Oil City Station

Blog Activity

2008-01-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

suspended indefinately. I'll try to keep my Ravelry profile as up to date as possible with any knitting I manage to get done. (E-mail me if you don't have my Ravelry ID.) Catch ya' later!

Oh Christmas Tree

2007-12-09T12:09:00.001-08:00

This is the first year for this tree at my house, though it lived for many years at my MIL's house. She gave it me when she bought a new one. I did not realize until I opened the box a week ago that this tree -- in keeping with its vintage-ness -- is all separate pieces. All the branches have to be put in individually. This is why I opened it a week ago and finished it today. Also, only one of my strands of lights worked and I had to go buy more. That set me back. I don't know how well the ornaments show up in this image but there are a LOT of knitting motifs, esp. mittens, and a LOT a lot of SciFi ornaments, esp. Star Trek.

I love my tree!

Amelia likes it, too:

Portrait of Me in the Christmas Spirit

2007-11-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

I suppose.

Will try to put up Christmas tree this weekend as there are people coming to my house for the holiday this year for the first time since my sister bought a house.

NaNoWriMo ends tomorrow. I'm behind, but not so very far behind that it would be impossible for me win. Just very unlikely.

Started a new project with the Zephyr lace yarn. Yum.

Tagged. . . by Ragged

2007-11-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Brando.

2. What were you doing at 0800? Heating water for tea at the office.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Reading e-mail.

4. What happened to you in 2006? Who knows?

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? To another person or a dog?

6. How many beverages did you have today? 1 - peppermint tea.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Black.

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Postage for my sister-in-law's birthday card.

9. Where were you last night? At home, working on my NaNoWriMo story.

10. What color is your front door? Green.

11. Where do you keep your change? In my purse.

12. What’s the weather like today? Sunny with a chill in the air.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Coffee.

14. What excites you? Sock yarn. TV. I may be pathetic.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Oh hell yes.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot? I'm guessing no.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes, but he goes by "Todd."

20. Do you make up your own words? Sometimes.

21. Are you a jealous person? Maybe. It depends.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Adrienne.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kristi.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? I don't know. My phone is in the car.

25. What does the last text message you received say? I don't text message.

26. Do you chew on your straw? No.

27. Do you have curly hair? No.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Work, unless I get a better offer.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? I don't think I should say.

30. What was the last thing you ate? Brownie.

31. Will you get married in the future? I'm thinking no.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? I don't remember any new movies, but I did watch Snakes on a Plane again and I always enjoy that.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? Do mean like or like like?

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? Last night.

35. Are you currently depressed? No.

36. Did you cry today? No.

37. Why did you answer and post this? Why not?

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey. Adrienne and four more people who want to do this -- go for it.

I Admit It...

2007-11-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say, but I thought I should post since it's been a month and everything.

Sock Wars is stalled. I killed my victim and now I'm waiting for her to do her duty and she's very slow about it.

We've been working on the baby's room. Hope the baby will be home soon, but it probably won't be until after Christmas.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo and managed to do 566 words first thing this morning. I hope to make it past 1667 later tonight. My novel is a Sci-Fi/Caper/Romance that I am totally winging, having only the barest idea what I wanted to write when I started. It loosely fits into the Steampunk genre, a genre I love and yet didn't realize actually had a name until I was roaming around the NaNoWriMo forum. I'm also reading Tom Jones for KTC this month which is a very good lesson for NaNoWriMo; Henry Fielding was a master at taking a sentence's worth of information and making it fill a page.

Columbus Day!

2007-10-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

No working for me. Except I need to clean my kitchen. You see how I'm getting right on that.

What news? Uh...nothin'. I started knitting a new tam to go with my new bobbed hair. I've been reading books on the Care and Feeding of Young'ins. It was over 90 degrees outside here all weekend. The crib bedding finally arrived after 6 weeks of wondering where on earth it was. Still waiting for Sock Wars to start. (Declaring war then not handing out targets for three weeks is a little anticlimactic.) I think I'm going to have pizza for supper tonight.

Stay tuned to this station for thrilling updates.

Sock Wars!

2007-09-25T15:52:00.001-07:00

It's time again! Last year, I barely advanced before I was killed. I took out my target, but was assassinated myself before I had my next assignment in hand. Of course, now I know I have to stay up all night and not quit for a moment until my socks are done because other people take this game REALLY SERIOUSLY.

And A Meme...

2007-09-23T07:54:00.001-07:00

I was tagged by pixiegirl for a Christmas Meme:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Both.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Wrap. But, wait, you can just set them under the tree? Because I'm all for it.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.
5. When do you put up your decorations? If I feel like it. There have been years (like the last three) when I don't put up any.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Turkey with cranberry salad.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Uh, I got nothing. I can't remember anything from childhood.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't really remember believing in Santa, though I guess I did.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Sure, lots.
10. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree? Several things my mom gave me that were ornaments I made as a kid. Ditto for husband's mom. Several that belonged to his grandmother. Some I've collected myself. Hallmark Star Trek ornaments.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread? Love it.
12. Can you ice skate? I'd like to, but I've never tried.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My mother-in-law buys me yarn. Last year I got some Opal.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being at home.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumkin pie.
16 What is your favorite holiday tradition? Don't know.
17. What tops your tree? An angel.
18. What is your favourite holiday book? A Stitch in Time by Barbara Michaels. This is only a holiday book because the story takes place at Christmas time, but I read it every Christmas.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Do You Hear What I Hear?
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy? Yummy. Very.

It's possible I'm not all that into Christmas.

I'm tagging Ragged.

Wisconsin Hates Me

2007-09-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

I must have committed a crime in Wisconsin in another life because Wisconsin has No Love For Me.

We were there four days and I smacked my head twice, smashed my thumb in the camper door and my toe with a falling object, was besieged by mosquitoes, got poison ivy, and twisted my knee and scraped up the side of my foot and my toes.

However, I also visited the House on the Hill, took two different boat rides on Wisconsin Dells, ate fudge and cheese, and hiked many miles and found four letterboxes. A successful trip, especially considering I was trying to outrun the Wrath of Wisconsin the whole time.

I didn't do any knitting on my vacation. Now that I'm home, I just balled up some Koigu to make socks for my baby. 'Cause babies need Koigu socks.

We Got A Call On Thursday

2007-09-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

and, suddenly, I'm a mother!!!!

Isn't she lovely? She's five months old and currently residing in Seoul, South Korea. I'm so happy!!!!

I love red....

2007-09-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

The Red Scarf Project kicked off September 1!

A Meme

2007-08-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

Pixiegirl tagged me for a Scattergories meme, so here goes:

The Rules
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
* They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
* If you can't think of anything, skip it.
* You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!

My answers
1. Famous Singer/Band: Hackensaw Boys
2. Four letter word: hell
3. Street: Holly St
4. Color: Heliotrope
5. Gifts/Presents: handkerchiefs
6. Vehicle: Harley Davidson
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: hats
8. Boy Name: Hart
9. Girl Name: Helke
10. Movie Title: Hamlet
11. Drink: Harvey Wallbanger
12. Occupation: Hangman
13. Celebrity: Harrison Ford
14. Magazine: Harper's Bazaar
15. U.S. City: Houston
16. Pro Sports Teams: Miami Heat
17. Fruit: honeydew melon
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: hungover
19. Something You Throw Away: husks
20. Things You Shout: Hey!
21. Cartoon Character: Hello Kitty

Now, I'm tagging Brandoand Rudy.

Teenie Preemie Beanie

2007-08-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

and Teenie Preemie Boots

What the....?

2007-08-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

Which Author's Fiction are You?

Anne Rice is writing your life. Go you goth girl, go.
Take this quiz!

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Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Fried Green Tomatoes

2007-08-08T16:26:00.000-07:00

Because nothing says "yummmmmmm" like flour and butter:

Amelia wants some

but she's on a diet.

I'm A Water Master -- And A Pisces

2007-07-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Finished the last of the Elemental Masters novels today and enjoyed it thoroughly. As a cherry on top, I found this:

What kind of Elemental Master are you? Your Result: Water Master You are an Elemental Water Master. You are gentle, empathetic and loving - but just as water can turn to ice, you can become cold in self-protection if need be. You enjoy being near any kind of water, whether it's the ocean or a wading pool. This element has correspondences to the Western Zodiac signs Pisces and Scorpio.
Air Master
Earth Master
Fire Master
What kind of Elemental Master are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm A Rockin' Blogger

2007-07-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

or so says Pixiegirl. Wow! How cool do I feel right now? I'm nominating Ali, Carolyn, Ragged, Needlefingers, and Brando.

Scenes From My Little Garden

2007-07-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

"There's only two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and home-grown tomatoes...."

Of all my herbs, the lavender has done the best...I think because this old water can has lots of good drainage:

I love this guy:

This is actually in the house (obviously) but I took a pic because I think it's wonderful. My bonsai palm tree:

I'm Old

2007-07-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

As part of my continuing effort to stay Occupied and Not Dwelling On Things, I joined a softball team. A girl I work with asked me, and I said yes thinking it would be a good opportunity to get out and be active.

First practice today: I'm awful! I can't field because I run slow and I popped my Bad right elbow hitting and now it hurts. And I have a sunburn.

