Thursday, May 28, 2009

Fuglies

Last night was Nova Knitter's blogiversary party/Knit Nite. It was great fun, good cake, yarny prizes. Marti was the first name drawn, so she got first pick of the prizes. I was second, and I'd already had my eye on some Arequipa, which is exactly what I snatched up. (Got plans for it -- going to make a nice patterned pair of socks for my BF for her birthday in August.) Knitlibby came next, then Heddy. I think we all got what we wanted, and everything suited everyone -- bluish for Marti, limey/turquoise for Heddy, blue for Knitlibby.

I have to make my BF some really nice socks cuz she's getting some fuglies in the near future. I've knit her three pairs of socks so far, and only one pair is left, last I knew. She wore the other two pairs totally out -- palm-sized holes in the heels. The socks she's had so far are nice and not fugly, but the good thing about her is she's easy going, happy-go-lucky, so she won't care that the colors are, well, fugly. First up there are two pairs of anklets made from leftover Patons Stretch Sock in kelp, sugar, and plum. The first pair was started April 25 and finished on the 29th. The second pair was started May 23 and finished the 28th. Ravelry details here.

The other pair are a work-in-progress started last night for something easy for Knit Nite, Ravelry details here. They are the wonderful and used many times by me Broadripple pattern. I am using Bernat Sox which I really do like for a cheapy yarn, but this probably is a colorway that I'll never use again, crazy hot. What was I thinking? Oh, well. Maybe the acrylic/nylon blend won't wear out or at least not so fast.

I also managed to finish up a bunch of baby hats ranging in size from 0-3 months up to 2-4 years. I started making those on March 3 and finished them up on May 23. Ravelry details here. I'm not going to post pictures here, but you can see pictures of all eight of them over there.

Happy knitting!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sigh

Y'know how sometimes things just don't seem to go right? We took our camper to the new spot we're staying at this season. We backed into our lot, and the camper is waaayyyy lopsided. The guy was like, "You don't have any blocking?" Hello! We'd need to block the one side up by like 1.5-2', ain't happenin', not safe. Also in our peruse of the lot we can't find a water outlet. Apparently it's up a ways in the next lot, and there's no T on it, so the neighbors are plugged in, no spot for us. We need to get a T so we can hook up.

So they send us off to the field for the weekend so they can get a load of shale brought in to even our lot out. The previous trailer was a lot smaller and was sent perpendicular to the road. We can't do that, ours is too big. So off we go to the field. The first spot is lopsided as well, but we deal for the night cuz it's getting late. The next day we move back two spots to where another couple had been parked, and it was flat, so that was better. We make absolutely sure that the hot water tank electric element is off, fill the tank with water, then turn it on. (Winter before last friends winterized it for us and left the hot water tank switch in the on position, so it burned out our electric element cuz it tried to heat an empty tank. All last season we used propane to heat it til it got fixed when the professionals winterized it in the fall.) No hot water. We consult the books that came with the camper, no dice. So we decide to fall back on propane. I knew one tank was empty, but I thought there was some in the other, even though there wouldn't be much. Well, that was empty as well. So not hot water.

The next day (Sunday) we go to get one of the tanks filled, come back, presto, hot water, and the furnace worked, not that we needed it. We go to cook supper, and the stove barely lights. Burners on high, so little flame it goes out if you light another burner or just on its own. He tried and tried, thought maybe there was air in the lines, consulted the books again, nothing. When we took the stove top off we found a spring, no idea where it came from. Then I had to vacuum it out cuz whatever got into the camper during the winter had been under there and left some presents, and I found a little round white cap. A friend came along and tried to help us. Come to find out the spring was from a pressure valve, and the little white cap held it in place. Whatever got in the camper had hauled this plastic piece off in its adventures, and the spring shot out. (That's probably why there was poop under there -- probably scared the crap out of him.) Put the spring back in, put the cap on, presto -- flamage. Oh, yeah, and it rained all weekend.

So today I do some laundry early this morning. My washer drains into a big sink that had gotten a clogged drain from lint and whatnot, little to my knowledge. I go down to throw the wash in the dryer, and my feet get wet. The sink overflowed all over the place, so I had to spend 45 minutes with my steam cleaner trying to suck up as much water as I could from the carpet. I have two fans on high to try and dry up the rest. What a mess.

After all my griping I do have a couple of FOs:

Felted Bag by Jessica Gutoski made with two skeins of new denim Patons Classic Wool and one skein in wedgewood on 9mm needles. Started May 13, finished May 18. I made a few wee changes, details here on Ravelry.

The second bag is also PCW in turquoise and a little bit of paprika. Ravelry details here, I started and finished this one on May 17. It was felted on May 18. I used 6.5mm needles for this one.


