Transmission Ended
Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday's Conundrum
So, as I was about to drift off during my daily nap, I had a thought. Right now, it is ridiculously hot and humid where I live. I feel like I have to hack through the air with a very large knife or a machete just to get to the car. It's crazy. Well, with weather like this and good hygiene habits, one (like me) has a tendency to shower more than once a day, just to keep up with the sweating and all that. And, by the way, anyone who doesn't sweat in this kind of weather is utterly amazing and your genes need to be studied at length so that the non-sweaty gene can be isolated and spliced into my DNA, but I digress. So, I was also thinking about how people are prone to hyperbole and outright lies and say things like, "I've taken like 20 showers today, it's so hot outside," and the like when they did not, in actuality, take anywhere near 20 showers that day. So, if you are still on the train of thought with me, here was my thought before I almost drifted into napland before I decided that sharing this particular idea was more important than a second nap for me today: Could I possibly take 20 five minute long showers in one day? I'm thinking through the logistics now, like what exactly constitutes a shower...is it just standing under a running faucet or do you actually have to clean something in the process? If you do have to clean something in the process, how would I break down my body parts to allow for something different to be cleaned in each of the 20 showers of that day? I feel that constantly getting dressed and disrobing in order to shower 20 times in one day would take up a considerable amount of time so it would be best to just hang out in my pjs or a robe for the day, which is generally antithetical to the reason why people usually spend the day in their jammies or a robe. Another question that just occurred to me...since I'll essentially just be hopping into and out of the shower all day, will my fingers prune up slowly over time or will they prune up early on and just stay that way throughout the day? Also, is one to two minutes between showers sufficient time for it to constitute two distinct showers or is that just a continuation of one shower? If it is just a continuation, then how long do I have to wait between each shower for it to constitute its own distinct shower? Before I launch into this experiment into cleanliness (borderline Howard Hughesian cleanliness but I'm not wealthy enough to be eccentric...just weird), I need to tease out the answers to the above questions and get everything worked up logistically. I'll be earth friendly and take every shower with a big bucket and use the water to flush the toilets and water the plants for the next week and I only use all natural soaps so no polluting that way. But anyway...jump on the train of thought with me and help me to become that person who isn't full of crap when they say "I took twenty showers today...it was so hot out."
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The words to the song
*This post will be a departure from the norm although it will involve me pontificating, which is normal. Consider yourself forewarned.*
A cable outage due to a tropical storm leaves a person with time to sit and listen to music (or watch DVDs or read a book or whatever...this post is about music.). While my love for music fluctuates (doesn't it seem like "fluctuate" should have an -x in it?) between being merely enamored and being totally and completely blinded by the beauty, the love is always there. I was going through a stack of CDs, yes CDs...those wonderfully tangible little discs of light that carry both the notes and the space in between...those fantastically sensitive circles of multicolored sunshine that are going the way of the dodo, the betamax, and the outhouse...Anyway. I was going through a stack of CDs the other day and I've been listening to a lot of music that I haven't listened to in a long time. Now, it's all I'm listening to...in my car, at my house, wherever I am I find that I end up asking if I can put on a CD, listen to a song, hear a note or two. While I could go off on a completely separate tangent about rhythm, beats, melody, and all of those other things that make a song move forward, I'm not feeling technical today (although you wouldn't know it).
I'm all about the lyrics today. I had one of those mornings this morning when I woke up with a song stuck in my head and it wasn't the beat that was rattling around...it was the words. I'm that person who will listen to a song six hundred times in a row to tear it all apart and know it in every possible way...to the point where others who spend a lot of time around me have threatened mild physical violence if I hit the back button on the CD or MP3 player (yes, I do have an iPod...I'm not a Luddite for Krishna's sake) and make everyone listen to that song one more time. It's the words to the song that end up meaning the most. It's the only poetry most people hear today and there are millions upon millions of reasons to get involved, really involved, with a song. The physiological and psychological connections that music makes for us are astounding and sometimes, when I'm all caught up in something else, I forget about that and put my music into the cabinet or hide out with it while I'm working, my brain being fed a song or two via the headphones cupped around the input portholes on my head. Being disconnected from music that means something to you is a tragic thing. I think I've decided that I'd rather drown in a sea of music that I love than just feel the mist of a good musical moment on my face before I return to a silence filled with noise. I've decided that I will get up and dance about whenever I need to because the music has sunk itself into me so deeply I don't have a chance. I've decided to recognize the fact that when I dance to music I love I really feel like I'm communicating with my God. I've decided that even though I can attach a song to a person, I'm not going to do that to either the song or the person and I'm going to allow each to live their lives independently of one another so that each may be cherished and enjoyed for much longer. I've decided that there are songs I will listen to every day, come hell or high water (I've seen and/or been through both so it shouldn't be an especially daunting task), because they feed my soul, speak to my heart, and expand my intellect...three things that you should do for yourself every day anyway. I've decided that you can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to and it's important to pay attention to that. I've decided that music is not the only way to judge character but it is a good indication of taste ;-)
So, with that in mind, any recommendations? If any of you are wondering, at the moment, I'm listening to DJ Krush, Ella Fitzgerald, RJD2, John Mayer, The Yardbirds, The Coasters, and lotsa roots reggae.
Regularly scheduled content to follow...thanks for checking in. I hope you are having a beautiful day.
A cable outage due to a tropical storm leaves a person with time to sit and listen to music (or watch DVDs or read a book or whatever...this post is about music.). While my love for music fluctuates (doesn't it seem like "fluctuate" should have an -x in it?) between being merely enamored and being totally and completely blinded by the beauty, the love is always there. I was going through a stack of CDs, yes CDs...those wonderfully tangible little discs of light that carry both the notes and the space in between...those fantastically sensitive circles of multicolored sunshine that are going the way of the dodo, the betamax, and the outhouse...Anyway. I was going through a stack of CDs the other day and I've been listening to a lot of music that I haven't listened to in a long time. Now, it's all I'm listening to...in my car, at my house, wherever I am I find that I end up asking if I can put on a CD, listen to a song, hear a note or two. While I could go off on a completely separate tangent about rhythm, beats, melody, and all of those other things that make a song move forward, I'm not feeling technical today (although you wouldn't know it).
I'm all about the lyrics today. I had one of those mornings this morning when I woke up with a song stuck in my head and it wasn't the beat that was rattling around...it was the words. I'm that person who will listen to a song six hundred times in a row to tear it all apart and know it in every possible way...to the point where others who spend a lot of time around me have threatened mild physical violence if I hit the back button on the CD or MP3 player (yes, I do have an iPod...I'm not a Luddite for Krishna's sake) and make everyone listen to that song one more time. It's the words to the song that end up meaning the most. It's the only poetry most people hear today and there are millions upon millions of reasons to get involved, really involved, with a song. The physiological and psychological connections that music makes for us are astounding and sometimes, when I'm all caught up in something else, I forget about that and put my music into the cabinet or hide out with it while I'm working, my brain being fed a song or two via the headphones cupped around the input portholes on my head. Being disconnected from music that means something to you is a tragic thing. I think I've decided that I'd rather drown in a sea of music that I love than just feel the mist of a good musical moment on my face before I return to a silence filled with noise. I've decided that I will get up and dance about whenever I need to because the music has sunk itself into me so deeply I don't have a chance. I've decided to recognize the fact that when I dance to music I love I really feel like I'm communicating with my God. I've decided that even though I can attach a song to a person, I'm not going to do that to either the song or the person and I'm going to allow each to live their lives independently of one another so that each may be cherished and enjoyed for much longer. I've decided that there are songs I will listen to every day, come hell or high water (I've seen and/or been through both so it shouldn't be an especially daunting task), because they feed my soul, speak to my heart, and expand my intellect...three things that you should do for yourself every day anyway. I've decided that you can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to and it's important to pay attention to that. I've decided that music is not the only way to judge character but it is a good indication of taste ;-)
So, with that in mind, any recommendations? If any of you are wondering, at the moment, I'm listening to DJ Krush, Ella Fitzgerald, RJD2, John Mayer, The Yardbirds, The Coasters, and lotsa roots reggae.
Regularly scheduled content to follow...thanks for checking in. I hope you are having a beautiful day.
Transmission Ended
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Book Reviews...
So, summer is prime reading time for many people. There are vacations to the beach (where knitting can get a bit sticky and sandy. The idea of working with wool whilst sweat beads roll down my sides gives me the bad shivers...ugh.) or lake house (much better for knitting but reading is nice too). There are great holidays, like the Fourth of July, when you get to kick around the house for a while or sit outside in the sunshine and read. Suffice to say that summer presents many wonderful reading opportunities and, if you are not a school age child or a student of some kind who is forced to read during summer break, you may be hankering for a suggestion or two. Despite the fact that I work for a publishing company that has published many fine books for summer reading, I don't feel like shilling for my company (although most of my authors are fantastic and wonderful people who deserve some more PR) so I'm presenting you with two books that were not published by my company that would make delightful summer reading.
Just so you know, you can click on the little box under the sub-headings and it will direct you to the book via Amazon. For some reason, the images themselves aren't showing up in my browser (Firefox) but I wanted to let y'all know they existed.
Number one:
The Book of Air and Shadows by Micheal Gruber has all sorts of elements of a good suspense novel....a forlorn and luckless main character, a couple of suckers, a dame with a past, and a tough talking lady cop. The book itself is organized like an Anglophile book (think Salman Rushdie, Vikram Chandra, V.S. Naipaul...hell, even Gabriel Garcia Marquez) in that there are actually three stories being told simultaneously and, of course, in the end, they all intertwine to become one story. The basic breakdown of the book is this: The main character is an IP lawyer who gets handed a sixteenth (I believe) century letter, from a very nervous client, that potentially points to the whereabouts of an unknown Shakespeare play and has information about Shakespeare himself, one of the most elusive figures in literary history. Shortly after the main character has taken the property into his custody, his client, a Shakespeare scholar and English professor, disappears and turns up dead. The main character, ever one to appreciate a mystery and a challenge, goes on a mission to find out what the sixteenth century document says, its provenance and the hidden Shakespeare play the document alludes to. After the main character gets a hold of the sixteenth century document, the other stories are introduced. The reader slowly finds out where the document was found, the hands the document passed through, and the truth behind the whole thing. The Book of Air and Shadows is sprinkled with interesting historical tidbits about Shakespeare, cryptography, and book binding. It involves rare book dealers, literary scholars, and the Russian mafia. There is a great chase scene at the end involving boats and children. Overall, I'd give the book three to three-and-a-half stars out of five. The writing style, tone, and pace were very good and the author's voice adapts and changes for each story being told without the whole book falling apart and getting convoluted. Personally, because I read for a freakin' living and have to notice things like this, I think the author left himself too many choices for ways to end the book. When it came time to end the book, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities and was, thus, not fully satisfied with it. That being said, it's one of the more entertaining books I've read lately and I do recommend checking it out. It's not your typical, formulaic beach-type reading so be prepared to get into it a bit deeper than you would, say, a Janet Evanovich or James Patterson novel (both of whom, by the way, are fine novelists from what I understand).
