Tag Archive | pets

Still the Rainbow

But at least it’s getting bigger! I knit on it after working out yesterday, while introducing the girl to the magical train wreck that is Keeping up with the Kardashians. It’s so funny to watch. (“Jump the shark? What does that mean? Don’t they mean jump ship?” and “The girls think you have this disease called colonoscopy.”) I know. I’m sorry. I can’t help it. Please don’t judge me. Actually, you can judge all you want. I’m still going to watch it and laugh. Anyhoo, I knit on the scarf a lot, and it went to flute lesson too, and it’s growing by leaps and bounds. I added on the second skein after flute lesson and knit some more last night while the boys watched The Flash. (Season finale! So dramatic!) I’m in love with this scarf and this yarn.

I could pretend that I’m going to work on the mermaid blanket today, but let’s be honest. I’m going to knit on this scarf until it’s done. Then, and only then, will I return to the mermaid blanket.

Here’s a fun shot of Grace. The hubby took both dogs on a 2-mile run yesterday and wore them out big-time. But they were so happy!

We have had rain for days and it’s still cloudy and gray. Here’s hoping there’s sunshine wherever you are!

Dogs & Yarn

May23

Weekends in May are jam-packed for us. We started with a Friday afternoon Picnic in the Park with a local weatherman and the jazz band from the girl’s high school. The weatherman always brings his dog, so it’s a pet-friendly event, and we were crazy enough to take our two. I’m not sure it was a great idea. Sure, Jack looks all cute and friendly, but in reality, he’s not great in a crowd. He’s protective enough that he’s uneasy with all the people and pulls hard to sniff them out. Or when he wants to greet another dog, he thinks he has to bark and act all crazy. *I* know he’s not trying to attack; I know my dog. I know his body language and barks and having seen both “on edge/aggressive” and “hey I just want to see hello”, I can tell the difference. But they don’t, and I know he sounds scary, so trying to manage him was a challenge.

Grace did better. She just wanted to lick all the people, play with all the dogs, and follow me when I walked away with Jack to help him calm down. So she was a bit wild, but in a friendly, non-scary way. And in her spare time, she wriggled around and ate grass.

Jack finally calmed down enough to sit on the girl’s foot and hang out in the audience…until someone walked up with a bike. Bikes freak him out, so off we went again to walk off the crazy. I think it was good practice for him, but he’ll never be a big-crowd party animal.

Saturday, the girl auditioned for the local youth symphony…and I finished a fingerless glove while I waited:

Yesterday I did two and a half hours of yard work to earn some guilt-free tennis-watching crochet time, and I worked A LOT on the mermaid blanket. It’s growing slowly and I think I’m getting very close to joining and working in the round.

Unfortunately, the several hours of crochet set my wrist to aching so I took a break to knit a tiny baby hat with leftover Malabrigo. I love baby hats. I want to add a button; I just need to decide which one.

Today is the last day of school, so I’m relishing my last bit of solitude. It’s likely to be a busy summer, what with driving the girl to summer school and work etc, but at least we’re not moving like we did last summer! Now I just need to find some fun, inexpensive things to do occasionally to get the boy away from his video games.

Fast Lace, Knit & Crochet

May13

I have two Finished Objects to show off this Friday! As expected, I finished the turquoise shawl for the mother. I sent her a picture and she seems pleased with it. I know I am. I never get tired of this pattern. This is the fifth time making it, I think, and they now take just a couple of hours.

There were a little over 100 yards left in the ball, so I decided to make a knit scarf with the leftovers. Again, I repeated a pattern: My So Called Life Lacey Scarf. It’s another one that’s super easy and super fast. I started it during Jeopardy and finished it during the boy’s band concert. It’s not as long as I would have liked, but it’s still a wearable length.Just for fun, I made Jack model for me. He wasn’t pleased.

Today I get to cast on for something new! Happy Friday, friends!

