Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cheers!!

Today I went and had lunch with Kelly and Brady! He is my "nephew", by the way. So, like any good Auntie, I decided to teach him something today. He's 12 months old, he can handle it. We were both holding (and eating) breadsticks, and what else do you do when two people are eating breadsticks? Put them together and say "cheers!"







He was doing so well with breastick-cheers that I decided it was time to move on to the real thing. At first I think he was confused that we didn't have the same drink... but as you can see, he caught on!



Luckily, Kelly had her camera and took pictures before we fell over laughing! It was hysterical!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me...

Ahoy! I'm back after a busy weekend! There's been lots of progress in my projects, new yarn, and lots of other fun stuff!

First of all, I finished the Red Sox Socks! I was so excited to finish my second full pair of socks! I wove in the ends on Friday night and gave them to my friend on Saturday, she loved them! Here is a pic of the finished pair:



I showed them off at Knit Night and got compliments from Gail, the sock expert, so they must be OK :)

Saturday in addition to giving Dana her socks, we went sailing! Our friends Steve and Kristen have a boat in Salem, and once a year we load up the coolers and spend a day on the high sea. This year we had the best weather out of the past 3 years, its usually overcast and cold!

Here's me and Erm (Erm and I?) on the boat:

And, I helped out and steered the launch (that's nautical speak for the shuttle boat that takes us from our friend's boat to the dock) on the way back. Ahoy!


When we got back from sailing, I ran to my mailbox, since I was waiting for two things. My first Interweave Knits magazine (has anyone else gotten theirs? I haven't gotten my fall one yet and I'm getting nervous) and my shipment for my Sock Yarn Blankie swap...in exchange with those cute little balls I shared with you about 2 months ago. Well... obviously I didn't get my magazine, but look what I DID get!


I was torn between leaving it intact and exciting or diving right in. I was only torn for about 2 seconds. So, thanks to my new sock yarn... this is what I have for my blankie as of today:




I know... not very exciting. But, I can't stop working on it! I also have some other squares that I need to attach soon. But, I have a couple of projects that I'm working on that are time sensitive (surprise!) and I don't have time for the blankie! I didn't believe it, but it really does call to you... so strange.

I also have pics of the Illusion Scarf, but I'll save those for tomorrow!

Monday, August 18, 2008

A canoli a day...

This past Saturday was designated as a day to get things done for the wedding. We had two tasks to accomplish. 1. Taste canolis and figure out which ones we want for our wedding (instead of a wedding cake, we are doing a canoli tree, with some other treats, too). 2. Finish the registering that I needed Erm for. So, we set out Saturday morning with a spring in our step, excited about the day. Then I saw something that was very encouraging:

Then it was off to try canolis... but we didn't have to try much! The first place we went to (which happens to be the only place that will do the canoli 'tree') had FANTASTIC canolis! And they were pretty good size for small ones! Here's the winner:


And... now I'm hungry for a canoli.


So off we went to the Burlington Mall to hit our three registry places. After a near-meltdown about bedding, we were finally done! All in all it was a great day, Erm actually had fun, and registered for things that HE wanted, too. (Mostly grilling stuff. Which is fine, since I reap the benefits of Erm's grilling). Then we stopped at yet another bakery to get more canolis for dessert at the neighbors' that night, went home and got ready and had a nice night!


In knitting news, I have turned the heel on the second Red Sox Sock and just have the gusset, foot, and toe and then I'm done! These have to be done by Saturday, but I have a very light work week, so I am not stressed at all. Yet. Hopefully I'll make great progress and have them done by... Thursday when I go to bed? Not sure if that's reasonable. I always have knit night on Friday in case of an emergency! Here's that sock as of right now:



I hate taking pictures of socks before they're done, they never look like socks until they're completely done and bound off and kitchnered shut! Hopefully tomorrow I will have a picture of... the whole gusset???







Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I know what you're doooooin... baby...