I hope she's not sorry she asked me. I still think it is going to be fun, but I've got to get in shape. I needed to do that anyway, but I have GOT to now or I'm going to be very embarrassed.

A Nancy Drew Mystery

2007-07-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

So I've been having a blast the last week or two cruising through the Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Season 2 DVD collection. Oh boy, was I shocked, though, when Rick Springfield suddenly walked in the Drew's door in episode 12. That's right -- Zak from Battlestar Galactica (original series) right there under Nancy's Christmas tree. What merriment! Except he was playing Ned Nickerson. Well, okay, but we already had a big goofy blonde Ned Nickerson in Season 1, and, now suddenly, Ned Nickerson is Rick Springfield and he's being introduced to Nancy as if she's never met Ned before. Weird. Here's the mysterious part, though: in the IMDb profile of this episode, it says Rick Springfield played Ned Crawford. Ned Crawford? Who the heck is that? So I watched that part of the ep again. Carson Drew clearly says, "Ned Nickerson."

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Dracula Slept Here

2007-07-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

Heir puts 'Dracula's Castle' for sale

By ALEXANDRU ALEXE, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 2, 2:18 PM ET

BUCHAREST, Romania - A Habsburg heir is hoping someone will take a bite of his offer Monday to sell "Dracula's Castle" in Transylvania.

The medieval Bran Castle, perched on a cliff near Brasov in mountainous central Romania, is a top tourist attraction because of its ties to Prince Vlad the Impaler, the warlord whose cruelty inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula."

Legend has it that the ruthless Vlad — who earned his nickname because of the way he tortured his enemies — spent one night in the 1400s at the castle.

Man, and only 135 million asking price. A steal.

Click title for full story.

A Sad Story

2007-07-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

My poor little Opal sock didn't go to the party last night. It just didn't occur to me to bring it.

Ragged brought hers.

Needlefingers brought hers.

But my poor little Opal sock stayed home.

Wookieepedia

2007-06-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

That's right: Wookieepedia!

I Gotz Sum New Soxes

2007-06-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

These

came out a tad short in the foot (due to my impatience to be finished, no doubt.) I'm putting them away to give my mom for Christmas since her foot is a bit smaller than mine. I can't remember the exact name of this yarn, but it's Schoeller and it has glitter in it, which I don't think you can see in this pic.

These

are my Jaywalkers. They are made of Regia Crazy and they were supposed to be my Inferno project. (The colors were more suggestive of flames when they were wound up in the ball.) These are mine, all mine!!

Okay, Now I'm Really Jealous

2007-06-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

Baby monitor picks up video from NASA
AP Thu Jun 14, 4:52 PM ET

PALATINE, Ill. - An elementary school science teacher in this Chicago suburb doesn't have to turn on the news for an update on NASA's space mission. She just turns on her video baby monitor.

Since Sunday, one of the two channels on Natalie Meilinger's baby monitor has been picking up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis. The other still lets her keep an eye on her baby.

click headline for the rest of the story

Monday LOLs

2007-06-11T05:22:00.001-07:00

Why wait for Caturday? Monday is when you need some LOLs.

Of course, I got started on the LOLs by way of Jane Austen LOLs so you should check those out, too.

Hey, Don't I Know You?

2007-06-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

You may recall how much I admired the cover The Castle of Wolfenbach, the first book I read of the Northanger Horrid Novels.

It turns out, the lovely Madame de Loynes is a regular historical novel cover girl as seen at the Gallery of Reusable Cover Art.

But oh wait, There's More. It seem the publishing business is all about the cut and paste, eh?

Spring Is For Babies!

2007-05-27T07:40:00.001-07:00

Goose babies, in particular. Of course, their proper name is Goslings.

We've had two families on our pond for the last three days: one with about five and one with about seven. They didn't hatch here, because we didn't have a pair nest here this year (the first time in several years,) so they must have walked from the neighbors -- across a corn field half-mile away. About four years ago, the neighbors turned one of their damper fields (right by the creek) into a big Water Fowl Preserve Swamp Area (official name -- I swear,) and that has to be where they hatched.

I finally got close enough this morning to get some decent photos. They were all on the bank before they realized I was stalking them, then they took to the water.

My Summer Reading Challenge

2007-05-26T08:14:00.001-07:00

I want to read these books! They are all part of series and I'm behind and there are more books coming out all the time! Aaaaaaaaaaargh!

If I Were Only In New York....

2007-05-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

The Surprising Realities of Mythical Creatures

Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Thu May 24, 3:15 AM ET

NEW YORK—While sailing the ocean near Haiti, Christopher Columbus in 1493 reported seeing three mermaids from a distance. The Genoese explorer was not impressed.

Up close, the sea maidens were “not as pretty as they are depicted,” he wrote in his journal, “for somehow in the face they look like men.”

Click title for complete story.

I've Been Tagged

2007-05-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

What a strange sensation; I've never been tagged for a meme before, and now Pixie Girl has gone and done it.

8 Random Things About Me

- I don't really know anyone's phone number, I just know the pattern that it makes on the keypad.

- I wore glass for over 17 years before I ever got contacts, and, when I did, I did so just so I could wear sunglasses.

- I've never been drunk.

- Everyone I meet assumes I was a great student in school, but I was totally average. I was just not interested in school when I was a kid.

- I fell in love with my husband at first sight, but we didn't get married until four years later.

- I'm strawberry blonde now, but as a baby I was a total carrot-top. My grandmother told my mother that redheads weren't supposed to wear red, so there are about four hundred pictures of me as a baby wearing red dresses.

- I can be a little passive-aggressive. (I wonder how that happened?)

- I detest having long fingernails.

Now, I'm supposed to tag 8 people, but I'm just tagging Brando and Rudy.

Knit Sightings

2007-05-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

I was watching Four Brothers (again) last night on TV and I was noticing the manner in which the mom was knitting. She was holding one of the needles in her hand like a pencil, instead of having both under her palms, ends down. It struck that so many of the women I have seen knitting on TV and movies knit that way, yet in real life I've only seen one person do it -- Sally Melville. According to Wikipedia, that style of knitting was "briefly popular" around the turn of the 20th century because it was thought to be more ladylike. Sally said in my hearing why she prefers it, but I forget. So what's up with all the people on TV? Are all the actors in Hollywood preparing for roles being taught by the same person? Is it Sally Melville?

Maybe I just don't see enough other knitters in person. Maybe there's lots more of this going on that I think.

If you click on that link for IMDb, there is a picture of the mom knitting. Also, why is it that people on TV and movies are always knitting rectangles? Why are they are never knitting a sleeve?

Satire Ain't Easy

2007-05-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've discussed Northanger Abbey -- Jane Austen's quintessential satire of the Gothic romance -- here before.

I was looking up Jane Austen links for next month's KTC selection recently when I found this way cool Jane Austen site, and, within, this hilarious bit

a totally dead serious and wildly ironic 1964 cover of Northanger Abbey.

I wish Jane Austen could have been alive to see it. She would have died.

Crocheted A Bit

2007-05-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

I'm still have serious gauge issues with my knitting projects, but this came out alright

which I made for a KTC project. It is a purse for a little girl, and I did in the purples to match all this great stuff

that Brando culled from Miss Yin's wardrobe for my kid to wear. Someday. (Be sure and click on Brando's link and read all about Miss Yin's Adventures In Potty Training.)

I'm So Bad

2007-05-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Who's Your Inner Buffy Bad-Girl? Find out @ She's Crafty

Which Buffy Girl Are You? Find out @ She's Crafty

Ripped, Burned and Busted

2007-04-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

I ripped out my Dale baby sweater again. Gauge too loose this time. My swatches are lying to me. Either that, or my tension is roller-coastering madly. Perhaps I had the right idea when I decided to just knit socks until my baby arrives. Of course, then I won't have any pretty baby sweaters ready for her.

Sat out on the concrete pad Saturday and restrung wind chimes. I am burnt beet red on the inside of my left arm and the insides of my knees (I was sitting cross-legged.) My skin still feels hot. It hurts.

Today was Miss Yin's birthday party at the skating rink. I calculated that it had been 23 years since I last roller skated. I was a skating fiend, though, and it started to come back to me. I fell twice on my bum and once on my knees. As I was skating, I thought, I bet this is really good exercise. I may have to start going all the time.

New Entertainment

2007-04-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Found the Uncyclopedia while I was searching out info on Dante's Inferno for KTC this week. So funny! Also the source of the quote that is my new e-mail sig line: "I wasn't even supposed to be here today!" - Dante Alighieri on going to Hell. (It has been over 24 hours and that is still killing me. I swear, I am such a child.)

Also: the Buffy the Vampire Slayer KAL, which I am going to join even though I am already in all kinds of KALs where I am failing to keep my end up. I had already been inspired by Carolyn to blow the dust off my Buffy DVD collection and have a look at Season One. It is a welcome respite from my previous TV on DVD occupation of re-watching all the Stargate SG:1 eps in order without skipping, because I'd run into ep 3:17, which makes me gag, and I want to skip it real, real, bad.

People In Norway...

