Valentine's Day Is Tomorrow!

I'm dragging myself out of a hypothyroid stupor to write this, so I hope you appreciate it!

I'll start with Valentine's Day. Do check the link. There's a lot of history in the Wikipedia listing, and it's very interesting!

Anyway, Crazy Aunt Purl has two blog posts up about Valentine's Day. The first one has a link to a contest, but I'm mentioning this first because the contest ends at midnight tonight, so if you want to enter, do it quickly. I already entered!

The second one is just a wonderful read, written by a woman who has really found herself. She makes me feel happier after reading this than I have in a few days, and is worth the read. Very inspiring!

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If you're entered in the Knitting Olympics, The Yarn Harlot has a post up about it here. If you follow her on Twitter, you'll know that she went nuts last night because NBC didn't broadcast the opening ceremonies in real time, but delayed it for quite a while. She was upset that she didn't know exactly when they lit the big torches in the stadium so she could cast on. If you're reading this right after I write it, I retweeted some of her comments, and you should still be able to read them in my tweets in the sidebar.

I recorded the opening ceremonies on my DVR (such as it is) and watched other stuff last night, mostly from my DVR, because although CBS said earlier in the week that they would show a new (I think) Ghost Whisperer and Medium, they decided at the last minute not to do it, and showed junk instead. I can only assume that they thought everyone would be watching the Opening Ceremonies, so why bother showing anything worth watching? I was disappointed!

So, anyway, I watched stuff on my DVR and kept switching to the opening ceremonies, wondering when the torch in the stadium would be ignited. I did that for several hours before getting distracted by a ghost story, and really shared Steph's exasperation! First of all, they had 1-1/2 hours of not opening ceremonies in their opening ceremonies. I think it's a terrible tragedy that the luge went out of control and that someone died, but I didn't feel it was really essential to watch it several times, even though NBC obviously did.

And then, there were hours of inane programming. I did like that everyone in the audience had flashlights, and that they all had them on and were waving them. Maybe it would have been more impressive if I was watching the whole thing, from beginning to end, but I just tuned in periodically, usually in the middle of something, thinking "What is this?" Sheets pulled up to look like mountains (?) with skiers and snow boarders floating in the air? What's that all about?

Part of my annoyance and disinterest is because I waffled around for a while trying to decide on a project to make for the Knitting Olympics. When I finally made a decision, it was late enough that although it was possible for the post office to get my Knit Picks order to me yesterday, it wasn't very likely, and in fact, didn't happen. I'm not supposed to be able to get packages on the weekend, even if the post office delivers it today, I theoretically can't get it. I'm going to try to at least find out if my package was delivered today, and if it was, I'm going to try to get it.

I may sign up for the Ravelympics with a small project to keep me feeling like I'm doing something until my package arrives.

So, since I couldn't cast on during opening ceremonies, I was bummed (over and above being depressed by the hypothyroidism), and didn't really want to watch something on TV when I couldn't participate in it.

Which leads me to my other frustration about the Olympics. I used to love to play sports (except baseball). Watching other people play sports, though, is just boring! The Olympics does have some sports that are interesting and unusual enough that I do enjoy watching them on TV (especially figure skating), but the Opening Ceremonies is not one of them.

I'll feel better and write happier after my thyroid problem is solved.

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My DVR has developed an aversion to next Thursday, just like it did to that Wednesday last month when it wouldn't display any digital TV guide data at all! Trying to watch TV without a clue what's on is very frustrating! I really hope that my TiVo is installed by Thursday so that I don't have to contend with the piece of junk that Comcast fobbed off on me!

I got an email yesterday about the Shorty awards (awards for people who tweet on Twitter), and one of the categories was about the most helpful service tweeters, and they listed someone from Comcast. I've been tweeting to her about my many, many problems with Comcast. We'll see if she's actually helpful. Nobody else at Comcast is actually helpful! They are polite, and say things that make you think they're trying to help, but 99.9% of the time, they don't do anything to help!

If you're looking for TV service, do NOT choose Comcast! They haven't delivered what they promised in any one month of the over three years I've had service with them, but they've charged full price for the pitiful excuse for service, and even managed to find ways to get me to have to pay even more than I agreed to pay for what they're not delivering! As I've said many times, if I could get any other TV service here, I would've switched within the first two days of "service." At the moment, I'm currently hoping that having a TiVo can eliminate them to a greater extent. I do know that it's possible to watch some shows with TiVo via the internet, and I'm going to do everything in my power to eliminate all but the most basic service from Comcast.

