Pink Pussyhats!

  I was sent a link to The Pussyhat Project on Facebook.  I didn't look at it too closely at first, but now that I have, I think it is awesome.  The strangest thing is that it is all local to me.  The mailing address is less than 5 miles from my house and the march is just a short metro ride away.
  I posted about taking hats on the K&CC (Knitters and Crocheter's Care) message board saying that I can take and deliver any hats they make.  If any blog readers want to make any hats then they can either mail them to the address provided on the website or send them to me.  Either way, I would love to see some pictures!
  Sorry for the short post, but I'm supposed to be working now.  Don't tell on me!

I have a good reason!

  I was able to find the flyer for that music festival that was going on!  Here it is!  Does this mean that I can now say that I went to it, since I was right there and I could hear the music.

  There are a lot of names on there that I don't know, but there were a lot of people going in and out, so a bunch of them must be good.

  No, this is not another picture of the scarf I was working on while on the plane.  This is another one.  Also, no, the green one is not done.  The width of the green scarf was too short and I ran out of yarn during a Wed night and I had this blue in my bag.  I didn't like this blue with the green, so I started another scarf.

  This is a strange thing, I know.  I wanted to use the brown for the ends of the green scarf, but I also wanted to use it to make the strange thing you see in the picture.  Since I only need some for the ends, I knew I should work on that knitted ribbed part before I used the brown on the green scarf.
  So while that was a long story, now you can see why I didn't finish the green scarf before I moved on to two other projects.  Don't worry, what that thing is will be revealed.

  In other news, I am trying to get Tank to learn to wear a harness.  The reason I am torturing the cat in such a way is because he really wants to get outside and when he is out there he doesn't totally recognize us.  He got out once and when I found him and bent over to pick him up, he hissed at me.  Now when I actually picked him up he was fine with it.
  He was acting drunk for the first two days and now he is just sticking with the disabled angle.  When he thinks no one is watching, he walks just fine.  When someone is watching he slinks around and lays down every few steps.
  This morning he walked over to Bill, tried to crawl onto his leg, then fell over.  He didn't have his harness on at the time.  Since he isn't a small kitten, I know it will take time.

Another other thing...how is it December already?  I'm not ready for this! I am not ready at all.  I hope everyone else out there is.

One Big Hop and Then Back Again.

  Everything happened so fast I didn't get to tell you all about it!

  First I was on a plane headed out to LA.  Bill was on another plane headed my way, but his was supposed to get in 1.5 hours after mine.  Mine had a strong tail wind and got in 53 mins early.  I was going to try and wait for him before I got dinner, but I was way too hungry.  I figured this out on the wrong side of the security check.
  A lot of walking later and I found out that International departure has a coffee shop and terminal 6 arrival also has one.  So I walked 2/3 of the outside of the airport and back since Bill's luggage was going to be at the same place mine had come in.

  The next morning we hoped into the car to drive 4 hours to a wedding.  On the way I got to see a ton of palm trees and I got to try In-N-Out for the first time.  I love it!
  You might have thought that with a 4 hour trip I would have had time to get more crochet done, but the area was just so pretty that I couldn't stop looking at it.

  The wedding was amazing and they kissed at sunset.  Her dress was so pretty!  This was at the second location that had some food and plenty of desserts.

  The next morning a few of us met for a wine tasting and then we headed to lunch.  Lunch was good and we all took over one room of the small tavern.
  Then some of us went to go taste some beer while the others went to go spend the day doing whatever fancied them.  It got to be pretty late by the time we headed back to where we started from and Bill's brother was flying in, so we didn't have a lot of extra time in the day.  His flight ended up being delayed by 2 hours, so I went to bed while Bill stayed up.

  On Saturday there was a memorial for Bill's Grandpa.  He was the one I knit a scarf for not too long ago.  It was very nice, though it was in a part of the military cemetery that they had not finished yet, so he still only had the temporary marker and no grass had been laid down yet.
  There were a lot of wonderful stories and a lot of tears before we all piled back in cars and headed to get some food after and to look at some pictures and other things he had left behind that were pretty awesome.
  Later that night the boys went off to the bachelor party.  No, not for someone else, the same guy who's wedding we went to on Thursday.  They went to a nice dinner, did an escape room, and then played some board games.

