Hello BBC

BBC top 100- in answer to the all knowing Auntie Bubbo Pants:
http://www.velvet-c.com/2009/03/hello_bbc.htm

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen I really don't like Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte Or charlotte bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling I tried, I really did, but I couldn't
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible I seriously read the whole thing when I got divorced.
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis Again, I just got divorced.
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley don't read this while pregnant. Trust me.
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams currently re-reading
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. finally

26

Grandma Della's Cashmere

This is a special project. My grandmother is 82. Isn't she beautiful? Beauty is only skin deep, I know, but I'm so fortunate that her lovely image is a forecast for my own face. I love to think about that.

This was an emotional project for me, I walked home from the yarn store, not having found a pattern worthy of her, and it is cold outside, here in Colorado. She asked me, via my mother, to knit her a hat.

So, I was walking home from the yarn store, and crying, thinking of what little time I have left for her to be in this world with me. I walked back and bought two balls of Karabella cashmere/silk, in white, to match her lovely hair, that was part of her request, and proceeded to pour over my japanese stitch dictionary. These pictures don't show the stitch definition, but I chose motifs that reminded me of the 20's. Fans, and subtle bobbles, it is quite lovely.

She is thrilled. I am thrilled. I'm very satisfied and deeply moved that she loves her hat and that it will keep her warm for the rest of the winter.

Viking Interlude 445

This is what I've been playing with. I got a new sewing machine! Actually, I bought it used from someone who bought it used, on Craigslist. I found someone in an online sewing community who paid $1200 for it in 2005, and I paid $250. So I'm doing the happy dance. It is so much fun to play with. I walked over to the book store yesterday on my lunch hour and just poured over 12 or 13 fabric related books. I just fell in love with two of them:



Simple Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy







And...

Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin























I really needed another time consuming, fund consuming, self consuming hobby. (I'm so happy!)

Babel built underground

The last day of January. I have read the first two pages of a seven page New Yorker article for the required reading of an MIT writing class (free on line), having to do with writing about science.

(I have been trying to find ways to improve my writing for work, blog, and getting more into writing in general.)
Here is the link:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/14/070514fa_fact_kolbert?currentPage=2

So far, this is my favorite paragraph:

The L.H.C. is a kind of Babel built underground. Dozens of countries have manufactured its components, and dozens more have lent manpower and expertise. (Some contracts went to Russian physicists who previously worked for the Soviet military; in this way, the collider has provided a livelihood for scientists whose employment options might otherwise include selling nuclear secrets.) When I ate in CERN’s lunchroom, I heard people speaking English, French, German, and Italian, as well as several languages that I couldn’t identify. The place was so crowded that it took me five minutes to pay for a cup of coffee, proving the elemental truth that man can build a superconducting collider but not a functional cafeteria.

by Elizabeth Kolbert May 14, 2007

I passed. I'm so glad its over.

So I'm way pregnant at this point, and my company offered the opportunity to become PMP certified at no cost to me, and in this economy, it seemed really worth it. I studied my butt off, and scheduled the test as early as I could because I'm not getting any smaller, and I wanted to be as comfortable as possible during the test. On Friday, I passed. 200 of the most complicatedly worded multiple choice questions in 4 hours, and I passed. I'm so happy. My reward to myself, was yarn, of course, but with it, just a little something extra -- a new LYS opened up maybe a year ago or so, and I have not let myself go because they carry Malibrigo, and I have heard so much about it..the crack cocaine of yarn-- and I'm, like, afraid of crack cocaine. But, yes, I hopped on over, fondled all of the Malibrigo that I have never had the pleasure of fondling before, and purchased two hanks of 'natural' 50/50 merino silk Malibrigo. I casted on for a scarf in my Alterknits book, which is the same 'natural' cream color. I've been in heaven.

How I found myself knitting with dpn's on the bus this morning

Last year, I took a class from Ann Budd, who asked us to purchase the Fall '07 Interweave Knits issue as course material for learning to knit toe-up socks.

In early December, ms. thing was looking through the magazine and asked for some spiral boot socks. With all the Christmas knitting I had, I wasn't able to cast on until a couple of weeks ago, and since ms. thing was still at her father's home for the Holidays, I knitted about two inches and then stopped to wait for a fitting.

I've been working on the Starsky Jr. sweater on the bus because it is knitted on an Addi Lace circular needle and not dpn's, (much safer from a 'holding onto your needles' standpoint with regards to bus kniiting) but ms. thing informed me that I can 'forget about the sweater because I want my boot socks a lot more'. She got some boots for Christmas. I asked her if they were cowboy boots and she said, "Mom, when you have a horse and ride it all the time, you just call them boots." So, yes, they are cowboy boots to me. (She has a horse at her dad's house.)

