The Oregon Fail

Yesterday my Mom, sister, sisters friend, and I made a little road trip down to Oregon for the Flock and Fiber Festival. We were going to pick up my Schacht Ladybug wheel. I was so excited that the night before I was contemplating going to bed at 8pm just so that Saturday would come sooner. Instead I made it all the way until 10pm. xD But I digress.

A trip that should have taken 2.5 hours each way, took more like 7. 

At 9am on Saturday we gassed up the car and headed out to the freeway. We made very good time (in my opinion at least) because there weren't that many car on the road. I don't blame them, who the heck wants to be driving around at 9am on a Saturday?
We went a little bit past Chehalis when the tire pressure light came on. So we pulled into the nearest gas station, put air into the tire, Maggie and Lucia got some snacks and coffee and we tried to set off again. But the tire pressure light was still on. Mom thought one of the tires might have a leak in it, and didn't want to drive on the freeway. So we took back roads to the nearest Les Schwab...which was 22miles back the way we'd come. =.= Guy at Les Schwab said that if too much air is put into a tire it can make the gauge act up. So he let some air out, and put us back on the road.
We hit the freeway again, and were probably 10 miles past the gas station we had stopped at when the light came back on. And then turned back off. And then came on again. And this time it stayed on. Mom panicked again, so we got off the freeway and drove 15miles to the left to yet another Les Schwab.
They people there were going to replace the tire that had presumably a hole, but it would take an hour because there were 7 other people before us. At this point it was 12:55pm.
We sat around the tire center for an hour and of course I didn't have anything to knit...or to spin. The ONE day when I looked at my simple sock project and though "Naw, I won't need that because I'll be busy running all over the Fiber Fest" we get stuck for an hour at a tire center. It was horrible.
But the guy looked at all four tires and couldn't find anything wrong with them. So he looked at the cars computer, and there was the problem. The computer was making the tire pressure gauge act up. So he reset it and send us on our way.
An entire 2 hours of my life and time wasted for something as simple as a computer reset! =.=;; Story of my flippen life.
We suck at this road trip thing. 

My Ladybug

But we got to the Festival, I paid the remaining balance on my wheel and it was being assembled for me as I was shopping around. I got to see some of the sheep, and my resolve to own one or two is even stronger now. They are just so cute! And some only come up to your knee!! It would be like owning a medium sized dog. A dog that doesn't bark and eats grass and grain and gives you fleece.
With the fest closing soon we made it back to the hall where my wheel was, and bought it; right from under someones nose. The guy was looking to buy it too, but I was there first and I had made arrangements already, darn it. >=D Mwahaha.

The trip home as much better with no incidents. I even got to drive back about halfway through; it was nice being able to go 70 mph =).
We might go again next year, and hopefully this time the car isn't going to act up and rob us of 2 hours. Stupid car.

A bag of skittles is more organized!

Yesterday was the first day of school for most kids here in the state of Washington, so I took Thing 1 to school; it was her first day of kindergarten.
We arrived at 8:30, and hurried inside. A staff member directed us to the cafeteria, but since Thing 1 had already eaten at home I didn't see the point in sitting there so I asked the staff member if we could just go to the classroom. The lady very nicely explained to us that teachers don't really want students to go to the classrooms yet because they are getting ready; fair enough. So we waited in the cafeteria until a lady with a microphone said that K-2 should go to the Gym where the teachers would pick them up. The names were hung up on the walls and Thing 1 went to stand under her teachers name.
There were 6 other classes in the gym, and a ton of parents and younger siblings. It was a bit crazy. I assumed that all the teachers would come in, that someone with a microphone would ask for silence, then the teachers would stand at the start of the lines, and one by one every class would leave the gym and go to their classrooms. Nope! 'cause that would make sense and why would we want that?!
Instead, the first 4 kids in Thing 1's line vanished and a parent waved his hand in my general direction and said, "The class is going this way!" If it hadn't been for that man, I would still be standing in the gym with the girls.
The hallway was chaotic. There were parents and students and teachers everywhere. We finally got to the classroom and had to then stand in the hallways for like 10 minutes while the teacher stood by the door and said hello to every single flippin' child and spoke to the parent briefly. She said hi to Thing 1, confirmed who I was, checked a sheet next to her, then told me a few things and it was done with. Then I walked back through the chaos with Thing 2 and we went home.
Now why the hell couldn't the teacher open up the classroom and let kids sit there? That's what they did with my sister when she was in elementary school. If you were hungry you went to the cafeteria to eat, if you weren't you sat in the classroom until the day started. Simple. Easy-peasy. Buuuuut no. We're going to make the kids go all kinds of ways and confuse the hell out of them; I'm 24 and even I was confused!!
There was no organization what so ever...like I said, a bag of skittles is more organized then that school.