  They had so much fun that Bill didn't get brought to the hotel that night.  I had driven myself and his brother back to the hotel, so I didn't mind.  They were having too much fun doing guy things.  His brother also had an early flight out in the morning.
  The next morning around 1:40am (also when I was told that Bill was going to stay the night) I felt really sick.  I slept and sweated and worried that I would be no fun on Sunday.  I got up enough to help Bill's brother to the hotel shuttle that was complimentary.  I was back in bed some more.
  Bill didn't get dropped off until about 11am or so.  I thought one of his cheeks looked puffy, but I thought maybe it was an odd angle or that maybe he had slept on it funny.  Later he told me that he thought he might have fractured a tooth.
  After he slept for a few hours I convinced him that even though we were leaving the next day, we should probably have someone look at it so we might be able to help it not get worse.  He also couldn't open his mouth fully.  The doctor at the Urgent Care we found said that it looked like about a third of his tooth was missing.
  I got to take my first Uber to the wedding reception that happened later that day.  The doctor told Bill that he shouldn't drive after he got some strong pain meds, and I didn't want to have to worry if I had a bit too much to drink.  Turns out that was an awesome idea.  There was also a music festival going on right next to the museum we were headed to.

  These little guys were Fruitadens and they were my favorite.  I want one as a pet that I can carry around like some people carry around small dogs.
  This get together was the big one.  There were supposed to be over 200 people there.  The food was good, the drinks were fancy, and there was some great dancing.

This morning the whole airport thing was super crazy.  Our terminal was having construction, so after we were checked in and gave them our checked luggage we got to wait in line and then walk over to another terminal.  This took a lot longer than we thought and I didn't get to try the food place I was hoping for.

  I was able to find this bLAt (get it? We're in LA!) that was really good.  It had avocado and garlic aioli on it as well as what you would normally expect.  The flight had the kind of seats with the TVs in the back, so I didn't get a lot of crochet done there either.  The guy next to me did work for Panasonic (the ones who make those) before transferring to United.  He got called on to help fix one of them a few isles up.

  Tank is glad that we are back and I think it is time for bed!

Hello, I remember you!

  I was trying to catch up reading The Yarn Harlot's blog when I thought to myself "Maybe I should update my own blog!"
  There have been many things working against me getting anything done to show off here.  Working two jobs is high on that list because both become busy at the same time.  The craft store becomes crazy because first you have Halloween, then Thanksgiving, followed by many winter holidays.  My other job gets busy because we have to put together all the packets for the members and also process renewals.  I thought it would be wise to pull back on one of them.
  Another problem I have is that I have two scarves on the needles now.  They take a while to get anywhere with since one has a lot of short rows, and the other is double-knit color work.  For some reason I have been itching to work on a shawl.  I know it would be another large project, but I feel like being able to work on a nice and long row that I can get lost in would be nice.

Since I am just getting past all the fall colors I was going to take a picture of it with some orange and red leaves.  Mother Nature decided to try and start raining whenever I tried to do this, so here it is on a chair.
  As I have been working on it, people have been asking me how long I plan to make it.  I'm not sure.  I do know that it is too short right now since you can't really wrap it around and have much hanging.  I don't know if I will try and use up all of the border color or not.  I figure I will just keep making little triangles and see when it feels right to stop.

For now, however, I am off to go string some beads on some crochet cotton.  I have been invited to a wedding in about a week and I have some presents to make!

Been busy, but what do I have to show for it?

  I seem to have had one of those months where you feel like you have been really busy, but when you try and think of all the things you got done from it, you draw a blank.  One of the things I know I have done but can't show much proof here is practicing my motorcycle riding skills.

  I have been learning how to and practicing my kumihimo skills.  I liked the fact that the only thing I really had to buy was the disk.  I already have a bunch of different cords and tons of beads.

