I have been neglectful. Not because I love you any less but because there are a lot of changes going on in real life right now. The biggest change is I left my corporate job and am working on building my own consultancy business. It is a lot of work! Great fun but a lot of work.

Another big change I neglected to mention is the new family member. This was not a planned addition but it is how things worked out. I was driving to Arizona for Christmas and at a truck stop I found this little guys:

He was standing in the Wendy's drive-thru at a very busy truck stop. This is one of those truck stops where there are no homes around at all and so many cars getting fuel that he didn't stand a chance. I spent quite a bit of time looking for someone he may have wandered away from and worked with the truck stop staff to see if anyone was looking for him but it became apparant that someone had simply dumped him.

Poor guy! He has actually fit in beautifully with the pack and got very attached to me quite quickly. So now we are up to 4 dogs! Clearly he has hound in him (I think Beagle) so he and the Greyhounds understand each other.

He does try to make up for the Greyhound's missing guard dog gene. Unfortunately he seems to be guarding me mainly from butterflies, birds, and squirrels. Every time I let them out in the yard he runs back and forth between the trees in each corner of the yard. There are other trees but he seems to believe these hold the greatest squirrel threat.

I think the Yarn Harlot could probably use his services in her yard!

Then I got closer to the window and noticed that the flower was this:

The world's tallest dandylion. Someone needs to do some weeding. Probably with a small ax now.

Nothing in my personal history gave me reason to believe I could be a bad-ass. For example, just out of high school I worked at a popular record store where one of our favorite past-times was catching shoplifters. I didn't catch them myself but I enjoyed watching my roommate and friends chase the kids down and getting back our merchandise. One time a young woman was caught shoplifting. She was in the back room waiting for police when she decided she wasn't going to wait around. She simply got up and started walking out the door. The store manager and several male employees jogged along trying to get her to stop but they were afraid to grab her or physically detain her. She was almost at the door and would have walked out.

In a panic I stepped in front of her blocking the front door. I looked her right in the eye and just tried to look calm and resolute. She looked at me and hesitated for a moment. Just a beat; a few seconds. But it was a face off and I was hoping desperately she wouldn't call my bluff. Inside my head I was thinking, "Oh God, oh God, please don't step forward because I will step aside and let you go. I don't know what to do!" She turned and walked into the back room with the store manager. I think my knees wobbled and I know my stomach was flip flopping nervously (as it is now just remembering this and writing it down).

I realized later that I must have presented quite an intimidating physical presence. I'm six feet tall and though I wasn't as "big" then as I am now (all right, fat) I have never been willowy. Even at my thinnest I look athletic and strong. I have a gigantic mass of red hair but I have dark eyes so I look more like a Scottish Highlander who might go on cattle raids rather than a whimsical Irish lass. I'm sure I looked like more than she wanted to handle. And if my poker face was any good I probably put up the appearance of a bad-ass.

But it wasn't until that visit to England that I discovered my bad-ass potential. I had talked the family, mother, step-father, and brother, into getting on a bus and just seeing where it took us. Neighborhoods started to look sketchy and when we hit Whitechapel (which I associate with Jack the Ripper) we decided we had better get off and find our way back.

My step-father, not always a savvy traveler, insisted on wearing a fanny pack even though he was always leaving it open. It was full of wads of cash and receipts but regardless of our lectures, he absent mindedly persisted in the habit. As we were coming up to a stop, he was standing near the door and I was on a seat facing him. We likely did not look like we were together. I observed a man standing next to my step-father pick-pocketing the fanny pack.

My reaction was immediate and fierce. I had such a rush of anger that I acted without thinking at all. I stood up and grabbed the man's wrist in a grip that probably hurt a lot. Luckily the pick-pocket was quite a slight man and I towered over him by at least a foot. My hand completely circumvented his wrist and he looked up at my face in surprise. I grabbed what he had taken and threw down his hand. I was so angry I wanted to hit him. In fact, at that moment I was struggling not to get more physical. I wanted to shove him and kick him. I was shaking with rage. Luckily for him the bus stopped at that moment and he scrambled off. (I look back and wonder if I looked a bit like the Hulk breathing heavy with eyes full of rage. OK, too much TV.)

