home of the goosefairy

dinner and a movie

2011-10-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

I am very lucky in that my father introduced me to science-fiction at a very young age. I love pretty much anything science-fiction related. I really have soft spot for the old 30's to 60's sci-fi. I have found something that punches pretty much all my buttons when it comes to this stuff. It is an online webseries called "The Mercury Men". You can catch it on hulu and SyFy.

It is a retro-sci-fi cliffhanger webseries that is so well done. They hit the mark on everything; characters (everyman caught up in circumstances beyond his control and the quintessential hero to save the day), lighting, music, bad-science threat (the moon!), and, the most important thing of all, BRAIN IN A JAR!

The basic premise is this: a government worker who does all he can to not work (you know the type) becomes embroiled in a nefarious plot of the Mercury Men (from the planet Mercury! men made of light!) to <spoiler> the moon! He is rescued by the daring, gorgeous Captain Jack Yaeger, engineer with the mysterious "League". Together they overcome obstacles and, I don't think it's a spoiler to say they save the day. Oh, but HOW they save the day is the story.

Captain Jack Yaeger - engineer ... with a gun.

What would make the perfect watching experience would be to eat off the right dishes while watching the show. These are a must. Take your choice of dinner plates.

pick a mug:

and you're good to go! Unfortunately, I couldn't find a proper bowl for eating your "Mercury Men" cereal out of but I guess you can't have everything.

Seriously, check these guys out. There is a ton of extra stuff on the website. Videos of behind-the-scenes stuff, commercials, an adorable one with a 3 year old fan getting a visit from Captain Jack Yaeger himself! There's also free downloadable digital props you can print out yourself.

There are currently 10 webisodes with the first nine telling the first season's story and the tenth setting you up for a new (please god!) season.

new girl in the shop

2011-06-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything but I've been busy with this'N'that. One of the things I've gotten back to are the mermaid dolls! There's a new one in the shop. Go see her here. Here's a little sneak peak just for you though. Say "hi" to Lavande!

flime ties

2010-11-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Wow. How did it get to be November 12th already?

I've updated the shop with two new mermaids and my photographer extraodinaire reshot my first two dolls. Go take a look!

For your viewing entertainment here is another lovely model captured during the latest photo shoot.

sneak peek

2010-10-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here she is!

I'm trying to get some better pictures before I list her in the shop. I have also finished another one and need pictures of her as well. I'm pretty happy with my final pattern; it's easy to put together and she feels like the right size. The only thing I'm still fiddling with are the eyes. I haven't come up with what I think is the "right" look yet but it's getting there.

Here's a view of the back so you can see all that hair. Wowsers.

Just to remind you, this is where I started with this one.

The only part I re-used was the tail and that even got adjusted a bit at the top. No comparison, right?

All in all, this is a "yay"!

new stuff - photos coming soon

2010-10-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I got my new sewing machine and, man, it is a cute one. Better than that, it sews! It sews without skipping stitches!

I completely took apart the denim/linen mermaid and re-did her. I changed out the denim for a printed cotton and changed out the whole body top pattern, slimmed down the tail a bit where it connects to the body and generally changed how I put the whole thing together. It was a lot easier once I figured it out. I was really making it hard on myself the way I was doing things before.

I've gone back to using the yarn I like for the hair (here). I pretty much hate that yarn for anything but mermaid hair but it's perfect for that.

I'll get some pictures of her and my new lovely sewing machine and put those up soon. I'm still re-thinking some elements on her face so she's not quite finished but she's getting close!

frustrations

2010-09-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well that was fun.

I was able to cut out several pieces for more than one doll and started sewing them up. Started but didn't finish because my lousy sewing machine, which I recently spent over $100 to fix, doesn't work anymore. It sewed about 3 stitches then promptly quit catching stitches. Oh how I wish I had never given up my trusty old Singer which my parents gave me sometime in the late 60's. That was a workhorse that only sewed a straight stitch - frontward and backward. That's all it did but it did it consistently.

I am totally fed up with the one I currently have so I got online and ordered this little beauty. It's been shipped and now I'm just sitting here waiting for it to show up. I can hardly wait to have a sewing machine I don't want to curse out when I use it!

mermaids past and present

2010-09-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I went through and took some pictures of the mermaids I made for my daughter when she was quite a bit younger and thought I'd post them here.

This is the very first one

and a closeup of her face

She was made with some beautiful velveteen fabric, a lovely co-ordinating brocade for the tail plus some odds and ends of lace and velvet for trimming. I used this great yarn for her hair. My daughter loved her and then started requesting more! Following are the others all lined up

As you can see, I had some difficulty with their faces. On each one I learned something new.

