Faire Knitter

Oh the weather outside is Frighful...

2010-11-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

but the fire is so delightful... and I've got places to go, stop the snow, stop the snow, stop the snow.

Well, we've had the first big snowstorm of the year, and it brought school to a halt for the whole week. ARM wasn't supposed to have school on Monday anyway, they had the day set aside for conferences, which they didn't cancel, and guess who had one scheduled for that evening. As it happens, I went on a bit of a hat jag back in October, so there were plenty of hats to choose from when braving the elements to walk through the field to the school. Then it turned out that the school officials had all gone home, and there was no one there to meet with, and Kim and I got to walk all the way back without a whole lot of rest. So fun.
This is the first hat that I did. Kim claimed it as his own, and then immediately forgot about it, so I had to remind him tonight when we finally got out of the house to go grocery shopping. Still have potatoes to make for tomorrow too. Yeah.

I Guess It's Time...

2010-11-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

that I post again. I've been so busy doing things that I haven't been writing about it.
This is a pair of anklets that I knitted and finished about a month ago. I bought the yarn when the family went to Spokane for SpoCon the end of July, beginning of August. I started on sock with a much longer cuff, but ran out of the first skein before I finished the sock, so I decided to do anklets instead, as I only have 2 skeins of the yarn. Then I ended up using only one skein for both anklets.
I'll probably do short posts for the next little while until I get into the habit of posting again. TTFN

I'm Baaaaaack. (again)

2010-09-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm Back. I finished the embroidery for the new costume I was working on that was to be a surprise at Greenwood. Since it was to be a surprise, I didn't want to post pictures or anything, and I wasn't going to be working on anything else. Then we had a summer of getting Kimber ready for her pageant, and then my hard drive died. But everything is up and running, so I should be able to start blogging again.

Well..

2010-04-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

Everyone apparently got my last post, because I didn't get a lot of outraged e-mails about my shutting down my blog, so now we return you to your regularly scheduled (more or less) service.

I did three more chicks in eggs for Easter. Steve and Dea were in town, and so I did one for Kimber and ARM and one for their daughter V. too. They seemed to go over pretty well.

April 1st 2010

2010-04-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Apri... uhh ... due to circumstances beyond our control, this blog will be shut down until further notice. : D

Bad Month

2010-03-25T14:02:00.001-07:00

After Radcon in February I got sick and got out of the habit of posting. I gave myself a month off when I realized this, and it has been a month, so now I'm back. I also when on a bit of a Jag. (which is knitter speak for obsessively making the same thing over and over)
I have a book called Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rivoli. I started looking through it after I got well enough to be in my sewing room instead of in my bedroom or on the couch trying not to cough up anything I couldn't live without. I've looked through it before, thinking that the little things were cute and someday I'll make something, but this time I really wanted to make on the the little eggs that she had a pattern for. Two hours later I finished the first one and took it down to Kim to look at. He laughed and said I was a silly woman (and I was just then) and then asked if it was for Easter. I had completely spaced that fact that Valentine's day was past and Easter was coming. Then, I had the thought that if I did them in colors instead of just white they could be Easter Eggs. I went back upstairs, pulled out some self striping yarn that I have and started another one. At some point in this Jag ARM told me that he wanted one with a chick inside, (also in the book) and so I made him one, and then I made one for me. When I finished this Jag I had six eggs rolling around on my desk. That would never do. They needed a home, and since they were Easter Eggs, they needed a basket. That pattern was not in the book. I did manage to find a pattern that I could use as a starting point to modify, the end result is this picture above.

Then I got to thinking that the eggs would need a home when it wasn't Easter season, so I started on an egg carton. That isn't in the book either. The result is at Left. It works, though it still needs a top. And I think that it needs some design refinements for the bottom. However, the Jag is done, and I'm going to let it go for a while.
(you can see the chick in its egg on the far left in front) .

Still got lots to do, and now it's Faire season, so I'm going to be doing lots of other things besides my many WIPs.

Still Sick

2010-02-23T12:49:00.000-08:00

But getting better. Not relying so much on chemical airway support to breathe, and haven't had a lung try to come up in a few days. The stuff inside my lungs, on the other hand, seems to have thinned out quite a bit, because my chest isn't nearly as tight as it was. I was even able to sit at my spinning wheel for a while yesterday. Hopefully I will continue on the road to recovery.

Cough! Choke! Hack! Hack!

2010-02-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is going to be short, as I am rather ill. So is the rest of the Family except for ARM. Kim did manage to go to work today, but this is the first time this week. Ouch.

Oh, and my multi-colored throw turned itself into a stole. I wore it around Radcon a couple of times in the evenings, and I got several compliments on it.

The Radcon Report

2010-02-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

Well, since I begged off blogging more than once last week because of Radcon, here is a summary of what happened.
Friday I spent most of the day running Authors back and forth between the Hotel (the Pasco Red Lion) and Kennewick High for their presentations to various English Classes. One of those had Kimber in it, and that particular Author said that it was her favorite class of the day, they were a bunch of Firecrackers. Then, we found out that Kim had, in fact, paid for a flat for Kimber's art, so, after a day driving around, I got to run Kimber back home and pry some art loose. She managed to find 4 drawings she felt sort of comfortable putting up, and we printed them out with photo quality ink on photo quality paper. Then we went back to the hotel and were able to frame 3 of them, and we posted the fourth without a frame.
Saturday was a general con day, I did a lot of walking around looking at stuff, and then I judged the Masquerade. It went fairly well, in spite of the fact that the new lady who was running it this year didn't manage to leave a lot of time for the pre-judging. She told me later that she had learned her lesson and would ask for an hour before the Masquerade next year. It should make next year go even more smoothly. Then Kim took me to dinner for Valentine's Day since Sunday was going to be very busy.
Sunday, apparently just before the Art Show closed there was a run on Kimber's art, because I was informed that she had sold all four pieces. I was quite happy, and Kimber was a little dazed. There were even people asking if she would be taking stuff to SpoKon in July. She earned $70 all told. Of course, she'll have to turn around and spend some of that on mattes for new prints, but still... I suspect that I won't have as much of a problem prying stuff out of her next time.

Radcon this weekend

2010-02-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

For those of you who were invited, ARM actually posted on his blog the other day, and he included a birthday wishlist for those interested. For the rest of you, this is probably this only post I will make this week, as Radcon is this weekend, and things are liable to be a little hectic. See you next week with a report.

Radcon

2010-02-06T13:56:00.001-08:00

Radcon is a week away. Had to run Drills out to Benton City (Kiona, actually) for the work party that Kim is at. That's an hour I won't get back, but now they have enough drills for everyone. Finished my other mitt. They'll be ready for use next year.

Six more weeks of winter?

2010-02-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

According to Punxsutawney Phil. I don't think that what a Largish sized rodent back east gets scared of has any bearing on the weather in Washington state. My Roses already have a few buds on them.

Back to the WIPs. This is the first of a pair of extra-long fingerless mitts to protect my hands from the cold steering wheel when I'm driving. The second one is about half finished. I should get it done just in time to put them away for next year, as I already don't need them. It hasn't been cold enough for me to not want to grab the steering wheel without protections since it snowed in Dec. Well, at least they'll be done.

Ooops, where does the time go?

2010-01-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday already. I didn't post on Thursday because again, Kimber had something I wanted to report on, and Friday came and went, and Sat a friend had her first baby, a beautiful baby boy,(I got to hold him, he was so tiny) and we took a present and then Kim and I went shopping and the day kind of slipped away. So anyway, Kimber was out of town for something called Shakespeare in the Snow. Several Lit classes from the High School (schools for all I know) went to some camp in the mountains and performed several scenes from Hamlet and discussed, analyzed, etc. but of course they did have fun too, including dancing the first night, and a dance contest the second. Kimber reports that the first night she had several people chanting her name, and at the dance contest she was the unanimous choice to enter the freestyle category for her class. She had the highest overall score, though she never did say that she won. She did report that one of the judges said "Kim is my hero" We told her she could have replied "Kim is my hero too," but no one would have gotten the joke, and you know what they say about jokes you have to explain.

WIPping right along.

2010-01-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

Finished spinning another skein of yarn, but have a cat in my lap, so no Pics. Sorry. Been working on my WIPs on a rotating basis, so of course nothing is done. No pics there either. However, one more pic of one more WIP, just so I can get through them all. This is the beginning of a Lace-weight stole. I'm sort of making up the pattern as I go along. It's very soft.

Yes, I know

2010-01-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Thursday. However, Kimber was in her first ever Mystery Dinner, and I wanted to tell the Grandmas how it went. She, unfortunately, was not chosen as the killer, but Dean said that she did a great job. Perhaps she'll be asked to do more of these. I know she had fun.

A WIP is done!

2010-01-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

And I hadn't even gotten around to posting it as a WIP yet. 4.5 ounces of Lace-weight, hand-spun, hand dyed gray merino wool. I finished the spinning on Saturday, finished plying it and setting the twist yesterday, and it was dry this morning when I woke up to get ARM off to school. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it's done. Now I can start spinning some of the fiber that I got from my dear Mother-in-law for Christmas, and Dear Husband for our Anniversary. Hurray!

A break from the WIPs

2010-01-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

Kim and I celebrated our 20th anniversary Yesterday. Where does the time go? It doesn't seem like it could have been that long. Of course, Kimber's 17, but still...

