Here's a pic of the baby doll I knit for my little niece for Christmas. I still have to knit the doll some more clothes.
The doll is from the new book Itty Bitty Toys by Susan B. Anderson. I took my doll along today when I went to the book-signing at the yarn shop.
Stopped in at Barnes & Noble today and managed to do most of my Christmas shopping - ie gift certificates for the nephews and one niece.
I'm working on some stuff for my other niece. I got the book "Itty Bitty Toys" and I'm making the baby doll from it. The doll is done but she needs some clothes now. Now if only the yarn would come in at the yarn shop that I want to use for some cute knit pants for Claire. They keep telling me that they expect it "next week" (for the last few weeks). Fortunately it doesn't take long to knit stuff for an 18 month old. And it's not like I don't have other stuff to knit before Christmas - a sweater for my mom, some slippers for my aunt and something for my uncle.
So the one problem that I have had since switching to Snow Leopard was that my printer no longer worked with my Mac. And according to the Lexmark website, there wasn't a driver for it for that OS (of course, their website also said that there wasn't a driver for my previous OS -but it worked fine anyway). It was working fine still with my PC so I was printing anything I needed from there and the copier part works fine without a computer.
Then I started getting "cartridge error" messages that weren't fixed by following the instructions so I bought a new black ink cartridge. I still got the same error messages but it would print in black and white.
I went to Target and ended up getting a new HP printer that cost less than a new Lexmark color cartridge. And I checked on the price of the HP ink and, at least for now, it is about half of what my old ink cost. I set it up today and I didn't even have to do anything except plug in the USB to get it to print with my Mac- yay for simplicity.
I must admit that I mainly use my printers for the "copier" part and to print out knitting patterns and coupons and as most of my patterns are on my Mac this does simplify things.
I'm taking the old printer/copier/scanner over to my brother as it still works and the kids will probably find it handy.
Someone at the library has way too much time on their hands. Earlier in the week, the self-service checkout machine had "Zombie-Advanced" as one of the language choices and today it has been replaced with "Pig Latin". Of course, you still get the other choices of "English", "Spanish" and "Pirate".
A bunch of my reserved books are all coming in recently. I just finished up Terry Pratchett's "Unseen Academicals" and I think Mr. Nutt is right up there with Death and Death of Rats as favorite Discworld characters. I am now partway through A.S. Byatt's "The Children's Book" which is bringing back memories of the paper I once wrote on E. Nesbitt.
Really enjoyed the first episode of this season's FNL and have the second one waiting to be seen. Yay for more Tim Riggins. : )
Another grey, rainy day here but this time around, it is warm instead of the usual-for-this-month cold.
A lot of the books I had on reserve at the library have been coming in lately, so I have been reading a lot. Kate Morton's "The Forgotten Garden" and "The House at Riverton" were both good rainy day reading. And why is it, as more often than not, if I wait a day after getting the email from the library, another of my reserve books will also be there?
Currently too, the library's self-service check-out machine which usually gives you a choice of either English or Spanish also lets you check-out in "Pirate", so I did. : )
Also I have been surfing through the "currently available" list of the library's downloadable audiobooks and listening to them as I knit and spin. I just finished listening to "The Monster of Florence" about a real life serial killer in Florence, Italy. The story was fascinating (especially since some of the murders occurred while I was living in Italy and I had no idea that they were going on). But the story of the investigation and what happened to the authors was even more interesting than the murder stuff was.
I don't know if any of you read the "Game of Thrones" series by George R.R. Martin, but HBO is doing a pilot for it. And best of all, Sean Bean is in it. YAY!(http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/10/gam
Last winter no matter how many times I flipped the wall switch, my gas fireplace would not turn on. Since today was another cold, dreary and rainy day, I tried it again and this time around, it worked -YAY! The cats are enjoying the fire too. : )
I went to a new yarn shop the other day in a little town south of here. One of the owners has sheep and llamas and dyes roving from their fleece. I bought some very pretty roving in a brown/gold/red colorway called "October". As the owner knows me, she was astounded that it wasn't teal. : )
It is still looking and feeling more like November than October here. Even saw a few snow flakes on Saturday, but it is mostly just grey, damp, and dreary. I have even had to turn on the heat since the temps have been into the 20s at night. I usually don't have to turn the heat on until November. : (
I did make some good butternut squash and apple soup in my crockpot today. I cheated and bought the already chopped up squash at Trader Joe's- so much easier that way.
Had my last day of niece-babysitting yesterday. Today was her pre-school orientation and she starts for good tomorrow. I am sure that I will hear all about it at dinner on Sunday.
Finished up spinning some alpaca/silk roving today and now the yarn is drying in my bathroom. No more drying yarn out on the screenporch for a while......
Just for something cute to balance all the sadness over NBC's stupid decision to cancel Southland, here is a pic of Pie in a tux with his grandpa (my SIL's dad). He was a ring bearer for his uncle's wedding. :
I think that we skipped October and have gone straight to November here. There is actually a chance of light snow in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday nights and for Monday. I think it is supposed to be the kind that you see in the air but doesn't stick to the ground.
Of course, if it really was November I would have Ben McKenzie on my tv screen already.......
I am down to my last few days of watching my niece -just 3 days next week and then she will be going to the same preschool that her brothers attended. It will be interesting to see how she does. It probably won't take too long for her to adjust.
The cold fall has been good for my knitting and spinning. I'm working on a really pretty coppery colored cabled cardigan that is called (appropriately) "October Frost". I should even finish it up to wear yet this October. : )
ETA: Damn NBC for cancelling the only show on their network that I wanted to watch. Goodbye NBC!
