Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Today is my 1st Blogoversary and to celebrate, I've got a little annoucement:

I'M MOVING

OK, I'm not physically moving, but this blog is. The new address is...

http://knitting.pantheonacres.com/

Why not come over and check it out? Perhaps there will even be an annoucement over there.

Dish Rag Tag: The Sequel

Signups are now open! I participated last year and had sooo much fun. What are you waiting for? Go check it out.

PS - This is not the annoucement, nor am I pregnant, nor is there a new dog in my future. Annoucement will be made on 8/5/08 -- my blogoversary.

PPS - I am closing down comments on the blog...are you even more curious?

Out of Touch

I know I've been out of touch for awhile, but this time it'll be for a good reason.

I'm heading to Calgary for a Eurasier Conference.

I plan on having an annoucement - knitting related - soon after I return.

I'm Famous

I promise that amongst all the other crap that is preventing me from blogging, I am knitting.

And I've got proof -- look I'm famous

Long Time No See

Yeah, it has been awhile. I'm still working like crazy trying to get everything done so that I can settle back into my happy knitting, blogging, ravelry life.

As I'm attempting to setup my new website, I ran across a bit of a problem, so I'm using this post to test things out.

This link won't be here forever, just until I get things fixed, but if you're early enough, you might just get to see some pictures of my doggies. ;) If you click on the link and you can't see any pictures can you either leave a comment or send me an email at errs at yahoo dot com. I'd really appreciate the help.

Puppy Pictures

I hope to be back sometime before the end of the summer, with a whole new website and blog to share.

Time to Give Back

When I started knitting, I never realized the community that would come with my new hobby. First there was some blogs I read, and then there was Ravelry, and within Ravelry, there's The Friends of P. (waves jazz hands at Friends of P)

I am so thankful for this wonderful community and the wonderful people in it. I feel blessed in my life right now, but some folks (or their pups) aren't as in as good a place. Since tax time is coming up and I'm sure you're all getting money back, why not throw a few bucks to some good causes?

First, there's Jess & Casey -- have you noticed that Ravelry's been a little slow lately? Yep -- they're running out "go fast" computer parts. I also didn't know that they were in debt from getting Ravelry up and running. Ravelry is free and is supported through advertisers, but that doesn't take care of the existing debts and equipment needs. So, the wonderful Ravelry user community put together an amazing fund-raising prize filled raffle. You can find all the details on Fricknit's blog. I'll wait while you check it out and chuck some dough at Jess & Casey.

And within a smaller Ravelry group -- the Friends of P -- a rescue pup belonging to KTMay, had a HORRIBLE reaction to all the vaccinations and ended up in the emergency vet. (Those of you with pets know how expensive this can be...) $2K (yup $2000.00) later, Vinnie is home safe. The rescue organization paid all of Vinnie's bills. But you know that's $2K less that they have to spend on other needy dogs. So, to help cover some of the expenses, KTMay donated one of her own Piddly bags. (If you've been trying to get one of these, you know how hard they are to get) and some of her own yarn for a raffle. Other Friends of P, donated some more goodies. You can get the full details on KTMay's blog. (Again, I'll wait while you go throw the puppies some money and come back...)

Aren't getting a refund? Okay -- how about donating some of your knitting?

Becka - the KnittingWounded - is hosting a Knit-Tit-Along. Knitting spare boobies for those who've lost theirs. You can get the details and an adorable button on her blog. Oh -- did I mention prizes? She's really good at prizes. (I won a contest on her blog and OMG she outdid herself!)

Meliabella, she of Keegan Lane yarns fame, has put together a group on Ravelry to knit socks for cancer patients. At Power Socks group, you can either donate your knitting or sign somebody up for some socks. She explains the idea behind the group on her blog.

Its time to give back to the community that gives us all so much -

And to show you how small the world is, I was reading Becka's blog about the Path of Hope and found that a fellow Friend of P, Sarah of Perfect Day yarns is dying a special yarn for charity.

