Category Archives: Reading

Randonymity, Reading

It should’ve been Friday days ago…

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This is going to wander a bit. 🙂 I definitely need to start with a few things that make me happy:

  • Eating peanut butter off the knife while I wait for my toast in the morning.
  • Fixing a knitting mistake without ripping back.
  • Playing fetch with May when she brings the mouse/fluff ball close enough for me to throw it for her – and also the soft “pooft-plop” as she careens headlong into the front door in pursuit of her toys while fetching.
  • Listening to Chaos’ breathy little cat snoring – this is probably the only cute snoring I can think of!
  • The word “tohubohu” (TOH-hoo-BO-hoo), which means chaos or confusion.

Reading Update (because reading definitely makes me happy)
Operation Hell Gate: 24 Declassified by Marc Cerasini. “…a number of early CTU missions were declassified. The following is one of them…” Entertaining, if not great literature.
Night Vision: A Jane Lawless Mystery by Ellen Hart. This series is set in the Twin Cities and features restaurateur Jane Lawless and her theatrical friend Cordelia Thorn. This is a very well-written series, but it definitely isn’t a cozy. The latest book examines celebrity stalking.

It has just been one of those weeks. I’m feeling pretty healthy at least – even with working until 5 am Thursday! Yeah, still haven’t recovered from that one – but at least I was able to work from home. I’m not the only one who’s sleepy…

“How is a kitten girl supposed to get her beauty sleep with that thing flashing in her face?!” -M

That didn’t seem to bother Chaos. Hope you all have a good weekend and that the Daylight Savings Time change doesn’t mess up your sleep.

“…zzzzzzzzzzz…” -C

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

*cough cough cough*

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Eve is conducting a comic-reading study and is looking for participants. If you participate by March 31, you could win some yarn! You don’t have to be a knitter to participate – presumably no non-knitters would be forced to take yarn.

I can’t possibly be the only WordPress blogger getting crushed by comment spam, can I?! I swear, I must’ve had 3,000 spam comments in the past week. I have added the Worst Offenders plugin for Akismet to see if that helps make things more manageable – so far, so good. I know a lot of people use Bad Behavior, but when I tried it for a day or two, it blocked many legitimate commenters, so it has been banished. Other than Spam Karma or adding a verification word, do any of you have good tips for fighting comment spam?

Reading Update
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos, We’ll Always Have Parrots, and Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews. Three more Meg Lanslow mysteries, as our brave blacksmith takes on a Revolutionary War reenactment, a sci-fi convention, and a 30-family yard sale. These are fun, goofy, and well-written; I’m enjoying them!
Don’t Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. Think chicklit meets 24. Can a stoic Green Beret and a woman who makes dog food commercials find true love?

Here are a few pictures of our parking lot from inside my car when I finally ventured out into the snowy world on Saturday. Our plowing company is so in trouble.

I have a cold again. Blech. Alas, I can’t take stuff like Airborne, which is not recommended for people who have autoimmune disorders, so I’m toughing it out. Chaos is very unhappy about my cold.

“Mom, you keep sneezing and coughing and you scare me and I have to run away and hide and then it looks like I’m a ‘fraidy cat! Hmph. You’re bad for my image.” -C

“Face it, big kitty, you are a ‘fraidy cat! It’s just coughing and sneezing. What’s the big deal?” -M

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Nothing says “dork” like trying to take a self-portrait

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La’s having a contest – post pictures of the cute little feet in your life (furbaby or otherwise) over the next week and you could win some La-made stitchmarkers. (Here’s my entry, La!)

Reading Update
Delete All Suspects by Donna Andrews. This mystery series feature artificial intelligence Turing Hopper, who helps a human private investigator solve crimes. I guess this would be classified as a “techno-cozy” mystery – really, mystery niches are amazing, aren’t they?!
Murder with Puffins and Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews. These were the first Meg Langslow mysteries I’d read and I enjoyed them much more than I expected – they’re very silly and feel a bit like reading a comedic melodrama. Definitely a nice break from 24! Anyway, Meg works as a blacksmith, making ornamental items – what was I just saying about mystery niches?!? And yes, the titles are all bird-themed, although none of the characters is an ornithologist.

