hAppY HaLLowEeN!!!!!

This lovely lady I found in a book of vintage Halloween graphics. I've been waiting for today to post her. Enjoy the day and the night!!!

So much to say...

So few functioning brain cells left. *sigh* well here goes....

Cats: We caught the last one the other night. So I now have 4 feral kittens living in my garage. Its getting cold out there and I feel horrible keeping them in the unheated garage. They would need to be spayed/neutered (to prevent new litters and spraying) and flea dipped before I could even think of bringing them in. As well as checked for disease that could carry to my girls. If all was well then they could be in the studio until we figure out what to do with them. Though, (shudder) I am seriously beginning to consider starting my life long dream of being the crazy cat lady, but this is a lot sooner than I had planned.

The show: I've done 27.5 hours on it in the last 3 days. I'm very nearly done. I have a great story to tell about today's disaster, but too tired for that. Besides I want to have the pics of the set to show you. Either way my back and knees are killing me from a lot of marbling.

Work: sucks...I am very behind because I keep having to fix things. I love most of my staff but they keep giving me aneurysms on a minute by minute basis. At least the days go fast...so fast I look at the clock and realize I should have left an hour earlier.
At least I make my own schedule (within reason) and I am taking Halloween off....from everything. No work at all. It is Halloween a time to remember those who have left us and a time to dress up, sugar up the neighborhood rugrats and party. If it not about costumes, ritual, chocolate or booze...don't talk to me. I haven't even worked on my costume yet. *sigh*

Well...i'm off to bed with some painkillers...(did I mention my uterus has been trying to rip itself out for the last week?) Have I spontaneously combusted yet????

And then there were three...

My Love came home to this little guy sleeping in the trap cage. One left...but he's going to be the hardest...he witnessed one of his siblings being trapped. (of course all these gender references are made up...we have no clue if they are male or female)

Two down...

two to go.

Well, we just got Floofy with the have a heart trap and add him to the party in the garage. We found a place that will come and spay/neuter and then release but it is $67 a cat. And we are looking at 4 cats.(hopefully)

Anyone want to sponsor a kitty??

Today's adventure

So over the summer a feral cat had kittens under our neighbor's shed. There were early half-hearted attempts to catch them. Our neighbor dropped the ball on the whole thing, except for feeding the lot of them. We have been feeding them as well. I've possibly found a home for one of them...the neighbor lined up some homes but they apparently have fallen through.

We managed to get this one into our garage. We are upping our efforts to catch them due to the drop in temperature and the coyote wandering around our back yard. Yes we have coyotes in the neighborhood...and we are by no means rural. Tomorrow my love is going to see if we can find an organization to help. I did find one online that examines and spays/neuters the feral cats and then releases them into a barn environment. I think this lot would be good for that. They are still very skittish around people.

Mmmmm...brains.

Do you have any because most of our employees don't.

Grand opening was today. I was there at 7am...which wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been there until 11:30 the night before. And I left an hour and 45 past when I was scheduled today. I am now cozying up to a fire in the fireplace and a bottle of wine.

Please don't expect much on the blog side for a little while. But do contact me if you know of any job openings...let me tell you..the Hooters down the street is starting to look rather promising.

Secret Pal Strikes Again!!!

Secret Pal you so rock!
Saturday I decided to run home after work before running to the theatre on a sheer whim. I thought maybe I'd grab a bite before spending the evening crawling around to paint the brick below. Lo and behold there was a box on my doorstep. Inside the box was this...








And inside was this treasure trove...
There are cookie cutters to add to my vast collection (how did you know??!!) in ghost, pumpkin, bat and black cat. A craft kit for a Bat halloween bell. A foam stamp with a skull, gravestone, spooky tree and ghost. A delightfully creepy finger candle with a skull ring tied to it. Spider shaped glitter confetti. An absolutely beautiful charmed folding scissor necklace...(much needed since my scissors often end up under my butt on the couch.) A Ghirardelli "intense Dark " chocolate bar with espresso beans. I nearly died at the sight of that. It is being saved for some intense me time. Lastly was a crafted halloween mix cd full of some my favorite music...quite a creepy eclectic mix. This will probably be my new painting cd.

Again...thank you thank you thank you. Secret pal you rock. Your gift actually convinced me to stay home and take the night off.

Sunday....

I turned this...














into this.

