Accoutrements

Rescues

I was reading an email this morning that had a parable about animal rescuers in it - those who will take in an unwanted animal and provide a home either permanent or temporary for an abandoned or unwanted animal. There are so many of these discarded pets that just don't meet an owners expectations or whatever these days, not only cats and dogs but parrots too. I have 2 parrots, one is  a hand raised by me and my husband African Grey who we are blessed with who is a sweet baby with a wonderful disposition and never bites. The other is a mini Yellow collar macaw that I rescued about 8 years ago. Bandit has been a challenge but is now a loving full of personality bird who will fill your day with love. But she still as her moments and is easily frightened and you have to earn her trust; and she can BITE like the dickens if she gets afraid. That doesn't make her any less special a bird to me, yet my hubby actually said last night that he thought it was better for people to start with a new bird, not a rescue bird since they still could have so many problems. I could not believe he said this, Bandit love this man, screams in excitement when he comes into the room, calls his name when he is not, and never has bitten him in anger, only if she gets freaked. He admitted he was wrong when I pointed out that we had no clue what this bird had gone through the first 2 years of her life that so traumatized her, but for her to have come so far now and to trust us now and actually to be able to socialize some when we have company (with bird savvy people) I think is a testament to the wonderful loving (and mischievous) spirit that she has. Our grey is an exceptional bird for a grey, not a nervous bird and not prone to frights or biting. She/he is very social to most and a lot different from my first grey who was much more timid. Porsche is much more stubborn though and if she wants to do something it is hard to get her not to do it, especially stay on her stand. She is recall trained and fully flighted which my first bird was not and I think that this makes for a much more confident bird. Bandit is fully flighted also now but does not have the skills that Porsche does because she had her wings trimmed for most of her life and little time to learn to fly. I believe that rescued birds are special and deserve the best lives we can give them. Not one of us is perfect, human or bird, cat or dog.

UPDATE

New Year Post

Where does the time go? I can't believe that it has been so long since I posted. I also can't believe that it has been so long since I have been out to the garage to play with wood. I guess I got rather down since I can't really do what I would like to do  with the ity bity lathe that I have. The problem is that if I don't get out there and play with the wood chips then it is hard to justify asking for a $5,000 lathe just to make bigger things. A real catch 22, since I really don't have the space for a bigger lathe right now anyway.

So, I play with fiber. I have been knitting alot, shawls, socks, hats, mostly accessories. One day I will break down and knit a sweater for me, but my size keeps changing and I do not want to end up with something that does not fit.

Other issues to deal with - I need a different car. My CRD Jeep Liberty has issues off and on, and when a car starts to go wonky it goes bye bye. The only thing I require in a car is reliability (well, AC, heat and a few other amenities :) and this car has needed an EGA valve, new glow plugs, new tires, a new torque converter and transmission, and now it will just die as you are driving for no reason, then restart fine - not good when you are working in a savory neighborhood and driving 90 miles a day on the highway to work. Now the tire pressure monitor goes on and off for no reason. Time for a different automobile.

Boo Boo kitty - Sibby is fat and healthy after hiding out a few weeks ago. Mike had gotten aggravated with her and put her on the back porch which she promptly jumped off of and hid under for the deck 6 hours while I frantically searched the neighborhood for her. She finally came in when we shook her treats bag outside. I could have killed him for putting her out, she is so terrified of being outside now since she got hurt a few months ago.

Thats it for now. More to come.

The Birdy Blues

Interesting Blog Quiz

Krista --

[adjective]: Extremely extreme!

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

cagey44 --

[noun]: A person who is a master of making ravioli

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Knitting Away

I must have ADD at least when it comes to knitting and other fiber projects. I keep getting attracted to new and wonderful patterns and have new and wonderful ideas myself. Right now I am finishing up the second sock of the Brigid grey cabled socks for my Sock group on Ravelry - the October challenge was to knit a cabled pattern or a Nancy Bush pattern. I went for the Cable and really like this pattern, I am almost to the toe on #2 so almost done. We have to the end of November so there is still time.

The monkey sock in Twisted fiberart's Filanon Ariel yarn is moving down the instep as well, on sock #1. The yarn is beautiful and the pattern interesting as well, so I think this pair will get done as well.

Mike is hinting that he wants a second pair of socks, and confessed that he would like them to be tighter. He wears the one pair around without shoes and they stretch out. I will try a tighter gauge and a few less stitches next time. Lucky for me he doesn't have huge feet for a guy.

