February Sucks Ass

you were probably all thinking it... I'm just going to come out and say it!

- Someone I "knew" online died from a crappy disease. I didn't know her well (even in online terms) but I knew she had two small children, and mothers with little babies just should not die from crappy diseases... it just shouldn't be allowed!

- Other people I know have had crap hands dealt to them recently - in one case not getting a (well deserved!!) promotion, and in another dealing with family stuff that is just shitty & unfair.

- The weather's been gloomy & horrid all over... which is not in and of itself a reason to get cranky... but I think it adds to the overall suckitude of February.

And on a more personal note:

- Today I royally fucked up at work. ROYALLY! And it's completely, absolutely, inexcusibly, 100% my fault (well, maybe 99% my fault... but pretty much entirely my fault). I'm not going to go into details about what happened, but it was completely due to being a moron and will mostly likely result in a loss of $500,000. OUCH!! (as an aside I remember working as an accountant and not being able to balance my account... I'd be off by an annoying amount like $7.82 or $39.46 but I'd comfort myself by saying "screw it - I'd pay that much not to have to find it" I would find it eventually, but it made me feel better knowing that it wasn't *that* big of a deal.... this $500,000 is a pretty big deal)

- After work I really should have just gone to bed, but I figured I would go run some errands so I wouldn't feel like the day was a complete waste. I was going to treat myself to some genuinely evil fast food (criss-cut fries in ranch dressing... oh yeah), then go grocery shopping. Feeling rebelious I decided not to wear a coat (sometimes, I just get sick of wearing my big ol' winter coat). I figured I'd only have to walk from my car to Carls Jr. or from the car to the grocery store. Oh man did the universe have something else in store for me!

As I'm driving down the street my car's "your lights are on" bell starts dinging. I'm thinking WTF - I *know* my lights are on - it's dark out! So I turn my lights out and back on and the thing stops dinging. My first thought is that the dinger is broken because it rarely if *ever* actually successfully notifies me that I've left my lights on - which is why I have to carry jumper cables in my car. ANYWAY I stop at a light, start going again and the dinger starts dinging again. I'm looking at all the lights on my dash trying to figure out if there's an actual problem - but the 'check engine' light isn't on. The dinger stops... then starts again after another light. I'm getting pissed off when I finally realize the dial thingy is all the way on H which I assume means my car is "hot" although, honestly I have NO idea what that means. I also realize that I'm a few hundred miles overdue for an oil change and that my car is probably trying to notify me of this fact.

Fortunately there's a Jiffy Lube right there, so I pull in. And as the guy is coming up to my car I tell him "My car dial is on H and I think there's something wrong with it" and he doesn't even look at the car (which is now making very unhappy noises) "You should turn off your car right now! It sounds like you've blown a rod" - I didn't know my car *had* a rod! Anyway.... the guys at the Jiffy Lube tell me there's something bad about my car... terms like "head gasket" and "coolant" and "water line" are bandied about... the only part I understood was when they said "If you keep driving - your engine will blow up." I decided to believe them. They pushed my car over to the parking lot & gave me a recommendation for a mechanic. FUCK!!!

I *had* plans to go to breakfast tomorrow morning with the Hat Attack knitters... but it's not looking like that's going to happen now. Crap. =(

Since there was nothing more I could do, I just took the bus home. Remember how I oh so cavalierly decided to head out sans winter coat? Now I'm stuck with the prospect of waiting god knows how long for a bus out in the cold. Fortunately I had the good sense to dress warmly today anyway and I never leave the house in the winter without a wool hat.... so I didn't freeze to death or anything but still. I hate being cold.

So I stopped for some chinese food when I had to transfer busses downtown and check out what my fortune cookie says:

"You should be able to undertake and complete anything you desire"... not "You are able to..." or even "You will be able to..." but "You should be able to..." As in... yeah you should be able to undertake and complete anything you desire, but you won't because you're too much of a moron to know how to read a calendar or take proper care of your car! Guilt trip from a fortune cookie - just what I needed. It's possible I'm reading a bit too much into the cookie... I do that.

