Category Archives: Reading

Alongs, Contests, Reading, Those Cats

Vacation, Day #1

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Megan is participating in the Tour de Cure. She’ll have a prize drawing for those who support her in this endeavor. You can even support her by buying a sock pattern!

Rebekah is having a contest. She’s curious about how all those lone shoes end up along roads (I’ve always wondered about this, too). Take a picture of one such shoe and send her an email with the picture and your explanation before November 1.

Amelia is having a contest – leave a comment with a family story about your grandparents and you could win a yarny prize if you’re lucky commenter 3501.

Lorinda is having a ‘fess up to your oldest UFO contest. Leave your comment before 10 pm Central, October 8.

Chaos Update
Adding the additional antibiotic Thursday night seems to really have helped the Chaos Kitty. Things aren’t perfect yet, but they are definitely much better. Again, I cannot thank all of you enough for your support and words of wisdom, which have helped me so much. You guys are great!

Reading Update
To Feel Stuff by Andrea Seigel. Trying to expand a bit beyond the mysteries now and again… This novel revolves around Elodie Harrington, a Brown University student who lives in the infirmary due to her ongoing medical maladies. The story is told from the perspective of Elodie, a doctor studying her case, and another student (in love with her) who is confined to the infirmary for a time. A good read, and I’m definitely going to read other works by this author.
Coyote Cowgirl by Kim Antieau. Reading a book that starts on the Day of the Dead may be as close as I get to participating in the Day of the Dead Knitalong… This contemporary magical realism novel made for a compelling read and some aspects reminded me of Like Water for Chocolate.
The Magyar Venus by Lyn Hamilton. Love how the $0.70 mysteries I pick up at the thrift store often introduce me to a good series or author. This archeological mystery, set in Canada and Hungary, was enjoyable and well written; I will read more from this series.

On Friday, my KnitFlix package arrived! My pal was Anna of Knit-Write. Chaos and Mayhem inspected every aspect of the package, starting with the lovely gift bag.

“Smells… gifty.”

Chaos took it upon himself to perform the initial inspection. (Please note that a bar of lovely dark chocolate may or may not also have been included, although it is not pictured…)

“This is green, but I don’t think it’s catnip…”

Finally, he did allow Mayhem to check things out, too.

“Everything’s so interesting!”

“But this, this stuff is really interesting.”

Oh oh… Thanks, Anna, for a fun swap package! I’ve always wanted to have my own copy of Shrek, and am looking forward to trying the exotic popcorns and WildCAT Popcorn Salt.

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!”
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, Reading, Those Cats, Tunes

“When the villagers come to my door, I will hide underneath the table in the dining room.”

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Reading update: Slow week reading here! Dead Wrong by J.A. Jance. In the latest Sheriff Joanna Brady mystery (Arizona), she’s coping with a staff shortage, murder, and being 9.5 months pregnant.

Last night I went to the Triple Rock Social Club to see one of my very favorite bands, the Mountain Goats. (This post’s cryptic title is from their song “If You See Light.”) It was very, very traumatic for me, staying up that late and being out and about! Fortunately, I had good parking “carma” and then snagged a prime spot to watch the show when I got inside. They basically played their new album Get Lonely in order, with a few detours (Heart’s “Barracuda” was the best!), then played some of their older stuff. (And Leah, the new stuff was mostly excellent live – it had a lot more zing than on the cd.) It was a great show, especially considering it was the first stop of their tour! But damn, did I feel old – I was probably one of the 10 oldest people there… This was the first time I’ve been to a show at a bar since the Minneapolis smoking ban went into effect last year – I know it’s been controversial, but it was amazing to not need a shower after a show and also not to wake up with a “hangover” from second-hand smoke.

Largehearted Boy is having a Get Lonely contest! Could the timing be more perfect?! 🙂

Time for a decent picture of Mayhem – she’s purring and making happy paws because I’m looking at her, the sweetie. She definitely has the stealth tabby thing going, as well as maybe being a “smoke” (check out section 2 in that link). Her eyes are actually a sort of gold amber, not the green that they’ve appeared in photos.

