Catching Up

Howdy All! Sorry that posts have been thin on the ground. I have had some motivation issues and didn't want to (leave the house) whine about it. Right now I am back in the world and sending out resumes. Woot! I also made it to another soap show this weekend (3 for 3 weekends) and am desperate to get into the one next weekend.

But sometimes I do get out. A smattering of pictures:

Snowdrops that I thought were toast

Picture of lace from the Winter Lace Conference.

Progress being made on That Scottish Stole. This is the knitted-on border.

Planned Obsolescence

All the pets seem to be running down at the same time. One cat is too skinny, one is too fat, one couldn't pee and exploded. Really. I woke up one morning to a soaking wet bed and soaking wet cat who was unable to move one leg. I changed the sheets, put him on a stack of towels (to much screaming), and he slept for 15 hours. He feels better now, but I hate it when he is sick. One dog has some suspicious lumps and I have had to scoop 3 fish in the last month. AND the rabbit got a piece of something in his eye and looked in a bad way for a day or two. Right now everyone (except skinny cat) is acting fine, but I have worried lo these many years about all the pets getting old and infirm at the same time. Sigh.

In the good news department, my application for extended unemployment was approved *and* I received a totally unexpected check in the mail which will cover my COBRA payment and electric bill for the month. Woot!

The dog(s) and I are still taking our long walks almost every day. I am up to an hour's worth of patience. Any more than that and I get snippy and they get dragged. Today we splurged and walked to the ice cream stand. The other night we wandered a new route through neighborhoods and an owl flew right over us. Today it was a pair of crows (a brace of corbies?).

Knitting progress is being made. I have finished the first skein of yarn on That Scottish Stole, and am dithering about whether to start a new skein or advertise on Ravelry to see if anyone has a partial skein in their stash that I can trade / barter for. In the meantime I have picked up the Mystery Stole 4 project and am halfway through clue 6. Then I put in waste yarn, set it aside, knit clues 1-5 again and then graft the two pieces together. I don't have enough yarn for this project (I wonder if I could dye the leftover gray-green to match the lovely deep blue? It is the same brand of yarn), so it may be going into a holding pattern in a few weeks too.

I made some pretty tasty pizza last night with homemade dough... I need to really practise my dough-smoothing-to-edge-of-pan abilities. I ended up with a 1" thick crust! I have also been making oven-dried tomatoes with the haul from the garden. The bounty just doesn't end. I have peppers, tomatoes, volunteer lettuces, and very happy basil.

Life is good most days... if only I could get up and do all the things that need doing instead of wishing they were done. Some days I start with a lot of energy and then it fades away. Some days I spend the whole day working up the nerve to get going and it is 4 pm before I leave the house. And this is when I am on my meds! It is not that I am lacking for things that need to get done. But tonight I am out and about.

Random Tuesday

Well, I am officially out from under my rock. Martha joined me (and Dozer) on our little hike, I went to quilting class, I made a yarn delivery, and now it is WOW:30. I even picked up my meds and will get back on schedule. Cat food is purchased, I remembered to shop for my 2009 dayplanner (they were sold out), and today is free coffee day at the coffeeshop.

It was especially nice to share my walk with a friend. The weather was beautiful, Dozer was on his best behavior and the time just sped by. No exciting wildlife sightings, but I did finally find my house off in the distance (well, the brown/green smudge of the trees over the house).

Knitting on That Scottish Stole is still progressing, albeit slowly. I am done with the first repeat of the last section. It feels good to make progress and it will feel great to have a finished object!

My homework for quilting is to assemble and attach the first portion of the binding. I will have to call the recipient and tell her to get that ticker-tape parade ready. Then I can work on the next section of my own quilt, and on Thursday it will be time to join The Ladies at The Church.

Sproing!

I think that southern California needs another season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Sproing, and Winter. Those late-in-the-year rains make for some surprising additions to the garden in December...I had forgotten that there were even bulbs planted there (the gardeners whacked them this spring), but it was a pleasant surprise. I love to look at paperwhites, although I think they smell like ant spray. I think the snowdrops may have gone to the big flower field in the sky, however.

I should have remembered to take a picture of my parrot after our shower. She looked like a drowned rat. It has taken a few days, but she will finally come under the water for her bath. She also tries to "help" brush hair and teeth. Geez.

Progress (but not photo-ing) on That Scottish Stole continues apace. I am nearly done with the second third. Then I flip it around, take out the provisional cast on, knit the third third, and add the border. Each repeat of the end motif takes about 8 hours of hard knitting, leaving me a good 30 knitting hours before the border.

