Blogger Award Times Two

I don't know what it was yesterday, but the animal kids and I couldn't settle down.  I spent the day flitting from thing to thing like a 130 lb butterfly on meth.  The pipe that exploded before Christmas while I was at the post office started leaking again on Sunday.  I've been afraid to get into anything that would require water during the day because I know at some point it will shut off.  Today, the guys came and fixed it, right around the time I would get things done before my shows.  Of course, the water came on just as The Talk started.  I wonder if one of the repair men is named Murphy?

Part of my flitting yesterday, I finally started my oldest son's socks he wanted for his birthday this past Saturday. It's not Christmas, so he'll get them ASAP (for me) which could be anytime this year (if he's lucky).  Actually, I have three pairs of men's knee high socks to knit.  Welcome to Sock Hell, though not as bad as Hat Hell 2010 as there isn't an quickly impending deadline (to me).

I'm using a sock panel from Knit Picks that I dyed in a winter camoflage colorway.  Based on my daughter's socks made with what was supposed to be princess camo, I know it will be more stripey than splotchy, sadly.

Because these blanks are two strands of yarn knitted together it lends itself for knitting two socks at the same time. The only time I used the two socks on two needles method was for my mother's leg warmers and I wasn't a fan.  Still, not a fan, I started with this method last night.  The set up was a bit tricky and made my left wrist hurt.  Enough so that I'm whining about it.  Maybe, I should use longer needles but this is what I have on hand.

From Knitting Kitties

You calculate half the stitches you need to cast on, cast on half the stitches for one sock on one circular needle, then take the other yarn and cast on the same amount of stitches on the same needle.  Take that yarn from the second sock cast on the other half on the second needle, then the yarn from the first sock and cast on the other half.

You then knit each half on each different circular.  Frankly, I find it to be very fiddley and I don't care for the lines that end up on either side of the sock.  Today, I realized I miscalculated my gauge and will have to start again. *heavy sigh*

Because my wrist is throbbing, I didn't feel like knitting too much today and aggravating it further.  Or I should say, I'm in the mood to knit, my wrist would prefer if I refrained.  In the course of my blog surfing, I seem to have caught a case of startitis. (Actually, terminal and I've had it for years, chronic)  Inoculate yourself now, just in case I'm contagious.

From Knitting Kitties

This kit has been in my project bag for a couple years.  I've been itching to work on a seed bead project for awhile.  There is a wonderful bead shop in the same plaza as Sunflower market just a mile away from me.  (dangerous territory)  I really could use several of these little needlecases to organize my needles.  I'm going to bring this one in and see if they have any in stock.  Just the case, I don't need another kit.  Bead Patterns.com is a great place to go for seed beading patterns and tutorials.  They have tons of wonderful free patterns.  (warning you could get lost over there and not find your way back for days).

Herbie is getting to be quite the big boy bird now.  Quite something else he is.  He was out for a few minutes in the morning, yesterday.  Later, he popped his head out, so I brought him out again.  Right away, he ran from one side of the cage to the other screaming.  Worried, I tried to put him back in the box.  He tried to fight his way back out, and seemed to be stuck in the hole.  After taking a short video, I helped him back in and back out, all the while being bit.  Luckily, his beak doesn't yet have the strength of Mommy and Daddy.



Everything could use a really good scrubbing.  I've been trying to spot clean, as I didn't want to upset Ladybird and have her abandon her nest for a second time.  She seems to realize I'm not out to hurt her babies, and very unlikely to abandon them., now.  A really good scrubbing will happen in short order, now that the water is back on.

He was fine, when I helped him out and I went about my butterfly flitting business.  About a half hour later, I came back to check on him.  No Herbie!!!  Where the heck is he?  Then I look at the hole.  Somehow he got himself back into the box.  So tired he was, he was sleeping with his head resting halfway out the hole. He's spending a couple hours at a time outside since last night. When I notice him falling asleep in the corner, I put him back in with the others.

The parents are funny.  They sit on the perches right above him, lean over a bit with their head turned to one side, just watching him.  Until he notices them up there and starts screaming, then they rush down to feed him. A couple times, that was funny to watch.  He ran around in a circle and they were trying to chase him and feed him at the same time.  It reminded me when my children were babies, screaming for their bottle.  When I put the nipple to their lips, they continued to scream for a minute before they realized it's right there.

