Thrice bitten...

We went furniture shopping this weekend. Not the kind where you go to a showroom and plunk down a bunch of money. This one was better. It was free! (the best kind, in my opinion!) The showroom was MIL's house, and we brought home two antique dressers for our bedroom and a wing back chair for the family room. We only had to haul it home.

When we bought our house, we were moving from an apartment into our first home, and we needed furniture. We were so naively excited about furniture shopping back then...

Among what we bought were diningroom and bedroom sets. (Cue scary music)

We had a number of issues with the chairs and buffet of the dining room set. After iterations of deliveries with replacement chairs and buffets, we finally told them that we were ready to just send the entire set back. They asked us if we'd be willing to go to their warehouse so we could pick out pieces that were acceptable to us. We did, and that adventure had a happy ending.

During all this, we were going through the same thing with the bedroom furniture. There were problems with peeling veneer, uneven stain, and even wood that was cut crookedly. With each replacement delivery, it seemed like the defects were worse. We found out later that the line had been discontinued, so we must have received left overs. The entire set went back.

We decided to look at higher-end bedroom furniture, and even though we didn't find a set we liked enough to pay a small fortune for, DH did find furniture for his computer room. That went back, too. As the delivery guys were driving the furniture back to the showroom, we were on the phone with the manager for a refund and actually had to argue with her because their brand could never be that poor quality. We did get a very humble call from her after it arrived (and a full refund), because it was that bad! We never did find a bedroom set.

Even though it was frustrating, and took longer that we'd hoped, in the end, things did work out. And we're really happy with how things have worked out. I was dead set about having matching furniture for each room, but have really come to enjoy the look of putting a room together with unmatching but coordinating pieces. And aside from the great prices, it means a lot to us to have furniture that relatives, who lived before our time, used and loved.

Our two (new) dressers are at my parents', where my Dad is going to redo them for us. (I can't imagine how many running pants I'll owe him now!) The kitties took to the chair right away, and when one would get all comfy, the other one would stage a koo and overthrow...





See the one eyeball peering around the arm? :o)

I was allowed to sit in it briefly, but, of course, Abner had to be on my lap. And my balance ball on the right is my footrest until I decide what I want to do for one.


I did get to some crafty pursuits this weekend. I started my Mum's lace scarf. (I gave up trying to hold it flat with one hand) It's been slow going (since I had to frog and restart many times), but I'm really enjoying it. And go figure my logic, working gray lace on gray needles...no wonder it's going slowly!




And some more done on Wendy's RR:

Do you ever wish you could go back?

This is a philosophical post, with no craftiness...so if you're solely looking for crafty goodness, please refer either to a past post, or perhaps (if I'm feeling less philosophical tomorrow) wait for my next post.

When I was younger (in my mid-teens), I thought about what was the perfect age to be (I think, I think way too much!). At that time, 23 was my answer. You were considered a legal adult by two years. You could do all the things that adults were forever telling you that you were too young to do. The world was your oyster...

23 came and went over a decade ago. It was fine, but nothing stellar happened, like winning the lottery or anything. It wasn't bad, either.

As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate the wisdom of age and being a responsible adult. I've enjoyed every age I've been since 23. But every-so-often, something reminds me of when I was younger (a conversation, a song, a movie, etc), and I want to go home and be the kid again, with kid responsibilities and kid problems.

Today, I cleaned up a hairball first thing this morning, on the way home, I need to stop at Lowe's to get a new ceiling fan, then onto Wal-Mart to pick up milk, decide what to do for dinner and then when I get home, I have to unload the dishwasher and empty the bathroom trashcans and clean out the litterbox...

I want my Mum!!!

I don't like Mondays...

Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I want to shoot…the whole day down

Remember Sir Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats (who also was half the mastermind behind Band Aid)? He, in his infinite poetic genius, eloquently captured my feelings about Mondays.


This weekend, I managed to lose all of Friday evening and most of Saturday morning. I was feeling really dull-witted all day Friday and just couldn't do anything right. DH and I skipped out early (we work at the same company, same site), around 3pm, did Chinese takeout and I went up to take a nap around 5pm. Except for the hour I went down to watch TV from 3:40am-4:40am (where I learned all about water sheds on The Weather Channel), I pretty much slept through to 10:30am Saturday morning. I think the past week of dew points around 73F finally got to me.

