long day

Beware, dear readers, there's a swearing rampage at the end of this post.

The dog needed to go out right away this morning...not so bad since the moon was just setting behind the trees.

I didn't think the photo would work. The orange glow is the street light on the corner, the bright white is the moon behind some trees, weird eh? The camera has dead batteries now but I'll get more so I can try this again when the moon is away from that alien orange light.


These are long fingerless mittens for Megan, one of the baristas at the old job. A fun knit...sort of socks with out turning a heel. She thought I'd make something in your basic gray and black...ha! Knitted jewelry.

Most of the morning was wasted on paper work and b.s. so I wanted to put up pictures before I whined. The most annoying is the state of Alaska announcing that one of the investment companies they use "lost" the personal data of people who were in their system in 2003 and 2004. Nice. Thanks so much. Tried to get a free credit report from the site they linked...only to discover they believe I took out a mortgage on this house in 2004. Years before I even moved to Haines, I apparently had designs on this house. A house I didn't even know existed!

Blogger just deleted part of my rant...adding fuel to my fire are you? Ahem.

Then there is the god damned bead order. (ahh extra swearing for the slight deletion) January 8th I ordered nearly 100 dollars worth of beads from Whim Beads. I wasn't going to mention names, but there ya go. January 8th. Two weeks later, I emailed them. 3 times. Then I called them. "We didn't call you?" No. That is why I am calling you. Part of your order just got here, we shipped it today, it should be there by Thursday or Friday. Yup, it's not fucking here. I'm sorry Whim, as much as I love you I won't be making big orders via e-mail any more. You will be paying for my call to your 800 number so I can KNOW if you are fucking going to fucking delay my fucking order for nearly a fucking month.

My apologies to any one that might find my language offensive... go wash your ears out with soap.

Erika's having a baby

My jr. high friend Kris is going to be a grandmother again.  Amazing.  I remember getting the message that Kris had given birth to Erika when I was living in a beat up old rental in Bellingham.  Erika Ray is having a second baby boy today.   I made my first baby quilt, and might just have to make more, they're fun!

I had some really nice flannel from ages ago and was already working on this shades of light and dark pattern.  So quick and easy, even the quilting part was fun!  Sliding a baby quilt around under the needle is so much easier than a full grown quilt.

busy

I have been getting a lot done this week now that the snows are more gentle. The above is the snow on the hood of the car very close to the end of that elephant snow fall. The snow on the hood of the car with the dead battery!

Lots of googling and reading about changing out a battery and I was ready to fix the car. It's fairly simple, but 12 volts is a serious amount of electricity so I'm cautious to paranoid about messing with a car battery. The logistics of actually fetching a battery from the parts store are a pain in the ass too. They're too heavy to carry when you're walking any distance and you need to take the old battery back to be recycled. The old one is going to be covered with acid because that's what happens when a battery is in bad shape. (more paranoia) I ended up borrowing my neighbor's car...it was half buried under the elephant snow, but the good plow guy had cleared the 4 foot berm. Anyways...the car is running again thanks to help from a friends car and the last minute assist from another friend who installed the beast! Yay friends!

On to this week:

After going to the Extreme Dreams gallery for Sunday art night, I'm re energized about finishing the collar of beads and cabs. Two of the artists were totally jazzed about the colors and the cabs while a third whispered 'go for the highest bid'! We also had a "we'll all go to Tucson" next gem/bead show moment. oooh.


And (drum roll please) It lives! It has sleeves, it has cut steeks, it is a sweater! I need to decide on the neck and hem the waist and sleeves but look at this it's nearly done!
Yes, I'm standing on the table to get the shot. I wanted to show the lighter top/darker bottom aspect.

Winter arrived on elephant feet

View from the front door...looking at what should be the driveway. 7a.m. 1/12/01
That lump on the left is the front of my car, I had to stand on a short stool to put up the thermometer on the woodshed.
I dug out the trench between the car and the house a couple of times...it just fills up again when the wind blows across the lump that is the car.

