Eleven Days Until Christmas!

Time is moving way too fast for me, as it usually does at this time of year! It seems like there should be more time until Christmas!

I'll bet you're all feeling the same way.

If you still have Christmas presents to make, there is my Santa Hat,  which is a quick knit, but there's also my Dicky Pattern, which is another quick knit.

There's also my Watch Cap pattern and a version of Crazy Aunt Purl's beret translated to a worsted weight yarn. You can read Crazy Aunt Purl and get her original beret pattern for heavier yarn by clicking here.

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I'd like to write more today, but Comcast is at a point where it's internet connection almost isn't working at all, it's so bad. So there won't be much more to this post.

The CW will be running two hours of Vampire Diaries reruns every night all this week. There will be a new Human Target tomorrow night. And if you're looking for some good, offbeat Christmas programs,  Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Leverage have had great Christmas episodes on in the past week which will be repeated to death between now and Christmas. Keep an eye out for them!

Have fun until I can get Comcast to actually provide internet service again!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Happy Summer Solstice!

I know that a lot of people regard Memorial Day Weekend as the beginning of Summer, but Astronomically, the beginning of Summer is the longest day of the year, which (in the Northern Hemisphere) is today!

Read more about the longest day (courtesy of NASA), and see more about the human aspects of the solstice with some great pictures of Stonehenge.

From here on in, until right before Christmas, the days will be shorter and shorter, and for a while, it will get warmer and warmer before the diminishing sunlight makes it cooler.

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Here is everything you need to know about every science fiction TV show this week (and a few more shows).

Leverage premiered last night with two episodes! And, as usual, it was spectacular!

This afternoon (late), the SyFy Channel will be airing their new, very long (4 hours) movie, The Phantom. It was on last night, but I didn't get to see it due to some other shows I watched/recorded. I was going to provide a link, but the only one I could find that seemed relevant was one that was to a page that had so much data that I wasn't able to load it, and didn't want to frustrate you with it.

Tonight, we have a rerun of The Big Bang Theory.

There's also a new show that I discovered last week, thereby missing the pilot. It's called Persons Unknown, and is about people who are abducted and find themselves trapped in a small town. They don't know where the town is or why they're there, and, most importantly, how to get out. It's shaping up to be a fabulous show. You can probably find the two episodes that preceded tonight's, either on the internet or video on demand.

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If you have hypothyroidism, there is a blog post by Jeffrey Dash that you should read, print out, and show your doctor! It turns out that all the arguments doctors have been giving me concerning why they want to use Synthroid rather than natural desiccated thyroid are completely backwards. Synthroid is the one that has varying potencies and is unstable!

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Well, I saw someone at the Vet's Center on Saturday.

The day started out very early for both Holly and I. Then we ran into a bit of traffic and took a wrong turn, and arrived only five minutes late.

It was an interesting experience.

I got to talk to a nurse practitioner rather than a doctor, and she was an interesting person to converse with. She asked some interesting questions which started me thinking in new directions. She asked about vitamin D levels, and said that 4,000 IU of vitamin D might not be enough for me. It just sounds like so much! Apparently, an IU must be a very small amount, or else people really need a lot of it! If you use sunscreen, you might want to take that into account and take some supplemental D. And you might want to rethink your sunscreen use. Look it up on the internet.

Basically, since sunscreen has become available and been in wide use, skin cancer incidence has gone way up! Researchers are beginning to find that the sun isn't as bad for you as was previously thought. We always knew it actually had health benefits in the form of boosting vitamin D levels, but most people judged that they'd rather have low D (which could be boosted with supplements) than skin cancer. Researchers have also been studying the contents of most sunscreens and discovered that some of the chemicals widely used in them are actually carcinogens!

Personally, I like a bit of sun without using sunscreens. I'll only use sunscreens if I'm out for long enough to potentially cause a burn, and only use sunscreens that have an aloe vera gel base and the sunscreen, and don't have a lot of unneeded chemicals. That way, I get a bit of a tan, a dose of D, and safety! And if I do get a little bit of burn, the aloe vera gel is the best thing for it. If applied immediately after even a bad burn, it can have your skin back to normal the next day in my experience.

One thing she asked me about is joint pain, which I had, but started using Omega 3 capsules and MSM. It's been working great until this last week, when I've had more and more joint pain in my right hip. I need to go to the store today, and the pain has gradually increased over the last week to a point where I'm almost afraid to walk to the store. I keep hearing stories about women who have a bone break and fall because of it, and I wonder about what kind of shape that bone is in. 

