To Pom..or not to Pom?

That is the question...I whipped up a pair of slippers since my little feetie were cold. However, I can't decide, should I put pom-poms on? Or not? Leave them plain or add an i-cord bow? Or something else entirely? I'm waffling here. Any opinions?

Ciao

As the Heel Turns

I have been busily knitting up my Socktoberfest socks. Silly me. I should have decided to make socks for myself, not the hubby. My foot is size 6 ladies, HIS is size 10.5 mens! Needless to say, it is taking a while....

That's my foot modeling the sock. Wouldn't want you to think I'm misleading you on how close to completion it is. However, this is the first one! I still have another ginormous sock to knit. Sigh.

I DO have an F.O. to show you, though. Ta Da!

A knitted beer cozy. Embellished with cables. I'm rather pleased with how this turned out. It's knit in Sugar & Cream cotton on size 6 dpn's. It's a quick knit. I'm going to put it in my "long-range" planning box for emergency Christmas gifts.

Ciao

Small progress

I went to Toronto this weekend for the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival. It wasn't bad. I did score a couple of things that I wanted. However, it was more geared to crapbooking (I'm not sure how "needle" applies to that!) and quilting. Still, it was a nice afternoon looking at things and doing a little shopping. Plus they had some great lemonade at a stand in there!

I did get some knitting done. To whit:



















On the left, we have my serviceman sock. Done up to the end of the heel-flap. I think it's an eye-of-partridge. For those of you who want to know, one row is k, the next row is sl1,p1.
On the right we have my new cable project....a beer cozy. I would have had this done, but I was at my sister's house and she only had Corona beer. Which has a slightly different shaped bottle than most beer. So I wasn't sure how tall to knit it before I started the neck decreases. I should be able to get this done, now that I am at home and have normal beer bottles to compare it to!

The other nice thing about this break from knitting my cardi is that my wrists have recovered! So I should be able to make some progress on that too. Although I plan on breaking up my cardi knitting time a bit more than I was, so as to give my wrists a break from the huge yarn and needles.....

Ciao

Cardi Continued..

I have made it off Sleeve Island! I am now knitting up the back of my cardi.

Yippee!

I am going to take a break from it, though. My wrists hurt from knitting with such thick wool and big needles. Besides I am going to The Creative Festival in Toronto. That's right, I am leaving the hubby home and going to the big smoke. (alas, it is not Rhinebeck, but we take our fun where we can...) I will meet my sister and we will both proceed to peruse the show! Should be fun. The brochure lists crafts I have never heard of. So exploring should be entertaining and possibly very expensive *grin*

See you at the show!

Eye candy

My attempt at artistic flower pics. This is a pic of my Christmas cactus. It flowers from now until spring, usually.

Tag! You're it!

Somewhere in Blogland, I read about an idea someone had. The idea was to go to a blog you usually read, check out their comments and then go to the blog of the person who left the comment. *Then read THEIR comments, pick one and go to THEIR blog. Repeat from * I tried it and it is a very interesting way to find new blogs and see new content etc. Naturally this doesn't work if you don't leave a comment on the new blog. If you are reading this and think "hey, that's my idea", let me know and I will give you your props!

So, everyone explore Blogland!

TAG, YOU'RE IT!

Time out

Quite a while ago I read about "sleeve island". I didn't quite get it then. I do now! I knit and knit yesterday. I'm even using a chunky weight yarn. 10 stitches to the 4 inch. And yet, I'm still on sleeve island.

I would have more to show you, but the yarn was bad and I had to put it in time-out. After a short dunk in the frog pond.

I was tooling along, getting what looked like lots of progress. I even thought I might have 2 sleeves to show you today, that's how good a progress I was making. Until I finshed the increase section. Whereupon I counted stitches and found.....31! NOT 32. Dammit. Checked my knitting. Yup. Missed an increase. Naturally, at the very beginning. Sigh. Quick dip into the frog pond. I then put the yarn into time-out, since it didn't feel like behaving. Hopefully today it will have reflected on it's naughtiness and will behave better.

Even if the yarn doesn't there is hope that I will be more patient after a night's sleep. I can wish, right....?

Ciao

Forging Onwards

In an effort to recover from my disastrous friday the 13th, I am going to show you what I am working on!

