He has no idea what awaits…
It came from 1946…
Stephania of Moraie Knits is giving away some unmatched knitting needles – Lantern Moon and Brittanies. Maybe with her help you can create a new full set of unbroken dpns or turn that lone needle back into a pair!
Thanks to everyone for the health wishes of yesterday! I’m still sick, but at lunchtime I’m going to pick up some of the wonderful Yogi Cold Season Tea – I had some at home, but it had expired in 2002… Ewww!
Remember the funky old knitting booklet I found at the thrift store last week? Turns out it’s from 1946. I thought I’d share a few pictures of the wondrous things that await inside. Why should I be the only one having nightmares?! 😉
First we have Loopy Doll. Personally, I think an entire horror movie franchise could be fashioned around Loopy Doll. I really hope no one ever made one of these for a child. You can so tell that Loopy Doll is Up To No Good.
I can’t decide if this is a promise… or a threat:
This baby seems to be leaning toward threat.
While this baby is obviously in hysterics that his parents could be so cruel.
And this girl seems to be getting her revenge be killing the family pet.
Probably best that Chaos was preoccupied during this photoshoot after that last shot, don’t you think?
“That Sparkly Orange Mouse can run, but it cannot hide from me!”
Ah-choo!
I apparently have a summer cold. Blech. My brain feels wrapped in cotton wool… Hopefully I’m feeling livelier by Sunday, when Deb, Jeanne, and I journey east (along with many other Twin Cities knitters) to see the Yarn Harlot in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I’m still surprised that Eau Claire is as close as she will be to a metro area of over a million people, with more than 20 yarns stores… although I know that her publisher has tried unsuccessfully to set something up for the Twin Cities. Oh well – I’m looking forward to meeting some Wisconsin bloggers, such as Vicki of Knitorious.
Anyway, since my brain’s a bit sloggy today, I will attempt to distract you with colorful architecture! In the purple series, here’s Dreamhaven Books and Comics, located a few blocks south of me on Lake Street:
Here’s the Rainbow Building, located on Lake Street a few blocks west, in Uptown – first from the front and then from the side.
Seems that Chaos is keeping the exercise bike warm until I feel healthier…
“Actually, I’m waiting for you and the camera to leave the room so I can get started with my workout.”
Of yarn and keychains
Heather of What’s Cluttering My Couch is having a contest. It’s different. And nice.
Celia of Unraveling is doing the Asthma Walk. If you contribute, you could win a pair of handknitted socks, tailored to your preferences!
Reading
Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. The most recent Dresden Files novel. This series about Chicago PI and wizard Harry Dresden continues to be enjoyable, funny, and unpredictible. Definitely recommended.
Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton. The most recent Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel was ok. The bit about unpredictible being good re: the Dresden Files? The Anita Blake books are seeming awfully predictible these days. I ripped through the book, but I can’t say that I really enjoyed it.
The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman. Kristi recommended this book so highly a few weeks ago that I had to check it out. This is the first book in a series about LAPD Detective Peter Decker and Jewish widow Rina Lazarus and I already have the next book on my library list. For a more eloquent review, head on over and read Kristi’s.
China Trade by S.J. Rozan. MrsPao recommended this book to me and I’m very glad she did! Another enjoyable read that’s also the first book in a series about PI Lydia Chin, based out of NY’s Chinatown, and fellow PI Bill Smith.
I did a few things besides read this weekend. I knit – I’m now on the borders of my Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket! I did a tiny amount of catsitting. I touched up some dyed yarn. I rode my exercise bike and watched it rain outside. I walked around my neighborhood on Monday when the sun came out and took a few pictures. I played with the Chaos Kitty. I contemplated getting him a little sister… but maybe that should wait until after my epic vacation this fall. Anyway!
The sky was so dreary on Saturday and Sunday, I wasn’t tempted to get my camera out. But on Labor Day, I was. So here’s my Saturday Sunday Monday sky.
Last week I mentioned that I was saving the pictures of my dyed yarn and fun stuff from Deb until this week. Here’s the nifty keychain sock blocker and skein of Online Supersocke from Deb. Thanks, Deb! I hadn’t even seen the Supersocke before and that keychain is amazingly cute! Must knit minisock for minisock blocker…
“Hee hee – you think you’re going to knit a teeny little sock like that and keep it out of my clutches?! Don’t you remember the miniskein?”
I dyed more than one skein of yarn, but the self-striping hot pink and black not only defies photos, it’s also drying again – I had to redye the black because it was blotchy after the first time around. I think the skein below is my favorite so far of the skeins I’ve dyed, but I just couldn’t capture the colors. This is the best that I managed, but the colors are more intense in reality:
“You can drop that yarn, Mom. I promise nothing bad will happen to it…”
I also picked up some Silk Garden DK, inspired by Julia’s gorgeous socks.
