Lost Arts

Happy Winter Solstice!

2011-12-22T05:35:00.001-05:00

The Winter Solstice happened very early this morning, right after midnight. Things can only get brighter for the next six months, although it will probably get colder before it starts to get warmer.

From my viewpoint, both of these things can only be good. It hasn't gotten really cold yet, and in spite of having my windows wide open, it's been around 80 degrees in my apartment all day.

I'm about to make myself sound old, but I really am old enough to have seen a change in climate, and I can see that things are getting warmer.

OK, when I was a kid, I lived in, and later right outside Philadelphia, and now I live near Washington DC, but there shouldn't be that much difference in Winter temperatures. By the beginning of December, we would have had at least one snowfall, and it would be cold enough for us to ice skate almost anywhere there was water, except in the channel of the Pennsauken Creek, where there was running water and it didn't freeze. At this point, I still need to keep my windows open in my sauna (which my apartment building manager euphemistically calls "my apartment") to stave off heat stroke.

When I looked for photos of the Winter Solstice on the internet, all I got was photos of snowy landscapes. But if you look out my window, it really doesn't look like that at all.

It rained today! It was all drizzly and warm (not for Summer, but definately for this time of year). Something is seriously out of whack with our weather!

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I hope you've finished getting/making all your Christmas presents! I, personally, am so far behind that I've given up completely, and explained to everyone that this Christmas is such a disaster that only a few people will be getting Christmas presents, and it has nothing to do with how I feel about each individual, it's based on whose present I happened to make first, and I hope I'll do better next year.

I finished up all the stockings I've been making on commission, and delivered the last three today only to discover that there's a dispute about the date on one of the stockings. Although I put the date I was told to put on it, it may not be the right one. I can fix it, but I'm waiting on confirmation of the date before I do that.

So, the stockings aren't completely done.

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If you're up for it, you can track Santa and what he's up to via NORAD!

I just realized that my former Christmas countdown at the bottom of the page is no longer working, and have replaced it with a temporary countdown timer. I'll get a better one in there soon, but in the meantime, at least you can see how much time is left.

And to get you in the Christmas spirit, here's something that's been wandering around the internet so long that nobody can remember where it came from, but it's a lot of fun:

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all around me
Was unfinished knitting not under the tree.
The stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care
’cause the heels and the toes had not a stitch there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds
but I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep; he was no help at all,
And the sweater for him was six inches too small.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I put down my needles to see what was the matter.
Away to the window, I flew like a flash,
Tripped over my yarn and fell down with a crash.

The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow
Reminded me how much I still had to go.
Out on my lawn, I heard such a noise,
I thought it would wake both dad and the boys.

And though I was tired, my brain was a bit thick,
I knew in a moment, it must be Saint Nick.
But what I heard then left me perplexed-ed,
For not a name I heard was what I had expected
“move, Ashford; move, Lopi; move, Addie and Clover
Move, Reynolds; move, Starmore; move, Fraylic–move over”
“Paton, don’t circle round; stand in line.

Come now, you sheep wool work just fine!
I know this is hard semi, it’s just your first year,
I’d hate to go back to eight tiny reindeer.”
I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing,
Eight woolly sheep on my lawn all a’grazing.

And then,in a twinkle, I heard at the door
Santa’s feet coming across the porch floor.
I rose from my knees and got back on my feet,
And as I turned round, Saint Nick, I did meet.

He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe
And his clothes were handknit from above to below.
A bright Fairisle sweater he wore on his back,
and his toys were all stuffed in an Aran knit sack.
His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace,
A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.

The scarf round his neck could have stretched for a
mile,
And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.
The back of his mittens bore an intricate cable,
And suddenly on one I spied a small label.
SC was duplicate stitched on the cuff,
and I asked “Hey Nick, did you knit all this stuff?”

He proudly replied “Ho-ho-ho, yes I did,
I learned how to knit when I was a kid.”
He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man,
And I laughed to myself for I’d thought up a plan.

I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,
And the next thing he knew he was tied to a chair.
He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap
Where I’d laid my needles and yarn for a cap.

He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two;
For the first time I thought I’d really get through.
He put heels on the stockings and toes in some socks
While I sat back drinking Scotch on the rocks!!

So quickly like magic, his needles they flew,
That he was all finished by quarter to two.
He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,
And over his shoulder he looked back at me.
And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon
“Next year start your knitting sometime around June.”

-Author Unknown

And here's a little something for Christmas. Check out how to put a twisted fringe on the side or in the middle of something you're knitting here ! This is really cool!

If I don't get a chance to blog before then, have the best Christmas ever!

Today's Lunar Eclipse

2011-12-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

I had intended to blog about this before the event, but didn't realize it was this morning instead of tonight. But since it was best viewed from Asia, most people one the East coast wouldn't get a great view of it anyway.

You can see some spectacular photos of the event here, along with information about the eclipse including links to other sites. NASA's Lunar Eclipse page has more information about this and other eclipses as well as general eclipse information.

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Most of my time has been taken up lately by two things: Finishing the last three Christmas stockings for the commission I'm working on, and finishing the cover of the third Steve Canyon on DVD, plus the slipcover for all three DVDs for people who bought all three. You can see the art, and simulations of the art at the link.

But. I have been doing a little knitting for a new design. I showed this photo in my last post.

I have since finished the whole scarf, and even darned in the myriad ends, but haven't taken a photo yet. It turned out beautifully, though, and I'm reknitting it in a better yarn with a few small modifications, mostly in relationships of sizes and spaces of various parts of the scarf. It has a braided section near each end, making it look rich and gloriously understated. This cries out for cashmere or mohair for a luxurious scarf. It's not what you usually think of as a Celtic Braid, but it really is. And, being a scarf, it's reversible! I hate it when scarves aren't reversible!

And I finally got together the money for a newer computer, which is a nice little laptop iBook (G4). It's not new, but is a big upgrade from the computer I have. I also obtained the software I need to lay out and make PDF files of knitting patterns, so this pattern may be available soon. It's possible I'll also redo my free patterns as PDFs, too.

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Some people have been bemoaning the fact that the Home and Garden and the DIY Networks have pretty much stopped showing craft shows and are only showing home improvement. I can understand it for HGTV, but for DIY, it's inexcusable!

I recently discovered that one of the local PBS stations has more than their original UHF broadcast station and on one of the new, HD stations they broadcast, they show Knitting Daily and Beads, Baubles and Jewels.

A lot of Knitting Daily is stuff I already know, but there are some unexpected gems thrown in there, even for experienced, skilled knitters. One of those gems taught me to do a twisted German cast-on, which is a much stretchier cast on, and almost makes a small rolled edge that I think is very pretty, and so I'm using it for a lot of things. If you want to learn that, you'll have to record all the shows until it comes around again, and then play that part of the show, back and forth until you catch on to what they're doing. At least I did.

The other show, Beads, Baubles and Jewels, has reawakened my desire to make silver jewelry. I used to have a business (Maxwell's Silver Hammer) and made a meager living making silver jewelry. The show is great because although it shows the usual beading techniques, it also shows some very advanced and sophisticated silver work involving torches and other advanced equipment!

I want to buy some silver and a torch!

I've been restraining myself, but I have bought some jewelry pliers and some charms to make stitch markers from. They've been mailed to me and should arrive any day now. In fact, they could be downstairs waiting for me to pick them up on Monday. Packages can be delivered to my apartment building, but we can't pick them up except during office hours.

Anyway, I bought some good quality jewelry pliers at a highly discounted price. They're especially engineered to be ergonomic, and especially designed to fit women's hands, although I think they'd work fine for guys, too. The handles are longer to give you more leverage (like the really expensive ones), and therefore stress your hands less, and the handles are shaped to make the business end at a more ergonomic, comfortable angle to work with. And, on top of that, they're even pretty! I love good tools! They can make or break your work.

Here are photos of three that I ordered: First the round nose pliers.

And needlenose pliers. These also have a cutter in them!

And a pair of longnose pliers.

And if these turn out as great as I hope they do, I want to order the three-in-one pliers. This looks like it would be very handy. Sort of an improvement on rosary pliers.

They also have two different cutters that I can't decide between.

Supplies are important, and they wind up being the finished product, so if you skimp on them, you don't have as good a project as you otherwise might, but tools are forever. You'll use them over and over again and they have the power to make your projects shine, or make them look like they were made by someone who didn't know what they were doing.

I also ordered some charms, and some knitters I know may get some stitch markers for Christmas. If I can part with any of them. I'm even thinking about checking out the jewelry making magazines.

Well, all this hasn't even arrived yet, so there will be a lot more to write about.

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In the meantime, The Holiday is on, and it may be my favorite Christmas movie. I'm recording it, but I have so much to do that I haven't been doing that I need to stop writing and get something done so I can watch it again. It will be on again between now and Christmas if you want to catch it. Just check your local listings, and the 21st keeps running through my head as a date that it will be on. No guarantees, but you could start looking there.

Only 15 days until Christmas!

If you're making presents, better get moving!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy December!

2011-12-02T19:39:00.001-05:00

Happy December!

Here's a reminder: If you scroll down, there's a countdown to Christmas at the bottom of this page.You can find out how much time you have before those presents have to be ready.

I finally have a photo of a knitting project that I can actually post! In other words, it's not a Christmas present that the person it's for can see it and ruin the surprise, and it's not another Christmas stocking that's exactly like all the others except for the name and date on it.

This struck me as a good idea, and I've been knitting it in between all the other things I'm doing. The photo shows a project that still has ends to darn in, but I think you'll get the idea that it's going to be a really neat scarf.

In case you're curious, that scarf is actually braided.

I plan to write a pattern for it, and also for a hat and a set of mitts/mittens to match.

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I know I haven't been writing much lately, but that should improve a bit with the new year.

I've been working on a commission for Christmas stockings like the ones I did a few years ago. It's getting down to the wire on Christmas things and there's a lot to knit on them. They're all colorwork, and there are SO many ends to darn in! Not to mention having to consult a chart every few stitches! So, they're really slow going!

In addition to that, we're getting to the end of the Steve Canyon on TV DVDs, and there's suddenly the slipcase to do, and the third cover to finish. A lot of the work on the third cover was done a while ago, but I have a photo to colorize for it, and all the finishing touches (at this point) for the slipcase.

And now I have to get back to work on it all.

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T18:02:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgiving is the best one ever!

If you haven't checked out the Panopticon, do so now! Franklin is always fun!

I've been thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for. I'm going to leave out a lot of them, because they sound too much like complaints, not thanksgiving.

But here are some things I can be unreservedly thankful for:

New, 19 inch LCD TV this year!
I got a Samsung Galaxy Tab this year!
It looks like I'm going to be finished with the Steve Canyon on DVD covers and slipcase before the end of the year! It was fun to do, but I'll be glad when it's finished.
I have a commission to knit Christmas stockings, and it looks like I'm going to have another commission to knit more stockings, which could earn me enough money to get a refurbished Mac laptop! This seems to be the year of technology.
After three years of Social Security that hasn't gone up at all, while prices of the things I need soared, SS has decided to give me an increase of $4 per month. The thing that's good about that is that they made it retroactive to 2007, and they're giving me all the extra that I should have been getting in a lump sum of $240 in January along with my regular payment!
I'm reasonably healthy, as long as I take care of myself, and can still walk around, even if it does hurt.
I discovered a local yarn store in my area (Yarn Cloud), which had been there for a while, but I didn't know it. They have great stuff!
I discovered Chiaogoo lace needles, the best ones in the world, and bought a batch of them!

I'm sure I'll think of more things to be thankful for!

I have to go. I want to finish up the current batch of stockings for tomorrow so that I can get paid for them!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Veteran's Day!

2011-11-11T19:28:00.001-05:00

Happy Veteran's Day!

I hope you've been having a happy Veteran's Day! I intended to post something for it earlier in the day, but I've been so exhausted the past few weeks and especially yesterday.

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Since I live in HUD subsidized housing for senior citizens and disabled people, November is time for our yearly inspections.

Since I have some environmental allergies, I asked about air conditioning before signing my lease, and they lied, or at least made it sound like the apartment's environmental conditions were completely different than they actually are.

The result is that I was sick for about 50% of the first year I was here and the time I've spent sick has been longer every year. About a month ago, after four courses of antibiotics (this year), and an emergency room visit (which cost Medicare about $3,000!) I finally got to be reasonably well, about two weeks before they shut off the air conditioning again. I've had some high temperatures in my apartment and my choice was between heat stroke with the windows shut (it's been 110 degrees in my apartment with the windows open) or an allergic reaction that's likely to give me severe sinus congestion with a high probability of another infection that could have me taking antibiotics again for another year or more.

There are no good answers here, except getting a portable air conditioner, which the manager strictly forbids, no matter how sick it makes tenants.

So, I'm coming up on nearly two years of feeling like I have flu almost nonstop.

The result is that my apartment is not as neat as I would like it to be, so I've been cleaning.

Inspection was on Thursday, early in the morning (when I'm usually so sick I'm still asleep). I was really, really afraid that they'd evict me, but, to my great relief, I passed the inspection.

I don't want to talk about this anymore, though, because it's just too depressing.

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In the meantime, I'm doing some minor art to be printed for a friend who is actually going to pay me for it later in the month! And, as if that weren't good enough news, I also have a commission to knit some Christmas stockings, plus they're adding on a few extra, which will boost the total amount I get for that.

So, I've been pretty busy.

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Tuesday, I ached all over from my exposure to ragweed, but I went out and voted anyway. I felt like somebody had beaten me up by the time I got home! The bus stop I used is right next to a thrift store, and I went in because I had a long wait until the next bus.

One of the neat things they had was a small wing-back chair. Now that I know I'm not going to be evicted (at least not for another year), I plan to go back tomorrow to see if it's still there. I really hope so. It's comfy, and the arm rests don't bash my elbows like my current chair. I really hope nobody else has bought it before I get the chance!

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As far as knitting stuff is concerned, I've been knitting Christmas stockings on commission, and Christmas presents, which I can't show here. So, I'm very boring as far as knitting goes, and probably will be for a while.

But I hope you've been doing some great knitting and I wish you a fabulous weekend!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:11:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween!

Boo!

You can't just knit a mitten and slap two eyes on it. It has to be looser than most mittens, and the part around the bottom has to flair out and be bigger.

But he's cute! Everybody who saw him today laughed.

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Yesterday, I went to the new yarn store that I just found. It's called Yarn Cloud, and it's nearby. Being nearby doesn't mean that it's easy to get there on the bus.

They have Chiaogoo lace needles, which are the best needles I've ever used! I like them even better than the Addi lace needles! The points are nicer, and they're stainless steel instead of the smelly, oxidizing brass. I got an assortment, and I'll be back for more on Friday.

I'm Back

2011-10-16T18:39:00.000-04:00

I'll bet you thought you'd gotten rid of me, but no such luck.

I've been attempting to do some housecleaning, with very little luck. What I've learned from this little exercise is that I'm really good at finding other things to do rather than doing what I should be doing.

I may skip around to a few different subjects while I catch up on what I didn't write.

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If you're reading this and it's still today, turn on the TV and tune in to AMC! They're having a Walking Dead marathon on today, ending with the last episode of last season, and following that with the first episode of the new Fall season! Do it now!

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This is really about socks, so keep reading, even if it doesn't sound like it at first. Or, if you're not a knitter, you can skip this part.

I watched the Graham Norton show on BBC in America the other night. I don't usually watch it, but he had David Tenent and Catherine Tate, so I watched it.

There was a big discussion about weird things that people do, and bizarre habits people have. Some of the guests revealed their strange likes and habits.

They eventually got around to David Tenent, and asked him if he had any odd habits. He said that he wears all-black socks, and because they're all the same color and dark, he can never find a pair. He opens the windows and turns on the lights and spreads socks out on the bed, and holds prospective pairs up to see if the ribbing matches, etc.

But he's found a solution to the problem! He pulled off his shoe, and revealed that his proper black socks had heels and toes that are PINK! He color-codes pairs of socks for easy match-up later!

Personally, I hate to lose one sock of a pair, and always make at least four pairs alike (from the same yarn in the same pattern) so I can still wear them if I lose one.

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In more knitting news, I have a commission to make five Christmas stockings. A couple of years ago, I did this for one member of a family. They had a relative who made Christmas stockings for each member of the family, but she's gone now, and they want matching socks for the newer members of the family (which they keep churning out), so two years ago, I made some stockings for them. This time, a different family member has asked for five more.

Here's what they look like:

Those are ones that I made in the last batch. I have an order in for the yarn, and new knitting needles because I can't find the ones I used before.

The part about the knitting needles will be interesting if you're a knitter.

I've been reading some knitting forums about different brands and types of knitting needles, and I'm trying something new this time. According to one review, the points on the Chiaogoo lace needles is almost exactly the same as the stiletto points on the Signature needles. So, I ordered two pair of circular needles in size 4. They should be here soon, and I can hardly wait to try them out.

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I'm going to go watch what's left of Walking Dead now, and I'll post again soon!

I hope you've been having a wonderful weekend!

Happy Autumn!

2011-09-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

Happy Autumn!

www.teacherfiles.com

That's right, it's the first day of Fall, again!

I hope you've been knitting scarves, mitts and hats for the cooler weather that's coming!

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Fall also means new shows on TV!

Tonight, there is a new show called A Gifted Man. It's about a guy who is visited by his dead wife, who is now a ghost. I don't know a lot about it because it's just come on, and I haven't seen it yet. Sounds good, though!

I'm attracted to it in the first place because of the supernatural aspect, but, from what I read on the site I provided a link to, it's also about what's happening to the poor people in this country. And there are more poor people than ever before in this country.

I supported myself all my life, until the economy tanked, I lost my job (office politics) and can't find another one. I used to be middle class, now my income is below the poverty line.

That wouldn't be too bad if it was just me, but there are a lot of other people in the same boat. I, and many other people are now facing hard choices. I'm having to stay in an apartment building where the management doesn't care that the conditions here are making me sick and making it more difficult to even exist. But I'm stuck, because there's no place else I can afford, and no money to move even if I had a place to move to.

With any luck, it'll be a great series, and will raise some conciousness.

I'm going to stop writing now, because I really do want to watch it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ghost Story!

2011-09-22T20:08:00.000-04:00

I finished reading the newest book in the Dresden Files series, Ghost Story, last night and and loved it! When I got to the end, I wanted to jump up and shout "Yes!"

This is the book I wanted the last time around and was disappointed.

I really want to tell you what it's all about, but don't want to spoil it for you.

