Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

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!

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Random Monday

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!

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Holly's Back!

Holly was able to find the bus station in Baltimore, and get back to DC by about 7 pm.

She called at ten to let me know that she was alright.

She had something interesting to say, too. She and John went right past the Howard County Fairgrounds on their way into Baltimore. Holly pointed out the location and said it was where the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was held, and John surprised her by telling her that he and Malaia will be living about 5 minutes away from there.

When she told me, I asked her if she warned him to expect a whole batch of people arriving to stay at his place on the first Friday of May and staying until Sunday. Holly was giggling about the plans I was making to arrive on Friday evening, get a good head start early on Saturday, and then stay over so we can get back and get what we forgot on Sunday.

She was trying to explain to John why he really wants to go to the festival. She doesn't have to explain it to Malaia, who has been there several times while she was growing up.

But they did discuss the Maryland Renaissance Festival. John loves the RenFair, no matter where it's held. He was flabbergasted when Holly told him how long it runs, and I don't think he has any concept of how big it is, even though Holly tried to tell him.

He was really upset about some of the people he'll be missing in the Toledo area, but he was even more upset about being away from Malaia, even though that's going to be for a short time. They're hoping that Malaia will have moved out here by the end of August. Just in time for the RenFair.

I'm finally starting to get excited about the Celtic Festival.

I don't know what's the matter with me. The festival just hasn't seemed real to me this year. Or maybe it's the problem I have with time. The fest is real, but it feels like it's two months from now, so I'm not really excited yet. In real time, Lynn will be arriving later this week and the fest is on Saturday.

I just have so much I want to talk to Lynn about. And Holly. I want to hear all about the party. And I really want to see photos!

The silk yarn is washed and dried and ready to wind into balls. Knitting will commence on the rune bags this evening.

I'm almost finished rereading "Small Favor" from the Dresden Files books, and I still really want to reread "Deathly Hallows." I read it twice last summer, and then wanted to read it again, but got distracted with something else. What can I say? I guess I just LOVE wizards named Harry!

There's nothing but The Hulk on SciFi during the day all week. Good luck with that.

I planned a post telling you how to take good photos with the equipment I told you about, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow or later this week. I also changed my recommendation for a camera. Further investigation showed that the one I recommended has a bad track record for reliability, although it's otherwise very nice. Canon cameras have a number of features that are really good for this kind of thing, and are usually quite reliable. What happened to this particular model, I don't know. There are some new camera bags in my store, too, and a new section for cool DVDs.

Have a great Monday!

Happy Mother's Day!

Holly and I celebrated Mother's Day yesterday, and had a wonderful time!

We stopped at Michaels and Holly got some origami paper, and bought me a big ball of Lily's Sugar 'N Cream yarn to make a towel for Towel Day. As you'll see, there is a KAL for knitting towels, and the deadline is May 25, which is Towel Day. On that day (which happens to fall on the day before Memorial Day this year) all participants are expected to carry the towel they made (or any towel) to show respect and honor for Douglas Adams (and to show what a hoopy frood they are). These are actually two separate things: the KAL, and Towel Day itself. So, you can participate even if you don't knit.

I'll show you a photo of the ball of yarn she bought me tomorrow. Technical problems with the memory card.

Then we went to WalMart because Holly had a gift card for $50 there, and there were some things she wanted to get. She bought me some wine coolers and snacks. What a thoughtful child!

Then we went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. After arriving there, we decided that it was probably a good thing that we decided to celebrate on Saturday because we had a 20 minute wait anyway. We had a delicious dinner with wonderful company and witty conversation.

Then we went to Borders. Holly was looking for a book that they were out of, Woman's World. She did find two rune books she wanted, The Book of Runes: Read the Secrets in the Language of the Stones, and Practical Guide To The Runes: Their Uses in Divination and Magic, plus a book on palmistry. She also bought me a bookmark.






The bottom of the close-up is the part of the bookmark that I like best. I bought one of these when I bought Deathly Hallows last summer, but It was damaged, which didn't show up at first, but eventually left it in danger of coming apart. So I've been looking for another one to replace it for a while because I really like it. So, I was thrilled with my gift!

All in all, it was a wonderful day.

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Addition:

I just came across this link for fellow Eureka fans: http://www.scifi.com/eureka/madeineureka/