One more thing before I go....

Ok, I posted at the bottom of the right hand side thing, below the pets, below the links and archives and all that stuff....

There is a red background thing with the weather conditions for Puerto Vallarta. IF you click on it, you get a page with all the details, and a week forecast. Below that, is a second green one, that is for my home city.... I normally don't like giving much info, but, well.... it's Winnipeg, Manitoba.... So... YOu can see the difference!! What I'm leaving behind, and what I'm enjoying!!!

I expect I'll remove those buttons, or at least the P.V. one, when I get back.... :)

Happy New Year to all who might read this :)

Well, this is the first chance I've had to post this week, and will be my last post of 2005, not to mention, the last one for about three weeks. :) As mentioned, (I'm sure I did) Tomorrow afternoon, at about this time, I'll be on my way to the airport, to fly off to Sunny Puerto Vallarta for two weeks :) :) :) :) :)

Anyone who wants, can check at the bottom of the right hand column, where I put one of those weather link things. It has the current weather for Puerto Vallarta, and if you click on it, you can get the forecast! It looks, so far, like it will be beautiful.....

So.... Let's see. For Christmas, I got a cat teapot, which won't see tea in it, 'cause I don't want it to get stained, but I'll probably use it for milk or something :). I got a cat cookie jar - which has rice cakes in it right now, lol. And I got a new printer for the 'puter. Wuhoo - more patterns to print off, lol.....

We also gifted ourselves with a digital camera. I do still have the little digital, but it's nice to have a "real one". I will still use the mini to take craft pictures, though. Which brings me to the next subject - I'm taking the alpaca (drool) scarf, my rhodonite socks, the shadow socks from the six sox knitalong (button on the right hand side), foursquare crochet doily, dahlia doily, and one of my spindles and some roving. Hope fully, I'll have some FO's to report when I get home :)

In the meantime, I finished the mystery shawl 2. I need to block it, and weave the ends, but I'm all done the knitting!!!!!! OF course, there is no time to block before I leave. So it will have to wait. I haven't taken a picture yet, either....

I do have a picture to share, though. Me, in front of the computer.... taken with the new camera.


Ok, so you still don't really know how I look..... But that really kind of *is* how I look - I can't do much without a TON of help - from Mica. Ashleigh must have been sleeping when this was going on.... otherwise, she'd be there, too.

Makes for difficult typing some days.... :)

Well, I can't think of much else for today. So.... I'll bid you all a Peaceful New Year.....

Have fun everyone, and I'll be sure to share when I get back....

Countdown to Christmas.....

Supposed to be my favourite time of year. Along with the cat holiday, of course :)

But this year, seems like more than any other, I'm not happy..... Feeling very stressed. First, there is the "gift grab" thing.... We've got a fourth grand kid, but still the same old tight budget.... need to stretch things further than ever.

The house isn't clean enough for my liking - and I only have myself to blame. And I'm real good at beating up on myself. Had a lot of practice, lol. That's a wry lol, by the way....

Don't have a clue what to get DH. Nada. Nothing. nil. But, need to buy whatever it might be today - last chance really to go shopping without him along. Sometime this week, we gotta do the kid shopping together - and that, besides the budget issue, is just as hard to figure what we want to get.... No clue there, either.

I didn't finish the cat afghan design before Christmas, either. I haven't even picked it up for a while.... I did finally wind some black yarn into a smaller ball, so I can work from more than one end of yarn, but that was as far as I got.

And, speaking of no idea on presents, I can't think of a thing I want for Christmas, either. I keep thinking of stuff like I could use some new jeans, or shorts, but those are things I need to be there for to try on etc. Or, I think about how we need new pillows and sheets for the bed, but DH keeps saying those are house things that I should buy when I shop, they're not gifts just for me. I thought about a new electric fry pan - but I've lived without one for so long, that I don't really miss it, and besides, if I got one, where the heck would I keep it???? We need a new printer, but that's again a "we" thing - and since we've already planned on getting a digital camera after Christmas when they should be on sale, we'll likely pick up a printer then. We would want something capable of printing photos if we want, but mostly we'll burn pictures onto a cd.

So..... today isn't a great day for me. This week isn't a great week for me.