What you'll find out at the beginning of the book is: Harry's back, and he's a ghost! Three of his friends will die if he doesn't find out who killed him. So, he's working on the case of his life: finding his own murderer!

Jim Butcher is one of the few authors who can write a thriller that has all the excitement and suspense it should, but also makes me laugh at the same time, and this one is no exception, in fact, it shines in this respect. Late in the book, Harry gets into Molly's mind while he's trying to save her, and it's a wonderful place!

Oh, I want to go on and on, but as River Song says, "Spoilers!"

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I may be doing some knitting for profit soon. When I say "profit" in relationship to knitting, you know it's a joke, don't you? It's more like I may be knitting some things on commission.

I have been contacted about knitting more Christmas stockings, and it would entail a lot of knitting, but a good piece of change at the end. My hands are going to hurt!

The other thing is someone has asked me to design and knit some baby hats in various sizes. I'll get a little for the hats themselves and will retain the rights to the design, so I can write up the directions and sell the patterns. That should be more lucrative in the long run, but it'll take a while for the money to trickle in in dribs and drabs. This will be more of an ongoing thing, and will require less of my time at any one point, but might require more over the long haul.

The stockings, on the other hand, will be a lot of intense knitting at a point in time when I wanted to spend my knitting time on Christmas presents that I intend to give. They require following a chart, and a lot of colorwork, which means lots of ends to weave in, and a big, tangled mess to sort out over and over again while I'm knitting. But there will be money, and I've been pretty short on that for a while.

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Some of the new shows for the Fall season have been starting this week, and more will start next week. the new season of The Big Bang Theory will start in five minutes (as I'm writing this). At the same time, the new Charlies Angels will come back to TV.

Holly is always down on me because she disapproves of Charlie's Angels and I don't. She feels it's anti-feminist, and I think it's one of the best things that ever happened to feminism. Sure, a lot of guys tuned in for the jiggle factor, but they got to see women doing things that only men had done before that, and they did it not only competently, but with flair and style. Week after week, they tuned in to watch women who were intelligent, strong, and independent doing things that women had never been shown doing before. They rode motorcycles, blew up things, used firearms, and caught the bad guys. And the guys who watched were completely unaware that they were being brainwashed each week.

I can't stand this. I have to go catch The Big Bang Theory!

Have a great evening!

Knit Jargon

2011-09-10T17:57:00.000-04:00

Not too long ago, I joined an online knitting group called Knitting Paradise. They have an online forum, and it's the first knitting one I've really gotten involved in, largely because they send me an email every day with a link.

There was recently a link to a thread about knitting jargon, and I thought it was so funny that I'm going to try to organize it a bit here so you can all enjoy it.

If I find more jargon, I'll just add it here, so you may want to come back sometime in the future to check it.

CAL: Crochet A Long. I know it should be crochet along, but the acroynym doesn't work that way.
CIP: Crochet In Progress.
Frog: The rip-it, rip-it stitch.
KAL: Knit A Long. I know it should be Knit along, but the acronym doesn't work that way.
KIP: Knit In Progress.
Lifeline: A contrasting smooth yarn that's threaded through a row on complicated patterns so that later you can frog back to it if you make a mistake.
LYS: Local Yarn Store.
OTK : On The (Knitting)Needles, aka WIP.
PIGS: Projects In Grocery Sacks.
SABLE: Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. We have Stephanie Pearl McPhee to thank for that one.
SEX: Stash enrichment expedition.
SKANK: funny way of saying skein of yarn (skein+hank=skank)
TINK: To unknit. TINK is KNIT spelled backward.
TOAD: Trashed Object Abandoned in Disgust
WIP: Work in Progress.
Yarn barf: When you try to pull yarn from the center of the ball and can't find the end, it creates yarn barf.

Just a little update for you knitters who may not have heard all the latest expressions. PIGS, TOAD and SEX were new to me, but I love them!

Have a great weekend, in spite of it being the anniversary of 911, and all the grief that's going to stir up!

The Return of the Knitting Blog!

2011-09-07T19:54:00.000-04:00

I've been writing about other things for a while, but I'm back on the subject of knitting!

I read The Yarn Harlot's Blog earlier this week (last week?), and she was going nuts over a pattern called Catkin. I checked it out on Ravelry, and it was already in my favorites. The link to the blog goes to the particular post where she began to speak about it, and it has a link to the pattern. The Ravelry link to the pattern is here, and I can't seem to find it anywhere but Ravelry. You need to join Ravelry to get the pattern (apparently), but joining is free, and very fun! There's no place else that I can find a discussing of the latest Doctor Who episode by all knitters!

Do click a link and see the photos of the shawl/scarf! It can be worn so many ways, and it's so pretty!

Anyway, as with Stephanie, after seeing this pattern, it drove me nuts. So, I bought the pattern and knitted the swatch. Knitting the swatch was important because I don't have a needle that's long enough for the whole thing, and if I'm going to have to order one, it might as well be an Addi lace needle. And they're expensive enough that I don't want to have to order one that's the wrong size!

Anyway, here's the swatch:

I just happened to have some Knit Picks Palette yarn on hand, so I used it to do the swatch. I have lots of the pale grey color (mist) and I ordered more a few minutes ago for the contrasting colors to make three different versions, one for Holly (it's a Christmas present, but she already knows about it; she even picked the colors), myself, and another Christmas present for a recipient who is not to be named at this time.

Actually, I didn't get the color Holly picked. They've added some new colors since she picked it last week, and I got one that looks almost identical on the screen, but is a heathered color, which I think will look much better than a solid color in the scarf/shawl.

In fact, all three of the colors I ordered are heathered. Here's the one for Holly:

It's called Blue Note Heather, and I think it's going to look so much better than a solid color!

Here's the one for me. It's called Mineral Heather.

And for the mystery person, we have Huckleberry Heather.

I think these are going to be three really beautiful scarves! I might have to knit another one or two. It's not quick and easy knitting, though. Except for the section around the neck, the whole thing is charted, and it's complicated enough that it's got to be a problem to memorize, although some rows do repeat. I should finish the first one before I decide to make too many more.

Now, I have to wait for the yarn to arrive!

In the meantime, I might knit a practice shawl from the Bluebell color, which is the blue in the swatch, that I also have a lot of and some of the Mist that I've got stockpiled.

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I need to go out and do errands, but they just put down carpet in the lobby and the whole first floor of my apartment building, and nobody is allowed to walk on it, so everybody is either stuck in their apartments or can't get into their apartments. It's going to be my turn soon (although I don't know when yet). They originally said that we wouldn't be able to walk on the floor for a day, but now it's the second day, and it might be another one.

I went to the library yesterday (and got a copy of Ghost Story!), but it took me about 20 minutes to get out of the building. There was a sign diverting me from using the front elevator to get off on the first floor and directing me to the freight elevator. But the freight elevator wasn't working, which took me almost
15 minutes to realize.

I kept thinking that since it was making little noises like it had just arrived at a different floor that it was working. In reality, the little dinging noises were a distress call from an elevator that was stuck, but knew it should go to the floor where someone pressed the button.

I finally took the stairs down, passing a woman who was about 85, carrying up a heavy load of laundry from the basement. I'm surprised she didn't die on the spot. She had already carried it up 5 floors, and might have as much as two more to go.

I hope you're having a better week than the residents of this apartment building are!

True Confessions of a Rock 'n Roll Groupie!

2011-09-04T20:20:00.001-04:00

Yes, It's true. Back in the early '80s, I was a groupie for a rock 'n roll band called Truc of America. I can't spell it properly on the 'net, because, depending on your computer, it'll come out looking like it does in the comics when someone uses bad language.

Truc (when spelled right) has a horizontal line over the U. It's French, and means a neat trick or a gadget. Or look it up here.

At the end of the '70s, I moved from the Washington, DC area back to New Jersey. Shortly afterward, a friend of mine, Tony, moved back down to where he used to live in Florida. Not too long after that, I got a letter from him inviting me so stay with the band he was doing lighting for in Cape May, NJ, where they were going to be playing for two weeks.

It was actually a bit more than two weeks, because it included three weekends, the last of which was Memorial Day Weekend. I had a blast, and so did all of us, and I got invited back many times. For several years, for the two weeks plus before Memorial Day, and the two weeks plus after Labor day I spent my "summer vacation" staying at the band house of the bar, Gloria's, where they played.

That's them doing Outta Control. And that's fairly representative of what they used to play. Except for the stuff they wrote themselves, which was past outta control, and into outrageous.

The band consisted of Norm McDonald, who did most of the vocals; Mark Fett, who did keyboard, some vocals and most of the announcing; Andy Begin, the drummer; Russ Reiser, who played guitar and did some of the vocals; and Mark Lilly, who did some vocals and guitar. They also had Tony, who was doing the lighting and Eric, who did the sound. Mark Lilly was usually called Pad by the band members because it got too confusing with two Marks in the band. Frequently, Mark Fett's girlfriend, Dinah came along, and sang a few numbers with them. And I came along with Tony.

They were really an extraordinary band because once you got into Gloria's or any other place they were playing, you just didn't leave. It was impossible to walk out on that band. It was just too much fun!

Here's Norm, playing Polly Hardon doing a song that I think he wrote. He's being introduced by Mark Fett, and you can see a few views of Russ, Pad and Andy.

That was a short version of the song.

There's more of their work up on You Tube, and I'll let you discover that for yourself.

The song they did that was my favorite was Easy Mark by Mark Fett.

Truc was even more fun to party with. Each night that they played at Gloria's, we'd come back after 2 am, and party for a couple of hours. As rockers go, they did like their parties, but really didn't do much in the way of anything illegal, which was part of why it was fun to party with them. Usually, the very worst thing they did was make too much noise.

Things they did that were illegal included setting off fireworks. Each year, they'd drive up from Florida to play at Gloria's, stay at the band house, and then continue North and West to the middle of the summer, then reverse it all and go back the same way, playing the same places on the return trip, ending up back at Gloria's, and then going back to Florida.

On their way North, they went through a bunch of states that had tons of fireworks on sale (where it was legal), and Truc would stock up.

I remember one night when they set off a fabulous show of fireworks, and then all trooped indoors for the party. The police eventually showed up, and found us all in the kitchen, quietly playing computer games!

Every single time I was there for two weeks, there was some point when one of the local police stood in the middle of the living room and had a loud nervous breakdown! Or screaming fit, depending on your viewpoint. The band never managed to do something that was actually illegal when there were police around, but they came very close to it. They definitely were a big nuisance!

In fairness, some of our parties were very quiet. They'd bring along videotapes of movies, and we'd all sit around and watch them on numerous occasions. That's where I saw Life Of Brian the first time.

I've been looking for all these people on the internet, and can't find much about them except for Norm, and I don't understand it. I've looked for other people before, and couldn't find anything on them. I'm mystified! If you look my name up, you'll find pages of stuff about me. Where did they go wrong?

Well, before I finish this post, I want to thank Leah Cruz, who posted something about Weird Al Yankovick on Facebook today and reminded me of Truc. The reason it reminded me was because Truc opened for Weird Al on several occasions.

Anyway, I hope you're having a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! You won't be hearing from me tomorrow because I'm planning to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival tomorrow!

Bye Bye, TiVo!

2011-08-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

It was nice for the year that I had TiVo, but it was also a real trial attempting to deal with the customer "service" there.

I bought a refurbished TiVo HD at the beginning of July last year. It had a warranty. That warranty is still good.

But after about 11 months, the TiVo didn't work. They were very nice and sent me a "new" refurbished HD Model. That one lasted almost a month to the day from when it went into service.

In spite of the fact that they sent me a replacement that was almost ready to die, and in spite of the fact that it's still under warranty, if I want another one, it's going to cost me $50. For another refurbished one that's (for all I know) about to die in a month.They were very firm on the price for a replacement.

There are no more new ones of this model available, and haven't been for over a year. Aside from the fact that I really can't afford $50, I question whether that's a smart use of money. If I'm going to spend money on a TiVo, it might be better to spend $100 and get a brand-new one with updated software, as opposed to used-to-death-and-then-refurbished.

There's also the consideration of having to actually deal with the TiVo people about billing and other issues. They were at least as bad as Comcast customer "service" but Comcast has improved things, and now TiVo is far worse. I'm not sure I want to voluntarily sign up to be mistreated this way.

There's also the consideration that I would have to sign up for at least a year, maybe two for TiVo, and we may be switching from Comcast to Fios, and that would raise the question of compatibility, with me possibly stuck with a contract requiring me to pay $20 per month for a year and a half or so for a service that I might not be able to use.

So, it looks like I'll be continuing to use the Comcast DVR that I got to temporarily replace the TiVo. If I'm going to spend money on something, I know a place that regularly has sales on 2 terabyte SATA drives that I could plug into the DVR and be able to keep recordings when (for some reason) I have to switch DVRs again! Then I could just unplug the drive and plug it into the new DVR or TiVo, and just keep truckin'.

This is making me really depressed.

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Did any of you see the kickoff episode of the new Doctor Who season Let's Kill Hitler on Saturday? If not, you missed one of the best Who episodes I've ever seen!

I know, I know. That title is a real turn-off! I've seen a bunch of time travel stories where someone goes back in time to kill Hitler and stop the carnage, but it all goes terribly wrong, and they don't accomplish anything.

As it turns out, Hitler is just a peripheral character, and gets locked in a closet early on. I was looking at a rehash of the story on Ravelry (Who Knits), and halfway through, somebody timidly asks if Hitler ever got out of the closet. It's really not about Hitler at all. It is about the Doctor, Rory, Amy, and Rory and Amy's childhood friend, Mels. I want so much to talk about it, but as River says, "Spoilers!"

If you don't care about spoilers or have already seen it, click on the Who Knits link above (if you're also in Ravelry) and you'll get plenty of spoilers and a chance to discuss the episode if you've seen it.

Regardless of anything else, I love the beginning of it! It took me a few seconds to figure out what Amy and Rory were doing. First, that they were trying to contact the Doctor, and second, how they were going about it! It's very funny! Then they get the tables turned on them! I really love the opening sequence!

I have to go and actually do something constructive now, so I'll be back again soon.

Have a much better week than I had around here last week!

Goodnight, Irene

2011-08-28T15:02:00.003-04:00

This is a farewell to the whole of the last 7 days (including today), which, in this area contained: a 5.9 earthquake, many tornado warnings, lots of flash flood warnings, and hurricane Irene. Oh, that's Doctor John, above, playing Goodnight Irene.

It's also a heartfelt wish for no earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes (the drink is exempted from this wish), flash floods, mudslides (the drink is exempted from this wish), forest fires, volcanic eruptions or tsunamis for at least the next month or two!

For me, it also included an allergy scratch test which is aptly named, because it still itches. It gave me the unfortunate information that although ragweed makes my nose and sinuses go berserk, I'm not actually allergic to them. So, the sinus problems in the Fall are now a complete mystery.

This would be good news because it means that if I could raise the money, I could now actually go to Pennsic with no ill effects from ragweed.

In theory.

Real life is totally different.

I am still allergic (according to the tests) to some tree pollen, and the doctor did write a note, but I don't know yet if it'll be enough to help me get a portable air conditioner to keep me from getting sick during the ragweed that I'm not allergic to.

It was, all in all, kind of a disaster of a week.

If you're in an area that is still battling Irene, I wish you the best of luck. And I wish everybody a good weekend, and the best possible week coming up.

A week entirely free of all disaster!

Roadmap to Winning the Darwin Awards

2011-08-26T18:23:00.000-04:00

For any of you who may not know, the Darwin Awards are given to people who manage to kill themselves in the most stupid possible way. It can also be awarded if the idiot in question just manages to remove his or her ability to procreate in a spectacularly stupid fashion.

For a better idea of what is meant, click the link above, and scroll down to the examples section. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.

Once, long ago, I read a book which was based on the idea that someone had the capability to make everyone in an area decide to do the same thing at the same time with disastrous results. in the book, everyone in New York City decided to go to the beach at the same time. Then I lost the book before I could finish reading it, but I never forgot the beginning of it.

That exact scenario is playing out all along the east coast this weekend. It's an instant replay of one aspect of the earthquake from earlier in the week, where cell and other phone circuits were overloaded because everyone decided to call everyone else at the same time.

Anyway, with hurricane Irene on the way, I woke up today to find a sheet of instructions in my door on how to cope with the impending gale force winds (and rain). And after reading it through, I have come to the the conclusion that following the instructions could get me nominated for a Darwin Award.

I have to admit that some of what I was given was intended for before hurricane season, and as a last-minute instruction is pretty useless (like: Review your insurance policy). And some of it is not helpful because it doesn't apply, such as: decide where to move your boat, and fuel and service family vehicles. They also keep telling me I need a radio (which I can't hear). After a bit of analysis, though, I think what I really need in lieu of a radio is my tablet, which won't do me any good if the local towers are down, but at least I won't need another person to let me know what it says. Along with the radio, they recommend checking your flashlights and having lots of batteries, which is a wonderful idea! I have a lot of batteries and plan to check my flashlights immediately.

But one of the lists I consulted advocated getting lots of canned food. Well, that's something that will only be needed if the electricity goes out, in which case, I will also lose the ability to heat it, and most canned food needs heating. What you really need is food that will keep without refrigeration, and will not need to be heated. Those little pots of applesauce, pudding cups that don't need refrigeration, apples, etc. Canned soups and other foods won't help unless you have a camp stove and a safe place to use it.

The best ideas I've found for preparing are here .

Oh, and if you have to leave (or don't) remember something to knit and some books to read!

If you're on the East Coast, I wish you the safest, most comfortable weekend possible!

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Addition:

No matter where you are, even if you're on the East Coast, bracing for Irene, don't miss the return of the new season of Doctor Who on BBC in America!

DC and Virginia's Excellent Adventure

2011-08-25T20:43:00.003-04:00

I'd be willing to guess that on Tuesday morning, probably 90% of the people in the local area had never experienced an earthquake. I could be wrong if there were more tourists than I thought there were.

But no one who was here Tuesday afternoon can say that now!

As anyone who has seen the news in the last two days can tell you, most of the East Coast had an earthquake on Tuesday afternoon.

For the maximum excitement of the people involved without causing serious damage, this one couldn't be beat! I haven't heard any reports of anyone being killed or even seriously injured. Which was shear, dumb luck!

You can help researchers learn more about this event by entering your experiences here.

In Maryland, one wall of a masonry building collapsed, sending rubble down on three doomed cars. If people had been where the cars were, they (presumably) would have had the sense to get out of the way when the ground started shaking. The cars, however, being parked, were stuck with supporting a pile of cinder blocks and becoming statistics.