I had a bone density scan about three years ago, and they told me my bones weren't as good as they'd like, but that I was certainly in no danger of breaking bones just by walking. But they measured it on my left hip in spite of the fact that I kept telling them that my right hip was the one in bad shape! So, I really have no idea at all.

Wish me luck on my walk!

Have a wonderful week!

Happy 9/9/09!

Today is the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009! From the standpoint of the numbers, this is a memorable event, and some people on Twitter found this nice site to explain it. Today is (according to numerologists) associated with forgiveness, compassion and success. Actually, I could use plenty of that today for all the errands I have that need to get done.

I haven't heard back from the dentist, and, providing I understood him correctly, I should have had new front teeth by now, but haven't heard a word. So, I'm going to drop by there and let him have my new phone number, and ask what's happening in a polite, friendly way.

I'm also waiting for my package from Knit Picks, which has a good chance of arriving today. I ordered yarn for Holly's socks for Christmas, and a whole set of Options Zephyr needles. I am so excited about this that I can't tell you!

So, you can see that this will be a short post. Well, I'm going to try to keep it short. I keep finding more and more things I want to write about today, though.

Another thing I found to post about is a post on the Knitting Daily blog about knitters who are pickers or throwers. It includes a quick tutorial on both methods, and I plan to put a link to the page in my side bar, so you can find it there in the future.

Someone in the comments said that figures 1 and 2 are reversed, and it looks like they are, so check it for yourself.

I really have to get going if I hope to finish my errands today!

There's a new Leverage on tonight and Ghost Rider will be on FX! And Jake 2.0 will be on SyFy's daytime rotation tomorrow!

Have a great 9/9/09!

Aromatherapy

Even if you're not interested in fiberarts, you have to read this blog post about a combination of crochet and aromatherapy. It's very funny!

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On the subject of the California fires, this is the best article I've seen, with the best photos, including one taken from satellite! The satellite photo with the location markings is the only one so far that actually gives me an idea of where the fire actually is.

I'm a little concerned about this because of the photos that have been posted by friends and internet acquaintances, which seem to show the fire as very close to the location where the photo was taken. The people I actually know insist that the fire isn't nearby, but that the air quality is unbelievably bad.

The photos give you a good overview of the devastation, but if you're having a hard time looking at them, don't read the article. The details will have you in tears.

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I wish I had somethign funny to follow that up with, but I don't at the moment.

But you can watch a new episode of Leverage tonight to improve your mood.

I have a pile of library books to return and more to pick up today, so I need to get going and do it.

Have a great day, everybody!

I'm In Shock!

Well, I placed a bid on a computer on ebay, and got it.

The auction was just over, and the last hour or so was very exciting. There were bids up until the last minute. It was very touch-and-go, and I'm so stunned that I don't know how I feel about this. Once it arrives and I start to use it, I'm sure I'll love it. It's got a lot of features to love. It's basically a tablet netbook.

It's a Compaq TC1100 Tablet PC notebook computer. It was owned by a company that did a project on a yearly basis, and the computer was used only for that. It was kept in good shape, and includes the original manuals, OS replacement discs, and even a leather case. It has lots of connectivity. The computer is a discontinued model, but was very popular, and there are scads of replacement parts out there if I need them in the future.

Reviews by owners call it sleek and modern, but it looks more steampunk to me. Very Warehouse 13. If it had an onboard video camera, I'd be thinking about calling it Farnsworth.

I'm so stunned that I'm really at a loss for words.

I'm down to the heel flap on the first sock for Kyle (photo later), and there's a new episode of Leverage tonight.

That's about all the news I'm capable of at this point.

Have a great evening!

The Netbook Jones

Within the space of this week so far, several things have changed for me.

These things have only changed in my head so far, but that's the most important place to start.

The first of those things is that I was reading the Drex Files, which is a science fiction blog (see my post from earlier in the week). Anyway, he did a blog post about the Steve Canyon DVDs I've been working on. I made a comment on a later post about something in a Steve Canyon strip, and he asked me to write about myself for his blog: my experiences in the Air Force, and also my experiences with science fiction fandom and friend of John Ellis. What that means is that there's a lot to write about.

I told him that he wouldn't get it all at once.

Anyway, earlier this week I sent him some photos: two newspaper articles about me, two sketches that I did, and a photo of John and Holly and I. Then, I sent the text for the "Adventures of Jo in the Air Force" article. It was rather long, and I told him he could cut whatever he wanted.

It was still long, even though I left out the time I was back late from leave during basic training and wound up climbing over the fence and getting back on base illegally so that I wouldn't be late, and a lot of other amusing stories, such as stopping the stock car races at the airport at Walterborough Airport so we could land and watch the races.

