Where's the Storm??

Last night I drove to Lapland to pick up more hay. Does it seem insane to anyone else but me that 45 km is kind of far to drive for good hay?? This stuff is green, dry, not moldy, good. Even a decent price. But man, oh, man 45 km is a long drive, and even longer when I can't go as fast on the way home. I managed to get 40 square bales on that pathetic excuse of a quarter-ton truck. A farmer with a short-box truck, and not even a 4 X 4. Good grief. But the half-ton (Bumps as it was affectionately called) is gone. It was falling apart so we sold it for parts. Better than rotting in our yard.

Hey, I got to sleep in today. That's a good thing. My back was killing me last night. And kids are being good this day of freedom from school. I still don't quite understand why school was cancelled. It's positively balmy out there. Snow and ice are melting. My water wasn't frozen in the barn for a change. The sheep didn't mind roaming outside. They did try to get into the molasses bucket the moment my back was turned. They're not as stupid as they appear. The exact time I turned to get Fudge to put her back in the pen, the sheep wandered in through the back door and were pushing through like a group of bouncers on a rowdy night clearing a path towards the "Prize". Brats, the three of them.

Did you visit Alison? Every time I try to post a message on her blog, I get booted. Maybe her blog knows just how technically challenged I am. Anyhoot. What I was going to tell her is this:
I will exercise, I will attempt to drink more water, I will try to post daily progress reports right here, I may even purchase a scale, all this as a show of my support. Because that's what friends do for each other. And even though I don't get a trip to Hawaii after all this torture, I will do my best to get on friendly terms with my manual tread mill. Because, dudes, she's my friend and this is the least I can do for her. Losing weight and getting in shape sucks. But at least I hope she won't feel so alone in her quest.

Today's progress report: 15 minutes fast walk on treadmill, some crunches (forgot to count), cool down and stretches. I am alive, though it didn't look good there for a while.


This here is my new and improved hair colour. Not so orange anymore (thank my lucky stars!). It was either a better colour or an intimate appointment with my scissors.


In knitting news, I finished one twinkletoe sock and started the second.



And finally, a stash flash for Alison. That rubbermaid box is still uncounted.

See?

See that? There's been knitting from the stash going on. Here's Sugar inspecting (through closed eyes!) a sleeve of a cotton sweater-to-be. I'm winging it. No pattern. I figure starting with the sleeves may see this sweater to completion. STOP THAT LAUGHING!! You, yes, you! Stop it. Laughing that hard is BAD for you.Moving right along, that's the Lopi sweater that I started during the Knitting Olympics last year. Probably why I didn't get the Gold Medal. Anyway, the back and one front are completely done and I have maybe six or seven rows to go before the other front is done.













This would be Sugar modeling my Twinkletoes sock. I had to rip back the toe because I screwed up. Thought the sock was longer than it really was.


And here is the hat from Jo-Anne's mohair. It's now done, done, done and delivered to Jo-Anne. Hey, what can I say. I work for yarn. As if you didn't know. So sue me.

I will start posting bits and pieces of the stash for Alison's perusal. Just to show off. Nice of me, eh??

And I may be putting together another bag of donations for FRC. I dropped off four bags today and I feel lighter already.

Stash Overload

I may have hinted at trying to cut back on stash enhancement. With good reason. I'll tell you in a moment.

Felt I had to join a stashalong (I'll provide a link later). You know, for moral support.

Because I am weak.

Because it May be wrong to have a stash so large, that if converted into money and food, it would support a small(ish) country for a good while.

The stashalong asks you to pick a goal. There are three categories to choose from. I couldn't decide so I thought it would be a good idea to start with an inventory. Yeah... Ok.... I'm not completely done yet. However, I am overwhelmed. Really.

Having separated most of the acrylic stuff that I've been turning my nose up at lately (do not ask me how so much of it made it into my home.... besides the words SALE SALE SALE screaming at me upon entering a store), and swiftly condemning it to garbage bags destined for FRC, there was SOOOO Much still left over to count. My inventory progressed by writing down the amount and type of yarn. So far, three pages full. For the sake a brevity, I added everything together: balls, hanks, skeins, cones large and small....

Are you ready??

Are you sitting down? (I highly recommend it!)

568+

Well then. That's not that much, is it? Do you really think I should be condemned to just working from my stash for an indefinite period of time? I mean, a good portion of that is only 50g balls, even though others may be about 400g or more.

Now to distract you all from the above revelations, a FO.

Irish Hiking Scarf in Noro Silk Garden (3 balls)

I bring to you this knitting update

This is my new barn hat. Very cozy and warm. It was knit with two strands, one being Patons Beehive Shetland chunky and the other being something with alpaca, mohair, wool, and acrylic (I think, since I lost the ball band). I used fairly big needles which I rarely do for a hat, and so only had to cast on 68 stitches, as opposed to the mohair one I'm working on that needed over a 100sts.


This neck muffler started as the Irish Hiking Scarf, but I ran out of yarn and overcame the temptation to run to the LYS and splurge on more since there is no stopping at just one extra ball when there is a whole store to be overwhelmed by. You all know what I mean. Just nod your heads.






That's my neckwarmer, barn style. Same Patons wool plus fuzzy yarn a la Dollar Store.





SEE??? New skill! First attempt at gloves, ever.
I am so proud of myself. This one just needs a thumb. I am too good.

This would be in 100% mohair, hand dyed by Jo-Anne Cooper from Angelwise Llama . Scarf in mistake rib, my old stand-by when I can't decide on a pattern. Love the colour, but this stuff is so slippery to work with, holy goat!

