No Tiger Yarn Today

Hmm, I may have been confused.... yesterday's link may have been the original opal tiger sock yarn, which may be different from the new rainforest collection's tiger sock yarn. I don't know. I just spent a very frustrating time trying to find a place to order the (new) tiger sock yarn - (yeah, I know, I said I wasn't going to, and then I tried to, and now I've given up and I'm back to the DIY koolaid plan) - I get very annoyed when online yarn shops won't accept your order without a telephone number. I don't give my phone number out, period. There's no reason why they can't contact me by email, if indeed they should have to contact me at all. So by the time I scratched off places that insisted on my phone number as a required field, places that only accepted credit cards, places that only accepted paypal, and places out of the country that have high shipping costs, I am out of prospects for this particular yarn. Oh, well. Where's the koolaid?

Tiger Plans

I have fallen wildly in love with the famous Opal Tiger sock yarn, from their new Rainforest collection, and I don't even know how to knit socks, but I DO know how to knit little animals and wouldn't the tiger cub from World of Knitted Toys be spectacular knit in Tiger yarn???? Wouldn't it??? However, I have somehow managed to NOT place an order. In the ongoing saga of me attempting to be frugal and resourceful, I will be koolaid dyeing tonight in various shades of orange and yellow and then...... I can't believe I'm saying this............ using the magic-ball technique to start a tiger cub. I know, I know, after all the complaining I did during the zebra about all the knots, and I said I would NEVER EVER do another magic ball project. But it's either that, or pay around $15 plus shipping, plus the cost of the Noro and Artyarns that I would have to include in the order to justify the shipping charge, (you know what I mean?) and where would it all stop?

I dunno, though, it might be worth it.

Mystery Shawl

I just signed up for the Mystery Shawl-along 2! First clue is Friday, the 30th, I think.

Went to the home improvement store this morning ~ got my water- filters, and some potting soil so I can plant Lily's Cosmic Kitty Herbs . Picked up a few paint chips. (shhh... I'm not painting anything ~ they're really for ATC's and such.)

And I found some lovely red seedless grapes at the grocery store.

Saturday

Well, I've done a great deal of fiddling about with the sidebar over there, adding rings and fanlistings, and now, for some bizarre reason, all my post titles and dates are center-aligned, and so is the text of most (but not all) of the past posts. Weird. I am too tired to play with it any more today. The only way I can figure this html stuff out is to try something, and hit 'preview', over and over, until it works. I like the 'clear edits' button a lot, too.

I am avoiding the knitting. I don't know why, but right now I don't want to knit, or study, or watch TV, or clean the house. Pretty much all I want to do is become a betta hobbiest and blog. Maybe blog about bettas. I did make another key lime pie ~ that counts as housework, yes?

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get myself up early and go to Lowe's, so I can stock up on some 3-packs of PUR filter cartridges. Cuz you know if I become a Betta Hobbiest, I'm gonna need good water......

Pink Poodle

I bought this today. I don't know why, exactly, maybe because I have been on the a really long time and this sort of looked like a sheep dyed with koolaid. (Maybe I should buy some yarn.) Admit it, though........ it's really cute!

Besides this, I also picked up a couple of those mini books from a sale bin, I've always wanted to try that "altered book" craft. This way I can try one out in a small format and see how it goes. I should have plenty of materials from my ATC supplies.

Knitting news: um, not so much. I am planning to make some progress on the rabbit this weekend.

Brenda from Close to my Heart answered my meme tag! Thanks, Brenda!

