FO updates

I have several finished items to share with you today. One is completely and totally done. The other well... I'll tell you about it in a moment.

My Baby hat for NoSo Knit:



The second one is my clapotis. I've called it done. I've marked it done in the sidebar but honestly it's 99% done. I have to finish unraveling all those dropped stitches then weave in a couple ends. I tried to weave in the ends before the unraveling but it didn't work.



Oh and I almost forgot:



I made a teeny sock for my sock blocker keychain!

Lastly, not a FO but an update. I got my invite for Ravelry. I'm listed as "Nikki" if you want to look me up and come by to say hi. I'm reserving all opinions until I can really get in there and do more than get my feet wet. So far it is a very neat place but I'm just not sure I'm that organized with my knitting.

Ravelry

Well, I suppose I should just go on and admit it. I'm on the waiting list for Ravelry. I have some personal observations to share with you. These are in no particular order by the way.

I put my name on the list (on June 17) mostly because everyone else was. I wasn't sure if I'd like it and have use for it (and still have some reservations). But I wanted to see what it was all about.

Having 2664 people in line in front of you is WAY better than having 194 (as of 6:35pm) people in front of you. I'm almost ashamed to admit this but I've been checking that damn site at least once a day since I got under 300 in front of me. And I was right tickled when the number hit under four digits.

I'd sort of figured out I'd get my invite the end of August based on the amount of people getting in but that means it's almost the end of August now. Which makes me wonder where the hell the year went!

I did not take people's suggestions of inventorying everything knitting related I own before my Ravelry invite. But as Robin pointed out as she was adding her books, I'd just forget what the yarns were anyways. (Hey! It's possible. And sounds very reasonable to me so stop it.)

There are still 17,516 people BEHIND me in line!! That's a whole lot of people. I mean like a WHOLE LOT of people!

Going back to the whole picture issue for a moment, I did however go on and open up a flickr account. It was just easier. Yahoo was (is) closing their photo section and I had to transfer my photos somewhere or lose them. So, in anticipation of Ravelry, I chose flickr. Which was especially convenient since Yahoo now apparently owns flickr so they tranfered all the photos over for me.

The worst part of my Ravelry invite coming sometime late this week or this weekend (more than likely)? I volunteered to work this Saturday. Fortunately it's just 3 1/2 hrs but still. I could be knitting then! Or taking pictures of my stash. Or something other than working!! Which also reminds me, if someone asks you if you want to work a Saturday... unless it's for yarn, say no. It's just not worth it. Really. Even if it is just for 3 1/2 hrs.

I forgot one more tidbit: it took me over 9 weeks to get my Ravelry invite. It took me 6 1/2 weeks to get my passport (for the record. I applied for the passport AFTER I applied for Ravelry). I find it both interesting and a little bizzare that knitting is more popular than international travel. (OK. that's a stretch but still...)

I'm at a loss...

for a title for today's post. So let's just get right to it.

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I think it probably was one of the best ones I've had!

I got some lovely fibery gifts and a lovely cake (courtesy of my loving Mom):



It was chocolate too! She's such a good Mom!!

Here's my latest spinning, Briar Rose:



Not the best color representation but it's not all bad either. I feel the same about the spinning. Not the best but not all bad. And even though I am not (yet) skilled enough to do this intentionally, I'm quite happy with the mixing of the colors in the plying of the singles.

I'm a little stalled on my socks. I have lots of great sock yarn but am lacking a some great sock patterns. Well, that's not true. There are some great sock patterns I'm just having trouble pairing the yarn with the pattern to make something that will make me happy.

Oh and I got my class confirmation for SAFF. It's going to be a one pot dye class and a cast on class. A little fun and a little practical. But also fun. I'm looking forward to the cast on class as much as I am the dye class. I know for sure that will get used in the future.

32 yrs ago today

Edited to add: As pointed out by an astute commenter I WAS born to two very wonderful parents who DO love me. Then I was blessed enough for them to divorce and marry two wonderful step parents who love me. (And I must admit, I'm quite fond of all of my parents, too!)

The Birthday Meme... ("tagged" by Robin)

3 events (and yes I can't count. I was going for the Women enlisting but damn I love me some stainless steel so I had to include that one!)

3114 BC - According to the Lounsbury correlation, the Maya calendar starts.

1913 - Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.

1918 - Women enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist.

1961 - The German Democratic Republic closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin, to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.

2 births (again, I know, I can't count)

1860 - Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter (d. 1926)

1899 - Alfred Hitchcock, English film director (d. 1980)

1971 - Patrick Carpentier, Quebec race car driver

1 Holiday

International Lefthanders Day

Also lifted from Robin's blog:

The Birthday Calculator:

13 August 1975

Your date of conception was on or about 20 November 1974 which was a Wednesday.

