A team that wins a lot of games, that is relevant year-in-and-year-out, that consistently makes the playoffs and contends for, but never wins a championship – rightfully said to underachieve on the biggest stages.
or
A team that has been generally irrelevant except for one season in which enough things came together for them to squeak into the playoffs and pull off (an over-achieving) Championship, only to return to irrelevance?
This made me smile.
Finally finished some knitting that I have been working on for a while. I was suffering from a little "second mitten syndrome" where I was really motivated to knit the first one, but the second one was delayed by another project due to the DREAD of knowing how much work was required to complete it. BEHOLD, the completed Swedish fish mittens:
I love the fish. They are super cute. I like the detailing of the eyes and that each row of fish swim in a different direction. If you're a knitter with A LOT of patience and you're pretty good with stranded/colorwork/intarsia knitting, then you can find the pattern here (but it costs $$). That's a Ravelry link so if you're not part of Ravelry you won't be able to pull it up.
Knitterly details:
I changed a few things in the pattern. Right up front, I didn't use the same yarn as she did. I used some different colorways of Claudia Hand Painted Sock yarn. At first I didn't like the variegated look, but now I really like it because it looks like little scales or that the fish are reflecting different kinds of light as they swim (go, go gadget imagination!). For the main color (off white) I used this new line of yarns from Blue Sky Alpaca called "Spud and Chloe." Not gonna lie, people. This yarn kind of blows. I'm not sure if it's because I was using size 1 needles and that's the lower limit of the yarn (it's recommended for size 1-3) or what, but it pulled apart like CRAZY and was really irritating if I ever had to rip back any mistakes. Anyway, just a note for the future. The Claudia Hand Painted, on the other hand was DREAMY to work with. Such a nice yarn. But I guess you get what you pay for seeing as the Spud and Chloe was much cheaper than the Claudia Hand Painted. The CHP was super expensive, but I bought enough for at least 2 pairs of mittens.
The pattern recommended DPNs, but I kind of despise DPNs so I used the magic loop technique and just bought a long size 1. SIZE 1. OMG. It was crazy. The pattern knits quickly because it's fun, but oh man, 80 stitches per round gets to be a pain in the wrist. Also, the color changes? Just imagine when you finish and you have to WEAVE IN all the ends. It literally took me an hour to weave in all the ends of the first mitten. Much faster with the second because I knew what I was doing, but that was crazypants. Thank you Hulu queue and awesome time-difference friends on the phone for getting me through that.
I also changed the ribbing at the bottom because 1x1 ribbing wasn't going to do it for me, so I did 2x2 ribbing with no increases, just flat out 80 stitches. I think it came out fine, it's not a huge noticable difference. The 2x2 is still stretchy enough that it will hug your wrist and help keep the cold out. However, the fact that it is sock yarn means that these are pretty light mittens and are probably better for fall and the warmer of winter days.
The thumbs came out weird. I'm not sure why. I think they just need to be wider at the bottom to make the thumbs more comfortable. But I like when the fish line up EXACTLY on the thumb and the mitten.
Some details are on my ravelry.
So that's done. There will be more knitting posts coming up, once I can finish up more present knitting. Fish!
Watch this stunningly beautiful, breath-taking vision of Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica animated by Lena Gieseke.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh....
If the weather does not keep my flight from taking off, I'll be winging my way back to CA tomorrow!
I have 4 full days planned - with friends, with family, My daughter graduates college on Sat!
I am SO EXCITED. Too bad it looks like I'll be missing the first BIG storm of the winter here. But its OK. Ben will likely document it for me.:-)
When I come back, I'll have my son with me for a week! I ordered a pizza stone and peel and cutter so we can work on our pizza skills! And Ohio family will get to hang with Aaron!
While watching Zach give the cats a good workout by means of a high-power laser pointer, a thought occurred to me:
When used in a particular way, a laser pointer is essentially a virtual tether with which one can literally slam a cat against a wall.
You can also fling a cat down the stairs or even into a hapless victim’s lap as he sits distracted by his game of Super Smash Bros. Fact is, a cat will pretty much go anywhere a glowing red dot goes. They'll even do it in teams!
Whenever all four of us have to be away from the house at the same time, we make sure all the kittehs are closed off downstairs mainly because Dioji is a moody terrier and cannot be trusted. This past Thanksgiving Day was one of those times and Zach was assigned pet segregation detail. He proceeded to do this, believe it or not, by leading them all down in one big group with his laser pointer.
