Backstage Knitting

I'm not exactly sure who Christine Levin is, but apparently she is a folk singer, who has a song called Cold Pizza for Breakfast, has a knitting circle backstage before all her shows, and she is coming to Chicago on September 25. I might have to listen to her music, because the idea of combining music and knitting is wonderful. Mostly, I am blogging this so that I remember about it later. Thanks Mason-Dixon Knitting for tipping me off.

Knitters Please Print Me For Show Day

P.S. I'll add all the appropriate links later

request

does anyone have any pictures of me? I don't have user pics for blogger, livejournal or myspace and its pretty much because I don't have any pictures of myself. If you have something, even if its outdated, please leave a comment. thanks!

He's got fans

I was hanging out with my future roommate, Joanne, this evening with her friend Mike. J and M both like to go see musicals, and M lived in NYC for a while and is really into noting *who* is in them, something that totally eludes me even when I know the people (i.e. school plays).

We had discussed that I went to drama school, and worked for a commercial scene shop, and so yes, I know people who are in musicals and plays. Well, M is a big fan of Telly Leung and wanted to know all about him. I was really unhelpful there, as the most vivid memory I have of him is a certain friend who had a crush of sorts on him. and that he was a good dancer. Anyone out there have anything more exciting to share?

**************blatantly stolen device******************

I am wearing a pedometer and trying to work my way up to walking 10,000 steps per day. This week's goal is to break 7000 steps/day on average. I keep track on a pad of paper in my room, near where the cell phones are charged. Today I took the train to work, and then walked the rest of the way to the shop, and then walked around with J to Thai Pastry and then over to Sweet Occasions for ice cream in Andersonville. So far, I have walked 10,778 steps, a personal one-day record.

************this is me ripping off BabelBabe*********

I think that I am going to sign up for Cheetah Gym tomorrow. They have a special that ends tomorrow. I think that I would like going to the gym, and J goes for classes on the weekends and Lacey goes for regular workouts and Anne and Dan are members now, so it seems like I'll have enough motivation around me to stick with it. Besides, I don't want to be the fat cow of my friends. That would be no fun at all.

Just like I used to do on the Diaryland page,

Keep Smiling! =)

Oregon Trail

This is not a post about playing childhood computer games at Anne's birthday party.

Its about all the freaky diseases that seem to still exist. I started discussing this with my sister because of the Mumps outbreak in the Midwest, starting in Iowa and seeming to mostly be hitting college kids. Hitting college kids makes sense since they all live together and none of them have ever had the Mumps since they've been vaccinating all the kiddos for the last 30 years. And if a disease starts with college kids, starting in Iowa makes sense considering how many colleges they have. If I had to think of a non-agricultural image of Iowa, it would be cute little liberal arts colleges.

My sister knows someone who got Whooping Cough, and her roommate has had Scarlet Fever TWICE. Have you had, or do you know someone who has had, any of the following diseases? I'm just morbidly curious about these old school diseases that really, truly should not be an issue anymore.

• Polio
• diphtheria
• Cholera
• Rubella (German Measles)
• measles

Note: the spellchecker didn't even *know* the word mumps. That's how much of a non-issue it generally is.

10,000 what?

Does anyone do the 10,000 steps thing? Or use a pedometer? Its springtime, so my thoughts are turning to weight loss. And wondering how much walking I do because my boss doesn't want to get things himself. Unfortunately, pedometers (aka step counters) come in way more than 31 flavors and I'm not sure where to start. There are websites giving reviews of them, but its all just kind of gibberish and I'm looking for the opinion of a real person.

Google Romance

Google Romance: "When you do a Soulmate Search, your deeply personal and potentially life-altering search results are produced solely by computer algorithm, without human intervention of any kind.

Note: depending on your personality, you may or may not find this reassuring."

I, personally, find this reassuring, which is why I have used OkCupid, though it hasn't worked out super-well in the romance department. The only human intervention that I want is friends, no weird people at dating companies.

But it makes such fun fire!

Iran Says It Won't Use Oil As a Weapon: "Iran Says It Won't Use Oil As a Weapon"

Now, I went to read the article and was disappointed but not surprised that they were talking about an *economic* weapon. But my first thought was something more along the lines of promising not to make oil balls and throwing them into the campfire. I have no idea exactly how it would work, but somehow I was imagining a cross between a Pre-Hispanic ball game I saw in Mexico and paintball. The ball game had 3 players per team, a goalie +2 and they had field hockey sticks. The ball was actually a flaming coconut that was rolled down the sloped side wall of the ball game arena, and when it broke apart or stopped being firey, a new one was put into play.

