It’s Furious Balancing

Today, in the United States, it’s Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, besides being our country’s annual demonstration of gluttony, also used to be the official beginning of the Holiday Season.   Apparently, that has changed over the past few years and the “Holiday Season” now begins the day after Halloween.  Ridiculous.  I love the old Germanic pagan elements of Yuletide.  Putting up a plastic Christmas tree a week before Thanksgiving rings hollow.  Real trees, people! Real trees!

In any event, I’ve been thinking about being thankful.  Not the traditional, generic “lip service” statements of thankfulness that we hear today, but honest-to-goodness specifics.

I am thankful for:

1.  My dentist.  I am a complete wimp when it comes to get my teeth cleaned, let alone anything more than that (like a filling or, God forbid, an extraction).  My dentist’s office has state-of-the-art equipment and great staff.    I had a standard cleaning and six-month exam on Tuesday.  It took no time at all and my teeth didn’t hurt for days afterward.

2.  Our 2001 Volvo S60. Yeah, so she’s a little frayed around the edges, but she’s taken years of abuse and only has 76,000 miles on her.  She’s built like a tank, has eleventy crumple zones, side air bags, side curtain air bags, and seat warmers.  Oh, and those cute little wipers on the front headlights.  We haven’t had a car payment in at least six years (if not more).   Have I mentioned how poorly engineered American cars are compared to Volvos?

3.  The catering division at my local supermarket.  I am so not cooking today.  I did make a batch of to-die-for sweet potatoes last night, but other than that, all I need to do is put stuff in the oven and wait for the turkey to reach an internal temperature of 165°F.  The side dishes also came packed in a most-excellent cardboard box that will offer hours of cat entertainment.

4.  Yarn.  What did I do with myself before I learned how to knit?  During the long weekend, I hope to make a lot of progress on the socks for Teh Husband and another pair of mitered mittens.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Pattern: Mitered Mittens from Knitter’s Almanac (May), by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Yarn: Rowan Tapestry in Moorland, a little over one skein’s worth (approx. 145 yards).  You could make them with just one skein if you shortened the cuffs, but the long cuffs are the best part.

Size: Adult small

Needles: U.S. Size 5  (3.75 mm)

Mods: The pattern as written has an “afterthought” thumb, similar to EZ’s afterthought pocket.   Despite the adrenaline rush I get from cutting steeks, I passed on this way of adding thumbs because I think mine would turn out too sloppy for my liking.  Many Ravelers followed the instructions for making a thumb using a gusset method found here.

Comments: I’m fond of these mittens, but I’m thinking I need to make six or seven pairs with self-striping yarn.  I’ve already cast on for a pair in Noro Silk Garden in the light neutrals colorway.

I think coffee is the only thing keeping me going at the moment.

More in a little while…

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I feel like that wet cat at the moment, but I’ll spare you all the whining. Enjoy your Caturday, cats and kittens!

I declare it LOLCat Monday.  So sue me.

I spend a lot of time shopping online.  Books, yarn, clothes, cat toys, shoes, household goods, gifts, toiletries, etc.  I buy just about everything online since I hate shopping in stores.  The idea of going to a mall makes me break out in hives.  I’ve been buying books from amazon.com since October 1998 and I’ve had my eBay account since August 1999.

Still, I find items for sale online that surprise me.  Things that make me say — sometimes out loud, hitting notes only cocker spaniels can hear and scaring the cats — Oh. My. GOD!  That’s PERFECT!!

I found this gem on Etsy the other day.  If you’re not a knitter, this may be lost on you.  If you are a knitter (or are shopping for one), I highly recommend visiting 5elementknittr’s shop and buying one — or five — of these:

That is indeed a wee little crochet hook attached (with a lobster clasp) to a keychain ring.  The one I’m holding in the photo is a size US D/3 (3.25 mm) hook.  She has them as small as US C/2 (2.75 mm) going up to US F/5 (3.75 mm).

Don’t overlook the decorative bead! These will vary, so just go on over to her shop and read up on them.  She has much better photos than I do and you can get the whole run down on sizes, colors, etc.  There is also a version customizable with letter beads (up to 6 characters).

To the Non-Knitters out there: Knitters use crochet hooks to pick up dropped stitches or fix mistakes in their knitting.  There are other uses for crochet hooks, but I use them primarily as a “fix it” tool.  You always need one in your knitting project bag (together with several different kinds of stitch markers, a retractable measuring tape, and coilless safety pins).  Sometimes I swear that the likelihood I have a crochet hook in my knitting bag is inversely proportional to extent of the error I need to fix.   These little darlings are convenient, portable, and useful beyond what mere words can say.

