Apple TV

We have been wanting to invest in Apple TV for a while now.  It is the perfect set up for us to be able to listen to our music on our rockin' surround sound system and subscribe to a few of our favorite TV shows without having to pay for cable. We decided today was going to be the day we took the plunge.  So off we went to MacHaus to purchase our Apple TV.

Then we tried to hook it up. And because our TV is not designed by Apple (WHY?!? I wish everything were designed by Apple!) it decided to be stupid and not recognize the signal.  We have had this problem a little bit with the XBox, but wrongly assumed that it was the XBox (it is, after all, a Microsoft product)... so we tried to fix the TV.  Apparently the company who made our TV is now out of business, so it was a no go on being able to figure out how to fix it.

Weston was bound and determined to have this Apple TV set up tonight. So we headed to Costco and bought a new TV. Now we have a Vizio 37" super fancy TV and an Olevia 37" regular TV sitting in the middle of my living room. The Apple TV works on the new Vizio TV and the picture is crazy good (it is almost 3D... which is a bit weird to watch at first... but now I can't wait for the next episode of The Office.)

We are still trying to figure out all of the ins and outs to the new addition, but I have a feeling the Apple TV and I are going to be good friends. :)

Almost Halloween!!

So tomorrow is Halloween!! Which means it is time for our 2nd Annual Jager Halloween Party! We do shots when trick-or-treaters come and then walk to go neon bowling.  A good time is had by all. I am busily getting ready for the party... cleaning the house, cooking the food, etc. I love Halloween.

Anyway, the real reason for this post is a bit of bragging.  I did some spinning the other night and plied one of my yarns with beads!

I wanted it to look like Christmas lights in the night, and I am very happy with the way it turned out!

Pictures, as promised

My handspun baby sweater. I love it! Plus, it actually fits on a little kid.

My "mustard scarf"... out of Kelsey's handspun yarn. It is merino and silk and amazing... I have been wearing it dog walking and it is very warm!!

A close-up of the button.  I think it is the perfect accent...

My black, white, and red quilt.  Probably my favorite quilt EVER.

This fabric cracks me up... it has knitting abbreviations on it. :)

My Halloween quilt. The quilting on it is amazing. There are teeth in the jack-o-lanterns!

My fall quilt. I thought it was a nice quilt... then I put on the border and it was amazing.

The new shelves in my living room. I'm going to get some flowers to go in the vases... they are the vases from our wedding.

My current spinning. It is superfine merino in pinks and oranges. I really like it and I am getting close to being done with it. I have one bobbin done and this will be the second one that I will ply with. I like spinning large amounts (this was 7 oz total) but it seems to take forever! I think I have spinning ADD!

Alright, so that should tide everyone over for a while. It may be a bit before I get this much done again! Now off to dye some fiber.....

Regis

When I am home, I typically watch Regis and Kelly while eating breakfast.  Today, I was wondering if anyone would notice if Regis actually went crazy. Today, he was talking with Patrick Dempsey of Grey's Anatomy... he kept asking him questions like, "Do doctors actually talk like that about patients?" and "Can you save me if something were to happen to me right now?"... I realize that he PLAYS a doctor on TV. But, really?!? Why would he know what actual doctors talk about when at a hospital?? It just seemed really strange. I was concerned that Regis actually believed that Patrick was a doctor... he might be going insane and no one will notice....

And Kelly was wearing a snuggie.

That is all....

Fiber Notebook!

So now that I have been spinning for a while (actually, only 4 months... but who's counting) I have started to acquire a decent amount of stash fiber and handspun yarn.  And since I have actually been KNITTING with my handspun yarn (ok, only one project so far, but again, who's counting) I have been dreaming of starting a fiber notebook.  I really like handspun yarn (duh!), but I found when I knit the baby sweater, that some of what I loved about it was lost in the knitting. Not that the sweater isn't awesome... because, it is!... it's just that I felt you couldn't see how the two plys of the yarn played together. So I knew I wanted to start a fiber notebook that had samples of the yarns I spun, and pictures of what they became.