WIPs not UFOs

2010-01-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me a few nights ago that I should be saying I have too many WIPs, a I work on most of them at least a little, so they are, in fact, in progress, and not just sitting around unfinished. That being said, here are a few more.

I have, not one, but three more scarves in the works, though the one on the far right doesn't get worked on very often, and could be said to be a UFO. I remember mentioning a while back that I had never knitted a scarf to completion, until 2008 when I finally finished one. Well, I have finished one since then, a long Harry Potter scarf in Slytherin colors for Kimber's B-day this last year. It turned out very nicely, and so I decided to do one for myself in Ravenclaw colors, since I seem to end up in Ravenclaw when I take the "Which House are You?" tests. That is the scarf on the left. The scarf on the right is intended for Kim, if I ever get it done. It is done with yarn that I spun out of some beautiful roving that I picked up at Faire this last year. When I finished it, it just sort of screamed Male, and I only had 4 ozs. which is about enough for a scarf. I've been playing with the cables in the middle on this one. The one of the on the bottom is a skinny eyelash yarn scarf, just garter stitch, and I only knit on it when I don't want to knit on anything else,(including dishcloths) , so it may never get done. This would not break my heart.
There are still more. ( I did say I had too many) Tune in Next time.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Eric!

Too many UFOs II

2010-01-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

So first, here is a picture of what Sethos does with my bag. He really seems to think it's a kitty bed. He just lay there on the bag, on the chair, the whole time I was taking these pictures.
Then I have two more pictures. The first will be a curtain for my sewing room window someday. It's about half done, and it's crocheted, which I don't do very often

The second will be a throw, using the two skeins of yarn that I got for Christmas from Santa Claus this year. I did have to go buy more of the yarn, but I think that it will turn out nicely
.

I Have too many UFOs

2010-01-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

And this is the first. This shapeless lump is going to be another felted bag. I've done two like this so far. One small one with the pockets on the outside(that I've already posted a picture of), and one larger one with the pockets on the inside( see bottom picture). This one will be the biggest yet, and the pockets will be on the outside, as I find it more convenient.
The general shape will be the same as in the bag below, and the color for the most part, just different pocket placement and size. But it's taking a long time to do. It's almost 60 in in circumference and that's a lot of knitting in just one round. I have finished the outside pocket layer, just the inside layer to do now.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

My one New Year's resolution is to blog more this year, even if it's just a couple of sentences. So here it is, the first post of the New Year. Kim ran off with the camera so no pics to post, but hopefully soon.

2009-11-26T11:38:00.001-08:00

Oh, by the way, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I stumbled on this

2009-11-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

The Pope
Circle I Limbo

Rednecks
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Scientologists
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Militant Vegans
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Oakland Raider Fans
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Jerry Falwell
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

The Unabomber
Circle VII Burning Sands

Bernie Madoff
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

Osama bin Laden, George Bush
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

This one needs a Title

2009-09-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the 28th and I am posting again, without prodding from either mother. Everything is going pretty well around here, though because of the economy no one at the Pasco School District got a Cost of Living increase, and their insurance premium went up, so we will have less money to live on. One more reason to want the public option for health care to pass.
I'm doing a lot of knitting and a lot of embroidering, but nothing except another dishcloth is finished, so really nothing to post as far as pictures. I'm almost done with a glasses case for one of my many pairs of reading glasses, but not quite yet. Soon, I hope.

Another Entry

2009-09-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose I should blog again, or the Mothers (biological and in-law) will get irritable, (more my mother than Kim's) about not hearing what's going on. The Kids are back in school, Kimber had been scheduled for the Jazz Choir by mistake, as she hadn't tried out for it. (Silly girl.) She spoke with her teacher before school started, and he told her to go ahead and show up for the class and they would see if she was needed. Well, it turned out that they don't need her voice, ( they have enough people) but the teacher decided to put her to work as the sound tech for the group, so she doesn't have to drop the class, and next year she will try out. It will be good for her, I think.
ARM is doing well, though he actually has homework this year, (7th grade, eek!) and he doesn't like it, but he get it done as soon as he gets home, and that helps a lot.
I've been doing a lot of knitting and embroidery, except for the past two days. I woke up Tuesday with my thumb and forefinger of my left hand aching like crazy, and I couldn't hold a knitting needle to knit. So I've taken the last few days off, just playing computer games with mainly my right hand, and the ache has gone away. I've done some knitting today, and will do more as ARM has a dentist appt. (I believe I've mentioned how much I love going to the dentist, even if it's not for me) so I'll need it. I'm making a large felted project bag, and I've started a sweater with some Fair Isle work and a shawl collar, the first one I've ever done straight from a pattern in a magazine. We'll see how it goes. I did do my gauge swatch first, and I did get gauge, but it seems to me to be a little small. I may have to give it to Kimber.
Embroidery wise I'm working on the Cross-stitch world map that I am doing for Kim, and I have a few other projects going as well. Pictures of some of these soon, I hope.

Yes, Mother

2009-08-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Mom wrote on my Facebook wall to stop playing YoVille and Bejeweled and post on my blog. But that's not all I've been doing. I've also been knitting, cross-stitching, and embroidering, plus watching a lot of TV (while doing these things).

The kids are getting ready to go back to school. Kimber is doing well on her medication, and I'm looking forward to having my house back for a little while in the mornings. I really don't have all that much to say right now...so I guess for the rest of this post, I'll post pictures from faire.
This is Kimberlyn participating in the School of the Courtly Arts. (Kimber's note: PURE ACTING. No, Grandma (both of you), I do NOT have a boyfriend.)

And this is a picture of my Madrigal singers. Kimber is the beautiful lady in blue standing (sort of) next to me.

(Kimber's note: One would also need to note the rather out-of-place leather on my belt... That should be the first warning to any guy that would have bad intentions. Oh, and I typed this for Mom. XD)

Oh, and Happy Late Birthday Chris!

Yes, I'm Still alive

2009-06-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have complained that I haven't been blogging lately (and you know who you are), well, here's the reason. Kim's new costume for Sir Walter Raleigh is now wearable. It isn't finished, but even if I don't sew another stitch between now and the end of the week, with the addition of a couple of safety pins he could wear this. Huzzah! This takes an enormous load off my mind. And Kimber's costume is almost completely finished. There is just a little more beading that she has to do, and then we're good.
So, obviously, I haven't had a lot of time to do much else, but I did knit a pair of baby booties for Marjorie's new realistic baby doll. She may take him to Faire, and I'll try to get pictures.

Oh, and Kimber's date last Friday night went pretty well, but Kim and I were very tired when it was all done.

Next Player

2009-05-11T12:15:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, (or fortunately) I forgot the camera for Sat. night's rehearsal, so you'll just have to make do with pictures from the previous rehearsal. This is Sir Phillip Sydney. He's around because the Queen likes him, and he's also there to support his future father-in-law, as Sir Phillip is getting ready to marry Lady Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. Sir Francis probably will need all the support he can get. Sir Phillip is supposed to be a superb dancer, which is one of the reasons that the Queen likes him. I have a feeling we may find out if this is true or not.

Back to our Players.

2009-05-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've given up trying to figure out who comes next in rank, so I just picked someone. This will be Sir Francis Walsingham. He's the Queen's spymaster. He has eyes every where, has a finger in very pie, and knows everything. Or does he?

We will have another rehearsal this Sat. so I may be able to get more pictures. Maybe.

I'm Baaaaack

2009-05-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been bad. I've been sick, and then had the rest of the family sick, but mostly, it's because I haven't been doing what I've been supposed to do. Shame on me. I'm supposed to be working on Kim's new costume for Faire. I haven't even cut it out yet, and it's MAY! This is bad. Very, very bad. Reminders might help, maybe.
So what have I been doing? Well shortly before his birthday, Kim told me that he wanted an MP3 player cozy like the one I made Kimber. I got right on that and had it done for his birthday, but I didn't make it just like Kimber's, I made it better. It has a flap on the front, a small hole for putting plugs through, and a loop of the back for a belt, and it buttons, so the belt doesn't have to come undone to put the cozy on. The back is the first picture, the front is the second.
I also found this neat little attachment to Firefox, (I think it works with IE too) called Stumble, where you tell it what your interested in, then hit a button, and a random website comes up that has some sort of relevance to what you told it. In the process of stumbling around I ran across a crochet pattern for little safety cones and I had to make a few. That's what these are. Notice Sekhmet checking them out in the first picture. I also found a pattern for little apples, and ARM is bugging me for some of them. The link for the cones is here, if anyone is interested. Don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. But I can't be working on them very much, there's still that costume to do. Maybe tomorrow.

In other news, ARM is still coughing, but seems to be much better, I will probably be able to send him to school tomorrow. That would be nice.

Sorry

2009-04-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I haven't written much lately, I've been sick. So has the rest of the Family. But we're all much better now, and I will be getting back to things. This is just a quick note to let everyone know that I haven't dropped dead, been arrested or given up on my blog.

Spring Break.

