today I'm....

invisible

feeling crafty urges, but feeling too blah to craft (nevermind no one to watch the littles- I dunno how other bloggers craft while their kids are underfoot)

needing my morning coffee very very badly

tired of cleaning cleaning cleaning cleaning ....and did I mention cleaning?

just plain tired

/end whine

new hair and housekeeping

I went for a long overdue cut & color today. The ends of my hair were soooo fried from previous colorings and all the extremely low humidity we have had lately. So off when the dried, fried ends and in went some layers. I also got some very slight, wispy bangs.

I like it, but we'll see how it wears since I don't have time to blow my hair out daily.

#26 of 365

Now, onto the housekeeping:

Comments: I try really hard to reply to people's comments, but since I migrated to the new Blogger, I'm no longer receiving commenters' email addys. This means that unless the commenter has a *public* Blogger profile with a valid email addy, I can't reply. This is one of the reasons I wanted to install Haloscan for comments. Unfortunately, Haloscan does not play well with the new Blogger so we're back to missing email addys.

So in the meantime, if you would like a reply to one of your comments, please try to leave a valid email address.

And here are some answers to comments that I couldn't reply to via email:


hunny asked about tips for taking 'better photos', and what camera I use. I have two cameras- a small point & shoot (Canon a540) that I keep in my bag, and my work camera (Canon Digital Rebel) which is a DSLR. The P&S is what I use for snapshots, while most of my FO report photos are done with the DReb.

I personally do not believe that an expensive camera = better photos. There are things you can do with a DSLR & good lenses that you can't do with a point & shoot....but bigger megapixels and more $$ do not guarantee good photos. Most of good photography is understanding the light and how to make the best out of the light you have.

There are tons of books out there that will help: Understanding Exposure is a great, easy to read book. There is also The Digital Photography Book or The Betterphoto Guide to Better Digital Photography. All of these would be a good start.

And then there are the myriad photo sites on the web: Betterphoto, ILP, DpReview are just three of them. Flickr is home to some of the best photographers around...and there are plenty of forums to learn in.

Other than that, my biggest tip is start taking photos. Seriously! Take your camera out of "Auto" mode and put it in AV or TV. Turn off the flash (99% of my photos are taken with only natural light). Find a well lit window (no direct sunlight) and start taking photos of something that doesn't move. Have fun! Play with your camera settings and see what happens. A lot of learning to be a good photographer is about just taking pictures. Like so much else in life, a little practice will really help.


Ween wanted to know the yarn requirements for a size 4 Pirate Sweater from Zoe Mellor's book. The pattern calls for :
-4 (50g/94yd) balls of Rowan Handknit DK in main color (navy blue)
-2 balls each of A (red) and B (ecru) Rowan Handknit DK
-You also need a pair of US5 and US6 needles.

I don't much care for cotton, so I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash (220yds per 100g): 2 balls of the navy and one ball each of the other colors. The 220 is a worsted weight yarn so I'm also using bigger needles (US6 and US7).


LizK wanted to know what I think of the Swish Superwash I used for the small men's Drive Thru sweaters. So here is my Swish Superwash Review:

IMO Swish is pretty good stuff- it's softer than the Cascade 220 superwash I'm using right now. The price is about the same if you consider that the 220 comes in 100g balls and the Swish is in 50g balls. The only reason I went with the 220 for LittleMan's new pirate sweater is because the Swish doesn't have a white/offwhite color.

Both of the boys' sweaters have held up exceptionally well. I've washed LM's sweater at least six or seven times now and it still looks really good with minimal pilling. There has been a bit of felting around the cuffs and neck edges, but nothing too bad.

I also noticed that the yarn shrank a bit when I washed it the first time. SaunShine has an extensive review on her blog that talks about the actual amounts of shrinkage she experienced with Swish. The shrinking on my sweaters wasn't quite as severe**, and even with the shrinkage I'm not too concerned about the long-term wear of the yarn. It has held up quite nicely against all the abuse (and food) two little boys can dish out.

I would't hesitate to use Swish again for another project. I just wish Knitpicks would come out with better colors!

So, that's all the housekeeping for now....I'm off to enjoy some hot cocoa and my new hair.


**I think some of the differences in our experiences can be attributed to different washing machines, different water hardness & washing methods, etc.. We have a front load washing machine that requires very little water & detergent. It is also very gentle on clothing, which is probably why my sweaters didn't shrink as much as SaunShine's, and why they haven't pilled at all.

just step away from the mom jeans

day#19 of 365

I've been feeling kinda dowdy lately. Like I'm wearing the same tshirts and jeans all.the.time. I've never been much of a fashionista, but the mommy uniform was starting to get me down.

After Christmas sales were a good place to pick up some fun boots, a couple of nice new jackets and accessories. But I was still looking for a good pair of jeans. Something in a darker denim so they could be dressed up if need be. Since the small men were hanging out with the babysitter today, I headed off to be the local mall to be Gapped, Nordstromed, and Hollistered to within an inch of my life.

Normally I buy my jeans at Old Navy (along with 90% of my wardrobe). Today I decided that I was NOT going to buy jeans at ON. So that meant I tried oh, about six THOUSAND pairs of jeans at practically every place in the mall that sold jeans. I finally found the perfect pair at Gap (it only took about three hours). Yay me!

Then I headed over to Nordstrom's lingerie department for some new bras, another item I was badly in need of updating. It's been about 4 yrs since I wore anything but nursing or soft cup bras. Let's just say that the 'girls' were not quite as perky as they should be after two pregnancies and nearly four years of nursing.

Nordstrom's always has the best Lingerie Ladies. They *really* know their stuff. As soon as I walked into the racks of lingerie, three LLs descended on me like a pack of tiny, impeccably dressed sparrows armed with measuring tapes. Twittering at me in soft, Eastern-European accented voices, they measured, poked and prodded, then led me into a dressing room. Half an hour later, after trying on a multitude of undewire, cross yer heart, padded, gelled and 'air-foamed' (wth?) undergarments, I emerged with The Perfect Bra.

The Perfect Bra cost almost as much as my first car, but it put the 'girls' back where they belong -above my navel. With the 'girls' in the right spot, I looked like I had lost 10lbs! In fact I looked so much better that I ended up wearing TPB out of Nordies. The Lingerie Ladies just nodded sagely and threw my tattered old bra straight into the trash. They'd seen it before.