Number Two:
The Lost Van Gogh was written by husband and wife team, A.J. Zerries. While there was some interesting history here about Nazi art theft and black market art dealing, I could only, in good conscience, give this book a maximum of two-and-a-half out of five stars. The main character, an NYPD cop named Clay, get assigned to all the art cases in his department because of his knowledge of art and its history. A Van Gogh painting that was assumed to be lost forever shows up in a relatively unmarked envelope at the Met via UPS and it is Clay's job to track down the owner and untangle the mystery of where it came from. After the initial chapters when the reader is introduced to the story and the main character, the book starts to dissolve into two different books. Unfortunately, The Lost Van Gogh is a great example of why co-authorship is a difficult thing to do. You must work TOGETHER to write co-author a book...not just assume that your co-author's work is going to brilliantly assimilate into what you've written. There were many, many times in this book that it felt like I was reading two completely different books. The personality and temperament of the main character vacillates frequently and the plot becomes a convoluted mess in parts of it. In the end, the co-authors manage to start working together again for a long, drawn out, and needlessly dramatic ending. I can't even say that I was fully entertained while reading this book but, clearly, this is all just my humble opinion. If you've been thinking about picking up this book, I'd say move along and grab something else.
At the moment, I'm reading...
The Thief of Time by John Boyne. I have only read the first three chapters at this point and so far, it's not bad. More appropriate for beach reading than anything else I've read this summer, it may prove to be an interesting book. I like the concept (the memoir of a man who is 256 years old and has lived through A LOT) and Boyne's writing style is lucid and relatively concise. I'm trying to shut off the proofreader in my head and ignore the dialogue formatting, etc., and just enjoy the damn book. I'll let you know how that and the book work out. So, do y'all have any good suggestions for summer reading? Recommendations you wish to share? I hope everyone is having a great summer thus far. Brace yourselves for most blog posts because they seem to be coming from everywhere.
Just so you know, you can click on the little box under the sub-headings and it will direct you to the book via Amazon. For some reason, the images themselves aren't showing up in my browser (Firefox) but I wanted to let y'all know they existed.
Number one:
The Book of Air and Shadows by Micheal Gruber has all sorts of elements of a good suspense novel....a forlorn and luckless main character, a couple of suckers, a dame with a past, and a tough talking lady cop. The book itself is organized like an Anglophile book (think Salman Rushdie, Vikram Chandra, V.S. Naipaul...hell, even Gabriel Garcia Marquez) in that there are actually three stories being told simultaneously and, of course, in the end, they all intertwine to become one story. The basic breakdown of the book is this: The main character is an IP lawyer who gets handed a sixteenth (I believe) century letter, from a very nervous client, that potentially points to the whereabouts of an unknown Shakespeare play and has information about Shakespeare himself, one of the most elusive figures in literary history. Shortly after the main character has taken the property into his custody, his client, a Shakespeare scholar and English professor, disappears and turns up dead. The main character, ever one to appreciate a mystery and a challenge, goes on a mission to find out what the sixteenth century document says, its provenance and the hidden Shakespeare play the document alludes to. After the main character gets a hold of the sixteenth century document, the other stories are introduced. The reader slowly finds out where the document was found, the hands the document passed through, and the truth behind the whole thing. The Book of Air and Shadows is sprinkled with interesting historical tidbits about Shakespeare, cryptography, and book binding. It involves rare book dealers, literary scholars, and the Russian mafia. There is a great chase scene at the end involving boats and children. Overall, I'd give the book three to three-and-a-half stars out of five. The writing style, tone, and pace were very good and the author's voice adapts and changes for each story being told without the whole book falling apart and getting convoluted. Personally, because I read for a freakin' living and have to notice things like this, I think the author left himself too many choices for ways to end the book. When it came time to end the book, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities and was, thus, not fully satisfied with it. That being said, it's one of the more entertaining books I've read lately and I do recommend checking it out. It's not your typical, formulaic beach-type reading so be prepared to get into it a bit deeper than you would, say, a Janet Evanovich or James Patterson novel (both of whom, by the way, are fine novelists from what I understand).
Number Two:
The Lost Van Gogh was written by husband and wife team, A.J. Zerries. While there was some interesting history here about Nazi art theft and black market art dealing, I could only, in good conscience, give this book a maximum of two-and-a-half out of five stars. The main character, an NYPD cop named Clay, get assigned to all the art cases in his department because of his knowledge of art and its history. A Van Gogh painting that was assumed to be lost forever shows up in a relatively unmarked envelope at the Met via UPS and it is Clay's job to track down the owner and untangle the mystery of where it came from. After the initial chapters when the reader is introduced to the story and the main character, the book starts to dissolve into two different books. Unfortunately, The Lost Van Gogh is a great example of why co-authorship is a difficult thing to do. You must work TOGETHER to write co-author a book...not just assume that your co-author's work is going to brilliantly assimilate into what you've written. There were many, many times in this book that it felt like I was reading two completely different books. The personality and temperament of the main character vacillates frequently and the plot becomes a convoluted mess in parts of it. In the end, the co-authors manage to start working together again for a long, drawn out, and needlessly dramatic ending. I can't even say that I was fully entertained while reading this book but, clearly, this is all just my humble opinion. If you've been thinking about picking up this book, I'd say move along and grab something else.
At the moment, I'm reading...
The Thief of Time by John Boyne. I have only read the first three chapters at this point and so far, it's not bad. More appropriate for beach reading than anything else I've read this summer, it may prove to be an interesting book. I like the concept (the memoir of a man who is 256 years old and has lived through A LOT) and Boyne's writing style is lucid and relatively concise. I'm trying to shut off the proofreader in my head and ignore the dialogue formatting, etc., and just enjoy the damn book. I'll let you know how that and the book work out. So, do y'all have any good suggestions for summer reading? Recommendations you wish to share? I hope everyone is having a great summer thus far. Brace yourselves for most blog posts because they seem to be coming from everywhere.
Transmission Ended
Saturday, June 28, 2008
For some unknown reason...
My comments were not relayed to my email inbox and I had no idea any of y'all commented. Thank you thank you thank you for taking the time to do so. I would've mentioned it earlier, had I known...stupid Blogger. Of course, now that I say that, Blogger will prevent me from posting ever again, which wouldn't be all that different from now actually....but I digress. So, in lieu of yet another actual post, I'm going to do this meme thing that Valerie tagged me with. I think everyone else out in the known blog universe has already done this meme so I'm not going to tag anyone at the end, as per my usual meme behavior. If you haven't been tagged and want to play along, consider yourself "it" and let me know. Here goes:
So, yet another blog post sans photos but I'm working on it. Travis was away with the camera but now he has returned so I can start taking photos and stuff again and posting them. Hurrah! I hope all of you are doing fantastic. Thanks for staying tuned in. :)
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was 18 and finishing my second year in university (I got an early start. Hurrah!) and trying to stop being a complete idiot. I have only partially achieved my goals for both the former and the latter. I still want to go back and get my Ph.D. and I'm still an idiot most of the time.
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
Write at least three pieces of content for books, read a little of my "for pleasure" book, go check on my mama's cats and change their litterboxes (putting that one off until much later), finish the last 1/2" of stockinette on the Linen Kilt (ravelry link) so I can start the decreasing and ribbing, and try not to play Guitar Hero all day (it is a game inspired by Satan...trust me).
3. Snacks I enjoy.
Popcorn with lotsa butter, kettle chips in regular or barbecue flavor, cheese, and apple based desserts
4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Pay off the bills for everyone in my family, set up a trust fund for my nieces and nephew, buy some property, start a charitable foundation for education, and take a world cruise
5. Places I have lived.
Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, all over Florida, Manhattan, Germany, and New Orleans
6. Jobs I've had.
hostess at an Italian restaurant, pizza by the slice slinger, "sales associate" at Banana Republic and Williams-Sonoma, personal assistant, and, currently, I'm a freelance editor/writer and yoga instructor
7. Peeps I want to know more about:
See aforementioned opinion about this. I wanna know more about everyone so c'mon people, now, smile on your brother and get to know one another right now (I know those aren't the exact lyrics but that's what I've got for the moment).So, yet another blog post sans photos but I'm working on it. Travis was away with the camera but now he has returned so I can start taking photos and stuff again and posting them. Hurrah! I hope all of you are doing fantastic. Thanks for staying tuned in. :)
Transmission Ended
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Just so you know I didn't drop off the Earth
I thought I'd post to my blog! Novel idea, right? Anyway. I finally finished my yoga certification training and am now, officially, a yoga instructor. Rockin'! I teach one class a week here and I'm loving it. The studio space is beautiful (there will be photos of the studio on their website soon along with some fun photos of the staff (including me!! Wow!) doing some partner yoga stuff.). After I finished the yoga training, I had to do a ton of work to catch up on and make deadlines for so I was burning the candle at both ends in order to get all my crap done. By the end of most days, I was too tired and cranky to make proper blog posts. Hence the ginormous amount of time between posts. Lame, I know, but it is what it is. So, now that I'm done making excuses for leaving my reader (readers? Maybe. I'm optimistic.), I'll show you some knitting.
I am finally jumping on the Monkey bandwagon (ever so late...I'm a rebel like that) and I am making these beautiful Monkeys:
They are being made with Stitchjones sock yarn in the Arashiyama (sp? Sharon, help!) and I love how they are working up. I'm actually a little bit further along on my second sock than the photo shows (that's my backyard, basically, in the photo as well. I figured those of you who don't have palm trees and rivers to look at might appreciate the view.). Here is another photo of my beautiful Monkeys (or Monkey, as the case may be in this photo):
All I can say about the yarn is that it is heavenly....soft, smooth, squishy, warm but not hot...delish.
I'm also working on these socks:
They are my own design and they are called The Chakra Socks. I'm knitting them up in some rainbow variegated Plymouth Sockotta (it looks less Easter eggish in real life) on size 0 needles (they are going really really slowly because of that). These are my "working" socks that I only work on while I am sitting at my desk, reading blogs and such. I'm catching up on my blog reading (only 2600 or so to go!). I've been reading some of y'all's blog posts from before Christmas. It's kinda weird but I like to be comprehensive, evidently. I've also been trying to comment more on your blogs to let you know that I love the dedication you have for posting regularly and inspiring me to knit new and different things.
Back to the knitting front, I'm about a quarter of the way through the Linen Kilt (ravelry link) from Knit Two Together. Here's a photo:
Notice that my foot, which hasn't made an appearance on the blog for awhile, snuck into this photo. I'm using Louet Euroflax Sportweight Linen in black. I'm loving it so far...lots of stockinette for when I'm watching television or hanging out with Travis. Good stuff. More details when it is finished.
Speaking of finished...
I finished and presented the Print O' the Waves Stole to my mama. I have photos but I haven't uploaded them to flickr yet so I'll have to try and be a good little blogger and get you photos of that. It turned out beautifully, considering it was my first lace project. Because of it, I'm all about some lace now. Go figure. Don't be surprised if I start doing a lot more lace. Which reminds me...I finished the Whisper Lace Socks (ravelry link) too. I'm waiting for the single sock I sent off to the Knitter Project to come back and complete the pair so I can send them off to their intended recipient. By the way, these are definitely NOT a size medium. I even got gauge and they came out quite small...more like a ladies size small...hence the reason why they are leaving the house and heading to a dear friend of mine who has tiny feet.
