NaKniSweMo Post #1
The "victim"
Materials
( I wrote most of this last week… there have been problems, frogging, re-casting on and progress; hopefully another NaKniSweMo post to follow soon!)
Learn all about NaKniSweMo
Basically, you knit a 50,000 stitch sweater in the month of November. I decided to do it this year because:
- I need goals/deadlines to accomplish things
- I’ve never made a sweater for myself
- I’ve never made a cardigan
- I’ve only done a tiny bit of Austrian Twisted Stitch before
- yarn is from NH; so am I
I’ve had this yarn marinating in the stash for at least 2 years. In a couple of other stashed wool yarns, I’ve noticed moth damage lately, so it’s definitely time. I’ve been looking for the right pattern for this yarn for a long time, then I ran across a gorgeous pattern by Candace Eisner Strick (who is a genius & a favorite knit designer of mine). It tuens out, she wrote this pattern FOR this yarn. SQUEE!
Because of the moth damage, winding the 9 hanks into yarn cakes took darn near forever. I will say this yarn spit-splices beautifully and that has mitigated the moth damage.
I knit the swatch on the suggested needles and came really close to gauge but didn’t like the fabric.
swatch on US6 needle
Mods:
- adding 1 extra garter stitch to “valleys” plus I need it bigger, more wearing ease
- instead of stockinette only past the cuffs on the sleeves, decided to do a subtle seed stitch – every 6 rows every 5 stitches a purl make it more interesting. I saw it on another sweater someplace on Ravelry
So far I’m really liking the fabric I’m making on the bigger needles and it’s not so hard on the hands to stitch. The yarn is such a lovely color – the pictures I’ve given you so far are just not right! The yarn does have cashmere in it but so far I really cannot feel it – I’m hoping it softens up a lot during blocking. Lots of vegetative matter/little burr bits in the yarn; I’m deciding to treat them as a sign of the sheep from whence the yarn came and the artesans who spun it and so on.
Wish me well!
We have a winner!!!
After 36 entries by 14 entrants, we have chosen a new blog name for *The Individual Formerly known as Homeschool Kid*.
THE DUKE OF CURL!
Charity is the winner. Yay! I actually met Charity in person before I knew her online – that’s fairly rare for me. You should DEFINITELY check out her Etsy shop, and her blog and the other site… (she’s way talented y’all). I’ll be sending off yer gift card soon.
Many thanks to everyone who entered! This was really fun; I think I’ll do contests oftener.
Just so’s ya know, I did ask The Duke of Curl to help choose his new blog name, and he chose that one.
I hope tomorrow to wrangle the Force of Nature back into her robot costume for the promised picture – I haven’t been able to get to it the last 2 days.
NaKniSweMo post tomorrow I hope.
Halloween wrap up
A little mood music?
Ok, so the Force of Nature got it into her head that she was gonna make herself a robot costume out of cardboard (her favorite medium to work in)….and that was 2 months ago. She has been staying up very late night after night painting, taping, fixing…I don’t know what all. She was gonna be something else for Halloween, but she’s been so obsessed there’s really not been time for her to work on anything else….
Last night, at nearly the last minute, she got to attend a Halloween party at the local science museum. They had a costume contest…and she WON! I promise a real picture with her in it tomorrow (she’s in bed now) but here’s a poorly lit cell phone pic to whet yer appetite.
We had some friends over for dinner and the kids went out trick or treating. We watching a bunch of silly things on YouTube, including this – which gets my vote as the CUTEST THING EVER FILMED.
Catching up a bit
First off, I did finally make the Shepherd’s Pie a la Cracker and so here’s the recipe:
Shepherd’s Pie a la Cracker
- 3/4 lb. to 2 lbs. of ground beef *
- 2 cans of corn
- instant mashed potatoes (I like ‘Idaho Spuds’)
- Worchestershire sauce
- Ketchup
- salt and pepper
- paprika
In a pretty large skillet, brown the ground beef. Once browned, you may drain the fat if you’re all siditty like that. 
