Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

Weather's been typical Texas - go from 80s on the weekend to 30s during the week. No wonder we're all sniffling - the trees don't know if it's Spring or Winter! And they're tentatively predicting "snow" next week - whatever *that* is. :lol:

Herself is set up for oral surgery next Friday. Fun times - the dentist was very nice; he explained everything to her so she's prepared. Nervous, but OK. *I* need to stock up on ice cream.....

Called the IRS; seems that they are "double checking a lot of returns due to identity theft". Um...OK, but WHY did you tell me you deposited my money, then changed it to "Your refund has been delayed"...because, IF you deposited it, like you said ON THE WEBSITE on Thursday, WHY, then, on Monday did you change it to "delayed"? It...doesn't make sense. The agent was nice, but even he hemmed and hawed when I asked that....:sigh: 60 days. We have to wait 60 days now - of course, it MIGHT get sent out sooner, but I am not holding my breath.

Kilt hose: Got to round 8 on the leg, but ripped it all out this AM. I had somehow buggered up the pattern rows and was off on 2 of the motifs; decided I couldn't live with the fudge, so RIP. I'm now up to round 2.....with markers EVERYWHERE. We'll see.....I seem to remember ripping a LOT on the first one, so this is par for the course.

School: We finished Latin 101. We're taking a break from Latin for the moment; we'll start up again in a week or 2. I need "light" for a bit.....so we're focusing just on the basics. :sigh:

Not much else.....guess I should get books together so we can start our day. Laters!

because it was fun!

1. Yesterday was Comic Con! I have quite a few photos - I need to see if I feel comfortable posting them, as Herself is plainly ID'able (she's OK with it, but.....I am not. Not really, anyway.) Suffice to say that there were Daleks aplenty, and she got her photo taken with all of them. :lol: We "met" Dalek Tim, who said "Hello" to me (THAT photo is hysterical, because I didn't expect it to turn the eyestalk to me and say "Hello". It was a hoot! We talked to a group that is producing a fan-based Dr. Who series (Soldier Stories) online - sounds fantastic.

SG got autographs from Nichelle Nichols (the original Uhura) and the actor who played Ti'ilk (Stargate). $80.....:wince:...but he wanted them.

It was fun - even though we stood in line outside for 1.5 hours (AND we had purchased our tickets online!!!!). I overheard Security say that 11K people were there - not sure if they meant AT that moment, or Saturday total - it was PACKED. To the point that *I* started freaking out a little. Still, it was fun - both kids enjoyed it.

2. Heard from Skutt! It IS a Skutt kiln; built sometime between 1960 and 1980. It needs a Lot of Work, according to the tech....I am waiting to see what the estimate is before moving forward. I also asked my potter friend to give me her opinion. We'll have to pay for the repairs piecemeal no matter what; I just don't want to pay MORE than the kiln is actually worth, y'know? And I don't want to pay for something it doesn't really *need*. So....we're in a holding pattern there.

3. Bought more yarn for Himself's kilt hose from a Ravelry member. I gotta say, the Lord is good!! And I apparently *did* rate a miracle, because - Miracle of Miracles!!! - the dye lot MATCHED mine!!!! (You have NO idea about how big a deal this is! See....yarn is dyed in batches - might be large ones, but still, finite batches. Each batch has it's own dye lot number; it means that all the yarn with *that* number was dyed at the same time, in the same pool of dye. I bought my yarn last March from a store in WA state. The destash came from a lady in Indiana.....and all of the "new" yarn is the exact same dye lot as my original set!!!!! What are the odds???? I'm telling you, God is GOOD!!)

3a. Speaking of Kilt Hose, I am 3" away from starting the toe on #1. :Sigh: Kid's got big feet! Still, I can see the end of this one....one more to go.

4. Not much knitting will be done Thursday. The Perot has a new exhibit opening this weekend - The International Exhibit of Sherlock Holmes. Members-only days are Thursday and Friday, and we are going! Yes, I'll be in my Sherlocked shirt.....I don't have the socks done yet, but that's OK. I'll probably do them in March. Maybe April....so many socks, so little time. :lol: The kids are kinda excited - this is a forensics "lab" type exhibit. Should be fun!

Our IRS refund is due to hit Tuesday. Gotta pay the taxes, then I get to go buy a new washer and *hopefully* my replacement KitchenAid stand mixer. Won't have much "fun" money this year, but hey - at least the taxes are paid, right?

