SpinWeaveKnitandCake

Don't Let the Door Hit Ya' Where the Good Lord Split Ya'...

Good-bye No.43.

13.5 degrees here in Inaugurationland...

The news says "it feels like 5 degrees".  I think I'm not going outside anytime soon.  In fact, I will be here at the table typing what's left of my fingers to nubbins.  It was a luxury to sleep in during the holidays, but now I need to get back into my wacky, fun-fun schedule of early mornings. 

I guess I will give a quick update of my whereabouts.  It seems like this month is going to be about the once a week updates.

The loom still has a significant amount of warp on it and I will weave some more as time goes on.  The knitting needles are idle, but I've decided that I need to knit myself a new scarf.  The spinning wheel is folded up in a corner in the craftroom.  And finally addressing the cake in SPinWeaveKnitandCake, I didn't enter into the City of Fairfax Chocolate Festival Cake Competition this year and that's because I just realized I missed the cut-off date which was yesterday.

I have camera phone video that I have to figure out how to convert from 3GP to MPG of my mom at the horse pull the other night.  I didn't get to drive up to Harrisburg, PA but these days PCN TV streams live from there, so I got to see her here at home on the computer. 

And the inauguration is coming up quickly.  The government has decided to shut down major roadways and bridges into the city for everyday vehicle use, so traffic will be quite entertaining.  As I like to say, Heeee-larious! 

Also if you are planning on attending it's going to snow.  I just checked the weather and it's going to be cold, not like today cold, but cold and snowy anyway.  So come prepared.  Mayor Fenty (Mayor of DC) was on the news this week saying don't expect to attend the Parade and the Inauguration.  You will have to choose your event, which is quite true.  You will not be able to do both - unless maybe you have a jetpack but then the Secret Service would probably shoot you down. 

So yes, I am staying home where it will be warm and elbow in the ear free.  My jetpack will stay grounded for that day. 

Speaking of jetpacks, kudos to the pilot in NYC who managed to land the plane on the Hudon River.  Eep.  Can we request this man when we have to fly??  Roll up to the ticket counter and ask: And who is the Captain today?  My luck I'd get the Skipper and Gilligan in this type of a situation.  Going to North Carolina?  Oh no, we'd get stuck on an island in the Pacific. 

Now if you will excuse me, big girl needs some more coffee.  I fear the caffiene to blood ratio is terribly, downright dangerously low.

Yes, shush...

There are still Christmas cards sitting on the coffee table to be sent to family up North.  My punishment for the delay is I've just bashed my toe on the stairs coming up from the laundry room.  Owie. 

It's all gray and icky here today.  Blah.  I have a lot of shouldas, couldas, and wouldas to get over this year, I just have to suck it up and move on.  That sounds kind of cryptic, but I sure haven't done much with myself this past year. 

Work-wise it was (and is) a constant struggle with a former employer who still owes me money from the summer but luckily I'm now working with a better group of people and I think my mindset is in a better place to start off this year. 

I've gotten myself a little better organized, the house not so much.  Wow, there's a lot of couldas there.  Woo.  I'm thinking about calling in the reinforcements. 

Today actually marks the end of my little holiday break.  How spoiled am I to not need to wake up to my alarm for the last week?  But now, I'm back in the saddle.  Laundry is spinning, cats are yawning, the rain is pouring...zzzz....tonight I will work late and face the 5 am alarm buzz tomorrow morning...

In the spirit of working, last night I broke out my recording equipment to make sure everything was functional.  Stale and flat batteries make for a bad day.  I was testing one of my mics and a certain black furry beastie hopped up onto the couch and decided that he needed some attention and laid his furriness across my microphone.

I give you Mordechai A Cappella (it may take a moment to load):

Here's my sign...

This was my signal to stop and chuck a load of laundry into the wash to get ready for tonight's festivities. 

And now I will quote the great Homer Simpson: D'oh!

This is what happens, when like me, you do not wind the bobbin properly.  Dig that knot!

I will now go and start a new bobbin. 

Ho, Ho, Ho...whoops

I missed Santa's sleigh this year.  I'm still weaving.  Friends and family should know by now that this should be expected from me.  It lends to an air of the continuing holiday spirit.  The whole 12 days and whatnot.  On the 13th day of Christmas Christine sent to me...

