the Lair of the BookWyrm: It's My Life

Showing posts with label It's My Life. Show all posts

Showing posts with label It's My Life. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Two Front Teeth

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

~*~

So today I’m off to the LYS at lunchtime to get a set of size US7 dpns so I can make some Dashing mitts for the Bro-in-Law. I have no idea what to get for Christmas gifts this year - so I’m going to see how much I can knit between now and then. Well, really between now and Christmas Eve or so, because I will need to leave myself a little bit of emergency shopping time.

Another problem is answering the question of what I want for Christmas. My sister has asked (luckily it was when I didn’t have the ability to answer anyway, due to being busy with something else) and I had no idea what to tell her. Maybe I’ll write up a list of knitting books that people could buy me. Or of paperbacks I want to eventually own. I’m not going to point people at yarn stores, though, because I’d rather be surprised by any yarn purchases.

Life was easier when all I wanted for Christmas was the butterfly She-Ra doll.

~*~

All Suzy wants for Christmas is a cozy warm spot to sleep, either near me or on me. But if I can swing it, she’ll get a knitted mouse toy, too.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Blooming Lotus

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?
- Harry Shearer

~*~

So today’s WIP Wednesday is focusing on the Lotus Blossom tank. (I had hoped to show off snowflakes, but no such luck. I guess it really doesn’t snow much in California.) (Please excuse the bad cell phone pics. One of the problems with a still broken computer is that I can’t get the photos off of my regular digital camera and onto my computer…)

I have been working on the tank a lot lately, partly because I got spoiled by the speed with which the Unoriginal Hat knit up - chunky yarn can be a WONDERFUL thing. Sport-weight (for the tank) isn’t quite as fast, but it beats fingering or lace weights!

Another reason for working on the tank is because it’s cute. I like it. I want to wear it. So I must finish it.

I’m nearly - and hopefully - a third of the way done with it. Hopefully, because I just finished ball #2, and I have 7 in this dye lot. I really hope I don’t have to go scrounging for more of my same dye lot. Cross your fingers that this will be enough yarn! Other people have used this many skeins of this type of yarn for this tank, so we’ll just hope.

And just as a quick “how I’m doing” update, one thing I told M last night (via IM) is that I’m frustrated knowing that I’ll get over him, because I don’t want to have to. That’s about where I stand. I know I’ll move on. I know it will be good for me. And I know that I don’t like the prospect of life without him. Well. Yesterday was a hard day (I was all excited over the weekend about Little Shop and my promotion, and it hit me yesterday that I can’t share it with him the way I want to) and today seems hard-ish but better. We shall see how it goes.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Snow in the Mail

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas A. Edison

~*~

So… today, as promised, I have the winners of the snowflakes!

(Oops… did I say winners? I guess I did.)

I decided to draw names for two snowflakes, because - well, because it’s Christmas. And I feel good this morning. So there. I don’t think you’ll complain.

The two lucky recipients are:

Brigitte & Jess

Yay! Congrats! And I don’t have a picture of the snowflakes yet because I have been really busy with Little Shop and they aren’t starched yet. I’ll get there, I promise.

Brigitte and Jess, e-mail me (at: ca [dot] bookwyrm [at] gmail [dot] com) with your address and I will get the snowflakes in the mail to you!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Random Monday

So, I read the radio programs over at StarDate Online. And one of the recent programs was about warp drive and how to make it possible. As a sci-fi/fantasy writer who needs help getting motivated to do the research she knows she needs to do, I find this incredibly valuable. The info from the program is here if anyone else wants to read it...

Also, I got promoted! Yay! No more reception desk work for me (once we find my replacement). I'll be in HR now. Should be fun, and will definitely be different than I've done before. Gotta love a challenge...

Little Shop auditions went well. Perhaps too well. We had 52 auditioners (as our vocal director says, a full deck) and the script calls for 8 actors... Yikes. We're going to pad out the cast as much as we can, but that brings us to 13-15, max. So we have a tough job of casting cuts to make now.

