Crappers

Joms got out yesterday. He's been running out the door quite a bit lately only to return a few hours later. I never worried all that much about it since he stays pretty close. Except for last year, when he bit someone. The woman filed a police report and the cops came to the house. Well, it appears that he's injured himself somehow. He hissed at me last night and now he's hiding in the laundry room. I saw him skittering in the kitchen this morning and he's limping. So, it looks like I'll be going to the vet tomorrow.

I've been spending time getting my projects logged in to Ravelry. this means rounding them up, taking/editing photos, logging the photos into Flickr, adding notes and comments. It's time consuming, but it's interesting to have them all organized. Plus, I've been checking out what other knitters have made or are making. I'm amazed at the many levels of creativity many of the knitters have. Many have several hobbies such as spinning, photography, writing, or cooking. It's very inspiring. I found a cool pattern an impulsively cast on for this. Pattern can be found here.

Last night I made grilled steak with a blue cheese jalapeno sauce. Whole foods had some lovely artichokes, so we had those with the steaks. I bought some meatloaf mix at the butcher shop yesterday. I normally mix my own. So, we'll have meatloaf and mashed cauliflower with horseradish this week.

Yard work today. maybe someday my back yard will be pretty.

To the Frog Pond it Goes, Bye-bye Pi

I've decided to rip out the Pi Shawl. I made a stupid mistake with the lace. And after going through Ravelry, I've determined that I have nowhere near the yardage I need to make the shawl. And it would just look crappy to add something else to this hand dyed yarn.
It's always funny to me to see the reaction that my non-knitting friends have with ripping knitting out. They simply cannot believe it. But I just don't see the point of keeping on after a big mistake because it will always bug me. Or I won't wear it. Then, what's the point? I definitely like the pattern. I'll have to scour my stash to see if I have the yardage in a different yarn.

I've been reading other knitter's blogs about going to Rinebeck, which is the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. It's held every year the third week in October. Someday. Someday.

Recently, I've noticed that the Beagle has been acting funny after walks. At first she wouldn't be able to make it up on the couch on the first try. Then, getting down she looked stiff. Today, she fell up the step coming in the house from the back yard. Both the front and the back legs gave out. She's not all that old. I'd say 6. She can still put her legs out behind her when stretching out, so it's not her hips. I'm not exactly sure what to do about it. I realize she needs to take some weight off. I already have her on low calorie dog food. But, I guess I'm going to have to eliminate any treats or scraps. I think I will continue taking her on walks for now, just so she can lose some weight and gain strength. Maybe she needs a low dose of aspirin for the joints. I'm not ready to go through the downward spiral thing again. It seems it hasn't been that long since I lost my last dog.

The Overtime Vampire

Ah well, I worked 11 hours of overtime this week. Dang, it's hard to be glorious when OT sucks the life out of you. Since I've been working so much, there's not much to report. Cooking has been rather boring. I've been knitting on the projects when I can. The house is a wreck! I had planned on cleaning like a banshee today after work. But, alas, I'm too tired. There's always tomorrow, right?

I really have no right to piss & moan. This is a volunteer thing.

I had asked Tate to bring the knitted things I've made her. She brought over a ginormous bag last Sunday. I had forgotten about some of the things I had made her. It was finally sunny enough to photograph them so I can log them into Ravelry. I have asked my sister to do the same tomorrow. It's nice to keep a log of the projects. I wish I had taken pictures of the things I've made John and Dustin. But, I'm sure they were lost a long time ago.
Tonight we are making Greek Gyros and I'm starting the sauerbraten. It was nice to tinker in the kitchen for a bit.
I was puttering around Ravelry and had the urge to cast on for Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl. And here I was telling myself to pick some quick projects next. I'm using some sock weight two-ply I bought from Tracy Bunkers' open house some years ago. This as "dud" yarn and very cheap. I think it will look pretty for the shawl. It's a lovely red color, bought during my Red Phase. If I don't have enough, I'm sure I can find something else to use for the edging.
Pictures soon.

Awful, Harrible Rainy Day

It's been raining like crazy. The worst part is that Piddles hates the rain. I tried and tried to get her to go pee, but no luck. After making her stand in the rain (and listening to her cry) she promptly came in an pooped on the floor. I felt like a monster. She spent the entire morning in her Xpen whimpering.
The Overtime Project is back on again. Seems they still don't have enough warm bodies. So, I'll be doing OT until the end of the month. It's taxing in some ways, but I do like the money.
I've worked on the KF socks this week and the crochet blanket. The blanket is a cat magnet. If I set it down, I'm sure to find a fat cat slumbering on it when I return. I've also been spending some time entering my stuff on Ravelry. But, I figure it's going to take a LONG time, so I might as well get some actual knitting done instead of entering info about it.
I think I'll make the BLT salad for dinner tonight.

After spending quite some time logging in my knitting information to Ravelry over the weekend, I decided to clean out my office/studio. I was ruthless. I decided to face the fact that there were some knitting projects that I didn't even want to salvage. I would never wear them, I could not for the life of me remember where I was on the pattern, I hated the yarn now. So, into the trash they went. I took quite a bit of time, but now it's spotless. (The closet is jammed packed and harrible, but the room is clear.)

Last night, we made pork tenderloin, sauerkraut with apples and bacon, and fried green tomatoes. They had all the sample tables out at Whole Foods when we were shopping. One of the tables had samples of sauerbraten and braised red cabbage. It was delightful. I'm definitely going to make that soon. It's nice to see all the fall produce again. I also worked on the crochet blanket. It's about 2 feet wide now. Only 8 more to go. I went to the Wild Oats in the suburbs to buy apples and blueberries to make spiced blueberry applesauce today. The store had hardly any merchandise in it. When I was checking out, the checker told me the store was closing. Bummer, because Whole Foods doesn't have a juice bar. I always liked having the two stores because they carry different things.

Relaxing Saturday

I had a nice birthday. We went out for breakfast at Poco's on the Boulevard and then to Room 39 for lunch. I heard from all the kids, my family and friends. That made me really happy. Then, I made crab cakes for dinner. Sam watched Piddles this morning so I could sleep in. (8 a.m. Woo Hoo.)
In between entering my stash on Ravelry I worked on the laundry and cleaning. Sam tried his best to keep me from doing laundry. (You're NOT cleaning and doing laundry on your BIRTHDAY!) But that kind of stuff doesn't really bother me. Plus, there was a ton of laundry to do. How did I ever survive doing laundry for four kids and a husband? I'm trying to remember. So far, I have 40 yarns stashed. And that's just the tip if the iceberg. I'm sure I'll have well over 100. Yarn is all over the place in the spare bedroom and office. I've been having to unearth all of my yarn in the various hiding spots. It looks like a tornado ran through those rooms.
So, today I'll continue to work on cleaning the house in between entering my knitting data on Ravelry. I wonder who has the largest stash so far... (I'm such a nerd!)

Happy Birthday

to me. I'm 48. Oh well.
I took the day off from work, so I've got a long weekend ahead of me.
I received my invitation from Ravelry a couple of days ago, so I've been playing around in there. Quite a site. I've already received an email with pattern corrections from a designer. I might actually get my knitting organized. Amazing.