I was goofing around in Walmart today and found an el-cheapo dog sweater in medium for our boy, Lucky. My thoughts were, as much as he tears up his stuffed toys, what would he do to apparel?
After I wrestled him into the sweater, and after everyone made over how cute he was in it, I think he loves it. Putting on and taking off is a struggle, but the results are worth it. Lucky doesn't even act like he's wearing anything. Now I feel comfortable in knitting something for him, knowing it won't end up in tatters after a few seconds.
The weekend.
Carol and I had such fun on Friday, cruising around to at least 5 yarn stores, then having lunch at The Bronx. We visited Florilegium, Urban Arts and Crafts, Stitch Knitch, The Studio, and Misknits. You'd think there'd be a lot of yarn brand overlap between these five, but there's not. It's great. Plus, Joann's had a ton of their yarns on sale for less than two dollars. 100% wool that was $7, even. I bought as much as I could push in a basket, and almost elbowed one gal that picked up one of my hanks o' yarn.
Saturday was the usual sit and knit. Fry came with me, and it's always fun to have alone time with her during the drive. She's a doll. A lot of people were there, Jen, Mary, Carol, Carla, Lorenia, and Sherry. There was tons of knitting done on the Goth socks for Fry, with me finishing them up today (Monday).
I'd wanted us to go corn mazing that evening, then hiking in Weston State park on Sunday. Instead, I caught a cold and didn't do much ring-leading. After laying around all day on Sunday, letting myself be sick, I hit the ground running today.
A dentist appointment for perio maintenance and a filling, shopping at Walmart (see beginning), then harsh housecleaning. Tomorrow will be in the mid seventies, perfect for finishing up my digging of the pond.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Just the pics, ma'am.
Sock one of the Blue Moon Fair Isle socks.
Sock one of the Girly Goth socks.
Gratuitous Beagle shot.
Sock one of the Girly Goth socks.
Gratuitous Beagle shot.
You say "Immature" like it's a BAD thing...
Just a quickie,
This is not a surprise. When I took the baby sister, Goopa, to New York, by the end, I was thinking, "I don't care if your feet are bleeding. Let's goooooo!" We walked EVERYWHERE in Manhattan, tons of fun. Whatever flaws Giuliani has, he did make the city a lot safer for us at the time.
Is it any surprise that last Friday, when the Fry was in pain from her heel, I was thinking, "Pop a couple of Tylenols and let's hit the Mamba, m-kay?" We couldn't go home just because of some measly pain. Where's the fun in that? To be fair to Frygirl, she was a super trooper on all the thrill rides. Went on and enjoyed every thrill open, some twice.
Happily, migraines tend to distort a person's sense of what hurts. "It's just a flesh wound," actually makes a lot of sense. :)
Pictures on Thursday, I promise. I have two different socks to show off, and neither has a mate of its own.
My New York age is 24
This New York age puts you-generally speaking-into the young category. That's what you were hoping for, right? Run and tell your friends. Then get drunk (as usual). Then sleep it off. Then pop an Adderall. Then come back and consider experimenting with a more mature type of New York life (just once in a while). Have you ever been to the Village Vanguard or the Living Theatre? Eaten at Elaine's? Taken a date to Michael Feinstein? Before you laugh, check 'em out and see what old-school NYC experiences you can add to the new.
What's your New York age? Take the Time Out New York quiz and find out!
This is not a surprise. When I took the baby sister, Goopa, to New York, by the end, I was thinking, "I don't care if your feet are bleeding. Let's goooooo!" We walked EVERYWHERE in Manhattan, tons of fun. Whatever flaws Giuliani has, he did make the city a lot safer for us at the time.
Is it any surprise that last Friday, when the Fry was in pain from her heel, I was thinking, "Pop a couple of Tylenols and let's hit the Mamba, m-kay?" We couldn't go home just because of some measly pain. Where's the fun in that? To be fair to Frygirl, she was a super trooper on all the thrill rides. Went on and enjoyed every thrill open, some twice.
Happily, migraines tend to distort a person's sense of what hurts. "It's just a flesh wound," actually makes a lot of sense. :)
Pictures on Thursday, I promise. I have two different socks to show off, and neither has a mate of its own.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Lots of fun!
