Would someone please make this Lamb Madras Curry for me? It looks yummy but my attempts at Indian food have been abysmal failures.

I just bought some cute knitting ball ornaments made by Mama E!

Has anyone reading this ever used one of those Clover Embroidery tools before?

There was a profession in Anarchy Online called The Fixer. This is an article (sent to me by my sister) about another kind of fixer. I found it to be really interesting and illuminating about myself.

I’m considering buying this yarn for a second Red Scarf for The Project.

The tarot card quiz that’s been notoriously accurate keeps its reputation

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I like this shirt

I’m well on my way into the first half of the Pocket Cable Scarf

And finally,
The True Meaning of Etsy

Ashley tagged me for a meme where I list six things about me that are weird. I can’t sleep so let’s see if I can come up with a few surprises.

1. Sock monkeys scare me. So do ice cream truck songs. And clowns.

2. There once was a time when I could apply the lyrics to “Moon River” to every song I heard.

3. Sometime in my early twenties I came up with what I like to call the “phlegm” theory of creativity where the urge to create something is almost like a tiny virus inside you that you have to get out before you choke on it. The results aren’t always pretty though.

4. I can move my pinkie toes independently of my other toes.

5. The first time I tried to quit smoking I ate so many wint-o-green lifesavers I developed a kind of allergy to them. Now if I try to eat one my tongue will swell up and I’ll sound funny when I try to speak.

6. I have a fear of heights but only if I can see under my feet - like on a grate. I didn not know this until I was 19 and was standing on a walkway along the inside of the bottom of the dome at St. Peter’s Cathedral. This was very inconvenient.

Yesterday I ordered eight of the eleven gifts I need to have for Xmas. Several of them have already shipped. God I love the internet.

What was that about knitting xmas gifts? I didn’t hear you. La la la I don’t hear you.

I don’t think I’ve participated in this before but I have some great photos to share this morning.

First, I got a box in the mail yesterday from my knitflix partner!

The Fifth Element ultimate edition (Cody is equally excited about this dvd), green apple candy corn, lots of popcorn, cute little knitting notecards, burt’s bees lipbalm (how did she know?), an adorable little black sheep measuring tape, and some beautiful handdyed purple sock yarn! I believe that’s louet gems pearl? It’s lovely!

The orange monster was actually a gift from Cody but I got him at the same time as I got the box so he’s friends with the other stuff.

Scout’s gonna be all over this handdyed sock yarn these are her colors yo

And I love the little black sheep measuring tape. Especially the “retract” button that is an actual button.

Totally cute. Thank you Gwen!! I’m also really excited that she liked all the goodies in the box I sent her! I had a good time picking it all out.

I had an appointment with mr chiropractor guy early this morning and I knew it was the first day of the Balloon Fiesta and we’d be driving close to the park so I brought my camera with me so I could take photos while Cody drove. It’s really hard to capture the sheer number of balloons floating around at the same time, especially when going 55 mph and facing the sun, but I tried.

I’m so behind on stuff! I have clothes from iGigi to review, memes to fill out, about ten thousand and one knitting projects, fluffy fiber to spin on my wheel. And my house.. fuggetaboutit, I’ve lost total control of the house since getting the stomache thing.

But I was tagged for something that’s been provoking my thoughts all week so that’s magically moved up to the number one spot.

The inimitable Vanessa, aka PluckyPunk, who was tagged by Zuzu at Feministe, tagged me for a seemingly simple meme called Five things feminism has done for me.

Plucky Punk is one of those secret friend crushes for me. You know those blogs you read and feel like that writer would be such a cool friend to have in real life? She’s made some big changes this year: quit her evil corporate job, had a baby, went back to school. And she still manages to be active in the online feminist blog world. And she bought my craaaaazy scarf during the Katrina fundraiser last year! And she wears doc martens! So she has great taste in shoes and accessories too!

