All we want to do is eat your brains...

Quick post, this. Was driving to the bullseye and neighboring box store yesterday, and saw the strangest thing. A cardinal was hopping across the street, chasing a mouse. Really? Do cardinals do that? Perhaps. Anyway, as I got closer, the bird flew off, well, at least made a short hop out of the road, and the mouse hung a U-ie and ran back across the road. At least it started. I'm not sure if it ran into/under my tires, but I may have made the cardinal's meal easier. It was the most surreal moment of the day.

Let's see, what else is going on? Speaking of surreal moments, visited Gretchen two weeks ago. On Saturday we were riding the subway back from Coney Island, after being part of a public display of knitting, when a Buddhist monk wearing a robe and sandals sat down across from us. He took our picture, because, you know, we were weird.

In other knitting news, working on my sweater quest. On #5 so far. Gretchen visited at New Year's and we knit the scoop pullover. I sent mine to Lista, as it was simply not flattering on me, although it looked lovely on Zuzu.



Sweater #2 was Sonnet, although I did a stockinette body rather than garter, as I wanted to show off the yarn better. It still needs blocked, seamed, and buttons.



Took a break in February for the Ravelympics. It was pointed out to me that I should be ashamed of myself, being a knitter without a scarf, so I made one. A nice, green Clap(otis).



Started an Icarus, but despite my crazy spreadsheet, I realized that I was going to run out of yarn. So I have some frogging to do, and then more lace to knit. No rush, though, so I'm trying to catch up on my sweater-making.



Sweater #3 is Max! Sadly, I haven't done the ears yet, and have been terrible about progress shots, so I'm ganking one of the designer's. I have a present to send to her, so hopefully she won't mind. Anyway, it just needs ears, blocked and buttons.



Sweater #4 is the Einstein Coat, as I was going to see Wye Oak and Shearwater and wanted something mindless to keep my hands busy while my ears were occupied, and what is more mindless than 400 rows of garter stitch? It, too, needs blocked, seamed and buttons, but it also will get a collar. I want to block it before I seam, since we all know that EcoWool can grow and grow, and I don't want bunchy seams. Plus I hate seaming, and procrastination is good.



Sweater #5, finally, is the Vine Yoke Cardigan. I have been drooling over this pattern ever since it was published, and I've had the yarn, but had too much other stuff going on to start it. Finally! I have the right front done and about a third of the right sleeve.



Oh yeah, and along the way I knit an angora-merino-silk neckwarmer for my mom. She gets to sew her own buttons on, because that way they might be attached sometime this century.



Also, I didn't really want to take a sweater's worth of yarn to NYC, so I brought socks. Strawberry mojito socks, even! Berrylicious! Nicola is a wonderful designer and a lovely person, and lets me test-knit even though I'm pathetically slow and stuff. Anyway, they are gorgeous and my picture does not do them justice. Not at all.



Oh! I forgot about Gretchen's bag! Yes. I made her one. I don't think I've uploaded good pictures yet, so none to share, but hopefully soon... I need to find my camera, as the pictures are still in it.

Anyway, I need to get moving to work. Eek! Too much to do! Have fun!

Things I do instead of sleeping

1. Ponder that since Jimmy Buffett and the Jonas Brothers make me want to die, if all music created by people with the initials JB is RONG. (Answer: No. James Brown and Jonatha Brooke are acceptable. There are probably more, but hey, it's 5:30 am.)

2. Get woken up by a gentle meow from our lovely kitty, go to the guest room so she doesn't wake Mike as well, and snuggle with a lobster.

3. Listen to Zuzu become Angry Kitty since she is on the wrong side of the door, and clearly she is starving to death, and shouldn't I do something about that NAO???

4. Open the door and watch as Angry Kitty becomes Purrmonster and tries to wake me up by sitting on me and purring. Oh, there is also some headbutting of the headboard, too.

5. Lecture Zuzu that she gets kibble at 5 am, and she can't possibly starve to death in 20 minutes.

6. Get up and feed her anyway.

7. Make stupid blog posts, and try to take a nap.

2009 Reading List

Books! Time to start the 2010 list, as I've already got one book to put on the list and am halfway through another. For archival purposes, here you go!