I saw photos of another building in Maryland that had the top of it moved about an inch to the side, right along the line of a course of bricks part way up.

There were some local area schools that noticed some damage to their buildings, and local kids got a day off while the building inspectors came to see if they were still safe.

The National Cathedral and the Washington Monument both sustained damage, which makes me very sad. They are among my favorite buildings in DC. The photos above and below are of the cathedral.

But for someone who had never been in an earthquake before (while awake), it was about as exciting as such a non-destructive earthquake could get. I found I could start a conversation with anyone by just asking about their experience.

In further news that's sort of connected to this, there are areas of Maryland that are under a tornado warning tonight, and the whole area is expecting Hurricane Irene on or about Sunday.

Robin asked on Facebook if we were going to get volcanic eruptions next week.

This is the first time I've ever had a blog post that included the tags: earthquake, tornado, hurricane. All in one post, mind you!

I hope you're having a better week than this area is!

Sorry!

2011-08-15T20:58:00.000-04:00

I actually intended to blog most days of last month, but was still trying to recover from the antibiotic I took for most of the previous two weeks, and had the whole infection come right back and land on my like a ton of bricks!

The antibiotic itself made me feel bad, but the problems that went away were a real eye opener! All the muscle, joint and bone pain went away, too! So, they're obviously connected to the sinus/ear infection.

I'm going to see the ENT doctor on Wednesday. Hopefully, that will help.

In the meantime, I've been having lots of meetings, appointments and things I have to do. Most of them involve taking the bus and doing lots of walking. By the time I get home from one of these, I'm in so much pain, just from walklng that it's all I can do to keep from crying.

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Holly took me out last weekend, and one of the places we went was JoAnn Fabrics. I was looking for some sock yarn, but they didn't have any colors I liked. What I did find was some yarn that was on sale in two beautiful colorways.

They're both Deborah Norville Everyday yarn, and the first color is called Beach.

The first photo is of the ball, then the knit side, and the purl side of stockinette stitch. I've gotten to love self-patterning yarn, but I especially love the colors in this.

The other yarn is the same brand of yarn, but in a color called Winding River, and I think I like the colors in this even better! I haven't knitted a big sample of it yet, so there'se just the small sample and the ball to see.

The colors are almost the same as the first one, but much stronger.

I'm making a vest with Beach, and it's stockinette, so it just wants to curl up, but so far it looks like when it gets blocked it'll be really nice! I'm hoping to have enough to make a hat and mitts, too.

I was able to get more of the Winding River color, so if the first vest turns out well, I'll probably make another, but I can probably get a hat, mitts, and something else out of it.

I'm still feeling punchy, sick and stupid from my encounter with the antibiotics, so, I'll try to keep posting on my blog, but don't expect much.

I hope you're feeling much better than I am!

Have a great evening, and a wonderful week!

Hi! I'm Still Alive!

2011-08-03T18:29:00.000-04:00

Just barely.

Sorry for not blogging more. I certainly intended to blog.

But this sinus infection that's been going on for more than a year now was treated with a new antibiotic. The doctor said this one was much stronger, and, judging by the results, it was. It's been a bumpy ride.

First of all, the infection had really become systemic, with aches all over, sort of like flu. The antibiotic got rid of a lot of symptoms that I hadn't even connected with the infection. My bones ached all the time, but worse after some walking or other exercise. When I got near the end of the antibiotics, all that went away! Of course, it also caused digestive problems, which to some extent, I expected, but what I didn't expect was the stomachache, and more, that lasted a few days. I know my digestive system has problems, but this stuck me more as something I might have expected from drinking Draino.

I went to the library, and then over to Safeway yesterday, and I was surprised how weak I felt, and was shaking from fatigue and overwork by the time I got to the library, which is not really very far away.

And now that I'm (mostly) recovered from the antibiotic, most of my symptoms from the infection are back!

I hate this!

On to more pleasant things!

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Vogue Knitting has published a preview of their Fall issue! You can see it here.

I love the hood (scroll down) shown in red! I think I'd like to make it with a seam instead of the buttons, but then I can't seem to ever just make anything the way the pattern is written. I'd change some of the cable design, too. And it's so loose around the neck that I'd want a scarf to go with it, too. And, of course some mitts, and I'm thinking of writing a pattern for short mittens to go over my already existing mitts pattern, and that seems like a good addition to the set.

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We're halfway through the first week of Pennsic at this point. This is the "lounge around and have a vacation" portion of the festivities. This weekend and the upcoming week will be the part devoted to actuall events that affect the war score, and also University classes.

In the spirit of the University classes, I'm going to try to put up a fiber-related how-to on most days of the week. Theoretically, that should start no later than Saturday, but Holly and I will be going out to see (finally) the second half of Deathly Hallows, and I don't really expect to get anything up then. I'll also be busy the rest of this week, and it's unlikely that I'll get to do much with the blog. Sorry! In the meantime, I'm going to try to repost the most interesting stuff from Twitter about Pennsic, so it'll show up in the sidebar, and you can get an instant update even if I don't post something.

Which leads me to my next topic:

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My TiVo (remember, the thing that malfunctioned badly, and left me without for almost a month?) is malfunctioning badly!

If you'll remember, I got a Comcast DVR to replace it temporalily, and returned it. They replaced it, and now, less than six weeks later, I'm having another problem all over again.

This time, it decides it needs to be restarted, and proceeds to do that. It kept restarting all day Monday, but by Tuesday, it would begin to restart, and then try to restart again, and effectively turn itself off.

I just tried to watch the Doctor Who episode, The Doctor's Daughter, starting at 5:00. It turned itself off at 5:02, 5:14, 5:33, 5:38, 5:50, and 5:54. Since the start-up sequence takes 5 minutes to complete, I didn't really get to see much of Doctor Who!

All the programs I wanted to see last night wound up as collections of program parts in their own separate folders, some in as many as four or five pieces!

This is really not acceptable! I've spent a lot of Monday, Tuesday, and today on the phone with TiVo support, and they don't seem to be able to do anything about the problem. I wasn't really enthused with the idea that the TiVo they sent me didn't even last a year, but I'm even less enthralled with it not lasting even two months!

So, this is part of what's going to keep me so busy for the next couple of days. Tomorrow, I'm going to go over to Comcast (a 2 to 4 hour trip each way, and a full day of time-wasting) and get a DVR so that I can at least watch TV. Then, I still have to take the TiVo over to UPS on Friday, which is not quite as long a trip, but still a lot after the exertion of the day before.

When a TiVo box is working, it's a dream! I really love TiVo boxes!

But customer service is a nightmare with them, and the hardware seems to be very undependable! So the question is: Is it worth all the aggravation and the extra expense?

That's a question I'm having a hard time answering at the moment.

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Back on the topic of health, I found this internet article interesting. There doesn't seem to be a reliable test for Lyme Disease, so the state government of New Hampshire has voted in a law that frees doctors from having to rely heavily on tests to diagnose Lyme Disease. This has a lot of legal implications, some of which are quite interesting about how they affect the way other diseases are treated. I'm glad to see a state taking an interest in the health and welfare of it's citizens, and I wish more states would follow New Hampshire's example!

I'm wiped out, and have to go.

Have a wonderful remainder of the week!

Not at Comic Con

2011-07-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

If you're reading this, you're not at Comic Con.

If you were at Comic Con, you'd have much better things to do (unless you're standing in line waiting for a panel).

But for those of you, like me, who aren't at Comic Con, there's a Not At Comic Con Giveaway sponsored by Tor Books. There will be a lot of SF swag not available at CC, including a batch of books.

So, go on over there and post a comment to enter.

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Every time I get on Twitter, I get the spinning beachball of death for half the time I'm on. Everybody's trying to tweet!

I searched for #SDCC earlier today, read a few Tweets, and discovered there were 200 new Tweets. I clicked the button to download them, and by the time they'd loaded, there were 20 more Tweets!

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John Ellis will be at Comic Con on Saturday, and I've asked him to do a lot of tweeting. If he does it, I'll be retweeting here. He always finds fun people to talk to, and may or may not be able to send photos this year.

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I intended to write all sorts of funny stuff here, but I'm finishing up a course of antibiotics for a sinus/ear infection I've had for a while. Wednesday, I felt a lot better than I have in a while, but yesterday, my sinuses tried to drown me again, and some of the symptoms are worse. Ditto today. I just can't get it together to write some more. At least most of the body aches are gone. And now I know that those aches are from the infection!

So, have a wonderful evening, and, hopefully, I'll be in shape to write something truly witty tomorrow.

San Diego Comic Con Is Already in Full Swing

2011-07-21T18:52:00.003-04:00

I'm finding Tweets and photos from SDCC and tweeting or retweeting them (mostly retweets) so all of you who, like me, want to be at Comic Con, but aren't.

If you're a knitter, keep an eye on the tweets and retweets in the sidebar, because there are some free knitting patterns I'm tweeting about!

In the same vein, there will be a new cartoon show about a mythical Gene Roddenberry when he was a child. You can read more about it at the link. Be sure to scroll down. There's a cartoon at the end that I like.

I've been hampered in posting this by Comcast, which is running so slow that I've spent as much (maybe more) time waiting for stuff to load as I have actually reading or blogging stuff! It's either that or every website on the internet is running slow. I could understand it if it was only Twitter or only some other site, but it's everything!

Later addition: I waited a while, hoping that Comcast would finally start to work, but it's still glacially fast. I'll continue to try to update things on Twitter, but I'm giving up on posting for now.

Have a great evening!

Moon Day!

2011-07-20T18:19:00.000-04:00

Happy Moon Day!

Forty two (an auspicious number) years ago, a human being set foot on the moon for the first time!

For you older people, you probably remember where you were and what you were doing at the time. For you younger people, it was an amazing event!

You can find more information on the Moon Landing here. In case you weren't paying attention, that was two links.

So, my opinion on all this is that I should do something loony today to celebrate! Actually, the most loony thing I can think of to do is to buy some of the moon. I can't afford it, but you might be able to.

Yeah, I know it's not expensive, but I'm broke.

Maybe next month for my birthday.

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If you like the Harry Potter scarf from yesterday, you can make a matching watch cap (if you use the same colors) with the instructions here. The link is also in the sidebar, so you can find it any time.

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Coming Attractions!

There are a couple of things coming up that I'd really like to go to, but won't be able to due to budget constraints and health reasons.

Can't get to San Diego Comic Con? Neither can I, and I'm all broken up about that. It's probably the biggest comic, science fiction and fantasy con around these days and it's happening this weekend! Actually, there's a preview night tonight, and one of my friends will be there tomorrow evening.

Another friend (John) will be there sometime over the weekend. So it's possible I'll get some first-hand accounts up here.

So, I propose a rerun of last year, wherein I collect the best of the best of Tweets about SDCC, and retweet them. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can follow them right here in the sidebar. See, over there, on the right, where it talks about Twitter?

It's not much, but it's a tiny taste of the con, and if it is the same as last year, there'll be lots of links to see photos taken there.

While you're checking Comic Con here, you might want to check G4, which will be broadcasting live from Comic Con at various times over the weekend (and then rebroadcasting the live shows later, if you miss them).

The other thing that's really breaking my heart to miss is Pennsic! If you click the link, you'll find out that it's a Medieval wargame held in Western Pennsylvania for two months in August. Actually, they've moved the dates up, and it now starts at the end of July, specifically July 29th this year.

Actually, Pennsic is far more than just a wargame. There is that, and a lot of Pennsic is built around that, but there's much, much more. To begin with, it's over 10,000 people getting together and living essentially the way people lived in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

SCA also has University classes, where they teach just about anything that was done during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and not just in Europe, but in the Middle and Far East. There are classes in blacksmithing, bellydancing, carding, combing and spinning wool and other fibers, period names and naming, period recipes and cooking, jewelry making, leather crafting, shoemaking, fletching, and much, much more. Just because I haven't mentioned it, doesn't mean they don't teach it.

I'll be doing the same thing with retweeting the most interesting stuff from Twitter, but I'm also going to try to blog almost every day, and include something that you would encounter in University classes if you were there. Since I do a lot of fiberarts, that's mostly what you'll be getting. If I can work up to real ambition, I might even show how to lucet some cord. I have a bone lucet that I bought a while ago and haven't used yet. This would be a good time to break it out. There were cords all over Medieval clothing, so this was a useful thing to know.

About the every day thing, I already know that at least two days (probably in a row) will be taken up with personal, time-consuming stuff, and I don't expect to be able to blog on the third or fourth of August, although I'll try.

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I have lots of stuff to do, so I have to get going.

Have a great evening!

Harry Potter Scarf

2011-07-19T18:07:00.001-04:00

I clicked on an email yesterday from Knitting Paradise. This is a group with a forum. On the forum were a lot of questions about how to make a Harry Potter scarf.

I was amazed to see that most people couldn't figure out how to do it, so I thought I'd publish instructions that I've never written down before, but that let me make a batch of Harry Potter scarves. This is set up to make the kind of scarf that is closest to the ones in the movie in the easiest possible way.

Harry Potter Scarf

Yarn needed: Choose a yarn that's about a DK or light worsted weight in the school colors of your choice. I'll discuss colors at the end of the instructions. For a wide-stripe scarf (like in the first two movies) about 220 yards of each color. For wide and narrow-striped scarves (like in the third and remaining movies) you'll need about 420 yards of the main color, and 120 yards of the contrasting color. This can be acrylic, wool, or a combination of the two. You might want to give some consideration to the washability of the scarf if it's for a child.

Tools and notions needed:

One 16 inch circular needle in the size you use for DK or light worsted. I'd choose a size 7 or 8, but you need to choose a size that gives you a nice, supple fabric. Not too tight or too loose.
At least one stitch marker (occasionally, these pop off. You only need one, but I would want to have some extras in case of loss).
Scissors
A hardback book (any of the Harry Potter hardback editions are perfect).
A garment steamer or steam iron (if you don't have either of these, you could wet block it if you know how to do that, or look it up on the internet).
An insulated cooking mit (silicone works best). This is optional, but may be helpful if you're steam blocking.
Crochet hook that's an appropriate size for the yarn. The size is not important because you won't be crocheting with it, but you'll be pulling the fringe through, so it has to be big enough. You can use a latch hook instead of a crochet hook, and that might even be easier.

Instructions:

Using main color, cast on 80 stitches. Place a marker, and knit in rounds for the length of the scarf following directions for type of scarf.

Wide Stripe scarf: Knit with MC for 4 inches, then switch to CC for 4 inches, and repeat for length of scarf, ending with a MC stripe. Change colors at the marker, knotting yarn together with a square knot, and leave ends inside the tube, trimming ends to about 4 inches. You don't have to darn these ends in. When the scarf is about 72 inches, ending with a MC stripe, bind off. You can make the scarf shorter for a small child. It can be tried on to see if it's so long the child will trip on it.

Wide and Narrow Stripe scarf: Knit with MC for 6 inches, then switch to CC for 4 rows, switch to MC for 6 rows, and back to CC for 4 rows. Repeat this sequence for length of scarf, ending with a wide MC stripe. Change colors at the marker, knotting yarn together with a square knot, and leave ends inside the tube, trimming ends to about 4 inches. You don't have to darn these ends in. When the scarf is about 72 inches, ending with a wide MC stripe, bind off. You can make the scarf shorter for a small child. It can be tried on to see if it's so long the child will trip on it.

Finishing: Lay the scarf out on an ironing board or other steam-resistant surface, making sure that the jogs for the color changes are on one side edge. If the yarn you used is overtwisted, the jogs may not line up, but twist and flatten the scarf with your hands so that they do line up along the edge. Steam the scarf with a steamer or steam from a steam iron. Do not press down with the iron. You can pat it into shape using a mitt type pot holder over your hand (silicone ones work great at keeping your hand safe from the steam). Let the scarf sit until it's dry and cool. The scarf should now look professional, and the ends should lie flat. If they don't, though, don't worry. We're going to fix that with the fringe.

Choose the MC, and wrap it around a hardback book 7 or 9 times. Do count the number of wraps and make them consistent throughout. The number of wraps is less important than consistency. If it looks like you're short on remaining yarn, you could go down to 5 wraps for each fringe. Once the proper number of wraps has been made, cut the loops on the side of the book that opens. There will be a natural indentation where the pages are so you can get your scissors in there.

Insert your hook (crochet hook or latch hook) through both thicknesses of the scarf on the end, about a quarter inch in from the side, catch the middle of the loop of yarns (fringe) you just made, pull through the scarf, and pull the ends of the fringe through the loop. Pull the ends of the fringe gently to tighten up the lark's head knot you just made. Make another clump of fringe on the other side of that end, about a quarter of an inch from the edge. Then make another MC fringe in the center of the end. You can fold the end in half to see where the center is. Make another MC fringe equally spaced between the center fringe and one edge fringe (fold again to see where that is), then do the same thing between the center fringe, and the one on the other side. Switch to CC, and make a fringe between each of the other fringes. This will space them out equally and give you the same number of fringes that alternate in color.

Fringe the other end the same way. Place the scarf on a table, with the fringe at the edge of the table so that just the uneven ends of the fringe stick out over the edge. Trim off the ends of fringe that are too long by cutting along the edge of the table.

Wear and enjoy!

House Colors

Griffindor: MC is burgundy, CC is gold.

Ravenclaw: Book colors are: MC is a medium blue, CC is bronze, which is between gold and copper. Movie colors are: MC is navy, CC is silver grey.

Hufflepuff: MC is yellow, CC is black.

Sitherin: MC is Green and CC is silver.

That's it! Good luck on making your very own Harry Potter scarf!

John Ellis!

2011-07-15T17:36:00.002-04:00

About 35 years ago, at August Party, I started talking to the stranger next to me. We had only exchanged a few words when Jacqueline Lichtenberg came by and introduced us to each other.

That was the start of a friendship that has lasted about 35 years (next month).

Here's John on a WSFA cruise on a tall ship:

Here he is doing what he does best:

Having John as a friend is a fun ride! I've gotten to meet all sorts of interesting people. He seems to know everybody, and is quick to point out everybody's strengths and accomplishments at every opportunity. And he's also big on creating opportunities, not only for himself, but for those around him. He's a fabulous artist, and knows film making from from one end to the other. He's produced, directed, and done almost every other job you can think of involving film making.

Things I've done that I might never have done if it hadn't been for him:

I worked on several movies, including Invader and New Genesis (which had the working title of Twilight of the Dogs, and will always be referred to as Twilight by me).
Miscellaneous work on some other films.
Doing the covers for the Steve Canyon on DVD TV shows.
Helped put on at least three science fiction conventions in a major role, and a few others in a minor role.

