UGH!

Not a pretty picture, but that's what you get when you have all 4 wisdom teeth pulled at the same time. I feel like a chipmunk, and I'm getting a little bored with bland, easy to digest food. One of my wisdom teeth broke a few months ago, but it didn't bother me at all. Then all of a sudden it started to hurt. And it hurt a lot. Got an appointment with an oral surgeon, and he said it needed to be extracted. Since I had previously been told that all 4 needed to come out anyway, I decided to get it all taken care of in one sitting.

In knitting news; I finished my Phoebe-jacket! I've worn it a couple of times already, and judging by the comments I have gotten I don't think it will be difficult to get them all sold. The angora trim of the collar really feels luxurious up against my face, and I feel like a high society lady wearing it. I know, I know; it's like putting lipstick on a pig. High society I am not!

I am continuing to work on other jackets, but I am also currently working on a Noro felted purse. I had quite a stash of Noro, but had never knitted with it. It knits up like a dream. It is my own concoction, for some reason I cannot find my 2 Pursonalities books, so I had to invent my own pattern. I am knitting 3 long panels from different skeins, and will be grafting them together. Then I'll make a flap and a strap. Can't wait to see how it will turn out. I'll post a picture once it is done.

Today I'll be heading to Sam's Club with a friend to stock up on groceries, and I have a huge load of laundry to do. Last night I had to "de-burr" my buck Lancelot again. I have no clue where he picks up all these burrs. Can't find the culprits. He is not very happy when I have to pull on his beard, and I had to have Jan help me hold him. I tried to do it on my own, but Lancelot got my number and head butted me in the knee. Needless to say, I gave him a well-aimed kick in the butt.

The fall colors are simply spectacular! I'm hoping to be able to take some pictures later today. It is so pretty in the morning when the sun comes up. Pikes Peak is covered in snow, and the sun makes it glow orange. The aspen are turning yellow, and the scrub oak is varying shades of red, orange, and gold.

Hope you all have a great day!

Gloomy Thursday

What a perfect day to stay inside and knit.

I've got the crockpot going with a nice brisket and the bread machine is humming with Christy's bread. I'm settled in front of the television with my knitting. One of the SWA mademoiselles (who is soon to become a madame!), Phoebe, has a rather brilliant business venture. She is going to sell angora trimmed denim jackets, and I'm helping out with the production. Right now I'm working on my own jackets so that I will be able to run around town showing it off.

This is how far along I am right now. I've done the collar, the buttonhole lapel, and I'm about halfway done with the other lapel. Once that one is done, I only have the cuffs left to knit. Then comes the real test; I need to sew them on. I am no way, shape, or form a seamstress. I think the "stress"-part of seamstress fits my feelings perfectly.

I wish I could stay inside all day, but I have my last physical therapy session to go to. Unfortunately, it seems like Lady Fortune is not smiling on my recently. A while back I broke my wisdom tooth. It didn't hurt at the time, so being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't go to the dentist. Last night it really started hurting. I know it is too far broken to be repaired, so it needs to come out. My last dentist (who was a horror) said I needed to have all 4 pulled at some time. I guess the time has come. Uff da. I need to make an appointment today, even though the tooth feels much better today. Surely, it will start hurting again soon.

Anyway, this is the view from my living room window. Pikes Peak is hiding in the clouds. Friday night they forecast the snow level to drop to 6,000 feet. We're at 7,000 feet, so we'll get our first snow of the season. I'm tired of the summer, but I had rather hoped to have a long, slow autumn. This is going a little too fast for me. The horses don't even have any winter fuzz yet.



The flies are feeling the cold too and have decided "en masse" to move inside. I've been whacking at them all morning.

A Colorful Weekend

Saturday morning several of the SWA ladies met up at Christy's place for some major dyeing. It was a lot of fun, and we got to experiment a lot with mixing our own colors and shades of colors. Of course, there was a ton of yummy food to be had as well. There even was some spinning!

This is my skein of fall colors; I think I'll call it Autumn Folly. These colors are not what I normally would choose to buy, so it was quite fun to make.

The top picture is of my first attempt at a skein on a warping board. Not for the feint of heart, I'll tell ya. It takes forever to wind, and apparently I did it wrong, so it will be a total mess trying to wind back into a managable skein.

