My Middle Name is Patience

Books, Socks and Cat

Books read in June May:

Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn. (fiction) I really enjoyed the outings of Lady Julia Gray.It's hard not to love a book that begins with "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." Alas, the next book in the series won't be out until next year.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. (non fiction) It follows the Count of Courcy throughout his lifetime. Perfect timing to read about the 14th Century from the point of view of a French nobleman.

A Fool and His Money: Life in a Partitioned Town in 14th Century France by Ann Wroe. (non fiction) More of a close look at a town and townfolk of Rodez than the trial case she was ostensibly following but a fascinating look into the times and people. They felt like neighbors. Rodez is in southern France. (very roughly)

Labyrinth (fiction) by Kate Mosse. This takes place roughly in the same area as A Fool and His Money but here the characters were both stereotypical and capable of the most supreme acts of idiocy to keep the plot going. A plot that was better covered by The Da Vinci Code and I didn't think much of that book either.

Departures (speculative fiction/aka science fiction)by Harry Turtledove, a collection of short stories. I think my favorite one was the origin of the common cold.

Socks: Jaywalker(s)!  Why I decided to take a picture of just one foot....I have no idea. The shoes are why I was so hot to finish the socks, they needed handknit socks to wear correctly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• Stats: Shepherd Sock in Irving Park, not quite two skeins. (from Amanda Cathleen in the August Birthday Swap)
• Started: June 2007
• Finished: June 2008. Probably not a reflection on the pattern. Who else hasn't knit a pair yet? There must be more of us. Well, you. Now. ;)
• Fit: They fit really well but they are a bit loose in the ankle. There was limited pooling and the yarn striped quite nicely but better on one foot than the other. Between the camera and Typepad, they're frustrating my attempts to get another picture to show you so you'll have to take my word for it for now. The pattern is a lot of fun. Just enough to do to keep it entertaining but not so difficult it couldn't be a tote around project.

Cat: Hez hates me. First I stuff her into a box and leave her all day at the vet for torment and tribulations, then to add insult to injury, she has to take 2ml of antibiotics twice a day for ten days. We are on Day Two. Pray for me.

Hez sez "I will not pose nicely for you, you horrible excuse for caring companion."

Hmm. The book didn't either. Possibly it's the shakey cam I'm using. (Yes, my unsteady hands. Whatever happened to the days of point and shoot when you didn't have to freeze for 15 seconds?)

Maudlin Monday

TV: Anyone watch Mansfield Park on the Masterpiece Theater Jane Austen series last night? Anyone else have a hard time placing who the sister Maria was played by? The New Bionic Woman. Could not believe it.

I think I caught a glimpse of Adam from MI-5 in the crowd during the wedding scene.

Well. I think they caught the, ah flavor of the book.  I haven't read it and was basically flipping through the book last night double checking the scenes, it seemed to be a somewhat faithful adaption if hideously abridged, not that the nuances of Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram's fondness of Fanny came through. It seemed to be somewhat added to the end. But oh well. Not half bad. How did it stack up to the book if I'd actually read the book beforehand?

And, typically, there's another good show on during the Austen series timeslot, if an entirely different century and culture. Breaking Bad on AMC at 10pm Sunday night is pretty intense. It's an interesting compare and contrast of society of 1808 to 2008 (note: blogging license with the dates) if you watch them back to back. (That link is a clip, so be warned.)

Knitting-wise:

That would be the back of the super secret not-jinxed-yet cable cardigan and another preemie cap for the K3tog Preemie Cap drive. Yes! Another! I have finished multiple caps! As in, more than one, which is normally quite pathetic but I was having one unbelievably difficult time with the first one. 

Here's a better another shot of the back of the cardigan: It's just fiddly enough to keep it interesting but easy enough to memorize. Even the shaping is easily done.

In Bad Parenting Cat news, I managed to squash Hezekiah under the automatic garage door on Saturday coming home from work. I'm fairly certain I only managed to pin her but it freaked me out and I don't think she was all that happy with it either. She immediately ran away from me into the back yard but considering it was dark and rainy, deigned to come into the house about an hour later. She's been hopping in and out of her cat tree and hasn't missed a meal yet, but she's still going to the vet later this afternoon. I keep thinking internal injuries or hairline fractures. And the guilt! The guilt! I feel so horrible.

Mt Diablo as seen from Pine Hollow Rd last week. No snow now, but there was still some over the weekend!

I have recently discovered The World of Podcasts (love my iPhone!). Anyone have any favorites to recommend? I've subscribed to

• Cast On
• Sticks and Strings Knit Science
• Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
• Hot For Words
• Berkeley Groks
• The Math Factor
• Stash & Burn

Hez sez: "How could you?"  And "Check out the 24th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering."