Refined Raglan Photos
Ok, bowing to peer pressure, here you go – me modeling the refined raglan. Don’t I look thrilled? If you’ve been reading for ages and ages, you might notice that this sweater looks awfully similar to something… (You will need to click on the picture to see the cable detail.)

In an attempt to make pictures of a black sweater more interesting, here’s Mayhem! (My baby is all grown up! *sniff*)

“Did you see it?! I was just sitting there in the previous photo, minding my own business when I was rudely snatched up!” -M

And Chaos!

“Why is that thing clicking and beeping and flashing at us?! Obviously we’re running out of time and we’re all going to die!!” -C

Contests, Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

Deconstructing

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Jennifer is celebrating her second blogiversary with an Oscars contest. Send her an email with your guesses by midnight PST on February 24 and the person with the most correct guesses will receive a fibery prize!

JennyRaye bought some gorgeous yarn for a shawl and is looking for pattern ideas. Submit you suggestion by midnight EST on February 24 and you could win some yarn.

Reading Update
Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World by Sarah Vowell. I’ve read and enjoyed all of Vowell’s books. My favorite essays from this collection were “Thanks for the Memorex” (about mix tapes) and “Drive Through Please” (about Ira Glass trying to teach her to drive). This was my second TBR Challenge book, so I’m staying on track.
No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason. I’d recommend this book if it wasn’t $19.99 for a very slim volume… Even the Amazon.com $13.59 seems a bit steep for what you get (bless the library). Instead, I’ll direct you to Tink’s list of post ideas. (And note that if you photograph your lunch real pretty and write it up in an interesting way, people will care what you had for lunch – it’s all about the presentation…)

Frogging Update
After contemplating all the wonderful responses to my question about whether the mobius cat bed should stay or go, I pulled it out and looked at it Saturday morning. May joined me.

“It looks a little lumpy to me, Mom.” -M

I pulled it off the needle… Check out how big it is – my foot is a womens’ size 11 (European 42)!

Still plenty off knitting to do to fill in that big hole… Not to mention the joy of felting such a monster. Ripping it out and knitting two felted square cat beds instead definitely held more appeal, so…

Flushed with my success, I pulled out another unfortunate UFO. This tank was too bulky. It ended up too short, so I added the frilly bit on the bottom and then put it aside when I finally recognized it wasn’t something I would wear.

“Haven’t I seen this before?” -C

“Y’know, I think that yarn would make a really cute baby sweater for May to model…” -C

Oh, wouldn’t it just! So…

It’s amazing how much lighter I felt after ripping out those two stagnant projects! In the past three weeks, I’ve ripped out three of the six projects pictured in my first UFO post way back when. Of the remaining projects, I probably will eventually weave in the ends of the otherwise finished washcloth. That single sock for my dad? For now, it will stay a single sock – I’m not sure it’s worth ripping out, since I wove in the ends and washed it (once upon a time). And the black tank top with the tourniquet armhole edging? Hopefully I’ll pull that out and fix the edging before the weather gets warm again, because it is a really great tank top otherwise.

Now the real question is – would I have done all of this if I’d joined one of the UFO resurrection challenges??

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Reading

In which SRM is found, I read some books, start a Project Spectrum project, and Mayhem tries to resist temptation

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SRM was found last night at 9:27 pm CST when the stove was pulled out. Chaos snatched SRM up and carried it away, growling at May when she tried to examine it. No further information is available at this time.

Adam has opened a new store called Yarn Nerd.