2007-04-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

...must be really, really, really relaxed. I finally scored a 2.5mm needle while shopping on my vacation last week, so I could begin my Dale Baby sweater. Last night, after finishing a whole pattern repeat (10 rows?) I realized my gauge Did Not Look Good. I had about 36 sts per 4" and I was supposed to have 32. Now, as you may know, a 2.5mm is about a size 1. I had to go up to a size a 4 before my gauge was loose enough. And I was still, technically, on vacation.

I went to two yarn stores while I was in Phoenix. One I had visited on a previous trip and liked, but this time they honked me off when I had to use the bathroom and they told me to go across the (6-lane) street and go to Staples. I didn't buy anything there. The second is called Jessica Knits, and it was awesome. I loved it so much. I bought Koigu there, and a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, and two balls of Hempathy (for gloves) and a knitting needle I don't need. (And they have a bathroom.) That place is now my Official Phoenix Yarn Store.

Read the third Dirk & Steele book while I was in Phoenix. It made No Sense At All. People who write fantasy need to understand we can't read their minds. They need to build their world and create their magic and make the reader see it. That book was the literary equivalent of untangling yarn. Which, since I own scissors and know how to spit-splice, I generally don't wast a lot of time doing. But, I've already bought the fourth one, so I guess I'll carry on. Without scissors.

Sunday Quiz Fun

2007-04-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

You scored as Luna Lovegood. You're an extreme introvert and because of this, are also a deep thinker. You ponder things others would never dream of pondering and stand with your beliefs without backing down. You find it more valuable to daydream than to socialize, because there's so much more going on in your head than others'. Most people don't understand it, but you seem to prefer it that way.

Luna Lovegood

78%

Remus Lupin

69%

Albus Dumbledore

69%

Severus Snape

66%

Sirius Black

63%

Hermione Granger

59%

Harry Potter

59%

Neville Longbottom

59%

Ron Weasley

53%

Oliver Wood

53%

Lord Voldemort

41%

Bellatrix Lestrange

38%

Percy Weasley

28%

Draco Malfoy

19%

Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test
created with QuizFarm.com

Report: What I’ve Been Doing, Pt II

2007-04-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

Books edition.

This stack represents March 1 to present day, except for the one I finished after I took this pic, Rolling Stone by Patricia Wentworth, standard 50s-era mystery. Joy Luck Club was the one I finished right before that, which is why I needed a dry, old-fashioned puzzler to set me back upright. I got really emotionally involved with that one.

The Smoke Thief, according to the front cover, was voted Romantic Times’ Historical Mystery of the Year in whatever year it came out -- 2005? It was good, though the romance element was a little, what’s the right term? -- Old -school? Of course, the hero in this story isn’t just an Alpha Male; he’s an Alpha Dragon (shape shifter) so I guess the author can’t say she didn’t tell us what we were getting into. Luckily, the heroine is no wimp.

Dangerous Man, standard historical romance -- I like Candace Camp, though she can be very hit and miss. This story features a singularly incurious hero: he and the heroine are predictably together and planning their happily-ever-after at the end and he never once asks her how she came to adopt her children -- before she ever met her husband -- and why she and her late husband never slept together.

The Dark Gate -- entertaining paranormal romance, featuring a “dark gate,” through which dangerous creatures from other dimensions are trying to sneak into our world and take it over. I’m assuming it is the beginning of a series; otherwise all the new characters who suddenly rush into the story at the end really have no purpose whatsoever.

Rogue Angel: Forbidden City -- part of a series about a Lara Croft-style archeologist with a mystical sword. I read this one because it was about China, and I like it, but I don’t feel the need to read any more of these books. The main character isn’t all that engaging, and the author doesn’t feel like he (she?) needs to go to any effort to help out if you haven’t read any of the other books. A little support from the backstory would have added a lot to the reading experience.

First two books of Marjorie M. Liu’s Dirk & Steele paranormal romance series, Tiger Eye and Shadow Touch. Dirk & Steele is a little like the Xavier Institute in the form of a detective agency. Everyone has special powers: mind reading, telekinesis, etc. It’s good fun, and Liu is a good writer, but she does tend to get a little stuck in one spot every now and then. There are two more of these I haven’t read yet.

First three books of Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters: Fire Rose, The Serpent’s Shadow, and The Gates of Sleep. The Elemental Masters are wizards who live at the turn of the twentieth century. Fire Rose is the only one that takes place in America -- in San Francisco in 1906. The others take place in and around London. They are also loosely based on fairy tales: Fire Rose is Beauty and the Beast, Serpent’s Shadow is Snow White, and Gates of Sleep is Sleeping Beauty. I am really, really enjoying them. As above, there are two more of these I haven’t read yet, and I think another one coming out in the summertime.

And Only to Deceive is a Victorian-era mystery that is strangely similar in plot to a book I read in January, Silent in the Grave. Both feature women who are married to men they don’t love, are suddenly widowed, then realize their husband’s accidental deaths are probably murder. They are then pursued by mysterious men, find friends who are unconventional -- women who are a little scandalous, who take them under their wing, um, really there is even more, I can’t list it all. It surprising to me that with all that, they are rather different books. And Only to Deceive is superior, in my opinion, only because the main character is so much more richly drawn. Both of these books have sequels coming, which I look forward to reading, though if the sequel to Silent in the Grave is in hardback like the first one, I’m waiting for the paperback.

Report:What I've Been Doing Pt I

2007-04-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

Crafts Edition.

My quilt top

Next class is in May, and the quilt should be finished then. I'm thinking about making another one of different colors with the same pattern and giving them to my mom and mother-in-law for Christmas.

Gloves for KTC Blind Assassin project

I forgot how much I love making gloves. As I was finishing these, I joined a glove KAL and I'm going to make more.

New project from Victorian Lace Today

(Is it possible I'm in a bit of a Color Rut?)

Don't Panic

2007-03-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

News item: all three of the primary actors have now signed contracts for the final Harry Potter films. I am So Relieved. My husband and I were reading a teen magazine while waiting at the vet a few weeks ago, and there was a feature interview with Emma Watson that suggested she didn't want to play Hermione anymore -- she wanted to go to college. What's Harry Potter without Emma Watson? I will admit, though, I'm a little freaked out by Daniel Radcliffe since I saw the Full Frontal pictures: Full Frontal and Harry Potter are just not two things I want to have connected to each other in my head.

Of course, everyone knows the final book is coming out in July. I've pre-ordered mine and one for my niece and nephew at the local bookstore where we all party down July 20-21. I hope the final book is good like the last one and not awful like the one before that.

I Was Not Cut Out To Be A Superhero

2007-03-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

How do I know this? Simple: I cannot maintain a secret identity. I have now been in three swaps for Knit the Classics and I have prematurely revealed my name to my swap pal twice. The most recent time was this goofiest; I sent her a note and just signed my name. I didn't even realize it until an hour later, when I was sitting on the couch, knitting along, and suddenly it popped into my head: hey, I signed that note with my own name. Jeeesh.

I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a quilter, either, but I'm taking a quilting course Saturday so we should know for sure after that. I don't know why, but knitting and crochet feel natural to me in a way that sewing does not. When I have tried to sew garments, I have always ended up doing nutty things like sewing a wrong and right side together, or cutting the pieces out with the fabric nap upside down. It's maddening.

Got A Million Dollars?

2007-03-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Only Known Painting of Jane Austen to go on Sale

Baby Update

2007-03-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Still no baby.

Our fingerprint clearances for immigration were about to expire so we went down to the USCIS office in St. Louis last week to be fingerprinted again. Shout out to the USCIS office in St. Louis where -- almost -- everyone is super-nice. (I have never seen the woman who took my fingerprints the first time -- in Dec 05 -- since that first visit. What happened to her? Did she screw up everyone's fingerprints as bad as mine and get fired?) Since the remodeling, they have a spiffy new room just for fingerprints; it even says "Fingerprints" on the door.

Our other immigration document expires in August. Thankfully, we don't have to take the day off work and travel anywhere to renew that -- just get more copies of our birth certificates, marriage license, his divorce decree, and have our homestudy updated, then send it all in with another fat check. I wonder if all those ~~insane a&*h*(^%~~ people who make remarks about international adoption and "buying" children have any clue how much of the money an international adoption costs is spent on paperwork right here in the U.S.A.

Last word was, if we are very lucky, we might hear something in October. December is probably more reasonable. Next Tuesday marks one year since our application documents were logged-in in China. This sounds a little grim, but, at the moment, I feel pretty good. We're a year and a half into this now; we are over the hump. As fast as the months go by, October is just around the corner.

Spring Fling

2007-03-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hot chocolate with cocoa-flavored Peeps is YUMMY.

It's My Birthday...

2007-03-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

...and I'll call attention to myself like a 3-year-old if I want to.

Ides of March Trivia (lifted from Wikipedia)

-Ides had real meaning only in the Roman Calendar, which had just been displaced by the Julian Calendar. However, the term "Ides" was still used in a vernacular sense for centuries afterwards to denote the middle of the month.

-Because of William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar and its line "Beware the Ides of March", the term "Ides of March" has come to mean a foreboding of doom.

-The Ides of March are celebrated every year by the Rome Hash House Harriers with a toga run in the streets of Rome, in the same place where Julius Caesar was killed.