Oh and if you are the friend or family member who sent us the great gift card for D.C. Coast, could you please step forward.  The restaurant sent us the card but without any pertinent information, you know, like who it's from.

So what's been happening here in NoVA?  Mr. Man's car is still in le shoppe.  Possibly it will be let free tonight.  Luckily, it's not at the dealer because then he would seriously be raked over the coals.  He broke his timing belt and it broke a good many things on the engine all at once.  It's going to cost a bit, in fact I'll outline the numbers for you:

                                                        $X,X02.37

Yeah, how did they come up with that two dollars and 37 cents?  I've left out the heart stopping numbers but you get the idea.  In fact, he may be buying a new one before year's end.  You know before the prices go up.  The above number doesn't even address the other issues with that car.  Geesh.  Oh, and my truck is now generating a great high pitched whir that comes and goes especially when you take it out of gear.  Hmmm?  Oh, well.

I guess we're all in the same boat.  It's that time of year for health insurance rates to go up and I'm not sure how much extra I will be paying.  I haven't seen a doctor at this new fascist facility yet, they chose a doctor for me and then I promptly received a letter stating that the said doctor had left but their nurses and various other white lab coated folk could still take care of me and that was two months ago.

Truth be told I'm not sure where this place is and God forbid I hurt myself anytime soon because I will die on the way there or their emergency helpline nurses will tell me to walk off the broken leg and make an appointment in a month if it still hurts.

And it's almost the New Year.  I do have more than my share of New Year's resolutions.  There's the same old ones: get into shape (granted pear is a shape), finish this year's weaving, get new health insurance, blahdy-blah.  This year though, I need to refine them.  Maybe just eating better and actually exercising will help me get into shape.  Hmmm.  It's an amazing concept, I know. 

Oh, hey I do believe I will be attending the Pennsylvania Farm Show this year.  My Mom is going to be in a wacky ancient (to me) farmer tradition kind of competition.  She'll be using her brother's horses in a male dominated sport.  I do believe once she get's over the flu that nailed her immediately after she got home Christmas night, she will rock that ring.  My cousin won last year in the middle weight horse event.  He's the guy in the checked shirt sporting the 'stache in the second picture down here.

I had some other brilliant babble brewing in my mind, but I do need to get back behind the loom and finish a few gifts. 

Loom Cat and Whisky wanted to thank Santa for the box they scored this holiday season.  It has proven to be great fun.

Happy Holidays From Our Family To Yours

It's not about what we get, it's about what we do.  Stay true to yourself and to those you hold dear.  May the New Year bring glad tidings, hope and new experiences for us all.  Loosen the lid of of your box and peek out, break out of the mold and "see what to your wondering eyes should appear..."

Love is being patient...

Without too much "I told you so"...

A little photo montage of my evening puor vous..

Look at the sunset, it is so beautiful. Hmm, is that rush hour traffic?

Oh my, is that one of those UFOs?

Nope, just a tow truck.

On the way to the repair shop, Mr. Man's sick man mobile needed assistance to go the last five miles.

Happy Holidays!

Last week we picked out our tree and today we were finally able to put it up.  It sat out on the porch all week, it was a sad a pathetic sight.  And Ta-dahh, it's finally decorated.  It's a little lopsided but is a wonderful tree.

And since it's the holidays I'm actively trying to keep the house clean.  Back in November I bought a new rug from Ikea, I like the rug but it doesn't hide the cat fur like the old one did and it's one of those rugs that you need to vacuum every stinking day. 

I present to you a photo essay with one clean rug and one of our four cats (sorry about the cellphone pictures)

Freshly vacuumed rug:

Whisky notices clean rug:

And reacts accordingly:

I can't win with that rug.

However, I was productive enough to get some more weaving done.  In fact!  Hold onto your pants!  I was able to get one towel completed yesterday to give as a gift and due to time constraints ran out the door last night with it still damp, so no completed picture was taken.  Oh, with these towels I'm using 5/2 mercerized cotton.
 
 
Spots

Waffles

Blogging here instead of selling there.

