Thanks Nora for the great cartoon, just over a month to go!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Post 166-No, Seriously..
I'm serious here, have you seen my camera cord, where the fuck can it be? I think I'm going to have to go high tech and order the coolest little and rather cheap gadget from Microcenter, a USB flash SD card reader. Without a way to import my picks I can't show you what fun Linda, Rachael, Anne and I had apple picking and Mia snuggling with Pyewacket the cat. I've also finished Mia's new sweater (I still have sleeves to add), just in the nick of time because it's turning cold soon, like tomorrow I think. So give me a couple of days to get that new gadget and soon I will be flooding my blog with more pics than content, just like the old days.
Thanks Nora for the great cartoon, just over a month to go!
Thanks Nora for the great cartoon, just over a month to go!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Post 165-Fun Tests
Your result for Reincarnation Placement Exam...
Traveling Circus
Your answers indicate that you might be the reckless, fun-loving sort. We can go with that. You don't need to bind yourself to any particular civilization or routine. You don't need the complications of technology, especially if it means you have to get an education to employ it. What you do need is adventure, particularly the complicated and exotic kind... plus, the fun of working and playing with fellow adventurers like yourselves. So... why not run off and join the circus?
You can run the fun house ride, play lion tamer or get shot out of a cannon. It takes all kinds!
Take Reincarnation Placement Exam at HelloQuizzy
Your result for The Geek-Fest geek test!...
39% geek!
You scored 39% geek.
90% to 100% --- you should not only be at the FEST, you should be running it.
70% to 89% --- At some point in your life, I am postitive that you were a dungeon master.
50%-69% ---You are an X-files fan, and probably TIVO shows on the Sci-fi channel.
30-49% ---At some point in your life you had a toy light sabre. (If you still have one, you may need to retake this test. You should have done better)
Under 30% - Congratulations. There is actually a good chance you will find a girlfriend/boyfriend.
I took me a long time to write this test, so I am asking you, please, please, PLEASE, rate this test. Even if you didn't like my little test, you can give it a one-star, but don't go away without rating it!!! Thanks for yor time.
Take The Geek-Fest geek test! at HelloQuizzy
Your result for The Things You Learned In School, But Probably Forgot Test...
96% Brain Cells Left!
You have 96% Brain Cells Left!
Congratulations!
I hope you liked taking this test! Oh! Please give me a high rating! Otherwise, I'll feel bad! :(
Take The Things You Learned In School, But Probably Forgot Test at HelloQuizzy
Your result for How Much of the United States Have You Been To?...
Adventurer
You may have grown up as a military brat or been the kind of person who saw the road less traveled and took it. There are only a few small corners of the U.S. which you haven't seen (probably because you just haven't gotten to it yet).
Take How Much of the United States Have You Been To?
Your result for Life Experience Quality Test...
88%
Your life has a quality of 88% The higher the number, the better quality of life you scored. Thank you for taking the test! Well done!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Post 164-Reward, Lost Camera Cord
Um, I'm still here, I just can't find my camera cord again. It's in the house I'm fairly sure... it's just that a decent post is made better with pictures especially if you want to talk about Stitches purchases, pretty jelly jars and oodles of other things.
And no, I'm still not done with the Olympic sweater, does it count that on one of my 4 NBC HD channels is showing repeats of the Olympics? I have started the Mystery Shawl 4 project and am already behind, I've been eyeing the shivering dog and then a couple skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Grumperina and then back at the dog...I've got a couple of weeks before the chill comes back. Through this all I also went to a very wet Renegade Craft Fair and bought some pretty dyed roving and I'm still debating whether to frame it or spin it.
See, pictures are better in a post. At least I'm over my blogitis and hope to get back on the bandwagon as soon as I find that pesky camera cord!
And no, I'm still not done with the Olympic sweater, does it count that on one of my 4 NBC HD channels is showing repeats of the Olympics? I have started the Mystery Shawl 4 project and am already behind, I've been eyeing the shivering dog and then a couple skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Grumperina and then back at the dog...I've got a couple of weeks before the chill comes back. Through this all I also went to a very wet Renegade Craft Fair and bought some pretty dyed roving and I'm still debating whether to frame it or spin it.
See, pictures are better in a post. At least I'm over my blogitis and hope to get back on the bandwagon as soon as I find that pesky camera cord!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Post 163-OMG!
OMG! Stitches is this weekend, as much as I would have liked going to the Michigan Fiber Fest in a bus filled with knitters, I like to think I can use the 55 dollar bus fee at Stitches and get some really good shit instead.
Mia says hi, and is totally devoted to me and still really scared of other people, one step at a time.
Mia says hi, and is totally devoted to me and still really scared of other people, one step at a time.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Post 162-Ravelypics Status
3 words on my progress, can anyone say "Jamaican Bobsled Team"? Not a chance in hell.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Post 161-Indigo, Stars, and the Big O
That title says a lot eh? So sit down, this is going to be a long post.
Starting in reverse order, my new addiction is green! How I love the color green now, where have you been all my life? I remember now, when I was young in the 80's you were neon lime, ick, and in the 90's you were drab olive, ugh, but now you are emerald and celery and all goodness in between. A couple of years ago I noticed that the green colors being used in fashion were starting to look good on me, but I have to say with the Pine colored Rowan Felted Tweed yarn I bought and that is in my Ravelypics project I have admitted I am addicted. It's the buttons you see, I bought these faceted dark celery green glass buttons and I must have more. I just won a vintage lot of buttons on e-bay that might also do, I'm wearing my favorite green t-shirt right now that everyone is sick of seeing me in, and my favorite head band is green silk.
