GAG ME....

Today I found, quite by accident, the most obnoxious knitting blog there could possibly be on the face of the earth. Naturally I'm not going to name it and get myself in trouble but I will say one thing. If I ever win the lottery, and acquire great wealth, and become so full of myself that you want to puke when you read my blog, and stage myself in my knitwear in strategic positions that showcase my fabulous house and material possessions, will you just shoot me? Please? Ugh! The world doesn't need people like that. I bet she's a trip at PTA meetings.... if she bothers to go.

BOO!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

In an effort to make sure I'm dressed appropriately for the occasion, Catie gave me these socks which I have on today:



They really are not "me" but they're kind of fun and I tend to dress a little too conservatively most of the time. My co-workers will think I went off the deep end. Anyhow, on to knitting news.

True to my words I didn't knit too much over the weekend. I did hold an Open House yesterday though and I got a good bit of the first opal sock finished. I love the colorway.



And below is the left front of Trellis which I finished last week. I think the pattern is so nice. I can't wait to put all the pieces together and get this finished.



I did stop at the LYS on Saturday and purchased some red Cascade 220 for my nephew's ski hat and scarf. I'd really like to do a stockinette scarf for him to match the hat but I don't know what to do to keep the edges from rolling in. Any suggestions? I guess there is always the k2p2 ribbing but I just hate the constant back and forth changing of the yarn in ribbing and there is no ribbing in the hat.

This time change thing has me all screwed up. I want to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. I can't seem to adjust. And I HATE the fact that it gets dark so early. I think I do suffer from seasonal affective disorder. I tend to hibernate in the winter. When I get home from work, I DO NOT want to go back out. And this time of year is hard on me in terms of business too. People don't want to look at houses in the dark, obviously, so that makes for busier weekends because there is no more daylight after work. Ok, enough complaining!

Have a great Halloween!

Trick or Treat Night

Working on Trellis last night was a no-go. Too much interruption to get into that pattern. So I finished a pair of Christmas socks which I cannot show you... due to the prying eyes of Miss Snoop Bloggy Blog. I also worked on the cashmere scarf for a while until I got bored with that pattern. Since I did finish the socks, I allowed myself to start another pair... also for Christmas gift giving. These will be for daughter #1.



The opal yarn feels thinner than the Lana Grossa Meilenweit I just finished up with. I love these opal self patterning yarns. I love sock knitting period. I have to say it's my favorite.

So Cate is coming home again tonight which wasn't planned. Her boyfriend is from here as well and also goes to SRU. His best friend (also from here) lost his father this week in a firefighting training accident. He was an instructor and apparently passed out in a burning structure during a drill. No one knows why and I guess it took them a while to realize he was down. (well, obviously). Sad. Very sad... he was only 47.

I have promised myself I will pay more attention to my house than to knitting this weekend. I still haven't dealt with the flower beds for winter or window cleaning that has needed done for months. Our spare room looks like a bomb went off in it. Now that things are slowing down with real estate, I need to take advantage of these slow weekends and get some things accomplished before the holidays. This knitting addiction has wrecked havoc with the condition of my house. I feel like an "yarn alcoholic" at times... ignoring important things and letting things go just so I can knit. There are times when I think I should go into therapy. Yikes!

Cate and Irish Watching TV

We have the best dog in the world. She loves us so much. But she sheds LIKE NO OTHER. It makes me INSANE. As much as I love this dog, and as much as I will miss her when she's gone, I still can't imagine ever doing this:
About Spinning Dog Hair and Cat Hair Into Yarn

Can you?

So Many Projects.... So Little Time

As if I didn't have enough going, I had to start this last night:
















I decided to make the "Misty Garden" scarf from "Scarf Style" with the cashmere yarn for my mother. This pattern is designed to show off the colors in hand painted yarns but I just liked the look and size of it for this yarn which is somewhere in between a fingering weight and DK.
















It's the first lace type thing I've been able to be successful with... of course if you can't do this pattern, you need to hang up the needles. Even my disordered brain can grasp this elementary repeat.

Tonight I will work on Trellis again. I'll start the second sleeve... I'm avoiding the right front because I've never done button holes before... well, I have, but not well, believe me.

So my husband shamed me into buying candy for the Trick or Treaters tonight. I guess I won't be a Halloween Scrooge after all. I think it's funny that he was so adamant about it because one thing is for sure... HE won't be the one answering the door. MEN!