I was surprised that she tagged me because I’ve mostly been blogging all about knitting and very little about anything else lately. I used to be quite the politico-blogger, once I was called a pundit, but this became more of a knitblog than much else as the hobby took over my life during the last year and a half. Don’t get me wrong, I still rant the political in person! But I made a conscious choice to cut down on the political and really personal posts for my blog a while ago. It keeps the mean commenters away and my mother from worrying that I’m going to get firebombed or something. She reads this ya know. Hi Mom!

This tag has given me something to think about, something interesting to discuss with Cody. I want whatever I write to be well thought-out and not just imitating other’s answers! And I want to focus on positive aspects, not complain about things that need to change, just enjoy the good parts for the moment. All this buildup for five things. I guess I should get on with them.

Five things Feminism has done for me

I can choose my family
Obviously I don’t mean parents and siblings, although I got lucky there anyway. I mean I can choose who I marry. Or to not marry. Or if I want to just live with someone. I happened to fall in love with someone of the opposite sex and I really wish people who fell in love with someone of the same sex could have as many choices, but I’m trying to focus on the positive here. I can choose to have children, or to not have children, or just have pets and treat them like children. Maybe to have children later on. It’s up to me. My father can’t sell me to a man for a goat (not that he would, obviously). I won’t be forced to marry some creepy old gross man so I can clean his house and birth his little farmhands. My choice. Mine.

I can choose my career
Career is sort of an odd word for me since mine has been sort of not a career, as such. But what I’m doing now is not far off from what I wanted to do when I was young: Stay at home and create art. You know that character Whoopi Goldberg plays in Moonlight and Valentino? Her life (awkward marriage aside) pretty much nailed what I’d always wanted to do. It actually spooked me when I saw it. The art I’m creating is in a different medium than I expected, I thought it would still be pottery. It’s a little different because I thought I’d live in a more country setting and have kids. But never say never.

The important part is, I was able to choose my major in college and get a really good education. And if I want to, I can go get a post-graduate degree or go get a “real” job if I want to. Or both. With the full support of my friends, family, and mate.

There are so many smart women in my life that have worked and gotten advanced degrees. Both my and my husband’s moms worked. My mother put herself through college working, along with my dad. She has a master’s degree in mathematics. She taught and worked and even had her own business for a while. My sister has a master’s degree in English and works and travels for work and is always crazy busy. My best friend has a JD from law school and is back in school for her LLM to be a law librarian now while she works in the library for a law firm.

My father-in-law once asked me if I thought that a woman who got a college degree then chose to stay at home with the children was a waste of an education. (he does his best to have what he thinks are progressive conversations with me, so I try to give him the benefit of the doubt with questions like this) Right off the bat I pointed out that the important part was that she had the choice to do so. And that college-educated fathers had the same choice. And studies have shown that educated parents will raise smarter children. I wouldn’t say that an education exists simply for career advancement, for most people I’ve known, it’s been for the education itself.

I am not a possession
This was touched on with the first one but it goes deeper than that. When I go to the doctor they won’t let Cody go in with me. I actually don’t like this as I want him with me because doctors make me nervous and just his presence calms me down. But the reason behind him not being allowed into the exam room is important enough that I don’t fight it: they want me to answer the questions, not him. They want to be sure I’m healthy and if I need to say something about issues that I don’t want him to hear or to answer any questions about potential abuse, that I can freely without his coersion. Of course, I don’t need this, but I want other women to have that so I accept it.

I am secure in the fact that I am an equal in our marriage, that I have the same amount of input in all decisions and will be heard if I have an opinion about any subject. We joke about him being called Cody Pendent and to a certain extent we are codependent. And we like it. We desperately need each other, but equally. I am not just a little living extension of his success as a man, I am his partner. He goes to work to get money so we can live a happy life together. I stay at home so the pets are healthy and the house is mostly intact so when he comes home we can live a happy life together. But the tables have been turned in the past, there was a time when I worked and he stayed at home. We know what it’s like to be in the other’s spot.

I can choose to look however I like.
Sure there are still people who think that women should act, look, or behave a certain way to be a “proper woman” but in this society in general, I can choose to wear a dress or not without getting stoned by the populace. I don’t have to wear a corset, hell I don’t have to wear a bra. And the worst punishment for that might be someone takes a picture of my saggy boobs with their camera phone and makes snarky comments on their blog. Big freaking woo.

