four/fifty-two

Oh yeah. I have a blog. My cranky computer has been acting up lately, so if you sent me an email I didn't get it.

Anywho, here's the weekly Artsy Photo:

This is the empty lot behind my house. Periodically a landscaper comes to mow it, and my house smells like hay for a day or two.

Also: Have you people realized what you have done to my pride? I've almost gotten more hits since fangorn was released two weeks ago than I usually get in a MONTH. Photo evidence:

My head is NOT going to fit on my pillow tonight. Thank you, kind readers!

Free Pattern Friday: fangorn forest

ETA 9/4 to add 2 more rows of Seed Stitch on the flap before beginning decreases.
Technically it's Saturday, I know. Don't expect this on a regular basis, people.

I was rereading some of my blog posts (as narcisstic me is wont to do) and I realized that many of my posts are Very Grumpy Indeed. So, here is a small Fun Happy Thing!

Fangorn Pocket Pouch (ravelry link)

A small pouch to hide your secrets, as Fangorn hid the Ents...
Yarn: Any browns and greens, really. Scraps/mini balls will do. The larger pouch is Caron Simply Soft and some random acrylic, while the smaller is Patons' Worsted and full 'o sheep.
Needles: I used US 6.
Gauge: Dosen't matter.

CO 14, leaving a longish tail of at least a foot to sew up at the end.
Rib in K2 P2 for 5 inches, ending on a wrong side row and leaving another longish tail to sew up the other side later.
Seed Stitch in green (K1, P1) 8 rows.
You will now begin the decreases: K1, P3TOG, (K1,P1) to the last four stitches, K3TOG, P1.
1 row Seed Stitch.
Work the above two rows one more time, for a total of two repeats.
Buttonhole Row: P1, K1, P1, make one, yarnover, K1, P1, K1.
K1, P3TOG, K3tog, P1.
1 row Seed Stitch.
K2TOG, P2TOG.
K2TOG, cut yarn, pass yarn through rem. st.
Decide which side you like best.
Pass yarn tail through buttonhole for a cleaner look, and weave in on wrong side.
Sew up sides, slap the button on and enjoy!

Keep in mind this is my very first pattern, and I'm the only test knitter. Rant/rave/ask for help at misskbros AT gmail DOT com.

three/fifty-two

Not a great shot, I know. But it fascinates me.

This is the Charming View off my deck, with the addition of a conveniently-placed cloud and its insane shadow.
Not photoshopped or edited in any way. Honest.

i'm alive!

Irene said to say hi. She left this morning, leaving a huge mess in my yard from the huge party she threw for her kazillions of raindrop groupies. They all came by wind, which, while being an eco-friendly mode of transportation, also decided to have their own party with live-leaf confetti.

Uppity teenage hurricanes. Can't live with 'em, can't convince 'em to clean up after themselves.

two/fifty-two.

I'm back, minus the experience of an earthquake because Connecticut does not maintain certain roads very well AT ALL.

I shot nearly 500 photos of Boston. However, that particular Kodak folder only has 201 photos in it because I got my act together (an unprecedented event) and immediately got rid of all the awful shots. This one stayed.

This lovely lady is the USS Constitution. No fisheye lens, it just happened that way (why my camera decided to do that I have no idea. It was crotchety all trip).Tall ships rank among my favorite things to photograph- what are some of yours? 
PS- largish photo-and-yarn post coming soon as soon as I throw all this stuff on flickr. And unpack. Still haven't done that yet.

we're off to see the wizaaard...

the wonderful wizard of Boston!
Techinically he's just a family friend, but a wizard at Finding Cool Places nonetheless.

The house is locked up. The chickens are most annoyed. The delighted chickensitter is practically giddy with glee.

Your weeklyish dose of insanity will be back middle-of-next-week with a huge photo post and a pile of new yarn to show off.

fifty-two

I've been reading a lot about 365 Projects, where people take a photo a day for a year. Major props to them, but I am way too distractable to carry that through.

So, I have started my very own Fifty-Two Project, wherein I shall not-very-solemmly half-promise to take a picture a week and stick it on this blog. I can handle that, right?

Here we go:

Looks fake, don't it? There was a patented Torrential Downpour here in Jersey last night. I toook this during a lull near sunset, when the clouds and the light were changing by the milisecond.

the never-ending chicken eye infection saga

So. Long version, don't expect a short one: Helmet died because of an eye infection, which Trilby seems to have contracted. Keep your fingers/toes/knitting needles crossed that it's not coryza, which is kind of/sort of like the dog malady parvo for chickens. I should know by the end of the week if it is bleeping ******. And of course I've had a long-planned Expedition to Boston this week, so the chickensitter will have to earn her keep. arrrrrg.

She (Trilby) has been sitting in my lap quite comfortably (attention sponge!) most of the afternoon watching basic cable with me. I flipped past Cartoon Network's Adventure Time, and she got all excited. Bright colors/fast moving shapes caught her interest, I guess. So we watched that. I have never seen a more inane and at the same time hysterical show.

Oh. Knitting. Right- I started Pomatomus last night (and finished Wuthering Heights, but that's a whole 'nother post). I fished two balls of a blue variegated thingy out of the Yarn Trunk, so we'll see if that works. Pretentious much for my first pair of socks?

well. that was fun.

One of my chickens died yesterday.

Helmet, 3. The Wild Bird, who always longed to freerange and have nothing to do with humans ever. She was of the very first chicks I ever hatched out.
She will be missed.

I now bring you something I got distracted by

I've been lurking through Pinterest. I really don't like the general vibe, it's a bit tooth-grindingly 'let's-try-to-be-stylish-but-ignore-real-life-options'. Sort of a cross between Family Fun and Martha Stewart-  stuff looks cool but is so perfectly Photoshopped it all looks fake. A good thirty percent is headshots of celebrities with gushy comments. There are very few good comments, just I WANT THAT or SO HAWT!  Ignorance of common literary quotations is in abundance. Man, bashing that site really got me out of my funk for a bit there.

However. I saw this (left photo), which I actually could make, given the amount of thrift/antique stores in my town. Extensive backtracking brought me to the Maker's site, which I helpfully provide below. I have never seen a more steampunky chest of drawers.  It would also go well with my Yarn Chest/ Window Seat, right.

  

http://www.jamesplumb.co.uk/site/index.html



Mine. All mine.