It's grey, overcast and looks cold outside my window. We have snow flurries forecast for today, with a total expected accumulation of about an inch expected.

Perfect Christmas weather!

Enough snow to look beautiful, but not enough to be a serious problem. No snow has fallen yet, and what we got last week is gone except for where it's been shoveled up in piles and where it fell on the frozen lake behind my apartment. Here's what it looks like now.

You can see how cold and grey it looks. The two little lights are reflections of the lights I have in my window on the glass.

Here's what it looked like out my window the other day:

It kind of looks like a Christmas card, which is why I'm putting it up on the blog today.

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I'm spending the day watching sappy Christmas movies (I TiVo'd It's a Wonderful Life, which is Lister's favorite movie, for you Red Dwarf fen) and plan to watch it in a bit, while finishing up the last little bit of most of the Christmas presents I've been making. I'm almost done, with the exception of presents for Holly, which I have started, but there's a lot to do to finish.

I don't expect to get to see anyone today to give them their presents, so it's OK. I really did want to have Holly's presents done for her in time for Christmas, though, even though I won't be seeing her today, or even on her birthday, which is Tuesday.

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Knitters' Joy to the World

The following is sung to Joy to the World

     Joy to the world, the sweater's done.

     The vest is also knit.

     And socks and hats and mittens

     As warm and soft as kittens

     Are underneath the tree

     Are underneath the tree

     All knit, all knit, all knit by me

Have the best Christmas ever! I hope you get all the presents you want most, and a wonderful day with family and friends!

Only Nine Days 'till Christmas!

To get me in the Christmas spirit, Mother Nature dropped about an inch or two of snow on the Northern Virginia area (or NoVA, as the natives call it). It looks like this:

I took this photo out my window, and I think it looks like a Christmas card, so I thought I'd let you enjoy it, too.

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I'm trying to get back to posting more often. Hopefully, every day, or nearly. I've been so busy knitting Christmas stockings to sell. I put almost all my free money into them, and none has sold yet. It sounded like such a good deal! It should take three days from ordering until you get one in the US, so there's still time to order!

That's the base of a small lavender Christmas tree in the upper left hand corner of the photo.

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There was a lot of Burn Notice on USA today because they're building up to the two hour season finale tonight. It starts an hour early, so don't miss it! They've been saying that it's totally amazing on Twitter.

BBC in America seems to be rerunning all the Doctor Who Christmas specials this week. The Runaway Bride is on right now and will be repeated tomorrow morning. I caught a rerun of a Christmas episode of The Vicar of Dibley yesterday, and someone told a joke that I had missed the first time I saw it.

It goes:

Knock, knock.

Who's there.

Doctor.

Doctor Who.

Yes!

OK, it's what you might expect from a joke I got from The Vicar of Dibley.

Buck up, I did see a trailer for the Christmas Special for Doctor Who on BBC in America, and they said that Christmas will not come late in the US, because they'll be showing the Doctor Who Christmas special (A Christmas Carol) on Christmas day! I wanted to get up and cheer!

It looks like there's a new The Big Bang Theory on tonight! Almost everything else except Burn Notice is a rerun, though.

Have a really wonderful evening, and best wishes on getting all your Christmas shopping done in time for Christmas!

100 Days Until Christmas!

You probably don't usually scroll down to the bottom of the page, but if you did, you'd find a nice little widget counting down the remaining time until Christmas.

And there's only 100 days left!

That might sound like a lot to some of you out there, but for anybody who makes all or even most of their Christmas presents, it's getting to be the last minute!

Last night and this morning, I worked on my Christmas present list. I still haven't thought of presents for some people, but I've already rounded up ideas and materials to make some presents. Not that I'm going to start instantly. I'm still working on the Celtic sweater, and I have another project lined up after that.

But I thought all you knitters and crafters out there deserved the same jolt I just got.

There's great TV tonight, with some season premiers (see yesterday's post), so have a fun evening!

The Tenth Day of Christmas

It's the tenth day of Christmas today. In the Middle Ages, people would have been gearing up for the biggest festival on Twelfth Night. In the Current Middle Ages, people are doing just that. With any luck, my Christmas presents to myself may arrive in time for Twelfth Night, or maybe Distaff Day.

Sorry, people who are in the SCA or used to be have a tendency to speak of dates in Medieval holidays.

I woke up today much later than usual today, and the Mummers Parade was on TV! It's been ages since I've watched the parade on TV!

