Happy Birthday Brodie!

Hard to believe that this cute little furball...

...Is now this handsome little man only 1 year later!


Yesterday was Baby Brodie's first birthday! And to herald his birthday, Mother Nature let loose one last hooray (hopefully) in a white out blizzard after lulling us all into thinking spring was here. I think we ended up with something like 6 inches of snow, which is nearly gone today. Brodie was in doggie heaven playing in the white stuff. He sure has a fondness for it. We celebrated his birthday with some stinky canned dog food and hours and hours of Frisbee fun. Truthfully, the boy never stops with that damn Frisbee.

I finally got around to weaving the ends today and taking a picture of the one and only placemat that I finished last week. Not blocked yet but I think it turned out ok. Another item to be packed away for the new place (if I ever find one).

Here is the specs:

Pattern- well, that was made up on the fly. Cast on 87 stitches, stockinette stitch, with a seed stitch border. 16x11 inches

Yarn : Knit Picks CotLin in Swan 1.5 skeins

Needles size 4

The size 4's made and nice tight fabric, but seemed forever on the needles.

Another only project here...that seems to be the theme this year.  Just a plain ribbed sock in Bamboo from SWTC. I love the bamboo for summer, and I love the mindless knitting, makes for a great sneak to work project. Now that things have settled down a bit at work, I have a little more time on  my hands and have been able to knit a wee bit on the low down. 

I guess technically it is not a true only- I did cast on number 2 today, but then again, I have had that second Tidal Wave on the needles for a long time and it is still not done. I did work on that today while I listened to yet another Jo Goodman tale, "Beyond a Wicked Kiss". It is a good sexy historical tale with quite a bit of intrigue.  It did get a little distracting a few times and I had to rip back a row a couple of times when I lost count. But I managed to make some headway.

Taking a break from all that knitting, I decided that I needed to make use of my table before I give it to the kids. I set up my swift and started winding balls. I had just gotten to the fifth hank of yarn when horrors of horrors...
A little itty bitty piece of wood came off my swift. Who woulda guessed that tiny piece of wood could bring my productivity to a stand still! Can you see it in the picture??? It is so freakin small it is barely there! And yet, it apparently played a major roll in holding the bolt in place when you adjust it. I kept trying to make the yarn taut, but the bolt just wouldn't stay. Luckily my Mr. Fix It friend came over and fixed it for me, maybe, I haven't actually tried it yet but the little wooden piece is back where it belongs. 

I did get some hopeful, sorta, news about my cousin. He is not taking the doctors diagnosis lying down. He got a call from some treatment place in Atlanta, and went for some holistic cleansing. He is planning on getting healthy no matter what it takes. My belief is that the will to live has to be strong before there can be any hope. He seems to have that in spades, so I will support him in any treatment he wants to try. 

The work monster has released it's grip

Finally! The Evil Work Monster has loosened it's hold. Since I am not yet independently wealthy, I still have to do that working thing, but at least it is not 80 hours a week anymore. 

Jeanne's schedule, Get up-go to work-stay there til you drop-drive home on auto pilot-walk the dog on auto pilot-fall into a dead sleep-repeat often.

Notice anything missing? No knitting happening...what kind of a schedule is that!

First day off in 14 I took a little road trip with Brodie. He is not real big on riding in my truck, like he is terrified of it or something. I bought him a harness because he thinks needs to be in my lap for the ride. My fault entirely, I am a complete sucker for the puppy browns. He is awful in the truck. He  is fine if he is in my lap- looks out the window and watches traffic but put him on the passenger side and Oh no! he shakes, turns himself backwards in the seat, or lays down, looks at me with pathetic eyes and then he usually pukes. WTF! I think it is all a ploy. He just wants to be in my lap!

See the pathetic stare? I tell you- all a ploy!  I am going to take him for rides to the park in my friends car to see if maybe it will make a difference in his comfort level. He does seem terrified by the truck, silly since he came home in it. 
On a sad note, tragedy strikes again in my family. My beloved cousin Robbie, Grandson to Everett who just passed away and Nephew to Elizabeth who also just passed away, was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. It must be in that Tennessee water, or those moronic doctors they see down there. I am crushed by the news, Robbie is only just turned 35. It is not fair for someone who is just a baby and barely lived to have to be told -"enjoy the time you have left"

Somehow I will have to make some time for a trip down there, just to hold him once more.

