"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

2/29/08

Fridays Feast 2/29/08

Happy Leap Day, or Happy Sadie Hawkins Day! Happy Birthday to those who were born on this day!

I would say yesterday's battle with the deworming could be called a draw. I lost to Silver. He urped all the medication up. In fact, I'd say he urped up everything he's eaten for the last 3 months! Note to self---Grilled Tuna flavored worm paste does not agree with Silver. The good news is he didn't urp up any worms. So he probably doesn't have them. He's also forgiven me. I was given much kisses, snuggles, and purrs last night.

Chenille is where I won. She kept hers down and looks so much better this morning. Her eyes are bright, her fur is shinier than it has been in awhile, she's in a really good mood, and even wanted to cuddle this morning. I think our worms are gone.

In two weeks I'm supposed to dose them again (vet at the feed store said to make sure I do that) so I've ordered some pills via the internet. These pills claim to not irritate or cause nausea, so Silver should do better with them. They're expensive (10 bucks a pill), but worth it if they do as they claim. I'm gonna dose him just to be on the safe side cos roundworms can be shared via a litter box.

I am knitting. Gnomage is happening in this house. I'll write more about it this weekend. For now, I want to do a Fridays Feast. It's been awhile since I've done one.

Appetizer

Who was the last person you hugged?

That would be Sweet Hubby.

Soup

Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

If your hair is greasy, and you don't have time to wash it, sprinkle a little cornstarch on your head and brush it in. Presto! Greasiness look is gone.

Salad

What does the color yellow make you think of?

Am I limited to one thing? Yellow makes me think of Sunshine, my daughter Sarah, daffodils, and dog pee.

Main Course

If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

Nature.

Dessert

What was the longest book you ever read?

I can honestly say the Bible, but what fun was that? In fun inches thick and pages long, I've read The Jeeves Omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse several times-and laughed through every page.



Have a great Friday.

2/28/08

Oh The Joys of Pet Ownership

Caution. May be a tad too gross for some readers.

When you own cats, one of the things you have to expect and accept as part of life with a cat is urping on the floor. They shed. They lick themselves clean. They swallow a lot of hair. The hair forms balls in their tummy. They urp it up on the floor-usually with a hefty wad of partially digested cat food that has red food coloring in it guaranteed to defeat even the toughest of carpet stain removers. It will not matter how much linoleum you have in your house either. They will do it on the carpet. Unless you don't have carpet, in which case they urp on the furniture-probably your bed or the sofa with the expensive upholstery fabric on it. (On occasion, when they were really pissed at me, my cats have urped into the basket of clean laundry-sigh...)

Day before yesterday I found cat urp on the carpet in the sun room. This was especially gross urp. In fact, it was so gross to look at I threw up and had panic attacks. It took almost an hour for me to get enough gumption to stay in the room and clean it up.

Someone has roundworms. (Gag, erk!).

I'll take hairballs and cat food any day over a pile of roundworms.

Despite all the little wild critters my cats eat, they have never had roundworms before. They get tapeworms once in awhile, but never roundworms. I guess we've been lucky that way.

Clearly, these are roundworms. I know what roundworms are and where they come from (which just makes it all the more gross). So I was loathe to take them to the vet to get meds. I would have had to take them both cos I don't know which cat did the urping. At $80 apiece, for a diagnosis I already know, just to get the vet to give me a prescription for dewormer--that's $160 to find out what I already know? I don't think so Tim.

I did a bit of research on the internet to find out the best ways for getting rid of roundworms in cats. I found out I don't need a prescription. So off I went to the local feed store. They had 2 roundworm dewormers on the shelf. Which one is best? I got lucky. A veterinarian came in the store to buy the very same thing I was seeking. I got to pick her brain for free. How sweet is that?

Unfortunately, both dewormers were the kind you mix in with food. One was liquid, the other paste. She recommended the paste. The paste is supposedly Grilled Tuna flavored. (I don't know for sure. I refuse to taste it). It comes in a plunger sort of container looking and working much like a hypodermic needle without the needle. You're supposed to weigh the cat, and push the plunger to the amount written on the side of the plunger that matches your cats weight. Then mix food into the resulting blob and hand it to your cat for consumption. HA!!

