Wordless Wednesday

18/02/2009
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi

Catie is Sick

Hi everyone, I feel like I should explain my absence. Last Wednesday I missed Wordless Wednesday because I was visiting family and getting wonderful baby snuggles, giggles and songs. I got back Thursday night and Friday I felt the start of a cold. What a doozie it is turning out to be. I'm not sure when I'll be back to normal force. Luckily it isn't affecting my mind too much so I'm still getting some work done but from home for the most part.

Sherpa, popolo antico (Sherpa, an ancient people)

My Nonno wrote several books and while he was still alive my mother translated one of the books - Sherpa - so that we could share it with friends and family who didn't know how to read Italian. The file is long lost but I have a print copy and a hand written copy. Now I am adding to the translation - refining some word selections and making a digital file. It is slow work because I have other demands on my time. I was working on it this past spring but then the Thesis got in the way. I just restarted today and am again amazed at how connected I feel with Nonno Alberto.



One of my favorite memories of Nonno involves one of his books - you see he wrote at least two trail guides - one for the Val Tournenche and one for the Valle d'Aosta. Unlike some of his other books, like Sherpa, these two were publically available. And I remember one time a man recognized my Nonno and asked for his autograph. Nonno was so happy to see someone using his book.

I may soon have another big project that will connect me with my memories of my Nonno - as soon as I know for sure that I will be allowed to do it I will let y'all know about it.

Monster Jam

Look at what I took Cory to for Valentine's Day...



Monster Trucks. With ear plugs the volume was pleasant, and I didn't know this before hand, but they burn methanol fuel so the place doesn't end up smelling of exhaust. I'm not saying I would like to go again, but if the urge strikes Cory I won't put up a huge fuss against it.





Perhaps the best part was that we went with some friends that we hadn't seen in over 2.5 years.

Book recommendations please

Hi y'all, one of my nieces turns 2 tomorrow and I'm going to visit later in the week. I would love to bring her a book or two... Any recommendations? She has a large productive/receptive vocabulary for her age.

Here is a rare non-blurry photo of Zoie. She sees the camera and comes to you for snuggles... causing most images to be very blury.

And this is a picture of Ellie with her favorite toy - carrot - we play a lot of fetch with this toy. It was hard to take pictures of her sniffing the toy because another favorite game is knock small things off of tables and ledges...

Happy Valentines Day

I don't usually celebrate Valentine's day but the images over at Valart2008 were too cute to resist (image used with permission).

Kitty just wants to sleep in!

Dollhouse

It is the new show by Joss Whedon airing on Fox. Cory and I have been eagerly anticipating its release - which is tomorrow!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Canon Digital Rebel XTi
10/02/2009

Knitting progress report

I missed the last wordless wednesday - I just didn't have any pictures that I felt were worthy of the focus. I've finished the Bird in Hand mittens, embroidery and all.





I'm very pleased with them and given where we live, we can never have enough mittens in the house.
And I've finished a monkey and remembered to take a picture while there was natural light.

Ellie: Mommy - did you make this for me? I like this pattern choice best. 

Yep, this blanket must be for me

Is this a mistake I see?

Nope, no mistake - and this blanket is so mine...

K, this talking kitty thing is totally stolen from Chris over at Stumbling Over Chaos

- she always seems to do this with her kitties Chaos and Mayhem and I love it.

The good, the bad, no ugly

The good news - I found a pattern I like - not one that I showed before. It matches on the minor colours and I like it a lot. I decided that completely random with this many colours was perhaps a bit too much. I've seen some on Ravelry that were completely random but the ones with a bit of pattern (or random but with fewer colours) were the ones that really jumped out at me.


The bad news - I need to knit 11 more squares and not use 8 of the ones I've already knit (and some of them I've blocked)... I guess I'll block the ones that I've knit and haven't blocked and give them to my mom for her charity thing. So not a waste but still - 11 more blocks!

MDK: Mitered square blanket

So now that many of the squares are done and blocked it is time to decide how to sew them up. I figure that there are four options:

#1: Match the major colours (the outer colour)


#2: Alternate between the major and minor colours within a single block


#3: Peseudo-random - no matching colours within a block and no matching colours touching


#4: Major colours touching on the diagonal


I think I'm leaning towards #2 or #3 - my only concern is that the blocks may not fit the pattern completely if I go with #2 and I don't want to knit many more blocks. What do you think? Once I decide on the pattern I'm going to lay the blocks out, photograph and then sew them up.

Once sewn up, I'm going to put a border on this thing even though it will be plenty huge - just to stop the edges from curling and to give the thing a bit of cohesiveness. I'd also like to use up more of the yarn. Then I will back the thing with fabric and sew the blocks to the back fabric - with no batting because I don't want it peaking through. The reasons are two fold - I don't want to darn in that many ends but more importantly, I think a blanket this size needs some stability so that it doesn't get bent out of shape. The yarn is not pure wool or cotton - it is Patons decor which has a 25% acrylic (I think) so that the whole thing is machine washable. Not that I'm sure it would fit in my washer...