The Return of the Knitting Blog!

I've been writing about other things for a while, but I'm back on the subject of knitting!

I read The Yarn Harlot's Blog earlier this week (last week?), and she was going nuts over a pattern called Catkin. I checked it out on Ravelry, and it was already in my favorites. The link to the blog goes to the particular post where she began to speak about  it, and it has a link to the pattern. The Ravelry link to the pattern is here, and I can't seem to find it anywhere but Ravelry. You need to join Ravelry to get the pattern (apparently), but joining is free, and very fun! There's no place else that I can find a discussing of the latest Doctor Who episode by all knitters!

Do click a link and see the photos of the shawl/scarf! It can be worn so many ways, and it's so pretty!

Anyway, as with Stephanie, after seeing this pattern, it drove me nuts. So, I bought the pattern and knitted the swatch. Knitting the swatch was important because I don't have a needle that's long enough for the whole thing, and if I'm going to have to order one, it might as well be an Addi lace needle. And they're expensive enough that I don't want to have to order one that's the wrong size!

Anyway, here's the swatch:

I just happened to have some Knit Picks Palette yarn on hand, so I used it to do the swatch. I have lots of the pale grey color (mist) and I ordered more a few minutes ago for the contrasting colors to make three different versions, one for Holly (it's a Christmas present, but she already knows about it; she even picked the colors), myself, and another Christmas present for a recipient who is not to be named at this time.

Actually, I didn't get the color Holly picked. They've added some new colors since she picked it last week, and I got one that looks almost identical on the screen, but is a heathered color, which I think will look much better than a solid color in the scarf/shawl.

In fact, all three of the colors I ordered are heathered. Here's the one for Holly:

It's called Blue Note Heather, and I think it's going to look so much better than a solid color!

Here's the one for me. It's called Mineral Heather.

And for the mystery person, we have Huckleberry Heather.

I think these are going to be three really beautiful scarves! I might have to knit another one or two. It's not quick and easy knitting, though. Except for the section around the neck, the whole thing is charted, and it's complicated enough that it's got to be a problem to memorize, although some rows do repeat. I should finish the first one before I decide to make too many more.

Now, I have to wait for the yarn to arrive!

In the meantime, I might knit a practice shawl from the Bluebell color, which is the blue in the swatch, that I also have a lot of and some of the Mist that I've got stockpiled.

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I need to go out and do errands, but they just put down carpet in the lobby and the whole first floor of my apartment building, and nobody is allowed to walk on it, so everybody is either stuck in their apartments or can't get into their apartments. It's going to be my turn soon (although I don't know when yet). They originally said that we wouldn't be able to walk on the floor for a day, but now it's the second day, and it might be another one.

I went to the library yesterday (and got a copy of Ghost Story!), but it took me about 20 minutes to get out of the building. There was a sign diverting me from using the front elevator to get off on the first floor and directing me to the freight elevator. But the freight elevator wasn't working, which took me almost
15 minutes to realize.

I kept thinking that since it was making little noises like it had just arrived at a different floor that it was working. In reality, the little dinging noises were a distress call from an elevator that was stuck, but knew it should go to the floor where someone pressed the button.

I finally took the stairs down, passing a woman who was about 85, carrying up a heavy load of laundry from the basement. I'm surprised she didn't die on the spot. She had already carried it up 5 floors, and might have as much as two more to go.

I hope you're having a better week than the residents of this apartment building are!


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RenFaire!

Well, we went to the RenFaire yesterday and it was wonderful! As usual!

The weather has been dry for a while, and the ground was not only dry, it was like a fine powder, about a quarter inch deep, and it quickly coated not only shoes, bottoms of pants and other things near the ground, but everything, even faces! In fact, there's a lot of evidence that I breathed a lot of it in and the inside of lungs are probably coated with it. I could barely breath to sleep last night, and my nose is running.

But let's get to the fun part: the photos!

I showed off my new camera, and almost everyone who looked at it took my photo with it. See, Lynn, you did good!

I like the first one better.

Here is a series of photos of the people who went:

That's Holly in the front with Robin behind her.

