Deborah Fillmer's » admin

Training Update // Dogs on Thursday

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:43:14 +0000

Today I give you Ebenezer’s training progress. She now weighs 3 pounds and is 4 months old. This is not really a good example of her best work, but it is cute, none the less. Enjoy!

My Amazon Wishlist (in case you were wondering…)

admin — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:54:23 +0000

I found this neat bookshelf widget on another blog and thought that I would try it out. It won’t fit in my sidebar on this theme, so I figured I would just do a post and see what happened. This is my Amazon Wishlist, knitting books only (I have several other wishlists…). Anyway, I think the widget is kind of nifty, what say you?

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Kreative Blogger Award

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:20:15 +0000

Thanks to Purlin Goldens for the shout out and the pretty award. It is so nice to know that someone is actually touched by what is written in our blogs from time to time.

Now it is my turn to pass it on. Here are my seven picks for the Kreativ Blogger Award:

A Few Stitches Short - Susan can whip patterns out faster than anyone I have ever seen and they are all stunning!
Seasons of Lace – a site that brings all the hard work of so many lace knitters together in one place.
Knitting Elephant – love the quality of the knitting
Lankakomero – she keeps me busy with her beautiful lace (and other) patterns for free
Miss Alice Faye – eye candy!
Nuperelle – awesome tatting information
Scott Fillmer’s Blog – He is the best photographer I know and deserves the Kreativ Blogger Award of the year!

If you are on this list, feel free to

Copy the award to your site
Link back to this post or my blog
Nominate 7 other bloggers who you think deserve the Kreativ Blogger Award and post their blog links

Fair Winds

Using MacJournal To Organize Your (Knitting) Life

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:20:28 +0000

If you have a PC, you may want to read this post anyway, as there may be a similar program out there for you that does this same type of organization, but, this post is actually for those of you who own and operate a Mac.

If you have been reading this blog over the last month or so you would know that I just recently became the proud owner of a MacBook. When I started exploring all the nifty things my MacBook could do, I came across the MacJournal. Can I just say Wow?!? The way this program has organized my knitting patterns (and other parts of my life) is just amazing!

Let’s go back to the beginning. When I had a PC, I would keep all my downloaded patterns (free or not) in file folders. These were organized by category like shawls, socks, hats, etc. While I found this organization structure to be helpful, it led to having various file formats in the same folder. For example, in the Shawls folder I would have some PDFs, some Word Documents, and even some HTML patterns. As a result, when I wanted to “browse” my pattern collection for something new to cast on, I would have to open various different programs to see the different patterns in the file folder.

Fast forward to today. MacJournal is a program that you can get for Mac computers. It seems that it was intended to be a “journal” program, which it is, but it is so much more! I am able to drag PDF files into the journal entries and see them without opening them. I can also drag and drop the PDF files in and out of the program, print them, add notes to the entries, etc.

All my patterns are no longer in notebooks on the shelves, but scanned and saved in one SEARCHABLE place, the MacJournal. Even my online purchased patterns are included. I can open a web page in my browser that has a pattern on it and “print” the page directly to MacJournal. The titles of the “journal” entries become the titles of the patterns and I have the patterns organized by craft, with sub-catagories within (see screen shot below).

For those of you who own a Mac and have not checked out this application, I cannot recommend it enough for this purpose. Oh, it also organizes your receipts, recipes, notes, and if all that isn’t enough, it is also a journal notebook that can be password protected.

Fair Winds

Seriously?

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:52:43 +0000

This book has been on my wish list for quite some time now, but really, $175? Seriously??? Anyone have one they want to part with?

Knit a Sweater? Who Me??

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:35:59 +0000

Well, never say never…

Have You Been Knitting In Public?

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:52:53 +0000

Check out the World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKP) site. Isn’t that just nifty?

Stitches South

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:34:21 +0000

It’s official, I’m going to Stitches South! Whoo Hoo! I have managed to sign up for two classes. The first class is on Thursday and is called “Chasing the Hounds Tooth” and the teacher is Jean Frost. The second class is an all day class on Sunday called “Bohus Stickning” and the teacher is Susanna Hansson. Has anyone taken these classes or know anything about them? I would love to hear your input. Of course, I will blog about them when I take them.

Also, if you are so inclined, come to Stitches South and take them with me! Perhaps I should run a contest to see if you can spot me in the crowd…that might be fun… What do you think? Hope to see you there… Whee!!!

Christmas Knitting Swap Present Revealed

admin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:01:33 +0000

This year, I have been fortunate to make many new internet friends via my Secret of the Stole knit-a-long groups. So, in lieu of participating in an official, organized, internet knitter’s swap this year, I chose one person that I had become friends with and asked her if she would like to be my Christmas Swap Partner this year. She accepted and we have had a lot of fun picking out gifts for each other over the last 6 weeks, or so.

Yesterday, we hooked up via Skype video chat and opened our boxes together. We both have dogs (children) and both enjoy lace knitting immensly. She included a fur coat, a stylin’ sweater, and a very prissy dress for Ebby in the package as well as a dinosaur nylabone for the Blaze. He has taken to sleeping on top of it for safekeeping. I will spare you the photo of that… Thanks Erin for all the really cool gifts! Here is a photo of the contents of my totally awesome box of Christmas goodies:

Whoo Hoo, look at all the swag!!

Merry Christmas (or whatever else you may be celebrating) Everyone!!! See you on the flipside…

Answers and Some Knitting Holiday Fun

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:17:46 +0000

Several of you have left questions in your comments on the last few posts and I thought I would try to answer them here. If I miss your question, I apologize in advance.

Answers:

Susie – Yes, Blazer is a Basset Hound. He thinks he is the ruler of the house. He has become accustomed to Elf, but I think a more accurate word for the feeling is tolerant. He pretty much ignores her, unless she is clamped on to the end of his tail, or he wakes up with her on top of him. In those cases, he pretty much treats her like a live burrito and she squeals louder than any pig I have ever heard before. I am so glad this has only happened twice.

Gaylen – Yes, a hat. She has her own purse that she travels in as well. I never anticipated her enjoying the hat so much. Since I am primarily a lace knitter, I am not accustomed to making a lot of hats. That is obviously going to have to change…

CraftyGryphon – The yarn I used in the hat for my grandson is Wollimese from Germany. Sorry I left out the specs on that.

Nathalie, Yvonne, and Lynn – Please contact me via email. So we can coordinate the virtual meet up, Thanks!

Everyone – Yes, SQUEAKERS!! Whoo hoo. I got these squeakers off eBay for super cheap. Now I can sew and knit some toys for Elf. I will try to remember to post photos of the finished toys and how I made them for those of you who are interested. The vendor I found on eBay had several different sizes and quantities of these squeakers so there are some for bigger dogs as well. Just visit eBay and search for squeakers and you will find them. The toys out there right now are around $5 and up. I got 25 of these gems for $5. Fun Stuff!

Holiday Fun:

We were at the Auburn Mens basketball game last night and, as usual, I took my knitting. Aubie (the school mascot) was in attendance and all decked out in his holiday attire. (If you are not familiar with Aubie, you should really watch the video in the preceding link!) I thought it would be neat to have him hold my knitting and take a photo with me. He obliged and here are the results of that encounter.

Aubie and I share a knitting moment.

Aubie shows this knitter some love.

I hope your holidays are starting out as enjoyable as mine are. Leave me a comment and tell me about it…