Quick Note

Michaels will be having a sale with some of the lowest prices of the year for a week, starting tomorrow. Check it out here!

Interweave has released a preview of the Winter issue of Interweave Knits!

Just thought you might like to know.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Presents Gone!

Most of the Christmas presents are finished and gone. Holly came over yesterday, and since she was sending presents to some of the same people, she took those so that she could mail just one BIG box to the recipients. She also took the presents for people she would be seeing real soon. I'm sorry that these didn't get out sooner. Mailing was delayed mostly by weather, snow, sleet, extreme cold, and/or wind, plus a couple of days that I was feeling really bad.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that I've finished all the presents.

I've been going crazy trying to think of a present for Robin. It's really difficult, because Robin has so much money that he can buy whatever he wants, so he has everything he wants, and I'm so short of money that I can barely afford anything. But, after 3 months of looking for the perfect present for him, inspiration finally struck. Actually, two inspirations, one to make, and one to buy. The one to buy has been ordered over the internet, and has been shipped and is on it's way. I bought most of the yarn for the other one yesterday.

The other person who hasn't got a Christmas present yet is Everett. I've been trying to find yarn to make his present, but haven't had any luck so far. We looked at Michaels, and AC Moore yesterday, and neither had what I needed. Well, actually, Michaels had three of the six balls I needed in the color I wanted, but in different dye lots. So, I'm still looking.

While out, Holly and I stopped a Borders. I finally got a calender for the new year, plus the Septimus Heap book that is the fourth in the series (Queste), and out in paperback at last. I have the fifth book (Syren) ordered at the library, but it will be a while before I get it. Holly had a 33% off coupon for me, and I used it to buy The Sorceress of Karres! Now I have lots of great stuff to read!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Holly gave me a gift certificate to Knit Picks for Christmas! Now I'm mulling over what to buy.

Knit Picks has piqued my imagination with their new designers program. I have got to make some designs for them and for myself! I'm considering making a hat for my first project.

While we were out, we stopped at the WalMart that's at the Manassas Mall, and were amazed! This WalMart is so big and has lots of stuff that the others don't have! Having all that stuff available would seem to be an advantage, but it is so big that I got tired of walking before I got everything.

We topped everything off with a trip to Ruby Tuesday and a lot of catching up and fun.

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There are lots of programs on TV tonight with new episodes! They include: Chuck, Heroes, Castle (this is the episode with Alyssa Milano), Fringe (on a different night), and The Big Bang Theory! Unfortunately, Heroes, Fringe and The Big Bang Theory are all on at the same time, thus exceeding my DVR's capacity to record two shows at once.

I promised John that I would finish the work he wanted me to do on the Steve Canyon poster today, and it's not done yet, so I have to go.

There will probably not be a post tomorrow due to my last dental appointment! There will be drilling and a dubious filling will be replaced, and I will get my final caps, and I'll be done. I don't feel that I can really say that I'll be happy to go, but I'll be happy to get it finished!

Have a great evening and a wonderful week!

Happy Summer and Dad's Day!

We get to celebrate two things today! An excess of riches!

First of all, a Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Also, today is the Summer Solstice! This is the longest day of the year! Get out there and do something in all the sunlight! And I hope you are having lots of sun on the official first day of Summer!

I know that many people consider Memorial Day as the beginning of Summer, but for thousands of years, the summer solstice, Litha, has been the traditional first day of summer.

It seems to me that the perfect celebration for the day would be to go to the beach.

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Holly and I went out yesterday, and managed to hit two craft stores in the same day: Michaels and JoAnn Fabrics!

I got all the yarn I need for two projects I'm making, both scarves. One is from someone else's pattern because It's such a great pattern and I'm too lazy to reinvent the wheel. The other is from an idea I got from a scarf someone else invented. The pattern is published in a book, and I just plain can't afford the book (OK, I'm really to cheap to buy the book), so in this case I am reinventing the wheel. We'll see how it goes, but the yarn is just gorgeous! Photos real soon, now!