This is what my whole morning has been about.

The problem is--how do I get my cats to eat it?

1) My cats eat dry cat food.
2) My cats won't eat canned cat food.
3) My cats won't eat human food. (So much for mixing it in some cream cheese or raw hamburger)
4) My cats can smell meds a mile away and won't touch them with a ten foot pole even if they haven't eaten for a month and it's mixed in with the blood of a thousand of the tastiest mice on the planet.

Last night I came up with a plan of attack. First of all, I took away their food. I have one of those big vacation feeders. I fill it up once a month. It sits on top the dryer (away from the greedy dogs). They eat whenever they feel like it. I needed them to be hungry this morning.

When I got up this morning I got a good scolding from both cats for hiding the food. I wish you could have heard it. I sat and listened while they yowled and screeched at me very loudly. When they were done I said "I'm sorry guys, but you can't have your food. I need you to be good and hungry so you'll eat the special food. One of you has roundworms. We gotta get rid of 'em."

All morning long they complained at me. Finally, I figured I'd give the plan a try. I got out a small pouch filled with Friskies Fine Cuts-Grilled Tuna. Carefully I mixed the med doses in a spoonful for each cat and presented them.

Chenille licked up all the gravy and half the tuna, but somehow managed to leave the medication. (How does she do that?) Silver took one sniff and walked away in disgust.

So then I thought I'd add a bit of milk. They like milk. Maybe they'll eat it with milk. Neither of them would have anything to do with it. They just yowled and hissed at me. It ain't happening.

I am so glad I had the good sense to buy two plungers of dewormer paste, just in case. In frustration I grabbed Silver by the scruff of the neck, shoved that plunger down his throat and squirt 11lbs worth of dewormer into him. He swallowed it, and I'm not bleeding to death, so I've done the same thing to Chenille ('cept she weighs 9lbs). I had to chase her around first though. She watched me dose Silver so when I turned in her direction she turned tail and ran--little coward.

Lest you think I have won this battle, think again. Silver has just urped it all up on the carpet. Sigh.......


Have a better day than I'm having.

ETA 11:46 a.m.

I've ordered some worming tablets from an online store. Heck with the paste and liquids!

2/27/08

This is More Like It

I didn't feel like starting something new last night. My eyes were aching (they do that in the evening if I've been beading a couple hours during the day) so I got out the Jaywalker. I cast it on last Monday at knit group.


Anyway, I started the stitch pattern for the leg last night and I am in love. This pattern is fun, and the yarn is so soft. I'm gonna enjoy this project. I really love the colors in this yarn too. My eyes are doin' the happy dance!

I thought I'd mention that I have set the comments so you have to type in the silly letters before they'll post. I did that for a reason. The last 4 blog posts have had comments that I would call porn spam. I did a bit of research and learned these are usually generated by computer and doing the word verification prevents it from happening.

You know, I don't really understand why porn sites spam everyone. If a person is into porn, I'm sure they would go looking for it voluntarily. What is the point in grossing the rest of us out? Is it really generating new business for them? Please don't answer that question. Just annoyed.

Have a great day.

2/26/08

Ain't Doin' It for Me

Last night I tried to make serious progress on the Baby Surprise sweater that I've been making for Knit Wits. I'm sorry, it just ain't doin' it for me. I am loathing this project. Absolutely loathing it! I don't know why either. It's not boring, it's got some interesting shaping to it, it's even what I'd consider a clever design. I'm using my favorite color-purple. I just don't like working on it. I am not really sure why I decided to knit another baby sweater for Knit Wits when I really wasn't in the mood for another baby sweater. Some sort of insane desire to put unnecessary stress on myself must have reared it's ugly head? Since I knit for MY enjoyment, and I'm clearly not enjoying this project, I've decided to frog the whole thing and forget it. Time to move on to something else.

GNOMES!

Ah, yes, that's the ticket. Knit Wits could use some Gnomes. That may be the whole reason for the loathing of the sweater. Deep inside I want to knit Gnomes.

