Why hello there!

Thanks to my six die hard followers who keep up with me even when I'm less than faithful about posting. You'd think nothing noteworthy was happening, but well, that's just not true!

Summer is in full swing here and (shhh don't tell anyone I said it) the last few days have been GORGEOUS. Warm but not hot, breezy, not too humid... almost like an LA summer! We've been enjoying time both indoors and out.

This weekend has been a quiet one. Wes was gone all day with friends, which gave me the time to wash and block quite a bit of what I've been up to lately. It also gave me time to tend to our garden, clean the house in anticipation of a houseguest next weekend, and of course, catch up on more t.v. and knitting.

So here are the projects:


The Pattern: Transition Hat, my adaptation of the Transition Gloves

The Yarn: Dale Baby Ulli in Black, Collinette Jitterbug in Salty Dog

The Needles: US 3's

The Verdict: Love it! This was a work in progress forever, and this month I finally just sat down and did it. It goes with the Twilight Mittens I posted here.


The Pattern: Clapotis

The Yarn: Collinette Jitterbug in Salty Dog

The Needles: US 6's

The Verdict: Another from the Work in Progress pile that sat forever, but was done in just a little over a week. Now I have a matched set with the two projects mentioned above.


The Pattern: Pooling Scarf, mine with a little help from Barbara Walker

The Yarn: Socks that Rock, Mediumweight, Colorway: Chapman Springs

The Needles: US 4's

The Verdict: This one took a little finesse. The scarf is knit width-wise so the first trick was figuring how many stitches to cast on (and in what pattern, on what needle size) so that I could get the colors to stack. I had some great help/guidance from the Ravelry community and I'm happy with this for my first try. Next up... a pooling stole!


I also had a 4th project, but leave it to me to ruin it in the washing. (It wasn't pretty... I don't want to talk about it).

What's next? Oh yes: the garden!

We have a variety of green peppers:


Several Jalapenos:


And we harvested our carrots! (They're kind of small but tasted great!)


Otherwise we've seen Transformers (Punk ass decepticons!) and I've caught up and finished Harry Potter Book 7. I've got a new shawl and a new sweater on the needles, as well as a second sock and a wrap in the works. And I've re-vamped what I'm doing for our wedding afghan (which apparently won't make our first anniversary either!). Otherwise we're loving summer and the extra daylight.

More soon!

Kiri

I realize that as of late I haven't really been updating. I don't know whether it's the summer heat (for the past week we've been in the 110+ range with heat index) or that I'm just spending so much time engrossed in my knitting and Ravelry, that I don't feel I have much of interest to say.

I am, however, knitting quite a bit. And I have a new project to show for it. It only took me two weeks which AMAZES me. I present to you, Kiri:


The Pattern: Kiri

The Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock, 2 skeins

The Needles: US 6's

The Verdict: In this pattern the yarn did all the work. Noro is delightfully dyed and the colors are fantastic. I was a bit apprehensive about the bright orange in this skein, but as it turns out I love the finished product. I love that this photo shows that I didn't make any errors in the pattern, and how clear the lace looks. I'm definitely on a lace kick - you'll be seeing more shawls this summer!


Let's see... what else have I been up to? Yesterday Wes spent the day with friends so I spent my afternoon beating the heat and catching up on Season 1 of True Blood. I only just recently read Book 1 of the Sookie Stackhouse series. The book and the TV show are a bit different, but I have to say that I quite like both. Who thought I would be into vampire series?

We're also still growing the garden. At this point we harvested our big cucumber (it tasted great!), but had to forfeit the rest of the plant. Unfortunately it had succumbed to some kind of root rot or fungus and wasn't growing well. We've cleaned out the container and started with fresh dirt and are putting together another crop! Our peppers are growing great - we've got half a dozen in various sizes and our jalapeno plant is boasting one perfect looking spicy pepper. Remind me not to eat that! Our carrots are harvesting sweet and crunchy. Our tomato plants look full and green and leafy and smell great, but so far we have no tomatoes. We're going to look into fertilizing soon. All told, not a terrible crop for our first foray into gardening!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

Doing the Hulu.

My temp work has been a little spotty of late, so I've been home the better part of this week. Looking for entertainment, and finding none on live television, I have checked out Hulu.com. I have to say that I'm loving it.

