Knitting Without Dog Hair Is Not an Option

Hi there - My name is Claudia. I live with my hubby and our two furry kids in Georgia, USA. Originally I am from Germany - southern belle from Bavaria replanted to the Southern US. I am very addicted to knitting - 4-5 projects going at the same time... What can I say...

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Location: Peckerwood, Georgia, United States

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

I am such a dork...

MY APOLOGIES!!! I don't know what I did with regards to the settings of the comment section for my blog...

THANK YOU Janice for mentioning it tonight at the SNB knit-together!


This flower is for you (I took the picture last year from one of our rose bushes in the front yard).

I had no idea that people were posting comments - I truly thought that my blog was too new to get any interest (or if I would be more silly - that nobody loves meeeeeeeeeeeeee).

Well DUHHHHH... Of course - as always - it is the user's fault. Me and HTML - worlds collide... But I am getting better every day. I changed a few parameters and hopefully everything works now. Sorry again - I was not avoiding you guys, I just didn't know better...

Had to post this real fast before bed-time ;-) Nite, nite - sleep tight!

"Hel-lo Wednesday." "Hel-lo blog."

If you are a Seinfeld fan, you will probably get the reference... Hubby and I are anxiously awaiting the release of Season 7 on DVD. This show is just too funny. And guess what, when I lived in Germany, I watched the show once and I thought - Oh my God, that is the stupidest show on the planet. And why? Dubbing it in German made all the great New York black/dry humor disappear. But that's what the Germans do - translate before broadcasting on German TV. Same thing with movies. That is why I don't mind watching some movies again in their original version since it is very different from the dubbed version. And of course living in the US helps to understand more of the references. Enough excursion to German culture for the moment ;-) More education for you later...

Finally Georgia seems to be getting some real spring weather. It was very foggy this morning on my way to work (1 hour 5 min for 38 miles) and now the sun is coming through. I wouldn't mind having some warmer weather soon. It is good for motivation - more stuff to do outdoors. Like knitting on the square in Gainesville with the Saturday SNB knitting group. So, today I feel like this:



Do you feel like hugging the world, too? In addition to nice weather (how trivial...) what can better be than having a great hubby, two cute dogs (well behaved - if they would behave any better, they would be stuffed animals...) and a lot of yarn stashed in the closet for many knitting projects to come, even some summer projects? I guess the only thing that could top this would be more time for knitting... No, I don't sound obsessed with this hobby, do I?

Finally I found a great knitting mantra or if you want to call it 10 Knitting Commandments on Wendy Knits' Blog - How to be a BAD-ASS Knitter. I like it... My favorite - no. 9: Never apologize for knitting cat/dog hair into your sweater. It's all the warmer!

The knitting group last night was great - very warm and welcoming to a new face. I will try and go back on Tuesdays when I have other knitting commitments.

Have a great Wednesday - just got some work dumped on my desk... Off to the "real" thing now...

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

What a cute cartoon...


Doesn't that look like a SNB knitting group?

A lot of things got done this weekend – the new yard care/lawn company came out for the first time and mowed. Now our front lawn looks normal and the armada of weeds is gone. Hubby and I fixed the bent tree again. Last time, the stake was not long enough and it got pulled out by the first rain. The soil on our sloping front lawn (especially in the flower bed) is really crappy. Anyway - now there is a long stake to keep the tree upright and so far - even with rain today - it works.

Also some success with regards to finishing up some knitting - what can you do to make time go by when you have five loads of laundry? I was also thinking about a bath for the dogs - but that got kicked off the list since they don't smell. Good thing that we have indoor dogs.

SO - what did I do knit-wise? I finished Julia’s baby blanket. It is very, very fluffy – a hot pink cloud. Hopefully the child is not allergic to acylic ;-)

And I started a new baby blanket – for a friend here in the US. I have some more yarn (of course) and a vintage lace pattern for a baby blanket (knitted from the center in the round outwards - you bind off 576 stitches - shoot me now...) So, actually I wanted to knit a second one for my niece. But when I told my Mom about it, she got all huffy – because she almost finished a baby blanket for her first grand daughter. Well – don’t want to get on my Mom’s bad side (she once broke a wooden cooking spoon on my brother’s butt...- of course he deserved it...).