So that's the excitement of my life over the past few days. Right now I'm just working on some braindead baby hat knitting. Tomorrow I have to work part of the day, then I HAVE to mow the lawn. It's too wet to mow today. Thursday and Friday are supposed to be summer hot, and I can't mow in the heat, so tomorrow it is. I also have to work on the garden, so I don't foresee a lot of knitting happening in the next few days.

Happy knitting!

PS Overall the new spot we camp at is going to be fun, I think. Loads of activities to do, the ones who are in charge are nice. They've been bringing in shale for lots of different spots to level up for people. Our former campground would have charged us to do that or we would have had to bring it in ourselves. We were lucky to get a spot there -- the seasonal lots are full, and they have quite a waiting list.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Squatter!

Went to the camper today to get the bedding out of it to wash. We took it to my BIL's for the winter cuz it's too hard to get in and out of our yard, and we switched campgrounds this year, so we had to bring it home. Anyhoo, the bedding was just balled up on our bed and on the bunk beds. I went to grab it off our bed, and I saw some little black things. I'm like, "What the heck?" Poop! Yes, poop. Poop all over the place. We have a Squatter.

I'm not sure what it is, but it's most likely a squirrel. Possibly a rat, but I'd lean more towards a squirrel. Luckily I never met anything face to face to find out. (Not that I'm scared of them or anything, but meeting like that face to face with little room to move around if it gets startled and pounces on me wouldn't be a pretty site. Especially if it was a Mama with babies to protect.) Our camper had two slides, and where it is positioned at BIL's I can't open them, just a bit. I hooked the truck to the plug for the tow kit and opened the back slide enough that I could get in the kids' room. From the looks of it, the Squatter preferred our room and the kitchen drawers.
So I carefully got the bedding off our bed, just in case the Squatter was inside somewhere, and threw it out on the ground. He chewed a good old hole in the comforter.

So that's garbage. The rest of the bedding and pillows were unharmed, as was the mattress. The Oldest One was with me, so we proceeded to check all of the drawers and cupboards. The Squatter seemed to like the middle drawer of the three in the kitchen. He chewed up one of my hand knit dishcloths and had quite a poopfest in that drawer. He also chewed up a rose petal scented candle. Hope he got a tummy ache. In our room there are two drawers, one on each side of the head of the bed. We took those right out, and on my side I found and nice, fluffy nest of what appears to be camper insulation from somewhere.

And again, quite a poopfest. I got an extension cord from SIL and vacuumed it all up, figuring there'd be a hole in there somewhere, but no. I could find no sign of entry anywhere, but alas the slides weren't fully opened, and I wasn't about to crawl under the camper in all that tall grass and get any wood ticks. When Hubs comes home tomorrow night he's going to take the camper to my parents' place and open up the slides and take a look. They have a paved driveway, so he can crawl under the camper and take a look for holes. The tanks and plumbing lines are filled with antifreeze, so I can't see anything coming through there without croaking. There are two vents for the furnace that weren't covered (Naughty Hubs! I worked the day they brought the camper home). Maybe there will be a hole in the floor when he moves the slides out or a hole in the slide rubber. I sure hope the Squatter isn't inside the walls and pops out when we're camping. The dogs will tear that place apart to catch it, that's for sure.

So that was my excitement for the day. It's always something, so it seems.

You'd think Pumba would learn that there's never any money in my purse.

He tried it before to no avail.

The yarn order arrived at the store -- the new shades of Bernat Baby Jacquards are here, as well Cottontots and Handicrafter.

Happy knitting!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Boheme and Little Sister

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. My boys made me cards, and the Littlest One made this in school. He also made a book about why he loves his Mom. I'll be sure to put that away. The Oldest One had a card with flowers on it, and the three flower stems were coupons. I can use them whenever I want. One is for him to do the dishes, another for him to make me breakfast, and the other one is for him to make my bed. We'll see how hard of a time I have when it comes to cashing them in.

I finished another size 3 months Little Sister's Dress. This one is out of Bernat Jr Jacquards in pink-o-rama. Started May 8, finished May 10. Ravelry details here. This pattern flies by, it's so easy, I love it, I can see knitting this again. I think definitely that any baby girls that pop up in my life will be getting one of these. (Thought I made this one size 6 months, like the other one. Just took a look at the pattern, and I made this one the 3 month size. I wondered why I had quite a bit of yarn left with this one and not the yellow one. Duh.)

I also finished a Boheme in James C Brett Marble in denims, size 6 months. Started May 3 finished May 8. Ravelry details here. Should've made it a bit shorter. Oh, well. Too late now.

I started a lace scarf tonight for a friend. (Ravelry details here.) She has no idea I'm making it, so it'll be a nice surprise. I also started a plain little ribbed baby hat out of the leftovers from the Little Sister's Dress. That's a good on-the-go thing. I've messed up the lace scarf a couple of times, and I've only done four repeats so far.

