Tailfeathers 2007 and 2008

This blog is moving

2008-12-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, reducing expenses means I don't want to pay $49.50 per year to maintain this Typepad blog.

I am moving to: http://dianeinchicoca.blogspot.com/

I love Typepad. It's been great - up virtually all the time and great support people. It's just a money thing.

With a tear in my eye, I invite you to visit on the new blog.

Twitter

2008-12-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

So, I'm trying out Twitter this week. The reason I signed up is I heard an interview on NPR with Tim O'Reilly. O'Reilly is a VIP in the technical publishing world. When Tim O'Reilly, who is a busy man, says he has time for Twitter because it creates a sense of connection with his friends and family, well then I think I should check it out. He says he actually feels closer to his sister (or was it brother?) because he sees some of the smaller details of her daily life that he wouldn't otherwise know about.

I can see where you might develop a sense of kinship with fellow tweeters. You hear what they are making for dinner, what they find amusing, ... what they are doing with their time. Virtual friendships might develop like friendships I had at work - not too close, but fun and informative.

I'll stick with it for a bit to see how it goes. My goal is to have something interesting to say, which is difficult when I live the most boring life on the planet!

Baby Boomer Humor

2008-12-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

JLG Stocking

2008-12-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

Jan's stocking is fini. Whew - only 5 more sleeps until Christmas morning. I was a working on it almost every day during the last two weeks!

The pattern was easy to follow and Meg Swansen's charts were easy to adapt and make larger and easy to read in MS Excel. My Ravelry project here; Meg's pattern here.

If I were going to do another Christmas stocking, I might do a regular, turned heel instead of an afterthought heel. I screwed up the opening for the heel and used a few rows instead of just one for the opening - because I cut one of the floats. She says in the pattern to be careful not to cut the floats, but did I follow instructions?

The foot is large, but not as large as it looks in the photo. I was closer to the foot and the top was angled away when I took the picture, so the foot looks bigger than it is in real life.

Next up: something for me :-)

-10.5%

2008-12-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

This is what -10.5% looks like over a 19 months. The Big step down toward the right is October, 2008.

There is all that red, and just a little float of green at the top.

Here's hoping a blue election can turn my investments green.

Foggy

2008-12-04T00:33:00.000-08:00

Having your head in the clouds takes on new meaning here in the Sacramento Valley of California. The ground fog is dense and I can see wisps of it float by from the 2nd story window of my house. It is actually a ground-level cloud. I used to think fog was mystical when I lived on the coast of CA, but this valley fog is just plain cold and damp. Still, any moisture is good for the plants in this draught year. (Picture links to others taken this morning.)

Copyright on House Socks

2008-12-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

I hate Copyrightphobia, the fear of infringing upon somebody's copyright. I am upset by the Copyright Police. It makes me nervous when I enter a pattern in Ravelry that is a pattern derived from somebody else's pattern. For example, the Philosopher's House Socks, from Cat Bordhi's "New Pathways for Socks Knitters, Book One", inspired me to knit these:

The color is most accurate in the second close up photo.

I didn't use the yarn weight specified, so none of the stitch counts in the pattern were used. I didn't use the specified arch expansion stitch pattern, but made up one similar. I did use the Upstream Sock Architecture and Master Numbers from the back of the book. I would say this is a derivative work.

So, please tell me. Whose pattern is this? When I create the project in Ravelry, what should I use for a pattern name? Could I donate these socks to a fund raiser without having to ask permission? According to Jennifer Tocker's Copyright FAQ, this is a derivative work and I would hold the copyright on the derivative pattern, but Cat Bordhi would hold the copyright on the original design. But if I wanted to sell the pattern (I don't), would I give Cat Bordhi a portion of the proceeds?

I just want to have fun. Heck, I don't even want to go so far as reading Jennifer Tocker's Copyright FAQs, although I have browsed this very useful and informative web page.

Thoughts on knitting and craft fairs

2008-11-26T00:33:00.000-08:00

Warning: Introspection sans photos here.

I've been thinking about Ted's comments - after I got over the feeling of impending abandonment by a super-talented virtual knitting Friend. I think none of us should make a decision to give up something we have loved..., we shouldn't make that decision in the low light of the cold seasons. It's time to hibernate, but have dreams of coming out to a warm, sun-bathed Spring where everybody smiles and says how nice it is to see us again.

If a big part of the reason we knit is so that other people will oooh and ahh over our work, then we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. I admit that when I knit something I think is especially nice I want others to appreciate it too. I need to get over that.

Last weekend was the Friends of the Library Craft Fair. I learned quite a bit about what other people want. The Noro scarf went before the doors were officially open. The neck warmers made of handspun yarn were appreciated, but had to be marked down to $10 before they sold. The old-fashioned items and wash clothes were still on the tables at the end of the day, but the felted catnip mice were gone shortly after we opened. The seaman's scarf sold for a fair price. Hats and colorful mittens were good, especially if they were glittery.

Next year I'll have to figure out how to balance what I want to knit with what might sell at the craft fair (no more pi shawls). What I might enjoy making: fair isle hats and mittens; thrummed mittens; seaman's scarves with lace patterns. To balance these things that I would enjoy knitting, there would be some things I believe others want that I might not enjoy making so much: more felted catnip mice and some felted dog bones (dogs like to carry their toys around in their slobbery mouths); knitted toys; other terminally cute items.

So, I'll keep knitting, but when knitting for others I'll knit what they might want instead of what I think they should want. And to make it interesting, in order to donate items for a fund raising event I'll have to design the items myself (or get permission from the various holders of the copyrights). There's the challenge - graduating to design.

Shawls are not popular

2008-11-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

This is the penultimate photo of items for the craft fair, a neck warmer. It was fast and easy, a pattern from Faina Goberstein. The yarn is some mohair/wool handspun I bought at the Kings Mountain Art Fair in Woodside, CA, several years ago. I'm glad the yarn finally has a purpose, other than just looking pretty in my stash.

Speaking of ~~Art~~ Craft Fairs, Chico's Friends of the Library Craft Fair is this Saturday. This neck warmer is priced at $8 for sale. There will be many items for sale at low prices.

About the title of this post, "Shawls are not popular"... I spent about 3 months knitting on a lace pi shawl. It was supposed to be a gift, but the intended giftee didn't want a shawl. That should have been my first clue that shawls aren't as loved by the rest of the world as they are by me. I decided to raffle off the shawl to raise money for the library, since nobody would pay the $100-plus dollars it is worth. At least I think it's worth over $100US. It was on display in the library for two weeks and raised a total of $10 in raffle ticket money. F*ck! Last night at a CFOL meeting we passed an envelope around for people to buy tickets and raised about $80 more dollars, which makes me feel a little better... but I think the people buying the tickets were doing it because they are active library supporters, not because they think the shawl is particularly wonderful.

You know what is popular? Felted mice. I should be able to raise about $128 for the 32 mice. Sh*t!

... which brings up the question, "Why do you knit?"

I think for me, it's the process and the product. I've learned a lot about knitting the right product for others, and it isn't necessarily shawls.

Friends of the Library Craft Fair

2008-11-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

The Friends of the Library (1st Annual!) Craft Fair is on November 22nd - we meet tomorrow to organize and price.

I just finished these bookmarks. They are crocheted with cotton thread, stuck to a stiff piece of paper, and wrapped in cellophane. I have no idea what to charge for them. J thinks they are worth $5, but doesn't think anybody in Chico will pay that much. She's probably right. We'll see what the committee says tomorrow.

I'm making a declaration now. I will never do production knitting/crafting again! This is supposed to be fun. Making a few bookmarks is fun. Making 11 bookmarks is work.

I do hope people show up for this craft fair. If they don't then many of my friends will be getting these for Christmas :-)

Protect Marriage

2008-11-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

This video is funny and current.

Progress on JLG Christmas Stocking

2008-11-12T00:41:00.000-08:00

The JLG Christmas Stocking is still in progress. I'm done with the top and will begin the foot next. I love reading Meg Swansen's directions - pithy, just like her mom's.

She gives you plenty of information to complete the stocking. The chart is complete and the text is informative. The text is more like a discussion than line-by-line instructions. Makes you think. Makes you look at your knitting and figure things out. Does my number of stitches make sense with what Meg is saying? Why yes it does, and I'm feeling pretty good about this stocking right now.

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T02:44:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking of all the boys and girls my age who went to Vietnam. The ones who aren't lucky enough to be veterans today are memorialized in several places around the USA. One such place is the Vietnam War Memorial at Fruita, Colorado. I didn't expect to be moved by it - after all, it's not like it's the big memorial in Washington D.C. But, in Fruita they play 1960's era rock and roll, and they have a way-too-long list of the Colorado casualties in Vietnam. It was hard to stay composed.

To all the veterans, from whatever war, hospital, or guard post, I wish you a future of peace and love.

To my uncle Danny and my Father, who were in the military in WWII... thanks.

My Type

2008-11-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

The Typealizer web site tells me I'm practical. I call it plodder.

Yes, I have been knitting. I think I have made about a million mice for felting. Three skeins worth of mice. I'm tired of mice!

Vote

2008-11-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

Vote!

Bidwell Nature Trail

2008-11-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

We found a part of lower Bidwell Park we've never been to. I didn't think that was possible after 7 (8?) years of living in Chico. There's a nature trail on the east side of Hwy 99 near the Nature Center. Who knew?

We've had a couple of days of rain, and we forgot to close the top to the garden waste bin. J took it upon herself to dump the heavy thing this morning and strained her back. Hence the short 1/2 mile walk on the nature trail instead of our usual longer walk on Sunday morning in the park.

It's a historic (1888) tree farm.

Peek of Castle Crags

2008-10-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

In Northern California, there is a place just before Dunsmuir called Castle Crags, and there is a California State Park there. These are some beautiful mountains sticking up all of a sudden.

We took a walk, had a picnic, enjoyed being in a forest.

The weather is still beautiful, but the weatherman says maybe rain by the end of the week. We could use two or three months of rain. The big reservoirs are almost empty.

Tree Farm Color

2008-10-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Down here in the valley, the Fall color isn't spectacular this year, but it's there.

We went for a walk in the Tree Farm last Sunday... another beautiful day in Chico.

1st Bumper Sticker

2008-10-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is the 1st bumper sticker I have ever put on my car, and I've been driving for 46 years.