Anyway. I'm now back at home. Sally is curled up at my feet and I realize that as crappy as today was, it's hardly the end of the world.

- My awesome boss did *not* fire me, even though I totally think she had every right to. In fact she didn't even yell, but launched into "how can we fix this, and how can we make sure this never happens again" mode, which is why she's the most awesome boss in the world.

- In addition to not being fired, today was payday and I know I'll be able to pay for whatever repairs are necessary to my car.

- The gods were kind and decided not to send freezing rain down on my unjacketed self... and it was actually not intollerably cold out.

- Trimet... for once *was* on time, so I didn't have to wait indefinately at the dark & unfamiliar bus stop. In fact, I feel fortunate to live someplace where the public transport (although FAR from perfect) is fairly adequate and even if I decide not to fix my car, I'll be able to get around well enough without it for a while.

- And I am most thankful that the Plaid Pantry across the street from my bus stop at home sells both alcohol and chocolate ice cream!

(although WTH kind of ice cream is "blue bunny"???? They used to have Ben & Jerry's!)

I still say February sucks ass.... but at least it's the shortest month.




And DUDE! My spell checker isn't working (duh... someone was talking about that in the blogosphere the other day) forgive allllll my misspellings. Count it towards the cumulative ass-suckingness of the month.

If you can't say something nice...

...come sit by Sally. ;)

What is Caturday for if not for being catty?

Sally hates:

Dogs

Other Cats

Being picked up

An empty food dish

"earthquakes" (cough cough J!)

being woken up

getting moved off the couch/papers/bed/wherever she is and wants to remain

rain

What about you?

Cover Girls

I've been noticing something lately. Whenever I see popular magazines, I can never identify the woman on the cover. Now I know I have some face-to-name memory problems, and regularly call people I know by the wrong name... but this is different. I'll be looking at the picture and have *no* clue who it is. This would make sense if I had no TV, but I do and I'll admit to watching Access Hollywood and other celebrity shows - I know who the big stars are. So I don't think it's that.


I know that photographers & magazine editors have always done whatever tricks they could to make their stars & models look better than they do in real life... but I think we've finally gotten to the point where they just make them all look identical! Check it out: Is it just me or do they look identical? All of them have the same shade of blonde hair, all have the exact same shade of skin, the exact same teeth, the same noses. It's freaking me out! It's one thing to want a good picture... but now they don't even look like *people* they all just look like generic barbie dolls. CREEPY!!!!!



So I bought BUST. She's airbrushed, but at least I could tell who it was!

talkin' 'bout the stash

I have mixed feelings about stashing (yarn & fabric mostly). On the one hand, I don't have a lot of room in my apartment at times I feel like my stashes are taking over. It also feels decidedly impractical to have significantly more fabric & yarn than I have projects going on at any given time. But on the other hand, I love shopping, I love sales, and I'm covering all my bills, so if I want to go a little crazy at the fabric store/ yarn shop/ craft fair... no big woop. However I do sometimes feel guilty about how much 'stuff' I have. I've had some serious cognitive dissonance about it. But after this weekend, I've finally made peace with my stash.

I got up on Saturday with the intention of going downtown, to get some work done at the library, then maybe visit a new yarn shop. As I blogged about earlier, it was snowing, but I know that Tri-met has chains for the busses and generally keeps going, even in the snow. So I got ready and went out to my bus stop.

I was comforted by the bus-tracks I saw on the road, wrapped my scarf around my face & settled in to wait. When the bus finally showed up it just kinda stopped a block away just before turning onto my street (where the white car is). After a minute or so a bunch of people got off the bus and started walking down the hill. One of them told me the bus was stuck. =( I went up and saw that there were no chains on the bus, and the driver (clad in shorts & a polo shirt!!!) said they hadn't expected the snow & he was sliding all over the hill. Oh well. Rather than wait for the someone to arrive with chains, I just went back home.

