Pictures. . .

A view from the loft of Jack and Onyx. Notice that they are laying on the baby blanket that I get to work on for 2 rows at a time. At least someone is enjoying it. Onyx did not appreciate me waking her. . .
Lola and Di enjoying the front yard and looking for something to bark at (Di is not gaining weight, that is fluid that we cannot keep off of her and it builds up in the belly) -

The tomatoes are about the only ones Di has not eaten off the vine-

I just got off work for the day so I am going to get a pedicure. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Blather, A Contest and a Quiz

There are a huge number of entries for my contest that closes on the 17th; I guess everyone wants a Knit Kit. I am not sure if it will be that handy, but. . . Don't forget, if you sign up to be a Follower, you get an extra entry.


Here is a picture of the wee tiny sock (Cherry Tree Hill Yarn) I received and the sock I finished, with a broken DPN laying on it. Our Chihuahua was looking for a Fiber One bar in my knitting bag and decided the needle would be fun to break. She was not a pleasant car rider after she ate the entire hi fiber bar. . .


Contest
Knitty Sue is having a contest, yeahhhh. Go here to enter, all it requires is a post about the contest and to sign up as a follower. She is giving away a book of patterns for ponchos and wraps that looks great.

Quiz
I found the quiz below on Grace's blog yesterday and thought it would be fun for a try.
Your result for The Lover Style Profile Test ...

The Carnal Lover
50% partner focus, 57% aggressiveness, 70% adventurousness

Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that:
You prefer your romance and love to wild and daring rather than typical or boring, you would rather pursue than be pursued and, when it comes to physical love, you concentrate more on enjoying the experience rather than worrying about your performance.

This places you in the Lover Style of: The Carnal Lover.

The Carnal Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, though it is often confused with terms like "player" or even "slut." The Carnal Lover is not necessarily either of those things (though sometimes is) but is instead a lover of life, romance and pleasure. The Carnal Lover is a treasure to find, though can sometimes be difficult to keep happy once found, because a Carnal Lover often loves a variety-filled life.

In terms of physical love, the Carnal Lover tends to be dynamic and driven, and can therefore be quite pleasurable. Given the right motivation, and the right lover, the Carnal Lover can be a delight in bed.

Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Surprising Lover (most of all) or the Devoted Lover, or the Liberated Lover.

Congratulations!
You can take this quiz here.

Knitting Issues and DOT

I have been working on a scarf in Elann Highland Chunky off and on for a couple of months, using a knit 5 purl 5 to get a different texture. It is now 55 inches long without blocking, and I just ran out of yarn. I have used 3 balls of the yarn and cannot believe that it is not longer, it would be great if I was making it for me, cause I am short, but it is for a man who is 6’3”, so it is way tooooooo short for him. The only thing I can think of doing is calling Elann
in the morning and hoping that they have some more in the same dye lot (though I am not holding my breath). I guess I could frog the entire thing and make it narrower, 55 inches is a lot of knitting, but that is what I will be doing if Elann does not have more of the yarn available. So now my question to everyone is, what would you do in the same situation? I like the way it looks and it will keep J warm, but. . . . Please let me know what you think the ideal solution is. The color is not as boring as it looks in these pictures, but indoors at night is not the ideal situation for picture taking.
In my last post I asked how people got things completed so quickly and Darcy told me (and Aunt Kathy agreed with her), “The secret to knitting a hat in one night is to sit for 6 hours doing nothing but knitting while your 2 toddlers torture their father and trash the house and you lose all feeling in your bum and hands.” I laughed, but don’t think that would work in my case, first I don’t have any toddlers and second my bum would hurt if I sat still that long. lololol

The scarf for THE Boyfriend is going well, however the yarn is turning my bamboo needles blue. I kind of like the looks of the scarf, what do you think? BUT, how am I going to get the dye off the needles without it rubbing off onto other yarns?

And for Dogs on Thursday here is a picture of my Di all cuddled up in her blanket with her bunny rabbit, snoozing without a care in the world-
YES, I have a very spoiled dog!

I hope everything is going well for everyone!

SNOW and Pictures

It snowed again; my area recieved more than a foot of the powdery white stuff. I am almost positive I will be cleaning out the garage in January so I can park there, but for today I was lucky I did not have to go in as you can see by this picture. The one below is the drift at my back door.I felt very sorry for my poor Di when I let her out this morning

This is a pix of the three small hats I sent to Marilyn last night, they will be okay, but as I said earlier, I will not be knitting with that yarn again. YUCKY!


Well, the Big Ass Wrap was frogged. I hated the way the ends were curling, an since I am using such a bulky yarn for this one, the curl was awful. So I frogged the entire thing (it was more than half done) and restarted the whole thing with a garter stitch edge. This picture below is the start of the new one, I kind of like the way the garter stitch looks at
the bottom edge. I am trying to decide what color to use for the embroidery on either end (very basic) with a few crystal beads. I found a scarf pin to be used with it, though the picture is crummy, it is very cute owl, I think my daughter will like it.
I hope everyone has a happy and productive day!

Whiskers on Wednesday

I am working from home today in hopes that I can get this obnoxious report done in this lifetime and this means that all of the animals are in the office keeping me company. A perfect time to procrastinate and to take pictures:-). Can you tell my cats have lost a little weight? (Please pretend that you cannot see the boxes sitting around.)

