More regular blogging to start again

I was looking through my entries for the past few months. Wow! I've really been sliding in the blogging department.

Part of it is was travelling with Gale for the shows in Wisconsin and Rhinebeck. Shows and travel are tiring, and while Gale was wonderful and let me use her computer, I felt a little funny about monopolizing it. If and when I do that again, I hope to have my own netbook so I can download pictures and blog from the road.

As for pictures, believe it or not, I don't think I took a one at Rhinebeck, so I wouldn't have had any to share anyway.

When I got back home, I had a couple of weeks to clean house before the Artist's Way Group met here yesterday.

A couple of weeks for cleaning, you ask. Well, if you have looked at my blog description, which includes generally avoiding housework, you may get the idea. Ever since all the rain in September, the ground is still pretty saturated around here. White kitchen floor, red Georgia clay, and pets, as well as humans, doesn't add up to anything good. Also, I had to dust. I will confess, I'm horribly lazy when it comes to housework. Why should I waste time dusting when I could be knitting? Thus, there was dust. Fine, powdery, Georgia red clay dust mostly brought in on Sassy, who likes to dig out wallows in the back yard. Actually, every dog we've had enjoys digging a nice wallow in the dirt. You get a dirt covered dog running around inside, and I guess you see my point. Anyway, it's all clean now, and all I have to do is maintain it. Or win the lottery and get a cleaning service to go with the larger house.

We've got a late season hurricane headed our way, complete with flood watches and torrential rain. I'll get outside today and snap a couple of knitting in progress pictures before the rains start again. We just had the wettest October on record (or was it the second wettest?). This fall we've had is also a record maker. While the fall colors have been just gorgeous, I'm not ready for another round of rain.

Well, I must be off to do something actually blog-worthy. My spinning wheel started whispering my name yesterday. It also said "resistance is futile". Apparently, I must obey. (Boy, Keith sure wishes I would obey his whispers to do more housework.)

A few pictures

A baby surprise jacket knitted from Gale's Art sock yarn. It's a sample for Gale to take with her to shows. This is the jacket before it was seamed. I'll take another picture of it today.

Next you see Miss Grey inspecting the beginning of my February Lady Sweater. I'm using Malabrigo, and the gauge is slightly off. Luckily, I've been knitting long enough to make some adjustments (or just not give a damn since it's so close).

The final picture is another Mochi Plus Tam/Beret. I made one, maybe back in September for the store, but this one is for me. I do like a fun hat, and this one is very fun to knit. I am using Mochi Plus yarn, but I'm thinking this hat would be a great way to use handspun yarn too.

I've got an exciting day planned with the hubby. Sassy is getting a bath. I've got comforters to wash that won't fit in our washer, so I get to spend some quality time at a laundromat. Isn't my life exciting? I will have some more knitting photos soon. The ones I posted today are from Sunday, and the BSJ has been seamed while the FLS has many more rows completed.

Coyote!

We saw our very first coyote on our street today! I saw it trotting around in the yard across the street, so I yelled in a very ladylike way, "Keith, what the hell is that?!"

Dear Keith. He says that it's a fox. I'm thinking no way is that a fox. That's a coyote, and I just need you to agree with me so I know I'm not hallucinating. Luckily, pictures of foxes and coyotes are quite easy to find on the Internet, and he soon agreed that it was a coyote.

Our kitties don't know it yet, but they have just become indoor only cats. I know they are used to using my vegetable garden as a litter box, and I'd honestly rather have to keep moving where I plant the edibles instead of scooping kitty litter, but I also want them in one cranky, furry, living piece and not on a coyotes dinner plate.

As for the coyote, it was probably thinking "what the hell?" itself. We were standing there, watching it. It took off running up the street until we couldn't see it. I knew it was only a matter of time before they were here in my neighborhood. Daphne, who lives about 6 miles away, has seen them in her neighborhood for the past few years. My only gripe about coyotes around here really is the whole inside/outside cat thing. I see buying or building one of those outside cat playgrounds in my future. Why can't I see that winning lottery ticket in my future?

Even during stress, there's levity

I have been filling in at the knit shop where I formerly worked for the past few months as a little background to my tale.

When my hubby appeared in the store yesterday, I was surprised and shocked. He very rarely drops in to say hi, but he had news for me. He had a gift certificate from Barnes & Noble that he said I could use, and as he was near one, I'd asked him to pick up Heat Wave for me. I'd also asked him about something else a few days ago, which I'd already forgotten, but he hadn't. So he walks into the store, announcing as he does, "I got that book for you, and your Playboy too."

