Category Archives: Project Spectrum

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Randonymity, Reading

Tidbibs

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You may have had some difficulty connecting to my blog over the past several days. My blog hosting provider has had a very rough few days. Please keep your fingers crossed that everything is back to normal and thanks for hanging in there.

We went up to the cabin Saturday morning and my brother immediately finished hooking up the toilet, giving us complete indoor plumbling facilities!! (Pause for a moment to consider what using the biff on a humid 96F day would be like – see why we were excited?) We then got the air conditioner installed – ahhhh… My brother and I worked on stuff outside, taking many frequent indoor water breaks. My sister-in-law was supposed to be taking it easy inside, but she managed to get most of the cabin decorated and vacuumed. Not surprisingly, she was a bit tired and sore on Sunday when we headed back to the Twin Cities around noon. But she’s doing great! 🙂

I am spectacularly behind on bloglines again – I usually catch up on the weekend, but going to the cabin prevented that. Sooner or later I’ll get caught up!

Knittymama is having a contest – tell her your biggest “I can’t believe I did that” knitting story in her comments and you could win two skeins of plum Misti Alpaca laceweight! The contest deadline has been extended to Friday, July 21.

SRP Update

Please Do Feed the Cat by Marian Babson, 192 pages. A cozy little English village mystery set in “Brimful Coffers,” where many mystery writers live and discover mysteries in their midst.

A Handful of Coppers by Charles de Lint, 332 pages. This is a collection of de Lint’s very earliest work and is a bit heavier on the sword and sorcery than I generally enjoy. I would not recommend this unless you are a diehard de Lint fan or unless you are interested in a few of the stories that combine Arthurian legend with some bits of the Mabinogen.

No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman, 343 pages. Chicago has V.I., Santa Teresa\Barbara has Kinsey, and Baltimore has Tess Monaghan. The latest Tess Monaghan novel is another enjoyable, suspenseful read.

That brings me up to 22 fiction books completed, for a total of 6809 pages since the beginning of July. Still eight fiction and two non-fiction to read by the beginning of September.

Knitting

I finished knitting my bag for the Knit Sock Kit Swap. Whew! I still have a few ends to weave in and then I should probably line it. But no pictures of it until it’s received by my swappee.

I also finished another bib… Really, I don’t have a problem. What makes you think that?! Tell me if you could resist not only the baby’s parents going on about how great these bibs are, but also the baby’s grandfather?! Yeah, you’d be cranking out bibs, too. Hopefully my friends now have enough bibs to get them through! Although I do have another color I want to knit… Anyway, the most recent bib was knit top down from Sugar’n’Cream, color Jewel – very Project Spectrum!

Apologies to Chaos. I tried one last time to have him model, but it didn’t go so well… At least his fangs didn’t break the skin, right?! Which probably means that I got off easily.

“Run away! Run away!”
Alongs, Knitting, Project Spectrum, Randonymity, Reading

In which I read more books and knit more bibs

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SRP update:

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich, 310 pages. I like a mystery series that makes it easy to tell what book is next. Number twelve in the wacky Stephanie Plum series is Ranger, Ranger, Ranger, which to me equals hot, hot, hot. *fans self*
Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, 396 pages. Book 7 of the Dresden Files. Both suspenseful and funny – I was laughing out loud at times. As always, many plots twists and turns. If you like well-written fantasy novels, I can’t recommend this series enough.

Monkeemaven is having a contest to celebrate her second blogiversary. Here is my entry for the A category (share a favorite path) – this is another photo of the amazing bridge between Loring Park and the Sculpture garden. I love walking on this bridge. It has spectacular views of downtown and I never tire of reading the John Ashberry poem that graces the bridge.

Chaos is much calmer this morning than he was last night – some idiots in my neighborhood were setting off fireworks (big stuff, not just sparklers and firecrackers) in the street in front of my building until nearly midnight. Plus this morning I had to move all the furniture away from the windows and take down all the blinds, since I’m getting new windows installed! Great for me, but nerve-wracking for the jumpy Cat Chaotic… and the window installers haven’t even arrived yet.

