Category Archives: KALs

Alongs, Contests, Festing, Gluten Free, KALs, Recipes

In which I reveal how to pronounce “quinoa”

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The Knitting Doctor is celebrating her five-year blogiversary with a contest! Simply leave a comment about your favorite knitting gadget before midnight PDT, April 5, for your chance to win a mysterious prize.

Sign ups for the Mean Girls Yarn Club, put together by KnottyLa and KnittingKnitterton, open April 3.

This was my favorite April Fools Link from yesterday: Fiction World Rocked as Woman Claims No Sexual Attraction to Neil Gaiman.

Yes, reduced to posting recipes again. 😉

These cookies were originally made with oatmeal – I know you can get oatmeal now that’s certified gluten-free, but my body isn’t so happy with the stuff I’ve tried so far. Besides, quinoa (KEEN-wah) has more protein and is more fun to say than oatmeal!

Unbaked Chocolate Quinoa Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup milk (I haven’t tried it with soymilk yet)
1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups quinoa flakes
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter in a saucepan. Melt over medium heat, then boil for 1 minute. (Keep stirring!)

Remove from heat. Add quinoa, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix well.

Drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper and let cool.

“Go away. I’m sulking. You’d think Mayhem was the only one with a cute tummy or something. Hmph.” -Chaos

Contests, KALs, Reading

Serpentine Mayhem

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Lisa moved her blog to her own domain and is having a contest to celebrate! Leave her a comment by 5 pm EDT, August 5, to be entered and possibly win a gorgeous fibery prize.

Thanks to Janna for the heads up on this silly “test”: Which lolcat are you? I was Cheezburger Cat. If you don’t want to end up as Cheezburger Cat, you should probably have a snack before taking the test.

I’m very behind on blog reading after a weekend away. Please do let me know if you have a contest you’d like me to post about this week!

Reading Update
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (audio). Plodding along, but I will finish listening to these again before I listen to Book 7. I’m #96 on the waiting list (and there are 94 copies) – I need to speed up my listening, don’t I?!
A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton. Is it just me? Or do others have trouble getting into these knitting mysteries set in fictitious Fort “Connor,” Colorado?
Passon, Betrayal, and Killer Highlights by Kyra Davis. The second book about mystery writer Sophie Katz and her cat, Mr. Katz, is as enjoyable a read as was Sex, Murder and a Double Latte.

Knitting Update
Alas, I didn’t finish my TDF KAL project – the Sockamania Serpentine Socks. I got about 1.5″ knit on them Friday at the cabin (on the dock, with the cool breezes blowing off the lake…. ahhhh…) before everyone else arrived. Didn’t touch ’em again after that. (The cabin was great fun – it was sunny and there were no bugs worth speaking of.) I would’ve had to knit every waking minute (and a few sleeping ones, too) in order to finish these in time. Ah well, at least I wasn’t kicked out of the Tour for drug use, eh?! (Please ignore how shockingly dirty the bottom of my foot was in the picture below – what can I say, I was just back from the cabin.) (And obviously too lazy to go wash my foot and take another picture!)

“While Mom is obsessing over having such a dirty foot, I’m just going to steal this Addi. I’m sure she won’t miss it, since she isn’t using it right now anyway.” -Mayhem

KALs, Knitting

Vacation, I forget what day

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Carole and Susan are hosting a knitalong to use up those single skeins of yarn you have lying around: Lonesome Skein. (My pattern coming out in the December issue of MagKnits might help you with any leftover skeins of Kureyon…)

On Tuesday, I met up with Renee and went to see The Science of Sleep at the Uptown Theater (love sitting in the balcony there!). Renee, of course, has a much more thorough review of the film than I’ll ever manage. Watching the film was like looking at Dali painting. I enjoyed it, but was thoroughly confused! After the film, we walked over to Tum Rup Thai – I had the green curry over rice and Renee had a red curry over rice noodles. YUM. Then we walked over to Zeno (no link because their website seems to have vanished) and had coffee and chatted and knitted. Ahhhhh… Thanks, Renee!

Last night, Jeanne came over and we knitted and chatted and sipped pinot noir and watched some cat antics. Ok, that’s a lie – we watched cats sleep. Very stimulating, that. But – I did finish weaving in the ends of my Regia Silk (charcoal) waffle socks (two rounds k2p2, two rounds knit)! Yes, an actual FO, for those who’ve forgotten that there’s knitting on this blog now and again. This first picture’s for the Neatnik, who is very fond of cat butt photos.

*yawn*

If you miss the face of Chaos (not just his butt), this one’s for you:

“If that last picture was more revealing than you claim, the socks are toast!”

And just because Mayhem is busy being Mayhem…

“Hee hee! Big kitty, you will never expect my attack from here!”
Contests, KALs, Reading, Those Cats

Da fang

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Stephania, like many of us, fell in love with Lizard Ridge but really can’t justify the expense of all that Kureyon. So she’s asking for Lizard Ridge squares, which she will assemble into a blanket and send to Afghans for Afghans, with everyone’s name attached. If there are enough squares for a second Lizard Ridge, each person sending a sqaure will be entered in a drawing to win that Lizard Ridge.

