Here today . . .

But I'm gone tomorrow! Actually it is tomorrow because it is after midnight! I have had a busy week. First off, I had to work 2 days, which probably doesn't sound like much to most people. For me, though, it is difficult in the middle of the summer. Why? Because I allow my natural body rhythm to take over. That means I go to bed around 3 a.m. and get up around 10 a.m. If I'm working then I have to get up at 6 a.m. The problem is that I cannot go to sleep at 11 which is when I need to go to sleep in order to get up early. So I flood my system with extra caffeine and pray that I won't fall asleep while I'm driving. Tomorrow--or should I say later on today--I'm leaving for Boston. This is my annual week in New England to do genealogical research. It is always too short. I hate to leave there. It would be nice if I could just pick up my life here--home, family, job etc.--and just put it there! I'm going to lunch with Ems and one of her friends at noon, running a couple of errands then leaving. I typically leave around 3 p.m. which gets me into my hotel room by 11. It's a great time to drive as I hit no traffic whatsoever plus I'm well rested.

I'm one of those nut cases who cannot go on a trip until my house is totally cleaned. I'm not sure why except that I feel a lot better when I come home to a clean house. I always feel like I need a vacation after a vacation and the last thing I need is to walk in the door and feel like I have to clean! I got all that done this week--stuff I only do once a year like washing walls and cleaning curtains. Speaking of curtains--here is a shot of the little country curtain I made for the kitchen. It's hard to get a good shot of this window because the sun is always direct there.

Nothing fancy--just some homespun plaid lined with bleached muslin!

Another FO--I finished Labyrinth! I'm very pleased with it. I will try to get some modeled shots in the morning. Here's a little teaser of the sleeve:

I went ahead and cast on for the Dayflower Camisole so that I could bring it with me. Funny thing--the Classic Elite Premier feels like rope after knitting with the Handmaiden Double Sea Silk. That stuff makes it really hard to knit with anything else! It just slides through your fingers and it feels so good! I always thought Premier was a nice soft yarn--particularly for cotton. It just cannot compare to the Handmaiden!

That brings me to the Secret Pal Question #6.
What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?
I bring whatever I happen to be working on which is usually a sweater of some sort. I will often throw a small project in my bag. When I am visiting research libraries, I carry my laptop and I like to be able to throw a small project in my laptop bag. Sometimes I just need a break and it is nice to be able to pull out a hat or scarf to work on!


I will have another FO in the morning as well. I decided at the last minute to make this top:

I wanted to use a cotton spandex to make the sleeveless knot front top but I didn't have any in my stash. I went to Joann's and the selection wasn't great. They did have some in red, so I bought the rest of the bolt which was about 2 and 3/4 yards. I figured I'd make the sleeveless one to see how the pattern fit, then I'd make the same one with the long belled sleeves. I'm doing this one on my sewing machine in case I have to rip anything out. I'll serge the next one. I'm almost done. From start to finish, including cutting, this should take no more than 90 minutes total. I did stitch the center front seam about a half in higher to make the neckline opening a little higher. Other than that, so far there have been no modifications.

We've had some visitors lately:

This family of deer has been frequenting the blackberry bushes at the edge of the woods. I would go back there to pick some berries, but knowing that there have been deer there means that there are probably deer ticks there. I've had a couple of friends/relatives that have had Lyme disease and it has been brutal. One has Rheumatoid Arthritis now as a result. She's been on intravenous antibiotics for about a year. It's nasty stuff! I don't want to risk that!

I guess I better go so I can finish up my top!

I'll post from Boston and I will share some more nostalgia then!

Bushism of the day:
You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006

Kitty Cam: I decided to reload the kitties' turbo scratcher. Here are the boys waiting in line to get their catnip fix:

Here they are after. An intoxicated kitty is a happy kitty!

What goes up . . .

must come down!  After a week of record heat, the mercury has been keeping a low profile!  Our days have been in the low to mid 70's and our nights in the 50's!  It has been totally delightful!  I turned off the AC and opened all the windows.  That is definitely an advantage to living in an old house.  Our house was built in the early 1920's and every room has a lot of windows.  It's very easy to get a nice cross breeze and the big old trees keep much of it shaded.  As you can see, several family members really enjoyed the fresh air!

I've been trying to get stuff done around the house since I've been off.  Today I washed window sashes which had a lot of dirt from the screens.  I also hung the curtain rod in the kitchen.  I will make that curtain tomorrow.  