I still have to write the story of my misadventures with John.

And all this got me thinking about the next article and writing in general. About a year and a half ago, I decided to write a book. Actually, I decided to write several books. I even started writing them. But somewhere along the way, I stopped.

I think it's time to get back to writing.

In the meantime, earlier this week, my poor old original iMac (you remember the big old original ones?) started telling me it can't contact some internet sites. It still works well for editing photos, page layout, drawing, doing Steve Canyon DVD covers, etc. I don't have to upgrade it to have it be a very useful tool.

But I can see that it's the beginning of the end for it on the internet.

Yes, I upgraded my browser. I can't upgrade my operating system, because a newer OS just won't work with the processor in the Mac. And the newer browser is the newest that will work with my OS.

So, it's about to become obsolete for anything on the internet. Not now, not tomorrow, but real soon now.

I had been thinking I'd like to have a small notebook computer for writing and accessing the internet.

Then yesterday I read Crazy Aunt Purl's blog.

Crazy Aunt Purl is Laurie Perry, who has a wildly popular and usually very funny blog. She also wrote Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair. And one of her favorite things to do is travel. She most recently went to Ireland. She also sometimes posts about really neat products that she's found.

Anyway, yesterday, she put up this post. If you scroll partway down, you'll see the cutest little computer ever. There's a link to Amazon in her post. You can also see it here, and there's an upgraded version with more features for not much more money here. And if you plan to travel anytime soon, she has a batch of tips in this post.

When I first looked at it, I didn't think it was real. I thought "Wow! That's a really BIG glass of whatever she's drinking!" Then I looked at the passport in the photo, and decided that it is really that tiny. And when I checked on Amazon, I found out that I could actually get one for about $250, including shipping! The upgraded version is better, and is available for more like $300.

I'm in love!

I wrote to Laurie, and she was nice enough to write back with a long, detailed letter about netbook computers, which is a whole different thing from laptops. She recommended a Mac Book. Well, I'd like one, too, but the netbooks are about a third the price. The difference in price is the difference in getting one in the foreseeable future, and getting one someday, maybe.

She pointed out the keyboard is really small and that she wouldn't like to do a lot of typing on it, and maybe I'd like one of the newer, slightly larger netbooks better, and sent me a link to this Acer netbook. I have to say (from the standpoint of an artist) that the fact that it's blue is a big emotional factor in it's favor. Scroll down in the description and see how pretty it is.

The theory that the keyboard is larger may not be completely true, though. It's about an inch wider, but the Eee has a keyboard that goes as close to the edge as possible. The Acer has at least a half inch on either side of the keyboard, so I don't think the keyboard is really noticeably bigger. And I'm really biased toward the Eee because the buttons next to the touchpad wrap around the front and are intended to be hit with your thumbs, which is how I always try to use a touchpad. But a review of the Acer says that you can tap the touchpad instead of using the buttons which is probably how I would wind up using it. Decisions, decisions.

I'll keep you up to date on further developments.

I'll quit boring you with this now, and we can get back to our regularly scheduled post.

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I'm so sorry about saying that Eureka was on the other day. It was actually Warehouse 13, which is good enough that John said he hoped it would remain on the air. I was in the middle of writing my Air Force article, and wrote "Warehouse 13" and then turned on the digital TV guide, and it said Eureka (they were rerunning the last two week's episodes right before the new Warehouse 13), and thought "Eureka is on Tuesdays. What's wrong with me?" Well, it was on Tuesdays, but it just changed to Friday the week before, and my subconscious hadn't caught up. Anyway mea culpa.

Anyway, and all-new Leverage was on last night on TNT, and it was wonderful! I hope you caught it, but if you didn't, it'll be on again sometime before next week.

Tonight, we have The Listener, and The Mentalist, a new Burn Notice, and later, Doctor Who on SyFy, this week, The Stolen Earth, the second part of the three-part finale from last season. Check it out, its so good!

I have a lot to do, so I'll see you tomorrow! Have fun!

Merlin

Well, I watched the first two episodes of Merlin this weekend, and I was confused and disappointed. I had the apparently misguided idea that this series might possibly be about the Arthurian legend. In spite of the fact that it includes characters called Merlin, King Uther Pendragon, Prince Arthur, Morgana, and Guenevere, it has nothing to do with that legend, unless you take the "once and future king" to heart, and reincarnate all the characters 900 years into their future with lots of changes to their stations and relationships.

