In the name of science

I supported a poor, starving grad student once. Heck, I was a poor starving grad student once. I was just lucky enough to not have to do a research project (I have my ways).

Support the efforts of a researcher in determining how fast a meme travels by creating a blog post linking to this one. You can read more about it here.

And where did I get this meme from? Emma.

Snow Days

When you live in the PNWet, you play in the snow as it falls. If you wait a half hour, it may turn to rain and slush and then you would have missed the snow.

May I present, "Sledding In The Dark".



It was only 4pm.

Once it got really dark out, dark enough so you cannot see through the reflection of the lights in the window, Old Man Winter got serious. We woke up to a gorgeous winter wonderland. Look at the background.



I love how crisp and clean everything looks after a fresh snowfall. The kids built a snowman, Bob. He is wearing the Lucky Duck scarf.

As always, clickety click to embiggen the pictures.

For a sockret pal

Wild and crazy Socks That Rock:





The yarn is crazy, wild, in a very fun loving way! I did check with my Sockret Pal to make sure that she was loving the wild and crazy socks and she confirmed. So I am a happy socker to have these off my plate. I'll be saving them to send along with a little holiday surprise because we all need more holiday surprises in our lives!

Thank you, Grandma

During the fiasco of the missing scarf, Grandma had been secretly knitting her own princess scarf. Lovely!

Spinning from Stash

I've been working away at the spinning stash, trying to spin up some of the great hand-dyed fibers I have picked up this year at various festivals. The current project - 8 oz Biffle (that's Blue Faced Leicester to the uninitiated). This fiber is hand-dyed by Angela at A Swell Yarn Shop. You may recognize it as a purchase from OFFF. It's the blue and brown one draped around Alex' neck.

I wanted to make a two-ply yarn, and try to keep the color patterns even so they would make sections of solid colored yarn when plying instead of the funky barberpole. I started out by splitting the roving lengthwise in two. I weighed the two sections, and was 10g off. There goes the plan ;-) How much is 10g anyway? Enough to make a difference.

Do you see that small ball of fiber on top of the wheel? That's how much was left over after plying from the two bobbins. I wound it into a center pull ball and plyed it back on itself.

Lovely yarn on a niddy noddy:


300 yards (230 + 70)

That 10g did make a difference!
Destiny = scarf.

Uno

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself:
happy

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse):
brilliant

3. Your hair:
flat

4. Your mother:
addicted

5. Your Father:
supportive

6. Your Favorite Item:
roving

7. Your dream last night:
sleep

8. Your Favorite drink:
drip

9. Your Dream Car:
fast

10. The room you are in:
favorite

11. Your Ex:
non-existent

12. Your fear:
windstorms

13. What you want to be in 10 years?
proud

14. Who you hung out with last night?
kids

15. What You’re Not?
thin

16. Muffins:
blueberry

17. One of Your Wish List Items:
stairmaster

18. Time:
flying

19. The Last Thing You Did:
laughed

20. What You Are Wearing:
jammies

21. Your Favorite Weather:
crisp

22. Your Favorite Book:
outlander

23. The Last Thing You Ate:
m&m's

24. Your Life:
complete

25. Your Mood:
content

26. Your best friend:
enabler

27. What are you thinking about right now?
spinning

28. Your car:
hot

29. What are you doing at the moment?
rejuvenizing

30. Your summer:
GONE

31. Your relationship status:
partners

32. What is on your TV?
dust

33. What is the weather like?
wet

34. When is the last time you laughed?
tonight

One lucky duck

clickety click to embiggen

Her brother found it, lost in the depths of the toy room. He's my hero!

Every ten years...

I get the urge to sew.


My mother just fell off her chair. We'll wait Mom, while you get back up. Need a sip of water? OK then. Yes, that is the foot pedal that was lost during move #2 AND I NEVER KNEW until you helped us unpack from move #3. LOL.

14 patches later...

He isn't kicked out of cub scouts (yet).

While I am at it, "HONEY, where's that sweater with the ginormous arms?"


First, you pick the seams.


Sew the excess.


Can you see the line?


Start trimming. Note to self, next time use contrasting thread.


That's a lot of excess.


Re-attach the arm.

One down, one to go. Maybe next decade, dear.
And that covers it for the next 10 years. Maybe I will cast on an aran now.

Lost

She had it for less than 12 hours. I think she lost it at pre-school. Grrrrrr.

A touch of sun

Well, not really sunshine, but at least a temporary abatement of the monsoon. DD and I skipped outside for a quick photo shoot:

clickety click to embiggen


clickety click to embiggen

Mistake stitch rib in handspun fiber from Blue Moon. She's happy, I'm happy.

The week in review

One of my favorite websites is the weekly photo essays featured on MSN.

I would like to present my own version of a week in review:

We had a princess (no surprise there), a green power ranger, and a dragon ninja. Between the Power Ranger and the Ninja, I knew my daughter was safe walking the streets in the dark.


Proof that you are never too big to be a lap dog. I had to check Tina's bag at the door to make sure she wasn't smuggling a pet home. I did offer to trade her a dog for a wheel....


And last but not least, a yummy package from my SP9! She sent lots of local goodies including a candle and candy from her town, plus the yarn, matching beads, needles and a crochet hook plus pattern to make a beaded scarf! Not only did she put together this package, but she had also knit the scarf herself and sent me a photo of her FO so I would get the idea of what the scarf looks like. I can tell that my SP put a lot of thought into this package, and I want her to know that I really appreciate all of the effort! Thanks SP!