My step-father, still oblivious, got off the bus and I followed. My brother had exited out a different door but I quickly told him what just happened. I saw the pickpocket scramble back on the bus and I decided to let him go. I'm sure he had a small accident in his pants when he saw me talking to my brother; who stands 6'4" and is built like a line backer with a shaved head and goatee and who immediately turned back around to face the bus with a scary look on his face.

I was absolutely shocked at my anger and immediate urge (instinct) to do someone physical harm. I honestly thought I didn't have it in me. But, it appears, I will protect my own. Even if it is just for a handful of receipts from a carelessly left open fanny pack.

Bad guys...be warned.

Behold:

The French Press slippers. A quick easy knit that results in terribly cute slippers. I had fun playing with the texture and the buttons. This pair I knit in Cascade Pastaza. A hairy yarn that I thought would be really cute in slippers. I also got this pretty, arty-looking button. I also actually sewed the strap on at an angle which looked really cute. It is hard to see in this picture but the straps don't go straight across the top of the foot. The are diagonal. It really works for changing the style of the slipper.

Example #2:

The red just does not photograph well. but it is winter in Oregon. We have little natural light for me to use. The red is cooler than in this picture. I combined a red Peace Fleece with Cascade 220 leftovers. The best part are the beautiful little green and red buttons.

I tried something different with the final pair. The color worked great (again, how cute are these buttons?) but the felted material made it really hard to keep any sort of uniformity.

So I have actually pulled out the green trim and just did a few embellishments with the lime green yarn. The slippers' grips are drying right now (made with puffy paint) but I'll try to get a pic before I'm loaded up in the car and driving for the holidays.

These are still a part of Plan A. I hung onto Plan A for as long as possible. Just long enough that I got this done. This is a little entralac felted bag I made. The pattern is in Interweave Knits holiday gift special. I made one and it just didn't felt small enough for me. I wanted a jewelry bag. So I knew I'd have to find something that wasn't spun very tightly. That yarn felts a LOT!

I found a couple skeins of Nashua Wooly Stripes which felted to the perfect size (To give some scale to the size of the bag, that is a coaster it is sitting on). This colorway is a fun, pink, purple, lime green, yellow mix. It is WS0056 Citrus. The color worked perfectly for entralac. A different color for every tier. One bag is dark and one is light. They turned out neat. They are a very quick knit. I did them both in one evening.

I wanted a jewelry bag because I made a necklace to go inside. I wanted something sparkly and pretty for the recipient. She is very fair so I knew she would pull it off and it would be a pretty dress-up necklace. Most of the beads are Swarovski crystal. So the handmade necklace goes in the handmade jewelry bag. Don't you love how the yarn even made a pretty border along the top? And I got a little silver bead to decorate the tie. Adds a little something extra.

I have another bag and another necklace. I'll share later. I have to get back to Plan C knitting.

Should we start a poll for when I give up and start throwing money at Christmas?

I've completed the convertible fingerless gloves which means I've now completed exactly one Christmas present. Whoops. However, at least that is one down. I liked this pattern. It knit up quickly, was easy to follow. I wish I had used slightly chunkier yarn. This yarn ended up knitting much finer than it looks like it would. I know I should have swatched. Shut up. I did take this to work and made a work buddy who is a little taller and bigger than my uncle (who is the recipient of these) try them on and they fit great. I like how masculine they look.

My uncle requested these last year when I mentioned them. He lives in England (cold) and lives in a small village that still has village hunts. He doesn't do the hunting. He is what they call a beater which means he flushes birds out of the brush. He specifically mentioned that fingerless gloves would be nice for that. I liked the convertible mitten tops because he can flip them over when he doesn't need his fingers and he is cold. Versatile.

