Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

Is this the best pairing of fiber and bag ever seen?!?! Photo is courtesy of Into the Whirled which is giving this away to some lucky person. Just in case you missed that: CLICK ON THIS LINK TO GET INTO THE GIVEAWAY The fiber is from Into the Whirled: Click here for Etsy Shop and the bag is from Jessalu: click here for her site

Three of my good friends have decided to enjoy the thrills of parenthood. I'm excited to see them reproduce! You see, these friends have seen Alex grow from a little kid to a tall, lanky, deep-speaking teenager. I do not envy them dealing with toddlers in their 40's, but hey, better them than me! But their education into parenthood gave me some funny memories. I was explaining the need for nursing pads my friend Ang, and she looked as though I slapped her across the face. As the little offspring have made their entrance into the world, I've made some nursing shawls so that child can eat in privacy. That's a swallowtail shawl knitted from Misti Alpaca for the infant I called Survivorbaby. This one was given last weekend while we were in Milwaukee. Mom was curious at why I gave her a shawl until I explained what it's used for. Then she promptly tried it out. This one was given to the babe we'll call "Sweet Pea" Sweet Pea was the first baby born a...

I made the Kitty Pi for out largest cat, Tigger. It was a great way to use up some more handspun that my sweetie found in the back of the pantry. Looking at the pattern, I made some revisions due to the huge girth of the intended feline, and to stabilize it against the intended feline. Sorry for the blurriness of the photo. It was taken in low-light and I guess I flinched. But there lays Tigger, over-running the kitty Pi with his ...furriness. Darn, I will have to start again, with a larger bed. OH, and I got a new laptop. It's very nice and comes with a number pad! This one was about 32" across before felting. The sides were strengthend by doing the following: row 1: sl 1, k1, -repeat row 2: knit all around row 3: k1, sl 1 - repeat row 4: knit all around I repeated these rows 3 times. I think my next Kitty Pi will be larger around. I'll extend the sides by a few more repeats of the 4 rows so that it can cover Tigger better.

Sometimes things just don't go the way you've planned. The other night, a power surge took out my laptop's screen. Well, darn. It just won't light up! Ok, it does for a second, then you get butkiss. So, bring in the spare monitor. That's my setup for now. A monitor, placed on the kitchen chair right next to the laptop. Kinda makes that thing less portable too.

I am not the best blogger in the world, since I haven't posted anything new since May. Certainly things have happened in the ruddawg household. We spent two weeks traveling around Utah and Colorado. Dave, Alex and I saw Great Sand Dunes National Park, Mesa Verde, Arches National park and Dinosaur National Monument. We learned that camping one night on one spot then another in a totally different spot just is not our cup of tea. Next vacation we will plan less destinations and more relaxation time. My Nephew was given the task of watching the cats here, but was called to AIT for the National Guard 3 days after we left. He'll be back in two weeks. My sister cared for the furballs. This summer has proven to be a very slowed-down summer when it comes to work. I did not realize how much actual 'babysitting' a 16 year old needs. I liken teenagers to two-year-olds with better verbal skills. You need to be agonizingly detailed when telling them to do something. School will...

I'll admit to it; I'm a Rennie.  I like dressing up and going to Renaissance fairs.  My son usually goes with me.    Janesville, WI has a weekend Renaissance Fair and it was this weekend.  I took Alex to see the sights and learn some new swordfighting techniques.  I'm also trying out the photo section on my video camera.  I've never used it, and I do think it makes good snapshots....just don't expect great quality shots. 

Fridays here at the Ruddawg compound mean vegging-----hard core vegging.  This is what I see from my vantage point here on the couch.  The Santa dude is Dave and the long-haired dude in the back is Alex.  I sit here on the couch with my laptop on it's Tablemate. Dave and Alex are at their respective computers.  We're a family of geeks. I like to search Ravelry or play Runescape on Friday afternoons.  Dave usually is listening to an audio book and messing with Photoshop.  Alex is playing some sort of game or another.  It's an odd kind of family that is comfortable being in the same room as each other without having to actually talk.