craftymommavt's Xanga

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:54:27 GMT

You know what is on my mind this week?

My exam.

On Thursday, I am taking my exam. I am not nervous about it yet, though I am worried. I hope I gleaned all the info that I needed over the past two years to successfully take the exam.

I have heard from a couple of classmates that the exam security is crazy. You are fingerprinted on the way in and the way out. I know you have to provided multiple forms of ID. You are under video and audio surveillance. And they were not even allowed to take in bottles of water!

The exam is four hours long. Both my classmates that have taken it needed basically the full four hours. One classmate said that sitting still for four hours was hard....Which I can imagine! I am not a sit-still-for-four-hours kind of gal!

I will be greatly relieved, however, to have the exam finished. It has been hanging over my head all summer and it will be nice to be free of it!

Once my exam is done, it takes a month for the scores to come back and then I can apply to the state for a license to practice. Once all those ducks are in a row...I will have to find a job! <gulp>

But I am in one-step-at-a-time mode. I just need to do some more material review the next few days and then take my exam.

In other news:

I need to take new pictures of the chicks for you! I guess we've had them two weeks now....They are quiet disheveled looking with "real" feathers growing in and chick fluff growing out! They are sweet little creatures though! I love listening to them peep at each other....They do it pretty much all day long, little sweet pips and peeps.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:15:43 GMT

Gemstone

October 2004 - July 2009 above picture circa 2005

Last night, we were about to leave the house for Nature Boy's karate class when he noticed one of our guinea pigs had a bit of blood on her nose. Further investigation showed that the blood was coming from her backside and while she was not bleeding heavily, it was continual. We zipped her off to the vet and found out that she likely had uterine cancer, something frequently seen in an older guinea pig like ours. Basically, such a cancer is terminal for the guinea pig, so we had her euthanized. Actually, when they gave us her little body back, the vet tech said her lymph glands were all swollen too....It looks like she was a pretty sick piggy.

We are all pretty sad. Gemstone was from a litter of pigs that we bred. Nature Boy was in the third grade and still homeschooled when she was born. We were waiting and waiting for the momma pig, Ruby, to have her litter. We didn't want to miss it! One day, we came home from Homeschool Gym and found Ruby just starting to give birth. We got to see each and every baby pig be born!

Gemstone (on the right) was red and white like her mom, with part straight and part abyssinian whorled hair. She was one of Nature Boy's very favorite pigs!

In early 2005, Nature Boy entered Gemstone in a contest at a local pet store....A couple of months later we heard back that Gemstone had been selected the April Pet Of The Month!

April 2005
Pet of the Month

Name: Gemstone
Owned By: Nature Boy
Story:
My name is Nature Boy and I am 8 years old. (I have my mom's permission to enter this contest) This is my entry for pet of the month. This is Gemstone. She is 3 1/2 months old . Something special about Gemstone is that we saw her being born. Most Guinea Pigs we know like carrots, but she likes apples. When I snuggle her she makes happy noises. Thank you for looking at Gemstone.

We will miss our little burbling friend.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:57:19 GMT

Oh dear, I did not sleep so well last night. <yawn> I woke up a few times, I had strange dreams...Not bad dreams...just strange! I feel like I am moving very slowly this morning.

So, I have been applying myself to studying for my exam. I am finding the materials I wanted to review and going over them. I am using both my textbooks and a review guide I bought. Honestly, I wish I had bought the review guide at the beginning of my academic program. Basically, It is a big book of everything relevant to my profession in outline form. It would have been handy when studying and reviewing for tests in school as I could look up a topic and get a succinct bullet list type summary. Ah well...neither here nor there at this point.

The other thing I want to talk about today is spiders.

You may have heard or maybe you live around here and have experienced the fact that we Vermonters are getting a hefty soaking of rain this summer. It has been pretty much raining every single day...And lots of rain at that! What I have noticed is an increase of creepy, crawly spiders in the house. While I am not afraid of spiders....I would much rather they stay outside and not come inside. I think all the rain and wet is driving them in to the house.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:10:15 GMT

I love fiber arts!

My newest project and quick knit obsession.....

Headbands!

The greenish/bluish one I have actually worn, it stretched the lace a bit, that's why it looks narrower. They are both wool and need blocking to open the lace. And...best of all, the headband actually stayed in my fine, slippery hair! Yay! I think the wool has enough grip to not slip out.

Yes, finally a sunny day yesterday.

From simple beginnings.....

To colorful wonderfulness.

I think I got my light yellow...It is a smidge brighter than my monitor shows it....Dh and I walked by oohing on aahing all day as it was drying on the deck. It is a lovely yellow.

