I won!!!

A few weeks ago Shannon of Minerva Turkey had a contest in honor of her new hedgehog Oy. I won!!!

What did I win you ask? A cool fiber trends pattern plus all the goodies needed to put the little hedgehog together!

Cute little hedgehog pattern from Fiber Trends. I haven't tried anything from fiber trends before so this is a good time to see if I like their patterns!

Yarn for body and spikes. Louet Riverstone for the body. In a champagne color. Shannon says she likes this better then cascade for felting so I can't wait to try it out and see. And fun fur in chocolate for the spikes. The two colors go really well together too.

Some solid black eyes that screw on. Not safe for dogs so this guy will have to sit up on a shelf away from jumpy dogs that like to steal toys! Not sad about that at all.

Its a really wonderful prize. Thank you so much Shannon!!! Also everyone go say hi to Oy because he is incredibly cute. (At the bottom of that post.)

New Bags in the Shop

I spent the later part of my afternoon putting new bags in the shop. I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff loaded up because it seems like people spend money on US holiday weekends. Sales usually go up so I thought it might be good to be well stocked. These are all part of the 75 I made for the shop at the end of May.

No knitting to show actually. I keep trying to knit with a particular yarn that we got. I think most of it is going back because its just driving me batty and I've already made one scarf that has this yarn in it. He got enough for two more scarves. Not gonna happen. I've been knitting on his scarves (or trying to) and haven't touched the sock all week.

I have a couple of bags to work on this weekend. One is a surprise for my secret pal. One is just because. So definitely sewing on my holiday weekend. We are vaguely on house arrest tomorrow. They will be closing down our street so people going to the lake won't try and cross it and loiter/park within our neighborhoods. Also the one road across the lake is likely to be a huge traffic jam. Its best to just stay inside. We can watch the fireworks from the backyard when they go off and avoid the crowds.

I'm off to go do some crafting and possibly think about a wedding. We haven't done that at all yet so no need to ask how its going. And I mean AT ALL. No planning or ideas or anything yet.

Move along folks...

Nothing to see here...

Not much going on today. Very busy day at work. I am giving a knitting lesson tonight (Yay!) and there is nothing to show in terms of progress for myself...

Best thing about the holiday falling on my short work day? Tomorrow is a short day instead!

Last Night

So last night I am sitting in bed a few minutes before I normally go to sleep reading a book. Chris comes in gets ready for bed and then sits next to me and asks me to teach him to knit. He tried really hard but since I wasn't prepared for it I didn't have straights which would have been WAY easier then my extra long circs. I also didn't have the right needle size for the yarn I had laying around. But we gave it a go anyway. Here is his first attempt. Not bad I'd say. The yarn is apparently splitty? He wants to learn so he can help me with these scarves.

Here is the scarf I am working on. Its not done yet but I'll finish this ball of yarn tonight and then we'll have to go get some more because we only got one ball or some reason. This scarf is HARD to photograph. He picked a drop stitch pattern and it looks really good (well for novelty yarn...) in person but might test his skills to photograph it. Plus blue...bleh...

I got a surprise (of sorts) in the mail today. Robyn sent me part of a package that is destined for my house later this month early! It showed up on my doorstep today and its so so cute. Teeny is the right word. Thanks Robyn!

Finally, some of you may notice it in the pictures for the next few days, but I got a new camera. A Canon G9. Just small enough for a large pocket. A more "professional" camera as Chris puts it. He'd decided 30k odd photos was enough to retire the old one. Plus he seems to think it might be time for me to move beyond just snapshots. We'll see, but he's already started on the lessons.

Right now the high resolution images I am taking are crisp in my iphoto but flickr loader is making them just slightly fuzzy around the objects edges. Its driving me nuts.

A second example a little worse then the first. I would not be at all surprised if I am the only one that sees the fuzz around the edges. I'm sure I'll figure out how to fix it but for now....driving me BATTY! Totally and completely BATTY!!