I've completed one fiddlehead mitten, lining and all. the second one was a bit stalled because I ran out of the sand-colored yarn. Ran out of it right at the end of the tip of the thumb. I bet I don't even use 2 feet of the replacement skein. However, a nice neutral color like that will be used for a hat. Maybe even a matching hat for the mittens. I don't know.

These are for my aunt (also England) who has a horrendous commute into London from her charming village. I thought it would be nice to look down on these mittens while slogging through the commute. I'd like to make her a slouchy hat but since that is a nice-to-have and not a need-to-have I might wait to make it for her birthday which is February.

So I have two pairs of socks, a shrug, and another pair of fiddleheads that I'm supposed to complete. Since I refuse to do what I did last year (which was knit so hard and fast I gave myself tendonitis that took nearly a year to heal) I am formulating a great Plan B. Pictures when I have to implement. And I know I will have to implement I just want to see how far I'm going to get.

Fingers free for ear scratches. An important feature.

Still need a thumb, originally uploaded by psycho_bunny.

One fiddlehead mitten is almost done. Just need to do the thumb. I've been working on the second one at the same time so I only have a few rows at the top for that one and then one last thumb. This is my first extended stranded knitting project. I couldn't resist this pattern and I may still do another for a pair for me. I love how these turned out.

Almost as pretty as the outside, originally uploaded by psycho_bunny.

The inside of the Fiddlehead mitten is almost as pretty as the outside. Isn't it neat that you can still see the pattern?

For example, Follow Friday. I like those posts. I've found some great posts from those and discovered blogs that I would never have otherwise stumbled across.

I cross a lot of categories of blogs because I'm interested in so much. I read gardening blogs, genealogy blogs, cooking blogs, knitting blogs, sewing blogs, firefighting, etc. You name it. Because a good writer is a good writer and there are some good writers out there in blogland. I think the proof is in how many of them are published authors. I don't mean authors who started blogging (although I know there are many of those out there), I'm talking about bloggers whose blog resulted in a book.

Today I selected my "lifestyle" blogs to share. That sounds strange but it is the best description I could think of because these women are artistic in so many things. Cooking, painting, photography, writing, etc. I'm in awe of these women. They inspire me to look at what I do in my everyday life. I don't know if it is a coincidence that most of them live in Portland or if Portland is a hotbed for fantastically creative people.

The Portland bloggers are friends and what I wouldn't give to tag around with them. I realize I would be like the pesky little sister following behind but I don't even care.

Angry Chicken sews beautiful clothes one day and paints the most lovely paintings the next. She is frequently doing fun activities with her kids which, on more than one occasion, has given me a great idea for activities and gifts for my nephews. She has two wonderful books out, I made sure I got the first one as soon as it came off the presses and I put her second one on my wishlist. I want to sew. I need to learn more. I'm hoping she will offer workshops at some point.

Inside a Black Apple is the blog of a truly gifted artist. She works in several mediums but painting seems to be her love. I think my favorite part of all her enchanting paintings are the wonderful little backstories she gives each of them. She did compile the stories of the characters into a book recently and they all sold out before I could even blink.

Posie Gets Cozy is personally responsible for getting me neck deep into many projects. She is a talented photographer so everything she is working on or doing looks amazing. I've followed along in her wake and purchased many books just based on what she is doing. It might almost qualify as a kind of craft stalking. Alicia also has an amazing book and she IS holding a workshop in the near future. Fingers crossed I'm not moving the beach house at that time.

The last blogger on this list is actually in England but her blog fits the category and I often forget she is in England because her climate and garden plants tend to align with Portland. So her roses are blooming when my roses are blooming and I swear we get rain at the same time. Yarnstorm is another talented photographer that gets me in a lot of trouble. Something that might look like a garage sale reject in my home somehow looks charming in hers. I don't know how she does it. Jane also has several books, one of which is next to me right now and inspired this post. I'm planning Halloween weekend with the grandparents and I just can't resist making some lovely things from this book.

