so, today i was going to post about swaps

but instead i'm going to post about something else entirely.

this is something i have been concerned about for some time. this post was my first public attempt at getting across my concern.

that was 3 years ago and things have only gotten worse. i wonder why people aren't screaming from the rooftops about this. there is a great quote at the beginning of the book "the R document" which says basically that if there is ever fascism in this country it will be voted in.

well, ladies and gentlemen, the first time it wasn't exactly voted in by the american people but it was voted in by the supreme court in 2000 and then, through more chicanery, by the american people in 2004. why? there was a saying going around to the effect that if you weren't furious you weren't paying attention. well, no one was paying attention.

a friend sent me a link to a somewhat new article in the guardian. here it is. what is really distressing is the fact that this was written in april of this year. why was this not spread across the front page of every newspaper (above the fold)? oh, that's right. step 8: control the press.

thank god for stephen colbert who was able to tell it like it is at the washington correspondent's press dinner. part one, part two, part three

i'm kind of livid right now. the american people have got to wake up, start paying attention, start caring. we've turned into a victim society that wants all the goodies right now without having to either work or pay for it all. i'm sick of it. our country is going down the toilet and people are so concerned about being all PC about things that the real problems are. not. getting. addressed.

well, they need to be.

as any good hand-wash sweater instructions will tell you

you teach them to think for themselves and this is the thanks you get

conversation with my daughter.

me: i know you're of a generation that thinks you're all savvy about the internet, but you need to be really careful about putting personal information out there.

daughter: (sigh) i know. no phone numbers, address, full name, anything about me, pictures

me: 'cause once it's out there...

daughter: ...it's always out there. i know this. i've had it drilled into me at school, from you. so, i have a question...

me: yes?

daughter: how is that any different from you giving out your information to perfect strangers in these swaps you do?

me:

daughter: i mean, you send our address to people you don't know. you're just assuming they are who they say they are

me: (sputter) but ... but that's different! it's all very controlled!

daughter: like you've always told me; people can be anyone they want to be online. just because they say they are who they are doesn't mean they are who they say they are.

me: (sputter some more) but ... but ...

daughter:

me: well. if you're going to use logic!

ah, there's good news tonite!

my mother is home. everything turned out well. now that she's home she can get some rest!

'N' the other update

i just talked to my mother. i needed to hear her voice and her voice i heard.

she will be fine and, now, so will i.

oh how i love my mother. she is the bestest mother in the whole wide world.

this 'N' that 'N' the other

=this=
i've been tagged as part of a recipe exchange by the lovely KRCH. this is an email-tag thingy wherein you exchange recipes. there are two names on the list and you send yours to the first name, remove it and add your name to the bottom and send it out to others! i think it'll be fun and if you would like me to add your name to my list let me know.

=that=
my fiber pusher friend, corbie girl, is getting me started on the harder stuff. well, at least she's trying to by making it affordable for me to buy a spinning wheel. see, she got a steal of a deal on a wheel (ha!) and is offering to sell me her old one at a more than reasonable price. the only question is, will i have room for it in my rather small fiber room which is also my sewing room as well as my quilting room.

=the other=
my mother fell and hit her head and is now in the hospital. supposedly she's fine. i hope to be able to speak to her. i'm in maryland and she's in texas so I CAN'T BE THERE.

i'm scared.

see, this is what happens

once i got my invite to ravelry i just started ignoring my blog. poor negleted blog.

it's like being in high school all over again. you know, when you had the friend and you were both basically nobodies in the social structure but then the friend ended up getting into the cool kids clique and then started blowing you off and then just totally ended up ditching you 'cause, you know, they were with the cool kids and you weren't? yeah.

neener neener neener.

i'm posting about all my knitting project stuff on ravelry and if you don't have a login yet, well, too bad.

i'm with the cool kids now.

sigh.

it wasn't supposed to be like this but i only have so much time, y'know? time that i spend doing the important stuff ... like knitting. i swear, everything comes down to the fiber addiction now. i think about spending money on something unnecessary then think "how much yarn would that buy". i find spare time by not doing housework 'cause i need the knitting time!

so, i pledge to try and get some content back on the blog (you know, for the gobs of readers i have) because i just know you're out there, waiting with bated breath to see what the goosefairy is up to! well, maybe not so much with the bated breath. snort.

i do have some FOs, still have the WIPs and now, thanks to ravelry and the evil anne, new projects; some if which have actually become WIPs and some are just wannabe WIPs.

i need to take a moment here.

i just went to the evil anne's site to get her http addy and

*breathe breathe breathe*

she has a new one pinned up. trust me, don't go there unless you want a new addiction of your own.

