Craftylilly

If you're a spider, be afraid!

I declared war on the cobwebs setting up shop in my house.  It would probably be more accurate to call them "cobcities."  I swear to you that these cobwebs had skyscraper webs, and a light rail system.  Why did they get so out of control?  Well, since we've moved to this house, 3 1/2 years ago, I've been a bit intimidated by the vaulted ceilings.  I must live in one of the tallest and steepest houses.  All the ceilings are high in the house.  The staircase is insanely steep.  When we first saw this house, I was a bit shocked by the steepness of the staircase.  So, the spiders have pretty much had their way with the ceilings.  I've been able to battle them enough to make it presentable, bit today I decided that the cobcities were going to experience armageddon.  Spiders everywhere felt a disturbance in the force with the power of a very long broom, chairs, and a taller husband to get all the cobwebs.  I now have web free corners. 

Perhaps all this zeal had to do with the theme of the Red Ranger's birthday party tomorrow.  We're holding it at a local wildlife museum.  RR picked a "Creepy-Crawly" party.  The party coordinator called the other day and told me that the party guests will have a chance to see a tarantula, black widow spider, and cockroaches.  I'm itching all over just thinking about it, and so the cobwebs had to go.

And the pictures?  Well, I thought pictures of cobweb destruction would be a bit too violent for this blog, so I thought I'd share two recent FO's.  I whipped up a lace bookmark from the the One Skein Wonders book that I sent off to my words and bookmark swap partner.  I also sent the Virginia Woolf book too.  The second picture is of a Lauryn Wrap which was the free gift for renewing my Rowan International subscription.  I used the Rowan All Seasons Cotton which I love, and modified the wrap by casting on 55 stitches instead of 85 to get a longer nicer wrap.  It's for a friend of mine, and I hope she will like it.

 

Childhood traumas: the movie edition

The Red Ranger will be 6 years old in a month.  I can't believe it.  It's amazing to me that he's almost 6.  As he gets older, and has more play dates and outings with friends I'm starting to think about how to deal with the increasing non-family influences.  A lot influence comes from TV, movie, and video games.  With that in mind, I started reflecting on the movie experiences that traumatized me when I was a child.  I thought I'd share them with you set up in handy Top 5 form.

Top 5 disturbing film scenes when I was a child:

1)  The Black Hole (1979):  My parents took me to see this in the theater.  I was 5.  This was right about the time that Disney started putting out more mature films than the animated movies or movies like Freaky Friday and the Herbie movies.  My parents were as shocked as I when a robot kills a main character with a rotating blade hand.  I freaked out, and was quickly ushered out of the theater.

2)  Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981):  I think you all know the scene that freaked me out.  Here's a hint, a ceremony, an opened ark of the covenant, and Indy and Marion tied up. 

3)  Poltergeist (1982):  The whole darn movie scared me, and still scares me.  I have a serious fear of clown dolls still.  I'm not even kidding.

4)  Michael Jackson's Thriller video (1983):  I saw this for the first time at a friend's house at her birthday party.  Yeah, very scary for my 9 year old self.  Now, I love this video and the choreography.  At 9, a scary faced Michael Jackson was terrifying.

5)  Watcher in the Woods (1980):  For some reason the ghostly little girl with the bandage around her eyes freaked me out.  Bette Davis is scary!  We used to watch this at sleepovers.  Very good sleepover scary movie.

So now I'm curious, what movie and TV scenes have traumatized you?