This skein turned out totally different than I had envisioned. I mixed up a burgundy color and kept diluting it with water. To finish it up, I added some grey on top. When I rinsed it out, most of the red coloring disappeared, and this is what it became. Kinda cool, even though it was very much unexpected.

Finally, I also dyed a few silk caps. It was my first time even seeing a silk cap, so it was an interesting experience.

Thank you so much, Christy, for yet again hosting such a wonderful day. Now I need to find out what I want to knit with this stuff.....

I'm Baaaack!

Contrary to popular belief, I have not been consumed by the aforementioned snake. As a matter of fact, it has not shown shown itself since our first encounter. Nay, I have been suffering terrible hardships at a resort in Keystone. Oy vey! Being a veterinarian, I have to make sure I keep up with new developments in my field, and that includes yearly conferences. It's hard work (said in my best imitation of Dub-ya). The aspen is just starting to turn color, and it is so beautiful up there this time of the year. Stoopid here forgot to bring her camera, so no pics of the gorgeousness. My deepest apologies.

I returned home on Tuesday with a million little trinkets from vendors who want to sell me their whole kit and kaboodle. Since I'm a holistic veterinarian, I don't need all kinds of pharmaceutical products, but if they want to give me their pens, coffee mugs, stuffed toys, etc. who am I to say no?


I continued to spin up the gorgeous alpaca roving yesterday. It drafts like a dream and I can't wait to see the finished product. I can't spin for much longer than 5-10 minutes at a time, so it will likely take a while before I have to full bobbins to ply.


This instrument of torture is my friend. I'm having 3 dates a week with its more modern sister, and it feels really good once I get off the table. I never knew that good ole-fashioned medieval torture could feel so good. By the way, do not google rack + torture + painting. Ever. The amount of filth you'll be exposed to is out of this world. Yuk.

I'll leave you with a last picture to calm your senses. This is the sunrise I watched from my porch last week.

Snakes on the Pavement

- or F***, WTF did that F***ing snake go?????

[Scene 1]
Unsuspecting Woman (U.W.) enters garage while whistling a little ditty. U.W. hits the button for the garage door. Theme from "Jaws" starts playing. U.W. walks toward the car while door slowly rises. Music nears crescendo. A dozing 3 foot rattlesnake is suddenly visible......

Snake: "hmmm....wha...?
U.W.: "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

THUMP!!! (Bags drop to the ground)

Snake: "hisssssss hi-hisssssssssssss"
U.W.: "F***!!!!!!"
Snake: "HISSSSS!!!!

U.W hoofs it around the front of the car, opens the driver side door. AND DROPS HER KEYS.

U.W.: "Shite"
Snake: "Hiss hiss?"

U.W. cautiously looks around, bends down and quickly retrieves keys.

WHAM!!

U.W. hits head against door jam of car.

U.W.: "F***etty-f***!!
Snake: "Hisssssss rattle and hisss"

[Scene 2]

U.W. finally manages to get inside the car, close the door and start the engine. U.W. puts the car in reverse and backs out of the garage and over the snake. U.W. is now Jubilant Woman (J.W.).

J.W.: "YEAH!!! Bite me, you F***ing snake!"

J.W. exits the car to admire The-Blob-Formerly-Known-As-Snake.

J.W.: "Huh? Where did the f***ing snake go???"

Camera pans out, no snake visible.

[The End]


How's that for a wake up? I apologize for the expletives. They are, however, a true reflection of my emotions at the time.

Eeek-arus gigantuus

Say "hi" to the monster; 10 feet across and a good 5 feet long. That's what you end up with if you use size 6 needles instead of size 3 as the pattern calls for. I really didn't block it that hard, merely stretched it out a little bit to get the right shape going. If I had blocked it to within an inch of its life I'm sure it would have been at least another foot bigger.


The final stretch was, well......quite something. For someone who rarely has to frog, it ended up being "interesting" when I had to tinker back a whole row, row 3 of the edging which counts more than 600 stitches. Then, I wasn't able to get the beads on. The hole in the bead was too small for passing 2 strands of yarn through. Bummer.
I blocked it last night, and that was something else as well. Sitting on the floor with my bad back wasn't exactly my kind of fun, but I managed. I was too excited to wait. I know I could have done a better job, but it was just too painful. I need to get some better pictures as well. Maybe tomorrow.