Then there is the realization that I'm somewhat addicted to the computer... somewhat, 'cause I can leave it alone, and when we're away, I don't miss it.... But when I'm home, and it's sitting there in front of me, I tend to turn it on, check the email.... follow the links.... etc. So, it's a great time waster. One of the reasons I resisted starting a blog.....

This week, I'll try to update as much as possible, since I don't know what will happen time wise next week. And then, on the 31st, we're leaving for 2 whole weeks in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!!!!

I won't be updating for sure in the first couple weeks of January :)

Anyway, this weekend I knocked another project off the list. And got around to blocking it and the motif doily I finished last week. I also updated my photo album - link on the right hand side somewhere....

So, I'll go ahead and post a couple pics here, but you should check out the whole album. I know that some of the pics have been posted here, but still.... sometimes I just post a quicky here, but a couple different views in the album.....











I've also been knitting - did some more edging on the ms2. Started my Charlotte's web, did some rounds on a few socks. The December sock in the 6 socks knit along group (link button on the right somewhere) has a really neat lace cuff pattern!!! I think I'll use that on some other socks in the future :) I did a bit more on the sampler square for the sampler afghan. I'm not sure I like this slipping stitches for two colour knitting. I like intarsia much better.... BUT, in fairness, since I believe in the "don't knock it till you try it" school of thought, I must get through this section of sampler squares anyway, then I never have to do it again....

What else..... Well, can't think of anything more to add today.... will try, like I said, to post more this week, 'cause it could be three or more weeks till I post again.............

Fo's to report :)

Finished the motif doily - will be blocking and picture taking later today - hope the sun comes out soon!!! Been days now of cloudy overcast snowy weather. Warm, but still not pleasant. I have problems with Seasonal Affective Disorder- too much cloud and I get depressed.... This winter shouldn't be too bad, what with the trip and all...

Also finished untangling that nasty knot :) Wuhoo!!! NOw to figure out what to do with the yarn! I forget the name of it, sadly... it was a fancy yarn, and I know I kept the label/tag thing, but dont' recall where I put it. On the website, though, they showed a wrap/stole knitted with what seemed to be one ball of this yarn.... Must have been on big needles. But, didn't tell how to make it. So.... I guess I might try something like the simple triangle. You know, cast on a few stitches, (three or four) and increase one stitch each row. Best one in my opinion if you don't know how much yarn you have....

Square or rectangle might be better, since there are two of every type of yarn tied together in this ball... meaning, by the time I get to the wide edge of the triangle, I might only get one or two rows of each style of yarn, maybe even less than a row, so it won't show off much....

We'll see. That's a future project anyway.

Well, I promised I'd tell about my weekend. Saturday night was the company Christmas party where DH works. We had a blast!!! Most of the time, we do the "old folks thing" and leave anytime between 10 and 11 pm. This year, we were having so much fun, that we were almost the last to leave!!!

The meal was so - so. Edible, but not by much.... I have a weird allergy. I'm allergic to Parmesan cheese, but not others. If I eat it, I get anything from mild nausea to outright puking.... So, I like to avoid it. Well, of course, what are the first two courses? French onion soup (which some cooks like to put parmesan on top of) and Ceasar Salad. So.... I got a plain onion soup, while everyone else got with the bread and cheese (at my request, of course) and a garden salad. Unfortunately, though, the servers brought around the regular stuff first, and the "supervisor" replaced mine. Why unfortunately? Well, as soon as they put the Ceasar salad in front of me, it almost knocked me off my chair. Yes, that is how strong of a reaction I have. I had to grab the plate and put it in front of DH's chair... (he was out for a "smoke break" when they brought the salads around)

The main course left something to be desired, too.... we did have a choice, between steak (restaurants often serve this in what I would call "overcooked" state - and these days, with scares of all the things you can get eating some meats, I doubt they'd be allowed to serve it the only way I can eat beef - to quote a friend, "why don't you just go out in the field on a sunny day and gnaw on a cow?") fish (which I didn't know was going to be breaded with panko style crumbs until too late) or chicken cordon blue. Well, I went with the chicken, as did DH this year. He's not a fan of chicken, especially restaurant chicken, and I honestly don't know why he said he would try it.... But I had reassured him that it would be difficult to undercook the chicken, because it was breast meat rolled around a ham and cheese stuffing.... Well...... I've been known to be wrong before. It was pink breast meat (I'm hoping that was because of the ham, colour transfer) wrapped around a slice of ham (thin, and looked suspiciously like the kind that comes in packages for making sandwiches) and I'm still trying to figure out what sort of white sauce qualifies as "cheese". Flavour? There wasn't one. Except for the taste of the chicken. But if I didn't know it was ham inside, I sure couldn't have tasted that it was ham inside.