I can also choose to be the girliest girl that ever lived in girltown. And it’s ok because it’s my choice. I don’t exactly approve of Barbie and her clothes but I defend to death the right for her to wear them. As long as she doesn’t give me crap about mine it’s ok.

I can have an opinion
I can write this post without worrying that I’ll get arrested, threatened, shunned by my friends and family, or tarnish my (already oxidized) reputation forever. I’ve written on touchy subjects ranging from religion, the president, the war, dumb movies, evil media conglomerates, unbelievably weird sado-masochistic murder mysteries, to the defense of fun fur and freestyle handspun art yarns. I may joke about the threat of getting firebombed for my writing but only in the most minute little corner of my mind does it seem like a reality. I’ve had some ugly comments on my blog once or twice calling me a dumbass pinko liberal or something but not once did someone threaten to come here and shoot me or my dog. Someone did threaten to shoot out my tires once but she’s from Texas so that seemed to be a matter of course.

That’s the big one to me. You may not agree with me but I can have this blog. And I can choose who I’m voting for in a month. And on that ballot I’ll have to choose between two women for the US House of Representatives for my district: incumbent Heather Wilson or the current state Attorney General, Patricia Madrid. No men in that election. How about that?

So now I’m supposed to tag people. I hate the pressure of tagging people. So don’t freak out if you’re tagged and you don’t feel like it ok? I’m going to choose several smart women whose answers I’m genuinely interested in.

Beverly
Ramona
In fact, everyone in the stitch and bitch group? Consider yourself tagged!
Jocelyn
Susan Colagirl
My sister

Or if I didn’t tag you and you want to write about it, please link in the comments I want to know!

I’m so excited! I just got my big birthday present. Wanna guess what it is??

A room! A room on what?

Yes! My parents just paid the deposits for Cody and my room on the Seasocks cruise! Squeeee! My Dad’s so funny, he was like “What would you like most in the world for your birthday m’dear? You want to drag Cody on a cruise about knitting? Ok then.” No he wasn’t really like that but sometimes ya gotta wonder what he and Mom think about the kind of freak daughters they’ve created.

I’m very excited about this trip. I will be bringing my folding wheel and maybe we can have a spinning or dyeing class or something. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Thank you Mom and Dad! Love you! See you Thursday!

So now that the Dyeorama hooha is dying down I don’t have much of an excuse to not get work done on my remaining secret project - the one for Albuquerque. Now this has been in the works since April folks and it’s still not perfect but dammit, I want to go public so I think this is the best it’s going to get for now.

Say hello to the Albuquerque Craftistas

Scout and I’ve first talked about this back in April, as I said. Basically, we wanted to create a group for crafters in all its forms and provide a fun place to learn - without competitive bs or feeling like you’re being judged for creating stuff that might not fall into a specific category. One where crafters could kick some crafts and be creative. Hopefully this will grow into something more but I thought it was finally time to get some work going on this project now that dyeorama’s (finally) slowing down.

We had discussed starting a local chapter of the Craft Mafia but had decided that their focus on the more commercial aspect (while being a great thing) wasn’t something that we wanted. We wanted people to get to participate regardless or skill or sales.

The good news is some enterprising chickies on Etsy have started an Albuquerque Chapter of the Craft Mafia which I am totally happy to join. And we’ve decided to be sister organizations since a lot of our memberships would overlap and while our financial goals might be different, we agree that it’s all about the craft.

So, local Albuquerque crafters, hurry yourselves over and join la Craftistas! And if you like to sell stuff, join the Craft Mafia too!

I think our first order of business should be starting joint bowling and roller derby teams! Then we can all get matching tattoos. Yeah, I know, “Slow down there, cowgirl.” It would be fun though wouldn’t it?

For the non-locals there’s a fun new knitting webring that I joined yesterday too. I’m totally a kickass joiner.

I got a lovely basket of snacks, fruit, and flowers from my parents today. It was about thirty minutes after I’d dismantled it and eaten some of the jalapeno gouda (YUM!) and crackers that it occurred to me that maybe I should take a photo. I’m way out of practice with this photo thing.

