Yarn is KnitPicks Essential Kettle dyed in Bordeaux, a gift from my mom - thanks again mom!
Saturday, 11 April 2009
socks - yep, obsessed
I've cast on for the Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt...
Yarn is KnitPicks Essential Kettle dyed in Bordeaux, a gift from my mom - thanks again mom!
Yarn is KnitPicks Essential Kettle dyed in Bordeaux, a gift from my mom - thanks again mom!
98 Year Old Woman Survives L'Aquila Earthquake and Spends the Time Crocheting
As many of you likely know, over 200 people died in an earthquake in Italy this past week (the worst since 1980). This 98 year old woman (not related to me) was rescued after being trapped in her bed for about 30 hours - when asked how she passed the time during the long wait she replied that she 'worked on her crochet'. According to La Republica (big Italian newspaper) this is the 3rd earthquake that she has survived.
Well here is the video, but it is in Italian, so less fun for most of you but amazing and heartening for those of you that can understand it.
Also in Italian, Motivi a Maglia, reports on the same woman and is where I found some of my links.
What is horrible is how few buildings (about 14%) in the region are built to seismic-safety standards in a region that is labeled 'dangerous' in terms of seismic activity (source KCTV5 news). I hear that even the hospital, built in 2000, didn't meet the standards and has been rendered useless by the earthquake.
ETA: An article in English on the woman but now I'm confused about her name because there are 2 different reports.
Well here is the video, but it is in Italian, so less fun for most of you but amazing and heartening for those of you that can understand it.
Also in Italian, Motivi a Maglia, reports on the same woman and is where I found some of my links.
What is horrible is how few buildings (about 14%) in the region are built to seismic-safety standards in a region that is labeled 'dangerous' in terms of seismic activity (source KCTV5 news). I hear that even the hospital, built in 2000, didn't meet the standards and has been rendered useless by the earthquake.
ETA: An article in English on the woman but now I'm confused about her name because there are 2 different reports.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Ipod Cozy the First
No wordless Wednesday today - no pictures that I want to focus on.
Finished an Ipod cozy (best iPhone cozy EVER). I used some of the yarn that Femblog sent to me, not sure what it was but it was nice to work with.
It has a pocket for the headphones - I think I'll like the pocket.
Finished an Ipod cozy (best iPhone cozy EVER). I used some of the yarn that Femblog sent to me, not sure what it was but it was nice to work with.
It has a pocket for the headphones - I think I'll like the pocket.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Cheers
So awhile back I mentioned to Femblog that I was working at developing my sock yarn remnant stash - you know, for baby socks and stuffed animal clothing. She offered to send me some and they came today:
You will note, that there are other things that came in the package (and there was chocolate but that didn't make it into the house). I naively believed that she would send the yarn by itself, or perhaps accompanied by a card. The yarn looks kick-ass and if I pack fast tonight I'll be using some of it. There was a bookmark with cats on it that has made its way to my current reading book. The book in the package - Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French is hilarious.
Sample day:
Monday
Morning: Slept.
Afternoon: Slept.
Evening: Ate grass. Scratched.
Night: Ate grass. Slept.
I laughed so much at this book - I made Cory right away and told him it was soooo funny - his response after reading the book: "sweetie, you're funny" - I don't know if that means he liked it or it was funny that I liked it so much.
And then there was a postcard pointing out where there are girl guide cookie sales - it is probably a good thing that I currently live in an apartment - zero will power to say no to kids selling things at my door. On the back of the card she wrote that she couldn't resist sending me more than yarn - well, once I figure out what to send back there will be a return parcel, even before getting the package I was thinking of what I could send as a thank you... We'll call it a swap and I owe you.
Tomorrow I head off to Denver for the SRCD conference (Society for Research in Child Development). I'm excited, but now I have to pack. I'm not bringing any knitting (I know, sacrilege) because my wrists are acting up after knitting the second monkey sock very quickly. Yep, I've got the sock bug - now I just have to get them out of the drawer and use them and worry less about ruining them.
I will, hopefully, be distracted and busy enough such that I don't notice the lack of yarn for 4 days. We'll see...
You will note, that there are other things that came in the package (and there was chocolate but that didn't make it into the house). I naively believed that she would send the yarn by itself, or perhaps accompanied by a card. The yarn looks kick-ass and if I pack fast tonight I'll be using some of it. There was a bookmark with cats on it that has made its way to my current reading book. The book in the package - Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French is hilarious.
Sample day:
Monday
Morning: Slept.
Afternoon: Slept.
Evening: Ate grass. Scratched.
Night: Ate grass. Slept.
I laughed so much at this book - I made Cory right away and told him it was soooo funny - his response after reading the book: "sweetie, you're funny" - I don't know if that means he liked it or it was funny that I liked it so much.
And then there was a postcard pointing out where there are girl guide cookie sales - it is probably a good thing that I currently live in an apartment - zero will power to say no to kids selling things at my door. On the back of the card she wrote that she couldn't resist sending me more than yarn - well, once I figure out what to send back there will be a return parcel, even before getting the package I was thinking of what I could send as a thank you... We'll call it a swap and I owe you.
