Wild Life

People's reaction to wild life often surprises and occasionally disgusts me. School girls screaming about a spider on the floor and demanding that someone squash it, house wifes standing on chairs with broom in hand to hide from mice etc. I understand that no one wants critters in their house but the yelling and, the brooms and the shoes and squashing is a total overreaction.

Today at work I was working behind the counter, when I noticed that out front some of my co-workers where looking up towards the ceiling and talking about a giant "bug". Mostly I ignored them because I thought that it was just an exceptionally large mosquito hawk. Some of the others where talking about getting the broom to knock it down, one of them got a bottle of sanitizer and tried to spray it. Someone mentioned that it was very pretty though.

At this point I decided to go see what all the fuss was about. I walk out from behind the counter and look up, and sitting on the lower corner of the sign above the deli, I see this. Not a "bug" but a moth. (I looked it up latter and I am pretty sure that it is a male Emperor Gum Moth) It's gorgeous and obviously not happy, sitting there with its slightly damaged wings spread, not moving. I was not even sure that it was still alive.

I grab a step stool and a large plastic container with a lid from the back and capture it with only a little resistance on its part. I take it outside and put it onto the leaves under a tree outside where it can live or die in peace with out fear of brooms or sanitizer.

I took a picture of him with my phone, but I don't have the cord to get it off the phone and on to the computer. So I found the picture online. It is the same except that it is slightly lighter in color than the moth I saw.

Mice steal food, carry diseases and destroy property. Ants get into your food. Spiders bite, mostly other bugs. Flies walk on who knows what (you know what). Get rid of them by all means but don't be cruel about it.

Moths, unlike butterfly's, don't even eat anything, at all. I don't think they even knew that it was a moth until I saw its fuzzy antennae told them. I don't understand this irrational need to automatically kill anything that is a "bug". People have been in car accidents because they have been after a spider and not watching where they where going.

But its late and I am rambling. My point, get over your bugaphobia. They have been here longer that you and will be here long after.

Mosey

So here is the leg warmers that I have been working on with my new yarn. It has a very simple cable, good for one like me who has never done cables before.
I had a little trouble with the gauge on this project. I made a swatch with #6 needles and a swatch with #7. The 7s were a little to big and the 6s were a little to small. So I decided to use the the 6s as I have them in the required double point and didn't have 7s.
It is not turning out quite like I wanted though. I wanted it to be fairly lose fitting, and it is turning out tighter than I wanted. So I went to Jo-Anne's with a 40% off coupon and bought myself a set of size 7 double pointed needles. We will try again to get it right.

Yesterday I went to the optometrist for a regular check up. Good news is that I don't need glasses. Yaha. Bad news is that I can't knit with dilated eyes.
I, as every knitter in his or her right mind, brought my knitting to the doctors. One of the last thing that the doc does is to dilate my eyes. It takes about 20 minuets for the drops to work, so I figure, just enough time for me to cast on another leg warmer with the larger needles.
So I open the pack of shiny new needles and I find the tail of the yarn and start to cast on. A minuet or so later I find that I have to hold my work out much farther than normal to see it and its getting worse. I was reduced to finishing my cast on by feel and what I could distinguish from the blur that was my yarn. I was very far sighted, and everything was at least slightly out of focus. Like trying to look through eyes that are not yours and you don't know how to make them work. It was most unsettling.
Luckily my vision improved back to mostly normal in the next hour or so. I still looked like a weirdo with black holes for eye balls for the rest of the day, but at least i could see.

Memorial Day

For memorial day Mom, Dad and I went downtown to see the vendors and parade. Mom had decided not to set up a tent for Stitched with Grace because she did not know what would be on sale there and how many people would so up. Also two of us kids were not there to help and Dad had the day off, we also did not have a canopy. So Mom is going to plan for next year. We ran into several friends and some of them where actually in the parade.

Afterwards we went down to the park to watch the fireworks. It took us a bit to find which park they were at, but in a small town there are only so many parks.

We forgot to take the camera. So we are waiting on a friend to e-mail the pictures she took so we can post them for you to see.

Narnia: Prince Caspian

Last Sunday Christ the King youth group had a pizza party and went out to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was fun, other than I was late for the pizza and they had to save some for me.

The movie was good, but the first one was better, and the book was better still. They put in a lot of theater drama (tension between Peter and Caspian and a half romance between Caspian and Susan. Now it has been a while sense I have read the book but I don't remember anything like that) and it really took away from the point of Lewis's story. I suggest that if you are going to see the movie and have not read the book, to see the movie first and then read the book, save the best for last and you won't be disappointed. If you have read the book just read it again and save yourself the $7.50 for a ticket. If your youth group wants to go, go for it, its an ok movie and its fun to hangout with your friends, just be careful how much popcorn and candy you eat.