2009-03-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the beginning of Spring Break here. Both kids are home, ARM is still asleep. We had faire rehearsal over the weekend, but as Kim was out of town at a gaming convention, I took ARM with me. He normally doesn't go to rehearsal, he finds it over-whelming. But he did very well on Sat. He mostly just hung out in the lobby of the rehearsal space and played on his laptop. While I'm sure that some would say this is not a good thing, for me this is evidence of growing coping skills, even if it is avoidance. He asked to bring his laptop when I said he had to go, which tells me he was planning a little ahead. He knew he would be over-whelmed and bored, and didn't want that to happen.
My arm is better, and I have been getting some knitting done. Kim took time from his busy gaming schedule at the convention to visit one of the largest used book stores on the west coast, and he bought me a book on felted crochet, thinking that might be easier on my arm. I found on pattern that I've already begun. I'll post pictures as it goes along.

Player #3

2009-03-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

Our Third player is Also a visiting noble. This time it's Eleanora Gonzaga Duchess of Mantua. She's supposedly here on her honeymoon. I do find it strange that an Italian duchess is visiting England on her honeymoon, but, oh, well. She's in Greenwood because she's tagging along as the Queen's Guest.

In other news, after almost a week of anti-inflammatories and cold therapy, my left arm is feeling better. I don't think I'll be knitting for very long for another week or so, but I've found that I can embroider if I put my hoop in a hoop clamp and just use my right hand. This has helped the "I'm going to go insane" feeling of just sitting and watching T.V. Of course, just watching T.V. has been know to do that, ( and soften your brains, just ask Alec Baldwin) but it's worse without something to keep my hands busy. Another rehearsal this weekend too.

ow, ow, ow.

2009-03-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be doing much for the next while. I have developed a horrible pain in my left wrist. And due to an emergency that we had to call the plumber for, there is no way I can go to the Dr. yet. Kim wrapped his little ice-water pump contraption around it yesterday for 2 hours, and it felt better, for a while, but it's still hurting quite a bit and I won't be able to do much. Aspirin, cold therapy and rest for a while.

Player #2

2009-03-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

If we go by descending order of rank, this guy is next. But...He's not supposed to be there. Who is he? How did he get to Greenwood? What is he up to? Find out the last weekend in June!

I really have no knitting news as of right now, so I guess that's it.

The first of the Players

2009-03-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well, It's been a week, and I finally found a picture of me that I can stand, so here goes the posting of the players in the Queen's Court for this year. First is ...Queen Elizabeth I, played by yours truly. This is the only picture of the players that will be in costume, because I was the one Taking the pictures of the rehearsal.
Good Queen Bess goes on progress from London every year in the summer, to get out of the sticky London heat, but mostly to see for herself how the rest of the realm is doing. It also doesn't hurt that it lets "all the little people" see her. And so she comes to Greenwood on a yearly basis. This year, however, something is going to happen.......

On the knitting front, I've started a shrug. Don't ask me why. I still have a lot of other projects going, and I haven't managed to get Kim to stand up long enough to tape him for a pattern, let alone sit with me to decide what his costume is going to look like. This needs to happen very soon.

My Felted Bag

2009-03-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, here they are. Pictures of my felted bag.

This is it before felting, with the flap down.

And this is the body of the bag. Note the color work, not just stripes, not duplicate stitch, but honest to goodness real stranded color work, which I have not be able to get with the right tension until this project. Woot!

And this is the front down after felting,

And this is body of the bag after felting. Unfortunately, it managed to develop a protrusion on the left side of the bag, and I couldn't get it to go away. Oh well, it will still serve it's purpose, which is to transport projects and stuff.

On the Faire side, we had our first Queen's show rehearsal last night. I took pictures, (when I could) and will be posting them over the next few weeks, along with explanations of who they are and why they are at Greenwood Faire. However, I have to post this next picture. It is more indicative of the antics that go on at our rehearsals. Marjorie told Steve, (the guy in the green) to just have a seat anywhere, so Steve walked over to Kim ( in the baseball cap) and sat down in his lap. There are days when you have to watch what you say around Greenwood.

Oh, and I think the mouse is finally dead. It appeared to be intact, however, so it may just have finally expired from accumulated shock.

Sethos and the mouse.

2009-02-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well, today Sethos got into the game. After getting ARM off to school I was still a bit tired, so I decided to allow myself a 35 minute nap. I set the timer on the stove and curled up on the couch to sleep, but after a few minutes I began to hear a plastic bag rustle. A few minutes later I heard "rustle, rustle CRUNCH" and looked up, wondering what was going on.
It seems that I'd left a small plastic bag on the floor in front of the piano, (where the mouse escaped to yesterday) and it was moving by itself. Sethos was sitting right next to it, watching the bag move, and every so often, he would slap his paw down on the bag. That was the crunch noise. I should probably point out that Sethos is the cat we absolutely cannot have in the bedroom overnight, because he will attack if he sees something moving under the covers. (He once flew across the room after attacking Kim's toes while Kim was asleep, and Kim reacted by instinctively kicking.)
So, there is a mouse (I surmised) moving under the covers, as it were, and Sethos was having a grand ole time trying to catch it through the plastic bag. Finally, however, the mouse decided to make a break for it,running under the cat, and suddenly Sethos was facing the other direction, and I caught a glimpse of mouse tail in the cat's mouth. He then went downstairs to the landing to play the poor mouse to death. He played for half an hour before finally loosing the thing. (I know, because the timer for my nap went off) That mouse is one heck of a survivor. I may have to buy a mouse trap after all.

Horus and the Mouse

2009-02-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

I have, unfortunately, a mouse in my kitchen. I think it lives behind the oven. One of the cats brought it in from outside to play with it to death and lost it. As such, I think it is their responsibility to deal with, so I haven't yet bought a mouse trap.
This morning, as I was sitting in the living room reading a magazine, I could hear a rustling from the kitchen, which I thought was odd, as all the cats were outside. I figured that is must be the mouse, and got up to see if I could see it. No such luck. I think the thing, having escaped death once, is being extra careful, and not showing itself. However, while I was up, Horus came to the back door and asked to be let in, which I did. I went back to my magazine and Horus jumped up into my lap to demand his morning petting. After a few minutes I started to hear the rustling again and I said, to the cat "Horus, I think I hear that mouse. Go get him." A few seconds later Horus jumped down from my lap and headed for the kitchen. I got up and followed him.
As I got closer I could hear the noise from behind the microwave, and so could the cat, cause he jumped up onto the counter as proceeded to stare at the rear of the thing, crouching down like he was ready to spring. I very slowly moved stuff away from the front of the microwave, an blocked off alternate escape routes as much as I could. Then I told Horus "one, two, three..." and pulled the microwave away from the wall. pivoting on the rear left corner in the hope of forcing the mouse to the right, where the cat was waiting. Horus sprang, knocked over a salt shaker, and then jumped down from the counter. I thought I saw a grey streak along the back counter to my left, and I concluded that the cat had missed, and the mouse was again behind the oven. I sighed, and went to get a broom to sweep up the salt that had spilled.
That's when I saw Horus, sitting in the middle of the living room, looking at me kind of smugly, with a mouse but and tail hanging out his mouth. He'd caught it after all.
I told him "good boy" several times, then I went to clean up the salt. While I was sweeping up the spill I heard a "scrabble, scrabble, scrabble" and when I poked my head back into the living room, Horus was trying very hard to get behind the piano. The mouse was not in evidence. He'd lost it again. I may have to get a mouse trap after all.

On the fiber front I have finished another felted bag. I was trying to get it done before Radcon, which was Presidents' Day weekend, but no joy. I finished it the week after. I have pictures, but haven't downloaded them yet. Soon.

I've given myself until the first rehearsal for Faire to work on my stuff, then I have to start Kim's new costume. As this Saturday is the first rehearsal, I have less than a week left, and then this blog becomes mostly about sewing. ARM's going to need a new costume too. Joy.

Horror of Horrors

2009-02-03T10:52:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning to get ARM off to school and found this

and discovered this. This nearly gave me a heart attack. After I
settled down I convinced myself that I had to repair the hole as quickly as possible. The reason it took convincing is because it would require me using the Kitchener Stitch to graft the two edges together, and I tend to regard grafting with the same enthusiasm as I regard going to the dentist. Fortunately I had some yarn that was the same color and about the same thickness, though not merino, so it would feel a little different. I started off by picking out even more stitches on one side of the hole, to get a tail long enough to do a spit-splice with. A spit-splice is when you join the ends of two separate pieces of yarn into a single piece, by felting them together with your hands. This only works with wool or other animal derived yarn. You get both ends wet (spit works, so does water, don't worry Mom, I used water) wrap them around each other, and then rub them between the palms of your hands as fast as possible until they don't come apart when you pull. I did this to keep the back of my shawl as neat as possible, so I would only have one end to weave in instead of two or more. Then I began to resew the hole together using the Kitchener stitch. It's not so hard really, it's just I have a block about the thing from doing it off of needles, which is a little harder. It turned out that, adding insult to misery, this had occurred on an increase row, and I had to figure out where the Yarn-overs had been, and stitch them in as well. Fun, fun.

I finally finished and went into the existing stitch for at least an inch, in order to catch the other end, then wove in the end and broke it off. And Voila! no more hole!

I blame the cats for this, more specifically Sethos, who both loves wool, and eats string and yarn. All it would take would be for one end to break while he was kneeding on my shawl, and he would start pulling on it till the other end broke. Grrrr.

Fun, fun, fun.

