Now that the cold and snow are here, the value of knitted items has risen exponentially. I was thinking this morning, as the icy air went rushing up my bootcut pant legs, that the time has come for legwarmers. I kind of love Lusty Lady Legwarmers, mostly for the buttons. I'm pretty sure I can devise my own pattern, or do a quick search on the Rav and come up with a bajillion results.
Yesterday I wore a number of warm items: a list of what she wore today: knit hat, sunglasses (to keep out the wind), scarf from Turkey, mismatched knit mittens, knit armwamers, one oversize wool coat, two pairs of socks, two sweaters, two shirts, one cami and a pair of jeans. Yeah, I was ready for the chill.
Also, Winter 08 Knitty was released today, and their server is being dragged into oblivion. Already one of my co-workers has asked for Fish Hat, and the Miittens really crack me up, and I kind of want to make them for my brother.
And I changed colors on the blog and added a Plurk thing. Other than that, that's all she wrote.
Wednesday, December 10
Monday, December 8
In which there are terrifying space monkeys
Not really space monkeys.
I visited the new LYS here in town recently, and I'll tell you what: it's a closet. Really, it's only a few feet wide and maybe four times as long as it is wide. Ridiculously tiny. That didn't stop me from buying this yarn, though.
Recycled sari silk and a giant cake of wool.
I also entered a raffle, as they were having their open house that weekend. And I won two magazines! I just got them today. They're pretty ... country crafty. So they're going to stay at work for now and be "library" reading material. Ah well. I'm still quite surprised to have won.
I visited the doctor last Friday for help with my shoulder. I had a bit of bursitis in my shoulder, and the doc gave me a pop to quiet the pain. (No, he actually gave me a shot of cortisone to reduce the inflammation.) I am a very happy camper now that I can raise my left arm all the way again. I have a bit of kink in my neck, but it's so much better than it was. I can't even begin to describe it.
I make things with yarn.
I changed the layout again. The Scribe layout was really starting to bum me out, because it would be just a little too narrow for something, and cut pictures off. No more! Now I've got a stretchy layout. I just need to decide on some non-bland colors. This may take a while.
I've been thinking, off and on, about moving the blog to Wordpress. Blogger is so flexible with the design, which I enjoy, but I find it lacking a little. I really ought to take up the Blog More Often mantle before I make a decision like that.
The name Crimson Mittens will be changed soon, though. Maybe this'll become Xamonster's Hot House of Yarn or something. But we'll just have to see.
I visited the new LYS here in town recently, and I'll tell you what: it's a closet. Really, it's only a few feet wide and maybe four times as long as it is wide. Ridiculously tiny. That didn't stop me from buying this yarn, though.
Recycled sari silk and a giant cake of wool.
I also entered a raffle, as they were having their open house that weekend. And I won two magazines! I just got them today. They're pretty ... country crafty. So they're going to stay at work for now and be "library" reading material. Ah well. I'm still quite surprised to have won.
I visited the doctor last Friday for help with my shoulder. I had a bit of bursitis in my shoulder, and the doc gave me a pop to quiet the pain. (No, he actually gave me a shot of cortisone to reduce the inflammation.) I am a very happy camper now that I can raise my left arm all the way again. I have a bit of kink in my neck, but it's so much better than it was. I can't even begin to describe it.
I make things with yarn.
I changed the layout again. The Scribe layout was really starting to bum me out, because it would be just a little too narrow for something, and cut pictures off. No more! Now I've got a stretchy layout. I just need to decide on some non-bland colors. This may take a while.
I've been thinking, off and on, about moving the blog to Wordpress. Blogger is so flexible with the design, which I enjoy, but I find it lacking a little. I really ought to take up the Blog More Often mantle before I make a decision like that.
The name Crimson Mittens will be changed soon, though. Maybe this'll become Xamonster's Hot House of Yarn or something. But we'll just have to see.
Wednesday, December 3
And now a message from our non-sponsors
This commercial break is provided in part by Neil Patrick Harris and Jack Black.
Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging. I have only one thing to say at the moment: my shoulder hurts. Boo.
