Bring on the snow! Or at least a temperature below 78!

Hi everyone! Welcome to another week.

Oh, and Happy September!

This is one of my favorite months of the year, because of the promise of my favorite season, Autumn!

Although one doesn't see much autumn in southern GA. Palm trees don't really change colors much.

However! Should there be an influx of cold weather, I am more than prepared:

Yes, I finished the arm warmer in the pink yarn. And I actually had enough to do the other one too! This pic shows the colors really bright - they're actually more muted like the first pic.

I changed the pattern up a bit and already emailed Berroco yarns to see if they want the pattern to this one and the blue/green/teal one from last week.

Speaking of, I got the yarn for the other arm of that project - it arrived on Saturday. Allison at Supercrafty.com is so fast with shipping! Amazing. Also? Somehow accidentally some pretty green sock yarn also ended up in my checkout cart. I just can't imagine how that could happen! What a tragedy! Heh.

On other (non-knitting) topics: Had a good weekend. Went for a long drive with Noel, saw some fun stuff which I will be posting pics of later this week. Played with the kittens, and also took them to the vet. Found out that Loki is apparently a little chub ball - we thought Poe was underweight. No, actually Loki is pulling a Garfield and is a little fat. Oops.

Also, I went for a motorcycle ride with Noel on the big white motorcycle, Bertha! I learned some things:

1. 60 mph doesn't feel fast in a car, but it really does on a bike.

2. I don't like the idea of swallowing bugs.

3. I still had to try to get my cheeks to do the whole flapping in the breeze thing, despite Point #2.

4. Cheeks, no matter how big, don't flap at 60 mph.

5. Birds fly low.

6. Motorcycles are hard for short people to mount without looking like a geriatric contortionist.

Bertha and I remain merely acquaintances. Bike riding is not my thing. I wasn't overly comfortable with feeling so open and vulnerable. Also? I was afraid my contacts might blow off of my eyeballs. Not a good feeling. Might be different if I were driving, but probably not. Noel was very gentle on the bike, going around the curves slowly so I wouldn't freak. Thanks for that! But yeah - a biker chick I am not so much. Guess I can save some cash since I don't have to buy that Harley bikini now. heh.

Also? I look like a total dork in the helmet. Sersely:

Good lord.

I am perhaps delusional.

Why delusional? Because I insist upon making stuff obviously intended for cold weather, despite the fact that currently in Savannah it's approximately 542 degrees out. And yet I persist.

Y'all may recall my obsession/love for my new socks in the previous post. I had some yarn left over, so.....



Cool, huh? I designed them myself and wrote out a pattern, so we'll see - I'd love to get a few patterns published, and this might be one of the first.

I love the little teensy thumb on it:

The only problem is, I'm running dangerously low on this yarn (which I found out is Berroco Sox, in Kingston colorway, for all those who give a crap). And I only have 1 of them finished. And I am a believer in equal warmth for all arms! So I went onto http://www.supercrafty.com/ to order some more, and as always I got a confirmation immediately that my order was in process. If you ever need yarn, sersely order from Supercrafty - excellent service and you're supporting a small business that deserves it!

But alas, that yarn is at least 1-2 days away...so! In the meantime, guess what happened?

Yup. It's another arm warmer, this time out of the leftover yarn from my pink socks. Seeing a trend here? At least I'm not making these quite as long, so there's less of a chance of running out of yarn.

Now I just need to move to Vermont so I can actually wear them.

And for those of you who are concerned about progress on Rachel's sweater, please be assured that I'm working on it as my non-traveling project. I was actually traveling with it, but it's getting to be too much to pull out of my knitting bag, so it's going to be home work from now on. Socks, arm warmers and hats make great travel projects. Sweaters? Not so much. But it is progressing nicely and I hope Rachel likes it!

I started this pink arm warmer today while waiting at the doctor's office. I had to go for a follow-up exam from my cancer scare from February, and ended up waiting for about an hour in the waiting room (not the doc's fault! - I *heart* my doc!). The PAs kept apologizing, and I tried to explain that if I have my knitting bag with me, I love to wait! They didn't believe me til I started pulling out stuff to show them. I promptly was told (upon modeling my arm warmer - I am SUCH a dork!) that I was to make pairs of them for everyone in the office for Christmas. :)

On a totally unrelated note, the scariest thing about going to the doctor? Is getting weighed. Ok, I know I've plumped up a bit since The Days Of Not Eating that occurred last fall (pre-divorce). At that point I had pretty much a flat stomach! wow. Not so much anymore. But! I still think that doctor scales are about 20 lbs heavier than normal scales. I think they do this to scare the ever living crap out of you, so you think that you REALLY need to exercise and get fit, etc. I refuse to give in to the lie, and am defiant as I eat my potato chips. :)

It's rainy here again today, and is supposed to be all week. Good staying in and snuggling and petting kittens weather. If only work wouldn't get in the way!

Busy busy busy!

Happy Monday! (As if there is such a thing, even with copious amounts of coffee). Hopefully everyone had a good and safe weekend.

Mine was busy! I got a lot done: exercising (I'm working on interval training now), submitting a dress design to Burdastyle.com, cleaning, crocheting (a lot), knitting, etc.

I finished up these socks about a week ago and have just admired and gawked at them as if they were the first socks ever made. I ADORE this yarn!


Embarrassingly enough, I actually showed the off to everyone at work. Including the lady who sells us corporate branding stuff, and an interview panel for a job promotion. Yeah, I'm kinda dorky. But! They're so pretty! I love them.

Even Loki had to be in on the exciting sock action! He's my quality tester.

"Is that a twisted stitch? I'd better sniff it to be sure."

Can you see how HUGE this little guy has gotten? He's not fat, just massive! I think he's going to be well over 14 lbs when he finishes growing. I have to take them for checkups on Sunday, so we'll find out then (if I can wrangle them into the carrier). Poe is about the same size, but just much lighter. Strange.