While I never went downtown when I was a kid to see it, I have watched the Harrowgate String Band strut their stuff on Frankford Avenue!

This is a photo of the Frankford String Band, which I've also seen strut in person.

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Last night, I saw the final episode of Doctor Who with David Tenent, and it was good!

Previous doctors have met their ends suddenly, and without warning. Well, Tom Baker's Doctor could tell it was coming, but didn't use the information to his advantage. I don't want to give away any spoilers (well, I really do, but some of you may not have seen that episode yet), but this time the Doctor has a lot of warning (the Ood have been trying to get hold of him for ages to let him know), and even after the deed is done, he still has a chance to see old friends before he's gone.

So, anyway, we have a new Doctor! Geronimo!

By the way, Geronimo seems to be the new Allons-y.

Somehow, it just doesn't have as much class.

Anyway, Doctor, "Your song is ending, but the story never ends."

Heroes is back tomorrow night with an all new two hour episode!

The holidays always inspire lots of reruns, but it's wonderful go get back to real TV! You know, new stuff! January will see lots of shows returning with a new season.

One of those shows coming back is Chuck, and you can get ready for the new season by watching a series of back-to-back reruns on SyFy Thursday evening starting at 5 pm here.

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Speaking of TV, I have a spooky story for you that I was reminded of by TV (Ghost Hunters, to be exact).

John keeps telling me I have to tell you more about some of the things I've done in my life, and this is one of the odder ones, so here goes:

My aunt and uncle used to be involved in N-SSA. I know I've mentioned that before, but for those of you who haven't read about it before, it's a group of Civil War reenactors.

Jean asked me to go to some of their events, and the first one I went to was at Lakehurst Naval Air Station. If you ckick the link, you'll find that it has a different name, now.

We arrived on Friday evening, and had enough time to pitch our tents and get set up before it was dark. There wasn't much to it, just a line of tents of the participants, and, at right angles to that, Sutler's Row. Sutlers are merchants. Yes, this was a shopping opportunity, too!

This was my first skirmish, and I got to meet a lot of people and sit in one of their tents and sing Civil War songs. It was lots of fun.

The next morning, I woke up to a strange, droning sound. I dressed quickly and got out of the tent to find a heavy fog. Somebody told me to look up and pointed up at the sky in a direction that was behind the tent. I kept saying "I don't see anything" (due to the heavy fog) and they told me to keep looking.

Suddenly, out of the fog, about 30 feet up, there appeared an airship! It was right there, so close it startled me!

It went right over my head, and then another one appeared, and another and another! I don't know how many airships there were, but they kept coming in overhead, one after the other!

I was told that they had been waiting something like two weeks to land. In order for an airship to land, the air has to be very still, and we'd had too much wind for a while.

Later on that day, there was a special tour that had been arranged for us visitors to the air station, and a bunch of us went off on a military bus. We got to see lots of things. One that stands out in my memory was the flight lind (which we didn't actually get very close to, and they wouldn't let us off the bus).

I do remember a lot of planes parked on the ramp with their wings folded up like this:

They were painted in the Naval design, and the place above doesn't really look like the ones I remember, but the wings fold the same way.

But the big event was Hangar One!

Hangar One is unbelievably BIG! The gentleman who was giving the tour told us all about it at length. There was a lot to talk about, and he gave us all the details. At that point in time (I'm told there are bigger ones now, but I don't know why), it was the biggest open interior structure in the world. It was intended to house airships, and could hold quite a few. It was also so big that it sometimes developed it's own local weather patterns, and they had known it rain inside the hanger, even when it wasn't raining outside. When we saw it, it was empty.

I missed a lot of what the guide was telling us because I kept being distracted by the oddest thing I'd seen so far (I was 16, and still in high school). The scene looked peaceful, and nothing seemed to be happening, but right in front of the hangar was something that is hard to describe.

I could see the scene as it was, but I could also see something else. It was like there was a huge photographic slide that I was looking at it through. The slide was moving (as in video), and I could see it just as clearly as I could see the ground in front of the hangar.

But what was in the slide was not calm and peaceful, it was turbulent and full of fire! An airship was there, and it burst into flames! It was very chaotic, and it just went on and on with flames bursting out of the airship and consuming it as if gradually fell the last few feet of it's landing.

