Monthly Archives: April 2008

Contests, Knitting

In which I reveal a shocking development

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Marsha’s having her final of three birthday contests. Leave her a comment about your favorite knitted object and you could win yarn, a giant blue IKEA bag, and a tasty treat. Leave your comment by May 7.

Cathy’s celebrating her blogiversary with a contest/raffle. Every $5 you donate to Doctors Without Borders, Knitters For Knockers, or The House That Yarn Built between now and midnight CDT, May 11, gets you a chance to win some great prizes, including Socks That Rock, Wollmeise, Twisted Fiber Arts yarn, and more.

Trek’s collecting box tops as part of a fundraiser for the Neatnik’s school and is having a contest to encourage people to send her more box tops. You have until August 1 to collect the box tops. One random box top collector will be selected to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate.

Knitting Update
Brace yourselves – I’m not knitting a sock or a bib, nor am I knitting with purple or black. (Can someone help Marina up off the floor and make sure she’s ok? Thanks!)

I’m knitting a dodecahedron (Celestine). It isn’t much to look at yet, as I’ve only completed eight of the 12 points, plus I will need to stuff it. The yarn is Regia Crazy Color 6-Ply and I think its random nature is perfect for this project.

I did attempt to get some modeled shots… The first is of Celestine mid-fall.

“Why the heck would I want to model an unfinished dodecahedron, anyway?! It’s a toy, not a hat.” -Chaos

“Did someone say toy?!” -Mayhem

Randonymity

New toy

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I picked up a new toy last week…

It’s an Olympus Stylus 1010 – 10.1 megapixels, 7x optical zoom, and (barely) less than an inch thick. Um, yeah, it’s purple… what’re you trying to say?! 😉

“You guys have no idea how much this new camera sucks. The flash timing is different, so I don’t know to squint up my eyes in time and now you can see that I have very wide eyes! That was my secret. Woe is me. Woe.” -Mayhem

See the Sights, Tunes

Report from a busy weekend

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The play Stitch, Bitch n’ Die was great fun Friday night! Apparently the playwrite’s spouse is actually a knitter, so there were many knitting “in jokes.” Although Saturday night was the last show of this run, rumor has it there might be another run in the future. I didn’t take a single photo Friday night – understandable at the play, true, but not even after the show as Jeanne and I were walking around Uptown in search of food that didn’t require an hour’s wait. (Good ol’ Chipotle…)

I took many more pictures Saturday night when Jess and I went to First Avenue to see Cloud Cult.

I’ve been to a lot of shows at First Ave over the past 20 years, but these are the first pictures I’ve ever taken there. (Thank you, blogging, for giving me the excuse.) First Avenue from the front…

and the side – each star contains the name of someone who’s performed there (and there are more stars on the Seventh Street side of the building).

I’ve always wanted to take a picture of the stall with a view! 🙂

I took some pictures of Cloud Cult while they were onstage and, considering the shooting conditions, was actually pleased with a few of the shots. (Yes, two of the band members were painting pictures to be sold after the show.)

Alas, I didn’t take any pictures of the extremely drunk couple who leaned against Jess so they wouldn’t fall over while groping each other… I doubt it would have fazed them!

As we were leaving, I noticed this star and remembered what a great show Pere Ubu put on when I saw them 15 years ago.

Here are a few more stars – out of these, I’ve only seen Son Volt.

And, finally, First Avenue from the back as we were heading into the parking garage.

Poor sleepy kitties – they’re as unused to this nightlife as am I!

“Glad you made it home safe, Mom. I was really wor…. zzzzzzz…” -Chaos

Contests, Gluten Free, Recipes

Random for a rainy (and possibly snowy?!) Friday

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I’m actually going to get out and do some interesting things this weekend! (Sure, I can wait a minute while you all recover.) Tonight Jeanne and I are going to see the play Stitch, Bitch n’ Die, then tomorrow night Jess and I are going to see Cloud Cult at First Avenue.

This lolcatz gave me the giggles – maybe because the feline face looks almost familiar.

KnitOwl is having a contest – finish the sentence “The night was…” and you could win one of her cute handmade toys if you make her husband laugh. You can submit as many sentences as you like by May 15. (Not limited to knitters! Anyone who has a kid or knows a kid should give this a shot.)