2009-01-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

First of all, a word of warning. Elly (Elly's blog, see the link on the sidebar) wants to link to my blog from the Greenwood website, and I have said yes. What fiber and dyeing have to do with Faire, I'm not so sure, but I do mention it on a regular basis. I'll probably mention it a bit more often, now, so I thought I should warn everyone.
Second, I've been playing more with the dyes that Kim gave me for our anniversary. The skein around the angel's neck is silk, a 1/4 teaspoon of Sky Blue and a 1/16 teaspoon (or so) of vermilion. It's a pretty blue, much nicer than the blue one gets from kool-aid or food coloring. I currently have a batch of roving that I'd already dyed with rose petals to a shade of green (that I don't like) in a dye bath of Jet Black. I'll post a pic later in the week. I'm spinning too, some more of the ruby Merino I got from Joan for Christmas a year ago, I have a shawl in the works I'm going to need it for. I should probably post a pic of that as well.

Adventures in Dyeing Con't

2009-01-23T11:39:00.000-08:00

The dyes Kim bought me are on the right, my steamer and other equipment are on the left. I took a whole bunch of pictures, but none of the yarn until it was dyed, so the other pictures aren't that interesting.

I used Fire Red and Sapphire blue this time, on Natural superwash sock yarn. (Superwash means the fibers are treated so they don't felt) I mixed up a cup of red and a cup of blue and poured each on opposite ends of the skein, (when they were on plastic wrap) then folded the plastic around them and mushed the dye around until it met in the middle, in this picture.

The red is to the top and the blue to the bottom. I should have taken pictures before I got here, but I was having so much fun, I forgot.

I steamed the whole thing for 2 hours to set the dye, then let it cool, and rinsed. This is what it looked like wet, after rinsing.

And this is dry, and wound into a skein. You can also see the angel that ARM got me for Christmas this year. I think it's very pretty. I believe it's a birdfeeder, but we don't bait the birds for the cats, so it will stay inside. Perhaps I'll have it hold potpourri.

Happy Belated New Year.

2009-01-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much to blog about lately, except I've been knitting a lot. For those of you who don't know, my Dad succumbed to his illness on the 9th, and the funeral was the 17th. The week in between was not fun. Jeanie, Kimber and I sang "Consider the Lilies" at Mom's request, and it went pretty well.
Yesterday, my Anniversary present from Kim finally arrived, a starter set of fiber dyes that I'd pointed out to him and specifically said that I wanted. Today I have two skeins of superwash wool soaking already, getting ready for me to play. I'm looking forward to getting a pretty blue instead of a Kool-Aid blue. This is going to be fun. Yes, I will take pictures.

Christmas Report

2008-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

We had a very good Christmas. My mother-in-law was here with us, after having to come a day early because of the weather. We went out to look at Lights on Christmas Eve, just like we always do, and it started snowing on us, again. Yesterday, however, it started to warm up and now most of the several inches of snow that we received since the 13th has melted, and since it's in the 50's, I don't think it's going to stop anytime soon.
On the knitting front, I knit my mother-in-law a hat, because she needed one, and I managed to get one sock done for Kim before Christmas. I wrapped it and the skein of yarn for the other as his present. When he opened it the skein of yarn came out first, he looked at me, held it up, and said "Are you sure this is for me?" I had to tell him to keep looking. At least now I know that the sock fits him. I'll post a pic after I finish both of them. I've also started another shawl. Pictures later.

Singing in the ....Snow

2008-12-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

It started snowing again last night, and if you look closely at the top of my Van you can just barely see the raised area that is the luggage rack. This is accumulation since last night. Arrrrgh! I don't know that I'm going anywhere for the next couple of days unless Kim drives. Kimber has another concert tonight, which we were afraid would be cancelled. If they had cancelled school today it would have been, but they just did another 2 hour delay. We've had them every day this week, and I don't see them not doing at least that tomorrow, which means ARM hasn't gone to day program this whole week. Speaking of Kimbers concert Kim took this picture while they were doing the sound check for her Diva's group. He also recorded all three of their
numbers, but I'm going to let him post those. We were half afraid
that the Tuesday night concert would be cut short, as there was a reported problem with one of
the heaters, and it could have caused the fire alarm to go off. We
would have had to evacuate the building if that happened, but
luckily, it didn't. We all stayed nice and warm until the end.

Oh the Weather Outside...

2008-12-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

has been frightful. Starting Sat. night it started to snow, and except for little lulls it kept snowing, and blowing, until last night. The kids had a 2 hour delay for school both Monday and this morning, which meant that ARM did not go to day program, as the bus would get him there just about in time for them to turn around and pick them up again. So he got to walk to middle school. Yesterday was so bad that he turned around, twice, to come back and get more covering. Today the sun is shining, and reflecting off of all that snow, which greatly increases the ambient light around here. This is a good thing, in light of my SAD.
I have completed two little projects that I can talk about, as they are for my visiting teaching sisters. At the beginning of the month we did a dinner and ornament exchange for Relief Society, and while they said, just give an ornament you already had, I couldn't think of one that I wanted to give someone that I didn't want to keep myself, so I knitted a small Christmas stocking. Then my V.T. companion mentioned that we should take something to our sisters, so I knitted a few more. I'll give the last two away tonight. They're just big enough to put 2 mini candy-canes into, and there is a loop for hanging.
If you're not interested, you can stop reading, because the rest of this is just the pattern. I should mention that there are at least two other stocking ornament patterns on the web that I know about, but I've only seen pictures, and didn't see them till after I did the first stocking, so I don't know how similar they are.

Mini Christmas Stocking Ornaments

Supplies: Set of size 3 DPNs
1 skein red Micro-spun yarn, separated into 3 strands.
( I did this as I knit, winding the half I didn't use into a ball )
1 skein white cotton, about size 5 pearl cotton.
this will be enough for several ornaments
a crochet hook, (size is really not an issue here)
a yarn needle.

Cuff CO 24 stitches with white Leaving a long tail to be used to make the hanging ring
place marker at beginning of round
purl 1 round
knit 1 round
purl 1 round
knit 1 round
change to red, and knit all rounds for an inch and a half ending at marker.
Turn Heel
knit the next six stitches , so that the six stitches before and after the marker are on the same needle, place the other 12 stitches on a stitch holder.
Turn
YO, purl back to end of needle (there should now be 13 stitches on the needle) turn
YO, Knit to the last two stitches on the needle, (these should be the YO and the first stitch from the previous row. this is called a pair ) turn
YO, purl to the first pair on the other side , turn
YO, knit to 2 pairs on the left of the needle, turn
YO, pull to the 2 pairs, turn
YO knit to the 3 pairs. You should now have 3 pairs on both sides of the needle. Knit the first stitch of the pair, turn.
YO purl back to the pairs, purl the first stitch of the pair, turn,
YO, knit back just before the first YO you come too. There should now be 2 YO, and then 2 pairs. Slip the YO's and the first stitch of the next pair knit-wise, transfer then back to the left needle, then knit all three tog. Turn
YO, and purl back, again to the 2 YOs and 2 pair. Slip the YO's and first stitch of the next pair purl-wise, and work as before. Turn
YO, Knit back. Work each set of YO's and pairs as described above, until just two Yo are left on each side. Place other stitches back on needles, and return to working around,
Instep
on the first round slip 2 YO and first stitch from the next needle and work as if it were the first stitch of a pair, continue to knit around to the last stitch before the next 2 yo's, and work this in a similar manner. Continue to knit around for about 3/4 of an inch,
Toe: first round:* Knit 3, Knit 2 tog* repeat around
Knit 2 rounds,
*Knit 2, Knit 2 tog* repeat around
knit 1 round
*knit 1, knit 2 tog* repeat around
Knit 1 round
*Knit 2 tog* repeat around
cut thread a ways away from the needles and thread end into a yarn needle. Feed through yarn loops on to and pull tight (I go through twice and then pull, just to be safe)

make a loop with the top white end and chain about 8 to 14 or so stitches, however big you want your loop to be. Fasten off into the cuff, and weave in the ends.

I've been lazy

2008-12-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

at least about writing in my blog. Not much has been going on lately, though when we were down in Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving Kim and I bought a Wii for the family. We gave it to the kids as an early Christmas present, figuring we could never hide it in the car. Now it's in my room, where it will stay till after Christmas. I may insist that it stay there permanently. It's quite convenient having it there, I can bowl, box, or do other exercises right there, I don't have to go down to the utility room.
Most of the things I've been working on are gifts of one sort or another, so I won't be talking about them for a while.
Kimber has concerts on the 16th and the 18th of Dec. ARM is doing well in school, he's gained 2 1/2 pounds and grown a 1/2 an inch as of last Fri. I sang with a group of sisters at a Relief Society dinner last Thurs that went well, even though they asked me to sing alto. Greenwood will be Christmas caroling twice, on the 10th and the 13th. That should be about it for now.

More Ramblings

2008-11-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

Cause I really haven't done much lately. Been knitting, a lot, but I haven't finished much. A couple of dishcloths is all. And a preemie cap. I still have several other projects going. And now, Marjorie, (our director for Faire) wants Kim to play Sir Walter Raleigh next year, instead of Lord Burleigh, so he needs a new costume, and being Raleigh, it needs to be really fancy, and that means lots of lace, and of course, I can knit lace for a whole lot cheaper than I can buy lace sooooooo... Yes, I'm insane. I'm sure I've mentioned that before.
I'm also still plying that bobbin of fennel-dyed wool. I spun it really fine, and so there is a lot there, and it's taking a long time. And right now I don't have the patience to sit and ply for too long. I'm not quite sure why that is, it just is.