*rumbling*

I think Chaos and May are playing now. I’m hoping that’s what it is! Either that, or she’s running for her life much of the time. I caught Chaos giving her a bath this morning. Awwwww… (No, there isn’t a picture – it was 5:30 am…)

“Ha ha! I got Mom’s spot and that big kitty isn’t anywhere around!”

“But why am I feeling so nervous? It’s as if someone’s watching me…

Festing, Reading, Those Cats

In the company of knitbloggers

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Special thanks to Mouse for my newly modified sidebar avatar!

Scout’s launching a new sock (and more) club – read all about Scout’s Indie Swag Club, which is going to have a very limited number of members to start with. You can sign up Wednesday, September 13, 9 pm EST. Anyone want to take bets that all the memberships will be filled by 9:10 pm?!

Celtic Kelly is starting a Fall Equinox to Winter Solstice knitalong involving tweedy yarn – check it out!

Reading
Men and Other Mammals by Jim Keeble. Interesting twist on British chick lit – would you call it “lad lit”?! Not a life changing book, but I did read the whole thing at least. (Why, yes, I am utterly lukewarm on this book!)
Cue the Easter Bunny by Liz Evans. I think this is probably the most recent book about British PI Grace Evans. I much enjoyed this and wish the first book from the series would hurry up and get here!
Dating Dead Men and Dating Is Murder by Harley Jane Kozak. The only two books (so far) featuring LA greeting card writer Wollie Shelley. I am eagerly awaiting another book! Bless the serendipitous browse through the actual physical library – I usually come across some great stuff.

Ok, back to the Harlotation on Sunday in Eau Claire. We saw many more folks than I’m going to remember – so please forgive me and leave details in the comments! Vicki Knitorious (with Deb of Wound Too Tight here),

Jeanne of k3tog (really, she isn’t always so serious – trust me, and check out the cool striping yarn she dyed),

CursingMama and Mr Motorcycle (so brave to come along),

Beadslut (ohmigod, she has a decent picture of me!), KnittyMama and KnittyBaby, Catherine of Yogurt and Granola, Jess of Mikknit, kmkat,

Christy of Purling Away, Stephania of Moraie Knitting, Kelle of Knits and Giggles, and many, many more…

And now for something completely different, I thought I would try to illustrate the size difference between Chaos and Mayhem… Note that her collar hangs loosely on her neck… and that her tail is the same length as Chaos’ tail. Poor stubby-tailed Chaos!

*crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch*
Alongs, Contests, Dyeing, Reading

Of yarn and keychains

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Heather of What’s Cluttering My Couch is having a contest. It’s different. And nice.

Celia of Unraveling is doing the Asthma Walk. If you contribute, you could win a pair of handknitted socks, tailored to your preferences!

Reading
Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. The most recent Dresden Files novel. This series about Chicago PI and wizard Harry Dresden continues to be enjoyable, funny, and unpredictible. Definitely recommended.
Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton. The most recent Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel was ok. The bit about unpredictible being good re: the Dresden Files? The Anita Blake books are seeming awfully predictible these days. I ripped through the book, but I can’t say that I really enjoyed it.
The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman. Kristi recommended this book so highly a few weeks ago that I had to check it out. This is the first book in a series about LAPD Detective Peter Decker and Jewish widow Rina Lazarus and I already have the next book on my library list. For a more eloquent review, head on over and read Kristi’s.
China Trade by S.J. Rozan. MrsPao recommended this book to me and I’m very glad she did! Another enjoyable read that’s also the first book in a series about PI Lydia Chin, based out of NY’s Chinatown, and fellow PI Bill Smith.

