Anyone have any suggestions for a car that doesn't cost too much, is automatic, good gas mileage, and is reliable? My car has bitten the dust and I need to get Mom's car back to her sometime.
In knitting news, I started my cousin's gift on Sunday, finished half of it, didn't work on it at all yesterday, worked on it this morning and am almost 75% through it (not counting all of the finishing). I love small projects!
In sewing news, I'm planning on making cloth shopping bags for Christmas presents. This morning I realized that I am an idiot and that I sewed the wrong pieces together and that is why they didn't look right. So after I finish homework tonight I will pick all of them apart and fix them. Next time I am paying closer attention!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Bad Blogger!
I've really been sporadic recently with my posting. I think it is the time of the year because I've been working on Christmas presents. Most of the people for whom I am making gifts probably don't read this blog but just in case, I don't want to post pictures of any of the projects. And having no pictures doesn't make for a very interesting post does it?
The week before Thanksgiving, Mom, Dad and I spent our free time frantically cleaning to get ready for our holiday guests. In addition, Mom made as much food ahead of time as it was humanly possible. Because one of my cousins is staying in my room, that meant it desperately needed to be cleaned. I have to confess that the last time it was clean was when I got back from England in August. I've just been throwing stuff in there then shutting the door really quickly. Well, last week I finally cleaned. Went through tons of junk mail, folded the clean laundry again and put it away, dusted, vacuumed, stacked the yarn and roving in the corner, hid all of the WIP bags (my ravelry page lies, I have so many more WIPs than I thought) so it wouldn't scare people, moved my desk around, put in the bed for my cousin and then contemplated cleaning off the aforementioned desk. As I was cleaning, I found a birthday present for a friend. Her birthday was in July. Hmmmmm.
So I packed that gift up, some things I had gotten for her in England, and her Christmas gift. While I was at it, I packed up Christmas gifts for another friend. Then yesterday Dad was running to the post office to mail another package so I gave mine to him. Ha! The day after Thanksgiving and I already have 2 presents sent out. I feel so smug that someone should really slap me.
Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. My aunt, uncle and two cousins (along with their dog) came to Ohio for the holiday. It's been tons of fun having everyone here. We've been playing board games and Wii games every night. Dad really got into the Cow Racing game. I took my cousins out to the barn yesterday and we rode the horses. Care was on Bo, Drew on Java, and I rode Capone. Java really looks thrilled when he is getting ridden. Callie hung out at the barn and waited patiently for everyone to get back.
We had a really good Thanksgiving dinner. We ate at 6 pm because another relative and her husband couldn't make it before 5. It was a very full house with all of the family and friends! Mom and Aunt Judy really pulled out all of the stops with the food production. Tons of Red Hot Apples, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. etc. I think we have more desserts than people. Soooooo many wonderful pies. I bought 2 (pumpkin and sweet potato) pies from a friend's husband. The sweet potato is absolutely wonderful.
In knitting news (non-Christmas presents), I started a Forest Canopy Shawl out of acrylic yarn that I found while cleaning my room. Seriously, I have no idea where this yarn came from. It just appeared in the one stash basket. There were 2 1/2 balls of it so I had enough for a very good sized shawl. Also in the clean-up, I found another Forest Canopy Shawl (that is what inspired the making of the second) made from acrylic which was the first shawl and first lace project that I had made. This shawl was a practice shawl so I could get used to the pattern and making lace before I made the pattern out of mohair. I just never blocked the acrylic shawl because there was a mistake in it and because, later when I knew something about lace, I really didn't like the finished project. As we all know, acrylic doesn't block well. So I did a bad thing and took both of these Forest Canopies out to the ironing board. Then I ironed the suckers and killed the acrylic so it would stay open. I actually managed to make the mistake mostly disappear in the blocking. That shawl might become a Christmas present if I start running out of time.
How does it sneak up every year?
