My Dawg

Charms Homework Assignment

I spent yesterday casting on, knitting, and finishing my second assignment for the HPKCHC on Ravelry. I didn't use a pattern for this and am really happy with the results.

Here is how I posted it on Ravelry:

Good morning, Professor cattiekins,

MrsAych - First Year Gryffindor reporting with her homework assignment for September.

I was on my way to the library when I noticed Seamus Finnigan practicing the Incendio Spell. He was standing awfully close to a stack of old Daily Prophets that some of the students had collected for recycling, and wouldn’t you know it, he caught the whole stack on fire! I had been trying to figure out how to use the Aguamenti Charm for hours with no luck. But as soon as I saw the newspapers (as well as Seamus’ hair) catch fire I knew I could do it! I whipped out my wand, gave it a flick, and shouted, “Aguamenti!”

This is what happened!

A magical raindrop (I named her Ame-chan) appeared and doused the flames! Seamus wasn’t harmed, although he is a bit charred and very soggy. You may want to avoid the hallway just outside the library as it is still flooded and Filch is in a very foul temper with having to mop it up.

Pattern: None (free-style)
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Needles: US 5

My First Homework Assignment!

YAY! My first assignment for the HPKCHC is finished!

Here is my submission.

Dear Professor Angiejude,

I have completed my assignment for the month of September.

Here is my essay and pictures of what I made for my niffler.

I named my niffler Willie. He’s very friendly, and loves to dig in Hagrid’s garden. He spends hours looking for jewels and other treasures. So much so that his sniffer gets stiff. The vet said he has a touch of arthritis in his snout and that something warm and cozy would help.

What is one to do when one has a niffler with a stiff sniffer? Why knit a stiff niffler sniffer warmer, of course.

I searched the library, but found no patterns suitable for a stiff niffler sniffer. So I contacted my friends, Fred and George Weasly, in hopes that they would know where I could find such a pattern. It happens that their own sweet mother, Molly, is a knitter and she has many knitting patterns. In fact, she had a pattern that seems to be made especially for stiff niffler sniffers and it seems to have been created especially for my pet niffler and his stiff sniffer! You see, it is called a Willie Warmer! Fred and George claim that Mrs. Weasly makes these for their father, Arthur, but I’m not sure I believe them. His sniffer doesn’t seem long enough and he doesn’t seem arthritic.

So without further ado, I present my first completed homework assignment here at Hogwarts…

Willie The Nifflers Stiff Sniffer Warmer (AKA: The Willie Warmer)


I chose to use the Gryffindor house colors so that Willie could wear his stiff sniffer warmer to things like Quidditch matches and show his team spirit. It consists of a long “sleeve” for his sniffer and a nifty pouch at the bottom for any jewels he might find. The drawstring helps hold it snug, but the sparkly tassel on the tip is purely decorative (in fact, I added that bit myself as the pattern did not include it)

Sincerely,
MrsAych
Gryffindor (first year)

Some Knitting

I've finally been bitten by the Monkey...
















I have to wonder what took me so long. This pattern is amazing! I can see myself making more of these. The yarn is some that I dyed. I don't usually like oranges so much for myself, but I'm glad I decided to keep this one and use it. I like how it looks with this pattern. I'm only doing 3 repeats on the leg instead of the 6 the pattern calls for. I want a few shorter pairs in my sock wardrobe. The next pair will be all 6 repeats.

I finished these little fish awhile back...







The pattern is free and it's a great way to use up scraps of dish cloth cotton. I have several more bodies made, but haven;t stuffed them. I want to knit up a bunch and hang them from the ceiling in the corner of the bedroom with fishing line. Maybe make some sort of mobile out of a piece of driftwood. Or I might buy a fish bowl and fill it with knitted fish.

And here is a plain old dish cloth... stockinette for when I needed some plain old, don't have to pay attention to what I'm doing knitting.













One can never have enough dish cloths... or plain knitting.

There are other projects, but I haven't been able to get decent pictures of any of it so it will have to wait.

In other MrsAych news, Emily is off at Judo Camp for the weekend. She went with another girl from her Judo class. I'm a little freaked at her being off in another state for the entire weekend, but she's a good girl and I've been e-mailing back and forth with one of the instructors of this camp. She'll be fine. She'll learn a lot. She'll be closer in her quest for her black belt... yes... she's a brown belt... I am so proud of her. I miss my baby!

MrAych hurt his neck while working out. He was grounded from driving for a few days since he couldn't turn his head to the left without feeling agonizing pain. He's feeling a little better now, but won't be able to work out for awhile. He hates not being able to do stuff. Sitting around doing nothing drives him crazy. I told him he needs to learn how to knit to pass the time while he recovers, but he claims that would just "drive him crazier" and laughed. He does not believe in the power of the pointy sticks. Silly muggle man.

Saturday Post

You know it's going to be a certain sort of day when you're dryer is broken, you have no clean pants, it's raining, and you have a birthday party to go to. It all makes me wonder if this is an example of equivalent exchange in action. Yeah... I watch Full Metal Alchemist with Emily... it's pretty good, actually.

Anyway... yesterday was a really good day. I went shopping with my mom, we bought new clothes and craft supplies, I got a pink noodle for the pool so I can now float for hours at a time, we had lunch, and laughed a lot. I even started my first pair of Monkey Socks with some yarn I dyed. It was a perfect day. And in exchange for this perfect day I must now have a not so perfect day.

