Less Blocking, But More Kitties (even some ponies)

  A friend of ours recently moved in.  They brought their cat, so soon you will be reading some fun stories about how Tank is trying to become best friends with Fiona.  However, it also means that I need to figure out a new place to block my work.  I used to use the guest bedroom, but now that it has been claimed longer than an overnight stay, I will have to figure something out.
  The first night she was here Tank would not leave her alone, even though she was feeling pretty overwhelmed.  He has decided to back off some since then, but he does try and be near her as much as possible.  It seems to be working because there is a lot less growling.  There was even one point where Fiona was on the bed with me and Bill and when Tank saw her up there he jumped and didn't know what to do.  He also stood up for himself at one point when Fiona could pass by but started growling at him because she had to get a little closer to him.

  Since I won't have any blocked items to show you for a little bit, here are some pictures from when we went camping on Assateague Island.  I was so excited because I have read Misty of Chincoteague a million times.  Talking about it makes me want to read it again.

  The ponies are way too smart and I'm pretty sure that they know that people aren't supposed to approach them.  They will go right up to anything in your camp area and help themselves.

  We were there in the middle of foaling season, so we got to see a few young ones.  The group that wondered through our area only had one with them.

  It took a dust bath while mom was off munching on grass and looking for people food to get into.

  We didn't know what this was that had washed up on shore.  It was dry and looked kind of hollow.

  I actually got some knitting done!  It's a hat based on the latest Knit Block Of The Month class I taught.  It's a weave pattern with seed stitch as a background.

  While you aren't supposed to approach the ponies, they sometimes get close to you.  I know the Park people just don't want visitors trying to treat them like domesticated horses which are used to be interacted with by humans.  It would be easy to forget that they are wild animals who don't understand that you just want to pet them and be nice.

  They will open any coolers without latching lids and shake any trash bags until they can find out what is inside.  The Park people suggest you keep any food you are not using in your car and if you can't, under the bench on your camp site.

  Ponies also like bacon.  We were going to use those bacon grease soaked paper towels to light the fire for lunch.  We didn't start it soon enough before the ponies make their daily stroll through the area and this one helped itself to the goodies.  This was definitely not good for it, but it shows that they will really go for almost anything food-like.

  The little one liked to lay down and take some light naps while mom was doing her own thing.

  There were a lot of these large beetles around at night.  They were interesting.  They would fly around and dive bomb you when trying to land.  Without warning there would just be a beetle hurtling past you or you would feel this thing land on you.

  I did not like the giant mosquitos, but overall it was a lot of fun.  I liked standing on the beach and letting the water bury my feet in the sand while I watched the waves break.  At one point I just stood there and watched it for over an hour.  I would really like to go back at some point, try and see some more little ones, they are just so fluffy.

Have I been busy?

  This past week I've been trying to figure out where the time went.  I feel like I must have been very busy and that is what happened.  However, things have slowed down at work, I haven't gotten a lot of knitting done, and my house isn't that much more clean and organized.
  I feel like I must have just misplaced it somewhere, so if anyone finds it, let me know what it was up to while I wasn't looking.
  Back on 4/20, I did get my HASH name.  I am now Sleeping Booty.  It is a pretty good name but also a lot more tame than some of the others in the group.  One of the ones that was nominated but didn't make the top two was Don't Tase Me Hoe.

  I finally got the buttons both picked out and sewn into the sweater I was testing increases on.  I actually really like how it came out, but I might try one with a smaller neck opening to see how that works out.  I do like how it turned out.
  What I did was to divide the number of increases each section got by 4.  I added that number to both sleeves at the very beginning,\ when I cast on.  I then did the first half of the increases as you normally would, with one increase row and one rest row.  Once I hit that number I only increases on the sleeves every 4th row.  So I would have one row where I increases on the body and sleeves, a rest row, a row where I increased on the body only, and one more rest row.

 I had fun making this.  I knew the yarn was going to look really good and I loved how I could impress people by making this weird blob turn into a sweater and then back into a blob again.  I have another set of buttons like this and am already considering casting on another.

  This is definitely a stash busting hat.  At first it was only supposed to be the flamingo yarn and the leftover yarn from the BSJ, but then it wasn't quite tall enough yet.  Two more yarns went into it.  I'm not a huge fan of how I did the crown, but I'm also not sure how I would want to change it.