Busy Season

Did I mention this is my BusySeason? I'm working full time at my regular job. Actually I'm working overtime at my regular job and i'm not sure I'm liking this manager stuff. Then I have my show at the highschool and now I'm doing a overhire gig at a small local professional theatre that I used to work for. Yes I am crazy. But I need new rear tires and I love being in with my theatre crowd again. Though it makes going to my regular job all that much harder.

And I'm knitting when I can in between.

I haven't really eaten today and can't remember when I showered last.

yep...its my busy season.

Plugging away

on both knitting and work. When I'm not here knitting on the shawl I'm turning this hideous mess (you may remember it from "Flash your Stash") into scarves for charity. Kindof a stash cleansing. To make room for fiber I like. I have been good. I went to FabricPlace's closing sale and didn't buy any yarn...nope no yarn...but then again a yarn diet has nothing to say about fabric aquisition, now does it.

Work has been...well...work. Much more physically demanding the usual, we are still setting up the store and a tad behind. I've been sleeping better with all the work. I miss having the physical aspect to my job. I'm also trying to get into manager mode. I never really wanted the promotion. I'd rather be left alone to do my own work then have to deal with everyone. I did manage to close the store by myself without screwing up the alarm, and I got to yell at everyone. I still want out. I've promised myself to them until October 20th, thereabouts, after that I can walk with a relatively clean conscience.

I am painting the fall show at a local private high school. Its about my 6th year or so with them. I've also taken on a quick and dirty paint call for this Saturday. Slowly getting my foot back in the door.

Off to bed. I did 5 hours at work on my day off today. I'll check my spelling tomorrow

The Last Knit

You have to check this out. Its a short on YouTube called The Last Knit . I probably would have done my dress as well. Thanks to Lani for enlightening me to this one.

The Good, the Bad and the Ruffles

Well, in regards to the shawl I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that I just finished chart eight and i'm to the ruffles.

The bad news is that I'm at the neverending ruffles.

ps Yes we have water again. He came home that night and replaced that. He's going to battle more plumbing today while I'm at work so I don't hear his endless swearing. He holds it well but he's got quite a temper when he loses it, and plumbing tends to bring it out.

Thank you Pally!

I so needed the box that came yesterday. I was having a crap-tacular day. We are a tad behind at work, but I only did 4 hours yesterday. I came home to plumbing half completed (love did some on his lunch hour) which left me with no water in the house. I mean NO water. There was enough for 1 toilet flush which was conserved until absolutely necessary. But then there was no way to wash my hands ( I ended up using some from the lone supply in the Brita pitcher). Nor could I wash the tomato sauce I spilled on my jeans at lunch. I couldn't do laundry or mop or have my usual 17 pots of tea. Grrrr...and to make it worse my period showed up. Which just made me cry (especially since it seems so many of my friends are pregnant now).

Then the mailman came...and he had a box for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


There is a fun little metal lunchbox with the Last Supper on it, filled to the brim with a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in lovely greens, blues, purples, and browns. (I think I have a project for this already!), some black and white mystery yarn accompanied by a little Catwoman (whip included!) Now my WonderWoman won't be so lonely! She also included the movie Diva, which I have never seen. I'll save that for a night that my love is working. And even a present for the cats! A cat dancer which gave them both quite the workout! This was all joined by beautiful postcards that will be gracing my studio walls.

Thank you thank you thankyou !!!!! I love it all.

A door closes

Today is my last day at the old store. There are some people there that I will really miss. And there are some that I wish would be eaten by a pack of ravenous dogs. My last day as a minion and tomorrow is my first as a manager. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I'll be 10 minutes from home now (instead of 45) and I am getting a raise. But I'm leaving behind the people who help me get through the day. Actually on some level that may be a good thing. More motivation to get myself out of this company and out of retail. I tend to loathe the bulk of humanity...retail is not exactly the place for me. So this is my first step towards having a job I enjoy once again.

Knitwise I'm still in the same place. I'm a few rows into chart 7. Its a little slower going because this is where the pattern for the rest of the shawl transitions into the boarder pattern and I have to pay a little more attention.

Canning i've managed to do 12 quarts of quartered tomatoes in their own juice and 5 of sauce. It took the sauce forever to cook down. I have about 3 more boxes to go. I'm not sure when I'll get to it...probably do a batch or so an evening. I have no clue what my work schedule is this coming week. All I know is that tomorrow is a long day.

