My SoCalled Blog

City girl makes good

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:12:11 GMT

This is the first time I entered and was happily surprised! I would have been delighted with an honorable mention on just one of my entries, so I was practically giddy when all 3 placed second.

Summer Flies!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:59:24 GMT

Summer Flies pattern from Ravelry, in Caron Spa. Nice pattern, splitty yarn. Sometime I'll have to get a decent blocking board. I had to block it in sections on the ironing board. It's a quick knit, took a while to bind off though!

My Sweet New Ride!

Sat, 15 May 2010 21:41:53 GMT

She needs a little cleaning up, and some new tires and tubes, but isn't she sweet! A Schwinn Breeze. She came from a yard sale to benefit a cat shelter, double win!

A dove sitting on a nest, from my neighbors' garden. I'm really happy the two feral cats don't cross the street too much anymore.

Poor Neglected Blog...

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:12:51 GMT

Giant-grasshopper-attacks-baby-hospital gingerbread house. As you can see, the theme is limited by whatever is available at the dollar store. It was mainly a hit, but a few people commented that the army-men, cowboys, & Indians seemed to be aiming for the babies rather than the grasshopper.

The Knit-Your-Bit scarves and blankies that got sent off for 2009. Already working on the 2010 batch!

It's alivvvvvvve!

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:14:06 GMT

Yeah, I'm still here! Working on the holiday knitting. I innocently asked a friend, we'll call her 'Penny', for a couple skeins of acrylic from her stash to match some ombres I had. I'm using them for the WWII Museum's Knit-Your-Bit campaign. They collect and distribute scarves to Veterans' hospitals and centers. They'll also take lap blankets and afghans.

A few days later she shows up and dumps this on my doorstep. And promptly flees amid my protests.

That's 5 trash bags full.

I counted them, there are 100 skeins there! 100 skeins! And a good deal of them are the big 8 and 16 oz. ones.

I have such a wonderful and generous friend, I'm overwhelmed! She went through her stash and picked coordinating colors. So far I've made about 4 or 5 lapghans.

They're a great go-to project(as are the scarves) for when you need a busy-hands-no-thinking-project. I always have a blankie and a scarf on the needles to work on in between other stuff.

PS: the sweater is done except for the sleeves. Oh the shame. It fits well, I have the buttons, but I put it down and haven't picked it back up. Hangs head...

Stuff I've been making...

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:31:06 GMT

Some little pouches, from a tutorial I found on Craftster. Those little snaps are awesome, they're set in with little prongs, so much better than sewing!

Even more little pouches, this time the Sundance Makeup bag from Ravelry. I think I made about a dozen of these little cuties. Of course I haven't sewn the buttons on most of them, and haven't even started the linings. They don't absolutely need a lining, but they look really cute.

And I started a sweater! A project bigger than a scarf! It's the February Lady Sweater in my favorite Cotton Ease. It's coming along, and even though it's only a 7 stitch repeat I finally had to put markers in every 35 stitches because I kept screwing up the lace.

The dog days have finally hit! It's supposed to be 90 today about 80% humidity, yum!

Ups & Downs

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:26:35 GMT

Things are getting back to normal, except we might have to build an Ark any day. I think it's been raining for 6 weeks straight. It seems like summer my never come.

My Puff had a urinary blockage and had to stay in the hospital for 3 nights. He's all better now and back to his usual Puff-ness. It was an ordeal for both of us. I noticed him trying to pee on the couch. Usually he would never do that. When I felt the spot, there were only a couple drops and he was trying again on the rug. I knew it wasn't anything good. Of course these things happen at night and of course the husband was out of town. Actually I thought it might be a UTI and packed him off to the (closer)emergency vet.

Unfortunately that vet is only open 7:00pm to 7:00am and they wanted to keep him overnight. Meaning I'd have to pick him up by 7:00am, bring him home and wait for my regular vet to come in at 9:00am. Considering he needed both a catheter and an IV, I really didn't want to be traveling around with him. So before they did anything, I decided to take him to the 24 hour emergency animal hospital a bit futher away.

Poor Puff, he was traumatized. Urinary blockages aren't uncommon in kitties and they're pretty serious. They admitted him and by the time I got home (40 minutes later), they'd already phoned with an update. They told me he actually scratched people at the clinic! My sweet little Puff went all Puffinator.

Anyway, he's doing well now, but since this can reoccur, I'm watching him like a hawk.

And I've been making stuff.

The Grrlfriend Bag, a neat pattern found on Ravelry. Fun knitting. The bottom is solid blue like the strap. It's very stretchy!

Some silly potholders. I all of a sudden had an urge to crochet some kitsch!

Some crochet washcloths, although Puff doesn't need a washcloth! Seriously, I'm glad that's his foot he's cleaning...

I can't believe I'm makin a glove!

Tue, 05 May 2009 17:43:45 GMT

But I am! I love the way they're coming out too! Love that self-patterning yarn. The pattern is from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. Knitting the fingers is very fiddly for my huge man-hands. I even bought some wee little short needles to help and it's still a challenge. They've been thumb and index fingerless for a while now while I knit scarves and washcloths. I'm guessing I'll pick them up again before next winter...

Happy Easter

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:00:27 GMT

From Mount Peepsmore!

Rest well, Sweet little Randy

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:53:19 GMT

You weren't our kitty nearly long enough. I'm glad we got a little good petting in before you had to leave us. We hope we did the best for you. We'll never forget you.