Thanks to everyone – whether you have left me a comment, sent me an email, or just sent good thoughts this way. I felt and smiled at every kind communication you sent. They mean a lot to me.
I am a happy person. I’m a strong person. I’m not worried about my situation, because I’m always okay. Better than okay!
I have two quotes I’d like to share, both by the same brilliant man:
Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward. Henry Ford
If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right. Henry Ford
This is what I see when the doggie treat jar comes out.
We can all learn a lesson from these guys about expecting good things to come to us.
One of the reasons I enjoy doing verypink is the fact that my life generally moves along swimmingly, predictably and without chaos. This gives me the time and energy to have fun with my posts. I adore taking the photos and writing the text. L-O-V-E it.
Unfortunately, I’m unable to muster up the photos OR the funny right now. Things are not moving along swimmingly. I sort of hate the fact that I’m writing a post about not writing a post…but I think this is better than just disappearing. I hope to be back up and running very soon.
Rest assured – everyone is healthy. The dogs are fine. I will be fine again, too.
This post is (mostly) a photo series featuring my 7-year-old nephew, Timmy. His mother would like me to include this disclaimer:
Timmy is an active, normal kid who rides his bike, plays in the dirt, annoys the dog, and eats his vegetables.
But he’s also being prepared for an adulthood that involves responding to emails while crossing a busy downtown street. You’ve seen ‘em…The Crackberry People. They use their Blackberry phones as if emails and texting are a life and death matter.
Here’s Timmy with his Game Boy…I don’t see much difference.
I suppose I should mention that I’m still visiting my family in Alaska.
Here he is at a hamburger joint…
In the car…
Lunch in the diner…
At his mom’s hair salon during my cut and color…
And during last night’s sushi dinner.
In twenty years he will have replaced the Game Boy with something that has a QWERTY keyboard…I only hope it’s as much fun as killing bad guys.
I’m making fun of the whole thing here, but I have to say: Wow. It’s EASY to take this kid out to dinner.
On a different note…
If you haven’t had the pleasure of eating sushi made from fish that was caught that day and delivered from docks one block from the restaurant, might I suggest it? Mindblowingly delish.
Mandatory doggie photo: 10-month-old Izabelle. She is my first terrier experience. I’ve never met such a tenacious animal.
Whew. I’m here. It took 16 hours…including one successful flight, one missed flight, one denied standby flight, one very chilly flight (I was in shorts)…but I’m here. (On the chilly flight, the outside of the plane actually iced up. Brrrr.)
I can show you what I have seen so far…
Anchorage wasn’t my final destination, but a nice welcome, nonetheless.
I spent a lot of time in this airport. About five hours, to be exact.
I spent a good amount of time staring at this counter…
And did a little of this…
Alaskan Amber, if you were wondering.
And a little of this.
I had a lot of time to kill.
When I arrived in Kodiak, it was abundantly clear that I wasn’t in Texas anymore.
This photo was taken at 10:30 at night.
I’m all messed up with the time change, so everyone is asleep except for me and this beast.
This is Izabelle. She will have to take over the Basenji content on verypink this week.
My next goal: take photos of something other than the airport.
I’m in a mad dash to leave for my summer vacation. No, not going to Mexico or the Caribbean. That would be too ordinary. I’m off to Kodiak, Alaska to visit my family. I’ll be comin’ atcha from Alaska next week, provided I remember all of my passwords for posting.
In the meantime, it’s Friday…
Chris – I have a message for you. Your Mid-Life Crisis called to say thanks for your recent auto purchase. It sounded really happy on the phone.
Next…!
I am going to be traveling a long-ass way – from the southernmost orange Tums to the northernmost orange Tums.
When you look at a map like this, it’s hard to believe that Alaska is even part of the US. Seems like Canada should get it, simply because it would be a cheaper flight for Canadians.
Next…!
No, you have to stay here.
Next…!
I have a metric ton of knits to bring with me for my sister’s new baby, as well as other gifts for my family.
The knits I’m going to work on there: the Orchid Lace Scarf, a little baby jacket in periwinkle, and (not shown) A Cardigan for Arwen. That should keep me busy.
As I’ve said before, Chris and I are volunteers for Basenji Rescue. It seems to be the time of year where it’s raining Basenjis all over Texas. Needless to say, we’ve been busy. It takes a lot of people doing a lot of work to get a dog evaluated, vetted, healthy, rehabilitated, into foster care, and eventually re-homed.
