Chow Time for the Girls

Left to right: Princess, Friday and Lucy.

Should be 'Sweating on the Animals House'

If you've never been by here before, you don't know we live in a 1920s era farm house. It's beautiful. 2 stories of original style everything. My husband bought this house because it looked like what he thought my grandma would have had. This means wide beautiful woodwork, glass doorknobs, no shower, a big single bowl kitchen sink and no air conditioning. We live in the northern part of the country, so it's not normally a huge issue, but it's been 90+ degrees with thunderstorms.

Our poor beagle, Skippy is terrified of thunder. He often has to be tranquilized to get through it. We're talking huddled mass of quivering, panting, drooling neediness. The poor thing shakes so hard, that if he's on the couch or bed it feels like a bad 'magic fingers' bed. He has reason to be afraid. He's a rescue from hurricane Ivan. To him, thunder, lightning and rain mean that his home is about to disappear, his pack will be gone, his humans will be gone, he'll be hungry, wet, lost and maybe (who knows) have to run from alligators. He is a hunting animal from Florida after all.

When there is a natural disaster of this type, rescued animals that aren't able to be reunited with their owners are put in shelters. As the shelters in nearby areas fill up, they are shipped farther and farther away to hopefully be adopted. We lived in Knoxville, TN and were going out to eat on my husband's birthday. There is an animal shelter on Kingston Pike with a 'play yard' that's visible from the street. As we were driving by, we saw a passel of puppies out there playing. Just on a whim, we stopped in to watch them play. To get to the play area, you have to go through a room where the animals are kenneled. Labs and lab mixes seemed to dominate the room, there was a beautiful blue tick ( I think ) hound, brindled dachsunds, pomeranians and just plain old mutts. Of course, we had to stop and pet some of these on the way to see the puppies. Over in the corner in the bottom tier, was Skippy. Awwwww, it was love at first sight (for my husband).

I tried to be the voice of reason. Beagles bay loudly. Beagles eat everything. Beagles run away. Beagles chase little animals and we have two cats. The dog we have won't like having another dog come to the house. My husband looks at me, Skippy looks at me. Two sets of pitiful brown eyes - awwwww... The adoption was on. After all the paperwork was complete, we took Lucy (the other dog) to the shelter to see if they would get along. He immediately rolled over for her and licked her face. She decided she could "whoop his ass" at any time and would still be the alpha dog, so home we went.

After all the drama involved in introducing him to the cats, he was official. Fast forward a couple of weeks. Husband has to leave town for 5-1/2 weeks for work. I work, so Skippy is kenneled a good portion of the day. Skippy feels abandoned by his man person. The pee commences. Pee on shoes. Pee on laundry hamper. Pee on husband's pillow. Pee on husband's side of the bed. Pee on any damn thing that smelled like husband. I swear the dog has a 10 gallon bladder and can find something to pee on with a 2 second window of opportunity. This is one time I very seriously considered lying through my teeth to the husband. I came so close to taking the dog back to the shelter to be put back up for adoption and telling my husband he ran away. You know how it goes, lies snowball and I have enough trouble remembering reality. I just didn't have the energy to try and remembe lies, so I kept the dog.

We finally got through housebreaking issues and stealing garbage issues. Now there's just the occasional running away and finding a skunk issue. And thunderstorms. Thank goodness the weather is due to cool down and clear up. We'll get him peeled off our sweaty, beagle smelling legs and laps, until next time. Poor baby.

Coolest Brothers in Law

I've got two of the coolest brothers in law. They're both 18 and graduated high school this year. Both are talented musicians. Of one, think drum line. I think that is just the coolest. He'll be competing on college level starting this fall. The other can pretty much play anything with strings or reeds. One of the guys has been growing his hair since he was just a little kid. He decided to get it cut off and donated 24" of hair to 'Locks of Love'. That's TWO FEET of shiny healthy brunette hair. I gotta admit, I've got a soft spot for the hair donation. My mom lost her hair due to chemo a few years ago, and the nice wig made it a lot easier on her emotionally to go out and about.

Where oh where has my buddy gone?