My first yellow skein came out too bright! So, to tossed in some green dye.

And got this lovely variegated green and yellow skein.

It is really, really pretty irl.

BTW...Notice the difference between the tidy yellow skein and the rat's nest green skein? That's the difference between a well tied skein vs. a not well tied skein when tossed into the pot! Luckily, dh loves pulling apart tangled yarn. He has already offered to tame the green skein.....I'm just going to give it one more day to dry completely before we....err.....he winds it up.

Today, I must study. I am up and showered and ready to start my day...I'd best get to it!

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:16:46 GMT

Hmmm....Kinda sleepy this morning...Not much to say.....

Today we are supposed to have a sunny day. At least that's what they were forecasting yesterday. It will be nice to have a day to hang out laundry and maybe (hopefully!) dye yarn.

Starting tomorrow, Nature Boy is going to be doing some morning computer camps for the next two weeks. He is doing one on stop motion animation and the other on 3-D computer animation. He is very excited about them.

Me? I see a great opportunity for studying!!!! Except for a couple of days where I have conflicts, I am going to drive him in to camp,and then go to the University library and study for the mornings. My exam is a week from this Thursday, so it is time to get into serious study mode.

I've got a lot coming up this week too! I'm hoping to get together with a friend tomorrow, Thursday I have to drive to NH. One of my classmates is moving to Alaska next week and our little class is having a last get-together as a whole class before she goes. Friday, I am going camping for the night with a friend. And I've got a couple of appointments sprinkled into the midst of all that. I think I will have to budget my time carefully this week!

Our chicks are still growing super fast. (Not like they really stop until they are full grown!)

Nature Boy loves to take the chicks out to hold and snuggle them. The other day, he was doing this and the cat came and sat on his lap, completely oblivious to the chick!

The chicks have enough feathers now to do little short hopping flights. Remember they were little balls of downy fluff just a week ago? Look at this chick's feathers now!

Crazy! And I think these pictures are from Thursday, so that means the chicks are more feathered now!

I forgot to take a picture yesterday of my knitting project....You'll have to be in suspense one more day.

K...I gotta go check the forecast and start up some laundry!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:26:02 GMT

The red and yellow soaker is completed!

Pattern: Punk Knitter soaker (If you click the link, you get an "Adult Content" warning. I guess maybe she has some adult content on her blog, but this is a direct link to the soaker pattern...No adult content on that page.)
Yarn: home dyed Cascade 220, red trim: Lion Wool
Needle size: 6 for body, 5 for waist ribbing
Knit size: Medium
Stats: 9.5" wide, 9" waist to crotch, leg holes 4.5", picked up 36 sts for 2x2 rib cuffs
Used Kitchener stitch to seam flap of the soaker to body
New experiment: Turned waist and ran an elastic instead of a drawstring tie
What I like best about this pattern: It's quite easy to knit, knits up in a few days and looks good!

The completion of this soaker left me with no project on the needles! I really wanted to get a start on the Daisyhead bloomer pattern....But I need to learn some new knitting techniques (short rows) to make it and well...I just didn't have the energy or motivation yesterday to learn something new. <sigh>

That's okay...I figured if starting a new pattern felt overwhelming, I would just start an older pattern...I found some superwash in my wool stash and contemplated this: Perhaps the best way to answer the superwash soaker conundrum is to make a new soaker with superwash and see what happens! So, I cast on to make a 1932 soaker in the superwash....I've only knit about 8 rows....I mention that because I am tempted to rip it out and knit a punk knitter soaker instead......

So, how did I find this superwash in my stash? I kinda when crazy and hauled all my wool yarn down off the shelves (It's kept in purple bins on top of our living room bookcases) and emptied them all!

I then sorted the yarns and labeled the boxes as to what yarn in what colors was in each box and then I put them back up on the shelf. Amazing what you find when you organize! I found plain old natural colored wool....Just the ticket for the Daisyhead bloomer! That's what gave me the idea to start it.....Even if I didn't have the motivation to follow through and knit the soaker, at least I have the yarn for when I am ready!

I did knit something else yesterday....It was a super quick knit and I have it upstairs drying because I blocked it. Yup....I actually blocked something! But I'll keep you in suspense until tomorrow. (Also known as: I didn't take a picture of it yet!).

Happy Independence Day everyone! Have a happy and safe weekend!

Friday, July 03, 2009

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:23:14 GMT

I am tired. I did not sleep well last night....Nor have I slept well in a considerable time....It wears on me sometimes.

