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.

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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.

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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.

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

I Think I'm Back, Now

I haven't been feeling really good for a long time, now, but the antibiotics and decongestant I've been taking have been having side effects that have had me feeling worse than usual for the last week or so. But I've just taken the last antibiotic pill, and so I assume that I'll be feeling better soon. At this point, I don't think they have improved the general background low grade sickness, though. I was really hoping they would.

So, anyway, it looks like I should be back to posting almost every day soon.

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Holly is coming home today from her weekend trip. I heard from her last night, and the trip was good and bad. She had severe plane delays on the way out, but did get to Hoagie Man at least once, and planned to go again before she left. This was complicated by the fact that her phone managed to quit working, necessitating a trip to the phone store to get it going again. It quit again soon after being fixed, but then was fiddled into working again. The renfair trip on Saturday seemed to be a success. At least she said that she'd bought a really beautiful ring that I can't wait to see.

She didn't want to hang on the phone for long last night when I talked to her, so I got a sketchy report of Sunday's renfair trip, and it wasn't pretty. There was a lot of rain, and it was chilly, which didn't go at all with her pirate costume, which, you may remember from the last post was a bit skimpy on warmth. Her wool felt tricorn hat may never recover. Heather got fed up with it and left, then promptly had a car accident due (I presume) to the bad weather. I get the impression that although there was a lot to enjoy, the general misery from the weather cut into the merriment.

I wish her a safe trip home!

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I managed to knit the entire ankle, a heel flap, turn the heel, and most of the gusset on the last blue sock for Holly on Saturday while watching Children of Earth again on my DVR from last weekend's BBC in America extravaganza. I've gotten the green yarn wound into balls (actually cakes) and am into the heel flap on the first green sock for her. I've discovered that the green dye on the socks is coming off on my hands, so now I have green marks there. That's the first yarn I've gotten from Knit Picks that's done that. So, now I'll have to wash the green socks before I can give them to her.

I washed Heather's yarn in shampoo and conditioner in hopes of softening it, but with no real improvement. It looks like somebody sold her the first yarn they'd ever spun. It's a singles, which can be OK to knit, if the spinner knows what she's doing. A singles is inherently not a balanced yarn, and will tend to skew. Overcoming this tendency is delicate, and easy to mess up. On top of being a singles, as I said, one skein looks like it was the first thing someone ever spun. It's not even structurally sound. Some of it is thinner than sewing thread and overspun, ready to snap at the slightest tension, and it has slubs, which are spaced far apart and not a relatively even design feature, that are thicker than some of the bulkiest yarn. The other skein is more evenly spun. It has some thick and thin, but is nice, stable, handspun.

Whoever spun it tried to make it act like a balanced yarn by boiling the heck out of it while dying it with logwood, which produced a stunningly beautiful lavender color, and turned some perfectly good wool into something that feels like steel wool. While boiling, they didn't put any tension on it, so there are a lot of kinks that are felted into the wool.

I'm thinking about plying the two skeins in hopes of removing a bit of the bias, which is till there, and making it actually structurally sound before knitting it. I'm having a hard time trying to decide how to handle it because it's really bad. I don't think it would look good in the Hermionie's Hat pattern. Actually, once it's plied, I think it would look good in a very plain hat pattern to show off the slubs and inconsistencies of the yarn. I'm thinking it over while I knit Holly's sock before I do anything. This is turning into trying to make a silk hat out of a sow's ear. Whoever ruined this wool should be ashamed of themselves!

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This week will see the beginning of a number of new shows, so pay close attention to your TV guide, and prepare to be entertained!

Being Human is on daytime BBC in America today! Later on, we'll have the season premiers of Heroes, Castle, and The Big Bang Theory!

Tomorrow is the season finale of Warehouse 13! If you've heard about it but missed the beginning and want to see it (and have a way to record it or have the day off) you can watch the whole, entire first season of Warehouse 13 on SyFy tomorrow, starting early in the day!

On Wednesday, the premier of Eastwick will be happening on ABC. This show looks interesting!

