Lacking substance (& knitting pics)

Really, truly I've been meaning to take pictures of my knitting projects or FO's - - - but I just haven't. I know..... bad blogger me.

So in the absence of knitting content - I bring you CORN! (yes, I know there are nights that I seem to have lost my mind; bear with me sanity will catch up with me sooner or later.)

When I say that my yard sometimes looks more like a cornfield than a yard I really mean it.

Notice the little tuft of silk on the ear of corn - right by my front porch door?!?

Oh and an update on the gutter corn.... It has an ear!!! (sometimes folks, it's the little things : )

Further proof that I'm not the wacko planting all this corn

- here's the spidey feeder (along with more corn growing underneath it). The box has a hinged lid to hold the squirrel chow that they usually lift up with their heads and dig around in for the good stuff. They love them some unsalted peanuts in the shell!! The shepherds hook is holding the spring-looking thing that holds an ear of corn.

Here's a cute little rodent caught red-handed! (red-pawed??).

I've never caught one sitting in my gutters before so I couldn't resist taking a couple pics. I ended up getting too close for his liking and he ran away up on the roof. Busted!!

Really, truly I plan (and will!) take knitting pics this weekend. I've even updated my list of on the needles and WIP's on the sidebar in an effort of good faith (or just to remind my fuzzy self of the pics I need to take! : )

p.s. I've finished my muff for the muff along I just need to finish seaming!

Is it just me?

I went on a mini-vacation last weekend (can little more than a long weekend to visit family. in-laws even, be considered a vacation??) and had wonderful thoughts of knitting there and back. From my lake side town in MI to Minnesota close to the Iowa line that would be about 9-10 hours in a car.

I could get tons done on my Ruana (that I haven't touched in weeks.....)! I could finish my Kool-Aid scarf (not touched in months.....)! I could start and finish a can cooler for PB for work!

Such great plans!! Such amazing visions of completion!! The oooo's and ahhh's from everyone marveling at my finished objects!! I am knitting Goddess turning WIP's into FO's!!

REALITY CHECK ----

Friday drive out to MN -
After 8 rows on the Kool-Aid scarf - I was bored.
I started a new knitted bracelet cuff (on 1's!! Had to buy them for this project - eeek)

Sunday drive back to MI -
Started a new bag out of cotton (side note - no real pattern and it got frogged on Tuesday and then cast on for a traveling laundry bag, again no real pattern)
Worked on the bracelet cuff
Started the can cooler for PB

Never touched the biggest project - the Ruana - other than to look at the bag in the trunk and go "Oh yeah...."

Score:
FO's - 0
New Projects Started - 3

Is it just me? Or is there a support group for those of us with too many WIP's??

"Hi. My name is Kat. I'm a habitual new project starter, very rarely finishing something before starting something new. I get really excited about something new and find myself very easily bored with something that needs finishing. Then I cannot possibly conceive of finishing anything without at least starting on the new project."

Say it with me in unison - - -

"Hi Kat - welcome! You are among friends - as we are the UFO Collector's Anonymous"

Reflections on a gated community - - - -

Conversation with a guy at work (who’s known to have a somewhat odd sense of humor)....

S: "You look just like someone who works in our department."
me: "Really? You should introduce us sometime!"
S: "I really don't know her that well."
me: "Well that's too bad."

As soon as I said that I realized that it’s true. It’s really too bad that there are people who don’t know me that well. People I see nearly every day, but truly without much interaction. Then I got to thinking that there are people who should know me so well but then they say something or do something and it makes you wonder if they ever really knew you at all.

There are people we let into our own little world and there are people we keep out. There are times we make mistakes on who we give the gate key too - bad relationships or selfish people - and we wish we could erase them or forget them but they’ve already left their initials carved in every tree, wet cement and park bench in our world.

I’m not saying we should lock the gate and throw away all the keys and keep everyone out for fear of a person wielding a mean pocket knife. Maybe we just need to walk through our world with the next person we want to invite in and help them understand us. Then maybe they will be more sensitive to things that we’re sensitive to. Or at least know why we feel the way we do, even if they don’t quite get it.

Blue sky & clouds

I'm currently at work covering for the receptionist as she takes her lunch break. The view from the front windows is much better than the lack of view from my office. Prison grey is just such and unattractive color!

I started my muff for the Muff along over the weekend. PB and I drove up to Big Rapids to bring some feed for the deer (PB hunts in the fall) and I figured a couple hours traveling would be the perfect time to start. I got the first smaller cuff and a little bit of the body completed before we got back home.

