Two adorable patterns
Both are simple and clever and better yet, free! I had to share, I want to knit both.
December 17, 2007
April 26, 2007
Poodles are not sheep
Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.
April 17, 2007
It's about time
As a young adolescent I dreamed of one day being a Cinematographer or a film editor. I specifically wanted to edit movie previews. I thought it was so neat when someone truly captures the feeling of a movie and makes a preview that simply pulls you to the movie theater. I took video classes and communications classes in High school and I selected my college because it had a "Multimedia" degree which involved video and audio editing. The internet was just starting then, I had no idea my skill set would lead me into web development instead of video/film stuff.
So I have always loved movies and video and camcorders. I haven’t purchased one in a very long time. So I have been sitting and waiting for those stupid tape camcorders to move on to the next generation. Sony just release a new line of HDD (Hard Disk Drive, it has nothing to do with High Def) and they start around $500 bucks.
So I got my bonus at work before we left for Australia, and I only spent my other saved up cash on the trip. That still leaves my bonus. I plan on carpeting our bedrooms with that bonus but I also had spent to spend a little bit of it on a new camcorder. I want to have video of my husband and I of our first house and us in our 20's (I won't be in my 20's much longer so I better get a move on!).
So this Friday I have what they call the "Big U/S" aka the big ultrasound event in which you determine the gender of the baby. I know some places give you tapes but other places aren’t allowed too, so most modern girls are bringing along their camcorders and recording the "show".
I would love to be able to "youtube it" so my parents can see it! So I just ordered myself a camcorder. I did lots of research so if you’re in the game for one here is the low down.
It retails for $649 but Amazon.com sells it for $580 which is a darn good price as Wal-Mart isn't even discounting it. Here are the important details: the 1/6-inch Advanced HAD (Hole Accumulation Diode) CCD with 690K effective video pixels provides stunning detail and clarity, for exceptional video (up to 520 lines of horizontal resolution) and still image performance. Realize great-looking digital still images with 1,000k effective pixels.
If you go one model down (and save $100) it goes down to 320k or something efp, even if you don't know what that means, by simple math it's clear it's half the quality. So it makes sense to go spend that $100. For $150 more you get this: DCR-SR200 - The 1/3-inch ClearVid CMOS sensor with 1990K effective pixels provides stunning detail and clarity for exceptional video (up to 530 lines of horizontal resolution) and still image performance. The Mega pixel technology enhances your digital videos and digital still (3980K) photography performance.
Now that WAY better, but then you are spending nearly $750 dollars. I really didn't want to spend over $600 so I made the very hard choice to get the DCR-SR62. I still almost wish I could re-do the order but I did overnight shipping (only $3.99 with that free Amazon prime demo!) so it's too late to undo it, but I think that's for the best. I really didn't want to be spending that much on a camcorder. I'm a techno gadget girl so you can understand my plight!
So oh yeah, these camera's are HDD (hard disk drive) that means they don't use TAPES!! No tapes to buy ever again!! EVER! The model I am getting with the 30gig hard drive fits 7 hours of video, freaking fantastic! I'm thrilled. I told two co-workers about it and they both already bought one. I just wanted to get it before Friday. You can get High Def HDD camcorders but they are over the $1,000 range. No thanks, I don't even have an HD TV. We bought one, well our MIL/FIL got it for us as a wedding present, but I was so mad john Stewart looked so bad in HD because we didn't have HD DirecTV we immediately took it back and got two normal TV’s in its place. I am one of those people who despite being a serious gadget geek I refuse to buy first gen crappy stuff. I won't get an HD TV until all basic cable packages are HD and all stations are broadcasting in HD. These HDD camcorders aren’t the first go round, the first go round was awful and wasn't even into "mega pixels" which if you are familiar is like digital camera's. So this one I am getting is 1 mega pixel, you can imagine that 3 years from now there will be 5 to 10 mega pixel camcorders coming out, another reason I'm not going to spend more money on it.
Okay that's enough of a techie rant for you all but I thought some of the less geeky folks might be interested. You just plug this thing into your laptop and there is a 1 touch button that burns a DVD for you :) sweetness!
ps. there has been knitting but I don't want to jinx myself :) lol so that's all I will say for now!
