An overdue picture

Here is photo evidence that I have been working on Anne's RR. I'm really enjoying stitching these little ducks.



Wow, I realize that we're coming up on October. Mail-out is November 1st. I've got to get myself in gear and spend some quality time with this...


And speaking of October, I've joined

Socktoberfest



over at Lolly's blog. (You can see the cool button in my sidebar) It's a fun 'knit a sock during the month of October. Since I have the cotton pair started, I'm planning to knit these and another pair during the month of October. I think there's well over 1000 participants! Fun!!

How Soon is Now?

When you say it's gonna happen "now"
Well, when exactly do you mean?
See I've already waited too long
And all my hope is gone

From 'How Soon is Now' by The Smiths

And probably the sentiments of my Dear Readers wondering when I'll post next! :o)

Quick! Look at some Kittie Cuties to get your mind off of how long it's been since my last post:




It's been busy, busy, busy around here:

- Last weekend was a 3-disc Dark Shadows weekend

- My cell phone died

- At work, it's the last week of our fiscal year

- I have my first exam coming up

- I finished up my Crazy Cat Lady Exchange and need to mail it out

- I have been knitting away on holiday projects, but just forgot to take pictures

- I discovered Podcasts (there are some really cool ones out there!). I traded the Shuffle in for a full-fledged 80GB iPod. I am now a true iPod Nerd Goddess! DH wonders if the earbuds will begin to fuse to my ears...

He also wonders if DH truly means 'Dear Husband'. I told him it really depends when he asks... ;o)

A Fabric Question

Sue, over at Home Sweet Stitching, asked about the fabric I'm using for Fairy Flora.

I'm using 28ct. Barnwood Linen, which is a grayish color, like the color of weathered wood. In most of my pictures, it looks more like khaki. If I did it over, I would have selected 32ct. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but decided to do a bigger picture. The stitches seem too big.

I bought all the supplies for Flora at Needlecraft Corner. Their site is really cool, because for a number of patterns they carry, and almost all Mirabilia, they have supply lists. They try to match the fabric used on the model at the Mirabilia site.

The lady I spoke with at Needlecraft corner was very, very nice. They also have a birthday club where you get a discount on your purchase in your birthday month. I happened to mention that I was buying this as a birthday gift for myself from gifts I received and even though it was just past my birthday, she gave me the birthday discount anyway. How sweet!

Updates all 'round

This past weekend was a Stitch-a-Thon weekend at the Robin's Nest. I did get some progress done on Fairy Flora. And I don't know how we managed it, but the weather was gorgeous the entire weekend, so I was able to get in some end-of-summer deck stitching!

We did get Dark Shadows on Friday (and watched all ten episodes Friday evening)! The two other movies we watched this weekend, Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School and Ladies in Lavender, were quite good as well.



I would have completed more on Flora had it not been for this insatiable urge to start a sock. A plain sock. No fancy stitches, no lace, just miles and miles of knit stitches. I just love the colors of this yarn. It reminds me of really soft, faded jeans. They yarn I'm using is a mostly cotton blend, so they should really be comfortable.

I'm also back onto forward progress on my Mum's lace scarf. (yay!) This time around it looks much, much better, and worthy of being a present for Mum.

Note to the knitters: I found great stitch markers for thin yarn. I was using markers I had made with jump rings, but the lace yarn kept sliding through the part of the ring where the ends of the metal meet. I needed a continuous stitch marker, but something light. I saw these and went to Home Depot. In the plumbing section, I found rubber O-rings that work fabulously! (You can see the little black rings at the top of the scarf if you look closely)




This probably falls under Cat TMI, but other cat Mums out there can surely relate. Early this morning, I was woken up by the 'hair ball' sound. Itchey was in the upstairs hallway doing her thing. Over the years, that sound has been etched into memory, so as soon as I hear it (and it can wake me out of sound sleep), I spring into action. I was able to get her into the guest bathroom (tile floor is much easier to clean than carpet) and she stopped. We stood there for a couple seconds, so I thought she changed her mind. She went out into the hallway and brought it right up onto the carpet. Cats!


