June Begins!

This was taken last night at what turned out to be a free preview for Educators of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the California Shakespeare Festival (aka CalShakes) (before they told us no pictures).

Darn, because the puppets they used as half the cast were amazing. The staging, blocking and realism were incredible. Not so Shakespearean, but then again, when has that Festival ever? It's the old Berkeley Shakespeare Festival relocated to its own amphitheater (maybe ten years ago?)

The Summer Reading Challenge (forum) officially starts today and of course, I'm not starting with anything on my list, I'm not done with Frederick and Fredericka yet, Aunt Dimity is due back on Saturday, and four of the books on hold came in. (The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant by Robert Hutchinson (I love non-fiction titles. They're so.....overwrought in a descriptive kind of way), Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirschfield and To the Tower Born by Robin Maxwell.

I can't get into the Summer Reading Challenge Forum either because evidently I'm not the Carrie K registered and it hates all my attempts to stay close to my name. It was a little disconcerting to see a CarrieK listed as a homeschooling mom - I've got no kids, definitely not bothering to school, home or otherwise, the imaginary spawn.

Neither back-ordered yarn has shown up for my Elizabeth I for the Tudor Roses KAL. Not that I'm done with the shell of the Twin Set - and I love that 3 foot rule, Jay! "If someone notices it from three feet away, poke them in the eye!" Advice that brings tears. Or I can go with Knittin Brit in WI said, it's a design feature. Like Jay made on his shirts. Go check out his "mistake". I should wish.

Got quite a bit done on it at any rate at the play last night, it's a fairly mindless pattern, and not nearly as boring as plain garter stitch. Argh! Why didn't I hold it up in front of the players/puppets & claim to be taking a pic of it?


In defense of Magneto and the X-Men 3 movie stunt Allison pointed out that the the distance to Alcatraz is 1.5 miles and the length of the bridge is 1.7 miles so considering that part of it was destroyed, it was almost a perfect fit. How is that too geeky? That's marvelous! I still maintain it'd sink like a stone, suspension cables intact or not, but at least the logistics work out.

In honor of the (still uneaten) Chocolate Lab, a way to keep track of your dog:
GPS Dog Collars. And you can get text messages from Fido! Well, not that kind, but still. I'd hate to see what Hez would send me.


Kelli crocheted a gorgeous dog collar. I keep seeing all these pet doodads, both because of Rebekah's Charity Pet Drive and Sheri got a cockapoo puppy yesterday that I haven't even seen yet. Puppies! Soooo cute.

. The knitter's version of Fuzzy Dice. (It's cold in the Orinda hills at night. Wool socks are awesome. Even better when they're dry.)

Kite Festival

From the Solano Ave Chalk & Chocolate Street Fair:












(Click on the pic - it reads: And despite the fireball hurtling towards earth, IT WAS GOOD.)


Check out Rebekah's blog for her Charity Pet Drive, if you haven't already.

Aren't these the cutest? An ivory cat and a chocolate lab from Moonstruck Chocolates. So cute I can't bring myself to eat them. Yet.


Gah. That cable looks wonky in the pic, and after checking closely IRL, looks wonky period. Bad word, bad word. I'd crossed the cable right instead of left during the kite-watching, but dropped the stitches and fixed the cable (so exciting!) except I think I crossed it on the purl side. Okay, I know perfectly well I crossed it on the purl side but I thought it didn't matter. Silly me. At least the back is done.








Kite flying shenanagans and the Flying Gecko:



I survived the Benedryl but had to have three cups of coffee to get going this morning.

Memorial Day 2006

This is actually the memorial to Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA (a county over from where my brother lives) but it seemed like a fitting tribute to Memorial Day.






I'd post the rest of the weekend pix, but I went to the Kite Festival in San Ramon today - - it was awesome - one guy flew 3 kites himself in one of the exhibitions, another did a really hysterically funny routine to Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (with a kite!), a couple danced via their two kites - just beautiful - classical music too, perfect - nice and windy - - ..........

