Done!

The purple socks are finished, the purple socks are finished, I dance around like a crazy lady 'cause the purple socks are finished! Needless to say I am very happy with how they came out. I did a sewn bind-off so the top is nice & stretchy. They fit my fat calves without threatening to cut off the circulation. I'm pleased with the yarn (Plymouth Happy Feet); certainly something I would purchase again. I used up about 1-1/3 skeins of it which gives me enough left to make something small. Maybe a toy of some sort. . .

So now that those are done, I have cast on a new project. Shockingly, it is not a fish hat. No, I'm making the "Tiger Eyes" socks from Socks Socks Socks. Barely started and I've already tweaked the pattern. The toe called for in the pattern just looked ugly to me, so I redid it as my old standby, the short row toe. I will probably do a short row heel as well since I prefer that over a heel flap. I'm using Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Gold Rush (I'm pretty sure I posted a picture of it in an earlier post so I shan't repeat it here).

Hoping the weather is nice enough tomorrow to do some spinning at archery. It's been too windy at work, and I haven't gotten around to dragging the wheel in from the car so I haven't done any spinning since the day Ralph & I went to the park down the block, and that was at least two weeks ago.

Oh, forgot to mention yesterday, on the way home from work I passed the big electronic sign for the Pomona Fairplex. It was announcing that the LA County Fair opening weekend will be on Labor Day. Um, hello, that's 8 months away! They must really not have much scheduled in February if that's what they're advertising.

More pictures

Not much to talk about today, so thought I'd post some more pictures. I did finally manage to get the computer to recognize the memory card so I've got a shot of the fish hat I made for myself (being beautifully modeled by Ralph). Today is Roomie B's birthday (and also Ralph's mom's BD) but as I haven't seen her today I haven't been able to wish her a happy one.


First up, a shot of the Pacific Ocean, taken on our trip to San Juan Capistrano at the beginning of the month. The sun was very bright that day despite the clouds; it was hard to get a good picture although I do like how this one came out. Click for a better view; there are seagulls on the rocks that are almost visible in the larger image.


Sign at Caspers Wilderness Park showing some of the birds that are in the area. I took a shot of it so we could try to figure out what kind of woodpecker we had seen (turned out to be an acorn woodpecker).


Here's a shot of the dead bride & groom from our haunted house. A simple prop that looked pretty darn good under the blacklights.



Another photo taken at the dog park. That's me, with Sadie behind me, Halitosis in the center, and someone else's dog coming over to play.


And last but certainly not least, my new fish hat.

No. No, I never will learn.

Was going to bring the camera today, but figured there was no point in doing so since either the card or the card reader is messed up and I can't download anything. As I got to work, I realized I could just use the internal memory for now & transfer it to the card (whether the old one or a new one) once we solved the problem. Now, if I had thought of that before I left the house, I would have had the camera on me and could have taken pictures of the hawk in the low tree with his pigeon breakfast. Sigh.

Almost done with the purple socks; just need to do the cuffs. Think I'll scan my pattern books and see if I can find something a little more interesting than K1P1 rib.

Lovin' the hat

Finished my fish hat this morning. Unfortunately I can't post a picture of it, because the card reader on the computer for some reason will not recognize the camera card, or even acknowledge that there is a card in the reader. This is why you are being treated to a picture of Halitosis at the dog park (another of Ralph's photos).

Anyway, I wore the hat today & really like how it looks. It's not as warm as I expected it to be, which in retrospect isn't surprising since I used size 8 needles & the label calls for size 6. I love the colors; thought vaguely about buying enough to make a sweater (I know, I almost never wear sweaters) but I'd probably need to buy $135 worth of it & if I'm spending that much on yarn I want to get more than one project out of it.

Misread a sign this morning--what it said was "Outpatient Surgery" but what I read was "Outpatient Sugary."

And that about wraps up my day. Sad, I know.

What do you MEAN, last week of January already?

I cannot believe how quickly this month is flying by. Didn't we just have Christmas last week? Ah, well, since time flies when you're having fun, this just means that I am enjoying myself, right?