As this is a weaving, spinning, knitting, and crafty blog I've been pretty quiet over the last week because I've worked and not the crafty kind either which means I did not meet my goal of having things to sell at the Village Marketplace.  I have three towels done and a runner started.  In fact, I should be working right now instead of blogging.  I am effectively playing hooky and it's a Saturday.

To start my day off right on the "I don't wanna" tone, Mr. Man and I took a relatively quick trip out to our local mall and did some Christmas shopping but you know, some of the sales are good and others aren't as nice as last year's. 

On the crafty front, as I'm scanning the camera for pictures it looks like the boyfriend has been the super crafty one here, he's trying to make his own circuit boards for well, he did tell me exactly what these were for but it translated in my head to this:  little gizmos for him and his co-workers to play with.

Here's the runner I'm stuck on.  After three waffle weave towels I quickly tired of the simple treadling pattern and shifted to something more difficult and quickly boogered it up which means I need to advance and start over.

Taa-daa!  (With flash)

Without flash:

Maybe after the runner I will go back to the simple waffle weave.
(Click for a larger view)

The green is actually a dark green, the flash makes it look turquoise.

Village Marketplace

Late Friday night, early Saturday morning around 1:30 am after finishing one towel and only just starting the second one, I gave up the idea of having anything to sell at the Village Marketplace, so I went and started another project there. 

As I was setting up the loom and people came by my table, I was asked some wonderful questions and had some great conversations.  Although I was asked what was I knitting by one misguided soul.  I chuckled.  And the kids were really interested in the process.

I didn't grab any pictures there and for eye candy purposes here's a close up of my waffle weave of what's on the loom.

Mmmm, waffles...

Quickly, Strictly Weaving...

Today I will be weaving at the Village Marketplace.  I will be there at 1pm until around 9pm just weaving.  I have one completed towel to show for two days of dressing my loom.  Wow.  So nada on the "to sell" front.

But it's all good.  When I go back on December 13th I will have you know the really important thing to have when you're a vendor, you know, oh what's it called -- stock.  Ha! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi all!  So what are you doing today?  What are you thankful for?  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on Saturday, so today we are hanging out at the house and I will be loomside most of the day -- you know, once I stop dawdling.

I want to let you know that www.EverydaySheep.com is up and sort of running.  You get one page and one page only at this time.  (How's that for a Hunt for Red October reference?)  I'll refine it once I get more time.

But today I am charging ahead because this Saturday, Nov. 29 I will be at the Village Marketplace here in the City of Fairfax from 1pm to 9pm hanging out with a group of craftspeople.  I will definitely be weaving in public.  You can come by and meet up with me.  It will be fun!  Oh, and I will be back there on December 13th.  Maybe the 6th, but definitely the 13th.

Here's a picture of one of the three 20 yard warp chains.  Twenty yards!  What was I thinking??

I can't begin to tell you how much help a warping mill is, especially with that 20 yard warp.

I wouldn't have even thought to use 10 colors in this warp if I didn't have a warping paddle. 

When I first started to weave I could barely wrap my brain around using two colors and now I'm so proud of myself.  I have a 10 color warp!  it's actually nine since I'm using one color twice.  Speaking of which, once I get the craft room in order I am totally going to keep a spreadsheet on what yarns I have.  For some reason I didn't think I already had two cones of UKI Ruby Glint and ordered two more.  Der.

Oh, what am I making?  Dishtowels again.  Waffle weave here I come.  Hopefully I will have a few towels done by Saturday to sell, if not I will be there weaving my heart out anyway.

If you are at home a need something to listen to, I recommend www.Slacker.com.  If you click on the Seasonal title in their music listing they have some great holiday selections.  I'm currently listening to Dysfunctional Holiday.  I'm hoping for the McKenzie Brothers 12 Days of Christmas to come up soon.

Well, wish me luck.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Whereupon, we celebrated with friends and family...

Every year for like the last seven years Mr. Man and I have been inviting friends and family over for fried turkey, this year was no exception.  We always do it NOT on Thanksgiving Day being traffic in the DC/NOVA area is pure crap and especially around Thanksgiving it accumulates into a maddening mess.  We were originally going to do it the 15th and then things changed last minute and we did it on the 22nd instead.