Ramblings

2008-11-04T11:39:00.000-08:00

I should be blogging more I guess, but... Today is election day, and I'm rather concerned about the outcome. Kim says Obama is going to win Big time, but...
I have gotten out all my knitting magazines, and I'm going through them one by one, cutting out patterns that I like, that I might want to make something similar too, or that Kimber likes. The individual patterns are going into sleeve protectors and then into a binder, and I'm getting rid of about 3/4 of each magazine, shrinking the room needed for storage considerably.
I've also got several knitting projects in the works. I knit on one for quite a while yesterday, as I sat with Kimber in the dentist's, while she had have very first root canal. She was very brave, and just sat there and took it. When she did say anything it was a matter of fact "ow" No yelling, no crying, and when there was a mix up with her pain pills at the pharmacy, she said, "I'll deal." Honestly, I think she was channeling her great-grandmother just a smidge.

Been a while

2008-10-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, Kimber will have blogged about her birthday, I haven't checked yet. As for me, busy, busy. No pictures really to post, though I have lots of stuff going on. I've finally spun all the the roving I dyed with the fennel, and am now in the middle of plying it. And I've decided that I really don't like the "two at a time socks" method. I just can't get into the rhythm with them. So I'm going to try something the lady at Sheep's Clothing (my LYS) told me about, which is to make sure that I cast on the next sock immediately. We'll see if that works. Hopefully at least one lucky person will get socks for Christmas.

My First Scarf

2008-10-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

First of all, Happy Birthday Kimber! Hopefully she will blog about today so that this is all I will have to say about it.
Second, I finished my first scarf! Hurray! It's only long enough so that ARM can wear it, (as he is here) but he likes it, (so much so that he wore it to school yesterday) and since I ran out of yarn, this is as long as it's going to get. I no longer have to feel like I'm strange, like I went from rolling over to walking without crawling first, ( even though I sort of did) because I have completed a scarf.
Now, I have to think about Christmas gifts.

I'm Psychic! (sort of)

2008-10-04T12:26:00.001-07:00

I had to share this. I got a phone call today, that went (more or less) like this. (Names have been changed to protect the ignorant. And the Predatory.)

"Is this Jennifer?"
"Yes"
"Jennifer, hi, this is John from the ABC periodicals company, and first I'd like to congratulate you for being entered into our sweepstakes this year..." he said some more stuff but I interrupted him with
"No, thank you"
"Now hold on Jennifer..." and he proceeded to describe the sweepstakes some more.
As soon as he took a breath I said "I'm sorry, I don't buy magazines over the phone."
"How did you know I was selling magazines, I hadn't said anything. You must be psychic!"
"You said 'periodicals'."
"Huh? I don't know what 'periodicals' means. I'm just reading from a script."
"A periodical is something that is published periodically, like a newspaper or a magazine, so I figured that that's what you were selling"
"Well, how about that, we do have 5 magazines we're offering at (insert ridiculously low price). "
"Sorry, I don't buy magazines over the phone"
"Well, thank you for your time."
At least he was polite.

Cute Squirrel

2008-10-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize that this is highly unusual, posting twice in one day, but these were too cute not to share. We have two Sunflowers in the garden square in the backyard, and we thought the birds were eating the seeds. Oopps.
The squirrel was having a nice big lunch.

I have a few of him eating while hanging fully extended from the flower head, but those pictures are a little fuzzy.

Then he moved to the other side of the flower, and slipped. He caught himself just in time. I'm sorry about the dark bars in the foreground, but I took these pictures from my Kitchen window. I didn't want to open the back door, as I was afraid that I would scare the squirrel, and then I wouldn't have any pictures.

Haven't blogged in a while

2008-10-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

So, of course, lots has happened. I've come close to finishing another area of my Insane Project, but I may have to give up on it, as I'm planning Christmas gifts already. I've almost finished my two at a time socks, except that I didn't think I could turn the heels at the same time, so I did one, and am now doing the other. However, even starting them at the same time and then switching to one at a time at the heel helped with the 2nd sock syndrome, because I had half a sock already done, and calling my name to be finished, instead of just a lonely sock wanting a sibling. I'm also working on a scarf for ARM, and I still have half of my first scarf to finish. Should be interesting. Lots and lots of knitting to do. Oh, and just to make everyone feel old, Kimber turns 16 in less than two weeks. On the 15th. Eeek!

What I've been doing.

2008-09-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are two of the three projects I have going. On the top is the current section of the Insane Project, a.k.a. my Christmas Crazy Quilt. On the bottom are the two-socks-at once that I'm working on. I showed them to Kim and he shivered in Horror, saying that the idea was too complicated for him. It's not for me, anymore, but it took some time to figure out what exactly I was doing.
Not shown is my first ever knitted scarf, as the batteries ran out on the camera during the picture. Many people will find it odd that I have knitted sweaters, socks, baby booties, and enough dish cloths to cover the deck of a WWII aircraft carrier, but I've never knitted a scarf. Most people start with those. I have crocheted a scarf, and started knitting several, but I've only ever gotten a few inches and stopped, deciding that a scarf is not what I wanted to do with that yarn. This scarf is already 25 inches, and still growing. This one will get finished. (I hope)

My First Pair of Knee Socks.

2008-09-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

That's right. This is the first ever pair of Knee socks that I knitted. Unfortunately, the one on the left is a little longer than the one on the right. I think this is because the green yarn is just a little thicker than the yellow. I changed the order color because I realized that I had more green than yellow after the first sock. I don't think this is a problem, though, because I wear socks with pants, and no one is going to see the top. Other than that I'm pretty proud of these. I did them, including calf shaping, without anything more than a vague description of how to figure out the calf shaping, and no other patten of any kind. Though, I did write down what I did for the first one, so the second one went a lot faster.

More Projects, More Insanity

2008-09-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've started yet another project, and the second part of another. This picture, at left, is the beginning of the new project, a pair of socks knitted on one circular needle. I've been wanting to try this technique for some time, as it would avoid the dreaded "Second Sock Syndrome". I've been having problems with that lately. However... I did start the second of my knee socks, finally. It's a good thing I wrote down the pattern after the first one, or I would have been severely lost. I have found that I prefer knitting on DPN's rather than the two socks at once, because one can get into a rhythm on the DPNs, the two socks at once require a bit of fussing with things several times a round, pulling cord out and repositioning one sock or the other. I'll have to wait and see if it grows on me. By the way, these are the same colors, just two different skeins, and so they started in a different place in the color sequence. I don't mind having fraternal twin socks instead of identical twins.

What I have so far.

2008-08-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

I spoke with Mom the other night, and she complained that I hadn't blogged in a while, and she was right. I'd been working on my Christmas crazy quilt, and was going to post after I finished the seam I was working on, but then, I couldn't find the camera. We found it yesterday (I won't say where, this would not be good) but by then I was working on another area, and wanted to wait until I finished that. This is what the quilt looks like so far, It should be interesting when it's finished, but I'm not sure how good it will look, as I am severely limiting the color palette.
My knitting is coming along slowly, I'm only doing a few rows a day on any one project, because I'm mainly concentrating on the quilt.
The Kids have finished their first week of school, this will be an interesting year. More later.

More Update

2008-08-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished one little project. ARM asked me to make a blanket for one of his stuffed animals, so I grabbed some blue yarn and started knitting. Just a stockinette stitch square with a garter stitch border. I finished it a couple of days ago. He almost immediately said that he wanted another blanket for another of his stuffed animals, and this time he wanted yellow. So I pulled out some yellow and started knitting. This one is going to have a double seed stitch top and bottom with garter-stitch sides and a basket-weave pattern in the middle. I'm not making much progress at the moment because I got bored with my cross-stitch (which happens with large cross-stitch projects) and pulled out the Christmas themed crazy quilt that I started last year, and have been working on that. I figure I'll rotate through the three projects, plus the two shawls. Have I mentioned that I'm insane recently?

School is just around the corner

2008-08-15T15:36:00.001-07:00

Kimber picked up her schedule for school today. Eeep! She starts on the 27th, so about 12 more days. I think ARM starts the day before, meaning I get to get him up to be on the bus, and so far I have no idea when they will be arriving. Joy. Still knitting, though my headache isn't as bad today, and so far, no Excedrin. Perhaps I'll be able to cross-stitch today after all.

Stuff.

2008-08-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

Been knitting, as I've woken up with headaches all week, and had to take Excedrin for them. Since the caffeine in Excedrin makes me shaky, doing cross stitch is a little difficult, so I've been knitting. I bought a book of one skein patterns, a lot of scarves but other things as well, including some soap holders, which I had been looking for, since I don't like throwing away slivers of soap. I've made two, one for the upstairs bathroom and one for downstairs. I doubt Kim will ever use it, but Kimber may use the downstairs one. She seemed to like it. Also still knitting on my two shawls, a little at a time. Hopefully I can convince these headaches to stop, and then I can get back to my cross-stitch.

?

2008-08-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

I have finished Autumn, and got bored with those pictures, so I started in on the western hemisphere. I figure I'll bounce back and forth between that and Winter. But... I decided that I didn't like the half-circle shawl I had started with that lace-weight merino, and so I pulled it all out, and started a triangle shawl on smaller needles. We'll see how it goes. ARM has finished summer program at Lourdes, which means about two more weeks until school starts. Yeah! sort of. It will be interesting to have him coming home on his own, instead of having to pick him up every day. I suspect that I will miss having the daily conversation with his teacher. Oh, well, I guess I can always arrange to go and pick him up and we walk home together if communications don't work out.