Stop: Knitting Time!

May12

I finished the proofreading job last night, and while I enjoyed it, and enjoyed doing something different, I’m ready to get back to my yarn. Do you want to see my new yarns? Of course you do! Remember I was taking the mother to my LYS the other day to pick out yarn for a scarf? We had a lovely time browsing. I should take some photos of this store; it’s HUGE. SO MUCH YARN. We quickly found the yarn for her scarf, but she also wants an afghan, so we started looking for yarn for that, and that was a lot harder. Finally, she picked out a variegated peach/teal acrylic, but they didn’t have enough, and she didn’t want to add a solid color. Thankfully, with some help, we found a different brand of variegated that will go really well. I’ll hold one strand of each, and once it’s done, we’ll go back to the yarn store to pick out a solid for a border.

Nope, no photo of that yarn yet. I forgot to take one and right now I’m outside with the puppies and it’s upstairs and I’m just too plain lazy to go do that. You’ll see it another time, I promise.

Of course we also had to admire and pet and drool over the other pretty yarns, and she even bought me a present! Look at my gorgeous Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Bulky in Rainbow! I know it will be a cowl for me but I haven’t picked out a pattern yet. Right now it just decorates my desk.

With all the yarn admired, we paid and packed up, and you’ll be AMAZED to know that I bought NO YARN. That’s right: I spent no money! It helped that I was getting a skein as a little gift, but still, I was quite impressed with myself! So we headed off to lunch and errands, and then I got a call: the yarn store had forgotten to put her scarf yarn in the bag. I would have to pick it up on the way home. No problem, it was convenient.

Except. I remembered they’d had a coupon on Facebook. I hadn’t printed it out but thought they might honor it.

And darn it all, she said they would. So my admirable restraint was diminished, and I bought yarn. Still, I only bought one skein, and it was on sale. And it’s gorgeous. I’m thinking this might become a Be Simple Shawl, or maybe the Be Simple Variations. Or who knows, I might stick with tried and true and make another Hitchhiker. I’ve got time to figure it out, since I’ve got one small and three bigger projects I need to focus on first.

First up is the scarf for the mother. She picked out Bamboo Pop in turquoise. The scarf is halfway done and might even be done today. It’s a lovely yarn, a bit slippery with the large hook I’m using (size N/P, 10mm) but it feels silky in my fingers and it will drape beautifully.

Then there’s the mermaid blanket of course, and my mother’s afghan, but at least I have until cooler weather before I need to worry about finishing that. So once the scarf is done, I’ll be casting on a project for my sister. I saw the new Marcelle Wrap pattern by Little Church Knits, and I think it’s gorgeous. I shared it on my Facebook page, and my sister saw it and has to have one for herself! Hooray, a reason to knit one! She picked out the colors and the yarn arrived yesterday. It’s hard to see it well, but the top one is called Forest Heather, I think. It’s a dark green with slight reddish/purple hints. I’m looking forward to starting this one soon.

So there you have it, all my yarn updates. That’s plenty, right? I certainly have enough to keep my needles and hooks busy for a while. Until next time, here’s a photo of Jack, our resident branch manager. I have no idea how he got this stick up the narrow deck stairs, but he’s pretty happy with himself.

One Gray Glove

May4

My knitting life has become a bit boring of late, I’m afraid! I haven’t been working on exciting projects for myself in quite a while. I’m making progress on the commissioned Mermaid Blanket; it’s my top yarn priority right now. I’m loving this color combination, and so far it’s working up very quickly. I’m using this pattern and I’m still in the easy flat portion of the afghan. I had to take a break though, for an Etsy order of two Yoda hats! Hooray! I do love getting Etsy orders…but I’m also getting pretty tired of Yoda hats. They were quick, though, and last night during the girl’s band concert I finished another fingerless glove. These are great travel projects, so I keep them in a bag and work on the mermaid while I’m at home.