) Swizzle Worchestershire sauce all over the meat, give it a rather healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper, then drain the ‘juice’ of one of the cans of corn into the meat mixture (you can add the juice from both cans but it just increases the cooking time, so I don’t usually). Drain and discard the juice from the other can. Then add at least 1/4 cup of ketchup to the meat and stir; more ketchup is better. Bring this all to a medium/hard simmer over medium to high heat. You want to reduce the liquid by about 2/3. Keep an eye on it and stir occasionally.
While meat stuff is simmering, make yer mashed potatoes. I usually make an “8 servings” amount, which usually occasions some math on my part because the box usually lists 6 servings then jumps up to 12 servings. NOTE: measure out yer potato flakes first, so you’ll know if’n you’ve got enough to make 8 servings. If you don’t, adjust accordingly.
Once yer potatoes are done, the meat mix is usually done too. Sprinkle both cans of (drained) corn over the meat, then spread mashed potatoes over the whole thing (like icing). Add a few jaunty dashes of paprika on top. Reduce heat a bit and let the whole thing warm through (about 2 1/2 mins).
Serve hot….with a bottle of ketchup on the table to0.
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* Use a fattier blend for real flavor and authenticity or better yet: get the ground beef in the plastic tube. Also, the amount is variable – it depends on what you’ve got on hand.
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I can almost hear somebody out there saying, “Big deal. So what makes it ‘a la Cracker‘?” No, it’s not the addition of okra or anything like that. For me it’s 2 minor things and 1 major thing:
- the use of instant mashed potatoes
- using the ‘juice’ from the canned corn
- the liberal use of ketchup as an ingredient (this is major)
I think anytime that ketchup is a serious ingredient in a recipe, then that dish has wandered into the “Cracker/White Trash Zone”. It’s a little like the Twilight Zone except there’s some Lynyrd Skynyrd or Led Zeppelin playing in the background and large quantities of alcohol are involved. Oh yeah, less shaving and fewer suits too. That doesn’t mean the food isn’t GOOD, ‘cos it IS. If yer not too snooty or watching yer cholesterol, give it a try. It’s yummy.
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Sarah said that she needed pictures and how can I deny her? I haven’t done my hair today so that’ll have to wait, but here’s the Lizard Ridge Blanket so far:
I love the colors....
12 skeins of Noro Kureyon are here at Chez Oney and yes that is enough to start work on it. However, I have a BUNCH of stuff on the needles right now, and several more things to make ASAP, so it’ll have to wait (and I’m planning on making and completing a whole sweater during November – NaNoSweMo for you jargonheads). And I’ll keep on acquiring Kureyon at my beloved Yarn Expressions at the rate of approx. 1 skein per week.
My fingers ITCH to cast on......
Weekend Round up /Contest reminder
- The Force of Nature’s soccer team won a game!
- -ate some wonderful food at Mezzaluna (try the Eggplant Parmesan appetizer; fantastic!)
- saw the movie “Good Hair” with some friends (I enjoyed it)
- Got some more Kureyon for the Lizard Ridge blanket (I’m halfway there)
- made zero progress on the Tapestry Cowl
- got “The Individual formerly known as Homeschool Kid”’s hair cut. Yay!
- since my hairstyle was making me feel OLD, I even got my hair cut (I now now own a flatiron to style it with….)
- no band rehearsal because the bandleader had a heart attack (please say healing prayers for Sylvester!)
- spent what seemed like endless hours tryna fix the Force of Nature’s cobbled-together iPod (I should post a picture – it’s held together with rubber bands for REAL) and to remove some rather nasty spyware from my ‘puter
- Studmuffin left for Cali on a business trip
- I didn’t remember to call my brother for his birthday til like 2 am. I still haven’t called (
- Natasha’s limp has gone away as mysteriously as it came.
- posted one of my cutest ever posts (I think) about Domo-kun with cute pictures AND NOBODY COMMENTED :::sad trombone::: I guess everyone is too busy? Or do you just hate Domo-kun? Or is it me?
Today, I:
- forgot to put out the trash
- felt like crap all day
- spoke to 2 wonderful friends on the phone (I love you guys!!!)
- finished knitting No.1 Son’s birthday prezzie and am felting it (and felting and felting….)
- took a nap and was
- late making dinner and so
- burnt the spaghetti with meatballs……..
Life is good but I still feel yucky. It will pass….. WHERE is the goshdurn heating pad?!