In knitting news, I finished two more bibs… The first was in Sugar’n’Cream “countryside ombre” – a bad name for a lovely variegated sage green and purple yarn. It would be more Project Spectrumish if I had been able to get an accurate picture of the color!

I think my model’s goodwill on the bib thing might be exhausted. I’m sure no one is surprised!

“No!!! Not another bib!! Run away!!”

“Hmph. That didn’t work so well, did it?”

“Well, I did get one leg free. Maybe if I keep running away from it…”

I took it off him at that point. Sorry, Chaos! The extra kitty treats seemed to go a long way toward earning his forgiveness. Plus, when I finished this belated June Project Spectrum bib in a denimy blue ombre and didn’t even menace him with it, he seemed relieved!

Project Spectrum, Those Cats

Mini-Chaos

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I tie-dyed another onesie, this time in Project Spectrum purple. This was immersion dyed using Rit Purple and three rubber bands. My dye pot is black enamel, which makes it hard to tell when the dye is completely dissolved – hence the darker flecks.


front

back

RheLynn of KnitOwl sent me a wonderful package last week. She included a very cute button – hmm, wonder why she thought of me??

She also made a wonderfully cute and clever softie – go check out her Etsy store for more of her softies and art!. Allow me to present Chaos and his “mini-me“:


“What the…???!”

*sniff* “He sure is cute. His eyes are greener than mine. I hope Mom will still love me just as much.”

Not to worry, Chaos! Mini-Chaos is fabulously cute (he even has an embroidered black nose for authenticity), but he doesn’t purr or play fetch! Of course, he also doesn’t meow incessantly trying to will me to feed him 45 minutes early, either… Hmm.

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Those Cats

Chaoudini

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I should warn you in advance that this bib thing? Way addictive. You know how so many people are knitting those clever MDK washcloths/dishrags and they just keep knitting more and more? The bibs are like that, too. I’m sure Jeanne will post her tale of many bibs any day now. And Sydney has already succumbed – one of her ferrets is modeling!

So, I present to you…. Bib #3!! Knit from less than one ball of Sugar’n’Cream, color Summer Splash, this probably will be the last Project Spectrum item I complete for June.

Once again, my model was too slow in his escape.

“Hmph.”

But wait, what have we here?!

*muffled* (probably best, don’t you think??)

“I’ve got my eye on you, Mom. I’m wise to your tricks now!”
Alongs, Project Spectrum

Sunday sky (whoops)

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Ok, so the day I take as completely computer free turns out to be the first Saturday Sky day. Alas! But then I noticed that Beck was also running a day late, so I figured what the heck. Besides, today it’s sunny. Yesterday was very rainy in these parts.

This picture was taken on the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge. The text is from one of my favorite poems, the specially commissioned John Ashberry poem that graces the bridge. And it’s rather Project Spectrummy, too, isn’t it?

Project Spectrum, Tales of the Neighborhood

Blue, blue building

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Last night I met Renee for dinner and margaritas at Bar Abilene. We ate, drank, and were merry, then wandered down the block to take in an advance screening of Who Killed the Electric Car? at the Lagoon Cinema (I won tickets to it!). The documentary was extremely well done and very thought-provoking. The director and one of the main people in the movie were onhand afterwards to answer questions, which was great. Check out Renee’s indepth review!

Anyone remember the bright green building from last month? This month, I present (for your Project Spectrum amusement and amazement) the blue, blue building. (Remember that you can click on the pictures to see larger versions.)

Notice how well it blends into the neighborhood?! It’s a nice bit of color, especially in the winter.

Here’s a closer view, taken in the parking lot – please note that the Dunn Brothers Coffee isn’t open anymore. Do you see the mural? Here’s a picture of the rest of the mural:

“Your eyes are growing heavy… When you wake up, you won’t remember this conversation.
You will go forth, knit bibs, and wear them. Bwah-ha-ha!”

