Winter Blahs

I beleive I am firmly stuck in a full blown case of the winter blahs. I have been knitting and stuff but without much finished product, it is a bit non-motivating. And since I don't have much stuff done, I don't have pictures so the blog will be really boring. This will be one of those "life" entries.

St. Valentine's day was fun. Zach and I decided that trying to go out to eat in the evening on a St. Valentine's day that was also a Saturday was probably a bad idea. Instead, we went out for lunch. They just put in another Japanese Hibachi style resturant in Barboursville called Shogun. We went for dinner when it first opened and like all hibachi resturants, it was pricy. But I was perusing the menu and found a lunch section. They do lunch hibachi. It is way cheaper and you get the same portions except you choose between soup and salad and you don't get the two shrimp appetizer. It is very cool. A great niche that hasn't been filled yet. They also do Bento boxes, which have sushi and tempura and whatnot. Awesome. And their sushi was tasty too. I am still waiting on my St. Valentine's present though. Well, actually we both are. We decided to split the cost of the entire series of PowerPuff Girls. This year was its tenth anniversary. I celebrated by staying home (I had the day off anyway) and watching episodes from 6 am (well more like 8 when I actually got up) to 8 pm and then there was an all new episode. I should have watched the PowerPuff girl movie after that just to properly ice the cake, but I didn't think about it then. I wasted a perfect opportunity.

::digs through old posts:: Fail. I really thought I had mentioned this before and I now feel awful that it appears I haven't. But I have been working on it in the non-blogoverse. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. On the outside, it seems like a perfectly logical and great idea to keep children safe. But because of some major oversight, this act would essentially eliminate the ability of handcrafters to sell their children's products. The biggest movement I've seen to get this act amended is the Handmade Toy Alliance. Already a lot has been done. A stay has been granted so that there is time to review it. The best thing you can do is to write your congresspeople and let them know this is something to take a look at. Which brings me to my main point. I wrote my congressmen. And I received a response from Senator Robert Byrd that made me very happy and proud he is my senator. He/his office (I honestly don't mind if someone in his office wrote it, it means he has people that make an effort and care enough to be informed and write back) wrote me back the first time saying that they were not fully informed of these issues or the Act and that they would look into it more and write me again. And they did! I got another letter in the mail the other day. It said Senator Byrd had sent an inquiry to the CPSC about the Act. He included a copy of the report that they had sent him. He told me about some legislature that was currently before a committee to ammend the Act. And although he wasn't on that committee, he would be sure to watch for when it comes before the senate. I felt like I really was a part of the process and that my letter might have made a difference. Thrilling stuff.

I've finished my taxes. Yay! I will be setting aside a chunk of the money for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Show. This will be my first year going and I am super excited. Aimee is going with me. I think I might also have to set aside a little of that chunk for my fiber guild's sister fiber guild's Hawks Nest Retreat. I'm going with Aimee to that too. I think I will be there to help her stay strong. She is on a fiber hiatus (diet is such an ugly word) and that much lovelyness might be a bit overwhelming. I'll buy everything she wants so she isn't tempted. But she is allowed to buy stuff for her etsy shop she hopes to open soon. Especially if the fiber is from a local farm, it would make a great selling point. She does great dye work and I can't wait to do a post telling everyone about all her great stuff and her store.

But this weekend I am going to the Tournament of the White Hart with Grace. I think it will be fun. I whipped up a Viking apron dress for the occasion. All I need now is to find some broaches to hold my dress on. Yay! I'll try to remember to take pictures

Since I fail at posting...LoLcats!

more animals

update

I think I mentioned I'm doing a swap in one of my Ravelry groups. I am spinning up fiber and sending it to a partner. And someone else is sending me new fiber. Fun fun. Well I had some BFL wool that I dyed with Aimee and did my first true 3 ply and I got almost 500 yards from 8 oz. I can't wait to see what my swap partner thinks. Very very excited. When I do swaps, I always get more excited about sending my stuff off and then I get excited about receiving things when I actually get it.

But to heal the pain of sending off some of my yarn. I have aquired some new fiber. To be honest, it was going to be for the swap, but I was so excited with the way the purple turned out that I decided it would go instead. Plus it is already done and I don't have to worry about a deadline. I got it from WCMercantiles on Etsy. There was still another 4 oz the last time I looked and it is very very tempting.