Meal plan Monday:
Mon- spags & meatballs
Tues- Shepherd’s Pie a la Cracker (this didn’t get made last week; I WILL share the recipe)
Wed- leftovers
Thurs- Mac & cheese & salad
Fri- Romano Beans & rice
Sat- Soup & sandwiches/Corn Chowder
Sun- Chinese take out
CONTEST Reminder
Contest ends on October 31st, 2009 at midnight Alabama time, and the winner will be announced when I get around to it (probably during the following week). My choice will be completely arbitrary and humor is encouraged. )
Please submit prospective names in the comments – the name I choose for him will win a $14 gift card to Starbucks. If you live someplace without Starbucks, I’ll contact you directly and we’ll work it out.
See all the other names submitted in the comments here
Toodles
Introducing: Domo-kun!
Warning: silliness to follow
For a number of years, I have been enamored of the mascot of Japan’s main tv network. His name is …..
Domo-kun!
He’s been making inroads into the hearts and minds of North Americans lately; last year Target made him a centerpiece of their Halloween campaign, so you may have seen him around. A number of years ago, I got Studmuffin a Domo t-shirt; it was harder to explain back then who Domo-kun is. Wonder where that tshirt is?
You might imagine with a name like “Mr. Thank you” (that’s my translation of his name), he’s got a lot to do:
Like terrorizing the countryside….or
…taking a dance class from over-caffeinated flowers…..or
…reveling in a field of pumpkins.
Even with his busy schedule, he’s made time for a visit to Chez Oney!
Turns out, he’s into yarn…..
He’s gonna help me show the stuff I got when visiting Louisville, KY 2 weekends ago.
Let’s see what’s in here…..
OH BOY! ATARI! (that means “Victory” in Japanese)
Oh this is nice stuff: 80% superwash wool/10% nylon/10% CASHMERE fingering weight? Domo approves!
He says, “It’s so pretty and soft…”
It looks good enough to eat, doesn’t it? Well DON’T. Much better for knitting with.
Domo-kun recognizing excellent yarn when he sees it….I think he wants it for his own. No Domo! I *know* it’s Japanese yarn, but you’ll just have to get yer own. Sorry…
Wait….WHAT”S THIS???????
A new creature?
Domo-kun says, “Ummmm….I gotta go.”
This is our new cat, Kali. She’s named after the Hindi goddess of destruction and rebirth. And no, I did not name her. )
Anyway, she spent most of her first month with us under one of the kid’s beds. She’s come to be much more out with us in the last couple of weeks as she is still pretty timid around the dogs. If she can’t get out, she likes to pee on my laundry, and for a while there, she was using “The Individual Formerly known as Homeschool Kid’s” open dresser drawer as a litter box. Hopefully, we’ll get all these issues worked out and soon….
She’s rather sweet and her fur is very soft. I hope to get a picture of Kali and Bluto together so you can get an idea of what a BIG cat he is….still King of the Pets here at Chez Oney. Kali did not want her picture taken…
“Do I *have* to? Well, perhaps with a suitable inducement, I might permit a couple…”
“Ah yes,,,,PET me!”
I wish I could’ve gotten a better picture of her eyes; they are very pretty and golden. Unfortunately, my digital camera met with a catastrophic accident this week, so I’ve just got the cell phone pix.
The kids were hoping that a younger cat would be interested in playing. Kali is about 3 years old, but she’s not interested in playing at all. Now if there’s a SPIDER coming across the floor – she’s FIERCE, but she will NOT play otherwise. She adores being petted, and especially likes smooshing her paws on my squishy bits but doesn’t sink her claws into me. One intersting thing: Kali is the ONLY cat I’ve ever known that did NOT like canned cat food. Canned tuna? Oh yes. Fancy Feast? No way.
Natasha woke up limping pretty heavily this morning – I’ve no idea what’s wrong with her; can dogs sleep on something “wrong” like humans do?
Have a listen
I’ve mentioned I’m playing keys in a band, yes? Well here’s the kind of music we play.
http://www.imeem.com/helenkosings
A mid-week video
OK, ok so it’s kind of lazy to just post videos instead of writing….well, at least I think so. However, I think the video below applies to what’s happening with me right now.