It's going to be a fun year. =.=

Friggen pissin' me off....(and art yarn)

Fastest way to loose me as a customer forever? Don't follow through with stuff.
As you guys may know I'm making payments on a spinning wheel. When the youngest of the two girls I watch, Thing 2, threw away my piece of paper where we'd been keeping track of our payments (I couldn't fault the 2yr old for wanting to help me with cleaning out my purse...who could get mad at a 2yr old holding a hand full of trashed papers asking "Ga'bage?") I sent an e-mail to the shop owner. On July 3rd I received an e-mail saying that her tracking sheet was somewhere on her desk and that she was hoping she'd have everything cleaned up that weekend. By August 20th I still hadn't gotten a reply. How flipping big is her desk?! So I sent her another friendly e-mail. Another excuse, and still nothing. I am becoming incredibly cross with this lady. It should not be that difficult to hunt down a piece of paper and tell me how much I still have left on a $656 spinning wheel. That's a lot of money to spend at once...especially when I don't make a whole lot to begin with. To say that I am displeases would be like saying the sun is only a little bit warm. And I certainly will not be doing business with this shop again.

My school is also ticking me off a little bit. Their degree just became far more complicated and headachy for me so I'm transferring to a different college. I'll be starting with them at the beginning of January which is winter quarter. That means I'm taking a bit of a break from school, but only 3 months worth. I could have probably scrambled around to get into Fall Quarter, which starts on the 24th of Sept. but honestly, that was way more scrambling then I'm willing to do. Especially when it means that I'd have to quit working so I could get to one of my classes in the afternoon. I'd rather work for a little bit longer and then start school full-time again.

On a completely unrelated note: I'm making art yarn. Now this might not seem strange to some people, but I don't art yarn (well, most of it anyways). There are some skeins that people make that make me think "wow, that is so pretty!" and then there are skeins that people make that makes me think "Did you even try to make this into something resembling yarn?" These skeins usually look really horrible, in my opinion, and I don't understand how someone can call it "art" yarn. Thing 2 is more artistic with a pixie stick.

But after seeing a tutorial on how to incorporate hand made angora flowers into art yarn I figured I'd give it a try too....with felt. xD bought myself some felt sheets in red, yellow, and white and made little red and yellow flowers. Pulled some sewing thread through the middle, leaving 2 longs ends, and then incorporated the ends into the roving as I was spinning it. And the flowers stay in place pretty well. Now of course I'm not recommending that people yank on them, but just knitting or crocheting something with them won't make the flowers all out.
Of course I'm also thinking of other yarns that I could make with this method, where there is just enough cute to make it "artsy" but not too much crazy to make it unusable ('cause I'm sorry, but some of the art yarns out there should not be used to knit something...ever). I'm thinking of stars or snowflakes in blue roving. Or ducks. xD

Sheldon the Tampurtle (and the Ravellenic results)

I was knitting away furiously on Sheldon 2, trying to get him finished before the Ravellenic Games deadline of 3:59pm. It was already 1am but I was determined to finish as much as I could of the little bastard. I would NOT be defeated by a piece of knitting. I finished his body and though it would be a genius move if I put the eyes on before stuffing him (I realize that pattern also suggests that, but shut up). So with thread and needle in hand I wormed my fingers down this throat so I could give him the gift of sight...on his butt. Oh yes, in my haste to finish Sheldon 2 I had put his eyes on his butt. With a sigh I glared at him but pressed on. I could always take the eyes out later. I finished the body, finished a leg, jammed it on his body and took a picture to proudly show off my progress to my mother. Her reply was "ROFL he looks like a dumbbell with a tampon attachment!! LOL" "Great, I have a tampon turtle...a tampurtle..." I replied. The name Tampurtle kind of stuck so now he's Sheldon the Tampurtle. I also ended up knitting 5 legs instead of 4 (so I could have either made him male or given him a unicorn horn...Sheldon the UniTampurtle...oh gosh), and the back of his attachment panel is ended up a bit lose, so it looks like he has a saggy butt.

Overall I'm really happy with Sheldon 2 though; now I just have to find him a good home. I'm thinking I'll add him to some knitted hats I'll be giving to our gym owner who just had a baby boy. I was going to give it to Cierra for Leah, but honestly I don't feel like it anymore...I have yet to see her really use any of the other things I've made that child so why should I bother

During the Ravellenic game I managed to finish 4 projects. And Sheldon surprisingly took me only a day (if you don't take into account the times I had to stop for nutrients, exercise so I wouldn't be rooted to my chair, sleep, and bathroom breaks; which is a personal best for me.