Oh, and in case you were wondering (and I know how riveted you all were by last week's litterbox post), the kitties are doing fine with 2 boxes (both uncovered). They actually prefer the 2nd one now, as it's more private (oh geez), so now I get to rock 2 catboxes every night. But the boys are happy and spoiled, and I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

We also watched The Craft this weekend. What a fun, guilty little pleasure that movie is. hee hee. So cheeseball.

OH! And speaking of cheeseball, there's a new Sy Fy (I hate that name change) movie coming on next week, called something like Mega Shark vs. Monster Octopus (or something equally inane) and it features....Deborah Gibson! Not Debbie - she outgrew that, and apparently the side ponytail. She's now A Serious Actress who must battle a massive shark that attacks airplanes. Sersely. I HAVE to watch this.

Howdy and crafty photos

So much has been going on! Oh the craftiness. My fingers have been extremely busy lately working on all kinds of stuff (and I remembered to take pictures!). Will wonders never cease?

First, I did a little bit of clothes shopping. Now those of you who have known me for more than 93 seconds know that I am NOT fond of clothes shopping, because I'm....well, let's call it frugal. Because I am a seamstress, I HATE buying overpriced, poorly made clothing that doesn't fit me well. If I'm going to buy poorly made clothing that doesn't fit me well, it can AT LEAST be cheap. Let's hear it for the Goodwill!

I went there last week to buy a few pairs of jeans and whatever else I could find that was inspiring. I ended up buying 3 shirts and 2 pairs of jeans (at $2.50 each. wow.) Not bad. I'm having to do some work on one of the pairs of jeans, but they're Tommy Hilfiger, and also, did I mention they cost $2.50? Yeah.

I also picked up a cool shirt/sweater thing. It's really colorful and fun, and matches everything (nothing?) so it's very versatile. And the shape is flattering. I think I might use this shirt as a template for sweaters and other things I make for myself, to get the same fit. Here's what the fabric looks like:

Funky, no?

I've also been channeling my inner HGTV host and bought a $10 chair for my newly revamped sewing/writing desk. Here it is in its Old Floridian Beige glory:


I took off the cushion and started painting the frame a lovely teal color, because that's the way I roll.

Woo hoo! And because I refuse to let someone's retinas NOT sear while in my house, I covered the cushion in chartreuse velour. Voila:




Now one funny thing that came from overthinking (as many of my mistakes do): I was meticulous about not putting paint on the top of the seat of the chair, so that the fabric wouldn't stick and the paint potentially chip if I ever wanted to recover the cushion. I got into the corners and around all the visible areas well, leaving the beigy color showing on the top of the seat pieces (see above photo of the chair for clarification, or if you're bored enough).

So! Imagine my surprise when I put the cushion on, and realized that the seat cushion doesn't cover ALL of the wood of the seat pieces! Huh. For a second or 3, I actually thought somehow the paint had gotten wiped off of the back seat, and looked over my person to make sure I didn't have a big teal streak on my leg. Then I thought that it must have been sabotage. Perhaps gnomes, or evil fairies, or poltergeists (paintergeists?). Then I realized that no, I'm just a moron and didn't paint that spot.

But it's not noticeable! Really! See?


Yeah. Needless to say, that got fixed. The chair is now finished and has been used by everyone in the house, particularly Poe, who enjoys leaving black fur all over the green cushion.

I've been sewing a lot too lately - fixing Noel's work pants, modifying some jeans of mine, and making a fun baby hat for some friends who were moving (and are going to miss the SEC a LOT there in Nebraska). No pics of sewing...yet!

Next in our cavalcade of craftiness, we have knitting. I've been a sock knitting machine lately, and also terrible at the photo thing because I have a beautiful pair of new socks sitting in the drawer at home, unphotographed for posterity. Here's another pair that I'm almost finished with. This yarn is Berroco Sox, and was a birthday gift from my sister (she gave me a gift certificate to http://www.supercrafty.com/ - great site! Go buy some yarn! Or another gift certificate for me and I'll go buy some yarn!)

I'm almost finished with them, and then I need to get to work on holiday knitting, because as far as knitting timelines go, the holidays are virtually around the corner!

Speaking of holiday knitting, my sister's birthday was last week and I'm crocheting her a sweater. This yarn is gorgeous! It's some kind of eco yarn (I am so bad about yarn names!) and it's got a great luster to it. Rachel, I hope you like the color (it's a bit lighter than in this picture). The pattern is Aruna from Berroco.

I did my gauge swatch and was so pleasantly surprised to get the same gauge as the pattern. That never happens! So I happily started away, and got about 4 inches of the back (pictured above) done, when I held it up and thought "My sister is not ginormous, and yet this sweater is." The back piece, which was supposed to measure 24 inches, was coming out at around 30 inches. Um....that won't work. So I had to frog the whole thing and crochet the sweater that's 2 sizes smaller, to get the right measurements. OY. I don't know what voodoo happened between the gauge swatch and the actual sweater but WOW it was a doozy.

So!

It's coming along nicely now and measures exactly 24 inches. Go team!

Also? I like the wrong side of the fabric better so far. I asked Noel for his opinion, and he chose the wrong side as well. So I may just make that change in the pattern. :)

p.s. That's my ergonomic crochet hook, a christmas gift from a coworker. This thing is wonderful, and cuts down tremendously on the tendonitis, which severely interferes with my drinking and eating of homemade bread.

Good news! If any of you decide to collapse in a heap in my presence, I can help!



I'm official (again). This certification was through work, and lasts for 2 years, which is really nice. (The last time I got certified it was a yearly renewal, which is just...a lot to remember).

But please don't collapse on my behalf, just so I can have practice. Really.