How many times can you hit undo before it is cheating?

I hate Spider! Solitaire that is, well real spiders too but I refer to that blasted game that Bill Gates implanted on all PC's across the free world! A subtle form of mind control, indeed. 

I have this theory that all Spider games can be won! So, I have made it my personal quest to prove my theory correct. So I play game after bloody game of Spider (damned addictive game) to see if I am right. So far, I have yet to be able to prove this theory. I continue to undo, retry and restart to see if I can beat the computer. Ok, and it's not like I am playing a real difficult level here...just two suits. One must be able to beat the computer-right? Because if we can't then why would we play! Why do I still play? Because I can lose this game in 144 feakin moves! 

Thank god there is no Spider on a Mac! 

Rant over, Pretty Brodie picture up! Last week ( I think it was last week but I can't really be too sure) I took Brodie to the doggie beauty shop for his first do! He looks so sleek and purty now. Not to mention he smells better too...LOL.  He is not so fond of my truck as I am and I had to buy him a little doggie car harness to keep him out of my lap. Generally I take care of his grooming needs myself but he is also not so fond of the brush and barks at the hair dryer. I figured this would be a good experience for him and he could see that other doggies get the same treatment. Plus the groomer always seems to get the white fur way whiter than I can.

The groomer said he did very well but didn't care so much for the brush near his butt. Kinda my fault, he had something unmentionable stuck there and I tried to remove it but accidentally pulled his hair...Whoops...sorry! Didn't mean to do that. He has been a little skittish over that part of his anatomy since. I suppose he will get over that sooner or later.

We have been working on Sit Pretty lately, of course he is more interested in the treat in my hand than the actual trick.

Now that I have my Trio instructions again, I have made some headway. I have a bizillion stitches on holders and ready to start the second sleeve. The trick here will be to make it match. Once I started following the instructions without trying to understand them I went along swimmingly. 

Happy Valentines to my self! I indulged myself at Knit Picks again. I just received my package today in the mail (poor Mr. Mailman had to be greeted at the door by Ms Every Hair Standing on End). I was a wee bit surprised when I opened the package, I remembered ordering the Harmony's Interchangeables, and the 7 balls of cotton yarn, but I did not remember that I had ordered 5 different sizes of Harmony double points. I must have been thinking to replace the Brodie enhanced needles I had in my case. I love surprises...even if I ordered them myself!

The yarn I have ear marked for new dish towels and cloths, or maybe placemats to be put away for when I buy my new house. I did go out and look at houses last week but as of yet, I have not found the one.

Not to be left out, Mr. UPS Man brought me some goodies too! I got Wii and Wii Fit from him, and some very fine hair care products ;) but since I spent the last three days in bed (yuky feverish flu type symptoms) I haven't even hooked it up yet... Maybe tomorrow. 

Eastern Union Telegram?

"The Pony Express has no mail."

or

"Charlotte's Web has a hole in it"

or

"The eagle has flown the nest"

or

"The chicken did not cross the road"

or

"The fox is in the hen house"

or

"Pandora's box is open"

or 

"Danger Will Robinson"

0r 

" Dragonheart fears the sword"

or....

What the heck does all that mean you ask? Well sorry....I can't tell you ...it is all top secret code phases. And if I tell you, then I have to kill you...hehehe (evil laugh)

Ok Seriously, Eastern Union Telegram? is code for.... (you're not going to believe this) Did the Chief leave yet. Of course the officer that asks this way never can say "did the Chief leave yet?" in which case I would either type back yea or nay. Oh no! We have to go through this ridiculous dialog every time she works, because for some reason, she thinks it needs to be a secret question. 

Sometimes - I get a little carried away (no way!) and I type back a ridiculous response. I know...it is just beyond belief that I would play a silly game like that you're thinking, but yes, I do... sometimes I even fire back several different responses.  I guess that comes from working with people sillier that I am. Yah, Yah...that's it! I couldn't have got this way by myself!!

Ans seriously...that New Girl...she is always laughing at me! What Up!

And speaking of silly....OMG...Did you know that there are TONS of silly shiat on Facebook?? I can keep myself entertained for hours!  Oh yah...it is quiet pathetic!

