I had a lovely birthday yesterday…almost NO housework done, STudmuffin served me breakfast in bed and I got to knit and watch tv by myself for several hours among other things. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

Last night I started working in earnest on the Klimt-y Babette blanket for my mom. It’s crochet so it goes fast. However, I did so much crochet that my wrist is really sore today. I had to go dig out my wrist brace and everything.

SO in hopes that I can continue to work on this very belated birthday present (Mom’s birthday is in early October), I’ve decided to learn how to crochet with my LEFT hand. YouTube to the rescue! It is rather frustrating that I cannot just switch over what my right hand knows how to do to my left hand; there will be much practice involved. OK, now where’s the Advil?

I may not post much more this week as I need to rest my hands. ::::sigh:::::

Have a blessed day!

Since my beloved LYS is having its big holiday sale, and I don’t yet already have enough yarn to actually  cross the “pathology line”  into  hoarding,  I’ve been to shop there twice since last Saturday.  Here’s the goods (crappy cell phone pictures all, I’m afraid):

This was what I went for today – more yarn to finish baby blanket # 804.

More Noro Kureyon for the potential Lizard Ridge blanket (ye, Virginia; there are still colorways I haven’t yet acquired….)

To the left Socrates sock yarn (the tan stuff): 400 yards of alpaca-bamboo blendy- goodness. All the rest is Jil Eaton’s MinnowMerino (oh yum yum yum!!!)

Prevous 2 pics – Saturday’s haul.  Below are today’s gains..

Another Kureyon AND a Kureyon sock weight – I could NOT resist!

The Purple is Dream in Color Smooshy sock in “Visual purple”  (a squee deserving 30% off)  and 2 skeins of Comfort which is supposed to be an amigurumi monkey from Creepy Cute Crochet.

Technically the Soxx Appeal and the Comfort yarns above are not my stash, but the Force of Nature’s stash, but that would be splitting hairs I think.  And just to mix things up, I got a pattern too.

Since into each life, some acrylic must fall – I went to another store and got these to make my darlin’ friend Niki a quick hat for her 60th birthday tomorrow. Cat hair included for no extra charge.

The reason for all this yarn pr0n? 1) I had some $, 2)Yarn Expressions was having the sale and 3) no one is getting me prezzies for me birthday so I gotta do it meself and 4 to infinity) I’m glad to be alive.

Happy Birthday to me! On Sunday I’ll be fortyone-derful!

While I was wasting my time/honing my skills/avoiding housework this afternoon with the nearly-incapacitatingly-addictive “Bejeweled Blitz” game on Facebook: one minute of seeking to match brightly colored objects as fast a you can – it’s only a minute so why not play again? And Again? And then 3 hours later…..

But oh yeah!  on Facebook, in case you do NOT know, there are small ads along the far left or far right hand side of the screen. This one caught my eye:

I mean….how is this picture appropriate for the headline of the AD? Is the guy supposed to be a college student? What’s with the facial hair? Is this yer average scholarship recipient? Or maybe he’s the guy who wrote the AD and wanted a little recognition of his similarity to George Carlin 40 years ago? Or maybe of his hirsute-y goodness? The mind boggles….I would of course love to see your ideas for captions et al, dear readers (all 5.4 of you!).

Back to Blitzing….I wanna make 200,000. To heck with real life. )

I’m hoping to post more frequently by posting shorter…..  Brevity is supposed to be the soul of wit so here goes:

• The whole family ate a 4 course meal at the Melting Pot Friday night.  Kids had much fun, the food was excellent, but it put a serious and unplanned crimp in our finances; not a good time of year for that!
• Massive food shopping onslaught to restock the bare cupboards.  You know things is bare when yer eating the canned pickled beets you bought by mistake several years ago. STill, this situation allowed us to defrost the chest freezer and the fridge freezer and forced me to be much more creative in trying to prepare balanced meals for the fam.  Madrassian lentils and tinned peaches anyone?
• We have a mouse in the pantry.  So far, only Studmuffin has seen it and he wants to do away with it, but I think it may become an unintended pet since the Duke of Curl was absolutely HORRIFIED that we would even think of trying to trap &/or kill it.  Stay tuned….
• The power steering pump seems to be going bad in the Van of Reknown, so now it kinda sounds like the monorail at Walt Disney World only louder. This’ll have to wait fer a bit (see “Melting Pot” above)- fortunately it can, but we may have to wear earplugs while driving it.
• My mother told me she’s not gonna get me a present for my birthday.  I told her she’s off the hook; after all she’s been giving me presents longer than anybody, including the gift of my life.  I really do feel this way, but I admit to having mixed emotions too.  I love getting birthday presents; I think birthdays are important and I’ve never gotten presents for my birthday on any kind of regular basis from Studmuffin and children ( it might average out to maybe 1 present every 5 years or so).  Studmuffin doesn’t enjoy receiving gifts himself and so really doesn’t get the whole gift thing in a very basic way. In other years I’ve bought my own presents, but I don’t wanna this year for some reason ( perhaps the Melting Pot budget pothole?).  I have a couple of very close friends who remember my birthday (and I of course remember theirs – I *love* giving gifts).  I can’t say that I’m hurting or anything…there’s just maybe a bit of angsty regret around the edges.
• My most excellent LYS is having its big holiday sale and I went and got beautiful things on Saturday AND stayed within my budget. Yay! Once I find the camera, I may take some pictures….
• I’ve mislaid the mitten I’ve completed for my mother-in-law.  I must find this TODAY. She’s off to Austria SOON.
• The printer is still not working, and last night we discovered that my ‘puter doesn’t even have a dedicated printer port on the back of the CPU, so I cannot just plug it in to my computer. Grrrr.
• I’ve not gotten the Christmas music out yet.  I must be depressed or something.
• My house smells like Chez Catpee, because….
• My elderly cat, the Amazing Bluto, is dying.  He’s not eaten much of anything since Friday, he’s not getting outside in time to relieve himself so he’s been doing it all over the house (usually when I’m out), and the other cat is following suit.  Bluto’s been with us so loong he has several nicknames and he answers to all of them:  Blue-dee-doo, Blutofsky, Boo-ba-licious, Boobles, The Frumious Boo and Boobie.  He’s obviously near the end, and yet he’s still clawing his way up to sleep on our bed (since he can no longer jump) and purring away.  Of this I’m glad – he’s not in any pain and he’s had a wonderful life with us but it’s still a sad time.

How’s that for brief?  Perhaps photos tomorrow……..And I love reading yer comments!

…in a couple of days.  We got back from West Virginny late Monday night, but I’m still snowed under with minutiae and over 500 emails.  I’m off to the radio station in a little bit; I hope you’ll listen sometime.  )
I’m wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving a week late.  Better late than……

Yesterday, I went on a yarn acquiring expedition to the fabulous Yarn Expressions to get yarn for yet another baby blanket.  I’m using the free pattern for the Moderne Baby blanket from the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book.

I’d seen a really beautiful color combination in a finished blanket on Ravelry that was inspiring me

(if yer on Ravelry, see it here).  I first went online to see if I could find some yarn on sale, machine washable, soy or bamboo blend in the yummy colors.  After some searching, I found a yarn that my LYS doesn’t carry that I’ve not used before  that fulfilled most of those req’s and I ordered it.

Next I went to the LYS to get  something even closer to the blanket of my inspiration, and I found everything I needed in the SALE bins, which is lovely.  I didn’t wanna spend hugely on these – I *am* tryna save money to go to India after all, but didn’t wanna settle for kinda ok stuff from the stash.  I do have enough Cascade 220 to make both, but that yarn isn’t machine washable, and there is no way I’m giving new moms gifts that can’t go in the washer! Here’s the yarn:

Mostly wool/acrylic blends – the colors are not exactly the same as what I was looking for, but nevertheless this will make a snazzy blanket!  I’ll post a pic of the other yarn for blanket #2 when they arrive.  I’ve still not quite finished the other 2 cabled baby blankets but hope to do it on the upcoming trip and will share photos then.  My fingers are just ITCHING to cast on this blanket…and I just cannot yet.

*

I’ve also finished blocking the Tapestry Cowl and to tighten it up just a little I threw it in the dryer for about 12 minutes when it was still just the teeniest bit damp, which worked PERFECTLY and didn’t felt it at all.  A couple of final pix:

I am pleased that the pattern shows as well as it does.  I guess I don’t hate doubleknitting as much as I though; I’m already eyeing a simply lovely scarf pattern that is also doubleknitted.  Yup, I’m crazy…..

*****

I’ve procrastinated sending off packages to various friends and family SO long, it’s nearly a crime.  I will be taking several things when we take off to West Virginia for a Thanksgiving vacation….  I’ve managed to mess up quite a few things in life by procrastinating and I’m heartily sick of myself for this ongoing habit.  I’m also heartily sick of forgetting important stuff that I need to do, which isn’t procrastinating in its purest form, but the end result is the same frustration. ::::::::sigh::::::::::::

*****

In the tech follies department, about 3 weeks ago, the Duke of Curl left his nearly brand new cell phone in a pair of pants that got washed……I’ve let it dry out since then completely unmolested and this morning, I took out the battery and SIM card, cleaned the contacts and the thing is now charging (a very good sign).  The SIM card is now in my old phone. Cross yer fingers and hopefully once it’s fully charged,  it’ll still work.