Before I whine, let me explain. I am still very excited and nervous about the Sockapalooza swap. Excited because someone is making something for me! That has never happened before, except for mom. Everyone knows that your mom is kinda sorta obligated. I'm nervous hoping my downstream buddy will like what I made her and what is going to be included with it. You know, the old performance anxiety thing.

Now for the whine thing to my downstream buddy: I mail, I check your blog and nothing. I realize that half the people in the free world are Harry Potter fans. I like the books myself, but I'm dyin' here. Don't you anticipate getting a present from a total stranger? Aren't you curious at all? Did you change your mind about participating? Are you still alive out there (or over there or down there)? Did I say something to offend you?

Whew! OK. I feel much better now. That kind of crap drives me crazy and my poor husband has heard me worrying about out way too much, so you guys got to hear it. Sorry.

Still swatching away for the MS3. I've done a 4th one, took a vote and it's the winner. You won't be inflicted with another picture, because the photos all look pretty much the same, but it's gonna be purty, indeed. Creamy white with pearlescent pastel beads.

I was making some more stitch markers the other day, (my other obsession) and realized that I've never seen a marker that wasn't made by me. There are pictures of them all over the place, but do any stores carry them? None that I've ever been to. Hmmm.. Oh well, I make what I like that seem to work for me. Just curious if anyone else was marker deprived.

The husband is outside mowing the grass - again. That makes 4 times in the last 10 days. Thank goodness he starts the new job Monday! We'll possibly have grass out there again.

Finishing up and another swatch

Slowly, slowly, I've been finishing up those projects that I'm just not really feeling the love for.

I've got these three little projects done:

The short heavy socks are for me. I woke up cold one day and remembered my feet nearly froze last winter. Now, what better project to start than thick, heavy, drab, purely functional house socks just before the thermometer starts hitting in the 90s on a regular basis? The mittens are to be given away for next winter, so that's good.

The more I looked at the swatch for the MS3, the more it looked like it needed re-done with beads. That required a trip to the local craft store for more beads. They're like yarn - lots of pretties and you always want more! Here's the new swatch:

Apparently, I've no idea how to use a camera. The swatch is a pale cream color (almost white), the top two repeats of the pattern have a small pale pink bead in the pattern and the bottom two repeats have larger irridescent multi colored beads. Since it's so messed up, there's no point in asking which looks better, so it'll hang out for a few days until one of them grows on me.

OK, time to tell on myself for being goofy again. Along with the beads on the swatch, I bought some to make some new stitch markers. These were supposed to be glass beads, but they looked almost like little pieces of crayons. You know, opaque red, yellow, green, etc.. The more I looked at those beads, the more it seemed they just couldn't be glass. Hmmmm, what to do, what to do?? Eureka! Take them up to the craft room, light a candle, hold a bead with a pair of pliers and see if it burns or melts. Yeah! that's it! Try fire! Well, dumbass me, after the bead doesn't burn, immediately puts down the pliers and picks up the bead.

You gotta imagine the rest........

Yippee!

Today is a GOOD day.

Several of the mittens I've been working on to donate are almost done. For some reason, the cuffs and body roll along quickly, the thumbs are slower, and the weaving in of ends is done at a snail's pace. When the last thumbs are on and ends in, you get to see the pictures. Right now they're a little creepy.

Just like most of the knitters out there in knit-land, I can't wait to start a new project (or two). The Mystery Stole project is starting soon, and it's at the top of my list of 'wanna' projects right now. There's also these really cute anklets in Knitty that look like an awfully fun, quick knit.

The husband got hired for his new job today. He's gone from auto finance to mortgage financing. His lending experience looks like it will give him a good basis to work from and he's in a much less stressful position. That's probably the #1 reason it feels like such a good day here.

Joined the Mystery Stole 3

Since I had my sox all finished for the Sockapalooza swap and little gifties for my buddy stashed away, I joined the Mystery Stole 3. It's a Yahoo group making a lace stole. We'll get bits of the pattern on a weekly basis until it's all finished up later this summer. The swatch is pictured below. It was the old 'third time's a charm' as far as needles went and ended up looking best on US #4 needles.

If you like the stitch markers, I have loads of them here.

Lax on the Blogging

There's been a lot of stuff going on around here, just very little in the way of knitting. Mostly fun stuff like cleaning, laundry, painting... I should be back in the swing of things worth sharing in a few days.