The "go withs".... well, now.... I know that the popular thing is to steam veggies. And that is great - as long as one knows how to. You are supposed to cook them long enough to be softened, but not soggy. And short enough time to keep the colour. A little crispness is acceptable.... But cold and near raw? I ate a couple, but the broccolli stems were hard, and the carrots might as well have been raw.... I think I ate two slices of carrot, and one cauliflower.

Tomato, stuffed with broccoli in a cream sauce, with cheese melted on top. Ok, here the broc was cooked, and the sauce was nice. The tomato was barely steamed - just enough to make the skin want to try to slide off.... Ever get *that* stuck between your teeth? I personally don't like raw tomatoes. I like canned/cooked tomatoes. But I ate the stuffing. Potato croquettes rounded out the plate. Well, can you say, "deep fried mashed potato balls"? Again, it's a personal thing. I like deep fried potatoes/french fries/chips. I like scalloped potatoes. I like hash brown potatoes. I like roasted potatoes. I like potato chips. I don't like boiled or mashed plain potatoes. Bland. Flavourless. bleah. I've had croquettes before that have been seasoned. These weren't.

They redeemed themselves at dessert, though. Forget what they said it was called.... but it was chocolate. with whipped cream. and fruit. (ok, chintzy on the fruit - two segments of manderine orange, and half a strawberry) But the chocolate... Melt in the mouth. DEEE- licious. Not a pudding - it was solid on the plate - there was a piped out serving of whipped cream, and a piped out serving of chocolate. It held its shape... But as soon as you put it in your mouth, it melted..... MMmmmmm goood.

Wish I knew how to make it....

We didn't go hungry- and surprisingly, DH agreed with almost everything I felt about the dinner.... Normally, he likes the stuff I don't - the potatoes and veggies and stuff. This time, though...

They did have cheese and crackers out. And they did come around with finger food appetizers. Vegetarian Quesidillas, breaded shrimp, sausage rolls, and wings. They had regular wings, and hot wings. Either they kept giving me the wrong wings, or they don't comprehend the word "hot". I told DH to remind me to bring my own hot sauce next year. And my favourite hot wings in the world remain undefeated.....I dont' want to name names, here, 'cause there is no website, and stuff like that, but there is a small town bar, that has a "wing night" and serves the best hot wings I've ever tasted.

But... the rest of the party was great. They did a "Jeopardy for Dummies" entertainment thing, that was very audience participation centered, and I've never seen this particular crowd participate that much ever before!!! There was also a cute and hilarious video that one of the managers makes every year - different every year, but eagerly anticipated every year :)

And there were presentations. The owner likes to mark milestones for the employees... One year service, five yr, ten year, etc. WEll, DH is at 30 years..... And was noted. Even though he was also honoured in the spring, and it was announced that we could go on a trip for two weeks.... STill, though, the owner presented DH with a letter of gratitude, and gift certificates for a choice of a few restaurants.... And DH got a standing ovation from the crowd.

So, that was why I didn't get a lot done this weekend.... Daytime Saturday was spent in shopping for clothes for DH, then organizing and weeding my WIP pile, and Sunday was kind of lazy - we old folks aren't used to staying up half the night

Well, I promised...

That I would give you a wip list. I'm a little behind.... I wanted to post about the weekend first, but I know that now that I'm in the webring of knitting kitties, that I better make sure I post regular and crafty :)

As well as talking about the spoiled kitties, who are fighting for prime spot at the moment between me and the keyboard.....

Ok, bowing to DH's hints, and the fact that I need to move some stuff around again anyway....
I packed up the projects that technically weren't started yet - meaning lots of balls of sock yarn, and some other odds and ends, lol - and moved them to the craft room. I also took their "names" off the Wip List...

So. What is left? 40 things.... YUP!! 40.

