Wool & Words

We've been playing around with technology--high and low--here lately.

First, new additions.

In the high tech category we have this

It's a Motorola Razr V3. In matte black. Sassy. I made sure to use the pimpilicious red satin wallpaper, since this is truly a pimp daddy phone. I am so not cool enough for this phone. I keep expecting it to run away in the night.

Low tech addition is this

A lovely Babe spindle with complementary fiber. How cool is that?

Another low tech item

on which I spun this

I like spinning. But I'm not in the wheel zone...yet. I'll let you spinners know when I ready to be enabled. For now, these little guys are doing just fine.

Not here yet: the Charter DVR service I've ordered. I've been sucked in by some Adult Swim stuff (Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist) and I can't keep staying up so late. But the real reason that I ordered it (as Steve would no doubt tell you) is to feed my rabid Law & Order Habit. Cause it's not always on when I want to watch.

And one more high tech item. I just put the finishing touches on my mix CD for the CD Swap.

Had great fun putting this together--hope the recipients enjoy!

Posted by KnitNut at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You know, there are some days I think this whole blogging thing is like one big pajama party. I sit on my couch, in my pjs, and I giggle like a schoolgirl.

What puts me in the mind of this today? Check out the doin's at Rachel's--moments like this show-and-tell make me feel like I'm hanging out with the girls. I'm going to make some s'mores and party on.

Posted by KnitNut at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...but I didn't want it to. Very sad.

Just finished HP. Sigh.

Posted by KnitNut at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Or lost or stolen or anything. Actually, it just needs new batteries, but I haven't yet been able to convince myself to go on a hunt throughout the house for them. So I'll try to write some images for you of my current knitting.

First the Wool Peddler's Shawl.

Picture a deep red, tinged with flecks of black, which give it a sooty, sultry appearance. A plush garter stitched center, with a hint of the lacy border beginning to peek out. Heavenly.

Then there's the Baby Blanket. Cute, perky garter squares in a cool, soothing light blue--all completed and neatly stacked, waiting for their more intricately patterned bretheren.

A sock of blue and grey, evoking many a thought of the Old South, even though the tweedy texture of the yarn doesn't attempt to bring those old dogs out on the hunt. Very small needles, the kind that one is cautious with in Crowded Spaces, lest one inadvertently start a mini-conflict.

Yep. That's what you'd see if I'd get off my fat ass and take some photos. Maybe tonight.

Harry Potter Update:

I'm on pg. 50?--I'll be finishing this evening for sure!

Posted by KnitNut at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've been reading Oleanna in my class this past week, so this quiz seemed particularly appropriate today.

Haughty Intellectual You are 57% Rational, 14% Extroverted, 28% Brutal, and 57% Arrogant.

You are the Haughty Intellectual. You are a very rational person, emphasizing logic over emotion, and you are also rather arrogant and self-aggrandizing. You probably think of yourself as an intellectual, and you would like everyone to know it. Not only that, but you also tend to look down on others, thinking yourself better than them. You could possibly have an unhealthy obsession with yourself as well, thus causing everyone to hate you for being such an elitist twat. On top of all that, you are also introverted and gentle. This means that you are just a quiet thinker who wants fame and recognition, in all likelihood. Rather lacking in emotion, introspective, gentle, and arrogant, you are most certainly a Haughty Intellectual! And, most likely, you will never achieve the recognition or fame you so desire! Sweet! To put it less negatively: 1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive. 2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more ARROGANT than humble. Compatibility: Your exact opposite is the Schoolyard Bully. (Bullies like to beat up nerds, after all.) Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Braggart, the Hand-Raiser, and the Robot. * * If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits. The other personality types: The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

Posted by KnitNut at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Lately, I've been very willing to indulge myself.

I've bought an obscene amount of yarn. I tell myself that it's discontinued (Cotton Ease, Cara Mia) and that I already have projects set out for it (4 cardigans), but it's still obscene. Given my recent post about the weight of stash, I think you guys can see the writing on the wall.

Yesterday, I ate cake. And a frosted cookie. Then I went out for an evening of trivia where I had a cosmo (mmm) and partook of the "all you can eat" hot wings special (double mmmm). I tried to make myself feel better about that by ordering a side salad, but those wings are fried....

And then, to top it off, I eschewed my "two chapters a night" rule and stayed up till 2 reading HP. I'm now a little over halfway through the book. I'm guessing I'll be finished in the next 48 hours. Could I have done it in a day? Of course. But then I'd never get my work done.

And now I'm very tired. And I got up too late to fix lunch, which is really bad since I don't have time today to get lunch. So I've been snacking on trail mix...and the beat goes on.

Posted by KnitNut at 12:46 PM | Permalink

Picked up my copy today:

Two chapters in (I'm rationing) and I'm upset. Very upset. This is going to be good.

I think I'll have to set up my knitting/reading area in bed.

Posted by KnitNut at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Had a wee problem yesterday, so if you got that weird German screen, I hope it didn't scare you off! All appears to be well again and my webhosting issue has been resolved.

Love me some net.

Posted by KnitNut at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Steve and I like a good concert. And a free concert is usually always good.