I'm also sorting out my studio some more...it is a total disaster lately. Now that the weather is more moderate I can handle the temperature in there.

Thanks for all the feed back on the blog. I'm actually cheating on the font size. In compose mode I am setting it to "large". I'm not sure how to make this size the default size. Pictures next post...i promise.

Don't we look marvelous

So i did a bit of playing around with the blog today before I submerged myself in canning tomatoes...(this is going to be an on going project for the next week or so).
I'm just having a bit of trouble getting the font of the main body larger as its standard. For some reason its code is different than all the others for font size and I know squat about html. I still have to figure out how to do buttons and put a sidebar on the other side too. But what do you think so far? Its my transitioning into fall colors. Like my hair I think they will change with my mood.

However I'm to chart seven and still pondering my next project. That is mostly waiting on me to do a swatch or two to see what in my stash will fit my potentials.

Work Countdown: 16 more hours at the old store.

Ever onward

My recovery time last week yielded a lot of shawl progress. Not so much this week. I had scheduled overtime that made it difficult to get too far. I am about 6 rows away from completing chart five. I have not been bringing the shawl to stitch n bitch. It requires so much concentration that I can't work on it when we all get together. I need to get more audio books as well. I just can't do this in front of the TV either.
No knitting monogomy this time. I am sort of in-between projects in the non-shawl catagory. I've put myself on a yarn diet so I am in the area of creative pairing of yarn I own and projects I would like to do. I also have some baby knitting before me. The first tot is due this month, then November, March and June. Lots of babies coming. I need to dye some of my yarn to get the right colors for the first project. Amy suggested using the Witon paste cake colors with a vinegar mordant. I think I will give that a shot, especially since I already own the dye. I'll probably work on that in my three days off in the middle of the week.Yeah, sucky schedule this week. To date, it is the crowning acheivement in my manager's passive-aggressive campaign against me since he found out I was leaving to go to the new store. I work Sunday, Monday, Friday and close on Saturday, my last day in that store. I was so angry I could spit acid when I found out but enough of that subject.

See the miracle that has happened in our home! They are on the same cushion and LO! they are TOUCHING!!!!! And this phenomenon has been witnessed more than once!

Punk Rock Gift Exchange Questionaire

Here it is ...in all its freakish glory.

1) How long have you been spinning/Knitting/Crocheting?
I learned to knit when I was about 9 or so. I did it on and off but didn't get hardcore until about 2000. I taught myself to crochet about that time as well. I've only been spinning on a drop spindle since last Rhinebeck.

2) Do you consider yourself a beginner, novice, or experienced Yarn Artist?
Knitting- advanced novice. Spinning-beginner.

3) What type of fibers have you worked with?
A fair variety. Lots of novelty, I'm getting hooked into more natural fibers (read: I am becoming a fiber snob).

4) What types are you dying to try?
I am a total silk whore. I guess some of the more expesive and finer materials...cashmere and such.

5) Are you allergic to anything, (Fibers, Food, Smells that make you want to puke, etc.)?
Really strong perfumes...especially the old lady rose scent. You know the one I mean. The one they douse themselves in to mask the formaldehyde smell.

6) Do you have any Disorders, ex: Diabetes?
My husband seems to think my hoarding of books, yarn, fabric and tools a disorder, but i'm not so sure. oh...and depression.

7) What is your Favorite Time/Style period, ex: Romatic, Grecian,Metal, Goth,etc?
I have to narrow it down??!!?? Medieval, Renaissance, 50's retro, some Romantic, Victorian, Civil War era....I like a lot. Actually if I could wear a costume everyday, I would. I love period fashions from most periods. Especially if they involve corsets.

8) What fibers do you dislike?
Things that feel yucky or itchy. I like a soft and and nice drape.

9) Name some of your favorite Artist, Movie wise, Television if you watch it ex: I heart Keanu, some things cant be helped, and Rachel loves Mike Ness !?
Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Joaquin Phoenix, Maura Tierney, Geoffrey Rush, and many more.
The tv shows I HAVE to watch are Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and The Simpsons.

10) Whos your favorite Character ex: Jack or Cpt Jack?
Captain Jack, Batman, Wonderwoman, Catwoman, Tinkerbell, Tigger, Cheshire Cat to name a few.

11) Do you prefer natural colored fibers, or handpainted/dyed fiber?
Both, it really depends on my mood and the colorways of the fiber.

