Here's What I Have for You Today

This boy.

This is Milo the Koodle, who turns 8 years old today.  In my entire lifetime of having pets, I have only ever known the exact birth date of Milo and now Hamlet as well. 

Milo was born to a feral cat mother in the South Philly backyard of one of The Tim's former co-workers.  After a while, all of the other kittens were spoken for, except for him.  We had adopted Dug the Doodle Dog just a few months before, and I convinced The Tim that Dug needed his own kitten.  And that is how Milo came to be with us.

It's also how he became the Koodle - he was the Kitten of our Doodle dog.  :-)

Celebrations will be had at home this evening, with treats for everyone and lots of cuddles.

Happy Birthday to our boy - we love you Bud-Bud! 

In Which I Did Nothing Socially Redeeming

Not a single thing for the betterment of the world.  Or - maybe by sticking to myself, I did in fact do the world a favor?  Food for thought.

The Tim had to work both days this past weekend, so I was on my own, which was 100% fine with me, because I was especially not in the mood to interact with others.  I had a couple of really excellent walks with Hamlet, as well as *two* games of Blue Ball (TM), which wore him out.  I finished a book I was reading, and fixed the messed up cable mentioned in an earlier post.  

As a matter of fact, I fixed that cable several times.  Spoiler alert - if you actually read the pattern instructions, this will not happen - who knew?  Here is what I finally have so far:

Now, I have to tell you that I had a lot more knit on this originally, but when I was convinced I had memorized the pattern, I managed to knit the cable incorrectly THREE MORE TIMES after I "corrected" it.  Then ... I looked at the pattern.  Oh.  Well that made a difference.  But now it really is seared into my brain, so as long as I don't get too carried away with thinking I'm a genius.

The yarn doesn't really show up too well in this photo, but it's some Black Bunny Fibers yarn that has been in my stash for years.  It's kind of a celadon green, with the occasional light blue flecks, and some stellina thrown in for sparkle.  It's very pretty.

But in any case, I'm on my way with this pair and hopefully they will not take too long to complete.

Other than that, I watched some knitting podcasts, and just enjoyed not being at work.  On Saturday, I did walk up to J Crew, since I had a coupon for $25.00 off if I spent $25.00 or more.  I wanted to see if they had any of their stuff on sale at all.  Well, I lucked out because they had a new shipment of some very nice t-shirts and they were 30% off the price.  I managed to get a white one, black one, and turquoise one, and with the percentage off and my coupon, the grand total came to $17.00!  Not bad for three basic, really nice, t-shirts that I will likely wear until they fall apart.  That was my big outing into the world for the weekend.

This week, we will be celebrating the 8th birthday if Milo the Koodle on Wednesday.  He has been particularly well-behaved and sweet lately, which The Tim says means that he (Koodle) thinks he is getting a pony.  Probably when he does not, he'll go back to his usual self.  :-)

And that's that.  A nice, weekend even if not thrilling to most people.  Now I am just hoping that this coming week at work will be a big long bore, since the other only other choice seems to be Sturm und Drang.

Have a good one!

This Week Was Not for the Weak

Am I right?  Oy.

I do have to say that for me personally, this was a horrific week, both minutely and in a more major sense.  Truly a terrible 5 days, when it took all of my energy to function and try to think of at least one thing each day that was a good thing.  My fallback?  Every day I was given the gift of being able to wake up, get up, and function.  Frankly some days I did not appreciate that as much as I should have, but nonetheless, I would repeat it to myself as my mantra.  Anyway, here we are.

Last night, I was knitting away on the first of my current pair of socks, being pleased that for the most part, I have it memorized.  And then, as usual, I was shown by the sock and by the universe that once again, pride goeth before a fall.  As I was putting everything back into the project bag, thinking how amazing I am because after having to restart five times, I was finally on my way, I took a look at how magnificent my work had been ... and saw that I had messed up the cable on the front of the sock about ten rows earlier.  Like Scarlett O'Hara, I decided that tomorrow was another day and just put it away.  Like my obsessive self, I kept thinking about it.  And so, tonight those rows will be taken back to the point of said mistake.  The project will then be put away for one day this weekend.  Because in the end, it just bothered me too much not to fix it, and in reality, it will not be that big of a deal.