  The very top one was the first beaded one I have ever tried.  The one below it is a half-round braid with beads.  It and the one below it are future Christmas presents.  The light blue spiral one isn't all the way done yet.  The one coming out of the disk was an idea I had.  Though the cords were not long enough to cover all of it, I think I can make it work.

  I did manage to get one thing done and all the ends woven in.  Here is the cowl you saw me working on back during Rolling Thunder.  I really like the pattern and I might have to make myself one.

  In this picture you can kind of see where the cat had snagged it while trying to play with the bag.  I tried to fix it, but I have yet to become skilled at fixing snags.

If you are wondering what cat I am talking about, take a look at this mug below:

  This is Tank.  He turned 3 in late August and likes to help me untie my shoes and clear off tables.  He is also helping me type right now by resting his head on my hands.  He has a high pitched meow that doesn't hint at all the ways he can find to get himself into trouble.  He also likes to be held while on your lap and being bounced like a small child.

  We got him after a friend had to move back home and his mom is very allergic to cats.  It was really stressing him out having to worry how this fur-ball would do in a shelter, so we took him.  He has definitely taken over the house.

Success

  I know it has been over a week since you heard about how my class was going, but..... I passed the class!  This means that I have all the knowledge I need to ride a motorcycle around an empty parking lot and side streets that aren't heavily traveled.  I know some people might have the confidence to go out and start down small streets and be ready for big ones before too long, I know that won't be me.

  It took me a really long time to get confident enough to drive a car on a real street and not in empty parking lots and empty neighborhood streets.  We have been looking at little used bikes.  There is also a possibility that I might be getting the bike that one of my friends is currently using.  Will I ever practice enough to get comfortable enough to go on anything bigger than is needed to do a small grocery run?  Who knows.  There is something cool about showing up to knitting on a motorcycle though.

  We did all have a good time though.  There were usually two lines of something running at once so both coaches could watch you and you could get the most run times out of each exercise.  We had a running joke where someone in one of the lines would honk their horn and someone else would say "I know, this traffic!"  It was really sad when one of the people I was closest to didn't make it through to taking the paper test.  I really hope she tries again.  You can do it Vita!

  Here is the progress picture that I had promised that I would take.  It is pretty close to the colors you see in person, but my phone wanted to make the colors a lot brighter.  I'm not sure how long I intend on making the scarf, but I also have a feeling that I might get bored with it and put it aside a few more times before it is done.

  I'm also trying to decide if the shawl I want to design will be a circle shawl or half circle.  The center pattern I want to use might not work for a half circle.

Ellies hats

  My mom and I were heading to Knit Night on Monday and I saw a bumper sticker for Ellie's Hats.  I think it is cool that hey have a drop-off spot near my house.  They even said that the location will take boxes that have not been sent through the mail.

  I also had the best conversation with my husband the other day:

Bill: "Hi?"
Me: "Hi."
Bill: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "I live here."
Bill: "Really?"
Me: "What are you doing here?"
Bill: "I think I'm sleeping."

He sounded so hopefully excited when I told him that I lived there.

  Another thing is that I'm taking motorcycle classes this weekend.  I got though Day 1 with only one dramatic thing.  One of the people who was in front of me slowed down more than I was expecting and I didn't know how to brake quickly while being worried.  I didn't want to go around her since we had been told not to pass each other.  Though they probably meant to not lap each other, it just stuck in my brain that I didn't want to go around her.  This caused me to try and stop shorter than the bike wanted to and we went down.  Now my pants are designer (has a hole) and my one boot looks really tough (trying to not be upset that it got all scuffed).  I did have fun telling people that I was trying out to be a stunt double.
  While I have learned pretty much all I had set out to learn when I thought of taking the class, I'm stubborn and want to see it to the end.  I mean, part of me that is really tired and grumpy and who doesn't want to go out in a hot parking lot to try new things for another day doesn't want to, but the part of me that I will be once I get some sleep says that I would feel sad if I didn't give it a try.
  I'm also really glad that I didn't bring anything with me to try and work on.  My brain is fried enough with just all the new motorcycle skills and being in the heat I know I would have messed it all up and had to try those rows again anyway.