And there's the rub. Nice and windy. After awhile I realized that I couldn't quite, y'know, breathe? And my eyes were running, itchy and red. Blearg. So I came home and quite desperately took the first allergy pill I found. Benadryl. I might be going to bed at 7pm tonight. So all the pix tomorrow. The weather was great! Mid 70's.

Saw X-Men 3 yesterday - liked it, but it was missing something. Oh, and SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER - SPOILER - SPOILER! Especially for San Francisco tourism. I'm reasonably certain that when Magneto rips the Golden Gate Bridge from its anchorages to set it down on Alacatraz Island that the cables aren't going to keep it from sinking like a stone into the Bay. Not to mention, is the Golden Gate Bridge long enough to reach Alcatraz? Yeah, that's what I found fantastical. Not a hairy blue Kelsey Grammer or teenagers that can walk through walls. But the Golden Gate Bridge Express to Alcatraz.

Bridge Quiz.

See? Not much of a spoiler. Like the Lost spoilers. So incredible vague I think you'd get more out of the trailers ABC runs. But just in case.

Shohreh Aghdashloo (Dina Araz, the terrorist wife & mother in season 4 of 24) was in X-Men 3. It took me a minute to place her, her voice is unmistakeable but with her hair up, she looked so different.

Reading Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin. Different. A fantastical tale of a (very) thinly veiled Prince Charles and Princess Diana who have been found wanting as heirs to the throne and thrown (literally) into the world to make their way and prove themselves. It's pretty funny but it's definitely quirky.

Oh, I won a contest! Whoo! And the prize was from Amazon. Thanks Heather.

And in knitting news, I finished the back of the Endless Garter Stitch Tank (Yay!) and am working on the front. It may not be actually faster but it sure feels perceptively faster with that 6 stitch 3/3 LC cable in the middle of it. Cross your fingers that I get one of the yarns I ordered for the Eliz I this week. As in Tuesday.

eta: There! That should fix all the links.

Well, that was smart of Lost. Having Sawyer and Sayid rip off their shirts and swim to a sailboat w/Jack in the opening scenes, pretty much gave them a pass for the whole show.

Bask in the Pretty.

The actual finale/resolution/teases weren't horrible either. The hatch thing at the end of last year was pretty lame, but it was the concentration on the new characters this past season that bored me silly. It's actually looking good for next year. Michael, you are a Bad Man. And not such a hot father either. Think they'll get far? Oh, and Clancy Brown! I love Clancy Brown. He turned Sayid, I think. The connections are what's really fun. (Since there is no sense in the rest of it).

Wasn't House wild? I didn't twig that it was all a hallucination until roughly the time he started making out with Cameron via the robot operating mechanism. Too bad he didn't diagnose the Tongue Guy.

I hear Audrey lived on 24. Why? Why? I miss Kiefer. I want to watch 24 again! (Except, come to think of it, I've never actually watched an entire season. I either come in at the end & catch up, or the razor edge of anticipation drives me crazy and I have to quit watching altogther.)

Dr. Who has a two part season finale coming up next week, so it's not over yet and soon The 4400 and The Dead Zone will start up. Ah, summertime. Bless the network executive who started airing new shows over the summer, especially with the television season shrinking from 28ish episodes to 22.

Notice all the TV talk? Because there is no discernable progress on any knitting/sewing/crafting. I've actually socialized. I'm off to the Farmer's Market/Concert Thursday night series tonight, but hopefully I'll get some knitting in. Also it'll hopefully be Jazz saxophone as advertised because the group last week was not so much Blues as 60's rock. Not the same thing, y'know?

Congratulations, Lyssa, for passing 8th Grade math 100%! That test was much harder than I expected. Did I know that in the 8th Grade? Yeah, not likely. I didn't really learn math until I went back to college and had to take Algebra again. Oddly enough, it finally made sense.

I've been reading Old Man's War by John Scalzi and it's a pretty entertaining sci fi war novel.

And for the bored with time on their hands, The Sublime Philsophical Crap Test.

Oh, and in truly tragic news (not), Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were found guilty on nearly all counts. I hope they do hard time. Could you believe that Ken Lay tried to claim he had no idea what was going on? And they pay him a huge salary for what then, exactly?