Books Read in 2009

130. A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage
129. Nathan's Run, John Gilstrap
128. Heat Wave, Richard Castle
127. Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Janet Evanovich
126. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
125. Struts & Frets, Jon Skovron
124. Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight, Linda Bacon, Ph.D.
123. Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small, Rita Mae Brown
122. An Echo in the Bone, Diana Gabaldon
121. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies!, Michael P. Spradlin
120. House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
119. Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman
118. In Your Dreams, Tom Holt
117. The Portable Door, Tom Holt
116. A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Diana Gabaldon
115. The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
114. Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett
113. Truck: A Love Story, Michael Perry
112. Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby
111. On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers
110. Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, Michael Perry
109. Prairie Tale, Melissa Gilbert
108. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, Tiffany Baker
107. The Bolter, Frances Osborne
106. Good Omens,Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
105. Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting, Michael Perry
104. The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me, Suzanne Kingsbury
103. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, Bill Bryson
102. Or Your Money Back, Nicole Lorenz
101. My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult
100. Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator, Michael Perry
99. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, Lauren Willig
98. Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie
97. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
96. Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000-Year-Old Computer - and the Century-Long Search to Discover Its Secrets, Jo Marchant
95. Southern Discomfort, Rita Mae Brown
94. In the Woods, Tana French
93. Six of One, Rita Mae Brown
92. Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown
91. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis (Does this count as 7 books?)
90. A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes
89. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
88. Turn Coat, Jim Butcher
87. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester
86. Lover Avenged, J.R. Ward
85. Small Favor, Jim Butcher
84. White Night, Jim Butcher
83. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley
82. Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith
81. Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher
80. Dead Beat, Jim Butcher
79. Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey
78. Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, Tony Hawks
77. Lover Enshrined, J.R. Ward
76. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
75. Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut
74. McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, Michael Chabon, ed.
73. Lover Unbound, J.R. Ward
72. They Tore Out My Heart & Stomped That Sucker Flat, Lewis Grizzard
71. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
70. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
69. Lover Revealed, J.R. Ward
68. Round Ireland with a Fridge, Tony Hawks
67. Lover Awakened, J.R. Ward
66. Lover Eternal, J.R. Ward
65. Dark Lover, J.R. Ward
64. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash, Elizabeth Royte
63. Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, Neil deGrasse Tyson
62. The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner
61. Blood Rites, Jim Butcher
60. Plum Spooky, Janet Evanovich
59. Death Masks, Jim Butcher
58. The Pistol Poets, Victor Gischler
57. The Zookeeper's Wife, Diane Ackerman
56. The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, Neil deGrasse Tyson
55. Life Before Man, Margaret Atwood
54. Merlin's Tour of the Universe, Neil deGrasse Tyson
53. The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly
52. Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
51. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
50. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
49. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
48. The Customer is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles, Jeff Martin, ed.
47. Gun Monkeys, Victor Gischler
46. Shotgun Opera, Victor Gischler
45. Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
44. Make Love! the Bruce Campbell Way, Bruce Campbell
43. Fool Moon, Jim Butcher
42. Storm Front, Jim Butcher
41. Anybody Can Do Anything, Betty MacDonald
40. Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse, Victor Gischler
39. The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald
38. The Rose of Sebastopol, Katharine McMahon
37. The Book of Unholy Mischief, Elle Newmark
36. Fool, Christopher Moore
35. Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories, Lauren Groff
34. Bobbie Faye's (kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels, Toni McGee Causey
33. Bobbie Faye's Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day, Toni McGee Causey
32. If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, Bruce Campbell
31. The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific, J. Maarten Troost
30. Book of Dreams: A Memoir of Wilhelm Reich, Peter Reich
29. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
28. The Children of Cthulhu, John Pelan and Benjamin Adams, eds.
27. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
26. Last Chance to See, Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
25. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, Michael Davis
24. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
23. Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program that Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD, Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
22. Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
21. March, Geraldine Brooks
20. I Was Told There'd Be Cake, Sloane Crosley
19. People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
18. Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, Temple Grandin
17. Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson
16. The January Dancer, Michael Flynn
15. Quicksilver (Volume One of the Baroque Cycle), Neal Stephenson
14. Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link
13. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Mark Bittner
12. Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions, Charles Gallenkamp
11. Motor Mouth, Janet Evanovich
10. Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence - and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process, Irene Pepperburg
9. Metro Girl, Janet Evanovich
8. Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
7. Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich
6. Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, Stacey O'Brien
5. Zombies of the Gene Pool, Sharyn McCrumb
4. Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich
3. Eleven on Top, Janet Evanovich
2. Fatherland, Robert Harris
1. Ten Big Ones, Janet Evanovich

Winners! We have them!

I am such a slacker. And I hate leaving people disappointed. So, I went back to the toy sale, and picked up a few more orangutans. Lista gets an orang with velcro hands, so he can hang in her nursery, and Pixisis and Melcentrica both get Original Ooks. There may be a slightly smaller version for Carry if she likes, or perhaps for someone else who might want a Librarian of their very own. Comment away! (Although this time there might not be multiple winners, as I bought out their selection of orangutans. Also nearly bought out their selection of penguins. Emperor, King, Adelie, Magellanic, Rockhopper, Gentoo, and Humboldt. Perhaps another species that I can't remember. I really need to stay away from that place.)

Anyway, their packages are on the way, along with some other stuff that will be landing soon, and hopefully everything will be appreciated.

Really glad that stuff went to the PO yesterday, as it is snowing here and I am not yet convinced that I should leave the house. Yes, I have a project at work that needs my attention, but it has been waiting since August (not my fault! It showed up on my desk in December!) and can wait a bit longer.