Celebrate!

2007-03-14T05:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Pi Day!

Amelia's Treasure Chest

2007-03-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

We keep the food for the outside cats in a big blue plastic bin by the porch. All this past week the racoons have been having been trying to tear the bin open and feast on the catfood inside. So my sweetie-pie husband decided to bring it in at night. Now, each night, we have this

I suppose she knows she can't open it. Perhaps just having it is enough.

Name That Couple

2007-02-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

Vickie Howell has teamed up with Southwest Trading Company for a new (I suppose -- new to me anyway) line of yarn. It looks nice and incorporates the semi-exotic fibers SWTC is known for. What has my gears whirring, though, is the LOVE line; each color is named after a particular couple. Some of them I get but some I don't:

Sara & Maurice -- ?

Gail & Dewey -- ?

Peter & Mary Jane -- oh! I just got that one as I typed it: check!

Ennis & Jack -- check

Napolean & Deb -- check

Jack & Sally -- ?

Andi & Blaine -- check (shouldn't this be a little pinker?)

Mulder & Scully -- check

Harold & Maude -- check

Lloyd & Diane -- ?

Shelby & Jackson -- ?

Buttercup & Wesley -- check

June & Johnny -- check

Joel & Clementine -- ?

Her Craft line is named after knitters that Vickie knows so, in that case, they may be names other people might not recognize. I don't know if that is the how it is for the couples, either. Perhaps some of them aren't "famous."

Xin Nein Kuai Le!

2007-02-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

It is still New Year's Eve here in the U.S.A., but in China it is already the Year of the Pig. People like me -- who were born in a Pig year -- are supposed to be lucky. Hooray!

In The News:

Pictures of the New Year

This Year of the Pig Fraught With Disaster?

Year of the GOLDEN Pig?

About Chinese New Year:

From Wikipedia

From the University of Victoria

MamaLisa's World Blog

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Note: The title of this post is supposed to be Happy New Year in Mandarin, but I found it spelled a few different ways. Since my Mandarin so far consists of "Hello, How are you, I am fine, My name is Hope, I am from the United States, May I have some tea?," I don't really know how to spell anything.

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

How's this for some festive garb?

Perhaps you are wondering what I am doing lazing around in snowflake pajamas and hearts-and-flowers socks at home at two in the afternoon on Valentine's Day? Snow Day! We were sent home yesterday at noon in the sleet and we are off again today, though, truly, the weather is not bad today. Course I haven't seen the roads. You can't see them from where I live. My husband had to call the florist when he got to town today to tell them he will come pick up my Valentine flowers since I am not at work to deliver to. A disappointment, it is true.

Now, I have a Very Important Question:

How do you like your knitting magazines laid out? Do you like the Vogue method where all the samples are laid out in pictorials then the patterns are all bunched in the back? Or do you prefer the Knitter's way where each picture and pattern is featured together and laid out one right after the other throughout the magazine?

I ask because I got my Spring 2007 Interweave Knits in the mail yesterday and they have changed their format; they are now "Vogue"-ing. And I don't like it. I will give them credit for putting 1/4-page size pics in color of each sample on the pages with the patterns -- for years, all you got from Vogue was the pattern number -- but I still don't like. And it is not (just) that I am set in my ways: I have always found that method to be very unhandy. When I look at something I might want to make, I want to know -- while I am looking at it -- what kind of yarn it uses and how much, what the gauge is and how it is put together. I'd write to IWK and tell them all this, but I'm still a little hostile about how they responded the last time I wrote them with criticism, so I'm just going to let my subscription lapse instead. This magazine is available at Wal-Mart now, so I will have a chance when they come out to just buy the ones I want. Then I won't get stuck with any lame issues...like Spring 2007.

Actually, I'm being too harsh calling this issue lame. It is okay. Maybe I'm becoming a crotchety old knitter. I was very disappointed with the Spring Rowan -- and last Fall -- as well. I've hated Knitter's for a very long time and Vogue has always been hit or miss for me. The new magazines for "hip young knitters" are occasionally entertaining, but it hurts me to buy things that say on the front they are "hip." Sigh. Crotchety old knitter....

A Footnote In History

2007-02-11T06:27:00.000-08:00

Finished up The Castle of Wolfenbach last night. Very entertaining. Drama! Action! Lots and lots and lots of fainting! This book has at least two bloooody murders, two persecuted heroines, two mothers divided from their newborn children -- one believing her child is dead, the other not knowing, two psychotic villains, two deathbed confessions, two lost women restored to their noble families...really, there's even more than that. It's amazing this book is only 202 pages long (trade size paperback.) And it has a gorgeous cover

and Jane Austen's portrait on the back

which is a bit of a slam to Eliza Parsons, I have to say.

There are seven of the Northanger Horrid Novels; this is the first one I've read but I bought Clermont at the same time. I intend to read them all. I discovered them at the same time I was reading the Woman In White for KTC January; I enjoyed that book so much that I studied up on "horrid" novels and "gothic" thrillers. I ran across a reference to Northanger Abbey as "the most famous parody of the Gothic (novel)" and, at the same time learned about the books now known as the Northanger Horrid Novels.

I was interested in reading the books, but I didn't realize then that they haven't always been in wide circulation. I guess the fact that people thought for so long that Jane Austen invented them should have been a clue. They were reprinted as a hardback set in recent history (maybe the 80s?) -- I found a complete set on eBay UK that had just sold for about 275 pounds. It seemed like I was sunk until I discovered they are all being reprinted again by Valancourt Books. Valancourt Books is so awesome. Once again, though, they are being printed under the banner of Northanger Horrid Novels, thus Jane Austen's portrait on the back of Eliza Parsons' novel, and the reference in the editor's introduction to Castle as a "footnote in history."

The Castle of Wolfenbach deserves to be more than a footnote to literary history, read and remembered only because its title is mocked in Northanger Abbey. It can tell us much about the middle-class project in Britain during the 1790s and it can tell us much about how the gothic novel evolved. Diane Long Hoeveler

I can tell you also that, much as love Jane Austen, I feel a lot of personal empathy for Eliza Parsons. She was a luckless, struggling, widow who churned out potboilers to support herself and her eight kids. Austen's books are more polished and keener of wit, but Parsons wrote a lot of books in a hurry and she wrote for her audience because she had to sell to eat. Another of her books is on the Northanger list -- The Mysterious Warning. I'm really looking forward to it. As I mentioned, Clermont is the next Northanger book I'm going to read, but it is going to have to wait for the Mists of Avalon.

Note: While this post was waiting in my Draft box, I got an e-mail from the folks at Amazon -- who know me Oh So Well -- that Valancourt Books has just released Lady Athlyne by Bram Stoker. Man, I LOVE Valancourt Books.

Half Moon Risings

2007-02-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

I just discovered this morning that Doppelgangsters, Laura Resnick's follow-up to Disappearing Nightly, was realeased in DECEMBER. Of 2006. And I didn't know it. Why did I not know it? It seems that all Luna books are not available for sale where I usually buy them -- at the Luna homesite. What is with that?

Now I am wondering about other Luna series I am following; have I missed anything? I got Thunderbird Falls, which was the sequel to Urban Shaman, and Magic Study, which I was really looking forward to because I LOVED Poison Study. You see how I am linking to the author websites instead of Luna -- those rats. Looking at Maria Snyder's website I see Fire Study is going to come out under the Mira imprint -- that's interesting. I wonder why?

Two Luna books I really need to pick up is the second and third of Sarah Zettel's Camelot series -- they have been out a while, but I got the first one in the mass market printing instead of the trade size and the other two haven't been released in that form. I need all my books in the same series to match other. Is that weird?

More Quiz Nonsense

2007-02-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Your Birthdate: March 15

You take life as it is, and you find happiness in a variety of things.
You tend to be close to family and friends. But it's hard to get into your inner circle.
Making the little things wonderful is important to you, and you probably have an inviting home.
You seek harmony with others, but occasionally you have a very stubborn streak.

Your strength: Your intense optimism

Your weakness: You shy away from exploring your talents

Your power color: Jade

Your power symbol: Flower

Your power month: June

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

A Pub Crawl? I Don't Drink....

2007-02-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions.
You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Two Socks: Zero Pairs

2007-01-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

The one on the left is half a pair for me -- Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road. This pattern is the December/January pattern for the Knitting on the Road KAL. I will probably still be working on it in February.

The one on the right is half a pair of birthday socks for my Mother-in-law -- pair WILL be done by Sunday, the birthday day. This is my first project with Regia Bamboo but I see more in my future. I was a little startled by the color of this yarn when it arrived: I ordered it from a catalogue and it wasn't what I expected when I saw it in real life. It's pretty, though, and I think she will like it.

How To Waste Time On A Snow Sunday Afternoon

2007-01-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Helm's Deep...In CANDY

Make Me 'Q' And Nobody Gets Hurt

What Not to Crochet

And their sister site, What Not to Knit

The Purse Blog

Color Theory

2007-01-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

Ali recently turned me on to a new yarn shop and a new yarn therein: Loopy Ewe and Sweet Georgia Yarns.

