Month: January 2022

Pet sweaters

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Morning all, It seeems that winter will never end, and that there just isn’t enough coffee to go around these days. Have hope, please, it’s 50 days until Spring.

Bernat’s Yarnspirations baby blanket yarn isn’t worth the cost of the yarn. It’s basically crap yarn. However, there is one thing it is useful for. That’s critter sweaters. With the right hook, you can make one in an evening for a smaller critter and it turns out warm enough to survive the coldest wind for long enough for a potty break.

For a crochet project, it’s a simple one. I used a 9 mm hook. I measured the critter in question, a young pooch named Sophie, or rather her parents did. You need the measurement around the thickest part of the chest, the circumference of the head, and the length between the collar and the top of the shoulders.

You will need one of those plastic needles for weaving in ends, and a nippers. I ended up cutting the yarn probably 4 times. Chain 1 or 2 stitches longer than that length of the circumference of the chest. For Sophie, this was 28 stitches. Single crochet the length up the critter, from hip to the shoulder, which was 11 inches.

I then did the crochet equivalent of short rows. I chained 2 and turned, and did 4 rows of single crochet. I cut the yarn, and then began 2 stitches from the flap on where I left off at the barrel shape I started with. I left 2 stitches at either side blank, and did 4 rows. I then turned the work, chained 2, single crocheted across, and then chained 2, joining with a slip stitch.

It was at this point that I began the decreases for the shoulders down to the neck. I would decrease at least 2 or 3 stitches acrossed the back and then 2 stitches across the chest area. I probably kept this up for 6 rows. I made sure that the ending row was an even number of stitches.

For the sleeves, I picked up stitches for the arms, and did about 4 rows for each sleeve. Be careful here, if the critter has longer claws, you will want a looser sleeve than a narrower sleeve.

Now we go to finish the bottom of the sweater. Acrossed the back, I picked up the same number of stitches as there were across the back between the sleeves at the top. Every row, I decreased evenly, making a crescent shape down to where the base of the tail begins.

Now, I weave in the ends, very carefully.

Washing and care instructions. I’d hand wash these in a mild soap. This yarn is such crap, that it’s not worth ruining your washer or dryer over. Leave flat to dry. This yarn will shed worse than the critter if washed normally.

That said, it does produce lovely results for a critter. Here is the link to Sophie wearing her new sweater. Sophie’s warmest sweater

Take care my friends. Hugs, -L

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The fall

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Earlier this month, my husband and I took a day trip for some medical needs. On our way back, we stopped at a smoke shop and a dollar store. Our cookie stash was dangerously low, and I get quite fiesty when I can’t have a cigarrette.

One thing I had learned a long time ago, was to hold off on liquids as much as possible while waiting for my beloved to be done at the hospital. I stay in the car, so I don’t catch infections while waiting, and I usually knit or other stitching while waiting.

We got back home before I really needed a restroom, and my haste bit me in the hip. I slipped on the ice, and fell in the driveway. I couldn’t get up by myself.

Note, Minnesota in winter is brutally cold, and the driveway wasn’t much warmer than it needed to be. The good news, I was sheltered by the wind. The bad news, I needed the ER.

It turns out I didn’t break anything, but waiting in the ER to pee was murder. I eventually convinced them to just send me home before all of the xrays were in. I knew I could deal with the pain, but not having access to the bathroom was just evil.

They were willing to let me go because of my policy. I am not talking about insurance. I’m talking about pain medication. I refused pain meds, of any form. They only took xrays, and helped me get to a bathroom eventually.

That said, I was glad to be home, took 2 aleve, and 2 tylenol arthritis and went to bed.

It took over a week to recover from the bumps and bruises, and I felt quite stabby for several days afterwards. Especially since the next day I was informed that the local hospital refuses to do proceedures due to my body mass index. IE I am too fat.

That said, I am okay. I’m still pretty limpy, but I will survive. It’s good to know that the local hospital refuses to treat me. I guess refusing pain meds makes it so that they don’t know what to do with me. Oh well, I am still stubborn I guess.

Hope all is well with you and yours, please take care, hugs, -L

The giant tote of books, under the bed.

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Morning, hope your coffee is at the perfect temp, and the day goes smoothly for you.

I am slowly converting the book shelves over into yarn and fabric storage. This is an interesting task. I found my old ipad mini 4, which hasn’t worked in quite awhile. The good news, is that the case from it fits my new samsung tablet almost perfectly. I can’t complain, it’s 20 dollars in my pocket I don’t have to spend on a newer case.