Gotta skitter - got knitting to do!

So. Today was Ortho day. Both kids are doing well - in fact, they are in line to have the braces removed within the next 6 or so months! But....Herself needs to have her wisdom teeth extracted. :sigh:

Made an appointment for the consultation.....and I've started preparing her. She does better if she KNOWS what's going to happen, when. Fun times!

Kilt hose: The heel is TURNED!!!! and I am cruising down the foot. I had to buy more yarn....I have 5 balls. 1 is still knit in the too-small hose, but can easily be frogged (I...just haven't wanted to. Yet.) The problem? I've already got 2 balls in this sock, and I still have a LOT of foot to go. :sigh: I am starting to panic a bit, because I hate the thought of running out of yarn mid-project. And then there's the dye lot problem.....

I found a lady on Ravelry who had 6 skeins for $20 (these normally run $6/skein!!)...I figure, I'll get them and knit the 2nd sock from them, because I'm pretty sure there's no way they'll match the dye lot I have. (Of course, there could be a miracle. I'm not sure I merit one, but - it IS possible.) I'm sure she bought matching dye lots, so there shouldn't be a problem within each sock, and you shouldn't notice the mis-match when it's on a different sock.

Tomorrow I get to go do some work. I don't mind - $$ for me! And since my friend didn't get into the Fiber Festival this year, that means I get to do a Yarn Store run in the next week or so - should be fun!

Laters! I have knitting to do!

So. Yesterday was my last in-office day. It was just me and coworker...I would have thought that FA would have had someone in for me to teach, but whatever - that's his problem, not mine. Still haven't heard anything re: my severance.....I have my attorney's number on hand, but I'm being patient. I did, after all, give them until next Thursday - even though the 90 days was up last Friday. No sense in being hard-nosed about it.....nice is always better if you can swing it.

Annie's twins are out with the big goats now. Risky is due next Saturday, and the other 4 does are all due within days of her. The first week or 2 of June will be busy! And noisy...:lol:

Knitting: I am totally stalled on the kilt hose. I think it's because there's so MUCH of them - I knit and knit and knit, and don't seem to make any progress. Himself and I made a deal - the first 2 weeks of the month I'll work on them (except for when we're out - my travel sock will still go and the hose will stay home). The last 2 weeks of the month are MINE to knit on whatever I want....I'm hoping that'll make me focus and concentrate on the hose those 2 weeks (because it's a deadline, of sorts) and yet I'll still get to do some fun, non-soul-sucking knits as well. :fingers crossed:

We've rolled completely into our Summer Schedule here. Torah/Math/Science/History are the only courses we'll do - dare I say it? - religiously; I've added a Writing class - the kids are watching a lot of really STUPID movies right now, so they are going to be writing a synopsis of 1 of them each week. Both of them thought that was hysterical; we'll see. :lol: I need to get some Field Trips scheduled..but until I know how much $$$ I'll have available it's kinda hard. Gas costs $$, you know.....

Not much else going on....

Because....wow. OK. :blink:

Internet doesn't seem to be much faster, even though they "moved us to a higher frequency tower with only 4 other customers on it." Right. It still sucked last night - we are paying for 5mb. According to the speed tests we ran last night, we were getting 1.2. Or less. (Right after the guy left, it tested at 9.46!!!!! Then it dropped....it stabilized around 4.5 - which is fine! - then, at 5, just like normal, it dropped to under 1.0. :sigh:)

Chloe the wonder-mutt ATE my crockpot on Saturday. The cord is...well, gone, as is the knob. We went out and got me a much larger one - 8 qt! - only, I didn't realize how much BIGGER that was. It's too big for the beef tips I wanted to do for tonight...good thing I have a lovely Fiesta dutch oven-tye pot. :lol: 2 pounds of lovely stew meat is bubbling away in the oven right now. The house is starting to smell divine! :mmmmmmmm:

We had to disbudd Penny last night. It's the one thing about goats that I HATE - but it's a necessity, both for our safety and theirs. She's fine this AM, bounding around like nothing happened. (Sheldon got done a week and a half ago - he's a BIG boy. Her horns had just now started coming in. So...I got to dread it 2x instead of just once.)

Barn cleaning today. Fun stuff.....

