Update

Just a quicky, because I have no time.

The candle flame socks are done -- except for weaving in the ends, but really ends, schmends.

The OF cardigan is blocking. On my bed. Hopefully by the time I get home this evening, it will have finished drying, and I will be able to use my bed. When I move into my my own digs, I really need to get a blocking table.

The lily pond socks are almost half way done.

There has been no further progress on the flying purple people eaters.

This past week has given new meaning to the phrase "April Showers."

Stitches in Your Home -- what a great idea! Heather is a genius.

On behalf of Mason-Dixon Knitting, please consider donating to Afghans for Afghans if you have a chance.

Random on a Tuesday

It's raining right now. We need the rain, but it makes for some dreary scenery outside. The sky is gray, and from my desk at work I cannot see any of the pear or magnolia trees that are in bloom nearby. Blah.

I really, really need to finish up a whole bunch of projects before I start working on any more. Like the candle flame socks I've been working on (they're almost done. I should have them done by tomorrow.), and the OF cardigan (needs sleeves. Should be done by the end of the week).

Also on the needles that needs to be finished is this shawl.



I have more done than the picture actually shows -- I'm about halfway done with the repeats (note that I did not say that I am halfway done with the shawl -- just the number of pattern repeats). It's done with Jojoland Harmony, which is cobweb weight, and so fine that every time I pick it up to work on it, I get all bleary eyed. It's going a lot better now that it is on straight needles rather than circulars, but I don't know how long that's going to last, since by the time I'm done, I'm going to be working with twice the number of stitches than I am now.

Yesterday was the birthday of Marguerite Henry. I have no idea how old she was, but it makes me want to go out to the beach, even though I know it's way too cold right now.

Since it is no longer Lent, I'm thinking about some sort of berry pie. I wonder what good ones my new book has...

That reminds me -- I need to go grocery shopping.

Whatever happened to Ordinary?

First, some prompts:

1.One blue Nissan sedan, a plot of daffodils, two wild rabbits, and a three year old.
2. Robert Sean Leonard has knocked on your door, carrying a jar of tomato sauce and a violin bow. What happens next?

Whatever happened to the day when you could go into a place of business and perform a simple transaction? The other day, I was at the post office, mailing off a book. I pick up the envelope, address it, and walk up to the teller, at which point, I open the envelope, stick the book in, and seal it. I then hand the envelope to the teller, who says,

"Do you have anything liquid, fragile, or perishable in here?"

I stared at her. I mean, she just saw me put the book (and only the book) into the envelope. What on earth did she think could be liquid, fragile, or perishable about it? The only possible way to ruin it would be if someone along the way spilled something liquid on it, and if that were the case, I don't think mine would be the only thing ruined. I realize she's required to ask that, but I'm a little baffled at how policy flies in the face of common sense sometimes.

Then she asks, "Do you want it insured or certified in case anything were to happen to it?"

Hadn't I just said it wasn't fragile or perishable? What on earth could happen to it? "No," I say. "It's just a book. I don't need it insured. And I don't need to know when the recipient receives it."

"Would you like it to go priority or express so that it will arrive within a certain time, like before tomorrow at 3?"

A vague headache begins behind my eyes, and I stare at her (because really the only reason I was at the Post Office at all was because I didn't know how much postage it would need -- I really didn't foresee it being this big of an issue for her). "NO. It doesn't need to get there before a certain time. There's nothing special about it. IT'S JUST A BOOK. Send it in regular mail."

At which point, she stares at me, like I cannot possibly understand the importance of the decision I am making -- the decision which clearly signifies life or death for myriads of innocents, and (most importantly) denies the USPS a chance to make more money and says, "There is no regular mail. You have to pick which way you want it sent." A pause. "Would you like me to send it First Class?"

No regular mail. This is complete news to me. A complete and utter surprise. I have always considered First Class to be synonymous with "regular mail." Ummm, ok. Whatever. I nod, and she rings me up. "That will be $2.75, please." (I had to buy the envelope too.)

As long as it gets to Florida. But seriously, whatever happened to regular and ordinary?

Once a Classic, Always a Classic

"people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a sham."

This past Monday was the anniversary of the birthday of Anna Sewell, the author of the above quote. In light of that auspicious day, I suggest you check out this place.

Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty in an effort to educate the public regarding cruelty to animals, and it is still today refered to as a novel that helped ignite the animal rights and welfare movements. It was also used by some people as a manual for the care of horses. In fact, the book has been so influential, one SPCA founder was known to give out free copies to cab drivers.

Since its publication in 1877, the book has sold more than 30 million copies and has never been out of print. It is, according to some sources, the sixth bestselling novel written in English. If you've never read this book (and if that's true, I am profoundly sorry for the shallow husk of the empty and depraved life you have obviously led), or if it's been a while since you've read it, I highly encourage you to pick it up. It is, regardless of what you think of Victorian writing (I find it incredibly wordy sometimes), still a wonderful story, for children and adults alike.

A good thing to do tomorrow, as there is a 70% chance of rain.

Pie

My friend H and I were at the local Borders on Thursday, and while wondering around in the cooking section, I discovered this book.

Pie is one of my favorite desserts. I like Pie better than cake or cookies or pudding, and there are so many different kinds that I don't know as I could ever get bored with eating it. But even I didn't realize, until I picked up this book and started flipping through it, that there were this many different kinds. Seriously, 300 different kinds of pie? Wow.

Dudes. My next baking endeavor has just gotten way more interesting.

Ideas

So my parents have recently gotten back from a cruise around Cape Horn and the Antarctic peninsula. Before they left, my mother asked me if I wanted her to get me anything while they were down there (aside from, you know, a postcard that depicts a penguin or two). I said that if she could find some locally raised alpaca or llama yarn to bring back, that would be pretty cool.

She said she'd look, and off the two of them went. They came back a couple of weeks ago and said they had a grand time (They saw lots of penguins). They had also managed to procure some yarn for my sister and me. Something called vicuna.

None of us had ever heard of vicuna before, but my mother was concerned whether or not it was good yarn, so when I was home over this past weekend, we looked it up online. Retail price for vicuna yarn is (are you ready?) $300 per ounce.

My mother said that if she had known it was so valuable, she would probably have bought more than she did. As it was, she came back with 5 75-gram balls. That converts to a little more than 13 oz, or about 6.6 oz each for me and my sister.

Here is my half (or rather, it's my sister's half, because she's the one who took the picture of hers, but mine looks pretty much the same. Trust me.):



That's about $2000 worth of yarn right there. I'm thinking about making this shawl with it. Anyone have any other ideas for it?

Announcement

I am now Twittering (you might think I've been doing this regularly for years -- now it's official). Check out the link under my feeds to keep up with me on this. And if you happen to be twittering too, let me know, so I can follow you!

Gauge, and other things

The problems I've been having really don't have anything to do with Gauge, but I feel like I have to blame something about it, and Gauge (it is capitalized to give it the respect it deserves) will work. I've been working on this cardigan off and on for about a month. This one to be precise. (I've been obsessing over it ever since I saw the movie.) So I look at the pattern and realize that because I have these accessories out the front that the designer of the pattern perhaps doesn't have that I will have to make the large. I cast on, read what the pattern says about upsizing and start. After about three rows, I decide that I don't like the look of all those purl stitches inbetween the different cable panels required to upsize the pattern and decide to change the cabling. So I do. I change the cabling, work the entire front (conveniently ignoring the fact that I miscross three of the cables in the process), kitchener the two fronts together as the pattern calls for,

Then realize that the way I have changed the cabling changes the way the whole cardigan hangs, and it doesn't look right at all. I have now ripped out the two fronts, have re-knit one of the sides with a larger version of the original cable the pattern calls for, and am in the midst of the second half. There may have been some alcohol, tears, and language unbecoming a knitter in the process.

There's GOT to be another way to adjust for porch sizes.

The Things You Never Knew

So I was at this knitting convention in Pittsburgh this past weekend. Sunday morning I was taking this class on color, and there KL, the teacher, was explaining all about proportion -- that darker, brighter colors make more of an impact than lighter, matter ones. And she gave an example of Argyles: that if the colors were black, red, and white, then the main color would be red, the diamonds white, and the lines would be black if one wanted a balanced look between the colors. Someone else mentioned that you could then switch the colors up if you wanted a different look too, and then I commented that that was the cool thing about making Argyles, at least with socks, anyway: that once you bought the yarn for one pair, you had yarn for three more pairs.

