After due diligence and consideration, these are...

My recommendations and endorsements for the 2008 General Election...

President and Vice President - Barack Obama and Joe Biden

... That shouldn't be a surprise if you've been reading this blog...

The rest of these are things that only Florida voters or voters in my own district/county/area can vote on:

Representative in Congress District 9 - Bill Mitchell

State Representative District 60 - E. J. Ford

Local Stuff...

Property Appraiser - Ken Ayers

Tax Collector - Beverly P. Harris

Supervisor of Elections - Phyllis Busansky

Board of County Commissioners District 2 - Ken Hagan (REP - He is the only candidate. I will likely under-vote this.)

Board of County Commissioners District 6 - Kevin Beckner (Seriously, he's awesome.)

Nonpartisan Positions...

Shall Justice Charles T. Wells of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

Yes. Or No. (see comments.)

Shall Judge Chris W. Altenbernd of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

Yes.

Shall Judge Carolyn K. Fulmer of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

No. I don't agree with her ruling in this case. It seems to me that the ruling is incomplete, as it doesn't take into account all the facts of the case, and unduly biased. (Others have found other questionable rulings besides this one - see comments.)

Shall Judge Morris Silberman of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

Yes.

Shall Judge James W. Whatley of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

Yes.

School Board Member District 7

Stephen Gorham - my dad, an educator of more than 35 years, says this is the guy to vote for, so I'm going with him without question...

Soil and Water Conservation District

- Despite this being a "nonpartisan" position, some of the candidates are advertising their affiliation, so I'm choosing to pass that info along since I can't find out much else about them...

Group 2

*A.J. Brent - Libertarian, is for recognizing same-sex marriage and for a woman's right to choose... not that that has anything at all to do with the position he's running for...

Richard Van Epps - can't find out a thing about him, except that he's the incumbent...

Group 4

*Jeffrey Ross Garbus - Libertarian, is for recognizing same-sex marriage and for a woman's right to choose... not that that has anything at all to do with the position he's running for...

Betty Jo Tompkins - Republican, vice-chairman of the Hillsborough County Soil and Water Conservation

* These are the candidates I'll probably vote for. I don't feel strongly in favor of them because I know so little about them, but can't say I know any more about their opponents that would encourage me to vote for them instead.

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

No. 1 - Would allow persons deemed ineligible for citizenship to own property in Florida and prohibit the legislature from regulating such a thing now or in the future. This has no business being a Constitutional Amendment. Such a thing should be regulated by State Statute, if necessary.

No.

Unsure. I'm doing more research on this one.

No. 2 - Essentially this is an anti-GLBT rights amendment which would write discrimination based on sexual orientation into our State Constitution. There is already a law in the State Statutes that prohibits homosexual relationships from being legally recognized as valid and binding, as in marriage, whether preformed in the state of Florida or another state or country. So - on top of being discriminatory - its proposal is also redundant.

No.

No. 3 - Exempts improvements on residential structures that increase resistance to wind damage (as from hurricanes) or the installation of renewable energy sources (such as windmills or solar panels) from being considered as part of the taxable value of the property. So - essentially - this does not raise taxes for those people who choose to install hurricane shutters or solar or wind power generators and does not effect the taxes of any one else.

Yes.

No. 4 - Exempts land held perpetually in conservation (and therefore not for development or other use) from being assessed property taxes.

Yes.

No. 6 (there is no No. 5) - Assesses waterfront property based on its current use. I honestly have no idea why this is necessary, and isn't already provided for somewhere in state law, but... there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it.

Yes.

No. 8 (there is no No. 7) - Requires the legislature to allow individual counties to levy an additional local sales tax to provide funding for community colleges. The tax would have to be approved by the voters, and, if approved by the voters, it will have to be reapproved after five years or it will no longer be assessed. The amendment doesn't require counties to propose an extra local sales tax, nor does it compel the citizens of counties that do propose such a tax to approve it.

Yes.

County Referenda

These are not numbered, however, for ease, I'm going to number them in the order that they are listed on the ballot.

1. Veto powers to the County Mayor... Gives veto powers to the county mayor over the county commission, which may be overridden by the county commission by a two-thirds vote. The mayor will not be able to veto regulation of the county commission itself, zoning and planning or land use regulation.

Yes.

2. Authorization of the county to continue to purchase environmentally sensitive land to protect it from development and damage. This continues an ongoing program to protect land that for various reasons is considered environmentally sensitive, either due to wildlife habitat, natural areas, water quality, and to protect sources of drinking water from damage and pollution.

Yes.

***************************

As of October 29, 2008, I've disabled commenting on this blog post. I'm getting lots of comments, not all of them well thought out or polite (which have not been published), and I just don't feel like dealing with them showing up in my inbox anymore, if y'all don't mind. Thank you to those of you who have had thoughtful, helpful, polite comments. Please, do not try to send me comments on this post via another post which is open to commenting. Such comments will be deleted and not answered.

An interesting happening...

So I'm in the house at the moment to have lunch before finishing the mulching on the garden, which is now half done... A man just rang the door bell... dressed somewhat like a Mormon proselytizer so I hesitated to open the door, but did anyway... He's a reporter for The Saint Petersberg Times wanting to interview anyone who saw the big to-do this morning... My father is talking to him now... [pause to go get lunch from the kitchen] In the interim, there was another knock at the door... This time a tv reporter also wanting to interview someone on camera for the evening news on the local CBS station. Dad is talking to them too...

Now, what about? I'm sure you're wondering. A man who lived one house down and across the street was arrested this morning for (from what I can tell) bank robbery, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, fleeing the scene of a traffic accident and resisting arrest... possibly some other things too... O.O He got up early apparently, robbed a bank at gun point shortly after it opened, went to (of all random places and for reasons we don't know) a chiropractor's office, where he stabbed someone with a screw driver, then he stole a car, got in a traffic accident and then ran back to his house. This all went down early this morning, and we only caught the tail end of it ourselves. ('Cause he lived across the street! Now... we live on a very quiet, nice suburban neighborhood on a dead end street. Things like this just don't happen. o.O) When I woke up shortly before 9am, I thought one of our neighbors were mowing their lawn, but no, the noise I was hearing was the low-flying police helicopter hovering over our house. The guy had crashed the car he had stolen a few blocks away and ran on foot back to his home and they had tracked him down with bloodhounds (not kidding!). At 9am, police were facing off against him while he had barricaded himself in his house with an assault rifle (*facepalm*... Seriously, dude! WTF!). But within the hour, they arrested him without further injury to anyone involved... Thank goodness!