Reading Update
Born in Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts). The latest Lieutenant Eve Dallas and Roarke (mmmm, Roarke) novel proved to be a good read – Dallas and Roarke continued their coach training for Mavis and Leonardo’s upcoming baby… and there might have been a murder or two…
Mistral’s Kiss by Laurell K. Hamilton. The latest Meredith Gentry (Faerie-American Princess) novel covered only about four hours! At that pace, it could take ten years to get through a week…
Copper River by William Kent Krueger picks up right about where the previous Cork O’Connor mystery, Mercy Falls, left off. Copper River finds O’Connor in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and eventually ties up the loose ends from Mercy Falls.
Stripped by Brian Freeman. Hard to believe that this is only Freeman’s second novel! Stripped is as solid a thriller as Immoral was, but I liked it better because it didn’t have the strange court procedural section. In Stripped (set in Las Vegas, not Duluth) Detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial try to solve a string of murders that seem based in events of 4o years before.

Knitting Update
I made excellent progress on the refined raglan over the weekend, but I’ll spare you another in-progress black blob photo. Yesterday evening, I needed something very simple to knit, as I was starting to make silly mistakes on the raglan. So I pulled out one of my sock yarn bins and found the perfect yarn for February-March Project Spectrum (the colors white, grey, and blue) – Meilenweit Fun & Stripes, color 614:

“See how good I’m being, Mom? I can to resist temptation!” -M

“Mostly…” -M

“Although maybe not when the temptation is so very tempting!” -M

Reading, Those Cats

Breaking sock “rules” and providing a negative image

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Jen has some additional tips on taking pictures of cats that you might find helpful.

The Obsidian Kitten has written a brilliant treatise called The Anatomy of the Feline Unit. Highly recommended if you want to laugh yourself silly.

You know how the Barbara Walker treasuries are full of great stitch patterns, but sometimes that’s hard to tell from the small blurry black-and-white pictures? Check out the Walker Treasury Project, where volunteers are knitting and photographing full color swatches to supplement the books.

Reading Update
Trap Door by Sarah Graves. This latest Home Repair Is Homicide mystery was ok, but a bit confusing at times in the way that it set up for (I can only guess and assume) the next installment of the series.
A Single Eye by Susan Dunlap. This is a brand new mystery series featuring stuntwoman Darcy Mott. The first book is set at a retreat in a Zen monastery in northern California. (Boggles the mind at the niches this fills, doesn’t it, Kristi?!) I enjoyed Dunlap’s Jill Smith (Berkeley homicide detective) series and was sad when the series ended several years ago.

Here’s my entry for Maryse’s “sock rules” contest (post a picture of a sock/shoe/clothing combination that spectacularly breaks her friend’s “socks should match your shoes and/or pants” rule before February 15 and you could be randomly selected to win a prize):

Ultraviolet purple socks with black stripes. Hmm, not really too far out, come to think of it, since I was wearing black shoes and a black sweater… Ok, how about this?

No black in those socks! Speaking of no black…

No, no, you’re not at Cabin Cove and that isn’t the lovely Miss Lulu! That’s Chaos’ brother, Diablo. Maybe only the eyes give their relationship away… What do you think? (Besides that Diablo has exceptionally clean ears – he still lives with his mother!)

“What do you mean, brother?! I don’t remember any brother! He better not come to visit…” -C

Contests, Reading, Those Cats

If Mayhem had a superpower…

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When I drove to work this morning at 6:15 am, it was -15°F, with a windchill of -30°F (-26.1°C and -34.4°C respectively). Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Just in case you missed it, Friday’s post contained links to a lot of contests. Here are a few more:

Wen is having a contest for Knit From Your Stash participants – take a picture of a “crime against yarn” that you committed, post it to your blog, and leave a comment with the link for Wen before February 9 at midnight PST. She has some lovely yarny prizes for you to win!

Julie’s having a two-part contest. For the first, leave a caption for a very cute picture of her cat, Mr. Mugatoo. For the second, guess how much Mr. Mugatoo weighed when he went to the vet Friday. Prizes include a skein of STR, Fred Flintstone colorway. She’ll take entries until February 8.

Limedragon reviewed various bookholders last week, with a particular eye to how well they would work for reading and knitting. Her summary with links is a valuable resource for knitting readers and reading knitters alike!