So, take a look at your world, if you got some cash or some knitting to spare, please consider one or all of these extremely worthy causes.

The Results

Whooops! I just realized I didn't tell you guys how we did this weekend. Too find out you'll have to pop over to the dogs' blog:

www.pantheonacres.com/news

What? Your pet doesn't have a blog???? Sheesh. ;)

Oh, and don't bother clicking around looking for a sneak preview of the site. Its still under construction on the designer's server. So, you'll just find a bunch of crap. Oh, and if you a have any suggestions for a different wordpress theme, let me know... I like the one that's up there now, but I'm not in love with it.

etsy Friday and CRASH!!!! and Wish Us Luck

Since y'all are so interested my sock yarn -- this etsy Friday is about Keegan Lane Yarns.

Keegan Lane Yarns is brain-child of Melissa and you can find her yarns on Ravelry.

She has a sock club -- with a gorgeous pattern & yarn combo for this month ... (sorry links on Ravelry). We're a too late for this round, but I know I'm going for it next round. :D

The yarns come in various weights. I got 2 skeins of her "lux worsted":

In Prairie Storm:



which turned into:

Foliage Hat (modeled by Lizzie)

I also have a skein of Black Magic Woman that I haven't decided on what to make:


This yarn knits up a treat - and that hat kept me comfy through the long cold Chicago winter.

Now that I've discovered socks, I got a skein of Toast Sock BIG Footies for my husband in Milky Way:


And for myself -- gorgeous En Pointe sock yarn in Northern Lights.


I had to get this color way when I saw these gorgeous socks. (Sorry another Ravelry link.)


And now for the CRASH!!! My computer had a complete meltdown last night. I managed to get most of my important files off of it and then had to reset to all the factory settings. So, I'm attempting to get everything back the way it was and not loose my speedy internet connection. (so far it hasn't been bad.)

And my humble request for good thoughts for us! Bruce and I are going back into the conformation ring this weekend for the first time in over a year and a half. He's filling out nicely (finally) and has come a long way. On Sunday, we're showing Lizzie as well. After we're done in the ring, Lizzie & Bruce are getting their CERF exams and Bruce is getting his Cardiac test. Both are important tests to for breeding.

So tomorrow at 10:45 am, and Sunday from 1pm to around 4 good thought would be greatly appreciated. :D

OMG -- Its working!!!

I don't know what happened. I read a bunch of stuff, I twitched a bunch of stuff and managed to get 4 pictures uploaded in under 10 minutes. Woo hoo --

So, while its working, here's some sock stash. :D Too late for links, so I'll let you guess what all it is. :D

Not Gone But Probably Forgotten

Wow! It has certainly been awhile since I've posted anything. I find myself constantly faced with the eternal question:

TO KNIT OR TO BLOG?

My life went from pretty laid back, to the point of being boring, to non-stop action. At work, I've got a new boss who expects 8 hours of work while at work. There's also a ton of work to do in the evenings for the breed clubs I'm participating in. There's also Bruce's rally class on Wednesday evenings. We're also working on one of the bathrooms in our house (new floor is in, so is the vanity and the countertop has been ordered). And don't forget about our business, Pantheon Acres.

I'm working with a wonderful designer on our new website. (Sorry -- it isn't ready yet. I promise you guys will be the first to know. ) Here's her personal and her professional sites. She does great work doesn't she? Did I mention she's in Finland? However, I still have to come up with with all the content. It is amazing how many different place I've managed to stash the digital photo files. So, I've been organizing files like a madwoman.

And then there's my beautiful new computer. Dual core processors; tons of memory; horrible internet connection. For some reason, my computer cannot stay connected to the internet. I've turned off the firewall, turned off everything else on the wireless network, uploading in the morning, the afternoon, the evening -- to no avail. It can take me an hour to upload a single picture to Flickr. If I've got more than one tab open on my browser, there a good chance that one will time out. I've tried changing browsers, no go... So while I have some time that I could spend blogging -- I'm just too frustrated... Especially, when my work computer connected to the same wireless network, has no issues.