(shakes it off)

ok. where was i? oh yeah. projects. i will be doing some picture posts soon of the afore said before too much longer. oh! and there's the etsy shop i finally got up! check it out!

ironie? mais oui!

Oh my. First, in interest of full disclosure, let me say that I like Tom Cruise. I mean, I think he's cute, I enjoy his movies. Hey, he's not impregnating my daughter and turning her into a Scientology zombie.

That being said, I saw a poster on the side of a bus for a new movie Mr. Cruise is in. The tag line is (are you ready?)

"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything"

Really. How perfect is that?

Xenu, anyone?

i'm in!

Yep. Finally got my Ravelry invite! I'm so excited! Can you tell by the exclamation marks :)

My name is *ahem* goosefairy. No surprises there eh?

wips and bips

Wips we all know about. Hoo boy do we know about those. Bips? Same thing only books.

I've joined the slogalong here and have discovered it is very helpful to actually document what you are trying to accomplish so to that end let the shame that is my Wips and Bips begin.

WIPS

1. Harry Potter scarf for the DearDaughter (pic)
   
2. Cotton scarf (pic)
   
3. Cotton lap throw (pic)
4. Brown sweater (pic)
5. Scarf for the DearHusband (pic)
6. Color worked sweater (pic)
   

BIPS

1. The Religion by Tim Willocks
2. The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
3. 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck
4. The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery by D.T. Max

I won't even get started on all of the WIP and BIP wannabes. There are so many. That's another post.

i'm getting closer

I really am! This was when I first signed up and this is me now:

• You signed up on August 10, 2007
• You are #24688 on the list.
• 1195 people are ahead of you in line.
• 14981 people are behind you in line.
• 59% of the list has been invited so far

arrrr! for too much fun click this link

Oh my goodness. This game is just too much fun! You have to try it!



The really neat thing? You don't have to pay to play. You can. Oh, yes; you certainly can but you don't have to.

yes, i'm a sellout

Simply because I feel the need to post and don't really have the time to do a proper one, here is a book survey going around. I found this one on Moon Tea's blog.

Instructions:

Look at the list of books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicize the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

Movies don’t count!!!!!

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
3. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
4. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
5. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
8. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
9. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
10. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
11. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
12. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) Good.
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

not to brag but...

Isn't she pretty?

You first met Jenger here. She is the sweetest little girl. Lately, she's been keeping me company by sitting on the arm of my chair when I'm knitting. She'll stand there and talk to me and butt her head into my hand and lift that little fuzzy paw up almost like she's raising her hand. And purr purr purr.

We love this little girl.

work is taking over my life...

...otherwise I would have had a chance to post about the status of the sweater, the state of swappage and other things. I will try like the dickens to get some pictures taken and posted because, oh my, you would NOT believe what I got in the mail yesterday! My secret fiber swap pal came through like you wouldn't believe. I almost started crying when I saw all that she sent me. I didn't know there were such generous people out there. Pictures will have to be taken of the bounty. Oh my yes.

Oh, Sara? Your package went out in the mail today! I'll be emailing you with the tracking number.

short row heels

The saga of the short row heel. Short row heels should be easy and quick, right? Ha. I'm attempting to master the toe-up sock with a short row heel. I'm doing the round toe (which I love) and I want to do a short row heel because I have never been satisfied with a regular heel the way I knit them. I always end up with holes where I join the heel and the gusset and the sock. Always. I'm doing a pair of socks for a friend of mine in a lovely dk-worsted weight deep purple tweed wool. They will be perfect house socks for those cold winter mornings. I am bound and determined to master the short row heel. Darn it!

I have knit and frogged the same heel so many times I have actually lost count. I finally realized the last umpteen times I had been doing it I was doing the wraps wrong.

Yep.

I was doing the wraps wrong. No wonder I was having so much trouble picking those wraps up when doing the increase half of the heel. No wonder those same wraps were so obvious. One thing for sure, I can go like a house afire on this heel now. I finally went back to here and watched closely and paid attention. (I just love this site; it is incredibly helpful)

Oh.

I also have the frogging down to a nicety too!

*whew*

Wow. It's amazing how life can just take over. Between my job and whatnot I've not been able to post for a bit.

