Heroes and Good Cold Meds

October 30, 2006

I have a new hero. Nona pointed out what was keeping my header graphic from showing up when my blog was viewed in Firefox.

If you know me or have read more than one of my previous blog posts, you won't be surprised. It appears that my comments were too lengthy, and Firefox wanted some brevity. Hah! Me? Brief?

Anyway, the header graphic seems to be showing up now. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nona! Not only do I learn and/or become inspired yarn-wise when I read your blog, but now you've solved, in the 2 minutes it took me to read your comment and go modify my template, that which had been eluding me for DAYS. Yay, you!!! Yet another good reason that you've been in my Favorites folder forEVer.

And now, ladies and gents, how about an actual FIBER post? Though I haven't done much more than fondle fabric since I fell ill (and no, I'm still not 100%), after about a week and a half I was able to focus enough to play with yarn.

I'll do a separate post with the latest chapter in the saga of felted hats, but as Python'ers say...

Now, for something completely different.

edited Nov 1 to say:
WTH? How long has the picture not been showing up? Sheesh.




This is the beginning of a Lotus Blossom Lace shawl from The Best of Knitter's Magazine Shawls and Scarves, edited by Nancy J. Thomas. I'm doing it in what I had close to my comfy chair, which was some forest green Lion WoolEase (a casualty of yet another hat debaucle) on size 8's.

Yeah, I know, it's not the cobweb-lace thing. But, hey. I have never done a shawl before. I have never done much with lace before. I have never been able to correctly read/follow a chart before. Wow, those cold meds must have really made me invincible, yes?

I am life-lining about every 4 rows. I figured this out way early in the process! So far, I'm frogging and tinking about 1 row out of 4 (this is me being generous with my estimate... it's probably a 1:1 ratio, if I really pay attention!).

There are 4 charts. I have no idea if this thing will block flat. I don't care. I'm learning. I'm feeling smart when I can get through 4 rows without tinking. What more can a chick ask for?

Hmmmm... I wonder if Mom would like something like this, say, ohhhh, THREE Christmases from now?

Labels: knitting

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Template Stuff

October 28, 2006

I'm feeling better. Not 100%, but better. I have yarn thangs to talk about. I've also got a couple of PSAs or rants floating around in my head. But I've been trying, unsuccessfully, for the last three days to update my blog template to make viewing easier for my Mozilla/Firefox readers out there. This has NOT been fun.

I've finally gone back to the original template. The biggest problem I've faced in trying to make this cross-browser compatible is my Fiber Babble header graphic. For some reason, in 85% of my attempts to become Firefox-friendly, the graphic just disappears. If I can get the graphic to appear, then none of the rest of page shows up.

I'm tempted to believe that this is a Blogger-related problem (there's a bunch of Blogger-specific code lurking around).

I've dug and researched online, and while I've found some interesting and helpful information, non-Internet Explorer-specific css info is rare and seems to rely on the moon and the stars being aligned Just Right.

Of course, I'll be happy to hear hints and ideas. I'd be happy to find an existing template -that works in Blogger- that has a header graphic and a 2-column layout that I can futz with to make it look like my own.

70% of my readers use Internet Explorer, in one flavor or another. Another 20% use Mozilla Firefox. The remainder use Netscape, Safari, and whatever else is out there. I would really like for all readers to have a pleasant (at least non-disjointed) viewing experience, but I've reached the end of my patience here.

Let the non-technical posts begin!

Labels: blogging

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Surprise Visitor

October 17, 2006

First off, I've been sick. So sick I haven't even whined much about it. Fortunately it seems to be only the cold/flu/creeping crud. I can't complain (though I will), because I only get a cold about once every three years.

Where we live, we have frogs. Big frogs, little frogs, frogs stuck to our door, frogs on the light fixture, frogs swimming in ponds, frogs living under our back step, frogs that go crunch if we don't look where we're stepping when we go outside. Okay, that last part isn't totally accurate. Only Mr. W. has crunched frogs, though I did get one with the pickup one evening.

Last night as Mr. W. was heading into the kitchen for something, I heard, "Holy *something* - we've got a frog!"




I can't believe that I had my camera right there and actually got a shot. This little guy was NOT staying in one place for long! I snapped the pic while he was passing through Puppy-Butt's house.

Mr. W. went outside and got the screeny-netty thing that we use to de-leaf the pond and scooped up the little guy to put him back outside. My hero!

