I want a tardis of my very own

Before I get into catching up here, Lorraine tagged me for a meme. I'm supposed to go to the current book you are reading, on page 161, and copy down the 5th sentence: It falls in the middle of a paragraph so:

That was it. Months of effort , for nothing. We lost! It was over. We caught up with our contact in the CDC.

I'm reading Lessons in Becoming Myself by Ellen Burstyn. I started this a few days ago after finishing Harry Potter. Which brings me to:


On Monday I ordered the British Harry Potter set. Tuesday they e mailed me to announce it had dispatched. Today, Thursday just 3 days after ordering it has come from Scotland, cleared customs and is in my hands-72 hours people!!!! WOOT! Colour me impressed! Now I'm debating weather to start them again from the beginning.

Knitting wise I'm working on another pair of fingerless mitts. Why am I making so many of these? I wear them all the time but really....do I need 5 pairs or however many I now have? My Ravelry to-do list keeps growing, I'm hoping we have a very cool, short summer LOL!

I've become a rabid Dr. Who fan. Since I'm often up at 5 AM making breakfast, I've caught a handful of season 3 episodes and liked it. Unable to resist David Tennant, I've gone and bought the 3rd season DVD set and can't get enough. I'm going to have to get the first two seasons now. I never thought I'd see the day I'd be a Dr. Who fan. I'm not a huge Sci Fi fan, never got wrapped up in Star Trek or Star Wars but there's something unique about Dr. Who. As a kid I remember seeing a few in the early 70's that scared the living shit out of me but I guess now as a Slightly South of Sane adult, they're brilliantly wacky and appeal to me. This poses a problem in that I have NO SPACE left to store DVD's but does that prevent me from buying more? Of course not. I'm gonna need to have 50 friends come help us move (I don't have 50 friends at hand)-between the DVD's and the books, moving is going to be a total nightmare.

Took my daughter to the vet-I made the mistake of saying I think she has a little cold 'coz she's got the trots (I keep the house at 64 degrees, I probably shouldn't with a short haired cat). Well-straight away, I was presented with a list of antibiotics I needed to take a pick of one antibiotic-could be parasites, could be non-cancerous inflammatory bowel disease, could be something else, could be cancer-they'll need to biopsy to be sure. And do I want the one year rabies shot for her or the 3 year one."What's the difference?" I ask. "Well-one she has to get every year, the other only every 3 but that one has a higher incidence of causing tumours." Gee, let's see, real tough decision...why don't we go with the annual one...WHY EVEN OFFER a 3 year if it poses a higher risk of tumours? Would you stick your kid in the arm with a chicken pox shot that had a higher incidence of tumours? Someteims I wonder about this shit.

WHOA! Before we start cutting my cat and turning her into Frankenkitty...let's try this vet cat food you insisted I buy and see if that helps....Let me quit there because there's this $175 litany of tests they want to do to get a baseline...I thought we did that last year. Ever see how they get a urine sample from a cat? That was done to her last year, it is NOT being repeated unless I get to stick a needle into THEIR bladder to get a urine sample...just so they know what the cat feels. Her kidney functions were tested last year with this test....so like I said, it's not going to be repeated...they have that baseline already in their charts, if that's not good enough then I'm a bad pet owner.

I think I'm gonna go make a cup of tea and work more on the last fingerless mitt. I'll leave you with a pic of my sleeping angel

End of an era

I finally finished the final Harry Potter book today...Deathly Hallows. Seeing as how I took my sweet time to complete I won't say anything other than WOW in case there are others taking even longer.

I milked it for all it was worth because for the past 10 years, we had a new book to look forward to every 18 months or so. I remember back in 1997 hearing about it and on a whim picked up the first book o a whim, never expected to get so into a children's book. WRONG! I was rabid from day 1.

I'm really going to miss a new adventure with 'people' we've come to know and love over the 10 years they've been published. It was an awesome series, I'm really happy that J.K. has had such incredible success, she was so deserving of it. There was a lot to take from it.

