Another contender for the Oval Office

Something to consider between now and November 4th:

So - - have you stimulated the economy today?

This is a test...

of the Emergency Posting System.  The author of the this blog, in cooperation with Blogger, has developed this system to keep you entertained in the event of an emergency.  If this had been an actual emergency, you would have received an engaging and informative post.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog reading.

The point of that silliness?  Well, this post and the one before it were actually written the night before they posted.  (Seriously - anyone who knows me at all isn't going to believe I actually wrote and posted anything of substance before 9:00am.)  I wanted to test out Blogger's post scheduling feature to see how well it works and if I could use it to my advantage. You see this is October, so next month is November, and that means....

National Blog Posting Month!

Post every day, for the entire month of November.  That's all you have to do. Doesn't sound that hard does it?  It's not like trying to write a whole novel, or knit an entire sweater, in just one month. (Although I've heard some wacky folks are giving those ideas a whirl.)  Just post to your own blog every day, for one month.

I did it last year and succeeded.  Didn't win any prizes but I did get the sweet satisfaction of knowing that for once in my life something I started turned out the way I wanted it to.  Oh, and I got me a cute little button to stick in my sidebar.  I like buttons. And mine has a kitty on it. I like kitties.  Double the goodness there.

For me, the big challenge is the few days of the month when I go over to the mainland to take exams for school.  There aren't as many boats running this time of the year, so quite often in order to take just a single 1-2 hour exam I have to leave my home before 7:30am and I don't get back until close to 7:30pm. I know, big whoops to those who commute for work every day, but I've just never been one of those long commute kinda people.  So when I get home from the 12 hours away I am beat.  And completely brainless. (Did I mention the point of the trip was to take an exam?) There are also those days when my life is just so completely frigging boring that absolutely nothing of interest to the outside world has occurred and I figure there are only so many times I can get away with "look how cute my kitty/her doggy/this bug is" posts.

So I came up with a Plan.  Now, while I have the brain space and the time, before the pressure of NaBloPoMo is upon me, I will "prep" a few posts and save them in draft.  Hopefully, they will be interesting enough that you, dear reader, will not notice when I have pulled one of these out of my pocket and utilized the Emergency Posting System.  I think the ability to set up a post the night before and schedule it to post the next day is going to save my bacon on those times I'm gone all day and be a significant factor in the success of the Emergency Posting System.

So I think I'm going to give this a shot again.  Maybe this year I can do better than just a button.  A tee shirt would be nice, or perhaps a sweatshirt.

What about you, are you in?

T is for Tilta Swift

I can't take credit for this marvelous invention, all praise should be directed to Webecca. She had the brilliance to figure out how a small assortment of items that most of us already have in our homes:

Plastic hangers, clothespins, a small cardboard box (it's flattened out in this shot), a lazy Susan, and a bit of elastic.

Could be assembled to create this:

The purpose of which is quickly obvious to any knitter when you see it like this:

Absolutely wonderful and works like a charm! My only modification is due to not having one of the gripper pads suggested to keep the cardboard box from sliding around on the surface of the lazy Susan.  Instead I put a couple of small flat rocks inside the box, they weighed it down enough to do the job. I'd also like to get a better lazy Susan, this one is cheap and sticks occasionally. A better quality one would turn smoothly.

Winding yarn was so fun and easy with my Tilta Swift I just couldn't stop grinning and laughing. I used it a while back to wind the Lorna's Laces yarn for my lovely lavender Artichoke socks. Unfortunately I seem to have lost the love for these and stalled a bit.  However, I have it on very good authority that it is perfectly acceptable to have more than one sock project on the needles.  So in the next couple days I'm going to break out my trusty Tilta Swift and wind up the yarn for something else.  Now I just have to decide what that'll be - hmmmm.....

Alphabet Soup...again

I appreciate your understanding when I skipped "Q" but I think it's time for me to get caught up.  So:

R is for Radio Flyer

This little wagon is sitting forlornly in the patio of the summer house next door.  It's used regularly during the season by the various family members that visit the island, to haul their chairs, umbrellas, and other miscellaneous beach paraphernalia down the hill to the sand. Usually it's put away in storage by summer's end, but it looks like this year it was forgotten. It's probably not as old as it looks, the salty sea air is hard on things here. After spending the rainy season outside it's going to look worse, but even now, doesn't it look sad?  Needs to be filled with bright colored geraniums or something!

