I said what?

Party at my house on Black Friday!

What was I thinking? My house was too much of a wreck to invite anyone but..., no, no one could be invited to this. It IS clean, under the clutter. At this point, I'm tossing it if I don't want to find a place for it. Probably what I should have done to begin with. The others here are scared. I'll carry around a large trash bag, telling them, "I don't mind cleaning up your stuff for you."

Ah, the NaNoWriMo. It'll have to RIP. There's no way I can get to 50,000 words by November 30th, but, I have a GREAT beginning to what's turning into a fun novel to write. If the past few days, today, and tomorrow had been freezing outside, there'd been a lot more written. It's too nice to stay indoors all the time.

The pond's been leaking from SOMEWHERE. I have no idea, but do have stuff to fuse the two liners together. In a perfect world, I'd have the liner glue on and cured, the rocks set in place, and the water running by now. Maybe I'll burn off some Thanksgiving calories on Thursday by hauling rocks. If I stick to the schedule, the house will be totally spiffed by then.

I finally bought the neatest wire basket-like shelves for the yarn room. It looks like a mini yarn store in there. Still a little messy, but another couple of hours and it'll be great. I sort of gave the spring cleaning a miss, so it'll be great to have the fall cleaning done.

Did I post that Mom's Christmas present is done? The baby sister's present is done now. One for my Mother-in-law, one for my younger sister, and maybe a couple of other knitted presents and I'm so done.

I'm saving my words for NaNoWriMo.

What does that mean? Pictures!

First, the boy. He gets hyper when Fry's school bus is in view, so today, I took him for a walk. Lucky looks so cute, how could I resist?



After the walk, I filled up the newer, bigger pond, and turned on the pump. There's a leaf skimmer. That'll have to be checked a couple times a day during fall.


Finally, this is where we'll spend our weekend. The new chairs are so comfy, and we're training Lucky to NOT jump on the table. I think he jumps up to be told 'down' and get a treat when he jumps off. Stinker.


There's yarn things going on, but it's a Christmas surprise...

Socktober Update!

Do I expect a lot of myself? Yes. Do I deliver? Oh heck no! Never!

For Socktober, I expected more than three pair of socks, for sure. At least the two socks below have their wearable mates. Could always be worse.

I'm thinking of changing my company name from QuickKnitted to Turtle Knits. Or maybe plain ole Molasses.

This week is shapping up to be a part two of last week. The cold I had last week is still hanging around. It's good, because there's been a lot of knitting on Mom's Christmas present. She reads this, so I can't post progress just yet. Ravelry users will be able to see, though. Hint, hint.

I'll get to feeling great, run around and do things, then tire myself out. Still, the pond has a new liner, it just needs the rocks around it. There'll be a picture as soon as I clean out some of the leaves. There are some very shallow parts, perfect for bog plants. It doesn't look as good when the water's not running. Putting all the rock back will help a lot.

There could be more in today's post. Lots of whining about doing the National Novel Written in a Month thing and how I'm too stoopid to write anything. I've started and have nearly 700 words! Ooooo! <-sarcasm

Maybe I'll just lay around the living room, cooped up with a tall glass of orange juice and a super large bowl of chicken noodle soup. Sounds fun, hm?

Random update stuff.

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.

Just the pics, ma'am.

Sock one of the Blue Moon Fair Isle socks.


Sock one of the Girly Goth socks.


Gratuitous Beagle shot.

You say "Immature" like it's a BAD thing...

Just a quickie,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm IN!

Ha! I'm with all the cool kids on Ravelry! I spent all day uploading, annotating, all that. There's very few finished objects on my Ravelry website because there's so many of them. It asks for yarn, needle size, pattern info, yech. I finished some of these several years ago, how can I remember all that? Heck, the brain hurts while thinking of what I had for lunch yesterday, never mind years. At any rate, here are all my finished objects I have specific pictures for, then a group shot of even more. Some have already found new homes, others have been worn out, while others are just gone.

The deck is DONE! Joe the Deck guy did an excellent job, mostly. Construction great, cleanup crap. I have a lot of work to do. So does the Husband. So should the Fry.

And now, for some Friday fun:

Word Search It's fast, it's easy, perfect for Friday!

Cool Picture time, too. The red line is the route we walk Lucky. We usually go clockwise and when it's late, we'll skip the bottom two cul-de-sacs. Along the top is the latest neighborhood addition. Almost all the homes there are done and most are sold. They're lovely starter homes, so clean and clutter free I want to move in. There's one home with a sunroom and lots of flowers, gorgeous.