  I don't have a picture of it, but the Spectra I'm back to working on has gotten into the red in the center triangles.  I will try and remember to take pictures on Monday if I don't sleep through the whole day.

A New Place to Knit

  Since we were losing Uniquities some of the ladies were looking into another place we could go to.  Wegmans is nice and all, but going to the same place every Saturday would get old before too long.  Some of them heard that there was a small group of ladies that met at a church on the second Saturday of every month.  Two of us went to go check it out and reported back that it was really nice. 
  The ladies were so nice and one even made cookies that looked like tiny pancakes.

  One of the ladies who meets at the church is blind.  She knits completely by feel.  If it were me, stockinette would be the hardest thing I would be able to try and pull off, but she does patterns and different stitches.  She is super cool.

  Another thing that was pretty cool is that the ladies who went to the church would bless the finished items before they were going to be distributed.  I think that is really sweet of them.

  This weekend I also went to one of my friend's weddings.  It was great and I will try and get pictures up for everyone before too long.

Another one is leaving!

  So back when we heard that Aylin's Woolgatherer was closing the yarn shop part of her shop there was some misinformation and some people thought that  Uniquities was closing.  Well, it wasn't that long ago that this happened and now it seems that Uniquities really is closing.  We were supposed to have our last K&CC meeting there last Saturday, but the space we use was needed to help organize the stock for even easier access.
  It just seems so strange that so many local yarn shops are closing.  This will make it harder for people to find places to take yarn they don't want.  Not everyone who donates likes using yarn themselves and will know to keep trying shops.  Hopefully Fibre Space and Nature's Yarn don't plan on going anywhere.

  Funny thing about those is that because of the future yarn sale prices I will have some difficulties.  Bill has been frustrated because I'm not very good at being motivated to clean and organize, and I am also kind of annoyed with me.  I have decided that I shouldn't really buy a lot of things unless I need it for a project.  I hope that over time this will help me to decrease how much I have and that it will make it less daunting.
  I'm also thinking of applying that idea to my other items too.  I have been watching some daily vlogs by some people who are trying to live their life more minimally.  I'm going to have to force myself to, but I know I need to donate some of my cloths that I will never use again.  It will be hard because most of the extra things I held on to have been things I really liked before and I'm worried that maybe no one will buy it and they will just get thrown out.
  I also plan on going through some of the bags of yarn and beads and pulling things I know I won't actually use and bring it to donate to a K&CC meeting.  Some friends might also be getting some of the crafting items.

  Now I am off to go see if I can find some white ruffle yarn.  I'm pretty sure I got some from Mary, but I don't know where I put it.  Wish me luck!

Makeup

  As everyone here should know by now, I really like playing around with make-up and trying new things.  I was searching for random things when I found the lipstick made in a collaboration between MAC and Caitlyn Jenner.  Finally Free is a rosy nude color.  One thing I really like about the sales of that color is that "100% of the selling price goes to the M·A·C AIDS Fund Transgender Initiative, to further its work in support of transgender communities."
  This let me to click around the website some and I found this page on the M·A·C AIDS Fund.  I never knew they had that.  That is pretty great.

   Look everyone, I did my nails in a bright summery color!  It is also coordinates with my knitting.  I actually cast off the scarf last night, but I didn't have anything to weave the ends with in, so it isn't totally done yet.

Getting back into things.

  It still feels really weird to not have Mr. Jag around but we might have a new kitty running around the house before too long.  A friend is moving and his mother is super allergic to cats, so he can't take the cat with him.

  Someone on Monday knit-night had a bunch of these with various markings on them.  Some said when to increase or decrease.  I picked these two because I thought they made a nice set.

  It is very confusing times when a yarn shop closes.  You are always happy to see the discounts that you would never have gotten other wise, but you are sad because once they lock the doors for good, you won't be able to shop or see some of the people anymore.

  I did not let any sad feelings from buying some fancy stuff though.  I know, I totally need more yarn, right?  The top ones were just so soft and silky that I couldn't say no to them.  Some of the smaller balls were also under $5.

