2 posts within 24 hours...

oops, I must be running a fever LOL.

It is unbearably hot & sticky here. It rained about 20 drops about 3 hours ago and there was some thunder rumbling but nothing serious yet. I really really really hope that there will be a thunderstorm soon as I can't stand it much longer. I'm just sitting here and the sweat rolls off me...
I got my fan on the middle setting and things are flying away in my room LOL. I guess I'll be headed for shower number 5 soon.

Okay, what I wanted to share is this: Today I saw a documentary on Kelpie sheep dogs. They're australian sheep dogs and cute as can be. The fun thing is that these dogs automatically herd sheep... without being taught. The lady interviewing the german breeder didn't believe her when the breeder told her that these dogs do it without being taught. The breeder does teach them several commands later on in their lives, but the basics are there from birth. To prove it she put one of her 6-week old pups in a field with sheep. The pup had never seen a sheep in his life yet. After a few minutes, when one of the sheep started to stray from the rest of the herd, this lil' one started barking his head off, and run, wobble & tumble in the direction of the sheep and just went after it until it was back with the rest of them. It was just way too cute!!! The funny thing is that this breeder got a few sheep to keep her dogs trained and now she's a shepherd mainly that has kelpies as helpers and breeds them on the side. If I would ever get a dog I think I'd go for a kelpie, but they need a LOT of exercise and we all know that I don't do that hahahaha.

I tried to find a nice picture of a kelpie, but didn't find any that I liked enough.

Well this is it for now...
Cheers

PS: I've been doing so much tinking today that I am really getting fed up with knitting right now. Every time I tink to correct a mistake I'll happily knit 2-3 rows just to discover that I made another mistake just before or after the one I just corrected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I a real blogger? And other things....

Why that title? Because I just saw a french documentary on this "new" thing called blogs. I'm putting the word new between quotes cos the french are sometimes slooooooowwwww on picking up on new trends and fashions. No offence ment to any french people reading this, it is just my own perception of the french and new things :) I am not just saying that. I live close enough to France and work with them French every day so I know what I'm talking about.

One of the points the people in the documentary made was that you're not to be considered a blogger if you didn't post at LEAST once a day on your blog. It didn't matter if it was just to say that your cat pooed in his box or that you were getting married or that your significant other broke up with you or that you were ready to jump from a building as long as you posted at least once a day.

Okay, I'm not real good with keeping up with this blog thing, but that is mostly because I don't want to bore others with my life... or rants about people (those 2/3 people that read this blog that is LOL) they don't know. I could post every day about the fact that x pissed me off again because she thinks she knows my job better than I do... Excuse ME!!!! I've been doing the darn job for the past 17 years compared to her 3 years... Helloooooooo!!!! Who's got the knowledge??? Or that y is starting to sound boring with her talks about how many times her boyfriend did her the night before (you must realise that we get the details like how long, how etc.) ...
I'm not trying to say that I'm a hardcore blogger, but I do think that I am part of the blog sphere anyhoo...

So that was one of the reasons why I wanted to write today. The second was that Nola told me earlier this week that I had to update my blog. And as Nola's one of the 2 (or maybe 3) readers of my blog I have to obey don't I :) The other person that I know reads my blog is Jenn. It was with her that spend most of my waking hours while I was in MD earlier this year.
And the third reason I'm blogging today is to share some pictures of the 3 misbehaving, stressing, horrid, spanking-deserving things in my life right now... About 3 weeks ago I fell in love with lace knitting. And those who know me, know that I kinda tend to go overboard sometimes. Anyways I signed up for this Mystery Stole Knit-along. I flew through clue 1. Okay I had a mistake here an there, but I didn't care. Then I had some major mistakes and so I frogged it all and again and again. I think I'm now on my 15th try. I've never before come this far and I'm using lifelines as the more experienced knitters suggested. I've also joined 2 other KAL's: Mystery Shawl KAL (starting August 1st) and Rosy Fingered Dawn KAL (starting September 1st).

Next to that I'm knitting a shawl using Helen's Lace by Lorna's Laces in the Lakeview colorway. This shawl is called Elfin Lace and is by Designs by Cherry Tree Hill. I'm also knitting their Wings Wrap.

If I figure out how to add those nifty little buttons to the side bars I'll add the ones for the KALs.

Okay here are a few pics (I finally managed to upload them to my pic hosting site... Thanks once again, Nola, for helping me out!!!! I really appreciate having my own computer/internet helpdesk hahahaha).



