The hubby, my son and I all went to a local end-of-summer festival this past weekend and we had a blast. I have every year since 1997 and my husband and I have made it a tradition for the last 3 years. It’s always fun to see all of the local dance studios and karate gyms putting on little tidbits of what they have been working on and there a tons of crafters selling their wares (which, oviously, is my very favorite part) I saw 2 booths of crocheted hats and warm-ups and 1 booth of knitted and felted bags. They were super cute and each one had the most gorgeous buttons I have ever seen. Only after I asked her where she found such sweet buttons did I realize that it was probably rude to ask an artist to give her secrets away, but she kindly just said Ebay. I may have to go on a hunt to find such beautiful buttons for my Classica Coat. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I finally finished Jack’s “Flusi the Sock Monster” socks and I think they came out quite well. I altered this pattern quite a bit while working on the first sock. There were either mistakes in the pattern or I was doing something wrong, so I fixed it my way Although I love the colors and texture of this yarn, I did run into one snag. The yarn said it was machine washable, but even in cold water on the most delicate cycle, it fuzzed up a bit. Luckily I checked it half-way through the wash and finished washing it by hand. No matter what the label says, I don’t think I’ll be putting it back in the machine. Also, the label says it’s dryer proof, but being as these are my first completed pair of socks and I am overly proud and excited about them, I will not be testing it out.

Onto some bittersweet news. As I may have mentioned in earlier posts, I am returning to my old job as optician this week. My first day is tomorrow. This is both very exciting and stressful for me for a few reasons. It’s exciting because I loved my job (granted this “love” does not include the short time while I had to take Jack with me during which I may have temporarily went insane) but it is extremely stressful because I have now put my child into daycare. A patient and friend of mine recommended a wonderful woman whom my husband and I both like very much and she cares for children that are all pretty close to Jack’s age in her home. I have mixed feelings about this however. His first day was yesterday and I went insane, bawling at the drop of a hat ALL day long. During his nap time I cried because I couldn’t cuddle with him, during his lunch time, I was upset because I wasn’t sure if he was eating enough, etc. You get the point. To make it worse, when I finally picked him up, she told me that he cried all day and was miserable. I guess I though he would just want to play with all of the new toys and be happy. It breaks my heart to realize that I was wrong. I know that it will take time for the both of us to adjust but yikes. This is awful (I’m in tears just typing about it now) He will have to go 4 days a week while I’m working and I want him to be happy. What should I do to make it easier for him? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

Hello all. I apologize for my lack of bloggy goodness the last few weeks. I have been trying to knit as much as possible because I am determined to get through my WIPs. So… I knit like a crazy woman on my WIPs and then get bored of the same projects and start two more. Ugh! There is, seriously, a connection missing in my central nervous system. There is no other possible reason for my actions! I complain about my impending pile of WIP doom, yet I make it worse. I think I’ll call this “lack of connectivity” the Knitter’s Plague.

So as for my WIPs.

The Classica Coat is coming along quite well. I have now finished the entire back and am now trying to complete the 22″ hood extension of the lace repeat pattern, which is very tedious and has led to my branching out into new projects.

The Felted Tote has had no progress in the last few weeks and still sits at the 25% marker in my Ravelry.

The Bubble Gum Beauty Scarf (Also known as the “Walmart” scarf) has also, unfortunately, had no progress except to switch it to a stitch holder in order to use my bamboo US 10s on the Clasica hood extension.

My first pair of socks has only had a little bit of progress and it almost to the toe decreases on the first sock.

My knitted sweatshirt http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/not-your-standard-issue-sweatshirt now has a completed back but has officially been put to sleep since I am now using those needles for my Clasica coat. I’ll post pics of this when I take it out of the bottom of my stash box.

Jack’s Blanket http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-blocks-2 has resurfaced in my WIP pile from the bottom of my stash box as my TV watching project so I can stop goofing up and frogging my more difficult projects. Again, I’ll post pics later.

Now onto my NEW projects (Again I blame the KNitter’s Plague).