Here is the first with the last one I made.

As you can see, she is quite a bit larger than the original ones. I have come to the conclusion that she is a little too big. I also have a tendency to over stuff them and make them a little less cuddly because of that. The latest one is also over-engineered and I don't like the shape of the head. I'm going to stick with the head shape of the first ones. I *do* like using rhinestones for the eyes and I love the extra full head of hair. Those are things I will continue going forward. I have now completely taken the latest one apart and she's ready to be remade. I'm going to work on that over the next couple of days and will hopefully have something to show for my labors! Stay tuned.

inspired again

2010-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

it's taken a while but i'm inspired again. when my daughter was little i used to make mermaid dolls for her. i made quite a few since she would give me orders for the type she wanted. along the way i kept trying new ways of doing them since there were always "issues" with them in one way or another. i started with a basic doll pattern which my mother used to make me a "gretel" doll (from hansel and gretel) which she got from an old better homes and garden booklet. i created my own tail pattern to replace the feet but everything else was pretty much as the pattern was made.

zoom forward several years - i decided i wanted to making these mermaid dolls and then selling them. i really liked doing them but there are only so many you can have hanging around. in order to do that i realized i really needed to come up with my own pattern since it didn't seem quite right to sell based off someone else's pattern. i managed to get one done which i was quite pleased with (see her here) for a friend at work. she ordered it for her little girl as a christmas present.

one of the things i realized was i really needed to simplify the pattern. it was a lot of work; work i don't think i would be willing to do for a large number of these dolls. the take-away from this was i won't worry about making the head swivel, the arms articulate (maybe - still not sure on that one), possibly reduce the size and not make the bend in the tail too narrow (makes it hard to stuff properly and it tends to get floppy). even though it takes almost an entire skein of yarn and a long time i really love having a full head of hair. don't like skimpy haired dolls - especially mermaid dolls since they are so oo-la-la to begin with.

so, the inspiration. what brought it on? this woman. she is amazing. it was really something seeing her journey in doll-making and the different stages she went through (is still going through?). she made me want to get back in there and try and do something with the mermaids in my head. get them out of my head on in the world.

i'm going to try and keep a running post on what i've got going on and the different things i'll be trying in developing the body style i think will work best for me.

i hope you'll come along with me on this new endeavor.

irony

2010-08-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

i·ro·ny [ahy-ruh-nee] –noun

1. the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.

what irony abounds when the defacto leaders (glenn beck, sarah palin) of the most uncivil bunch of people this nation has seen in a long time call for a return to civility.

pupdate now with more socks

2010-08-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

update on the pup. she's fitting in beautifully. the crate is still in the living room but only because we need to replace it with an end table next to the couch. need something to put the lamp on dontchaknow.

we had to use the crate for only a very short time. she has adjusted to the cats quite nicely and vice versa. want proof? ok. here's proof.

what? too far apart? hows this, then.

really? still too far apart? jeez. ok you doubters.

see that ferocious little cat face? she's trying to chew on sophie's paw. she is also partial to sophie's ears. sophie, for her part, likes to flea-bite dinky. *sigh* those two.

jenger is still keeping her distance, although she has, at times, actually rubbed up against our little sophie. no pictures of that rare occurrence. we're just grateful sophie isn't inclined to chase her like prey.

now for the sock portion of this post. i'm trying to get my sock mojo back. i've been putting in time on non-sock related knitting and realized my sock situation is getting desparate. time for socks! going for a pretty basic sock just to get going again. trouble is, i think i need to switch out to my metal needles. these wood ones, beautiful though they may be, are just a little to grabby for me. i'm struggling just to do a round at a time. want to see? ok.

yeah. just the toe getting started and it's taking way too long to get to this part. i'm hoping switching out the needles will help. i'm using stroll kettle-dyed sock yarn in "jay" for the toes and heels. (it looks like they're phasing that particular yarn out but the equivalent yarn is the regular stroll sock yarn.) i'm using this particular yarn because it has some nylon in it and i need that to keep the toes and heels from wearing out too fast. for the body of the sock i'll be using a beautiful handpainted yarn in purples. when i get to that part i'll take a picture.

onward and upward!

sophie, world. world, sophie.

2010-05-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

who's a pretty girl? who's a pretty girl?