Today and yesterday I've spent laying around the house. Somehow, I caught a bit of a cold. A fever, tiny bit of a sore throat, and that was all. Just a lot of sleep the past two days and I'm fine, now.
Thursday was a blast. I love Lone Jack's library. Their Sonic is a little slow, I had to leave my little order of chili cheese tater tots in the pickup during class. The students there were so good, we did the four biggies and then some. After casting on, knitting, purling, and then binding off, there were some yarn overs (intentionally!), and color fun. Adding in new colors, knitting with two yarns at the same time, yes, it does get crazy during class.
Friday was even MORE fun! My sister, Toppa, the Frygirl, and I went to Worlds of Fun with a few other people. There were 9 of us in all, running around an amusment park completely decked out for Halloween. The fog machines made our throats hurt after a few hours, but the rides were killer! We did all the open adventurous rides except the Ripcord. On that one, they haul you up on a cord for 180 feet, then let the harness you're wearing go. It's a freefall swing, exciting and terrifying. I've already done it once, and it's $16-$22 extra to go on it. The price range is for how many people you can con into falling with you, one being the higher, three being the $16. If I'd not been on it already, I wouldn't mind paying extra above the admission price. It's just been there-done that, and I'd rather spend the money on funnel cake. There were haunted houses and the park's attention to detail on the ghouls was great! This needs to be a yearly habit.
Saturday, I broke down and went to Sit, Sip, & Knit. I know. I go back to Lee's Summit today, but didn't want to miss out on the group last weekend. Knitting, fun, croissandwich, it was great. We were going to go to a cornfield maze with Toppa and the group again, but with the fog the night before and a real cold hitting us girls, we skipped.
Sunday was Fry's Children of the American Revolution meeting. The house was perfect, I made butter cookies, and then slept upstairs through the meeting.
There should be pictures, I'll update this later to include them.
Thursday was a blast. I love Lone Jack's library. Their Sonic is a little slow, I had to leave my little order of chili cheese tater tots in the pickup during class. The students there were so good, we did the four biggies and then some. After casting on, knitting, purling, and then binding off, there were some yarn overs (intentionally!), and color fun. Adding in new colors, knitting with two yarns at the same time, yes, it does get crazy during class.
Friday was even MORE fun! My sister, Toppa, the Frygirl, and I went to Worlds of Fun with a few other people. There were 9 of us in all, running around an amusment park completely decked out for Halloween. The fog machines made our throats hurt after a few hours, but the rides were killer! We did all the open adventurous rides except the Ripcord. On that one, they haul you up on a cord for 180 feet, then let the harness you're wearing go. It's a freefall swing, exciting and terrifying. I've already done it once, and it's $16-$22 extra to go on it. The price range is for how many people you can con into falling with you, one being the higher, three being the $16. If I'd not been on it already, I wouldn't mind paying extra above the admission price. It's just been there-done that, and I'd rather spend the money on funnel cake. There were haunted houses and the park's attention to detail on the ghouls was great! This needs to be a yearly habit.
Saturday, I broke down and went to Sit, Sip, & Knit. I know. I go back to Lee's Summit today, but didn't want to miss out on the group last weekend. Knitting, fun, croissandwich, it was great. We were going to go to a cornfield maze with Toppa and the group again, but with the fog the night before and a real cold hitting us girls, we skipped.
Sunday was Fry's Children of the American Revolution meeting. The house was perfect, I made butter cookies, and then slept upstairs through the meeting.
There should be pictures, I'll update this later to include them.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
What's up with this once a week blogging?
I admire people who can blog once a day. They either have a lot to say or actual lives.
Yarny stuff first. Fry's first Girly Goth sock is done, and once the grey sky is blue, I'll take a decent picture of the sock. Progress has been made on the Fair Isle sock, I'm just past the heel. Again, when there's sunlight, I'll show them off. To avoid the tense knitting from Second Sock Syndrome, I'm doing a sock from each pair at a time. Although, I'm dying to cast on for Fry's second Girly Goth sock, just so she'll be thrilled.
