...because I haven't had the energy to blog for the past couple of weeks. I'm still trying to deal with the fibromyalgia, and we've changed meds (the "we" being the doctor and myself agreeing on something new that will cost a fortune but I don't care because I would sell my soul if it would make me feel even 50% better) so my body has to get used to them, and meanwhile, I'm a zombie.
But I am a knitting zombie, at least! I've made a little progress on the Jo Sharp cabled sweater, I've done a bit of spinning on the Tropical Fish roving I got from Jessica, and I've finished the Monet shawl except for the fringe, and that's because I ran out of Zen, so I've got to get to the yarn store when I get the next tiny surge of energy. I also frogged the silk Clapotis I had started, and cast on another with my favorite Lana Grossa sock yarn. (Melissa insists on calling it the VD scarf. Well, I can't help it if that's what it sounds like in English.) The silk wants to be the Toe-the-Line shawl, I think. But it's just going to have to wait its turn now. That's what it gets for being so troublesome. AND, I finished another pair of socks. So things are looking good on the knitting front.
I do have pictures of various works-in-progress, as well as some terrific Rugrat shots, but they'll have to wait for another day when I'm a little less zombieish. Meanwhile, I'm going to stagger downstairs because I have to figure out what to do about supper (braaaainssss....)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Tale of Mr. Bun
Meet Mr. Bun:
No, you're not seeing double. There really are two Mr. Buns in the picture. If you look closely, you'll see that one is, well, slightly more "loved" than the other. (Dirty, in other words.) Why two?
You know how it is when you have little ones. You are blessed with an overabundance of stuffed creatures, be they bears, buns, or dolls. Our Rugrat got three "My First Doll" babies, but she's never gotten attached to them. No, it was Mr. Bun from around the time she could focus her eyes.
I grant you, the name is a little odd. This clearly would be considered a feminine bunny, seeing as how it's dressed in pink, has a tag on its chest that says "Sweet Baby", and is wearing its very own bunny slippers. But Missy and I dubbed it Mr. Bun in honor of Hobbes' counterpart in the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip. (Remember? Suzie always wanted to play house with Mr. Bun and Hobbes and she couldn't figure out why Calvin threw such a fit over it.) Anyway, Mr. Bun has been THE bun of choice, and always will be.
Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, Rugrat dropped him in a store somewhere, and despite all my nagging, her mother has neglected to retrace her steps to find him. Her. It. So what's a good MeMaw to do but get on ebay and find another one?
Do you have any idea how much these things are going for? I found a couple that were listed at around $30 for the Buy it Now price. That was a bit too steep, but I waited and finally got one for around $20. Being the smart (ha ha) Memaw that I am, I planned ahead for the day when this Mr. Bun might go AWOL and grabbed another off ebay. That one I tucked away for just in case. And if Mr. Bun #1 (really #2 now) survived, then Mr. Bun #3 would be my own little memento of my first grandbaby's younger years.
Of course it couldn't last. The day came when we had to take Rugrat to the ER, and Mr. Bun was nowhere to be found. So against my better judgement, but unable to resist the pitiful whining, I dug Mr. Bun #3 out of the dresser drawer, and all was well. (Anything to get Rugrat's mother to stop whining.)
So we now have Mr. Bun #2 and Mr. Bun #3 floating around the house. I still think I should put one of them away, but darn it if we can't find one where he/she is supposed to be, so the backup Bun comes into play. And I'm still keeping my eyes open for Carter's Happy Friends Sweet Baby Bunny. I'm thinking that a Mr. Bun #4 might not be such a bad idea. Just in case. Either that, or I attach a GPS to each Mr. Bun.
No, you're not seeing double. There really are two Mr. Buns in the picture. If you look closely, you'll see that one is, well, slightly more "loved" than the other. (Dirty, in other words.) Why two?
You know how it is when you have little ones. You are blessed with an overabundance of stuffed creatures, be they bears, buns, or dolls. Our Rugrat got three "My First Doll" babies, but she's never gotten attached to them. No, it was Mr. Bun from around the time she could focus her eyes.
