Blitzed by Knit Picks!

Today, I got an email from Knit Picks telling me that they have new knitting tools available.

Wow, do they ever!

Check this out! There's a fabulous ball winder, and it's half the price of the nice ball winder that just went off the market! And interlocking foam boards that you can use for blocking or as a background for photos. All the best stitch markers are available much cheaper, and without those ugly colors like lime green and orange. The cheapest sock blockers I've seen anywhere, and they're still good quality. A device to hold your DP needles while you're knitting a sock to keep you from losing them and/or impaling yourself on them.

And the best gadget of all, a set of double ended crochet hooks! These are great because you can fix a stitch several rows below, even if you were doing seed stitch. Unravel to the mistake, use the hook from the knit side to latch up a knit stitch, and when the next row demands a purl, just slide the hook through the work to the other side and make a knit stitch on that side! You don't have to drop the stitch off the hook and try to pick it up on the other side!

I love Knit Picks and want to marry them!

One of the things I like about them is their shopping cart. You can just throw anything in which you're interested into the cart and then sort out what you can afford to actually get. The stuff you don't get will be in the "save for later" portion of the cart, ready for when you have a bit more money. It's great, because you don't realize the day after an order that you really wanted to order something that you forgot. You don't forget because it's already in your cart.

*********************

I'm also excited about John being at the "Reel Stuff Film Festival!" I doubt whether I'll hear too much from him until he's back, but I'm really excited for him. He has been putting notices up on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, you can read about Steve Canyon here. And If you'd like to find out more about John, check him out here. I was lucky enough to be his friend and work alongside of him for a lot of that, the medical illustration, and some other work. He's made nothing but wonderful changes in my life.

*****************

There's some great TV on tonight!

There's a brand new Supernatural, and a brand new Eleventh Hour, too! 

For those of you who aren't SF fans, there's also brand new episodes of Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice.

Have a great evening!

Happy February!

This particular February boasts a distinction that other Februarys haven't had in quite a while.

It has a Friday the thirteenth.

The significance of that is that because February is 28 days long, it means that March will also have a Friday the thirteenth.

Two of them! Back-to-back!

I'm sure you're beginning to understand why some people have said to me, "You're easily amused!"

********************

I got tagged on Facebook, and put it up here so it would be easier to read. So, there will be three posts up today, so when you finish reading this, there are two more.

One of the entries on Facebook says, "John Ellis is predicting that facebook will blot out the sun and then swallow the earth within 7 days."

He's got a point.

***********************

The Christmas stockings, which were done last week were picked up and paid for last night! The fact that the project is completed is a major relief for me, and it's leaving a knitting vacuum in it's wake.

I have several projects in mind that I'd like to do, but no yarn! I'd like to go out today and get some yarn, but this cold/flu/infection is hanging on, and I woke up today with my feet swollen up and my right foot hurting. It hurts enough to make me want to limp, so I'm less than enthusiastic about walking to the bus, and then walking to all the places I'd like to go. 

I have a $15 credit at Borders, and I want to use it to buy a copy of Backup. The list price for it is $20, but it's a novella, barely more than a short story. I have no doubt that it will be good, but everyone that's read it thinks the price is more than a bit stiff. Yes, I know that it's available at Amazon at a lower price, but there's also shipping, so it doesn't make a lot of difference. But my credit will mean that it'll only cost $5! So it will be well worth the price. I'm really looking forward to it.

Here's a quote from the beginning of the book:

Let's get something clear right up front.

I'm not Harry Dresden.

Harry's a wizard. A genuine, honest-to-goodness wizard. He's Gandalf on crack and an IV of Red Bull, with a big leather coat and a .44 revolver in his pocket. He'll spit in the eye of gods and demons alike if he thinks it needs to be done, and to hell with the consequences--and yet somehow my little brother manages to remain a decent human being.

I'll be damned if I know how.

But then, I'll be damned regardless.
My name is Thomas Raith, and I'm a monster.

I can't wait! It's really a book in the Dresden Files series, but it's told by Thomas, and it's an account of his adventures providing backup for Harry on a case.

I also want to buy a copy of Coraline while I'm there. Coraline has either just come out or will be out as a movie real soon now. I want to see the movie, because, as the second link will tell you, the entire world of the movie has been created by hand. And then again, it's been written by Neil Gaiman, so it couldn't possibly be bad.

And then I want to walk across the road to Radio Shack to buy some DVD cases. Then there's a walk over to WalMart, and I really need to stop at the dollar store, which is another walk. None of these trips are far in themselves, but all together, it's a lot of walking.

******************

I haven't been telling you about what I've been reading lately, so let me remedy that.

I joined the Folklore and Fairytales group on Ravelry. I suspect that if you're not on Ravelry, you won't be able to see the page that link takes you to. It did cause me to put up a Fairytale section in my Amazon store, though.

Anyway, they've been discussing lots of interesting books, and I've been carrying tons of them home from the Library and reading them. A large part of what I've read because of this group is from Dianna Wynne Jones. First, I reread Fire and Hemlock, which is a tale heavily based on the Tam Lin story, with a touch of Thomas the Rhymer thrown in. Then I continued with The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volumes I, II, and III. 

I'm currently reading the Inkheart Trilogy, having finished Inkheart and Inkspell, and I'm now partway through Inkdeath, and I'm enjoying it immensely. My library card has been getting a workout with all this! The first of these three has come out as a movie (last month) and I suppose if it does well that they'll do the other two. If anyone has read the book and seen the movie, I'd really like a review from you.

I currently have a copy of The Alchemyst lined up for when I finish Inkdeath, and it's sequel, The Magician, is on order at the library. I'm going to have to wait until May for the third book, The Sorceress, though.

These are fictional stories about a real character named Nicholas Flamel, who showed up as a peripheral character in the Harry Potter books.

***********************

This post is starting to get out of hand in length. Blogger has just thrown a fit because I have too many tags listed, so maybe I should quit while I'm ahead.

There will be a new Fringe, The Mentalist and Leverage on tonight!

Have a good one!

********************

PS-- Here's a link to information on a movie that John's just finishing some work on. He's syncing dailies, so the movie is nowhere near finished.