The week before Thanksgiving, Mom, Dad and I spent our free time frantically cleaning to get ready for our holiday guests. In addition, Mom made as much food ahead of time as it was humanly possible. Because one of my cousins is staying in my room, that meant it desperately needed to be cleaned. I have to confess that the last time it was clean was when I got back from England in August. I've just been throwing stuff in there then shutting the door really quickly. Well, last week I finally cleaned. Went through tons of junk mail, folded the clean laundry again and put it away, dusted, vacuumed, stacked the yarn and roving in the corner, hid all of the WIP bags (my ravelry page lies, I have so many more WIPs than I thought) so it wouldn't scare people, moved my desk around, put in the bed for my cousin and then contemplated cleaning off the aforementioned desk. As I was cleaning, I found a birthday present for a friend. Her birthday was in July. Hmmmmm.
So I packed that gift up, some things I had gotten for her in England, and her Christmas gift. While I was at it, I packed up Christmas gifts for another friend. Then yesterday Dad was running to the post office to mail another package so I gave mine to him. Ha! The day after Thanksgiving and I already have 2 presents sent out. I feel so smug that someone should really slap me.
Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. My aunt, uncle and two cousins (along with their dog) came to Ohio for the holiday. It's been tons of fun having everyone here. We've been playing board games and Wii games every night. Dad really got into the Cow Racing game. I took my cousins out to the barn yesterday and we rode the horses. Care was on Bo, Drew on Java, and I rode Capone. Java really looks thrilled when he is getting ridden. Callie hung out at the barn and waited patiently for everyone to get back.
We had a really good Thanksgiving dinner. We ate at 6 pm because another relative and her husband couldn't make it before 5. It was a very full house with all of the family and friends! Mom and Aunt Judy really pulled out all of the stops with the food production. Tons of Red Hot Apples, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. etc. I think we have more desserts than people. Soooooo many wonderful pies. I bought 2 (pumpkin and sweet potato) pies from a friend's husband. The sweet potato is absolutely wonderful.
In knitting news (non-Christmas presents), I started a Forest Canopy Shawl out of acrylic yarn that I found while cleaning my room. Seriously, I have no idea where this yarn came from. It just appeared in the one stash basket. There were 2 1/2 balls of it so I had enough for a very good sized shawl. Also in the clean-up, I found another Forest Canopy Shawl (that is what inspired the making of the second) made from acrylic which was the first shawl and first lace project that I had made. This shawl was a practice shawl so I could get used to the pattern and making lace before I made the pattern out of mohair. I just never blocked the acrylic shawl because there was a mistake in it and because, later when I knew something about lace, I really didn't like the finished project. As we all know, acrylic doesn't block well. So I did a bad thing and took both of these Forest Canopies out to the ironing board. Then I ironed the suckers and killed the acrylic so it would stay open. I actually managed to make the mistake mostly disappear in the blocking. That shawl might become a Christmas present if I start running out of time.
How does it sneak up every year?
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Terry Pratchett
He spins! Owns 2 spinning wheels and had made his own drop spindle! And knits his own socks!!!! (And what does using 4 quotations mean, Pratchett fans?) I <3 Discworld and its author.
Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax
Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax
You are Granny Weatherwax! The most powerful witch on the Disc! You often use headology rather than actual spells, and are a very good witch, despite the fact that you sometimes wish you were a bad one. You play a mean game of Cripple Mr. Onion, and have a very powerful stare. By the way, you should really get that broom fixed!
Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax | 69% | ||
Carrot Ironfounderson | 69% | ||
Lord Havelock Vetinari | 56% | ||
The Librarian | 56% | ||
Gytha (Nanny) Ogg | 56% | ||
Greebo | 56% | ||
Death | 50% | ||
Commander Samuel Vimes | 31% | ||
Rincewind | 25% | ||
Cohen The Barbarian | 13% |
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Pushing Daisies
If you haven't seen it yet, Pushing Daisies is on ABC. It airs Wednesdays at 8 pm in my area at least.