Mixing natural peanut butter

2008-10-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Know what happens when you put an electric mixer into your jar of natural peanut butter and turn it on?

You get a beautiful pattern of oily, gooey peanut butter ALL OVER your kitchen.

If you decide to try this in your kitchen, be sure to hold tightly onto the p'butter jar before you turn on the mixer. And do it in the sink, not on the counter. Or better yet, mix it the old fashioned way instead of using the mixer :=(

JLG Christmas Stocking

2008-10-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

Progression on the Christmas Stocking.

I'm happy with the initials, which I charted while looking at a font I liked in MS Excel. I'm not so happy with the diamonds between the initials.

Knitters' Logic (the ability to continue on assuming that it will all be okay in the end) says blocking will fix the diamonds and all other wonky places in the stocking. We'll see.

I love knitters' logic!

Felted Mice Cat Toys

2008-10-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

These felted cuties are full of cat nip-laced fiber fill. I tested one of them on the murderous little Persimmon. She though they smelled good and were worth rubbing; however, she'd still rather kill the toys that are covered in real rabbit fur.

So far, nine are knitted for the Friends of the Library Craft Fair, and I want to make enough of them to fill a little basket.

Some knitting virtually finished

2008-10-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is the Ridged Beret (Pages 110 and 148) from this Fall's Vogue Knitting magazine. The scanned picture from the magazine on the left, and my unblocked, very unblocked, FO on the right.

I'm hoping it looks better after blocking. It does look pretty good on a person's head. If I were going to do it again, and I might, I would choose colors like the magazine - dark with a lighter tweedy purl ridge. It's really easy to knit. I hope somebody will like it and buy it from the Craft Fair in November.

This is a Seaman's Scarf, from Stahman's Shawls & Scarves. I love this scarf, and Myrna Stahman is one of my heroes. Once again, the photo is not good, but you get the idea. It has been blocked, but the ends are not tucked in.

Both the Seaman's Scarf and the Ridged Beret above were made out of Crystal Palace Yarns Creme, 60% wool / 40% silk. It stretches a great deal in length after washing, so I think I'll skip the wet wash of the beret and just steam it :-)

And this picture shows a couple of things that Karen knit for the Craft Fair - fingerless mittens and a baby hat. Very nice! Back there in the shadows are a couple of neck warmers I made from a pattern by Faina. I have some buttons for the neck warmers, but I put them in a "safe place" and now I can't find them. I hope they show up when I clean off the various surfaces in my loft.

Speaking of the Craft Fair, it's November 22nd and I'm feeling the stress of having to knit lots of little things by then. I don't think I'll do this again!

The big picture

2008-10-06T03:56:00.000-07:00

I am not an economist, and I don't understand what's going on right now. I know that "they" are telling me that there is a credit crisis which causes businesses not to be able to float loans to keep their businesses running. And somehow it was caused by subprime lending and financial slight of hand. Stupid business practices and ignorant people taking out mortgages they cannot afford.

What I do know is that groceries and gasoline are costing a lot more than they used to, and, as a retired person, my income isn't more than it used to be. That's my own personal little crisis. I just buy fewer things. Well, actually I did just buy a new and expensive replacement vacuum cleaner and I did just buy new and cheaper a replacement phone, but I call those things "maintenance". I canceled one of my morning papers, and I no longer buy several Starbucks coffees each week. It's all tradeoffs. So far, I'm not spending more than I take in.

Why can't the state and the country legislators spend less than they take in? We should fire them all and vote in legislators who can balance a budget, stay out of wars we can't afford, etc.!

For your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of the Dow Jones Industrial Average starting in 1932 and ending in 2008. You can click on the picture to see a bigger image. If only we had invested in the market early and left it in the market, then the current "crisis" wouldn't be so scary. I'm going to ride it out, not sell and put it all under my mattress.

Knitting in the Red

2008-10-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is just too good not to show here. Go ahead. Laugh.

My DJ is a computer

2008-10-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

I am probably the last person to hear about this. Pandora is web radio for the Music Genome Project. Songs are given attributes, and you select music based on the attributes and artists you like. The music, from the Internet, plays on computers and I think it will also play on a mobile phone.

As I write this I'm listening to Billie Holiday sing Ain't Misbehavin'. I'm just as likely to hear Pink Martini or Diana Krall on this "station." I also have stations set up for classical pianos and big band jazz. Oh, this is good. Has iTunes music selection beat all to hell. Sure makes waiting for my government to bail out Wall Street more pleasant!

A co-worker at the library told me about Pandora and I promptly forgot until I saw a news article about a webcasting bill that passed. New law will allow Pandora to stay in business because they will be able to negotiate lower royalty payments.

Now playing: Jane Monheit, new to me, singing Hit the Road to Dreamland. Pandora picked it out based on other things I liked and it chose well. I like it.

And there's more. I haven't even started listening to the classical piano stuff yet.

North State Symphony Season Begins

2008-09-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

What a perfect day this has been! It started with a walk in the park (note: Fall is approaching - go to the mountains soon), and a lovely breakfast with Sunday paper after the park.

In the early afternoon we went to hear the Symphony's Music Director and Conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett give his pre-concert chat about today's season opener of the North State Symphony. Today's program:

Glazunov - Bacchanale from Autumn (The Seasons)
Brahms - Symphony No. 3, op. 90, F major
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3, op. 30, D minor
Jon Nakamatsu, Piano

Wiley Pickett gives an informative and entertaining talk before each concert. I recommend going. This is the first time I took advantage of this free lecture, and I think I'll do it again. (Quality knitting time with lots of elbow room.)

The first two items on today's program were fine, and I think the orchestra is once again improved, even in that black hole of sound, Laxson Auditorium at CSU Chico. The orchestra is so good now that they can play with a world class performer like Jon Nakamatsu, today's pianist on the Rachmaninoff piece.

I've never heard a classical pianist, live, who is as good as Jon Kakamatsu. We were lucky to have seen and heard him. It was an indescribable experience. I was there. I watched and heard, and still I can't connect Mr. K's hand movements with the music I was hearing. Mr. K is really, really fast, and really, really good. Just amazing!

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 is the music at the center of the movie "Shine", starring Geoffrey Rush.

Have a good afterlife, Paul

2008-09-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

My fellow Aquarian, Paul Newman, has moved on to the next stage. I wish him well.

What a shock to hear that he was dead. 83 is a good long time to live, but... I thought he'd be in movies until I died. He's been there all my movie-going life.

I will surely miss him.

Christmas Stocking Progress

2008-09-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know when I reported last on J's Christmas stocking, but here's the progress so far. When I gave this as a gift (unfinished with a promise) I thought November was ages away. Well... I'm going to have to do some serious knitting to finish this stocking as well as all the things I have going for the Friends of the Library Craft Fair the same month.

I wish I were a faster knitter!

Southwest Colorado

2008-09-07T02:49:00.000-07:00

The next vacation will be to Southwest Colorado, around Durango.

We'll ride a train, visit ruins, mountains, Telluride, and generally have some fun.

The last rental car was a Chevy Malibu - worst car I ever drove. I'm voting for an all-wheel SUV next :-)

Boho Beret is done

2008-09-07T02:22:00.000-07:00

It was incredibly easy to knit, after I got past the bad day that caused me to make 5 attempts at the cast on.

It's very slouchy, which is what I wanted. I made the smaller version and it still is big enough for my medium head. Next up is a cowl made of matching yarn. Will it ever get cold enough to wear this in Chico?

Tubular Cast On

2008-09-04T02:25:00.000-07:00

I was having a particularly brain-dead day the other day, and that was the day I chose to do a tubular cast on for a slouchy tam (in Ravelry) I'm making. First I tried the way I know and love:

Knitted Tams, by Mary Rowe

This book has a really easy tubular cast on. The brim of the tam looks professional and has good stretch. It started out with waste yarn.

So, I cast on, worked some rows of the brim, took out the waste yarn, all while watching mediocre television. It was then I noticed that I had dropped a stitch, dropped a stitch all the way down to the cast on. I was faced with several long floats and no idea how to reconstruct the cast on. So I frogged it. I decided (why?) to try a different tubular cast on which might be easier and not involve starting out with waste yarn:

Knitter's Handbook, by Monste Stanley

This book is my favorite reference. (I used to have Principles of Knitting, but sold it for big bucks and don't miss it.) It has a tubular cast on which produces the same results as Mary Rowe's version, but requires no waste yarn. The cast on is easy ... but(!) when I tried to join in a circle for the tam brim without twisting, well I just couldn't do it. This would be my tubular cast on of choice if I was going to knit flat and not have to worry about twisting cast ons.

Once again, I cast on, worked some rows of the brim, took out the waste yarn - only this time I was in a quiet room in full sunlight with some jazz music in the background instead of bad tv. This [dark] picture is before removing the waste yarn. When working circularly, this tubular cast on cannot be beat.

I've only told you about two of the cast on attempts. Actually there were about 5, if you count the ones that had the wrong number of stitches. I could not even count to ten this day. Thank God that day is gone!

Weak Kidney Cat Food

2008-09-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

Update 9/3/08: Ruso has stopped eating this food. He loved it for about two months and then... not having it any more. He sniffs it and then backs away - would rather starve, thank you very much. Also, he's losing hair, which may or may not be associated with eating this diet. Now I have a bunch of trout in the freezer! ... off to look up human recipes for trout. The bottom line is Ruso no longer recommends this recipe.

Originally posted July 3, 2008:

When Ruso went to the vet for a cyst removal, the vet told me he had a mild gum disease and I should have his teeth cleaned. Well, actually I didn't go to the vet for a cyst removal. I went for regular shots, checkup and maybe drain the cyst. It's like going shopping for one or two things in the grocery story and coming home with two bags full. Anyway, a blood test is required for older cats. (Ruso is 10+ years old.)

Since Ruso is terrified of the cat carrier, I left him over night and picked him up the next day. When I was waiting to pay the bill (more than $500, less than $1000, should I feel lucky?), the vet told me that Ruso's blood count showed a higher than normal count of something, indicating he has weak kidneys. They suggested some special cat food that I know Ruso won't eat because he's way, way too fussy.

The Ultimate Pet Food Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Feeding Your Dog or Cat
by Liz Palika (copyright 2008)

Read more about this title... (link to amazon.com)

I checked this book out of the library. Apparently there is some controversy about whether a cat with kidney problems should get more, or less, protein in his diet. This book recommends more. The vet recommended less. Who knows? Since the copyright in the book is 2008, I decided that the book's information was current. Who knows?