Secret Pal Question of the Week #3

What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

I kind of want to call this one "How Much Stash is Too Much??"

I definitely have opinions about this. For the most part its pretty clear in my brain that ANY stash is too much. My brain says I should be a project to project knitter. For me anyway that seems right. YMMV.

Its also pretty clear that I have TOO MUCH stash right now (especially clear to anyone that has seen my stash page on Ravelry)! At the end of last year I had probably a quarter of that. Yes that sounds about right. Not quite nearing this TOO MUCH state, but more then I wanted.

Then we had Christmas. I got 10 skeins then. Then I got on a lucky streak and won a bunch of contests. I usually only enter the ones with prizes that I might actually knit with. So I got another 7 or 8 from that. Then I went to my not so local yarn store and got enough yarn for a sweater at sale for 75% off. It was yarn I had been looking at online with plans for. So a really good idea to get it. I got what they had. Which will prove to be more then I need but also enough for another good size project. But that was another 16 or 17 (can't remember for sure - 4 colors) skeins of yarn. Throw in a couple of skiens from a swap... You see how it is adding up?? The list goes on after this too...just late December/January for this so far...

So its clear now I have TOO MUCH yarn. I am working on knitting it down. Actually not a hardship at all. Its all still "new" for me since I've had most of it six months max.

I've also thought of destashing some of it. I have yarn that I don't necessarily like that was gifted or won or purchased that it turns out isn't right for me. The only issue there is that I don't know that I feel right about trading/selling something that was gifted/prized to me. That seems very rude and inconsiderate of me. But then if I won't knit with it, isn't it sort of inconsiderate to just let it hibernate in my stash for its ENTIRE life? I'd feel bad about that too. Its a dilemma that I haven't found a solution for. Over-dyeing it?? In the mean time its spending its time snuggled up to its yarny friends in my yarn drawer. I'm sort of looking forward to the time when those are all that is left in there.

Potluck again (Penny's turn)

I've been hearing all sorts of complaints lately. Everyone of them coming out of this mouth.

Good thing I don't speak cat so I can pretend I don't hear her.

The baby shower went off well. I think Ray was really floored that people got him such nice stuff. We like him though so no big deal. He loved the dresses. His wife wasn't there because she's 34 weeks with twins - so enforced bed rest. They are trying to keep them in a bit longer. But everything will be fine if they are born now too. Which is a bit of a relief as she fell down last week. It does mean that I have to wait to get her verdict. I do so hope she likes them though! I also whipped up a cute bag for his older daughter last night. I was afraid she'd feel a bit left out since she isn't getting anything but two small babies that take up all of mom's time. She's off at camp, so I'll probably have to wait even longer to see if she likes it.

I did not a lick of knitting today. I know its weird but its also true. I am going to try to remedy that after the post and a game of soccer with the dogs. Maybe the heel tonight? No luck with that third repeat. I did cast on too tight. I love the sock as is enough not to worry about it being a bit shorter then usual, so I am continuing on rather then going back. This does present the interesting occurrence that this skein of yarn has really really good yardage. I am considering that I might get a pair of mitts out of it too? If they aren't terribly long? We'll see. I usually have a bit left, these socks are a bit short, and this skein has a lot more so...

Finally, I hope you all will forgive me. It seems as if the appropriate answer to the comments for the dress and perhaps some comments from earlier is "Thank you!" I mean it sincerely and from the bottom of my heart. You guys make me blush sometimes. Of course I blush easily, but none the less. You are all wonderful. What you have to forgive me for was that if the answer to your comment was "Thank you!" then likely you won't get a response from me. While I love answering all your comments I've sadly let my inbox get just WAY too out of control. AGAIN. When will I learn my lesson to answer as soon as I check and have new messages? I hope none of you mind this one time...