The first few days I caught up on recent episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Then I caught the infamous Tina Fey/Amy Pohler Palin/Clinton SNL skit. I also managed to grab the Heroes season opener - which frankly I thought was a little boring.

Then I fell headlong into Dirty Sexy Money, an irresistibly horrible angst-filled drama with Donald Sutherland and Peter Krause. I managed to watch all 10 episodes from the first season, so that I'm now ready for this season to begin!

When that was done I trolled the rest of the archives and settled on Lipstick Jungle. Though I don't think I'll be catching this in Prime Time, I loved it too!

So now I have a new source of fun. You should check it out - if you miss an episode, couldn't start a series, whatever!

P.S. I have an interview tomorrow.... wish me luck and maybe I won't need Hulu QUITE so much in the near future.

Off the Needles.

This weekend was fairly quiet. It threatened to rain most of it, so we opted to stay indoors for the most part. We did a fair amount of cleaning, managing to make several trips to the dumpster and fill my car up with stuff for Goodwill. We also managed to clear a lot of the wedding clutter into the newly cleaned closets, hang some pictures and generally make our place more presentable.

Sunday I went knitting for a bit with the girls and then hubby and I watched some good TV/DVDs. We just started The Tudors, Season 1, which I've rented through Netflix. So far, we like it quite a bit. We also watched the re-airing of Fringe on Sunday night. The first showing we came in about halfway through the episode, and I have to say it made a lot more sense this time around. I'm LOVING this new show - it's a few parts X-Files and a little bit CSI-ish. I really like Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv.

Finally, I finished up a knit that has been on the needles for a while.


The Pattern: Roped Shell from Interweave Knits, Summer 2008

The Needles: US 4's

The Yarn: Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette, 3 balls blue, 2 balls brown

The Verdict: This is a great looking top. I found the finishing work to be a little tedious (the i-cord edging at the sleeves, and the cabling at the neck) but I'm very pleased with the result. The yarn is wonderful to knit with: a blend of alpaca, merino and silk that is so very soft. I think I would probably make one of these for myself! This one is going to A Mano for display.

Positively HORRIBLE

I don't know if you've heard too much about it, but Dr. Horrible is the new craze that's sweeping the (geek) nation. Dr. Horrible is the latest series from Joss Whedon, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion. They sing, they dance, they do their laundry a lot. So far only two 13-minute episodes have been released on the Internet, but Act III premieres this weekend and I can't wait. The show is utterly and totally bizarre, but completely endearing. I'd suggest you give it a try!

Oops I did it again.

That is, forget to post for a week. I know, just 6 months ago I was posting multiple times a day and now I'm lucky if I post a few times a week! I attribute part of it to my not working in an office environment every day; half my stories used to be weird antics or things that were circulated at work. Lately I've just been spending a lot of time doing things that I love, but these aren't necessarily post-worthy.

This week in particular, I've spent most of my time sleeping late, and knitting. I've also been taking advantage of Fancast. Fancast is a beta project that my friend Knitmeister S's dad had been working on, and I have to say it's fabulous. It's a great LEGAL way to watch episodes of television for free. It's not great if you're looking for the newest stuff, but if you're looking for something a few seasons back... or even a LONG time ago you can score here. This week I have been watching an eclectic mix: Twin Peaks (that David Lynch is a VERY bizarre man but the show has it's hysterical moments!), a few episodes of season 3 of Bones (waiting for them all on Netflix is KILLING me!) and I've also watched several episodes of Hill Street Blues (Steven Bochco's early police comedy featuring a YOUNG David Caruso - pre-scenery chewing CSI!). All have been enjoyable and have helped combat midday tv and rerun boredom.


In the past few weeks I've also been able to polish off a few books. The first is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. This is a great read about architecture, the church and political intrigue in the time of (and immediate preceding) King Henry's ascension to the throne in England. The story focuses on a church prior and a master stone mason and how their lives intertwine. While the architectural detail in the book can get a little tedious to read at times, the plot itself is full of intrigue and kept me turning the pages rapidly in this 800+ page novel. I'd definitely recommend it!


The second book I've read in the past few weeks is Harry Potter: The Sorcerer's Stone. Yes I know I'm behind the times. I originally bought books one through four after seeing the movies and wanting to know more. But the first time I tried to read the first book, I just got stuck. I already knew most of the plot and it just didn't capture my interest. This time around, I read the book in a day and a half, mostly while I was stuck in the airport. It did hold my interest, and I even managed to glean a few of the literary details that movies so often leave out. I still haven't managed to pick up the next book since I've been back, but it's now on my list.