The original King Arthur was supposed to live during the early 6th century. The castle, armor and clothes are from the 15th century in this series. After the first 20 or 30 anachronisms I saw, I just stopped counting and realized that it's really set 900 years after the original legend was supposed to have happened. There were several people wearing knitted mitts! And that's one of the most minor of the inaccuracies! I could go on for a half an hour just listing the anachronisms. The mitts were probably accurate to possibly as early as 1200 (almost certainly to 1300), but not during Arthur's time! The problem with clothes from that era is that little survives, so we have no way of knowing with absolute certainty. And what does survive is special, usually ceremonial clothing. I base the mitts statement on the fact that simpler knitting must've happened before some of the more complicated knitting that we know existed later.

Merlin (an adult), took the baby Arthur to be fostered by different parents in the original story. In the series, Merlin is younger than Arthur, who, by the way, is a nasty, spoiled, arrogant bully, rather than the humble, hardworking, polite squire he was in the original legend. And the way this is set up, the sword in the stone can never happen.

Morgana has some real problems, too. She was his half sister, but in the series, is dying to marry him in order to become queen. Yes, I know that in the original, the two had a son, Mordred, but although there were several versions, in all of them the two were unaware of who the other was when the indiscretion happened, and were both embarrassed by having a son with a sibling.

And Guenevere is a servant in this series! No matter which way you slice it, this is not the original legend, and I know that legend has a lot of variations, but this is not it!

Oh, and there's a knight named Valiant! Maybe from the comic strip I used to read in the newspaper when I was a child???

Another character that didn't appear in the original is a dragon that Merlin has conversations with! There seems to be a lot in this series that's treated with such disrespect of the original legend that it tends to resemble a comic strip.

The credits mentioned that these stories were based on a book or series of books, but it all obviously has nothing to do with the original legend. Other than borrowing the names of the major characters. The name of the books and the author are not listed on IMdB, though, and it went by quickly enough that I missed it, and had to erase it because my DVR is too full.

NBC also did everything in it's power to ruin the start of the series by scheduling one thing and then broadcasting golf instead, and running over the time limit and into the time allotted for Merlin. The result of this is that if I hadn't noticed this and just let my DVR run, I would have missed the last 20 minutes or so of the second episode. Way to go, NBC! 

I'm not sure if I want to keep watching this. On the one hand, it may be a good story, even though it's not the story of Arthur and Merlin (despite the names). On the other hand, it's shaping up to have all the horror and fascination of a train wreck that you just can't stop watching even though you want to.

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Comcast has broadcast THREE "weekly" tests in less than three hours today! They broadcast two of them within the space of a half hour! I do understand that they are required to do this weekly, but cable companies that actually want to keep customers usually try to do this sometime between the hours of 2 and 4 am once a week, not on a several-times-daily basis during daytime TV and prime time!

This is just one more example of how much Comcast doesn't care at all about it's customers! I hate them! I've already tried to find another service, but the building I live in doesn't allow it.

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The Philanthropist debuts tonight on NBC. I know it isn't science fiction, but it may be as much wish fulfillment as Leverage witch is on at the same time on TNT. Unless you have a DVR, you'll have some hard choices.

I have been knitting and knitting, but there's not a lot different than there was yesterday, so it's probably best not to mention it.

Have a great evening!

The New Doctor Who Will be on Saturday!

On Saturday evening, the BBC in America will be showing the first special of the new season of Doctor Who, The Next Doctor! That was the Christmas special for the series this past year. I was hoping that there would be some information on their website about the future schedule of the Doctor, but all they're giving away is the schedule for Saturday (and Sunday morning). I eventually did find out that the next episode of the Doctor will be on July 26th. These will be separate stories, and they appear to be spreading them out more.

Instead of doing a whole season, the budget crunch prompted the BBC to do several specials rather than a whole season for both Doctor Who and Torchwood this year. The Torchwood specials will be in the form of a mini-series, called Children of Earth, and will be coming up in July, starting on the 20th. They'll be shown on five consecutive nights and form one whole story.

After all the nothing we've been experiencing on TV for the last month, the summer season will be starting real soon, now. Burn Notice is back, and Leverage is back in reruns, with the new season starting on the 15th of July. Neither of those is science fiction, but they both have brilliant concepts for this bleak economy. Each week, somebody with a lot of money and power gets his/her comeuppance due to the brilliance and hard work of someone who makes things as right as they can be after the bad guy messes things up. Action/adventure shows off it's best!