Today's pictures are from Ralph's camera. He downloaded his memory chip (finally--some of the shots are from Halloween, and I suspect even earlier) but didn't realize he was signed onto my account when he did it. I just picked a few at random since the thumbnails are a bit too small for me to really see what's there. However, by previewing my post I can see what they are. . . let's see. . . ah, some sort of duck. This must be from when he went to El Dorado Nature Center a couple weeks ago.


Actually, it looks like three of the four that I picked are bird shots from the Nature Center. I wish I could have gone with him that day, but alas I was working. That is one of the disadvantages of having work schedules that are not completely in sync. For example, he has a three-day weekend starting on Friday and I do not. I was hoping to get Friday off, which seemed plausible last week. However, it is getting less and less likely as the days pass & the closings slip closer & closer to month end. Oh, well. . .


The weekend after Ralph might have a D & D game. If he does, then we might have another knitting day, possibly at Sis's place. Boy, how's that for firm plans??

Feeling kinda bad that we didn't visit longer with Dad & J yesterday. Unfortunately we had to get laundry done & a few other chores, and had already allotted Sunday to those tasks before we got the lunch invite. Oh, well, what can one do?


And the only non-bird picture in the day's assortment: Sadie at the dog park. She tends to stick really close to us when we go there. Not sure why; she's a friendly enough dog & was never shy around Hali, Gonzo, or Zoe even before she became our dog. Maybe the sheer number of canines, or the overwhelming smells of the park, make her a little nervous. She does seem to enjoy herself there, though.

That was fun :-)

Yesterday's knitting day was very pleasant. CR didn't come (I am guessing because of the morning rain; it is a long drive for her) but Duh & The Girl did. Roomie B even joined us for a while. Sis did bring the butter tarts and OMG they were sooooo good. I just finished eating one as a matter of fact. Duh worked on a hand-sewn table runner that she is making for Sis; The Girl had a scarf she was making; Sis finished up a charity hat & got started on a new hat although that one is not for the charity drive as far as I know; I made excellent progress on my fish hat (and even more this morning; I'm about 20 rows away from starting the tail); MH2 hand-sewed a band for the Ren Faire hat she is making & got started on a second hat as well (very hatty around here yesterday!), and Roomie B worked on some mending. I meant to take lots of pictures and of course didn't get a single one. Sigh.

To escape the estrogen flowing through the house, Ralph took Emmett (the Saturn) to get new tires since he'd noticed there was a shimmy when he drove. Turns out that two of the tires had pretty much disintegrated inside and there was nothing but the outer shell holding them together!! The tires were older than I thought; we bought new tires a few years ago but apparently at that time we only replaced two of them. The ones that were damaged were eight years old (they had a manufacturing date on them). I am so glad he got that fixed!!! He also was able to put in a couple hours of archery which always puts him in a good mood.

Today we are having lunch with Dad, J, Sis, The Boy and The Girl. I'm fairly certain that Dad did not invite FM, since he and The Boy have not been getting along too well lately & Sis too would be uncomfortable if he were there. We're all meeting at Dad's & will head out to a restaurant from there.

Various tidbits of my exciting life

Had an interesting day today. Really wanted coffee this morning, so I made a bigger pot than normal so that I would have a second cup to take on the road. Got ready for work, fixed the second cup, gathered up my things & headed out. Note to self: If one goes to the trouble of preparing a second cup of coffee to take to work, one should actually take it to work instead of leaving it on the kitchen counter.

Before work, I frogged the fish hat that I started the other day. It was just coming out too small. For some reason the cast-on row did not want to rip out, so I had to undo all 90 stitches one by one. This sucked up all my knitting time, so I stuffed the project back into the bag & took it with me to work. Once I arrived I had about 10 minutes before I had to be at my desk, so I pulled out my project. Note to self: When one packs up one's knitting project, one should make sure to put the needles in the bag too.

Saw a truck on the way to work today, a rather large pick-up. It had the over-sized tires that the younger guys seem to like, and it was all jacked up. I liked the license plate: RNNOVRU

Had a really good lunch today. I was planning on going to Olive Garden for soup & breadsticks, but there was a long wait so I crossed the parking lot to Red Lobster. They have some nice weekday lunch specials; I chose a chicken & shrimp combo. I'm rather glad that the Olive Garden was so crowded.