I still haven’t booked my flight to Germany, but at least I know the time frame: May 12 to 22 or 23. We’ll see. I looked at tickets online, but boy-oh-boy they sure are expensive at the moment. I’ll wait a little longer – maybe I can snatch up a great deal in April.

Have you ever wondered what cats and dogs would put on their blogs – here you go: click here --> Cat's and Dog's Blog

And then I found something really interesting – I really don’t remember how I stumbled across this... You must know – I loved to play with Lego (I was not really a girl playing with dolls). Here are the Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations. Guess what my favorite is... Of course – No 4. Lego Knitting Machine. I just don’t know what is so strange about a knitting machine... Maybe because this is a Lego one ;-)

And for the word buffs amongst you - the Top Ten Favorite Words that are not in the dictionary. Again – I like No. 4 – Chillax – reminds me very much of hanging out and knitting.

Do you sometimes feel like something must be wrong with you because you actually like your job - well, there is... Here is a "lost" Dr. Seuss poem for you (if you click on the picture, it enlarges and it's easier to read):


Alright - enough blahblahblah for Tuesday. I am going to a new (new in new for me) knitting group. I heard from a bunch of people that this group is really fun and they meet at 5pm. Perfect for me to scoot over after work - and hopefully beat the rush hour traffic with that. I'll keep you posted.

Friday, March 24, 2006

The Dolly Parton Basket

Ta-da - hubby came up with another name creation for one of my felting creations. It is the Cat Bordhi Moebius Fanny Basket aka Moebius Bum Basket aka Moebiass Basket. As I said, I was not as brave as Cat and used two blues instead of pink and green.

And here it is - we proudly present - THE DOLLY PARTON BASKET:







I am going to knit with some fellow knitters after work today to beat that darn traffic going home and tomorrow is another knit-together with my SnB NEGA group.

With this I let you slip in your well deserved weekend - more next week!

Interesting trivia about me ;-)

First of all - I tried out my first button - Have to work some more on the size, but for the first try it came out cute (in my mind):









AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...
Today I got an interesting email from my friend in the Bahamas - she forwarded a link to the Birthday Calculator

I entered: 7/10/1967 and this is MY output:

Your date of conception was on or about 17 October 1966 which was a Monday. (I guess I shouldn't bother asking my parents if they remember what they did that day...)

You were born on a Monday under the astrological sign Cancer.

Your Life path number is 4.

This is the meaning of Life Path 4:
(I won't comment on this but let me tell you a lot of this description is very true - good and bad stuff - you'll know if you know me...)
The Life Path 4 suggests that you entered this plane with a natural genius for planning, fixing, building, and somehow, with practical application and cerebral excellence, making things work. You are one of the most trustworthy, practical, and down-to-earth of individuals; the cornerstone members of society. Indeed, as a Life Path 4, you are a builder of society. The cream of the crop in this Life Path can be a master builder in society. If you are among these highly talented people, you have an idealistic nature which is grounded in practical terms, allowing you to conceive grandiose, far-reaching schemes and carry them through to the end. If you desire and are willing to work for it, you can achieve enormous success, prestige, and fame. Obviously, everyone with a 4 Life Path does not become famous.

All with this Life Path have the ability to take orders and to carry them out with dedication and perseverance and many 4s live and work happily in this context. But so often, the 4 Life Path is the entrepreneur and manager in the community. In either role, you always demand as much from yourself as you do from others, and sometimes a lot more.

You have the kind of will power that is often mistaken for sheer stubbornness. You don't think of yourself as dogged, but your honest beliefs and that ever direct speech makes you come across as completely unremitting. Once a decision is made, it will be followed through to the conclusion, right, wrong, or indifferent. You are very set in your ways and determined to handle things the way you are so certain that they should be handled. Your tenacity of purpose and ability to get the job done borders on obsession. You are a wonderful manager with a great sense of how to get the job done.

