Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Second armhole is edged, and I'm about a third around the outside. It's looking better, as long as I don't inspect the armholes too carefully.
Shyloh sez
If I change my mind and decide that this vest is a heap of scrap yarn, he would like it for a blankie.

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

An update even though I feel more like hiding. Over the course of a seven hour Red Cross Babysitting class, I ripped the purple vest back to the error I discovered. I just managed to get the thing off of the needles when they finished. I was at this class with my Girl Scout troop, and I was disturbed. Last year our cookie manager was a flake, and my co-leader had to spend three hours helping her get the paperwork straight. This year, a different manager seems to have "lost" 41 boxes of cookies. I love the scouts, and my co-leader is great but we can't get the other parents to be responsible. We will have to figure something else out to keep it fun.

But, back to the vest. It looked like this:

Now what?
Well, I crocheted the edges the best I could and cut the thing apart. Shhhhhh.... the edges are a mess.

I've done the I-cord edge for one sleeve, and half of the second. After all the first round of I cord is done, I'll try a few ideas to hide the mess inside. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

More vacation notes
After we all calmed down, we asked about the livestock. Horses - mostly Arabian, one PG, and another with a new foal.
"What do you do the the goats?" I ask. I wonder about goats.
"Those are sheep"
"Where is the wool?"
"They don't grow wool"
"So....ummmm what good are they?"
"We take them to the auction and sell them to meat processors. You are looking at future lamb chops. We keep them so we can get an agricultural exemption on our real estate taxes"
"Oh, I like lamb chops, but I like woo better"
"We like our exemption"
So, here is a picture of walking lamb chops:



Upon returning home, I noticed an error on my vest. I'm off to Lousiana tonight, and have packed for some moderate ripping tonight. Could I be the only traveling business person who packs more yarn than clothes for a two night trip?

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Well, I'm back from a nice vacation in beautiful Fredericksburg, TX. My husband booked us a cottage that not only was not wired for telephone, but also out of our cell phone providers footprint. So, we were deliciously out of touch for over a week. Yummmm

Lots of knitting progress, which is nice, as the prior week was full of crankiness, and ripping. I think I went backwards more that I went forwards. On the work front, I was getting so irritable that any set back was like fingernails on the chalk board. It was either vacation or prozac.

The vacation started out badly though with a near death experience for Shiloh. The cottage was part of a small ranch, and the owner's German shepherd was not happy about another male dog on his turf. So he picked up our little guy and shook him like a squeaky toy. The land lady tackled her dog before he got back in to do more damage, and I scooped up Shiloh. I thought I had a mostly dead dog, but was pleased to see that he walked fine, and there was no blood spurting about. His face looked well after he calmed down some, and no strange noises were coming out of his chest. In the background the landlady was shocked to tears - her dog had never done such a thing, and my daughter was near hysterical. She had a dream the previous night that was this exact incident, and graphically almost the same. Creepy. The landlady called her vet, who agreed to see us right away. My husband was all cranky about how our dog was about to get a weird hair cut, but I was happy just to have him on my lap. The vet checked out Shiloh, gave him some anti-biotic, and suggested a bath and some baby aspirin. No shave job, no stitches, just one sore doggie, and a freaked out daughter and landlady. I took care of the daugher and the dog; the landlady took care of the vet bill, so all ended well.

Friday, March 05, 2004

Well, it's been an exciting few days in the back yard. Wednesday, we had a raccoon with a bad forepaw wandering around the porch. That got Shiloh and GingGong heated up enough to stop fighting with each other. I called animal control, and while holding, one of the resident armadillos returned home. She picked a fight with the 'coon, so we had a muti-species slam down going on. 'Coon wandered off later in the day, and the animal control officer never showed. I hope the fellow didn't die underneath my house.

Then, I was on a conference call, and mentioned that there were some lizards doing what appeared to be a mating ritual on my porch. They would walk in parallel, then one would turn, and they would walk in a circle. The gal I was speaking to asked if one was puffing out his throat. Well, yes. "Those are anoles, not lizards", she says. Oh. So I have anole sex going on? We left it there.

Here is what they look like from
wildtexas.com

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Well, the Swatchy blog has been all blow and no show for the last few weeks. Today, this will change. Mostly the projects look the same, but bigger.

First up - the vest, rapidly approaching that armhole decrease. Once there, I intend to swoop around to the front, for a fablous finish:


And, the traveling project - more than half way to the armhole decreases


But... what's this? Swatchy got distracted from her "must do" projects this weekend. While tidying up the yarn room for a weekend guest, some mohair just got tired of sitting in her box. This skein is finished, but her friends call. Recognize the pattern?