Thursday will see the premier of Flash Forward! I've been seeing the trailers for it, and I'm excited! This premise has a lot of potential. The season premier of The Mentalist will also be on!

Also on Thursday, we'll get to see the second episode of the season of Fringe and the third of Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. Well, you might get to see The Vampire Diaries. I won't. I can only watch two programs at a time, and I'd rather see the second episode of Bones. The premier of Supernatural was as wonderful as I'd hoped. I have the second episode on the DVR, and I'm saving it up for a special treat!

And on Friday, we have the long-awaited premier of Dollhouse! Of course, there's an episode between the last one aired and the new premier that you won't have seen unless you bought the Dollhouse DVD. I think that's really chintzy of Fox, but then they are the same people who managed to kill Firefly, which is one of the best shows I've seen on TV since Babylon 5.

And, just before Dollhouse on Friday is the season opener of Ghost Whisperer!

Whew! My DVR is going to be really busy this week!

I hope you have a great week, and enjoy all the great shows on TV!

Ho Hum

In an effort to brighten up a ho hum Monday, here's a photo of the gingerbread house that Malaia made for Christmas:

I forgot to mention to her how impressed with it I was. She's an amazingly crafty kid.

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I worked myself up into a headache last night over the Comcast thing. I finally realized what was going on and took a Valium (which is why I asked the doctor for them) and some Aleve, watched Harold and Maude, and went to sleep.

Before I did all that, I did some research on the internet about TV and internet connections, and I think that no matter what Comcast does at this point, DirecTV and a Verizon internet connection will make me happier. I have severe doubts about Verizon because they've treated me badly in the past, but they were very nice yesterday, so I'm thinking about giving them a second chance. Also, they're willing to give me a connection for $20 a month instead of Comcast's $45 per month. I am pretty sure that it's a slower connection, but it's a lot less money. I think I can live with that, and if I can't, I can get a faster connection for $10 more, which is still lots less than Comcast.

I just can't imagine anything that Comcast could do to make me want to continue with them at this point. I did ask them for an itemized list of all the charges and payments to my account for at least the last year. Even if they straighten that out, they've made too many problems over too long a period of time for me to want to continue with them.

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I finished the mitts last night, and started on the hat. I'll post photos soon. Come to think of it, I don't have a photo of the finished mitts, but here's something:

There's one finished mitt (L to R), one that's finished knitting but doesn't have the ends darned in, and one that's just started. I think I put this up before. The third mitt is done, and all ends are darned in! You should know that the mitts look weird until you put them on, and then they look and feel great.

Photos of the hat when I get them.

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There are four hours of Lost on the SciFi Channel tonight, and the premier of Kyle XY on ABC Family, which follows a Kyle marathon today. And don't forget that G4 is running single episodes of Lost at random times (usually, but not always at 11 am here), so stay alert! I think G4 is using them as filler, hence the random timeslot. Oh and there will be another three episodes shown on Wednesday on (I think?) ABC. Everybody's gearing up for the big premier later this month.

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I have a lot to do today. I got several letters/bills that are wrong all at once, Comcast being only one of them, and I have to write letters/make phone calls to straighten them all out. 

I also have to get to WalMart for some additional yarn to complete the stockings, a coaxial cable for the DVD recorder, and some blank DVDs to record. I want to get anything I really want to keep off of the DVR so I won't be upset about giving it back. And I want to make a stop at Shoppers while I'm out. That means about 2 hours of bus time (not all actually on the bus, but time spent walking to the stop and waiting).

And I have a dentist's appointment tomorrow morning, so any post that I might make will be late. This will be the last appointment (he says) before getting the caps for the front teeth. That will have to wait until they get more funding next summer.

Have a great week!

Grey Saturday

Last night all the walking and other stuff I've been doing (including dental visits) caught up with me.

The sinus/throat/ear infection with bronchitis that I had last summer and still have in spite of a ludicrously large doctor bill flared up last night. I took some stuff for it, and feel much better after a good night's sleep, although my colitis is still annoyed with me that I did so much walking.

I wanted to go to Michaels to cash in on their sock yarn sale that ends today, but Holly's car still isn't fixed, and I just can't do that much walking at this point without making myself really sick.