Sophie is a pretty girl!

oh, and that crate in the background? doesn't look like we're going to need it. she is such a sweet tempered little girl and seems to be housebroken. it's only been a day so we'll give it more time before deciding for sure.

and just for fun, here's a pic of her in the magic room (good things find their way to her tummy here)

and one of her having her dinner

good dog!

mother's day - new beginnings

2010-05-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

i'm going to have a dog again!

we went to our local shelter (warl) on mother's day and started the search. i didn't know what would happen; would we find a dog right away? how long would the process take?

well, yes, we did find a dog right away. she was in the 3rd section we looked at. such a pretty friendly little girl. she was rooming with another friendly dog, a boy named homer, and we just couldn't quit petting her and looking at her. i meant to make the rounds and check out all the dogs but just couldn't leave her. my husband said "i really like her". so we took her to a little room so we could interact with her without a lot of distractions. so sweet. and SMART. oh yes, i could tell right away that she's a smart girl.

we still have two cats so any dog we bring in will have to be able to co-exist with them. that is a deal breaker. they "cat-tested" her while we were there so we could see how she reacted to a cat.

i always wondered how dogs are "cat-tested". conjures up some interesting imagery to be sure. well, what they do is put a cat in a large cage (or crate) in one of their offices then bring in the dog on a leash. the first thing is to see what the dog does when s/he sees the cat then go from there. our new puppers didn't even notice the cat at first then, when she went over to check the cat out, the cat hissed at her! she ducked her head and kind of backed away. i figure we can work with that.

we pick her up tonight. tonight!

i dreamed about her last night. i dreamed she was sleeping on the bed with us. it was a lovely dream.

tonight!

man candy

2010-04-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

i'll be frank. this post was prompted by me getting Sherlock Holmes in the mail the other day. i mean, really. robert downey jr and jude law? yummy.

made me think of the man candy movies i have. i present for your viewing pleasure the following:

Silverado - lots of lovely men in their prime, plus let me just say this: "scott glenn in leather pants". it's also a great movie with some wonderful lines

i don't wanna kill you and you don't wanna be dead

i think there's only a couple of guys and this a**hole's one of 'em

you idiot! he's hit everything he's shot at!

the aforementioned Sherlock Holmes - again, robert downey jr and jude law. need i say more?

Ocean's 11 - oh my lord. george clooney, matt damon, brad pitt, andy garcia. seriously.

300 - 1) gerard butler, 2) gerard butler in very little and 3) all those other BNN* men. sigh.

so, what are your favorite man candy movies?

seriously, i wanna know!

*BNN - buff and nearly nekkid

i'm all for trying something new

2010-01-19T08:37:00.001-08:00

doing something new this year. i'll be participating in my first ever KAL (knit a long) and, boy, is it a doozy. a fully ALL OVER cabled sweater. check it out.

the big question will be what yarn to use.

i'm pretty cheap so i don't want to spend a fortune on yarn. the recommended yarn has crazy good yardage for the price but it is a little rougher wool. i don't want to put all that work into it and have a sweater too scratchy to wear.

i've been wanting to do something like this for a while but always felt a little intimidated by the amount of cabling involved but the sweater does not incorporate any real shaping and it will be done in pieces so i'll be able to transport it more easily.

all in all i think it will be fun and fun is good!

too painful

2009-11-23T13:36:00.001-08:00

it is still too painful to go into detail. suffice it to say our beautiful dog is no longer with us. she was the best and most beautiful dog i have ever known.

i love you rene.

quiet miracles

2009-11-15T12:56:00.001-08:00

last monday my husband came home to find our precious dog on the floor unable to get up on her own. it was time for the hard talk. we made the decision and i told him he had to call our daughter who was away at school and tell her. i was unable to at the time for purely emotional reasons. she had to be given the opportunity to come home and be here. we made the decision to have things taken care of by saturday. we are very fortunate to have a wonderful vet who makes house calls and she was set to come by sometime in the early evening on saturday.

tuesday the pup was no better. wednesday pretty much the same...

but...

sometime in the night she had gotten up on her own and got off her bed. i know this because later that night i woke up to hear her getting back on her bed. she sleeps on the floor next to my side of the bed.

thursday she was getting up on her own. she was a little shaky but she was doing it. by thursday evening she was doing so much better.

friday. friday she was looking like her old self. well, the old self that is still a very old dog but, still. friday evening when our daughter got in we had made the decision that we would have the vet still come over, see how the puppers was doing, see if any hard decisions needed to be made at that time.

saturday she was doing so well we decided that when we talked to the vet it would be with the purpose of finding out what we should look for; what we should keep an eye out for; how we could be sure we weren't jumping the gun. late saturday we got a call from our vet that she was running late. she had been out that day with her little family and they had just gotten back. i told her what was going on and we made the decision for her to come by on sunday instead.