Making progress on my book. I wrote up the pattern for the Trois Perles de Bugles. Now I need to have it test knitted. Today at bead group I worked on the strap for the next design. It's all knitted. Just needs to be written up and the strap finished and attached. I started the strap several months ago. The bag is so fancy looking I felt the need to make something special to hang it on so I've been doing tubular peyote with a somewhat complicated color pattern in it. I think I've gone a little overboard on it, but it sure will be pretty. Finishing and embellishing is just as important as the knitting part of a project.

Have a great day.

2/24/08

My Sock Blockers

My sock blockers are cool so I'm gonna show them off. They are hand made, of wood, with little shaped cutouts. I found them quite by accident. I was on Ebay looking for sock blockers and came upon Chappy's ebay shop. The blockers were a little bit on the pricey side, but they are so pretty. There are a lot of different styles. I chose the deer, in size Ladies.


This month I ordered some Mens size blockers. They have Pine trees on them.


There are lots of different cut out styles, including kitties and dogs, spinning wheels, yarn balls, palm trees, bunnies, birds of various types, acorns, rats, hearts, horses, lambs, sheep, and even a large mouth bass. The one thing they don't have, though, is Moose.

Sweet Hubby is cleaning the cords out from behind the entertainment stand. It's quite a rats next back there. For several years we've been putting cords back there to hook things up. TVs, DVD players ,VCRs, sound system components, several different satellite receivers, not to mention the Nintendo and Sony game stations and computer doo-hickeys. We'd get something new and the new cables would be installed, but none of the old cables were ever actually pulled out from behind. Just unhooked. So they've been piling up, breeding with each other, until there's a virtual metropolis of cables living back there. He's going to pull all that out and get things nice and organized. The fire hazard should be reduced considerably.

Have a great day.

2/23/08

WOW! Entry for February

Time for the monthly WOW! Sock Club entry from my stash.


Fearless Fibers
100% Classic Merino Sock Yarn
Fingering weight
4 oz. skein
410 yards
Peppermint Pink colorway

I'm going to knit this into a pair of Jaywalkers for moi. When March rolls around my taste turns to pink and lavender. They mean spring to me. Spring is my favorite season, when all the nature around me comes back to life. New leaves on the trees, flowers starting to bloom, the air smells so sweet, and all those new baby animals showing up in the yard. I love spring.

Have a great day.

2/22/08

Don't Hide Donuts on Top the Fridge

There are great advantages to being married to a tall guy when you are a short girl. The light bulb went out in the laundry room. Even when standing on the step ladder/stool I could not reach the lamp to change the bulb. This morning Sweet Hubby just reached up and changed it. No ladder, no step stool, not even a chair. How cool is that?

Of course, there are disadvantages too. For instance-I can't hide a batch of home made donuts on top the refrigerator. I learned that early in our marriage. Sweet Hubby has a little problem with control when it comes to sweets. I made 3 dozen super delicious deep fried sugar and cinnamon covered donuts. I knew he'd have a problem, so I put 6 on a plate and hid the rest on top the fridge. I couldn't see up there, therefore no one can see up there, right? HA!!!

After I went to bed that evening, Sweet Hubby ate the 'hidden' donuts. All of them. He was pretty sick the next day. I was extremely upset-more with myself than him. Of course, I should have thought of it! On top the fridge is eye level for him.

I learned my lesson. I hide things in the bottom cupboard now. He won't bend over all the way down to the floor to look for something.

Sometimes he complains cos I hardly ever clean the top of the fridge. I tell him I can't see it, therefore it doesn't exist. If he has a problem, the sponge is right there by the sink. That's how I clean the top of the fridge. Heh heh........

You can keep your red roses. I'll take the purple ones. Sweet Hubby got me these for our anniversary.



I got him a box of chocolates. Girls aren't the only ones who love them. We went out to dinner too. No place fancy this time. Sweet Hubby was in the mood for Fish n Chips. So we went to O'Malley's Sports Pub and Grill right here in Rathdrum. Sweet Hubby says they have the best Fish n Chips in the universe. I don't eat Fish n Chips so I'll take his word for it. I had the Country Fried Steak, with garlic mashed potatoes----mmmmmmm.....mashed potatoes.

Last, but not least, I've finished Franks brown socks.