We have a bit more to look forward to, though. On the 7th of July, the SciFi Channel will cease to be, and it will emerge under it's new name, SyFy. They seem to think that the concept of science fiction is too confining, and want to introduce a broader concept. I think there is a lot of SF and fantasy that they could be showing on their network, but they're not doing it. Instead, they seem to be dedicated to showing Chupacabra, Dark Seas, Grendel and Beowulf a mind-numbing number of times. Actually, the first time was too much for these clunkers. No, I'm being too kind. They are some of the worst movies ever made!

I got off the subject, which was stuff to look forward to on TV. SyFy will be kicking off their new name with Warehouse 13. 

Remember at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the crate holding the Ark is wheeled into a warehouse and stored? Well, the place it would have been stored is Warehouse 13. I sense that the name of this show will slide into American slang as almost a synonym for The Twilight Zone. Unless SyFy has managed to mess this up, too. But the concept is great, and I have high hopes for it.

And the following Friday (the 10th), Eureka will be back with more of the same, if we're lucky.

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Yesterday, I went to the library, and thought you'd like to see the work they're doing on the small bridge that I usually cross to get there. It's closed at this point, and this was taken a few days ago, but I was unloading photos from my small camera and thought you'd enjoy it.

You may notice that although they are making it safe, it still sags in the middle. It's still very pretty, though.

Yesterday, on my walk, I saw something that looked just a little like a stork. But not quite. It was some kind of wading bird, and I wanted to take a photo, and even still had my camera out, but before I could get it up in position, the bird took off. It was beautiful, and I enjoyed it, though.

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Earlier today, I finished mitt part of the Ravenclaw "Wristwarmers" I'm knitting for the Harry Potter House Cup KAL/CAL. There are three because the mitts work fine on either hand, so I make an extra so I'll still have a pair when I lose one.

When I knit, I usually put my yarn in a large plastic bowl that I got at the dollar store. It keeps the yarn from rolling away, picking up lint from the floor, and generally getting dirty. But after knitting these three mitts, the bowl had lots of navy blue lint in the bottom of it. I plan to be adding silver stars to the mitts, and all that lint got me thinking that I might want to wash the mitts themselves before attaching the stars to see if the color is going to run. So, these are finished and ready to wash.

Here's a photo of the yarn I bought on Saturday. It's the new brand of yarn that Michaels is carrying. 

I love the  colors in it, and I originally thought I'd make a scarf out of it, but while I was at the library, I checked out a copy of Sally Melville's third book in the Knitting Experience Series. This one is the color book.

She has a beautiful sweater made in tweed stitch out of variegated yarn like this and a solid. It's beautiful, and I've been thinking that I need a new vest. I've been wearing my navy one (which I love) for more than ten years. The best thing about the vest is it's pockets! I really love pockets!

I can't recommend the books in The Knitting Experience series enough. I'm a very experienced knitter, and I found lots of really neat ideas, techniques, and tips in all of the books. This third one includes instructions for grafting in garter stitch, and it's the only place I've found real instructions for knitting back backwards, and purling back backwards. Those last two are techniques I've wanted to learn for a while. I think I'm going to have to buy a copy of this for myself!

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While I was taking photos yesterday, the camera told me the memory card is full, so I was going through all the photos while unloading it today to either archive or trash them, and I found this photo of John and Holly and I from a couple of years ago, when John was out here to work on Fade Out (which eventually got in the middle of a power struggle because everyone wanted it, and then everyone just seemed to forget it existed, and it faded out).

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I'm sure there's more I wanted to say, but I can't think of it at the moment, and it'll be nice to still have something to talk about tomorrow.

I had a fabulous sunset out my window yesterday. The photo doesn't do it justice, but here it is.


Have a great evening!

I'm Excited About the Celtic Festival!

After all that, Holly got an email back saying that Everett was all excited about the Celtic Festival and couldn't wait to go on Saturday! It's going to be a full car, and lots of fun! I can't wait!

I've been trying to get geared up for it. Yesterday, I had some errands to run, and combined them with a trip to the WalMart down in Dumfries, which isn't as bad a ride on the buses as I was afraid it would be.

I found the right size sandals in the color I had previously wanted and bought them. The part that left me sad was that they also had them in navy blue, which I would have rather had. The problem was that they didn't have navy ones anywhere near my size. But at least I did get a pair. Now I have to go and return the ones I bought the other day. I'm thinking I should wear the new ones when I go and do that. Then I'll see if there will be any problems with them during the first extended wearing. I don't want to turn up there and limp around with a batch of blisters. I don't think I will. The sandals are pretty comfortable, but it would be nice to know.

I'd also like to get some new (lighter weight, cooler) pants. Some new T-shirts wouldn't hurt, either.