Last summer, Lucky and I wanted to explore and found a secret valley. It's peaceful and is a great nature walk along a creek. A bonus is if we walk during dinner time, there's always someone barbequing. Good smells, good smells.

It'll happen one day, I'm sure.

What will? Me making my Biohazard handbag. I used this picture:



printed on a piece of graph paper for the symbol. Sadly, no fabric stores has the symbol stamped all over the fabric for the lining. Happily, pirates are in vogue, so there's tons of black fabric with white skull and crossbones as a pattern. Yay!

I don't chat much about the knit stuff lately, do I? Non-yarnies can look away now.

Ok, all the cool kids are signed up or are in Ravelry. Right now, I'm about 315 places away from being 'in'. I've noticed, once a person is in, they... never... blog... again...

::cue the scary music and ghostly sound effects::

So, I finished a lovely cardigan called Boxy Jacket made out of Rowan's Summer Tweed and is from Knit It! Fall 2006. Since Knit It! is published by Lion Brand, so I can'd find a picture from the magazine. I'll have to fix the collar, then model it.

Collar? Yes, the bane of my existance are collars. But, after the Collar Obedience class during Stitches Midwest, I know how to beat it into submission. Once I get the nerve to look at the brown tweed, I'll fix and show off the jacket.

Remember this?


Well, Fry is getting a lovely hoodie jacket made from this:


The pattern is in the latest issue of Cast On, from The Knitting Guild of America, number 40.


Is it just me or is number 16 full of bad colors. Ewwwww.

Friday fun!

The deck is 99% done. Right now, Joe and Hubs is working on the underdecking. Hubs has this crazy idea that the lawn mower and other lawn care items should be dry and rust free. Weird, huh? At any rate, don't you think this BEGS for a party? I think so. Something Halloweeny, I think. (Weeny, ha ha ha!)

There has been some progress on the pond. The cold fronts and promise of rain has been disappointing. I'm waiting for the rain to loosen the clay that passes for soil around here. Then, the cold fronts should keep me from sluicing sweat while digging. When it's this humid, the sweat never freakin' dries. If I don't have to be in drenched clothes, I don't. After about 20 more wheelbarrow loads of dirt, I'll be able to put down the liner.


This pond is displacing a LOT of dirt. Where is it going? Filling in the holes a bored beagle digs. I fill them in, he redigs. It's ok for now, but I can see the little guy needs more exercise. He's the little white speck near his doghouse. Some people, like Frygirl, need to pick up the guy's toys so he can drag them out again.


The brown cardigan is alllmost finished. I'm working on the collar. After that, seaming up the sleeves and sides, then attaching buttons. Yay! I don't know what I'll work on next for sure, but can tell you it'll have COLORS.

A lot of mothers, probably every mother in the world, has a(n) exceptional child(ren). I am no exception. Yesterday evening, after we'd spent ourselves silly on Halloween candy, shoes, and other fun things, Fry surprised me. We were chatting on the way home and I told her, "I'd always had the feeling that I should have done or will do something great, something very important."

Fry replied, "You have, you've done a lot of great things."

"Yeah, personally, but I mean really great, really important." She and I both know I consider her to be one of THE greatest things I've ever done or will do. We also knew I meant something like writing a bestseller/blockbuster, discovering a new universe, or curing cancer. You know, the normal, small goals everyone has.

Then, my tiny child astounded me. "Mom, it doesn't have to be global to be great."

Wow, huh? Such wisdom from a 12 year old. The women in our family are like onions. We take the layers from our mothers and add our own.

You can't be sick of hearing about the deck, can you?

It's all about the deck these days. These two are the slotted roof going up.


Then, a picture of the pond as it's being made bigger. After the fifth wheelbarrow load, I wondered what the hell I was thinking, messing it up like I have. But then, bigger will be better, right? I've bought a lot of bulbs to plant around, the lazy girl's way of lovely color without lots of maintenance.

Here's a distance shot so everyone can appreciate the lovely railing.

And finally, the gratuitous Lucky shot. He's shaking my hand, isn't he so cute! Gah. I've turned into one of those annoying dog owners. This in addition to those annoying cat owners (read: future crazy cat lady) and annoying worship-their-kid moms. Still, though, don't you just want to love on him? Me personally, I don't, but then, I happen to know he rolled around on a dead baby snake yet again today. Yecchhhh.