If there is video of the news report posted to the internet tonight, I'll embed it here if I can...

Now, I have to research some things quickly and get back outside to finish the mulching...

Giving Jared his presents...

I forgot to post the details of when I gave Jared the hats I made for him and Jensen. Don't know how I forgot to do that, but I did... Here's what I wrote out on Sunday evening so I wouldn't forget any of it:

I gave Jared the hats during the autograph session. They were running low on time for autographs because apparently the Eyecon organizers are still a bit unorganized when it comes to getting Jared's stuff efficiently timed and he was late for his flight back to Vancouver. So I didn't think I'd actually get to give the gifts to him. As he was signing my photo that I had bought for him to sign, I put the gift bag on the table near the EyeCon handler and said to her, "Can I leave this here for him?" and she nodded. I didn't expect Jared to speak because he was just so harried trying to get everyone's things signed and get out of there, but he looked up at me and said, "That's for me?" And I said, "Yes." And he said, "You didn't have to get me anything," and I said, "Yes, I did, and I made what's in there." (Dude, it was all that would come out of my mouth, I had no control over my thought processes.) And he said, so sincerely, "Thank you, thank you so much." And handed me back the photo. OMFG there was eye contact throughout this little conversation and everything and I don't know how I was able to speak and not pass out or anything, but I managed somehow. I backed away from the table as he moved on to the next person, and I went outside and danced around for several minutes just going OMGOMGOMGOMG! 'cause I got to look at Jared's pretty face and eyes from two feet away for 30 seconds. GAH! Am I a fangirl? I think so. LOL! I was so elated and flipping out that I double checked twice to make sure that I actually got the picture back signed because I wasn't sure I actually took it with me 'cause I was just staring into his eyes as long as possible and that was all I was concentrating on. They looked more brown today than I remembered them being from April... thought they looked more green then. (Although I got to stare at them way longer this time.) Do they change color? I dunno... but that's what they seemed today to me. I've said it before though and I'll say it again, he's so flawless just thinking about how much makes me feel lightheaded. LOL!

For the knitters that read my blog...

My sister is now making stitch markers and offering them for sale at her etsy store... She takes custom orders too, if you'd like particular beads/stones/colors/charms to be used for a set, or you need larger or smaller rings to fit your needles. For those she currently has posted, it's $8 for 6 markers, $15 for 12. They are crystal and sterling silver and the rings are 10mm.

Steve's Q&A...

These are videos of Steve Carlson's Q&A... For those who don't know, Steve is a friend of Jensen. He's a singer/songwriter and we Supernatural fans just seem to adore him. And I think he might have done some music for the show at some point??? I dunno... But that's not really important. What's important is that he's awesome and he comes to cons to play for us. (There are no spoilers here. Just good times... ;D)



Edit: This second video will remain private until I hear from Steve that it is all right to make it public. If he tells me that he doesn't want it shown, it will be removed altogether. I'm really sorry, y'all. I know you're anxious to see it, but I was told (rather rudely, I must say) by another con-goer via several comments on the YouTube page that Steve specifically asked us not to put video of this particular song up on the internet for public viewing. I didn't hear him say that. Neither did my friends who were watching the performance with me, and another friend who has the entire Q&A on video (but doesn't wish to post her videos on the internet, sorry) says that at no point does he say that or anything that might be construed as that, but until I get confirmation from Steve himself, I can't allow anyone else to see it. I want to abide by whatever Steve's wishes are because I'm utterly horrified that I missed something, somewhere and that I posted something he asked us not to post.

Edit, the second (03/10): The video will not be shared. It contains things that Steve doesn't want public. I'll be recutting the video as soon as possible without those parts and reposting it at that time. Thank you for your understanding and I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Chad's Q&A...

(Unfortunuately, Ilana, there are spoilers for the season 2 finale in Chad's videos, but you're almost there, right? You can watch them once you're done with season 2 without any worries of being spoiled. There might also be some little things here and there for seasons 3 and 4, but they're so vague [and coming from the audience] you probably won't understand them.)

I was shocked that so many people didn't stay for Chad's Q&A. He had maybe about half the number of people in the audience that Jared had had, and later Steve had maybe half the number of Chad.

Back from EyeCon...

I can't begin to say how amazing it was! I'm still enraptured...

I was able to give Jared the hats I made for him and Jensen during the autograph session, but he wasn't able to open them. Poor dear was late for his plane. So, from what I understand, the con is shipping his large number of presents back to Vancouver for him (at least, they had better because that was the understanding I had), and so he and Jensen should get the hats shortly.

My video of Jared's Q&A (there are some spoilers for recent season 4 episodes):















More video to come - of Chad's and Steve's Q&As - as soon as it's ready to be uploaded to YouTube.

OMG!

I've been looking at the etsy listings of handpainted rovings, and I want to spin something so bad - OMG! Why do I have no roving that's ready to spin?!?! ... Oh, yeah, because none of the LYS's around here will carry spinning supplies and I haven't had the cash and wherewithal to order some from Spinners Ridge or ebay! *sighs* Okay... back to getting ready for EyeCon. I really don't have time for spinning today anyway.

Presents for Jared and Jensen all packed up and ready to go. I hope I'm able to give them to Jared tomorrow! *crosses fingers* Pictures/video to come, with luck.

Since Autumn is coming...

And coming fast... I need to get out in the garden this week and get things ready for the Fall planting asap. I've already started, but it needs to be finished.

I've found the seeds though, so that's good. I've got all the greens, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts we need. I'm going to need to get some peas, maybe, and sweet onion sets if I can find them... They're hard to find around here for some reason. Garlic and shallots too, also if I can find them.

I'm sure there are some other things that we need that I'm forgetting, but it's all on my other computer and my monitor is still dead (can't remember if I had said, it was killed by lightning during a storm - the computer and all the other equipment were unaffected though. If I had to loose something, I'm glad it was the monitor).

I'm working on Urchin. It's almost done. Just need to seam it up and weave in the ends. I think I might dye it with indigo. I've never done bamboo with indigo. Will be interesting. But then again, I might leave it undyed because it does look good as is. But white shows dirt so easily, so I'll probably dye it after all... I definitely need a pin or brooch or something for it though. It's like that...

I need to start taking stock for presents for the holidays. I've got a lot of stuff saved up. And I've got cotton yarn from those KnitPicks samplers still. Lots of easy, quick, little presents to make from that stuff. Really, awesome investment. I know Stacey has said she wants a felted bag. Check. I want to make some more felted bags. They're so easy and quick too. Three days and it's completely finished, felted and dried. Awesome!