I taught a full house on Tuesday. Beginning knitting for families, which I thought was Thursday's class. Ha! I wondered why all the really small frys were showing up with needles. Everyone from Grannies to Girlies were there and I hope they had fun. Since this is a two-parter, there wasn't as much pressure to get cast on, knit, purl, and bind off in during the two hours. Thursday is plain ole Beginning Knitting, which is also a full house. My max class size is 15, and not everyone shows up sometimes. Then sometimes, more than that will show. After last night, I already need more kit supplies.
Which is why I must go yarn shopping during our pickup's oil change. Buh wa ha ha haaaa! Even if it's raining, I can use an umbrella for the short walk from our mechanic's to the Old Mill Stitchery.
We're all waiting for this weekend, which is action-packed. Worlds of Fun, Pumpkin Patch, Corn Maze, Children of the American Revolution meeting at our house, all promising to be adventuresome. I'm wondering if, or how I'll fit in Sit, Sip, and Knit.
Yarny stuff first. Fry's first Girly Goth sock is done, and once the grey sky is blue, I'll take a decent picture of the sock. Progress has been made on the Fair Isle sock, I'm just past the heel. Again, when there's sunlight, I'll show them off. To avoid the tense knitting from Second Sock Syndrome, I'm doing a sock from each pair at a time. Although, I'm dying to cast on for Fry's second Girly Goth sock, just so she'll be thrilled.
I taught a full house on Tuesday. Beginning knitting for families, which I thought was Thursday's class. Ha! I wondered why all the really small frys were showing up with needles. Everyone from Grannies to Girlies were there and I hope they had fun. Since this is a two-parter, there wasn't as much pressure to get cast on, knit, purl, and bind off in during the two hours. Thursday is plain ole Beginning Knitting, which is also a full house. My max class size is 15, and not everyone shows up sometimes. Then sometimes, more than that will show. After last night, I already need more kit supplies.
Which is why I must go yarn shopping during our pickup's oil change. Buh wa ha ha haaaa! Even if it's raining, I can use an umbrella for the short walk from our mechanic's to the Old Mill Stitchery.
We're all waiting for this weekend, which is action-packed. Worlds of Fun, Pumpkin Patch, Corn Maze, Children of the American Revolution meeting at our house, all promising to be adventuresome. I'm wondering if, or how I'll fit in Sit, Sip, and Knit.
Friday, October 12, 2007
A week of migraines.
But, thanks to better living through chemistry, it's not been too bad. I'm functional, managed to teach a beginner's class on Tuesday, but that's it. I use the migraines and resulting drug fog to excuse myself from housework. Despite that, there's been dishes washed, laundry done, and dinners cooked.
There's also been yarn bought. Yes, I'm on a yarn diet of sorts, but... This is such a good sale! Knitcraft had a great sale, the dregs of which I bought today. There's still tons over there. I spent $94 on $300 worth of yarn.
You might think the more budget minded of us, the Hubs, would poop a cat at this. Not after he got these beauts! Every so often, I have to make him something to prove the yarn IS being used and not stored for a nuclear winter.
They're the same dyelot, on the same needles with the same stitch count. I always knit tighter on the second sock, my own personal second sock syndrome. Still, he loves them. Isn't that sweet? We can save for Christmas later.
No sooner had I cast off those, I cast on these:
When it grows up, it'll resemble something like this: 
I'd not read through the pattern before casting on, and maybe I should have. It's a 'cafeteria' style pattern, you mix and match the fair isle designs as you go. No two pairs, or even socks, can ever be the same. Even if the patterns are identical, the color variegation won't let the anal retentive of us make them match. I'm surprised at how far I've gone on this sock already. Especially since I had to rip back six rows to pick up a dropped stitch. That's my only complaint about the Socks that Rock yarns, they're slippery. I suppose that also helps with the speed, too.
Today, I drug (or dragged, I'll have to review) Fry to a yarn store. Today was the last in a week's worth of sale time at Knitcraft. I think I've been very good, not going there day after day, spending Fry's college money on sale yarn. I bought a couple of patterns thats use stashed yarns, and then added to the stash. I did really try not to, but... This beauty, Muench Yarn's Cleo was $2.50, a LOT less than everyone else's $14.35. I bought all of this color they had, 18 balls. There's tons left, sad to say.