I finally finished up the last of my BBB Lesson 1 swatches the other day. The last one (with the lace pattern) I ripped out about a dozen times before I was satisfied. Now they are washed and blocking as we speak, and I just have to type out my lesson questions and mail them off. I am getting alot out of this course so far and can't wait for lesson 2!!

Blocking...Hmmm... not my favorite chore. I decided to wait til I was finished with all five before I blocked them and I darn near ran out of pins. I think I kinda suck at blocking, which is probably why I probably avoid it like the plague. I'd better get over that if I am going to finish this course.

Here is the progress I made (or didn't, depending on you're own particular glass) on my Hollyberry Jacket. Not so very far, See all those needle tips? Can you see why I was so confusered?? Well I think I am doing it right, so we shall see what comes off the needles.

I think some simple -brainless-knitting is in order for today.

Commuting fun

Saturday was a fun filled day of keeping up with a 9 year old. First we road the train into the city. I tried to annoyed Raine as much as possible by taking her picture every time she turned around. I let her take a few of her own too.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry for her birthday and Raine got her first look at the U-505 Submarine. Unfortuantely the tickets to go inside were sold out and she did not get to see what it was really like inside. But there was plenty of gadgets for her to mess with.

She got to play on an old time trolley car.

And a Gianormous John Deere Tractor.

And play with trains. Of course after the over priced taxi ride back to the train station, waiting an hour for the train home, we were both bushed! Raine snoozed on the train ride home and I nearly snoozed. After eating dinner and dropping her off at home, I crashed and burned myself. 

I added this picture of Brodie just because he has been blog neglected, and just because he is so darn cute! And actually.. I'd say the blog itself has been neglected. 

I worked on my BBB course and have started swatch #4. I plan to do all my end weaving and blocking when I have finished the last swatch for this lesson. 

I have no clue how many lessons there are in this course since Adrena sends them to you one at a time with your swatch evaluations, but so far I would say it is worth the cost of the course. I can't wait til I can move onto the next level.

My Holly Berry cardi had to take a back seat since I was, A) too stupid and B) somehow managed to loose the only copy of the instructions. Ann at PW is great! I shot her an email telling her what an IDOT I was and she promptly sent me a new copy of the instructions at no charge.

Swatching has been about all I could handle right now anyway.  I am back on noons for the next couple weeks so I should be in a knit/blog routine again for a little while.

Pedi Break

Last week I took a much needed pedicure break! Even tho my appointment was really too early in the day for me, it was heaven! Heated massage chair, warm bubbly water, pampered feet and good friends sure made up for the lack of sleep I got.

I did manage to bring my head out of the fog long enough to get in another pattern set on my Tidal Wave socks without any mis-haps. (Not that you can see the waves in this picture, but it is finally turning out right)

A year ago (almost to the day) I decided to order the Basics knitting course from TKGA. My intention is to work my way up through the Masters course. Right after I got the course in the mail, I took that nasty fall in the driveway and was incapacitated for a while. Just long enough to lose my steam over the course. Good thing there is no time limit!

I had a couple of nights without my trainee this week so I dug out my course and finally started. I figured the lessons would be simple enough in this phase that my half brain could comprehend them.

Swatches...I can handle swatches this week.

Other than that, well... Internet house shopping and stupid Vampire Wars on Facebook is the only other thing I have had the energy to do.

Next week I switch back to days for 3 days for a class I am going to attend, then afternoons for two weeks to finish up training New Girl, then- just maybe I can settle into and comfortable routine on mids.

Can I Say Dirtbag Over The Air??

The Word of the Day is Dirtbag!

Wikipedia's definition of a dirtbag:


"Dirtbag is a general term for an uncouth person who lacks class. A dirtbag is one who continually disregards others and humanity in general."




I know it is not the "PC " way of things, but let us call a spade a spade shall we?




My day started out with opening my door to my apartment to take Brodie out and there is a white something all over the door mat. Of course having worked a 12 the night before my eyes are more than bleary and my dog is sniffing frantically at what ever it is on my door mat. I bend over to take a closer look....CRUMBS....VERY LARGE BREAD CRUMBS were on the mat and in the bushes next to my door. G#$*D&$# MF-ING DIRTBAG!!! Those were the nice words.


So I go around to the front of my apartment and there must have been an entire loaf of bread in the front yard...all leading up to my front door. Like MF-ing Hansel and Gretel lead a mf-ing trail to my front door this morning!





