Where The Weekends Are Killing Me

Between the partiers in the neighborhood and the plague I'm not sure which will take me out first. The latest party broke through the cold med coma. This cold is spinning around my head like the low pressure front over New England just soaking us to the shins in rain. Some positive reinforcement would be helpful. It was such a sad weekend with all the celebrity losses. When Billy Mays yelled I listened. Michael Jackson never ceased to amaze good or bad. Farrah Fawcett fought like so many others attacked by cancer. And tossing those sweepstake mailings in the trash won't have me apologizing to Ed McMahon.
As I hacked my way through the weekend, repairing screens, trimming shrubbery(it stopped raining for a few hours on Sunday) and laundry I got through the weekend. I didn't knit a whole lot but got a chunk done. You'll see.


"Momma didn't think my new kitty door design was gonna work for her. She's such a control freak."

It's The Plague! Burn the Village!

Okay, I may be exaggerating a little. Summer colds are the worst and summer has just begun. Minimal knitting was accomplished but not for a lack of trying. I stuck to something small and plain to avoid major heartbreak in ripping it out because I dozed off due to cold medicine coma causing a boo boo.
I used up cotton yarn from the last sweater and steeked it for a zipper yet to be purchased. I was VERY brave and cut it after applying fusible webbing with no back up stitching. Brave may not be the correct term. Bonkers to attempt it in my brain fuzzy condition would be more appropriate.


Sewing in the zipper should quell any fears. I found the webbing without reinforced stitching was very stretchy and I'm thinking of using it for a bottom hem idea or possibly a cotton rug. It's still brewing. We'll see how it goes.
Today we are having true summer temps in the mid 80's and with all the rain of the past 36 days...it's a tad humid. I'm going to go have a coughing fit now. My status has gone from plague to black lung.
"I spent a whole day nursing her back to health." It was the only way I was going to get her out of the house!"

More of The Same

The rain keeps coming and I keep knitting. Didn't even give this one a decent blocking, just a bit of steam and threw it on. I like it when that happens.
I had purchased a few security skeins of this yarn but didn't need them. The are now being transformed into a baby sweater for the stock pile. There are 3 babies in the near future so it won't marinate long.

I have the most incredibly colored rose bush. It's producing quite a few blossoms this year as I was smart enough to protect it from those blessed beetles that like to munch on it. I wasn't quick enough for the lilies and their leaves are riddled with holes.
The last old screen on the porch was replaced, front porch primed, lawn mowed, some of the shrubbery was trimmed (I stop at using electric pruning devices in the rain) and bathroom wall that needed repairing got the final coat of plaster. Now it's my turn to put on the finishing touches. Even with all the rain we kept busy.

"It can rain all it wants. I have my pillow and the remote, life is good."

Do You Like Squirrels?

If you do you came to the right blog today! If you're looking for knitting I have nothing new to show you so stay and look at the squirrel. If you HAVE to look at knitting hit 'Done Stuff' to the right over there. He's cute but he's pulling my sunflower seedlings up and eating the seeds leaving the tiny precious leaves behind. I give him peanuts but he's greedy. He torments the cats knowing just how far their leashes reach.

I don't seem to frighten him either.




"One of these days...."

The Winding Path

Weather Review

Last year at this time, thunder storms were a daily event. You planned your day by checking with the next one was scheduled. This year has been a bit slower--so far. We did have the weather scanner alarm go off every half hour between 1 and 4pm yesterday will tales of impending doom--hail, flash floods, etc. In real time we had a mild storm and soft rain. The kind of storm I like to fall asleep to. Since I had an evening meeting to stay alert for, taking a snooze was out of the question. I was already having attention span problems due to allergies making me miserable and not getting a full night's sleep. Boo Hoo. Throw that lullaby of a thunder storm in and I was struggling. I had forgotten to pack my extra curricular (read: socks) knitting to keep me in some form of consciousness. The lights in the town hall flickered and the constant drip of water banging the top of my air conditioner helped keep me alert. Make that annoyed and alert. I keep meaning to bring something to put on top of the a/c unit but never think of it until it starts to rain or the office above me puts on their unit and leaks water. Bang, bang, bang
The meeting was long and tedious and I yearned to yell, "I'm hungry and I've got knitting to do, could ja move along here?!?" Instead I kept looking at my watch which seemed to have little to no effect either. I finally made it home to knit a few rounds then head off to bed to listen to the loud and obnoxious party of 20 somethings down the street. I finally closed my window, turned on my thunderstorm cd (seriously), fell asleep and found out this morning the partiers had all been arrested for being loud, obnoxious, well, being themselves. We'll see if it has any effect for the weekend parties by the same group.
And so it went and so it goes.

Rain Delay

I never get bummed about rainy weather. Makes for more knitting time. In between showers the 6 porch screens that needed replacing were replaced. Paint was scrapped and a window broken. Could have done without the broken window but an accident's an accident.
But look what's breezing right along...
Gave the sleeve a bit of a flair...for flair! Out of a package of 10 balls I'm on the last one. I think the length will be perfect. "And I didn't break the window. I may have had something to do with the screens needing to be replaced. "

I'm Finn

See what kind of ewe you are.

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/pottercraftnews/blog/2009/06/which_ewe_are_you.html

Give it a whirl!