Some other yarn aquirement. I won some yarn from the Knit It Up blog. She has an Etsy store, which is closed while they move, but I can't wait until they are open again. I tried getting a picture, but the ones on her blog are much better. And even though it is Notre Dame colors, I can't help but think of WVU. I think that comes from living in WV. I do know some rather die hard WVU fans.
I also did some dyeing this weekend. We ordered from Knitpicks so a few of us got together to try it out. The pink and black should be striping yarn and the green...well, we'll see what happens with that. I was trying to go for foresty colors but everyone said it looked like fruitcake. I totally agree. There was some fiber dyed but it already got put away. And I'm lazy. It was blue.


And now for something completely different some half finished objects. Actually as I post these, I am realizing that they are all about halfway done. Odd.
A shawl for my mother's wedding. I am using the Night's Candles Shawl pattern by Jennifer Benson. I loving the pattern and I am using Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud which I got from Sam in a yarn swap. Love. I am taking a bit of a break as I realized about halfway through that I need to place nearly 1400 beads one at a time. I got a bit overwhelmed.



I am working on a pair of fingerless mitts. I am making up (and writing down) the pattern as I go. I am being super picky about them.

My Fawkes socks. One is done and Haley is letting me borrow her Knitpicks Harmony needles to finish the second one. I am trying to make a decision between their Harmony and Options sets. As I already have a set of size ones in the Options, I feel it is only fair to give the Harmony's a chance too. Loving the pattern. Except for the purl stitches at the beginning and end of each pattern section.

Oh yeah, you remember that dragon I said I wanted to make. I broke down and got the pattern and as you can see I made my first one. My second one will be blue and I think will go much smoother. I realize he isn't actually half done. But you can see the pins sticking out of him where the glue is still drying so he isn't completely done. And I need to pick out eyes.

Snow

So it is like 60 degrees here now so I can talk about the snow. Now that it is gorgeous out, I don't feel so overwhelmed when I mention snow. Although I have to say, it seems the animals enjoyed themselves. And they wanted to say hi.









Heidi liked running around in the snow. And look how sad she is now that it is gone. Although I imagine it is easier for her to find all the neat smells on the ground without a layer of snow. And to be perfectly honest, the sad face is because Ashes was getting treats and Heidi wasn't. Even though Heidi had just gotten her treats.

Ashes liked perching on the back of my spinning chair and chasing snowflakes. Zach saw most of it and he insists it was quite hilarious.



Personally, I think she just likes perching on things in general. Including people with cameras.

Things I want to make because they are cool

Doesn't mean I actually will make them. But I feel they deserve some sort of recognition. Even if it is only on my blog.

First, a scarf for Zach. Even though he doesn't wear scarves. I just think he would love it anyway. Although I wonder if I could just use buttons instead of tons and tons of crocheted circles. Although finding that many buttons in those colors might be difficult. And they would have to match the yarn for the sustained notes. And the buttons might be clunky for a scarf. But since it would essentially be a display piece (see the not wearing scarves thing above) it wouldn't matter. Then I would have to pick a song.
I also want to make Zach this hat. Not that he would wear it either. And he really doesn't need the beard assistance. I just think it is awesome. I suppose I could do this version so there wouldn't be any beard redundancy. But he doesn't wear hats.

This dragon is super cool and posable and well just cool. I want to make it so bad, but what would I do with a tiny posable dragon. I do not need more stuff.

This blanket is amazing...but no, just no. I can barely finish a pair of socks without wanting to scream. Someone with commitment/finishing issues should not commit to knitted blankets. Crochet blankets are only for sometimes. Only when there is no deadline.

Star Wars Peoples!!! I want it for the Chewbacca pattern. She also has a Yoda and General Ackbar pattern. Loves. I have to say I love all of her patterns and commission people she does. Her blog is where I got the generic human pattern to make the Ace of Cakes Trio. Awesome.

I suppose this last one shouldn't be cool. I imagine it is best piping hot. The ice cream would be cool though. Anyway, it looks yummy. Apple dumplings made with Mountain Dew. Curious yet delicious looking. I will definitely be checking out more of her recipes.