Tomorrow I head off to Denver for the SRCD conference (Society for Research in Child Development). I'm excited, but now I have to pack. I'm not bringing any knitting (I know, sacrilege) because my wrists are acting up after knitting the second monkey sock very quickly. Yep, I've got the sock bug - now I just have to get them out of the drawer and use them and worry less about ruining them.
I will, hopefully, be distracted and busy enough such that I don't notice the lack of yarn for 4 days. We'll see...
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Wordless Wednesday: Plant edition
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi13/03/2009
Cat update: getting along better - bad vocalizations have decreased, not sure if snuggling has resumed
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Cat Dental Extraction #1
There is a problem with being proud of how well your cats get along - when they stop doing so, even for a few hours or days, your ego takes a hit. I don't know why I feel personally responsible for how well our kitties get along - all Cory and I have done is make sure that we got them at a young impressionable age, and at the same time, from the same place. For the past 4 years (almost) they have gotten along splendidly - with only occasional fights that amounted to nothing really, only a bit of hissing and running away.
But yesterday Zoie had her dental (it went well and cost a lot less than I was expecting, and she only had one tooth extracted). She came home with "vet smell" and Ellie didn't like it - never mind that she was clingy while Zoie was away (they've never been apart - they even got spayed on the same day...) Ellie didn't like Zoie, she smelled funny. We were expecting this, afterall, Zoie was still feeling the effects of the procedure and medications - but we didn't expect Ellie to stay pissy. Now Ellie doesn't like the way Zoie's breath smells - she goes up to Zoie, smells her breath and hisses then runs away growling. Hopefully this means that they will go back to normal as soon as a) Zoie's breath smells normal (whatever that is) or b) Ellie gets her own bad breath (Friday).
I was woken up several times with Ellie hissing and it wasn't fun this morning either. No fighting, but a lot of bad vocalizations. The sad thing is that Zoie is meowing at me more and looking at Ellie - she doesn't seem to understand why her friend won't snuggle. We are snuggling her even more than usual but it still breaks my heart to see the poor interactions. Hopefully they will be back on better terms soon. I think it is ridiculous how affected I am about the poor interactions but I can't change it.
This fighting between the cats just reinforces the fact that we have to take both cats in when we go to the vet whenever possible. We'd been doing that before because we figured it was less stress that way - their personalities mesh well - Zoie hides at the back of the cage and trembles and Ellie sits at the front and tells the vet to go to hell or worse (she's all meow and no bite though - she spits and stuff but never even scratches the vet). All in all the vet figures that Ellie has a better stress reaction because her heart rate doesn't increase during annual examinations, but Zoie's at least doubles.
K, enough about the cats... Knitting news, I finished a second sock - the one on 00 needles - only to find out that because I switched needle brands the second one didn't fit and I had to rip back to the heel. The new brand doesn't hurt my wrists so I'll go up a size and see how that goes. But even the first one doesn't fit well - the problem is my arches - they make my instep really high and I've now had several pairs of socks that fit poorly in the ankles. These ones would fit if I lost some ankle weight - I should loose weight anyways, so hopefully some will come off of the ankles...
But yesterday Zoie had her dental (it went well and cost a lot less than I was expecting, and she only had one tooth extracted). She came home with "vet smell" and Ellie didn't like it - never mind that she was clingy while Zoie was away (they've never been apart - they even got spayed on the same day...) Ellie didn't like Zoie, she smelled funny. We were expecting this, afterall, Zoie was still feeling the effects of the procedure and medications - but we didn't expect Ellie to stay pissy. Now Ellie doesn't like the way Zoie's breath smells - she goes up to Zoie, smells her breath and hisses then runs away growling. Hopefully this means that they will go back to normal as soon as a) Zoie's breath smells normal (whatever that is) or b) Ellie gets her own bad breath (Friday).
I was woken up several times with Ellie hissing and it wasn't fun this morning either. No fighting, but a lot of bad vocalizations. The sad thing is that Zoie is meowing at me more and looking at Ellie - she doesn't seem to understand why her friend won't snuggle. We are snuggling her even more than usual but it still breaks my heart to see the poor interactions. Hopefully they will be back on better terms soon. I think it is ridiculous how affected I am about the poor interactions but I can't change it.
This fighting between the cats just reinforces the fact that we have to take both cats in when we go to the vet whenever possible. We'd been doing that before because we figured it was less stress that way - their personalities mesh well - Zoie hides at the back of the cage and trembles and Ellie sits at the front and tells the vet to go to hell or worse (she's all meow and no bite though - she spits and stuff but never even scratches the vet). All in all the vet figures that Ellie has a better stress reaction because her heart rate doesn't increase during annual examinations, but Zoie's at least doubles.
K, enough about the cats... Knitting news, I finished a second sock - the one on 00 needles - only to find out that because I switched needle brands the second one didn't fit and I had to rip back to the heel. The new brand doesn't hurt my wrists so I'll go up a size and see how that goes. But even the first one doesn't fit well - the problem is my arches - they make my instep really high and I've now had several pairs of socks that fit poorly in the ankles. These ones would fit if I lost some ankle weight - I should loose weight anyways, so hopefully some will come off of the ankles...
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