The Official Start of the Tudor Roses KAL!

Oh. Yesterday. And of course, I haven't started. I haven't gotten my yarn! Two for two. Will Eliz I be Rich red? Or Hempathy white? Only the postal service knows for sure.

Hezekiah meets Mr. Sloth. He stood up quite well to Hez batting at his paw - she seems to have
taken an instant dislike to him. You know, in a very old fashioned ladylike cutting him dead way (albeit swiping at his paw). But not for the camera. I told her that Chaos would've let me take that picture and the look she gave me! Clearly if Chaos jumped off a bridge, there would be one sensible cat who wouldn't follow his example.




Almost done with the back of the shell. The piece that I was going to finish last Wednesday. Oh well. I sort of forgot what size I was knitting and had to rip back to the arm decreases. Hez and I sat on the porch enjoying the rain while I knitted and tinked with it. And by rain, I mean it POURED. At one point, the eaves on the roof couldn't keep up with the torrent and it looked like a waterfall. See the comfy wool socks? I love that pair more than any other I've made, but they're not exactly showstoppers.




Yesterday I abandoned all knitting projects for some sewing WIP's while watching Sci Fi's marathon Andromeda. There's a cuff on a blouse that I absolutely cannot figure out how it's supposed to attach - for some reason the lining portion is the end of the sleeve, but the only way to work that is to attach the cuff about 6 inches above the end and, oh jeez. I'm going to look at it one more time tonight and if I can't figure it out by then, I'm hacking off the sleeve, lining it with that and then sewing the cuff to the sleeve. So instead I worked on the Victorian Nightgown. That's almost done, and if I could leave a seam unprotected, it would be completely done, but I can't do it.


My list for the Summer Reading Challenge:
(oh, and thanks Becky and Marji for the help on the buttons- almost got it, but not quite. I'll have to fool with it later.)

Mind you, this list is strictly from my TBR books (and believe me, there are more) and is subject to change on whim. As it most certainly will. But my general goal is the original 28 books read between 6/1 - 8/31.


A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana & Michael Preston
The Queen's Conjuror:The Science and Magic of Dr. Dee by Benjamin Woolley
The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn by Retha Warnicke
Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages by Miri Rubin
Dissolution by C J Sansom
The Wild Irish by Robin Maxwell
Her Majesty's Spymaster by Stephen Budiansky
Intrigue & Treason: The Tudor Court by David Loades
Bess of Hardwick by Mary S. Lovell
The Uncrowned King of England by Derek Wilson
London by Edward Rutherfurd



Okay, that was a pain. Note to self: Never take pictures of books again.

Good Omens, Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett
The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus , Owen Gingerich
The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole
Captain Alatriste, Arturo Perez-Reverte
News of a Kidnapping, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Argument Culture by Deborah Tannen
River of Time by Igor Novikov
The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language by John McWhorter
1968 by Mark Kurlanksy
The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
The Strange Death of Mistress Collins by Robert Begiebing
The Blank Slate by Stephen Pinker
The Ice Queen by Ann Hoffman
Children of the Company by Kage Baker
Why Geography Matters by Harm de Blij





















And in really depressing news:

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 8/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Season finale of House tonight!

Why Can't I Just Be Independently Wealthy?

You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer

Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you're from. And while you may have some problems being "normal," you'll have no problems writing sci-fi. Whether it's epic films, important novels, or vivid comics... Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

My ideas are strange? Ha.

Went to a meeting Wednesday night and when I discovered that I'd cleaned out the 900 dpn's I used to routinely carry in my old purse (not necessarily by design) in an uncharacteristic bout of optimism, I ran by the LYS and bought a set - you know, for when I finished the back of the shell so I could cast on and knit the I-cord for the front piece.

[sigh].

Yeah. Still knitting the back. But I am almost done. With the back. Of the shell. I was working on it last night at the Farmers Market/Concerts that Concord puts on in the Todos Santos Square a couple of times a week. The oranges and strawberries are so good right now! Yum. The weather is just weird. It was 90 on Monday, warm last night at 6pm when we got there and freezing (okay, 50-60ish) by the time the sun set. And it's supposed to rain tonight.

