Furball Friday

Sometimes when Dug and Milo are cuddling, The Tim will say, "God, you two need to get a room."

So they did.

Stay cool and find someone to cuddle this weekend!

Stash Sale

For the last couple of weeks, I've been cleaning out some stash, and have already sold a few things on Ravelry.  But in the meantime, I also found some bags that I either haven't used, or haven't used enough to make it worth keeping them.  (I have no shortage of knitting bags, so don't feel bad if you are interested when I post those!)

Should you be interested in the yarn, please PM me on Ravelry, unless of course you are not on Ravelry, in which case you should leave a comment, with your e-mail address (i.e., georgeclooneyATgmailDOTcom) and I'll get in touch with you.  I can do PayPal or money order, since then I don't have to wait for a check to clear, and you don't have to wait until it does to get your stuff!

First, the remaining yarns.

Lil' Loop from Dancing Leaf Farm

1 skein / no colorway marked

$15.00, includes postage

SOLD

Heritage Hand Dyed Laceweight (50% silk/50% rayon)

1 skein / Colorway: Blueberry Hill

 $20.00, includes shipping

  Plymouth Yarns Indiecita Alpaca 

5 skeins / Colorway: 208 

(light brown - marked on label as 

"Natural Fleece no color)

$25.00, includes shipping

   Rowan Pure Wool DK

 2 skeins / Colorway: 037 (burgundy)

 $10.00, includes shipping

I'll post the bags I have next time.  Thanks for looking!

Old Photo Friday

My mom as a little girl.  I asked her once where this was taken, and she said that it was taken by "one of those people who used to come around with ponies to take people's pictures."  Which I have always thought was odd, but if I'd been there, you can bet I would have wanted my picture taken!

Have a good weekend, and "Happy Trails to you ..."

Choosy

I'm one of those people who periodically go through my possessions and actually sorts them into things I want to keep and things I don't want to keep.  I don't do it as frequently as I'd like, and I don't do it with everything, even though I want to, but sometimes it happens because it just makes sense.

For instance, my clothes get sorted twice a year - when I put the heavy stuff away and pull out the lighter-weight stuff, and vice versa.  This also happens at a minimum with my knitting supplies twice a year.  Our house is not air-conditioned, and we do have a [crappy] window unit for our third floor.  Guess where it lives during the off-season?  Yep, you guessed it - right next door to the knitting stuff!

Since a lot of that stuff has to be moved when pulling out/putting away the a/c window unit, it only makes sense to go through all of it before putting it away again.  The main thing I've noticed the last couple of times, is that I've become a lot more choosy about what I will keep.  Now, I'm not saying I get rid of a ton of stuff each time, but I have become a lot more realistic about what I may or may not use.

To give you an example:  I love sock yarn.  I also love to knit socks.  So I tend to hold on to most of the sock yarn, unless it's one that I've had a previous bad experience with, or if the color/pattern just no longer does it for me.  I also love laceweight yarn.  But I seldom knit lace, and when I do, it takes me a long time, and I'm not really too good with it.  There are so many people out there who not only knit lace, but do an amazing job, and create beautiful things.  So some of the laceweight usually goes.

Anyway, you get the idea.  Originally, when I had yarn I decided I didn't want to keep, I would just give it away, and sometimes I still do that.  But especially since the existence of Ravelry, I have realized that you can sell it, and there is a good chance that it is going to someone who really would like to have it.  I like the feeling that I'm recouping some of my dollars, even if by the time I've packaged and sent it, I'm lucky to break even.

This time around, I'll have some yarn and some knitting bags that I'll be selling.  So if you may be interested, stay tuned for something like this:

or this:

Just so you know ...

Raise a Glass!

Hold to the now, the here, through which all future 

plunges to the past.

 - Stephen Dedalus, in "Ulysses" by James Joyce

Furball Friday

Jetsam and Pip have mastered the fine art of relaxing.

Hope you find some time this weekend to work 

on that yourself - happy Friday!

Ready to Return

I haven't had much to say lately about any knitting projects.  That's mostly because since May, I've been wearing a hand brace on my right hand, due to "extreme arthritis," as the doctor called it, in my right thumb joint.  It hasn't been that I couldn't knit, it's just that it was extremely uncomfortable.  So I'd knit a few rows/rounds, and that would be it.

