Flipping Pages

Not too much going on at Chez Pickyknitter these days.  I go to work, I come home, I play Diablo 3 with friends online, I talk to the parrot and I read.  I've been reading a lot this last few weeks and enjoying in immensely. 

In fact, I think I will sweep the house a bit and read some more.  I am back on Don Quixote... we'll see how long I can stick with it. I have it on my Nook (e-reader) at home and an analog (paperback) copy at work, so it is everywhere I go.

CB 6685

The most recent cockatiel babies were hatched back in February. Of a clutch of 2 I got one normal and one cinnamon pearl - so exciting!

Babies, appx 2 weeks old

Here the older chick is looking very self possessed.

 

CB6685 2 Apr 12

Today she (or he?) is out for some socialization on the playgym and on my shoulder. Wings are clipped now and s/he is quickly catching on to the idea that humans are not bad, not bad at all.

CB6685 14 May 12

S/He is looking for a new home. Because s/he is still so young (3 months) there is plenty of time to get bonded with a new family. S/he knows how to do "step ups" and loves to snuggle against my neck. So far, a very mellow bird that actually seems to observe and think before acting... imagine that.

Knit One, Walk Two

Tried to get some knitting done today while I was at the laundromat, but found a significant error in the lace about 2-3 rows back and packed it up for the morning. I was not in a good state of mind for lace surgery and didn't have any tools to aid the job.  I pulled out a crocheted doily-in-progress and made a few chains on that before the was was done and it was time to head home. 

Walked the dog twice today; a quick jaunt around the block this morning and then a two mile trip to the next big street and back. The evening was balmy with just a hint of a breeze and we had a nice journey. This is the 7th day in a row of walks (every day since I put Sunny to sleep) and they just keep getting better and easier.  My goal is to work up to at least 2 miles twice a day. So far I don't begrudge the time at all, and we will get faster as we get fitter.

Weekend End

Well, it is back to work tomorrow.  I will do some laundry in the morning beforehand. Maybe knit a row on the shawl.  Come home & take a nap.

It's a thrill a minute here.

Lazy Weekend, Continued

I think I will do a little knitting and watch a movie tonight, so perhaps there will be a picture of the shawl to post tomorrow. I really need to find a new knitting store or make knitting dates to reconnect with my old friends. My social world has shrunk to work-WoW-gardening Sunday and it is just not enough.  I saw a blog post from a knitter the other day and there was a picture from a knitting store of a work table & stock wall and a bunch of happy knitters. I felt an actual visceral reaction of longing for old times at Knit & Stitch. *le sigh*


Another beautifully quiet day today. Did some gardening in the morning, brushed Dozer until the lawn was white with underfur, took him for a jaunt around the block (5th day running) and then played some WoW.  The sparrows were out collecting beakfuls of soft clean fur within 5 minutes of the end of the brushing session.  Those undercoat rakes are amazing. 

Picked up my eReader to start something new and ended up restarting a book I have read twice already this year, The Winter Sea.  It is a romance & historical romance set in present day Scotland and 17th C Scotland with a dash of  inherited memory as a barely believable subplot.

Iris the baby cockatiel and Billy are still sort of cohabitating - he won't let her in his cage so she lives on top of it for now. She is flighted and talented at it and the birds are banished from that room now so they are safe... if a little lonely. Time to go inside, grab my knitting, pour a glass of water and find a cheerful movie.

Walkin' & Talkin'

No knitting content to report, sorry.  I am still chipping away at the Irtfa'a shawl by Anne Hansen, but one row twice a week is slow going.

Dozer and I got baths and then went for a walk this afternoon. I got some lunch and he got a new collar and lead - my birthday splurge.  I like giving him the freedom to walk on the 15' lead, but the trip back from the pet shop with the 4' lead was much more organized. I think he has slept under my chair for the entire time we have been back from our trip. He is still limping in the back; I am not sure if it is overwalking, a jumping off the bed injury or an issue from the mystery lump on his side. This is our 4th day in a row walking - not a huge milestone for some but pretty good for me.  I hope his hip feels better soon, as I will be very sad to have no walkable dogs now that I am trying to get back in the habit of walking.

