Contests, Randonymity

Hiding out

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Valerie’s celebrating her blogiversary with a contest. Suggest a name for her new spinning wheel by midnight, April 30, and you could win “something nice.”

Mistress of the Stash is having a contest – leave a comment (by 12:00 pm CDT on May 2) about your favorite colorway and you could win a skein of sportweight Claudia’s Handpaint.

Carrie is having a contest to celebrate spring and starting new things. To participate, cast on a crazy new dishcloth and send her a picture by May 5 – you could win a skein of Austermann Step sock yarn.

I don’t know if you’re following the pet food recall, but contaminants now have been found in not only wheat gluten, but also rice protein and corn gluten. Over 889 pet food items under 100 brand names have been recalled. Some of the recalled pet food may have been fed to hogs destined for human consumption. Pet Connection and Pet Food Tracker seem to be doing a good job covering all of this.

Knitting Update
You will get to see other pictures of the dress! It’s blocking even as I type – hopefully it will be dry by tonight.

KitKatKnit wondered if Chaos would be happier if the dress complemented his eyes, so she sent me this:

Nope, he doesn’t look happier to me, either.

“Go away, Mom. We’re hiding from you.” -Mayhem

“Hmph.” -Chaos

Randonymity, Reading

Maestro Mayhem

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Reading Update
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Wow. Just wow. This Pulitzer-winning novel kept me enthralled for over 500 pages. It was also one of my TBR Challenge books. I’ll be reading Eudenides’ novel The Virgin Suicides in the near future!
Cast On, Bets Off by Jack Olesker. I know, I just picked it up Saturday, but I was curious. It’s about yarn store owners Max and Lisa, who are deputized by Max’s brother to help solve a murder. It seemed a wee bit overdone at times, but I think that might just be because I read it right after Middlesex… It’ll be interesting to see how the characters develop in the next book. The Yarn Harlot has a tiny spot in the book, which was very fun to read. Strangely, as I was reading it, May walked up and ate part of the front cover while I gaped at her! That’s an unpleasant new development in the her ongoing snacking on household items project.

Speaking of May, I shall momentarily distract you with cute pictures of her, since I got nothin’ else. I’m nearly done with the toddler dress – just a bazillion ends to weave in. And I’m working on a secret project, which we all know is bad for the blog, but necessary for the life. 🙂

“A little more from the bassoon section, please! Let’s take it from the top, people!!” -M

“Bright. Stripey.” -M

“Big kitty! Help! My paws are transparent!! I’m meeeeelllllllltttttttttting!!” -M

Contests, Festing, Reading

I think I bruised my checkbook…

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Ginger’s having a contest – guess what she named the three chicks she just brought home and you could win some sock yarn. A knowledge of country music will help your guessing! Someone already guessed correctly! Now anyone who comments on the contest post by midnight April 27 will be entered in a random drawing for another prize.

Reading Update
A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie. This is the first mystery about Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his assistant, Sergeant Gemma Jones. I’ll definitely be reading more in this series.
High Heels and Holidays by Kasey Michaels. The most recent book about mystery writer Maggie Kelly, whose formerly fictional characters the Viscount Saint Just and Sterling Balder materialized in her living room a few months ago… Silly but fun and occasionally steamy.
High Stakes: A Tale of Vegas Vampires by Erin McCarthy. The first book in the Vegas Vampires series isn’t great literature by any means, but it was an amusing and somewhat steamy read. My big complaint is that the book ended abruptly, almost as if it had been split into two parts…

Yarnover Update
Well. I, um, might’ve picked up a bit more at the Yarnover market than I had anticipated… No one’s going to be particularly surprised by my purchases. 🙂

I bought some skeins of purple laceweight Euroflax.

Whoops, it looks like I forgot to take a picture of the knitting mystery I purchased – Cast On, Bets Off by Jack Olesker. I hadn’t heard of it before, so we’ll see… I also bought a black sheep magnet and a WPI tool (I’ve wanted one for ages!).