I think that's a really great photo of the two of them.

A close-up of Robin.

This is a really good one of Robin.

Robin is waiting to try a swing-a-mallet-and-ring-the-bell game.

And a view of swinging the mallet.

This is Everett sitting in the crab chair (more about that later).

Here's Jeff and Everett.

I tried to take some photos of Aston, but they all came out blurs. That's the problem of trying to photograph children: they never stand still. He wore the hood I knitted for him for christmas, and almost made me sorry I'd made it. I was afraid he was going to have heat stroke, but he refused to take it off! So, I guess I found something he liked. He brought along a sword that Jeff bought him a few years ago, but it's pretty bashed up. Ashton and his cousin have play sword fights all the time, and they've nearly destroyed this sword. So Jeff bought him a new one at the faire.

I also took some random photos of architectural details (the buildings are so neat) and other interesting things, and I think they'll all be self evident, so here are the photos.

Well, I have two more photos, but Blogger is refusing to load them, so they'll have to wait for tomorrow.

But we all had a fabulous time and came home tired but happy.

Instead of Holly driving me home last night, they gave me the use of the car while they're trying to sell it. So I drove home myself. I'd love to go somewhere today now that I can, but my breathing is bad from all the dust at the RenFaire, and my muscles are complaining about all they did yesterday! I'm going to have to walk more so I don't feel so bad from it.

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End of season finales that are on tonight include: Warehouse 13 (Syfy), White Collar (USA), and Covert Affairs (USA).

I hope your long Labor Day weekend was as much fun as mine! And I hope you're having a fun, short week!

Four Wheeling and Miscellaneous Information

I'm having a dull weekend at home, but Holly and Robin have gone four wheeling in their new Hummer this weekend!

This is a photo taken with Holly's phone, and it shows how much fun they've been having! She said they've also scratched the paint. I can see from the photo that they've gotten and installed a roof rack, spotlights and a grill over the front of the vehicle. Oh, and they've also installed a lot of mud!

Looks like they've been having fun!

Speaking of fun, Holly and Robin and I are going to go to the Renfaire on Labor Day! Everett and Jeff have been invited, but I don't know if they're actually going to go. I am so excited I can't wait!

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I've been mentioning information about thyroid problems from time to time on the blog, and ran across a useful post on the Stop the Thyroid Madness blog. Check out Ten Thyroid Tidbits!

There were a few things that surprised me in it. I had heard that most cooking oils tend to suppress thyroid function, and that one of the best things is to switch to coconut oil for cooking (and be sure to cook at a lower temp--coconut oil burns at a much lower temp than most cooking oils), but she sounds like she's talking about eating it. Which sounds gross, except that I've cooked with it, and it tastes sweet. Her recommendation of coconut milk would probably be the way to go if you're not planning to cook with it. One thing you do NOT want to do is drink Silk (soy milk)! Not only does it suppress thyroid function and promote weight gain through that mechanism, it also adds lots of extra estrogen to your system. As a country, we're using so much soy that the excess is causing pollution that's making fish hermaphroditic.

Anyway, if you're interested in your health, check it out!

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In science fiction news, I just found some information about the new season of Doctor Who! The way it's explained, it sounds good, but all I know about it is in the article, so check it out.

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There is a blog that I've been reading since 2004 (wow--six years) by fibermom which is an interesting blog, or I wouldn't have been reading it so long.

I'm mentioning it today, though, because she's doing something she's been doing since before I started reading her blog. She's going to participate in the Holiday Grand Plan, which is a plan which happens to start today, and is intended to get you ready for the holidays without getting frazzled. You can read about it at the above two links.

Yesterday, I suddenly decided I need to start making a list of Christmas presents to get/make for friends and family, so I guess I've already started in a way. Mind you, I didn't actually start making the list, but I thought I should do that since most of the presents I give are hand made.

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Have you ever watched TV and saw someone use a gun with a silencer and wondered how it works? Well, you can find out right here.

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It's getting late, and I've been thinking for a while that I need to try to get out and walk every day. So, I'm going to go and do that. I'm taking my camera! Just in case.