I'm on the sleeves of the brown cardigan. Ok, correct that, the first sleeve of the cardigan. With the weather so suddenly cool, it's been tough to stay in the house unless a migraine grounds me. Even then, a Relpax keeps me going, mostly pain free. In the next couple of posts, I'll have to show off the knitted stuff, instead of just the deck. I've found that if I line up chocolate chips and eat only one per row, it's a wonderful bribe to keep going. Until Fry runs by and grabs a couple, anyway.

But wait! There's more!

I'll have to find prior pictures, just so readers will know how good the new stuff really is. The deck is going to turn out better than I'd thought. It'll be like having an entire new room added on, even during mid-summer. Very nice!





Santa-Cali-Gon was a blast. It's a festival of the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails' beginning in Independence, Missouri. A lot of craft tents are set up, along with a lot of carnival food (read: funnel cake) Mary invited me, and having never gone, I had to go. The crowds were a bit much, but aren't they always? We had lunch at a great Italian place, and shopped at a kitchen/gourmet store. I love those places. I found a real live chef's jacket (stolen off a fake dead chef, no doubt). I love it. It's not been worn, yet. Sunday, it's forecasted to be somewhere below blistering hot. I'll probably fix something foo foo for my family that day, while wearing the jacket of course.

Speaking of family... We had a family outing with Lucky on Labor day. If the pickup is out of the garage and he's not in there, Lucky is not a happy camper. He loves going bye-bye. Probably because we're usually going to PetSmart, where he can scavenge the floor for spilled food and treats. We walked to a waterfall, saw some deer, then went to a park that allowed dogs. Even when the city provides the bags, people won't pick up after their dogs. If *I* can do it, *THEY* can do it. There's not a whole lot worse than hot dog poo smell.

Fry and I have a new thing to play on the Playstation 2. It's a workout game called Yourself! Fitness. A user enters their weight, age, and takes a fitness test. Then, the 'game' sets up a workout schedule and workout types based on your goal. You can choose what goal you want, or the game will, based on what it thinks you need. So far, it's rather fun and Fry is mostly sticking with it.

Last Labor Day evening, I had the beginnings of a migraine. So, I took a Relpax and an ice pack with me to bed. Meanwhile, Fry was practicing her viola. Her playing is phenomenal. Yes I'm biased, I'll admit, but still. My child amazes me with her talent. I could hear, as she played, how she felt about the song. There was a lilt to Jingle Bells, and her Ode to Joy? She played it slow and carefully, then later confessed, since the song had played at Hubs and my wedding, she wanted every note perfect for us. By that time, I'd pulled the husband into our bedroom, both doors open, to listen to our girl play. She doesn't make a single scratchy 'eee' 'eee' sound while playing, which is a minor miracle to me. Fry is a true talent.

Also in the Fry news, she conned me into going swimming. I loathe cold water, but our complex's pool wasn't too bad once I got used to it. She and I tossed a Nerf football until Lucky and Hubs came over. Pets aren't allowed in the pool area, but Lucky is somewhat potty trained, and is afraid of deep water. He really wanted to jump in after the football, but just couldn't do it. If he'd been more cooperative, I'd have taught him how to drag us around the pool's perimeter while we held on to his leash. He did it enough while walking around sniffing to give me the idea. I don't think the housing association would approve of the endless days required for training.

My younger sister, Toppa, has a new pickup! I'm thrilled for her! I've not seen a pickup with only 35,000 miles on it in a long time, unless, like my Dad's, they're a first time owner. Her pickup is very much the same as mine, a Ford with a nice bed topper. It's cuter, though, being white and a pickup-lite, the Ranger model. We have the F-150. I wonder how long it'll take her to get it tricked out with new rims and radio...?

Endless knitting. There are times, about 3/4 the way through a project of plain knitting, that I think, "I could have done this on the machine!" It would look weird if I put it on the machine now, so I'm stuck. I have two projects like that, a Rowan Summer Tweed Bolero out of a chocolate brown, and a circular knit sweater for Fry out of a boucle' and Plymouth Whisper. I have September earmarked for finishing both, because I'm wanting to celebrate October as Socktober. I've tons of sock yarn in the stash and am dying to get started.

The more Fry goes to middle school, the more she loves it. I don't know if this is middle school related, but she's copping an attitude at times. Grrr, because I miss my sweet little Frybaby. Sometimes, though, like this morning, my little angel will be the one possessing my Fry and she'll love her mom. Let's hope that mood stayed with her today.

I get to teach Beginning Knitting this Thursday! This is the best job, although, I do have qualms about starting another group with a yarn addiction. Poor kids, they don't know what they're in for, do they? }:)

What happened to me?