A recipe for Ruso's old kidneys: Chicken and Trout, page 228. This recipe makes one day's worth of food for a 10 pound cat. I'm not cooking chicken and trout every day for my spoiled boy, so here is my recipe for a week's worth.

I give Ruso 2 tablespoons of IAM's multi-cat dry food and three-four tablespoons of Chicken and Trout at breakfast and dinner. He did have diarrhea for a few days at first, but he's fine now. You should probably introduce the food into his diet gradually, not all at once like I did.

Chicken and Trout cat food for a week

3 hard boiled, peeled whole eggs

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts *

1 cleaned, whole trout *

wheat grass (cut about 1 inch off the top of a 4" square pot) **

Get out everything you need:
- food processor (optional)
- paper towel
- rubber gloves (optional) ***
- big bowl for mixing
- tablespoon measure
- cutting board and sharp knife
- about 7-8 sandwich bags unzipped
- a gallon-sized freezer bag unzipped
- permanent marker for freezer bag
- microwave cooking dish with cover
- disinfecting wipes

Boil the eggs and set aside to cool. Peel. About those rubber gloves - wear 'em if you've got 'em.

Rinse and cook the trout. I put the entire trout in a casserole dish with a sprinkle of water and cook on 60% power for three minutes. Set aside to cool, then take the head, skin, and fins off. Remove all the bones.

Rinse the chicken and cut it into about 3/4" square pieces. Cook. I cook in the microwave on 60% for about 7 minutes, stirring once mid-way through the cooking cycle. Set aside to cool.

Wrap the wheat grass in a paper towel and dampen it. Cook the wheat grass in the microwave for about 20 seconds at 100%. Set aside to cool. Chop into smaller pieces.

Chop everything in the food processor, or you can dice by hand. I put about a third of ea. ingredient in the f.p. and chop in three batches.

Mix ingredients together in a big bowl. Put about 8 tablespoons in a sandwich bag. This is about a day's worth of food for my Ruso. This recipe should yield 7-8 bags. Put those bags in a gallon-sized freezer bag and write "cat food" on the gallon-sized bag with a permanent marker. I reuse the gallon-sized bags.

Freeze food you aren't going to use in the next day or so. (Take a day's worth out of the freezer and defrost in the fridge a day before you need it.)

Wash all those tools in hot, soapy water. Use a disinfectant cloth on the counter and all the surfaces you touched with gooey hands because you forgot to get something out in step 1. I'm probably a little OCD about handling raw meat, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be safe.

* I shop at Costco and buy whole trout and boneless/skinless checken breasts. I freeze the trout individually wrapped in aluminum foil. I defrost trout and chicken in the fridge about a day or two ahead of time.

** I buy human wheat grass at the grocery store, but I plan to start growing my own as soon as I figure out how.

*** I like to work with raw meat using "examination gloves" I buy at Costco. I get the latex-free ones. You get a million of them. They are good for weeding and gardening too.

Ruso loves this food!

Scary Politics

2008-09-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

This came in an email from a friend today and is from the MoveOn.org web site. It's worth a read:

Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected,
he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of
slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has
chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing
religious conservative with no foreign
policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic
background:

* She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago.
    Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.1
* Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.2
* She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000.     3
* Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4
* She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.5
* She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy

policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables
won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for
listing polar bears as an endangered species--she was worried it would
interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6
* How closely did
John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They
spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being
vice-president. Then he offered her the position.7

This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.

We
also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about
their governor. The response was striking. Here's a sample:

She
is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been
a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international
experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that
3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially
be charged with leading the US in the volatile international
scene that exists today. --Rose M., Fairbanks, AK

She
is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and
fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran
on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several
charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO
experience beyond Alaska. --Christine B., Denali Park, AK

As
an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement.
Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be.
--Karen L., Anchorage, AK

Alaskans,
collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is
doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the
national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came
to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been
communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems,
republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.--Sherry C., Anchorage, AK

She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has
worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. --Marina L., Juneau,
AK

I
think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a
woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to
deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up
and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This
is a
patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to
females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting
"A Woman" in that position.--Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK

So
Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She's a
global warming denier who shares John McCain's commitment to Big Oil.
And she's dramatically inexperienced.

In picking Sarah Palin,
John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he's made a
very dangerous decision for our country.

In the next few days, many Americans
will be wondering what McCain's vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family.

Thanks for all you do.

--Ilyse, Noah, Justin, Karin and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL
Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=10

3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=11

4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage
Daily News, October 27,
2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=12

5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin--ignores science," Huffington Post,
August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=13

6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club,
August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=14

"Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of
Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=15

"Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor,"
The Times of London, May 23, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=16

7 "McCain met Palin once before yesterday," MSNBC, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-2479352-iFIDoPx&t=17

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 3.2 million
members--no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny
staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
________________
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Knitting? More like Frogging

2008-08-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

For those without a knitting vocabulary... frogging is the act of ripping out one's knitting. The term comes from the sound made by frogs - "rip it, rip it." The first time I heard it was some time in the 1990s on the original KnitList.

I was going to make a hooded scarf, but I cast on more stitches than the pattern suggested because I was afraid it wouldn't be wide enough. After using up most of the skein, I decided it would be too dense and too short and too wide. So, I frogged it and rewound the skein, without breaking the yarn which I am very pleased about.

What is it with this "afraid it wouldn't be ... enough" syndrome? All I can figure was I didn't get enough of whatever during my childhood, because it's a constant fear of mine and it causes all kinds of problems. Like extra pounds, failed knitting projects, a bloated yarn stash, a fat knitting book and magazine library, etc.

The next project for this yarn is going to be a slouchy kind of tam. It should look good.

But not everything has been a failure. I did crochet eleven bookmarks. They just about killed my shoulder, so I'm off the crochet for a while. The next step is to spray them with starch and iron them into stiffness.

These are for a Chico Friends of the Library Fundraiser. I plan to mount each one on a piece of paper and wrap them in clear cellophane-like wrapping.

That's about all I've been doing in the world of fiber. Most of my time lately has been involved in helping to create a cookbook as a fundraiser for the CFOL. I said, "Of course, putting the cookbook in PDF format is no problem." I didn't know what I was getting into, and now I have spent two weeks creating the book in MS Word (not the best publishing tool, but it's what I have).

Now, back to my knitting.

Summer 2008

2008-08-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

I stole this picture off the internet. Pretty cool, eh?

I'm home

2008-08-17T01:58:00.000-07:00

It was a great trip to Washington. Click on the thumbnail to see where we were in Birch Bay very near the Canadian Border (I hope that works).

We went to the North Cascades National Park (Nooksack Falls, Mt. Baker, many high-elevation flowers).

We visited Bellingham a couple of times. It's a charming little town with a good yarn store, a good book store, and wonderful old buildings. The cost of living is a little high, compared to Chico. They have Western Washington University, a beautiful campus.

We walked on the Interuban Trail near Bellingham. It was just beautiful, and easy. Chuckanut Drive (don't you love that name?) was scenic. There's nothing like the Pacific Coast! The smell, the feel of the cool, moist air. My skin and hair thrive in that environment.

And then it was time to stuff ourselves into a plain and fly home. Speaking of stuffing myself into an airline seat, it's time for a diet. Otherwise I won't make it into the airplane seat for the next trip, to Colorado.

Packing... again

2008-07-30T01:51:00.000-07:00

Next week we are off to a resort town in way north Washington State. We've arranged for somebody to come and love the cats; I'm about to print the packing lists and house/cat instructions; I'm thinking about getting my suitcase out of the closet and cleaning off the top of my desk.

And, as usual, when we leave town the weather turns beautiful in Chico. The air is clear. The temperature is only in the 90's. (Only? Does that mean I'm a real Chicoan now?)

I am looking forward to wearing long pants and shirts with long sleeves (and sweatshirts) for a week. We'll be visiting islands by ferry, and the Greater Vancouver, B.C., area. The resort has a pool, so I'll take my bathing suit and see if I can get some no-impact exercise in the early morning before the children take over.

On the emo front, I read the blog of a stranger, a woman who left her home and friends in NZ and traveled to Corvallis, OR, for a 3-year internship. People on Ravelry had been saying how funny her blog was and welcome to the US, etc. When I read it I was almost in tears because the place she left was so beautiful! Well, it's only 3 years, and Corvallis isn't the worst place to visit. So, welcome, dear. I hope Corvallis takes good care of you. Okay, donning the hard shell for another day.

New kid in the courtyard

2008-07-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

This brown-eyed susan is a new plant in the courtyard this year.

The baby came from the farmers' market one Saturday in early Spring. I sure hope it re-seeds itself!

Fan Bookmarks

2008-07-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with crochet again. It's probably been 25 years since the last crochet attempts. Memories of past lifetimes are floating across my brain.

These are bookmarks to be sold at a friends of the library fundraiser later this fall.

Details:

The pattern is available here, and my Ravelry project is here.

The bookmark on the left, the 8-fan, red and white version, is done with Finca cotton perle No. 8. The one on the right, the 6-fan, blue version, is done in embroidery thread. There wasn't enough blue embroidery thread in a bundle to make 8 fans in the bookmark. Maybe 6 fans will work for a shorter book :-)

These are both experiments to see what thread I like working with. The Finca is way nicer than the embroider thread (no surprise there). Neither has been sprayed with starch and ironed yet - must go buy some spray starch. I think I'll do several of these in Christmas colors, red or green.

This fundraiser project has been fun. I never would have tried these bookmarks if I hadn't been searching around for quickie projects. And the recent clapotis was done for the fundraiser too.

Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn

2008-07-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

I have loved the colors in various Noro yarns for a very long time. It's on the not-cheap end of the spectrum so I haven't used it. Until now.

I fetched a friend from the train station to give her a ride home. As a thank-you she gave me a ball of Kureyon Sock Yarn, color S150. (Thank you, Suzanne!)

I wouldn't make socks out of this yarn. There are places in the yarn where it looks un-spun, almost like a beginner's spinning project. And there are places where it is thin and a little overspun and unbalanced. Since the yarn is 70% wool and 30% Nylon, I wouldn't think it would felt into uniformity when worn as a sock. Instead I think it would develop weak spots.