You are an excellent organizer and planner because of your innate ability to view things in a very common sense and practical way. This stems from a strong desire to be a perfectionist in your labor. Planning is necessary to avoid errors. It's very likely that a 4 Life Path person invented the to-do list, because it is the rare Life Path 4 who doesn't have one by her side at all times. Your life is programed in an orderly fashion permitting you to catalog and manage the flow of ideas and activities that fill your day. Indeed, you seem to function best when you are under the gun and facing a tough set of problems.

Loyal and devoted, you make the best of your marriage, and you are always the good provider. Friends may be few in number, but you are very close to them and once friendships are made, they often last a lifetime.

The number 4 is solidly associated with the element of earth from which it gains its strength and utter sense of reality. You are one of the most dependable people you know. If patience and determination can ever win, you are sure to achieve great success in life. Often, you are called on to take care of others; to finish what they have started. It may not seem fair and probably isn't, but it may be the key to your accomplishment and reputation.

The negative side of the 4 can prove dogmatic to an excess, narrow-minded, and repressive. A lot of skin-deep people turn you off, and you lack the tact to keep your feelings from being totally clear to all around. Additionally, the negative 4 has a bad tendency to get caught up in the daily routine of affairs, missing the big picture and major opportunities that come along once in a while.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22. (I checked hubby's number - he is a 8 - yay, we are compatible! And interestingly I am least compatible with my sis... Should tell me something. Bro and parents are also most compatible ;-)) You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 6 & 7. You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 3, 5 & 9.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2439681.5.
The golden number for 1967 is 11.
The epact number for 1967 is 19.
The year 1967 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/9/1967 and ending 1/29/1968. You were born in the Chinese year of the Goat.

As of 3/24/2006 10:53:34 AM EST
You are 38 years old.
You are 464 months old.
You are 2,019 weeks old.
You are 14,137 days old.
You are 339,298 hours old.
You are 20,357,933 minutes old.
You are 1,221,476,014 seconds old.

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.53307240704501 years old. (You're still chasing cats!) (So I am almost the same age as Hermione, our border collie. I wish I'd have her energy. Maybe I should tell her that she should behave more like 38 to make me feel better...)

There are 108 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 39 candles.
(Thanks for reminding me - but I don't really care - and if you know me you know that this is true...)

Those 39 candles produce 39 BTUs, or 9,828 calories of heat (that's only 9.8280 food Calories!). You can boil 4.46 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1967 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US. In 1967 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile. In 1967 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%) In 1967 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000). In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds. In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

Your birthstone is Ruby.
Ruby is said to open one's heart to love. Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources): Carnelian

Your birth tree is Fir Tree, the Mysterious.
Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those close to it, rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious uncontent lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.

There are 276 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 289 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waxing crescent. More details on the moon for Monday, July 10, 1967:
Moon's age (days): 3
Distance (Earth radii): 58.80
Percent Illumination 11.13%
Ecliptic latitude (degrees): 4.70

If you read this - you probably read all the "very interesting" stuff about me ;-) I promise the next entry will be less text ;-) HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

More pictures - I am on a roll here...

After I got home from the knitting session last night, I took a few more pictures. I know, not all of them are super-duper. Impatient me didn't want to fiddle with the tripod and some nice fabric on the dining room table. If you look closely, you can see some dog hair on the red background. I laid the projects on the futon in the guest room - which is (guess what) the doggie futon. Well, mostly the dogs lounge around there when I am knitting there. And then they leave tons of hair... I wonder if it would be enough to knit something with dog hair... The thought of it makes my neck hairs stand up. I don't think I could wear something knitted out of Hermione's or Noah's fur...

And - if you want to spend a lot of time looking at the cutest animal pictures online, click here --> Cute Overload

Before you start wondering if I'll ever shut up, here are the promised pix:

I finished the Mid-March Dishcloth (ahead of time... - bad girl... but the instructions kept repeating themselves...):

Here is another dishcloth I tried:

I saw a baby blanket in a book (Vogue Knitting on the Go: Baby Blankets, by Trisha Malcolm) I bought recently that has a similar pattern. I wonder if I should try that blanket for Julia - if I have time... I still have to finish the fluffy one.

AND - I got yarn on eBay - cotton and sock yarn. Super deal... of course...


And these yarns came from Numei:


I finished Julia's cardigan - told you that baby has lots of knitting to wear - thankfully Southern Germany is a lot colder than Georgia...