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman (whose boycott lead to the resignation of Sacramento's California Musical Theatre creative director Scott Eckern following his donation to Prop 8) wrote and conceived this hysterical short piece (presented with a wink and a nod by the 'Sacramento Community College Players'), which was directed and staged by Hairspray director and choreographer Adam Shankman and features plenty of folks you will recognize.
Shaiman plays the piano. Jordan Ballard, Margaret Cho, Barrett Foa, J.B. Ghuman, John Hill, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Rashad Naylor, Nicole Parker star as 'California Gays and The People That Love Them'. John C Reilly as a Prop 8 leader, and Alison Janney as his wife. Kathy Najimy as his second wife. Jenifer Lewis as a riffing Prop 8'er. Craig Robinson as a preacher. Rashida Jones, Lake Bell, Sarah Chalke as Scary Catholic School Girls from Hell. Katharine "Kooks" Leonard, Seth Morris, Denise "Esi!" Piane, Lucian Piane, Richard Read, Seth Redford, Quinton Strack, and Tate Taylor as The Frightened Villagers.
Jack Black stars as Jesus Christ, and Neil Patrick Harris is billed as 'A Very Smart Fellow'.words from Towleroad
Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging. I have only one thing to say at the moment: my shoulder hurts. Boo.
Sunday, November 30
Thankful, even for the snow (I suppose)
A few inches of snow fell overnight; the world is shrouded in the stuff. The streets are already slushy and brown (one of the chief reasons I dislike snow). The snow is light, but has been falling consistently. LOTR is on in the background, and it's the bit with the Ents. I'm eating the last of my smashed potatoes, left over from the big dinner Thursday. It's a lazy day.
We had fourteen people here for the holiday; even my aunt who had the surgery was able to make the trip. (I do not envy her five-hour drive with such new abdominal incisions healing. There were many times I caused her to laugh while she was here, which caused her a considerable amount of pain. We all joked that, had her doctor known how much laughter comes from this family, he probably would have advised against the roadtrip.)
We also put on the Shroud of Crazy and participated in Black Friday. One of the local malls was hosting "Rockin' Shopping Eve" and they opened at midnight (that almost seems like cheating). Our number dwindled as time passed, which was to be expected. We started with eleven people and were down to five by the time we left the last store. (We took three cars to ensure that those who needed to leave for sleeping purposes were able to get back to town.) It was crazy, but lots of fun. We'll probably stick with 4 or 5 a.m. next year instead of midnight.
All in all, it was a nice holiday. I hope yours was filled with lots of adventures and laughter. I was thankful to have spent the time visiting with family and friends.
We had fourteen people here for the holiday; even my aunt who had the surgery was able to make the trip. (I do not envy her five-hour drive with such new abdominal incisions healing. There were many times I caused her to laugh while she was here, which caused her a considerable amount of pain. We all joked that, had her doctor known how much laughter comes from this family, he probably would have advised against the roadtrip.)
We also put on the Shroud of Crazy and participated in Black Friday. One of the local malls was hosting "Rockin' Shopping Eve" and they opened at midnight (that almost seems like cheating). Our number dwindled as time passed, which was to be expected. We started with eleven people and were down to five by the time we left the last store. (We took three cars to ensure that those who needed to leave for sleeping purposes were able to get back to town.) It was crazy, but lots of fun. We'll probably stick with 4 or 5 a.m. next year instead of midnight.
All in all, it was a nice holiday. I hope yours was filled with lots of adventures and laughter. I was thankful to have spent the time visiting with family and friends.
Thursday, November 20
Epic fail
I would say, "Bad blogger, no cookie," but that doesn't even begin to describe the fail that is me not posting since Nov. 5. (Also, that previous sentence had far too many commas, but I just wasn't comfortable with punctuation eradication.)
Some days I think I have something interesting to say, or have taken a picture and think Ah yes. Blog fodder. And then I go off and do something silly, like work. So here is what has happened since my previous post.
At the beginning of the month, my mom started her new job with a globally recognized company. She has since been out of state twice, which is really rather crazy. She will be back tomorrow from her latest excursion, which happens to be in Nebraska. (She is observing an installation of the sort she will be performing here in Iowa, once she has proper training.)