To be fair, their internet service seems OK, but overpriced.

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SyFy will be having some good daytime programming on all next week! Monday will bring us V, Tuesday they're showing Joan of Arcadia, Wednesday it's Haunted (with Matthew Fox--check out part of his famous Lost tattoo!), Thursday brings First Wave, and Friday we have Sanctuary.

Most of the shows that have been showing new episodes did their season finales last week. Of course, there's still Lost on Tuesday, which is almost worth not having new episodes of everything else. The Big Bang Theory and Castle might or might not be new. My digital TV Guide says there's no information available (as usual). There's a new Human Target on Wednesday and The Deep End and Past Life on Thursday (they're new shows and don't have anything to rerun). I haven't seen The Deep End at all yet because there were other things I wanted to see more, but I have it marked to record on my cruddy DVR and with any luck, I'll actually record it on my TiVo. Human Target and Past Life are excellent new shows and I heartily recommend them! There's one show that showed part one of their finale last week and will be finishing it this week. Thanks to the brain fog caused by the hypothyroidism, I can't remember which one. Aren't I helpful?

I'll be so glad when the drug stores can get my medicine again! I hate feeling this way!

Have a fabulous weekend, and there will be a new episode of Legend of the Seeker on Sunday night!

Welcome to the Sauna!

It's gotten over 70 degrees both yesterday and today, and that means that even with all the windows open as far as I can open them, it's about 90 degrees in here since the people who run the apartment building have the heat turned on. I have my thermostat turned down to freezing, but that doesn't slow it down at all. I think I've turned it up past freezing in the winter about twice since I've been here. And that was when we had weather that didn't get above about 13 degrees for a high for an extended time period. Usually, all I have to do to warm the place up in extreme weather is to shut the windows.

So, don't expect a lot of blogging until it cools off a bit.

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Here's an update on what's been happening around here.

Holly and I decided to save on some of Bud K's shipping fees and place a combined order for both of us. Holly and I both have an interest in edged weapons, both as tools and as art objects. Some of the edged weapons I have used to be useful for SCA, but Holly collects them. I, for one, could not resist a sock knife that has a braided cable pattern for a hilt and has a blue stone set in it. It's beautiful. We're each getting one, in fact.

See why, as an artist, I like it?

But here's the really big news!

Holly and Robin are going to New Orleans for Halloween!

Holly called me from work last night to gloat that a week from then, she'd be in New Orleans. I envy her the opportunity! It sounds like so much fun! I've already told her I want pictures!

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I have news about Dollhouse. Lots of news, and it's all conflicting. Apparently, according to Fox, they have decided to show the entire season, all 13 episodes, and they have cancelled it, and Friday's episode will be the last. Which is par for the course for Fox. I have no idea how it's possible for them to do both of these things, but then they managed to kill one of the best TV shows I've ever seen, namely, Firefly.

When they originally decided to pick up Dollhouse, Firefly and Joss Whedon fans immediately started a campaign to get Fox to not cancel Dollhouse. After murdering Firefly, Fox was bewildered that the fans might think that they'd managed to destroy Dollhouse, too. Gee, I can't imagine why.

I don't know if you've been watching Castle or not, but there are some little nuggets for SF fen scattered here and there. There's a recent episode where he says something to the effect of "I'm going to buy a space ship and call it Serenity." But for next Monday's Halloween episode, there will be references to Bufffy the Vampire Slayer (specifically the episodes that Nathan Fillion was in) and to Firefly, specifically, he'll be wearing his "Captain Tightpants" outfit as a Halloween costume. Fans of the captain should not miss it! It looks like it'll be a lot of campy fun! I can't wait!

There's a game of some kind on TV tonight, so I'm finally going to get to see an episode of Grey's Anatomy, for the first time this season because Fringe won't be on.

I don't know why all the networks have put anything worth watching on Thursday and Friday nights. They probably didn't have room for Heroes and Eastwick on Thursday and Friday due to the jam-up of all the good shows then. Those are currently the only good shows, along with Legend of the Seeker that are regularly scheduled shows on TV, other than reruns of Torchwood.

Eastwick, by the way is the only show currently on television that gets me to yell out "No!" at the TV because the episode is over! I'm hooked!

So, tonight, you can enjoy Flash Forward, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and The Mentalist. Tomorrow, we have Ghost Whisperer, Medium and (of course) Dollhouse!

Enjoy!