I have a number of sewing projects that I have to do between now and next weekend.  Ems' graduation from Graham Webb is on Sunday June 29 so I am making her a dress using this pattern and fabric:

I like the violet chiffon over the fuschia lining.  It gives it an iridescent look.  I made a muslin of the bodice for Ems to try on when she stopped by today.  I had to do major alterations but it fit. She wants me to open up the neckline a bit because it is somewhat bunchy.  That's the way the design is.  I've redrafted the neckline to show more of a plunge and expose the collar bone area.  I'll take pictures of the finished product.  I had a helper while I was sewing.
Greg has been following me around since I've been off.  He stays close to me no matter what I'm doing!  Rumor has it that he cries constantly when I go away.  Jeremy said he "cried like a little bitch" last year when I went to Boston!  Poor baby!

 I am also doing a lot of the sewing for her fashion show.  The participants are given a challenge.  This year the challenge is international or fantasy brides.  Ems has to come up with a concept, do the costume, make up and hair.  She is doing a British punk rock bride and a medieval sort of thing.  I am doing the sewing for that.  She came up with the design and chose the fabric.  I'll put it together for her.  I will have to take photos at the fashion show.  The entries are always very impressive!

The tooth fairy visited our house last week. This tooth fairy looked something like this:
Mikey's tooth finally fell out!  It had been hanging down, scraping against his chin.
You can see the tooth hanging down.  Then one morning I noticed it wasn't there and I found this on the couch!

So we put the tooth under Mikey's pillow and the tooth fairy left him a couple pouches of tarter control treats. I guess she's hoping that she won't have to visit us anymore!

On the knitting front--I have been working on Fete. I'm almost done with it, but I started my third skein of yarn and was horrified by the pooling of the colors! This yarn is Handmaiden Double Sea Silk. I've never had issues with this yarn before and the skeins have always matched. I had one skein left over from Gizelle so I bought 2 more for this top. I think this third skein is the leftover one. It is much bluer than the other two. Check this out:

That big chunk of blue is on the upper back and will be hidden by my hair most likely.  However I have to finish the upper front and I fear that I will have the same problem, though so far it doesn't seem quite as bad.  There's really not much I can do.  I don't want to spend another $38 for one more skein of yarn.  I think I will finish then knit a swatch.  I'm thinking that I can heavily dilute some purple dye and see what happens if I paint it on the blue part.  I have nothing to lose except the swatch!  I'll finish this in a day or two then I have to get started on Labyrinth.

Here is another summer recipe that we love around here:

Confetti Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 box tri color Rotini
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup black olives, halved
1/2 cup onion diced
1 container Trader Joe's Perlini (Pea sized fresh mozzarella balls), drained (optional)
1 bottle Kraft Italian salad dressing ( I use fat free)

Cook pasta to al dente. Drain and run under cold water. Drain again. Mix pasta, vegetables, Perlini, and 1/2 bottle of salad dressing. Refrigerate for an hour or so. Mix again and add remaining dressing before serving.


This is good stuff! I make a batch and eat it for lunch the whole week!

Bushism of the day:

"In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?'" --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

Kitty Cam: Samantha takes some time away from the boys.

Please welcome my guest!

Today I welcome a special guest! Donna Druchunas is here to talk about her new book "Kitty Knits." One look at the title and you know that this would appeal to me!


Welcome Donna!

Hi Vicki, thanks for inviting me to visit your blog as part of my
Kitty Knits blog tour! I'm familiar with Crazy Cat Ladies, because my
sister is one. She has ten cats. That's the limit under the law where
she lives, or I'm sure she'd have more. She regularly catches strays
and has them fixed, and tries to find them new homes, too. Kitty
Knits is dedicated to "my sister June and her feline friends, Oliver,
Bob, George, Peter, Chloe, Samantha, Stewart, Greg, Bonnie, and
Clyde." I only have 2 cats, but will soon have 4 when my mother and
her two furry friends move in with us this spring.

I'm impressed with the variety of designs in the book. Where did
you get your inspiration?

I just make things up. I hope that doesn't sound flippant, but it's
really the truth. Not everything is totally from scratch out of my
head, though, because I can't draw and some of the designs required
the touch of someone who could. For the more pictorial designs,
Susan McBride sent me little sketches
that I then converted into charts using the free KnitPro software
from mircoRevolt. Here are the sketches that Susan made that became the Needle Felted Carpetbag and
the Appliqué Felted Pillow. The cat on the carpet bag is one of Susan's cats chasing a butterfly.



Which of the knit items for kitties are your cats' favorite?

My cats love anything they can lay on, so they are partial to the
baby blanket and the afghan. I like both of those, too, because
they're easy to knit, with fairly simple textured patterning in a
solid color, and the kitty accents added with embroidery. I love
embroidery, but I don't do much of it any more so this was a fun way
to work it into a knitting project, and to add color to these
projects without doing intarsia.

Which project in the book was YOUR favorite?