I got to meet:

He's not only been the best friend, but has enriched my life in so many ways! He's also improved the lives of everyone around him.

And now you can read about him on Wikipedia! He's got his own listing here!

And here's a recent photo of him in front of an Apollo capsule:

He's one of my favorite people ever!

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Oh, and I just found out that I was nominated for a Shorty award last Fall! I didn't get it, but I feel it's an honor to be nominated!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Peter Diamandis’ Laws for Life

2011-07-12T19:56:00.002-04:00

I was on Facebook today, and my friend, Steve Sheets included this link for Peter Diamandis’ Laws for Life.

I love this so much!

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Unfortunately, the first thing I need to fix (rule 1) is Blogger. You many or may not have noticed that this blog is published on Blogger. Earlier this week, they removed a beautiful, elegant, easy-to-use interface, and replaced it with what looks like the first try at a really clunky, difficult, problematic way of publishing a blog.

I have loved Blogger, but this mess is enough to make me investigate trying another way to post my blog. They've taken precision tools that are a snap to use, and replaced them with crayons, but not so easy to use.

I won't enumerate all it's flaws, but this has to be fixed!

If my blog isn't up to snuff for a bit, that's the reason why.

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I got on the internet today, and there were all sorts of conflicting reports about Social Security. A statement by the President that Social Security may not be paid on the third (when I get mine), and other reports that it's separately-funded, and will go out no matter what.

There are many people who depend on SS for their income. They spent their lives paying into SS, and now, when they need it, the possibility is that it may be pulled out from under them is just not acceptable. Particularly when it seems to be proposed as a way to allow millionaires to cut their taxes. They should be grateful. I realize that the US income tax on over a million dollars is a lot, but it's nothing compared to England, where the Beatles song, Taxman is accurate: "One for you, nineteen for me!" and "Be thankful I don't take it all."

I can't help thinking about a song I loved back in the '70s, called Streets of London by Ralph McTell.

In spite of being so sad, it's very beautiful. I'm afraid that this is what we're going to be seeing all over the US, possibly very soon. I live in a building where virtually everyone is on Social Security, and the whole apartment building may be emptying out next month if the Republicans have their way.

In case you're feeling sad from that song, here's a ragtime medley, also by Ralph McTell. It seems to be mostly Windy and Warm.

Here's a version of Windy and Warm for comparison.

It's always been one of my favorite songs!

That cheered me up a bit!

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Tonight we'll be having a usual Tuesday night line-up on TV.

We have White Collar and Covert Affairs on USA, and The Nine Lives of Chloe King on ABC Family.

I know that Chloe is a kids or teen program, but, like Harry Potter, it's good. Possibly not as good as Harry, but worth a watch.

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I want to try posting a photo, too, just to see how the process works with this version of the interface, so (hopefully) here's a photo of some kind. I haven't decided what I'd like to put up here as a test.

This is just a photo I had hanging around that seemed funny. The process for putting up photos is almost the same as it was.

I have some yarn ordered, and I really thought it would be here today. Maybe I'll have some knitting input for tomorrow or Thursday!

Have a wonderful evening!

Sweeps Month!

2011-07-10T22:53:00.000-04:00

I mostly just wanted to comment on the fact that now that we're halfway through the sweeps month, Syfy seems to have suddenly figured that out, and is now putting on their new shows.

Monday night, we have three premiers. Eureka and Warehouse 13 have season premiers, followed by Alphas, which is a series premier.

I can't actually recommend Alphas, because I haven't seen it yet, but the trailers look good.

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Blogger has taken an excellent interface, and changed it all around. While it did that, it removed a lot of features, and made it malfunction in various ways. I can't deal with it at the moment because I have other things to do, so this is all there is to the post.

Except that I hope you've been having a wonderful weekend!

Ghost Story is Coming!

2011-07-05T18:17:00.000-04:00

On the 26th of July, Ghost Story, the new Harry Dresden book, will be out on the stands and available for download.

If you just can't wait, Penguin has given us the first chapter ahead of time! You can read it here! I just did, and I can't wait to read the book!

If you haven't read any of the Dresden Files books or seen the Dresden Files TV show, you're really missing out! At the very least, you should get the first book, Storm Front from the library. You'll be hooked!

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If you love flying or planes, check out the last two updates on the Steve Canyon on DVD blog. John gives you an update on how things are going on the release of the last DVD, and Independence Day wishes!

I'm kind of in a rush today. Lots of things to do, so that's it for this post.

But I'll be back soon with more stuff.

In the meantime, have a great short week!

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-04T19:56:00.001-04:00

Happy Independence Day!

Google has been putting this up on their search page today:

I've been celebrating the holiday already this weekend!

Last night, nature put on it's own fireworks display for me. There was a thunderstorm that approached from the West. I watched it for more than a half hour before it got close enough to rain. The whole thing lasted more than an hour and put on a spectacular display!

I've also been eating cheese dogs and corn on the cob and other fun stuff this weekend along with a TiVo fest of all kinds of good things I've recorded! I plan to continue watching great TV, knitting, and having a great Summer style dinner!

I'll be watching fireworks live from the Washington Mall on TV, and live out my window tonight!

I hope you're having as much fun!

Happy July!

2011-07-01T16:58:00.000-04:00

It's the first of July. I hope the month is a happy one for you!

I also want to wish everyone a

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

I hope you have the best Fourth of July weekend ever!

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The very last piece I needed to make my new TV work arrived yesterday morning. I spent the early afternoon assembling everything, making sure everything was plugged together correctly, and testing it all.

I now have a functioning RCA High Def TV! Even the DVD player is hooked up!

Eventually, I'd like to get a 32 inch TV, but that's going to have to wait until I get some more money.

Last night, I watched a movie I'd TiVo'd the other day. It's called Secondhand Lions, and I loved it! Here's my review on GetGlue, so I don't have to type it again. This is a great movie that you can watch with a kid, and you'll both love it!

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I came across a fabulous giveaway for all you knitters! Around the middle of July, Simple will be giving away a Namaste Laguna bag, a matching wallet, and an assortment of Oh Snap bags to one lucky person! There are a lot of different ways you can enter, so read the entry instructions carefully!

I happen to want the Eggplant color if I win. Holly has a different Namaste bag in eggplant, and it's beautiful! They have a new bag that will be out in the middle of July, called the Mini Messenger, and here it is in eggplant so you can see what a gorgeous color it is:

So, go enter today for your chance at a Namaste bag, wallet, and Oh, Snap set!

Hope you're going to have a fabulous weekend!

Look! Up in the Sky!

2011-06-27T18:45:00.000-04:00

Well, it's already over, and we survived, but today we had an asteroid (Asteroid 2011MD) in near-Earth space! Luckily, it wasn't a collision, although they said it was small enough to burn up in the atmosphere! If you click the link, you'll see a diagram of the way Earth gravity has disturbed it's trajectory.

We are also having a meteor shower. The June Bootids are expected to peak tonight, but will continue on for a bit, and you might still see one or two on the fourth (if you can distinguish it from the fireworks).

If you want to gear up to get out and watch meteors, check out this site. It's full of great hints! You might want to get out tonight to watch, even if you don't see to much because it will be good training for the Perseids shower that happens in the early part of August. This is one of he biggest, and My personal favorite because it peaks right before my birthday, so I always thought of it as my own, personal birthday fireworks. It's one of the many things I really enjoyed about Pennsic.

If you read the article on Pennsic on Wikipedia (the link above), it says that the kingdom with the most war points wins. What it doesn't say is that the loser has to take Pittsburgh!

Even if you're familiar with Pennsic, you should read the article. It has some funny parts, such as:

Contrary to popular myth, the Pennsic wars were not caused by Cariadoc challenging himself to a war and losing.

If you're interested, it inspired a mystery called Murder at the War, which is a lot of fun. It follows a mythical murder set at an early Pennsic, and shows a lot of the flavor of going to Pennsic. If you read it, it has a few errors in it (notably, people are not automatically entitled to be called lord or lady--people you don't know may be called that because you wouldn't want to offend someone by assuming they're not nobility).

Well, I got off the topic there!

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I've gotten back to my work on the mobius hat with cables. I need to take the photos and write up the instructions for the Screaming Knitfit version of the plain mobius set. Hopefully, that means that there will be some photos on my blog soon.

Here's a photo of the original:

The new and improved instructions will include a star as well as the heart, which is shown on this hat (for my granddaughter, Kyle, whose last name is LaHart.

I spent Saturday charting out a double-sided cable for the cowl and I've started that part of the knitting. It's going more slowly than most knitting since there are a lot of cable crossings!

I also spent a while trying to chart a double sided cable that starts at the beginning of the scarf. That really twisted my brain into Celtic knots all by itself. In other words, I'm trying to make it a stand-alone cable, whereas the others are continuous.

I still haven't gotten it right. The problem is that you really have to write the instructions for the cables on both sides at once.

I'll be back with another post soon.

In the meantime, it's Summer! Get out there and have some fun!

Happy Summer!

2011-06-21T18:40:00.000-04:00

Today is the Summer Solstice, otherwise known as the first day of Summer! It's (obviously) the longest day of the year. You can get more sun today than any other day of the year!

Some people would argue that Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of Summer, and it certainly seemed to where I live. We had cool weather this year until that weekend, when it suddenly shot up into the 90s, and hasn't had a high lower than about 80 degrees for any day since.

I hope your first day of Summer has been the best!

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I think Susan was in an especially good mood yesterday or something. A asked her if I could have the doorbell since it's installed with Velcro, and she said that would be all right.

I also got a plan to deal with having to check in twice a day to prove I'm still alive OK'd. It's not in effect yet, but will be soon. What a relief!

I also put a notice up on the bulletin board to see if there are other people in the building who have hearing problems to form sort of a support group. I haven't heard from anybody yet.

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The only real science fiction that's on tonight is the second episode of The Nine Lives of Chloe King on ABC Family.

But, if you like spy fi, Covert Affairs will be airing a brand new episode on USA. Immediately before it, a new White Collar will be on, and that's always lighthearted fun.

TNT will be having a new episode of Memphis Beat, too, which I've gotten fond of mostly for the music. Oh, and it's got heart!

Have a fabulous evening!

Happy Dad's Day!

2011-06-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

Today is Father's Day, so,

Happy Father's Day!

I hope all you fathers out there have the very best day ever!

Check out some great photos of dads trying, but not doing the best job of being fathers here! No, really, click the link! It's funny!

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I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a few days, but things have happened around here that have taken up a lot of my time. I'm sorry to have to post about this, but I want this on record somewhere in case things get even worse than they have been. If you don't want to read about a downer, skip this part of the post.

Thursday, I woke up and my TV was on. It's been malfunctioning, and sometimes (among other things) you can't turn it off. I've been reading on the internet about malfunctioning TVs, and one of the more common things (apparently, because people complain about it a lot) is that sometimes TVs turn themselves on or off without any help from anyone. At first, I thought that's what had happened. That my TV had acquired a new malfunction.

I should note that I ordered a new TV, it arrived, and is sitting in it's box waiting to be installed because the box it was shipped in didn't contain all the parts. They've shipped the needed parts, and I'll probably get them on Monday, so I can install it then. In the meantime, I'm still using the old, malfunctioning (in several ways) TV.

Back to what happened: I reached for the remote control to turn it off.

The remote wasn't there.

I looked around, thinking that maybe it had fallen off the table, where I put it. it was not on the floor, or anywhere I could have put it. At that point, I started to take this more seriously.

After looking around, I found the remote at the other end of the table, on top of something that was already on the table. It could not have gotten there by falling or any other way that was accidental. It had to have been moved by someone. I continued to look, found some other things that seemed to be out of place, and discovered that my door was unlocked!

I don't usually panic, but I called the police and reported a break-in. When the policeman arrived to take my report, he was excorted by Susan, the manager at my apartment building. Susan explained to me that she had announced over the PA system the last three mornings that the people from Comcast would be coming around to install converters because they're they last TV provider in the world to change from analog to digital, and if we wanted to continue to watch TV and had an analog set, we would need a converter. She also said later that she knows I can't hear the PA system unless I'm awake and alert and right next to it, and that she knows that I sleep in the morning, so she knew that by "notifying" me that way, I wouldn't know anything about it.

Even later, she said that if I can't hear what was said on the PA, I should call the office and ask what was said. Since I don't even have an idea that there was an announcement if I'm asleep, and even sometimes if I'm awake, this means I'm going to be pestering them to find out if there was an announcement at least twice a day. I don't think they're going to like it.

But while the cop was there, she rolled her eyes at him and acted like I was a crazy old lady who was completely incompetent.

She explained to the cop that she "had" to let the Comcast guy in because I needed a converter. I don't need a converter, and said so, and she countered with "Well we didn't know that until we came in."

Later that day, I spoke to the installer who had been in my apartment. He said he was sorry to enter without my permission, especially since I didn't need any service, but they let him in, and seemed to think that I did need a converter. He also mentioned that he saw me sleeping in the living room.

The following day (Friday), we had a meeting of everyone who lives here, and Susan stated that they would NOT let anyone into anybody's apartment without a written, signed letter requesting that, even if it was an emergency! I thanked her for changing the policy from the day before, and she said that she hadn't changed anything, and that they could still come into my apartment anytime they wanted for any reason, and would continue to do so whenever they wanted to.

She further stated that the maintenance man from the apartment building said that he thought he heard someone say "Come in, the door is open." He did state (to me) that the door was unlocked, so I know he said that. He can think anything he wants, but nobody in my apartment said anything like that, and the door was locked. I checked it carefully the previous night before I went to sleep. She further said that he said he saw me sleeping in the bedroom. Actually, I was sleeping in the living room, and even the Comcast guy, who I caught up with later in the day and spoke to said that he saw me sleeping in the living room. I'm convinced the man who actually let Comcast in said no such thing because he wouldn't have told such a stupid lie that was so easily disproved, and that Susan was making it up as an excuse for her behavior.

If you read my lease, the first thing it says is that I must obey all federal, state and local laws. But if you go to the page on the internet with information about tenants rights in Virginia, right at the top of the page, it says that none of the law applies to HUD subsidized housing, which this is. From speaking to the people at HUD, I gather that the management here can make any rules they want, no matter how unreasonable and unfair, and tenants have to obey them or face eviction. The woman at HUD said that all the other HUD housing is like this, and "If you don't like it, you're free to move somewhere else." But, of course, if you can qualify for HUD housing, you don't have the money to move, let alone the money to afford someplace else to live. So, if you're thinking about moving into HUD subsidized housing, there are monetary benefits, but there can be some big drawbacks, too.

in the meantime, the good news is that because of this, I started an internet search, and found The Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I had some email correspondence with a wonderful gentleman who referred me to someone who is a little closer to me, geographically for help in how to handle my worsening hearing, and giving me at least a partial solution to the problem with Susan in the form of a doorbell that is very loud, flashes lights, and shakes the bed (in case they come when I'm asleep, like they did Thursday) plus some other help. I corresponded with him on Thursday, and made the mistake of mentioning the doorbell to Susan on Friday, and she's already working to make sure that I cannot get or use the doorbell. Now I have to check the law on that, too, unless the person who will contact me from VDDHH or the federal/state legal group knows if she's allowed to block that.

The first gentleman from VDDHH referred me to another federal/state agency that does legal work for discrimination against disabled people. I suspect they're going to at least investigate, maybe (I hope) prosecute. She seems to me to have it in for anyone who uses a wheelchair or cane, too, and from what she's put in writing, it can be inferred that she'd like to ban them from the premises. She has banned them from the lobby except to enter or leave the building, but they have to keep moving and are not allowed to stop to speak to anyone or move too slowly.

Everyone I've told this to so far is shocked and appalled at Susan's conduct!

The idea that the people that run the apartment building have joined me when I was on the toilet, in the shower or asleep (many times) is just not acceptable to me! Especially when they're men I don't even know, or when a woman brings along a man to observe! I feel like I'm in a fish bowl! I won't go into details, but in many ways the people here are treated like cattle or property. And they seem to especially discriminate against the disabled people.

On to happier topics!

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This part of the post is both science fiction and knitting! What a combination!

Last Monday night, there was a new episode of Sanctuary on Syfy called Out of the Blue. In this particular episode, Amanda Tapping wears many different knitted items that look hand knit. The whole episode was fun to watch for that reason alone. About halfway through, she appears wearing this shawl:

I was really impressed by it (the photo doesn't do it justice), until just a bit later, she wore a sweater that was just stunning! I've gone crazy trying to find a photo of it on the internet, but they just aren't giving out publicity photos of it. I've written the people at the studio and am waiting for a reply. If they send me a photo, I'll post it here.

But the good news is that the season finale is Monday night, and they're showing the whole season on Syfy tomorrow before the finale, and you can see Out of the Blue at 9 pm (here--check your local listings). If you TiVo it, you can go to about 3/4 of the way through, which will take you to a commercial. The sweater first appears right before that commercial, and is shown even more right after the commercial. If you're a knitter, are not interested in the show, and have a DVR or TiVo, record it and fast forward through the parts you aren't interested in and check out some great knits! There's a whole thread on Ravelry about the knits in this story (in the Sanctuary group).

While on the subject of knitting and other things, I ran across a really neat scarf/shawl that you might be interested in, but the thing that blew me away about the photos was the model's tattoo(s)! It's so neat, and very attractive!

Go to the site, see bigger photos and get the pattern for the scarf!

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Sweeps month starts right around the end of this month and through most of July, so new shows are popping up left and right!

Last night was the premiere of Outcasts last night on BBC in America, which has officially turned it into the Jamie Bamber channel. In the first episode, we get to see Jamie as a character that is not trusted by anyone, subsequently shoots and kills his wife, is suspected of killing his son, and is shot and killed in self defense at the end. Then we see that the ship that's approaching the planet has Jamie on board! While we're watching this, we get to see plenty of footage of Jamie on trailers for Law and Order UK, and when the show's over, we get to see Jamie playing Apollo in Battlestar Galactica! I didn't hang around to see if he was on the Graham Norton Show.

I don't know about you, but I was beginning to lose track of what character he was playing at any particular moment.

Outcasts is on right now, as I write this, so I'm guessing it'll be on again sometime before it's regular time slot next Saturday, in case you missed it.