Well, dear bloglings and blogettes, I've run out of blogging steam at the moment so this is it for the moment. I hope y'all are having a wonderful day and enjoying the world.
I am finally jumping on the Monkey bandwagon (ever so late...I'm a rebel like that) and I am making these beautiful Monkeys:
They are being made with Stitchjones sock yarn in the Arashiyama (sp? Sharon, help!) and I love how they are working up. I'm actually a little bit further along on my second sock than the photo shows (that's my backyard, basically, in the photo as well. I figured those of you who don't have palm trees and rivers to look at might appreciate the view.). Here is another photo of my beautiful Monkeys (or Monkey, as the case may be in this photo):
All I can say about the yarn is that it is heavenly....soft, smooth, squishy, warm but not hot...delish.
I'm also working on these socks:
They are my own design and they are called The Chakra Socks. I'm knitting them up in some rainbow variegated Plymouth Sockotta (it looks less Easter eggish in real life) on size 0 needles (they are going really really slowly because of that). These are my "working" socks that I only work on while I am sitting at my desk, reading blogs and such. I'm catching up on my blog reading (only 2600 or so to go!). I've been reading some of y'all's blog posts from before Christmas. It's kinda weird but I like to be comprehensive, evidently. I've also been trying to comment more on your blogs to let you know that I love the dedication you have for posting regularly and inspiring me to knit new and different things.
Back to the knitting front, I'm about a quarter of the way through the Linen Kilt (ravelry link) from Knit Two Together. Here's a photo:
Notice that my foot, which hasn't made an appearance on the blog for awhile, snuck into this photo. I'm using Louet Euroflax Sportweight Linen in black. I'm loving it so far...lots of stockinette for when I'm watching television or hanging out with Travis. Good stuff. More details when it is finished.
Speaking of finished...
I finished and presented the Print O' the Waves Stole to my mama. I have photos but I haven't uploaded them to flickr yet so I'll have to try and be a good little blogger and get you photos of that. It turned out beautifully, considering it was my first lace project. Because of it, I'm all about some lace now. Go figure. Don't be surprised if I start doing a lot more lace. Which reminds me...I finished the Whisper Lace Socks (ravelry link) too. I'm waiting for the single sock I sent off to the Knitter Project to come back and complete the pair so I can send them off to their intended recipient. By the way, these are definitely NOT a size medium. I even got gauge and they came out quite small...more like a ladies size small...hence the reason why they are leaving the house and heading to a dear friend of mine who has tiny feet.
Well, dear bloglings and blogettes, I've run out of blogging steam at the moment so this is it for the moment. I hope y'all are having a wonderful day and enjoying the world.
Transmission Ended
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Dash in...dash out
So here's a quickie for you since I am in the middle of a hundred things right now. I have another 50 hour yoga intensive session this weekend (from Friday through Monday) and that means almost zero knitting or anything other than yoga, eating, and sleeping. I can't wait to be a certified yoga instructor!! Yippee!!
Knitting:
Knitting:
- The MAN socks are progressing again. I frogged back to the leg so I could add an extra inch to it so it would be the same length as its mate. Then I cruised through the heel flap and started picking up my gusset stitches only to realize I had not turned the heel. Ribbit! Ribbit! I frogged back, turned the heel and am back to the gusset decreases.
- I started another Knit Picks project that, while not being something I would ever knit or use for myself, is turning out rather lovely. It's a bit of fair isle, which is always fun (IMO, anyway) and, compared to my other projects, it's a quick knit. I'll try and get a sneaky photo so y'all can glimpse it before its finished. They sent me their Swish 100% Superwash Wool to use for the project and I must say that it is really great yarn. Very springy and soft. Travis deemed it hat-worthy so that is saying something. More details on the yarn after it's been blocked. More details on the project after it's been published in the catalog.
- The Print O' the Waves Stole is coming along. I have three corners (three repeats), one short side (10 repeats) and one long side (30 repeats) left before I'm finished with the knitting and ready to block. Huzzah!
- The Whisper Lace socks (see left-hand sidebar) are nearly finished. I have a half a pattern repeat to do on the foot and then I can start the rounded toe. I'm almost sad to be finished with it but I have plans for the pair as I'm sending them to someone as a surprise gift with accompanying fun stuff. More details on that when I start that part of the project. I will say that it involves papercrafting though. For some awesome papercrafting action, check out Mary Ann's blog. It's rad and she's talented.
Transmission Ended
Monday, April 07, 2008
I am not just bad at math...
I am stunningly bad at math...Consider this...in my last blog post, I calculated the number of edge repeats on my mama's shawl to be 120 total. However, the pattern according to and copyrighted by Eunny Jang says this, "...work Chart B 30 times over long sides and 10 times over short sides. Work one whole repeat of the edging at each corner." The stole is rectangular, which means it has two long sides (30+30=60), two short sides (10+10=20) and four corners (1+1+1+1=4). So, let's finish the math together, shall we? Okay, 60+20+4=84, no? So, in my original "I can do math in my head" estimate of 120, I was off by...let's see...(I'm going to calculator. com to figure this out)...36 rounds off!! 36 16 row repeats off! This is just the universe's way of helping me to retain my humility. I need to strengthen my math skills...or, when I've had some wine, I should defer to mechanized or computerized assistance when doing math because my brain can clearly not be relied upon.
Wherein I question my knitting abilities for a moment. Based on two and a half examples:
So, for a few minutes there, I totally doubted whether or not I should be allowed to handle two pointy sticks (in any of their incarnations) and yarn. These are the reasons why...two of them involve the same project. I haven't even gotten as far as analyzing what that means but I suspect it means I actually effed up more than the two and a half examples that are to follow.
1) Whilst knitting the second MAN sock (in fingering weight wool handpainted by the effervescent Stitchjones and named "Tom Sawyer"), I got to knitting the foot when I realized that the pattern I wrote myself (y'know, written in the kind of notation only you can understand, with all the weird little abbreviations that only you understand) confused me (ME! I wrote the darned thing!) and I had made a second sock that would be one full inch shorter on the leg than the other sock. Heu misera sum! hahahaha. So I frogged it back to where I started the heel flap and eased all the stitches back onto the needle to knit for another inch on the leg. Then....
2)After working another inch on the leg, I again started knitting the heel flap (40 rows...It's a gargantuan sock. If I knit it up in worsted weight yarn and changed it to a short row heel and a rounded toe, it could be a Christmas stocking pattern...hmmm.). We were watching Sweeney Todd at my mama's house and I made it halfway through the heel flap before picking it up again last night. At this point in the evening, I had already been knitting on the aforementioned project (the lace shawl/stole) and wanted some "easy" knitting. I picked up the MAN sock and finished the heel flap. Then I started picking up gusset stitches. Now, any savvy knitter may by now have noticed my error. I, however, knit away at those gusset stitches for several rows before noticing that I had forgotten to turn the heel, thus making the sock into a really horrible tube sock with a strange patch on the back where the heel flap was supposed to be. Needless to say, I tinked one DPN's worth of stitches out and shoved the whole lot back into my handbag (aka my handbag that is big enough to hold a WIP. Small handbags are used with major discretion these days).
0.5) So this was only partially my fault. I blame it on the slippery needles. The other day, I put down the shawl/stole for my mama with the intent to leave it alone for the rest of the night. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I yanked heartily on one of the circular needles I have been using (one US3 needle and one US4 needle...I couldn't find my other US4 circ so I improvised). I yanked a bunch of stitches, a whole ROW'S worth of stitches, off the needle and couldn't confront the problem for two whole days. Then I dusted myself off, picked the mess up, and made myself a note after deciphering where I had dropped down to on the chart. The note says this: "Don't forget that sts were dropped & p/u'd again, 3 to 5 rows prior to where they were (on the needles, pre-dropping) & therefore (but I used the symbol (three dots making a triangle) for therefore instead of the word) the side (long) will have more (but I crossed it out after I thought about it for a minute...see the math exegesis above for further coverage of that evidently insurmountable task) uh, less, than 30 repeats." Minus the italicized text, that is exactly the note I wrote to myself. hahahahaha
Well, dear bloglings and blogettes, I will return armed with photos and hopefully improved math skills in my next post. Think happy thoughts and find your true path. I hope you have a beautiful day.
Wherein I question my knitting abilities for a moment. Based on two and a half examples:
So, for a few minutes there, I totally doubted whether or not I should be allowed to handle two pointy sticks (in any of their incarnations) and yarn. These are the reasons why...two of them involve the same project. I haven't even gotten as far as analyzing what that means but I suspect it means I actually effed up more than the two and a half examples that are to follow.
1) Whilst knitting the second MAN sock (in fingering weight wool handpainted by the effervescent Stitchjones and named "Tom Sawyer"), I got to knitting the foot when I realized that the pattern I wrote myself (y'know, written in the kind of notation only you can understand, with all the weird little abbreviations that only you understand) confused me (ME! I wrote the darned thing!) and I had made a second sock that would be one full inch shorter on the leg than the other sock. Heu misera sum! hahahaha. So I frogged it back to where I started the heel flap and eased all the stitches back onto the needle to knit for another inch on the leg. Then....
2)After working another inch on the leg, I again started knitting the heel flap (40 rows...It's a gargantuan sock. If I knit it up in worsted weight yarn and changed it to a short row heel and a rounded toe, it could be a Christmas stocking pattern...hmmm.). We were watching Sweeney Todd at my mama's house and I made it halfway through the heel flap before picking it up again last night. At this point in the evening, I had already been knitting on the aforementioned project (the lace shawl/stole) and wanted some "easy" knitting. I picked up the MAN sock and finished the heel flap. Then I started picking up gusset stitches. Now, any savvy knitter may by now have noticed my error. I, however, knit away at those gusset stitches for several rows before noticing that I had forgotten to turn the heel, thus making the sock into a really horrible tube sock with a strange patch on the back where the heel flap was supposed to be. Needless to say, I tinked one DPN's worth of stitches out and shoved the whole lot back into my handbag (aka my handbag that is big enough to hold a WIP. Small handbags are used with major discretion these days).
0.5) So this was only partially my fault. I blame it on the slippery needles. The other day, I put down the shawl/stole for my mama with the intent to leave it alone for the rest of the night. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I yanked heartily on one of the circular needles I have been using (one US3 needle and one US4 needle...I couldn't find my other US4 circ so I improvised). I yanked a bunch of stitches, a whole ROW'S worth of stitches, off the needle and couldn't confront the problem for two whole days. Then I dusted myself off, picked the mess up, and made myself a note after deciphering where I had dropped down to on the chart. The note says this: "Don't forget that sts were dropped & p/u'd again, 3 to 5 rows prior to where they were (on the needles, pre-dropping) & therefore (but I used the symbol (three dots making a triangle) for therefore instead of the word) the side (long) will have more (but I crossed it out after I thought about it for a minute...see the math exegesis above for further coverage of that evidently insurmountable task) uh, less, than 30 repeats." Minus the italicized text, that is exactly the note I wrote to myself. hahahahaha
Well, dear bloglings and blogettes, I will return armed with photos and hopefully improved math skills in my next post. Think happy thoughts and find your true path. I hope you have a beautiful day.
Transmission Ended
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Brace yourselves...