... except I'm sure nobody knows what I'm doing with that image in my header! I was trying to be cute! But now I can't get rid of it! I already clicked the "remove image" button, and that won't work. I do not want my blog to look like a 4th grade arts and crafts project. Help.
(Note: 4th grade arts and crafts projects are adorable)

So the song "I Know" by Dionne Faris has been running through my head for days. So catchy. I get excited every time I hear it on the radio. I would love to put it on my iPod. Problem is, its not available on iTunes. The video is, but not the song. And its not like you can buy the whole album that its on, because that's not available either. Help.
In other news, Octavious has flown the coop. Not literally, he's walking around here somewhere. But he's gotten... kooky. Kookier than normal. See, Octavious is an ODD cat. I already wrote about when I adopted him, and his brother Joey. Well, they were almost full grown when I brought them home to my condo, and Octavious managed to squeeze his cat body underneath my very-low-to-the-ground bureau and stay there for days. I'm not sure if he came out to eat, or if Joey hunted and gathered and brought him food, or what. But, I didn't see him for about a week. After awhile he came out and I would wake up in the middle of the night to him standing on my bed and staring at me. Creepy, but he's a black cat, so it all fits.

One day I decided I had to paint the bathroom in my condo, and I didn't want the cats there inhaling fumes or mucking it up. So they moved to Erm's house and never moved out. Erm was thrilled. They were much happier here, but Octavious was still acting odd. He wouldn't let us pet him, ran away from everything, very skittish. Then he started hiding out in the open. He would stand in the corner of a room and look like he was hiding... but he clearly wasn't. One night, for some reason the litterbox was somewhere other than the basement, and I noticed that it took him fifteen minutes to squeeze out one little drop of pee. Poor little guy! So, long story a little less long, he was blocked, stayed blocked, needed BIG surgery. It was awful, but after that he became a little more normal. (Emphasis on little.) Now, his whole recovery from surgery was spent in the bathroom, because he was gross and his brother is very aggressive and I didn't need any fighting and ripping of stitches. Here is Octavious in recovery:




Oh, how cute. I caught him cleaning his face. Here's what he really looked like for those few weeks:


So angry. He was shaved on his front "arms" (as you can see) and his whole hind end was shaved. He looked like a poodle in the front and a baboon in the back. Maybe that's why he was so mad.

Anyway, I'm not sure if its because he spent that recovery time in the bathroom that he feels so possessive of it, but lately he's been sleeping in there, standing in the middle of the room when I take a shower, etc. The other night I took a bath and he stood in there yelling at me the whole time. Normally, if he meows once every two days, its a lot. The funny thing is, his surgery was over two years ago. So although I'd like to say he has some strong feelings for il bagno, I'm not sure if that's true. Although, he is very odd, so maybe that's it... I don't know. He's happy and healthy and gorgeous, and that's all that matters!

And that's the story of Tavi.


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Rain, rain, go away...

This is the view outside my office right nowYuk! Interfering with my golf program! And Tuesday Night Tennis!

Luckily, it looks like its moving away...


Although I have to admit, I like the low temperatures, I'm ready for fall!!!

Lets all say a prayer to the sun gods!!!

Monday, August 11, 2008

They're not tricks, Michael, they're illusions...

I signed up for a swap on Ravelry a couple of weeks ago, and its theme is Arrested Development... the show, not the 90s group that sang Tennessee. I thought I was going to have a tough time figuring out what to knit for my swap recipient, but then it came to me... Gob is a magician who uses cards and calls his tricks illusions. How fitting that I found a pattern for an Illusion Scarf!

Illusion knitting is pretty cool. You do two rows of each color the whole way through. The illusion comes by knitting and purling the background color in the shape of the pattern so its in stockinette and "lays down", so to speak. Then with the main color, you knit on both sides so its in garter stitch, and "stands up". It takes a little while to get used to, and you have to follow a chart, but once you get moving, its actually pretty easy and makes a lot of sense.

My illusion scarf is going to have each suit of a deck of cards, on each side. I'm doing spade, heart, diamond, club, then I'll repeat on the other side and attach them. I can do a "block" (normally blocks would be knitted separately and connected, but I'm knitting them all together) in under two hours, closer to one if I'm really paying attention. Saturday I was all alone, which was the perfect time to throw in my AD DVDs and knit some of the scarf. Check it out! See, it looks like a red, black and white striped scarf:

But when viewed at an angle, the illusion pops up! I just like saying illusion...