April 04, 2007
Human Sheep
Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs.
September 28, 2006
Shetland Raw Fleece Source
MRSF - Note to myself for where to buy my next fleece!
September 27, 2006
Knitting Movie - Animation
Crazy knitting women - Kind of odd, kind of cute, very cool looking yarn :)
Speaking of pretty purple yarn... my monthly Spunky Eclectic roving arrived. It's a funky plum-ish colorway.
It's what? Romney! Looks like I'm all about the romney this month. It's easy to draft and spin, I don't like it as much as shetland and it isn't as soft once it has the twist in it as the shetland is. We'll see how it blooms when I ply it.
In other news, I swapped out the white Oh My! yarn for some baby green. "Only Ewe & Cotton Too" was really sweet and swaped it out without any issues.
June 01, 2006
June MagKnits - Lux Tank Top
Cute strappy tank: Lux Tank Top
Oh and this is just to cute, i could imagine it in some really artsy yarn: Gesundheit
May 30, 2006
Linkage!
Another cute Tank pattern - How I found it
And we have alot of TRYING to knit, but not much actual knitting:
May 25, 2006
The Devil Wears Prada
I simply adore this book, it's basically about the boss from hell and I'm so excited they are making it a movie, and with a good cast! Watch the Trailer
I have two very big knitting deadlines (socks and something else) so well I'm sorry for the sparse content. Plus of course, I can't use my MAC powercord anymore and I refuse to walk into the apple store again. The hubby went to go at lunch, but first cancled his debit card to get a new one and as we spoke on the phone it dawned on him he had no way to pay for it so he went home. So I can't record my podcast (and havn't been able to sence monday night when I planned to) which is highly frustrating because I had the outline all set out. Work today was chaotic.
Oh and tommorow, X-Men!! OHH!! I can't wait! The season finale to House was SO GOOD!! Lost was good enough and IDOL was perfect because Taylor won!
And because I always like to include a photo;
Magic Bean Stalk
May 24, 2006
Atlanta Yarn Thieves caught!
Audrey Yandel and Michaeleen Rose are the Atlanta Yarn Thieves!
We were talking about this at NEGA SnB just on saturday, several local shop owners had spread the word about an older women stealing yarn from shops around town.
My husband was the one who pointed it out to me that knitting was in the news, I was too busy working on the socks.
The shop owner of the Woodstock yarn store (Whole Nine Yarns?) who is a really nice women, was on the news even!
“She hasn’t made a decision on whether she wants to press charges against these subjects or not,” says Lt. Will Merrill with the Woodstock Police.
Ms. Light is perhaps indecisive, because the husband of one of the accused thieves invited her to his home to recover her yarn.
“We came back with 12 great big, huge garbage bags full of yarn,” says Light.
“We thought, maybe, you know, a couple of thousand, but we totaled it up and Debi and I both just went white,” says shop manager Caryn Southwick.
Shocked because the total was almost $13,000!
May 23, 2006
Handspun on Flickr
If you like to spin, and have a flickr account then you should join; Handspun Flickr!
Knitters in the news
Kelly Gilliam over at Suite101.com is doing a series of interviews on knitting podcasters! Read the first interview now.
May 17, 2006
Apple is so evil!
But I love them anyway!
The new MacBook, starting at 1k and aimed at the education market. I'm only mad it has the iSight camera in it which I don't have, it also has an improved power cord and a remote control. I guess it's the iBook replacment. I won't be buying one, but the black one sure is cute!
I am glad I got mine when I did, they don't seem to offer a 12 inch model anymore.
Speaking of Apple's, I finished out my podcast last night in bed, and kept getting pops in it, not from me talking but maybe from static?? I have no idea, but I'll have to sit at a table the next time I do it. I was really mad it was so messed up but I think it's tolerable.
May 04, 2006
Atleast its something
I'll start #2 tonight and hopefully work on it on the plane tommorow. My legs are so pale I could blind people.
Update: Super Cheap Addi's!
Monica (my two left needles) had a link on her blog, wow!