Kristi of Red Dog Knits is pregnant with boy triplets and is on bed rest. Some of her friends have organized a Virtual Baby Shower (with prizes for participating knitters)! More details can be found in this post.

To quote the Scout, “Dayum!” – I won Cindy’s contest! Really, I want all this luck energy to head to Chaos, please!

Reading Update: After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell. Wow. This book was intense and excellent. It built from a point in time, then went back in the past with various people to build the story to the present. Someone recommended this to me, perhaps on a blog, and I wish I remembered who so I could say thank you.

Chaos really appreciated all the birthday wishes and probably wishes he lived with any one of you as I squirt his 3x/day antibiotics down his throat. Vacation? Um, yeah, now it’s going to be hanging out at home and caring for my kitties, not going to Colorado and New Mexico… Any local knitters doing anything interesting next week??

I was actually going to have a picture of my Regia Silk socks for you, all 1.5 of them. But alas…. So! I shall continue to distract you with cute cat pictures! (Hey, it’s worked so far…..)

“It’s very exhausting being this beautiful.”

“Oh no! Boss, da fang, da fang!!”

“Ok, I’ll let you wash me if you won’t eat me… and if I can have that spiffy red mouse back…”
Alongs, Contests, KALs, Reading, Those Cats

In which I post about contests, books read, Saturday Sky belated, and yarn dyed (yes, some cute cat pictures are included)

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Limedragon is having not one, but two contests! The first is a Sock Hunt – guess which color of Opal in which pattern Limedragon will knit first and win a skein of Opal Petticoat. The second is a Dragon Hunt – from a selection of pictures, guess which picture contains the elusive Limedragon and win a skein of Habu Silk-Stainless Steel laceweight.

Becky is having a contest – guess what Mark Twain is reading in the picture and let her know what you’re reading to win a bookish prize when she gets back from vacation.

Don’t forget about the Think Pink Challenge, which is trying to collect 1000 knitted or crocheted pink scarves by October 15 to be distributed to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

I’m starting to fear I may never catch up on Bloglines… I’ve been getting things ready for my vacation, hoping that Chaos is recovered before next Saturday so that I can actually go. He’s very lively and is eating Science Diet ID for cats with intestinal, um, issues. Hopefully that will have him on track in a few days… but he’s also licking away the fur at the base of his tail, which is not good. I think we’ll be back at the vet tonight…

Reading Update: Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes. Keyes’ books have focused on the five Walsh sisters, and now it’s Anna’s turn. Very well done chick lit!
Snow Blind by PJ Tracy. This is the fourth mystery about two homicide detectives in the Minneapolis Police Department and the eccentric software geniuses of Monkeewrench. The entire series has been excellent – highly recommended, but you should read these in order. (Monkeewrench was the first book.)
Lime Ricky by Jill Winters. Totally trashy romance with a hint of mystery, and I devoured every minute of it! *fans self*

You may or may not have noticed, but I’m terrible at being part of Saturday Sky – I forget or am too lazy. But I actually remembered this week… I just didn’t manage to post it. Improvement? Or not? Anyway, this was taken Saturday at 4:30 pm from inside my car. The rain was heavy enough that the windshield looked clear.

Remember a few weeks ago when Jeanne, Deb, and I dyed some more yarn? Well, I finally wound up one of my self-striping skeins, made by special request for a friend:

“I don’t know why the big cat said I had to come up here to check out the yarn and report back to him. Hmph.”

Speaking of Chaos and Mayhem, they seem to be getting along pretty well. Here Mayhem nurses from Chaos… Um, yeah, there are some challenges to this endeavor!!

“Maybe she isn’t very bright… At least this way, she stays still so I can clean her properly!”
KALs, Randonymity, Those Cats

WTF Wednesday – the Hat Edition

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Ok, I’ve been reading about SocktoberFest everywhere and was thinking to myself, “Heh, last thing I need right now is another along to not complete!” But it turns out that SocktoberFest is another of Lolly’s wonderfully no-pressure alongs – simply knit socks in October. That’s it. No tricks. No gimmicks. Well, I can manage that – I always have a pair of socks in my purse. So I’m in!

It’s 39F here right now – brrrrr!!

Hopefully I’ll be taking Chaos to the vet in a little bit – let’s just say that his digestion has been, um, messy, for the past day and I’m a bit worried. So, to distract all of us, I present the Hat Edition of WTF Wednesday.

Of course, even if he’s not feeling up to snuff, Chaos had to get in on the photo action (butt on left) – so did May (paws on bottom).

But I’d hate for y’all to miss out on a good picture of those hats, so here they are again in all-too-vivid color:

Apologies in advance for any nightmares you might have as a result of that picture… In this next picture, do you think she’s saluting? Or about to cover her eyes to escape the horror? (Or is she a he??)

