Gone to the Dogs

Decided to make today a dog day. Here's some photos of our beloved schnauzer, Sasha and the neighbors dog (who has no tags, so we don't know anything about him. We call him Pogo.. because he bounces like a pogo stick ..LOL)











They play a little rough, but no one is injured.. at least we've yet to find an injury. Pogo is generous..he brings over bones to share. We're finding all kinds of bones in the yard that we know we didn't give to Sasha.

We're still a bit afraid to let Sasha roam completely free.. the one time I did try, she took off and I had to go chase her down. We try to give her lots of room on her lead though.. we have 3 20 foot leads joined end to end.. and then whatever length her leash is.. so unless she's gotten herself tangled, she has at least 60 feet to wander. And we check on her frequently when she's outside.. she has a water dish outside and we go out and untangle her when needed.

Sasha LOVES DentaStix (I forget who makes them.. pedigree I think). Anyhow.. she gets one every night as a bedtime treat. She has learned to recognize the package and when we get one out and say "time to go to bed Sasha".. she RUNS for her crate (which is in the dressing room next to our bedroom). It's so cute!!

She also gets a small piece (about 1/2 inch or so) of hotdog twice a day. One of our other dogs has a seizure problem and we give him his meds in a piece of hotdog. Well, we can't leave the other dogs out.. so when Tux gets his medicine hotdog, Fancy and Sasha get a piece of hotdog too. And Sasha likes raw carrots and baked sweet potatoes. She gets small samples when we have these for dinner.

As you can tell, she's not spoiled at all. LOL. When we first got her, the vet weighed her at 9lbs. When we picked her up yesterday from the vet, the info sheet gave her weight as 17lbs.. wow. And she has learned to lie down and shake on command. Now we're working on beg.. shouldn't be too hard.. ::grin::

Ok.. I have to quit having fun talking about my dog and get back to kitchen and laundry detail. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig

We're back home. It was so good to get away overnight. We ate too much, drank too much and gambled just enough (lost about $5.00 each on the poker machines.. whoopdedoo). I sat next to a guy and watched out of the corner of my eye while he fed 100.00 bills into the machine 3times while I was there.. and who knows how much he fed in before I got there. OUCH!!

I could not do such.. I figure going like we do, maybe once or twice a year and blowing 5.00 to 20.00 is acceptable (since we make sure bills are paid first) ... but it would hurt my feelings to lose 300.00+ to a silly machine. I guess my scots heritage shows up now and then.

Anyhow, we're back home and I have the washing machine doing it's thing and will soon go look in the freezer for something to fix for supper.

Not much else to say right now.

MORE Excitement

I just found out that "Lost in Austen" ( a fanciful show where a modern girl falls back in time into the Pride and Prejudice story.. and Elizabeth comes forward into modern time) is going to be shown on OvationTV here in the states.

It will start this Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 at 7pm central. OvationTV is on Channel 157 for Dish network subscribers. It will also be on DirectTV, and Cox cable, but don't know the channels for those.

I'm practically bouncing off the walls I'm so happy.

Excitement

I'm so excited.. I've been waking up since 4am.. and telling myself it's too early, go back to sleep.

Finally got up at 7 and showered and washed this waist length hair (sometimes I really want to cut this mess off.. as in yesterday when I was combing through the tangles.. I wanted to just gather it in a ponytail and WHACK it). Now I'm dressed and waiting for my hair to dry.

Just got off the phone with the vet.. they will board Sasha overnight.

Why all the excitement?

I'm going to meet DH at a nearby casino .. we're going to have drinks, supper and spend the night. We might even gamble a little.

Now, I'm off to put on shoes and see if my van will start..

(I may or may not be able to post tomorrow.. we haven't decided if we're staying 1 or two nights at the Casino).

Stream of Conciousness (or channeling James Joyce)

I'm going to go with a stream of consciousness here and hope I'll come up with a blog title at the end.

I've just gotten off the phone with the cashier's office at my ds's college, they finally received payment. I was worried because his student account is still showing a balance. They assured me that it will go through and that he won't be dropped from early registration. Whew.

I wasn't looking forward to dealing with them in person.. it's so cold and rainy outside.