There is something really special in all of these blogs. I think it is how they view the world around them. Everything is beautiful and special and has its purpose. It's about enjoying the little things. The mug of sweet tea next to me, scritching the soft head of Frankie who has his nose smooshed into my leg and is groaning happily as he sleeps, and the birds splashing happily in the bird bath out back.

Of course, my life doesn't seem quite as picturesque. The couch Frankie and I are on is also covered in muddy footprints (this time of year, the easiest thing to do is wait for the mud to dry and brush it off rather than wash the covers every single day) and the bird bath is actually the lid to my garbage can that is holding rainwater. It all has its own special charm.

Scenario 1 - I notice a credit to my bank account from my cell phone company. "That's odd," I thought. I tried to use my phone this afternoon only to be hijacked into my cell phone's customer service who asked what they could do for me today. "You tell me, I went to make a call and was sent here instead." She came back to tell me I owed them too much money. I would need to make a payment of...about the exact amount they just credited back to me. I told her this fact. She looked it up and confirmed she could see this had happened but still went on a schpeel about making a payment like I needed to be convinced to do this.. I had to interrupt her to point out again, they had the money and they gave it back. If I made another payment would they promise not to send it back and leave my cell service alone? You could tell she felt stupid but she couldn't make sense of what happened. Neither can I honey. Neither can I.

Scenario 2 - A rather nasty sounding letter from the cable company being very stern and threatening me that if I didn't immediately pay the amount of .00 then they would interrupt my service. I'm tempted to send a check.

Scenario 3 - I placed two separate orders with one yarn company in Canada (the orders were placed about two days apart). Each order was just a few skeins of yarn. Yesterday I had a card in my mailbox telling me I had to go to the post office to pick up one of the boxes. The other one was left at my door. *sigh*

UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot one of the best parts of Scenario 1. The customer service rep telling me that they tried to notify me that they were suspending service on my cell phone but the only number they had for me was the cell number. As soon as it came out of her mouth you could tell she felt stupid.

Many changes in the backyard this summer. All of them made me exceedingly happy. Lets begin with the shed. I hate the shed.

It was the view outside my bedroom window. Lovely.

It is too large for my backyard (what would ANYONE need to keep in there except lots of crap?) so it ended up being a focal point. An ugly, white, metal shed as the focal point. And because I refused to use it much it ended up being a safe haven for spiders. Big spiders. Spiders that often looked over at my house and decided to visit. *shudder*

I managed to talk someone into taking it. Now I just need to get rid of the concrete base it sat on. This will entail me renting a jackhammer. Stay tuned. This could be funny.

In the meantime it just makes me so happy to look out my window and see the pretty willow tree or to look over and see my spiffy new fence. I had that whole fence rebuilt which just looks fantastic. The old one was falling apart. Literally. Pieces of wood just falling down.

There also were the laurel bushes. The yard was completely dominated on two sides by laurel bushes (actually there were laurel bushes on all three sides but that stupid shed kept the third side from being dominated). They weren't bad looking bushes but they took up so much space and just looked so untidy. The research I did had laurel bushes as borders and trimmed into tidy shapes. What was growing in my yard did not resemble this in any way.

These have all been cleaned out. For much of the month I just enjoyed the bareness. I will be planting a hydrangea along the fence between the purple plum and the mystery plant..

Along the back fence, next to another bank of laurels was a big 'ole stump. A gigantic tree had fallen over at some point and the stump was still sitting catywumpus in the ground. It was way too big a job for just me. There were still roots in the ground and my ground is nearly solid clay so darn near impossible to dig these out. The dogs tried. I can't imagine a tree this big so close to my giant willow.

I actually put a dog toy in this picture for scale. The black and white thing is a tennis ball. This was a really big tree.

For more scale, here is a picture from last winter of the laurels along the fence. They are so big and overgrown they are actually hiding that gigantic stump on the right of this "hedge."

Here is that area today. Most of the laurels gone (don't ask me why the lawn guy left that last one. He works on very strange logic) and the stump is gone. I didn't know what kind of tree it was until it got cut up. The smell of pine is almost overwhelming. I'll bet it was a beautiful tree.

and the stump cut up and ready for the fireplace.