But after getting an "Are you alive?" message from somebody who really has more important things to worry about, I decided to fight with whatever demon has barred my internet enjoyment. Its taken most of my evening, but I did it -- here's my post and pictures of what I've been knitting...

If you have any suggestions for fixing my internet connection, please email me at errs at yahoo dot com.

I'm going to sign off now so I don't loose this entire post. (If you're looking for me, I'm errs at Ravelry too.)

etsyFriday - Piddleloop Edition

 Miss Lizzie has taken an interest in my knitting and not in a good way.  If I leave the house, she'll hunt around until she finds one of my projects and then gets the yarn out for some chewing.  Strangely, she tends to succeed when the pouch contains yarn that is on the scratchier side and 100% wool.  Strange, no?   Also, do you notice, she only does this when I'm not home -- The Husband is home.  He got my brown bag away from her once and then he turned away "for just a moment".  This time, Lizzie & Morganna decided to battle over the pouch.  Poor Piddleloop travel bag was no more. 

Side note:  I do want to point out that the seams didn't give. The zipper didn't give.  The construction of these bags is rock solid.  It was the actual fabric that ripped.  I'm pretty impressed -- two 135 lb Mastiffs playing tug-a-war without a seam pop?  Incredible.  I wonder if Wendy & Jennifer would consider making toys for the dogs...

Now, you know I didn't blame Lizzie or Morganna for the bags demise.  No, the blame fell squarely on the shoulders of The Husband.  So, I send him Jennifer's email address and told him to make it right.  Jennifer was lovely as always and promptly asked me which bags I wanted and set them aside for me.   A few days later, these babies were alllll MINE! 

I got my first Piddly.  Perfectly sized for sock or mitten or mitt projects. 

I also got a project pouch/travel set.  (I honestly can never remember the difference. This one has a pocket and elastic to hold needles on the inside.)

Aren't those pigs the cutest?  And as part of Jen & Wendy's wonderful style:

A little piggy stitch marker from Dragon Lady Designs. 

And the matching 4x6 pouch -- even the lining matches:

And they are nothing if not enablers:

Jen also throws in a bunch of little goodies:

  

 

They even remembered the pups: 

Want a Piddleloop or Piddly for yourself?  Piddleloop on Etsy

There Has Been Knitting

Now that I've got the computer and Flickr playing nicely together again, I can show you the knitting that I've been working on...

But first my new precious:

That is a 17" in screen.  I absolutely love how big and bright and crisp everything is.  I'm not thrilled with Visa, but I think there are some very good qualities to Office 2007.  But enough geeking -- to the knitting:

As I've been swamped with work-related work and with non-work related work, I haven't had a lot of left over brain power to concentrate on this:

I call it my Raven Shawl -- the actual design Irtfaa's Faroese Lace Shawl is  by Anne of Knitspot.

I've also been working on my Leaf-Lace Stole

And this:

Still haven't set it up -- scanner, fax, copier, printer all in 1.  Now I can scan and send and print all that stuff I've been meaning to get done.  If  I just get it setup...

Help Animals - Win Cool Prizes

Sarah Hope over at whatifknits just hit a Blogiversary.  To celebrate she's having a Blogiversary Raffle, but not just any kind of raffle

For every $2 you donate, you get an entry into the raffle.  And the prizes are AMAZING!  So what are you waiting for - click the link!

 

Here I Am!

I'm sure you've all been wondering where I've been. (OK, maybe not, but humor me.)

I got a new computer -- a laptop -- its awesome! However, it doesn't want to play nicely with Flickr (among other programs -- gotta love Vista).

I have been knitting -- a couple of projects. I've got pictures but can't share them.

