Caption the Cat #3
You'll never learn the secrets of the MAD organization, Inspector Gadget! Bwaa, ha, haaaaa!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
"Dog Days of Summer" Dishcloth Swap Questionnaire
1. Do you knit, or crochet, or do both? How long have you been knitting\crocheting?
I've been knitting for about 2 1/2 years. My friend Marsha taught me in the summer of 2004. It was always something that I wanted to do. My grandmother was a great knitter and an expert at crochet. I have a crochet tablecloth that she made. Incredible. Marsha's husband, Jan, taught me how to crochet. I just really like being creative and making usable things. I would consider my skill level in knitting to be advanced beginner/intermediate. I'm still just a novice at crochet. I very slowly build up my knowledge of stitches and techniques. I'd like to be able to master a particular skill first before piling on something else.
2. Have you knit dishcloths or dishtowels before?
Yes. I've knit 3 or 4 dish/wash cloths so far. I bought some linen yarn to make hand towels for the powder room, but I have yet to attempt that!
3. What are your favorite cotton yarns? Is there a cotton or linen you’ve been dying to try but have not?
Well, I really like the good ol' Sugar & Cream cotton yarn. It's inexpensive and comes in a bajillion colors. I also like Bernat's CottonTots yarn. Its texture really makes a nice, absorbent cloth. I love the feel of mercerized cotton. I have yet to try that in a dishcloth because I don't know if the mercerization has any effect on the cotton's absorbency, thus rendering it useless as a dishcloth! I'd love to try a bamboo/cotton or bamboo/linen blend!
4. Are there any cotton yarns you don’t enjoy knitting with?
No, not really. Although, I tend to find cotton a little difficult to knit with in general. It tends to be stiff and unyielding and it sometimes splits too easily.
5. What type of needle do you prefer using? (Metal/Wood/Plastic)
Hmmm...well, I have all kinds of needles (wood, plastic, metal, resin, etc.) and I think my favorite needles are made by Bryspun. They are sometimes hard to come by. But use them once, and you'll love them, especially the circulars. No tangling/twisting, which is my biggest complaint about circular needles. I recently purchased some gently-used Denise needles from a friend and they are SUPER!
6. What other projects do you enjoy knitting or crocheting?
I like to knit interesting, useful items that aren't fussy or overly complicated. To me, there is really something to be said for the soft, warm garter-stitch scarf. I love knitting baby items, particularly blankets and sweaters. I like knitting things that are quick and give instant gratification, like dishcloths, hats, and baby sweaters!
7. Do you have other hobbies or enjoy other kinds of crafting?
I like to cross-stitch and needlepoint. I can sew a bit (like curtains, pillow covers, etc.). Decoupage, paper quilling, oil-painting, pastel drawing, scrap-booking, silk-screening, photography, pottery/ceramics, origami, jewelery making, beaded fruit--- you name it and I've at least dabbled in it. Hell, I used to even make rosary beads. I'm a fairly artistic person and I like to draw and occasionally paint. I'm big on home improvement, so I do a lot of wallpapering, tile grouting, house painting, linoleum laying, etc. I love putting together Ikea furniture. How lame is that? :-P
8. What kind of treats do you like? Chocolate? Candies? Nuts?
Chocolate, of course. I'll eat anything of the chocolate variety. And I am a real sucker for a good chocolate-covered marshmallow. Candy is ok, but chocolate is better! Candy I will not eat: Twizzlers or any of its rubbery, stringy look-alikes. Yuck. Nuts are cool with me!
9. What colors are your kitchen and bath decorated in, if any?
My kitchen is sage green and black with oak cabinets. I have a couple of baths. One is done in a seashell theme, and that's coral, cream, beige, with touches of pink & light blue. The other bath is basically black & white with some cream color in there.
10. What are your favorite colors and what colors do you dislike?
Well, I don't think it's really a question of me not liking colors, because I pretty much like ALL of them, except for teal. Teal should be obliterated from all human existence. Really, it's more like what colors don't like me! For instance, I love yellow and orange, but they look hideous on me. However, I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of pastels. I guess I like heathered, natural colors the best. I'm fond of plums, sagey greens, denim blues, gray, terracotta, coral, browns and mocha. I like red, too.
11. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Other beverages?
Yes and yes!
Heh. Very nicely phrased question! I have five furry children, all cats, all mostly evil, except for the oldest, Sophie. You can poke around my blog pretty easily and find pictures of them being bad. They are: Sophie, Hercules, Titus (the evilest one), Ophelia (we call her Fi-Fi for short), and Luna. So, yeah, FIVE cats. Hey, less time in purgatory....
