Sucker for Kitties

I found a blog post (which I've now lost) where someone posted her results for this internet meme test. I immediately gave in to the kitties and took the test myself.

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

62% Affectionate, 54% Excitable, 37% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.



To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Yeah, Me Too

If you have not been keeping up with Cute Overload, then you have missed the world's best music video.

My sockapalooza savior socks have suffered a nasty setback - I noticed a very bad error a whole pattern repeat ago. Somehow, I managed to truncate a half of a pattern repeat, so it suddenly looked really, really strange. I had to rip out about an inch and a half. Grrrr.

That's My Sock!

I am STAR STRUCK!!!!

If you are on Ravelry (or if you're reading this after Ravelry has come out of beta), go to my favorites. (My ID is procrastinatus.) There is a photo of one of these socks in the hands of the Yarn Harlot herself, along with the wonderful pal who knit them for me.

And I've joined the Ravelry group "Knitters for Neil." I'm a wee bit addicted to his stuff.

Oh, and about the well pump. I ended up having the plumber come out anyhow when it looked like the pump wasn't holding a prime (there could've been something stuck in one of the jets, but I was afraid of a leak in the foot valve). The plumber had the ability to do a pressure test for me, which made the whole thing worth it in my book, since he was able to put the pump back together and reassure me that I don't absolutely need to dig up my well just yet.

I'm a Homeowner and Today is Sunday

Yep.

I'm a homeowner.

Today is Sunday.

When I woke up, my sweetheart asked me, "Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?"

I did not recall that it was a Sunday and that I am a homeowner. I couldn't imagine what could have happened. I started guessing - wildly. "The cat died, but she did it in the litter pan?"

"The cat's fine. I better get you some coffee." He went off chuckling at my assumption that my cat was at the heart of the bad news.

And off he went, so I got up and went to the bathroom, where he greeted me and said, "That small dish of water next to the sink is so you can wash your hands."

I stared at him uncomprehendingly. He got me coffee, so we must have water.

"If the pump is running and the pressure gauge reads zero, that's a bad thing, right?" he asked, nudging my still-sleeping brain into panic mode. "The good news is that we had enough water for a cup of coffee."



Yes, this is a bad thing. It's an especially bad thing to happen on a Sunday morning. This sounds expensive.

Did I mention I have a well? The good news is that I know where that is, if I need to dig it up, unlike my septic system hunt of a couple years ago.

Now, the nice thing about all this is that my grandfather built this house, and he believed in putting the pump inside the house, and I haven't moved it into the well yet, so when something goes wrong I can generally hear it. The not very nice thing about this is that he put the whole assembly in the only crawl space in the house - the space under the landing for the raised-ranch front door.



It's not impossible to get in there, just difficult. And it's a really cramped place to work.

We discussed what could possibly be the problem and whether or not we could fix it ourselves.

1/ The well is dry. Can't fix that ourselves.

2/ The foot valve in the well has gone bad and won't hold water anymore. Can't fix that ourselves.

3/ The well ran out of water during the water treatment system backwash, but has recovered by now. The pump would need to be primed. This would be a great way to find out if items 1 or 2 were our problem. Probably could do this ourselves, but we should phone my farm-raised tool and dye-maker father to find out the details of how to do it.

Dad was nice enough to come over and give instructions. He couldn't get in there, and if I didn't do it myself, I'd never remember how next time.

Of course there will be a next time. I'm a homeowner.

Basically, what you do is pour water into the pump until it's full. This is the most convenient place we could come up with to pour water in, since that other convenient-looking thing turned out to be an adjustment that doesn't actually come off.



So, if the foot valve is bad, you can pour gallons and gallons of water down the pipe and it will never fill up. If your well is dry, it will seem like you just can't get the hang of priming the stupid thing and you give up.

Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we succeeded in priming the pump. The bad news is that I un-soldered something when I was trying to unscrew a "quick connect" fitting. (You thought the bad news would be that we got water everywhere. Actually, we got a lot of water on me. Brrrrrr!)

So, Dad's out getting parts and he'll solder the whole thing back together for me shortly.

Maybe I'll learn to solder out of this. I've been meaning to for a while, and I don't have any fake nails on right now, so I don't have to worry about setting my fingernails on fire with the torch.

This could've been expensive.

Ravelry Commentary

Well, that was amazing. I posted my first project on Ravelry - probably my oldest UFO (UnFinished knitting Object) and discovered that I don't seem to have a picture of it here. How odd. I won't bother putting it here just yet - when Ravelry comes out of beta everybody will be able to visit, so I'll post to it then, so you can see it in all its unfinished glory.

I find Raverly incredibly easy to use. When I showed my sweetheart the user interface and said how easy it was to put a photo in and how I want to know what technology they're using, he said (approximately), "Looks like ajax. Think of the security implications." That's true - it's difficult to do well the kind of thing they're doing at Ravelry. I am really impressed at how user-friendly it is.

If you haven't signed up yet, go check it out!

