Miscellanea

Friday, July 11, 2008

Finish-itis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and

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

Sam, on the other hand:

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

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

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

And we have a nice view out to the rain:

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

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

Saturday, July 5, 2008

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a...

...fuzzy manta ray?

The knitting portion of the Baby Surprise Jacket for Trina's due-in-November baby has been finished. See the colored stitch markers in the jacket?

Just match up the colored markers to get this:

There are only two seams to sew: from green markers to pink ones, from blue markers to orange ones. After that, add a round of single crochet around the neck and a set of tiny buttons down the front. Then block it and ... Voilà! The Baby Surprise Jacket, designed by knitting (or engineering?) genius Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Friday, July 4, 2008

A meme

Were you named after anyone? My mother and I share the same middle name (Joyce). And my first name is from my grandfather's favorite song, "I'll take you home again, Kathleen."
When was the last time you cried? Thursday. (By the way, Travis is doing much better right now. Miracle, maybe?)
Do you like your handwriting? When I can read it. Sometimes, though...
What is your favourite lunch meat? Pastrami.
Do you have kids? Two well-behaved furry ones.
If you were another person, would you be friends with you? I think so.
Do you use sarcasm a lot? In writing, some. Not much in person.
Do you still have your tonsils? Yep.
Would you bungee jump? No.
What is your favourite cereal? I'm more of a bacon-and-eggs person. With hash browns. And biscuits.
Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Yes.
Do you think you are strong? So-so. Strong about some things.
What is your favourite ice cream? B&J's Vermonty Python. Or Mayfield's Birthday Cake.
What is the first thing you notice about people? Facial expression. Smiles help.
Red or pink? Red.
What is your least favourite thing about yourself?
Who do you miss the most? My grandparents. (Why wasn't I interested in their stories when they were around?)
Do you want everyone to send this back to you? I'll read the blogs.
What colour pants and shoes are you wearing? Red shorts, black Crocs.
What was the last thing you ate? Peanut butter sandwich.
What are you listening to right now? 1776 on TCM.
If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Olive green or asparagus. (They make an asparagus crayon? I want one!)
Favourite smells? Vanilla. Fresh-washed dogs.
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? I don't remember. Probably a customer at work.
Do you like the person who sent this to you? I'm sure I do...although I don't remember who I stole this from.
Favourite sport to watch? Ice skating, I guess. I don't watch sports.
Hair colour? Brown-with-gray.
Eye colour? Green.
Do you wear contacts? No.
Favourite food? Pasta.
Scary movies or happy endings? Happy.
Last movie you watched? Just watched the end of The Music Man; currently watching 1776.
What colour shirt are you wearing? Gray with a red-white-and-blue flag made of running greyhounds.
Summer or winter? Winter--if I can't have fall.
Hugs or kisses? Hugs.
Favourite dessert? Cheesecake.
Most likely to respond? Lots of folks.
Least likely to respond? Don't know.
What book are you reading right now? Pride and Prejudice at bedtime. Just finished Garrison Keillor's Leaving Home as my lunchtime reading.
What is on your mousepad? No mousepad.
What did you watch on TV last night? An episode of Ken Burns's Civil War on PBS.
Favourite sound? Rain with thunder.
Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles.
What is the furthest you've been from home? Anaheim, California (when we lived in Miami).
Do you have a special talent? Does stubbornness count?
Where were you born? Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
Whose answers are you looking forward to reading? Everyone's.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Letting sleeping dogs, um, ...

It's been a lovely day off.

I had a proofreading job to do, so I stayed up late last night doing part of it, napped on the sofa for a bit, then finished the job and emailed it off this morning. Between Wednesday and Thursday nights, I picked up an extra $200 proofreading.

I napped a bit more after I sent out the email, but I didn't sleep the day away. I've been watching Sense and Sensibility on DVD while I knit a baby sweater for a coworker who's due in November.