Penny says lets get this show on the road. Dogs are waiting and that squeeking from Gus can't be a good thing...he's really freaking me out...how loud do I have to meow at you!!???!?

Its another dog day of very early summer

Um. How did it get to be 930PM already? I have a few packages to wrap and then its off to bed. Geez...where did the day go?

Good thing these guys are cute.

I love this tremulous smile.

Can we go play soccer again?? Please, please, please. I'll let you and Gus win. ha ha ha. Might even let you kick the ball across the yard!

I need to make a couple of baby dresses this weekend I think. I haven't made "clothing" before and here I am making baby clothes and doll clothes. Any good free sewing patterns for baby girl clothes that you know of?

some did, some didn't

Some of what I intended to do today got done. Some of what I intended to do today didn't. We have a new box with ink cartridges for the printer. Which was needed to do a bunch of the sewing I need to do. Patterns for doll clothes are easier when they are printed out. We have a clean-ish kitchen though there are a couple of piles of books and whatnot to go to another room. I didn't get any sewing done today. I did get some knitting done.

Sock number 2. I wasn't actually planning to start it today, but we drove to town to get some errands done and its a good drive and I knit around town. So some knitting got done. Sort of in public, if you count in the car as in public. I didn't really have the opportunity anywhere else. Shopping requires attention apparently. I did manage to acquire some new books at the used bookstore. I need to go through my old books and see what I have read and if there are any I haven't. There were a couple at the store that I thought I *might* already have so I didn't want to buy them and double up. I've already done that once this month and figure that I probably shouldn't do it again! I'll admit that I am also 140 pages into my new 500 page book. Thank goodness for the used bookstore because the library is lacking somewhat and is very far from here.

I love the way this ball looks by the way. Very very pretty. Ok so now I am off to choose my doll patterns, make some dinner, and walk some dogs. Hope you are all having a terrific weekend. Oh and I almost forgot, a bag or two and the earrings and a couple of stitch markers will be making it in the shop tonight! Probably around 830 Central time because I am going to go deal with dinner now. He's playing Hunger Strike from Temple of the Dog. Something about starving? I think this means that he is hungry?

Secret Pal Question of the Week #1 (and a random meme)

The Secret Pal question of the week is "What is your favorite summertime drink?" Well the answer is very very short. That's why I am throwing in the meme. I like lemonade. Fresh lemonade is always awesome. Oh and ginger ale is yummy too.

We've had a deficiency of dogs on the blog the last few days so...

Here is a set of dogs.

And a random meme in parts separated by dogs... I stole it from the two crazy knit chicks (who have a nice blog by the way!)

ACCENT: I'm told I don't have one. Usually by someone with a strong accent.

BREAKFAST OR NO BREAKFAST: Breakfast - a container of yogurt, quarter cup of granola, and some dried fruit. Everyday but Sunday. Occasionally, a piece of fresh fruit. Sunday is the day Chris makes eggs, usually scrambled with onions and peppers. Yummy!

CHORE I DON'T CARE FOR: Emptying the dishwasher. If I could I would hire someone to do just that I totally would. I can clean the rest of the house but I don't like to empty the dishwasher.

DOG OR CAT: Both. Two cats. Two dogs. One boy and one girl of each. Penny, Ozzy, Abby, Gus, born in that order.

ESSENTIAL ELECTRONICS: Camera is number one, MacBook a close second. I hadn't seen my i-pod since our last trip and didn't even think about it until Chris mentioned it a couple of days ago (think I left it playing in my office when I left today. Ooops...at least it charges in its stand.) Can easily forget about my phone. I won't remember to plug it in for a week (or until the battery is totally gone) and then I will leave it plugged in for a week.

FAVORITE COLOGNE: I usually don't wear any, my coworkers and SIL are quite allergic. I did get some nice smelling stuff the last time we were in Vegas, but I can't remember what it is called.

GOLD OR SILVER: Silver but my ring is white gold. No yellow for me.