Sunny

I bought another betta today! He's a lovely pale yellow, and his name is Sunny. (No picture yet because he's new and acclimating.) He must be quite young, he's a lot smaller than Fisher. Fisher lives in my office, but little Sunny will be residing in my room on a small table. If you have any interest in bettas, the link to Betta Talk in my sidebar is quite informative, here's a link to the section on Betta Care, in particular, bringing them home ~ HERE. I have one of those little PUR water filter things on my tap, which seems to be doing a good job for us, and I always prepare the water in advance. I did forget to ask if they had any of those moss rocks available, I will have to go back later and get him one. Fisher looooves his moss rock.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Made these little beauties on Sunday:

They were wonderful! The recipe came from here: Peanut Butter Cookies. The blog looks really interesting, and I'm already thinking of trying some more of the recipes. (like the limeade) Here's the table of contents: Cooking For Engineers

I made the cookies on the spur of the moment, and had to make some variations in both ingredients and equipment, but everything worked out fine. I used a lovely brown organic egg, here's a pic of the other 5, with their cute little ink stamps:

Meme!

I've been tagged by Meg! How exciting ~ my first meme! Here are the details:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

And here is my result ~
"She is in charge of Quality Control for all crocheted and knitted items."



I was referring to my cat, Lily, of course. Sometimes she is also in charge of field testing said items.

(and I have learned something new about the edit page in blogger - you can select the list to go back to show all your old posts (up to 300) AND you can click on the title in that list and see the text of the post. Cool. )

Now for the tricky part, who to choose to tag? I am basically (despite the whole public blog thing) a shy person and I hate to bother anybody. But I suppose it will be good for me. OK, I'm off to search the knit blogs and tag 5 people I don't know yet. (I think I will try the Knitting Kitty ring, since mine was Cat related.)

Owl!

I finished the owl square today! (Pattern from HERE) My first cables ... however tiny! So now I have to select another, more ambitious project. Hmmm. What should it be?

Squirrel & Bird Feeder

This has been in the yard for quite awhile, so the grout is no longer snowy white, but the critters don't seem to care. This platform feeder is just a big inverted terra cotta plant saucer, it lives under a tree on a stepping stone. I bought all the individual components, including that wonderful alligator, from sellers on ebay. I love reptiles, and green is my favorite color, so this project always makes me happy when I see it. Especially when I come back and find it surrounded with hulled shells. :)

"Lettuce Blog"

Good Morning. It is 3:45 AM and I would like to share a picture of the lettuce I had for lunch:



It was hydroponic.

Knitting Knews: I got halfway through the dishcloth today, after two hours of knitting, and discovered my stitch count was off. I tried to fix it, but between the cables and the pretty yo edging, it was not working and we just had to make a trip to the frog pond. I started over immediately, though, and am back to the point where the owl starts. (I put in a lifeline this time.) And I seamed the rabbit's head! I don't know quite how, but it seems shaped about right. Tomorrow we move on to ears! Or...er, that would be today now, wouldn't it?

Cables

I'm so excited, I just joined my first official blog knitalong - Fall for Cables - and am about to start an actual (although itty bitty) cable project ~ this Owl Dishcloth. If that goes OK, I will go on to try something more advanced. I'm starting the owl this morning, and no, I'm not just trying to avoid seaming the rabbit. (Much.) (What? I can do BOTH.)

I also found a couple of cable patterns HERE. Some of the ones I like are: Twisted Cable , Alternating Cable, Single Cable,Tight Braid, and Five Stitch.

Also thinking about a horseshoe cable, or a braid cable, from the Knitty Gritty DIYnetwork site.

Since I am just learning (and indecisive) I might do a sampler sort of thing.

The Bunny Begins

I'm in progress on the bunny. I've made the 3 pieces for the head .... this is the first animal I've put together that calls for 3 pieces like this, 2 sides which I had to 'mirror shape' and then the center section that goes down the middle. I'm kind of intimidated about trying to stitch these narrow curling pieces together, so I haven't touched the project in days. Usually I make all the pieces first and then seam last, but I think I'd better go ahead and try to make the complete head so I will have the confidence to continue. Ears are next.... those should be easy, lol.

This bunny will be a girl, so I'm modifying the overalls into a little dress. I'm making the whole project out of LB Fishermen's Wool, the rabbit herself will stay the natural cream color, and I will dye the dress when it's done. Maybe pale green and orange.... you know.... carrot colors? :)

Interesting.......

