Monday, April 27, 2015

Traveling Monsters Vol. 2

Meet Juliana Lovebot. She hails from Nebraska, she had a stop in Wisconsin before coming here.  Upon arrival, Voodoo made sure she was comfortable.


We went to one of our favorite ice cream places, its locally famous.  Chocolate peanut butter (frappe) is my all time favorite, how they get the peanut butter (yeah its real peanut butter in there) to stay smooth while frozen, I dunno.


We stopped to see the animals.


She had a great time watching the goats and their antics.



And the beautiful peacock, though he was not inclined to strut his stuff and show off his feathers ...




And we met a new friend in the gift shop ... who consequently came home to live in my purple room ...


Saturday, April 25, 2015

Friday Felines 2015 Vol 11


Nikoh & Riley

Brothers from another mother (and father).

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Love your Blog Challenge #3 Ugly

A Playful Day

The topic this week is quite a stumper.  So I've decided to dissect the prompt piece by piece ... that's how you eat an elephant they say, right?!  No, I would not eat an elephant or any or its parts, ever, LOL!

Feeling negative about blogging.  I have often times felt negative about blogging ... crappy photos, bad lighting, I don't know what to write, who wants to read this, is anyone reading this, why do I do this?

Turning a negative into a positive.  Well photos ... I do try and pay attention to lighting, background, etc. when taking photos and I think they have definitely improved over time.

Sometimes I feel like my blogging is a grocery list, I see other bloggers that post fantastic little stories or insights, but I'm just not that type of person.  On my recent podcast episode I was talking about how sometimes I wonder if my job is a good idea or the "right" job for me (911 police dispatcher) - typically this questioning occurs on a VERY frustrating, crazy busy day :o)

When I step outside and think about it, it probably is the right job for me.

Dispatch
/dəˈspaCH/
  1. send off to a destination or for a purpose. 
  2.  deal with (a task, problem, or opponent) quickly and efficiently.
Its how I operate: Get it done and NOW.  So its how I blog.  Here's my story, here are the facts, here's a photo, click publish and off it goes.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

FO: Undersized Unicorn


Yarrn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm)
Cast on: April 16, 2015
Finished: April 19, 2015



This one was a lot of fun.  The entire project was knit magic loop, which is my preferred method for in the round knitting.  The parts were all picked up, no sewing except for weaving in the ends (of which there were quite a few).

I find I finish stuffies quite quickly, I have a real issue with bodies without appendages ... it really bothers me.    

Saturday, April 18, 2015

FO: Down the Rabbit Hole


Pattern: Down the Rabbit Hole by Purrlescent
Yarn: Beyond Basic Knits in Squirt
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Addi Sock Rockets
Cast On: February 9, 2015
Finish: April 15, 2015



“Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end!” –Alice in Wonderland

I used to listen to this on an audio book, the narrator had a wonderful voice, an old English  man.  I remember this line and the way he enunciated it, "Down, doownn, dooowwwnn."

This was a very fun knit, never boring.  I did finally get the hang of which sock I was working on and how to work the stitches after a while.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Friday Felines Vol. 10


Nikoh

Nikoh back when we first adopted him.  He was the cutest little thing (he's still cute, he just grew into his ears and kinda his legs).  I remember when we first got him, he was inquisitive, not skiddish, but not real friendly (we referred to him as a dumpster cat - he was out in the "wild" with other cats that a rescue picked up, he was young enough to not be really feral and he adapted quite well).

Remember I said not real friendly?!?!  He wouldn't sit with us or on us when we first got him, for some time.  Years later I can't get him off me :o)

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The REAL indicator of Spring

So, what is the "REAL" indicator of Spring you wonder??? In New England, its the opening of the local seafood and ice cream "shacks" or um ... fine dining establishments. They are all over, every town has at least one. We were happy to find that when we moved here (though they don't have my favorite chocolate peanut butter ice cream ... we'll get to that later this year) they do have great fried seafood.

Hubby got a new camera, so he was trying it out.


I recently got new sunglasses with some bling, bling. Typically I am a tomboy, but there are some ooohhhh shinys that I like. I had my last pair of (regular black) sunglasses for must've been .. oh 8 years. I'm not good at change or letting things go. I wore these crooked with a too large screw holding the falling off ear piece for the last two years ... I bought another cheapo pair a few months ago, but still went back to the broken ones ... until I found these ...


Oh, I said seafood, right?!?!  Did I mention my all time favorite - RASPBERRY LIME RICKEY?!?!


Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Love Your Blog Challenge #2 Beginnings

A Playful Day

The topic for this week is beginnings ... how did you get started blogging?  I went back ... way back to 2006 and checked out my old blog.  It appears I may have started because I was doing a lot of swaps and also I had just started knitting.  There were a lot of beginnings ... beginning a lot of projects - many of which I am sure I never quite finished.  Some I did ... many, many years later ...

One I started  in December of 2007 (or at least bought the yarn for) and finally completed it in December of 2011.

I used to actually list my "ridiculous sock yarn stash" that amounted to 18 skeins ... hahahahahaha!!!!!  How cute is that?!?!  Silly girl!!!

I also used to go places and take cool photos.  I haven't done that in a long time ... (I go places, I forget to take photos).

I used to write a lot more too ... it also appears I used to come up with much wittier blog titles, LOL!

While digging through the blog I found some yarn that may be perfect for a shawl I wanted to knit ... where it is though ... hhmmm.

I used to make cool collages at the end of the year.

HHmmm here's to more thoughtful blogging from me in the future :o)

So ... what do you LIKE about this blog (so I can keep doing it)???  And is there anything you used to see here that you would like to see again?!?!

How did you start blogging???

Friday, April 10, 2015

Friday Felines Vol. 9 2015


Riley

I have a mental illness called CAT OCD ... I count cats.  I count them when I get up, whenever I leave the house, when I get home or when its too quiet or something seems weird.

The other night I was getting ready for bed (oh that's another time I count cats) and I couldn't find Riley.  Now its late and quiet so I don't want to go around yelling his name, the other cats will think its treat time or something.  

So I creeped around the living room checking all the usual places and still could not find him, so I went to the other usual places in the house, still no Riley.  Back to the living room ... really before bed they are either in the living room or already in the bed.  There were blankets piled haphazardly on the couch, so I started gently lifting them up ... out popped Riley's head!!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Love your Blog Challenge #1

A Playful Day

Community and Interaction

I'm joining with the Love your Blog Challenge from A Playful Day.  The first prompt is Community and Interaction in relation to blogging.  I'm not sure how I feel about this topic, my blog does not have a huge following (that I am aware of), unless there are a ton of lurkers here that do not post comments.  I myself am guilty of reading many blogs on a regular basis and not commenting.  I guess that is kind of the anti-interaction ...

So, here's is my question to you - do you read a lot of blogs on a regular basis, but do not comment?  

There are several reasons why I sometimes do not comment ...  I start to and get stuck on what I want to say, I don't want to be another "yeah" comment, I don't have the platform to comment coherently (phone, tablet - no real keyboard), and will the blogger read and respond to my comment?

On the flip side, I certainly have "met" some really cool people through blogging, that I keep tabs on regularly and we share back and forth.  I am happy with that, I would rather have a few people who comment that I can share with then a ton of superficial "relationships".

Sometimes I look back at my blog and its a great journal or record of my crafting.  I rarely share personal stuff on my blog, its all about the knitting, spinning, crafting and of course ... some kitties.

So my last question is, why do you blog?

Sophie's Universe CAL Clue 3


I completed Clue 3 today.  Technically I completed it the other day, but 1) I learned that when the instructions say, if using the same color, chain 1 and sc in the same stitch does not mean in the same stitch you just made a stitch in, it means in the same stitch you just made ... there is a difference, LOL! 2) I had originally not done the optional crab stitch round and moved on to clue 4 because it said that this made the piece wonky, but blocking would fix that ... well this is 100% acrylic yarn, blocking is not going to fix that.  Then as I was perusing other projects on Ravelry someone else had made one in this very yarn and had done the optional round ... so when I went to fix #1, I did the optional round on the redo (and its not actually that wonky)

At this rate I am completing a clue a month and the rounds get bigger and bigger so I am not sure how long this is going to go.  I also am doing a clue a month because I tend to hurt my wrist crocheting and have to take frequent breaks.  

I am amazed at how much I have learned, at this point I can count stitches, see when something went wrong or something was skipped and I'm actually remembering the different stitches now!

So far in this piece have done:
Single Crochet
Half Double Crochet
Double Crochet
Treble Crochet
Double Treble Crochet
Popcorn Stitch 
Cluster Stitches
Front Post stitches
Crab Stitch

Next clue is back post stitches!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Traveling Monsters Vol. 1

I said farewell to Irvina last week and off she went to her first stop on her tour of traveling ...


Pumpernickel arrived shortly before she left, so I have someone to keep me company while I distressed over her initial departure :o)


He's a cheesehead from Wisconsin, so he had no trouble adapting to the snowy conditions on his arrival.


It is warming up a bit here, but we still have snow around and its been rainy and windy, so we haven't gone to see any sights, he's been hanging around and helping me in the craft room.