March 29 - the best day of the entire year!

I woke up this morning to find these attached to my car. We brought them inside, where the cats freaked out for the next couple hours.

It's going to be a good day!

Felted hat

I felted my first item this week. I'm not too crazy about it. The pattern isn't quite what I was hoping for, it's a little "peasantish." But it's growing on me. I do like the finished product the felting created though. Very nice. Next, I think I'll make a purse.

Simba modeled the hat. Unfortunatley, you can't really see the felting of the hat in this photo, but you can see how the flash washed out Simba's face and showed his true features. Apparently, he has no cheeks. Not to mention that possessed expression...

Blue stripe socks

I'm working on some new socks and I'm already bored with them. I mean...there's no effort involved! I think next time I'm going to make socks that involve some sort of stitch pattern. I did find a pattern that involves little teensy cables...that sounds like fun! Or maybe some intarsia? Sounds like a challenge. :)

The sock on the left shows the "right side" of the heelp flap, waiting to be turned. The sock on the right is showing the "wrong side" of the heel flap. I'm about half way through it. I'm working on the socks in tandem so I can avoid the dreaded SSS (Second Sock Syndrome). Actually, I enjoy knitting them both at the same time. It's kinda cool to go through each section at the same time cause I remember exactly what I just did on the other sock.



So, my birthday is just around the corner. *sigh* I find myself calling people in their twenties "kids" and talking about the "good ol days" and playing "remember when" a lot nowadays. I am just pitiful!!

Of course, I don't see why this comes as a surprise. After all, two of my favorite past times is KNITTING and drinking TEA. Not to mention that I really look forward to spending my Friday night relaxing at home away from all those kids out there causing problems. I remember when....oh, forget it.

Speaking of past times, I haven't been to the gym in quite awhile. First, my accountability buddy got sick and we both stopped going to the gym. Then, I got a temp job that requires a lot of physical and mental energy and long distance driving, (which isn't so bad except everyone seems to drive like they're running away from something)...i.e. I just can't go to the gym until the job is over. I have, however, lost 37 pounds. Today I decided that I am going to lose 40 pounds by New Years. I know it can be done, I just have to apply myself!

Speaking of job, I've been working these past couple weeks for an organization that provides streaming media content to online customers. I provide customer service to peeps who have billing and technical difficulties. I really enjoy this job but SHEESH do people get upset easily! I mean, I know this is the name of the game in this industry, but I haven't heard this much profanity since my Irish great grandma threatened to kill my giggling great grandpa! (Was this before or after he ran her over??) I hear next week we'll be working with *censored* fans. I'm sure they will provide me with a new level of "entertainment" that I never thought possible. I mean, you can only take this job so seriously. When I first started doing customer refunds, I thought I was going to get sick. I guess I was taking all their threats and anger personally. Now, it's all in a days work. :)

Gotta go, Zoe is meowing. And we all know that means the Diva Princess needs her rub down, and NOW.

Rainbow Socks

I finally completed my first set of socks! They only took me about a week too...I was surprised at how quickly they knit up. I've only been knitting for about six months now. After knitting a scarf and several hats, I quickly moved on to mittens. I realized if I could make mittens, I could do anything! I also didn't want to pay the $45 for the sock knitting classes (that $ could pay for a lot of yarn!) so after some obsessing, my friend Janet bought some sock patterns and gave me some to work off of. I have to admit, there was some trial and error and sure, these socks aren't perfect...but on the whole, I'm happy. Just today I bought some new sock yarn at a LYS...I have enough for three pair now. hehehehhehehe

This is my first try at normal sized socks. The first sock I knit, Marjorie, was created with Caron's Simply Soft yarn with #8 dpns. She turned out to be HUGE but several people I know have requested similar socks to be used as slippers. I knit these rainbow's up at the same time using #3 dpns. I had two sets going so I could knit each section at the same time. Also, I have heard that other people don't like knitting socks because once you're finished with one, you really don't want to do a second. So I solved this potential problem by knitting them in tandem.

I know they're not perfect, but I'm proud of 'em. They're for Mom; I'll let you know what she thinks of them and how well they hold up. She's pretty tough on socks. grrr

My first completed set of socks!! 

And the next animal in the trap is a...

SKUNK!

That's right. Apparently there was an animal lurking around (Mom could see it's eyes reflecting back at her flashlight) so she decided to trap it. Personally, I think she really wants to get the other cougar. Anyway...she thought the eyes belonged to a racoon or coyote but either way, she ended up catching a skunk. So now her question to me is, "What do I do?"

Um.

My only advice to her was NOT to put the skunk in the freezer. She tried that a few years ago and the skunk stench permeated all the other frozen foods. Apparently Ziploc's promise that it will keep odors "in" was not necessarily true with the strong, odiferous skunk. Mom wanted to write them a letter of complaint, but she never got around to it. OOOOOH I wish she would have!! I would love to have read their response!!