I’ve been kinda consumed with fear about this new band venture I’m involved in. Yep, I’m playing keys for an R&B/funk band. We had our first rehearsal on Sunday night and they are good, and I am NOT. So I’m practicing and practicing and trying not to panic.
See, this may seem strange to many, but I know that this fear is a good thing and it’s a big reason why I decided to do this. Since my brain went wonky four years ago, even the way I learn music is different than before…and it’s much harder. I really enjoy playing piano/keyboards but I m not very good at it, and I know I don’t practice nearly enough to reach competency. And of course I’ve got every excuse as to why I can’t/won’t/shouldn’t/don’t feel like practicing at any given moment. So I really needed an opportunity just like this, where other people are depending on my skill and God provided it for me.
Don’t get me wrong, the possibility of failing at this big time & in public is VERY real and at the moment, it seems just about certain! But this is why it’s so good for me because there’s also the chance that I will rise to the occasion, and this is a very different kind of gig for me: I’m NOT in charge, I’m not singing any leads, I’m not running the rehearsals or doing booking, and not only am I the newest member of the band (some of these folks have known each other for many years), but I’ve got the fattest(not phattest. oh no….), geekiest look happening, I’m the lone white person AND I’m the weakest musician. How’s that as a recipe for success? I’m way out of my comfort zone…and that’s GOOD.
So here’s a motivational little clip for ya. Wish me luck y’all and I’ll let you know when our next gig is.
A bit of silliness to get the week off to a good start
Oh yeah and a menu plan for Monday! I usually do this every week; I’ve just been forgetting to post them:
Mon- Tri-color Tortellonis
Tues- Fish
Wed- Hot Dogs on ze grill
Thu- Shepherd’s pie a la Cracker
Fri- Beef Stew
Sat- Chicken Cacciatore Stoup ( A Rachel Ray recipe)
Sun- Leftover or cheap eats out
If anyone is interested in the “Shepherd’s pie a la Cracker” recipe, leave a comment and I’ll either email it to you or post it here. It’s a much quicker weeknight version of Shepherd’s Pie, adapted from my memory of my Dad’s dish and quite a favorite with my kids.
Some music for the weekend
Ok, ok I could NOT get the widget to work properly, so you’ll have to go to the mirror blog to listen. Sorry.
Some chuckles for you Anglophiles out there
If you enjoy British silliness and/or wit about current events et al, you might enjoy listening to the BBC’s “Friday Night Comedy Show”. It varies from season to season; right now it’s the News Quiz with Sandi Toksvig. She and 4 comedians go over the news from the last week and make humorous comments. It’s become regular listening here.
It’s available by podcast at iTunes or you can listen directly at this web page:
Just checking in….
Hey y’all! I’m loving almost all of the comments (I’m certain youi can guess which one I don’t care for….), and **The Kid Formerly Known As Homeschool Kid** is enjoying the attention. I’ll keep things brief until the end of the contest, but I did want to say that if you are at ALL interested in knitting, crocheting, spinning and/or weaving, you really really really need to join the Ravelry website. It’s free, there’s no spam, and the pictures of all the amazing things people all over the planet have made or are making is a feast for the eyes. One of my favorite things is to look through what projects my Ravelry friends have been “favoriting”; I limit myself to only 15 pages of those a day…..
www.ravelry.com
Knitting is happening……
….and this week is fall break from school…so I may have some time to write!
>>>>>>Scroll way down past the pix for the contest<<<<<<
Today I got a used book in the mail:
Kaffe Fassett’s Glorious Knitting (from 1985, not the 1999 one). Everything is SO gorgeous! His stuff is always an inspiration to me. This book was very inexpensive…which leads me to believe the seller did not know what they had! I’m not complaining……
Just DELICIOUS!!!! Most of these pictures are not from the book – I ganked them from a bunch of web sources, and they were knitted by regular, normal people. This gives me MUCH hope!
And I got the remaining yarn that I need to start this:
The Austrian Stitch Cardigan
With this yarn:
I can’t start on it until I get a few more things done, but I WILL be making this this winter for me. The yarn has marinated in the stash LONG enough! I also think this will be a fun knit and I will get a lot of wear out of a cardigan like this which is VERY important to me.