Yesterday, the handle on the toilet broke...Turns out that plastic does not withstand the repeated stress of pulling up the outlet flap (and all the pressure from the weight of the water) forever. I had an appointment in town anyway, so I went to Lowes on the way home and got a new handle assembly...This time with a metal piece that stretches from the handle to the flapper. Hopefully, it will last a long time.

I also have had the hankering to make a new soaker or, more to the point based on user feedback, a hankering to knit a new (and improved) 1932 Soaker....A little bird told me a butter yellow soaker would be nice. This entailed a trip to Kaleidoscope Yarns. I soooooo love that yarn shop! <contented sigh>

I knew just want I wanted, some Cascade 220 in light yellow. I went in, and.....Yuck! What was Cascade thinking? Their light yellow is dingy looking! I mean, it looks like when you wash a nice color with something like blue jeans that run a little bit and make the other item sort of tinted and dingy. I was sorely disappointed.

I touched some other yarns...So soft....so pretty....None quite what I wanted. Then the lady at the register offered to help me some. This is the real reason to love Kaleidoscope Yarns....They have the best staff! She and I looked at several yarns (Minnow merino, Manos Del Uruguay, etc.) but either the yellow wasn't quite right, or they were superwash......

Now, this brings up a soaker conundrum....I have read on many diaper forums that one should not use super wash for soakers.....So, I really didn't want to buy some and try it and have it not work! I discussed it with with the gal at Kaleidoscope and she actually even looked it up quickly online.....I decided not to risk it and instead grabbed a Cascade 220 in natural and I will pull out my dye and on the next sunny day....I will dye the 220 butter yellow....

The only problem with that scenario......I am not sure we are ever going to have a "next sunny day"! I think it is going to be one of those summers where it rains alllllllll summer! Grrrr!

If need be, I can dye the yarn and drip-dry it inside....But it really is a task that is much more suited for outdoor drying....Not to mention the fact that in this humidity...If it's not a sunny day, I have no idea if the yarn will ever dry!

There are some promises in the forecast of smidges of sun next week.....Until then I will continue to work on the red/yellow soaker.

Oh...and the best part about my trip to Kaleidoscope?! The gal that helped me actually knew what I was talking about when I told her about knitting a soaker. Not only that, but she knew about lanolizing too....Turns out she had knit the demo soaker for the store...I don't know if this is the exact soaker, but it looked like this one from here.

It would be nice a trim soaker....though it has no cuffs...(We discussed that too!). I have to say I like those soakers with the ribbing in the crotch. It seems to shape them nicely and gives a little bit of extra fullness (from the squishiness of the ribbing) right where it is needed!

So many soaker patterns......Must not add another one to the "want to knit" list! I gotta try that Daisyhead bloomer one first!!!!!!

Okay...Enough talk of soakers....How about a picture I took from my friend's yard when I was dog sitting last weekend?

We truly live in a beautiful place!

K...well....not that I am mentioning soakers again ....but all this talk has knitting on my mind. I think I will get out the red and yellow soaker and put the cuffs on it! Not much else to do on yet another rainy day.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:21:28 GMT

I do not believe it rained at all during the waking hours yesterday...That was an improvement over the past several days!

Dh is sick....He's been sick all week. Poor guy. He was home Monday (sick and it was Nature Boy's birthday party) he was home sick on Tuesday, yesterday, he mustered up the energy to go to work and felt worse and came home early. Honestly, when he got home, he looked awful.....He is snorky and sniffly and generally miserable. I don't know his status for today yet as he is still asleep. Summer colds/viruses are just the worst!

I have not knit for a couple of days...I did make some progress on the red and yellow soaker. I pulled out my knitting book, opened it up to the kitchener stitch page and seamed the soaker up....

Before:

After:

I think I might have pulled the stitches a little tight....but it is fine. There was one wonky half stitch in it...but again, I think it was fine (in other words, I can live with these imperfections). It wasn't as hard as I was expecting and as long as I chanted what I was doing, I was fine...Though I think dh might have thought it slightly odd to hear me repeating over and over again, "Bottom as if to purl, top as if to knit, bottom as if to knit and slide off, bottom as it to purl, top as if to purl and slide off, top as if to knit, bottom as if to knit and slide off......" The process has a nice rhythm to it, that's why it wasn't so hard to do.

