On to the second pair...
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Greymates Calendar
http://www.greymates.org/
I'm not in the calendar, but friends of mine are. The calendar is a fund-raiser for the local adoption group.
I'm not in the calendar, but friends of mine are. The calendar is a fund-raiser for the local adoption group.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Sock yarn!
The yarn I ordered Monday arrived today.
I'll keep using my cheap stuff for now--my first pair of socks is bound to be wonky, so we'll save the new yarn for after I've had more practice.
I'll keep using my cheap stuff for now--my first pair of socks is bound to be wonky, so we'll save the new yarn for after I've had more practice.
Sweet Dreams
I finished the doily I was making. It's called "Sweet Dreams," and it was made for a friend who will be getting it as a surprise.
The doily is about 19" x 14", size 10 thread, worked with a size 7 hook.
I've started knitting socks. Not fun, so far. I'm used to working with two hands and one hook. Now I'm working with two hands and four needles. I don't like those odds. ;
The doily is about 19" x 14", size 10 thread, worked with a size 7 hook.
I've started knitting socks. Not fun, so far. I'm used to working with two hands and one hook. Now I'm working with two hands and four needles. I don't like those odds. ;
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Alas, poor Yorick...
Yesterday, I went to two local yarn shops looking for good sport-weight sock yarn (I don't want wool, but 100% cotton hasn't got enough stretch. So I was looking for cotton with a bit of Lycra.) One shop has very little yarn--lots of "fabric embellishment" stuff, though--paints and trim. The other shop had lots of yarn--but most of their cotton was 100%. I'd been told Cascade Fixation had what I needed, but I haven't found a local store that carries it. Someone online in a chat room recommended Elann Espirit or their Espirit Print. I ordered yarn in their Print version--Berry Garden and Indigo Gold. I don't know if I'm going to love making socks, but I really like looking at the yarn.
Last night I finished the vest for my sister. It's okay, but I'm not in love with it. ("In love with it" generally means I want to turn around and make another one right away.)
Also, I was chat-room chatting with another Raveler late one night about the Cephalopodalong while I was watching the Branagh version of Hamlet. I commented that it seemed funny to be chatting about the -along while watching everyone and his brother dying in the movie. The Raveler commented: "Just had a strange vision of Hamlet holding up a fibery mollusk instead of Yorick's skull." I couldn't resist the temptation, and this greeted her in her morning email:
Off to see if I can finish a doily today...
Last night I finished the vest for my sister. It's okay, but I'm not in love with it. ("In love with it" generally means I want to turn around and make another one right away.)
Also, I was chat-room chatting with another Raveler late one night about the Cephalopodalong while I was watching the Branagh version of Hamlet. I commented that it seemed funny to be chatting about the -along while watching everyone and his brother dying in the movie. The Raveler commented: "Just had a strange vision of Hamlet holding up a fibery mollusk instead of Yorick's skull." I couldn't resist the temptation, and this greeted her in her morning email:
Off to see if I can finish a doily today...
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Craft-y bits
I got invited to participate in two -alongs on Ravelry. One is a Cephalopodalong. Yeah, I'm crocheting an octopus. It's silly. And relaxing. I just picked some yarn from my stash--something I don't have enough of to make something serious. The pattern is here. Here's how far I've gotten:
The marker is the point where the increases stopped. The ceph will be ten inches below that before the legs start. This is a nice, no-brainer project I can work on during my lunch break at work.
In an effort to get at least one WIP out of the way before I started the octopus, I finished my socks:
The second -along I've joined is My-First-Sock-Along. It has a community here on LJ as well as a group on Ravelry. It's for encouragement and coaching for knitters attempting their first socks. Since my actual first socks were crocheted, I qualify for this group with my first-knitted-socks attempt. I think I'm using this yarn:
It's a very soft yarn. 100% acrylic, which may not be wonderful to wear, but this is in the nature of an experiment, anyway, and if they look nice I may want to frame them rather than wear them. The pattern I'm planning to use has a tiny cable in it, so I think the pattern needs this very plain, one-color yarn.
I finished a simple dishcloth from this pattern. I didn't make it very large. It's an interesting pattern, but I don't think I love the way it works up: there are gaps between the blocks of the stitches that I'm not crazy about:
I got pictures of my sister's vest. It still needs to be seamed, and have the ribbing added at the necks and the armholes. And buttons, of course.
I finally got some pictures of the Amore plum and the Homespun prairie yarns I'm planning to use in the coat pattern I found:
I still have the doily to work on. No pictures, yet.
Work's been fine. There's a new academy class, but I'm taking my vacation time next week (after Monday) and the week after, so I won't have to struggle to get dogs. I have plans for crocheting, genealogy, cemetery-searching, and greyhound stuff during my time off. (Greyfest is next Saturday.) I've stayed busy on Ravelry in my free time...hanging out in their Help! chat room to coach newbies through problems and chat with other Ravelers while I crochet away, and I've set up several states' worth of local yarn store data for Ravelry's data base. (Ravelry is up to more than 16,000 members, now, with another 17,000+ on the waiting list.)
The post office delivered my latest pick from Netflix today: Hamlet (the Brannagh version) finally is available on DVD. It's lovely. I've got pictures to post on Ravelry, then some needlework to do. Maybe I'll get that vest finished. Or work on the needlepoint stocking. Or something.
The marker is the point where the increases stopped. The ceph will be ten inches below that before the legs start. This is a nice, no-brainer project I can work on during my lunch break at work.
In an effort to get at least one WIP out of the way before I started the octopus, I finished my socks:
The second -along I've joined is My-First-Sock-Along. It has a community here on LJ as well as a group on Ravelry. It's for encouragement and coaching for knitters attempting their first socks. Since my actual first socks were crocheted, I qualify for this group with my first-knitted-socks attempt. I think I'm using this yarn:
It's a very soft yarn. 100% acrylic, which may not be wonderful to wear, but this is in the nature of an experiment, anyway, and if they look nice I may want to frame them rather than wear them. The pattern I'm planning to use has a tiny cable in it, so I think the pattern needs this very plain, one-color yarn.
I finished a simple dishcloth from this pattern. I didn't make it very large. It's an interesting pattern, but I don't think I love the way it works up: there are gaps between the blocks of the stitches that I'm not crazy about:
I got pictures of my sister's vest. It still needs to be seamed, and have the ribbing added at the necks and the armholes. And buttons, of course.
I finally got some pictures of the Amore plum and the Homespun prairie yarns I'm planning to use in the coat pattern I found:
I still have the doily to work on. No pictures, yet.
Work's been fine. There's a new academy class, but I'm taking my vacation time next week (after Monday) and the week after, so I won't have to struggle to get dogs. I have plans for crocheting, genealogy, cemetery-searching, and greyhound stuff during my time off. (Greyfest is next Saturday.) I've stayed busy on Ravelry in my free time...hanging out in their Help! chat room to coach newbies through problems and chat with other Ravelers while I crochet away, and I've set up several states' worth of local yarn store data for Ravelry's data base. (Ravelry is up to more than 16,000 members, now, with another 17,000+ on the waiting list.)
The post office delivered my latest pick from Netflix today: Hamlet (the Brannagh version) finally is available on DVD. It's lovely. I've got pictures to post on Ravelry, then some needlework to do. Maybe I'll get that vest finished. Or work on the needlepoint stocking. Or something.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Craft-y Bits
I ordered some grab-bags of yarn and thread from Elmore-Pisgah, makers of Peaches & Creme cotton yarn and Grandma's Best crochet thread. The bags had some of the crochet thread, which is pretty awful stuff: it's way too fuzzy. If you stitch with it, there's no stitch definition. I may try unwinding some of the balls to see if they get better further in--they may just be fuzzy on the outside from wear and tear.
There also was some yarn--odd lots of various colors, including five balls of this stuff: a cotton yarn in a discontinued colorway called "Passion" (the colors in the picture). I wasn't impressed with it in the ball. (It's paler than the photo: weathered red, light purple, dusty rose, orange, and light green.)
But I had a pattern for crocheted socks that called for worsted weight yarn. I don't want to make socks in wool that I'll have to handwash to keep them from felting. And socks in acrylic yarn--yech! So I figured I'd try some cotton yarn--and there's enough Passion yarn to make a pair. (And one grab bag contained a solid-color weathered red yarn that goes with the Passion, so I can use it at the heels and toes.) I'm being pleasantly surprised by how the yarn works up. The sock pattern might not be great--the jury's still out on that one--but I like the color combination made up much more than I liked it in the ball. Quite often, my feelings about ombre/variegated yarns and threads go the opposite way. And fat cotton socks should be lovely in cold weather. (They'll fit inside my Crocs, even if they don't fit inside other shoes.)
I'm also working on a doily for a friend: I've done halfway through round 18. It's 21 rounds for the main doily, then 6 rows for the two "wings."
And I got two gorgeous sets of yarn for a coat pattern: TLC Amore's plum for the body of the coat (the solid down the page, not the print near the top) and Lion Brand Homespun in Prairie for the edging. (I can't find a good color swatch of Prairie: it's mostly olive green with bits of brown, red, blue, and plum in it.)
There also was some yarn--odd lots of various colors, including five balls of this stuff: a cotton yarn in a discontinued colorway called "Passion" (the colors in the picture). I wasn't impressed with it in the ball. (It's paler than the photo: weathered red, light purple, dusty rose, orange, and light green.)
But I had a pattern for crocheted socks that called for worsted weight yarn. I don't want to make socks in wool that I'll have to handwash to keep them from felting. And socks in acrylic yarn--yech! So I figured I'd try some cotton yarn--and there's enough Passion yarn to make a pair. (And one grab bag contained a solid-color weathered red yarn that goes with the Passion, so I can use it at the heels and toes.) I'm being pleasantly surprised by how the yarn works up. The sock pattern might not be great--the jury's still out on that one--but I like the color combination made up much more than I liked it in the ball. Quite often, my feelings about ombre/variegated yarns and threads go the opposite way. And fat cotton socks should be lovely in cold weather. (They'll fit inside my Crocs, even if they don't fit inside other shoes.)
I'm also working on a doily for a friend: I've done halfway through round 18. It's 21 rounds for the main doily, then 6 rows for the two "wings."
And I got two gorgeous sets of yarn for a coat pattern: TLC Amore's plum for the body of the coat (the solid down the page, not the print near the top) and Lion Brand Homespun in Prairie for the edging. (I can't find a good color swatch of Prairie: it's mostly olive green with bits of brown, red, blue, and plum in it.)
Friday, September 14, 2007
I was at an odd spot on several projects (need to seam the vest or do little add-ons on another project) and not in the mood to work on them, so I started another doily yesterday.
I had looked at the picture and glanced at the pattern info. The pattern included lots of cluster stitches (easy to do), V-stitches (also easy), and picots, but the picture didn't look alarming. But then I got into it. 36 picots per round. For several rounds. And for about half of them, I've forgotten to do the chain stitch needed after the picot, so the stitches looked crammed together. Ouch. So I'm frogging what I've done (about 10 rounds) and going to another pattern. It has picots, but they're kinder picots.* And it's a cool-looking doily.
I haven't felt well today--upset stomach. I was lying on the couch, and Sam wanted his dinner. He stood and barked at me for a while, finally decided I wasn't budging, and got up on the couch with me and slept. But I've fed the dogs, and Jacey's on the couch with me now. Yesterday, I went out to pick up the mail. There was a piece of junk mail and on the way to the trash can I tapped Jacey on the head with the envelope. You'd have thought I'd whacked her with a two-by-four. In the 16 months she's lived here, I've never popped her with rolled up paper or anything like that, so her flinching and looking for someplace to run from an envelope has to be something leftover from her previous life. Well, she's going to get tapped on the head by an envelope every day from now on until she understands that it's nothing to be afraid of. Sam's getting tapped, too, by way of a demonstration. He just blinks and looks at me like I'm nuts. Maybe I am, but I hate that Jacey flinches from so much stuff, and I want her to learn that loud noises or pieces of paper tapping her head are not--in themselves--things she needs to fear.
*Picots are worked however the instructions for a piece say. The ones I was doing were chain 4, slip stitch in the third chain from the hook; doing a slip stitch into a little chain is a pain. But the new doily calls for chain 3, slip stitch in the stitch just made, and slip stitching into a real stitch is a lot easier; it's a bigger target. And the picots are only on the last round.