Catching up

2008-08-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

This is the best of the pictures I've taken of the cross-stitch map I'm working on for Kim, and it's still a little fuzzy. Still you can see the Eastern Hemisphere, the header, and Spring and Summer, with a little of the outer border. It will look great when it's finished( I hope). I'm also still knitting on a small blanket for one of ARM's stuffed animals, still spinning up the roving I dyed with the bronze fennel, and I've bought some variegated lace-weight merino that I started a half-circle shawl with, but I'm not sure that I like what I've got so far, and I may rip it out. We were gone this weekend, Kim and kids were at a Science-Fiction Convention, but, oddly, I didn't want to go, so I just hung out at Steve and Dea's. I got a lot of reading done, but not much knitting. ( I did do a little) Now that we're home its back to normal. I just finished Summer and the piece of the outer border. More later.

Just a short note

2008-07-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Been trying to pass a kidney stone most of the week, hence the not writing on my blog. Kim took Kimber to the Dem. Headquarters in Richland yesterday, as he wanted to pick up a sign for the Governor. Turns out a friend of ours works there, and he volunteered Kimber to do some volunteer work for them. Data entry for now, Kim says. Which will be good for here. Give her some experience, and she'll get Quest hours for school. (Volunteer work requirement, or something) And I'm sure They'll be glad to have her, as she is Miss Flying Fingers in her typing classes. She'll go with me when I take ARM to Summer Program, and I'll drop her after I drop him. and then I'll get her after I get him. So It's convenient for me as well.
Working hard on my Cross-stitch world map. Spring is done, summer almost (These are little pictures to the right of the Eastern Hemisphere). Did some more dyeing with my hardy Hibiscus, and I got green again. I may wait before I try anymore of that.

Cross Stitch season.

2008-07-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

I finished a UFO. This one was so far below the radar it wasn't even on my list. I ran across it as I was looking for something else. But It's done now, and I can hang it in out "Reading Room" I'm actually pleased with the way this turned out.
This may be a cross stitch blog for a while. I bought that chart-pack of the British Isles map at faire, and figured it wouldn't be a good idea to start one map when I had another already in the works. A map of the world for Kim, which was on my UFO list (I moved it to WIPs). So I have started working on that again. I have the Eastern Hemisphere done, but it's more that just the map. There are small pictures of the four seasons, and the four elements, and a header and footer too. It's a big undertaking, so it's going to take awhile. But I still will be doing some spinning and dyeing, just so I don't disappoint you Dave. Speaking of which, I should have enough Hardy Hibiscus blossoms to start a dye bath. Should be interesting.

Pictures.

2008-07-10T21:48:00.001-07:00

Just pictures today.
Look for the cat

Mostly Faire stuff, (Thanks Jesse) and a picture of the cross stitch kit I just finished. And... Look for the cat.

Scissor Keep.

2008-07-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Scissor (that has probably got to be the weirdest spelling for a word in the English Language) Anyway. I found a kit for this at one of the Vendors at faire, and spent the last week doing it. I thought it turned out pretty well. I also bought a sachet kit with a Tudor Rose on it, and Lavender for the inside. That will be done in the near future, but I need to knit a pair of baby booties first. One of the Ladies who works with ARM at Lourdes in his Day program is expecting her first at the end of the month, and she's having a girl. I have one pair of pink booties already knitted, but I like to give two pair, so I'm doing another one in white, with this really soft organic cotton I found on sale at Fred Meyer, of all places. So the sachet will have to wait. Also posting a picture of the kitties that Kim took. It's kind of dark, sorry.

Almost a month

2008-07-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. No blogs for almost the whole of June. But Faire is over now, and I have a good deal more time. And there was not the overwhelming need to keep things in tight control as there was last year, when I was doing a Queen's Banquet on top of everything else. My veil got finished. And I'm wearing it here. My Hairnet got finished, but I never did wear it. Too darn HOT! (triple digits both days) I got most of what I needed to get done, done, and Faire went off with only minor problems for me. (Like coming near to heat exhaustion on Sat. We took extra precautions on Sun) So now, I have a lot more time.
I also have a cross-stitch chart pack for a Map of the British Isles, which Deanna thinks (and I agree) would make a very nice decoration for my pavilion. Yesterday I bought a yard of 18 count Aida cloth for it, and then this morning I remembered that one of the independent fabric stores in town has linen, and I stopped to see it they had something I could work with. It looked like it would be the right count, and at $8.99 a yard I just couldn't pass it up, so I bought a yard. I'll see if it works, and if it doesn't, I'll have the Aida to fall back on. Will post more Faire pictures over the next little while. But one more, just because. Of me and my baby girl.

Dyeing update

2008-06-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

I did try the rose petals and lemon juice, and what did I get? Green. Green is very easy to come by, so is yellow. I suppose I could invest in some cochineal and get a good red, but I'm not sure I want the expense. I did take both samples with me to the school presentation, and Marjorie said that I did a good job, so I guess that it was worth it. I ended up just adding panels to my existing bodice to give me more room, and it worked all right, so now I have a workable peasant again. This is a good thing, as we're all supposed to have a peasant on site in case it just get too hot. Still working on my lace veil, 4 repeats to go. However, it now comes below my shoulders, so if I run out of time I can simply finish the repeat I'm on, do a few rows of garter stitch, and call it good for length. Yeah.

Dyeing (Again)

2008-05-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year again Dave. The time of year when I start talking about dyeing wool and yarn, and mentioning all these weird plants that you have never heard of. Today the plant in question is.........Bronze Fennel. A lacy-leaved, licorice smelling plant with bronze-ish foliage (picture to follow) my book by Rita Buchanan says that it should give a good yellow on wool mordanted with alum. And what did I Get? Green. It's a rather lovely minty sort of pale green, but I got green. However, all is not lost, as part of the reason I was dyeing the stuff was for the school presentation on Fri. (EEK! That's this Fri, and I still don't have my new bodice even started! Yikes! Guess what tomorrow's project is) I'm also toying with the idea of trying rose petals, because I've run across several mentions that you can get a good pink with rose petals and lemon juice. That would be interesting for the presentation. Would have to be soon, though.

Updates and roses

2008-05-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been interesting here. It got really hot last weekend, but has cooled down today, was even raining earlier, just when I went out to take pictures of my roses. It was one of those "6 inch" rains, a raindrop every 6 inches, so it didn't bother me, or the camera.
If you will remember, last year I planted 2 new rose bushes, a Baron Rothschild and a Belle de Crecy. The Baron bloomed, the Belle didn't. Well, this year, the Belle is making up for lost time, and is fairly covered in buds, some of which have already opened. Here's a pic up above.
Also, I mentioned that I had blocked my lace veil in order so estimate how much more I had to do. I did take pictures but I had forgotten to post them. Here is a closeup of the pattern. It's coming along nicely, I'm about halfway done. I managed 2 pattern repeats this last week, which is bringing me closer to being on schedule.

And finally, just because, a closeup picture of my Falstaff rose that I planted 2 years ago.

More Stuff.

2008-05-12T09:46:00.001-07:00

I talked to mom yesterday for Mother's Day. She said that when Dad got the package of Chemo caps that I sent the first on that he put on was the gray one, so the yarn hadn't lied to me when it called my name. He seems to be doing okay, hasn't had to have blood in a while, but his counts are all still weird. Mom says that she'd going to have Dad ask the Dr. if he can skip his weekly blood test once so that they can come up. It would be nice to see them, and they would like to see Jeanie, as well as my family. If they can't come up then we will plan a trip down there, but they won't get to see Jeanie that way.
I've added some things to my "Must be Done" list. First is new pairs of undershorts. These are knee length cotton drawstring pants that I wear under my hoop skirts for modesty. My problem with the current 1 I have is that by the time I need to change they are so damp from sweat that I need to take them off and let them dry out, which increases my changing time. If I have 2 more pairs I can rotate them, and change into a fresh pair when I change from Her Excellency to the Queen, and I won't have to remember that I put them with the Queen's costume when I get dressed in the morning.
Second is a new peasant bodice. I was going to do this last year and then found out that I didn't need too. This year I do. We're doing a school presentation on the 30th of this month. Normally during a school presentation my friend Isabella does a segment on how thread was spun, but Isabella is going to have to work that day. I told Marjorie that I could bring my spinning wheel, and give some info. It won't be the same as Isabella's but it will be close. However, there is no way that Her Excellency would be doing that kind of work, so my peasant is going to have to be brought out of the closet. And she needs a new bodice, as I have out-grown the previous one. That needs to be done by the end of the month. On the plus side, I won't have to have help to get dressed for this presentation. I may need help carrying stuff though, but there are usually plenty of men around.

Project updates.

