Tag: blog

Knitting

The one where the first

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Slippery Sock is complete and I’ve started on the second.  I love the cables and the way the colors really pop.

Mr. Iknead got me a new Ipod for Mother’s Day, the newest model with 160 gigs.  I decided yesterday to knit a cozy for it, I’d like to keep it looking shiny and new as long as I can.  I decided on Doggerell Designs Dragonskin Itouch Cover, which is a free Ravelry download.  I’m not clear on the ins and outs of copyright infringement so I won’t post a photo, but it’s easy enough to check it out on Rav.  Speaking of Ipods, this is my third one and am still convinced that it’s the best investment electronics-wise (is that even a word?) I’ve ever made.  I keep mine going on the average of seven hours a day during the week, usually listening to audiobooks and music when I work out.  I’m reading/listening to an intriguing book at the moment, The Boy With the Cuckoo Clock Heart, by Mathias Malzieu.  It’s quirky and offbeat, two things I look for in books and now that I think about it, pretty much everything else.  The more oddball and eccentric, the better I like it.

I’ve been playing around with the idea of another blog and have just about decided to go for it, posting on Saturdays about things that interest me and grab my attention, freestyling I suppose you’d call it.  This idea is sounding better and better.  What am I waiting for?

The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart.  Helen Keller (1880-1968)

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Knitting

The one where she takes time to

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tweak her blog a little.  I’m still a newbie at blogging and while I’m not as intimidated as I was, I’ve not explored the nuts and bolts of blogging, like style, what’s interesting, what’s TMI and what exactly is a blogroll anyway?  I’m working on how to get an About Me page, I’m not exactly computer illiterate, but I’m definitely a slow learner, so it’s pretty slow going and patience is not something I’m overly blessed with.

I do want to share my progress with the seriously impressive Slippery Sock.

OK, I’m about blogged out for today and Mr. Iknead wants to use the computer.

One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.  William of Occam (1285-1349); this principle of parsimony is known as “Occam’s razor”

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Knitting

The one where she thinks she’s

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wound about ten miles (at least) of yarn over the past two days.  Actually, I had a couple of skeins that were missing in action and in searching for them I became reacquainted with a lot of my stash.  So, I got out my handy dandy ball winder and swift and wound and wound and wound.  You get the picture.  I had several oh my goodness look at this moments, a lot of them really but on the other hand, I had more than a couple of oh my gosh, what was I thinking moments.  Especially regarding about eight skeins of Cashmerino in about eight different shades of green.  Who knew there were so many shades of avocado?  Yuck.

The Brittany Jumper is blocking.  YAY!   I love the feel of the cotton yarn, which gets softer and softer the more it’s touched but, on the downside, it takes ages to dry, even after running it through the spin cycle a couple of times.  I’ve got it under a fan and that speeds things up a bit, but it’s still slow.  Take a look, please.

Besides being a yarn windfest, it was also a bakefest.  I made a Cream Cheese Blueberry Coffee Cake, a tried and true favorite and also tried something new, a Whole Wheat Fresh Apple Ring.  I learned something new with the apple cake.  It’s nearly impossible for me to shred fresh apple.  It has too much juice or something.  I’m sure some baking whiz can do it with one hand tied behind them, but in my world, it ain’t happening.  I finally just chopped the apple really fine and called it good, and it was.

A Daddy Update:  I’m driving to DeQueen tomorrow after work, he has an appointment at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with a surgeon, I’m guessing to discuss whether or not surgery is an option.  I’m anxious to hear what he has to say.  I’ll be glad to get this trip and appointment behind us.  This will be the third trip down there since last Sunday.

Still haven’t decided about a new blog, on one hand I enjoy putting my thoughts down on paper (yes, I’m aware that there isn’t paper involved in this blog, but old habits die hard).  On the other hand, lately it’s been very difficult to make time just for this one.  Do I really want to add another?  Could the three kind people who actually read this blog please weigh in?  What do you think?

We are shaped by our thoughts.  We become what we think.  Buddha (563 B.C.-483 B.C.)

B.

Knitting

The one where she learns

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that her father has lung cancer.  I had a bad feeling about this last week when his doctor asked me to call and discuss the findings on a CT scan done then.  I work in a cancer treatment center, so I knew that most likely he was facing a diagnosis of cancer.  With my mother in a nursing home with dementia, this is doubly hard to deal with.  Our next step is to meet with a surgeon and start exploring treatment options.  His diagnosis is squamous cell carcinoma, left lower lobe, lung, moderately differentiated.  Not a great prognosis, but not hopeless either.  One day at a time.