  I have also tried to keep myself busy.  It is a lot farther now than in the picture, but I am working on another Directional Colors Scarf.  I wasn't sure what else would look really cool with that yarn.  It is a few different yarns sewn together and all wound into one skein.
  The picture they use for a project shows a pillow.  While that was cute and all, I wanted something cooler.  I might get another one if I find something else I want to make out of it.

Everyone Loves Mr. Jag

March 23, 1998 - June 6, 2016

  Everyone who met Mr. Jag thought he was a pretty great cat.  Not all cats came up to you for a good petting and then talk to you about it.

  A little after 3am on Sunday I heard a splat sound from the hallway.  I went to go clean what was going to be partially digested kitty food off the floor so our housemate didn't have to deal with it.  What I saw was a huge puddle of water blood and a blood clot the size of a small hamster.
  Bill and I rushed him to the ER where they did all they could and got him stable.  He even got the cube with the heated floor.  One blood transfusion fixed the problem for a while, but in about 24 hrs it looked like he would need another.  His rapid decline surprised everyone and we all knew his little body was telling us it didn't want to fight any more, no matter that his brain wanted to do.

  He was the best kitty there ever was.  He loved to come and wake me up in the morning to get some breakfast.  If I didn't get up fast enough I would get a lick to the armpit or a cold nose to the eyelid.
  He was the only cat I have ever seen who would stiffen his tail and wiggle it back and forth when he got really excited.  I've also not seen a cat lick food off of a spoon until I met him.  Most cats try and move out of the way when you lean in to give them a kiss, but Mr. Jag would lean into it when I went to kiss his head.
  He loved cheese grease, spicy gumbo, lobster, tater tots, frosting, soup, kitty caves, and getting the spot between his shoulder blades scratched.  He also loved watching birds go by while laying in bed.  Estee by Estee Lauder was his favorite perfume, he even started licking my arm the first time I wore it.
  He had a "Labrador tail" and would sometimes knock things into himself with it and get scared by the items.  He also loved blankets and anything soft, though he didn't understand the concept of sitting on your lap.  Lady Gaga was his jam and he would complain if you tried to sing along.  He would also come to the door to greet whoever was there and would welcome them in.
  He didn't like cold cuts or when his cat food was too stinky.  He used to hate riding in the tiny box in the car, but recently realized that there was a lot of cool stuff outside the windows to watch go by.  He also didn't like it when food would get into his water, it was made undrinkable at that point.  He loved to crinkle plastic bags, but if you crinkled one around him it was too scary and he would run away.  While chicken and turkey were yummy, he was not a fan of duck.  He thought people taste was gross, but would still give me licks every once in a while.  He liked to give a smell to everything I put on my body or anything I ate.
  I have a million stories about times when he didn't make sense, but in the best possible ways.  He still loved drinking water out of the bath-tub sink more than his fancy kitty fountain I bought for him.

  He was trying his hardest to convince us all that he was feeling great and that he was ready to go home and live his life.  We visited with him for almost 2 hrs and you could see him getting more and more wobbley as we were there.
  I have his paw prints with me and I'm waiting to hear when I can take the rest of him home with me.
  Just remember, hard decisions are hard.  I still feel so sad even though everyone around me told me that I made the right decision and did the right thing for him.  I've also been told that he knew he was loved and that he lived a good life.  I did do my best to spoil him.
  I wore the cloths I know he liked (they were the ones where he cuddled my leg and where he half laid in my lap for a few minutes), and I am making his favorite gumbo and tater tots for lunch.

Rolling Thunder re-cap.

  I have my memory card back with all of my pictures and I feel like I can give a better recap now that I have had some time to calm down.

  This little guy was on my shoe.  I thought it was some dirt, but then he stuck to my nail when I tried to brush him off.  Then I realized that it wasn't dirt, but was a snail.  When we were done with our photo-shoot I put him closer to the trees and bushed so hopefully he wouldn't get smooshed or fried in the sun.

  First time seen on the blog!  This is the newest project I have been working on.  I wasn't able to decide if I wanted to do a color-work cowl or a brioche cowl.  So I found some pretty variegated yarn and did both.  I also brought some healthy snacks.