Grrrr.... FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!

After having blood work done last week, I was informed yesterday that I need yet another test and that I was to go back to the hospital and get it done. The doctor was faxing the order to the lab. So, I get up extra early so I can be there at 7:00am this morning and beat the crowd and make it to work on time... get there at exactly 7:00am .. only to find out that the doctor never faxed the order. That made me a little angry. Oh, hell, it made me a lot angry... let's be honest about it. If I did that to someone I'd never hear the end of it.

So tomorrow is Trick or Treat night in the burg. (not the burgh... our LITTLE burg) Previously, in years gone by, our kids and their boyfriends or girlfriends at the time always had a little tradition of answering the door and handing out the candy. This year, with no one at home, (ok, the boy is still at home but his girlfriend is away at school and he has no further interest in the project) it's up to me to answer the door. This is no easy feat. We live across the street from the only supermarket in town. People from the rural areas come in droves and drop their kids off in that parking lot and they (for some reason) head straight to our door. We get hundreds. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the little goblins. What I don' t like is older teenagers without costumes coming in groups of 10 and 12 with their grocery bags extended and then having the nerve to say "can I have an extra one for my little brother who's at home sick?" Yeah, right. Then I turn into "Halloween Scrooge" and the whole spirit and fun of it goes right into the toilet for me. So I'm asking myself... is it worth it? Or after 28 years of handing out candy is it time to turn the lights out and not put myself through it? Have I paid my Halloween dues? Is it time for a new generation of Halloween moms to take over? Or am I just getting old and cranky? Probably the later. Oh well. Whatever.

Is there knitting content today? Well I finished the front left of Trellis last evening. I hope it's ok. I guess I won't really know until construction. It looks right. I also got about a half of a sock completed at an "agent open house" I had at one of my broker's listings yesterday. The weather was so terrible that almost no one showed up and I just sat and knit away. Socks are great "take along" knitting for things like that. It's my firm belief that knitters should always have a pair of socks on the needles for those occasions when you might have to kill time somewhere. They're very portable.

I told my older daughter, the lovely Kelly, that I wanted to knit her a sweater this winter and she decided that she wants "Josephine" from knitty.com. Isn't it just like a kid (ok, a grown kid) to choose a sweater-coat that would take me 5 years to knit. I told her to re-think it. Until I win the lottery and can knit all day I won't be knitting any big, long projects like that!

Dirty Cashmere

My cashmere from Elann.com arrived yesterday. I have to admit to being disappointed in the color. I can't even remember what kind of white they were calling it, and it's no longer on their website (they must have sold out), but what they SHOULD have called it is "dirty white" because that's what it looks like. It's such a dull gray/white. Certainly I'll use it but not with the pleasure that I was anticipating.

I almost have the front left of trellis finished.... worked on that last evening. I'm pretty certain that I can have that finished by the date that I had hoped and then it's heavy into Christmas knitting. My nephew requested a ski hat and scarf that I will totally enjoy knitting for him. I'm flattered that a grown nephew would ask! And the good thing is that I know he'll appreciate it. I don't know if he'll appreciate having to get it cleaned instead of throwing it in the washer though! I'll make it with Cascade 220. If you want warm, you want wool. He'll get over it. And for those of you thinking about knitting a great ski hat, check this one out...

the blue blog patterns: double knit cap Warm!

Work beckons... have a great day!

Monster Needles, Cheap Yarn, Fun Halloween Scarf, and Feeding My Addiction

This is what I did last night:



with these:



Size 50 needles... and if you think they're easy to work with, think again! Boy did they feel awkward. But they produced the exact look I was going for for the Halloween scarf. I got to use up some cheap yarn in my stash which makes me happy.

In other knitting news, Catie and I went to Barnes and Noble in State College and I found this:



I think it has every aran design and combination there could possibly be in it.



It's like Holly heaven. I'm not sure what I'll ever do with it but it's nice to have. It's not like I'll ever design anything. That pesky little math problem pretty much insures that design is NOT in my future. But I could certainly work some of these designs into a scarf or throw.

