Sweetie sends Birthday Greetings to Nana

I asked for permission to post on Mom's blog so I could send birthday greetings to someone very special to me. With a little help from a "friend" this is for you Nana:

Happy Birthday Nana! I love you!
Sweetie

Oh Clapotis,

Oh Clapotis,
I wonder what yarn you'll be
{Sung to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree" }

A friend is having a Clapotis Tea in a couple of months. In order to attend you must have knit a Clapotis shawl or scarf from the popular pattern designed by Kate Gilbert and voted Design of the Year in 2005 by


I have decided to knit the scarf instead of the shawl. I found a beautiful colorway in Karaoke called Mermaid and I just knew I was all set.

I wound one of the skeins into a yarn cake and set out to cast on. When working the setup rows, I was tired and my mind could see the purl in front and back, but my hands were just not cooperating. I wanted to see someone do this, so after surfing around, I discovered the following video {special thanks to Gingerly4it}:

I cast on and began my first couple of rows, only to discover that my Karaoke was breaking on me. My hands were so warm, it was felting as I worked the Purl 1 in the front and in the back. So back to the drawing board I go.

Part of the beauty of

is you can check to see what yarn others are knitting or have knit a particular pattern in. As of today, 160 people have listed having a Clapotis as a WIP {Work in Progress}. That number is possibly low as there are probably many like me who have not noted this as a WIP since we are just casting on. This next number will probably surprise you if you have not surfed around Ravelry much: 3581 Clapotises have been logged. Ravelry has also detected 510 members' blog posts that mention Clapotis. This number should go up by one once I publish this post and their software has time to pick up on the theme of this post.

I have been looking at the yarn chosen by others on Ravelry and have emailed a few to inquire about their honest opinions of the yarn they used. Their replies have been so helpful! Soon I will make a yarn decision as time will be flying by if I am not careful. If you have suggestions, feel free to leave me comments.

Carpe Knitting,
KZ

P. S. You can also visit Kate Gilbert's blog:

Merry Christmas everyone!

When I originally started on this post it was a few days before Christmas. I blinked and today it is Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful day and was warm, happy and healthy.

This song from You Tube is for DH {Dear Hubby}. He loves to hear Porky Pig at Christmas.

When DH was a Radio Disc Jockey, he called my sister up and played this next song for her. We always think of her whenever we hear this song:

When I talked with DD {Dear Dad} tonight, he provided some Christmas humor. He asked me if I knew about the Four Stages of Life:
1) You believe in Santa Claus
2) You do not believe in Santa Claus
3) You are Santa Claus
4) You look like Santa Claus

He also wanted to know if I heard about the weary traveler who saw mistletoe hanging right above where he was placing his luggage to check it in prior to his flight. Curiosity getting the better of him, he asked the Counter Agent about the mistletoe. She politely informed him it was so he could kiss his luggage goodbye.

Never fear ~ knitting content in next post...

Carpe Knitting
KZ

We interrupt this blog for....

an ice storm!

What a week this has been! My heart has always gone out to anyone who was without power, but this time we were one of those experiencing the power loss. It definitely gets cold in the house! There are far worse things that can happen in life though and we are thankful we had a roof over our heads and we were all safe.

With that said, I hope we never experience this again! We knew we would be okay and that the S-Girls {Sasha and Sweetie} would make it just fine. Sasha is a Samoyed and German Shepherd mix, so with her Northern heritage she has one thick coat. She had been "practicing" for this by spending more and more time outside the last few weeks. I was amazed how much time she wanted outside before the ice storm. This gave her great insulation! I wonder if she sensed this was coming?

The first couple of days in the dark, the girls seemed puzzled. Since their food dishes and water bowl kept refilling as needed, they decided this was an adventure we were on. When the lights finally came on Friday afternoon, we started cheering. Sweetie got so excited at our jubilation she started running up and down the hall. She would stop right in front of Sasha and bark, then race down the hall and back to Sasha, barking again as she briefly stopped. DH {Dear Hubby} finally opened the back door, went out with Sweetie and let her run outside where she did some more laps around the backyard before coming inside again. He lovingly calls her our "lap" dog because she enjoys running laps.

The family member we were most concerned for was Bonzo, our Okatee Corn Snake. I put two folded towels over him and then scrunched up every sheet and pillow case we were not using all around the outside of his enclosure. I was going for a cocoon effect hoping all of that would provide some protection from the dropping temperature. We did not move anything until the heat had been back on for almost 8 hours. Late Friday evening I took the first towel off, then moved a corner of the bottom towel. When I saw instant movement, I was so elated! This is my buddy and I did not want to be burying my friend after this ice storm. I then moved the bottom towel totally off of him and saw that sweet face looking at me, flicking his tongue all around to catch the scent particles in the air. I covered him back up and left the towels over him until the next morning when he started coming out from underneath the towels on his own. Then I knew he felt warm enough to have the towels removed.