The pattern is the Baby Surprise Jacket, designed by knitting wizard Elizabeth Zimmermann. Knitting a BSJ is a work of faith. You knit what appears to be a fuzzy manta ray, stitch up two minor seams, and wind up with a baby jacket. Probably.

The yarn is Omega Sinfonia, a shiny (mercerized) cotton yarn; the photos are pretty color-accurate. I'm not a particularly fast knitter, which is why I'm only 34 rows into this 114-row pattern. But it's going well, I think (you never know with this pattern), and I'm enjoying working on it. It's a nice watching-TV project. Since I don't go in tomorrow until the late shift, I can stay up tonight, knitting and watching TCM's tribute to Cyd Charisse (Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, and Silk Stockings).

The remodeling project at work has been a bit messy and noisy. Things are supposed to be back to more-or-less normal for Saturday; certainly, by the time I go in at 12:30 they should have worked out whatever kinks the builders leave after their shift tonight. Then I work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before I get another day off. I'm off Wednesday, work Thursday, then am off Friday, the 4th. On the 4th we're having a family get-together at my parents', and the dogs are going up with me.

I sent out two packages on Monday. I know they both reached their destinations, which is reassuring. If the folks at my post office ran the whole postal service, there'd be no problems. The local folks are bright, knowledgeable, efficient, and well-mannered. I knew my packages would get out okay; I just wasn't sure about the destination-end. And on Monday I also delivered the 30th anniversary doily I made my sister and her husband. I got sort of efficient on Monday. It happens occasionally.

Back to work on the sweater...

Monday, June 23, 2008

The Flower Hotpad

I saw this pattern today and made it. It works up quickly, although I'm not thrilled with the way it finished. I may need to play around with the final folding and stitching a bit.

Modifications:

1. There's not much I dislike as much as stitching into individual chain stitches. Row 1 of this pattern calls for stitching 175 single-crochet stitches into 161 chains. I changed this: stitched the first 11 single-crochet stitches in each petal's loop, then stitched three single-crochet stitches into the middle chain of the 23-chain loop (to make the tip of each petal), then stitched the next 11 single-crochet stitches into the loop. This is much easier to do, and it means it's not critical if the chain gets twisted on the previous step.

2. Rather than stitch each petal to the next in the finishing stage--and create all those ends that would need weaving in--I just joined the petals as I was stitching the final round.

The instructions for folding the loops nearly drove me crazy. I figured it out and decided I'd better document the steps here so I wouldn't run into the problem again. And the photos might help someone else, too.

In this photo, the first few petals are stretched out. The piece is right-side-up; you're looking at the front of the stitches.

Here, that petal has been flopped over to the left. You're now looking (mostly) at the back of the petal.

You just do the same thing on all the petals. It's not nearly as confusing as it seemed to me earlier. I think the problem I had was looking at photos of finished pieces--where I could see the fronts of stitches on the petal tips--and not being able to see the fronts of the stitches when I was doing the folding. When you fold the petals, you'll see the backs of the stitches until you flip the whole thing over. What was the "right side" will become the "wrong side" of the finished piece.

Edited to add: I may rip the border and redo the folding* just for my own satisfaction, but I'm not impressed with this design. It's cute, but not very practical. Do people really need lumpy hot pads? Won't any dish placed on this hot pad wobble? A lot? I've read lots of posts about people making these as gifts; I wonder how many of those crafters have actually made the hot pad and used it themselves.

*What I did wrong: I made the folded part too horizontal. Each petal's folded part should be on more of an angle--the left side high, the right side low.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Flowers and crocheting and yarn

My father's birthday is tomorrow. I went up to the farm today to see my parents and have an early-birthday/belated-father's-day celebration. We went out for BBQ at a place where the owners know my parents by name. (They holler out from the front counter when your order is ready--and they didn't have to ask what name to holler.)

I took lots of pictures of my mother's flowers on the back deck.

(The flowers are purple--not blue. The camera isn't good with purple. And the unusual flower in the lower picture is an African daisy. Or--so says my father. But when I Google "African Daisy" I don't get anything that looks like this.)