So that is how I found myself knitting very carefully with dpn's on the bus this morning.

Surprise!

I hmmmed and haaaawd about finding out the gender of this baby. Ultimately, I decided to find out for practical reasons, we can't agree on a boy's name, and ms. thing might have some adjusting to do if the baby is a girl....having been my only daughter for almost eleven years. Better to start adjusting now.

But nooooooooo. Today was the 20 week ultrasound, and, well, nothing giving. So I thought I would post photos of my latest cast on...my first baby surprise jacket. I bought EZ's 'workshop' back in September at the LYS annual 15% off sale, and we'll see how this goes. i want to knit a size closer to a newborn than a full-grown baby, so I'm using my own stitch counts, proportional to the stitch counts used in EZ's 'pattern'. I used quotes here, because, even she states that this was puzzling to her...how on earth this toallita (little towel) is going to end up being a garment of any kind will be a surprise to me. And so will be suitable for this new kid who is keeping her secret....um...or his secret, for another five months.

Orange Koigu Baby Cable Moto Hat

Knitting again! This is a lovely Koigu orange I picked out for a hat for Moto. I'm doing baby cables. This yarn is pretty luxurious! I'm using needles I inherited from my husband's grandmother, who lived her whole life in Tokyo. So there is something sweet about knitting my son a hat with his great obaachan's needles. Some good Karma there.

South Side Girl

I have a new addiction, crying tears of joy.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Utt-6HumUU&feature=rec-HM-fresh

Link thingy isn't working. This is something I found on youtube this morning: a lovely video about Michelle Obama, narrated by her mother. I guess you would have to paste the URL into your browser.

It made me cry, although, lately, that is not hard to do. :)

Guess who I saw yesterday.

Dream Trip?

OK, I admit I have a politics addiction. I didn't even know a person could have such a thing until I joined the DNC group on Ravelry and started to follow the mod's blog. I am eating up every sound bite, mostly fed to me by searching youtube for Rachel Maddow and sorting by date, at least, that is my current addiction. And Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report are just, you know, breakfast - the most essential meal of the day.

It all started with Palin's announcement just after the DNC. I remember being excited about the convention, all the energy for Barack just floating around, like fresh air to breathe. I'm asthmatic, so that is like the best thing I can compare with, totally fresh air.

But I wonder if fear feeds addiction, because as soon as I started to hear factoids about Palin, I just started going a little bit nuts. I understand faith. I do. After my divorce, I was the church lady. I went to a 'seeker sensitive' church, with a rockin' band, and I did the powerpoint slides for the main church service, which was on average, about 200 people. I did coffee bar, and pancake breakfast for the seniors. I don't understand shooting animals from planes. I don't. And, being someone who has been lucky enough to travel a bunch, I don't understand not ever having had a passport until your 40's. I know that sounds snobby. I know she is like millions who haven't been as lucky as I have been. I can't get over it. If I had never been any place except for Wasilla my whole life, and was suddenly governor, I would book a trip to Paris. Or, actually, I'd love to just see NYC. My dream trip right now is Turkey. When I was in India, I met a man during a tour to see the Taj Majal, and he said if I was impressed, I must see Istanbul. See what I mean? Does this woman not have a dream trip? What are her dreams? It seems that leader of the world is not among this woman's dreams. She was too busy to see new places? Can't you work that sort of thing into your diplomacy role? Governor's aren't allowed to take a vacation? I know she has a lot of kids, but I took my 10 year old daughter to India and to Japan, to Mexico, to Las Vegas, we road tripped it to Santa Fe, and my two year old has been to Tokyo three times. Plus, I'm sure the governor can find a sitter for a weak to just go and see Paris.

Of all of the reasons to be fearful of this woman becoming President, the not traveling thing is probably the dumbest. It has left the largest impression on me though.

What is your dream trip?

Oh yeah, I'm like almost three months pregnant, and knitting makes me nauseous, I don't know why. Everything I love to do makes me nauseous. Even searching youtube. Thus, no knitting FO's or WIPs stash photos. Boring.

SLACKERUPRISING IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

Go and see Eddie Vetter cover Cat Stevens in Michael Moore's new movie: SLACKERUPRISING (about 20 minutes in.)

http://slackeruprising.com/download/

Off to Alaska

These are the wedding hats, meaning, I knitted them for a wedding gift, for a sweet couple we know who live in Alaska. Now that I have a photo of them, they will go off to Alaska in the mail. I'm really trying very hard not to let the word Alaska capture my brain and take it to a terrifying place. Forget about universal health care, forget about pulling the troops, just please, don't take away my right to rule over my own body. Two more months of nightmares ahead, and then...what then?