I feel like I'm cooking from the inside out, so I'm going to go and either lie down or maybe take a cold shower. I hate this every Spring and Fall!

And here's something funny for you, just because I can!

Crazy Aunt Purl, this one's for you!

I hope you're not overheating, and that you have a great evening!

Nothing to Say Tuesday

I really don't have a thing to say today, and I have to get going and run some errands.

But you need to read Crazy Aunt Purl today. She's got several random things to say.

This is one of those posts where you don't want to drink anything while you read it unless you want it squirted out your nose! And don't think you've gotten past that point, because there's another zinger waiting for you!

Enjoy!

Oh, and I have just barely started the first of Kyle's socks.

Have a great evening, and don't miss the new Warehouse 13 on SyFy tonight! Artie has to decide what to do about Claudia, although the decision seems obvious. But Joe Flanagan will be guest starring! That's always a plus for the ladies.

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Addition:

The President's Analyst is just starting on TCM! It's an oldie, but oh, so good!

Check Out Crazy Aunt Purl!

My back is still hurting from the sheep and wool festival and I have to go to Safeway, which means more walking, which is what got me in this shape in the first place, so I don't really feel like sitting here (in pain) and writing the really great post that is left on the subject of the festival.

So, I happened to come across one of Crazy Aunt Purl's posts that's better than her usual run of posts and I didn't want you to miss it. So, check it out here. And be sure to watch the video. It starts off slow, but gets progressively more absurd as it builds up steam. Enjoy!

Have a great evening, and I'll try to write that fabulous post tomorrow.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Also, for those of you so inclined, happy Imbolc! According to Wikipedia, it's a time of weather prognostication, so maybe that's where we got groundhog day. 

I don't have a groundhog, but if one where here, he would see his shadow, which means 6 more weeks of winter. It's supposed to rain this afternoon, so maybe if the groundhog slept late, we might have an early spring. Then again, it may be different where you live. Individual results will vary.

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Doctor Who is on all daytime on SciFi today, and you just missed Blink! But there are two more. Sorry I forgot to mention that yesterday. No Lost tonight.

But, tonight on NBC, they'll be bringing back Chuck, Heroes and Medium! And Chuck will be in 3D! Get your free 3D glasses where they sell Pepsi products.

Have a great day, and I hope Spring comes soon!

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PS--Crazy Aunt Purl was doing her usual crazy thing and speaking about the new year yesterday. She claims that 2009 is really almost 2010, and that tickles her for some reason. She's turned off comments, so I feel justified in commenting on her post here. 

It got me started thinking. In a few years, it'll be 2020, which, I suppose, should be voted the year for good eyesight.

Click on the first link and you can see today's post, which I won't spoil by describing it here except to say that it includes a sort of porn.

Options Needles

I was just over reading Crazy Aunt Purl's blog and she had a  problem with a scarf she's knitting and was thinking about frogging part of it. She's using Knit Picks new Harmony straight needles and loves them.

Oh, and she's giving away sets of the new Harmony straights, so get on over there and ask for a set!

Do it now!

There was a suggestion about using a life line in the future for just such disasters. Here's part of what I wrote:

Sherri had a good idea about a life line. Too late for that now, but here's a suggestion on how to do that easily (for the future).

If you use the Knit Picks Options (interchangeable) Harmony (or nickel plated) needles, there's a small hole at the end of the cable part (used to tighten the cable/needle tip combination). Thread a piece of dental floss through it and tie it on. Use a bow or half bow, so you can untie it easily. Then knit your row, and you have a perfectly placed life line to rip back to if you need to do it in the future. At the end of the row, untie the floss from the needle, and cut the other end leaving a bit extra on each side so it doesn't slide out of the end stitches.

I suggested dental floss because it's sturdy, slides easily, comes in an easy dispenser with a cutter (for once the floss is through the row) and the dispenser closes up so it doesn't interfere with anything else in your knitting bag. AND, if you fly, they probably won't be upset about you carrying the cutter in the floss case, but you'll have something that will cut yarn.

Then again, there's always the solution of calling it a "design feature."

Then I started thinking that I love the interchangeable needles so much that I plan to buy a set of the nickel plated ones. Maybe the Harmony ones, too. So far, I have one set of needle tips in size 8 and several different length cables. And I thought you might be interested in all the things you can do with the interchangeable needles that you can't do with the others. So, here is a list of all the wonderful things you can do with Knit Picks interchangeable needles.

I'm challenging myself to make it a "top TEN" list. Let's see if I can think of that many.

