Category Archives: Randonymity

Knitting, Randonymity

And now he is 4

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Happy birthday, Chaos Kitty! You haven’t changed a bit!

“That isn’t even a cat, much less me! Hmph. You and your stories, Mom.” -Chaos

Knitting Update
Before Marina calls me to task for the shocking lack of knitting… 😉 I finished knitting the Trekking 126 socks a week ago and now just have to settle down and sew the picot hems. Eventually!

When I finished those, I started a new pair of socks (to be another holiday present). Of course, since I took this picture, I finished the first sock and am several inches into the second sock.

Really, it’s hard to get an unobstructed shot around here some days! I’m knitting Los Monos Locos (the Crazy Monkeys), which are a no-purl toe-up variation on the popular Monkey pattern. The yarn is Wool2Dye4 supersock that I dyed. (Of course the second sock isn’t spiralling the same way the first one did.)

Randonymity

Goodbye, spare unused bits

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For several years, I’ve suffered from fibroids; for at least the past year, I’ve also suffered from persistent anemia because of them. I’ve tried taking the pill, but it only helped the cramping, didn’t alleviate the anemia, and turned my brain into utter mush. After a lot of reasearching and thinking (with many thanks to those of you who’ve shared your stories), I will be having surgery at this time next Wednesday.

Although I am absolutely convinced this is the right choice for me, I am understandably anxious about the whole business. But I am looking forward to reclaiming the active part of my life, of biking without fear of bleeding, of having enough energy to go on long rambling walks again. I’ve felt as if I’ve been living a partial life for quite a while, and I’m doing what I need to do to change that. So please, no horror stories, ok?! 🙂

What does this mean for the blog? Jeanne has graciously agreed to post an after-surgery update on October 3rd or 4th. I should be home by sometime October 5th or 6th; however, I don’t anticipate having much energy for blogging right away – heck, I’m going to be on medical leave from work for four to six weeks! I’ll definitely be playing it by ear, since this surgery business is all new to me.

Until next Wednesday, I’ll continue hoarding groceries, kitty litter, and books! 🙂 Many thanks to all of you for being part of my extended support system.

“I am very worried. How will Mom feed us?! And how much purring and snuggling will it take to make her better?!! I will probably need extra food and tuna to keep up my strength. Did she mention hoarding kitty food or tuna?!” -Chaos

Randonymity

No earworms today!

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Probably everybody could use a break from earworms, eh? 😉 I don’t have much of anything today – I’m very sleepy this morning and ready for the work week to be over. I wonder if anyone would notice if I took a nap under my desk?

At one point yesterday evening, Minneapolis was under a severe thunderstorm warning, tornado warning, flash flood warning, and an urban and small stream flood advisory, and the sirens went off four times in an hour. Very exciting!

“I don’t like storms. They’re loud and scary. I’ll just hug Mom’s Birkenstock until it’s safe again. If you’re looking for the big kitty, he’s hiding behind the toilet.” -Mayhem

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Randonymity, See the Sights

Stoned on sunbeams

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Congratulations to Kellie, Lisa, and Kim, who were randomly selected in my contest! Thanks to everyone who left such, um, interesting advice for Chaos and Mayhem. I’ll be having words with a few of you, should the kitties take your advice! 😉

Apologies to those who got stuck with an earworm yesterday… Particular apologies to poor Sydney who read both post and comments and left with a mixture of “Wuthering Heights” and “Wimoweh” going through her head. I hope she’ll be ok… I did loop 10 or 15 minutes of “Wimoweh” (aka “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”), but I continue to be impervious to that particular earworm.

Thanks to the Knitty Professor for sending me a link to Monty Python’s Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights. It is well worth watching. Also, thanks to YouTube, not only can you see the video for the Kate Bush version of the song, you can also see the video for the Pat Benatar version!

Onward!

One thing I didn’t do much of at the cabin was knit, so really, I have no new knitting to show you. Shall we look at the lake and the leaves instead?

Ahhhh…

And I may not have had a chance to take a picture of the Yellow Brick Road in Grand Rapids (honoring Judy Garland), but I did get a few pictures of a wonderful coffeehouse. Great name, eh?

I totally wish this coffeehouse was just a few blocks away from me!

I had lunch there – they make a quiche with rice instead of “real” crust (so it’s gluten free!) – this was the first quiche I’ve eaten in many, many years.

Although I have no proof, this is how I suspect Mayhem spent her weekend while I was at the cabin, all “waaaaaah-ing” aside:

*sunbeam sunbeam sunbeam* -Mayhem

*sunbeam sunbeam sunbeam* -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

You know I hate knitting thumbs…

32 Comments

Don’t forget to enter my contest! Deadline is 5 pm CDT, Wednesday, September 19.

Diane’s curious about fair judging – guess which two of her items won blue ribbons at her local fair, and you could win sock yarn! Leave your guesses by September 24.