Once seamed, I looked at the soaker and thought the leg holes looked too long...And that the rise in the front looked too short....So, I seamed the legs down a bit and knit up the first cuff. I still was not happy with how it looked....That made it seem short in the leg hole. I inquired of my friend as to the measurements on a soaker I had knit and given to her previously....Kindly she humored my obsession and measured for me. Turns out the soaker was correct to start. Now, I need to pull out the cuff and un-sew the bits I closed up on the leg holes. Not a big deal....But I was annoyed about it for a couple of days, so I haven't done it yet. Today, I have already pulled it out and looked at it and will get back to the project.

I was also told that the lovely purple soaker has waaaay too much stretch to it. I am going to have to reknit one of those to get the pattern kinks worked out. It might be that my knitting is a bit loose (which it is!) and so it allows more ease to the ribbing. Mind you, I tried to correct for that by dropping my needle size, but given that the ribbing is so stretchy, I will redo the next one casting on fewer stitches. I have had a color request too....So, I may have to make a trek to Kaleidoscope Yarn.......Oh, the burden of it!

What else?

Last night, I made a quick modification on the grazing ark. The pigs are eating the grass so fast in it that they make bare spots on the lawn! To allow them a little more room for grazing and to curtail a secondary issue (cleaning!) I took the floor out of the part that is the little house. Basically, I had lined it with an old towel (on top of the piece of plywood), but they were still getting it pretty urine soaked and it smelled. Now, they will have the ground to pee and poop on and I won't have to worry about cleaning up. It's a win-win situation....They get more grass and are happy, I get less work and am happy!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:25:57 GMT

You know, chicks are just amazing creatures.

It is always interesting to see how much of a chicken's behavior is hardwired into their brains vs. learned from their mother. Preening, pecking, scratching on the ground....All behaviors that we see in the chicks starting on day one. And since these chicks were hatched in some giant incubator somewhere and then shipped in trucks to the feed store, I can safely say they had no opportunities to see a mother hen to learn how to be a chicken.

A just plain amazing thing about chicks is how fast they grow. Really, their whole purpose in life right now is to grow bigger and so they are growing exponentially Not only do they get physically bigger, but their feathers come in super fast too. When we got the chicks last Friday, they were little balls of downy fluff. Now their wing feathers are coming in and you can just see the start of tail feathers.

Here is a chick two days ago....And honestly, the wing feathers have grown even bigger since I took that picture!

And compare that to when we got them Friday!

Mind you, feathers are imperative for the chicks' survival. Feathers keep them warm so they can regulate their body heat and without them they would die. I suppose then, it's no wonder that they grow so quickly!

We are very much enjoying our chicks (hard not to since they are smack dab in our living room!) and have been handling them a lot so that they will be tame and friendly. It is fun sitting and watching them and listening to their little peeps and whistles and to watch the occasional bouts of wild chick antics!

So...That is the official chick update. Hard to believe they haven't even been here a week.... it feels like they fit right in to our family!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:28:14 GMT

Well...Yesterday went well, the party was low key and I now officially am the mother of a teenager!

Nature Boy had all sorts of ideas for his party yesterday. It was a Mario themed and he had asked for Mario Party 8 for the Wii for a present from us. He was going to have outdoor fun doing a Mario themed obstacle course and then have time playing Mario Party inside...But the weather did not cooperate. It rained all day yesterday....I don't think it let up until supper time. The constant drizzle shifted the party indoors and it became a Mario Party Wii party....Which is fine, the boys were happy.

Here are some things I drew that were supposed to be part of the obstacle course. Nature Boy was going to have a "fishing" station with Lakitu.

And part of the course was going to be riding Yoshi....as in on a Yoshi hobby horse. So I drew a head (well, two, one for each side) to be the head on the hobby horse.

Since we didn't go outside, I just hung them as decorations in the living room.

The other thing that Nature Boy wanted was a mushroom shaped cake. Specifically, a green "extra life" Mario mushroom. That was lots of fun to make. I baked a cake in a round botttomed Pyrex casserole dish and used some mini cake pans we had to bake pieces for the mushroom's stem.

Frosted and stacked and skewered to keep the top from sliding off (the top needed to be at an angle as per the model mushroom) the cake looked pretty nice!

Then Nature Boy said he didn't want to put candles in the mushroom cake and asked if I could use a leftover mini cake as the candle cake. Sounded fair to me! So...I decorated it like a mushroom too.

Then since it was so hot and humid and the frosting was just melting like crazy on the cakes...I stashed them in the fridge. It was fun so see them whenever we went to get something out of the fridge!

And here's another shot before we lit the candles.

All in all, I'd say it was a good party. The kids had fun. The cake was cute....You can't ask for much more than that!!!

Now...shifting gears: My licensing exam in in 17 days! This week, I am shifting gears and will be spending each morning applying myself to my studies!