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Monday night, the SciFi Channel showed some episodes of Star Trek, the Next Generation, and they had the Tin Man episode on. This was written my my friend, Dave Bishoff, and I remembered how excited I was to see it the first time.

After Dave wrote it, they made some changes to it, and the credits only reflect the names of the people who worked on it most recently, so Dave's name doesn't appear on the credits, but he wrote the original story.

To find out more about how this works, you can read Trouble with Tribbles by David Gerrold. In fact, if you want to write for TV, this is a must-have book. It follows everything that David Gerrold did to get this episode written and sold, the whole long, strange trip.

Anyway, I enjoyed it all over again.

When I first met John Ellis, he had just moved up from Florida, and was sharing an apartment in Adelphi, Maryland with two others, one of whom was Dave Bishoff. Later, John moved out, and he and I shared an apartment right around the corner from Dave's place.

This time around, I noticed that they referred to one of the other ships, and the other ship's name was the Adelphi. I thought that was neat.

Oh, well, you're probably bored with this by now.

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I hope you got to see the rerun of the first episode of Leverage last night. It was as good as it was the first time. If you missed it, the DVD will be out three days from now, so you can catch up on the whole season all at once, if you want.

There's a brand new Burn Notice on tonight! Check it out on USA.

I have to go!

Have a great day, and if you read this early enough, enjoy Tru Calling on SciFi!

Leverage!

For anyone who missed Leverage last time around and would like to watch it, reruns of the first season are starting tonight on TNT! Check it out!

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I've had a busy day, and didn't expect to post today at all, but I wanted to let you know about this!

Have a great evening!

Leverage!

TNT has turned itself into the Leverage channel for the day!

Tonight is the grand finale of the season for Leverage, and they're showing all the shows that lead up to that, unfortunately, not in order.

Do check it out if you have the chance!

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That's pretty much it for today for this blog because of some big news.

I intend to start a new blog today.

I may have mentioned that after looking up the Great Depression, I discovered that the things that happened during the Great Depression are happening now (except for the dust bowl, thank heaven!).

Well, after a long string of really bad service, I discovered Comcast is ripping me off, and I'm really angry about it! I should say here that it may be the result of a company that is mismanaged and totally inept. The abysmal quality of service would tend to support that theory.

But the bottom line is that, deliberate or not, they're ripping off about $50 or $60 from a 65 year old woman who's on Social Security. 

And you can bet that if they're doing it to me, they're doing it to others.

The new blog will be about the depressing stuff like this. I hope to let you know about rip-offs that affect how much money you have to spend at the grocery store, but also what to do about them, who to contact, and how to get help, not to mention the more upbeat ways that you can save money on essentials and lead a better life.

I don't know much about all this yet, but we'll learn together, and if we stick together, maybe we can help end this as soon as possible.

So, tomorrow I'll have information about my new blog and how you, too, can read it.

Have a great day, and a better day tomorrow! 

I intend to!

Hi! and Bye! Again.

I was in CVS on Saturday, late, and they had some great daylight floor lamps out on the shelves. The kind I've been drooling over for a couple of years. You know, the kind that usually cost about $100. The kind that look like this. I checked for a price, and there wasn't any marked, so I figured that they would probably be on sale starting on Sunday, and they were just putting them out so they'd be ready for the following morning.

So, anyway, I went back today and they were $25, but on sale for $20. I dragged one home through the snow, and now it's next to the chair I usually use, and I can get some extra light when I'm doing craft projects!

I'm so tickled!

If you're a crafter or a reader, check this out. There are few crafts that couldn't be improved with a little light.

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Oh, yes, we had our first snowfall of the winter today. It's been 14 years since we had a first snowfall of the winter this late! There were just a few flurries, and it looked like it was somewhere between 2 and 3 inches when I went to CVS.

It made everything look so pretty, and there wasn't enough to make a driving problem, so it was very pleasant and wintery. The roads were all clear, and most of the sidewalks were also clear. Nature decorated beautifully!

Tomorrow will be a different story. There will be sleet, rain, and freezing temperatures. 

I don't have any plans that involve going out tomorrow.

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For all you Red Dwarf fans out there, check this out! 

It's coming back! 

Well, for a little while, anyway.

Don't forget to watch a new Leverage tonight! And a new Fringe!

I have to run.

Have a great evening!

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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

Finished Objects 2008 Part One

I noticed that some other people are posting year-end photos of what they've accomplished knittin-wise during the past year, and it seemed like a good way to make myself feel better, even if nobody else cares.

So, here's the beginning of what I did this year, not necessarily in chronological order.

Multicolored watch cap.

Cotton towel for Towel Day.

