I have just passed my one year blogiversary. It's been a year of ups and downs. Okay, first the downs.

• Blog 365-wow, did the wheels come off the wagon big time here. I think my (short) time participating in the insanity of blogging everyday was really a wake up slap as to how tough it is to be a consistent blogger.
  
• MS3; Swan Lake-this was a cautionary lesson in the seductive power of a blind KAL. I sank a lot of time into the stole, but once I found out it was an asymetrical design, I just ran out of steam for the project. It now languishes in the UFO bin.
  
• Puyallup Project-er, ahem. Yes, I do remember shooting my mouth off about there not being many knitted entries at the fair last year, and I would defintely have something to enter...yeah, ok, so if a big block of knitting time dosen't fall out of the sky and hit me on the head, I won't be able to produce something of fair quality in time, which also includes


• Monroe Fair-see Puyallup Project above.

Now for the good news:

I have an FO for July. This is a tuck stitch baby blanket with a hand crochet edging. And I have it done in time for the shower.

TTFN

Put up time

Well, well. Time sure does fly when one is not blogging. I've been trying to get my rear in gear, but mostly I've been whining to myself that many of the fabulous NW blogs that I have been enjoying have all gone into hibernation at about the same time. Sigh. In order to get blogs, one must post blogs, right? Like Christmas cards. So I am going to try to fill some of the vacuum. Time to put up or shut up. If nothing else, I may send some of the real bloggers running (screaming) back to their computers. Hey, whatever it takes.

Yes, I have been knitting, but no, I haven't finished much. If there is a poster for the Startitis foundation, it must have my picture on it. Speaking of pictures-






This is like a summer dream. I have the LK 150 out on the deck on the first beautiful day of our NW summer. I am working on "Purly Girl" from the summer issue of Knitwords magazine, don't know the issue number off the top of my head.

Notice that I am keeping the knitter in the shade at all times. The LK 150 has a very sturdy plastic frame, but I don't want to find out the hard way that I shouldn't have left my expensive little knitter out in the sunlight. The demise of crayons comes to mind. I also cover it with a towel when I have to step away to keep tree crap and bugs out. I spent a lovely afternoon out in the fresh air, listening to the birds (...and my MP3 player when the dog next door wouldn't stop barking at me. It's like he'd never seen/heard a KM before...?)

TTFN

Blowin' the dust off

Whooooosh!!!!!!!
That's the sound of dust being blown off a blog that has been languishing for far too long. That is about to change, my friends. My computer is up and running again, thanks to young friends who understand computer things better than I. Today, I am digging out, organizing, and preparing to return to Sweaterhag's Lair.
(Or some facisimilie of) ;)
TTFN

A 49-year-old walks into a bar...

...and orders a drink to go with her lunch. The 20-something waitress says fine, but I need to see an ID. The 49-year-old woman laughs, looks at the 20-something, and says "...you're kidding, right?" The 20-something, not laughing, says "...IF YOU APPEAR TO BE UNDER 30, I NEED TO SEE AN ID." Resisting the urge to leap over the bar to kiss the 20-something, the 49-year-old displays the ID in question, then proceeds to call husband to gloat.

I'm still smiling, and I left her a fat tip.

TTFN

First FO 2008

Finally, I have a FO for 2008















This is the medicine bag for a colleague. It's half a skein of Fleece Artist cashmere/silk, my own design using a Barbera Walker stitch pattern. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out, although if I ever make another one, I will use magic loop, which I only thought of after I was all the way done.
Genius. geesh!

TTFN

P.S. Ignore messy bookshelves in the background. Spring cleaning is underway at my house.

The Horror

I'm one of those who never thinks about my hair. Wash and go, the less fuss, the better. Until something goes horribly wrong, and now I'm thinking about my hair all the time. Yes, I'm going grey; that's just unavoidable at my age, and can be concealed by some clever camouflage. But I am in the middle of a hair crisis, and I have no one to blame but me.

I bought a new curling iron last week, one that cranks up to an impossible degree Fahrenheit. I need really high heat, as I have straight as a stick, curl resistant hair, and if I don't add at least a little curve to the front, well, let's just say that I can pass for Broomhilda.

So when I went to buy a new curling appliance after my old faithful died, I was lured to the clearance table by the promise by high heat at 50% off. Bad move. I have managed to totally burn off the front of my hair, and more is so damaged that I expect to lose it. There will be no waiting until February 14th for cut and color; I am in the middle of a full blown hair emergency. I was going to post a picture, but I can't stand to face the horror.

TTFN

Bad Hair Post

What the heck is going on with my hair? I noticed this week that the color up front is changing, and not to gray! It's changing to a different shade of brown, like I'd tried coloring a section with shoe polish.

So today, I'm brushing it out after washing it, and I notice that a whole section right up front is missing, whacked off about 1 inch from my scalp!

What the heck is going on here? I'm not doing anything different with my hair; wash and go pretty much sums it up for me, and that's the way I like it. Is this a side effect of my advancing age? I turn 49 and my hair freaks out? Are that cats having some fun at my expense while I'm sleeping?
WTF?

