Category Archives: Randonymity

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

End of vacation…

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The Yarn Harlot is having a contest – what’s the best word can you make from the Scrabble letters?

Celtic Kelly is selling some really cute stitchmarkers for socks – check them out!

Yesterday was my last day of vacation. Alas, I spent it with a migraine. Pooey! Much better today, but I didn’t get any of the things done I was planning for yesterday, so I’m feeling more discombobulated about being back at work than I expected. And very very far behind in bloglines again!

Sometime during the past two weeks, I saw a pattern for a soap bag that hangs in the shower. It was posted on someone’s blog, but I didn’t bookmark it. *slaps forehead* I think it was from Sugar’n’Cream, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Please leave a comment if you know where this pattern was posted. My google-fu hasn’t found it yet…

Reading Update
The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, and The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton, books 2-6 of Anita Black, Vampire Hunter. It’s been ages since I read these and I’m definitely enjoying the re-read. The series hadn’t started to deteriorate yet…
Bit of info for anyone reading the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series – when I started the sixth book, Definitely Dead, I was very confused. The book referred to some critical incidents that had recently happened, but I certainly didn’t remember anything about them and I had just read the previous five books in about four days. It turns out that the information was revealed in a short story in the book Bite. I highly recommend reading that short story before you read Definitely Dead!

This was worth turning around to get a picture of…

And May wants to show off how big she’s getting:

“I’m almost as big as the big kitty, Mom!!”
Contests, Randonymity

In which I try to catch up on thank yous

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Limedragon is having a contest to celebrate her new WordPress blog. Simply leave a comment by Saturday, October 21, and you could win a lovely skein of All Things Heather sock yarn!

For anyone who tried to comment yesterday and got a weird error – sorry! I was trying a new antispam plugin that was a wee bit too aggressive. Didn’t get any spam, though! But I’d rather hear from y’all and am willing to delete a bit of spam to do so. 🙂

In the midst of all this doing absolutely nothing on my vacation (which has been extremely relaxing), I’ve gotten frightfully behind in thank yous. Whoops…

First, V of Spells with… sent me a wonderful package with a cool postcard, chocolate (with espresso beans in it – yum), and something for the kitties. Here’s what V wrote to Chaos and May on the card:

To the kitties: Meet Catharsis, the Catnip Cat (Agent Triple C, but you can call her Cathy for short). If you’re ever mad at your brother/sister, Cathy is here to help. Mom won’t like it if you chew each other’s tail off, so stick with Cathy in those moments!

True enough – thanks, V! Here’s May checking out the card, while Chaos hops off the coffee table, in pursuit of Cathy. (Guess Chaos had been storing up some anger, there.)

“It’s too bad these aren’t real people, because they’re small enough for me to eat.” – May
“Nip!!!” – Chaos

Isn’t Cathy adorable?? You’ll just have to imagine how cute it was when Chaos was rubbing her all over his face, since my camera battery died.

Moving right along, I got a monster skein of sportweight cotton from Becky of Moonfrog for being one of her contest winners. Thanks, Becky!

“Yeah, yeah, it’s pretty – but where’s the nip?!”

I also won Kate’s Look Back and Cringe contest. Kate sent an increases/decreases KnitKard, a really cute knitting card, some gorgeous Mountain Colors sock yarn, cute little stitchmarkers, some nice pepperminty soap, a black sheep tape measure (I really wanted one of these and almost bought one on the yarn crawl!), and colored pencils (mmm, school supplies in the fall – excellent!). Thanks, Kate!

“I bet these are cat toys.”

Sorry, May, those stitchmarkers are not cat toys. Kate apologized for not including anything for the kitties, but little did she know that she had…

“Ok, I’ve seen how the Meezer plays with her tearstrip, May, so please focus. Concentrate! You can do this, May!”
Randonymity, Those Cats

Happy Friday the 13th!

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Better not let any black cats cross your path today! 🙂

We’ve had a tiny amount of snow blowing around for the last day or two and the temps have been dropping to 26F at nights – big change from Saturday, when I wore a tank top, capris, and birks on the yarn crawl! The colder weather inspired me to pull out my Celestial Sheep flannel sheets last night. (Aside about these sheets – when I bought these last winter, I was pleased as could be. Cute sheep! On sheets! With stars and moons! *squeal* But, um, when I made my bed the first time, I had a realization. A realization that these were the sheets of a woman with no plans to entertain a guy anytime soon. Damn. I’ve become a crazy ol’ cat lady.)