First up, the Soctoberfest sock:

Sorry about the crappy pic, it's raining and icky roday. Besides, my photo skills have never been wonderful...

Up next, the sleeve for my new cardi:

Yup, this is the one I was having trouble with last night. I, er, figured out the problem with the increases I was having. The directions read "increase 1 stitch on each side". I missed that on my first go around. However, caught it before I had to frog too much-only 4 rows, so it could have been worse! It's the cardi out of Vogue Knitting Fall '06:

You may notice I am not using the same yarn they are. (Hmmm, hard not to..) But I decided to use the yarn that was this and knit something I would actually wear!

I have no plans for today, other than sitting and knitting! Okay, maybe a little cooking, I do like to eat, on occasion!

Ciao

Why Bother?

Why bother getting out of bed on friday the 13th? I did and the whole fucking day sucked! It started out early when I got out of bed earlier than usual in order to get to the esthetician's on time for my leg waxing. I got there and was told the esthetician was "a few minutes behind". 40 fucking minutes later I was still sitting there. I thought I would just re-book at that point. Do you think I could find the receptionist? Anyone? Nope. So I walked out and left them a message on their answering machine. They called me back all apologetic. Like it makes any goddam difference. My schedule is full for the next week. The next time I can get in is next wednesday. The irritating part is that I just bought a 3 month wax membership there, so I'm stuck for 3 months! After that, I'm outta there!

Then I got to go to the dentist for a cleaning. Both my teeth and my wallet.

Went to the grocery store where they tried to tell me that pastrami was the same as corned beef. Right. Didn't buy that. Had to re-work plans for lunch at that point. Went to the meat counter. Couldn't find a clerk. Left the counter, went to get sour cream. Dropped it on the floor and busted open the tub. Decided I'd had enough and paid for what I had My hubby decided I needed a treat, so he took me to Arby's for lunch. That actually went well. The sky did not fall or anything.

Got home and decided to start my cardigan. Got to the increasing part on the sleeves. Read ahead a bit and found that, although the instructions said to increase by 6 stitches, I was expected to have increased by 12 stitches somehow. Looked up the errata online. Nothing. Decided to feed the cats.

Found that, although I had enough for tonight, I forgot to buy more, even though it was on the damned list! So now we (read hubby) has to get to the vet's before noon on saturday to buy more. Kitty needs a special food or else she gets diarrhea. That would just be lovely wouldn't it?

So I am going to go back to the sweater and increase till I have 32 stitches, since I did the math and that makes a sleeve of the correct diameter. Screw the world. I'm going to hibernate and knit for the next 2 days.

ciao

FOAD Thursday

Okay, if you were an employer and the person you were interviewing took a week to get back to you about an appointment date, then cancelled due to a death in the family, the took 2 weeks to call you back, would you be impressed? I have an employer who has done this to me. THEY approachedME. Then gave me the run around. Finally got everyone together for an interview, told me "we are prepared to give you X dollars and X vacation pay etc". So i said I would mull it over for the weekend and get back to them. (the interview was on friday) I visited the store and spoke to the manager who tells me that his district manager (the one doing the run around) said he was"investigating" it. What's to investigate? Besides, during the interview he sounded definite. If it was an exploratory interview, he should have said that.

So I am seriously considering telling them to FOAD even if they offer me a job. I'm getting work without them, they can stand in line with everyone else!

Bonehead left a message on my cellphone asking me to call him back. We'll see what his excuse is.....

ciao

EDIT

Just to add the capper to the day....it's SNOWING!

A little advice....

If you have a paper cut on your finger and need to chop up some fresh garlic....make sure that the fresh garlic doesn't come into contact with the cut! Or you will be sorry! Ask me how I know. Go ahead. Ask.

Maybe a finished object....

So, I finished knitting my second pair of Fetching gloves. However, one of them is a titch smaller than the other. Hmmm, maybe I can block it out bigger.....

So, there I was at work, with 2 knitted up fingerless gloves, and no needle to weave in the ends with! What's a knitter to do? I know, go online and find another project to cast on for! Wait, there are limitations. It must be small, it must be something I can knit on DPN's (cause that's all I had with me) and it must be a pattern I can get from the internet! Here we go! A toy for a little girl for Christmas.

Doesn't look like much yet. Hopefully it will in a while.

