In which I start a sweater and everyone is underwhelmed by the pictures

Sorry about having the comments turned off for those of you who stopped by bright and early Wednesday morning. I’m still not sure how I managed that one. Just gifted, I guess. 😉

Go help JessaLu break her personal best for number of comments on a post and you could win a skein of sock yarn or hank of roving. Leave your comments before midnight EDT today (April 16).

I’ve actually started a sweater for myself! It’s the zip-front hoodie from Knit So Fine: Designs with Skinny Yarn.

I may or may not actually knit the hood. I have a lot of time to decide on that, since I’m knitting the sweater on US3s from the bottom, using black Jaeger Trinity, which is a discontinued cotton/silk/nylon blend. At the rate I’m knitting, I should finish this sweater in 2011 or so.

Want to see the cables in detail?

Clicking on it won’t help. But I’ll wait while you verify that. Yup, I bet you’re already looking forward to the next two years worth of progress pictures on this project, eh?

*sniff sniff sniff* “This is not a sock.” -Mayhem

“But this yarn does smell awfully tasty…” -Mayhem

*sound of me rushing to rescue project before Mayhem creates more ends*

“Are you going to read just paranormals until your brain falls out?”

The title of today’s post was an actual quote from someone working at Uncle Hugo’s yesterday. And the scary thing? I only buy a fraction of the paranormals I read at Uncle Hugo’s. I check out most from the library, buy some at the library “withdrawn” store, and win quite a few, too. (Um, I might’ve won a couple more books yesterday. Whoops.)


Jen’s having a contest – look at the picture, try not to shriek, answer the poll, then leave a comment to be entered for a chance to win some pretty stitchmarkers. Contest closes 8 pm EDT, April 16.


You probably know I’m a big fan of bookstands. Here’s some info on how to make one yourself – the inspiration in this case was for an ebook reader, but I think you could adapt this to more traditional books. For ebook readers, I would suggest that you add something so that the reader doesn’t slip from side to side. For my beloved ReadUpon, I’m going to use a bit of rubbery shelf liner.

Looking for book information? ISDNdb.com looks very handy indeed.

Now that Barnes & Noble has acquired Fictionwise, there are rumors about a B&N ebook reader. Whatever happens with that, I’ll remain a proponent of ebook readers (like the EZ Reader) that focus on reading a wide variety of formats.

Sure, it’s a darn attractive bookcase, but it really doesn’t look like an efficient use of space to me. Now, these Tetris bookcases are another story…

Have a bike trainer or exercise bike without a book holder? Add one yourself.

Beware the dreaded vampire kitteh!

Hee hee – go Powell’s! Take advantage of the #powellswin special, which is 20% of any order over $20 if you use the #powellswin code before 11:59 pm PDT, April 16.

You’ll notice that my reading update looks a bit different today. Instead of using Amazon for my book links, I’ve started using IndieBound. By doing this, I’m able to support indie bookstores and to reduce, in my own tiny way, dependence on a megalithic bookseller. I got this idea from Dear Author and the Smart Bitches, whose explanations are far more eloquent than my own (yup, more fallout from #amazonfail). (Please note that if there isn’t cover art, the book was not available via IndieBound. Ebooks will be linked from BooksOnBoard if possible.)

Reading Update
Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches Guide To Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan. Written with humor, irreverence, and an obvious love for the wide wild world of romance novels, this book is hellagood snarky delight. Ranging from serious to silly and back again, the Smart Bitches reveal (pun intended) and revel in the genre’s excesses. It was a damn fun read, with enough insightful critical bits to keep things interesting. Plus there are coloring pages! A Choose-Your-Own-Ending Romance with paranormal, Regency, pirate, and contemporary paths! Mad-Libs! Controversy! And even a board game!
The Druid Made Me Do It by Natale Stenzel. Doesn’t it just figure – that hot one-night stand (who vanished in the middle of the night without a word) from vacation eight years ago turns out to be a puca and the local Druid leader puts you in charge of his reformation… (Hello! You aren’t even a Druid.)
Real Vamps Don’t Drink O-Neg by Tawny Taylor. So-so paranormal romance featuring vampires and lamiae. Very, very steamy stuff. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The Darkest Fire (Lords of the Underworld) by Gena Showalter. ebook short. Prequel to the Lords of the Underworld series. Interesting background information, but definitely not as smooth as the actual series.
The Darkest Night and The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld, Books 1-2) by Gena Showalter. These are really absorbing and well-written books about immortal warriors who were forced to house all the evils that escaped Pandora’s box (such as Death, Pain, Violence, etc).
Shadow Touch (Dirk & Steele, Book 2) by Marjorie M. Liu. Skipped this one earlier because I had trouble finding it. Continues to be a recommended series about the paranormal detective agency of Dirk & Steele.