HANDBAG I CARRY MOST OFTEN: I switch out. A soft brown leather I got in Monaco a couple years back, a printed corduroy (also bought in Monaco - they have nice bags there... French stuff...) and a black leather Coach bag that Chris picked out. Also I usually carry my knitting and lunch to work in one of my tote bags.

INSOMNIA: No. I tend to pass out within minutes of getting in bed. Pass out is the right word because I often don't hear or feel Chris get in bed and I almost never hear Gus fidgeting in the morning even though Chris will be calling to him to go back to sleep. Chris is a much lighter sleeper.

JOB TITLE: Skipping this. Some of you know what I do, but I don't like to talk about it in a public forum.

KIDS: None, no plans for any.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: I live with my fiance, two cats and two dogs on a peninsula in the middle of a lake. We are touching rural but not quite that far out from the city.

MOST ADMIRABLE TRAIT: I'm generally a bright side person. There is always a silver lining. The glass is always half full.

NAUGHTIEST CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR: Telling my baby sister what to do? Not sure. We really weren't ever punished so I probably didn't do anything very bad.

OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAY: Four times for me, once for Chris (because we were in the ER for most of the night not because he was admitted). I have a lot of full days (8 hours?) spent in the ER or the doctor office, but then I went home. (Probably there is a fifth overnight stay if you count when I was born.) I do remember one stay at the ER. I desperately needed platelets and it was late day so the out-patient clinic was closed and I had to go hang in the ER. I accidentally left my phone in the car and the battery was nearly dead anyway. I kept trying to call Chris from the phone in the ER room to tell him where I was, he was ignoring it because he didn't know the number, and he finally answered a few hours later since some weirdo kept calling. I got there at 430 and was there until almost one in the morning (Chris got there at 8 after almost making it home and then driving across the metroplex in rush hour to where I was). That sucked big time. I don't think either of us went to work the next day.

PHOBIAS: Emptying the dishwasher? I hate being in the house alone even during the day. I'm sure there is an associated phobia with that. I also don't like cars. Other drivers creep me out.

QUOTE: "When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." ~ Thomas Jefferson

REASON TO SMILE: My family. My In-Laws. My pets. My friends (all of you included!!!). My job. My house. My life in general. Makes me feel happy and lucky.

SIBLINGS: I have two older brothers and one little sister.

TIME I WAKE UP: Around 5. Sometimes 510 and sometimes 450. Very latest is 630 and usually that means I've gone to bed a few hours later then normal. I get this from my Dad who usually is up around 2 and then sleeps in a chair in the living room until about 4 and then is up for the day. He goes to bed earlier then I do though.

UNUSUAL SKILL OR TALENT: I used to be able to tie a slip knot with one hand. hmmm...I wonder if I still can...

VEGETABLE I REFUSE TO EAT: Cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Anything else and I have no problems. Oh unless soybeans count as Veggies. If they do those rank first. Flat out.

WORST HABIT: Not sitting up straight?

X-RAYS: Dental, but everyone gets those. They always use the kiddy machine and its always still too large. I've had MRIs, regular X-rays, cat-scans and Ultrasounds.

YUMMY STUFF: At the risk of repeating myself: yogurt, mallowcremes, grapes (fresh, frozen, and raisins), bananas, and ginger ale.

ZOO ANIMAL I LIKE MOST: Giraffes and crazy looking birds.

Progress

I'm not feeling very talkative tonight, but I've made it through the heel gusset so I thought I would share that with you. Now to make a flap and start up my leg.

Ok, question for everyone. We are going to Portland for vacation in August (we think, we are pretty sure... we need a dog/cat/house sitter...Kitzy? Isidore?). Anyway, I am looking for suggestions about cool stuff to do up there. Obviously, we already have a long list of stuff that's cool, but I love to get others opinions and thoughts and out of the normal tourist way attractions... Anything? Truely anything is good! Yarn stores that are good with friendly people are good to know about too! I may have a couple of days by myself...