Pattern: My basic sock pattern with 7x1 rib, and the Eye of Partridge heel.
Yarn: Fearless Fibers 100% Superwash Merino Sock in the Sublime colorway.
Needles: Circular size 2
Size: Mens medium.

My new Mens size sock blockers arrived yesterday, just in time. I'll give the socks to him tonight.

Have a great day.

2/21/08

It's Our Anniversary

Today Sweet Hubby and I have been married for 26 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas M. Park, February 21, 1982


A mutual friend of ours (Thanks Greg) introduced us to each other because he knew both of us were looking for someone to marry and he had this crazy idea that we might like each other. Boy, was he right!

Hey Sweety! Thanks for asking me to marry you. Saying yes was the best decision I've made in my life. You are a wonderful husband and I love you with all my heart.

Have a great day!

2/20/08

Spirals Deux

It was a good time at bead group yesterday, and I got some things done.

First, there's the Pink Dutch Spiral. I started it last December for a class I was going to be teaching, but the class ended up being canceled, so I took my time finishing it.


Lets see, I used the following beads in the dutch part:

4mm cranberry ab Druks
Size 8 silver lined a/b pink hex
Size 8 silver lined pale pink seeds
Size 11 pink seeds
Delicas in pale transparent pink

The strap is size 11 pink seeds and pale transparent pink Delicas. There's a couple 12mm pink crystals between the spiral and the strap. The clasp is a Bali Silver toggle.

Next is a bracelet done in Double Spiral stitch. The picture does not do it justice. It's much more lustrous and rich looking in real life. It picks up the light and sparkles and glitters.

Beads used:

Spiral 1- 4mm round Tiger Eye (a semiprecious stone), size 11 Japanese seeds in white lined light topaz.

Spiral 2- 4mm light topaz bicone crystals and size 11 Japanese seeds in gold lustre (with real gold on them)

Clasp- Gold plated toggle.

One of the cool things about Ravelry is you get the news of whats happening in the Fiber world. This week announcements were made about the launch of two new Knitting E-zines.

The Inside Loop
Published by some UK gals, I really like the look of it. The web site is well designed and the patterns are very nice. There are good technical articles and it has a real magazine feel to it. I'll be visiting this one often.

MetaPostModernKnitting
This E-zine is more trendy. I think it'll be great for the younger knitters. Personally, I'm more into the classic styles so I doubt I'll find very many patterns for my use, but I do like the fashion forecast articles. It's nice to know what the trends are going to be in the near future.

Check them out. I think you'll find them interesting.

Have a great day.

2/19/08

I Was a Crow in a Former Life

Wow! The sun is shining, the sky is so blue, and the snow is melting! Can't complain about that. We're under 3 feet of it in the yard. However, it's not melting too fast. Local folks were worried that all this 40F degree weather was gonna cause a big melt and flooding. The nights are nice and cold though, so that isn't happening (if you consider 25F 'nice').

I had a successful trip to the Beyond Beads Gallery yesterday. I found what I needed, bought some 'I want', and managed to get out of there for less than 100 bucks! It's a dangerous place for me to visit, so I don't go unless I really need to. (In other words, the local bead shops don't have what I need.) Just getting past the 'Wall of Crystals' is agony. All that glorious sparkling color.....I didn't make it this time-sigh. I'm now the proud owner of some purple sparkle. I did manage to stay out of reach of the strands of 'Grabbing Pearls' and I succeeded in talking myself out of the $22 tube of real gold lined crystal seed beads (They were SO gorgeous!), though I let myself carry them around for awhile. Sometimes I wonder if I was a crow in a former life. I am so turned on by sparkles and glitter.

I have finished the heel on the sock and I'm working my way along the gusset. Should have it done sometime this next week.

Today I have bead group. I'm planning on working on a double spiral project I started a couple weeks ago. I'm planning a new class subject.

Have a great day.

2/18/08

Increases with a Purple Twist

This is where I am on the Baby Surprise jacket at the moment.


Here's a close up of the problem. The arrow is pointing at one of the holes created by the Elizabeth Zimmerman increase-which consists of making a backward loop around the needle on each side of the central stitch. Period. Easy to do, but not making me happy. Prone to holes.

