Saturday, December 15, 2007

Well, It's been far too long since I've posted. I've been being boring again. I'm procrastinating on learning Dreamweaver, so I've been knitting like it's an addiction. Even worse, I've found enablers at a wonderful community called Ravelry. It's for any fiber hobby-ist, but it's still in beta, so you have to request an invite.

It's been so nice to just sit and knit and read. But, I feel like I should contribute by actually taking pictures of what I've done. Only, it's been too cold to be outside unless I'm moving wood, or just not sunny enough to take good pictures. I really don't want to be playing with light boxes, so it's all just on the "to do" list.

A minor bit of unboring - the lawsuit for the toxic waste site is finally into the deposition stage. MIL is all worried that they might order us to release our movie footage and research, but I really don't think that they can. The only parts of it that are released to the public are all on the website, so I don't think that they can ask for everything.

So, back to ignoring Christmas and cleaning all the UFO (unfinished objects) out of my closet. If I really want to propagandize - I'm really doing a deep clean on the big closet, right? Yay, me!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The second collection were things that were being blocked and finished in a big rush for the fair. I got distracted when sweet hubby accidentally *FELTED* a lace shawl, but I can't kill him - it won first place.

Picture one and two - same blanket - lace made of baby yarn. I really should spring for the good stuff, but the new mommy was just thrilled that it was washable. Third and fourth are a white yarn with pink and blue speckles. Five and Six are of one of my favorite sweaters. It's a poncho with arm shaping and turned out pretty well. I do get nice comments on it when Niki or I wear it. I'd like to do that again, but when I went to look for *SUBTLE* colors, I got distracted by pretty clearance yarn. I'll blog about clearance yarn later.

7 and * are a really nice blanket. I wish I'd put more work and thought into it, but blindly following an interesting pattern with cheap yarn got me an almost indestructible blanket. The cat has clawed it and slept on it. It's been tossed behind the couch and come up with no snags. I've worn it as a shawl around the house and it's almost too long for that, but perfect for a lap robe.

The last is the long storied map blanket. Yet AGAIN, it didn't make the fair because I can't find what safe hole I stuck the cursed beads in! Someplace perfectly safe and so secure that I can't find them again. Ah well, they are still lovely and kicking around someplace.. At least it's finally sewn, washed, blocked and has the tassels complete.
Ug, now I remember why it was so hard to keep a knitting blog. I really jump around too much to just keep one going. Firstly, I have a collection of projects at Wierd Kids http://www.wierdkids.com/gs/knitting.htm

The first is the Viking Turid sweater. It's a GREAT pattern, and I can't find it. Going thru the closet of UFO land, I've found several things that I put aside. And, most of them are things that I really do want to finish. Bottom left of the third picture are 2 peach Elizabeth Zimmerman Dickies. They are really comfy, but are from "antique" yarn so they don't really match anything that I wear. Then, a dark grey one that has been used, and a rainbow one for "What was I thinking". But it does look "cool". (picture 4 is closer)

Then, the socks - picture 5 is closer. Grey tweed and purple is a pair, Red and white, black and rainbow (very comfy), the white top and peach/purple is a mistake that I can't find (maybe the heel is just too short or the plastic managed to shrink?), and the first of the striped socks. The long brown sock is my absolute favorite. It's plastic, but it's a very soft one that was given to me without a label. It's PERFECT for cuddling with a book, especially if you don't want to walk anywhere. (Ok, it falls down like a brick). But, it's SOOO comfy... The two green hats were a strange plastic, but thin so they could be beaded, and they both were sold. The yellow and green fit with one of William's coats, so it's stayed here. Down the left side of the circle are various swirly hats. It's the simplest pattern of increase until the colors line up, knit and watch gauge, then find someone to fit the hat. The pink and light blue in the middle are Lopi. The grey with red intarsia is Lopi and plastic, but match one of my coats. The red and pink was made for Niki, and the pink and purple was a checkerboard experiment. It went tight, so it's one for Vanessa. Picture 6 is more hat detail; picture 7 is a closeup of Vanessa's hat. Picture 8 is my hat. 9 is Will's (he wanted to put it on consignment, but then pulled it out of the bag.)

Pictures 9-13 are my first cable. Silly me worked the pattern in the round and totally messed up the shoulder shaping. I'm proud to say that I only made one mistake and it's right in the center of picture 13. I left it because it reminds me to pay attention when I cable.

Pictures 14-16 are Niki's Salish style cardigan. It's from a Priscilla Roberts-Gibson book that I found in the library, and I've probably borrowed it four times now. 17 and 18 are an attempt to do a swirly sweater. I haven't take pictures of it finished, but I've worn it several times and so has Niki. The varigated is a suede feeling, and the body style is a long tunic. The last few are some of the hats and wristlets that were sold. It's Nature Spun wool and the patterns are Salish again.