EXCEPT THAT GIVEN IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK, IT *IS* A BIG DEAL.   Sigh.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Nothing specific is beckoning me this weekend, but I'm sure I'll think of something to keep myself moving forward.  My reading mojo has been low until the last few days, so I may read all the books.  As previously discussed, I'll do a cable correction.  Other than those two things and the usual weekend activities necessary to keep all of us alive and well, I'm going to see how things are each day when I get up.  I'm extremely grateful that I didn't make any plans for the weekend with anyone, so that I can take my time getting my psyche back in order!  And going out for some walks is always a good thing to do.  Sometimes I wonder if Hamlet is happy when I'm in this frame of mind, because it always leads to him getting a lot more walks than usual ...

Hopefully all of us can enjoy our weekend one way or another.  Even if it means that everyone around us will be busy with their semiannual whine about changing the clocks.  In our house, it generally doesn't make a huge difference, since the animals demand meals when they are used to them, no matter what the clock says.  :-)

So have a good one, whether you are reading, traveling, going out to eat, or even knocking over a liquor store. 

I'm Gonna Q & A With Kathy Today

Kathy used to host a Q & A on her blog every week, and then decided that rather than make it something that she *had* to do, she would throw one out there every once in a while.  Some of the time I have already decided to write or have written about something else, or the questions aren't things I really can answer for one reason or another.  But today I decided to take a stab at it, so here you go.

Do you prefer to knit with bigger needles or smaller needles?

I like smaller needles in general.  I'm always knitting a pair of socks, usually on size 1US needles,  so there's that, but anytime I've used bigger needles (say, larger than a 10US), I have found that I need to limit my knitting time, since my hands start to hurt.

Do you like to have a bulky knit or crochet going with a sock at the same time to alternate weights?

I generally don't knit anything bulky.  Mostly because I try to knit from stash (no bulky stashed), and also because I'm really picky about the bulky things I actually like well enough to knit.  I do however, usually have a sock, something else (shawl, sweater, hat, etc.) going at the same time at a minimum to change it up.  When I have a stitching project, that goes into the mix as well.

Do you have a pattern that can be a bookmark or shawl?

I doubt it.  I do have a lace bookmark pattern.  I also have shawl patterns that if I was inclined, I might be able to take elements of and make a bookmark.  But I'm not big on doing that kind of thing to be honest.  I kinda/sorta like all of the work to be done for me by the designer.

Do you think leaves are the easiest object to work into a project or are you a feather and fan person?

See above answer regarding the "work into a project" aspect of things.  I like leaf designs and I like feather and fan.  But, to repeat myself, I knit them if they are in the design, I seldom add anything.

Do you like to read books about places you have been to visit?

I do.  I also love to read about places I would like to visit, even if it seems unlikely to happen.

Do you know an author?

I know several academics who have written books.  I know a few people who have written short stories/articles/essays that have been published, so that counts.

Do you know a pattern author?

Actually, I know a lot of them!  For whatever reason, Philadelphia has MANY knitting/crochet pattern authors, and most of them worked at our late-lamented LYS Rosie's, so they were co-workers and friends as well.  And then I have some friends who have written a patterns that are on Ravelry, even if pattern-writing is not their main activity.

Do you wish you could write like someone?  Who?

I adore writing.  There are so many people whose writing talent and voice I would love to have that I really can't name one individual.  Most of the time, it depends on what I am currently reading. :-)

Do you plan months ahead for a local person or within an hours drive, for a get together?

A lot of time time I do.  This is largely because most of my friends lead lives that are much busier and scheduled with things than mine.  Also, since I don't drive,** I have to plan how to get where I'm going if I'm the one traveling to meet up.