“Um, excuse me? You put this on my why?! And you expect me to not rip it to bits?!! Hmph.”
Chaos tagged
Chaos was tagged by the Meezer to list 5 weird things about himself. Let’s see if he can come up with 5 things that aren’t on his list of 25 things…
1. I love my wand toy. You know, the kind that’s a stick with a string and a cool toy attached to the end of the string? I get really, really excited when Mom brings out that toy. But she says it’s boring to play with me with the wand toy, because I get so excited I just quiver and can’t even move.
2. I love to lie on Mom’s lap, but only when it’s less than 70F in our condo. When it’s warmer, I lie under her chair so I can still be close.
3. When Mom hits snooze in the morning, I come in and lick her eyelids or tap her face with my paw. I’m just trying to help her get up and feed me, so I don’t understand why she pulls the covers over her head. When she does that, I hop onto the nightstand and stare at her balefully.
4. If Mom manages to leave one of her armpits uncovered while she’s in bed, I will lick that! Mmmm…. armpits.
5. I love to shred and eat toilet paper. Mom is mean and hides it under the sink so I can’t get it. It was a lot of fun when toilet paper used to hang in the bathroom on that neat spinner.
*burp*
“Ok, I tag any cat, ferret, bird, dog, rabbit, or other pet who thinks this sounds like fun and needs more blog exposure!”
Frantic Friday Finale
Domesticat is having a contest to celebrate her second year of knitting and that she and Duck are moving. All you have to do is send email or leave a comment with your guess as to where she and Duck are moving before 8 pm EST, September 4.
Cookie (yes, that Cookie) of Knitters Anonymous is having a contest. Entries must be submitted by 11:59 pm PDT, September 10.
Final SRP Update
Although this is it for SRP, I will continue to log what I read, as I’m definitely enjoying that. I must admit that I didn’t read a single blog Thursday night – I went home and knitted on my Regia silk sock and read and read and read…
Charmed and Dangerous by Candace Havens, 261 pages. Fluffy light chick lit mixed with a spot of magic, as witch Bronwyn protects a prime minister and a shiek from magical attacks. I enjoyed it and will be reading the other books in the series.
Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker, 306 pages. The fifth Sunny Randall mystery intersects with another Parker series, which I haven’t read, about Jesse Stone. I don’t like Parker’s Spenser mysteries, but I definitely enjoy the sexy, hardboiled Sunny Randall stuff.
The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint, 138 pages. One of de Lint’s early books about Newford, this teen novel (and this specific copy) is the first or second de Lint novel I ever read.
Last Saturday, Deb and Jeanne and I got together to dye some more yarn at Casa de Deb. Deb has some pictures up already – that first one so flatteringly features my baggy shorts and saddlebags, heh. (No pictures of the yarn I dyed or of the thoughtful goodies Deb gave us for braving the drive west – should we tell her we don’t mind the drive or not?! Anyway, pictures and details on all that stuff next week. I can feel the anticipation from here.)
As Deb notes, Jeanne is very serious when she dyes yarn.
Although Deb’s pretty darn serious, too…
And we all puzzled over what this dye was up to – can you see the strange aggregates forming on the yarn?! If one of you more experienced dyers could shed some light on that mystery, it would be much appreciated. I believe the color in question was Ripe Tomato (Country Classics).
What dyeing event is complete without noshing? (Hmm, I just noticed that the chips and wine were almost gone, but there were still plenty of vegetables left.)
And I stalked Deb’s cat Tig for a while, until he ran away at the sight of me with the camera. (But don’t you just love Tig’s curly whiskers?!)
“Mommy?! Help me!! Your friend is weird. She follwed me under the dining room table with that camera!”
Chaos didn’t appear thrilled about sharing blog space with another boy cat…
“Hmph. You’re going to push me too far, Mom. I’m warning you…….”
O is for…
Hold that thought for a minute, because first – Lisa of Black Sheep is having a contest: if you pledge in support of her son Brett’s MS 150 bike ride, you’ll be entered in a drawing for something fun.
Some of you might remember that I skipped O in the ABC-Along and I’ve fallen terribly behind – I should be on R, but I haven’t done Q (or O) yet. So, let me present…
O is for Oddity. This ever-so-Odd “knitting machine” is something I found at the thrift store a few years ago and was forced to buy – I sure couldn’t resist the hyperbole:
The KNITTING MACHINE: Knitting! Made fast, easy & beautiful! No knitting experience needed! Knit GRANNY CIRCLES in seconds! Create afghans, pillows, purses and shawls incredibly fast! Patterns for 24 projects included! As seen on TV! Full 1 year warranty!