So I made a clapotis (smaller, scarf version) out of it. The yarn is perfect for a clopotis. I made a narrower version, approximately 75+ sts wide (I forgot to count the exact number of sts). If you decide to make a version like this, be advised that you will probably need about 10-11 grams of yarn for the beginning increase section and the same amount for the ending decrease section. I have about 16g left over because I made it a little too short.

No matter about the shortness. It will still be okay for stuffing inside a coat collar in the winter.

Corvallis Public Library

2008-07-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Oh, the envy I feel! The people of Corvallis have such a lovely library! It began in the 1899 ...

This room is the original library, 5,200 sq. ft. Now it's a reading room which the reference librarian says is usually "so quiet it's like a church in there." This room houses the magazines and large type books as well as several comfortable chairs. See that beautiful ceiling and those ceiling lights? Lovely.

Note: They have THREE! subscriptions to knitting magazines: Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, and Knitters. I'm weeping tears of longing for a library like this.

Can you see how clean it is?

It began with two books purchased by the Coffee Club in 1899. In 1932 the current site was opened. In 1965 they added another 17,000 sq. ft. In 1989 the voters approved a $6.85 million library bond by 70%. They added a second story. The current facility was dedicated in 1992.

The thing that I noticed while I was there was the quiet and cleanliness - even in the kids room. The carpets are clean! It's like they respect it. Imagine.

The shelves are neat and there is room to shelve the books.

This picture shows three and a half shelves of knitting books. Current knitting books. Be still my heart! See how there is room to shelve the tall books without turning them on their side?

See how the books look all neat and lined up, like somebody was just there to dust and straiten the shelves?

They process many hold requests. The hold shelves are in the lobby, right next to the self-checkout stands (two of them). There is also a circulation person in the lobby to help people who don't want to use the self-checkout stations.

Also in the lobby is the "Customer Service" window where people go to pay fines and deal with other problems/requests. I looked in there. It was clean. There were several people doing circulation tasks (checking in/out, sorting for shelving, loading carts for shelvers, etc.).

So, all the circulation tasks are done by people in the back room who aren't as likely to be interrupted by those pesky patrons. They can do the job with care. They probably even wash their books back there!

They have tons (over 26 with internet access) of public computers. They have wi-fi!

They have a room full of music CDs.

They have two catalogs: Library Solutions' "classic catalog", and an Aquabrowser "visual catalog". The Aquabrowser version is easier to use, and it must be built on top of the Library Solutions database.

Their Friends of the Library and their Public Library Foundation are active, and the reference librarian told me they are good at "getting out the vote."

Corvallis has a library. Chico has a library. Corvallis has about 54,000 people. Chico has about 86,000 people. Shouldn't we have a better library?

Summer movies

2008-07-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

More Summer movies....

	Kung Fu Panda *******	A Panda saves his village from a big, bad snow leopard. Funny and sweet.
	Wanted **	Lots of violence. Good if you like lots of violence. I don't.
	Wall-E ********	Wonderful WALL-E saves Earth and falls in love.
	Hancock *******	Will Smith is a Super Hero with a past.

Two more summer movies I want to see: Hellboy 2, and The Dark Knight.

Looking at Corvallis

2008-07-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a new place to live. So far nothing beats Chico, CA. The next stop on the investigative tour is Corvallis, OR, home to

Oregon State University,
a City Aquatic Center,
a full-service public library,
a multi-screen, good movie theater,
a yarn store,
a Wed./Sat. farmers' market,
better air and weather than Chico,
and reasonably priced housing.

Politically, it appears to be a liberal pocket in the agricultural Willamette Valley of Oregon.

It doesn't have a Costco or a Trader Joe's, which is good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I would miss Trader Joe's, but there is one in Eugene an hour (+/-) south of Corvallis. The nearest Costco is only about 10 miles away in Albany.

So, a looking we will go. See y'all in a bit.

Washington Post's Style Invitational

2008-07-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

This came as an e-mail from a friend. There have been several articles in the news lately about how e-mail is dead. Well, I can't think of a better use for e-mail than sending jokes :-) This list has been going around for awhile, so you might have seen it already. Have any to add to this list?

Here is a Washington Post Style Invitational (aka Mensa Invitational), which has probably been modified and added to for years. Add or change a letter to create a new word and provide the definition.

Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
Glibido: All talk and no action.
Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

EZ Heart Hat

2008-07-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

This was fun to knit, and following EZ's pithy directions wasn't difficult either. Pictures link to my project on Ravelry with information about yarn and pattern. There are some snazzy examples on Ravelry. Mine is just okay.

I'm not sure if it's modern enough to make many more of them for the CFOL fund raiser. Slouch hats and scarves are probably more popular. Speaking of scarves, the current project on the needles is a clapotis made with Noro's Kureyon Sock yarn. More about that later.

The links are to Ravelry. If you aren't a member, I encourage you to join - add your projects, track your stash, bla-bla-bla on the forums.

Disgruntled in Chico, CA

2008-07-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

This is one of those days when all I want to do is spend the day alone, not being polite.

How was your 4th of July weekend, you ask? You didn't ask, but I'll tell you anyway.

A gold inlay fell out of my mouth (a week after I had gone to the dentist because it felt loose, but he couldn't find anything). Now I'm drinking Ensure for meals, and I'm being bitchy. I feel sorry for all those people with their jaws wired shut for weeks and weeks.

I finished a knitting project that is less than perfect. It's supposed to be a "hand crafted" gift for a November fund raiser and I feel like it's just "hand made". Pictures tomorrow.

The mountain fire smoke came back into Chico, CA, so the air quality is all fucked up. Again. Sacramento Valley - blech!

It's hot, the air quality sucks, so I'm staying inside, fighting with J over what the temperature should say on the thermostat.

I watched hours and hours of Olympic Trials and Wimbledon. Quality sports, but there was a lot of it. Why? To keep J company.

I went to a movie and didn't get any snacks because it costs over $7 for a very small popcorn and a small bottle of water.

It's hot and the air quality sucks, so I went for a walk in the park at 6:30am and inhaled all that shit. Why? To keep J company.

J is being particularly bitchy. Normally I would put on my headphones and go work in the garden... but it's hot and the air quality sucks.

Two bitchy women locked up in a house in hot, bad air isn't good.

And finally, this is what our professional gardening company (Lifescapes, Chico, CA) thinks an oleander should look like in the summer. And this is what they think a clean sidewalk should look like:

... and the neighborhood pays for this!

... and this from Onion.com (very funny):

Okay, that's the end of my rant.

Yours truly,
Disgruntled in Chico, CA.

PS: The dentist works on Mondays. My tooth is okay now.

2008-06-25T05:58:00.001-07:00

These were quick, fun, and easy... and they fit and feel good. What more can one ask for?

Yarn: Tofutsies, feels good being worked and has plenty of body for sock elasticity. Good Summer sock weight.

Done toe-up using Bordhi's Ridgeline master pattern. New Pathways for Sock Knitters is one of my favorite new books :-)

Bad Air Day

2008-06-24T02:25:00.001-07:00

Last weekend's lightening storm in the hills east of Chico, CA, caused lots and lots of fires.

I took this picture of the rising sun from inside the house. The color is true. This would be a good day to stay inside and breath filtered air, which is what I'm doing. Corvallis, OR, is looking better all the time.

The red glow on the fence is nice to look at, but that gray sky isn't fog or clouds. It's smoke. By the way, the dead branch in the top-center of the picture is on a pistachio tree that is dying of some kind of root disease common to this area. I gave it a huge nitrogen-rich shot of fertilizer last Fall, but it doesn't look like this poor tree is going to make it.

And just to show that not everything is bad, I leave you with this picture of roses. They are ignoring the smoke, I hope, and looking fine. They seem to have perked up after their less than wonderful Spring.

Knitting pictures tomorrow....

Movie Catch Up

2008-06-21T05:42:00.001-07:00

Summer movie season started early this year. We've seen a bunch of movies lately, but didn't blog about them... here's a summary.

*****	Life Changing Event
********	Excellent, Lots of Fun
*******	Good, OK for DVD
**	Not So Good, Boring
*	Don't Ever See It

The images link to a NY Times overview.

	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull *******	Indi can still find the treasure and save the girl.
	The Visitor ********	About a man adrift who discovers new life. Excellent acting. It's also about immigration post-9/11.
	Sex and the City *******	It's a very long episode of the TV series, but fun.
	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian **	One battle after another, without much of a story.
	Iron Man ********	Lots of fun. Cast does an excellent job.
	Under the Same Moon *******	A little too melodramatic and predictable, but still entertaining. A little boy sneaks over the border from Mexico to the US and looks for his mother in Los Angeles.

Coming soon, and I hope they are good: Wall-e - looks like it will be too cute for words; and Hancock - every Summer Will Smith saves the world. I love it.

Tomorrow is The Incredible Hulk. It looks like my life consists of going to movies, and you might be right.

Ridgeline Sock (with errata) in the Garden

2008-06-17T05:50:00.001-07:00

www.flickr.com

What is this?

I took my Work In Progress into the garden today... sock pictures with red/yellow/peach roses, hydrangea, mint - click on one to see bigger.

The WIP is Cat Bordhi's Home & Hearth Eyelet Anklet, done using the Ridgeline Master Pattern from her book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters Book One. I'm liking these toe up patterns of hers. You plug your "master numbers" into some general directions and off you go.

I did find a mistake, I think, in the book on page 99. In the Arch expansion companion rounds section, it says to repeat the expansion rounds until stitch count reaches D. But D is the number of sts after the toe. I think it should say, "... st count reaches F.", because F is the number of sts reached after the arch expansion is complete.

I didn't see this correction in Cat's errata.

Ted, thanks for commenting regarding "6g short of a ball". Yes it makes perfect sense that humidity would change the weight of a ball of yarn. Good thinking! It's not very humid here in Chico in the Summer so that might indeed be the reason for the lightweight yarn.

Fire and a heat wave

2008-06-13T14:19:00.001-07:00

We are having a very bad fire here in Butte County. There is smoke in the air and chemicals in the smoke are causing me to have some kind of reaction (sore throat, congestion, etc.). But! I am at home and comfortable while thousands of people have been evacuated and at least 50 homes have been destroyed. The fire damage covers over 22 thousand acres. Fire fighters from all over the state are here trying to put out the fire.

