Friday, May 29, 2009

How to ruin a perfectly good knitting day . . . .

in just three quick seconds.

It doesn't matter that the day is too cloudy and rainy to justify going out to do anything.  It doesn't matter that the house was cleaned from top to bottom on Wednesday so I'd be all set to give K.C. my attention after her surgery.  It doesn't even matter that I've got gorgeous Misti Alpaca yarn and the so-fun-it-should-be-illegal Monkey sock pattern going.


Oh no, in just three quick seconds you can shoot that all to hell by touching a pan that just came out of a 450° oven.


Okay, the burn doesn't show well in the picture, but trust me, it is there.  On my right thumb and pointer finger.  I can manage to knit a teeny bit, but it's painful and very slow going.  My advice?  Always remember to use oven-mitts when going anywhere near the oven!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

How is today Thursday???

Seriously, I've got to get back to blogging on a regular schedule. But the past week has been a total blur.

There was some celebrating done over the holiday weekend.  With lots of martinis.  And cake.


Lots of cake!!  One on Monday and one on Tuesday.


And of course, there were fibery gifts and knitting books too.  I'll tell you more about those when the clouds go away and I can take a better picture than this pathetic one.


Unfortunately, it hasn't been all parties over here.  We also had K.C.'s surgery to get through yesterday.  She had a tough time and we had some bad scares last night.  But this morning, she's doing so much better.  She can walk again, and she even purred and snuggled down into my lap. She's a trooper.


If you look close, you can make out some of her 3 inches of stitches on her poor shaved belly.  For now, she seems to be resting comfortably in her sick room (aka the bathroom) where she is safely away from anything she might be tempted to climb on. 

And for me, I'm pretty tired too.  Should I knit?  Or should I nap?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Black and White

Yesterday Kathy did a post about her favorite things that are black and white.  What is my most favorite black and white in the world? Well, that's a no-brainer.


It's K.C., of course!!!  (And Kathy is her kitty godmother.)

Some of you may know about the problem we've been having with K.C.  Since the time we got her home, she seemed to be having some health issues.  After multiple tests, my theory of the problem was confirmed.  Although it is extremely rare, when she was spayed (at the Humane Society before we met her), a piece of tissue was left behind.  As a result, she is still going into heat every couple of weeks.  A cat in heat is no fun, I can tell you that!  She's like Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde-Kitty.

She needs exploratory surgery to find and remove the tissue.  It's on the schedule for a week from today.  I am more worried than I can describe.  My poor little kitty.  So, what's a good project that's easy and mindless enough to fill my time while her surgery is performed?

Monday, May 11, 2009

Meme Monday - 8 Things . . .


Just when I feared I was running out of Memes to do, Trina and Jill saved the day and tagged me with this fun one.

Here's how to do this 8 THINGS thing:
Mention the person that tagged you. Complete the lists of 8's. Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends. Go tell them you tagged them!

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

  1. Our 5th anniversary cruise!
  2. The Farmer's Market opening up again for the season.
  3. Every morning, the minute I wake up, I look forward to COFFEE!
  4. Picking Pea up at the train station each evening.
  5. Snuggles with my kitty-cat.
  6. Getting the laundry and housework DONE so I can knit.
  7. Going to the casino again.
  8. Sunshine and warm weather.
8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
  1. Put in a new CGM sensor.
  2. Watch TV with Pea.
  3. Cuddle with K.C.
  4. Shop for Mom's Mother's Day gift.  (Yes, I did have to wait until the last minute.)
  5. Knit.
  6. Have dinner at my parent's house.
  7. Surf the web.
  8. Yell at K.C. for jumping on the dining room table.  (I think I did that one eight times!!)
8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO
  1. Sing on key.
  2. Be outgoing instead of shy.
  3. Speak Italian.
  4. Figure out some sort of career plan.
  5. Just eat - without counting carbs, bolusing and checking blood sugars.
  6. Exercise without feeling like it's pure torture.
  7. Knit faster.
  8. Right now??  Go back to sleep. 
8 SHOWS I WATCH
  1. The Office
  2. House
  3. Chuck
  4. 30 Rock
  5. What Not to Wear
  6. Ugly Betty
  7. Burn Notice
  8. Psyche
8 BLOGGERS TAGGED
  1. I never tag other bloggers.
  2. It makes me feel guilty.
  3. What if they don't want to be tagged?
  4. You just never know.
  5. But I like to be tagged.
  6. And I like to read meme's.
  7. So if you want to do this one, consider yourself tagged.
  8. And let me know so I can read your Eight Things!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

WIP Wednesday - something new and fun

Since I've been in such a slump lately, I decided it might be time to cast-on something new.  Something fun.  Something I've been wanting to knit, but have been putting off because there are other things I should knit instead.  Something that will make me feel like I've learned and accomplished something new.  A quick gander through my knitting queue revealed the perfect project.