Ike is taking over today’s post. He and I clearly have the same philosophy.
Listen up, people!
I happen to be an expert in doggie care.
If you have a dog, please make sure he’s wearing identification. It’s best to have both an ID tag and a microchip. If I am ever lost, this will be the easiest way to get me reunited with my humans.
See how easily I wear mine?
In fact, I’m positively bored with it.
This is an inexpensive roll of poop bags.
They’re really easy to use, especially for me. All I do is poop, and the humans take care of the rest.
Some people don’t use these, and it is revolting.
Lou thinks everything is a toy. He is seriously immature.
Please make sure your doggie gets the medicines and vaccinations he needs. Sometimes dogs get really sick, making it hard on both the dogs and the humans who care for them.
Don’t you humans have some saying that starts out, “An ounce of prevention…”?
Remember that we can be active little beasts. If we have too much energy that doesn’t get drained every day, we can act out. Making sure that we have plenty of active time can solve a lot of behavioral problems.
Trust me, I’ve done my share of acting out back in the day.
Most importantly, remember that we’re pack animals. We want to be with you. Please take good care of us.
If you are able to donate to a rescue group or shelter, they can put your money to really good use. Supporting fundraisers is a good way to help, too.
Okay, I’ve said my bit. We can go back to silent dogs and knitting again.
I’m feeling better! Aside from an annoying cough, I’m back to normal. But here it is Monday, and I need to do what I didn’t do on Friday…I need to change topics quickly.
The title to this post is The Sopranos theme song. Don’t worry, I won’t give anything away if you haven’t seen it yet.
Did you see the Television Event of the Year…the final episode of The Sopranos? We stopped everything for one hour last night and devoted ourselves to HBO.
Perfect ending. Chris and I wanted different things to happen, and we’re both very satisfied.
Goodbye, Sopranos!
Next…!
The EastEnders Baby Sweater is finished…and lo and behold! I didn’t put a hood on it. I always put hoods on baby sweaters.
Instead, we got a hat with pigtails.
Don’t worry. He loves it.
Next…!
Janet had a contest on her blog, and I won this laceweight Malabrigo. Yay!
We would normally have a fast-topic-changing-Friday today, but today is different.
Even though I feel as if I only have about 80% to give, I’m running on a 130% capacity right now.
I know, this doesn’t make any sense. Cut me some slack. I’m sick.
I’m putting a good 50% towards this boy. No, he isn’t one of ours. He was picked up as a stray on June 4th and turned over to our vet’s clinic. I’ve been desperately trying to find his family for the last few days.
No tags, no microchip. Very sad.
Rest assured, whether we find his family or not, we’re taking good care of him through Basenji Rescue.
I’ve also been putting 50% towards NOT GETTING SICKER. I leave for Alaska next week, and I want to be well!
I’m covering all of the bases – fluids, rest, vitamins, homeopathic remedies, medicines, and voodoo.
So far I’ve managed to keep most of the symptoms down.
Damn you, common cold!
I suppose I’ve been giving the Baby EastEnders sweater about 30%.
Next step, weave in a frighting number of ends.
I wish I could get the colors to photograph better…
Well, my whole numbers system is thrown off, since these guys get 100% from me every day. Lou, sniffing the camera.
Clap on (clap, clap), clap off (clap, clap), clap on, clap off – the Clapotis!
The Clap is off…off the needles, that is.
The specs: Clapotis, a free pattern from knitty.com Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colorway 243, 8 skeins Size: about 70 inches long – 15 inches longer than the pattern (I figure that a shawl’s length should match one’s wingspan) Recipient: my ever-chilly sister in Alaska
Yes, this was my NINTH Clapotis.
Shouldn’t Kate Gilbert (the designer) give me some kind of award or something?
For devotion?
Next on…this yarn. Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.
I call this the EastEnders baby sweater. I saw a character on the show wearing something like it, so I thought I’d copy it for my sister’s baby.
The main color looks black here, but it is actually chocolate brown. I like the way the brown looks with the pastels.
Because cashmere makes so much sense for a baby, right? (ha)
I snapped this photo right after Chris called Ike “Junkyard Dog”.