This picture reminds me of something or someone, but I’m drawing a blank. Twiggy maybe?

Crocheted bobbles in lovely 1970s colors, anyone?!

Alas, I don’t think these pictures cheered Chaos up.

“Is it time to go to the vet yet, Mom?”

Even Mayhem looks concerned…

“He’s going to be ok, right Mom? I know he’s kind of crabby, but he’s fun to tease!”
Contests, KALs, Randonymity, Reading

Random Tuesday (more random than ever!)

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Me? Crabby. Managed, in the course of trying to resolve some ipod issues, to brilliantly delete my playlists… If you’re waiting for a mix from me, I’m sorry! I have to recreate them from screen shots due to my own stupidity. (Strangely, that doesn’t make me feel better.) On the plus side, I really don’t think my toe is broken – thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes! 🙂

Becky is celebrating her blogiversary and her new blog with a contest! Drop by before September 24.

Craftlilly Jennifer has started a new KAL, FiberFlix. Think Knit the Classics, but with films instead of books.

Edit: D’oh! Missed that it was Talk Like a Pirate Day. Whoops… Thanks to Mouse for the reminder.

Reading Update: Who Killed Marilyn Monroe? by Liz Evans. The first Grace Smith mystery at last! (No, I didn’t manage to say anything clever to Cute Library Guy…)
Magic Kingdome for Sale… Sold! by Terry Brooks. Chicago lawyer Ben Holliday buys the magic kingdom of Landover from a catalog and leaves his job and friends behind to go live as Landover’s king. This was a very clever premise and enjoyable book. I’m sure I’ll read a few more in the series, if the quality stays decent.

For those who have been worried about Chaos being usurped by Mayhem on the blog…

“Not to worry. She’s a pipsqueak. I have whiskers longer than her legs. (ARRRRRRRGH!)”

May appeared startlingly unconcerned…

*YAWN* “Arrrrrrrrrgh!” *chirp*
Contests, KALs, Randonymity, Those Cats

The contest edition

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Whew! Brace yourselves…

Craftlilly Jennifer has a nice list of KALs and contests for you to check out.

Keohinani is having a model your socks contest. Deadline is September 30, 12 pm, Hawaii Standard Time.

Celtic Kelly and her husband Moose will be Walking for the Cure on October 1. She’s awarding a prize (probably Fleece Artist) to a random sponsor for this good cause!

MrsPao is having a “What flavour crisps does James Bond eat?” contest to help her husband Pao make it to Google’s number one hit for that topic. A winner will be selected randomly after 9 pm GMT, October 31 – knitters can win some lovely Fyberspates sock yarn or non-knitters will receive other non-yarny goodies. (Hee hee, I just participated by posting that link! Woot woot.)

Teyani is having a “guess how many skeins of fiber she’s dyed since the beginning of the year” contest. The winner will get to pick a skein of Chasing Rainbows Superwash Sock Yarn; contest runs through September 24.

Andi is having a contest – she’s giving away a goodie bag to the first commenter to guess Baby K’s name.

Geraldine is having a caption contest and is giving away copies of her vegetarian cookbook. The deadline is September 30.

Check out Zimmermania – a knitalong that starts September 23 and features the patterns of Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Have I mentioned how impressed I am at the amazing breadth of contests and knitalongs y’all come up with?! Very cool. Keep on sending them in to chris at stumbli……

To finish off my crazy busy week last week (well, crazy busy for me at least), I went to see Greg Brown at the Fitzgerald Theater Friday night with my friend Wendy. Somehow Wendy scored amazing seats – 5th row, main floor center. Damn. I think the last time I saw Greg Brown at the Fitz, we were second balcony, obstructed (a genteel way to say the seats were behind a massive damn pillar!). This show was way heavier on the blues and less folksey than I’ve experienced at a Greg Brown show before. Good show, but I think both Wendy and I were ready for some more up tempo music that never arrived. Probably my favorite part was Greg’s second song of the evening, a no holds barred political song that had everyone laughing and cheering.

I spent the rest of the weekend lounging around, reading, not cleaning, drinking mochas, knitting up my pattern that will be in the December MagKnits (I need to finish tweaking and take a few pictures), and just generally recuperating from last week. I need to start getting things together for my Knitblogger’s Tour of the West – can’t believe I leave on the 30th already! Oh yeah, I stubbed the #$*^&!! out of my left pinkie toe on Saturday. I’ve never had a stubbed toe turn such amazing colors in such a short time…

Ok, ok, I know you’re all actually just here for the cute cat pictures! 😉

Mayhem is about as sweet and wispy as she can possibly be – to give you an idea, those little pokey hipbones there? About 1.25-1.5″ across! Awww…

*purr*

She and Chaos had a pretty rough weekend… Although poor Chaos is on a diet – he snuck a pound or two on while I wasn’t looking these past few months!

“Ha! I have the best spot! That big kitty is out in the cold!”

May also practiced her posing – the pressure of being a knitblogger’s cat!

“Because, really, aren’t I the cutest of them all?”