Randonymity

Fridge frame

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The new issue of Yarnival is up! Check it out – as usual, it’s filled with wonderful writing and linkage. My non-knitting readers might want to bookmark this guide to knitblog lingo. 😉

Recently, Brigitte posted about her black not-quite-a-kitten-anymore Gandalf stealing magnets off the fridge. It was fun to see her magnet and fridge art collection, so I thought I’d share mine.

I think my fridge art tells you a lot about me. You might notice that I’m fond of black cats, if you hadn’t guessed by now. I’m also fond of bicycles, knitting, coffee, and Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current.

Chaos likes to lurk on top of the fridge. (Remember when he was stalked by the zucchini?!) In his youth, he would also knock magnets off the freezer door from on top the fridge, but he doesn’t do that anymore.

(Remember, you can click on these pictures to make them larger and examine things more closely.)

There aren’t any magnets within two feet of the floor, because both Chaos and Mayhem like to steal them (particularly glass bead photo magnets) off the fridge…

Not much stuff on the sides of the fridge (some business cards, phone number and address of the emergency vet, etc), but this postcard and some of the magnets are worth a peek.

“Hmph. I was not ever afraid of a vegetable. I don’t know what you’re going on about.” -C

Contests, Knitting, Reading

Another bib bites the dust

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KmKat wonders what office buzz words bug you the most. Leave a comment by midnight CDT, April 17 (the same time taxes are due in MN!) and you could win a mysterious prize – not necessarily yarn.

Reading Update
Bloody Mary and Rusty Nail. I think these are the last two Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels mysteries I’ll read. I like the writing, I like the main characters, but I really hate the ongoing theme of serial killers.
Blind Spot by Terri Persons. Of course, after just whining about serial killer books, I read this one, although I skipped over a few gruesome bits… This well-written and suspenseful novel is about an FBI agent who has “the Sight.” She’s just been reassigned to the St. Paul office, which made this particularly intriguing to read. I hope this becomes a series!
Web of Evil by J.A. Jance. The second book about Arizona blogger Ali Reynolds finds her back in Los Angeles for her divorce hearing when things get a little complicated…
Blindfold Game by Dana Stabenow. I love both Stabenow’s Kate Shugak and Liam Campbell series, so I gave this non-series thriller a try and enjoyed the read. It features a CIA agent and his wife (an XO in the Coast Guard, stationed in the Bering Strait).
Plum Lovin’ by Janet Evanovich. This is billed as a “Between the Numbers Novel” and features Diesel, a vaguely supernatural character introduced in Visions of Sugar Plums. Definitely not as enjoyable as the “regular” Stephanie Plum series, since Ranger and Morelli only had bit parts. Mmmmm…. Ranger….. Ooops, sorry, didn’t mean to drool on anyone. Moving right along…
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting by Stephanie Pearl McPhee. Do I really need to say more?! 🙂 It’s a funny, quick read – and anyone who knits will find a point or two that hits too close to home to be entirely funny….
The Opinionated Knitter: Newsletters 1958-1968 by Elizabeth Zimmermann. This compilation of EZ’s pre-book newsletters was an enjoyable read for this EZ fan. I loved the little snippets at the end of each newsletter, announcing new products that she was selling (such as Barbara Walker’s first treasury!). This was one of my TBR Challenge books.

Knitting Update
Friday night I knit the second of the two bibs I needed. How amusing is it that I knit both of these with a US4 instead of a US6 (just grabbed the loose needle in my knitting bag because I knew it was a US6) and my only thought was that they seemed a bit smaller than usual?! The smaller needle is probably why the colors didn’t form their customary argyle patterning.

Chaos was very alarmed at the sight of May in this bib – note his poofy tail.

“Who are you and why are you wearing that abomination?!” -C

“Maybe if I bite it, it will leave me alone.” -M

“So much for that idea…” -M

I took pity on May, removed the bib, and caught Chaos enticed Chaos to model for old time’s sake.

“I have the strangest sense of deja vu…” -C

“Easily remedied, however. THIS is how it’s done, May.” -C

“Hmph. Did the big kitty have to make it look so easy?!” -M

Alongs, Contests, Knitting

Let us bib

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Signups are open for Sockapalooza 4 – sign up fast, because they won’t be open for long! I think I’m going to skip this one – the pressure of knitting socks for someone other than myself or my family – oh my. I did sign up for Sockamania, which is limited to 25 people, so act fast if you’re interested in that, too! 4/13/07: Sockamania is now closed.