I had looked at the picture and glanced at the pattern info. The pattern included lots of cluster stitches (easy to do), V-stitches (also easy), and picots, but the picture didn't look alarming. But then I got into it. 36 picots per round. For several rounds. And for about half of them, I've forgotten to do the chain stitch needed after the picot, so the stitches looked crammed together. Ouch. So I'm frogging what I've done (about 10 rounds) and going to another pattern. It has picots, but they're kinder picots.* And it's a cool-looking doily.
I haven't felt well today--upset stomach. I was lying on the couch, and Sam wanted his dinner. He stood and barked at me for a while, finally decided I wasn't budging, and got up on the couch with me and slept. But I've fed the dogs, and Jacey's on the couch with me now. Yesterday, I went out to pick up the mail. There was a piece of junk mail and on the way to the trash can I tapped Jacey on the head with the envelope. You'd have thought I'd whacked her with a two-by-four. In the 16 months she's lived here, I've never popped her with rolled up paper or anything like that, so her flinching and looking for someplace to run from an envelope has to be something leftover from her previous life. Well, she's going to get tapped on the head by an envelope every day from now on until she understands that it's nothing to be afraid of. Sam's getting tapped, too, by way of a demonstration. He just blinks and looks at me like I'm nuts. Maybe I am, but I hate that Jacey flinches from so much stuff, and I want her to learn that loud noises or pieces of paper tapping her head are not--in themselves--things she needs to fear.
*Picots are worked however the instructions for a piece say. The ones I was doing were chain 4, slip stitch in the third chain from the hook; doing a slip stitch into a little chain is a pain. But the new doily calls for chain 3, slip stitch in the stitch just made, and slip stitching into a real stitch is a lot easier; it's a bigger target. And the picots are only on the last round.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Sam
There's a reason that boy's muzzled when I leave the house.
My company has an employee shopping day (double the employee discount) twice a year, so I tend to stock up. The last one was in June, and I bought big. We're still working our way through the goodies, and when I went to work this morning, the front room of the house contained four 40-pound bags of dog kibble and five 60-ounce boxes of Nutro Lamb & Rice treats.
Sam knows this stuff is there. When we're about to go outside, he dashes into this room and lovingly sniffs the bags and paws the boxes, then hustles back to the front door when I snap, "Sam!" Ordinarily, the foyer and the front room are blocked off from the rest of the house by an ex-pen--a sort of doggy playpen made of metal--that's propped in the doorway of the living room. It stands on end, accordion-folded, and I just pull it open to block the doorway, or fold it back out of the way when we go outside. In four years and eleven months in this condo, Sam's never gotten to the other side of the ex-pen on his own. He easily could leap the thing--and never has.
Tonight I got home about 9:45 pm (I left for work at 10 this morning). My first step through the door--something crunched underfoot, and Sam greeted me at the door--on the wrong side of the ex-pen!
Happily, there are still four 40-pound bags of dog kibble in the front room. However, there are only four 60-ounce boxes of dog treats; the fifth box fell victim to Sam.
Sam pushed the ex-pen to the side--got it to slide on the carpet--and got into the front room. (The front room also leads to the pantry-area, which he explored. But he didn't find anything he liked, so, aside from leaving claw marks in the paper towel rolls, he didn't do any harm there.) The Nutro treat boxes are glued very, very well. Then they're shrink wrapped. I've had to take scissors and a knife to hack my way into the box. Poor muzzled Sam couldn't even use his teeth. He did it all with his front feet. Once he got into the box, he spread the treats on the floor of the foyer and on the carpet in the living room. He pushed them under the bathroom door and into the closet where the heater resides. He finally managed to trap a few of the treats against the baseboards in the foyer, and he battered those treats to powder and crumbs with his muzzle.
Clean-up from this incident was much easier than some of the other Sam-episode clean-ups have been. Except for the pulverized treats, the treats were easy to pick up, and there's now a full-to-the-top treat container in the kitchen. (This container is in Sam's reach, he knows the treats are in it, and it would be much easier to open--just flick the latch. He hasn't figured it out...yet.) The pulverized treats were vacuumed easily, while a muzzled Sam watched sadly. (Jacey, still upstairs in her crate, couldn't figure out why mom wouldn't come let her out.)
An exhausted Sam is now asleep on the sofa--on his back with his feet in the air. The poor boy worked very hard today...and didn't get to reap the reward.
But what will happen tomorrow? Will he try to get past the ex-pen again? And if I secure the pen so it won't move, will he just jump over the thing? (He did that when he was penned outside one time and he just decided he didn't want to stay in the pen.) And if he gets over the ex-pen, will he attack the kibble? Or another box of treats? Either way, I'm running out of storage containers. And the only room downstairs that has a door is the bathroom--which isn't big enough to store 160 pounds of kibble and 15 pounds of dog treats. If I have to haul these 40-pound bags upstairs to store them in a spare bedroom, I'm going to be pissed.
Maybe I need to buy another dog crate. Not for Sam--who destroyed a crate (and hurt his feet) in his first foster home--but for the dog food!
An old photo...
My company has an employee shopping day (double the employee discount) twice a year, so I tend to stock up. The last one was in June, and I bought big. We're still working our way through the goodies, and when I went to work this morning, the front room of the house contained four 40-pound bags of dog kibble and five 60-ounce boxes of Nutro Lamb & Rice treats.
Sam knows this stuff is there. When we're about to go outside, he dashes into this room and lovingly sniffs the bags and paws the boxes, then hustles back to the front door when I snap, "Sam!" Ordinarily, the foyer and the front room are blocked off from the rest of the house by an ex-pen--a sort of doggy playpen made of metal--that's propped in the doorway of the living room. It stands on end, accordion-folded, and I just pull it open to block the doorway, or fold it back out of the way when we go outside. In four years and eleven months in this condo, Sam's never gotten to the other side of the ex-pen on his own. He easily could leap the thing--and never has.
Tonight I got home about 9:45 pm (I left for work at 10 this morning). My first step through the door--something crunched underfoot, and Sam greeted me at the door--on the wrong side of the ex-pen!
Happily, there are still four 40-pound bags of dog kibble in the front room. However, there are only four 60-ounce boxes of dog treats; the fifth box fell victim to Sam.
Sam pushed the ex-pen to the side--got it to slide on the carpet--and got into the front room. (The front room also leads to the pantry-area, which he explored. But he didn't find anything he liked, so, aside from leaving claw marks in the paper towel rolls, he didn't do any harm there.) The Nutro treat boxes are glued very, very well. Then they're shrink wrapped. I've had to take scissors and a knife to hack my way into the box. Poor muzzled Sam couldn't even use his teeth. He did it all with his front feet. Once he got into the box, he spread the treats on the floor of the foyer and on the carpet in the living room. He pushed them under the bathroom door and into the closet where the heater resides. He finally managed to trap a few of the treats against the baseboards in the foyer, and he battered those treats to powder and crumbs with his muzzle.
Clean-up from this incident was much easier than some of the other Sam-episode clean-ups have been. Except for the pulverized treats, the treats were easy to pick up, and there's now a full-to-the-top treat container in the kitchen. (This container is in Sam's reach, he knows the treats are in it, and it would be much easier to open--just flick the latch. He hasn't figured it out...yet.) The pulverized treats were vacuumed easily, while a muzzled Sam watched sadly. (Jacey, still upstairs in her crate, couldn't figure out why mom wouldn't come let her out.)
An exhausted Sam is now asleep on the sofa--on his back with his feet in the air. The poor boy worked very hard today...and didn't get to reap the reward.
But what will happen tomorrow? Will he try to get past the ex-pen again? And if I secure the pen so it won't move, will he just jump over the thing? (He did that when he was penned outside one time and he just decided he didn't want to stay in the pen.) And if he gets over the ex-pen, will he attack the kibble? Or another box of treats? Either way, I'm running out of storage containers. And the only room downstairs that has a door is the bathroom--which isn't big enough to store 160 pounds of kibble and 15 pounds of dog treats. If I have to haul these 40-pound bags upstairs to store them in a spare bedroom, I'm going to be pissed.
Maybe I need to buy another dog crate. Not for Sam--who destroyed a crate (and hurt his feet) in his first foster home--but for the dog food!
An old photo...
Monday, September 3, 2007
Craft-y Bits
Sam and Jacey went to work with me today. This means they missed lots of nap time. They're both sleeping like the dead now. But they're clean, and they smell good. I'm pooped and about to turn in.
I'm going to rip out what I've done on Jacey's sweater. This patten probably would work on a big, round dog. It isn't going to work on a long, skinny dog who's just got a big chest. (That's right: a sweater pattern that doesn't look terrific on a busty girl!) Both dogs have fleece coats. If they need extra warmth, I can put one of my tee-shirts on each dog before I put the coats on them. But this is the second time I've tried to make sweaters for the dogs, and I think I'm going to find something else to do with this yarn. (I already have plans...) Enough! already.
I finished the front-right of the vest I'm making my sister. It works up very quickly, although there are some glitches in the pattern. For one thing, following the pattern would have resulted in armhole shaping at the waist rather than at the shoulders. (Details, details...) Nothing like having a pattern that keeps you awake. The yarn is a lovely cornmeal color, and my red-headed sister is one of the few people I know who can wear yellow without looking jaundiced.
I'm going to rip out what I've done on Jacey's sweater. This patten probably would work on a big, round dog. It isn't going to work on a long, skinny dog who's just got a big chest. (That's right: a sweater pattern that doesn't look terrific on a busty girl!) Both dogs have fleece coats. If they need extra warmth, I can put one of my tee-shirts on each dog before I put the coats on them. But this is the second time I've tried to make sweaters for the dogs, and I think I'm going to find something else to do with this yarn. (I already have plans...) Enough! already.
I finished the front-right of the vest I'm making my sister. It works up very quickly, although there are some glitches in the pattern. For one thing, following the pattern would have resulted in armhole shaping at the waist rather than at the shoulders. (Details, details...) Nothing like having a pattern that keeps you awake. The yarn is a lovely cornmeal color, and my red-headed sister is one of the few people I know who can wear yellow without looking jaundiced.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Errors in the vest pattern
The crocheted vest pattern I'm working from is not for beginners. There are some errors in the pattern that you can figure out or work around if you're experienced, but they'll bite you if you aren't experienced. And they're silly, pointless errors. (If you make the small size and work as instructed, your armhole spacing will be on the wrong part of the front; it's a matter of the pattern wrongly giving the same instruction whether you're on an even-numbered row or an odd in a spot that makes a difference.)
Button, button, who's got the...
Does anyone know the reasoning behind the traditional "worthless" button on a vest--the bottom button (or buttonhole, at least) that doesn't get used?
I'm crocheting a vest for my sister. The instructions quite clearly tell you to buy six buttons. And make seven buttonholes. Sure enough, if you look at the picture of the vest: six buttons, and--if you know where to look--one lonely, unused buttonhole at the bottom.
I've made the seven buttonholes. But I may buy seven buttons and give my sister the option of buttoning the last button or not--as she chooses. At least she won't be left wondering why there's a hole in the bottom of the front band on her vest.
I felt awful this morning--sore throat and allergy trouble. I went to work anyway, but I came home after a couple of hours. I only had two dogs on the books (for a 10-hour day), and this way someone else can get the dogs and I'll actually make more in sick-pay than I would have made in commissions.
I had worked a couple of rows in Jacey's sweater while I was sitting in the parking lot, waiting until it was time to go inside. After I came home, I worked some on the needlepoint stocking. Then I finished up a crocheted dishcloth (experimenting with a strange pattern--it works okay, but it's unusual). So now I'm working on the vest for my sister, which means I've worked on four out of five works-in-progress today. If I work on the fifth one this evening, it'll be to rip out what I've done: I'm so far over gauge on the width, that I need to rework the piece and leave out at least one set of shell-repeats for either front (which I haven't gotten to) and two sets of shell-repeats from the back (which I've started and worked about 4 inches' worth--of 25 inches). I don't mind redoing what I've done since (a) I'll have fewer stitches to work on the redo and (b) I botched the edges in this crocheting-from-a-chart business, but I think I know how it's supposed to go now.
I'm working tomorrow. I expect we'll be dead all day. Sam and Jacey are going with me to get baths.
I'm crocheting a vest for my sister. The instructions quite clearly tell you to buy six buttons. And make seven buttonholes. Sure enough, if you look at the picture of the vest: six buttons, and--if you know where to look--one lonely, unused buttonhole at the bottom.
I've made the seven buttonholes. But I may buy seven buttons and give my sister the option of buttoning the last button or not--as she chooses. At least she won't be left wondering why there's a hole in the bottom of the front band on her vest.