12) What are you favorite colors?
Black, Purple and Red.I like rich jewel tones, or deep earthy tones.

13) What colors do you dislike?
Not too keen on yellow or pink. But the pink has been creeping in bit by bit. I am rather against most pastels.

14) What projects are you currently working on?
The do over of the shawl (see below), baby gifts and about to start a sweater for myself.

15) Do you have a wishlist?
several...should I be more specific?

16) Do you have any other favorite hobbies?
Reading, Cooking/baking, Movies, Sewing, Cross-stitch, Art, and playing the MYST games.

17) When your birthday?
Janurary 8th, the same as David Bowie, Steven Hawkins and Elvis

18) What is your favorite food, candy, scents that you love!! Etc.?
Scents:I love lavender and vanilla, and Drakkar
Foodstuffs: chocolate covered expresso beans, jasmine tea.

19) Are you pierced at all? Any tattoos? Can you/would you wear jewelry that isn't real?
Use to have belly ring, would like to get it done again. No tatoos, yet. Sometimes non-real jewelry bothers my ears but otherwise ok.

20) What do you like Culturally, ex: Celtic, African, Devil Worshiping, Kidding!?
Celtic, Ancient Egyptian

21) What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
An old fashioned Mason jar...the ones with the wire and the glass lid (though I don't use the lid, obviously) My circs are a set of interchangeable and they live in their case. The dpns and hooks have a roll but they keep poking holes in the bottom. Tools (stitch markers, scissors etc) have a crappy too small case that is going to die sometime soon.

22) What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I can play mp3s. I like Greenday(I have the biggest crush on Billie Joe), NIN, Rob Zombie, System of a Down...Love the 'modern rock' of the 90's when I was in college. I often paint to Pink Floyd and Korn. I also love opera (Verdi and Mozart) as well as classical and baroque. Medieval Babes are high on my list as well as Loreena Mc Kinnet. As you can see its rather eclectic.

23) What's your favorite season and why?
Autumn...the smell, the feel in the air, the crunching sound of walking through leaves, apples galore, and of course Halloween.

24) What season do you abhor?
The season I like to call "oh my god its STILL winter!!" basically the time when snow has lost its charm and I want to see green but all that remain is slush as far as the eye can see!

25) How about Sports, any that you just cant get enough of or do they make you throw up in your mouth just a little?
Hate them except for hockey. Don't have a team I just like to watch it, but my love limits that because I yell too much. (and lack of cable tv)

26) What is your family situation Do you live alone?
I am very happily married to a hottie and we have two cats and no children. We are attempting to work on that last part.

27) Do you have any pets?
Two psychotic cats, Isis and Loki.

28) Do you like handmade gifts?
Yes if they aren't tacky.

29) What's your favorite thing to make, knit/crochet or other craft wise?
Can't say I have a favorite. I switch depending on the mood. I am getting into socks.

30) Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I like dpns for socks. I'm slowly shifting over to circs for other things.

31) Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yep, both.

32) Tell us how you learned to knit/crochet?
My grandmother first taught me the basics(knit, purl, cast on, bind off) when I was about 9 or so. I retaught myself in college. It didn't become a passion until 2000 or so. I really took off when I had an internet connection and found a knitting forum. It really encouraged me and gave me a resource for new techniques.

33) Do you enjoy getting helpful hints from others or does it just piss you off?
As long as it is delivered in a non-condescending way, I don't mind at all. We all have different strengths and should share our knowledge. How else can we learn and grow?

34) How old is your oldest UFO?
a year or so. I went through a period where I finished all of the PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) before I would let myself do something new.

35) Is there anything that you collect?
Books, tea pots and cups, absinthe spoons, patterns from Folkwear and I am starting one of paperdolls...ones with the period costumes and movie ones (gone with the wind, Elizabeth Taylor with costumes from some of her more famous movies), and witchy stuff...I have a new fascination with the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz.

36) Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
I've a new fetish for Silky Wool, Debbie Bliss Baby Knits, Vogue Stitchionary I, II, & III, and my ultimate quest lately has been for a silk or silk blend DK yarn in a deep blood crimson color....for a very long scarf.

37) What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have if any?
I don't subscribe but I ususally pick up Interweave Knits and Vogue knitting if there are enough patterns that interest me.

38) Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'd like to do more color work (fair isle and intarsia) and just about everything in spinning and dyeing.