I finished, btw, the shawl that I was making for a gift. Pics, you ask? Ok...
Now, in all fairness, this doesn't show the colour well... It's kind of denim-y blue.... If you look at the right hand side at the bottom edge, that is the closest to the colour part :)


Ok, now for the 40... :) I'm listing them in the order I happened to write them on paper, and I'll mark with K for knitted projects, C for crochet, Q for quilted, and anything else, I'm sure will work out....

1. Homespun Diamond Shawl (Lionbrand free pattern) K
2. Heart illusion scarf K
3. Granny square afghan C
4.Little woven amulet? small bag thing.
5. Felted hat kit K.
6. Untangle yarn.... Ok, this is a ball of cool designer yarn, that came in a hank, and I didn't have a swift, but did have a ball winder and a young kitty.... the yarn is a few yards of slubby yarn, ribbon yarn, ladder yarn, eyelash yarn, sparkly yarn, two stranded yarn, etc. all tied together, then reversed.... Well, I am almost done untangling it.... Just a few more sections to go....
7. Wrist Warmers K
8. Citrus sunrise socks K, and I have one done....
9. Lorna's Laces yarn socks K
10. Calico Cat K from Lionbrand in Fun Fur
11. Popcorn Socks K neat pattern offered free at Townsend socks knit along Yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TownsendSocksKnitALong
12. Beaded wrap thing.... Inspired by someone else's creation, I wanted to experiment with some bead knitting.... I strung a bunch of pony beads onto some worsted weight yarn, in a pattern, and then started knitting row after row of garter stitch, knitting in beads.... Am having trouble with sizing.... not knitting with beads, but figuring out how many stitches to cast on with... I keep ending up with what seems to be a great scarf length, instead of wrap length...
13. Adam's Cat K stuffed cat pattern from web - purchased pattern, though it was a gift to me :)
14. Sampler Afghan K from Barbara Walker's book - Learn to Knit Afghan Book. Even though I know how to knit, I also know it never hurts to learn more :)
15. Crochet Book Cover... C ... From the crochetalong group, a project that was picked back in the spring, but I just can't seem to finish it....
16. Xmas Quilt - this one will be a long project. It's the Twelve Days of Christmas in applique. I dont' have a lot of scraps to work from, but figure I can be working on making the templates, cutting the background, using some of the scraps I *do* have.... And I believe the pattern is available for purchase from www.quiltmaker.com if I'm not mistaken - It was a project that they gave parts over several months in the magazine....
17. Blue Triangle Quilt - again from Quiltmaker magazine.
18. Beatrix Potter Quilt. I bought some fabric that had motifs on it that remind me of all the Beatrix Potter stories. I plan to fussy cut the motifs, and make a quilt for Nikoal. I thought I'd settled on a good pattern, then someone else directed me to another - so now I'm back to trying to decide...
19. Teddy Bears with balloons Quilt. I started this one ages ago, trying to make it for Nikolis, for his third birthday. Appliqued bears and balloons, and I'm done that, but now have to sew on the bordersand quilt it. This coming Friday is his fifth birthday.....
2o. Brown "Martha" poncho C.... I made myself the famous "Martha Stewart" poncho in Homespun and pattern from Lionbrand, and DH said it seemed short - I love it, because then I don't have a wad of fabric in my lap when I'm driving, and my arms are covered enough to be warm, but not in the way when I drive.... I love it. Simple. But - decided I love it so much, that I bought more Homespun in a different colour, and am going to make a second one longer.

STill with me? :)

21. Another poncho, for my sister, but I have to make mine first so she can decide if she wants the "original" short version, or the long... She doesn't crochet (yet)
22. Chenille Shawl - C. Using chenille yarn, again for Dear Sister, and the pattern for "Blue Jean Shawl" on the net.
23. Cat face Latch hook. UFO - want to get it done and hung up.
24. Charlotte's Web Shawl. K.
25. Frost Flowers and Lace shawl. K from Gathering of Lace book.
26. Branching out Scarf, from Knitty.com (do I have to say K?)
27. Baby Poncho C. for Nikoal. It's sized for 12 to 18 months, which is likely a good thing.... lol.
28. Mystery shawl #2. I'm knitting on the edging, clue 5, and I'm almost halfway there....
29. Alpaca (droooolllll) scarf... From post last week, for DH :)
30. Cat Lace Pillow K. Also from G of L book...(see 25)
31. I'm going to make a potholder, in double knitting, using the moose cloth from the knitting nonesense dishcloth site :)
32. Heart Illusion socks. K. From the 6 socks knitalong group - button on side :) My Turquoise Kroy sock yarn that didn't want to be a Pacific Northwest Shawl (Fibre Trends pattern) or the gift shawl has agreed to be these socks. Along with some pink....
33. Rhodonite Socks That Rock yarn socks. K. finished one, working on the second cuff.
34. Dirt STR socks K for DH. Rounded the short row heel, working on the foot of sock one.
35. Turkish Toe Up Socks K. Pattern from Lynn H. www.colorjoy.com