Mother Nature showed some pity this weekend, because the humidity went way down, enough to open the windows! I almost forgot what fresh air actually felt like!


Saturday afternoon I got a bit more done on Wendy's RR piece while watching the last episodes of A Fine Romance. (They're all gone now. :o( We'll have to find another BBC series.)




I also finished my Fixation socks:




And, I started MIL's Feather and Fan scarf while watching Stage Beauty Saturday night. I just love doing lace. After I get a few more lace projects in, I want to tackle something more complicated - a lace shawl like this, this, or this...




I actually saw evidence that my neighbors are all still alive! Our normally very active street has looked like a ghost town, with everyone tucked into their air-conditioned homes, only venturing out in their air-conditioned cars, to air-conditioned stores. Today, I saw joggers, walkers, families on bikes, families walking dogs, people mowing their lawns... My craft-buddy neighbor even came over and we sat out on my deck and knitted!

People! How lovely to see people! I'll never curse the sound of a weed-whacker again!

Don't throw stones...

July 20:
Today's SBQ was suggested by Cathy and is:

When you get a project professionally framed do you get glass inserted into the frame? Why or why not?

I absolutely get glass, and the non-glare type. I'm not going to put months of effort into working on a project with extra care not getting it dirty, then leave it totally exposed on my wall to collect dust and cat hair that is floating around because I'm in the Ladies' Parlour stitching rather than doing housekeeping! :o)


I've decided to get started on some gifty stitching for the holidays, so I placed an order from Knit Picks and here's what I have so far...



On the bottom left, I'm making a feather and fan design scarf (a free pattern at Knit Picks) for MIL for her birthday in early December. She loves wide, long scarves so she can totally wrap up her head, keeping out all cold air and drafts... That color, which was absolutely distorted in the picture, is actually a really pretty royal blue called Jewels.

On the bottom right, I'm making some lace scarves for both my Mum and sister. The hank on the left is a soft gray for my Mum, the pink one is for a scarf for me!, and the amethyst one on the far right is for my sister. The pattern has three different patterns, but I haven't decided which design I'm making for whom.

The orange yarn on the top is with the lacy sock pattern is actually for me. A pair of Autumn socks in am pumpkin color.

And it's really killing me because I can't wait to tear into one of these, but I'm not starting any project until I finish one of my current knitting projects. The Fixation socks should be done this weekend, so maybe I'll be able to cast on for one of the scarves. Oooh, I could break something out for a gauge swatch...

I'm going to be EduCATed!

When I applied for grad school earlier this year, I bought EduCATed by Bent Creek, but couldn't bring myself to begin it until I was accepted and ready to go.

I did gather the floss for this project soon after it arrived, which really made me worry that I got too ahead of things, totally ruining any chance I had! LOL!

My undergrad is Electrical Engineering, and I finished my MBA a few years ago, but watching DH work through his masters in Mechanical Engineering started to get me wanting to take classes again, so I applied for a masters in Industrial Engineering, which is kind of like management for engineers, more technical and less financial than an MBA. I start classes at the end of August!


Of course, once I start with classes, who knows if I'll even have any time to work on EduCATed!

It's a nice day for a white dishcloth...

I'll be singing Billy Idol all afternoon now. :o)

Last night, I multitasked TV, knitting and exercise by sitting on my balance ball while knitting watching Dark Shadows. I did crunches, and a lot of rolling. Wow, do the ab and leg muscles ache today! But I did get a lot done on the dishcloths for my Mum.



I've made some dishcloths for her before, but she's had a hard time using them. When I follow 'standard'-sized dishcloth patterns using cotton dishcloth yarn, the dishcloth is large and, when wet, it's hard for her to use with her arthritis. So, she asked me that when I make her any, to make them no larger than her hand, which is why they look very small.

The one on the left, I made a little while ago, but the two on the right I made last night. They're about 4" X 8". I also started a larger one for our kitchen. Since DH has large hands, I figured he could handle the larger dishcloth. (Always looking out for you, Honey!)

