I'm Back

Comcast internet was down for a while around here. My internet service with them has been bad for a long time, but this is the first time my internet service has been completely gone!

Since my landline phone connects to the world through the internet, it wasn't working, either. My cell phone insisted that wifi wasn't working and quit, too. It came back when I turned off wifi, when it switched to being an actual phone.

So, I called Comcast on my cell, and got an out-of-order notice. Their phone service was gone. Their website was down, too.

I got an email from them this morning that said they were experiencing "widespread involuntary maintenance." I got the impression that nature played a nasty trick on them.

I wouldn't be upset with them if this was the only time there had been a problem, but my TV service has been an ongoing problem for 4 years, and internet doesn't work too good, either.

If it was possible to get service from anyone else, I would.

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

Holly went to Michigan and (among other things) gave Malaia and Johnny their Christmas presents.

Here they are with their presents:

Johnny got a hat, mitts, and a hood. Malaia is wearing the hood in this photo. Malaia got socks, which she is wearing on her hands for the photo.

Johnny's presents are made with Classic Worsted Tapestry in Loden, which I showed a photo of a few posts back, while they were still balls of yarn. He wore the hat and mitts over the weekend when he went skeet shooting. I hadn't thought about it, but this yarn is not only handsome (Holly described it as "very manly"), but is an effective outdoor camouflage for this time of year.

The hood is from my wimple and hood pattern, and the mitts are from my long, short and easy mitts pattern. The hat is from the Watch Cap pattern available free by clicking on the link in the sidebar.

Malaia's socks are made from Red Heart Heart & Sole sock yarn in toasted almond. She wanted socks last year, and this year she's gotten them. I made three pair of them for me and liked them so much I wanted three more pair, but when I started knitting the second set of three, the more I looked at them, the more I kept thinking they looked like they should belong to Malaia. So, she got three pair of socks.

I'm working on a new line of patterns, and the pattern for the comfy socks will be one of the new ones. I designed these socks to be similar to some socks that were created for an made for diabetics. Holly doesn't have diabetes, but someone recommended them to her and she said they were the most comfortable socks she's ever worn, so I made similar socks with modifications for hand knitting.

Well, that's two presents down, and it means that I can show a lot of what I'm making for Christmas on my blog because Malaia was the one who was reading my blog and was certain that anything I made was for her.

While we're on the subject of knitting patterns, the free Santa Hat pattern is still up on my blog.

This is a quick and easy knit that will keep your head warm and look festive for the holidays. You can make it in more traditional colors (like red), too. I made one last year for Robin in his favorite color, all black. I like mine in navy blue, though. It blends with my coat and other clothes, and still manages to look Christmassy.

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

If you're interested in buying a tablet computer, either for yourself or as a Christmas present, I put together a page where you can find many of the current contenders. These are not always the best deals, but they not only have the specs for each computer, but also reviews from customers who have bought and used them. Hope this helps.

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

There's a new Chuck on tonight, along with a new The Event and Hawaii Five-O! Chuck and The Event are really dynamite!

Christmas Eve Is Two Weeks from Today!

I just wrote it and I still can't believe that two weeks from today, it will be Christmas eve!

I still have so much knitting to do!

Just before I sat down to write all this, there was a knock at the door, and when I went to answer it, there was a box full of shiny yarn! Some of it is Lion Brand Festive Fur, and some is Paton's Brilliant, but it's all shiny, and it's all intended to make Christmas stockings with.

About two weeks 'till Christmas, and I still haven't made all the Christmas stockings! Well, I made some shiny Christmas stockings for Malaia and John a couple of years ago, so I don't have to do those. But I'd like to get some made for Kyle, Bob, Holly and Robin, at least. I'd like to make stockings for several other people, too, but I think that's unrealistic at this point.