While we were in Big Rapids we stopped at A & W for dinner. This was one of the few remaining old drive ins. You know the kind where you pull up under a canopy to a little menu and speaker box, place your order and someone delivers it out to you on a tray that hooks over your window. I have to say the girl who brought our food didn't have roller skates, a cute little hat or a ponytail. But it was still very cool and nothing could beat the root beer float in the old fashioned thick glass mugs. You know, we had the camera with us but I was too caught up in the moment to take a single picture.

I ended up getting about 4-5" of the body done. It's a really quick going project and I like how it's turning out. Maybe tonight I'll get a chance to take a teaser picture since I don't want to show all of it until it's done.

Progress & updates

There has been knitting, albeit not much with the heat and running around and the desire to grab needles and wool has been low.

Can cooler (with the caffeine addiction - Diet Pepsi)

In process - bottle cooler (Smirnoff Ice - black cherry, yummy!)

I've mentioned my gutter trees and how should I dig them out an plant them.... Well folks when I said gutter trees - I really meant trees growing out of my gutters.

Some of these are at least 2 years old and they appear to be thriving! I have to laugh in the fall when their leaves change color and actually fall off as if they were growing anywhere else but in my garage gutters!

I have also been feeding the squirrels in the front of the house for the past couple years. We started with just corn in a spring looking holder and then added a box with a hinged lid for squirrel chow (yes there is squirrel chow, not just cat & dog chow but squirrel chow). This feeding of wildlife initially started as entertainment for the cats. But we quickly realized that these furry-tailed little tree rats were pretty cute and entertaining to us humans as well. I've seen them climb the side of my brick house in such a fashion that would make Spiderman jealous. So their new nickname was born - Spidey!

Because of our feeding of these Spidey's and the fact that we still give them ear corn and there's corn in the squirrel chow - they bury it all through out the yard. There are times that the yard looks more like a corn field then a yard. So ladies & gentleman.... I present to you......

Gutter corn!

Not only am I growing trees in my gutters - the squirrels thought I needed corn up there too! I don't think any of the corn they squirrels planted will produce ears this year (last year they did!) but the cute little rodents have been entertainment for us even if their farming skills aren't up to par this year.

Is there a circus in town?

Have you ever been so restless or bored or just un-entertained in your own life or your part of the world that you wanted to run away and join the circus?

Now I'm not talking about the little kid who thinks his mommy is the meanest person EVER that he runs away to the park until he gets bored and meanders back home.

I mean becoming a true circus person - a "carni" if you will. Hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy vendor. Or the chicky flying through the air on the trapeeze. Or the strong man who's married to the bearded lady.

Really just an escape from reality.....

Although to get past the fantasy of it all - I can picture the strong man and bearded lady fighting about the kids (lizard boy and lobster girl) doing their homework. Or the trapeeze chicky knocking back one more shot of Grandad whiskey before climbing that damn ladder again. And I remember my own summer jobs as a kid in the concession stands (showers never felt so good!).

I suppose that there's an escape in every part of the world no matter how mundane or uneventful it is. Even if its just the look on the other person's face as they realize that you just might be crazy after all.

For the most part I'm happy in my world - sure there's things I would change or fix, but it wouldn't be my world without those things (although some of them could go away.....). Time might fix those things or I might realize that they're just a part of the life I've created for myself.

Either way I'm not the hairy woman with the wet offspring that people pay to point and laugh at. I'm just me - whoever or whatever that is at any given moment. The magic of the circus will live on, if only in my wayward thoughts.

Hot dogs!! Carmel Corn!! Candy Apples!!
Step right up!! We have a winner!!

Heeeere's Jonny.....

Jonny Lang that is!

PB and I saw him Thursday night at an outdoor venue. This kid is awesome!! If you like the blues at all check him out!

He was 16 when his first (acutally 2nd) disc was out that made a decent splash in 1997. He plays like he's possesed by a long since gone blues legend and looks like it too. He has definately grown in style and heart since his early disc. However, he keeps his growl and rasp that made me love him in the first place.

Happy Birthday..... pt. 2

My mom calls me this morning and after the "hi"'s she asks - "Are you happy?"

A little puzzled I say "Yeah - why?"

"Well that's what dad and I wanted for you. So I thought I'd make my yearly question."

ok......

