A very cold rainforest

Oh man, its chilly out. I went to the farmer's market and had seriously underdressed. I'm still feeling chilled, 45 minutes later. At least we have our heat on now-its awesome! I love how it comes out along the baseboards, and you'll walk past one and get a shot of warm air on your feet!

This was a pretty busy week for me. School's been going, we had the knitters over on Thursday, and Friday a couple classmates and I volunteered at the local food bank. Now generally, I enjoy volunteering. But law school has kept me so busy that I haven't had much time for that. (I've done a few Saturdays trying to adopt dogs for the Madison-Oglethorpe Animal Shelter) But we were given an opportunity to get extra credit for 6 hours of community service so we spent 3 hours yesterday putting a selection of canned and dry food into boxes. We got two pallets (85) boxes nearly full and would have finished both but we ran out of canned food to put in it. It was a nice afternoon but my back and legs were hurting afterwards! We all realized how lucky we are to be in law school and becoming lawyers, not working in an assembly line. Or doing actual community service.

Knitting wise, I've been finishing some things. I've completed some stuff for Warm Woolies, a great charity. I also completed and blocked this beautiful Ishbel (Ravelry link). This is knit out of merino/cashmere that I purchased from my friend Melanie at Lotus Yarns. The colorway is called Veronica and it is so soft and warm, I'm wearing it around my neck right now.

Apparently we now live in a rain forest

I woke up today at 11:30. I woke up first at 8:20 when DH was leaving for work, took the dog out (or, dumped him off the side of the carport onto leaves so he would go out in the rain--don't worry, its only a foot drop), and promptly went back to sleep. It was so grey out and raining and the sound of rain on the roof was so comforting. I woke up 3 hours later with my right arm asleep and Rascal meowing in my face. Luckily I don't have class until 3:30. I did have plans for today though.

Seriously though, Weather, what is the deal? We have drought conditions for a couple of years, so bad that there's talk of rationing water, and then this year we have unprecedented rain and flooding in areas of Atlanta that no one even knew could flood. My new yard is very flat so the rain sort of pools in it, but the house is slightly above the front yard and four steps above the back, so we don't have to worry about flooding. I suppose the crawlspace under the house might be damp, but we don't have anything under there.

I am so mad at myself for not buying a new umbrella. In fact, I might leave early for class to go to Target. I kept telling myself a couple of weeks ago (during our week of rain) that I was going to buy a new one. I actually have two. One I purchased during my first fall here at UGA in 2004 and has two broken spokes so it dumps water on you on that side. The other was given to me a few months ago and is great, except its ridiculously small. It only keeps my head dry and even without a backpack, everything below my shoulders gets wet. Looking at the forecast, I might have to go buy another one. (I had a great, perfect one I bought when I worked at FP but someone stole it last year during exams- while I was studying downtown at a cafe).

Knitting wise- I finally finished the Featherweight Cardigan (ravelry link) which I made out of some Alpaca with a Twist Fino, an alpaca and silk laceweight yarn. I was excited to manage to only use 1 skein, but I had bought another just in case. I'll actually probably make it again, but make a smaller one. Its a little looser than I would have liked, even though it is only the medium. But its a bargain for a sweater and its a great weight for Georgia. (I'll get a photo later, it only dried on Friday)

I'm pretty proud of this one. This is the Ishbel Beret (ravelry link) by Ysolda Teague, an awesome designer from Scotland. I purchased her pattern book and have made two out of the nine patterns, with plans for more. This was a gift for my friend Viki who a) lives in a colder climate than me and b) styles her hair, hence the looser hat style. There is an Ishbel scarf/shawl that I also made, but that is still drying. I made the scarf size for me out of my friend Melanie's Chakra yarn, a handdyed superwash merino and cashmere blend. It is absolutely beautiful and SO SOFT. I can't wait to wear it out.

I've also been sewing a lot. I've made three curtains for our new house, one for the bathroom and two for the dining room. They're basic, tab-topped curtains but I really like the fabric. The one in the picture is the bathroom and it is Amy Butler fabric. The dining rooms are black with red flowers and are from Joann's.