13. Do you have any allergies?
Cats. Ha! Joke. Not really. None that are life-threatening, anyway---as far as I know!
14. Please share 3 tidbits about yourself that you think your pal and other swappers might find odd or interesting.
Gah! I always find this so hard. Um let's see...
1. I am a total video-game geek. I play Warcraft regularly and have three console and several hand-held systems. I love games and gaming in general.
2. I've seen the movie Clue more times than any other movie I've ever seen. I'm going to guess...hmmm...25 times? I can't even tell you why. LOL
3. I can't ride a bike, or roller skate, or skateboard, or ski, or surf, or swim, etc. (No, really, I CAN'T swim AT ALL. Some people say they "can't swim," meaning that they can doggie-paddle and/or keep afloat. No, I SERIOUSLY SINK LIKE AN ANCHOR. I am terrified of the water.) I pretty much can't do anything. I can't dance either. I am the least athletic and most uncoordinated person I know! :-P
I've been knitting for about 2 1/2 years. My friend Marsha taught me in the summer of 2004. It was always something that I wanted to do. My grandmother was a great knitter and an expert at crochet. I have a crochet tablecloth that she made. Incredible. Marsha's husband, Jan, taught me how to crochet. I just really like being creative and making usable things. I would consider my skill level in knitting to be advanced beginner/intermediate. I'm still just a novice at crochet. I very slowly build up my knowledge of stitches and techniques. I'd like to be able to master a particular skill first before piling on something else.
2. Have you knit dishcloths or dishtowels before?
Yes. I've knit 3 or 4 dish/wash cloths so far. I bought some linen yarn to make hand towels for the powder room, but I have yet to attempt that!
3. What are your favorite cotton yarns? Is there a cotton or linen you’ve been dying to try but have not?
Well, I really like the good ol' Sugar & Cream cotton yarn. It's inexpensive and comes in a bajillion colors. I also like Bernat's CottonTots yarn. Its texture really makes a nice, absorbent cloth. I love the feel of mercerized cotton. I have yet to try that in a dishcloth because I don't know if the mercerization has any effect on the cotton's absorbency, thus rendering it useless as a dishcloth! I'd love to try a bamboo/cotton or bamboo/linen blend!
4. Are there any cotton yarns you don’t enjoy knitting with?
No, not really. Although, I tend to find cotton a little difficult to knit with in general. It tends to be stiff and unyielding and it sometimes splits too easily.
5. What type of needle do you prefer using? (Metal/Wood/Plastic)
Hmmm...well, I have all kinds of needles (wood, plastic, metal, resin, etc.) and I think my favorite needles are made by Bryspun. They are sometimes hard to come by. But use them once, and you'll love them, especially the circulars. No tangling/twisting, which is my biggest complaint about circular needles. I recently purchased some gently-used Denise needles from a friend and they are SUPER!
6. What other projects do you enjoy knitting or crocheting?
I like to knit interesting, useful items that aren't fussy or overly complicated. To me, there is really something to be said for the soft, warm garter-stitch scarf. I love knitting baby items, particularly blankets and sweaters. I like knitting things that are quick and give instant gratification, like dishcloths, hats, and baby sweaters!
7. Do you have other hobbies or enjoy other kinds of crafting?
I like to cross-stitch and needlepoint. I can sew a bit (like curtains, pillow covers, etc.). Decoupage, paper quilling, oil-painting, pastel drawing, scrap-booking, silk-screening, photography, pottery/ceramics, origami, jewelery making, beaded fruit--- you name it and I've at least dabbled in it. Hell, I used to even make rosary beads. I'm a fairly artistic person and I like to draw and occasionally paint. I'm big on home improvement, so I do a lot of wallpapering, tile grouting, house painting, linoleum laying, etc. I love putting together Ikea furniture. How lame is that? :-P
8. What kind of treats do you like? Chocolate? Candies? Nuts?
Chocolate, of course. I'll eat anything of the chocolate variety. And I am a real sucker for a good chocolate-covered marshmallow. Candy is ok, but chocolate is better! Candy I will not eat: Twizzlers or any of its rubbery, stringy look-alikes. Yuck. Nuts are cool with me!
9. What colors are your kitchen and bath decorated in, if any?
My kitchen is sage green and black with oak cabinets. I have a couple of baths. One is done in a seashell theme, and that's coral, cream, beige, with touches of pink & light blue. The other bath is basically black & white with some cream color in there.