  I cast this on Monday after I finished the stash buster hat.  I forgot how fast chunky yarn projects go, so I'm already almost done with it.
  I do have a crochet project in mind to start next.  I got a pattern to test and it looks really cool.  I also have a pattern I'm writing in my head too.  There are a few unfinished projects calling my name.  I need to either work on cloning or find a time machine.

I didn't make all of these things.

  I'm slowly catching up on things.  Work isn't being as crazy and so now I can dedicate a bit more time to other things.  Also, Bill and I recently received our 3D printer.  So while I spend a bit too much time looking at things I can print, it hasn't taken up too much time.  While things are printing it means I can get back to the two other things I had been neglecting while getting all my work done.
  Knitting is still being pushed into the back seat, but I'm able to get more done and I am definitely not going to be skipping as many knit group meet ups.  HASHing might still get in the way of some Saturday knitting, but I think I can try and balance going to both groups.
  Cleaning has been what has been moved up to the front more.  I feel like Bill is much faster than I am at it, but I'm slowly creeping along.  One of my goals to help is to work on finishing my started projects.  I thought I was doing pretty well on that until I found a bunch more.  It also doesn't help that I have adopted two more unfinished projects, but I just liked the look of them so much.  All that being said, I have either found some things or managed to get some stuff off the needles.

  This is not a hat I made but one I found at some point.  I liked the look of it and wanted to wear it myself, but never got around to putting it on my head.  Since re-finding it in my house, it has been re-washed and will be going to someone who will remember to put it on their head.

  This one I did make.  It was a class I taught and while there are a few things I would change about it, I really like it.  I had that sparkle yarn sitting around for a while and this was a nice project for it.  I even have enough to make a second, though I don't think I will be following the same pattern.

  This was another hat I based off of one I saw somewhere.  JustMangoBrown on Instagram is a really cute cat and his human some fun knitted hats.  I watched a few of their videos and scrolled through pictures until I had a good idea of how the hat looked.  I worked it inside out because I'm faster at the knit stitch.  I don't think I did too bad of a job there.  I do enjoy how when knitting in the round that you can have an even number of plain rows between decreases and it doesn't disturb anything.

  This was another class.  Well, sort of.  The class had you crochet this pattern and then sew the ends together to make a cowl.  I was feeling lazy and kept going and then just made it into a scarf.  It was called the V-Stitch Cowl.

  She is done!  I really like how it looks almost like entrelac, but is just an easy basketweave.  I didn't have any small sections of knitting or have to pick-up stitches.  All I had to do was to knit it from tip to tip.  I did 12 stitches wide and 18 rows deep.  I also changed the type of increase I did based on if I was adding to a knit or purl square.  I have enough yarn to make another one, but I'm not sure if I want to do that or not.

  This was a hat I bought off Wish when I wanted to try and see a CC Beanie in person without having to spend the money.  I'm not a fan of how it goes from the ribbing right into the reverse stockinette without the two stockinette rows.
  It is also lined, which makes it warm, but not as stretchy as it could be.  It fit well enough on my head, but was a bit tight for my taste.  Someone will love it, especially since the weather keep teasing us with warmer days and then gets cold again.

  I'm trying to decide if I want to focus on unfinished projects or unfinished yarn.  I have a lot of both right now.  I tried to finish the flamingo yarn making this Barley hat, but didn't quite use enough.  I think if I finish my current project and have enough yarn that I will make a fun hat with them.  I've also decided that a good way for me to "finish" some of my small skeins of yarn is to donate them to K&CC.  If I don't know what I want to do with them then someone else might.

All the Birthday Festivities!

  As I have mentioned in the past, I can never get all my birthday celebrating done in one day.  Here is a break down of all the things I did that I count as going towards celebrating my birthday, even if they don't really.

Saturday
  Bill and I decided to brave the chilly morning and went HASHing again.  It is really fun and a good way to get out of the house and to get some exercise in as well.  We even convinced Mike to come with us.  We wore green and had a great time.
  That evening we played D&D and even had Mike in as a guest.  There was a tough fight but no one on our team died, so that was a good thing.  I also got a dice rolling tower from Krissy, and a bunch of make-up and Perler bead art from Mary.

