Updates on stuff

The dryer arrived - and I love it :) It has temperature controls; the cool down cycle does exist, but doesn't turn the clothes into ice cubes - just tones it down from hot to warm; and it has a buzzer for the end of the cycle!!! I'm so very happy :)

The book that I bought arrived. My sister guessed the title - no she didn't have any extra information than the rest of you - her only advantage is genetic, and she is my "big" sister, so she's know me my entire life.... A friend of mine, from my knitting group, took a guess. She was only half right though - she figured out what inspired the purchase, but didn't know the title....

So - I'll reveal it now.... I bought: T.S. Elliott's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats", which is what Andrew Lloyd Weber used as inspiration for the musical "Cats".

Haven't seen hide nor hair of mice for over a week. The girls have had to settle for their toy mice. And the bugs from the basement... YUCK. Every so often, they bring the bugs upstairs to play. I've learned not to leave my purse or my yarn on the floor.

Baby blanket: back to the halfway point. :) Baby sweater: almost finished the front - more than halfway. Sweater/pant set: ready to cast on. Replacement mittens: Ug. I seem to have misplaced my notebook.... I have a few notebooks, but this one has my notes from the pair of mittens I made a couple years ago (and blogged about - go back to Oct. of 06 if you are interested....) with paw prints on the palm. Last winter, I was asked to fix the thumb - and this winter, they were on their way for another thumb fix, when they were stolen from the owner at a movie theater.... So, I need to do a complete re-knit. Need to get busy - this is the worst part of winter... But I misplaced the book, so I guess I have to redesign from the ground up.... Can't put them off too much longer... Also, I bought myself a new winter jacket. Nothing really wrong with the one I had - except it was somewhat bulky... and I've had it a couple winters already, and I'm honestly a bit tired of it.... Need a change. So, now I need a new scarf to match ;) So, I will be making one. The kitty afghan: I started making little blocks for the second big block. I keep telling myself to start weaving ends, but I somehow manage to put that off....

I have the yarn to make two crochet along items. There is a Yahoo group that I belong to - called "Crochet Talk". If you are a member there, then you can join the Crochet Talk Crochetalong group. I have probably mentioned them before - as one of the alongs, we made the kitties in a row afghan, and the bear afghan, which I've posted about in the past. We did some tote bags... few other things that I know I blogged about. Well, anyway, I had sort of lurked and not kept up for a while, since I was doing far more knitting than crochet anyway. But, I'm back into the crochet now. The group was having some troubles, and lack of participation. So, I decided to volunteer to help out. Since I'm helping, I kind of need to participate... We did a 12 inch afghan block, to practice a "new" stitch.... the popcorn. I guess I should give a bit more detail: The group votes on projects. Each month has been assigned a theme - January being wearables, and a holiday alternate project - Valentine's. Then, the members vote on a selection of possible projects. The winner is the "crochetalong" - those who wish make the projects together, and some people make the second place, others make their favourite anyway, and some just sit by and wait for the next month. The winners were a shrug and a heart tote bag. I'm not going to do the shrug, but will make the second place winner - a pair of wristlet things. And the tote bag.... Besides the voted on members' choice, there is a "moderator's choice" project - a stitch how to is posted, and a project that uses that stitch. To help people stretch their skills. So, I found a popcorn how-to, and a popcorn stitch afghan square. I'm going to try to make all the projects afghan squares, and at the end of the year, people can have a nice afghan :)




I also knitted a hat for a friend... think I told you all about that - it was done over Christmas....And the fingerless WWII broadcast mitts... I took pictures. :)










Of course, I couldn't find the ripple bag when I took pictures the other morning... Found it later in the day, right where I'd put it, except instead of exactly where I'd put it, it was on the floor beside, where the cats had knocked it. So, I'm not totally losing my mind or memory. It would have been where I thought it was, if the girls had left it alone!!

I'll do a picture of that later. :) Along with the WIP's....

Now, though, I have to go do some cleaning up. I am inviting a bunch of people over to help me celebrate my birthday, so I need to make room!! (I have a few weeks, fortunately, lol)

Then, right after that, I start clearing up ready to paint. I am determined!!!!!!!!!

Happy Gnu Year.

Ok, I had a moment of silliness with the title :)

Just wanted to wish everyone and anyone who reads this a prosperous and peaceful 2009.

I'm making progress on the baby sweater, the baby blanket, and the kitty blanket. I successfully executed my first ever two colour granny squares last night. Oh, I knew how they were made, and figured I'd have no trouble with them. I just never got around to making them before. I laid out the little squares (2.75 inch each) in place, to see how the kitty would shape up. This blanket is going to be HUGE!!!! I know, when I sew them together, they won't be quite as big as when they were just set beside each other on the floor. But I was surprised how fast the little squares added up to a big square, lol....

Ok, that is one of my weaknesses - I have problems visualizing spacial things. I have no real concept of space/size. Honest - I can imagine all sorts of things - have a vivid imagination even. But when it comes to real-space things - I have to have a template drawn out in some way. I can handle scale, or real size templates, but I just can't envision where something will fit or what it will look like size wise. You know, like when you look in a catalogue, and it says something is so many inches or centimeters wide by so many long... I go get a ruler and lay it down, move it around, to get an idea of the size....

Ok, bared the soul a bit - it remains to be seen if that is a good way to start a new year or not :0

So, the kitties were finding so many mice, that we decided to help them, by setting a mousetrap. Suddenly, there seems to be no more mouse activity.... guess they realized that their friends/family weren't coming home anymore, so maybe our house wasn't a good place to hang out.... Well, that is a good thing - means the girls are earning their keep :)

Well, guess that is a good enough quick post. I'll try (again) to post more often here. Maintenance - my mantra for '09.