A new project is already on the needles. I cast on last night for a moebius cowl in the new pink Classic Yarn Cashsoft. I'm not sure yet if I like it, but it's a quick knit.

In other news; I was put in traction yesterday by my physical therapist. It felt good while I was in it, but today I feel like death warmed over. I hope this is only a temporary setback.
I found this quiz on another blog. I guess my result is fairly obvious; Amsterdam. For those of you not in the know, I'm dutch. Fitting, non?

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

Mea Culpa

I forgot to post the origin of the fiber I showed you a few days ago. Here it is, my Anatolian shepherd, Nuggett. Poor guy has such a thick coat. He can't wait 'till winter, when he simply loves sleeping outside in the snow. We don't leave him outside at night. He'll bark all night long, and we'd like to keep our neighbors happy. Living with an Anatolian is an exercise in patience. The word "shepherd" is very misleading, as shepherds usually aim to please their master. Not so with an Anatolian shepherd. They are a Turkish breed, and are used to guard the sheep and goats. They live with the flock, and guard them against bears and wolves. Nuggett hates coyotes with a passion, and will kill them if he can get to them. The independent nature of an Anatolian makes it almost impossible to train him. If he doesn't want to come when called, he'll stay outside until you physically come and get him. All this aside, we have been very lucky with our dog. He is well socialized and is very friendly towards other dogs and people.

I just had to run outside. Effie, my oldest German shepherd started screaming in pain. I think she got head butted by our billy goat, Lancelot. She's fine, but she needs to learn to leave the goats alone.
Today is a quiet day. We were supposed to haul our yearling horse off to the trainer, but I can't get a hold of the trainer to let her know we're coming. Bummer. I'd rather not do the hauling tomorrow as I'm planning on meeting with some of the ladies from my knitting group. Since the day just opened up, I've put a nice Sunday roast in the crockpot. It will be simmering for the next 8 hours, and will hopefully be yummy. I love my crockpot. Had to buy a new one, as I'd used the old one to dye yarn in.

Yesterday I went to Joann's to get some swarowski crystal beads for the edging of Icarus. I have 10 more rows to go before the edging, so the end is in sight. Each row takes over 30 minutes to complete, so I'm about fed up with Icarus at this point. I stopped by String in Highlands Ranch as well and stocked up on some Koigu and some lovely pink Classic Yarn Cashsoft DK. I'm thinking of making a moebius shawl once the Icarus monster is done.

Well, I'm going to get some knitting done while I watch US Open tennis. See ya later.....

....and a good time was had by all.

Today I had a group of mademoiselles from my knitting group visiting, and we even had a husband (Maus' DH) show up for a few minutes. Since I've been layed up for the past almost 3 weeks with my bum back, I've been craving some knitterly company. Well, they showed up in full force and with lots of yummy food. Maus and Sabine brought homemade bread, hummus, and baba ganoush. Lisa brought yummy homemade cheesecake and a bag of her private stash of west coast potato chips. Darcie brought homemade rosemary bread that Christy had made (Christy came a little later) and it was still warm! And what else could fabulous Phoebe bring but a fabulous macaroni salad with all kinds of herbs and veggies.



After stuffing ourselves with all the deliciousness it was time to greet the 4-legged friends at our little farm. The horses were petted, the goats were fed (Lisa almost got toppled by a greedy Annabelle), and the llamas graced us with their aloof presence. Of course, we all forgot to bring the cameras outside with us.

Christy finally came after having had her massage, and then it was time for some knitting, spinning and serious cheesecake consumption. I'm sure we all ate enough for about a million weight watcher points, but who's counting anyway?


Here you see Sabine and Maus knitting away.


Darcie is cracking up while Christy is showing off her proficiency as a bunny gynocologist (she is very suggestively stuffing a bunny through the nether orifice, and closing the episiotomy site, after some very funny comments about chocolate covered raisins.


Christy is spinning some yellow roving. She continued on to spin some delicious milk chocolate colored alpaca roving.


Phoebe is knitting along on her new venture; angora edging on denim jackets. We'll all chip in to help her out. The jackets are to be sold later this year along with matching angora scarves and hats. Lisa is rummaging in her purse.

It was 5.30 when the ladies packed up. I hope they all got home safe. The weather turned somewhat nasty this afternoon, with fog and rain. I'm inclined to get a fire going in the fireplace and curl up with my knitting. Sounds like a good idea, non?