For myself this fall, I want to make a Tied Danish Shawl. I found a group on Ravelry where they do KALs of shawls that are inspired by the races of Tolkien's books. The tied Danish Shawls make me think of the hobbits. Seriously, the shawls are simple, very practical and made to be worn while working, but at the same time, the stripes and bright colors make them cheerful as well, and they just make me think of Hobbiton and hobbit children running through green fields. I think I want to use the pretty green skein of wool that Ilana sent me for part of it. I need to see what else in my handspun stash will go with it.

I also want to spin some new stuff and dye it with the onion skins and marigolds I've been saving up. If I do, I might use that for the shawl too. In any case, I'm really excited about the project.

Supernatural 4.01

I will not spoil because I know Ilana is going to read this but is not watching season four yet due to lack of a nearby WB affiliate, but I must say this much:

*FLAIL* THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING HOUR OF TELEVISION I THINK I'VE EVER SEEN! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!! *passes out from t'awesome pie of it all*

Okay... That is all...

Well, crap... and yet, yay!

We'll start with the crap: We had a storm at my house a few hours ago. Really terrible thunderstorm... the windows would shake from the thunder and it sounded like it was right on top of us. So, naturally, I shut my computer off and took a nap. What else is there to do when it rains like that? Well, the power went out for a few minutes, and even though I have a surge protector on my computer, the power surge we got just before seems to have fried the monitor. The monitor is completely dead. So no monitor on my computer just now. Am having to use the laptop. Can't watch all the Doctor Who I got earlier this week either. :-( Very sad about that as I've been drowning in the Doctor for the last three days. Got up to the third episode of the second season.

Also, it is now only by the grace of my parents' most supreme generosity that I'm going to get to go to EyeCon on Sunday (not this Sunday - the 28th) to see Jared's Q&A and so I can give him the hats I made for him and Jensen, and get a new monitor so my computer will be usable once again. We very unfortunately don't have any old monitors lying around. We used to, but the last of the old monitors was given to Good Will about 6 months ago. Ah well, lord knows they put it to better use.

But YAY, it looks like I will be able to go to see Jared at EyeCon. Some of my friends from school will be coming too, with luck.

Also, on the job front, looks like I have all my i's dotted and t's crossed and I'm just waiting for USF to send me my transcripts to send in with my application. Once that's done and the application is sent, the rest will hopefully go smoothly and by October I will finally be working. In the meantime, I'm thinking of volunteering for Obama's campaign...

But the best YAY! today has of course been getting the package that Ilana sent me! YAY!!! She sent blueberry jelly (YUM!!), two yummy soaps that smell good enough to eat, and earrings that her mom made. The earrings are very pretty. Little freshwater potato pearls that are "peas" inside silver pea-pods! So cute!!! :D

Also, according to the news, Obama is gaining in the polls in West Virginia (and in Florida too). Still not winning (yet), but not slipping. YAY! Looks like your volunteering is helping, Ilana! :D

Well, I'm on Ravelry now...

YAY!

Same username... It's an awesome place! So much to see and do! O.O

It seems to be having a bit of a glitch tonight. Nothing can be added to my queue of things to knit in the future and I can't modify WIPs.

Also, I'm wondering how to delete projects from the project list because I can't seem to figure that out just now, but it will wait until tomorrow, when the site is hopefully working once more...

I need to get this off my chest...

Seriously, not a day has gone by since Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's VP that I haven't heard something completely outrageous about her, her past as a public servant, or the policies she supports. That more people aren't screaming out their concerns over her has me baffled.

She has wanted to ban books from libraries. She has fired people for personal reasons and her administration in Alaska refuses to answer the subpoenas summoning witnesses to the Alaska legislature for questioning about how she has abused her executive power. She has taken more money per capita for her state for pork barrel projects from the Federal government than any other state, and hired lobbyists in Washington to get Alaska even more pork barrel money, while saying she doesn't support pork barrel politics. And her husband was a member of the Alaska Independence Party from 1995 until 2002, which supports and has supported Alaska succeeding from the US and whose motto is "Alaska First!" According to the head of the AIP, both Sarah and Todd Palin attended their convention in 1994...

She doesn't care about the environment or global warming. She doesn't want polar bears to be protected under the Endangered Species Act and encourages the shooting of wolves of any age, from the ground or from helicopters (in a practice that is incredibly barbaric, fyi, since entire packs are often killed by running them to exhaustion and then wiping them out with guns). She hates wolves so much that she wanted to pay hunters $150 for each wolf leg they brought in, something that the Alaska courts ruled illegal, and she took $400,000 in state funds to fight a ballot initiative to limit the aerial hunting of wolves. Because of Sarah Palin, for the first time since 1958, it is legal to shoot and kill bears and their cubs in the state of Alaska. Why, you might ask? So that more sport hunters will be able to not only kill these predators, but also to increase the number of moose and caribou in the state so that it will be easier for sport hunters to find and kill those animals as well... you know, on the weekends or on vacation when they aren't being doctors and lawyers and politicians in Anchorage and Juneau and Wasilla... Now, I have no problem with hunting, but I have a big problem if you're not going to eat what you kill and you're just doing it to put a head on your wall and brag to your friends about how many you've gotten this season. I have an even bigger problem with hunting if you kill predators to increase the number of pray animals just to have even more things to shoot easier with your big, high-powered, couldn't-get-away-if-they-wanted-to hunting rifles. Barbarians! And it's arrogantly reckless of Sarah Palin to encourage it, against the recommendations of hundreds of scientists, never mind to actually want these policies.

Ahem... To continue... She's anti-choice. She's a creationist and believes creationism should be taught in public schools as a legitimate scientific theory. She doesn't believe in family planning or medically accurate sex education. She believes that homosexuals can become heterosexual if they just pray hard enough. And she believes that fighting the Iraq war is, and I quote, "a task from God" to the American people... She also didn't know what Bush's foreign policy on fighting terrorism was until it was explained to her on camera during her first interview since becoming the Republican VP candidate yesterday. She said that she believes American military forces should be able to enter any foreign country, without the permission of that sovereign nation's leadership, to go after whoever or whatever we want to, despite the violation to international laws, etc. etc. etc. that such action would pose. And she isn't sure what a Vice President does from day-to-day exactly but she hopes there's a lot to do because she likes to keep busy. o.O Bzuh? I'm sure there was more, but this is all I can remember off the top of my head.

And today is no different, the outrage continues:

Despite denials by the McCain campaign, there is documentary evidence that Palin knew about (or at the very least had the legal responsibility to know) and did nothing to stop the police department of Wasilla charging rape victims $500 - $1200 for post-rape exams in 1998-1999, until the legislature of Alaska, outraged by the practice, outlawed it statewide... I don't know how any woman, regardless of religious background, could allow such a thing to happen when she had all the power necessary to prevent it. You can read more about it, with links to evidence, here.