Back to knitting.

Stripy Plum and Yellow Socks (or how much I love stripyness)

Hello All! Thank you for all the well wishes. I am feeling sorta better, well less nausea. I think the official diagnosis would be that I have a cold. But its a dry cold all in my sinuses and lungs. So I feel like if I could just blow my nose I would feel better, but I can't because there isn't anything making them congested. If that makes sense? Anyway you all probably didn't want to know that.

Yesterday's (today's) yucky-ness did not stop me from knitting. Oh no. If anything it sped it up because I knit from the gusset onward yesterday. I had some waiting at the doctor office and then at the vet for Gus. Then watching Law and Order and Unbreakable.

So I present Monkey Flower socks in Plum and Yellow and White. AKA - I love stripy socks...

Pattern: Monkey Flower socks in plum and yellow and white. (my ravelry project)
Materials: Less then one skein of YarnChef Striping in the colorway Monkey Flowers. (There is quite a bit leftover. I may do something with it but not sure what yet.)
Needle: US#1 Addi Turbo 40" (2.5mm)
Start Date: First - 23 April 2008; Second - 4 June 2008
Completion Date: First - 29 April 2008; Second - 7 June 2008
Size: 11M
Project Spectrum 3: Air (gray, yellow, white) and Water (blue, black, purple)

Notes: So I really should have waited to start these until the end of July and finished them just into August to count them to project spectrum Water, but whatever. Does it really matter?

(I like how it looks like I stitched the heel into place with all those little straight connectors where the stitches switch directions...)

Let's see, I cast on 40 (because I don't need deep toes as mine aren't pointy) and then increased 4 every other round to 64. I knit straight up to 2 inches from needing to turn. I started a gusset on the heel needle, starting with 30 stitches on the instep and 34 on the heel and increasing to 60 on the heel. Then I turned the heel, knitting only the heel stitches until I decreased back to 34. I picked up two stitches between the heel needle and the instep needle to fill the hole. I started up the leg at 64 stitches. Increased to 68 after 21 rounds (3 repeats of the striping pattern). I increased again after 11 rows to 72. Finally increased one last time after 10 additional rows to 76. Knit straight for 10 more rows. I did 29 rows of 2x2 ribbing and bound off with a size 6 needle for a VERY loose bindoff.

The stripes line up very well despite the pictures. I've notice that sometime my socks, which always fit my feet, fit on the blockers and sometimes they are too long. Its weird. They didn't fit this time and I had a devil of a time making things line up evenly even though I know they do! The only place the stripes don't line up are the heels. I fudged it on the first sock so that the yellow stripe that was started already on the instep needle would continue properly in the established striping pattern after I finished turning the heel. So I skipped a purple section of the yarn. I did this on the second sock as well, but I think the heel turn was started one row sooner on the this sock so the bottom yellow stripe is wider and the top is narrower. It doesn't bother me since I will probably wear these with shoes or just around the house. Its noteworthy though I think.

I totally adore this sock. Its wonderful. It fits very well in the toes, heels and ribbing. Comfy and roomy but not too roomy that it would be uncomfortable in shoes. The fabric is incredibly soft and the striping just makes me very very happy. Also with this sock finished I have no unfinished objects, nothing on the needles which I am currently working on (not even my secret plotting thingy...), no projects ready to cast on. Crazy. I need to go remedy that.

For all my English language expert readers (I know a couple of you are out there!) I have a question that I would love to know the answer to. If I write the (probably not a complete) sentence "Increased to 68 after 21 rounds (3 repeats of the striping pattern)." Does the period go after the word rounds, inside the parenthesis or where I have put it. I debate that every time I write one of these sentences. Punctuation wasn't covered in my English classes (or at least not very well) where I went to school, so I don't have a very good feel for where these things go. (My grammer, spelling, and puncuation lessons were a bit on the slim side, so I probably have a LOT of bad grammer in my sentences.)