Finally, the guide came to the end of his tour of the hangar and asked if anyone had any questions. I asked him if anything unusual had happened at that particular place, pointing to the spot where I was still watching the airship burn. He said "Oh, yeah. That's the exact spot where the Hindenburg crashed and burned!"

This is what I was looking at:

This is the first photograph that I've ever seen of the Hindenburg fire that's in color. It's even more impressive when you're looking at the real thing. Fire tends to overload film and increase the contrast, but when you see it for real, it's a lot brighter and redder. It looks a lot scarier, too! And this photo was just the beginning. The fire spread and engulfed the whole airship, and I got to watch the whole thing in horror and fascination!

Ghost Hunters, by the way, really amazes me. It takes one of the most exciting topics I could imagine, and makes it so boring that I can't see how they could possibly do it! They dismissed the area where I saw this by saying it looked spooky, but nothing was happening. If you see that episode, by the way, the spot they show has changed a lot. It's well paved and decorated with a marker. It wasn't when I saw it. It was just an empty patch of land.

My sister, Lynn, came along on this camping trip, and she swore she'd never go to another one again!

The incident that inspired this was making a sandwich and finding a bug in it when she ate it! She started screaming bloody murder about finding a bug in her sandwich and my then-uncle, Art, told her not to complain because it could be worse. She demanded to know how it could possibly be worse, and he said "You could've found half a bug!" That was when she went nuts and insisted she'd never go camping ever again!

I had lots of fun that weekend, and hated the smell of black powder when I first smelled it. On Sunday, we had a shooting competition for muzzle loaders, and I got to sit behind the line and watch it with Jean and some of my new friends. A sutler came by selling ice cream, and I at a small tub of vanilla ice cream that was black powder flavored (from all the smoke in the air). After that, I enjoyed the smell of black powder.

Well, enjoy the last little bit of your holiday!

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Addition:

I found a trailer for the new season of Doctor Who, and I thought you might like to see it:

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

For all you Twilight fans, here is a Christmas Seven Bella Swans aswimming.

For fiberartists, I didn't know that orb-weaver spiders decorate their webs (possibly for Christmas?), until I read this.

For Doctor Who fen, here's an article about the special that will be on BBC in America on Saturday. Be sure to read the comments!

Obviously, this is a joke:


This isn't a joke, but it's funny:

Ditto!

Christmas Is One Week from Today!

There's only one week until Christmas!

I can't believe that time has snuck by and that there's only one week until Christmas!

I'm not even anywhere near done with making Christmas presents!

So, I'm going back to making presents, and you won't be hearing much from me until after Christmas, when I will still be making Christmas presents!

Don't forget that the newest Doctor Who episode (for us here in the USA) will be on tomorrow on BBC in America! They'll be showing The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, and The Waters of Mars, along with two "making of" programs and a Graham Norton Doctor Who Special. Check your local listings.

And tonight, there will be two brand-new Dollhouse episodes! Oh, and also a new Sanctuary.

I'll try to get photos of the stuff I'm knitting for presents up on the internet soon after Christmas.

Have fun until I get back on the internet!

Christmas Is Two Weeks from Today!

Yeah, I know. Yesterday was two weeks until Christmas eve, so it stands to reason that today is two weeks until Christmas.

It's arriving so fast! I'm having serious doubts about whether I'm going to be able to finish all the Christmas stuff!

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I've intended to go get those shoes all week, but it's been raining every day. Today it cleared out and was beautiful! It was also 22 degrees out and windy!

I gave up and tried to order the shoes over the internet, but even on backorder, they didn't have any in my size that weren't black.

I was hoping to get a spiffy pair, plus a comfortable pair to wear when I'm doing real walking (for me), and maybe a pair of warm boots.

So I went through all the bookmarks I'd filed under "shoes" and reviewed everything available. I sent for a pair of walking shoes and a pair of warm boots. I haven't found shoes that really look good and look like they'd be comfortable, too.

Now the major clothing items are jeans and maybe some turtleneck shirts, if I can find some at a good price. Hopefully, Holly and I will be going out on Saturday and I can get the jeans at WalMart and look around at shirts.

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There's two hours of Dollhouse on again tonight! I'm excited! The last two hours had me on the edge of my seat! I'm so sad they're canceled!

And, speaking of good news: there will be another episode of Eastwick on this coming Wednesday! With any luck, ABC will at least show the rest of the season's episodes. I'm even sadder that Eastwick is canceled!

