This is where I pretty much spent my entire day today–sitting on my favorite chair with Chappy. I had a vacation day off from work today but it was such a wet, dreary kind of day, I decided that I didn’t want to leave the house at all. So, I didn’t.

Instead, I relaxed with a book for most of the day–Queens’ Play by Dorothy Dunnett–the second book in the Lymond Chronicle series, and my fourth time reading it. Really, an excellent book for such an otherwise blah kind of day. Action, adventure, romance, derring-do, political intrigue … great reading. Appropriate, too, because this is the tail end of “Reading is Fun” week, which I only just heard about yesterday.

I did some knitting with my reading, too. I’ve got both my current socks up to the final stretch of ribbing. I bet you’d forgotten that I was even knitting any socks, huh? Since I’ve barely mentioned them in the month and a half since I started them. The yarn is Claudia Hand-Painted in a green color whose official name I can’t remember, and they have been the only other knitting project I’ve worked on since I started my blue cardigan in April.

I know, weird, huh? But, this reminds me–Susan? I need to know your foot measurements, please!

Really, though, it’s been a nice, quiet day. It’s been a long time since I managed to stay away from my computer for any length of time, and that made for a nice change. And certainly Chappy and I enjoyed our time together, as always. The downside was that, since all four of us were home doing nothing very exciting, we had pretty much nothing to talk about at supper. Oh, well!

Another interesting link for you? How about this man’s performance art? He takes leaning on a wall to a whole, new level.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:Lazy but Dry // 3 Comments »

I’m sure you can imagine why I love this one, right? I mean, it’s a girl with a basket of puppies!

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• Tags: Eye-Candy Friday • Permalink:Basket // 2 Comments »

I know you’re all just panting to see another picture of my button band, so … see?

What? You want to know what the dots of color are?

Button markers. I plotted out where I wanted the buttons to be, and then knitted a contrasting yarn color into the corresponding stitch. This way–assuming I get my button holes knitted correctly (grin)–I’ll know exactly where the buttons go, and if I ever lose one, will know exactly where to sew the replacement. I carried the contrasting yarn along with my working yarn, so that the strand of it is knitted inside the double-knit band. I even did the contrast-marking on both sides, since the variegated yarn I picked had some fairly subtle blue in the middle that was hard to see against my blue yarn. I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to make sure I could tell where the buttons go from both sides–just in case (grin).

Obviously, when it comes time to knit the second band with the actual button holes, I’ll be matching them to these markers. If I were to mess up, though? In a pinch, I could pull out this contrast yarn without affecting the rest of the button band. (Well, it would be a more laborious “picking” of the yarn than a simple “pull,” but still. You get the idea.)

Do you see the little visitor I saw in a tree outside my bedroom this afternoon? He’s not actually as close as he appears–I used my zoom lens and then cropped the picture, but still. I so seldom expect to see anyone eye-to-eye out there (grin).

Unless it’s a bird, of course.

I made dinner tonight because Mom was out with my niece, who took her to see “Kiss Me Kate” at the Papermill this afternoon, and then came back to have supper with us. They hit traffic, though, and were 10 minutes later than expected … which would have been fine except I had everything timed just right to be ready at 5:30 (yes, we eat early). To amuse myself while waiting, I went outside to take a couple of pictures (that’s a surprise, I know). And then I looked up…

You have to look kind of carefully, because what you’re looking at is through the window … but, see Chappy sitting on his chair, his eyes on the road, waiting for them to come home? I love the juxtaposition of the reflection of the street and yard in the window over Chappy’s face so that you can see exactly what he’s watching…. Kind of cool.

Oh–and the Applesauce Cake I showed you on Sunday? I’ve added the recipe to that post, if you’re interested.

• Tags: Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:A Place for Every Button…. // 10 Comments »

Remarkably little to write about. Headache. Tired. Didn’t get to knit tonight. Beautiful weather. Saw a deer and 3 wild turkeys at lunch. Cooked supper for all of us. Finished Sunday’s cake. Near the end of the first book of Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles (for the fourth time). Wandered the house with my camera after supper.
Pretty boring, really. Sorry about that.

• Tags: General • Permalink:Boring // 5 Comments »

A progress shot of my button band. I’m doing a double-knit band, and think it looks just fabulous. Hefty enough that it’s not curling at all, it looks smooth and seamless. Just lovely. Very pleased. This, obviously, is the first one and it’s only about half done, but … very pleased indeed.

As always, since it’s May 12th, I have to mention Katy, my first Boykin Spaniel. She would have been 7 years old today. The thought that she’s not here still breaks my heart, even though, really, if she hadn’t, er, stepped aside, I wouldn’t have Chappy. Which is unthinkable, of course. But, still. I miss her, anyway. (sniffle)

Speaking of missing, I got a e-mail from my best-friend today who told me she’s moving from the San Francisco area to L.A. to attend the A.F.I. Conservatory. Exciting news, huh? The interesting part is that she needs to find housing … Um, does anybody in the L.A. area have any recommendations? The school is near Griffith Park, if that means anything (grin), and she’s planning on moving in July.