I'd love to knit a Hanne Falkenberg design, better that than a Fellowship of the (Wedding) Ring Shawl. But Elizabeth I first! As soon as the back-ordered yarn shows up. So Hempathy White or Rowan Cotton Wool Red. The post office is going to determine the color. (I can always make the Duchess sweater from Rowan #38 out of the other....)

It wasn't bravery that made me frog that cabled sweater, just to clear that up. It was that I'd never ever wear it and I couldn't figure out a way to carry it around and force people to admire it. So I think it's going to become Eris. Definitely a cardigan. It's a little bulky for some of the cabled sweaters I still want to knit from an old Knitter's Mag issue.

In TV news (because the world revolves around TV) - So many finales. So annoying. Stupid NCIS had Gibbs retiring. I'm not watching the show without Mark Harmon.

I love House (read: Hugh Laurie), so House was great.

CSI NY was good- shirtless Mac and Marine Command mode. Hubba hubba. Poor Flack got shot, but I tend to think of him as a mobile mannequin anyway - he's so darn pretty, he doesn't seem real to me, so his life threatening wounds? Not so life threatening. (C'mon. We have the technology to fix him! Since the 70's and the 6 Million Dollar Man. Why don't they show that on TV Land, anyway? And It Takes A Thief. I miss Robert Wagner.)

Dr Who tonight! Possibly the season finale. I hear "They're" going to move Law & Order Criminal Intent to 10pm Friday's next Season, and Bones to 8pm (Fridays) which is seriously going to mess with my Stargate SG1/Atlantis & Battlestar Galactica schedule. Although I'll probably watch the Sci-Fi channel and catch the others in the approximately 912 repeats that they now show per freaking season, much less syndication.

Calling All August Birthday Babies to sign up for the August Birthday Swap that Abigail is hosting. And if anyone can explain to me how to embed the link in the picture, I could finally add buttons to my site, not to mention having my eternal gratitude.


The Tudor Roses KAL officially starts on Monday, but not for me unless the aforementioned backordered yarn shows up. I can't wait to do something other than I cord and garter stitch (and lace. Still working on the Moll Shawl, but at the rate of knit 4 rows, frog 3, much to my mother's dismay because she wants to "borrow" it when I'm done. Temporarily Forever, as we say in our family).

And last but not least, Amanda's Summer Reading Challenge to start June 1st and end August 31st.
If I list the books I want to read during the challenge, think it'll jinx the process? There's a reason why my TBR books are starting to take over my library. [Which excuse sounds most plausible? 1.ADD. 2. No time. 3. I read library books first. 4. Book Clubs. 5. Can't knit and read unlike some people. Including knitting garter stitch, sadly. I have noticed that my garter stitch is hella more consistent nowadays. (Tell me you didn't think that black lace weight was Chaos at first. A picture without Chaos is.......just unsettling.]




Look what that talented RheLynn made me to give to my brother! Mr. Sloth! Isn't he fabulous?
















My heart goes out to all of you that recently lost pets. I miss Sheba, even with this one around to cheer me up. And you know how I was saying that she liked to sleep in? During the winter. Now that it's summertime, baby, you've got to get out before the sun rises. Apparently so you can get first dibs on the foxtail/weed patch.

Garter Stitch. Endless Garter stitch.

This? is what I've been doing for days. And days. And days. Garter stitch at 5.5 stitches to the inch.



It's not quite 12 inches yet because then I could decrease and shape the arms. No, there's another inch and a half to go before I get there.

Just knitting back and forth and getting nowhere. Good thing it's a shell and not a blanket or a full sized sweater and the front has that lovely 6 stitch cable feature on it, or I'd frog the darn thing now.


Elizabeth I, even at 6.75 stitches to the inch, has at least shaping and cabling and something other than the knit stitch. (okay, it's vaguely possible I threw in the Elizabeth dart shaping but that was rows and rows ago and with my luck will completely screw up the pattern). I'll be lucky if I'm done with it by the time my yarn (any yarn) shows up for the Tudor Roses KAL.