Yesterday, I returned to the doctor for a follow-up.  It does feel better - for instance, it doesn't wake me up at night! - but the doctor pointed out that because it's arthritis, it won't ever be cured.  The idea is to make it bearable.  So his instructions were to wear the brace at night, and if it gets really bad again, but otherwise to take naproxen twice a day and it should be OK.  I'm gonna be trying that "plan" starting tomorrow, so I hope things will be OK at least most of the time.

Most of all, I'm hoping it will mean I can knit more.  The good thing is that it will likely keep me from overdoing it, because if not, OUCH.  But I've been itching to knit a bit more than I have been.  I currently have a pair of socks started, and of course, have said that by the end of the summer, I want to finish my Narrangansett sweater.

I'd cross my fingers, but I don't wanna tempt fate ...

Because It's June ...

June is bustin' out all over!

The sheep aren't sleepin' anymore!

All the rams that chase the ewe-sheep

All determined there'll be new sheep

and the ewe sheep aren't even keepin' score!

Because it's June! June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

-- from "Carousel" by Rodgers and Hammerstein

The Tim and I have a collection of musical soundtracks, and this is one of them - I particularly like this part of the song, 'cause of the wordplay about sheep! It's funny, because whenever I hear this song, I can "picture" June in my head.


So what does that mean?  Well, in theory, to me, it means a chance to get started on things for the summer before it becomes unbearable.  We've been fortunate so far (yeah, a whole week and half into it) that we've had actual June weather - warm (not hot) days, cool nights where you want the window open, but it's cool enough for a lightweight cover.  If summer was like this for most of the time, it would not be one of my nemeses.


What else?  Well, the past two Sundays, it has meant working to clean up our garden.  Which is not a garden in the usual sense.   We live in a Philadelphia rowhouse.  At some point, whoever owned our house purchased the lots next to it, tore down any other houses, and created a carport and walled-in area next to the house.  When we moved in, those were huge selling points for us, and for quite a few years, we did a decent job of keeping things growing and looking nice.  When the garden was created, it was two side-by-side bricked in areas, with flower beds and trees planted in dirt next to them.  Truly lovely.  

Then, for about four summers in a row, we couldn't sit out in the garden, because of things like road construction, house renovations across the street, and gas/electric/water line replacement.  These things meant concrete dust, noise, tar smells - well, you see what I mean.  Basically, we just neglected it. Which is wrong, but not being a summertime person, the added ick factors made it even less likely that I was going to make any effort to at least do basic maintenance.

Well, this year I decided that I was going to reclaim the garden!  Which of course was immediately followed by:  rain nearly every weekend, a foot brace, and a hand brace. But last weekend, the weather was beautiful, and I decided that for the amount of time I'd work in the garden, I could skip the hand brace.

Two hours later, I had one teeny section cleaned out pretty well.  And two large trash bags filled with leaves, branches, gunk, and burrs from the trees.  It wasn't perfect, but it looked a lot better.  I was pretty pleased with myself. 

Today, it's a LOT warmer, but I got an early start, and made progress on another teeny area.  Originally, I thought I'd be able to plant some flowers, and that maybe by the middle to the end of summer, we'd be able to sit out there and enjoy it again.  However, I have now adjusted that "schedule" - I'll plant things next summer, and hopefully we can sit outside and enjoy it this fall.  Because there is SO MUCH MORE to do even to get it to a manageable level than I thought.  

As a result, I have learned:

1.  I have no ability to estimate the time it takes to accomplish things when working with nature;

2.  That - like so many things in life - you need to keep up with something to keep it nice;

3.  I enjoy having the amount of outside work to do that I have.  If I had a big yard, I'd be miserable;

4.  Things are at least in good enough shape that I can resurrect the bird feeder;

5.  I am grateful that the garden is walled-in, so I do not have to discuss everything with the neighbors as I'm working on it;

6.  That a shower feels incredibly good when you are covered in dirt, leaves, and God knows what else.

It's also enjoyable to have the animals out there to "snooper-vise" and not have to worry about them, since we are all within easy distance of each other, and they can't get out unless I open the carport door.  

OK, so it's not as fun to me as reading a book or doing some knitting.  But if I can fix it up, it's a wonderful place to be able to do both.  And especially in the city, having this private outdoor is well worth the work.

Nature         2

Bridget        .5

I'll get there ...

Old Photo Friday

My parents (year unknown)

Me (as a kid): Why did you take this picture?
Mom:  Because it was so damn funny.

There you go.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Furball Friday

Contrary to what most people think,

it can be tiring to be a tiny koodle named Milo.

Happy Weekend!