Monday, December 21, 2009

Yarn Search

So Google has a new feature that allows you create a map with specific locations on it. Hmmm... I wonder how I can use this most informatively.... hmmmmm. Yarn store locations OF COURSE!!!

So I made a map of yarn store locations that I have been to and my opinions of them. I'm trying to find out if since it's a public map if anyone can add a location and a review... so I'm still working on it.

So here is my map, remember it's a work in progress since I'm still playing with the feature.

View Yarn Stores in a larger map

Also here is a link of the article I read about it in Wired...

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Plot_Your_Favorite_Locations_on_a_Map?oldid=64589

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Under the Dome

I see Stephen King has having two distinct writing personalities. The gory, horror, creepy writer that everyone automatically associates with him. This personality brought us Misery, Delores Claiborne, IT, and so on. Then there is the equally creepy, thought provoking Stephen King. More along the lines of Bag of Bones, and his newest novel , the arm breakingly long Under the Dome.

Right now I am on page 425 of this book, and not even halfway through. The pure heft of the book itself is very intimidating, the 1000+ pages make it seem like a crazy choice for a stay at home mom who has plenty of cleaning, Christmas knitting, and baking to do, but, taking my 50% off coupon from Borders as a sign, I took on the challenge!!

So far I am very glad I did! There are so many wonderfully vivid characters, and so many twists and turns that you won't even realize the pages flying by! You begin the book thinking you have an idea of what the "Dome" might be or represent, but you don't. There is something much deeper, sinister, and compelling going on at the heart of this book and I can't wait to get there!
I personally knew I was getting drawn in when a character developed that created such a great hate in me that I have to read to the end hoping for someone to punch him in face! Of course the way this book is going, I may end up loving him!

So, bottom line... if you are looking for a break from the early Christmas madness that is going on, or you need a gift for yourself or any avid reader... I whole heartedly recommend Under the Dome... it will draw you in without you even realizing it and 1000 pages will seem like nothing!!

View a trailer of the novel here at Amazon

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Happy Halloween!!!

In honor of Halloween coming up on Saturday I would like to share some of my favorite Halloween time movies!! Here are some clips to start with... I'm not really the "horror" movie type, so most of these are just cheesy Halloween movies that aren't very scary or gory.









Thursday, October 22, 2009

It's FINALLY concert time!!!

So I haven't been to a concert all year!! Sad and shocking!! But I'm making up for it in a big way tomorrow night at the Ulalume festival at Merryweather Post Pavillion!

It's not only a Paramore and AFI concert but a Halloween festival put on by MTV! It's common knowledge that I complain yearly of not having anything "cool" to do on Halloween where I get to wear a costume and be creepy and be creeped, but I will not have any reason to complain this year!! We will be standing in the pit a mere 35 feet from AFI and Paramore when they take the stage. We will also be in full costume. I (of course) will be in a gothy Alice costume and Stephen will be his own take on the Cheshire Cat! I will blog again this weekend with pictures and such but in the meantime enjoy this AFI video montage!!

PS make sure you tune into the Ulalume Halloween Special on MTV Friday October 30th at 9pm to see if you can catch a glimpse of me and Stephen!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

S O C K is a four letter word!

** Warning, probably of no interest to non-knitters

Sooooo I have spent much of my knitting career learning that socks are the be all and end all of the knitting experience. "Knit a sock and you'll be hooked" "Socks; easy, quick, and hard to ignore" is just some of the sock propaganda that has been tossed around my knitting group every week. So I gave in and got pretty excited about my first pair of socks and completed them with relative success! So feeling pretty cocky I began immediate plans for a pair for my mom (who incidently has the same size foot I do) for her birthday. I got the perfect wool, nylon blend sock yarn in a pretty coral color in a swap and knew it was fate! I started on a "Poppy" pattern from a certain sock knitting celebrity and CO (cast on for you non knitters) onto my US 1 DPNs (double pointed needles).