April 05, 2006
Art Meme - Sandro Botticelli
I went to a private art school for college, though sadly the majority of my time was spent on the computer. It wasn't like SCADD or some traditional art school that has you spend all your time in art history, and then in the evening spending ours on charcoal drawings of nude models. While I have gotten a taste of both of those things, it was certainly not the focus.
I was always extremely shy of the nude models. In fact in Jr. College the year before art school I took an evening drawing class for fun, and we did charcoal drawings of nudes all the time. At the time I was... erm well extremely naive about "boys" and when we had an older male model come in, I positioned my easel so that I was looking at his back side. I have no problem drawing butts, I was determined however not to have to draw his nuts and berries.
The class had a lot of adults in it because it was in the evenings, I was about 18 or 19 at the time. They all poked fun at me and got a good laugh over the fact that I wouldn't look at the guy until I knew he was positioned properly. I would look at my pencils, my paper or go wash my hands 3 times. I would turn beat red when the classmates teased me. I look back on those memories fondly. Maybe one day I'll photograph one of my drawings for you. I did the best drawings of my lifetime in that class. The teacher was wonderful. He told me I was "uninhibited" in my drawing style and that's what made it so unique. I was never meant to be an artist, and I never had much consistency in my technique, I just had no idea what I was doing so I didn't care. I still enjoyed it.
Sometimes in life we get very special compliments that stick with us for life, that art teacher saying my drawings had been uninhibited will always stick with me. Another moment that sticks with me is when I was at the pirvate art college, and the history professor that everyone just adored, I never had him for a class but I knew him. One day I was walking to my car and he was walking in. He stopped me on the side walk and said that he had just come back from a trip to Italy and he had seen some Sandro Botticelli paintings, and that I looked remarkably like one of them. That was truly the biggest compliment I have ever received in my life. We all deserve to be a tad vain now and then. I am a girl and I have my moments of deep self loathing in my hair, my pimples and my freckles, and then I have moments where I feel hot and sexy. I don't know why so many girls in our culture feel this way about ourselves, but sometimes we simply can't help it.
So Botticelli paintings make my happy for that reason, but I actually had quit a thing for them prior to that compliment, which was one reason it meant so much. The "Adobe Illustrator" application icon is actually the Venus face from one of Botticelli's paintings.
March 26, 2006
Kim Hargreaves - Scent of Summer
I'm don't really care for any in this collection, they are all pretty, just not things I would knit. I likw to sleevless things in the winter, or very simple light cardigans. Nothing too fancy or too short.
March 16, 2006
Feels like monday, thanks goodness it's thursday
Wow, check out this modified knitty pattern. Just wow, thats beutiful enough to be in Vogue knitting, or any book for that matter.
I knit lots on my Tivoli last night, and a few waist increases on Salina. I considered starting the wayfarer jacket but stopped myself. if I start it, it will only take longer to finish all the others. So instead I put two skeins into a ball to prepare myself. Knitting is afoot, but I'm not in the mood to photograph anything. I'm having fun brainstorming my next podcast on the commute home!
March 15, 2006
Pretty Patterns
I like irony, I paid off the last of my husbands car last friday (it was acutally the first car I ever bought, he wound up driving it after we got the Element) and last night he was going to come meet me at the Sushi place for dinner and it wouldn't start. Irony! It's only 5 years old :( I am thinking it was due for a check up anyways, so I don't think it will be too bad because it hasn't had any problems before this.
MJ of Yummy Yarn linked to these amazing patterns in her latest blog entry. These are from the latest Gedifra;
Damenpulli, Größe:38-42
Magazine: Highlights 052
Damenpullover; Größe 38/40 und 42/44
That first one just blows me away.
March 08, 2006
Annie Modesitt at The Whole Nine Yarns
Update: Photo of the perty yarn I got to learn the combined knitting on;
Cascade Teseo - Reminds me of berocco foliage!
So yesterday I had read Desiree's blog and found out Annie Modesitt was going to be in The Whole Nine Yards in Woodstock teaching her combined knitting class for $5. Now that's a deal people! I defnitley liked this yarn store, very friendly staff.
