Birthday Treats

Today was my birthday! Yay! We are going to have a celebratory dinner and apple pie this weekend, when Chris doesn't have to study, but Chris went ahead and gave me my presents. And so, of course I have to show off. Last weekend we went to the pet store and he told me to pick out some toys for Honeybun. We got a hay ball, a log for her to climb on and chew (shes really gotten into chewing lately), a leash and another littler pan. Its been fun watching her play with the hay ball--she has to roll it around to get the hay to come out. I figure its good for her little brain. He also gave me a copy of Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I already have the first and eventually would like to own the full set. They are such an asset when I'm working on a new design. In fact, I'm working on a shawl pattern right now that uses a stitch from the first book. The odd clear flat thing in the picture is a book light. I've never seen one like this before but it looks promising. Rather than directing a beam of light onto the page like most booklights (which is always either too dim and useless or too bright and annoying to your sleeping bed partner) it softly illuminates the full page. I used to do a lot of reading-- I love mystery novels, especially medical thrillers and forensic/crime mysteries--but when I was in college I was so overwhelmed with academic reading that I got out of the habit of reading for fun. Now that I have more free time I'm enjoying getting back into it, especially at night before I fall asleep. Now I can stop using the mini-maglight for nighttime reading! Oh, and I can't forget the daily calendar by the Yarn Harlot that Chris gave to me yesterday (he always gives me one of my presents the night before my birthday). I just hate that I have to wait till January to use it, but I've promised myself that I won't peek and look ahead!

Chris also installed my new window boxes on the porch today. Of course I forgot to take a picture while the sun was still out. I'm trying to grow collards in them, we'll see if it works. In the past I haven't had very good luck growing anything but hot peppers in pots in apartments. Because Honeybun has free reign on the porch the pots have to be out of her reach, otherwise she will very quickly chew the little plants right down to the dirt.

And of course my best birthday present, though given to me a month early, was Honeybun!

Wedding Photos

For anyone interested, all the wedding photos have now been posted on the photographer's website. She also put together a lovely video slideshow of some of the photos (especially nice if you don't want to click through hundreds of individual photos!!)

A Couple of Updates

First for the bunny update. I weighed Honeybun for the first time last week and she weighed in at 2lb, 4.5oz. Shes small enough now that I can easily weigh her in a basket on my yarn scale. She still looks tiny to me but when I brought her to Winston this weekend and some people who had met her at SAFF saw her they thought she looked like she'd grown a lot. I need to take more pictures before she gets big! She certainly is eating enough. I am going to go to the plant store tomorrow and see if I can find some collard greens to plant so that I can grow my own bunny treats. 

In knitting news, I finished Will's hat. As you

 can see, I made some changes from the photo he sent me but I think it turned out pretty nice. Hes going to try to come to town later this week to pick it up and I'll try to get a picture of it on his head- I think the cables will show up better when its stretched out on a head. 

Christmas Knitting

The last couple of years I've done a lot of Christmas knitting. So I've decided that this year, I'm not going to do as much. Most of the people in my life who would appreciate a knitted gift (and quite a few who probably would have prefered something else!) already got their socks or hats or whatever. So this year I'm scaling back. Really. Ok ok so I say that every year. But this year I mean it. There are a couple of gifts that I'm making (one knitted, one felted) that I can't show off here b/c the recipients might see them. But there are a few I can share. My brother asked for a hat that looks like this one by Gap. Hopefully I'll get it done before Christmas, so it won't "really" be a Christmas gift, but chances are I'll get distracted, lose track of time and be up late on Christmas Eve finishing it off. I think I'm going to use the basic hat pattern from Charmed Knits, because I've had really good luck with it before, but add in some cables and more ribbing at the bottom. 

And then for my two cousins who think its hilarious to ask me to knit them codpieces-- Weenie Warmers! I'm not posting the picture here b/c its a bit graphic and I don't want it to surprise you at work, in a public cafe or in front of children. But if you aren't in any of those places, and aren't easily offended, click the link. Hopefully they won't actually be worn by my cousins, but they will be quick to knit and will be hilarious for them to open on Christmas day. Thats the sort of humor my family can appreciate (like the year my Aunt gave all the ladies in the family thongs-- each one picked out especially for that person's style and tastes, i.e. lace or cotton or bright colors or whatever). 

Too cute!

Last night I had dinner with one of my cousins and I found out that his roommate runs a small business selling designer doggy clothes and accessories. Its called "Second Coats". I've been wanting to get Avi a bathrobe to keep the furniture dry after shes had a bath, and she definitly needs some of those gourmet treats!

Sweater Weather

Earlier this week the temperature was in the 80s during the day and the sun was shining. Pretty weather but not really appropriate for mid October. But today everything changed. Suddenly and dramatically. All of a sudden its fall! I wonder if its going to stay cold this time. I know, I know. In a few months I'll be complaining about the cold weather and wishing for hot sunny days, but rifht now it feels right for it to be cold and overcast-- cozy knitting weather! And it makes me want to knit a cardigan. Believe it or not, I've never knit myself a sweater. Not really. I'm more of a small project person. And I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know the first thing about making a garment actually fit me. But I love wearing cardigans and its probably time I knit myself one. I haven't done fairisle in ages and am thinking I'd like something with some fairisle colorwork-- not all over, just a band  or two.   Any suggestions? 

One of those days

Ever have one of those days (or two) where nothing seems to go your way? How about the type of day where everything seems to go contrary to your way? After being away from home for a week I was eager to get back to my regular routine, get back to my studio, etc. Woke up yesterday excited to get back to work. Now, I don't normally believe in luck, either the good or the bad kind. But from the time I woke up yesterday my luck has just been no good. Yesterday was more or less sent mildely ill to my stomach, but you know, I can get over that. I've always had a sensitive stomach, so I've gotten used to living with that. No big deal, a less productive day than I'd hoped but I still got a bunch of orders packed and shipped and my new shawl blocked. Decided to just take it easy, took a hot bath in the evening, read a novel. Thought- tomorrow will be more productive. And then I woke up this morning. Nothing has gone right today. 

1) My skein winder broke. Ok, it had been on the way for a while and I did have a replacement ready. But the replacement doesn't work right

. I had planned on spending all day pre-skeining yarn for some wholesale orders. It didn't happen. And I'm not really sure how to fix the new one because all the tools I used to make it (i.e. the bandsaw) live in Winston in my parents' basement.

2) the Color Co-op vote that was supposed to end today got all messed up (my fault), I upset some knitters, got threatened with pointy sticks (ok, not really), had to start the vote over again. what a mess. I feel so stupid about that, and unprofessional. Yuck, I hate it. 

3) I was feeling kind of bleh b/c of the color co-op thing, so I though "Ok, I'll clean up the studio. That always makes me feel better". Well I had just gotten some hooks and cord to set up some new drying lines in the studio to use to hang up drying yarn and yarn thats been dyed but is waiting to be reskeined, etc. Wonderful. Got them up, loaded with yarn. Fell down. No, not just fell down, slingshotted across the room, flinging yarn everywhere. 

4) Ok, so cleaning the studio didn't work. How about I just pack some o

rders and have a glass of wine. What could go wrong? I know what you are thinking and no, I didn't pour wine all over the orders. Instead I just dumped it on the keyboard of my laptop (my brand new laptop). And now the little mouse thingy won't work so I have to use an external mouse, and thats just annoying. I'm hoping maybe it will, um, dry out and be ok tomorrow? 

Sigh. I'm done. I'm sitting on the couch doing NOTHING for the rest of the night. Except browing the web for funny stuff like this.