Anyway, it isn’t easy to make the bed when you have two cats.

“I think there’s something under this sheet! Whatever could it be?! Maybe it’s a little sheep. Yum.”

“It’s kind of wiggly, whatever it is.”

“Not a little sheep! Eeeeep!”

I puttered around and did a bit of shopping today. I’ll leave you with two photos foreshadowing some of next week’s blog content. (This first one is so worth clicking to see larger!)

“My tail in this picture does not mean that I condone this content.”

“Hmm, why do I have such a sense of foreboding?!”

Contests, Knitting, Randonymity

Tidbit Tuesday

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Hockey Mom is having a contest to guess when her second blogiversary is. She hasn’t quite decided on what the prize will be, but she’ll let everyone know soon.

The KnitPicks Shine I won in Cindy’s contest arrived Friday and it was the perfect thing for a baby sweater, so I cast on within minutes of opening the package. Only 20 more rounds on a sleeve, weaving in ends, sewing on the buttons, and I’m done! Hopefully an FO picture tomorrow…

I also started another pair of socks (must always have socks in my purse). I’m knitting these from some yarn I dyed, using the stitch pattern from Kristi’s Flatiron Clog Socks.

Jeanne did a lovely job of summing up our Yarn Crawl adventures of Saturday – check it out! The only pictures I took all day were on our drive back from Excelsior, where we decompressed with Deb at 318, knitting, noshing, and nipping. Ahhhh… Anyway, having the rare opportunity of being a passenger, I played with my camera. Can you find the full moon in each of these pictures?!

May has a question for everyone.

“Mom says some of you think I’m going to be a big kitty! Do you think I’ll be as big as the big kitty??”
Dyeing, Randonymity, Reading, Those Cats

Vacation, Day the nth

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Yesterday, it was Deb’s turn to entertain me during my vacation. 😉 We dyed some wonderful yarn, but it’s drying, so you’ll have to wait until Monday to see it all pretty and nice. This will shock you – one of my skeins contained no black, purple, or pink!! I’ll wait while you collect yourselves.

Jeanne and I will be participating in the Yarn Crawl/Treasure Hunt going on at seven Twin Cities’ yarn stores this weekend. Wouldn’t it be great fun to win the $3000 grand prize?!

Reading Update
Sacred and Profane and Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman. Books two and three in the Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series. Although I’m enjoying this series, at times, I find I’m gritting my teeth at Peter’s attitude toward women in these books. Does this improve at all in future books?! He’s generally ok regarding his partner, Marge, but towards Rina – argh!
Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts). This is the first Eve Dallas novel and I hugely enjoyed rereading it. If you aren’t familiar with this series, it’s a somewhat graphic mystery series set in the not-too-distant future, featuring NYPD lieutenant Eve Dallas and the ever-so-sexy Roarke, the richest man in the world (and then some). Roarke is way up there on my list of sexiest fictional male persons. *fans self*

Here’s a little photo essay of Chaos, May, and the black shoebox that I’ve been meaning to post for several weeks – from before Chaos’ butt was shaved.

“Nothing to see here, move along, move along.”
*hee hee* “May will never know I’m under here!”
“Hmm…. I wonder where the big kitty is?”
“Ha! I see your butt, big kitty!”
*fight fight fight bite bite bite*
“Run away!”
Contests, Randonymity

WTF Wednesday – the storage solution edition

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Jane of Quiddity is having her second annual show her your socks contest! You have until midnight, October 8, to leave her a comment with a link to your photo(s). She will randomly choose three winners, plus have a prize for the most imaginative display of socks. Hmm…. *rubbing hands together and laughing wickedly*

My KnitFlix pal Anna of Knit-Write received her package!