Till tomorrow

Fuddle

I've got 20 minuets till midnight and nothing to blog about. Even my old stand by, cat photos, is failing me. I'm too tired to see, and the computer is taking full advantage of my fuddle. Thank heaven for spell-check!
Till tomorrow

Reality Check

After the virtual-reality highs of the last two days, reality bit me in the arse today; the Blog-goblins ate the well crafted post that I had prepared. So I just have a couple of minuets during the commercials of "The Sarah Conner Chronicles" to fulfill my daily blog duties. I'll do better tomorrow.

TTFN

Testing, 1 2 3

Check, 1-2; check, check, 1-2, 1-2!

First blog post on new computer! So far, so good!

No time for knitting today, still learning my way around this new toy. It's really cool, I'm lovin' it!

Star

First gratuitous cat photo, taken with new computer cam!

Till tomorrow

New Blogger Toy

Today, I graduate to real bloggerville-I got my own laptop! I'm so excited!! I love our sweet Mac, and would happily blog on it for the rest of my days, but for Christmas, my darling husband gifted me with Design-a-Knit, (DAK), which will not run on the MacBook.
So we set out to find the cheapest PC that was still a good value, and I think that we did just that!

Till tomorrow

How long?

I wondered, when I signed on for Blog365, how long it would be before I was posting gratuitous cat photos due to lack of time and/or ideas.



Sheba with AB's Christmas hat.











How long? Exactly 5 days.

Till tomorrow

Food Poisoning Redeux

Note to self: Do NOT taste the chicken soup after cooking with the same spoon that I used to stir it with before cooking.
This round wasn’t as bad as the horrible, ugly bout I had right before Christmas, (which I’m pretty sure I got from the clam chowder at the hot soup bar at the grocery store) but 2 bouts in 1 month? Uncle!!!

Till tomorrow

Post Christmas Knitting Update

1. Seamen’s scarf knit from buffalo fiber, based on Myrna Stahman’s design and using a Barbara Walker stitch pattern.Curt loves this scarf; unfortunately, so do the cats. He has to make sure this one is put away, or it gets dragged around the house.
2. Hat for AB. Based on EZ’s “Sheepsdown Watchcap that I found in "The Opinionated Knitter". I made it from some bulky hand spun I got from a lovely woman who was spinning yarn in the goat barn at the Puyallup Fair. I was worried that this hat was going to be too heavy for my aunt, but she loves it, and it looks great on her.
   
3. Present for Sister H. Designed by me.This project went horribly wrong; unfortunately, I did not notice until I started the finishing. There was no fixing it, it had to be completely frogged. I think I can have it done in time for her birthday. (sigh).

Till tomorrow,

The Good, the Bad, and the Shaggy

The good news:
I made an appointment to have a mammogram this morning.

The bad news:
The appoinment isn't until February 14th.

I am about 2 years overdue for my screening. Even though I have no family history of breast cancer (to the best of my knowledge), it is stupid to let it go so long. At best, a mammogram is uncomfortable. The squeezing and mashing leaves one bruised, not to mention misshapen. I always walk out feeling misused, middle-aged and frumpy.

To get moving, I offered myself this bribe-go have the smash and flash, then go straight to my hair stylist for a fabulous cut and color to make me feel young and cute again (if still slightly misshapen).

So yea! I made the appointment! But boo! It’s still 6 weeks away! I need a hair cut right now; I’m so shaggy, I can hardly see daylight. Maybe just a trim to tide me over...

Till tommorrow

365 Aaack!!!

Aaaack!!!! Blog 365!!!!???!!
Am I crazy enough to join these crazy people? (Hope so) Am I too old? (Hope not) Do I want to? Absolutely! This may put the fire under my arse that I need to really become a blogger, and not just a dabbler. I am embarrassed to admit that there is a lot about running an effective blog that I don't know (like how to download a "Blog 365" button to Sweaterhag's Lair). But the best way to learn, for me, is by doing. So now I must do.
365-2
Till tomorrow

Tour d'Lair, part 1

One of my intentions at the outset of this blog was to conduct a tour of the Lair. Without further ado, I give you Sweaterhag’s Lair.





























Okay, so it looks like a rather untidy basement. But for me, it is the center of my yarney universe. Let’s start here; in the Northwest corner, we have the stash. I try to keep it contained, organized, and centrally located, but the reality is that it has a tendancy to wander all over the house.

While stash diving for fiber for a recent project I realized, once again, that my organization system was not working. So my fiber dive turned into a full blown stash toss.



















I have tried organizing by color and then by fiber, neither of which worked for me. Now I am going by yarn weight, (lace, fingering, dk, worsted, etc.) and this seems to work best for me.

Here is the reorganized stash, complete with Badger-man and mini fridge.
















I wonder how long I can keep it looking this nice? A goal I am working toward in '08 is streamlining the Lair into a lean, functional workspace. (I can't believe I posted that with a straight face.) I'll post updates.

TTFN