Monday, January 12, 2009

oh the weather outside...
















… is….. interesting.

We got some new, light snow last night, and some old, heavy wind this morning- a combo that makes me extremely glad I'm staying home today. Later this week, we're supposed to have temps close to –30 without the wind. With the wind this morning (gusts predicted over 50mph), temps are close to that. It's nasty, lemee tellya.

The new Zune and I are getting along pretty well- the sound quality is excellent, and the storage capacity exceeds anything I'll need in my lifetime (since I have no desire to watch movies on a 3" screen), but the scroll feature is a little hard to master. I end up playing podcast episodes when I think I'm just thumbing through the catalog (and therefore missed Mr Bennet's return to Longbourn from London, after searching for Lydia and Wickham, and I can't figure out how to rewind without listening to the entire chapter- not that I can't quote most of the book back to the recording anyway, but as long as I'm listening, I'd actually like to hear the story). Otherwise, I am delighted to have a functioning portable music device again.

I am making progress on the Twisted Leftover Mitered Square Socks, and am so seriously enchanted with this combo of colors and shades that I am contemplating collecting several full skeins of each of these colorways (a project that could take months, if not years, since Meg dyes colors as the spirit moves her, and buying them is a matter of being at your computer for the single hour they're available before someone else snatches them up)(besides which, I could not afford an entire sweater-worth of yarn in a single order anyway) to make a mitered square cardigan. Wouldn't it be beautiful? And worth the wait just for the yarn… not to mention how freaking long it would take to knit a whole sweater comprised of 19-stitch mitered-squares, on 2.75mm needles.

My desk calendar is the 2009 Card Calendar, from which you can make over 100 cards during the year. I chose this one because I play with rubber stamps on occasion, and it looked fun and practical, since I try to write a letter to each of my 3 grandkids every week. The large sheets cover 3 days, and each one has punch-outs and foo-fooraw for 1 or more cards. Some of them are pop-up cards, others are tags and giftie tie-ons, and some are just the pieces that you attach to cardstock. No envelopes are included, and you have to add your own little flourishes (which is part of the fun) but they do have a stencil for making little envelopes for the gift cards. Most of the cards are small, but can be sent through the mail. If you check the calendar sales right about now, you might find one for a couple of bucks, just to play with. These cards are January's output so far.

And Betty has posted pics of our Friday Knitters Etc. meeting on her blog. Check out the Special Olympics scarves. Betty's Loft blog is in the links to the right of the page.

Note to The Golden Globes Producers: aisles. Look into it.
Note to Salma Hayek: Boobs! Yikes!

3 comments:

Yankee Girl ~ Missy said...

I've been sitting here watching snow tornadoes all day long. Looks just like a dust tornado. You know what I mean right? Even though I think I may have just invented a new weather term. Hope you are staying safe and warm.

joannamauselina said...

The sock colors are indeed gorgeous. I am listening to Northanger Abbey now, and just had a similar experience. Isabella was flirting with Capt. Tilney when the tape turned to spaghetti. Although I have read it a zillion times, I rewound it all very carefully and fixed is so that I would not miss a word.

Kathleen Taylor said...

Missy- I think that's a great term, and I know exactly what you mean.

joannam- I am trying to decide which book to listen after P&P. I don't know whether to go with Emma, or switch to some Dickens (or even Lewis Carroll, if Librivox has that one recorded).