when we lost andre we had really let it go far beyond the point we should have. we were all in denial. my husband said he didn't want to let things go so far with rene. we also didn't want to err on the other side and let her go too soon. it was so helpful to talk to our vet and have her tell us what to look for so we could make the right decision at the right time.

she was, quite frankly, amazed that rene is still doing so well considering her advanced age, her failing liver and her loss of muscle mass in her hind-quarters. you just wouldn't know it to look at her. the vet agreed with us that now is not the time. rene is really doing well. she doesn't appear to be in a lot of pain, she still gets excited for her treats, her food and her walkies with her daddy.

our quiet miracle. she is still with us.

it was the best of times it was the worst of times

2009-11-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

she came to us around thanksgiving 13 years ago. she was our thanksgiving dog and we truly gave thanks for her. many thanksgivings have come and gone since then. she will be leaving us this weekend.

she has given us so much and has asked so little in return; just to be loved. we have loved her. oh have we loved her. she is the best dog in the world. she is the perfect dog for us. she is loving and sweet. she is beautiful.

she was so cowed when she came to live with us. she had been mistreated. she didn't bark, she was extremely skittish. after a time she became less skittish and learned how to bark all over again. she has made sure everyone who passes in front of our house knows it is being looked after by the best dog in the world. we always thank her for "letting them know".

one of the best things, the most heartwarming, is seeing her asleep on the floor, on her back with her tummy exposed. this shows great comfort with her surroundings; great trust that her people mean her no harm.

her little cat has been staying close, oh so close these past few weeks. we all love her so much.

we figure her age to be around 16. she has lived a good long life; most of it spent with a family who treasures her.

we remember her running in great loops in the back yard head up and tail wagging. so full of life and fun. so graceful and proud. she loves us all and shows it in every fiber of her being. we all love her and praise her for being such a good dog.she loves going for her nightly walk with her daddy. i think her daddy likes it, too.

the house is going to be so empty.

apropos of nothing

2009-11-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

=i hate telephones=

i hate talking on them. there are only two people i can talk to on the phone and totally lose track of time. one is my mother, the other is my daughter.
to counter my hate of phones i purchased some old rotary phones from ebay and *ahem* rotate them in my living room.
my husband likes to make a joke of having a phoneless cord. i think it's brilliant.
when i have to punch in a bunch of numbers on the phone i invariably punch in the wrong one somewhere near the end and have to start all over again. i have actual nightmares about that. one nightmare which is still very very vivid even though i haven't had it in quite a while:

i'm on a vast plain that stretches forever in every direction. the only thing visible is an open structure with columns stretching upwards of 50 feet. placed on those columns just high enough that you have to jump up to reach them are phones. in order to dial a number you have to jump up and dial each number. there are a LOT of numbers which need to be dialed. i always mess up before reaching the end and have to start over again and it is critical i make this call.

=i have way too much stuff i want to do and not enough time to do it=

i have socks which need to be knit for me, my daughter, my husband and my parents. these i can do on my commute to and from work. i just need to get faster.
i have a sweater i want to have done before thanksgiving
i have artwork i want to have prints made of so i can try to sell the prints
i have little book boxes i want to decorate and try to sell
i have ideas for collages i want to do
i have finished knitted and crocheted projects which i want to get pictures of and update my ravelry project list
i have a scarf/shawl which i have wanted to make for several years now and finally realized i simply could not subsitute the yarn called for. i have now purchased the yarn and want to get started on it. before i can feel comfortable doing that i really need to make inroads on the first two in this list

time management. i really need it.

aaaand she's off

2009-07-21T06:58:00.001-07:00

the hardest job you'll ever love.

after living with this absolutely marvelous little person for over 21 years we are now, after doing our job correctly, sending her off on her own.

why is this so hard? she's close, though. that's a comfort. she's a 4.5 hour bus drive away, so it's doable. not so far as to be a logistical issue but not so close as to tempt us to intrude too often.

she's entering the next phase of her young life, one brimming with possibility and adventure. she's going to school in another city, another state. she's well on the way to becoming who she is, will be, needs to be. her future is limitless.

we are so proud.

for the fabric lovers out there

2009-06-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

one of the sites i love to keep up with, Sheree's Alchemy, is having a give away! she is one of those really special, fortunate people who is able to do what she loves and get paid for it.

she does the most amazing children's clothes and uses the most gorgeous fabric i think i have ever seen. this is the fabric she is giving away! you really need to check it out!

remembering

2009-06-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

we recently said our final good-bye's to my mother-in-law. she had lived a good long life and went peacefully in her sleep, sharp as a tack until the end. the funeral was this past saturday and it was lovely seeing family we haven't seen in a while. my brother-in-law did the eulogy and my sister-in-law did the prayer, which was also a eulogy of sorts. one of the things she mentioned was her mother's dignity. her mother was, indeed, a very dignified person. keep this in mind.