This is my "Dishrag Tag - gotcher box right here!" post.

Because, well...

I've gotcher box right here!

Just look at that! Love the dishrag. I'm starting to get a serious love of the cotton yarn. Thanks to Kay I have added more cotton yarn to my stash so I can make this. Love the colors. As you can see, I already started knitting the dishrag but was able to get my husband to take some quick pictures before using up all of the yarn.


Chocolate, L'Occitane in Green Tea (love it!), my very own dishrag which works beautifully (yep, already used it) and extra yarn. What more can a girl ask for? Did I say chocolate? mmmmmmmmmm

Want a closer view?

Closer?


Close enough for you?

Don't you just love the team name? "Skanks with Hanks" Oh yeah; got some serious knitters, or would that be nutters? Whichever, I've already got plans for that now empty tin. It shall hold something pretty! And sparkly! Beads? Buttons? Dunno yet, but it'll be nice.

I'm new to this whole swap thing but, so far, it's been lots of fun. I highly recommend it!

my sil needs your help

Quite possibly the sweetest SIL in the world needs your help. She is doing a "Breast Cancer 3 day walk" with her group the Asphalt Angels and is not at her goal yet.

Net proceeds from the Breast Cancer 3-Days benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure, to fund breast cancer research and community outreach, as well as the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, to provide an endowment for breast cancer initiatives.

Please go here and donate whatever you can. You can donate as little as $5 and we all know what can happen when knitters get together. There is also a subscription option if you want to donate a specific amount over a period of up to 4 months. That's what I did; it makes it a little easier to spread things out that way.

I will keep a link up on the side for this.

Do it for all those in your life you hold dear and help a marvelous woman at the same time.

Seriously, she's a doll and I'm so glad my brother had the sense to propose to her!

tag i'm it!

The box came in and is full of wonderful things! Thanks Kay! Pictures later as I've got to go knit!

This is obviously the exclamation point post!!!!

i've been bitten by the bug

Yep. Ravelry. Thanks to Rachael I've succumbed. My status?

• You signed up on August 10, 2007
• You are #24688 on the list.
• 15681 people are ahead of you in line.
• 646 people are behind you in line.
• 34% of the list has been invited so far

Can you hear my fingers tapping on my desk?

woot! i've been tagged!

Dishrag tag is going strong. I'm waiting with baited breath for the box to land on my stoop! Ready and rarin' to go; got the stuff together. One, two, three ... KNIT!

wait... wha???

Irony? I wish.

TAKE ONE

Dateline August 08, 2007. Washington Post, front page.
Columns 1 & 2: Bonds Sets Baseball's Home Run Record
Column 3: U.S. Anti-Drug Aid Would Target Mexican Cartels

Somehow, having Barry Bonds, Mr. Steroid himself, sharing page space with the words "Anti-Drug" should be ironic.

Frankly, I just don't get all the hoopla surrounding this "non-event". Aside from issues of whether or not this record-breaking is even legitimate because of Mr. Bond's steroid use (I don't think so) this is not front page news. It belongs in the sports section.

We have an administration in D.C. that is trampling all over our Constitution and a Congress that, by and large, is letting them do it unopposed. Oh there is a certain amount of hand-wringing going on but really... This stuff gets ignored when the people ought to be screaming from the rooftops and Barry Bonds gets the bulk (heh) of the front page?

Like I said, it should be ironic but alas...

TAKE TWO

Dateline August 08, 2007. Washington Post, Metro section.
Litigious Judge's Future Unclear. Plaintiff in D.C. Pants Lawsuit May Not Be Reappointed.

Ok. I'm sure you've heard of this guy. He's made, not only national news, but world news. The guy is a joke. Just in case you've not heard of it, this is a D.C. judge who sued his dry cleaners for $54 million over a pair of pants.

Yep.

Five four comma oh! oh! oh! comma oh! oh! oh!

That's some pants there. I guess he figured this case had legs! He thought he was making great strides there! Seams to me he was ... ok. I'll stop. I was starting to really reach anyway.

The irony of the whole thing though is this. The judge in the case ruled that Mr. Pants had no money coming to him. The drycleaners (which is a small mom and pop thing) asked the court to order Judge Pants to pay their attorneys' fees, arguing that the Pantsy One (Pantless One?) acted in bad faith in suing the family.

The judge has not ruled on this request yet. "Ordering a losing plaintiff to pay attorney's fees is unusual and would require the judge to find that the case"

wait for it

"was frivolous."