A few people have asked me this question already, and I've answered
it in different ways. Because of your emphasis on YOUR, I'll tell you
about the project that I'd most want to make for myself. That's the
ballet cardigan. I don't have any sweater in this style, and I've
wanted to make one for a long time. Although I'm not lanky or thin, I
have an hourglass figure and my waist is a good feature to show off,
so I think a sweater like this would be very flattering on me.
Because of the book's schedule, the yarn I originally chose being out
of stock, and because my first test knitter had other obligations
that came up so she couldn't make the sweater, I ended up having this
made in the smallest size. It would fit a teenager (or the skinny
model on the book's cover), but it certainly wouldn't fit me! Someday
I'd like to make this for myself.



I've always been amazed at the differences in cat personalities.
They are all such individuals and form different types of
relationships with each other. Tell me about your kitties and how
they get along. Do they have any particular quirks?

My cats get along great. I got Uno when he was 4 months old, and
Deedee was a little over a year. She thought he was her baby, so she
kind of raised him. At that time, I still had Sparkles who was about
14 and had cancer. He was pretty crabby and would hiss at the little
cats a lot. His companion, Tipper, had died of cancer about a year
before that. Sometimes Sparkles would try to lick Deedee and Uno, but
because he was a lot bigger than them -- they each weighed about 6
pounds at the time and he weighed 20 pounds -- and because he hissed
at them so much, they were afraid to let him come near them. The two
of them are great friends, now. Sadly, they do not miss Sparkles at all.


Donna and Dee Dee

Do your kitties get into your yarn and/or knitting projects?

Not really. They used to when they were younger, but now they are
pretty well behaved. I don't take any risks though, and I keep my
projects where they can't get into them, especially if I'm knitting
lace or using exotic fibers that might attract their attention. They
can't seem to resist angora, for example! And they don't just want to
roll in it. They want to chew on it.


Donna and Uno

Thank you, Donna, for stopping by!

Thanks again for letting me stop by as part of my tour.

I finished the kitty toys that were in the book: Two felt mice, a felt tube and a fringy felt ball. See my last post for the kitties' review!

The kitties are coming!

Tomorrow is the day we have a special guest here at Crazy's! Donna Druchunas is stopping by to talk about her new book. I thought I would present a few of the projects to a tough group of critics. Here are the completed projects:

All of them are spiked with premium organic catnip! Yes, even kitties like to party!

First we have the initial inspection:


Then, needless to say, Samantha chooses the pretty pink one:


Then Harley chased her away:


Greg went right for the mice!


Then Mike tried out the mice and settled on the blue one. In my last post you can see Mikey picking out the blue yarn!



The kitties give Donna's book a glowing review!

Other stuff: The daffodils have been replaced with tulips--and today really felt like spring!

Forty tulips! Next to daffodils, tulips are the second friendliest flower!

Nothing much else to talk about. I went to yoga this evening, so I'm feeling pretty chill!

Here's something that is totally NOT chill:
Bushism of the day:
"One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 8, 2003

Kitty Cam: This whole post is a kitty cam!

Spring is on the way . . .

I've declared winter to be officially over. Why? Because I bought daffodils. I love daffodils! I always think of the movie "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan tells Tom Hank, "I think daisies are the friendliest flower." Only for me, the friendliest flowers are daffodils. To me, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are only for spring and summer! I put them all over the house . . .

In the family room:


In the living room:


In the powder room:


Hyacinths in the dining room:


Knitting projects the last few days have mainly been kitty toys! I am having a guest here at the blog on Wednesday March 5. Donna Druchunas, author of a new knitting book called "Kitty Knits" will be dropping in for a visit. I thought I'd make a few things from the book:

I actually finished the pink tube on the needles and a ball with fringe. I now have to felt them, stuff them and spike them with catnip. Mikey chose the color for his:

So Mikey will get the blue mouse!

Other news: My niece turned me on to this blog. It's called Stuff White People Like and it is absolutely hysterical. I've spent the last 4 days reading the entire thing from the beginning. WoW! I never realized just how white I was! In fact if you ranked my family in order of whiteness, me and Ems would definitely tie for first place. At first I thought she would be number 1 since she's a vegetarian and she shops at Whole Foods. But then I realized that I tie her with my Arts degree and the fact that I'm shopping for a hybrid car. Of course, I have to deduct a point for said car not being a Prius, but I think hybrid cars in general qualify for whiteness points. Next comes Bird. He is working on an arts degree, likes indie music, is into microbrews and brews his own beer. Last is DH. In fact, by all accounts, DH isn't white at all! Who knew!

I have to finish Giselle this week and get started on another sweater. I don't know how much knitting I will be able to do after my hand surgery. I'll be able to sew as long as I cut out the stuff in advance. I need to get crackin' as I got this in a fortune cookie today:

Hopefully something will come of that!

Bushism of the day:
"Oftentimes, we live in a processed world — you know, people focus on the process and not results." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 29, 2003

Kitty Cam: Once again, Greg gets away from it all under the bedspread.

