Ugh...

Well... I was hoping to present you all with a beautiful new baby blanket pattern today... but it's been delayed...

After many time-sucking rounds, I finally cast off around 1 a.m. last night... only to discover that I miscalculated my increases and the darn thing won't lay flat.... not even remotely.
Oh, it looks lovely folded up and hanging on my chair, but don't unfold it. After some technical discussions with Mom, we figure it can be salvaged and I just need to re work the border. I'm too depressed to rip it out right now, but probably Sunday I'll pull it back and try again. Sigh.

So what do you do when life's got you down?You take a deep breath.... streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch
..... and cast on for something else.

I should be working on some hermit crab legs (Dave's birthday is only 17 days away), but I really need to handle something other than acrylic for a little while. So... for today at least.... I'm being totally self indulgent and I'm casting on for....
....Debbie Bliss' Single Button Cardigan from Pure Silk Two.

I bought this book hoping to find a lovely pattern for the decadent five skeins of Pure Silk I snagged on Ebay.... only to discover that even the smallest top in the book calls for 6 skeins.... C'est La Vie.

However, Debbie Bliss designs some of the most classic, wearable garments out there, so I considered it an investment for future knits

And after another brief technical discussion with Mom, I discovered that all that lovely Zara I bought at the Tent Sale.......is in fact dk, not worsted like I thought (I really should read labels) and I was looking at all the wrong patterns. As soon as that fact was established, I immediately dug out my pattern book and decided the cardigan is perfect. Just something nice and simple I can slip on and wear just about anywhere.

So I'm off to it!

Wonderful weekend

It was a great weekend.... sunny, hot and with a festival just around the corner.

Dave had a stag to go to Friday night, so as he was taking Saturday to recover, I hopped up to Mom's. She had my niece for the weekend, so we skipped on over to the Poultryfest for some shopping, tasty treats and fun.

I bought a hat, a beautiful labradorite ring and a Tinkerbell tattoo... we saw lots of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys... munched on some fattening but delicious chip wagon fries, and Miss Pee wowed us by taking on the climbing wall....
Mom and I didn't think she'd get very far (both her father and I are not fond of high places... I've rock climbed and it's scary!) but she was determined and went all the way to the top (about 25 ... maybe 30 ft high) Not bad for someone just out of kindergarten!

On Sunday, Dave was recovered and we took a loooooooooooooong overdue trip out to Sam's. I gave them their birthday and Christmas presents from last year (told you it was overdue), played with her sweet little rats (who pooped on me) and her adorable little puppy (who bit me with those sharp little puppy teeth and left me covered in bruises.)

I forgot my camera, but Sam was kind enough to snap this one for me:
It was too perfect a moment to miss... you see Dave is extremely.... fastidious... he hates to be dirty (unless it's grease and motor oil)... but check out those socks..... it's a good thing they weren't hand knit!

Speaking of knitting, I don't know if anyone remembers that I was knitting Serenity for a little girl due in September. Well, I put it down and just haven't had the gumption to get back into it. I picked it up the other day, but I think I just left it too long..... so I frogged it. I've started designing my own, and if I get a full day of knitting on Wednesday (as I'm hoping to) I should have the pattern available by the end of the week!

Oh and one last thing before I go....

Fish update... there are no baby angels left.... the last one went missing from the breeder the other day. We'll try again when she lays a new batch!

Of fish and rodents

Fish Update:

The angel babies finally went free-swimming so I took the leaf out of the breeder. A few minutes later, I noticed that the adult angels were hanging out under the breeder...

Yep, the babies were free-swimming right out of the breeder and into the mouths of the adults. Yum!

I now have one baby left, who seems smart enough to stay in the breeder. He's only about 1mm big so no pictures yet, but if he survives I'll take some.

So lets recap:
About 100 eggs laid
About 50 fertilized
About 40 hatched
About 30 free-swam
1 left....
It's no wonder they lay so many.

In knitting news, I finally embroidered faces on the last two hogs:
These are for my nieces for Christmas. Woohoo to presents done!

I hope every one in the area has been enjoying the hot weather. I've heard a lot of people complaining, but after the rain and drear we've had I'm enjoying it. Besides, it's the perfect opportunity to share a treat with a friend:

Elvis Lives!

It was another crazy busy weekend that didn't leave much time for anything.

On Saturday I worked at job #2... ALL DAY ( I hate that).... stopped at the grocery store to buy toilet paper... bought everything but toilet paper, then came home and crashed. I emailed Dave to stop and get toilet paper when he came, and he promptly forgot. It's a good thing I have a stock pile of Kleenex.