Big winds fanned the fire into a frenzy, but they have slowed down some today. The forecast is for not-too-windy and in the high 90s tomorrow. Maybe all those fire fighters will get the fire under control in the next couple of days. What heroes they are!

I work with a woman who lives on one of the roads frequently mentioned as a road with several lost homes. Send Rhoda your good thoughts!

More whining from the USA

2008-06-11T04:36:00.001-07:00

Took a trip to Salem, Oregon, area to see if it was good to live in. Chico, CA, is still looking good.

Costco was having a "sale" on gasoline - only $3.99 (US) per gallon. That was cheap, considering I just paid $4.39 per gallon at home in Chico's Costco.

Folks are pissed about the cost of gas and would like to punish companies like Exxon for their record profits. I don't want to punish them. I want to have them use their record profits to explore alternative sources of energy.

Happy Wednesday!

6g short of a ball

2008-06-07T08:38:00.001-07:00

I prepared the Tofutsies yarn for the next pair of socks. The yarn band says:

50% Superwash Wool,
25% Soysilk Fibers,
22.5% Cotton,
2.5% Chitin
100g/425m (3.5 oz /464 yd)

I love the color, which is much lighter than shown here. The ball band says, "Chitin is fiber from shrimp and crab shells! It's naturally antibacterial!"

I weighed the yarn. According to my scale, my purchase is 94g (3.3 oz), not the 100g specified on the ball band. That means I'm about 25 meters (27 yd) short. I'm making anklet socks for my US size 9 feet, so this should be plenty of yarn. When I pulled out the center wad (that blob on the left side of the ball) I ended up with a 13g tangle that took some patience to unwind.

The ball band says gauge is "8 sts = 1 inch on US2 needles." I'm planning to use US0 needles, my standard needle for fingering weight yarn.

So here are my two balls of yarn, ready to take a road trip to Oregon. Car knitting, here I come!

We're going to look at the Salem area as a possible new living place. The air and heat in Chico aren't any fun at all. Salem is cooler and has better air. Salem also has rain....

Knitted Adam Ant

2008-06-06T08:27:00.001-07:00

After working for 3 months on the Pi Shawl I was in the mood for a quickie. May I present to you Adam Ant, from a design by erfat on Ravelry. The local library is having a children's summer reading program with a theme "Catch The Reading Bug." We were asked to contribute bugs, so I rummaged through the toy designs on Ravelry and Adam Ant was the cutest bug I could find.

Next up - Socks, and some work on J's Christmas stocking.

Why I Don't Buy More Yarn

2008-06-03T14:01:00.001-07:00

This is why I don't buy more yarn:

Persimmon, the cat: $670 for checkup, shots, and teeth cleaning/extraction, not planned for in the budget.

Sammy, the cat: About $10 every time he looses one of his reflective, name-plated collars... about 3 times this Spring, not planned for in the budget.

Ruso, the cat: $785 for checkup, shots, teeth cleaning, cyst removal, not planned for in the budget.

Diane, the scullery maid: About $700 for a new vacuum cleaner that I can stand to use two or three times a week in order to vacuum up all the fracking cat hair.

So, all you yarn stores, with your wonderful yarn and new books, you'll just have to wait until my investments begin to pay off, or the price of groceries, gasoline, and vet bills go down. Until then, I'm working from the stash baby.

EZ Pi Shawl is Done!

2008-06-03T02:53:00.001-07:00

Started in March, done in May... three months of my life. What shall I do with it? I started it as a gift for J, but she says she doesn't wear shawls and doesn't want it.

Folding it up and putting it away isn't an option. It's not a work of art, it's just a shawl. It needs to be worn.

So...

Give it as a gift to somebody else?

Wear it myself, replacing my first Pi Shawl done with Lion Brand Wool-Ease several years ago?

Talk to the Friends of the Library about auctioning it off to raise money for the library?

Sell it (how)?

Any thoughts from the Internets?

The Smell of Wet Wool

2008-06-02T04:54:00.001-07:00

It took me a couple of months of monogamous knitting, but it's finally done.

Today was the washing and blocking day for the Pi Shawl. First was a 15 minute soak in Eucalan. Second, wrap it in a towel and put it through a spin cycle in the washing machine.

Third, Ruso helped me block it on a quilt upstairs. It took five blocking wires to go all the way around the circumference. Fourth, cover it with a sheet so when Ruso has his after-lunch cat fit he won't snag it.

None of these pictures show the lace pattern very well. I'll try to get a better one outside after it dries.

When I was cleaning out my camera I found this sequence of Sammy in the junk mail recycle bag. No, the pictures weren't in the junk mail recycle bag. Sammy was in the junk mail recycle bag. Nothing good in that bag.

Testing Typepad Compose

2008-05-30T14:49:00.001-07:00

I usually use MS Live Writer to compose my blog posts. Cookie over at Shut Up & Knit! has been saying how much she really hates Typepad's new compose screen. So, I'm doing this post from the Typepad Compose Screen instead of from my usual MS Live Writer, just to see how valid her complaints are.

One of the reasons I wasn't using Typepad compose was that I had to key too much HTML manually. Let's see if that's better. This picture is stored on flickr. I tried clicking on the insert image button on the compose screen, but I can't insert a picture using a URL. -2 for Typepad picture inserting. I still have to key my own html in order to insert the picture with Typepad's compose.

Here's an example of HTML I have to manually insert into my post:

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blablabla" target="_blank"><img style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/blablabla.jpg" align="left">

Another complaint Cookie at Shut Up & Knit! has is that she can key faster than the compose screen can handle. Me too, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one because they are still fixing it and I guess they have a bunch of diagnostic code running that slows down data entry. I would hope the diagnostic code gets disabled and things will run faster later. I hope.

One improvement Typepad has made is the ability to change the font in a post. +1 for Typepad font control. In MS Live Writer I can change the font color too.

Another improvement from Typepad is that you can cause links to open in a new screen instead of opening in the same screen as this post. +1/2 for Typepad Hyperlinks.

My summary is ... I'll stick with MS Live Writer for now, even though it means having yet another application installed on my PC.

Post composed while listening to music composed by Rimsky-Korsakov on KDFC's live feed. Very nice.

Pi Shawl Continues

2008-05-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

The cats are just as tired of the edge on the Pi Shawl as I am. I still work on the shawl every day, so I figure I'm about 70% of the way around the edge.

Persy and Ruso say I must be the slowest knitter in the West...

If I showed you a picture of the shawl it would look just like all the other pictures, so my photogenic friends will do today.

Handmade Ice Cream & Candy in Chico, CA - Shubert's

2008-05-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

Good Morning America wants you to vote for one of the Best Scoops In America. Chico's own Shubert's, maker of Ice Cream & Candy since 1938, is one of the four finalists. Go vote for Shubert's. It will be fun to see Chico on national TV!

I've had their ice cream and it's pretty darn good, mmm-mmm.

May Garden

2008-05-16T08:29:00.001-07:00

There is good news and bad news in the garden this morning. First the good news.

The geraniums are happy. The one above is in a pot. See Sammy helping with the camera work this morning (white arrow, top left of photo). He loves it when people join him in the garden.

The Mock Orange, Gardenia, and new Petunias are happy. The Mock Orange smells wonderful. It's a big bush that Tom, the gardener, is going to espalier for me one of these days. Tom shows up when it's convenient for Tom, so I'm not sure when it will happen. In the meantime, we enjoy the blossoms.

The Roses aren't so happy this year. I'm not sure what the problem is. Do these blossoms look okay to you?

Sammy stayed with me for the entire garden photo session this morning :-)

(Note: My photos are on flickr.)

Typekey

2008-05-15T05:07:00.001-07:00

Blog readers, move along - this is just between me and Typepad support. Thanks.

This is my Typekey profile Configuration page... only shows one link typelist in the drop down, but I have two link Typelists.

Socks and Shawls

2008-05-12T06:07:00.001-07:00

I dropped out of Sock Wars III because I am not finished with my Pi Shawl yet. I'm maybe 40% of the way around the shawl with the finishing edge, so maybe I'll finish it some time in June. Then I'll be able to knit another pair of socks.

Speaking of socks, Melissa in Portland is having a drawing. Send her your pictures of the socks you have knit since last July, and when her blog hits reach 10,000 she will give a randomly chosen sock knitter some of her lovely hand spun yarn. She wants to show the world just how many socks knitters there are :-)

On a gardening note, we have wind. Dusty, pollen-filled, tree limb-breaking, junk-dumping, hair-mussing, nose-stuffing wind. So I went to Lowes this morning and bought some plants which will have to wait until tomorrow to be planted. It's not pleasant enough outside to do the job today.

And... while I was at Lowes I paid for a new window and the installation of said window. The plants were cheaper. The window should arrive at Lowes in a couple of weeks and then the installer will pick it up and put it in my house.

Ah, home ownership....

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2008-05-05T14:46:00.001-07:00

The diving bell and the butterfly: **** Very Good.

We watched the DVD of this movie tonight. It was very good.

A rich and creative magazine editor suffers a stroke which leaves him with one eye that blinks, and that's all he can use for communication. He manages to blink out a book - his memoirs - with the help of many people.

The film shows images of what he might have been seeing in his imagination while he was locked in his body. It's those images that are beautiful. His mind is still working, even if he has been betrayed by his body.

I recommend it.

Note: I cheated. It's a French film, but I set the DVD to play in English with no subtitles. I don't think I lost anything, but how would I know?

Click on the movie poster to see Rotten Tomatoes reviews.

Snow on the trail

2008-05-04T09:03:00.001-07:00

We wanted to go for a walk in the mountains today. The weatherman said the snow pack in the Sierra Mountains was melting.

Well... not quite yet.

First we tried Frazier Falls in the Plumas National Forest, but couldn't even get to the parking area. My little Prius couldn't make it over the snow on the open(??), narrow road. When I determined I would have to either back all the way down the road or turn around in a narrow space, J got out and helped me turn around by stopping me each time I was about to drive into the ditch on one side of the narrow road or drop into the ravine on the other.

Then we thought we'd take the wider road up to Lakes Basin, but the road to the trail was not open.

Whatever. The snow and clean air was wonderful. J got to throw snowballs, one of her favorite things to do. On the way home we got to smell that wonderful smell of a rain storm in the mountains.

Back here in the valley my front porch is registering 85F. It's like different but parallel universes.

A little down

2008-05-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

Today wasn't a particularly good day.