Signups open April 16 for Knitters’ Coffee Swap Round 2! Mark your calendars – Round 1 was a blast.

Not only is it the month of prizes for participating in the Walker Treasury Project, but Karrie is offering an additional special prize to a randomly chosen mosaic swatch knitter. Since the only mosaic swatches so far have been knitted by Karrie and one other person, you have great odds on this contest!

You could win a free Jordana Paige knitting bag – winners will be announced on April 23.

Knitting Update
Coworkers whose wives are having babies… what to do but knit bibs? 🙂

“I do not approve.” -M

“I do not approve. At. All.” -M

“A little help here, big kitty? No?” -M

“Heh. The secret is to look so pathetic and betrayed that Mom removes the bib herself!” -M

Doesn’t taking a picture without the flash (even as terribly blurry as it was, since May moved her head) convey a totally different feeling? How would you caption this last picture of Mayhem?

Contests, Randonymity

In which I allude to the cruelty of April snow

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Susan’s having a contest in honor of her blogiversary and a comment milestone – guess which yarn her daughter chose for socks and you could win the other yarn plus matching stitchmarkers. Leave your guess by midnight, April 15, CDT.

Jimmy Bean’s Wool has a pattern contest every month. Their prize pack is amazing and probably beats what many online knitting magazines would pay you. I know many of you have designing skills, so I hope you give it a shot!

Snow. Blech. Need I say more? Here’s a picture from back in the snowy days of March… I liked the “Minnesota Nice” sticker and how it tied in with the “Snow Emergency Route” sign. Plus the balloons were a festive touch to an ugly, dirty snowbank. We better not have enough snow to make snowbanks. I might lose my mind…

Moving right along to happier things, remember when I swapped Knit a Fantasy Story with chittavrtti? Here are the goodies she sent me – two gorgeous 225 yard skeins of Socks that Rock in a lovely deep green (Beryl, probably the only green I’ll see around here for a while) and some espresso roast Peet’s coffee beans. Mmmmm… Thanks, CV!

“Smells… green. Mmmm… Greenies.” -M

“I can tell from here it isn’t tuna yarn! Hmph.” -C

(from a distance) “Look out for that coffee, May! Did I ever tell you about the time I ate a coffee bean when I was a kitten? Man, that was a rush.” -C

“Yeah, whatever, big kitty, and I bet you had to walk a mile uphill in the snow to get to your food bowl.” -M

Contests, Randonymity

Ding, dong, the espresso maker…

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…turns on! Woot-woot! All is well. Apparently, my espresso maker wasn’t dead, merely on strike until it was thorougly cleaned and decalcified. *hangs head in shame* Amusingly, I was so freaked out that it didn’t work yesterday morning, I completely forgot that I have a stovetop espresso maker for just such a crisis… Moving right along!

Through the Loops and Olga are having a birthday contest to celebrate that they turn 45 within days of each other. You can leave a comment at one or both blogs, identifying each of them from the baby pictures. Leave your comments by 11:59 pm (PDT? PST? EDT? EST?) on April 14 for your chance to win yarn and chocolate.

In the midst of my groggy day yesterday (even though I did stop for a moosed soy mocha, no toppings, on the way to work), I got fun mail – my Nana Sadie Rose Posy Sock Sack arrived! This is a really cool bag – it’s padded and very sturdy (even somewhat freestanding), with a shoulder strap and pockets inside to anchor a scissors, pencil, needles, etc. It’s about 10″ tall (everything looks small with Chaos in the picture). Looks like there’s plenty of space for a pair of socks-in-progress, along with keys, cellphone, and wallet. Thank you very much, Knitnana – I love it and can’t wait to use it! (You can email Knitnana to get your own Posy Sock sack.)

“Hmm, it isn’t a sock, so I guess I can relax my tuna and catnip rule. After all, there are cats on it.” -C

“*mumble*…pockets…*mumble*” -C

“Ok, ok, I’ll pose nice with the bag…” -C

“Can I go play now?” -C

Contests, Knitting, Project Spectrum, Reading

I was awakened yesterday by…

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…Mayhem chasing her tail on top of me. *oooof* Today started out inauspiciously when my espresso maker gave up the ghost…

Looks like the Yarn Harlot got a not-too-bad picture of me… If you’re looking for the Twin Cities “linkorama” Stephanie mentioned, here you go. Hey, our singing “O Canada” is available on You Tube! And here’s a link to the Strib article about the event.