'Cause I'm posting!! Yes, finally. I am posting. Not a cheesy one either...a real post...with photos. Life has gone from relatively quiet to super busy in the span of a few short months and I don't even know where to start. Sheesh. First, we moved on Christmas Eve (we're masochists, what can I say?). And we didn't even just move right down the street or something easy like that. No, we moved several hundred miles south of our previous location, into this house:
This is technically the backyard as the house sits on a river and we have 150' of riverfront view. So freakin' cool...and very relaxing. I now have a craft cubby/work area that looks out at the river. What a way to wake up, I tell ya. We now live closer to my mama so you will be reading a lot about the stuff we do (Sunday dinners, movies, yoga, etc.). It's great fun.
In addition to my regular job, if one could even begin to call it regular, I have been in the process of becoming a certified yoga instructor. HURRAH!! I love it ever so much and now I can rattle on and on about asanas, chakras, doshas, and the like. I'm becoming certified by these amazing people. They are simply amazing and great teachers. The opportunity came up at just the right time for me to do it so I'm all yoga, editing, and knitting these days.
Travis started out working at a tattoo studio down here and, in the interest of keeping my blood pressure low, I won't get into why he no longer graces their studio. On the up side of him being free from the shackles of mismanagement, he has put together a private studio at home and we can now actually spend time together again. Working at the other studio meant about an hour and a half round trip commute and nine hour days but that is a thing of the past. Yahoo!! I'll link his private studio's website on my next post. And no, it won't be three months from now. I do solemnly swear to stop being a crappy, non-posting blogger.
The cats are still ridiculously cute:
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
And, yes, that is Tako Yarns "Isabella Linton" resting on Penelope. Here is a wee photo of the finished sock, Poogar, and, of course, my foot sneaking into the photo. My feet have a mind of their own, I believe.
I sent Elizabeth (sorry about the lack of link action there) one completed sock and I'm about halfway through the other. It is the Whisper Lace Socks (ravelry link) and I'll fill you in on the details when they are finished. I will say that they are turning out quite a bit smaller than I anticipated so they are going to a friend of mine who has very tiny feet. These socks are one of the two lace projects I have going on right now. Last year at this time, I couldn't knit lace if you held a gun to my head. Thinking about that statement makes me realize that I couldn't knit lace now if you had a gun to my head. I'd be too busy crying and peeing myself to knit lace. So, let me rephrase that....Last year at this time, I couldn't knit lace while being massaged with scented oils. Now, though, look out because I think I'm all about some lace. I have big plans, I tell ya.
Speaking of big plans, I finally managed to knit a sock big enough to fit Travis. This is a mighty accomplishment because he has HUGE feet. Here is photographic proof of said sock:
It is knit in Stitchjones's sock yarn, colorway "Tom Sawyer," like the Rush song and I've been loving every minute of it, especially since this giant sock came straight outta my noggin and onto the needles. We don't need no stinkin' pattern. I suppose that I had tried so many times to knit a sock big enough to fit Travis that when I finally decided to knit a sock from my brain, my subconscious made sure to get it right this time. The subconscious is a sneaky thing. It's surprising that I didn't end up with a sweater, considering how chilly I always am. It just goes to show who my subconscious is looking out for. Anyway. Since the skein of yarn from Stitchjones is so generous, I'll be able to squeeze out a pair of giant MAN socks (size 13US) and a sample sock to send off to the lovely and talented Stitchjones herself. She sent me this sock yarn as payment for knitting up a sample sock:
If you don't love it, you could be a fascist. I'm just sayin'...it's beautiful and soft and I can't wait to knit up some bright socks that scream, like an awkward teenager who has finally bloomed into lovely adulthood, "LOOK AT ME!!" In addition to that, Stitchjones and I are cooking up some other things so new patterns and free patterns should be forthcoming. Fun!
In other knitting news, I'm undecided whether or not to change the sidebar detailing my Christmas knitting (or lack thereof) because I very well may just keep them up there and actually knit them for people for Christmas this year. Since it's nearly April, I figure I should get a move on now if I'm actually going to knit for people for Christmas this year. I am, however, nearly finished with this:
Since that photo just screams volumes about what the project is, I won't elaborate. Just kidding. It's the Print O' the Waves Stole (ravelry link) by the illustrious Eunny Jang. I'm working on the edging right now and I've done 12/120 (or 1/10th, if you like fractions, which, generally speaking, I do not) of the edging repeats. I loves it. It is/was my mama's Christmas present but she still doesn't know about it so mum's the word (sorry for the cheesy pun...it just sorta happened). Since I'm nearing the end of knitting this, my first REAL lace project, I plan on finishing it up ASAP and blocking it so be on the lookout for those photos followed by photos of my mother's reaction to said knitted shawl. The yarn, by the way, is Lorna's Laces, Helen's Lace, in Pewter and it is fantastic to knit with. More details when it's finished, of course. I will say that I had to devise a system of paper and many paper clips to do the charts on this bad boy, especially since it initially required loads of concentration.
Speaking of my mother....for Easter, my mother gifted me yarn! Yarn! She has seldom done this in the past but, on a pre-Easter trip down to Key West with some of her friends, she hunted down some yarn shops and hooked me up! I even got some of this:
Tilli Tomas, Rock Star, in "Atmosphere." I have no idea whether to knit it, pet it, or frame it. In addition to that badass yarn, she got me a great selection of other beautiful yarns (check 'em out on my flickr page if you are so inclined) and some Lantern Moon Rosewood needles. So freakin' sweet.
Well, dear bloglings and blogettes, I think I may be finished for the moment. Yoga, yarn, blog reading (I have like 2400 bloglines posts to get through so if I haven't been a good little commenter on your blog, feel free to bitch me out in the comments on my blog. I'm coming for ya so be prepared. *insert slightly evil laugh here*), and nature are calling. I hope everyone is having a most beautiful Sunday. I missed y'all and I'll be back soon.
This is technically the backyard as the house sits on a river and we have 150' of riverfront view. So freakin' cool...and very relaxing. I now have a craft cubby/work area that looks out at the river. What a way to wake up, I tell ya. We now live closer to my mama so you will be reading a lot about the stuff we do (Sunday dinners, movies, yoga, etc.). It's great fun.
In addition to my regular job, if one could even begin to call it regular, I have been in the process of becoming a certified yoga instructor. HURRAH!! I love it ever so much and now I can rattle on and on about asanas, chakras, doshas, and the like. I'm becoming certified by these amazing people. They are simply amazing and great teachers. The opportunity came up at just the right time for me to do it so I'm all yoga, editing, and knitting these days.
Travis started out working at a tattoo studio down here and, in the interest of keeping my blood pressure low, I won't get into why he no longer graces their studio. On the up side of him being free from the shackles of mismanagement, he has put together a private studio at home and we can now actually spend time together again. Working at the other studio meant about an hour and a half round trip commute and nine hour days but that is a thing of the past. Yahoo!! I'll link his private studio's website on my next post. And no, it won't be three months from now. I do solemnly swear to stop being a crappy, non-posting blogger.
The cats are still ridiculously cute:
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
And, yes, that is Tako Yarns "Isabella Linton" resting on Penelope. Here is a wee photo of the finished sock, Poogar, and, of course, my foot sneaking into the photo. My feet have a mind of their own, I believe.
I sent Elizabeth (sorry about the lack of link action there) one completed sock and I'm about halfway through the other. It is the Whisper Lace Socks (ravelry link) and I'll fill you in on the details when they are finished. I will say that they are turning out quite a bit smaller than I anticipated so they are going to a friend of mine who has very tiny feet. These socks are one of the two lace projects I have going on right now. Last year at this time, I couldn't knit lace if you held a gun to my head. Thinking about that statement makes me realize that I couldn't knit lace now if you had a gun to my head. I'd be too busy crying and peeing myself to knit lace. So, let me rephrase that....Last year at this time, I couldn't knit lace while being massaged with scented oils. Now, though, look out because I think I'm all about some lace. I have big plans, I tell ya.
Speaking of big plans, I finally managed to knit a sock big enough to fit Travis. This is a mighty accomplishment because he has HUGE feet. Here is photographic proof of said sock:
It is knit in Stitchjones's sock yarn, colorway "Tom Sawyer," like the Rush song and I've been loving every minute of it, especially since this giant sock came straight outta my noggin and onto the needles. We don't need no stinkin' pattern. I suppose that I had tried so many times to knit a sock big enough to fit Travis that when I finally decided to knit a sock from my brain, my subconscious made sure to get it right this time. The subconscious is a sneaky thing. It's surprising that I didn't end up with a sweater, considering how chilly I always am. It just goes to show who my subconscious is looking out for. Anyway. Since the skein of yarn from Stitchjones is so generous, I'll be able to squeeze out a pair of giant MAN socks (size 13US) and a sample sock to send off to the lovely and talented Stitchjones herself. She sent me this sock yarn as payment for knitting up a sample sock:
If you don't love it, you could be a fascist. I'm just sayin'...it's beautiful and soft and I can't wait to knit up some bright socks that scream, like an awkward teenager who has finally bloomed into lovely adulthood, "LOOK AT ME!!" In addition to that, Stitchjones and I are cooking up some other things so new patterns and free patterns should be forthcoming. Fun!
In other knitting news, I'm undecided whether or not to change the sidebar detailing my Christmas knitting (or lack thereof) because I very well may just keep them up there and actually knit them for people for Christmas this year. Since it's nearly April, I figure I should get a move on now if I'm actually going to knit for people for Christmas this year. I am, however, nearly finished with this:
Since that photo just screams volumes about what the project is, I won't elaborate. Just kidding. It's the Print O' the Waves Stole (ravelry link) by the illustrious Eunny Jang. I'm working on the edging right now and I've done 12/120 (or 1/10th, if you like fractions, which, generally speaking, I do not) of the edging repeats. I loves it. It is/was my mama's Christmas present but she still doesn't know about it so mum's the word (sorry for the cheesy pun...it just sorta happened). Since I'm nearing the end of knitting this, my first REAL lace project, I plan on finishing it up ASAP and blocking it so be on the lookout for those photos followed by photos of my mother's reaction to said knitted shawl. The yarn, by the way, is Lorna's Laces, Helen's Lace, in Pewter and it is fantastic to knit with. More details when it's finished, of course. I will say that I had to devise a system of paper and many paper clips to do the charts on this bad boy, especially since it initially required loads of concentration.
Speaking of my mother....for Easter, my mother gifted me yarn! Yarn! She has seldom done this in the past but, on a pre-Easter trip down to Key West with some of her friends, she hunted down some yarn shops and hooked me up! I even got some of this:
Tilli Tomas, Rock Star, in "Atmosphere." I have no idea whether to knit it, pet it, or frame it. In addition to that badass yarn, she got me a great selection of other beautiful yarns (check 'em out on my flickr page if you are so inclined) and some Lantern Moon Rosewood needles. So freakin' sweet.
Well, dear bloglings and blogettes, I think I may be finished for the moment. Yoga, yarn, blog reading (I have like 2400 bloglines posts to get through so if I haven't been a good little commenter on your blog, feel free to bitch me out in the comments on my blog. I'm coming for ya so be prepared. *insert slightly evil laugh here*), and nature are calling. I hope everyone is having a most beautiful Sunday. I missed y'all and I'll be back soon.