My personal computer is dark. Poor laptop decided to not turn on over the weekend. So, I wiped the drive and now need to find the time to reinstall Windows XP. With everything else going on in my life (side note: why does everything seem to happen at once?) "finding time" is more difficult than it seems it should be.

And... that's all for now. Must go figure out job stuff.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Make The Check Out To...

An interesting tidbit:

My blog is worth $9,597.18.
How much is your blog worth?

~*~

So, my life is back to more or less on track - even if not the track it was on before. M and I have taken the first, hesitant steps toward a friendship rather than a couple-hood, and I think that (given where he is in his life and mindset right now) he made the right choice for both of us. It was a very wise decision on his part, and one that I would have been unable/unwilling to make had it been left to me. I respect him like crazy. (Still love him too, but one is allowed to love friends.)

(Since I have not been posting many details on this here, it may be confusing to those of you who read this blog and not the WordPress version. It has been harder than I had hoped, and the main part of the difficulty did not hit me until the Thanksgiving holiday also hit me. I am better now. For details, go here.)

If you pray and feel like sending them this way, prayers are appreciated. Especially for strength and healing, for both of us. I think this break-up was nearly as hard for him as it was for me.

~*~

And, in the knit-blogger tradition of thanks (for the support during this difficult time) and the holiday season, I am having a contest. Leave me a comment this week with the name of your favorite Christmas carol (or other holiday song, if you don’t celebrate) and I will enter your name into a drawing for a snowflake hand-crocheted by me! I’m not sure which one, as I haven’t finished making all the ones I will need for presents, but since I like them all, I don’t see where that matters. :p I will collect the names next Monday (12/3) before I leave work at 5pm PST, and will try to post the winner and a picture of the snowflake to be sent on Tuesday, the 4th.

Let’s all get into the holiday spirit together, shall we?

Monday, November 19, 2007

and life goes on

Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.
- Orson Welles

~*~

There will not be much of a post today. But here is a short update.

M and I did break up over the weekend. I hadn't wanted to, but I begin to think that it's for the best. I have settled for being satisfied in previous relationships, and have decided that isn't worth it. So, I was thrilled to be finally happy in a relationship, and wanted to make it work. Now, the problem is, I didn't want him to settle, either. And he doesn't feel we have enough in common to really "fit" together. (My dad phrased it well - he said that M has a lot in common with me, but that I don't have as much in common with him.) So, if we were to stay together, I think he would be settling. Which I don't want.

Anyway, this is hard but not as hard as it could be. We are still friends, and we are going to work at a friendship in a while. Need a little time to adjust first, though. (That is a good thing, as I really didn't want to lose him from my life entirely. It is also a strange thing, as I have never had a "good" breakup like this before.) And I did find out (in words for the first time) that he loves me in his fashion but that he doesn't think he can give me as much as I need. So that is bittersweet.

I think what hurts most is that it doesn't hurt enough. For the beginning of the weekend (during the "silent" phase that some of you mentioned, while he was making sure this was what he wanted to do) it felt like my world was ending. But now, it's just a change. A hard change, but one that was perhaps the right one. It was certainly a very brave thing that he did, and I respect him for it.

~*~

And now it's time to catch up on NaNo. I (obviously) didn't get any writing done over the weekend, and while I have a lot of writing to go, I think I can do it.

Thanks, all for the support. And I guess this ended up being longer than I anticipated. Here is a LOLcat picture to end the post on a smile...

~*~

moar funny pictures

Friday, November 16, 2007

Charged

Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the fine line between sanity and madness gotten finer?
- George Price

~*~

Today will be a hard day for me. Last night was an incredibly emotionally charged night, and while many things were discussed, nothing was resolved. Only, we did at least acknowledge that there were issues to be resolved. (Oh - this is relationship issues, if you wondered or didn’t want to assume.) That’s a start. But when the issues are mainly that he needs to figure out what he wants out of “us” then there’s not much that I can do about it. I know what I want. And I hate the fear that comes of not knowing if he will decide he wants the same thing.

But. Moving on.