The teacher then said that was fine and dandy and all that, but that she could only knit socks for pirates, because she just never got around to knitting that second sock. I don't know quite why she felt she had to limit herself to the idea that socks had to match, but since she brought up the pirate idea, I just couldn't resist, and said, "Well Argyle socks should be perfect for you then, since they're Arrrgyles."

The whole room cracked up, our teacher most of all. Totally flipped. She was practically rolling on the floor, she was laughing so hard. Apparently she had never heard the joke before. I laughed a little with her, all the while thinking, I can't believe she's never heard that before. That wasn't even an original on my part. There's even a pattern on Ravelry for Arrrgyle socks, for crying out loud. But clearly, this was the funniest thing she had heard in a while, and she kept coming back to it, laughing every time anyone mentioned Argyles.

I never knew I could be so amusing.

Random Saturday

Some prompts:

The endless blue.

White on red.

Abuma books (interpret that as you will).

Mother Goose is having a dinner party. In addition to Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Moffet, Bo Peep, Simple Simon, and Little Boy Blue, name five more people who are invited and why.

A three year old is sitting in the grass. Near him is one large button, a hockey stick, a packet of wintergreen Altoids, a glue stick, a copy of Where the Wild Things Are, and three catnip joints. What happens next?

That's really all I have right now, because I've been tearing my hair out trying to find my flash drive, which I have misplaced for the second time this week, and because I'm too infatuated with my current knitting project right now to think much on anything else.

And because it's my birthday this weekend, which really has nothing to do with my creativity or lack thereof, but I just thought I'd put it in there.

(The Argyles are done!)

Something to Consider

It's snowing right now outside my window at work. Real snow that actually sticks to the ground, in contrast to the flurries that has been all we've been getting here this winter. Not that it hasn't been cold enough, it's just been too darn dry most of the time that everytime it dips below freezing here in northern VA, it never does anything. Annoying, really.

The other night on the news, when the weatherman was talking about the precip that is currently coming down outside my window, he mentioned that we had been lucky so far in terms of winter weather. Which got me to thinking (I know. it's a dangerous habit). What, exactly, is "bad" or "lucky" or "good" weather and what makes it so?

Last year ('07 actually), in November, it rained for about four days straight -- a gentle, soaking rain that was absorbed (almost) completely into the ground. In addition, during those four days, the thermometer dropped about ten degrees, and we got about four inches of rain. And everyone complained about it. They complained that it was too cold and that it was too wet, and when was the sun going to come out again?

The reason that it was so baffling, though, was that the temperatures during those four days weren't all that cold. They were normal, average temps for November. What made them different was that it had been unusually warm throughout September and October. In addition, it had also been very dry. From June through September, we had approximately 3.5 inches of rain (Total. In Four Months.), ten inches below the average for that time of the year, and October wasn't any different. During that time, everyone grumbled that it was too dry. So why, when it finally rained and cooled down, were people complaining?

The same is true for right now. It's JANUARY, for crying out loud. That means that, in northern VA, it's SUPPOSED to be cold and snowy outside. If a person does not enjoy cold wintery weather, then that person can go and live in an area of the world that does not have cold snowy weather in the winter. Why in the world is snow (or rain or any form of precip, really) considered bad, simply for doing what it was made to do, which was fall to the ground? Don't we need precipitation as much as we do sunlight? And why, especially in the light of global warming, is cold weather considered horrible, particularly in January, when it's supposed to be cold?

Thoughts?

Another Review

First -- some prompts:

One orange button

Glittering golden in the west

Blowing through the vents

And now, a review:
Today I realized that I'm not reviewing nearly enough books that I really should be. As a librarian and a writer, I think it kind of necessary that I keep on top of this, and it appears that I am woefully negligent on it. So this afternoon, instead of my boring musings, here's a review on a book I read today:

Our Country's Presidents, by Ann Bausum, published by the National Geographic Society.

What's good about it:
It covers all 44 of them, including Obama, and gives at least one full page of information on each one, as well as a full page, full color illustration of each one.

In addition to the highlights (and lowlights) of their terms, it also provides some interesting trivia about each President. William Howard Taft, for instance, enjoyed playing golf. James Garfield was left-handed. William McKinley liked to wear a red carnation in his jacket and would often give it away to strangers to whom he was introduced.