The buttons from ebay, possibly for the Tangled Yoke sweater.
Last night I have a very sad and disturbing dream about some relatives of mine and throughout the dream I was carrying around with me an emerald green silk dress while trying to buy a matching long green crystal necklace. Yea I'm weird. After this post I might have to go to the bead store and see if I can recreate the necklace because I must have it and like long beaded necklaces that you can wrap around your neck 3 times.
The big O is not what you're thinking, dirty dirty, it's Oprah! Yes, I have finally procured some tickets, what luck. A couple of days ago I was on her website and remembered they sometimes take your info if you're interested in last minute tickets, and low and behold, they called me! It's been 12 years since I was last in the audience, 16 years since my aunt and uncle were on the panel during a show, so I'm thinking it's about time.
The three lucky people I will be taking with me are the only people who were nice enough to answer my phone when I called them, they are are John the wonder-neighbor, Valerie my star seeking companion and Shannon the roommate who just had a birthday(what a gift she gets this year!)
So the week we had the yearly visit of the Perseid meteor shower, and considering that next year's visit will basically suck and the fact that every year that I've remembered to look up it's been cloudy, a road trip was in order as suggested by Valerie.
Not my picture, my camera is a cheap little digital and could never capture a meteor shower.
Trying to keep a grasp on my youth and remembering that in the past I used to take impromptu little trips I said yes. The basic idea was to go out to the country, and while Chicago is the US's third largest city, cornfields can be found just over an hours drive out. With map in hand, strawberries, chips and ice coffee in tow we headed out and found ourselves going through a maze of highway construction and found ourselves on Tollway 88 heading east, past Dekalb. We kept looking looking for clear sky, I though Valerie was joking when she suggested we just drive due west until we reached Iowa (I would have taken a nap that afternoon if I had known) but I persuaded her to turn onto highway 95 that goes north to Rockford, we turned onto route 64 and found ourselves a little bit of cornfield (ala Children of the Corn if you ask me), copped a squat and stared at the sky looking for shooting stars, which we found.
Children of the Corn could have been filmed here.
Amateur stargazer hard at work.
The view still wasn't the best, but it was cool and everyone one spotted got a squeal of delight from me. Later on we found another brief viewing spot, made out way east on 64 back toward the city and if we wanted to could have taken all the way home. Valerie perfected her coasting skills, the speed limit was obeyed and besides being pulled over in St. Charles for going too slow and admiring the vintage architecture we found the best donuts at Bosa Donuts and made it home before the sun rose. I was tired after that and poor roommate had to deal with a new dog that missed her master and paced the apartment the whole night waiting for me, ahh. I need to admit something about that little road trip, I stole 4 ears of corn and don't even know if it's human corn or animal corn, and I peed in my first cornfield, I'm sorry.
And now the Indigo part of my post. Rachael and I made a pilgrimage to The Fold in Marengo. What a beautiful day it was, and while it did rain why we were in the workshop it was nice before and after. Knitting and the fiber world is a small place, it turns out there was a lady in my workshop that knows some people I used to work with a long time ago at a Saudi Museum Collection, I find these connections pop up every once in awhile. I brought with me three skeins of yarn to dye and each was a little bit different from the next. I dyed a skein of Treenway silks lace weight, a skein of Knitpicks bare sock yarn, and about 1200 yards of mystery silk/wool lace weight that I paid 1 buck for a cone that contained over 3600 yards. This was a good study on how different fibers take dye differently.
Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble...., a good pot of indigo this one was, it has the perfect blue scum on the top and soupy green liquid underneath.
All dyed and ready to sit for 24 hours before washing.
All dried and re skeined, looks store bought to me.
Finished product. I highly recommend Toni's dye workshops, they are so much fun and you don't have to worry about making a mess in your kitchen or on your floors.
Starting in reverse order, my new addiction is green! How I love the color green now, where have you been all my life? I remember now, when I was young in the 80's you were neon lime, ick, and in the 90's you were drab olive, ugh, but now you are emerald and celery and all goodness in between. A couple of years ago I noticed that the green colors being used in fashion were starting to look good on me, but I have to say with the Pine colored Rowan Felted Tweed yarn I bought and that is in my Ravelypics project I have admitted I am addicted. It's the buttons you see, I bought these faceted dark celery green glass buttons and I must have more. I just won a vintage lot of buttons on e-bay that might also do, I'm wearing my favorite green t-shirt right now that everyone is sick of seeing me in, and my favorite head band is green silk.
The buttons from ebay, possibly for the Tangled Yoke sweater.
Last night I have a very sad and disturbing dream about some relatives of mine and throughout the dream I was carrying around with me an emerald green silk dress while trying to buy a matching long green crystal necklace. Yea I'm weird. After this post I might have to go to the bead store and see if I can recreate the necklace because I must have it and like long beaded necklaces that you can wrap around your neck 3 times.
The big O is not what you're thinking, dirty dirty, it's Oprah! Yes, I have finally procured some tickets, what luck. A couple of days ago I was on her website and remembered they sometimes take your info if you're interested in last minute tickets, and low and behold, they called me! It's been 12 years since I was last in the audience, 16 years since my aunt and uncle were on the panel during a show, so I'm thinking it's about time.
The three lucky people I will be taking with me are the only people who were nice enough to answer my phone when I called them, they are are John the wonder-neighbor, Valerie my star seeking companion and Shannon the roommate who just had a birthday(what a gift she gets this year!)
So the week we had the yearly visit of the Perseid meteor shower, and considering that next year's visit will basically suck and the fact that every year that I've remembered to look up it's been cloudy, a road trip was in order as suggested by Valerie.
