The Continuing Story

Of the Dread Pirate Roberts (aka Westley).

It has been non-stop fun here at chez Whale Daughter, thanks to Westley. Even as I type this I have to get up to rescue toys and interact with my little bundle of energy. He's talking away, chasing his ball and hunting ants and trying to convince me that he needs second supper.

One of Westley's favorite "toys" is his Trader Joe bag (we're on the third bag now).


This is his second bag, which was retired shortly after these pictures. We both play with the bag. I'll put one of his jingle balls in the bag and Wes chases it around the floor, attacking the bag until the ball comes out.


He'll also hid in the bag and attack out of it. Sneaky cat.


This is why this bag got retired. It wasn't much of a bag anymore.


A job well done. Pirates love destruction.

We've been on a couple of outings, and mellow man is a great traveler. I'm counting on this, because we are BOTH flying down to Texas for my brother's wedding. He loves his carrier, and chills during car trips.


I've been busy, too. Remember that fabric I got at Fabric Depot? Well, I got the pattern for it (Vogue 8571) and finally decided to start working on it this past Friday so that I can have it for my Texas trip.

Westley decided I needed help with my sewing.


This was the calmest helping I got. It was So Much Fun to wait until I'd gotten the fabric laid out, flat and lined up, and then ATTACK from under the bed, rumpling the fabric into a big pile. This was especially fun when I was pinning pattern pieces to the fabric. This help lasted for the entire time I was cutting out the patter pieces (despite my many attempts at attention relocation). Then, when I was done, what do I find?


"My job here is done." Rascal.

Yesterday I worked on my dress (with only one mishap, where I ironed the interfacing to the right side of one of the yoke pieces) until I ran out of brown thread. I biked over to JoAnn's today, resupplied on thread, and would have worked more on my dress if I hadn't taken a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon. Maybe I'll work on it tomorrow.

I've also been knitting, and have 3/4 pair of socks done, but I haven't yet taken a picture. I'm using the Positive Purple Panda Soy that I got on my birthday yarn trip to Woodland Woolworks. I got the first sock done in 6 days, and should have the second sock done in a similar time frame. I'm already starting to think about my next project, which will be a sweater from stash yarn.

That's all from me for today. Despite my nap I'm still tired. I'm going to work on my sock for a little bit and then crawl into bed with my pirate. Thanks for joining me for another Day in the Life.

More Pictures Please!

This post is in response to a request for my pictures of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Seeing as I'm totally smitten, I'm only too happy to oblige.


He'll just flop over and fall asleep. He is a long kitty, too.


I have to be careful where I leave my glasses, too, because apparently they are fun to lay on. Also, for the record, his tail just lay in that position for as long as he was on my glasses. It's like he's never quite sure of what to do with his tail.


He really likes sleeping on the bed. I flipped the covers back the other evening in preparation for bedtime, turned around to brush my teeth, and when I turned back I found this!!! Where am I supposed to sleep?

Sleeping with Westley has been fun, but I found myself getting much too hot at night with my winter sheets, comforter, and bed monster. So on Sunday I stripped the bed, took off the duvet cover for washing, and put on my summer sheets. I put out my brown blanket so that Westley would have something soft to sleep on, should he choose to.

Well, when it came time to put the cover back on the duvet and the duvet back on the bed...


I didn't have the heart to disturb his nap. He looked so happy and relaxed.

The bed isn't the only place where he lays, though.


He's decided that the computer chair is the place to be, especially when I get up to freshen my tea. Cheeky cat.

I also have a surprise that is not cat related.

The Hot Pink and Vintage sweater is FINISHED!!!!!!!


Well, there still aren't any buttons on it, but I haven't decided which buttons I want, and button decisions for a cardigan of this magnitude shouldn't be rushed. It is quite wearable without buttons (I'm wearing it today) and it fits perfectly. I'm trash at self portraiture, however, so pictures of my wearing the sweater will have to wait.

Westley has settled in for his afternoon nap, which gives me time to make lunch before I have to leave for class.

I'd Like to Introduce...

Westley.


Wes came home with me last night (legally). He's 2 years old, laid back, friendly, and has a clean bill of health from the vet.


He's named after the character in The Princess Bride.
His alter ego is the Dread Pirate Robert. Or Bob, for short. Just kidding.

He's adjusting well to his new home.


He spent most of last night exploring.


