Today we got a new kitten! Her name is Amber and she seems to be around 4 months old. Her previous owner was going to take her to the pound :( Well, we just can't have that can we?? So she came home to us. Surprisingly, she is doing well enough against the onslaught of five little kids. I believe she is hiding under the couch now LOL Our other two cats spend all day under a bed or the couch and come out after bedtime - Amber will learn soon enough to do the same.
Amber is a black and brown tiger with a long tail, quite different then our other kitten Bridget who is black, brown, and white calico and a bob tail! They are about the same age tho. It will be interesting to see how they grow up together.
Our older cat, ha, she is is really only about eight months old, is Rainbow and it's fun to watch her with Bridget - she hasn't really interacted much with Amber yet. The girls fight every night and it's comical to watch especially when Rainbow is done fighting, she just lays her arms across Bridget and watches the baby squirm. Like, haha, I'm bigger then you and I win!
I don't believe Amber's paws have touched the carpet since we brought her home - every kid in the house keeps carrying her around! They just love kitties!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
My Day
Yesterday was all cold and rainy all day long. Seriously, the rain never let up once. Today's weather was cold and grey. Some rain, not even half as much as yesterday.
So, I had to get up early to go to the dentist. So, I'm dragging myself out of my nice warm bed - it's cold outside after all - and he calls and tells me that he's closing the office today because of a death. Well, for him, that must suck but for me? I get to go back to bed!
Then, after everyone got up, the baby wants to go for a walk. In the cold. So, I have to find shoes, socks, jackets, etc. While doing this I found my sewing needle! Yay! So now I can make the velvet project bag for my swap partner that should've been done a week ago. It doesn't have to go out yet, I plan on mailing December 1, that'll give it plenty of time to reach its destination.
We went to the library. We live in small town, the new books are often old books before they get here. But today, I found a new James Patterson called Don't Blink. I believe it is actually a few months old but whatever, I haven't read it. Yay!
We made lunch, made brownies, ate the brownies. Got a good new brownie recipe out of a Rachael Ray magazine but it didn't turn out quite right this time, I don't know why. Then the mail came. I love getting mail especially when it includes A BRAND NEW KNITPICKS CATALOG!
Fun, fun, fun. I spent a lot of time going thru it. I think I'd like to try some colorwork with the Palette yarn - the ornament kit looks fantastic and not too hard. They also have some really nice new sock patterns that be great to work up. No new yarns this time around but in the spring there will be.
Well, pretty good day for me. What about you?
So, I had to get up early to go to the dentist. So, I'm dragging myself out of my nice warm bed - it's cold outside after all - and he calls and tells me that he's closing the office today because of a death. Well, for him, that must suck but for me? I get to go back to bed!
Then, after everyone got up, the baby wants to go for a walk. In the cold. So, I have to find shoes, socks, jackets, etc. While doing this I found my sewing needle! Yay! So now I can make the velvet project bag for my swap partner that should've been done a week ago. It doesn't have to go out yet, I plan on mailing December 1, that'll give it plenty of time to reach its destination.
We went to the library. We live in small town, the new books are often old books before they get here. But today, I found a new James Patterson called Don't Blink. I believe it is actually a few months old but whatever, I haven't read it. Yay!
We made lunch, made brownies, ate the brownies. Got a good new brownie recipe out of a Rachael Ray magazine but it didn't turn out quite right this time, I don't know why. Then the mail came. I love getting mail especially when it includes A BRAND NEW KNITPICKS CATALOG!
Fun, fun, fun. I spent a lot of time going thru it. I think I'd like to try some colorwork with the Palette yarn - the ornament kit looks fantastic and not too hard. They also have some really nice new sock patterns that be great to work up. No new yarns this time around but in the spring there will be.
Well, pretty good day for me. What about you?
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Sock Yarn
I bought some Stroll yarn from Knitpicks for my birthday in May. I really like it. The yarn I chose is from the Multi line - called Meadow. It's purple, green, and brown. It's really rather funny, one sock striped perfectly and the second one did not even though I got an entire sock and the leg of the second sock out of one skein. I have tiny feet :)
It was quite easy to work with. I was using Magic Loop and it was my first time using that particular method. Now I think I prefer it over DPNs but both are good to know. It did not split or untwist while I was knitting, which is a good thing! Some of the cheaper sock yarns will do that.