Sunday
  A lazy morning where we watched The Boondock Saints and some of us had Shamrock Shakes.  There was some house cleaning done too, but that was boring.  Lunch/dinner was at Sakura and I got a lot of sushi.  Em brought me some strawberry shortcake birthday cupcakes.
  We had an after-party back at our place where we played Red Dragon Inn and had sing-along time.  It was a lot of fun.

Monday
  I finished the blanket I have been working on forever!  Picture will have to come later since I still need to weave in ends and block it.

Wednesday
  My actual birthday!  Since my mom couldn't make it to my Sunday lunch/dinner, we went out to lunch.  I have been wanting to go to Egg Karne for a while and I finally got to go.  Their food was so good.  I even found some golf tees and some abandoned balls.
  I then took Tank outside and he had a great time.  He explored more than he ever has before and even peed outside.  He had a great time and got to roll in some awesome dirt.
  Bill made me a yummy dinner of brussel sprouts, buttery pasta, and sausages.  I also got some pretty good presents from him, including some Ninja Sex Party CDs, a new monitor for my computer, and a Nintendo Switch.  I also got some awesome knitting patterns from Andrea, and Beth.

Saturday
  Andrea and I got to wish each other Happy Birthday in person.  We are birthday twins, so it makes it easier to remember.  My mom also bought us some cannoli to celebrate our birthdays together.  Normally we also celebrate with Claire since her birthday is only five days after ours, but life has gotten in the way this year.  We will all just celebrate next time she is in town.

It really is all beautiful in Iceland.

Thursday
  I know that I've never been able to sleep on a plane before, but I decided to try again because I was on a red-eye that came in about 6am.  I had the hardest time getting my seat to recline, and by the time we were half an hour out, it had somehow returned to the upright position.
  Most of the other people I knew were flying in on WOW while I was on Air Iceland, so my flight was supposed to get in an hour and a half after them.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a ride with anyone but everyone was still around when I got out of the secure part of the airport.
  We couldn't check into our Airbnb until 3pm and so we had some time to kill.  Mike and I didn't know what we wanted to do, so we headed to Tora and Kevin's place.  It is so cute and I love how you have to go up or down a small step for every room, and how every step was a different height.  While some of the other people took a nap, Tora and I went to go rent the wheelchair that was going to be needed.  I got to see where the fabric store was.

  We shuffled things around and headed to lunch.  Lamb Street Food is close to where Kevin works, so they knew it was good.  It did not disappoint.  After trying our wraps we all talked about when we could find time to come back and try more options.

  We headed a few doors down to Valdis for ice cream.  Yes, it was near freezing outside, but it was really good ice cream.  They had two types of licorice ice cream, salted and Danish.  The salted licorice was more like you would expect it to taste black licorice to taste like.  The Danish licorice tasted like it had coffee mixed in.
  We walked around the building to Bonus to buy some chips and soda for the after party on Friday.  I got myself some paprika chips and a flavored water.  I also got a white chocolate Tiger bar for Bill to try.
  From there we went to Minniborgir for people to check in and get settled.  The cabins there are really quite nice.  Might even consider staying there in the future.
  Mike and I then went to our Airbnb so we could make sure to be able to find it while it was still light out.  It was a lot fancier in person than it was online.  I found some yarn in one of the bedrooms, so I knew we made a good choice.

  We then headed back to Minniborgir for dinner.  I got the Icelandic Tapas because it sounded the most interesting. It was all good and I was not wrong.  There we met you with Michael so he could come back with us.  To get to the Airbnb you had to have a fob to open the gate.


Friday
  We slept in and had a lazy morning.  We decided to head in to Reykjavík for lunch and asked Kevin where to go.

  We went to Hlöllabátar for sandwiches.  I got the Bacon Boat.  They were really good and I would definitely go again.

  We then saw that there was a hot-dog shop right next door.  Since we got small sandwiches we also got a hot-dog at Hot Dog House Pylsuhúsid.  They are a lot different then American hot dogs.  The toppings and sauces were really good.
  It took longer than expected, so we had to hurry back to the car to go back to the airport and get Tina.  Once she got into the car we had two Michaels and two C(h)ristinas.
  We all headed back to the Airbnb to get ready for Tora and Kevin's thing.