Speaking of food, I almost stopped to pick some up on the way home from work. I wasn't hungry at all, since I'd had a large & late lunch, but it's just been so long since I've seen a Pioneer Chicken that I was quite tempted. Perhaps for lunch on Sunday. . . it's about 15 miles from the house, which is a bit of a drive just for lunch and the Pioneer probably won't taste as good as I remember, but just for the nostalgia it might be worth it.

Tomorrow is The Knitting Day. There will be potentially 7 of us at this point. I hope everyone has a good time.

The week is winding down

Here's a shot of the fiber I am currently spinning. It's a wool/possum blend, very fluffy, light and soft. There's a total of 7 ounces, and the roving is about the size of a basketball. I have several projects in mind for it: a Christmas robin that I found on Ravelry; a stuffed kiwi bird; and if there's enough left new gloves for Ralph. I know, I should make the gloves first, but I did start spinning it up with the other projects in mind.

Driving to work has been frustrating lately. There is a meter at the end of the interchange between the 105 & the 605 freeways. Normally this meter is not on, but the past three days it has been. Traffic backs up on the 105 like you would not believe when the meter is on. And before you think I am exaggerating--yesterday when I got on the 105, I was 15 minutes ahead of my normal schedule. By the time I reached the meter, I was three minutes behind. Fortunately the rest of the drive was clear & I was not actually late for work. However, I had planned on using those extra 15 minutes to knit or read or otherwise relax before starting the workday. Hope the meter is not on today.

Finished fish hat #4 & started on fish hat #5 yesterday, another Manos lips/Twizzle body. For this one I'm using a light purple Manos, and the Twizzle is a dark blue/purple blend. No photos of the yarn yet.

Saturday is almost here, and I am really looking forward to it as there are a few people coming over for a "knittering" day. CZ from work will be here, as will CR. Sis will be here of course, and has practically promised to bring butter tarts (and by "practically promised" I mean she said, "I don't have all the ingredients so don't count on it.") Not sure if Sis will be bringing any people with her--she said The Girl if she doesn't have to work, and Duh if she can get her head out of her butt (OK, those are my words not Sis's but it's what she meant I'm sure) and M from Sis's work. Oh, and I invited Neighbor K so we'll see if she can make it. Wish I had a more definite count so I know how much food I need. Well, I'm sure there will be plenty even if everyone shows up, since I got a "family size" veggie lasagna & plan on getting a big loaf of garlic bread to go with it.

History

And it's official: President Obama started his term today. I feel as though I should have some profound statement to make about this historical event, but I'm coming up dry. I do feel a bit sorry for him, what with the Chief Justice messing up the oath & Obama sort of pausing as if unsure if he should say the line correctly, or as the CJ said it. Ah, well.

Had a surprise at work yesterday. As I pulled into my parking space, there was a hawk perched in the low branch of the tree next to my usual spot. No fear in him (her?) at all; just sat calmly as I pulled in. I got a few shots, and if I can figure out how to download them from the cell phone I'll post one or two. I know, I know, you don't have to say it--ALWAYS bring the camera.

Fish hat #4 is almost done; just need to add the eyes. I'm surprised that I'm not sick of the pattern yet. I think the fact that I'm doing them in different colors helps a lot. At this rate, I should have all of them finished by mid-March or so. This will be a big stress-reliever come Christmas, having eight gifts all ready to go.

Red corriedale

Just realized I never posted a pic of the red corriedale I spun up. This shot was taken while it was hanging to dry. I apologize for the lack of set-up/glamor.

Restful Sunday

Had a very quiet day today. Spent the vast majority of it knitting, as you can tell by the progress made on the Fin-bonacci Fish Hat. Yes, that's the one that I cast on just yesterday afternoon. I've done the lips (11 rows) and mouth (42 short rows) and have done 65 rows out of 100 for the body. I call it the "Fin-bonacci" hat because the stripes are a repeat of the first 6 digits of the Fibonacci series (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8) starting with 8 & working down.