Dickie. This was actually finished around the beginning of the year, possibly last year in December, so it might be cheating.

Feather and Fan Socks. I made four pair of these.

Tour de Fleece spinning.

Ravelympics wimple.

Wool Shawl.

More tomorrow!

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Tin Man will be on the SciFi Channel tonight. There won't be much science fiction competition for it.

Tomorrow, the SciFi Channel will be showing Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King starting at 8:00 am (here). It's the story of Sigfried and Brunhilde, it's a classic, and this version is very well done. Worth watching if you haven't seen it, and maybe even if you have.

There will also be a new Eli Stone and a new Leverage. Check your listings!

Have a great Monday! I have a dentist's appointment tomorrow, so you may not get a post then.

Oooops!

Leverage will not be on again until next Tuesday. If you missed it so far, you missed the first two episodes.

I'm sorry I made a mistake, and I'm regret being the bearer of bad tidings.

But watch it anyway. You'll love it!

Over on the Steve Canyon blog, you can see some more of my art, in connection with Milton Caniff. He did the drawing in black and white, and since they wanted it in color and he's not around anymore, they asked me to add the color. It was a beautiful piece of art to start with, and I think my contribution was a plus. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Have a great Thursday!

You Have to See This!

I'm going to be putting up short posts most of December due to having bitten off more than I could chew with this commissioned project and trying to finish all the Christmas presents I'm making.

But I saw this on the internet, and for fans of the Doctor Who episode Blink, you have to see this! Even if you are not interested in costume making, scroll down to the bottom for her funny story about what happened to her at the con. It involves someone you may know. You will love this!

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For those of you who missed the new Librarian movie, TNT will be showing it about a dozen more times this week, along with all three movies, in order, on Sunday. If you like Indiana Jones, you'll love this!

And for those of you who missed Leverage, TNT will also be showing that about a dozen times this week.

Leverage may or may not be science fiction, but it's really good, and should appeal to everyone in this economy (unless you own several billion dollars and got it by taking advantage of others). Their tag line is "Get ready to get even."

I say it may or may not be SF because it includes some very cutting-edge tech which may or may not exist as yet.

This is a bunch of thieves and criminals run by one honest man. They were taken advantage of in the pilot, and set out to get revenge on the their persecutor. They wound up with (each) so much money that one of the characters said "This is retire and buy an island money." So, they're out to get even for others who have been victimized. 

A wise person told me one time that the way to judge a person is-- how do you feel after you've been around them for a while? Well, when you watch this show, you wind up wanting to laugh from pure delight! It's a do-not-miss show!

Check your local listings for reruns of these shows this week! 

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While I was writing this, there was a knock on my door, and the Christmas Card Paper arrived! Now I know why they charged me so much for regular shipping (more than the cost of the paper). It arrived almost instantly!

Now I don't have any excuse to wait to put together my cards and print them. 

Well, except that I plan to make something tiny to go in each of them, and I haven't done that yet, so I want to make at least one so that I'm sure it'll be as nice as I'm hoping before I write a poem about it and include it on the inside of the card.

I feel like I'm drowning in Christmas stuff-to-do!

Have a great Wednesday!

We Have (some) Yarn!

I spent a lot of today shopping for yarn for the Christmas stockings I'm knitting for a customer.

After examining the sample stocking, I realized that the person who did the originals did it to a larger gauge than specified in the instructions, which say it should be knit at seven stitches per inch on size 3 needles. The sample stocking was knit at eight stitches per inch, and I found that I could do that with Wool Ease on size 4 needles. I pulled some yarn from stash and knit a gauge swatch last night after getting the sample stocking.

This means that I don't have to order a bunch of new needles in size 3, I can use my Options needle set to provide the size 4 I need. I'm going to get a set of double point needles in 4, though, because I like DP needles for the heel part of regular socks when I knit them, and I don't have any size 4 DPs.

So today, I hopped on the bus and went to JoAnn Fabrics and shopped for yarn. I thought the Wool Ease red (Ranch Red) would be too orange and too bright, but it turns out that the sample is even more orange and brighter. Ranch Red is probably as close as I'm going to get to the color. Unfortunately, the store only had one ball. I did get the two balls of dark green, which I think will be enough. I also found a white for the top and the toe that looks like snow. It's a bright white, and has a bit of subtle sparkle, just like snow. I grabbed three balls of that. 

Then, I surprised myself by finding a fuzzy white yarn that looks like it's going to work beautifully for the fur and Santa's beard. This is a softer white than the stuff for the "snow" at the top of the sock.

I didn't find a good color for Santa's face, though. And I still need more of the red. One skein is not going to make five stockings.