I grant you, the name is a little odd. This clearly would be considered a feminine bunny, seeing as how it's dressed in pink, has a tag on its chest that says "Sweet Baby", and is wearing its very own bunny slippers. But Missy and I dubbed it Mr. Bun in honor of Hobbes' counterpart in the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip. (Remember? Suzie always wanted to play house with Mr. Bun and Hobbes and she couldn't figure out why Calvin threw such a fit over it.) Anyway, Mr. Bun has been THE bun of choice, and always will be.
Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, Rugrat dropped him in a store somewhere, and despite all my nagging, her mother has neglected to retrace her steps to find him. Her. It. So what's a good MeMaw to do but get on ebay and find another one?
Do you have any idea how much these things are going for? I found a couple that were listed at around $30 for the Buy it Now price. That was a bit too steep, but I waited and finally got one for around $20. Being the smart (ha ha) Memaw that I am, I planned ahead for the day when this Mr. Bun might go AWOL and grabbed another off ebay. That one I tucked away for just in case. And if Mr. Bun #1 (really #2 now) survived, then Mr. Bun #3 would be my own little memento of my first grandbaby's younger years.
Of course it couldn't last. The day came when we had to take Rugrat to the ER, and Mr. Bun was nowhere to be found. So against my better judgement, but unable to resist the pitiful whining, I dug Mr. Bun #3 out of the dresser drawer, and all was well. (Anything to get Rugrat's mother to stop whining.)
So we now have Mr. Bun #2 and Mr. Bun #3 floating around the house. I still think I should put one of them away, but darn it if we can't find one where he/she is supposed to be, so the backup Bun comes into play. And I'm still keeping my eyes open for Carter's Happy Friends Sweet Baby Bunny. I'm thinking that a Mr. Bun #4 might not be such a bad idea. Just in case. Either that, or I attach a GPS to each Mr. Bun.
Monday, September 29, 2008
I'm Baaaaack!
I wandered off to what I thought were greener pastures, but I've been even less happy with Wordpress than I was with Blogger. The Help section was better, but almost everything was easier to do in Blogger, like posting pictures, or putting stuff in the sidebar.
So I am again changing my mind, and coming back here. I get more of a warm, fuzzy feeling from this blog than from the Wordpress one. So if you really need to see what's been going on with me since the end of July, this would be where you have to go: www.thenotsobigfinish.wordpress.com I'll put a link over there to get you back to here. What a pain, but Blogger doesn't have the ability to import an entire blog--at least not a one-step kind of thing, which is what I need. It can be done, but just reading the instructions gives me a headache.
I feel like I got away (boyyyyy, did I get away) from the original purpose of the blog, which was to get stuff done. Coming back here may kind of get me back on the right path. That and the fact that my hours are going to go way down at work because we lost a big client, so I'll have no money for yarn. That's okay, though. I have plenty in stock here.(Only I can't find my skein of Dream in Color Smooshy, and it's driving me crazy.) Summer of Socks didn't help either, but I do have just the best sock drawer in the world now!
I've joined a couple of new groups in Ravelry that are dedicated to finishing WIPs, so much of what goes on over there will end up here. First off, it's time for another Project List. That's on tomorrow's To Do list.
So I am again changing my mind, and coming back here. I get more of a warm, fuzzy feeling from this blog than from the Wordpress one. So if you really need to see what's been going on with me since the end of July, this would be where you have to go: www.thenotsobigfinish.wordpress.com I'll put a link over there to get you back to here. What a pain, but Blogger doesn't have the ability to import an entire blog--at least not a one-step kind of thing, which is what I need. It can be done, but just reading the instructions gives me a headache.
I feel like I got away (boyyyyy, did I get away) from the original purpose of the blog, which was to get stuff done. Coming back here may kind of get me back on the right path. That and the fact that my hours are going to go way down at work because we lost a big client, so I'll have no money for yarn. That's okay, though. I have plenty in stock here.(Only I can't find my skein of Dream in Color Smooshy, and it's driving me crazy.) Summer of Socks didn't help either, but I do have just the best sock drawer in the world now!
I've joined a couple of new groups in Ravelry that are dedicated to finishing WIPs, so much of what goes on over there will end up here. First off, it's time for another Project List. That's on tomorrow's To Do list.
Shuffling Back to Blogger
The title says it all. Well, not all.