2008-05-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that I haven't posted much lately about my projects, which are the supposed topic of this blog. My veil is coming along fine. I blocked what I had to see how long a pattern repeat was when fully blocked, and concluded that I needed 10 more patterns to make the veil long enough. Since then I have completed one more repeat, so I only need 9. However, the calendar tells me that I only have 8 weeks till I need it, and I need one week for dying and blocking, so 7 weeks of knitting left. That means that I need to complete 1 and 1/2 repeats (more or less) in order to be done in time. This is a good thing to know, it means that I need to step things up a notch. I had been knitting a little at a time, 2 rows a day, most days, which got me about a repeat a week, but this isn't going to cut it. Going to have to work a little harder.
I may not have my Basket cover done for fair this year, I haven't worked on it in quite a while. I should get back to it though. I really should.
I did get my Dad's chemo caps finally sent off yesterday, so they should arrive at my parents soon.
I'm not sure about whether I'll get my hairnet done either, it's and extremely complicated pattern. Thank heaven for Sticky notes. I would literally be lost without them.
Oh, and Kimber's last choir concert of the year is May 29th, I believe. That's a Thurs for anyone interested.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-04-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

from the grandkids. ARM is playing with a little plastic bead Helicopter and landing pad that he and a friend made at Day Program.

Almost A Week?

2008-04-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing much to blog about. Still playing Children of the Nile, still knitting, still spending way too much time on Facebook. Oh, well, at least I'm making progress on the knitting. I'll try to post pictures in a little while. And I've been working on Brain Age 2 every day. I'm down to 37 years old as far as my brain is concerned (at least, as measured by the game.)

Knitting too much

2008-04-22T09:34:00.001-07:00

I've been playing a computer game called "Children of the Nile" the last few days. It's a city building program, on the order of Sim City, but set in ancient Egypt. It's rather fun, but it also allows me plenty of knitting time, because you have to wait for your bricklayers to build your buildings, and people to move in, etc. I've also recently bought a book called "At Knit's End" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, which is basically a bunch of small essays on knitting. She has several blurbs in it that start "You know you knit too much when..." and one of them is that you put the keyboard on the floor to scroll with your toes while reading your e-mail, so you can knit more. So... if I choose my computer game by how much knitting time it allows me, does that mean I knit too much?
Oh, and I finished Dad's third Chemo cap (while playing COTN), so now I just need to get them sent.

Stuff and Junk

2008-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Quick updates, as I haven't been doing much. Kim and I gave ARM a Nintendo DS for his birthday, and then I went and bought myself a game for it. Brain Age 2. Lots of fun, frustration and a big fat healthy poke in the ego. Been playing it every day while ARM is in school. I've found that I really enjoy Sudoku. Who knew? I also finally caved and get an account on Facebook. Most of my "Friends" are from Greenwood. Oddly enough, I don't seem to have any family with accounts.
Dad's third chemo cap is almost done. I decreased to the point of needing Double Pointed Needles instead of the circular needle that I was using, but I was away from home when this happened and so I put it in my tote bag and haven't brought it out since. Perhaps today I'll get it done.

A Knitting We Will Go

2008-04-16T13:16:00.001-07:00

I've finished the second of Dad's new chemo caps and started the third. Yes, I know this one isn't blue, but the yarn called my name in the store. It may have been lying, but, oh well. It's a 4x4 rib, which was kind of interesting to decrease, but I think it looks okay. I'm working on another one with cables, and some seed stitch areas. Should be fun.
I'll get to work on it for some time this afternoon, as both kids have Dentist appointments. Fun, fun, fun. Not looking forward to sitting in the Dentist office while my children have their teeth cleaned. But at least I'll get to work on my knitting. Since Dentist's offices tend to raise my blood pressure, and knitting is supposed to lower it, we'll see who wins, the Dentist office or the knitting.
Oh, and there is supposed to be an IT something or other on May 14th at the convention center, and the Mythbusters are going to be the keynote speakers at the luncheon. Kim is getting us tickets. Trying to decide whether or not to "Squeee".

Spring break II

2008-04-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Well, spring break is all but over. Kim has recovered nicely and went back to work Thus. ARM's Birthday is tomorrow, but we're celebrating today, because we have friends in town. I didn't get a lot done after my last post, because my thumbs started acting up, and my index fingers decided they needed a little attention too. I been reading a lot of magazines, and knitting or stitching only when I can't stand it any more. It took three days before I didn't wake up with my hands aching. So Dad's next chemo cap is going to be done more slowly than the last one was. Once I get this one and one more done I think I should be able to send them.

Video

2008-04-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

This is a video at Kimber's most recent choir concert. I was only able to get there for the Divas choir. We were getting ready to leave for the concert when the phone rang, and it was to confirm the installation of ARM's new carpet for the next day. Problem was, they seemed to think it was for the afternoon when I scheduled it for the morning. They actually hung up on Kim even though he wasn't being rude or anything. Twice. It took him a while to get everything straightened out. Meanwhile he had sent me on to the concert, and I pretty much missed the Concert choir, so just Divas this time. The sound is a little low, my apologies. It turns out that the girl Kimber is standing next to (I think, it could be the other one in the shot) is the daughter Dave Gowdy, who was in every choir I was in (except girls ensemble) in High School. Small world, huh? He stopped me after the concert to say "Hi".

Spring Break.

2008-04-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of Spring Break, and not only do I have my kids at home, but my husband as well, still recovering from Gall Bladder surgery. He's doing quite well, the kids are behaving themselves, the cats are cats, and the weather is the pits. It was windy and rainy yesterday, and, while the wind has died down, it is still overcast today. I'm getting really tired of bad weather. If it's not rainy and windy, then it's just windy, and of course that causes headaches.
On the plus side I'm getting a lot of knitting done. I've got another chemo cap for Dad finished,(above) and I'm making lots of headway on my veil(below) and hair net. I'm thinking of heading to the store and buying another skein of yarn for Dad's chemo caps, because while I have six skeins of the country blue that I made the last one out of, I'm going to get bored if that's all I use. Mom says he likes blues, which is good, so do I, just not that same blue over and over. Mom also says that he likes cables, so that will give me lots of opportunity to play.

Kim's Home

2008-04-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Kim had his gall bladder surgery on Fri, and everything went well. He's up and around, his stitches itch, and he managed to eat bacon this morning. We'll see what that does to his system.

I've got several projects going right now. My square silk shawl. The lace veil for the Queen's black. A black hair net, for either the Queen or Her Excellency, I haven't decided yet. Her Excellency's basket cover. A floor cover for my pavilion. The Queen's center panel. Chemo caps for my dad. The ubiquitous dishcloth for when I want a project I can finish. Lot's of stuff to work on. I really shouldn't start anymore. (Watch, in a few weeks I'll be writing about how insane I am, starting something else. ) I'll post pictures later.

ARM's birthday is next Sunday, assuming that I let him have it. I've been threatening not to celebrate it for the last month or so, when he gets really obstinate. That usually get him to do what I want him to do. He must want presents really badly.

Been a While

2008-04-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

But life has been kind of interesting lately. ARM had another attack of the dizzies, and I ended up having to take him to get an MRI, which was normal, thank heaven. My brother will be returning from taking a post office test for employment in Seattle and will be spending the night, so I've been making chemo caps to send down to my dad. Don't know if he wants or needs them, but he can pass them along to someone else if he doesn't. It was a Faire rehearsal weekend this last weekend, and then we had two board meetings on back to back weekends. It's been fun. I'll try to get back into the swing of posting on a regular basis this month.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

I try not to blog on Sundays, but....Happy Easter Everyone! The Easter Bunny brought lots of candy to everyone in our house, hope he did the same with you!

Fingernails

2008-03-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

I went and got a full set of artificial nails this last payday, because I'd noticed that I was beginning to pick at my fingernails again,(I'd pretty much stopped after the last set, which I got just before my B-day in June). And then, of course, I did a whole two weeks of wanting to do nothing but knit on my new shawl. Now, however, that I'm back to wanting to embroider, I find that the nails are too long, and I have a hard time holding the needle. Arrrrrrgh! And in order to feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of them I need to leave them on until the end of the month, which means April at least.
In other news, ARM fell at school on Monday. He apparently got an attack of the dizzies, and almost passed out. He also almost broke his nose. It swelled up and discolored after I got him home, (they called me from Lourdes to come get him) and so I had him hold a cold can of soda on his nose off and on for most of the afternoon. The swelling had gone down my the evening, and the yesterday when the Dr. looked at it he said that nothing needed to be done too it, he wouldn't even order and X-ray. It's either a little cracked, of just bruised. The Dr. did order some tests to try to determine why my lamb took a nose dive, but all the tests came back fine, so we're thinking it was standing up too fast (he had just stood up to go to the bathroom) or something like that. Anyway, he seems to be fine.

"Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse..."