There was no writing last night. Nor knitting. And no new pictures. But since I feel sorry for you having to wade through posts with no pictures, here is an old-ish picture of Suzy.

~*~

There’s so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?
- Dick Cavett

~*~

Normally today I would do a Friday Fiver, but it looks like it would be too emotionally charged for me to do while I need to keep my focus up for work. It has questions like “what’s the last thing you threw away?” and “I could have been _____.” So I’m passing on that today.

As a last note on the blog before the weekend, however, I will say that everyone sure seems to take a lot of showers when they have writer’s block! I guess it would be easy to tell whose writing is going well - the people with dirty hair have been typing away while the people who are squeaky clean have been blocked! Heh, at least that made me laugh yesterday. I have a very good group of blog readers.

Thanks, guys.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Now On Paper

So I spent Saturday in San Francisco doing a combination of having fun and being in pain due to a PMS headache. (Hate them!) We wandered around, window shopped, and peeked at the beaches. No sign of the oil spill except for closed beaches and caution tape.

Sunday was more productive, and actually saw writing. I got some good stuff in, and yet it seems that all of the good words lately must be written on paper first, the old-fashioned way, before they can be put into the computer.

Read last week:

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Darwin’s Radio - Greg Bear

And other stuff that I got done… I starched my snowflakes. (Sounds silly, yes I know.) They were still drying when I checked them last night, so I will try to take pictures of them again today. (For one reason or another I don’t want to take more pictures of them until they are finished.) Of the 4 I made, one is from a free online pattern and the other three are from a book. I’ll post the details with the pictures.

I think that’s all for today. Hope you had a good weekend!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Shake, Rattle & Roll

Well, I was going to write a post on NaNo prep and all that, but I got distracted. By an earthquake.

Not today, but last night, there was an earthquake which is the biggest one the San Jose bay area has seen since our major 1989 quake. This particular one was a 5.6 magnitude, centered somewhere in Alum Rock.

Anyway, no injuries here, and the thing that made me write about this instead of NaNo (which I am sure you will get sick of by this time next month anyway) is that when the quake hit, I was in a building with lots of other people of varying ages. The quake was big enough in our area to be quite obviously an earthquake.

And how did we react? It was something along the lines of, “oh, hey, this is an earthquake, isn’t it?” There was some discussion among the younger kids as to whether it really was an earthquake, or whether it might instead have been the teens outside playing a practical joke by banging on the metal roll-up door. (Uh, no. Sorry kids. Earthquake.)

It’s like during the big 1989 quake. (That one was a 6.9 / 7.1 quake. And the “6″ part isn’t bigger than the “5″ part of the recent one by a small amount, but by a large amount. If you want more details on earthquake magnitudes, check here or here. They should be able to give you more science-type data. Remind me to find and scan and post a funny comic about earthquake magnitudes.)

Anyway. The 1989 quake. We still were like, “oh, hey, this is an earthquake. It’s still going on. I guess we should go get in a doorway, or something, huh?” And this was during an earthquake strong enough to knock down a section of the Bay Bridge, to collapse a double-decker freeway, and to send the water in our swimming pool sloshing all the way up to the middle of our kitchen window - which itself was already half a floor above ground level. And yet, “oh hey, it’s an earthquake.”

Californians are a weird breed.

~*~

Update: we just (3:54) had a magnitude 3.7 aftershock. And did I duck and cover like a good Girl Scout? No. I sat at my desk looking around and thinking, "Huh, nothing seems to be in danger. But the plastic decorative weird stuff they have on the wall sure makes some neat squeaking sound. I wonder how big this one is?" I maintain: Californians are weird.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Blog Soup

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.
- Samuel Johnson

Eeep! Not a good quote to have as the quote of the day this close to NaNoWriMo. Ah well. We slog along anyway.

~*~

Randomness today. Hence the title, which is supposed to remind you of Stone Soup. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and lo and behold! A blog post!

~*~

Remember a while ago when I was spinning up singles from some lovely heather green pencil roving I have, and Peekaboo was super interested? Well, a little while later I started plying those singles. And guess who was interested in that?