Every row looked like that before I ripped them out. Just above the hole are a couple rows where I did the Lifted increases, also known as Make 1, right leaning on the right of the center stitch, left leaning on the left of the center stitch. Better, but still not quite what I had in mind.

Above that I tried the knitting into the front and back increases. I really like how that looks. Absolutely NO holes. Matches the decrease section perfectly. Exactly what I have in mind. So, now that I've figured that out I should be able to make some progress. Gotta frog the experimental rows first. No holes allowed where they don't belong!

I am to the heel on the second of Franks brown socks. I would have had it done last night (the heel, not the whole sock) but when I started it my mind went completely blank on how to do the Eye of Partridge heel. I could not remember where I put the instructions for said heel, so, I put it away and went to bed. Found my instructions this morning (on the coffee table, right in front of me-sigh).

The bead crochet class I taught Saturday went excellently. Not only did my students go home knowing how to do bead crochet, they went home addicted to it. Mwhaa haa haa haaaaaaa.... My evil plan is working...oh wait! I didn't say that last sentence.

My finished Purple Twist necklace.


It's 26 inches long, so I didn't put a clasp in it. I seamed the ends invisibly so it's one continuous ropey spiral. This is a 6-bead rope. Each round is 3 silver lined purple size 8 beads, 1 size 10 amethyst Charlotte, 1 size 8 matte tan a/b bead, and 1 size 10 amethyst Charlotte. I strung them on black size 12 perle cotton and crocheted with slip stitch, on a size 12 hook.



If I were to do it over again, I think I'd rethink using black thread. It is so darn hard for my 40+ year old eyes to see.

I am now officially done with my purple swap items. I've decided 4 is enough (we can do up to five). I was thinking about whipping up some Cellini earrings, but I'm wanting to bead with some other color besides purple.

I worked a bit on my book over the weekend. It's never gonna get done if I don't work on it, so I've told myself to quite fooling around and get to work. After I post this I'm heading to Spokane in search of size 1 bugle beads for the current design I'm writing up. I foolishly gave the original bag to my sister-in-law for Christmas (what was I thinking!) and now I don't have it to refer to, and I can't find the notes--assuming I even wrote any. So I have to reknit the whole thing from scratch.

Have a great day!

2/16/08

Beating the Winter Blues

When you are only 8 inches tall, 3 to 4 feet of snow can be really really depressing. So, to beat the winter blues, one must be creative. Being their mothers fur kids, mine are very creative. Case in point: I was putting some groceries away.

Silver, why are you so interested in that bag?



Ah ha!


Mom, do you mind?


I got the crocheting done on the rope. All I need to do is sew the ends together. Will be doing that for the class I'm teaching today, since they will be needing to know that to finish their bangle bracelets.

I am not lonely now. Daughter Ruth came home for the weekend. Sarah is home from her trip too. The three of us went to Toro Viejo for dinner (a nice little Mexican restaurant in our town-owned by actual Mexicans. The food is great!), my treat. It was wonderful spending some time with my daughters. I really enjoy them now, all grown up. We can have real conversations.

After dinner we came home and watched Hello Dolly with Barbara Streisand and ate Coconut Cream Pie. Wow, can that woman sing! And you can not watch that movie and walk away feeling blue. Just what we needed-since it was snowing and we weren't happy about it. (I am so SICK of snow!)

I've made some progress on the second of Franks brown socks-halfway through the leg. I've come to a stand still on the Baby Surprise jacket, mostly because I do not like the way the increases are done. Elizabeth Zimmerman's method looks sloppy to me. It's making unsightly holes both sides of the stitch the increases are on. I'm researching and experimenting to find something I like better. I've knit and frogged the same 10 rows more times than I care to think about. It's sticky cos you have to do 2 increases at once, one on each side of a stitch, and I want it to look nice. I'm just picky that way.

Have a great day.

2/14/08

Lavender Petals



Happy Valentines Day!


I was reading blogs and came across another fun but silly thing. Couldn't resist. Had to find out the film rating for my blog. I love the reason it gave me the G rating. Hee hee!!!!




