The waiting IS the hardest part

Tom Petty sure got that right. I'm just waiting for things to show up in the mail. Fiber, dye, and technical manuals regarding proper use of synthetic dyes on protein fibers.

So what am I doing in the meantime? Actually, not what I should be. Instead of cleaning or cooking or even knitting, I've been surfing online. I'm looking for photos to back up some of my ideas. One of them is going to be even better than I thought. To quote Kramer, "Mother Nature is a mad scientist!"

Anyway, I've also been indulging some of my curiousities and looked up Sasquatch this morning. What's amazing is that there have been several sightings in Georgia since 2000. If you want to know what's going on in your state, go look at Oregon Bigfoot. When you read these, you will wonder about the people who report Bigfoot. In one instance, the people reported hearing screams. Their neighbors had also heard screaming. Is it just me, but if I hear screaming, I'm calling the police and not assuming it's Bigfoot. Now, I'm a Southerner, so I can say this. Just what was in the moonshine they were drinking? That's not to say Bigfoot doesn't exist. It might, but who doesn't call the cops when they hear screaming in the night?

I've been lazy, so no knitting photos today. I'll get up and take them tomorrow morning when the light is right. I do have a finished sock that I need to show off. As we all know, plans can go awry, but since Summer of Socks is over, I'm planning to work on all my works in progress and shorten that list. I think I have 4 pairs of socks in the works right now, with 3 of them on the second sock. One is from Summer of Socks, 2 were put aside for SOS projects, and 1 is from my illfated attempted for the Ravelympics/SOS. I want to get at least 2 of the second socks finished, then back to work on Keith's sweater.

Comments on comments

Thanks for the great information about getting pots at Garden Ridge. I would have never thought about that. I realized that I have a stock pot still in the box somewhere, and I'll have to dig it out to see what size it was. I did buy an enamel one from Walmart yesterday with the steamer insert. I won't use it for immersion dyeing as it does have a ding in the enamel, but it will be fine for steaming.

As for the rebellious, what I would have done for some thigh high boots when I was thinner! Right now I would just look pathetic in them, but I'm in the process of changing that too. I plan to be running regularly by the time we start having cooler mornings. I enjoy eating too much, so I'll just have to ramp up the exercise. (BTW - I used to have a fabulous black leather skirt, and I still have some fabulous boots with bats and skulls hardware on them.)

Still there

After reading my blog sometime this past week, Mom asked me if I were quitting my job. I realized the analogy I had used about how jobs can be more bearable when you know you're leaving may have caused some confusion. I'm not leaving my job - unless I win the Mega Millions, or I become a sock yarn sensation. Being a realist, I'm not expecting either one of those in the next few months. Who knows, maybe I'll be the next Wollmeise (LOL!). In the meantime, I'll be pushing yarn the old fashioned way, in person at a local yarn store.

If not there, I'm awfully tempted by a half day package at a local spa.

Changes

Last night I came home and wrote up a blog post about feeling restless, rebellious and a strong desire to cuss. If you were quick, you got to read it before I decided to delete it.

I am feeling restless and rebellious. I am really looking forward to dyeing yarn and having a chance to indulge my slightly twisted, slightly macabre self. Today I'm off to look for a large stock pot or two to steam the yarn, as well as a better notebook for sketching out ideas. I'm finding ideas need some time to ferment as they change, sometimes quite a lot, over time. What seemed like a very funny yarn name and color choice while somewhat sleep deprived looks less appealing in the cold light of dawn. (OK - the name and the double entendre are still great, but how to work out the color?) In fact, I struggle with how to work out several of them. Some struggles are because what I think would look really interesting conflicts with the mythology surrounding this particular creature. Some are because the whole idea is really quite tasteless - great for someone with crude, juvenile humor - but will it make nice looking socks? And finally, some are age related. Would some of the younger knitters get the reference, or will I have to make sure there are photos of the color's inspiration?