It's so cold and rainy that Sasha hasn't wanted to go outside for days. Somehow she managed to break her harness yesterday so she's just out on a leash attached to her collar right now. I had to rig up a tie out in the garage because she wouldn't even go out to potty and I was afraid of messes in the house.

Yesterday, everytime she woke up from a nap, I put her out in the little fenced yard my dh made for her to go potty in.. and closed the door and left her for at least 2 minutes.. so she'd have a chance to go to the bathroom. I haven't found a mess yet, so maybe it worked.

I owe her former owner an email. S, if you're reading this, I did get your message and I will get some pictures soon and send them to you. Right now, she's doing well, but needs grooming very badly. When my dd was home for xmas, she and Sasha played and played and played. We still miss our Madchen, but Sasha is helping to heal the hole Madchen's passing left.

One of our neighbors has a little mutt dog that comes over to play with Sasha almost every day. He whines and howls when she's not out there. They are best buddies.

I started a new afghan and ran out of the color of yarn I wanted to use.. so now I'm debating whether to make it various colors or order more and hope the dyelot matches or drive 40+ miles to see the dyelot in person.

I was really trying NOT to add to my stash.. sigh...

Tuition Woes.. or Don't they want my $$??

I've been trying to pay my ds's tuition online today.. and the server that they use is sooooooooo busy that either 1) I can't get through at all, 2) It gets to a certain point and crashes or 3) I get to the payment page and the processing fails.

It's been trying to make payment for over an hour now. ARGH!!

I called the school and they checked and they haven't seen payment come through. They gave me the 800 # to call the FACTS people (the company handling the online payments) and they don't show a payment going through either.

I told them I do NOT want a double payment showing up on my credit card that I will have to dispute and all that.

FACTS told me that a payment has not shown up.. and suggested I cancel out the payment page and start over again in 30 minutes.

Ok.. did so, and now I can't get into FACTS at all!! This is extremely frustrating. DS will probably have to get up early and drive up to his school (30 min drive) and pay in person tomorrow. Wouldn't be so much of a problem but regular registration starts tomorrow and he will have to stand in line if he doesn't get there early.. and he has to be at work by 1:30pm back here. Sheesh.

You'd think that the FACTS company would anticipate heavy useage today and tomorrow and increase the bandwidth available or put more servers online.

It doesn't help that the weather is wet and wet weather and fiberoptics don't play well together.

Resolutions

I had said somewhere else that I wasn't going to make any resolutions this year, because I always fail.

I've changed my mind. I'm going to make 1 resolution. And what is that, dear reader(s)? How is your correspondent going to change her life? It will be deep and meaningful, a turning of a new leaf, a blank page. Literally.. in both meanings of the word.

I'm going to try to blog daily. Expose my soul to anyone who cares to read (like anyone really cares what exists in this fiber-addicted brain of mine).

Here are some topics that have just ran through my head for future postings:

A list of the publications I subscribe to.. both paper and electronic
How badly I want to go buy more yarn..and the lack of storage space here
Home projects that need tending to and why I haven't done them (other than laziness)
Books I want to read
Movies I love and want to see again
Songs that speak (sing?) to me
The things I find when I google my name
My fear of money (yes, really!!)
My dogs
Crochet projects
Bariatric Surgery
Blogs I read and why
Cancer stuff
(sure is a lot of I's in this list)

And little to no Politics!! ick. Nasty word.


Sounds like scintillating reading (I don't know what scintillating means ~yet, I will go look it up in a moment~ but it's a neat word and I've always wanted to use it).

:::pause while I look up scintillating::::

Now I know what it means, but I'm not going to make THAT easy for you. But I did use the word brilliantly. My typing just sparkles with wit. Here, you go look it up.

Well, todays blog post is done. Will another appear tomorrow? Time will tell how long my resolution lasts.

Sappy Old Songs

I was watching (well, just listening really while I surfed and read email and junk) Bubble Boy and in the background of the movie they were playing an emo song from the 80's... and boy did it bring back memories.

I LOVE emo songs.. I dunno why.. but the sadder the better as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they make me feel better/happier in comparison?