This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

  • fart (1x)

I have also finished a bracelet. (Yes, that's my hairy arm.)


I made this for the purple bead swap I've spoken of before. It is made with size 11 Japanese seed beads in 2 shades of light purple and some pale lavender 4mm Czech firepolish crystals. The pattern for this little beauty is in the December 2006 issue of Bead and Button Magazine. It is the Russian Snake stitch with some picots added.

I've got one more project to finish for the swap and then I'm done. I am working on a bead crochet rope necklace. I am going to put the pressure on myself to finish the crocheting by Friday night because I have a class to teach on the subject on Saturday and I'd love to take it with me for a sample.

Well, the boys need their toenails clipped, so we're off to the groomers. Tommy won't let me near him with clippers in my hand, but he'll let total strangers do it. What's with that?

Have a great day.

2/13/08

In Transparent Pink

Okay, has anyone seen my glass of ice tea? I set it down somewhere in the house and can't remember where.

Oh, never mind. Found it.

I have finished another beading project. I started it last September when I did the cabochon. Yesterday I finished the necklace part. It's just simple 3-bead netting with a peyote toggle.


Here's a close up of the necklace part. I used seed beads in Czech size 11 pink transparent and Japanese size 15 pink with a red lining. I wore it yesterday and got lots of compliments. That helped to blow up my ego. Heh heh. By the way, that adorable little jewelry box in the above picture is a birthday gift from my friend Sally.



I also neglected to mention last week that I have posted a new bead knitting pattern on my Beadknitter Patterns site. It's called the Dragon Banner Necklace. Here's a pic.---->

It's a pretty simple pattern that I came up with cos it was easier than doing the same in peyote-at least, at the time. I could do it in peyote now with my hands tied behind my back-figuratively speaking. You'll have to visit the site to see what I'm talking about.

I am a bit lonely. Sweet Hubby left for Orlando, Florida yesterday on a business trip. He's gone to a kitchen show I think. Or is it a building show? I don't know-some kind of trade show architects are likely to be skulking around so they can try and sell their software to them. He took Frank with him (daughters boyfriend-that-I-want-for-a-son-in-law). His brother, Dan, is with them too. I don't know about the wisdom of sending those 3 to Orlando together. I hope there's a chaperon.

Sarah (daughter I want to marry Frank) left on a business trip to the University of Idaho/Washington State University the same day. She's attending their various job fairs being held this week to recruit possible new summer interns and employees.

So I'm eating dinner alone the rest of the week. Sigh. I miss them.

Have a good day.

2/10/08

One Down

One to go. The first of Franks 7x1 rib socks.



No I haven't woven in that last end yet. I had this crazy idea I might be able to figure out how to get a perfectly matched pair, colorwise. HA! Sometimes I crack myself up! That only works with self patterning yarns.

We are having major snow melting weather today. Hurray!!!!!!!! In addition, Sweet Hubby dug out the tractor. This is what it looked like a few days ago.



Yup! There's a fairly good sized tractor under that snow. Just the roof was showing. We bought it, ostensibly, for snow removal purposes when we first moved into this house because in north Idaho you are responsible for keeping your own driveway clear and we have a long driveway. But 3 years ago it developed serious mechanical problems making it almost useless. We looked into getting it repaired, discovered it was gonna be expensive and a major hassle getting the parts we needed. We really couldn't afford it at the time. The snow was coming down thick, and a snow blower would be a quicker and cheaper solution. I never intended for it to be a permanent solution.

Basically, with the snowblower--assuming he doesn't have to spend an hour or two repairing it first, it takes about 2.5 hours to blow the snow out of the driveway and parking area. When using the tractor, it took 30 to 45 minutes. Sweet Hubby has been getting up in the morning, spending 2 hours blowing snow, going to work, coming home and spending 2 hours blowing snow, eating dinner, going to bed. Not what I'd call a fun life right now. If he could use the tractor, he'd have some fun time. Sweet Hubby has finally seen the logic of my thinking. He got the tractor out-a major digging job- and got it running this weekend. It's not up to it's usual operating standards, but it's at least usable. A good step in the right direction. Next, finding and buying parts.

Tommy sez "Did someone say lunch?"



Have a good day.