Almost there... :)

36. Dahlia Doily - C. From a past Doily crochet along - I was in my crochet slump, and never got this started before.
37. Motif Doily - C. Called "blue and white" doily, I'm making it red and pink. All pink centers are done, need to do joining round in red, then it's finished. Start of crochet slump, lol...
38. Foursquare Doily. C. Another "along" project....
39. Ice Blue Crystal Doily C. Current doily along project, should do that one first :)

And finally....

40. Crocheted Christmas Tree.... Some grand plan of mine, to crochet yarn shells in a long line, and attach them to a styrofoam cone base, since the kitties won't let us have any other tree....

Phew!!! And you should have seen all the stuff I took up to the craft room....

OH!!! I forgot!!!! Also taking up space in the living room is my spinning stash - lots of roving, and some drop spindles!!! Kept handy, so I can practice spinning either with the spindle, or on the wheel.....

One of those mixed blessing things....

Went out to the knitting meet up last night - laughed a lot again :) - and when I came home, it was to find DS and DIL hanging out "harrassing" DH and wrapping presents for the kids.

During the course of the "visit", something came up about sewing machines... DS wants want, and was trying to get away with snitching one of mine. I told him there was no way....

Something along the lines of "Mom, why don't you give me one of your sewing machines. I need one. I need to learn how to sew. Dad said I could take one, he would have given it to me if he knew where it was. He said you never use it."

Now, all those sentences were not necessarily spoken at once - there were a few words in between that came out of my mouth, that are not necessarily things I can print here. I think what brought up the subject was when he was tidying up, the sewing machines were right there beside him, on the floor, under the wrapping paper and toys and bags he brought.....

Neither of them (DS or DH) could understand why I needed two. Simple - depends on what I'm sewing. Explained how they each had different features, that it depended on what I needed at any given moment, etc. I left out the "I wouldn't have bought the second one if I didn't want or need it". Told him stuff like how he should use his employee discount to buy a machine (He works at WalMart) but he said it wasn't that big a discount and wouldn't save him much on a big ticket item.... Told him to shop at the thrift store for one..... He came up with the idea that they should have told DIL's mother to get them a sewing machine for their "combined" Christmas gift....

Anyway, the part that is the good part of the mixed blessing (the bad part - the mess at 9:30 at night and him staying around until 11:00 pm - we're old folks, go to bed early on weeknights! and the attempt to lift one of my sewing machines) came when we were talking about his sewing ability....

I reminded him that he learned sewing in school.... He insisted he didn't know how.... I reminded him that prior to moving out, he was doing laundry one day, discovered a hole in some pants, so he just went and sewed them on my machine.... He said, "Yeah, but that's because yours is a Singer, not some crap". :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Thinking back, I seem to remember something about how he had to do his sewing at home when he was in school, because "there wasn't enough time/machines at school".... At least, that was the story......

:) :) :)

My son has taste.....

Uh, what else.... OH, since they were here doing wrapping, I wrapped up the bear ghan, got them to take it home for the GS birthday on the 16th.... And, since there was Christmas paper everywhere, I finally remembered to go get the Christmas tree. Put that up. No, I didn't decorate it.... two words - Mica, Ashleigh. Last year, when I put up our tree, Mica decided that she should be the tree topper, and she snaked right up the center of the tree. When she discovered that being at the top often resulted in the whole thing crashing down, she stopped trying to get to the top. But, she was still convinced that we had put this thing up for her amusement. It was an old tree anyway, and really should have been retired the year before.... Well, I saw an ad for table top tinsel trees. I grew up with a tinsel tree.... I think that blue and silver are the best Christmas colours. So, I bought the tinsel tree. Mica was not happy that it could not even support her weight even the tiniest bit. But, at least she stopped trying to climb it. We put on some lights, and some blue mini "disco" balls -you know those mirrored tile balls -

Well, there is something very disturbing about cleaning the litterbox, and picking out solids that glitter blue at you.....

