ollie ollie oxen free!

Cranky_6 come out, come out where ever you are! It is De-Lurking Day! 

For those not in the know, a lurker is someone who reads a site, but never leaves a comment.  I know you’re out there, my stats tell me so.  Would it kill ya to comment?  a few minutes of your time would make me feel so good – I need reassurance, validation ….

c’mon, how about it?  lay some sugar on me!

graceless blogger begging thanks to Beancounter!

bloggers’ burden

Kathleen is taking a break with her mother filling in, Chelsea is thinking of some changes.  Is there something going around?  I had a touch of ennui during the holidays and haven’t completely shaken it, although it could be post holiday burnout – it is hard to come up with daily entries and I may morph into an occasional poster.  I also seem to be a one project at a time type of knitter and when it comes to knit blogging, it is hard to keep that interesting.  I also have this albatross around my neck – can you see from the picture that he’s trying to get in on my bloggin action! That’s the back of my neck upon which he perches!   

If you are a rabid avid blog reader you may want to check out Bloglines, a site that will let you know when a blog is updated rather than you having to obsessively constantly keep checking.

Progress on the poncho continues.  Claire arranged the colors for me and she confirms that my picture in yesterday’s entry does not accurately represent how pretty it is.  Whew!  I panicked when I saw that picture, wondering if my eyes were deceiving me.  I am considering making Clapotis my next project ….. ain’t she sweet?  btw, I found this link which has a definition, very apt!

this and that

Knitpixiebutton

Our favorite Midnight Knitter has started an online yarn shop!  The Knitpixie button is a link to the shop – so give it a click and check it out.

I have a hunch/hope that this will be a slow day here at Chez Swine. I had some bad mojo yesterday. 

It all began in the early afternoon and involved a mad dash to a saddlery in Elmont to pick up a special eye goggle thingamajig for our horse Spencer.  A few weeks ago he cut his eyelid and needed stitches – now they are healing and getting itchy and Mr. Spen is rubbing his face in his stall – not good.  The vet came yesterday and confirmed that he has scratched his cornea.  ergh! He looks a bit kooky wearing his goggle, but fortunately he’s not vain! 

For those of you not familiar with Long Island — Elmont is not close to where I live and this trip was made at the height of rush hour on the LIE.  I also was not familiar with the territory and this heightens my stress level.  From the saddlery, I had to run to the barn to put said protective wear on the beast.  Then it was home, throw some dinner in the pressure cooker, throw daughter #2 in Onslow for trip to flute lesson and then back home again.

  • trip to saddlery/barn/home = 3.5 hours
  • dinner in pressure cooker   = 9 minutes
  • flute lesson                     = 1.25 hours
  • can you see why I love my pressure cooker?   

just when I am starting to relax and put the day behind me, a friend calls to tell me her son was in a car accident.  Thankfully everyone emerged unscathed – but she is rattled, he is rattled, I’m rattled!  This young man is the same age as daughter #1 and it is scary as hell when these things happen!!

Hopefully today will be less eventful — my goal is to mop the floor.  Seems do-able? (yes I know, I dream big!)

Farmhouse Yarns Poncho

P1030004 It’s the first post of 2005!  (I don’t count those silly weekend fillers that I do).  I am jumping right in with a picture of poncho progress.  This poncho is knit top down, has shoulder shaping and is designed with a turtle neck.  The yarn is Farmhouse Yarns by Hopyard Spinnery and they are located in East Haddam CT.  It is a hand-dyed, three ply sport weight – the pattern calls for it to be double stranded.  I purhcased the yarn at Granny’s, with encouragement from Kathleen and Granny herself!  They say that pictures never lie, but it seems to me the color changes are much more subtle and everything less garish.  I am enjoying the pattern and the yarn and have been making good progress.  I have three more color changes to get through.  I am thinking that it might be time to start a sock project, since this poncho is becoming a bit unwieldy.

I have spent a good portion of this weekend trying to come up with a list of resolutions.  I know there is always room for improvement.  At the risk of sounding like a complete narcissist, I will tell you that I am having trouble with the list.  The old standards are always there – lose weight, quit smoking  blah,blah, blah.  Just thinking about these lists however, exhausts me .  So much energy goes into the making and declaration of resolutions.  It’s like climbing that giant ladder up to the high dive and then actually working up the gut to jump. 

I am resolving not to resolve. 

I will make changes this year.  Improvements. Rededications.  It will be a year of change for me – specifically Daughter #1 will graduate and go off to college. 

Here is my one and only resolution — This year, I will be open to change.

since blogging was light over the vacation — how about a little holiday pug?