And I started matching booties (since I had yarn left over from the cardigan - I am trying to reduce stash... ahhh... what a nice thought...) from a GREAT booties book (50 Baby Bootees to Knit from Zoe Mellor). The bootie looks really weird before you sew it together. I have to take a pic of the second one before I finish it:


Alright - time to do something I actually get paid for... HAPPY THURSDAY - THE WEEKEND IS CLOSE - YAY!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Wednesday, bloody Wednesday...

Feel like writing a blog entry today. Wish it would be Friday instead of Wednesday. On the spur of the moment last week, I got several people of the SnB Atlanta group interested in getting together on Fridays to knit after work. So – I will meet three knitters this Friday at a Starbucks close to work. Blind date with fellow knitters – always fun. I checked out the Starbucks last Friday and it was quite nice. It has a comfy sofa, a bunch of big sofa chairs and tables with chairs. We should be able to fit in a small group of knitters.

Today I also got the OK from the library where I knit every 3rd Monday of the month that we can come and knit as often as we want. Every day if we want – yeah – I wish I had that much time... So, now we are knitting every other Monday at the Buford Library from 7pm to 8:30pm.

SO - all in all - it was at least a bit of success today on the knitting front.

Here are a few things I found today on fellow knitting blogger’s blogs. This is from Jane’s blog – how funny. Now you know what BAVGIRL really stands for:




What can you expect from a German Alien??? Immediate repair and learning... I guess that is in sync with the crappy German cars...

Found a great button on a Jen’s blog:
This takes you to a wonderful list – what to do with your stash – a nice list of ideas what to do with left over yarn. And I thought I would have to feed it to the dogs one of these days.

Speaking of the dogs, I wanted to share a picture I took the other day of Noah’s paws. Hubby and I always marvel about Noah’s front paws – they are HUGE. Remind you – he is only a 50-pound dog. But he has the front paws of a 100-pound dog. (His hind paws are pretty normal-sized.)


Very cute – makes him look like a puppy and you just have to love on him some more. But don’t let Hermione catch you. One of her rules: “Thou shalt have no other dog beside me.” Actually, it is not that bad, just almost... Sometimes we wonder if Noah exists in her map of the world at all. But she is nice to him – every once in while. Just what you expect from the big sister.

I am looking forward to tonight’s knitting group of the SnB Atlanta at another library location in Gwinnett. These knitters are so much fun. Last week we were shushed big time. Tonight we booked their conference room. So we can be as loud as we want. It's really funny that they shush a table full of adults who are enjoying a craft together and the tables with loud teenagers and the screaming kids don’t seem to bother the librarian. Anyways – it’ll be fun tonight. I brought both of my sweaters.

I got the front and the back done for the sand-colored cotton sweater and I am working on the first sleeve now. I should get done pretty quickly since it is a sweater with short sleeves.

And on the white cable sweater – after one ripping session (I had too many stitches, even with swatching) – I got about 16cm/6.5” done. Now I am increasing again after the waist line. It looks very pretty. I have to take a bunch of pictures – I know.

More later – Have a great Wednesday… - I think I need a last dose of caffeine for the day. Hubby showed me a great Dilbert Cartoon over the weekend – Wally (Dilbert's colleague and fellow engineer who is a thoroughly cynical employee who has no sense of company loyalty and feels no need to mask his poor performance or his total lack of respect) says that his purpose in life is to transport huge quantities of coffee from the coffee maker to the urinal. THERE YOU GO...

Friday, March 17, 2006

Ready for the weekend...

I am soooo ready... Somehow this week flew by and the weekend is around the corner.

In case you noticed the countdown clock - I am getting ready to book my flight to Germany. I will visit my family for a bunch of occasions coming up in May. My niece Julia - the one I am knitting the baby stuff for - is supposed to arrive on April 11. Then there is Mother's Day on May 14 and my sister-in-law's birthday on May 16. And I also want to check in on my Dad and his recovery from surgery.

