Petunia rambles on and on….

Here’s a niddy noddy in use.  Yarn comes off a spindle or bobbin of a spinning wheel, and is wrapped around this simple device. (Simple in that it’s been around, virtually unchanged, since the beginning of time, and was an old device in Biblical days) There are two end pieces, and they are turned 90 degrees to each other. One revolution around this device is about 5 feet – as it’s only about 15 inches long, it’s handy to use, to twist around as you wrap the yarn, only a slight chance that you’ll bash yourself in the face.

Intelligent people count the wraps as they go, giving them a damn good estimate of the yardage they have produced. Others are not that smart and don’t remember to start counting until many revolutions into the process, or they lose count partway through because they have a husband who, when hearing them count each wrap, start chattering  “42-67-18-25 Hike.” Or they have to pee midway.

I have found that it is less stressful and better for the marriage not to even try to count the wraps, and when I’m done, say, “Damn, that’s a lot of yarn there. Think I’ll make a shawl out of it” or “Not much yarn there at all, I’ll make a narrow scarf and knit until I run out.” Either way works for me.

Pretty obvious that I’ve been playing around with a new format.  This one is one of a few that Brian picked out and loaded onto our server for all of us to choose, use.  I see that Brian and Lynn have both picked out new ones to play around with.  He knows the features we need, or would want to add, picked out accordingly.

Thanks, my wee Briley.

This one had a set 1300×160 pixel header format.  Short, wide.  Me? No, the header. Uh, went into the coding and found where I could make the pictures a wee bit taller.  It was either that or start taking pictures of people’s belts.  I was able to pull it down to 200 px and then went a-hunting through my files to see which ones could be cropped that way and still show what the hell they are.  (Short pictures of just blue sky are rather boring, too.) I’ve got the option here of having one pic per “load” meaning you’d have to keep hitting the Refresh (F5) key to see all the pics or come back to the blog often. There also was a setting for a script to scroll the pictures at a set interval. So every 10 seconds, there’ll be another picture until I decide to change it back to the familiar old one.

I’ve got thousands of picture files, not all would look interesting cropped this way. Preset crop tool in PhotoShop helps.

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Last month, we went down to daughter’s, and I noticed a nice set of coasters she had. I don’t generally bother with them much, because most I’ve seen don’t really do the job you want them to do – keep water off the wood furniture. The only methods I’ve found that work even a bit are constant nagging wiping up (not my best idea), glass or laminate-topped tables (better) or beating the children countless times whenever they got near my pine furniture. This method seems to have worked finally but has taken 30 years or so to accomplish, so overall, it sucks, too.

While at daughter’s I noted that HER coasters kept HER tables dry. I looked them over thoroughly. I may have asked her where she got them and she didn’t remember? I may have asked her where she got them and she didn’t reply? She may have told me and I just forgot – this seems to be a pattern lately. But I did come home thinking “Those were really nice coasters, and if I ever see ones like that, I’m gonna buy them and USE them.”

I found these over the weekend.

They appear to be the same ones that K has, or very similar. I don’t know where she shops, but I found these in that store with all the smiley faces, when I went to get more of my “don’t act like a lunatic” pills at the $4 pharmacy!

I like them – thanks, K, for the idea. (and thanks for telling me about them, if you did. If you didn’t, well, ooops!)

I listen to podcasts, sometimes on the iPod, sometimes directly from the computer.  If Himself is watching some dumb TV program (and when is that not happening, if he’s home and has a pulse??) I use headphones or the earbuds. It keeps things peaceful here. What I listen to varies; many are craft related, about knitting or spinning, but I also listen to a few that are made by authors I’ve favored, one or two cooking podcasts. Who could face a day without Onion Radio?

One of the knitting shows I listen to is from a male knitter in Australia, or as he puts it, a bloke in Oz! He’s got a set format that he usually sticks to and one of those parts is called “The Bottom of the Knitting Bag.” He’ll talk about a current project, a new book, a new tool or technique. He presents the material well and makes it interesting.

OK, fine.

Today, I went on another mad hunt. I thought about starting a shawl with the deep blue yarn I just made, and thought to use a Size 7 or 8 needle and see how that works up with this weight. So I go to my heavy-duty trusty needle-holder to grab some needles, and there’s no 7’s or 8’s. Now, knitting needles don’t go bad like lettuce. I’ve never heard of anyone ever wearing them out. I’ve bought zillions. These would be a very common size for worsted weight yarn. DUH! I should have maybe 10 of them, in varying lengths (I only use circular ones, never straights anymore) NONE!!  Where the hell did they all go? You can’t hardly break them, like you could with the old wooden straights. I’ve maybe lost a few, dropped out of a tote, but none?

A thief? Probably not.  I somehow can’t see someone breaking into the house, tripping over the damn dog asleep on the floor, going by the 52″ TV, past laptops and desktop computers, past the jar with maybe $6.50 in change, and down to my “craft room,” then ripping off all my size 7 needles?  Nope, didn’t happen.

The “thief” is me.  The knitter with a severe case of “start-itis” with projects partially done all over the place. (I wonder how many Addi’s are out in the back of the car? If I folded up the seats, maybe…..)  Nope, the problem is me. If I hunt around and gather all the projects on-the-go right now, I’ll find a whole shitload of needles, I bet.

In short order, I proved my theorem. Damn it.

I started with just one tote bag. I found a February Lady Sweater, started.  Not just started but about 3 inches of one damn sleeve from being done. Gah!! AND I was doing the sleeve in the round with 2 circs, and while I haven’t checked them, I can see that they are in the 7-8 range.

It’s like a 3/4 sleeve – there ain’t that much more to do.  Why did I stop working on this? Why? It’s KnitPicks WOTA in Forest Heather. (Color is not real true in this pic – we get sunlight for about 40 minutes a week here, this time of year. The rest of the time it’s gray and overcast). Crappy weather for getting the color right without a bunch of extra lighting equipment.

So that was the first thing I found in the knitting bag, along with a fistful of ball bands.

And I found 3 granola bars, pretty mashed and broken up, undetermined age. And a picture postcard from Tunisia – hmmm, Lynn, exactly when were you there? That’ll tell me how long it’s been since I worked on this sweater. When I got the card, I probably stuck it in my bag to take to work and show the ladies.

And I found 2 circs, size 2, sock needles. A Spin-Off magazine. And a pack of checks? And my Journey Live in Houston 1981 Escape Tour DVD!!!

I really need to dig around in these projects more often.