Transmission Ended
Monday, January 28, 2008
So you know I'm not full of scheisse
I wanted to make sure to let you know that I'm not full of caca (but I am fully aware of how to say "shit" or "poo" in many languages), I thought I would let y'all know that I have uploaded photos to flickr today. I have uploaded photos to Flickr today for the purpose of putting them in my next blog post. However, quite a few things have happened lately (most of them good) that have managed to railroad all of my hopes of doing a real blog post today or yesterday or the day before that. That and I have a bunch of photos that I feel will add tremendously to my blog postings about what I've been up to, making them infinitely more enjoyable to read (akin to photos or illustrations being put into a book you've read more than once but, suddenly, when you read the book again with the illustrations, it's like reading a totally different book. Does that make sense? Oh, by the way, while the previous statement may be trying to pull itself off as analogous, it can only do so when one attempts to view the analogy between my blog posting with photos and illustrations suddenly appearing on the pages of a book that has sat on your shelf collecting dust between your yearly reading of said book must be done through the lens of hyperbole. Try it. It's totally analogous then.). It's not like I'd try and resort to using really long parenthetical asides to distract you from the fact that I haven't given you a truly good blog post with photos and "insights" and the banal minutiae of my life for at least a month now. If I tried to do something like that (which I never would because that would be like when you try and take a two-year-old to Sears or Walmart or whatever and have photos of said two-year-old taken for a holiday card and the photographer is saying to the two-year-old, while waving around a plush puppet that resembles a bunny just outside of the peripheral view of the camera, "Look at the bunny! Look at the bunny!" all while trying to get the two-year-old to look toward the camera and smile so he can take the photo. (Again, it's analogous by hyperbole. Just think on it a minute. I'm giving the blog reader a rare glimpse into my train of thought ("I think I can. I think I can. I think I can...") so maybe if you tilt your head to the left and squint a little bit more, it will make sense....or not?))) , you might think that I'm just being lame and filling up space with words that had nothing to do about knitting, my life, our new house, and a variety of other things I plan to show you complete with photos on my next post. For now, I'm just trying to let you know that I am still around and have big plans for posts to come! I hope y'all are staying warm and having fun.
Transmission Ended
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
I haven't abandoned you...
dear blog readers. We have moved and are settling in and getting situated. I will be back shortly with many photos, including photos of beautiful yarn that Sharon sent to me, and funny (I hope) stories. It took over a week for the internets to be installed at our new home so for a while there is was touch and go with the internet. Thieving connections with my new neighbors' wireless networks just wasn't cutting it so we had to get our own...hehehe. Not really, we had planned to get our own internets anyway and I quietly borrowed the neighbors' tenuous wireless networks until then. Anyway. I have to get back to work at the moment. There are things to be written, proofread, and unpacked around here. Not to mention, yarn is begging to be made into something cool. I hope y'all are doing well. More very soon...
Transmission Ended
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Good idea. Bad idea.
Good idea: Preparing for the holidays and getting all your shopping or knitting or creating done by October, at the latest.
Bad idea: Waiting until the last minute to do any of the above stated things thus causing you to want to do nothing more than lie flat on your back, mouth open, under the spigot of a box of wine until you either choke or become drunk enough that it doesn't matter.
Good idea: Preparing to move by packing boxes and giving away all the stuff you don't want anymore at least two weeks in advance of the move.
Bad idea: Procrastinating and waiting until the week before you move to do any packing or eliminating of stuff thus causing you to want to do nothing more than eat some big slices of Xanax pie in order to help you pretend that the house will pack itself and purge any items it knows you no longer want or need.
Good idea: Being 100% certain that Google maps is lying to you when it shows you an aerial, satellite view of your soon to be new residence and, according to the map, says you are moving into a beautiful, three-bedroom shrub with a view of the water.
Bad idea: Trusting that Google maps is 100% incorrect when it shows you that your soon to be new residence is a lovely, three-bedroom shrub with a view of the water and celebrating the move into a larger domicile that is NOT a shrub by imbibing many vodka-based drinks.
Good idea: If you are, in fact, moving into a cozy, three-bedroom shrub, you begin to learn about topiary in order to maximize privacy during showering and sleepy time.
Bad idea: Insisting that Google maps is wrong and you are not, therefore, moving into a shrub so it is completely unnecessary to learn about topiary and it is also unnecessary to trouble yourself with things like pest control, the water table, or anything else that may befall your new shrub/home.
Good idea: Having more boxes than you need to pack up all the stuff that you have in your house.
Bad idea: Not having nearly enough boxes or packing material to pack up all the stuff you have in your house thus causing you to create unorthodox packing materials such as tablecloths, dishtowels, plastic grocery bags, tumbleweeds of carefully collected cat hair, etc.
Good idea: Packing your books into several small to medium sized boxes, no matter how many it takes, so that you can lift the boxes into the moving truck.
Bad idea: Loading as many books as you can into a 30 gallon, blue Rubbermaid tub that requires a forklift and at least a team of six strong oxen to move, let alone get it into the moving truck.
Good idea: Having a big, black permanent marker to clearly mark all your boxes so that your friends, moving buddies, moving men, what have you, plainly see what it is you have packed in those boxes, thus preventing possible disaster when well meaning friends stack a 350lb, blue Rubbermaid 30 gallon tub full of fiction books on top of your wine glasses.
Bad idea: Using whatever writing utensil is handy to scrawl the contents of the box in several inconspicuous places on the boxes in handwriting that drunk four year olds would chastise.
If any of you have any other good idea/bad idea things to add, please feel free. I'm hopefully making light of my current situation. I am 100% certain that I would be getting a lot more unorthodox packing done (as opposed to orthodox packing which, I'm sure, is done in the presence of a clergy member) if I decided not to blog but then what fun would that be for y'all?? You couldn't laugh with me or demonstrate to me that history repeats itself when we do this again next year. After all, our lease date for our new shrub starts on January 1 so, if we decide after living in the shrub for a year that it is not to our liking, we will be making another move at the exact same time. I hope your holiday preparations have been going well, my dear bloglings and blogettes. I'm going back in to the fray, armed with a box of wine and some Xanax pie smothered in a vodka-based sauce for good measure. Wish me luck!
Bad idea: Waiting until the last minute to do any of the above stated things thus causing you to want to do nothing more than lie flat on your back, mouth open, under the spigot of a box of wine until you either choke or become drunk enough that it doesn't matter.
Good idea: Preparing to move by packing boxes and giving away all the stuff you don't want anymore at least two weeks in advance of the move.
Bad idea: Procrastinating and waiting until the week before you move to do any packing or eliminating of stuff thus causing you to want to do nothing more than eat some big slices of Xanax pie in order to help you pretend that the house will pack itself and purge any items it knows you no longer want or need.
Good idea: Being 100% certain that Google maps is lying to you when it shows you an aerial, satellite view of your soon to be new residence and, according to the map, says you are moving into a beautiful, three-bedroom shrub with a view of the water.
Bad idea: Trusting that Google maps is 100% incorrect when it shows you that your soon to be new residence is a lovely, three-bedroom shrub with a view of the water and celebrating the move into a larger domicile that is NOT a shrub by imbibing many vodka-based drinks.
Good idea: If you are, in fact, moving into a cozy, three-bedroom shrub, you begin to learn about topiary in order to maximize privacy during showering and sleepy time.
Bad idea: Insisting that Google maps is wrong and you are not, therefore, moving into a shrub so it is completely unnecessary to learn about topiary and it is also unnecessary to trouble yourself with things like pest control, the water table, or anything else that may befall your new shrub/home.
Good idea: Having more boxes than you need to pack up all the stuff that you have in your house.
Bad idea: Not having nearly enough boxes or packing material to pack up all the stuff you have in your house thus causing you to create unorthodox packing materials such as tablecloths, dishtowels, plastic grocery bags, tumbleweeds of carefully collected cat hair, etc.
Good idea: Packing your books into several small to medium sized boxes, no matter how many it takes, so that you can lift the boxes into the moving truck.
Bad idea: Loading as many books as you can into a 30 gallon, blue Rubbermaid tub that requires a forklift and at least a team of six strong oxen to move, let alone get it into the moving truck.
Good idea: Having a big, black permanent marker to clearly mark all your boxes so that your friends, moving buddies, moving men, what have you, plainly see what it is you have packed in those boxes, thus preventing possible disaster when well meaning friends stack a 350lb, blue Rubbermaid 30 gallon tub full of fiction books on top of your wine glasses.
Bad idea: Using whatever writing utensil is handy to scrawl the contents of the box in several inconspicuous places on the boxes in handwriting that drunk four year olds would chastise.
If any of you have any other good idea/bad idea things to add, please feel free. I'm hopefully making light of my current situation. I am 100% certain that I would be getting a lot more unorthodox packing done (as opposed to orthodox packing which, I'm sure, is done in the presence of a clergy member) if I decided not to blog but then what fun would that be for y'all?? You couldn't laugh with me or demonstrate to me that history repeats itself when we do this again next year. After all, our lease date for our new shrub starts on January 1 so, if we decide after living in the shrub for a year that it is not to our liking, we will be making another move at the exact same time. I hope your holiday preparations have been going well, my dear bloglings and blogettes. I'm going back in to the fray, armed with a box of wine and some Xanax pie smothered in a vodka-based sauce for good measure. Wish me luck!
Transmission Ended
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Gnome of Demotivation...
...has struck me today with a fury and vengeance unrivaled by even the Unicorn of Doom. That is some serious business, I tell ya'. I'm supposed to be writing articles, proofreading a book, knitting up Christmas presents and packing up the house (we're moving. SURPRISE!) but instead of doing the important stuff, I've been knitting dishcloths (10+) and reading blogs. I've plum run out of my usual blogs to read with the exception of Boing Boing. It takes me about ten hours to get through 200 of their blog efforts so I'm putting them off for another day in the near future when I'm trying to avoid working. I thought maybe blogging about a whole lotta nothing would motivate me to do something else but, thus far, no dice. I could thrill you with the details of this excellent juice I'm drinking or wow you with the minutiae of the grilled cheese sandwich I had for lunch (with Thai sweet spicy chips. Oh, so delicious!) but that would be setting a precedent for action on my blog that I'm just not up to snuff for doing. I've noticed a trend on blogs lately that make all of these great suggestions for what to give your loved ones for Christmas. Not being one to hop on ye olde bandwagon, I won't be doing that in this post (or any other post for that matter) so if you were hoping for FancyPants' guide to gift giving, I'm sorry to disappoint. Oh, the ennui! Well, since I've clearly got nothing interesting to blog about other than my dangerous encounter with the mighty Gnome of Demotivation, I'm going to send you off vaguely dissatisfied and hopefully unharmed. That Gnome is a wily one, he is.
Transmission Ended
Saturday, December 08, 2007
On a random note...
