Monday, April 30, 2007

Catch-Up & the Curve of Pursuit

I have put the shawl aside for a few days. It is a good thing to do when in the middle of a project that requires a ot of concentration, not to mention eye strain.

I took a little rest to make a lovely circular cloth from a free pattern on the web. Instructions are nice a clear, although I prefer working from a chart. However, each row is pretty short, so I rarely got lost in the middle of things.

I bought Mason-Dixon Knitting when it first came out, and every time I opened the book, I went straight to the picture of the ultimate log cabin afghan -- you know the one I mean. The blue one. The wierd, curvy one. The one lacking a pattern. The one from Woolly Thoughts. I was obsessed with it. It haunted my dreams. I had to knit that afghan.

This weekend I (finally) found the on-line order form. The pattern comes in two versions -- the afghan and a cushion size. There was a notation that the cushion pattern was the basis for the afghan, and that the cushion pattern could be used and expanded for that purpose. This would not have made much difference except for 2 things:

1. Pattern and designers are in the UK, and the afghan pattern has to be mailed from there (It is a booklet). Not terribly expensive, GBP 4 + postage. However, postage from the UK is a mysterious item, and the exchange rate isn't all that wonderful, either. And you have to wait for it to arrive.

2. You can order the same from Amazon.com, but the price is higher, and unless you are ordering a bunch of stuff and get free shipping, postage and handling are almost as much as the item itself. And you have to wait for it to arrive.

HOWEVER, the cushion pattern can be received as a pdf document by email, costs GBP 2, no postage, no wait. It arrives in a very timely fashion in your email, along with a very nice note from Pat Ashford, one of the designers. And I really don't think that expanding a cushion-size pattern to afghan-size is going to be all that difficult, even for a mathematics-challenged person like me.

Friday, April 20, 2007

April Showers

I am not much of a gardener. I have a live and let live outlook on yard work. I have been told that I have a "black thumb." I can kill anything. Some things grow in spite of my efforts; lots of things don't. And the area where we live is renowned for its blue clay soil (slippery when wet, cement when dry), voracious snails and slugs, droughts, very hot summers, and general cussedness, garden-wise.

This having been said, I present my 2007 flower garden.






Not too impressed? Don't like my designer planters (is that a laundry detergent bucket)? Well, check out these cala lilies and marigolds









Begonias







Pansies





Heliotrope and dianthus






My favorites are the calas. I have them in flame

Rose

And white





Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Still Kntting Away

On that shawl, that is. I am on row 76 of the second repeat.

I would post a picture, but, really, it looks just like the last photo, only longer.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Something You Can't Fix

Yesterday my youngest son decided to wash the travel trailer. Naturally cleaning an object of this size requires using the garden hose. The Gang of Three was with him.

Micky quickly got out of the way (one smart dog!)




Franklin watched from a distance (another smart dog!):





Brando (sigh) loudly and viciously attacked the hose, water, mud, scrub brush, over and over and over again :





As Ron White says, you just can't fix stupid.


The lights are on, but there is nobody home.

How Abnormal Am I?

Yes, silly, I know.

You Are 44% Abnormal

You are at low risk for being a psychopath. It is unlikely that you have no soul.

You are at medium risk for having a borderline personality. It is somewhat likely that you are a chaotic mess.

You are at low risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is unlikely that you are in love with your own reflection.

You are at high risk for having a social phobia. It is very likely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement.

You are at medium risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is somewhat likely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

Monday, April 02, 2007

What Rhymes With...

My DH has very little patience with these uppity 'Modern Women'. Part of this is his age -- he is from a completely different generation. Part of this is from his upbringing -- his mother was the Perfect German Wife (or so everyone thought) of a Perfect German Husband. The poor man (my DH, that is) has two extremely modern daughters and a wife who decided, when she turned 50, that there is no reason that she/they have to take any shit from anyone. Several years ago he started referring to elder DD as Bitch #1 and to younger daughter as Bitch #2. In all fairness, the titles were/are merited. In recent months they have been demoted to Bitches # 2 & #3. Who is now Bitch #1?

MOI!

And I am proud to say that I have earned it!