Tonight, we have the two hour premier of Falling Skies, which I'm really looking forward to. Click the link, and find out more about it than I could ever tell you since I've only seen the trailers.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King premiered last Tuesday on ABC Family, but they're rerunning it at 6 on this Tuesday, before the second episode, which will air later. It's SF and fantasy, written for teens, but then Harry Potter is for kids, too, and I love that! The first episode didn't show enough to decide that this will be fabulous, but didn't preclude that, either. I think it bears watching.

We join Chloe for her sixteenth birthday, when she is just starting to find out that although she knew that she was adopted, she's discovering that she's not human. If you've seen Red Dwarf, she's (apparently) related to Cat. You should understand that this is not a comedy series specifically, though. There's more drama and an intriguing story in this.

I'm currently reading the three books that are out about Chloe, and enjoying the beginning of the first one, The Fallen: The Nine Lives of Chloe King.

I've gotten dragged into Switched at Birth, also on ABC Family. It's not SF or fantasy, not even spy fi, but one of the characters is deaf, and since I'm having increasing hearing problems (which will probably be increasing due to the policies of the apartment building in which I live). I'm interested in seeing how Daphne functions with ASL (American Sign Language), largely because the people I contacted on Thursday are urging me to learn it, and I don't see what good it will do since I don't know anyone else that knows it. I would feel like a child who invents her own language before learning English. Who can I talk to?

I hope you've been having a wonderful Father's Day and a terrific weekend!

Happy International Steampunk Day!

2011-06-14T18:39:00.000-04:00

I have to thank my friend, Steve Sheets for letting me (and all of Facebook) know that today is Steampunk Day.

Happy International Steampunk Day!

H.G. Wells' birthday was chosen to be Steampunk Day. How appropriate!

If you want to watch something on TV with a steampunk flavor, you can catch old episodes of Warehouse 13, or wait until Monday, July 11th for the new season on Syfy. Or catch Sanctuary, which is also on Syfy on Monday evenings.

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Today is also Flag Day!

Happy Flag Day!

Flag Day is a celebration of the adoption of the American Flag. Our flag has changed a bit over the years, due to extra stars for all the states, but this is the day we celebrate. It's also the date that we celebrate the founding of the US Army.

There are also special celebrations of Flag Day at Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia, which is right around the corner from the location of a place I used to work. Holly and I visited it and had a tour of the house when she was about seven years old. It was quite memorable for her, largely because she had no idea who Betsy Ross was and thought she was a friend of mine. She was not happy that she didn't get to meet Betsy, though. Or at least her children.

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Tonight on TV, don't forget White Collar, Covert Affairs (on USA) and The Nine Lives of Chloe King (ABC Family), which is the premier of the series.

I have the first of the books about Chloe King waiting for me at the library, and the next two books are on their way and should be there tomorrow, when I intend to pick them up. As I get into the books, I'll let you know how it's going.

Last night, I had just settled down to watch Switched at Birth, when, about 20 minutes into it, the TV and internet went away! Comcast said they were experiencing an "optic break." Whatever that means, it meant that TV and internet was off for more than an hour, which is more time than I experienced having TV down in four years of Cox Cable and four years of DirecTV! Combined!

ABC Family will rerun it next Monday, late in the afternoon, before the showing of the new episode, so I won't really miss it.

Speaking of TV, my new TV arrived today, and some of the pieces were missing. They're sending them out right away, but that means I may not be able to watch or use it until next Monday. They said some people get those shipments in one or two days, but they couldn't promise it. With luck, maybe I can get it up and running on Friday.

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My friend, Jennie, put up a link to an interesting article on Facebook for those of you who are interested in the Middle Ages or just weird stuff. It's all about some of the strange ways that people died during the Tudor era. Hope you have fun with it!

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I'm finishing up on some Christmas presents, and should have some actual knitting to report sometime soon. I'll be getting back to the mobius set with cables, so it should be exciting.

In the meantime, I hope you're having a wonderful week!

Miscellaneous Monday

2011-06-13T18:17:00.000-04:00

There's more to the hurt book sale than I reported the other day. The others were mostly spinning books, but this includes knitting, crochet, beadwork, and a lot of other crafts. At a quick glance, I noticed that some of the books were half off. Check it out!

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Knitty Blog is having another great giveaway! Check it out, too!

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There's a new series coming on tomorrow evening, based on the series of books that start with The Nine Lives of Chloe King. This, like Harry Potter is a kid's book, but the story may be one of those (like Harry Potter) that's so universal or entertaining that adults will like it, too.

I don't know because I haven't read the books (although they're on order at the library and should come in tomorrow). But it sounds intriguing and other-worldly, and very much like fantasy, which is starting to show up in better supply on TV these days.

Find out more about the TV show here. Scroll down for more info on the show itself. And get even more facts here. It'll be on ABC Family on Tuesday evening. Check you local listings!

Tomorrow evening, there will be new episodes of White Collar and Covert Affairs, too. At least one of these is on at the same time as Chloe King, but both of them will be rerun, so you can watch the one that overlaps later.

If you have the last episode of the season of Doctor Who (A Good Man Goes to War) still sitting on your TiVo or DVR, watch it! It's one of the most fabulous episodes yet! We finally get to find out who River Song is, and why she wouldn't tell anyone before this. Spoilers! You'll love it!

The second episode of Switched at Birth will be on tonight, and I know it's not science fiction, or even spy fy, but it seems like it's shaping up into a good show about people. Part of the reason I'm watching it is because Daphne is deaf, and half the cast signs, and since I'm losing my hearing, I'm hoping to pick up some ASL while I'm being entertained. The first episode was great, though!

Here's wishing you a great week!

It's World Wide Knit in Public Day!

2011-06-11T16:46:00.001-04:00

It's World Wide Knit in Public Day, which is actually a misnomer because it runs from the 11th to the 19th of July. There are scheduled, organized events (which you can find via the link) or you can (like me), just get out there and knit. Whatever you decide to do to celebrate, have fun!

It's also International Yarnbombing Day! If you're a yarnstormer and want to get some credit, check this out! There's some more basic information here, too. You can find some great photos of yarnbombing, too. There's lots of information about yarnstorming on the internet. Just check it out! The photo above is from this site, and there are many more photos.

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More knitting content!

If you're looking for some fiberarts books, there's a sale going on for hurt, damaged, and overstock books! It's mostly spinning books, but there may be some others in there.

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I've finally gotten to nearly the end of the beautiful Comfort Sock Yarn that is no longer available from Mary Maxim. There is a brand called Comfort Sock Yarn that's available, but it's mostly acrylic, whereas the 15 balls of it that I ordered are 75% superwash wool, and each ball is 100 grams, so you can make 2 socks (a pair!) from one ball and still have just a little bit left if you're making socks for women with size 9 feet (like mine). Actually, I got 12 pairs from 10 balls, and there's still a bit left over for a really neat project I have in mind. I'm not talking about this because it's so unique, and I want to make surprises for some people.

That's some of the yarn with a sock in progress.

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The last episode of the Spring season of Doctor Who will be on BBC in America tonight! If you've watched the last two episodes, you know that they ended in a real cliffhanger, so don't miss this one! You can read more about the episode here, but be aware that there are some very mild spoilers. If you think about what happened, what it reveals is just about what you'd expect.

The BBC in America site also says that fen of the Doctor should pay special attention to them on Tuesdays, because they'll be putting on all sorts of Doctor-related stuff then.

Oh, and did I mention that there's a Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America today?

I should have, because I want to go watch it right now.

Have the best weekend ever!

Fiberarts Content Is Back!

2011-06-08T23:14:00.000-04:00

For all you people who are not interested in fiberarts, skip down. I may get to another topic before I'm finished.

I got a catalog from Mary Maxim on Monday stating that they have 500 new items. They used to have those catalogs with all the tacky, ugly yarn. They still do have that kind of yarn, but they have a lot of really fabulous yarns at great prices, too!

Most of the new items are not yarn, but some of them are. I've been going through the listings of new yarn, and will list some of them for you. Bear in mind that since these are new, I haven't had a chance to try them. I'm just passing along information, here.

For you sock knitters, they now have Simply Sock Yarn. They do not, unfortunately still have the wonderful Comfort Sock Yarn that they used to have at such a great price. I'm finishing up the last sock from the batch I ordered from them right now.

For novelty yarn interest, they're now carrying Bernat Boa Yarn. I've tried this before, and it's a very interesting novelty. It feels (and looks) like knitting with feathers. I think it's listed as new because there are new colors. Another novelty fur yarn is Patons Moxie Yarn. They appear to have taken the "fur" part literally, and it only seems to be available in colors that could be natural fur grown by something. More fur yarn in decidedly unnatural colors is available in Red Heart Fur Sure. I, personally like it in eggplant. For the ultimate in novelty yarn, try Red Heart Sashay, which is supposed to be a self-ruffling yarn. You can get a free ruffled scarf pattern (shown below) for this yarn if you register and sign in. I have no idea how this works to make the ruffles.

The scarf shown was made with one skein, but I think I'd like it better with two. But it's still not bad for about $5!

If you're looking for a hand-dyed, multicolor effect, there's Lion Brand Amazing, which has just come out with some new colorways, so maybe that's why they're listing it as new. There's also the Mary Maxim sport weight wool blend yarn, Mardi Gras, which is not new, but has come down considerably in price.

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Still on the fiberarts topic, but switching gears, Holly sent me an email about a sheep named Shrek. You can read about it here. Shrek managed to evade the shearers for seven years, and when they finally caught him and sheared him, the fleece weighed 60 pounds! Knowing Merino fleeces, probably half of that weight was lanolin, dirt and vegetable matter, but that's still an incredible weight for a Merino fleece!

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World Wide Knit in Public Day (which is not a day, but a bit more than a week starts on the 11th of June. That sounded like a long way off when I read about it a few weeks ago, but it's coming up fast (Saturday). You can click on the link and it will lead you to lots of organized events in a lot of different places, but if there's no organized event, you can just go out somewhere and knit while you're there. Pick a project that's easy to carry around, and go!

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Some of the new seasons of Summer shows have begun, even if USA did call the first episode of the new season of Covert Affairs the "Season Finale!" If any of you haven't seen it yet, it's more of a spy fi than science fiction. It started last night, right after the season premier of the delightful con called White Collar.

Doctor Who is continuing on Saturday evenings on the BBC in America's Supernatural Saturday. I, personally, find their idea of Supernatural Saturday a bit disappointing, since it consists of one hour of new programming which follows a rerun of the previous week's hour. I really like the idea of rerunning that hour, but my idea of an evening of programming is more like 4 hours. Once they've run through all the new Doctor Whos, they'll be switching off to another show. One of the new ones will be Battlestar Galactica. If you haven't seen it and always wanted to, keep an eye on Saturday evenings on BBC in America. They'll be rerunning it from the very beginning. They're also advertising several new science fiction or supernatural shows for Saturday evenings.

One of their new shows is called Outcasts. It'll premiere on June 18th, and there's far more then I can put here if you click the link. When it comes out, it will replace Doctor Who, which is having it's mid-season finale on Saturday, and will finish up the season in the Fall.

It's getting late, and I want to watch some TV (if my TV is still working). I've (finally!) found an LCD TV
and ordered it through Amazon, and it will hopefully be here next week.

I hope your TV set is healthier than mine, and that you have a great week!

Happy D Day Anniversary

2011-06-06T17:31:00.000-04:00

This is the anniversary of the D Day landings in Normandy.

Having lived in Normandy, I have been to some of the beaches where the landings happened. The first place I visited was Arromanches, which is a pretty little town with a museum about the invasion.

I lived in France from around the middle of September, 1964 to just at the beginning of October in 1965, and at that time, de Gaulle was in power, and he really didn't like Americans. There was a cartoon in one of the newspapers showing him at one of the cemeteries of Americans who defended France in the war saying "Americans, go home." The whole country seemed to have adopted this attitude, and one time there was even a yarn store owner in Evreux who refused to sell me yarn because I was American!

Once we got to the vicinity of the beaches, though, it was a different story! The people there clearly remembered being invaded by a hostile force, and all the fun that entailed, and they remembered even more the D Day invasion. It must have been spectacular for the people who lived there, because all the people we spoke to had very vivid memories of it! And as soon as they realized we were American, they rolled out the red carpet for us.

I went with my daughter, Holly, who was around a year old, and my then-husband. It was a grey, overcast, cold day.

During the ride there, we went through a section of the country where there were lots of fields with hedgerows, which I hadn't seen before. France, at that time, was very scenic because a lot of it was still as it had been about 500 years ago. For instance, we were the only people in our town (Boisset-les-Prévanches) who actually had running water. We had hot running water, too. Several times, I watched the little old lady who lived next door pumping water from the well in front of her house.

Anyway, when we got to the museum, most of the people were allowed to walk around and see the exhibits, like you usually do in a museum, but when we came in, they realized that we were from the United States, and found someone who spoke English to show us the museum. There was a movie about it, and they got special headsets for us so that we could watch the movie in English rather than French.

After the museum and a bit of a walk around the town, we drove along the coast, stopping in a few places to look around, as far as Utah Beach, where we got out to walk a bit. We stayed in the car more than we otherwise might have due to the extreme cold weather that day.

At Utah beach, though, we walked around a bit, although there was really nothing to see at the beach other than the beach itself. Holly's dad pulled off one of her mittens, and stuck her hand in the freezing water of the English Channel. She screamed bloody murder, and it must've been painful. I was stupid enough to put my feet in ice water one time, and I'll never do that again! He said he did it so that Holly could say that she'd stuck here hand in the English Channel, and then he never bothered to tell her about it when she got older. But I didn't notice him sticking his hand in the icy water!

There's not much to tell of my trip. The Wikipedia entry tells more about the actual invasion, but maybe what I can remember is a bit more alive than the bare entry.

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There's not a lot on TV today (other than the White Collar rerun marathon on USA). There's a rerun of Hawaii 5-O, but we're stuck in the doldrums between the May sweeps and the July sweeps. A few new shows will be coming on later in the month because they want people to find them and build up a following before the July sweeps (which actually starts at the very end of June).

Two shows that will start their season tomorrow, include White Collar and Covert Affairs, and I really like both of them. Check them out!

Speaking of TV, I've been trying hard to replace my ever-increasingly-malfunctioning TV. I've worked my way down to where I'll be satisfied with a 19 inch model, or anything, really that lets me watch what my TiVo is recording.

I found yet another TV from WalMart, and tried to order it online today, but they've got a new thing that's supposed to make your payment more secure. It looks like it makes your payment much less secure to me, and I really didn't want to transmit all the information there is about me over the internet, where it could be a jackpot for ID thieves, so I still haven't found one to order.

I hope you're having a great week!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

2011-05-29T19:42:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope you're having the best Memorial Day Weekend ever!

I've been watching the Firefly marathon on the Science Channel, and it's the usual good fun. Yesterday was the Doctor Who marathon on BBC in America. Otherwise, I'm spending a quiet weekend at home watching TV, knitting socks, and wishing I could see the Thunderbirds.

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I still haven't blogged about Tuesday. I had an appointment to have my hearing aids checked at the VA Hospital in DC, and Holly drove me there.

She got to play with my new Galaxy Tab while we were waiting, and seemed to have fun with it.

We stopped at WalMart because she wanted to get some things there, and I wanted to return the light bulbs that didn't work in the old fixtures in my apartment. There was nothing wrong with the bulbs, it's just that the fixtures are old and finicky.

I was afraid that WalMart wouldn't let me return them, but they did. Something new happened, though. Instead of returning my money, they gave me a WalMart gift card. So, I got to wander around the store with money in my pocket that I couldn't spend anywhere else.

I've been looking for a project bag for a while, and while I've found some nice ones, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I found one there though that comes really close.

It's the perfect bag for this weekend, with all the stars, too. As you can see, there's a zipper pocket on the outside, but there's also one you can't see on the inside. So, there's a pocket for extra needles, a knit picker (tiny latchhook, and this one happens to be lighted), and the outside pocket is for stitch markers and other tiny stuff. It's mostly for sock projects, and there's room for a ball of yarn (even a 100 gram ball) and the sock itself inside.

I also found a key ring (shown above the bag and below).

And they match! How perfect can you get?

I know. It doesn't take much to please me. But it's more fun that way!

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My TiVo and the cord to plug it in arrived on Thursday, and I got everything hooked up, including my DVD player. When I hooked up the DVR, I knew it was only temporary, and it would have made it a lot more complicated to hook up the DVD player, so I didn't bother.

Thursday evening I got to watch part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I think they did a great job on it! I won't say anything more here because I don't want any spoilers, although if you've already read the book, you know what's happening because it's pretty true to the book.

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I promise that there will be some more scintillating conversation about knitting soon. Well, hopefully soon. I really have to get back to writing the pattern for the plain mobius set (hat, scarf, neck warmer and mitts) and finish making and start writing the pattern for the cabled version. The cabled version is not something I can just knit, though. I have a general idea, but I'm figuring it out as I go. It's really nice so far, though.

It's going to look a lot like the lavender set I made for my granddaughter. I was going to add a photo of it, but Blogger seems to have jammed up the photo loading mechanism for the moment, and the technical difficulties don't seem to make it possible.

Have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!

Happy Thyroid Day!

2011-05-25T16:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Thyroid Day!

I didn't realize it was Thyroid Day until I had already posted the previous post about Towel Day (make sure you scroll down and read the Towel Day post).

Thyroid problems are serious, and doctors don't seem to know much about them, so I want to get the word out there. The biggest problem with doctors not knowing anything about thyroid problems is that they think they know it all, which leads them to ignore most of the people who come to them looking for help for their very real problems.

I'm guessing that about 90% of hypothyroid people suspect, but don't know that they are hypothyroid because their doctors have told them that they don't have a problem with their thyroid. That's my own statistic with no validity other than my personal observation. I walk around and notice people in stores and otherwise out in public who are displaying obvious signs of hypothyroidism, and if I walk up and talk to them about it, they'll assure me that their doctor insists that there's nothing wrong with them.

Doctors are being mislead about hypothyroidism by the drug companies, who don't care at all about your health, only their bottom line. They'd rather see you take dangerous and expensive statin medicines for the high cholesterol that hypothyroidism brings on. And, by the way, if you have high cholesterol, you DO have low thyroid function! Testing cholesterol used to be a test for thyroid function. If cholesterol is high, thyroid function is low. That's an absolute fact!

The drug companies would also rather sell you antidepressants and other expensive medications than do anything to fix your thyroid function and actually make you well.

And if you are so low on thyroid function that you actually get diagnosed, they want the doctors to sell you T4 only drugs like Synthroid, which will not fix your cholesterol or keep you from having other problems and them from selling you other drugs for those problems.