We're watching out for Hurricane Bill down here, hoping he doesn't come for a visit. Will keep you posted!

Back to the birthday sweater now! Maybe there's some CSI or Poirot on....

Better (and worse!) living through chemistry

Sorry for the delay in blogging. I know, I know. It's been over 2 weeks! Many apologies. I do have excuses though! Let's see...

(1) Noel's kids are in town visiting, so time for blogging has been limited. (1st part true, 2nd..not really).

(2) I've been busy at work and therefore had no time for writing posts. (Ha).

(3) I've been totally uninspired. (This is true).

(4) I've been on a veritable cocktail of medications that have made me alternatively droopy, sad, angry, tired, and unconscious. (This is also true, and possibly the cause of Excuse #3).

Let's discuss chemistry for a second. Modern medicine tends to revel in medications - pills, syrups, shots, whatnot. I myself am not averse to taking pills to make myself feel better. In fact, I am known for taking Flintstone Vitamins With Iron because they seem to be the only vitamin/supplement capable of keeping my iron count at an acceptable level. Plus they taste good.

However. There comes a time when one must draw the line.

As some of you may know (here comes the TMI part) - I've been having....let's call them lady issues. Of the painful cramping/crying variety. These issues have gotten worse in the past few years, to the point where I was willing to go on medication to hopefully eradicate the root problem, which can't be confirmed without surgery (and would be treated with this same medication, so what's the point in surgery?). Anyway. My doctor put me on a daily pill for said lady issues (not getting into specifics here, but it rhymes with Baz). These pills were supposed to make me less moody.

I lost track of the number of times I cried during the month I was on these stupid pills. Sersely. I would cry at ANYTHING. Noel caught me on the computer one day looking at animal rescue shelters, fighting back tears as I read about this one Large Cat shelter who had taken in a terminally ill lion who died after a year of residing there, and how much he loved sitting under the tree, and how he at least had 1 year of his life that was full of caring and love. And I cried.

And I cried retelling this story to some coworkers a few days later.

Reminds me of a time (years ago). I was talking to my mom & sister about how depressing/morbid Disney movies can be, and they, upon not believing this hypothesis, were subjected to me telling them about how sad Dumbo is when they bring Dumbo to his mom, who's been locked away for being a mad elephant, and she puts her trunk through the window and rocks Dumbo before they take him away from her. And the tears began to flow, ladies and gents. And I even managed to have my mom and sister crying. Because we're all a bunch of animal-loving saps.

Anyway, I digress.

So! These pills = extreme moodiness and weeping at work.

I was considering going off of them, because let's face it. 5 days of severe pms is still better than 30 days of moderate pms.

Then last week happened. Last week was full of searing pain in my head. Like Lou Ferrigno was squeezing my head like some kind of exercise ball. It HURT. I took advil, I took tylenol, I took excedrin migraine. Nothing worked. By Thursday I was in such pain that I went to the urgent care center. I thought it was a sinus infection but the doc said it was a textbook migraine, and gave me 2 prescriptions, 1 for nausea and 1 for pain. I went to get the prescriptions filled, and folks, this doctor was NOT kidding around. He prescribed Hydrocodone. Which is that stuff that people get addicted to and sell behind the Wal-mart. I will not be selling mine, nor will I be developing an addiction to it, because this stuff knocks me out cold. After 3 days of it though, my migraine was rapidly waning and life began to return.

The side effect of this medicinal unconsciousness was that I didn't take the other pills. The Moody Pills. Which, as you know, must be taken every day, 24 hours apart. I missed 2 days. And realized that in those 2 days, I hadn't cried over dead lions or lost puppies or Hallmark commercials or the cat walking away from me when I wanted to pet him. Huh.

So I decided to stop taking them. I just quit. And I feel much better! Whew!

In other (differently boring) news, I've been knitting and crocheting a LOT. I've been making socks like crazy for some reason. I'm on my 4th sock in 2 weeks. Not sure what's going on there, but I have to say I like it. I'm also working on a few crochet patterns, and am already thinking of holiday gifts. Gotta get an early start!

It feels really good to just get stuff cranked out. I tend to procrastinate on projects when I want them to be perfect, and so it's hard sometimes for me to get over the fear of something not being what I imagine, and just let go. I've found it very liberating to realize that even if this sweater I'm designing isn't perfect, you know what?

I can make another sweater.

WOW. What a concept!

Ok, this has been a blog post about really nothing. Sorry to bore everyone to tears! Much is in the works behind the scenes that I hope to be able to share soon, but until then...you'll have to suffer with posts about my medical problems and yarn. Sorry.

Goin' thru the Big D and don't mean Dallas...

It's been over a week since I posted, and honestly I had no idea time was passing so fast! For shame.

Life here has been a bit stressful and emotional lately. I'm going through the Big D and have my divorce final court date thing on Monday morning. This has been very difficult, dealing with the emotions and hurt and tears that come from separating. It's not fun. But it is something that I'll get through, I am already stronger because of it, and life goes on. And really, that's all I have control over - my own emotions and reactions, and that's where I have to start.

I'm also having a hard time controlling my emotions lately because of a new medicine my doctor has put me on for various...lady issues, let's call them. Which means the level of hormones floating around my bloodstream is enough to make a crocodile cry REAL tears. Or kill someone. Or both. I certainly have been extremely moody, and am so thankful to my friends who have been so tremendously supportive to me throughout all of this. Thanks, y'all!

Sigh. On to other things.

So the organizer of my knitting circle is leaving us! (She also just got divorced) and is starting a new life. In Asheville! Small world! So I told her about the fun things to do there, good restaurants, yarn shops, etc. If you see Amy around town, tell her Hello! We will miss her tremendously.

