget. But these days I end up going to a lot more fiber festivals and events, so I have to spread out my purchases, or I'll be drowning in fiber.

Gotta get knitting!

Summer 2010

2010-07-24T16:41:00.006-04:00

Apparently I'm going to be blogging on a quarterly basis. ;)

This summer, so far, has been a little too exciting, particularly the past two weeks, which have been crazy crazy. But I'll start at the beginning.

1. Couch-to-5K. June 7th I lost my mind and started a running program. It was a tenuous commitment at first, due to my history of exercise-induced asthma. But it seemed like it might be worth a try. And it was. I'm now in week 7 (of 9) and am able to run for 25 minutes straight, even in my hilly neighborhood. Beware flying pigs, and I'm certain global warming will be a thing of the past now that hell is freezing over.

2. Cincinnati Tri-State Knitting Guild. One of the things I really miss about St. Louis is the knitting guild. As far as I can see, there is no reason Cincinnati shouldn't have one, and I finally found some like-minded minions to help me make one. We (The Board, I being President) have been meeting for a few months now, and July 10th was the first general membership meeting. So. Much. Excitement! About 20 people came, reviews have been good, and the next one will be even better. I'm still pinching myself that it could actually be happening, and I have something to do with it. I am forever indebted to the women who have been helping me. Their commitment and enthusiasm have been as in a dream come true.

3. Immediately after the first meeting of the guild, I hit the road and headed to parts more gulf-y. I had the great fortune to be of flexible schedule, and to have a best friend likewise equipped, and we were able to get tickets to the Jimmy Buffett benefit concert for the Gulf. The beach was lovely (no oil in sight), the concert was a joy, and spending time with Candice and John without dogs or children was so relaxing.

4. As I was unpacking my car from the trip, my neighbor came over and told me that mere hours before, the neighborhood had resembled Venice, only faster, and I had possibly sustained considerable flash flood damage to my patio. The patio that has been a source of worry and work since two weeks after I moved in. The patio that I had just finished fixing mere weeks before (see previous post).

Here is an area under the deck, which used to be filled in with dirt up to the level of the concrete. The feathery stuff is holly bush roots that have been completely cleaned of dirt.

This is the patio. Covered in several inches of dirt and mulch.

Here you can see what was the river bed.

And the rest of the riverbed. In the distance you can see where my patio landed.

I cried. It just broke my heart after all that hard work. I had just cleared out a bunch of overgrown stuff and started some wildflower seeds the week before. It was all coming together, and now it's all apart again. But I had a dry basement, so I am trying to count my blessings. The damage to my property was mostly cosmetic; others weren't so lucky.

5. The mess was Tuesday, and my parents and sister were coming to visit for the first time on Friday, so I just lost all desire to mow or do any basic lawn maintenance and focused on the inside of the house. They had safe travels and enjoyed visiting and seeing the city. This was last weekend, and we filled it to the gills and had a good time. Even I got to see things in the city that I hadn't seen before. They headed home Monday morning.

I'm still recovering from this whirlwind. Today my darling neighbors not only mowed my entire yard for me, but also helped me to retrieve the displaced patio parts strewn across the property, and insisted on helping when I clean up the rest of the mess. I now have a wheelbarrow full of dirt and gravel and grass. But it's just too hot to work on cleaning off the patio, and I just don't care enough either. I'm going to have to work up some determination before that can happen. I've got plenty of better things to do. Like run a knitting guild.

Happy Housiversary

2010-05-31T20:47:00.004-04:00

One year ago this past Friday I closed on my house. I can't believe it's been a year. But sometimes it feels like forever. I can't believe I spent so much time living somewhere other than here.

In house news, I have finished repairing the patio.

This picture is before I bought three more bags of gravel and really filled it in, but you get the idea. You can't tell there was a five-foot hole here last July. Hurrah. It feels really good to have that done.

And I got some more porch furniture:

The cushions need to be re-covered, and one of them isn't the right size, but it was a good deal, and I snatched it up. So now if you come to my house you don't have to bring your own camp chair anymore. :)

More Patio Pictures

2010-05-08T20:05:00.003-04:00

Around 2:00 it looked like this and I had to go get some more sand.

Almost done. Just need to find some matching gravel to fill in around the stones. Trim the landscaping fabric. Maybe plant something behind the wall in the replaced dirt. And find a way to make the large extra slab on the left into a bench.

Irony: the arbor vitae that fell in the hole is dead.

Just Pictures: Fixing the Patio

2010-05-06T12:27:00.002-04:00

2010-04-10T20:13:00.002-04:00

It was an exciting day for me. Let me itemize for you:

1. My neighbor stopped over on the way to the neighborhood trash cleanup and mentioned how nice my new plants under the deck look, and what a good job she thinks I'm doing taking care of the place. That was a nice thing to say.

2. I cleaned out the gutters and replaced an elbow in a gutter that had blown off. This involved climbing out two windows and walking around on my roof, both of which are new to me. "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" was true for me today. Literally. I don't know what that song is really about (and I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure it out, but I came in through the bathroom window.

2. I was putting down mulch in the front yard when the postman stopped by; this was the first time I'd met him. He was very nice, and mentioned how much he appreciated the new mailbox. We chatted about the old box for a moment and then he said that I was one of his favorite people. Of course, this seemed ridiculous having just met me, but it made my day anyway. Then I got to thinking about what someone could tell about me from my mail. I returned my census survey. I knit. I support Minnesota Public Radio and Cincinnati Public Radio. I have a dog and love animals (Bark magazine and Humane Society mail). I get mail from the symphony and opera. I like to cook (Cooks Illustrated and Imbibe). I take care of my house (Angie's List, This Old House and The Family Handyman magazines) Catalogs include Gardener's Supply, Sur la Table, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn. I think I seem like a great person. :)

My House is a Magic House

2010-04-10T18:38:00.004-04:00

A month ago my house looked about like it did in my Christmas card: gray and barren. Blech.

Today, things are happening all over, like nothing I've ever seen.

This clematis vine was pretty scraggly and having a hard time of it last year. I had cut the dead bits out, and what was left was a foot or two tall, and pretty sad looking. Here it is today: ready to bloom and reaching for the sky.

This is the peony, a plant that resembles an alien plant during many phases of its life-cycle. A few weeks ago this was barely a few purple buds peeking out of the mulch.

And this is the lovely magnolia. So pretty!

In the back things have been popping up, too. This is a little hosta I thought was a goner never to be seen again when it was run over by a backhoe. Guess not.

And these are tulips and daffodils. Who knew?

I am a notorious plant-killer and I didn't grow up with perennials around, so this seems like a magic miracle to me. That a plant can grow noticeably from day to day is a wondrous wondrous thing.

Aran Bag

2010-03-28T21:15:00.003-04:00

I do still knit, and this is a just-finished knitting project, although the knitting was done this past Christmas. I've just been putting off finishing the lining.

I was undecided about whether to just line the bottom, or to line the flap, too. I wanted the stability, but it involved making a button hole to line up with the wacky knitted buttonhole. In the end, I obviously decided to tackle the buttonhole. I used the fancy auto-buttonhole feature on my sewing machine. It worked pretty slickly. The sewing of the lining isn't my best work, but it'll do.

Ps. I still couldn't be more thrilled with my table and chairs. I only wish the weather had been a little nicer today that I could have enjoyed it more. Although, truth be told, I enjoy just looking at it through the window more than one might expect.

I Lived to Tell the Tale, and So Did They

2010-03-27T15:11:00.003-04:00

Look everyone!

My first Craigslist purchase*:

A slightly worse-for-wear table and four chairs. Isn't it cute? The top is slightly warped and cracked, but who cares? It was cheap.

I think it fits just great on my back porch. Not too big, not too small.

Getting it into my car was a puzzle I don't want to have to solve again. "new car (with hatchback)" is moving up the priority list quickly.

*Do not bother commenting if the Peace Lily shouldn't be left outside like that. I don't care. I just put it there for the picture, and it's back in the kitchen window now.

Emerging from Hibernation -or- Spring Has Sprung!

2010-03-20T19:21:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone! The snow has melted and I have rejoined the living. I hunkered down for a few weeks during the olympics, and by the end I had had enough snow and cold weather. Thankfully, it was nearly over.

So, with a new lease on life I attacked the house in a fit of Spring Cleaning. Last weekend not only did I rotate the area rugs and clean the floors beneath, but I also installed insulation in my attic. Let me tell you, that encapsulated fiberglass batt is the best! I didn't have a single itch after three hours of wrestling with giant rolls of pink cotton candy. Needless to say, I have no pictures of the Before and After. When I was done, I was not going back up there for as long as I'm able.

I did however take a picture of another project from last weekend. I present my new porch swing:

I had never actually sat on a porch swing before, but now I can say: I Love It!

This weekend, on top of some weeding (already, the dandelions!) I installed a new mailbox.

Old: small and rusty. Anything larger than a standard business envelope wouldn't fit, and magazines kept it from shutting.

New: big and shiny.

It will no longer be obvious from the street when I haven't gotten home yet by the open mailbox, magazines and bills spilling forth. My postal carrier will be thrilled, I'm sure.

Please disregard the white shmutz where the old mailbox used to be. It is insect stuff, and I'm hopeful it will go away without any help from me. Yuck.

I did do some Olympic knitting, and finished a sweater and a hat, but don't have good pictures to share. If anyone cared about the Knitting Blog Ring anymore I'd be kicked out for sure. But rest assured that I am still knitting. I am also very close to starting a Cincinnati Knitting Guild. I actually found some other people interested in such a thing, and wheels are moving. I plan to give it a push and get the heck out of the way. Either wish me luck, or shoot me now.