Bonzo started his life with us as a Christmas gift for DS {Dear Son}. Since college dorms and many apartment complexes do not allow reptiles, Bonzo has remained with us. He has always appeared to be interested in what I am doing. Since we are not going to breed Bonzo, we have never had him {or is it a her?} sexed. His abode is near my desk. I will be working along, look over and there will be my friend with his head raised up looking at me.

Bandit, our son's iguana passed on this summer. It would have been so difficult to keep him {another guess on the gender} warm during the outage. We probably would have lost Bandit. I am thankful all in our household are doing well!

Here is a video from the storm. The beginning is at a grocery store where the store director is showing the long lines of people who were stocking up after the ice storm first hit and the store's power was restored. After the grocery store shots, our newspaper added someone else's video {the music starts there}. They drove around and captured the aftermath, so do not stop watching during the middle of the long grocery lines:

The picture below is a common site this weekend, with tree limbs covering almost all of a lot of people's yards.

One of our neighbors has really had tree destruction this year. The tree to the right of the tree that was ripped apart during this storm, was hit by lightening this summer and that tree sustained a lot of damage on one side:

As we drove around, all over the place we saw trees that were ripped apart from the weight of the ice. Here is another neighbor's tree:

Instead of ripping apart, one neighbor's tree just came out of the ground.


Trees limbs are laying in just about every yard you see:

We are so fortunate as we do not have any damage.

Here is our rose bush that keeps on surviving. You can see the weight of the ice has pulled it almost to the ground.

Today the ice is gone and snow is in it's place. Our rose bush is beginning to come back up off the ground and will no doubt produce many beautiful flowers when the warm weather again returns next year.

Special thanks to all who helped restore our power and other services! Many live here and many came from a number of states! Please accept our heartfelt gratitude!

It was way too cold {and dark} to knit this week, but I did get some good reading in by flashlight. I am looking forward to some knitting time this week!

Carpe Knitting,
KZ

All Things Zebra ~

November & December combined

When is a Zebra not a Zebra?

What a strange question you might ask. Perhaps the question should be "When is a zebra not a mammal?". Being fascinated with zebras {the mammal, that is}, I started thinking about how many other things have "zebra" as part of the name. How many can you come up with? Here are a few that I came up with. Were these on your list?

When is a zebra, not a zebra?
... when it is a crosswalk

Someone called this a "proper" zebra crosswalk:

...when it is a zebra tomato:

... or in this case a zebra tomaten:


...when it is a paint scheme on a train:
...when it is a zebra goby:...or a zebra fish:...or a zebra lion fish:.... when it is a zebra finch:...when it is a zebra mussel:
...when it is a Zebra Longwing:
The list goes on. How many did you come up with?

With the holidays, I combined my November and December post on zebras. Hope you enjoy them.

More knitting content up ahead.

Carpe knitting,
KZ

Brrrr! It's Cold here!

It's a great day to surf around Ravelry

Hope all of you who are experiencing winter are staying warm! I am reminding myself:

and

I am so ready for Spring and Summer! {By the way, these banners will keep tracking the days, so if you are looking back on a day other than when this was posted, it will show the current number of days until Spring and Summer.} When I was younger I enjoyed winter. Now that I have to drive in it, I dread the ice! Dad and Mom, thanks for all the times you carted me around with "winter mess" on the roads!

With it cold out, it is a great day to surf around

When I first heard about this fun new site, I mistakenly thought it was only a place for knitters and crocheters to store their stash information. I was not really interested in that, so I stayed away. Then as friends began to receive their invitations and tell me about it, I realized it was more than an online stash journal.

For those who have not taken the plunge, here's a taste of the waiting process. On August 22nd, I signed up and took my place in line. They have a wait checker and here's what I discovered when I checked it that first day:

patiently awaiting your invite? Found you!

• You signed up on Today
• You are #27784 on the list.
• 17736 people are ahead of you in line.
• 0 people are behind you in line.
• 35% of the list has been invited so far

Thus began my checking back in from time to time. On September 28, I learned:

You signed up on August 22, 2007

You are #27784 on the list.

8653 people are ahead of you in line.

9192 people are behind you in line.

51% of the list has been invited so far

Finally October 13th I received the long awaited email "Frecklegirl has invited you to Ravelry!". Just for grins I had to check and see what Ravelry had to say:

"You already cashed in your invite and joined Ravelry! What are you doing hanging out with the impatient alpaca?"

I love their sense of humor! Recently when I went to log in, I found the following:

Ravelry is taking a coffee break - it will be back in 5 minutes or so.