Alongs, Knitting, Project Spectrum, Those Cats

Bibbed redux

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Way back on June 7, I participated in A Day in a Knitter’s Life. Sort of. If you’re curious about my rather pathetic effort, you can check it out.

In more current news, I finished another Project Spectrumesque MDK bib in Sugar’n’Cream color swimming pool. I’m 2/3 done with yet another bib – these things are speedy and much appreciated by parents, since they are significantly more absorbent than most of the bibs you can buy.

My model’s curiosity overcame his good sense (how could he forget so quickly?!) and he was quickly trapped for a photo shoot.

“Again, I’m so ashamed…”
“How could I forget so quickly?!”
“I would so rather be playing with Midnight Mouse.”
“Release me, oh evil bib!”
“Ok, ok, I can do this – one shoulder free! Hah!!”
Project Spectrum, Tales of the Neighborhood, Those Cats

Art thou blue?

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Well, I moved all my pictures here from blogger – a few of the thumbnails that appear in the posts are messed up, but if you click on them, you will go to the larger, uncorrupted image. Sorry about that! More more more changes on the way… but all dependent on free time and learning curve!

Also, if you’re having trouble figuring out how to comment, you just click on the number to the right of the post title.
Some more Project Spectrum images from my neighborhood – today’s theme is art.

The elementary school on the next block has some very cool small mosaics on the pillars of the playground fence…

…as well as around the top edge of these freshly painted primary planters:

A mural at Saint Sabrina’s Parlor in Purgatory, one-stop shopping for all of your tattoo and body piercing needs:

A stunning mosaic inspired by van Gogh’s Starry Night on the alley side of Muddy Waters – it includes mirrored tiles:

A mural in a random backyard:

Um, really, I have no idea what’s up with this giant puppet outside of Arise! Bookstore… oh, ok, now that I peeked at their website, I think they had this puppet in the Mayday Parade. It maybe looked a little less startling in the parade than sitting outside the bookstore on Lyndale Avenue!

Back at ye olde condo, Chaos looks pleased that he might have faked you all out about eating TRT.

“Hee hee!”

Project Spectrum, Tales of the Neighborhood

Signs of the city

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Welcome to everyone who managed to find us after our move yesterday – thanks for the kind words about our new home! Please be patient while I get familiar with WordPress – there will be lots of tweaking for a while.

I was wandering around my neighborhood recently and I noticed a lot of Project Spectrumesque signs.

Ok, this sign isn’t blue… but it’s the iconic emblem of Uptown, Minneapolis (and look at how blue the sky is!) – the Uptown Theater. However, the Lagoon Cinema just down the street does have a blue sign:

Shoes…

The YWCA used to have blue awnings, which would’ve been perfect for PS June, right?! Nope. They recently changed the color (after PS April, alas):

Uptown has many cafes.

I live in the Lowry Hill East neighborhood, which is also known as “The Wedge” due to its pie slice shape.

“Check out the new digs! I’m glad I didn’t have to carry of the heavy stuff when we moved.”

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Those Cats

Final Project Spectrum May pictures

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Yes, yes, I know everyone wants to see pictures of luridly purple yarn. Hopefully tomorrow. Right now the yarn is eluding my best efforts to capture the color. Grrrrrr…

So, in order to placate Marina, I finished my Chaotic Black Lagoon socks last night.

Yarn: Sundara Black Lagoon
Pattern: Judy Gibson’s generic toe-up pattern modified for two circulars, with this cast-on and Maeve’s Cherry Blossom Lace pattern
Needles: Addi Turbo 0s
Duration: 28 days

And on to the last few PS May images… A treasured green card from my grad school friend Deb:

One of the best wine labels ever (and the wine’s not bad, either!) – does that face remind you of anyone?! 🙂

For Chaos size reference, the wine bottle is 12 inches tall…

“Wait a minute, what the heck is a gooseberry bush?! Can’t I just use my litterbox?!”