I suppose really though that it's not a bad thing if you think about it. The biggest thing my folks wanted for me was to be happy. Now that's not to say that grades, or a good job, or a family of my own wasn't on their wish list or weren't important to them. But above everything else they wanted me to be happy. If that meant a very prestigous career or a job that didn't pay much other than the bills. If that meant a husband and kids or single and traveling the world. If that meant living in the town I grew up in (where they still reside) or some far flung corner of the globe. They just wanted me to be happy.

I could say when I was younger and living at home - I thought my happiness was the farthest thing from there concern at times. But you grow up and look back and realize they were looking out for me, for what they believed was important. Many times they were right and often my views and beliefs ended up a bit different from theirs. But they still wanted me to be happy - whatever I figured that out to be.

Don't get me wrong they still drive me nuts - hey they are my parents... : ) but I know they love me and that they did what they felt was best.

And I don't think I turned out too bad.....

Happy Birthday.....

to me!

As of noon today - - - I will be one more year closer to 30.

Why do you knit....??

Really - it's a question that I've often thought and wondered about.

Why?? What possessed you to pick up these sharp pointy sticks and try to make something with yarn?

Why do you knit? To make something for someone? To become one of the crowd who have seemed to taken up knitting in the last few years? To find a craft? To take a class on an idle Monday night? To find yourself?

Myself - I started with an ad in the paper. My mom had seen an ad in the local newspaper for a LYS/sewing shop that was offering a class on how to knit, and wondered if I'd be interested. Sure - why not? It sounded like fun. (But come to think of it I remember mentioning something to my mom when I was a kid about learning how to knit. She - not knowing how - told me to ask my Aunt Mary about it. Aunt Mary was, and still is, a very nice woman and I love her dearly but as a kid under the age of 10 still slightly scary. I didn't feel comfortable or dared to say "Mom says you know how to knit. Could you teach me? I mean I only saw her on family get-togethers and as a kid most of your family is slightly intimidating anyway.)

So mom and I took a class. We both got the hang of it for the most part and finished the class. I learned something that could keep my hand occupied while talking or watching bad TV. Being of the internet/information age I searched online for patterns, and found a very easy triangle shawl pattern. Thus the obsession started.....

My mom has been stuck in a scarf rut since we took the class. I did get her to try the skull bag from Hello Yarns (minus the skull). Currently I've got her into the French Market bag from Knitty. She's not as hooked as I've become but if I keep finding ways to kick her out of her rut she could be..... : )

Yea!! It's here!!

I got a new DPN needle case! Ok so I never had one to begin with. I got the one of my dreams - custom made even - from Dave Daniels of Cabin Cove and his Cabin Cove Mercantile. I sent him an email asking if he could custom make one for me that would fit 2 sets of the smaller needles and up to size 15.

This is what I got:


The monster of all DPN cases! It's huge and it's perfect for what I wanted! All my DPN's in one place. No more looking through case #1 for this needle and case #2 for that needle. I have to do that with my straight needles and it can be a pain sometimes. Especially when you don't remember which needles are where.... I love the fabric - it's just too cool! There's one gingerbread man who got his arm bitten off.... I just love his eyes! Thanks again Dave!

On another interesting note - I taught my stepson how to knit last weekend. It was for a school assignment, he had to learn something new and then write out instructions how to do what he learned. I don't know if he'll knit much or ever again but I still think it's kind of cool. He even said that it was "kind of fun". I'll take that as a compliment from a 16 year old boy. He didn't make it much larger than what you see. He called it a 'toe sock'. Silly boy.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th to all.

May you remember & know all that independence is.

Independence of yourself, your thoughts, your feelings.
Independence of our country and the fight for that independence.
Independence of others and their desire for it.

Happy birthday America!

Farmer Chicky??

Today was a really good day. Went to some garage sales with PB (hubby), went out to lunch, came home and took a little nap.

We then went and dinked in the yard a bit. Now gardening and growing things really isn't my forte'. I've joked that if there's a plant I cannot kill - then that's the plant for me! All joking aside, it's the truth. My aunt had given me some hostas a couple years ago. I left them in the pots and watered them when I thought about (let me tell you - that wasn't often!). They stayed out all winter and in MI those things should have been dead by the time spring rolled around. They lived!! So after PB moved in and we got the back yard looking better than a weed haven I cut the hostas and planted them. Again, they lived!!


Before.....

After....

See that little terra cotta looking pot?? That thing was 2 leaves and a root. I "planted" and and figured if it died - it died, but if it lived - cool. It lived!! That was the hosta I cut up and planted today. AND I cut up some more pieced of it and got 4 more experiments and a pot with dirt and roots. Hey, if it grows - cool and if not than I've just been watering a pot with dirt.