For the full explanation, come on over to the original blog, www.thebigfinish-spingirl.blogspot.com See you there, I hope!
For the full explanation, come on over to the original blog, www.thebigfinish-spingirl.blogspot.com See you there, I hope!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Windstorm 2008!! And other sundry items...
If you live in the Midwest United States, you know what this is going to be about. It's only taken me 10 days to post about it because I hate trying to put pictures in my blog!
Here's a view of the mess in the back yard. It ended up worse than this, because this was taken while the windstorm was still going on. We moved fast, though. A couple of those 75-MPH gusts were all it took to make us all head back inside!
This is a view of the tops of the trees. They're even smaller now. We have three of these trees in a clump in the backyard, and they all need to be taken down now. Some of the branches that came down were 25 feet long, so who knows what kind of damage they did to the trees on the way down. That will be seen during the next storm, but I'd rather not have a 25-foot spear through the roof of the garage, so we're checking into having them cut down. We'll have no shade, but we'll have no branches impaling us, roots tripping us, and rootlets choking everything in the flower beds. I really hate these soft maples. They grow super-fast, so they get planted everywhere, but they are terrible trees when they get big.
This used to be a Bradford Pear in the front yard. Oh, well. I always wanted a sugar maple there anyway.
And at least we didn't have to deal with anything like this. This is my neighbor's (former) tree. You can see by the branches in the background that the wind was still blowing pretty hard here.
All in all we got off pretty easily. Our power was out just a little over 24 hours, but there are still parts of the Dayton area waiting for power even now. We have a generator, so we were able to keep the refrigerator cold, though we didn't run it nonstop. I did throw away some things from the freezer that had gotten soft, but we saved the refrigerator contents. I plugged in the microwave long enough to heat water to take a spit-bath. I used the warm water to soap up in, then got in the cold shower to rinse. Then I washed my hair in the sink with the rest of the bowl of warm water, and rinsed with cold. That was bearable, but I now understand why people didn't take baths often before electricity. What a pain. It took forever!
On to happier things. Here's a shot of the sleeve of the new "Pirate" coat that I mentioned in my last post. Cables=ropes=pirates. Well, it made sense last Friday! (Maybe I'd had too much grog or something.) The pattern is by Jo Sharp, and I'm using Brown Sheep yarn, the name of which slips my mind at the moment. It has some mohair in it. As soon as I publish this post, I'll remember. Anyway, I like it much better than the tweed yarn this pattern called for. The stockinette on the wrong side of this is really gorgeous, and though it looks complicated, I haven't had too much trouble following the pattern. The safety pins are for the increases, a tip I got from Maggie Righetti's book. Can't remember the name of that either. Sheesh. I hate getting old.
Our company found out today that we lost our biggest client, so it's a good thing I've been buying so much yarn and fiber lately, huh? If my hours get cut, as they almost certainly will, I have the equivalent of a yarn store stacked behind me right now. (And don't tell anyone, but I just ordered two skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn from a shop in Canada. One for me, and one to trade on Ravelry. Maybe I can score some more Sundara. Or Wollmeise.)
Speaking of stash. We went to the Woolgathering on Saturday ("we" being my daughter, Melissa, and her 20-month-old.) Note to selves: DO NOT TAKE A TODDLER TO THE WOOLGATHERING! Gee, I wish I'd read that note a couple of days ago. I'll save the details for another post, but in the meantime, here's a peek at something. Something wonderful...
I leave you to ponder the beauty and mystery.
Here's a view of the mess in the back yard. It ended up worse than this, because this was taken while the windstorm was still going on. We moved fast, though. A couple of those 75-MPH gusts were all it took to make us all head back inside!
This is a view of the tops of the trees. They're even smaller now. We have three of these trees in a clump in the backyard, and they all need to be taken down now. Some of the branches that came down were 25 feet long, so who knows what kind of damage they did to the trees on the way down. That will be seen during the next storm, but I'd rather not have a 25-foot spear through the roof of the garage, so we're checking into having them cut down. We'll have no shade, but we'll have no branches impaling us, roots tripping us, and rootlets choking everything in the flower beds. I really hate these soft maples. They grow super-fast, so they get planted everywhere, but they are terrible trees when they get big.