Unless, of course, there's a hurricane coming through.

On Saturday, 99X (the local alternative station) hosted its first of a series of free summer concerts at Underground, the place that the city of Atlanta REALLY wants people to visit. The headline act was Cake, a favorite of ours, and we were excited about going to the concert. As we rode over on MARTA (the transit system the city of Atlanta REALLY wants you to use), we were a bit chagrined by the signs of storms approaching. Something about riding a train suspended over 12 lanes of highway while lightning flashes around me really puts me out the mind to bop around downtown with teenagers. But I digress...

Several times I suggested that we hop off the train and catch one going back to the car, as the thought of wandering around downtown in the rain in sandals was really unappealing. I have this thing about wet feet--I hate having wet feet. I really hate it when I'm wearing suede-bottomed sandals, because wet feet in those means I'll be cleaning them...must find a scotchguarding solution.

Anyway, I admit that I was cranky, whiney, crabby, and generally bitchy about the whole thing. Even after that dear, sweet man bought me some delicious glazed almonds. There were a gagillion people there. Pressed against me. All of them wet and sweaty. Ugh.

I had a sock in my bag, so I worked on it when I could, but there was fairly steady rain and when Cake started, we were really too close to others for me to feel comfortable knitting. There were moments, though, when I thought of using the needles for a jab. Of course, I didn't. But as I looked at those size 0 Addis, I was tempted...

The concert was good, though, and I hope that next time Cake is in town, it's an indoor show. I like to dance and I like to have room to move around, and sometimes you just have to pay for the privilege.

And the rain? Well, it was a wet evening. We had an umbrella with us, but it was not the largest or in the best condition, so there was lots of leaking. Of course, that meant I had to stay next to my sweetie, which is a pretty awesome place to be! :-)

Next weekend it's Weezer, then a couple of weeks later, Ben Folds. I think Garbage will be one weekend too. Let's hope for better weather...

Posted by KnitNut at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm sitting at the Border's in Snellville, GA at this very moment. I am grading papers. A man just sat down with his daughter at the table next to mine and began having a conversation with her of a "serious nature". I can't concentrate. I can't imagine having a conversation like this in a public place like this.

I can't find the headphones that I thought were in my bag. Thank God Steve is coming soon to pick me up so that we can go to church.

Maybe I'll go walk around the store.

Posted by KnitNut at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm on several discussion lists for various academic subjects. They're pretty slow in the summer, but one posting today for the Humanist Discussion List (for Humanities Computing folk) by Willard McCarty caught my attention and thoughts this morning:

Apart from the obvious, what's remarkable about these events is the massive role all forms of (computer-mediated) communication are playing in drawing people together, uniting communities, summoning help, giving reassurance and contributing intelligence to the current investigation. Communication has, I suspect, played a very large part in helping to maintain calm and order amidst all the violence and chaos. This makes me wonder to what degree terrorism as now practiced depends on a certain level of public communication -- some, but not as much as we now have at our command.

This was the first time I'd been challenged to consider the role of communication in terrorism. If the purpose of terrorism is to incite terror, as the name might imply, how does the proliferation of communicative tools serve to undermine that very terror? This morning on the radio I heard an announcer commenting on the use of text messaging in London when the cellular network was overloaded. Apparantly, people were more easily able to text each other, a factor that may have helped to calm people by putting them in touch with their loved ones and with information.

I'm not sure what I think entirely about this...but it's certainly hearty food for thought this morning. Does the technology of our society in some way lessen the effect of terrorism?

In Other News:

Ann is really busting out...or is she?

Posted by KnitNut at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've been thinking a lot about stash lately. I've been thinking about projects I want to knit now and projects I wanted to knit then. I've been thinking about what types of knits I want to do and why.

I have a lot of yarn. I bought it all with a project in mind. The project may not have been totally specific (i.e. a pattern attached), but there was definitely an idea (a twinset, a wrap, a blanket, a baby gift). But right now I'm really tired of feeling the weight of projects I haven't knit when I'm looking at the ones I want to knit now.

Frankly, I want to photograph the whole lot of it (minus the sock yarn, the laceweights, and the yarn for Steve's sweater) and sell it all, either here or on ebay. I want to cast off my knitting infancy, the last 3 years of learning and trying and buying, and head into my knitting childhood (or adolescence) with a spirit of adventure and an embrace of the unknown. I want to knit the sweaters I want for me. I want to knit socks for every pair of feet I meet. I want to knit miles of lace. And I want to match the yarn to the project and not feel like I have to go stash diving to make something work.

Thoughts? Do any of you feel weighted down by stash?

Posted by KnitNut at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Sale Update--Find new listings at my Yarn Sale page--I've added some books and relisted yarn that was spoken for, but never paid for.

Knitting Update:

1. I'm about the start the lace pattern on the Wool Peddler's Shawl. Pics when something interesting happens.
2. Just knitting around (and around and around) on the Baby Blanket. Boring, but cute.
3. Still knitting socks....always knitting socks....
4. Market Squares Bag...knitting away. I like this bag. I may want more.

Other projects are still there...but waiting.

Posted by KnitNut at 03:18 PM | Permalink