Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Clean Teeth

Time for my 6-month dental cleaning today. It went as I expected. I got lots of size 10 one-ring tatted flowers done. I can do those without looking so they make a great distraction for me in the chair. I count my knots or picots instead of thinking about what's happening in my mouth.

I've been on Google Plus pretty much since it started. I've made some good friends, some good connections there. And now it's being shut down. It makes me sad.

They're talking about maybe wintry weather tonight. We have rain followed by below freezing temperatures. If they overlap...well, that could be freezing rain, sleet, or snow. We did have pretty warm (for January) weather yesterday, so whatever hits probably won't stick.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Projects done

I finished Mom's shrug on Saturday. I was going to go see Mom, but Aunt Flo visited with a vengeance. Out of three 109 yard skeins, I have 4 yards and 6 inches of yarn left. I have not idea what I'll do with those 4 yards. I do have the book about small knitted animals; I'll see if that's enough for a project.
I was on a roll, so I finally attached the icord tail to the loom knit kitty and embroidered a face on it. Not a great embroidery job, but it's done.
I finished watching the 4th season of Leverage and started the 5th (and final) season.

I was going to visit Mom on Saturday, but Aunt Flo kicked me in the uterus. Hard. So I went on Sunday. We just went to lunch, grocery shopping, and I printed out some new pictures for her. I hooked up her new ringer again and wow, it's loud. But that's effective.I also left a small photo of how her phone should look all hooked up.

Oh, have you  heard of Boil the Frog? It's like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, sort of. It's a music playlist from one musician/band to another. It's not a complete list of musicians; no Kay Kyser and the Les Brown I found was the wrong Les Brown (motivational speaker, not the one with the Band of Renown. And no filk artists.

And my partner realized that our Blue Rose group is Mystery Inc (Scooby Doo). There's a 'talking dog' and friend who are both food obsessed, aka Rhy wolf and healer. There's someone who's the knowledge person, aka my diplomat. There's our strong person who handles transport; the horsewoman; and finally our 'finds the traps, by accident'; even though the traps are more social than physical, aka our soldier with 'the big, open heart, matched by his big, open mouth.'

I got some of mom's yarn while I was visiting. She doesn't crochet as much, and she wants to give me stuff, so I take some of her yarn. Right now, I'm doing a quick knit and purl scarf. It's a bulky yarn so it's nice and soft and squishy and warm. Picture later.

On the way home, I got to see the full moon on Sunday night. It was gorgeous, with moon dogs. But I was driving, so no pictures.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Much Improved

I have the occasional cough and that's it. I am so much better now.

I volunteered at a blood drive last week, but due to my lingering cold symptoms I didn't donate. I have now made an appointment to donate platelets next week. Wish me luck.

I had a dental appointment next week, but then remembered a meeting that same morning so I cancelled it. I need to reschedule.

The big news at work is the removal of the Silent Sam, aka Confederate monument, pedestal and the BoG firing the chancellor. Frankly, not even letting her finish the semester makes them look petty.

The Federal Government is still shut down. #45 is throwing a temper tantrum and Mitch McConnell is aiding and abetting his tantrum.

I made it to the Tri-Tatters meeting on Saturday. The library rooms weren't available this month, so we met at a Starbucks. They only let rooms for 2 hours, so we had a short meeting. I got there late because I just felt meh. The cold rain didn't help. I handed out some of the size 10 Alisa got from her friend. One ball went to a new tatter and the other 6 to the woman who was leaving as I arrived and let me have her seat.

Someone brought in a couple of extra vintage tatting books. No one else got this one, so I did.



The only tatting I've been doing is small projects to use up some vintage thread. The thread was wrapping around a ball of paper, and it's not continuous. It's been a little frustrating. I went ahead and loaded two shuttles and I've gradually been tatting them down.

I'm still working on Mom's shrug. I finished the shoulders and the 2nd skein about the same time. Now I'm on the 2nd sleeve and the 3rd skein. I'm also working on A n' S's washcloths. I have 3 of them done (and given them 2) but the last one is being very slow. It's a moss stitch and should do quite well.