I felt awful this morning--sore throat and allergy trouble. I went to work anyway, but I came home after a couple of hours. I only had two dogs on the books (for a 10-hour day), and this way someone else can get the dogs and I'll actually make more in sick-pay than I would have made in commissions.
I had worked a couple of rows in Jacey's sweater while I was sitting in the parking lot, waiting until it was time to go inside. After I came home, I worked some on the needlepoint stocking. Then I finished up a crocheted dishcloth (experimenting with a strange pattern--it works okay, but it's unusual). So now I'm working on the vest for my sister, which means I've worked on four out of five works-in-progress today. If I work on the fifth one this evening, it'll be to rip out what I've done: I'm so far over gauge on the width, that I need to rework the piece and leave out at least one set of shell-repeats for either front (which I haven't gotten to) and two sets of shell-repeats from the back (which I've started and worked about 4 inches' worth--of 25 inches). I don't mind redoing what I've done since (a) I'll have fewer stitches to work on the redo and (b) I botched the edges in this crocheting-from-a-chart business, but I think I know how it's supposed to go now.
I'm working tomorrow. I expect we'll be dead all day. Sam and Jacey are going with me to get baths.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Craft-y Stuff
I got far enough on Jacey's sweater that I can make it my take-to-work project: now it's just "work even for a zillion rows"--or 23 inches, whichever comes first.
I worked on the needlepoint stocking for Lydia and came to a sad decision: My eyesight is forcing a change to a different stocking. Her stocking was 14-mesh canvas, which I can do, but it's tiny stitches. But that stocking was stitched in embroidery floss, which is harder to handle than tapestry wool. And quite a few of the stitches had floss paired with a metallic thread about the consistency of a human hair. Try keeping two of those threads linked up with four strands of embroidery floss--and get it all to lie flat in the right places. It was a nightmare, even in daylight, with my glasses on, and with the day-light lamp.
I had purchased another stocking kit before I found the angel one that has proved to be so difficult. The stocking I'm going to do is a snowman--worked in tapestry wool on 12-mesh canvas. Yes! This I can do. It's not as devastatingly lovely a design as the angel--although the angel was going to look more devastated than devastating--but it's a perfectly good snowman. I may pick up some pearly blending filament to highlight the snow (which is not done in French knots, thank you very much). The tapestry wool is worked with two strands at once--not six--and since it covers on 12-mesh canvas as well as embroidery floss does on 14-mesh canvas, logic tells me that one strand of tapestry wool is at least as large as three strands of embroidery floss. And since 12-mesh canvas is only 144 stitches per square inch--while 14-mesh canvas is 196 stitches per square inch--you can see that this will work up faster, even if you disregard the floss-vs-wool issue. I'm no longer absolutely dreading the stitching. I have the canvas mounted on stretcher bars and the yarn sorted. I'll start stitching as soon as I finish this post.
Tomorrow I still need to get to the recycler's and the grocery store. (And the lottery ticket people.) The grocery store will be critical since I'm heading into a 5-day stretch of 10-hour work days. Once I drag myself to the car after work, I haven't got the energy to go shopping. I can barely crawl in the house. But I'm running low on bread, peanut butter, Diet Coke, and Lean Cuisines--all the major food groups.
I worked on the needlepoint stocking for Lydia and came to a sad decision: My eyesight is forcing a change to a different stocking. Her stocking was 14-mesh canvas, which I can do, but it's tiny stitches. But that stocking was stitched in embroidery floss, which is harder to handle than tapestry wool. And quite a few of the stitches had floss paired with a metallic thread about the consistency of a human hair. Try keeping two of those threads linked up with four strands of embroidery floss--and get it all to lie flat in the right places. It was a nightmare, even in daylight, with my glasses on, and with the day-light lamp.
I had purchased another stocking kit before I found the angel one that has proved to be so difficult. The stocking I'm going to do is a snowman--worked in tapestry wool on 12-mesh canvas. Yes! This I can do. It's not as devastatingly lovely a design as the angel--although the angel was going to look more devastated than devastating--but it's a perfectly good snowman. I may pick up some pearly blending filament to highlight the snow (which is not done in French knots, thank you very much). The tapestry wool is worked with two strands at once--not six--and since it covers on 12-mesh canvas as well as embroidery floss does on 14-mesh canvas, logic tells me that one strand of tapestry wool is at least as large as three strands of embroidery floss. And since 12-mesh canvas is only 144 stitches per square inch--while 14-mesh canvas is 196 stitches per square inch--you can see that this will work up faster, even if you disregard the floss-vs-wool issue. I'm no longer absolutely dreading the stitching. I have the canvas mounted on stretcher bars and the yarn sorted. I'll start stitching as soon as I finish this post.
Tomorrow I still need to get to the recycler's and the grocery store. (And the lottery ticket people.) The grocery store will be critical since I'm heading into a 5-day stretch of 10-hour work days. Once I drag myself to the car after work, I haven't got the energy to go shopping. I can barely crawl in the house. But I'm running low on bread, peanut butter, Diet Coke, and Lean Cuisines--all the major food groups.
Jacey's sweater: Gauge swatch
The gauge for the half-double crochet section is 20 stitches/10 rows equals 5 inches with an H hook. I'm hitting 15 stitches/12.5 rows in 5 inches with an H hook. I'll live with the width (the sweater can be loose), and I'll work extra rows as necessary to get the length.
And the extra width might help when I have to enlarge the pattern to fit Sam.
And the extra width might help when I have to enlarge the pattern to fit Sam.
Nice, relaxing day off today. I've puttered on Ravelry. I wove the ends in on the shawl I was making for myself. (Pictures later.) I started two new projects. One is a dishcloth--something I can work on at lunchtime since it doesn't require a lot of counting and pattern-following. (The shawl I finished was my old lunchtime project.) The other is a sweater for Jacey.
The picture is the frogged coats...
I started making one last year--a sweater for her and one for Sam. After lots of hours on both (his was nearly finished), I called it quits. I really liked the stitch pattern (and the colors), but I didn't like anything else--like the fit, the way the sweater hung, the coverage on Sam, etc. But I found a new pattern--one that really is a sweater rather than a crocheted, blanket-style coat that just hangs over the dog's back. The pattern comes in sizes from small to extra-large. According to the published dimensions, the extra-large will just fit Jacey (if I add 2 inches to the back length); Sam's will have to be 5 inches bigger in the chest and 8 inches longer down the back. I figure I need to make her sweater first, and measure it against Sam before I seam it. That should help me see how much--and where--I need to change the pattern for Sam.
But I've just worked a swatch in the pattern stitch, and I'm way off in every direction. I'm re-swatching to see if it was a fluke...and to see if I can force something to give. (My stitches are too loose for the width: 15 stitches in a space that should be 20. My rows are too tight for the length: what should have been 5 inches was only about 4. Yeah, I can stretch the piece longer, which will correct both problems--but only if I keep stretching the piece, and Jacey isn't going to put up with mom yanking on her sweater all day.) If I have to, I can live with it, though. The extra stitches in the width will make it easier to make the adjustment for Sam, and I don't mind if hers is loose around the chest. And I can get the length I need for the body by stitching more rows (I have plenty of yarn); I just have to make sure I have enough length in the front section, so the "armholes" fall at the right spot. The pattern shows the "neck length" (from the neck/throat edge of the pattern to the point where the armholes begin), so I just have to match that length (for her--exceed it for him), no matter how many rows it takes.
This evening, after lots of promising thunder and lightning, we got a tiny bit of rain--a nice, gentle shower that lasted about 30 minutes or so. I took two dog beds out to the carport, and the dogs and I sat out there and watched the rain, and the people coming home late from work. I'm off Thursday and Friday, and hope to have nice weather and a relaxing time both days--although, on one day I have to haul recycling and do some grocery shopping. Oh, and I need to get my Mega Millions ticket. The last drawing paid off for me: $3. That's not quite enough to finance my early retirement.
(Maybe you noticed that none of this is the needlepoint stocking I'm supposed to be working on. I need to do something about that...)
The picture is the frogged coats...
I started making one last year--a sweater for her and one for Sam. After lots of hours on both (his was nearly finished), I called it quits. I really liked the stitch pattern (and the colors), but I didn't like anything else--like the fit, the way the sweater hung, the coverage on Sam, etc. But I found a new pattern--one that really is a sweater rather than a crocheted, blanket-style coat that just hangs over the dog's back. The pattern comes in sizes from small to extra-large. According to the published dimensions, the extra-large will just fit Jacey (if I add 2 inches to the back length); Sam's will have to be 5 inches bigger in the chest and 8 inches longer down the back. I figure I need to make her sweater first, and measure it against Sam before I seam it. That should help me see how much--and where--I need to change the pattern for Sam.
But I've just worked a swatch in the pattern stitch, and I'm way off in every direction. I'm re-swatching to see if it was a fluke...and to see if I can force something to give. (My stitches are too loose for the width: 15 stitches in a space that should be 20. My rows are too tight for the length: what should have been 5 inches was only about 4. Yeah, I can stretch the piece longer, which will correct both problems--but only if I keep stretching the piece, and Jacey isn't going to put up with mom yanking on her sweater all day.) If I have to, I can live with it, though. The extra stitches in the width will make it easier to make the adjustment for Sam, and I don't mind if hers is loose around the chest. And I can get the length I need for the body by stitching more rows (I have plenty of yarn); I just have to make sure I have enough length in the front section, so the "armholes" fall at the right spot. The pattern shows the "neck length" (from the neck/throat edge of the pattern to the point where the armholes begin), so I just have to match that length (for her--exceed it for him), no matter how many rows it takes.
This evening, after lots of promising thunder and lightning, we got a tiny bit of rain--a nice, gentle shower that lasted about 30 minutes or so. I took two dog beds out to the carport, and the dogs and I sat out there and watched the rain, and the people coming home late from work. I'm off Thursday and Friday, and hope to have nice weather and a relaxing time both days--although, on one day I have to haul recycling and do some grocery shopping. Oh, and I need to get my Mega Millions ticket. The last drawing paid off for me: $3. That's not quite enough to finance my early retirement.
(Maybe you noticed that none of this is the needlepoint stocking I'm supposed to be working on. I need to do something about that...)
Friday, August 24, 2007
Rosalinda
I finished the doily.
Blocking this was a beast. The squares are each 3.25 inches, so they don't fall on the line on the blocking board. I had to keep measuring and shifting pins (at least 200 of them, all total), and I'm still not happy with the result. I think I'll re-pin the piece to the board, concentrating on keeping the outside border straight and letting the inside squares fall where they want. Then I can mist it and let it dry again.
The pattern was fine. I figured out, though, that there are 300(!) cluster stitches in this thing (60 of them in the next-to-last round). And, of course, there are the dreaded picots and treble picots.
Next to work on is the needlepoint Christmas stocking to have in reserve in case Thomas springs a fiancee on me at the last minute. I also have some other doilies in my queue on Ravelry, and a few other projects.
(Yes, my Internet connection is back. It came back on its own about 11 this morning. My living room is much cleaner than it was...)
Blocking this was a beast. The squares are each 3.25 inches, so they don't fall on the line on the blocking board. I had to keep measuring and shifting pins (at least 200 of them, all total), and I'm still not happy with the result. I think I'll re-pin the piece to the board, concentrating on keeping the outside border straight and letting the inside squares fall where they want. Then I can mist it and let it dry again.
The pattern was fine. I figured out, though, that there are 300(!) cluster stitches in this thing (60 of them in the next-to-last round). And, of course, there are the dreaded picots and treble picots.
Next to work on is the needlepoint Christmas stocking to have in reserve in case Thomas springs a fiancee on me at the last minute. I also have some other doilies in my queue on Ravelry, and a few other projects.
(Yes, my Internet connection is back. It came back on its own about 11 this morning. My living room is much cleaner than it was...)
Friday, August 17, 2007
The week in review...
I spent much of my Thursday-off editing pattern info on the Ravelry site. Today I got the last two squares finished on the Rosalinda doily and wove in the ends. Tomorrow I'll start the borders, and I'm hoping I can get the whole thing finished and start blocking it tomorrow. On the errand-front: I did the grocery shopping today, and I've washed one load of clothes. I need to get them in the dryer and start another load before bedtime. The second load can dry tomorrow. Nothing will wrinkle if it sits in the dryer overnight.
