Felted Pumpkins

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I was up late wildly knitting pumpkin wedges for Knitty's Felted Pumpkin!

Have a great holiday!
~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~

Rosie

"Hey, Mom, do you see what I see?"

This is the look of a dog who has just noticed there are rats on the office desk. (I put the cage up there for a few minutes to take some pictures, it's usually in another room.) I have started another blog for the rats so as not to take up every post here with Cute Rat Photos, but I just HAD to post this Cute Dog Photo.

~~~~~~~

On second thought...... maybe just ONE cute rat photo:

A Pair of Wearable Socks

Here they are! Not just one, but TWO raspberry socks. They fit (I had no idea how hard it is to get a picture of your own feet, so here they are on the desk, but trust me, they fit.) I think they are pretty cute for first socks, and I was so excited about it all I ordered sock yarn. Not just any sock yarn, either, but special sock yarn. I haven't bought yarn since August 2, which I think is a pretty long stretch, so it was a lot of fun.

The Raspberry Sock

The Raspberry Sock is finished. It fits my foot. I can WEAR the sock. Tomorrow I cast on for the second one so I can wear a PAIR of socks. I made the cuff short so it's like an ankle sock deal. (It never quite shows up on the web camera, but the colors are lovely berry shades.) You know, this is not only the first time I've made a handknitted sock, it's the first time I've worn a handknitted sock. It's warm. It's pretty. I want to make more. :)

Sock Continued

The heel is turned on The Raspberry Sock!

Started a Real Sock

The humble beginnings of The Raspberry Sock.

I Can Knit Socks!

Woo-hoo! It's a sock! Well, it's Knitty's Training Sock. It's a sock-like object.Point is, it has A CUFF. And A TURNED HEEL. And a TOE. It has gussets, people.
I started this this morning during hurricane Wilma. Decided it would be good to have something to focus on. Next thing I know I'm knitting a cute little sock.

We are fine. The power stayed on, despite a fair bit of flickering, although the TV and internet were off much of the day. There is also a huge tree mostly down in the backyard, I am sad it has fallen. The squirrels loved it. I'm hoping it will grow back. Funny thing ~ Sunday it was summer, Monday a hurricane went through, and now it is winter. It's going to be in the 40's tonight!

Decisions Decisions

I have a whole craftin' Saturday afternoon available to me, what to do? Finish the seal? Felt the pumpkin? Embellish the octopus? Advance to Clue 2 on the Mystery Shawl? Or shall I toss the whole basket of WIP's to the side and start making one of these nifty crocheted balls ~

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=59352.0

The symetry of the pattern is intriguing to me, and besides, they're just ... well ... neat!

I also want make some hammocks for the new rats (who, by the way, are seriously adorable) so I might bring out the sewing machine and some fabric and see if I can make something ratworthy.

I also need to go to the library soon and pick up the two knitting books that came in. (You know, so I can start more projects!) The books are Simple Knits with a Twist (for the retro poodle, of course, I'm thinking something in a light turquoise with a collar made of vintage jewelry....) and Knitting on the Edge.

Man, it's one o'clock already and I'm on the computer?? See ya later.......

The Girls Are Home!

I am now the delighted owner of two beautiful hairless rats.
Welcome home Lavender & Florabelle!

Craft Store & Pet Shop

I have been unbelievably tired lately, but still managed to get to a class this morning and then go get stuffing at the craft store! Hurray! I've got WIPs everywhere that just need stuffing and finishing, so hopefully I will have lots of FO pics soon. After the craft store I went next door to the pet store ~ I'm still trying to find some moss rocks for Mango and Sunny. The guy in the fish dept. assured me (again) that they will special order some for me and that it won't be much longer now. I've been hearing this for several weeks, but this time he actually wrote something in an order book, so.... maybe soon. Mango and Sunny are so cute, and have such different personalities. Sunny is mellow, Mango is fiesty. And they are so small! Fisher almost seems like a carp compared to them. :) lol. Fisher is also a calm sort of fish. All three of them are quite sociable and come over to visit when I talk to them. (The tanks are placed so they can't see each other, so they don't get riled up.)

Every time I go to a pet store these days, I go by and visit the rodents. I've been yearning to have rodents in my life again for quite awhile now. Today I saw the most adorable hairless rats, they were a lovely light color.... lavender, almost. So very sweet. I can't stop thinking about them. All my dear little rats have been of the furred variety, I wonder what it is like to pet a hairless one? They look so soft. I've been doing some reading tonight on the net about their special needs and requirements. A lot to consider. Gosh, they were just so cute.

Kaleidoscope Redesign

OK, I frogged back the last row of the motif from yesterday, and after a couple of tries, found another design I like much better as a border. It's simply a row of single crochet, but I crocheted under both top loops. This made a nice-looking seam between the black yarn and the multicolored. When I got to the corners I crocheted into the loops with 5 sets of (sc, ch 1).