While I was there, we had some bird visitors:

(There are more Cardinal photos--plus a Wren and a Chickadee--and lots more flower photos on Flickr.)

The family is planning a 4th of July get-together at my parents', and I actually managed to get off work on that day. (The manager often gives me Friday off--and the 4th falls on Friday.) I'm planning to take Sam and Jacey with me that day.

I finished a doily for a birthday swap with other helpers on the Ravelry site. The woman I'm swapping with likes purple, so I made a purple doily and got her purple yarn:

The camera got the purple totally wrong, so I've faked it in Corel Paintshop to approximate the actual thread color, which is pretty accurately indicated by that color chip. I swear, I'm going to take this camera and a skein of purple yarn to Best Buy (where I bought the camera) and tell them I want the camera to get that color right. The camera is so far off--in every light, with every background color and every camera setting--and it's ridiculous. (Really, those blue flowers up there should be about the color of the color chip. And the correct color doesn't even show in the window before you snap the photo; it's obvious it's going to be wrong.)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A package in the mail...

I got a package today from SomeBunnysLove. She sent me 10 balls of size 10 crochet thread in blue (this Delft blue, I think).

Also included is a ball of size 40 (teeny stuff) in white, some size 10 red, and two balls of size 10 myrtle green.

And two smallish (but fat!) cones of a mauve cotton thread, very nearly this color:

The cones have a combined weight of about 14.5 ounces; a ball of 350 yards of thread is 2 ounces, so the cones probably total ~2500 yards.

Oooo, time to go pattern hunting...

Sunday, June 8, 2008

The birthday swap survey.

What is your name? Kathy
What is your favorite color? Khaki-like greens, tomato red
When is your birthdate (year optional)?
30 November
Do you have any special birthday traditions? no
What is your favorite birthday memory?
Nothing comes to mind
Any allergies we should know about?
The seasonal types: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and some perfumes
What crafts do you do - knit, crochet, spin, dye, bead, quilt, etc. etc. ?
Knit and crochet
Any sorts of fibers you particularly love or hate or are dying to work with?
No particular dislikes; looking forward to knitting up some of the lovelies in my stash
What weight of yarn do you prefer?
I seem to have lots of baby things to make, so I'm on the lookout for DK-weight cottons or linens
What are your favorite knitting accessories? (i.e.: stitch markers, row counters…)
I have lots of split-ring markers (for crochet), but not many knitting markers for fine, tiny needles.
Do you subscribe to any crafty magazines? no
What do collect aside from fiber-related things? greyhounds *grin*
Favorite candy, chocolate (dark, white, or milk), tea, coffee, other treats?
I'm not a tea fan...or coffee. Adore chocolate of any kind.
Do you enjoy handmade soap and body products?
Not really. Sometimes they can make me itchy.
Are there any scents you love or hate?
I'm not a fan of wearable scents (my strange body chemistry makes everything smell like melting plastic). But scented candles and sachets are fine...mostly in sweet scents like vanilla, sugar cookie, etc.
What is your favorite: flavor, flower, letter, number, film, artist?
Flavor? Hmm, too many.
Flower? Irises (love the colors).
Letter? F Number? 5
Film? Love most Jane Austen films.
Artist? I'm not a visual-arts connoisseur. But in print? Austen was a bloody genius. And I do like the looks of Monet's art...lovely colors.
Anything we should *not* get for you?
No bath products, please.
Do you have a blog and or wishlist that are not linked on Ravelry or listed in the GoogleDoc?
There's an Amazon wishlist here.
Anything special you would like your partner to know?
Feel free to get me something totally different from what's in my stash. You can challenge me...

Friday, June 6, 2008

Miscellany

Sam has been a bit better-behaved lately. He's raided the trash can, of course, and he sits and stares at me when I eat ice cream, but that's all normal.

