Of yarn and keychains

Heather of What’s Cluttering My Couch is having a contest. It’s different. And nice.

Celia of Unraveling is doing the Asthma Walk. If you contribute, you could win a pair of handknitted socks, tailored to your preferences!

Reading
Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. The most recent Dresden Files novel. This series about Chicago PI and wizard Harry Dresden continues to be enjoyable, funny, and unpredictible. Definitely recommended.
Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton. The most recent Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel was ok. The bit about unpredictible being good re: the Dresden Files? The Anita Blake books are seeming awfully predictible these days. I ripped through the book, but I can’t say that I really enjoyed it.
The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman. Kristi recommended this book so highly a few weeks ago that I had to check it out. This is the first book in a series about LAPD Detective Peter Decker and Jewish widow Rina Lazarus and I already have the next book on my library list. For a more eloquent review, head on over and read Kristi’s.
China Trade by S.J. Rozan. MrsPao recommended this book to me and I’m very glad she did! Another enjoyable read that’s also the first book in a series about PI Lydia Chin, based out of NY’s Chinatown, and fellow PI Bill Smith.

I did a few things besides read this weekend. I knit – I’m now on the borders of my Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket! I did a tiny amount of catsitting. I touched up some dyed yarn. I rode my exercise bike and watched it rain outside. I walked around my neighborhood on Monday when the sun came out and took a few pictures. I played with the Chaos Kitty. I contemplated getting him a little sister… but maybe that should wait until after my epic vacation this fall. Anyway!

The sky was so dreary on Saturday and Sunday, I wasn’t tempted to get my camera out. But on Labor Day, I was. So here’s my Saturday Sunday Monday sky.

Last week I mentioned that I was saving the pictures of my dyed yarn and fun stuff from Deb until this week. Here’s the nifty keychain sock blocker and skein of Online Supersocke from Deb. Thanks, Deb! I hadn’t even seen the Supersocke before and that keychain is amazingly cute! Must knit minisock for minisock blocker…

“Hee hee – you think you’re going to knit a teeny little sock like that and keep it out of my clutches?! Don’t you remember the miniskein?”

I dyed more than one skein of yarn, but the self-striping hot pink and black not only defies photos, it’s also drying again – I had to redye the black because it was blotchy after the first time around. I think the skein below is my favorite so far of the skeins I’ve dyed, but I just couldn’t capture the colors. This is the best that I managed, but the colors are more intense in reality:

“You can drop that yarn, Mom. I promise nothing bad will happen to it…”

I also picked up some Silk Garden DK, inspired by Julia’s gorgeous socks.

“Um, excuse me? You put this on my why?! And you expect me to not rip it to bits?!! Hmph.”

Chaos tagged

Chaos was tagged by the Meezer to list 5 weird things about himself. Let’s see if he can come up with 5 things that aren’t on his list of 25 things

1. I love my wand toy. You know, the kind that’s a stick with a string and a cool toy attached to the end of the string? I get really, really excited when Mom brings out that toy. But she says it’s boring to play with me with the wand toy, because I get so excited I just quiver and can’t even move.

2. I love to lie on Mom’s lap, but only when it’s less than 70F in our condo. When it’s warmer, I lie under her chair so I can still be close.

3. When Mom hits snooze in the morning, I come in and lick her eyelids or tap her face with my paw. I’m just trying to help her get up and feed me, so I don’t understand why she pulls the covers over her head. When she does that, I hop onto the nightstand and stare at her balefully.

4. If Mom manages to leave one of her armpits uncovered while she’s in bed, I will lick that! Mmmm…. armpits.

5. I love to shred and eat toilet paper. Mom is mean and hides it under the sink so I can’t get it. It was a lot of fun when toilet paper used to hang in the bathroom on that neat spinner.

*burp*
“Ok, I tag any cat, ferret, bird, dog, rabbit, or other pet who thinks this sounds like fun and needs more blog exposure!”

Frantic Friday Finale

Domesticat is having a contest to celebrate her second year of knitting and that she and Duck are moving. All you have to do is send email or leave a comment with your guess as to where she and Duck are moving before 8 pm EST, September 4.

Cookie (yes, that Cookie) of Knitters Anonymous is having a contest. Entries must be submitted by 11:59 pm PDT, September 10.

Final SRP Update
Although this is it for SRP, I will continue to log what I read, as I’m definitely enjoying that. I must admit that I didn’t read a single blog Thursday night – I went home and knitted on my Regia silk sock and read and read and read…

Charmed and Dangerous by Candace Havens, 261 pages. Fluffy light chick lit mixed with a spot of magic, as witch Bronwyn protects a prime minister and a shiek from magical attacks. I enjoyed it and will be reading the other books in the series.
Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker, 306 pages. The fifth Sunny Randall mystery intersects with another Parker series, which I haven’t read, about Jesse Stone. I don’t like Parker’s Spenser mysteries, but I definitely enjoy the sexy, hardboiled Sunny Randall stuff.
The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint, 138 pages. One of de Lint’s early books about Newford, this teen novel (and this specific copy) is the first or second de Lint novel I ever read.

Last Saturday, Deb and Jeanne and I got together to dye some more yarn at Casa de Deb. Deb has some pictures up already – that first one so flatteringly features my baggy shorts and saddlebags, heh. (No pictures of the yarn I dyed or of the thoughtful goodies Deb gave us for braving the drive west – should we tell her we don’t mind the drive or not?! Anyway, pictures and details on all that stuff next week. I can feel the anticipation from here.)

As Deb notes, Jeanne is very serious when she dyes yarn.

Although Deb’s pretty darn serious, too…

And we all puzzled over what this dye was up to – can you see the strange aggregates forming on the yarn?! If one of you more experienced dyers could shed some light on that mystery, it would be much appreciated. I believe the color in question was Ripe Tomato (Country Classics).

What dyeing event is complete without noshing? (Hmm, I just noticed that the chips and wine were almost gone, but there were still plenty of vegetables left.)

And I stalked Deb’s cat Tig for a while, until he ran away at the sight of me with the camera. (But don’t you just love Tig’s curly whiskers?!)

“Mommy?! Help me!! Your friend is weird. She follwed me under the dining room table with that camera!”

Chaos didn’t appear thrilled about sharing blog space with another boy cat…

“Hmph. You’re going to push me too far, Mom. I’m warning you…….”