Happy knitting!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Camo Vanillas

Saturday night gone by was the annual Firemen's Banquet. I did end up wearing my second choice sweater. Just didn't have enough time to do anything with the other one. While we were at the meal there apparently was a rainbow. I forgot about it til I transferred my pictures this morning, but the kids took some pictures of it.

Last night at Knit Nite I finished the Oldest One's socks. They were started April 29, finished May 6. I used Bernat Sox in camouflage, 2.25mm needles, 60sts, heel over 30sts, toe to 20sts. Standard vanillas. The yarn is a bit heavier than average sock yarn, so they are a smidge bigger than my usual vanillas. The yarn knits up quite cushy and soft for acrylic/nylon. For a cheap yarn it is quite nice. Can't go wrong for $5.95. Ravelry details here.


I started Boheme out of some James C Brett Marble yarn in denims. I hope to have this finished today. This yarn is really nice for acrylic, too. I do find it splitty, so you have to be careful. It's another soft and cushy yarn, though. I can handle splittiness if the yarn knits up nicely.

Y'know how just a couple of weeks ago Simba and Nala had a birthday, turned 13. Well, yesterday morning I was rubbing Simba's belly and noticed that he has a lump on one side. Sigh. It doesn't seem to bother him. I felt around it, and he didn't cry or do anything. He hasn't lost weight, he eats fine, he acts like he always did, so I guess I'll just keep an eye on him. It may be nothing serious, just old age. At his age I'd never put him through a bunch of tests and whatnot anyways. I'll also not let him suffer (or any of the other animals) either. So I have my fingers crossed that it's nothing serious and that he'll be around for several years yet. We met an old Duck Toller last summer at the campground who was full of lumps, but it was just his old age, they weren't cancerous.

Anyhoo, must go do some housework. Happy knitting!

Friday, May 01, 2009

I Hate Shopping

... except for going to Frenchy's once in awhile. Tomorrow night is the annual Firemen's Banquet, and I wanted something new to wear. I'm not a dressy person at all, so I usually wear the same thing every year. Well, at least the skirt and shoes. No wonder I'm not in style! Talk about ug-lee clothes! I see bright colors are back for the summer. I thought for a minute I went into a time warp and was back in the 80s. Anyhoo, after much debating and humming and hawing I found some shoes. These were a good deal, all suede and marked down to $9.

Didn't get any pictures of the rest, but I got a nice pair of brown dress pants and two tops, but I doubt I'll wear either one. I went to Frenchy's yesterday to look, and I picked up two sweaters. The dressiest one and the one I prefer is machine knit and is full of eyelet patterns. There are small wooden beads on the front, embroidered flowers, really nice. Anyhoo, I wash it tonight after work in cold water on delicate, and when I lay it out to dry I notice two holes about an inch up from the bottom edge. Grrr! I checked it over before I bought it, so I'm thinking maybe there were small holes I didn't notice that grew a bit in the wash. Then I also noticed a small hole about the same distance up from the bottom of one of the sleeves. I checked the other sweater over really well, and that one seems fine. I think when I get off work tomorrow I'll maybe try and fold the bottom edge up and sew it, just make it a bit shorter. We'll see. I will be pressed for time -- work til 4, go straight to get my hair cut, home to get the boys fed and ready to go to the hall for 5:45. I'll probably be wearing the other sweater.... (I will try and fix this one, though, cuz it is nice.)

I also found this little bag, perfect for socks and other small projects. Love the retro-ness of it. Got two front pouches that are perfect to hold my notebook and other little odds n ends.

Lime green lining with another little pocket.


This is kinda cute. Spring cleanup was this week, and I got rid of a big stuffed cat that was sitting in the basement for years. He had a tear in his face and dripped stuffing. Anyhoo, I looked out the window and saw this. Too cute!
This picture was taken about eight hours later. Apparently he has become their mascot or something. Of course, I had snuck this out after the kids went to school cuz they'd have a fit. The Littlest One spies this on the truck as it goes up by and is all like, "Why did you throw him out?"
That's about it. No FOs yet, but the Oldest One's socks are moving along quickly. Off to bed, all creeped out. Found a wood tick on me that I'm sure came from one of the dogs. Now I'm itchy and crawly, I hate them, HATE THEM! Jewel had a baby tick crawling above her eye the other day. They both sleep with me, so I'm sure it crawled off of one of them and onto me, either in bed, or they lay on the sofa a lot, and I'm on the other side (sectional). They pick them up on the Trestle Trail on our walks. It's hard to keep them out of the bushes! Maybe I'll stick to paved sidewalks for awhile. That's the one thing I dread about camping -- the ticks!

Happy knitting!