I am slowly emerging from my shell. Dozer and I walked up Mt. Rubidoux the other day and it was fun and pretty. We were up higher than the red-tailed hawks (but I think they were slumming). It is always entertaining to see how people do or do not control their dogs on a walk. No people or loose dogs? He can have 10 feet of lead. People, dogs, bikers, squirrels? He gets 6 inches of lead on the far side of the distraction and we *never* stop walking. Then a pat on the head. Particularly amusing / annoying was the woman with a pit bull who would stop her dog to "soothe" it whenever another dog came up... effectively rewarding it with a rest, pettings, and entertainment.

Anyway, I hope to get out even more soon.

Mousy Me

I am a softie. A sucker. A pushover. I get called a hardass but it is all a lie.


Yesterday the cats managed to corner a mouse behind the desk. "Don't let it die back there, you guys" I adominished. How it was going to brave its way out I did not want to contemplate. I left, steeped in denial, to run my Wednesday errands. When I came home, they were playing with it (in the dogs' food dish, interestingly) and it was looking a bit woozy. Rhiannon grabbed it and started to run off, but I got her to drop it, scooped it up, and set up house in an old cage I was just about to get rid of. Shavings, water, food... and a wish for the best. Off I galivanted again, with no idea what I would come home to.


Imagine my surprise when I returned and said little guy was... fine. Just fine. Bouncy bouncy, bright eyed and bushy tailed (as it were). All his appendages were intact and fur unruffled. I think he was even nibbling on a mouse munchie. He has been christened "Lucky" and is the newest resident of Chez Jackson. (Insert picture here - the picture is on the phone and I left it in the car). The oddest thing is - he is a white mouse and perfectly friendly. He comes to me when I put my hand in the cage instead of running away. He loves his little mouse house but does not cower in it. Where on earth did my cats scare up a pet mouse? Did they walk to the pet store? Is some 6 year old on my block very sad? Should I put up "found mouse" posters? If it had been a wild mouse, I would have released it over in the cemetery or something. Kindness does have limits. And what does it say about my felines that 4 of them together could not kill and eat one little mouse after a whole day?


In other news, I have finished Clue 1 of the MS4 project. Just in time too, as Clue 2 will be released in the morning. I will need to knit another one for the other end of the stole, but will put it off for a while. I need to order a second skein of yarn but am having a cash flow issue, so want to get as far as I can with skein one.


Good progress has also been made on That Scottish Shawl. I am about 2/3 of the way through the first repeat of the right hand side (I will need 3 total - on each side). This project bigamy really does let me see progress!


The new audiobook of the week is "The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers" by Lillian Jackson Braun. So far the only mystery is "when is there going to be a mystery?". But it is a good listen and easy to spin / knit to, so I will muddle through.

Lady Luck

I had to halt progress on the MS4 project this morning when I just could not find the last little tiny box of beads I picked up last week. Twice through the knitting bag, four times through the car, and yet nothing. I stopped by Knit n Stitch to see if I left them there last night... and found the box of beads (slightly smashed) in the parking lot right where my car was yesterday. Yesterday! None are broken, the box is intact - none escaped. I am pleased and amazed. And then when I was in saying Hi, the other store called back to say that the beads they had on order (and which I had reserved at 10:05 this morning) arrived later that morning and I can come get them any time. It is a grand day!

I made some progress, meanwhile, on That Scottish Shawl. It keeps me on my toes.

But the best best best news of today? I went to the grocery store. I am now up to my ears in bananas, strawberries, ceral and pb&j makings. Life is good again.

Knitting the Night Away

Thank you for the kind words about little Bindi-bunny. I tried to do right by him, and he is missed. Here is a picture of him the day he came home. Toothpaste included for scale. He had gro-o-o-o-o-wn since then. Bindi is the Hindu word for the dot some people wear on their third eye (between the eyebrows), and he had a teeny one in exactly the right place (and a white smudge on his nose). Fran helped me finish my first piece of Hungarian tape lace (a kind of bobbin lace). It took about 16 hours from start to finish. We watched a lot of "Law and Order". The design is by Louise Colgan and I used #50 DMC Cordonnet in Ecru. There are 3 more pieces in the series and we will start #2 next week when she returns from the bobbin lace cruise.

Here is an in-progress shot of That Scottish Shawl . It shows the last bit of the center section and the first bit of the right hand side. I added another 4 rows tonight at the knitting store... every little bit counts. The yarn is a beautiful dusty green, which did not photograph very well.Firsa tried to help with the photo shoot by subduing the rampaging knitting needle. Silly girl.I am making progress on the MS4 Stole. I am off to the bead store tomorrow for a refill. The yarn is the same type as the one above. The beads are 6/0 mill hill, and either a shiny gray or actual hematite (the jury is out). They sort of blend in and they sort of stand out. I am about midway through clue one (which we will knit twice). And closer...I also made it to the library today for more audiobooks. I already knew the first rule of lace knitting - don't watch a movie in Chinese with the subtitles on. This weekend I learned the corollary - don't watch a silent movie. I had to watch intently to get the few words and could not depend on chatter to guide me. Geez.