There are a million soft places for him to relax, and he chose slate.
I don’t really understand him, but it isn’t like he’s laying on a pile of automotive parts or something.
Sunshine + air conditioning = a good day to be Lou.
If you’re reading this in bloglines (or any newsreader) you’re missing out. Verypink has a brand new look! And today is the debut!
Today’s format will be a little different, as sort of an intro to the newness. There is both a new look and a new server. That changes a few things.
Don’t worry! Verypink will be back to it’s normal photo-heavy-limted-text self on Wednesday!
First – verypink has a reliable RSS feed now. This was one of my main priorities. If you subscribed to the lame feed I had before, you need to cancel the old subscription and subscribe to this: http://verypink.com/feed/ (Just copy this into your newsreader, OR, if you using the most recent version of Firefox, there is a new and fancy little orange button that you can hit to automatically subscribe to a feed, OR you can use the handy link at the very bottom of this page.) If you don’t use a newsreader, then ignore this paragraph and don’t let it confuse you.
But in my opinion, everyone should at least be using Firefox.
The new look changes how I do things… as I heard from more than one friend, I needed to bring verypink into the new millennium. (They were so right.) I’m now using WordPress, which means I have all of the ease that blog software provides, but with control. I still write all of the posts in HTML, but I get fancy things like spellcheck , automatic dating of posts, and auto archiving. Not to mention, the new look.
Did I mention that I’m excited about this?? Kinda scared too…I had the old look for about ten years. No kidding. Change is scary.
“A guy named Mike” did all of this work for me. Mike happens to be an expert at both the design as well as the technical side of web design. He is brilliant. If you’re looking to get website work done, I’m very happy to recommend him. Just let me know if you would like his contact info.
It would be impossible to have a verypink post without at least one photo. So, here we go…
Three red dogs.
The black one is chillin’ in the other room.
See you Wednesday, when I try to write a normal post when nothing seems the same. Twilight Zone time.
A lovely combination of lace, warmth, and wash-ability. This pattern uses 400 grams (8 skeins) of Dale of Norway Baby Ull, or 1440 yards of a substitute yarn with 6 stitches to the inch.
Materials Needed:
• 8 skeins (400 grams) Dale of Norway Baby Ull (180 yards/165 meters per skein)
• Size US 3/3.25 mm needles (or size to obtain gauge)
• Stitch markers
• Row counter
• Tapestry needle for weaving in ends
• Crochet hook, size E, F, or G, to attach fringe
So, the ninth time is indeed a charm. I have completed EIGHT Clapotis, if you can believe it. They’re so pretty, and they make such nice gifts!
I’ve made one for myself, my mom, one of my sisters, my MIL, my SIL, my friend Michele, my piano teacher, and one was frogged because I used the wrong yarn.
Number Nine is actually a replacement Clap for the one my sister has practically worn into the ground. Yes, Phyllis…I’m replacing your ratty Clap.
If you haven’t already made one, the pattern is really clear to follow. Here’s a quick rundown, anyway. I’m a little more than half-way finished here.
You start with just two stitches at one of the corners…
Increase until it’s wide enough, then…
Increase on one side and decrease on the other to keep it on the bias. Every sixth stich is dropped once you decrease to it on the right side.
It’s still a fun knit – even though I can do it in my sleep by now.
Dontcha want to make (another) one?
Next…!
Today is the official beginning of hurricane season. I’m going to make light of the whole thing because it scares me silly.
Chris had his own tropical storm last year, but as usual, I don’t get anything named after me. Oh, well.
But if your name is Humberto or Olga, you’re going to get your own tropical storm this year! Maybe even a hurricane! Some of the more popular names on the menu are Melissa, Tanya, Karen, and Wendy.
I realize that designing and photographing hand knits can be difficult, and I’m always made aware of this every time I receive Cast On magazine in the mail.
This sweater is okay, but I do have a few problems with the whole thing:
The sleeves are really too long.
I would have preferred to see a tshirt under the sweater.
This baby is pooping her pants.
Next…!
Half of Abe’s toenails are black. Since I can’t see through a black nail, I’m worried about cutting too much with the nail trimmers and hurting him. So we invested in a Dremel.
The problem: Abe runs to another room as soon as he hears the motor. Sigh. Not really what I was hoping for. At least the other dogs like it.
