Contests, Randonymity

Handknits for Youngsters

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Cara’s having another contest – leave her a comment with a Valentine’s story (best, worst, etc.) and you could win some great yarn! Comments must be left by 11:59 pm EST today (February 14).

It’s been a while since I featured pictures from any of my old pattern books, hasn’t it? Let me introduce you to Handknits for Youngsters, circa 1952, which has the ominous message “There’s a Spinnerin handknit for every youngster!” on the back.

I’m sure the poor tyke below never recovered from the experience of wearing this little suit… especially since I’m interpreting this as being a catsuit!

“No, no, I think you’re right, Spanky, this thing isn’t connected. Of all the nerve!”

I can come up with captions for this next one… but maybe it’s best to leave that up to all of you… (Don’t forget to take the title at the bottom into consideration!) Yikes.

Here’s another one that wouldn’t be half as amusing/scary without the title…

Is this amount of smug superiority even legal?

Swimming trunks and a sunsuit and some very fancy hair! I wonder if knitted swimming suits stay on toddlers any better than they stay on adults?! So, Mama Tulip – which style would best suit Oliver, eh? 😉

“I’m going to have nightmares for years! The horror!”

I think Mayhem might, too.

“Is it over? Can I look yet?” -M

Contests, Those Cats

A dastardly secret is revealed…

22 Comments

Leave a comment for Nicole about the worst Valentine’s gift you’ve ever received, and you could win some “yarny goodness.” Leave your comment by midnight EST on February 14.

Charlie is a kitty who has inflamatory bowel disease (IBD) – and so does one of his humans, also named Chris. (But that’s a he-Chris, not a she-Chris like me.) Anyway! Since I am an IBD sufferer, too, this one’s near and dear to my gut. Charlie’s human is doing a three-day, 210-mile charity bike race (Get Your Guts in Gear) to support the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and other similar organizations. If you make a donation, you will be entered in a prize drawing for yarn or bike shop gift certificates! One of the humans will draw for prizes the last weekends of March, April, and May.

“Dooby dooby do… Don’t mind me, I’m just hanging out on top of this cabinet, appreciating my feline agility.” -C

“I wish I was a big kitty so I could get up there, too!” -M

“Ha! But you aren’t and you can’t!” -C

“Shhhhh… Let it be our little secret that she could get up here if I didn’t keep biting off her whiskers and messing with her balance! Bwah-ha-ha!!” -C

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

Knitting, Those Cats

TGIFO

49 Comments

Behold – the 70s Kitchen Socks are complete! Although it doesn’t look like it in this picture, they are the same size. I knit one from each end of the ball of yarn, and the sock on the left turned out quite a bit more orange than the one on the right.

So, let’s sit back and see what happens when you leave a freshly knitted pair of socks on the floor around here, shall we?

Oh, look, it’s May!

“I’m pretty sure they aren’t bibs, big kitty!” -M

“Hmm, better let me check, May.” -C

“You’re right, May, these are definitely not bibs. But I’m not sticking around, just in case Mom tries to put them on me anyway.” -C

“Don’t worry, big kitty! I’ll keep an eye out.” *slurp slurp slurp* -M

“You know what – I bet they’re a fancy new cat bed! Hmm, very cushy…” -M

Contests, Randonymity

Socktopus!

47 Comments

I’m sure many of you still haven’t recovered from seeing the rainbow Jaywalker socks the other day, but for those who have and fell in love with the yarn, it might be available again – I just saw it in the Patternworks catalogue (Regia 5399, aka “Fun Nation”). For those curious about my maryjanes, they are Keen Seattles in black.

A while ago, Jeanne got me the coolest present – a Socktopus!

This clever gizmo (formerly known to IKEA as a “JABBA Hanging Dryer with 16 Clips” and now as a “PRESSA Hanging Dryer with 16 Clothes Clips” – boring) is perfect for hanging handknit socks to dry out of harm’s way.