flashback to 1979.

i had been seeing a lovely young man for a bit when i came by to pick him up, at his house, for a date. he came out and told me he wanted me to meet his mother.

okey doke.

we went in and he introduced me to his mother who was in her houserobe, house slippers and, more than likely, curlers in her hair. remember, she was a very dignified person. instead of being embarrassed, horrified or rushing off into the other room to change, she very graciously said hello to me. she was not only dignified and gracious but also just a wee bit devilish.

she then asked me "would you care to tango?" and we then did a quick tango in the kitchen.

that was it. i was smitten. she later tried to scare me off by telling me my intended wanted a LOT of kids, but it was too late. she had already won me over.

going on 30 years later i am so glad she did.

my beautiful boy

2009-04-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

we've had andre for quite a while. he is, for all intents and purposes, my husband's cat but he makes sure he gives his love to us all. he is my friend, my buddy.

and he will soon, all too soon, no longer be with us. we love him so.

realizations

2009-01-05T06:23:00.000-08:00

i took off 2 weeks during the last of the year 2008. 2 weeks of not being at work. 2 weeks of no routine. 2 weeks of staying at home, knitting, crocheting and staying pretty much in my pajamas.

oh, sure, there were those days of my friend coming in from texas to visit us for 5 days. only 5 days. i love my friend and would have loved to have her for the entire 2 weeks but, well, she has family and duties of her own.

out of those 2 weeks away from work, 1 of those ended up with me being sick as a dog with a head/chest cold. like my husband says, when i get sick i get sick.

realizations:

1) i need routine. during my 2 weeks of no routine i suddenly realized last night that i neglected to take my anti-sadness meds. i realized this as i became aware of the fact that i was intensely sad and for no reason at all. without my routine i don't remember to do things like take the needed meds.

2) i cannot be a stay-at-home person. this is a previously noted realization that was reinforced this past 2 weeks. i also cannot be a work-from-home person. i cannot set boundaries. i will either not do enough work or i will work until the wee hours.

3) i cannot think of a number 3. i think this is because i have difficulty concentrating (see number 1 above). gotta not forget the meds.

so, there you go. i don't do resolutions, i do realizations.

i'm exhausted

2008-11-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

8 years of anger and frustration will take their toll on anyone. i have been furious for 8 years.

i was furious when i saw the dirty tricks and outright illegal activity which led to the theft of the election 8 years ago.

i have been furious as the american people seemed to collectively give up any notion of being informed and pro-active.

i have been furious at the way the oxymoronic moral majority has fostered an environment of exclusion, division, fear and hate.

now, for the first time in 8 years, i am no longer furious. i am in awe.

i am in awe of an intelligent inclusive man who brought us all together.

i am in awe of a nation that did sit up and pay attention.

i am in awe of the next generation, most first time voters, who have decided to seize their future and make it a better place.

i have hope now, not just for us as a nation, but i have a great deal of hope for my daughter's generation. i have hope they too will become a great generation.

i'm exhausted...

but happy.

finally

2008-11-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

for the first time in 8 years i feel hopeful, not fearful.

just in time for halloween

2008-10-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

there are a ton of tutorials on the interwebs about diy halloween stuff. usually the costume ones are for adults, kids or pets. once in a while, once in a great while, someone comes along who does a costume that falls in the genius category. today i have found one such person. she's a pretty creative person anyway and, one of the things i love about her, also kind of strange in the best possible way.

case in point? here's her take on halloween costumes for "dun dun dunnnnnn"

...your houseplants!

friends don't let friends...

2008-10-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

well, in the case of my so-called friends...

i knew these people were depraved but i continued to hang out with them. we all got together this past weekend for a planned day of "fun". my friend, let's call him dave decided to channel "the dude" and made a pitcher of white russians. i generally tend to avoid drinking with them because, well, i know how they are. this time i gave in and had some white russians.

those things are really good, you know? they go down verrrrrry easily.

i vaguely remember the rest of the evening but i do remember getting home and my DH pouring me into bed. well, in all honesty, it wasn't that bad but i was definitely happy. I awoke the next day with a feeling of dread and a vague sense of guilt. then i remembered.

my depraved friends took advantage of my inebriated state to get me to do something i swore i'd never do.

i'm so ashamed.

i now have a facebook account.