Our knitting group is meeting on Monday and I'm glad - it'll be good to get out and see some friends on The Day Of My Divorce, and also maybe drink something and knit a bit. I now have a ton more yarn, because Amy is destashing in preparation for her move. I'll have to take a picture of my new yarn - she has excellent taste in quality yarn, so I walked away with some gorgeous wools and ribbon yarns and such. Some even especially for Project X! Lovely lovely stuff! Also enough sock yarn to make about 4-6 pairs of socks!! Because you need wool socks in southern Georgia! But they're stripey!

Right now though, my interests seem to fall along crocheting lines. I've been so busy with the crochet hook, it's kinda ridiculous. I made a shawl for my grandmother and shipped it off to her (she loves it). I have a photo here somewhere and will post it. I also made myself a newsboy cap (very fun! But sweaty because it's wool and hello, it's hot here, but I wore it anyway).

Here's Grandmother's wrap:

Light and airy, so she can wear it/use it during all different seasons. It gives me so much joy to send something to someone who is also a crafty type, and knows the time & energy that goes into it, and shares her appreciation. I love that. :)

And in my designing efforts, I'm finding crochet to be an interesting medium, namely because for indecisive crafters like myself, it's easier to rip back crochet and redo it, without feeling you just wasted 9 gazillion hours of your life and then dropped a stitch when you're trying to pick up all of the live stitches that are there waiting to commit little knit stitch suicide by unraveling themselves. Oh no. Crochet is sturdy! And only has 1 live stitch at a time!

So I designed a soap holder/scrubber thingie and whipped it up in less than an hour. People might be getting these for the holidays, because (1) they're fast, (2) they're practical, and (3) they're super cute! So act surprised, people.

I'm also designing a sweater for myself in crochet. It's a wine color and will be a v-neck that's basically a short-sleeved cardigan that only has a button below the bust line, so it'll be a bit flowy. I'm intrigued by the idea of crocheted garments that aren't super-stiff and that also don't look like something someone would hide toilet paper under. I'm using pretty yarn and a huge hook, so it's soft and flowy so far, and fitted. I'm very pleased so far, and am taking careful notes so that when I'm finished, I can submit the pattern to the yarn company and see if they want to publish it!! I feel there's a dearth of pretty, modern crochet patterns that don't make a person look like a potholder. Or an afghan zombie.

I will take pictures of all of my projects at some point soon!!

Oh, and on another cool note, a friend of mine chatted with me online the other day from Algeria! ALGERIA! (Hey Christy!). She looked at this blog, loved the blue hat, and commissioned me to make one for her. Hee hee. I love making those hats - they're so fun. Also I love it when people like my stuff enough to purchase it. Makes my fingers feel smiley. :)

It's very dark and overcast here, and we've had rain for a few days now. Fits my mood for the most part - rather dour and gray, but knowing that there's sun behind it, just waiting to peek through.

Turks and Knitting

Hello everyone (All none of you who read this blog anymore - oh well).

Today I finally have some project photos to post. Hurrah! But not a lot. Because I still haven't taken dress photos, but sersely? It's about 300 degrees outside, and the following photos were all I could muster.

Ok! First off, some of you might remember this hat from several years ago. I'm entering in to that book thingie I mentioned the other day, and had to get some artsy shots of it. I'll lighten this up later so you can see the cypress trees behind it, but here it is....Hat In Swamp:


Heh. I also had Noel take a few pics of me wearing it:



This is as close to my face as I'm willing to put here, because I was super shiny because of bug spray. Also? The other people at the end of the dock were really confused as to why I'd be wearing a big wool hat in 100 degree heat. Always keep 'em guessing!

(Also, you'll notice my hair is extremely red. I colored it last weekend, and it came out a LOT redder than I was planning. It's fading a smidge but WOW. My head looks like it's on fire.)

So next! A finished object! Yay! This is my Textured Circle Shrug, designed by Stefanie Japel. I'm pleased with it, except the arms need to be taken in a bit so they're not so bell-ish. I don't need the extra width on my arms/shoulders/chest/torso area. The yarn is gorgeous, and you can't really see it here (I'll try to lighten the pic later on and repost it) - but it has little metallic flecks in it. It's a wool/mohair blend and is SOOOO soft. And also teal. Which I love. And always reminds me of my Makita drill. Anyway.





All I can say is, after wearing that for about 1 minute, I was hot. It works. Now to pack it away until January. Bye, shrug!

On to other things now. Very exciting things.

First, a little background. If you've ever read the Chronicles of Narnia (which I have, many times in my life) you may recall that Edmund is seduced as it were to come to the White Witch's side of the battle/power play by a never-empty plate of Turkish Delight. Ever since reading that as a kid, I wanted to try some. I, for some unknown reason, always had it in my head that Turkish Delight must be some fanciful and delectable turkey dish with gravy. I am perhaps a comfort-food carb ho. Anyway. Imagine my surprise when in Scotland many moons ago, I was walking through the grocery store and stumbled upon...Turkish Delight! In a small plastic package, in the candy aisle. Huh. Candied turkey. Interesting. I was intrigued. Must try. So I purchased it, and instead of finding one of my favorite winged food products, I found instead a jello-type substance wrapped in chocolate. The jello-stuff was flavored like fruit, and it was...ok. Not superb. Not enough to betray your siblings to the wiles of an evil tyrant who wants to ice over the planet. I had basically given up on understanding the yearning for Turkish Delight (much like I just didn't get Prawn Cocktail flavored potato chips).