Oh the germs, germs Germs GERMS! -and- a cockamamie plan

2010-01-23T17:33:00.004-05:00

About a week after my last post I contracted a cold, spent Christmas break on the couch, started feeling better, visited Candice over the New Year, and then promptly developed a sinus infection and spent even MORE time in bed. My birthday had to be postponed for at least a week. Last week was a May Festival concert, which was taxing, and not conducive to recovery, and I didn't even sing in most of it, but it's really my job to stand there and look cute, right? Right.

This is the first weekend I've felt like I have energy to do basic things like laundry and sweeping, and blogging and etc. and so I have a story for you:

Last weekend the light burned out in the ceiling fan in my second bedroom. Mid-week I decided to tackle the situation, but found it was nearly impossible to get into. Much research on the interwebs and at Lowe's later, I was at my wits end and talking to my parents. It came down to a need to twist a nearly flat piece of glass counter-clockwise and I just couldn't get it to budge. Dad suggested suction cups first, then duct tape. Dad also maintained nearly until the end that I probably wasn't doing it right (although not in so many words). Mom suggested 3M Command strips, which I liked because I knew they stick really well to my walls, but come off equally well. It turned out that the strips didn't work because the hooks they connect to wouldn't stick well to the curved glass.

The next suggestion I was going to try was hot glue, the theory being that it could be re-melted to remove it if necessary. But what to hot glue to the glass? A hook? A handle? How about some Yoplait yogurt cups.

Looks good, right? It'll be the next trend in home decor, I promise. Yes, I did think for a moment "What if they won't come off?", and that's when I took the picture.

And you know what? It worked swimmingly. The globe came off nearly immediately, and the yogurt cups (and glue!) just popped off without leaving a mark. Then, miracle of miracles, I had purchased the correct specialty halogen lightbulb.

Another home maintenance challenge met.

Continuing to Deck the Halls

2009-12-15T11:12:00.006-05:00

This is the wreath I made last week for my front door. I think it looks great, but the lack of light on and around my front door means that probably no one has noticed it. Oh well. At least I'm trying.

Home Improvement Adventures

2009-12-02T20:18:00.004-05:00

How can something so simple make me so happy?

It's a new threshold, and I installed it myself. The old one didn't fit right, and rocked back and forth, and holes were worn through the gasket. Under the old threshold I found layers of old what-we-assume-is-insulation and caulk and general junk. I scraped it all out, drilled holes for anchors in the cement, and securely fastened a shiny new aluminum threshold. And The DOOR STILL CLOSES! The bottom of the door isn't level (but is better since removing a superflous wedge from the bottom), but a new door sweep will fit snugly against the new threshold, and bada-bing-bada-boom! Insulated non-ugly door! Hooray!

And in other home news, I have started decking the halls. Fun!

My House is Warm, and So Am I

2009-11-29T11:51:00.007-05:00

Hey all. Long time no read. Since my last post I had my long-awaited housewarming party, and it was lovely. It was in the middle of November, but it was still a warm day and as usual, everyone gravitated out to the furniture-less back porch.

Since I haven't shared any pictures of the house lately, here are some of the bedroom, sans cardboard boxes.

And much knitting of small projects has ensued, now that the weather has turned, little gardening is necessary, and the painting is done.

This:

Turned into this:

Slippers!

And I finished a hat, a neckwarmer and a shawl.

As usual, all details are on Ravelry for those who are interested.

Christmas is Coming and I am Literate

2009-11-02T14:13:00.003-05:00

Two weeks ago I couldn’t have cared less about having an e-reader. In the past, I have read electronic books on my PDA, and now my cell phone screen is really too small for it, but I don’t read that much and it wasn’t missed.

Then. Barnes & Noble announced the Nook. And now I Want One. Bad. Maybe the Kindle was ugly. Maybe it was expensive. Maybe I didn’t pay any attention to any of the other e-readers out there. Maybe the Kindle has a stupid name for an e-book. Hello... Kindling? Book burning? Not cool? But the idea of a reading nook is a darling thought and the Nook is so attractive.

Did I mention that I don’t read much anymore? Did I mention that I need another thing to carry around in my purse like another hole in the head? But just yesterday I had two conversations in which books I might like to read were discussed, which only fans the flames.

Did I mention that Kate Spade makes covers for it?

For Those Keeping Score:

2009-10-14T22:19:00.002-04:00

Both pockets and zippers are complete.

All that remains is to sew in the sleeves, weave in a few ends, and add the buttons.

It's Fiber Season!

2009-09-20T15:27:00.002-04:00

Finally, an update on Stitches, and because I procrastinated, some other info, too.

Above is a summarial photo of the Stitches haul. Clockwise, from the top:

1. Pajolo Alpacas, two-ply, 100% alpaca, about 500 yards. Probably will be the Shetland Triangle from the Lace Style book.

2. Another Pajolo Alpacas two-ply, about 90 yards, no current plans. It was just pretty.

3. Malabrigo sock in Velvet Grapes. Socks, maybe? Who knows?

4. Miss Babs Wild Silk laceweight, 100% silk, about 1100 yards. No specific plans yet. Very pretty. If you see Miss Babs in the wild, stop by and take a closer look. At the yarn, not Miss Babs herself. That would be rude.

5. Two shawl pins, one silver, and one wood. Very nice.

6. HiyaHiya interchangable needles. I do so love my HiyaHiya double points that I was very interested to see the interchangeable set. I haven't used them for anything yet, so the jury is out. I'm not picky, so I'm sure to enjoy using them, but I'll let you know if I have any pertinent observations. One attractive fact: the smallest size is a two.

7. Three skeins Rio by Takhi-Stacey Charles. This is meant to become a hat: Gretel by Ysolda Teague. I kept hoping to make this from stash only to not have enough yardage or the wrong gauge, so I gave in and bought yarn specifically for it.

8. Brooks Farm Solana. I plan to make the Fickle Fingers scarf with it.

It doesn't look like a lot of yarn, but it represents a lot of work, and my track record with Stitches yarn isn't good, so don't go holding your breath.

This weekend I attended The Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs, OH. It's not a huge festival, but it is a worthwhile day trip, and I always try to support a local farmer or two. This year I supported a Llama farmer:

This is 400 yards of Llama and silk, two ply. I couldn't capture its beauty with my camera, but trust that it was irresistible.

And on the trip I was a passenger, so I made a lot of progress on the Traffic Socks:

Ta Da! They are done.

For some reason the second sock is a bit bigger than the first, but I don't care enough to do anything about it. Hopefully it will come out in the wash. I used the Yarn Harlot's pattern for a plain sock, and while it was a fine pattern, it didn't work so great for me. Making the heel flap truly square meant it was way too big, so I had to adjust that part. I probably wouldn't recommend the pattern as is to anyone with large calves, and a large sock circumference.

We Have Progress: The Knitting AND Home Edition

2009-09-16T22:13:00.003-04:00

Firstly, I am remiss in posting pictures of my haul from Stitches Midwest. I have been short of daylight free time. A full review is in order, and I will get to it shortly.

I will say now that Gwen, Colleen, Jenn, and I had a great time, and we spent a lot of time sitting in our hotel rooms knitting and watching movies and it was GREAT! Here's some progress, Ivy's hood is done and blocked and ready for a top seam.

And here's something you haven't seen for a while: a new picture of my house. The kitchen is painted. Correction: the kitchen is sanded and painted. It took more work to sand than to paint, even though it took a total of four layers for the red.

(I still have to put back the brushed nickel curtain hardware, and make some simple tab-top probably-white curtains.)

It is virtually impossible to take a good picture of reds with a point-and-shoot digital camera. And now you're looking at it on your computer screen, so who knows what you're really getting? Trust me that it looks great with the flame Le Creuset teapot and the black accessories. A long time ago I decided that my kitchen colors would be black, white and red, and that has served me well here. I don't think it shows in the picture, but the walls better match the counter now; on my screen the picture looks a bit on the orange side of reality.

Only the entryway and stairwell to go.

My Back Yard: Never-ending Source of Excitement!

2009-08-22T20:23:00.003-04:00

So, here's a recent picture of my back yard post-sewer repair:

And today was the neighborhood party. In my back yard.

The view from my house:

The view looking toward my house (on the left of the picture):

It was quite the event. People are still out there, actually, although the DJ is gone and they're cleaning up. I'm tapped. Sadie might be, too. Everybody thinks she is just so cute, and she got a lot of attention. The neighbor kids like to take her themselves, and I let them; they get her a lot of exercise, and love to love on her. We got a t-shirt and gift bag for letting them use the yard, and I got to meet a ton of people. Fun times!

Now THAT's a Hole!

2009-08-11T20:14:00.004-04:00

Pictures are worth a thousand words, but let me add a few:

Broken sanitary sewer about four or five feet down, at a ninety-degree bend in the line.

Hole, about five feet deep, four feet wide and 10 feet long.

Patio = Pile of Rubble

A Girl's Gotta Do What A Girl's Gotta Do

2009-08-03T21:14:00.003-04:00

I know you were thinking that your day would be ruined if I didn't post more pictures of the hole.

Here you go:

This evening I put on some already-filthy clothes and got on my belly and lifted some large stones out of the hole. I have now uncovered an opening to a further tunnel down into the earth. Still can't see anything, though, other than more of the landscaping stone bricks, which seem to be holding the whole thing up. I tried to get some good pictures using a flashlight, but I'm not sure how much it helped.

Arborvitae Down. I Repeat: We Have an Arborvitae Down

2009-07-29T21:07:00.004-04:00

Yeah. It's been raining. More dirt has been falling in the hole.