It has snowed, it is snowing and it will snow. Then the wind will slap it around and fill in all the paths you made. If it rains, I'll never get the car out.

Update...driveway cleared (no photos yet) but when the dog and I went out she vanished in a drift! She's a medium sized dog about 18 inches at the shoulder...she stepped off the porch on to the stairs and poof. Poor old dog didn't appreciate that.

going dark for a while

Just for the heck of it, I'm going to test out the minima dark look.

No really exciting news from here. Sipping coffee looking out at the snow.

Sweater progress shot with helper cat inspecting for mistakes and woolyness. I believe it has passed inspection because the helper cat has taken the cat-loaf form on the sweater body. As you can see, one sleeve is finished and the other is about 1/2 way done! I will have a sweater soon. Amazing.

wow.

I said a dainty 'holy crap' about the 100 dollar bonus. Now I'm not sure I know an appropriate epithet. Check this out:

This is what flat rate boxes are designed for...a billion beaded belts for my Christmas surprise! Cyn Bicker rocks the Christmas season...LOOK at this! I am the luckiest person in the world. Those of you who think you're luckier...show me your Tombstone AZ beaded belt!!

Yup I'm so articulate "holy crap" is it. Thank you Cyn Bicker!

right tool for the right job

A hair dryer couldn't get the air warm enough this morning so I used my handy dandy Darice Heat Tool to melt the ice on the cars block heater cord. Perfect except for the burnt spot on my mitten.

The princess doggie and I went for our morning walk out this morning at our usual place down the insanely icy hill. I left her leash at the entrance road to keep my hands warm (curl up inside mitten) but thanks to Mrs. Bitchy Moose we had to go out the other road. This meant walking on the highway sans leash for about 1/4 mile. The old dog was so proud of herself for walking way over on the side then standing trembling when a big road grader rumbled by! She did her happy dance when I let her go from 'wait'. Love that old dog.

it's alive!

Or at least it has an arm. The sweater with stories is growing faster than ever. I might have to get 2 more balls of yarn, I hope it's not discontinued! I have enough of the black but am thinking not enough white. Brief time out for annoying dog and some yarn searching...

(music plays for a few minutes) Hey wait! I found some tucked away in the shoe thing that holds all those balls of yarn in the cat room! Don't worry story-sweater fans, I think we can do it.

As I was walking to town today I was thinking about this holiday season...realized that the 100 dollars from people I've known for less than a month is my best gift. Nothing from family? Seriously, siblings you really suck.

Oh and sister of mine "You could make yourself a t.v. dinner" for Christmas is really mean and bitchy. You suck extra.

that new job

I quit the market and have been working at the bookstore for about a month, right? Their daughter delivered a card to me tonight...with a $100 dollar bill tucked inside! Holy Christmas Bonus Batman! If you ever come to Haines Ak, stop at the Babbling Book, ok?

elf shoes, an iris and a cat

Knit them huge in 100 percent wool then toss them in the washer and dryer...let 'em dry and you have elf shoes! From the Flint Knits blog... Hers have cool pointy cuff things on them but I left that off for the remain sane option.

After I washed and dried them, they weren't really felted enough so I used the plunger and bucket technique that the Yarn Harlot tried. If you read her next post you'll see it doesn't always work. I didn't use the tennis balls, didn't have a bunch of fuzzy slippers in mine and I used snow for the shockingly cold water after the really really hot water. It worked great. Too well in spots, if you look at my after picture, there are some lumpy areas where the inside and outside of the shoes stuck together...easily fixed with some tugging and shaping after the shoes are dry.


Cat enjoying getting the flash in the face...she was 'helping' with the elf shoe photo shoot.

The post card and the painting...then I screwed it all up trying to add a background. I'm working on a second one. Some of my old water color abilities are coming back, but not many!