It's almost impossible, but try to find a doctor who is willing to prescribe a natural desiccated thyroid drug like Armor Thyroid, West Throid, or Nature Throid. These "drugs" contain just what your own, natural thyroxin contains, and they'll actually make you well, as opposed to the synthetic drugs, which won't help you at all, but will make the tests come out right, but won't help you at all.

Do click the link above. It will direct you to lots of other information that's really important.

And even if you don't think you might have hypothyroidism, check the long and pathetic list of hypothroid symptoms! It's an eye opener! And it might help you direct a friend to get help.

Happy Towel Day, You Hoopy Froods!

2011-05-25T15:07:00.001-04:00

Happy Towel Day, you Hoopy Froods!

There's a photo of the towel I knitted specifically for Towel Day a couple of years ago. It's still hanging in my bathroom, and will be worn with pride later today.

If you haven't read The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I can't begin to explain it here, but I heartily recommend that you do read it. It's the most insane look at modern life on this planet that you'll find anywhere. There are also two different DVDs of the story available. The first Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is pretty close to the book. This is the version that Robin bought me for my birthday a few years ago, and it's been a favorite ever since I first saw it on TV. It was originally a TV series.

What you should understand about the newer version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is that Douglas Adams didn't believe in letting a story lie. He revised and polished it with each telling, so each version is kind of like an alternate history version of the same story. This version has the advantage of having been done after all the Hitchhiker books were written, so it doesn't cut off after the first three books, although it doesn't include Mostly Harmless.

Here are some ideas for how to celebrate Towel Day. For the more scholastic among you, here's the Wikipedia description, and it includes an excerpt from the first book explaining the significance of the towel. There is more on the internet about Towel Day if you consult a search engine, too.
If you don't get the ultimate guide version, here are the books in order:

There is also a short story called Young Zaphod Plays it Safe, which is almost a prequel, but is not included in the individual books. You'll have to buy a copy of the complete set to get that. Or, of course, the leather bound version.

And then, there are all the books about the books. Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman, And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer. There may be more. And I haven't even mentioned the radio shows.

Anyway, have a happy Towel Day!

Random Monday

2011-05-23T17:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to be able to post tomorrow because my hearing aids will be getting a check-up at the VA Hospital in DC. This will (with traveling) take up most of the day.

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I hope you had a happy Armed Forces Day on Saturday! There's been a lot of things reminding me of the military just lately, and that was the first of them. The VA Hospital visit is the second of them because it is for veterans. And DC will be gearing up for Rolling Thunder over the Memorial Day weekend.

As if all that weren't enough, John has finally overcome most (maybe all) of the major problems he's had with getting the third and last Steve Canyon on DVD published. These have been many, and have included a hard disk crash that nearly took out the whole project, and illnesses involving people he planned to interview.

There's an article about it on the internet with more information. And another one here (scroll down for the info) which has a nice, big view of the covers for all three volumes at the bottom. Then there's John's Steve Canyon blog with a neat story about it with an update on what's actually happening.

He's been in contact with me about it, and I have some minor changes to do in the artwork, and I'm poised to finish it all off.

There is also a book coming out about Steve Canyon, which covers the comic strip, and I think there's stuff about the TV show, too. I gather it's pretty comprehensive, but I don't really know what I'm taking about because I haven't been directly involved with it.

If you're a Steve Canyon fan, or just like watching the Thunderbirds, or just flying, you'll probably be interested in this. Check it out!

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Well, my replacement TiVo HD just arrived, so I'm going to install it so I can watch The Event tonight!

I've gotten and will be getting some really neat things in the mail/via UPS lately. Stuff I've gotten includes: the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1) DVD, a copy of the book, Charted Knitting Designs, my Galaxy Tab, The TiVo (today), a micro SD card for the tablet, and I'll be getting a new knitting bag (the blue one) and two beautiful scarves! Oh, and I found out that I can't cancel my cell phone service without also canceling my at home phone service, so I'll be getting a cell phone, too.

This is the blue color one I wanted:

They didn't have any of those, so I'm getting the same model in gray, which is not as nice, but still pretty good. The outside of it is a non-slip rubber-type material that's easy to hold, and that clear part at the bottom of the photo has "light effects" when it rings. Hopefully, the ringer will be louder, too. so that I'll hear it. It should be fun, even if it's not blue.

I have to go install my TiVo now!

Have a wonderful week!

Braindead Blankness

2011-05-18T17:04:00.000-04:00

I wanted to blog yesterday because I haven't put up a post in a while. Well, I couldn't think of anything to say yesterday, and I still can't.

When I started blogging, I thought, why are all those other bloggers moaning about not having anything to say? I don't think I'll ever run out of things to talk about.

Well, I've realized that mostly, I talk about what I'm doing. I seem to always be doing something creative and interesting. But this past week and a half, I've been spending most of my time running around trying to avert a series of catastrophes that all seem to all be happening at once.

Here's a video that will cheer you up before all the rest of the blog:

Holly told me about this the other night, and most of these things are stupid, but this one is irresistibly funny. This won't play on my ancient computer, so I hope it plays on yours. It plays beautifully on my Galaxy Tab!

Back to the subject.

The Galaxy Tab that I got was wonderful for the first five hours, and then it seemed to crash and burn. I finally figured out that if I'm going to load up a bunch of apps and tons of files, it either has to have more memory or it's going to lose it's mind (or at least all it's computing capability). There's a memory card on it's way to me now, and, hopefully, it'll arrive today.

I just took a moment to check, and, according to the internet, it's waiting downstairs for me, and I have 13 minutes to pick it up (we can only get packages during certain hours at or apartment place). In actual practice, I might be able to get it later. The packaging might fit into my mailbox. Most paperback books will fit in there. It's only a micro SD card, which isn't really big. It's about the size of a fingernail, which leads me to believe that they may overcompensate and put it in some large packaging.

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Speaking of books, I got the copy of Charted Knitting Designs that I ordered to make me feel a bit better for not being able to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I bought the original book, which was later published as a Third Treasury of Knitting Designs. It's got a stitch pattern in it that I've been looking everywhere for without success. I plan to make a spectacular new pattern with it, and I'm not telling you about it because it's going to be a surprise. So that's good. I've had this design in the back of my mind for several years, and it looks like I'm finally going to bee able to make it.

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John called up the night before last. He wanted help finding a file I made for him. He's working on something, and it looks like some of my art is going to be in a book, and, at least theoretically, I should get a credit for it in the book! I've put together lots of books, but they've all been of someone else's work. Oh, I've done tech illustrating and drawings that got into manuals and other publications, and the design of those publications was mine, but none that showcases some of my work specifically. I'm excited!

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The TiVo has arrived back at the TiVo place, and they said I should get the replacement in seven to ten days. I can't wait! This Comcast DVR acts like it was made of stone knives and bearskins.

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You can tell that sweeps month is over. There's really nothing on TV tonight. The first night with some really good TV will be Saturday, in the person of Doctor Who. They'll be rerunning The Doctor's Wife, from last week, and it's a really good episode (it was written by Neil Gaiman, so it has to be good), so if you missed it, here's your chance to catch it again.

I'm still trying to find some way to replace my dying TV, and I'm rapidly running out of ideas. I'd really like to replace it with something that I can move myself if I have to, which means one of the newer, flat TVs that you can hang on the wall like a painting if you want to. My first thought was Craig's List, but you can only get older CRTs at any kind of good price there.

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Not only am I trying to handle all the stuff that's being attacked by entropy, but I'm still in a mental fog from all the tree pollen which drifted in my window while it was warm outside, but the A/C still hadn't been turned on. It's going to take me months to recover.

Maybe I can make a really neat knitting project in the meantime, though. And get it written up, formatted and into a PDF so it can be for sale. Along with the mobius projects I'm still working on.

I hope the rest of your week is much better than mine has been so far!

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

2011-05-13T21:15:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Well, this has been a bad week for electronics as far as I'm concerned.

My TV is still in the process of dying.

My TiVo bought the big one on Sunday. I finally got it to the UPS store and got it on it's way back to TiVo. Once they get it, they'll send me a new one (or maybe a newer one, or at least one that works). So, with any luck, they'll get it Tuesday, and if they get it out to me the same day, I might have one as soon as next Friday.

In the meantime, I spent most of the day on Monday on the bus to go to the Comcast office and get a DVR until the TiVo comes back. That's kind of like taking your top-of-the-line sports car to be serviced and have them loan you a tractor to get around on. But at least it's possible to watch TV in the meantime. I'm particularly looking forward to the Doctor Who episode tomorrow because it's written by Neil Gaiman! Here's a publicity photo:

Last Saturday, before all this started, I ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab from T-Mobile. It arrived yesterday, and I did something stupid and didn't know how to operate it. I can't believe I did something so dumb! I thought it wasn't working, and returned it yesterday (while I was dropping off the TiVo at UPS). They overnighted a replacement, and it arrived completely charged up late this morning.

The new one was completely charged up when I got it late this morning, so I spent about 5 hours having fun with it! Then it said the battery was low, so I unpacked the charger and cord from the box and plugged the whole thing into the wall. A few minutes later, it wasn't working. I finally got it to light up and try to tell me what's wrong, and it did. It said to connect the charger.

I tried plugging it into a different outlet, I tried plugging the USB cable into my computer's USB port, and it didn't seem to be working. I finally decided to just plug it into the wall and just leave it for a while to see what would happen. It looks like it's charging now, but very slowly. I'll check it in a bit and see if there's any difference.

I have to say that it is absolutely excellent when it's working! It loads web pages very quickly (faster than my computer), and it plays videos beautifully. It came with some apps I'd never seen before, and there's at least one that I really like. I don't remember the name and I don't want to interrupt it while it's charging, but the app is called something like daily status. It's got five pages, and once you tell it where you live, when you open it, the first page tells you what your local weather is. You can also load other locations, and see what the weather is like there. I already loaded in a location for my sister in New Jersey, and one for John, in California, so I can see what the weather is like there. I still have to load some other locations. But I've got Friendship, MD loaded, so I can see what the weather is like at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

The fifth page shows you what you have scheduled on your Google calendar. The other pages show stock quotes if you enter your stocks in them, and some other stuff that I'm not interested in, but those two pages are worth their weight in gold (not that they actually weigh anything, you understand, being virtual).

It comes with the Kindle app already installed, and I installed the Nook app, and it seems to run even better than it did on my G1. All the books I've already bought showed up right away, and I had to make the text smaller because it was trying to display it at the same text to screen size ratio as my G1, and since this screen is much bigger, so was the type. But that's easily adjusted.

There's a Gallery app, and I opened it, thinking that I'd have to figure out how to load photos, and discovered that a lot of my photos had already loaded!

This is a really great device!

The people at the local T-Mobile store said that I could bring it in, and they'd use a cord that they have in the store to check and see if it was the cord. They have a car charger with a cord like the one I have, but it has a plug that attaches that will fit into a cigarette lighter that I can buy if that's the problem.

Or maybe it'll just charge?

I'm hoping.

It finally seems to be charging now.

Maybe it's OK.

As mentioned, my TV is still dying. Almost a year ago, it acquired a faint green cast to the color. You can't see it a lot of the time, but when there's a shot in low light, instead of being mostly shades of grey, it's more like shades of olive drab. It's been slowly getting worse. I've had it connected to two TiVos and now the DVR, and it's not from them.

Then there's the buzz that's developed whenever it's on. Oh, and don't forget the two thin, staticky lines that slowly travel up the screen all the time. I've been too distracted by the other things I've been dealing with to do something about that. I don't have any money saved, so if I want to do something about it now, it'll require going into debt, which I'm reluctant to do.

I feel like I'm just whining now, so I'll stop, although I will say that if there's a day that people should be entitled to whine, it would have to be Friday the 13th!

I hope yours was spectacular, and that your weekend is the best that it can be!

What a Ride!

2011-05-08T17:28:00.000-04:00

By the way, Happy Mother's Day!

This weekend, I seem to have been hit with that old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

If it was all bad, I would think that I'd been hit with Friday the thirteenth almost a week early, but some of it has been wildly good. I can't even list all the bad things and then all the good things, because they're so intertwined.

Here's a synopsis:

Bad: I've gotten to go the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festivel every year for the last 21 years, but it's this weekend, and this year I'm missing it! I've been bummed out about that.

Bad: The liaison between the apartment building and the residents left early Friday, and I missed her, so I don't know how they want to settle things, and won't know before Tuesday. This might ultimately be either good or bad, but the problem is that I don't know, so I can't plan.

Very Good: My cell phone contract with T-Mobile ran out a while ago. I wanted to replace my phone with a Galaxy Tab (tablet computer, like an Android-based iPad). Friday, it cost $300 up front, with a $100 rebate. On Saturday, though, it was $150 (refurbished). I called them up, and the bottom line was that I paid $45 up front, and I'll be paying $15 more for the next three months (because it lowered my monthly bill: I'll actually be paying $35), after that, my bill will be $20 lower than it is now. I did this by eliminating cell phone service, although I'll still have a home phone through them. So, they'll be shipping out a Galaxy Tab tomorrow, and I should get it on Wednesday or Thursday! I've wanted something like this ever since the iPads came out. I wanted a book reader before that, but this can do that, too! I'm so happy about this!

Very Bad: Today, I woke up and turned on the TV. It happened to be tuned to Syfy, which is having a Eureka marathon, followed by a Warehouse 13 marathon, which would be good news except that my remote wouldn't operate the TiVo properly. It was acting crazy! I replaced the batteries on the remote, and it still didn't work. I unplugged the TiVo and restarted it, but it still wasn't working right. I called TiVo, and they're going to send me another one, right after I return this and they get it. Which means I won't be able to watch TV at all for more than a week! Obviously this is not the end of the world, but still not good news. Now I can't watch Eureka, Warehouse 13 or anything else.

Good and Bad: Immediately after hanging up the phone with the TiVo people, the TiVo died completely. When it died, the buzz got louder, and the lines that have been running across the screen for the past few weeks got much wider and more pronounced. Which may mean that the problem wasn't my TV, and I may not need to replace it! I still want a newer TV, but at least it may mean that I don't have to replace it immediately.

Bad: The TiVo people said they would send me a shipping label. I thought that would be great, because I could have the TiVo all packed up and when the UPS person arrived with it, I could just slap on the label and have them take it with them. But they're not sending me a label, they're sending me an image of a label, via email! Which leads me to the next piece of news.

Bad: I'm out of ink cartridges for my printer, so I can't print the label until I get new cartridges!

Bad: Holly and I planned to go out today and have a nice, fun Mother's Day, and incidentally stop by WalMart, where I intended to get new ink cartridges for my printer, along with some other more needed items. But, right after the TiVo died completely, which was right after I got off the phone with them, Holly called to tell me that her Hummer is infested with stink bugs! She doesn't even want to open the door, let alone try to drive it anywhere, so I won't get to see her today, and won't get to go to WalMart.

Back a while ago, I think it was on their first 4-wheeling trip, but certainly an early one, a few stink bugs got into the Hummer. They've been hiding in the doors, but haven't been a real problem. Once in a while you would see one. But since the warmer weather, they've thrived and multiplied, and now are busy building a whole new stink bug civilization in their new, Hummer universe.

Good: If they can get the infestation out of the vehicle, I'll get to see Holly next week, and we'll get to celebrate Mother's Day then.

Bad: Not only do I need the ink cartridges, there are some really important things that I'm almost out of, so I have to go to WalMart tomorrow! And, since I'll have to do it on the bus, it'll take all day, and I won't be able to send the TiVo off until Tuesday, which will delay getting a new one even more.

Maybe Good, Maybe Bad: I may be able to call UPS and get them to pick up the TiVo on Tuesday, but they might not do it, in which case, I'll have to spend another day on the bus to send it. I won't know until then.

Good: In a fit of minor depression, I ordered a used copy of Charted Knitting Designs from Amazon to make up for not being able to go to the MSWF, and also ordered a used copy of the first part of The Deathly Hallows on DVD. They won't arrive until later this week, though (at the earliest).

Good: Once the Galaxy Tab arrives, I'll order a Nook book copy of the newest Charlain Harris book, Dead Reckoning. I could order it now. My current smart phone, a G1 already has several Nook books on it, but I currently have some books from the library and other things I want to read in the meantime, so, it's no real sacrafice to wait until I have something to read it on that's a bit bigger than the tiny page on my phone. If I still have any money at that point.

Bad: I tried to contact Comcast to see if I could get a decoder box temporaraly, but they don't have business hours on Sunday, so I don't know if there's some way to get to watch TV sometime before next week. I almost don't know how to deal with contacting Comcast over a problem they didn't cause (although it's not impossible that they caused it). I'm so used to them messing up badly all the time.

I'll be back with more updates soon.

In the meantime, I hope you're having an absolutely perfect weekend, not like mine!

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!

2011-05-06T18:02:00.001-04:00

For any of you who don't know (i.e., you just started reading this blog), The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is the largest yarn/wool/sheep show/market/school of it's kind in the United States. And it's happening this weekend, the 7th and 8th of May!

There are classes on everything having to do with raising and shearing sheep and other fiber animals, spinning, weaving, knitting, and information on lucet, and other kinds of braiding. Also, if you're in the market area, all you usually have to do is say "Boy, I would really like to learn to spin" and probably within 10 minutes, you'll be sitting in front of a wheel, spinning your first yarn.

There is every kind of yarn you can imagine for sale, fibers of all kinds in all preparations (or none), carders, combs, hackles and other fiber processing tools, drop and support spindles, spinning wheels, looms, knitting needles, and too much else to even begin to list!

For 21 years, I have attended the Sheep and Wool Festival every time. This year, however, I won't be going. Holly can't really afford even the gas to take us, and I don't think I could manage to walk around the whole thing.

It's so big that you can't ever see it all in one day, and probably not in two, but I could usually walk around most of it. This year, I really don't think I can make it and I certainly can't afford to be exposed to all the tree pollen I would breathe in if I went.

In the meantime, I've been compiling a list of all the wonderful things pertaining to knitting and spinning that I'd like that I won't be able to get at the MSWF. I intend to pick one (or maybe two, if it doesn't cost too much) and get it/them as a consolation for not being able to go, and I thought I'd include them here, because they'd be good Mothers Day presents if your mom spins or knits.

The other day, I was watching Knitting Daily and they had someone on from Signature who showed how to make swatches knitting on their beautiful needles that look like you're knitting with jewelry. I haven't tried them yet. I haven't been able to afford them. But I've read a lot of rave reviews that say they're worth every penny and more. The most popular point is the stiletto.

They have single points, double points, circular needles, kits, and lots more. Check it out!