Kaleidoscope Motif #1

This is a motif from the Kaleidoscope shawl, from the Patons booklet 'HeatWave' that I mentioned buying the other day. I love how it turned out, although those first two rounds were lulus as far as direction deciphering! I might make a small modification and scale back on the last black row, it's overpowering the center part a bit. I might also make a scarf out of these instead of a whole shawl, I don't know yet.

I'm trying out Blogger's Picture Hosting with this picture! It's really convenient!

Mysteries Revealed!

OK, here is the Mystery Shawl Clue #1 and my first attempt at Blog MouseOver Magic.
Here is the ball of yarn (that's the one I re-dyed with Rit) ~



Mouse Over to see the shawl itself. And you can't see it because it's against the needle, but YES there is a lifeline!

Editing to add: IT WORKS! HOW COOL! A big big Thank You! to Nona Knits where I found the instructions for how to do this.

WIP's Progressing

It took me so long to do that 100 things list ~ I started it in Word about 4 months ago and just added things here and there as I thought of them. I always like reading these lists on people's blogs, and it's interesting how some people say that they were able to write it out really quickly and others say it took them a long time or they couldn't come up with them all. It's a long list!

I finished crocheting the octopus! But I still have to go to the craft store for stuffing. Meanwhile, since this is going to be a heavily embellished octopus, I still have a lot of sewing-on of objects to do.

I also finished Clue #1 on the Mystery Shawl last night! So good to be making some progress on this stack of WIP's, I tell ya. I'm going to try to do that bit of blog-magic where you take a picture, and then hover over it with the mouse and get another picture. First I have to find the directions, and then take some photos.

The '100 Things' Meme (updated)

1. I love animals.
2. My favorite hobbies are knitting, crocheting, mosaic, and paper crafts.
3. The first sweater I ever knitted was Knitty's Sonnet.
4. I enjoy shopping on Etsy and by mail-order.
5. I like stamps. Every month when I send out the billing I try to make sure everyone gets an interesting stamp.
6. I have a great sense of time, but not direction.
7. I'm good with names, but not faces.
8. I remember the names of people's pets.
9. I am partially blind in one eye due to macular degeneration, which happened when I was thirty-five.
10. I had laser surgery in that eye for the condition, they gave me a drug that meant I couldn't get sunlight on myself for five days. I went out every night and visited my garden by moonlight.
11. I enjoyed the first 3 seasons of BTVS. Oz and Willow were my favorite characters.
12. I write fiction.
13. I hate the mall, and shopping for clothes.

14. I enjoy the dog park.
15. I don't wear much makeup. I use the money I save on yarn and tiles.
16. I dream a lot, sometimes in animation.
17. I've been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years, except that I do eat fish. I won't use leather or fur or silk or feathers, but I do use wool.
18. The most wonderful place I ever visited where I instantly felt at home was a big petting zoo at a county fair. They had gigantic horses, and all different kinds of goats and sheep.
19. I read Harry Potter Volumes 1 through 5 in the summer of 2005, all for the first time.
20. The house is pretty well organized, but sometimes cluttered, because I am a crafter, and a sentimental saver.
21. I've been to Curacao, TN and GA, but not anywhere recently. I'm a homebody.
22. I now reside in the same Florida county where I was born.
23. I’d like to see Normandy, France, and Monet’s Gardens at Givernchy.
24. I'm an introvert.
25. I've never been to a concert.
26. I have no tattoos, but if I did, it would be a small curvy green lizard on the back of my right shoulder.
27. I like to draw, so I would design my own.
28. I’d kind of like to have pierced ears, but not enough to actually go do it. (update: did this a couple years ago for my 40th birthday.)
29. I can't remember phone number sequences without writing them down even if I am two steps from the phone. Otherwise I have a great memory.
30. I try to pay attention to spelling and grammar, and be careful about using 'their' 'they're' and 'there', or 'its' and 'it's'. I'm really liberal about punctuation, though.
31. I can never remember whether 'nonplussed' means calm or freaked out. (It means freaked out.) (I think.)
32. I'm a bit OCD about germs and wash my hands frequently.
33. I find cooking stressful.
34. I like to watch for vintage decor and fashions when I watch old TV shows. Like when you see green paper towels in a kitchen. When was the last time you saw a green paper towel?