I'm still here, just goofing off or running around. First, the pictorial of what's been going on.

In the first photo, we're looking towards the almost new deck, with the waterfall in the foreground. Next, we see all the rocks from the waterfall stacked neatly in a rock wall. Third, more of a rock wall as more rocks were taken from further down the stream bed. Some of these hadn't been touched in the five years I've had this thing. There were no snakes, the spiders were too few to bother me, but the ant colonies! Yikes! I unearthed at least five. Why am I doing this? When I look down at the pond system and think of how much bigger I could dig it, a larger pond for fish is the first thought. Then, in the billion degree heat, I think I'm an idiot and to put back those rocks. It's cool how they stack up, isn't it? Hubs wants me to get more patio stones to place around the new pond, a walkway all the way around. I know he's thinking less mowing. Good idea, too.



By the time I'm done, my Mom will inherit a new liner for her two streams. The gal has four ponds, all with huge koi. I'd swipe a few of them for here, but I'm not sure if they'd be a snack for Lucky or not. I'd have to make a shelter for them, I think.



You would not believe the junk a family can pack in an eighteen by fourteen space. Especially when they don't need to. Not only that, but anything on the deck that could fall through the cracks, did. Snow, rain, dirt, all that. Yech. The nice thing is, the black stuff on the side of the house isn't really mold, it's black foundation paint. I hauled all the junk out, sorted it in useful/trash order, then let the husband do the bleach and swab thing. It's a role reversal for us. Usually I'm sanitizing after he's cleared stuff. By the time the second picture was taken, the sorting was done but not the swabbing. If there had been mold, there isn't now!



Here's the deck with the posts in place and a lot of the decking on. The under deck, what was supposed to keep the area below dry, has been removed. Lucky actually helped with that by jumping onto the underdeck, then falling through. Happily, this was early last week before the ratty patio table had been cleared out. He's fine. Fry was very upset, but I reassured her that he couldn't be too bad off, considering how he ran over to her and wanted to play. Since then, though, you can't get him near the edge. He'll sneak over and peer down, then scuttles away.



Finally, we have a trench. Hubs is digging this and is in charge of getting everything ready for Joe the Deck guy. Hubs is determined to hide the electric cords to the pump for some odd reason. Running over them with the lawn mower couldn't be too bad, could it?


Joe the Deck guy is really good at what he does. He picks out every board himself to make sure it's just so. He'd been done by now if not for us saying, "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" every so often. You'd think with me having to loiter around the house in case he needs a question answered, I'd have blogged since then. When I had a day off, I took the day completely off and got out of the house.

There's a lot more to blog, Santa-Cali-Gon, family outings with Lucky, Playstation 2 workout game, Fry's viola, swimming pool fun, Toppa's new pickup, knitting endless miles of the same two items to get them done before October, middle school, and knitting classes. Alas, the washer is done and I've got tons of laundry to do before I sleep.

The Fry has favorites.

So, the child and I were sacking up some trash and talking about our days. I said, "I got to go to lunch with Janine today, even though I couldn't go yesterday with Mary." Fry blurted in a you doofus tone, "What?! You didn't go with Mary?" To which I replied, "No, couldn't because of the windows guy." "Ohhhh." Isn't that sweet? Fry really likes going to knit group. Not because of the knitting, but because of the ladies there. She likes the cooing they do when she's there. Fry is so sweet and polite as she filches money from my purse for various treats.

In other news, our house is fast becoming a beagle magnent. After lunch, I came home to see a beagle sniffing around the neighbor's fence. I leaped out of the pickup, opening the garage door in case I needed a doggie treat bribe, and headed out to get what I thought was our dog. Nope! I could tell right away, this wasn't Lucky, but another dog. She (a big clue right there) had a collar and tags. When I finally got a hold of her, there was no ID tag. Turns out, Her name is Cammie and she lives a few doors down. What's funny is, if you have a dog, people assume you like dogs. Ha ha ha! Usually, I don't care for dogs, but the beagles are starting to get to me. That, and if a dog is well behaved, I'll turn into a pushover for giving them treats.

Ice is good.

The Verdict is in.

Fry loves Middle School. They keep her busy, but she loves it anyway. She has a different teacher for each subject and all her friends are in her group.

The windows guy was over today. Plus, Mary was in the Northland (near me) and I couldn't be corrupted into visiting Urban Arts. The guy didn't finish putting in the four windows until 2pm. It's just as well.

