March FOs

K- Hockey Socks for Derek; these were done in Briggs & Little Tuffy, from their Heavy Socks pattern. I changed it a little to have the contrast heel and toe to match the stripes on the calf. They were supposed to be a Christmas present for him, but I knew they wouldn't get done in time, and I didn't quite make it to get them finished before the KO.
K- Ribbed Pullover for Alex; this was knitted in RH Kids from a slightly modified pattern out of the January Creative Knitting. I will *never* use this yarn again... it did nothing but split and make my life miserable. I'm glad I bit the bullet and finished it though since Alex is so proud to wear it. And besides, I finally learned how to do the mattress seam for this one!

UFO Extinction Project
Homespun Sweatercoat still being knitted.

Sock addiction??? What sock addiction???

It's all Derek's fault... I SWEAR!!! He's the one that sent me across town to drop off some papers for a loan. It's not my fault that my fave LYS {Camille's} is on the way... and that I haven't been in there since November due to the Redwood Bridge reconstruction. It's also not my fault that she's selling/ closing and had great deals on sock yarn. It's also not my fault that she had some Bryspun dpns and some Skacel dpns that begged to come home with me... not my fault, not my fault at all. I'm not addicted, no way, no how.

BTW: the sock yarn is Scheeepjes Invicta {#1364, a grey/ blue tweed}, Dazzle Super Socks {#714, a teal/ white/ blue/ grey jacquard}, and a single ball of Lang JaWoll Jacquard {#0158, charcoal/ white/ grey/ fuschia/ burgundy wine}; the dpns are 9"-3 mm {2.5US} Bryspuns, and 7"-2.5 mm {1 US} Skacels.

Alex's pullover revealed finally!

Well I finally did the last bit of seaming on Alex's ribbed pullover. It sure was a PITA learning how to do the mattress stitch... especially on knitting that isn't plain stockinette. The finished result is worth it though. It would have looked awful if I would have just overcast the seams.
I've been quite sick lately, so I just haven't been at the pooter at all really for the last week. I picked up a shift for tonight, so I'll be busy with that again! I've also finished my Bernat Sox socks for myself, but I still have a few more ends to weave in on one of them. I have started a ribbed sock for myself out of my Kroy, but I haven't gotten around to frogging the other one yet. And I've started a ribbed pullover for Lissa out of some pink vari I picked up nearly two years ago at a garage sale! I've bit the bullet, and I'm working on the seams for my pinwheel sweater too... gotta get a few of those nearly-FOs cleared up.

Finny and Furry Pics...

Here you can see one of the shots of Derek's aquarium. The sunlight from the living room window makes it difficult to take a good quality picture. On the right you can see his diver floating. It's attached to a neat treasure chest that blows bubbles. The orangey fish in the centre of the tank is "Cheeto", he's an albino barb. Just to the upper left of Cheeto is Charlie, but you can see him a bit better in the next shot. In the lower right corner of the picture, you can make out a few of his neon tetras, collectively known as "Blue Lightning".

Here's another shot of Derek's aquarium. If you look carefully at the centre of the tank you can see Charlie, the green cory, just above one of the plants. Just in front of him is Gill, a tiger barb. Cheeto is also visible in this picture, as are the neons. You can see the castle on the right side of the tank, which is the other air outlet for the fish. The tiny bridge that was rescued from Nus' tank can be seen in the foreground, as well as the rock on the left hand side. His sunken ship is in between the castle and the bridge, but nearly impossible to see in this picture. All totalled he's got 19 fish in the tank. Unfortunately, we've already had our first casualty -- "thing one" has gone on to the big fish tank in the sky -- keeping Nus company, no doubt.

Here's a pic of Jackie's hamster cage. It's a modular cage that she's looking forward to adding on to. We've already got a bit of tunnelling and a loft for it, but Jackie needs to do some extra chores to earn them for Ally. The setup here is a bit more than what came with the cage. We bought a water bottle and a food dish, as well as some bedding. It's not typical wood shavings, and Ally thinks it makes a nice soft bed!