  Remember Meg with the painted nails from last year?  This is her bike that she is riding this year.  It didn't take her long last year before she got her motorcycle license (even though her mom said no way at first).

  Santa was also there!!  He rolled in and then asked me if I knew who he was and then went "Ho Ho Ho!"  It was awesome! His license plate also let everyone know that he is Santa.

  Meg was trying out the bike from one of our new friends.  He was super impressed by her and had to rub it in to his friend that a 17 year old girl was riding her own bike in Rolling Thunder and he wasn't.

*~* WARNING: STOP WATCHING AROUND 4:01 IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THE ACCIDENT *~*

  I was glad I didn't actually see it happen in real time.  Meg was right next to them and she was a lot braver after than I would have been.  When I saw the wife she was moving around some, but Bill said she was unresponsive by the time he ran over to her.
  I will be writing a good commendation for the officer on the scene who was taking the evidence and testaments.  She was very good at making it feel like she understood how we felt and that we shouldn't feel pressured.
  As of the last I heard on May 30: both of them are doing okay.  It seems that no news is good news.
  Here is a link to another YouTube video that got a better shot of the helicopter come in and take her out.

Now some happy stuff!!

Picture from the internet

  Do you remember the "Saluting Marine" from my video last year?  His station looks a bit different than usual this time.

Picture from the internet.

  He got married!!  They got married on the 29th and she stood next to him the whole time.  The Daily Wire did an article about the two of them.
  I wish I had video of them, but I am interested to see if she stands next to him again next year.

I know I was excited, but it wasn't supposed to be THAT interesting.

  As usual, a few bikes showed up for Rolling Thunder.  It was way too sunny for my taste, but some people like that sort of thing.  They were even giving out some bandanas, but they had been died red in a less than through way, so they leaked pink when they got wet.


  Here was supposed to be the super fun footage of out trip in HD and showing Meg's first time riding her own motorcycle in the parade.  Too bad things were too exciting.
  When we got to the bridge where people would spread out and get to speed up.  This was all going fine until someone in near the end of the bridge slowed down quickly.  No idea what it was, but this caused a lot of the people to have to stop quickly.  The people next to Meg braked a little too hard and locked his back wheel.  To try and avoid hitting the person in front of him he went to move to the side to go around them.  Somehow the bike ended-up flipping and rolling over them after she went flying over his head.  I didn't see it happen since I was trying to not body-check Bill while we slowed down.  I only saw them on the ground and the only thing I could think to say was "Oh no!"
  Bill pulled over and hopped off to help them.  He helped make sure that no one tried to move them or anything.  Other people helped moved the bike out of the way, and some others stopped the traffic.  It was nice how everyone's first thought was to go help them.  A helicopter was flown in to get them help.
  I reviewed what I had been recording and I had gotten it on tape.  I turned in my SD card so police could have the footage.  A bunch of other people gave their account and SD cards.  I was glad I could help, though I sort of hope to get it back with the footage.  The first part is of Meg's first time pulling out of the North parking lot.  I know it is a silly thing, but it's my way of dealing.

There are so many things going through my head, I just hope they are both going to be perfectly fine.

Bike Weekend

 

  This is us getting ready to leave.  Most of us were riding on motorcycles down to Myrtle Beach for the first weekend of Bike Week.  It was going to be about an eight hour trip and I was really nervous because I had never ridden on the back for that long before.  Luckily some of the ladies were taking a car, so I had another option in case I couldn't make it.

  During the ride I was thinking it would have been cool if I could have gotten some pledges for the ride.  That way I would have had extra motivation to stay on.  The ride was nice until the last hour and a half.  While we were getting some lunch we heard someone say that a bad storm was on the way.  There were reports of hail.  We waited around and while there was a lot of rain, there was no hail.

   She was hanging out and crocheting a water bottle holder near where we stopped to get some lunch.  I was too shy to go and actually go talk to her though.

  Some of the things I learned on my long ride was that the back-rest made a ton of difference, the wind will move your helmet a little over time, and lifting your butt off the seat a little will definitely help.