So I called Sarah my good friend at work and she was all up for it as she lives near that area. I stopped by her house and got to meet her wonderful dog Charlie. Biggest dog I have ever seen! I wish Jesse could have met him. He was very well behaved too! Sarah let me have some cake (yum!) and then we ran over to the shop. I saw Desiree and Alison, she blogs most every day like me!
So yeah lets talk about Annie. I enjoyed her talk so much! She taught us a few tricks which I know Sarah and I loved, and then she talked about her life, her knitting life. There was a part when she was talking about the combined knitting (she taught herself to knit) and how people all the time told her she knit wrong. This really bothered her, and it happened so much (she knit for a living and KIP'd a lot) she actually stopped knitting for 10 years in a sort of fit of anger and frustration. You can probably learn more about it in her book which is self published by the way; Confessions of a Knitting Heretic. It's on her website.
So she was talking about how it was the first time in her life she felt she truly knew what it felt like to have everyone tell you your wrong (I hope I am not butchering her story, I'm trying not to say too much!), or have everyone around you believe your not normal, your not doing it right. Why, just because they say so?
Well in my mind, I made this connection and well honestly during that part of her talking I was so inspired and it was like wow cool, I KNOW exactly what she means! I realized this is sometimes how I feel about being Jewish and living in the south. I feel like people believe I am wrong, my way of belief is wrong, I am not normal, they are right and I am wrong. Okay I know religion is a sensitive thing so sorry I don't want to offend, but this is my blog after all! :)
All I can say is, I knew exactly what she meant and it made me realize something about myself, I always worried I was insecure but then I realize why I am so uncomfortable about religion in the south, because I feel the way she felt about her combined knitting.
Well enough about my enlightenment, but thought I would share. She just said it in a way that made so much sense to me.
So okay about combined knitting, another light bulb moment for me. I always thought it had something to do with "how you knit" meaning, how you hold your yarn. Now I realize, the whole continental thing, is just how you hold your yarn, NOT how you knit! Did you ever learn to knit and 6 months later someone told you "you're twisting your stitches!" That happened to me! They didn't tell me I was knitting wrong thankfully, just that I was twisting my stitches. Now they are right in my mind, I was twisting my stitches, because I was purling I believe in the Eastern method, by wrapping my yarn UNDER and away from me, not OVER and towards me. This was not bad at all, but then I was knitting through the front loop, and in order to not have a twisted stitch I could have continued to purl the way I did, but I could have knit through the back loop. It would have created the knitted fabric I like which is stretchy with open stitches. So the Eastern/Western thing has to do with how you knit the stitch, and the Continental/English thing is HOW you HOLD the yarn! Everyone in that place was a "thrower" for the most part and held their yarn in the right hand.
I'm not 100% sure I'm right, but that's what my brain got out of the whole thing!
Oh and The whole Nine Yards carries Drops kits! OH!! You know I want one of those, Sarah even tried to enable me hehe! I resisted the urge, go me!
February 09, 2006
New Phildar Website
February 03, 2006
Over the river and through the woods
Interesting link of the week >>
Morning Commute
I love driving over the lake near our house, it's especially freaky when it's foggy out because the water is invisible.
Knitting Meetup
Look everone is smiling! It was loads of fun last night. Now I have to decide if I want to renew my meetup account. I can't remember everones name but I had a blast, and one of the ladies showed me how she seams, and confirmed that my sleeve would fit in the cardigan (thank goodness!) because I was worried it wasn't lining up right.
Greta was working on a beutiful shawl with some yarn that knit up like Kidsilk Haze or whatever its called. She is a great knitter, go Greta!
Rowan Baby Cardigan
Last sleeve, I had to rip it out and even after I started again I saw another wonky stitch by decided to let it go as it was on the edge and would probably disapear when I seam it.
January 11, 2006
I bring you, Jelly Yarn
Jelly Yarn - No it's not edible.
Still purling away on the Essential Stripe. Meh! 1 inch from the join BAYBEE!! No spinnig tonight cause I stubbed my toe.
December 26, 2005
What every knitter needs
View them on ebay - a tad overprice *ehem* but otherwise pretty dang cool!
December 08, 2005
What Celebrity do you look like?
How can something like this NOT make you feel good? Even if it's BS, it's still fun!!
Try it out - MyHeritage.com
December 06, 2005
Ever think of moving?