The biggest problem of the evening -- we forgot to serve the wonderful homemade cranberry sauce that our dear friend made.  So now I get to enjoy it as a wonderful leftover.

Hot Turkey? (Oh, yeah, I'm not cleaning that pot - His Majesty of the Fried Turkey gets to scrape that tape off of the side.)

This small house was packed to the gills with people who shared in our bounty:
(I didn't get to recover that pink pelmet - I swear I will soon...)

My Truck Driving Momma and her Man:

One tired cook:

And here am I the morning after -- hemmed in by the Furry Four.

After everybody left, Mr. Man and I stayed up playing Uno.  I love that game.

Hey don't forget to come to the City of Fairfax this weekend and visit me.  I will be playing Weaver Woman at the Village Marketplace on Saturday...so far I have nothing made,but I will go and sit and weave on the cute little Norwood loom.  It's come down to me having to pay to leave the house to weave.  What a shame.

Village Marketplace Holiday Kickoff

Saturday, November 29, 2008.  Where will you be?  I will be attending the Village Marketplace here in the City of Fairfax and I hear Santa is going to be there. 

The Village Marketplace is a great gathering of many crafty folks who want to share their goods with the public.  There will be pottery, jewelry, photography, knitting, and lots of other great handmade gifts for Christmas.

But on Saturday, November 29, you can add weaving to that list as I will be joining those crafty folks and will be doing a weaving demonstration and if I get lucky and by the grace of God I will actually have some great things to sell. 

In fact, a great person who is going in for knee surgery is letting me use her little Norwood loom for the demonstration.

See, it's so cute...

don't mind the cat...

So come one, come all and come and hang out with me and check out the goodies.

The Village Marketplace is located on North Street between Chain Bridge Road and University Drive, in the City of Fairfax at Old Town Village Fairfax.  The hours are Friday 3 - 9 pm and Saturday 1 - 9 pm. 

Oh, and my in-house technical guru is working on my new website:

www.EverydaySheep.com

I can't wait...

And I Fried...

Okay Typepad is being stupid slow.  Is it because my picture file was too big - who knows.  So let me try this post again.

Today instead of making dinner as I had originally planned, I decided to experiment in the field of frying.  I went to Super H today and got lost in their selection of vegetables and I had seen somewhere how to make your own chips so one thing lead to another. 

So I came home and got to frying.  Loretta Lynn eat your heart out.

Here is the experiment in a nutshell.  I've included the name of the vegetable next to its raw and fried forms.

My favorite chips in order were the Russet Potato, then the Beet, and then the Parsnip. 

The Turnip was kind of floppy and blah, the Purple Yam was good and sweet but I think I burned the little buggers.  Mr. Man and I decided the Purple Potato was all right, it just had the least flavor out of them all.

Dang, I forgot the Sweet Potato, oh well, next time.

Consumerism a la Christine

Yes, I bought this coffee because of the name and it was on sale.

Luckily for me it's not bad coffee, it's got nothing on Columbia Supremo, but hey what did I expect with that name?  (Again, it was on sale.)

I am a consumer.  Even a purchaser of silly names.  But I am a woman quite miffed at her bank, a bank that I have had a relationship with for 11 years.

 Back in September you may remember my debit/credit card was compromised and Chevy Chase said they would take care of it.  Well, let's say I'm not pleased with the outcome or how it was handled or is being handled.  They did credit me the money that was taken and then yesterday I found out, without warning, they took back the biggest chunk of it almost causing me to have a small issue with my account. 

Nothing like running to the bank with cash minutes before the bank closes to cover a purchase even though you checked your account in the morning before you went shopping and everything was hunky-dory.  Jerks.  Not even a call, not even a warning. 

Luckily I checked my account online again when I got home and was like, Huh???  Have I been compromised again?  What is this "Debit Charge"?  Since they charge me to use debit I only use their darn card as a credit card.

So I called the rats and the poor woman on the phone could not tell me what their reason why was.  Get this!  I had to open yet ANOTHER dispute and will be contacted in 48 to 72 hours by Chevy Chase and oh, the letter with the reason is in the mail I should have it in 3 to 5 days.