This is the Elfin Lace Shawl. It is sitting on a straight needle because I'm frog-frog-frogging 8 rows right now (at about 190 stitches each :( )




This is the Wings Wrap done in a lime green 100% wool yarn that has been handdyed by a member of the Mystery Stole along. I'm not someone who likes lime green, but this one's just gorgeous :) I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddd moooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeee of it :)




And here you can have a peep at my Stole from the Mystery stole along. Again I'm using a yarn handdyed by Carrie. This is a color that I would call crushed strawberries or so. It is soooooo yummy that I want more of it too.

Okay, this is IT for tonight. Off to knit some more. Nola, hope this is enough to read for you :)

Cheers y'all...

Inspired...

Well, guess it was about time that I posted again. I've been wanting do so for the past few weeks, but somehow when I sat down with the page in front of me I didn't know what to write about...

Well, I'm still not done with my Soleil tank top. I added some short row shaping and although it looks great, I didn't understand that I was supposed to pick up the little wraps around the stitches when I knitted across the whole thing and so now I have these 2 rows of purl stitches that point towards my nipples LOL. I will have to frog it out again and pick up those wraps. Which means undo half the back and the front etc. I might have the energy and courage to do so later today.

Meanwhile I did finish 1 tank top. It is a free pattern from a shop online somewhere, but I don't know what shop. It was called Eyelet tank top (or something like that). I knitted it in pink Riso yarn by Lana Grossa. It is part microfiber and part cotton. It looks gorgeous. The fit & drape are wonderful too. I can wear it over a tee or just as it is... although it is a bit hot to wear LOL.
Here is a pic... it is hard to make a nice picture of oneself wearing something that one wants to show off...



Meanwhile I've dived into the world of lace knitting... use very very very thin yarn and knit it with needles that are way too big :) I'm knitting the Cobweb by Emma Crew (edited to add this little piece of information... about half an hour after this post I noticed that somehow 2 stitches had slipped of my needles and zipped all the way down. I couldn't figure out how to fix that problem with all those eyelets and so I ripped it all and am now going to use the yarn for something else... 10 hours of work ripped in 20 minutes :( :( ). I'm doing it in Helen's Lace by Lorna's Laces in Irving Park. I've "only" got to do the last 52 rows of each 257 stitches and the edging LOL. It is neat though. I think it will be a birthday present for a friend having her birthday in August (not naming any names yet)... I think she'll like the colors (reds, rusts, oranges and a bit of purple mixed in). I'm also doing the Mystery Stole Along that I came across on someone's blog. It is a yahoo group. I signed up and started last night. I'm using Helen's lace in Lakeview... gorgeous green/purple/blue/turquoise and I think it will be for mememememe...

Next I did some yarn shopping. On ebay I got some Patons Classic Merino in black and aran and I'll be making a sweater for my dad I think. I'll be using this pattern as I think it is classic and cool enough for him hahaha. Adirondack Pullover. I'll do it in the black I think. Or the Aran and keep the black for my brother. Although I can't imagine a skater handwashing a sweater, but who knows... he might just do it.
Then I wanted to bid on some silk. The lady said that only one skein was up for bidding right now but she actually had 7 more skeins. I e-mailed her and asked if she was willing to sell all 8 skeins to me and she did!!! She ended the bid early so that I could get it. Isn't this just gorgeous??? I'm going to use it for a scarf or a stole or a wrap or or or or...



I won some other yarn too a week or so ago and I'll post pics of that later on. Then I went and ordered this Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace in Gypsy Rose



and in Dusk



but the colors I really really wanted and that were out of stock are

Java



Old Rose



and Spring Frost



Okay, that's what's happening in my life on the knitting side of it. What else is there to say? Oh, at the office there's not much going and the system tends to be slow/freeze/breakdown, so I get some extra knitting time there (oops knitting again :)). The weather's all over the place... one day we have 32 degrees the next barely 16, so no wonder that I'm sick (once again). My balcony has been re-done. I have some gorgeous light colored tiles now and I hope they won't get as hot as the horrible dark red/brown ones I had before. I'll make a pic of both (I'll have to hang over the balustrade of my balcony so that I can take a pic of the one below mine so that you get an idea of the horrible oldfashioned tiles LOL. Well this building's 35 years old, so I guess it's logical they're oldfashioned.

Well, I guess I'm done now... I'll try and keep this posting up on a regular basis...
cheers y'all Eva