That is two out of three projects. I'll share the third project later this week. It will also be a picture heavy post so I'll pace myself.

Rant over.

My random fridays post is overdue. Obviously, as it is past Friday. There is no use pretending I'm early for next Friday. I'm clearly overdue for a post in general. I apologize.

Beach. Friday evening was spent working as a last minute project came in and I had to finish it right away. The weekend was for helping Mom clean up for (hopefully) a move from her lovely little beach cottage at the Oregon Coast to a beautiful beach house that is bigger and better suited to our needs. I have diabolical plans to lure ST1 there to pick the brains of those lovely ladies for another project I'm working on. Not yarn related. However, the lure would most definitely involve yarn. In fact, I feel certain I could lure Steph with a little yarn trail. Tina would be trickier but I'm wily.

Money. I'm in love with mint.com. This is a free site where you only need to plug in a little information and it gives you back a budget. You can adjust the amounts of the budget but I love that it gives you a jumping off place right out of the gate. It also sends me weekly emails letting me know when I've either stayed on budget or gone over. And it gives me a heads up when the bank charges me for something quicker than the bank does. Imagine that.

The House at Sugar Beach. I just finished this book and I loved it. I knew very little about the founding of Liberia, its history and its coups in the 80s and 90s. The story was beautifully told and really gave a context so I understood what led to the coups and what has happened to the country as a result. Fascinating.

Baby Shane Blanket. Kay pointed this out and I'm madly in love with it. I may not survive waiting for my kit even though she has already shipped it. (Fantastic service btw). I'm deeply in love with this. I hate traditional baby things and it is perfection.

While on that site I also saw these. And now I have another project that I can't live without making. But these would be so perfect for my Aunt who lives in England and has a horrendous commute into London. Wouldn't it cheer you up while you were riding the tube/bus and looked down to see these?

I've never been that interested in making mittens like these before but now I have two that I simply must make! In addition to the Fiddlehead mittens, I saw these and knew I needed to have a pair of these for this winter. Never say never because what doesn't interest you one year may become your obsession the next year.

Oktoberfest. I hit the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest a couple of Saturdays ago. Amazing food and lots of little handcrafts. I went totally hoping to get a clock or something. I don't know why I had it in my head I was getting a clock. Please don't try to figure that out. Mt. Angel has an amazing church. Look at the painting in the church. And please excuse the phone pic. I was too shy to whip out a camera in a church even though they say it is OK.

The designs are so amazing. I don't know if it is bad that I'm getting home decorating ideas from a church. But who could blame me, right?

It is hard to see in this photo but there are little gold stars, different styles, in this blue part of the apex.

Moo Cards. Know what's fun? Moo cards. I ordered some when I moved to hand out my new address and I just updated them. Fantastic customer service and I love that I can use my own pictures for these.

I realized that I didn't share a couple of projects that turned out nicely. Can't have that!

I knit another Noro Scarf for a friend who wanted it in more boy colors. So I went with colors I consider very Pacific Northwest. He says I got the colors right. I just love how it turned out.

I have been wanting to try a hemlock ring blanket and a co-worker is having a little girl so I lept at the chance to knit one for her. The pattern is fancy and I didn't really want a fancy blanket. So I tried to offset it with the bold, childish color choices.

This is left over Lion Brand Microspun which I hate to knit with but makes up a nice final product. The colors are periwinkle and gold. I love the colors and I love the pattern but I'm not a big fan of the two together.

I need to start thinking about Christmas. I'm really trying to save money and I'd love to be debt-free at some point so the strategizing must begin.

I'm leaning towards dishcloths. I have a friend who makes soap. Maybe we can swap goods.

I will at least bring back Random Fridays. Since my life seems pretty random anyway.

I was looking over some old posts (some of them are pretty funny. <back patting>) and this one really struck a chord with me. No pun intended. It was just a meme but I had a lot of fun with it and as I look over the answers I think they are still valid. I don't have my iPod with me today so I can't do this again but I like these answers. I think they actually work. It is a fun meme. If anyone is still reading this, consider yourself tagged.