My landlady got a stinging message left on her voice mail. Not that she will do anything about it or even call me back- she has no spine and is all lip service ( I hate lip service).




Then I come to work expecting a nice "q" day...it is Sunday after all. The new kid seems to feel the need to pull over a car full of...yup you guessed it...more Dirtbags driving a car with windows he can't see into. He says "27-29 by file" I say "10-4" and I run his history-then I say
"Code 7 on your 27"

This is where I get to tell him in police speak that the guy behind the wheel is a dirtbag...but what I really want to say is "your driver is a FREAKIN' DIRTBAG!" I wonder if the FCC would be upset if I did that. I would probably end up with a bad girl letter in my file from the Chief.



Ok -I know I shouldn't bitch, and yes I know I work for 'dirtbags are us' and they are my job security - but Geez Louise...it is Sunday for Pete's Sake! Can't they stay in their own towns today??? What's wrong with a nice dog at large call? Obviously I forgot to raise the shields when I came into work.







The new kid shamed me into polishing my boots today. He was sitting in the back putting a nice shine on his and I look down and realized that if my Drill Sergeant had seen these boots he would have made me drop for a 100!

Now after a little sit down with them - they are not shiny enough to see what color underwear I have on but they are passable.



This is what a Sunday is supposed to be like... spit shinin' your boots while watching the Bears game and follow that up with a little KIW ( knit- at- work).





Oh and Dawn... I did remember to take a picture of Brodie's new baby. Walgreen's Sista.





Now that I have all that off my chest I can get back to the important things - like ermm Knitting!

It's ALIVE !

Ok, now I've been gone so long Dawn asks if I'm ok....LOL I knew that was coming. I actually don't think I have knit one solitary stitch in the last week. I have been busy at work, but that is usual. The reason here is because I have gotten lost in the Ancient Quest of Saqqarah. I am totally addicted to this game. 

The other night I was up until 5 am playing ...stupid I know, because I had work the next day and I was dragging a$$! 

There are over 500 puzzles, so it is not like I am getting close to the finish or anything, but I can't seem to turn it off.

I did was and block all of my scarves this week and did hold my knitting while I watched the Bridge to Terabithia... but that was the extent of any fiber related activities.

I checked out Match.com which I find to be very creepy when strange guys start winking at you. 

Went to the library and got my weeks worth of books that did not last the week.

Oh - and I replaced the 4 panels on my vertical blinds where Brodie made "memories" for me.

So see? Nothing to show for my week plus of absence. Shame on me, I think the is the least productive I have ever been. And I'm pretty sure my butt got bigger this week too!

I would have worked on my sweater but Brodie made some memories for me there too. One by one the little darling started snagging each needle out and chewed them without me even realizing it, sitting right by my feet I might add. 

Cost of replacement? $22.95, because Hobby Lobby was the only place I could get wooden dpn's and they just happened to be rosewood...oh darn. 

He is so good most of the time that I forget he is still a p-u-p-p-y. 

I wasn't liking the color scheme any way-do over! I decided to try to dissect the photo of the sweater and see if I can follow the order of the colors they used. 

I am not going to play that game tonite when I get home from work... (I am going to keep telling myself that all night!).  I hate wasting my day hours sleeping!!

Down to 4

Ok- so it is actually 5 WIP's but one of them doesn't count.
I have been trying to discipline myself into finishing some of my WIP's before the year is over. I think I did a darn good job depleting my stash, so now I want these WIP's done before they become UFO's...not that there is much difference. My biggest excuse so far is "I can't keep track my place on the chart" Sounds good right? So I bought that cool magnetic board for charts from Knit Picks so that I don't have to worry about the stickum getting unsticky on my sticky note and knitting the wrong row.

I am ever- so- close to being finished with the Alien scarf. Too bad I did not have it for yesterdays Hot Dog Roast at the PD! Not that I needed a scarf yesterday, it was a gerogeous day out. Perfect for all the adorable little fairies and witches and ghouls. This year we could actually see their costumes since no one needed a coat.

Sometimes I have the greatest job in the world!!! I get to save lives sometimes, and sometimes I get paid to take pictures and play with children and socialize... Doesn't get any better than that! I even got to spend some time with my family even though I was on the clock. How many of you have jobs like that?? The only real bummer was that Brodie could not be there :(
That and the fact there were about a thousand unruly teens on the street intent on creating mayhem and damage.