As for right now, I'm off to get some coffee and map out my stockpot search. I know, I lead such an exciting life. How do I use the least amount of gasoline while maximizing my search radius?

Getting ready

I've ordered some yarns, dye books and a little dye so far this week. I still need to get the very large canning pot for steaming yarn. I think there will be dyeing in the very near future.

Ideas are swirling around in my head. They are like moths fluttering around a light at night. I've got a blank notebook that will soon start catching them, pinning them down for me to examine and decide if they will work or not.

Hanging with a dyemaster

I spent a good part of the day with Gale of Gale's Art. I got to quiz her some more about dyeing as a business, and I tell you, she is a very practical person. It's a joy to talk to her because she's willing to share her knowledge and tell you like it is. That's a very refreshing thing to find.

Some of my ideas are on hold because of those wonderful tidbits of information gleaned from our conversation. Others are reinforced because I was thinking about doing things that she suggested. I have to get myself organized, as well as getting my resources into order. My head is spinning.

Now for some knitting pictures

From left to right above you can see the Spring Forward Sock in progress, the Monkey sock in progress, and some goodies I found at the quilt shop to use while knitting with teeny tiny needles that poke holes in my finger. I'm loving the Thimble-Its for those times a size 1 needle pierces my flesh like a hungry vampire. Who knew there would be so much blood in knitting?

As for these gratuitous Lily pictures, yes, she's exactly where you think she is. Keith called to me from the "library" to come see where she was. He left his shorts there, and she slept for a couple of hours. Later when I walked by the bathroom, Lily had left, and Monster was sleeping in his shorts.

Moth madness

Or, is there a lepidopterist in the house?

I'm doing today's post in two separate posts so the non-knitters can skip all the knitting stuff.

We have plants that attract hummingbirds during the day, and recently we have noticed a very large moth coming at night. I have been trying to identify it, with not much luck, so Keith grabbed the camera the other night to see if we could capture an image. This moth is freakin' huge! Not all of the images are very good - you try getting a giant moth to hold still while you take its picture. Click on an image to enlarge it, and if you know what this is, please let me know. I have narrowed it down to a couple of genera, but quite frankly, I don't remember which ones they are right now. Sphinx moth is the common name of one genus, if I'm remembering correctly. Also, if you look closely in a couple of pictures, you can see the proboscis coming out to suck nectar. This moth's eyes glow red in the beam of a flashlight. I have really enjoyed standing outside late at night to watch it.

ETA: We're pretty sure we have pictures of the Manduca sexta, also known as the Tomato Hornworm. As I've picked plenty of hornworms off my tomatoes over the years, this should be no surprise to me at all.

Spring Fling, second thoughts

Perhaps you have experienced this. I've observed in the past when I've made up my mind to leave a job and turned in my notice that for the most part the job suddenly seems much more tolerable. It's probably because I won't be doing it for much longer, but what seemed so bad a few days before now seems ok.

I use this analogy to explain what happened to the Spring Fling sock. I pulled it from my knit bag last night to take a final look before ripping it out and thought, "I am only 2 or 3 rounds from the heel. It's actually a pretty good looking sock."

And there it was. I started knitting again. I didn't make much progress last night. I don't normally do socks with heel flaps and gussetts. The pattern seemed a little unclear to me about how to handle one of the stitches. I wavered about what to do with that one stitch, made a decision and started knitting. When I looked at the flap a few too many rows in, it seemed 1 side would end up with 2 slipped stitches on the edge more than the other side. Not acceptable to me, so I ripped the sucker out and tried it the other way. We'll know tonight after I start knitting on it again. I find it can be difficult to see how things will work out after only 2 or 3 rows.

Today is day 7 of this blasted head cold. It should start to really go away now. I sound terrible enough that Keith mentioned it (more than once) yesterday. At least the will to knit has returned.

Oh, I stumbled upon an unannounced Wollmeise shop update yesterday. She actually had one of the colors I had on my wishlist in stock. I may be one of the only humans who can do this, but I only ordered the one color that I wanted. There were a few other colors remaining, but none of them spoke to me. Thus, I left them there for those who really wanted them.