I've learned a few things in the past couple days

1. Going away for the night without the kids with my husband really helps improve my mood.
2. This mood improvement can be completely dispelled by two things:  a)  RR getting the flu complete with fever, bad cough, and congestion and b) a fire in the heating element of my clothes dryer necessitating the charms of a fire extinguisher.  The mood gets even worse when I realized that amongst other clothes, my kids' lovies are still wet and need to be dried, but the dryer is now quite literally fried.
3. Having wonderful neighbors who will dry my kids' lovies for me with a smile are fantastic people to know. 
4. Dealing with the large corporation that made my 4 month old fried dryer will cause me a headache.  If I hear one more suggestion of this is your problem, not ours, I'm going to scream. 
5. Living near my parents who are willing to dry my clothes for me, and bring over lunch to two sick grandkids, and a frazzled daughter is a gift of which I'm deeply grateful.
6. Petting a cat who climbs into my lap while I'm distracted with other concerns, and purrs loudly while I absentmindedly pet him, is remarkably soothing.
7. Having lots of knitting time while RR lies down on the couch, and PQL quietly plays who is also recovering from a double ear infection is a wonderful thing.
8. Giving up to the idea that if I'm going to get the virus, there's nothing I can do about it, so I might as well relax and knit, is remarkably freeing.

On the whole I have many more blessings than tribulations.  At least that's what I'm repeating to myself.  The kids will get better, and I'll get a new dryer.  The important thing is to retain sanity and good humor.  Right?  *whimper*

Batten down the hatches!

The storm has hit.  Yesterday, I hustled the kids out to our local park to beat the storm.  The rain is supposed to last for days; I'm not sure about the wind.  The wind has been rather swift since last night.  RM and I are hoping that the tree that lost half of itself during the last windstorm, won't be finished off by this one.  Now, I freely admit that as a long-time resident of California, the Bay Area in particular, that I am spoiled.  I am a bit of a weather wienie.  There's no way I could deal with snow.  I'd run screaming from tornadoes and hurricanes, and yes a California wind/rainstorm gives me the heebie-jeebies.  Now, I mild earthquake, I can take like a champ.  I experienced the Loma Prieta, and big earthquakes scare me, but a 4.0 earthquake, no problem.  Whip some wind around, and take down half my tree, and I'm spooked.  Anyway, I finished up my Foliage hat which is lovely, and soft, and squooshy, but I can't take a decent picture of it.  Boo.  Well, you'll just have to take my word for it.

I do have a couple of positive things to share today though!  First, here's my holiday spinning.  I spun up 4 ozs of Coopworth dyed by Amy into about 230 yards of two ply worsted weight.  I also spun up 440 yards of fingering weight yarn out of this gorgeous BFL handpainted by Knitterly Things.  This picture doesn't really do the yarn justice, as the colors are more vibrant.  I had trouble getting a good shot of it.  This is my most even sock weight yarn that I've spun to date.  I've already picked out and predrafted about half of this months 4 oz of roving to keep with my 2008 goal.  I've chosen some wool blend hand-dyed by Pippikneesocks in the Strange Days colorway which is deep purple, rust, and black.  I'm going to aim for worsted weight again, as I liked how the Coopworth spun up.

My last good thing for the day is my breakfast.  I'm not a breakfast person, never have been.  However, when I don't eat breakfast, or eat a small one as a nod to the meal, I'm hungry by mid-morning.  I've gone through lots of breakfast ideas in my day, and none of them have really fit the bill.  Breakfasts made up of bowls of cereal never lasted me all morning, and other breakfasts like bagels and the like have just hit the pit of my stomach like an anchor.  I think I've hit on something that works really well, at least until I get sick of it.  Every morning for the past couple of weeks I've had a bowl of instand oatmeal, and a cup of tea.  It's been tasty and has kept hunger at bay until lunch.  Yes, I know I'm eating the sugary instant oatmeal, but hey, I'd be adding the sugar onto the regular stuff.  There's no way I could oatmeal plain.  This small bowl of oatmeal and tea is just right.  I'm a happy woman.   

On the last day of '07

I'm pondering New Year's Goals.  I'm going to call them goals, as resolutions sound so serious and final.  Hard and fast resolutions just ruin the whole concept for me, as I rarely am able to keep up with them.  If I think of goals to try to achieve, I'm hoping I'll have some more success. 

While I've been pondering, I have been knitting and spinning.  I've got one new FO to show.  I completed a pair of fingerless mitts using the second ball of Patons SWS in Natural Green that I had.  They are very warm and cozy!  I used FluffyKnitterDeb's Extra Warm Kureyon Wristers pattern, and found it a quick and easy knit.  I like how the stripes worked out, and have already worn them several times.  It's been cold, but I like having my fingers free.  I'm always opening things, and zipping up jackets when outside with the kids.