The show is hysterical, Jim Dale (narrator of the Harry Potter books) narrates it, and the private detective knits. He has made himself a very nice sweater vest and some very fetching gun cosies. Seriously, watch this show. I'm going to miss it tonight for the spinning guild meeting, though. So I'll have to watch it later. Just keep your fingers crossed that the writer's strike ends soon because there won't be any new episodes after Thanksgiving. I don't know if I will be able to stand that!
The show is hysterical, Jim Dale (narrator of the Harry Potter books) narrates it, and the private detective knits. He has made himself a very nice sweater vest and some very fetching gun cosies. Seriously, watch this show. I'm going to miss it tonight for the spinning guild meeting, though. So I'll have to watch it later. Just keep your fingers crossed that the writer's strike ends soon because there won't be any new episodes after Thanksgiving. I don't know if I will be able to stand that! Catalog hatred
Have I mentioned how much I hate my library's catalog? Because it is awful. Seriously.
I'm trying to find one of the Gifts in a Jar books, the one with the one dish meals. Because I don't really want to buy it, I wanted to see if the library had a copy first. So I search by the title "Gifts in a Jar" because that is the title of the entire series, every book starts with those 4 words. I discovered that we only have 1 book and it is for making cookies. OK, fine. I do some more searching around (Subject Browse, Cookery: See Also Home Economics; Subject Browse, Gifts; Author searches). (By the way, these books are listed under one corporate author on one site and a completely different one on other sites.) I find after numerous searches and looks at bibliographic records that there are 2 more books in the Gifts in a Jar series in the library catalog. Do these books start with the title "Gifts in a Jar"? NO, of course not! That would be simple! I have no idea where the titles that are in the catalog actually came from because they aren't listed in the bibliographic information on any other website! Is the book that starts with the title "Gifts in a Jar" listed under the series "Gifts in a Jar"? NO! Does this make sense to anyone?! My eye is seriously twitching now.
Oh, and the 2 books? Neither of them were the one dish meals. All that work for nothing. I'm going to half.com. OK, my rant is over.
I'm trying to find one of the Gifts in a Jar books, the one with the one dish meals. Because I don't really want to buy it, I wanted to see if the library had a copy first. So I search by the title "Gifts in a Jar" because that is the title of the entire series, every book starts with those 4 words. I discovered that we only have 1 book and it is for making cookies. OK, fine. I do some more searching around (Subject Browse, Cookery: See Also Home Economics; Subject Browse, Gifts; Author searches). (By the way, these books are listed under one corporate author on one site and a completely different one on other sites.) I find after numerous searches and looks at bibliographic records that there are 2 more books in the Gifts in a Jar series in the library catalog. Do these books start with the title "Gifts in a Jar"? NO, of course not! That would be simple! I have no idea where the titles that are in the catalog actually came from because they aren't listed in the bibliographic information on any other website! Is the book that starts with the title "Gifts in a Jar" listed under the series "Gifts in a Jar"? NO! Does this make sense to anyone?! My eye is seriously twitching now.
Oh, and the 2 books? Neither of them were the one dish meals. All that work for nothing. I'm going to half.com. OK, my rant is over.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Garter Stitch Madness
So garter stitch can be the most wonderful thing you have ever done while you are sick. Or if you need a whole bunch of gifts really fast. I hadn't ever been bitten by the dishcloth bug until I found pictures of Amy Carpenter's Round Dishcloth on Ravelry. The short rows made the varigated yarn look so beautiful! Well, I ended up making 10 of them in 6 days. It was a little scary.
I can't wait till after Christmas to show you my plans for 4 of them. Let's just say that I have impressed even myself with the creativity with this one.
Another garter stitch project is baby bibs. I'm going to my cousin's baby shower this weekend so I'm racing to get 2 bibs done by then.