Lest we start thinking that all photo horror lies in the past… May I present to you Ziploc(tm) Big Bags? I purchased a box of the XXL bags (they’re available in XL and XXL). These monsters are 2 by 2.7 feet (60 by 82 cm). Yarn storage solution?! Everything storage solution?!! (“Honey, could you keep little Georgie still for a moment?”) Anyway, I love the model’s expression/pose – doesn’t she look as if she’s trying to disassociate herself from the bag? (“Get this thing the *blip* away from me!!” through clenched teeth…)

Here’s the back of the box, showing the bags in action:

Remember the shoebox I mentioned? It’s probably our number one cat toy. Here’s May pouncing the shoebox, because there’s Chaos to be found:

“Now I’ve got you, big kitty!”
Randonymity

WTF Wednesday wackiness

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I cannot thank all of you enough for the kind words for my Chaos Kitty. He seems to be doing well! I think the next day or so of antibiotics will be critical. Anyone who’s met him will be shocked to know that he watches me get out the medicine and waits to be dosed… And, if he is back on form by Sunday or Monday, I have a revised plan of attack for my Knitblogger’s Tour of the West.

Wow, I was also a winner in Becky’s contests over at Moonfrog! I’m trying to direct some of this luck Chaos’ way. 🙂

Ok, time to lighten things up here with a little WTF Wednesday wackiness!! I have an old Bernat book of raglans that has a few interesting pictures… First, imagine the emotional scars to this poor child as her father sneakily steals her Cracker Jacks – probably the prize! She is so going to make them pay for therapy later.

I find this woman’s hair and proportions vaguely disquieting… perhaps because I think my neck would snap off if held at that angle?!

Nothing vaguely disquieting about this picture. Stepford Wife, anyone? Yikes!

And here’s May, filling in for Chaos while he rests up and heals. May, she’s not as particular as Chaos about mice. She loves all the mice.

“I’m hanging onto this mouse because I think the refrigerator might come and steal it like it did all the other mice.”
Contests, Randonymity, Those Cats

Of Harlots and vets

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The Yarn Harlot documented her visit to Eau Claire – and she got a much better picture of Jeanne, Deb, and I than the one I posted (we’re holding the sock)!

V is having a contest – she’s collecting 12-18 yard lenghts of DK or lighter weight yarn for a blanket. Everyone who sends yarn will be entered to win a $25 gift certifcate from Little Knits.

Vicki Knitorious is having a constant comment contest – if your comment happens to be her 6000th comment, she will send you a prize.

Cara is having a haiku contest – leave a haiku containing the word “sock” plus 3 other special words (january, one, rock(s), jet, fall, sheep, wool, feet (or foot), knit, yarn, pirate, fest, dude, fantastic, worm) in her comments before September 23, 11:59 pm EDT. Six winners will receive sock yarn and one of the coveted orange Chibis!

Forgive me – I am once again behind in bloglines. Let me know if you have a contest or knitalong starting! I usually get caught up over the weekend… Y’all are just too busy being interesting! I’m still knitting my MagKnits project, tweaking the pattern, and I can’t really blog much about it. Secret knitting makes for boring reading – sorry! So, back to cats. 😉

According to the vet, Choas is stressed, plain and simple. Sigh. He got an antibiotic shot and some tuna flavored liquid antibiotics to take daily for five days to help his messed up insides heal. And he was prescribed a bland diet of tuna and mashed up rice for the next several days. The vet might be on Chaos’ payroll, too, along with some of y’all. Hmph.

The vet also confirmed what I suspected – Chaos needs to lose about 2.5 pounds! Poor guy. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that May was trying to nurse on Chaos’ jungle pouch. Hmm. Maybe that’s making him stressed?! It would me.

Oh, the vet did float the idea that Chaos might not adapt to Mayhem enough and that maybe he would be best as a single kitty…. 🙁 But Chaos is washing her, which I think is promising. I think that I might have made things worse by moving his food to the top of the fridge to keep May out of it – I think that really confused and trauamatized him. I’m not giving up hope yet, but I am starting to worry about taking a vacation with things this unsettled here at home.

I really want to thank all of you – you’ve been so helpful and reassuring while I’ve been angsting about this. Your support has been wonderful and much appreciated. You guys rock!!

So, I ask y’all – does this look like a stressed cat?!

“Cleanliness is very important, Mayhem. It will give you a big strong tongue like me.”

“Why do you resist so when I hold you down to wash you?!”

“She’s kinda cute when she’s sleeping, isn’t she?”
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*