Hubby had a birthday on Tuesday. I went home early, made him suffer opening a bunch of silly presents and hopefully a few good ones. He claims that he liked all of them. ;-) He wanted a home-cooked meal - thinks my cooking is better than dragging him to a restaurant - my kind of man. So, we had grilled flounder, fresh spinach with lots of garlic and baked potatoes. And we watched one of his b-day gifts - a Woody Allen movie - Anything Else. It was very funny. We love Woody Allen - such a neurotic New Yorker. ;-) Watching him makes you feel like a "normal" person. ;-)

My Dad's birthday was on Wednesday and I called Germany. Unfortunately his birthday gift did not arrive in time. Boo-hoo... I know, all my fault. I dilly-dallied around too much trying to find the right closure for his felted vest. Oh well - luckily my Dad knows me and my tendency to finish things at the very last minute. Just like my mom. I don't know how many late evenings she spent in her life finishing a sweater, a pair of socks, a cross-stitch project for somebody's birthday the next day. I guess I can blame that on the set of genes I got from her.

Last night was the first session of my sweater class. The four women were all prepared, had their swatches ready and we measured and calculated - almost like mathematicians - not really... But they had no idea how much math is involved when you have to adjust your gauge to the pattern you want to use. It went well and everybody went home with their first few rows for the back piece and a bunch of homework.

Nothing much planned for this weekend - maybe some yard work... Since spring is rolling in, the first armada of weeds hit the front lawn and it needs to get cut. I am hoping to find a new lawn service soon... We had one last year, but because of the high gas prices the business closed down.

I just found this funny joke on the internet - has to do with knitting, of course:

Knitting Chinese Many years ago my wife was to knitting what Tiger Woods is to golf. She designed exotic patterns with ease. There was an occasion when we had lunch in a real Chinese restaurant (only one person spoke partial English, all menus were in Chinese). When she saw the hand-written menu she was so impressed with the calligraphy she tucked the menu in her purse. Some months later I saw the result, a stunning white sweater with Chinese symbols hand-stitched down the front. She received compliments galore until one cocktail party when we met a distinguished Chinese physician who asked my wife where she got the symbols. He then wanted to know if she knew what they meant. "I'm afraid to ask," she said, "but tell me anyway." Even she had to laugh when he told her they read, "This is a cheap dish--but good."

And what is going on in my little knitting paradise?

I started the Mid March KAL with the Monthlydishcloths. I am using a variegated cotton yarn that looks like Easter colors. The pattern is interesting - it involves short rows.

I am working on a baby cardigan - well, guess for whom... Julia will probably have several knitted outfits for every day in her life since she has two crazy knitters in her family, a grandmother and an aunt ;-) Jane from my Wednesday SnB Knitting group worked on that cardigan pattern one night and shared the pattern. Very cute - I am using yarn that we don't speak of (shhhh... don't tell anybody, it's acrylic)... But you know what - that is just fine because it'll probably have to deal with a lot of baby spit...

Jane also pointed me to a fabric store where you can buy wonderful buttons - had to spend some money there:


One of the buttons went straight onto a felted purse:


I finished three dishcloths this week - I have to take a picture of the third one sometime this weekend:




And I felted a new handle for the dreadlock bag - now I can live with the bag - and Noah can, too:


Off to the weekend now. More next week - since I rarely touch the PC over the weekend. Too many other - more interesting - things to do...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Friday, March 10, 2006

TGIF :-)))

Alrighty – today is Friday. Thank God this week is over – after a scary beginning with some bad news things seem to have eased up a little bit. I am looking forward to some relaxing knitting over the weekend – I think I will start a Cat Bordhi basket. I've got my eyes set on the fanny basket in her book “A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting”. I am not very keen on the colors she used – green and pink – that makes it really look like a little fanny. But I like the shape of the basket and I think it will be cool for carrying around knitting projects. In addition to the dreadlock bag, of course... One can never have too many felted bags. I guess I’ll use some of the Knit Picks yarn I still have – I have a big stash of purple and blue. That might look good.

Last night I took some more pictures – here is the black purse – now felted:


And here is the green Hobo Bag – with variegated Fun Fur. This bag is waiting for some hot water. I also want to make a matching cell phone case and maybe something for my keys. The bigger the bag – the longer it takes me to fish things out...