Sweet Georgia makes gorgeous yarn and is a Buffy fan. They have Buffy-inspired colorways: Angel, Slayer and Willow. I was very much interested in this for a variety of reasons, but the main one right now is that in two out of three cases, the colors are not what I would have chosen. I think the Angel has too much white, and, while I love the Willow, being a Big Fan of Green, it doesn’t say “Willow” to me.

So now I’m wondering: what DOES say Willow to me and why? If I were designing colorways for specific people what would I choose and why? When I was thinking about Willow, I was thinking about orange and pink and green because, in the first years of Buffy, she wore a lot of those colors and also she seemed very much like a young girl and those colors are young and girlish. As she became older and more powerful and sophisticated, her palette changed.

Of course this is subjective. I’d be interested to hear other opinions. Say you were designing a color palette for your favorite fictional character: what and why?

Can You Believe It?

2007-01-13T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have A Favorite Steven Seagal movie: Fire Down Below. There are many reasons why I love this movie, but one of the main reasons is the awesome soundtrack of country/roots music.

This movie has been playing on Cinemax this month, and I happened on the end of it while channel-surfing the other day. Even though I have it on DVD, I went ahead and stopped, then left it on while the credits rolled so I could listen to the songs (especially "Paradise" by John Prine.) This is how I learned something I did not know before: several of the original songs for this movie were co-written by STEVEN SEAGAL.

Today, I was blog surfing and found somebody who had posted the 2007 European Tour Schedule for Steven Seagal and his band, Thunderbox. This tour is to promote Mojo Priest, his second album. I listened to the clips for it on Amazon this morning. It's not bad. It's not John Prine, but it's not bad.

How Cool Do I Feel Right Now?

2007-01-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Take the Quiz here!

2007: A Good Year For Trek...And Lace

2007-01-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Oh, the joy: January 2007 is the beginning of Star Trek Enterprise on Sci Fi channel and Star Trek Voyager on Spike. Due to our Unfortunate Middle of Nowhere UPN Deficiency, my education in these areas is sadly lacking.

While I'm boldly going where I have not gone before, I have lots of new knitting projects to keep me busy. I got this wonderful new book for Christmas. (I also sent in a request to join that KAL, but no invite yet. Do I smell?) I've started three things already, two scarves and a shawl. Sorry no pics yet, but my camera batteries need charged.

Summation: watching Star Trek and knitting lace, that's pretty much all there is to me lately.

Yarn Fun

2006-11-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

First we had this

I added some Kool-Aid

And now it is this

Ta-dah! I think it looks like apples. Soooo much better than before. I don't have a clue why I bought that red/orange/yellow stuff. It's not me at all. Of course, I still have a shawl made from it. That stuff is the 2 1/2 skeins I had left over. I guess I could always dye the shawl....

You remember I was making a pair of Hedera socks to give to my husband's stepmother for Christmas? Well, I HATED the way the pattern looked over the heel gusset so I ripped it all out and started a different pattern and now I have this

This sock is cable pattern instead of lace, but the designer still didn't do a very efficient job of working the pattern around the gusset. I thought about ripping these and starting again, but I would like to have these done by Christmas.

Gettin' Out

2006-10-29T06:02:00.000-08:00

Ran off to the Big Town yesterday and had a nice time. Cousin L and I went to Panera bread and I ate a portobello mushroom sandwich that was yummy. Then we saw The Prestige which was AWESOME. Not only is this movie completely engaging while watching it, but I was still thinking about it all the way home and all night.

Also shopped for yarn. Got two more balls of Kureyon for Jenny. Remember Jenny?

This is the FO with the pattern as written, but I have decided it isn't long enough. I want to put in one more repeat of the stitch pattern and see how it is then. The two new balls are another colorway yet.

Still lots of blue, but a bit more of the pink to match up again with the top. If this finishes it up, it will be #89, 137, 52, 52, 137, 137, 90, 90. Five balls from my stash, and three more I bought. Sort of a stashbuster.

My Heart Hurts Today

2006-10-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

It has been exactly a year since we started our adoption. Last October was All About the Adoption. We were doing our paperwork, meeting with our caseworker, having our homestudy; it was an adoption whirlwind. And I believed that by October 2006 we would be close to a referral. And now we're not. And it looks like it is going to take another year. Referrals from China are coming at a slooooooow trickle. People who were logged in August of 2005 still don't have referrals and probably aren't going to by the time October is over.

Yesterday morning my husband said: I guess we're just going to have to resign ourselves to the idea that we are going to travel in 2008. I managed to put THAT out of my mind for most of the time we were at the Party of the Year, but I also drank too much coffee while we were there and I was restless all night. I woke up feeling like my heart weighs 45 pounds.

So I guess I just spend the next year doing what I've done for the past year: try to stay busy. Join more groups, get involved in new activities, don't let myself think too much for too long. I have lots of baby knitting I can do, and I still have a quilt to make. I'm looking forward to this

being available in yellow again soon because right now our crib looks like this

It'll be nice to have the room done.

Scenes From Tall Stacks

2006-10-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry no verbiage. Still tired.

There would have been more pics, but my camera battery gave out too soon.

The Girl Who Lived

2006-09-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

It’s All Mary Shelley All The Time around here these days. Looking forward with much anticipation to KTC Frankenstein November. This book is the only KTC selection so far that I have actually read before. While I was thinking about possible projects, I decided it would be fun to learn more about the Summer at Lac Leman, so I scouted around and found the spankin’ new release The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein. I requested it by inter-library loan and it arrived just in time to deliver me from The Time Traveler’s Wife before I cast myself into the river Mary Wollstonecraft-style. (I realize it would be better, next time I get this urge, to throw Time Traveler’s Wife into the river. But I won’t be getting the urge because I’m not reading any more of it, and, also, I don’t litter.) The Monsters was wildly entertaining. I’m going to buy a copy of it for my library. I’ve also compiled a list of other books I want to read about the Shelleys and the other Romantics. I’ll try to get most of them from the library, but I am going to the bookstore today to get a better copy of Frankenstein than the one I already own, so I may have trouble controlling myself.

Wanna’ see the Killer Socks?

The Purple Socks of Doom took out my target yesterday, so she said by e-mail. Also got e-mail from my assassin that said she unleashed her weapon on me yesterday. Which will arrive first? My targets half-finished socks for me to finish, or the blow that takes me out of the game?

View From My Back Window

2006-09-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Just ten minutes ago: twin button bucks

Smells Like A Battle

2006-09-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

Within the next 24 hours Sock Wars will commence. I have my yarn ready

I should have the socks ready to take to the post office by Monday, so as to kill my first target. There are people on the forum talking about buying postage paid envelopes and mailing them at 24-hour post offices as soon as they get them done over the weekend, but I’m not stressing out that much about it. I do hope to move up at least once, though.

Would also like to finish my Time Traveler’s Wife project before time runs out. I’m making Lucy Neatby’s Paradox Mittens, in honor of the paradoxical nature of time travel. I had this project picked out before I started the book, and now I’m pleased that the mittens are appropriate to the story in another way: there are lots of references to cold and snow.

I have one mitten mostly done

the tip grafting and the thumb remain. I would have been done sooner, but I did the first two inches of the hand twice, after I found a mistake and ended up ripping it all out. Hopefully, that won’t happen on the second mitten. Actually, I learned a good lesson from that ripping: in color work, when you make a pattern mistake DO NOT try to drop down and fix it. Duplicate stitch over it when you’re done.

Another lesson learned with this project: Magic Loop. I got to the campground with my knitting kit and discovered that I didn’t have the pair of little circs I had planned to use for the mittens. I know I have them, because I bought them to try socks on two circs a long time ago, which I hated, but now there is only one in my kit. I guess the other is in a project somewhere. Don’t know where. The Magic Loop works really well, though. I like it much better than the two circs technique, though I don’t know if I like it better than dpns.

This mitten also represents more of my stash being used up: I’ve had that green Koigu (and the mitten pattern) for a long time (though I did not buy them for each other.) I just had to buy the black to go with it. I’m VERY pleased with how it is turning out. I had always planned to do the black and white the pattern was written with, but the shaded greens are so much better.

I had to buy yarn for Sock Wars, too, BTW. Have very little DK weight yarn in my stash, and what I do have is in sweater-appropriate amounts that I didn’t want to split up. The KnitPicks yarn is nice, though, and not expensive and got here quick.

Highlights From My Vacation

2006-09-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

- Attended the New Grass Blooze Festival at the Shawnee Saltpetre Cave Natural Amphitheatre where we saw The Hackensaw Boys.

- Finally got to see Lost Season 2 and I picked up a literary reference that DarkUFO missed and felt really smart.

- Hiked about fifteen miles (consecutively) and biked about five (non-consecutive) at the Land Between the Lakes. Also at LBL, we went to the pioneer village and drove through the elk and bison range.

- Picked up 5 geocaches, including the most intricate multi-cache of our career.

- Checked out the Museum of the American Quilter’s Society in Paducah, KY. It was great, but the best quilt I saw on my trip was the Cathedral Windows quilt I found at an antique mall in Grand Rivers, KY. It costs $545 so it is still there if you want to see it, too. I can’t remember the name of the shop but it is right across the street from the post office.

- Ate a Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich and -- Holy God -- was it good.