I don't really want to talk about it. Suffice it to say, I did some more digging today. I went to Home Depot and bought a bigger flashlight and two tarps to hold dirt and cover the hole.

In happy news, the Charlie Brown rose bush* made a flower!

This is the Charlie Brown rose bush because it had black spot and it looked dead. When my gardening friends saw it they said I should take it out and put something else there. I didn't get around to it, and it made some leaves, so I gave it some fungicide and insecticide, and now it made a flower. Like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, get it?

Remember When I Said I Was Lucky?

2009-07-28T20:13:00.006-04:00

Well, my luck has run out.

Exhibit A: my back yard patio.

See that mess over on the left? That's where one of the patio stones fell through into a gigantic hole.

Here you can see better the situation. I called the city, who did a dye test, and confirmed that there is a break either in the sewer lateral or the storm drain.

Unfortunately, the hole is quite deep, and extends under the raised area, not under the lower area. I think the Arbor vitae is going to have to be retrieved; the nearby grass can go: it'll regrow itself.

This evening I tried to remove some of the dirt above, and the decorative rocks that I don't want to lose into the abyss. However, I also didn't want a bigger hole than I had to if it was going to rain again, and it seemed quite likely that it could cave in and then where would I be? I felt like it would be easy for me to make a bigger mess instead of a smaller mess. In the picture above, you can see one of the bricks is a little raised; I was about to retrieve it when I realized that the only thing holding the two bricks on either side was the tension between the three. If I pull out the middle one, the other two will fall, and the hole extends a bit behind that, too, maybe a foot or two, so all that dirt you see behind it would probably also fall.

This is the small amount of progress made, and it took a lot of work and barely scratched the surface. I think I'm going to leave this to the professionals, in the interest of safety and efficiency.

Distracted Driving Game - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

2009-07-22T09:36:00.000-04:00

Distracted Driving Game - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

If you think you have a super-human brain and can focus on things other than driving while driving, take this test and see if it's true.

Then, you should probably re-assess your priorities and think about how all your friends and family will feel at your funeral, or while visiting you in jail for causing someone else's funeral.

It's possible that "It's Never Been A Problem Before" because everyone else around you is preventing accidents while you're going around causing them.

So Sayeth

2009-07-13T20:46:00.006-04:00

And so it came to pass, that on the first day on which travel to and from work was from and to The House, an envelope was delivered to The House. And on this envelope it was written Department of the Treasury. And on the contents of the envelope it was written United States Treasury and Tax Refund, and lo, it was a check, for an amount greater than that expected, as it was subject to interest, although this was not known until it was so revealed.

Excitement!

2009-07-09T20:18:00.002-04:00

Exciting stuff this week:

First, the living room rug arrived.

The black smudge is Sadie, breaking it in.

Secondly, I think these are Gladiolas? This week's surprise in the garden.

And not so exciting, my Welcoming Committee gift:

Oops. I think I might have killed it. However, this is par for the course for me. The flowers in the garden are a continual surprise to me, as I would be certain to have killed them the moment I accepted responsibility, had history had any lessons for us.

It's Too Late Now

2009-07-05T19:56:00.002-04:00

Well, I went and did it. Friday was "shopping day" and I went to antique malls, Crate and Barrel, The Container Store, Restoration Hardware, West Elm, Macy's, and Pottery Barn (and probably some others I've forgotten). After returning home and discovering that one of the rugs I had my heart set on at PB was not available through the internet, I went back to the store on Saturday to see if they had it. And they did. They also had the rug I wanted for the living room, so I added another for the dining room, and one for the kitchen, threw on some rug pads for good measure and gave my new Pottery Barn card a workout that I don't have to pay for for 12-months-no-interest. Whew. I'm glad that's done.

Here's the dining room. It's a square room, and they don't make a lot of square rugs, and it was very important to me to see the rug in person before buying it, so this 5'x8' will have to do. It'll look less awkward when there's furniture on either side of it (and a table and chairs on top of it).

This is the entry, a joint effort between Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. The flash was used, pretend it's about three ticks muted from here.

Here's the new kitchen mat:

And the finished bedroom:

Please pretend the curtains are ironed. I have another set of panels I could use but I think it looks ok with one on each of the smaller windows. Suggestions welcome. They are just plain white curtains from IKEA. I kind of like how they're just an inch or two too long and bunch a little on the floor.

Reverse progress on the second bedroom:
What a mess!

And look! I think my mums will be pink, and soon. How lovely.

No Painting

2009-06-29T20:28:00.003-04:00

I took a day off from painting the new abode, and instead did some moving. Packing and unpacking is a much faster process than painting.

Here are my most recent Day Lily additions:

And, can you believe it, some knitting content!

A finished pair of socks. Shown off in a new venue.

These are the Hedgerow socks, shown with my new livingroom floor.

Neato, huh?

Living Room: Done

2009-06-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

Home and Garden Progress

2009-06-28T00:20:00.005-04:00

This'll be mostly pictures.

First, paint color results. Left: living room, Right: dining room. I love how the dining room color matches the wood and fixtures.

And some organization: the laundry room before and after

And lastly, some garden pictures. My day lilies:

A lone bee balm:

And Shasta Daisies: (no longer being eaten by slugs/snails)

And two mystery plants. What are they? Do you know? The one on the left seemed about to die, but then it rained again and is mounting a valiant comeback.

They're probably weeds, but I don't want to dig them out if they're not.

Farmer Beth?

2009-06-20T10:55:00.008-04:00

I don't think so. Farming and gardening are two very different things. But Gardener Beth just doesn't have the same ring.

This is my butterfly bush just starting to blossom:

And these are the Shasta daisies from Janet that I planted last week:

However, the daisies seem to be somebody's dinner:

And I have this long viney-thing I'm not sure what to do with. Should I cut it off? It's growing a little bit through the wire obelisk-thing, but mostly around and through other plants in the vicinity. Click to embiggen and then provide advice, please. Thanks!

Live From Wallace Woods

2009-06-15T21:05:00.004-04:00

Hello! I am blogging from my new house! Yippee for cable/internet installers! Boo for stealing my neighbors' wireless-without-passwords.

Here are some pictures of my sortof finished dining room. I need to paint the ceiling, and under closer inspection, we aren't any of us very good at getting a solid layer of paint on a wall; maybe that's why it didn't even take a gallon. A second coat is certainly in order. And I will be very much more careful when painting the living room, although that is a darker color and easier to detect if the primer is still showing through. Remind me to do it on a sunny day or to bring more lighting sources.

The four walls of my dining room:

For some reason the picture looking toward the kitchen is quite yellowed and dark and I couldn't figure out the right approach to fix that. The other pictures are relatively true to color. I love it. Love it love it love it. With the incandescent light in the chandelier you can't see how well the walls go with the glass, but it does. I might be tempted to finish the dining room, forget about the rest, and just live in the dining room. But now that the living room is primed and sortof white, I can solidly affirm that I will probably love the color I picked for that room, too. It was difficult with the other color there, but I didn't want to wait until after priming to pick out the color; I had unrealistic expectations about the progress we might make on Saturday. And I am also very glad to have picked a lighter color; the room is much more bright and open, and I feel like I can open up and breathe in there.

Onward and upward*!

* Literally. I have to do the ceiling next.

New Homeowner Revelation:

2009-06-14T10:43:00.004-04:00

I have a favorite bucket.

Yesterday's painting party was a smashing success, by my standards, and I think everyone had a good time while putting in a lot of work, too. We only got one room actually painted (and I think it needs a second coat), but another room is primed and ready to go, and that's the majority of the work. They also weeded my front yard. Bless their little horrified-gardener hearts. It was pretty bad. I don't think they could stand to leave it alone if they tried.

I now have a favorite bucket -- the grey 5-gallon I purchased at Lowe's released the dried latex in big strips as I cleaned it. We weren't very diligent about cleaning up, so it was awesome to see some paint come off of something so easily. Awesome!

Advice needed:

Here's the situation:

This is one corner of my dining room.

It appears to be a phone jack with an outside power source, namely, an outlet. The wires are very old, and when I tried to pick up the plug the wires fell off.

Question: any objections to just taking it out? I don't use the phone company anymore, so I don't know if it works, but I doubt it. I don't think the past owners used it, and I don't plan on using it. And by the time I'm trying to sell it, no one will have anything but cell phones anymore anyway (hopefully, right?) This is the only phone jack I know of in the house.

What think ye? Objections? Alternate solutions?

Still Pretty Lucky

2009-06-09T22:13:00.003-04:00

If you're still out there, hello.

You probably guessed that I did indeed buy the house. I did. It went smoothly, the appraisal was spot on (and no, they aren't always anymore), closing took 15 minutes, and the neighbors are delightful so far. However, I did close on the last Thursday of May Festival, which was crazy, and I am possibly still paying the price. I have not moved in yet, but I have until the end of July to be out of my apartment, so I'm taking my time. But I'm still exhausted.

This Saturday is my Painting Party, which several friends independently volunteered to attend with great excitement should I have one, and so I am going through with it. I finally, after much quiet contemplation at all times of the day and night, chose some paint colors, and really, how bad can it be? I did my best. I may be color-blind, but I understand color theory, the color wheel, and some very basic interior decorating concepts. So there. At least it'll match my stuff. Tonight I finished removing old nails and many screws with anchors (what a pain!) and started spackling in the gigantic holes left behind. I was right: spackle is a lot like frosting, and not an unfamiliar medium to me. No problem.