But what to do... what to do? My hand is feeling better, but I still want to give it a day or two before I try knitting again. And it occurred to me that it's been mighty cold lately, and ever since I made the Little Boy Blue quilt I've been wanting a similar one for myself. Of course, mine would have to be in my signature color scheme!

So, I went into my stash and pulled out a stack of 2 1/2 inch squares, most of which I'd trimmed down from leftovers from other projects.

But a couple of these fabrics I picked up at the Fabric Depot outdoor sale this summer for no reason other than that they are pink (surprise) and they were 50% off (or better... this is really a great sale). Pure stash fabrics. Sure, being pink, there was a good chance I'd use them eventually, but I had no project in mind at the time.

Now, there were already nearly enough squares to make the top of the quilt I had in mind, but with these three one yard cuts I knew I also had enough for the borders, backing & even binding. I was so thrilled about being able to get started on a quilt (and in theory finishing it) without having to go to the fabric store that I made peace with the idea of stashing, and as soon as the snow melted I made my way over to the Fabric Depot Superbowl Sale to do some guilt-free stashing.

Happy little batiks are good to have on hand in case of future snow-storms. ;)

Rain we can deal with

It can rain from October through June and Portland doesn't blink an eye. People hike, bike, run and play in the rain. I've even gone swimming in the rain. It just doesn't stop us.

But snow? No. Half an inch of snow on the valley floor will shut the city down.

This is my street, note the swirvey tire tracks and understand why I don't drive when it snows!

Actually, I figured out what the problem is. Our snow is barely snow, it's on the edge between snow & slush. When you step in it, rather than hearing a nice muffled crunch (the sound of the snow I grew up with) it's more of a squish. In comaparison to ice cream, it's like soft-serve. So when you drive on it... you're almost immediately hydroplaning. Even cars with 4 wheel drive end up in the ditch.

BTW, not unlike "Storm Team 12", I'll be milking Saturday's snow-'storm' for all it's worth. More pictures later. ;)

Snowy Caturday

It been snowing this week.

Sally was not impressed. She required quite a bit of encouragement to go outside for a photoshoot.

Tonight's free association Friday is brought to you by...

Mike's Hard Berry... Cold. Hard. Refreshing... total chick drink... but uh oh.... I'm feeling purple!





"Women Voters" I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing about the "Women Voters" or the "Womans' Vote". Are there any two women in this country with identical political opinions? Really? Oh man... Charles Gibson just came on again and said something about "Women Voters" and seriously intoned "they are not of one mind." As thought this is a surprise! Even if women have similar priorities, we're obviously going to have different opinions on the best ways to address these priorities, and who the best candidate is to address them. Where are the focus groups for "Men Voters" And as much as I would love to see a woman president... what I really want is a GOOD president, one who can restore some sanity to this country, someone who can unite people and actually make some progress solving some long standing problems, like the pitiful state of health care, the pitiful state of our schools, the nightmare of social security, the sheer insanity of our policies in the middle east.

Anyway I guess this all brings up my current distaste of network news. I don't understand why every story has to be so sensationalized, and I don't understand how they can stand there and tell you scary scary things, and not give us one shred of an idea of what to do about it. Grrr. Ok, I'm going to the bad place now, I'll stop. I might be a little grouchy because my hands still hurt. I haven't knit anything since Sunday. And the book I'm reading at the moment is incredibly depressing.

Hmmm.... time for something cheerful. I bought some yarn I haven't showed off yet.

Check it out ^^ purple. ;) It's very soft... so pretty.... I feel better already. =)

blog stalking & blasts from my past

My hands have been feeling a bit sore, so I'm taking a little break from crafting. Nothing short of a complete interwebs breakdown would keep me off the computer though, and I thought I'd share a little* story with you all....