I’m not going to do the one word meme that’s been going around. Because to be honest I’m afraid of the one word people would use to describe me.

But I found this other meme and it looks fun, if a little similar to one I’ve done before. But I can’t think of anything else to write about today.

Closest Blue Book Meme
1. Grab the nearest book with a blue cover.
2. Open the book to page 86.
3. Find the first full paragraph.
4. Post the text in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the coolest book you can find, just the closest blue book.

This book was sitting flat on my desk within about four inches of my right hand so it was easy to find.

“She really knows how to write from instinct & innocence. Few women can do this. Joan Kerouac… a new writer on this old horizon. I see me & her cutting around the world in tweeds, yass…Mierschom {sic} pipes with youknowwhat in them, he he.” —Jack Kerouac

from page 87 (page 86 just has a photo) of Women of the Beat Generation

Also, this is a huge list of book titles mixed with band names.
My favorites:
Charlie Daniels and the Chocolate Factory
Horton Hears a Hoobastank
Of Mice and Men at Work
Bare Naked Lunch Ladies
The Agony and the XTC
The Scarlet Pimpernelly Furtado
Life, The Universe and Everything But the Girl
A Tale of Two Bay City Rollers
Green Day and Ham
One Fish, Two Fish, Hootie and the Blowfish
Tesla of the d’Ubervilles
Motley Crüsoe
Doctor ZhivaGoGo’s
A Kraftwerk Orange
Midnight Oil in the Garden of Good and Evil
Oliver Twisted Sister

Who knew knitting in public was such a big deal? On Worldwide Knit In Public Day, everyone is encouraged to go out into the world and knit. Knit openly and freely. Scoff at the granny-callers, threaten the obnoxious with your needles, tell them that no you won’t knit a sweater for them but you might make them a scarf of some mittens sometime if they ask nicely.

The Albuquerque branch is being cohosted by Scout and Erin and will be taking place at the Flying Star on Rio Grande (the usual meeting place for the SNB) this Saturday from 9 to 11 am. I’m hoping to catch a ride to it since Mr. Man has to work Saturday night.

Whether or not I get to go I made a few buttons for the event. Yes I made that image myself as the founder requested. Feel free to take them.

I will also be walking with Ramona, Laurie, and Carole in the Susan G Komen event this Sunday. I’m hoping I can make the whole walk but I’m not kidding myself. Let’s hope we won’t be hitting 101 degrees like we did yesterday!

Only one day left in Cody’s vacation but we’re doing a lot of organizing and stuff. We’ve lived in this house since October 1998 and both tend to be slobby pack rats. So you can imagine how things build up. I’m also hell bent on fixing up the back bedroom into a proper studio craft room. I’m getting a lot of inspiration from this Flickr Group. But for right now we’re working on our closets and fixing up our shared bathroom a little. I have two big garbage bags of clothes for The Arc and will probably have at least one more by the time they come to pick up stuff next week.

I ran across this post on this livejournal site. Not really sure where she found it.

So this is almost completely unlike the famous “film buff” quiz proving not your movie coolness but your complete uncoolness for having seen so many movies. An attitude to which I say a hearty and simcere FU. Whatever the hell I feel like doing is cool and if you disagree you can just go suck it. I’m finding this increasing attitude to be a great gift from the gods since I turned 30. It seems to only get better.

Anyway you’re supposed to enter a number as you come across each movie you’ve seen that’s listed in some arbitrary order which makes no sense to me. Apparently if you get over the number 70 you have no life. Mmmmkay. It’s entirely possible that I *own* more than 70 of these so what does that make me? Oh right. An agoraphobe with no job and a satellite dish with all the movie channels. Asterisks are by the ones we own. If I haven’t seen it but we own it that means it belongs to Cody.

Quiz and results in the extended entry…
(more…)

Even though I don’t have a yarn buddy, I thought I should answer these since I’m asking everyone else to.