Star Trek Personality Quiz

2006-09-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Your results:
You are Uhura

You are a good communicator with a
pleasant soft-spoken voice.
Also a talented singer.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

2006-08-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

the Metropolis library delivered to me The Time Traveler’s Wife for Knit the Classics September. I’m being ironic; the truth is, when you request an interlibrary loan from the Metropolis library, they don’t seem to get in too big a hurry. However, they were the people who had the book on tape to borrow. I realized after I had decided I didn’t have time to read this book that I have time in my car to listen to it. I like nonfiction books on tape, but so far I’m not crazy about fiction on tape. I’m enjoying the story, but I think I would be enjoying it more if I were reading it. It’s abridged, too, which is not so hot, but the unabridged copy was Not Available For Interlibrary Loan.

Since Time Traveler’s Wife is September’s book, I’m not starting my TTW project until September 1, so, even though I know what I am going to make, it still looks like this

Like the Traveler’s Pocket, this project is a little detailed; once again, I hope I finish in time.

Right now, I’m making socks

Two co-ordinating pair to be gifted to my husband’s stepmother for Christmas. Both are from Knitpicks sock yarn. The striped ones are just plain no pattern, although I did use the Sherman heel that Ali recommended and it is GREAT. The lace ones are the Hedera pattern from Knitty.

Last ball (hopefully) of Kureyon arrived this week for the Jenny shawl. Hope to be done soon!

Odds & Ends

2006-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

This is the ever-so-cute little pullover that Brando and I are crocheting

As you see, I am doing mine in a pink and purple color scheme while Brando is doing hers in the colors as given in the pattern. You can see some of her squares HERE.

Almost done with the Jenny shawl. Ordered one more ball of yarn from an eBay store and I hope that will be enough. I have another row on the bottom and a row across the top for trim, then the fringe, then I'll be done. It doesn't seem as big and enveloping as Jenny's shawl, but she is tiny and I am not. Probably all shawls are vast on her. A good blocking should spread mine out a bit, too.

Also close to finishing my KTC Lolita project. A size issue there, as well: too big! I've figured out how to fix it, though. Should finish in a couple days. Also still working on the cord of the Traveler's Pocket. (Obviously, I did not complete it in time for the Passage to India deadline.) Posted a pic of the finished pocket at the KTC blog, but I don't think I put one up here

until now, that is. The cord is a BEAST. I work and work and it grows and grows yet there is still so much more to do. Maddening.

My New Favorite Band

2006-08-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

is Stone Coyotes. In fact, Party Down the Hall is probably my new personal theme song.

Tidying Up

2006-08-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

Attacked my hobby room today in an effort to unearth the Big Table. You've met the Big Table; it has been the backdrop for many a photo here. Unfortunately, only the corner of it has been showing of late. I'm planning some sewing now, though, and I need the whole surface. My KTC Lolita project is going to be sewed and I have a bunch of stuff to put together for the Kid's Room: blankets, curtains, etc. I also need a curtain for the hobby room, really, because the sun is shining through the blinds onto the yarn. I don't have the Good Wool in that alcove, but there is some cotton there that won't benefit from consistent sun exposure.

I was shocked during this project to discover just how many works in progress I have thrown around in here. I have always known I'm a better starter than a finisher (in most aspects of my life) but this is too, too sad. What's worse is that I have divided them into two equal piles of things I'm not going to finish and things I will. It's hard not to think of those Frogs-To-Be as Wasted Time. They are Learning Experiences, particularly in terms of The Right Yarn For The Job and This Is An Interesting Project But Is It Really An Item That I Want?

Speaking of all this stuff I have to do, I guess I am going to sit out KTC September. There were 8 books on the ballot for September and I promised myself that if a book was chosen that was not on my Must Read list, I was going to skip it. The Time Traveler's Wife sounds like an interesting book and I wouldn't mind reading it, but I don't want to miss October and November.

The Awesomeness of Kureyon

2006-08-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

I can't put this down. I love it so much. I have finished 3 balls and 25 rows. I have 3 more balls and 12 more rows to go plus fringe. I figured when I started this I might end up having to buy 3 or 4 more balls, but I'm still not quite sure. One of my earliest set of calculations suggested that by the time I get to row 30 I'm going to be using 1 ball per row. I sincerely hope that's not true.

The not-so-awesome part about Kureyon is, of course, KNOTS. Of those 3 balls, 2 had knots. I tried something new this time: instead of cutting and restarting like the books tell you to do, I pulled the knot as tight as I could, then gave it the old Spit and Spin until the strand was all felted up and the knot was no longer even visible, then just kept on going. I may live to regret this. BTW, I pulled out the end of Ball 4 already and, right at the beginning, a knot. I did cut that one off, though, and put that starting length with the ends I'm saving to use in the fringe.

A Shawl Saga

2006-08-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been rummaging through my stuff looking for the Shawl Pattern of my Dreams for the Tall Stacks Festival (which I keep calling Tall Oaks -- don't know why but if I do it here, well, I meant to say Tall Stacks.) Yesterday, I turned up some notes I had made long ago RE:This Shawl

I have been obsessed with this shawl since the moment I first saw it, on Stargate SG:1 episode 2.19 called "1969," where the Stargate malfunctions and sends the team back in time to 1969 where they hitch a ride with two hippie kids (Jenny and Michael) in a VW bus driving cross-country to go to Woodstock.

Long story short, I have never really figured out a way to construct a duplicate that made my heart sing as much as the original. Although, I got a lot closer when I found the pattern online for this

vintage 1962 shawl, the stitch pattern for which was very similar to Jenny's shawl. But, trying to find yarn still gave me FITS. In close-up shots of the shawl

you can see (sort of) that the yarn is all heather-y and shade-y and multi-tonal in addition to being striped in colors that I couldn't seem to match. So, when I was looking this over yesterday, it occurred to me that I own this

miscellaneous batch of Kureyon in one, two and three ball shots. They were purchased at different times for small projects that never came off, but, because, they are my favorite colors, they all co-ordinate.

I went ahead and worked a few rows to see and I am very pleased with it so far. I had to put it away, though, because I think if I try really hard I can finish my Traveler's Pocket for the Passage to India project by deadline tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

BTW, I joined the Sci Fi KAL group and I'm having a hard time picking a character to represent me. Any suggestions?

Something New

2006-08-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

I just whipped this up for my kid

It's from a free Caron sheet I found at Wal-Mart. I thought the crochet raglan construction was interesting so I (FREE) Took One and bought the required Caron Simply Soft in Mango and Papaya and Behold! here it is. The Mango and Papaya color combo was one I'd seen on a hoody on a baby on CSI:Miami the other day and liked it a lot. It is quite vivid.

I'd show all kinds of progress on mine and Brando's matching pullovers, but BRANDO is Falling Down on the Job. (Sickness and obligations and two kids are no excuse, Brando.)

I Am Bette Davis?

2006-07-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Pin up queen, or not?

Bette Davis: You rule the roost no matter where that roost is. Not only are you brainy and beautiful but in another life you could have been a dictator. Way to go, you!

I don't believe this for a second, but I am going to pretend I do. It will be so handy when I'm feeling That Way I Feel Sometimes to say to myself, "I am Bette Davis, I am Bette Davis." Then I can kick some ass, take some names, behead a few people, drive a few more insane, and cause some way fun scandals. (Maybe even pose as my identical twin sister so I can steal her life.) Good times, good times.

There Is A Vulture

2006-07-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

sitting out in my front yard for No Reason. And it is freaking me out. I'd take a picture, but I've decided not to let it know I see it.

Meanwhile, here's my astounding progress on the Traveler's Pocket

(Did I say I had decided to do something else for my Passage Project? Well, I changed my mind back.)

This has been the Pokiest Project Ever. This yarn is a nightmare. Actually, that is wrong. I like this yarn - Lanaknits Allhemp 6 - and it makes lovely fabric; the nightmare is taking this DK-weight hemp and cramming it onto #3 needles for a gauge of 7 sts per inch. I can only do about four rows before my wrists and hands start screaming and I have to change to something else.

Thankfully, I have plenty of things going on. Still making pink squares for the little coat. When Brando and I start our crochet projects, I will have that one, too. Also my mom-in-law's socks (pair #1 of 3 I have planned for Christmas present.) And Lolita, KTC book August, will be coming up in a week or so; I already have a project in mind for that. And I want to start a new shawl. Indicators point to my attendance at THIS EVENT and I would like to have a shawl for it. Something warm in case it is cold (October!) and something durable in case I wish to put it on the ground and sit upon it (in addition to festival-ing, we will be camping.) I haven't found what I'm looking for yet, but I have no doubt it is out there.

A Change In The Weather

2006-07-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

No more dithering these days; it is SUNNY and HOT. PERIOD. Husband and I went out at 9 a.m. today to apply deck cleaner to the porch and we were red in the face (more me than him) and soaked with sweat by the time we were done. Next comes the staining. For the past couple of years, this project has been nagging at me, but I always think about it in the spring and fall when it is a little cooler. Naturally, in the spring and fall, it rains every other day and so it doesn't get done. It seems like there is no choice but to utilize all these weeks and weeks of rain-free days that we get in the summer. Unfortunately, along with all that sunshine comes Deadly Hot.