On Sunday, I had to take some photos for an event at job #1 and then we headed out to my grandparents farm. The tractor wasn't running right, so Dave got put to work rewiring it, while Nanny and I chatted. I forgot to bring my knitting, but I did entertain myself taking pictures of her dog, Elvis:
Elvis is a Jug (part Jack Russell, part Pug) and he's shaped like a propane cylinder with legs. He's got a great personality though and is my Nanny's pride and joy.

We ended up cracking open a bottle of wine with my grandparents after they introduced Dave to "East Coast Chicken Burgers" (a family tradition) and we didn't get home until late (and forgot to get toilet paper).

Despite the work and craziness, I did manage to finish up the hermit crab shell Saturday night.
I will say this pattern so far is really well written, but I did not enjoy Kitchener-stitching 135 stitches. I'm hoping to start on the crab tonight, but I've got a lot of cleaning to do so it may have to wait.

On the Angel Fish front. The eggs have hatched, and the babies are wiggling away hanging onto their egg sacks. There are about 40 of them (best estimate, they are all clumped up together so it's hard to tell) They should be free swimming in a couple of days.

Oh, and did manage to get toilet paper on the way home from work.

Profiles of Nature

At work there is a red tailed hawk who decided to nest on the sign on the side of our building. She had two chicks, and just recently they started to fly. Since then, we've had lots of great sightings, but nothing quite as cool as yesterday....

When I got to work, one of the chicks (hard to tell he's a baby, because he's almost full grown) was bopping around the parking lot.

I grabbed my camera and got out of the car to take some pictures. While I was chatting with the publisher, baby hawk flew by and landed on my car:
He seemed to like it better than most of the others because the roof racks provided a convenient perch.

I snuck in close to get some more pictures and was amazed at how close I did get. I could have reached out and pet him (if I wanted to lose a few fingers). He was magnificent... no fear at all. When I got to close he just hopped to the other side of the car.When I was done taking photos, I noticed Mama bird was sitting on top of the building keeping a weather eye on things.

And while we're talking abut nature. Mama angel fish has laid another litter (okay litter is not the right word... clutch?) of eggs.

She's actually laid about three or four litters since I last blogged about it. The second batch managed to hatch, but then they got covered in some sort of fungus and died. The other batches mysteriously disappeared in the night... so somebody ate them.

But what makes this batch special is where she laid the eggs.

Because of the worse case of tank algae I've ever seen, I recently removed all the plastic plants in my aquarium... they were covered in algae and I just couldn't clean it off. Dave and I made a trip to Big Al's and I did something I've wanted to do for a while. I bought enough live plants to fill the tank.

Mama Angel must have approved, because she laid the eggs on the leaf of one the Spades. (She used to lay them on the pump spout)
What's great about that is once I'm sure they are fertilized, I can cut the leaf off and put it in my breeder where no one can eat the eggs.

Even my knitting has take on a nature theme. The other night I cast on for Hansi Singh's Hermit Crab. It's going to be for Dave's birthday... because what boy doesn't want crabs for his birthday??? Actually he's a big fan of hermit crabs.... absolutely fascinated by them. I'm surprised we don't have a real one, though we've talked about it several times.

I don't have pics yet, and it's still just a lump of knitting, but I will soon... so until then....

You know how when some women see babies they want one of their own......

So cute I've totally peed my pants...
Will someone please tell Dave that four cats is not five too many???

To see more cuteness....www.theittybittykittycommittee.com

Double Vision

It's amazing... I've got two projects off the needles.

First up is the Punk Pink Hedgehog.I stuffed it up and embroidered the face on it this weekend. The other two are stuffed as well, but I'm not that fond of embroidery so I've been putting off finishing them up. Normally I'd use buttons for the eyes, but this one is for a baby due in September, so no buttons she can chew off.

Next up... I finished my white shrugIt's the Peacock Plumes Bolero in Super 10 Cotton.

This is not the greatest picture but I'll get a better one when there is someone else here to hold the camera.

I made a few mods to the pattern... the body is 3/4 of an inch shorter. The sleeves are 2 inches shorter and I added a button band instead of ties.

And, since I'm a firm believer that buttons can make or break a garment, I skipped out of work early today to go to my favourite button store where I found these:So pretty. Of course... I ended up spending as much on buttons as I did on yarn for the shrug.... but I guess that's what I get for putting in eight button holes.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with it... and it will be perfect to wear to work. It's a very nice pattern (though I did have to fudge in the sleeves) and is a quick knit... If you had the time to devote to it you could finish it in a weekend.

Well, while I've got the momentum going for me, I'm going to go see what else I can finish up.