How's that for customer service?  I have banks that are closer to me, you know within walking distance so I am going to open a new account on Monday.  What a pain.  But I as a consumer I need to make a right choice with my money and not be taken for a ride while not being protected.  I mean if there is a next time and even more money is taken, how will they treat me then? 

As a consumer I just need to go somewhere else.  I can write a letter to the bank but who will read it?  Who will give a toot there?  It seems like nobody.  So goodbye bankie-poo.

Not for the lack of enthusiasm...

I did not blog yesterday because I was hungover and then had an unexpected call to work in the afternoon.  So that was my day, I was asleep by eight last night. 

So I will add my official two cents to this political ballyhoo:  wOOt! 

Finally the guy I voted for won and I didn't feel like my vote was trash.  Hence, the hangover.  Okay THAT was because I drank wine all night while watching the results roll in and then we broke open the champagne when McCain gave his eloquent speech.  It was so well written, I wonder how long his speech writers had been working on that? 

I mean, seriously, every campaign must have "that guy" who is hired just to write the "just in case I have to concede" speech.  I wonder if they seclude him from the others just so he doesn't bring them down. 

And of course, as I spent some time on the couch yesterday morning I thought about how would I run a campaign and what I would do if I were Supreme Ruler, ahh.., I mean President. 

Yes, President.  If the Republicans think they're getting a socialist now...(Oh, you ought to hear the crap down here.  whine, whine, beach, and moan...)

I wouldn't want to be the stinking Vice President.  What do they get to do all day?  Well they do have nice diggs over at the Observatory and a nice office in the Old Executive Office Building.  There's a lot more room at the Observatory and nobody ever chains themselves or stands outside their gates chanting mean things.  You get helicopter rides.  You get police escorts (even with an ambulance escort like Cheney).  I think they get paid well.  They definitely get to party a lot. 

Hmmm, maybe I should be Vice President instead.  It would certainly be less stressful than being Numero Uno.  Okay.  So Vote Christine for Vice President. 

I will go to the fancy parties for you, I will be bored for you when a foreign dignitary tries to tell a funny story, I will make darn sure the President does not get impeached (because I want to be VICE president, not President, geesh). 

Oh, oh, maybe I should be the one who gets into trouble instead of the President.  Yes, I will deflect all of the negative media from Number One by causing it myself.  Yes.  I will throw a great number of parties, go to to other countries when they have parties.  I will throw eggs at the Russian Dictator What's His Nuts, Vladimir Putin - how many jokes can you get with Putin?  Tootin Putin?  What else?

Shoot, I will make myself Vice President for Life not Supreme Ruler for Life.  He totally did it wrong.

Well, I'm off to Ikea.  Land of frozen meatballs and jars of ligonberries.  Mm-mmm.  Oh, wait maybe I should brush my teeth, have some coffee first -- wow, 12 hours of sleep sure makes a 35 year old girl feel like she can rule the world.

You can count on my vote, hopefully...

We got to the polling station early this morning and there were lots of people already lined up ahead of us but we got out in 27 minutes.  Granted when they opened the doors they said the machines were down and we would have to use a paper ballot instead.  Luckily the guy with the swipe card went running by and we were able to vote by machine, which has its problems.

There are usually four machines open at our polling station but only three were up today.

Twitter is on fire with more people in the Commonwealth of Virginia having problems at the polling stations.  I hope at the end of the day all of the votes are counted and none are thrown out or rejected.  Funny how swing states can have such problems when they didn't before.

When we left the polls the line had formed around the building so I'm sure those people have a long wait in store for them.  I hope this doesn't come down to the popular vote vs. electoral vote again.  I think today is definitely going to be entertaining, that's for sure.

I almost forgot, we got a sideshow to boot this morning.  A woman in her "savedarfur.org" shirt briefly stepped out of line and sort of laid on her back in fetal position, we're not sure if she was just bored and doing yoga or if she was so stressed she had to rock back and forth to self soothe before she cast her vote.