I wish I had more pictures to share, but so far the place looks like it did before, just without other people's stuff in it. I'm working on that. Hopefully next weekend I'll rent a truck, and maybe the next weekend I'll hire someone to move the big stuff. Who knows? I'm playing it by ear at this point. Even with the small amount of things I've taken over already the apartment is seeming less full.

And oh yeah, Sadie has only been there a few times, but she's getting used to the hard floors. She'll like it more when I get some more rugs.

I consider myself the luckiest girl-irl-irl-irl-irl on the face of the Earth-rth-rth-rth-rth.

2009-04-27T13:05:00.004-04:00

Inspection of my hundred-year-old house has been completed, and I'm one lucky girl. Not only did I find an adorable house that is in good aesthetic shape, but it's in good overall shape, too!

Bad news: furnace isn't 10 years old like I thought. It's more like 30 years old, but it looks clean and it works, so hopefully it'll croak while the house is under warranty, or it could run for a long time. Who knows? Who cares, it's not a deal-breaker.

Good news: roof isn't old and looks good, nothing leaks, the deck was constructed correctly, etc. The cracks in the foundation just need to be sealed up with caulk and painted.

Basically, everything that needs to be done falls under the "regular home maintenance/improvement" heading. The verdict from the inspector is "It's in very good shape." and "I wish all of these went this well."

[sigh] What a relief.

Next Steps

2009-04-25T19:01:00.004-04:00

I'm sure many of you know that when you buy a bigger house, you need more furniture. I'm pretty set, but there is a lot of space that could use some filler. And if I'm going to have people over, I need places for them to sit, and set their stuff. Right now, we're a little short on chairs and tables. So today I went to the local Antique Mall to see what might be found.

One of the biggest holes and the closest thing to a "need" is the porch. I really don't have anything to put out there except my folding camping chairs, and I want to be able to enjoy it, and enjoy it with others. For starters, I found this set that I like:

One chair has four legs, the other looks like it would rock a little, and the table has a glass top. It's actually in pretty good shape and I'd just have to clean it and make cushions. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but they're big and I think they'd be comfortable. Downside: The set is a firm $230. But compared to new.... and right now $230 doesn't sound expensive compared to other purchases I'm trying to make. :)

At the other end of the spectrum, these are two folding chairs, for $9.95 each.
The seats need some re-upholstering, but that's easy and would give me an excuse to buy a staple gun. (fun!) They're not in the greatest shape, but not the worst, either. They're unique.

I thought this might make another good addition to the outdoor furniture collection, perhaps on the front porch, though. It's $50 and needs some serious paint help, so I probably won't, but it's cute!

Last, I am just thinking about this one: What do you store in there? It's only an inch or two deep. How is this helpful? It would make a cool bedroom addition, though. I didn't even look at what it was priced; it needs re-upholstering.

When I Say Serious, I Mean Serious

2009-04-24T22:23:00.005-04:00

As I posted my last post, I had a little thought "what if one of the owners of this house is a knitter, and what if she sees that I love her house, and when I put in an offer she milks me for all I'm worth?"

Well, it didn't happen. I put in an offer, and they didn't even counter-offer. Not really. I asked for a table and chairs on the porch, hoping they had gotten it from a thrift store or something, but they hadn't, it was his grandmother's, so they counter-offered that I couldn't have the table and chairs. So now I have a signed contract, I inspect the house on Monday, and I have to hunt down a mortgage post-haste. The contract only gives me five days, and I didn't think about how the weekend was coming up and maybe I should make that seven.

So here's some advice from Your Old Uncle Beth: When you sign a contract to buy your first house, and it's an old house, don't go to Home Depot and wander aimlessly. Grab the paint chips and Get Out of Dodge, unless you plan to end your Tour of Nausea in the bucket aisle where you can puke. (In my defense, I hadn't eaten since a very early lunch due to a crazy day at work, so the nausea was only partly due to Buyer's Remorse.) (And I didn't really puke. You should know by know that I take poetic license on a regular basis.)

Here are some more pictures of My New House, (and yes, I can say that now with reasonable certainty):
click to embiggen

No, Seriously.

2009-04-22T15:16:00.002-04:00

I said I was serious, and I guess I really was. Tomorrow I'm going to go look at it again, and when Agent returns on Monday I'll put in an offer. Here are some pictures of my favorite things, in case you were too lazy to click through on the last post (you're forgiven, I do the same thing.)

For all you Antiques Roadshow buffs out there, get ready to feel jealous, because living in this area it's really easy to find a house with a genuine Rookwood Pottery tile fireplace, and this is one of 'em. And it's spectacular.

I've Got It Bad

2009-04-17T10:08:00.003-04:00

Another house to love

And I'm serious this time. The "garage" is not-so-much. But some of the details are hard to pass up.

A Coat for the Peanut

2009-04-13T12:11:00.003-04:00

Sadie must be calming down, because Peanut's sweater is actually looking like a sweater these days!

I'm particularly happy with how the edge came out. It's very straight. :)

I'm pretty sure it'll fit him when he's six. but that's ok. That means I have plenty of time to finish it.

House Hunting For Real

2009-04-10T19:14:00.003-04:00

....and...

...it's a random toilet.

So. It was my first house-hunting outing with my real estate agent. The first house we went to was one that looked good on paper, but wasn't.

I took this picture:

And then I took this picture while my agent was trying to get the door open:

And that was the last picture I took, I was laughing so hard. It was a dump. It seemed like it was worth a look, and now I know. It wasn't. She's going to go tell the listing agent (a co-worker) that it's way overpriced because it's a dump. I made her look at the whole thing, but I was just laughing the whole time. People had scratched their names in the door frame in the kitchen, for pete's sake.

And then we went to look at this one: Go look at it; the pictures are pretty good, and accurate.

It looked pretty nice. It was recently rehabbed, and there were just a few issues. The biggest: It's crooked.

These pictures don't do justice to the crookedness of these doors. And sadly, instead of straightening out the house as it settled, the doors were slowly cut off to make them fit. At least, that's what I presume happened. I'm not really concerned that it's still settling at its age, but it doesn't look good. The stained-glass on either side of the door, on the other hand, I love. So, since it's a low price (and Agent says it should be lower) it's still on the "maybe" list. It looks nice enough that I could move in and have people over right away, making changes over time, like replacing the windows that should be stained-glass, and putting in wood floors. Again, I'd like to restore the fireplace, and the new wood doesn't match the old. I'd have to figure out what to do about that.

And it had the "random toilet". As you can see from the picture above, It's between a door on the left and the furnace on the right. Not really a place to put up some walls around the toilet to make it a bathroom. My agent joked that it was the "half bath" without any prompting from me, so you can see we're on the same wavelength.

And that was it. No one else would let us look at their houses. We'll go again next week and try to get into a few more.

In knitting news, Jonah's sweater almost has a hood. About an inch to go, and then I'm in the home stretch on that one. Pictures will follow shortly.

Do Lawnmowers Come With HEPA Filters?

2009-03-19T22:10:00.004-04:00

When I was young my well-meaning doctors gave me advice like "When you grow up marry a man who is rich enough to buy you a dishwasher," (my dermatologist) and told my parents not to "let" me mow the lawn (allergist).

Well, I might have translated that into "be sure you get a well-paying career so you can pay someone to mow the lawn for you." Right?

Here's the House of the Day:

Don't you just want to come eat breakfast here with me? Isn't it delightful?

Not perfect though; I think a terrible crime has happened here:
Where did the fireplace go? There's supposed to be a fireplace between those two windows! I would surely feel compelled to restore that. It looks so wrong to me it's like an optical illusion or something. And you can see the hearth tiles in the floor are still there.

And what the heck am I supposed to do with all this grass?

Now We're Cooking With Gas!

2009-03-16T17:43:00.004-04:00

Finally. I think I have a real estate agent (including a bonus check from my apartment management company. Long boring story, but true!) I have spoken to one person about a mortgage, and have a call in to another person recommended by a realtor this weekend.

Open House visiting was no more profitable this weekend than last, but whatever. It's a necessary evil, right? I have decided that a typical condo farm condo isn't going to be for me. We do have some unique condos around here so condos in general aren't totally ruled out (look at this one), but are slowly getting edged out by the lure of total home ownership (and a lower mortgage payment). It's really better financially to buy a house, but I still care about my overall quality of life, and taking care of a house has not appealed to me in the past. But maybe it's time for me to be a big girl and take some additional responsibility. Many other fine people have done so in the past and lived to tell the tale.

So what home-oriented magazines do you recommend? I picked up a new one, Fresh Home, the other day, and it's cute. I've always loved Southern Living and need to re-subscribe. House Beautiful? This Old House? Better Homes & Gardens? Do you have any favorites for decorating and DIY projects?

In knitting news, the twins have four sleeves, and Jonah has the beginning of a hood. Progress is measurable, just like I like it! Someday I'll take a picture, but right now I have to get back to the real estate websites!

Be Still My Little Arts & Crafts Heart

2009-03-09T16:12:00.003-04:00

Looky looky! A Rookwood pottery fireplace! Look at that leaded glass door! How can I resist?

Do you think my little Arts & Crafts heart will physically break when I find out the "half bath" is really a toilet in the basement? (What is up with that? Why are there random toilets out in the open in basements around here? What is that? Why? What do I do if my dream house has a random toilet?)

I Am Part of the Solution -or- Tommy Silva Doesn't Live Here

2009-03-05T15:58:00.004-05:00

Have you heard about the incentives first-time homebuyers have been given recently? It seems that if I get off my duff and buy a home by Dec. 1, 2009 I will get an $8,000 tax credit. Yes, people, you read that correctly: credit. So I'm lurking on Real Estate sites quite a bit and trying to figure out what I might want.