Now put that into a slightly larger scale, coconut sized balls of oil/fire being blasted out of some sort of big gun thing. And promising not to do that (which seems like an inherently bad idea) makes me laugh.

Its Roommate Season!

go here on Craigslist. To see my ad. That is also the link to forward to anyone you know who is looking for a roommate in Chicago.

For those who don't feel like clicking, here's the text below:

2BR 1Bath, original built in cabinets (with mirrors and glass door cabinets), front balcony, easy parking, amazingly beautiful hardwood floors, bay window, plenty of storage space, close to the Red Line. Available, officially, for June 1, 2006-April 30, 2007 move-in possible starting mid-May.

My roommate is moving in with her boyfriend, so I need a new roommate--there is no way I want to leave this apartment. It is so great to live here that my current roommate is just moving to the upstairs apartment. I am an easy-going 24yo female, and have been living in Chicago for more than a year now. I like to knit, read, spin yarn, listen to Chicago Public Radio, go to the Foster Avenue Beach in the summer (its just so convenient!), and travel.

I hope that you are someone nice who has lived with other people before, pay the rent and utilities on-time and want a friend, not just someone who happens to also live in the apartment.

There is lots more that I would like to tell you about this awesome apartment, so you should send me an email if you are interested. Tell me a little bit about yourself and we'll set up a time to meet and show you the apartment.

Blogthings - What Year Were You Born Under?

Blogthings - What Year Were You Born Under?: "

You Were Actually Born Under:

You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest. However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are! Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk. You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood! You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse.

You Should Have Been Born Under:

No worries, you're not really pig-like in your personality. (Though you have been known to have a healthy appetite!) You are highly intelligent - forever studying and gaining knowledge. You have a heart of gold and you are appreciated by many. You are most compatible with a Rabbit or Goat.

What Year Were You Born "

For all you scenery nerds...

How many nails are in a flat?

Post your response in the comments.... I'll post what I believe to be the correct answer tomorrow.

Happy Ayyam-i-Ha! Yesterday my Baha'i study group (Ruhi Book 1) visited the House of Worship in Wilmette in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, my friend Lacey had an Ayyam-i-Ha yarn exchange party. It was lots of fun. We had a much-too-cooperative yarn exchange (which happens when you put Baha'is and their friends together in a game that is supposed to have stealing from others) with 19 lots of yarn to swap and trade amongst 9 people.

I put in a skein of handspun and rainbow (Kool-Aid) dyed yarn and a lot of two skeins of handspun-by-me and handdyed-by-Lacey celery colored yarn. I went home with two skeins of shetland yarn, one red (called Laquer) and one brown (called Moss, I think), a skein of thin novelty-ish yarn that is red and brown and pretty and a ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in a deep brown color.

My birthday is coming up in about a month, and I think that it is not-so-cool to throw myself a birthday party, but at the same time, I think that it would be lots of fun to have a party with a yarn exchange component. I would like to do it with two swaps, one would be for everyone to bring one lot of 1-3 skeins of good yarns that they would like to get or give as a real gift, and the other would be a white elephant yarn exchange, when you bring your acrylics, fun fur and other abominations of yarn purchases. Can you tell that I'm a bit of a yarn snob?

Break's over. Back to work.

Keep Smiling! =)

I passed 8th Grade Math

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Thanks to Peg for pointing me there.

Yay!

The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!

I know that I'm late on the blogging front for this, but it just occurred to me to show my happiness in a form other than saying, in my living room, to my roommate and her boyfriend (who are both Broncos fans), "Yay! The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!"

My little sister goes to school at the University of Denver, so she watched the game and cheered for the Broncos, because, in her words, "I don't want to die." She did promise to cheer for the Steelers as well, even if it was to herself. I appreciated that.

I would have enjoyed a Bears v. Steelers Super Bowl, but this way I have no conflict in my cheering. Steelers all the way, baby!

Yay! The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!

Good Night.

Valerie Rae Light

I found her again! Thank you to the anonymous commenter who left her email address. That is the one that I tried about a year ago with no response, but I figured that since it was a fresh tip, I'd try again.