I won some Kauni multicolor Rainbow on EBay, about 1200 yards. It is really nice and will make some interesting colorwork which is the next challenge I have set for myself. What is intersting about this yarn are the long color repeats allowing you to use the same yarn for both the CC and the MC - just start at a different point in the sequence of 2 skeins and voila' you have this terrific shaded muticolor effect. I am not up for an entire cardigan but hope to finish some gloves -  see: http://glovekal.blogspot.com/

AWESOME PATTERN!!! 

I have frogged the Mystery scarf from this summer in the Lorna's Laces. I liked the leaves but the scarf was just too wide and just didn't work, so rip it, rip it. I am using the yarn for a Montego Bay Scarf for some midless knitting to carry on 5.5mm needles. I like the fabric so far, it doesn't have the drape that the Handmaiden Seasilk would but it will be warm and soft and not too bulky. I think it will work this time!

I am not going to blog today about work, just Knitting which makes me happy. The rest overwhelms me. I miss my family and wish I could see them soon, but that is not likely to happen unless my SO mutates.

Checking In

Not much new here. Seems like I will be staying here on the job front which is OK for now since there is a new owner and new managment. We will see, I just could not see moving which I would have had to do the majority of, finish renovating the current house and starting a new job where I would essentially be on call 24/7 for the rest of my life while my husband retired from a traditional job. So we will see how things go.

Back on the knitting front, I am a Raveler!! yeah What a great site. Kiri is done but not blocked, Mike's socks are done  and I have started a pair of Knitty (Cookie A) Monkey socks. Very nice pattern and the yarn is from twistedfiberart.com - Arial in Filanon beautiful greens and browns, I love it. Pictures to come!!

Chain Link Socks - Finished!!

Button, Button Guess who made a Button!

I am participating in several KAL's and just about the time that I get my yarn and get cast on for the project and start looking forward to the whole process (because for me it is about the whole process, not the finished object, which is another story and why the stash builds and why my hubby totally doesn't get me) well anyway, right as I am starting everyone else is posting photos to their finished objects. Now do not get me wrong, when I see their wonderful creations I am usually in awe, but my type A juices begin to flow, and I begin to feel the competitive nature I daily deal with begin to surge and I REFUSE to give into this with my knitting. This is my refuge and my solace and my relaxation. I actually enjoy winding and untangling great masses of yarn into nice neat balls, slowly and methodically. I may only get a few rows done here and there on my projects, but I relax and meditate and soothe my soul with the stitching. This is also how I feel when I turn wood, uncovering the beauty within.

With this in mind I created a button with my new Motto, SLOKALOK - slow knit alongs are OK. It is OK NOT to be the first one finished, one KAL I joined and a person posted a finished shawl the day we were supposed to start. Why bother to join? You obviously did not want to participate in the group thing anyway, so I figure you must get your joy in "being ahead" and comments about it being a boring knit yada, yada are not needed or welcomed because no matter what, there are going to be those starting the project who are going to have trouble and comments like that do nothing but make people feel less about themselves and their capabilities. There is already enough of that in the world. So unite, feel free to take this button and send it on it's way!

Not the Center of the Universe

Here is a link to what I consider to one of the best memorials written about Alex and his contributions to our lives: Check it out if you have a moment. http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007709160346

In order to honor Alex and my own memory of sweet Smokey Soo, I have decided to knit only to honor them, sort of like a prayer shawl type of thing. I will use colors that reflect the colors that I have seen in the feathers of these beautiful birds from the palest of greys, almost a white, to a dark and dusty grey. Then there is the magnificent red tail and all those colors, and when juvenile Smokey had the palest yellow in her eyes that changed as she matured. It came to me that I'm not just limited to greys and reds as I was looking at handyed yarns online the other day, because I saw the perfect skein of CAG poop green which as all bird lovers know greatly expands my available color choices. Now I never personally enjoyed the vision of Alex's excrement, but as we all know and tell our toddlers everybody poops, so I do not think it is a stretch at all to throw in a dose of green. Of course I don't plan to tell anyone that I am knitting something in bird poop green, so from now on I will call it BPG and hope I don't offend anyone by making their pattern in this or by purchasing their yarn and renaming it this color. It is so that I can honor the passing of a great bird and my loss of my own sweet Smokey Soo. As I knit this year, whatever the pattern, whenever I am knitting, I will think of them, pray, and honor their souls. If I find a pattern that calls to me that also has something to do with birds I will choose these over other patterns, IE Feathers, Swan lake, etc. You knitters know what I am talking about.

Here also is a link to the Alex Foundation where they continue to do research with Alex's prodigy's; Wart and Griffin.

http://www.alexfoundation.org