And this is what it looks like on the reverse, so you can see if you're on the right path:


In other knitting news, I think I hate the mohair shawl that I started. I've done a few repeats of the pattern and I'm just not digging it for what I'd be using it for. So, I hunted this morning for the perfect pattern and I think I found it. Luckily, I didn't knit too much of the shawl, so I don't really have to frog it, which is good because I've heard that frogging mohair is NOT fun. Instead of the shawl, I'll be making a scarf, in some kind of lace pattern. For MYSELF. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up making this, but longer:


Another exciting thing that happend this weekend is that Brady turned one!!! I can't believe it, it does not seem like a whole year ago that I was visiting Kelly in the hospital, but it was! Yesterday was his big party, with lots of family and friends. I was only able to get a couple of pics before my camera died, but here he is with those cheeks!

Too cute!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Projects, projects, projects

Aha! You probably thought "projects" meant knitting projects, but nope! There will be no mention of knitting or knitting projects in this post. Except that I just said knitting three times. Anyway...

This past weekend was cleared for house projects! I know, what's more exciting than a blog post about projects, right? We just did stuff that really should have been done in the spring, but since we jam pack our weekends, we haven't had time to do anything around the house! So this weekend, we bit the bullet and just did them. While we were bustling around the house, Erm decided to give Joey some time out on the little deck that connects our kitchen and dining room, which is in the solarium. This deck has no exit to the ground, so it gives him his outside time but its not dangerous. Here's some pics of Joey outside, and if cats could smile, he would be...



And for any of you kitty cat lovers out there nervous that he's going to jump to his death, Erm was inside watching him from the kitchen



But Michelle, don't you have two cats? Ah, yes I do. He forgets he's a cat sometimes, mainly when there's mice around or there's a door open. Its like he has no instincts. He is happy to watch the world from his window...

While all this fun was going on downstairs, I was cleaning the outside of the solarium, which is not a task for the faint of heart! Or, for people who have a strong aversion to heights. I only have a mild aversion to heights, and I love washing windows, which makes this the perfect project for me. It involves dangling myself from a window a couple of stories up with a long telescoping brush and brushing all the leaves, pollen, and muck off of the roof that I can before washing it with a Windex product that attaches to the hose.


Hmm. Looking at that picture, it really doesn't look like its that high up. Good thing I thought to take a picture from where I was...

Its pretty high up! Erm looks like an ant!!!

Between the solarium, scrubbing the kitchen tiles, moving the furniture and washer/dryer and the other weekly cleaning, we were tapped out after a few hours! We rewarded ourselves with a trip to the wine store for a tasting and a delicious steak for dinner. It was all worth it.

More knitting next time! Promise!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Roadblock

Last night, I was determined to get work done on at least two projects. I worked on my first craft fair hat, which I'm really not happy with, so there's no pictures. Then I decided to work on Red Sock #2, since I have 3 weeks to get it done, it would be nice to get something done early! I actually hit two road blocks here. Monday night I cast on for this sock, and worked 4 rounds of the K2P2 ribbing. Looking at it last night, I realized I must have twisted my stitches when I joined, or something, because there was a huge gap where the cast on end and the other end connect. Not sure how that happened, I've been knitting socks for 4 months! Anyway, I had to frog those 4 rows, not a big deal, and I started over. About 4 rows in, I came across something that IS a big deal, which is this:

SO not sure how that happened! It was like one minute it was in a big, pretty, orderly ball, next thing you know it looks like a bowl of spaghetti. Ugh. So I'm in the process of trying to unravel that huge knot, which is about the same size as the rest of the yarn. Good thing patience is one of my virtues...

In the midst of all this, my boys did something that happens on occasion. Joey and Octavious, in case you didn't know, were born in the wild in the same litter, and I adopted them when they were about 6 months old. It took them a little while to adapt, and Octavious is still not totally right in the head, but they are quite at home in our house, and they especially love night-time when we are relaxing and watching TV. Usually one sits with each of us and we are one big happy family, but sometimes they pick a spot and sit in the same position, mirroring each other. Its very cute. Last night they did it, and I had to move quickly and smoothly to get the camera, because it made me so happy.



Yes I know the pictures are dark, and you can barely see poor Octavious.
Another thing that cracks me up is the position Joey likes to lay in half of the time. I zoomed in on the best part... and I can't figure out WHY he does this, is it comfortable for him? Does it hurt him to sit any other way? I would think this would be uncomfortable, but he seems to like it...

Not normal, right? He'll sit there for 15 minutes at time with his paw like that! We make fun of him, but he doesn't seem to care...

That's all for now! Have a great weekend everyone!