Not my picture, my camera is a cheap little digital and could never capture a meteor shower.
Trying to keep a grasp on my youth and remembering that in the past I used to take impromptu little trips I said yes. The basic idea was to go out to the country, and while Chicago is the US's third largest city, cornfields can be found just over an hours drive out. With map in hand, strawberries, chips and ice coffee in tow we headed out and found ourselves going through a maze of highway construction and found ourselves on Tollway 88 heading east, past Dekalb. We kept looking looking for clear sky, I though Valerie was joking when she suggested we just drive due west until we reached Iowa (I would have taken a nap that afternoon if I had known) but I persuaded her to turn onto highway 95 that goes north to Rockford, we turned onto route 64 and found ourselves a little bit of cornfield (ala Children of the Corn if you ask me), copped a squat and stared at the sky looking for shooting stars, which we found.
Children of the Corn could have been filmed here.
Amateur stargazer hard at work.
The view still wasn't the best, but it was cool and everyone one spotted got a squeal of delight from me. Later on we found another brief viewing spot, made out way east on 64 back toward the city and if we wanted to could have taken all the way home. Valerie perfected her coasting skills, the speed limit was obeyed and besides being pulled over in St. Charles for going too slow and admiring the vintage architecture we found the best donuts at Bosa Donuts and made it home before the sun rose. I was tired after that and poor roommate had to deal with a new dog that missed her master and paced the apartment the whole night waiting for me, ahh. I need to admit something about that little road trip, I stole 4 ears of corn and don't even know if it's human corn or animal corn, and I peed in my first cornfield, I'm sorry.
And now the Indigo part of my post. Rachael and I made a pilgrimage to The Fold in Marengo. What a beautiful day it was, and while it did rain why we were in the workshop it was nice before and after. Knitting and the fiber world is a small place, it turns out there was a lady in my workshop that knows some people I used to work with a long time ago at a Saudi Museum Collection, I find these connections pop up every once in awhile. I brought with me three skeins of yarn to dye and each was a little bit different from the next. I dyed a skein of Treenway silks lace weight, a skein of Knitpicks bare sock yarn, and about 1200 yards of mystery silk/wool lace weight that I paid 1 buck for a cone that contained over 3600 yards. This was a good study on how different fibers take dye differently.
Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble...., a good pot of indigo this one was, it has the perfect blue scum on the top and soupy green liquid underneath.
All dyed and ready to sit for 24 hours before washing.
All dried and re skeined, looks store bought to me.
Finished product. I highly recommend Toni's dye workshops, they are so much fun and you don't have to worry about making a mess in your kitchen or on your floors.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Post 160-Ready, Set, Knit!
12 hours and counting until I can officially start my Ravelympics project. Rachael's hosting the opening ceremony party this time and I thought that was when I could start but according to Team Chicago's leader the start time really is 7am for us here. I am absolutely ready to go, yarn has been bought, swatch knitted and steamed, gauge measured, needles purchased and buttons on order. This Olympic's project, the Tangled Yoke from Interweave Knits.
I fell in love with this pattern and figured it was about time I make a complete sweater, details and all. The plan is to change the button hole from 3 stitches to 1 or so to fit the slightly smaller buttons I found at Soutache and to lengthen the sweater by a couple of inches for my longer torso, at least I hope so. I have the exact number of balls for the specs as is but have located a couple of more from a LYS to cover a longer version if needed.
The buttons are untraditional and even though tweedy yarns tend to scream for wooden or leather buttons I like the look of these glass bottle green faceted ones, tweed meets vintage, very Rowan I think.
I finished the Lace Wings shawl the I knitted from some Seacell purchased at Midwest Folk and Fiber. This pattern knits up so fast that I got it done before I had a chanced to photograph it and put it in my stash.
Blocked on my bed. My technique is to blocked it by pinning and then spraying with scented laundry spray, umm roses, very girly.
A Close up.
Modeled by me, it really helps to have a big ass to give you more surface to show of the shawl with.
Mia is coming along just fine, she no longer needs to get feed in front of her cage, has learned where the water dispenser is and might just learn to sit on command soon, I am very pleased with her and glad she got me.
I fell in love with this pattern and figured it was about time I make a complete sweater, details and all. The plan is to change the button hole from 3 stitches to 1 or so to fit the slightly smaller buttons I found at Soutache and to lengthen the sweater by a couple of inches for my longer torso, at least I hope so. I have the exact number of balls for the specs as is but have located a couple of more from a LYS to cover a longer version if needed.
The buttons are untraditional and even though tweedy yarns tend to scream for wooden or leather buttons I like the look of these glass bottle green faceted ones, tweed meets vintage, very Rowan I think.
I finished the Lace Wings shawl the I knitted from some Seacell purchased at Midwest Folk and Fiber. This pattern knits up so fast that I got it done before I had a chanced to photograph it and put it in my stash.
Blocked on my bed. My technique is to blocked it by pinning and then spraying with scented laundry spray, umm roses, very girly.
A Close up.
Modeled by me, it really helps to have a big ass to give you more surface to show of the shawl with.
Mia is coming along just fine, she no longer needs to get feed in front of her cage, has learned where the water dispenser is and might just learn to sit on command soon, I am very pleased with her and glad she got me.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Post 159-July Sucks
Yup, that's right, this July was officially the suckiest month. Not only did I lose a pet but so did my surorigate dorm mom, aka John my neighbor. John was the person I called while at the emergency vet late at night and he was the one who took me to my vet the next with Bella. Three days later one of his own dogs was at the vet for minor surgery when he died unexpectantlly. Also, a good friend and fellow knitter would agree July sucked because she lost two really close family members in a matter of weeks.