Wait... wha??

Frivolous (according to Webste):
Pronunciation: 'fri-v&-l&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin frivolus
1 a : of little weight or importance b : having no sound basis (as in fact or law) <a frivolous lawsuit> (see? see? this is straight from webster!)
2 a : lacking in seriousness b : marked by unbecoming levity
- friv·o·lous·ly adverb
- friv·o·lous·ness noun

i can hardly wait!

Dish rag tag has begun and I am getting close to being the one to whom the box will come! I am ready for it with needles clutched in my hot little hands; goodies ready and waiting!

I will take a picture of the box with the contents when it arrives at my doorstep and post it here.

In other swapperly news the fiber swap from Spindle and Wheel is on and I have my stuff together and ready to send out. Hope to get that done by this weekend. I meant to do it last weekend but the dreaded "Summer Cold" found me.

This is the first time I've ever done a swap and I'm curious to see what it will be like.

fur(less) baby friday

I'm probably the last to see this but I just had to share in case I'm not.

NAIROBI(AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond wit a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP.

"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows
the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting
its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.


We all want this to be true. Turns out, it is.

i'm in a quandry

So, here's the thing. I have created some things for my etsy store but am clueless how I determine shipping charges. Does anyone have any help for me?

I have a paypal account and am thinking it might be a good idea to use their shipping services since I can get a tracking number which is always nice to have.

I don't want to charge too much and scare people off (I hate the extravagant shipping charges you see on some eBay auctions) but, at the same time, I don't want to charge too little which will end up costing me.

I have gone through the forums on etsy but have not found any helpful answers to this question. I'll keep looking there but would like to get the store started. I'm hoping to use it to help defray the cost of my fiber addiction (wink wink).

Arggh. I hate indecision. I am open to suggestions.

checking in

Sorry it's been such a long time between posts. Coming up on a fur baby Friday so I'll try to have something up tomorrow.

I'm working on the sweater; got it frogged right up to the sleeve divide and started the increases. Sorry I don't have a picture but my lovely daughter is away visiting family and she took the digital camera. If I can get hold of one to get some pictures I'll post them. The sweater is feeling better about herself now that she's starting to grow again :)

Work and other things have been taking over my life lately. Pfft. Isn't that the way it always goes? I have been working on some things for my etsy store but don't have any pictures of them yet (see above). I've made several sets of knitting markers and plan on makig some little bags for holding the different size iPods.

Yeah. Like there aren't enough of both already out there!

fur baby friday

Behold the hulk.

I know he's not green and, all in all, he's always happy, and his name is really Andre but... just look at him! And do you see that bald tummy?

One day, when we were still in Texas, we were living quite happily with a cat, Jenger, and a dog, Rene. We, being good parents, decided they needed some toys. Packing up the kiddo we made a trek down to the local PetsMart. Wouldn't you know it; it was one of those "adopt a pet" weekends.

Of course, the kiddo made a bee-line for the cats and kittens. We found a gorgeous black cat that was just a love. Got to talking to the people there; this cat wasn't so good with dogs. Well, that wouldn't work out for us since we had a dog. Oh well, kiddo. Guess it just wasn't meant to be.

Then.

THEN.

I saw this cat. This pretty cat. This handsome cat. This cat that was sitting in his little cage just purring away with the happiest, most satisfied face I think I have ever seen. I went over to this cat. I started petting this cat. I held this cat. I ... well, I guess you see where this is going.

They warned us "He likes to bite when he's really happy". They were right. One of his many nicknames is "bitey cat". I've learned to present him with a knuckle; that way he can't work it to the back of his teeth and really chomp down.

I don't believe Jenger has ever really forgiven us for changing her status as "only cat" and Rene just takes things as they come. The rest of us are eternally grateful, however, for my new "executive decision". Yes. It was me. My husband just sighed and went along with it. Of course, Andre is a real daddy's boy. Wouldn't you just know it?

Oh, about that bald tummy. We just assumed he had some surgery where they had to shave him and it would grow back. Nope. He licks himself bald.

And, that's my boy.

new swap!

I am a newby spinner. There is a wonderful resource called "Spindle and Wheel" with interesting information and informative tutorials. I would recommend this website to anyone who is interested in fiber, even if you don't spin. Who knows, after looking at some of the stuff there, you might get interested. The wonderful thing is, they make it easy to start out in a very inexpensive manner. You can give it a whirl (ha!) and see if you like it before investing too much.