While my family came to visit me in Scotland, we met up with some people my BIL & sis knew from the BBC (love you, BBC and Top Gear and Miss Marple!). I told them the story of the sucky Turkish Delight, and the lady (whose name escapes me at this point) decided to call in the cavalry. The Turkish Delight cavalry. In the form of her aged and absolutely ADORABLE father, this little Scottish man with cane and tweed cap and little sweater OMG I could've eaten him he was so cute. Anyway. We arrived at the train station to leave Glasgow, and this little man shows up with a small bag from a confectioner's shop, full of REAL Turkish Delight, not the cheapo mass-produced stuff I had tried before. It was little inch-size cubes of the firm jelly, flavored like lemons, other fruits, and some like rose essence (Rachel thought these were like chewing bubble bath balls - I liked them). It was such a sweet gesture and one that has stayed with me through the years. And can I just say, that real Turkish Delight is AWESOME.

So I ate it all.

And lived years of my life with no Turkish Delight.

So Noel and I were discussing this a few months ago, how yummy it is and you just can't find it here and sigh....

And Noel being Noel, took it upon himself to procure me some Turkish Delight. He talked to one of his coworkers who is originally FROM Turkey, and found out that his nephew was planning to travel there. So he requested a box of Turkish Delight from this guy we've never met, traveling halfway around the world. I arrived at work yesterday and found this on my desk:



A box of REAL Turkish Delight! From Turkey! Sersely! Genuine stuff. See?

It's even written in Turkish! And it's from Istanbul. How freaking cool is that?

And in case you were curious, this is what Turkish Delight looks like (thankfully I took this pic before digging in!):

YUM.

Cranking and Coughing

Hello all.

Much going on here lately in the craftiness world! But alas I have no photos. I'm planning on taking some tonight!

Here's a quick rundown:

(1) First, and most exciting, I finished my Textured Circle Shrug on the Lion Brand knit-along. Very lovely pattern and it turned out quite well, if not a little big. I think I'll take in the arms a bit, since they're a bit bell-ish for my taste.

(2) Entry into a hat competition for a knitted hats book. Need some nice photos of the hat. Funny, to take pics of a winter hat when it's hotter than Dante's oven out there, but hey.

(3) I started last night on a crocheted wrap for my darling Grandmother. It's a nice sage green color and is open and airy, so she can wear it now if she feels like it, or throughout cooler weather. I love crochet because it goes SO FAST. Mom's wrap took 2 months or so to finish. This wrap might be done by tomorrow. Depending on how much I do tonight. But I already have about 2 feet of it done. Wow!

(4) Mystery Project X, which I want to keep secret for now because I don't know how it will turn out! It's a freeform crochet garment for myself. Check out what freeform crochet is at: http://www.freeformcrochet.com/

(No, I'm not making a wearable coral reef, but that would be an AWESOME halloween costume for Neptune? SCHWEET.)

(5) Slipcovers for the living room furniture, which are in stylin' fabrics. Woo hoo, let's here it for purple!

(6) Sundresses for myself. I still have the 6' 3" dress that needs to be shortened dramatically. I also have enough fabric for about 5 more dresses, and want to get going on those.

(7) Amigurumi project for the kitties - a family of crocheted octopi. Fun stuff!

Speaking of the kitties, I had to take Loki to the vet this morning because he's been sniffling a lot lately and has runny eyes and nose and sneezing fits. So apparently he has a respiratory infection (and a fever) but they hopped him up on antibiotics, so he'll be back to his playful self soon.

Interesting note though - we thought Loki was either trying to throw up or cough up a hairball. You know, that sorta painful looking neck-out body spasm thing that cats do? Except nothing ever came up and he was making kind of a weird sound with it. Apparently that's how cats cough as well. Huh.

Anyway, after his trip to the vet, I got him some new toys (since that's exactly what the cats need) and some Greenie treats, which he loves. Recovery is assured!

(2)

Rain Rain Go Away (No, really don't!)

You know, for a depressive, moody type such as myself (well, particularly during a few days per month), I shouldn't like rain as much as I do. I love the way it sounds on the roof, I love the way it makes everything look faded and yet reflective, and I love the smell.

It's raining again today. We're supposed to have lots more in the next few days.

The only thing I find hard to deal with regarding rain is the fact that I don't easily have homemade potato soup accessible. One needs potato soup on a day like today. Potato soup and knitting. And CSI.

Speaking of knitting, I'm progressing like mad on my shrug:

Noel is worried I won't like it once I get it done, because I tend to hate things that make me look puffy and/or like the Michelin Man. This sweater is a little bit roomy thus far (those are the sleeves and back of it) and the sleeves in particular are a little big. However. I usually have the opposite problem, that the sleeves are too tight! So I'm going to reserve judgment til later. If all else fails, I can make the sleeves smaller.

I'm pleased with how fast it's coming along though. Maybe if it turns out nicely, I'll make another one. (Ha. Who am I kidding? I love making new stuff with new patterns, and already printed out 3 patterns today that I like).

It looks like this weekend will involve a trip up to NC to visit my mom. It was her birthday a few weeks ago and I wasn't able to go, so this will be a belated birthday trip. I'd love to get some real bbq while up there. YUM.

Kilts and kittens and knitting, Oh My!

Hello, all! Long time, no post. But I will more than make up for that here, with the copious numbers of photos I'm about to post!

So, just to get us all started with Photo Extravaganza 2009, let's discuss work.

My job has descended upon me like an avalanche of paperwork lately. I somehow end up taking on not only my work, but also the drudgery of paperwork that no one else wants to do either. So! Fun stuff. Here's my desk:

Note that there seems to be a bit of clear space on the front corner, but that's only because the stuff that's supposed to be there has been temporarily relocated into a box on the floor. Insanity! I'm trying to clean it off, but really? It's hard to care sometimes, especially when people keep coming by and dropping off more and more stuff. Awesome. So. There's that.

Moving on!

Now that my Mom's birthday/Mother's Day has gone by, I can show you the shawl/wrap that I knitted for her:

I was very pleased with how it turned out, and I love the delicate leaf pattern on it. It ended up being around 6 feet long and the yarn is a bamboo blend, so it's super-soft and cuddly. MMMmmm...soft yarn!