After I let Bella go I was really depressed and just plain sad. Didn't cook, didn't garden, didn't even knit, I'm amazed at how much I can sleep. Right away I wanted to do two things though, buy Bella an urn, and adopted another Italian Greyhound. Because July sucked, both of these endeavors proved hard to accomplish and had catches.
First the box, I looked all around online and couldn't find a good doggie urn that wasn't overpriced, cheaply made or just plain tacky. Ta-da, etsy to the rescue. I found this woodworker guy that makes them out of solid exotic woods, unstained and simple looking. After many e-mails, Fred designed for me a memory box that not only held Bella's cremains but also had a lined top section where I can keep her collar, paw print and mementos. This is July and nothing good can happen. Last week I heard a thump outside my door, my substitute mailcarrier tossed the box over my very tall wrought iron fence and broke the box in doing so, see, July sucks. After a couple of visits to my local post office I managed to convince them that one should not have to buy insurance on a priority box to cover the gross negligence a mail carrier shows when throwing a box over a 7 foot tall fence onto concrete, it also helps to explain that the special made box was an urn for my dog, can't diss the dead I suppose. I should explain that in the whole US, Chicago has the worst postal service, and in the whole of Chicago I have officially the worst local post office. I was guarranteed a check, don't laugh, in the mail, haha in about a month and then I will have to order a whole new box again, maybe this time I will go for Purpleheart instead of Bloodwood.
I missed having a dog and wanted to get another adult one and not deal with puppyhood or the cost of a purebred puppy (anywhere from 350 to 1400 dollars) so I look to the local rescue group for the breed I like best, Italian Greyhounds. I won't go into too many details but suffice it to say, I find most rescue groups run my crazy militant people that make it is so damn hard to adopt a puppy there's little wonder why there are so many out there in foster homes and not with permanent families. The rescue group leader in my area did not like my vet or the medical care given to Bella and denied me with out a home visit, talking to my references or my landlord. I assume it was my vet she didn't like since I was never given an explanation and I haven't talk to the group since except to say....I have a new doggie! Via the Doberman rescue group I got Mia. Mia was known as Nancy and is an IG, go figure how they and not an IG group ended up with her but she's mine now. Mia came from a hoarders home with over 50 other dogs, she was used for breeding and is about 3-4 years old. It will be awhile until she is acclimated to the life of a lazy city dog, she's scared of the world but it is totally crate trained, pad trained, is oblivious to the cats and is cute as a button.
Knit content to follow tomorrow, perhaps with a finished project.......maybe.
After I let Bella go I was really depressed and just plain sad. Didn't cook, didn't garden, didn't even knit, I'm amazed at how much I can sleep. Right away I wanted to do two things though, buy Bella an urn, and adopted another Italian Greyhound. Because July sucked, both of these endeavors proved hard to accomplish and had catches.
First the box, I looked all around online and couldn't find a good doggie urn that wasn't overpriced, cheaply made or just plain tacky. Ta-da, etsy to the rescue. I found this woodworker guy that makes them out of solid exotic woods, unstained and simple looking. After many e-mails, Fred designed for me a memory box that not only held Bella's cremains but also had a lined top section where I can keep her collar, paw print and mementos. This is July and nothing good can happen. Last week I heard a thump outside my door, my substitute mailcarrier tossed the box over my very tall wrought iron fence and broke the box in doing so, see, July sucks. After a couple of visits to my local post office I managed to convince them that one should not have to buy insurance on a priority box to cover the gross negligence a mail carrier shows when throwing a box over a 7 foot tall fence onto concrete, it also helps to explain that the special made box was an urn for my dog, can't diss the dead I suppose. I should explain that in the whole US, Chicago has the worst postal service, and in the whole of Chicago I have officially the worst local post office. I was guarranteed a check, don't laugh, in the mail, haha in about a month and then I will have to order a whole new box again, maybe this time I will go for Purpleheart instead of Bloodwood.
I missed having a dog and wanted to get another adult one and not deal with puppyhood or the cost of a purebred puppy (anywhere from 350 to 1400 dollars) so I look to the local rescue group for the breed I like best, Italian Greyhounds. I won't go into too many details but suffice it to say, I find most rescue groups run my crazy militant people that make it is so damn hard to adopt a puppy there's little wonder why there are so many out there in foster homes and not with permanent families. The rescue group leader in my area did not like my vet or the medical care given to Bella and denied me with out a home visit, talking to my references or my landlord. I assume it was my vet she didn't like since I was never given an explanation and I haven't talk to the group since except to say....I have a new doggie! Via the Doberman rescue group I got Mia. Mia was known as Nancy and is an IG, go figure how they and not an IG group ended up with her but she's mine now. Mia came from a hoarders home with over 50 other dogs, she was used for breeding and is about 3-4 years old. It will be awhile until she is acclimated to the life of a lazy city dog, she's scared of the world but it is totally crate trained, pad trained, is oblivious to the cats and is cute as a button.
Knit content to follow tomorrow, perhaps with a finished project.......maybe.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Post 158-Be Still My Aching Heart
Bella was 6 they said when I adopted her. She was owned by an older woman who moved somewhere and couldn't keep her. I adopted Bella in late March of 2006, I had lost Mona in October of 2005 and had a big void in my life that needed to be filled. I loved Bella, she was a pain in my ass sometimes but she loved to cuddle and knew the words sit, lay-down, dance, food, walk and many others.
Bella-July 5, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Post 157-A Little Lagging..