Once upon a time in a junior high gym class far far away, an evil princess named Riley (or some other gender crossing uber-fashionable name) was in the locker room changing clothes next our protagonist.... Rebel, aged 13, newly relocated to Southern California. Rebel is standing there in a t-shirt and what her mother deems age-appropriate floral patterned modestly cut cotton underwear. Riley, wearing a training bra (training for what, I'm not sure, since there had not been much 'development' for either of us) and pale pink satin bikini underwear. Riley takes one look at Rebel's underwear and starts laughing "Oh my god!" she exclaims in her valley-girl accent... "Do you really wear those??? They look like Grandma underwear!!!" Rebel, suitably ashamed begins an unfortunate stage in her life where she saves up her allowance money to buy unbelievably uncomfortable and highly impractical undergarments for the sole purpose of avoiding ridicule in the locker room. A highlight of this time period was when Rebel tried to run a timed mile with the worst wedgie known to humanity. In High School Riley would lose two fingers** in a tragic wood-shop accident.

Fast forward a few years, Rebel, now aged 16, spends countless spring & summer afternoons with friends at Kevin's house (Kevin's parents are extremely successful and their house has a heated pool, hot tub, a large screen TV with surround sound and... a laser-disk player!). We come over after school, change into our swimsuits and stay as late as Kevin's parents will let us. This is such a common activity that there's a drawer full of left-over swim suits that anyone can borrow if they happen to have forgotten their own. Kevin is a year younger than Rebel and is viewed much as a little brother by many of his female friends.

It's important to note that Kevin and Rebel and their friends are all good fluffy-pink Christian kids, who go to Youth Group & Prayer meetings for fun, it is a point of much pride that Kevin goes to the same church as Kirk Cameron. In fact one day we all get to be the audience in a video on the dangers of teen-sex in which Kirk Cameron is the narrator and Kevin's dad, a doctor, is the medical expert. Later Kevin and his mother will appear on an episode of the Montel Williams Show promoting abstinence for teens. Just painting the picture here.

One typical evening, Rebel and friends (including Rebel's current crush... he has a tattoo!***) are hanging out a Kevin's house, watching movies, being noisy, just having as much fun as a bunch of good Christian kids can have under the watchful eyes of Kevin's parents. At one point Kevin stands up and says "Oh - I just remembered..." ducks into his room and returns carrying high over his head a pair of bright pink satin string-bikini underwear and in front of God, the tattooed boy, & everyone announces to Rebel "you left these here the other day." If she could have died on the spot... she would have.



Anyway.... all of that is just to say I've been blog-stalking and googling folks from my past. It turns out Kevin is one of the contributors to his church's blog, he's a part of the 'music ministry'. He still lives in Southern California, and recently sang back-up on the High School Musical soundtrack if you're curious. He's married & has a baby girl now. :) I left him a comment, but I'm not sure he saw it because he never responded. He hasn't changed a bit since high-school, and it's making me wonder how much I have. Huh.

I'm back to wearing practical cotton underwear though****... that's something. ;)









* aka - long & pointless



**They sewed them back on... but it's more fun for me to imagine her with a three-fingered hand ;)



*** Of a dove ... gotta love those Christian bad-boys. ;)

**** Most of the time. ;)

Giving Grandma her props

I've commented before on how I've turned into my mother, but it seems her mother's genes are expressing themselves as well. Lately I've really gotten into crosswords and various other word puzzles... this is something my grandma was totally into when she was older & more or less home bound. I've started out with one of those multi-puzzle books and got really into the Acrostics (kinda like a crossword... but not really). Then I got a little book of NYT "Light & Easy" Crosswords. The only ones I can finish quickly & consistently are by Peter Gordon...with the rest of the so called 'easy puzzles' I get about 90% done then have to cheat to finish up the rest of the puzzle. I've learned a lot about Mt. Etna though..... what was my point again? Oh yeah, my grandma!

Grandma was a seamstress by trade (I have not yet inherited those skills!) but also quilted and cross-stitched. Most of her handwork was not spectacular, but practical and serviceable. Here is an apron she made and embellished with cross-stitch.