Today I stumbled upon this article, and it is my dream notebook!! I am SO inspired, I might start mine tonight! I love the eclectic look of the notebook! I actually even have some blanks notebooks in my house right now that I think will work.  They aren't hard back or even leather bound, but they are very "me" (100% recycled and even green in color). So that is going to be starting soon.  Maybe I will even take pictures and share them on here.  Who knows. And speaking of pictures, I really have been slacking lately. So, here is a list of things that I PROMISE to post pictures of sometime tomorrow.
*My finished scarf
*My finished baby sweater
*The finished pumpkin quilt
*The finished fall quilt
*The finished black and white quilt
*The new shelves in the house

I think that is really all that is going on here.  I have to teach knitting tonight, which is always fun! This group of ladies cracks me up.  A lot of them caught on very quickly, which is always a nice surprise... one of the ladies has been telling everyone she is going to knit them one sock.  Not a pair, just one... because she doesn't think she can make two that match! :) Too funny. Anyway, off to get ready for that... and to start my fiber notebook!

Energy Star

Yesterday our mayor, Dan Sullivan, asked the city to conserve energy for two hours to see how much we could save as a city in case of a problem during the winter. So between the hours of 6-8 PM we were supposed to turn the heat down (to 65*F I believe), not do dishes or laundry, and use the least amount of energy you could.  Most of these things we already do on a daily basis. Our thermostat is set for 58* at night, 60* during the day when we aren't home, 65* when we are home at night. Our hot water heater is set a bit lower than normal, as we don't use it that often and it is 1/3 of our electric bill.... I don't like paying bills.... We probably do laundry once a week and dishes every other day. I realize this is lower than most people, as we only have two people living in the house, but we make a point to only do full loads of both so that we can get the most of our energy usage.

I was at work, so I couldn't actively participate in the energy challenge, but apparently W took it very seriously.  He turned the heat off. And all the power. He wore his head lamp around the house so he could see. And ate a cold sandwich for dinner so he didn't cook.  He is an energy star.

This morning, Frito is super crazy.  He keeps barking at me for apparently no reason.  I'm pretty sure he just wants a treat, but I'm not giving in.  I will, however, walk him. So I am off to do that.

Holy Productivity, Batman!

I have been kicking ass and taking names at my house.  W has even asked me what is going on as he has noticed that I "have been cooking a lot, and not only that, cleaning up after myself".  Oh, and I have finished three quilts in three days... sure, they just needed binding, but still that is a HUGE deal in my house. I also finished quilting a baby quilt (I'm going to pick out the binding tomorrow) and just need to put the borders on another small baby quilt (picking that out tomorrow as well). I just suddenly realized, if I don't start finishing some of these projects, I am going to be buried in WIPs. Plus, having so many WIP means that I don't really get credit for the crafting that I do. It's hard for people to believe that I knit and quilt when there are just piles of yarn and fabric lying around the house... anyone can buy things. :)

So now, I am trying to finish the roving I am spinning while enjoying some Office DVDs.

Success! (well, almost)

Of all of the goals that I posted, I have completed all but one of them.

* I have put the binding on my pumpkin quilt. It is amazing and I love it. Everyone else will have the chance to ogle it tonight at our weekly "Office" get together.
* I have finished my baby sweater. (minus sewing on the buttons, but I did FIND buttons for it, so I'm still counting this as done) I love it and it actually FITS a 12 month old child like it is supposed to.
*I have finished my Saturday Sampler block... and everybody note this on your calendar because I believe this is the FIRST time all year that it is done before Friday night (sometimes Sat morning)!!! I'm very pleased with myself.

I haven't finished spinning my current roving, but I am getting there. I am hoping to get about an hour in tonight while my pizza dough is rising... I am very impressed with my productivity.

Oh, and I also won the "Wife of the Day" award yesterday... I made all three meals for my husband. Eggs and sausage for breakfast, bean burrito for lunch, and chili for dinner. And the kitchen was clean. Oh, and I baked brownies for his potluck. I amaze myself sometimes.

Alright, I have to run some errands (another quilt is just a binding away!!) and then bake pizza. Yum! I hope everyone enjoys their Thursday evening... my favorite day! And the return of 30 Rock! Whoo hoo!

Pictures!

NBC Lineup

This fall, NBC underwent a major line up change... not very interesting to most people. I only watch NBC, and I typically only WATCH TV on Thursday night. It may be on other times, but it is just noise. The one major thing that changed in AK is now the night time line up is Jay Leno, the news, Conan, and then Jimmy Kimmel. No more Seinfield. Very weird. As long as I can remember Seinfield came on after the news. Now it comes on at noon. Annoying.