Four frogs (completely ripping out your entire project), 10 dropped stitches, and 1 aggravated heave accross the room later I'm left to wonder "What's wrong with me?" I've knitted sweaters, baby blankets, mittens, moderate lace, and basic socks why can't I tackle this project.

I soon learned that the road to proper sock knitting is littered with terms like "toe up" "provisional CO" "short row heel" "heel flap". Terms I've come to appreciate as profain! I must soon re-prioritize my knitting goals to keep from lunging my US 1 's at the next person who asks "How's your latest sock coming" I must suck it up and begin agian! Bigger, better, lacier sock patterns are in my future!! Knee high stockings as far as the eye can see!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

I'm grumpy...


So... I really hate that saying "When it rains it pours" mostly because it's true. I had hoped to spend this entire week cleaning and organizing and preparing for my husband to come home Thursday night. Well to throw another over used phrase at you "the best laid plans..." often get ruined by stupid crap that decides to happen all at once!

It all started Monday when I had a pretty good day of running errands and having dinner with a friend and wanted to take a relaxing shower to end the night... then BOOM my nice hot shower was crashed by the biggest, ugliest, craziest looking bug sitting on my shower head who then proceeded to jump on to my newly cleaned hair! After putting on the best 10 minute naked, wet, screaming, slipping, stomping show on earth I finally managed to coax the beast down the drain and rinse the rest of the soap off. Through some internet research I found out that it was a Brownbanded Cockroach... YUCK!! I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, feeling hundereds of imaginary bugs crawling on me and waiting for the ceiling to crash in with all their buddies that I was sure were breeding in my attic above.

I finally fell asleep at 6am only to be awoken at 7am by terrible cramps from my early monthly visitor followed shortly by Kaylyn's usual "Mama I'm Awake" song. So half concious I fixed Kaylyn breakfast, threw down 4 Advil with scalding hot coffee and called the exterminator. An unusually helpful man told me that these cockroaches unlike others, do not always travel in packs and unless I wanted to pay $400 for them to look and say there were no more I should go up into my attic and check things out for myself and maybe set off a bug bomb to be safe. Great idea except for the fact that my attic entrance consists of a hole in the celing of my closet with a piece of plyboard for a door. My ladder choices are 1. a 6ft ladder in the shed that I can neither lift nor fit into my closet, or 2. a 2 step stool that leaves me 2.5 ft short of reaching the door. I decided that this could be tackled after getting dressed and running to Walmart for the bug bomb.

After throwing on an attractive t-shirt, jean, flip flop, frizzy hair, no makeup outfit I convinced Kaylyn to abandon Handy Manny by bribing her with new crayons and made the trip to Walmart. Came home, bug bomb and new crayons in hand... set up Kaylyn in the unusually hot basement... why is it so hot in our basement when the air conditioning unit is on and actually in the basement... I opened the work room door to investigate only to find myself standing barefoot in an inch of very gross water! After stifling some un Kaylyn approved words I called my absent husband, who said he didn't mind the call during his brake, but his irritated tone told me otherwise... he said rest assured it was only the filter... look for the dimensions and go buy a new one.

So now after identifying the dimensions, changing into a less wet tshirt and convincing Kaylyn to abandon her new crayons by bribing her with a Happy Meal I set off once again for Walmart...
Home again this time new filter, Happy Meal, and extra large Iced Coffee in hand I occupyed Kaylyn with her lunch and favorite Charlie and Lola DVD, cleaned up the gross ac water, replaced the damned filter and headed upstairs to tackle my main project of the day.

Armed with my 2 step, step stool, bug bomb, and flashlight I put on another acrobatic display by jumping the plyboard off the hinges and swinging myself feet and ass first into the creepy dark attic. Luckily I found no bugs, and set off the bug bomb as instructed, just to be safe. The ac is now working fine and no other water has accumulated in 24 hours.

So I guess all in all I am a stronger woman for all this, and if all else fails at least I know I could have a promising career in the circus!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Side Cable Dishcloth

So here is a pattern I wrote to make a dishcloth based on the "Modern Cabled Baby Bib" by gibsongirl on Ravelry. It's very simple and is made with my beloved Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn.