Seriously, I'm afraid of what I'll hear about her tomorrow...

A most interesting e-mail...

I don't know the true identity of the source of this e-mail I got from scooter58 on Hey!Neilsen. Deepak Chopra? *shrugs* Your guess is as good as mine. However, it is full of interesting observations I think are worthy of consideration...

Addendum: Indeed, it is Deepak Chopra. Source here, thanks once again to scooter...

Obama and The Palin Effect

From: Deepak Chopra Posted: Friday, September 5th, 2008

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.)

I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:

• Small town values -- a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.


• Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.


• Family values -- a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be heeded.


• Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.


• Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.


• "Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.

Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow -- we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

Supernatural next week...

Next week, Supernatural season 4 will start! OMG! O.O I can't wait! Too exciting!!!

Two clips (yes, they're spoilers & yes, they are different from what was shown at ComicCon):





*hyperventilates* OMG! One! Week!

Political Funnies...

A video...



And a satirical article...

New Knitty, New Day!

I slept most of today because my brother was freaking the hell out over the end of the world due to the particle accelerator outside Geneva and that made me freak out too and stay up to watch the sunrise. I hate it when this happens. My sleeping was already messed up, but now it's just really messed up. I think I'm going to try to see if I can take a nap sometime tonight, get up early in the AM and stay up all tomorrow like normal people do, and then I'll sleep normally tomorrow night. I really need a job so I can't do stuff like this anymore... Working on that. I went to see Prof. M yesterday to visit and to ask if she'd be a reference for me, which she was more than happy to do. Now, I just need to get a copy of my transcript, and get ahold of my next door neighbor, who's a neurosurgeon and so very diffiuclt lately to catch at home, to be my other reference, and I can send in the job application. Mission tonight, write an e-mail to my neighbor and order a transcript online if possible.

Anyway, a new Knitty was published today.

There are pretty patterns...

I especially like Versatility... It's like Wisp and Convertible, both of which I also like. Never made Convertible, but I did make Wisp... I just need buttons for it and to block it again because I screwed it up the first time.

Camden is interesting... I like the long fingerless mitts being able to be attached to the short-sleeved sweater. Makes it very versatile. And using KnitPicks yarn makes it much cheaper to make than most of the sweater patterns at Knitty...

Kinetic is fascinating!

Slither? I wants it, precious, yeas... I'm probably more likely to make these than something like Camden because it takes less time (I would hope)... Although I probably won't end up making either simply because I'm lucky if I ever finish anything for myself. LOL! Like many knitters, I make things for other people with much higher frequency than I make things for myself.

Hug is whimsical and delightful, if slightly disturbing... And Tatiana is also whimsical and made of love, but impractical for me since I'd never get any use out of them

Waves of Grain is so beautiful! I love it! I also love Abby. So pretty (and handspun)! I'd love to make either of these for my sister Lara. I think they would suit her so well! I think she'd also love Maple, and it's so on my list for the next time I just have to felt something and am brave enough to try colorwork again...

Garden Gate is gorgeous! But I'm no where near brave enough to attempt them. Baroque, though, looks exciting, and I am seriously tempted to try making those.

I definitely think I can find some handspun in my stash to make Oncleows with! Too cute!! And perhaps I'll be more likely to wear shorter skirts and capris more often to show them off.

OpArt! Is so on my list of things to make for my niece! I know Tim Burton will eventually come into her life, and this is wonderfully Tim Burton-esque without being so scary. LOL!

And cool features...

I think I need this from Knitty's list of Cool Stuff: Bramble. My friend Laura would freak out if she got one of these for her birthday! :D And OMG - look at these cute things at this person's Etsy!

Awesome 1840's knitted nightcap, translated pattern. YAY! :D

And silk reeling... tempting, very interesting, but I think I've got enough fiber related hobbies at the moment.

The Straight-NoTalk Express...

LOL! I like this new name for it.

A report from a fellow blogger about meeting McCain and Palin. 'Tis interesting...

Here's the funny thing - all this horrifying stuff I've been finding out about the opposition lately, I haven't even been looking for it. It's all fallen into my lap while I'm looking for poll results, checking my e-mail or Daily Show episodes I've missed. Think what I could find if I actually actively searched?!

The Daily Show's coverage of the RNC...

Everyone, go watch this. No, really, right now. Take twenty minutes and watch this...

Knitting and a dilemma...

First, the dilemma...

I want to make myself one of these sweaters: Hey Teach.

I'm using Peaches n' Cream though instead of the much more expensive cotton/acrylic blend that the pattern calls for because I'm cheap and I prefer to not use acrylic ever and I have a ton of it all in the same color and dye lot, so yeah, seems like a plan. I learned long ago the importance of making gauge swatches and washing and at least finger blocking them to determine gauge. Problem: I can't seem to get gauge. I've got one stitch short of the gauge on size 6 needles, and half a stitch too much on size 7 needles. So should I just do it on size 7 needles, and go with it? Better to be slightly too big, than slightly too small? What's the usual protocol when one has this problem?

On to the success story... I finished the fingerless mitts that I've been trying to make for my friend Zinzi for more than a year. After the disasters with the gauge (hence why I now obsessively make swatches), the endless distractions of other pressing projects, and then the final coup de grâce when my cats destroyed the yarn, I thought I'd never get them done. But I decided earlier this week to take another crack at it, using a different pattern and yarn I spun myself. Success!!







I had to alter the pattern, and only do 40 stitches instead of the prescribed 52, but since I only needed 38 for the cables, it still worked. I also made them shorter so that they could be more practical.

New things I've made recently...

Still knitting and sewing up a storm since I left for Virginia in the middle of July, but I've been remiss in posting pictures, even though I've been taking them. So... here's pretty much everything that I've finished in the last two and a half months...

A cup cosy for like Starbuck's cups and the like... though I try not to patronize Starbucks... (YAY! My first successful fair isle!)



The other side of the same cosy...



More felted bags... I've made probably 8 of these now and I want to make more... They work up so fast and look so good and are such a perfect size for so much! Guh! I love 'em!



6 cotton canvas place mats, bound with bias tape that I made (first time I've ever made my own bias tape - *g*)...



A hat I made for my friend Chelsea's birthday...



A hat I made for my friend Mia's birthday...



A headband that I gave to my friend Stacey as an early birthday present...



A keyhole scarf...