Before we hit Barnes and Noble, we hit Cold Stone Creamery:



Ice Cream Franchise Cold Stone Creamery
If you don't have one of these near you, drive, sister, drive to the nearest one. OMG! Good. Our eyes were a little bigger than our stomachs though and we ended up (sadly) throwing a good portion of it in the trash because it was just too much and too rich... but, oh my, was it good. If you get one of their concoctions, buy a small. That's all I have to say.

Thursday Knitting Frenzy

The back of Trellis is finished. SOOOOO cute! I can't believe how fast this went. The gauge is total perfection which is unheard of for me. When I finished this I worked on the socks AND clapotis. When I think of what all I need to complete for Christmas I get a little stressed. I'm not sure why I do this to myself. I have 3 scarves, two pair of socks and a purse that aren't even started yet. So my plan is to let Clapotis go for now... I need to put it away so I'm not tempted to work on it. Since Clapotis is for me it can wait.

Also waiting for me after the holidays are the following projects: (FOR ME!)

Fiber Trends Seascape Shawl Fiber Trends Hand Knit Designs (have the yarn, don't know if I have the patience)

Kepler fathom (ordered the yarn from a local spinner.. I'm so excited!)

Samus knitty.com (don't have the yarn... I do want to do this one in the yarn called for)

Rogue www.girlfromauntie.com (have the yarn... my daughter brought it back from Ireland for me)

Ok.. I know.. I need to get over the celtic cable thing.

It is such an ugly day here in central PA. Raining like crazy and cold. And, of course, I have a million and one things to do today that involve going in and out.

Cate is coming home tonight and we've decided it's Pina Colada night. Yay!

SCORE!!!!!

Cashmere........
Check out Elann.com for 50% off 100% cashmere. They only have it in white but it will make a wonderful scarf for my mother for Christmas. $12.50 a skein for 177 yards... not bad really.

Maxine Cracks Me Up

I found a site with about a million of these cartoons. (ok, not really a million but a lot). Yep, that's what I'm doing here at work today. Web surfer by day, knitter by night...that's me.
And, yes, there is knitting content in this post. Check out Maxine's argyle sweater vest.

Unfinished Objects...they're taking over

Ugh! I have so many irons in the fire... as my mother used to say. I remember a day when I knit one thing at a time until it was finished. I wonder what happened to me. Short attention span I think is the answer.

I have socks on needles, a baby sweater, a clapotis and a big afghan. I'm hooked on Trellis. I kicked major butt on that last night and got to the arm decreases. (I was going to clean the bathroom... shoulda, woulda, coulda... but I was having too much fun)

No cleaning or knitting tonight... meeting my sister and a friend for dinner. Sometimes you just have to give the needles (and scrub buckets) a rest.

I'm thinking of taking photos of my stash for a future blog post. Maybe that will shame me into NOT purchasing any more yarn until I use some of it up.

Nah.

Trellis

Knitty.com's Trellis by Britta Stolfus Raeschhoff. I love to knit aran patterns. I think it's definitely in my blood! It's so much fun to watch the pattern emerge. Although this looks yellow in the photo it is actually a natural beige or tan color. I'm knitting from a graph for the first time and doing well I think. Every other aran pattern I've ever done was written out line by line. As I was working on this successfully last night, I was wondering why I can do this, but have so much trouble with lace. I can't figure it out. Maybe it's just an "Irish" thing!

In our local newspaper this morning there was an article about a Pennsylvania couple who are raising alpacas. It was very interesting. Apparently alpaca is warmer than wool which is something that I would not have thought. It said that alpaca fleece has no lanolin or guard hairs, the stuff that can make a wearer itchy or allergic. I beg to differ. That grey scarf I recently knit in alpaca is so itchy around the neck that you want to scream. It feels like heaven until you actually wrap it around your neck. It IS itchy. I was going to give it to my son in law but it's too flimsy for a man and I know I'll never wear it around my neck so it's a scarf in limbo. But to get back to raising alpacas, it sounds like fun. They sound like great pets. I want one. (not gonna happen)

Cate's Sophie Bag

Catie's sophie bag.... one of my secret projects. I gave it to her yesterday at Slippery Rock. She knit this bag herself for the most part. She quit just after the thick white stripe. So I finished it and felted it. She was surprised.

We had a good time at SRU. A fun day. Here we are the Homecoming Parade.

If You Could Knit ANYTHING.... What Would It Be?