This morning was extremely relaxing. I slept in an hour later than normal (OK, so that means I got up at 6:00 am, but for me that's quite the lie-in!) then after knitting for a while Ralph & I sat in the jacuzzi. Then we took Hali to the little park area where I was spinning yesterday. Ralph alternated between reading, juggling, and playing with Hali. I alternated between spinning & playing with Hali. Hali alternated between playing, lying on the grass, and peeing on everything in sight. While we were there a man came by with a big Rottweiler. Fortunately the dog was friendly (in fact, the dog's name is "Friend") and he & Hali played together for about 10-15 minutes.




In between knitting, reading, and eating Chinese food for lunch, we finally got around to putting up the dead lawn-flamingos that The Boy and The Girl gave us for Christmas. I think they add just the right touch to our yard.

Seem to be in a rut

Boy, my Saturdays are starting to get predictable. Bought yarn, bought a book, knit (and of course working on yet another fish hat, using the yarns shown in today's picture. The intended recipient will only be about a year old at Christmas, thus the color choices). I did go to a local park & spun for a while there. I enjoyed that a lot--the weather was extremely nice (I love the fact that I can sit outside wearing shorts in mid-January), it was quiet out there, the grass felt good on my bare feet. I've got 7 ounces of wool/possum blend that I'm spinning and I think it's going to be a lovely yarn when it's done.

We also went out to the movies; we had free passes from when we went to see "Igor" & the film broke. Watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still." This version resembled the original the same way that guacamole resembles unicorns. If you try really hard you can find a few things in common but for the most part they are two completely different things. I did enjoy it, even though I think they would have been better off removing the rare common elements and just marketing it as a completely different film. It did have excellent effects, and it was nice seeing John Cleese in a non-comedic role for a change.

Afterwards we went to George's Greek Deli, where we found ourselves seated next to AH, a sales agent with whom I used to work. He was there celebrating his 70th birthday. Had a very nice chat with him before our food arrived. Got home late (late for me anyway) and headed straight to bed.

Baa baa black sheep

Better day today than yesterday, thank goodness. Got the eyes sewn onto the third fish hat. While looking for some waste yarn, I found the black sheep tape measure that I misplaced months & months ago. I was really pleased about that as I've only ever seen the black ones for sale one time. I tried on the purple socks (which is why I needed the waste yarn--wanted to take it off the needles so I didn't snap one of them) and hooray it fits perfectly! Much more inspired to finish them now that I know I'll be able to get them over my heel; I really wasn't sure & it's hard to tell while they're still on the needles.

Weather has been really nice lately. Think I might take my wheel to work & spin up some of that wool/possum during my lunch break. It's been a wee bit breezy but not so bad that it will be an issue; at least I hope it won't be.

There was a major accident on the 210 yesterday. A semi overturned, spilling about 1,000 gallons of liquid asphalt across all lanes. The accident happened early in the morning, sometime around 5:45, and they didn't open any of the lanes until just after 5:00 pm. Yup, 11 hours before any of the lanes were reopened. Amazingly no one was hurt, and only the semi was involved in the accident. That's nothing short of a miracle if you ask me.

Ralph has a D & D game this weekend. Not sure what I'll do; maybe stick around, maybe escape to my usual yarn & book stores. We shall see.

And I shall sign off with the LOLcat I made this evening:


moar funny pictures

Just call me Crankypants

I apologize to the Teeming Millions, because today's post is just going to be whining for the most part.

Had to fill the tank at lunch today. Looked online, found that the cheapest gas was at an Arco just over 3 miles away. Decided I didn't really want to drive that far, and besides the station over by the Del Taco usually has good prices so I went there instead. Big mistake--it was 8 cents a gallon higher, yikes!

Then I headed to Arby's to get food; ordered the Italian sub & a small drink. The clerk said the sandwiches were two for $5 to which I replied that I couldn't eat two of them. Then she said, "Just the sandwich, not the combo right?" and I said, "Yes, just the sandwich." Got my order, drove back to work, opened it up. What a disappointment! When the sandwiches were first introduced they came on a roll that was at least 8" long & almost 3" across, but this thing was maybe 6" by 2" and the meat layer was thinner than I remembered it being, too. After I finished eating I read & knit for a bit, and when I had about 10 minutes left it occurred to me that I had paid rather a lot for my lunch, so I pulled the receipt out of my bag. She had charged me $2.50 for the sandwich, $1.39 for the drink, $1.00 miscellaneous and a second miscellaneous charge of $1.49. WTF??? So basically I paid the same as if I had gotten either the combo or two sandwiches for just one sandwich and a small drink. What a rip-off! I only wish I'd noticed it at the time, I definitely would have complained to management. Ralph says I should take the receipt back anyway and ask them about it.