I'm making tracks on the Traveler's Purse, though I haven't gotten around to taking a photo. I've changed my mind about the Passage to India project, though. I found something I like way better. It's still a bag, though. (I really do have a Serious Bag Problem.)

Went shopping yesterday with Brando. Got a bit of yarn for my KTC swap buddy, and Brando and I both bought yarn at Hobby Lobby to crochet sweaters for both our kids from the Candy Tots book. We're doing the same sweater in two different color schemes. I would picture it here, but I ain't got a pic. (Where is my camera, anyway?)

Simply Irrational Weather

2006-07-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's just me, but isn't it completely unnatural for someone to walk two blocks from her office to the post office and experience Four Different Weathers? That is, raining, clear and hot, sunny, clear and cold. One right after the other. In the space of TWO BLOCKS.

Weather camping this weekend was good but I didn't get as much biking done as I would have liked. Also I missed watching the Tour de France. Made some more squares for this

though I am not sure what my grand total is now. Maybe 20? This is my first project from Candy Tots. The original is done in Kureyon, which is why it so wildly beautiful. I can't see making a coat for my kid that I can't wash in the washer, though, so I'm doing mine in Red Heart. I'm fairly certain that my kid is going to get dirty now and then.

The crocheting has been killing my arms lately, so I switched on some knitting. A pair of basic socks in self-striping yarn for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Also this

The Nancy Bush Traveler's Pocket from Interweave Knits. Source of that image is IWK, BTW, because I only have about 6 rows done so mine looks like nothing yet. I'm doing it just as pictured with the kit I picked up at Stitches two (three?) years ago. I bought this kit for myself, then sat on it forever. When I drew my sister-in-law's name for Christmas this year, though, I realized this would be a great gift for her so I got it out again. Then, when I was straightening up my projects basket, I looked it over again and realized it was a great Passage to India project. Now, I don't know if I'm going to get it done in time, I'm going so slow, but maybe I will. Hope so.

25 Vintage Perry Mason Paperbacks

2006-07-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

I had more spending money before they opened a second-hand store across the street from my office, but I didn't have as many cool books.

Camp Hair is Bad Hair

2006-06-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Biked about 15 miles Saturday, then showered and went to bed with a wet head, which is why I woke this morning with Really Insane Hair.

I should have taken my New Hat

Not bad, eh? Though I’m not crazy about the pointy-ness of the brim increases, and I’m not sure how well this yarn will block. I think I noted below that the pattern for this hat calls for two balls of Boho Colors. Two is Not Enough. I used every bit of three. That is why I have no flower: not enough yarn.

Another crochet project I finished recently is the Ladylike Lace Gloves, another one from the Happy Hooker book.

I made themto go with this

I love this coat. It is a vintage London Fog raincoat that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. I don’t know exactly what vintage it is, but the first time I wore it, I stuck my hand in the pocket and pulled out a receipt for brunch at the Country Club dated October 1983.

Unfortunately, Grandma was Petite and I am Not, and, although it says it is Average, the sleeves are just a bit too short for me. Every time I have put it on, I’ve thought I needed to knit some cuffs (I have at least three patterns I like) but I’ve never gotten around to it. Then I found the pattern for these gloves and, though I wasn’t sure fingerless gloves were my thing (I’m still not,) the pattern construction was so interesting I really wanted to make them.

My Wuthering Heights project is going to be crochet, too. Just a small project because I joined Knit the Classics in the middle of the month, then couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make. I just finished Wuthering Heights today. It is quite awful. I can’t say I’m looking forward to A Passage to India or Lolita, either. There were three books each on the ballot for July and August and both the books I least wanted to read were chosen. I tell myself I am expanding my horizons.

Not Violet But Blue

2006-05-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last 5 or so minutes turning the Violet Beauregard Except Not Violet Skirt into 3 balls of Not Violet yarn. The Not Violet yarn I chose to sub for this project was just Not Right and now I am So Blue. A week of work decimated in 5 minutes.

However, I went to Riverwools last week and picked up the Berroco book 246 so I can make this hat

in the blue Boho Colors colorway

By the time I get done with that, my Candi Jensen books should be here and I can get started with those.

Better Picture

2006-05-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

Got a better full pic of the crocheted jacket. Please note that this time it is also Right Side Out.

I used stash yarn for this: Reynolds Saucy in Lt. Emerald which I bought many, many moons ago. I had plenty of it, too, so I went ahead and made my jacket a little longer than the pattern specified. The pattern was also written so that the jacket gaps open in front, which I am not so crazy about, but other than that I really like this project.

(Crochet) Hooking

2006-05-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

I crocheted for years before I learned to knit. I loved it, but in those days there weren’t a lot of interesting patterns, which is one of the reasons I started to knit. In recent months, though, it seems like books and patterns for fun crochet have been just pouring out. I knew it was happening, but I have to admit my Fire for crochet didn’t really get lit up again* until I joined a crochet square swap in one of my Yahoo groups. Even then, I mainly joined because the person organizing the swap was having trouble getting people and I knew it wouldn’t take me long to make the requisite squares. And now, I’m crocheting like a crazy person. In the last three weeks, I’ve bought at least three crochet books, including Deb Stoller’s book. You know the one

And, from that book I’ve made this

And this

(The full pic looked bad.)

And I am currently working on the Violet Beauregard skirt pattern, only not in violet. Today, I ordered Candi Jensen’s Candy Babies and Candy Tots. Can’t wait for them to arrive.

*Speaking of all lit up again, in a different context of course, I was at Wal-Mart recently and observed that they are selling Buckcherry’s latest album. The one with Crazy B**** on it. And, naturally, it has been edited and sanitized for the Wal-Mart public. Honestly, I would be interested to meet the people buying this thing. I have so many questions to ask them.

Kick Up Your Heels

2006-04-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law and her husband are moving, which is why various Interesting Things keep finding their way into my house. Some are more interesting than others, including little bits like these

made over the years by women in my husband’s family, including his beloved grandmother, the same grandmother whose name we are passing on to our child. His mom tells me that the blue ones on the left were actually his; he wore them when he was an infant. They are all knitted, except these

which are crocheted. I like the fuzzy pink space boots best of all; I am thinking of reverse engineering them and making a couple pairs for our kid. If I get a pattern worked up, I’ll post it.

Interesting Sci-Fi News: Morena Baccarin has been cast for a recurring role in Season 10 of Stargate.

A Show I Would Like To See

2006-04-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford, England, held a 2004 poll asking movie viewers to vote for the actor and actress they would love to see play Romeo and Juliet, and the winners were Keira Knightley and James Marsters. More than 2,000 people voted for more than 150 different actors for both roles. Keira triumphed over Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Scarlett Johansson, and Juliet Landau in the vote.

Source for the above is the Internet Movie Database where I was reading about Keira Knightley, having recently watched her in Pride & Prejudice about fifteen times since my birthday. (I got the DVD for my birthday.) Spike is a bit old for the part of Romeo, of course, but it would still be terrible amusing.

Speaking of Chiwetel Ejiofor*, the IMDb is touting on page one a recent movie of his, in which he plays a transvesite. It sounds like a funny movie, but I can't get a visual of Chiwetel in girl clothes. Chiwetel is very manly.

* Six Degrees of Chiwetel: You can link to him directly from Keira Knightley, and he is only one step away from James Marsters. This puzzle is Too Easy.

Movie Trivia

2006-03-26T15:02:00.000-08:00

I have chosen to insinuate myself into someone else's game, because she's my pal and I know she won't mind.

I'm playing Name That Movie. Here are five quotes from the same movie (one of my all-time faves.) Can you guess what it is?

1. “I don't love her, she kicked me in the face!”

2. “You are drunk, and when you are drunk you forget that I am in charge!”

3. “That's magic? It smells terrible.”

4. Her: “Lose your skirt?” Him: “I still got what counts.” Her: “Not for long.”

5. “I’ve stolen the baby! I’ve stolen the baby!”

Good News!

2006-03-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 8/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

One of the questions I got wrong was the equation with the ^ in it, because I have no clue what a ^ is.

More good news: I went to the library and scored some books off their clearance shelf. A book on chess (I have lots of these and I still can't play chess worth a *&$#) and Dress for Success by Edith Head. When I first saw her name on the binding I grabbed it up thinking it might be her memoir-ish advice book The Dress Doctor, which I know the library has a copy of, because I've read it at least three times. Alas, it was not, but I haven't read this book so it promises to be entertaining. Especially with chapters like: Dressing To Catch a Man and Dressing to Keep Him. That reminds me of the hilarious old "instruction for girls" book I have that says things like: when a girl is dining out with a young man she is not to address the waiter herself, she is to tell her escort what she needs and he will talk to the waiter on her behalf.

Can you stand it?

Sort of Pregnant

2006-03-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

The adoption papers are going to China on Monday. We just heard it from our caseworker and it was very welcome news since it has been a week since we turned them in to the Head Office of our adoption agency. And then, of course, there was the five months it took to collect them in the first place.

