For This Week I Finish Things

A lovely cabled shawl for a friend:

And tiny little baby socks for another friend’s first grandbaby:

And a surprise for my mum:

And my development machine is all reformatted and lovely:

This weekend (yes, I realize it’s only Wednesday but it pays to plan ahead) I plan to set up my source control so I can develop on my Surface while on the go. As Padre will be gone starting tomorrow morning, I will have a few days to cook so the calabasitas will be sizzling soon. Then there will be quilting as I need to get my niece’s quilt completed and sent off to the quilter.

Next week: WORLD DOMINATION!!!

Ravellenic Glory

So I finally managed to compete in the Ravellenic Games. I’ve wanted to since I heard about these shenanigans and tried to once, but my “real” life always interferes. This time I told my “real” life to sod off and bug someone else for two weeks. The result was 2642 yds (yes that’s supposed to be 4 digits) of yarn spun up and a pair of ankle socks that my feet seem to like a lot. The socks weren’t a huge project as the toes were already done (I don’t know what it is about me and toes) but the spinning was pretty prolific. I am attempting a modified yarn diet, where I only buy yarn for specific projects. Unfortunately this does not address my expanding spinning stash (which includes two fleeces for some reason). So I spun with specific projects in mind and hit the mark pretty well. The only one that was a problem was the blue and purple merino rovings. Somehow they got compressed or slightly felted. Half way thru the games I found myself recarding 124 grams of wool that was fighting me all the way. The ravings ended up being spun at a heavier weight than I planned but my queue is so huge that I still found a project to make with the yarn.

 

 

 

 

 

On the studying front, I am working part time as a programmer which has given me some time to study (YAY!!) and I hope to have my certs done by the end of January.

What I’m Working On

That would be HTML. I’m reviewing HTML4 and then I’m going to study HTML5. Once those are done, I’m gonna hit the CSS and JavaScript. Why am I starting there you ask? Well I use TSQL everyday at work. While I am no expert, SQL is the area that I feel most confident. Plus several of the jobs that I’ve interviewed for lately have emphasized that I will need to know front end design. And not to worry. MVC, C#, and all the rest are forthcoming.

In the crafty arena, I’ve been doing this.

Mum's Puzzle Ball

And then there’s this.

Tumbling Blocks Weave

Oh no, the puzzle ball spawned but has been assembled.

Little Puzzle Ball

This weekend I’m hoping to tackle this.

Loom Warp

And apparently an audio file type is running for office in Erie.

Ogg Election Sign

The Plan

Study my ass off. I have to get thru 4 MCTS certifications as well as learn Android, Ajax, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, XML, MVC, SOAP, ASP.Net, Java, SQL, and ADO. Not necessarily in that order. I already know bits and pieces of that list but do not have a comprehensive knowledge. I’ve got 7 months to get it. Any suggestions, leave them in the comments. And wish me luck.

Ella Louise Rodriguez

Picture used with permission of Joshua Lucy

Ella Louise Rodriguez died July 23, 2011. She was 7 years old.

While her early life has been lost to obscurity, it was during this time that she developed her patented Whump Defense Maneuver. While her critics claimed that running a few steps then falling over and being terribly cute was not a viable solution, she proved the movement to be victorious on the field of cat battle.

Her place in history secured, she moved on to philanthropic pursuits. Her work on the mean streets of Cherokee earned her the nick name Squinty while her tireless efforts to provide everyone with snot showers earned her the Sneezy Accomplishment award in 2009. Only months before her death, she was awarded the royal title Countess Shmelly of Belly for her lifelong service to the community. She died of kidney failure at Cheshire, surrounded by her family. She is survived by her grandparents R and S, her mother Stringgeek, her favorite cat furniture Josh, her aunt Bobby Sue, and her sister Mynx.