Meme from Esther

id·i·o·syn·cra·sy

Pronunciation Key: n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies - A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncracies. Then, if you wish, tag five people to do the same.

1. I like monkeys. This in itself is NOT an idiosyncrasy, but the fact that I actually say "HOLY MONKEYS!" is.

2. When C and I are alone, we make up songs. But we make up the most discordant harmony and rhythms we possibly can and sing at the top of our lungs. Then we look at each other and congratulate each other on how lovely our song was.

3. I chew on the handles of plastic utensils. It's not unusual for me to walk around the office with a spoon sticking out of my mouth.

4. I like to eat red grapes on ritz crackers.

5. Perhaps I've just been online waaay too much, but I actually say "Woot!" when I'm excited and "gasp" instead of just gasping.

If you want to be tagged by it, feel free to gank it from me.

Book Meme (tagged by the Magnificent Heather)

Reading Style: In bed for 10 minutes before I pass out, or on weekend mornings while C is still sleeping, sitting cozied up in the corner of the couch.

Number of books I own: I have Nooooooo idea... hundreds.

Last book(s) I bought: If you could C and I as one entity, then We bought Magician: Apprentice(the author's preferred edition) by Raymond Feist. If you count me on my own, it was probably Barbara Walker's Second Treasury.

Last book I read: Last book I actually finished was Choke by Chuck Palahnuik.

Book(s) I am reading now:

The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horowitz
Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

Five books that mean a lot to me:

1- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
2- Poems by Emily Dickinson
3- Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind (book 6 in the Sword of Truth series)
4- The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
5- Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

Too damn hot to be modeling a scarf!

So it's been freakishly hot here. We're talking 90's and upwards. But luckily yesterday and today were mild by comparison. High 80's outside aren't so bad when compared with getting up to 85 inside your house when it's 97 outside.

You know it's hot when:

1- You find yourself getting one gallon of milk at the grocery store when you know you'll use 2 this week, just so you have an excuse to get into your air conditioned car to go to the air conditioned grocery store.
2- You will put up with your overly critical sister who is visiting for the summer just so you can eat ice cream and sit in your air conditioned parents' house.
3- You forego eating dinner in lieu of downing OtterPops like crack and watching a movie so you can splay across the couch in front of a fan.
4- You force poor defenseless statues to wear your scarf so that you can get a good outdoor picture without roasting alive.

The pattern is now available in the sidebar for those interested. It also has a full length picture there that I don't really feel like putting in this post so NYAH! ;)

*edit* And to anyone who wants to know if they can have the pattern for the Adamas Shawl, the answer is sadly... No. The people who have it now had been given it to test knit (even though some of them haven't yet ;) ). But I have already submitted it and I'm just waiting on the new yarn to make up the samples for them to photograph. The yarn is in KnitPicks' new fall line, so I assume the shawl will be coming out late fall or early winter. And that's the last I've heard.

M

GASP! A weekend post!

I figured I should post this before I forget it :)

I've come up with a few new blog-related words.... here they be.

blogic: 'blä-jik, NOUN
1: the logic that can link two very unrelated topics into a blog post.
Usage: Miriam used some very fuzzy blogic to post about Ducks and her cable scarf at the same time.

bloglutions: bläg-'lü-sh&ns, NOUN, plural (blending of blog and ablution)
1: daily ritual of checking certain blogs.
Usage: She could not face her day until she had completed her bloglutions.

As you see... I really have way too much time on my hands and I'm very obsessive. I'm gonna go scrub my kitchen counter now. :)

M

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Lookie here! It's our Utah Grrls in print.

More than I'm sure you care to know.

YAY! My secret pal rocks! I got 2 packages in the mail yesterday, with wonderful stuff inside!

That's the New Knitting Stitch Library, and 2 Nick and Nora bags with sock monkeys on them, and a wristaff, which carries your centerpull ball so you can hang it from your wrist for portable knitting! Fan-freakin'-tabulous! Thanks so much Secret Pal! I've already commandeered the smaller one as my new knitting notions bag.

I used to use a black leather pencil case (which I loved), but it just didn't fit the knit chek gauge that I wanted to be able to carry around. Which brings me to an interesting bit (at least I hope someone will find it interesting). This is what is in my notions bag.

So here we have:

-Knit Chek needle and stitch gauge
-Silver Stork scissors
-Stitch Holder
-Bobby Pins
-Tapestry Needles in 2 different sizes
-Row counters
-Tape Measure
-Memory Card Case full of coilless safety pins
-Empty Sewing Machine Bobbin (very useful for winding off yarn or holding reinforcing nylon thread for sock heels.
-Burt's Bee's Hand Salve for any unsightly hangnails so they don't catch on my knitting.
-Tube of erasers for a Pentel Mechanical Pencil
-Roundy bag filled with stitch markers and large safety pins.
-Hand carved and beaded hair stick.