Halloween Was A Complete Bust

I have decided that neighborhood Halloween parties suck.  They take all of the trick or treaters away from us DINKS.  I always make sure to have the good candy, nothing lame here.  I don't hate kids, I just don't have any or need any right now but I love Halloween and the parade of kids in costumes.

So all of the good candy I had to give, most of it went to a handful of lame, unsupervised teenagers with no costumes holding out their Bloom grocery store bags.  I don't want the candy in the house so I had to shell it out.  One kid scored half of the bowl. 

Actually there was a little girl whose dad was shoveling the candy from the bowl into her bag, you know, picking out the stuff he wanted. 

Next year's Halloween is going to be on a Saturday, maybe Mr. Man and I will have a costume party and ignore the door.  I can see next year's Halloween now:

There's a knock at the door:

KID: Trick or treat!
ME/GUEST:  Canape?  Cheese?  Cracker?  Stuffed Olive?

Hmm, I do believe I have a plan.  Stupid neighborhood Halloween parties, I'll show you. (Whacky cat lady shaking fist in air)

Spooky Cat Says Happy Halloween!

You may approach and bring me treats...

Why Dull Knives Are Bad, Mm'kay?

Because when you are making chili for dinner your knife doesn't slip up the side of the rather large onion and slice into the fat, doughy base of your thumb.  Owie.  Hey, Mr. Man, the knife needs some attention.

Also at this time I would like you to remember to hold said wound above your heart while applying pressure, it is supposed to slow the blood loss down.  Mm'kay?

God I love Nexcare bandages. 

At least we have enough chili for a family of 20.  Can anybody ever cook for just two?  I was at the deli in Wegman's a of couple weeks ago and this woman only ordered two slices of cheese.  What?  Just two slices? 

My immediate thought was somebody has eating issues and then I thought, she probably has the cleanest refrigerator in town. 

Speaking of which, I have to throw that into the hardhat of chores.  For just two people our fridge is loaded with some long forgotten, not-so-timeless meals that's for sure.  If I start chucking things blindly into the garbage Mr. Man comes to help.  Heh, heh, heh...

HIM:  Hey don't throw that out.  That cheese is still good.
ME:  It smells like feet and it has mold on it.
HIM:  It's supposed to smell like feet and have mold on it. 

First Fire of the Season...

The blustery weather yesterday prompted Mr. Man to light a fire for us last night.

I'm currently using this to relax...

And to keep these warm...

The cold has inspired me to make myself a pair of felted mittens.  So I photocopied my hands for size comparison and template purposes.  Yeah, I'm a dork.  I've also cut them out in cardboard.  Let's see how this idea of mine works out. 

I'm waiting for a pair of small circulars to arrive via mail so I can do some tight knitting in the round.  I'm not sure which felting process to use to make these.  Knit, then felt?  Or should I just grab some cloth and chunks of wool and get scrubbing to make felted pieces?

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

It is cold out there and I love it!  We're down to 48*F with lots of wind.  And oh, I'm also in a better mood.  

A short story:
Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, lots of us have to pay a property tax every year on their vehicle and we also have to have an emissions test done once every year (with the option of two-years).  So of course when I bought my truck several years ago I bought it in October which means my insurance, property tax, and emissions are all due in the same bank draining month.  Gah.

Needless to say I waited until the last minute for the emissions testing which can take a long time depending on what time of the day and how close it is to the beginning or end of the month due to the number of people in line before you.  One needs skill in timing these things and today by golly I do believe I mastered it.  I left the house at 10:10 a.m., as I got to my local garage the guy was finishing with the lone car there, so I got right in, received the "PASS" grade and was home all by 10:40 a.m.  It's the small things that make me happy I tell you.

Fiber Content:
Finally the knitted "hats" I've been working on have finally become felted bowls. 
Ta-daaa!


Here's the scoop on these puppies going from largest to smallest starting on the left with the multi-colored purple bowl.  Mental note: After felting make sure you measure before you shape, you know, just for accuracy's sake.

Also, I may bead these or add something to make them less plain.

Bowl A:


Yarn:  Classic Elite Yarns - Paintbox - 100% Merino Wool
Pre-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 10.25"  W 12.00"  (Did I measure that right?)
Post-Felting Measurements (inches): L 7.50"  W 12.00"
Odor?  You betcha.  Smells like a clean wet cat.
Note:  It's more of a raspberry purple color and I could throw this back in the wash to felt a bit more.