Anyhoo, they have a fiber swap going on. I missed it for some reason but got in before signups are over. You still have a chance since they're taking names until July 20th. You don't have to do a fiber swap as there is also a handspun yarn swap and a goodie swap to choose from.

Do it! Makes mail time fun time!

are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?

I'm going to be on vacation for a week and don't know if I'll be able to get internet access. I'm taking the laptop but I'm staying with my parents and my cell phone doesn't even get coverage there!

So...

Here's some cat candy for your amusement.

zee sweataire, she ees sad

Slumped over in her dejection. "But I tried so hard!" she cries sobbing. Yes, my darling, I know. I know. The fault dear sweater, lies not in you. The fault is mine. Alas I trusted too much in the early fit. But it will be ok, I promise. You will soon be lounging luxuriously in your red chair in your golden gloriousness.

See the needles already in place to start up again? I will not fail you. You shall, again, be the saucy thing you once were.



"Yes," she says proudly. "I will."

digit's story

This is in keeping with fur baby friday. Please click here and read Digit's story. I have added a link on my sidebar to the drawing set up to help defray his vet expenses (which are going to be very high). Please consider donating.

Quite a plucky little cat.

fur baby friday

Behold the Queen. This is Jenger (pronounced Ginger). Today is all about her.

When we were still living in Texas my daughter, a second grader, and I were taking a walk around our neighborhood. As we were walking down the street I heard someone holler at us. We looked up and a friend was waving at us to come on up to her apartment. This was the mother of a friend of my daughter. We went on up and stayed awhile. They had cats. They had a *lot* of cats. So many that she said they had to get rid of one. A kitten. She called her "the baby" because, well, she was. This beautiful little aloof kitten that all the other cats were trying to impress. Even then she had "IT".

Oh, it was so sad she said. They were going to have to take this kitten to the pound. I agreed. That was indeed sad. Why not try a shelter? Surely that would be better. No, no. It was going to be the pound. So sad. Well, we stayed a little longer with my daughter all over this kitten. This aloof (oh so sad) kitten. Before we left, I told my friend to contact me before taking the kitten to the pound. You know, just ... call me. No promises.

My daughter and I walked back slowly to the house and by the time we got home I announced that I was making an executive decision. I informed my husband we were going back for the kitten.

Yeah. "Sucker" was stamped on my forehead. I'm pretty sure of that.

Well, we drove over and on the way back I insisted on holding the kitten even though my daughter begged. I knew this would be the last chance for me to do so. Once we got home I informed my daughter that this was her kitten. All hers. They have been fast friends ever since. She can do things with that cat that no one else can. She announced the name of the kitten was Ginger. Some time later, she wrote on her blackboard "I love Jenger". "So who's Jenger?" I asked, pronouncing it like it looks.

That was how I came to find out that Ginger can be spelled more than one way by a little girl pure of heart and filled with love.



Thus ends this "tail" of Queen Jenger, the Beloved.

and the frogging begins

There will be pictures when the frogging is more impressive. Right now, since I have to go SO far back (heh) I'm gong with the as painless as possible frogging method explained by two left needles.

just because you can doesn't mean you should

PART 1

Picture this. Tall kinda greasy older guy with his hair plastered down around his head wearing slacks and ...shudder... a black fishnet tank top and nothing under it. Just be grateful this isn't picture day. You know, just because the day is hot you don't have to visit this visual assault on the rest of us. Like the poem says "it's the folks out in front that you jar*". I'm just saying.

PART 2

I've always wanted to say to the beggars on the street when they say "do you have  any spare change?" "Why, yes I do. Thank you for asking." But, I won't.

PART 3

Well, then again, maybe you should. Thanks to loralie.

* As a beauty I'm not a great star. There are others more handsome by far. But my face, I don't mind it, for I am behind it. It's the folks out in front that I jar.

pictures! we got your pictures right here!

Ahhhhhh. Picture time.





My finished fingerless mitts modeled by my lovely daughter (her manicure was *much* nicer than mine). The yarn is from a Canadian eBay seller (sheepgal54). She does some amazing stuff. I was enthralled with the yarn and the way the various colors came together and worked together. The cable down the front really stood out.



Here is view showing the front and back and one with a closeup of the yarn showing the stitch definition. This is (I'm winging it here) a 2 ply with multi-colored space-dyed wool. I would guess the weight to be about a worsted. Nice.