2007 Statistics

moar funny pictures

Statistics! Oh, I can hear the excitement. [Hmm. Sounds like crickets. Odd] Out of 81 books I started to read in 2007:

• 53 were library books
• I actually read 61 of them
• 15 DNF
• 5  'still' reading - 1968 by Mark Kurlansky, The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker, Madwoman in the Attic by Susan Grubar and Sandra Gilbert, The New Time Travelers by David Toomey and Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries Throughout History by Lucien X Polastron
• 17 bought this year
• 7 from my TBR shelves
• 28 non fiction
• 52 fiction
• 8 collections of short stories by various authors
• 2 audiobooks
• 50 written by men
• 20 written by women

Best Book? Oh, that's a tough one. My favorite two were short stories. The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Von Booy and The Devil's Mode by Anthony Burgess. 

Worst book - How to Read a Poem by Edward Hirsch. It was my only D rating of the year. My review back then: .... written far too strongly in his voice for my tastes. I really didn't feel like reading all about how Edward Hirsch felt/thought/dreamed/whatever about a poem. The glossary in the back makes the entire book worthwhile though and I'll probably pick up the book and enjoy it some day.

• 7 published in 2007
• 30 between 2000-2006
• 1 in 1847 (Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte)
• 1 in 1855 (The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• 1 in 1862 (Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon)
• 1 1887 (She by H Ryder Haggard.)
• 1 in 1909 (The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett)
• 1 1940's (Earth Abides by George R Stewart
• 3  1950's, two of which were apocalyptic stories. (A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - I preferred Canticle)
• So....7 in the Reading Through the Decades Challenge. And 2 that were on my list.

KNITTING: Projects frogged this year: The Oldest UFO; the Wool Ease Norwegian Socks. The Retro Cardi. The oversized cable sweater. Kat with a K's UFO Resurrection had me rethinking more than a few projects, but like every other challenge, I didn't quite make it.

Actually, I'm not really sure about my knitting projects. In 2008, I think I'll keep an Excel sheet on those the way I have on my books. I know I finished the Mountain Stream Scarf (it's drying on the blocking board as we speak), the Annemor #13 mittens,  the Hugs For Snickers scarf and probably a bunch of dishcloths but other than that? No clue. (Possibly because that's all I've knit this year.....) Ravelry is a great help, but I like having the day and not just the month. If I'm tracking it at all. 

This year is already getting away from me. Uh oh.

Benford's Law of Controversy

....doesn't cover the blog posting as I'm typing out a title for it. What the heck? (Note: A title that doesn't even make sense in the context of the text, I might add. Next post. Maybe.)

Anyway. I did this! Well, I did more than that, all but the thumb, but I didn't take a picture. I haven't cast on the mate yet either, but I'm really happy with it. (Don't click on it and count my errors. At least, don't tell me if you do. I noticed a huge glaring error looking at the picture. Not, mind you, while knitting the actual mitten).

I did this for my darling BFF's birthday. I almost forgot to take a picture - I finished them awhile ago - luckily it was wrapped with my usual elan (tied up tissue paper).

Fetchings made out of Touch Me yarn by Muench. I was going to get a model shot, but in between the talking and the lunching and the shopping, it slipped my mind.

We went here (Walnut Creek. I'm on top of the parking lot on Locust and Botelho. Recognize it at all? )

How about this angle? And see? We do too have fall.

Go look at  Marina's finished and MODIFIED Mary Tudor while I sob weakly in the corner. For that matter, check out the Elizabethan Jacket WIP Insanity finished.

Hez sez: Don't block the TV. (She's watching Shay Pendray's Needlearts). Good thing she slept through Heroes last night or she'd give up TV entirely. At least one hero that went down I was happy about. Sadly, that hero didn't stay dead. I can't believe they killed off who they killed off. Argh.

In good TV news, Jericho returns Feb 12th! Everyone buy the Season One DVD and set your TiVo/whatever up to watch it. Just. Do. It.

Aprons, A Horrid Seamline, & A Month of Booking Through Thursday

First: The Horrid Seam:

Ack. Although maybe I'll just frog it back a bit and see if I can fix it. I might be that I fooled around with how I was picking up the stitches.......or it might be knit flat. In any case I WILL PREVAIL.

I hope. It sucks, doesn't it. I know, I know. I'm frogging it. [sigh]

Check out all these aprons we found packed away! They were my great grandmothers, my grandmothers and I think a couple of my mom's so they'd date back to probably around the 40's? This one I thought was really cute and then realized it's probably really racist.

Apron Two & Three:

Aprons Four & Five

and more:

and even more:

August 9th Do you have multiple copies of any of your books?
If so, why? Absent-mindedness? You love them that much? First Editions for the shelf, but paperbacks to read? If not, why not? Not enough space? Not enough money? Too sensible to do something so foolish?