Finally I've been knitting up a storm. When I went home to LA a week or two ago, I brought a lacy shawl with me that has been relegated to the corner of the couch for some months now. For whatever reason, I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it and that made it more like a chore than fun knitting. I don't know what was wrong before because coming back to it has been so much fun! I ripped through a few repeats while I was in LA and now I'm halfway through the 3rd repeat (1 more full one after this and then edging). At this point it's going slowly because I have almost 300 stitches on the needles, but I'm loving it. I can't wait to finish and post pics!

I've also managed to pick up a few more samples, one for a local store and a few for A Mano. Add that to the baby blankets I'm trying to finish for the fall, several pairs of socks for gifts and all that yarn sitting in wait for things for me and I've been super busy. However, with Wes out of town and this week dedicated to knitting, I've gotten a fair amount done. By the weekend's end I hope to have at least one finished knit to show you. We'll see how I do!

I guess that's all for now. I'm off to pick up my sweetie at the airport and then tomorrow it's off to the Sunflower Knitters Guild Yarn Crawl.

A day in Kansas

Well today dawned a bit chilly (think 19 degrees) so I opted to stay in. Mostly I've been just hanging around the house. I loaded up the second bedroom closet, unpacked a few more boxes, got the rest of the boxes out of the living room, exercised (1+ miles) and found Fancast. This is a great site that archives lots of TV shows. Today I decided to give Friday Night Lights a try. I've been hearing quite a bit about how wonderful this show is so I decided to check it out I got through the first few episodes while exercising and knitting, and so far it's pretty good. That's all the news that's fit to print!

That really chaps my hide.

Lately I've been watching quite a bit of the Discovery channel and I've gotten hooked on Everest: Beyond the Limit 2007. This is a TV series that follows an expedition of mountain climbers and guides as they attempt to summit beautiful, awesome and deadly Mt. Everest.

Tonight I watched my dvr'd Episode 7 to see Summit Day for Team 1. I have to say, I have traversed a wide spectrum of emotions while watching Everest this season: amazement, horror, awe and many others. I have watched, literally sick to my stomach or breathless in anticipation of the next step. Tonight, however, was ruined for me in watching Tim Medvetz climb the mountain. Tim has become something of a hero in the series, rallying from a motorcycle accident and a failed attempt last season, to summit this season. Early on Summit Day, Tim falls and breaks his hand in two places. However, he chooses not to tell the guides and to soldier on. Some praise him for a his true grit, others for his bravery in the face of danger and his strength at summiting with a virtually unusable hand. For me, the excitement of the climb is ruined by his actions. What I watched tonight was a selfish foolhardy man who let his desire to summit Everest get in the way of what was safest for the whole group. On the return down the mountain, Tim is so injured that the Woody, the guide has to help him every step of the way. In continuing up the mountain Tim puts his own life at risk, but worse, he puts his team members at risk as well. Because of the happy outcome (Tim makes it down the mountain with no other major injuries to himself or anyone else) he receives a hero's welcome, but the potential for this situation to have been so much worse is huge.

It is this cavalier attitude that causes so many accidents on Everest. After reading Into Thin Air and many other accounts of disasters on Everest, I simply cannot applaud a man who knowingly does something so selfish.

So that's my two cents this episode.

Weekend Wrapup.

Well I had hoped to have more than one finished object for this evening, but alas I worked all day and played all night so I didn't quite make it. I did finished the Cabled Blanket this weekend though. Thanks to all who chimed in on the border - I decided to go with a magenta and a few rows of single crochet. The finished product is below.



Other highlights of the weekend included a wonderful Saturday night with my sweetie, discovering the series Bones (thanks Netflix!), working at the yarn store, and seeing Across the Universe tonight. It was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone who has even a passing interest in the 70's and the Beatles. I have never really connected with 70's movies or the Beatles music before but this was a great musical revue with outstanding performances and a really sweet story.

TomorrowEEEK TODAY is back to work, although I start 50% for a new department so I've got lots to read and learn.

Ugh.