The lineage is often "interrupted" with information on the presidency in general, usually info that has to do with the president previous. Following Teddy Roosevelt is content on First Children. John Tyler precedes information on the Vice Presidency. Facts on the White House follows John Adams (the first one to live there). And after JFK comes content on the supposed Twenty Year Curse.

An appendix in the back provides information on the different election results -- all 44 of them, and includes info on who won, who lost, who belonged to which party, who the vice president became, how much of the popular vote each candidate received, as well as how many electoral votes each one received. It also includes the seven men who became president without an election.

What I didn't like about it:
Some of the trivia, particularly that in regards to First Offspring, lacks consistency. For George Washington, it mentions his wife's two children from her previous marriage, but it doesn't do the same for James Madison (Dolley Madison had a son from her first marriage). It also mentions that Willie Lincoln was the only child to die in the White House, but doesn't mention Cal Coolidge at all. And several children were listed as having "died young," with no real indication of what this means (none of Pierce's three children, and only half of Lincoln's four lived past age 11, but only two of them are mentioned as having "died young").

It includes the signature of each President. While this is a cool feature, I might point out that for Lincoln, the copy of his signature includes his full name, which he very rarely wrote out.

The amount of information on each president is extremely varied. I admit that it makes since to dedicate several pages to men such as Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, and not as much on the lesser known ones of Pierce or Hayes, However, the majority of the four pages on Grant is on his war-time conquests -- info on his actual presidency is limited to two paragraphs, the same amount, oddly enough, that was given to William Henry Harrison's time in office.

General conclusion:
The book is very comprehensive, has wonderful illustrations, and is full of unique, interesting facts on all the presidents. Most of the discrepancies are on the tiniest details. If someone is looking for general information on a particular president, or on the presidency in general, this would be a good source.

Really Quickly

Because I don't have a whole lot here, just some prompts. Have fun.

The lonely purple.

Abstract on a spoon.

A pair of fuzzy green slippers.

Just because...

The blue woolen hat.

Oh, and a picture of the partially finished argyles:



P.S. The cotton candy is half done. Although oddly enough, now that it is spun and plied, it looks more like bubblegum than cotton candy...

Eight Maids A-Milking

Yes, in fact, today still is actually Christmas. So on this beautiful sunny first day of 2009, I give you....

The Christmas Knitting.

First up?



The Doctor Who mitts, which I knit for H as a belated birthday/early Christmas gift back in November. These are the Rose's Wrist Warmers on Ravelry, and they were so much fun to knit



that I did another pair. This one was for my sister, and is out of the dark blue handspun, and after that, I still wasn't quite over my infatuation with the pattern



that I finegled the pattern into one for a hat, also out of the dark blue handspun. The wonderful V at my Wednesday Knit Night has told me that my sister had better appreciate these, because if she doesn't, V will come and take them away from her.

I think my sister will enjoy these. Although it did take an incredible amount of gumption to actually wrap them up. I was sooo tempted to keep them for myself. I may just have to knit myself a pair.

(Oh, and because my sister's birthday is in December, I thought I'd show you her birthday gift too:



The yarn for which I procured at Stitches and desperately need to buy more, as it is 80% angora.)

Then it was on to my mother, who was the recipient of this lovely cap made out of the green handspun...



The Narragansett Bay Cap, from Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece, the pattern of which I enjoyed enough to transpose into another pair of fingerless mitts (also out of the green handspun).



And then there was enough of the green handspun left for her to receive another pair of mittens -- these with fingers.



See how nice and big and poofy they are? Well, maybe you can't, because of the angle of the camera. Maybe you can in this picture, which is a pair made for Little One (made with Cascade 220, not because my brother is not worth handspun, but because I don't know as he would actually care whether the yarn was some that I made or not -- he's weird that way).



They are nice and big and poofy because inside, they look like this:



(The ones for my mother look like that too, only, they're, you know, pink.)

These are thrums. Little bits of unspun wool that I knit into the mitten for extra lining. My mother has given her stamp of approval on hers. I think my brother will do so as well.

Oh, and there was also Big Green and Big Blue which you already saw when I showed off my Ravelympics projects. (Actually, I just realized that I haven't posted a picture of Big Blue yet, so here it is, seen posing at Rhinebeck. Complete with buttons.)