Here's a closer pic of Ally. This is actually the first time I have seen her in the loft area of her cage. She's usually tucked in between her wheel and the corner of her cage. Since she's a nocturnal pet, she's sleeping now, and will be up all night running in her wheel... keeping Derek awake with the constant whir! At least it's a plastic resin wheel, and not a squeaky metal one!!!

Fins and fur...

Well I wanted to post pictures of Derek's new aquarium setup, and Jackie's new hamster, but Blogger is PMS'ing again. We've had Derek's new tank set up for nearly a month now, and he's having a blast with it. Jackie's hamster came home on Thursday of last week, and she's thrilled to the gills about it! I'll try again later on to add the pics.

I've been busy knitting like crazy here. Alex's pullover is nearly complete. I have a few more inches of sleeve to do, and then I get to set in the sleeves and pick up the neck. I've been working on my socks too... the sock I'm currently knitting is nearly finished the foot, and then I get to start the toe decreases. I also need to frog and redo the toe on the first sock -- it's much too pointy, and I know how to Kitchener the toe now too. I picked up some odd yarn at WM on Friday. When I swatched it, it didn't work out to the tension I needed to make the sweater I was hoping -- a freebie from Ram's. It took a bit of hunting online and in my pattern stash here, but I found one that I think will work out not too bad.

Brainless knitting? or brainless knitter?

If you're smart, when you go to a SnB, you bring brainless knitting with you -- stuff that you don't need to think about since you are so busy chatting away and such. Well I *thought* I had brought some with me last night! I had just finished the body of Alex's sweater, and had cast on the sleeves. I did up the garter ribbing rows, and switched my needles to the larger size. I figgered it would be easy since it was only an increase every 4th row... lots of increases, so I didn't have to worry about doing too many... and I had even put a stitch marker in between the sleeves so that I'd know whether I was in the middle of a row of sleeve, or finished a row. I can't remember where I heard that trick, but I sure like it! I was happily knitting away, not getting as much knitting done as I would have hoped, but still progress nonetheless. Well about a half hour before we were due to leave, I realized that I hadn't done my increases!!! I looked over my work carefully to see if I could fudge it... since working on both at the same time would make any alteration a "design element" and not a "mistake". I was already on at least the 7th row of the pattern, so fudging wasn't really an option. I had to frog down to the first row of knitting with the larger needles. Since I'm doing both sleeves at the same time, it was the only way I could get my head around making sure I had the same number of rows on both sleeves, as well as making sure the yarn tails were in the same spot and all that other stuff. I worked on it some more last night after I got home while I was fighting with Blogger *again*, and continued on when I got up this morning. I'm sitting at about 2-3 inches right now, and am hoping to have these mostly finished today. If Blogger decides to cooperate at all, unlike the last 2 days, I hope to get my sidebar updated too.

Today's Quiz...

Your Birthdate: July 20

You are a virtual roller coaster of emotions, and most people enjoy the ride. Your mood tends to set the tone of the room, and when you're happy, this is a good thing. When you get in a dark mood, watch out - it's very hard to get you out of it. It's sometimes hard for you to cheer up, and your gloom can be contagious. Your strength: Your warm heart Your weakness: Trouble controlling your emotions Your power color: Black Your power symbol: Musical note Your power month: February

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

What song makes you cry?

No matter what... no matter where you are... no matter what you are doing... what song can't you hear without running for the kleenex box? For me it's a song by Rascal Flats, I call it "Sara Beth", but the DJ on the radio said that the name of it was "Skin".

I was on my way to my SnB tonight when that song came on. I *could* blame it on the fact that I was in Derek's truck, and hadn't bothered changing the radio station -- the Disturbed CD in my car right now would *not* have that effect -- but I won't! Problem is when this song comes on, on the radio, tv or whatever, I cannot change it. The main theme of this song is a teenaged girl that gets leukemia, and is worried about going to the prom with no hair. It's a beautiful and extremely touching song. I'm not sure what exactly it is about it, but I start bawling like a baby. I *do* have to say that I'm very happy I wasn't wearing much makeup today, and that the mascara package wasn't lying when it said that it was waterproof!

I guess you get what you pay for!