Related to the Swap

Your favorite colors?
midtone blues/greens, autumnal pallettes, rich jewel tones, pinks/yellows/oranges if they’re not too bright. I’m not a fan of dayglow colors.

Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)?
Sport and up. Fingering weight is just too small for my chubby fingers.

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?
Multicolored or multitoned solid colors

If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn?
I like em all.

Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)?
I’d love a wool/tencel or a wool/silk blend. I’ve never used a wool/nylon blend so that would be interesting too. I really shouldn’t have even listed acrylic no one’s going to want that.

Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it?
Vincent Van Gogh had a tattoo WHERE?

What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along?
Spreading the joy of handdyeying yarn, encouraging the creative process and joy in the unexpected while dyeing. Creating new addicts to the craft.

General yarn/fiber questions:

Have you dyed yarn/fiber before?
yep

If so, what’s your favorite dye and method?
I like the random hot pour oven method but I’m going to try the handpainting dishwasher method sometime soon.

Do you spin?
yep

Have you knit socks before?
yes! Yaaay!

Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too?
I’m using sock yarn in two non-sock projects atm: some self-patterning fair isle sock yarn for a scarf and some koigu in the shadow shawl

What are some of your favorite yarns?
Noro, Colinette, thick and thin handspun by some amazing handspinners, I’m a recent koigu kult inductee, Mmmanos and Mmmmalabrigo. I love yarn with rich interesting colors and interesting textures.

What yarn do you totally covet?
Colinette Point Five. I know exactly how to spin that kind of thing myself but their colors are just unbelievable. I’d love to get enough of the really nice Rowan cashmerino to be able to make a big sweater for myself

Favorite patterns?
Anything that’s simple to do but looks really impressive. Teva Durham’s Ballet T, Kate Gilbert’s Clapotis, This Shadow Shawl I’m working on.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?
I dream of making my own Absolutely Fabulous throw but with all the crazy yarn I have.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?
I love my denises, I love my needlemaster, I love my smaller addis (I don’t like addi turbos bigger than a 6), I have some great crystal palace bamboos. Wood, plastic, metal all have a use to me depending on the project. My absolute favorite to use though is a pair of handmade Ash 16s with the size burned into the ball at the end with a soldering knife that I got for free with some yarn I got on ebay. They feel soo good in my hands..

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
I think I’d probably be some crazy handspun by Reenie & Angela, Natasha, or Pluckyfluff - thick and thin with little fancy lacey bits and some glitter sometimes but other times all twisted up tight.

Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?
I don’t really like sweets much. Unless it’s a coffee beverage. I loove salty snacks though.

What’s your favorite animal?
huff huff huff

Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages?
I have four pets right now.
cat- Kurry / ~18 years old
cat- Phunq / ~14 years old
cat- Melon / ~12 years old
dog- rhodesian ridgeback - Winter / almost 5 years old

If you were a color what color would you be?
a very dark iridescent blue/green with lots of colors and shades deep inside

Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s)..
Cody and I used to have a shirt that we shared. It was already well-worn when we met and he used to wear it when we talked on the phone a lot. It was a very old Earth Day shirt from his entymology days and had been worn so much that the fibers were really loose and the fabric was really thin but it was perfect to wear, especially when one of us was sick, because it wasn’t too hot but we didn’t freeze to death in it. We used to call it “THE” shirt, and the act of leaving a freshly washed THE shirt for the other one to wear was one of those small daily acts of love that couples do. It started to tear though and neither of us have worn it in years. It’s still in a drawer in the bedroom though. That shirt will not be thrown away.

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?
I love the contrast in the colors of New Mexico - reddish earth, scrubby green growth, and bright blue skies. I like unexpected beauty in things that might not look good at first. I love looking into animals’ eyes. Chubby young puppy tummies and kittens with their streetcar antennaed tails.

Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read.
My usual answer is “Life is Serious but Art is Fun”

but one of the more recent lines I really enjoyed was this from the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency:

It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin.

To me it means that you can keep yourself focused and happy in life by concentrating on the little simple pleasures.

Do you have a wishlist?
amazon
crafty
torrid

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today?

Never buy brown paint. You can always make that yourself by mixing two primary colors together.