Here's a lap throw I'm working on using Crayon yarn from Knit Picks. This yarn is sooooo soft it should be illegal. Even though it is 100% cotton it doesn't hurt my hands the way most 100% cotton does. Definitely a pleasure to work with. It's one of those knits that I'll keep coming back to when I need something simple. No deadline either, which makes it nice. Garter stitch all the way and I'm loving it.

The dish rag! The dish rag! This is my practice dish rag for dish rag tag


Remember when I mentioned the top-down sweater I started? The one I'll need to frog?

Check out this saucy little wench all relaxing on the red chair there. So pleased with herself.




Check out that cable action. Oh yeah, baby. You know you like it.




And get a load of that color work!


Shame it's going to get ripped right up the to armholes. Darn dirty shame.

Just keep repeating "It's the process... it's the process"

of rags and tags

Pictures of the before and after on the sweater coming soon.

I finished my first ever dish rag yesterday and it is now proudly draped on the kitchen faucet. It went a little slower than I thought it would. The cotton wasn't as hard on my hands as I feared though so that's a good thing. I did straight garter stitch and used Sugar and Cream in two colors (Cornflower blue [83] and Buttercream [222]) doing two rows each all the way through. It was really pretty! I should have gotten a picture of that as well.

Eh. I need to get used to doing the picture thing.

there's spam and then there's spam

How's this for a subject line:

My Father is Dubious and Henpecked; Do Not Betray Me

Kind of makes you want to check it out hmmmmm?

so here's the thing

I started my first ever top down sweater. I started from this pattern by Wendy from Knit and Tonic. I made adjustments since I was basically using the pattern for a "how-to" in creating a top down sweater.

I like the idea of top down sweaters because you can try it on as you go, thus ensuring a proper fit, 'cause I'm still not so good with the important things like gauge.

So there I was, knitting merrily along and trying it on and things seemed to be going hunky dorey. I got to a certain place in the sweater where I thought I was golden and quit trying it on. Yeah. So, after I do the stranded color-work I added (since I'm dealing with limited amounts of yarn and needed to make sure I have enough for the sleeves) I thought to try it on again. Yep. Too tight.

So, here are my choices. 1) lose weight, 2) block the bejeebers out of it and hope it stretches enough, or 3) frog back and start over.

I've just about decided to frog it. Eh. After all, it was a really quick knit and I'm all about the process. Yeah. I'll just keep telling myself that.

Pictures tomorrow.

of shoes and ships and cabbages; of dishrags and other things

Well, I've done it. I signed up for my very first ever swap. Doing the dishrag tag

This should be fun.

fur baby friday

Let's take the other side of this pair now. This is Dinky. Her name used to be Pumpkin but that never seemed to stick. Dinky? Now that works so much better.

We had been living in Maryland for a while with our 1 dog and 2 cats. One evening my husband stuck his head in the front door and said "there's a cat in the tree". My daughter and I immediately accounted for the 2 cats then realized he was talking about another cat.

Well, we rushed outside and looked up in the tree. Sure enough, there was a kitten there. My husband was coming around from the back with a ladder. I warned him before going up there "you know what this means, don't you?". He sighed and said he did. He went up in the tree and plucked this (then) tiny little thing out and she immediately started purring. I swear there's a mark on our house.

"Suckers for animals live here"

She almost immediately fell in love with Rene. Rene adopted her. Dinky thinks she's a dog. She'll run to the front door with Rene when Rene is barking at someone and Dinky will growl at them. She'll come up and nuzzle Rene, lay on the ground and chew on her ears, muzzle whatever. She'll attack Rene's tail. Meanwhile, Rene will just lay there looking up at me with a "what am I gonna do?" expression.

Now no longer dinky in size the name has nevertheless stuck as has she. We love her.

Bunches and bunches.

it's the cobb salad all over again

I have a fairy godmother that likes to mess with me in restaurants. There for a while whenever I would order something they would either 1) be out of that particular thing, 2) they would come back and tell me they were out of that particular thing, 3) they would bring me something I did not order or 4) they would forget my order all together. It got to the point where that was happening with some regularity. That's when we came up with the idea that I had a fairy godmother with a wicked sense of humor.