I've also been spinning quite a bit with Eve.  I finished up spinning rather thin singles from some BFL from Knitterly Things.  The colorway is called "Crazy" but I predrafted and then spun up this colorful roving, it began to remind me more of the Nothern Lights.  So, I'm renaming it to my Northern Lights yarn.  I also spun up 4 ounces of Coopworth sliver handpainted in purples and blacks from Spunky Eclectic in the Nightshade colorway.  I aimed for a worsted to chunky yarn there, so we'll see how that goes.  Ever since I've gotten better at spinning, it's been harder to make thicker yarn.  I never thought it would happen, but it has.  I hope to have both plied by the time RM returns to work on Thursday. 

I'm also not out of my small project frenzy, and picked up the Foliage hat to knit.  I'm using Malabrigo in the Polar Moon coloway.  I love the Malabrigo!  It's so soft and squooshy!  I'm really needed a warm hat, so I hope to have this ready to go by the end of the week to I can start wearing it right away.   

I hope you all have a peaceful and safe New Year's Eve.  We're planning on staying in, watching movies, playing games, and being together.  PQL and I are down with a cold, and RR is getting over it.  I've been hearing RM sniffling this morning, so he may be in full cold mode by tonight too.  Snuggled up at home under blankets knitting, sounds just perfect. 

I'll be posting tomorrow with my resolutions and some lovely stash enhancement from my LYS!  Be safe and happy everyone! 

"Guess what guys, it's time to embrace the horror! Look, we've got front row tickets to the end of the earth!"

Sing along with me...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,

a tale of a fateful week,

That started from this laundry room,

inside this little house.

The wife was a mighty craftin' soul, the husband smart and strong. Two kids and three cats set to play that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

The washer started leaking badly, the tiny room was flooded. If not for the courage of the fearless family, the floor would be lost. The floor would be lost. The washer was just the beginning of the week from hell,

with big fans,

and ripped out carpet,

an ant infestation,

and no telephone,

The internet went down

And so did

the car battery,

Here in the Week from HELL!!!!

Yep, it's been a week.  I'm hoping all the drama is over now, so that we can enjoy PQL's 3rd birthday party this Saturday.  The new washer and dryer were delivered today, and our internet and phone were up yesterday.  I'm getting the carpet reinstalled next week, and I got the car battery replaced today.  Sheesh.

On a positive note, I've been fulfilling some custom orders on knitting and stitch marker jewelry.  I had a request from Paula to create a row counter bracelet.  I like how it turned out.  I still have both stitch marker bracelets and three stitch marker necklaces up in the shop along with some of my other wares.  I hope to have another update in a week or two, but am always open to custom orders.  Also, are row counter bracelets something I should stock in the shop?  I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that. 

Knitting has been sparse.  Reference the song above.  Life could be worse though!  So I can't complain too much. 

When Chores Attack

ETA:  I just fixed the link to my shop.  I lost internet access for several days, so got to it only today.  Much of the stitch marker jewelry is still available!

First the good news, I updated my shop with four new stitch marker necklaces, and two stitch marker bracelets.  Yep, I developed a bracelet design.  The bracelets carry stitch markers for socks and lace and fit up to a size 4 needle.  Go take a peek!

Now for the bad news.  My washer died a spectacular death this morning.  While washing a load of clothes, something inside broke, and water spilled out covering the laundry room floor, soaking the carpeting in the hallway just outside the laundry room, went into the bathroom across the hall, and started to go into the kitchen.  What a mess.  We were able to use a Wet/Dry vac to get up a lot of the water, and I bailed out the washer with a measuring cup and buckets.  RM pulled up the carpet and padding, and we've got a huge fan working on the area.  We had to go out today and order a new washer/dryer, and I'm sure it's going to cost something to get someone to come out and reinstall the carpeting.  The positive thing is at least RM was home to help with the clean-up, and it's a nice day so we can dry out some of the carpeting and pad outside.  What a way to start a Sunday though. 