More musings on Spring Fling

As the title implies, I've been thinking about that partial sock. My thoughts have led me to wondering if it's that the pattern isn't working with that particular yarn for me. I think all that wild pinkness just doesn't want to be those socks, and I need to make them up in Toasty for Needle Nook, which had been my original choice. I've made the decision to frog them, and let both the yarn and pattern take a time out.

As for me, I've got Chubbers dozing off in my lap right now. I've discovered he makes a horrible mess when eating canned food. (It's all over the floor surrounding the plate. Sassy will be one very happy dog when she finds that.)

Still feeling less than stellar today, but I've got a nap planned for later. That makes the errands more tolerable. And yeah, hubby's back, so I slept better last night.

Just a bit of whining. I look absolutely horrible! You know that thin skin under your eyes? I've got "allergy shiners" of the worst kind. I don't feel like piling on the make up as thickly as perhaps a drag queen might, but if you see me and I'm overly made up, that's the reason. Let's see, this is day 6 of the cold, so it should start abating tomorrow.

I'll quit boring you with all this. Keep your fingers crossed I feel like knitting today. I've sure been thinking about it a lot, but not enough to pick up the needles.

Not whining

I haven't been blogging for two reasons:

1. I didn't want to be a whiner about feeling like hammered poo.

2. I haven't been doing much of anything since I feel like hammered poo.

Keith's grandfather died earlier this week, and he's been up in Wisconsin the past couple of nights. He's back home now. His grandpa was around 98 years old, and he wasn't the oldest living relation. While it would have been nice to see his rels from Wisconsin and Iowa, I'm sure everyone was glad my sniffly, sneezy, coughy self wasn't around.

Instead, I did think about knitting, but found out that for a former stray kitty, Chubby is an incredible snuggle pest. The two of us would get on the bed to watch TV. I would get my knitting out, but I'd have to pet him. That led to biting and bunny kicking of my arms (he attacks the one I'm not petting him with). He then falls into that exhausted sleep of a happy kitty with his front paws holding onto to either my arm or my leg. I can't move whatever he's holding onto as he will wake up and start the whole nibbling and bunny kicking all over again. He was blissfully happy. I look like I've been wrestling a briar patch. In fact, he's sleeping under my feet right now. I am very grateful he's not trying to bite my toes.

As my hopes fade for any Ravelympics glory, I find I'm not upset. I thought I would like knitting the Spring Fling socks, but I'm not lovin' them. I've even been thinking of frogging them and using the yarn for something else. Isn't it odd that there are so many people knitting this pattern and really enjoying it, and I'm thinking "ho hum"? I love the No Purl Monkeys, so it's just something about this pattern.

Must go. Dinner's up.

How plans change

I had been thinking about napping, especially after a night of cold-induced insomnia. You know, the decongestant wears off, you don't really want to get up and get more, and the runny nose keeps waking you up.

Surprisingly, I feel better today. I've been doing laundry and dishes. I'm still stuffy, and I expect to run out of steam before too much longer, but I'll take advantage of the energy while I can. After all, the cat fountain is in pieces soaking in the sink, and those spoiled devils don't like to drink still water. Hopefully I'll feel like knitting again tool.

Still feeling yucky

I spent most of Sunday in and out of bed, napping or drinking tea. I ended up working yesterday, but I'm really glad to be off today. I plan to spend the day drinking tea and probably more napping, interspersed with watching Lucy Neatby's intarsia DVDs. I've got Keith's sweater to work on as soon as Summer of Socks is over.

I haven't done any significant knitting since last Wednesday. I have no hope of finishing my Ravelympic socks. Boohoo! If I'm lucky, I may finish a 3rd pair for Summer of Socks. Oh well, at least I had some fun knitting socks in a hurry this summer, and I found if I'm monogamous to a project I can finish pretty quickly.