35. I can usually get pretty close with guessing the year of origin in music and movies.
36. My favorite cuisines are Mexican, Italian, Greek, and Chinese.
37. My favorite genre of books is Fantasy.
38. I have been a passenger on a motorcycle.
39. I know a little Latin, and would love to know more.
40. I think Gaelic is interesting, too, but I can only remember a couple words.
41. 4 things I have seen on TV that made me laugh until I literally cried: the scene in Fawlty Towers where Basil beats his car with a branch, the scene in Fawlty Towers at the end of the episode about the rat, when Basil has finally fainted and Manuel is dragging him through the dining room, the scene in the movie The Burbs where Tom Hanks gets off a gurney, flings it in the back of an ambulance, throws himself on it and rolls to the back, and a real life video clip from America's Funniest Animals where a woman was trying to get a calm but utterly uncooperative cat into a cat carrier, turning him every which way including upside down - all of which he accepts gracefully, and yet, inexplicably, still manages not to go in the carrier.
42. I always wear skirts. I do not own a pair of jeans.
43. I usually have very long hair, and it's usually in a ponytail.
44. I donated a ponytail to Locks of Love.
45. One of my favorite picture books as a child was Peaky Beaky.
46. I'm afraid of spiders but don't harm them.
47. I'm not afraid of snakes. Which is a good thing, because an Indigo snake slid over my head once when I was lying on the porch. Indigo snakes are very beautiful.
48. When I was a child, Christmas tree lights were my favorite decoration. Actually, they still are.
49. I’m an organic gardener.
50. I always wanted to raise earthworms. (update: tried this... let's just say it wasn't a long project)
51. My favorite flowers are marigolds, zinnias, impatiens, and roses.
52. I love the smell of wet, brushed, marigold leaves on the old-fashioned species.
53. Squirrels are welcome at my birdfeeders.
54. I miss finding giant Lubber grasshoppers in the garden; they were beautiful and friendly. Haven’t seen one in years.
55. I love finding frogs and toads in the garden.
56. One of my favorite memories of when I was young was a canoe trip down the Econolahatchee river.
57. I don’t drink soda.
58. I avoid anything with corn syrup in it.
59. I do well on standardized tests.
60. I’ve seen a Roseate Spoonbill in the wild.
61. We used to live in a place that witnessed the annual mass migration of blue crabs. We’d find them everywhere in the yard.
62. Green is my favorite color.
63. I sleep with the bathroom light on.
64. I'm an extreme channel surfer. I'm often watching two or three shows at once.
65. I will not listen to radio commercials or DJ's.
66. I hate coffee. (editing 4/11/06: I USED to hate coffee, but I've acquired a taste for it, now. Sort of. )
67. I must have a CD playing when I drive.
68. One of my favorite possessions is my cow creamer, because I secretly wanted one for years, and then one day I just went out and bought myself one.
69. I use the mouse with my left hand even though I'm right-handed.
70. I get migraines.
71. My favorite flavor of ice cream is a mixture of one quarter chocolate and three quarters vanilla. I also like mint chocolate chip, and cookie dough.
72. My favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry’s was Bovinity Divinity. (BRING IT BACK!)
73. I like milling around the hardware store looking for craft ideas and gardening supplies.
74. I use a timer shaped like a lemon for my laundry, otherwise I forget and leave it in the machine.
75. My kitchen timer is shaped like a pear. I have another one shaped like a cow that moos instead of dings, but it needs batteries.
76. I’m trying to learn to use a drop spindle, but it’s taking longer than I thought.
77. Favorite books are Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Harry Potter. I’ve read a lot of other fantastic fantasy books in my life but right now I can’t think of the names.
78. I loved the original three Star Wars movies, but hated the newer ones.
79. My favorite character was Han Solo.
80. My favorite candy in the Hershey Miniatures bag is the Krackle bars.
81. I’m a vegetarian and allergic to smoke, so you can see why the popularity of the BBQ eludes me.
82. I like crosswords, but not if they’re too hard or too easy. They have to be just right. (update: can't do crosswords any more! too small!)
83. I collected vintage swan planters until I had just the right number, and then I stopped.
84. I like to knit while listening to music.
85. My ideal kitchen would have all-white appliances and cupboards, lime green walls, and a fruit & veggie theme.
86. I have a poster of eggplants in the kitchen from 10 Speed Press.
87. My favorite yarn is Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool because it smells softly sheepy, and you can dye it any color you want with Koolaid.
88. I always wanted to be a shepherdess.
89. The art of dyeing with plant materials fascinates me, but I haven't tried it yet.
90. Favorite pizza toppings are black olives, green bell peppers, and onion.
91. I hold doors for people and appreciate the same.
92. My ‘specialty dish’ is key lime pie.
93. I like making cupcakes more than I like making sheet cakes.
94. My favorite perfume is Tea Rose by Perfumers Workshop, but I never wear perfume.
95. I love Coldplay.
96. When I was a kid I collected animal figurines.
97. My idea of a great dinner would be fried fish, french fries, and iced tea.
98. I hold a fondness for 80’s pop culture.
99. I’ve had cats, dogs, rats, mice, hamsters, rabbits, fish, cockatiels, turtles, hermit crabs, and newts for pets. (currently have a little fox terrier mix, delight of my life!)