Jacey has been on the thyroid meds for a week, now, and hasn't gone nuts. Since this is the girl who licked herself nearly bald after about three days on PPA (aka Proin), this is significant news. Sam is...Sam. He's moving a bit slower--has a bit of a limp first thing in the morning--and is making me aware of his age. He's only seven, which isn't a lot in greyhound terms, but he's much whiter in the face than Oreo ever was, and occasionally he's less limber than he used to be. Of course, if there's food at stake, he can move just fine. Tonight, there was an episode where he barked at Jacey--something he never does. I realized the problem, though. She was lying across the area where he needed to walk to get to the water dish, and he was afraid he'd step on her. He never worried about stepping on Oreo; she'd just growl but never do anything about it. But Sam is afraid Jacey will do more than growl, and he may be right. Anyway, I called her to the living room; she got up and left Sam a clear walkway.
Jacey has been on the thyroid meds for a week, now, and hasn't gone nuts. Since this is the girl who licked herself nearly bald after about three days on PPA (aka Proin), this is significant news. Sam is...Sam. He's moving a bit slower--has a bit of a limp first thing in the morning--and is making me aware of his age. He's only seven, which isn't a lot in greyhound terms, but he's much whiter in the face than Oreo ever was, and occasionally he's less limber than he used to be. Of course, if there's food at stake, he can move just fine. Tonight, there was an episode where he barked at Jacey--something he never does. I realized the problem, though. She was lying across the area where he needed to walk to get to the water dish, and he was afraid he'd step on her. He never worried about stepping on Oreo; she'd just growl but never do anything about it. But Sam is afraid Jacey will do more than growl, and he may be right. Anyway, I called her to the living room; she got up and left Sam a clear walkway.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Oooh, pretty!
On Ravelry, I just stumbled across a link to the world's largest yarn stash. (I no longer feel guilty about six cardboard boxes of crochet thread.) And I love the comments from the woman's husband...
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Stuff
Atlanta's weather hit or topped 100 F for the fourth straight day. It's only done that one other time (in 1980). It's never done it five straight days...but tomorrow is forecast to be cooler, so it looks like we won't set a new record for consecutive 100F days.
I was off today, and I've mostly spent the day inside. Outside, I've tried breathing our ozone-alert (orange) and particulate-matter-alert (yellow) air, and I've concentrated on trying to keep dumb animals from standing on black asphalt when they could move six inches onto the grass (or pine straw). Sam doesn't understand why I keep moving him over, but at one point today he was standing on three feet, holding the fourth one in the air, when I gave him a push toward the grass. He looked at me as if I were just making his problem worse. I just checked his feet, and I think he stepped on something sharp; it looks like there's a small puncture. So maybe I was making his problem worse, poor boy.
My brief trips outside have triggered bad breathing and sinus problems. (Our pollen count is up with grass and ragweed, and those always give me a hard time.) Tomorrow I go back to work. My four-footed clients will be coming in with coats full of pollen, and I'm not looking forward to it. (On the other hand, I sincerely hope I get some dogs. We've been really slow, and I need money.) I work Sunday through Wednesday, 10-hour shifts. There's no rain in the forecast for the next week (well, there's 20% chance of rain in the evening, but we've had that for more than a week, and the rain never materializes here); we get a break in temps, though: low nineties before the temps start to climb again. Whoopee.
I've worked on the Rosalinda doily, but with my sinuses bothering me, I've opted to sleep more than work. I only have 10 of the 12 squares done, and I probably won't get another one done tonight.
This may be the last doily I work on for a while. I need to work on a needlepoint Christmas stocking. I've sorted the thread and mounted the canvas on stretcher bars. (I did that week before last.) This one is stitched with thread rather than yarn (last year's stocking for Ashley was tapestry yarn), and it's 14-mesh canvas. That's 196 stitches per square inch--and the stocking is about 16 inches long and maybe 10 inches at the widest point. I've swiped a picture off Jo-Ann's Web site (where I ordered the kit from).
There is beading and metallic thread and lots of fiddly little stitches, but at least it doesn't have French Knots as snowflakes! But if stitching it gets to be too much, I'll take a sanity break and work on a doily.
I was off today, and I've mostly spent the day inside. Outside, I've tried breathing our ozone-alert (orange) and particulate-matter-alert (yellow) air, and I've concentrated on trying to keep dumb animals from standing on black asphalt when they could move six inches onto the grass (or pine straw). Sam doesn't understand why I keep moving him over, but at one point today he was standing on three feet, holding the fourth one in the air, when I gave him a push toward the grass. He looked at me as if I were just making his problem worse. I just checked his feet, and I think he stepped on something sharp; it looks like there's a small puncture. So maybe I was making his problem worse, poor boy.
My brief trips outside have triggered bad breathing and sinus problems. (Our pollen count is up with grass and ragweed, and those always give me a hard time.) Tomorrow I go back to work. My four-footed clients will be coming in with coats full of pollen, and I'm not looking forward to it. (On the other hand, I sincerely hope I get some dogs. We've been really slow, and I need money.) I work Sunday through Wednesday, 10-hour shifts. There's no rain in the forecast for the next week (well, there's 20% chance of rain in the evening, but we've had that for more than a week, and the rain never materializes here); we get a break in temps, though: low nineties before the temps start to climb again. Whoopee.
I've worked on the Rosalinda doily, but with my sinuses bothering me, I've opted to sleep more than work. I only have 10 of the 12 squares done, and I probably won't get another one done tonight.
This may be the last doily I work on for a while. I need to work on a needlepoint Christmas stocking. I've sorted the thread and mounted the canvas on stretcher bars. (I did that week before last.) This one is stitched with thread rather than yarn (last year's stocking for Ashley was tapestry yarn), and it's 14-mesh canvas. That's 196 stitches per square inch--and the stocking is about 16 inches long and maybe 10 inches at the widest point. I've swiped a picture off Jo-Ann's Web site (where I ordered the kit from).
There is beading and metallic thread and lots of fiddly little stitches, but at least it doesn't have French Knots as snowflakes! But if stitching it gets to be too much, I'll take a sanity break and work on a doily.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Free vintage patterns (as downloadable PDFs) of cross-stitch, knitting, crochet, tatting...all kinds of needlework. The files are scans of old publications now in the public domain. (Think: Project Gutenberg for crafters. Some of the publications actually are available through Project Gutenberg.)
Just imagine:
Beeton, Isabella. Beeton’s Book of Needlework Consisting of Descriptions and Instructions, Illustrated by Six Hundred Engravings, of Tatting Patterns, Crochet Patterns, Knitting Patterns, Netting Patterns, Embroidery Patterns, Point Lace Patterns, Guipure D’Art, Berlin Work, Monograms, Initials and Names, Pillow Lace, and Lace Stitches. London: Ward, Lock and Tyler, 1870, 592 pgs. Project Gutenberg e-book, converted to pdf format jac apr2006. An enormous and wonderful book, essential for understanding late Victorian needlework.
Dillmont, Th. de, ed. Bibliotheque DMC Alphabet de la Brodeuse, Lettres, Chiffres, Monogrammes et Ornements points comptés suivis d’une série de modèles avec calques pour Broderie de blanc [DMC Library Embroiderer’s Alphabet, Letters, Figures, Monograms and Ornaments in counted stitches followed by a series of patterns with tracings for white work]. Mulhouse, France: Dollfus-Mieg & Cie, [c.1890], 149 pgs., in French. Scans donated by Digital Archive, reedited jac sep2006 Dazzling patterns for cross-stitch and other charted embroidery – alphabets, borders, medallions, monograms, naval and heraldic symbols, hunting motifs, winter scenes, white work monograms.
Dillmont, Th. de. L'Art Chrétien en Égypte: Motifs de Broderie copte, Première Partie [Egyptian Christian Art: Coptic Embroidery Motifs, part 1] Mulhouse, France: Dollfus Mieg & Cie, [c.1895, approx 60 pgs.]. Scans donated by Sytske Wijnsma, photo edited by Judith Combs may2007. Clear illustrations of simple embroidery stitches that quickly progress to patterns of dazzling complexity. 30 plates, many with thread count notes. French text.
Wilke, Harriet Cushman, ed. Priscilla Cross Stitch Book, A Collection of Useful Patterns with Suggestions for Their Use in Various Styles of Work. Boston: Priscilla Publishing, 1899, 48 pgs (cover missing). Scans donated by Judith Combs aug2006. A classic. Detailed descriptions of the many embroidery stitches used in charted patterns, as well as charts for alphabets, historic, formal and floral borders, church and heraldic motifs, intricate birds, butterflies, flowers. Many of these patterns work for filet crochet, beading, charted knitting, etc.
Okay, I'm going off to drool a while... You'll find the goodies over here.
Just imagine:
Beeton, Isabella. Beeton’s Book of Needlework Consisting of Descriptions and Instructions, Illustrated by Six Hundred Engravings, of Tatting Patterns, Crochet Patterns, Knitting Patterns, Netting Patterns, Embroidery Patterns, Point Lace Patterns, Guipure D’Art, Berlin Work, Monograms, Initials and Names, Pillow Lace, and Lace Stitches. London: Ward, Lock and Tyler, 1870, 592 pgs. Project Gutenberg e-book, converted to pdf format jac apr2006. An enormous and wonderful book, essential for understanding late Victorian needlework.
Dillmont, Th. de, ed. Bibliotheque DMC Alphabet de la Brodeuse, Lettres, Chiffres, Monogrammes et Ornements points comptés suivis d’une série de modèles avec calques pour Broderie de blanc [DMC Library Embroiderer’s Alphabet, Letters, Figures, Monograms and Ornaments in counted stitches followed by a series of patterns with tracings for white work]. Mulhouse, France: Dollfus-Mieg & Cie, [c.1890], 149 pgs., in French. Scans donated by Digital Archive, reedited jac sep2006 Dazzling patterns for cross-stitch and other charted embroidery – alphabets, borders, medallions, monograms, naval and heraldic symbols, hunting motifs, winter scenes, white work monograms.
Dillmont, Th. de. L'Art Chrétien en Égypte: Motifs de Broderie copte, Première Partie [Egyptian Christian Art: Coptic Embroidery Motifs, part 1] Mulhouse, France: Dollfus Mieg & Cie, [c.1895, approx 60 pgs.]. Scans donated by Sytske Wijnsma, photo edited by Judith Combs may2007. Clear illustrations of simple embroidery stitches that quickly progress to patterns of dazzling complexity. 30 plates, many with thread count notes. French text.
Wilke, Harriet Cushman, ed. Priscilla Cross Stitch Book, A Collection of Useful Patterns with Suggestions for Their Use in Various Styles of Work. Boston: Priscilla Publishing, 1899, 48 pgs (cover missing). Scans donated by Judith Combs aug2006. A classic. Detailed descriptions of the many embroidery stitches used in charted patterns, as well as charts for alphabets, historic, formal and floral borders, church and heraldic motifs, intricate birds, butterflies, flowers. Many of these patterns work for filet crochet, beading, charted knitting, etc.
Okay, I'm going off to drool a while... You'll find the goodies over here.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Ravelry vs. Rosalinda
I spent a bunch of time playing on Ravelry today: entering the new thread and yarn into inventory, entering and approving a bunch of pattern information (I got 8 pattern books in the mail today--6 vintage books from an eBay purchase), entering some other projects I've done. That means I spent not-enough time crocheting today. I got through just two more squares on the Rosalinda doily. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to double that output. Then I can work on the last four squares of the doily Saturday. (I'll still have borders to do after the 12 squares are done.)
Finally heard from the vet today. Sam's thyroid meds will stay at the current dosage unless we see more significant weight gain or hair loss.
Jacey starts pills tonight: .4 mg with meals, twice a day. We'll check her status in six weeks (20 September) and decide then if she needs further blood work or a dosage adjustment.
***
Finally heard from the vet today. Sam's thyroid meds will stay at the current dosage unless we see more significant weight gain or hair loss.
Jacey starts pills tonight: .4 mg with meals, twice a day. We'll check her status in six weeks (20 September) and decide then if she needs further blood work or a dosage adjustment.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Stop me before I shop again!
Michael's is getting rid of some of its crochet thread line. The stuff leaving (DMC Cebelia in anything but white size 10, 20, and 30, I think) is all on sale. Balls of thread that normally go for $4.49 each for $3. Royale size 20 and size 30 thread for $1.50. (I resisted the size 30.) A few colors of discontinued Cameo thread for $1.50 a ball. Two 12-ounce skeins of Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn in Faded Denim for $2 each.
And three pattern books...'cause I really don't have enough of those. *eep!*
I'm heading over to the Ravelry site to enter my stash into my inventory there. Maybe if I see the list in front of me I'll embarrass myself.
Or maybe not.
And three pattern books...'cause I really don't have enough of those. *eep!*
I'm heading over to the Ravelry site to enter my stash into my inventory there. Maybe if I see the list in front of me I'll embarrass myself.