And in the background, you can see my Nalgene with my "Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society" sticker on it. :)

New Stuff

For anyone who wants it, the .pdf of the caterpillar pattern is now available for free in the sidebar, or on my website. If you make the caterpillar, can you please send me a picture of yours? I'd love to make a slideshow of all the Caterpillars made. I was going to work up the pattern for the scarf, but first, I need to finish it and put the fringe instructions on it... they're gonna be interesting.

I'm working on some other things, but I'm not sure if I should show them. I'm going to try to get the patterns published, but I think I can tell you that they're more toys.

I will surely work on a pattern for the "Big Fish" sweater. It will probably take a little while though... long term project and I'm actually a bit intimidated by designing a sized garment.

M

Mmm..... cozy.....

Thanks for all the comments on the last entry! Nana did love the shawl. She called on Monday night (astonishing because I mailed it on Saturday morning, and it got there by Monday) to tell me how much she loves it, but she will have to wait until later to wear it. It's too "hot" there. Spoiled Grandma.... if it was in the 60's Fahrenheit here I'd be dancing in the streets. ;)

The scarf is indeed my own "pattern". I basically found a main panel cable that I liked and then made up the rest. The side cables are a 3 stitch mock cable. I will post the pattern for the scarf and the caterpillar when I get a chance. Should be soon... maybe this afternoon.

The scarf is still making me happy (no Anne, I'm not just sayin' ;) ). I think I can get the length for the scarf out of the one skein I started with and then maybe make some fingerless gloves out of the second skein to match. They're just slightly different in their tones, so 2 different items that coordinate with each other would work just wonderfully. :) Not any interesting looking progress as of yet, so no pictures... same old same old.

Has anybody ever seen Big Fish? Did you notice the sweater that Josephine wears around her In-Law's house while she's all prego? The fabulously cozy looking cabled TENT? I totally want to make one of those. I would wear it all the time! My coworker Camille also had the same thought when she saw the movie. We found this sweater and thought it might be pretty similar.... now I'm working on a design in my head. I don't really like the cables on this version... too busy, but now I have to find a source for a whole lot of yarn for cheap.

M

Um... hi.

Hi there blog readers. Sorry I was gone... wait no... I'm not sorry. It was what I needed. Had to deal with some internal shit, but I seem to have it sorted, so I'm back. With an FO.

I finished the Estonian Garden Lace Wrap for Nana and mailed it off. I hope she likes it. I'm sure I'll hear from her in a few days telling me so. :) She's too sweet to not tell me she loves it, even if she can never wear it. Here are some pics (click for a larger view if desired).


I also discovered that ducks like me. I was sitting by a canal near my house and watching these ducks. There are a bunch of them and they like to sun themselves on the banks. I was across the water from them and they were just sitting there.

And then, all of a sudden they all began an Exodus across the water. To come and hang out next to me. There were some other people there and they would scatter if these people got within 10 feet of them, but they sat down not 3 feet away from me.

Anyway... that made me happy. They were cute. I've missed playing with ducks. When I was living at home during my Freshman year of college, my little brother brought home 3 ducklings. We raised them in a kiddie pool in the backyard until they were big enough for us to let them free.

I wanted something else soothing and repetative to knit, and I wanted some really cool yarn to do it with, so I was looking through my "working" stash, and I was drawn to the handspun that Anne gave me for my birthday. And I cast on a scarf for when it gets cold again. Anne, I cannot tell you how much I love this yarn. It's gliding over my needles and the colors are so soothing to me. You can't tell from this picture, but it's kind of a brownish natural gray with bits of this beautiful mauvey pink in it. Can't describe it very well, but I *heart* it so much!


Happy Knitting and Happy Life to you all,
M

Teeehehehehehehheheheheh

Kassie made this for me. I'm ever so amused. You see... it all stems from the fact that I have a league of Ninja Monkeys™. My Ninja Monkeys™ and I keep the evil Space Monkeys at bay and thwart their plans to eat all humans' brains. But Kassie is the Evil Overlord of the Space Monkeys, so really, she's my nemesis. And that's why we must all wear tin-foil hats. Because it keeps the space monkeys from reading our thoughts and taking over our brains to make them explode into bite-sized pieces. *nods vigorously* It's all well documented... like Vitamins as a cure for Schizophrenia and Post Partum Depression. Unlike Ritalin... Ritalin is an evil street drug

*remove tongue from cheek*

M

Woot! Do a dance for me!

I submitted a piece of writing for consideration in Anne Modesitt's upcoming book, Cheaper Than Therapy. And guess what? SHE LIKES IT! She said she'd get back to me next week with some edits and some more information. *dances* Oh yes! You know, a year ago I would never have even bothered to submit anything. I thought I was at best an average knitter. Now I'm teaching classes, getting patterns published, articles published. I think I may be going into shock... excuse me while I lie down :)

M