10. What are your favorite colors and what colors do you dislike?
Well, I don't think it's really a question of me not liking colors, because I pretty much like ALL of them, except for teal. Teal should be obliterated from all human existence. Really, it's more like what colors don't like me! For instance, I love yellow and orange, but they look hideous on me. However, I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of pastels. I guess I like heathered, natural colors the best. I'm fond of plums, sagey greens, denim blues, gray, terracotta, coral, browns and mocha. I like red, too.
11. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Other beverages?
Yes and yes!
Heh. Very nicely phrased question! I have five furry children, all cats, all mostly evil, except for the oldest, Sophie. You can poke around my blog pretty easily and find pictures of them being bad. They are: Sophie, Hercules, Titus (the evilest one), Ophelia (we call her Fi-Fi for short), and Luna. So, yeah, FIVE cats. Hey, less time in purgatory....
13. Do you have any allergies?
Cats. Ha! Joke. Not really. None that are life-threatening, anyway---as far as I know!
14. Please share 3 tidbits about yourself that you think your pal and other swappers might find odd or interesting.
Gah! I always find this so hard. Um let's see...
1. I am a total video-game geek. I play Warcraft regularly and have three console and several hand-held systems. I love games and gaming in general.
2. I've seen the movie Clue more times than any other movie I've ever seen. I'm going to guess...hmmm...25 times? I can't even tell you why. LOL
3. I can't ride a bike, or roller skate, or skateboard, or ski, or surf, or swim, etc. (No, really, I CAN'T swim AT ALL. Some people say they "can't swim," meaning that they can doggie-paddle and/or keep afloat. No, I SERIOUSLY SINK LIKE AN ANCHOR. I am terrified of the water.) I pretty much can't do anything. I can't dance either. I am the least athletic and most uncoordinated person I know! :-P
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Stuff of Knitting...and Some Other Stuff
Ok, so I have a few things to report on the knitting front. One is, I broke down and bought a yarn-ball winder and a swift. I got them from Knitting-Warehouse.com for a great price. I mean, the swift is all wood, much nicer than their picture (smooth, and nicely finished) and it was $39!
So I used them last night to wind up some Tilli Thomas 100% silk chenille yarn that I got on clearance from somewhere---2 hanks of it. This task would have normally taken me well over an hour and I would have been rendered hoarse from all the cursing and swearing. Seriously.
After
Done in like 10 minutes, not even, with the swift and ball winder. I was like Keanu Reeves in...well... basically any movie he's ever been in: "Whoa." Incidentally, have you gotten a gander of him lately? Shit on a shingle, he looks BAD. Bloated and semi-crazy. He's only 42 and easily looks 20 years older than that. And what's up with that facial hair? Is he like razor-phobic on the down low? Or maybe he's just outright homeless. Not sure. All I know is he looks like a creepy college professor who drinks Tequila in his office before stumbling across campus, 15-minutes late, to teach a bunch of college sophomores about medieval England.
But I digress...
So along with the swift and winder I bought a couple of skeins of Bernat Cool Crochet yarn. It's like 70% cotton with 30% nylon. I bought a coordinating pink color to use to make the i-cords for that baby kimono and hat that I knit. I had tried to use the same yarn that I used to knit the kimono and hat and it just was not making a decent i-cord. I made the cords for the kimono, and I attached them last night. It looks cute. I will post a picture of the hat once I get that done.
I also bought 2 skeins of the Cool Crochet in the Neopolitan colorway. How cool is that yarn? It looks like Neapolitan ice-cream! I am going to use that to make one of those market bags that I love so well. Now the problem is that it's supposed to be knit on size 5 needles. I think that it might be a little thin for a market bag, so I am going to double up the yarn. Just so I have enough, I bought a couple more skeins from this new online store that I discovered today: Yarn & Thread by Lisa. I bought a bag of 3 skeins and it was $8.07. CHEAP!
I bought a few skeins of regular, old, Sugar & Cream cotton yarn there too, because I need to make a couple of dishcloths. I've joined the Summer Dishcloth Swap. This sounds so neat. I am really looking forward to it. I decided to get the Sugar & Cream version of Neapolitan Ice Cream, which is actually called Rosewood. I think that's what I will use to make the dishcloth for the swap. I am going to attempt a whole ice-cream/dessert theme, I think. I also got a couple of skeins in the Buttercream and Landscape colorways. If I have the time, I might make 2 for the Dishcloth Swap, using the Buttercream for another cloth. Hey, look, it's $1.63 a skein, so I HAD to. Come on! If I have any left I might make some bibs for my sister's baby. Like I have infinite amounts of spare time on my hands....