Friday, October 19, 2007


When Ickle holds still, she is one strangle looking cat. This is after a cuddle with the electric blanket and a good belly rub. She can sleep and purr with her mouth open, and we can do anything we want with her. I'm thinking that she's going to be a frequent flyer on "Stuff on my Cat" and the LOLcats at "I can has cheezburger."

This is the Ickle. She was treed by the dog last week as a bag of bones with bad fur. I brought the dog in the house, got Niki into the house, and William went out and pulled her of the tree. She is DEFINITELY the most playful cat that we've ever had! On the second night, she'd been well fed and well rested, so wanted to play the game where the human wiggles under the blanket and kitty pounces. This little thing dove under the covers for my hand, and punched me in my NOSE!

All of the pictures of her are blurry because she barely sits still.

I like this picture because you can see her markings. She has one white eyebrow, mustache, beard and the crooked blaze down her nose. You'll see in the next pictures that her feet are spotty and even her tan colors just don't look quite "right". So, "Icky Little Kitty" has become Ickle and looks like she's here to stay. Mildred is NOT amused.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Well, I'm still running like crazy - but I did manage to move the wierdkids site onto a new program. The main pages are in Dreamweaver, but I still have to clean up the coding and make sure that all the pages work.

I'm thinking of adding more new stuff, and letting the kids make their own stuff. William has some pictures about the project he is working on - making a Halo helmet. Niki has quite a bit of art and concept stuff that she could put together. They've been working hard at avoiding anything that looks too much like schoolwork - So, they're making lots of progress without workbooks. Isn't homeschooling great?

In my news, I've a good mention in Mary Griffith's new book "Viral Learning: Reflections on the Homeschooling Life". I'm very proud that I could contribute something real, but I'm still bumming that I haven't yet reached out with something that's just mine.

If you haven't yet seen it, William's old project is on YouTube, and WK. Even better, Will and his Dad evisterated the XBox 360 and fixed the stupid thing. I can't even say how disgusted I am with Microsoft. It took hours on the phone for Microsoft to admit that we owned and registered the stupid thing. Then, we shipped it in for the fix. Only, they sent it back!! William had painted the CD door gold - and according to Microsoft, that was a "mod" (modification) that they wouldn't cover. It was PAINT! Paint that could just about have been wiped off. So, after all the time that we spend training people to use computers better, and all the money that we've spent and spend monthly (360 live) - we're not valued enough to fix a known design flaw. So much for being first in the running of the geeks... I'm not willing to buy Halo 3, and I'm set against Uncle Billy. The thing is that it's William's passion. He's in the beta, he's designed a helmet and is working on ideas for web pages - plus, it's his money. So, he'll be in the running of the geeks.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Yay, it worked!! This is Will all dressed for paintball. Doesn't he look all grown up??
Oh cool! I guess you do have to check these things constantly!! I found a great new site for having an RSS feed for my list of stuff to get to (don't worry if this doesn't make sense) - but blogger changed too. So, I had to do some jumping to get thru the hoops to get them to work together.

Now, my gmail works with blogger, chatspeak, and 30 boxes - Whoo Hooo!!! Now, if I just had a better mobile, then life would be good. Oh, and have everything able to update my main domain, and be able to download everything that I need to know about dreamweaver in one big chunk.

Ok, there's some new pictures of William on flicker, we've been doing the park days at Lake George and that picture heads off www.bemidjihs.com - the BAHA website. (Oh, and I need someone who would like the homeschool t-shirts that say BAHA, I think 4 more and the printing is free) Um, the camping trip starts this weekend, and we may have someone organizing a Nisswa water park trip on Aug 15th.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

I've been getting behind in my notes to myself (and anyone who cares to listen). I'm working - which is a drama that I won't flap about. I suppose the big news is that a new format is coming. One that is easier to change around and organize into something that looks like rational thought rather than someone's attic. Another is that I'm signed up for a blogger update, I just have to sit and figure it all up.

The cat is being passive agressive with her tail from the top of the monitor. I play a video game and the tail is over a corner. I surf and the tail is over the X. I'd get angry about it, but she is smirking at the same time. She loses the smirk when I poke her in the butt to move the tail - but they both wander back into place as she shifts around, dusting the top of the monitor with her belly flab. Yes, Mildred, I'm discussing feline flab on my blog. Nyah Nyah. If you've noticed, she is the star of the Menu site's anti-spam filter. So, now you know that the loop of fur that droops down the monitor is the reason that she stars on a page about eating well.