All righty - off to do some more knitting!

I Should Have Known...

...that it was in the blood. Remember the picture of the shack from a few days ago? Check out this comment from my aunt: Did you know that the chicken coop was also a goat shed? Or also held sheep, since Great-grandpa also had sheep. The stanchions are still in place. I am SOOOOOO moving there and running sheep. I only need 3 or so. Let's see... a Finn for wool, milk and lambs, a romney for wool and a cormo for wool. And maybe a shetland (moorit of course) to keep everyone else on their feet. And the best part? Now I have an excuse to get an Anatolian Shepherd dog. Bwah ha ha.

The first MS4 clue comes out tomorrow. I am excited. I also have no yarn and no beads. Timely I am not. Oh, I have some stash laceweight, but it is all earmarked for other projects or there is not enough yardage. DUH! *smacks forehead* I have an entire cone of 8/2 silk... nope. That belongs to the business and is set aside for weaving. Forget I said anything. I keep eyeing that Cormo roving though...



I finished listening to "Memoirs of a Geisha" this morning and enjoyed it thoroughly. The ending was very happy and tidy (almost too much so). I will swing by the library tomorrow to see what other gems they have. I also have a couple of netflix to watch, although it is difficult to read subtitles and knit lace at the same time. It is OK for spinning, though. I watch so many movies in Chinese that I sometimes think I don't have to read the subtitles, but it is never really true. I hate overdubbing in English (with the solitary exception of "Steamboy" which is about a japanese boy in London).

I also finished the center section of That Scottish Shawl this morning and embarked on the right hand side. It now requires my full attention (good luck), but is a satisfying knit. I love the yarn and the color (Alpaca With a Twist "fino" and Sea Glass). It has been a week of project monogamy, which is quite nice. Who woulda thunk?

Well, I am literally the only customer left at the coffeeshop at 9pm on a Thursday. How wierd is that? I should flit from table to table.

Thought for today: They always look like angels when they are sleeping.

MS4 PT2

It's not like I don't have 3 shawls in the works right now and one more that needs to be test-knit immediately.

It's not like I have 3 sweaters in progress, one of which is maybe an hour from being done and then delivered to the recipient.

It's not like I have 4 pairs of socks in various stages of disarray spread around in yarn totes all over the house.

I don't even have any idea what the MS4 will look like (duh). But I. Must. Start. It. on Friday when the first portion is released. I have no yarn, no beads, no plan. But knitting must occur. Luckily (Cheryl are you paying attention?) I can download the portions of the pattern and then knit them at my "leisure", whatever that is. There is no award that I know of for finishing on time, except that I would have a new shawl in time for autumn.

Well, I guess I have a little bit of a plan - I can finish spinning the "Ophelia" roving I got at the bead show, ply it off the bobbin and then start spinning some lacewieght yarn out of all that Cormo I bought last November at Torrance and then this July at Lambtown. I have an idea of the colorway I want (I did not buy it from The Loopy Ewe. Yet). Where beads will come from is another question entirely. Maybe I will make the foray into Tustin to check out the selection at ... the place next to Kragen, or maybe I will swing by Redlands to see if The Enchanted Unicorn has any (yes. I will call ahead).

I have been knitting like the wind on "That Scottish Shawl" while listening to "Memoirs of a Geisha" on cd. It is, like, totally engrossing. Audiobooks make a far better accompaniment to knitting than TV does. I also feel like my brain is working more by imagining the scenes. I am now only a couple hours away from starting the next section. I mean to take pictures, but the shawl lives in the bedroom while the camera hangs out with the laptop in the trunk of the car. (Don't rob me).

Maybe I will get all of those projects done by Friday.

What the ****?

A week? A week? What is the deal? Well, if I have been lax, at least the garden has been growing. An epi blossom:

An iris from my Aunt Anne's garden, taken while I was in Arizona for the Handweaver's convention. Who says Phoenix is only a desert? Half of my little garden, up against the house. The tomatoes are much bigger now, and in their little cages. None big enough to eat yet, but lots of little blossoms. There is a "cherokee purple" and a "Juliet" roma plant.
The purple trumpet vine on the side of the porch. For one week a year it is a mass of purple blooms and the rest of the time it is a wild and wooly green monster.
Knitting progress has been limited to the second swamp sock, out of the frog pond and ready to turn the heel, and work on That Scottish Shawl, which is my TV knitting. Not necessarily the best plan, as it has a complicated chart. It is a particularly poor knitting choice for movies with subtitles. Frogging (and frog pond), by the way, comes from the sound you make when tearing out your knitted progress: "rip it, rip it". When you undo one stitch at a time it is called "tinking", as tink is knit backwards.