I'm really happy with everything I managed to finish. The orange socks fit light a glove even though I had to fudge them a little around the heel and toe. The gray gloves came out great too, I just wish the motif on the top of the hand would have come out better; I might have to seriously block them. And I can't wait to wear that white hat. For being an acrylic/nylon blend it blocked really well too. I stretched it over a plate, which really confused the in-laws. But one would think that by now they'd be used to this kind of behavior. The only things I didn't get done were a shawl and some handspun. But I'm okay with that. Next year, I'm aiming for 5 FO's.

I wonder what he's thinking...

...my frog Fred that is, when I change his water out completely. I usually put him in a cup with his old water, swish out the rocks at the bottom of his cube, wash the sides of the cube really good, add new water, and then plop him back in. He usually freaks out for a while but then settles down. I wonder what that is like for him.
Imagine being suddenly lifted out of your home, placed into a tiny but tall room that is only wide enough for you to stand in, and when you are plopped back into your home everything has been rearranged.
I keep wanting to buy him another buddy (his old cube mate died after about a year) and a bigger bowl, but I'm worried that he'd die of shock, or that the two frogs would fight each other. ...Can they fight each other? Fred is one of those tiny African pygmy frogs that stays under water his whole life. He only comes up for air every now and again when he needs it.
If anyone knows the answer (and if my stats are right I apparently have more then one reader) leave me a comment. It would be super appreciated.

Still alive, still frazzled

Yeah, that's me...still alive, still frazzled

Not a whole lot has changed on mine end. I'm a Nanny again for a person friend. I'm watching her two granddaughters (it's a looong story) while she's at work. Oldest is 5 and a talker (the girl will not shut up!) and loves to craft, something that is largely my fault, mwahahah. The youngest is 2, loves to draw with crayons...on everything, and still only communicates with single words and broken sentences; thank god. But they're both good girls and I rather enjoy my work...most days. My friend Cierra (who is the girl's aunt) is staying with them for the time being, along with Baby Leah, and her two dogs...so this should be interesting.

School is going well. Taking two classes at the same time -- BusLaw1 and Math -- which makes time management interesting. Thankfully I can pop a movie in for the girls in the morning to get some reading done, and work on assignments when they are both napping. And then there is all the time in the evening I have open. It's times like these that I'm glad that I don't have an actual 9-5 job, or a huge amount of things to do after I get home. There wouldn't be enough hours in the day.

I'm also sorta working at my LYS. The ladies there needed someone to be on-call if one of the regular employees can't make it in, or if they are going on vacation, or whatever. So far I haven't been called in. But at least I'm on the map, which is more then I can say for my husband. But let's not get into that.

I've also published another fingerless glove knitting pattern. Fun times. =) I still want to make a hat, and those darn breast cancer socks, not that the pattern for either of them is doing what I want it to do. *grumbles*

And when I'm not knitting (sorta), or running after small humans, or doing school work, I'm drooling over pictures of my Ladybug spinning wheel. Mom and I are making payments on one right now, and hopefully we'll have it all paid off by the beginning of August. That is at least the time frame I'm shooting for. Then we just have to figure out a way to get it; be it by the shop shipping it, or by us driving down and getting it. Did I mention the shop is in California? Lol. Yeah...about that. But I guess the ladies that run the shop travel all over the place to be at fiber shows and conventions, so hopefully they'll come close to us...which would be awesome. I want me wheel dam it! I almost licked it at Madrona Fiber Festival so that I could claim it as mine. Hey! if it works for animals and peeing on stuff, why can't it work for humans and licking things?

You are not a knitter!!

It happens every year. At least once...sometimes more times. Someone will know that I knit, and tell me they knit too...on a loom.

For example, during last years Curves holiday bazaar, a lady was selling hats. They were plain hats, two colors held together, knitted by her on a loom.
During my best friends second baby shower, the paternal grandmother presented her with half a baby blanket, proclaiming "I ran out of yarn and had to special order more from the store." She then turned to the woman sitting next to her, who must have asked something and said, "Yeah, it's my first knitting project too. I made it on one of those loom thingies." And when Cierra unwrapped the pinwheel cardigan I made for the little one, the paternal grandmother leaned forward and said "Oh right, you're a knitter too." And all I could do was shove a piece of cake into my mouth to stop the words from spewing forth.

Loom knitting, for those of you who don't know what it is, uses a circular (sometimes rectangular) ring of plastic or wood with pegs on it. You loop the yarn over the pegs, then use a strange hook to move the loops over the working yarn, and wrap the working yarn around the peg again....or something like that.
In my opinion, you're not really knitting unless you're using a minimum of two knitting needles. I say minimum because there have been times where I have knitted something using 4 or 5 dpns.  Using a loom to "knit" is the equivalent of me going to the grocery store, buying a bunch of pre-packaged things, making them at home, and then calling myself a chef. It doesn't work like that.

You are not a knitter, you are a poser!
 Now go pick up some needles and do it the right way. Otherwise stop calling what you're doing knitting. Call it looming, or loomitting, or something.

Knitting...pah!