They're not even putting on a rerun of Ghost Whisperer tonight, but they are putting on an episode of The Big Bang Theory on during the second half of it's time slot!

Sanctuary is new tonight, although Stargate Universe is a rerun.

Sorry I'm so boring today. You can probably tell that my mind is on getting back to making Christmas presents.

So have a great evening and a wonderful weekend! Good luck with getting together all the Christmas presents you need to get!

Shifting into High Gear for Christmas

Sorry! I feel like I've been neglecting you, but I'm shifting my previous efforts toward Christmas into high gear. We have only about a month left until then, which for knitters and crafters is getting to be last minute.

I'm also preparing a Thanksgiving post (which will go up on Wednesday) about some of my favorite Thanksgiving stuff. I'm putting it up on Wednesday because there are some people who will be away for the holiday, and I want to give them a chance to see it before then.

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I finished an absolutely gorgeous hat for someone last night using the Bernat Alpaca yarn in lavender.

It's just a little darker than it looks on my screen in that photo. The color is soft and beautiful, and it feels just as soft and cuddly, with just a little bit of fuzzyness. I really don't like yarn that's this thick as a general rule, but I love this yarn, and especially this color. They also have a plum color that's to die for, and a beautiful denim as well as other colors.

Considering that it'll be a Christmas gift, I'm going to take a picture (although not today: it's raining outside and dark in here), but that will not be available until after I give it for Christmas. Sorry, you'll just have to wait along with the recipient, and I'm not saying who that will be. I have finished knitting the hat, but although it fit my head snugly when I tried it on while I was knitting the critical part, now that it's finished, it feels a little loose, so I'm going to get some thin elastic cord and weave it through the area where a hat band would be to make it a bit more snug, so it's not completely finished. The hat is completely original, specifically for the person it was made for! And did I mention how beautiful it is? I may make a similar one for myself!

I'm busy making a hood out of the same stuff, for the same person. Then, I'm not sure if I'll make mitts or mittens to go with the set. I'm also considering the possibility of making a scarf in a way that will drive any knitter nuts trying to figure out how I did it. But I haven't made any decisions yet, except for what I'm already knitting.

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Some of the networks have thrown out their normal scheduling completely for the duration of Thanksgiving week, with SyFy leading that parade. They're having movies on instead of their normal daytime rotation all this week, with only James Bond movies on during Thursday and Friday. In a few cases, they're putting on movies that I previously wouldn't have expected from SyFy, so maybe they are trying to change their programming a bit. I personally thing they could stick to science fiction and fantasy and still expand their borders tremendously. Case in point, Grendel will be on again soon, specifically, Saturday at 11am (here), and on Sunday, we'll have the complementary Beowulf. I still can't figure out how someone could take such a timeless classic, and destroy it as thoroughly as they did in those two films. They beg to be on MST3K! The only was these films would be watchable is if you watch them with friends and either supply MST3K-like remarks or have to drink a shot every time Grendel uses his "scud missle."

There are some new episodes on tonight on Heroes (NBC), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), and Castle (ABC) as well as the usual Monday night line up of four reruns of Ghost Whisperer (SyFy) tonight.

Tomorrow, we have only one new SF entry, V, which will be the last new episode shown this year. Read about it here.

For the overall outlook of science fiction on TV this week, check this out!

And don't forget to check your local listings for The Legend of the Seeker, which is the only worthwhile sword and sorcery on TV right now. I'm seeing it locally on the CW on Sunday nights, but it may be different where you live, and they keep moving it around, so you may really have to look. Saturdays and daytime weekend TV have not been immune from this enjoyable series, so check it out.

Although they usually show the episode from the week before, and then a new episode, last week they showed the episode from the week before and then repeated it again immediately afterward. I was hoping they'd catch this, and show the new one they should have shown last week along with the next one, but they have definitely skipped an episode, and a whole new character has shown up and we don't know why. But they are doing reruns, so maybe we'll get to see the missing episode for the first time during the reruns.

Have a great evening!

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Addition:

Today is the 46th anniversary of the showing of the very first Doctor Who episode!

Happy birthday, Doctor Who!

Happy Autumn Equinox!

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, or the first day of Fall to all of us.

There's a strange story that says that you can balance an egg on it's end on either of the two equinoxes, and you can read all about it here. Whatever you choose to do to celebrate, the day and night will be in a balance today, with light and dark taking up an equal part of the day. From here, it can only get darker each day until around Christmas, when prayers, feasting (or fasting) and arcane rites will persuade the sun to come back (with luck).