Traffic was HORRIBLE on the way home, then when I finally did arrive there was virtually no (cussword) parking. I drove past the house twice trying to find a space, and finally ended up parking about 7 houses away. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had only been cars, but tomorrow is trash day so a lot of the spaces were taken up with trash cans & recycling bins that for some reason people felt the need to place far enough apart that each pair took up eight feet of curb space. Grrrr!!!

Almost done with the fish hat; just need to put the eyes on. Unfortunately, as much as I love the colors--they look horrible on me. Sigh. Guess this will be a Christmas gift hat after all & I'll make mine in another color.

And the only amusing thing that happened today: one of the spam e-mails in my junk folder today looked pretty convincing. The sender address was from my work, and it was entitled "Christmas bonus." Of course, there were some good clues that it wasn't a genuine work e-mail. For one, it gave the sender as "tli@[company's domain].com, and our e-mail address format is different from that. Second, our company doesn't give out Christmas bonuses. But the big one for me was the fact that "bonus" was spelled as "bomus." When I read it my first thought was, "A Christmas bomus?? Thank you, Jebus!!"

Nothing but fish hat news

Very little going on, other than some good hours of knitting. I cast on yet another fish hat (did I mention I'm making about 10 of these total?) on Saturday night, knit like mad on it Sunday, worked on it at lunch yesterday, and am now halfway through the tail. I am so loving the colors; the lips/fins/tail are Manos de Uruguay #300X Topas, and the body is Mountain Colors Twizzle Gold Rush. Yup, Gold Rush--same colorway as the Bearfoot I bought in December, which means I can have socks to match the hat, because this fish is MINE.

Ralph wore his hat on Saturday to archery where it got a few comments, and into the yarn store with me where it was a big hit. I think he likes it, too. I am already planning hat #4, which will be another Christmas gift. I'm going to do it in stripes based on the Fibonacci series, starting with 8 & working down, then repeating the pattern. I did the math yesterday and it should work out perfectly with the pattern ending just as the hat does. If worse comes to worst I can always fudge it by adding or deleting a few rows. This one will be in aqua & lavender, possibly with yellow lips/fins/tail.

A day in my so-called life

Had a good day today, although not exciting to anyone who actually has a life. Brought my spinning wheel to archery & spun some red corriedale which is now hanging to set the twist. Went to the yarn store & bought yarn for several more fish hats--at this rate, I might actually have them all done by Christmas. Then a quick coffee at Starbucks & a trip through the bookstore. I was tempted to buy a book on spinning creative yarns ("Intertwined" but I don't recall the author). The book was divided into three sections (fibers, spinning, and projects for using the finished yarns) but I already have several books on fibers & didn't like the projects. Couldn't justify spending $30 just for the spinning techniques. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will come out in paperback at some point. Ended up getting a new murder mystery--yup, that's right, just one book. To quote Lynn Johnston, "Going into a bookstore and buying one book is like going into a McDonald's and buying one french fry." Came back home, sorted the yarns into project bags, and cast on the next fish hat; this one will be mine. I'm using the yarns shown in this post; the solid color (Manos de Uruguay #300X) is for the lips, fins & tail and the variegated (Mountain Color Twizzle "Gold Rush") is for the body. For dinner we picked up BBQ at (where else?) Johnny Reb's. Headed to bed soon, I think. Hope I didn't bore the Teeming Millions too much with this post :-)

Fish hat #2: complete

Yesterday morning I had my cup of coffee on the floor by the couch. Note that this was the ONLY thing on the floor by the couch. I was fixing breakfast, and went to get the coffee. Somehow, my ball of yarn had managed to leap off the couch and land perfectly in the cup of coffee. Nine feet of floor space, and it lands in the only potentially damaging spot. Fortunately it hadn't soaked in yet & I was able to rinse it off.