Or maybe not.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Running Greyhound Table Runner
Last night, instead of working on the new doily, I spent my time finishing and blocking this:
The table runner will go to Southeast Greyhound Adoption (SEGA) as a fundraiser for the silent auction in October.
Today, the dogs had vet visits. Ouch! $190+ later, the dogs are pissed (they had blood drawn) and their mom's much poorer. (Heartworm preventatives have gone up substantially.) Blood test results are due tomorrow. It's just to see if Sam needs his thyroid meds adjusted; Jacey needs to start taking meds, and the vet wants to see what the lab results are to start with so he'll have something to gauge against after she's been on the pills for a while. Both dogs are having weight issues they shouldn't be having (no one has changed food or [non]exercise habits), and Jacey's suffering some severe hair loss on her thighs and butt. Thyroid meds usually work wonders. (And at least those pills aren't outrageously expensive.)
The table runner will go to Southeast Greyhound Adoption (SEGA) as a fundraiser for the silent auction in October.
Today, the dogs had vet visits. Ouch! $190+ later, the dogs are pissed (they had blood drawn) and their mom's much poorer. (Heartworm preventatives have gone up substantially.) Blood test results are due tomorrow. It's just to see if Sam needs his thyroid meds adjusted; Jacey needs to start taking meds, and the vet wants to see what the lab results are to start with so he'll have something to gauge against after she's been on the pills for a while. Both dogs are having weight issues they shouldn't be having (no one has changed food or [non]exercise habits), and Jacey's suffering some severe hair loss on her thighs and butt. Thyroid meds usually work wonders. (And at least those pills aren't outrageously expensive.)
Monday, August 6, 2007
The Singing Dog
I've always thought the theme from The Godfather sounded quite sad and mournful, but this is a new twist.
(Sometimes, Sam whines along with this dog when I play this video.)
(Sometimes, Sam whines along with this dog when I play this video.)
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Windflower doily
The doily is blocked and finished. The final measured a bit over 16 inches (specs said 17 inches); I think I might have crocheted a bit tight since I used considerably less thread than was spec'd.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Hallelujah! I can count!
My ability to handle numbers was in question after I repeatedly flubbed the running greyhound table runner I'm making for the rescue group to auction off. Tonight, though, I've passed the screw-up point. I've worked the first row of the checkerboard border pattern, and the squares came out right--nothing left over or running short. There are two more rows to work: one where I work the other part of the checkerboard effect, and one where I work all "empty" filet blocks. Then there's a border to work.
But I've passed the danger zone.
(Of course, I stacked the deck in my favor: I'm not watching Gimli and Legolas count bodies as I try to count stitches.)
But I've passed the danger zone.
(Of course, I stacked the deck in my favor: I'm not watching Gimli and Legolas count bodies as I try to count stitches.)
It's done!
Ouch! The last two rounds were killers. The last round was loaded with picots. Yuck! (She's posted a new design on crochetville.com. I'm not volunteering for the new one--it's all picots!)
There'll be a final picture once it's dry. But no large pictures will be posted.
There'll be a final picture once it's dry. But no large pictures will be posted.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Windflower doily
It's going smoothly on my test of the doily pattern...going much more smoothly than the previous one did. I'm working this in Cebelia's Horizon Blue:
I'm on round 22 (of 32), and I'll probably get another round (or two) done tonight. Work tomorrow, then off on Thursday, when I hope to finish the doily.
Okay, I jinxed it. The pattern got goofy at the end of round 22--a section was missing. At least I know enough to know there's a problem. I've e-mailed the designer, and I should get a reply before I get back to work on the doily Wednesday night.
I'm on round 22 (of 32), and I'll probably get another round (or two) done tonight. Work tomorrow, then off on Thursday, when I hope to finish the doily.
Okay, I jinxed it. The pattern got goofy at the end of round 22--a section was missing. At least I know enough to know there's a problem. I've e-mailed the designer, and I should get a reply before I get back to work on the doily Wednesday night.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Testing, testing...
I just e-mailed off an offer to test another doily for that designer...
Edited to add: She's sending me the pattern tonight or tomorrow, and I'll get started tomorrow (Monday) night. I'm thinking this Delft blue: 
But I'm open to suggestions. Take a look over here to see if there's something you like better. Pick any of the solid colors (so not the metallics and not the shaded); pick something with a name that starts with "10" (that's the thread size and almost everything is a 10). Make comments there on Flickr or over here. (Hers was done in cream--a pale, pale yellow. I want to do something different...)
Friday, July 27, 2007
A well-mannered little girl
Jacey has such good manners...even when her mom is forgetful.
The procedure around here is that I eat my Lean Cuisine, then let Jacey take a few licks at the tray, then let Sam polish it and lick until the embossed recycle logo vanishes from the bottom of the tray.
Tonight, I was engrossed in my LJ Friends page. I finished my Lean Cuisine and put the tray down, out of reach of the dogs. Jacey, lying quietly at my feet, just gave one of those little moans. You know. The kind you give when you see a chocolate dessert carried past you in a restaurant when you're on a diet.
She got her licks at the tray, and Sam is polishing now.
The procedure around here is that I eat my Lean Cuisine, then let Jacey take a few licks at the tray, then let Sam polish it and lick until the embossed recycle logo vanishes from the bottom of the tray.
Tonight, I was engrossed in my LJ Friends page. I finished my Lean Cuisine and put the tray down, out of reach of the dogs. Jacey, lying quietly at my feet, just gave one of those little moans. You know. The kind you give when you see a chocolate dessert carried past you in a restaurant when you're on a diet.
She got her licks at the tray, and Sam is polishing now.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
My Shawl
I've frogged the shrug I hated so much, and I've started a shawl for me. This is a no-brainer: 30 sc across each row, repeat until you reach the desired length. It's a perfect project to take to the store to work on at my lunch break.
The shrug was awful (Can you say, "fuzzy strait-jacket"?), but the yarn was very nice: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial:
The shrug was awful (Can you say, "fuzzy strait-jacket"?), but the yarn was very nice: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial:
Baby Afghan...
The baby afghan I made for a friend's grandbaby-to-be has arrived safely at her house (thank you, USPS).
The fancy doily I made back in May was from a pineapple-pattern called "Exquisite," and I made the doily in cream-colored thread. I had already picked a cream-colored yarn for the baby afghan, and I stumbled on a pineapple-pattern for an afghan named "Exquisite"--it seemed meant-to-be:
The fancy doily I made back in May was from a pineapple-pattern called "Exquisite," and I made the doily in cream-colored thread. I had already picked a cream-colored yarn for the baby afghan, and I stumbled on a pineapple-pattern for an afghan named "Exquisite"--it seemed meant-to-be:
Update explanation
I have a blog on LiveJournal that has included craft-related posts. But that blog is locked as Friends-only, and those posts and comments are not visible to casual viewers such as the ones who visit me on www.ravelry.com. So I'm copying my old craft posts from LJ to my journal here on Bloglines, editing out personal/friends-only information, and backdating the entries here to match the entries on LiveJournal. From today on, I'll be posting craft-related posts simultaneously to my two blogs.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
This project is cursed...
In the past few days, I've finished up a baby afghan and a shawl (pictures later). I've gone back to working on the accursed greyhound table runner. I have 12 rows to go (plus the edging), and I haven't omitted any of the border checkerboard blocks. And, near as I can tell, I haven't misplaced any of the blocks, either. Fingers crossed, but it looks like third time might be the charm.
(Actually, it took three tries before I worked out a shawl I liked: this one isn't triangular, but is just a nice, long rectangle. But it seems to be taking multiple tries before I can get things to work out, lately.)
Oh, honestly! Talk about an accursed project: I took a break in typing this to take Sam and Jacey outside. When we came back in, Sam darted ahead to sniff around where I'd been working to see if I'd left anything for him to eat. (I hadn't.) When I came back into the living room, he jumped down from where he'd been on the sofa (he knows better than to sniff around at that end of the sofa) and ran back across the room so he could look all innocent...and he hooked the damned crochet thread with his collar and unraveled nearly half of the most recent, carefully counted row.
Originally posted: 24th-Jul-2007 12:12 am
(Actually, it took three tries before I worked out a shawl I liked: this one isn't triangular, but is just a nice, long rectangle. But it seems to be taking multiple tries before I can get things to work out, lately.)
Oh, honestly! Talk about an accursed project: I took a break in typing this to take Sam and Jacey outside. When we came back in, Sam darted ahead to sniff around where I'd been working to see if I'd left anything for him to eat. (I hadn't.) When I came back into the living room, he jumped down from where he'd been on the sofa (he knows better than to sniff around at that end of the sofa) and ran back across the room so he could look all innocent...and he hooked the damned crochet thread with his collar and unraveled nearly half of the most recent, carefully counted row.
Originally posted: 24th-Jul-2007 12:12 am
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Dog hazard...
I'm on the sofa, crocheting away while I watch Pride and Prejudice (Garson & Olivier) and now The Importance of Being Earnest. Sam, after sleeping on the floor for a while, decided to get up on the sofa to sleep. I went to unwind some more yarn and discovered that Sam was sleeping on it--and he refused to move. So I had to slide my hand around under him, then peel his 65 pounds off the sofa so I could retrieve my yarn.
In other news: I got my invitation to www.ravelry.com, where I'm KathyInGeorgia. (They don't allow hyphens or underscores in screen names, and KFInGeorgia or KFinGeorgia looks a bit strange to me.) I'll be having fun over there...
Originally posted: 21st-Jul-2007 10:18 pm
The dwarf and the elf are killing me!
I'm sitting here, carefully counting my stitches as I crochet while The Return of the King plays in the DVD player. But as I'm counting, Gimli and Legolas are in the background, counting their enemies as they dispatch them.
There's one too many sets of numbers in the air...
Originally posted: 21st-Jul-2007 12:49 pm
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Gorgeous doilies, a shawl
I'm envious as all-get-out. Go here and click on any one of those five sets. Just look at those gorgeous things! Yeah, they're pretty when you click on the individual photos, but the array in thumbnail view is stunning! I wish I had (a) her courage where color use is concerned, and (b) enough time to produce work like that. And talent, too. Some of these feature very difficult techniques.
I haven't yet ripped out the filet-crochet-gone-wrong. I'll probably give it another try, when I will rip out rows 5 and 6 and redo and hope for better results. Meanwhile, I'm working on a shawl, making up the pattern as I go. (It's more-or-less a triangle. As long as it has more-or-less three points, how wrong can I go?)
Originally posted: 19th-Jul-2007 09:06 pm
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Crochet rant redux
And if it goes wrong again, I'm just going to make a donation to SEGA and call it done. Some things aren't worth the trouble...
Working my way back across the table runner, got to the end of row 6...and spotted an error at the beginning of row 5: I skipped the filled block in the checkerboard-type border. This is exactly the same error I made before, and it's fake-able, but it's infuriating; fixing it properly means ripping out rows 6 and 5--with no guarantee that I won't make exactly the same error again. What's really infuriating is that I've been carefully checking my rows to make sure all the blocks were present--and they have been--but haven't spotted when a block is present but not properly filled.
Where's my damned checkbook...?
Originally posted: 18th-Jul-2007 12:20 pm
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A crochet rant*
My life is relatively stress-free right now (I refuse to think about work on my day off), and my biggest problem today is crochet-related. So welcome to my complaint about something that holds no major ranking in the problems of the universe. Sometimes it's nice to have trivial problems.
I'm working on a table runner that I plan to donate to SEGA for sale at their fall festival. (I'm not doing another life-sized greyhound--I'm not that crazy.) I'm making the table runner using a thread that is cotton with a metallic accent. This stuff is tricky to work with: just the pressure of your fingers as you hold the thread to work can force the thread to untwist a bit; the longer you work, the more you untwist, and the more you force one section to untwist the more another section of the thread twists back to compensate. Thus, you wind up with a handful of twisty thread, and every stitch makes it worse...unless, of course, you can force yourself to hold the thread loosely--which is not as easy as it sounds.
The table runner is in what's known as filet crochet (both those -et endings are pronounced -ay: filay crochay). In filet crochet, you have a grid, and the design is caused by filling in some of the squares on the grid. When you work a long series of filled-in squares, it's easy to get off track a bit, since every square on your grid actually is three stitches, and if you get off by just one stitch, you can screw up how many open squares ought to grow back out of the solid patch. This isn't necessarily a problem, unless your design has a border that consists of alternating open and filled squares like a checkerboard--yeah, a border like this pattern has.