He's not the only one who's tired. I was awake for most of the night, too, listening to make sure he was ok in his exploring. Plus he's occasionally come up on the bed looking for company and reassurances that I was still there.


I'm totally in love with him.

That's all for tonight. I'm about to crash. Hopefully we'll both have a more restful night (though Westley got to have some naps today while I didn't.)

I forgot!

I finished the first sleeve of my Hot Pink and Vintage Cardigan, and am about 3 inches into the second sleeve. I kind of stalled out on working on it, but I think I'll pull it out this evening.

Finished sweater, here I come!

I'll Just Make One Myself

I've been searching for a watch. Yes, I do frequently just use my phone or ipod as my clock, but I'd rather have a watch. Especially when I'm doing observational research at the edge of the touch pool and the aquarium and there are rambunctious children around. That just has "ends badly" written across it.

I've tried on several watches. I've tried on metal bands and leather bands (no plastic bands!). I've tried on smaller watches and larger watches. *sigh* I hate them all. The men's watches are too big, and the women's watches are somehow insipid to me. And all the bands either pinch or itch or scratch...it's bad all around.

I've come to the decision that I'm going to have to make my own (non-insipid) watch. I can get watch faces of various shapes and sizes at the bead store in town. I'm thinking of knitting the band in a wider cuff style, and having an overlay bead strap. That way I have sparkle without the irritation of the beads right against my skin. I'm going to use a nice plant fiber yarn so that it's cool in the summer (probably cotton or bamboo).

Of course, I'll probably be done with my touch pool observations before I get around to making a watch band, so don't hold your breath.

I do have crafty news with pictures. I finished my first plied bobbin of the brown alpaca that was a gift from a spinning buddy. It's mostly sport weight, and I have tons more roving to spin.


I used my swift for the first time when I wound the yarn off the bobbin. I wish I'd remembered to take a photo of the full bobbin. I filled it so full I thought it was going to explode!



I soaked it last night and hung it outside to dry this morning, and it's well balanced and ready to be added to the yarn stash.

In that last picture you can see the shawl that I bought this weekend at the clothing consignment shop downtown. It was on clearance. It's a lovely, lightweight cotton, and the dots that form the flowers have been individually tied before the shawl was dyed. It's going to be lovely to wear this summer.

Alright, it's time for me to find a snack and start to wind down for the night. Until next time...

Oh what a day...

Ok, so, I want to start and end this particular post with happy, positive news. I'm going to start with an update on my Hot Pink and Vintage cardigan.


That's three whole pieces, the entire body of the cardigan. YAYYYY!!!! And, just today I finished the first sleeve and cast on the second sleeve. It took about a week for the first sleeve, so I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is this cardigan. I should get it done just in time to be stored away for the summer.

My next sweater is going to be knit on at least size 7 US needles. I will knit sweaters on 2s and 3s in the future. Just not the immediate future.

Now on to the saga that prompted the title of this post. This particular day was primarily yesterday, but it's bleeding over into today and tomorrow.

This all started weeks ago when I got tired of my leaky shower and emailed my landlord. He contacted a plumber, and after a couple of false starts he finally got here yesterday. In a normal situation, this would have been fairly simple. Take the faucet apart, replace the gasket or equivalent, put the faucet back together, done.

*Sigh* Things just can't be simple around here. I'll let the pictures tell the story (for the most part).









What you're not seeing in these pictures is the three times the pipe joins failed when the water got turned back on. You're not seeing the water inside the wall. You're not seeing the muddy drywall dust tracked through my apartment. You're not seeing the continuing leak. You're not seeing the rotten water pressure. So the plumber is coming back out tomorrow.

Oh, and the hole (which is about 13"x13") won't be fixed for a while because Jesse wants to get home and have his buddy do the drywall work.

So, I want to end this post on an up note. Today I went to Portland with a friend of mine. We went to the Yarn Garden first. I ended up with a skein of yarn:


It's 100% mercerized cotton fingering weight, and will be a lovely summer shawl.

I also got a Norah Gaughan pattern booklet (vol. 2 from spring/summer 2008) and a package of coil-less safety pins.

Then we meandered our way over to the Fabric Depot. I was going to be strong and not buy fabric, but totally caved.


This is a lovely summer weight cotton blend knit, and I got 1.75 yards at 50% off (end price was $6.56). It's also 60 inches wide. This is going to be a lovely, simple summer dress. And possibly a skirt, since I seem to have quite a bit.