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

I have hypothyroidism (low thyroid function), and I got a phone call from the pharmacy yesterday. I ordered a refill on my prescription three days ago, and they called me two days ago to say that they'd run out and would have to order more, so it wouldn't be ready on time. I thought it was odd at the time. I mean I had filled a prescription with them and they knew I would be coming back for more, so why not keep it in stock?

Then yesterday they called to say that the Armor Thyroid that had been prescribed wasn't available AT ALL! The woman I spoke to said that they'd keep trying to get some more, but she didn't hold out much hope.

There are two different types of drugs for an under-active thyroid: natural hormones and synthetic (patentable) drugs.

The thyroid hormone that human bodies make includes chemicals called T1, T2, T3, and T4 as well as calcitonin and possibly others. The most popular synthetic drug (Synthroid) contains T4. The argument for the synthetic drug is that T4 is kind of a "holding" substance, and can be converted to T3 (which is the active ingredient that your body actually uses) in a body with a healthy endocrine system. Since it's only given to people who are already proven to have endocrine systems that are malfunctioning, as you might expect, some people just can't convert T4 to T3 well or at all, and Synthroid is about as useful to those people in solving their thyroid problems as drinking a glass of water. The further argument for synthetic drugs is that researchers haven't been able to discover a use in the body for T1 and T2, so they have come to the illogical conclusion that they don't do anything, and therefore, don't need to be in the drug given to people. Of course, if they put all those things into the drug, it wouldn't be patentable, and they wouldn't be able to charge the big bucks.

Calcitonin, by the way is also marketed as a drug to deal with osteoporosis and Pagets disease. I have Pagets, by the way (in my skull0, and I'm working on osteporosis, so this is important to me. A large amount of Calcitonin gives me horrible headaches, so I don't really want to take the very expensive drug form of it, but I suspect that the bit that's in the natural hormone helps. And, of course, that's not in the synthetic.

The problem here seems to be Big Brother. In all it's wisdom, the FDA is jealous of the small amount of money that the manufacturers of Armor Thyroid and the two other natural thyroid drugs are making and they want those profits for the manufacturer of Synthroid (and more, since Synthroid costs a lot more), so they're coming up with the idea that the natural hormones that have been safely in use since the 1930s (closing in on 100 years) are "new drugs" and have to go through the whole certification process from scratch! They're overlooking the fact that almost all doctors who actually have hypothyroidism have tried Synthroid, and switched to a natural thyroid medicine because they found out how BAD Synthroid makes them feel!

They're also proving once again, that they couldn't care less what they do to US citizens' health, as long as they get their bribes and help the drug companies harm us. At least I can't think of any other good reason why they'd do such a thing!

So, the plan is to find out if any other natural hormone is available, and if so, get a revised prescription from my doctor so that I can get that. Failing that, I need to get a new prescription and send it to a pharmacy in Canada or Europe, where these drugs are still available because doctors there are out to cure or help people rather than make lots of money for big drug companies!

As a matter of fact, if I lived in Europe, all I'd have to do is go to a doctor and he'd prescribe an antibiotic for my ulcerative colitis, and I'd be cured. But, unfortunately for me, I live in the US, and doctors here would rather tell me it's incurable and prescribe a drug that costs $400 per month (well it did nine years ago, it's probably more now) and doesn't do much of anything.

Lucky for me, I talked to someone who grew up in England, and he told me what doctors prescribe there: multi-minerals in a sublingual form. I can't find them in sublingual form, so it took longer for it to help, but multi-mineral tablets (at just under $10 per month) do a much better job than the expensive drug (Asacol)! In fact, they make the UC act like it's not there, which Asacol never did.

I HATE the FDA!

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

I have so many things that I'd like to get done today that there's no way that I can possibly do them all. The day just isn't that long.

I need to do something about getting some more natural thyroid medicine, pick up the books I ordered at the library, go try to get the shoes I want, get to WalMart and get some new jeans as well as the vitamins, minerals and OTC stuff I've replace all my prescription medication with, and a trip to the grocery store would be helpful. Since I have to do any traveling on the bus, that's way more than I can do in one day.

