Category Archives: Knitting

Man, linkity is sure having trouble coming up with titles these days

October 18, 2019 Chris 4 Comments

No linkity next week, as I will be listening to Hilary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton speak locally during my linkity making time.

Bookity

Do, Think, Learn, Make

Cookity

Gluten Free

Pumpkin breakfast muffins.

Artsy Crafty

A common newbie knitting mistake………
Crafting on the ISS.

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

Teh Cute

Duckling slide!

Reading Update

SO MUCH Good Omens fanfic.

In shocking news, I completed my SIL’s 2017 birthday socks!

*unimpressed* -Chaos

And here are the socks, unobscured.

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Knitting, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity needs help with a dilemma

April 7, 2017 Chris 9 Comments

From Thursday, May 11, through Thursday, June 1, I will be taking a bookbinding class that’s required for my Book Arts Certificate (and which is always offered on Thursday evenings for some reason). Since Thursday evenings are my time for putting linkity together, I have a dilemma. A month without linkity seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?! How would y’all feel about maybe two Saturday linkities during that time?

Contest(s)

Bookwyrm Knits is running a contest through the end of the month and the prize includes fountain pens, some ink samples, a self-inking Spiraldex stamp, and a blank journal. Make sure you read the details – comment early, comment often. 🙂 Closes 8 am PDT, April 30.

Bookity

New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Tor.com (genre-benders, scifi) and Gizmodo (scifi and fantasy)
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Extended version of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
The 2017 Hugo Award finalists.
“When meditation doesn’t work, try journaling to stay sane“. Yes. Do try it! 🙂 It has been immensely helpful for me.
“10 everyday phrases that come from printing“.
“Scientists create a wheel of old book smells“.
High school vocabulary test.

Think, Learn, Do, Make

Cookity

Gluten Free

Pasta frittata with goat cheese.

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Truly spring must be on its way to the Twin Cities…
LEGO Nye’s Polonaise! (That’s not going to mean much to you if you don’t live in the Twin Cities.)
LEGO version of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 trailer.
Scifi short about an astronaut.
A little more from Elsewhere University…
Dinosaur mugs.
Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

tRUMP on SNL.
Cap’n Crunch infused beer.
“Scientists want to use color-changing rainbow poop to diagnose your bowel problems“. (“Ma’am, you’re either dying or you’ve eaten a luridly colored Oreo recently – we just can’t tell.”)
“You can now rent a Texas home that looks like a cowboy boot“.
Cadbury Creme Egg pizza.
Spaghetti doughnuts.

LOL

Tiny Godzilla!
For scale.
In which we are all Ivanka tRUMP’s neighbor.
Basketball autocorrects.
Security advice. (Hover cursor/long-press for additional text.)

Teh Cute

The owl and the pussycat (no pea green boat in sight)! Cheetah and babies! Baby penguin! Kittens! Baby kea! Baby lion!

Reading Update
White Corridor (Bryant & May #5) by Christopher Fowler. I gave it a couple of chapters, but it wasn’t working for me at all. It felt different from the other books in the series somehow. DNF.
Battle Street Bolero (Bone Street Rumba #3) by Daniel Jose Older. Very satisfying conclusion to this trilogy.
Improbable Libraries: A Visual Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Libraries by Alex Johnson. Very cool look at the many, many different ways that libraries reach people and people reach libraries around the world.

“What socks?” -Mayhem

Oh, these socks? 😉 These were for my SIL’s birthday… her March 2016 birthday. I finished them the day before her March 2017 birthday. Yay?!

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Art Journaling, Knitting

Art Journaling Monday! Now with 100% more knitting than usual.

March 13, 2017 Chris 10 Comments

Welcome back to Art Journaling Monday! 🙂

10 journal prompts to get you thinking about politics… if you can stand to do so.

The really funny thing about these socks I “finished” a few days ago? I discovered them when I was looking for something else… and they only needed two ends woven in to be done. Of course, I do remember moaning and bitching about the skein of yarn I used for them, which I firmly believe should’ve been sold as seconds due to the truly alarming number of ends in it. I’d planned to knit these matchy matchy, but by the time I started the second sock, I knew that wasn’t going to work (too many knots) so I knit it from the opposite end of the skein.

“What are these things on the floor?! They seem somehow familiar, maybe from a long, long time ago.” -Mayhem

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Knitting, Those Cats

In which I did my taxes instead of a Misadventure, so have some cute Mayhem on knitted socks pictures instead

February 23, 2015 Chris 12 Comments

Congrats to Dianna, who won Chyna Doll (Horizons #4) by Mickie B Ashling! Chyna Doll is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Random bonus picture from my weekend. I call it “Pinata Aftermath” – only five minutes earlier, this monkey had a body:

I’m still puzzled why a yarn designer looked at this colorway (blue/green/brown/black) and decided it needed hints of pink (not visible in the photo), plus sparkles. Yes, all of the little light-colored flecks are sparkles. Link to Ravelry project page.