In other, more interesting news, I finished the baby sweater I was working on. I LOVE it. I bought the buttons for it yesterday and hopefully will be able to sew them on soon. I am getting ready to bind my Halloween quilt. I still have quite a bit of spinning to do.... but it is coming along.  I also started a fancy scarf with some of my friends handspun yarn. I'm half way done with it, and I'm hoping to finish it up today.  I want to be able to block it and wear it to the Eagle River Brewfest on Friday.

Oh, and I have another rant about the stupid speed humps.  The purpose of these humps is to make sure people don't SPEED in the neighborhood.  So, if the speed limit is 25 MPH, I should be able to go over the speed humps at about that speed without trouble. I have to slow down to 15 to go comfortable over the humps.... incredibly annoying, since there are three on my way out of the neighborhood.

I guess nothing too interesting is going on, as I haven't been blogging that much. Friday is the Brewfest, which should prove to be an interesting event. We are taking an old school limo, owned by a friend's dad, and that is always a good time. Maybe, maybe.... I will post some pictures. Either way, I will try to get some pictures up of my knitting soon.

Just a quick post to write down a few things that I hope to get finished up this week. (Which is until next Friday... the next seven days)

*My Halloween quilt. Just got it back from the quilter on Wed and it is AMAZING. She even put teeth in the mouth of the pumpkins...
*My baby sweater. I am down to the button band and the collar. In fact, when I am done writing this, I am hoping to do that.
*The wool that is on my wheel. I have about 2/3 of a bobbin left before it is ready to ply.
*Saturday Sampler block.  Need to get this done before next Saturday so I don't have to pay $10.

Maybe that is enough goals for the next 7 days.  Especially since I am working on 6 of them. :)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yesterday was a weird day. Josh (our best friend, who has been staying with us for the past 6 months) moved to Colorado. He will be back, as he has a seasonal job at a ski resort down there... but it was very hard and weird. Before it actually happened, I was excited for him to leave. I knew he was going to have fun on his new adventure, and I was excited to have my house back. Having to close the door to the bathroom and get dressed to let the dogs out was getting old. I love being alone, and with J living here, it wasn't too often that I was alone in my house. So, I was looking forward to just being in my house with just W and the dogs. Then I had to take him to the airport. I guess that made me realize that he was really going to be gone for six months. I wasn't going to be able to joke around with him, or give him grief about things, or have him tease me for watching TV all the time for six months. I asked him what I was going to do when he was gone... his response, "Probably watch Regis and Kelly without anyone making fun of you." Too bad him making fun of me was half of the fun....

So, I miss Josh... and I can tell the dogs do too.  Last night, Frito woke me up and walked to the couch where J normally sleeps to show me that he wasn't here. Crazy dog.

On a happier note, I am almost done with my baby sweater. I have been crazy busy with work, so I haven't been able to work on it too much.  It has half of a sleeve and the button band left to do. While at work yesterday, I checked out the new Louisa Harding pattern book and it is pretty amazing.  It will be coming home with me today, and I plan on digging in my closet to see if I have the yarn to make many of the projects in the book. More on that later.

Also, in dork news... tomorrow is The Office wedding!! Jim and Pam are getting hitched. I'm pretty excited. In fact, I have to go bake a cake in celebration!

Baby knitting!

They are putting the speed hump up right now. I want to lay in the road to protest, but it is below freezing and I would probably be run over. So here I sit, in my warm house, fuming about the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

On a happier note, I cast on for my first "real" knitting project with my handspun yarn!! It is a baby sweater called the mossy jacket (rav link).  I am using my breaking clouds yarn, which was spun with fiber from Northern Lights Fiber Co. I am very happy with the way it is turning out, and I am already ready to divide for the sleeves.

And what is that green thing poking into the corner? Oh, just an awesome baby sock that is done! At first I had used a three needle bind off, but decided that looked too square. So I did something that I have never done, and is very out of character... I undid the bind off and redid it! Now the sock is much cuter. I decreased until there were 7 stitches left and then I pulled the tail through the stitches and cinched the end shut. Not the most professional toe, but I think it is perfect for my baby sock.