And I have to knit those presents!

So have a great evening and enjoy all the reruns on TV tonight!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day today!

You can actually buy a book about the day! It's called The Pirate Life.

Holly will be at a renfair in Michigan (or possibly, Ohio) today, and she'll be wearing her pirate costume, which you may remember from last year.

Whichever fair she's at, she'll be at the other one tomorrow. I envy her! Not only that, but she's getting to see Malaia, John, Heather, and all the other wonderful people out there. I miss them! And she's already gotten to go to Hoagie Man, and will get to go back again before she leaves. I envy her! And she got to fly there on a plane! Even if her flight was delayed and delayed, and even though it was a commercial flight, she still got to fly, which is one of my favorite things in the world!

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

I started the fourth and last sock for Holly in the Winter Night color last night. I have to decide if I want to do the green (Kenai) or the purple (Cosmos) ones next.

Heather sent some hand spun yarn that was dyed in logwood, which makes a beautiful lavender color. She wants me to knit it into a copy of the hat that Hermione wore in the Half Blood Prince movie. Here's a photo of the one I made for Holly.

The yarn seems to me to be a little on the light weight side for this hat, though. The yarn was very scratchy, and rough, so I've washed it in a combination of shampoo and conditioner in the hopes that it'll get much softer. It's still drying, but part of it seems to be dry, and slightly softer, although it seems like it will never be something that I would consider nice to touch. I'll have to knit some swatches to determine the gauge I'll want to use.

I'm thinking hard about wanting to do something more interesting with it than the Hermione hat, though. Something that will show it off at it's best, which I don't think the Hermione hat will do.

Well, it has to finish drying, and get wound into balls and have some swatches made before I make any decisions.

Heather says she really wants that particular hat, but I think this yarn could be so much more.

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

In case you haven't noticed, BBC in America has started to do the same daytime thing that SyFy has been doing: they're picking a series and showing several episodes of it each weekday. On Monday, they'll be having Being Human: the first episode, and then the last few of the first season. This past week, they showed some of Torchwood and some of Doctor Who. Keep your eyes open for the future.

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

I had planned to go do some things with my friend, Nancy this weekend, but I'm still not feeling too good. The antibiotic should help in the long run, but it's making for some side effects at the moment that made me want to stay home and just exist until I can manage to feel better.

Yesterday, everyone in the world wanted me to be up early and be busy doing stuff. I wasn't really too enthusiastic about it. One of the things was a series of blood tests, and these make me think that I may have found a doctor who knows what she's doing. She ordered some very intelligent tests, and one no doctor has ever thought to do for my thyroid problems. So far, I'm impressed!

So, I'm probably going to spend the weekend knitting and watching TV. I have Children of Earth on the DVR that I recorded last weekend, and I'm thinking about spending the day watching it.

I hope you're going to have a weekend that's at least as much fun as mine, and with any luck, as much fun as Holly's!

2009 Schedule!

I've been putting this off, but it's time to put up the 2009 schedule so that we can all be on the same page and at the same event, without having to say "Oh, I should have made a request 2 months ago for time off so that I could go to that!"

For those of you who don't know, there are an array of events that I used to go to every year alone. Then Holly moved to this area and went with me, and then she met Everett, and then Lynn found out about it, and it's escalated from there, or possibly got out of control, depending on your viewpoint. The more the merrier, but we'll probably have to take two cars. Maybe we can drag Malaia and John along on at least one event this year. Malaia said she wanted to go to the Sheep and Wool Festival.

So, this is the plan for 2009:

2 & 3 May-- The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. This is the biggest event of it's kind in the United States. It's a once-a-year, not-to-be-missed fiberarts extravaganza! We may only be going on the second, but it'll be open both days. It's free, you just walk in. But save up your money, because there will be a lot that you'll want to buy!

16 & 18 May--Maryland Faerie Festival This was recommended to me by Dancing Pig Pottery, and it sounds like fun.