So, if Mayhem had a superpower (as the amazing Kitten Girl), it would be making everything into a dangerous toy.* I am sure many children also have this superpower.

Behold the seemingly innocuous knitting bag, perfect for a sock project…

“Mom, there are other kitties on this bag!!! Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell us?!” -M

Now somehow turned into a tourniquet around May’s middle!

“Well, if that doesn’t beat all…” -M

“Help! Help! I’m hit!” -M
“Melodramatic much, May?” -C

“Tell Mom I love her…” -M
“Sheesh, May, tell her yourself, since she’s standing right there taking pictures of you in your shame!” -C

*For the curious, Chaos’ superpower is meowing.

Knitting, Reading

A free pattern and a cat picture or two (of course)

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Several years ago, I wrote a pattern for a felted bookweight. When Limedragon declared this week the week of the book and started reviewing some book gadgets (including bookweights), I decided this would be a fun project to share.

Felted Bookweight
A bookweight is used to hold open recalcitrant books that refuse to stay at the page you want. I use my bookweight a lot on cookbooks and knitting books. This project is good for using up scraps of feltable wool. It also makes a quick, unique, and useful gift. If you want to learn how to use double-pointed needles, making a bookweight is like making a sock that has no heel or toe, or a mitten with no thumb. (The bookweight is the brightly colored blob to the right in the photo below.)

Gauge: Doesn’t matter, but your knitting should be loose.
Needles: A set of four DPNS or a very short circular (such as a plastic Clover 8″). 10.5s or 11s should work well for most worsted weight yarns.
Yarn: Feltable worsted weight yarn. Superwash wool and most white or cream non-superwash wools do not felt well. I used Noro Kureyon.

Cast on 31 st for a wide bookweight.

Knit first and last stitches together to join the round (30 st remain).

Distribute stitches evenly across three needles if using DPNs.

Knit circularly until piece measures 9-12″ (remember, it well felt more in length than width).

Bind off and weave in ends.

Run an old sock or part of an old t-shirt through the middle of the tube to keep it from felting shut.

Place the tube into a zippered pillowcase and zip shut. The pillowcase will protect your washer’s drain and motor from the felting wool.

Toss the pillowcase into the washer with a bit of detergent and an old pair of jeans, tennies, or a tennis ball. These items add friction and help the felting process. Extremely hot water will also help the felting process.

As the tube is felting, regularly check on it and reshape as needed.

When the tube is sufficiently felted, block and let dry.

“If it doesn’t turn out quite the way you want it, you can stuff it with catnip – makes a great cat toy!” -C

Pin one end of the bookweight and sew it shut tightly with yarn or embroidery floss. Run the ends of the yarn several inches down the inside of the tube, trying to catch some of the fabric without piercing it. After several inches, push needle and yarn to the outside of the tube. Cut the yarn close and tug slightly on the tube so the ends go back inside.

Fill the tube with small pebbles that have few sharp edges. I used “river pebbles” from a local garden store. Sew the open end shut as described above.

“Don’t mind that hole. I couldn’t resist – I had to see what was inside this thing. Besides, don’t you think I make a better bookweight?” -C

© 2002 by Chris. This pattern may be freely used in a non-commercial fashion. It may not be used as part of a commercial transaction, including as a “free” in-store giveaway, without my prior written permission.

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Of reading and wallpaper

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Update: I’m  upgrading WordPress today – please ignore any format oddities! Thanks. -Chris, 1/29/07 13:55

Christine of Pointy Sticks is having a podcast anniversary (podiversary?!) contest. She’s interested in comments or blog posts about socks (before midnight, February 6) – additional details are available in her most recent podcast. Prizes include a Lyra mp3 player!

Lisa is having a contest – you can submit guesses on an assortment of things, such as how many miles of yarn in her stash, and win an assortment of prizes! Contest ends midnight, February 9.