Well I definitely got what I paid for with Blogger today! I've been trying since just after 6 a.m. to access my dashboard, and all I was getting was error messages! Talk about aggrevating. In better news I've gotten an amazing amount done on Alex's pullover today. I've got the back done, the left front done, and am nearly finished the right front. I'm hoping that by the time I leave for my SnB tonight, I'll have the sleeves cast on.

Today's Quiz...

Your Hidden Talent

You're super sensitive and easily able to understand situations. You tend to solve complex problems in a flash, without needing a lot of facts. Decision making is easy for you. You have killer intuition. The right path is always clear, and you're a bit of a visionary.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Alexander the Fishsitter: Part II The Sequel

Well this time is not as bad as last time, but nonetheless, Alexander the Great has struck again!!! This time the victim... err, recipient, was Dory. That poor little guy is still recovering from Friday's tragedy when this happened. When I got home from work this morning I noticed that his tank looked kinda filthy. I looked inside and saw that there was quite a bit of food on the surface of the water, and decided that I will clean the tank later on this afternoon. Then I found a bunch of goopy fish food in the sink. ALEX!!! Thing is, I could have sworn that I put the food back in my room last night. I *was* in a rush to leave for work, but I took the time out to feed the boys. I can't remember for sure if I put the food and medicine away. Regardless, Alex decided that Dory was still hungry. When Derek phoned a little while ago, he confirmed that he had skimmed a bunch of food from the tank before going to work.

To err is human... to forgive, divine

I have forgiven Alex for Friday, as well as today -- as evidenced by me taking out his pullover again to get some work done on it. I've got about another inch to go before I need to divide this for the armholes. I *just* did a quick measure of my tension, and it seems to be off a bit. 1½-2 stitches for every 4 inches. The pattern calls for 18 sts over 4" in st st, and I have 19½ sts over 4" in pattern. The type of ribbing that this is seems to actually stretch it out a bit, so I may be okay. Before I actually divide it, I will give it a little test fit on Alex and decide if I'm going to lengthen it a bit. I have plenty of extra yarn so an inch on the body, about half an inch or so on the chest, and an inch to two inches on the sleeves will not be a problem. Since I'm doing a size 6, this will fit him no matter what, but I'd like for him to get as much wear out of it as possible.

Sock, sock, sock

My socks are nearly done as well. I've finished the gusset decreases and am at three inches past the heel. I can't reemmber offhand where I change to the toe, but stockinette flies by on dpns! I am going to frog part of the toe of sock #1 though. The toe is way too pointy, and I had finished it off with a three-needle bind-off because it was the neatest way I knew how until I found that great video at KH. I should have those done "this weekend", and I should be nearly done the body of Alex's sweater if I don't work on anything else over the next two days.

Today's Quiz...

You Are a Dreaming Soul

Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you away from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all... But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life. Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul, Prophet Soul, and Traveler Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

It's not the weekend yet!

Well, I've gone and done it... the second time in less than a month that I've broken my rule about not accepting extra shifts. The last time I did it, I actually survived, and didn't curse myself! For some reason, everything seems to go to total crap when I go in for extra hours. My manager asked me Saturday night if I could come in Monday night. She knows that Mondays aren't good for me... try *HORRIBLE!!!*... but could I come in to help out getting the store ready for the HO {home office} visit? I cringed as I thought about how I was going to get enough rest to function, and agreed to do it. Hey, that's about enough for half a month's Shaw bill, and that paycheque will be in around the same time all the bills come. My manager has actually been something akin to humanesque lately, so it might not be *all* bad after all.

The weekend -- Socks and fish.

I still haven't taken a pic of Derek wearing his socks yet. He's tickled pink with them, but this weekend {for everyone else!} was a total write-off for me. Alex and Lissa were "playing" with Dory while I was napping on Friday -- they were supposed to be napping too -- and everything seemed to go downhill from there! Good news though. Dory seems to be recovering quite well from his near-death experience. He's one tough fish!

Fishy... why are you sleeping???