Works in Progress (stuff I’m currently knitting):
1. Baby Blanket for Anne & Dennis’s baby girl
Yarn: Miss Babs in Aubergine
2. Norwegian Slippers for the Force of Nature, myself and for No. 1 Son
Yarns: various feltable 100% wools YOU SHOULD MAKE YERSELF SOME OF THESE! Easy & fun!
3. Toe Up Socks for Homeschool Kid. Simple mistake rib pattern
Yarn : Happy Choices
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Rayon Vert This stuff is HEAVEN to knit! I’ma HAVE TO make a sweater out of this stuff someday.
Yarn: various machine washable worsted acrylics in shades of yellow, gold, brown and various accent colors.
I may cast on a hat or scarf or two this week as quick gift for friends I’m going to see this weekend.
CONTEST / A NOTE ABOUT HOMESCHOOL KID:
He’s not homeschooled anymore! As of August 10th, he started regular high school so he needs a name change. For the blog. Time for a contest!
Please submit prospective names in the comments – the name I choose for him will win a $14 gift card to Starbucks. If you live someplace without Starbucks, I’ll contact you directly and we’ll work it out. Please feel free to spread the news about this little contest far and wide; Contest ends on October 31st, 2009 at midnight Alabama time, and the winner will be announced when I get around to it (probably during the following week). My choice will be completely arbitrary and humor is encouraged. )
A few things to know:
- he’s a boy
- he’s 14 years old
- he’s got a fabulous sense of humor – very funny
- he adores video & computer games
- he’s a bit dorky (like his parents) and wears glasses
- he’s not good at sports, but great at dancing
- he’s a little shy
- names of the other family members in the blog are: Studmuffin (husband), No. 1 son (oldest boy), The Force of Nature (youngest child and daughter)
- He’s on the chubby side, 6 ft tall and growing
- he has a big head of curly hair (not only is his hair big, so is his head. It’s REALLY big)
Have at it, y’all!
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I do have a mirror blog on LiveJournal, so please realize you might not see all the comments/entries. If the winning name is submitted more than once, whomever submitted it first will win, though I might be nice and send the other submitter something too – I haven’t decided. You can submit more than one name, and you can show yer support for names that others submit. No profanity please!
Just a phase I’m going through…
My parents used to say this ALL the time about us kids…did yours? I try not to say it about my kids (at least within their hearing) because it always made me feel somewhat belittled, even though I know that was not my parents’ intention when they would say it about me or my brothers.
I notice that I go through project phases in my knitting. A couple of years ago, it was hats; I think I made 36 or so hats from September to March. Most were from quite different from each other and used different patterns – I’m not overfond of making the same thing again and again, which is why I don’t think I could craft for profit in a happy way. I was obsessed with hats…..
Then came mittens and not just ordinary mittens – OH no! Really gorgeous stranded knitting Latvian kind of things. I didn’t make quite so many of those – maybe 7 or 8 pairs – mainly because I got into creating my own designs. What fun! And I was obsessed – eating, sleeping, dreaming about mittens for months.
I made a small foray into shawls but it wasn’t exactly obsessive like the other 2 phases.
Now it’s blankets and afghans; I’m crazy about them. I think about them all the time…..
There’s gonna be a Lizard Ridge Blanket happening and a Babette Blanket fer Mum, probably another one for me as well as finishing the Kilim Throw I started a while back. Oh yes and all the baby blankets I’ve been making.
I like this phase; I hope it lasts til I finish all these blankets. I hope the next phase I go through has something to do with sewing myself some clothes……..
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Ravelry pattern links:
my projects Ravelry links:
Picture explaning pt. 1- LONG OVERDUE GRATITUDE
DO YOU SEE THIS?
AND THIS?
AND THIS?
THIS IS EVIDENCE OF FRIENDSHIP OVER AND ABOVE THE CALL OF DUTY!!!!!!!!!!
This is NOT the first time – she’s a repeat offender, y’all.
Sarah, I love you. REALLY I do. It’s all I can do not to stalk you…and that was before you spun this for ME! I wanna have you (and yer darlin’ hubby) over to my house for dinner on a weekly basis….and that was even before you spun this FOR ME!!! I haven’t told you this before because I’m afraid 1) I’ll scare you and 2) I’ll stick my foot in my mouth and mess everything up big time, but I wanna be yer BFF. Would a tattoo be going too far? OK, maybe it’s only a girlcrush.
