I make our bed every morning. Sometimes it lasts more than five minutes before this:
"ahh, the blankets are JUST right now"
Sabrina is a champion nester. It’s like she can’t stand to see the sheets and blankets all smooth and tidy. She actually fell off the bed once in a fit of nesting. Then gave me a dirty look like it was my fault.
as long as YOU'RE comfortable
I’ve been working on the blue Fortissima socks. I have sock 1 at the beginning-heel-flap point and am working on getting sock 2 to that point. I’ll finish these before I continue on the lace pattern for the Ishbel.
Right now it’s +13°C and the streets and sidewalks are a sloppy mess. I hope it doesn’t freeze before it all dries up/melts. Forecast says it’s above freezing for the next few days. Continuing with our very weird weather this year.
I was curious last night about the differences between my three cameras. I decided to stage a comparative photo shoot. I commandeered the chicken and set it up comfortably. The cameras were all set on “auto” and only the DSLR fired the flash.
The 7 megapixel ultra compact:
Canon PowerShot A560
then 6 megapixel (bulkier but still smaller than the DSLR):
Canon PowerShot S3is
and the 12 megapixel:
Canon Rebel XSi
The Rebel has deeper colours and saturation, but whether it’s because it’s a DSLR or because it’s 12 MP, I’m not sure. Interesting!
I’ve restarted the Ishbel (yet again) and it’s going well. I researched the different methods of doing YOs between knit and purl stitches and found a way that makes them symmetrical. I am probably at the point where I ripped it out the last time. I may complete the stocking stitch section then set it aside and finish a pair of socks before I embark on the lace sections.
Been working the past few afternoons and have some more lined up for today, but it’s all web editing, so it’s fun.
I made the swiss steak recipe last night and it was superb. I used outside round steak and sliced it in half depthwise, pounded it out as the recipe instructs. I did it this time in the oven (I’ve done it stove-top, in the crock pot and once before in the oven) and used 1 cup of red wine in the sauce. I also thickened the sauce before I poured it in the baking dish and I cooked it covered. The sauce was lumpy when I put it in the baking dish and I worried about that, but after 2 hours in a 350° oven, it came out silky smooth and delicious. As much as the big fella moans about cheap cuts of meat, I made a big show of using only my fork to cut a piece off, it was that tender. Yum!
We had 46 kids for trick or treating last night. Well, there were 46 bags of chips taken. I put the box on the step and had a nice sign saying “help yourself; one per kid, please”. Last year we had 40, I think.
Found this cute vid on YouTube. I’m always finding cute dog ones, but this cat one is cute, too:
in Saskatchewan. It’s snowing and there’s measurable wind chill (-10°C).
This entry is brought to you by:
Mr. Handsome
So I was able to get a couple of projects finished and off my plate:
the cloche
Rav members can go here to read all about it and see more pics.
And then I did these slippers:
I rounded the still-wet toes after I took that photo.
Rav members can read more and see more pics here. Cute project and interesting construction.
Gratuitous hound pics:
Sabrina burrito, unrolled
Often when she’s on the bed with me, she’s digging around and nesting because she’s cold. I’ll put up with it for only so long before I wrap her up like a burrito with a fleece blanket. After a short while, she’s tossed the fleece off and is airing her belly because she’s like a little furnace.
How YOU doin'? Come here often? What's your sign?
Mr. Handsome lets his charisma ooze out. But then there’s Princess Sabrina, always cramping his style:
typical Jealous Cow behavior - oh, you're paying attention to him, I must try to block you
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women! I tell ya!
And now the latest in the “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” contest:
don't be jealous
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HA!
Edited to add: I’ll be wearing the wrap dress and bolero for the ball. Unfortunately the ball has been postponed a week, now it will be on November 14th.
Edited (again) to add this. If dogs came trick or treating, then I’d answer my door:
Yes, it was two years ago today that we were driving home from our vacation with a little extra baggage in the back seat:
"who are you people and where are you taking me?"
Such a timid boy. We had a great holiday out on Pacific Rim, Vancouver, Kelowna, then stopped in Edmonton on our way home and picked him up.
we had them muzzled just in case anyone had an attitude
That was a crowded back seat – we also had two dog beds in there from Costco.
While I was looking for “gotcha day” photos, in the same folder were our trip photos:
@ Pacific Sands Resort, this was on our door step
I miss going there so much. We didn’t go last year because we had just bought our house; this year our plans were to make it to Vancouver for Ande’s party, but not go to the island. Next year we must definitely go. I miss sitting in front of our fire place and listening to the wind; opening the door or window and hearing the pounding of the surf; walking for kms on Long Beach and all around. I’ll have to start stashing away my wage that isn’t taken by the car payment and grown a “vacation fund”.
I can’t decide: please look at the pics and make a choice on the poll.
#1, off the shoulder, ruched/gathered bodice
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#2, wrap bodice
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#3, wrap bodice with matching bolero
I’m completely torn between them. I love the off-the-shoulder look. But I also love the wrap bodice. The big fella worries that the bolero makes it look too military uniformish (and it’s a military ball we’re attending). The first dress is made of a flatter/non-shiny fabric and I like that. [I had to crop out my face b/c I had bad crazy hair today and a crabby look on my face.]
Edit: the first dress is not as snug as the second one, so I could actually eat supper The ball is being held in a military armories building, so drafty and cool. The big fella will be in red serge, so think how the dress will look next to that.
Edit #2: Really?! No one likes dress #1? So you want me to have to wear Spanx and control top pantyhose and not eat?! I was looking at last year’s photos and the military officers are in red, the enlisted are in a dark green, it looks like. So shiny midnight blue shouldn’t really look like theirs?
about half-way through the stocking stitch section
I am not entirely pleased with the appearance of the yarn-overs that are executed on the purl side. The beginning of the purl row has you doing the 3-stitch garter edge, then a YO before you begin purling. So you have to do almost a double-wrap of the yarn around the needle. It makes a bigger hole than the one at the end of the row which is going from purl to knit. I’ve even tried knitting the YO through the back loop to tighten it up.
loosey goosey
I think with blocking it might get even holey-er. It was a good thing I realized this morning that I have need of making a birthday present, so I am setting the Ishbel aside to do the other project, I’ll think about what I’m going to do. I did read on the Rav there were a few people who did a slightly different border so they weren’t doing purl-side YOs from a knit stitch, so I might go back revisit that.
Rainy, damp day today. We ran some errands then went for Chinese food for a treat.
I finished knitting the cloche a couple of nights ago. I had to order ribbon online, so it should be here next week:
almost the true cranberry colour
(p.s. Flickr has gone and changed some stupid setting/feature, so now I can’t just right-click on the photo on my photostream or in my set. Grrrr. Why do they change things that are good and working perfectly into something that sucks?)
I like the style of the hat and how it fits. I’ll definitely make another!
The ball is being held in a military armories building, so drafty and cool. The big fella will be in red serge, so think how the dress will look next to that.