I know that I do not want a big yard to mow. No long driveway to shovel. I don't do a very good job of maintaining the inside of my apartment, so I think it's unreasonable to think I'd spend a lot of time on the outside of my home. And since I'm the only care-taker this home will have, I better be prepared to do what it takes. No yard.

However, I might be done with noisy neighbors. I would like to do a certain amount of customizing and decorating, to make my home MY home. I would also like a safe place to park my car because I might also be done with scraping every morning. And I might also be done with excessive random dings in my car because it spends its entire life in a parking lot.

So.

In my area, I have more-or-less two options: 1. buy a condo. 2. buy a small house in an old neighborhood where they don't have lawns.

Condos: expensive, possibly with upstairs neighbors (I refuse), neverending HOA fees. But many are new and have efficient building materials and techniques. They might actually be insulated and air-conditioned. A lot have nice kitchens. A lot don't.

House: More responsibility, but no HOA fee, so I can afford more house, or upkeep costs. But totally mine. If I don't like that it's not insulated, I can insulate it. I can buy new windows. I can pay a guy. I might watch too much "This Old House" for my own good. But buying a house outright is very attractive to me. If only I knew Tommy Silva and could hire him to fix my cheap house. I would love an old house with tall ceilings and a cute facade, but I do not want the floors to slope, or for it to leak every time it rains, etc. I would have to commit to fixing it and fixing it right. OR I could buy one already fixed. But most of those haven't been done with the advice of a designer and they aren't that great. And, I think a 100+ year old house will always be a 100+ year old house. But I also am a believer in urban rehab instead of building new crap.

Case in point:

This house is so cute, and look at the great fireplace (they do not make them like that anymore, let me tell ya)! But the rest of it is a disaster. It is being sold as-is, and I could practically write a check for it. It would cost me less than my next car. It's near other rehabbed houses in a neighborhood with some bad ones like this, but quite a few well-maintainted homes, too. The temptation is great, but I know the work needed would be ridiculous. Please remind me, if it looks like I'm going crazy and going to buy something like this, that Tommy Silva Does Not Live Here, and I Am Not On This Old House.

Thanks.

My Dog Ate My Cell Phone

2009-03-01T19:51:00.004-05:00

Friday afternoon, I returned to the living room after getting something from the kitchen to find my puppy chewing on something she isn't supposed to, which has become the story of my life.

You can see from these pictures (click to embiggen) that the Palm Centro is NOT made from a new-fangled brand of pink Titanium. It is, in fact, plastic, and easily mangled by a small dog. Immediately upon retrieving it from her (in a rare fit of steady mind that made me reach for a treat instead of screaming and chasing her) I discovered that while I could repeatedly dial my parents' number, and quickly hang up, I couldn't do much else. Most of the middle buttons wouldn't work.

So, I took the phone to my local Sprint Service store and hoped for the best. They told me it would take 45 minutes and $55 at the most, and I might just get a new one. Whoopee! I went and did some errands (which ironically included buying food and treats for the offender) and when I returned to the Sprint store, they handed back my masticated phone with the explanation "he got the button unstuck" and I went home, a little disappointed, I must admit. Well, at least it was free. (Even the touch-screen works despite the puppy-puncture.) I've heard horrible things about Sprint (and please don't feel obligated to share any more in the comments, thank you) but so far my experience has been good.

In case you're heartbroken that I don't want to hear your horrible Sprint story, here's consolation: a cute puppy picture.

Another in the "After Daycare" series.

Knitting in the Mother Land

2009-02-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

Knitting for charity (From Campaign Series)

I have no idea why they are knitting chickens in Wales, but they seem to have taken to it.

Cute, Cuter and Cutest

2009-02-16T19:03:00.004-05:00

Here's Sadie after a long day at daycare:

She really seems to like it now that she's gotten used to it. She was so excited when I dropped her off this morning that she peed on the floor.

In other cute news, I visited my family in South Dakota last week, and my sister brought her daughter (you may know her as "The Princess").

Here she and her mother are playing in the hard South Dakota snow.

And here she is at dinner.

I'm not sure what happened to make these pictures kind of blurry and weird. My aunt and uncle were there and took these pictures while playing with my camera. And it's got so many bells and whistles that I haven't figured them out yet. I think it might still have been set for pictures in the snow.

And by the way, we measured, and I've got plenty of time to finish those Birthday sweaters. They are absolutely huge. Takin' my time.

Go YarnEnvy!

2009-02-03T10:30:00.005-05:00

Look! I made the list.

I couldn't remember when I started blogging, so I wasn't sure. I used to pay all sorts of attention to how long I'd been blogging, who was reading my blog, who visited my blog and what search terms led people to my blog. Not so much anymore. I have also lagged in my posting frequency. I always have a blog post composing in my head, but more often than not it just doesn't make it to the interwebs. I wrestle with the balance between knitting and real life. I used to be a good source for knitting inspiration, but now I just want to talk about my quest for health in the new year, or Sadie, or organization and de-cluttering, and who wants to read about that? It's just not that interesting.

In looking at this list there were a lot of familiar names. A lot of them are blogs I've visited, some I used to read regularly, and some I do still read. Some have become friends, and if I ever met them in real life I'm sure we'd say hello with a hug.

Update on Twins' Cardigans

2009-02-02T20:00:00.004-05:00

The Birthday presents are comin' along. These pictures are old; I have another sleeve done and the last one is in progress. Now that Sadie is going to daycare, I can get a lot more done.

Speaking of Sadie-Lady, here's a recent picture:

Just Another Link

2009-01-15T16:26:00.001-05:00

Great travel tip.

Love it!

If You Don't Have One, Now You Can Make One

2009-01-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

Kind of creepy, in a way.

A Pet Peeve

2009-01-05T10:37:00.003-05:00

One of my pet peeves are people who believe this stuff:

http://lifehacker.com/5122460/popular-medical-myths-put-to-rest

I know they're mostly long-held beliefs, but seriously, there are NO studies to support them. Get over it.

A Christmas FO

2008-12-29T12:05:00.002-05:00

Look, everyone! It's a Finished Object! I decided to take a small break from the niece and nephew's cardigans to make something for myself. This is a skein of Blue Moon KidMo that I purchased at Stitches Midwest in 2006, I believe. The pattern is Misty Garden from the book Scarf Style. I started it on the 23rd and finished it on Saturday. It's fully documented on Ravelry if you want to know more.

Now back to my regularly scheduled knitting, although I might make a hat for my birthday. :)

Makeover, not of the extreme type

2008-12-28T21:04:00.006-05:00

Before:

A: Afghan I crocheted [poorly] in college. I used Simply Soft, and it's falling apart as you can see from the missing fringe and the loose loop on the side there. Sadie is taking her toll with her penchant for chewing on yarn. I hate to just throw it away, but I really don't know what else to do with it. Maybe I'll just use it as a throw on the couch until it actually ends up in tatters.

B: Loosely woven cotton blanket purchased when I bought my first bed. It is queen-sized even though the bed is a full because back then it was hard to find a blanket big enough to cover the sides of a pillow-top mattress. It is too big and fits poorly, and Sadie snags it every time she tries to jump on the bed, which is frequently because she can't jump on the bed. I'd like to salvage it before it gets too bad because it fits the sofa-sleeper and barring any holes, will be good for when I have visitors.

C. Bedskirt I purchased a few weeks ago at a Linens-n-Things Going out of Business sale. It looked like an unopened package, and at $5 it seemed like a bargain so I took it without much inspection. When I opened it, I found several holes, the largest group of which I patched up with some iron-on mending tape while I ironed it. Then I put it on the bed and realized that it is queen-sized. Pooh. I left it on because it was better than nothing, but maybe it's not. If anyone is interested in a queen-sized, bone-colored bedskirt with a few minor holes in it, please let me know.

After:

Isn't this so much more relaxing looking? (Click to embiggen, if Blogger feels like it today.) I went to Macy's and got a bedskirt, comforter cover, quilt and shams. The quilt is still in the package there to the left above Sadie and it matches the shams; I'll use it in the summer. It felt really stupid putting the comforter and cover together yesterday when it was 70 degrees out but it'll be nice tonight when it's closer to 30. I don't need a lot of pillows and fancy stuff like they have in catalogs, but it does feel nice to have things that match and look nice. Now I can leave my bedroom door open when I have visitors.

Welcome to the Coffee Klatch

2008-12-28T15:12:00.000-05:00

It smells like a coffee house in the hallway of my apartment building, and it's all my fault. Since my espresso machine arrived on Tuesday, I've been experimenting and brewing and dumping what seems like gallons of coffee. Technically, it works. Apparently I'm defective.

The company that I got the machine from often also sends along a bonus gift pack including some pre-ground espresso coffee that they feel is the best option if you don't have a grinder. Since I bought the machine on a super sale, and didn't wait until I had the money to buy a super-good grinder, too, I started my experiments with this coffee. I am not very picky about my espresso, since I add a bunch of milk and caramel syrup to it, so I was optimistic going in.

Now, espresso is coffee made by pushing water through a compacted bit of finely ground coffee at approximately 9 bars of pressure. In theory, the finer the grind, and the harder the tamp, the longer it will take for the water to get through the coffee. I'll spare you the details, but one is given a guideline for how much liquid you should get in a certain amount of time, and this is how you figure out what the right grind is and how hard it should be tamped.

My first shots were very fast and watery. Since I couldn't grind any finer (no grinder) I tamped harder. Next shot: still fast. I tamped harder: still fast. I added more coffee, and tamped as hard as I could. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the shots to come any slower. Dang.

