Hmm. Cat or dog?

You Are: 50% Dog, 50% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog. You're playful but not too needy. And you're friendly but careful. And while you have your moody moments, you're too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

I've been seeing this little quiz thing around the internet for a while. Since I currently can't show photos, this seemed like the next best thing to do. And I'm half dog and half cat. Hmm.

This might explain why LI love lounging around in the sunbeams.

Back-up?

So not so much posting happening here at Knits 'n Stuff. Some knitting, but ... alas, no photos.

You see, we had a catastrophic hard-drive failure. Of course, we all learned of the importance of doing a regular back-up from Stephanie's mishap last holiday season. Right? Of COURSE WE DID. All over blogdom, knitters were doing back-ups that day. Did that translate to a regular routine of performing a back-up? OF COURSE NOT. Because, you see, those catastrophic failures only happen to other folks.

This week, I am "other folks." We lost the carefully compiled list of e-mail addresses, daughter's photos from her trip to Vimy Ridge for the rededication ceremony, not to mention the daughter's two biggest school assignments of the term. Software for the digital cameras, anti-virus protection, Bicycle solitaire statistics (I was trying for a win in every game!), our favorites for internet surfing, the dial-up accelerator from Primus.

Sigh. All gone.

We did manage, by the hair on our chins, to recover the daughter's homework and one other very valuable document. And since we'd managed to access the hard-drive once, we could recover the remaining documents at our leisure. Right?

WRONG! Oh so very wrong.

Who knew? We certainly didn't. Fortunately, the folks at PC Paramedics (Peterborough) were kind enough to not charge us buckets of money for the failed data recovery.

Now we get to figure out how to reconfigure the computers for optimal usage by the family. Reload the software. Try to rebuild the address book. AND PERFORM A ROUTINE BACK-UP!

Dang. I hate it when I become "other folks."

If you are reading this and you live in Ontario and have a knitting blog, you are invited to join the Knitting in Ontario web-ring.

Oh yes--go back-up your computer data!!

Dulaan deadline

I've been contributing to the Dulaan Project since its inception via Ryan's blog. The first year was a bit hurried and I managed mittens and hats. Last year, I contributed some kids sweaters, socks and the ever-present mittens and hats.

This year, I've not been so prolific. The shop has kept me somewhat busy. I did, however, manage to finish up the 5 items I promised Ryan ... and two more. Here is this year's contribution:Three solo hats, one pair of mitts and hat, a scarf, an adult sweater and a child's sweater. Not as good as I had hoped, but at least I have contributed to the warming of Mongolia. A worthy cause. I wonder if the Project will continue?

In other knitting, I have done some knitting with the Regia Java cotton-blend. The colours are delightful--all ten of them. I selected the most sedate to make a pair of socks for my husband. Here you see the finished socks:
Do you see anything peculiar with these socks? They are the closest to identical socks that I've ever achieved. I was so pleased, cruising along. To my dismay, I found a knot in the yarn while completing the foot of the second sock. Not only was there a knot--it would fall on the bottom of the foot. Doug already complains about the harshness of various socks. (He would give Princess a good run for her money, no doubt!) A knot in the sole of his sock wold be absolutely unacceptable.

I dutifully reworked things so that the join would be on the upper part of the sock. And that's when I realized that I'd come SO close to perfection, only to be euchred by the yarn itself.

An interesting note--one of my customers had experienced the same dilemma while using a ball of -- here it comes! -- Regia Java. I haven't had any other sock yarn returned for this reason. Of course, this evidence is only anecdotal, but ... I'm not sure I'll be getting any more of the cotton.