Here's the song I heard:

Sometimes When We Touch - Dan Hill

You ask me if I love you
And I choke on my reply
I'd rather hurt you honestly
Than mislead you with a lie
And who am I to judge you
On what you say or do?
I'm only just beginning to see the real you

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

Romance and all its strategy
Leaves me battling with my pride
But through the insecurity
Some tenderness survives
I'm just another writer
Still trapped within my truth
A hesitant prize fighter
Still trapped within my youth

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

At times I'd like to break you
And drive you to your knees
At times I'd like to break through
And hold you endlessly

At times I understand you
And I know how hard you've tried
I've watched while love commands you
And I've watched love pass you by

At times I think we're drifters
Still searching for a friend
A brother or a sister
But then the passion flares again

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides.

~~~~

I wish I could write like that. I used to be able to during the hormone and angst driven teen years, but now that I'm old and dried up... I have no more passion for writing.

And they're off

Not two minutes ago I waved goodbye to DH and DD. Two of the 3 lights of my life are off to drive 900+ miles to take her back to college.

It's still hard to let her go, but at least I don't cry now.

Thank goodness I still have my ds and Sasha. And Fancy, Tux & Thunder. They will keep me company .. but not much conversation.

A new year begins

A new year begins, and it's also an ending.

Tomorrow my dd starts her journey back to her university to start the spring semester. My dh is driving her back and he will be gone about 5 days (it's a 2 overnight drive there..unless you push it.. and it's still an overnight stay ..well, it can be done w/o staying overnight, but you're dead tired when you arrive).

I'll miss her horribly. I wish there was someway to keep us all young. I remember my dh telling her when she was 2 years old to never grow up. :) For some reason we didn't experience the terrible twos here.. Just lucky I guess.

I also found something today while straightening.. a crochet project that I started probably 18 years ago or so.

The first two pictures are what I found.



This is what it makes when completed.



I have absolutely no use for it.. so I'm offering it to some friends of mine on a private crochet forum. If nobody there responds by tomorrow.. I'll probably offer it up somewhere else.

Why do people like politics?

Just thinking outloud here. Why do people like politics and political discussions? Why do folks like to argue in the first place? It seems so unpleasant.

I am so adverse to arguments.. I feel myself tremble and shake inside when arguments start. I do not like them, Sam I am. I really don't.. and I've even participated in a few, still don't like them.

In many ways, I'd just prefer to lie down and rollover(.. rub my belly please) than have an argument. This probably costs me a lot, and I've gotten better over time in standing up for myself, but I'm still very conflict aversion oriented.

I wonder if this aversion came from my strict upbringing where we weren't allowed to cry. Well we did cry, but I can remember being told "Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about" and trying so hard to swallow the tears and it hurt my throat so bad.

I don't know. I do know I've tried to never use that phrase with my kids. I probably failed and did use it a time or two, but not as much as it was used on me.

All this is to say that I have views about things that I won't express because I don't want the arguments. And people who enjoy politics and arguments perplex me.

Just because I'm silent, doesn't mean I agree with you.

CPSIA

My first letter to the CPSC.

I am writing to ask what in the world the CPSC was thinking when proposing and working on passing this "improved safety act"? The CPSIA, while well meant, is not thought through very well and needs ammendment.

I am a crafter, I do not sell my products, but I DO donate to charities and after reading the provisions of this act, my understanding is that I will no longer be able to make baby blankets, booties, baby sweaters, afghans or ANY other item made of acrylic yarn and donate it. Or even the Charity may be risking prosecution by accepting such items.

Yes, please protect children from lead and phthalates, but how much lead or phthalates are in a blanket? In booties?

I am also concerned that other handcrafters who do sell their work will be put out of business by this draconian act. Our country is already in a recession, if not heading into a depression and the CPSIA is only going to make things so much worse when so many home businesses are forced to close or face huge fines.

With this act, I'm seeing the real life illustration of the saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". The CPSIA was created with good intentions. It's sending hand-crafters to hell.

Fake Flakes

The real stuff is melted, so we must do with the faux.

Got some more crocheted flakes finished.