I've been slacking off....blogging, knitting, sending our resumes, bad me. I've this conversations on my head of good blog posts, unfortunately they do not count and since my free internet is slow I'm forced to get out of the house and go to a cafe. I have 15 minutes before the shop closes so I'm going to make this short and sweet.
When Linda and I went last week to the Yarn Harlot we weren't fast to jump up and get in line to get our books signed. She said she wanted people to come up who had trains and buses to catch and try to make it fair, well, the line was long anyway. I didn't really see a need to get another book signed, I'd been to her last two signings and appearances and besides I was able to chit chat a little with Linda and Franklin of the Panopticon (he has a really nice bum I noticed). So, for those of you who have never been to a Yarn Harlot signing or she'll be in your area soon, be prepared, be very prepared!
I am envious of my friend, Chicken Linda, she has the best garden, though technically I would call it a mini-farm since she has chickens. If it were my place, I would have a hammock it was so nice and peaceful. After many years Linda decided to have a party and it was lots of fun, I had great conversation with a wide variety a people and lots of yummy food. I made for the first time a chocolate ganache and raspberry tart and played around with my basic hummus recipe and one of the varieties I brought was a roasted garlic and basil experiment, it was very good. (it helps when you grow your own basil!)
Since the weather was picture perfect on Sunday, Rachael and I drove up to the forest preserve a couple of miles south of the Chicago Botanical Gardens and biked up for a little exercise. The forest preserve has made a lovely paved bike path the meanders over little streams, by some fishing and kayaking lakes and through some swamp/wetlands (they may not be real swamp/wetlands and could be lowland that was still a victim of all the floods here). It was a nice afternoon, I got some much needed exercise and chilling at the gardens are nice, we like to bike up because the admission is free and the only cost is for people parking their cars.
Couldn't you just waste a day sitting here enjoying the weather?
Pretty enough to make Monet jealous.
Every time I see poppies I think of the Wizard of Oz.
On our bike ride back to the car we narrowly out rode a big thunderstorm that hit us when we got back on the highway, I don't think I would enjoy biking in the rain.
I won't bore you with more photos of my tomato babies, suffice it to say they are everywhere! I was a little nervous about my sugar snap peas, I think everyone doubted my ability to grow them in a pot with an old apple tree and that using the apple tree as a natural trellis was silly. Well, take a look at my first pea flower, since the first bloomed I've had several more, hopefully I will get sugar snap peas from them.
This little purple blossom surprised me, I think it belongs to my cucumber or eggplant, I'm not sure which, since I tool this pic I have had several more bloom. I was kinda playing god with one of my pots and planted four different plants and thought if something grows, great, it'll be survival of the fittest. I didn't expect all the plants to do so well, but I'm only halfway there, they've bloomed, but will the veggies grow?
I think this is my melon plant, I have no idea anymore, I'm just happy to see it survive and bloom.
When Linda and I went last week to the Yarn Harlot we weren't fast to jump up and get in line to get our books signed. She said she wanted people to come up who had trains and buses to catch and try to make it fair, well, the line was long anyway. I didn't really see a need to get another book signed, I'd been to her last two signings and appearances and besides I was able to chit chat a little with Linda and Franklin of the Panopticon (he has a really nice bum I noticed). So, for those of you who have never been to a Yarn Harlot signing or she'll be in your area soon, be prepared, be very prepared!
I am envious of my friend, Chicken Linda, she has the best garden, though technically I would call it a mini-farm since she has chickens. If it were my place, I would have a hammock it was so nice and peaceful. After many years Linda decided to have a party and it was lots of fun, I had great conversation with a wide variety a people and lots of yummy food. I made for the first time a chocolate ganache and raspberry tart and played around with my basic hummus recipe and one of the varieties I brought was a roasted garlic and basil experiment, it was very good. (it helps when you grow your own basil!)
Since the weather was picture perfect on Sunday, Rachael and I drove up to the forest preserve a couple of miles south of the Chicago Botanical Gardens and biked up for a little exercise. The forest preserve has made a lovely paved bike path the meanders over little streams, by some fishing and kayaking lakes and through some swamp/wetlands (they may not be real swamp/wetlands and could be lowland that was still a victim of all the floods here). It was a nice afternoon, I got some much needed exercise and chilling at the gardens are nice, we like to bike up because the admission is free and the only cost is for people parking their cars.
Couldn't you just waste a day sitting here enjoying the weather?
Pretty enough to make Monet jealous.
Every time I see poppies I think of the Wizard of Oz.
On our bike ride back to the car we narrowly out rode a big thunderstorm that hit us when we got back on the highway, I don't think I would enjoy biking in the rain.
I won't bore you with more photos of my tomato babies, suffice it to say they are everywhere! I was a little nervous about my sugar snap peas, I think everyone doubted my ability to grow them in a pot with an old apple tree and that using the apple tree as a natural trellis was silly. Well, take a look at my first pea flower, since the first bloomed I've had several more, hopefully I will get sugar snap peas from them.
This little purple blossom surprised me, I think it belongs to my cucumber or eggplant, I'm not sure which, since I tool this pic I have had several more bloom. I was kinda playing god with one of my pots and planted four different plants and thought if something grows, great, it'll be survival of the fittest. I didn't expect all the plants to do so well, but I'm only halfway there, they've bloomed, but will the veggies grow?
I think this is my melon plant, I have no idea anymore, I'm just happy to see it survive and bloom.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Post 156-Mosaic Me Game
This was a fun game to play, I saw it on Knit and Run.
The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.
The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink? (for the record, I was drinking these long before they were made popular by a show on telly!)