It Semi Fits

I've been seeing this everywhere and had to try it.

Terri Lynn -- [adjective]: Full of bees. 'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

How funny. I've actually got a tattoo of a bee on my shoulder.

Tried it again and got this:

Terri Lynn -- [noun]: A person who falls into an outhouse and dies 'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Ummm.... did you see the outhouse in my earlier post? I knew there was a reason I didn't want to go in there.

Terri Lynn -- [adjective]: Having the texture of congealed cheese 'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Let's just leave my ass out of this, ok?

Picture heavy post

Yesterday I was talking about all the this and that I'd been doing and promised to try and have pictures up today. Well, here they are.

I'd heard that mittens were needed for this winter in South Dakota. I had some leftover yarn. (Can you imagine that? A knitter with yarn leftovers.)

Yeah, we're Steelers fans here

.

I really wasn't loving the coral/blue on cream color, so I thought if I dyed it a bright cheery pink it might be good for some little girl. Well, the pink turned out to be this sort of UT orange with blue slubby spots. Still not loving this.

Let's go for some moss green. That gave me a green that may turn out to look sort of camo, so it's a good possibility.

Then there was the plain vanilla colored wool. Great for adults, but I'm thinking kids would want something more colorful. I tried for blue/purple stripes. Instead I got this, which is bright enough to suit a kid, don't ya think? Yep, those are pick up sticks. My size 2s were too small and the 3s were too big. Pick up sticks turned out to be halfway between and just the right size. An added bonus for using these is when your bored beagle does this: You have this to fall back on.

Here are the tags I made: I'm thinking besides care instructions, I'll make some that say "Made by___" or "Especially for ___"

Last but not least, here are stitch markers:

Bad Distracted Blogger

There's just been too much 'stuff' going on around here for much in the way of work on next Sockapalooza posibility.

The Blech!

• Hours upon hours spent on the phone with satellite company just trying to get a picture on the tv. This has been going on for a couple of weeks. You watch 10 or 15 minutes and the $%^& box resets itself.
• Two service calls and two FedEx visits for the same thing.
• Massive amounts of time on the phone with Realtor.
• Ditto with the closing company.
• Phone calls getting documentation from outside sources for the closing company.

The Fun!

• Knitting a couple of pairs of mittens for charity - I need to do more. (Pictures should be up tomorrow)
• Dying some boring yarn into something I think kids would find more attractive for the mittens. (Ditto pics)
• Making more stitch markers. (Ditto pics)
• Trying and failing miserably to chart a pattern I'd like for a possible shawl. I will design one that I like!
• Making some cute 'Care' tags for knit items. Mostly I gift machine washable/dryable to non-knitters, but for the others, some sort of tag needs to be attached. (Ditto pics)

I promise, on my honor, to do my best to do my duty..... ooops sorry about that. I really will try to be more consistent.

ps. Sis, I mailed the stitch markers out today! Hope they're enjoyed.

Just a Random Weekend

Ahhhh. Random weekend with the hubby.

After he got off work on Saturday, we did absolutely nothing important! That's always a good thing. He usually works 6 days a week, so a day of piddling around is a real respite for him. Plus, I kind of like having him around. Activities included going to Ollie's and getting some books at a deep discount. Dinner. Playing with the dogs. Sleeping. Let's see, what else? Nothing. That's it. Not a damn thing, and it was good!

Today he's outside riding around as fast as he can mowing grass. Instead of Gene Kelly dancing to 'Singing in the Rain', he has the wife on the back porch yelling 'Mowing in the Rain', trying to dance with two left feet and laughing insanely. God has to love this man for putting up with this kind of silly crap all the time. For everyone I'd wish someone in their life who encourages them to be as silly as they need to be and loves them for it. I got really lucky with this guy.

As far as knitting goes, I've let the socks fall by the wayside for a few days and am making some mittens to give away. I'm sure they'll be a good thing for someone who would normally have cold hands, but they are a much better thing for me. When you give something, no matter how small, to someone who needs it you are giving a much larger gift to yourself.

Geeze, enough of the Pollyana stuff for one day. Have a good rest of the weekend.