There won't be much blogging today

I know, I usually give you a nice long post with pictures on Sunday morning. You know how it is. Keith sleeps late. Cats are busy doing their cat thing while Sassy is out back sleeping in her doghouse (which she never seems happy about, but when she realizes I'm keeping her out from underfoot for a hour or so, she reluctantly goes in there for a nap). However, last night I noticed I was starting to get that tickle in my throat. By 10ish I was begging Keith to give the tub a scrub so I could take a soak. (I've stuck mostly to showers since the drought began, and Lily does like to sleep in the tub.)

I had a lousy night's sleep with the sore throat and a crick in my neck. I won't sit here and complain since no one wants to read that, nor do I really want to type it. I'm taking my cup of tea and a book to read until I doze off again. Pictures later if I'm feeling better.

I may succumb to the madness.

Last fall I took some dyeing classes from Gale. I will admit that I wasn't planning to get into dyeing. I actually wanted to have a greater understanding of the process because I was curious. I took the classes, gained the knowledge I was looking for and became better acquainted with some people I knew. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've been helping Gale occasionally with some computer stuff, but also she lives fairly close by, makes her own schedule, so I have someone to hang out with on days off. As usual, we talked about dyeing fibers and yarns, knitters and spinners and distribution methods for small businesses. Still no interest on my part about actually dyeing things. I've been really wanting a glass kiln for years now, and that's what I've been thinking of getting.

However (you knew there was a "however" coming, didn't you?), Keith has been getting restless in his job. It's made me think about ways of supplementing our income, and I think he was the one who asked me about dyeing yarns. I said it took inventory (it does), supplies and space to do it. He said, ok, why don't you get what you need then?

Huh? Did aliens flip his brain? He usually says I spend too much money. That must have flipped my brain because it was working on ideas for yarn colors without letting me know until they popped into my consciousness, fully formed, as Athena sprung from Zeus's head. Thankfully without the headache.

Here I am, stuck in traffic, creeping along, scrambling for a notepad to write down color names and the blends that will make them up.

So gang, look for some hand painted yarns here in the future. I have ideas - wierd, warped ones that reflect the mind that lies beneath this conservative exterior. The mind inside was shaped by 1950's sci-fi, classical mythology, classic rock, vampire fiction and cryptozoology, plus quite a bit of metaphysics, new age and Carlos Castaneda. Who knows what will spring forth? Mwahaha!

I haven't forgotten about India

I think I mentioned life getting in the way of digging through pictures. Sometimes I feel busy, then I look at people who are really busy. Like so much in life, busy-ness is relative.

The vet called yesterday. All of Scooter's bloodwork looks good. She's still waiting on one of the thyroid tests to come back, and I should hear from her maybe tomorrow.

I have discovered that if I take a Pill Pocket and squish Scooter's Pet Mobility into it so that the powder becomes part of the Pill Pocket, he eats it. Same goes for the glucosamine (which luckily has practically no taste at all). I'll start see what I can do with him and the fish oil supplements tomorrow.

As for me, I also had bloodwork done this week for my thyroid. The doc had reduced my medication earlier this summer, but after 8 weeks I need to go back up to the dosage I'd been taking all winter & spring. I actually thought I needed to increase my synthroid. I know it sounds silly, but my neck looked different to me. I'm glad to know that my hunch or intuition was correct.

I'm a bit bummed that I won't have a pair of socks finished for this week's Summer of Socks drawing, but if all goes well I should have 2 pairs for the next one. Reality check - maybe one pair, but I am ever hopeful.

Scooter goes to the vet again

He's been looking uncomfortable lately, and he hasn't been snuggly for awhile now. He's got some arthritis in his hips, or that's what it looks like to us. I decided to take him to the vet this morning, along with Sassy for a follow up on her skin problems. I made the call yesterday, and since I didn't make both appointments at the same time, I would have to wait 30 minutes while the doctor saw another patient between them.