Sarah’s hosting a preemie knit-a-thon in gratitude for the knitters who clothed her tiny PeeWee when she was born premature. There are all sorts of ways to participate in her knit-a-thon and contest before November 29, such as knitting items for your local NICU.

Reading Update
Whack A Mole by Chris Grabenstein. The most recent John Ceepak mystery is another good read (well, duh, I guess, since I’ve read the three-book series in less than two weeks, eh?).
Deadly Advice: An Advice Column Mystery by Roberta Isleib. It was ok, but will I read any others when they come out? This was the first Advice Column mystery, in which psychologist Rebecca Butterman tries to figure out how her next door neighbor really died. I admit to picking this up simply because it had a condo, a cat, and a blog in it. 😉
Troll Bridge: A Rock’n’Roll Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple. Trolls and boy bands and dairy princesses and butter heads, oh my! This fantasy was a quick read that will be particularly fun for those familiar with Minnesota.
Scent of Darkness: Darkness Chosen, Book 1 by Christina Dodd. This series is about a family that can turn into predatory animals due to an ancient pact with the devil – the age old struggle of good and evil and how neither are purely one or the other. Well-written, but avoid if plentiful steamy scenes aren’t your thing!
The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Anne Stuart, Jennifer Crusie, and Eileen Dreyer. The three orphaned Fortune sisters are witches denying their often inconvenient power and on the run from their murderous aunt. Things get a bit complicated when their true loves turn up. More with the steamy scenes here! *fans self*

What Did I Buy?
Yesterday I mentioned that I did purchase something for myself at the Goods for the Woods craft fair in Grand Rapids (birthplace of Judy Garland!). Well, y’all know I hate to knit thumbs…

“Wow, Mom, this is some darn spiffy knitting. When did you do this? I must’ve missed it entirely.” -Mayhem

“Are you done with the pictures yet?! I have important things to do.” -Mayhem

“I see what you mean, Mayhem.” *sniff sniff sniff* -Chaos

“Nope, Mayhem, Mom sure as heck didn’t knit these. These are made from some pretty slick wool blankets. Tricky of her, eh?” -Chaos

Contests, Randonymity

Drive-by blogging

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Deb’s hosting a little virtual happy hour – if you take a picture of your own yarny celebration and let her know about it before September 21, you could win some goodies. Hopefully I will remember to take a picture while I’m up at the cabin over the weekend. Yes indeed, that means I’ll be even more behind in bloglines than I am already. If you have a contest you’d like me to mention, please send me an email!

Also, don’t forget to participate in my contest. Deadline is 5 pm CDT, September 19. Thanks to everyone who’s already commented – Chaos and Mayhem are enjoying all of your advice. 😉

The kitties or I try to reply to all the comments we receive. However, I do get undeliverable email messages back from a few people. If you haven’t received a reply back to your recent comments, please check your spam folders and also verify that the comments you leave have valid email addresses.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

“Oh no! Big kitty, I just heard that Mom’s going out of town for the weekend! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Everybody needs black kitty pants!

42 Comments

Holly’s having another destashing contest! Leave her a comment about a pattern you’ve knit multiple times and you could win a skein of Manos Cotton Stria and a lovely dpn case. Contest closes midnight, PDT, September 14.

Reading Update
The Ever-Running Man by Marcia Muller. The latest Sharon McCone mystery is a compelling read – I thought I had things figured out more than once, and I was wrong!
Final Payment: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill. It looks like Havill has written quite a few mysteries set in Posadas County, New Mexico. I picked this one up because it featured a cross-country bicycle race, but I might have to check out some of the others.
“Alpha and Omega” by Patricia Briggs, in On the Prowl. This short story focuses on one of the tangential werewolves from Briggs’ enjoyable Mercy Thompson series.

Recently, Amy gave me some good-natured grief about helping her find some wonderful Day of the Dead goodies. 😉 What I didn’t tell her is that I saw the Day of the Dead nightgown at Target while I was buying some black kitty cropped lounge pants for myself… Tragically, the matching black kitty shirt was not a good fit for my body type.

“My goodness, these kitty beds come in no end of shapes and sizes, don’t they?” -Mayhem

“Are these black kitties?!” -Chaos

“You are so right, big kitty! Hmph. Doesn’t Mom have enough black kitties already? I mean, she has me, um, us.” -Mayhem

“Really smooth, May, really smooth… not.” -Chaos

“Ow!” -cat on crop pants, under paw…

Contests, Randonymity, Reading, Viewing

The Baleful Glare of the Cat Chaotic

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Mrs Pao and Pao are back in the UK, if you’re curious to see and read more of their adventures in the US. Can you believe they lost weight on vacation?!

Becky’s looking for ideas on how to use some Rowan 4-ply yarn. Leave a comment with your suggestion by September 16 and you could be randomly selected to win a prize.