My only desire now is to obtain the complete British series of books so I can read them as they were written.I have been annoyed the entire series of the Americanisation of them. I would gladly trade my US set for the hardbound,first editions of the British series if they're in excellent condition. My eyes stick to American spellings like "color" because I have never in my life spelled that way- for starters- so it grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. It was a British series, it should have been left as such. I'll quit there or this will get into a long drawn out tirade but suffice to say, this has been an ongoing thing with me for MANY years, and not just with Harry Potter. The Frank monster in Hellraiser was another one-deemed too British, he was dubbed with an American actor. ACK. He was far scarier from the clips I saw with his British accent, not to mention it made for a far more cohesive film. The talented Alida Valli, an Italian actress who spoke perfect English, had her voice dubbed by an American in Argento's film Inferno when her beautiful, CLEARLY UNDERSTANDABLE voice was not dubbed in Suspiria several years earlier. Conversely, Pans Labyrinth was not advertised as a Spanish film and I loved how the tv ads for it you didn't hear a single word of the dialogue.. it was left all in Spanish...how come it was not dubbed WTF??? It was a lousy movie and frame for frame the 1986 masterpiece Legend was a far better movie. I hate being misled that way. There is a whole world outside of the USA but it only seems to be selectively applied.

Anyway, Thank you J.K. for such a brilliant series. Something this special comes but once in a lifetime and I'm glad it came in mine.

What a journey!

Snow White

And that's no lie! We got snow earlier in the week and I finished my angora scarf so I ventured out to snap some pics since we seem to get snow so rarely. It was so white and so fresh and so was my hair! You couldn't tell where one ended and the other began ;-)



I'd forgotten how yummy angora was to work with and now I want to make another one in green but have to wait a bit. Besides, if I knit with it too often, it won't be special anymore.

I also made these fingerless gloves, Evangeline from the current issue of Magknits I'm not sure they work in this yarn. Too busy I think. I was so sad to learn Mountain Colours discontinued it, the colourway was Painted Rocks. I love the colour :( Hope they bring it back soon.


There's a ball of fur on my lap so it's a bit tough to type. I best run...have stuff I need to do anyway.

I hate clever for clever's own sake

If anybody is contemplating Cat's book on socks, New Pathways book one...I would sincerely advivse you find pretty patterns from other resources. I don't know how many weeks this woman takes to come up with this stuff but they are not do-able. I cannot stand when someone comes up with stuff in an obvious attempt to be clever. The cast ons are absolutely asinine and even tho I take tranquillisers, these STILL manage to raise my blood pressure to the point I want to annihilate something.I came pretty damn close to jamming one of my Knit Pick's Harmony needles into my kitchen table. Thank god I didn't waste a needle.

The socks are nice and her attempt to keep them out of the realms of most knitters by intentionally making them extremely complex has worked. I've knitted the better part of my life and can't make heads nor tails of this crap.

This was the biggest waste of $30 on any knitting book I have ever spent and I wish to god I could get my money back.

It would be nice if these patterns could be converted for normal knitting...I have not the desire nor inclination to even think of doing that right now but this book is on the verge of being set aflame.

Some may give this book 4 stars...I give it a big fat Turkey

The Q-Tip knitting machine :-)

Yes, I guess I have lost my marbles LMAO! The title will become apparent in a little bit. Where to start, where to start...I guess I'll say I knit a lacy scarf with the KidSilk Night that my friend Lorraine gave me. I wanted to try one ball to see what it was like to work with...it's really really nice! It's also really really expensive. I found a scarf on Ravelry that uses 9 balls of it that I want to make. WEBS, however, is out of stock on 4 of the colours I want. See...



Don't look too hard, I could stand to drop about 10 pounds again, damnit. I didn't snap that shot for the cheap thrill, it wouldn't ever show up on anything I wear since I'm mainly in dark colours.