That is mostly what I've been doing lately. Collecting documents and collecting material for my baby quilts from the Yahoo swap group I joined. I've been in the 50 states swap, the International swap, and I've now joined the Spring swap, the USA swap (to help fill in the 50 states quilt) and I've started my own swap for vintage toys, to get material for the crib quilt.

My husband has a big work project coming up, and after he gets done we are going to buy the crib and stuff and get the baby's room finished. I've been reading books about baby care, but, as I do, I wonder if there was ever a baby who performed by the book. I guess it is keeping me busy and giving me the comforting illusion of being prepared.

Knitting Activity Suspended

2006-01-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

My left wrist is sore again. Happens periodically, especially in weird weather. By weird, I mean hot one day, cold the next. I may also be overworking it. I've been enjoying my little yellow blanket so much, that I've been putting in more time.

Day off today. I spent a lot of it looking at quilt fabric on-line and a bit of it in town at the actual quilt shop. Our little quilt shop is wonderful, especially considering how small our town is, but they didn't have anything I want. Looking at material on-line is frustrating because it is impossible to know exactly what color anything is. (I've had this problem with yarn many times.) I thought about going to the Big Town, but I'm not driving all the way over there before it is necessary.

Speaking of quilts, I joined the One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt Group at Yahoo today. I found it from a link HERE. I can't remember how I got to that page. I think I found it when I Googled "China Dolls" because I was looking for the Michael Miller fabric of that name. I'm really excited about the group. As soon as I figure how the trades work I'm going to start. It's funny how my Qs never appear in any FAQs I ever read.

My Husband Brews Powerful Coffee

2006-01-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

And I've drunk a lot of it; now I'm over-stimulated, freaked-out and nervy. I hate it when I get like this. I had done a good job of staying off the caffeine in recent weeks and my anxiety level had receded to almost nothing. Now, here I am, a basket case again.

Knitting not going well. Ripped out Sock January. When I got past the heel and tried it on, I was very unhappy with the fit. It has been a while since I've fallen into the Fit Trap. Disgusting. Started a new sock. Different pattern and different yarn.

Also started a baby blanket for my own kid, which brings me to a project that is going well: the baby room. Surfed and surfed this morning and found a beautiful quilt and the wallpaper border I love on sale. Hooray!

Happy 2006!

2006-01-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

I am stuffed as a tick and my house is a disaster. I have ENJOYED the holidays. Of course, now I have to go on a diet and clean my house, but I’d rather not dwell on that.

As usual, when I try to knit for a gift, I was working on the project right up to the minute it had to be wrapped. I have no pictures of the Fuzzy Feet I made for my mother-in-law and her husband, or the Cupcake Hats I made for the little girls I know. And I didn’t get a shot of Faina after I put the fringe on. (I’m with Ali -- I despise putting on fringe.) But you all saw my mom’s socks and I am glad to report that she really seemed to like them.

Working on my mom’s socks put me in a sock mood. (There was a point during the summer where I started to feel that I never wanted to knit another sock again. I knew it would pass.) Several nights ago, when I was still awake at 2 a.m. after having gone out for coffee with friends in the evening and foolishly drank A WHOLE LOT OF COFFEE IN THE EVENING, I was in my yarn room laying out all my sock yarn on the Big Table. I had had one of those 2 a.m.* brainstorms: a new pair of socks each month, every month 2006. I still likedthe idea the next day, and I still like it now, days later, so here it is,

Sock January

The rules I gave myself for the 2006 Sock A Month were: I must use sock from my stash, because Intensive Use of Stash is my other 2006 knitting project, and I must use patterns from Interweave Knits because I really, really, really appreciate the way they seem to love socks as much as I do. Accordingly, Sock January is composed of Meilenweit Fun & Stripes color #630 and the pattern Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A. Clark from the Spring 2004 issue.

Here is what the Waving Lace pattern sample looks like

I used the Meilenweit because I was interest to see the pattern in self-striping yarn. I had hoped to get more horizontal zigzag than I am getting but I am still pleased with the results. I’m still not sure what attracted me to this yarn when I bought it; it is not my usual palette. That is, the blue and green are, but the orange is not. Maybe 2006 is going to be an orange year for me.

Cheers!

*I have the song 2 A.M. in my head now, do you?

Hey Baby, It’s Cold Outside

2005-12-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

I think I like the Dinah Shore/Buddy Clark version of that song best. That may just be because that’s the one I heard today.

It was 10 degrees here just after dawn this morning. Let it be recorded here that 10 degrees seems to be the Temperature At Which Our Dogs Will Not Venture Out Of Their Warm Kennels To Bark At A Coyote Bounding Across The Front Yard. It’s official. I saw the whole thing.

Mom’s socks are done

That is Regia Spirit 5728 (maybe), which I actually bought for myself last year (I think) then dug out of the stash when I decided I wasn’t happy with the yarn I ordered for her. I should say I am perfectly happy with it; I just didn’t like it for HER. I think she will like this better.

Tomorrow is Fuzzy Feet day. I have a pile of Cascade 220 in various colors left over from the Who scarf, so I thought I’d make some Fuzzies for my husband’s mother and stepfather who don’t want anything for Christmas. I have the day off tomorrow and Friday; those unused vacation days couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Perhaps I’ll watch Love, Actually again. Three times in one week isn’t too many, is it?

Three Posts In November -- Woo Hoo!

2005-11-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

I swear I'm going to do better in December. Most of our paperwork and meetings are done now, and I'm knitting, knitting, knitting, so I have a lot to talk about.

First, though: movies. I've seen two movies in the past week. Walk the Line and Harry Potter. I didn't actually fall asleep during either of these films, but they both score Very High on the Ho-Hum-O-Meter. The internet buzz on Walk the Line is line with my thinking; the performances and music are awesome but the story is very tame. All sudsy and whitewashed tame. And, I'd love to know what kind of drugs these critics are on that led them to describe Harry Potter as Frightening and Dark and Oh-So-Mature, because, honestly, it ain't. It makes me wonder just how much power a studio has to drive the media when a new potential blockbuster comes out.

Knitting? I'm making socks for Christmas. Also hats, but right now mostly socks. I'm still on the first sock, for my mother, and I am on the sixth version of the heel. I tried three different short row heels that I hated, then placed waste yarn for a peasant heel, which also took three tries before I had closed the gaps to my satisfaction. Hopefully, sock 2 will go better. I am not this fussy when I knit socks for myself. I guess that is why it is taking longer than expected. I'll have a pic later. I just now got my camera back from my sister. (I had left it at her house after Thanksgiving.)

Best news today is I finally got my hair cut after about six weeks of messing around. Now I look less this

and more this

But not a lot more.

Babies Are Heavy

2005-11-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

I toted Niece Lyssa around yesterday and my arms are sore. It is clear that I am going to have to get in shape before my baby arrives. Lyssa is almost eleven months old, which is about the same age as our baby will probably be when we meet her. Of course, Lyssa is a Plump Girl. There is no way to know what size our daughter will be. If she’s very small, this sweater I’m knitting now should fit her for a while. I made the one-year size and it is roomy.

We started our agency-required on-line Adoption Learning Class (one of three) this morning. The first chapter was about appearance and the expectations of adopting parents. We had to draw a picture of the child based on what we think the child will look like, and were then asked questions about gender, age, hair color, etc, of the child we drew. It seemed like a strange exercise, but I suppose a lot of parents don’t know much about the gender or background of the child they will have when they first start the adoption process. We know we are going to have a girl from China, about a year old.

The second chapter was about losses and gains: What is your child losing by being adopted and what is she gaining? What losses do all people have to cope with and how do they cope? Our agency asked us about what losses we have had in our lives and how they impacted us when we filled out our Self-Study at the very beginning. This topic is challenging for me because loss is something I feel really deeply. I think I will be able to empathize with my daughter, even though my losses have been different from hers. I have never lost my parents or left my country. I hope I will be able to help her. It’s a shame you can’t learn everything you need to know in life from books.

I Don't Have TB

2005-11-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

But I do still have a little bruise on my arm from my TB test. And, what with that test and all the other ones they did on me, by Wednesday I should have documents attesting to my being healthy enough to take care of a child.

Most of our forms are done, too. Sent off our fingerprint cards that we made a couple weeks ago and our passport applications. We've had our Couple Interview and our home visit. Our social worker (who is Very Nice) DID NOT look under the bed, but she did look in the closets, in the garage, in the basement and she counted our bathrooms.

In two weeks, we go down to the home office for our Individual Interviews. There is a yarn store just a couple blocks away from the office where I can kick around while Husband is on the grill, and I've already been sorting through my stash finding patterns and yarn for baby things. I've started a sweater: Queen of Hearts from the Rowan Treasury. It will be a year or more before she gets here, but I don't think it is bad luck to be knitting baby things already.

Fingerprint Ink Washes Right Off

2005-10-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

Who knew? Not me, because I had managed to make it to the ripe old age of thirty-four before I had to get fingerprinted. And now I've been done twice. With two more times to go. Because adopting a baby is not as easy as one might think. There are also forms. Many, many, many. And interviews. And background checks. And classes. And someone is coming to inspect our house. (I hope she looks under the bed. 'Cause I vacuumed under there.) This is why there is No Time to Blog. But after all this is over, there will be lots of time waiting. And I can knit baby clothes.