**Note: The picture is of a mini-version made by CO 26 stitches instead of 36 and I think I'm going to use it as a mug coaster or something. The yarn is Lily Sugar'n Cream Ombre and Prints in Natural Ombre.





Side Cable Dishcloth

Materials:
1 Ball Worsted Cotton
US size 6 needles
Cable Needle (I just use a double pointed needle)

Stitch Guide:
C6F = Place first 3 stitches onto cable needle and hold them to the front of your work, knit next three stitches from working needle, and then knit 3 stitches off of cable needle.

CO 36 stitches
Row 1 and 3: Knit across
Row 2 and 4: Knit to last 6 stitches, Purl 6
Row 5: C6F, Knit to end
Row 6: Knit to last 6 stitches, Purl 6

Repeat Rows 1-6 until piece measures about 7 inches.
BO and weave in ends.

Monday, April 13, 2009

If Whitoberfest was a music festival...

So during my husband's surprise visit this weekend we met some friends for a drink... as usually happens a couple drinks in some deep and well thought out questions were discussed... ok so that doesn't usually happen but one was pretty good that I thought I would pass it along!

If you had your own music festival what 5 bands (any time frame, any point in their careers, any music genre) would you have from opener to headliner?

So it seems like it should be pretty easy... until you head starts cramming all the bands that have ever meant anything to you. So how do you conquer such a huge task especially when your bound by deadlines of waiting babysitters, last call, and alcoholic tolerance? Here is my 3 step guide!

1. Immediately eliminate any band that you are holding onto for purely sentimental reasons. Example: The Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch" was playing on the radio the first time Stephen and I made out in a car, so that song does make me smile when I hear it but I would rather beat myself in the head than listen to a whole concert of them.

2.Before you mix genres make sure the mood of one band won't ruin the mood of the other.

3. In cases of unavoidable band additions remember that you can add a 3 band second stage!!

So after much deliberation I finally decided on my 5 (oh, ok 8) bands!

Second Stage: (Opener to Headliner) Flyleaf, Paramore, and No Doubt

Main Stage: (Opener to Headliner) Dave Matthews Band, Live, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

So now somebody with lots of money and connections throw me a concert!!

I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

This Month's Book Review

While it is very hard to knit and read at the same time, sometimes my urge to read a good book actually overtakes my urge to knit (only sometimes). The only problem is that I am very picky when it comes to books. I usually don't stick with one genre, sometimes I need a good romance, sometimes I need an intellectual boost, sometimes a simple young adult Harry Potter type book, and sometimes a thriller. With this latest reading urge I finally gave into the crowd and read my first James Patterson novel.

I read the first book in the "Women's Murder Club" series, 1st to Die. From James Patterson's website...

A serial killer is stalking and murdering newlyweds on their honeymoon. San Francisco Homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer takes the case and along the way meets three other women–a lawyer, a reporter, and the city medical examiner. Joining forces to solve this gruesome crime, the Women's Murder Club is born.

I loved it! It had a good pace, it was interesting, and compelling. All of the characters were well developed but I liked Claire, the bold, caring, southern-momma like medical examiner, the best. While she wasn't the main narrator in this one, I felt I identified with her over the other more aggressive females in "the club." I hope that the other books in this series use the other ladies as narrators, giving each book their own personal twist. This first book had the police inspector, Lindsay, as it's main narrator, using the other three women for their insight into this career building case while battling with her own health, and social problems. I hope in the other books we'll get more in depth looks into the lives of the other leading ladies.

I believe there are currently seven books out in this series with an eighth book due out this summer, but don't quote me on that. I have the second book on hold at the library; hopefully it'll come in before my reading urges go away and the total knitting obsession settles back in.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Note from a Happy Raveler

Warning: If you are a non-Raveler you might not be interested in the main subject of this post, but the childish drama is entertaining!