And that’s all the yarn stuff, can you believe it? There’s always a lot going on in late April and May when you’ve got kids, especially teenage kids involved in lots of activities. So I’m doing plenty of driving around and looking forward to the day when the girl gets her driver’s license. And also not looking forward to it, too, you know? Thankfully, the puppies have been good too…except for wanting to lay on the back of the couch. (They’re not allowed up there, but it doesn’t seem to stop the naughty girl pup.) Yep, I got her down as soon as I took the photo. Do I think she gets up there whenever we’re gone? Yep, I’m sure she does!

Weekend Adventure, With Yarn

Apr26

We took a baby road trip this weekend. We’re gearing up to start painting our house this summer and found some used scaffolding on Craigslist. The listings nearby kept getting snatched up quickly, so we drove about three hours to the southwest part of Missouri, near Springfield. It was gorgeous, green and hilly and lush. I do love it down there. Our destination was pretty rural, and I was delighted to find they had a nice menagerie for me to play with while the guys messed with the scaffolding. They had four dogs, three cats (that I saw; he said there were around 18), a bunch of chickens, a horse, and five goats. Molly, a “smaller” Great Pyrenees, was my favorite. She was so sweet and mellow, and I ended up sitting on the ground cuddling with her for much of the time. I really wish I could have taken her home with me, and they would have let me too! They said they got her to be a guard dog but she ended up being the runt of the litter. But for some reason my hubby thinks two dogs is enough. I know, what’s wrong with him, right? I did get him to agree that once he retires, if we move out to the country with a bit of land, I could have more puppies. Hooray! I might actually like that. I mean, I’m not very social and don’t like many people. I spend most of my time in silence and love it. I love the wide expanse of open land. Would I like it long-term? Not sure. I’d definitely have to be relatively close to civilization. So yeah, we have that to ponder for the next several years. Think about it: more puppies! Yay!

Okay, enough about puppies. How about kitties? We stopped at a few antique malls and one of them had this little beauty. She was a miniature version of a cat I used to have.Bonus: the hubby agreed that IF we moved to a country-ish location, I could have outdoor cats! (He claims to be “allergic”. Whatever.)

Of course I also found a yarn store while we were out and about, though we had to drive a bit out of our way to get there. It’s in Rogersville, MO, near Springfield, and it’s called One City Market. It’s in a cute little house and I walked in and there was a small room full of gorgeous worsted and bulky wools, like Lorna’s Laces and Vice Yarns and Baah! and Malabrigo and so much more. It connected to another room which had the wool fingering/DK weights, also yummy colors and brands, including some small indie dyers. I picked out two skeins, only two skeins, trying to be very very good and went to the counter…then I spotted another room. Oh, yes, she said, that’s the cotton blends, and some closeout yarns. Oh well. Crap. I descended into the rabbit hole of her closeouts. I mean, good grief, it was crazy good. Brands like Rowan and Cascade, and wool and cotton and more and more. It was all packaged together in ziplock bags, some with multiple skeins of one yarn, some with multiple skeins of the same yarn in different colors. And the prices? 65% off retail! So much for being good!

What did I bring home? Well, let me show you some pictures! And I’ll preface it by saying I’ve been playing with a new technique called the flatlay. I got the idea from Jem Arrowsmith Knits, who has been taking an Instagram photography course with Makelight and producing truly gorgeous photos. I’d love to do the course at some point but right now the budget says I can just play with a few of the ideas. I have TONS of scrapbooking paper for interesting backgrounds, and like Jem, I had a marvelous time collecting trinkets to jazz up my photos. Unfortunately, when I actually had time to take photos, it was so stinking dark from a severe thunderstorm that I had no natural light. So these are very rough beginning-stage photos.