At JoAnn, I got some more beads for the purple beaded shawl I'm making so that I don't run out at the end. They also happened to have kilt pins in stock and I got two because they're so good for fastening shawls and other things that I don't want to put buttons and buttonholes on. Photos of that, too, soon.

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Eureka is on the SciFi Channel all day during what would be their daytime rotation if it were during the week. Check it out if you read this soon enough.

And don't forget Merlin tonight!

Have a great beginning of Summer!

Saturday Was Fun!

Yesterday was really fun!

Holly and I stopped at Michaels first. They have finally gotten in all that Spring yarn that they started to promise last January! Some of it is nice, too. I just wonder how they've stayed in business since January. I haven't been checking all the departments in the store, but I have to say that the yarn department has had a lot of bare space in it for at least four months, most of it with signs telling people that the wonderful Spring yarns are coming. Spring projects should have been finished around March or April, so I'm a little confused about it.

We went on to the T-Mobile store, where they gave me a song and dance about the balance of the money having been applied to my bill. It would have been nice if I had known that, though. I have to go through my bills now and make sure that the money actually was applied to my bill. I don't think it was, but I could be wrong.

We also went to WalMart, and then to Ruby Tuesday, where we had fun talking, as usual.

Before she left, Holly modeled the new Hermione hat I made for the Harry Potter House Cup KAL/CAL. I found out that I ordered more than a generous amount of yarn for the hat, I ordered enough for two of them, and I finished the second one last night. I'm now thinking about making matching mitts.

And a side view.

While we were there, Holly was playing with my camera and took this photo of me. I'm really getting to look old!

Well, the Harry Potter movies are on ABC Family today, plus my DVR is almost filled, so I'm going to get back to watching fun stuff on TV!

I hope you've had as much fun this weekend as I have!

Happy Memorial Day and Towel Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

I wanted to make that headline red, white and blue, but the white wouldn't have shown up and I had to settle for red and blue.

In honor of the day, I have some clippings from the Maple Shade Progress that I just scanned this morning about me. They fit right in with the Memorial Day theme. If you click on them, you can see them large enough to actually read the text.

The first one was published around the end of October, or the beginning of November in 1962.

The second one was probably published in December of the same year.

If you notice, the second one has a credit for the photo--the photographer asked me to be in the photo partly because I was the only woman in the Aero Club at the time, and partly because he wanted to meet me. We later got married, so I guess it was a good way to meet me. 

Flying was one of the most fun things I've ever done!

Check out John's Steve Canyon blog, because he said he's going to write a Memorial Day post, and going to put my photos in it! That's a generic link to the blog because he hasn't gotten the post up yet. I can't wait to see it!

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Holly and I went out yesterday and visited Michaels, where I got a really nice, tiny vacuum cleaner made especially to pick up spilled beads and other small craft parts, and JoAnn Fabrics where I got a plastic container to replace the broken pencil case I've been using for holding small knitting stuff.

We also stopped at WalMart for a while and I bought a copy of the book with the story of the new Star Trek movie. I had been thinking about going to the movies to see it again (it's soooo good!), but the book was a little cheaper, and it was written by a friend of mine, Alan Dean Foster. John and I met him at MonCon in West Virginia in late Winter or early Spring right before the very first Star Wars movie came out. 

He and John and I were doing advance publicity for the movie. He, however, had been out to the studio where they were finishing it, and he got to talk to a lot of people that were involved that John and I hadn't gotten to meet. The thing that seemed to tickle him most was that the banthas were actually "elephants in drag." That's the way he expressed it. They told him that the elephants seemed to really enjoy dressing up!

One of the best things about meeting him was meeting his wife, JoAnn. She and I got along well.

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Here's where I had gotten to on my shawl two days ago. I was inspired to take the photo because it's about one quarter done in the photo. Yesterday, I did the 8 pattern rows that put 42 flower designs across in one row. I'm a real Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fan, and couldn't resist noticing that.

