The Sun Is Out

We've had quite a few days lately without the sun shining. I know that it's the end of January, but we're used to the sun. So today, it's sunny and not too cold (52º), so it's time to be outside again.


In the spirit of fun, the man I married is going to work on the grill. Being true Southwesterners, we love to grill. We'll grill anything. We love our grill. But, alas, our grill has a problem.


Fire! Something has been wrong with it (as in - there is a blazing inferno everytime we try to cook), so the man I married took the thing apart and discovered that the burner is toast.


Normally this would mean a trip to the grill store (or an order over the internet), but our grill manufacturer has gone out of business. So, we will now have a Frankengrill.


He bought a new burner and will now configure it to work with our old grill. Fingers are crossed, meat is at the ready. We trust this man, so we know there will be meat charring on our grill in time for dinner.


And, in case all else fails, salad is good too.

edit: It's working! Hot dogs for lunch!

When Your World is Spinning, Make Yarn

I've always been fascinated by spinning wheels. Not really sure why, but I love them. In October I had the opportunity to watch someone spin on a drop spindle, and I was smitten.



Thanks to craigslist, I got a really great deal on a barely used spinning wheel. So, now I spin with drop spindles and with my wheel. Actually, I mainly use the wheel to ply, but who's counting.







Anyway: There is something hypnotic about taking a wad of wool and spinning, spinning, spinning. You end up with yarn! It's amazing. I keep thinking that there must be some piece of me that is autistic - I just love the spinning. It's like meditating without actually having to think. You have to focus, but you don't have to count (kinda like knitting stockinette). And the wool is very forgiving - if you make a mistake, or don't like what's going on; you just unspin it and do it again.



So now I have actual yarn that I've made. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. It's pretty to look at and pet, so it may just have to find a pretty bowl and sit around, wowing all who see it. I found a pattern for a purse that I'm thinking of making. I need a new purse, I've got lots of balls of yarn that need a purpose in life. Seems like the perfect match to me.

All I have to do is break down and use my precious balls. As my family is fond of saying: Those are some good balls.

A Clean Dog is a Happy Dog?

Ed is a very dirty dog. When clean, he had a beautiful, curly, very soft, white coat. But Ed hasn't looked like that for a while.

It's the poodle in him: It matts at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, I believed the middle child when he told me that he wanted it to be his responsibility to brush the dog. The middle child lies.

What he actually does is to sit on the couch and brush a teeny tiny spot on Ed's back and then just pet him while everyone else does their chores. To be honest, the middle child does anything possible to avoid work, so I should have seen this coming.

Today I finally got up the gumption to give the dog a bath. Ed is very good when he's getting a bath. He stands still for the indignity of it all, and doesn't shake until I tell him it's okay. Unfortunately it's very cold outside today, so he has to stay inside until he's dry. Also, it has been very dry here, so our yard is mostly just a bunch of dry grass and dirt. This means that on a normal day Ed rolls in this mess and gets full of sprigs and twigs - but on a day when he's wet, those sprigs and twigs combine with the dirt (that was our lawn) and he becomes a brown muddy mess.

Not gonna happen on my watch!

So, for now, Ed must stay inside, must stay clean, and must deal with my haphazard grooming attempts. He looks like a poor little lamb who was shorn by Mike Rowe.

Do you think that the other dogs will make fun of him?

Things and Thoughts

I haven't posted for a looooong time. Holidays, family dilemmas, flu and cedar fever kept me busy and not wanting to share. But, the man I married keeps asking why I'm not posting, so here goes.

My new years promise for 2008 was to knit every pair of Anni's socks for the year, and I did it. I now have enough hand knit socks so that I can wear only knit socks. What a treat it is - although I am questioning my choice of sock yarn colors. What was I thinking? I've already knit my January 2009 pair, so I'm planning to continue the knit-ahton. Here they are, in all their glory, my Sockamania socks from 2008.

I've already finished my first pair for 2009, so I'm on my way. Here's that picture:

I'm currently knitting the BareNakedLacy socks with leftover Sockotta yarn. I've been wanting to knit these socks, but never seemed to find the time. I've been calling these the "Bare Naked Lady" socks because I misread the pattern name the first time I saw it - may have had something to do with the fact that the smiling child was smitten with the Bare Naked Ladies at the time.

And happy birthday yesterday to my teen - now 16. He's a joy and all he wanted for his birthday was a special meal and dessert and an entire day alone in the house. Gotta love that boy.