I read a little, snoozed a little, ate some cake, walked for an hour, snuggled the parrot and played some World of Warcraft.  A pretty good birthday.

Day 2

Walked Dozer again tonight; it was a beautiful mild evening and perfect for a stroll around the neighborhood. I didn't get him brushed, I need to find the grooming equipment.

The cockatiels are in love with the back of my new desk chair. I had Billy (21) out for a while this morning - he shared my toast - and Iris is up there now. Billy proved to be very clever today.  I went in to the kitchen to get something and he flew in & around the corner to find me.

Oh dear, the downside is bird poop on the back of the chair. Time to log off & clean up.

Spring Routine

Today I finished a book! I would tell you all about it but it seems to have mysteriously vanished into the depths of the bookcases.  It was "Plainsong" and a very good read (especially for 50 cents 4 years ago at a library sale).  Several characters' lives converge in this tale of found family.   The writing style was precise, clear and left me feeling that I knew the best, most important things about the characters, as everything extraneous has been stripped away.

This evening I took Dozer for a walk and it was nice. I got to try out my leather jacket and found it warm and comforting. We used the 15' lead around the quiet neighborhood and no incidents worse than wrapping the slack around a lawn sprinkler or two.  Maybe tomorrow I will brush him before we go; it is spring and he is blowing his undercoat.

It feels strange to have only one dog to walk.

Saying Goodbye

I miss my Sunny girl.

Chore-tling

I woke up with the urge to do some chores around this place! On the list:

• taxes
• laundry (trip to laundrette)
• dishes
• pet areas
• recycling (trip to recycling center)
• gardening (weeding & garden planning)
• tune up the bicycle
  

There is another list for "after payday":

• 23,000 mile service on the car
• gardening (trip to nursery for dirt & planting)
• fix the washing machine

I think the list for today is long enough. I don't know if I will get through it all, but it is time to get started! Billy the cockatiel is helping by dusting off the bird playpen and preening the sisal ropes on his bird swing.

Weathering the Storm

We have had some rain, wind, hail and general chilliness here today. I love it! The critters don't seem impressed, but I turned the heater on for them as soon as I got home.

The clouds made for some amazing skies tonight on the drive home: black, yellow, white and gray all together. Add rainbows and glints of light from all the clean cars on the freeway and it was just beautiful. Plain blue skies get so boring!

The Hair Thieves

They came. They chopped. I love it.

Panda-lightful

I love playing World of Warcraft, as you know. I am also in the beta test for the new content (called Mists of Pandaria). It is going to be a great expansion and worth every penny if all I do is sit on a rock overlooking the lake and listen to the soundtrack.

My sweet Baobei is nice to look at too.
In addition to the low level characters to try out the new race & class, I have brought a high level character over to try out the new "grown up" world and dungeons. It is all very cool, beautiful and exciting to see the working models of the new ideas.

Gaming cuts into my knitting time, but I do so enjoy escaping into another world.

Cheep Entertainment

The newest clutch of baby cockatiels has come out quite nicely. I found two fluffy yellow jelly beans in the nest box back on February 17th, long after I had given up hope for a clutch this spring. They grew up fast and suddenly these sweet faces: Had become these poised and sophisticated young ladies:

The lower pictures were taken just this past Monday. I am particularly excited to have a cinnamon pied in this clutch. The cinnamon in the last clutch was fantastic and this is even more beautiful. The poor normal grey looks quite dowdy in comparison, but she is a lovely shade of slate and recovered well from an accident a few weeks ago which left her missing a toe.

I thought I had some names picked out last night, but I seem to have forgotten them already. Perhaps Iris for the pearl and ... I have no idea for the other one.