Later this weekend — Knitting Notions, Part Two — in which I demonstrate that I have clearly lost my mind;  but now, a handmade LOLCat!

moar funny pictures

Lifted from the Fallout 3 Official Site:

November 25, 2008 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks…today announced plans to make both its editor and downloadable content available for its award-winning game Fallout 3 in the coming weeks. The official editor for Fallout 3, called the G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit), will be available for free download in December and will allow Games for Windows users to create and add their own content to the game. In addition, the first official downloadable content, Operation: Anchorage, will be available exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows in January, and more downloadable content coming in February and March.

“We’ve always seen the original world of Fallout 3 as a foundation for even more content. Some created by us, and a lot more created by users,” said Todd Howard, game director for Fallout 3. “It’s fun to create your own character, but it can be equally fun to create your own adventures. We can’t wait to see what the community does with the G.E.C.K.”

The release of the G.E.C.K. provides the community with tools that will allow players to expand the game any way they wish. Users can create, modify, and edit any data for use with Fallout 3, from building landscapes, towns, and locations to writing dialogue, creating characters, weapons, creatures, and more.

This sort of illustrates my enthusiasm at the announcement:

Well, to tell the truth, it’s not so much writer’s block as it is paying far too much attention to the Presidential Election.  I’ve been hanging out in the Knitters for Obama Ravelry discussion forum, obsessively checking the polls, and generally reading all the political news articles and watching all the political videos — satirical and otherwise –  I’m able to find online.

I’ve been busy, in other words.

I’ve already decided to take the day off from work on Wednesday, November 5th.  I plan on being up for most of the night on the 4th.  I won’t be able to sleep until Obama gives his “thank you” speech.

I do have some Election 2008 knitting projects in the works, but I’m not posting them until they’re done.  You’ll just have to wait until then.  In the meantime, here’s another finished object for your knitting consideration:  Jen’s Chica Scarf.

PROJECT NOTES

Made for: Jen, my manicurist of many years.  Jen’s much more of a friend then a “manicurist.”  I’ve been seeing her a few times a month for the past seven or eight years.  After He Who Buys Large Diamonds and I were engaged, I wanted my hands to look nicer so I could show off The Rock.  Jen is also The Husband’s hair stylist. 

Pattern: Chicabean Scarf by the Kelly Green Rogue.

Size: After blocking – 60 inches by 8 inches.

Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino in Paprika (approx. 350 yards)

Needles: US size 8, Pony Pearl 20″ circulars

Mods: None.

Challenges: There wasn’t a chart for this pattern, so it went slowly for me.  I’m not an absolute beginner with cables and lace, and I prefer charts over line-by-line instructions.  There are a few spots in the scarf where I fudged some missing or some extra stitches, but the pattern’s complex enough to cover it.  I hope.  Jen, thankfully, doesn’t expect perfection.  She’s known me too long.

Why does this reminder me of The Ladykillers?

Today, a Friday, is a pre-scheduled Mental Health Day for Laiane.  Since (a) my boss is on vacation this week, and (b)  law firms are notoriously slow in the summer, it seemed like it was time for some Planned Relaxation.

Unlike a lot of women, I don’t suffer from the “let’s take care of everyone else before I take care of myself” thing.  I indulge myself, gladly.  Today has included:

• Chocolate cake for breakfast.
• A nap on the couch with a purring kitteh curled up under my chin.
• Knitting.
• Online shopping — Some birthday presents to indulge my friends and some organic cotton sheets to indulge The Husband and me.
• DVD watching — Red Dwarf in the morning and a few episodes of Planet Earth for this evening.
• Oh, and a LOLCat.  It is Friday, you know.

Gold stars and special bonus points awarded to those of you who know the literary allusion from the title of this post without Google.

But anyway.

I’ve been completely lost for blog post topics. There have been a few ideas flitting around my head, but nothing that takes on actual substance. I’m chalking it all up to my Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’m looking at the months of June, July, and August as being similar to a prison sentence; there’s a part of me that wants to “x” out each day on the calendar with a black Sharpie. I’m about ready to dig out Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s The Worst Journey in the World, crank the air conditioning, and camp out on our sofa until the leaves start to turn and I feel like a normal human being. A relatively normal human being, that is.

You’re going to have to bear with me until I have the energy to think and compose coherent sentences. You may have to put up with a few memes and a LOLCat or two in the interim.

I’ll be back. Before September. I hope.