Making this one took 3 hours last night. I've now woven in the ends but still need to sew Velcro on to the tabs. The second bib should take no time at all, too.
In other news, I bought a drop spindle! I've been watching this etsy seller for a while and then they got chummed on Lime and Violet's Daily Chum. Well, I couldn't let there be a chance of them selling out of spindles, could I?
I haven't had time to play with it yet because I got sick and my coordination skills went bye bye. Can't wait though! And when I unpacked it, guess who had to "help" me with the tissue paper. I don't even know where she came from. Suddenly it was **poof** cat in the middle of the tissue paper. So helpful.
In other roving news, I couldn't resist this bag. No idea what the content is or the colorway. All I know is that it is from Louet. Oh, and that Kim is a crack dealer.
OOOOOO, pretty colors.
I can't wait till after Christmas to show you my plans for 4 of them. Let's just say that I have impressed even myself with the creativity with this one.
Another garter stitch project is baby bibs. I'm going to my cousin's baby shower this weekend so I'm racing to get 2 bibs done by then.
Making this one took 3 hours last night. I've now woven in the ends but still need to sew Velcro on to the tabs. The second bib should take no time at all, too.
In other news, I bought a drop spindle! I've been watching this etsy seller for a while and then they got chummed on Lime and Violet's Daily Chum. Well, I couldn't let there be a chance of them selling out of spindles, could I?
I haven't had time to play with it yet because I got sick and my coordination skills went bye bye. Can't wait though! And when I unpacked it, guess who had to "help" me with the tissue paper. I don't even know where she came from. Suddenly it was **poof** cat in the middle of the tissue paper. So helpful.
In other roving news, I couldn't resist this bag. No idea what the content is or the colorway. All I know is that it is from Louet. Oh, and that Kim is a crack dealer.
OOOOOO, pretty colors.
update
I feel like I haven't posted in forever! I'm really alive. I've just been sick for a week. Monday and Tuesday, I stayed home from work because I was so congested and my ear was hurting so much. Sleeping all day on Monday helped clear most of it up, thankfully. Went to the doctor yesterday and he gave me a prescription for a super powerful decongestant. Today, my throat is pretty sore but I feel soooooo much better.
Anyways, while I was sick, I did a lot of garter stitch projects but I will show you those pictures in another post. I didn't do any spinning because that was just too much to think about.
Week before last, however, I did a lot of spinning. My friend's mom sent me some nice wool roving and I spun it up as quickly as I could. I'm getting much happier with my consistency. There are far fewer uneven spots in this yarn. It came out to be 350 yards worth. What should I do with it now? I really like the tweedy effect of the two colors plied together.
I won a contest on Romancing the Yarn in the middle of October. I finally sat down and took a picture of the sock yarn. How did Barbara know which colors I would love? :) Thanks!
Anyways, while I was sick, I did a lot of garter stitch projects but I will show you those pictures in another post. I didn't do any spinning because that was just too much to think about.
Week before last, however, I did a lot of spinning. My friend's mom sent me some nice wool roving and I spun it up as quickly as I could. I'm getting much happier with my consistency. There are far fewer uneven spots in this yarn. It came out to be 350 yards worth. What should I do with it now? I really like the tweedy effect of the two colors plied together.
I won a contest on Romancing the Yarn in the middle of October. I finally sat down and took a picture of the sock yarn. How did Barbara know which colors I would love? :) Thanks!
Friday, November 02, 2007
Not dead yet!
I'm still around (though sick and have temporarily lost my voice). I just haven't posted in a while. There has been knitting (mainly dishcloths (those things are addictive and easy!)). There have been pictures but I am lazy. I haven't been riding much but am going to try to this morning. Today is also the day for a meet-up of a couple of people who were in my class in England. Of course, I have no voice so this should be fun. Blah. But I can't wait to see them! Now I'm off to make tea and find clothing so I can go ride.
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