“My goodness! MORE socks?! What is going on around here?!” -Mayhem

“Mmmmm… sparkly socks…” -Mayhem

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Knitting, Those Cats

Misadventure amnesty day

January 19, 2015 Chris 9 Comments

Congrats to Val, who won Secrets and Charms (Secrets #2) by Lou Harper!

Since I totally don’t feel like writing a Misadventure, I’m declaring a Misadventure amnesty day. Here, have a cute picture of a cat and a sock instead (click picture to embiggen):

“I love you, sock.” -Mayhem

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Knitting, Linkity linkity link

Linkity listens to the howling wind and watches the snow blow by

January 9, 2015 Chris 8 Comments

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance), AAR (romance), and Tor.com (PNR)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
“Romance is not a feminist genre – and that’s okay“.
Yet another reason reading fanfic lures some of us away from mainstream fic.
Bring “squick” back to fandom.
Important announcement about parentheses.
Some Goodreads humor.

Do, Think, Learn, Make

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

11 autocorrect sexts.
How worried you should be when things happen in the movies vs in real life. (Hover cursor/long-press for additional text.)
Should’ve done something like this when Chaos was wearing the Cone o’ Shame.
Decorating tips from Basement Cat.
Exploration!
Maybe you should put that cat on a diet…

Teh Cute

Tiger and babies! Lioness and babies!

Reading Update

Look! Over there! In the sky!

“Hmm. The socks appear even when there aren’t any naughty boys around…” -Mayhem

And without Mayhem:

Ravelry project page, if you’re curious about the yarn, etc.

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Knitting, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity wishes you a happy new year

January 2, 2015 Chris 13 Comments

Randonymity

This turned out pretty well – it’s a gift, for a late Christmas gathering later today:

Wingspan, knitted from a red Zauerball. Ah, the magic of short rows and yarn with long colorways!

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Tor.com (genre benders, scifi, fantasy, paranormal/UF/horror)
Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
Dear Author on making reading a safe place again.
My local library system (Hennepin County) is one of 10 public library systems that have passed a million OverDrive digital checkouts.
How having an ereader changed one reader’s reading habits.
List of best of book lists from Largehearted Boy.
“Filing off the serial numbers: Making the transition from fanfic to original fiction“.
Neil Gaiman’s wishes for the new year.

Learn, Make, Do, Think

Cookity

Gluten Free

Crafty

Knit Andromeda Galaxy mittens. (via CRAFT)
Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

Looks like my New Year’s Eve (only there was less blood here, fortunately!).
Best autocorrects of 2014.
New Year’s in Cake Wrecks. And more!
Fox News tried to start a Twitter trend and it didn’t go quite the way they wanted it to. (via tracykitn)
Star Wars action figures being fabulous.
Cat knot.

Teh Cute

Baby cougar! Kitten! Cat! Black cats!

Reading Update
Down on the Farm (The Laundry Files 2.1) by Charles Stross. Good paranormal short in which Bob is sent to the Laundry’s psychiatric in-patient facility to investigate a patient complaint.
Equoid (The Laundry Files #2.9) by Charless Stross. Free online. Good paranormal horror short about Bob being sent forth to hunt for unicorns, which have rather more tentacles and carnivory than Bob (or the reader) expects. This won the Hugo for Best Novella this year.
Overtime (The Laundry Files #3.5) by Charles Stross. Good short paranormal holiday story about Bob working overnight in the office on Christmas Eve. Of course he doesn’t have a quiet night.
The Rhesus Chart (The Laundry Files #5) by Charles Stross. Good paranormal horror thriller in which computational demonologist Bob discovers what seems to be a nest of vampires, except everyone he works with is convinced that vampires can’t exist. While this didn’t end with a cliffhanger, it did end with me exclaiming, “Wait, what?!” and looking for additional pages…
Halting State (Halting State #1) by Charles Stross. Weird but good scifi novel about a crime (or not) that may (or not) have occurred inside a virtual reality game. It’s told in second person (to give you the feel of playing a game, I think) from the alternating perspectives of three people who are trying to figure out what happened (or didn’t). Definitely took me a bit to get used to the unusual storytelling mode.
Rule 34 (Halting State #2) by Charles Stross. Rule 34: “If it exists, there is p0rn of it. No exceptions.” Good scifi thriller about memes, spam, and life in the surveillance state, told in alternating second person (mostly) from three main points-of-view, although the POV number ratchets up toward the end. While there’s no POV character overlap with the first book, one of the main POV characters played a significant role in the first book. Again, it took me a while to get used to the storytelling mode, but once I did I was immersed.

