Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Superwash hair

So we had some serious family time this weekend. All my parent's grandkids, children, and spouses (except one) in one location. A crazy weekend. One of my sisters had her hair straightened--Japanese hair straightening. It took several hours and a chunk of cash, but it did look very nice. My other sister has had it done in the past (her in-laws own a salon--convenient, I know). It struck me as I thought of the process they described. Basically all the microscopic scales in the hair are flattened and stuck down so they don't come unstuck. Lots of heat and chemicals.

The more I thought about it . . . the more I realized my sisters have had their hair made into superwash hair!

Another thought to ponder. . .

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Antisocial

I was sitting last night at the kitchen table--me, my husband and my brother-in-law--each with our own laptop. I said "aren't we being antisocial" (as a statement, not a question). My BIL said, "are we being antisocial if we are all on social networking sites??"

Thoughts to ponder. . .

Friday, April 18, 2008

Long weekend

For those of you in the Commonwealth--enjoy the long weekend. I'm working, right now, but from home, sitting in the sun on my deck--working and working at getting rid of my vitamin D deficiency all at the same time, not too shabby.

I know I promised knitting pictures, but I lied. My camera disk filled up (taking silly videos) so I've got to clear that out. The knitting is not that exciting anyway. Several inches of a tube of oatmeal colored stockinette stitch. You can picture it I'm sure. I've only got a few more inches to go before I hook it up with the sleeves and start my multicolored yoke.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Left- or right-brained

Okay--most of you have already seen this--since I e-mailed it to you. But I just wanted to post it here also. So tell me what do you see (other than nipples).
Clockwise?
Or counter (anti) clockwise?

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html

Really, I have been knitting. I'll try to prove it next time I post.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Little Prince

Okay--just a bit more nonknitting content. On to letterboxing and stamp carving.

Although it is true, I have begun work on carving a set of stamps based on the Philharmonic Gets Dressed, I think they may not end up being my first plants afterall. I've decided to do another series, based on The Little Prince (the best book EVER--and if you read the English translation you must make it the classic, by Katherine Woods). This series will be planted in places important in my life. As I will be in my home town in the coming weeks, I'm taking this as an opportunity to plant a box. I don't get there often, and I don't want to miss the opportunity. As letterboxing does not seem to be super popular in that area (no boxes planted with 10+ miles) I don't expect it will be found any time soon. But it will be there waiting.

I will also get one planted closer to home (with a bonus hitchhiker, ready for travelling). This series will be a bit easier to get out, since it will be spread out, in time and space. The important locations in my life are a bit scattered. I don't get around to them often, and so, these boxes will be distributed as I get to them.

Okay--for real now--back to our regularly scheduled knitting (after the dishes get done).

Ticks

No pics today--just a reminder that the ticks are out in force. Found one on me this Saturday (still walking around) and one on my husband Tuesday morning (attached, but easily removed). If you're out and about in an area with trees and shrubs (and deer) give yourself a good once over.

That was a public service announcement--we will now return to our regularly scheduled knitting.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

One sock down

Not much time for knitting or writing recently. I've been busy with work (got a promotion--yippee) and my thesis (had a progress presentation yesterday--went well, they haven't kicked me out yet). But I did manage to finish one Jaywalker. Lookee here.


It's not the best picture--it really is hard to take a photo of your own foot--but you get the idea. I also managed to cast on (~235 stitches) for the body of my sweater. Doesn't look like much--but it's a start.

We had our first family outing letterboxing this weekend. Nice weather. Cool, but not too cold. We found two boxes, and had a lot of fun looking for treasure. I wore one of my swap hats--it kept me nice and toasty warm--the earflaps are key!

After my talk yesterday, I was too jazzed up to knit when I got home so I started working on some carvings. I won't spoil them, in case anyone will actually find them in the future, but they are based on the children's book The Philharmonic Gets Dressed. It is in our bed time story rotation, and I just love it. I hope to get the boxes planted (15 of them!) this summer--they will be my first plants. Then I hope to do a letterboxing/knitting combo--but that will have to wait until I have more brain time--currently the brain power is being used for other things, and so the knitting and letterboxing needs to be a bit mindless/relaxing.