The Old Norse, Old Frisian, and Old English þing with the meaning "assembly" is identical in origin to the English word thing, German Ding, Dutch ding, and modern Scandinavian ting when meaning "object". ... The meaning of personal possessions, commonly in the plural, first appears in Middle English around 1300.

  There weren't assigned seating so Michael and I ended up by Kevin's work buddies.  We talked about D&D, video games, board games, and random other things.  I even made a friend when I recognized her Happy Berry tattoo.
  After the dinner some of us headed to the community center to play board games.  I got to play Mysterium for the first time and it was really fun.  We stayed you way too late, but it was great.


Saturday

  We started the day by going to the Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls.  There were a few falls and even one you had to walk through a small cave to see.  It took a while to see everything there, so we got lunch at a hot-dog stand there.  It was just as good as the day before and also came with the raw white onions and crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep, and remoulade, a sauce made with mayo, capers, mustard, and herbs.

  We then headed to Skógafoss Waterfall.  I got to see a double rainbow there!  There were also almost 500 stairs to get to the top of the falls and see it from the top.   I got about half way before my legs told me that they weren't too happy with me.

  We then went to Reynisfjara Beach to see the black sand.  The waves there were crazy.  Not only were they big waves, but they were sneaky waves.  You would look at one break and think it expended most of its energy.  Then the foam would keep rolling anywhere between 10-30 feet into the beach.  A lot of people got too close to the edge of the water.  Lots of people got wet feet and some were even knocked over.  I was one of them and the water even hit me so hard it pushed a pebble into my boot.
  It didn't help that it was close to freezing out.  Luckily there was a cafe not far off the black sand beach where you could get a warm beverage, some food, and a slice of cake.  I got to try the Skyr cake, which is made with their yogurt.  It was like a very subtle key lime pie.
  On the way there and the way back two funny things happened.  John and I kept taking pictures out of the back of the car as we drove down the road.  I said we were being back-seat photographers.  We also drove past the Bra Fence.  There are a few theories online as to why it started, but it is really fun to see anyway.
  We somehow all decided to go to Yellow for dinner and while we knew we would be getting in closer to close than they might like, we would have time.  However, they were very closed by the time we got there.  That place sounded really good, but then we decided to go to Tommi's Burger down the street.  It was actually really busy, really good, and the decor was very “American”.  I also learned that Icelandic Fanta tastes different than both American and German Fanta.
  Though we were all tired and ready for bed, we also wanted to play D&D together.  It took a while to get our characters prepared, but we got a bit done.  Not as much as we had hoped.


Sunday

  We started out the day with garlic eggs and a trip to Kerið Crater.  You could walk all the way around it and even go down into the middle of it.  The lava rock scoria was really pretty.  I was not expecting pinks and purples.  I was able to do those stairs and get some really cool panoramic photos.

  We then headed to The Icelandic Horse Park Fákasel.  The lady working there seemed a bit confused since they don't do shows or tours until May.  She let us go pet the horses, which is all we really wanted.

  We also met a small fluffy dog who was super sweet.  They wanted to come inside with us, but wasn't allowed, but they found us again in the barn.

  On Thursday we heard that Rye Bread ice cream existed.  So we headed into Reykjavík to go to Cafe Loki to give it a try.  The whipped stuff on top was a whipped butter, so it was dessert bread with butter on top.

  I got to also try fermented shark.  It was a small piece, but it had a big flavor.  I'm glad I tried it, but will probably not have it again.  After this some of us split up.  I went with Tora and Michael while Kat and John did their own thing.  We went to The Handknitting Association of Iceland.  There were a lot of knitted things, but also some Icelandic wool yarn.  The colors were pretty and the price about what I was expecting.
  There were a good number of longer sweaters with cap sleeves.  It would make it easier to wear with a jacket since you wouldn't have to deal with a lot of extra bulk in the arms.  It also made sense since your arms would probably be covered by whatever you were wearing under your wool sweater to combat the itchiness.  It also makes it so you don't have to worry about sleeve length because you would bind off when you split for the under-arm area.