   This is the first thing you saw when you walked into the house that most of the group was renting.  I thought it was funny that the house was telling you to escape the second you walk in the door.

  The whole weekend was spend looking at a ton of cool and pretty bikes, hanging out, and trying new things.  It was the first time for me, but some of the other people in the group have already been before.

  At one of the places we stopped for lunch two of us got interviewed and then we got to see some of it on the local news later.  That was a lot of fun too.

   This bar was really interesting.  They had some funny signs on the outside seating like "What goes up, must come down. Don't feel the birds." The bar is called Dead Dog Saloon and the pictures on the wall of the inside are all of dogs who have passed away. I think that is very sweet.

   Another very interesting place we went to was called Suck Bang Blow.  They have a booth with clear sides so you can see what is going on in the inside.  The gimmick they have is that you suck down a beer, throw your bike into first gear while your front tire is touching the back wall of the booth, and then you go so that you make tons of smoke and noise.  There is one blind guy who works there.  He gets it going and will regularly blow out the back tire to try and get more people to do it.  The joke is that his bike is the only one to have 80,000 miles on it without ever leaving the pit.

  I had brought some knitting with me, but I never had it with me when we had our few moments of down time.  I think I will bring something small with me next year, that way I can have it with me most of the time and won't have to worry about not grabbing it at any point.

  There are a few things I have finished, but it has been so rainy and gloomy that I have not been able to get any good pictures of any of it.  Hopefully those will come soon.

Bees and boobs.

 

   I made a new little friend!  I was getting ready to head out for the day and I saw this little guy standing on the driveway.  When I walked near him I saw he wasn't moving around very well.  I got a dead leaf and he walked right onto it.  Then I popped him over onto this dandelion and he started climbing around.  He also buzzed his wings a few times but did not take off.

  When I got home I didn't see him anywhere in the area, so I hope he was just over-heated and flew away to live his little bee life.

  Something I heard about recently are knitted knockers.  They are for people who have had a mastectomy but do not qualify for silicone implants for what-ever reason.  I think these are great.

  There a few free options on Ravelry if you want to go and make some to donate.

Water

  I know there are a lot of things that are fads and people go on and on about them until they become more hyped-up than they should be.  Most of those are about drinks or meal replacements that will help you become thinner faster than anything else ever could.  I have been hearing more and more about people drinking rose water.  That is pretty much a tea made with rose petals.  I was starting to do some research on if any of the claims are true about the benefits when I found this article.  Soma and Juice Served here are putting their efforts into their own Rose Water that also helps a worthy cause.  I wish I lived closer to the L.A. area and could get some in store.

   I also finished the first in the set of fingerless mitts that I'm testing the pattern for.  They are not done in the picture, but I finished them soon after I took it.

   Knitters and Crocheters Care used to meet here at Uniquities every 4th Saturday of the month in the classroom space above the shop.  Then the price of the extra room started to outweigh how useful it was so they let it go.  It has now turned into The Heartfelt Craft Shop which seems like a really cool idea.  I hope they stick around for a while.

  I still need to find buttons for the baby surprise jacket.

Almost my Birthday!

 My birthday is on Sunday and usually I know where I want to go, but this year I was having some problems.  I then thought it would be a lot of fun to try somewhere new and remembered where I used to love to go. I talked about it in my old post Buffets Everywhere.

  In this picture you can also see that Super Buffet has also changed names, though a peak in the window shows that their food hasn't changed.

  You can see in this picture that AnnanGol isn't opened.  Their sign says they should be, but I didn't see anyone inside and the doors were locked.  I hope they aren't closed forever.  Guess I will have to pick somewhere else.

 

   I am still working on things, I swear.  I took this picture after realizing that I missed how to do row 40 on these mitts.  I noticed after I had done another 6 rows on top of it.  I was putting off having to rip back, so I took a picture of my stuff at the waiting room while my car was getting serviced.

  I got all the rows taken out and started back in the right direction before my car was done.

Kitties are live!