The kids with their kids

Raine as a witch (again)...I couldn't seem to catch Ethan without his mask.


My co-worker with his little guy Jackson, along with almost all of the PD staff and their families participated at our Hot Dog Roast.

Prior to all that mayhem- I did manage to start my Special Olympic Scarf Project... (Rav Link) I got a whole two rows done...woo-wee. This one will be crocheted (obviously) in a wavey pattern. I will probably have enough for a couple more scarves so I will have to figure out another pattern. I noticed that many Ravelers are doing multiple scarves, probably for the mere fact that there is so much yarn in these skeins. There are some pretty cool looking scarves on the Rav link.

I had one and half balls of this chunky stuff from a hat that I made for Mark (one he never wore of course). Since there was only about 75 yards left there really wasn't much I could make from it. I modified the Fidget to make the yardage work out. I'll probably make another one of these since it was such a quick and easy project. It is done in a twisted moss stitch which was mindless and interesting at the same time.

Yarn: Valley Yarns Shelburne Chunky weight
Size 10 needles
Time took? completed in just over a day. Quick and sleezy ;)

I also made a big mess of my office this week trying to re-arrange it. I broke my tall book shelf and had to have a repair job done on it (thank goodness for male friends with tools). I been doing the whole fall clean up thing in there. The Throw-out- stuff -that -I- have- been- hanging- onto- for- years- and- not- using kinda of thing. I think I am making some head way, and at least I can see my desk and the floor again! Now to start attacking all those bins I have in the closet!!

My new Green Hat!

Ya'll know I am a Doctor Who fan, so the fact that I have been looking for a pattern of a hat I saw on one of the episodes should not be too much of a surprise. Freeya Agyeman wore in the Human Nature episode, not much out there in the way of patterns anymore thanks to BBC yanking them due to some supposed copy write infringements. One of the Who-ites from Ravelry found this one for me. It is not the same as the tam Freeya wore but close enough to satisfy me.

Now you're thinking... "she must be color blind, that hat is red!" True enough, it the color is red, but the yarn is green.
I was at Wal-Mart (which fairly sucks) yesterday to pick up some odds and ends plus some yarn I needed for the Special Olympic Scarf Project, when I decided to grab some Caron for this hat. This happens to be a Caron Soft Eco which is made from 100% recycled post consumer plastic bottles! I did not even know they made a green yarn... very exciting to me!

Now for the sucky part...Apparently Wal-Mart is discontinuing their yarn. Almost all of the yarn was discounted in shopping carts and what little was left on the shelf was all marked down to 2 dollars. Good for my pocket book but not so good for my crafting urges. They barely have any material left either.

Here is the specs on the hat:
Yarn-Caron Soft Eco - Wine country
Sizes J and H hooks
Pattern -Human Nature Tam by Melissa Hart

This pattern was easy enough to finish in one day. I found it had an interesting way of decreasing. Instead of skipping a stitch, she as a crochet 2 together, like a knit decrease. Obviously written by a knitter...LOL



I also finished my Tilted Blocks scarf Saturday night while I hung out with Kelpy. I suppose I will have to find another take-a-long project.


See here.. I told you Brodie this this is his blankie. He has begun sitting in my little antique rocker when I leave the house. I have caught him sitting here on a few occasions when I came back in. I think he is going to be said when this one goes out the door.


So what else did I do this weekend? Well Brodie had a bath on Saturday which highly entertaining for me.
I tried to upload the video of him drying himself off but I couldn't get it in the right spot.

Sunday I tore my new contact so it was back to glasses till I can go to the eye doc again today (bummers).
We also went to the old house so Brodie could run around off leash. The two house's sit on 4 acres so it is lots of doggie yard to play in.
I had to buy him another frisbee yesterday because his other one is lost. At first he did not want to touch the new one but I managed to coax him into it. I can't imagine where is old one is. It is his favorite toy, and I searched under every piece of furniture for it.


Here he is lightening fast running away from me with the Frisbee.

Both of us got a work out yesterday, especially after I let him off leash at home last night and I had to chase him a full block after he snagged a piece of unknown type meat the ignorant S.O.B. upstairs threw out on the lawn. Little man was sent to his room after that one!

Now off to the eye doc so I can loose the spectacles again.