Today is also Towel Day, by the way. Fans of Douglas Adams traditionally carry a towel with them all day on the 25th of May, and you may remember that I knitted a towel in the Towel Day KAL last year.


As is usual with lace, it looks like something that was wadded up and left in the trash for a week. The true beauty of lace doesn't emerge until it's blocked, so the photo is mainly to show how big it is at the moment. In the photo above, it was sixteen inches, measured along the front edge, and stretched to approximate the stretching that will happen during blocking. 

As of last night when I measured it, it was over 18 inches, and I've done some more knitting on it today. Considering that it averages six more stitches for each right side row, it goes pretty fast in the beginning, and slows significantly as progress is made.

It's intended to be about thirty six inches long measured along the front edge after blocking, so you would think that eighteen inches would be half way, but the halfway point is really at about twenty four inches as measured by yarn usage. The rule with these things is that a section that has a certain measurement uses enough yarn to knit the next section to half of the previous section's length. 

I'm into the second of four balls of yarn that have about 44o yards in each ball. And I'm more than 1/4 of the way through, so I think I'll have enough yarn, with just a little over to make it comfortable instead of close. I'm not so sure about having enough beads, though. I just used 1/4 of the beads that I bought, but I plan to use a pattern for the border that's more heavily beaded, so I may (or may not) need more beads. We'll just have to see.

After two days of perfect, fabulous weather, I woke up to rain today! And the forecast says that it'll be raining for the rest of the week! I'm glad Holly and I got to go out yesterday instead of today.

 

I hope the weather where you are is better than it is here! Happy Memorial Day! And don't forget your towel!

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Addition:

I just read a tweet by Neil Gaiman, and he said something about a show on Sundance tonight called Dreams with Sharp Teeth, and mentioned Harlan Ellison. Read more about it here.

Middleman

I ran across some news for Middleman fans today. First there is an article about it on TV Shows on DVD. Then there is a picture of the new DVD's cover on the Middleblog. The DVD will be premiering at Comic-Con in San Diego. I really hope John gets a chance to go to this, because I want some first-hand information!

I just can't wait for the DVD to be out!

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Well, Friday, I had so much stuff to say that I felt like I was going to explode. Then, yesterday, there wasn't a thing I wanted to post.

Holly and I went out for the day, and had a lot of fun.

She stopped at my place first, and started a new baby blanket she's making for a friend. The yarn is beautiful. If you click that link, I think it's the color called boys and girls. Hers seems to have more lavender/blue in it, though, so it might be a different color, but the same type of self-patterning yarn. She's making a circular blanket, so the center (where you start) is really tricky for a bit until you get going. She's doing the center using magic loop, rather than DPs, and she's almost up to the point where she can just knit around without the loops on a 24 inch circular needle. It'll be much easier after that. The center, so far, is so beautiful that it's almost making me want to run out and buy some yarn and make one, too.

I have a sock I'm working on (yet--I got to the toe and ran out of yarn in that ball, so I frogged back to the leg and made it a half inch shorter), plus the moebius hood for the House Cup KAL, the Christmas stockings I need to start, and another project that I might get paid for.

So, I really don't need another project to start.

But the baby blanket is so beautiful! I really should've taken a picture.

We went to Michaels, and discovered that they're still talking about all the wonderful yarns that they'll be getting in for Spring, but don't have in the store yet. There were areas of shelves that were totally empty which they had attempted to cover with big signs telling about the wonderful yarn that would be there someday.

I have news for them! It's Spring already, and the Spring projects that people want to knit should be nearing completion at this point, not waiting in limbo for yarn to start them. At the rate they're going, the Spring yarn will arrive this Summer, just in time to knit projects for the Fall! This is so stupid I cannot believe it!