Yup. Peekaboo again. Only - Suzy was interested, too.

~*~

Today is my repeat visit to the doctor to get my finger looked at. The munch-marks look a lot better today than they did yesterday, but the knuckle is still a bit sore and swollen. It doesn’t look nearly as infected as it had before, though, so that’s a very good sign. Yay antibiotics!

~*~

I have 20 scenes worked up for my NaNo piece, and while that’s not nearly the number I was hoping for it is at least more than it could be. I also have a good base for the characters, and - again - while I don’t have as much as I wanted, what I do have is a good start. Plus, I do still have a day and a half or so left. There is something to be said for procrastinating…

~*~

Work is good. Cats are cute. I am happy. M is stressed, but at least he’s not so stressed that he’s ignoring me. Even if I sometimes have to remind him.

Happy nearly Halloween, everyone! Here’s hoping for lots of treats and very few tricks.

Mom… there’s something moving down here! -Suzy

Monday, October 29, 2007

Without Leave

Sorry for being AWOL last Friday. I was tending to a hurt finger.

Now, there are all kinds of neat reasons why one could have a hurt finger. It could have been used to plug the hole in the dike that kept the water from flooding the town. It could have been injured from knitting or writing too quickly. It could even have been strained from flipping the bird to too many annoying drivers.

But no, mine was hurt because it was munched on by a cat.

A kitten, really. The furball in question is some few months old, and ready to go in for spay/neuter time*. But instead of pulling out the carriers and trying to trap them in those - and accidentally getting any one of the 10+ other cats out front - we thought, “oh, hey! They are all so excited about food, and so used to us by now, that we can just reach down and grab them!”

And so I did.

And so it bit me.

It scratched a fair amount, too, but the bite is the bad part. (I didn’t take pictures, because you really don’t need to be grossed out by it.) Suffice it to say that the first knuckle of my left index finger is still swollen and probably has a minor infection. The nail of same finger was punctured in two places, and there are several other puncture marks and two nice gashes on the ball of the finger. Kitten or not, it has a very efficient mouth for tearing up muscle.

(Right, so we’ll post a pretty picture to distract you from icky injuries.)

Now, the point of this long ramble about me being cat-injured is this: Many of my blog-readers are cat fans. Some of you may have been in situations where you could have been bitten. BUT I don’t know if any of you know just how important it is to SEE A DOCTOR if when you do get bitten by a cat.

Even if this is your indoor cat and so you don’t have to worry about rabies, there is also Cat Scratch disease to worry about. (It’s not only through scratches, though.) Plus, there is just regular infections. Because cats have such sharp teeth, they often leave puncture wounds, which are hard to clean and can easily get infected. Go see a doctor. Get antibiotics.

This site here has some good information on what to do if you are bitten by a cat or a dog. Seriously, people. If this happens to you, take it seriously. We don’t want to hurt the hands that knit, or those that write.

This has been a public service announcement. Thank you for listening. And now… on to the knitting!

There has been much work done on the Swan Lake Stole. I have now finished the first half, and started the second half. This is very exciting news. I also tweaked the pattern to add beads to the eyelet row before the center panel, as shown in the picture below. To do this, I knit the eyelet row as charted, and then on the WS row I placed a bead on every stitch to either side of the YOs. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I had seen someone else on Ravelry do this, and liked it so much that I worked out a mod for it.

And for proof, so that you know I really did start the second half:

*See, Lorraine? I am trying not to turn into the crazy cat lady.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Ye Olde Faire

So, a little over a week ago now is when we went to the Renaissance Faire. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up hanging out with some good friends. That was cool. Plus, we got to see MooNiE and BrooN, which is always a highlight of Faire.

Aaaaand, as you know if you have been following the blog, I made M’s costume last-minute the three nights prior. I think it doesn’t look half bad, if I do say so myself.

I also made my costume, but that one was made over a much more sedate period of time. I’ve had it for a couple of years now, periodically adding bits as I decide they are needed. (The headpiece came later, for example, and the skirt ruffle was added after I decided that the skirt as written in the pattern was too short for me. I think it was meant to be a gypsy skirt, and therefore is supposed to be calf-length rather than ankle-length, but still.)