Have a fabulous week!

Happy Birthday, Bob, and Pennsic Is Over for Another Year

Happy Birthday, Bob!

It's my granddaughter, Kyle's boyfriend, Bob's birthday today! I wish you a birthday as happy as the one that Kyle just had! I'm sure you can figure out which one is Bob.

Speaking of Kyle's party, here's my favorite photo from it:

That's Holly with Kyle.

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Pennsic is over for another year. At this point, some are already home, and some are probably still traveling, but it's all over.

It always makes me feel a little sad when it's done.

But then again, there's always next year's war to look forward to missing.

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Yesterday, Holly came over and we went out together and she got to show off her new HumVee!

If I had to choose a single color name to describe the color, it would have to be grey. But it looks very blue sometimes, too, probably from reflections from the sky. Once in a while, you can see some green in the color, too.

We went to AC Moore, WalMart, and then to Ruby Tuesday. She said that she'd take me to Olive Garden for my birthday, but some other time because neither of us was really hungry, and you need to be when you go there.

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Check out this neat article about yarnstorming (with lots of photos)!

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Well, it's been a wonderful weekend for me! I'm all ready for my birthday tomorrow. Lynn said I should expect my birthday present from her to arrive on Saturday, but since the apartment place I live in doesn't let the post office deliver packages on the weekend, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get it.

I hope you've had as good a weekend as I have, and a fabulous week coming up!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Elizabeth Zimmerman!

There really are a lot of birthdays in August, and I forgot most of them!

I'm chagrinned to have missed Rob Rekley's birthday, which was on the second! Happy birthday, Rob! I hope it was fun!

The big news for knitters is that yesterday was the anniversary of Elizabeth Zimmerman's birthday. For those of you who don't know, EZ has gone to the big sheep and wool festival in the sky, and left us poor mortals to struggle through without her help. One of my favorite bloggers wrote a post about it here. You have to read this--it's funny!

Of course, I mentioned that the sixth, last Friday was Kyle's birthday, and I'm going to hear more about it on Saturday when I see Holly. They did celebrate by taking her to a bar on Thursday night at midnight so that she could show her ID to the bartender the instant she was 21! She got either free or $1 drinks all night, and everyone seemed to conspire to get her the worst-tasting drinks possible.

And yesterday was Tim Davis' birthday! Happy birthday, Tim! I hope you had the most fun, ever!

The next one coming up is Bob, Kyle's boyfriend! It's on the fifteenth, the day before mine. He got to accompany Kyle for her birthday, so I'm sure that they'll celebrate his birthday on Sunday.

Then, of course, there's me! Don't miss my birthday wish list on Amazon! Used books or DVDs are OK! There are some expensive presents, but there are some that are under $5 including shipping! I got a call from Lynn yesterday to check my address so that she could send me a present. I'm all excited about that!

My cousin, Barbara, is also having a birthday on the 18th!

And Facebook surprised me and let me know that later on this month (the 18th, too) Rick Foucheux will be having a birthday! I know Rick from working with him when he was in Invader.

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This is going to be a bad week for me to get posts up due to the fact that I have to turn in all my financial evidence for some benefits, and I've been running all over getting it together. Yesterday I spent all afternoon making a trip to get some info I need, and I have more stuff I need to do today and Thursday, and Friday I have to turn it all in. So, don't expect a lot of posts.

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Holly called me earlier today to confirm my address during the process of buying her new car. She said it really is green, and not the blue it appears to be in the photos, but that it's a "funny shade," whatever that means. She took the day off of work to go get it since it arrived late last week, and she'll have the evening to actually go somewhere if she wants to. I tried to encourage her to come here and show it off, but she said she didn't want to be on the highway during rush hour, so she's not going to bring it down here until Saturday.

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I found this on the internet today and just had to share it with you! A young woman who seems to prefer to remain nameless, quit her job by sending an email to everyone in the company (and I hope she sent this to the owner, too) with this series of photos. This is priceless. I should warn you that my computer gave me several warnings about a slow script on the page, but it's really worth wading through and waiting to see it all! I love it! And I wish her all the best!