I spent the entire day doing yarn stash inventory. I'm about halfway done. My stash, I think, is way more than my life expectancy. Maybe, if I have the guts, I'll post a partial list or something. Right now, it's quite a bit, not including a lot of the acrylics.

Tomorrow? More of the same sort/inventory/store work. Especially since I got used to the living room and kitchen being clean. Right now, our landscape is very tribblesque.

Break time is over!

Did you miss me?

::cue the chirping crickets::

Riiight. Stitches Midwest was wonderful, had a great time, added to the stash. Riding the bus up and back was no big deal, considering the usual road trips to the 'rents houses. Secretly, I love those trips. Imagine, no less than nine hours of forced, guilt-free knitting time. You'd figure I'd have finished object after finished object after all that time. Ah well. Mistakes were made, a sock was ripped, do-overs were done over.

I'll probably have to do a recap of Stitches at some point. The main thing for me was the market. Imagine all your favorite yarn stores in one spot where you can play touchy-feely with the yarn. Throw in a few esoteric yarn venders, and there you go. Considering I look at everything twice in our local yarn stores, I had my work cut out for me. Was it the walking that exhausted me? Nope! It was the constant restraint. Ha ha! The Fold was there, which I tried not to be a loiterer at. Then, Yarniverse is my new best friend. All the ladies there are wonderful. If I lived anywhere near them, I'd hang out there all the time, as an employee or not. Then, there's a place an hour from my house that I didn't know existed until Stitches. They do wonderful dye work.

Enough of the blather, let's look at what I need to shoehorn into my stash:
This is from Just Our Yarn. Two thousand yards of laceweight. Now I need to think of what shawl I want to do with this much lovely tencel.


Nuts. I thought I'd put this right side up. Oh well. I bought the kit to make the roundish shrug featured in Vogue Knitting's 25th anniversary issue. Can I do it exactly like the pattern? Probably not, since I've already changed the color scheme. Can't wait to start it!



I so totally need a decent digital camera. The current one doesn't do these colors any justice. This is yarn from Hand Painted Yarns and is gorgeous stuff. Rather pricey, but about like Colinette's stuff and is just as if not more lovely.


I found Alice Starmore's The Celtic Collection on Saturday afternoon. Thus, it's no surprise I ran back to Market in the hour I had left on Sunday to try and clean out Yarninverse's collection of New England Shetland wool. I'm determined to make the Kells sweater. Isn't it gorgeous? A bit big, but then, The Celtic Collection was published a while back, before the extreme fitted look came in style. (I can't find the shetland on Yarniverse's website, even though I know I bought it there.)


Here is some lovely Tango and Cascade 220, bought to replace the lovely felting fiasco shown. Sigh.


I love The Fold. They carry mass quantities of Blue Moon Fiber Arts stuff. This isn't the cheapest sock yarn you're ever going to find, but those colors! So lovely!


Speaking of 'cheap' sock yarn... Each of these bags were 75% off, so I had to get enough to make a sweater of both colors, right? I can't wait to see how the self striping sock yarn does on a larger tableau.


Shown here is enough burgandy wool to make a cabled sweater for my guy. Yes, a bribe for the Husband. Not only that, but there's some lovely cotton yarn for a nice summer sweater, too. Both feel wonderful.


Last, but so not the least is a couple of cakes of Koigu for socks, color P812. I'd seen this color at the Winter retreat and managed to resist. I finally gave in and got it. The color is so pretty!

To the far right is the local find I had to visit Chicago to see. It's from Textiles A Mano and is pure silk. It's a little over a thousand yarns of silken loveliness. I can't wait to start up something with it. The remaining skein is a total impulse purchase. What am I going to do with 440 yards of a silk/wool mix. Sheesh! But I couldn't just leave it, it followed me home!


Tomorrow, the windows guys are coming over to install a few windows. One of these is going into the yarn room. It's such a disaster zone in there. Everything is boxed or sacked, but there's so much. I'll need to carve a path... Also tomorrow, the official report of Fry's first day in Middle School.

I'll miss her

My mom just left, and witch( I can't tell wich from witch.) she also said there is a guest blogger, Meeeeee! Since I don't know how upload pics there won't be any. I think all I'm going to do is to play on the computer and tortrue the big huge stain on the carpet(Claude) And I think I'm also going to watch cartoons in high def:) I hope that everone who is going to have fun and the people that aren't have fun to!! Last night when my dad and I took Lucky for a walk, Lucky grabbed the leash and showed me where to go:) My kid. Well I better go and do stuff.

Vicky