I, for just one second, had this really great, really funny plan for a blog post but it has escaped me. Now, all I have to say is that I cleaned out the "storage room" of our house and discovered, much to my dismay, that one of our cats (I'm not going to mention names here because I don't want to point fingers just in case I'm wrong) has taken to micturating in the back region of the storage room. After wiping up copious amounts of dried cat pee and throwing out anything that couldn't be saved (including yarn! YARN!! I threw out yarn!!), I have now come to the conclusion that either the entire house or I smell like cat pee. Either way, it's not pretty or, um, good smelling. I liberally sprayed canned air freshener around the house but now I smell cat pee+air freshener. What a combo. Now I have to go soak some yarn that I'm unwilling to throw out (it was a limited colorway and the first and potentially only ball of yarn that Travis ever labored over to make it into a tidy ball. Now, I ask you, how could I dispose of that?? I have photographic evidence of Travis untangling the skein of this yarn and carefully winding into a ball. It's way too much of a Hallmark moment for me to just toss it into the trash. Seriously.) and hope that I can get the cat pee odor out of it. Oh, I just remembered what I was initially going to say! I was going to tell you how, for the most part, metal DPNs are better than bamboo DPNs if, for no other reason than metal DPNs don't absorb cat pee. Ask me how I know this (And yes, now that I've read that, I realize it was neither funny nor indicative of my status as a luminary, in any sense of the word). I think I need to go wash my hands for the umpteenth time since cleaning out the storage room and make myself an alcoholic libation of some sort. I think I need some Scotch to get over this or, at least, give me the intestinal fortitude for cleaning yarn that smells of cat pee. Oh, did I mention the cat pee?
Transmission Ended
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Late night post...
So I found my camera and, much to my surprise and delight, I did not leave it at my mama's house. Fortuitously, I found it in my car and now I'm able to share some photos of FO's with you. This will be a short-ish post, especially since I am a couple of mixed drinks into my evening and it's late in the evening (thus I'm asking you to forgive any spelling errors and typos that may occur as a result).
Knitting:
Knitting:
- Here is the Grey Ghost:
As I mentioned in my previous post, it was created from following a UK pattern, which caused me some difficulties that have since been resolved. The pattern called for a worsted weight yarn but I was sent a DK weight yarn (it was knit on commission) so I bravely soldiered on and did the best I could do. Read my previous post for the pitfalls of translating a UK pattern into the bastardized form of English known as American English. I went down two needles sizes all around (size US 8 to size US 6 for the body and size US 6 to size US 4 for the ribbing and banding). If I knit this sweater again (which I may) I will knit the banding in one solid piece, starting at the bottom left edge and working right on through to the end of the right edge for a seamless piece. In the above photo, the banding is worked in two pieces and seamed together at the back of the neck, resulting in a seam at the back of the neck. In retrospect, I should have grafted these to pieces together but live and learn, as they say.Overall, I was pleased with the result but there were many things I would have changed (including knitting it in one piece up to the armholes and thus eliminating a lot of seaming). I won't get into the icky details about this sweater because I feel as if I should take the high road on this....and that's all I'm saying about it. - My mother was an unknowing model for the silk Jellyfish and here is the proof:
She had no idea that these photos would be posted on my blog but there she is, in all her beautiful and ageless glory. If you look closely, you can see my oma relaxing on the sofa in the background. I knit the Jellyfish in a size small (in Fiesta La Luz. see my previous post for details about how much I love this yarn) and it fit my mother who is broader of shoulder and larger of tatas than me. Since the pattern called for a worsted weight yarn and I used a DK weight yarn, I went with the recommended needle size (US 8) for a DK weight yarn and used size US 6 for the edging. Clearly, it turned out just fine and both my mother and my oma requested one for Christmas. They are about to be cast on so, needless to say, it was a fun and easy pattern to knit. I'll keep you updated on the progress of those two. - I started and have made some headway on the Print O' the Waves Stole I started for my mother for Christmas. I went with Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in the Pewter colorway for this and I am quite pleased with the result thus far. The pattern, while not easily memorizable, is easy to fall into a rhythm with. I am six pattern repeats into the main part of the stole and I can do it without devoting all my concentration to it, at least for now. I'll take some photos of the progress tomorrow and give you an update.
- I'm still chugging away on dishcloths for stocking stuffers and I still love doing them for some mindless knitting.
- I'm about to start my sister's big Christmas gift and I'm looking forward to it. I'll try to give you little glimpses of it to prevent it from being too secretive and provide y'all with some eye candy.
- On a side note, I'll be seaming up Heath tomorrow and sending it out on Monday (hopefully) after photos. It's turning out really lovely.
Transmission Ended
Monday, November 26, 2007
A long post with no photos....feel free to skip around
Hi y'all! I'm still around, I promise. Time has just flown by this month. Sheesh! When Travis' mama told me she was a bit peeved with me because I hadn't blogged since November 7, I figured I really really needed to blog. So here it is. It will be long but I will label the various parts so you can skip around if you like. Also, unfortunately there will be no photos because I left my camera down at my mama's house. Until I get it back, this will be a word heavy blog. Boring, I know, with all that reading and stuff but there you have it.
Knitting:
I'm the one who is only actually half-dressed in the gown. The lady on the left was another bridesmaid and is apparently faster at dressing than I am. So there you have it....a photo of me. By the way, the photo was not taken at an angle. We had been drinking so much by that time that the world actually looked like that. hehehe
Books:
Knitting:
- The Grey Ghost is finished and has been sent to its recipient. Finally. The pattern came from the Rowan booklet Calmer and was designed by Kim Hargreaves. Let's talk about that for a minute. Did you know that there is a vast chasm that separates UK and US patterns? Nor did I, until I started this one. In the beginning, I figured that the main difference would lie in the cm to inches (Damn the Imperial system of measurement!) but that was no big deal because I have a two sided tape measure. Easy peasy. What I wasn't counting on was the difference in how the pattern was worded. Things like "dec eor until you have X number of sts" on a UK pattern like this read "dec on next and following 4 alt rows and then on every 6th row 8 times." Wha? Huh? In retrospect, it doesn't seem all that difficult but I was positively stumped when I encountered it the first time. Thank the universe for Ravelry because there were plenty of other knitters who helped me interpret the whole weird wording business. Unfortunately, this was after I had already knit the entire back without armholes. Yup, I forgot to knit armholes in the back. And this was after I had knit the fronts (correctly) and measured them against the back, which I was absolutely certain was correctly done (but wasn't), and frogged them. Needless to say, I had to frog the back and reknit the fronts and get on with the rest of it. The longest part of knitting the whole thing was the banding around the fronts and the neck. It literally took me 48 hours of knitting to do this. It was ridiculous and tedious. In the end though, it turned out beautifully. I loathed giving it away but it was a commission knit so I had to. I do plan to knit this cardigan for myself because it's so darn lovely. Blurry photos of it will be on the blog soon along with some details about the changes I would have made to the pattern.
- The silk Jellyfish is also finished. Hurrah! I used Fiesta La Luz for the whole thing and it turned out beautifully. The pattern calls for a different yarn to be used for the border but I didn't want the feel of anything but pure silk against my skin so I stuck with the La Luz and went down two needles sizes (an eight to a six) for the border. I actually took some photos of my mama being an unknowing model in it but see above for the reason for no photo. I knit the smallest size and I had my mama (a size medium - she has rather broad shoulders and big tatas) and my oma (Dutch for grandmother. And she wears a size large top) try it on and it fit both of them perfectly. My oma requested one for Christmas so it's time to go stash diving and find the perfect yarn for it. The pattern was quite easy. So easy, in fact, that I was able to memorize the lace pattern for the sleeves and that's saying something because I feel like my short-term memory is about as good as our cats'. I also just picked up as many stitches as I felt like for the border and started out with 193, as opposed to the pattern's suggestions, which was 132. If you are going to make this little shrug, which you should because it's awesome, where it says "m1" in the border directions, do a yarn over for a lacy effect.
- I also finally finished the entrelac pillow I made for Travis when we first started dating over a year ago. I had finished the entrelac/knitting part of it long ago but I finally got around to making the actual pillow (out of black polar fleece) and seaming the sides (in the car on the way back from my mama's house for Thanksgiving) and I sewed the buttons on last night when we got home. It is now a bright addition to our sofa thanks to the deep blue and purple chenille with the contrasting black chenille that I used for the entrelac (both were Lion Brand Sensations). Photos of that will also be forthcoming.
- Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to do some mindless knitting that was also Christmas knitting so I started cranking out dishcloths like it was my job. I have finished seven thus far and given away two. I'm going to end up using all of my kitchen cotton, which is awesome. Go stashbusting!!
- I am thisclose to finishing the Heath cardigan. I finished the left front banding in the car yesterday and started stitching it in place. All that is left is the right front banding and seaming and she's ready to rock and roll. Good stuff.
- I started my mama's shawl for Christmas. I decided against the tulip shawl because it just wasn't working out and I started another one. I don't have much to say about it yet because I'm about to frog my second attempt and have another go at it. I'm using Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in the Pewter colorway and wow is that some delicious yarn.
- The Titillating TaTa Tube was frogged and boy did that feel great. I also took the opportunity to frog four other swatches that were destined to become something that I thought was going to work at the time, much like the TaTa Tube. Now I have more yarn in my stash and fewer knitting disasters on the horizon. It feels so good to frog things that you know aren't going to work (like a bulky weight yarn on size six needles that you, for some reason, think is going to make a great hat when, in reality, it would make a great bulletproof helmet.).
- So that's knitting news as of late. Sheesh! That was a lot of stuff, right??
I'm the one who is only actually half-dressed in the gown. The lady on the left was another bridesmaid and is apparently faster at dressing than I am. So there you have it....a photo of me. By the way, the photo was not taken at an angle. We had been drinking so much by that time that the world actually looked like that. hehehe
Books:
- I finally finished The Nautical Chart and really enjoyed it. It has mystery and intrigue and a quiet love story all tied together. His writing style is very fluid and engaging, rich with description. That being said, I wasn't in love with the ending. It sort of seemed like an easy way out - a cop out, if you will - and I could've seen it ending in a much more satisfying manner if the author would've chosen one of the many avenues he left open for himself to end it differently. I'll probably try a couple of his other books and see how they go.
- I read Coraline in an evening. It was a very fun, creepy little book. It was written by Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame, and it was very nicely done. It would be suitable for an edgy bedtime story for children, a creepy read for young adults, or a dash of whimsy and that feeling of something is a little off for adults. It literally took me about four hours to read this book and I was knitting dishcloths all the while. I recommend it if you are looking for a quick, engaging read with a character you can easily get attached to.
- I also read Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems and thoroughly enjoyed it. No section of society escapes from David Rakoff's rapier sharp wit in this book of essays. For those of us who knit or create things with our hands, I would like to direct you to the essay entitled, "Martha My Dear: These are Hands, Use Them" as I feel it directly speaks to those who feel the need to make things, to create, and discusses what happens when we do that. Each essay is a quick read with plenty of laugh-out-loud bits and it would be perfect for reading while deeply entrenched in a more serious book in order to give your noggin a break from all that heavy thinking.
- I recently started A Great and Terrible Beauty (Readers Circle) and, although it's written for young adults, I would thus far recommend it to anyone with an interest in slightly Gothic historical fiction novels. I'll keep you updated on that as I go along.
