Running Out of Catchy Titles....

Or, brain not functioning at full capacity....

I'm sharing only a couple pictures - only one WIP - Deadline is creeping up, and I am really close to being finished it....:) To refresh anyone's memory - DH works for this great small company. Well, Ok, it isn't so small anymore, but it *is* a great company. When one or another of his co-workers would have a baby, I'd make a blanket or something for them. Usually a blanket.... Yet, somehow, I didn't when his supervisor had his children.... Don't have a clue where my brain was!!!

So, this year, I decided to rectify that by making some graph afghans for the two kids' birthdays. The first one, the dancer, was a surprise. The second one, the one I'm working on now, is not a surprise, of course. But, the boy's birthday is coming up near the beginning of December. So, I need to finish the afghan by the last laundry day in November. So I can wash the afghan, to remove any excess pet hair, remove any smoke smell (DH is a smoker), and to ensure that any ends stay woven in. And boy, are there ends!!!! I *have* woven some of them in, but find that it isn't easy to do with so much yarn still attached. So, my plan to make it less a chore by working in some in shorter sessions fell through :( But - the end is in sight!!! I have 23 rows of chart left to do, 30 rows of plain background, border, and end weaving, then it is DONE!!!! Wuhooo.... no rushing, no stressing over a missed deadline - I got lucky with the dancer, since the girl's b-d was later in the month, but I *know* the boy's day is near the beginning of Dec.....

Ok, so here is the picture of what I've got so far:

So, since I've been putting on the push for this project, I don't really have any progress done on any of the others.... Well, I *did* do a round or two on couple of the socks in progress, but not enough to show up on a picture.

What I *did* take pictures of, though, were two other finished projects. Dont' know why I didn't take a picture of the fish dishcloth way back - probably due to things like, dead battery for the camera, poor lighting, misplacing it, priority, lazyness, forgetfulness.... Anyway, this was knit back in summer sometime...I think it was the dishcloth of the month for either July or August....

Also, a few weeks ago (at least five) I finished making a bath mat for our bathroom. Started it forever ago - back in the spring or early summer, when we were doing a bathroom cleaning session, I'd taken the mat thingy we had in there (carpet sample piece) outside to hose it off. Well, I've cleaned it before with the carpet cleaner, I've vacuumed it thoroughly, but I'll tell ya - you don't want to get something wet that has lived in a bathroom for ten years.....

We have it positioned (we have a smallish bathroom) kind of in front of the toilet beside the bathtub next to the litter box..... Anyway, after hosing it down, it got tossed, and I immediately began crocheting a bathmat. A crocheted bathmat could be tossed into the laundry at regular intervals, thus reducing the chance of needing to hose it down and ultimately toss it. (you guys are following me here, right? I don't need to spell it out any more?) Well, it took me what seemed like forever to do.... I was using the same sort of stitch as the back scrubby thingy from the five piece set - http://members.aol.com/lffunt/bathset.htm - and I could have sworn it was nice and big. Well, I finished it.... we used it for two weeks, and I laundered it. We used it again for two weeks, and by then I was positive that it *wasn't* big enough.... So, after last Wednesday's laundry day, I did a border of the same stitch as the washcloth from that bathset until I ran out of yarn. I used a bigger ball of the Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (forget the size, but if you go to www.bernat.com, and check their yarns, they have the small balls that make about a dishcloth each, and the bigger sized balls, too. They are different sizes for solid vs variegated) and used the whole ball up on the mat.

Anyway, I put it back into the bathroom - and when I went to take the picture - well, as I mentioned, DH is a smoker, and I see he spilled some ashes on the mat. They got sort of mushed into the mat - and I tried a few times to edit the colour on the picture, and couldn't seem to do it. Since I didn't feel like waiting until next time I wash it to do the picture sharing, you're just going to have to live with it!! ;) Now, please, the colour of the dirt splotch might not look like greyish black on your monitor, but it is. Trust me.

Oh, and that kind of hook shaped black thing in the top left hand corner? That's Mica's tail. She was contemplating using the litter box while I took the picture.

So, there you have it. My progress pictures.

Now...what else can I tell you about? Not much else exciting going on..... There was over the weekend, but not now....

Ok, I'll tell now.... This past Sunday was a football game. It was our "championship" game. The "Grey Cup". It was played some 8 or 9 blocks away from our house. As in, all the streets around our home were lined with parked cars - we are within walking distance of the stadium. So, all last week, there were parties in the city, celebrations, Saturday they combined three parades into one - I have an opinion about that, but since I didn't go, nor did I plan to, my opinion doesn't matter much. But, we have a Santa Claus parade, a "Festival of Lights" parade (these two serve the same purpose - one being the "politically correct version" of the other.... combining them is fine with me) and this year there was a "Grey Cup" parade. So, that was what it was like last week.

Me? I was quite content to cook up a pot of chili, some home made buns, some hot wings (home made, of course) and watch the game on TV. Nelly Fertado (I doubt I spelled that right) was the half-time show entertainer.... I missed that bit, though :( My sister* came over, and she brought shrimp ring, and chips and dip. Oh, and I made a cheesecake, but we were so stuffed from supper, that it was only me that had cheesecake. It was good.... :)

Oh, and yesterday morning, while driving DH to work, we saw a racoon cross the road!! I'd heard we had racoons in the city, but that's the first one I've seen. Here in the city, not counting the zoo, of course - I've seen racoons in the country.

* - See??? I mention you in my blog!!! Not just an "honourable mention" - part of a post!!! :)

So, that's it for today's post. Will do another picture once I've done 53 rows on the afghan. (the 23 chart, and the 30 background)