So I fought the twisting threads. I compensated quite neatly for a mistake I made (and noticed two rows later): I left a square open when it should have been filled, but I was able to fill it in with a bit of thread I attached especially for the purpose (and the "fix" was perfect and unnoticeable). But I came out of the solid greyhound part with one fewer squares than I was supposed to have, and I had no neat way to grow a new square. And when I unraveled back to where I had made the open-square error--figuring if I had to rip stuff out, I might as well fix that error, too--I still didn't have the right number of stitches. And I wasn't really happy with the beginning chain of the piece (sometimes the chain is really loose; often your border will cover the foundation chain, but not in this piece). And while the overall piece was the right width, it was too short--stitches weren't standing tall enough. (That probably would have been corrected by blocking, but still, that was just one more thing wrong with the piece...)
So I ripped out back to the beginning: 25 of 29 rows were done, and it was close to 18 hours of work (some work Sunday, and I've worked at least 12 hours today). I'm going to give this one more try--keeping a really loose grip on the thread, and using tons of stitch markers (every tenth grid square, for crying out loud) and moving the stitch markers on every row so I can make sure from row to row that I have the proper number of stitches.
And if it goes wrong again, I'm just going to make a cash donation to SEGA and call it done. Some things aren't worth the trouble...
*I know I called this a rant, but I can't work up the energy--or anger--for a proper rant. Let's just call this a complaint.
Originally posted: 17th-Jul-2007 10:05 pm
I'm working on a table runner that I plan to donate to SEGA for sale at their fall festival. (I'm not doing another life-sized greyhound--I'm not that crazy.) I'm making the table runner using a thread that is cotton with a metallic accent. This stuff is tricky to work with: just the pressure of your fingers as you hold the thread to work can force the thread to untwist a bit; the longer you work, the more you untwist, and the more you force one section to untwist the more another section of the thread twists back to compensate. Thus, you wind up with a handful of twisty thread, and every stitch makes it worse...unless, of course, you can force yourself to hold the thread loosely--which is not as easy as it sounds.
The table runner is in what's known as filet crochet (both those -et endings are pronounced -ay: filay crochay). In filet crochet, you have a grid, and the design is caused by filling in some of the squares on the grid. When you work a long series of filled-in squares, it's easy to get off track a bit, since every square on your grid actually is three stitches, and if you get off by just one stitch, you can screw up how many open squares ought to grow back out of the solid patch. This isn't necessarily a problem, unless your design has a border that consists of alternating open and filled squares like a checkerboard--yeah, a border like this pattern has.
So I fought the twisting threads. I compensated quite neatly for a mistake I made (and noticed two rows later): I left a square open when it should have been filled, but I was able to fill it in with a bit of thread I attached especially for the purpose (and the "fix" was perfect and unnoticeable). But I came out of the solid greyhound part with one fewer squares than I was supposed to have, and I had no neat way to grow a new square. And when I unraveled back to where I had made the open-square error--figuring if I had to rip stuff out, I might as well fix that error, too--I still didn't have the right number of stitches. And I wasn't really happy with the beginning chain of the piece (sometimes the chain is really loose; often your border will cover the foundation chain, but not in this piece). And while the overall piece was the right width, it was too short--stitches weren't standing tall enough. (That probably would have been corrected by blocking, but still, that was just one more thing wrong with the piece...)
So I ripped out back to the beginning: 25 of 29 rows were done, and it was close to 18 hours of work (some work Sunday, and I've worked at least 12 hours today). I'm going to give this one more try--keeping a really loose grip on the thread, and using tons of stitch markers (every tenth grid square, for crying out loud) and moving the stitch markers on every row so I can make sure from row to row that I have the proper number of stitches.
And if it goes wrong again, I'm just going to make a cash donation to SEGA and call it done. Some things aren't worth the trouble...
*I know I called this a rant, but I can't work up the energy--or anger--for a proper rant. Let's just call this a complaint.
Originally posted: 17th-Jul-2007 10:05 pm
Friday, July 13, 2007
Where have we seen this before?
The recent picture, taken in Augusta, Georgia:
Charleston:
Yes, we've arrived safely. Some of us are sleeping off the ride.
Charleston:
Yes, we've arrived safely. Some of us are sleeping off the ride.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Need some good kitchen help?
Jacey is available.
When she hears your microwave timer go off, she will run to the kitchen to supervise you as you remove your dinner (not hers!) from the microwave.
If, by chance, you've gone stone deaf--or if you're just a bit busy and don't immediately leap to your feet when the timer goes off--Jacey will come back from the kitchen and stand over you--whining and fussing--until you go to the kitchen to get your dinner (not hers!). Then she will follow you back to wherever you sit to eat dinner (me, in the living room), and watch you eat every bite. And then she'll follow you back to the kitchen when you take the empty dish.
And if you should be so uncoordinated as to spill the tiniest drop of your dinner (not hers!), she'll clean it up, even if it means licking every square inch of carpet within four or five feet of the spill.
And she'll do all this while absent-mindedly burping her own dinner...
When she hears your microwave timer go off, she will run to the kitchen to supervise you as you remove your dinner (not hers!) from the microwave.
If, by chance, you've gone stone deaf--or if you're just a bit busy and don't immediately leap to your feet when the timer goes off--Jacey will come back from the kitchen and stand over you--whining and fussing--until you go to the kitchen to get your dinner (not hers!). Then she will follow you back to wherever you sit to eat dinner (me, in the living room), and watch you eat every bite. And then she'll follow you back to the kitchen when you take the empty dish.
And if you should be so uncoordinated as to spill the tiniest drop of your dinner (not hers!), she'll clean it up, even if it means licking every square inch of carpet within four or five feet of the spill.
And she'll do all this while absent-mindedly burping her own dinner...
Monday, July 9, 2007
The blocked, finished doily
I need to practice my blocking skills. It's hard to block round--and especially oval--doilies and keep them symmetrical. (I do have a blocking board marked in circles, but the circles wouldn't have been a huge help...and the board was too small for this piece, which wound up measuring about 15 by 13.) Also, I probably should reblock the leafy insides of this and stretch the clusters properly.
That will have to wait for another time. I was working on a baby afghan when this testing opportunity arose, and I want to get back to the afghan. (I'd like to get it finished this week...then take something else--something smaller--with me to Augusta for the weekend.)
Originally posted: 9th-Jul-2007 10:02 am
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Summer's Blush doily
I'm all kinds of excited here. I get to test a new pattern for a terrific doily designer over on Crochetville. Woo hoo!
Originally posted: 5th-Jul-2007 09:56 am
Monday, July 2, 2007
Finished...
The afghans are finished.
They measure about 50 by 77 inches. Precisely folded, one will just fit inside an office file-storage box. So now I just need to wrap the two boxes.
The camera wouldn't cooperate on the large picture of Daniel's afghan, but it was the same stripe pattern as Ashley's:
The colors are still (perpetually) off in the photos: the blue in Daniel's afghan is darker, and the teal in Ashley's afghan is greener.
And, just because I like doing the numbers: each afghan was something in excess of 29396 stitches.
Originally posted: 2nd-Jul-2007 03:32 pm
They measure about 50 by 77 inches. Precisely folded, one will just fit inside an office file-storage box. So now I just need to wrap the two boxes.
The camera wouldn't cooperate on the large picture of Daniel's afghan, but it was the same stripe pattern as Ashley's:
The colors are still (perpetually) off in the photos: the blue in Daniel's afghan is darker, and the teal in Ashley's afghan is greener.
And, just because I like doing the numbers: each afghan was something in excess of 29396 stitches.
Originally posted: 2nd-Jul-2007 03:32 pm
An announcement...
Yep. FINISHED.
Pictures, measurements, details, etc., should be posted later today. I'm going to bed now.
Originally posted: 2nd-Jul-2007 01:17 am
Pictures, measurements, details, etc., should be posted later today. I'm going to bed now.
Originally posted: 2nd-Jul-2007 01:17 am
Thursday, June 28, 2007
I'm flying...
12 days to go. I've done three of the seven border rounds on both afghans; eight rounds (total) to go. And I'm off work on Friday.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 28th-Jun-2007 09:59 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 28th-Jun-2007 09:59 pm
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
It's a new countdown...
14 days to go. I'm through the body for both afghans: 172 rows each. I've woven in all the loose ends; that had to be done so the border could be worked over those ends.
So I'm left with the border rounds to work. I'm planning 7 rounds per afghan (if there's enough yarn). So that's 14 rounds--in 14 days. One round probably will take 90 minutes or so to work.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 26th-Jun-2007 09:20 pm
So I'm left with the border rounds to work. I'm planning 7 rounds per afghan (if there's enough yarn). So that's 14 rounds--in 14 days. One round probably will take 90 minutes or so to work.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 26th-Jun-2007 09:20 pm
Monday, June 25, 2007
Afghan countdown...
15 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 148 of 207 rows--59 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 160 172 of 207 rows--35 rows to go (the border). Need to average 6.3 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border*: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border*: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
*One border round has been figured as the equivalent of 5 rows.
I'm off from work on Tuesday, so I'm hoping to get a bunch done. My next day off after Tuesday is Friday.
Originally posted: 25th-Jun-2007 11:51 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border*: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border*: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
*One border round has been figured as the equivalent of 5 rows.
I'm off from work on Tuesday, so I'm hoping to get a bunch done. My next day off after Tuesday is Friday.
Originally posted: 25th-Jun-2007 11:51 pm
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Flying along...
17 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 148 of 207 rows--59 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 140 160 of 207 rows--47 rows to go. Need to average 6.2 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border*: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border*: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
*One border round has been figured as equal to 5 rows.
Originally posted: 23rd-Jun-2007 10:56 pm
Friday, June 22, 2007
Afghan countdown...
18 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 138 148 of 207 rows--59 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 128 140 of 207 rows--67 rows to go. Need to average 7 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 22nd-Jun-2007 08:13 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 22nd-Jun-2007 08:13 pm
Afghan countdown...
19 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 116 138 of 207 rows--69 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 128 of 207 rows--79 rows to go. Need to average 7.8 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 22nd-Jun-2007 12:41 am
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 22nd-Jun-2007 12:41 am
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Afghan countdown...
20 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 116 of 207 rows--91 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 116 128 of 207 rows--79 rows to go. Need to average 8.5 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 20th-Jun-2007 11:42 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 20th-Jun-2007 11:42 pm
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Afghan countdown...
22 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 116 of 207 rows--91 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 109 116 of 207 rows--91 rows to go. Need to average 8.3 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
I probably won't get anything done Tuesday night; I work until 9 pm, and I have to be up Wednesday at 5 am for work. Wednesday night is the greyhound club meeting--if I have the energy for it--then I'm off work Thursday and Friday and hope to get a lot done.
Originally posted: 19th-Jun-2007 02:36 am
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
I probably won't get anything done Tuesday night; I work until 9 pm, and I have to be up Wednesday at 5 am for work. Wednesday night is the greyhound club meeting--if I have the energy for it--then I'm off work Thursday and Friday and hope to get a lot done.
Originally posted: 19th-Jun-2007 02:36 am
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Afghan countdown...
23 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 108 116 of 207 rows--91 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 109 of 207 rows--98 rows to go. Need to average 8.2 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 17th-Jun-2007 11:40 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 17th-Jun-2007 11:40 pm
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Afghan milestone reached...
24 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 98 108 of 207 rows--99 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 96 109 of 207 rows--98 rows to go. Need to average 8.2 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Fewer than 100 rows left on each afghan, and I finally have more rows worked than left to work.
Originally posted: 16th-Jun-2007 11:01 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Fewer than 100 rows left on each afghan, and I finally have more rows worked than left to work.
Originally posted: 16th-Jun-2007 11:01 pm
Friday, June 15, 2007
Afghan countdown...
26 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 92 98 of 207 rows--109 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 95 96 of 207 rows--111 rows to go. Need to average 8.4 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 15th-Jun-2007 12:41 am
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 15th-Jun-2007 12:41 am
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Afghan countdown...
27 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 84 92 of 207 rows--115 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 90 95 of 207 rows--112 rows to go. Need to average 8.4 rows a day.
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 13th-Jun-2007 11:59 pm
The pattern runs thus:
Daniel's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
Ashley's: 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A 8B 4A 8B 12A--then the border: BBBAAAA
What's underscored is completed.
Originally posted: 13th-Jun-2007 11:59 pm
Monday, June 11, 2007
Afghan countdown...
29 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 82 84 of 207 rows--123 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 76 90 of 207 rows--117 rows to go. Need to average 8.3 rows a day.