The first is the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-surprise-jacket . Now I am sure that many of you have knitted this project over the years and found it to be a perfectly peaceful knitting experience. I, on the other hand, have not been so fortunate. Between the pattern not being line by line which I’m used to and my son sabotaging this piece or the yarn as often as toddlerly possible, let’s just say that if I don’t finish it soon, I may show up on Halloween dressed as Mr. Clean because I have pulled out every last strand of hair on my head (which I’m positive would probably be noticeably lumpy if I were indeed bald). This morning for example, I’m knitting away happily (finally past the point of grumbling at poor EZ) and I go to tug for more yarn for the next row, and I can’t. Why can’t I you ask? Because somehow ,very sneakily I might add, my son had pulled the remainder of the ball of yarn out of my coffee can yarntainer and wrapped himself up with it. Not gently around his arms either. He had it in between his fingers and toes, caught around the button of his shorts, and over his ears. He was happy as a clam until I started unraveling the yarn and he realized that he couldn’t stand up to run away because his legs were tangled too tightly. That was the moment when my precious son morphed into a wiggly worm with a baaaddd temper. By the time I had finally untangled the whole mess, I had dropped ten stitches off my needles. Normally, this isn’t too big of a deal, however, the two scenarios where I HATE picking up dropped stitches is cables and garter stitch. For those of you who have knit this jacket already know, the entire thing is garter stitch! Again went the grumbling to the poor, unsuspecting, and sadly departed EZ. This pattern might be genius, but it is definitely NOT toddler-proof. But I keep reminding myself that paybacks can make a tough experience worth it, and my poor poor son will be plagued of this jacket until the last possible moment when it no longer fits. Unfortunately for him, because I made it larger, it should fit him for a good long time. Ah ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

My second new project is a pair of socks for my WIP sabotaging son, but I am in no hurry to finish them and I will make sure to make those “away from home” projects. I purchased 1 skein of the Regia Flusy the Sock Monster yarn. The yarn is sweet but the story book that comes with it makes the whole experience a fun one. I think that these socks with the book will be fun gifts to give the children in my life in the future.

As usual, my projects can be found on my Ravelry page at http://www.ravelry.com/people/OoKnittyLou

I think that’s it for my knitting. Briefly on my life in the real world. Jack will start daycare on Monday, I am returning to my previous job as Optician on Wednesday four days a week, and I am anxious and stressed about both of these new life changes. I’m sure that once our new routine is established, things will mellow out and I will feel better about putting my son in daycare. But as for the moment, I feel like I’ve won the worst mother’s award by abandoning my son. I am determined to stay optimistic and I just keep reminding myself that he will love to play with all of the other children and that this will be a great experience for him.

Fast jeder, der sich mit dem Flusi beschäftigt, dachte schon mal daran.

Eine virtuelle Weltreise mit einer kleinen Mücke, oder auch mit einem dickblechigem Etwas… das wäre es doch mal.

Viele beginnen zuversichtlich mit den Planung und schaffen es meist auch sogar die Tour zu starten (mich eingeschlossen), doch dann, nach vielen Stunden und Legs haut irgendetwas dazwischen (sei es beruflicher und/ oder privater Natur) und die schöne Tour ist geplatzt. Schade aber auch!

Wer trotzdem eine solche Tour plant und auch abfliegen möchte, der sollte sich dieses Forum mit Fotos und Strecken unbedingt einmal anschauen.

DRAGONFLIGHT-VA

Enjoy!

Dank modernster Grafikkarten und Hochleistungsprozessoren sind Spiele der mickrigen Auflösung von 640×480 zum Glück längst entschwunden, 1920×1080 sind auf großen TFTs heute keine Seltenheit mehr. Ideal für Zocker, die die beste Übersicht haben möchten. Doch ein Monitor reicht für echte WoW- und Flight Simulator-Zocker nicht mehr aus, mindestens ein zweiter muss her. Oder ein dritter. Wer jetzt nicht drei einzelne Monitore anschaffen will, sollte einen Blick auf den Dz Flex werfen. Denn der kommt in der “kleinsten” Variante mit mindestens zwei Bildschirmen daher, das Top-Modell Dz Flex-195 mit bis zu fünf. Spätestens dann sollte man auch über ein größeres Zimmer nachdenken.

Es gibt unzählige Tools… es gibt sinnige und unsinnige Tools rund um den Flugsimulator… FSLaunch ist meiner Meinung nach ein sinniges Tool.

Was macht das Teil? Nun – eigentlich startet es nur den Flugsimulator (2004).
Viele werden sich nun fragen wozu dazu ein eigenes Programm benötigt wird, die Aufgabe erledigt doch auch ein einziger Klick auf das Flusi-Desktop-Symbol. Schon richtig, aber FSLaunch kann da doch ein wenig mehr… es macht den Flugsimulator “geschmeidiger”.
Der Simmer kann schon vor dem Start seinen Flug auswählen und darüber hinaus beendet das Programm alle nicht benötigten Programme und (!!!) startet Programme, die für eine ordentliche Session genötigt werden… z.B. FSMetar.

Wird der Flugsimulator beendet, geht es genau andersrum… die vorher geöffneten Programme werden wieder beendet und die beendeten Programme wieder gestartet.

FSLaunch von Wolfgang Meininghaus ist also eine nette Freeware für Faule, wurde bereits im Mai 2005 zum Download freigegeben und braucht nur in das FS-Verzeichnis kopiert werden. Eine weitere Installation ist nicht notwendig.

Nett und selten… das Progrämmchen ist Zweisprachig!

Enjoy!