Knotty Mouse

As of right now everything on the blog seems to be “fixed” again. I had to update a few of the past posts because I changed my template back to the old 3 column version - but it looks like we’re back to ‘normal’ around here. I don’t look at my actual blog that often but every time I did, I remembered how much I liked my previous template with the gray scale koi background, purple skully headers, and large title bar.  Funny how one simple click of the mouse lands you in hours of editing…

I actually reverted back to this template so that I was able to put up my skull Halloween theme again this year.. its one of my favorites.  I did take a little nap for a few hours with Ms. Kitty who was happy to have company.. and now I’m back to doing a mix of computer work and housework.

Its entirely too quiet here at Chez Mousie today. My husband left this morning for a trip to Florida to play Airsoft with friends and won’t be back until Monday night.. and my son is at school. I’m enjoying actually being able to consume a whole English muffin and coffee without being bothered by anyone for any reason. I finally got up the guts to upgrade my blog to a newer version of WordPress - so please let me know if you see anything out of place. Everything appears normal on my end at the moment but I’m probably going to be showing up on your bloglines all day while I continue to edit things that pop up as problems.

I haven’t been doing much knitting lately but I have been spinning quite a bit. The photos in this post (as usual.. click to make with the big photos) are of some merino that I bought at Plying the Arts in Athens,GA last year that has been marinating in my stash. I was hoping for somewhere around 360 yards from this roving but I fell horribly short at 215.. a good amount for handspun but not enough for the hooded scarf pattern I had in mind. This yarn is about worsted weight to bulky with a nice tight ply to it.. I don’t particularly like loose plied yarns.  All in all I was very happy with the way this yarn turned out and how fast it came together because of ‘preparing’ the fiber by ripping it into thin lengths and pre-drafting.  The only other thing I did during preparation was to remove large strands of black from the roving so that the finished yarn wouldn’t come out too dark.

Here’s a shot of my yarn hanging out with a quarter.. because folks really seem to dig the combination of loose change and hand spun yarns around the spinning/knitting blogs. <g>

I’m planning on doing some catch up posting in the next few days because I’ve been really lazy with the blogging recently. I’ve been having a harder time this school year balancing out time for real life vs. computer/knitting/blogging stuff - it seems that from the time I get up in the morning to the time I go to bed that its a non-stop rush to get everything accomplished. I know that I already have in-law family stuff tomorrow but I’m looking forward to having at least the next 6 hours completely to myself. I’ve already gotten most of the dishes in the kitchen washing in the dishwasher, soaked & hung up a skein of hand spun singles (more on that this weekend I hope..), washed and hung my Danica scarf to dry (I’m hoping to soften up that Kureyon) and attempted the start of the search for my size 7 16″ circular needle that is missing somewhere in my office/studio. Unfortunately I was up this morning at about 5am with my husband for his trip, so I think my next order of business around here.. is a nap with the cat.

Coming to my Etsy shop Monday or Tuesday

(EDITED TO ADD: I put some up tonight.. I think it was the 2 cups of pumpkin spice coffee I drank that made me so geared up!)

This years versions are a bit different (photos are recycled from last year) but these 3 designs will be returning from 2006. I’m looking at ‘dressing up” some of my other critter stitch markers for trick or treating as well.. stay tuned. (/shameless self promotion)

	I, Mouse, being of sound mind, hereby bequeath my entire estate to my pet rock. I do this because it understands my needs. My only regret in this life was that I didn’t punch more people in the face.

Hee hee hee!! I can’t actually remember who I stole this from but I nearly snorted my coffee (iced..) when I read my results. I’ve got some finished 2 ply merino handspun to show off as soon as it cools down a little to take photographs outside..  its over 100 degrees here in Georgia and I’m absolutely miserable. Apparently when it gets this hot and you live in a house with no trees and no shade.. the best your air conditioner can do is 85 degrees inside. This is still too hot. I’d like to move somewhere that has no more than a month of summer- preferably in Canada… can that be arranged?

Other than alternating between complaining and roasting from the heat.. there’s nothing going on around here at Chez Mousie. Munchkin started school on Monday and is slowly adjusting to life as a first grader.. which he says is significantly less fun than being in kindergarten. Both of us are doing more than our fair share of complaining in the morning because getting up at 6:30am is just cruel and unusual punishment - not to mention that we have to be at the bus stop over an hour before last year and we have the bus driver from hell. If it wasn’t so hot.. I’d be driving Munchkin to school instead of putting him through that horrible woman’s attitude every morning and evening. Unfortunately both the car AND the people inside it would overheat before we got through the car rider line - I have one working window in the car and no AC. I’m still hoping to be able to get a new (to me) car in the next 6 months.. but I can’t do more than cross my fingers for that.

I haven’t been knitting anything for over a week now.. but I do still have a bunch of projects on the needles and my Ravelry queue is getting more and more out of control. At the moment I’m considering my choices for a sweater to wear to SAFF ala Jen of Jenla - though without the bet and the handspun. I don’t have a very big stash.. and I only have enough for one sweater (6 skeins of Cascade 220) so I’m rather limited in my choices. Right now I think I may knit Samus, or  Mariah, or the “A Cardigan for Arwen” from Winter 2006 Interweave Knits. I don’t have a very big stash.. and I only have enough for one sweater (6 skeins of Cascade 220) so I’m rather limited in my choices unless I can get the same dye lot of the cascade 220 that I already have. Everything about Samus looks pretty easy and I have the yarn to make it (and the zipper if I decide to use it) but I don’t like that Samus doesn’t have a hood. I’d like to add a hood but I’m clueless as of how to do so.. I’ve never made anything hooded.