I went through a heavy cross-stitch phase in junior high & high school... culminating in this sampler I made to celebrate my sister's wedding my freshman year in college.

After finishing this one, I started an even more impressive pattern to honor my college graduation... I gave myself nearly 4 years to do it. I never even finished the border.

Anyway, I'm not so much into cross-stitch anymore, but I am getting back into needlework. Here's my second attempt at embroidery.

The flowers are from the same template I used earlier on a bag... but I filled in the petals with what I now know is called seed-stitch, and gave the leaves some veins. And then I added the little birdie from the same template package (lots of flowers & cute animals). I'm pretty impressed with this little picture, although I have no idea what I'm going to put it on. I think I'll save it up for a quilt (if I ever get back into quilting that is!!)

I was so impressed in fact that I went out and bought a white canvas apron and the book Sublime Stitching... which unfortunately claims not to be my "grandma's embroidery." While I understand this simple means she's updated the styles and patterns for current tastes, there's nothing wrong with my grandma's work! Anyway, stay tuned for more needlework.

Caturday morning

Sally's in training for the NYT Crossword puzzle... she's just about ready for Tuesdays.

The Pretty Good Gatsby

As usual, my review of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby will be highly opinionated and minimally educated. ;)

Plot: Loud parties, fast cars, blatant infidelity, homicide, murder…all in under 200 pages.
Motto: Having it all means nothing at all.

Opinion:
I think the biggest strength of this book is its brevity.* Which is not to say I didn’t like it. But I think Fitzgerald does a good job of getting all his plot points & character development out without dragging on unnecessarily. His prose is rather more florid than I generally like, and I’m not particularly interested in the Jazz era, so most of the literary merit is lost on me. I really couldn’t see why this book is considered the quintessential Great American Novel. In my book both Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind are far superior books… but this post is not about those books.

The characters are well developed, considering the point was that they were shallow, self absorbed, and amoral. I’m all for giving your characters flaws, that’s human, but they lack pretty much any redeeming qualities. Nick is the ‘innocent bystander’ but the only noble (for lack of a better word) thing he does in the whole book is to take care of the funeral arrangements at the end. Tom is a stereotype, the brash, racist, two timing jock – just past his glory days. Jordan is also rich, spoiled, bored, and well, a liar… but beautiful, so that makes it all better. I dislike Daisy the most I think. Not so much because she married Tom rather than wait for Gatsby to come home from the war (although that did not endear her to me), but for her indecision. She loves Gatsby… until he’s been gone too long, then she loves Tom… until Gatsby comes back, then she wants to be with him… but she doesn’t really want to leave Tom because she still kinda sorta loves him. I most empathize with Jay Gatsby, as I’ve carried more than one torch for someone much much longer than would be considered healthy. But even I know when to give up the ghost – namely when the object of your affections gets married and has kids. Time to move on! Furthermore, if you have to sell your soul to be considered worthy by the person you love, you’ve got to ask yourself if they’re worthy of the sacrifice… and nothing about Daisy indicates that she is. As I’m sure it was Fitzgerald’s intention that these be unlikable characters, I give him full marks on that score.

One of the reasons this book has been called a Great American Novel is that it is a window into life in the Jazz Age. And I’m sure it is… to some degree. It could be argued, though, that the life of the young, rich, beautiful New Yorkers is not necessarily representative of life in general at that time. But it is interesting to think of this as the calm between the storms of two world wars. I found the descriptions of the parties to be insightful (and timeless); start with hordes of shallow strangers, add alcohol, turn up the music and everyone’s having a great time! No one really knows anyone, no one knows anything about the host, and no one cares at all. My favorite line is when Jordan says

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”

I think it just points out the lack of genuine intimacy in their lives.

Overall, I think this was a very good book, far from my favorite, but absolutely worth a read. There’s a lot of food for thought in this very short book. On Jenn’s advice though, I don’t think I’ll read The Beautiful and the Damned.