As you and I both know, things never go quite as planned. There is a lake near the vet's office, and while I was getting Sassy weighed, in comes one of the other vets with an injured goose tucked under her arm. She's calling for the vet I'm scheduled to see. I asked Margie, who's been there forever, if I should just plan to come back another day. I can see where this is going. She says no, that the goose shouldn't take too long.

It didn't take too long, but still, I had hoped to be out of the vet's office by 11 at the latest. After all, my appointments were for 9 and 10. It was a little after 11 when I left, and I've got plans to meet a friend for lunch and a movie matinee. Thus I ran home, got Scooter and Sassy settled, changed clothes, and dashed back out again.

As for Scooter, we're going to add fish oil, glucosamine and chondroiten to his food and keep giving him the Pet Mobility. He's not a happy camper right now since they really cleaned out his ears and trimmed his Howard Hughes-like nails. (We had trimmed his claws some a few nights ago, and he was quite feisty about it.) I've been a little concerned about manhandling him since he is over 18, and I don't want to hurt him. I'll get results from his blood tests in a day or two. Last time he was borderline on having thyroid issues, and I want to stay on top of that.

Sassy's skin allergies are improving remarkably with the medicated shampoo. I'm hoping that this is it for all the critters, both pets and ferals, for awhile. I'll admit to a certain longing to have my days off free from vet trips.

Gale and I went to see the newest Mummy movie today, even though we both knew it had gotten bad reviews. Hey, it has Brenden Frasier in it, so at least there's eye candy. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The great thing was since school started here yesterday, we were the only two in the theatre, and we could act like comic book guy. We didn't have to be quiet as we discussed some of the sillier parts, or the fact that parts of the musical score sounded much like Indiana Jones. I will also admit here that other than rampaging dinosaurs and some of the Harry Potter creatures, for the most part I really dislike CGI animation. Or maybe I just think yetis on steroids are just plain ridiculous.

I forgot that the actress who played Evelyn in this one would occasionally forget the English accent and slip into American. I think the C reviews this Mummy movie got are on target. Go for the unintended laughs and tactical idiocy. Have fun being the armchair strategist and wondering while the hell didn't they do...?

Woohoo needles!

Yes, I now own my 4th pair of 2.5 mm circular needles. I am casting on my Spring Fling socks for the Ravelympics once again this evening. Pictures just as soon as I have anything worth showing.

Argh! You knitters will understand my

frustration upon discovering that every single 2.5 mm circular needle I own already has socks on them. Three other socks in progress, all on the same size needle.

I have 2 options:
1. Move one of the socks in progress to some waste yarn and use that needle.
2. Buy more needles.

I'm a knitter. We all know which one I'm going to do. I hope we have the right size in stock at work. You know I'm pulling those needles off the shelf before I even open the store if I get there early enough.

Fr..fr..froggin'

Also known as I should have known better.

Mainly a short post about the consequences of blindly following a pattern without really thinking about your own reality. If you know, for a fact, what size needles and how many stitches you need to cast on for a pair of socks that fit you, why wouldn't you at least think about those facts when following a new pattern? Besides, when following said pattern with the needles and getting darn close to gauge, that sock felt like it was bulletproof.

I've ripped it out, but as it's for the Ravelympics, I thought long and hard about ripping. (Ok, I thought for about a total of a minute, while taking a break to rub Chubby's tummy and let him bite my hand.)

I'll cast on again tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to have a pair of socks for this week's drawing in SOS 2008. Such is life.

I must mention a food related item here. I ordered okra from my CSA this week, and I wasn't sure how I was going to cook it. I decided on roasting since it's much less messy that frying, as well as being healthier. I found some directions that I mostly followed and roasted it up. It was delicious. 500 degrees for about 15 minutes. Spray with olive oil, toss with some salt and pepper, and let it roast. Quite yummy.

Off to snooze. We're planning to start walking/jogging tomorrow. Let's face it, it's gonna be awhile before I'm jogging. I think I've got too much mass to put that sort of impact on my knees.