These are from various sources, nothing that is available online except the first one. I tried using some sparkly thread for it and quite like the effect. It is pretty large.. about 4 or 5 inches. I may try this one again with smaller thread.





This one is called a Texas Star and you can meet the designer and see her pattern here:

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86827


The remainder of the flakes I right off hand don't recall where I got the patterns. They're not something I made up though. Many times I'll see a 8 point mini doily or the center of a doily that looks "flaky" ::grin:: and will work on adapting it to a 6 pointed creation.

Most of the time it works well. Sometimes I have to frog a lot. Occasionally I have to give up on it and move on to the next. It's all an adventure and quite fun.





I've discovered that for me, 3ch picots are difficult to pin and then get the pin out after the flake dries. So, I'm adjusting most of my picots up to 4 or 5 chain versions. If the pattern calls for a combo of 3 and 5 chain picots.. then I might make them 5 and 7 chain instead. Depends on how things look when I get a few done.

I'm also not using a pinning or blocking guide. I know I should.. but I don't have a laser printer and I'm worried about the moisture from the "stiffy" I use seeping through the pin holes in the plastic and the ink ruining the flake. I haven't been able to think of a work around for that yet. I'm sure there is one, just my "very little brain" hasn't come up with it.

Therefore, I'm working on the premises of:

• the incident of repetition in snowflakes is low. (they used to say that no two snowflakes were ever alike, but I seem to remember that science disproved that a year or two ago)

• I shouldn't worry about whether my snowflakes are perfect, because only The Lord God is perfect.

These are some paperwhites or narcissus, a type of daffodills that have been growing in my yard. I picked a few to enjoy inside.. they smell soooo sweet. These are supposed to bloom in the spring, but I get the treat in November. This year they decided to bloom in Dec.



And this beautiful arrangement is from my sis in law. She always sends us the most beautiful flower arrangements for Christmas. I could've taken a better picture, but then I'd have had to clean off my dining table. And that would mean fewer snowflakes.

Ok.. back to my hooks.

P.S. They may have found the remains of Caylee Marie Anthony today. Or might not have. No matter if it's CMA or not.. someone's child's remains were found today in a plastic bag. That is so sad and I feel horrible for all those touched by such tragedy. I pray that whoever the child is.. that they did not suffer very long.

The real thing!!

After all that blogging about snowflakes... we got the real thing last night..but it's gone now.

However, I preserved some for memory:










Best pictures I could make while holding a flashlight under my chin at 3AM.

Enjoy.

Snowflakes

Some of what I've been doing recently. I'll add some descriptions and explanations later. Right now I'm feeling chilly.. lol.. wonder why?

I'd say 99% of these were made from free patterns found somewhere on the web. The other 1% were either made up by me or from a Harmony guide or some other resource. If the pattern is one I can link to (and IF I can remember where I found it.. I'll post it.) One more bit of info, except for one flake and one ornament, all of the below were made with DMC Baroque thread size 10. Not as high a grade as cebelia or opera, but I quite liked it for the snowflakes.

Now on to the snowflake pictures and descriptions.

These first two aren't exactly "authentic" snowflakes as they have 8 points instead of 6 or 12. I was going to frog and redo them, but as I got to looking at them I decided I was being too rigid and these were too pretty.

Whoever I chose to gift with these will surely enjoy them?

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/christmas/ornaments/make-a-crocheted-snowflake-ornament/



The above I think was the beginning of a doily. I just stopped when the loops got to be 12 in number and then put a picot in every other loop.



Below:
Experimenting with glitter. I don't think I'll try that again. Don't care for the effect.

#8 at http://www.sarahanns.com/crochetworks/snowflakes.html

#8 got the glitterati treatment because I missed a stitch when making it and didn't realize until I was weaving the ends in. So I thought a little glitter might help it's hurt feelings and perhaps hide the defect. Couldn't hurt now, could it?








The above simple beauty is #3 at http://www.sarahanns.com/crochetworks/snowflakes.html



Now that this one is photographed, I see one of the "arms' got a bit twisted. Back to the pinning board with you!!





http://www.bhg.com/holidays/christmas/cards/crochet-a-snowflake-gift-topper/


I call the next 4 (below) the Aussie "Gang of Four" Flakes.

The patterns are written in UK or British terms, so where it says DC, the stitch needed is really a SC and so forth. I made the first one not realizing the difference in terminology and had to completely frog it and start over. It was sad and very misshapen.

Also, they are quite large made with size 10 thread. Would've been better to use size 20 or 30, but I haven't gotten brave enough to try that yet. I still think they're pretty, just kinda on the gigantical side. :)