I also made a laptop case out of some Amy Butler fabric. (I got a birthday coupon and got a little carried away). I used a free tutorial I found online and it worked out pretty good. It works great in my new book bag that Ellen gave me for my birthday:

Camping in Helen

As I write this, DH and I are watching "My Monkey Baby" on TLC. It is absolutely ridiculous. I have serious problems with people owning monkeys as pets. But that is for animal welfare and animal rights reasons. I have problems with people owning monkeys as pets and treating them like babies for personal reasons. I guess its a personal reason. The actual reason is I think its seriously messed up.

A real quote "when people say she's a monkey, I get mad. She's my daughter."

And, without further ado, videos from our camping trip:







We went to Andrew's Cove, a campground inside the Chattahoochee National Forest about four miles north of Helen, Ga. It was just a dry run so we didn't plan on being gone for very long. Neither of us had planned a camping trip ourselves, but had gone with other people, so we gave it a try. It was pretty successful, except we forgot some tinder to start the fire with and also utensils. It worked out though. (I drove to Helen and bought firestarter and some BBQ with utensils)

Ugh. This show is like a train wreck. I can't pull myself away, and I can't keep watching. These people have an unhealthy obsession with these monkeys. Also, a couple decided to get a monkey instead of having children and then went to the breeder's house and even saw the disgusting kennel she had. It was sad. Although I can't complain that these people are choosing not to have children. I'm afraid for the state of Arkansas with all those Duggars running around.

Ok now one of the monkey owners is calling her pet psychic to find out if "Slick Willy" ate one of her thyroid pills that went missing. Seriously. That woman is nutsy, but that "psychic" is kind of messed up for chancing that kind of thing. I mean, if that monkey had eaten the pill, even the psychic (who is obviously just taking advantage of pet owners) would feel bad if it died.

Oh dear. I'll have to have more knitting content in a day or so. I'm unable to tear myself away from this show and its just full of craziness. I really hope this isn't a series.

3L year

So... classes have started. I really am liking my classes, although they can be boring. Legal Profession and Pension and Employee Benefit Law, for example. They just sound boring when you read them.

DH and I are in the midst of battling an epic flea battle in our new house. That is new house as in new RENTAL house. I posted on Facebook that we were going to go work in our new house and everyone freaked out. Remind me not to post anything slightly vague or someone might think I'm pregnant. (I'm not!)

So we found this awesome 3 bedroom 1 bath house with adorable hardwood floors and trim, a ridiculously dated kitchen and a fenced in back yard. Its behind the hospital (ARMC) and is within walking distance for DH. Oh, and its in our budget.

But it has fleas! So bad!!! I have never had a flea infestation in my house and now we do. Luckily we overlapped the lease for this place with our current lease so we havent officially moved in yet, but we are anxiously awaiting moving in. We painted all of the rooms (except my office and bathroom) and then I painted all of the trim so it is fresh and clean. After 2 flea bombs and 2 professional exterminator visits, we may have finally solved the problem. I certainly hope so, but I am not sure since the exterminator just left this evening.

I hate using such strong chemicals but poor Max is very allergic to flea bites. When he gets just one he scratches and scratches. With just a few bites last weekend I had to get him some steroids to avoid him losing too much fur (and possibly getting an infection from scratching himself raw). I'm looking into some more natural solutions to keep fighting these fleas (b/c I've read they take a while to really get rid of) and have some options.

But this weekend is my best friend's wedding and I will be busy with wedding stuff, being the matron of honor and all that. Next weekend, my birthday weekend, we'll be renting a truck and moving everything. We've got a lot moved, but have more to go.

My most recent obsession is this book: Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich. I found it while walking through my local library in the New section and absolutely loved it. DH loved it too. Its all about this woman (only 2 years older than me) attempting to homestead while working a regular corporate job, and having no history of farming. DH pointed out that a lot of the stuff she didn't know about homesteading was stuff he knew, but he grew up in the country. Most of what she learned and describes in the book was stuff I didn't know either. In fact, the only things I knew that she didn't was the stuff about the fiddle. I played the viola in school and while taking lessons when we lived in Raleigh, I learned the basics of fiddling (from a real blue grass fiddler).