This used to be a Bradford Pear in the front yard. Oh, well. I always wanted a sugar maple there anyway.
And at least we didn't have to deal with anything like this. This is my neighbor's (former) tree. You can see by the branches in the background that the wind was still blowing pretty hard here.
All in all we got off pretty easily. Our power was out just a little over 24 hours, but there are still parts of the Dayton area waiting for power even now. We have a generator, so we were able to keep the refrigerator cold, though we didn't run it nonstop. I did throw away some things from the freezer that had gotten soft, but we saved the refrigerator contents. I plugged in the microwave long enough to heat water to take a spit-bath. I used the warm water to soap up in, then got in the cold shower to rinse. Then I washed my hair in the sink with the rest of the bowl of warm water, and rinsed with cold. That was bearable, but I now understand why people didn't take baths often before electricity. What a pain. It took forever!
On to happier things. Here's a shot of the sleeve of the new "Pirate" coat that I mentioned in my last post. Cables=ropes=pirates. Well, it made sense last Friday! (Maybe I'd had too much grog or something.) The pattern is by Jo Sharp, and I'm using Brown Sheep yarn, the name of which slips my mind at the moment. It has some mohair in it. As soon as I publish this post, I'll remember. Anyway, I like it much better than the tweed yarn this pattern called for. The stockinette on the wrong side of this is really gorgeous, and though it looks complicated, I haven't had too much trouble following the pattern. The safety pins are for the increases, a tip I got from Maggie Righetti's book. Can't remember the name of that either. Sheesh. I hate getting old.
Our company found out today that we lost our biggest client, so it's a good thing I've been buying so much yarn and fiber lately, huh? If my hours get cut, as they almost certainly will, I have the equivalent of a yarn store stacked behind me right now. (And don't tell anyone, but I just ordered two skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn from a shop in Canada. One for me, and one to trade on Ravelry. Maybe I can score some more Sundara. Or Wollmeise.)
Speaking of stash. We went to the Woolgathering on Saturday ("we" being my daughter, Melissa, and her 20-month-old.) Note to selves: DO NOT TAKE A TODDLER TO THE WOOLGATHERING! Gee, I wish I'd read that note a couple of days ago. I'll save the details for another post, but in the meantime, here's a peek at something. Something wonderful...
I leave you to ponder the beauty and mystery.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Yarrr!
Ahoy, mateys! It be National Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Now, it be fun an' all, but it be makin' f'r a shorter bloggy post. 'Tain't easy t'speak this way if ya dinna ken how by nature. Yarrrr.
I be workin' on a new piece o' clothin', seein' how as I ain't got any. Yarrr. 'Specially seein' as winter be comin' an' all. Shiver me timbers (and th' rest o' me too!) This be a purty coat, wiv cables n' all--just what Mad Bess Bonney (that be me, y'ken) needs t' kiver her an' keep them cold winds fr'm cuttin' through. An' the cables be kinda like ropes, so I be thinkin' they be perfect. Yarrrr! Now I just be needin' Cap'n Jack Sparrow f'r some company. 'Tis more like I'll be havin' Cap'n Crunch, I be thinkin'.
Time for some grub 'n' grog. Be seein' ye round, mateys! Yarrr!
Now, it be fun an' all, but it be makin' f'r a shorter bloggy post. 'Tain't easy t'speak this way if ya dinna ken how by nature. Yarrrr.
I be workin' on a new piece o' clothin', seein' how as I ain't got any. Yarrr. 'Specially seein' as winter be comin' an' all. Shiver me timbers (and th' rest o' me too!) This be a purty coat, wiv cables n' all--just what Mad Bess Bonney (that be me, y'ken) needs t' kiver her an' keep them cold winds fr'm cuttin' through. An' the cables be kinda like ropes, so I be thinkin' they be perfect. Yarrrr! Now I just be needin' Cap'n Jack Sparrow f'r some company. 'Tis more like I'll be havin' Cap'n Crunch, I be thinkin'.
Time for some grub 'n' grog. Be seein' ye round, mateys! Yarrr!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Catch-up Saturday
I feel like I've been running in place for days, but I think I've finally whipped the laundry into submission, and I've rounded up yarn to be wound. The floor hasn't been swept yet, but hey--I can't do EVERYTHING!