So, I promised about a week ago that I would provide pictures, and there they are. Us all decked out for Faire. Unfortunately, I only took a very small handful of shots actually AT Faire, and none of the large group of friends I met up with while there. (Ooops.) But maybe that’s because I was having too much fun to remember pictures? Yeah. That must be it.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Around The Blog ~ 9.17.07

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
- Scott Adams

~*~

**Reminder: this is now my secondary blog. (Thanks, Jess, for the comment that made ME remember that...) For the best updates and most posts (because I cross-post most things, but not every thing) go to My WordPress Site.**

Secondly, I have photos. Over the weekend, M and I went to ~~Bonfante~~ Gilroy Gardens. It’s a lovely park, and a very relaxing place. It also has two very fun roller coasters (especially if you are the sort that doesn’t like ~~insane~~ ~~death-defying~~ ~~suicidal~~ intense coasters). And there are other rides, too, and places to sit and people-watch, and lovely, lovely gardens.

Thirdly, it’s been a long time since I’ve done an ‘Around the Blog’ post. So, we’ll have a short one of those today, too. With random photos of mine interspersed.

Mim’s camera is back, and photographing a lovely Seraphim shawl. Nancy at Romancing the Yarn has knit Darth Sweater. Amanda at k is for Knitter has pictures of an almost-finished Duster. Paperback Writer has posted 10 random freeware links and a sign which reads Here Be Cannibals. LesleyW reviews Unshapely Things and Ill Wind. The Sheriff of Knittingham has started her Mystery Stole, L-Squared has a lovely shot of a butterfly, and Chaos tried (unsuccessfully, it would seem) to keep his mom from going away for the weekend.

Hanna is saving the world a step at a time, and Kait has a new niece-burrito. The new Knitty (magazine) is up! Jess has discovered humility and her brain on procrastination. Bri at Have Goggles Will Fly has a couple of “musts” to share. Melanie at Pink Lemon Twist got some weather assisted knitting done. And Brigitte at Wrapped Around My Finger has some new yummy yarn to show off.

Have a happy Monday, all! I’ll be posting about my new fiber (that I got from the wonderful Tamara of Spincerely Yours,) tomorrow. Suzy pictures tomorrow, too.

Friday, September 14, 2007

A Test of Courage

Friday Fiver: But in your dreams whatever they be

1. Do you like looking at stars? Absolutely. I can stargaze for hours, as long as I don’t get cold and my neck doesn’t hurt too much.

2. Who do you say “I love you” to? My family and M. And my pets. They seem to appreciate it, too.

3. Did you say “good night!” to anyone last night? Yep. (Oh, you want to know who? M and my parents.)

4. When is the last time you felt blue? I dunno. I try not to dwell on it, and so forget it fairly quickly. I was angry yesterday, but that’s more red than blue.

5. Tell us one of your dreams: I really don’t remember them much. The one that I remember the best is a nightmare from when I was probably around 10, in which I started flying on my bicycle, and when I landed I was caught by an animated skeleton. Not a good dream.

The first part of this post was the Friday Fiver, and pure fun. I don’t have a Friday Snippet today, sorry. Still working things out with what - if anything - I want to post right now.

The rest of this post will be a bit more … well, it’s raw for me, and more political than I usually get.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

So, last night I saw an advance viewing of In the Valley of Elah. I was given a pass by a co-worker who gets them from a PR firm, and I’m glad I went since this is a film I probably wouldn’t have seen, otherwise.

I know, the inevitable question is, “did you like it?” Or, “was it a good movie?” I don’t know how to answer either of those questions. It was a very well acted movie. It was a movie that made me think. It was an unconventional movie that deals with hard truths which most people would rather forget about. I am glad I saw it. I would recommend it to those who are prepared for it to be a hard movie to watch, and who don’t mind some nudity or scenes of violent death. I do not know if I will watch it again. It is still too raw in my mind to make that decision.