... one of the people I like at work had his last day today. He's leaving town on Sunday.

... J went outside to ask a woman not to park in the No Parking zone and the woman (not lady!) yelled at her and called her names, and told her to go back inside and knit. J doesn't even knit!

... watched an episode of Upstairs Downstairs which was sad in it's unfairness to young, poor, pregnant women in the early 1900s.

... eating too much lately so feel like a cow.

I'm sure Down will turn into Up tomorrow, so I better go to sleep so tomorrow will come sooner.

Sarah Marshall & Smoking

2008-04-30T02:20:00.001-07:00

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (***)
Thank you for Smoking (****)

I didn't see this movie when it was in the theatres because I hate the title. Last night I saw it on DVD and was thoroughly entertained.

It's about a tobacco industry lobbyist who is very good at what he does. While he is busy selling smoking, he is also trying to instill some values in his son.

I think it's a very smart comedy (no slapstick here).

Click on the poster for more information about cast, script, etc.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is funny too, but not quite as smart. One of the most remarkable things about this movie is that there is full frontal male nudity. We are all used to seeing nude females from every possible angle, but men are usually shown from behind. This movie proves that if you've seen one you've seen them all. I guess the nudity is why it's rated R.

It's pretty, and pretty predictable. I was entertained by some of the smart dialogue from Jason Segel (script writer and lead character), and the plot isn't totally stupid.

You can wait for the DVD for this one.

Click on the poster for more information about cast, script, etc.

Pi Shawl & April Garden

2008-04-28T14:11:00.001-07:00

So I'm done with the third section, the Gothic Leaf Pattern. Now I'm working my way around the edge... about (576 * 2) 1152 rows. So far I've done about 128 rows. Only 1024 rows to go :-/

This is Grandma's Edge from Walker's 2nd Treasury. I've seen it on a couple of other Pi Shawls in Ravelry and it looks pretty cool when it's finished.

I'm just a little concerned about that ridge between the shawl and the edging. It is formed by knitting two together through the back loop, one stitch from the edging and one live stitch from the shawl which is how the shawl edge is finished off. I'm really, really hoping it will block flat! If it looks too ridgey, then I will have learned a valuable lesson, but I'm not ripping the edge out again - another ripping out would be the 4th time - so this is a design feature, not a mistake :-)

I'm just about done with the third skein, so I've just about used up 1350 yards of fingering weight yarn so far. I won't finish the 4th skein, so maybe I'll be making a gift scarf for somebody, or maybe I don't know, something else.

The garden is looking pretty spiffy. Click on the picture to see today's pictures... roses, pathetic asparagus, clematis, peonies, climbing hydrangea, geraniums, lettuce, onions, etc.

We couldn't help ourselves

2008-04-25T09:22:00.001-07:00

We're having fun now. I downloaded Ubuntu 8.04 (Linux), copied it to a CD, and then installed it on my trusty old IBM Thinkpad. I have never installed Linux before, so it's a testament to Ubuntu that I was able to do it without one hitch.

It's amazing what you do not have to know these days in order to use Linux on a computer! I didn't have to fool with anything that smacked of "root". I got several applications with the install, like Open Office, Firefox version 3, Evolution email and calendar.

So, if I can install a wifi card in this thing, then I would have a perfectly good laptop for travel. I probably won't spend the time to do it, because lugging around a computer on vacation isn't my idea of fun. My Palm Treo 680 is a fine little gizmo for staying digitally connected while traveling, and it's small enough to carry in a little purse.

I don't know what else I need to accomplish with Ubuntu today... this post is being written via my Thinkpad and Ubuntu. Since the Firefox browser looks the same on MS Windows XP as it does on Ubuntu, there is no learning curve. Cool!

North State Symphony Season Finale

2008-04-20T14:08:00.001-07:00

Well, our little North State Symphony just keeps getting better and better. Our musical director and conductor is Kyle Wiley Pickett. He fills the same shoes in Juneau, Alaska, so he's a busy boy.

We first started attending NSS performances in 2001. The only other symphony orchestra I had ever heard was the San Francisco Symphony. When I first heard the NSS, I thought they were cute, but amateur. Each year they improved, and this year they sound good. I have to give Wiley Pickett the credit, and the concertmaster Terrie Baune leads a fine violin section.

Today was the final performance of the season, and the guest artists were Chelsea Morden on Violin and Ayako Nakamura on Trumpet. These young women are both winners of a young artist's competition that is held each year.

Today's program included:

Debussy's Nocturnes
Kabalevsky's Violin Concerto in C major, Opus 48 (guest artist C. Morden)
Arutiunian's Trumpet Concerto (guest artist A. Nakamura)
Holst's The Planets

A thousand years ago, when I was young, my father gave me an LP of Debussy. I can still remember the cover of the album and was picturing it while the orchestra played Debussy's Nocturnes.

Of course, everybody recognizes Holst's Planets. The Planets made a fine season finale. Very fine.

PS: you know why there are more women playing in orchestra's these days? Because many auditions are held behind a curtain, so that you can't tell whether it's a man or a woman, only how they play. At least, that's what Jan tells me.

Not happy with LensCrafters today

2008-04-14T06:48:00.001-07:00

Here's a letter I'm sending in the mail to LensCrafters today. I'm posting it here so you know to take care of your LensCrafter glasses. If they brake, you pay. It feels good to vent :-)

Dear LensCrafters,
I�m writing to express my displeasure with your damage policy. Last July, 2007, I purchased a pair of glasses. The cost was $289.96. Less than a year later, the Brooks Brothers frames broke. (The nose pad wire broke off.)
I was not expecting to be told it would cost me $94 to have a defective product replaced. The person behind the counter explained that was policy.
This policy tells me that you sell defective products that will not last even one year, and that you don�t stand behind your products.
I will never shop at LensCrafters again. Please take me off your mass marketing lists.

April Garden Tour

2008-04-10T04:01:00.001-07:00

My April Garden tour happened this morning. You can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger image.

In the front yard....

The Tree Peony is in full bloom. This is my favorite showy plant in the yard. Last year a volunteer peony popped out. It must have arrived in the pot. It's back again this year and appears to be pink (bud in last picture).

The poppies and gerbera daisies (1st and 2nd above) are a disappointment this year. They are tiny and unhealthy looking. I blame it on the MowNBlow team because they put weed killer out and I think it's bad for these little flowers. The Iris (3rd above) made several blooms this year, and the geraniums (4th above) are happy, happy. That's it for the front yard.

In the back yard....

The wisteria is in mid-bloom and smelling oh-so-sweet. From inside the house the blossoms smell more like dirty feet... at least I think that's what that smell has been.... The wind chimes are new from a recent trip - my very first in my entire life wind chimes - and they are lovely to hear. And it's been breezy. Yesterday I blew and swept the patio. Today that lovely, melodic breeze has dumped even more wisteria petals. I thought you were only supposed to have to sweep the patio every day in the Fall!

The orchid that came home last winter made it through the cold weather. I strung a bunch of christmas lights around it and every night that Kris the weatherman said it was going to be in the low 30Fs I turned them on. It worked :-) Romaine lettuce and chives, etc., are happy in the herb garden. The rhododendron isn't going to bloom this year. I think I should have fed it last year, and kept it wetter during this dry winter we had.

The tulips are just about done. The dogwood is blooming. The clematis is gorgeous - stuck off by itself in the shade of the dogwood, it happily blooms away, almost unnoticed.

It's a small yard, but this is the time of year when it's the most showy.

Happy almost-US-tax day everybody!

Pi Shawl 3rd Pattern

2008-03-31T04:27:00.000-07:00

Still working on EZ's Pi Shawl, I'm up to the 3rd pattern (576 sts per round). I didn't want to repeat the same patterns again (1st and 3rd would be the same), so I found another diamond pattern in Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It's the Gothic Leaf Pattern on page 288 of my edition. Here's my chart to be used when working in the round. (Walker's directions assume flat knitting, so I converted to circular by removing 1st K1; and all odd rows will be knit instead of purled.)

I'm up to 576 stitches per round, which is evenly divisible by 16 :-)

No, I didn't swatch....

Went to Monterey Bay

2008-03-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

We went to Monterey for a wonderful visit to the ocean. Click on "What is this" below to see the pictures. It was such a good trip! Drove down on Wednesday and walked at Pacific Grove. On Thursday we visited Pt Lobos, Big Sur, and the Carmel Mission. Friday, breakfast at Zachary's in Santa Cruz and then drove home. Ah, life is good.

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called 2008 Monterey Bay. Make your own badge here.

Too goofy to knit

2008-03-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

I blame it all on the library. People come in coughing, dirty, smelly, coughing, sneezing, bad breath and coughing... and to be fair people also come in clean and healthy.

I worked with some sicko patrons on Thursday and Friday. By Friday night my throat was feeling sore. I went to my favorite drug store and bought cold/flue medication. Today is the 24 hour mark and I don't fee better, so we know it's not a 24-hour thing. Phooey.

These drugs make me goofy enough to avoid lace and fair isle, my two active knitting projects.

So, I read. I finished "You can't catch death" a memoir written by Richard Braughtigan's daughter. Now I'm into "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" by John Bogle. If this one doesn't put me to sleep then nothing will!

JLG's Christmas Stocking & Talking to Meg

2008-03-20T02:11:00.000-07:00

So here's the next chart. The knitting will look squattier in real life. The trees look taller and narrower here because of the column and row dimensions I used in MS Excel. Whatever. It works as a guide.

I'm not quite ready to knit the trees yet. I'm up to the point where I knit the second little white repeat at the bottom of the hem. The first time I knit this I tried to keep the seam stitch in green, which was fine on the rows that had both green and white; however, on the rows that had just white, the green seam stitch looks disconnected from its white neighbors because, well because it was disconnected from its white neighbors. So, I screwed up my courage and called Schoolhouse Press to ask what to do about that seam stitch. A nice person answered the phone and when I said why I was calling she put Meg on the phone. Imagine being able to call and talk to a knitting celebrity. Anyway, she had a couple of suggestions:

1) slip the green seam stitch from the row below, or

2) make the seam stitch white for that part of the stocking.

... and she was so nice about it!

Pi Shawl Progress

2008-03-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

It looks more like a tam than a shawl (picture right), so I'm hoping it will block out. Fingering weight yarn. US 6 needles. I'll have to knit a lot to make it big enough, but that's the point, right? You get lots of knitting for your dollar. (Dollars are the thing in short supply, not the time to knit.)