I was hell of impressed.
Alright, I know the title of the post made it sound like some major scientific breakthrough had been discovered. And sure, adding “major” might be too much, but Zachary’s discovery really is quite a breakthrough!
Have you ever tried to herd cats?
I've spent a lot of time on my blog and other places online talking about Ed and Fru. I was thinking about it a while ago and I realized that I rarely ever come out and talk about just Isis, even though she's a huge part of my life. In the last year or so, she's played an even bigger role in my happiness.
When I first got Ed and Isis, I remember being disappointed about how unattached I felt with them. I wrote a blog post about it here and I got a lot of great feedback about how loving pets can take time sometimes; it's not always instantaneous. Everyone who said that was right and I'm really thankful for their help. Isis is one of those kitties that took a while to warm up to me-- much longer than Ed. And in all honesty, the wait was completely worth it.
Shawn, Beth, and I noticed that there was something a little "off" about Isis when she first came to live with us. She was terrified of everything. Even for a kitty, the horror in her eyes every time someone walked past her seemed excessive. We all watched her carefully and then came to the conclusion that she was most likely abused by one of her previous owners. As far as we knew, she had at least two previous owners, but there could have been more. The way she ran away from people and ducked her head whenever anyone would make any quick movements made me feel like she had once been struck by someone-- most likely a male since she's always had a greater fear with them. I know that not all kitties are warm and cuddly (I've been around a lot of cats in my life), but the feeling I got when I saw the fear in Isis' eyes told me something extremely bad happened to her in her past. Knowing this made me determined to help her feel comfortable in her new life.
I first started noticing a change in Isis when I took her (and Ed) to the vet for a checkup about two years ago. Ed was pretty calm, but as usual, Isis was terrified. I gently picked her up and held her the entire time she was there. It was the first memory I have of her clinging to me because she felt protected and safe in my arms. I remember how I couldn't stop smiling. Shawn even mentioned that Isis and I were having a "bonding experience." Ever since that day, I've felt a deep connection with Isis.
Since then, she's been slowly becoming more loving. I took advantage of that change and started to "work" with her more often. When she was really young, she wouldn't let anyone hold her and would claw her way out of a person's arms. (I have a scar to prove it.) I decided to take baby steps with Isis to help her understand that being held was a good thing. Every day, I would slowly pick her up and take her over to a window where we could watch the streets outside. I would talk to her in a very soft, soothing voice (very non-threatening) so she knew that I was still there with her. I figured that the movements on the steets would distract her enough so she wouldn't concentrate on the fact that I was holding her. Sure enough, Isis became used to being held by me. After a while, I was able to hold her for an infinite amount of time. In fact, I'd have to say that she now gets sad when I have to put her back on the floor after holding her.
These days, Isis is very relaxed. She's still afraid of almost all strangers (like a lot of kitties are), and most men. However, her attitude and mannerisms have changed to an enourmous extent with the people she's familiar and comfortable with. Isis no longer runs away when people are walking towards her. She doesn't duck her head quickly if people around her are moving their arms or moving objects around her. When Shawn and I walk in the door after being out for a few hours, she stays asleep in her kitty bed in the main room. If anything, she might look up at us to acknowledge our presence... but she doesn't run to a hiding place.
Whenever I'm asleep and Isis sees me curled up under my comforter and another very soft blanket I always use, she hops up on top of my stomach and falls asleep there. A few days ago, I woke up and was able to get off the couch without waking her up-- she stayed in the same spot, sleeping, for over ten hours! Most of the time, she's purring happily whever she's sleeping. And if I don't cuddle with her in the morning, which has become a routine for the two of us, she comes up to me later in the day and gives me sad mews to let me know she wants some cuddles.
Having two kitties who are so different from each other is amazing. Ed is friendly with everyone and is very sociable. Isis has grown into a kitty who chooses who to love, and if you're chosen, you feel like you are the most important person in the world. That's exactly how I feel whenever I'm with her. It was difficult for a long time for me to grasp the idea of Isis being calm and loving, but seeing her so happy every day has made her overall happiness a normality. I couldn't be more grateful for her and the fact that she's overcome whatever pain she experienced in the past. Her ability to move on and be happy has made me happy.
OK. Bad pictures (our digital camera broke a while back so we only have the iPhone camera), but this gives an idea of some progress our kitchen is making.