Now if you’ll excuse me….. I’m going to go back to standing in front of the open freezer.

I haven’t been blogging much lately due to trying to get Munchkin ready for going back to school on Monday. I’ve also been rather miserable as I’ve got one of my wisdom teeth cutting through and its absolute hell. In between running around getting laundry washed and Munchkin’s room in order, I took a trip to the Mall of Georgia with my MIL so that Munchkin could play at the play area and fountain. You have to click on the photos to make them bigger because I took them with my cellphone. As you can see.. people were paying attention to the sign and refrained from ‘atherin in that there area.

Lest you think that the Mall of Georgia is without its own designated areas of fun.. here’s where you can pick someone up if you’re in the market. I think it would be faster, as you could weed out the folks who were taken or otherwise uninterested in being picked up. I was surprised that there weren’t many people in the “pick up” area but I guess it was too hot out there for trolling for a date. Most of the teens and tweens in the mall were too busy being in my way inside the mall and knocking into me with their giant Abercrombie shopping bags. Are those giant paper bags actually necessary? I could easily put half of my closet inside one of those… talk about wasteful! I hate the mall and I hate back to school shopping time.. especially on a Friday evening.
Here is the fruits of our labor.. all that for a Pirates lunchbox at the Disney store. The horrible migraine I received from spending an entire day at the stupid mall was not included in the picture - you can just imagine it along with the overwhelming urge for an alcoholic beverage and the thought of moving to somewhere where the words “Excuse Me” actually make people get out of your way without having to physically move them while glaring at them.

According to the rule book for the new elementary school Munchkin will be attending on Monday.. there is nothing against dress code about wearing or having things with skulls. HOOORAY!! I had already bought him some new running shoes before I found out about the dress code or he would have gotten the cool Airwalk shoes with the skulls that I found at Payless.
We got to meet Munchkin’s Grade 1 teacher and visit his new school on Thursday of last week.. she seems very nice and both the school and the classroom were so clean because of being a brand new school. I’m more than slightly peeved at the new bus schedule though.. the school is less than 2 miles away and we have to be at the bus stop over an HOUR earlier than last year. I am NOT happy about having to be at the bus at 7:20AM — and even less excited about the fact that they moved the bus stop TWO blocks farther away from my house. We’re the only people in this side of the subdivision that are putting their child on the bus.. so I’m assuming its why I will have to walk Munchkin 5 blocks one way to the bus on Monday morning. Regardless.. I’m going to be calling the transportation dept. bright and early to arrange for another stop. Just because the people in this community see it as something of a status symbol to drive their children to school in the morning (really.. I’m not just making broad assumptions here.. I was told that “car riders” are far superiour to “bus riders” and that only “trash” bus their kids) wasting time and gasoline.. is no reason for me to have to drag my poor 6 year old that far in the sweltering Georgia heat.

In between sweating off about 8 pounds and battling ants in my kitchen I managed to finish the STR Broadripple cuffed socks that have been hanging around on my needles since June. The first sock went rather quickly but the second was afflicted with SSS and spent most of its life stuffed in the bottom of my knitting bag.. especially when the cuff started to pool differently than the first.

Pattern: Turkish cast on, MisoCrafty’s short-row heel, Broadripple cuff.
Yarn: Socks that Rock Medium Weight in Gypsum bought at MSW during our raid on The Fold’s booth. We had a battle plan people, it was serious.
Needles: magic loop - Addi 2.5 mm
I loved knitting with the Socks that Rock yarn.. it was very soft, well spun, and didn’t have any knots. The colors are rich and gorgeous but pooling on the other hand.. tests the tiny handful of sanity I have left. While the price of the yarn is too rich for my blood at the moment, I’m hoping to get some of the semi-solid colourways in the future.

What’s next on the sock needles? I’d really like to try some of the Lorna’s Laces that I have in the stash to see what sort of color pooling madness happens - I’ll figure out the pattern for the cuff after I turn the heel.  Anyone who is on Ravelry knows that I’ve sort of gone batshit in regards to the pattern queue - I think I’ve got around 90 projects in my personal queue and that was only from some quick browsing.

Answer: What is “things that are cold?”

Yes.. that’s correct! Pick again !

Ok.. I’ll take The Daily Double for $500…

Here’s your clue:

Hell, Hot Pockets, Fire, Lava, & Mouse…

Answer: what is “things that are boiling hot”?

HOOORAY! Congratulations.. you win a trip to the tropical location of Chez Mousie for a vacation in the land of broken air conditioning hell during what is probably the hottest week of summer in Georgia! Woooo—hooo. You’ll be spending an unknown amount of time on its sweltering shores and enjoying the views of mosquitos bursting into flames in mid air and the local wildlife spontaniously combusting! (sorry Ms. Kitty..)
send cooling thoughts. send a repair man. please kill me.