The tote I was using for most of the yarn is the largest that Sprally world sold at the time. I ended up throwing all of the books from one shelving unit in it, swapping out the yarn and fabric for the books. I still have more yarn and fabric, and many many more books to swap out. I’m going to have to do the same with the other totes, in order to make it work right. One shelf is reserved for notebooks yet, but those are project notebooks anyway.

Sadly, dead trees take up a lot of room, but I don’t have enough room for yarn in the tote system I have. I can’t access the fabrics I want to use either, so it’s going to have to be a swap out. Yes, I will miss my books, but I have hundred of books on kindle and audio book. We aren’t even talking about the books I have for knitting and crochet or sewing.Those still have room on the shelves on my desk.

Most of the books getting moved are old recovery books that I have long since replaced on my kingle app. Yes, I know, J.B. over at Amazon is evil. I don’t care. My tablet is much lighter than a physical book, and it works great for my hands.

I like having my books available on my phone at all times as well. Meanwhile, I’m going to have to keep working at it. I have 3 shelves to fill with fabric and yarn as well as tool storage to arrange. I guess this means that I am getting serious about the fiber arts, doesn’t it.

I suppose I best get back to work. Have a great day. Hugs. -L

A few updates

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I believe that the other day I wrote about the Hubsy monkeying with my treadle. He is still breathing, and doesn’t know about the damage he did.

The main reason I freaked out is he ran her backwards and twisted all the knobs in whatever direction he wanted. This monkeyed the machine up past the dripping oil. Treadles really freaking loathe running backwards. They get their revenge by grounding you for weeks. Until she forgives me, she ain’t going to work right.

She’s like a car in quite a few ways. With a car, when it is -30 F windchill, you sweet talk to her while she tries to start. For awhile, you give her the best gasoline, and the right additives, especially in winter months. You also make sure her oil is changed, and that she gets the right mechanic. If you don’t, she won’t start, and you will regret every decision you made since birth.

Treadles are like computers, you get the right anti-virus, and do the right maintainance. You clear the cache, clear out the cookies, and run an anti-virus weekly. If you don’t, you get the black screen of death.

With a treadle, letting my husband twist all of the knobs and run her backwards, was like letting a 6 year old on the computer without anti-virus, or letting a 16 year old play with the car without driver’s training.

Neither the computer or the car will forgive you for quite some time. My treadle still hasn’t forgiven me, and even though I cleaned her with alcohol, she’s still pissed. So, slowly, ever slowly, I am resetting her, and working very carefully in order to get her to stitch again.

In other news, I’ve finally gotten the dratted mammogram done. It’s strongly recommended that I start wearing a certain under the clothes upper garment again. I have an ongoing medical issue that is requiring it. Sadly the costs per undergarment is about 40 USD. A cheaper one just won’t work as well.

The Hubsy has been warned about the necessary new expense. Sighs. He freaks when I tell him what I am spending and why I am spending it. It’s good for his metabolism, and is part of the passive aggressive nature that I am working to over come in myself.

Then again, he ran my treadle backwards and twisted all of her knobs. I better let you go, I need another cigarette, and to think awhile. Huge huggage all. -L

Weird, but it works

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Morning, have had a lovely cuppa tea, and some louisiana hot sauce on my breakfast this morning. The peppers help the pain levels. Kinda like a booster shot, you know?

Any ways, I have been working on the wee beastie of a tablet again, and I was hemming and hawing over what I was going to do for storage space. This thing is 32 gb, and I’m running out of room fast. I already deleted everything I could, and am just running the most basic of apps.

Then it hit me, I wonder if the old tablet had an sd card installed. I didn’t remember using one, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. Digging through the middle drawer of my desk, I found the little pokie, and checked the old tablet.

Boom! There it is!!!!!!!!! Woot woot! It’s the first sd card I ever bought, and the sucker only has 32 gb, but you know what? That would still double the amount of storage in the tablet.

I shut down the wee beastie, and slapped the card in there. On a restart, I got the card installation notification, and I am tickled pink. Next thing on the agenda was to open the kindle app, and whip those books over to the sd card.

Yes, I know, those books aren’t that big, but you know what? I have both the kindle and audible app. I have thousands of books. I actually want to be able to down load the mischief for my own personal use, and I’m tickled pink.

The weird thing about this card? It was the first one sold at the Verizon store in my home town of it’s size. Back when I bought it, nobody wanted to spend money on extra storage. The employee freaked a little when I said, give me the 32 gb one.

The sd card in my Amazon cart? 256 gb. And yes, I will buy the sucker and install it when it gets here.

Meanwhile, I better get back to work. Huge hugs and huggage. -L