I did have a close call. I was moving the shrug around (as I hunting up where I'd put the 3rd skein) and some of the stitches popped off the pegs. And some of the purl stitches came out. I managed to get the stitches on the edge back onto pegs, and got loops of yarn (pulled stitches) and stitches back on. Then I purled the loops back into place. Whew. All saved.








first sleeve almost done here








A friend has asked me for a long scarf, kind of like my temperature scarf. But he wants blue, black, purple, etc quasi-Dr. Who scarf. I think I can do it in cotton. I shall have to check the sales to get the yarn cheap enough. He's willing to pay, but it's going to take me a long time to make.

Sunday, Chris and I went to pick up my (much) belated birthday present. Apparently he's been looking for this present for months.
It needs some cleaning and stuff, but it's an old table Singer sewing machine. I got a picture of the engine, but not the serial number. It's in storage now because I'll need to make a place to put it. It's probably c. 1959.

The social media site, Google+ is being closed down. It really makes me sad. I've made some good friends and contacts there.

but here's a pretty sky
Gillette has a new ad out. It tempts me to buy my next razor from them. There are some who consider it a company profiting from a political movement, and yes, it is. But it's also calling on men to stand up, to other men and against toxic masculinity. And I'd rather the company take that stance than the opposite view.

Tuesday, January 08, 2019

The long, slow, recovery

Well, I've been sick since (checks calendar) about Dec 20th. The worst was over around the 27th (when I left the house for the first time since the 21st). I picked up a few last minute items, went to gaming, and then headed west on Friday.

But the cough lingers on. I canceled my platelets appointment; I just wasn't healthy enough to make it viable. I volunteered at a blood drive today (the one from early December that was rescheduled due to snow). But I still didn't feel quite well enough to donate. Alas.

Here's the shrug I knitted (loom) and gave to my sister-in-law.


And there's the one I gave to Shannon S.


I ran out of yarn on Shannon's but still had some yarn left from SIL's. I did one cuff in that, then edged the 1st cuff in the yarn.

I used the last 12 yards (plus 2 yards from another skein) to make this coffee cozy for S.R.

I gave the blue dice bags (tiny, stitch tests) to my gaming group.


I'm starting on a shrug for Mom. Michael's had a $2 a skein sale and I bought 3 skeins to make sure I had enough. I've finished off 1 and I still have quite of bit to go. I may not use all 3 skeins, but I think I'll use 2 of them and dip into the 3rd.
It's very bright. Mom loves these colors, so she'll be happy. The blue stitch marker on the left is where I started Sunday morning. The not quite visible violet one is the 30 row mark (from cuff). I have reached the divide for the shoulders.

My namesake likes llamas. Or she did. She might be llama'ed out after this holiday. I only gave her a journal and pencil cup. She also got earrings, a plush, and a coverlet. That's what I saw; but I believe there was more.

I met CC for supper on the 1st. She now has my temperature scarf; which I finished on the 1st. She's going to cut it and restitch it into a blanket. I also gave her the balls of yarn, in case she has to cut and replace any of the rows in the process. And now that I'm done, I want to do another one. But not the same way. If I do it again, 1) smaller yarn, 2) 1 row per day, not 2, and 3) maybe I'll include median and low temps. With precipitation rows as unifiers, I bet I could do it.

If I do it, I'll start by looking at the last couple years to get a general idea about the temperature ranges. For 2018, there were 3 colors I never used. I never used the 'highs in the teens', 'highs over 100', and 'highs over 110'; thankfully.

I was going to go see Mom on Saturday when the tatting plans fell through. But I was still so tired. I just sat around and knitted.

Presents I've received; hooked needles for bead spinner, hot tea (and a couple honey sticks), loom knit small animals book, beginning knit loom book, toffee, candy, gift certs (JoAnne's and AC Moore), soup mug (with homemade cookies tucked inside), a sign (made by JJ with his new laser cutter), bell necklace made from the handle of flatware, ornaments, umbrella, yarn, yarn case, and more yarn.