Overdue Pictures

This is my wrist-let class project from the Mittens of Rovaniemi class. I was probably the last person in the class to "get it" and it's thanks to Susanna that she figured out that I had something wrong and what it was. She's a really good instructor. I was impressed.


I will finish the wristlet - I'll even make a pair. But first I'm working on a pair of sock savior socks. Here's a terrible picture.



I got the pattern from one of my Japanese stitch dictionaries. I've got to see if I can get those added to my Librarything account. (I've got maybe ten items added so far and a house full of books, so don't get all excited just yet. I can't even remember my username.) Ravelry will let me upload my Librarything book list, so if I can get it into Librarything, then I should be able to get it into Raverly, and *then* I can get a group going related to them.

Maybe I should check and see if there's a group already.

That's right - I've got to go get myself hooked up with the Mittens of Rovaniemi group...

Flashed Stash and Ravelry

My Ravelry ID is... procrastinatus.

They didn't give me enough characters to be whiningprocrastinator, so I had to pick just one of my two biggest character flaws to flaunt.

Of course, the second group I joined was...procrasti-knitters.

And here I inflict upon you my solution to flashing my stash.

There has been this whole ... discussion (not necessarily always a pleasant discussion, I'm gathering) ... about Secret Pal hostesses who do or don't run contests. This is my third Secret Pal exchange, and the first time I've had a hostess who runs contests.

I participate in the contests because I realize that the point of said contests is to give your pal some information about you.

I'm not sure I like this contest at all.

The instruction for the contest was very simple - too simple. "Flash your stash." What, the whole thing? WHY would I want to give my pal the impression that I have enough yarn? ???

In any event, I ended up not quite including the entire stash, but I got most of it here. I used this as an opportunity to re-organize with the goal of finding some more room in my storage containers. I did not do a good job.

If you are my pal, please do not get the idea that I have enough yarn.








Ok, that's all folks. I'm going to go upload my photos for my next post now.

Another Post Different from my Intentions

I had intended to give you some photos. They're on my camera. I'll get 'em to you soon.

I have until Monday, October 8, to flash my stash as a contest item.

My whole stash?

I mean, I'm having a hard time coming up with a name for myself on Ravelry and then I'll have to flash my stash anyhow. But right now?????? Well, maybe I can manage it.

What's got me in such a tizzy this fall is that I've signed up for a college class and it's very time-consuming. Unlike most of the people I know, I do not yet have my degree. I'm employed full-time in a job where most people have a degree. I know people who are unemployed who have degrees that would probably qualify them for my job and who I would invite to join our company if we had any openings, since we could use the help.

So anyhow, I'm working (very slowly) on the degree. The class I'm taking is "Introduction to Literature." Yes, one of the "core curriculum" required courses at most colleges. I'm taking it at the local community college. I am no slouch when it comes to school and this course is kicking me ... hard. I knew it would. I went to a very good, highly-respected preparatory school and even there I was able to fake it, somehow, through English class (with one exception, but that teacher actually taught me something).

But this time, I'm determined to "get it," if you will, and I'm putting some serious effort into the class. I'm getting some serious learning out of it. This is absolutely exhausting. I am not unhappy, or complaining - I'm just whining. See? That's what I do.

Meanwhile, right after class last week my cousin died of her cancer. I don't know which was worse. My cousin spent two weeks or so in a state where major painkillers were her only hope to be able to stand to be alive. Then I had to tell my mother that her cousin died. Doesn't sound quite as bad as I'm suggesting? Mom's jealous that my cousin is dead. This is normal for Mom. I was just fooling myself into thinking it wasn't a part of her reality right now. I don't get to run away from it. Boo hoo poor me.

In other news, I signed up to be a sock savior for sockapalooza. I usually knit a little bit in the morning before I get out of bed and then, if I'm lucky, some other time in the day. I have set aside the tofutsies (color 722) sock that I have started no less than five times and absolutely will finish this time. I have set aside the mystery stole. I have only given in to the temptation to knit a few more rounds of my mitten class sampler wristlet. This pair of socks is my life right now. I will cry if it doesn't fit when she gets it.

By the way. I just subscribed to Piecework magazine. This is not because of something that is in that magazine right now, but rather because I've been told that something will be in there in less than six months.

Ok. That's all for now. I've got to get back to my class assignment. I blame Neil Gaiman for what I did. Yes, that links to a story. Mine is much longer, more reminiscent of a different story he did in the same anthology as this one, but is very much the same ... genre perhaps? I never would have thought of arranging the story this way, except he did it. I'm not so clever. But I can learn.

If I ever have the opportunity to meet him, I'm afraid I'll give in to the temptation to offer to knit him a pair of socks. Black socks, with a lime on one cuff and a yellow glove on the other. I'd just knit them, but of course I need some measurements. Or do I. I suppose I could do ribbing from top to bottom and make them heel-less. Ok, I'm a writer groupie. Here - watch him at Google. That's 60 minutes long, so I'm not even going to try to embed it. Enjoy.