Now, I need to finish the never-ending Robots Carts so that I can leave work for the weekend and go to the yarn store with my fantastic roommate, but I wanted Val to always have something pop up when she Googles her own name.

Something I'm looking into

My friend Lacey who knits and knew Anne first is a Baha'i. I am fascinated by other religions so I am looking into it. I think that I like the Episcopalians enough to not switch, though I'm not much for religious practice anyway. (note that I don't exactly attend church regularly)

I give my mother credit for my religious curiousity. When I was in the depths of insanity that is preteen puberty I was very angry about going to church/Sunday School. My mom thought that it was important to be reminded that there is a god and that you need to be a good person. In elementary school she told me that I could be Jewish if I wanted, but I had to go to Sunday school and Hebrew school and services, or I could go to church and sunday school with her. From my point of view, 2 hours on Sunday morning was more than enough religion in a week, so I stuck with her, since I couldn't find a lower-commitment religion anyway.

When we moved to Minnesota, Eckankar's Temple of ECK was right there in Chanhassen, and if you want a weird religion, that's it. I'm not super familiar with it, but the ECKs that I've met are definitely a little different.

My father is from Salt Lake City, Utah, but as far as I know, he is not and was not raised in the Mormon Church. But he doesn't talk about it. Which makes me curious about Mormons, especially because Mormon Fundamentalists are nutty and sometimes violent.

Which brings me to my curiousity about the Baha'i faith. I will be asking Lacey lots more questions, and reading, but I think in the end I won't switch because it is a non-ritualistic religion. I like pomp and circumstance and stained glass and ritualized cannibalism and fancy vestments. What can I say, I was raised in a fairly High Church Episcopal congregation.

Do you have any further reading reccommendations? Your own story of religious curiosity or nuttiness? Leave comments.

Spinning Yarn - Knitting - Meditation - New York Times

I may be a blog slacker, but look at this cool article about spinning yarn.
Spinning Yarn - Knitting - Meditation - New York Times

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I'm not just a blog slacker, but I'm also a knitting and spinning slacker. I finished Andrea's Mom's yarn, its a pretty green color with lots of depth from the color blending. That's about all I've finished though.
***********************

I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep off the exhaustion.

Christmas Cards

I get almost all of my graphics at work from Eugene at Colorimage. He is nearby, does good work, tolerates my complicated projects with a smile, delivers proofs right away and is speedy when I need him to be.

Today, I got my first business Christmas card ever today, from Eugene. It was an exciting work world first. Definitely cooler than the Thank You card I got from the lubricant company, though that was funnier. Its nice to work with nice people. That's all.

Thanks!

Andrea has given me one of these, or maybe she meant all of the ones on the page, for nonspecific winter holiday.

In response, my friend Charlie gave me these. I love this game.

Thanks Babelbabe!

BB posted her Virtual Christmas Gifts to the blogosphere friends today.

She got me this swift and ball winder. I'm in love with it as a gift, even without ever getting a real one. I promised to explain how it all works in a thank you comment that isn't appearing just yet.

A swift is an item that holds your yarn skein while you wind it into a ball. The kind that BB got me is an umbrella swift that clamps to a table. There are other kinds of swifts, as well as ways to hold your yarn during ball winding. A frequent pseudo-swift is another person's arms (preferably someone who will get so sick of it that they buy you a swift) or a chair back.

The umbrella swift looks like a broken umbrella because it has a very similar mechanism that is essentially infinitely adjustable with in range of circumferences, depending on how far up you push the center. The skein is untwisted so that it is one big loop, and then put onto the swift around the Xes. The skein is then expanded so that the skein is held taut. The swift is a wonderful invention not only when considering how tired a human pseudo-swift's arms can become, but also because it spins.

The broken umbrella part of the swift is attached to a center post, around which it rotates. Good swifts have a bearing of some sort in there. This is an important part of being a swift because otherwise the person winding the ball must walk around and around the tightly held loop.

The center post goes into some sort of base. Most swifts clamp to a table or countertop, others have a weightier base that lets it sit wherever there is a surface.

Dragonfly Turnings makes some really super, simple, no-clamp swifts. You can check them out here. If I ever get a swift, instead of using my feet, I will probably get one of theirs. It is simple, attractive and I don't really have a dedicated work table to clamp it onto. I also think that it is more likely that I will get around to getting a swift long before I find a man willing to hold my yarn.