*

Last weekend Studmuffin was “fixing” the old computer (which admittedly had come down with a few viruses and needs some work) and deleted a BUNCH of stuff….so now the network printer doesn’t work and I can no longer upload pictures to the web easily.  Hmpf.  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

*

I’ve found the old digital camera and am now charging the batteries for it.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to use it again and get away from the cell phone pix from the last few weeks.  They aren’t too bad, but I find it hard to tell if’n they’re gonna be blurry or not until I’ve emailed them to Photobucket…and emailing MBs does cost $.  I hope to get all the bugs worked out before we leave for the Thanksgiving break.

***

The Force of Nature also went to Yarn Expressions with me and the delightful Val showed her how to crochet.  I have made several attempts to teach her myself, but she doesn’t wanna listen to me very much, and so right this minute, she’s working on a little practice piece.  It’s this book that’s really inspired her to learn:

She wants to make the monkey in the upper left hand corner.

We’re gonna go see “New Moon” on Monday afternoon.  We hope to avoid the fangirls mostly. Can hardly wait!  Am also hoping to see “Precious” with friends on Saturday morning. Yay for movies!

***If yer in the group on Ravelry, you pretty much already know what I’m gonna say.  )***

SO I’ve been knitting and knitting; 50 rows a day is rather too ambitious I realize, not only timewise but in how much serious knitting my hands can handle without too much protest.  I’ve been averaging more like 10 to 15 rows a day.

Sorry this is so blurry

I think the stitch definition is good here, though the color isn't very true to life.

Another knitting obstacle

At least Kali appreciates good yarn!

I’m probably not gonna make the 11/30 deadline, but I’m pleased with my progress anyway.  Now where’s the Advil?

…unfortunately I’ve been knitting so much my hands hurt, so ix-nay on the yping-tay. And I have a cold. And so does the Force of Nature AND the Duke of Curl. And Bluto the cat has a sinus infection and something gunky going on with his eye…. I know: too much information.

Hopefully, we’ll all improve in a hurry and I’ll be back to writing SOON!

Meanwhile, you’ll find some absolutely hideous ( and NSFW I might add) handcrafts at Regretsy.com

It’s pretty good….

Some songs are NSFW

FYI – Stephen King (yes, THAT Stephen King) writes a monthly column for Entertainment Weekly magazine.  In the 11/20/09 issue, he gave a playlist in his column.  I went to imeem and put together the playlist fer yer listnin’ pleasure.  There are a few substitutions but only where imeem didn’t have the suggested song. Enjoy.

Uncle STevies mix

It was on this day in 1817 that Mirza Husayn Ali was born.  Later on, He became known by the Arabic title “The Glory of the Lord” or more commonly, “The Glory of God”:  Baha’u'llah.

Why am I telling you this?

‘Cos as an Interwebs kinda-person, I’m guessing you have:

• natural curiosity
• an interest and love of learning

So in the interest of spreading information, I’m giving you a spoonful of education.  It won’t hurt a bit.

So, yeah. There’s about 6 million Baha’is all over the planet and you’ve never heard of us…or maybe just barely.  Well, stories about people who are into unity and happiness, praying, doing good deeds, world peace, justice, teaching children’s classes and so on don’t sell newspapers.  But that is how it is everywhere.  I mean, only approximately 10% of the world’s Muslims are from the Middle East, and a tiny fraction of those (the  crackpot brigade as I call them) are doing terrible things, but you wouldn’t know that from the news, wouldya?  You don’t hardly ever hear about the 99.9% of Muslims who are regular, decent people…..but I digress a bit.

Here’s a few links that tell more about today:

• the brief, thumbnail sketch
• a more in-depth article
• a groovy article about this whole week from a non-Baha’i source

I didn’t go to the local Baha’i community celebration last night; Studmuffin is not a Baha’i and asked that we stay home, so we did. My dear friend, Ellen, invited me to her home in Tennessee (just north of Florence, Alabama) today and I was planning to go there, but the Duke of Curl is sick toda,  so no go. Still, as a holy day, no work and no school so YAY!

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the Baha’i Scriptures:

The best way to thank God is to love each other.

and a song, written by another Baha’i (Matthew Levine), with a nice video.

Have a sweet day!