Spring Has Sprung

The Vernal Equinox shawl is done and all blocked out. It is still a bit small, but did a nice job warming my shoulders at a play on Saturday night. I should weigh it, weigh the remainder of the yarn and see if I can knit another... or maybe a matching scarf.

Totem Pole

I can see now where I rank. This was taken about 5 minutes after I finished installing and putting sheets on the new mattress. Clearly they wanted to be my product testers.

It is quite nice to have a full mattress, however. How did I live with a twin for 36 years?

Imbolc

Yesterday was Imbolc and for the return of the light I lit a candle, made some incense and let the dog in / out of the yard a hundred times (well, 2). I resisted buying another rabbit, although they were very soft and on sale.

Progress continues on the Vernal Equinox shawl; at this rate I will have it done by then! I love the yarn so much that I may switch to it for every future project.

Finished another book, this time _American Gods_ by Neil Gaiman. It is a little difficult to describe, but was absolutely absorbing. If you like weird, Neil's your man.

Silk Shawl by Springtime

I don't have nearly enough projects in process, so I am going to take the plunge and complete a shawl for The Loopy Ewe's new challenge- silk.

I am going to make the Vernal Equinox Shawl by Wendy, and the yarn arrived today. It is a wool & silk blend in a lovely green.

The yarn has been made into a ball, some knitting needles have been selected, I read all the way through the pattern (well, skimmed) and am itching to get stitching.

See? It's Cece!

My friend Martha needed a cardigan for work. I began the knitting before I put that cup on top of the car and drove off. Oopsie.

I knit.

And knit.And then realized I decreased the fronts too sharply (100% too often). I had to rip out the neckband, the yoke and detach the sleeves. The project hibernated for a bit.

I eventually got my act together and reknit the fronts, the sleeves and the neckband. I even bought a button and sewed it on. Martha is wsarmer now. But if she still gets cold....There is always a warm corgi available.

Tour de Fleece 2011

Back in November of 2010, I picked up some dyed fiber at the So Cal Handweaver's show. This is a merino / silk blend dyed by Capistrano fiber arts. My plan for the fiber was to try and break out of my "rut" of using the same colors all the time. I wanted to ply two different colorways together and see what effect I got. I picked out one and Lori suggested the other.

Here is a picutre of the two colorways laid out in all their glory:

Then this July (2011) I decided to join the "Tour de Fleece" with the goal of spinning & plying these 4 oz into one fiinshed skein. It was a pretty respectable goal, as I done almost no spinning during the previous year, I wanted the project to be spun on a hand spindle and (not least) I began about a week into the tour, putting myself at the back of the pack. I started with the green / gold / purple first. I divided each colorway into 4 roughly equal sections to shorten the distance between color changes.

I managed to spin all of the darker colorway with no trouble and almost on schedule. Then I moved on to the sand / orange / purple. I did not enjoy this colorway as much, and it was quite difficult to stick with "the plan". The end of the tour came and went with this portion only about 1/4 complete. Into the project bag it went. I worked on it a little more later in November (a year from yarn purchase) when visiting with friends at this year's handweaver's show. Last weekend a friend hosted a spin-in and I brought it as my only project to try and get it finished at last. I almost made it, and finally finished the spinning Thursday afternoon.

I slid the two cops off onto knitting needles for storage and plied the yarns back onto the same spindle. After about 5 hours worth of work, here is approximately 4 oz of plied yarn. I wanted to make one skein with no breaks, and was successful. The spindle was quite heavy by the end, however.

The finished yarn, all skeined up. It needs a bath to set the twist and make it bloom, but the colors came out beautifully overall. Now I just need to figure out what project to make with it. Something knit, surely, and somewhat large. I may make a triangle shawl so that I can stop when I run out of yarn. A rectangle scarf would also be nice, or even a circular shawl. If I can't decide, I may get crazy and enter it into the county fair this summer.

I enjoyed spinning for the Tour and will do it again this year - hopefully with more planning and forethought. It feels good to finally finish a project and have a little more yarn in the "to knit" stash.