So let me ask you this...

Do you think knitting those leaf socks so fast could make all of my muscles ache, give me nausea, a sore throat and a headache? Yeah I didn't think so either. Its been going around the office anyway...I'm off to take a nap...

Another doll...

I think it is no secret that I seriously love handmade dolls. I've been trying to get one of Maritza's dolls for a while. But the problem is that I was picky. I didn't want one that was mostly blue fabric. I didn't want a mouse or a bunny. I also knew for certain that I wanted a BAT. They look so so cute. So I've been haunting her shop (SotoSofties) at each update waiting for just the perfect bat to show up. How do you think I did?

Front.

Back

Love the wing fabric.

Love the foot fabric. What isn't to love about white dots on orange?? I need to find some of this fabric so I can play with it!

Her name is Felita and she is a fruit bat. I think she is absolutely gorgeous! And quite petite at 7 inches tall with a 12 inch wing span. She's getting along marvelously with my other dolls. (Me reflected in her eye!)

Also today I am promising another finished object for tomorrow. (Three total for this week! WOW!!!) Two days in a row now I have put it off. I promise that it is really really good. Its also already been put to good use!

Contest and Meme

I thought I would let you know that LaVerna at Ridiculous Obsession is having a contest. All you have to do is go over and say hello and tell her what you like about summer! Super easy.

I've been tagged a few times for this meme so I think I'll play along.

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was just completing my first year of college at UT Austin.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
a. Laundry
b. Cook dinner
c. 7 or 8 meetings
d. work on my scarf
e. walk a few miles (with and without the dogs)

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Marshmallows, Mallowcreme pumpkins (so hard to find when it isn't Halloween), jelly beans, yogurt (mmm...lemon/lime cream pie...).

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Seems like it would be about the things I do now. Why would I be different from me?

5. Places I have lived:
Connecticut: Manchester and West Haven
Texas: Austin, Corpus Christi, Round Rock, Dallas (in the suburbs of Frisco, Richardson, Garland, and Grand Prairie in no particular order, a couple of them twice.)
Kentucky: Fancy Farm

6. Jobs I have had:
College (I held these all at the same time plus classes for all 4 years): Tutor, Adaptive Recreation Specialist at a Recreation Center designed for persons with disabilities, bank teller, and bowling alley birthday girl (running birthday parties).
After College: TV traffic girl (9 months), advertising agency marketing manager (9 months then this company went out of business), petroleum reserve analyst, petroleum engineering tech (finally start using my degree).

7. People to know more about: (I won't hold you to it if you don't want to do it.)

Jocelyn
Amanda
Anne
Carla
Carolyn

I'm Bored

Chris is in Houston today. I had a whole list of things that I was thinking of getting done today. Knitting, sewing, making a new logo that fits more on a business card...blah blah blah. Instead I am restless. I am cleaning. Yes, CLEANING. So far most of the downstairs is completely done. I've played with a dog. We've chased off a snake. We think. I've reskiened some yarn only to discover there are 14 knots in the skein (which is why I don't sell this kind any more!) I'm about to vacuum some more of the downstairs.

So the reason I am bored and restless? I think it lies in the fact that Chris is not here today. Usually we might go do something together or I'd have someone to talk to you or ...please name off a list of things. No today it is just me and the dogs and the cats.

Speaking of cats. I was at the petstore this morning. They let me into the store 10 minutes before the registers opened. It only took about 5 to find the things I needed. So I wandered over to where the SPCA has their cats for adoption. There were several that were probably 5 or 6 months old, two that looked about a 2 months old, and a solid black tomcat that was 4 years old. I didn't look at the kittens at all. This older fellow had my attention. He was a beautiful cat and his family gave him up because they traveled too much. Poor fellow. I wanted to bring him home. I really really did. But I think we've reached our maximum pet threshold here at casa crazy animal. So he is still there at the petstore, unless some other kind person decides to ignore the kittens and adopt an older cat.

