31 October, 2008

Happy Halloween

May your holiday be full of frightful delights and loads of candy!

Wet and rainy out today. So glad my kiddos are grown and I don't need to do the "trick or treat" thing any longer. Of course, we did start a bit of a tradition once they hit 11 or 12. We would go out for pizza, rent some movies, come home and pop up a huge bowl of pop corn and shut out the lights and settle in for a long night of movies. We started doing this when Ellora, the dog (rottie) we had at that time, decided that she really, really didn't like the hordes of kids in costumes coming to our door any longer. She was about 6 years old at the time. She loved all people as a general rule... just not in costume... or hats of any kind for that matter.

Knit night this evening... YEA! Gonna be a mess getting out of the neighborhood with all the ghoulies and gobblins running rampant through the streets tho, so will probably head out early. Reminder to self to bring some easy knit in the dark kind of stuff for the wait in the car.

Stay warm and dry and Drive Safe!

19 October, 2008

Almost finished



I have to admit the first hour was fun. Then the experience went downhill from there. I have decided that I don't really like to paint celings. I don't like to "tape in", and I didn't like removing the waniscoting. Walls I didn't mind painting however.

The color on the right side of the photo shows the olive green 'baby turtle" color correctly. I couldn't get the color on the top half "flowering herb" of the wall to show up properly... it is a very light green. The area on the right looks a bit greyish... but it isn't really. (flash too close to the wall I think) I re-painted the celing with the "flowering herb" today, I didn't like the pale yellow with the greens in reality. They looked good together on the color cards tho. Will use the remainder of the yellow in the laundry room, should have plenty. Was planning on yellow in there anyway. I think that it needs to be a bright and cheerful color since I don't really like doing laundry.

I still need to rip out the toilet and get the wall paper off of that one bitty section behind said toilet and then wash and paint. Have to wash and then re-put up the wainscoting and it will be done. I have decided to wait till the hubby comes home before ripping out the toilet. I don't want it to be my fault if it breaks. :-) I'll get the wainscoting washed and ready but I think that I will let him put that back up as well.

Finished knitting 3 items. Yea! Two hats for a charity knit and a pair of baby socks for a young lady at my Thrusday night group. Trying not to cast anything else on. I still have way too many items to finish. So far I have been good... we will see how long this lasts.

14 October, 2008

Spinning

I'm going to a spinning guild meeting tonight with a Knitterly Friend.

I have been spinning for a few years now... though by no means on a regular basis. I have an on again off again relationship with my spinning. As in I walk past my spinning wheel (a babe double tredle production model) and or spindles (I have 3 drop spindles and 1 turkish spindle currently) and will think I need to sit and spin a spell... granted, some times I do, and sometimes it's just a thought. I do however keep buying Fleece and Roving and show no signs of slowing that process any more than I could give up buying yarn that takes my fancy.

I can spin a decent yarn, and I enjoy knitting with my hand spun. I also know enough to realize that there is so much more that I don't know. And those thoughts make me want to learn a bit more.

For instance: How to make a yarn for a specific project, instead of spinning the yarn and deciding what to make based on what I have spun. How to recognize when I am mucking it up and how to fix it before I totally screw it up. (Fiber is expensive if you muck it up; I can almost always justify the expense if I get a usable object). How to spin a lace weight... tho I think that I can do this with silk, but not wool or at least I don't think that I can. How to spin a 3 ply sock weight.

I am thinking that if I enjoy tonight, and I am reasonably sure that I will, that this will give me that extra little push towards my wheel (or spindles) just a bit more often. And you know what they say about Practice. I also need to move my wheel back out to the main room as there isn't room in the "Yarn Room" for spinning. I can store it there... but no room to sit in there and have the wheel in front of me. Yet. One of these days. Of course keeping the wheel in the main room has issues attached to it as well. I moved it to the "Room" in the first place because the dog is allergic to wool, tho he doesn't usually bother my knitting and spinning so I might bring it back out and cover it with a drop cloth and see if that will work.

Well, have to get away from the computer and get ready to go if I am going... and I am... so that means stuff to do before I can go play. Like Laundry and Dishes and Vaccuming. Some times (like now) I don't want to be a responsible adult. But a balance is good, tho I do think sometimes that work gets in the way of play. Ah well... that's a rant for another place and time.

Happy knitting!

07 October, 2008

Book Signing in Seattle

The drive to Seattle... Lake Forest Park looked a bit like this. Cold, wet, grey and rainy. Perfect for knitting. The trip to Third Place Books took me a little over an hour.










This was the occassion:










A wonderful talk and reading from her current book. Much laughter. Many people.













And till this point in the evening a perfect ending to my day... then I turned my cell phone back on and listened to my messages and returned some calls. One of my co-workers had been found in his room.

Dead.

Just a young fellow. About the same age as my own kids, mid 20's.

Life is short. Tell those you know and love that you do indeed love them.

05 October, 2008

Photos and stuff


From my eldest child on Friday... my birthday









What I did Saturday afternoon... Yellow socks for hubby and bruised pink for me.









What I started doing last night. Half of the room is stripped... can't quit now. :-) Have to find the paint sample that I picked out a few years ago. I procrastinate a bit.



Happy knitting

03 October, 2008

A knitting kind of day

My Favorite!

Finished the sleeve of the Mexacali Baby in the Opal Tiger this morning. Have to pick up the neck stitches still and knit that up as well as sewing up the side seams. So still a bit to go on that.

Went to The Lamb's Ear , my LYS and knit there for a few hours today. Had the dog with me, he stayed out in the car tho. :-) He didn't want to stay home alone this morning. worked on the Lilly's little Jacket while I was there. I had ripped out the neck ribbing the other day as I had made a mistake, and what ever I was doing, it certainly wasn't a K1 P1 rib. That's all fixed now and am an inch or so past my idiot spot. Also cast on for that other project... The Braided Cardigan. It is knit virtually in one piece with very little seaming. I am using Cascade 220 in a brownish color. Will get it put up on Ravellry one of these days... complete with color numbers etc. Scored yarn for 3 pairs of socks and another "tank/shell" type of top as well. yummy fiber! The shopping for yarn from a gift certificate from a very good friend who's birthday is Sunday.

I will be heading back for Knit Night in about an hour. Like I said it was a knitting kind of day. Now I just wish that the yarn shop was a little bit closer.

Happy Knitting!