Mica tried eating the balls.

We did keep the lights, though.

This year - we aren't going to even think about anything besides lights. Ashleigh is quite happy with this new toy just the way it is......

today...

Today, I joined a webring. Knitting Kitty. I think I qualify :) I may need to post more pictures of the brats - I mean, the kitties. :)

They do so love helping me with housework. I've discovered that Ashleigh is not bothered by water. She loves to inspect the clothes that I've loaded into the washing machine, to make sure I've put them in right. Washing dishes is a fascinating chore - as is cooking. She makes sure that I vaccuum the living room regularly, too. How, you might ask? Well, she loves to bite cardboard, tearing off small pieces, and scattering them about the room. Too small to pick up, not to mention, too many to pick up.

Mica tries to be helpful, too.... She watches everything I do intently. Always has. Just that she usually needs to get the closest look possible - perched on my shoulder, or right in my face or on my hands, or right in the middle of whatever I'm trying to do. Did I mention the time she poked her head in the middle of my circular needles while I was knitting some lace project? Wouldn't have been so bad, but when she decided that curling up for a nap was in order, she of course put her weight so that it pulled the needle right out of the shawl!!!

Here's a picture of when she was helping me to take a picture of one of the shawls I had been making.... It's finished, now, and more pictures are in my photo album (link on the left).

I have some more pictures, that I can share another time, of Mica "helping" me to make pasta. Actually, to be fair, she has no interest in helping with that.... She just plain likes to eat it. She even knows when I take a particular bowl out of the cupboard that I'm going to be making pasta....

About the cat afghan - won't be an update for a day or two.... I did knit a bunch on it the other day, and I needed to finish off some other stuff last night (and I normally go out Tuesdays, so I don't have a lot of crafting time) but I did sit down with pencil and paper and ruler, and made some calculations, and I did sit down with some graph paper, and made some tabby stripes, but I need to knit them up and write up how I'm doing it. And tonight, being the first Wednesday of the month, is the night I get to knit with others at Chapters, so I'm not taking along something that needs such concentration.... Instead, I'm taking along a scarf that I'm knitting for DH out of alpaca.... DROOOOLLLLLL...... yarn. Sorry, the word "alpaca" DROOOOLLLLL does that to me. :)

So, that's my post for today. I now have to do a quick edit to yesterday's post, and then take off to get my hair cut.

masochistic, maybe....

Ok, first, I'm going to update the pattern:

Beginning at the edge of the cast off row, on the top left hand side of the "tummy square" with mc, right side facing you, pick up 85 stitches in the ends of the rows. This should put you with your 85th stitch in the last of the work even rows at the midpoint of the first square.

Using mc, knit 20* rows.

* you may be knitting another row or two.... this is as far as I got myself... now I need to do some math and a little figuring.... :)

NOW - for the title of this post.... :)

I had a busy weekend, which included a trip to a yarn store for a sale! (www.ramwools.com if anyone is interested in the store) While there, even though I planned only to buy two balls of Kroy sock yarn and one hank of Briggs & Little Durasport, I also picked up two balls of another yarn to knit socks for DH and three balls of alpaca yarn (excuse me while I drool here).

Last night, I finished knitting the gift shawl. All I need to do now is weave in the tails, and block it. Wuhoo - a finished project! Right? Now I can get on with the cat afghan pattern writing, and I can get some more projects worked on and finished, right? SO - what did I do? Cast on with the alpaca to knit DH a scarf........

*sigh*. And of course, there is the part where I'm addicted to alpaca. So far, that has happened as a result of meeting a few animals face to face - and what sweet faces they are - and petting roving, and cleaning and spinning up a bit of fleece - now I'm actually knitting with some alpaca yarn. And it is just as soft and warm and cosy feeling as the animal itself.....

And I already told DH when I came home from the store that I was going to knit the alpaca yarn into a scarf for him.

*SIGH* - that is where the masochistic part comes in. I know I get to "play" with the yarn, and feel it while I'm knitting with it, but then I have to give up the scarf to him........