Which reminds me that I have to be really busy on planning and making Christmas presents! I hope you've got it all organized! Speaking of which, I'll finish the first green sock for Holly today and get started on the second one! Only 3 more socks to go, and then two pair of purple ones for her birthday, which is three days after Christmas.

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Well, I feel like I'm about to go over the falls in a barrel again. John sent me some photos (black and white, natch) for the covers of the third and last Steve Canyon DVD last night! I started them downloading and went to watch TV, then checked the computer later and turned it off. This morning, I checked the photos, and, as usual, they're great! I have a batch of things lined up to do today, so I'll be busy, but I can't wait to start work on them. They're going to be beautiful!

If you click on the link above, it'll lead you to a post on John's blog which has links to more info on Doug Drexler's blog about Steve Canyon and the DVD, plus links to an article Doug did about me.

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While John was sending me the photos for the DVD, he also sent a really bad scan of a photo he took of me years ago.

A while ago, I asked John for an opinion on my blog, and he said that he would probably want to read my blog even if he hadn't known me for so long. I asked what I could do to improve my blog, and he said I should write about things that had happened to me and things that I'd done.

So, here's one of them, which is an explanation of the photo.

Years ago (in about 1977?) John and I belonged to WSFA (Washington Science Fiction Association), which may (or may not, depending on who you talk to) be the oldest science fiction club still in existence. It was incorporated as a nonprofit organization, I think. I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I remember having it explained to me.

Anyway, after years of having Disclave (a science fiction convention) and other events, WSFA had built up more money in it's treasury than it should for a nonprofit, and the IRS was beginning to make threatening noises about it. So, during a meeting, we put up several propositions for ways to use some of the money, and get them off our back. There was a vote, and we chose to rent a tall ship for a day, and go for a sail on the Chesapeake! Aha! Now the photo is beginning to make some sense!

So, John and I set out in my MGB GT for Annapolis and the docks. During a scenic ride, John was busy singing and refining a song he had written called "Gillilands Isle." I'm sure you can imagine the tune, if you think about it for a moment. The name in the title referred to Alexis Gilliland, who is a science fiction writer, member of WSFA, a friend, and whose name happened to fit well into a nautical-sounding song, with just a bit of tweeking. The link above, by the way, is to Wikipedia, but if you want to see more about the real Alexis, check here. He's a fabulous cartoonist! I remember going out for donuts with WSFA, and watching Alexis draw on the napkins.

Well, we had our day of sailing on the Chesapeake, forming up in lines to haul sails up and down, and generally having a fabulous time. John took the opportunity to get up and sing his song, and a good time was had by all. It was one of those long, lazy days where not much happens, but it's all fun, interspersed with frantic ship handling activities. I brought along a camera, and John and I put it to good use.

The photo above was scanned from a 110 negative, so it's not so good, but does convey the general idea. John thinks he can scan it better. I think he should go to WalMart, get them to print the neg and scan the print.

While I was looking stuff up for all this, I came across the Science Fiction Fan Dictionary, which will explain all the terms used by SF fen. If you happen to be a fan, you will enjoy reading it! I liked it so much that I put a permanent link to it in the sidebar so you can read it in the future.

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Well, new shows tonight include: Warehouse 13 and The Forgotten. Warehouse 13 is on all day today, the whole first season in it's entirety!

The Forgotten is a show I haven't heard much about, but it sounds like it's got a good premise and has the potential to be a great show. All we can do is tune in and see. It stars Christian Slater, so it can't be all bad.

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Well, the book version of Flashforward is being held at the library for me, so I'd better get going and walk over there and get it.

Have a great evening!

Deadlines!

There are two deadlines I'm thinking about today.

The first is Christmas. No, don't laugh at me. I know it's 194 days until Christmas, but if you're a crafter, you can't start too early. 

It's time to get out that notebook and list all the people you want to make presents for and get started on them. It helps if the notebook is small enough to carry to the craft store with you. If you give each person their own page, you'll have space to brainstorm and write down anything you think of that will make a great present for each person, and, if it's something you plan to make, maybe there will also be space to list the supplies you need for each project. That's where taking it to the craft store comes in.

I am personally thinking about making Christmas stockings to sell on Etsy. After finding that great yarn at Herrshners, I want to get some more and make some glittery stockings!

