Contests, Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

If I offer you a nectarine, you might want to wash it again…

September 12, 2008 Chris 33 Comments

Yesterday was another crazed day at work, but I am now officially on vacation until the 23rd! Although there’s a good chance that I’ll get called at least once due to some work crisis, I’m going to put even the possibility of that out of my mind. Besides, I’ll probably head up to the cabin next weekend, and there’s no phone service (not even cell) at the cabin. Unless I drive down to mile marker 193. Which I won’t. 😉

Disturbing discovery of the week: Walking into the kitchen and discovering Chaos on the counter, licking the nectarines that were ripening. Ewwwwww!

After its nearly yearlong nap, I’ve pulled out my KP&S Neckdown Shaped Cardigan #241. (Probably only Marina remembers that I was knitting a sweater.) I tucked it away when I got really sick of knitting stockinette back and forth. The funny part? I only had an inch or two of said stockinette left, plus an inch or two of seed stitch for the bottom edge. Now I’m ready to pick up and knit the sleeves (in the round! Yay!) and do the seed stitch neck edging.

Don’t forget about my wee contest! If you enjoy urban fantasy/paranormal romance and havenâ€™t read Night Shift, the first Jill Kismet book by Lilith Saintcrow, send an email to my contest line by Sunday, September 14, 9 pm CDT. A winner will be randomly selected from among the entrants. Be warned that, while this is an extremely well-written series, it is also graphically violent at times.

Reading Update
Paths Not Taken (Nightside, Book 5) by Simon R. Green. Obviously inspired by the Dresden Files, but a bit darker and more British.
Sacred Sins; Love By Design (Loving Jack & Best Laid Plans); Taming Natasha & Luring a Lady (Stanislaski Books ! & 2); Falling for Rachel / Convincing Alex (Stanislaski Books 3 & 4); Waiting for Nick / Considering Kate (Stanislaski Books 5 &6) by Nora Roberts. She hasn’t written quite an infinite number of books, Kat, but close!
Underground (Greywalker, Book 3) by Kat Richardson. This continues to be an extremely well-written and intense urban fantasy series. Highly recommended.
If Wishing Made It So by Lucy Finn. Very light’n’fluffy paranormal romance. Perfect beach reading… although I guess beach season is mostly done for the year.
The Night Serpent by Anna Leonard. Ignore the cover, as its relevance to the story is extremely low! There’s a bit of violence against kitties that I found traumatizing (albeit less so knowing the author is a kitty owner and found writing it a challenge), but this was a compelling paranormal romance with an unusual premise.
Hunter’s Prayer (Jill Kismet, Book 2) by Lilith Saintcrow. This continues to be an excellent urban fantasy series – but be warned that it is very, very violent.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

“Mmmm… sleeping in… what a nice change…” -Mayhem

Randonymity

Unfocused

September 11, 2008 Chris 23 Comments

So crazily busy you’re not even getting a focused picture today… Counting down to vacation tomorrow! My big plans for Friday include sleeping in, attempting to catch up on Google Reader, and going for a bike ride if it isn’t raining.

“What do you mean, what if my face freezes this way?! You’re kidding about that, right?!!” -Chaos

Contests

Contests! Contests! Get your contests here!

September 10, 2008 Chris 21 Comments

Before we get started on all the contests, don’t forget to check out the Knitting Scholar for part one of a fun interview with Kay and Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting about their upcoming book, Mason-Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines.

Imbrium’s having a contest – all you have to do is guess which of the listed statements is a lie and you’ll be entered to win a gorgeous skein of Araucania Ranco. Leave your guesses by September 12, 11:59 MDT.

Dotty is celebrating her second sockiverary by giving away some great sock-related goodies. Answer some questions about Dotty’s sock knitting career by September 14, midnight PDT, to enter the contest.

Trek’s giving away a copy of Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair – to enter, leave her a comment with sweater pattern suggestions for the Neatnik’s next sweater.

Sarah’s celebrating her first blogiversary by giving away some knitting books. To enter, write a poem (haiku, limerick, etc) incorporating words from those listed or using a lot of yarn names.

Mel’s holding a raffle to support the Center for Wildlife – each $5 you donate by September 22, 11:59 pm EDT, gets you an entry in the raffle and increases your chances of winning a fibery prize.

Well, heck, I’m getting all caught up in the contesty excitement here! Although I anticipate doing a “real” contest in a few weeks when my Chaos Kitty turns five, how about a book giveaway right now? If you enjoy urban fantasy/paranormal romance and haven’t read Night Shift, the first Jill Kismet book by Lilith Saintcrow, send an email to my contest line by Sunday, September 14, 9 pm CDT. A winner will be randomly selected from among the entrants. Be warned that, while this is an extremely well-written series, it is also graphically violent at times.

Onward. Work is a bit crazy this week, so I’m not finding a lot of spare brain power to blog… but I’m taking a do-nothing, stay-at-home vacation from the 12th through the 22nd, so hopefully that will revitalize me!

*hug* “This is the best toy ever.” *love* -Mayhem

Reading, See the Sights

In which Jeanne and I meet a famous author

September 9, 2008 Chris 30 Comments

On Saturday, Jeanne and I went down to Common Good Books in St. Paul for a book signing. (Yes, the proprietor is who you think it is!)