Since my niece's birthday hasn't come yet, but she's not likely to go onto this here blog and search around for pics of her gift, I'll show you her birthday sweater as well:

This is a crocheted pattern and is super fast. I completed this really quickly, and I just loved the button so much I wanted to make it a focal point. My niece loves her some pink fluffiness, so I figured this yarn would be a good choice. It's also probably going to be a bit big, so she can wear it for a while I hope.

Since I got that done so early, I started on the shrug (see previous post) and am making out like a bandit on it. Here I am so far, done with the back and most of 1 sleeve:

I love this yarn. Too bad I don't have this done today though, because it's cold and rainy out.

Now onto other things! I know that some of you must be wondering what the title is all about, with the kilts and all. Well, if you read my last post you'd know about the Scottish festival. We had a great time. Irn Bru was drunk in large quantities. We watched caber tossing, which is impressive any way you look at it. These guys take this telephone pole and try to throw it to go end over end. To prove that Shorties Are Capable Too, the smallest guy out there was one of the only guy able to actually get it to go over! (This isn't him, but it gives you some perspective on how huge those cabers are.)

Throw it, buddy!

And I was able to finish Noel's kilt in time! Isn't this fetching? I love this picture.

He loved the kilt so much, he wore it a few days later when we went to Charleston to visit the aquarium. Here he is in the swamp room:

He did get some "What's up with the skirt?" comments, but also quite a few "cool kilt!" and "what tartan is that?" and "man, that thing looks comfortable!" comments too. He was very proud to wear it and that made me feel good. I was pleased with it too. Next up, one made out of a khaki fabric, like a utility kilt. Fun stuff! :)

I have to say though, the moray eel didn't seem impressed with it.

Ah well. Everyone's a critic.

I suppose that's enough for today. Have a lovely week!

Warning: Knitting Ahead!

Hi everyone! Happy May Day!

Because of spring and warmth and such, I decided to change the look of the blog. Also? The dark color was REALLY dark. Sometimes the words didn't show up right. So! New colors. La la lovely fun!

I'm excited today because they're having a knit along on Lionbrand.com with my favorite knitwear designer, Stefanie Japel! (Check out her stuff at http://www.glampyre.com/ - fabulous). They're making a shrug that I've been eyeing for a while - most shrugs make me look like a linebacker, but this one is fitted, lean, and lovely. Here's the link to it:

http://blog.lionbrand.com/

Of course, there are a few reasons why I shouldn't participate in this knit along: (1) I need to buy more yarn for this project (oh the tragedy), and (2) I have 3 other projects waiting to be finished: my Mom's birthday present (will be done probably tonight for shipping tomorrow), my niece's present for her birthday in May, and an emergency baby gift for a woman in my knitting group. Apparently I'm unaware of how long babies gestate, because for some reason I was thinking that I had still 3 or so months before the baby arrives. Um, no, 6 weeks. Oops. So our knitting group decided on Monday to have a shower for her on the 11th, which doesn't leave much time for dawdling! I think I can crank something out pretty fast though.

Anyway, I've been wanting a shrug to wear over my sleeveless dresses but not a bulky one that makes me look like a refrigerator. This one fits the bill I think. I'm thinking a turquiose color would be nice. :)

This brings me to a point I wanted to discuss, of being stuck in clothing ruts. I realize that I've been stuck in one for a long time, primarily because of my former figure (pre-surgery), and now that I'm smaller and more fit, I could be wearing more fitted things, sleeveless and (gasp!) even strapless stuff! But I haven't been, for the most part. I've slowly branched into fitted things, and occasionally will wear a sleeveless dress, and I even bought 2 strapless maxi dresses recently, but then sewed straps on them. I find I'm not very comfortable showing my shoulders yet, probably because of years of always covering up.

The shrug is, in that sense, a security blanket - I can take it off, or leave it on, but that way I can decide my comfort level with a sleeveless dress or whatever. If I feel too uncovered, I can put it on and not feel like I'm wearing shoulder pads or a poncho or something. I love little summer dresses and have fabric to make 3 more of them. Now I need to sit down and make those too (Now that the weather is regularly in the mid 80s!).

Ok, enough about knitting. No, wait. More: One of the women in my knitting group is opening a yarn shop, and the big grand opening is tonight. Should be fun. Noel is going with me - poor guy, exposed to so much alpaca. :) She has said that she needs people to teach classes and bring in samples to hang up, but I don't really have any samples of anything, except another sweater designed by Stefanie Japel that I made out of cotton (big mistake - it droops and sags and is just a little sad). Maybe I could donate that to the cause. Hmmm....

Anyway.

It's a beautiful day outside - the kind of day when it's hard to stay in your seat! I'll have some finished object photos to post soon, so stay tuned!

Kittens Ok!

First off, let me happily report that the kittens are fine and playing joyfully and seem totally unphased that they're missing 2 little body parts each. They also ate like horses, despite the vet's comment that they might not feel like eating. Yeah right. She obviously hasn't seen these guys in action.

Loki has some gum swelling, which is odd, and had worms again (Aren't you thrilled to hear this? And shouldn't I have warned you because you might be eating? Sorry). Anyway, they're taking care of that, but it may explain his weight. He actually weighed a half pound LESS than he did about a month ago. So I'm giving him some new kitty treats that are supposed to help his teeth and gums to be healthy, and hopefully he'll get all healed up. Not that you could tell anything was wrong with him, the way he attacked his toys as soon as he got home.