BUT SARAH SPUN THIS….FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT’S MINE. Mine mine mine mine mine mine. tee hee!
::::doing a happy dance:::::::: MINE!! Made for me!
BIG gratitude. MAJOR gratitude!
Just LOOK at those colors!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
This doesn’t even begin to cover it; there are no words for how I really feel.
XXXXXXXOOOOOOO
Y’all, go visit her blog here;
she’s a delightful person, an exsquisite knitter and she spins like an angel from heaven!
Yarn crimes!!
The (by far) most popular segment here at knitting and whingeing is back….with a vengeance!
Before the horror begins, let me say that Target has learned something from their horrible blunder with last fall’s yarn crimes. I was at a coffeeshop on Monday and I saw a lovely short cardigan on another customer. Its construction/stitch pattern was a little unusual and I told the young lady how pretty it was, and I asked her if she made it. She said no – she got it at Target. I’m actually thinking of buying one so I can copy it in my own size. Sorry I don’t have a picture…. Kudos to Target!
Now, on with the show!
This actually appeared in a magazine I usually respect. If it has any worth at all (other than laffs), I guess it would be that 1) somebody got paid to make this, write the pattern, photograph it, and so on and 2) I now know that I can design stuff for this magazine because if this made it in…well, well, well! I can make crap like this too!
Who in the hell would 1) take the time to make this? Or 2) actually put it on their head to wear?
The other thing I wanted to share with you is that there is someone else (well there’s probably others but this is the one I’ve found) who puts yarn crimes on her blog. She’s MUCH better at this than I am though there are a few overlaps you’ll notice.
WARNING! (this is the aformentioned ‘vengeance’ part) DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING WHEN YOU CLICK ON THIS LINK! Unless you dig snorting coffee thru yer nose…
Oh and it’s been a very long time since I gave you this link to “Stitchy McYarnpants” – the catalog of older bad knitting.
You might wanna take some Excedrin and/or put on some shades before you peruse that site….
Enjoy.
A New Theme
The Force of Nature helped me pick out this one. 
We’ve been enjoying our homegrown watermelons; the Force of Nature weighed the last one and it was 27.8 pounds! The tomatoes have been VERY disappointing this year……BUT we have WATERMELONS!
So I’ve been sick for the last 4 days
Not like really REALLY sick, but enough to keep me halfway to miserable and yet still ambulatory. Fortunately, I’m not too sick to knit. Almost zero homeschooling and no blogging to speak of this week; still having enough computer issues to keep me from doing that rather important demo for the wedding…and Studmuffin is rather irritated with me on top of all o’ that.
I have SO many good things to blog about from the last 3 or 4 weeks but it won’t be today…or perhaps til Monday even. Always remember and never forget that my thoughts are like butterflies these days….hope to catch a few of those thoughts real soon.
Now to catch up with a few photo captions:
This is the cashmere lace shawl I’m working on. I’ve ripped this bad boy out SEVERAL times, but now things are going well, and it is bigger than this now. A few more “arty” shots:
This cashmere is undyed Ecco Cashmere – a dream to work with….
This is a free pattern by Miriam “the Lace Genius” Felton : Adamas Shawl.
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SO eight years ago today, the twin towers of the World Trade Center came down. It doesn’t seem that long ago… Loads and loads of songs and poems have been written about those events. I cannot say that I have read or heard ALL of them, but of the many that I have, this is my favorite.