Plan B: use the grinder at the grocery store. On Wednesday I went to Whole Foods, where they roast their beans fresh, and got some of the freshest variety they had and ground it to the finer of two espresso grinds on their machine. I also went to a Kroger and tried to grind some coffee there, but that was a joke. The grinder not only didn't grind very finely, it ground very unevenly. I tried re-grinding it, but it didn't make much difference. Now, using the Whole Foods coffee, my shots were very slow and long. Still not acceptable, but at least I was having a new problem. I tried very lightly tamping, and barely tamping at all, but I think it was so fine it was clogging the filter. It felt like progress anyway.

My next attempts gave the best results yet. I put a layer of the coarser grounds in the bottom of the filter, and then put the finer coffee on top. This way I could get the flavor and fineness of the Whole Foods coffee, with the original coffee acting as a filter to keep the machine's filter open. The flavor wasn't the best, but I was getting a good time and volume, and semi-ok crema (the brown foamy layer on the top). If only Whole Foods was closer, and it wasn't Christmas: I figured the coarser espresso setting on their grinder would be perfect.

In the meantime I did some searching around the internet for people who might have had similar problems. No dice, but I did find an Intructible for hacking a Cuisinart burr grinder to grind finely enough for espresso for a lot less money than a high-quality grinder. The wheels started turning. I headed to Whole Foods again last night, and purchased some more coffee and ground it at the coarser setting. I also stopped at Biggs and, on a whim, dropped by the small electrics department. They had a Melitta burr grinder on clearance for $20. They had a display model out, and it seemed I could make the same adjustments as were made to the Cuisinart. What the heck? Twenty bucks is worth a try to save the $300 a "real" grinder would be. It's not that well built (in hacking it I found that coffee grounds seem to just migrate all over the insides of it) but it might stave off the larger purchase, I thought.

Arriving home, I gave the Whole Foods coffee a try. And another. And another. Alas! It was too coarse! I needed something in between the two settings. Arrgh!! I was running out of options very quickly.

So, I looked up the grinder on the interwebs and sure enough, one of the first things I found was a review on Amazon describing how to adjust it to grind finely, and it didn't require much work at all. Just a few screws and a gear turn, and it was done. It took two tries, but now it grinds perfectly, and even grinds too finely at the highest setting. I may have to adjust it back so that it will grind a wider range.

I didn't have any whole beans, and trying to grind the too-coarse grounds didn't work too well, so it took another trip to another grocery store, but just about an hour ago I pulled an only-slightly-too-long shot (easily remedied next time) and as I poured my latte, I accidentally made a heart!

All's well that ends well!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-27T14:49:00.005-05:00

Oh dear. I'm a bit late this year. Usually I post a lovely picture of my tree or some decorations, and my Christmas Duck and Some Other Stuff meal, and share my wishes that you have had a lovely day, regardless if it is of any significance to you or not.

This year was a bit different in a couple of ways. I maintained the tradition of staying home (see previous post re: Sadie and I Are Taking a Rest) and I cooked the traditional Christmas Duck, but I used Alton Brown's "Mighty Duck" recipe this year. A good change. Maybe next year I'll figure out a way to combine Alton's cooking technique with Julia's sauce sensibilities. I kind of missed the cherries. I also made smashed potatoes, but I was running behind, due to the duck's reluctance to thaw even given several days in the refrigerator, and my having forgotten to make the creme brulee the day before, and the potatoes weren't as done as I thought they were (apparently Sadie isn't the only one who regresses under stress) so they didn't smash as well as they should have. I also under-cooked the creme brulee and forgot to put in the vanilla. On top of it all, it looks like a carboard factory exploded in my apartment and there was no way I could clean off the table to get a pretty picture. le sigh.

But Lisa and I went to the movies and saw "Marley and Me". Oh my, we cried and cried. I think I owe Lisa a package of kleenex; if I had been at home by myself I would have been outright bawling. It was funny, it was touching, it was real, I loved it. The movie reviewer that morning had said to skip it. He must not be a dog person. I cried all the way home and gave Sadie a big hug as soon as I got there.

Speaking of Sadie, I got a new digital camera for Christmas, and I'm always hoping for better pictures of my knitting, and better pictures of my dog. Sadie loves the camera, but not the way children who always smile for the photographer do.

Canon cameras must taste like chicken:

I hope that second one doesn't result in early blindness.

In other news, my problem espresso machine was replaced with a new one, it was delivered on the 23rd, and I've been learning a lot, but that's another post. Coming soon to a computer near you.

Happy Birthday, P&P -or- An End to the Bluff

2008-12-18T21:13:00.001-05:00

ok. So the truth is that I haven't been working furiously on Christmas presents, but instead sweaters for my niece and nephew's birthday, which is today. They will certainly be finished before the snow melts (somewhere, at least); I am knitting a little more each day, and my hand isn't bothering me as much as it was.

And so, here I share what I've been hiding all these months:

These are two Dale of Norway hoodies, as they progress:

The astute among you may have noticed that the knitting pictures are in the round, while the blocking pictures are flat. Yes, kids, this is my first steeking project. Those sweaters were seamed down the middle with a sewing machine, and cut apart. I had to have Lisa and Liesl over for moral support, and I only had to re-do one of the seams, so I didn't have to have a little lie down. Although it was fate that the doorbell was rung by the LaRosa's delivery man mere seconds after finishing the first cut. I didn't have time to ruminate on what I had just done because there was pizza to eat.

I have a sleeve and a half done at this point, so I just need another sleeve and a half, two hoods, two little pockets, and two zippers.

Jennifer, no worries about fit. I cast on for the 24 month size, but these are turning out huge. Those Norwegian babies must be little linebackers or something. No matter when they are finished they will fit. Ivy will probably wear hers to her first day of High School.

Oh Dear -or- Christmas Letdowns

2008-12-12T12:38:00.003-05:00

Well, everyone, I seem to have strained my left hand, and while it doesn't hurt to knit, per se, it certainly hurts afterwards. So, if you consider yourself family, friend, or loved one, gear up and hunker down for an IOU Christmas. It might happen to you.

As for my espresso machine, mentioned perhaps a week ago? I never did get it to work, and it finally has made its way back to the retailer; I had to wait and wait and nag and nag to get the UPS label. Hopefully they will fix it and return it poste haste, as I am disappointed that we have cold weather and I can't make myself a hot cocoa with steamed milk. I had some extra vacation to use up and scheduled it for this past Monday and next Monday, and I was looking forward to fresh lattes over my two three-day weekends. If it isn't back by Christmas break, I'm going to drive to New York and fix it myself.

And by the way, that renegade trip to New York would be the only travelling I'm doing this year for Christmas. Every time I or Sadie go somewhere, when we come back, she regresses and starts having accidents again (not to mention her refusal to pee in wet grass and penchant for peeing on other people's carpets). I think she's well socialized and accustomed to traveling, just not quite old enough to make the switch reliably, and I'm sick of it. Travel will resume in the spring perhaps. And seriously, who wouldn't love five days to just hang out at home and relax?

"Every Penny Spent on a Bed is a Penny Well Spent"

2008-12-08T13:37:00.006-05:00

So says Janet's husband, Paul. And it was advice well-timed because I spent a LOT of pennies on a new bed. I think I really made the day of the guy at the mattress store. And they gave me a cookie, too.

So here we are --

Old bed:

New bed:

Now that I look at these, I'm a bit embarrassed. And that picture doesn't do the horror of the old bed justice. Yuck. They say that more than an inch and a half of sinking in the middle is a "defect". Well, as close as I can measure, my old bed had sunk at least three inches, and that doesn't count how high it probably was when it was new; that's just how much lower the center is than the edges.

I think I'm going to go take a nap.

Economy Stimulation: YarnEnvy style

2008-12-04T18:47:00.005-05:00

Whoa. We've been doing some economy stimulatin' around here, and boy has it been exciting, and there's more to come.

Knitting first. Because of a generous passing-along of a free shipping code by Janet, I finally invested in a good tote bag for my knitting, with a zipper, too.

Inside this bag is the knitting I've been working on but can't share due to its gift status. I've been working on this stuff for a long time. Don't know if I'll get done in time.

But look: it's puppy-proof! Worth any amount of money, shipping or no.

(Details: medium tote from Land's End, with zipper. I'm very happy with it as it is sturdy and well-made and stands up on its own. I have informed my knitty friends that in the event of my death my knitting is to be buried with me in this bag. Please include a snack, too. Thanks.)

Speaking of puppies, Sadie isn't so much of a puppy anymore. She's 11 months old, and over 8 pounds. She's nearly full-grown. She made some new friends on Thanksgiving, Argus and Finney, and this is what she did on Black Friday:

One of her favorite places to crash is the back of this chair.

Ok. On to more Wonton Consumerism.

My mother offered her discount at Apple on Black Friday, and I got an Airport Express wireless thingy. Now I can print more easily, and so far, it's working much more reliably than the old router, the difficulty in getting my cable modem to behave appropriately notwithstanding.

Another discount led to the next, though less successful, bit of spending. Long-time readers will know of my long battle with preparing coffee (that meets my standards) in my home. Long story short, the Mukka Pot of Faithfulness became the Mukka Pot of Danger when I really looked at how corroded and nasty it is. It's hard to clean, and easy to neglect. The rule in my house is that if you buy something cheap and wear it out or break it, you get to buy a better replacement. A lot of research and a 25% discount led me to order this:

You don't get a real life picture, however, because it arrived yesterday and now its guts are open all over my counter because the pump doesn't work. Nice. I'm not as excited about it as I was yesterday before I opened the box. Hopefully they'll just send me a new one and I won't have to pay a lot for return shipping.