If time, money, and skill were not objects, what would you knit? This is what I would knit... and it would be white and I'd wear it to a holiday party:
http://www.interweave.com/knit/interweave_knits/pdf_files/Interlocking_Cables.pdf





I love this sweater. It's beyond my skills but someday... The interesting thing about this sweater is that when you google "interlocking cables" which is the name of the pattern, you will find posts ABOUT the sweater in knitting blogs, but you can't find anyone who actually MADE the sweater. One look at the pattern and you're screaming for your mother. That's how scary it is.

Another thing that scares me about this pattern is that I'm afraid it would be like the Debbie Bliss "Simply Marilyn" pattern. Simply Marilyn from Interweave Press I coveted this sweater for a long time. Then, I googled "Simply Marilyn" and found photos of the completed sweater in knitting blogs and they were horrendous. They DID NOT look like the sweater in the magazine.
So, I'm afraid that even if I did have the skill necessary for "Interlocking Cables", the finished product would be one of those ugly duckling second class "wannabees". Who knows? Hard to say.

Anyway, what would you knit? If you're a Pittsburgh knitter, post it to your blog. I read them all.

Saturday at the Rock

It's Homecoming at Slippery Rock U. tomorrow. We will go to visit the lovely Cate. It is also my husband's alma mater so he will enjoy the football game. I will suffer the football game. Hopefully there will be a good meal in it somewhere for me and Cate! My only dilemma is what to knit on the way. Hmmn....

Cashmere Yarn

So I got it into my head that I wanted to make this scarf for my husband for Christmas:

Hello Yarn.... Besotted Scarf Pattern

I also got it into my head that I wanted to use this yarn:

Cashmere Yarn

Upon doing the math it would cost $300.00 to make the scarf with this yarn.

Um, yeah, that might happen.

I'm buying Powerball tickets. $290 million. Sweet!

And when I win, we're having one big Pittsburgh knitting party. Cashmere for everyone!!!! There won't be enough goats to keep us in Cashmere! Bartender, give my friends another skein of cashmere! :-)

Photos of Purse

It's almost impossible to get a good photo of a dark colored knit object. But here is the bag. It still needs lined and the side straps and buttons sewn on. I might have to make one of these for myself!















And a little seed stitch action.... a new project to be named later.

:-)

Holy Heck! Where Have I Been?

There was not one but THREE new knitting magazines on the newstand when I went to the store this evening. I usually find them a day or two after they've been put on the shelf. All I can say is that I'm glad I leafed (is that a word?) through them before just throwing them in my cart. I saw NADA. Not one thing that I would knit. Vogue was a true disappointment. Usually I want to make everything in Vogue. There was one maroon cabled shoulder thingy (maybe # 24 or 26?) that I liked but not enough to go to the trouble. I wouldn't know what I'd ever wear it with.

Then there was Better Homes and Gardens "Knit It" and Family Circle "Easy Knitting". I didn't see anything in those either. One of them had a big sock tutorial in it which would be great for new sock knitters. I have high hopes for "Interweave Knits" but I usually can't knit anything from that magazine anyhow.

The buttons came today from the "rip off" company. I can't believe I paid what I did for those things. But, having said that, they ARE perfect. That bag is going to be so cute when it's finished. The handles came too. They're fine. Not worth $20.00 but just what I needed for the purse.

Photos tomorrow!

Just plugging away....

on Clapotis. I worked on this last night while I sort of but not really watched the Steeler game. I just can't get into it like the rest of the family. I wish I could. I'd like to be as excited about it as they are. I'm not sure why I do get excited about it if they make the play-offs but can't get excited about it during the regular season. I'm just not into football.

I ordered some berocco suede for a special project to be named later... can't get into it now because of snoopy people here :-) But it's really really really CUTE!!!!! I know... what a tease!

Well, gotta run. I have to go tell people that their house isn't worth what they think it is. I always hate that. I hate to burst that delusional bubble. As much as I like this job, that's the one part I hate.

OMG!