6 pairs of baby booties made out of Bernat's Organic Cotton yarn...



The scarf, headband, hats and cosy were all made with KnitPicks.com yarn and patterns that I got in their summer cotton sampler kits. I altered the pattern for Mia's hat because I didn't like the zig-zag pattern, so I made it into diamonds by shifting things about a bit.

I'm not sharing pics of my dishcloths because they're all the same and so simple and I've made at least 6 this month... I've also made another watch cap like the one I made for Jensen and Jared a while back (but have not yet sent to them), but this one is a Christmas present for Jason, Susan's husband... He needs it on those cold mornings when he's out in the woods.

I've also got about 6 works in progress right now (2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of fingerless mitts, a lacy headband, and a little impractical bag that I might rip out because it seems rather useless though pretty).

I must share this...

YES! On all issues! YES!

Must pimp...

I just got a package from my sister, Lara, containing all the things my mom and I ordered from her last week. It is all SO BEAUTIFUL! OMG! I'm like falling over with the pretty. *happy squeal*

So, seriously, if you like jewelry and pretty things (or you know someone who does), or you need one of those aromatherapy eye pillows to help with headaches, cramps, nausea or insomnia (they can be heated in the microwave, chilled in the freezer or used at room temperature), she's your gal! Check out her stuff at her etsy store, Eternal Autumn. She also takes custom orders of all sorts - whatever you want. Just message her through her etsy store. She's always happy to consult.

Here are the pieces I got if you're curious... Apples in Autumn, Persephone's Pomegranate, Fallen But Not Forgotten, and an aromatherapy pillow. My mom got two pieces (which I WANTED!): Art Nouveau Innocence and Ice Siren of the Arctic Seas.

Jumpin' on this bandwagon...

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
(My addition) 4) italicize what you'd really like to try.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison (Oh, god, yes, more of that, please??? I've been having dreams about salami made out of it... seriously...)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare (I don't do raw meat... I just don't...)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I imagine that it's rather nasty...)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich (One of my favorite things to eat for lunch to this day.)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Yum, blackberry wine...)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (I don't like tomatoes, but if I did, these would be the thing...)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - Seriously, EW!
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas OMG, NEVER AGAIN! BLEGH!!
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I'm ashamed to say... long ago...)
56. Spaetzle (Nom, nom, nom)
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (all of the above)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho (I hated it, but I tried it... would probably like the medieval version which had a zucchini base rather than tomato)
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict (SO YUM!!)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (Seriously, I think I'd rather commit cannibalism than eat horse.)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Vanilla Fig Preserves...

Made Vanilla Fig Preserves on Sunday with my friend Mia. We made 3 batches, using 6 pounds of figs, which turned out to be 15 half-pints (the webpage with the recipe says that the recipe makes 5 1/2 pints, but it must be a typo that should be "half-pints"). It's not nearly as much as it sounds...

In the first two batches, we didn't use vanilla, the vanilla is only in the last batch, which was by far the best, according to our taste tests. I recommend cutting the sugar the recipe calls for in half - so 1 3/4 cups instead of 3 1/2 cups of sugar. It really doesn't need that much sugar for sweetness or to gel.

I have pictures...

This is Mia stirring the pot...


The figs are beginning to cook and release juice...


Processing the jars in a water bath...


Finished jars of Vanilla Fig Preserves...


Altogether from throwing the ingredients in the pot til the finished jars come out of the water bath, each batch takes about an hour if you have everything set up and ready to go and you don't have to wait for the water bath to heat when the preserves are done.

Woot!!

The Rays won!! 10 to 9 in the bottom of the ninth. It was awesome!! Mia and I had a great time...



There were over 34,000 people there! I've never seen so many at a Rays game... *tsk, tsk* Fair-weather fannery...









The "We the Kings" concert afterward was okay. Not really my kind of music, but it was fun. But it was cool that the band led the crowd in Take Me Out to the Ballgame (kinda off-key) during the 7th inning stretch:

Can we please elect him, now? k, thanks...

Figs!

Figs are in season in the south right now, in case you had not yet noticed... and possibly elsewhere for all I know. I love fig preserves. It is yummy stuff. My mom loves it too. So I've been wanting to make some all summer. Our fig tree is still too small to produce more than one or two tiny (but yummy) figs a year, and the figs I tried to bring home from South Carolina were too ripe I think and spoiled in the car during the long, hot trip home. But Publix (the most amazing grocery store in the world, fyi) has these lovely figs, and I saw in the Sunday Publix newspaper flyer that pounds of figs are two for one this week, so I bought two pounds when I was there today...

Been looking for recipes for fig preserves and I think I found one that I like. Vanilla Fig Preserves. I'll be leaving out the vanilla and the liqueur because we don't have any of the later and the former... well, though we have some lovely vanilla beans that our neighbors brought us back from their trip to Tahiti last year, my mom doesn't want me to put it in there. She just wants plain fig preserves. So I might just have to go back to the store, get some more figs and make a second batch for myself so I can try it the way it's supposed to be made (though still minus the liqueur)... Oh, the torture... ;D And at $3.00 a pound (with the two for one deal they've got right now, and they are no where near to running low on figs, let me tell you!), it's a total steal!! Even more so when you consider the price of bought fig preserves, that this recipe makes 11 half-pints of preserves, and that I can't seem to find any in the store that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup added. Yeah. Steal.

I'll probably make this stuff Sunday, unless I get up really early tomorrow (possible, but not entirely likely). I'd do it tonight, but the jars won't be clean until tomorrow. And the afternoon is likely out because my friend Mia and I are going to a Rays game in St. Pete. The game starts at 3:55pm, which means we'll leave Tampa no later than 2:45, and there's a concert by a band that Mia really likes afterward, so we'll be there for a while... But there will be details on how it turns out and possibly also pictures when I make it...

An Article...

from the Saint Petersburg Times... Persevering amid life's many tests. There's a 1974 Impala involved. Very sad.

Home!! and Mail-box Suprises...

Finally!!

It was good to get away, but it's just as good to get home. I miss my sister and niece and all my other relatives already, but home is here, so... My cats look different, and the dog has literally doubled in size in the last two weeks. I wish I were kidding. She's almost big enough to jump up on the dining table if she wanted to and she can fly over the pet gates we have to keep her contained in the kitchen if she wants to. Not good. Mom needs to get to the dog training really quick...

I received a postcard from Ilana today. She sent it from Vermont and it has a lovely picture of a covered bridge on the front. I can't wait to show it to my mom when she gets home from work. She loves covered bridges. I'm glad Ilana is enjoying her getaway.