City of Dreams by David Wilcox & Pierce Pettis
From the top of the towers
You could see past the narrows
Past our lady of the harbor
To the broad, open sea
See the curve of the earth
On the vast, blue horizon
From the world?s greatest city
In the land of the free
All the brave men and women
that you never would notice
From the precincts and fire halls
The first on the scene
Storming into the buildings
On the side of the angels
They were gone in an instant
In the belly of the beast
CHORUS
We are children of slavery
children of immigrants
Remnants of tribes and their tired refugees
As the walls tumble down
We are stronger together
Stronger than we ever knew we could be
As strong as that statue that stands for the promise
Of liberty here in this city of dreams
Liberty here in this city of dreams
All the flags on front porches
And banners of unity
Spanning the bridges
From the top of the fence
As we heal up the wounds
And take care of each other
There’s more love in this nation
Than hate and revenge
CHORUS
We are children of slavery
children of immigrants
Remnants of tribes and their tired refugees
As the walls tumble down
We are stronger together
Stronger than we ever knew we could be
As strong as that statue that stands for the promise
Of liberty here in this city of dreams
Liberty here in this city of dreams
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One of my heroes
I’m not particularly interested in the interview…just listen to the man sing. What you don’t know is that he’s singing – just him & his guitar – to 70,000+ Zaireans who’ve been screaming & hollerin and dancin and having an amazing time at this concert. Listen to how quiet the audience is……
Pictures and no explanations
I wanted to get these up but cannot do everything justice. Check back in a coupla days and hopefully I’ll have captions and stuff.
SQUEEE!!!!!!!!!
Classic Elite Yarns, one of my favorite yarn & pattern companies, has put a ton of their out of print patterns up for sale via download on Patternfish! YAY! YAY!YAY!
If you like ganseys, cables, colorwork, you REALLY owe it to yerself to check them out. Plus they (Classic Elite Yarns) *just* published Jared Flood’s book (it is SO fabulous – I saw it today at Yarn Expressions) and they get much kudos fer that too. Dammit, can the man make anything that doesn’t turn out absolutely amazing? Us mere mortals (OK maybe just this one) tremble with awe and a wee bit ‘o envy…..
Finding these patterns available almost makes up for the fact I nearly broke my nose (in a very stupid way) today. Picture the scene: I am at the dining table/homeschool table, busily cutting apart Russian flash cards, as the Force of Nature is whining away about her handwriting assignment. I drop one of the flash cards on the floor; I lean over to get it…
I lean a bit too far and in slow-motion ……:::imagine long door creaking sound here:::: or better yet-play this:
-I tip over and bonk the bridge of my nose on the edge of the seat of the other ‘puter chair (and fall on top of dog, Natasha). Much blood ensued. I did hear a “crunch” and thought the honker was broken for a minute…but it was just cartilage noise at the time of impact. I’m glad it isn’t broken; my schnoz already makes enough of a statement without the help of new ridges, flatspots or deviations.
Friends and neighbors, always remember and never forget to keep a bags of frozen peas in the freezer. I’ma take a coupla Tylenol, then I’m off to bed.
Oh yeah – I need to post a silly picture:
My ‘puter is still alive….
…but barely. It got attacked by a MIGHTY virus which nearly did it in and McAffee let the daggone thing thru without a peep. Wouldn’t you know it would happen just as I was backing the darn thing up too? Things are kinda fixed for the moment but I’ve lost all email I received from August 2007 through last Wednesday…… A lesson in letting stuff go, I guess.
There’s much to blog about:
- can you say “crowbar”?
- can you say “new kitty”?
- new babies in da extended family
I’ve been knitting like a fiend and I even took pictures and stuff. But it’ll all have to wait. Studmuffin will be out of town this week, so prospects for a real fine blog post are looking pretty good.
Just wanted to check in with you-how is everybody? And I don’t suppose I’ve ever mentioned this because I didn’t want to seem extra-needy and begging for them but when you write comments, I am SO HAPPY!
See ya later. )
Back from the travels………
Hey y’all-got back LATE last night from those “West Virginia hills….how majestic and how grand”. We’re tired but safe and my oh my – so many things to write about:
- Homeschool Kid receives an eye injury
- “vacationing” with the in-laws sans Studmuffin
- the Augusta Festival and my resulting depressive tendencies
- RHIANNON GIDDENS!!!!!
- A blog name change for the Homeschool Kid
- the Force of Nature goes fishing
- shawl frogging adventures
…to name just a few. PLUS there’s YARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I got to visit a couple of yarn stores and bring some of their yummy yarn back home to stay with me. There WILL be photos because amazingly enough, we arrived home with both the camera AND the charger – AND I know where BOTH of them ARE. I gotta celebrate the victories, y’all.
For now though, I think I’m going back to bed, so I’ll leave you with this:
Secret Pal 13