*The other thing I love about this book is the author’s name F. Scott Fitzgerald, he gets points not only for having a three-name name, which is cool in and of itself (Mario Vargas Llosa is another one I like) but for using a single bold initial as his first name, and also for having a ‘z’ in his last name. Pretty awesome. Tons better than Herman Melville… what kind of a name is that??

Wednesday Round-up

Everyday is work-in-progress day here at, well, Work In Progress. But it's Wednesday, so here are my WIPS.

I've finished the back of my cabled vest, and I'm up to the arm holes. I went on a bit of a hat-jag so this has been hibernating for a couple of weeks. I think I'm ready to pick it up again though.

And here's a blast from my past... well, summer anyway.

Montego Bay! I finally figured out that if I stick a split-ring stitch marker at the end of the 4 row repeat, I could keep track of where I was in the pattern. This has dramatically improved my rate of progress. You know... I'm starting to think they make all those little gadgets for a reason.

My reading list is progressing nicely as well. I've just finished reading The Great Gatsby, and have started on A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. I'm still trying to pull together my thoughts on The GG, and will blog them soon.

More cables

Yup, another cabled hat!

I was trying for a braid, but I got what I know now is called a 'horseshoe cable' on this hat. It's for another friend (and I'll be including a no-return/no-repair policy with it!).

Mmmm Malabrigo. I kept hearing everyone talking about it, but didn't realize what the fuss was about until I actually worked with it. Oh man...I wanna make Malabrigo PJs!! It's so soft & warm & fluffy, I love it!

I think I've got a couple more cables in me before I move on. Which is good, because I still haven't finished my cabled vest! But I know I'm going to make at least one more hat, because I'm determined to do a nice braid. I've cast on three times now, but I keep getting the math wrong. I finally cracked out a spread sheet and entered in the cable pattern I wanted, and from there figured out how to start the ribbing. Hopefully I'll get it right this time around.

I have a quick question for the knitters - how do you figure out the decreases at the end? I know how to do a nice spiral for just a regular hat in the round, but I'd like to keep the cable pattern going as far up the hat as I can. Any ideas? It'll end up being a 6 stitch cable with 4 purl stitches in between. I free-handed the one above, and am not thrilled with it. Is there a general rule to follow?

NYT No Knead Bread

Why am I the last to hear about the New York Times 'No Knead' bread recipe? I read about it only a couple of weeks ago, and although I'd read about slow-rise doughs, I didn't know you could let it rise at room temp that long. I'll admit I was a little skeptical, since I know kneading is important for gluten development. But I tried some at a friend's house the other day and was amazed! Seriously, I thought it was from one of our artisan bakeries! I was really excited to try it.

Last night I put all the ingredients together and set it on the counter overnight. I though briefly about taking a picture of the dough before & after the 18 hour rise, but I didn't. It was quite impressive though, and the smell... just a bit sour, so yummy. I also kinda wish I'd read the recipe a little better before I did the shaping... because I kinda skipped that step and had a problem peeling the dough off the tea towel after the second (much shorter) rise. But all is not lost...

Now, that's a gorgeous loaf if I do say so myself! But that's only part of the story.

Check out those big glossy holes... that's the mark of *serious* bread. Oh, when I saw the glossy inside, I was so thrilled. The crust is crunchy, the inside smooth and yummy. It's not *quite* as the bread I tried the other day, but it's good... very good. I'll be trying this one again... and again... and again!

It takes a long time, but the idea is that you let the dough do the work to get the flavor. There's a lot of chemistry involved, and you just can't take a short cut to get there. Ok... I need to be alone with my bread now. ;)

Anatomy of a LOLCat

There's been a blog challenge to show off & measure your kitty's "Bunny Thumper". It's surprisingly difficult to get a good shot of Sally's Bunny Thumper.

Sally's bunny thumper is approximately 5" long

Often the Bunny Thumpers are carefully protected by her Chubbular Region.

But as every cat owner knows, the most vital part of a lolcat's anatomy is her Axis of Schnorgeling.