Have any of you out there in Blogland heard of or watched Dark Shadows? It's a US soap that ran from the late 60's through early 70's. The story takes place in a coastal New England town with a large manor, Collinwood, as the central location. A distant Collins relative from England (who is actually a vampire), Barnabus Collins, arrives and takes up residence in the smaller home on the Collinwood estate grounds. All kinds of mayhem ensues. I guess the reputation of this series is that both the script and story lines are really, really bad. (Think B movie!) I guess that's it's charm that makes us keep watching. (Oh just think if Joel, Crow and Tom Servo got ahold of some episodes!) Keeping true to MST3K, that's pretty much what we do! We watched all 10 episodes last night and are impatiently waiting for the next 10...

Knit, knit, stitch, sew...

The Dog Days of Summer are upon us, and as the local weatherman said, 'You almost have to chew the air before you breathe it...'

Ugh! I'm definitely an Autumn/Winter girl. I'll gladly take a snowstorm over humid weather any day.



This lovely scene, courtesy of Mother Nature, was taken from my sewing room window this past winter, right after a snow squall. Brrrrr!


Well, what's a girl to do? Wear the least amount of clothing decently possible and craft away the weekend. Which is exactly what I did!

I got a little further on my socks, completing one of the Fixation anklets, starting the second and on the home stretch of my lace sock.



BTW, I received my order from Knit Picks this weekend. Their DPNs are very nice. I was originally looking to purchase INOX DPNs which have very sharp points, perfect for working lace socks, but came across the ones at Knit Picks. They were a few cets more than INOX needles, but I had some other items I wanted to purchase, so was able to take take advantage of their free shipping. I bought US# 1, 2, and 3 6" DPNs. I'm very happy with them, and put them straight to work as you can see in both pics. OK, end of commercial...




Sock work was done while watching The Libertine. It was, well....odd. I have no idea how historically acurate it is, but Johnny Depp (That should be a tip off right there that it's not going to be a normal movie! And I do like Johnny Depp, BTW) plays the Earl of Rochester. The Earl likes his drink and women. A lot. He writes a play for the King (John Malkovich - another clue it's going to be an odd movie) that's pretty much based on phallic symbols. His wild lifestyle eventually leads him to an early demise. I am fairly open-minded, so I wasn't shocked or offended. It was just a very odd movie. Another one of those movies that Netflix needs to have a rating option of 'Wierd'.


I also worked on Wendy's RR piece while watching another installment of A Fine Romance.




And I finished up some sewing projects. The plaid top is a sleeveless tank (Simplicity 5463) to sleep in and the other is a plain, A-line, tea-length skirt in a khaki woven linen-look fabric (Butterick 3530). I also cut out another skirt of the same pattern, in a navy blue stretch twill so imagine the khaki skirt in navy with out the waistband and side seams...



We actually ventured out this weekend, to of all places, JoAnn Fabrics (don't I have my priorities in the proper order!) where I found some fabric and pre-washed it this weekend as well. The red, white and blue fabric and the cami-newts are for Dad's running pants. (No, we didn't find any frogs) I couldn't resist the kitty fabric for a pair of boxer shorts. (which are for me!)

And wasn't DH just the sweetie? Before I knew it, he took my fabric out of the dryer, folded it (neatly!) and placed it up on my sewing table. Awwww, I think I'll keep him! :o)

Oh, blue eyes...

And, no, not Frankie.

We saw Superman Returns last night. We didn't opt for the IMAX 3D version, but it was still good in 2D. The special effects were very cool, and not ridiculously overdone. The universe computer animation during the opening credits were awesome. There was, however, a scene in the beginning where they totally disregard physics and the effects of forces on the human body and airplanes for the sake of a spectacular scene, but we'll cut them slack. Kevin Spacey did Gene Hackman proud as Lex Luther. I would definitely recommend it.

Oh, and Brandon Routh...oh, wow. A definite bonus to the movie. I'm a total sucker for tall, dark haired guys. (good thing for DH!) They did have this ridiculous over-gelled curl of hair on his forehead. What was that childhood rhyme about the girl with the curl on her forehead?

And, I want Lois Lane's house and Lex Luther's boat.


Onto the knitting update:

My commuting project has been Picovoli. I'm about three inches away from starting the decreases that give this top a shaped look, so it's just miles and miles of knit stitches. I enjoy them, but as a visual update to a blog, they're not all that exciting. The neck and arm openings are all rolly right now, but I think I'm going to do a crocheted edge to finish them when it's done.



