This looks like it's going to be a random type post....


First some knitting:

  

1.  My neighbor asked me to knit a hat for her niece who goes to school in Minnesota.  The mascot is a bulldog so I thought it would be funny to intersperse a traditional Norwegian star hat with the bulldog logo.  I tried unsuccessfully to draw a bulldog myself but found a pattern for a bulldog washcloth on Ravelry by Lisa Milan.  Here's the link .   So I charted it from the written instructions, played with gauge a bit (love the math!) and came up with this hat. 

2.  I've been working on a new sweater.



The basic pattern is the Shalom cardigan  from Ravelry by Meghan McFarlane.  I know it looks like the Noro Kureyon in fall shades that I used for the yoke is the star of the show but for me it's the cushy dark coffee colored yarn that I spun from fiber I bought at the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival** from Robin Nistock .  I have spun other of her fibers before and all of it is beautiful!  I also heavily modified the pattern.  First because the pattern is written only in a size small with a CO of around 65.  I cast on 80 and altered all the measurements for the yoke, back, front panels and arm holes proportionally.  I'm also adding sleeves and buttons all the way down the front.   I can't wait to finish the knitting and block it.  Shouldn't take too much longer.

(**  The spell checker suggested "Fingerless Fiber Festival" which would really be just tragic.)


3.  What is with the spam comments appearing on my blog?  The security on my blog used to protect me from comment spam but now every day I have to delete a smattering of comments touting products/services in which I have no interest.  Here's a list of some of the recent unwelcome visitors.
    

•    licensed vocational nurse medication aide training (because legitimate schools use spam to advertise (??!!)), 
•         partnership dating and single services (What are "single" services?)
•         phentermine 37.5 without prescription (I had to look this one up.  It's a diet aid in the amphetamine class.  Legal?) , 
•         polysorbate-80-for-hairloss (I recognized this as a food additive.  It's a nonionic surfactant and emulsifier derived from polyethoxylated sorbitan and oleic acid, and is often used in foods. Polysorbate 80 is a viscous, water-soluble yellow liquid. Suggesting that it has a use for hairloss.....interesting......) 
•         the magic Donut Maker (Does it make magic donuts or donuts magically?)
•          links to the cabbage-soup-diet (um...I like cabbage but yuck!) 
•         yachting services available in Australia  (truly useful in Upstate NY) 
•         and abacus ads (well actually, an abacus might be fun....).  

2.  Although I really like a dog better than a cat for a pet.  If given a choice between the two, I would much rather come back as a cat rather than a dog.

3.  Things that taste gross together:  Peas followed by cafe mocha.  Tomato sauce followed too closely by chocolate covered marshmallows.   (Don't ask why I know these things.)

4.  Two foods that taste surprisingly good together:  Sushi followed by red velvet cake.  Really weird but they make a tastey combination.

(Warned you that this was going to be random.)

5.




I have no idea how DD#2 and DearSon managed to roll a snowball this big onto the sidewalk.

6. 
    

February was also for Daddy/daughter dances.

7.  Please note random numbering of random thoughts.