This is (part of) Sheri's backyard. Isn't it gorgeous?








Did I post a pic of the turquoise ring already? From a booth in an Art on the Streets in Walnut Creek a few weeks ago (or whatever they called it) Sica Designs out of Cazadero, CA.















I found this in my stash. I was going to make a throw for a couch except that it turns out that I absolutely cannot match colors to save my life and also - what was I thinking? Except it really does feel soooooo soft. But it looks like a dead muppet.

OMG, I have Dead Muppet yarn! The horror!















Speaking of Muppets, or TV really, NCIS season finale tonight. Tune in to see if they kill off Lauren Holly and make me happy or if you can hear my screams of anguish (and then Donald Bellisario's) if they kill off Mark Harmon.

House! DB Sweeney! I'm still mad that Strange Luck got cancelled. Possibly the season finale.

I can't remember what else is on TV. I need non-drowsy allergy pills. Nature hates me, but it's sooo pretty.

I'm asking you. Does this look the slightest bit comfortable? and geez. I need to do something with the yard. But I'm allergic to it.

Okay, let's see if Blogger lets me post pictures now. A week later.

See? Pretty perky kitty with the correct placement of the tail. Huh. Not that you can tell.



Isn't that a lovely, lovely cable? And lovely yarn? It is, which is why I ruthlessly frogged it after being practically done. There is no way I'd ever wear it, not only would I look like a sack in it but I'd boil to death in it, or could wear it approximately three days a year. Maybe I could make Rogue out of it.




I swear, it took almost as long to frog as it did to knit. Well, maybe not that long, but still. Long.


Not much knitting news, I've been buried in a book or two. Read Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger - great, great book, despite the fact that it has at least 3 strikes against it - it's from the perspective of a 9 year old Jewish boy, his hero is a 3rd baseman which means it's also about sports (baseball! I knew that.) and it's set in World War I. (Nothing against WWI but The History Channel has burnt me out on it).

And yet? Great book.

Then I picked up Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job (okay, my number came up at the library's hold). There were some completely hysterical parts in it. I particularly liked the bit where he was walking the hellhounds and got into it over one of the dogs names.

No washcloth. Yet. I've got the yarn though! Surprised? I was. I have a much bigger stash than I realized.

Pollack (on Crossing Jordan) (because Marji asked) is the cute reporter that Jordan was dating/shacking up with that is much more suited to her than Woody ever will be. Oh, and the reason I don't watch 24 is because they haven't killed Audrey yet. I could take it for awhile last year because of Kiefer and William Devane, but waaaaaay too much Audrey. Hate Audrey.

Tonight is Without A Trace and last night was Lost and Bones and CSI-NY and I wonder how annoyed I'm going to be by Lost this week. If Sayid's in it, not that annoyed. (I've been taping everything. Migraine has come and gone all week, but (knock on wood) gone all day today.

Not again. Blogger hates me, ate my post, again, both the yarns I want have a 3 week back order, I mucked up my swatch (which is actually the best place to muck up but still) and they killed Pollack on Crossing Jordan. They'd better not kill off Mark Harmon on NCIS tonight (or next week when it concludes). West Wing was bad enough.

House is on tonight!

San Francisco Zoo has their annual sheep/alpaca shearing this Thursday at 11am to noon, for anyone interested and/or in the neighborhood. They did say they use the shearing, but if enough spinners are there, things could work out very differently. I'm just saying.

Poor Kitty. Blogger isn't cooperating with the "After" picture. I have seen a cat before, but you can't tell by the tail placement. The surgery was successfully completed and the patient is resting comfortably. One more UFO down!


Edited to add:
Oh, and there's an August Birthday Swap that all August babies should check out. There's a button and everything, but blogger isn't co-operating.

I loved all the Dr. Who stuff on my comments! But everytime I try to say so, it eats them. Hmmm. Dalek Conspiracy?