On to the ball winder. The one shown is a very standard issue, plastic ball winder. You hook the yarn onto the center core and turn the handle. The core moves in a strange pattern that creates a cylindrical, center-pull yarn ball. They are neat to have, but I hear that they wear out over time and sometimes can't handle the fussier yarns.

My preference, due to their relative cheapness and portability, is a nostepinde. It is pretty much a thick, tapered stick. Before my aunt bought me one for Christmas (but I got to take it home after Thanksgiving), I used the wisk handle and then one of the center posts for my niddy noddy (the one to make it one yard). I find that the balls made are very good both for knitting from and plying (instead of an Andean plying bracelet).

I hope that this all helps with the "what the heck is that?" reaction to seeing a swift. Post any questions in the comments and I'll edit the post.

How to Fluff

a Christmas tree. This is intended to be a primer for those who are unfamiliar with the concept of fluffing an artificial tree. Apparently, there are many people out there who don't know how to do it.

1. Make sure that all of the branches are in their slots on the center post. There should be no big gaping spaces. This is a sign of missing or twisted branches.
   
2. Untangle and straighten branches as needed.
3. Start at the top row of branches on the tree. Each branch is made up of many tips.
4. Grasp the branch close to the center post, and lift the tips off of the branch's core wire. This is essentially un-braiding.
   
5. Working from center out, lift all of the tips off of the branch. They should form a radial sort of pattern, coming off in all directions. This should be quick moving and result in the branch taking up as much volume as possible on the tree.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all branches on the tree. You should move quickly and touch every tip on the tree, not just the ones at the end of the branch.
   
7. Step back from the tree and see if there are any major problems. This is the time to fuss with the tree, not when it is still crushed from storage.
8. Decorate and light tree as desired.

Congratulations! Your artificial tree has been fluffed. There really should be a video that can be shown to low-wage, unskilled labor to save supervisors from repeatedly explaining how to do it.

Its been a really long time

since I posted a blog entry. I have so much fun reading everyone else's blogs, I don't know why I'm such a slacker with my own. It does go in cycles, but so much has been going on in the last month or so, I don't know why I'm not keeping the world up-to-date.

Quick facts, in no particular order:

1. I have too many people with conflicting interests who could be considered my boss.
2. The spinning is going very well.
3. I have a mountain of wool in my apartment, waiting to be spun. Probably more than a whole sheep.
4. The new Knitty is up, and full of cool patterns.
5. I have very little patience for people who can't imagine things being different from how they are presented.
6. CMU got a CNC router. Check out David's blog for some entries. I love CNC routers, they have totally changed the way that designers and production folks look at scenery construction.
7. Nicole, who needs to take up blogging, is coming to Chicago this weekend. I'm very excited, even if she has decided that Mike&Jackie are who she wants to stay with. *tear*
8. It is really really really cold here right now. But it is a bit warmer by the lake, which I appreciate greatly. And the weekend is supposed to be back up into the high twenties, thirties and maybe even the forties.
9. Things officially ended with the most recent boy on Friday. It has been dwindling for quite a while.
10. I think that I would be well-suited to a fun-loving accountant who cooks. Does anyone know any single, 23-31 year-old, male accountants who cook? I'm a nice girl.
11. I think that I might start going to church. I did a Christmas Basket through the local Episcopal Church and Cathedral Shelter Chicago. When I dropped it off, the woman who runs it was really nice. Young, single and friendly. She was very welcoming and encouraged me to try out the 11am service, which even I should be able to get to on time, if I make an effort.
12. I don't have any idea what I'm going to wear to the Winter Wonder Fest preview party gala thing on Thursday night. Which is in two (2) days. Eeek.
13. I read Under the Banner of Heaven over Thanksgiving weekend and into last week. It was really good, and made me curious about my father's family and childhood and why he dislikes Mormons/Mormonism with such passion. I wonder why I've always thought of Mormonism as just another sect of Christianity, when really its a whole other branch of the monotheistic Judeo-Christian-Muslim religion, the most recent prophet, if you can accept that it isn't just a crackpot religion. Ok, time to move on, this isn't a quick statement.
14. My roommate and her boyfriend are getting on very well. I hope that she doesn't move out at the end of this lease though. Maybe at the end of his lease they could move in together.
15. You can buy a 36" whisk at the restaurant supply store. I want a whole kitchen full of oversized utensils. Its not like I cook anyway.

Does anyone know where Valerie Light is or what she's up to? I miss her. She was one of my best friends in college and somehow I lost her.