Last, but not least, my Socktoberfest contribution:

Servicemen socks! My husband is really excited about getting new, vintage socks.

Ciao

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Yes, for those of you wondering, here in
Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend! The relatives came over for dinner. There was turkey. There was gravy. There was cranberry sauce. And potatoes. And corn.....

There was also....knitting!


MIL with her "travelling kit"!








I'm off to sleep off the tryptophan from the turkey and the wine. Oh yes, I forgot! There was wine!

Ciao!

I've Got The Clap!

Get yer mind out of the gutter! My Clapotis is finally done!

I'm showing it to you like it was a shawl because I am still unravelling all the drop stitches. The other side isn't quite unravelled yet, and I still have to weave in the 2 ends. But the knitting is done! Yippee!

Now to cast on my hubby's socks.......

ciao

The End is Near!

I have almost finished! I have finished the knitting part. However, I have NOT finished the, er, crafting part. In addition, taking pictures at night with a flash is a pain. Besides, my sister is coming tomorrow and she can help me with the picture part. However, I simply have to give you something to look at in celebration of my finally almost finishing. This project has been going on forever! At least, it feels that way. Which project you ask? Well, I'm not gonna tell. I will show you this:



THIS is the amount of yarn I have left!
And I thought I would run out. That'll teach me.










Tune in tomorrow for more pics!

Ciao

Way less stressful!

Today I worked at a store at least as busy as the store from hell job that I quit in July. Somehow, even with 2 less people working, the work got done. Smoothly, with no stress. Amazing. I'm not sure what was wrong with the losers at that other place, but clearly something was wrong with them!

However, since the store was busy, there was no knitting! *gasp* I know, I'm lucky that sometimes there IS time for knitting. so, I shall suck it up this time and see what happens in the future.

Inclosing, a cute kitty picture. It was from my "artsy" phase...

Ciao

What have I been doing?

Hmmmm.....what have I been doing? Well, this week I was working alot. So I bought some knitting to work on at the quiet stores. So far I have this:

This is the first glove of the second pair. Only took me 1 week of knitting at work in between customers to do. So I should manage to get a pair done for Christmas rather handily. (get it? handily? okay, at least I amuse myself)

Clapotis continues to grow. I am 2/3 of the way through.

(Cat included for scale)

When I don't feel like knitting on Clapotis, I am bustin' my stash of dishcloth cotton.

It is a dishtowel. 93 stitches wide. It will be as long as it can get on the odds & ends of cotton I have.

In exciting news, my Mason Dixon Swapcloth Pal mailed me my surprise! Her name is Joni. Here it is:

The colours are very bright and summery. They remind me of the sherbet my mom used to buy when I was a kid. Very cool.

Cool

Stop the presses!

I have finished "Fetching"!

Yup, I finished 'em on sunday. Even with the repair job I had to do.

Want an action shot? Okay,

This was a fun, fast knit. I've already cast on for the next pair.

How cool is that?

Now THAT'S cool! Actually, it's a cup full of dry ice that I dumped some water on. Spooky eh? The pharmacy I worked at today got a shipment of some products that have to stay cold, so they ship it in dry ice. I brought some home to play with.

Ciao

Oh Snap!

And I mean that in the #$%^&* bleep! bleep bleepity bleeping bleep sense! Check out this pic of my second Fetching fingerless glove:

Do you see that? The cable right in the middle right AT THE VERY BEGINNING is backwards. ARGHH! I noticed last night after several hours of knitting. I simply did not have the wherewithal in me last night to attempt to fix it. Today I am going to attempt to fix it by unravelling those 4 stitches and re-knitting them. In other words, surgery. If it doesn't work, then it's to the frog pond we go. So much for planning to get these done by the end of today....sigh..the best laid plans of mice and men...

I will keep y'all apprised of the surgery and how the patient does....

Ciao

EDIT:

Surgery has been attempted and finished:

I found the Yarn Harlot's tutorial on how to fix this very helpful. Although she suggested doing the fix with needles one size smaller, I went down from a #6 to a #2. Only because that was the only smaller size needle I own. I must say that I am glad I did go down so far, though. It would have been much harder with #5's! It was difficult enough as it was. But I did it! *dances with glee*

Simply Fetching.....