I started with some Dream in Color Classy in Cashmere in color Charged Cherry, and it’s the hottest hot pink you ever saw. And soft, so soft and squishy. I got some Manos del Uruguay Alegria, a merino blend in a vivid neon rainbow. Yes, it’s fingering, but it will make a stunning Hitchhiker. It really is much brighter than it looks here. I kept this photo because I like the pieces together, but I’d love to re-take it in natural light.

Now for my clearance finds. I got six skeins of Cascade Sierra, a bouncy blend of cotton and merino, three pink and three orange. I can’t wait to knit the two colors together; I just haven’t decided whether they want to be a shawl or a lightweight scarf.

Pink is my color right now, apparently, because I also got a bag of SMC Select Juliette, six skeins in a dark raspberry hue. It’s 100% cotton and labeled bulky but looks more like Aran weight.

My favorite deal was a bag of 9 balls of Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran. It’s mostly merino with a bit of microfiber and 10% cashmere. Soft? You betcha! And it’s a gorgeous red that will be fantastic for holiday knitting. I got all of it, 855 yards, for $28! WHEE! I mean, that could be a really sweater vest…if I had the patience to knit a sweater. (Spoiler: I don’t.)

I could have bought so much more but managed to stop the damage at that, and even that was more than I should have bought. Still, I’m delighted with my finds and can’t wait to cast on with all of it. And speaking of actually knitting, I did some of that too, and I bound off the Citron shawl last night! I was all “Meh” about it until it came off the needles, and then I realized how lovely it actually is! I love the ruffled edge, even if it is shorter than it’s supposed to be because I ran out of yarn. Again, the color isn’t true but I had to share it. Once I get the ends woven in and a day that’s not so gray, I’ll post a better photo.

Whew, this was a big post, wasn’t it? That’s what happens when I save it all up instead of doling it out in small daily doses. If you’re still reading, thanks for sticking around!

Shoes, Shawls, and Cowls

Apr8

Do you know that old song, Three Coins in the Fountain? For some reason I thought of that this morning, only my version would be Two Shoes in the Trashcan. (I really hope you sang that in your head.) Yes, Grace is feeling some serious spring fever or something, and has returned to shoe theft with a vengeance. She got one of mine yesterday (my fault: I left them downstairs, went to put them on, and only found one. The second? Outside in the backyard.) This morning the girl came down with a destroyed black flat. For the record, this is the THIRD black flat the dog has eaten, and this one was actually MINE. The girl and I wear the same size shoes and she loved these flats too and borrowed them often. She kept them under her bed, and it worked for quite a while. But apparently Grace figured it out. Oy. This dog. I’d let her run away but she’s chipped and they’d find us. (KIDDING. I wouldn’t really do that, as tempting as it is on some days.) Maybe she needs a new toy to distract her for a while.

Let’s move on to more fun stuff, shall we? After finishing the Hitchhiker, I needed a new project. Not content with just one, I decided to cast on two new projects yesterday. One is a shawl that’s been in my Ravelry queue for ages, the Citron. I saw one on Instagram the other day and it reminded me of it, and the grass green yarn I have is perfect for spring. It’s going pretty quickly so far. I’m using DK weight instead of lace, so it’s definitely going to be a full shawl rather than a shawlette. The yarn is Lachiwa by Mirasol Yarn, a 60/40 cotton linen blend. I think it will become a fabulous spring shawl. So far the pattern is fun, with just the right mix of plain stockinette and increase/decrease rows. I don’t think this one will take long to finish.

Second is the Kerr Diamond Cowl with some of my yarn from Knitting in the Heartland. The yarn is from Show Me Yarn, the booth that talked me into three skeins, and it’s the Cyclone base in a gorgeous purple called All Dressed Up. I got the pattern, which is a paid pattern, free with the purchase of the yarn. It was written specifically for this yarn; I don’t think I’ve ever made a pattern with the original yarn! I have to confess, I was a tiny bit disappointed when I opened the pattern and saw that it was knit flat and seamed. One of my favorite things about cowls is that I get to knit in the round. BUT. I love the look of the pattern, and it’s got a neat ribbed section that intrigues me, so I’m giving it a go. The turquoise is for the provisional cast on, not part of the finished piece. I guess it’s good I got to practice that. It’ll give me good practice on my Kitchener stitch too. I mean, it’s fine. I’m not afraid of it. I guess I’m just a lazy knitter who would rather knit in the round than seam things!