“So you think he’s really cute, Mom?” -Mayhem

“Let’s see if he passes my snuggle test.” -Mayhem

“I’m sorry to break it to you, Mom, but he’s just not furry enough.” -Mayhem

The one that may cause nightmares

Gladys of the Yarn Floozies is holding a raffle of some pretty amazing yarn (Wollmeise, anyone?) to support her husband’s Ride2Survive cancer fundraising bicycle ride this summer. For your chance to win (and to support a great cause), enter by 8 pm PST, April 26.

Wendy’s giving away a copy of One Ball Knits: Purses. Leave a comment by 4 pm EDT, April 16, for your chance to win.

Have you been following the #amazonfail kerfluffle at all? Whoops.

Speaking of online reputation, Lifehacker has some info on how to monitor your own. I’m particularly interested in this topic because I wrote my Master’s thesis (Rhetoric) about online ethos (that is, your character and credibility online).

Squee! LMAO. Here’s one for the Linux geeks. Hmm – I think you should get very, very nervous at this point.

I don’t think we’re ready for the Knitputer yet, do you? Unless it’s like this way to calculate set-in sleeves, that is.

Knitting Peeps!

If you’re a garage/yard sale junkie, the Yard Sale Treasure Map should streamline your plan of attack.

Just when you’ve given up on the future of humanity, there’s a story like this.

I recommend that you print this out before beginning your time travel journey.

Turn yourself or your pet (or really, anyone) into a Terminator! (May cause nightmares. Whoops.)

Eeep! Hope I survive the night…

In which we discover the new stripey

I’ve been knitting even less than usual lately, between feeling muy meh and having poked a painful hole in the tip of my right index finger while knitting. A painful hole that simply will not go away, alas.

So this pair of socks (Opal Tutto, colorway 4) took nearly a month to complete.

Apparently May thinks it was worth it.

“Crazy ziggy zaggy socks!” -Mayhem

*rapturous rolling* -Mayhem

*bath break* -Mayhem

“What’s that about stripey socks, Mom? Oh, those are so yesterday.” -Mayhem

meh.

I had a bunch of lab work done last Thursday as part of my annual celiac checkup (anti-gliadin antibodies, thyroid, iron, B-12, folate, calcium, and vitamin D). I got the test results back Monday and everything looked good except for vitamin D; apparently normal vitamin D levels are 32-100 and people feel best at 50. Mine is… 9.8. I’m now on prescription vitamin D (50,000 IU twice a week) for the next several months because regular supplements won’t do the trick at this point. I also went in yesterday to get a parathyroid test.

I guess vitamin D deficiency helps explain why I’ve been so tired and listless over the past few months, eh?

Move over, Chaos. I need to share that sunbeam with you.

*bliss* -Chaos

Contested books

If you donate to Heifer International from April 8 through 15 and let Teabird know, you will have a chance to win an audiobook of Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat Who Changed the World and a “companion yarny surprise.”

Not all sales are going down in the current economic climate – sales of romances are going up. And paranormals continue to be a hot sell, whether they’re romances or young adult.

Reading Update
At the Edge by Cait London. So-so romantic suspense about a set of psychic triplets. It felt like the author was maybe trying to be Nora Roberts, but her choppy writing style just can’t compare to the Nora. This was obviously the first in a series, but I have no interest in reading the other books – and you know how I can suffer mediocre writing to follow a series! 🙂
The Rocky Road to Romance by Janet Evanovich. This is one of her rereleased oldies, probably most interesting for the things that were lifted directly for the Stephanie Plum series. Grandma Mazur and her gun, the big old powder blue Cadillac that Stephanie gets stuck driving periodically, Bob the dog – they’re all here.
Crash Into Me by Jill Sorenson. Very intense and definitely recommended romantic suspense about an FBI agent and a SoCal surfer.
Casual Hex by Vicki Lewis Thompson. This was the third book in this series about the magical town of Big Knob (ahem), Indiana, complete with a witch, wizard, lake monster, dragon, fairy prince, and poker-playing raccoons.
Drop Dead Gorgeous (Harlequin Blaze) by Kimberly Raye. Yes, another in this series about cowboy biker vampires who run a custom chopper shop in a small Texas town. At this point, I’m just curious to see whether they’ll ever find the Ancient One and be freed of their vampirism.
Hotter After Midnight by Cynthia Eden. Very steamy and well-done paranormal romance about a psychologist to supernatural beings.
When He Was Bad by Cynthia Eden and Shelly Laurenston. A pair of decent paranormal romance novellas about shifters and the women who get used to having them around.
Here Kitty, Kitty by Shelly Laurenston. ebook. So-so paranormal romance about lions and tigers and wolves,  oh my! Laurenston’s newer stuff seems better.
Coyote’s Mate (Coyote Breeds, Book 2) by Lora Leigh. You shouldn’t have to sniffle and weep during an er0tic paranormal romance. It just seems wrong. Well-written and extremely involving – as evidenced by the aforementioned sniffling.
Hell’s Belles by Jackie Kessler. Runaway succubus Jezebel manages to get turned into a human and is hiding out in NYC. I’m definitely reading more of this series.
My Immortal (The Immortals, Book 1) by J. K. Coi. ebook. I like the premise of Immortal demon hunters, but I gotta hope that the writing and editing of this series improves. Silly things like someone’s t-shirt changing from white to black between pages are sloppy and disruptive.
Immortal Kiss and Dark Immortal (The Immortals, Books 2-3) by J. K. Coi. ebooks. Much better than the first book! Definitely some Dark-Hunter inspiration going on in this series.