socks

2008-10-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

one of the reasons i wanted to learn to knit was so i could make my own socks. i was never able to find the kind of socks i wanted in the stores. i wanted the nice warm thick socks for wearing around the house in cold weather. one of the first pair of socks i knitted was, well, not a disaster exactly, but not something you would hold up with pride and say "i made these!"

i did them top down, no pattern, just using math. my friend (the fiber pusher) gave me the basics and i just went to town. i used lion brand MicroSpun yarn which was not the best choice. i double stranded it and used about 4 different colors, switching out those colors to get different effects. a great idea but the yarn keeps popping out where i tried to weave it in. they are also two different sizes and keep falling off my feet since they are also too big.

it wasn't until recently that i got started on the socks again and, now that i'm using actual patterns, they fit a WHOLE lot better. want to see them? they are not in order of completion.

these are from the tidal wave pattern. i made the mistake of taking the pattern all the way down the foot and it makes the foot skewed a little. they're still comfy though.

the yarn is from what has to be my favorite source for sock yarn: thank ewe on etsy. i just love their yarn. there is so much of it that i can probably get another pair of socks out of what's left.

these are superwash. i think most of my socks will be superwash just for the ease of care.

here's a few more just for grins.

go see the rest here

way back when

2008-09-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

i mentioned the pull that crochet was starting to have on me here. i actually started a ripple blanket which was inspired by this one. i actually tried to do it in crochet but just fought with that first row. it wasn't fun and, quite frankly, if it's not fun why do it? i really wanted one of those ripple blankets though so i am doing one in a modified feather and fan. instead of doing YOs for the increase i'm just doing a KFB at the increase stitches.

wanna see?

i really like how these pictures are coming out. i think i did the right thing by getting my daughter to do all my knitting glamour shots, don't you?

i have close-ups. wanna see?

instead of going all crazy bright with the colors, i decided to stick with a limited palette using, *ahem* palette yarn from knit picks. it's fingering weight wool and i just love the way it drapes. it won't be machine washable but i'll deal with that aspect of the blanket when the time comes. this is another long-term project. a good thing to get out when i don't feel like being inventive but want to work on something satisfying.

oh yeah. lovin' the ripple.

hexagon blanket update

2008-09-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

i've been working on the hexagon blanket again. there for a while, i got stumped because i was starting to have problems choosing colors.

i really want to keep this looking very unplanned. do you know how hard that is to do? i realized i started clustering colors in one area so then i had to start in another area then the same thing happened and then i switched and it happened again and and and

well

it just wore me out so i took a little break.

i was looking at some of the hexagon blankets on ravelry and in the flickr hexagon love pool group to try and get umphed up about it again. one of the people mentioned she was doing hers in groups of 7 hexes. then when she got enough she joined them up. the main thing is to make sure you don't repeat the final round color choice in any of the groups of 7. then, when you join them you don't have to worry about the same colors touching! genius!

it got me out of my brain lock. it's also easier to be "unplanned" with just 7 hexes at a time, too.

i also got a photographer that knows her stuff. see?

i'm ready for my close-up mr. DeMille!

all in all, it was a good day

2008-07-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

our computer died this past week. my DH troubleshot it and determined the logic board was a goner. saturday was devoted, at least on his part, with getting the new computer and getting it home and all hooked up. (i was away battling goblins and critters like that with my d&d buddies.) he was also able to get the old hard drive out and hook it up to the new computer.

the thinking was, we could get our firefox information from the old hard drive; things like the bookmarks and all the saved passwords. we also wanted to make sure we had all of our data off the old hard drive but that was easy. you see, we knew where that was.

macs don't make things easy when it comes to searching for certain things. i know where to find things in a *nix environment. i was unable to do much of anything with the hard drive when it was attached to the new mac so i hooked it up as a usb connection to my laptop which is running (thank goodness) debian. once i was able to do that i was able to search more easily for tell-tale data strings in the directory structure and generally do some more poking around. the upshot was i was able to recover the firefox information and grab the rest of the stuff off the hard drive, pass it over to a thumb drive which then got dumped to the new mac. did a little presto-change-o with default profiles and bob's-yer-uncle we were good to go.

in addition to all this productivity i was finally able to finish up 3 bags/purses for my etsy shop! take a look. the link is over there on the right. i want to start filling my etsy shop up with various things and the purses were a good start. i made these with old jeans that i have cut up and turned into fabric. fabric with some really cool texture what with the interesting fading, worn spots and all. i have a ton of old jeans so there is a lot of fabric to do things with!

i also want to offer some simple jewelry, soft dolls and photos, if i can get the D(ear)H(ubby) and D(arling)D(aughter) to get some of their photography prepared.

here's a little sneak peek of some detail on one of the purses. enjoy! (and check out the shop!)

my mind is a terrible wasted thing...