More pictures another day. Blogger has apparently had enough.

Hi! Did You Miss Me?

Has it really been three months? Good grief! Bad blogger (hangs head with shame)...

1. Happy New Year 2007! Did you get excited by that?? No? Me neither.
2. My knitting needles have forgiven me for abandoning them for so long. There has been knitting done (and small projects completed). Show and tell to follow.
3. After I gave notice at the sewing thing, it still took over a month and a half to find a replacement, but I was positively gleeful when that miracle occurred!
4. I quit being a diamond pusher a week before Christmas. I don't tolerate unprofessionalism from anyone, especially from co-workers that should know better, and double that in front of customers.
5. More additions to the farm: a Holstein moo named Moonlight and her offspring which I named Fudge. Happy, happy. Milk, anyone?
6. From the original ten, I'm now down to six chicks and I suspect that two are roosters.
7. New flooring on main floor of the homestead at long last. I am thrilled.
8. My daughter missed her cat so much and lamented her lack of a pet, that I allowed her to pick one from my hay dealer. That's Sugar, cuddled up to Fang (SPCA cat that still needs a home).

That time of the year again

Guess who won the season opener last night???

Here's a hint: it wasn't Toronto! LMOL

Senators RULE!!

A killer week is over. I gave my notice at the sewing place. I am hoping I'll be able to recognize my kids now that I'll actually be spending some time with them everyday. It really sucks not seeing your kids except for when they're sleeping. During the summer it wasn't so bad because they stayed up later and we'd spend a bit of quality time together after I would get home from work.

Now go see David. Better than chocolate cheesecake!

And if you've ever wanted to know what goes on down in Antarctica, Jules has a seriously cool (pardon the pun!) blog, complete with penguins. Go see for yourself.

No knitting took place all week. How is that for dreadful??

...and in other news...

Bar-b-qued duck, anyone? A glass (or three) of home made wine was entirely responsible for the terrified duck. Honest.

Briggs & Little blanket. Wool. Crocheted. Coming along nicely, but still only about half-way done. Sigh.

And most recently, ten additions to the farm! Aren't they adorable? The mama hen pecked me yesterday when I tried to feed her! B*tch!

Other than that, I've been knitting on the Lopi sweater. I'm almost to the top of both fronts. I might actually finish it before the really cold weather hits. The white aran? It hates me. Yes it does. I have to rip back the sleeves (AGAIN!) and chart the damned things before I try again. The pattern for the sleeves bites the big universal one. Like it was written by someone who just didn't want to put any effort into it.

Good thing tomorrow is another day. Cheers.

Another work week Done

Yes. Amazing I survived. I worked well over 40 hours. I have been contemplating the sanity of working two such very different jobs. Don't get me wrong. This madness does have good points. For example, getting out of the house when the kids are being loud and obnoxious and keep terrorizing each other (and making me wish I worked even more hours!). One job pays a pretty decent wage and I get to sit down and I can wear reeeeally casual clothes, and I even like to sew and I get to gloat when I get three or four pairs of jeans hemmed in about half an hour and the customer is totally astounded and says things like: " I didn't think you were serious! You got them ALL done already??" and I say, "yes, of course, they're been waiting for you for while" (big, BIG gloating grin!!) Talk about your run-on sentences! hee hee

One the other hand, the diamond pusher job has great things going for it as well. Granted, the pay could be better, and same can be said for the commission, but you never work alone, there is a bathroom on the premises (you will never know how important that can be until you work five or six hours without a bathroom break!), you get to play with some really beautiful jewelry, the boss has a decent sense of humour, and the co-workers are a riot! Did I mention the beautiful jewelry? The unfortunate part (all in how you look at it, I suppose) of being well acquainted with the merchandise: one day (no, it wasn't a wet and stormy night!), a gentleman walked in the store and asked to see the most beautiful and best priced item in the store. Well. Me and my big mouth didn't take long to tell him, and at the same time part me from the one thing (not quite!) in the store I wanted for myself in a really big way. It was a very, VERY beautiful .50ct diamond solitaire discounted by 50%! Everything about it was beautiful: cut, colour and clarity, not to mention price. You know you're getting an incredible deal with the original price being equal to the full carat diamonds in the store, but being able to purchase it at half off. But that's how it goes. Inside, I was weeping, while I knew that once I told hubby, be would be absolutely overwhelmed with glee. There are things I must admit to enjoying. Such as the employee discount, the fact that I get to wear really nice clothes to work, I have an excuse to spend money on nice shoes (where before the kids were always priority one), and I get more bathroom time now because makeup is almost mandatory. I have to have good hair, which can be time consuming, but at least I get to spend time on my appearance. Before, it was always so easy to say, "hey the sheep and rabbits and chickens don't care if I wear pj's to the barn or if my hair isn't even brushed...".

A few last words since blogger won't allow me to upload pictures. If you haven't yet, you really should visit this very talented individual. Not only is he talented, but wears a kilt! Now, what could be better than that??

Places I've been

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

This map is tres cool. It reminds me that I have traveled to some really amazing places, but this map also tells me that equals out to only about 11% of the world. Now, that's not even totally accurate since the map highlights the whole country visited, not the city or area, and if that were the case my percentage would go down to about .001. Canada is huge. So are the United States and I've only been to one small part of Greenland. Maybe once the kids move out I'll become a world traveler again. Highly unlikely in this times of terror (bah humbug). I like to be able to brush my teeth with my own brand of toothpaste in a foreign place and not have it be suspected of an explosive! Good grief!!