Also, here's the update to my very first lace anything. Right after the ribbing at the beginning of the lace pattern, I had to rip the stitches out a few many times, but this has been a great learning experience. Heady with my accomplishment so far, I think I'm going to attempt a larger lace project next.



And here's a closeup of the lace pattern:

SBQ Catch up

I've been really bad. I guess I must have blinked three times because I've missed three week's worth of questions...


June 29:
Today's SBQ was suggested by Cheryl and is:

What do you do with your charts once you've stitched them? Do you keep them or dispose of them? If you keep them, do you organize them in a way that is different from the way you keep your unstitched charts?

It's always been my practice that once I stitch a particular design, I don't stitch it again. The one exception to this is a (I think) Mill Hill heart wreath (sorry, can't remember the name) chart that I've done several times as wedding presents.

Having said that, because the majority of my stitching was done before I actively used Ebay, I just couldn't throw away a perfectly good chart, so I just kept them until I either found someone to give them to or just gave them to Goodwill.




July 5:
Today's SBQ was suggested by Vash and is:

What is the biggest mishap you have had with your stitching material (i.e. spillages)?

I've been lucky that I've not really had any spilling mishaps. While still ignorant of how hand oils and other stray material (i.e. chocolate) affect delicate cross stitch fabric and thread, I did manage some miscellaneous smudges, but nothing to cause abandoning the project. Now, I couldn't imagine not washing my hands before stitching and even during. But, I'm sure Frontier women didn't think about such things when creating their crafty items, either.

User Error, on the other hand, has led to larger mishaps. My two biggest are Santa of the Forest and Toy Gatherer.

As I confessed in an earlier post about Santa of the Forest, I didn't know my Landscape from my Portrait...

And for the Toy Gatherer, I worked on good 'ol St. Nick, but for a diversion, I also worked on the border, starting at the little lamb on the left, up and over to the doll on the right. I blocked out from all memory forgot what exactly I did wrong, but I think I royally messed up the curves at the top of the arch, making the width of the area inside less wide than it should have, squishing Santa's belly into the poor little doll's nose. *shudder* I didn't even think twice, I was so disgusted, it went right into the garbage. I did start it again, and it's a design I plan to finish in this lifetime, but I haven't picked it up in years.



July 12:
Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Since you started blogging, have you noticed any difference in your stitching habits? Tell us about them.

Hmmmm. Not sure what's exactly meant with this question. Other than there being the slight self-imposed pressure of having some completed craftiness to show with each post (which I try to totally ignore - and why it's so great to have kitties to photograph and chronicle :o), blogging (having my own blog) really hasn't changed my stitching habits.

Now, reading blogs, on the other hand, has greatly changed my stitching habits. It's amazing how reading blogs of others from different geographical areas, with different tastes, and varying levels of accomplishment has influenced what pieces I want to work on.

- I've seen designs that I wouldn't have otherwise known existed.

- There are designs or techniques that I probably wouldn't have considered doing.

- I've heard of cross stitching events that I wouldn't have known about.

- Attending these events sounds even more exciting, because aside from the event itself, it would be a wonderful opportunity to meet, in person, some of my blogging buddies I've 'met' in cyberspace.

Pre-emptive Stitching

Whew! Last week just flew by, but even though the work week (for me & DH, at least) was Thursday and Friday, it still felt like a whole week. I blinked and it's now July 11th!

I also want to thank all of you who left the positive comments about my 40 and Fit by 40 project. All that positive energy is exactly what I need! (Now, if anyone knows how to update the ticker, and can share that little tidbit with me, I'll be all set...)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Cross Stitch Rotation to bring you, direct from Canada, Wendy's RR!!!!

If you remember from a previous episode, I was working on Snapperville. That was, until I received Wendy's RR (at The Robin's Nest) to work on. I'm really excited, because it's been ages since I've done a Prairie Schooler. Snapperville? What Snapperville?

She chose the very cool Country Seasons as her RR piece, from which I opted to work on Summer (am I in season, or what?).



Here's what it will look like when all the x's have been crossed...




I have been sharing my cross stitch time with some knitting. My Fixation anklet is coming along nicely, and in no time, I should have 5 green toes...

