Tired Thoughts

So this school crap is kicking my ass. Last night I started to shut down at 9pm. How old am I? I should be partying it up at all hours of the night. Maybe it is a good time to start my goal of becoming independently weathly so I can travel, spa, shop, and knit when I want. Hmm, how does one become independently wealth? Lottery? Guess I better start buying tickets...

Don't read this if you don't like funny stories about little dogs with gas
One of the reasons I feel like a train hit me is becuase one did. No, not really. It's all Yoda's fault.

So, yesterday we had some major storms--Tornado warnings, hail--the fun stuff. It was also Yoda's long day in the cage. I gave her a Jumbone to gnaw on in the kennel. My sister stopped by to visit the little pug and let her out. Becky said that Yoda was fine, but she ate most of the Jumbone, so it was taken away.

Jeremy got home and Yoda did her normal potty/eat routine. Everything was normal. I got home at 10, put Yoda in her Kennel and went to bed.

Around 2am I hear whining. It DOES NOT STOP. I finally decided that if I wanted to get any sleep I needed to get up and take Yoda out. Since we don't have a fence in the yard, we have to take her out on the leash. So, I put her harness on and hooked her up.

She didn't get very far. She ran off the porch right into the yard, squatted and sounded the loudedst fart I have every heard from her (she would rival a large man). She then ran to a different part of the yard, squatted, and sounded the second loudest fart I have ever hear from her. This running around and farting happened a couple more times. Finally, she got it out of her system and came back inside.

I put her back in her kennel after wiping her bottom, just in case. Jeremy asked me what I was doing and told him the fart story. He and I were laughing as much as someone can at 2am. I then said, "If it wasn't 2 in the morning, it would be much funnier." That had him rolling.

So, I don't know if it was the Jumbone or anxiety from the storms, but she was one messed up little dog.

I guess it was funnier if you were there...and I am sure glad you weren't 'cause I would have kicked you out! 2am is too early/late to be visiting someone!!

Damn you Blogger!

Ok, so some of you have already commented on my weird post today...Please come back and read what I am adding. Please? What happened was that I uploaded the pictures to Blogger through 'Hello' and was going to go back in to edit everything. Only Blogger went down for several hours!! Just to let everyone know, I am in process of moving to Typepad. More on that later... Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled post:

Saturday was a great day for getting stuff done--sort of. Jeremy and two of his friends, one a plumber and one an electrician, were putting in a ceiling fan in our Great Room. Since my car was blocked in and I didn't want to do yard work, I decided to make some things that I had been meaning to do. One of the things on my list was a Springy bag with some Amy Butler fabric. I love stripes!! so you can imagine the fun I had with one. I still need to steam it so it looks nice, but I really like the way it turned out. I didn't use a pattern per se, but I adapted one to fit my needs. Monica, since it is cotton, it is a little flimsy to hold Yoda, but I am sure I'll find bones hidden in it!

Spring Stripes
If I really wanted to, I could use this bag as a reversable bag. The lining is also Amy Butler, and it is all coordinated. I still have some left overs that I was thinking about using for a needle role.

Funky Flowers


I stopped at Barnes and Noble yesterday. I know, it's my kryponite. But I only bought these two magazines. I was pleasenly surprised by the Vogue. I like about 8 designs. I am not usually one for summer sweaters, but these are almost year-round ones.


Spring/Summer 2005

What would a blog entry be without the Yodster? She had just finished defending her yard from a bunch of middle schoolers cutting through our yard. I hope they find some nice presents on their shoes later...Serves them right!!


It's Spring, Mom!

What now?

Now that I have completed Klaralund, what am I going to work on you ask? Well, I have this surprise project that you see over to the side. I had to rip out both of the sleeves since I did them all wrong the first time. I would otherwise be done. Then it's on to the Hourglass sweater. I think Mariah is not going to happen....

Go Illini

I can't live in Illinois and not give a shout-out to the Fighting Illini. I hate basketball. I was a cheerleader in high school for both football and basketball--basketball was the longest season ever. So, it is amazing that I go home turn on PTI and SportsCenter just to see what the prognosis is for the Blue and Orange. But, while I went to the smaller school about an hour south of U of I, I did take a summer class there one year....does that count as alumni? They keep sending me alumni stuff...Or is it just Illinois Pride?




BTW--why can't the sportscasters understand that the 's' in Illinois is silent? How hard is that?

Alright, Alright

Since you all have asked nagged me for a modeled picture of Klaralund, here you go:



An Easter Sweater

All Yoda

Here is Yoda chasing her tail. Yes, she chases her tail. I have even seen her catch it!! She really gets going around, but here she was just finishing up a round.

How can you not give that face everything she wants? What are we going to do when we have kids?! They are going to be so spoiled...

C'mon, Mom, take me out. I'll go potty this time...

Done with Klara

Completed Klaralund

Pattern: Klaralund from Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Collection Book 2
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden color 201
Needles: Lion Brand size 8 plastic straights
Notes: I shortened the sleeves a bit. I will probably never use Silk Garden again. I am not a fan of the knots, the fodder or the feel of it. It did soften a litte when washed, but not too much.

Yoda and Klara

Yoda likes Klara



She really likes Klara...



Don't mess with my Klaralund!

More Yoda

I promised pictures with the new camera, so here are a *few* to keep you busy!




I'm comfy...



Is it bedtime, yet?



Don't tell Mom I'm lying on her material for the drapes!