The pillow they're sitting on is probably about 12" square..so you can see how big they turned out. The pattern is here: http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=27469




Aussie#1
I really like this flake. I need to get some size 20 thread (maybe I have some in my stash? hope, hope) and try this one again.



Aussie #2
My second favorite of the gang.



Aussie #3

(taking the gazillion pins out of it made it get a little floppy. It looks more like a fern or a starfish than a snowflake. I also revised the pattern just a bit to make it easier. I joined each picot to it's corresponding opposite as I worked back down the "arm" of the flake instead of leaving them loose. I don't think it changed the look all that much and made it MUCH easier to deal with.)

I plan to restarch this one.. maybe pin it out first and then spray or paint the starch over it?



Aussie #4




The next one is made from Aunt Lydia's Bamboo thread. Lovely stuff, very soft to handle. Doesn't split UNLESS you have to frog it back more than about twice.. then it can be a problem.

That tendency to split under stress makes me wonder if it would be a good idea to avoid using this thread where it would get a huge amount of use. Something to ponder.



The above is also a pattern I'm working on. I don't think I've seen it elsewhere, but I'm sure I haven't seen every snowflake pattern ever written. When I get it tweaked to my satisfaction, I'll post it.

Some of the above flakes laid out on my dining table after Thanksgiving.



Pinned out on styrofoam board covered with plastic. Using mainly quilting pins. I'm using some old stiffy I found in my craft cabinet. It was left over from making string easter baskets back when my kids were in elementary school. Those kids are now in college and the stiffy is still good. Amazing. One of the bottles that had been partially used and the stiffy had seperated, but it recombined with a little stirring and is working great.



From a booklet titled Victorian Christmas Ornaments. It's supposed to have a ball and tassel hanging from the bottom. Those are made, but I haven't attached them yet.

Crocheted in an unknown ecru thread.

That's all for now. As I said before, I'll give links as I find them again.

I have a few more made with the Bamboo to get photographed and blogged.

Part 2... I'm just gonna tack onto this post cause I've already given the link out and don't want to overwhelm or confuse by giving out another link to another post about another group of snowflakes. whew.

All of these next are made with Aunt Lydia's Bamboo. I've decided to abbreviate it ALB. :)





I really like this one. It's inspired by an 8 sided motif I saw the other day . I will write this one up when I get it perfected. I think I'm going to call it Trinity snowflake for the 3 picot clusters.







I thought this was adapted from a Harmony Guide motif. WRONG. It's adapted from this pattern at Drops. (Hint: It uses british or UK crochet terms. Adjust for American) http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=99&d_id=30&lang=en

First time I've ever worked with a drops pattern. It is worded a little differently and maybe a step left out once or twice, but for free, I can't complain. I added the picots as usual.

Now that I've done one Drops pattern, I shall be on the look out for more that have potential for flakiness ::grin::



This one looks very familiar. I shall have to go hunt it down.



One of these two is the center from the snowflake afghan at www.artoftangle.com. I'm almost positive it's the one on the right. I added the picots to the pattern. I'm kinda disappointed that it turned out so small, but wouldn't be hard to do extra rounds.



Ice Crystal pattern from Harmony Guide with extended picots added.




From Coats and Clark website, but adjusted to have only 6 arms instead of 8.
http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Seasonal/WC1795+Crochet+Lacy+Snowflakes.htm


And last but not least.. a comparison shot.




These are basically the same flake, I just added some arms to the one on the left.

What's different about them is the one on the left is made with Bamboo and the one on the right with Baroque. I don't know if ya'll can tell in the photo, but the Bamboo isn't as "bright" a white as the Baroque. In most cases, it wouldn't be a problem, but something to keep in mind if things are going to be right next to each other.

Ok.. I MUST get off the computer so I can have some semblance of a normal life. Talk to ya'll laterz.

Celtwich Vintage Crochet Patterns

Another crochet website is gone.

Celtwich's Vintage Crochet has decided to remove themselves from the internet due to theft of their patterns (people were stealing them by selling on ebay what she offered for free).

I can certainly understand her frustration, but it's sad that it has to happen.

However most of the patterns and many of the pictures are still available here.

There are other things I'd like to say, but due to censorship and the possibility of being banned, I will keep those thoughts to myself.

Hope everyone has had a great holiday. I've been busy crocheting up a storm but can't post pictures until gifts are in the mail.

Washing machine is calling me.