Sick Day #2

Better, but not there yet. I decided to take one more day since my concert is this Wednesday and I need my strength for that. I spent half the night coughing so I ended up sleeping late this morning. I will spend the rest of the day working on the Pea Pod Baby Set. I'm about halfway through the sleeves -- I'm doing both simultaneously. Then the neck band, seams, buttons and hat! I think I can have that done by the weekend!.

I did venture out to Roots yesterday. They had some new chocolate there--Nirvana which is 72% cocoa content--one with blueberries and acai and the other with pomegranate. Does that sound wicked or what! So that's it. I will have more to post about later in the week.

Bushism of the day:
"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things." —George W. Bush, aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

Kitty cam: The kitties have been enjoying the box I brought in from my trip to BJ's last week. All day long, they take turns getting in it with the lizard toy they got for Christmas. Sam's the only one who refused to be photographed in the box!

Happy New Year!

I know I'm a little late, but this is my first post of the new year! New Year's celebrations around here were rather low key this year. We did have an open house last Sunday and welcomed friends, family and some knitting buds. New Year's Eve, DH and myself ended up eating at Cosi's then headed home for an evening of movies. It was so low key, in fact, that I don't even remember which movies we watched! Of course New Year's morning meant this:

The Washington Post In and Out list! It's always an amusing read!

New Year's Day, we took Ems to the movies to see Sweeney Todd. The score was wonderful as can be expected from Stephen Sondheim, however it was rather bloody for a musical! I can excuse that fact since the cause of the bloodiness was this:

It's amazing what we are willing to overlook where Johnny Depp is concerned!

I also had my first FO on New Years Day. I don't know if it counts since it was actually started before Christmas. I made Hannah for Ems. She wanted something in Cashmere so I used a Laines du Nord Cashmere that I had gotten at Webs. The yarn was supposed to be bulky and knit to the proper gauge, but it appeared more like worsted to me so the hat was a loose knit. Ems liked it though.


I ended up starting another one out of Malabrigo Chunky on New Years and finished it Wednesday night so I guess that one is really my first FO of the year!


This one turned out much better in my opinion. I'm sorry Sylvia's hair is too short to wear the hat properly! It has a place in the back to pull your hair through.

It was tough getting back into the groove of school on Wednesday. I was dragging the rest of the week. I finally went to Massage Envy for a deep tissue massage. I used to get them weekly but my therapist moved. I hadn't been since July. It was like starting over and I had forgotten how excruciating it is. I wanted to jump off the table! I know regular massages will fix my shoulder and neck because it did before.

Yesterday, I started one of two small knitting projects. I am making the Pea Pod Baby Set for my nephew's baby which is due in March. I got some Reynolds Cottontail which is a cotton/ acrylic blend. It it knitting up nicely and shows the stitches well, but it is very splitty so I have to pay attention to what I'm doing.

You may notice all my notes on the pattern. All the leaf motifs are graphed for this pattern and I hate reading graphs so I wrote all the directions out. I should just suck it up and get used to reading the graphs.

I am also hoping to start a scarf from my stash. I found this online:

So I am using this gorgeous skein of Art Yarns Silk Rhapsody that I got from my Secret Pal 10 pal:

It is less yardage than called for but I want a shorter scarf anyway so it will be perfect. This scarf will go great with the coat I hope to make in a couple of weeks. I had this gorgeous gold-orange wool/mohair coating in my fabric stash that I had bought a couple of years ago when Hancock went out of business. I really need something decent to wear with nice slacks so I am making the hip length version of this pattern:

I have to go to G-Street to get the velvet, lining, shoulder pads and such. I think I will do bound buttonholes and make the buttons functional even though the pattern has snap closures.

This week I have to get my dress done for my niece's wedding next Saturday! Today, the big project was Elvis. Poor Elvis has been living in sludge for some time now. His water was completely brown since I had to turn off the filter some time ago. We got an aquarium cabinet and some new live plants. I put Elvis in a small tank we have and set it on the kitchen floor with his basking light on while we cleaned the big one. It was something most foul! Turtles are great pets, but it would appear that their main purpose in life is to produce copious amounts of poop! Elvis certainly lives up to all expectations! I took a several hours, but he is as good as new!


I have to go cut out my muslin for my dress.

Bushism of the day:
"They didn't think we were a nation that could conceivably sacrifice for something greater than our self; that we were soft, that we were so self-absorbed and so materialistic that we wouldn't defend anything we believed in. My, were they wrong. They just were reading the wrong magazine or watching the wrong Springer show." —George W. Bush. Washington, D.C., March 12, 2002

Kitty cam: The kitties enjoyed watching Elvis while we cleaned the tank! To them it was like watching TV!