Bowl B:

Yarn:  Lion Brand Yarn - Bolero - 100% wool
Pre-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 7.00"  W 11.00"
Post-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 6.50"  W 10.25"
Odor?  The worst.  Smells like a dirty wet dog.  What did that unidentified sheep roll in?
Note:  Trim the spiky piece on the edge, it makes this bowl look like it belongs to Alfalfa.  The chunky to thin nature of this yarn makes a scalloped edge.

Bowl C:

Yarn:  Lamb's Pride - Bulky - 85% wool/15% mohair
Pre-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 8.50"  W 10.50"
Post-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 6.00"  W 9.75"
Odor?  Smells like clean wool.
Note:  I could throw this back in the wash to felt a bit more.

Bowl D:

Yarn: Patons - SWS- %70 wool/30% soy
Pre-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 10.00"  W 11.50"
Post-Felting Measurements (inches):  L 5.50"  W 8.50"
Odor?  Nada.  Smells like a clean shirt.
Note:  I love to felt with this stuff.  It firms up the best and also shrinks the most, which could be a good or a bad thing.

Joe McCain is just as classy and tempermental as his brother

Let's all call 9-1-1 to get a traffic update and then cuss out the operator when we are told that this is improper.  Who is the elitist here?  It seems as the whole McCain clan thinks it is entitled to more than everybody else in the United States.  I am so tired of living in the shadow of the GOP elites who think they are entitled and can bend the rules on a whim.

You hear Palin (Click here to see how much it costs for two-weeks worth of face spackle) talk about Obama's ties with Bill Ayers. 

She doesn't mention McCain being one of the Keating 5 back in '89 all tangled up in the Savings and Loans debacle.  Mccain went on nine (9) all expense paid trips care of his friend Charles Keating (who spent 4.5 years in jail for his deeds). 

Again, McCain is just a pig and an elitist to me who has no qualms to accept "gifts" while in office and has a reputation in the halls on the Hill of being a jerk to the staff.  I would say he smacks of corruption even though the specifics may technically be legal.  Keep your fingers out of the cookie jar baby and out of the Oval Office! 

Okay.  Enough about politics.  I'm just cranky this morning.  Maybe I should fire up the loom this weekend and beat the aggression into some chenille so that it doesn't worm on me.

Bust out your velcro booties, we've got zero gravity and a ticket to fly to the moon on PanAm...

2001: A Space Odyssey is on the boob tube.  Sorry.  It's so disappointing to see that it's 2008 and well, we everyday people are still unable to just walk up and buy a ticket to visit such a spectacular moon base.  And Mr. Man just brought up the fact that PanAm went out of business before 2001.

Of course, the freaky people mover at Dulles airport (it's like a submarine with windows on stilts with wheels) is probably as close as we will get to some rocket ship.  How very sad for us.

In other odd news, no felting yet Jackie.  I have been wearing the chunky pre-felted bowl as a hat in the house in the early morning.   Even though it barely fits my large alien-like head it sure can keep my noggin' warm.  And yes, Tuesday we turned the heat on.  I had my first see your breath kind of morning this morning as I moved my truck out of da Man's way so he could head off to work.

This is how far I have gotten on that knitting I started on Sunday.

I have been busy.  In fact, I bid you adieu until this weekend and maybe I will felt that hat, I mean bowl.

Until then, mend your lead aprons and make sure to stand back away from the sticky tape this holiday season.  Read this.

I do knit, I swear.

I'm addicted to felting bowls.  This just looks like a small pile of hats, but they will be felted soon enough to become bowls.

Yesterday was knit group at Bloggless B's.  Knitting with the ladies always helps to motivate me, even if I don't knit the complicated stuff like they do.  I've concludeed that I should only commit to the little projects.  Nothing too complicated.  That pink "hat" was put down a year ago and I finally finished it yesterday at B's house.  I had more yarn with me so I cast on the mutli-colored "hat" and finished it shortly after I got home and since the knitting bug was back in all of its glory, I cast on yet another.