  We still had a bit of time to kill so I wanted to go to Gyllti Kötturinn.  I had heard good things about the shop from Tora.  While I didn't find anything I wanted to take home, it was pretty great.  I'm almost sad I didn't get one of the shirts I was looking at, but I don't think I would have worn it enough.  If it is somehow still there when I go back, I will definitely get it.

  From there we headed to Reykjavík Röst.  It was really fun to craft with new people and drink some really good hot chocolate.  The sunset was also pretty nice from there, I love cotton-candy sunsets.
  From there we started talking about dinner.  John said he wanted lamb, but not hot-dogs.  It quickly got narrowed down because we didn't want to go to an expensive restaurant and Tora doesn't eat anywhere that sells whale.

  Grillhúsið was our choice.  I know that it doesn't sound Icelandic, but their sticky wings were really good.  With full bellies we went back to the Airbnb to try and get more of the D&D game done.  We got the big first fight done, but we definitely didn't finish the whole one-shot.  We stayed up to try and see the Northern Lights, but they decided not to show up.  I guess that means that I'll have to go back.


Monday
  Mike and I got a later start than we had planned, so that meant that we only got to visit The Icelandic Phallological Museum's gift shop.  Some people had been promised souvenirs and we didn't want to disappoint.

  We then headed to Lamb Street Food for one last good bye to Tora and Kevin.  Mike's flight left an hour before mine, so I was able to get some more stuff for people and also the coin purse I wanted.
  I've started putting the coins I get from various countries into a coin purse that is from there.  I think it is a fun little tradition.  I also have a more generic money holder to hold anything I can spend when I go back.
  While the flight back was longer, it was a lot nicer because I wasn't trying to attempt to sleep.

  While we were there we saw signs in town saying no tractors during certain hours of the day.  I thought they were old signs, but we got to see a tractor on the road!

  Not much to show in the way of knitting.  I did start a cowl while I was at Reykjavík Röst with Tora and her crafting group, but that was about the only time I got any knitting done.  I accidentally packed my knitting in my checked bag on the way home and hadn't even wanted it tempting me on the way out.  A lot of the knitted items at The Handknitting Association of Iceland were lined with fleece because of the level of itchiness the wool had, but I kind of want to try and line some things with stretchy fleece.  I think this will be fun to try.

This is now Kathy's Blog (not really)

  I told you that I would be back with a lot of pictures. Kathy H D Kingsbury is at it again. I like how she makes a lot of sets.  I put all of these into a box to get dropped off with our connection to Casa Ruby.  I tried to group pictures together as best as I could for each matching set.  Everything is crocheted and I still have not heard if she has a Ravelry page or not.

  I have some stuff that I have also finished, but I thought this post should just be about Kathy's lovely things.  I have a whole blog about what I've made, so a post or two doesn't need to be about me.  I've also used her items to test out a basket Bill found in our garage as a photography background.


  There is also a bit of a story time.  Back in college Bill and I would go to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show and yell things at a screen.  We knew people on the live cast and always had the best time.  Once we graduated we found a group here and went a few times but then stopped for a reason I don't really remember.
  Fast forward about 10 years and we have started going again.  We again know someone who is part of the live cast.  It's been fun to go, but something felt different.
  This last Saturday night/Sunday morning there was a cast reunion.  It was for very sad reasons, but I'm glad it happened.  It helped them with the sad event, and there was even something special before the show.  It was also a really good show, more like what I remember seeing when we first went.  There were some things being yelled that we hadn't heard for years.  (Denton, Denton, ra-ra-ra)  It was really interesting during some parts because a few different things were being yelled at once.
  I think I'm also glad we stopped and hadn't kept going because I think we would have seen the cast shifting and changing.  I feel that this way we can appreciate both casts separately as their own entities.

Nothing to See Here...Oops

  To not sound like a broken record and to also distract you from my lack of posting, I'm going to point you towards Dana.  She makes matching sweaters for herself and her dogs!  They aren't just boring simple sweaters either.  How cute is that?
  Also, since there isn't much new stuff to read on here, you can head over to her blog, Yards of Happiness, and catch up on her blog.  If I could figure out how to hang out with her every day, I definitely would.

  I am going to get back to that thing distracting me from blogging (work), so I can get it all done and back to what I like doing.  See you with a bunch of pictures, hopefully, soon!