I have to walk over to Safeway to get a few things no matter what, though. I do have a supply of Chicken and Stars, but the way I feel, I want some more comfort food. I need to get food no matter what, it's just a matter of choosing things that I'll like better when I'm not feeling well.

But I did get some yarn while I was out on Thursday, and plan to make a hat and mitts. I lost a mitt somewhere in my travels that day, and until I can get to the WalMart that does carry the yarn I want, I won't be able to replace it.

But here's a photo of the mitts so far. One is done, one has the knitting done and needs the ends darned in, and one is just started. I haven't decided how I want to make the hat.


Progress has been made this last week on the second of the commissioned Christmas stockings. Here's the second one almost finished. It just needs the toe and back seam done, darn a few ends and block lightly. The third one will be underway shortly.

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Practical Magic will be on tonight on ABC Family. It's not action/adventure, but it's one of my favorites. When I got my first DVD player, this was the first DVD I bought, and I still love it.

The thing you really don't want to miss this weekend is Harold and Maude, which will be on Turner Classic Movies tomorrow. This was a cult movie that truly deserved it's following.

Another not-to-be-missed event on TV this weekend is two Doctor Who episodes which, together, make up a whole story. BBC in America is showing both of them back-t0-back today, and possibly on Sunday. The two episodes are Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead. They were both written by Steven Moffat, who also wrote the Doctor Who episode, Blink. As usual, he has written horror, but, as usual, it's kind of low-key. But you'll never look at books quite the same way again.

I have to go get some cough drops, and other stuff from the supermarket.

Have a great weekend, and don't miss Harold and Maude and Doctor Who!

Finished Objects 2008 Part Two

Here is a whole collection of things that I made as a set. It includes a hat (you already saw that), a scarf, three mittens and three boot cuffs. The photo only shows one each of the mittens and boot cuffs.

This finished poncho is now up in my Etsy shop.

And, of course, I finished the covers (back and front) plus the inside covers and two labels for the first volume of the Complete Steve Canyon on TV. You can see the inside cover art here.

I made a glow-in-the-dark Christmas stocking for my Harry Potter school house KAL.

The photo here shows some yarn and one mitt that's finished. I actually finished two more to make a complete set, plus two more out of the black yarn to go with John M's hood.

I know this isn't finished, but here's a glimpse of part of the Celtic sweater I've been working on. There are ends to darn in and blocking before I can sew on the buttons, but it's almost done.

And here is the first of the five stockings I'm doing for a commission (front and back views).

While we're on a Christmas theme, here's the Santa hat I made for myself, and which it turns out I like and have been wearing a lot. I made another one just like it in black for Robin (since that's his favorite color).

And here is the almost finished hood for John M. I neglected to take a photo of it when it was done, but I did finish it in time to give it to him on Christmas.


There are probably a bunch of miscellaneous things that I've knitted but neglected to photograph, too.

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I went to Michaels on the bus yesterday and got to do a lot of walking. Well, it's a lot of walking for me, anyway.

I found some better yarn for the beard and fur on the Christmas stockings, a calendar, and a punch to round corners on paper. Thanks, Malaia and John! But I lost track of time, and left Michaels about the time that I should have been at the bus stop. Since I still had a half mile walk to the bus stop, I didn't make it, and had to wait almost two hours between the two buses (there are far fewer buses on a Saturday). 

This actually turned out to be a good thing because I had time to stop in to Borders and get the Winter issue of Spin Off Magazine.

I left Michaels at 5:30, and got home at about 8:30. 

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I got home and got the news that Malaia had gotten a tattoo. Holly says she has (some of) the words to Amazing Grace tattooed in a spiral around her arm. She also got a rose and a butterfly. She said the rose was for me, and the butterfly was for her mom. I got on Facebook and demanded photos. She wrote back "Photos of what?"

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I hope you all had a chance to see Serenity on the SciFi Channel last night! I love Firefly!

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There is a new post up on the Steve Canyon on DVD blog! Check it out!

I hope you had a great weekend!