40 and Fit by 40

I was just inspired from The Knitting Doctor to throw my hat into the ring and join her on a quest for better health.

You can't imagine how scary it was for me to put that ticker up, but now that it's up, there's no going back!!!

I've got two years until I'm 40 (I'll be 38 in August). It's time to get healthy!

Cascade Socks KAL

I woke up this morning and thought, "Hey, I'll join a knit-along today".

Not really, but it's better than, I was blog-hopping this morning, and I happened upon this blog...

I'm not a fast knitter by any stretch of the imagination, so I normally don't join knit-alongs because all the participants would be finished and I'd still be only half way through. I also don't like to have deadlines on my crafty pursuits, because crafting is my escape from To-Do's and deadlines.

Once I attach a deadline on a crafty item, it's like it becomes 'work' and not 'fun'. I also start to obsess about not making the due date, and I can't sleep, and I get this glazed look on my face, and I wander around aimlessly, not remembering my name, and I forget where I live, and... Well, maybe the last part is a bit of an exaggeration... but I still don't like deadlines on something that's supposed to be my stress relief.

This is why I don't post a Goal List each month. (But I do enjoy reading others' lists) My goal would always the same: To get done whatever I get done this month. And I always accomplish it, so my list would be really, really boring...

That's why I like this KAL. It's totally open and on going. I work on my socks (using Cascade Fixation - which I have a lot), and whenever they're done, I post it and my contractual committment is over. I can do that!

Stars and Stripes Forever

Not much to report here today. We're off today and tomorrow. (yay!) It's a 3H day (Hazy, Hot and Humid), so we've been hiding inside with the AC blasting and all the blinds drawn to keep it cool (which has really been annoying the cats, because they can't see outside), and doing absolutely nothing.

We usually queue up a bunch of library requests for movies (and BBC series) to watch over holiday weekends. Between my sinuses and being extraordinarily busy at work getting things done before the long holiday, I totally forgot. And, it just worked out that we mailed out 2 of our 3 Netflix movies just before the weekend, so we won't get the next movies until some time next week. *sigh* If motivated to get up and go downstairs, I was thinking of doing a Lord of the Rings Craftathon.


We gathered for the Fourth of July Cookout yesterday afternoon. It was really a lot of fun, as usual. Lots of eating, laughing and general merriment. I was actually on a winning Jarts team!

Whenever me & Mum are deciding whether to do the Holiday Thing at their house or ours, I always ask her 'Do you want to drive or do you want to cook?' We live about 40 minutes away, and since they're getting older, I let them decide what they feel like doing. It is funny, though, to hear her complain about all the old people going too slow around the grocery store. At 71, she's probably older than a lot of them!


Remember the green psychedelic palm tree pants for my Dad? He tried them on last weekend and there were some minor adjustments that needed to be made. So, Saturday night was a sewing night here in the land of Singular Stitches, and being the really sweet daughter that I am (!), I also sewed him up another pair of pants to scare wow the other joggers at the track.



Now that we have a good pattern, I'm on the hook for a bunch more, the louder, the better!

Really, really out of practice

After the Knitted Sweater Disaster of November of '05 (made my first real sweater and hated how it looked on me), I decided to dust off those needles and try my hand at a smaller knitted apparel project.

I must be out of practice! I was sitting out on the deck this morning, knitting along, and had to take a break. Wow, do I feel it in my upper arms! Knitting, for upper arm toning, who knew??

I just began it last night. It's started at the neckline and worked down (in rounds). I'm still just working on the yoke area, not quite down to beginning the sleeves.

Project info:
Pattern: Picovoli from Grumperina
Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun in Mango
Needles: US #5 Addi Turbos (slippery little suckers!)
Started: June 30, 2006
Completed:



Yes, I have my family showing up tomorrow for our July Fourth Cookout, and what do I do? Sit out on the deck and knit!


Check out the surprise waiting when I opened the blinds in the family room today! How cool is that??




OK, couldn't help it, but as I was typing this entry into Blogger, Abner was keeping me company, purring away, so I had to include a picture of such kitty cuteitude. Sorry, couldn't help it! :o)



Ooooh! And I almost forgot! Today was mail-out day for Group 3's RR (my first RR!) over at Renee's Robin's Nest (how appropriate is that with what I found in my tree today! hee hee!)