Starsky and Hooks

I'm knitting the Starsky Jr. sweater with lavender cascade 220 for Ms. Thing. I'm about 3/4 way done with the back, have not started the sleeve-hole shaping yet. I ordered two crochet books, because I'm really loving the way crochet looks, its been catching my eye lately.

finished hats, onto a new cowl

I finished the hats I knit up for a wedding gift, yesterday. I started a cowl, with two totall different types of yarn, one is a hand painted mohair blend I bought from a quaint fiber studio in Chimayo, NM, near the Sanctuario. The other is called Panda Wool, a bamboo/merino fingering weight. It looks something like a super soft rainbow-y fishnet tube. I'm totally loving it. I think it might be the first thing I have knit for myself that I'm really looking forward to wearing. I'm just doing plain stockinette, and it really shows off the colors of the mohair, and I'm loving the stockinette curl in this case. No craptastic pictures, or any other kind today. bummer.

DNC Knitters

This is a link to a map I made of the nearest LYSs to dowtown Denver, for the convenience of the DNC knitters.

insomnia and not so coolpix

Man, its so late its early. 4:48 am. I woke up around 2. My blog is lacking photos big time. Where is my camera? In the top drawer of my dresser. Where is the memory card? In the second drawer of the desk in the foyer. OK. Be right back.

OK. so I have this Nikon Coolpix S1. It clearly is not going to produce a beautiful blog for me. Here are the shots:

There are 400 photos on the memory card, and a 'wizard' won't let me 'deselect' all of the photos so I can then select the 5 shots I want. Well, want is a strong term. The 5 shots which will demonstrate why I'll never have a beautiful knitting blog.

The wizard is on photo 110 now..............

..............

While I'm waiting, I'll take this opportunity to complain about the interface screen which blogger provides. Boring! Totally uninspiring! I've been known to carefully fill my pilot vanishing point fountain pen with avocado colored ink and write thoughtfully and ever so slowly and beautifully across the fine lined slightly tinted pages of a leather bound journal. I'd love the option of choosing a nice background while I type into this thing. But I'm a cheapo, and won't pay for a fancier blogging provider. So you get what you pay for, I guess, which brings me back to my coolpix:









I guess the last one isn't so bad. Did that bobble poke you in the eye? I'm sorry. This is a retainer case I'm knitting for Ms. Thing, who now has two retainers. I had one retainer at 16 and she has 2 at 10. A ten year old is not going to hold on to two retainers for two years no matter how many bobbles I knit into this lovely (artyarns) retainer case pouch, but a mom's gotta try her best.

The stitch is the lorgnette cable from Barbara Walker's 2nd treasury.

OH yeah, Ms. Thing is back from her summer break, and I'm loving that she has returned. 5th grade is going well so far. (2 days in.) I'll keep you posted.

Health Care

Though this is a knitting blog, I need to write about health care today.

I'm awake. I have been sleeping or ignoring, or just plain lazing. Lazy, lazy thinking has been my way when it comes to health care. I'm not saying I believe other countries have a perfect system, but I am saying that America needs a different imperfect system, one not driven by profit for shareholders, which motivates denial of ....health care.

I just joined a Barack Obama group on line, not because his plan is exactly what I think needs to happen, but because his site's Sicko group is where pertinent events are being tracked. If you would like to know more information, I am offering my humble help; I'll welcome you to join me in beginning to read the documents we need to read to decide what kind of people we are.

Is Frankensteiny a word?

I chose some coral beads for my candle flame shawl, so the same color scheme as light turquoise native jewelry with coral inlay, and I like it. I'm feeling a time crunch, as I have not finished the right 'shoulder' of the shawl and still have the left side to do, and Marcy is headed back to Chicago in a week! Also, it is coming out a bit stripey. I find myself wondering if I can find a crash course in embroidery to soften the color boundaries with some interesting embelishment. Overall, it is feeling a bit frankensteiny right now, the peril of an inexperienced garment designer...I only want to be a knitter! ( So then, why didn't you follow the freaking P-A-T-T-E-R-N? :) Because I can't follow a pattern, it is way too boring. Or at least, I can't follow a triangle pattern. Maybe something more interesting would be follow-able.

At the very least, Marcy can drape it over a chair in a lesser used room. Since she likes the color blue, she might not mind using it in this way. But I really had hoped to make her something she could wear to a book signing or art opening, as she has that type of a dream come true life. sigh.

Hopefully, I can do a photo shoot of it soon, just to document that I knitted this collosal thing.

Crazy Woman

This is Mountain Colors "Crazy Woman" color way yarn. I'm knitting a pair of regular 'ol toe-ups and loving it, I tell you! Purple, rust, copper, orange, teal, it goes on and on. Just Beautiful.