100. My animals are my children.

TGIF

Mystery Shawl Clue #3 is up! I'm still on Clue #1! This is the first day in a couple of days I've actually felt well enough to knit, so I may spend some time this evening catching up on that.

I want to finish this octopus too, but admit I may have underestimated the tentacle committment required. I mean, I knew I was going to have to make 8 legs, but geez. Well, onward.

I finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yesterday, and I'm happy that I'm now caught up with the rest of the HP fandom on events. Since I arrived a bit late to this particular party, I fully intend to participate in whatever fanfare that may go on when the last book comes out. I will purchase it immediately, and read it as quickly as possible, and maybe knit myself one of those cute little scarf bookmarks a week in advance.

More Miscellany

Please tell me I'm not the only person who's celebrated a weight loss goal by baking cupcakes?? I'm 20 lbs. lighter than I once was, whoo-hoo, and the cupcakes are chocolate with white icing.

I went to the library today and got Harry Potter 6. I was going to wait until closer to 7's arrival, so I could just seque on smoothly from one to the other, but I can't seem to avoid mentions of plot developments. They're everywhere, and in the most unexpected of places, so that they're completely unavoidable. So I thought I'd better just go get the book before I found out any more (like who the half-blood prince is.) The book was actually listed as ON SHELF at the CLOSEST library, so I was able to go straight over and get it. Matter of fact, it was still on the rolling cart at the librarian's desk. Large print edition, even. I'm up to Page 116.

The octopus is rolling right along. >>>>O I keep forgetting to go buy stuffing, though.

Oh, and I won the auction for the book with the alligator pattern in it this morning. Hurray! >"^^^^_____

Hello Blog!

I'm so happy to have my blog back! It disappeared for a while there, but I contacted Blogger and they fixed it very quickly and I am grateful. I've grown quite fond of my little blog.

I have so many things going on in the yarn basket~

I bought some black Rit dye and dyed some yarn black for tiger stripes... it came out a deep charcoal greyish black instead of jet black, because I got impatient about waiting for the dye to soak in, but I like it. I think my tiger will be quite unique. At the moment I'm thinking of making him 2D and felted, rather than 3D and unfelted. Or I might be making 2 tigers.

I started a crocheted octopus.

I'm making a tesselated fish blanket for my cat.

I'm thisclose to buying yet another crochet booklet..... this one has an alligator in it I really like. I'm in Florida, I need a stuffed alligator.

I want to make the crochet frog and the hippo from HERE. I need the frog because I'm a knitter, and the hippo because....... well, who doesn't need a hippo?

I want to make the VEGETABLES from Magknits.

Have a scarf project planned and stash yarn picked out for when my crochet booklet comes.

Still need to finish the rabbit.

AND my beautiful computer is now downloading PDF's so I can catch up on the Mystery Shawl Along 2!!! I cast on with the blue and purple laceweight this afternoon and am up to about Row 10.

I got so excited about being able to get PDF's again that I also dashed off to the Interweave Press site to get these exquisite little HEART SACHETS that I've been eyeing for months.

Kaleidoscope

I just bought a used copy of this crochet booklet: Patons ~ for the express purpose of making the Kaleidoscope Shawl. I like how it's constructed of triangles, and how the triangles have a little floral shape in the center. (I'd leave off the tassels, though.) I also like the little flowers on the hem of the pink halter, those might be cute embellishments on other projects. I won't be making any of the little halters, of course, but you can always use the stitch patterns for other things, and the shawl has enough potential that if I just use it for that it will be worth it.

Mango

I bought another betta on Saturday! Welcome Mango! This makes 3 fish and 3 tanks, so I guess this officially makes me a hobbyist.

Tigery Goodness

I rolled up some of my koolaid dyed yarn with some black yarn and it made a very cute ball of yarn!

Went to the store this morning and discovered that ground cloves are up over $6.50 an ounce. AN OUNCE! So the pumpkin cupcakes I'm making this week will be made with cinnamon and nutmeg only for the spices. Must remember to pick up ginger for pies.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 box of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Classic White Cake mix
1/16 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (just use your 1/8 spoon and estimate half)
1/16 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1 15-oz can of pumpkin
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the cake mix and spices in a bowl. Combine everything else in another bowl. Combine the two bowls and beat for two minutes. Pour into cupcake tins with cupcake liners, and bake for 20 minutes or so until done. Frost with cream cheese frosting (I used the store-bought kind in the tub) and store in refrigerator. (these are goooooood served warm!)

Homemade Tiger Yarn

How's this for a potential tiger? Here are the results of various combinations of koolaid.... mango, pina pineapple, and a splash of cherry, and some orange Easter egg dye. I like it!

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!