Creepy/Crazy Redux...

What on earth did I ever do for entertainment before YouTube and Hulu and the like? My gosh, it must have been like living in the dark ages having to actually watch TV shows on...TV. Srsly! But then Steve Jobs got creative in his garage, Al Gore invented the Internet and, voila! The age of television on the computer dawned, and the world rejoiced with much singing and dancing and waving of flags! Some spoke in tongues! Others got nekkid and threw parties on the front lawn, though that had little to do with television, computer-based or otherwise....

Yes, well...ahem...moving on...

For your viewing pleasure, I continue my Fringe-themed obsession and share it with you. Today: Doctor vs. Doctor, as in Bishop vs. House. I've only seen House a couple of times but I so want to start watching it...it's on right before Fringe, so you'd think I could set my DVR accordingly, but no. 

I belong in Dublin...

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Couldn't agree more. :)

Note that I did this quiz twice because there were answers to a couple of questions that could have gone a couple of different ways. Both times, though, I ended up in Dublin. And, having been in Dublin once (well, technically three times, but two of those times were only at the airport, so they hardly count), and only for a day, I can definitely say that if anyone wants to fly me on over, I'll be happy to spend a prolonged visit just to, er, make sure this quiz is as accurate as it seems to be. Yep...quality assurance. Very important.

(Found the quiz over at PDXKnitterati...and check it out, she's got the most adorable wreath adorned with miniature socks...I love it!)

I love me some creepy, crazy characters...

Taking time out from my Twilight obsession, I wanted to share with you just how much I am totally In Love with the TV series, Fringe. Can I get a witness here people??? I mean...it's a brilliant balance of creepy and funny, and the characters are awesome. I love Joshua Jackson since I saw him in Shadows in the Sun (I am apparently the only person on earth who never watched Dawson's Creek thus didn't know he was Pacey on that show). Anna Torv is wonderful. Lance Reddick is also good but a bit creepy and I haven't figured out if he's totally a good guy or not yet. 

But overwhelmingly, it is John Noble who has me captivated...nay, dare I say I am in love with his funny-crazy-genius character, Dr. Walter Bishop? (I only recently, in a major "Ah ha!" moment, made the connection that he was also the actor who played Denethor in LOTR...he's clearly a genius at playing nutso characters.)

The show is apparently in repeats until January, which will let me catch up on the first couple of episodes that I missed. Until then, I will tide myself over with YouTube clips. The one above is a good one...a collection of the craziness that is Walter. Gotta love 'im. :)

Free Pattern: Undulate Scarf

I've had this pattern ready to share for a while, but I needed good pictures to go with it. Today was the day I got that done, so, without further ado, a new free pattern for you, just in time for the changing weather and for the holidays, if you're in need of a soft, warming gift for someone!


I named this scarf "Undulate" because that's what it does, the pattern gently going back and forth yielding a subtle serpentine. I made this one from Malabrigo Merino Worsted (it only takes one skein), so it is incredibly soft. I didn't block it because I liked the squishy feel of it as it was, but if you wanted to block it to open up the width, you certainly could.

(By the way, if the yarn looks familiar, it may be because it was the same yarn I used last year for one of the pairs of Fast & Easy Fingerless Mitts featured with that pattern.)

Undulate

Edited: An error was brought to my attention in Row 8, which is now fixed. It should say "Repeat row 6." If you printed this pattern out prior to 1/2/09, please make note of the change. Thanks, and sorry for any confusion!

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, 150 yards

Needles: US 7

Gauge: 4 stitches/inch (it is not essential to get gauge on this project)

Finished Size: 4” x 68”

Directions:

Cast on 30 stitches.

Rows 1 – 4: K3, P3 across row.

Row 5: P1, [K3, P3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with knits), P2
Row 6: K2, [P3, K3] repeat to last stitch (ending with purls), K1.
Row 7: Repeat row 5.
Row 8: Repeat row 6.

Row 9: P2, [K3, P3] repeat to last stitch (ending with knits), P1
Row 10: K1, [P3, K3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with purls), K2
Row 11: Repeat row 9.
Row 12: Repeat row 10.

Rows 13 - 16: P3, K3 across row.

Row 17: K1, [P3, K3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with purls), K2
Row 18: P2, [K3, P3] repeat to last stitch (ending with knits), P1
Row 19: Repeat row 17.
Row 20: Repeat row 18.

Row 21: K2, [P3, K3] repeat to last stitch (ending with purls), K1
Row 22: P1, [K3, P3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with knits), P2
Row 23: Repeat row 21.
Row 24: Repeat row 22.