Cousins, a Diner and a Contest

Yes, I missed a day from the month-long daily blog, but I got to meet my cousins yesterday and it was great! I had not seen L and C for over 30 years and I did not realize how much I had missed them. I learned things about my family that I was not aware of (my grandmother played piano in a speakeasy to help support her children) and we are now planning a family reunion for next summer. There is only one member of our parents’ generation left and we are planning on having the reunion where she lives in the Antelope Valley, CA, so we know she can attend. We feel that it is important to get everyone together so we can become closer and make sure our shared experiences are passed to our children and grandchildren.

We went to the funniest diner for brunch, it is called the Bump and Grind and all the wait staff are cross dressers. It was so funny; those guys were walking around and serving wearing 5 inch hills (except for one who was dressed as a bobby soxer). They loved posing for pictures so we got several, but with our phones so the quality is not the greatest
(but then none of my photos are). The food was delicious if we good quit laughing long enough to eat it.


CONTEST
Darcy from the Knotty Knitter blog is having a great contest in order to celebrate their new items, All Sterling, and also Mixed Bronze and Sterling Yarn Needles. She and Leslie wind are giving away Butterfly Cable Needle Necklace and bracelet set and their new yarn needles. Look at these needles, aren’t’ they great.
I cannot wait to get a set, I think they would also look great as a closure on a wrap or shawl. Go here to enter the contest and please tell Darcy I sent you.

All Hallow's Eve Dishcloth Swap Box

I have been majorly spoiled by my swap partner for the All Hallow’s Eve Dishcloth exchange. My spoiler was Alaina P. and she did a great job! Look at all the great stuff my swap partner sent me, isn't this great! The yarn in the picture below is Blue Sky and it is so soft I can't believe it, and it is laying on one of the two dishcloths, aren't the colors wonderful, so fall-like.
Here is the second dishcloth that was in the box, it is a beautiful pattern and I love it. Note the cute tissue paper that Alaina used, I couldn't find anything that cute.
This cruddy picture is the one for the darling stitch markers, sorry it is soooo bad. However the stitch markers are so cute, it has two bats and two ghosts. I love them, just wish the picture was better.

This pix had the cute little dish towel on it, that I used on Halloween. The box also included candy (Starbucks’s tasting candy) yummy; a magnetic notepad with snoopy and a pumpkin on it; shower gel (vanilla, my favorite) and Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm. There was also a candle that smells like cloves, it has an elusive aroma that is great, not too cloying.




Alaina had a postcard in the box (very good idea); and she is so ingenious- the box was actually a box for photo storage, with the cards that I can find so many uses for. Knitting or pix? This will be the question.


Thank you Alaina, I love the package!

Pictures and Babbling, and Even Some Yarn

I have to work this weekend, which is not a fun thing as I have worked late every night this week also. It is the end of the fiscal year for the federal government, so those of us who have to spend the money get to work a lot of overtime. I do not think I will get a weekend or an evening off until after October 1st.

Remember I told you we took time off from unpacking to go sightseeing? Here is a picture of Lambspun of CO, the building used to be a farmhouse and now it is a Yarn shop and a café. The picture is off their web site, because I could not take pictures without a camera and camera battery, but this is what it looks like, the area behind the shop is a golf course.

Here is a picture of the yarn and needles I purchased while I was there, I knew
I wanted to make a hat from the yarn, so of course I needed a new set of needles (my Options needles did not have a cord short enough, and I did not have a set of size 11dp’s.) Wasn’t that a good excuse to get some new needles?
The only problem with the Knitpicks Options is that it has removed the need for new needles in most instances, which is sad, as new needles are so much fun.
The yarn is Lamb’s Pride Bulky in cranberry, the yarn feels good and the colorway is pretty. As you can see, the hat will be done tomorrow, so one more Christmas present down!






On our way home from Ft. Collins, we took a side trip, as the shortest route is never the one we take when we go for a ride. We found a store that deals with Alpaca clothes and yarn. The owner actually raises alpacas, but she also imports clothing from Peru. She had the most wonderful store, everything was very soft a touchable. I found these two hanks of yarn that I fell in love with. I am making something soft and wonderful for me.




I just read a great book called “Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows. It takes place a year after WWII ends as the island of Guernsey is recovering from the German occupation. The story is told in a letter format, but is charming and heartbreaking at the same time. No knitting in it, but a good story all the same. The book was started by Mary Ann Shaffer, but when she became too ill to complete the story, her niece Annie Burrows completed the book. I enjoyed the book, and the chatter regarding the occupation was terrible but interesting.

Have a great weekend!

Whiskers on Wednesday

Onyx
Jill
Jack
Jack and Onyxalt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234096670397488930" />

Real Knitting, Finally

I finally got a good picture of the dishcloth my swap partner sent me; I don’t know why I had such a hard time getting this picture originally. I guess I need to become a better photographer. Isn’t this pattern great? Moreover, I think the colors are great; it has become my favorite face cloth.

Have you ever noticed that it takes many stitches to knit for a fluffy person? I am making the sweater I found in Knitty, shown in my last post. I have not made a sweater for me before, so I was unsure of the sizing, etc. I cast on for the largest size (and it took many attempts since my tail was never long enough), but finally I got all stitches on the needles and started knitting away.
This picture is what I completed the first evening I had time to work on it (several attempts at swatching took up a great deal of time, as did my several tries at casting on.) I have now gotten much farther along, and am loving it, the green is not quite right in this picture; however we have horrible lighting in our hotel and I think it has affected the picture. Nevertheless, as I said, it takes many stitches when knitting for a fluffy person (and I am definitely fluffy) :-)

I signed up for Dish Rag Tag today; I think this will be fun. You can go here to sign up.