One more knitting thing: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee posted a blog entry about her time at Knitting in the Heartland, and at the top she included two photos of the audience at her keynote. Well, if you look at the first photo, in the second row on the left, right next to the wall, you’ll see me! I couldn’t figure out how to share her photo, and honestly I didn’t think it was a good idea anyway, so here’s a link to the post. There you have it, I made it to the Yarn Harlot’s blog.

And with that, I’m off to enjoy a second cup of tea, last night’s Grey’s Anatomy, some knitting, and a couple of puppies that aren’t really puppies anymore but will always be puppies. Happy Friday, friends!

Sunshine after Clouds

Apr6

This is the hole Grace made in the couch cushion. Last night we came home from a choir concert and found stuffing scattered across the couch. ARGH. We can’t afford a new couch at this point. Any suggestions on patching or sewing it closed? I have some bitter spray that I guess I need to apply more frequently. And I’m also considering our options for containing her while we’re gone. Here’s the current state of the Hitchhiker. I knit on it all day long I think, including at the concert, and it still seems rather short. I have 31 teeth. We’ll see how far I get with this skein. But this is my first Hitchhiker with fingering weight, and I think it will be my last. It takes FOREVER. This, my friends, is why I like worsted and bulky weight yarns!Now let’s move on to happier things, shall we? Here’s the blocked Take the Crown Cowl. Yep, the pattern kind of gets lost when it’s worn, but I don’t care. I know it’s there, and I love the look regardless.

Finally, I have to share a story on why knitters are so fantastic: last week I got an email from a knitter who’d found one of my felted bags on Ravelry and then she found this blog, and she took the time to email me and tell me how much she liked them both. That’s always a boost, right? Well, then, she ordered the bag! That’s right, a knitter bought one of my knitted bags. How cool is that? When someone could have easily said, “Oh, I could make that myself” but instead thinks your piece is good enough to buy, well, I can’t tell you how good it made me feel. And when she got the bag, she emailed me again to tell me how much she loves it, and now we’ve got this lovely conversation going and I feel like I have a new friend. It’s a lovely reminder to me that compliments are free and easy to give, and often mean so much to the recipient. If you think something is beautiful, say it out loud!

A Couple of Cowls

Apr5

I have two cowls to share today, one older and one brand-new. Let’s start with the older one. A while back, I used my one and only skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted to make a Boomerang Cowl (pattern by MollyGirl Yarn). Here’s my Berry Cowl unblocked. I finally got around to blocking it yesterday. I blocked it pretty aggressively for a few reasons: the bind-off was really loose and I wanted both edges to be the same, I wanted it to be wider, and most importantly: I wanted to show off the pattern. I like the results!

I should be able to get a couple of wears out of it before it gets too warm. And now I need to do the same for my Take the Crown cowl, which I finished yesterday thanks to a few hours of outside knitting time.

The puppies kept me company, one by my side and one in the sun.

I decided to trust the pattern and finish it rather than frog it, and I think I made the right choice. Blocking should get it to a good width for a closer-fitting cowl. I found it fascinating to see how the colors pooled in the ribbing at the beginning (the bottom ribbing) but not at the end. This will be wonderful if I make it to any Royals night games this season!The pattern, which is a zigzag, does get a bit lost in the yarn, but I like it because in my mind, it represents the points of a crown. And again, blocking should open it up nicely. Details: the yarn is Nerd Girl Yarns Clever in color Take the Crown and it was heavenly to knit with. Soft but not limp, not splitty at all, just flowed wonderfully over the needles. This pattern is River Deep, Mountain High by MollyGirl Yarn and this makes my fourth.