On Monday my aunt (my mom's sister) had surgery. It was suspected that she had ovarian cancer. Instead, the doctors found that she has a very severe case of endometriosis, which has been causing her considerable pain. (And by considerable I mean that she said the pain of surgery, with an incision all the way across her abdomen, was far less than the pain the endo was causing.) The doctors took some girly parts, and in a few months or so she will have the rest removed. There is much relief that it is not cancer; we were all very on edge.
In my show of knitterly support, I am knitting my aunt a womb. A blue one. A Blue Womb. Blue is her favorite color. I think she has enough of a sense of humor that she will laugh and know I mean it with love. I also plan to knit a large, chunky-weight shawl in a similar blue, as soon as I decide on a stitch and yarns.
Also, I am knitting a Project Which Must Not Be Named (on the blog until it is done and given). I'd like to say now that it is very important to read all of the details in the materials section of a pattern. For example, when a project calls for sock yarn and you decide on worsted because it's the right color, don't be surprised when it turns out to be ginormous. (I was surprised, so I had a gander at the pattern. Sure enough, it calls for sock yarn. Ha! That will make this project about 95 times funnier. It was planned to be a desktop item. It may well have to sit on the floor.)
Something else I fail at: NaNoWriMo. I have actually written words. I wrote 530 words of one story, then decided I hated it. I started a new story with a much cooler plot idea, and have completed a grand total of ... 40 words. Talk about epic fail.
Anyhow, I should go. Oboekönigin is coming to visit me this weekend. (And by visit I mean that I offer free lodging when she has teachery things to do in central Iowa.) I need to do a bit more laundry so my house doesn't look quite so dreadful.
I'll be back soon. Maybe there will even be pictures! (And a new blog layout. This one makes me tired. It's all narrow and stuff.)
Some days I think I have something interesting to say, or have taken a picture and think Ah yes. Blog fodder. And then I go off and do something silly, like work. So here is what has happened since my previous post.
At the beginning of the month, my mom started her new job with a globally recognized company. She has since been out of state twice, which is really rather crazy. She will be back tomorrow from her latest excursion, which happens to be in Nebraska. (She is observing an installation of the sort she will be performing here in Iowa, once she has proper training.)
On Monday my aunt (my mom's sister) had surgery. It was suspected that she had ovarian cancer. Instead, the doctors found that she has a very severe case of endometriosis, which has been causing her considerable pain. (And by considerable I mean that she said the pain of surgery, with an incision all the way across her abdomen, was far less than the pain the endo was causing.) The doctors took some girly parts, and in a few months or so she will have the rest removed. There is much relief that it is not cancer; we were all very on edge.
In my show of knitterly support, I am knitting my aunt a womb. A blue one. A Blue Womb. Blue is her favorite color. I think she has enough of a sense of humor that she will laugh and know I mean it with love. I also plan to knit a large, chunky-weight shawl in a similar blue, as soon as I decide on a stitch and yarns.
Also, I am knitting a Project Which Must Not Be Named (on the blog until it is done and given). I'd like to say now that it is very important to read all of the details in the materials section of a pattern. For example, when a project calls for sock yarn and you decide on worsted because it's the right color, don't be surprised when it turns out to be ginormous. (I was surprised, so I had a gander at the pattern. Sure enough, it calls for sock yarn. Ha! That will make this project about 95 times funnier. It was planned to be a desktop item. It may well have to sit on the floor.)
Something else I fail at: NaNoWriMo. I have actually written words. I wrote 530 words of one story, then decided I hated it. I started a new story with a much cooler plot idea, and have completed a grand total of ... 40 words. Talk about epic fail.
Anyhow, I should go. Oboekönigin is coming to visit me this weekend. (And by visit I mean that I offer free lodging when she has teachery things to do in central Iowa.) I need to do a bit more laundry so my house doesn't look quite so dreadful.
I'll be back soon. Maybe there will even be pictures! (And a new blog layout. This one makes me tired. It's all narrow and stuff.)
Wednesday, November 5
In which I burble
Note: If you don't want to read another blog post on politics, then the first part of this post is for you. If you do, I wrote a little blurb for the end of the post.