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Post 155-Way Cool
I just discovered some more coolness information about my cousin in the band. Did anyone else see that movie P.S. I Love You? Yea I was suckered into the theater to see it with the previews that made me think it was a love story, it was sort of but not as much a love story as a sad depressing story, I cried because it was sad, not romantic, not what I was in the mood for. I was looking around on itunes and occasionally look at the reviews of my cousins' albums (he is currently working on number 3 in NYC) I didn't know his band had a song on the P.S. I Love You soundtrack, now I'm going to have to watch the movie all over again just to see when it's featured, ugh, the stuff I do for family.
The Noro Snowdrop socks are all done. I put the finishing touches on them last night, soaked them and then hung them on the blockers on the refrigerator from magnetic clips. Strange I know but it keeps them away from furry cats and they actually dry faster then being laid down on towels.
All done, see that little bit of yarn, that's all that is left! I didn't plan it that way I just got really lucky. As for the second sock being too rainbowy, yea, I really don't like it but that's what jeans are for right?
I was up until 2 in the morning trying to figure what sock pattern to do next and with what yarn. I an effort to help myself decide I thought I would pull out all my sock yarn, I have a lot.
Guess which one I choose to work with.....Brooks Farms's Acero. After looking at several patterns I decided to try it out on the Baudelaire, I think I'm the only one who hasn't done them yet. The thing is, I think the yarn is a little thicker than the pattern calls for and I can't find my set of DPN's, I think I left them in my luggage and need to dig them out. For the time being I will start the first sock on 0's and see how it goes, if I don't like it I can pull out the Austermann Step yarn I snag from my stash as a backup.
Linda decided to take the day off work and called me last night with the idea that we trek down to the southwest suburbs and make a last minute pilgrimage to the Yarn Harlot signing. I've seen her before and always enjoy myself, I'm looking forward to getting out of the city and going a yarn store I've never been to before. It's hard to imagine that there's a yarn store in Chicagoland area that I haven't been to!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Post 154-Taking Fruit
I think we should bring back the concept of the Victory Gardens (maybe we should call the Economy Garden) and not only that but there should be some sort of incentive to jump start it and get people to grow their own food in their backyards. If I, an apartment dweller can grow tomatoes in a container so can a lot of others with no grass or earth for sowing seeds. It's not hard, you just have to remember to water, I have to everyday now that it's stopped raining so much.
I am now proud to say I now have at least 3 tomatoes growing on the vines. Take a look at the picture of my plants on my last blog post and look at this:
Holy Cow. Now I have no idea about sugar snap peas but at least my plan of the pea plant using an old dead apple tree for a natural trellis is working.
Anybody know anything about peas, like do they flower or do the pods just appear?
WWKIP day was a blast. Yes it was hot but Rachael and I were smart to get the shade on the west side of the promenade so even as the sun moved we were nice and comfy. Lots of people were about so I was able to catch up with those I don't see often, including an old art school classmate. After a little pitstop for coffee at Intelligentsia, Linda, her husband Mark, Rachael, Adrienne and I went out to dinner at the West Town Tavern and it was delightful. It's been awhile since I had such a yummy meal out the was so good I wanted to lick my plate, service was good but they didn't scrape my place for crumbs like on the ship, boo-hoo. The first Noro Snowdrop sock was done before WWKIP and I cast on for the second on there.
I am now past the heel and almost done with the leg shaping increasing and with the pattern fully memorized it's just a matter of time, I suspect I will be done by this weekend. I really like the colorway on the first one and the way it turned out, but this second one I hate, it's all rainbow bright and way too colorful, not at all what I expected.
I am now proud to say I now have at least 3 tomatoes growing on the vines. Take a look at the picture of my plants on my last blog post and look at this:
Holy Cow. Now I have no idea about sugar snap peas but at least my plan of the pea plant using an old dead apple tree for a natural trellis is working.
Anybody know anything about peas, like do they flower or do the pods just appear?
WWKIP day was a blast. Yes it was hot but Rachael and I were smart to get the shade on the west side of the promenade so even as the sun moved we were nice and comfy. Lots of people were about so I was able to catch up with those I don't see often, including an old art school classmate. After a little pitstop for coffee at Intelligentsia, Linda, her husband Mark, Rachael, Adrienne and I went out to dinner at the West Town Tavern and it was delightful. It's been awhile since I had such a yummy meal out the was so good I wanted to lick my plate, service was good but they didn't scrape my place for crumbs like on the ship, boo-hoo. The first Noro Snowdrop sock was done before WWKIP and I cast on for the second on there.
I am now past the heel and almost done with the leg shaping increasing and with the pattern fully memorized it's just a matter of time, I suspect I will be done by this weekend. I really like the colorway on the first one and the way it turned out, but this second one I hate, it's all rainbow bright and way too colorful, not at all what I expected.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Post 153-Growing Things
Right now I'm doing really good at growing things, gardens, socks and even my hair. The garden is just taking off and I can't believe how well the plants are doing. Every year is trial and error in what will grow in pots, basil and my favorite herbs, no problem and now I can add tomatoes to the line up.
It's nice to grow your own tomatoes when you can't buy them in the stores right now.
I have no idea how my eggplant, cucumber, melon and pepper plant will do I had this large pot to fill and thought it might be cool so we'll so see. I think the garden has been happy with the weather, it's starting to get a little warm here but all the rainstorms have kept me from having to water everyday.
The garden.
It was a really really nice day yesterday.