I love the Barbara Walker knitting pattern books, and I've been sorely missing one (A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns) that I have (somewhere) but can't find. I've come to the conclusion that it went to New Jersey, and it will cost more than the book to go get it, and I've been thinking about replacing it. Although they, too, are worth every penny, they're fairly expensive (for me) books. I discovered yesterday that there is an older, used (out of print) version of it that's available through Amazon, and I'm seriously thinking about getting it. It's called Charted Knitting Designs, which I can't find a link for, but you can find it on Amazon. This is a fabulous book if you prefer charts.

If she's a spinner and wants to spin art yarns, there is no better wheel you could get her than the Aura wheel from Majacraft that came out last year just in time for the MSWF.

This wheel was designed specifically to spin art yarns, but will also spin heavy weight singles, and (they tell me) even fine yarns.

If you knit socks, the thing you won't know how you survived without is the snag lite. If you're knitting a sock all in rib and you discover a purl stitch down a few rows that should have been a knit stitch, this is the perfect tool to ladder down to the mistake and latch it up again, perfectly! If the mistake is a knit stitch that should have been a purl, flip it over to the other side to fix. It's much easier to fix the knit side.

If you feel you don't need the light, there's the Ergonomic Knit Picker by Dritz, which you can also usually find in JoAnn Fabric stores, or another Ergonomic Knit Picker. These are the perfect size for sock or lace yarn, even though they look so tiny.

If you knit a lot of patterns and occasionally make mistakes, the Seed Stitcher is for you! These are generally available in a size that work well with knitting worsted, chunky and bulky yarn weights. I haven't found any that are a good size for lighter weight yarns, although you can usually manage to use one that's really too large.

As for me, I'm going to go out with Holly on Mother's Day, and we're going to have a great time as consolation for missing the MSWF!

I hope your weekend will be the best it can be!

Insanity!

2011-05-03T16:34:00.000-04:00

I want to write a nice, happy post and tell you all about some wonderful knitting experience, and then about some wonderful science fiction/fantasy that's about to be on TV, but I have a personal problem that's been going on for a while, and has currently come to a boil.

The apartment place I live in is beautiful. The building is wonderful, the location is great, almost everything I need is within walking distance, but the woman who runs it is determined to follow the policies of the owners, even if it puts her residents' health, or even their lives at risk.

I've been trying to get in touch with a lawyer who isn't calling me back. I've been trying to find solutions on the internet. I alternate between wanting to: look up information on the internet and call someone for help, barricade the door, find a different place to live, run around in circles, scream, and curl up in bed and cry.

I just can't deal with this! I keep changing my mind about what to do. I want to move out and get rid of the problem, but I hate moving, I've found that problems like this tend to follow you until you learn how to deal with them, and I feel I have a responsibility to other people who live here who might be affected as badly as I am.

Part of the problem is that I've been sick for more than a year straight from living in this apartment. So, I'm not really in any shape to deal with it.

I don't know, at this point, what I will ultimately do, but it may require me to not be near the internet for a while, so if you don't hear from me for a while, don't panic!

I hope things are going much better for you than they are for me!

Happy Beltane!

2011-05-01T20:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Beltane!

Or maybe I should say, happy heathen rites of Spring!

Sorry! I meant to get this up earlier today, but didn't.

I thought you deserved a photo of a flower, even though I took this photo last summer, when my new camera was brand new.

I found a link for Beltane spells and recipes, and I thought you might be interested.

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I've long been bemused by things that the people who do closed captioning on TV misunderstand and make mistakes in, but one of those I saw during the royal wedding takes the cake.

According to the closed captionist, in the middle of the wedding ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury said the phrase "Mary, mother of money." I almost fell off my chair laughing!

I'm thinking that I should start a diary of things that people who do closed captioning mix up. I could probably publish it and make a lot of money.

On Friday, I was watching Fringe, and Walter addressed Astrid as "ostrich" according to the person typing the closed captioning!

Not to mention The Tudors, where the king sits on a "thrown" rather than a throne!

Speaking of TV, the second part of the first story of the season of Doctor Who was on (Day of the Moon) yesterday, and it was a mind-bender. Warning: Spoilers ahead! Well, only if you haven't seen the first part of the story (The Impossible Astronaut).

It contained aliens that looked alarming, but that you would forget instantly when you looked away. Since the story followed what the characters were experiencing, the whole thing had lots of gaps and was very disorienting. I want to say more, but I won't at the moment.

There's one more episode, and then the one written by Neil Gaiman called The Doctor's Wife. I can't wait for that one!

Hope you've been having a wonderful weekend and will have an even better week!

Was It Good for You?

2011-04-29T20:54:00.000-04:00

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last six months, you know that Prince William and Kate Middleton got married today.

For more information about Kate's gown and jewels, check it out here.

The best news, from the point of view of the participants, I'm sure, is that nobody forgot their lines, went the wrong way, or tripped and fell. I'm sure there are two happy people somewhere today, yelling in pure joy because it's all over and nobody threw up!

If Facebook is anything to judge by, there are many people out there who are fed up with having almost nothing else on TV, but that's their problem, and it should be over really soon.

For all you people out there who are confused (like me), I found the Answer Bitch today, and she has answers for many of the questions floating around out there. She didn't answer all of mine, though.

I watched the ceremony, and saw William place a ring on Kate's finger, and then they went on and did other things, and I thought (it was almost 7 am) that I'd fallen asleep for a moment and missed something, but the photos of the two leaving Westminster Abby showed William clearly wearing no ring. I'm puzzled.

Some of the hat's were unbelievable! There was one that I missed on TV until they were riding back to Buckingham Palace, and I saw it in one of the coaches and thought she was wearing antlers! It's been so popular (or at least, so talked about) that it's spawned at least 8 web pages, and probably more by now. Follow the link to find them.

If your problems with the wedding were of a verbal nature, check out this guide to British slang. I've always followed the differences in the English language better than most Americans, but lately there have been a lot of things that threw me.

One of the things they showed off during the times when not much was happening was some of the souvenirs that were for sale around there. They didn't do it formally, but they showed and interviewed the crowd, who had loads of swag with them. Some were cheap and ugly (one person in the crowd wore a crown that looked like it had been cut out of a sponge), but a few looked like fun. If you'd like to find out about some of the more strange collectibles, check it out here.

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But, enough about the wedding. The first episode of the new season of Doctor Who aired last Saturday, and you can see that and it's sequel (the second half of the story) tomorrow (Saturday) evening.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Earth Day, Good Friday and Jelly Bean Day!

2011-04-22T20:16:00.001-04:00

Wow! I can't believe they could squeeze all that into one day!

Read more about Earth Day! I can't believe that they're even asking if we can afford to protect the environment! How much is it worth to you to continue breathing? Tear down enough trees, and this huge spaceship we're on won't be able to continue to produce enough oxygen for the people on it!

I don't really have to say much of anything about Good Friday. Everybody who hasn't been hiding under a rock knows about it. I used to love all the great biblical movies that were on at this time of year, but they almost don't exist on TV anymore.

There are a lot of things on the channels about learning, discovery and science about biblical stories and the possibility that they could be historical fact, though.

I didn't even know that it was Jelly Bean Day until I saw it online in a newspaper! And right before Easter, too! I'll bet the diabetes doctors will be having a lot of patients next week!

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And some of the best news today is that the new season premier of Doctor Who will be on BBC in America tomorrow evening! They're having a Doctor Who marathon during the day to build up to the premier. I can't wait!

In fact, it seems to be starting right now!

The photo above seems to be one from the first episode, which will be on tomorrow evening. Not having seen it, I don't know.

Neat, huh?

If you didn't know, Neil Gaiman has written a script which will air later in the season. I love his work so much, and can't believe I have such good luck that he's writing for Doctor Who! I'm so excited!

I'm going to be pretty much stuck on BBC in America as my main channel for the next week because of the new season of Doctor Who and all the hoopla about the Royal Wedding. If my TV lasts for the coming week, that is!

I have to run, now.

Have a fabulous weekend!

It's Dead, Jim!

2011-04-17T22:05:00.000-04:00

It's not quite dead yet, but my TV is well on the way to the dump or wherever old, broken, malfunctioning TVs go.

Last Wednesday, I turned it on, and my hearing aids started buzzing. I figured that one of the pieces of equipment must have started leaking an RF signal, and the aids were picking it up. But there were thin, staticky white lines running across the picture, too.

I spent a few days trying to figure out how I could test to see if it was the TV, TiVo or RF converter. While I was doing that, I turned on the TV when I wasn't wearing the aids, and still heard the buzzing, so it wasn't an RF leak.

I continued trying to figure it out.

Today, I woke up really early, and decided to check the weather for the rest of the day before I went back to sleep. I turned on the TV, turned the sound down, and read about the weather. Then I hit the button on the remote to turn the TV off, and it went to black and restarted! I tried that about 5 more times, then tried the button directly on the TV (which did the same thing) and it restarted each time. I finally had to unplug it to actually turn it off.

Later, when I actually woke up for real, I plugged it in, waited 5 minutes (to let it warm up), and hit the on button on the TV. Nothing happened. Then I tried the on button on the remote, and it started. I tried hitting the volume button on the TV without effect, and after a few tries with the remote, I was able to adjust the volume on it so I could actually hear it!

Doctor Who is on Saturday! Friday of next week is the royal wedding! New episodes of Chuck, The Event, Castle, Hawaii Five-O, The Mentalist, Supernatural and Fringe will be on, too! Will it last? Will I be able to see them?

At this point, I'll be lucky to have enough money for food for the rest of the month, let alone money for a new or even used TV.

I'm bummed!

But the TiVo is recording The Fall of Sam Axe, so I'm going to get to see that tonight, at least.

I hope your weekend has been better than mine!

Want to Find a Brand New Planet? You Can!

2011-04-15T20:02:00.000-04:00

My daughter sent me this link in an email today!

A group called Planethunters.org is giving the chance to find a new planet to anyone who wants to try!

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There will be a Burn Notice Marathon on Sunday, culminating in a new Burn Notice movie: The Fall of Sam Axe! Check your local listings.

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In the meantime, tree pollen season (please notice that the season most people call Spring is officially tree pollen season at my place) has been knocking me out. Runny, swollen eyes (only because I haven't gotten any actual pollen in them, otherwise, I'd be temporarily effectively blind), post nasal drip (my sinuses are trying to drown me) and total exhaustion. I can barely stay awake.

This is why you haven't been hearing much from me, and probably won't for a while.

In the meantime, have fun, and happy weekend!

Help! I've Been Kidnapped by Miles Vorkosigan!

2011-04-08T21:30:00.001-04:00

A while ago, I finished up reading some books, and looked around for something else to read. I realized that I hadn't read the Vokosigan series in a while, so I started on that.

Not long after I started, Amazon sent me some of their spam that recommends books for you. Actually, it's probably not fair to call what they send spam, because they actually recommend books that I like, and want to read. One of them was a new book in the Vokosigan saga called Cryoburn.

Being short on money, as usual, I immediately went to the website for my local library and checked their listings, and it was there. I requested that they send it to the nearby branch, and picked it up on Thursday of last week.

I skipped a few books and am now up to the volume called Miles in Love, which includes two novels and a novella: Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Winterfair Gifts.

To give you a better idea of what these books are like, I once asked a friend if he had read any of the books. He said he had, but had given up reading them. I asked him why: didn't he enjoy them? and his answer was "No, I enjoy them, but I'm tired of staying up until 5 am because I can't put them down when I have to get up at 6 am to go to work!

This is what's happened to me this past week. I haven't done a lot of things that I should be doing because I can't tear myself away from the books. And so far, I've been reading ones I already read and know what's going to happen! If you think potato chips are addictive, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

One of the things that has kept me from blogging about the books is that it's complicated!

The novels first came out as individual books, as they were written. But Lois McMaster Bujold also wrote some short stories and novellas which were published in science fiction magazines.

Then the publisher started publishing "omnibus editions" which each included at least two novels, and sometimes some short stories and novellas so that you could read them all in order. At this point, they're all available in hardback, paperback, and a batch of ebook formats.

If you want to get started on them, either get the omnibus edition, Cordelia's Honor, or the two novels that are included: Shards of Honor and Barrayar. I was astounded when I looked up the link for Barrayar. They're out of print now, I think, and the first one I found was a hardback edition for $75! You won't find most of them on Barnes & Noble, but if you look around for ebooks, you can find the B&N format (epub) in those titles, probably free. If you have Kindle, Sony, or other reader, you can get them by searching for ebooks and selecting the correct format for your reader. I was going to set up a more comprehensive listing of all the books, but it's way too big a job to list all of them in all the formats they're available in.

Oh, and the books have chronological listings in the back of the titles of the books and short stories, etc.

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Last Saturday was fun. Holly and I went shopping, partly at Michaels, and then at WalMart.

I got some neat swag at Michaels. Boye has a "Yarn On The Go Bag" which will hold a ball of yarn. It's got a long enough strap to go over your shoulder or cross-body. The strap can be snapped off if you don't want to use it, or you can tie a knot in it to shorten it, or tie it something. Inside, near the top, there's a short tab with a snap so you can snap it around the yarn where it leaves the ball. And it's got two bags in each package at a very low price! This is great if you're doing Fair Isle colorwork because you can put one bag on each side and keep them tangle-free!

It's available in red, as shown, but also in other colors, and each package has two bags, each in a different color. I got a package that had a blue one and a purple one. You might want to find a store that has these, because the colors are random, and you can pick out two you like in the same package if you do it in person.

Holly liked them so much that I gave her my purple one. These are very high quality for such a low price!

I also got their last ball of Loops & Threads Santa Fe yarn in Blue Suede Stripes. I've never seen the Santa Fe in the store before, but they were almost sold out when I was there. It's very pretty, and I'd like to buy more, but it looks like they only had it available for about a month.

When we went to WalMart, I needed to get new fluorescent bulbs for the ones that are wearing out in my kitchen, and I did that.

I had also found a vacuum cleaner I liked (judging by the reviews at WalMart and elsewhere), the Hoover Nano Light, but they said they were out of them online. I looked around the store anyway, because the report that said that was a few weeks old. I looked for it again online, and on Sunday, the website said they had it! I ordered it right away, and it arrived yesterday.

My old vacuum had been progressivly losing it's suction, so I wanted to replace it.

The new vacuum arrived yesterday, late in the afternoon, and I sat down and assembled it right away, then vacuumed a few square feet of carpet, just to check that I had assembled it correctly and that it was working. I thought it would probably pick up a lot because I knew that the old one was dying, but it still didn't leave the carpet looking like it had anything on it or was dirty.

Then I took this photo so I could post it here.

After I took the photo, I looked at it a little closer, and realized that the dust cup was FILLED! I could not believe the amount of dirt that was in that small space of carpet! I'm going to move everything heavy in the apartment over the weekend and vacuum under it all so that all floor surfaces have been cleaned.

Oh, the handle collapses down, and I photographed it with the handle folded down. That's nice, because it fits under my kitchen counter with the handle down. It's small and light, and easy to maneuver around things and does an amazingly good job!

While I was in "walking around looking mode" I happened to find a 2 quart saucepan right next to the vacuums. I've been looking for one in stainless steel for about 4 years. I have two 1-1/2 quart saucepans and a 3 quart one, but I often want to heat something that really only needs a 2 quart.

During the last 4 years, the cheapest one I've found has been $40! But WalMart had one for $15! It has a copper clad bottom, which I didn't really care for, but did I mention it was only $15? I snapped it right up!

It's so nice when you find something you've been looking for for a while! And I got three of them this week! The yarn bags, the vacuum cleaner and the saucepan!

I feel like having a party!

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I'm going to watch the reruns of Supernatural and Fringe, and the season finale of Merlin.

Have a great weekend!

Approach the Internet with Caution Today. It's April Fools Day!

2011-04-01T17:12:00.000-04:00

Happy April Fools Day!

And in a related story:

Happy Birthday, Malaia!

If you know Malaia, then you know that April Fools Day is the perfect birthday for her. She has the most incredible sense of humor. She's also my first granddaughter.

Back to the general April Fool theme:

Google has introduced their new Gmail Motion, specifically for the holiday!

There have been an assortment of pranks played in various places. I particularly like the one where Pluto has been bought and redeclared a planet!

Here are the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of all time.

Here's a list of some of the best April Fools Day jokes you can play on others. Warning: Don't let Malaia or Johnnie read these!

Have the best April Fools Day ever!

The Principles of Knitting Is Coming Back!

2011-03-30T18:52:00.001-04:00

The Principles of Knitting is the best and most complete reference book on knitting ever published! It has everything in it! It may not be a book that you could enjoy reading, but at 11 pm, when you've run into a knitting problem that you don't know how to solve, it's got the information when you can't even find it on the internet.

This book is so great, that since it's been out of print, I've seen copies of it being sold for over $200! I've heard reports of others selling copies for as much as $400! It is, without a doubt the best knitting reference book ever!

The link doesn't say when it's going to be published, but I looked it up on the internet, and the publisher says that it will be out on the first of November of this year. Just in time for Christmas! They also say that that's a rough idea, and that they're not promising it exactly on that date.

And it's only about $30! You have to understand that this is a book that would make a great doorstop! This book could anchor a battleship! It's BIG! It's got everything!

I missed it when it was originally published because I didn't have enough money to buy it at the time. I've regretted it ever since.

Now, I have a second chance! And so do you!

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In more knitting news, I found a photo of a great TARDIS blanket that someone knitted! Much as I'd like to put the photo up here, I think you should see it from the original

I hope you're having a wonderful week!

Cylons Flying Over Libya!

2011-03-29T19:00:00.001-04:00

Found an article today (thanks to Doug Drexler) about Cylons flying over Libya!

Those pilots have a great sense of humor!

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I don't really have a lot to say today. After being sick to one degree or another for about a month, I'm kind of in a daze. I'm really pretty much over the actual "sick" part, but I just feel wiped out and exhausted. It's almost 7 pm here, and it feels like it should be about 3 or 4 hours earlier. Part of it may be that it's light longer.

I've been making progress on the mobius sets, but they're not ready to photograph yet, although part of the patterns have been written. I have a lot to do, and no ambition at the moment.

Oh, and I forgot. My sister sent me a photo of a license plate. All I can say is that this is someone you really don't want to cut off!

Have a great week!

Sci Fi Friday

2011-03-25T20:34:00.000-04:00

About 10 years ago, Showtime used to have SciFriday, and that's when they showed Stargate SG-1, plus some other good stuff. Then there was someone else having Sci Fi Friday. All that's gone, although BBC in America is having Sci Fi Saturday.