1. Use a lifeline--described above.

2. Make knitting circularly easier--Ever knit circularly, and all the stitches pile up behind the left-hand needle and don't want to slide onto it? Put a needle tip that's a size smaller on the left-hand side, and your stitches will glide onto the let tip easily. Well, more easily than they did before. If you are a very tight knitter, you might be happier with a tip on the left that's two sizes smaller. Try this out for yourself. It won't change the gauge, as long as the right hand needle is the right size. Unless you're like my friend Madeline, who knits in either direction equally easily.

3. Make your stockinet stitch even--Even Elizabeth Zimmerman had trouble making stockinet stitch that was even. I think her purl rows were looser than her knit rows. Lots of people have this problem. If you're doing this flat (not knitting circularly), which is the only place it matters, go down a size on the needle tip that you knit the looser row with. This should compensate, and you should have marvelously even knitting.

4. Make your own condo needles--Condo needles are novelty needles that are used to knit flat in a way that will make unusual patterns with every other row a different tension than the intermediate ones. You can make an interesting scarf in garter stitch using one needle tip that's the right size for your yarn, and  another tip that's much bigger. You'll have alternating rows of normal knitting and stitches with very long, lacy loops. You can do this by using two different size straight needles, too, but some of us really like circulars.

5. Make frogging easy--Just take one of the needle tips off, and your stitches will just slide off the needle almost by themselves!

6. Easy frogging part 2--Before you slide all those stitches off the needle, Put a tip two or three sizes smaller than you're using on a cable (and a stopper on the other end) and run it through a row of stitches back where you want to stop. Then pull out the needle you were knitting with (see above) and let 'er rip! Use the correct size needle to tink back one row to check all the stitches and make sure you haven't dropped one and to ensure that the stitch mount is correct for each stitch. If you're ready to tink and you find you've put the needle tip on the wrong end, just put one on the other end to tink from. In effect, you're creating your own life line.

7. Change cable lengths--This should be pretty self-evident, but it has been really wonderful while knitting my Celtic sweater that I could change cable lengths as knitting progressed by taking a tip off the needle in use, replacing it with a stopper and putting that tip and a stopper on the new cable, and then just knitting onto the new cable with tip.

8. Create your own stitch holders--If you need to use the size tips you're using in your project on a different project, just take them off the cable and replace with stoppers. For two dollars, you can get a set of size tags from Knit Picks to put on your cable so that you'll remember what size tips you were using when you go back to the project. This was particularly helpful for me on the Celtic sweater. I put pockets in the front that slant, and that meant (since I was doing it in one piece) that there were three sections: the pocket opening on the right front, one on the left front, and the pocket lining and back, each on a separate cable. I could switch back and forth between them by just changing which cable had needle tips on it.

9. Pick up stitches easily--This will require a little work and craft on your part, but you can take a Harmony tip and whittle or file a notch in it to make a crochet hook for picking up stitches. Pick up the stitches using the hook and just change to a knitting needle tip and start knitting. Loads of knitters have implored Knit Picks to make a crochet hook tip for their interchangeables, and rumor has it that they may do that. They promised me that they are are considering the idea. In the meantime, you can make your own using a nail file, triangular needle file or Dremel tool. Once you've got the shape, polish with nail buffing equipment or a buffing wheel on the Dremel. I saw one that somebody made with a Dremel, and she filed off the point, too, but I think I'd rather leave the point on. Then I could use it more like a knitting needle, but it would be easier to pull the stitches through than using a knitting needle tip.

10. Add shaping to your knitting--Want to knit that sweater body straight, without having to resort to shaping, but it needs to be bigger on the bottom for fitting ease? If working top down, when you get near the waist, just switch the tips to the next larger size, and then possibly switch to the next larger size further down. If working from the bottom up, do it in reverse (switch to smaller needles). The interchangeable tips also make it easy to switch from one size for a rib edging to the other size for the body of the sweater or sleeve.

Wow! I actually made it to ten! I could do more if they're interested in taking my advice on other things that would be helpful, such as a connector. With a connector, you could just unfasten a tip, add the connector, and the size cable you're switching to, pull it through, and transfer the tips to the new cable. Well, I've suggested it. We'll see.

As wonderful as the Options needles are, some people have difficulties with fastening the joins properly. Here's what I do:

I bought a small, flat circle of rubber called a needle puller in a fabric store. They come in sets of three for almost nothing. I used a paper punch with a small diameter to punch a hole in it. Then I use a large, coiless safety pin to pin it to my knitting.