What about you? What are your go-to patterns, the ones you knit over and over?

Good Wrap, Bad Hat, and Writing

Mar28

We’ll call this Making Progress Monday. Look what I did yesterday!! I’ve got just a little bit left of that medium gray, and then it’s the last color and my Color Block Wrap will be done! It knits up so much faster than I expected, but it probably helps that I spent yesterday watching TV and knitting. I started Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary, and fell in and couldn’t stop. Total binge day. This was perfect knitting for it too, mindless enough that I could keep my eyes on the screen most of the time. I wish I could have watched the whole series but I have two episodes left and the hubby says I have to wait and watch them with him. Sigh. Fine. Whatever. Maybe I’ll finish it tonight.

And the wrap was actually the second thing I worked on yesterday. I started out making a hat with some purple wool, because I needed a break from all the gray and wanted some color. It was easy to make, knit up quickly, and I like how it looks here: But this morning I put it on a head to take photos for this post, and…well. I kind of hate it. It’s not the pattern’s fault at all. I love the zigzags and the way the decreases look, but it came out so much more slouchy than I expected.I’ve made hats with this much slouch and they’re fine, but it’s not what I wanted this time. I’ll try it on my own head to make sure, but I’m thinking this one will be frogged and redone with fewer stitches and/or smaller needles.

I made progress with the writing this weekend too, on Saturday while my family was off camping. I took a break from the memoir I’m querying and instead focused on my novel. It’s the first one I wrote, probably the closest to my heart, and all I have is a printout from an old computer. So I’m typing it up and revising heavily as I go, and I was on a roll on Saturday. I was deep in a writing trance and got over 6000 words done. Granted, it’s revision so maybe not as impressive as pouring out that many new words, but I’m delighted anyway. I’m over halfway through it, and once it’s all typed up, I’ll leave it alone for a while and let it simmer again. I recently read Stephen King’s On Writing, and that was one of the pieces of advice that really struck me. (Sidebar: I loved his book; it was interesting and honest and smart. I didn’t learn a whole lot I didn’t already know about writing, but it made me feel I was doing the right things, and most importantly, it made me want to WRITE.) Anyway! I know this novel will need another big revision. I already have thoughts of what I need to add/change etc on the next go-round, but I’ve learned from experience that it’ll go more smoothly if I come at it with fresh eyes. I’ve also learned that I enjoy the writing part much more than the querying agents part!

One last thought: there’s been lots of buzz around Instagram lately, lots of posts asking people to “turn on notifications” so their posts don’t get lost, lots of anger that Instagram is changing their algorithm. I love Instagram the way it is, but I’m not freaking out about it. If nothing else, I have to accept that it’s a free app, and it’s a business, and they have to do what they feel is right for their business. We let them know what our thoughts are on the change, and now it’s up to me to adapt or move on.

In the interest of adapting, today I went through the accounts I follow and unfollowed several of the celebrity accounts, the bigger accounts I can see elsewhere or just don’t enjoy that much. Now my Follow list is a carefully curated list of crafters/knitters/dyers/makers (and friends of course) so whatever photos show up in my feed, I’ll be happy.

I’m a small fish: I don’t have a lot of followers and I’m excited when I get 20 likes on a photo, so this algorithm change might kill what little feedback I do get. And if it does, well. That will suck. And I will either keep posting photos because it pleases me, or I won’t. I have a new Ello account (I’m bonnyknits there too) and I might start using that more than Instagram eventually. But I’m going to be patient and give Instagram a shot. And while I do, I’m going to be generous with my Likes and comments, especially with the smaller makers/crafters. I really do think it will be okay.

I’ll leave you with my buddy Jack. He was so happy the hubby took the kids camping this weekend because it meant he could sleep next to me as long as he wanted! Happy Monday, friends!