Stayed up late last night playing with quizzes ~ proving my Buffy trivia skills, finding out what kind of knitting needles I am most like (Turbos), being sorted into Gryffindor, ....and discovering that I am a Doberman!



Here's the link if you want to play, too:
What Common Breed of Dog Are You?

Blossom the Zebra

Meet Blossom the Zebra!

Basic pattern is from 'World of Knitted Toys' by Kath Dalmeny, but I changed the mane, tail, and coat pattern, and gave her a leaf and flower garland (stitched on). I used the magic-ball technique shown here in previous post which I can't say I'd ever want to do again, way too much work making the yarn and keeping the front tidy. Surely there's a black & white ombre yarn out there somewhere already made?? I used worsted acrylic andUS 8 needles, which made her pretty big. (11 " tall x 20" long) (Please Note: I didn't make this as a children's toy.)

I used every last wisp of stuffing in the house finishing her yesterday but we made it! I'm just delighted with her. I love World of Knitted Toys, it's the only knitting book I've ever purchased. (because I kept checking it out of the library so much!)

Added bonus: while I was taking pictures of the zebra, my betta decided to be photogenic. IRL he's a light turquoise color.

Woot! An FO!

I FINISHED THE ZEBRA! She turned out adorable, and as soon as I get up in the morning and get some natural light in here I will take pics.

By the way, if you've never checked out the Dog of the Day or Cat of the Day or Pet of the Day links before (in my sidebar section over there under 'Animals') , DO IT!! I love this site ~ it's just pets being cute, and descriptions from their adoring owners. If you forget to check every single day, you can go sift through their archives. Good times. :)

New Plans

The new Knitty is up! My favorite is FLORA . I might make the whole scarf, or I might just make the flower and put it on a bag. I love flower patterns! Best of all, I don't have to buy anything new, since I have natural wool I can dye any color with Koolaid, plus several floral colors in the stash.

I have to figure out how to put this zebra together today and give her a mane and tail.

I'm already looking forward to my next animal project, which will be a little bunny in a dress. My mom saved this pattern out of a magazine many years ago and gave it to me, back when I was first learning to knit. At the time I was making garter stitch squares and didn't think I'd ever be able to do anything as wonderful as a stuffed animal, but I kept the pattern anyway, because, well, you know, my mom gave it to me. All these years, through moves and closet declutters, I always kept the pattern, and now I think I can really make one. It will be a nice way to remember her, while I make the rabbit.

Purple Planter

The zebra ~ all four legs are officially knitted! I'm working on the two cute little ears today.

Meanwhile, a picture from Spring ~ a mosaic planter made from "Metropolitan" pattern tiles, glass, and purple grout. Housing impatiens, one of my top five favorite flowers.

Oh, and btw, I had to add the word verification feature to the Comments. I didn't want to 'cuz I always have a "what if I can't decipher the secret code?" moment with those things, you know, like at the opthamologist's when you aren't quite sure if it says "l n "or "h". But it beats looking at those stupid spam ads.

An Upgrade

I'm upgrading my YU button over in the sidebar to Wool. Why? Because I have been on a and have not purchased any new yarn, patterns, or supplies in quite awhile. Weeks and weeks. I still have plenty of yarn, and plenty of WIPs, to keep me entertained.

The zebra continues ~ I'm almost finished with the second set of legs, and then it will just need seaming and stuffing, and a mane and tail. (BTW, I am not planning to EVER do another magic-ball project! It takes so LOOONG .... tying all those knots!)

I also decided to use my purple laceweight to make a different project, (a free one off the net: HERE ) but first I have to roll (by hand) a couple zillion feet of sticky laceweight that went through two dye-baths and a line-drying, and that is probably going to take longer to do than knitting the actual shawl. (This must be why knit-bloggers talk about pets and gardening so much!) When I have an actual FO to show, I will put up a pic!