And one last bit of spending I'm not as excited about: it turns out I can deny it no longer. Unless I can figure out how to live without using my lower back, I need to buy a new bed. It seems they don't last forever. Who knew? I've been sleeping on my sleeper sofa, which has helped, but that can't go on forever. My apartment looks like a disaster. I'm not excited about that buying experience, so I'm willing to entertain some advice. Thankfully, the local Mattress Hut is offering two years/no interest. Free money, it's a good thing.

As you can see, I'm doing my part. Some intentional, some otherwise. Some good, some bad. I'm lucky enough to have a good, secure job with good benefits (no insurance premium increase this year!) and it's the least I could do. You're welcome.

Sadie: 10 Months Old

2008-11-09T10:45:00.003-05:00

Better pictures with the "new" camera:

Sock Yarn Inventory

2008-11-08T14:55:00.004-05:00

My camera died recently. More specifically, the flash, and while I hated that ineffective flash, it's still pretty important. So my mother sent me her camera, with which she had taken all of 10 pictures in the past three years.

It's taking some figuring out, as it's a different brand than my old one, but I took this picture of my sock yarn collection, and the colors are pretty well true.

The picture looks a little yellow, but it's natural light, and maybe it's a little cloudy and maybe my walls are off-white, giving it an overall yellow-ish cast, but the actual yarn colors look right. Maybe.

Anyway, I've been feeling this urge lately to re-organize the stash due to a change in volume and content. The first and easiest step was to assemble the sock-weight yarns, and this is it. 22 pairs worth, and not all of it is bound for socks. Not so bad, I don't think. Could be way worse. I store it in two hanging organizers from IKEA. They are obviously carrying more weight than they were meant to, but they were $1.50 each, so who really cares?

Next yarn: lace weight.

I Was Cheated on Election Day!!!

2008-11-05T15:12:00.002-05:00

Broken promises already. Sheesh. I was told that voter turnout would result in gigantic, around buildings and blocks, veritable masses of people waiting and waiting to push a button or fill in a square, or whatever their locale's chosen tally method required of them. I was looking forward not only to sharing this history-making event with the crowds and casting my first ballot in Kentucky, but also to a lot of free knitting time. When I arrived at my designated polling place the parking lot was half-empty, and I only had to wait for one person in front of me, and if my last name had started with an earlier letter in the alphabet I wouldn't have had to wait at all.

I was cheated, I tell you!!!

But in all seriousness, I did have a moment I don't think I'll forget soon. As I was leaving, I overheard two people who had voted immediately before me discussing the various issues and races they had been presented. I was on the phone, and didn't clearly hear their discussion, but one was very clearly confused about whether her vote would be counted. I believe she was worried that because she didn't vote on one of the sections that her other votes wouldn't count. I know this to be untrue, but because my nature is to mind my own business and at least try not to eavesdrop, I didn't stop to clarify. (I also try very hard not to be a smarty-pants. Those who know me personally know that this causes my eye to twitch, but still I try.) I regret those instincts. I wish I had stopped and let this woman, who appeared near tears, know that her vote would indeed count no matter on which items she did or didn't vote.

I feel that our right to vote and have that vote counted is about as fundamental an American right as there is. It is the absolute cornerstone from which all other rights and powers rise. I'm sad that our trust that this right will be honored has been so damaged. I shouldn't have to worry that I'll be able to vote correctly, and yet I did. And it makes me angry that others would prey on this distrust and ignorance to coerce and intimidate voters to question their decisions and their right to make them and have them be heard. It's disgusting and pains me to my very core.

In Case Anyone Was Wondering: Yeah. I Am.

2008-10-28T16:57:00.003-04:00

Conversation I was a part of today:

Coworker (to Mark who is letting his beard grow in): Geez, Mark, I can't decide if you look more like Grizzly Adams or Chewbacca.

Mark: I'll take Chewbacca.

Me: You might want to stick with the human analogies.

Mark: Chewbacca is human.

Me: No he's not. He's a wookiee.

It should be noted, however, that I did have to look up how to spell both Chewbacca and Wookiee in order to blog this.

All My Knitty Friends and I Have a Dyeing Party Part Deux -or- It's Never Really Done Until You Set it On Fire

2008-10-12T13:10:00.007-04:00

Once again in my life my friends and I decided to get crafty with the food-safe dyestuffs at the same time and in the same place.

Results were mixed.

This is my KnitPicks sock blank, Liesl's sock blank mid-creation, my blank all rolled up in plastic wrap and ready to cook, and Liesl and Linda expressing themselves through the visual arts on paper-covered tables lovingly prepared by Janet's husband.

The last picture is of my blank after cooking, rinsing, and drying. Honestly, I don't think it's that great. It's darker than I wanted, and a lot of blending happened on the underside, so there's some muddy greens and browns under there. I'm curious to see what happens when it's unwound, but it's double stranded, so I haven't decided what to do about it yet. I don't usually knit two socks at once, but I guess I could. I might prefer to have it un-kinked before using it, also, so that's another wrench in the system.

Another skein I did was a Horrible Experiment. Because it takes vinegar (or some form of acid) to make the dye stick to the yarn, I thought I could use this property to create the pattern. I soaked this yarn overnight in some water and Wilton cake dyes. Then in the morning I applied vinegar, but it didn't do what I wanted it to do. If I wanted to continue the Horrible Experiment in the future I would use less water, and maybe let it dry or something first. I think the vinegar just spread out and I know there were some spots where it seemed to be rinsing the dye away as I applied it.

But whatever. It's ok. It might be a bit bright, and need some over-dying to tone it down, but that's for another day. It will not become socks, as it is not superwash.

This was an impulse buy: Patons Classic Wool in Natural Mix, dyed with Wilton's Christmas Red.

Again, brighter than expected. Might tone it down in the future.

This theme of "maybe next time" or "you can always over-dye it" seemed to carry the evening. Lisa's laceweight seemed to be The Blob of yarn dyeing -- it ate as much dye as we could throw at it without ever making it to the shade intended, and while her sock blank seemed to have turned out beautifully, with another skein Liesl had a desire for semi-solidity that at last count was unsatisfied. Naturally, Linda, The Artist, seemed to have the best luck. Although I think I might have said it best before we started when I said "If you don't know what you want, then you'll love what you get." Needless to say, dyeing yarn with food items is unpredictable and if you have a very clear idea of what you want you probably won't get it, and you won't be happy. Boo.

And for something completely different, here's a picture of my dear friend Meredith and me at her wedding. She had been missing from us for a long time, but thanks to Facebook and the stability brought by age and maturity, we are back in touch. It was a fantastic time, even though the only person I knew there was the bride. I should have known she'd have more fun friends like me. :)

Suggestions, please?

2008-10-02T13:16:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. I need some help.

This weekend I am going to Chicago for a friend's wedding. I'm driving up on Saturday for the wedding, and back on Sunday. Naturally, Saturday is more or less occupied with the wedding, but I am not in a huge rush to get back on Sunday and am having a hard time thinking of something to do before I leave. Usually I'd hit a yarn store or something, but I think the fact that it's Sunday morning will put the kabosh on that.

I feel like if I'm going to Chicago, I should take advantage of it. Any ideas?

[Edit to add: The wedding is in Oakbrook Terrace. It appears to be directly west of the city proper, according to Google Maps.]

Random News

2008-09-29T13:34:00.005-04:00

Did I mention I'm doing the One Hundred Pushups Training Program? Well, I am. The idea is to train for six weeks, and at the end you'll be able to do 100 pushups. I'm at the beginning of week three, and I can do 20 pushups. It starts with a test to see how many you can do before the training, and let me tell you, it was mighty pitiful. I was in a lot of pain for several days after, and I'm doing the "girlie" pushups from my knees. But now I can do 20 and I'm not even sore. Maybe if I can make it to 100 knee pushups I'll move on to the real kind.

And, while my neighbors were being all helpful and neighborly after the storm*, they dented my car and didn't take responsibility. Also, they have started stealing my newspaper again.

Nice, huh?

*A few days after the storm, we all got lovely letters taped to our doors about how great it was the way everyone banded together to help each other and clean up the property. I did none of these things. I gave no help, I received no help. Apparently I am a hermit.

Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good

2008-09-27T19:41:00.005-04:00

Ok. Well, I think nearly everyone has their lights back on. However, it took long enough that the generosity and patience wore very thin. Evidence of the storm is still everywhere you look. I happened to go further north into the city this afternoon and saw considerable piles of branches and tree trunk pieces all over the place.

In other news, I am saddened by the loss of Paul Newman today. I enjoyed his acting, and his principles, and how can I not love a guy who starts a [successful] food company so he can make more money to give away? Seriously. Need more people like that around.

I was also considerably saddened today by watching ER. This week's episode included a theme that was apparently still very close to my heart, and still very painful. Assuring myself that "it's just a TV show" didn't help. It never does. That show makes me cry every episode.

