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

Time for a contest!

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At long last, I’m having a contest! 🙂 This is the belated birthday contest for Mayhem (who was one on May 31) and early birthday contest for Chaos (four years old on September 28). To participate, simply leave a comment with some useful advice for Chaos and/or Mayhem. Leave your comments by Wednesday, September 19, 5 pm CDT. Winners will be selected by random number, and no non-knitters will be forced to take a yarny prize if they really don’t want to (appropriate non-yarny prize to be substituted).

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month (and with October rushing toward us!), the first prize will be a “Think Pink” prize, featuring a breast cancer awareness travel mug from Caribou Coffee and a skein of luridly pink sock yarn that I dyed.

If you win the mug and yarn, I highly suggest washing the mug again before you use it… On the plus side, it does have the Mayhem Sniff of Approval.

*sniff sniff sniff* -Mayhem

Additional yarny prizes include a ball of Trekking 126 (look familiar?! I bought two!) and a nice aumtumny skein of One Sheep Hill sock yarn, donated by Yarnzilla.

“Dum de dum de dum de dum de dum.” -Mayhem

“Wait, this isn’t the same skein of yarn that was just here, is it?! I’m so confused! Where did that other skein go?” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Everybody needs black kitty pants!

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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…

Knitting, Those Cats

Addis – not just for breakfast anymore

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Warning: This post contains graphic photos of violence against Addi Turbo knitting needles. Sensitive souls might want to pass this post right on by.

It may shock you to discover that I’ve been working on a sweater. (Marina? Marina? Are you ok?! Maybe someone could help Marina to her feet…)

The sweater in question is the Knitting Pure and Simple Neck Down Shaped Cardigan #241.

“Mmmm… ring binder rings…” -Mayhem

Ok, maybe that’s not the most helpful picture – is this better?

I’m knitting it from Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. So far, it isn’t much to look at.

“Kitty bed with tasty treats built in! Yay!!!” -Mayhem

“Ahhh – Addis! My favorite!” -Mayhem

*crunch crunch crunch* -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading, Viewing

The Baleful Glare of the Cat Chaotic

39 Comments

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

See the Sights

Fair on a stick

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The main reason I went to the State Fair on Friday was not to search for gluten-free food and beer; however, I did have a pita-free gyro, strawberries with whipped cream, and two glasses of Redbridge gluten-free beer. The main reason was for Jeanne and I to take our UK visitors, Pao and MrsPao, to the most Minnesotan thing we could think of to do. They got right into the spirit of things.

Jeanne’s husband Michael came along, too, and was a good sport.

We saw many strange and amazing sights.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t bring me any deep-fried kitty food on a stick. Hmph.” -Mayhem

Knitting, Reading, Viewing

Trying to catch up

62 Comments

I took a bit of a computer break over the holiday weekend and am frightfully behind in bloglines. Please let me know if you’re having a contest you’d like me to mention, as I’ll probably read about it on your blog long after the deadline has passed… Thanks!

Check out Frarochvia’s new etsy shop!

Reading Update
The Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel by Laurell K. Hamilton. Wow, there was actually a wee bit of a plot mixed in with all of the sex. I was pleasantly surprised by that, but disappointed that the entire book only covered maybe 24 hours – it could take years to get to next week at this rate! At least Edward was in the book – he’s one of my favorite characters.
Aunt Dimity’s Death, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, Aunt Dimity’s Good Deed, and Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton. Apologies to whoever recommended these to me – I am obviously much enjoying these lovely British mysteries about the amazing Aunt Dimity, ghost.
Tilt-A-Whirl by Chris Grabenstein. This mystery is set in a seaside New Jersey town, told from the perspective of a part-time summer cop. This was a well-written and engrossing read and I’ll be interested in seeing where this series goes next (the next books are already in my library list).
Damsels in Distress by Joan Hess. I’ve never really gotten into Hess’ Maggody mystery series, but I do enjoy the Claire Malloy mysteries. The latest features shenanigans amongst the members of ARSE (Association for Renaissance Scholarship and Enlightenment) at a RenFest.
Knit Two Together by Connie Lane. When Libby inherits a rundown yarn shop from her estranged mother, it changes her life. Definitely formulaic, but since it’s a Harlequin, I was fully prepared for that.
Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston. Another formulaic romance, but I enjoyed it anyway. Come on, it has a picture of coffee on the cover (and it was $0.70 at the thrift shop).

Viewing Update
Bridget Jones’s Diary. Of course I had to watch this after watching Pride and Prejudice recently! My favorite P&P allusion was when Bridget was listing Mark Darcy’s faults and one of them was the length of his sideburns. Hee hee.
Love Actually. A very sweet film and another chance to see Colin Firth sans crazy P&P sideburns. 😉

Knitting Update
I actually am working on a non-sock project, which I’ll talk about it a few days. First, I need to get some input on this sock I’ve started. I can’t decide whether using the 9 to 5 pattern on this yarn is a good thing, or whether I should rip back and just knit the sock in stockinette. What do you think?

“I just can’t decide, Mom – I like them both! Maybe if I ate one of those Addis while I was thinking…” -Mayhem

Art journaling, reading, knitting, and cat parenting. It's a wild life.