S is for Statistics

Or that which has sucked up the month of September and driven me to the edge for so many months prior.  I knew long before I started this class that it was going to be a monster, but even still...wowzer.  I do have to say that it is a damn good class, it does an excellent job of breaking down the information into the smallest possible nuggets and making absolutely sure that you have them down before adding on more.  What I'm not loving is that along with all the assignments, there are three midcourse exams, each one covering a third of the course, and then - there is a cumulative final exam. Sick & twisted I tell ya.

Choppy seas & September chapeau

So, yeah I admit it - I have been griping about the weather a lot lately. (You - in the back row - I heard that sniggering!)  Truth be told, the heat wave broke last week and I finally had the chance to wear my hand knit socks, along with my beloved jeans & fleece pullovers.  Then the forecast turned ugly, the words "Santa Ana" were uttered, and this morning I woke up to this:

The first few shots were taken from my balcony while I was still in my jammies, but once I saw the boats pitching back & forth on their moorings and choppy seas with whitecaps to the horizon, I hurriedly dressed and ventured out with my camera. I took a couple more pictures at the bottom of my hill, where the spray was so strong I got wet just making it to the end of the street and around the corner. The wave action hit hardest on the portion of the seawall between the Terminal Building and the Via Casino archway.  I know I took a ton of pictures just of that area, from a few different points including the end of the pier.  Although I'm sure any liveaboard, shoreboat operator, or harbor patrol officer would disagree - it was a great way to start the day!

Tomorrow?  The forecast is for temperatures in the low 80's.  Whoopee!

But this time I am ready, I have plenty of ice cream and even more importantly, I finished my Sweaty September Tam.

As was previously noted I have rather a lot of hair!  I tried the tam on a few different ways and finally discovered that it really looks best on me with all my hair tucked up inside.  And all my hair does fit inside!  Which makes this possibly the most marvelous hat I've ever knitted because it A) gets my hair up off the back of my neck, and B) perfectly manages any bad hair days, even better than a baseball cap does.

Looking at it from the back, you can see a little jog where I bloopered one of the decreases.  I didn't see it myself until I started to block it.  But at that point, I wasn't about to rip the whole thing back and you know, there's that whole "horseman riding by" rule.   And in regards to the blocking, I think someone will be interested to know that upon completion this tam did have a substantial "point",  the whole yellow center section actually.  I blocked it twice, once just flattening out the pointy area, and then a second time doing the traditional "stretched over a plate" routine.

I think I need a few more of these, and maybe in more neutral colors? The only change I'd like to make is tightening the band, but other than that I am quite pleased! 

Toasty!

Yes, that's right. It's over 80 degrees and it's night time.  I've never wanted to live in a place that has actual weather, you know - crisp autumn days with colorful leaves, etc., etc.  But I am done with summer, really.  I'm over it and ready to move on.

After all, I choose to knit socks not just because they are small, portable projects but also because I have faith that even if I live in bare feet & sandals for many months, eventually, eventually - I will get to wear them.

So maybe when Mother Nature gets her act together I can put these on my feet:

My Fabulous Fake Isle socks, using Red Heart's Heart & Sole in the Toasted Almond colorway. After I was about halfway on the second sock I noticed something interesting about the color and pattern sequence.  Now that I'm finished, it's easy to see:

Yup, that's right - it's going the opposite direction on each sock.  Here, let me give you a closeup:

I know what you're thinking, "Whoops, she accidentally knit one sock from the outside of a skein and the other from the inside."  Actually, no.  I couldn't find the center pull on one of the skeins, so I deliberately knit them both from the outside. Uh-hunh, it's like that.

But I'm fine with it, and actually I even like it.  Something about how random the patterning looks when the two socks are next to each other on my feet is appealing to me.  I think if I were to knit another pair of socks in a self-patterning yarn I might even do it this way on purpose. Which for someone with my "matchy-matchy" issues is quite a step forward!

Even spectators are not safe

Didn't I just say that I had decided not to participate in Hat Attach 2? I really thought that it would be better to just sit this one out and watch the carnage from the sidelines.  I had absolutely no idea that this competition had gotten so dangerous that not even spectators are safe.

I had a yellow slip in my post office box the other day, and along with the box of textbooks I was expecting I received an odd little package.

What is this?

Oh ye gods no! It cannot be...

  

I struggled valiantly to hold it off...

But was finally overcome...

Here she lies, felled by lovely lavender & indigo knitted hat.  (As a heat wave was currently in progress, it is suspected that she may have drowned in her own sweat. Official cause of death still pending.) The chocolate treats & teas included will certainly go a long way towards consoling her next of kin.

But be warned my dear friend and assassin - revenge is a dish best served cold.

Mwahhh hah hah hah!!!!!