That's Bob in the picture. You see him a lot on the website.

I am KnittedZebra {did you expect anything else?} on Ravelry. If you are there, send me a note and let me know what your Ravelry name is.

Carpe Knitting,
KZ

Merry Christmas ~

from my studio to yours!

Click the Zebra photo above for a special Christmas 2007 greeting
from Knitted Zebra and the "S~girls" {Sasha and Sweetie}
Do not despair if it takes awhile for the site to load.
{It loads the fastest for me on Firefox.}

{I am getting reports that there are times it is busy and does not load.
If you run into that, just check back another time.}

May you have a blessed Christmas Season and a Happy New Year!

{A very special thanks goes to OfficeMax for the wonderful link on their website which made my special greeting possible!}

a Knitty Christmas to all...
KZ

Introducing the Newest Member of our Family

Sweetie {Chow and Border Collie Mix}

Sometimes a special animal comes into your life and you feel blessed to spend time with them. Sweetie is definitely a blessing! My niece and her family are moving and will not be able to take Sweetie with them. Wanting her to have another home full of love, they asked if she could come live with us. Having lots of room in her heart, Sweetie loves her first family and her new family.

The night before we were to leave for Oklahoma, Sweetie and I spent the evening with DB {Dear Brother} and DSIL {Dear Sister-in-Law}. Sweetie really enjoys their backyard and pool area too!

Sweetie has been with us for a little over 3 months now and DH {Dear Hubby} agrees we are doubly blessed again with two wonderful girls. Sweetie and her new big-Sis Sasha have a lot of fun together. Recently we spent time at a local park that allows dogs on leashes.

While I was in Mississippi, another dog caught my eye and I had to shoot this video so I could show everyone this "Working Dog" {click on the arrow to start the video... right before the video starts, the word buffering will appear in the upper left hand corner ~ if it does not appear, click on the arrow one more time}:

Happy Tails to you....
KZ

Do you like contests?

A WhoDuKnit friend of mine is having a contest in celebration of her 300th blog. I am enjoying reading the comments everyone is posting there and I think you will also. Surf on over to GrammieKnits for your chance to win some cool prizes. The price of admission is to post something weird about yourself. Be sure and tell her KnittedZebra sent you.

Carpe Knitting,
KZ

Yarniverse ~ Memphis, Tennessee

When I was planning a trip to visit family this past summer, I immediately put a stop in at Yarniverse on my list of things I absolutely had to do. I first heard about this fun two-story yarn shop when I became interested in the Lizard Ridge Afghan. {Click on the name or the picture for a link to the pattern. Click on the name of the store. for a link to their website where you can hunt for "free patterns." Only some are listed under "free patterns." Part of the fun is the hunt.}

The pattern to this beautiful afghan can be found on

and right above the pattern is an advertisement for Yarniverse's Kureyon Club:

Clicking on their link above the Knitty pattern, I discovered Brenda and her always-helpful crew are in Memphis, Tennessee ~ now that caught my attention! Wish I lived closer so I could go in and knit with them. Knitters are always welcome at their table.

If you are a fan of Koigu, they also have a Koigu Collector's Club for you:

Their aim is to have in stock all of the colors from Knits from a Painter's Palette:

That is probably no easy feat with the ever-increasing popularity of Koigu.

While I was at Yarniverse my DB, DSIL and DGN {Dear Brother, Dear Sister-in-Law and Dear Grand-Nephew} were with me. My creative brother wrote the following poem about his first experience in this wonderful yarn shop:

The Magic of Knitting
by KZ's Brother

Traveling from Galaxy to Galaxy in the Yarniverse
Watching shooting beads: red, yellow, blue and brown
Dodging falling meteor buttons as they spin by
Then up ahead an exploding wool star
Thousands of brightly colored wool blast off in every direction
As we continue to sail through the magic Yarniverse.

I went there early on my trip so I could take advantage of an in-store sale they were having on Tahki Stacy Charles Cotton.

My plan for these colors is to knit a blanket. I need to add some more colors to have a full complement, but I have a start.

Looking at these pictures taken this summer at DB and DSIL's pool brings back wonderful memories of my trip to Mississippi.

Soon after I got to my parents' home, I wound the cotton into yarn cakes. I owe a special thanks to DM {Dear Mom} who visited with me thru most of the winding and a very big Thank-You-So-Much to DD {Dear Dad} who sat with me tirelessly helping to get the knots out when a couple of skeins proved to be extra challenging. I am sure many of you can relate with your own experiences of yarn that did not wind willingly {I know that is quite an understatement ~ In fact many of you have your own names for just such yarn and just such an occasion!}.

{Special thanks also go to KZ's Brother for the poem and for "going out on a ledge" to help me show off some new yarn stash.}

Carpe Knitting,
KZ

Do Ghosts Knit?