I also got all the back-issues of MaryJanesFarm (which is an awesome, awesome magazine, btw!). I'm savoring each of them. I just came across an article about a home from troubled teenage boys that teaches the boys to crochet to help relieve anxiety and anger issues, among other behavioral and emotional problems. They make lap-quilts to donate to old folks' homes and they make and wear their own slippers. Some of the slippers have pom-poms. With deepest sincerity (in case someone might think I mean to mock), I think this is very cool and utterly delightful, and it makes me extremely happy that these boys can be helped and that they help others in turn. They make all this stuff with donated (mostly scrap) yarn and there's an address where yarn can be sent. I'm so raiding my stash for them.

If you'd like to send them some yarn as well, the address is:

Northwest Children's Home
P.O. Box 1288
Lewiston, Idaho 83501

YAY!

I finally found some Borax (at Food Lion) and so the ants will soon be out of the kitchen. The cinnamon trick helped but now they're just in the dishwasher (of all places).

I'm in such a good mood today. I hope you all are having a good day. The sun is shinning here and I was feeling like crap the last two days, and today I feel so much better. I don't know if it's the change in weather or what, but I'm going with it.

I was driving home from the store and Corinne Bailey Rae singing "Put Your Records On" came on the radio. The image of Ianto Jones rocking out to this song inexplicably came into my head unbidden, and I couldn't stop laughing. If you know this song and you watch Torchwood, sit back and picture that for a moment if you would: Ianto rocking out to "Put Your Reconds On" (location of said rocking out is up to you). I hope you enjoy the visual as much as I did.

Have a lovely, lovely day, my dears!

Mr. Obama = Mr. Darcy? America = Miss Bennett?

Now, I don't agree with everything in this op-ed, and I think some of the suggestions are a bit ridiculous and over-reaching, and just like Lizzie, I'm not happy to be critical of my own sex, but I have to say that some women are apparently frighteningly simple and short-sighted (and yet others also give feminists a very bad name), but I found the article interesting nonetheless.

And it should go without saying that if this comparison holds true, then Obama will win the election after a wonderfully selfless and generous heroic act is discovered and McCain will be proven to be a notorious cad. LOL! Oh, I can but dream!

Maybe I'm so blown away by how die-hard some of these Hillary supporters are because I never really was one. I've always found that she's somewhat too good a politician, or perhaps not good enough because I can always see through her pandering to what she's really trying to do - get elected to the highest office she can by saying and doing whatever she thinks she needs to in order to attain that goal. Which is all well and good, but it doesn't make her the best candidate. And her not being the best candidate has nothing to do with the fact that she is female and everything to do with that I'm better convinced of Obama's sincerity and his politics are slightly closer to mine than Hillary's are. If I really had my druthers, Kucinich would be my President, but that didn't happen and apparently no one wants to discuss how the media counted him out of the race and ignored him so early on that it was ridiculous. I realize that he didn't really have a chance, being as far "left" of what most people consider the mainstream as he is, but he had interesting things to say, I think, if one bothered to stop and listen. But now, I'm all for Obama. He's our best chance, I think, and I hope the majority of voters are with him this November.

In other news: The cinnamon stopped the ants coming in through the cabinet, but there's some coming in from somewhere else and I can't find it. I think it might be behind the dishwasher somewhere, which does the cinnamon trick no good. So it looks like borax is my next step.

First a rant about Robin Hood and then an update:

The rant (with lots of spoilers for the season finale which aired last night):

You know, I don't expect much out of Robin Hood. I don't expect historical anything from it and I think it's pretty much the medieval equivalent of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. But... still...

WHAT?!?! That was SO NOT COOL, MAN!!! I'm kinda upset by this. Sure, Marion annoyed me sometimes... Sure, sometimes I wanted the costumers and writers brought up on charges over her character's clothes and some of the things she did/said... but I didn't want her DEAD! SO NOT COOL! *pouts* Honestly, Robin Hood without his Maid Marion? What exactly are we supposed to do with that? It is so not the story... There was at least one more season that they could have dragged out their romance and it didn't ever need to end with her dying.

Also, I liked both Djaque and Will, and I'm very sorry to see that they apparently won't be back. *grrrrrs*

Lately, it seems like a lot of shows have been ticking me off with their season finales. I can't think of any others at the moment that won't be potentially spoilery to some people who might be reading this (and there are several!), but I feel like I've been left disappointed by a lot of tv lately... I know it's just tv, and really, yeah, it's just tv, but it's supposed to entertain, right? Not leave the audience going OH NO THEY DIDN'T!!! with their surprise, irrevocable twists full of what-the-fuckery... And it seems a number of series have done that lately. At least, that's my take...

And here's the update:

I'm staying at the cabin by myself now. My parents have gone back home and I'm staying until after my niece's birthday. I was really scared at night the first several nights, but I'm feeling much better about being here by myself now. It's easier to identify the creaks and groans that the house makes periodically. FYI, new log houses (and possibly log houses in general) make a lot of noise and sometimes are so suddenly loud that you'd think an elephant abruptly landed on the roof and it's getting ready to cave in. This is, apparently, quite normal, as are thumps and creaks in the walls and floor.

I was going to go to Floyd yesterday to go antiquing, but it rained all day with thunder and lightning, so I didn't risk the unfamiliar, twisty mountain roads to get there. And our kitchen has inexplicably been infested with ants. Little (but not tiny) amber colored ants that don't bite. Even though they weren't congregating anywhere in particular in the kitchen, just crawling around all over the floor, cabinets, stove and countertop, I spent all of yesterday afternoon cleaning and sweeping and making sure there is absolutely no food that could be drawing them in. But they're still a few around. Not nearly as many as before though. I didn't know where they were coming from for the longest time, but after dinner I found that they're coming up through a hole in the cabinet under the sink. Today, I'm going to try to find something not full of chemicals and yet effective to kill and/or get rid of them... Suggestions welcome...

Edit: How to make organic ant traps. Awesome!

In other news: I have been knitting up a storm! I've finished two felted bags, two pairs of baby booties, two dishcloths and two hats since I got here. I'm well on my way to finishing another two pairs of baby booties (each ball of Bernat Organic Cotton makes two). I'm also working on a scarf and another hat (both from KnitPicks). I think once I've done all that, if I finish all that, I'll have exhausted the small yarn stash I brought with me... Not sure what I'll do then. maybe move on to sewing projects...

TTFN!

We're off to Virginia tomorrow for sure. Thank goodness! Finally!! I won't have internet access until late-Thursday or Friday at the earliest, but not sure how much I'll be on except to try to post pictures. It will all depend on how fast the connection is...