If you will excuse me I am going to go read Prince Caspian again, just to see what I missed and what I got wrong, just as soon as I find what I did with the book.

P.S
Happy memorial day. Take a moment to pray for the U.S Army, Navy, Air force, and Marine men and women who have served, fought and some who have died for their country, and the families who stand behind them.

Learning to fly

The bird eggs on our porch are now all hatched growing up and learning how to fly. They have left the nest and you can see them now and again in the front lawn flapping their wings and taking little hops and short flights, with mom and dad close by. We know that at least three babies of the five eggs made it out of the nest. It makes me think that it won't be long before I leave the nest myself.

Jon Paul and I have been baby sitting for the church on Sunday after noons for the last twelve weeks or so, for a financial class they have been giving. Last Sunday was my last day for doing it, and it was just me because Jon Paul is at JROTC leadership camp. It was nice to get some extra money but I am soooooo glad to have my Sunday afternoons back to myself. It was also cutting into youth group time, so I was always a little late to youth.

I did the Macarena with a stuffed animal because i'm sexy and i do what I want.

Anyone who has e-mail has most likely seen this, but it is still funny. I don't pass this kind of e-mail on, but I will post it here.

Pick the month you were born:
January-------I kicked
February------I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May----------I jumped on
June----------I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena With
August--------I had lunch with
September----I danced with
October-------I sang to
Nov ember-----I yelled at
December-----I ran over
Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a snowman
6-------a gangster
7-------my mobile phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19------ - a smurf
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an ipod
29-------a surfer
30-------a llama
31-------A homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White---------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink-----------because I'm crazy.
Red-----------because the voices told me to.
Blue-----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want
Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!
Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow--------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange--------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown---------because I can.
Other----------because I'm a Ninja!
None----- -----because I can't control myself!

Music and Numbers

I have added a play list to the bottom of my blog (it was the only place that it would fit) and a hit counter to the top. The play list should only play if you tell it to. It's kind of an odd mix of songs, but I like them, and its my blog... so there. You can pick what songs you want to hear, or you can leave it off altogether if you don't want to listen to the obnoxious excuse that passes for music in the teenage world today. (boy thats a long sentence)

Color Change

As you have most likely noticed by now I have changed the colors and layout of my blog. I liked the dots but I thought that I was a little hard to read because it was so dark. So I lightened up the colors and made the text a little bigger.

Got Mail

So now that I have a job I can do a little bit of my own shopping for my addiction...um hobby.

I found this website that has some great deals on yarn. (They are having a big sale this weekend so I will be keeping a eye on it.)

This is what I ordered and it arrived today. The kidsilk night I got for $7.49 each and the Ella Rae classic wool was $2.99 each. (For those of you who read my blog and don't know any thing about yarn, that price is about 50% off. Kidsilk is a mix of kid mohair and silk.)

About half of the wool will go to make a pair of leg warmers, and the rest will most likely be matching gloves or scarf. At least one of the kidsilk will become a beaded cowl. Watch out for pictures of these.

Pretty in Pink

This is a fun summer dress that is very very pink. It is edged in white lace. Naomi is going to were it to her 8th grade dance.

Easter Sunday Dress

This is the dress I made for Easter.




















A close up of the bodice. I asked Mom to embroider it for me. The straps are attached with ribbon and buttons in a loop and eye arrangement.


















In the back you can see the crossed straps and the pink tulle ruffle on the hem.

A Study in Blue

Here we have a nice summer outfit, in shades of blue. A tank top with a rounded neck line, a simple multicolored choker, dark blue scrub like pants with lighter blue cuffs.


















Close up of the top. Notice the hand embroidered curly cue on the neck line.













A striped knit summer dress with matching belt. The skirt is cut on the diagonal to add interest, and some flare.

Fashion Show

These are some of the sewing projects that I have been working on.

This is mini-me, that my most wonderfulist parents got up at o-dark hundred the morning after thanksgiving to get on sale for me for Christmas. She is my model for most of my clothes.

New Post

If you would like me to e-mail you when I set up a new post just let me know, and what e-mail you want me to send it to, and I will put you on the list.

Yarn

OOhhhhhh. Look what I found at the dollar store, for guess what, a buck each. It makes my fingers itch with anticipation.