Next up, a three year wish came true.I finally got the purple angora to make a scarf. I stretched the knitting out over 3 days just to make it last...I don't know how anybody can say they loathe angora and will not touch it (two people have told me this-both men). It makes me want to strip off my clothes and roll around in it. I knit a navy blue scarf with it 23 or so years ago and have to admit at that time, it was mainly for trophy value. I didn't (or I had forgotten) just how warm angora actually is when we had a deep freeze about 2 weeks ago and it kept my neck and lower face REALLY warm. Now I understnad why women say angora sweaters aren't really practical because they're too warm. The purple is probably pushing the envelope a bit too much, but I'm crazy enough to wear it anyway. The navy blue one is perfect.





The second shot on the needle is the correct colour. I think I need to create a custom white balance for the camera, it's got too much blue in it.

Notice anything? From a certain angle I look like a Q-Tip...I got my hair bleached again Tuesday. I called my old hairdresser and explained to her what I had done and what was going on. I told her I had an appointment for this Thursday and I was going to cancel because I was too scared to go.I was tired of getting burns and thick scabs, I was losing hair at an alarming rate. What didn't break off when it was done, would come out in clumps when I'd run my hand through my hair. If I went to arrange spikes on top of my head, the ends would break off. For two days every time I went I had to freak out with all the hair I'd lose. Long story short, she is now doing my hair platinum and is ok with it because the scary part of overbleaching what was done before to even the colour out from the foils is done. There is A LOT of yellow in it thanks to the high lift blond that asshat did (she had a difficult time lifting it)...that also gave me the most severe burns I've ever had. It felt like someone was pouring acid on my scalp and my skin was being eaten away. His bleaching would tingle but that high lift shit he put in was actual, physical pain and the thick scabs covering my scalp were disgusting. This was about 4 hours what she did this time but it was done properly-no burns, no scabs, I have not lost a single strand of hair, not a piece has broken off. NOW I remember why I quit doing platinum in my teens, it took to damn long all the time but I'm determined to keep it now. It took me long enough to get it back and man alive did I suffer for it. I'm in good hands.

We're going to New York first week of February. I can't take it anymore so I took the spousal unit by the ear and said "Find some time off, we're going to New York!" so he found some time off and I booked a hotel. I cannot wait. I'm really excited-I can't believe its been 3 years since we were there last.

I'm also nearing the end of the final Harry Potter book. Can't believe it's taken this long to get through it but I didn't want to rush through it-it's going to be strange knowing there will never be another one.

Whew, that's a lot of jabber.....I'm done

High Maintenance

Well...what else do you call a guy who knits himself cashmere socks? I finished them last week. Put them on to take the photo and am afraid to wear them. They're so soft & cozy I said I needed to get suede or leather soles so they don't wear out quite so fast. I would love nothing more than to open a drawer of NOTHING but Jade Sapphire log cabin socks. Hmm....I wonder if I could eventually make a pair in each of their colourways? That'd be an awfully expensive drawer of socks. Here they are:


So now I have a pair of these in cashmere, a pair in Elsebeth Lavold Angora/wool and am waiting for 100% angora to arrive. I ordered that from Canada right after Christmas and it should be here any day. Deep purple colour...it'll be a scarf. Well...I TOLD ya I was high maintenance.

Today, at 2.50 PM will be the 4th anniversary of my mom's death so I'm going to run out and get some elbow mac and pepperoni to make pasta fagoli for supper. That was one of her favourites and was definitely mine when I was growing up. I probably shouldn't have the pepperoni given I have gallstones but I'll boil a lot of the fat out of it first.

My musical taste really is evolving, I saw this guy on tv a couple weeks ago and the song is catchy. I think I like the glint in his eye and the devilish smirk a little too much. I was bummed to find he was playing in NYC not that long ago. I'll have to keep an eye on when he is again so we can go. I dunno what for, he's 28, a lil too young for me maybe? I dunno. He's a cutie... Josh Zuckerman....



Oh yeah, I've been knitting a scarf to try out the Rowan Kidsilk Night my friend Lorraine gave me for Christmas. I'll drape it over a stained glass lamp or something-it's far too lacy for me to wear but it'll make a nice accent piece somewhere. Let me see if I have a photo of it...Damn, No, I'm fast. I'll post it when it's done.

Hope you all had a great New Year!