Then, I had this in the stash already, 4 little skeins. Then after seeing a lovely sweater on Elann.com, I had to get the matching skeins left. The first 4 I found at Urban Arts, the second 3 at Knitcraft, and they're all the same dyelot. Weird, huh? But, 7 is enough for a lovely blouse.
Finally, Fry wanted me to make her some Halloween socks. She picked out a sparkly black and silver tape yarn, and I found some Regia stretch sock yarn for the body. I'm making her Girly Goth socks, where they look like baby doll socks, but are black. It'll be great.
There's also been yarn bought. Yes, I'm on a yarn diet of sorts, but... This is such a good sale! Knitcraft had a great sale, the dregs of which I bought today. There's still tons over there. I spent $94 on $300 worth of yarn.
You might think the more budget minded of us, the Hubs, would poop a cat at this. Not after he got these beauts! Every so often, I have to make him something to prove the yarn IS being used and not stored for a nuclear winter.
They're the same dyelot, on the same needles with the same stitch count. I always knit tighter on the second sock, my own personal second sock syndrome. Still, he loves them. Isn't that sweet? We can save for Christmas later.No sooner had I cast off those, I cast on these:
When it grows up, it'll resemble something like this: I'd not read through the pattern before casting on, and maybe I should have. It's a 'cafeteria' style pattern, you mix and match the fair isle designs as you go. No two pairs, or even socks, can ever be the same. Even if the patterns are identical, the color variegation won't let the anal retentive of us make them match. I'm surprised at how far I've gone on this sock already. Especially since I had to rip back six rows to pick up a dropped stitch. That's my only complaint about the Socks that Rock yarns, they're slippery. I suppose that also helps with the speed, too.
Today, I drug (or dragged, I'll have to review) Fry to a yarn store. Today was the last in a week's worth of sale time at Knitcraft. I think I've been very good, not going there day after day, spending Fry's college money on sale yarn. I bought a couple of patterns thats use stashed yarns, and then added to the stash. I did really try not to, but... This beauty, Muench Yarn's Cleo was $2.50, a LOT less than everyone else's $14.35. I bought all of this color they had, 18 balls. There's tons left, sad to say.
Then, I had this in the stash already, 4 little skeins. Then after seeing a lovely sweater on Elann.com, I had to get the matching skeins left. The first 4 I found at Urban Arts, the second 3 at Knitcraft, and they're all the same dyelot. Weird, huh? But, 7 is enough for a lovely blouse.
Finally, Fry wanted me to make her some Halloween socks. She picked out a sparkly black and silver tape yarn, and I found some Regia stretch sock yarn for the body. I'm making her Girly Goth socks, where they look like baby doll socks, but are black. It'll be great.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Einstein was right!
Time IS relative. As I get older, the hours get shorter. How else could I explain not blogging for nearly a WEEK! My only excuse is it's PMS time, and who wants to read my apostrophe peeves?
Tonight was parent/teacher conference with Fry's 6-7 teachers. Everyone loves her. Nice to know my bias is reality based. She's sweet, sensitive, social, and is a happy child. I personally think she's my greatest achievement, even though all I did was carry her around for nine months.
It was fun seeing her locker and the cute boy posters she has in there. Her Communication Arts (English) teacher and I commiserated the stupid comma rule allowing this, that and the other as proper. To us, it should be this, that, and the other. Never mind the horrible and public misuse of apostrophes. Even the newspapers don't get that it's equals it is and you're equals you are. Gah! Fry's Comm Arts teacher said they're just now adding more minutes to the class and even then aren't emphasising grammar. I didn't mention that I used to LOVE diagramming sentences. No need to fan the "She's a weirdo" fires, right?
In everything she does, Fry excels, except... Science and math. Toppa, my beloved younger sister said today that I could help Fry, me being a brainiac. Isn't that sweet? I always thought she was the smart one. Yeah, I could take tests and ace them, but it does no good to do so when I couldn't remember what name to put at the top. I've had to work hard to have a decent memory, and even then, it's pretty spotty. Toppa also has these mad athletic skills. She can, get this, walk AND chew bubble gum at the same time. I know, a miracle. She could probably write a check and talk at the same time, too, because I can't do that.