Oh... and did I mention when I went to get the mail I came out of the post office reading something, walked over to the car and started to climb in, then thought, "Hey... wait a minute... my car isn't white!" I was getting into the wrong car. It didn't even LOOK like my car. This car was big and white and old. My car is small and bright red and newish. My only response was to say, "Oh..." I shut the door, walked over to my car and drove away. Halfway home it hit me. I laughed the rest of the way home.

At least if it's going to be a not so perfect day there will be humor to go along with it.

Have I Been Knitting?

Yes. I've been working on a bat dish cloth, some cotton coasters, and a halter tank top thingy for Emily. I have a bajillion other things in progress, but these are the ones I work on most of the time. There is a lot of stockinette involved. It is calming and it is something I can manage when my head spins with half-formed thoughts and the confused ramblings that fill my head, yet never take form. I think I've been tired. I'm not sure.

Update

Detassling is done. Once again Emily can have a social life, sleep in, and not smell like a corn field. How are they compensating her for the day of missed work complete with two hours of running back and forth and waiting? An extra hour on her paycheck. $10 whole dollars.

I am not impressed by their efforts.

Angry... I Am... Yes...

I am beyond mad. I got up at 4:15 to take Emily to work (she's detassling again this year)... drove into town and waited for an hour for the van to show up to take her to the fields almost an hour away. They never showed.

We drive home... as soon as we get here the phone rings. The bus showed up at the wrong time does she still want to work because they're going back to the pick-up spot. We say yes, I drive her back in... we wait... and wait... they never show up.

I call her crew leader and he does some checking. They were almost to the field. They didn't come back for her or the others who had shown up TWICE at THE TIMES THEY TOLD THEM TO BE THERE!

Since this was an extra day for only the best pickers she would have made extra money for working. She did everything she was supposed to do. The driver f*cked up so we're up early, we've wasted time and gas, and she misses out on the money! We were even there 30 minutes early the first time we drove in so I know they weren't there when they were supposed to be.

I think the ones who were never picked up should be paid anyway and if they aren't compensated for the missed work I may have to get in someones sh*t about it.

Then I try to use my credit card to get some breakfast on the way home (who carries cash at that time of day?) and my card was denied. I call the 800 number on the card... my payment was made on time (early in fact) and the computer voice on the other end says I have nothing past due on the account. It also says do not use my card until a payment is made. So I push the buttons to get an actual person... he tells me my payment is 45 FREAKIN' CENTS PAST DUE! What?!? 45 cents?!? Are they serious?!?

I may have cussed at this point. I may have made plans in my head to find these people who have messed up a perfectly good Saturday and beat them with a baseball bat. But I am so tired I'm really not sure. Maybe I curled up in the fetal position and screamed. I can't be positive of these things or any other things right now. I am beyond comprehending anything but the lust for causing great pain to these idiots!

Ok... I am done now.

ETA: Did I mention that I only got 4 hours of sleep before all of this happened? Unfreakinbelievable. Now I am done.

Smart Dog!

Yesterday Emily was sitting out back with our Border Collie, Barclay. He kept "asking" her to kick his basketball for him so he could chase it... he loves to "herd" basketballs and quickly punctures any ball left out in the yard so they become his.

Anyway... Emily was holding onto the ball and refused to kick it for him. So he grabbed her cell phone (aka her WHOLE LIFE!!!) and took off with it. He ran just far enough away to force her to get up and go after him.

I love that dog. heh

The Poe Set

I forgot to add this set yesterday. I love Poe and have all of his published works. I had to have a set.

Pendants

I have a new love. Pendants made from bottle caps and scrabble tiles. Of course I can't just buy a few and be happy. I have to get the supplies and make them myself.

These skulls are my first set of bottle caps. The ink on the pictures ran a bit, but I've figured out how to keep this from happening so it's all good.


















The Spongebob Zombie Scrabble tile is one I made for Emily. I made an identical tile for her best friend. I used tiles with their initials on the back.













This set is pics of my girls when they were little. The bottle caps will be magnets and the tiles are pendants. Finally... a way to use those hundreds of tiny pics they'd give every time we had their portraits done!










These were my first Scrabble Tiles. I made them for my mom. She LOVES anything with the flag on it and I fell in love with the little Betsy Ross sewing her flag so I had to make this set. The letters on the tiles spell my mom's name.









This set will be for sale in one of my Etsy shops. I had a blast searching for pictures to use for them and have tons more to play with. I'm going to try some collage pendants, too.


















So many ideas... so few hours in the day...

ETA:I'll be listing some pendants here at a lower price for my blog readers. For more info I can be reached at
woolyboogeryarns@comcast.net.

I'm Staying

Yep... I've decided not to delete this blog. Not yet, anyway. Even if I don't update as often as I'd like, I can't imagine not having this space to come to when I have something to say. So y'all are stuck with me. Thanks to all who commented. It made the decision to stay with it much easier.

To Delete Or Not

I'm trying to simplify, people. Clearing things out of my home and my computer... streamlining my life. Some things were easy to let go of. Others... not so much. What surprises me are the things I thought would be difficult to let go of are the things I had no problem getting rid of. My old podcast? I had ideas for bringing it back, but never sat down and did it. The files with the old episodes? I hit delete and away they went, never to be heard by human ears again. I thought it would be hard. It wasn't. It was almost a relief. One less thing to think about and worry over.

It's been this way with most things. Some of my favorite things... old clothes, kids toys, books... they've been so easy to let go of. Which leads me to this. Do I delete this blog or do I keep it? I want to post to it. I feel guilty and said when I don't. I think I'd miss it a lot if it wasn't here. But is it something that I only think would be hard to let go of or would it be one of those things that I really wouldn't miss so much once it was gone?

I think I need to think about this awhile.