The other deadline is coming up fast! This is your wake-up call!!!

There are only 32 days until Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opens!

Are you ready, with something fabulous to wear to the opening? Something that says "I am not a muggle?"

If not, you'd better get a move on! There are lots of great things you could be knitting or crocheting! 

My first thought was to search for Harry Potter patterns on Ravelry, because I know they have a lot of them. But if you're on Ravelry, you already know that, and if you're not, any link I give you won't do you any good. But I found a looooong list of patterns at the Leaky Cauldron! I haven't checked them all out, but with so many to choose from, you should be able to find something you want to make. One of my favorites is the Golden Snitch Hat. There are sparkly yarns out there that would work well for the snitch, too. The pattern calls for black yarn, but the photo looks like it was done with navy blue yarn, and I think I'd like navy, personally, but then, I usually prefer blue. Even if you don't like the hat itself, you can click on the chart to put the snitch design on something else.

Anyway, wander around and have fun on the list. I don't want to see you at the movies without something distinctively wizardly!

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There's a new post up over at the Steve Canyon on DVD blog! Jet on over there and find out what's happening!

I hope you've been having a great weekend!

Three Days 'Till Christmas!

First of all, I hope you had a happy Winter Solstice on  Sunday. I should've mentioned it then, but lost track of the time. All this means two things: every day for the next six months will be getting longer. That's a cheery thing. And it means that Christmas is almost here.

I finished the first stocking and started the second. Here are photos of the first stocking.

One of the things I love about the internet is that you can make friends all over the world. My friend, Jane, lives in London, and sent me this:

I was amazed at the packaging. All the postal stuff looks so different than it would if it was mailed in the US. She even had to make a declaration for customs! This was such a hassle for her, and I just love it! Thank you, Jane!

I am absolutely tickled pink!

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Well, we've gotten to the point where everything on TV is not on it's normal schedule in preparation for Christmas. There are also a lot of Christmas movies on. I happen to like Christmas movies, so that's OK for me, but there are all the regular shows that should be on that aren't, and I'm kind of disappointed in that.

Good luck with your Christmas viewing!

Happy last minute shopping!

Have a great day!

I Can't Believe It's Only Eight Days Until Christmas!

At this point, Christmas preparations are all I'm thinking about.

I went down to check my mail a while ago, and there were no packages. Then, after I came back all disappointed, there was a knock at the door, and two packages were there. I yelled "Ooooh, I hit the jackpot!" and there was a giggle from the UPS man around the corner where he was waiting for the elevator.

This was a big relief. I said I thought I'd have two stockings done by Christmas, but that presupposed that there would be yarn to do it with. Since it hadn't arrived yet, I was starting to think I might have been rash to promise that, but the package with the yarn was one of the two that arrived.

I also got the paper punch for tags. Once I have the printer completely figured out, I will be able to print and cut the most wonderful tags for knitted goods!

The pom pom maker arrived, too, and it looks like it will be easy to make some beautiful pom poms for the stockings. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it looks easy enough. 

I probably shouldn't say that. When you say things like that, it usually seems to make things go wrong.

And the glitter glue arrived! Which has inspired me to tackle printing two sided on my new printer. I went through a nightmare of settings, but it worked the first time. I printed a sample on plain paper and saw some things I want to change a bit. Just minor adjustments.

Back to the knitting!

I hope you've been having a great Wednesday!

Happy Birthday, Heather!

It's my daughter's sister's birthday today.

Happy birthday, Heather!

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There's so much to do for Christmas, and I don't want to post photos here, so you'll have to wait for them until after people get their gifts.

I'm still waiting for the rest of the yarn and the needles I need to do the stockings,  along with a batch of other things to make Christmas presents and cards with.

I hope to have a wonderful, quick Christmas pattern up on my blog in the next day of two.

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I've installed some new software, and I'm hoping it will help me print from System 9 on my computer. I'm excited to get Christmas Cards out this year (if I can print them). My new printer is a Kodak 5500, and it appears to be a marvelous printer. The hardware is so lovable! I haven't tried everything on it yet, but I can already tell you that they don't include a operator's manual, and the online documentation leaves a lot to be desired. Like operating instructions.

Some of it is intuitive. There's a "copy" button, a "scan" button, a "fax" button (although I haven't got it plugged into a phone line), a few other self-explanatory buttons and a "start" button. Some of the things I want to print are pattern booklets and I'd like to be able to print two-sided (which it advertises it will do). The sum total of the instructions are to use the booklet setting, and it claims it will print a booklet ready to saddle stitch.