When I need to switch needle tips, I can use the safety pin instead of the tightening key they provide (which always gets lost even though the loop on the end is a good idea for fastening it to something) and use the rubber to hold the needle tip so it doesn't slip. Don't use excessive force while doing this. I'm sure that you could strip the threads if you work at it.

Here's what it looks like pinned to my knitting:

You can buy coiless safety pins and little rubber grippers in my Amazon store.

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Speaking of my Celtic sweater, I really don't like the set-in sleeves at all. I had originally planned to use dropped shoulders like they did in the Middle Ages, and like I did on my blue coat. The shoulder and sleeve fit beautifully, and it was a dream to knit. 

In contrast, the set-in sleeves are impossible to knit without holes in the knitting from the short rows, or disruption of the reverse stockinet stitch pattern. Yes, I can wrap stitches to eliminate holes. And it looks fine on the knit side, which is inside the sleeve. On the outside (where it shows), it looks messy. And the result is making me remember why I hated set-in sleeves from the standpoint of wearing them. The dropped shoulder from the blue coat is stylish, comfortable, and fits my shoulder and upper arm beautifully.

I'm thinking seriously of frogging it.

If I do that, though, I'll have to frog everything back to the shoulders in order to redo them.

Actually, I've been trying to convince myself that it'll be fun to reknit the whole thing (except for the hood and part of the shoulders). 

At any rate, I'm going to complete (or nearly complete) the sleeve before I decide.

The lower arm is working out nicely. Here's a photo.

When I get to where the two ribs meet at the bottom, instead of closing it off, I'll cross them, and they'll come off the surface and become I-cord at that point. I'll knit a row of picot holes every few stitches below, and thread the I-cord through it. Then I can knot it and leave the bottom of the sleeve full, or pull the I-cord tight and tie it in a bow for a more closed sleeve at the wrist.

Ripping it all out and redoing it will be fun! Really, it will. I'll keep telling myself that.

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Oh, I got a comment about the photo yesterday and why it's for my daughter, Holly. Here's why I said that.

When Holly was about four years old, the ice cream truck came around one day. I gave her some money, and she came in a few minutes later with a green popsicle in her hand and said "Look at my tongue!" sticking out her green tongue. My sister and I said, precisely together "Ooooh, it's purple with pink polka dots!" If we hadn't said it in perfect unison, she never would have believed us.

She got a stricken expression on her face and ran into the bathroom and pulled up a stool so she could see into the mirror.

Of course, she realized that her tongue was green, just like she expected, but we really got her on that one. Hence, the dedication to her.

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Don't forget to vote for your favorite Steve Canyon cover, if you haven't already! We have nearly 150 votes so far!

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There are just the usual things on TV tonight. Enjoy!

And have a great evening!

Happy Monday!

I'm going to recap a bit on Mother's Day.

Here is the yarn Holly bought me for Towel Day.

I had wanted to get something fuzzy, like chenille. I was thinking of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille, but couldn't find anything like that in the store available (Michaels) that was absorbent and towel-like. You can't see it in the photo, but this is a really big ball of yarn.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Holly showed me her new pen. It's a Lamy fountain Pen, and we have both fallen in love with it. The photo doesn't make it look like anything special, but in real life, it looks and feels like you're writing with a big diamond. And the ink is a beautiful periwinkle blue. Somewhere between blue and lavender. Either of those labels could describe the color.

I've been knitting and am almost done with the poncho. It has about 2 more inches left to do on the hood, and this is what it looks like now:

I'm going to quit, now, because I'm currently missing Jake 2.0 on SciFi.

Have a great Monday!

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Addition:

I was just over at Crazy Aunt Purl's blog, and she has a contest going on. Hop on over there and sign up to win. She's giving away some high-tech shopping bags, but also a copy of her book each day for the next 5 days.

I'm entering mainly for the book!

Oh, and Saturday, Holly was asking me about the new Dresden Files books coming out this fall. I nearly forgot, she bought a copy of the next Dresden book while we were at Borders.

There are two that will be appearing at almost the same time, Welcome to the Jungle (which finally has a cover), and Backup, which is actually Thomas' view on something he and Harry do together. 

If you're new to The Dresden Files, the first book is Storm Front. There is also a DVD of the short-lived Dresden Files TV show. I cannot recommend these books highly enough. This is about a grown-up wizard named Harry. They are fabulous!

You may now resume your regularly-scheduled Monday.