2/8/08

Weird Humor Test

Well, I'll be darned! It's actually warming up toward the 40F degrees today. The wind is blowing pretty hard too, from the south. A genuine pineapple express! If that doesn't melt the snow, nothing will. It's supposed to be warm for an entire week! That would be fantastic because next week Sweet Hubby has to go on a business trip. The last thing I need is more snow.

I had a great day yesterday. I met with some of my friends for lunch at Tomato Street. They had birthday goodies for me. I feel so loved! They got me two little blooming plants-an African Violet (one of my favorites) and a nice bright yellow Kalanchoe. Also a small box of really really good chocolates, and the cutest little tiny wood jewelry box. Phyllis bought me a dessert-cherry cheesecake. My friend knows me. Heh heh. Thanks gals! It was a wonderful surprise. I so enjoy our monthly lunches together.

Got a guy coming over this afternoon to look at our tv. Since Sweet Hubby has a nice new plasma big screen tv, we don't need our Hitachi rear projection large screen tv anymore. It's been sitting in the middle of the room, in the traffic path, behind the couch, ever since we brought the new tv home. I've put an ad in the Nickelsworth in hope of selling it. The ad came out yesterday. Got 3 guys interested so far. Let the feeding frenzy begin! Mwaaaaa ha ha ha.....

While following one of the web rings (I'm forgetting which one) in the sidebar there, I came across a fun Silly Test. You know-one of those unscientific tests that probably have no bearing on real life but are so darn fun to take. I'm sharing the results cos they turned out to be pretty accurate. Besides, I have no WIP pictures or FO's to share, so I'm in need of blog fodder.

The 3 Variable Funny Test

Your Score: the Ham

(42% dark, 57% spontaneous, 36% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | LIGHT


Your style's goofy, innocent and feel-good. Perfect for parties and for the dads who chaperone them. You can actually get away with corny jokes, and I bet your sense of humor is a guilty pleasure for your friends. People of your type are often the most approachable and popular people in their circle. Your simple & silly good-naturedness is immediately recognizable, and it sets you apart in this sarcastic world.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Will Ferrell - Will Smith



Have a great day!

2/7/08

Best Birthday Ever

Look what Sweet Hubby got me!



Purple roses! It's the first time I can remember him ever getting me anything for my birthday. My daughter took us out to dinner to the Outback Steakhouse too. Mmmmm...Bloomin' Onion, Wallaby Darn (A peach flavored drink), steak with sauted mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, and tossed salad. It's the best birthday I've ever had. I still can't believe he actually got me flowers. Not cheapo grocery store flowers either. These were delivered by a real florist. Gorgeous! Thank you Sweet Hubby!

There is a question in yesterdays comments that I'd like to answer:

" the socks looks really soft, are you knitting a man's pattern or are you modifying a woman's"

It's just a basic sock pattern. They're all pretty much knit basically the same. Man socks are such because you've chosen a manly color, a manly stitch pattern, and made them big enough to fit on a manly foot. I could take the same pattern and knit it up in my raspberry/hot pink variegated hand dyed merino that I got last summer, in a smaller size, and call them woman socks.

We still have 44 inches of snow. It warms up and melts a couple inches during the day, then it snows at night and replaces whats melted. Last night we had about 4 inches of new snow. It's already melted off back down to the 44 inches. There's a rumor that we're supposed to get up into the 40'sF over the weekend. We're hoping that happens. If it doesn't, we're gonna have to shovel the snow off the roof again.

I've found some blogs that make me laugh that I'd like to recommend for your reading pleasure.

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks
Misinterpreting bad punctuation since 2005

Passive Aggressive Notes.com
Described by it's owner as painfully polite and hilariously hostile writings from shared spaces the world over.

Crummy Church Signs
Critical analysis of critically bad church signs.

Have a great day.

2/6/08

Happy Birthday to Me...

It's my birthday!

Hurray! Another year of life lived. How cool is that? Here's to the next year of my life, may I relish every minute of it.

Making progress on Frank's sock. I've taken pics of both sides so you could see the color changes. The dark "S" on the right side is actually shades of dark green, rather than black. What's really interesting is the socks are knitting up lighter in color than the yarn looked like in ball form. The lighter peaches and golds are really showing. Frank really likes them-so far.