Which brings me to a sad bit of news that happened over the KO, and I never got around to posting it... Derek's betta, Nus, is sadly no longer with us. He'd been acting kinda strange for a little while, and Derek found him floating one day when he came home from work. I could tell that Derek was upset, but I didn't push him to get another fish right away. This ends {continues?} in a good way though. It took about a week or so before he decided that he wanted another one. We went to Fish Gallery, and Derek was fascinated with all the various fish there. I could tell then that he didn't want another betta, but something more active. Unfortunately, they didn't have any clown loaches, but he found a handful of barbs {albino tiger, green cory, and tiger} that really caught his eye. That purchase ended up snowballing {this seems to be a trend when it comes to Derek!!!}, and we went off to Petcetera and got him a proper aquarium setup so that his tank would have a filtration system as well. Several neons followed us home that day. A week later, Derek decided that Charlie {the green cory} was getting bothered too much by Cheeto {the albino tiger}, and off we went to Fish Gallery again to find some other tankmates to join in the fun. Four more fish came home from there {can't recall the species}, and we got 6 more neons from Petcetera. Derek couldn't be happier with the setup now. He has a blast watching the fish chase and nip at each other. With all of his comments about how he doesn't like boring fish, I can tell that even though he misses Nus, that he's so much happier now with what he has.

Today's Quiz...

You Are Lightning

Beautiful yet dangerous People will stop and watch you when you appear Even though you're capable of random violence You are best known for: your power Your dominant state: performing

What Type of Weather Are You?

First FO of March!!

Well *nearly* FO. I'm just doing up the ends on Derek's second sock. I *had* gotten the toe all grafted and such, and was working on the ends when I decided to compare it to the first sock. I nearly died when I saw that I had worked the toe differently on that one. *DOH* So I carefully took out the end weaving, the grafting, and then frogged back to where I had finished up his first sock. I slid the stitches back onto needles and re-grafted it. I still have a few more ends to do, but those will be done shortly. I'll take a pic of Derek modelling them later, and get it up tonight or tomorrow when I get home from work.

He's been pretty patient all things considered. When I finished the Booger, I had picked up his sock again. He had commented on that, and I had simply replied, "You thought that I wasn't going to finish these ever, did you?" He said that he didn't think that, but you could tell that he was happy that I was working on them again. Now I just need to decide what I'm going to work on next.

Today's Quiz...

You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament

Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace. You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions. You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected. It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional. You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of others. While you are quiet, you have a subtle wit that your friends know well. At your worst, you are lazy and unwilling to work at anything. You often get stuck in a rut, without aspirations or dreams. You can get too dependent on others, setting yourself up for abandonment.

What Temperment Are You?

Gotta love Winterpeg...

... emphasis on the *winter* part of it, of course! Here it is, the first flippin' day in March, and we've got a freakin' blizzard out there! I still ventured out to my SnB, but next time the weather is like this, I'm INSISTING that Derek drive me. My little car was *not* happy on those sloppy, slippery roads. It was fun there, as usual. I'm beginning to really look forward to these meets... to the point that I'm thinking of booking off the first Wednesday of every month from work so that I can go. I got lots of "oohs" and "ahs" over the Booger. One of the ladies there had asked me as I was getting my tea if I had brought it with me. I simply replied, "of course I did... you ladies would have tossed me out on my ear if I hadn't!" When I brought it out of my bag, everyone was complimenting me on how cute it turned out. Those that were at last Tuesday's meet were properly shocked at how small it had turned out compared to the behemoth I showed off there. I would have finished off Derek's second sock there, but I didn't trust myself to do the toe decreases right while chatting away, so I put that away and pulled out Alex's pullover -- which I promptly goofed up the ribbing on and had to rip back about half a round! I didn't bring my Skacel sweater to seam like I had originally planned since it wouldn't fit into the little breifcase tote I had. With all the snow and slush out there, I didn't want to use my Payless Show bag.

Well I'm off to decrease and graft a sock... if I can get the ends done tonight too, Derek will have new socks to wear at work tomorrow!!!

Today's Quiz...

Your Observation Skills Get An A

Hardly anything gets by you... You have a great memory and eagle eyes

How Observant Are You?

Note from Nicole: Not too bad considering a couple of the questions are *definitely* American!