Then we went to the new JoAnn Fabrics store, which is just bursting with all the yarn that Michaels doesn't have! I'm going to be doing two more Christmas stockings for the family that ordered the first five, so I bought the yarn for them while I was there, plus a really nice pair of scissors, perfect for clipping seams once I get back to sewing. I need a nice table to put my sewing machine on so that I can leave it out all the time. Otherwise, I'll never get any sewing done. I also want a chair that I can use with the table for sewing, and at my computer, too.

While we were there, Holly got a pair of stretchy gloves that are intended to help with hands that do too much and are overstressed. They also have wrist support built in. She plans to wear them not only for knitting, but also for work, so this was a good buy for her. 

Then, we went to the nice WalMart in the area. This is the one I have to take two buses to get to. The one that has a good selection of yarn and other things, not the nearby one that doesn't have 25 percent of what I went to shop at WalMart for on a regular basis.

We finished up with a loooong meal at Ruby Tuesday, and a nice long time to talk and have fun.

I got to a point in the moebius hood last night where I could finish the moebius part. I was able to get it around my shoulders, and it's good enough, so far, that I can see that this is almost certainly going to work if I persevere and finish it. I think it will be nicer if it's a little wider, though, so I'm continuing for another five inches to see if that makes an improvement. I suspect it will. It was workable, but the back of it wanted to slide up the back of my head, so I think just a little longer may solve that fit problem.

I wished I'd had it finished so I could wear it yesterday, along with the matching poncho I plan to knit. I wore the right clothes for being out in the weather yesterday. It's still a bit chilly around here. I think it was supposed to go up to about 50 or 55 yesterday.

But for riding around in a car that had been parked in the sun for a while, it was way too warm.

I hope you've been having a great weekend!

Spring Is Here!

Well, it was today, anyway. Today would make a believer in global warming out of anybody. Considering it's February, anyway.

Holly and I went out and it didn't take long before we took off our sweatshirts (that we were wearing like jackets).

I know the weather will go back to winter in a few days, but it probably made it up to 60 degrees, judging by how it felt.

I got an IM from Holly last night saying that the headlights in her car were out again! I IM'd back "Will I ever see you again?" We did actually go out today, but we had to be sure that Holly started home in time to be there before dark.

We headed for Borders in Springfield first, with a stop at Michaels, since we were going right past it.

Michaels had some beautiful yarn that Holly bought to make a baby blanket for one of the ladies at work. It has ombre stripes and dots of different baby-type colors, so it's self-patterning, like some sock yarn. She'll be making a circular blanket, and I can't wait to see it.

At Borders, I finally got my copies of Coraline and Backup! They are both very short, but I suspect, very good. I started reading Coraline when I got home.

Then we headed to Walmart (the one in Dumfries that has yarn), and I bought lots of yarn. Now I can knit actual projects again. Most of the WalMarts in the area have essentially eliminated yarn from their inventory, so I have to take two buses to get to one that actually has yarn, unless Holly gives me a ride. I also bought lots of regular household supplies.

We stopped and got something to eat, and had a great time talking. Holly got her birthday presents (finally!), and really liked the protective "skin" I designed for her phone.

Then there was a quick stop at Giant, where I used the gift card I got for Christmas.

Holly went to Baltimore last night, which is where she was when she discovered that her headlights are out again! She and Malaia went to the Baltimore Aquarium yesterday, and watched their movie. Holly says it was in 3D, and scary. Kids were screaming, and being removed from the theater by parents, and it was all quite exciting. They also wanted to watch Coraline, but it was sold out far in advance, so they missed out on it.

I need to get some work done for all of you people who are fans of Steve Canyon. John has a new post up on the Steve Canyon blog, by the way, so go over there and check it out! The Steve Canyon hats will be back soon, so you'll want to read all about it. They sold out fairly quickly before, and this may be the only new batch of them, so get them now while you can!

Now I'm going to get something done on the covers so you can watch the second volume.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Miscellany

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who wants to buy yarn for one sock? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great weekend!

Inauguration!

Yesterday, Washington DC was standing room only!

No kidding!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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!