Rows 25 – 28: K3, P3 across row.

Row 29: K2, [P3, K3] repeat to last stitch (ending with purls), K1
Row 30: P1, [K3, P3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with knits), P2
Row 31: Repeat row 29.
Row 32: Repeat row 30.

Row 33: K1, [P3, K3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with purls), K2
Row 34: P2, [K3, P3] repeat to last stitch (ending with knits), P1
Row 35: Repeat row 33.
Row 36: Repeat row 34.

Rows 37 – 40: P3, K3 across row.

Row 41: P2, [K3, P3] repeat to last stitch (ending with knits), P1
Row 42: K1, [P3, K3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with purls), K2
Row 43: Repeat row 41.
Row 44: Repeat row 42.

Row 45: P1, [K3, P3] repeat to last two stitches (ending with knits), P2
Row 46: K2, [P3, K3] repeat to last stitch (ending with purls), K1.
Row 47: Repeat row 45.
Row 48: Repeat row 46.

Repeat rows 1 – 48 six more times or until you reach your desired length.

Bind off loosely.

A gratuitous photo of my daughter, just because I think she's pretty, but then I'm biased. LOL
Actually, she was a little annoyed by this point, because she was cold and it was snowing,
and I kept saying, "Just one more!"

How about a knitting post for a change?

It's been a while since I've posted one of those. But since the camera was out yesterday for the mug shots (ha!), I took pictures of my recent FOs and some WIPs as well. So, without further ado...we have HATS!


Eighteen hats to be exact. I made the nine on the left, and my good buddy Peggy (who is blogless) made the nine on the right. These hats were her brainchild. She suggested, early this year, that if we each knit one hat a month, by the end of the year we would have 24 hats that we could donate to a worthy cause. Now, clearly we missed the mark by three hats a piece (though, to be fair, it is only Dec. 2, so expecting a December hat already is a bit optimistic), but still...18 hats! I think that's pretty darned good!

They (along with two pairs of mitts I had leftover from last year's Christmas knitting) are now in a box making its way to Vermont to Norma where she will get them into the right hands, and they will be distributed to migrant farm workers through student efforts at UVM School of Medicine. Thank you, Norma, for being our liaison in this effort!

We fully intend to knit hats again in the coming year to give away next winter. Want to join in? It's a wonderful way to give back to the world, and you don't have to be a part of any big group or organized effort to do it. Just knit hats (or scarves or mitts or whatever) and when the time comes, look for a group that will distribute them to those in need. There is no shortage.

Ok...back to my FOs...

My October charity hat (which is in the box)...plain ol' ribbed border hat in Encore worsted...


A scarf...it's the Noro Striped Scarf (rav link) that Yarn Harlot was all over for a while recently. However, I made mine from Plymouth Boku, only because I had a lot of it in small quantities laying around. It seriously goes with everything! LOL I loves it!

I have a weird relationship with scarves usually...I love to start them and watch their patterns emerge, but I usually get bored with them easily and have a hard time finishing them (as the, hm...one, two...three...at least three unfinished scarves I can think of will attest). But this scarf never got boring. Never. The color changes are like magic. The fact that I finished over 70" of 1x1 rib in a week and a half really says something. (And while I have eschewed knitting Christmas gifts this year, I admit to starting a second of these with Silk Garden, only I'm doing it about half as wide so that I can get a whole scarf from just two balls, as that's all I have of the one color I'm using. If I get it done, it will be for my daughter, and a skinny scarf will work fine for her.)

Now for the WIPs. A basic recipe 3x1 ribbed sock...

I started it back on vacation and it is moving slowly. Very slowly. The yarn is Numma Numma Toasty in the Blackberry Jam colorway, which is incredibly beautiful and very soft, but it is so soft and fine that it takes a LOT of rows to get length. It remains my take-along project that I can throw in my purse.

I still have my Socktoberfest socks to finish, too. I didn't take their pictures, but they haven't changed since the latest shot on my Rav page was taken, so you can see them there. And I need to finish the second Heart Throb sock as well. :::sigh:::

And the project I'm most excited about right now...my Paley cardigan...


This is a Berroco pattern written for Peruvia, but being me, I'm substituting Queensland Kathmandu DK. (Yes, I know...totally different gauges between those two yarns, but again, being me, I'm tweaking and leaving it to fate and hoping it works...I think it will). Instead of using as many contrast colors for the neck as called for, I'm only using two (one of which is also Kathmandu DK, the other is Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed...green and cream respectively) along with the red. My hope is to have it done in time to wear over the holidays, though I fully intend to be able to wear it all winter, despite its Christmas-y color scheme.