Caturday pic:
This is our usual mode when I'm trying to work at my desk, but I made a critical error today. I had scooted too far forward on the chair, so right now, Emmy is behind me instead of on my lap, and I'm perched on the edge trying not to squoosh her. I could push her off, but I don't feel like hearing the back-talk I'd get. She really is the mouthiest cat! This also gives a slight view of the rubble of my desk and sewing/weaving/stash/computer room. A merest fraction of the rubble, let me say. And if I'd realized I'd be posting this picture, I might have taken the time and trouble to put some makeup on and done something with my hair. Meh.
We spent four hours at the ER last evening because the baby hurt her arm. She stood up on a chair and it tipped, so we assumed that it was related, but apparently not. Turned out to be something called "Nursemaid's Elbow." It happens sometimes when you're holding a child's hand and she falls. The elbow joint gets stretched, and the ligament gets pinched between the bones or something like that (I can't follow these technical medical explanations!) Anyway, they did the usual x-rays to make sure nothing was broken. The doctor was wise enough to wait until Mommy and I went down to the vending machines to come in and pop the elbow while Papaw was holding the baby, so the worst was over by the time we got back with our chemical brew that passed for coffee. He wanted us to stick around for a little while to see how she reacted. She ate some vending machine mac 'n' cheese, and a little later took a walk down the hall holding our hands, so she was clearly all better! I think it's a little sore still today, but she can move it at least. And it could just be that thing where she remembers that it hurt, so she thinks it still will if she moves it a certain way. She came home with two cool toys, so she should be happy now. We have no idea how it happened in the first place. She got up crabby from her nap, and when I put her on the changing table, she winced and cried out when I moved her arm, so maybe I did it picking her up--who knows?
I've been sorting through projects, and I'm about ready to post another Project List. I think there will always be a pair of socks going now. They really are so much fun to make, and they're kind of addicting. Especially now that I can cast on and turn a heel without thinking twice about it, they're really mindless knitting, so my sock-knitting bag will always be with me now. It certainly made the hours at the ER go much faster!
Caturday pic:
This is our usual mode when I'm trying to work at my desk, but I made a critical error today. I had scooted too far forward on the chair, so right now, Emmy is behind me instead of on my lap, and I'm perched on the edge trying not to squoosh her. I could push her off, but I don't feel like hearing the back-talk I'd get. She really is the mouthiest cat! This also gives a slight view of the rubble of my desk and sewing/weaving/stash/computer room. A merest fraction of the rubble, let me say. And if I'd realized I'd be posting this picture, I might have taken the time and trouble to put some makeup on and done something with my hair. Meh.
We spent four hours at the ER last evening because the baby hurt her arm. She stood up on a chair and it tipped, so we assumed that it was related, but apparently not. Turned out to be something called "Nursemaid's Elbow." It happens sometimes when you're holding a child's hand and she falls. The elbow joint gets stretched, and the ligament gets pinched between the bones or something like that (I can't follow these technical medical explanations!) Anyway, they did the usual x-rays to make sure nothing was broken. The doctor was wise enough to wait until Mommy and I went down to the vending machines to come in and pop the elbow while Papaw was holding the baby, so the worst was over by the time we got back with our chemical brew that passed for coffee. He wanted us to stick around for a little while to see how she reacted. She ate some vending machine mac 'n' cheese, and a little later took a walk down the hall holding our hands, so she was clearly all better! I think it's a little sore still today, but she can move it at least. And it could just be that thing where she remembers that it hurt, so she thinks it still will if she moves it a certain way. She came home with two cool toys, so she should be happy now. We have no idea how it happened in the first place. She got up crabby from her nap, and when I put her on the changing table, she winced and cried out when I moved her arm, so maybe I did it picking her up--who knows?
I've been sorting through projects, and I'm about ready to post another Project List. I think there will always be a pair of socks going now. They really are so much fun to make, and they're kind of addicting. Especially now that I can cast on and turn a heel without thinking twice about it, they're really mindless knitting, so my sock-knitting bag will always be with me now. It certainly made the hours at the ER go much faster!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)