WiP Wednesday: Random Edition

There’s been some weaving, but I’m between commission scarfs at the moment. I’m also a bit limited in mobility today. Did you know that some couches have six legs instead of four? With a hidden front-center leg lurking behind the skirt? Yeah, I didn’t either. Until I kicked the crap out of one last night. Ouch.

Meanwhile, the Musique socks are getting good “waiting time” knitting.


And I cast on another Christmas present. This one for my sister in law. It’s an Everlasting Bagstopper since she has admired mine. Here’s hoping she likes it! I know it’ll go quickly.


In other news, as much as I hate LeafWars and fought the (hopefully) last battle of the year on Monday, with the weather yesterday and today, I’m glad I took the time then. Looky what I woke up to this morning!


With all the rain yesterday, Santa and the tree lights shorted out twice last night (the rain popped the safety switch on the outlet). With the switch to snow, here’s hoping they behave properly from here on out. Have a great week!

Life Happens

Sorry for the long blog hiatus. I got a little buried in life and let this slide. So what has been happening at chez DPUTiger?

I had a gigantic case of writers block, primarily because I decided to write something I really cared about. Story was finally posted here today. Four days late. I suck. But I’m proud of that story and happy to be able to feature two very special people that I consider friends. One more entry over there, and I’m done for the fall. We’ll see what happens in the spring.

In the middle of all that, I found out that a very dear friend from my days in California lost his battle with prostate cancer. On Thursday morning (in the middle of some massive technological difficulties with the interwebs), I found out that Ted was losing his battle. I cried most of the afternoon. If there was one person who eased my transition with that softball team from “on the outside, looking in” to a full-blown member of the family/staff, it was Ted. Years after his daughter finished her softball career and graduated from UCLA (in 2002), Ted was still coming to games, home and away, from his home in San Diego. Taking pictures. Distributing clip books to the kids at the year-end banquet, recapping every game of the season. Ordering “mom bags” for the new parents. Sending out newsletters via email after EVERY GAME and updates in between.

Today, his youngest daughter (the one who played on those first three teams of “mine”) sent out the last Ted Rahn newsletter to let us know that Ted passed away late Wednesday night, October 27. I feel fortunate that a “sixth sense” told me last spring that something was wrong. Ted told me of his diagnosis then, and we “talked” via email. We talked a bit about our friendship and how much he has meant to me. I’m glad Ted knew I loved him. He was one of a kind in the best possible way. When it warms up next summer, I will mix up Ted's margarita recipe and enjoy a big 'ol glass in his honor.

< / end sad portion of blog post >

Other news, in no particular order:

I had a phone interview for a job last Wednesday. No word yet. I have a feeling that’s bad news. If that’s the case, I’d say I’m disappointed but not crushed. The right thing will come along, eventually.

Two Saturdays ago, I went out to Chicago for the weekend with the Hubster. It was homecoming weekend at Northwestern and since he's a season ticket holder (no, really! He is!) for Wildcat football, he wanted me to come along. It was an exhausting trip, but it was a lot of fun and I'm very glad I went. Even though we had a row of jerks right behind us at the game. (Public Service Announcement: If you want to sit comfortably through an entire sporting event, I suggest purchasing luxury suite tickets or staying at home and watching on TV. Yelling "Down in Front!" at people who get up to cheer on a big 3rd down play or on a touchdown pass is just going to piss them off. Especially if the home team chokes late in the 4th quarter. Either stand up yourself so you can see or STFU.)

I was also able to spend Friday evening with my college roommate, which was fantastic. I hadn't seen Pantooties since my wedding in 2003, so it was great to hang out for a night. Yay, Facebook! (that's how we managed to reconnect after years of distance)

We got the storm-damaged trees taken care of. They brought a big ‘ol truck with a cherry-picker. No other way to deal with limbs hanging over a fence from a tree sitting on a 70-degree slope.


And when they were done, you could see why that ginormous limb came down. A big chunk of the center was missing!


I cut the first three dishtowels off of the loom. They are not giftworthy. I shall try again. Fortunately, there is plenty of warp left on the loom. Hopefully Round 2 will be a success!

All three of these towels are different treadling patterns on the exact same warp. I’m repeating these same patterns (in different colors). But I’ll probably cut apart these towels and may gift them anyway. To friends who have specifically requested reject towels. Who knew?


That’s a broken and (mostly) repaired warp thread in the center there. Holy uneven beat! (that’s why it’s stripey. It’s not supposed to be stripey.


This was the first towel of this set. Ironically, the beat was better. Possibly because it was the most simple treadling pattern. But my selvedges are a train wreck. Hey, I’m a beginner. It’ll get better!


Again with the hideously uneven beat! I will get better. I will get better. I will get better …

In other news, LeafWars 2010 started today. I still have a möbius to show you. And the WiP Wednesday thing. And a nearly-finished snake. I’ll get back into the groove over here. Thanks for understanding my absence.

LeafWars Update

The day after my previous LeafWars 2009 post, I managed to snap the handle of my inherited rake in half. (translation: It came with the house)


Shiny new awesome rake on the left, old busted red rake on the right.

I went out to my awesome local hardware store the next day and got myself a new rake. It’s the one you see on the left, next to the first casualty of LeafWars. I splurged and got the “spendy” rake. Aluminum handle, flat plastic tines. Twice the price of the plain plastic/bamboo model like the one I had just broken.

I had no idea that Fiskars was in the rake bidness, but they make a nice product! I tackled the front yard quickly, and today? I cleared the entire backyard in just under 40 minutes. Last time, it took about two hours over two days.

Raking leaves still sucks, but like everything else, I think having good tools makes a ton of difference. If you look at the comments on the Fiskars link, I’d agree with everything in those reviews. This was worth every penny of the Andrew Jackson I traded for my awesome new rake.

Grab Your Thesaurus

I know when I moved back to Pittsburgh I asked for this.

I love fall. Raking leaves requires a different adjective. LeafWars 2009 is ON!


Forgive the lack of a “before” photo. This was after about 20 minutes of hard labor

Following a chat with SuperNeighbor on Sunday morning, I decided he had the right idea. Do a little bit each day. Ignore the areas where there are still trees full of leaves. I spent an hour out there today. Did half the back yard and most of the side yard.


I wore gloves. My palms were still a little unhappy with my time spent rake-in-hand today.

It’s a great workout. My heart rate was probably around 140 for nearly the entire hour.


It’s not going to look anywhere near this good in the morning.

And it was great to be outside on a beautiful fall day.


And there are plenty more backyard leaves just waiting for me tomorrow. ::sigh::

But how do I really feel about leaf raking? Hate. Loathe. Detest. Abhor.

It’ll be weeks before I see the end of LeafWars09. Here’s hoping I can just stay even in the daily battles. I'd much rather shovel snow. There. I said it.