Where oh where is Klaralund?

I was hoping to have a finished sweater to show off today. But after sewing on the same sleeve three times because I had done it wrong twice, I just didn't get it all done. I will finish and take pictures tonight.

Which reminds me that we bit the bullet and bought a new digital camera. We went big, so to speak-- A digital Canon Rebel SLR. We figure that we'll have this camera a while. I am in process of reading the manual since there are sooo many features. But for such a complex camera, it is relatively easy to use, thus far. Everyone will have to let me know what you think of the pictures when I start taking them...Just think, more cute Yoda pics. Oh, yeah, and knitting pics!!

Do you ever want to finish all of your projects so badly that you start something new? Or is that just me? Last night I wanted to be done with Klaralund, my secret project, and those darn sorry socks. So, instead I picked up some old Wool-Ease Chucky and played around with some of the patterns in Knitting on the Edge. I finally came out with a spiral. No pictures since it isn't very pretty. Kind of blah in bulky yarn if you ask me. But cool in design nonetheless.

Maybe tonight I will get something done...or is that pushing it? I really need to learn to knit faster. It's supposed to be about the process and not the project, right? I might beg to differ sometimes...

Sleeve Island

Here I am on Sleeve Island not sipping a Margarita. I do have one Klaralund sleeve done and one surprise project sleeve done (yes, it has sleeves, but no pics).





Klaralund sleeve #1

I doubt the colors make for a great upclose shot of the extending garter stitch, but it's worth a shot:



Close up of extended garter stitch


I have also been working on my sock. It is a sorry sock in that I should be done already!


sorry sock

Yoda was not happy with the early morning photo shoot...





Yoda stealing back her chew toy

I have been knitting. Really, I have. Here is proof:





Klaralund Sleeve #1


For those of you that have done this sweater, did you match the sleeves' stripes or did you just knit away in bliss until it was done? See, I'm not sure I want to mess with getting the stripes the same on both sleeves, but then I think it'll look weird if I don't. Suggestions?

Oh, Yoda was helping me take pictures...Here she is running away from the camera. That has to be a first!



Yoda's butt running away...

As you can see from my side bar, I have actually been pretty productive. It doesn't feel that way. I have been working on Klaralund and have decided that I am really not a fan of purling. I tried. I told myself I would give it a chance. Well, I did, and it slows me down. Guess I'll have to learn a different way to knit so that the quickness of the knit makes up for the purl? Does that make sense? I didn't think so.

This week I am in training for some server monitoring software. How fun does that sound? Yeah, I agree. Yesterday was one of the longest days of my life. Seriously. I started taking my own breaks. Sometimes you need to just get up and move around. I hope everyone's day is more exciting than mine!!

Goat or Pug?

Yoda has been acting very strange lately. After some careful consideration, we have come to the conclusion that she is turning into a goat. First, she began chewing on shoes. Then used (eww) Kleenex. Now she is climbing on her Kennel:




She must have seen a mouse...





Don't notice the laundry in the corner





On top of the world!

Milestones

First, I want to say Happy Birthday to Chicago. Yes, this second city is 168 today. And it even survived a cow and a lantern...

Second, the person, or rather the person whose magazine inspired me to learn to knit is out of prision today--Martha Stewart. I learned from an article in one of the Living issues several years back. I have to give her kudos for that.

It's a busy day with all this celebration!!

Speaking of celebrations, how cool is it when your non-knitting friends buy you knitting stuff for your birthday? A really good friend of mine since 5th grade(!) and his girlfriend spent sometime at the bookstore picking out knitting books for me. How awesome! The books I received are:




Well, I do already have two of the books they gave me, so I just acted surprised and happy. The book I got in exchange for SnB and Knitted Toys (plus a store credit):


Here is the book I was allowed to purchase when Jeremy and I went to the bookstore (he got some books too, so it was only fair):



Wow!! Guess I better get knitting so I can use these books!!

Fuzzy Bunny

Here are the finished Baby Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts:







Pattern: Angora Baby Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: 100% Angora in white
Needles: 2 Denise Circulars size 5
Notes: Oh how I wish I could have a pair of these. They are so soft and cuddly. I found Yoda trying to cuddle with with them!!

Updates

I was flying along on my sock last night when I realized the heel was not right. I'm not sure what happened, but it just wasn't right. I thought I was going to have to rip the entire thing over because I was starting to not like the pattern...low and behold Lion Brand has a similar pattern with a heel that makes sense. So the knitting on the sock comences!

I have been working on Klaralund. I am working on the sleeve currently. I would have taken a picture, but really, who wants to see garter stitch and more stockenette? Ei, the color I am using is 201. It's supposed to be blue and purple, but as you can see from the previous pictures, that is not always the case!!

Heather, I would love to show you a close-up of the Angora, but it is currently a pair of booties...I just need to sew in a few ends and I'll have pictures tomorrow. I wish I had booties for me in Angora. So soft!!

Denise Needles and socks

I love my Denise Needles. I really do--I have 2 sets. Only thing is I have broken 2 cables in the short amount of time I have had them. I think one of the sets may have defective needles, but I don't know what set that is AND I am sure all my cables are mixed up by now. I sent in the first needle and they replaced it for me, but the downtime of waiting for the cord can really put a damper on getting things done. Hmpf!

So, while I wait for my new cable, I picked up some sock yarn in my basket and have so far turned it into this:




Simple Sock






Closeup of yarn pattern