I have some great pictures of the dogs playing in the snow -- but unless you can see into my hard-drive...

And I've got some great etsy stuff -- can you see it on my dining room table?

Okay -- I'm now heading off to try and make everybody play nicely together. I could've done it last weekend, but things are a little hectic around here - the girls came into season and I've been cleaning up the guest room for The Husband and Bruce.

Kids vs Dog - Who Wins

A friend send this to me and I couldn't stop laughing at the ending. I hope you enjoy it too.

etsy Friday -- Home Edition

Only  one etsy purchase to share this Friday, but its a pretty big one.  When The Husband and I moved into our house, there was a lot more wall space than we had in our apartment, and while I had some art (we won't discuss what The Husband had that he considered "art") there wasn't enough.  We're not rich folks, so most original art is way out of our price range.  Then you add in the fact even if we find something in our price range, one of us usually doesn't like it.  Imagine my delight when I sent The Husband a link to original art on etsy and he actually liked it!!!

Faster than you can say "something clever", I had that art bought and on its way to our happy home.  Oh -- you want to see the art?  Okay, here you go:

Crow in Madrone by Laura Sue from Earth Art - Contemporary Art for Real Homes

I love the colors she used in this piece.  I also like the unique shape.  The Husband thought the crow was cool.  (I'm not going to argue -- he likes it and that's all that matters.)  This is the first real piece of art that I've ever purchased.  Look, its even signed by the artist with a certificate and everything!!!!

  

I can't say enough good things about the painting and the artist.  She was in immediate contact with me and gave us the tracking number as soon as it was shipped.  It was packed amazingly well and arrived in great condition. 

There's just one small  problem -- we plan on hanging it on along our stairs in the hallway and the hallway really needs another coat of paint.  Maybe it'll motivate us

A Good Friday Night

We had a great Friday night.  Bruce & I competed in an APDT rally trial Friday night.  We got qualifying scores in 3 out of 4 runs.  He did really well -- not a peep out of him in his crate and he actually visited with some people.  Here are his ribbons:  (As I've stated before, he's secure enough in his masculinity to be proud of his pink ribbon.)

 

What are his ribbons posing on, you ask?  (Shush -- its my blog and if I wanted to pretend that you noticed the knitted item under the ribbons, I will. So there.)

Why its the Autumn Mystery Shawl -- FINALLY off the needles.  I bound off between runs last night.  The last skein of yarn showed up on Wednesday, but I just didn't have the time or the patience to work on the shawl until Friday night. It isn't blocked yet, nor have I woven in the ends, but I just had to share! 

I took these pictures, standing on the couch, with one foot on the edge of the coffee table (white splotch in the corner of the picture) for balance.  It takes up the entire coffee table right now.  It is going to be HUGE once its blocked.

 

 Look at how dense the fabric is now... anybody want to block it for me?  I've got pins and wires and a hatred of wet wool..

Dish Rag Tag Reverse Swap

Many moons ago -- as in August 2007.  I participated in Dish Rag Tag.  My team decided to do a reverse swap and we all promised to get it done in the month of October. I think maybe only one or two teammates actually managed to get theirs out in time.  (I know I didn't.)    About a week ago, I did receive my package from Rena.  The package was well worth the wait!

The contents of the box was covered with seasonal tissue paper -- it just drew out the suspense.

I removed the tissue paper to reveal this:

All the goodies in one bag...

Let's exam the items more closely, shall we? First up, the requisite dish rag... I'm so impressed that she managed to get all of my favorite colors into one dish rag -- there's purple, and green and blue!

And the same colors were in the lovely Merino 5 yarn by Crystal Palace:

 

And even included a suggested pattern for the yarn:

 

And what's a swap package without chocolate?  I love that it's SOAP!  It smells so good, I almost want to eat it.

 

And actual edible chocolate.  (which was eaten soon after this picture was taken).

    

Thanks Rena, for the awesome package!!!