(**I can drive, I just hate to drive, and therefore have let my license lapse for many many years.  I have a state ID instead.  So sue me.)

Do you like a text, Hey we are at such and such, want to join in?

OK, so besides being a freakazoid who doesn't drive, I also don't have a cell phone, so I can't get texts.  Having said that, 99% of the time, I don't like getting phone calls/e-mails/DMs like that, for two main reasons.  First, I am an introvert who likes to know ahead of time if I have to go out into the world and "do people."  Secondly, I look forward to my free time ridiculously and like to do my own thing.  When it's someone I rarely get to see, that's another story, but most people who know me in real life are either the same way as I am, or "get it."

And there you go.  Whether or not you really care.  :-)

I hope you have a good day.  This cartoon from Mutts makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Drowning My Sorrows

Hello there!  March is underway, and at least for today the sun is shining, so that's all good news (even if it's supposed to rain again tomorrow.  Seriously).  I had a "good enough" weekend, meaning that it was actually just fine, but it took me nearly the whole time to get over the week at work, so to speak.  Suffice it to say that things are not going well, and individuals are being picked on - truly - by our new museum CEO, who we have decided is trying to get people to quit so he doesn't have to "restructure" more of us out of our jobs.  Like everything else in life, it all piles up and then something small really makes it magnified.  Which was what happened on Friday.

So my "good enough" weekend was spent drowning my sorrows and trying to move along and leave work at work.  This is usually not a problem, but last week made it a bit more difficult than usual.

Originally, I thought I had a haircut appt on Saturday morning.  When I called to double-check the time, I learned that no, said appt was in fact on Friday after work!  (Glad I called to check.)  On the plus side, this meant that I really did have Saturday free, which was nice.  

Saturday afternoon to get started on drowning my sorrows, I finally baked some scones I'd been wanting to make since I saw the recipe.  They turned out to be really simple to make, and wow were they yummy!  Here are my chocolate chip and cranberry scones:

In the recipe, they directed you to make 12 wedges, but I made 8 because we like one more substantial scone as opposed to maybe 2 smaller ones at one time.  They turned out really well, and were especially nice with a pot of tea while watching an old movie.  The Tim reminded me that we have some frozen blueberries in the freezer from last summer, so next time I may substitute those - blueberry scones would be good also, don't you think?  (Spoiler alert: If you ask me, all scones taste good, but that might just be my opinion.)

Sunday, The Tim had to work as usual, so I first drowned my sorrows by paying some bills.  Well, actually, that did nothing for my sorrows, it just gave me different ones!  ;-)  Then I decided that not much else was going to be accomplished, so I turned to knitting.  It's been too long since I worked on my scrappy blanket, so I pulled it out and added some squares, which was extremely pleasing.  My MO is to knit six squares before weaving in ends (don't ask my why, it makes sense to me).  Here's how it looks after yesterday:

And here are the six "new" squares - three from about a month ago, three from yesterday.

This project always pleases me because it's so cheery, but also finishing even just a single square feels like an accomplishment.  I know it will likely take forever to get something even lap-sized at the rate I'm going, but I don't care because I enjoy working on it so very much.  

I also cast on the pair of socks I'm making for March as part of a KAL with my friend Andrea.  No photos, because a) I forgot to take any, and b) I only have some of the cuff done anyway, so there is not that much to see.  

My last "drowing my sorrows" thing was that I decided to give myself a manicure and paint my nails.  I don't remember how or why, but last summer I watched a You Tube video where a woman showed how she successfully paints her nails - meaning that her fingers are not covered with as much nail polish as her fingernails are.  I tried her "system" and it was really successful, which was pleasing.  Of course, I was using a light color - something tells me that if I'd used any other shade, it would not have gone well.  Because that is how life works, right?  ;-)

So eventually I got there, and felt mostly better.  I gave myself a pep talk last night when I went to bed, and so far this morning I'm surviving just fine.  Hopefully that can last, we'll see.

Here's to a decent week for all of us.  Happy March!