Smells Like Disaster Drill Time

Yes, yes. Another practice drill to ready ourselves for a nuclear/homeland security/natural New England weather disaster. All went well. One of the participants queried at the end, "What will happen to the postal carriers out on their rounds?" My bet is they'll hear the eardrum piercing siren and notice the mass exodus from town as a huge hint to cut mail delivery short that day. It makes for a long day. The office is packed with souls standing around telling war stories from drills gone by. We had guests from Vegas and Boston. Must have been culture shock out here in potato/corn farm country for them. Pending a real disaster we won't do that again for 2 years. For those of you not familiar with the area, we have a nuke plant less than 10 miles north and chances are the wind will blow this way...
"You're such a ray of sunshine mom."

Weekend WrapUp

The perfect New England weekend weather made for a busier than usual two days. It started with a stop to Home Depot to feed my gardening itch. After years of planting tomatoes just to be crushed by black spot plague, I'm going to try cayenne and jalapeno peppers. So far, so good.The rest of the foliage in the yard is just BUSTIN'!"Poppies... Pawwwwwpeeeees"
A bit of knittin' was fit in. A slight design change on the pullover. Out of shear laziness I opted for a boatneck-line instead of the rounded originally planned. It's all good, the cotton will stretch like it always does and end up rounded anyway.

As I was picking up around the house I corralled the cats favorite toys. A package of Cosmic Catnip with the cover duct taped on and holes punched all over. The small holes are teeth marks. You have to be careful when you're in the area they're playing with this because they hook their claws into the duct tape and fling it. I've been binged more than once. The other is a new favorite. The worn out belt to my upright vacuum cleaner. Gobs of fun. They won't touch a real store bought cat toy designed more for human enjoyment.
I didn't say it was an exciting weekend.
"She's not a fahma, that's for sure but she's tops in the toys department!"

That's Not A Bird

So I'm driving to work along a lovely country road where the wildlife for the most part gives you that "Ahhhh" moment. Note I said for the most part. This morning, my approach to a dark object in the middle of the road registered as a crow. No, it's a plastic garbage bag (darn litterers). WHOA! It's a skunk! Looking at me. With his tail in the FIRE position. I didn't care WHO was behind me I slammed on the brakes. After what seemed like an eternity Mr. Skunk continued his walk across the road and I high tailed it outa there. I didn't get close enough to see if he was rabidly foaming at the mouth(are you kidding?) and he appeared to walk a straight line but again, I didn't hang around to analyze. A mile up the road things went back to "Ahhh" when a bunny appeared and in the field a white tail deer flipped her tail. This I can handle and enjoy on my way to and from work as I've said before. But there must not be drama before my morning cup of tea.
By the way, the back of my yet unamed project is done to the arm hole. I was rudely stopped in progress because I am out of markers and yeah, yeah, I could have used bits of other yarn, blah, blah, blah, I hear you. I didn't feel like it OKAY? Gives me an excuse to hit WEBS (America's Yarn Store ya know) Thursday night to snort fiber fumes. If that plan falls through I may hit the local hardware store for teeny weeny rubber "o" rings. I have no intentions of letting my plan fall through.
"She can't see me hiding in the garden"

Too Much Labor- Not Enough Knitting

A late meeting cut into WAY too much knitting time. There's barely any progress from yesterday. If the meeting had been remotely interesting I could have justified the loss in production. There's another 3" to go before holding this section and picking up the shoulder stitches for the front. It's a nice flat piece. (Mason Dixon gals take notice.) I'll just suck it up and make up the loss tonight.
"I waited and waited for her to come home but just couldn't keeeeep myyyy eyyes op........"

Process

To bore the bajeevees out of you that follow along, I've decided to make a conscientious effort to journal the current w.i.p.
Aside from the essentials of calculator and measuring tape, I have a few additional "must haves" to complete The Process.
First, raw material that has marinated in the stash for anywhere from 2 hours to months and months is selected. Most of the time, inspiration hits like the smell of bacon. Other times, the design appears on the fly. The only thing decided is the basic sweater shape, be it raglan, drop shoulder, set in sleeve--whatever.



The calculations start, with a swatch, and yes, swatches LIE. On this project I am bypassing said swatch--(Livin' on the EDGE here)--as I have worked with this yarn before and checked gauge notes of projects gone by. Rudimentary sketch with squiggles that only I know what they mean. As long as I know, that's all that matters.

I confer with Andrew the Cat of All Knitting Knowledge, and if he feels comfortable, he settles in for a nap.


Once the project is on the needles, more scribbles pretending to be notes land on the paper.


Beau stays close to keep an eye and lends a gentle paw to the shoulder for guidance when it gets a little tricky.

It's always good to have some entertainment, (though with two cats why would I need more?), so a movie selection is necessary. For today we're watching "The Bandwagon" with Fred Astaire. The weakest selection of the 4 dvd's listed. It has its moments. My favorite of this group is "Singing In The Rain", but I digress and you're not here for a movie review. Maybe we'll save that for later.


And there you have it. After a few hours progress is made, the gauge is ON SPOT and the cats go to bed.
Over the weekend I finalized Stashbuster Half Zip. Here it is in a unblocked state. There are a few more ends to weave in and finishing touch to the zipper. I do that after it's blocked. Are you impressed the thin blue line matches up on the body and arms? So am I!

Andrew found a new nap box on the back porch.
The weekend was filled with pollen. Fortunately I was granted a few reprieves with rain knockin' it out of the air. The paver patio I installed a few years back needed some TLC and thanks to Dean and Derek on Rock Solid and their helpful hints I made the repairs without the angst that I had no clue what I was doing. It looked good too. My new favorite tool is a rubber mallet.