And speaking of TV, has anyone caught any of the new Knitting Daily episodes? Is anyone else disappointed? Maybe it's just the newness of it, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. Firstly, they aren't being shown in order; I saw one episode that included what seemed to be a second or third installment of a knitalong, but I don't know when it started, or how it will end. Secondly, the hosts, while enjoyable enough when guests on Shay's old show, are not very good at hosting themselves and making the small talk. We get a lot of "um"s, and then they run out of time and the segment ends very abruptly. I'm not convinced that Kim Werker is actually interested in anything she's talking about. A lot of the show feels very rote and monotone. And Shay just has a little segment each episode and she's the best part. She has the experience, why don't they use it? Like I said, maybe it just needs time to come together, but I'm not sure. The music is kind of wonky, and they keep saying "we'll be right back" even though they're not going anywhere, it's public TV. However, it's the only knitting show on, so I'll watch it no matter what. [sigh]

A State of Emergency: Blackout 2008

2008-09-16T23:59:00.003-04:00

If you don't live in the greater Cincinnati area, or are not close with someone who does, you are probably unaware of the State of Emergency: Blackout 2008. It seems, to some, that things like stock market collapse and commuter train accidents are more interesting and/or important. The fact is that Hurricane Ike plowed its way across the United States from south to north like some kind of Sherman's March. It attacked Cincinnati on Sunday in the form of strong winds, resulting in great numbers of fallen trees, flying debris, and downed power lines. At this point, I believe the power company has returned power to about 60% of the population. At one point on Sunday, more or less everybody was without power. The crews that were sent to help in Houston (I'm sure you've heard of their power outages) were called back to help here.

I, personally, was without power for nearly 36 hours. This is what my building looks like:

I have learned quite a bit, and would like to share some observations and advice:

1. Go, right now, and be sure that you have unscented candles. When you're trying to muster up enough light by which to read, you will not want to be surrounded by "Beach Walk", "Creme Brulee" and "Evergreen", etc. simultaneously.

2. Eight month old puppies do not understand where giant puppy head shadows come from.

3. If you do not have traditional phone service, do not use your cell phone to access the internet and chat for hours at a time unless you have a car charger for it. (Corollary: if you need a car charger, purchase one when you have more choices than the local cell phone store where you will pay the absolute most anyone has ever paid for a car charger.)

4. McDonalds is always open. (At least, that's what I choose to believe, and I was not proven wrong.)

5. My water heater is incredibly well insulated. I had been without power for over 12 hours, and I had enough hot water to take a shower Monday morning, wash dishes, and still had some warm-enough water to wash my face Monday night, after nearly 30 hours without electricity.

6. I wish my refrigerator was made by the company that made my water heater.

7. It might not be a great idea to eat two yogurts for lunch after having one for breakfast in an attempt to eat up the food in the refrigerator. Just let it go.

8. It does not take a large puff of wind to blow out a tea light candle. A small poof will do, and be less likely to send small and flimsy containers of melted wax flying across your living room.

9. The peace of mind of a crank-able radio/light source is worth every penny. This is mine. I was able to listen to the TV bands (only valid until February, I suppose) and use the light without worry of dying batteries. I can also vouch for this product's good battery pack life. I keep it plugged into the wall, and I didn't actually have to crank it at all, and I used it for a good part of the time I was without other source of information or audio entertainment.

All-in-all, I had a relatively painless 36 hours, aside from the stinky candles, because the weather was good, I had a renewable source of light and radio, and I had some food (and not too much food rotting in the refrigerator). I didn't need ice, I had running water, I'm not responsible for taking care of any damage to my property. But it was certainly an adventure none-the-less. One that continues in much greater degree for many.

How to Do Stuff

2008-09-10T14:31:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note:

I was browsing Instructables in a very brief bit of boredom earlier today and found this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Bath-Bombs/

Not only is it a fun Instructable to do, it's a fun Instructable to read. It's well written, and humorous to boot. I'd like to think if I ever met this woman we would be friends.

If you're curious about my knitting, it is continuing at a good pace, however, I can't show you. If you belong to Ravelry, then head over and investigate.

Coming soon: Steeking Party Chez YarnEnvy

A Lid of Inspiration

2008-08-27T23:40:00.004-04:00

I decided today that I needed an exciting new project that I could finish. Quickly. In a day or two. I haven't finished anything in forever, and it sure would feel good.

So I took one of my prized Stitches purchases, (took Sadie for an extra-long walk to tire her out) and got to work:

As you can see, I'm just about half way through, or at least I better be. I only have two skeins.

The yarn is extra-special alpaca from extra-special Minnesotan alpacas, raised by some fantastic Minnesotans. (But I didn't have to tell you that the Minnesotans are fantastic, did I? You know they all are, right?)

If you're on Ravelry, you can go get more details there; I'm YarnEnvy, naturally.

Stitches Midwest 2008

2008-08-26T22:10:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update since Stitches Midwest 2008. Above you see the swatch I made in my Overture to Estonian Lace class. There are some wonky bits, but nothing I felt was worth going back to fix on a swatch, so don't look too closely.

Gwen and I had a great time (even though we were missing Suzie) and we felt that we showed great restraint. However, when I added it all up, it wasn't as restrained as I thought. But that's ok. A lot of what we got this year was patterns, and I also spent some on yarn for gifts. (The sun and time haven't cooperated for pictures yet, but I'll get to it shortly.) When faced with a hard decision, I remembered how little knitting I've gotten done this year, and erred on the side of caution. I know things will get better as Sadie gets older and more mature, but it's still pretty slow.

2008-08-02T19:22:00.002-04:00

Cuteness I didn't post before:

It seems that Sadie will wear clothing. Perhaps not very willingly, but she seemed to get used to it. Thanks go to Liesl who found the doggie stuff at the Gap Outlet so Sadie could have a .99 t-shirt.

And this is what Gwen brought me:

Isn't it beautiful? I can't wait to make it into socks, but it might be destined for something better. Hmmm. Worth some thought.

And in more recent news I have a new gadget.

The phone on the right replaces the phone and PDA on the left. This is a great way to destash: get new stuff! Hee! Just kidding. It did de-stash my purse, though. The new phone does more than the old PDA and is smaller. Awesome. It's taken a bit of tweaking to get it working just. so. (Mac is still very much the minority) but since I've been using the Palm operating system for So Long (7 years?) it was very easy to transition in general. Now I just have to remember to turn the ringer on so I will actually get calls.

More Happiness Than I Can Handle

2008-07-21T15:54:00.002-04:00

Gwen came to visit this week. And we had more fun than we could reasonably deal with. I'm still exhausted. Sadie is not. She was on Friday night, though. We had a "movie night" at my apartment, and by 11:00 the poor puppy couldn't even keep her head up and just laid on the floor and looked at us.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Gwen arrived Wednesday night, at which time we basically ate and drank until we went to bed.

Thursday we went to the grocery store, took Sadie to the dog park, had lunch (not necessarily in that order) then we rested for a little bit before heading out to dinner at a marina and on to the Jimmy Buffett concert. Which was a blast. Gwen made a lot of random friends, and I did not, but that's ok. I'm not so fond of random friends when they are drunk and sweaty and keep bumping into me. I hate that. Anyone else with me?

Friday Liesl got us going and we hit the farmer's market, Gap Outlet, and a candy store. Then we hung out at my apartment, knitting of course, and it was movie night with Lisa, and Liesl re-joined us later. See previous mention of One Tired Puppy. Fun times. Good dip.

Saturday we went to lunch and had what Gwen and I call a Yarn Crawl (hearkening back to our days of Pub Crawls) but the ladies around here call a Shop Hop. It was greatly abbreviated, because no one except Janet needed yarn. But it was fun none-the-less. Who said you have to spend money to have fun? We did spend a little at an ice cream/candy shop down the street from the last shop, which I never knew was there before, but will certainly frequent now that I do. And then it was on to Stitch 'n' Pitch at the Reds game. It was hotter than blazes, and rumor had it that the yarn shops couldn't afford to donate shwag for the bags this year, so there was no free stuff, but it's always fun to spend time with friends, I think. We did get free hats along with 20,000 other ticket holders due to the 50th anniversary Reds Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. So now I have a hat.

And I decided to rip out a lot of the knitting I had gotten done. I tried on the sock I was working on and decided the heel flap was too long. Having worked about half-way down the gussett, I had a lot to rip out, but it looks a lot better now.

Sunday we ate lunch, and Gwen flew away back to Washington, D.C.

It was a long weekend, and I'm ready for some quiet and alone-ness, but it was definitely a good time and I do enjoy having people over to my home. I just don't do it very often because of my poor-but-improving housekeeping skills. More on that later.

Happiness is....

2008-07-13T11:30:00.002-04:00

A big box of yarn:

Yum! Unfortunately for you, it's for gifts, so I can't elaborate. But it's pretty, no?

Also, yesterday I bought my first Addi turbos (I've used the lace before, but these were the first of the regular kind) because this yarn calls for very small needles, and I need to work in a larger circle than my dpns would support easily.

In other knitting-related news, Sadie loves yarn. Sadie doesn't love yarn the way a cat loves yarn, though. Sadie loves yarn the way a dog loves bacon. It's very difficult to knit in her presence, but we're figuring it out.

Something's Missing

2008-07-07T16:00:00.003-04:00

All I know is that I didn't get breakfast this morning, and then I was left, ALONE, at the vet's office, and as she left, Beth just smiled at me like she was looking forward to having the time to work on her novel. They took me in back, and the next thing I remember is waking up with a strange feeling that something is different. Something is missing, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Go Help!

2008-07-04T23:17:00.002-04:00

A long time ago, I decided I would grow out my hair and donate it to Locks of Love. When the time came to do the deed, I decided to try to raise $1000 to go with it, the amount required to sponsor one child. I was able to do it, mostly with the help of the knitting community.

Kristin has set a similar goal for herself, for a charity close to her heart and mind, and she's got way better prizes to offer than I had. So go and pitch in and help a girl out.

Six Months already?

2008-07-02T20:34:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday, Sadie!

She's six months old, and six pounds.

Here's a before (April 21) and after (yesterday):
Same toy, same dog, different size.