And here is the finished Shamrock Dishcloth – after taking its picture, it went to the kitchen sink and is being put to work, poor dishcloth… Well, somebody has to do the dirty work.


Alright – I have to get busy to prepare for my first sweater class. Four students on four Thursdays – the sessions are spread out through March and April. I want to make a little spiral binder with all the knitty gritty dirty work - the essentials for knitting a sweater, helpful hints, etc.

So – off to the creativity – spiral binder here I come – and weekend here I come. And here is a little quiz for you - these guys are too funny:

Claudia

Gold Medal Winner in...


QuizGalaxy!


Fastest Zamboni clearing


'What rejected olympic sport would you win gold in?' at QuizGalaxy.com


In case you as stupid as me - who is Zamboni? Here you go: In 1949, Frank Zamboni designed a unit that allowed one person to do in 15 minutes what used to take a crew of people over an hour. The Zamboni ice-resurfacing machine was here to stay.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

A busy weekend and its outcome

Man - it is already Thursday. Somehow this week just went by in a blur...

Ok - so what did I do? Well – I managed to spend almost all Sunday in my room – which is also the guest room and the KNITTING ROOM. Of course I also knit in the living room, but all the supplies are in the knitting room. The closet harbors my own little "yarn shop". It was in so much disorder, since I haven’t done $#!+ in weeks, that I finally broke down and got to work. GOOD GIRL! But I had to take a break at some point and hubby and I watched "Matewan". Man, did I have a hard time understanding these Virginian coal miners. But it was a pretty good movie with Chris Cooper - he sure was still a baby face in that movie ;-)

At the end of Sunday, all yarn was sorted and stored. All UFOs (UnFinished Objects) are in one place, waiting to be finished some day... The only thing that is left on my "To Do" list is to organize my files. Lots of patterns need to be categorized. At least all my books and magazines are organized and recorded. And all the junk is gone from the floor – one can actually set a foot in the room and the dogs can move around again.

See - Noah has room to plunk down and watch me taking pictures of FOs... At one point on Sunday these poor little fur balls could not get in the room to stay with mommy – what a drag... But they are such good poochies and they know when it is time to stay away and don’t add to the mess by running all over the place ignoring the papers on the floor. Well – of course I got these looks – when can you throw the ball for me – you are no fun anymore... Don't you know it is your job as a doggie mommy to be our entertainer ALL THE TIME... How can you be such a busy bee with ANYTHING else?

I guess I'll tackle to rest of the "To Do" list this Sunday. Usually I allow myself to play around on Saturday, go to the SNB Gainesville knit-together and just relax and unwind from the week. Sundays - since I am not the religious type... - I make myself work around the house, although not always successfully ;-)

These guys at Quiz Galaxy are just too funny - speaking of religion - here is my tomb stone:




Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com


And now to the important things in life which according to this I've still got plenty of time for – KNITTING...

I finished the felted vest for my Dad – lordy-lord – NEVER again such a big piece for felting – oh no. I love my Dad dearly and it was worth all the trouble, but his next knit with be a "regular" knit again. Here is the beauty. I found in my stash a wonderful closure – very Bavarian looking:





It is on its way to Germany - I took it to the post office on Monday - his birthday is on March 15. It should get there in time, let's cross our fingers. Oh, better not, it is hard to knit then...

And here are the other FOs:

Jenny's birthday gifts - a felted case for her cell phone (but the cell phone is too long - so she uses it for her iPod) and a dishcloth with a J - sorry for the blury pix. No - was not drunk...



And NOW – to show you how crazy I am and that I am not kidding when I say I have several projects going at the same time – here are the current ones:

Julia’s baby blanket


My riding jacket


Pillow covers (to cover up two ugly pillows - this is the first one)


A plain black felted purse - it is now felted and I carry it around already and have gotten many compliments already ;-)


The March KAL (which is now finished – did that during my lunch break on Monday)


The Dreadlock Bag aka my project bag (I am working on a big black felted shoulder strap at the moment to replace the bamboo handles)


The footie socks (first one done - number two on the needles), and I finally got a grip on the lace pattern in the front. I had to frog the first sock 4 times... aggrrrr... but it was worth it - see?


Here is another felted bag in the works (it is finished now and ready for the washer) - yes, I know I should take more pix... So little time though...


