Of Dogs and Duty

Oh yes, I'm neglectful, I know...I haven't updated in almost a month!

My online life has been consumed, though, by the search for a dog. Yes, I am dorky enough that that has consumed my life.

See, when I was 10, I helped out at the house of a friend of Mom's who bred Jack Russell Terriers. No backyard breeder either, she's one of the top Jack Russell breeders in the country. Long story short, I developed a very strong bond with a particular dog, Yikes!(the ! is part of his name) and he ended up being my birthday present that year(she was happy to see him go, too, as he was somewhat deformed, and had every fault possible for a JRT). He grew up with me, and helped me through some of the hardest times of my life. He was my best friend, my baby, everything. Unfortunately, I had to put him to sleep this past summer, and I assure you it was the hardest thing I have ever done. It tore me up.

Well, now I'm at the stage of grieving where I need another dog, hence the search. I decided that I wanted a small dog, no more than 30 lbs. And female. And I think I found her, too!

Isn't she adorable? She's a Papillon whose ears never went up(in my opinion that makes her cuter) Some say that would make her a Phalene(A breed of dog that is essentially a Papillon with ears that go down instead of up), but no organization would register her as such, because of her Papillon parentage. Which doesn't matter to me, as I'm only looking for a pet. I do have to wait almost a month to get her, but I'm filling the time by knitting dog sweaters(3 1/2, completed as of this moment)

Though, I need to figure out a name for her, and it's very hard, finding the perfect one. Any ideas?

Ohmigosh!

I seriously need to try to chart this out....

(this picture was taken from a thread on the "Mr Rogers Sweater Day" group on Ravelry, and is a picture of a sweater that someone called Norwegian Star custom Knitting knits to sell. too rich for my blood, for sure....)

life is pandemonium....

Yesterday, dad took Amelia and me to see "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee".

Ohmigosh.

is teh awesome!!

I love it. With song titles like "The Prayer of the Comfort Counselor" and "Magic Foot"(after listening to it, the word "foot" makes no sense for a while) and lyrics like "We are fearless spellers/who love scary words/we're the nerds/with the dictionary on our knees" and "we are/the slightest bit/bizarre" or a song-length rant performed by the spellers about how unfair it is that some spellers get words like "antediluvian" and others get words like "hospital"

It is at once hysterically funny, touching, heartbreaking, thought provoking and utterly reckless. Being only the second musical I've seen , I can't comment from a point of experience, but I adored it, and would pay unreasonable ticket costs to see it again. The actor who played Logainne in the show I saw was absolutely spectacular! (They were all good, but she was super-good)

That was after church, and, by the time we made some stops and got home the cold that was lurking somewhere under the surface exploded, and today was devoted to knitting(Noah's mittens, Miki's scarf, and my scarf. Progress made on all, no FO's, though), drinking lots and watching movies(The Princess Bride, the Richard Pryor Show, Idiocracy, Moulin Rouge and Mr Bean)

Thankfully, I'm feeling somewhat better now. How are you guys?

Same thing again

So. Yeah.

Today was, like most other days recently, a knitting and spinning day. I spun two bobbins of singles, and i'll ply them tomorrow. I started a pair of wristwarmers from the chunky alpaca, and deemed the alpaca too delicate, unfortunately. Really, I'm slightly sensitive to alpaca(when it's up against my neck it makes me itch) but this stuff felt so wonderful to knit with. It doesn't have the "give" required of wristwarmers, though, so this weekend it's back to the yarn store to find something more suitable.

I got this far on the Noro Silver Thaw scarf. It's a feather & fan lace pattern, and I am loving it. It's interesting enough so that it's not boring to knit, but simple enough to knit mindlessly. It's also impressive looking, but not so visually complicated that it takes away from the Noro.

In lieu of the wristwarmers as a(nother) current project, I started Noah's Mittens. Here they are.

What are Noah's Mittens, you ask? Well, he asked me a while ago to make him "really tough" mittens. Mittens that could withstand a day of snowballs and fort building and being pulled on and off with teeth, mittens that would keep his hands very warm. Mittens that would be able to keep up with the kind of things a 9yo boy does outside, but still be thin and flexible enough to allow for a full range of hand movement. Can such a pair of mittens be hand-knit? We shall see :-) I'm using Paton's Classic Merino, in a colour that is supposed to look like camouflage when knit up(to go with his Camo hat, of course!)

Getting it done...