I'm much better at tangents, too.
Yeah, me being the one most likely to die in a lab coat, was horrified when Fry came home from school one day saying "I hate science." I asked, "Do you know what science IS?" She explained it was the measuring kicking her brain, not the science part. So, on our parental to-do list is getting down measuring in metric and factors of prime numbers. If I can teach knitting to the masses, I can teach this to the Fry.
Speaking of teaching, I'm having a bit of a break this week. Nice, because it's...Socktober! I'd thought to start this on the first, which I did, but didn't blog about. It's all socks, all the time. I've started on a lovely one in Bernat's Camouflage.
The sock is a standard one from Ann Budd's Book of Patterns, done for the Hubs. Never mind that while they match his ACU's, he's so retired he should never wear the uniform again. Maybe if/when they throw an official retirement party in January for him and a host of other oldies. :D (Good thing he doesn't read this.) One of his Knights of Columbus cronies called, wondering why he wasn't home. I had to explain that Army Reserve retired is different from civilian retired. Hubs is only almost 48, a far cry from 65. Not only that, most of his coworkers think he's a good ten years younger. Even the Army Reserve kicks them out after a good twenty plus years. Old and wise means too smart to blindly follow the leader, I suppose.
Another tangent.
So anyway, after spending all day last Friday on Ravelry, I burned out. There's no way I'm putting in all my stash. It's 15 pages on a Word document, I'm not redoing and taking pictures of every bit. I'll do the projects as I get them, the yarn as I get it, but that's all. There's this thing people keep dragging me into called, "A Life" and they expect me to live it. For the Socktober festival that probably only I am doing, there's tons of sock planned. Embossed Leaves, Simply Lovely Lace Socks, and a bunch of plain ones are on my list. Also the beloved Jaywalker in all of Moda Dea Sassy Stripes' colors. I'll have to buckle down and take tons of pictures, just because a blog is more fun with lots of pics. Otherwise, it's a bunch of dreary, navel-gazing words.
Speaking of navel-gazing, I'm actually losing weight. I know! Weird, huh? Are there massive amounts of workouts involved, starvation, lobbing off of excess body parts?
Nope! I found "How the Rich Get Thin" by Jana Klauer, M.D. on sale at Barnes & Noble last Saturday. Thinking "What the heck?", I bought it and started the diet yesterday. Even with massive amounts of cheating, my calorie count is staying at or on 1000 calories a day. This is usually a painfully low count for me, but it's not been bad. The cravings, too have been for good food, not so much the sugars. She recommends an hour of aerobic activity six days of the week, a pretty good idea if you're motivated. I currently do about 30 minutes seven days a week and call it good. For now.
There's a couple of caveats about the book. A middle-class person has to look past the "If you have to ask you can't afford it" mentality. Caviar is never going to sound good to me, no matter my income. Plus, not a lot of us live next to Manhattan's Central Park, recommending walks there does me no good. I'm also very suspicious of the dairy overload she seems to push. Calcium is ggreat, but I'm leery of any study in favor of the industry financing it. There's too many lactose intolerant people in the world for me to be comfy with the Got Milk campaign. Having low fat cheese once a day is fine since I love cheese.
Essentially, the diet is very similar to the South Beach, and a more low fat version of Atkins. More fruit is allowed than on Atkins, but not as much as South Beach. It also includes a lot of green tea, also ok with me. Gets me away from the diet soda. We'll see how it goes after a few more days. A week is as long as I can stay on any diet, even with allowing Saturday cheat days.
Tonight was parent/teacher conference with Fry's 6-7 teachers. Everyone loves her. Nice to know my bias is reality based. She's sweet, sensitive, social, and is a happy child. I personally think she's my greatest achievement, even though all I did was carry her around for nine months.
It was fun seeing her locker and the cute boy posters she has in there. Her Communication Arts (English) teacher and I commiserated the stupid comma rule allowing this, that and the other as proper. To us, it should be this, that, and the other. Never mind the horrible and public misuse of apostrophes. Even the newspapers don't get that it's equals it is and you're equals you are. Gah! Fry's Comm Arts teacher said they're just now adding more minutes to the class and even then aren't emphasising grammar. I didn't mention that I used to LOVE diagramming sentences. No need to fan the "She's a weirdo" fires, right?