I finished the Sea Socks traveling sock that I called Artery because the way the red colored pool and striped. I really liked the Nutkin pattern, it was easy to memorize and I would do it again but not with the heel type that's in the pattern. Last week I was babysitting and knowing that I would be finishing the sock while there I pulled a ball of Noro sock yarn from my stash to start working with. Of all the sock yarns to my disposal it was the only one already balled and ready to go which is nice when you are running late and don't have time to ball up a skein. So far I like the yarn, yea it's rough and slightly scratching and don't forget that it's a single ply, but I really like it, it's different from all the smooshy fancy sock yarns in my stash. While looking around in Ravelry at other patterns that people did with this yarn I saw the Snowdrop Socks pattern and it was perfect, it's mostly Stockinette knitting except for a narrow band of lace up the center front. I have vertically challenge calves meaning, my ankles and calves are phat (yea I used the cool funky spelling but nothing will ever making trendy). Knowing my issues and the fact that there are no patterns out there to address the issue I'm used to doing my own leg shaping and I prefer the increasing to take place up the center back. To make this all cute and to tie in part of the lace pattern in the front I'm doing a YO, sl1 ktog psso, Yo every other row and flanking it with the leg shaping increasing, very nice.
So pretty in the garden.
Thing I have been meaning to do but have gotten to lazy today, cleaning dishes, spinning (yarn), fixing the Rusted Root, finishing grandma's bag and cleaning the house, so toodles, I have go and buy toilet paper.
It's nice to grow your own tomatoes when you can't buy them in the stores right now.
I have no idea how my eggplant, cucumber, melon and pepper plant will do I had this large pot to fill and thought it might be cool so we'll so see. I think the garden has been happy with the weather, it's starting to get a little warm here but all the rainstorms have kept me from having to water everyday.
The garden.
It was a really really nice day yesterday.
I finished the Sea Socks traveling sock that I called Artery because the way the red colored pool and striped. I really liked the Nutkin pattern, it was easy to memorize and I would do it again but not with the heel type that's in the pattern. Last week I was babysitting and knowing that I would be finishing the sock while there I pulled a ball of Noro sock yarn from my stash to start working with. Of all the sock yarns to my disposal it was the only one already balled and ready to go which is nice when you are running late and don't have time to ball up a skein. So far I like the yarn, yea it's rough and slightly scratching and don't forget that it's a single ply, but I really like it, it's different from all the smooshy fancy sock yarns in my stash. While looking around in Ravelry at other patterns that people did with this yarn I saw the Snowdrop Socks pattern and it was perfect, it's mostly Stockinette knitting except for a narrow band of lace up the center front. I have vertically challenge calves meaning, my ankles and calves are phat (yea I used the cool funky spelling but nothing will ever making trendy). Knowing my issues and the fact that there are no patterns out there to address the issue I'm used to doing my own leg shaping and I prefer the increasing to take place up the center back. To make this all cute and to tie in part of the lace pattern in the front I'm doing a YO, sl1 ktog psso, Yo every other row and flanking it with the leg shaping increasing, very nice.
So pretty in the garden.
Thing I have been meaning to do but have gotten to lazy today, cleaning dishes, spinning (yarn), fixing the Rusted Root, finishing grandma's bag and cleaning the house, so toodles, I have go and buy toilet paper.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Post 152-Tagged
Ah, sweet Piewacket made a bed out of my half done Rusted Root sweater.
I don't normally go for the email questionnaire things that you fill out and send to all your friends to compares answers and blah blah blah, but this one is simple and interesting and I was tagged by Adrienne. (FYI it reminds me of the notebooks passed around high school that each page had a question and you answered while trying to figure who left the dirty answers)
1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago this month I started my first job out of college. I was a paid intern labeling textiles for a privately own Saudi Arabian ethnographic artifact collection here in Chicago. The job lasted 2 years and by the time it was closed down and put into cold storage I was cataloging the artifacts.
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today-I already did numbers 1 and 2, take a shower and go to Kerry and Oliver's new baby dedication at the Unity Temple in Oak Park. (yea the one Frank Lloyd Wright built)3. I'm babysitting for Megan in 20 minutes for 4 hours or so. 4 Maybe have drinks tonight with friends, 5. Walk the dog.
3. Snacks I enjoy-Iced tea, my homemade hummus.
4. Places I've lived-Oh shit, this will be a long list:California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Virginia, and West Germany (yea before they unified)
5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Buy a cool house in my neighborhood and have an art studio and knitting den. Buy houses for my sisters and pay for my nieces and nephews college, donate a lot to charity, buy some Vicuna yarn and have one hell of a party!
Inside the FLW Unity Temple, Oak Park.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Post 151-Turning Tables
This week has been a little better, talking to friends and knowing I have peeps out there to cheer me up is nice. I'm slowly getting up a little earlier which is really thanks to the damn cat, getting dressed before noon is nice.
I've got some new yarn for my stash. The Handmaiden Four Two Silk in Glacier that I picked up in Victoria was calling to go home and Amy Singer contacted me for a trade. I'm happy with what I got but I'm worried that she hasn't received her yarn yet, the post office said 5-10 days and I guess they really mean it! I'm not sure what I would have done with only 440 yards of silk yarn and think that 1000 yarns of lavender lace weight is more practical.
I trade this yummy and got....
This yummy.
It's really not so blue in person, the lack of natural daylight at midnight had me relying on pure flash.
Boy that pair of socks I was working on on the trip is coming along. The first was finally blocked last night and now that I know how to modify the pattern for a better fit and better heel I'm already at the heel flap on number two! The Lornas Laces yarn is a dream to knit on and with a couple skeins from them and a set of 0's dpn's I'm happy as a clam on a dessert island.