Wow! Of course, if using this machine means that my living room is going to look like the one pictured on the box and booklet……. Chaos seems pretty skeptical, doesn’t he? (I highly recommend clicking on these pictures to get the full effect from the larger versions.)
“I think you’ve reached a new low here, Mom…”
“Yikes!”
Hmm, you can see why he was startled, can’t you?! Here’s the machine (made of lovely and sturdy plastic), the project booklet, and a somewhat alarming looking project that the previous owner left in the box. After consulting the booklet, I believe that’s “Peter Pinworm” – I’ll wait while you wipe coffee and Cap’n Crunch off your monitors…
Here’s a page from the booklet, explaining how to knit a “puff” (aka a “knitted granny square,” albeit not square). I’ve always wondered if I could use this thing for making the ever-do-tedious felted bag handles, but based on the warnings, I would have to be very careful with worsted weight yarn… unless it was Orlon. Ewww! I don’t think they make Orlon yarn anymore, do they?! And that’s a good thing…
Manic Random Wednesday
Mostly because I’m feeling wildly disorganized!
SRP Update
Sick as a Parrot by Liz Evans, 327 pages. Ok, ok, I only picked it up because it had a weird title… But now I want to read the rest of the books about British PI Grace Smith… and read them in order!! It was cleverly funny and it kept me guessing up to the end. What’s not to like?
Options to Blogger
Lots of people have been switching from Blogger recently, because of the ongoing frustrations. Carrie K just switched from Blogger to TypePad, and I noticed some questions in her comments about cost and such. Here’s the pricing information for TypePad. You can test drive it for free for 30 days. The basic level ($4.95/mo) includes 100 mb of disk space, and 2 gb of bandwidth per month. For comparison, I’m currently using about 150 mb of disk space (I do use a lot of pictures, but I edit them so they don’t take up as much space as “raw” pictures), and 8 gb of bandwidth per month.
WordPress.com offers free blogs. I poked around their site and couldn’t find any information about disk space and bandwidth restrictions for the free sites – can anyone point me to that information? I do know Frarochvia, EvaLux, and Heather have all recently switched from Blogger to WordPress. I have to say that I really like the look of WordPress blogs better than Blogger blogs, but you know me – I read ’em all! 😉
I’m using WordPress through Dreamhost, which offers an awful lot for $7.95/month: 20 gb of storage, 1 tb (terabyte) of bandwidth/month, free domain registration, up to 675 email accounts (um, yeah, I’m really not taking advantage of that one), free software such as WordPress, and a 97-day money back guarantee. I would recommend that you be at least a bit techy if you go this route.
I’m not sure how Blogger/Google can afford the amount of disk space and bandwidth required to support so many free blogs, so I have to wonder if the problems will get worse, or if storage and bandwidth restrictions will be applied.
Further Rambling
I found two fun books of knitting patterns yesterday at the thrift store. Which baby picture is more odd?!
And here’s where Chaos spends his mornings – from this corner of the living room, he’s able to keep an eye on birds outside the windows:
“Mom! You gave away my secret spot!! I can’t believe you’d do that to me…”
This one’s for Marina, who has been ever so patient
SRP Update
Ok, somehow I didn’t realize SRP ended on Thurday (August 31) and not on Labor Day. D’oh!
Repair To Her Grave by Sarah Graves, 291 pages. Yet another Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery. I might have finished them all now. Or maybe I have one left. Hmm.
Janelle of Eclectic Closet is having a reading-related contest. Leave a comment before September 15 to enter.
I won a contest! It was a surprise contest – apparently I made Valerie’s 100th comment, so she sent me a wonderfully thoughtful package – it’s almost eerie how well she knows me. Check out the purple and black tissue paper and the crazy cat lady card! 😉
A skein of lovely purple Sugar’n’Cream (although, since Valerie suggested it was for a dishcloth and not a bib, I now suspect she’s yet another of y’all on Chaos’ payroll) and some very cool pen bookmarks. Thank you, Valerie!
Ok, poor Marina has been reading for months, waiting for the answer to a question I posed back in January, when I posted this picture and asked if anyone could figure out what was going on here. The cats in question are Chaos’ mom Riley (black) and his brother Diablo (white), taken at my brother’s house last summer – and nope, my brother wasn’t trying to make pressed cats.
These naughty cats jumped between the screen and the glass on the breezeway. The first few times they did it, they were able to push out the screen and escape the house. However, in this picture, they have just discovered that my brother cat-proofed the screens from outside with blocks of wood. These cats are very trapped.
Here’s the the little wooden ledge that my brother had to build to keep the cats from jumping down between the screens:
Sorry you had to suffer through so much purple for that, Marina!
I’m not sure Chaos remembers he has family…
“Just feed me, dammit, and be quick about it! The service in this place is abysmal.”