And here is the first of the three summer sweaters - I love the Knit Picks cotton yarn - it is soooooooo very soft!


And if this is not enough for the moment - more soon...

Friday, March 03, 2006

Couldn't resist...

Just imagine the German national anthem (well - I still have a German passport) and then the US national anthem – since I am the proud holder of a Green Card :-) and then look at this:

I could not help myself and put the Gold Medal on my blog… Everybody who finished in time is entitled to the medal - YAY! Many thanks to the Yarn Harlot – she did a wonderful job with the Knitting Olympics and its 5,000+ contestants. And I am sure she is glad it is over - just imagine getting a grip on all the data these crazy knitters provided...

I found something funny for all knitters and all the people who have to endure a knitter in their lives (e.g., neglected husbands and doggies):

ACTIVITY - CALORIES PER HOUR
Knitting - 50
Knitting while listening to "Brahms' Lullaby" - 75
Knitting while listening to "Flight of the Bumblebee" - 200
Knitting while talking on phone - 100
Knitting while riding exercise bike - 300
Knitting while riding regular bike - 600
Ripping back to mistake - 100
Teaching a dozen six-year-olds to knit - 800
Knitting while husband is talking - 50
Knitting while cooking - 300
Knitting while driving - 400
Knitting while husband is driving - 150
Knitting while 16 yr old is driving - 800
Knitting while sleeping - 100
Knitting while mother-in-law is present - 600
AND
Knitting while locked in bathroom enjoying a bubble bath and a glass
of wine – Priceless

Well – I don’t know if I would go that far and knit while taking a bubble bath. Seems to invite getting your knitting wet.

I guess I could add:
Knitting while ignoring a Border Collie that wants to hypnotize you – 100

Hermione – our Border Collie – can only take so many minutes of being ignored. Then she literally puts herself between the knitting and me. Which is very cute and of course I cannot resist her then and she WINS... What a smart girl – no wonder she is named Hermione (from the Harry Potter books). Noah – our wonderfully sweet mutt (Rottweiler-Chow-Border Collie–who-knows-what mix) – on the other hand does not seem to mind when I knit and don’t pay attention to him. He just likes to hang out.

My husband came up with a very funny metaphore. He noticed the other day that you recognize our dogs’ gender by just watching them. Noah, the man, just hangs out, watches Doggie TV (i.e., looks out the window), mainly auto-racing – cars driving up and down the street, and other sports – kids playing basketball, skateboarding, people walking and jogging, etc. Hermione, the lady of the house, on the other hand, busies herself with constant housework - rearranging of her toys - and parenting - checking in on all family members. Very funny ;-)

And what is going on in my knitting life? Well, I felted the big bag – knitted with all my leftover Wool of the Andes yarn. It turned into a kind of long sack. I can easily store three knitting projects, several magazines and books and my knitting tool box in it. But I don’t like the way the bamboo handles turned out. I think I am going to take the bamboo handles off (and save them for a more appropriate bag) and attach a long felted handle to it. Hubby named the bag “Dreadlock bag” because of the ties that hold the bamboo handles in place. I have no picture yet – I’ll wait until I have the right handle.

I have to finish my Dad’s vest this weekend. It is felted. I hope it did not shrink too much. Hopefully it’ll fit him. I have to knit on the borders and come up with a closure. I don’t like the idea of a zipper and buttons don’t seem good either. Hubby, who often works as my style consultant, and I decided that it should have just one closure – maybe an I-cord or something similar.

I bought a bunch of yarn at Knit Picks this week. For three sweaters – yeah, I know, soon I have to find a 12-step-program for yarn shopping... I already started the first one – all three patterns are from the Spring Edition of VERENA Stricken, a German knitting magazine which I REALLY love. They charge a bunch for shipping to the US – but it is worth it to me.

Julia’s baby blanket is growing. Kind of a filler when I have nothing else to knit. I need to take pictures.

AND THIS WEEKEND – I really need to clean up my room before I get in trouble. Projects, papers, etc. seems to be piling up everywhere...

TGIF – more after the weekend. It seems that we are getting into spring around here. Lots of trees are blossoming – very pretty.