2008-07-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

no, wait. that's not how it goes.

so, i have a disability check that i receive every month from the VA from my time in the army. no, it's not from that time i fell off the barstool.

anyhoo. i needed to change the bank this check comes to so i call up the handy dandy little number to take care of things. we go through the usual question and answer period to prove that i am who i say i am.

her: your name?
me: (gave it to her)
her: date of birth?
me: august 1955
her: day you went into service?
me: oh man. i haven't thought of that in a while. wait a minute, yes! it was 1994.
her: uh, ma'am? 1994?
me: yes, i think so.
her: ... we show the date to be quite a bit earlier.
me: no... i graduated high school in 1993, spent a year in college... no, it was definitely 1994.
her: ... and you were born in 1955?
me:
her:
me: (suddenly realizing) !! OH! no! it was 1974! 1974!

we started laughing so hard that we couldn't even continue for a while.

her: i was trying to not be rude but i was thinking wow; born in 55 and graduated HS in 95?
me: yeah; i was slow. man, i haven't even had anything to drink today! (well, that set her off again and it was some time before we could proceed)

i told her i just knew what she was going to do when she hung up with me; tell everyone around her about the nutjob she had on the phone. she said there wasn't anyone around to tell and i told her that was a shame. what a wasted opportunity! well, we finally finished our business and she very nicely told me to be sure to take my medication.

see? public service isn't dead after all.

no... i'm not becoming a video blog

2008-06-19T11:13:00.001-07:00

but you just HAVE to see this!

harvey korman leads to...

2008-05-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

tim conway.

which, of course, leads you right back to...

harvey korman. enjoy.

ok. i know it's a cop-out but...

2008-05-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

kind of a neat follow-up to my last post.

it's not tourettes, i swear

2008-05-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

but i have realized i am unable to say "dear leader's" name without swearing either before or after i say his name.

and...

i've actually tried.

snerk

2008-04-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

i have a very smart daughter; very aware in some ways as i mentioned here. keep this in mind. there are times, however, when i cannot believe what she has just said.

case in point numero uno:

we were discussing sylvia plath and the fact that she committed suicide by sticking her head in the oven. my darling intelligent daughter observed that someone would really have to want to die to go that way. after discussing it some more i realized that she thought people who stuck their head in the oven cooked themselves! *snerk* i laughed so hard and long on that one i thought i was going to have an attack. i mean, she didn't even have the excuse of never having a gas oven in the house! heh. at least she's not alone.

case in point numero two-o:

last nite when she came home from work, she asked us if we noticed anything different in the front yard. nope. we took a look. there was what looked like a little sapling in the front yard! she said she had planted it.

us: you planted it?
her: yes.
us: where did you get a tree to plant?
her: i found it on fenton street! there were some planted that looked just like this one and it was just laying there so i picked it up and planted it.
us: how did you plant it? did you dig a hole for it?
her: ...no. i just stuck it in the ground.
us: wow. did it have a root ball?
her: a what?
us: a root ball; some roots or something.
her: um. no.
us: honey. that's not a tree, that's a stick. it's not going to grow unless it has some roots.
her: oh *stricken face*

oh, *snerk* indeed :)

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2008-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

i've never been that impressed with crochet as a craft. i think this is mostly because, when i was growing up, the crochet you saw was that gawd-awful eye-gouging color-combos of acrylic in granny square vests.

i mean... that's enough to scar a girl for life.

so, several years ago now, i learned to knit. loved the knitting and wanted to learn for two basic reasons: 1) sweaters and 2) socks. i could never find the kind i wanted so i wanted to learn to make my own. i could already sew; i had that aspect of clothing covered (heh). but the crochet? still not interested.

then.

well.

this started me thinking "maybe crochet isn't so bad after all". look at all that wavy stripey goodness. i thought "hmmm. i could probably find a knit stitch that would give me basically the same effect". *whew* crochet successfully fended off.

then. oh the evil that is moonstitches. i saw this and began to think "i need to learn to crochet. there is no way i can do that by knitting." i lusted after this blanket. i realize that the phrase "pure lust" is kind of an oxymoron but there it was.

pure. lust. blanket. gah. urgle.

then, as if this wasn't bad enough, moonstitches has to go and crochet this. not only does she have no shame in crocheting something this droolingly marvelous but then she posts pictures of it!