Reading Update
Aunt Dimity: Detective, Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday, Aunt Dimity: Snowbound, Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, and Aunt Dimity Goes West by Nancy Atherton. Have I mentioned how much I like this cozy series? 😉 The only thing that could make it better was adding a black cat – oh, wait, that happened. And the most recent book takes place in Colorado, Kristi!
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde. It always takes me a few chapters to get back into Fforde’s rollicking Thursday Next novels, but it is definitely worth it.

Viewing Update
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Colin Firth in a fountain instead of a pond – I know that must whip you ardent fans into an utter froth! 😉
Flatliners. I haven’t seen this movie for many years (probably since it came out in 1990), but it was still enjoyable – the hairstyles were only slightly distracting. And maybe it’s just me, but some of the scenes out in the city reminded me of The Lost Boys and of another film I can’t quite nail down… Maybe Blade Runner?! Something darkly atmospheric and rainy like that.

“Oh, how you will pay for this, Mom. This is much worse than that guy sitting on my cat tree.” -Chaos

Randonymity

Friday is also for thank yous

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Mrs Pao and Pao brought along fabulous gift bags when they visited us in the Twin Cities. Thank you both very, very much!!

There was a lovely purple gift bag (which Mayhem thought was tasty) and lovely blue tissue paper (which Chaos thought was tasty, even though it didn’t match his eyes like Jeanne’s tissue paper matched Pudd’s eyes). Remains of gift bag and tissue paper were removed before this photo shoot began.

Pictured below is a new-to-me mystery by Simon Brett, a stack of my beloved Kallo dark chocolate-covered rice cakes, and a copy of Simply Knitting with an adorable sheep-shaped row counter!

“Hmm, I don’t know why you’re so excited about these rice cakes, Mom, because they sure don’t smell like food.” -Mayhem

A lovely Canterbury Cathedral tea towel (you need to use your imagination a bit on the Cathedral bit, since it looks somewhat like a black blob), bringing my total number of tea towels to three. (I have a lovely one of the Big Merino from Sahara’s trip to Australia – did I remember to post a picture of that?! – and quite a nice one from when my stepmom taught a semester at Alnwick Castle, aka the castle in the Harry Potter movies.)

“Doesn’t this look better as Chaos Cathedral?” -Chaos

Some absolutely gorgeous silk and wool sock yarn – yum!

For some reason, the Paos thought of us when they saw this bib. You might see more pictures of the bib another day… *insert ominous music here*

“How do you fight with food? Does it have something to do with how the big kitty wants to chase me away from my food bowl sometimes? That’s very rude of him. I never leave unless I’m good and done, though. Or unless I get bored with eating.” -Mayhem

“Don’t worry, big kitty! I have the bib situation under control! Even if you are rude about my food.” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Thursday thank yous

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Dotty’s celebrating her first Sockiversary and she’d love to hear what you love about sock knitting. Leave her a comment before midnight PDT, September 30, and you could win sock yarn, a sock project bag, and other goodies.

Jeanne’s got a great shot of Chaos shooting Jeanne’s husband Michael the Glare o’ Death and a bit more about our adventures with Mrs Pao and Pao last week. And just so you know, there were many more things on sticks – I only captured some of them.

Reading Update
The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde. I have the strangest desire to brush up on my nursery rhymes now… Was Humpty Dumpty a suicide? Or murdered? Answers to age old questions are revealed in Fforde’s rollicking tale. I love this bit from the book:

[Jack’s mother] opened the door within two seconds of his pressing the doorbell, letting out a stream of cats that ran around with such rapidity and randomness of motion that they assumed a liquid state of furry purringness. The exact quantity could have been as low as three or as high as one hundred eight; no one could ever tell, as they were all so dangerously hyperactive.

I would argue that you really only need two cats to achieve that state!
Aunt Dimity’s Christmas by Nancy Atherton. Waiting for more of the series to arrive at my library! These are lovely British village cozies.
Mad Mouse: A John Ceepak Mystery by Chris Grabenstein. Fast-paced and well-done, I found the second in the series to be as enjoyable as the first.

Thank You Update
I’m a little behind on thank yous, but not too bad. First, let me thank everyone who weighed in on whether to knit my Trekking 126 plain or with pattern. I decided to go with plain, and have ripped back and reknit to where I was earlier in the week.

Next, some fun things I got in the mail recently. On the left is an adorable crocheted black kitty wallhanging, sent to me by Wendy because for some reason it made her think of me. On the right is a Chococat notebook (with Chococats on every page!) and a nifty little bookmark, sent to me by Ruth. Thanks, Wendy and Ruth!

Chaos and Mayhem were mightily intrigued by that there bookmark.

“What is it, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“Obviously a most unusual and shiny cat toy, May.” -Chaos

“Hmm, it sure doesn’t seem to do much.” -Mayhem

“Here, let me help, May.” -Chaos

“Let’s see if I can get a fang into it and carry it away…” -Chaos

Failing that, Chaos turned to admire the gift from Wendy and absorb every possible molecule of Lucy scent there might be.

“Mmmmm… sweet Lucy…” -Chaos