Common Good Books is located underground in the historic Blair Arcade.

Its skylight provides an intriguing view, doesn’t it?

So just who were we there to meet? Why, our own Knit Thinker, Amy Rea, who has written a wonderful guide to Minnesota: Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes: An Explorer’s Guide.

Amy was as gracious in person now that she’s a published author as she was before – whew! 😉 After chatting with Amy and getting her to personalize the copies of her book that we purchased, Jeanne and I wandered off to a yarn store. Neither of us bought any yarn, but during the drive, we did take two mental snapshots worth sharing:

A bumper sticker: Midwives DO know squat.
Painted on the side of a trailer: Twin Cities Pigeon Racing Club (really, we had no idea!)

Hee hee.

After I dropped Jeanne off, I stopped at Uncle Hugo’s & Uncle Edgar’s and picked up a few more books… just in case the Great Book Drought hits, of course.

“Am I in this Minnesota book?” -Chaos

From the left, Amy’s book, Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents (I’m a sucker for an intriguing bike touring book), Hands of Flame (Book 3 in the Negotiator Trilogy), and Hunter’s Prayer (Jill Kismet, Book 2). (I think the cover model on Hunter’s Prayer looks like Tink! What do you think?)

“I wonder which of these books will taste best?” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

Along the banks of the Mississippi

September 8, 2008 Chris 31 Comments

Fortunately, I saw more than bridge bits as I biked along West River Parkway last week.

I saw my old stomping grounds, the University of Minnesota East Bank campus (although I actually spent more time at the St. Paul campus) in the distance. Ah, flashbacks to walking across the Washington Avenue Bridge (on the left) in the bitter winter winds between the U of MN East and West Bank campuses… True, there’s an enclosed (but unheated) portion of the bridge, but it tended to smell rather vile…

Trying to make sense of the shape in the middle of that picture? You probably won’t be able to – it’s the Weisman Art Museum. Nope, it wasn’t designed by Escher. 😉

Earlier this summer, someone emailed me, hoping that I wasn’t affected too much by the flooding along the Mississippi. Not at all! The Mississippi River runs through a gorge for much of its journey through the Twin Cities. If we have flooding? Not going to be much left downstream…

While the Mississippi River Gorge isn’t much compared to, say, the Grand Canyon, it is very lovely and green in the summer – a sinuous oasis through the heart of the Cities.

Can you see the wee waterfall?

“Die, vicious feather toy, die!” -Chaos

Contests, Reading

The (more or less) bookish edition o’ links

September 5, 2008 Chris 33 Comments

If you want in on Jenn’s baby pool contest, head on over and submit your guesses!

Eileen is celebrating her birthday with a contest – leave her a comment with the funniest or most touching story you have connected with the fiber arts. (If you aren’t a crafter, it can even be a story about receiving that lurid amazing sweater from your grandmother when you were a kid.) Leave your comments by September 24.

I don’t think this is any weirder than Chaos loving popcorn…

I highly recommend Chappysmom’s new knitting book review blog, Knitting Scholar – her reviews are very organized and well-written.

I know that I’ve mentioned (in my reading updates) that I had a lot of trouble with how passive Bella is in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. Author Lilith Saintcrow had some of the same issues with Twilight, but was much more eloquent than I! I agree and hope that teens reading the series don’t consider Bella an acceptable role model…

Through Saintcrow’s post, I discovered a new (to me) and interesting blog: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

*blink blink* I guess I’ll let this next blog speak for itself: Geoffrey Chaucer Hath An Extreme Blog: Go England! It ys Rad!

Remember the captioning contest I won? The prize, it haz arrived:

And I love the inscription!

Reading Update
The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong. It took a while for me to get into this young adult paranormal fantasy and then it had a cliffhanger ending. Grr.
Hot Ice; Irish Hearts: Irish Thoroughbred / Irish Rose (apparently Irish Thoroughbred was her first published work and it does show a bit… but I was sniffling at the end of Irish Rose!); Brazen Virtue; Sanctuary by Nora Roberts. 🙂
Something from the Nightside, Agents of Light and Darkness, Nightingale’s Lament, and Hex and the City (The Nightside, Books 1-4) by Simon R. Green. Hardboiled detective urban fantasy horror noir, set in the dark heart of London, where it’s always 3 am…
It Happened One Knife (A Double Feature Mystery) by Jeffrey Cohen. The second mystery in this witty series about a guy who owns a comedy movie theater in New Jersey is as good as the first (Some Like It Hot Buttered).

“Please, Mom, if you have a shred of feline decency, let those poor people head into the weekend without any more links!” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

Posting to the past

September 4, 2008 Chris 25 Comments

I always enjoy anachronisms, such as this very simple metal hitching post…

…and this slightly fancier wood and metal post…

…and especially this very fancy metal post!

“You better not be thinking about kitty hitching posts, Mom! The big kitty and I will not stand for that sort of shenanigan, not even if the posts have cool feather toys on them.” -Mayhem

Knitting

Noroesque socks finished!

September 3, 2008 Chris 36 Comments

On Saturday, I finished the Noroesque socks from the yarn I’d dyed using the KnitPicks sock blanks. They are taller than my sock blockers! I did have more of the gold left, but if I’d continued knitting, I would’ve had to fuss with calf increases. I was feeling lazy. 🙂