The pooling is a little funky and the pattern does get a little lost but it's really growing on me in some gothic funky way and in some sections the big red blobs of pooling make me really want to play with some solid Shepherds Sock stuff. Actually I have a design project that would use one skein in my head that I would like to submit to Knitty, it's a great pattern and there should be more of them out there all I have to do is a little light math, some lace charting and we shall see....
Tonight before I go to bed I will try on the Rusted Root and see if the modifications I made are good or if I really will need to rip that back to before the sleeve/body split. I'm not quite confident my changes will fix the problems it just one of those try it on and see things.
So I was talking to my good friend and neighbor John the other day and somehow we got to talking about four leaf clovers. I told him that I've found several and he said he had never seen one in his whole life. Well, this afternoon I was walking Bella and went toward his house and on the way there I passed this new fugly brick monstrosity that was built last year and hasn't sold yet and in the front of the property where a lovely garden should be is nothing but weeds and clovers. I took a couple of quick looks for a four leaf clover, a habit of mine while waiting for the dog to find the perfect spot to pee, and found one, so I plucked it and gave it to John as proof of their natural existence. I kinda felt bad that I gave away a lucky four leaf clover when I need all the luck I can get right now, so I went back to scout for some more. Hells Bells, if I didn't find a whole bunch more, 14 to be exact! I rushed home and promptly pressed them in a book and the only book on the bookshelf that jumped out as the one to press them in and remember that they're there is the one that my great uncle wrote about growing up in the depression, Missouri Blue if you're wondering.
Here's proof, maybe I'll get lucky in many different ways ;)
And now some more pictures from the Sea Socks trip.
I finally got to go to the GlassyBaby studio the day we docked back in Seattle. Ana, Holly2 and Lisa went to Acorn Yarn, which is a yarn store that we had to skip on the crawl and afterward Lisa went with me to the neighborhood of Madrona to the studio. I've always wanted a Glassy Baby every since I saw them on Martha, the one I bought was a very pale translucent pink.
One of the things I wanted to do in Seattle was go to the very first Starbucks. I appreciate what they brought to us, the love of coffee, but then their train went of track and like Microsoft before them who also had a good idea, they got too big for their britches and now everyone hates them. I bought the girls a round of drinks on me and used the gift cards I won at my last temp job and therefore did not spend my own money.
I did however have to molest the mermaid, it pays to be tall.
Just a lovely random photo of raw and untouched Alaskan coastline, somewhere.
I've got some new yarn for my stash. The Handmaiden Four Two Silk in Glacier that I picked up in Victoria was calling to go home and Amy Singer contacted me for a trade. I'm happy with what I got but I'm worried that she hasn't received her yarn yet, the post office said 5-10 days and I guess they really mean it! I'm not sure what I would have done with only 440 yards of silk yarn and think that 1000 yarns of lavender lace weight is more practical.
I trade this yummy and got....
This yummy.
It's really not so blue in person, the lack of natural daylight at midnight had me relying on pure flash.
Boy that pair of socks I was working on on the trip is coming along. The first was finally blocked last night and now that I know how to modify the pattern for a better fit and better heel I'm already at the heel flap on number two! The Lornas Laces yarn is a dream to knit on and with a couple skeins from them and a set of 0's dpn's I'm happy as a clam on a dessert island.
The pooling is a little funky and the pattern does get a little lost but it's really growing on me in some gothic funky way and in some sections the big red blobs of pooling make me really want to play with some solid Shepherds Sock stuff. Actually I have a design project that would use one skein in my head that I would like to submit to Knitty, it's a great pattern and there should be more of them out there all I have to do is a little light math, some lace charting and we shall see....
Tonight before I go to bed I will try on the Rusted Root and see if the modifications I made are good or if I really will need to rip that back to before the sleeve/body split. I'm not quite confident my changes will fix the problems it just one of those try it on and see things.
So I was talking to my good friend and neighbor John the other day and somehow we got to talking about four leaf clovers. I told him that I've found several and he said he had never seen one in his whole life. Well, this afternoon I was walking Bella and went toward his house and on the way there I passed this new fugly brick monstrosity that was built last year and hasn't sold yet and in the front of the property where a lovely garden should be is nothing but weeds and clovers. I took a couple of quick looks for a four leaf clover, a habit of mine while waiting for the dog to find the perfect spot to pee, and found one, so I plucked it and gave it to John as proof of their natural existence. I kinda felt bad that I gave away a lucky four leaf clover when I need all the luck I can get right now, so I went back to scout for some more. Hells Bells, if I didn't find a whole bunch more, 14 to be exact! I rushed home and promptly pressed them in a book and the only book on the bookshelf that jumped out as the one to press them in and remember that they're there is the one that my great uncle wrote about growing up in the depression, Missouri Blue if you're wondering.
Here's proof, maybe I'll get lucky in many different ways ;)
And now some more pictures from the Sea Socks trip.
I finally got to go to the GlassyBaby studio the day we docked back in Seattle. Ana, Holly2 and Lisa went to Acorn Yarn, which is a yarn store that we had to skip on the crawl and afterward Lisa went with me to the neighborhood of Madrona to the studio. I've always wanted a Glassy Baby every since I saw them on Martha, the one I bought was a very pale translucent pink.
One of the things I wanted to do in Seattle was go to the very first Starbucks. I appreciate what they brought to us, the love of coffee, but then their train went of track and like Microsoft before them who also had a good idea, they got too big for their britches and now everyone hates them. I bought the girls a round of drinks on me and used the gift cards I won at my last temp job and therefore did not spend my own money.
I did however have to molest the mermaid, it pays to be tall.
Just a lovely random photo of raw and untouched Alaskan coastline, somewhere.
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