16 May to 14 June--The Virginia Renaissance Faire. I've never been to this, but I'm putting it up here in hopes that someone else will feel like going and take me along.

13 & 14 June--The Potomac Celtic Festival. For those out there who love bagpipes, and men in kilts, this is the place you want to go! They have cider and ale as well as beer, and I advise that you stick close to Holly, because she always finds the best stuff immediately.

29 August to 25 October--The Maryland Renaissance Festival. One of my favorite things to do. We try to go twice a year. This is a really fabulous Renfair!

3 & 4 October--Fall Fiber Fest. Not anywhere as big as the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, but it staves off withdrawal until the next year and lets me get last-minute (so to speak) ingredients for Christmas present construction.

I hope you're all enjoying the Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family! Oh, and don't forget that Castle premiers on Monday!

Miscellany

Here's a photo I took on my way to the library the other day. Most of the pond was frozen, but there was still a little hole of unfrozen water, and some of the geese where swimming in it.

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

I watched the news on Thursday night, and noticed a few things that I hadn't seen reported before.

An unnamed White House source said that Obama did more work in his first two days than Bush did in eight years.

The newscaster said that our new president seems to be "working hard to clean up the mess left by Bush."

I've never heard the press speak about a president like that (the way they spoke about either one of them) until just recently.

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

I went to Michaels on Thursday. They sent me an ad with a coupon. In the ad, it said that they had Kroy sock yarn on sale, and I wanted some. If they had been honest, they would have said that it was a clearance sale, and I wouldn't have bothered going. I was there two weeks ago, and they had just a few balls of Kroy sock yarn, so I would have known that there wouldn't have been much left if they'd said clearance.

In actual fact, there was one ball of solid black sock yarn. Enough to make one black sock. And I had to ask an emplyee to even find it.

Who wants to buy yarn for one sock? 

I used the coupon to get a pack of stitch markers. I think they're overpriced, but I like them. A coupon makes the price much more acceptable.

And I got a tiny bottle of something similar to Fray Check, only flexible. It's intended to glue glitter to clothing. That's not something I can envision wanting to do unless the clothing is Christmas stockings or something. I want it to deal with really tiny areas of color on the stockings I'm knitting. When you only have two stitches in a color, there's really not a big enough area to darn in ends. So, I'm tying a knot and using the glue (which won't come out in the wash) to keep the knot tied, and then cutting the ends leaving a short section. I bought a tiny bottle because they always clog up and dry out before they get used up, so maybe I'll actually get to use most of what I bought.

I also bought a pair of scissors that are supposed to cut a deckle edge on paper. They cut much too cleanly for my taste, but then again, they were only fifty cents. And they're so flimsy that they'll probably soon begin to malfunction and chew up the yarn making a nice deckle edge.

I still have a bit of money on the Michaels gift card that Malaia and John gave me for Christmas.

I liked what I got at Michaels, but it wasn't sock yarn. I was disappointed about not getting sock yarn.

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

I'm past the "cuff" and into the colorwork on the last Christmas stocking of my commission. I'm so glad to be nearly done!

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

I have piles of stuff to do, so I'll just remind you that BBC in America will be showing the first of the final three episodes of the latest season of Doctor Who tonight. The last three episodes are Turn Left, The Stolen Earth, and Journey's End. It's the most dynamite ending to a season of Doctor Who that's ever been done! If you haven't seen it yet, check it out.

One of the things I'll be doing is working on the cover for Volume Two of the Steve Canyon series DVDs. Oh, I was talking to John (the producer) last night, and he told me about all the good feedback he's been getting on the cover for Volume One. He said my friend, Allen Asherman said that when he got his copy and pulled it out of the package, the cover was so beautiful it brought tears to his eyes! Wow! There have been other really good comments about it, too.

Have a great weekend!

Inauguration!

Yesterday, Washington DC was standing room only!

No kidding!