Despite such delays as lost scissors (which still haven't turned up) and suicidal yarn, the second fish hat is FINISHED! It looks very similar to the first since I used the same yarns, but it is in fact a different hat. I intend to go to the yarn store this weekend & get some different colorways for the next hat. In the meantime, I still have the lace socks on which to work. And I really ought to do some spinning; it's been a month fer cryin' in a pail!

Today is the last day for archery, at least temporarily. Apparently their insurance is expiring & won't be renewed in time for the next class. According to archery regulars, this occurs every year. You think they would have caught on by now that they need to submit their renewal sooner.

Had hoped to finish the second fish hat tonight, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Traffic was heavier than usual, plus I had to stop & get medication for the fish (she's got popeye), then I managed to lose my scissors while I was grafting the tail. Don't ask me how I managed that--I was sitting on the couch, I used them to trim an end, then when I went to use them again they had vanished. I looked in my knitting bag, my purse, under the cushions, even looked in the needle case on the off chance I had put them away without thinking, but no luck. Now it's nearly 8:00 & I'll need to start dinner soon. Guess the hat will get done tomorrow. Not much left to do, really; just the fins & eyes.

Speaking of fish hats, I like the photo one of the posters on Ravelry used for her fish hat. A man is wearing it, and has it pulled all the way over his face. He's lying on his back, with a fishing pole across his chest. I thought that was both amusing and creative.

Insert clever title here

Making good progress on the second fish hat. This picture is already outdated--I've just done the penultimate set of decreases, and have about 2" to knit before starting the tail. Everyone that I have shown the hat and/or pattern wants one, although SOME of the people asking already know how to knit and should make their own.

Heard an interesting news story on the radio this morning. Apparently some six year old missed the bus & decided to drive himself to kindergarten. Got about 10 miles out before hitting I think they said a light pole or maybe it was a tree, don't recall exactly. What I do remember is when they asked him how he learned to drive, he replied it was from playing video games such as "Grand Theft Auto." Hel-LOOO! What kind of idiot parent allows a six year old to play "Grand Theft Auto"? In any case, the parents have been charged with neglect and something else--I was too busy ranting over GTA to hear properly at that point.

Speaking of not hearing properly, it took me a minute to realize that in another story the announcer had said it was "the only game in town," not "the only gay men town."

And I also saw a "holiday greeting fail." The Crazy Horse Saloon's electronic sign had "HAPPY NRW YEAR" on it this morning.

Couldn't decide on where to go for lunch today; thought about Del Taco since it's right next to the gas station & I had to fill the tank anyway, but ended up going to Wendy's instead. It turned out to be a fortuitous choice, as JV from the office came in while I was still in line & he bought me lunch (despite my protests) which was very nice of him.

Speaking of food, I joined Sis, her Ex, The Boy and The Girl for dinner last night at Buffalo Inn. They go most Tuesdays since there is a taco special that night. I was the only one not to get the tacos; I had a buffalo burger instead. It was very good, although a little pricey. Came with a big pile of chips that are cooked on the premises, yum!

Well, that's about it for my exciting life. Think I'll brainsuck a bit longer & then go knit.

Deja vu all over again!

As some of the Teeming Millions may recall, a few months back I posted about a car I had seen in a parking lot; a Corvette Spyder with the license plate "ITSY BTC." Well, guess what car I passed on the freeway today? Yup, the same Spyder! It was kinda fun seeing it again.

Found out today that JN at work has gotten engaged. I am so excited for him! Don't know when The Date is (they might not even have set one yet) but still, I think it's pretty awesome. I know he's just nuts about his fiancee and her little girl too.

Not much else going on though. Lots of work since I took a couple days off, so at least I'll be busy, and then tomorrow I'm going out for tacos with Sis. Oh, and we saw "Twilight" last night. It was OK, although frankly I don't quite see what all the hoopla is about. However I did enjoy going out and afterward we had dinner at George's Greek Deli which is always delicious. I ordered a chicken dish with spinach and feta instead of my usual combo appetizer plate. For some reason it seemed more appropriate since I was technically still on vacation--you know, doing something out of the ordinary. Silly to feel that way I suppose but what the heck.