In everything she does, Fry excels, except... Science and math. Toppa, my beloved younger sister said today that I could help Fry, me being a brainiac. Isn't that sweet? I always thought she was the smart one. Yeah, I could take tests and ace them, but it does no good to do so when I couldn't remember what name to put at the top. I've had to work hard to have a decent memory, and even then, it's pretty spotty. Toppa also has these mad athletic skills. She can, get this, walk AND chew bubble gum at the same time. I know, a miracle. She could probably write a check and talk at the same time, too, because I can't do that.
I'm much better at tangents, too.
Yeah, me being the one most likely to die in a lab coat, was horrified when Fry came home from school one day saying "I hate science." I asked, "Do you know what science IS?" She explained it was the measuring kicking her brain, not the science part. So, on our parental to-do list is getting down measuring in metric and factors of prime numbers. If I can teach knitting to the masses, I can teach this to the Fry.
Speaking of teaching, I'm having a bit of a break this week. Nice, because it's...Socktober! I'd thought to start this on the first, which I did, but didn't blog about. It's all socks, all the time. I've started on a lovely one in Bernat's Camouflage.
The sock is a standard one from Ann Budd's Book of Patterns, done for the Hubs. Never mind that while they match his ACU's, he's so retired he should never wear the uniform again. Maybe if/when they throw an official retirement party in January for him and a host of other oldies. :D (Good thing he doesn't read this.) One of his Knights of Columbus cronies called, wondering why he wasn't home. I had to explain that Army Reserve retired is different from civilian retired. Hubs is only almost 48, a far cry from 65. Not only that, most of his coworkers think he's a good ten years younger. Even the Army Reserve kicks them out after a good twenty plus years. Old and wise means too smart to blindly follow the leader, I suppose. Another tangent.
So anyway, after spending all day last Friday on Ravelry, I burned out. There's no way I'm putting in all my stash. It's 15 pages on a Word document, I'm not redoing and taking pictures of every bit. I'll do the projects as I get them, the yarn as I get it, but that's all. There's this thing people keep dragging me into called, "A Life" and they expect me to live it. For the Socktober festival that probably only I am doing, there's tons of sock planned. Embossed Leaves, Simply Lovely Lace Socks, and a bunch of plain ones are on my list. Also the beloved Jaywalker in all of Moda Dea Sassy Stripes' colors. I'll have to buckle down and take tons of pictures, just because a blog is more fun with lots of pics. Otherwise, it's a bunch of dreary, navel-gazing words.
Speaking of navel-gazing, I'm actually losing weight. I know! Weird, huh? Are there massive amounts of workouts involved, starvation, lobbing off of excess body parts?
Nope! I found "How the Rich Get Thin" by Jana Klauer, M.D. on sale at Barnes & Noble last Saturday. Thinking "What the heck?", I bought it and started the diet yesterday. Even with massive amounts of cheating, my calorie count is staying at or on 1000 calories a day. This is usually a painfully low count for me, but it's not been bad. The cravings, too have been for good food, not so much the sugars. She recommends an hour of aerobic activity six days of the week, a pretty good idea if you're motivated. I currently do about 30 minutes seven days a week and call it good. For now.
There's a couple of caveats about the book. A middle-class person has to look past the "If you have to ask you can't afford it" mentality. Caviar is never going to sound good to me, no matter my income. Plus, not a lot of us live next to Manhattan's Central Park, recommending walks there does me no good. I'm also very suspicious of the dairy overload she seems to push. Calcium is ggreat, but I'm leery of any study in favor of the industry financing it. There's too many lactose intolerant people in the world for me to be comfy with the Got Milk campaign. Having low fat cheese once a day is fine since I love cheese.
Essentially, the diet is very similar to the South Beach, and a more low fat version of Atkins. More fruit is allowed than on Atkins, but not as much as South Beach. It also includes a lot of green tea, also ok with me. Gets me away from the diet soda. We'll see how it goes after a few more days. A week is as long as I can stay on any diet, even with allowing Saturday cheat days.
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