Yes, I've picked up my share of doubles over the years. Absent mindedness, books being re-issued with different covers (I hate that) and there were more than a few doubles of knitting books (contest coming up one of these days) and a LOT paperbacks by Jack Higgins and Louis L'Amour particularly. First editions for the shelf but paperbacks to read? I'm sure this'll horrify anyone who likes pristine books but books were meant to be read, not hoarded. OTOH, they're not meant to tear up either.

August 16th One book at a time? Or more than one? If more, are they different types/genres? Or similar? (We’re talking recreational reading, here—books for work or school don’t really count since they’re not optional.)

One book at a time. If I have more than one going, I've pretty much given up on the other.

August 23rd When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

My whole family are readers, however the one book oriented memory I remember with complete clarity is the summer I turned 16. We were on a two month road trip from CA across Canada to MI, camping in National Parks, staying with relatives.

My brother and I in the back seat, when we weren't squabbling or singing "We are marching to the yellow gold, the yellow gold, the yellow gold. We are marching to the yellow gold......." (which for some reason drove my father mad ;) we had our noses buried in a book. (We might have played Crazy 8's too. We played one game we dragged out something like 8 hours). My father, with *his infinite patience was pointing out historic sites and/or scenery. I mumbled something along the lines of "Whatever" and he grabbed my book out of my hand and tossed it into the river we were crossing, huffing something about "......historic scenery.......once in a lifetime opportunity......you WILL enjoy and SEE these beautiful sights.......nose buried in a book........gah......."

Final Hezekiah shot:

Cat tree? I'm not sitting in a cat tree.

*Ha.

Eight Centuries Later

the ribbon scarf is done.   If I'd had any idea at all that it'd take so. dang. long to cast the stupid thing off, I'm not sure I'd've knit it. Seriously, I think it took me since last Wednesday until Sunday? To cast off? Gah. I used the double cast off method (the last stitch goes back on the needle and is knit it together with the next to go stitch) just because it looked nicer but man, it was something like 3200 stitches on the final row. Wow, that picture is really blurry.   I ran out of the one novelty yarn I was using to bind off aboout 300 stitches before the end, but found a different Tahki ribbon yarn that was mostly the same colors. I actually like it a little better, but NO WAY am I going back and redoing it.

I was squired all around the Bay Area over the weekend for my birthday (Tuesday, the 14th) . We did the boutiques, bookstores, bakeries and the beach in Half Moon Bay (also the yarn store but they didn't have the yarn I saw there a year ago that I decided to buy this time around....go figure.) BFF fell in love with Touch Me and Sinsation yarn......there was this gorgeous scarf made out of Sinsation and something else on display. She crochets so she's halfway to knitting.

Sunday A & I mostly just gazed at the water from the Benicia Wharf and gabbed. I was shopped out. The Benicia Knitting Circle wasn't open, darn it.

Fashion Knit in Walnut Creek had a baby Sheba/Hezekiah (small gray cat) in the store yesterday but not today. Darn! Today I was all prepared to take a picture and yesterday I was too busy petting the kitty to think of it.

"What cat tree? I don't see a cat tree. Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about half the time....."

But she did jump from the bench into the top perch last night. Yeah, right before getting out and walking to the other side of the windowsill to look outside. She wasn't that attached to the open window when she had huge pieces of furniture to sprawl on.

My mom emailed me this: (this was so Sheba.)

How To Give A Cat A Pill

• 1- Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow
• 2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
• 3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
• 4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
• 5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.
• 6. Kneel on floor with cat wedge! d firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.
• 7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
• 8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
• 9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
• 10. Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door on to neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
• 11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek ! and chec k records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw Tee shirt away an! d fetch new one from bedroom.
• 12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.
• 13. Tie the little bastard's front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of filet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
• 14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
• 15. Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

How To Give A Dog A Pill

• 1. Wrap it in bacon
• 2. Toss it in the air

I'll leave you with a pirate ship to sail away on.......

Knitters - Yarn Storage Questions

I just bought three humongo flat plastic storage bins (we won't go into how something that size can't hold a teeny weeny stash, much less three of them - I'm just assuming they don't make them the way they used to - outside of mass & matter) and my big question is:

If I take the yarn out of the ziplock bags, will it be okay? If I do, I can fit more into the bins but then again, a moth infestation could be deadly.

Magic!

Magic - the theme of my Knitflix swap package from Phoebe at Knit Happened - check it out! Jalapeno popcorn, The Illusionist, Ann Pratchett's The Magician's Assistant, a set of Magic 8-Ball stitchmarkers, a small notebook called My Favorite Books, handpainted yarn named Hawaiian Sunset - doesn't it look like a sunset? Well, really it looks like a Tequila Sunrise, but close enough. ;)  And some Magic Paul Prudhomme seasonings.

