If you would like to contibute funds to purchase me a new computer, please feel free. Until then, forgive me for sporadic blogging. The computer doesn't seem to want to admit that it's plugged in (that stupid little light on the plug is lying!) and so work has to come before blogging while I have power. Right now, it claims 83% 82% 81% so I'll try to do a quick update before I lose charge entirely.

On one of the hotter days a few weeks ago, I decided I didn't own enough shorts to run the dog out to potty without scaring the neighbors. I keep telling Oscar that he looks cuter without pants on than I do, but like a loyal dog (who has to pee) he thinks clothing isn't neccessary as long as I take him out. In any event, I had a little less than a yard of this flannel sitting around (I can't begin to remember why) and figured I'd make some little pajama-type shorts.

Pardon the vagueness of the shot - the bunny slippers didn't show up right in any other photo.


I do still knit... some. I have too many cables and stitch patterns swirling around in my mind and clogging things up like a logjam, so I decided to do something a little simple to get my mojo back. I started a toe-up sock on self-striping yarn that I am less and less enamored with the longer I knit it. It's baby pink, baby blue, yellow green chartruese stripes with lavendar and white flecks between. The problem is that whole yellow green chartruese stripe. The rest of it is cute pastel baby colors, and to my eyes the yellow green chartruese is a bit jarring. It's still pastel, it's just an odd shade. So I sped past the pink and blue without trouble, and then was startled by the yellow green chartruese. So startled that each and everytime I knit it, I felt like I had just knit it before, and the pattern was being thrown off. So I'd stop and look, and no, the pattern was fine, I'd just forgotten that I'd knit the pink and blue since the last yellow green chartruese stripe. It was very disconcerting.


It looks like a reasonable baby yellow in the photo, but it's not in real life. There's a tinge of nausea green to it. Trust me.
In any event, I finally got to time to do the heel, and decided to do an afterthought heel for the sake of the striping, but didn't want to worry about leaving enough yarn after the leg, so I decided to knit an inch or so up on the leg, then go insert the heel, then go back to the leg. But my stitch holders were aaaaaaaallllll the way "over there" (or at least, not in my immediate grasp, which is essentially the same thing. So I played lazy fearless knitter and simply pulled the needles out, did the heel, then picked up all the stitches for the leg again.

So here we are, finished heel, zipping back up the leg, and trying not to be distracted by the pretty yarn Jody and Sarah dyed this weekend.


But no, the yarn is singing a siren song duet with my sewing machine.... tempting me... tempting me...

eerie color matching, yes?
....tempting....

Oscar needs a box bag! He does really, this isn't just procrastinating on all the work I have to do (and I'm going to keep on saying that until I believe it too!) When we go to the dog park, I wear sweatpants to avoid being bitten by bugs (I'm very tasty) covered in mud and dog spit (I'm also very snuggle inspiring) or sunburnt (I'm sad to say I was NOT wearing a white sock in the sock photo). But most sweatpants don't have pockets, so I had to stick my cell phone, car keys, and the plastic bags for Oscar's... gifts, in my waist band. Which is neither practical nor comfortable.

So I decided to make this little guy, just bigger than my cell phone, and with a snap-on handle to attach it to the handle of Oscar's leash, so that it can go on walks with us without me having to carry it.
And the lining reminds me that I can fit a dog treat or two in there too, if I want.

It's a good little bag to have, now that it's official that my dog is cooler than I am. Oscar got his first phone call Saturday morning - people at the dog park wanting to know if he was coming out to play.

Since his chauffer had too much work to do, we had to wait until Monday, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself then. So much so, this is what happened when we got home.
Poor little depressed puppy.

Sew crazy!!!

As I mentioned, I needed a break from knitting and spinning. I decided to take a weekend (after reminding myself what this "weekend" was that I kept hearing folks speak about) and not knit or spin at all. Mind you, I failed a little, but only because the sewing machine wouldn't fit in my purse, and the knitting would.

Pre-flooded fireworks on the Fourth of July, Coleen and Jody and I went to Joann's. At one point Coleen picked up some garrish fabric, commented that it looked like a giraffe on crack, then put it back on the shelf laughing. I picked it up right behind her, consulted Jody on some matching pinks, and bought it. Yup, right there in front of Coleen. Which is what makes it even funnier to see how startled she was to have this bag handed to her this evening when we went out to dinner.

I think it turned out very cute, and I fully expect to see her make herself a fully body-suit out of the crack-giraffe fabric, now that she sees how truly adorable it is.

note to all: saying that cashmere looks like a giraffe on crack will not result in me making something out of it and giving it to you. Claiming to hate something only works when I'm feeling bratty.


I also made myself this CD holder, and wished for the first time for a larger car (or maybe just larger visors). It really couldn't be any smaller and fit the CDs, but it's a little larger than Norman's little Echo sized visors. That's okay, I think it's cute, and it will hopefully keep the CDs that tend to float about my car (I burn copies of the CDs I have and keep the good stuff at home) from getting scratched quite as quickly.



And if Sarah can do it, so can I! I now present to you:

Someone Else's Knitting!

The back is done, the front has a very pretty cable on it, and is almost done that except that we're revamping the neckline because the pattern is... well... stupid.

This is my mommy's very first sweater, so y'all come tell her how great she's doing, alright?

Fireworks, our own way

Thunder, lightening, rain, and tornados meant we didn't see the scheduled fireworks last night. But we made fireworks of our own with some finished projects.

Jen finished her go-with-the-flow socks


and Coleen finished this amazing gift


at some point we realized we were being spied upon
(do you see the eyeball?)

and we flirted briefly with Buffy before she had to go back to bed.


Who needs crowds of oohs and aaahs when you've got friends like these? Thanks, ladies!!

~~~~~

When I got home, there was a row of feral children lined up in the parking lot like bowling pins (at eleven PM, mind you) setting off firecrackers. They started doing this sometime Saturday. When I opened the door, one ran over and said (in that little voice only a three year old can do) "Excuse me, would you like to watch with us? we're exploding things!" and I replied that I appreciated her invitation, but had really had enough fireworks for a while". Oscar (who's been a nervous wreck since the fireworks began on Saturday) had to take care of his evening ablutions, so we went out together. The neighbors all said hi to him, set off a few more fireworks, and then the one who thinks Oscar is training his dogs in his (Oscar's) spare time apologized for freaking him out. Odd neighbors 'round these parts.

In any event, possibly because of firecrackers going off outside my window all night, I didn't sleep well, even for me.

So this morning I was pretty impressed when I didn't lose control and kiss the lovely UPS man when he brought me this package

never fear, the bomb sniffing cat did thoroughly inspect things, he was just afraid of having his process documented for security reasons

Inside, was this beauty

I decided I needed a hobby (this made many of my knitting girls laugh, but remember that knitting and spinning are work for me, so even though I love doing them, even though I'm wildly lucky to get paid to do them, there is pressure there that shouldn't be there for a true hobby). So I pulled out my old sewing machine, and discovered something was awry. It soon became clear that a new machine wouldn't be that much more expensive (maybe not at all) than getting the old fella repaired, so home came this lovely.

And after a lovely afternoon with Jody and Jen and Sarah, I made this

which will go to its intended recipient this weekend

I sewed my own fireworks.