I know you’re all familiar with Harm:

“How dare you say something like that! Look at how adorable I am!” -Mayhem
*snort* -Chaos

Contests, Knitting

A knitting update

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Elisa is having a contest – read about her typical day, then take some pictures and post about your typical day. Leave Elisa a comment or send her an email with the link to your post by February 25. There will be mysterious prizes! And fun! 😉

I’m about 2/3 of the way through season 5 of 24. Things got very intense, so I’ve been taking a break for a few days. Plus, I needed to catch up on my library books – especially the new books that I can’t renew!

I have made good progress on the refined raglan, both while watching 24 and while reading.

“What have we here?” -M
“Duh. Obviously it’s a cat bed.” -C

“Oh, how clever – it even has cat toys built in!” -C
“Wait, is that yarn I see?!” -M

“Yarn!” *chew chew chew* -M

Ack! I must go rescue my sweater!

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.

Randonymity

Second Annual Blogger’s (Silent) Poetry Reading for the Feast of St. Brigid

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More details at Roots Down and many other locations. My poem from last year is still available. This year, I present a poem that I’ve loved since junior high – particularly the bit about the crow.

Two Legends
Ted Hughes

I
Black was the without eye
Black the within tongue
Black was the heart
Black the liver, black the lungs
Unable to suck in light
Black the blood in its loud tunnel
Black the bowels packed in furnace
Black too the muscles
Striving to pull out into the light
Black the nerves, black the brain
With its tombed visions
Black also the soul, the huge stammer
Of the cry that, swelling, could not
Pronounce its sun.

II
Black is the wet otter’s head, lifted.
Black is the rock, plunging in foam.
Black is the gall lying on the bed of the blood.

Black is the earth-globe, one inch under,
An egg of blackness
Where sun and moon alternate their weathers

To hatch a crow, a black rainbow
Bent in emptiness

over emptiness

But flying

“I like that, Mom! It’s about black kitties, obviously.” -M

Contests, Randonymity

Jelly bean bonanza and a completely crazy number of contests

25 Comments

Thanks for all the kind words about my felted bookweight pattern and the cat photography tips! I’ll definitely do another post or two with more tips, as soon as I get enough examples collected. Several commenters pointed out that the tips would also work well for dogs and small children (and probably ferrets, bunnies, etc).

Bloglines seems to hate my blog again. Alas and alack… And it’s shockingly cold here in Minneapolis this morning: -8°F, not counting the windchill. BRRRRRR.

Imbrium is having a contest – guess what the vanity license plate might stand before and you could win some yarny goodness! Leave your comment by 11:59 pm MST, February 2 (today!).

Kristi is having a contest – leave a comment (bonus points if it’s a haiku) before February 14 about what aspect of her blog you most enjoy and you could win a prize appropriate to your fiberly orientation (spinner, knitter, or neither/not).

Deb is having a contest – guess what projects she’s knitting in the first three photos and you could win something fun. You have until around February 11 to guess, because that’s when Deb returns from Mexico! *jealous*

April is having a contest – if you donate $5 to Doctors Without Borders and cc her on your email to the Yarn Harlot, you are entered! First name drawn at the end of the month gets 15 skeins of sock yarn, second name gets 10 skeins, and the final name drawn gets 5 skeins. Each day this month, April will be featuring a skein of the prize yarn – today’s featured skein is a lovely and extremely limited edition Cabin Cover colorway.

Just a reminder, Megan and her husband are participating in the Tour de Cure. Megan will have a prize drawing for those who support them in this endeavor. You can even support them by buying a sock pattern.

Interested in writing a book review and maybe winning a prize? Then check out Debut a Debut – Eclectic Closet posted some info about it, and there are more details at West of Mars.

Eklectika sent me some handy dandy cat toys and a very funny jelly bean dispenser.

You press the kitty’s back and he, um, “dispenses” a jelly bean.

Hee hee – this is quite the conversation piece at my desk at work! Thanks, Eklectika! My coworkers decided that it wouldn’t be as obnoxious when I ran out of tan and brown jelly beans and refilled it with jelly beans in more varied colors. Should I tell them that I will still find it amusing, since the Chaos Kitty loves to eat brightly colored tissue paper?! 😉

“Mom! That’s appalling! I can’t believe you think that’s funny!” -M

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