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Big Grey Blob

We're baaack! It was a good trip, we had fun, all of us. We played games and spent money at Origins. Lots of fun :D I even got some knitting in. A very nice lady showed me how to do entrelac, so I'm about half done on an entrelac dishcloth (It sounds silly, but the dishcloth cotton was the only yarn I had along that I was willing to do a practice project with). Another nice woman (with cute green hair) showed me a little of tatting with a shuttle. I tried it long ago, got frustrated, and switched to needle tatting. Now, I think it might go better if I had a real person to show me how to do it.

I also got about 12" on the sleeve of my alpaca sweater finished. I didn't work on that in the convention, but I did have about three hours knitting time each way (6 alltogether) while I was riding in the car.

Dragonfly, are you going to GenCon? We're going to be there too. Big J says that since we live so close, it's an absolute rule that we attend. (It's his childhood dream to attend GenCon, and we go every year we can. We even went to GenCon Anaheim for our honeymoon. What can I say?)

I got back, and my swappee for the Hogwart's Sock Swap, A.J., had received her package! Yay! She writes about it on her blog, here. After I mailed it, I realized I had forgotten to take any pictures, and forgotten to write a letter to go in with the goodies. So, go look at my socks on her page. go, go, go look, then come back. The socks did turn out to be Dobbie socks. *Blush* it's not too noticeable, and probably only another knitter could tell. Dobbie tried, but he just dosen't understand why we would want two socks the same.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! Thank God that we're a free country!

yes, i could be snarky about a "free" country, but, it could be a whole lot worse. So today, I'm going to enjoy food, fireworks and my family, and not worry about anything.

Thanks for the hint about the sewing. I'd forgotten that you can sew on either side of a steek to anchor it, _before_ you take the drastic step of cutting. Thank goodness! My alpaca isn't slippery at all, it's very fuzzy, but it might not stick to itself well (it's sticking to everything else...my shirt, my hair, the cats...)

Me and Big J and Little J are going to be on vacation for the rest of the week. We're headed out to Origins convention in Columbus, Ohio. I'll see y'all Monday! I've already got my projects picked out to take along: alpaca sweater, big black socks, dishcloth. That should be enough. I'm going to be running around after Little J, too, so who knows how much time I'll have to actually knit.

Alpaca is so sweet...

I've started up on my alpaca sweater. I'm not going to be posting much about it, b'cause I'm sorta doing my own pattern, even (gasp!) writing it down, and if I want to submit it somewhere **coughKnittycough** can't have it previously on the internet. But, it's a gorgeous, soft yarn. And, I've decided that I do the cables better with a cable needle. The ones I'm using involve crossing three stitches over three stitches, and if I do it without a cable needle, there's squinting and cursing involved. with a cable needle, I feel much better about the whole thing.

I'm thinking about a modified steeking technique...Does anyone know if Alpaca felts? Or is it furry enough to stick together for steeking?

My Hogwart's Sock Swap package is ready to go out! Yay! Big J reminded me that the Post Office is closed tomorrow, but our main branch has a nifty postage mailing machine, so, I'll probably run it by tomorrow morning. I hope my swappee likes everything! I'll post pics after she gets it. :)

Gardening :)

Gardening is one of those things that make me happy. just, happy. Even when there's weeds, and the bugs are eating my potato plants, it still is calming to go out to my garden. Or, when I need calming, pulling up weeds by the roots definitely helps!

I did need it this evening. Big J and I played a game of Dungeons and Dragons (he was the game master, and I was the only character) and unfortunately, my character died fighting the horrible monster. :( I don't like it when my characters die. I'm attached to them, and I absolutely hate it that that is the end of their short little lives. It makes me very grumpy too. Then, I did some fast decluttering to the house. It's been accumulating things for weeks, that I've been too tired, lazy, something to pick up. It's good to see the living and dining rooms neat and clutter free, but the cleaning process makes me tired and cranky, too.

So, I went to the garden. I put more peat moss around my potato plants (hilling up dirt wouldn't have worked. Trust me. Peat moss works). I watered everything. I spent about 30 minutes pulling weeds out of my garden. Now, there's the grass in between rows! Grass is an improvement, I think. Over the tall prickly weeds with stickery seeds. Oh, and there are dandelions left, too. Little ones. I think they're cute.

And then, I ooo-ed over my zinnas that are blooming. I petted the sunflowers, that are getting very very close to blooming. I examined my bean plants, looking for beans (there are some, but, they're teeny. 1/2 inch long, and almost microscopic.) I discovered that one of my bell pepper plants has a pepper on it! Yay! It's big enough to eat as a green pepper, but I'm going to wait until it turns red. The other pepper has little peppers started, too. My volunteer squash plant in the compost pile has two baby squashes forming. They look like acorn squashes. sorta. Let's see...I brought home baby broccoli headlets, basil, chives, parsley, and a bit of oregano. And there's still home-grown lettuce in the fridge for salads.

I love my garden! and what's really cool, is all the little sparrows have stopped eating my broccoli, because on the other side of the community gardens, there's sweet corn ripening for them to eat. :}