Knitting wise: been cranking out crap for sure. Not so many pictures though.

Winning with the Kalashnikov

The title to this entry is the title of a book a homeless man was reading downtown today. I should say that I don't know for sure if he was homeless, since he was reading and not panhandling as our local homeless usually do. He could have had a home, and just dressed like a homeless person.

At any rate, that was the book title. Surprisingly, that title is listed on Amazon.com, but there are no summaries. A further googling informed me it is actually a book about chess moves. Much less dramatic but equally interesting. He's not a homeless man who is homicidal, he is a homeless man who is really into chess. I guess you have to spend your time somehow in Tent City.

On the knitting front, I have what the Yarn Harlot has called "Cast-On-Itis." Or at least I think it was her. She is the "Oprah" of the knitting world (Thank you Nate!). To be fair, I did finish one project today. But then I committed myself to making five preemie bereavement outfits for a hospital in the Virgin Islands. They do go fast, but they are knit with acrylic and make my hands hurt. There is no set charity, that I know of, but they go directly to the hospital.

Well, I'm done for now. Signing off.


Just finished project on Tuesday:

The end of July already!

Wow, DH and I were figuring out a camping trip and realized it is nearly August. Where did my summer go? Its nearly time for classes again... and I am excited. I'm not nearly as excited to graduate as I might have been if the economy was better, but I'm pretty highly ranked at a good school and have some skills... if I do say so myself.

This month, when I wasn't travelling to Chicago (or Chi-town as the obnoxious guy on the plane in front of us insisted on referring to it as), I was participating in the Tour de Fleece. This consisted of spinning yarn every day that the Tour de France raced. It was a lot easier than the real Tour, but I definitely didn't burn as much calories.

Instead, I produced this:














I'm pretty proud. There's some mill ends I dyed from The Sheep Shed Studio (purple in the back), blue-faced leicester from Susannah I carded myself (green in back left), a few ounces of alpaca spun to laceweight in the center (naturally colored), yellow and red (in the front) organic merino batts from Spinspanspun, and 2 ounces of cormo (also from Susannah) still on the bobbin.

And in other news... my car is broken (sob). Only 4 months after the warranty expired, my car's alternator and battery died and left us stranded at DH's parents' house. We were able to jump it and drive it home, but that was a stressful (and hot-with no air conditioning) hour. Today I got the diagnosis and I am very upset. This is ridiculous, for a 3 year old car to need a new altnerator.

We'll see what happens next. Maybe the dealer will come through for me.

Tour de Fleece

The Tour de France started yesterday, and while I am not a particularly big fan of cycling (not that its showing at any decent time), I am participating in the Tour de Fleece, mainly on Ravelry.com. This is a challenge for spinners to spin every day, resting on the rest days of the tour, and challenging myself on the challenging (read: mountain) days. Yesterday and today I have kept up, spinning two 1.8 ounce organic merino batts from Spinspanspun.etsy.com that I couldn't resist.

Other than that, my class is about to end. I have my final mediation on Thursday, and after that I will be able to register as a court-annexed mediator. I'm contemplating some business cards, since there is no requirement that you be an attorney to be a mediator. If I had some made now, I could keep them after I graduate, provided my email and phone number don't change.

Tonight I posted some handspun on athens.locallycrafted.net. It is like our Locally Grown website, except the only items available are crafts like soap, yarn and well... anything. Its pretty neat. I don't know that I will sell any yarn, but I figure I could find a home for some and use that money to buy more roving... or pay bills. You know, the important things in life.

Aside from being addicted to New Moon by Stephanie Meyers for the last 48 hours (I finally finished it today), that's about it. Feeding the neighbors dogs, spinning, reading and trying to get the motivation to start a job hunt.

I'm setting a goal for myself: this week I make an appointment with the career services people to talk about my plan. I will do that, I think.

Today I sewed a dress but it needs to be pressed and also I need to find a slip or something. The fabric is shirting material, so its not really suited to the dress. I might put a lining on it, or possibly find a slip.

Here's some photos of today and yesterday's spinning. I've started a couple of cool projects that I'll share when I finish them.