Bright colors are stimulating for babies, right?

Some friends finally had their baby a few days ago. Congrats to them! And now the important bit – I can finally post my FO pictures of the baby blanket I made. 😉 Let’s get the cat-free picture out of the way first, shall we? (Please ignore the odd lighting effects – it was sunny and neither my camera nor I had any idea how to deal with that unexpected event.)

This is a variant of the Artful Afghan I made a few months ago. I knit this all in stockinette (instead of a combination of stockinette and reverse stockinette) with a garter stitch border. The stripes are wider than the original Artful, since I was using KnitPicks Swish Worsted left over from the Pinwheel Sweater I knit in 2007 and just knitting until I ran out of each color. (The colors are, from the center, Ballerina, Bubblegum, Red Pepper, Fired Brick, Bordeaux, Wisteria, and Navy Blue.) Many thanks to Jeanne who contributed a vital skein of Navy Blue!

“Hmm. These colors seem hauntingly familiar, but I just can’t put my paw on why…” -Chaos

“Hey! May! This is mine. Go find your own stripey floor covering.” -Chaos

“You’re not the boss of me, big kitty! Bring it on!” -Mayhem

Beware! There’s a dangerous predator hiding in the grape ivy.

Karen’s celebrating her new blog home with a contest – guess how many yards of finished 2-ply yarn she’ll get from the pictured bobbins and you could win some fibery goodies. Contest closes at midnight, March 5. Please note that the English translation of the post starts right after the photo.

The Largehearted Boy is giving away a set of Monty Python’s Flying Circus Megaset dvds. Leave a comment about your favorite television comedy character by March 4 to enter.

Just a heads up so there are fewer injuries this time around – I will be posting about knitting tomorrow. You have been warned. 😉

Wow – talk about an amazing transformation from garage to gorgeous crafting room!

Doodling might actually increase focus and concentration. *saves this one for work*

Lifehacker has an interesting list of ten useful tools for your blog.

Here’s an intriguing do-it-yourself cat bed/scratcher.

An ebook LOL that’s probably most amusing to those of us who read some variety of romance.

Hmm, maybe the paranormal romance genre’s a little out of control? Hee hee.

Literary Escapism has a truly amazing summary of forthcoming urban fantasy and paranormal romance releases, upcoming author interviews, and more.

Reading Update
Mine to Possess and Hostage to Pleasure (Psy-Changelings, Books 4-5) by Nalini Singh. Surely you’re tired of listening me to wax rhapsodic about this author and series? Don’t forget that Angel’s Blood, the first book in the Guild Hunter series, comes out tomorrow. You can also read an interview with Nalini Singh at Bitten by Books and maybe win a copy of Angel’s Blood!
In Too Deep (The Men of T-FLAC, The Wrights: Book 4) and Hot Ice (The Men of T-FLAC, Book 7) by Cherry Adair. Hmm, I think I’m all caught up through Book 10 in this series now. Books 8-10 were definitely my favorites – love those anti-terrorist wizardly Edge Brothers. (But I think Hot Ice has a major plot inconsistency that surfaces nearly at the end, alas.)
The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy by Emily Carmichael. Enjoyable non-paranormal romance about a movie star hiding out at a ranch in Arizona with his incorrigible tween daughter.


Oh no! Be very, very careful passing near the grape ivy as you attempt to water it…

“I am a fierce panther girl, lying in wait for my prey, the wicked and wily furry pink mouse! Quake in fear, FPM!” -Mayhem