Something Knitty to ponder this Halloween

by Knitted Zebra's Brother

Ghost seem to be a hot topic on the late night radio talk shows. I did a search on the internet for ghost pictures. After looking at several hundred pictures, I came away with more questions than answers. All our lives we are told, "you cannot take it with you."

As I looked at all the pictures I realized something was not right. All the ghost had clothes on. They say a ghost is made up of high energy. We know that clothes have no energy. I looked at three ghost pictures of the same great grandmother taken three years apart at an annual family reunion. In each picture she was wearing a different color dress!

Now here is a thought to weave this Halloween ~ Do ghost knit? Maybe that explains it. Ghosts that knit continue to appear in their family photos. The ones that cannot knit do not have the guts to stand naked in a family photo. Could it be that simple? I hope when I die some friendly ghost will knit me some Boo-jeans for family photos.

KZ's Brother


I think talking about ghosts has scared the Zebra!

Carpe Knitting,
KZ

That's Something! Sunday ~ October

Having heard that squirrels can be quite cunning, I was amazed at the lengths this squirrel went in order to get to the bird feeder. When I saw this video, I thought "That's Something!" and knew I had to share it with you. After the obstacle course, you will have a bonus view of a sneaky squirrel stealing something he worked to get. Double click on the arrow to start the video:

I am sure all of us will agree Moms say a lot in the course of a day. A friend from Texas recently sent me the link to the following gem set to the tune of the William Tell Overture:

In a couple of days I will have a guest writer with a special knitting related query for you to ponder this Halloween. In the meantime I leave you with the picture of a cat painted up for Halloween. In case you have not heard, for years people have been paying large amounts of money to have their cats painted.... for real! How would you like this furry kid walking around your house this Halloween?!



Carpe knitting,
KZ

All Things Zebra ~ October

A new wallpaper resides on my computer thanks to National Geographic Magazine. This picture definately grabbed my attention when I saw it. I have been fascinated with zebras for quite a long time. One of the things that captivated me the most regarding zebras was the fantastic facial features of a zebra at the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas about 20 years ago. It was a special moment with the sun shining just right. This one zebra had the most spectacular facial features ~ the kind of features that make an artist, sculpturer or photographer want to capture the spirit of that zebra in their media.

This picture from National Geographic was taken 100 years ago and was used in an article published in March, 1909. The black and white photo captures the character of this zebra resting in the Savannah in Kenya, Africa:

I had to chuckle when I saw a zebra-stripped mouse. This mouse was made by Logitech and is probably no longer available. I thought it went well with the zebra-striped laptop "skin" cover I showed last month:

Have you ever needed a good back-scratch? It seems these zebra have located a great roll-in-the-dirt-and-scratch-your-back place. Double click on the arrow to start the video {sorry no sound on this one}:

Carpe knitting,
KZ

Happy Birthday, DS {Dear Son}!

Happy Birthday to my favorite son!!! {Remember I told you in an earlier post that we play favorites in my family!} Well even if he is my only son, he is my favorite!! This is a picture taken of DS at work. We are very proud of him as he continues to pursue a college degree while working full-time. Yes, he cleared his desk for this picture. Normally he has a ton of files out that he is working on. Also, this picture was taken on a Saturday when dress is more casual.

He tells us it is a rough job, but sometimes someone has to move the golf cart. We arrived as he was "closing up shop" and it was very windy. Proud Dad, DH {Dear Hubby}, was wind-blown from the blustery Oklahoma wind, but obliged by hopping on board for a photo op with his favorite son.

On the way home from his first day of work there, DS called to say it was by far the most bizarre first day of a new job he had ever had. Someone was on their way to visit them and pressed on the accelerator instead of the brakes, driving down some steps and into the front door. As you can see by the plywood below, repair work is still being done on the entryway. Luckily there is another entrance they can use until this entrance is totally repaired.

Ever feel like the two days of your weekend are waaaayyyy shorter than any two days during the work week?! I had to chuckle when I saw the address right above the listing of their office hours:

So that is why my work week seems so long ~ it is 1000 hours long!!! Well it does feel that way!!!

DS became my hiking buddy at an early age. We share a lot of the same interests ~ trying new foods, love of nature and animals, hiking, music, and writing ~ just to name a few. Gone are the days of him living at home, but there is a special place in our hearts for him and we are so very proud!!

In closing, I leave you with two options for drum music {DS is one fast drummer!}.

For the younger taste, here is a drum solo by John Bonham of Led Zepplin. Double Click on the arrow to start the video:

For the older taste in drummers, I give you a drum battle that took place in 1966 on the Sammy Davis, Jr. show. Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich showing off their talent:

Carpe knitting,
KZ