No wonder I always feel sick after eating gummy candy. I had gotten used to the fact that gummy candy is made with gelatin and other weird substances, but they coat it with MINERAL oil to make it shine. EEEEEWWWWW....

These and other things I shouldn't know brought to you by How It's Made.

If my socks were an Orbit flavor they'd be Grapemint.

Last night around midnight I finished the first of my Jaywalkers! Aren't they pretty? They are a fairly easy pattern, and fun to knit. I have included by favorite shot, on top, as well as a shot without feet in them (for Blenda of Oz who always responds to my lovely photographs with "AUGH... they have feet in them!" Not this time little lady!)



Today I'm trying to make some headway on other projects on the needles. (I'm home sick, but luckily well enough to knit!) Right now I'm working on finishing a seed stitch and cable knit blanket for my friend's baby due in December. I'm hoping to finish it today since I only have a few skeins left. Other than that I'm watching Cash Cab and How it's Made on Discovery and hoping anxiously to receive my SP 11 package today. My SP so far has been great and she warned me last week that "something yarny this way comes" but as of yet Mr. Postman has been hoarding my gift for himself. Which reminds me... off to check the mail!

Karmic Retribution

So tonight I was at Knitmeister S's enjoying TV night. While he was playing with the kitties on his spiral staircase, I MIGHT have told a story about another friend of ours who fell down those steps at his place. And I MIGHT have laughed a little about it. (In my defense, when she first told me, she was laughing too.)

After television, I went home and lived happily every after.

Well.... not quite.

Then I fell out of the elevator.

How, you might ask, did I come to fall OUT of an elevator? Well I'll show you. In the diagram below you will notice that the elevator car has not stopped flush with the floor, but rather lingers several scary inches above it.


So I MIGHT have missed that crucial step down and ended up on the tile floor in a nice SPLAT.


That Karma.... ya just never know when she's going to open up a can of whoopass on ya.

Hugh Laurie Trivia

"When Hugh Laurie, Jamie Denton, Greg Grunberg, Bob Guiney, and Bonnie Somerville performed at the TV Guide Emmy Party, they asked for, and received, $200,000 that was split equally and donated to charity. The band, called Band From TV, will now be making special appearances. Hugh will donate most of his share to the Save The Children organization."

Heard on the Tonight Show, found here.

Simpsonize me.

Even though I don't watch the tv show much and didn't see the movie, I was curious to see what the "Simpsonized" version of me would look like. The verdict? I couldn't find the right hair, but it's not too bad. Thoughts?

For your very own, go here.

Time Capsule

A while ago I had a short discussion with Wes. It was so hilarious and wrong at the same time that I filed it away as material for a future post. Essentially, he argued that a catastrophic event (like Mt. Vesuvius or Pompeii) could one day occur in the vicinity of a plushie or furry convention, and that the population encapsulated in rock and lava would surely make an interesting impression upon those who unearthed it later in time. Needless to say I was reduced into a fit of giggles.

If you don't find this funny, you may need to do some research. I can direct you here for a detailed discussion of plushies and furries. If you still aren't sure of what I'm speaking, check out episode 406, "Fur and Loathing" of CSI.

Now tell me that's what you want 2.5 million people to visit each year in the future.

Meerkat Mania

I don't know if you've seen the commercials lately, but Animal Planet has been pimping the heck out of Meerkat Manor. This nature documentary turned soap opera is in its third season already. They're starting to call it the next Sopranos.

Now the next Sopranos it is not, but I have to admit that I was entertained watching a few episodes on Friday night. I can't tell those little suckers apart, but apparently there's a whole story. There must be because Wikipedia has a detailed page!

Anyhow, especially during the summer when everything is repeats, this is a fun half hour of whimsy and meerkat.

Crocogator.

This week is SHARK WEEK on the Discovery Channel and we've been tuning in. (I know it's not that smart to be watching sharks right before you go on a cruise but I digress...)

Sunday we were watching a special called Robo-Shark where they put a robotic shark with a camera among real sharks to try to observe their behavior without human interference. Once of the things they were doing was profiling Bull Sharks, one of the most deadly sharks in the ocean. The interesting thing about Bull Sharks is how adaptable they are - they can exist in salt water or fresh water, and typically find their way up streams and into lakes were other sharks wouldn't venture. One of the most interesting things they showed was bull sharks getting into tussles with Nile crocodiles. At which point I turned to Wes and said "What's the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?" And he responded "Look at those crocogators!!" Well actually he responded with "I think it has to do with the nose... let's watch the crocogators."