All of downtown was filled with people to the point that there was only room for them to stand. Well, you know that if you watched the inauguration on TV.

Holly said she looked at the photos of the crowd and was floored. 

I looked at them and something in the back of my brain said "That can't be right." I found myself checking landmarks, thinking that they couldn't be taking those photos where it looked like they were, and it must be someplace smaller. But no. Downtown DC was literally standing room only!

And the commotion extended all the way out to here in Northern Virginia (or NoVA, as the natives refer to it). I was at PRTC (local bus company in PW county) headquarters in Woodbridge, and watched big buses leaving in a constant stream with big signs on the front that said "FREE RIDE DAY." They were headed to the Metro. For people going to or coming from DC on the Metro, buses were arriving at the Springfield station and leaving every minute, apparently all day. I didn't know they had so many buses. The only thing to or from DC yesterday was public transportation. Which was probably a good thing. After all, where would you park?

The local buses were not free yesterday, though. Which I found out since I rode around on three buses yesterday. I took four trips, but caught one of the drivers on the way back on the same bus.

After watching the actual inauguration on TV, I pulled myself together and took the bus to the station and took another bus to Comcast to straighten out the mess. It's not totally straightened out, but at least they're not planning to turn it off at this point, and I can not only watch TV, but blog and use the internet without fear of sudden disconnection. I caught the same bus on it's way back to the station. I've been riding the bus so much that I'm beginning to know all the drivers.

Yesterday, the temperature did not get above freezing at any point. So, I was amazed to watch our new president take the oath wearing a business suit. His only concession to the cold seemed to be warm gloves. I can't imagine how he avoided freezing, but he did look spiffy.

I watched the proceedings on Channel 7, and Holly watched it on 4. We compared notes later and discovered that we had seen very different things because of the way that it was presented. One of the things that I missed, but Holly filled me in on was that he was sworn in with the same bible that Lincoln was sworn in with.

Since I spent my day riding around (it was well after dark by the time I got home), I missed the parade. Holly says that despite the strong resistance of the secret service, Barack and Michelle got out of their bulletproof limo and walked for a couple of blocks, and then did it again for a shorter distance later.

I have been around Washington, DC, one way or another ever since 1964, and I have never seen such a wild frenzy here. I wasn't crazy enough to go downtown, but stories of friends are filtering back to me. It's awe inspiring.

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

I'm halfway through the leg of the fourth stocking. This is what it looks like from the front.

This is what it looks like from the back. Please note that I have darned in the ends from the colorwork at the top. The ends from the name and date, and the ends from the edge between the white of the "snow" and the red of the body of the stocking. The mess you see here is just from the tree and Santa designs.

This is why I don't like to do colorwork. I can't just knit. 

I have to keep stopping to count. And cut new lengths of yarn for a new color section. And wind bobbins. Then unwind parts of bobbins so I can knit a few more stitches. And periodically stop completely and spend an hour untangling the mess and darning in ends because the yarn ends have gotten too unmanageable to continue unless I do. 

Once I get past the colorwork on the leg, the rest is simple. Just knit. Well, and there's some shaping, too, but that's easy. And it doesn't require untying a bad tangle and darning in ends.

Actually, I took the photo a while ago, and in the meantime I've darned in most of the ends and gotten further. Only one more complete stocking to go!

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

Haunted has been on the SciFi daytime rotation all today, and Doctor Who will be on Friday's fare. Those episodes will include Tooth and Nail, and School Reunion, which show the inception of Torchwood and the beginning of The Sarah Jane Adventures, respectively.

Which reminds me of the Leverage episode last night. They suddenly find they need some aliases, and they go through "Sylvester McCoy" and decide on "Tom Baker" and his wife, "Sarah Jane." Who says they don't have a sense of humor?

SciFi is starting two reruns on it's Friday night line-up starting this week. Look for Invasion and Moonlight on Friday.

They're both good series.