You were born on a Wednesday
under the astrological sign Leo.
Your Life path number is 7.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 4 & 22.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 3, 6, 8 & 11.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2442637.5.
The golden number for 1975 is 19.
The epact number for 1975 is 17.
The year 1975 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/11/1975 and ending 1/30/1976.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Rabbit.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Salmon; your plant is Raspberry.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 6 Elul 5735.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 7 Elul 5735.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.18.2.1.13 which is
12 baktun 18 katun 2 tun 1 uinal 13 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Wednsday, 5 Sha'ban 1395 (1395-8-5).

As of 8/13/2007 6:57:45 AM EDT
You are 32 years old.
You are 384 months old.
You are 1,670 weeks old.
You are 11,688 days old.
You are 280,518 hours old.
You are 16,831,137 minutes old.
You are 1,009,868,265 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:

Dan Fogelberg (1951) Don Ho (1930) Pat Harrington, Jr. (1929)
Fidel Castro (1926) George Shearing (1919) Alfred Hitchcock (1899)
Bert Lahr (1895) Annie Oakley (1860)

Top songs of 1975
Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain & Tennille
Fly, Robin, Fly by Silver Convention
Island Girl by Elton John
He Don't Love You by Tony Orlando & Dawn
Bad Blood by Neil Sedaka
Rhinestone Cowboy by Glen Campbell
Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John
That's the Way (I Like It) by KC & the Sunshine Band
Jive Talkin' by Bee Gees
Fame by David Bowie

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.57455968688845 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

There are 366 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 33 candles.

Those 33 candles produce 33 BTUs,
or 8,316 calories of heat (that's only 8.3160 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.77 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1975 there were approximately 3.1 million births in the US.
In 1975 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1975 in the US there were approximately 2,152,662 marriages (10.1%) and 1,036,000 divorces (4.9%)
In 1975 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

Your birthstone is Peridot

The Mystical properties of Peridot

Peridot is used to help dreams become a reality.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Sardonyx, Diamond, Jade

There are 134 days till Christmas 2007!
There are 147 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waxing crescent.

Another Weekend Update

Well, thankfully the heat broke (some. It's down to "normal hot" instead of "OMG are you KIDDING me!?!? hot").

Today I thought I'd spin the second half of the Briar Rose roving I had. It's been a couple weeks since I've spun. I think it showed in the singles but when plied they looked just fine. I'll take pictures in a few days for you. It's near dark out now and I'd like to try to capture good color for you.

But it was very slow going when I was trying to spin. Seems I'm not the only one here who's infatuated with the wheel.



Pepper, in true cat fashion, rolled right before I snapped the picture. She had moments before been laying there with her legs intertwined with the treadle and other moving parts.

Bartholamew doesn't care so much about the wheel but loves to sit in my lap while I spin.



I had another picture of his cute little face but he looked surly and you've seen him surly looking before. I thought I'd show you his sweet snuggly side. And for the record, no, I can't spin with him in my lap.

After many cat breaks I finally got it all spun. I had intended it to be a swap present but the swap came and went and I still have the yarn so it's mine now.

I've been knitting on my clapotis when I knit:



I'm to the 3rd section called "straight rows" but I like to think of it as the "dropped stitch" section since that's what you do:



I ran into a couple knit/spin group friends over the weekend. They invited me to go to SAFF with them and after glancing at the website I gleefully said yes! Tomorrow I'm mailing off my class registration for a knitting and a dyeing class. I don't think either of these will fill up but just in case I'm going to keep you in suspense as to what they're for.

Tomorrow's a bit of a special day for me so please to stop back by for a special post.

I'm melting....

Ok. You really do need to imagine that in the Wicked Witch's voice...

I'm back from Savannah, GA where we had the memorial service for my uncle. I think pert near the whole church came. It was a very beautiful service with great songs.

I did get a smidge of knitting done. Dad's sock is about to take a large trip to the frog pond. I just do not like the yarn and am not happy with how the sock progressed. We're not discussing that I was already starting the leg from a toe up sock when I decided this, OK? I am still plodding along with my koigu clapotis.

We had record breaking heat today. The cats and I are managing just fine but after the stress and travel this weekend and not sleeping so well in the heat, I'm tired.

I'd like to leave you with something a friend of my Uncle Don's left in his obituary's online guestbook:

If our eyes had no tears, our souls would have no rainbows.

How very true...

Stay cool y'all.