So Much Work, So Little to Show For It

I pulled out my copy of Lalla Ward's Beastly Knits for the Cat Chasing a Mouse sweater and while googling her found - she was Romana II from Dr. Who in 1979-81! Okay, that's just cool. Dr. Who is my new fave show. I can't believe I was never forced introduced to Dr. Who previously. God knows I've watched every other lame interesting concept, hideous execution fascinating sci fi show. At any rate, isn't that sweater great?

Stupid autoflash. I can't figure out how to turn it off. I can't figure out how to get my watch to stop beeping every hour on the hour either.



















Yesterday I ziploc'd all my yarn (mostly)and rearranged the stash. Hopefully it'll help me keep a better idea of what I've got. Except. Well, I maybe sorta kinda ordered enough of Elsabeth Lavold's Hempathy (in off white) last week to knit up Eliz I and then kinda sorta maybe ordered online this morning enough Rowan Wool Cotton (in Rich) for it too. Just in case.

In the meantime, I did actually do a swatch for Eliz. Sadly I counted out the stitches I needed for the largest cable figuring.................ARGH! Blogger just ate my post. Too many references for it? Oh, forget it, I'll recap it tomorrow. It involved me bagging my stash and frogging my cable sweater and finishing a UFO. Oh, now Blogger doesn't want to add the pictures back eh? Argh. Again.

Sweet dreams, y'all.

Thoughtless Thursday

*
Why is the Sci Fi Channel running Law & Order: Special Victims Unit? Step 5 on Dick Wolf's World Domination checklist? But WTH?
After House last night - and yay! Cameron biopsied Foreman's brain - I possibly would have done it without surgical tools or anesthesia but I'm just that kind of person - I was channel surfing idly around afterwards and found LOST [heh, heh, heh]. It's still on? Who knew? It might have been more tragic (the ending) if I'd watched any episode with Libby in it or didn't hate Ana Lucia so much. The tragic bit was that Sayid had a single lousy scene, that's the tragedy.

(no real mice were harmed in this picture. Hopefully, real mice are miles and miles away, cavorting in a field) .

Tonight Secrets of the Dead is on, but it's World War I (or II) and that gets enough coverage. I like my history a few centuries in the past. I've also got Intrigue & Treason in the Tudor Court on my bookshelves to read. And Dissolution, and probably others, but I have to knit sometime. I'm looking forward to the Tudor Roses KAL just for the reading and seeing what everyone else has knit (is knitting). Oh, and check out WIP Insanity for some beautiful knitting. I found her googling Eliz I but she, like Marina has some gorgeous stuff going on those needles.

Texas Ranch House was on PBS all week - completely missed it, even after Kat With A K reminded me, my brother asked me to tape it for him (I did, but I also ordered him the DVD from PBS. Just in case). Oh, and Kat With A K is starting up a new online magazine, Yarn Life, so pop by her blog and check it out.

A couple at the cauldron. Bird bath. We also get these teensy tiny brightly colored birds that are probably wild parakeets (a bit smaller) but I can never get a good shot.

Yet.

The summer is new.

The summer is not actually here either. After maybe four warm days it's back in the 70's. This is the East Bay? It should be broiling. I should be whining about the heat, not longing for it.
Nice road, eh? Not even a landslide. More like continental shift.

I bought a nice cheap Casio watch that's perfectly serviceable, nicely easy to read letters, several different modes, but evidently one of them was an alarm mode. I can't figure out which one it is or how to stop it. It's erratic too, sometimes it beeps on the hour (every hour) and sometimes its goes for hours wihout a peep. (No, I can't find the instructions. It was a $30 watch! I tossed it or lost it). Maybe I should go back and buy that nice Anne Klein watch I saw at Macy's.

This is the Moll Shawl all dressed up. So far, so good. See the wrapped yarn in the middle? That's what I have to knit to be back to where I was [sigh]. But isn't it pretty?





I'm on the verge of ordering Hempathy off the net for Eliz I without ever touching the stuff of seeing the color (whitish) just to have it. I suppose I should at least swatch the yarn I did get?