I've added a strand of 2/24 charcoal grey machine knitting yarn in the heel to reinforce it, which is why it's darker. I did the Eye of Partridge heel just to try it out. I like it a lot. It looks cool in variegated yarn.


I've come to realize I need to get another set of sock blockers. Frank's foot is bigger than mine, so the Ladies Medium blockers I have are not going to cut it. After posting this I'm off to Chappy's ebay shop to order some.

Silver has been having a rough time this winter. He's in his 14th year of life now and it's showing. He's moving really slow (we suspect arthritis in his back) and spending large amounts of time on the couch, snoozing. He doesn't want to go outside at all. He also wants to snooze in my lap-which is new behavior. It used to be a rare and privileged occasion for him to grant me a lap sit. We've come to an understanding he and I. He can snooze in my lap if he lets me knit while at it. It's been really nice for the both of us.

For my birthday, Silver let me take this photo.




Have a great day.

2/3/08

It's My Birthday Week

In case you're wondering (I know Marguerite is), this is the first official day of my birthday week. I celebrate for a whole week. You do that when you've been as close to death as I have. Suddenly, life is so much more important, and should be celebrated. My birthday is actually on the 6th. I'll be 49. This is my last year of middle age. My last year of being younger than dirt (as my BIL Chet would say). My daughter says it's my last year of not being old. Thanks Sarah. It also means I've lived one year longer than my mother did. I'm really happy about that. She comes from a long line of short lifers. My Dad, on the other hand, comes from a long lifer line. I'm hoping I got his genes in that department. So far, so good. I'm definitely a lot healthier than my Mom's line is at this age.

February is also the month our wedding anniversary falls in. The 21st to be precise. Coming up on our 26th year. I consider my marriage to Doug to be the very very best decision I've made my entire life. So it's a reason to celebrate too.

For the time being, the snow is under control. We actually didn't have to shovel or blow yesterday, or today.

The sun is shining. I'm laughing at the groundhog cos there's no way he could have come out of his hole with 44 inches of snow sitting on top of it (our official yard measurement according to Sweet Hubby). We'll be lucky to see the ground by April. Hubby says he thinks it'll take 'til June to melt (but then, he's feeling oppressed by it all at the moment.) Another good thing about February is it marks over halfway through winter. From here on out it's all downhill to spring.

Progress is slow but steady on Franks socks. I'm really liking how this yarn is knitting up. The colors are so pretty. Besides the browns, there's burgundy, wine, plum, gold, peach, and even a bit of grey and deep green-though none of that is showing up in the pic.



I have some BFO's to show off.

Some what I call Indian style earrings (I can do that, I'm part Chippewa). Brick stitch with fringe. I'm teaching a class on these this month.


This is a necklace I just finished last Tuesday. I started it months ago-October I think, right after I finished the bracelet that goes with it. It got set on a back burner for some unknown reason. Anyway, I used some burgundy dyed freshwater pearls and some matte tan ab silver lined size 11 seed beads. The pattern is a variation on Chevron stitch with the pearls and right angle weave in the thinner part. I used a copper toggle for the clasp. Darn, the picture does not do this set justice. The colors are much richer in real life.


Today is Super Bowl Sunday. We have family coming over to watch the game with us. Every year we have a little Super Bowl party and watch the game. I find it rather funny cos it's the ONLY football game we watch the whole year. As a rule, we don't like to watch football, but Sweet Hubby has to watch this game. So I better get cooking. I'm making healthy snackin' food for the occasion.

Have a good day.

2/1/08

Fridays Feast 2/1/08

Appetizer

What is your favorite kind of cereal?

For the most part I don't like cereal, but if I have to eat it then make it oatmeal with lots of brown sugar and cinnamon.


Soup
When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go?

That would be the new plasma wide screen tv I got Sweet Hubby for Christmas. It's in the living room.


Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen?

There isn't a specific one that comes to mind, but I'm really enjoying the Apple Mac commercials with the PC guy.


Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey).

The Turmeric Rhino


Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t ___been single___ since ___1982___.



Have a great day.