Yes, he says it in a knit shop filled with about 4 or 5 customers. Granted, I'm not sure anyone heard him. Also, there was no one in there who really knew me well enough to say something about it. I will admit to some slight mortification with his announcement though. Let's admit it, do you want to buy baby yarn from a woman who reads Playboy? In my defense, I had read on Ravelry in the Simpsons fan group that Marge was on the cover. Being a long time fan of The Simpsons, how could I not get it? I personally wasn't quite bold enough to go purchase it on my own, but I luckily have a husband who would do the task. In case you're wondering (and I know you are), Marge was the centerfold, and it's almost tame enough to be on TV. The best part though, is Homer's silhouette against the wall. (Yes, it's very tame too. Get your mind out of the gutter. This is Playboy, and you actually can read it for the articles.)

As for me, I won't be working at said knit shop much longer. I had a very interesting discussion with the hubby, and those who know him know he's not very tactful, but he is honest. We've worked a deal, and although it involves me actually doing housework, I will get off my lazy ass and get my own etsy shop going. The etsy probably won't start rolling until January 2010, as there are things to get into place. I have a long and horrible to do list for today, which has a lot of drudgery on it - ugh!

Oh knitting! You came here for knitting? Well, I finished off the baby surprise jacket a couple of nights ago. I need to figure out if I want to do anything to the collar. I picked up my green Basil and for some reason that V neck and I just can't seem to hit it off. I've done the bloody thing before, but this time that darn thing just doesn't want to work for me. I finally cried "uncle!" and tossed it back into the knit bag. Then I pulled out my very lovely Pimenton Malabrigo that I've had since 2005 and cast on a February Lady Sweater. The Malabrigo's gauge isn't the same as the pattern calls for, but I'm adjusting by knitting a different size, and I think I'll be alright. One lovely thing about neck down knitting is that you can adjust as you go.

Presented for your amusement

Let me preface this post by saying that in the past, I've done such things as read Beowulf and Dante's Inferno for fun. I could quote Shakespeare, and actually name the act and scene that I was quoting. Sure, that knowledge is still there, buried under the detritus of testosterone packed action adventure movies, waiting for a reason to be resurrected.

Today is not the day.

Castle is on tonight. In this past week's Entertainment Weekly, the reviewer gave it a "B", saying that the chemistry between Castle and Beckett needs some ignition.

I, for one, must state that I watch Castle because it's cute, mindless and has Nathan Fillion in it. That's when I realized that I could watch Nathan read the phone book.

Can you just imagine him working his way through the endlessness of Jones and Smiths? Even by John Jones #105, he could make it interesting with a quirk of a smile, the simple lift of an eyebrow, and I would watch. After all, I'd be knitting the whole time anyway and dreaming of Malcolm Reynolds.

Well, off to pursue the adventures of finding the perfect head of broccoli and soup making. I'm looking forward to tonight. I may not have Captain Reynolds to snuggle, but I do have a wonderful real life hubby who also watches Castle.

Rhinebeck recap

Wow! I've been to Rhinebeck. It is huge. Just freakin' huge for a fiber show, especially when what I have to compare it to is SAFF.

The food was so wonderful too. Aztec Cocoa from Taste Budds. Utterly delicious chicken pot pies. And the Double O Grill across from the fairgrounds entrance where we stopped in for lunch and went back for dinner that night and the next two, eating something different and incredibly mouthwatering every time.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I can say about Rhinebeck and be able to do it justice. I saw bloggers I've read. I got to actually meet the brains behind the Nefarious Yarn Club. And I didn't buy a darn thing!

Part of it is that we are so fortunate in Atlanta. We've got a lot of great yarn shops that compete with each other to bring in new indie dyers as well as standard yarn lines. While I can't get all of everything here, Stitches South brought more of them here last year, with more to come this year.

Also, this is the third fair/show I've worked for Gale's Art this year, and I find I'm a little jaded. Between the shows, working at a yarn store, the Internet, and having a rather decent stash, I find it takes more to impress me. If I were more of a spinner, I think I would have made more purchases. However, one only has so much time in a day, and while I enjoy spinning, I also enjoy knitting and sewing too. I've got to say no to something.

Finally, working a show is different from going as an attendee. While Gale is wonderful and sends me off to shop, we were very busy on Saturday, and by the time I got to take another look around, the things I'd wanted to purchase were sold out. Such is life.

I'm very glad I've had the opportunity to go. I've been there, done that. While it's not the same as climbing Everest or Denali, it's sort of a knitter's equivalent, and I can mark it off my list.

More mountain slogging

We've discovered that we'll be driving through the rain again today. Such is life.

I've had mountains on the mind ever since we've reached them. I love mountains. I was raised in the foothills of the Appalachians where they wind to an end in Alabama. I remember the first time I read The Lord of the Rings and Gandalf tells Bilbo about how Gollum ends up in the caves of the Misty Mountains, how I felt a kinship with Gollum. No, I've not been searching for the one ring to rule them all, but I feel that way about mountains. They hide secrets in their hidden coves and valleys. Caves are incredible too. I've never gone honest to goodness spelunking, but I do so enjoy a stroll through a commercial cave.

So today I'll enjoy the occasional glimpse through the mist, rain and fog at a valley suddenly opening to our side and dream of Middle Earth.