I also got some brown bias tape to finish my modified sweatshirt. It's on the list for this week, since my May ASG meeting is coming up and I want to show it off.

Finally, at the register I picked up two fat quarters for a small take-along knitting bag.


The light blue will be the lining. I love batiks.

Well, that's all I have to report for today. I'm pretty tired from the exciting day and my hour walk I took this evening, so I think I'm going to crawl in bed and read for a little while.

Talk to you all again soon.

Today's Post Brought To You By...

DUCKS!!!!!

Not the University of Oregon, perish the thought. No, I mean actual ducks. A mated pair of mallards has discovered the absolute glut of food available in the backyard pond. They first showed up on the 10th of this month, and I snapped these pictures in case they disappeared and never came back.



















If the formatting seems a little wonky, it's because blogger is being silly with the pictures, and is only offering me the little screen for creating my post, so I can't see the final formatting.

The ducks hung around for about half of the day, then went away. I was a little sad, since they are funny to watch and I like having backyard wildlife. BUT, they've now been back several times, and I've seen the male flying in the neighborhood. Also, the female now feels secure enough to come on her own for a bite to eat.

In addition to being brought to you by ducks, this post also has funding!! The follow portion of this post is brought to you in part by Melissa and my grandmother. It was really nice this year to not have to use my birthday money for groceries or other bills.

This past Saturday, I traveled to Woodland Woolworks in Carlton OR with three of my good knitting buddies and the main instigator's mother in law. Despite living within a two hour radius of this marvelous yarn resource, I'd never been before. Why would I have been? I've either been poor or broke, it would have been cruel to take me to a house of wonders when I couldn't partake of them. Now I have the ability to enjoy this resource, and I'm spinning, too, so I could appreciate (and raid) the extensive spinning fiber stock.

The first stop we made in the shop was to the clearance room. There we were greeted by extraordinary news. Every ball of yarn in the room, regardless of what it was marked, was on sale for $3 each. If it was a ball of yarn, it was $3. We all went a little crazy at first. And it wasn't just the crap that no one else wanted. There was lots of Rowan, Jager, Jo Sharp, just to name a few.

I finally settled on 7 skeins of Miracle by Classic Elite Yarns. It is 50/50 alpaca/tencel, with a put up of 108 yards and is DK weight. I snagged the last 7 in a lovely denim blue. This yarn has a lovely sheen, and the hand is excellent even in hank form. This will be an open front, half sleeve cardigan.


I then moved over to the regular priced yarns, and the roving. I browsed the roving extensively. I petted, touched, considered, petted more, and browsed everything at least 4 times. There were so many to choose from, I wanted to make sure that I got what I wanted. I ended up with the following:


That's 8 ounces of natural creme colored blue faced leicester. It's deliriously soft.


I loved the color of this merino, and I think that it would make a lovely lace shawl once it's spun up.


This was a total impulse, and 80/20 mix of alpaca and cultivated silk. It's a little lighter than this in person, but I was having trouble with the lighting when trying to get the correct color. It has an unbelievable luster.

On my way to the check-out, when I was nearing total mental fiber overload, I passed the display of sock yarn. Sitting on top was Panda Soy by Crystal Palace. It's 60/22/18 bamboo/soy/elastic, and I thought that it would make nice summer socks. I chose the one that is primarily purple with shots of teal, lime green and violet running through it.


I didn't realize until I looked at my receipt later that the color is called "Positive Purple." That tickles me for some reason, and I can't wait to get knitting on my positive purple socks. Maybe I'll wear them for my thesis defense.

Now, you may be thinking that I must be done. I've talked about the ducks, buried you in fiber photographs, and chatted on like a ninny. Well, you're wrong. In addition the the fiber goodness that I purchased through birthday funds, there were also people who supplied me directly with fibery goodness.

Amy (the instigator of the WW trip) gave me an art batt that she carded up herself with fiber that she's also washed and prepared herself. It's primarily alpaca (which is softer than kittens).


I also got a hand carded art batt from April.


Kelli gave me a beautiful Dicentra Designs roving. It's blue faced leicester, and the colorway name is Bouquet 2.


And finally, Michele got a shipment of roving in from Ashland Bay Company, and I bought myself a little birthday present. I got 4 ounces of white merino roving that I'm going to have fun dyeing.


That's it, I'm done, there's noting else to post. Ooh, there's a woman on antique roadshow with a fancy old swift. I'm going to put my attention on that.

Until next time...