2008-03-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

A few days ago the director of our Faire received an anonymous letter in the mail, dissing our Faire. While some of his points were valid, I had a serious problem with the letter in general. Seeing as how this "person" took it upon himself to criticize our speech, and owing to the fact the our director called a halt to e-mail discussion of the subject, at least on our list, I'm going to rant here. I will not post the letter in full, but I am going to take quotes out of it and then point out my problems.
"Wither I didst gain recent..." " Yea whence first I didst see...'"
These are just two of the many times where he used "I didst", which is a problem for me, because "Didst" is the second person singular past tense of "to do"(according to Websters) so "I didst" not anything, because "I" is first person, and the proper past tense even back in Elizabethan times was "Did".
"Whence I visited there, it were times of spring faires. " " Yea whence first I didst see...'"
The first quote clearly misuses the word "whence, and the second quote also looks to misuse it, for it seems that he is saying "Yes, when I first saw" yet "whence" means "from what place, source, or cause" at least according to Merriam-Webster, and I just can't get that to make sense.
"Forsooth I doth believe these..."
He only did this once, but "doth" is "A third person singular present tense of do" and of course "I" is first person, so once again he proves that he can't conjugate the verb "to do" to save his life. ( in rereading again I found a case of his using "doth" with a third person plural, but I won't quote it.) But the really big problem I have with the wretch is... (Wait for it..)
" Their language so curious, I were not convinced they spake the Queen's English!"
I have two problems with this, the first being that he had this tendency to leave out articles and helper verbs a lot, breaking the Elizabethan tradition of not saying in five words what could be said in ten, (or fifteen, or twenty, etc.) but I also find it grating. The second problem is the assumption that there was even something called "the Queen's English" at the time. According to "The Story of English" by McCrum, Cran, and MacNeil ( and is the companion book to the the PBS series) the "Queen's English" was a Victorian concept, something to which the lower Classes could aspire to speak. The Elizabethans would have had no concept of a "Queen's English" except as how the Queen spoke, and not as something they should imitate, and since most of the population of England only ever saw or heard the Queen once or twice in their lives, how on Earth could they be expected to sound like her? Besides, they were too busy playing with the language to want to put limits on it.
While it's obvious to me that this person got a lot of fun from dissing us, it is equally obvious that this wretch is a pot calling the kettle black. And now, having finished this, I've gotten it out of my system.
(And to those of you who find the inevitable mistake, no, I'm not perfect either.)

Still Knitting.

2008-03-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

I'm still knitting on my Square Shawl. I haven't had the inclination to work on anything else for the past week, (other than housework, when it needs to be done) and while part of me feels guilty, I have to think "Faire is volunteer, and everything I'm doing for faire except ARM's new doublet is not absolutely essential, so what does it matter?" Does is really matter if I have to wait until Next Year to have my new center panel? I don't think so. But part of me still feels guilty.

More Insanity

2008-03-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am definitely insane. I've started another new project, but at least this one is for Faire. I've bought two yards of rug canvas, in order to make a floor covering for my pavilion. At least with this one, Kimber can help, as it's just a crochet slip-stitch through the canvas. She already did a little last night, and it didn't take her long to get the hang of it. This is the dice bag that I
finished, after abandoning the white one with the pearls. I'm also posting a picture of my square shawl, and the first repeat of my veil. Yes, I know that it's white, that's what dye is for. I didn't have any black thread that I liked that was not already earmarked for other things. I haven't worked at all on my center panel of basket cover, I just haven't been motivated to work on either. Maybe if I knit for a while I'll find the motivation to embroider. It works with me that way sometimes.

March 1st

2008-03-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

just a post to let people know I'm still alive. And doing way too many projects as usual. I've started a veil for the Queen's black, which I had said I was abandoning, after I got those three books the other day. And a new silk shawl, square this time. Silly me. Silly, silly me. Oh, and I abandoned the dice bag that I posted a picture of, because ARM lost my crochet hook, and I made another one. I'll post a pic later.

New Knitting Books!

2008-02-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

I was surfing the net the other night and found a pattern that I really wanted. It was in a book called, The Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting, by Marianne Kinzel. I asked Kim if I could order it, and he noticed that Amazon had it listed with The First Book of Modern Lace Knitting, also by Marianne Kinzel. He said that I could order both. Then I noticed a book called Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman. It's more about designing your own shawls rather that a book of patterns, though it does have some. Anyway, I have spent the weekend looking through these books, and now I really have lots of ideas in mind. This was probably not a good idea, as I already have a lot of things I need to do for Faire. Oh, well.

Catching up.

2008-02-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well, It's been more than a week since I last posted. I've been sort of busy. I went to Radcon, had a great time, as did the rest of the family. Got to catch up with a lot of friends, and found a lot of books that I wanted. Then, I've been working on my projects, some for faire, and some for other things.
One of the things I bought while at Radcon was several dice to replace the dice that I've lost over the years, and several moves. Then I decided that I needed a bag for them, and this is what I've started. It was interesting to try and get the pearls in the right place. That's done now, so now it's just straight crochet, which I don't do a whole lot of.
This is the current section of the Queen's center panel that I'm working on. Again, lots of green, but I'm still not done with the yellow, so that's something. I'm also doing a length of silk lace. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. It may go around my basket cover, or on the edge of my basket liner. I don't know. I try to do a repeat of the pattern a day, but sometimes I miss two or three days at a time. I'm also working on my basketcover, but the picture is in the side bar.

Happy...

2008-02-14T11:25:00.001-08:00

Valentine's Day, All.

Almost a year

2008-02-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

And I mean that literally. Tomorrow is the 1st birthday of this blog. As of tomorrow I will have been blogging for a year. Who would have though it would have gone on that long?
I have stopped taking the Welbutrin and I feel much better, no more shakies, which is a good thing. I'm still hard at work on my basket cover and the center panel for the Queen, progress is being made. I guess that I should post pictures some time in the near future. Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe.

New Meds II

2008-02-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a week now, which is what I promised Kim. I haven't had any anxiety after the first couple of days, but I'm still very shaky. It makes the embroidering fun (not). Don't know whether or not to stop them, Kim says that I'm already acting like I feel better. It may be just wishful thinking on his part, since the Welbutrin is supposed to take several weeks to build up in the system before it shows any effects. I'm not sure that it's helping much.
I'm making good progress on Her Excellency's basket cover, and on Her Majesty's center panel, I'm alternating days. The shakiness comes and goes throughout the day, so there are times when I don't have to fight it, and times when I do. I'll post some pics in the next couple of days.

New meds

2008-02-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

Remember Wed. (The Storm) when I said there was no need to change medication? Well, that wasn't quiet true. The Dr. has kept me on the anti-anxiety medication, but decided that I needed more help with the depression, so she added Welbutrin, which I was able to start taking yesterday. And then I got the shakes, and I felt like I was having a panic attack. This lasted all day, and now today, once again I'm getting the shakes, and I have a horrible headache. I'm not quite so anxious now, but I just took it an hour ago. If this keeps up I don't think I'm going to keep taking the stuff. It's getting lighter earlier and staying lighter later, so possibly I'll be alright without. Now however, I need to take some excedrin for the headache. Better living through chemistry, as Norma would say.

The Kloster blocks are done!

2008-01-31T10:10:00.001-08:00

Look to the right, at the progress photo of my basket cover. The design goes all the way around! (Hmm, two exclamation marks in the same post. Can you tell that I'm happy?) Now comes the fun part, cutting the threads, and doing the needle weaving. I'd like to find some size 12 red pearl cotton for that, but I'll do it in white if I can't. Progress is also begin made on the Queen's center Panel, slowly but surely. Still don't think it'll be done for this year though.

The storm

2008-01-30T10:59:00.001-08:00

The Tri-Cities hasn't looked like this in 4 years, and didn't really look like this until Monday morning. It started raining Freezing rain Saturday afternoon while I was at a Board Meeting for Faire, and so I got to drive home in it. Late Saturday night the decision was made to cancel church, at least for us, as we have the 9:00 a.m. meeting and it was entirely likely that driving would be extremely hazardous. Then, sometime that night, the rain turned to snow, and it snowed and it snowed, and it snowed. All day, coming down hard. The accumulation on my fire pit is about 7 inches or so, and it all came down in one day. They canceled school Mon. and Tues. and Tues. the temperature crept up to about 45 degrees and it was sunny, so the stuff on the roads and roofs started to melt. It looks like I will actually be able to go get ARM from school today, between shoveling my car out and the melting the snow did yesterday I don't think I'll get stuck trying to get out of the driveway, the way Kim did on both Mon. and Tues. mornings. Fun, fun.
On the plus side I had a Dr. appt. yesterday and my blood pressure is still down, 112 over 70, so no need to change medications. Yeah!

Center Panel

2008-01-25T11:06:00.001-08:00

Well, taking a day off and then working again is not significantly better as far as my back is concerned, so I guess I'm going to try working a bit each day. I've managed to reconfigure my stand so that I'm not hunched over as much, but it still gets to my back after a while. I've still got a lot of this section to work on before I continue, and most of it is green. But once I finish I can go back to (for me) more interesting colors. Progress continues, slowly.
Oh, and my ring is back from being sized, and fits quite nicely on my ring finger. It's nice to once again have a ring that says "I'm married".

Ow, ow,ow

2008-01-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

Well, in the gear up for this year's Faire, I've started working on the center panel for the Queen's black gown. I embroidered on it for most of the day yesterday. And while I got a lot done, my back hated me for doing it when I went to bed last night. The thing is so big that I have to put the hoop in a stand to work on it, and so I end up hunched over a little. I did take several breaks to knit a little on a dishcloth, but still, my back was not happy. I had to use a heated rice bag under my neck in order to get comfortable enough to get to sleep. I'm thinking that I will not work on it much today, and then work tomorrow. If that helps I will continue the every other day routine. I still doubt that I'll have it done for this years Faire, but that is the goal. However, I'm sure I will have several more things to do. Her Excellency needs a new Partlet ( or shirt) and ARM is going to need a new doublet again I expect. And there is still the new basket cover that I'm working on. Once again, too many projects, not enough time.

A better picture of my ring

2008-01-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

This was taken with a different camera. Kim managed to get our old camera to work (what a guy) and so now we have two.
I'm getting ready to put away all projects except for those related to Faire. I guess that it's that time of year.