On the plus side, the tv show Eli Stone has been renewed for another year. Woo hoo! I enjoyed that show so much when it came in as a mid-season replacement and am so happy to hear it will be back. In fact, surprisingly, all the shows that I enjoyed so much last year are coming back–that pretty much never happens.

And–because I know you desperately want to see more pictures–here are some more that I took at my sister’s house on Saturday.

• Tags: Katy, Jilly, Muppy, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Button Band // 6 Comments »

Mmmm… Applesauce Cake. One of the family-favorite recipes, and requested this morning by Mom. The recipe is from the “Joy of Cooking” cookbook I’ve had since the mid-80s and is so tasty–especially if you’ve got some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream handy.

It’s really pretty photogenic, too. Not to mention tasty.

Anyway, it’s Mother’s Day today, so I did what I could to make Mom’s day a good one. She wanted one of her blueberry scones for breakfast, but I made coffee to go along with it, as well as waffles for Dad and me. The four of us went for a nice, long walk while the sun was still shining. I made pot roast for supper. She and I sat in the living room together and sewed (Mom) and knitted (me). And, of course, cake for dessert. Nice day, I thought.

It’s not much of a picture, because of all the curling and such, but look! The body is finished and hemmed. It’s still curling which I expect will be taken care of when I block it when it’s finished, but, otherwise, woohoo! I decided to knit the buttonbands next … I can always stop to make the sleeves shorter if it seems I’m running out of yarn, but I want to be sure to have enough yarn for the button bands. And, besides, that will make it look neater, right? (grin). So, in this picture, I’ve picked up the band for the left front, so that’s got yarn attached and … as I say, it’s not a perfect picture, but I’m very happy with the way the knitting is coming along.

Oh, and speaking of pictures?

This photo from the current Bon Appetit magazine just struck me as so cool. It marked the section of pasta recipes, and … so nifty. All I can think is that they carefully dipped strands of dried spaghetti into boiling water so that only the bottom half was cooked, and then … put it on a light box? Something, anyway, to get them back-lit, but the curly, interwoven swirls at the bottom and the straight lines at the top. Just, such a cool photo.

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• Tags: Baking, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Mom’s Day // 7 Comments »

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

• Tags: General • Permalink:Happy Mother’s Day // 5 Comments »

Today was a surprise party for my brother-in-law, who turns 45 tomorrow. We were there, his brother, sister-in-law, and niece were there, and his aunt and his cousin were there. Chappy and 18-month old Kaitlyn were adorable together and a good time was had by all.

And, naturally, I had my new camera with me (grin), and I may have taken, oh, 200 pictures or so … Here are just some. Or, okay, a lot, but, well … it was a good day!

And, yes, Chappy WAS in the crate while Kaitlyn was smiling into it, and he did kind of wonder why she kept shaking his back paw to say hello. And I love the picture of Betty taking the picture of Kaitlyn and Chappy–I was disappointed I was behind them when I realized that the best shot was of the mom TAKING the picture. Love that.

Great day. Tired now….

(I went back to add a picture of Kaitlyn inside Chappy’s crate. She liked it in there!)

• Tags: Family, Finished Knitting • Permalink:Surprise Party // 4 Comments »

Yep, the sweater is moving right along–how exciting is that? Sure, it’s only a few inches longer than it was last time I showed it to you, but it’s still a notable moment. Why, you ask? Because I’m at the halfway point. Even without knowing what, exactly the sleeves are going to be, this is halfway finished because I just finished the first skein of yarn, and since I just have two of them, that means I have to be either at or past the halfway point.

Actually, if I’m not there yet, I’m in trouble in all sorts of ways because not only would I be out of yarn, but those sleeves would have to be absolutely huge…. (grin). But, seriously, I need to start thinking NOW about what I want the hem of the sweater to be because I’m going to need to make that happen sometime very, very soon and it would be nice to know what I’m shooting for (grin).

As today’s “Playing with my Camera” shot–a view of my basket of handspun yarn. On my screen, at least, the colors are remarkably accurate. And yes, there’s a glimpse of a pair of store-bought, polka-dot socks that need some heel reinforcement before they turn into holes. They’ve been sitting in this basket as a “reminder” for almost three months. What can I say, I’m not really fond of mending. But, otherwise? All the yarn in this basket is yarn that I’ve made myself. Isn’t that lovely? (grin)

Or how about a peek into my jewelry box? Hematite beads, a silver chain necklace, some glass pearls … I like the monochrome look of this picture–all the colors are neutrals, without my doing a thing!

About that sales tax issue? I got a comment from a person at Adorama who actually writes clear English, who told me that they have a location in New Jersey so that it was a valid charge. Which is absolutely true–that was all I needed to hear in the first place, instead of those annoying exchanges. Oh, and then she nicely offered me $10 off my next order of $75 or more. Golly. I don’t really know that I want to spend another $75 there, but it’s a nice gesture, I suppose.

Finally, in addition to yesterday’s haircut, today Chappy got his nails done and got a bath, so he’s all set for his busy weekend, but exhausted from his “spa” days. Have a great weekend, folks!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Fifty // 3 Comments »

If you look really carefully at that first picture, you can see a string of drool… You can almost hear him saying, “Please!”

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• Tags: Chappy, Eye-Candy Friday • Permalink:Please // 4 Comments »