I've been wearing the socks since July or August and they have held up well enough. You can wash and dry the socks, which is why I chose this yarn, I don't want to handwash socks (but I do have an awesome merino/alpaca that a friend hand dyed for me with "Kaylee" colors that I can't wait to use!).
My only real problem with it is the yarn relaxes. My socks no longer fit exactly like they did when I first made them. I asked about this on Ravelry, since the socks had stretched and sometimes it is hard to wear with them with shoes, and apparently with Stroll you should make your socks a bit small to start with because the yarn stretches. Also, you should machine dry instead of letting them hang to dry like I was at first.
Really, for the money, you can't get better sock yarn! I really want to try their Stroll HandPainted, they just came out with some really beautiful and bright colorways that I'd love to have. Also, Gloss Sock sounds just wonderful - it is a merino/silk blend that I bet feels great on the feet. Imagination has some great colorways, that's a merino/alpaca blend that I've heard is like heaven. Haven't tried it for myself yet though. I really want to use the Felici yarn,too!
Stroll is a great yarn to use for all sorts of things, not just socks. Sweaters, shawls, hats, it's a good all purpose yarn :)
It was quite easy to work with. I was using Magic Loop and it was my first time using that particular method. Now I think I prefer it over DPNs but both are good to know. It did not split or untwist while I was knitting, which is a good thing! Some of the cheaper sock yarns will do that.
I've been wearing the socks since July or August and they have held up well enough. You can wash and dry the socks, which is why I chose this yarn, I don't want to handwash socks (but I do have an awesome merino/alpaca that a friend hand dyed for me with "Kaylee" colors that I can't wait to use!).
My only real problem with it is the yarn relaxes. My socks no longer fit exactly like they did when I first made them. I asked about this on Ravelry, since the socks had stretched and sometimes it is hard to wear with them with shoes, and apparently with Stroll you should make your socks a bit small to start with because the yarn stretches. Also, you should machine dry instead of letting them hang to dry like I was at first.
Really, for the money, you can't get better sock yarn! I really want to try their Stroll HandPainted, they just came out with some really beautiful and bright colorways that I'd love to have. Also, Gloss Sock sounds just wonderful - it is a merino/silk blend that I bet feels great on the feet. Imagination has some great colorways, that's a merino/alpaca blend that I've heard is like heaven. Haven't tried it for myself yet though. I really want to use the Felici yarn,too!
Stroll is a great yarn to use for all sorts of things, not just socks. Sweaters, shawls, hats, it's a good all purpose yarn :)
Monday, November 1, 2010
NaBloPoMo
I've decided to join NaBloPoMo. Don't know what that is? It's National Blog Posting Month! It's similar to the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Basically, you blog every day and during November this gives you an entry to win a prize,too. You want more info? Click HERE. I've also added a button on the side, that is hopefully linked like it should be.
If you don't have a blog you can also blog on their site as opposed to signing up for a blogger, wordpress, or livejournal blog. I used to have a livejournal but decided to leave because 1, I wasn't able to post the way I wanted to, and 2, they changed their logo to be more gay friendly. Seriously, they did. It was a rainbow and they were going on and on about gay marriage. That's not the sort of thing I wanted on my blog so I left. If you don't mind that, it really wasn't a bad blogging community, I did like how it had communities and forums to chat in.
Sometimes, there is a blogging theme of the month. This month's theme is that there is no theme!
Well, that's my first post for November! The dinner buzzer is going off, so I'm going to go check on it :)
If you don't have a blog you can also blog on their site as opposed to signing up for a blogger, wordpress, or livejournal blog. I used to have a livejournal but decided to leave because 1, I wasn't able to post the way I wanted to, and 2, they changed their logo to be more gay friendly. Seriously, they did. It was a rainbow and they were going on and on about gay marriage. That's not the sort of thing I wanted on my blog so I left. If you don't mind that, it really wasn't a bad blogging community, I did like how it had communities and forums to chat in.