The Diversity workshop this weekend wasn't too bad. We had this energetic man from Nigeria teach the class, and he was an absolute hoot! He made the hours we had to sit through class enjoyable. Before the class, they had food catered in (hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, corn on the cob and baked beans with cookies and fruit for dessert. It was actually quite good! (And, no, I didn't get a chance to knit during class, but that was OK. I did win a diversity T-shirt for class participation)

Has it been a month already?

Thank you for the well wishes about my sinus headache! I am feeling much better. The cross-stitching blog community is so very nice!!

I've come to accept (but still don't like) how weather dependent my body is. I tried stitching a little before bed last night, and all the damp weather we've been having is also making me achey, particularly in my fingers, which makes cross-stitching uncomfortable.


It's time for the monthly Stitch-A-Thon over at the Robin's Nest! (C'mon, join us!!) I just can't believe that it's that time already!

I'd like to get a little more done on Fairy Flora, so she gets beyond the Start-up phase and becomes a true WIP. I also have to stop at JoAnn Fabrics on the way home and pick up a few skeins of floss for her that I don't have.

We're doing Costco pizza takeout tonight and have a Netflix movie to watch, so after dinner, I'll get some stitching done while we watch the movie (we have Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School, but we're hoping that the next installment of Dark Shadows arrives today).

Here's my before picture (the white splotchies on the left are actually reflections showing through the fabric from the plastic cover over my dining room tablecloth!):



I'm hoping to get the neckline completed, and get started on her arms.

My goals this time around are much less ambitious, because not only do I have to do some Statistics homework, DH and I have to attend an "Acceptable Classroom Behavior and Sexual Harassment Prevention" workshop at the University tomorrow afternoon (because we grad students may have forgotten how to act during class!).

DH is just about finished up with his Masters in Mechanical Engineering so he has to go, too. We are getting our Masters degrees at the same university, which also happens to be the school where we first met. Can it get any more cute than that? (Probably, but I won't subject my readers to any more)

He's also wondering if there's a conflict of interest if he attends this workshop with his wife... ;o)

Ooooh! Do you think I could get away with knitting during the workshop??

Crazy Cat Lady Exchange

Yesterday, I stayed home from work with a killer sinus headache. Rainy, cool weather = Bad sinus headache. Thankfully, it wasn't an all out sinus migraine.

Some time in the early afternoon, I crawled out of bed and was able to stitch for a while. My Crazy Cat Lady Exchange on The Robin's Nest is almost complete, just a little backstitching I'll finish up this evening. Then, finishing.

I hope my exchange partner likes it!

Nerd Love

It was mostly cloudy today, but I was able to eek out a little stitching on the back deck in the bit of afternoon sun that managed to peek through the clouds. Here's my weekend progress on Anne's RR:




Has your significant other ever done something, that, to everyone else on the planet, would seem very small and insignificant, but to you, it's just the greatest thing ever?

When in college, I had this C-Thru plastic gridded ruler with a protractor in the center. I loved this ruler, but after graduation, it probably got packed away with all my school papers.

I tried finding one when I was getting my MBA, but couldn't find one. I started my search again since starting classes, but still couldn't find one anywhere, in local art/drafting stores, the school's bookstore, or online (unless you bought a gross). I'm very picky (no, really! :o), and no other ruler will do.

DH searched onine and was able to buy one for me from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. (How he ever found that, I'll never know!) This may not seem like a big thing, but to me, it's just the sweetest.

$&@%# iTunes! (or, Happy 100th Post to Me!)

You know, most bloggers have some wonderful, happy post celebrating their 100th post.

What do I do? Type out a frustrated plea for help using iTunes. Help! (I'm remembering why I've always prefered DOS to MACs) It only took me an hour to figure out how to get songs from my computer to the Shuffle.