Invasion is about a first contact situation during a hurricane in Florida. It started on the air right before Hurricane Katrina, and was interesting because you could watch a hurricane aftermath and clean-up both on a TV show and on the news. The show was far more bizarre. Kind of Hurricane Katrina meets the pod people. Although it was very good, it ended after the first season, and they didn't have a chance to wrap up the story successfully, so it was very disappointing that way. I want to watch it over again, though.

Another really good show that ended after the first season was Moonlight, about a vampire private investigator. It starred Alex O'Loughlin as the most likeable vampire ever, Mick St. John. This one is beyond description, it's so good. You really need to watch it. They didn't get a chance to wrap this one up successfully, either, but it's easy to assume that they just went on with their lives (or undeadness). Invasion never got a chance to tie up the loose ends that really needed to be resolved.

I was very unhappy when each of these shows ended.

But the really BIG news on TV is the premier of Lost tonight! This is what everybody has been waiting for!

Enjoy!

I know I will.

And don't forget that Burn Notice will be having it's premier Thursday, too, on USA!

Oh, and Dragon Sword will be on SciFi on Saturday.

Check local listings!

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

After riding around on all those buses yesterday in sub freezing temperatures, with a 20 mile-an-hour wind with who knows what kind of chill factor in order to pay my Comcast bill, Comcast thought it was necessary to call me today and ask if I'd like to make a payment. This is just another example of their substandard everything. I wish I could change to another provider.

Oh, well, it's supposed to go above freezing tomorrow, and I might even go out voluntarily under those conditions. I still have money on the Michaels card that Malaia and John gave me, and I'm thinking about using it for some sock yarn. Yes, I really want to take a break from knitting Christmas stockings with knitting socks! Even though it sounds crazy. I also have to get busy on the photos for the cover of Volume 2 of the Steve Canyon series. Busy, busy, busy!

Have fun with Lost tonight and Burn Notice Thursday!

No Renfair for Me Today

And how, you may ask am I able to blog today from the Renfair?

Well, the answer is that we aren't going today. We'll be going next Saturday.

Holly called early this morning and let me know that some unavoidable disturbances at her apartment meant that she was able to get only a half hour sleep all night last night, and she didn't plan to go.

This was added to the last minute information that John and Malaia would not be able to go today due to last minute problems.

The two bright spots are that I will be able to do some more on the bedroom today and that I will be going next Saturday!

So, I'm blogging.

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

Here's a peek at the cross from the  right sleeve of the Celtic sweater.


Looks nice, doesn't it?

Well, the sleeve looks awful, and there's no way in the world to fix the sleeve without fixing the shoulder.

And, of course, there's no way to fix the shoulder without ripping back to it.

So last night a took a deep breath and bit the bullet. I frogged all but the hood and the shoulder tops (which will have to be lengthened).

Frogging something like this is no joke.

It took about 3 hours and a lot of physical effort to frog about 3,000 yards of yarn!

I lengthened one shoulder strap this morning and have started on the left front. Again.

But look at all the fun knitting there is in front of me to do! It's all pretty and new again.

This time, I'm going to knit the sleeves when I get to the end of the sleeve opening in the body!

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

There was an email in my inbox today from Amazon. There's a new Canon Camera out that they thought I would like to know about. They were right.

It's the brand new Canon Powershot SX10 IS! I haven't been able to find out yet about it's ability to use filters, but I can't imagine that they would make it impossible to use them.

I sent Canon an email asking about this, and I'll let you know.

Have a great weekend

Renfair Tomorrow!

Friday the Thirteenth is on the daytime rotation at SciFi today.

Tonight, they'll be having a new episode of Sanctuary, plus a new episode of Stargate Atlantis, preceeded by last week's episode, which was continued to this week, so if you missed it last week, you might want to watch it tonight.

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

Renfair is tomorrow! Holly, Malaia and I will be going, and I assume that John, Everett, Jeff and Ashton will go, too. You can expect no post tomorrow.