Knitting patterns and copyright seem to generate a lot of brouhaha – if you’ve read enough such to last you a lifetime, you’ll definitely enjoy Fleegle’s humorous take on the subject.

Keep Knitting Infinity Wendy in your thoughts, as she just lost her lovely kitty Samantha to cancer.

The Boston Globe had a nice article about celiac disease plus some gluten-free recipes in Wednesday’s edition. Speaking of gluten-free recipes… 😉

Gluten-Free Lemon Bars
Heat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 or 9×9 pan with parchment paper.

Crust
3/4 c butter, softened
1 c + 1/2 c sweet rice flour or rice flour (or gluten-free flour mixture)
1/4 tsp xanthan or guar gum
3/4 c powdered sugar

Mix butter, 1 c flour, xanthan/guar gum, and powdered sugar. If dough seems too sticky, add the additional 1/2 c flour in small amounts and mix well after each addition. Pat dough into lined pan. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until crust is very lightly browned. Remove crust from oven and cool.

Filling
2 T lemon juice
zest from one lemon
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t xanthan or guar gum
2 T cornstarch
1 c sugar

Mix filling ingredients and spread on cooled crust. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. Sprinkle warm bars with powdered sugar. Let bars cool thoroughly before cutting.

“Hey Mom, don’t start counting your gluten-free beers today, ‘k? *belch*” -Mayhem

Those Cats

Chaos and the collar

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Aww, how honored am I that the yarn I dyed for Imbrium is in her wedding pictures?! Very honored indeed. 🙂

Because we live on the third floor of a three-story building, it’s very unlikely that Chaos or Mayhem will run out my door and end up outside. Here’s the sequence of events that would be required:

  1. I would need to open my front door and they would have to run out into the hallway. Chaos escapes into the hallway every day when I get home from work, but all I have to do is close the door, leaving him out in the hallway alone, and he’s ready to return home.
  2. Someone would have to open a stairwell door and let the kitties into one of the stairwells.
  3. The kitties would need to run down two flights of stairs. May’s never seen stairs. Chaos hasn’t seen stairs since he was 10 weeks old.
  4. Someone would then need to open the front or back door and let the kitties outside.

True, all of this could happen, but I think it’s unlikely – so neither Chaos nor Mayhem are required to wear collars regularly. However, when either of them goes to the vet, collars are mandatory… just in case. When Chaos went to the vet in February, you might remember how deeply suspicious he was of my putting the collar on him. However, you didn’t see the following photos, taken immediately after collar application.

“Maybe I can easily scrape this thing off…” -Chaos

“Well, that didn’t work. I’ll try sulking, to see if I can guilt Mom into removing the collar.” -Chaos

“Hmm. Maybe if I pretend that I’m choking, she’ll take pity on me?! Help! Help! I’m choking!” -Chaos

“She’s a cruel one, that Mom. I wonder if I can reach it to bite it off… no.”*sigh*” -Chaos

Contests, Reading

Small box, large cat

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Paula’s celebrating her blogiversary with a contest. Leave a comment by noon, CDT, April 25, and you could win a custom sock bag or yarn.

Heather is also celebrating her blogiversary with a contest – answer two brief questions in a comment by April 30 and you could win yarn to make a Nettie bag.

Have a lot of time to kill? You could play this strangely addictive little airport security game…

Go check out Not an Artist’s great picture of her cat Guinness wearing a baby sweater – and make sure you follow the links below the “cat animation content” if you’re looking for some laughs. (I must say that Guinness is a much more obliging model than Chaos and Mayhem.)

Reading Update
Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich. I don’t really enjoy the “Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers” novels – more Ranger and Joe, less Diesel, please!
Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10) by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden, Chicago wizard and private investigator, returns in the latest and very enjoyable installment of the series.
Real Murders: The First Aurora Teagarden Mystery by Charlaine Harris. Originally published in 1990 and recently reissued now that Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse vampire mysteries have done so well, the first Aurora Teagarden mystery is well written and paranormal-free. 🙂
Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working, Girlfriend! by Rosaline Joffe and Joan Friedlander. I received this book to review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. If you’re interested in my review, you can read it over at LibraryThing.
Tall, Dark and Hungry (Argeneau Vampires, Book 4) and Vampires Are Forever (Argeneau Vampires, Book 8 ) by Lynsay Sands. Whew! I am now completely done with the Argeneau Vampire series – light’n’trashy paranormal romance that I much enjoyed.
Sucker Bet (Vegas Vampires, Book 4) by Erin McCarthy. More enjoyably light’n’trashy paranormal romance…
Darkfever (Fever Series, Book 1) by Karen Marie Moning. Darkfever was a dark urban fantasy primarily set in Dublin, in a world where the fae pose a significant threat to humanity – but only a few people are aware of the problem. I already have the next book in my library queue!
Single White Vampire Seeks Same, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittiany A. Koren. A collection of short stories about paranormal beings looking for love in the personals.