“Hmm, this doesn’t smell particularly sheepy to me. Plus it looks hard to pick up and steal.” -M

Jeanne and I each bought enough Blue Sky Cotton to make the Eyelet Cardigan (sorry, you can’t see the pattern at all in the picture). Um, yes, I bought black…

“Big kitty, I tell you, the only possible conclusion you can draw is that she’s going to make more black kitties. We have to put a stop to this!” -M

“Where do you come up with this stuff, May?!” -C

And I bought some amazingly soft true black (not dyed!) alpaca, which came from an alpaca named Orphelia.

“Now this smells like something very interesting! Not a sheep… What could it be?” -M

“Mmmm… Alpaca, you say? Soft. Mmmm… Mom, can we have an alpaca? I promise I won’t eat it.” -M

Randonymity

For true randomness, how about Random Friday?

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Peeve has a few pictures up of a baleful Chaos from her visit here. Hee hee – the secret is revealed. Chaos is a crabby kitty. If you aren’t me, really, he’s not sure you have any purpose to your existence. Before that sends anyone into the pits of despair, let’s move right along, shall we?

A few weeks ago, I reconsidered my wallet situation and decided I needed a separate checkbook – I rarely use my checkbook anymore, so why carry a larger wallet just to accomodate it? I picked up this checkbook cover on etsy from bagladiesinpa (kitten sold separately):

“Those black kitties look very saucy. I like them!” -M

Last Friday, Master Enabler Guinifer mentioned finding all sorts of goodies at Woolgirl, so I wandered over there to take a peek… My order arrived on Monday – talk about speedy! I decided to try some Woolarina sock yarn (color Yucatan). Check out the complimentary sheep stitch marker Woolgirl included – it matches her logo.

Mayhem was fascinated by that sheep stitchmarker. In fact, in the picture below it is in her mouth and I am about to drop the camera and leap to its rescue!

“Mwpfh… sheep… mwpfh.” -M

I also got some tape measures (not pictured, because they’re for swaps and contests) and a cat-shaped shawl pin. Um, yes, perhaps I should knit a shawl to wear it on. Moving right along…

“I could crush your puny shawl pin with my fluffy paw of cuteness!” -M

Knit Wit Kelly surprised me with some lovely black cat and mouse stitchmarkers and a book thong! Check out the cute sheep box in which they arrived, too. Thank you, Kelly!

“I am being sneakier than I was with the sheep… hee hee!” -M

Sorry, May, not quite sneaky enough, because I’m onto your little game now…

“I have my eye out for her, Mom! She won’t get past me. Not unless she has tuna, that is.” -C

Have a great weekend, everyone! Jeanne and I will be at the Yarnover market tomorrow morning – say hi if you see us!

Knitting

In which I admit to some non-bib baby knitting

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I can wait a minute while you collect yourselves after reading that title. Better now?

I picked up a nifty little booklet called Knitting for Babies a few weeks ago at Amazing Threads. I’ll apologize in advance because my google-fu failed me and I can’t tell you where to get this $3.99 booklet other than where I found a copy. The cover says “Display until November 14” and apparently that’s November of 2006… If anyone has more information, let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post. Anyway Many thanks to Sarah, who knew that the booklet is available from Beth Walker-O’Brien (who designed the cute dress you’ll see momentarily). It has a slightly different cover on that site. That link is dead. You can find the lacy tank pattern at HowStuffWorks.

The booklet is filled with more than a dozen worthwhile patterns, such as this penguin hat…

…several cute sweaters…

…more bibs (bibs!)…

…and this adorable lace dress:

“…dum de dum de dum de dum… Oh, were you trying to take a picture, Mom?” -M

I’m knitting that dress for my friends’ toddler, out of SWTC A-MAIZing. Yup, yarn made entirely from corn and machine washable to boot. Who woulda thunk it?

“Corn? Really? Well, I do like popcorn, although this sure doesn’t look like popcorn…” -M

“Don’t get any ideas about snacking on that dress, May!” -me

Here’s the page with information on the designers from the booklet – maybe you can track down some of the patterns from them?? (Click to see the details.)

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

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