“More socks! Are you feeling ok, Mom?” -Mayhem

And without Mayhem:

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Knitting, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity for a surprisingly pleasant (so far) early August

August 8, 2014 Chris 13 Comments

Randonymity

The neighbors across the hall recently had a baby, so I knit some bibs for a baby gift.

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Tor.com (PNR)

Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

Pride and Prejudice engagement.

It looks like $10 ebooks probably earn more money than $15 ebooks.

“The right to be spoiler free“.

Try changing the font to proofread your own writing.

Linkity from Smart Bitches.

Linkity from Becky Black.

“Literally” now frequently means “figuratively”. D’oh. (Thanks, Jase!)

The evolution of the Kindle.

If 50 Shades of Grey was written by a man… (Thanks, Lorraine!)

Poetry break: “The Sciences Sing a Lullaby” by Albert Goldbarth.

Another TARDIS Little Free Library.

Reading-themed mugs.

Think, Make, Do, Learn

The FDA’s new gluten-free labeling standard is now in effect.

Gluten-free cooking and baking tips from the Gluten-Free Goddess.

10 useful food infographics.

A humorous high-level look at hockey stats.

Kids reacting to a typewriter.

14 unusual August holidays.

21 slang terms from World War I.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on how long a person would survive on each of the other planets in our solar system. (Spoiler: You’d best have your affairs in order.)

Unsurprisingly, web-connected appliances are not very secure.

Cookity

Super moist & fudgy brownies with chocolate ganache. (via maderr)

Double chocolate zucchini bread.

Mango coconut icebox cake.

4 pie crusts that are easier than lattice.

11 cakes for celebrations.

11 make-ahead vegetarian meals.

17 recipes you can make with a can of chickpeas.

Swiss chard taco wraps with cumin-lime sauce.

Mushroom lentil tacos with tahini yogurt sauce.

Burrata cheese with grilled nectarines. (via The Kitchn)

Salmon with Thai curry sauce and rice noodle salad.

Grilled chicken and asparagus salad with dilly farmers cheese dressing.

Chicken and green bean stir-fry.

Drinkity

Singapore Sling.

Sparkling spiked peach lemonade.

17 summery cocktails.

Gluten Free

Vegan chocolate coconut cupcakes.

Double chocolate chip cookies.

Easy crepe cake.

Vanilla bean ricotta pancakes.

Crafty

Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

Watch hockey players dump buckets of ice water over their heads to raise awareness of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease). (The post has short videos of Sidney Crosby and Craig Adams of the Pittsburgh Penguins and what seems like most of the Boston Bruins.)

From Neil Gaiman: “I think it’s one of those nights when we probably all need to watch a tiny almost-romantic video about two faerie people in dustbins missing each other.”

A short film made from knitted scarves.

LEGO’s female scientists line is now available.

Suddenly…kestrel!

Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Origami measuring spoon.

Blue whale pasta strainer.

Color-changing ice cream.

TARDIS and Dalek Jell-O shots. (via The Mary Sue)

Wha…?

“Researchers can hack airplanes through in-flight entertainment systems“.

Slide whistle straws.

LOL

Important information from Stats Canada.

Poor Canada… wait.

July’s funniest autocorrects.

Thesis defense done memorably. (Hover your cursor for additional text or long-press if you’re on mobile.)

How doughnuts multiply.

Jaws summarized in a 60-second animation.

Kitty with glasses. (via elvenenchantress)

If I let him, Chaos would do this.

Go figure!

Oh oh…

Teh Cute

Tiny bun! Kitten! Rock hyrax and babies! Kitten! Baby penguin! Leopard and babies! Tiger and baby!

Reading Update
The Kid: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL by Shawna Richer. Very good account of Sidney Crosby’s rookie season with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005-2006. I’m pretty sure that any use of the phrase “beestung lips” is too many – this book used it three times! As a Pens’ fan, it was fascinating to discover the origin of the much-repeated taunt about Crosby diving (blame the Flyers) and disheartening to realize that several of the things Crosby knew he needed to work on during his rookie season (such as letting rival teams get him wound up to put him off his game) remain problems for him today.

Ok, it wasn’t that long ago that I took this picture, but I can’t tell exactly how much of Mayhem is there on the right. You can see one of her back paws sticking straight up in the middle, but anything to the right of that… (Sorry, Cheryl.) Anyway! It’s possible they wouldn’t feel quite so done in by the (moderate) heat if they weren’t on a fleecy blanket…

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Knitting, Linkity linkity link

In which there is more stupid snow (and some linkity, I guess)

February 21, 2014 Chris 7 Comments

Congrats to Penumbra, who won Too Good a Man (Red Dragon #2) by Becky Black!