So if you stalk blogs like I do you probably have noticed a good amount of people upset with Ravelry over some account banning. As a relatively quiet non trouble making raveler the situation as I see it is this...
Pre 2008 election there was a group that supported McCain (fine), and they loved to talk about their support of McCain (also fine). Post 2008 election they turned into "The Bunker" stressing their view that an Obama led America was something to be afraid of (not great but not necessarily hurtful). It is important to note here that Ravelry is also host to a pro Obama group and had he lost I don't claim to know what their reaction would be. So they stewed awhile on their own group peacefully (upset but not irrational), but eventually their emotions ran a little rampant and they began some nasty name calling that eventually went against the Rules to Live By on Ravelry and apparently the moderators of this group did nothing to remind their members of the rules. So to make a long story short the owners of Ravelry and the moderators of "The Bunker" went back and forth over what was appropriate on Ravelry, which ultimately led to "The Bunker" being closed down due to failure to comply with the site's guidelines (which is totally within the right of the owners because they are the owners). So the jilted members of this group stomped their feet and pouted in the form of Ravatars (avatars for Ravelry) and posts and such...
This is where I feel the story gets ridiculous... Some of the former members of "The Bunker" banded together on another networking site and then used it to hack into Ravelry disrupting it's operation. The continued abuse of Ravelry in this manner led to the owners banning the members of this outside group. Unfortunately there were some innocent bystanders who were members of "The Bunker" but not of the new militant (haha just a joke) group who were also banned.
So now this group is blogging all over about the woes of their being banned from Ravelry. When they were on Ravelry they did nothing but bitch about their rights and not being able to call other members Nazi's and other worse names.

Bottom line: The owners of Ravelry OWN Ravelry, so just like with any store, bank, and/or restaurant it is their discretion whether you are allowed in their place of business. If they wanted to ban you because of your views they would have done so with you group's conception not 6 months later. Accessing a website by means of another website is shady, disruptive, and destructive and I don't believe it would be allowed anywhere. You asked to be invited to Ravelry for the purpose of finding cool patterns, sharing your work, cataloging your yarn, and talking to people who share your hobby. If those were not your intentions you should have found another site. You are not being treated unfairly, you are being treated like children because that's what you are acting like. You are acting like children who lost an argument and then began throwing stones. Grow up and walk away with dignity without ruining Raverly for the rest of us.

**BTW the innocent bystanders mentioned earlier are being looked over by Ravelry's legal team which I'm sure will take awhile since every person banned claims to be an innocent bystander.
**If you have read this and would really like to smack me now please don't bother adding a nasty comment as I won't be posting it.

Photo Editing...

Lately I've really been into photo editing. My theory being that if I can edit pictures I take of Kaylyn well enough I won't have to have get expensive professional pictures taken as often. I tried a few different software programs, a Photoshop trial, Artweaver, and Gimp. I finally decided on Gimp. It's relatively easy to use, it has all the features I need and it's free!

GIMP stands for The GNU Image Manipulation Program. You can download it as free shareware here. There is also a manual that you can either download to your computer or read online. I found that the program itself is very easy to use, if you have a basic concept of layers and filters you'll do fine! However, the manual was kind of frustrating to read. It felt incomplete in some ways, like the person writing it wasn't the person who created all the features. If you have a specific problem or task there is really only a 50% chance you'll find it in the manual, in most cases you'll only find a similar situation and then will have to work out the rest of the details yourself. In general GIMP is really not any more complicated then Photoshop and it is a lot easier than Artweaver. So if you are looking for a free, only semi-complicated program I would definitely suggest checking it out!!

Here are some of the pictures I have edited so far... right now I've mostly been doing the whole black and white with a little color thing... here's what I got!



Monday, March 16, 2009

Moving in....



So I was getting kinda bored with Vox... frustrated with the photos and stuff like that. So, I've moved here! I will keep up my Vox blog, mostly because I had a pattern on there, so if you'd like you can visit it here.

I'm still playing with everything here on Blogspot and getting it to connect with my Ravelry page and such so give me a few days to get a clear thought out post up!