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

I have a lot of work to do on the bedroom today if I want to have any hope of being ready for inspection on Tuesday, so you may notice that this is a very short, quick post. So, here's another photo John sent me for your entertainment.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

The Maryland Renaissance Festival!

The Maryland Renaissance Festival was wonderful yesterday.

It was also way beyond warm and into danger-to-life-and-limb territory.

A lot of walking can be a problem for me, but yesterday I didn't do much walking because of the heat.

It was so good to see Malaia and John again! They are both so much fun! They showed up in Renaissance garb, and Holly was determined to do the same, even though she arrived wearing shorts.

Everett, Jeff and Ashton were welcome additions to the group, too.

After looking around a bit, she found and bought this outfit. Very Pirate. She later bought a tri-corn hat to complete the look.

I was afraid that I would be having so much fun that I would forget to take any photos. Well, I remembered, but I didn't take many photos, and that's always a mistake. One of the major secrets of really great photography is to take lots and lots of photos. Some of them will be exceptional just out of shear happenstance.

I didn't take enough photos of Malaia and John, and this is the poor result:


Well, we'll be going back to the Renfair again before the end of the season. I know. Holly bought me a two day ticket, so I still have it left for the next trip.

I bought a few pieces of really beautiful rocks (amethyst and fluorite) and a cup from the Dancing Pig.

This has a rounded bottom on the inside, and that means it's useful for scooping out small items stored in it. Oh, and it has a star on it. I love stars.

I finished the mittens (which only required blocking--I'll do some garter stitch at the cuff next time instead of going right into stockinet stitch) and the boot toppers witch also required a bit of steam in spite of having a garter stitch border.

Here's a photo of two of the mittens. Since they're ambidextrous, I always make three so that when you lose one, you still have a pair.

I haven't gotten around to taking a photo of the boot toppers yet. When I finish the scarf, I plan to take a photo of them all together.

On Monday evening, (early), the SciFi Channel will start rerunning the entire Lost series. I know so many people who love that series, and who swear it's science fiction, so here's my chance to find out.

I watched two or three episodes from somewhere in the middle, and didn't get it, and didn't see anything to suggest that it was SF. So now I can find out if I was wrong. They'll be showing the two hour pilot, and two more episodes, so I can get a good, big dose of it.

You may notice that they'll also be showing Charlie Jade later (early Tuesday morning). I had heard a few good things about it, but it's very muddled. The plot seems to mill around in a circle most of the time.

John Ellis is bugging me to finish this post and get it out so he can see the photos.

I hope you all got the chance to see the big announcement on his blog yesterday. If not, check it out here.

I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine!

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!

Big News!

My granddaughter, Malaia's, husband, John, has gotten a new job in Baltimore!

That means that next weekend he'll be moving there.

Malaia will stay in Ohio while they sell the house, etc.

But, that means that she will soon be living hundreds of miles closer to me! I haven't seen her in about a year. If she's in Baltimore soon, we'll probably see her when we're in Baltimore for Stitches East! She'll probably go the Sheep and Wool Festival in the Spring! We might all be able to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival together!

Lots of fun!

In knitting news, I've bound off the bottom of the second poncho, and am picking up the stitches around the neck for the hood. In the meantime, the needle (a 24 inch size 8 nickel-plated circular) has managed to disappear. I last saw it Monday or Tuesday, and there are a limited number of places it could have gone. Reason tells me I'll find it right away. But I spent nearly an hour looking for it, and it doesn't seem to be here. So, the poncho is on hold for a bit.

Holly and I  plan to go out today, and I don't have a knitting project to take along unless I find the needle.

I tried to find some size 6 Bryspun DP needles locally so I could knit the rune bags, but nobody seems to have them. So, I gave up and ordered a set of nickel-plated ones from Knit Picks. While I was at it, I also ordered some sock yarn. I have two pair of summer socks, and no shoes that I can wear without socks, so two pair is not enough.

Have a great weekend!