The picture on the left shows a tail in the SW quadrant of the picture. That's a Hide & Sheep knitter's bracelet/abacus. That's how I know I'm on row 13 of the second chart for the shawl. It's supposed to be a bracelet, but I much prefer it as a round marker slash abacus.

About the shawl. It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl. The pattern can be found in her Knitter's Almanac, July, page 71 in my edition. The charts for this pattern can be found in XRX's Shawls and Scarves, page 52 in my edition. Be careful, though. The written words for the chart don't exactly match EZ's pattern or the chart; for example, row 11 of chart B words and chart do not match. (Errata, a pdf, for XRX book does show correction for row 11.)

Oh, did I forget to say it's really easy?

Ruthless Inspiration

2008-03-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here's another inspirational designer. Ruth. Check out her Kinari Cardigan. She sketched it. She knit it. It fits. Kudos!

The closest I've come to sketch-then-knit was using Sweater Wizard to generate a pattern... which I have never knit. Maybe someday.

Christmas Stocking - 253 days to completion

2008-03-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here's the progress so far. My hands are like atrophying claws, so I think I'll give it a rest for a bit.

This yarn (have I already said this?) is Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Yarn. It's almost impossible to drop a stitch, thank goodness. There are little sproingy barbs all over the yarn that keep it from coming out. If you were going to steek-and-cut something, this would be a good yarn to use - no way it would come unraveled. Even with the sproingy barbs it's not too itchy feeling, but it wouldn't be so good next to the skin I think. Good cardigan yarn. Good xmas stocking yarn.

Sally Kern represents some of the people of Oklahoma, U.S.A.

2008-03-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

This YouTube video contains a recording of Republican state representative from Oklahoma, Sally Kern.

Her speech is hate-filled and unacceptable. She should be removed from office. Good old Republican fear and hate mongering. It's disgusting.

I wonder how many people she really represents? I hope it's a small, really small percentage of her constituency.

First chart for Eli's Christmas Stocking

2008-03-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

I was having trouble deciding where the repeats were in the chart on the schoolhouse press pattern, but Meg gives very good directions, so I decided my "knitter's choice" would be to place the repeats thusly on the top of the stocking.

(Click image to see bigger.)

Finished... or not

2008-03-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

I finished another pair of Cat Bordhi Riverbed socks. This time out of Trecking XXL yarn. The way this yarn feels in my hands, the socks should last forever. The previous pair of Riverbed socks I made was from Ray's nice sock yarn which I like the feel of more.

Anyway, I used Bordhi's master numbers, and created this 2X2 sock. The increases are on the bottom of the foot - can you see about mid-way up the foot from the toe the sock begins to get fatter? That's where the increases are.

I don't much care for this picture, but you take the models where you can find them. In this case just after waking up early during allergy season. This is a moebius scarf (the knitting, not the model). I used Cat Bordhi's magical moebius cast on to cast on enough stitches to fit on a 47" needle (nbr divisible by 4). The first half of the stitches are knit in a traveling rib which travels to the left. The second half of the stitches are knit in a traveling rib which travels to the right. The result (magically) is a scarf in which the rib appears to travel in the same direction over the entire scarf - except that small portion where the the ribs meet and there is a "V" in the rib pattern. Because of the cast on, there is no way to avoid the line in the middle of the scarf, is there?

This was a project I made in a Cat Bordhi class. I might make it again with better yarn and needles which are the right size for the yarn.

Last year Meg Swansen did a Knit along project called Eli's Christmas Stocking. I ordered the yarn from Schoolhouse Press and gave J the yarn with a note that it would be a Christmas stocking by this Thanksgiving.

It has taken me a while to finish charting the "JLG" to got on the stocking and begin to swatch, but finally it is a WIP.

The Savages

2008-03-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Savages: **** very good

The Savages finally came to Chico. It's about time! Click on the poster for a full NY times Review.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are so good in this. I see lots of movies, so I see it when somebody is acting and that takes away from the enjoyment for me. I saw no acting in this movie. Linney and Hoffman are brother and sister who are called upon to take care of their estranged father in the final Winter of his life. Philip Bosco plays the unloving and unloved father. He's very good too. The supporting cast is good. It's all good.

About the story... it's good. The brother and sister are both smart, creative people living with the after effects of an unhappy childhood. They take care of their father with mixed feelings. There is humor in the story - grownup humor, not slapstick.

The setting is mostly Winter in Buffalo, New York: cold, snowy, bleak.

Go see it in the theatre if it's not too late. If you miss it, this one would also play well on DVD.

[Maybe this should be a six star review to go with the 6 occurrences of "good" in the text :-) ]

Knitted High Heel Boots

2008-03-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

This was on Boing Boing today. Could two people think of the same idea in similar colors??

Does famous designer read CRAFT?

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, March 3, 2008 11:21 AM | permalink
In the first issue of CRAFT (edited by my wife, Carla Sinclair) from October 2006, Tina Marrin wrote a how-to article about knitted high heel boots (left).
Last week in Paris, famous designer Hussein Chalayan showed his brand new knitted high heel boots (right).
Do you think he reads CRAFT? (Via Book of Joe)

Spring in Chico

2008-03-02T03:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a typical windy and beautiful Spring day...

www.flickr.com

Pictures were taken.

LOLCode, SRSLY

2008-02-27T00:51:00.000-08:00

For the Geek at heart, there is LOLCode. Thanks Marilyn for telling us about it.

Here's a sample from LOLCode.com:

HAI WORLD:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE

Coders will recognize the ubiquitous "Hello World" program that is the first program you write in any language just to see if it will run on your machine. This one has an opening "HAI" and a closing "KTHXBYE". The stuff in between wakes up the input/output device for the program and then says "HAI WORLD".

Cute!

The LOLCode idea came from Adam Lindsay. This is one of the FAQs:

Who is this for?

This is a love letter to very clever people who are slightly bored. I had no idea there were so many of us out there.

There have been several implementations of an interpreter for LOLCode ... must be lots of slightly bored and clever people out there!

Stitches West 2008

2008-02-24T04:11:00.000-08:00

Opening day, classes, and of course, the market... it was all good. No pictures here.

Opening day was about socks

Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby, and Sandi Rosner were the speakers. If you follow this blog you know I am a Cat Bordhi fan. She covered the sockitecture in her book New Pathways for Sock Knitters, introducing the various top down and toe up socks. Lucy Neatby talked about her sock philosophy, using the Fiesta Sock as her model. It's a cool idea - you knit a garter stitch band sideways around the top and then pick up and work down from that. Lucy is a big believer in color. Sandi Rosner is the author of some sock books I have but have never used. She presented an entrelac sock she made out of faux fair isle patterned sock yarn. It was kind of cool. (Lunch after the talk was fine and people at my table were pleasant.) Cost = $75. Worth it? Probably yes for sock knitters like me.

At the opening day a sock contest was announced. It runs through Jan. 1, 2009, and results will be announced next year at Stitches West 2009.

Classes

Sleeves from the top down - Lorna Miser (Thursday afternoon)

She talked about various arm hole shaping (dropped shoulder, modified drop shoulder, and set in sleeves), and how to put sleeves in them. She spent most of the time on set in sleeves, which is what I wanted. There was math, a little, and knitting, a little. It was only a 3 hour class, but good for sleeve-phobes like me.

Vintage Socks - Nancy Bush (Friday all day)

Nancy Bush is the original Sock Goddess. I learned to knit socks from Folk Socks, and I have all of her sock books. I love Nancy Bush. This was the first class I have taken from her and it was good. Poor Nancy had a terrible cold and kept leaving the room to blow, cough, and wash hands. In spite of the cold she taught a good class based on her Knitting Vintage Socks book, which was based on the old Weldon's Practical Needlework publications. We got to knit a little sample sock with new-to-me cast on, heel and toe. It was interesting to travel back in time and knit socks as they were knit in the past. For example, most of their decreases were k2tog - no mirroring ssk, just all k2tog - which works, but isn't as balanced as we are used to. They went for function over form.

Magical Moebius - Cat Bordhi (Saturday...)

Cat, another one of my knitting goddesses, taught us how to cast on for a moebius ring, and then led us through one of two patterns she handed out in class - a little bowl (to be felted later), or a cowl scarf thing. She spent some time talking about the moebius ring, it's properties, design possibilities, and the magic of moebius. I have done a couple of moebius things from Cat's books, so I fiddled with a self-designed scarf that required diagonal ribs to slant in different directions on each half of the scarf... so that they would appear to slant all in the same direction. If I finish it, I'll post pictures.

This was my last class. Unfortunately I left at lunch break because bad weather was predicted and I didn't want to drive in wind and rain in the dark.

Cost = $315 for 15 class hours. $360 for lodging. Worth it? Yes, but I can't do it too often!

The Market

I went to the market preview on Thursday night, but didn't go again. The market is huge, huge I tell you. It fills two gigantic convention floor sized areas. It took me an hour and a half to walk through it and I'm sure I didn't walk by every single vendor. There was a line half a block long to buy Blue Moon yarn, and I'm told they sell out quickly. I didn't stop in too many booths, but I did stop. I bought a book (Best of Interweave Knits), a pattern (Fiesta Socks by Lucy Neatby), and a couple of Ravelry pins. Ravelry was there meeting and greeting. What warriors they are! I found a new needle maker and I like their needles a lot - Signature Needle Arts. As soon as they make circular needles, or DPNs in size 0 I'll buy some!

Cost = not so much.

The 4-hour drive home wasn't so bad in the daylight and I managed to stay awake the entire time ($3.45 / US Gallon of gas!!!).

Knitting Here and There

2008-02-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year - Stitches West 2008 starts tomorrow. If you are there and you see a large 60-something blonde with a Diane nametag, please say hi. I'll be taking classes from Nancy Bush (Vintage Socks), Cat Bordhi (Magical Moebius), and Lorna Miser (Top Down Sleeves). Whoopee!

On a more interesting note, KnitML is in its first release. Thanks Jonathan! It's an open source project so anybody can download the source and contribute. Oh, it's so tempting! For non-software types, you can download and play with the application to create your own patterns in KnitML format.

KnitML 0.1 Released!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 08:49 AM

Ladies and gentleman, we have a release! I have put it up on SourceForge. Please download it and let me know what you think. Choose your download format (tar.gz or .zip) and unpack it to the directory of your choice. [more...]