We all know of the famous crocodiles:

* The croc from Peter Pan who takes Captain Hook's arm

* Crocodile Dundee (ok maybe not a famous crocodile!)

So what's the difference?

Wisegeek puts it this way:

The first difference between a crocodile and an alligator is that they are from different families of crocodilians. Crocodiles are from the crocodylidae family, while alligators and caiman are from the alligatoridae family.

Hmmmm, somehow that doesn't seem to help.....

In terms of physical differences the easiest way to tell the difference between the two is that a crocodile has a very long, narrow, V-shaped snout, while the alligator's snout is wider and U-shaped. Because of the wide snout of the alligator it packs more crushing power to eat prey like turtles that constitute part of its diet. The narrow crocodile snout, although still very powerful, is not really suited for prey like turtles but is very versatile for fish and mammals.

Ahhh well that helps. You're right honey... it's all about the nose!

Another physical difference between the crocodile and the alligator is that the crocodile's upper and lower jaws are nearly the same width, so the teeth are exposed all along the jaw line in an interlocking pattern, even when the mouth is closed. They also have an enormous 4th tooth on the lower jaw that is accommodated by depressions in the upper jaw just behind the nostrils.

An alligator, on the other hand, has a wider upper jaw, so when its mouth is closed the teeth in the lower jaw fit into sockets of the upper jaw, hidden from view. Only the teeth of the upper jaw are exposed along the lower jaw line. Even the enormous 4th tooth on the bottom jaw, which is exposed in a crocodile, is hidden in the alligator.

Another physical difference is that crocodiles have a lighter olive brown coloration, while alligators appear blackish. Alligators also prefer freshwater while crocodiles like brackish water and sometimes even ocean.

How about some pictorial examples? (I learn by seeing...)


I see a Crocogator!

Discovery Channel

Lately Wes has me hooked on the Discovery Channel. As RockStarMommy pointed out today, one of the biggest and hottest bad asses on TV is Bear Grylls in his show Man v. Wild. The premise of the show is to take Bear, a ex-UK Special Forces guy and drop him somewhere remote with only a knife, a canteen and some flint. From there he has a couple days to find civilization. Throughout the process he uses his survival skills - subsisting on plants, animals or whatever he can find out there (read: drinking his own urine or squeezing water from elephant dung) to get out of the jam he's in. He also sometimes throws himself in new jams (Scotland bogs, quicksand, frozen lakes) just for the hell of it, and to show you how to get out. I have come to the conclusion that if I were lost in the wilderness, I would die in 3-6 hours. Unless of course I were lost with Bear, but then I would be perpetually grossed out. Hmmm.....


Another good show is Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Basically Mike takes it upon himself to spend a day doing all the dirtiest jobs in the world, the ones that most of us wouldn't think of doing. Past jobs include the sewers of San Francisco (complete with cockroaches and rats), dairy farming, cleaning out the engine of a ship, and many, many others too stomach-turning to recall (I must have blocked them.) This is not a show for the weak of stomach but it is awfully fun to watch. Of course, Mike Rowe also has a few hidden talents. For instance - he's an opera singer!

Here I thought the summer and all the reruns were going to be boring!

Things that sound dirty but aren't...sort of.

In general, watching the Discovery channel is a good time. But it can be even stranger when drunk. Last night we opened a bottle of Wes' blueberry mead and watched a few of our favorite shows...Man v. Wild and Dirty Jobs

"So I'm putting the filler wand in the bunghole until it foams."

See Wikipedia for the definition: A bunghole is a hole bored in a liquid-tight barrel. The hole is capped with a large cork-like object called a bung.



"So when you're baling hay, you line the hay up like lines of coke."

Again, from Wikipedia: A windrow is a row of cut hay or small grain crop. It is allowed to dry before being baled, combined, or rolled. For hay, the windrow is often formed by a hay rake, which rakes hay that has been cut by a mower into a row.

You're like a man reposessed!!!

WineGuy sent me this clip today indicating that it reminded him of a typical day at the office here. I had forgotten how much I loved this show and Balki Bartokomous. Some of my favorites:

"You can't squeeze water out of a sponge!"

"The bibi in the babka goes boom."