MUST LEARN CROCHET NOW!

thank goodness i'm surrounded by brilliant women. enter one (sadly blogless) becky. this woman is a fiber genius. she does spinning, knitting, needlework, quilting, and crocheting (and probably a host of other things as well). she looked at closeup pictures of the hexagons in the hexagon blanket and figured out what i need to do. she then showed me basic crochet and explained it all. then she got me started on all the little centers (i decided to take an assembly line approach). once i got a ton of little centers done i was able, with her previous instructions, to go to the next step. then a friend at work got me working on the next steps then the lovely tutorial put up by moonstitches got me to the joining step! becky was also able to track down the crochet stitch used in that lovely scarf. see? i told you she was genius!

crochet is fun! i love it!

oh, remember what i said about granny squares? yep. guess what's next?

she thought she was being kind

2008-03-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

i recently got my hair cut. i had thought that i might let it grow really long as i had long long hair at one time in my past and it looked pretty good. i didn't take into account the fact that 1) i'm older now 2) i really don't like messing with my hair 3) and it looked just like a mess hanging down around my face.

so, i did what any reasonable person would do and went to see my hair stylist. this woman is a genius. she is the mother of a friend of my daughter; this is how i got to know her. she works out of her home and she is one of those rare stylists that i could give her basic instruction on what i was wanting and close my eyes , go to sleep and it would be just perfect when i woke up. of course, i don't go to sleep. we have things to catch up on after all.

anyhoo, she does her usual brilliant job. i just told her to cut it as short as possible without making me look goofy. i have the perfect haircut. it suits my head and face and is beyond easy to take care of.

now, here's something you need to know about me. i have wanted green hair for ages. i'm 52 years old and i finally figured "why not?" i asked my daughter if she would give me some green highlights (what? i'm not crazy; no way could i carry off all green!) and she was just thrilled. she gave me a green swatch that could go subtle or more obvious depending on how much i covered it with other layers.

i love it. i think it looks great.

now to the title of this post.

there is a security guard at my place of work when you come in the front door. she and i have had conversations about various things for some time. the day after i got it cut i came in and (it was a rainy day) showed her. she said "oh! well, don't worry, on a day like this it will do that. once it starts growing out it will look really good"

i hadn't yet had the green put in.

she saw me for the first time with the green. she said, before noticing the green, "see! its starting to grow out! it's looking better!"

then she noticed the green.

her: (eyes grow bigger) oh...
me: (smiling) yeah, my daughter did it
her: well, i figured it had to be a teenager. you can't really stop 'em can you?
me: well, i asked her to
her:

heh.

time funs when you're having flies

2008-02-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

good lord. where did the time go? it's 2008 already!

you know, there's late, there's fashionably late, there's embarrassingly late and then there's no excuse late. guess which one this post falls under?

so, swaps. as of last year swaps. as of before thanksgiving of last year swaps.

this is all from the spindle and wheel fiber frenzy swap from mumblety-mumble of last year. this first batch of photos is from the eepster to me. this is just fantastic. want to know just how fantastic?

well, take a gander at this. do you see that beautiful soft fluffy blue fiber? that is an angora and alpaca blend that she blended herself. it is unbelievably soft. it is also incredibly fine. thank goodness then that i can spin it up with my new...

lightweight drop spindle! yes folks, she did this as well. don't you just love that gold color? i know i do :)

and just LOOK at that beautiful design. she MADE this!

then there's the romney. this is a sunset in fiber form. i have already spun this up and set the twist and actually knitted one mitten with it. pictures will have to come later on this one. believe me when i tell you this spun like a dream, knits beautifully and is gorgeous to boot.

you'll have to click on the first picture to really see the other wonderful things she included. she made those lovely little stitch markers which will be perfect for lace knitting. there's some scissors and a darning needle on ribbon, a matching gold needle holder and a plastic bag to hold it all. unseen is the chocolate (seriously, there's no way i'd let chocolate sit this long!) and some wonderful crackers.

eepster? you are beyond awesome. thank you from the bottom of my heart.

so, today i was going to post about swaps

2007-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

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

'N' the other update

2007-11-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-16T09:27:00.001-08:00

=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

2007-11-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-10-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

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

Harry Potter scarf for the DearDaughter (pic)
Cotton scarf (pic)
Cotton lap throw (pic)
Brown sweater (pic)
Scarf for the DearHusband (pic)
Color worked sweater (pic)

BIPS

The Religion by Tim Willocks
The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck
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

2007-10-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-09-06T10:12:00.001-07:00

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...

2007-09-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

...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

2007-08-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-23T07:50:00.001-07:00

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

2007-08-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

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???

2007-08-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-07-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-29T08:30:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-27T12:46:00.004-07:00

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

2007-06-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-15T06:22:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-08T07:47:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

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.