When Oreo was the only dog I had, I bought a dog food container for her kibble. But then I acquired Sam, and we started going through 40-pound bags of kibble, which wouldn't fit in the storage bin I had. So I bought a new bin--one that holds more than 40 pounds at once--and put the old storage bin away. I've gotten it back out, though. The bin may be too small for storing dog food, but it's perfect for storing a bag of potatoes. Eat your heart out, Sam.

It's nice to have dogs that aren't thunder-phobic. I like to sit outside in a rainstorm and watch the rain, listen to the thunder. I sit in a sheltered corner of the carport and watch Nature's fireworks...and the dogs go out with me. They lie down, and Sam often falls asleep. We got to do that tonight, during a brief storm.

I've been yarn shopping, again.

That's a cotton self-striping yarn...probably going to be a baby jacket.

Those are cotton, too. Those are going to be the accent colors for a baby sweater, where the main color will be this:

That's a faked, severely color-adjusted photograph that really does come close to the yarn color. (The purple yarn photographs as if it's blue.) The sweater will be for my cousin Shari's baby (her seventh). I'm not sure when Shari's due; Mother just mentioned the pregnancy in a recent phone call. Meanwhile, I'm working on other baby sweaters, but there are no photos to show. :)

I finished a doily for my sister's 30th wedding anniversary:

Her dining room has this color on the wall below the chair rail. The doily measures about 13" square.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Things To Do...

I need to make house-warming gifts for two friends. I'm thinking "doily" for each, but I haven't got a particular pattern in mind. And I need to make something for a birthday swap.

And I have to finish sweaters for the twins. (Due 1 September, but they arrived very early...25 May.)

And a sweater for Tony and Ali's baby. (Due 4 September.)

And a co-worker is pregnant. (She's due 21 November.)

ETA (26 May 2008): And my cousin Shari is expecting. This will be her seventh. (She's due in January.)

Mr Potato Head

Sam seemed fine with his little bit of dinner last night. But at about 1 am, he got up out of my bed (thank you, boy) and barfed in the bedroom. (He upchucked on a blanket that I'd kicked off the bed. The blanket is easier to clean than the carpet would have been. Good dog!)

I worried about the possibility that a muzzled Sam might throw up breakfast while I was at work today and start choking, so he went to work with me, and so did Jacey. Sam wouldn't settle down at work, and I slipped him a Benadryl to try to make him a bit groggy. He laid down for a little while, but spent much of the day standing up in the kennel. And every time I take him outside...eeeeww. I'm betting on four or more potatoes, just based on what's coming out of him. But his breakfast stayed down.

We got home from work, and while I was doing something else, Sam went exploring in the kitchen. The first I knew of it was when I heard dishes clinking in the kitchen sink. Dishes I'd left in the sink this morning had caught his attention. There was a bit of dish soap in the plate he was licking, but it doesn't seem to have discouraged him. Apparently, Mr Potato Head thinks dishwashing liquid is a condiment.

Sam's sacked out and sleeping soundly, now. He missed his serious sleep today since he was at work with me. (The dogs didn't get baths, but did get their nails Dremeled. They had baths last week.) I'm off work tomorrow, and I'll spend the day at home with the dogs and see how Sam is doing.

Jacey's 5th birthday is Monday, and I'm off work that day, too. I have treats and toys and we'll have the full birthday "blowout."

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Sam

My Sam celebrated his 8th birthday on Sunday. Finally, I thought, he's all grown up.

Spoke too soon.

I came home from work to find that he'd slipped his muzzle at some point today. He ate at least two raw potatoes--maybe more. And he didn't just eat them in the kitchen, where a mess would be easy to clean up. No, he carried them to his bed and messily ate them there.

He doesn't appear to have eaten anything else. (The furniture is all still standing.) He seems to feel fine--except when I take him outside. He's pooping, um, foam.

I gave him a bit of dinner, in hopes that his kibble will help settle his stomach. If he's not back to normal tomorrow, I may take him to work with me so he can go outside frequently.