So I'm searching and searching for the perfect buttons for on the black felted bag. She said she wanted some great "funky" buttons on the bag. I googled the word "buttons" and the only type of buttons that came up were blog buttons and campaign buttons, etc. So I google "buttons" and "sewing" and the website that I posted previously came up (and you have to buy in bulk there folks, which I didn't realize before) and ...get this... THE RIP OFF COMPANY came up. The wooden handle rip off company has buttons too. And did I like the buttons at the rip off company??? Of course I did. Did I PURCHASE buttons from the rip off company? Of course I did. What can I say? They had THE buttons for the bag. And you're probably thinking... so Holly, how much did you pay at the rip off company for 4 buttons? I paid $15.00 for 4 buttons plus $5.00 shipping and handling. So now, I've paid $15.00 for the handles plus $5.00 shipping and $15.00 for the buttons plus $5.00 shipping totaling $40.00!!! Why didn't I just go out and buy her a Coach Bag or something???? :-) That's OK... she's worth every penny.

Is this NOT the perfect button??http://www.mjtrim.com/catalog/product.aspx?product=32049&variant=---GYR-ALL

#$%&#@&*!!!!

Don't you hate it when you spend about 1/2 hour on a post and then realize you posted it to the wrong blog??? My extended family is definitely NOT interested in my weekend knitting activities and I posted the darn thing on the family blog only to have to delete it and start over again here in the right spot. (I can just hear them all talking about Aunt Holly the nutball now)















So anyhow, I got the black bag felted over the weekend but that's about it. It's larger than I thought it was going to be but that's ok. It's still fine. I like how it turned out. The little strips are side straps. I'm looking for the right buttons for on the straps and I think I can find them here: http://www.jhbinternational.snapmonkey.net/page/page/1769499.htm I ordered black wooden handles from the "rip off" company. That's what I call them anyhow. Each handle was $7.49. I think spending $15.00 on handles is a little much. But that's just me. I refuse to use cheap plastic.

In huge personal knitting news, I found out today that my niece who THOUGHT she was having a girl (information received from a previous test) found out today that she is really having a BOY. The sonogram revealed that if it's a girl.... it's a girl with a big problem! Man, am I glad I didn't start knitting for that baby yet. There's nothing worse than a boy in pink!

And speaking of boys, I babysat this little tazmanian devil last night (hence, no knitting). This is my nephew's son who was one year old in August. Little Ben...is this kid cute or what???

None News

I have none news. (my kids used to say this when they were very little) They would have none candy, or none money, or none friends to play with. Ah... memories. Anyhow, no knitting news other than I made progress on the black purse last night after my hair appointment. And, yes, I have a cool new "do". I couldn't take letting it grow another minute so I'm back to very short hair and I love it.

My boss got me a cool new printer/scanner/photo shop thingy yesterday. Just what I needed... another toy to distract me from doing my work. Of course I had to play with it all afternoon. Hopefully I got it out of my system.

So it's a rainy, dreary day in Central Pennsylvania today. I guess that's good because I have to spend the morning in school learning how to fill out the new state agreement of sale document to purchase property. When I got into real estate, the agreement of sale was one page with a separate mortgage addendum page. The new agreement of sale is 8 pages long. My how times have changed. Liability in this industry is off the chart. I know people who took the real estate classes and after listening to the instructors describe the liability issues decided it was not the job for them and never bothered to sit for the test. Probably a smart decision.

My little cable purse was a hit with my niece. She really likes it. She actually said that people stopped and asked her where she got it! Maybe I should quit work and knit little purses. I think I'll tell my husband that I'm going to do that. Right.

Knitting Night

At the risk of ruining a surprise, this is what I worked on last night at knitting night. It's this:
















My number 1 daughter, the lovely Kelly, saw this at "The Wool Gathering" shop in Kennett Square and expressed a desire to have it. I told her I wasn't into making purses anymore but I later called and got the pattern to make it for her for Christmas. I don't think she lurks here at all so I doubt that this is giving anything away. I do not like the plastic handles they show on this bag. I'm going to have to come up with something better than that. I can't believe they even put them there. Yuck. Way to ruin a good bag.

So we saw a needle felting demonstration last night. It's nothing more than pushing roving down into felted material with a special needle to make whatever design you want. You lay the fabric on a piece of foam rubber so the needle can push the roving through the fabric. It's kind of neat. The needle attaches the roving with little "barbs" so that it will never come loose. You can design free hand, or use stencils. I can see where it is something that could become addictive so I'm not going to go there. I have enough on my plate!

I ordered some handspun yarn for "Kepler" from a fellow KnitKnut (our knitting group) who spins. I'm so excited! You can view her site here:
Rose Garden Fibers

She makes gorgeous yarns.