This was a new one, though. About 20 something years ago, I was at Neiman Marcus in their little tea garden restaurant with my husband and MIL. I ordered the cobb salad. they ordered whatever. They got served. I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the waiter came to our table and said "the chef won't let me have your cobb salad". Wtf? Yep. He actually said "the chef won't let me have your cobb salad". I had an image of the chef standing over a perfectly made cobb salad threatening the waiter with a butcher knife or cleaver.

Ok. So that's the back story.

I went to get my eyes checked today; my old prescription isn't working so well anymore. Got my prescription and started looking at the frames. Well, the new frame fad is the little squinchy frames which look really cool and fashionable but which I cannot wear. I need something a little larger. The squinchy ones just look stooopid on my face. I finally found a little display of various frames and found some I really liked.

So, here's the cobb salad.

The salesman came over and told me that I couldn't buy those frames unless I had a particular insurance carrier. Again, wtf? I said "you mean I couldn't come in here and pay cash money for these frames?" Yup. That was exactly what he meant. They would not sell me those frames. Would. Not. Sell. Me. Those. Frames. He kept saying "we have lots of frames" and I told him "yes, but they're all the same".

*sigh* Well, I guess I'll be getting my frames elsewhere thankyouverymuch.

fur baby friday

This is my dog (Rene) and one of my three cats (Dinky). All of our animals are rescues in one way or another. These two are devoted to each other. Can you tell?

Today is Rene's story.

Rene came to us when we were still living in Texas. One day my daughter ran into the house and said "Mommy! There's a dog outside!" Well, that's all *I* needed. We went outside and coaxed her up onto our porch. She was very shy and skittish. Someone hadn't been very nice to her. She looked to be in good health, clean, not under-nourished but very very skittish. I finally was able to get her relaxed enough to fall asleep in my lap. That was in the evening. When my daughter and I went back in the house I told her if the pup was still there in the morning we were keeping her.

The next morning came and we rushed outside .... and the puppy dog was gone. Well, we started looking for her and, lo and behold, our neighbors thought she *was* our dog and had put her in their back yard! I have no idea why they thought she was ours. They didn't see us with her the evening before. Needless to say, we went right over and claimed her as ours. It took a while but she finally got over the worst of her skittishness. For the first two years we didn't think she could bark. Well, she has disabused us of *that* notion!

Can you imagine having to coax your dog onto the couch? Took us a while to get her comfortable with that idea. When she would come in from the rain and we would get a towel to dry her off, the towel would absolutely freak her out. Sometimes I wonder just what was done to her. As she's gotten older she has started getting more skittish again. She sticks to me like glue when she's feeling that way.

I love this dog. This is the best dog in the world.

now this is cool

My daughter has a friend she has known since grade school. This friend is unusual in that she will come over to our house and actually sit down with me and my husband and have a conversation with us. She's a really sweet young lady. She thinks of us as her 'other' mom and dad and that's so cute.

Well, she dropped by yesterday evening and we had the most delightful conversation with her. I'm sitting there trying to master my first ever toe up sock (and let me tell you; that sock is making me feel toe up!) and she mentioned that she has taken up knitting! She has become as addicted to it as I have. Well, we started talking about knitting and I told her I was going to give her one of my catalogs of a great knitting site for getting yarn cheap. As soon as I got up to find the catalog she said 'Knitpicks?' Yay! Then she could talk needles with me and the pros and cons of metal vs bamboo. It was just so nice. Nice, firstly because she's always been so delightful to talk to and, secondly, because I now have a new person to talk knitting with!

Another cool thing; she is going to Howard University and I work in DC so we'll be able to get together sometimes during the week when she has some 'off' time.

Yay for cool!

... and so it begins

It's finally happened, I've joined the ranks of the bloggers. I never figured I'd get there.

I never really figured anyone would be interested in what I have to say; there are so many people out there that can say it better than I.

One of the things I would like to do with this blog is to track some of the things I have become interested in doing; knitting, which I am fairly new at - going on about a year now, quilting - which I have been doing off and on for a while now, vintage sewing patterns and other miscellaneous sewing stuff.

There's also this *ahem* thing I do now. Kind of got dragged into it kicking and screaming by a friend and have found (somewhat to my horror) that I actually derive a great deal of enjoyment from it. That would be D&D. Yes. As in Dungeons and Dragons. I managed to avoid this particular social stigma for quite a while. Now that I am a grown up (ha!); wife and mother of a college student; married for 27 years.... Well, what can I say? Some of us come late to these things.

So, here I go. I'm throwing this out into the wilds of blogland. Out there where the internets run free.

Will anyone notice?

We'll see.