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I just got a call from Holly, and the financing on the car was ridiculous, so she's checking with her company credit union to see if they'll finance it on much better terms instead of the finance company that works with the dealer.

So, she hasn't actually got the car yet, but should have it either tomorrow or Thursday. I'm a little disappointed, but they'll get the car this week no matter how it turns out.

She said the car is a dark green, but that the green has a lot of grey in it. She looked at all the colors available on that model and year of Hummer while I was talking to her on the phone, and she said that none of them are called green, so she's not sure about it.

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I need to get going and get something done today, Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Today is Kyle's birthday, and her mom arrived last night out there in Wisconsin to be with her on her one and only twenty-first birthday! After scaring me the other day, I still hope she has a good birthday.

This will be a short post, today.

I went to the eye doctor, and they put lots of drops in my eyes, and now it looks like I smeared Vaseline all over my eyes. I'm sure it will wear off in a few hours.

The good news is that my eyes are essentially healthy, and everything's OK. The bad news is that they've changed more than I thought, and I probably should get new glasses. For the lenses (if I use the frames I already have), they quoted a price of $150, which they insisted was the cheapest I'll find anywhere. I think I'll check out the sales for the next month since I don't have the money to get them right now anyway.

I finally found out what that blurry spot in my left eye is, though. The other doctor gave me a big long word (or maybe three) and didn't explain it. This doctor says that it's basically a large floater, and that it's something to keep checking on, but not something to cause worry in and of itself. She said I can expect to have it forever. She said that she had an incident of retinal detachment when she was 20, and has had floaters ever since. Holly had them a while ago, too, so I guess I'm lucky that I never had it happen until I was 62.

But the computer screen looks all smeary, and the good stuff is coming on TV, so I'll catch up with things later.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy August!

I intended to write a post welcoming August on the first day of the month.

Yeah, we can all see how much good that intention did!

But August has been here for a few days, and it's nice to take notice of the fact.

I tend to think of August as birthday month. Yes, I was expecting that! Yeah, it is the month that my birthday is in (on the sixteenth, and my birthday wish list is here and I should mention that there are a lot of great presents available used for under $5), but that's beside the point.

I worked for two different companies where over 75% of their employees had birthdays in August, so they had a big birthday party for everyone in the company in that month! Both companies employed a lot of creative people, and most creative people seem to be born then. I don't know why. I'm not trying to say anything with that statement. It's just an observation. Although it has made me think a bit more favorably about the idea of astrology at times.

So, lets get on the subject of birthdays!

Today happens to be the birthday of the president of the US! Yes, Barak Obama is celebrating his birthday today. Or, more accurately, he's having a birthday. I don't know what his plans to celebrate are, but I do know that people all over the country are throwing birthday parties for him even though he probably won't attend.

I know all this because Michelle sent me an email last week asking me to sign a birthday card for him, and I also got an invitation to a party for him in Fairfax.

Living in the DC area has always been fun that way, but I think the internet has brought what used to be a DC phenomenon to the world, or at least the rest of the United States.

Continuing on the birthday theme, Friday (the 6th) is also my granddaughter, Kyle's birthday. Holly will be going to visit her on her birthday. She will be 21 on Friday!

I have a friend that I haven't seen in ages, Whitlock, who was born on the 15th, and there were a couple of years that we started celebrating on his birthday and finished up at the end of mine.

That doesn't seem like a lot, does it?

August is the month that August Party used to be held in (of course). For those that don't know, August was the month that the original Star Trek cast and crew would have a wrap party each year, and the Star Trek fen used to hold August Party, which was a Star Trek convention each year. It's the con I met John at, and I always remember it even though it's not happening anymore.

August is also the month that Pennsic happens! Pennsic is one of my favorite things ever, and I'll be missing it again this year! But I'll be keeping up with what's happening by retweeting stuff from Pennsic in the sidebar, in my Twitter feed. You can keep up with it there, too, should you be interested.

Here are some random photos I found on the internet, to give you an idea of what Pennsic is like.