My husband and I have considered Australia, San Fran and DC. We know we want to move from GA eventually, but it won't be any time soon. So still we think and ponder about future possibilities. I believe we will have kids here, and stay for a few years and then move.
Apparently though Atlanta is the prime destination. I am not sure what they consider Atlanta but there is a lot of extremly expensive houseing in Atlanta. We live fairly far north and we get very reasonable prices, however most people make fun of us for living so far north!
Americans are moving to get away from overheated housing markets - it's a great article and even has a neat little salery comparison tool. Looks like Richmond is very equal to Atlanta, but DC and San Fran... whoah baby!
October 10, 2005
Depeche Mode - Precious
Precious and fragile things
Need special handling
My God what have we done to You?
We always try to share
The tenderest of care
Now look what we have put You through
Things get damaged
Things get broken
I thought we'd manage
But words left unspoken
Left us so brittle
There was so little left to give
I highly reccomend downloading the new single off itunes. Download the song here.
October 02, 2005
Yarn!
I was on bloglines, and Knit & Tonic linked to a great Merino Wool that is $8 a skein (197 yards) which I think is a good price, and she said its great to knit with. She's a fun blog to read, she's a flawed knitter to, but one of those amazing ones who finishes stuff a lot and we love to oogle over and adore :)
September 30, 2005
Knits for the man in your life, and other stuff
I would like to add this pattern to my stash one day:
Sirdar Denim Sport Aran 8420
My husband got us some toilet paper the other day, and I just went to go get a roll. He didn't get the kind we normally get. He got one with a golden retriebver on the outside of the plastic. Talk about smart marketing. He never would have gotten that brand had it not been for the puppy!
Also I was reading Nanyc Bush's Folk Socks and I can't begin to tell you how much I love reading this book! It's so fun, even if you don't care about socks. It has a lot of history in it. What amuses me most is, back in the 16th and 17th century, knitting was very popular amount young women and men. They would have picknicks of a sort, the purpose was to knit some socks to make some extra money. It was kind of like a "stitch'n'bitch" except with young men knitting as well. It was a great place to meet potential husbands and to flirt.
That's so crazy to imagine, and so funny how young men now I am sure associate it with old ladies. Only 200 years ago men sat around with women knitting garters for tall stockings. Talk about a paradigm shift.
August 19, 2005
Know your neighbor
Click on your state and find out who lives near you.
August 03, 2005
Worlds Neatest Knitting Invention
July 26, 2005
The Knitting Font
The knitting font, found via the Keyboard Biologist. It can be used for making charts etc :)
May 24, 2005
Funniest re-craft link EVER!
April 28, 2005
haha.. funny photo
Deodorant & Perrier
Yes those two can go together, for me any way!
So I stopped at the store on the way home tuesday night and I needed some deodorant and I always keep my eye out for new deodorant to try because I have never really been happy with anything. I spotted that Addidas now has a deodorant! I don't know how long they have had it but I bought it thinking well it's for athlete's and while I am not one, my tend to sweat like one just under my arms. No where else, not even my feet. Just my underarms.
I got the "un-scented" bar. Would you believe it does indeed smell like... nothing. The best part, it WORKS! I LOVE IT!
You know how hard it is to pick out a perfume that does well with your only body's natural odore or your deodorant odore? I have picked out perfume's I loved but that A) Didn't mesh well when my deodorant kicked in or B) just didn't seem to mesh with my own pharamones (sp?). Oddly I couldn't find the product on their website.
Then at work this week I noticed a new bottled drink. I have overdosed on sweet tea for the last 6 months so I needed something different, but I didn't want water. I spotted a "portable" plastic bottled Perrier. It doesn't cost much more then regular bottled spring water so it's been my drink of choice this week.
Perrier seems to have a better marketing strategy then Addidas as far as their website. However the new bottle really reminds me of Sprite.
April 27, 2005
Read the whole thing!
hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... that is so damn funny. I love that women.
Hello World
Well I caught up on my bloglines as best I could. I also found this fun blog which apparently gets a lot of comments. It's a great read.
I knit last night! I won't bore you with the picture, if I actuall knit MORE then I might :)