Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Blue Dog, it isn't personal

It's not personal, Blue Dog. Nevermind that Mingus decided to rip you open where your hypothetical throat would be. You had a squeaker, and things with squeakers must die. Let this beam of light carry you to a happier place where you can squeak, squeak, squeak to your hypothetical heart's content.


Orange flowers, I like you. I like you a lot. I like it when I receive you for no reason at all*.


Curve of Pursuit blanket, why can't you knit yourself? You are like a scarf, times 100. I'm trying to infuse you with good thoughts, but I'm afraid that I'm unintentionally infusing you with I-hate-knitting-garter-stitch thoughts. I can see it now, the giftees will wrap the blankets around themselves, then look at each other and say, "I don't know what garter stitch is, but I sure hate it!" Yet, I have hope that I will love you, Curve of Pursuit blanket, and possibly even miss you, when you are gone. That is always how these things go. Again, it isn't personal.





*Keep 'em coming, flower giver!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Picture Wednesday

Formula for a lazy blog post: take pictures and add captions. And away we go!

It's not easy being my cat. Fifty-Fifty can attest to this. I bug her when she's grooming,


I bug her when she is resting,


and I bug her when she is plotting her escape from this evil place where cameras are so rudely shoved into her face.


Kimchicrafts hosted a lovely knit together at her place. I'm beginning to suspect that all these knit togethers are just an excuse to indulge in wine and cheese. And cookies. And cake. (This is certainly NOT a complaint!) She served this English cheddar cheese with caramelized onions that I have since become obsessed with. So much so that I took many pictures of my own personal block of cheese scored from Trader Joe's. If I can figure out a way for the clickity-clack of my knitting needles to become a more aerobic hobby, I could eat more cheese!

On the knitting front, I've been plugging away at the never ending blanket. However, I did stretch my rules about not working on another WIP by, ahem, spinning some lovely tussah silk. See, the blanket is a knitting project, while this yarn is a spinning project. Totally different realms!

The roving was from Fiber Fiend and the colorway is Blackbery Swirl. My 2 ounces turned into 203 yards of 2 ply silk. Now, what can I make with it? Any ideas? It is a little thicker than fingering weight yarn.

Sunsets have been amazing around here. I look out the window and think to myself, now that would make a lovely colorway for sock yarn.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Copycats? I think so!

Take a close look at these cats.


No, they are not Fifty-Fifty and Greaseball! Instead, they are the copycats, known as Diesel and Amos, who live with harleymom. Amos is the newest addition to their family - pure love bug, that one is.

The Originals


The Copycats


I'm sure now that everyone has seen the evidence, there is no doubt who the original cats are. Greasy B and Fifty-Fifty are representin'!

Remember the mini sweaters? One of my mini sweaters has found a new home in Austin, Texas. It adorns a succulent and brings good luck to all who encounter it. Soon, it will take over the world. Go mini sweater!


I'm still knitting and spinning in my spare time, but the progress shots aren't that interesting or inspiring, so I'll spare y'all.

In other news, I'm honored that The Stoutino Inn & Foster Kennel gave my blog an award! The head woofer over there said that we're one of the bloggers that makes her day. How sweet! Check out her blog to see some mighty handsome dogs (she has GSDs and huskies).


The rules are that I'm supposed to pass this along to 10 other bloggers, but I'm horrible at keeping these rules. Therefore, I'll give it to just one person, LeannIAm, who is making me so proud with her knitting! She learned how to knit at the beginning of this year, and already she has made 2 washcloths and 2 scarves. And, this is on top of taking care of three kids. Talk about some mad skillz.

And just because I haven't done this for some time... *clears throat*
Fifty-Fifty knows all! She sees all! You MUST believe!

Monday, January 7, 2008

We haven't blown away yet...

Mingus, can you please tell our audience what weather has been like this week?

Rain (and wind), rain (and wind), GO AWAY! Although today I can actually see the sun and parts of the giant redwood tree in the backyard aren't falling off, it is an anomaly. Tomorrow, we're resuming our rainy, windy day schedule. Unfortunately, both dogs think that they are delicate flowers that will melt in the rain, so shoving them outside for potty breaks is quite the affair. I almost felt bad for them (instead, I laughed) when I took them into the backyard and they were blown against the back fence. Strangely, neither one of them has a problem with taking their daily walks in the rain. Hm, I think I'm being played.

Since being outside isn't even remotely compelling, I've been using my leisure time to work on the blanket. When Mingus took a look at my first attempt of the Curve of Pursuit, he gagged again. Admittedly, the color order I chose was not working out and the signature whorls in this pattern were not popping. So, with heavy heart and aching wrists, I started the blanket again.

This time, it is much better!


Mingus thinks it is niiiice, veerrry niiiiiice. It is so nice that he becomes sleepy at the thought of lying on such a nice blanket. Or something like that.