An extreme close up of the Magic 8 Ball stitchmarkers on the helmet-in-progress. It'd be an FO by now too, if I hadn't frogged the darn thing four times. It's not as if it's going to a beauty pageant but when the decrease lines jump a stitch or halfway down a lonely dropped stitch is hanging off a cliff waving like a semaphore, it's gotta be repaired.

I have an FO! It probably qualifies as a UFO Resurrection, it was abandoned sometime over the winter.

Topi from Knitty, hanging out in the tomatos. (The watermelon was store bought, I'm sad to report. And there's nary a tomato on the vine because tomatos are SLOW! SLOW! Er, ahem. )

My plan is to finish it tonight while continuing to watch the Stargate SG1 marathon until the final [sob!] episode on Friday. You know, now that The Closer marathon yesterday is over. Anyone else catch the season premiere? That Gabriel is going places.

My plan is also to finish up GG and maybe do a row or two on Mary Tudor and possibly, possibly finish one of the Jaywalker and/or beaded socks, but you know where good intentions will get you.

Wildly casting on for a new project(s).

This was what was slowing the traffic on the street - not even the freeway (although it's right by a freeway on ramp) on my way home tonight - drive safely out there! 

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight......

Look closely at that picture (you'll probably have to click on it to get it big enough.) Sweet, eh? She can't just lay out with me in the backyard. She's got to hide in the bushes. The bluejay might make fun of her. 

My other plan is to read Midsummer's Night's Dream on the summer solstice for the finale of Carl's Once Upon A Time Reading Challenge.

Never Wordless. Even If I Ought To Be.

I'm trying to power through the Richard the Third biography before I see the play tomorrow night....it'll be close but definitely not enough time to reread the Shakespeare play too. Alas, I'll just have to go into it with only a slightly confused jumble of who's who. Historical royal figures need to be identified by, I don't know, bar codes? It can't be more confusing. I'm much better at the Tudor period than the War of Roses.

In the meantime, I've discovered David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter's mysteries, through Bookfool. Broke my reading slump. What's not to love about a man who saved both a dog and a man from Death Row? And just happens to be wildly wealthy. I read Open & Shut Saturday night (because my life is wild), went to the library on Sunday to pick up First Degree, the 2nd in the series (yes, my library is open for four hours on Sunday! Love my library!) finished it, but then halted the rapid progression to read the bio. I did however.....

...stop at the library yesterday. Never mind that I have library books at home, a book I'm not even halfway through and overflowing TBR shelves......

Hezekiah is appalled. Okay, possibly Hezekiah isn't the slightest bit interested. 

In knitting news, I can see why the Jaywalkers have been so dang popular! They're such a fun easy knit, for the other two people who have never knit the pattern.

I love the way the Irving Park colorway is knitting up. The beaded socks are a little behind:

It turns out I should have probably had more of a plan. Do I knit the beads every other row? Every few rows? I was pretty much planning on making them slightly taller than ankle socks. I think I'll just wing it and see how it looks. There's always frogging. I am ridiculously in love with the Lantern Moon dpns.

Here's the Horcrux:

Both them. Done! All the other WIP's? Marinating. I am soclose to finishing GG but I just can't bring myself to pick her up. The cellphone cover continues to be a complete PITA. I don't want to give up either design detail but it's not working out. And w/o the one design, it's not even worth knitting.

Oh, and good TV news! It looks like Jericho just might get revived as a mid season replacement. Cast & crew need to sign on, but cross your fingers for me! I'd hate to give up TV right when The Closer, The Dead Zone, Eureka, Psych and Monk are all starting their new seasons.

Penguin Obsession

Firstly, why isn't penguin spelled with a "q"? I keep typing it that way.

Thanks to The Barefoot Cobbler's recent contest, I finally stopped dragging my heels and knit up a penqui penguin washcloth.  It went like this

Oh, in that one you can helpfully see the pattern I was using.  202 More Log Cabin Blocks. Mind you, if I'd charted it out, this might not have happened.

Completely warped and twisted. Gah. I tried intarsia and then knitting the flippers in somewhat like the bodice insert of GG but since I pretty much winged the flippers to begin with (Ha! pun!) and didn't lay it flat to check it as I went, it was just.....bad.

Oh well. Hezekiah helps me pick out the winning flippers  "Whatever." [flounce]

So  I frogged the blue yarn (horrible contrast too. I'll have to get a lighter blue when I make the next one - from the chart I graphed. It occurred to me - Log Cabin. Linear. Easy to chart. So we'll see how actual planning works out.)

But here 'tis Penguie. A little crooked, very homemade looking, but not savagely embarrassing.