I should start charging admission.

I live in a neighborhood with lots of trees. I have 2 wooded lots beside me, and about 4 behind me. So, I understand that there will be bugs. I know this. However, I did not think I would be living in the freakin' Herpaquarium.

Exhibit A:
Enormous Stagg Beetle. How do I know what kind of bug this is? We have this site bookmarked on our computer, that's how.
This thing flew in while Husband had the door open. It sounded like a helicopter was preparing for landing in my house. thwockthwockthwock

Also, we've had our fair share of spiders, including this hairy thing. Yep, there was a fight that night ("No, YOU get it out of here! I'm not touching it!").

So today, I'm minding my own business, getting ready to do laundry when I notice something scurry across the carpet-

Exhibit B:

Seriously??! A flippin' lizard?!

I really should start charging an admission fee.

Crochet? Nay.

While I was at the Knit Nook the other day, Jane was crocheting a really cute hat. I asked her a few questions about the stitch she was doing, and she kindly came over to my chair and ran through a brief how-to-crochet demonstration. I was so inspired that I went home and tried to remember what Jane had taught me.

I thought I was doing fairly well. I cast on chained 40 stitches, and intended to do a washcloth. After a few rows, I realized that I was losing stitches somehow. Of course, I was attempting to do something that I don't know how to do, completely from memory, so that should come as no surprise. I thought that I could just increase, like I would in knitting, but I ended up with this ruffled edge.

At that point, I thought that maybe a nice crocheted border would tie it all together nicely. As I was going around the bottom, I found..... well, what the hell is this little leg sticking out? How did that happen?


Hmmm..... Looks suspiciously like something you may find on a map of the U.S.....

I need crochet help.

But that is the least of my worries right now. I'm sure this scene can be found in thousands of homes across the Louisville Metro area right now. Nonetheless, it is still disturbing.These things are not meant to be this empty.

Vote!!

I, like 301,000 other people in the metro area, am without power. What a great way to spend the first day of my vacation, and my 7 year wedding anniversary, huh?
Anyway, I am here at my mother's house, perusing the internet, and I stumbled upon this.

So far, Kentucky is in the lead. We all need to vote and get our kids some books!!

Sweater, interrupted.

I've been working on this Gathered Pullover for quite a while now. Well, to be completely honest, it sat for a while, being neglected, because it can be rather difficult to convince myself that knitting a wool sweater in 95degree heat is a good idea. Anyway, I did convince myself to pick it up again, hoping it would be done just in time for fall weather. I finished the body a couple of days ago, and finished one sleeve yesterday. I decided that I would probably have more motivation to knit the second sleeve if I seamed the rest of the sweater together, and had to look at it with only one sleeve missing. So, I seamed the shoulders and pinned my finished sleeve in until..... what the hell?? What am I looking at, you ask? Well, I am showing you the sleeve (which is at the top of the photo), and the body of the sweater (at the bottom). On a perfect normal sweater, the two of these ends would match up. But on MY sweater? Not so much.

There's gotta be at least an inch of extra fabric on the body. I had to get a bit creative in the seaming of my Central Park hoodie, because the sides were about 1/4 inch longer than the back. But this? I doubt that all the creativity in the world could make this seaming look decent. I seriously doubt this is what they meant when they named it the Gathered Pullover. Perhaps I'll end up with a nice wool vest....

Needless to say, I was a bit upset. I had to throw put down the sweater, take a few deep breaths, and cast on for something that didn't require much concentration.

Squares for Erika's afghan

Aahhh... Much better.