Mixed-up Thursday

I woke fairly early, checked emails and Facebook, got up, walked dogs, fed dogs, and went back to bed. The official pollen counts aren't too awful, but the grass pollen is wiping me out, and I knew I'd be in trouble since the landscapers were here yesterday.



By the time I woke up again, it was after noon, and I hadn't even thought about all the stuff I needed to do. I got dressed, fed and walked the dogs, then headed out. I got my hair cut. (I've added a reminder note to myself for six weeks from now. Maybe I won't wait until my hair is long enough to annoy me to get back to get it cut.) I did my grocery shopping, having violated the cardinal rule: I was starving. Potato chips, plantain chips, lots of microwavable breakfast stuff. (If someone had been standing there selling hot bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuits, I'd have gone broke. I had a real craving for breakfast--at 2:30 in the afternoon.) Diet Coke (an essential). Oh, and turkey necks for the dogs. I'll be giving half a neck to each dog at lunchtime tomorrow. (It's messy and definitely an outdoor dining event.) Home, unpack groceries, eat one of my microwavable breakfast things for lunch (I hadn't eaten since breakfast).

When I got up this morning, I had a message on Facebook from a friend who'd received the baby sweater I'd shipped to London. The baby's a girl, and it seems that green looks good on her. (I'd gone for a color that would look good if she'd had her mother's red hair. The baby's more blond than red, but mum says the color is perfect.) The baby's name is Nellina Wren Mann; I didn't know it, but her mum sometimes calls her Ladybug. Ladybugs, as they're called in the States, are a symbol of good luck, which is why I added the button. (In British countries, it's called a Ladybird.)



Last night, I got the BSJ to a good point for me to knit on it at Saturday's WWKIP event--except for two things. 1--I didn't like the sweater in a single color (bor-rinnng!), and 2--I didn't like the fabric on US5 needles. (It's a baby sweater, not a suit of armor.) I frogged the first try and hunted out a lighter blue yarn from stash. I wouldn't like these two colors together if I used them in big patches of color, but I'm planning to knit skinny stripes, and I think this will work. I've cast on with US6 and knitted just a couple of rows, and I'll work on it more tonight. The Braves are in LA, so it'll be late games tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday nights. There are also replays of golf action (PGA and Champions tours) on TV tonight. (The LPGA tournament got rained out today--standing water on the greens, although not as bad as the tournament in the Bahamas a couple of weeks ago.)



I'll paint my fingernails and toenails tomorrow. (I'm thinking red to match Silver's new collar for Saturday's meet and greet.)

Trivia:
1--Fingers crossed that this isn't the last day of good poop from the dogs; turkey necks tomorrow.
2--The nearest Great Clips is pretty good, and if I take my receipt with me on my next visit, they'll knock $4 off the price.
3--Knitting can be hard on fingernail polish.

Recent and Current Knitting

I recently knitted a helmet liner. A blogger was asking for knitted helmet liners for a Marine unit that will be shipping out to Afghanistan. I decided to knit a liner, and it knitted up quickly.



And then a coworker asked for one for her friend, a soldier already in Afghanistan. So I gave her the one I knitted (she'll repay me for the yarn), and I bought a new ball of yarn today and have started the second helmet liner. It's nice yarn (has to be wool--no acrylics, and there's a limited range of acceptable colors), and the pattern is easy. I'm already an inch into the second liner. But let's not tell the Marines they're wearing a color called Doeskin Heather; Bambi-colored yarn doesn't quite sound right for the Corps.

***

Sam has turned 10 years old. Both dogs have coats I made for them (Jacey inherited Oreo's coats), but only Jacey has a hand-knitted sweater. Every time I've started to make a sweater for Sam, Christmas knitting has intervened, and Sam's sweater has been pushed to the back burner.

But the boy turned 10 on the 10th of this month, and I wanted him to have a sweater for the fall, so I knitted one that I finished the day before his birthday.



The turtleneck can be unrolled to stretch up his neck and give his ears some coverage when necessary.

I have yarn to knit a matching sweater for Jacey in forest green. There are changes I want to make to the pattern (I made notes in Ravelry), and I'll probably make her sweater soon, while the changes (and my notes) still make sense to me.