Yes, I started another project. I am no longer a cable virgin. Soon not to be a picot edge virgin. I started Fetching last night. I'm really digging this pattern. It's a quick, easy knit with impressive results. So far:

In one night I've knitted up to the point where you add the thumb hole. it's being knit in an acrylic so that I can wash & wear 'em. These would make a good Christmas present for an unexpected person at a Christmas get-together. I'm gonna knit up a few pair, I think and put them in the "long range planning" box. I think I might donate a pair to the woman's shelter for a Christmas present too. They are always looking for nice things around Christmas time for the residents. All in all, I am really pleased with these fingerless gloves. Just goes to show ya, I had my doubts about the other pair I started (and now will never finish). Should have trusted my gut.

Hopefully I can finish this pair of gloves in a weekend. I'm gonna try.

Ciao

Maid to cats

No knitting today. In fact, if you have a weak stomach, skip today's post......

I feel like I am the freaking maid to the freaking cats! In the past 3 days I have cleaned up 2 furballs (gross) and 3 cat pees outside the litterbox. Barely outside the litterbox. On purpose. I had originally thought the cat was in the box but her butt was hanging over the edge when she "cut loose" I've actually seen this happen in the past, so I figured if I got a bigger litterbox, the problem would stop. It did. Until a few days ago. So I bought a new, bigger litterbox. Actually, I bought a baby bathtub. The litterbox I had was the biggest one I could find and it appeared not to be big enough. As it turns out, the problem wasn't the cat's big butt hanging over the side. she just didn't feel like peeing in the box! Arghhghhh! Double gross! So I covered the area arond the box with newspaper and covered that with tinfoil. I've heard that cats don't like stepping on tinfoil, so I'm hoping this will discourage squatting outside the box. So far, so good. But it's only been one day....

On the bright side, the baby bathtub only cost me $8 and change. That's $2 cheaper than the large litterbox. So I just may switch to baby bathtubs instead of litterboxes from now on. They are slightly deeper and longer too. so hopefully they are more efficient. We shall see.

Unsatisfactory

Right. So the floppy drive on my computer croaked. Which is a problem since my Mavica digital camera stores pictures on a floppy. In order to get them to the computer, I need a floppy drive that works. "No problem" says my IT dude. (aka hubby) "I have a boxful of floppy drives in the basement, I'll just change it out." An hour, 2 drives and many swearwords later, it works. Yup, we had to change out 2 drives! But it works. For now. So, the computer was acting unsatisfactorily. Also in the "unsatisfactory" category, my fingerless glove:

Apparently my hands are tiny. I even adjusted the pattern because it looked too big for my hand. Don't like it, no sir. So there will not be a glove number 2. I'm going to move on to "Fetching" I think. Hubby says I should stop knitting useless things. Fingerless gloves are in the category of "incomplete and useless knitted objects" according to him. since I am a process knitter, I don't care if I never use it. As for the hubby, if it keeps me quiet and out of his hair, why should it matter if I knit something useful?

However, in the interest of keeping the peace, here is the progress on my dishtowel.

This qualifies as "useful" according to H's category, so he doesn't whine about it. It's also an easy knit, which makes ME happy. Now if we just dipped it in tuna, the kitties would be happy too and we could all do the happy dance!

Pagan wants to know why I woke her up, if there is no tuna????!!!!

Ciao

Thank goodness

Ha! i have vindication. That the company I used to work for is a bad, bad company. They break the law. For those of you new to this blog, I quit my job on July 20,2006. I did not have another job to go to, I simply couldn't stand working for this company anymore. I finally received my ROE (record of employment) on September 15,2006. That's 8 weeks after my quit date. I recieved my notice that my benefits were terminated 1 week after my quit date. Legally, here in Canada, the ROE is supposed to be sent out within 1 week of the last day of work. That's because it is needed to apply for govenment benefits such as unemployment insurance. (yeah, yeah, they call it employment insurance now...whatever).

Thank the powers that be that I didn't need to apply for anything that needed the ROE!

However, it clearly shows that the company is not interested in doing the right thing. Not even if mandated by law! I have left several employers over the years, and I have never had one take this long to send out the ROE. Never.

Just another point of evidence that I am indeed better off not working for that company.

Ciao

Renewal

Well folks, I've taken the plunge.