- And going in a completely different direction, I have been reading Life After Death: The Burden of Proof before bed. It is easy to read, straight forward, enlightening, and interesting. I always like to read a non-fiction book along with a fiction book or two to give myself options. I'm about 80 pages into this one and I am really enjoying the conversational tone of the book, which completely lacks highfalutin pedantry. I had been averse to reading any of Chopra's books for the longest time because of the whole bandwagon thing but I'm glad I gave this one a shot because I really find it soothing somehow.
and really enjoyed it. It has mystery and intrigue and a quiet love story all tied together. His writing style is very fluid and engaging, rich with description. That being said, I wasn't in love with the ending. It sort of seemed like an easy way out - a cop out, if you will - and I could've seen it ending in a much more satisfying manner if the author would've chosen one of the many avenues he left open for himself to end it differently. I'll probably try a couple of his other books and see how they go.
in an evening. It was a very fun, creepy little book. It was written by Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame, and it was very nicely done. It would be suitable for an edgy bedtime story for children, a creepy read for young adults, or a dash of whimsy and that feeling of something is a little off for adults. It literally took me about four hours to read this book and I was knitting dishcloths all the while. I recommend it if you are looking for a quick, engaging read with a character you can easily get attached to.
and thoroughly enjoyed it. No section of society escapes from David Rakoff's rapier sharp wit in this book of essays. For those of us who knit or create things with our hands, I would like to direct you to the essay entitled, "Martha My Dear: These are Hands, Use Them" as I feel it directly speaks to those who feel the need to make things, to create, and discusses what happens when we do that. Each essay is a quick read with plenty of laugh-out-loud bits and it would be perfect for reading while deeply entrenched in a more serious book in order to give your noggin a break from all that heavy thinking.
and, although it's written for young adults, I would thus far recommend it to anyone with an interest in slightly Gothic historical fiction novels. I'll keep you updated on that as I go along.
before bed. It is easy to read, straight forward, enlightening, and interesting. I always like to read a non-fiction book along with a fiction book or two to give myself options. I'm about 80 pages into this one and I am really enjoying the conversational tone of the book, which completely lacks highfalutin pedantry. I had been averse to reading any of Chopra's books for the longest time because of the whole bandwagon thing but I'm glad I gave this one a shot because I really find it soothing somehow.- I recently picked up the sewing machine again and started sewing. Just small things like pillows and such but I needed another hobby (HA!) so I started small and I'm progressing. There are two books that I have found to be great resources for the beginning sewer. One is Step-by-Step Sewing Course: Essential Techniques for Making Over 150 Creative Home Projects and it is stuffed full of useful information and plenty of easy projects for the beginner. Another one I have come to find very useful is Sewing 101: A Beginner's Guide to Sewing. It has a hidden spiral binding so it stays flat on your work surface and it addresses everything under the sun for the beginning sewer. It ranks high on my go-to list of books to answer my sewing questions.
- Because of my revamped interest in sewing, I decided to pick up this book Amy Butler's In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects, especially because I had read great things about Amy Butler's patterns, etc. This book did not disappoint. There are great patterns and ideas for cool home accessories, bags, and fun things like a kimono style robe and wide-legged loungie pants. I have high hopes of sewing up a few things as Christmas presents.
- Before I forget, if you have any interest in sewing or crafting of any sort, go to Joann.com and sign up for their email list. You will receive tons of coupons and promo codes for shipping, up to 50% off of items and all sorts of other good stuff. I used a 50% off coupon to get my copy of the Amy Butler book from them and I paid about $12 for it and got free shipping.
and it is stuffed full of useful information and plenty of easy projects for the beginner. Another one I have come to find very useful is 
. It has a hidden spiral binding so it stays flat on your work surface and it addresses everything under the sun for the beginning sewer. It ranks high on my go-to list of books to answer my sewing questions.
, especially because I had read great things about Amy Butler's patterns, etc. This book did not disappoint. There are great patterns and ideas for cool home accessories, bags, and fun things like a kimono style robe and wide-legged loungie pants. I have high hopes of sewing up a few things as Christmas presents.- On Halloween night, I severely sprained my ankle and I've been hobbling about ever since. It's finally getting better and I can almost walk normally. For a while there, I was doing this crazy zombie walk and it appeared to outsiders that I was on the hunt for brains. Such was not the case. Besides, I'm a vegetarian and brains are definitely meat although some would argue that particular brains are made of air and thus vegetarian safe.
- The contest winners are (yes, I finally got around to choosing them with the help of a random number generator) Sharon and TwitchyKnitter. Sharon won the grand prize of the book plus two skeins of yarn for a project and, oddly enough, I had just won her contest but it was completely random. I think it was just good karma or something. TwitchyKnitter won the consolation prize of sock yarn. I am planning another contest soon so stay tuned for more details.
- I will be adding another section to this blog very soon and I have an announcement to make that will have to wait until the next post (which will be very soon. I won't make you wait so long. I do solemnly swear to this.) because it seems that this one is too long already, especially with no photos. I'll also let you know when the next t-shirt will be available so you can get your orders in before Christmas.
Transmission Ended
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
By the light...of the silvery moon
So I haven't chosen a winner of my contest yet because I've been stuck in workland and knittingland and I sprained my ankle pretty badly on Halloween (and have therefore been stuck at home, limping around the house. Good thing I'm pretty much a homebody anyway.). So, in lieu of announcing a contest winner or winners at this time (soon, very soon. I promise.), I've decided to present to you my very first How-To Guide. I can't make any promises about more How-To Guides in the future but I thought y'all would like this one. The title of this How-To Guide is: How To Simulate Knitting in the Dark in the Cab of a Moving 1966 Chevy C-10 Pickup Truck
There are two methods of simulation here so I will outline them separately.
Method 1:
For this you will need:
1 Refrigerator Box (or other large box, big enough for you to sit inside)
1 Four-legged Stool with a back but no arm rests and at least one uneven leg so that it wobbles
1 Knife
1 Room with an Overhead Light Source
1 (or more) Family Member or Friend
1 Pair of Knitting Needles
1 Bit of Flat Knitting, Stockinette Stitch preferred, that needs decreasing or increasing
1 Large Caffeinated Beverage of Choice
The night
To Get Started:
1. Take the knife and randomly perforate the refrigerator box on all four sides.
2. Sit on wobbly stool with knitting in hand and pattern at the ready, preferably rested on your knees.
3. Have friend or family member place perforated refrigerator box over you and wobbly stool, encasing you and the stool in the box.
4. Instruct friend or family member to turn off the lights in the room.
5. Start to knit away on your project.
6. Instruct friend or family member to enter the room and turn the lights on and off for roughly 20 seconds at random intervals for the next five to eight hours on no specific schedule.
7. Carefully scrutinize your knitting when the lights shine through the holes in the refrigerator box and attempt to fix all mistakes, dropped stitches, etc., and/or count stitches during this time. Also, attempt to memorize upcoming details in pattern.
8. Once per hour, take a bathroom break to stretch your legs and feverishly knit by the bright light of the bathroom.
9. After a period of no less than five hours but no more than 13 hours, ask friend or family member to remove refrigerator box.
10. See how you did on your knitting.
11. By the light of day (or the magic of electric light), rip back knitting to where you were before you started this exercise. Or not. You may do much better than you anticipated.
Method 2:
For this method you will need:
1 Windowless Room, preferably with two doors but one door will also work
1 Rocking Chair with no armrests
1 (or more) Family Member or Friend
1 Flashlight
1 Pair of Knitting Needles
1 Bit of Flat Knitting, Stockinette Stitch preferred, that needs decreasing or increasing
1 Large Caffeinated Beverage of Choice
The night (for added and ensured darkness)
To Get Started:
1. Place rocking chair in the center of the windowless room.
2. Turn off the lights in the windowless room.
3. Get seated in rocking chair and settle in to knit, preferably placing pattern on knees.
4. Start rockin' away in the rocking chair.
5. Keep knitting.
6. Instruct family member or friend to run through the room and around you, aiming the lit flashlight directly at your forehead, for approximately 20 seconds every 20 to 30 minutes on no particular schedule for no less than five hours but no more than 13 hours.
7. When friend or family member enters the room aiming the flashlight, frantically hold up knitting and/or pattern to scrutinize for mistakes in knitting or memorize the next bit of pattern.
8. Once every hour or so, turn on the overhead light for 10 minutes and knit as many stitches as you can before you take a potty break.
9. Return to rocking chair, start rocking, and instruct friend or family member to turn off the light and repeat steps 6 through 8 for no less than five and no more than 13 hours.
10. By the light of day (or the magic of electric light), rip back knitting to where you were before you started this exercise. Or not. You may do much better than you anticipated.
So, my dear bloglings and blogettes, that is how you too can simulate knitting in the dark while sitting in the cab of a moving 1966 Chevy C-10 Pickup. If you decide to try this experiment at home, please do let me know how it went. I managed to knit two sleeves (at once, even!) and most of the back of a cardigan this way. Thus ends today's FancyPants How-To Guide. More on the contest, book reviews (I finally finished The Nautical Chart!) both knitting and non-knitting, more movie recommendations, and some FO photos when I return. Until then, I'm having some wine and hobbling back to the sofa. I hope y'all are doing fantastic.
There are two methods of simulation here so I will outline them separately.
Method 1:
For this you will need:
1 Refrigerator Box (or other large box, big enough for you to sit inside)
1 Four-legged Stool with a back but no arm rests and at least one uneven leg so that it wobbles
1 Knife
1 Room with an Overhead Light Source
1 (or more) Family Member or Friend
1 Pair of Knitting Needles
1 Bit of Flat Knitting, Stockinette Stitch preferred, that needs decreasing or increasing
1 Large Caffeinated Beverage of Choice
The night
To Get Started:
1. Take the knife and randomly perforate the refrigerator box on all four sides.
2. Sit on wobbly stool with knitting in hand and pattern at the ready, preferably rested on your knees.
3. Have friend or family member place perforated refrigerator box over you and wobbly stool, encasing you and the stool in the box.
4. Instruct friend or family member to turn off the lights in the room.
5. Start to knit away on your project.
6. Instruct friend or family member to enter the room and turn the lights on and off for roughly 20 seconds at random intervals for the next five to eight hours on no specific schedule.
7. Carefully scrutinize your knitting when the lights shine through the holes in the refrigerator box and attempt to fix all mistakes, dropped stitches, etc., and/or count stitches during this time. Also, attempt to memorize upcoming details in pattern.
8. Once per hour, take a bathroom break to stretch your legs and feverishly knit by the bright light of the bathroom.
9. After a period of no less than five hours but no more than 13 hours, ask friend or family member to remove refrigerator box.
10. See how you did on your knitting.
11. By the light of day (or the magic of electric light), rip back knitting to where you were before you started this exercise. Or not. You may do much better than you anticipated.
Method 2:
For this method you will need:
1 Windowless Room, preferably with two doors but one door will also work
1 Rocking Chair with no armrests
1 (or more) Family Member or Friend
1 Flashlight
1 Pair of Knitting Needles
1 Bit of Flat Knitting, Stockinette Stitch preferred, that needs decreasing or increasing
1 Large Caffeinated Beverage of Choice
The night (for added and ensured darkness)
To Get Started:
1. Place rocking chair in the center of the windowless room.
2. Turn off the lights in the windowless room.
3. Get seated in rocking chair and settle in to knit, preferably placing pattern on knees.
4. Start rockin' away in the rocking chair.
5. Keep knitting.
6. Instruct family member or friend to run through the room and around you, aiming the lit flashlight directly at your forehead, for approximately 20 seconds every 20 to 30 minutes on no particular schedule for no less than five hours but no more than 13 hours.