To maintain the health & wellbeing of your lolcat regular schnorgeling should be applied here.

Free-association Friday

Reduced fat cheese: cheese or "cheese"? Discuss.




Also up for discussion today: Let's get drunk, smoke a few joints & go antagonize a 500 pound tiger.

Also, can you think of anything that these two stories have in common?

At which point, exactly, does it become an obsession?

I've been cabling again.

I picked up some Araucania Aysen at the Abundant sale, it's super soft and really really pretty. I wasn't going to do anything fancy, just ribbing, but then I decided I wanted to play. I know varigated yarns are not the best for showing off cables, but I think it turned out okay anyway.

I know why the good earth sings

It's time for Everybody Reads 2008!

Unfortunately, not everyone saves. =( I started a nice long post in Word, but neglected to save it and my computer decided to teach me a lesson. Oh well. Preferences are now set to auto save every few minutes.

I haven’t been keeping up with my Rebel’s Book Club reports lately, so here’s a quick catch up.

The Lathe of Heaven – Ursula K. LeGuin
Motto: You’ll never believe the dream I had last night!
Plot: Average Joe changes the world in his sleep. High minded researcher decides to use this power to save the world.

Opinion: I loved this book, not in the least because it was set in my very own Portland, OR. It’s also one of my favorite kinds of sci-fi books, about the far distant future… roughly the year 2002. It’s always fun to see how the author’s predictions compare to reality. LeGuin does okay. She predicts that Mt. Hood will erupt… which it hasn’t… yet… but Mt. St. Helens did, and she predicts that the US is involved in a war in the Middle East (although to be fair… it seems like we’re always involved in a war in the Middle East). She overestimates the population of Portland, but more or less correctly describes the Max (our light rail system). All of that is really fun to read about, and I got a huge kick out of knowing where the action was occurring, in fact, fairly significant portions of the story take place at the Medical School… which is where I work.

"George Orr's apartment was on the top floor of an old frame house a few blocks
up the hill on Corbett Avenue, a shabby part of town where most of the houses
were getting on for a century, or well beyond it."

Dr. Haber's institute would be somewhere in here.

As for the actual story… it’s very trippy. The world keeps changing, but certain elements remain the same. There’s also the theme of ‘be careful what you wish for – you might get it’, and how one defines sanity in an insane world. It’s just really trippy, really cool. I may have to read it again to really get into the psychology / philosophy of it. But it’s worth a read if you’re into science fiction, or live in Portland. ;)


Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting.
Motto: When knitters take over the world…
Plot: Um.. it’s all there in the title.

Opinion: This isn’t the Yarn Harlot’s best work, and I wasn’t going to buy it, but I started flipping through it at the store and found myself laughing out loud so I caved. I know not everyone loves the Harlot, and I can see why, but I love her if for no other reason than that her obsession with knitting makes me look normal by comparison. I’m not going to recommend that anyone go out and buy this book – but you can borrow my copy if you’re interested.


The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck
Motto: A man must work from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.
Plot: Wang Lung, a young farmer in China, gets married, works hard, lives long & prospers.

Opinion: This is such a simple story, but so beautiful. Wang Lung is so human. He is a good man, hard working, but flawed. His wife Olan is selfless, and so strong in her own way. We see the full circle of their life, for richer for poorer, in sickness and health. Buck portrays it all with an unvarnished honesty, which makes it all the more beautiful. There’s a reason this one is a classic.


I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
Motto: Black is Beautiful
Plot: An autobiography that takes us from rural Arkansas in the 1930s to San Francisco during World War II.

Opinion: Nothing I can say will do justice to this book. Angelou has a gift. I don’t know how she managed to come through the tragedies and injustices of her life with such grace and strength and beauty. But she did. She says:

“The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of
nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of
masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power. The
fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is
often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom
accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves
respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.”