New Keens (black, of course). Small box (well, as small as a US11/EU42 shoebox can be). Large cat.

“Hee hee. Mom won’t ever find me now!” -Chaos

“Mom! You must’ve cheated. And who’re you calling large, anyway?! Hmph.” -Chaos

Randonymity

Happy Earth Day!

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Remember to take your own bags along when you go shopping – if you can get them out of the house, that is. (Leather-look reusable shopping bag available at the Wedge Co-op. Cat not included in bag purchase price of $0.99.)

“What now?! No, you can’t take my kitty house to the store. The nerve! What possible use is a kitty house at the store anyway?” -Mayhem

Contests, Knitting

Does the first sunburn of the season mean it’s spring?

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If so, then I guess it’s spring. 🙂

Take a questionnaire about creativity for a research project that Eve is doing, and you could win one of four $25 Amazon gift certificates. Contest ends May 15.

Looking for an adorable new kitten? Live in central Minnesota? Limedragon has info about a kitten that her aunt recently rescued.

Apparently Mayhem isn’t the only one who’s inspired to acrobatics by flying toys – Deb’s black kitty Sammy sure seems to be enjoying her new toy, doesn’t she?

Over the weekend, I finished that mysterious item I was knitting. Not surprisingly, it was a pair of socks. 🙂 The pattern was my variant of Rebecca’s Spirited Socks pattern, using an early and experimental test dyeing of her Black Beauty colorway. I knit one sock from each end of the ball of yarn.

“Hey, it was past time for a new cat bed around here. Cool.” -Mayhem

“Oh no – a mussed spot on my leg! Nobody look, please!! The shame…” -Mayhem

What? You couldn’t get a good look at the socks?! Ok…

Knitting

“Oh oh – kitchen cotton, my nemesis!”

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Ready to branch out in knitting for your cats? Tired of knitting cat sweaters and ready to knit something different? Try a cat beret or a stylish Thai-inspired hat…

Speaking of cats wearing knitting…

“Psst – May?” -Chaos

“What, big kitty?” *sniff sniff* -Mayhem

“Run!” -Chaos

“Wha…?” -Mayhem

“Poop.” -Mayhem

Please excuse the exceptional blurriness of these next photos – apparently I need to improve the lighting under my ottoman if I intend to take many action shots there…

“I can escape, dagnabbit!” -Mayhem

“Ooomph.” -Mayhem

“Whew! That was exhausting.” -Mayhem

“Even though I’m free now, I’m not looking at you, Mom. I am mad at you, you meanie!!” -Mayhem

Knitting, Randonymity

I have absolutely no idea what to use for a title

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Jen’s having a cheesy hair salon name contest. Leave her a comment with the name of an actual hair or pet grooming salon by April 19, midnight CDT. For ever five comments she receives, she’ll give away a copy of her new sock pattern. My entry was the Curl Up & Dye salon in Minneapolis. I did mention Sweeney Todd’s, even though it isn’t punny – just crazy.

“Thanks” to Van for exposing me to this disturbing catnip toy…

How’s this for a very odd knitted object?! That’s definitely not in my Ravelry queue – but it might be the only knitted object that isn’t! 😉

Although I do have finished knitting, it was finished too late in the evening to bother taking pictures – look for pictures on Friday! And nope, it wasn’t the “tease” from yesterday.

Fortunately, May can always be distracted from her HPFM* with the MGWT* or the Cat Dancer.

“What HPFM?! Drat! So close. I’ll get you, Cat Dancer, and your little dog Toto, too!” -Mayhem

*Hot Pink Furry Mouse/Mice
*Magic Goldfish Wand Toy, formerly the most beloved of all “flying” toys