7. When friend or family member enters the room aiming the flashlight, frantically hold up knitting and/or pattern to scrutinize for mistakes in knitting or memorize the next bit of pattern.
8. Once every hour or so, turn on the overhead light for 10 minutes and knit as many stitches as you can before you take a potty break.
9. Return to rocking chair, start rocking, and instruct friend or family member to turn off the light and repeat steps 6 through 8 for no less than five and no more than 13 hours.
10. By the light of day (or the magic of electric light), rip back knitting to where you were before you started this exercise. Or not. You may do much better than you anticipated.
So, my dear bloglings and blogettes, that is how you too can simulate knitting in the dark while sitting in the cab of a moving 1966 Chevy C-10 Pickup. If you decide to try this experiment at home, please do let me know how it went. I managed to knit two sleeves (at once, even!) and most of the back of a cardigan this way. Thus ends today's FancyPants How-To Guide. More on the contest, book reviews (I finally finished The Nautical Chart!) both knitting and non-knitting, more movie recommendations, and some FO photos when I return. Until then, I'm having some wine and hobbling back to the sofa. I hope y'all are doing fantastic.
Transmission Ended
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Hallo!!
From the depths of my editing life, I emerge victorious. Earlier this month, my boss informed me that we would have many projects coming up and that was not an understatement. I just finished critiquing my fifth of six books for the month and I have done heavy proofreading on four of them. All of this and I managed to write the content for our new website! And by our new website, I mean my and Travis' new website where we are selling something super cool that y'all have to buy because it is awesome and you'd be supporting a good cause and a start-up business. When the website is up and all cool with the new text, I'll get y'all the link so you can go nuts.
Knitting:
Knitting:
- I'm trucking along still on the Test Knitting Project #2 and I'm thisclose to being finished. Yippee! After that I have to get on doing some of the commissions I've committed to doing.
- I am test knitting another pattern that is pretty groovy and I decided to use Elann's Lara in Magenta or Crimson. It looks like this:
- I think I am going to restart the ring pillow because now I'm not so in love with it. I'm thinking a lace panel instead of bobbles. I don't want the rings to get caught on the honkin' big bobbles. That would be awkward.
- I cast on a pair of socks a few days ago in this:
I'm calling them Porkchop's Party Socks because they are for my friend, Porkchop and the colors are all about a party. I decided to use the Moorish Lattice Pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks because I've been wanting to try it forever. It doesn't show up so fantastic with hyper-variegated yarn but I still like it. Also, it's a really really stretchy stitch. - I made a list of all the knitting I have to do before Christmas and that sidebar reflects only a fraction of the knitting I have to do. I'm an idiot.
- It's been a while since I posted anything in this section but it is coming back. I swear. I have a story to tell you about a crazy person who came in yesterday (and every day for like seven days prior to yesterday) but it makes my blood pressure shoot through the roof so I'm giving it another day to rest. She was crazy and didn't make any sense and say things like, "Tha's what I'm axing you to do."
- We have Dexter in the queue of netflix on the recommendation of some friends. We watched three minutes of it and got hooked. I'll let you know how it goes.
- The Return with Sarah Michelle Gellar is horrible. I know this is a big surprise considering the all star cast but it really was bad. It didn't make a damn bit of sense until the last few minutes and it wasn't in that cool Sixth Sense kind of way but in that lame WTF is going on kind of way. I'm a sucker for a bad horror movie and this didn't even qualify as bad.
- Reno 911 the Movie was hilarious. We watched it the other night with some friends. I laughed profusely. It's like watching a two hour episode of the show and I really like the show so it certainly stands to reason that I would like the film. It definitely could not be considered high-brow academic humor in any way but that's okay because some base ridiculousness is good sometimes.
Transmission Ended
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Hi, my name is FancyPants and I'm a knitting addict
I think it's safe to say that I'm a knitting addict. I have three projects on the needles now but I should actually be doing like five projects because they all need to get done. I need many arms, like Vishnu. I just got the newest issue of Interweave Knits. I don't know what took me so long. I've only paged through it or else I'd give you the rundown. I found at least three sweaters I really want to make. I know, you are surprised by this. I also just bought Victorian Lace Today and Ann Budd's Favorite Socks because y'know, I need more sock knitting patterns because I only have a million now. Dios meo, mis amigos, dios meo.
Not much to report at the moment other than tarabeth still needs to leave me her email address so I can send her sock yarn. I worked on Porkchop's party sock (not yet in the sidebar) a little bit while I was reading the other day. I like it. It's right colorful. I am nearly done with Test Knitting Project #2. Hurrah!! And I've done nothing more on my sister's ring pillow. I'm going home to knit now. Wish me luck.
I hope y'all are doing well. I will be way more exciting, and with photos, next post. :)
Not much to report at the moment other than tarabeth still needs to leave me her email address so I can send her sock yarn. I worked on Porkchop's party sock (not yet in the sidebar) a little bit while I was reading the other day. I like it. It's right colorful. I am nearly done with Test Knitting Project #2. Hurrah!! And I've done nothing more on my sister's ring pillow. I'm going home to knit now. Wish me luck.
I hope y'all are doing well. I will be way more exciting, and with photos, next post. :)
Transmission Ended
Sunday, August 26, 2007
And I'm finally back
I'm so sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I feel like there was much gnashing of teeth and showing of swords in a threatening manner every time y'all checked my blog, only to see that I still hadn't done a damn thing with it. So I humbly apologize to y'all and appreciate your patience. I didn't get one (1) angry email even.
So, after much deliberation over the wonderful suggestions y'all provided for my bulky cashmere, I hemmed and hawed over two suggestions that really spoke to me. I finally decided that tarabeth (leave me your email address in a comment so I can get in touch with you to send you your yarn!) is the winner of the Wildfoote sock yarn for her suggestion. In memorial to my kitten, I will make a cashmere kitten out of it that is many colors, just like she was, and is super soft, just like she was. Thank you to everyone for your participation and excellent suggestions. I am filing all of them away for future use, especially the Scribble Lace Scarf and the eyemask! Thanks again for participating. Contests are fun so I believe I will have more in the future.
Also, I have to say thank you thank you thank you thank you for all your kind words and thoughts about the kitty. It was so sweet and thoughtful of y'all and it provided immeasurable comfort to me.
Moving on....
Knitting:
So, after much deliberation over the wonderful suggestions y'all provided for my bulky cashmere, I hemmed and hawed over two suggestions that really spoke to me. I finally decided that tarabeth (leave me your email address in a comment so I can get in touch with you to send you your yarn!) is the winner of the Wildfoote sock yarn for her suggestion. In memorial to my kitten, I will make a cashmere kitten out of it that is many colors, just like she was, and is super soft, just like she was. Thank you to everyone for your participation and excellent suggestions. I am filing all of them away for future use, especially the Scribble Lace Scarf and the eyemask! Thanks again for participating. Contests are fun so I believe I will have more in the future.
Also, I have to say thank you thank you thank you thank you for all your kind words and thoughts about the kitty. It was so sweet and thoughtful of y'all and it provided immeasurable comfort to me.
Moving on....
Knitting:
- I finished the Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Yahoo! I've got a new pair of socks and here they are:
I'm quite pleased with them and, of course, I had to cast on another pair (different pattern), shortly thereafter because I can't seem to not have a pair of socks on my needles lately. - So, sock knitting. I finished my first pair a while ago (the red ones) and I love with them with a passion that can only be reserved for your first pair of finished socks. Then I made some baby socks (look through the photos to see my white, furry model) and then I finished the Gentleman's Fancy Sock. I'm hooked. I have to have at least one pair of socks on the needles at all times now. I think I would actually like to have two pair on the needles at all times, one complicated and one mindless, and I have great plans for some socks that I want to create. I'll even give you the patterns so you can try 'em out yourself when I've finished. Yahoo!! Free stuff!!
- And I will have more free patterns to give to you throughout the rest of the year. I'm going to mix up some free ones with some ones for sale so everybody gets something. I get to call myself an honest-to-goodness knitwear designer and you will get some free patterns and the opportunity to buy (for cheap) some cool patterns to whip up fashionable, fun sweaters, cardigans, socks, and other things I have gestating in the brain pool at the moment. Hurrah!
- I thought I'd take a photo and share with you my notes from making the Gentleman's Fancy Sock.
How professional, you might say, while looking at my penned notes on a paper towel. Hahaha. Yeah, so whatever patterns I plan on making to give and to sell will NOT be printed on paper towel. But if you do the same thing, you are not alone. Details on the sock: I used Plymouth Sockotta and it took me just over one ball to do it. I'd say about 550 yards for the pair. I used size 2.5mm needles and broke one just before I was about to finish the sock (there was cursing involved). I put an extra pattern repeat in the leg and I used one less pattern repeat in the foot to make 'em fit my feet instead of the MAN feet the pattern is written for (skinny, thin, tiny MAN feet). They were great fun to make and I recommend making a pair for you or someone you know. - I'm making progress on the test knitting project #2 and I really like them. The color choices, as I've probably said before, aren't quite me but I do like the pattern. It, again, uses a bunch of things I've never done before so I'm learning a lot and the outcome has been really positive.
- Speaking of test knitting, I got another job knitting samples for a yarn shop up in NY, located close to the publishing company I work for. My publishing boss actually hooked me up with the gig and my first knit is a Rowan cardigan. Yahoo!! She pays me in yarn, which I love, for the knits for the store. She and a friend are writing a knitting book and I'll be test knitting patterns for the book too. Then I get paid in actual money (I'm honestly not sure what I prefer but the electric company doesn't accept payment in yarn although I think I'd probably knit by candlelight as opposed to handing over yarn....). I'll be able to share the store projects with you so that's pretty groovy.
- I started the ring pillow for my sister's wedding.
I'm using OnLine Goby in Cream on size 6 (US) needles. I went with a bobble stitch pattern from one of Nicki Epstein's books (my laziness is preventing me from getting up to check the exact title but you'll read about it soon enough I'm sure) and doing some other fancy-schmancy stuff with it. I'm pleased with it so far. I've actually gotten more finished since that photo so I'll update you with new photos on the next post. - I feel like I've cast on about a million projects lately (okay, so I'm exaggerating) and I want to show them to you. It's actually only been within the last day or so and I haven't had a chance to take photos and go through the process of uploading them. Soon, my dear bloglings and blogettes, soon.
- If you want to laugh until you are gasping for air, go see Superbad. It is HILARIOUS! It, like most genius films, shows one day in the life of the protagonists, two 18-year-old boys about to go to college. It is funny and has moments of sheer genius. Definitely worth the ticket price and we may even go see it again.
- I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was also funny although it can't hold a candle to Superbad, Adam Sandler notwithstanding. Enjoy it on DVD. It was rather predictable but still made me laugh quite a few times.
- We have a bunch of netflix movies and movies from the video store that we have to watch over the next few days so I'll give you the haps on those when I view them. I have notoriously weird taste in films so the netflix movies should prove interesting. One of them is even a horror movie (there is much rejoicing!).
Transmission Ended
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
I'll announce the winner shortly
I promise!! I've been super super busy with proofing and knitting but I chose a winner and I will announce very soon. Thanks for hanging in there. OOOH! And I have photos to show you. Much fun will ensue.
Transmission Ended
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