Jenifer’s having a contest – guess what one-skein project she’s knitting and then share what your favorite one-skein project is (not from any of the one-skein books). Submit your entries by midnight, April 14, and you could win a mysterious prize.

Reading Update
Um, I haven’t apparently done a reading update for a while… Brace yourselves.

Maggie Needs an Alibi, Maggie by the Book, Maggie Without a Clue, and High Heels and Homicide by Kasey Michaels. Maggie Kelly writes mysteries set in Regency England. One day she turns around to discover that her hero, the dashingly handsome Alexandre Blake (the Viscount St. Just) and his amiable sidekick Sterling Balder have come to life and are standing in her living room… These aren’t terribly well written, but they are light and amusing.
Ready or Not? by Chris Manby. Light chicklit about a British radio producer who isn’t sure her fiance is right for her as the wedding approaches.
Out of this World by Jill Shalvis. More light chicklit (although significantly steamier than the previous title – *fans self*) about an LA muralist who inherits a mysterious B&B in remote Alaska.
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. Quite possibly inspired or at least influenced by Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series, this book (possibly the first in a series? It has that feel) features magical mercenary Kate Daniels in an alternate future in which tech is in decline and magic ascendent.
Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath. Book one in a (so far) short series about insomniac Chicago police lieutenant Jacquelyn “Jack” Daniels. Sufficiently entertaining that I’m reading the second book and have the most recent book queued up. Please note that these are pretty gory at times.

Knitting Update
I finished my Regia Crazy Colors socks yesterday for my first completed Project Spectrum April/May project. Although it was a struggle, I resisted doing the Ms. Matchy Matchy thing.

*sniff sniff sniff* -C

*sigh* “She’s still not making the tuna and catnip socks I requested, May.” -C

“Ok, big kitty, then I won’t even bother to stop and check them out.” -M

Alongs, Contests, Knitting, Project Spectrum, Randonymity

I hope you’re all sitting down… oh wait, you’re at your computers. It should be ok.

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Yay, KnittyMama! She actually got a decent picture of me from Wednesday night. 🙂 (Please note that I’ve been updating yesterday’s post with links to people’s pictures and tales as they’re available.)

Twitching about the upcoming Harry Potter book release? Maybe participating in the Hogwarts Sock Swap will help distract you for the next several months. You have until April 30 to join.

You can sign up for Jennie’s Sound Swap until April 11. However, number of participants is limited, so sign up early!

Julia is having a contest a day for the next week. Check in each day to see what the new contest is! Winners will be selected randomly on Friday, April 13.

Question for Those in the Twin Cities
Does anyone know where I could take an ASL class in the area?! The Minneapolis Community Ed class I was signed up for was canceled (even though it still appears on their website). I’m not interested in taking a college level course (even just auditing). Thanks for any leads!

Pet Food
Obsidian Kitten has some great posts about making your own pet food – definitely something to think about in the light of recent events.

Jeanne turned me on to a good blog for tracking the current pet food issue, as well as others that come up.

Knitting Update
Ready for a bit of color shock? I’ve been working on Project Spectrumesque socks that are a bit different than my usual colors, but this week has been so crazy, I haven’t had a chance to blog about them until now. You might’ve seen this first sock in some of the pictures from Wednesday night – it’s a plain stockinette sock, knit from Regia Crazy Colors. This sock has some black and purple in addition to the pink and red, so it isn’t too much of a stretch. (The purple bag with black cats on it was made by Trek!)

“I am much cuter than the kitties on the bag, of course. Oh, Addis – my favorite!” -M

The next sock is quite a bit further outside of my usual color range…

“Addis, Addis, tasty tasy Addis…” -M

That’s Sundara’s sock yarn in Bird of Paradise, the most recent colorway in the Petals Collection. Initially I tried a garter rib, because I wanted to avoid the less stretchy slip stitch rib in the pattern that came with the yarn. However, the garter stitch broke up the colors way too much. Here’s a shot of the sole (stockinette) – imagine this with much, much more color choppiness.