Wendy's Kitty Pi (aka Another Cat Bed)

2008-02-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

This cat bed was finished a couple of weeks ago. It's super quick and super easy, and the payoff in my cats' pleasure is high. All three cats like this one - it doesn't hurt that it has a view of the patio and there is a warming pad between the chair cushion and the cat bed :-) They like the raised sides.

The felted cat bed is by Wendy Johnson, who is a cat lover (to put it mildly), knitter and designer. I used Cascade 220 and carried two strands of yarn together to get bulky weight on US10.5 (? I think) needles. The felting was pretty quick.

An empty cat bed is not very exciting, so I woke up Persimmon and asked her to pose in the bed. First she must bathe, then she sat for a picture (half asleep and not enthusiastic). Finally she went back to sleep.

Sock Wars III

2008-02-11T00:34:00.000-08:00

This will be my first Sock War. I plan to be the last warrior standing, even though I'm a slow knitter. Here's a link to the Yahoo group for Sock Wars - want to challenge?

The yarn sponsor this time is TOFUtsies from SWTC. This Sock Wars III web site explains everything.

Vogue Stitchionary Volume One

2008-01-31T14:03:00.000-08:00

The above is my chart for the [chartless in the book] pattern 156 vines and bobbles, page 105 of Vogue Knitting Stitchionary volume one. It looks to me as if the book's line by line instructions are right as far as the number of stitches goes, but the "multiple of" instructions might be wrong. My chart might not line up right in the picture and my left and right decreases might be off, but I think the pattern will work if you follow the instructions. I haven't knit a swatch.

This chart shows two repeats of the pattern side by side. Odd (right side) rows are read from right to left. Even (wrong side) rows are read from left to right. A "K" on the right side is knit. A "K" on the wrong side is purled. It's supposed to be that you are looking at the right side of the work.

The book tells you to cast on a multiple of 12 sts plus 1, and it is a multiple of 16 sts after Row 1. I don't think so. I think you cast on a multiple of 11 stitches, and then odd (right side) rows are multiple of 12 and even (wrong side) rows are multiple of 11.

I might be totally off base here. Does anybody else have any thoughts on this?

The errata page ~~doesn't~~ does include a correction for this pattern! ~~Maybe it doesn't need one, or maybe it does. I'm not really sure?~~

Now I know why I love the Barbara Walker Treasuries so much!

[Edited for some clarity, 2/4/08.]

[Edited to show that the errata page has been updated with a correction. 2/14/08]

Sammy gets his turn in the cat bed

2008-01-29T01:22:00.000-08:00

A day later and Sammy gets his turn. He's a big boy, so you can see that the bed is too big. Definitely next time I will double the yarn, tighten the stitches, and cast on about 10 less stitches.

Have you tried a cat bed with doubled Cascade 220 yarn? I'd love for you to comment about it.

Cat Bordhi Cat Bed

2008-01-28T05:52:00.000-08:00

It's finished. The above is a Cat Bordhi cat bed, knitted but not felted. It's 24" in diameter. I used Cascade 220 yarn, knit loosely on size US11 needles. It takes about 2 1/2 skeins. 200 sts were cast on for the rim. If I were going to do it again I would double the yarn (so use about 5 skeins) and knit tighter. (Maybe the book says to knit with the yarn doubled and I missed it?) And I might do it again. It's really easy and fast.

The first picture below is the only one that shows the mobius strip on the border. Bordhi's mobius strip directions require a leap of faith, but they work. Just shut down your mind and follow along.

The bed went through a high agitation wash cycle in a zippered pillow case, and with jeans in the tub with it - about 15+ minutes in hot water with liquid laundry detergent. The zippered pillow case is a good idea (from the book) because there was quite a bit of lint trapped in it at the end. It's about 20" in diameter after felting. After a short spin it went into the dryer with two big towels used as blockers. My dryer has a shelf so I can dry things flat, no tumbling, in short order. This bed took about 30 minutes to dry.

The big test was wether the cats would like it. Persimmon took possession first, and didn't budge when visited by Ruso first and then Sammy. After the photo shoot, Petite Princess Persimmon lost interest in it and left, leaving a perfect warm spot for Ruso. There's a kitty warming pad under the bed and a towel inside. I think they like it.

Kite Runner & Atonement

2008-01-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

Kite Runner: *** Good
Atonement: *** Good

These two were good movies, worth seeing on the big screen. I probably should have given them both better ratings, but I'm tired of complicated movies. I want a straightforward love story, or a straightforward hero-vs-bad guy. I want the lovers to get together and I want the hero to win. Well there. I got that off my chest. [A sunny day wouldn't hurt either. I packed my camera and drove to the park for a walk, but it was raining by the time we got there. Hmph.]

The Kite Runner was true to the book. I thought the book told the story better, but I always think that. It did show how cruel young boys can be, especially to those they love. It showed how some young men are evil and they grow into evil men. It showed how a grown man still suffers from childhood guilt and pain, and what such a man will do to make amends.

The acting is fine. The photography is very good. The settings in Afghanistan and the SF Bay Area (Fremont!) are well done.

Atonement is a big star, big budget movie based on the book by Ian McEwan. I haven't read the book so I have no idea how the movie compares to the book.

Basically, it's the story of three people: Briony , a 13 year old girl with a crush on Robbie, a grown young man, and Cecilia, Briony's sister. Robbie & Cecilia love each other. It's a lopsided triangle which shows how a 13 year old girl can get everything wrong and suffer the guilt of it for the rest of her very long life.

It takes place in England and France just before and during WWII. The acting and photography are good. I was bothered by all the time jumping and close-up scenes, but the end of the movie makes it all make sense. In fact I didn't like the movie as much in the middle as I did in the end.

I hope these mediocre reviews don't keep anybody from seeing these two movies. I give them both "Good to See".

Old Farts

2008-01-23T01:23:00.000-08:00

I finally understand where the term "Old Fart" comes from, and I am one.

My sphincter muscles are shot. My ass has fallen [way fallen]. My digestive system apparently has some kind of chemical imbalance that results in lots of gas needing a place to escape. The result is somebody who cannot control her own farts.

The Urban Dictionary has nothing good to say about old farts, but the definition that seems most apt to me is that an old fart is the smell that rises from a couch when you slap it with your hand. [eew!]

It's embarrassing in the library. I'll be up there at circulation checking 'em and checking 'em out. All of a sudden there will be a quiete moment (rare in our library) and out will come this little put put sound that is the unmistakable sound of an old fart at work.

Teddy Bear Ribwarmer

2008-01-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

I found a link in Ravelry to a pattern called Baby Bear Rib Warmer Re-visited. It was perfect for me as a learning tool for EZ's Ribwarmer. Since I had no idea what part of the garment was what in the instructions it helped a lot to work through it once to figure things out. (Click on pictures to see larger image.) I tried two or three different short-row methods for the corners, and one or two different I-Cord methods for the border. I think I agree with EZ that short rows in garter stitch can be worked without knitting the wraps - it looks fine and it's a whole lot easier.

First of all you cast on invisibly (provisional cast on at bottom of picture above), then knit some ridges in garter stitch. The entire thing is in garter stitch. This is one side of the neck in the back.

Then you cast on some extra stitches, which will eventually become a shoulder seam. Then you knit a bunch of ridges until it's time for some short rows....

Next you turn the front corner, knit some ridges for underarm space, and then knit about 33% of the next corner. Then you just stop knitting on this piece. Put the stitches on a holder and break the yarn.

Pick up the live stitches from the provisional cast on and knit the other side of the neck back, cast on for shoulder seam, etc., just like the first side.

Then you join the two back pieces and continue as if you were turning a corner, but you are filling in the bottom of the back with short rows. After that you motor on up to the top and do some short row shoulder shaping.

You join the shoulders and attach the neck to the back. Finally, you add a border (I-Cord suggested) around the outer edges. I did a 2-stitch I-Cord border around everything but the arm holes because I ran out of yarn.

Meg is publishing a DVD about the Ribwarmer very soon. I'm going to get it, because there is quite a bit that I'm not happy with. For example, my I-Cord isn't beautiful; my corner short rows are not beautiful; my shoulder and neck joining is not beautiful. I think part of the problem is that the yarn I used splits like the dickens (Debbie Bliss Merino DK). Even with all my complaints I think this bear is good enough to go to a charity. Somebody will love it and not care that there are unlovely bits.

Note: If you look at the text in the images you might notice that I don't know left from right; however, I'm not going back to edit the pictures now. Sorry about that.

On Vox: Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

2008-01-16T04:08:00.000-08:00

Rating: **** Very goodI enjoyed this book a lot. Well, maybe "enjoyed" isn't exactly the right word. It's a sad story which brought a lump to my throat. It was the cultural history from a woman's perspective that was so...

� Read more on Vox

Boring Knitting?

2008-01-14T00:29:00.000-08:00

In a recent blog entry, Joe said, "Apologies to readers, as I know this project is as boring as examining the texture of an office cubicle wall...." Of course, I'm never bored by good knitting, and rarely bored by my own.

So is there anything boring about knitting? No, I guess not. But Fear of Failure, now there's a knitting emotion I can relate to! My next project will be EZ's Ribwarmer and I'm reading everything I can about it, begging online friends for their experience, strength and memories. My way of avoiding failure is to knit practice pieces to get the hang of something and then move on to the real thing. I think I'll make one out of some yarn that is doing nothing in my stash and then make the real thing out of the Aran yarn that I've been wanting to make into something beautiful.

You can Google "Ribwarmer" images and find dozens of beautiful pictures of it. In Ravelry there are over 70 Ribwarmer projects.

Bordhi's Riverbed Socks

2008-01-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

Well, they fit, but I'm not entirely happy with them. They are a little loose and a little long. Maybe they will fit better after they are laundered [knitter's logic]. I think on the next pair I'll try making the toe portion a little shorter.

I did a plain heal - no heel stitch. Doing the heel stitch on the heel might make them fit a little more snugly there at the heel.

The fit around the instep is fine. I used EZ's sewn bind off at the top around the cuff and it's perfect.

The interesting part is on the bottom of the foot. Notice there are no gussets on the side of the foot near the heel. All the increasing is done on the bottom of the foot. There is no picking up around a heel flap, and there are no holes. It's really pretty cool.

Edited 12/22/08 - These have become my favorite socks!.

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