I did put in some good weaving time this week, but am hamstrung at the moment by being out of white singles and the accelerator band of my charkha being AWOL. I remember finding it loose and putting it "somewhere safe". Famous last words.

All else is good but ho-hum. Knitting class on Wednesdays, yoga work every day, yoga class when I can make it, netflix, reading and petting the pets. I read a great book by Dan Simmons on Saturday - "Darwin's Blade". It was an action-packed thriller about an accident reconstructionist who gets in over his head. The accident reconstructions in the book are all examples that I remember from the Darwin Award books, which cracked me up.

I am adding 2 lace knitting classes over at Knit N Stitch; Tuesdays and Saturdays at 2. I finally washed and blocked the "Mermaid" scarf and that is the pattern we will be using. Of course I have no picuture ready for you *sigh* Fewer copyright issues if I just use my own design :) Come on over!

Shiny

My big adventure to bellydancing was quite adventurous. I was terrible at it. I did keep trying, I did not leave early, and I will do the homework. I expect to be able to do things perfectly the first time (!) and my awkwardness and embarassment was an unpleasant reminder of being singled out in high school. Ick. But I think I had more fun than frustration and will keep with it. I used a whole new set of muscles that yoga doesn't even touch, that's for sure! One of the women from the advanced class came along as my moral support and it made me feel reassured. I think she is on the chocolate chip cookie list :)

This afternoon I met up with Anne for lunch at The Falconer in Riverside. I had the infamous fish & chips and it was well worth it. Mmmmm. The apple tart was excellent (but not $7 excellent - that is a dessert for splitting from now on). Apparently I have been conditioned to insist on pie after a fun meal out. It is a couple hours later now and I am still stuffed.

Progress on the Swamp Socks is good. I finally frogged them all the way and restarted on 4 dpns. I was getting a significantly different gauge when I was working on 1 circular, and sock 2 bore little resemblance to sock 1 in the size category. Now they are my "computer is warming up" knitting and that is soothing. Progress on That Scottish Shawl is also good, even though I had to tink 2 rows last night. Bleh.

In the garden, the first strawberry of the season will be ready for a photoshoot in the next few days. Maybe I should pickle it for posterity?

Alas, I have to run, as the meter is about to expire and there is weaving calling my name back at the house.

Good and Boring

Another good but not very thrilling if you are a blog reader kind of day yesterday (and today too). Actually, it is just shaping up to be that kind of week.

Used some coupons over at Borders and picked up "Fawlty Towers", a couple bluegrass cds (why are they always in the clearance bin?) and a Jeeves & Wooster audiobook. I think that will keep me entertained no matter where I am for quite a while. I looked at my little pile at the checkout and said - this is my life. A little odd, a little old fashioned, a little intellectual, and that is the way I like it. No reality tv for me! Well, not since "Temptation Island" anyway.

Knitted a few more rows on the shetland shawl. It is called "Legends of the Shetland Seas" but I am going to call mine "That Scottish Shawl" after the play by Shakespeare. The pattern is surprisingly easy, especially considering how much angsting I was doing. I just have to look at it one piece at a time, and the instructions are set up that way. No looking ahead and getting freaked out allowed. It's just knitting. It can't hurt me. The yarn is absolutely fantastic (Alpaca with a Twist "Fino", an alpaca/silk blend) and it is warm and soft and cushy. I hate to put it down. It is the same yarn I made the Adamas shawl out of (somewhere in the archives there is a post called "blockhead" with pictures). I chose the "seaglass" colorway and I think it suits a sea-themed shawl well.

I also put in a few rows on the green Icarus for good measure, and worked on Mandy's sweater today. Everything will get done eventually. I resisted all sock knitting yesterday. I need to find my little hanging scale to divvy up the yarn for the Tuscany socks.

Things are good today. It is cloudy but not drizzly, cold but not windy, pretty calm at work, and the cats got fed. I had some technicolor nightmares last night (including a plane crashing outside the building we were in), complete with sound effects, and didn't sleep very well, but am perky now. I had some Deep Thoughts about relationships and why they work or end and that made me feel some empathy for Mr. Fixit. Specifically, I realized that there are things about my job that I really like and there are things that make me want to run screaming from the room. The stuff I can't stand is outweighing the stuff that is rewarding, and I am going to have to move on. It makes an interesting parallel to why relationships work or don't (I think, anyway). Sometimes you just have to choose, and you have to live with that choice.