 

"Custom dictates that you render the bad news first."

Why is a fork spearing my Swallowtail shawl, you may ask?  That's because the shawl is done.  Done like dinner, and not in a mouth-watering-my most favorite meal ever way.  It's done as in, I rolled it into a ball, shoved it in the naughty bag and don't want to even be reminded of its existence for a long time kind of way.  Let me share with you my tale of woe. 

It all started when I got to the first Lily of the Valley Border chart.  Up to that point, I had been cooking with steam.  The budding lace chart was fairly straightforward and very pretty in the Alpaca lace yarn.  To be honest, I got a bit cocky and lazy.  I should have run a lifeline after completing the budding lace part.  It would have saved this project if I had.  Instead I started right away on the Lily of the Valley with my Inox circs, Inox circs with a bit of a blunt point.  Anyway, part of the Lily of the Valley border pattern is a P5tog.  This stitch is to gather a nupp, which by the way, I've never done before.  I just couldn't wedge my bluntish circ through the 5 stitches making up the back of the nupp.  So, I got out a safety pin, put the five stitches on it, and did the P5tog.  Of course while I was doing this, I didn't pay any attention the the stitches on the left hand needle.  Bad mistake.  When I took a look, I had lost about 15 stitches off the left needle, and several them had run down a couple of rows. 

This is when the cursing began.  I pulled all the stitches off the needle and carefully started frogging.  I thought maybe I could frog back a budding lace repeat and pick it up again.  However, the alpaca lace yarn didn't frog nicely, and I ended up with this knot.  Yelling and cursing might have then occurred, it's hazy.  The upshot is the whole thing is balled up and shoved into a pouch buried at the bottom of my desk to not see the light of day for a bit. 

I did have a couple of good things happen today though.  My new glasses came in.  What do you think?  The first picture is of my wearing my old pink ones.  The new ones are these funky red-orange numbers.  I love them.  I also got a package from The Loopy Ewe.  I achieved Loopy Groupy status and got some fun goodies from Sheri.  I love the Loopy Ewe, and it came on a good day, considering my lace fiasco.

I'm off to spin some yarn and knit a bit on my other projects to soothe my rumpled knitter's soul.  Grrr.....

Nothing derails plans like

the stomach flu.  I've been up most of the night.  Must sleep and drink clear fluids... 

Is it real, or is it Memorex?

I've been trying to decide if I'm coming down with a cold or suffering from allergies for the past few days.  I've felt exhausted, had a bad sinus headache, and sore throat.  I'm not sure which would be better at this point.  A cold will eventually go away, while allergies are a gift that keeps on giving.  Between not feeling too well, getting the kids and myself back into the swing of school after spring break, and the tragic events in the news lately I just haven't felt up to writing for the blog.  I have to say, that I'm glad I'm not working in a high school environment after what happened at Virginia Tech.  I was teaching religion at an all girls Catholic high school when both Columbine and then 9/11 happened, and let me tell you, dealing with tragedy with high school students is rough. 

I have been crafting.  I find a lot of solace in crafting, as I think most of us do.  Some of what I've been working I'll have to show you once it's done, but I can show you the superwash merino I just plied up.  The roving came from my Sockret Pal, and is a lovely dark shade of blue.  I spent extra time plying the singles.  I wanted to get a tighter twist.  I'm quite happy with the results.  I'm still working on getting thinner yarn, this is still in the worsted arena, but the twist is tighter and more even. 

I also finished one of the Endpaper Mitts.  I'm planning on casting on for the second one today.  I think I've settled on a pattern for my Hogwarts sock swap pal as well.  I'm thinking of knitting the mosaic maze pattern from the first Sensational Knitted Socks book.  My pal is a Gryffindor which is quite fortuitous as I have a duo skein of Gryffindor colors sock yarn from Sunshine yarns.  I'm only going to do the pattern on the leg though, and let the foot be all red.   I think it's going to look fantastic.  At least it does in theory.