Oh, there is another masochistic part.... Like the part where I don't have enough wips going on, that I gotta go starting another one...... *sigh*

Oh, well....

Next time I post, I'll try listing the wips again. Or maybe before that I'll finally find one of those things for the blogs where you have your wips and the progress in a bar chart thing....Maybe I'll just take a picture of the pile!!

Urban wildlife solves a mystery!!

Ok, so the mystery part wasn't that big of a deal... When cleaning up the yard, I don't really INSPECT the dog stuff, but I do try to notice if there is anything wrong... first signs of trouble kind of thing. And my dogs do have a habit of going in the same general corners of the yard.... So, I have a pretty good idea of how the stuff that comes out of my dogs looks....

Occasionally, though, there are piles of smaller stuff, and not in the usual places. Much easier to spot now that it is winter, too... ;}

I wondered how some other dog could possibly be getting into our yard- the fence is reasonably high, and these were smaller piles, but still too big for a little tiny dog.... We do have a few small spaces that might be squeezed through, and that is how the wild rabbits get into the yard. Dumb bunnies.... We *do* have two dogs....

Well, yesterday morning, while driving DH to work, I saw an animal run across the road in front of us... Very early, not much traffic, still quite dark.... We weren't too far from home, either.... At first, I thought, 'cat', then 'dog', then realized - "IT's a FOX!!!!"

Well, now I know who's been leaving those extra deposits in our yard!! Probably after the dumb bunnies....

I've seen deer in the city, and have heard there are racoons about, but this is the first city fox I've ever seen. :)

So, that's about all the cleaning I've been able to accomplish lately. Having my friend come from Kansas to visit kind of put the house on hold for a couple days, then the regular day to day stuff, then a few other extra errands and "life" and such.... So, I'm still behind. But, I've decluttered and tidied and rearranged the kitchen and most of the rest of the house. Now I'm going to focus on really getting cleaning on the living room, so I can have the carpet all nice and clean before Christmas.

In the meantime.... I'll still be knitting on a few shawls and the cat afghan in the evenings :)

second half of first square

Ok, so I left you off at the center, where you just worked three rows without an increase. You will now be decreasing each row:

knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 6 with mc, change to A and knit until last 10 stitches, knit 10 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 6 with mc, change to A and knit until last 9 stitches, knit 9 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 6 with mc, change to A and knit until last 8 stitches, knit 8 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 4 with mc, change to A and knit until last 8 stitches, knit 8 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 6 with mc, change to A and knit until last 7 stitches, knit 7 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 5 with mc, change to A and knit until last 9 stitches, knit 9 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 6 with mc, change to A and knit until last 6 stitches, knit 6 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 3 with mc, change to A and knit until last 7 stitches, knit 7 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 3 with mc, change to A and knit until last 5 stitches, knit 5 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 2 with mc, change to A and knit until last 5 stitches, knit 5 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 1 with mc, change to A and knit until last 4 stitches, knit 4 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit 1 with mc, change to A and knit until last 3 stitches, knit 3 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, change to A and knit 70, knit 3 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, change to A and knit until last 2 stitches, knit 2 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one mc, knit one with A, pass slipped stitch over, knit 71 with A, knit 1 with mc.
knit 1 mc, slip one A, knit one with A, pass slipped stitch over, knit with A until the end of the row.
knit 1 A, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit with A until the end of the row.
knit 1, slip one, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over, Knit to end of row.
Repeat this row until there are 9 stitches left.
Next row: Knit 1, slip one, knit 1, pass slip stitch over, knit 3, knit 2 together, knit 1.
Knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, pass slip stitch over, knit 1, knit 2 together, knit 1.
Knit 1, slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slip stitch over, knit 1.
Cast off.

Now, at this point, you want to weave in the ends of the mc yarn, hiding them well. You then want to look at your square, cast on point "down", and determine which side is the "front" and which side is the "back". There are no nice clean straight lines between the mc and the A - this is because there are no nice clean straight lines on any cat I've ever met :).

Once you have determined which way you want your square to be, mark the top left hand edge. This is where I'll be going next with the directions. I've been out today, and was able to buy some black yarn, which is needed for the next part. Of course, if you have decided to make a one colour afghan, your square will be solid, and it won't matter which side you pick for the front.

Oh, and you could probably weave in the cast on and off tails, too, if you wanted to :)