Reading Update
The Chemistry of Joy: A three-step program for overcoming depression through Western science and Eastern wisdom by Henry Emmons, MD, and Rachel Kranz. This was my final book for the From the Stacks Winter Reading Challenge. Whew! I initally picked up this book because I know Henry and appreciate his belief that, while medication is important for treating depression, it should often only be one aspect of treatment. Changes to diet, exercise, and meditative practices can help as much or even more than traditional medicine. If you struggle with depression, I highly recommend this insightful and thoughtful book.
Cheaper than Therapy: Joy, healing, and life lessons in fiber edited by Annie Modesitt. This was my first book for the 2007 To Be Read Challenge. I think that the short essays and poems in this book went perfectly with The Chemistry of Joy!

Here’s my list of books for the 2007 To Be Read Challenge – all of them have been in my “to be read” piles for at least six months; some for much longer. (While I was sorting through my books to make these lists, I realized that there were numerous books in my “to be read” piles that I wasn’t interested in anymore, so they will be heading to the thrift store.)

2007 To Be Read Challenge Booklist

  • Cheaper than Therapy: Joy, healing, and life lessons in fiber edited by Annie Modesitt; completed 1/28/07
  • Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
  • Thinks… by David Lodge
  • If the Buddha Got Stuck: A handbook for change on a spiritual path by Charlotte Kasl, PhD
  • The House of Sleep by Jonathan Cole
  • Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
  • A Conspiracy of Tall Men by Noah Hawley
  • Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World by Sarah Vowell
  • Digital Photography for Dummies by Julie Adair King
  • The Opinionated Knitter: Elizabeth Zimmermann newsletters 1958-1968
  • Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
  • Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Alternates/Additional

  • Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott
  • Three Junes by Julia Glass
  • The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
  • Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde
  • Heartlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • My Dream of You by Nuala O’Faolain
  • Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice
  • Bone Dance by Emma Bull
  • Freedom and Necessity by Steven Brust and Emma Bull

Kmkat is curious about what we have as our desktop wallpaper. I have an image of Rurouni Kenshin, the anime character that I named my laptop after.

“I don’t know why she doesn’t have a picture of me for her wallpaper!” -C

“Hmph.” -C

Contests, Knitting, Reading

I can’t even think of a witty title today

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Margene is having a contest. Guess when Salt Lake City will hit the normal temperature of 37F and if you guess the date (or closest to it), you could win a spiffy handknit washcloth, soap, and yarn.

Thanks to Jeanne for the heads up on a new TV series based on the Harry Dresden novels that I like so much. Guess I know what I’ll be watching on DVD next year (besides season six of 24, that is).

And thanks to all of you for your well wishes last week! I am feeling better, but if I was a superhero, I would be Phlegm Girl. Ick!

Reading Update
Notice how these have slowed down considerably since I started watching 24?! I did finish my third and fourth From the Stacks Winter Challenge books:
Like the Red Panda by Andrea Seigel. This was an ok book about honor student Stella’s last two weeks of high school. I’m not sure why this book didn’t engage me as much as Seigel’s later work, To Feel Stuff.
Lambs of God by Marele Day. I loved this book! It’s spiritual and mythic and religious and earthy and a fascinating yet fairly simple story. Plus, it has sheep! And spinning! And knitting!

Knitting Update
I finished the Jitterbug socks. I decided to tough out the pooling; the sock stopped pooling within an inch.

“Oh, look, socks on the floor again.” *yawn* -C
“Oh, goody, socks on the floor again!!” -M

May seems rather proprietary, doesn’t she?

“If it’s on the floor, it’s mine!” -M

“What do you mean, you want me to move?!! I’m sure everyone would rather look at me than at boring old socks.” -M

The sock on the left was the one I was fussing about. The other sock was knit from the opposite end of the ball, so I could maximize sock height and yarn use. Unfortunately, since I only had two 2.25mm needles, that meant I knit most of the final ribbing with both socks side by side on my needles. I hate that. Yeah, yeah, I know it leads to identical socks. I still hate it. 🙂

Here’s what the other sides look like.