I'm almost finished with the first ball of yarn - and I'm not done with the ribbing yet. Kilt hose V.1., I made it to the heel flap on the first ball....weirdness. Yes, I'm knitting the larger size...but it's only 10 stitches more. I didn't think it'd take that much more yarn!

Gotta run - school's about to start!

:sigh: I have been obsessively working on my son's kilt hose for the past....2.5 weeks or so. Slow going - the calf-shaping chart was just.....not my cuppa, but the other charts are just fun to work. I stopped and had Himself try it on 3x - here, have a couple of photos from Monday evening:





I asked about fit; he said "It's nice. Snug, but not too much. I like them!"

This AM, I had started the heel turn, so I asked him to try it on one more time. I figured it'd be easier for him to check the fit now that there weren't 4 needles to deal with (just the 2 on the instep)....he gets the cuff over his heel, stops, and says "You know what? I think it's a little too tight. Can you loosen it up?" :bangs head:

I knit to knit (except socks. Those I knit for the SOCKS. :lol:) I really, truly, don't mind frogging this and starting over...but why did it take until I was almost finished with the first ball of yarn to decide he'd rather have slightly larger ones??????

The good news is, I was knitting the Medium size. Surely the Large will fit him longer than...well, 1 wearing. :lol: :sob:

Enough whining - I have a cuff to cast on!

(To sop my ego, I've been working on project bags today. 2 weeks ago I found the CUTEST fabric - Timeless Treasures "Tossed Sheep". It comes in gray and red....I had purchased the red and the companion fabric and made 2 bags. Friday, I went back and purchased the matching gray fabric along with 2 more companion patterns - and yesterday and today I cut out all the parts from the fabrics I have. Pretty soon I'll have a whack of cute project bags....it's helped with the kilt hose fail, let me tell you! :lol: I'll get photos of those when the rest of the fabric comes in and I have bags made up.)

because Chloe AND Tigger decided they needed to sleep with us last night. No room for *me* - I ended up with my legs under my chin all night long. :sigh: Ah, well.....at least I was warm.

Kilt hose: Almost done with the calf decreases, and about 1/2-way down the leg. Looking pretty good - but I still check the legend before crossing a cable, to be sure I'm not messing it up again.

I can't find my copy of Lady Gainford's "Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings"...which is bad. I don't think I want to re-knit this pattern for SG, and her book is the only one I know of that has good kilt hose patterns. :sigh: I did order another copy this AM - which means I'll find MY copy in the next few days, right? :lol:

Baby goats are doing well. Both are LOUD and bouncy - as they should be. :lol:

This weekend is the Dallas Fiber Fest - Herself and I will be going for a short bit on Saturday. We have to be home by 3-ish to get our Fair entries - she entered 2 drawings and 1 necklace; I entered 2 pairs of socks; SG entered 4 photos. The judging was yesterday, but we won't know until Wednesday (when the Fair is open to the Public) how we did. I think her necklace has a really good shot of winning *something* - we'll see.

Break's over - back to the kilt hose!

I saved a cat's life last night, and as a thank you, it tore the crap out of my left hand. Tigger and Chloe were both attacking it; I got them off but the cat was too terrified and PISSED to go back over the fence (I won't discuss it's lack of intelligence; EVERY cat knows our yard is home to cat-hating dogs. This stupid thing decided to stroll in our gate and across the back yard - what did it expect to happen?) So, I made a split-second decision and grabbed it to toss it over the fence...it decided my thumb was the perfect thing to latch on to while windmilling it's legs in the dogs' general direction. OUCH. It took a few seconds for me to shake it off of my thumb......:sigh: I was bleeding all over the place; ended up with 3 holes in my thumb, 2 holes in my ring finger, and multiple holes and scratches on my right hand. :big sigh:

Progress on Himself's kilt hose has slowed to a crawl, needless to say. I cut up the pattern and taped the charts onto 2 sheets of paper - this helps keep track of what I'm doing and where. The yarn (Cascade 220 Sport) is nice - the cables are popping, and it looks great. I'm about halfway thru the calf-shaping chart.....I'm trying really hard to NOT think about the other 3 I have to knit. :lol:

The washer got fixed Tuesday, so yesterday was Wash-all-the-things! Day. Today is finish up washing-all-the-things...:lol: Baby goats are out in the barn; I hope it's warm enough tonight that they can STAY out there. They're cute and all....but I need sleep. NOT tap-dancing goats at 2 AM.

More later....