Can I just say I love Kathmandu? Oh my...the subtle tweeding is amazingly gorgeous.

The silk and cashmere in it give it a luxurious feel. I've used it only once before, last year for a pair of mitts for Christmas for the aforementioned Peggy, but doing a large project with it is incredible! I so cannot wait to wear it!

On that note, I think I'm going to work on it for a while.

But just a P.S. first...thinking ahead...have you seen this sweater yet? OMG! How stunning is the back of that sweater?? It is so in my queue! Honestly...why make plain ol' cardigans when you can have beautiful masterpieces like that?

Mug moods...

(Before I start, happy December! :) )

Yesterday, Cheryl over at A Simple Yarn blogged about her favorite cups and the moods for which they each fit. I had to laugh when I read it because I thought I was the only one who had mugs for every mood. Inspired by her little photo journey, I offer my own:

I'm partial to pottery mugs (and pottery in general), and this was, for a long while, my favorite...sturdy, earthy colors...a good all-purpose mug that I found at a art fair several years ago...


I still use it a lot (using it right now, in fact), but then I found this mug, and it has been my all-time favorite ever since...


I love the shape, how it fits in my hand, and the little nub at the top of the handle, perfect for my thumb. And the colors? They could not be more perfect. (Blue fading into and overlapping a purplish red...the picture doesn't quite capture them right.) Even better, I know the potter who made it, Jamie Vandermolen (though I do not think she has a blog or website). I love having a personal connection to the artists who have made the things I love!

My next favorite pottery mug is this one, which I bought at a shop in Doolin, County Clare, when we were in Ireland in 2004...


It too is large, and I love the colors...and while it had nothing to do with why I bought it, I think the orange blob on it kind of looks like the White Hand of Saruman from Lord of the Rings, LOL (except that it is orange, not white, and it's upside down...um, yeah...). For whatever reason, I tend to gravitate toward this mug in the evening. It just isn't a morning mug.

Moving away from pottery, I have other favorite mugs. I have an odd assortment of Christmas mug, but of them, one is my favorite for this time of year...


I like the wintry scene, and it's nice because it isn't just Christmas-y, so I can use it all winter. (I do actually have a Christmas mug that I love very much, but I forgot to take a picture of it. Oops!) While I use it for coffee sometimes, I find it is the one I want to use when I'm in a peppermint tea kind of mood.

Speaking of Christmas, I got this mug for Christmas last year from my brother-in-law and his family...


I don't know which one of them picked it out for me, but it is undeniably the very best unsolicited Christmas gift I've ever received. I love it when people think about me and what I love and enjoy and then actually get me a gift that is relevant to that. I think that's what gift-giving should be about, but so often it isn't. Anyway, they know my penchant for sheep and for Ireland, so...perfect gift! (It came with a matching pot holder, too.)

Lastly, this is a recent addition to my favorite mugs collection...


My friend Amy bought it for me a few months ago when she had the opportunity to go to Turn the Page Bookstore Cafe in Boonsboro, MD. Why is this bookstore so special? It is owned by none other than Nora Roberts (who also writes as J. D. Robb), an author both Amy and I greatly enjoy (I'm wildly in love with her Irish Trilogy, one of which you see behind the mug.) This smaller, rounder mug fits perfectly in my hands, and it's the one I go for when I'm in a bookish mood.

*Cheryl's doing a contest that you can enter by sending her a photo of your favorite mug. Check it out! :)

Thankfulness Redux

That went fast! A month of being thankful. For the sake of having the list saved for posterity (and freeing up space in my sidebar), here is my list of things I was thankful for all last month.  

• Gas that's under $2.00 again
• Unfettered imagination and loud, loud music
• Goofing around
• Sore muscles for a good reason
• Good grippy tires
• A long weekend ahead
• New opportunities
• Christmas music
• Mushroom ravioli
• An afternoon at the movies
• Beautiful colors
• Coffee, leftovers and active imagination
• Laughter
• Big, fluffy snowflakes
• Spending time with friends
• Prayer
• Polka music
• Hope
• Days when I don't have to go anywhere
• Ibuprofin
• My iPod and tunes
• Books
• Yarn...glorious yarn!
• Travel opportunities
• God's promises
• My children
• A husband who loves me
• Freedom
• God being God
• Visiting my mom