I did a few things besides read this weekend. I knit – I’m now on the borders of my Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket! I did a tiny amount of catsitting. I touched up some dyed yarn. I rode my exercise bike and watched it rain outside. I walked around my neighborhood on Monday when the sun came out and took a few pictures. I played with the Chaos Kitty. I contemplated getting him a little sister… but maybe that should wait until after my epic vacation this fall. Anyway!

The sky was so dreary on Saturday and Sunday, I wasn’t tempted to get my camera out. But on Labor Day, I was. So here’s my Saturday Sunday Monday sky.

Last week I mentioned that I was saving the pictures of my dyed yarn and fun stuff from Deb until this week. Here’s the nifty keychain sock blocker and skein of Online Supersocke from Deb. Thanks, Deb! I hadn’t even seen the Supersocke before and that keychain is amazingly cute! Must knit minisock for minisock blocker…

“Hee hee – you think you’re going to knit a teeny little sock like that and keep it out of my clutches?! Don’t you remember the miniskein?”

I dyed more than one skein of yarn, but the self-striping hot pink and black not only defies photos, it’s also drying again – I had to redye the black because it was blotchy after the first time around. I think the skein below is my favorite so far of the skeins I’ve dyed, but I just couldn’t capture the colors. This is the best that I managed, but the colors are more intense in reality:

“You can drop that yarn, Mom. I promise nothing bad will happen to it…”

I also picked up some Silk Garden DK, inspired by Julia’s gorgeous socks.

“Um, excuse me? You put this on my why?! And you expect me to not rip it to bits?!! Hmph.”
Contests, Dyeing, Reading

Frantic Friday Finale

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Domesticat is having a contest to celebrate her second year of knitting and that she and Duck are moving. All you have to do is send email or leave a comment with your guess as to where she and Duck are moving before 8 pm EST, September 4.

Cookie (yes, that Cookie) of Knitters Anonymous is having a contest. Entries must be submitted by 11:59 pm PDT, September 10.

Final SRP Update
Although this is it for SRP, I will continue to log what I read, as I’m definitely enjoying that. I must admit that I didn’t read a single blog Thursday night – I went home and knitted on my Regia silk sock and read and read and read…

Charmed and Dangerous by Candace Havens, 261 pages. Fluffy light chick lit mixed with a spot of magic, as witch Bronwyn protects a prime minister and a shiek from magical attacks. I enjoyed it and will be reading the other books in the series.
Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker, 306 pages. The fifth Sunny Randall mystery intersects with another Parker series, which I haven’t read, about Jesse Stone. I don’t like Parker’s Spenser mysteries, but I definitely enjoy the sexy, hardboiled Sunny Randall stuff.
The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint, 138 pages. One of de Lint’s early books about Newford, this teen novel (and this specific copy) is the first or second de Lint novel I ever read.

Last Saturday, Deb and Jeanne and I got together to dye some more yarn at Casa de Deb. Deb has some pictures up already – that first one so flatteringly features my baggy shorts and saddlebags, heh. (No pictures of the yarn I dyed or of the thoughtful goodies Deb gave us for braving the drive west – should we tell her we don’t mind the drive or not?! Anyway, pictures and details on all that stuff next week. I can feel the anticipation from here.)

As Deb notes, Jeanne is very serious when she dyes yarn.

Although Deb’s pretty darn serious, too…

And we all puzzled over what this dye was up to – can you see the strange aggregates forming on the yarn?! If one of you more experienced dyers could shed some light on that mystery, it would be much appreciated. I believe the color in question was Ripe Tomato (Country Classics).

What dyeing event is complete without noshing? (Hmm, I just noticed that the chips and wine were almost gone, but there were still plenty of vegetables left.)

And I stalked Deb’s cat Tig for a while, until he ran away at the sight of me with the camera. (But don’t you just love Tig’s curly whiskers?!)

“Mommy?! Help me!! Your friend is weird. She follwed me under the dining room table with that camera!”