Anyway, watch this space for more contests, hopefully in the near rather than distant future. Until then, i give you a gratuitous cute Zuzu picture. Enjoy!

Randomness and an OOK!

So... It's been a while. Lots has happened. October was insane. Went to a wedding reception, saw Neil Gaiman, helped with a benefit for the Museum Women's Committee, did the Tour de Stitch again with Mom, baked 20 dozen cupcakes to take to Rhinebeck, hosted our annual shindig, and had a hot date with a book on October 25 when things finally calmed down. Somehow was able to work in that mess, and knit just a teensy bit.

November was somewhat quieter, but still busy. Saw William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead - ZOMBIES!!! - on the 1st, went to the Jell-O museum on the 6th, took a toe-up sock class with Cookie A on the 7th, and the rest of the month just raced past.

Anyway, can't believe that it's December. The day before Thanksgiving, went to a meeting at what turned out to be a toy company, and they were having their annual Christmas sale. Well, I went back today, and everything that they had over $1 was half off. Including Ook!



I picked up two, which is good, because Mike actually really likes him. He'll be lurking in our library. His counterpart, however, is upstairs in the former office, hiding with half a dozen penguins. Anyway, I think I'll have a contest for the Upstairs Ook. Leave a comment to tell me why he should live with you, and the best story (or a random number) wins.

Anyway, time to make dinner and watch Extract. Have fun!

StuffOnMyZuzu.com

Because I don't like the StuffOnMyCat.com copyright bit, here is StuffOnMyZuzu:



Still running around a lot, still knitting a lot, still reading but not as fast as the first half of the year(have been keeping up on the list), and have been working a decent bit. I actually really like my job, which is cause for celebration. Anyway, need to be quick as it is past my bedtime and I have a Very Exciting Day of Laundry ahead of me tomorrow. Fun.

Finally...and lots of pictures!

Well. This is my first weekend at home in months. Those of you who pay attention to my ramblings on Ravelry and/or Facebook know that my mom had bypass surgery on June 2. Quintuple bypass. With lots of complications. She was in the hospital for most of June. Anyway, she's doing muuuuch better now, and is home, and is driving, and is getting back to as-normal-as-possible life.

I should be making cupcakes for tomorrow's SAAZ blues and brews, but hey, it starts towards evening, so I have all day tomorrow... Today has been a lazy day, just because it could be. Finished book #90 today. Was definitely different, and somewhat disturbing. Started the Chronicles of Narnia, all seven in one book. We'll see how long those 800 pages take...

Anyway, I am posting because I finally awarded the winner of the PPZ magnet! A few weekends ago, Mom drew a name from those who wanted entered in the drawing, and Jesse won! I gave him the magnet on Monday at knitting group, and he was thrilled. (I should have had the camera out when I handed him the magnet - he had quite the look on his face!) Anyway, here he is, with his prize. Someday I will make brioche for that boy, too, just because.


Anyway, Zuzu is pestering me, it is nearly dinnertime, and I have daffodils to browse. (Thanks, CathyCake!) Maybe next year I can convince the deer to leave my tulips alone. Worst case I'll have something blooming in the spring.

Oh, I should give you an update on my knitting adventures. Knitted the pieces for Mom's sweater in two weeks, entirely in the hospital. Working on seaming it now. The shoulders are seamed, the sleeves are set in, and one sleeve is sewn shut. Just need to seam the other sleeve and both sides, and then pick up stitches for the neckline. Might make Mom a cowl to go with it, as the neckline won't cover up her scar, and she doesn't really want to show it off to the world. It was nicely blocked, and looked lovely until it spent a week in a bag. Will re-steam before giving it to Mom. The color is perfect for her.



Finished the first pair of beer socks, Oktoberfest, and unfortunately, the ribbing is too tight, so they don't fit over my heels. Need to frog and redo the foam. Not a good picture, but here you go:



Okay, this one is a bit better, but still not great.


Finished my Gin and Tonic socks, and they fit well. They're snug to get on, due to the fiddly cable, but once they're on they're lovely. Zuzu approves.





Did another Calorimetry, just because, with yarn I handpainted myself. Just need to get a button and sew it on. More hospital knitting.



The summer of alcoholic socks continues. I started some Irish Ale socks, designed by the lovely RedScot, who also designed the Gin and Tonic socks, and the Traffic Island socks that I never posted because I wasn't posting. Let's remedy that. Oh, might also start some frozen margarita socks tomorrow, depending on how simple the toe/foot is. Must remember to bring my headlamp so I can knit in the dark.



Also made two baby bibs for the baby that caused the maternity leave that resulted in my current job.

A dinosaur, of course, and a duckie.



Trying to work on a shawl, but think I'm going to start over as I am only 7 rows in and have 4 extra stitches. That's what I get for trying to do lace in a dark-ish room in public. Oh well. I can live with losing 7 rows.

What else? It's a bit later and I still haven't had dinner, Zuzu is still asking for a second dinner, so everything else will wait. Have fun!