Can't wait! Can't wait!!

Hellboy 2 is released tomorrow! *does a dance of joy*

Moviefone's Hellboy 2 Unscripted Interview

Also, I'm feeling better and better all the time about Del Toro directing The Hobbit.

Tendinitis, terrible thunder storms, road rage, ruined yarn and still mostly a nice day...

Can't remember if i wrote on here or not... I'm afflicted with tendinitis at the moment, due to too much knitting too fast. really, it was only one day of too much too fast, over a week ago, and still, can't tempt it apparently. It was feeling better, so I forgot to wear my brace when i went out today, drove all afternoon and so now it's back again. and the brace is making capitalizations and typing in general rather hit or miss. but it doesn't hurt to type, since typing wasn't what caused the injury, the muscles and tendons don't move in quite the same way. Driving didn't either, but it hurts after doing a lot of it because i guess i hold my wrist at an odd angle while driving.

it's been horribly stormy all day and into the night. the roads are wet and visibility is questionable sometimes. so i was driving home from the citrus park area, turning right onto a road where you can't turn right on red because visibility to the left is obscured by the odd angle of the intersection, even on a good and bright day, let alone a rainy, totally dark night and there are two signs that say so, plain as day, one hanging next to the traffic signal and one right next to where the cars stop in the turn lane. So I'm waiting... waiting... and waiting some more for the green light. A white truck pulls up behind me, starts honking his horn after i don't move (cuz... uh... waiting, like the sign says to), and then some more, and then he just leans on it. Then the cars behind him start up. i don't know, maybe they didn't care it was a no-right-turn-on-red stop either, or they couldn't see the sign from where they were or they were honking at the asshole to stop his whinging. *sighs* Well, i went because i could actually see well enough to tell that the road was clear, because the guy was being so damn insistent and as i was speeding up to the speed limit, the white truck guy sped around and past me, after getting up on my bumper, honking his horn and flipping me the bird, and i could see the profile of his face, he was yelling at me. i know he couldn't see me because of the dark and the angle of the street lights, but i flipped it right back at him and told him to go fuck himself. i was pissed. I don't get pissed often, but when i do, watch the fuck out. i tried to speed up and catch him, but maria, my friend who was in the passenger seat, told me not to and to let him go, so i did. i didn't want to, but i did. i was hoping for a red light ahead of us so i could pull up right behind him and lean on my horn, danger be damned. he needed to feel my wrath. but alas, no. he sped off into the night, at what had to be about 55 or 60 mph (in a 45 zone), judging by how fast he was accelerating compared to me, weaving in and out between other cars, at night, with rain coming down and the roads slick. Him = Not Too Smart! no one needs to go somewhere that much, i don't care what. so, I'm hoping and praying karma kitty catches up with him and he either gets a fat ticket or wraps his truck around a tree for his rude and reckless behavior. something tells me he needs to be told by the universe to slow the fuck down and maybe a nice little accident will knock his head loose from his ass. who knows? the rest of us might get that lucky...

*sighs* so I came home and, in my idle rage, I looked up some hoodoo curses. There's nothing i can possibly do that wouldn't possibly kill him, since I don't have anything personal of his to make him sick... Pretty my only curse option would be to bury an effigy meant to represent him in a graveyard, and if it worked, he'd die in a karmicly appropriate sort of way. and that, now that I've calmed down, seems a bit extreme. No joke...

... But! i did finally remember to link this HooDoo website I've found quite useful for answering questions about Supernatural in the right hand column. Fascinating stuff, that... I think it's very interesting that, unlike other similar belief systems where magic and spellwork is a major part of it, cursing with malicious intent seems to be a recognized and not-at-all-discouraged part of hoodoo... in fact, it seems to be a rather large component. And the negativity doesn't get reflected back onto the person who works such curses... The curses seem to be regarded as fully deserved by those who are cursed. Hoodoo seems rather unique in this respect. Perhaps the system works this way to give individuals that feel they've been wronged activities to perform in order to have their grievances redressed, to channel their rage constructively without resorting to actual violent action, but at the same time acknowedging that they have every right to be angry and want revenge... I don't know... random, spontaneous thoughts...

Also, at the moment I want to get some witch bottles for my windows, just because... I'm curious though if I'm supposed to put anything in them if i just put them in the windows. it only says what to put in them if they are to by buried under a threshold. i guess they're kinda like dream catchers, in that they capture non-corporeal things that might want to do harm, but they're glass and sparkly instead of made of string and pretty woven things...

So when i got home (and part of why by the time i got on the computer i was still pissed enough to look up curses), i found all my good yarn that had been in closed bags on what i thought was (and up til now had proven to be) an inaccessible shelf pulled down and ripped apart and wound all around the living room by the cats. I'm mean, really, this had all been up there for an entire year and none of the cats even attempted to get to the shelf before because it's at a very odd angle from all the places they could jump. But tonight, at least one of them got adventurous. Probably Amaya. :/ Not cool, man! So I had to clean all that up. The good news is that only two balls are now ruined to the point where i can't use them for what they had been intended. unfortunately they were two that i really needed and will be rather costly to replace (well, really any of them would be somewhat costly to replace). so I'm thinking of not replacing them and using/doing something else. i was lucky that the two balls of Kidsilk Haze survived, as well as the one Cotton Wool and one Felted Tweed were mostly undamaged. even so, the Calmer, which was intended for Susan's Christmas present, and the Summer Tweed, which had been intended to finish Zinzi's long over-due Dashing mitts, are broken up with huge sections shredded or the fibers are so weakened by cat teeth that they just can't be used. *sighs* so frustrating. so i don't know what I'll do about the calmer yet, but i came across an interesting pattern last week that i think i might be able to do for zinzi's mitts and they'll work out even better than the previous idea. Maybe with Andean Silk, Main Line, or Shine Worsted. I'm leaning more toward the Shine Worsted because it's a cotton-blend... because I'm afraid of triggering an allergic reactions for her with some of the animal-derived fibers (it's why i picked the summer tweed, which is cotton-silk, in the first place). Just in case. Obviously, I've been thinking about this... So perhaps the incident with the cats was a fortunate accident. So, Miss Zinzi, if you're reading this, what colors would you prefer? Purples still your cup o' tea? If so, then perhaps the Crocus, Wisteria or Bachelor Buttons of the Shine Worsted yarn? If not, then please, what colors are you feeling for your mitts?

Overall, however, today was a good day. Went out with Maria and Laura for pizza, then to the bookstore for studying for GRE/GKT/State Department tests respectively... got some of that done (*shifty eyes*), checked out magazines, and then got more pizza at Mellow Mushroom for dinner... Today was a pizza kind of day. Veggie pizza. *nods sagely*

Got to share this...