I crocheted them another little yarn ball with a bell in it, and I tell you: it took about 20 minutes to make (at most) and they loved it. It's easy for them to pick up with their claws and throw, and then they can chase it like the jungle jaguars that they are, stalking an innocent springbok or other assorted 4-legged deer-like mammal. Grr!!! They're tough! Until it's naptime, then they want to be petted. :)

So! For all of you crocheters/cat owners/bored people, here is my basic recipe for a toy ball:

What you need:
- Regular old acrylic yarn (worsted weight - like Red Heart)
- Size G crochet hook
- polyfill stuffing
- jingle bell (1/2 inch size is good)
- scissors
- yarn needle

Chain 2.

Make 6 single crochets (sc) in the 1st chain stitch. This will turn it into a circle. Take a piece of scrap yarn to mark the beginning of the round (put the piece of scrap yarn right next to your last stitch and crochet over it when you start the next round. Then you can just pull it out and place it at the beginning of the next round).

First round: *2 sc in each stitch* repeat til the end of the round- 12 stitches

Second round: *2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next stitch* repeat til the end of the round - 18 stitches

Third round: *2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next 2 stitches* repeat til end of round - 24 stitches

Rounds 4-8: *1 sc in each stitch* repeat til end of round - 24 stitches (this is the part that starts to make your little circle into a cup shape)

Round 9: *dec next 2 stitches to 1 stitch, 1 sc in next 2 stitches* repeat til end of round - 18 stitches

At this point, you can start stuffing the filling into your ball. I like to wrap some of the filling around the bell and stuff it in, so that the bell is pretty much in the middle of the ball.

Round 10: *dc next 2 stitches into 1 stitch, 1 sc in next stitch* repeat til end of round - 12 stitches

Round 11: *dc next 2 stitches into 1 stitch* repeat til end of round - 6 stitches

Stuff any more filling you want into the ball to make it round and fairly full.

Cut working yarn about 5 inches away from your last stitch and thread it into your yarn needle. Stitch the needle through each of the remaining 6 stitches in order, and pull tight. This will tighten up the hole in the top. Tie a little knot and weave the end into the middle of the ball. Trim ends.

Throw at kitten and watch the fun!

So! I expect to see photos of the beautiful kitty play balls that you create! :)

It's another lovely day here again. Although the bugs are BAD. But it's a bit cooler, and the rain is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Just in time for the weekend! Hurrah!

Truck repair and so on.

Good morning everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a week! Wow. Time is flying by lately.


First off, let me say that the weather here has been gorgeous. Today it's supposed to get up to 84. It's sunny and bright out, and yes I'm stuck inside. But. At least I have a window. I can enjoy it from afar!


This weekend is the start of the St. Patrick's Day festivities here in the SAV. As per usual, I will be fastidiously avoiding downtown like the plague. It can be a mob scene down there, with too many drunk people weaving around and trying to give away their $1 beads to equally drunk exhibitionists. So! Yeah. Not going to that. Been there before, was designated driver. Boy is that fun, being DD in a crowd of 100,000 really drunk people. Don't bother to sign me up for that one again this year, thanks.


However! We will be attending the rugby tournament again this year, at least for a while. Noel wants to see what all the fuss is about (and probably to imagine little ole me being a rugby bruiser back in the day before my spine and knees told me NO! Bad Kelli!). Apparently this year there will be 2 teams of Irish prison guards flying in to play. HA! That should be fun! hee hee. I love me some rugby. It's such a gentle sport, a delicate ballet of strategy and grace. See?

HA! Just kidding.

Sersely though, the rugby tournament will be the only festivities I plan on attending. St. Patrick's Day is just getting out of hand here, and Noel said blithely the other day that he thinks it's only a matter of time before someone gets shot downtown during all the partying. I fear he's right. But. I might have some corned beef or a reuben or something, in honor of the Irish.

On a side note, I think I may have brought this up previously, but I have a dear friend who doesn't celebrate St. Patrick's Day at all, because it represents the stamping out of traditional pagan religion in Ireland and the dominance of the Catholic church. What's to celebrate? Good point. (I still might have a reuben though. Nothing personal).

On to other things now! Now some of you may know of (some of) my childhood career aspirations:

1. Long-haul truck driver with a pink truck and a kitten (I still think this would be fun)
2. Ballerina
3. Skating waitress
4. Sex symbol (at age 8. CREEPY)
5. Shoe salesperson (except the whole touching other people's feet thing dissuaded me of this)
6. Mechanic


Well, this past weekend I FINALLY got my first chance at #6. Noel wanted to do some work on his truck and offered to teach me some stuff about mechanic-ing. Cool! I jumped in and we replaced the shocks and the head valve gaskets (I think that's what they're called - obviously I didn't quite absorb EVERYTHING). Anyway. I helped! And we have photographic evidence!

Replacing the shocks on the front of the truck:






One must remember eye safety. And also safety glasses help with the whole Bono look:





(Also please note that the above photograph was a retake after the first photo showed a severe case of what I affectionately call Mechanic's Butt. It's like plumbers butt, but involves slightly more motor oil in a desperate attempt at keeping one's waistband pulled up with very dirty hands. Aren't you glad I shared that?)


Next up, replacing the gasket thingies (industry term). They're made of cork and form a seal around the heads (ahem, pretend I know what I'm talking about here). Anyway, the cork was old. This truck is old. 1971. So! Old cork. It had fused onto the metal on the head valve thing. So my job was to sit in the engine and take a scraper and get up the old cork so the new cork could be put on.





It was at this point that Noel commented that it's a good thing I'm small and agile, because most people couldn't work in this position. Or if they could they wouldn't be able to extract themselves out of the truck afterwards.


My hands got very dirty! I still have some residual grease stains on my cuticles, but I feel it makes me look utilitarian and tough and somehow sorta Mad Max. I like it. It was really fun working on the truck. I enjoyed the hands-on of it all, and the truck is running better and smoother now, which is very satisfying. This weekend we may be replacing the spark plugs or some wires or something. I dunno. But it'll also be fun!