The neighbors have a tree in their back yard that make those helicopters in the spring. Last year they ended up growing in the garage gutters. So as a joke I said that we should water the 'gutter trees'. Well PB picked up and ran with that idea and now we have 2 year old 'gutter trees'. I pulled some out from under the so called deck and planted those. Now my only question is how do I dig the other trees out of the gutters??

All hooked up

As I was looking over my stash tonight and rearranging my needles into a new tote purchased for just that reason, my husband looks over at me. I show him how nicely all my needles and such fit nicely in this new tote and how everything is now nicely organized. (This of course does not include the needles on various projects or those still sitting on the coffee table.) He comments on how I've got a few hundred dollars in knitting stuff. So?!? Is it really so bad to have most of the needles you may ever need for projects yet undetermined? Or to have yarn for projects that you think you want to make but don't have time to start because you should probably finish one of you (many) UFO's?

I was never a boy scout but I bet they'd be impressed with my ability to be prepared for nearly any knitting project that may arise.

**Disclaimer: However, said prepared-ness does not negate the need for further stash enhancement.

Sanity - what's that??

Now some would say that I've lost a little bit of rational thinking or that I've struck gold. My husband would fall into the laugh-at-me-while-shaking-his-head-saying-"That's my Chicky" category.

Here's the story -
I went to Meijers (a local supermarket) after work to get groceries and whatever else they had on sale this week that we needed. You see I'm one of those people who reads the Sunday paper for the ads as much as the paper-paper.

As it turns out they were having a sale of an additional 25% off their clearance stuff - including yarn. Hmmm.... now what's a good bargain loving chicky to do? Of course I headed over there to check it out! : )

I walked out of there with 6 skeins of Patons Classic Merino in Aran @ $2.02 a skein (that's for 223 yards each, folks!), 3 skeins of Bernats Denim Style in Batik@ $ .97 a skein (under a dollar!!), and 2 skeins of Lion Brand Landscapes in Rose Garden @ $2.25 a skein.

So you be the judge; yarn bargain genius or just plain wacko??

One of those....

Ever have one of those days?

Those days that you have a long list of things you have to do and even to some extent want to do. But as the day wears on.... and your mind wonders.... and your thoughts scatter.... It ends up that all you really want to do is find a good glass of wine, bad tv, and some needles and settle in to that comfy spot on the couch?

Well I'm there folks!

Have a good night....

Mom's Day or the day the rains left....

Happy mom's day to all out there.

I live in this town where our biggest claim to fame is the tulip. So this past week has been a blur of parades (yes, even in the rain), flowers, Dutch dancing, fair food and tourists. Generally, I try to avoid downtown during the week just because I've lived here all my life and I've seen enough of the lovely tulip to last me for a while. However, there is usually one night that I must venture out and savor all that is so not good for you - the fair food.

When I was a kid I had a summer job working in those same concession stands. So I am a more discerning connoisseur of the food. I absolutely hate cotton candy - after washing spun sugar out of my stiff hair (rivaling the "gel" in There's Something about Mary) I just can no longer stomach the stuff. Now the popcorn, caramel corn and occasional elephant ear - those are good eatin'!

This year it was just too cold, wet, rainy and generally icky to get out of the car to run to the booth and get the yearly treat. That just means when the fair is in town or during Coast Guard Festival I'll have an excuse to go!

Knitting is going well. My KoolAde dyeing experiment is turning into an adaptation of Crazy Aunt Purl's magic scarf - except mine is a Magic 8 Ball scarf (8 knit, 8 purl, on size 8 needles by 6 'blocks'). I'm afraid though I should have dyed a couple more skeins in order to make a longer scarf. Now if that doesn't sound like the perfect excuse (not that one is ever needed) to buy more yarn and dye some more - I don't know what does!

Off and running....

What better to do on an early Friday evening but have a glass of wine and join the world of blogs. After reading so many - mainly knitting - blogs and having the craving to share my sometimes muddled soul with whoever may be interested..... Here I am!

Looking out into the back yard at my first experiment of dyeing yarn (with Kool-Aid in a crockpot) I'm pretty proud of myself. But I've also got a new question... When dyeing with Kool-Aid, does the yarn usually dry a bit crunchy? Or did I just not rinse it out enough?

Well I'm off for now - it's my Dad's birthday and I just have to go give him a hug!