That is the shrug I knit up a while ago. The one that was waaaaay too small. I decided to take Sandra's advice and dump the pattern. I was thinking of reknitting the back, but I got to thinking that there would be other problems cropping up at that point. Screw it! I'm going to knit the Chunky Cardigan on page95 of Vogue Knitting international fall 2006. I've got enough wool to do it, so there! Hopefully this pattern won't be so weird. I'm hopeful since there are different measurments for length, bust size and arm size. SoI should be able to cobble something together that fits me. The damn shrug wasn't nearly as comprehensive for sizing. (obviously)

After froggin the shrug, I decided I needed some "renewal" time. So I did my alpha-hydroxy face mask. It helps shed the top layer of skin cells and keeps your skin smooth and the pores small. While I'm doing it I look like a reject from a bad horror flick:

But it really does work. I think next time I'll get the lotion that you smooth on, though....

The things us girls do!

Ciao

On blogs and channelling your mom.

Ohmigawd! My name is Carol and I am a knitting blog addict. I just spent the last couple of days setting up a Bloglines account and putting all the blogs I read into it. All 72 of them! Eeek! No wonder it took a couple of days. In the process, I finally figured out (somewhat) how to add something to the sidebar of MY blog. I have yet to figure out the "buttons" for knitalongs etc. I'm not that advanced in bloggerland yet.

In other adventures:

My husband says I have too many clothes. Quelle surprise. Actually, what happened was this: He was looking for his sweater and couldn't find it. I asked if he looked in the bedroom closet. He told me he was't stupid, of course he did! And that he had looked in "all the other places it could be". Naturally he couldn't find it. So I went upstairs, looked in the bedroom closet and found the sweater. Took, oh, about 3 minutes. Tops. Of course that means I have too many clothes in the closet. Since he looked and couldn't find it. I could feel the ghost of my mother looking on. Whenever I couldn't find anything as a kid, she would say "Did you look past the first row?" I almost said that today, but thought it would be too creepy. Although , of course, the answer was, no, hubby did not look past the first row. So that means I have too many clothes.

In answer to that slander, I respond "That is the hubby's opinion. Opinions are like belly buttons. Everyone has one"

Ciao

Progress...I hope.

I have been working on Clapotis. Really. I have. See:

Actually, I am 1/3 of the way through. I just finished the first of 3 skeins of yarn for this.

I have a new "knitting at work" project. I needed something small and easy to pick up and put down in between customers. So here it is:

It's a fingerless glove from the One Skein book. Basically, you knit a garter square and stitch the sides together to make a tube. Leaving a hole for the thumb, of course. There are a few sections of drop stitches across the back to give it some give across the knuckles. I'm doing it in a self-striping yarn. Since it is knit side to side, the stripes will run the length of the hand from the wrist to fingers. So I am calling it my "racing stripe driving gloves". As I started knitting it up, I wasn't sure I would like it, but now that I am further along, I thing I DO like it.

I am debating starting a new pair of socks. But I want to try a fingerless glove pattern in the round as well. The pattern would also give me chance to try cables as well. /which I have never tried. Would it be too much, I wonder? So I am vacillating between the 2. So many choices. So little knitting time. I will mull it over as I continue to slave away at the Clapotis.

Ciao

To Start, Or Not To Start?

Fugeddabout it! Of course I started new projects! Two of them, in fact. One is my new "mindless knitting". A dishtowel.

The hubby has pronounced that he liked the experimental one, but could I please knit the next one a bit wider?

So this is what I am working on when I don't feel like struggling with my Clapotis. But what if I want to do something a bit more involving and still don't want to work on my Clapotis? Naturally, I need a backup thought-involving knit! Doesn't everybody? Here it is:

Note that the household supervisor had to get her opinion in. Fortunately, the opinion is positive.

This is going to be another square in my Noro wool afghan. I decided to flip through my stitch dictionary, and found this pattern:

So I decided to try it. My theory is that if it is too hard, or I screw up while trying a new stitch, it doesn't matter since it is only a square of 9 inches. So ripping it out doesn't feel so horrible.

To date, I have only frogged it once. Of course, I have only made it through 1 pattern repeat so far.....