I might not wear that shirt again for a while though. I never realized how bad my hair and that shirt clash. It's like Pretty in Pink. But not pretty. More like Colorblind Fashion No-No. But who cares. I was a mechanic for the day!


Also, (yet another) side note: Noel realized after we finished all this work that I hadn't taken a picture of him doing anything. He did. He really did work, I swear. He isn't forcing me into indentured mechanicship! :) Next time I'll try to get a pic of him in action.


In other (kitten-related) news, the boys are not having a good day today. Today is the day that they get their little special surgery that turns them from little boy kittens into....little kittens. If you catch my drift. They were NOT happy about seeing the crate this morning, and Poe decided to make like lightning and sprint every time I got near him. I cornered him under a chair and he hissed at me! ME! The one who gives him yummy tuna snacks and brushes his fur and scoops his box! And he didn't even know what was coming yet. It took me a solid 20 minutes to catch him. Meanwhile poor Loki was already in the crate and mewing pitifully because he was alone. Poor little guys.


Anyway, I dropped them off at the vet's this morning and will pick them up this afternoon. Loki weighed in at 3.9 lbs, which seems small to me considering he weighed about that last time we took him in. Poe, on the other hand, is HUGE. He was 6.9 lbs, and he's only about 8 months old. He's going to be a big kitty. I think they both will, but maybe Loki hasn't hit a big growing streak in a while yet. Poe just feels solid now, a clawing hissing little pile of muscle. Loki is still a love sponge and loves to sit on me and purrs so loud I have to turn up the tv. So cute.

In my attempts at making up to them for their imminent de-boying, I crocheted them a kitty bed out of my birthday yarn. Here's Loki posing for the camera (sorry it's so dark!):

I made it in a vaguely triangular shape, then knit the sides high. They were so floppy I went with Plan B, which was to make them even higher, fold them over, make a tube, and stuff it with some pillow fill. It makes a nice squishy pillow edge to the thing. I haven't actually seen them in it since this photo was taken, but I take comfort in the fact that they understand the hours of work that went into it and appreciate more than they can ever express to me. I am perhaps living in a state of denial.

I also knit them a kitten toy, but forgot to take a picture of it. Whoops! Maybe later. They seem to enjoy that thing a lot. It's a cute little bouncy toy ball on a spiral that hangs from a doorknob. Big hit. Might have to make a few more of those.

In honor of their impending surgery, I wrote a haiku:

Kittens getting snipped
What was there will now be gone -
licking not as fun.

I am, perhaps, not quite right.

Perhaps a little birthday splurge is in order.

So...my birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I've been feeling horribly unfashionable lately. There's a fantastic Goodwill about 20 minutes from Savannah, and I found some great clothes there. I love me some vintage weirdness. Anyway! I've spent a whopping $15 on clothes for myself from various thrift shops, and have been enjoying my new wardrobe additions.

However.

I have some boots that I LOOOOVE that I've had for going on 10 years at best guess. These are some of my favorite boots - knee-high motorcycle boots with a few buckles thrown on for good measure. They were cheap - maybe $30? from a catalog, and I've worn them literally OUT. They're falling apart - the sole is detaching, the pleather they're made from is all cracked and in some spots just...gone, leaving the fabric stuff behind to try to hold it all together. I've retouched them with polish, I've doctored them with Sharpies, but the time has come to send them to that great boot closet in the sky. It is, in my opinion, an unnecessary stress to wear shoes that make you wonder if they're actually going to hold together the whole time you're wearing them.

And we all know how I can trip on things. So it's critically important for the safety of my nose to wear shoes that will NOT fall apart on me, or crack open revealing my frozen little piggies to the unrelenting elements (sidebar: it's COLD here).

So! In the spirit of "I make enough money to splurge sometimes" and "it's practically my birthday already" and "the kittens don't eat THAT much," I bought some new boots online yesterday. Check these out:

http://www.onlineshoes.com/productpage.asp?gen=w&pcid=117260

I have never in my life owned a pair of Doc Martens, but they're apparently super-comfortable and extremely long-lasting. Also? I COVET these boots. I've wanted a pair of pirate boots with buckles for so long, and when I saw these I couldn't stop thinking about them. Desire, my friends. Unmitigated desire. I had to have them. So I ordered them yesterday and will fastidiously track them to my doorstep, at which point I will probably leave work and go home and put them on and prance around my house and then come back to work and everyone here will say "you don't even have a bike, Kelli" and I'll say "Arrrr!" with my best pirate voice and requisite finger-hook. And then they'll leave me alone because they'll think I'm borderline insane. But with really stylin boots.

So this evening we get to take another trip to the vet's office! Exciting. At least the vet is in PetSmart, so there's stuff to look at there (did you know that cats can apparently be walked on leashes? Because they sell them. Also, cats apparently love bedazzled sweaters). I'm not really looking forward to the trip, since my responsibilities will probably be (1) holding down kittens a la some wild animal wrangler while they get their vaccinations, and (2) serving as a scratching post when said kittens freak the hell out and start their Houdini routine. Should be fun stuff!

Hopefully they can get all their vaccines though - they couldn't get them last time because they were sick. They've done well with their antibiotics and seem to be healthy now. So I hope to get them on the wellness plan that this hospital has, so that they can also get neutered (shhhh - don't tell them I said that).

On another note, the weather has been very cold lately. And this caused me to realize a funny truth this morning on the drive to work in my frost-covered car: I have knit TWELVE hats in the past month, and yet the only knitted hat I have is bulky sky-blue with big tassels hanging off of it. It's warm, but not exactly...professional. Unless you're a 12-year-old professional snowboarder. Why have I never knit myself a hat? I find this amusing. Also, it gives me a project to work on! Which is good, since I have no other projects going (that was sarcastic, for those of you who haven't seen my knitting basket/sewing room/writing desk).

Time to grab something to eat!