Today was a day of accomplishments and semi accomplishments. I did the finishing work on my calorimetry, and got everything ready for my knitting class(10 pairs of needles, 10 skeins of yarn, 10 sets of instructions, 10 class guides, and one class list. I only have 9 kids, but I like having an extra set of things). I started (and ended up frogging) seven different stitch patterns for the Noro Blossom scarf. I can't seem to find one that lives up to the awesomeness of the yarn. I think i'll try to dredge up a couple more balls online so I can make the Bloom shawl, which is gorgeous.

Admitting defeat on the Noro scarf, I decided to move on to the gorgeous Jeanie. I bought some heathered fingering weight wool from Knitpicks before Christmas, intending to use it for Jeanie. It's blue with a kind of jungle green and a bit of red, too. Very pretty. I intended to begin it this evening, but Amelia came over and wanted to play Guitar Hero, so that's what we did. I'm not much of a video game player. I can't stand violence for violence's sake, but I have nothing against the myriad of nonviolent video games that exist. I play them socially, but I don't find them fun at all as a solitary activity. I am also legendarily bad at them. But even I managed to get to international fame on Guitar Hero 3 (Though I must say i prefer the songs on 1 & 2)

Now, how about musician themed guitar Heros? I want a Cab Calloway version!!

Good news and a crappy picture

The good news being that the Hufflepuff scarf is *finally* finished! I finished it Saturday, swatched for my current project that evening(I only swatch when the gauge is crucial....heresy, I know!) I cast on Sunday morning, and I'll probably bind off this evening(while watching the second season of SNL-Hurrah!)I needed a quick knit to recoup from the scarf, and Calorimetry is perfect.

The picture is crap, but as there is no decent light to be found anywhere 'round here at 6PM, it'll have to do. I'm using Green Mountain Spinnery yarn, 45% wool, 55% mohair, in a lovely heathery, tweedy purple. I'm knitting it on 8's, incidentally, a pair of Knit-lite knitting needles, that light up at the tips so you can knit in the dark without bothering anyone(like in the car at night) and they work very well for this purpose. I cast on 108 stitches instead of 120 as well, to remedy gauge issues. I can't wait till i'm done!

Oh yeah. I ordered a spinning wheel!! A lendrum folding double treadle. And it comes with 2 1/2 pounds of wool....It should be here Thursday-Yipppeee!!

My kind of world!(sorta)

Further proof that knitters are taking over the world!

(Who else would want free wool? Srsly)

BTW....10" left on the Hufflepuff scarf....freedom is so close!

Pass it on...

So, At our homeschool co-op each family is supposed to teach two classes a year. (Previously I've taught Pet Care for K and pre K, and two Narnia classes for 3-6. I love teaching. It's the greatest thing!) Well, the winter session(which starts on the 11th) I'll be teaching a class on knitting for the 6th-12th graders...I'm so excited! Seriously, the opportunity to pass along my most beloved craft. Even if none of the kids ever picks up a knitting needle outside the class, i'll still have great time doing it :-) I've got nine kids in my class, and I couldn't be happier! We'll be making bags, including dying and hand-felting them.

In other news, I've got a secret. Nope, can't tell, cause it's a secret! But I will say that it is coming along quite nicely;-)

And, an unrelated question, but one I am quite interested in, What are some of your favourite colour combinations?

Post Christmas Christmas knitting

As this was my second Christmas knitting, and having learnt from my first Christmas knitting(planning to knit Christmas gifts for everyone in your family plus some of your friends when you only learned to knit in the last two days of October is a distinctly *bad* idea)

But, I survived, and this year was much less knit-o-centric. Two pairs of mittens for my Grandmother, and a Hufflepuff year 3&4 scarf for my sister, with the matching beret. But, alas, 6'8 of 1x1 rib is terribly boring. And it's also hard to knit something in secret when you spend so much time with the person.

So Christmas came...and went, with a beret and a partially finished scarf(the mittens were finished long before Christmas). It's currently at 4'6, and the finished scarf will be 6'8, plus fringe. For the yarnies amongst you, I'm using the pattern from "Charmed Knits", except I cast on 50 stitches instead of sixty-some(she wanted a narrower scarf). I'm using Encore Worsted (Colour 1382 for the yellow, and...whatever their black is. They only have one black). It's my first time using Encore. I have a good opinion of it as an acrylic blend. It feels nice and wooly and soft, and is pleasant to knit with, but I have found multiple knots in every skein I have wound so far. *sigh* Stupid knots. But if it turns out as sturdy as I've heard, I'll certainly knit with it again.

I went to my LYS and bought gorgeous new tempting yarn...but I'm not going to knit *anything* else until this is done...Wish me luck!!