Sometimes, there is a blogging theme of the month. This month's theme is that there is no theme!
Well, that's my first post for November! The dinner buzzer is going off, so I'm going to go check on it :)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Toe Up Heels
I've been working on my first pair of toe up socks. Wait, that's not right exactly, I did start another pair but had to frog them because the pattern was just too big for my foot. So this is the first pair that is actually gonna be finished. My goal is Sunday, since I started them last Sunday, I want to see if I can complete one sock in a week. However, I have a cold and that is slowing me down!
Anyway, I received a skein of Colinette Jitterbug yarn in a swap and I've wanted to try this yarn for some time now so I was really excited about it! After looking at project pictures of the yarn, I have colorway Mardi Gras, I decided a pattern was just going to be obscured by the bright colors and crazy pooling. That and I don't play well with patterns, especially sock patterns LOL Basically my socks are going to be plain vanilla but with ribbing along the top of the foot, hopefully this will keep them on better as I have problems with socks, storebought or handknit sliding down in my boots and that is very annoying!
Doing the toe up wasn't difficult, I cast on using the instructions from my previous toe up socks, the difference being these are magic loop as I've found I prefer it to DPNs. I've had no problem with the foot but the heel is confounding me!
So I turned to the internet (I've only one sock book and one pattern in it is toe up, that's it!). I could do an afterthought heel but that seemed a bit more work then I wanted to do. I discovered a few different ways of doing the heel but I didn't seem to like most of them (anything that involves x + y = z is evil).
These are the ones I liked best:
Wendy Johnson's toe up sock pattern She's written many sock books so she really knows her stuff! I like her pattern but it involves wrap and turn and I don't have a good track record with that - i.e. my sisters' doll slings that still aren't done.
This site lists several different links to other toe up formulas on the net. Quite handy since it led me to:
Fleegle's Blog This is the one that makes the most sense to me. No wrap and turn, no algebra, just basically a gusset. Gussets, I'm good at! I understand them, I know how to knit them, and it isn't that difficult either! I guess really this isn't a short row heel like I'd originally looked up but it works for me and I understand the instructions, double whammy there :)
Any other good toe up heel instructions out there that I didn't find or list? I'd like to try two at a time toe up next!
Anyway, I received a skein of Colinette Jitterbug yarn in a swap and I've wanted to try this yarn for some time now so I was really excited about it! After looking at project pictures of the yarn, I have colorway Mardi Gras, I decided a pattern was just going to be obscured by the bright colors and crazy pooling. That and I don't play well with patterns, especially sock patterns LOL Basically my socks are going to be plain vanilla but with ribbing along the top of the foot, hopefully this will keep them on better as I have problems with socks, storebought or handknit sliding down in my boots and that is very annoying!
Doing the toe up wasn't difficult, I cast on using the instructions from my previous toe up socks, the difference being these are magic loop as I've found I prefer it to DPNs. I've had no problem with the foot but the heel is confounding me!
So I turned to the internet (I've only one sock book and one pattern in it is toe up, that's it!). I could do an afterthought heel but that seemed a bit more work then I wanted to do. I discovered a few different ways of doing the heel but I didn't seem to like most of them (anything that involves x + y = z is evil).
These are the ones I liked best:
Wendy Johnson's toe up sock pattern She's written many sock books so she really knows her stuff! I like her pattern but it involves wrap and turn and I don't have a good track record with that - i.e. my sisters' doll slings that still aren't done.
This site lists several different links to other toe up formulas on the net. Quite handy since it led me to:
Fleegle's Blog This is the one that makes the most sense to me. No wrap and turn, no algebra, just basically a gusset. Gussets, I'm good at! I understand them, I know how to knit them, and it isn't that difficult either! I guess really this isn't a short row heel like I'd originally looked up but it works for me and I understand the instructions, double whammy there :)
Any other good toe up heel instructions out there that I didn't find or list? I'd like to try two at a time toe up next!
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