Anyone familiar with using iTunes? Anyone? Pleeaaase??

I'm trying to add files to the Library. I've got a bunch of directories of mp3 files. When I clicked on Add Folder to Library for a particular set of songs, it says it's adding them to the library, but they don't show up. What gives?

Rip it. Rip it good.

Crack that whip
Give the past the slip
Step on a crack
Break your momma's back


I'm not musically inclined in any way, but I love listening to music, almost any kind of music. I've got a bunch of CDs I've wanted to get onto my computer, so I gathered up some of them and have been camped out on the guest room bed this evening, working on Anne's RR and ripping them onto my laptop.



Why? Because I finally broke down and bought a new toy!



I typically listen to streaming audio via computer (Yahoo Launch), but I've been looking for something more portable. DH wonders how long it will take me to lose it. (He knows me too well ;o)

And the kitties supervised...






Fairy Flora arrived safely on my doorstep Thursday! Yay!! After I got home from class Thursday evening, I finished the edges of the fabric and gathered the floss. (I decided to use 28ct fabric. Wow, she's going to be huge! The fabric could double as a comforter!)



Friday evening, I worked on her while we watched MirrorMask (which was really cool). I watched the movie a little more than my stitching, because I also had to rip a few misplaced stitches.


Earlier today, I also worked on some running pants for my Dad. He found the fabric, cut them out and gave them to me to make way back at the August Birthday Lunch. He wants some large patch pockets on the outer thighs, so I have to construct them a little different and design the pockets. I think they'll be quite cool (and quite appropriate, he has a 2nd degree black belt in Isshinryu Karate)

A Major Award

I WON! I WON! I WON! A major prize, a major prize!

OK, so it's only a movie ticket, but I've been trying for probably the last year to win something on Blingo. I never win anything! Blingo is a search engine and they randomly choose winners. Woo hoo! Of course, I couldn't have won one of the iPOD Nanos or a $100 gift certificate, but, oh well, at least I won! :o)

If you're interested, click the blue Blingo box in my sidebar -->


All the hoopla over my major award in no way outshadows the very sweet Birthday RAK I received in my mailbox from Sue of Home Sweet Stitching

A big THANK YOU, Sue!! Your kindness really made my day!




Classes are going well. During our first class last week, I thought my Statistics professor looked so familiar. I couldn't place her until during class last night, I realized that, she reminded me of someone I had a class with when I was an undergrad. And, don't you know, we were in the same Computer Science class together back in 1990! What a small world! :o)

The Mighty Duck

Sorry, I couldn't resist one more duck-themed title. ;o)

DH and I spent a lovely holiday weekend at MIL's house. She's moose dog sitting for DH's sister's gigantuan Golden Retriever (while their new home is being built), so she couldn't go far from home. We decided to go to her and spent a couple days being spoiled (even though I was in charge of grilling). We pretty much spent the weekend being slugs and eating way too much.


We took our Netflix movies and I got some stitching done on Anne's RR while watching Dark Shadows and Ultraviolet (cool, but similar to Aeon Flux) It did have very cool music.




It's interesting how, as cat parents, and very similar to those with children, one can spend lots of money on fancy toys and accessories, but the kids end up playing with the box. In our case, the kids decided they liked the crumpled filler paper that came in a box of something we ordered online. You can't see it in the picture, but there are about ten thousand little fang marks. They're cats.




And speaking of Cats, I've also been working on my Crazy Cat Lady Exchange at the Robin's Nest, but I can't show that until my mystery recipient receives it.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one...

...You make bathtime lots of fun...

Oh, the joys of growing up with Sesame Street!


Here's some progress on the Stitchy Ducky (Anne's RR):




Here in the US, it's Labor Day Weekend, denoting the end of the Summer and when parents everywhere rejoice because their bored kids are out of the house and back to school. (Remember the 'It's the most wonderful time of the year' back to school ad from Staples? Too funny!)

For us, it's a Monday off!! Have a great holiday! :o)