As I mentioned last Wednesday, I joined NaNoWriMo. As of right now, my word count is 538. That's out of the 50,000 required to "win" NaNoWriMo. My problem is this: I chose a story idea that I came up with many years ago. The writing style is distinctively junior high, as is the setting of the novel. I cannot write in that style, lest I go insane. The voice is all wrong, and it's incredibly cheesy.
Thusly, I have decided to start a completely different novel. Hopefully I'll have a chance to write on it this afternoon. It's going to be a slightly different genre: fan fiction. I know that sounds strange, but apparently a few other NaNos are taking fanfic on as well. I found myself wanting to explore the backgrounds of the crew of Firefly, including that of Serenity itself.
I haven't done a whole lot of knitting yet this month. I have, however, been playing a bit of The Sims with my brother. We made a new family, whose surname is Possible. My character is Im Possible, and his is Un Possible. It's pretty funny. I also have a separate character on Get A Life (the one-player section of the game) whose name is Luna Lovegood. I'm getting pretty far, I think. I hadn't played The Sims in forever, so it's nice to derail like that.
Work is work, I suppose. Nothing new going on as yet. The choir's going pretty well, too. I've actually gotten compliments from the congregation. That's all I've got, unless you want to read about politics. Have a happy day!
I'm not particularly politically inclined, but I would like to share a few tidbits. I voted for Obama (or against McCain, if you prefer). Obama took Iowa. My county, however, was won by McCain. The most interesting part is the division of precincts. There are 10 precincts in my county, plus one imaginary precinct for absentee ballots (I call it imaginary because you don't go there on voting day; it does exist, in the county auditor's office). Of the 11 precincts, nine went to McCain. However, the precinct in which I would usually vote, W I, went to Obama. And the precinct in which my vote was counted — the imaginary precinct, because I chose to vote last Monday instead of yesterday — also went to Obama. The absentee precinct had Obama in the lead by 81 votes; the W I precinct had Obama in the lead by ten. How crazy is that?
Here ends my brief foray into politics and numbers. Hooray for democracy!
As I mentioned last Wednesday, I joined NaNoWriMo. As of right now, my word count is 538. That's out of the 50,000 required to "win" NaNoWriMo. My problem is this: I chose a story idea that I came up with many years ago. The writing style is distinctively junior high, as is the setting of the novel. I cannot write in that style, lest I go insane. The voice is all wrong, and it's incredibly cheesy.
Thusly, I have decided to start a completely different novel. Hopefully I'll have a chance to write on it this afternoon. It's going to be a slightly different genre: fan fiction. I know that sounds strange, but apparently a few other NaNos are taking fanfic on as well. I found myself wanting to explore the backgrounds of the crew of Firefly, including that of Serenity itself.
I haven't done a whole lot of knitting yet this month. I have, however, been playing a bit of The Sims with my brother. We made a new family, whose surname is Possible. My character is Im Possible, and his is Un Possible. It's pretty funny. I also have a separate character on Get A Life (the one-player section of the game) whose name is Luna Lovegood. I'm getting pretty far, I think. I hadn't played The Sims in forever, so it's nice to derail like that.
Work is work, I suppose. Nothing new going on as yet. The choir's going pretty well, too. I've actually gotten compliments from the congregation. That's all I've got, unless you want to read about politics. Have a happy day!
Politics
I'm not particularly politically inclined, but I would like to share a few tidbits. I voted for Obama (or against McCain, if you prefer). Obama took Iowa. My county, however, was won by McCain. The most interesting part is the division of precincts. There are 10 precincts in my county, plus one imaginary precinct for absentee ballots (I call it imaginary because you don't go there on voting day; it does exist, in the county auditor's office). Of the 11 precincts, nine went to McCain. However, the precinct in which I would usually vote, W I, went to Obama. And the precinct in which my vote was counted — the imaginary precinct, because I chose to vote last Monday instead of yesterday — also went to Obama. The absentee precinct had Obama in the lead by 81 votes; the W I precinct had Obama in the lead by ten. How crazy is that?
Here ends my brief foray into politics and numbers. Hooray for democracy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