Have I mentioned? It's 143 stitches per row. 172 "real" rows (the rest are the border rounds). 24,596 stitches (plus the border). Per afghan.
But it's really only two stitches: double crochet and front-post double crochet. Three of one, three of the other, all the way across. Can you say "boring"? I rarely can stand to work a second afghan in a pattern I've just completed. In this case, I had just finished this afghan for my cousin's baby:
The afghans for Daniel and Ashley are the same stitch pattern, just worked with a larger hook, thicker yarn, bigger color blocks before I change to the alternate color, and a wider border. (The colors are way off in these photos.)
Better color:
I'm really looking forward to finishing these. I know the kids will appreciate these once the cold weather sets in. And I'll appreciate having them out of my sight...
Originally posted: 11th-Jun-2007 11:38 pm
Have I mentioned? It's 143 stitches per row. 172 "real" rows (the rest are the border rounds). 24,596 stitches (plus the border). Per afghan.
But it's really only two stitches: double crochet and front-post double crochet. Three of one, three of the other, all the way across. Can you say "boring"? I rarely can stand to work a second afghan in a pattern I've just completed. In this case, I had just finished this afghan for my cousin's baby:
The afghans for Daniel and Ashley are the same stitch pattern, just worked with a larger hook, thicker yarn, bigger color blocks before I change to the alternate color, and a wider border. (The colors are way off in these photos.)
Better color:
I'm really looking forward to finishing these. I know the kids will appreciate these once the cold weather sets in. And I'll appreciate having them out of my sight...
Originally posted: 11th-Jun-2007 11:38 pm
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Afghan countdown...
30 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 64 82 of 207 rows--125 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 71 76 of 207 rows--131 rows to go. Need to average 8.5 rows a day.
I got a little work done Friday morning while I was waiting for the FedEx delivery of proofreading work. I worked on the proofreading all day Friday, and I got an extension to work on the rest of the stuff Saturday night after I got home from the grooming salon. It's finally done (after all night Saturday), and I'm spending my Sunday afternoon/evening off working on the afghans again. One thing I'm sure of: Daniel and Ashley will find these things are warm.
Originally posted: 10th-Jun-2007 09:11 pm
I got a little work done Friday morning while I was waiting for the FedEx delivery of proofreading work. I worked on the proofreading all day Friday, and I got an extension to work on the rest of the stuff Saturday night after I got home from the grooming salon. It's finally done (after all night Saturday), and I'm spending my Sunday afternoon/evening off working on the afghans again. One thing I'm sure of: Daniel and Ashley will find these things are warm.
Originally posted: 10th-Jun-2007 09:11 pm
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Afghan countdown...
33 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 64 of 207 rows--143 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 63 71 of 207 rows--136 rows to go. Need to average 8.4 rows a day.
Originally posted: 7th-Jun-2007 11:42 pm
Originally posted: 7th-Jun-2007 11:42 pm
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Afghan countdown...
34 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 56 64 of 207 rows--143 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 56 63 of 207 rows--144 rows to go. Need to average 8.4 rows a day.
Originally posted: 6th-Jun-2007 11:24 pm
Originally posted: 6th-Jun-2007 11:24 pm
Greyhounds in movies
Probably all dog lovers watch for their favorite breeds in movies and television. Greyhounds show up briefly in the good Pride and Prejudice (in the long version on DVD--Darcy has a pair on his estate).
In the original film version of The Lion in Winter, there is a greyhound in the scene when Henry comes out of Philip's room after just learning that his sons have betrayed him. Henry stands on the stairs, screaming, "God damn you! God, damn you!" while a red-fawn greyhound (like my Sam) stands behind him on the stairs, with his head cocked to one side, listening.
I'm watching the new(er) film version of The Lion in Winter--this one with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. Henry comes out of Philip's room after the betrayal scene, and this time he doesn't scream. He just sits down on the stairs and murmurs that he's lost all his sons. He hugs and pats and mourns...in the ear of a red-fawn greyhound.
In the original film version of The Lion in Winter, there is a greyhound in the scene when Henry comes out of Philip's room after just learning that his sons have betrayed him. Henry stands on the stairs, screaming, "God damn you! God, damn you!" while a red-fawn greyhound (like my Sam) stands behind him on the stairs, with his head cocked to one side, listening.
I'm watching the new(er) film version of The Lion in Winter--this one with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. Henry comes out of Philip's room after the betrayal scene, and this time he doesn't scream. He just sits down on the stairs and murmurs that he's lost all his sons. He hugs and pats and mourns...in the ear of a red-fawn greyhound.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Afghan countdown...
36 days to go. Daniel's afghan: 44 56 of 207 rows--151 rows to go. Ashley's afghan: 55 56 of 207 rows--151 rows to go. Need to average 8.4 rows a day. (I work until 9 on Tuesday night, so I probably won't get much done tomorrow.)
Originally posted: 4th-Jun-2007 09:41 pm
Originally posted: 4th-Jun-2007 09:41 pm
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Boring craft countdown...
I'm working on the afghans for Daniel and Ashley. I really want to be working on a new doily, but I won't let myself do that until I get these afghans finished, which I'm foolishly hoping will happen by the wedding. I'm going to keep a running countdown.
The wedding is 14 July. I need to have the afghans finished by 12 July so I can wrap them before I leave town on the 13th. That means I have 38 days.
Each afghan is 172 rows plus, probably, 7 rounds of border; each border round will take about as long as five rows. That means the equivalent of 207 rows per afghan...at 15 minutes per row. And there are two afghans. Right now, each afghan has 44 rows done...163 rows (each) to go. I'll need to average 8.6 rows a day until the wedding.
TCM is showing the Wizard of Oz right now; Spirited Away comes on at 9:45 Eastern. Movies to crochet by...
The wedding is 14 July. I need to have the afghans finished by 12 July so I can wrap them before I leave town on the 13th. That means I have 38 days.
Each afghan is 172 rows plus, probably, 7 rounds of border; each border round will take about as long as five rows. That means the equivalent of 207 rows per afghan...at 15 minutes per row. And there are two afghans. Right now, each afghan has 44 rows done...163 rows (each) to go. I'll need to average 8.6 rows a day until the wedding.
TCM is showing the Wizard of Oz right now; Spirited Away comes on at 9:45 Eastern. Movies to crochet by...
Friday, June 1, 2007
A happy camper...
I ordered this blocking board in the evening of 24 May. The warning on the Joann's site was that I should allow 2-3 weeks for shipping. Since I needed the doily blocked by 16 June for a bridal shower, I just crossed my fingers, since a 3-week delivery would get the board here by the Thursday before the Saturday shower.
The board came today. 8 days! Yippee! The doily is pinned and drying now. Pictures will be posted as soon as it's completely dry, but that won't be before Saturday evening--or maybe even Sunday. (Note to self: Buy white towels. If I had some thick white towels, I could have gotten out more water before I pinned the piece, but I'm not about to squeeze cream-colored threads in my spruce-green towels.)
The board came today. 8 days! Yippee! The doily is pinned and drying now. Pictures will be posted as soon as it's completely dry, but that won't be before Saturday evening--or maybe even Sunday. (Note to self: Buy white towels. If I had some thick white towels, I could have gotten out more water before I pinned the piece, but I'm not about to squeeze cream-colored threads in my spruce-green towels.)
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Blocking doilies
The doily is finished--everything except the blocking. The blocking (and photographs) will wait until the arrival of this. When you make something that needs to block to a specific shape--round or square--a grid is essential. I was trying to figure out how I could draw a grid that would be safely waterproof when a post to the Flickr knitting group sent me racing to the Joann's site to order a blocking board. I ordered the 18" x 24" size, which should cover any doily I ever want to make. (For larger items, I can block in sections.)
Sam normally sleeps on the sofa next to me when I'm watching television (and playing on the computer or working on crocheting). Sam has blissfully slept through all sorts of programs. But last night I watched King Kong (on TCM) and the first part of Mighty Joe Young. Between the women screaming and the animals roaring, Sam decided he'd had enough, and he moved to the quieter dining room. As soon as I turned off the movie (went back to a Harry Potter movie), Sam came back to the sofa to sleep.
Sam: the film critic.
Sam normally sleeps on the sofa next to me when I'm watching television (and playing on the computer or working on crocheting). Sam has blissfully slept through all sorts of programs. But last night I watched King Kong (on TCM) and the first part of Mighty Joe Young. Between the women screaming and the animals roaring, Sam decided he'd had enough, and he moved to the quieter dining room. As soon as I turned off the movie (went back to a Harry Potter movie), Sam came back to the sofa to sleep.
Sam: the film critic.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Who broke the Internet?
IMDB is down. For me, anyway.
And GNIS is down. (That's the US government's site for official names of places.) http://geonames.usgs.gov/ It was totally down--as in "Are you sure you typed that right?" down--last night. Today, you can get to the search window, but you get an error when you search.
Saturday is the 100th anniversary of John Wayne's birth. TCM is showing bunches of his movies every day. Today's been the non-John Ford Westerns (Hondo, The Alamo, etc.). Tonight is Wayne-in-the-air: Island in the Sky, the High and the Mighty, The Flying Tigers, and Reunion in France. Tomorrow night is Wayne-in-World War II.
I've been working on the fancy doily today. When I need to give my hands a rest, I do a little genealogy fiddling--even without GNIS (which I need to try to locate an tiny cemetery).
I found a picture on Flickr of someone else's efforts on the same doily. I'm working it in a cream color--almost yellow. I've done through round 18. The pattern is 29 rounds. Round 18 was 256 stitches; it eventually gets up to 400 stitches. The blocked piece--if I have the size right--will be 15.25 inches.
I ordered an out-of-print book of killer doily patterns from a seller on ebay. No bidding: I just bought the thing.
Edited to add: IMDB is back. The government's a bit slower to fix breakages.
And GNIS is down. (That's the US government's site for official names of places.) http://geonames.usgs.gov/ It was totally down--as in "Are you sure you typed that right?" down--last night. Today, you can get to the search window, but you get an error when you search.
Saturday is the 100th anniversary of John Wayne's birth. TCM is showing bunches of his movies every day. Today's been the non-John Ford Westerns (Hondo, The Alamo, etc.). Tonight is Wayne-in-the-air: Island in the Sky, the High and the Mighty, The Flying Tigers, and Reunion in France. Tomorrow night is Wayne-in-World War II.
I've been working on the fancy doily today. When I need to give my hands a rest, I do a little genealogy fiddling--even without GNIS (which I need to try to locate an tiny cemetery).
I found a picture on Flickr of someone else's efforts on the same doily. I'm working it in a cream color--almost yellow. I've done through round 18. The pattern is 29 rounds. Round 18 was 256 stitches; it eventually gets up to 400 stitches. The blocked piece--if I have the size right--will be 15.25 inches.
I ordered an out-of-print book of killer doily patterns from a seller on ebay. No bidding: I just bought the thing.
Edited to add: IMDB is back. The government's a bit slower to fix breakages.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Eeeewww! Gross!
I microwaved a bag of popcorn, and I've been tossing some pieces to the dogs.
Sam's standing here, drooling on my knee...
An old picture, but the current look.
Sam's standing here, drooling on my knee...
An old picture, but the current look.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Home from Charleston
The dogs traveled well today, and I didn't even give them Dramamine this morning. After about an hour of riding, they both decided they were in for a long ride and just went to sleep. Now, of course, they're sacked out and sleeping like they've been working hard all day. (They're both dreaming--with sound effects.)
They got to the beach on Sunday morning, the first time (as far as I know) that either had seen a large body of water. Jacey was spooked by the waves at first, but got more relaxed as long as she could watch them--keep them from sneaking up on her. Sam tried to drink the water, shook his head, then tried a bit later, as if he though he'd find a freshwater wave sooner or later. We didn't stay long, but the weather was beautiful.
They got to the beach on Sunday morning, the first time (as far as I know) that either had seen a large body of water. Jacey was spooked by the waves at first, but got more relaxed as long as she could watch them--keep them from sneaking up on her. Sam tried to drink the water, shook his head, then tried a bit later, as if he though he'd find a freshwater wave sooner or later. We didn't stay long, but the weather was beautiful.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The leader of the pack
On the message boards for the local greyhound group, there's been a discussion about dominance in dogs--dogs asserting their dominance, owners maintaining control from the dominant position, etc.
So Jacey picks today to challenge the existing pack structure of me > her > Sam.
I got up to go to the kitchen for some ice--and Jacey is operating under the mistaken idea that it's dinner time. She raced ahead to the kitchen
door, jumped up and down, came back to me, jumped up and down, then got behind me and PUSHED (her head against my butt). I was moving slowly as I tried to work a kink out of my ankle.