Meanwhile, Jacey--who was safely ensconced in her crate--she's the one I found throwing up. There's no way Sam shared his potato prize, and in her case it looks like empty-stomach blaps. And that's odd, because she had a regular breakfast this morning before I went to work and she's never had stomach trouble while I've been gone. I just fed her her regular dinner. If Sam goes with me tomorrow, she might, too, because I'm not sure how little Miss Separation Anxiety would do in the house without Sam.

(Eeewww, Sam's burping potato. Maybe a bit of yogurt...)

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Yarn-y stuff

I finished the Mother's Day sweater I was making for my mother--finished with a week to spare.

I'm picturing mother maybe wearing this under her suit jackets on Sundays. (It isn't a vest, but it was easier to photograph if I put a dark shirt under it.) The yarn is a cotton-acrylic blend, and not too hot. Which side is the front? Well, that's just it. You can have a square neckline or a round one, whichever you choose.

I had to modify the pattern. The original stitch pattern for the yoke of the sweater was destroying my wrist--and taking forever to do. So I ripped it back and substituted a different stitch pattern, one that was kinder to my wrists and worked up faster. (Four rows/inch instead of six.)

I have two of three baby sweaters knitted, but not stitched up. That will happen...soonish. Sweater 3 is underway. No pictures here. So there.

I went shopping for yarn Friday. I wasn't particularly looking for sock yarn, but three different kinds shoved themselves at me. One, in fact, leapt into my hands and refused to leave. Oh, boy!

My next crochet project will be a doily for my sister. In June, she and her husband will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. There's an unusual doily pattern I have, and I have garnet-colored thread to use (the lower part of the wall in their dining room is that color). I alternate crochet with knitting to give my wrists a break.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

I'm in love with the new camera

I played around with it some the first day (pictures of yarn), more today.

(P.S. The yarn is Plymouth's Happy Feet.)

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Two years ago today...

Miss you, sweet girl.

Friday, March 14, 2008

My camera stinks!

At least, for anything like a detail shot.

This is the "detail shot" of a doily I just finished:

The color is much more accurate on this photo:

I've been working on a baby sweater. The pattern was fine until it got to the sleeve. The first problem with the pattern's sleeve had to do with the instructions for the cuff. Babies are not noted for keeping those fingers tucked in when you're trying to get a sleeve over their hands, so you really don't want the sleeve cuff to be super-tiny and tight. I fixed that, then worked the sleeve to the row specified for the 0-6 months size. I kept staring at that sleeve, thinking, "No way." But what do I know about baby clothes?

So I went to Target and bought a baby's one-piece sleep outfit in 6-months size. Granted, this might be the high range of the 6-months' size, and sleep outfits are looser and longer-limbed than sweaters need to be, but I think there's a problem with my knitted sweater:

I think I'm gonna need at least one more pattern repeat in there... (And I'm knitting right on target for gauge, so that's not my problem.)

And I've started a sweater for my mother for Mother's Day. Actually, I've started the swatch, which is not quite the same as having started the sweater. ;)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Maybe not dumb...

Sam may have hidden talents.

Yes, he's notorious for stealing goodies from the kitchen while muzzled, then revealing his stash of goodies when I get home...while he is still muzzled. But it may not be a thief's stupidity that is "blowing the gaff." He may just have a persistent case of bad timing.

Today I went grocery shopping. (It was either that, or force the dogs to share. Lamb and rice kibble, anyone?) When I got home, a still-muzzled Sam stood there in the kitchen and watched me put groceries away. I put the new loaf of bread on top of the refrigerator, the one place where Sam can't (quite) reach it. About 30 seconds later, the loaf fell off the refrigerator and landed in the floor at my feet. Did I not have it firmly in place? Did I have it too close to the edge of the refrigerator?

Or has Sam perhaps--just perhaps--learned telekinesis? Telekinesis and the power of positive thinking?

Heaven help me if the boy ever perfects his timing and learns to do this when his muzzle is off.