“Are you going to eat that entire Addi, May? Maybe you could save a little nibble for me?” -C

So I conceded that Sundara knew what she was doing, using slip stitches to pull the alternating rounds of color together. I didn’t use the same ribbing as in the pattern; instead, I decided to use R1: *K1, slip 1 (as if to purl), K1, P1*; R2: *K3 P1*. I like it. A lot. And I’ll probably try a variation of this ribbing on other socks in the future – as long as I remember to make my sock heel deeper to compensate for the slight loss in stretchiness.

Festing

“Un-freaking-believable”

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Yup. That pretty much covers it. (Thanks to MC Mary Lou for summing it all up so nicely.) I woke up this morning feeling slightly hungover from all the yarn and knitting and knitters and general excitement of yesterday – good thing I took today off, eh?

But to begin at the beginning… I wandered down to the Yarnery around 3 pm Wednesday to pick up my copy of …Casts Off... I bought some yarn, to show my support for the event, of course. 🙂 Then Amy (Knit Think) picked me up and we went over to Pad Thai Grand Cafe, where we met up with some other knitters. (Please note that in cases in which I am not sure if a particular blogger wants her name “out there,” I have just used the blog name.)

From the left, CursingMama, flat Vicki Knitorious (the photo), Beadslut, Jess of Mikknit, Stephania of Moraie Knitting, Connie (oh, great, you can see my butt in the extreme left of the first picture on Connie’s blog – but you can also see Limedragon, sitting down and wearing a lime sweater), Cynthia, and Amy.

After dinner, we headed over to the William Mitchell Law School Auditorium and were amazed at the crowd of around 400 knitters. I’m going to miss people and I apologize! I saw Christy of Purling Away, Limedragon, a group of bloggers from Woodbury, Renee of A Good Yarn, Louise of Louise Knits, Jeanne (of course!) of k3tog, Kelle of Knits and Giggles, Shelly the Heathen Housewife, Deb of Cashmere Dreams, Knot All That, Susan of TheRaineySisters (she got a great picture of Stephanie’s hysterically funny t-shirt, available here), and KnittyMama (*gasp* I actually got a picture!).

Here’s the traditional picture of the Yarn Harlot taking a picture of knitbloggers taking pictures of her taking a picture…

Stephanie was brilliantly funny – I hurt after laughing that hard for nearly an hour. And then we queued up for the signing. When I reached the front of the line, she started to sign my book and I put down one of my blog cards. She looked at it and said, “Stumbling Over Chaos?! I’m discombobulated! It’s like meeting Batman or something.” Of course, I mostly lost the ability to speak coherently at that point. And let’s just say that I am not photogenic. Not one tiny little bit – why yes, my eyes are closed. And that’s the good picture!

I actually like this blurry picture of me much better:

Many, many thanks to the Yarnery, for organizing this event so well. They had many, many doorprizes (I won one! pictures eventually) and gave each of us a nice canvas tote.

*sniff sniff sniff* “Wow, smells like a lot of fun, Mom!” -M

Contests, Those Cats

Mayhem has eaten my brain

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Heather’s giving away a Project Spectrum pink/green/yellow themed cd – leave a comment about what you like about spring before midnight MDT, April 6, and you could win a copy.

You could also win a Dyson vacuum cleaner from Five Minutes for Mom, but you have act quickly – the contest closes at 1 pm EDT today, April 4!

It snowed last night. It’s snowing right now. Waaaaah!

The pet food recall has expanded a bit. However, neither of the Science Diet dry foods that Chaos eats (w/d and c/d) contain wheat gluten (it’s the m/d that’s being recalled by Hills), and May eats a grain-free food called Innova EVO. For treats, they get Feline Greenies (fortunately, they chew their Greenies and don’t bolt them, so no choking/breathing problems), which don’t contain wheat gluten, either. Thanks to everyone who has inquired! We all appreciate your concern – especially since I don’t watch TV and missed the initial furor. Jeanne’s looking out for me now and making sure I’m up to date. 🙂

Work is still crazy. But I’m done early today for the Yarn Harlot festivities and I’m taking tomorrow off. Woo-hoo!

“Mom’s brain was pretty tasty! But there sure wasn’t much left after work ate most of it Monday and Tuesday.” -M

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