Chaos didn’t appear thrilled about sharing blog space with another boy cat…

“Hmph. You’re going to push me too far, Mom. I’m warning you…….”
Randonymity, Reading

Manic Random Wednesday

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Mostly because I’m feeling wildly disorganized!

SRP Update
Sick as a Parrot by Liz Evans, 327 pages. Ok, ok, I only picked it up because it had a weird title… But now I want to read the rest of the books about British PI Grace Smith… and read them in order!! It was cleverly funny and it kept me guessing up to the end. What’s not to like?

Options to Blogger
Lots of people have been switching from Blogger recently, because of the ongoing frustrations. Carrie K just switched from Blogger to TypePad, and I noticed some questions in her comments about cost and such. Here’s the pricing information for TypePad. You can test drive it for free for 30 days. The basic level ($4.95/mo) includes 100 mb of disk space, and 2 gb of bandwidth per month. For comparison, I’m currently using about 150 mb of disk space (I do use a lot of pictures, but I edit them so they don’t take up as much space as “raw” pictures), and 8 gb of bandwidth per month.

WordPress.com offers free blogs. I poked around their site and couldn’t find any information about disk space and bandwidth restrictions for the free sites – can anyone point me to that information? I do know Frarochvia, EvaLux, and Heather have all recently switched from Blogger to WordPress. I have to say that I really like the look of WordPress blogs better than Blogger blogs, but you know me – I read ’em all! 😉

I’m using WordPress through Dreamhost, which offers an awful lot for $7.95/month: 20 gb of storage, 1 tb (terabyte) of bandwidth/month, free domain registration, up to 675 email accounts (um, yeah, I’m really not taking advantage of that one), free software such as WordPress, and a 97-day money back guarantee. I would recommend that you be at least a bit techy if you go this route.

I’m not sure how Blogger/Google can afford the amount of disk space and bandwidth required to support so many free blogs, so I have to wonder if the problems will get worse, or if storage and bandwidth restrictions will be applied.

Further Rambling
I found two fun books of knitting patterns yesterday at the thrift store. Which baby picture is more odd?!

And here’s where Chaos spends his mornings – from this corner of the living room, he’s able to keep an eye on birds outside the windows:

“Mom! You gave away my secret spot!! I can’t believe you’d do that to me…”
Contests, Randonymity, Reading

This one’s for Marina, who has been ever so patient

38 Comments

SRP Update
Ok, somehow I didn’t realize SRP ended on Thurday (August 31) and not on Labor Day. D’oh!
Repair To Her Grave by Sarah Graves, 291 pages. Yet another Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery. I might have finished them all now. Or maybe I have one left. Hmm.

Janelle of Eclectic Closet is having a reading-related contest. Leave a comment before September 15 to enter.

I won a contest! It was a surprise contest – apparently I made Valerie’s 100th comment, so she sent me a wonderfully thoughtful package – it’s almost eerie how well she knows me. Check out the purple and black tissue paper and the crazy cat lady card! 😉

A skein of lovely purple Sugar’n’Cream (although, since Valerie suggested it was for a dishcloth and not a bib, I now suspect she’s yet another of y’all on Chaos’ payroll) and some very cool pen bookmarks. Thank you, Valerie!

Ok, poor Marina has been reading for months, waiting for the answer to a question I posed back in January, when I posted this picture and asked if anyone could figure out what was going on here. The cats in question are Chaos’ mom Riley (black) and his brother Diablo (white), taken at my brother’s house last summer – and nope, my brother wasn’t trying to make pressed cats.

These naughty cats jumped between the screen and the glass on the breezeway. The first few times they did it, they were able to push out the screen and escape the house. However, in this picture, they have just discovered that my brother cat-proofed the screens from outside with blocks of wood. These cats are very trapped.

Here’s the the little wooden ledge that my brother had to build to keep the cats from jumping down between the screens:

Sorry you had to suffer through so much purple for that, Marina!

I’m not sure Chaos remembers he has family…

“Just feed me, dammit, and be quick about it! The service in this place is abysmal.”