As things go I've also realized that knitting is really a seasonal hobby for me.  During the summer when it gets hot and humid here in NoVA I don't want to touch the sticks.  But now that it's 37 degrees (F*) this morning, I'm all over it. 

I love this chilly weather.  This morning I had what we call at our house a "four cat morning".  Mr. Man got up for work and our quartet of four-legged heathens piled into bed with me.  When summer rolls around I only get one.

Loom Cat Passes Out...

Actually she is rolling around on the floor in joy.  My shipment of UKI yarn came in from the lovely people at the Yarn Barn of Kansas.
I am so woozy.

Last night we went to my favorite Italian restaurant for dinner.  As we were settling in, sipping our wine and waiting for our order the power went out on the whole block.  They didn't shoo us out, so we stayed.  Just as we finished dinner the lights came back on.  It was really nice actually.

Trojans and Cheap Gas

This would be how I started my day -- and as interesting as it sounds it's not what you think.

I was working on the computer this morning and my antivirus software went bonkers as I was online searching a weird term.  Apparently I had stumbled across some nasty trojan computer virus that almost ruined my day and two days worth of work. 

After removing the offending file and running a scan it seems that my laptop is okay (knock on wood).  For a second this morning as it all froze up it seemed like it was I was going to cry, but as I like to say, it's all good.

Then of course coming home this afternoon I noticed gas was $2.97 for a gallon of regular unleaded.  You know, after I was so proud I found it for $3.15 yesterday and filled up. 

And since I'm dressed up (I worked out of the house today) we're going out for dinner tonight.

A touch of cute...

I'm sorry, was 'dis yours? 

It's very hard to recycle boxes in this house.  If you put one on the floor, no matter the size, this kitty is in it.  It's Loom Cat's sister, Whisky.  She leaves the loom alone because she's busy squeezing her furry bottom into boxes..

To play.

And of course for a cat nap.

ZZZZzzzzz...

Happy Columbus Day!

So I got a laugh this morning.  I was half listening to a local radio show this morning and in a conversation some caller said:

How can you discover a place when "there are people standing on shore waving"?  I laughed and laughed. 

So Mr. Man has scampered off to work -- okay, not scamper.  He only scampers if there is a bee or wasp involved.  So he shuffled off with coffee mug in hand and the cats have abandoned me to their napping quadrants on the bed. 

We're revving up for our annual Thanksgiving turkey fry.  Nummy.  We have to think about what we're doing this year.  We have family and friends over to sit around and eat until they're stuffed.  I'm wondering if we should try a buffet this year, probably not though.  I like the sitting around the table with everybody.

Well I'm off to do some laundry and housecleaning.  I have an email out to Blogless B about knitting this Sunday.  I missed last month's gathering of ladies and I'm looking forward to it this month.  I need the flurry of non-cat fiber to get my holiday crafitness a boost.

The weekend recap...

• Laundry, in progress
• Trash, delayed because of Columbus Day
• Attend the City of Fairfax Fall Festival on Saturday, Check

  I meant to take more photos but I was busy looking at all of the stalls of goodies and there were oodles of people there.  At one point our path was blocked with a troop of stroller drivers who converged and came to a complete stop in front of us. 

I want this car:

• Been motivated to weave, Check!

Think "Weekend Marketplace".  The City is starting up a marketplace for people like me to sell their goodies.  So I have ordered some yarn and have plans of loading the loom in order to sell my wares at a local marketplace in the November/December timeframe.  Muhahahahaaaa!  I think I can do it.  Mental Note to Self: I must make a list of what I need to do.

I finally got to sit down and catch up with the latest Handwoven magazine and noticed that on page 12 in the "Goods" section they switched the photos with the captions between the JOY and Neal Howard Designs.  Bummer.

And my sister asked me to throw a shout out on my blog to the people who helped make her wedding happen last weekend.  The good people at La Belle Femme, who provide Victorian costume rentals.  Mr. Man and I were going to rent a couple of outfits there but time was not in our favor to do so.  Also, the good folks at the Gettysburg Bed and Breakfast, who were so nice and helpful especially with helping me and my cake fiasco.   

I think that takes care of it.