No pictures of India today

Sorry, dear readers, things got away from me today. I didn't have time to dig through pictures, and now I need to knit a swatch for a class I'm teaching tomorrow.

For the record, I did wear Birkenstocks, but with punjabi suits or baggy pants. No hemp skirts for me at the time (too expensive.) I'll see if I have any pictures wearing traditional Indian garb.

Ravelympics have started, so tonight I'm casting on my Spring Fling socks as soon as my swatch is knitted up. I'll see what I can do about pics tomorrow night.

India, Nepal and Tibet

Way back when, Sept - Oct of 1992 to be exact, I went with a new age travel group to India, Nepal and Tibet. The real purpose of the trip was to go to Tibet and see Lhasa and Shigatse. Lhasa is where the Potala Palace, once home of the Dalai Lama, is. Shigatse has a monastery where the other lamas and/or ascended masters were. Before I went, I think I had read books by Nicholas Roerich, Alice Bailey, Babaji, and Paramhansa Yogananda. (See why I tend to read much lighter fare now?)

I'll have to dig out and scan some photos.

I love Nepal. I think it's probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm a mountain gal. I love mountains and prefer them to any other geological formations. I find the beach fascinating, and the food wonderful, but I'll take mountains over the beach every time. Give me a chance to go back to Nepal, and I'm there. OK, not really since I've got my old boy Scootie to care for, but the urge to return to Kathmandu and Bhaktapur someday is very strong.

Honestly, this is an instance where the pictures will say so much more that anything I could write. For one thing, for someone on a spiritual quest, much of that quest is deeply personal, and words fall so short of what one feels and thinks. Also, that was 17 years ago. What remains ingrained in my mind are images of the things that struck me most. How to describe the feeling of actually standing in front of the Taj Mahal? Of flying right by Mount Everest? Of looking up to see the 80 foot Golden Buddha looming out of the darkness lit only by yak butter candles?

Hester, since you asked, I'll post some of the pictures and describe them. Photos will trigger memories of things that I can talk about. Like the most gorgeous and huge marigolds I have ever seen blooming everywhere. The incredible colors. India is filled with the colors of spices, as well as more dust that you could ever imagine.

And Tibet? I did suffer from altitude sickness while there. The food was awful. No hot water in the hotel. The local police holding our passports for hours at a time before letting us tour anywhere.

Sometimes at night as I wait for sleep I can still hear the chanting of the monks. Thank goodness I can't still smell rancid burning yak butter.

I see I have my work cut out for me tomorrow.

Another plug for PBS

Last night I watched Nature all about snow leopards, followed by 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama. I highly recommend you catch 10 Questions if you have the chance. I know very little about His Holiness, but I am curious about him after having the opportunity to travel briefly in Tibet. Some of his answers are very surprising. Then again, he is interested in things like quantum physics and neurosurgery, and taken in that context maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised. I say watch it and judge for yourself. As for me, I must say that it deepened the respect I have for him.

And I got some sock knitting done. I was on the heel flap last night, and now I'm picking up stitches for the gusset. I think I've dropped one on the last row of the short rows for the heel turn (argh!). I've got to see if it looks ok, or if in my pursuit of excellence in sock knitting, I need to do some ripping.

Oooooh! Sock pictures

Here is a better photo of the Garter Rib Socks. As you can see in the upper right hand corner, I had help taking this picture. That is my Monster checking out the socks.

After all, teh hooman needs kitteh help.

This is the first sock of the second pair of Monkeys. This pattern is so easy to memorize. In fact, it wasn't any work to memorize it. You get to a repeat and realize that you're not checking the directions anymore. Gotta love patterns like that. This is Claudia's Hand Paint fingering weight in Urban Fever. The colors are very close to how they look in real life.

Hey, who are you calling a stray cat? Do I look like a stray? Does a stray sit in a human's lap and viciously attack the camera strap?