But I have enough to make a start on the first one.

Walking around JoAnn was an eye opener. Large sections of the shelves were empty, and I started to get a bad feeling, the more empty shelves I saw. Then I found a sign apologizing for the lack of stock due to the store closing. It turns out, though, that they're just moving to a location that the bus doesn't go to, and I can't get there without a lot of walking.

I'm bummed.

It's better than if they were going away entirely, though.

I should have a photo or two on Friday of the yarn and what little I'll have done by then.

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No post tomorrow due to extensive dental work starting early, and probably making me feel bad for the rest of the day.

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Apparently, Leverage will be premiering on Sunday, not Saturday as I mistakenly thought. Sorry. The trailers look good, though.

The Librarian movies (Quest for the Spear and Return to King Solomon's Mines) will be back this weekend on TNT, and there will be a new one. The first two are excellent (some of my favorite movies), so with any luck the new one will be, too.

I need to get some sleep so I can get up early to go to the dentist tomorrow.

Have a great day!

I Love Etsy!

I made my first sale on Etsy today! I was beginning to think that actually selling things on Etsy was a myth. Anyway, one of my wimple and hood patterns was ordered.

I'll be meeting the woman who is commissioning me to knit Christmas stockings for her tonight. She'll have a sample stocking, pattern(s) and money. I can't wait to get started so I can finish and have some extra money for Christmas (if I can finish it all by then).

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In knitting news, I've gotten up to the neck on John M's hood, and am about to start the face opening. Not much to see, there, just a little longer than it was yesterday. It'll start looking different tomorrow.

I have lots of ends to darn in on various projects, so, hopefully, I'll get a lot of that finished today.

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The project for today is moving my computer and a table, etc., and getting my new printer a place to live and getting everything all hooked up successfully.

I need to get off the computer so I can start disconnecting things and moving them. I just moved, and my back wasn't happy with it. Maybe not today. I'll try for it, though.

The rest of the week will be busy. Tomorrow, I have some heavy-duty shopping to do. My once-a-month-stock-up-for-the-whole-month trip to WalMart. It should be fun but exhausting.

On Thursday, I have a dental appointment. He's going to do everything on the left side of my mouth (while ignoring the most pressing work, which he plans to do last). He'll be removing a number of fillings and replacing them with "composite material." He won't be replacing all the amalgam, but that side of my mouth should look less like a silver mine. It may, ultimately, help with some of my health problems, too. At least I'll have less mercury leaking into my mouth all the time.

I'm never happy about going to the dentist, but he'll be working in the spot that other dentists haven't been able to get numb, so there's a high probability that he'll be drilling on my teeth with no anaesthetic. That's what happened before and it was so much fun!

So, the rest of the day may be spent in bed sleeping it off.

There are so many things I want to do on Friday that I just can't decide at this point, but unless I feel a lot worse than I expect (from the dentist visit), I'll be busy then, too. Unless I ask Holly to come do something with me and do it all on Friday instead. Then again, I may do stuff on Friday and ask Holly for help.

I pointed out that she could do some Christmas shopping while we were out, and she said she's doing all her Christmas shopping on line and having stuff shipped directly to the people she's getting them for. 

What a simple approach to Christmas shopping!

And why didn't I think of that?

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Holly said my Christmas presents that she sent to Kyle had arrived. She described on the phone the conversation she had with Kyle when it arrived. Kyle didn't think the green and black scarf was anything special. Holly told her to put it on and look down, and it blew her mind when she could see the dark mark! She got all excited, and started yelling for Bob to come and see it! It's always nice when you can amaze your granddaughter.

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We have a new Fringe tonight and a new The Mentalist, followed by a new Eli Stone.

I stumbled across a show I've never heard of before on Saturday, and it will be on again this Saturday. The episode I saw was good, but it remains to be seen if it will be one of the great ones. It's sword and sorcery, and seems good for that genre. It's called Legend of the Seeker, and is on at 7:30 on the CW (here). Check local listings and check it out.

TNT is having a new show on, Leverage, starting Saturday. It's sort of a modern-day, high tech Robin Hood story. The trailers look good. Check listings.

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Yesterday was one of the few days we've had in a long while that was sunny and beautiful. I got a chance to walk around for a while, and went over to MacDonalds to redeem one of the coupons they sent me. I got a "Southern Chicken Sandwich" and a senior Coke for 37 cents!

It was fun walking around in the sun for a change.

Here's a pretty photo of the area I was walking in for you.

This was taken on an overcast day last week, but it's still a pretty area to walk in.

Have a great Tuesday!