Speaking of frogging, This is destined for a swim:

Looks nice, eh? what you can't tell is that it appears to be sized for a 10 year old! Yes, I did get gauge. I checked. Before I started the project AND after, when the thing turned out so freakin tiny! This after all the problems I had making the collar. Clearly I am a newby knitter. Even though I have knitted things for years, I am obviously a newby. Why would I say that, you ask? I knitted this (my first sweater) waaaaay back in April/May. (sorry forgot to take a picture of it) Then it languished while waiting to be seamed. I got it half seamed up in June, and then the heat wave hit. No seaming for you, Ms Shrug. Finally got around to seaming it up . Wove in all the ends. Read the instructions which said to "Pick up 100 stitches starting at middle lower back with size 15 needles. Knit ribbing". Which I did. Pick up the stitches that is. Then I tried to knit them. Couldn't get 'em off the needle. Couldn't get 'em to slide around at all.Thought about it and realized that the shrug had been knit on size 10's. Duh. Panicked for a bit trying to figure out how to get the stitches off. Finally pried 'em off using a crochet hook. Picked 'em back up using a much smaller needle. Yippee! We're in business! Um, no. Clearly the knitting fates had it in for me. ALL OF THE STITCHES WERE PICKED UP BACKWARDS. I gave up. I put the thing away . The Fates have clearly decided this was not a good project for the moment.

And now the #$%^& collar will have to be frogged so I can un-seam the thing, frog the back and re-knit it to a more reasonable size. THEN re-knit the collar. Fortunately, I picked up quite a bit of extra yarn when I was buying for this project. So I should have enough of the extra to do this. So the Fates were not completely unkind. Apparently I just need more practice knitting according to them. And seaming. And weaving in ends. And picking up stitches......sigh.

I'm gonna go work on my tv knitting. I need something easy to soothe my tormented inner knitter.

ciao

I am a surgeon.

Oh boy! What a learning curve on this Clapotis project. I thought I had the pattern down. I knew the routine the pattern followed, I knew to check at the end of each purl row for number of stitches after the marker, I inserted a marker every 6 stitches, I used a lifeline. And somehow I STILL managed to screw up! A set of knit stitches where there should be purls! Argh! Of course I discovered this after 6 rows or so. At first I thought, "Those stitches look funny. Did I drop one? No they look kind of loose. Oh well, that'll tighten up once the yarn moves around some and re-distributes itself." And I kept knitting. And knitting. Eventually I looked at it and recognized the stupid mistake. However, I realized that I did not have to rip back those 6 rows! Yay! I will unravel those pesky stitches one by one and crochet them back up.

So that's what I did. I am pleased to say that the surgery was a success.

Ciao

Strange things are afoot!

Talk about trading up! This guy is impressive. Okay, maybe it's not strange per se, but it IS kinda interesting. My theory is that the only reason this worked is that he got advertising so people were wiling to help him along the path out of curiousity. Will he manage it? Will he flop? I'm sure if I tried this, I'd start out with a paperclip and wind up with a bent staple at the end!

Next weird thing...FO's! Yup, I've been on the warpath for a few days. I want to finish some things before I start anything new. First up:

A felted purse. It's got 3 compartments inside, and better yet, ALL MY STUFF fits inside! Go figure. Here's a close up of the decorations/closure:

The purse sort of rminded me of the old field bag that soldiers used to carry. Besides, pseudo-military look is in, so I decided to go with a row of buttons up the middle in a military inspired kind of decor. Then I made a loop of elastic to stretch around the big bottom button to hold the bag closed. Next, for ease of opening, I attached a small tassel to the elastic. That gives me something to pull so I can easily find the elastic. Otherwise I had visions of myself in the grocery store saying things like "hang on, I can get into my purse, just a sec..." As I tried to hook the elastic with my fingernail. I'm quite pleased with my spiffy new purse.

Pushing on. The next f.o. is for the long range planning department. In short, an Xmas present.

Socks! And that concludes our required Christmas knitting. Yippee! I've still got some other presents to make, but if they don't get done, there will be no tears shed. The pressure is off.

Around here it is officially fall. Even if the calender doesn't say so. I can tell because thie fellow came to visit my backyard:

He is a northern flicker. Sorry for the poor quality of the shot. I tried to get a better shot, but he flew away. He is a yellow shafted northern flicker. The good side is that he eats ants! while I did manage to get my ant problem under control, anything that eats ants is welcome in my yard! Why is this a sign of fall? While I know that they are probably around the rest of the time, I only seem to see him in the fall. So, he is my own personal harbinger of fall.