***

At the recent Stitches South convention here in Atlanta, I won a prize: a kit to make a shawl. The pattern is for Cascade's lacy Grapevine Shawl, and the yarn is a bright fuchsia cotton (Cascade Sierra). I've started the shawl and made it through one pattern repeat. The one repeat measures about two inches; just 26 repeats to go. ;) I have a high school reunion coming up in October, and a bright shawl might be just the thing for a fall evening.

Finish-itis

Knitters and crocheters like what they do--the knitting and crocheting part, at least. They often are not so thrilled with the finishing work: the seams, buttons, weaving in ends, etc. Well, yesterday I was hit by a bout of finish-itis, and I've finished off four baby sweaters and a doily in less than 24 hours. It helped that I was running back-up software on my laptop and had to close all other applications. Since I couldn't surf Web sites, hang out in chat rooms, or follow on-line or PDF patterns (my next two projects have pattern instructions on Web sites), it seemed that finishing some WIPs was a good idea. Here's the finished BSJ, now with shoulder seams sewn, neck-opening crocheted, and buttons added:



Trina had an ultrasound yesterday, and she's having a boy. The yarn is Omega Sinfonia, a washable and dryable cotton.

This doily doesn't have a pretty name. It's just called "#2":



It's a house-warming gift for Erin, a Ravelry buddy who moved into a new house in the spring. The next doily I make (probably will start it tonight) will be for Briana, a Live-Journaling, BookCrossing, new house owner. Oddly enough, both these doily/housewarming gifts will be heading for Columbus, Ohio.

For Alrescate's twins I made matching red sweaters. The sweaters fasten at the shoulders (with snap tape), and have a "for-show" button: a cardinal, giving the boys a head start as St Louis Cardinal fans.





The yarn is CotLin, by Knit Picks: a machine washable and dryable blend of cotton and linen.


And for Sirroy and Yokospungeon's baby, this crocheted sweater, with pearl buttons and a flower, will be headed for Ireland:





The yarn is CotLin, by Knit Picks: a machine washable and dryable blend of cotton and linen.

All the in-the-mail stuff is likely to happen on Wednesday of next week. (Wednesday is my next day off.) The next baby sweater I work on will be for my cousin, Shari, who's due in January. I have some bright, pretty cotton yarn:

and


After I got all the craft stuff finished, I went up to change the sheets on the bed. Usually, when I'm busy upstairs, Jacey gets on my bed to watch whatever I'm doing, making it tough for me to change the sheets. Today, though, she settled on the dog bed in the floor:



Sam, on the other hand:



I worked around him as long as I could, pulling off sheets or pillowcases, and dropping the dirty linen on the floor. I finally snatched the last pillow out from under his butt, and he condescended to move for me:



Yeah. Onto the sheets I'd dropped in the floor. Mr Helpful.


After I got the sheets changed, it started raining, with some "nice" thunder and lightning. (The "nice" kind is just distant enough not to make the lights flicker.) I took the dogs, and we went out to sit in the carport and watch the rain. We're tucked back into a corner where we don't get wet:



And we have a nice view out to the rain:



I usually sit and knit or crochet or read. Sam generally falls asleep. Jacey often lies with her chin on the floor, but she keeps her eyes open and her ears swivel like directional antennae as she tracks the thunder.


It's been a nicely lazy day, today: didn't have to work too hard at anything, but I feel like I got some things accomplished. Tomorrow I'm working the closing shift, and I won't have to get up until 10:30. The other day, I treated myself to a three-DVD set: Anchors Aweigh (1945), On the Town (1949), and Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949). Sinatra was in his early 30s, Gene Kelly was 3 years older, and they're both at the peak of their looks and their skills, I think. It's fun music, nice dancing (Kelly taught Sinatra to dance, the beginning of a fifty-year friendship between them); there's gorgeous color and some classic scenes (Kelly dances with Jerry the mouse in Anchors Aweigh). I think I'll stay up late tonight, watching movies, cleaning up my laptop's hard drive, and doing some knitting or crocheting.