Knit Me A Straightjacket

Name:
Location: Wild West, United States

Friday, November 24, 2006

Overheard in the Living Room

6-yr-old boy to 4-yr-old girl, while building with blocks:

Boy: "Willy Wonka's dead, so we get to make up our OWN candy machines!"

Girl: "Cool!"

hehe

Sunday, November 19, 2006

more pictures

Here are the pictures I promised:




the six gallon tank







the 30 gallon hexagon tank











The funny-looking extra-long tools









Me and Jeff on Halloween.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

The new hobby

So Nancy said I should put up some pictures, so you all would know what I've been up to and where all that yarn money is going...

Aquarium gardening. Google "Nature Aquarium" if you're curious.

Here's an example:


Now you see why I like it, right? It's so absorbing. It engages me on many levels - intellectual, aesthetic, emotional... However, since I'm not independently wealthy, I'm having to be creative in order to finance this. Hence the yarn and fiber sales. I managed to pick up a tank on the cheap ($10 for 29 gallons), and a used pine cabinet stand for $45. I paid retail for a glass lid, then went on Ebay and found a high-output light fixture for $50 (retail about $175), a Fluval 204 cannister filter for $20 (retail $125), extra long tweezers and scissors for planting and pruning, about $150 worth for a total of $25, A carbon dioxide injection system with accessories for $35 (at least $75 worth), and I'm bidding on a high-end digital heater and thermometer. *phew*

I still need filter media (the stuff that goes into the canister and actually does the filtering), as well as substrate (gravel, soil, clay, some combination thereof), hardscape - rocks and driftwood, and *then* I can actually get some plants.

All in all, I think I'm doing really well at bargain hunting, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. I've added live plants to the other tanks I already have, and am learning a lot and experimenting on a small scale, which I think will be useful when I finally get the new tank going. Nancy gave me a cute little five gallon all-in-one tank, which she'd retro-fitted with a 13 watt power compact bulb, making it perfect for plants. Think that's too small to do anything with? Check this out:


That's a one-gallon cube. ONE gallon. (No, it's not mine. I wish!) Pretty incredible, huh? Here's Nancy's little five gallon today (sorry for the crappy photo) :


I'm still developing this aquascape - it's not finished yet, but I think it's a good start, and I'm really enjyoing it. That betta (fish) is Fabio the Fabulous, btw. You can't tell with the light behind him, but his body and part of his fins are violet, while the rest is deep red.

I was going to take a picture of my six-gallon, but the batteries on the camera died. I'll post 'em later.

Anyway, that gives you a taste of what I've been so absorbed in. Now I'm off to read up in my new book: Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist ***does happy geek dance***

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat...



My baby girl found her brother's old bat costume in the Abyss (I mean "office") this morning. I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures:


She also found a frilly dress-up hat, which she added to the outfit, saying: "I'm a girl bat, so I need a hat."

Thursday, November 09, 2006

More Yarn for Sale

All prices are for _everything_ in the picture. You get the whole lot. Feel free to make an offer...




Stars - Buff/beige color - $10



Skacel - SOLD




Colinette - assorted greens - $40




Annabel Fox SOLD
Terra Cotta wool SOLD



Sinfonia cotton - $10








Perle cotton - $10






Dale Kalibri cotton - $10







Katia Mississippi - cotton, odds and ends left over from baby sweater. $5






Sugar n' Cream - kitchen cotton. tons of colors, both solids and variegated. $15




Cotton Classic - $5







Cascade Fixation - $5






Crochet Cotton - $5








Lion Brand Chenille - $10







Cotton Chenille - $10








Lion Brand Chenille Thick n' Quick - $1





Lion Brand Polarspun SOLD

Shiny pink cord SOLD



Lion Brand Jiffy - warm brown. $2







Lion Brand Jiffy - variegated autumn colors. $5







Caron boucle - grey. $2






Caron boucle - blue. $5






Grey acrylic, fingering weight. $2

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Sold

I'm going to start removing things that have been sold from the list. Anything new will be listed in a new post.

Inventory List


If you are interested in any of these items, please leave me a comment or contact me via email. Feel free to make an offer!






Lion Brand Autumn Throw kit:
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-autumnThrow.html

Includes the needle and a print-out of the free pattern. Some of these yarns are discontinued, and I had to hunt for them. One of themI couldn't find in worsted weight, so I got twice as much in fingering weight to use doubled. The retail value of all this is over $100. I'd like to sell it for $50 or best offer.

Interlacements Toasty Toes sock yarn - SOLD


Lopi - 100% Icelandic wool, bulky weight, 110g/110 yds, Color 0431 (brownish burgundy)- approx. 2.5 skeins. Retails for $5.95/skein, will sell all for $5.


Brushstrokes Cotton - SOLD

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - SOLD

Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra - 100% wool, fingering weight, 50g/175 yds. 1 skein each of Raspberry, Peacock, & Iris. Retails for $9 each. Will sell for $6 each or all for $15.






Cascade Fixation - 98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic, fingering weight, 50g/186 yds. Solids Retail for $4.60, variegateds for $5.50. Will sell for $3 each or $15 for all 6 skeins.


Colors:
#6178, magenta, 1 skein
#5104, light minty blue, 2 skeins
#9816, var. neutrals, 2 skeins
#9970, var. pink, green, peach, white


Cascade Indulgence - SOLD
Plymouth Sockotta - SOLD
Trekking XXL
- SOLD
Unknown variegated sock yarn
- SOLD
Socka -SOLD

Fortissima Cotton - 75% cotton, 25% nylon, fingering weight, 50g/210m. Color black, 2 skeins. Retail $4.95/skein, will sell both for $5.








Mohair Boucle - No labels. Definitely Mohair, probably nylon binder. Electric blue color. Total weight over a pound. Asking $10.







Pacific Dye Concepts - SOLD
Bonte - SOLD
Alpaca - SOLD

STASH REDUCTION SALE!!!!

Coming soon....pictures of the fabulous yarn, fiber, and miscellaneous stuff offered for sale.

Watch this space!