One of the things that the movie brought up to me (for those that don’t know, it deals with a missing soldier and his unit who have just returned home from the war in Iraq) is how under-prepared our soldiers are for what they face. They may be trained enough physically, but emotionally and mentally there is so much more going on than they are ready for. I do not know how to better prepare them. I don’t even have a clue how to begin. But I think that we need to do something about it.

We should be putting more money into the military, but not for more troops - we should be putting the funds into making sure the troops we already have are cared for, and are prepared for the horrors that is modern warfare. (I was not around to think this at the time, but I’m sure that this was needed in Vietnam, too. And I have believed for some time that it was needed for the Gulf War. And it is still something that seems largely ignored or swept under the rug.)

(Back to the movie…)

One interesting note was the underlying religious themes in the movie. The title seems out of place, until Tommy Lee Jones’ character starts telling the story of David and Goliath to Charlize Therone’s character’s son. He tells about how the battle took place in the valley of Elah, and how in order to beat Goliath, David first had to conquer his own fear.

And that seems to be the main focus of the movie, for me.

Not the mystery behind who killed Mike Deerfield (Jones’ character’s son), or why he was killed, or even what is pictured in the broken-up video clips Mike shot while in Iraq. Overcoming your fears and besting the monsters inside you… that is the real theme of the movie.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Remember.

It may not be much, and perhaps isn’t enough.

But it’s the least we can do.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Finally

Yay! The Friday Fiver is back! Woo hoo!

Friday Fiver: Why do you build me up?

1. Who never returns your phone calls?
~ No one. I don't place many calls to people who wouldn't call back.

2. What was your favorite childhood toy?
~ Um. No idea. I have a childhood blankie (still around, somewhere) and a favorite stuffed dog. But toy*? Dunno.

3. Who is the last person you greeted at your door?
~ Probably M. It's been a while since I opened the door (my door, as opposed to work's door) and so I forget.

4. Who do you need?
~ Don't be silly. M. Family, too.

5. Do you break hearts or do you have your heart broken?
~ A little bit of both, I'm afraid.

Also finally, M is back! I hate extended business trips. Especially 24-hour-notice "by the way someone quit so you have to fly out tomorrow to cover the workload" business trips.

And, my Friday Snippet is now here permanently. Go. Read. Join the Linky.

* Side note: instead of writing "toy" I put in "boy." I know that one. My favorite childhood boy was Zach. I told his older sister that we were going to get married when we grew up. I was three.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Turn Around, Bright Eyes

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We’ll be holding on forever

~*~

Okay, okay, so it wasn’t a total eclipse of the heart. (Those that don’t get the reference, go here.)

It was a total eclipse of the moon. Last night, around 2:30 PDT, I looked out my window and saw that the previously incandescent moon was half eaten. (Yes, I got up at 2:30 in the morning on a work night so that I could see the moon vanish into the Earth’s shadow. So I’m an astronomy geek at heart. So sue me.)

Anyway, it’s not often that you are in a good spot to see a total eclipse. So, I wanted to see this one. And it was worth it. My whole family got up (or stayed up) and went outside to watch. Earlier that evening, you could have read a book by the light of the moon; after the moon was fully eclipsed, we practically needed a flashlight to find our way in off the porch.

I just wish we had a telescope set up. It was really cool to see as it was, but that would have been neater. Though, it was also fun watching the eclipse reflected in the pool. The slight ripples along the surface of the water mixed with the slowly creeping shadow… very nice.

The biggest problem was our back porch cat was so very friendly, and we were so very preoccupied, that he started nipping at my toes to get attention.

Speaking of cats… My Suzy has been taking lessons from Mayhem. She has determined that Addis (circular sock needles, for the uninitiated) taste very good.

‘Mmmm… yummy.’

Monday, August 20, 2007

Monday, Monday

It's Monday. And I was almost late to work because I almost missed my light rail train. That was because I was having troubles with my car. My - NEW - car. Which is a manual (aka stick-shift, aka type-of-car-I've -never-owned-in-my-life) and so I was driving more cautiously. And slower. And with more unexpected stops at stop signs. But OH MY GOSH IS IT FUN! I love that car. (Which car? This car:

Anyway, that's one thing I did over the weekend. Bought a new car.