However, if he thinks that he is allowed anywhere near this blanket, he is sadly mistaken. Why? Take a look for yourselves:


These are shots of the carnivorous plant that resides in our living room. The purpose of posting these pictures is not to wow you with my new camera's macro lens, but to prove that Mingus gets his fur everywhere! In every single frame, all I can see are strands of his billowy, white fur.

When I pointed this out to him, he was oh so very proud.


I assure you that Mingus likes all this torturing modeling. Really, he does! Would that smiling face lie to you?

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year by spending time in my childhood hood. After debating the pros and cons of a last minute snow backpacking trip, we decided to appease our hunger for the white stuff by stationing ourselves about an hour away from the Sierra National Forest, and taking day trips to pay our respects. That way, we wouldn't have to spend hours packing gear and we could say "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!" to the Bay Area within a few hours.

When I called the parental units to tell them how lucky they were to get a surprise visit from us, they informed us that they were on their way out of town. When I called my brother to tell him how lucky he was to get a visit from us, he told me he was already out of town. Uh oh. When I called my good friend, LeannIAm, and informed her how she could be very lucky if she let two big dogs, one big guy, and one small person stay with her in, say, 3 hours - and this is in addition to the three kids and her husband - she said "Come on over!"

Gotta love old friends who welcome you with open arms that are already full with said children and husband. We've known each other for almost 20 years and we talk and email frequently, yet the last time I saw her in person was at my wedding 1.5 years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Since I like to spread my addiction, I also taught three generations of her family how to knit. Look at her go! *Sniff* I'm so proud of her!

While we stayed up and gabbed, Mingus got to explore his softer side and transformed into a beautiful princess.

Don't let his easy smile fool you, being a princess is hard work.

Vespa kept busy by playing with LeannIAm's new kitten, Soccer, named by the 4-year old daughter, a budding soccer star. I was amazed that Soccer came out at all with my dogs around, but that cat is either very brave or missing the part of his brain that houses survival skills, because he was rubbing all over my dogs.

Vespa was quite pleased that she had permission to sniff a new cat.


Soccer was not impressed.

From LeannIAm's place in Rural Suburbia, we drove to Dinkey Creek in search of some snowshoeing trails. Dinkey Creek is named after a small dog, named Dinkey of course, who attacked a bear that was about to attack his owner. Sadly, Dinkey died from the bear wounds, but Dinkey's heroic efforts gave the owner enough time to grab his gun and save himself from being a meal.

We pulled over when we spotted a promising location. After fiddling with our gear, we were off!

Unfortunately, this trail wasn't even a quarter mile long and it summited onto an asphalt road, but at least we got to touch powder.

That evening, my parents and my brother were back at their places, so the dogs had some time to play with the hula hoop. I was trying to get them to jump through it, but it didn't work out that way.


Vespa is seen here tormenting Mingus, who I told to stay. What an older sister!


They kind of sort of jumped through the hoop... I think I need a larger hula hoop.

The dogs did not get to meet Flick, my brother TofuNinja's cat. Flick is the kind of cat who could scratch my dogs' eyes out, so no Flick for them. However, Flick did mug for the camera. As you can tell, he doesn't mess around.

While in suburbia, I made the rounds and visited my relatives. Vespa got to play with her cousin, Cadence. Cadence was chasing balls, and Vespa was chasing Cadence. Vespa thought that was a fine game.

This vacation was also spent playing with the bells and whistles on my new camera. Note that all those action shots above would have been messy blurs with my old snap and shoot. Fancy lenses are fun, albeit frustrating, too. While at my folk's place, I decided that I would take pictures of all the dying flowers in their garden. Why? Other than the fact that they were more interesting than the perfect flowers, I have no clue why I do these things. Anyway, here's one picture.


Dog pictures are nice and dying flower pictures are disturbing, but isn't this a knit blog? There has been some knitting going on in these here parts! Besides tiny sweaters, I have been knitting dishcloths. Lots of dishcloths. I went a little crazy buying Sugar 'N Spice yarn, so I've been churning these out for family and friends. I've yet to use a dishcloth, but I was told that this pattern is the most functional dishcloth since it scrubs so well.


My other FO is the Marsan Watchcap. I modified the original pattern by starting with 120 stitches since I substituted RYC Cashsoft yarn. The resulting fabric has a fuzzball problem, but it is oh so soft. I think washing, drying, and shaving the hat will help to reduce fuzz factor. The swirling decreases make this hat so elegant and funky, yet it's still simple enough for a men's hat.

My first big project of 2008 is a Curve of Pursuit blanket for some newly married friends. The plan is to finish the blanket by February. Wish me luck! I have 40 balls of Elann's Sonata that need to be knit up. EEEEEK!


Happy 2008, blogosphere! May you and your loved ones have an adventure-filled, healthy year!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...