What has put the Sci Fi back in Friday for me has been a get-together of science fiction and fantasy writers and fen on Twitter from 2 to 4 pm, EST, using the hashtag, #scifichat.

Today, Twitter was so overloaded that almost nobody was able to get on until about 3, but we hung out until almost 4:30. If you love science fiction, and have some free time on Friday afternoons, check it out. You can also go to Twitter and search for the hashtag and probably get it if you want to see today's discussion.

In the past week, I've gotten back to Twitter in a big way. From now on, I plan to add a button at the end of each post that will let you post a link to that post on Twitter. I plan to do it for Facebook, too, as soon as I figure out how to do that.

You can tell I'm really good with technology, can't you?

The new season of Doctor Who will be arriving on BBC in America around the middle of April! They used to show it in England, and then later on in the US, but the rumor is that they'll be showing then at the same time (or at least on the same day) this season!

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I know I haven't written in a while, but I'm still getting over this thing that's been dragging on for more than a month. I'm nearly over it, or maybe I should say I'm nearly to the point that I can say that I'm not sick, or at least not any sicker than usual. But I haven't been walking any more than I have to, and I'm just plain wiped out! I'm going to have to start a regular program of walking if I have any hope of being able to walk around the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

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So, anyway, not much has been happening around here.

I am well on my way to finishing the Screaming KnitFit version of the mobius hat, cowl, scarf and mitts set. Can the pattern be far behind? Actually, yes, it can. I need to get a bust mannequin to model it for photos. That means I'll need to wait for April for a new influx of money, and then send for it and wait for it to arrive. But I can get the instructions together in that time, and once the photos are taken, it should be out soon.

In the meantime, I've finished the cuff (except for Kitchnering the ends together) for the mobius hat that has a cable, and the cable is reversible! Part of the matching cowl is done. I have to chart out another cable for the cowl, and get that in the works. Then there will be the chart, knitting and instructions for the scarf and mitts. Lots of work to do there!

While that is all going on, I plan to spend some time converting some of my current patterns to PDF format, too. So there should be lots of new patterns in the near future.

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I'm still in kind of a daze from being sick, but without checking, I think there's a rerun on Supernatural tonight, but a new Fringe! And, of course, a new Merlin on Syfy.

Have the best weekend ever!

See? Here's the new button. Not that you might want to Tweet about this particular post.

Happy Heathen Rites of Spring!

2011-03-20T21:44:00.001-04:00

Happy Heathen Rites of Spring!

Yes, it's the first day of Spring again!

It comes around every year, and I hope that yours is/was happy.

My high school class is having a reunion and they put up a website so that classmates can check in and contact each other. One of my classmates asked me a question, and I tried to answer on the site, but could only get a few words up, and then it would jam. I suspect that it's that way so that you have to keep answers short, but I can't answer in just a few words, so I'm going to answer it here and send a URL for an answer instead.

It's a very relevant story about Spring, because it's the first time I ever came across "Heathen Rites of Spring." And it's a good thing to do because John keeps mentioning that he thinks people would like to read about some of the things I've done on my blog. So, it seems this story's time has come.

Cheryl asked me:

I'd like to hear more about the lake you helped to build in Virginia. (i.e., where was it, what caused it to be built, your involvement, etc.)

And here's the answer:

I worked for a while for a company called Lehman Scaffa Art and Photography in Silver Spring Maryland. One of the owners, Sam, wanted to have a place to go and have fun on the weekends, and a place to eventually retire to. So, he bought a large piece of property in Northern Virginia, West of Winchester, very near West Virginia.

But he didn't want to go there and be all alone. He wanted to have his friends around him, and he wanted a place where everyone could have fun. So he divided up the property into a lot of plots, and sold certain land rights to those plots. So, if you "bought" a plot, you could build a house on it, but you couldn't (for instance) build a fence around it. If you wanted to have a kitchen garden or something, you could build a fence around that. The basic idea is that if you bought the rights to a plot, to a degree, you were buying rights to the whole property, and he wanted everybody to be able to use all the property. You'll see how that worked in a bit.

He named the property The Wind in the Willows after a book he liked. The different plots had names like Mole End, etc.

The one thing that the property lacked that Sam wanted was a lake. It did have two streams that flowed onto the property, and he figure that if part of it were cleared of trees and a dam were put in that he could have the lake he wanted.

So, he got price estimates on a lot of things. One was for a professional company to clear the area and build a lake, one was just for clearing the area, one was for just the dam, and one was for the price of a bulldozer. Well he discovered that it would cost the same no matter how he did it, but if he bought a bulldozer and we did the work ourselves and then had the dam professionally built, it would cost the same, but he would still have the bulldozer after it was all done! And the bulldozer sounded like too much fun to him!

So, he bought a bulldozer and invited all his friends to come out and help him.

So, I spent quite a few weekends at The Wind in the Willows, running a bulldozer, blowing up stumps of trees we couldn't get out with the 'dozer, having picnics, and generally having a lot of fun. My daughter, Holly, who was about 4 at the time got to ride on the bulldozer and help operate it.

I wasn't the only one to go and help. Sam used to have a boyscout troop, and the Scouts were adults by now, and they pitched in, too. One of the Scouts got lost and when he finally found us, he complained to Sam because Same had told him that there would be a sign, and he didn't see one. Sam insisted there was a sign that said "Heathen Rites of Spring" with an arrow pointing to the trail.

Sam was right about the bulldozer being fun! People seem to look at me oddly when I tell them about this, but when you yank a tree stump out of the ground with one of those things, you get rid of anger and aggression you never even knew you had! It's exhilarating, and leaves you feeling light and happy. In short, it's FUN!

I wound up moving back to New Jersey about the time we were finishing up clearing out the land where the lake would be, and before the crew came in to build the dam.

Years later, when I was living in Washington, DC, I had planned to go camping with some friends, but the person who owned the farm we were going to camp on canceled on us at the last minute. I told them that I knew just the place.

I called Sam, and he said he'd love for me and my friends to come and camp at The Wind in the Willows.

So a batch of my friends gathered at my place one Saturday morning, and we all rode our motorcycles (heavily packed with camping gear) North, through Maryland, where we crossed the Potomac at White's Ferry, and took the scenic route through West Virginia. At noon, we stopped at Charlestown for lunch, and went on South and into Virginia to The Wind in the Willows.

Sam had said to come to the house (which had been built since the last time I was there). I knocked on the door, Sam opened it, and I was immediately dumbstruck. The far wall of the living room was entirely glass, and showed a fabulous view of the lake. All I could say was "It's a lake!" Sam laughed, and assured me that it was, indeed, a lake now.

He took me into another room, and one whole wall of the room was a map of the property, and he showed me where we could camp on the map. He also added that there were rowboats, canoes, and a paddleboat, as well as fishing gear that we could use, and showed me where the best beach for swimming was located.

We camped there overnight, had a campfire and told spooky stories, rode the paddleboat, and one of us went swimming, and in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, we started the ride back home.

What fun!

I hope your weekend was fun, too.

Big Full Moon Saturday Night!

2011-03-18T19:24:00.000-04:00

We'll be having a "perigee moon" tomorrow night! It's also called a super full moon, and it will be spectacular if clouds don't get in the way!

The picture comparison at that second link doesn't look like much, but if you watch it rise, you'll notice the difference, even if you're not expecting it to be bigger.

One of the early SCA events I went to was a coronation (March 6, 1993, Cuán MacDaige). After the coronation, first court was held outside late in the afternoon, and the moon rose while court was happening. It was also the first Arts and Sciences event that I entered, and I won. It was positively magical!

The photo above is probably real, and would be possible from a distance with a really long lens. It's Le Mont Saint Michel, and I've been there!

I hadn't planned a post today, but I really didn't want you to miss this!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T15:19:00.001-04:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Above is a knited Celtic knot. Well, actually, it's a Viking Saint John's cross, which is a happiness symbol, but then, I suspect that the Celts got their knots (or at least some of them) from the Vikings. Read the history of Dublin as an example.

Here's some Celtic music, because you should not go through a whole St. Paddy's Day without some Celtic music.

And some more knitted knotwork:

If you look at the cross above, you'll see that the design comes right off the surface into drawstrings that are used to change the sleeve from flared to gathered, with a ruffle.

And I'm working on a blue version of the cabled mobius hat above, with a pattern that will be for sale soon along with accompanying accessories like a scarf, cowl and maybe mitts.

I wanted to put something Celtic and decorative up here in honor of the day, and I thought this would be more fun for you knitters.

I wanted to list some Celtic movies that are on today, but there don't seem to be any except for some really bad horror leprechaun movies on Syfy. I was hoping to get to see The Quiet Man, the original Luck of the Irish, or even Darby O'Gill and the Little People. History International has a batch of factual stuff about the Irish on tonight, though, although that's the best I could find.

I must be getting old. I can remember (within the last 10 years) when there were Irish movies on for a week before St. Paddy's Day.

Have a fabulous day! Drink some green beer!

Murphy's Law Tuesday

2011-03-15T18:44:00.000-04:00

Today is the culmination of a few horrible weeks.

I've already detailed most of it, but the additional badness started yesterday, when I tried to deal with the TiVo people.

The TiVo people are going to do what they plan to do, and you can't talk them out of it.

Which would have been OK if they had told me what they intended to do. But they didn't, and trying to get them to do what they said they would do is like trying to talk to a brick wall.

I spent two hours on the phone to them yesterday, and they absolutely refuse to do anything useful.

They charged me at a time when I didn't expect them to (twice) and overdrew my checking account. I'm getting the feeling that they feel like since I have service, they can just help themselves to my money. Since it was through a VISA debit card, I plan to explain to my bank (and probably the local police) that the charges were fraudulent, since they were not what TiVo said they would do. Largely because I don't trust them to refund my money. They say they will, but they've said a lot of other things that they then refused to do.

So, I woke up today feeling bad again in spite of the antibiotics, slightly dizzy again, a bit sick to my stomach, hungry, but not wanting to eat. And, because of the antibiotics, I immediately ran to the bathroom.

The toilet was running nonstop, and wouldn't flush. I opened the tank, and discovered that the flapper had broken, and was so old that not only had one side of it broken, but it was in a serious state of decomposition.

I got dressed and went downstairs to fill out a service request. They have very strict rules about everything around here. And they keep printing them up and sending them to all the tenants. One of them is that if you want something fixed, you have to appear in person at the front desk, properly dressed, and fill out one of their forms.

So, when I got down there, I was told that I didn't really have to fill out a form. I explained that it was an imminent disaster, and was told it was OK, they'd handle it.

It's not about 2 hours after normal repair hours, and nobody has shown up yet.

So, I'm left with diarrehea and a toilet that has to be hand operated and is about to break completely. Oh, joy!

In the meantime, even though I feel terrible, I now have to pack up the new TiVo and send it back. I expect the packing up to happen today, and the sending back to happen tomorrow. Then on Thursday, since TiVo hasn't really done anything they said they would, and I don't expect them to really refund the money they extorted from me, I'm going to have to deal with the bank, and possibly the police to get VISA to refund the money they took under false pretenses, probably on Thursday, and if there's enough time then, I'll file a complaint with the FTC. That may not happen until Friday, though.

I was going to make this a hilariously funny account of all the things that have happened, but I'm too sick, and too fed up with modern life to be able to muster the energy to do it, let alone get through today, tomorrow, Thursday and Friday with a sense of humor that's intact.

I hope you're having a better day than I am.

Helix Scarf

2011-03-14T18:07:00.000-04:00

Still not feeling great, but I got this in my email today and thought you might be interested.

Knitting Daily, which is worth subscribing to, sent a link to their Helix scarf by Stephanie Gaustad. Here's the information on it. I especially like the fall foliage version of it. I haven't checked out the link they sent because I already have the pattern in my copy of Spin Off that arrived a week or so ago.

Here's the Fall Foliage version:

I hope you're having a great day!

It's Official. I'm Old

2011-03-13T21:42:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything for a few days (well, more like a week), and it's because of being sick. I was diagnosed with sinusitis at the emergency room which had affected my inner ears, thus rendering me officially dizzy. Actually, beyond dizzy and into my own, private amusement park ride that I couldn't turn off.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who would respond to that by tilling me I've been dizzy for years, but that's a whole other thing.

I'm still taking the antibiotics, and will be for a while, so the bathroom has become my friend, but I'm starting to get away from some of the awful symptoms I was having. I'm off the meds for dizziness and nausea, and if I sit still and close my eyes, I still feel like the room has been moved to a decent size boat, and is gently moving just a little bit, but it's not rendering me in imminent danger of falling, as it was earlier.

The thing that makes me feel old is that I went out and bought a cane so that when I walked, if I got dizzy, I could stop and have something stable to hold onto. It's got four little feet on the bottom, and can stand on it's own, which is more than could be said for me during most of the last week.

When I saw the doctor on Thursday to check on my progress, there was a woman there with a walker that had a nice, padded seat, so she could sit down and relax if she was dizzy, and it had a compartment (bag) under the seat with space between the seat and bag that allowed her to put her yarn in it and have it feed out through the space while she crocheted. I know this dizziness will be gone soon, and I don't need a walker, but I really envied her that day.

One of the next worst things has been that my mind is just not working. I'm thankful to TiVo because I could record Stargate Universe. I watched the first half of the episode from earlier in the week at least four times so far and each time realized that I still didn't have a clue what was happening. That's probably linked to the fact that within 10 minutes of waking up, I've felt like I was ready for a nap all last week.

I'm guessing it will be about another week before I'm really up to speed as far as blogging goes, so bear with me. I have a lot of stuff that I wanted to do this past week that I need to catch up on.

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I have been working on the cabled mobius hat and stuff to go with it.

I got the yarn for it a while back (last week?) and a copy of Power Cables by Lily Chin, which I thought would help. It's a fabulous book for anyone who wants to knit cables, and especially design cables, but did not really have the information in it that I wanted. I'm still glad I bought it because it has a lot of really neat stuff, and some of it isn't things that I had thought of as cables, but it's wonderful!

After some preliminary trials, I determined that I needed a larger size needle than I originally thought, and sent for a size 9 Addi lace needle from Jimmy Beans Wool, and they got it to me very quickly, and I started swatching in earnest. A needle (or needles) with a good, sharp point is really a necessity for this project.

I did more trials than I usually do, but I haven't done something quite like this before, and considering the brain fog engendered by the combination of sinus infection and meds, I think I did quite well.

Every time I knitted a swatch, I looked at it and saw something I could improve. Then I ripped it out and did it again, but different.

Here's the next-to-the-last trial:

That's a cable needle stuck in the swatch, and my penciled chart under it. The other side looks the same except that you can't see that part of the cable needle.

But that's already been ripped out, and I've eliminated some of the space on either side of the cable, between it and the applied I-cord on the side. It looks better and is more the width I actually wanted it to be. I'll be continuing the new swatch, and it'll be the cuff of the hat.

So, being sick slowed me down, but most of the delays on both versions of the mobius hat and it's accessories has been with getting the supplies and tools to work with.

So, at this point, the hat and cowl are started, and I still have to design a scarf that carries forward the mobius theme. I have ideas going around in my head for that, but so far, I don't think that any of them are actually practical in the real knitting world that involves yarn and needles. I'm also thinking about designing mitts to go with all this, but haven't decided if I will do it. The mitts that are in my head look awfully good, though, so maybe I'll do it.

As far as the plainer mobius hat and cowl are concerned, I've finished knitting them, and have the instructions for the hat mostly written. I haven't gotten back to editing and proofing the directions, and haven't done most of the instructions for the cowl yet. I need more yarn before I can do the scarf (I think--I'll have to check what's left over, but I don't think I haven enough). I'm also trying to decide if I want to write a separate pattern for mitts to go with this, or if I'll recommend that you use the mitts pattern that I've already written and will be converting to PDF.

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In more knitting news, or, more accurately, spinning news, Spin Off Magazine has a free trial offer for their magazine. If you've let your subscription lapse, you can get a free issue. I just got my personal copy in the mail, and it really brightened up being sick. I haven't read the article about spinning paper yet, but it looks interesting.

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Firefly is on The Science Channel again tonight. You can catch The Train Job if you missed it last week, and it's followed by Bushwhacked, which is not a fun episode because it's about the reivers. My brain is still not working, and I can't figure out how to spell that.

I hope you enjoyed the two hour return of The Event last Monday, and it'll be back tomorrow night right after the return of Chuck.

I'm about to fall over asleep at this point, and Firefly is coming on, so that's it for today.

I hope you had a great weekend, and will have a wonderful week coming up!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men. . .

2011-03-06T20:04:00.000-05:00

I had plans for yesterday.

I was going to get a lot done.

And then I woke up yesterday, and the whole thing went down the drain!

I opened my eyes, and the whole room was spinning around.

I've heard people say that, and thought they were just a bit dizzy. I had no idea what the actual reality was like. It was like looking straight ahead, and being spun around. The room actually did seem to spin!

Which prompted some vomiting.

Then I tried to get up and so to the bathroom. I nearly fell down at least three times on the way, and it's not far away.

More vomiting.

You can insert more vomiting between each description hereafter.

I called around to: my doctor (who doesn't have office hours on Saturday), and the medical advice line at the VA Hospital in DC. The later told me to go to an emergency room, but cautioned me not to try to drive myself.

Holly came over and took me to the ER at Potomac Hospital.

They tested everything they could think of, including stroke, and decided that I have a cold or something (which I've noticed for the past two weeks or so), and sinusitus, and decided that it was probably causing the vertigo I had. They gave me some medicine while I was there for vertigo and nausea, and I left with a handful of prescriptions for vertigo, nausea, an antibiotic (for the killer post nasal drip I've had, which may have contributed to the problem) and, just for fun, Vallium!

It seems to be working. I don't feel OK, but I feel SO much better than yesterday.

But you can forget about anything useful I planned to do yesterday.

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As I mentioned before, The Science Channel will be showing the whole Firefly series, starting at 9 tonight (here--check you local listings). My digital TV guide, and the schedule put up by The Science Channel don't agree. They will be showing the first, two-part episode, Serenity. After that, my digital TV guide says they'll be rerunning those two episodes. The Science Channel guide says they'll be running the first two episodes followed by the third episode, The Train Job, followed by a rerun of the first half of Serenity. Huh?

If they're going to run The Train Job, why not run the next episode, which is Bushwacked? Anyway, if you have a DVR or TiVo, you should record both of them.

I have my TV on The Science Channel, and they've already started running it, so I have to go.

Have a great weekend!