Another thing I did over the weekend was go to a wedding. And I brought my sock. (No, not to the ceremony, but that will be addressed on Thursday.) And I knit a bit in the car, and took a traveling sock photo while waiting for the bridal party to arrive at the reception. (Only to find out later that we'd been expected to stay for the wedding photos, even though we figured that we were distant enough family that we thought we shouldn't.)

But the sock had fun. It got to lounge on the rocks by the San Francisco Bay, looking out from the Berkeley shore to the City. Lovely view, too. No fog to speak of (except far out), nice cool breeze... in short, California showing off. I love it here. (Until I look at my budget. But that's another story.)

Anyway, within a few days I expect to have finished Icarus photos to show you. Or at least beaded Icarus photos. (I'm putting beads on the edging. Mim mentioned how somewhere on her blog, for those of you who - like me - purchased the pattern by way of Interweave Knits, and so don't have the beading instructions. I had a link here somewhere. Either look through my 'Icarus' category, or do a search on Mim's site.) It will almost certainly not be a BLOCKED Icarus until this weekend. At the earliest.

Have a good week!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Weekend Warriors

The sock went traveling over the weekend. (The sock in question is the Mini Monkey from the TOFUtsies yarn.) (And yes, I went traveling with it.)

We went down from Northern California to So Cal, by way of the Grapevine.

Sock @ Grapevine

It was hot, but not nearly so hot as it could have been. And hey - it's California. Hot in the summertime is expected. We went visiting (M has family there) and playing (yay Downtown Disney!) and also went to the Rose Bowl. The whole purpose of the trip (besides visiting family) was to go see the DCI* finals. We got to spend around 4 hours sitting in warm California summer evening weather, watching colorful flags and costumes, listening to horns and the drumline. Ah, contentment.

And then, when all was said and done, the corps we were rooting for won. Yay! Go Blue Devils!

Sock @ Hollywood

I had a blast. (Heh. Pun intended.) And then on Sunday the sock and I went to Tommy Burger (where the sock did not take a picture in order to avoid getting chili all over) and then home by way of Hollywood. Very nice, mostly relaxing trip.

And that was my weekend. How was yours?

(*DCI = Drum Corps International. I am a marching band junkie, and proud of it.)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Rock This!

If you can't find a reason to dislike me that's more pointed than my skin tone--or my entire phenotype, I suppose--you're suffering from a huge lack of imagination.
~avangyline

For some reason, I totally forgot to mention that Jess nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I have no idea why I neglected to thank her, or to share the news. But I did. And I will do it now instead.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

And in keeping with tradition, I will also nominate some of my favorite bloggers for the award as well. It seems that there is a set of MEME-like rules for it as well:

The Rockin’ Girl Blogger idea came from Roberta Ferguson. And the deal is that you; 1) give her credit, 2) put up the badge and 3) add 5 other rockin girl bloggers to the list.

So, here are my five nominees for the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award (in no particular order):

avangyline, aka annatheunknown, who writes cool things;
LesleyW, who jumped into blogging with an awesome book review site;
Hannah, who posts super neat things, especially on Fridays;
Amanda, who gets great photos of her knitting to share; and
Melanie, who is my new knitting designer hero.

If you have the time, go visit their sites and say hi! (Though I can't say for sure if avangyline's LiveJournal will let you in if you're not her friend already. But as you can tell from the quote at the top of this post, it's well worth finding out if she has her site friends-locked.)

So now those of you who are astute will be wondering, "where is the writing content? It's Wednesday; there's supposed to be writing stuff!"

Well, I don't have anything yet. I'm working on my list of things to do, but I don't have any progress worth mentioning. (Except I bought a new pen... there's nothing like stationary products as a gift for a writer!) So, there will be a writing post next Weds - progress or not. But there isn't one today. Sorry! I hope you guys are having a great hump day!

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