Turkey Trottin’

I haven’t really had time to do much knitting lately, so was happy to hear from a designer friend who needed some swatching done.  Today is probably the last nice day for about a week.  There’s a big storm a brewin’ so thought I should get my behind on the bike for a little ride and pick up the yarn.

Our town has one of the largest municipal parks in the country and I love riding my bike or walking in the lower park.  It’s a nice little piece of nature with a creek running through town.  The upper park is wilderness with biking and hiking trails.  As with many cities, neighborhoods have encroached upon the natural habitats of wildlife.  It is not uncommon to see deer in the neighborhoods near the park as well as other animals that would normally be found in wilderness areas.  This is both exciting to see and sad at the same time.

Today I was riding through a rather nondescript neighborhood near the park and was surprised to see a couple of hen turkeys trotting along.

 

These lovely ladies were on their own and the next thing I knew, several hens and a tom flew over the fence after being shooed by the residents.

I wish I would have remembered that I have a new iPhone, and had video taped them.  They just trotted down their street and stopped traffic along the way.  It kind of made my day!

Cold Snap, No Fog

In case you haven’t heard, we’re having a serious budget crisis her in California.  At least I think that’s why they're trying to freeze us state employees to death. But then, maybe they just  love us so much that they’re trying to preserve us forever, kinda like cryogenics.
What ever the case, the state has determined that 60 degrees is the perfect office temperature. Actually it’s supposed to be between 68-70, but my super secret floor heater has a thermostat, so they can’t hide the truth from me.  Those of us who knit are well-equipped to to handle the frost, but the rest are at our mercy. Recently, I took pity on a coworker and agreed to knit up some fingerless mittens.  After all, who can type when their fingers are frozen?  No, actually, she had admired my mittens and commented that she was going to buy some.  I offered to make her a pair to match her office.  Oh, she did really well matching the color and now looks perfectly coordinated while typing.

Contemplating Cables

I am fascinated by cables.
 


These are from the Walker Treasury Project. Please visit the site and check out the beautiful samples made from Barbara Walker’s books.  I have so many design ideas swimming in my head, but it’s important to find just the right cable for each.  This is the year I will challenge myself and actually put out some of my own designs.  I’ll probably start out with something simple like gloves or a cowl, but I hope to master the math and move on to garments.
Wish me luck!

Some little things

 

Pavo Slipper Socks for my niece.

 

 

A Mug Hugger for my coffee.

Craft Room or Crap Room

Right now mine's a Crap Room (I won't shock, scare you with photos for now).  I saw a piece on the Early Show where they renovated a Crap Room into a beautiful Mom Cave. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? After all, men go to work all day and then need a cave to escape to and relax. Hmmm.... what's wrong with this picture? Moms get up early and get the kids off to school, work either in or outside the home, pick up the kids, volunteer at school, fix dinner, do laundry, clean, etc. Why should they need an escape. Now before you all get your panties or tighty whities in a wad, I realize that some men help out at home too, but I hear more from the moms who do everything. Besides, everyone knows that women are better multitasking managers. Who do you think tells the men what needs to be done around the house? Yeah, I know they mow the lawns and fix stuff, but again, who reminds them? This may sound sexist, but I don't think gender roles really haven't changed that much since I was a kid. But I digress...

The Mom Cave designer was awesome. Her philosophy, "Better to redecorate than medicate." Check out her videos.

So, I'm not a traditional mom. To borrow from one of the 4 Bitchin' Babes, "I don't have any of my own kids, I'm a teacher, so I get them in bulk." Ok, so I'm not a traditional classroom teacher either, but I am an academic advisor, and advising is teaching. Oh, and I have a fur child, named Jack.



And a frog family that lives under my back porch.

Because I have nothing else...

http://handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com/post/15723132197/submitted-by-sohoskirt

Hey girl.

 

I have a new obsession.  It’s something I stumbled upon via Twitter and I simply can’t get enough.  It all started with this:

and then this:

Naturally, I had to Google Ryan Gosling memes and now I look for my daily fix.  Most of it coming from here.

Here’s RG talking about the memes on MTV. 

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Now, you can’t ignore RG’s hotness, but to be perfectly honest, I had only seen him in The Notebook, so guess I’ll have to check out a few more of his films.  Did you know he was also a Mouseketeer with Justin Timberlake and Brittney Spears?  Yes people, there are videos on YouTube.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’m a huge fan, but those memes and freakin’ hilarious!  I think my friends have enjoyed my perfectly timed Facebook postings too.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

It’s been a good year for knitting.  I’ve learned a lot of new knitting techniques making samples.  I’ve taught my mom to knit and she’s halfway through her first project, a lace scarf.

Here’s a little round up of some of my projects.  Not everything got photographed, but I’m going to try to do better with that next year.

Wishing you all a joyful New Year!

Christmas 2011: There was knitting.

You win some, you lose some.  First, the loser…

The color work looks pretty good, so you might think this one was a winner.

Until, you see it blocked.

Oh, yeah…no way I could shrink this one.  Funny thing is, my gauge was right on.  I should have known from the comments people made that this one was doomed.  This is the child size.  Here it is on the child, who, by the way, has a lot of curly hair.

         

So we tried it on the grandpa…

          

Maybe if we fold up the earflaps?

Finally we found a big head, my older nephew, but I didn’t get a picture, because it really didn’t fit him either, he just wears baggy stuff, so it looked kinda normal.


This one fit another kid, but he was more interested in his Transformers, so didn’t get a photo.  Same designer as the one above, different pattern. 

    

This one was a crochet project which went pretty fast, but I hate counting while working, so crochet is not my favorite, but I think it turned out cute.  You may have seen this lovely model before.

      

And what photo shoot would be complete without some goofy shots?

     

The last project was both a winner and a loser.   The had fit my new grand-nephew perfectly, but the booties are huge.  I told my niece to just stuff the toes with tissue and no one will notice.

 

      

Mom, grandpa and the new kid.

You can find all the specs on my Ravelry page.