 

  I feel kind of bad since I was so excited to get these done and then I didn't finish them in a very timely manner.  The January Kitties Fur a Cause are now listed in my Etsy shop.  I know I have a secondary Etsy shop I made just for selling things to raise money for charity, but it has been inactive for so long that I don't know if anyone would notice them or not.
  I'm also thinking of having more fun, but not distracting colors for background when I take photos.  So many on my Etsy shop have plain white backgrounds and I feel they are so much more boring than some of the other shops I browse.
  I am also not going to list all three months at once.  I have read many times that really successful Etsy sellers list a few things at a time instead of everything all at once.  It gets your items listed in the "new" area more often and some new people might see your things for the first time.
  Let's hope lots of people get to see these cuties.

Testing.

  I'm testing a pattern for a friend. I don't know what it is, but it makes me feel special to test a pattern.  Maybe because I get to see it before the general public?

   This is mine after I finished the hem and also the first three cable rows.  Anyone who has been around here for a while knows that I have a real problem sticking to a pattern.  For tests I am a lot better at it, but when I saw this I wondered why she did the top of the arrows the way she did them.

  Maybe she wanted to keep them simple?  I wasn't sure, so I asked her if she was up for suggestions on the cables or if she really liked them.  I didn't want to go in and tell her to change things if she had gotten them exactly the way she wanted.  Most testing isn't about telling someone how to make their pattern but to tell them if the numbers work out or not.  Like in my shawl pattern where I had you go from 28 stitches to magically needing 32 on the next row.

  She said that she was up for suggestions so I worked out a chart for her.  They are just easier for me to get out of my head than trying to do written directions.  She tested out a strip of just the cable pattern and said she really liked the changes I made.  She also mentioned that she might make a few tweets to the changes I made, but it is her pattern and I would have been fine if she hadn't used any of my suggestions.

   I also feel really silly for not posting this a while ago!  This was my big order to e.l.f. where I got all the eyeshadow brushes and eye-lid primers for the make-up bags.  I had planned on finishing these a lot sooner than I am, but I am still working on it.

  I also have the rest of the tinted lip balms coming to me in the mail.  There was some kind of mix-up between me and the person who offered to send them all to me, but I think we are all set now.  I can't wait to show those off next!

Leaping Around

Last time we had a Leap Day I made something that was themed accordingly.  This year I was not as prepared.

   What with taking care of Mr. Jag and doing that work thing, it kind of snuck up on me.  I did get this hat done, however.  It is the Wave Pattern Hat.  I taught it in a class and it was so quick that we actually finished it in time.  We both have the same problem where our starting chain is a little too tight so while the rest of the hat could fit on our heads, the bottom could not.  I let know know how to fix it by chaining with a larger hook.

 

  I did also finally get this done.  I was 3 rows away from the end, but then I left my phone at home and I wasn't sure what to do so I didn't finish it that day.  Then I kept putting it off.  Now I am finally done with it.  Ends are woven in and everything!  It is called Foliage and is a free pattern on Ravelry.

  Happy Leap Day everyone and I hope it is as fun as a Monday can be!

Winter Wonder Land!

  They said that we were going to have a lot of snow, and that is exactly what happened.

  I took this one from my window on Saturday night.  It snowed most of both Friday and Saturday.  I didn't measure it, but I believe it was close to three feet of snow.  That lump to the right is my car.  I just love how the lights look when they are reflected off of the snow.

  You can see one of the three poodle-legs Mr. Jag has.  I thought they would make use of the shaved leg he already had, but then I saw he had two more when we got back from the swanky vet visit.  He seems to be feeling okay for the most part.  He is eating and drinking from his new kitty fountain.
  You can see in the picture that we are starting a hat.  You can also see the baby surprise sweater.  I have that one off of the needles and seamed.  All it needs are buttons.
  The hat will go with the hat knit-a-long that someone else started.  I like hats, so it will be fun.  I am having to change the pattern a little because the yarn doesn't match what the pattern says to use at all.  This always makes me nervous when I have a limited amount of yarn since I can't check to see if I have enough before I start.  Fingers crossed everyone!