Labels: babble

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Random Info

October 12, 2006

I actually look this stuff up fairly regularly and warn/inform Mom and The Girl kinda weekly. For your short term planning, I give you

Stuff to Celebrate This Week
We're in the midst of National Squirrel Appreciation week....Oh, my goodness. I just found that there's a National Squirrel Appreciation Society in the UK. Words fail me.

October 12: International Moment of Frustration Scream Day
"To share any or all of our frustrations, all citizens of the world will go outdoors at twelve hundred hours Greenwich time and scream for thirty seconds. We will all feel better, or Earth will go off its orbit."
13: International Skeptics Day
I looked this up and apparently it's celebrated at least once more during the year, on January 13. I seriously doubt it...
13: World Egg Day
Egg Day. As in Eat More Eggs. According to the US Egg Industry, the per capita egg consumption in 2005 was 255.1 eggs. The high point for per capita egg consumption was 402 eggs in 1945.
I eat approximately 700 eggs a year, not counting tapioca pudding...
14: Be Bald and Be Free Day
Various online greeting card sites have special cards you can send to your special cue ball...
15: National Grouch Day
I saw a story about this on www.menstuff.org. I searched and searched. Couldn't find ANYthing on womenstuff.org or the NOW (National Organization for-of? Women) sites. Coincidence? I don't THINK so.
In case you don't have a grouch of your own, you can make one using the info at http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/grouch.html.

Labels: babble

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Successful Felted Hat!

...and they said it couldn't be done!

Before:

After:

Fiber Trends AC-02 Felt Hat II, by Bev Galeskas
Patons Classic Merino 100% Wool, color "New Denim" (1 1/8 skeins)
Mosaic Pattern from Barbara Walker's Third Treasury, "Pillared Band", p. 208

I'm not sure about the brim edge (the first 2 are purl rows); it doesn't seem to want to play nice. Is the point to have it curl up? Nor am I excited about the spot where it goes from brim to band... it's pretty obvious that something is going on there, both in the non-felted and felted state, but I'm not sure if that was from the pattern or if my tension was wigging.

I am, however, very glad that I took this for a test drive before casting on for J's hat. I will definitely do the medium size (this one's a large) and also probably go half and half between the small brimmed and large brimmed versions.

The mosaic is not exactly as Ms. Walker intended... I was knitting at a meeting and was really, REALLY frustrated (2 1/2 hours and I never did get the point. Had to ask someone what the subject matter was supposed to be), plus I'd forgotten the chart at home. One of my co-torturees commented that I'd probably have to frog that section because my tension was probably too tight!

Oh, and a COOL thing... I figured out how to felt in my own washer! Yay! No more doing it by hand or taking it to L's! Woo-hoo!

Labels: felting, knitting

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Another Tablerunner done

October 05, 2006

The Box Fan tablerunner. This one is the one that I had to be inventive with the binding, since I ran out of fabric just inches from the finish line.



This one will eventually become a PETaL Pattern, but I've got something else rattling around in my head (rocks?) that is demanding to be developed. I cut out two more quilts on Monday, one for a shop sample and the other is that NEW design. Now to sew, sew, sew and get the info down in pattern form!

On the yarn front, I took advantage of Michael's sale on Patons Classic Wool a couple of weeks ago. I've finished knitting a Christmas present that I can't say much more about here... Have a felted bag design that's growing in my head (a VERY busy brain these days!), plus a Fiber Trends hat that J has requested for Christmas. I feel fairly confident that I can talk about THAT item, since she never reads my blog - barely even reads email!

Labels: quilting

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Messenger Bags Galore

October 03, 2006

Image heavy post, here!

The Vancouver Group's chosen project for October is some kind of purse that can be made in multiple sizes. After much deliberation (and input from The Chicken Ladies) I came up with these Messenger Bags.

Many opportunities to pocket them up, use cute quilting fabric, old upholstery fabric and recycled jeans.

The Baby Bag is 6" wide, 5" tall and 2" deep.



The Momma Bag is 12" wide, 10" tall and 3" deep (big enough to hold a pad of paper)





The Papa Bag is 18" wide, 15" tall and 4" deep. This one can hold a smallish rotary cutting mat, plus a whole bunch of whatever else! This one would be great to take to quilting class, doncha think?




These puppies just about kicked my backside. I thought I had A Plan before cutting, but with each one I kept finding easier or more sensible ways of doing things.

Fortunately for the Vancouver ladies, I have borne the pain FOR them. Hopefully the final instructions are practically painless. permalink 2 folks clicked here to comment