*whew*. Christmas knitting done. Now, it's just off to whip up a pair of Argyles (those should be interesting) and finish the cotton candy (one skein plied, three more to go...).

Happy New Year.

Happy Holidays

Whatever holiday anyone happens to celebrate, I hope you all have great ones! I'm off to PA to celebrate with family. Safe travels!

Prompts

Because I haven't quite recovered from the bear of a cold that bowled me over and really took the snot out of me (both literally and figuratively) -- so much so that I could barely knit (I know. Get your jaws off the floor. It was pretty bad.), I don't really have anything for the blog right now, except for some prompts (I'm feeling much better, but I'm still a little congested. Thankfully, the brunt of it took place over the weekend, so I didn't miss work.)

So, here, have fun. (A, remember that the meeting is THIS FRIDAY if you're planning on coming.)


Knocking on a metal desk

Two missing front teeth

A silver pen

Three fat snowflakes on a window pane

Dancing in the rain

Under the moon...

News

To all my Canuk friends: WOW Can you BELIEVE what is going ON right now?

Two Cents

With the movie coming out, there's been a lot of hype about the Twilight series. The first book came out in 2005, but the books are still quite the rage with teenage girls. I tried the first book, got halfway through, said to myself, "Oh my giddy aunt, can this girl become any more pathetic?" and returned the book to the library. My general opinion is that it's a lot like cotton candy -- which looks and sounds pretty, but has no nutritional value whatsoever.

There are some sections (that don't necessarily have anything to do with the whole vampire thing) in the books that I feel rather uncomfortable reading, and, without giving away any spoilers to anyone who is really enjoying them, let me just say that I wouldn't necessarily want just any young teenager (assuming I had access to any to whom I could dictate what they were allowed to read, which I don't) reading them.

But the hype, as well as the big to-do last year when The Golden Compass hit the theaters, has got me thinking: How much does an author's religious or moral beliefs affect your desire to read a book by that person? Even if the author claims he or she isn't trying to preach (or, for that matter, even if they are)?

I asked a Morman friend of mine about Twilight, and she answered that the fact that Stephanie Meyer was Morman was an added bonus, and that it was great to see a Morman author go mainstream, but that she didn't see it as a big deal to the books, and that there were other Morman authors out there popular with young adults (like Shannon Hale, for instance, or Orson Scott Card -- but then neither Enchantment nor The Goose Girl deals with half the controversial things that Twilight does).

So I'll pose the question to the blog and see if I get anything back: How much does it matter? Even if the author claims that there is no preaching, does the fact that Stephanie Meyer, Shannon Hale, and Orson Scott Card are Morman affect whether you would read Twilight, The Goose Girl, or Enchantment (or anything else they've written)? What about The Dark Materials Trilogy and Philip Pullman's atheism? Or The Lord of the Rings and JRR Tolkien's Catholicism?

Thoughts???

Just Another

I usually don't post on Mondays, but I'm so proud of myself, I can barely stand it. Because I can't believe how productive I was yesterday afternoon.

I did three loads of laundry -- and it almost was four. This is not because I have been extremely dirty in the past week or two, but rather because I decided to change the sheets on my bed. Note to anyone who doesn't already know: sheets take up a LOT of space in the washer. The pillow cases will be done tomorrow.

Also, (insert drumroll please...)

I finished spinning the green yarn.



(I swear it's greener in real life.) Wool top of undetermined species bought at one of the LYS. With flecks of red and blue and yellow. Luscious. 8 oz, somewhere around (calculated to the best of my approximate abilities, which means counting the number of times it was wound around the niddy-noddy) 718 yards.

I also finished spinnning the dark blue yarn.



Merino, bought at Rhinebeck. Dark navy blue, with streaks of red and a little green. Absolutely yummy. 4 oz, somewhere around 350 yards.

The really interesting thing about it though is that even though there is twice the amount of green yarn as blue, both in terms of weight and yardage, the green is slightly bulkier than the blue. Weird.

Oh, and the first person who asks what they're going to be given out of either one of these yarns gets banned from the blog for life.

Prompts

Because I have nothing else right now (other than progress on the Dr. Who mitts, but I haven't taken a picture of them, yet), here a few prompts. A, have fun.

The red leaves of an oak tree.

The empty gray sky.

A blue bench.

Running down the street...