And here's a photo of the entrance to the Clan Lurkr camp, where I stayed quite a few years ago. As you can see, Wookie (Viscount Sir Wulfbrand Lurkr) likes red!

There are buildings and towers! People make them pre-fab and take them to the camp ground and store them there between Pennsics. I wish I could find some of the photos I took there.

So, stay tuned to the sidebar, or follow me on Twitter to keep up with what's happening if you can't go.

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For the fiberartists out there, Knit Picks is having a contest with a prize of enough cashmere blend yarn to knit a sweater as a prize! If you're not acquainted with them, Knit Picks has quality yarn in natural fibers available at very reasonable prices. You should check them out!

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Note to Lynn: I promised you that I would see an eye doctor for an exam, and I've been putting it off, but I have an appointment for a check up on Friday.

And I think I've run out of steam for today. I'll blog more often in the future!

Have a great rest of the week!

Miscellaneous Sunday

I have a batch of unrelated stuff to report on today. There will be lots of pictures!

Last weekend, Holly and Robin went to Clinton Bay, along with a lot of family and friends.

Here are all the ladies that went. That's Holly on the far left in the front, and Heather at next to far right.

Here's (L to R) Holly, and her sister, Heather.

Here's Holly, Chad (her brother) and Heather.

I shamelessly copied these photos from Facebook. I'm going on the assumption that if they didn't want these on the internet, they wouldn't have put them up there.

These photos are not from Clinton Bay, and some are from a Renfair, but they're more family photos.

Here's Malaia, my granddaughter and her husband, Johnnie.

And the same pair in Renaissance gear.

And Johnnie at a Renfaire.

Finally, for this group, is Malaia.

Next time, she shouldn't ask a dwarf to take her photo!

You've all heard me talk about my friend, John Ellis, and I thought you might like to see some photos of him to give you a better idea about the person I keep talking about.

First, to segue from the above photos, here's a drawing John did of Malaia when she was in her teens.

Here's a cartoon he did of himself.

I usually think of him more this way, though.

This was from a while ago, and I think it was while he was working on I Go Pogo.

Here we have John and Phil Cook with one of the models from Invader, so you can see that this was a while ago, too.

Here he is setting up dailies, and I'm pretty sure this was also on I Go Pogo.

John is currently working on getting out the last Steve Canyon DVD, which I'm doing the covers for, and you can see the finished covers for three of them, and the preliminary cover for the one that will be released real soon now if you click the link.

He's also going to get to go to the San Diego Comic Con! I envy him! I'm going to give him a list of freebies I want him to get for me. I asked for The Middleman DVDs last year, but nobody was giving them away. I don't truly expect to get anything out of it this year, either, but I'll probably harass him with requests anyway.

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In other family news, my sister, Lynn had a car accident the other day. It's almost the same thing that happened to me: someone pulled out right in front of her.

The most important thing to know about this is that she's all right. She skinned her right knee, and got a scrape from the seat belt, but is otherwise fine.

Her car can't say the same:

It's so mangled, it's hard to tell, but that's a Prius, and it's really not too old. I feel sad just looking at it.

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Finally, I'm getting around to the knitting portion of this post:

I got a new garment steamer to replace the incontinent one that I'm now afraid to fill with water and plug in, and I finally got around to taking a photo of it. It's sleek and beautiful, with big wheels, and I will try it out any day now.

I love steamers for blocking knits! Steamers are fabulous for knitters. They can change a knitted item from something that looks clumsily homemade to something that looks skillfully hand crafted! There's probably not much that you can buy that will change the finished look of a garment more than a steamer!

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I hope you read my Tweet yesterday about the Being Human marathon on BBC in America today, because it's almost over, and I wouldn't want you to miss it! They're getting everybody ready and up to speed for their Being Human second season premier next Saturday.

In that same Tweet, I also mentioned the Doctor Who marathon that will be on BBC in America tomorrow.

There will also be a rerun on The Big Bang Theory tomorrow night. Check it out!

I hope you've been having a wonderful weekend and will have a terrific week coming up!