Some have observed that I have special book contest winning luck. Hmm. Pictured below are most of the books I’ve won since February. (I loaned Angel’s Blood to Jeanne and I think there are at least three books still on their way to me.) So, what do you think?

Hmm. Maybe so.

“I don’t know what the big deal is about books. Most of them bore me.” -Mayhem

“I mean, ok, some of them are tasty, but then Mom starts yelling at me. Really, it’d be better if she didn’t have them around. How’s a panther girl supposed to resist that sort of temptation?” -Mayhem

Lurkity lurkity lurker

Leave a comment for Kristi to help her celebrate her blogiversary and you could win a copy of her very cute sweater pattern (specifically designed for boy toddlers). Leave your comments by midnight EDT, April 9.

Largehearted Boy is giving away a zombie novel prize package that will include some other goodies, too. (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is part of this prize!) Leave a comment by midnight CDT, April 10, for your chance to win.

Looking for more information on all things ebook? The MobileRead Wiki is a great place to start.

Oh oh

This was an eye-opening look at perceived threats. Our greatest danger? Ourselves…

Hard to believe that The Matrix came out ten years ago.

How to cast on stitches at the end of a row and end up with nice edges – from TECHKnitting, of course.

Check out how tiny the 9″ HiyaHiya circular needles are – they fit into an Altoids tin!

Turn a business card into an earbud winder via origami.

As our thoughts turn to spring, maybe this inexpensive trellis is just what you need to increase your vegetable growing space.

Excellent – research actually supports that some leisure-related internet browsing while you’re at work can increase your productivity.


What evil lurks in the heart of kitteh?

Hmm. Maybe it’s best to retract that question…

EZ Reader

Last week I mentioned that I had ordered an Astak EZ Reader ebook reader (aka the Hanlin V3 and the BeBook). It arrived Friday, so I’ve had a few days to form some initial impressions.

The EZ Reader has a 6″ screen and uses ePaper/eInk (as do most ebook readers). It’s definitely larger than my Palm Tungsten E2 (which is not a bad thing for reading).

It came with the leather case, wrist strap, headphones (plays mp3s), charger and USB cable, and 2 gb SD card.

None of my text comparison pictures turned out very well, alas. (Click on the pictures to enlarge any picture.) Not that you can tell, but the EZ Reader’s screen is, indeed, easy to read and easier on the eyes than the Palm’s screen. Plus the EZ Reader (like most other ebook readers) has several zoom levels. (You can see zoom examples in this comparison of the Kindle 2 and the EZ Reader.) You can also add and change fonts, which I’m sure I’ll find handy since I prefer reading serif fonts.

I much enjoyed the box, too – it’s a fascinating mixture of Engrish, contradictions, and excessive quotations. Don’t even get me started on the manual. I could improve that thing by 250% with a marker and 30 free minutes. *has flashback to tech editing training*

For example, in the upper right corner on the back of the box, it says “Download books easily to your computer, then onto EZ READER thru any USB cable. USB cable not included.” But… the USB cable is included, even if it isn’t mentioned on the package contents on the lower left corner!

The front of the box (above) exuberantly notes that it “INCLUDES 2GB SD Card, Card Reader, Leather Case!” Hmm, no SD card reader, unless you mean… the EZ Reader itself? Oh, and definitely ignore the titles displayed on the EZ Reader pictured on the front of the box – although there’s no disclaimer, those titles aren’t among the free preloaded titles. Nope, not even Jane Eyre!

The front of the box also exclaims that “TEN (10)” book formats are supported. However, from what I’ve been able to determine, the reader supports 11 or 12 formats, plus some handy things like .zip, .rar, .jpg, etc. I’m all about supporting non-proprietary multiformat devices. 🙂

Not everyone around here appreciated the box as much as I.

“This box sucks. It’s way too small to stick my head into. Hmph.” -Chaos

Stay tuned in the days to come as I actually read a few books on the EZ Reader and compare the traditional and electronic reading experiences.

Since it snowed again yesterday and is supposed to snow today…

…I thought I’d share a few more pictures from that snow-free mid-March walk I took.

This first picture probably isn’t that interesting if you aren’t familiar with Uptown and with Calhoun Square in particular. (Calhoun Square’s in the midst of getting a radical facelift.) In the photo below, you’re looking at what used to be Starbuck’s, the west entrance, Border’s, and the Lotus Vietnamese Restaurant.

A mysterious door across the street from the pit formerly known as Calhoun Square:

Intriguing twigs…

Some kitty playhouses, both unassembled…

…and assembled:

A wind gnome?

“I wish it was nice outside, because then the windows would be open and there would be birds to chitter at!” -Mayhem