Also on the animal front, we apparently have a snake to go with our bullfrogs. Just great. He was up on the porch this afternoon and I'm guessing he was why our cats were acting crazy last night. Any thoughts on ways to get rid of snakes? We do need to have someone go in and trim down the stuff at the forest edge so the weeds don't get to high and start encroaching. Other then that I'm not sure what to do.

Thank you!

I need to send out an enormous thank you to Cynthia at Cygknit. At the end of April I won her blog contest and she went to Connecticut Sheep and Wool festival and picked out a prize for me!!

It arrived yesterday and it is wonderful.

It starts with a pretty skein of sport weight sock yarn from The Painted Sheep in the Birch Mountain color.

Look at these rich colors. I have a skein in the shop called "mountain majesty" that Chris named which is purple and blue. Since this was Birch Mountain. I decided that for some reason blue and purple must be associated with mountains. Chris had to clarify that in the national anthem it says "purple mountains majesty." I contend that there was no way I could possibly have associated these two things... Oops...off topic. Back to pretty yarn...

The next thing I pulled out of the package were some very cool note cards. Sweaters in three colors. I often send little notes to people so these will definitely come in handy.

Some cute sheep magnets. I have the perfect spot for these at in my office!

Finally this really cute keychain that every knitter needs!

Thank you so much Cynthia! This is a really awesome prize!

Report of the day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers!!! (Also the pet mom's too!)

I don't have much to show for today. I spent the morning watching a movie and knitting on my scarf while Gus slept in my lap and Abby slept beside me. Then we spent some time in the studio finishing my swap bag. Once we went downstairs we had to deal with the laundry and think about eating some food.

I packaged up some orders to go out and played with fabric this afternoon in a did not touch the sewing machine way. Just designing in my head. Planning and scheming.

This evening we had a really lovely meal out at a restaurant called Ounce tonight. Its a steakhouse. We actually went there just a month ago for my birthday too. Its about an hour away from us. Good drive for getting knitting done.

I am about to head off to bed because I had a VERY late night last night and still got up very early this morning, but I wanted to say that tomorrow I have a giveaway.

Cheers!

Potluck

Today was a potluck sort of day. Just a little of everything...

Today's sky with swirly, whispy clouds. Taken through the open sunroof in my mini while sitting at a red light. Certainly better then looking at the dirty car sitting in front of me.

Me trying to catch Abby at something she wasn't supposed to do but as soon as I walked into the room she got that I'm a good girl look and acted like she wasn't up to something.

Dogs for Carolyn. So cute. Let me know if you like this, Carolyn. I think I actually have another as well if this doesn't make you happy. Deb they had fabric there that so so so reminded me of Bear! It made me giggle to see it.

The very best puppy on this fabric? Bulldog.

Some dolls in progress. There are a couple of custom orders here and there is another type of doll hiding in there that I am experimenting with...

How my cutting table looks today. We are rearranging Chris' area of the studio. Moving some stuff out and realigning some other stuff. My side ends up being the spur of the moment "what to do with X" spot to put stuff while we figure out where everything goes as a whole. Tomorrow it gets cleaned off because I need to work on it!

$5 at the fabric store gets me $20 worth of thread. It doesn't all fit on here but its pretty and colorful and so why not take a picture.

Finally, what I am doing this evening. Before we went out to dinner tonight (Yummy eggplant parmigiana with herb linguine and a really excellent pitcher of Bellini. mmmm....) we went to the local Borders (bookstore we meet at for knitting night) to pick up a skein of Knitpicks Comfy in Honeydew. They were having a meet-up tonight to hand out yarn. I couldn't stay for knitting but needed to get the yarn. Other then hand dyed sock yarn this will be my first experience with Knitpicks yarn. Gus seems to think its edible. So is that approval from him?? Its got acrylic in it so its not so good for eating. We are doing a group knitting project and my part is a 10 inch square in whatever pattern I choose. So this evening I pulled out some books so I can find a fun pattern.