The nesting box started to smell a bit ripe this morning.  Since Ladybird isn't having much trouble with me messing with the kids, I pulled them all out of the box to dump the wood shavings and add clean ones.  They, however, had a problem with the process.  Screaming they ran to the nearest corner to pile up. Herbie tried to settle them down, but gave up pretty quick.

From Knitting Kitties

Last week, Lovestitch picked me for the Stylish Blogger award.  I've been a bit scatter brained and distracted this week as you well know, so I haven't posted about it yet.  In the interim, Teresa picked for the same award.  Both blogs say I need to post seven things about me.  They change with the picking.  Lovestitch says I need to pick 15 new to me blogs.  I've been quite a bit behind in my regular blog reading, much less to go out searching for new ones.  My blog following list is a full time list to read some days/weeks.  So long it is, I'm having  a hard time remembering whose new and whose not.  Teresa says to just pick some blogs.  The picking is the hard part.  I don't know who might not want to be picked and I don't want to upset anyone by not picking them.

From Knitting Kitties

Seven things about me:

1.) I'm picky about my hamburgers.  I'll tell you I'm not, but the truth is I really am.  If there's no cheese, then I want Heinz catsup and a thin slice of raw onion.  If there is American cheese then dill pickles with a little bit of yellow mustard (and I do mean a little bit).  D and I have arguments of what "a little" is.  I think I finally have him trained after 8 years.  If it's cheddar or Swiss then there are all sorts of combinations, that have to follow my instructions, implicitly.  I don't know why he doesn't just slap the burger on a plate and let me decorate it myself, but he insists on doing it.  Which leads to "discussions" about my pickyness.

2.) I've been craving Zweigles Red and White Natural casing hotdogs for about a month now.  They are very classic to the area I originate from.  From what I'm told, you can't get a white hot anywhere but Western New York.  I do know, I can't find a white hot to save my life around here.  My daughter called wanting us to send her a homemade turtle cheesecake.  I said I would if she would send me a couple packages of hotdogs.  This would be the opportune time, as she could freeze them, send them Priority, which will arrive in two days and not be already cooked.  Like in July, when it's 110F/ 43.4C.  I'm still waiting on my Girl Scout cookies from November, so I'm not holding my breath.  (I just noticed that link, I could order 6lbs with free shipping.  Yet, another reason to get a job.)  Two packages with red and white mix would suffice though.

Can you tell I'm hungry and maybe should consider some lunch.

3.) I love to bake and make candy.  Trying to decide if I want to make a dark chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting or Jack Daniels pie in a little while.

4.) I love animals.  Really, you might not have known that.  D keeps me in check so I don't get a special spot on Animal Hoarders.  In Rochester, we lived right across the street from a pet store.  D was told he might want to bring them a picture of me with a warning not to sell me any pets unless he was with me.  They did let me visit several times weekly to talk to their pets.  The parrot knew my name when we moved.

5.) I love miniatures.  Some day I want to build my own doll house and make most of the miniatures myself.  With everything else I do, I don't when I'll make the time.  The way my eye sight is going I'll probably need a microscope by then.

6.) My favorite flowers are purple and blue pansies, lilacs, Asiatic (stargazer) lillies, hyacinths and purple, apricot or pink roses.

7.) Some day I want to travel to the UK and Europe.  Mostly to Utrecht, Netherlands to look up my grandmother's birth certificate, then Dordrecht to see if I could trace her mother's side.  I'm told trying to trace her father's side would be impossible because Anton Jansen is the same as John Smith in the US.

Now, I'm going to randomly pick some people from my blog reader.

1. 006 Licensed To Knit (this one I know is new to me)
2. A Hundred Billion Stars  (relatively new)
3. Affiknitty
4. Beadknitter
5. cazcrafts (another new one)
6. Crafty Cripple
7. Five Cats From Crazy
8. It Might Be A Metaphor
9. Julie's Stitchyknitter
10. Needles, Pins and Baking Tins
11. Quietly Stitching
12. Random Thoughts of a Crazy Woman
13. Tami's Amis and Other Stuff  (she deserves an award for keeping the WIPW and FOF going each week)
14. Useless Beauty

There were others I wanted to pick, but I'm not sure if their bloggers would want to be picked.  I'm not sure if all of this group would.  If I've left a comment on your blog in the past couple months and you would like to participate, then I pick you too.  My psychic mind reading powers are down at this time with all the FBI and media about in my city.

The news report on Gabrielle Giffords is so encouraging today.  She's opening her eyes and moving her arms and legs on both sides.  The news flashes of Christina Green's funeral are sad.  My thoughts are with her family and the families of all the victims Saturday.