Oh, and I found a cheap saddle stitcher online, so next month (when I have another influx of money) I'll get it. Providing, of course, that I can get the "booklet" feature up and running.

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The SciFi Channel's schedule has been fixed and is now back up on the site, just in time to let us know about some great stuff on the daytime rotation this week. 

Today, Haunted is on. This was a very short-lived show on SciFi about a year ago, and apparently created in 2002. It stars Mathew Fox, and was obviously pre-Lost. I noticed that throughout Haunted, he has part of the tattoo we've all grown to know and love from Lost. What you can see is the 5 and stars, with a dirty smudge above it, so I suspect that Mr. Fox may actually have that tattoo.

Appropriately, it's followed by Lost itself at 2:00 (here). They've moved it up in it's time slot today so they can show some movies this evening.

The daytime this week will include: Tuesday, a Doctor Who episode (The Runaway Bride), followed by the Sarah Jane Adventures; Wednesday, The Outer Limits; Thursday, Friday the 13th; and Friday, an assortment of movies followed by reruns of Sanctuary in the evening.

Legend of the Seeker moved in it's time slot on Saturday, and they showed the first episode at it's new time. Sorry if you missed it, I had no idea that they were going to show the first one.

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It's sunny once again today. We had such a long, unbroken stretch of overcast weather that I've really wanted to get out these past few days because of the sun. I have to get out and do some stuff today because the weather forecast says it'll be rainy all the rest of the week, starting with possible showers this afternoon.

Have a great day!

I'm Moving On into Christmas Mode

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and yesterday I got to shop in a real WalMart, not the pale imitation near me.

I say the one near me is a pale imitation because I only found out that they carry the new Caron Simply Soft Eco yarn because I started seeing a few skeins of white and natural at the top of a big empty section of their yarn display, and the empty section says that's what's supposed to be there.

Yesterday, I got a skein of it in the dark denim color and two skeins of white Fun Fur to make a Santa hat.

This is how far I got last night and a bit this morning. Once it's finished and I like it, I'll write up the instructions and post it. I think I'm going to like it, although I haven't figured out how I'm going to make the furry ball at the end of the hat. I'm mulling over several ideas including knitting it around a big bell.

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Well, Eloise just came on and I want to see it, so this will be short.

I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend

It's the weekend before Thanksgiving, and, if you judge by TV and the sales, Christmas is here! If you scroll down to the bottom of my blog, there's a countdown timer to Christmas, and it's much closer than it seems like it should be.

There are loads of great Thanksgiving movies, but none of them are on TV. Just Christmas movies.

I'm waiting for the Eloise movies. I read at least one of the Eloise books when I was a kid and I loved her and the books. Whoever did the movies did a great job on them. The non-Christmas one is Eloise at the Plaza, and the other one is Eloise at Christmastime. They are Christmas movies for kids that won't make adults sick. Eloise reminds me of my granddaughter, Kyle in these movies.

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So, I've been watching Christmas movies and knitting on my Celtic sweater. It's finally down to the point where there's just garter stitch, worked even until the last ball nearly runs out, and then a picot bind-off.

Oh, and darning in ends, blocking and sewing on buttons.

But I thought you'd like to see the finished side knot. It's much different than the first one, and I like this one better. It continues the Saint John's cross theme from the back, sleeves and hood.

I'll be glad to get back to Christmas present knitting.

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Well, science fiction seems to be shoved aside on TV in favor of Christmas movies. I happen to enjoy Christmas movies, but The SciFi Channel seems to be almost the lone oasis of SF this year except for the SF series that we're (thankfully) seeing for the last two or three years.

Holiday movies are fun. We just finished with the batch of Halloween movies, Thanksgiving movies should be on, but aren't, and Christmas is here. The next big movie holiday is Easter, which I always enjoy. The trick with them is to consider them science fiction. Actually, many of the miracles have scientific explanations, if you think about it. Then the 4th of July movies (Independence Day, etc.), and then there's a break before getting back to Halloween.

John has recommended that I see the 24 movie that will be on Fox tonight. It's called 24: Redemption. I haven't gotten into 24 in the past. We'll see.

I hope you've been having a great weekend!

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Addition:

Today is the 45th anniversary of Doctor Who!

Read more about it here!