Photos

On my blog birthday last year I had a photo published in an online travel guide. (Post here) I was pretty stoked. Well guess what??

Two more have been shortlisted for publication as well! This doesn't mean for sure they will get in but its still a really lovely honor!

This was taken in the lobby of the Argonaut Hotel in The Cannery, San Francisco.

I was sitting on a high backed blue sofa with yellow cushions. There was a large round ottoman with a jaguar print cover in front of it and four red chairs surrounding. On either side of this sitting area there were cabinets shaped like boats with two sails unfurled on them which went from my waist to the ceiling. The sails were lighted so that they alternated red, green, blue and yellow in a slow progression. It was a very relaxing lobby. On the left of me beyond the cabinet there was another seating area that was just as relaxing that consisted of high backed red chairs and a large game table. Another large high backed blue couch and twin leather chairs completed the arrangement. Everything was comfortable to sit in and the fire burned day and night. We were there to celebrate the New Year for 2006 becoming 2007.

I loved looking at this clock (which I am sure is a clock because the "minute" hand seemed to change each minute but if you asked me what time it was I wouldn't have been able to say.

They are using this for the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. The Maritime Museum is in the Argonaut hotel. And this was taken on the Hyde Street Pier across the street from the Argonaut.

This is the Grace Quan. It is a replica of the type of fishing vessel used throughout the Bay Area by Chinese shrimp fishing companies between 1860 and 1910. She was built by San Francisco Maritime and California State park staff and volunteers in 2003. This is an amazing beautiful boat. I wish she had been ready to sail that day.

I, of course, look at these two photos and think that the top one is mis-aligned and not square and the bottom is overexposed amoung other things wrong with them. But really? I'm still thinking YAY! This was before I started really practicing with the camera. Before daily photographs and that sort of stuff. So I am stoked they are shortlisted. Not sure when I will find out if they make the cut.

my heart is still pounding

EAbby slipped her harness on our walk today. We were walking a road that we don't normally take to avoid the man who was edging his yard. The dogs don't have a lot of fondness for power tools. There was a real estate sign and for some reason it spooked Abby. She started struggling and slipped out of her harness before I could get to her. She ran about 5 feet into the road. There was car coming on, fortunately slowly. She was still trying to get away from the sign so she ran in between the neighbors cars. They had parked them up far enough to their garage door that she couldn't get out without coming back to me. I got her back in her harness (tightened a LOT) and we went right back home. My heart was pounding from the moment she got free until the moment I had her back in harness. We've never had a spooked problem before. She doesn't get that way. She's so much business on her walks she doesn't usually notice things. Gus walked right on by the sign without noticing it. Incidentally I dropped his leash to get her and he stuck right by my side the whole time. The harness will be very tight in the future. I just can't imagine what spooked her.

We got home and I found a surprise in the mail. It was just what I needed to feel better.

Carolyn sent these gorgeous stitch markers. She's selling them in a local (to her) yarn store.

Aren't they fabulous? I love the little bugs.

Along with the markers she sent me a note on such a cute little card. With tiny owls printed on them. Maybe if we are lucky she'll let us know where she got them because they are adorable.

Thank you Carolyn! I love the markers. I've already put them to use on my current project.

(Also so sorry because I keep forgetting to put your mittens in the post!! They will start their journey Monday! I'm going to package them this evening so they will be ready to go!)

Finished projects tomorrow and a preview of my current project. I can't wait to show you. Its so pretty.

ETA: The shore photos yesterday were from Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast and not on the Washington Coast. I knew if I put them up someone would know where they were :) (including the photographer. I guess this means she doesn't mind I stole her photos. whooo...) Thanks guys!