Excuse the blurriness of these two photos. Chubby was quite taken with the camera strap and would not hold still. I've let him back outside this morning for the first time in almost 2 weeks. He's taken all but the last dosage of his medicine. (I did give it to him this morning, but then I caught Scooter trying to eat it since it was in tuna. Chubby nibbled at it, so I figured I would just wait until he was hungry again.) He's not exactly comfortable being outside again. I definitely think he'll be back inside. Like I said before, why sleep under a bug-filled shrub when you can find a nice spot on the sofa or the rug?

Oh Severina...

what will you think of next?

Magic Lantern

Be forewarned. She is deliciously warped. Scroll down the page to read the Magic Lantern comic.

No knitting!

Last night a very strong storm came rushing along. High winds with a lot of thunder and lightning, followed by torrential rain. The temperature dropped 20 degrees as it blew through.

Pinecones and leaves were tossed carelessly all over. Branches and limbs fell from our trees. Down the main road trees fell on power lines. We watched our power flicker over and over. We went and turned off the a/c. We heard the pop and boom of transformers in the distance and lost power. I had been reading a magazine, so I didn't even know what time it was.

The temperature outside was 93 degrees and had only dropped a few degrees before the storm. The temperature inside was around 80. (Yuck!) So when the power went out, I opened a few windows to let in some cooler air, but honestly, the house didn't cool off that much.

I, unfortunately, can only knit garter stitch without looking, and I have nothing that is just plain knitting right now. We sat in the flickering candlelight until about 10, then decided to go to bed and try to sleep.

It wasn't easy. It was so hot. It seemed every time I started to doze off that either the neighbors would get noisy, or Keith would talk to me. The power finally came back on a little after midnight. We gratefully got up, closed windows and turned on the air. We went back to bed, only to find Lily needed petting. She kept waking Keith up by walking on his chest. At one point she came and stretched out across my chest, leaning almost on my chin. I pulled the covers over my mouth to keep the cat fur out and went to sleep.

I am so planning on that 2 hour nap this afternoon. As for now, I'm wide awake, so I may as well do something useful. Must get my list of office supplies together so I can go shop during the sales tax holiday.

Hail hail Jimmy Page!

Recently at work the owner has gotten a port for her Sirius radio, and we've been listening to 50's beach music. Well, if I'm there I've been tuning into Sirius Pops and listening to classical music that includes anything Warner Brothers has used as background for Bugs Bunny to recent movie soundtracks such as Harry Potter.

All I can say is that by the end of the day I need guitars. Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page fill that need in the most amazing way. The sounds he produces are so incredible that I listen to Going to California or Misty Mountain Hop like parched earth absorbing much needed rain.

As I ran errands yesterday, I realized I had listened to Led Zeppelin IV 3 times over the past two day. I must remember to take Zep 2 with me today.

Gotta go. Chubby wants his medicine and tuna.

Second pair for Summer of Socks finished...

under the wire.

I'll get a better picture of them over the weekend.

These are the Garter Rib socks worked toe up using the Magic cast on and PGR heel. I finished the second one mere moments ago.

I love Excel

It's leftover from my bookkeeping days. Microsoft Excel is just such a great program, even for little things. Like maybe a pet medicine schedule. Instead of wondering, "Did Keith give Sassy her antibiotic?", now I can look at my spreadsheet and see if it's been marked off.

I know, total OCD, but it's very helpful.

I'm nearly finished with my Garter Rib socks for this biweekly Summer of Socks contest drawing. I have to have them finished and photographed by 10 tonight. I think I have less than 20 rounds to knit, so hopefully I can find the time to get them finished and ends sewn in. You'll see pictures of them tonight.

In the meantime, Chubby went a bit crazy this morning. He really wanted to play, and he's surprisingly gentle. He'll put his teeth on you, but he doesn't bite down. However, the proper force for claws is something most kitties have trouble with, so after disintangling my hand from all four of his paws, I gave him a felted mouse. He is now crashed out, mousie by his side. Hand knitted cat toys rock!