Christian the Lion...

His story can be found here at wikipedia. The video of the reunion is here:



Awwwwww!!!!!

Joss Whedon's new little project...

Yes, oh, yes, this will be awesome. I believe it will be anyway...

What is it? Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.

What Joss has to say about its creation in his own words from whedonesque.com:

Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.

Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.

The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.

The program of events may be found here.

And be sure to pass this news along and get yourself a banner for your own site... It will be epic! LOL!

Been bit by the sewing bug...

I'm sewing non-stop right now. Fabric, fabric, fabric... I've been buying bits here and there. I made 15 linen napkins this week and there will be several more still because I've got fabric I found in my stash yesterday being washed as I type.

My prizes this week have been two remnants of 1/2 yd linen and nearly 1/2 yd cotton velvet (which is something I like never see in stores! And at a JoAnn Fabrics, no less!) in the same color. How lucky is that?! I want to make an 18th century bodice with them as the outer fabrics... but of course, I have no pattern.

But what I really want to make are some tea towels... Old fashioned tea towels out of flour sack cotton... But I can't find any flour sack cotton that's not already cut up and/or cut up and hemmed into towels. I want to make them myself! (LOL! at me wanting more things to do.) And I don't want vintage fabric because... well... I'm silly, but I'm just not comfortable cutting up 50+ year old fabric. I'm just not. But there are people making flour sack towels to sell via ebay and etsy and Williams Sonoma carries/carried them at some point recently, so someone's got to be making and selling this fabric somewhere... I just can't seem to find it. Maybe it's called something else in the fabric trade nowadays, since not many/any companies put their flour in fabric sacks anymore?

Crafty things... :D

Since the cabin being finished keeps being delayed, and now we can't leave Tampa until June 30th at the earliest (ARGHH!!!), I've had to keep myself distracted and busy so as not to loose my mind with frustration and idle waiting... So... I've been crafty...

I finished the hat that I'm making for Jared Padalecki...



It's done with the same pattern I used for the hat I made for Jensen, but I changed colors, as you can see... The black is 100% fine natural black merino wool, and the green is Colonial wool that I got from coppermoose on ebay. I had to keep the green off areas that would touch skin because it's kinda itchy, though the color is lovely... so that informed how I arranged the colors. The black is also double-knit above where the brim folds over, so the hat should be pretty warm, in a good way. Overall, it weighs in at a hefty 6 ounces, due to the heavier merino that is double-knit.

I also made pillows...



They are done with cut-out pre-printed pillow shapes. All I had to do was take batting, quilt each side by machine and then put the sides together and stuff them. I used Nature-fil Bamboo fiber... and I wonder if the left over is spinable... *is plotting* It's about $12 - $14 for 12 ounces of the stuff, so if it is spinable, that is really good. :D

Finally, I made onesies for my niece, Sophie. (And by "made," I mean I ironed on t-shirt transfers.) Her birthday is coming up in August, and like the good aunt I am, I plan to spoil her with presents...

These first two don't have designs on the back.



But the rest do have backs...




YAY! :D

Random stuff...

Got nothing particularly interesting to report... We lost power the other day and since then my computer won't turn on. I'm taking it to get looked at by professionals today. Hopefully, they'll figure out what's wrong quickly. I'm sorta getting used to this laptop my parents are letting me use, but I miss my computer and all my files.

We all know that Jared Padalecki's having a hard time right now, so if you haven't already, go give him your love and support over here. He will read it. *nods, nods* We think...

Also, I cannot find the yarn for making Jared's hat! This is not good. I need to find it. I wanted to have it all finished by the time they go back to set so I can send the hats to both of them at the same time. I also need to get my computer back because the patterns are all on there. I might have printed out the one that I was going to use for Jared's hat, and if I did, it's with the yarn. But I've been looking for it all night and I can't find it anywhere. Will continue searching...

When I haven't been searching for the yarn, cleaning or doing dishes, I've been watching videos from the Dallas Convention on YouTube. LOL! Looks like everyone had a real good time, as usual. And I hope being with the fans helped Jared at least a little bit.

I wish I could go to EyeCon in September. We'll see if that works out...

In other news, I think I'm addicted to this yummy organic chai Ilana sent me. And I usually hate chai, but this stuff is really good. It's called Numi "Golden Chai". Really good stuff... and I've used it all up... *sad face* On a happier note, I've been using the soap Ilana also sent, and it is yummy. I love how much it lathers, and it really does work very well as shampoo! I'm ashamed to say it, but I was really surprised at how well, never having used a solid shampoo before... Very cool, Ilana!

EyeCon videos...

I know since the Dallas Convention was this last weekend, pretty much everyone is going to be watching those videos and reading those reports, but I just got my camera functional again so I finally got my videos and pictures uploaded to my computer so I can share them with the world now (Yay!!). So these are videos from the Q&A's at EyeCon in Orlando last April, which I was lucky enough to attend.

(A note for Ilana - there are technically some spoilers in Jared's and Jim's videos, but they are so out of context and so far away from what you're watching right now and they have so little explaination that they aren't *really* spoilers... LOL! I think I just want you to be able to watch them anyway.)







This one is Jim Beaver answering the question he was asked about pranks that have been played on him on set. He's so cool... I <3 Bobby...



And this last one is of Sandy, talking about when Jared asked her to marry him. :-( I'm very sad to report that Jared and Sandy both confirmed in the last several days that they have broken off their engagement and are no longer together. It was a mutual decision, they both said, and they came to the conclusion that they are at different places in their lives right now, and that this is what's best for them. (The "rumors" that have been posted on the internet at imdb.com, lj and elsewhere are absolutely NOT TRUE. They are lies that some psycho person has been posting. Do not believe them or spread them.) I'm very sad about the news and for them because... well, I just am. I have no right to be at all, since I don't know them, but I am anyway. But, happily, there aren't any spoilers in this video at all...



Also... pictures...

Jim Beaver ("Bobby Singer"):


Samantha Ferris ("Ellen"), Chad Lindberg ("Ash"), and Alona Tal ("Jo"):


Sandy McCoy ("Crossroads Demon" #3):


Gabriel Tigerman ("Andy"):


Steve Carlson (who is awesome! Check him out!):


Chad and Gabe, getting ready to play "Guitar Hero" at the Platinum Party (Gabe was warning us that he sucked at it... which is okay... after all, we don't love him for his ability to play video games... :D)...


Jared Padalecki (... "Sam Winchester"... tell me that you knew that...):