I’m thinking about starting another blog with my dad’s diagnosis and the journey that my family are about to start.  If it happens, chances are that it will be updated once or twice a week, depending upon what’s happening.  My only reservation is that I tend to be a tad obsessive and usually run myself ragged trying to live up to my (impossible) demands.  You know, this could be a way to practice being kind and caring to myself, learning that sometimes “good enough sometimes is good enough”.  This is sounding better and better.  I can always shut it down if it gets overwhelming.  But, this really doesn’t mesh with my never say die, strong-willed, I can do it all personality.  They say old dogs can learn new tricks.  I think I’ll sleep on it.

OK, now I know I’ve got too much on my plate.  Again I notice that I did a blog post last week but neglected to publish it.  Maybe another blog right now isn’t such a good idea.  I’ll still sleep on it.

I’ve no new pics to post, but this never fails to make me smile –

Gotta love the sweater.

A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.  Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948)

B.

Knitting

The one where blogging

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is blogged about.

I took the challenge of blogging every day issued by WordPress the first of the year and have been more or less successful.  I think I’ve missed two days posting and am pretty proud of myself.  Admittedly, the first month or so of posts was like pulling teeth.  I dreaded posting most of the time because it was hard for me to put my thoughts in order and it be halfway readable.  Happily, I think I’ve gotten better at it, it seems to flow a lot easier and now I have trouble keeping my posts down to a reasonable length.  I don’t dread it and some days it’s a little bit harder than others, but I like creating something with words, something that’s uniquely mine.

I was sorting through some photos earlier and found this one.  It’s labeled random pretty and it’s both random and pretty.

Look with favour upon a bold beginning.  Virgil  (70 BC-19 BC)

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Knitting

The one where she

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image title

has to really think about her first entry in the 2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011.  Have I learned any new knitting skills in the past year?  The one that stands out really isn’t a new skill, but one that I’ve gotten a lot better at.  I suppose what you’d call it is FO assembly, sweaters in particular.  I love to knit sweaters, but hate putting them together; they always turned out wonky.  I worked on doing a better, neater job and while I still don’t like doing it, I think the practice has helped.

For your viewing pleasure, I bring you last year’s baby sweater:

Can’t make it bigger.  Trust me, I’ve improved.

Recent FO:

Again, too small.  Crap.  Again, you’ll just have to trust me.

Thought:  Why does man kill?  He kills for food.  And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.  Woody Allen (1935-     )

B.

Knitting

The one where she thinks

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she may have had as close to a perfect few days as she’s ever had.  I did most of the things I love to do – I baked bread, went yarn shopping, worked on my Catnip Socks and made a pot of soup (shrimp bisque if you must know).  On the sock front, I have only an inch or so left before I start the final ribbing on the cuff.  I could probably finish them tonight, but tomorrow is a work day and I know myself, if I stay up later that I know I should, I’ll pay for it tomorrow night and Tuesday, so, I’m putting the brakes on tonight with the intention of finishing them tomorrow.  I do have my next project picked out – another Minnowknits dress, this one called Brittany Jumper – here’s a pic

I may use this yarn –

It’s Fibranatura Cottonwood, 100% organic cotton, the color is called Cindy, #41109.  It’s more of a coral color than it’s pictured. 

National Knitting Blog Week kicks off tomorrow, I’m going to give it a try; I enjoy blogging and reading other’s blogs.  Should be really cool.  I’m always interested in seeing other’s blogs.  I can always learn something.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?  Dr. Robert Schuller

B.

Knitting

The one where she’s amazed

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when she looks at her blog site stats and sees that she’s had 60 readers today.  To a greenhorn blogger like me, that’s huge!  Thanks everyone, whoever you are, I’m starting to feel like a real blogger.

Today, the main story here in Arkansas has been the weather.  We had some really strong storms move through late this afternoon and were under a tornado warning for a couple of hours.  When someone mentions tornados here in Arkansas, everyone sits up and takes notice, almost as many as when snow/ice/wintry weather is predicted, without the mad rush for groceries.  We did have some high winds here in central Arkansas but as far as I know, no major tornado touchdowns or damage. 

Celebration sock update:

and up close and personal

It’s starting to grow on me.

Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.  Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931)

B.

Knitting

Mistake?

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I’m beginning to think I might have bitten off a little more than I can chew with my resolution to blog every day in 2011.  My life apparently is even more routine and boring than I thought.  Does this count as a post? 

B.