This is Kepler in case you forgot:
fathom: Free Pattern: Kepler

Finally Finished Ribbed Socks

It took me forever to finish these... in between about 9 other projects. I love this pattern. It was written by the proprietor of my LYS. As you can see they are done in Sirdar Country Style DK weight. They will be warm. If anyone wants the pattern, let me know and I'll email you how to get it.

Total Knitting Frenzy!

I'm a machine I tell ya.... a machine. I was more or less house confined yesterday and today because of a test I had to have at the hospital this morning (we won't go into that, trust me) and all I've done for two straight days is knit. I finished the grey socks, another project, and started another project. (These projects will remain nameless due to the lovely Cate lurking here from time to time and I don't want to ruin any surprises).

I also surfed the web quite a bit and I found this awesome child's hat pattern:

http://www.kidsknits.com/free/piece_of_cake.htm

This would be adorable for my little grandniece in Colorado... the fair isle one. I love those colors. After reading the instructions, I realize that the instructions for that tassle tie-cord thing are not there and that's what makes the whole hat. Looking at it, I don't really understand how they did that.

Tomorrow night is knitting night. Someone is going to demonstrate needle felting...or something like that. I don't even know what that is. I guess I'll find out!!

Bedford Fall Foliage Festival

No yarn. Drat. I know one thing... with all the thousands of people there, Pennsylvania spinners are missing a good bet. Surely enough people knit to make a weekend like that worthwhile. Actually the Bedford festival is TWO weekends.... the first and second weekend in October. The only two things I bought were Steeler dog collar sleeves for my dog and my "granddog". It was a nice afternoon anyhow. The town of Bedford is beautiful. Very historic... great architecture. Small town America at it's finest. They just need to do something about that website!

Secret Pal Yarn

Truly I don't know what's wrong with this camera. I bought a new one to get clear photos and this is happening....blurry again. But you can still see the fabulous colors in this yarn. My secret pal was concerned I wouldn't like it because I don' t like purple. To me, these are wines, and pinks, and mauves....with only a tiny smidge of purple here and there. It's beautiful. And while I was contemplating a baby sweater, (it's exactly the colors I was looking for for the project) I keep looking at it and thinking .... socks for Holly...socks for Holly... I actually love wool socks and I don't care if I have to hand wash them in woolite. I live in drafty barn of a house and I need wool socks! Anyhow I love this yarn. I also took a photo of the cute knitting note cards she sent but it was too blurry to even try to post.

I'm also excited today because my boss gave me these:

















Now this may not look too exciting to you, but they are going to allow me to do this:
GRILLED SALMON RECIPES - ALDER OR CEDAR PLANK SALMON, SALMON STEAK, FISH & SEA

You soak the cedar boards in water for 24 hours, get them good and wet, then grill salmon on them and the salmon takes on the cedar flavor. It's delectable. Unfortunately, I forgot to soak them last night, and I can't eat anything tomorrow (test at hospital Monday morning) so I guess I'll save them for next week. Darn.

Today I am going here:
Fall Foliage Festival in Bedford Pa - Pennsylvania

In my opinion, this website is really lame. This is one great fall foliage festival and the website makes it look really crappy. My husband would rather eat nails than go with me so I guess I'll go by myself.. which is just as well. No one will be pestering me to leave. I'm going to eat funnel cake and sausage sandwiches no one will be looking over my shoulder frowning at my lack of self control. Yay. I'm really really hoping that there may be some hand dyed yarns there. It's huge, and it's farm country so I think there's a good chance. I'll let you know.

In other knitting news, Clapotis III is boring me to death. I should have known. It's going to look great with my winter coat but I'm really wondering what I would wear it with just as a shawl. It will not be dressy in any way. It's like "Country Clapotis". I'm going to have to buy a wool skirt to match it. I picked it up to work on it the other night and noticed that my bamboo needle was cracked almost in half. Might someone have SAT ON IT??? Oh no, nobody got even close to it. Upon interrogation, it seems that nobody sat on the love seat where I had it spread out. So, I guess it's safe to say that the needle just broke in half all by itself. Amazing how that happens. Spontaneous needle bustage. :-) I guess it was my fault for letting it sit there unattended. When will I learn??