Plants

I don't really have a garden this year.  I was so excited to finally live in a place with a backyard so I tried to go outside one of the first days I lived in Arkansas and measure for a raised bed garden, but after 2 minutes I had been bitten by so many mosquitoes I literally had trouble breathing (which sucked).  So I took some Zyrtec (which totally works for making mosquito bites itch less, in case you are in a similar situation) and scrapped that idea.

However, in our (not at all spiteful) quest to take everything from our Iowa house (like cf lightbulbs from every socket, and the fancy lightswitches that Sean had installed), I took the planters that had a couple seeds in them and plopped them in the new backyard. When looking at them through the back window, they seem to still be alive.  In the foreground are a couple bell pepper plants, and in the back is a lettuce plant that I actually have no intention of eating.  I'm pretty sure by this point it would taste terrible.  But since it's pretty much all I am growing I love it just the same.

Except for the occasionally absurd wind (maybe you can see how the bigger pepper plant sort of has a zig-zag in it, from being blown over at one point), the southern rain storms and heat make it so I haven't had to water them or tend them in the slightest.  Which is great, since I don't go in the backyard. There are fireants out there, dude.

Emo

I miss my friends. And my music, which was on my computer that died.

Here is a kitten picture.

Um, I found a kitten

Only problem is, I'm in Little Rock for the weekend, and I can't really take him on the airplane.

More pictures and a tank top.

So pretty!


So I think this is what a shawl is for...


Andrea is having me make a lacy tank top, and I love it so far!

Guess What?

I finished my shawl. It's huge. And awesome.

Here it is pre-blocking. Impressive stuff, no?


Maybe a bath will help?


336 pins later...


With the book again to show how amazing blocking is at making things bigger.


Look! Look how pretty! :D


That's a king size bed. This thing is huge.


I didn't finish by the end of the Olympics, but I am darn proud of myself anyway. I want some real in-the-wild-not-pinned-to-my-bed pictures, but I was too excited to post these pics and didn't want to unpin it too early, so there ya go.


So... does anyone know what you are supposed to do with a shawl after you finish making it? Anyone? Bueller?

Slippers, Puppy hat

For something that took like 2 hours to knit, these slippers are really taking forever to finish. They're like, half dry, so I sewed the strap on, and even made it functional because it tightens up the rather loose toe part. So yay. Now all I have to do is wait till they're all the way dry to puff paint the bottoms. I can't decide if I like them.


My karate instructor has been bugging me to make a hat for his dog for like, 2 years. So now that the dog has some puppies, I made a prototype for a puppy. It fits Calvin, ear-holes and all, so hopefully a puppy is the same size as a Calvin.

Arkansas slippers and some knitting surgery

I am making some French Press Slippers! When I went to visit Arkansas to see if it would be a good place to live (apparently I thought it would, and we decided to move there in a couple months), I went to a yarn store and found this yarn on sale and decided that these slippers would be a good pattern to use it on. Thus, they are my Arkansas slippers.

Here is them, pre-felting (with a helpful cat for size comparison).


Here they are after two go-rounds in the front load washing machine. UGH! They look awful! That lump on the back! I should have figured out how to sew them in order to not make that lump, and they were huge. I pouted all night, then decided to take drastic measures.


Chop chop chop! I went with the scissors. This step was terrifying. I cut the whole lump off. Slipper lumpectomy.


Then I sewed them up the back! I even got a bit cocky with my scissors and trimmed any weird lumpy parts around the edges, too. (The one on the left is still in pre-op, the right one is all stitched up.)


I decided to hand-felt them the rest of the way to seal up the new heel seam and try to shrink them a bit and get rid of the dreadful lumpiness. Then I went to search for some buttons. They're not done yet since they are still drying and I haven't sewed on the straps. I can't decide which way I like the button: with the little leaves or plain. What do you think?