I'm working my way through Torchwood Season 2. What a fun show. I am enjoying it so much and I'm really disappointed that I don't have a bunch more seasons to go through. How come great British shows don't seem to last? The actors all start leaving in droves after one or two seasons. I don't know if it is because the BBC doesn't want to pay them well or if they feel like they should leave for bigger markets. MI5 (called Spooks in the UK) did this but I didn't see the actors in Hollywood so I wasn't sure why they left.

I've been working hard to finish my Fitted Cardigan (or as I've come to think of it, the Everyday Cardigan. #241 on the linked page) because it will be a really practical cardi that I can get much use out of. However, I hate knitting sweaters for myself. I'm not a big fan of adult sweaters in general. They are a bit past my attention span and my sweaters especially. I'm very tall, long arms, broad shoulders, big rack, big bottom, etc. It is a.lot.of.knitting. But I want this one. So I keep working on it. I'll tell you what though, I'm slogging through a sleeve right now and I'm not sure there is enough Torchwood on the planet to get me through it. Curse you Torchwood for being a newish series!

I made the BEST batch of strawberry jam last month. It was a little late in our strawberry season. But this is why I adore living in Oregon and especially in an area that is still relatively rural. I just pulled over to the side of the road one Saturday and bought a flat. They were really ripe. As I was cutting off the tops they were squishing in my hands so they weren't even going to last another day. And the color was such a rich red it looked fake. But I thought the flavor was probably maxed so I cut the jam's sugar in half and it turned out to be the best batch I have ever produced. Jam is a gloriously easy project. A lot of bang for the buck. The most work is sitting in front of the TV and cutting off the tops (or pitting if cherries). Otherwise it is boiling and spooning. Love it!

see how saturated the color of the strawberries is

I found SCRAP in Portland. I think this is old news for other Portlanders but I had not heard of this before I and shall make this a regular stop for my crafting needs and donations. First thing they are getting from me this weekend is a boatload of yarn. This is a bunch of Bernat I bought at a Ben Franklin that was going out of business. Bernat is a pretty good acrylic actually. And the colors are great. But I've just admitted to myself I will not get to that afghan in this lifetime. I already have two afghans in progress that I'm more interested in. Someone else can use and love this yarn. At the Sock Summit Luminary Panel someone brought up the lack of diversity in the attendees. And I thought that was a really interesting point to bring up. If we feel knitting is a valuable part of our lives and enriches it then it makes sense to share that with others. Especially a socio-economic group that may not have the disposable income I have for yarn and needles, etc.. So SCRAP feels like a really positive step in that direction. Do something fun, create something useful. They offer classes so I thought I would explore what they have and see if I can bring anything new to their curriculum.

I have a shocking lack of pictures to share. I've been taking them, and downloading them and then not doing anything else. Maybe this weekend we'll get a picture catch-up.

Maybe I'm finally coming up for air. I was reluctant to share all the details with what I was involved in because I just didn't know how things were going to work out and I was so thrilled and honored that I just wanted to focus on what I needed to do and do the best possible job I could.

I was invited to be a teacher at Sock Summit '09. The jaw is still on the floor. Sock Summit just wrapped up. I can't even move off the couch. It was an amazing experience and an opportunity I will never forget. The teachers I was working with are the kind of women we all want to grow up to be. They aren't just good at knitting. They are good at everything.

I'm inspired way beyond knitting. I'm just inspired to do everything well and to explore more and more of the world around me.

I noticed yesterday that Sock Summit came up in Yahoo's top search terms. This should give muggles* (non-knitters) something to think about.

Notice the terms we come between. There is something very appropriate about that.

There is a lot to share about the summit. Especially the difficulties the brilliant women who whipped it together faced. I can't help but be interested in their story since I think it reflects the general experience of women in business. More later. When I can function and think and link.

*Thanks to Stephanie for bringing this term to our knitting culture. It SO fits.