I didn't move faster. And I didn't feed either dog when I got to the kitchen, so I'm still the top dog around here.
For now.
So Jacey picks today to challenge the existing pack structure of me > her > Sam.
I got up to go to the kitchen for some ice--and Jacey is operating under the mistaken idea that it's dinner time. She raced ahead to the kitchen
door, jumped up and down, came back to me, jumped up and down, then got behind me and PUSHED (her head against my butt). I was moving slowly as I tried to work a kink out of my ankle.
I didn't move faster. And I didn't feed either dog when I got to the kitchen, so I'm still the top dog around here.
For now.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Happy Gotcha Day, Jacey-Kasey
A year ago, your separation anxiety sent you on binges of destruction when I left you at home. Today, you dance gleefully into your crate at the command “Jacey in the box!” You know a cookie is coming.
A year ago, you were terrified of the spiral stairs. Today, you fly from your nest of pillows on my bed upstairs, down the hall, down the stairs, to the kitchen doorway in less than 10 seconds when you hear (or dream) a noise from the kitchen.
A year ago, you hid behind Sam and me when a stranger approached. Today, you push Sam out of the way to be first in line for some lovin’ from strangers.
A year ago, when Sam snapped at you, you ducked. Today, Sam’s intimidated if you growl at him in your sleep. (Congratulations on that, by the way. Oreo was never able to keep him in line that well.)
A year ago, if I raised my voice, you flinched as if you thought you were going to be hit. Today, … Well, I think the ship’s sailed on that one, kid. (But it’s kinda embarrassing when you do that in public.)
A year ago, I signed the adoption contract on Pinerun Torri. Today, you’re Jacey-Kasey, and you act as if you’ve never known another home, another life.
It’s 8 April. Happy Gotcha Day, Jacey-Kasey!
A year ago, you were terrified of the spiral stairs. Today, you fly from your nest of pillows on my bed upstairs, down the hall, down the stairs, to the kitchen doorway in less than 10 seconds when you hear (or dream) a noise from the kitchen.
A year ago, you hid behind Sam and me when a stranger approached. Today, you push Sam out of the way to be first in line for some lovin’ from strangers.
A year ago, when Sam snapped at you, you ducked. Today, Sam’s intimidated if you growl at him in your sleep. (Congratulations on that, by the way. Oreo was never able to keep him in line that well.)
A year ago, if I raised my voice, you flinched as if you thought you were going to be hit. Today, … Well, I think the ship’s sailed on that one, kid. (But it’s kinda embarrassing when you do that in public.)
A year ago, I signed the adoption contract on Pinerun Torri. Today, you’re Jacey-Kasey, and you act as if you’ve never known another home, another life.
It’s 8 April. Happy Gotcha Day, Jacey-Kasey!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Wedding presents
(The colors in these photos are off a great deal. The blue in his afghan is a much richer royal blue. The teal in her afghan is a much greener color than the photo shows.)
I'm unraveling what I'd done so far on the afghans for Daniel and Ashley. The afghans were working up smaller than I liked. Yes, there'll be a border on the afghans, but it would take one enormous border for the afghans to turn out a decent size. I've restarted Ashley's afghan with a hook two sizes larger. The rows are nearly a foot longer than before, with the same number of stitches.
I started the afghans in January, but I haven't worked on them much: 40 rows on Ashley's, 32 rows on Daniel's--about 20 hours' work being unworked now. The wedding is 14 July, but no one needs afghans in July. I'll be happy to get these done by fall.
Tuesday, my last day off, I finished a shrug I was working on. (Temps were in the 70s that day; I was sweating when I tried on the shrug.) I don't like the way it came out. It's designed to wrap around the body completely, and it feels like a fuzzy straitjacket. I can undo the whole thing and try another pattern, or I can just undo the seam on one sleeve, unravel the thing to be about 20 inches shorter, then redo the seam on the sleeve. That would give me a shrug that isn't designed to wrap around. There's no hurry, though. This can wait until after I finish the afghans.
And on Tuesday I crocheted a bookmark. It needs to be starched and blocked, and I have to get some ribbon for it, but I like the way it came out.
I finished the crocheted bag I was making. (Pictures later.) I wound up using the Cocoa-colored yarn at the top; the Majestic Mountain print yarn I used for the body of the bag didn't have much blue in it (lots more purple), so the Cadet Blue I planned to use at the top wasn't such a good match in real life. I haven't felted the bag, yet. There's a lot of yarn left over, so I'm makng a second bag. I'm making it in Tunisian knit stitch, and I'll felt both bags at the same time. I want to compare the results between the two stitches, so I'll know my preference for any future work. I suspect the Tunisian stitches will give a thicker, firmer bag. (But you can't work Tunisian in the round, so there will have to be a seam.)
Edited to add: Better color samples here...
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Too much excitement around here, today
Slow work day, and I got home early. I got to spend some time outside with the dogs.
We walked around the neighborhood some, something we don't do often because you never can tell when someone's loose dog or cat will stray under Sam's nose. We stopped to chat with one neighbor out with her Boston, Holly.
Holly's mom met Sam and Oreo long before she adopted Holly, and she knows Sam's not small-dog safe. She's always kept Holly away from my guys, and we wave from opposite sides of the street or opposite banks of the creek. But today was so lovely, and she picked Holly up to keep her out of mischief and we stood and chatted for a bit. Then we backed a bit apart and she put Holly down. But she didn't have the retractable leash locked, and Holly made a beeline for Sam and Jacey.
Jacey was excited. I don't think she would have been any trouble; Holly was running toward her, not away from her, so nothing was going to trigger Jacey's chase instincts. And Sam was fine, too. Not by his own designs, of course, but I had him in a nice headlock and he wasn't fighting me; he was interested, but resigned to not being allowed to get too close. But Holly's mom was frightened, and trying to pull back on the retractable. She leaned back some, lost her footing, and fell backwards in the street. She put out her arm to break her fall...and broke her left wrist.
At first, I just knew she was down on the ground. I was staying back with my dogs (Holly ran back to mom when mom fell). But when I asked if she was all right, Holly's mom said, "I've broken my arm."
I ran home with my dogs to put them away, out of trouble. A neighbor half a block away, saw me running, saw Holly's mom in the road, and came running, dialing 911 as he ran.
I put Sam's muzzle on him, and left him and Jacey in the living room. (They pretty much had the run of the house, but Jacey behaved herself and didn't get into anything she shouldn't have.) I went back down the block.
Chris, the neighbor with the cell phone, was talking to 911. Holly's mom (in true dog owner fashion, we don't know each other's names, just each other's dogs' names), was sitting in the road, feeling sick to her stomach, and in a cold sweat. She sent me to her condo to get her purse (with her cell phone and her medical insurance card), and her keys. I locked up the place for her. When I got back to her, I took Holly from Chris, and Chris helped Holly's mom get a call through to her husband.
The paramedics came. Holly's mom is 60, she's in good health (except, obviously, the arm), and there didn't appear to be other injuries. (She complained of landing hard on her backside, but her legs were working okay.) The medics hauled her off to the hospital, where her husband was to meet her. Chris took Holly home with him. I was prepared to have Holly here, although I had a SEGA meeting tonight and would have had to leave her here while I went out. (I already was thinking it out: I'd have muzzled my two, blocked off the stairs to keep them downstairs, and left Holly safe in Jacey's crate upstairs.) Anyway, Holly at Chris's house is a good solution. (He lives four condos down from Holly's mom.)
I'm home from the SEGA meeting, where I dropped off 18 plastic Easter Eggs for an upcoming greyhound event. (Long story, but I needed to get the eggs out of the house before Sam got hold of them. Again.) I'm off from work tomorrow, but I'll walk down to drop off a get well card for Holly's mother. I'll sign it with my name,
"Sam and Jacey's mom"
We walked around the neighborhood some, something we don't do often because you never can tell when someone's loose dog or cat will stray under Sam's nose. We stopped to chat with one neighbor out with her Boston, Holly.
Holly's mom met Sam and Oreo long before she adopted Holly, and she knows Sam's not small-dog safe. She's always kept Holly away from my guys, and we wave from opposite sides of the street or opposite banks of the creek. But today was so lovely, and she picked Holly up to keep her out of mischief and we stood and chatted for a bit. Then we backed a bit apart and she put Holly down. But she didn't have the retractable leash locked, and Holly made a beeline for Sam and Jacey.
Jacey was excited. I don't think she would have been any trouble; Holly was running toward her, not away from her, so nothing was going to trigger Jacey's chase instincts. And Sam was fine, too. Not by his own designs, of course, but I had him in a nice headlock and he wasn't fighting me; he was interested, but resigned to not being allowed to get too close. But Holly's mom was frightened, and trying to pull back on the retractable. She leaned back some, lost her footing, and fell backwards in the street. She put out her arm to break her fall...and broke her left wrist.
At first, I just knew she was down on the ground. I was staying back with my dogs (Holly ran back to mom when mom fell). But when I asked if she was all right, Holly's mom said, "I've broken my arm."
I ran home with my dogs to put them away, out of trouble. A neighbor half a block away, saw me running, saw Holly's mom in the road, and came running, dialing 911 as he ran.
I put Sam's muzzle on him, and left him and Jacey in the living room. (They pretty much had the run of the house, but Jacey behaved herself and didn't get into anything she shouldn't have.) I went back down the block.
Chris, the neighbor with the cell phone, was talking to 911. Holly's mom (in true dog owner fashion, we don't know each other's names, just each other's dogs' names), was sitting in the road, feeling sick to her stomach, and in a cold sweat. She sent me to her condo to get her purse (with her cell phone and her medical insurance card), and her keys. I locked up the place for her. When I got back to her, I took Holly from Chris, and Chris helped Holly's mom get a call through to her husband.
The paramedics came. Holly's mom is 60, she's in good health (except, obviously, the arm), and there didn't appear to be other injuries. (She complained of landing hard on her backside, but her legs were working okay.) The medics hauled her off to the hospital, where her husband was to meet her. Chris took Holly home with him. I was prepared to have Holly here, although I had a SEGA meeting tonight and would have had to leave her here while I went out. (I already was thinking it out: I'd have muzzled my two, blocked off the stairs to keep them downstairs, and left Holly safe in Jacey's crate upstairs.) Anyway, Holly at Chris's house is a good solution. (He lives four condos down from Holly's mom.)
I'm home from the SEGA meeting, where I dropped off 18 plastic Easter Eggs for an upcoming greyhound event. (Long story, but I needed to get the eggs out of the house before Sam got hold of them. Again.) I'm off from work tomorrow, but I'll walk down to drop off a get well card for Holly's mother. I'll sign it with my name,
"Sam and Jacey's mom"
Monday, March 19, 2007
Stuff
I wish I could get to my camera to take a picture, but if I move the dogs will wake up.
Jacey is asleep in one of the nest beds on the sofa. Sam is next to her. He was sleeping on a pillow, but apparently he decided he needed more room.
He has pushed the pillow on top of Jacey and he's got his head resting on it. The only part of Jacey that's still visible is her butt.
Sam's in the proverbial dog house. No, not for his sleeping habits. But he's done one wrong thing after another after another for the last few days. The final straw today was when I told him "No!" over something, he backed off, I turned my back for half a second, turned around and caught him going right back in the "No!" direction. So now he's being "tethered." He's on a four-foot leash, and he goes everywhere I go. He can't wander off and get in trouble. He's not liking it, but it's one way of getting his attention. And it certainly limits the mayhem he can initiate...at least, on my day off today.
Edited to add: Sam moved off the pillow, and Jacey has now pushed it back onto Sam...and she's got her head on it. So now it's just Sam's butt that's sticking out.
Jacey is asleep in one of the nest beds on the sofa. Sam is next to her. He was sleeping on a pillow, but apparently he decided he needed more room.
He has pushed the pillow on top of Jacey and he's got his head resting on it. The only part of Jacey that's still visible is her butt.
Sam's in the proverbial dog house. No, not for his sleeping habits. But he's done one wrong thing after another after another for the last few days. The final straw today was when I told him "No!" over something, he backed off, I turned my back for half a second, turned around and caught him going right back in the "No!" direction. So now he's being "tethered." He's on a four-foot leash, and he goes everywhere I go. He can't wander off and get in trouble. He's not liking it, but it's one way of getting his attention. And it certainly limits the mayhem he can initiate...at least, on my day off today.
Edited to add: Sam moved off the pillow, and Jacey has now pushed it back onto Sam...and she's got her head on it. So now it's just Sam's butt that's sticking out.
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