39) Do you enjoy knitting socks? How big are yer boats (feet)?
yes and freakishly small....size 6.5/7.

40) When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
Didn't you ask this already??? 01/08

Its Deja Vu all over again.

Well I decided to bite the bullet and reknit the shawl. It is actually going quite well. I dropped down two needle sizes and doing my best to knit tighter. Normally I knit quite loose. I started Sunday and I'm already into chart four. I'm knitting off of the old shawl instead of frogging the whole thing at once. I'm not even past the ruffles yet. I think I have enough for another (different of course) shawl in there! I also think it is going faster because I know the pattern now. The repeats are very familiar to me and I find myself having to consult the chart less. I'm also not doing it in front of the TV, but while listening to books on tape. First was Vittorio the Vampire, now I'm onto The Devil Wears Prada. In the wings waits Emma and Mansfield Park. Unfortunately the last two are abridged (the first two aren't despite the links), but the library had slim pickings.

I helps that I'm home sick for much of this week too. Since my boss is back I told work that I was taking time off to recover. I nearly ended up in the hospital the end of last week. My body just wouldn't rehydrate, not until the antibiotics started kicking the sinus infection. Now I'm left with this nasty cough and chest pain. I've been sleeping for long stints and taking it easy the time I am up.

I'll have pictures of the shawl and of my next project the next post. I currently have no clue where the camera is.

"witty title goes here"

My life is just a bizarre mess. My love hasn't had a day off since we returned from vacation on the 13th. Actually they still made him go in after we landed 7 1/2 hours late. I've not slept in my own bed for the last 3 nights because of the pain and not wanting to wake him up. Pain, you ask, yes...pain. It feels like a urinary infection (of which I get about 1 or 2 in a good year). The doctor says no. She says I'm severely dehydrated and have crystals. Actually her quote was "I usually see urine like this in a pregant woman who has been vomiting constantly for 3 days." I have no clue how or why I am so dehydrated. I've been drinking like crazy...non-stop water and tea. And no i'm not pregnant....she checked. And the sinus infection...while better (goo has gone from green to clear) is still around. And for much of the day my internet browser keeps increasing the size of my text....from normal 12 pt to somting like 140 pt. Hard to do much with that...and won't let me switch it back. How's that for a computer glitch.

So with all of this not much knitting is getting done. Hard to keep track when running to the bathroom constantly. But I have a stack of knitting magazines scattered around the living room area. I'm looking for a new project...(like I need another one). I really want to do a sweater vesty type thingy. Maybe it's from reading this blog. Or maybe that its a tad crisper in the mornings when I leave. Or maybe that I need to tweak my work wardrobe now that I am going to be manager. Less jeans and t-shirts and more dressy. (I REALLY need to find some pants that aren't jeans, look good on me, are comfortable and durable and NOT dry clean only.) So my quest begins....the tough thing is to do it out of yarn in my stash....or out of yarn I can trade something in my stash for.

well my blue nail polish seems to be dry...I'm off to look through more patterns.

Update

Wow! an actual post about knitting.

Well we got back from vacation and managed to develop sinus infections. I have been the living dead for a week now. Since my boss decided to give himself a two week vacation, I have been alone at work, therefore unable to take sick-time. I spent the weekend sleeping and lying on the couch. As a told a co-worker today, I was so sick I didn't even want to knit.

But now I am on the mend and the urge is back. So here is an update on my projects...

Kyoto is awaiting its sleeves and the neckband. I want to do the sleeves in the round and I'm having a few kinks in that plan. The sleeves are too small to do on circulars but too big to do on the dpns I have. I'm passively looking for longer US#4 dpns. I really don't want to knit them straight and seam them.

These are the socks that I started on my trip. Just a basic sock pattern in Cascade 220.

And then there is the shawl. *sigh* Or rather my absolute disaster shawl. Yes I finished it. But it is huge....then I went to block it thinking that might help...once it hit water it became beyond huge. I just don't know what to do about it. It is too large to leave as is. I have two options.

1. I did wet and then toss in the dryer one of my swatches. The swatch shrunk about an inch. It felted slightly but not in a disaster sort of way. The yarn lost its smooth look and the pattern some of its definition. I could do this to the entire shawl. Or...
2. Reknit the whole thing and drop down 2 needle size and make an effort to knit tighter. But the original took about 2 months of hardcore knitting and do I really want to do that again?

what would you do?