Random Babbling

House Part 2 is on at 8pm tonight. WTH is Cameron's problem? Or Foreman's for that matter? I'd've had him fired or serving time (or both). Needlesticking someone? And Wilson was barely onscreen. That's just wrong.

Boy, that swatch looks muddy in that picture (previous post). I keep picking out colors (of brown, naturally) that have flecks of other colors that are only visible to me. Well, they must be visible elsewhere but I might need to take a pic in natural light (and not with my camera phone, on my desk).

Not yet though. Camera batteries charging. I've got lovely pics of the lovely lilacs that it turns out I'm quite allergic too. Now I remember why all my hobbies are indoors. I can't breathe outside. Nature. So overrated.

It was gorgeous, gorgeous Monday. I even got a bit burnt. How, I don't know, I was in the shade. It's such a lovely tan-line because it's basically just my shins and I'm crossing my legs. Very Avant Garde looking. Yesterday it was warm and sultry. Hez and I sat out on the deck while I finished reading Fairy Tale (quirky but interesting) and she toyed with the toy mouse.

So I'm currently reading Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague by Richard Rhodes. (Mad Cow disease). I have a feeling that I'm not going to want to eat much other than vegetables by the time I'm done. And possibly chocolate.

Today's weather? Freezing. Windy. Cold. Went out to water the vegetable beds and came back in and put on a sweatshirt. Brrrr.

Today's gas prices? Insane. $3.31 at the cheap station. Unreal.

My doctor made me wait an hour last Friday before he could see me (okay, undoubtedly it was because of other patients running over and/or having emergencies but I blame him), and in retaliation I made him wait while I finished frogging a row on the Lacy Prairie Shawl. (Well, and because you all know. You have to finish a row. Especially lace.) Then I sent it to its room to ponder its bad behavior but pulled it out last night and dressed it up with pretty stitchmarkers so hopefully it'll go a bit easier. It was just such an easy repeat that I didn't think I needed to, but I was wrong. (Wow. Those three words sound so wrong together.)

He thinks I have carpal tunnel and can stave it off with cortisone shots and OTC ibuprofen. Okay, I think that. He thinks I should have the surgery, but I've seen what they do. Yuck.

For the Tudor Roses KAL I don't have a yarn picked out yet. I haven't finished a single swatch. But. What I do have? Books lined up to read during the knitting of Elizabeth I.

- The Queens Conjurer
- The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne
- Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage
-The Wild Irish : A Novel of Elizabeth I and the Pirate O'Malley.

The fabled gauge swatch for the mythic Twinset. Which I really, really, really am going to knit, especially since I've now done the swatch, am right on in gauge and have an idea of what Lily Chin was talking about. But Jennifer's right, that is an awful lot of I-Cord. Cool! Soon I can despise it as much as everyone does. I've never done I-cord for a pattern. And just in time to compete w/Elizabeth I in the Tudor Roses KAL. And wouldn't Jennifer's project at the Anti-Craft be perfect with it? All in the Family too!

Here's a fun little geography quiz that I manged to get about half right on. Hate that. I think I know something and then whammo. Proof that I'm an idiot.

I bought all sorts of balls of yarn over the weekend to swatch for Eliz I. No Hempathy though, I couldn't find any. I just don't want it to be too hot to wear around here. What do you want to bet I'll like the Rowan Cotton Wool the best, since it's undoubtedly the most expensive? I want to order Bogbean from the Virtual yarn site, just to see what the color is.

I'm putting off reading Pride & Prejudice because I just re-read it when the Kiera Knightly movie came out. Instead I'm reading Fairy Tale by Alice Thomas Ellis. I see why they repackaged the book - that cover is a bit disturbing.

And just for Poetry Tuesday, another poem by Marina Ivanova Tsetaeva

Go find yourself naive women friends
Who haven't checked miracles by number.
I know that Venus was produced by hand,
I'm a craftsman, I know the craft:
From the highest solemn muteness
Down to the thorough degradation of the soul:
Here's the whole divine staircase -- from:
My breath -- to: do not breathe!

18 June 1922