Anyway, what else? Hmmm....
Oh, I hate my job. Like seriously, I am having major problems even motivating myself to get out of bed in the morning to drag my sorry ass over there. I am getting more frequent migraines and anxiety attacks. I am depressed and can't sleep and I am paranoid too. Not good, in fact, decidedly awful. I feel pretty much sad and at my wits end about a lot of things, but feel utterly powerless to change anything. Very frustrating. Ah well, life goes on I suppose....
Here it is all set up with the winder!
So I used them last night to wind up some Tilli Thomas 100% silk chenille yarn that I got on clearance from somewhere---2 hanks of it. This task would have normally taken me well over an hour and I would have been rendered hoarse from all the cursing and swearing. Seriously.
Before
After
Done in like 10 minutes, not even, with the swift and ball winder. I was like Keanu Reeves in...well... basically any movie he's ever been in: "Whoa." Incidentally, have you gotten a gander of him lately? Shit on a shingle, he looks BAD. Bloated and semi-crazy. He's only 42 and easily looks 20 years older than that. And what's up with that facial hair? Is he like razor-phobic on the down low? Or maybe he's just outright homeless. Not sure. All I know is he looks like a creepy college professor who drinks Tequila in his office before stumbling across campus, 15-minutes late, to teach a bunch of college sophomores about medieval England.
But I digress...
So along with the swift and winder I bought a couple of skeins of Bernat Cool Crochet yarn. It's like 70% cotton with 30% nylon. I bought a coordinating pink color to use to make the i-cords for that baby kimono and hat that I knit. I had tried to use the same yarn that I used to knit the kimono and hat and it just was not making a decent i-cord. I made the cords for the kimono, and I attached them last night. It looks cute. I will post a picture of the hat once I get that done.
I also bought 2 skeins of the Cool Crochet in the Neopolitan colorway. How cool is that yarn? It looks like Neapolitan ice-cream! I am going to use that to make one of those market bags that I love so well. Now the problem is that it's supposed to be knit on size 5 needles. I think that it might be a little thin for a market bag, so I am going to double up the yarn. Just so I have enough, I bought a couple more skeins from this new online store that I discovered today: Yarn & Thread by Lisa. I bought a bag of 3 skeins and it was $8.07. CHEAP!
I bought a few skeins of regular, old, Sugar & Cream cotton yarn there too, because I need to make a couple of dishcloths. I've joined the Summer Dishcloth Swap. This sounds so neat. I am really looking forward to it. I decided to get the Sugar & Cream version of Neapolitan Ice Cream, which is actually called Rosewood. I think that's what I will use to make the dishcloth for the swap. I am going to attempt a whole ice-cream/dessert theme, I think. I also got a couple of skeins in the Buttercream and Landscape colorways. If I have the time, I might make 2 for the Dishcloth Swap, using the Buttercream for another cloth. Hey, look, it's $1.63 a skein, so I HAD to. Come on! If I have any left I might make some bibs for my sister's baby. Like I have infinite amounts of spare time on my hands....
Anyway, what else? Hmmm....
Oh, I hate my job. Like seriously, I am having major problems even motivating myself to get out of bed in the morning to drag my sorry ass over there. I am getting more frequent migraines and anxiety attacks. I am depressed and can't sleep and I am paranoid too. Not good, in fact, decidedly awful. I feel pretty much sad and at my wits end about a lot of things, but feel utterly powerless to change anything. Very frustrating. Ah well, life goes on I suppose....
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Dear Blogger:
I've had this blog open for almost a year now and I have got to know: when are you going to have some new themes for us to choose from for our blog pages? Hmmm? I am tired of these lame-ass, pastel-ish dots. And the other six or seven themes you have just leave me flat. Just so you know, I went over to Vox to check them out and guess what? They have like 17,952 different blog themes to choose from. I'm too much of a lazy slob to be bothered to move my blog over there. So you really lucked out. But geez, Blogger, get with the program, people and make with some new skins!
K? THX! Buh bye!
PS: FIX THE PICTURE-UPLOADING MECHANISM TOO, WILL 'YA? GAWD.
K? THX! Buh bye!
PS: FIX THE PICTURE-UPLOADING MECHANISM TOO, WILL 'YA? GAWD.
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