Congrats to Ninna, who won Almost Mine by Eden Winters!

Randonymity

I’d take a picture of the snow to show you, but there’s too much ice on my windows from all the snow and sleet blowing around.

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of The Secret Kiss of Darkness by Christina Courtenay. Closes February 22.

Bookity

New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance)

Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

“How (not) to lie with statistics“.

LED clothespin book light.

Lamps made from old books.

I shall have to make an effort to visit this TARDIS Little Free Library in the spring.

Such a serious deficiency should really be addressed. (via The Digital Reader)

Wow. That’s a very specific definition.

Fanfiction’s eternal question.

Olympickity

David Attenborough narrates women’s curling. If you just can’t get enough curling…

Olympic hockey hugs.

Figure skaters absorb up to eight times their body weight when they land after a jump.

Think, Do, Learn, Make

IKEA is discontinuing EXPEDIT, sort of.

I’m not sure how North Dakota can be the happiest state when it has the highest rents, but there you go.

“Has humanity produced enough paint to cover the entire land area of the Earth?“

Facebook’s buying WhatsApp. 🙁

Equipment-free exercise.

Two minute explanation of the Higgs-Boson particle.

Bill Nye debates climate change with a climate change denier.

“Google admits that Google+ was just a ploy to track your behavior online“.

In today’s episode of obvious things that are obvious, bad weather turns out to be good for online stores.

A humorous beginner’s guide to hockey. Part 2 – penalties.

Cookity

Egg-free chocolate chip cookie dough for eating. (via puckling)

Two-minute chocolate mug cake. (via The Kitchn)

Roasted lemon pepper Brussels sprouts. (via The Kitchn)

Vegan chili.

Creamy Parmesan white bean stew with spicy greens. (via The Kitchn)

Eggs in a wintry kale and tomato sauce.

Avgolemono soup. (via The Kitchn)

Make-ahead roasted vegetable burritos with black beans and rice.

Baked spaghetti squash carbonara.

9 broccoli recipes.

No-bake fruit and nut bars.

Gluten Free

Peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. (via The Kitchn)

Oatmeal breakfast cookies.

Thanks a Lot “Girl Scout” cookies.

One-bowl chocolate cake.

Wonton wrappers and soup.

Turkey meatballs with Asian-style noodles.

Salted soft pretzels.

Crafty

Fold a towel bunny. (via CRAFT)

Knit some seed stitch mittens or fingerless mitts. (via CRAFT)

Cool

Gorgeous photo of downtown Minneapolis.

Giant kaleidoscope.

Game of Thrones women as Disney characters.

2014 Best Picture nominees in LEGO.

Episodic frequency.

Yes. Yes they are.

Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

3D mural of the Game of Thrones Wall. (via The Mary Sue) (I’m getting vertigo just looking at the picture…)

Official Firefly action figures.

Star Wars chicken coop.

Wha…?

Junk mail for cats, sprayed with catnip spray.

“Mashtags” potato shapes.

Send smoke signals with your iPhone.

Kissing practice pillows.

Fifty Shades of Grey teddy bear. (via The Mary Sue)

Caffeinated doughnuts from Krispy Kreme.

Chevron gives town’s residents free pizzas to apologize for an explosion.

LOL

The cat is me.

Smart kitty.

If world history’s just too long and dull for you, this might be what you’re looking for instead.

Creating a password.

May has the exact same expression when she’s spying on Chaos!

Yes, this.

Are we sure this is a kitten?

Titanic, the feline version.

Teh Cute

Black kitten! Baby penguins! Baby bunny! Baby tawny frogmouth! Baby otters! Tamandua and baby! Baby nyala! Jerboa! Baby lion! Tree kangaroo!

Reading Update

You get one guess… 😉

“Wait, these are different from the socks that were on the floor last week. What’s going on here?! Has Mom been replaced by an alien?!” -Mayhem

My SIL’s 2014 birthday socks, done three weeks before her birthday! 🙂

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Knitting

Vintage Knitting Patterns: Hand Knits for Men (reposted from 2007)

May 28, 2012 Chris 16 Comments

Mayhem presents…

“Um, what am I doing?” -Mayhem

Never mind, May… Let’s peruse Hand Knits for Men (revised, 1961), shall we? Feel free to caption amongst yourselves, although let’s try not to make my hit statistics too interesting, eh?! In a rare show of restraint, I’ve confined my captions to the picture titles – hover your mouse pointer over the pictures to see.