The Kristina Bag!!!  I'd been dying to knit this bag since my mom bought me a ball of Kureyon for Christmas in 2006.  I finally picked up the pattern over a year ago.  It was  hopelessly lost in the mess  misplaced in my craft room for a while, but turned up again months ago and has been calling to me ever since.  And, it is my first attempt at stranded knitting!  And I'm doing it!  I'm really doing it!!  It's fun and it's moving along fast.  And it makes me feel like I am learning something new!  I can't hardly tear myself away from it!

Mission accomplished!

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Well, what would you do?

So tell me, what would you do if you knew you had more yarn than you could ever knit in a life-time?  You'd probably stop buying yarn, right?

But what if you had planned to take a trip to Ct Sheep and Wool?  Maybe you wouldn't worry too much, since last year there wasn't anything there that caught your eye.  But you'd probably bring a bit of your saved up Christmas money along, just in case.  After all, there might be something absolutely irresistible there this year, right?  Some sock yarns in colorways that just can't be passed up.  And maybe a cashmere blend that is too soft, too pretty, too reasonably priced not to come home with you.


And then, what if you and your wonderful husband decide to take a little detour to the casino on the way home from the fiber festival?  It couldn't hurt to play the penny slots a bit, just for fun, right?  But then, what if you hit?  What if you hit big?  What if you hit for $850.00????  Why, you'd cash out and go on home with your treasure, wouldn't you?


But then, what if the next weekend rolls around?  And you are taking a little road trip up to New Hampshire for your godson's First Communion?  And on the way home, you'd be driving Right.  Past.  Webs.  During their anniversary sale.  Well, you'd just have to stop in and take a look around, wouldn't you?  Of course, you would keep reminding yourself about all that yarn you have at home.  But what if your husband kept saying "But honey, you won all the money last week.  You should go ahead and treat yourself to something nice"?  Well, you'd have to do just that, wouldn't you?


Is it just me? Do I have some kind of rare Yarn Flu that causes me to lose all of my inhibitions? Or would you do the very same thing?

Monday, May 04, 2009

New Week, New Month, Fresh Start

Things have been pretty dull here on this little blog. In fact, things have been pretty dull in my little life. Sure, I have been doing some fun and exciting things too, but overall I’ve been going through quite a rough patch. A rough patch that makes it very hard to work up the ambition to do much of anything, especially blog.

I’m not really sure exactly what it is that is going on with me. Perhaps a bit of a mid-life crisis? I guess that’s what you’d call it when you take a look at your days and at your life in general, and feel like you are doing nothing that contributes to society in any way.  And you wonder how you got to this point. And you realize it’s not where you want to be. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of things in my life that I feel so lucky about – mainly my sweet husband. But it’s time for more. Time to DO SOMETHING. The problem is . . . what????

I’ve figured out that the first step is to DO ANYTHING! Stop moping around feeling sorry for myself. Stop hiding away and start being more social. Get back to the blogging and the e-mails and the Twittering. Clear the clutter in the house and get things organized. Clear the clutter in my brain and get things organized there too. Find some courses to take and enroll in them.  I don’t have to decide what my career will be right now . . . just find some classes in something interesting and see where they lead. And start creating again. I have cast on a couple of new knitting projects. I have some sewing project swimming around in my brain. I bought some clay and paints for another project I’d like to try.  Maybe I'll get a garden planted.  And I have a bunch of recipes printed out. Cooking and baking are just as creative to me as any craft. You start with a pile of raw material and turn it into something great.

Today is Monday, a new start to the week. The first Monday in May, a new start to the month. I’d say it’s time for a fresh start. Who’s ready to make a fresh start with me?