Well, she gets my respect and enthusiastic acceptance. But I don’t think she gives herself enough credit for how amazing she really is. The strength and openness that she has is *not* an inevitable outcome of her struggle. I think very few people can live through what she’s lived through and emerge with such grace and dignity and love. Lots of people fall apart, lots of people become hard-hearted, lots of people just give up. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s one of my heros now. Read this book to feel inspired.


Now onto my to-read list for 2008.

The first book on my list is “a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah. This is the Everybody Reads book for Portland this year, which is good because it’s one I’ve heard a lot about and have been wanting to read & I got it for free =) (have I mentioned how much I love this town!). I expect it will be a bit hard to get through, but hopefully it won’t be a complete downer.

After that, in no particular order:

The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller (I bought this a while ago with the intention of re-reading it, but never did. I just need to plow through the first 8 chapters, after that I remember it gets really good)
A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson

I'm looking into suggested books: Persuasion, Anna Karenina, Tender is the Night, The Beautiful & Damned, Of Love & Other Demons, and Pride & Prejudice. But haven't picked any of them up yet.


And the autobiographies… MLK, Ghandi, Nelson Mandela; these have been on my shelf since Bush was “reelected” and I keep meaning to read them. Perhaps I can get through them if I bribe myself with something fun to read afterwards… any suggestions for fun, light or humorous books? I like fiction & non-fiction, science fiction, some chick-lit, any genre really, if it's good.

Oh... and are any of you on Shelfari? It's a networking site for bibliophiles, you put all your books on a virtual book shelf, leave reviews, read reviews and chat about book-related topics. Knitty folk - it's like Ravelry but for books, and actually I've been spending more time on Shelfari than I have on Ravelry lately.

The truth about cats & dogs

My creativity has failed me. It turned out that I still had the better part of a skein of the Nashua left, so I decided to just frog the hat, pick up the stitches, and reknit down. After picking up the stitches, I felt-spliced the yarn until I got to the same color that the skein started with. Then I did a purl row because I always pick up the yarn wrong, and rather than have it look weird on accident, it looks different on purpose. I did another purl row a few rows down for the same reason. The cast off edge is a lot tighter than it was when it was a cast-on edge. But it still fits.

One of Sally's few redeeming qualities is that she doesn't really care about my knitting. When I wind yarn into balls she gets interested in the yarn spinning around... but other than that she leaves my yarn alone. She even tolerates being a model for my knitting!

Bad Dog!

About a year ago a friend of mine was admiring my hat and asked if I would make one for her. Let me tell you... flattery will get you everywhere with me... so I made one for her. Here's the in-progress picture (somehow forgot to get a picture of the finished hat).


It's two skeins of Nashua Wooly Stripes, basic roll brim hat. Nothing fancy, but pretty... and it matches a scarf one of her other friends knit for her. She loves the hat, wears her hat... it looks great on her.




Over the summer friend got a puppy. Cute puppy, smart puppy. Puppy broke out of her metal-barred kennel! Yesterday I got a call from the friend, she was a bit distraught. Apparently puppy developped a taste for wool... wool hats in particular. My friend asked if she thought I could fix it... I told her to bring it in and I'd see what I could do, no promises. Well, she did.





Sensitive knitters should look away... it's pretty graphic.

From what I can tell the main gash is about 9-10 stitches wide, about 21 rows high. The smaller hole goes from the cast on edge past the row of purls I did to end the curl - about 10 rows total. For what it's worth, the hat is about 100 stitches around, probably on size 7 needles. I have a little of the yarn left... not enough for a new hat... and I don't think I could match the stripes even if I tried.

So knitters... what do you think? Is it worth an attempt to salvage? I thought maybe I could do a little steeking of sorts, sew down a seam a few stitches away from the damaged parts, then try to seam it together? Alternately I could some how try to bind off the stitches around the hole, pick up some stitches along the top part and sew a flap down- kinda like the pony-tail hat on Neither Hip Nor Funky's blog. I'm not sure if anything will really fix it though. Anyone want to advise me on what I should try... or if I can't - a way to break the news to her?