Kiss My Knits!

So the makers of An Inconvenient Truth offered 50,000 free copies of the DVD to the National Science Teachers Association for free use in their classrooms. The association turned them down. And it’s looking suspiciously like they did it at least in part because they didn’t want to place “unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters.” One of whom, apparently, is Exxon-Mobil.

http://consciousearth.blogspot.com/2006/11/inconvenient-truth-squeezed-from.html

Grrrrrr……

So apparently there are significantly more requests for items on http://www.booksforsoldiers.com than there are people able to fill them this holiday season, so the site sent out a message to registered volunteers asking them to be sure to check out the boards. So I did. And there’s a request from someone who says it’s getting too cold to go out in the mountains anymore and do things outdoors, and could someone please send some Apple games to save himself and his buddies from winter boredom?

Apple games? This looks like a job for Tvini! Some of the stuff may be a little older, like original Warcraft, but they’re still plenty fun. I figure my closet should last him until Spring.

One trip to the Mac store later, I’m up and running again. There was just no way that old keyboard was ever going to work again.

I honestly believe that I’ve become more clumsy recently. I’m not sure what’s up with that, but it’s beginning to move past funny and into worrying. While still being funny, natch. It’s not like this is the first keyboard I’ve destroyed. In fact, I think it’s the sixth over my lifetime of computing. My husband the comedian suggested I ask about a bulk discount. I, on the other hand, think I just need to give up liquids entirely.

I wore my Glarkware Atari switch shirt to the Mac store, and the guy behind the counter commented on it. Then the guy to my right commented on it too. You have to be, shall we say, “of a certain age” to get it, since by the time the most recent crop of gamers came along, there were no primitive little switches to slide on the back of your TV. Then that got the clerk to reminiscing.

“My Dad worked at IBM, so we played some PC games. I’m talking about old ones, like this one that didn’t have any pictures. There’d be an ogre in front of you, and you had to attack it. If you wanted to get the key under a rug, you had to type out “lift rug” and you had to get it just right, too! Man!”

“Like Zork?”

“YES! THAT’S IT! ZORK! Oh, if I wasn’t married, I’d kiss you. I was going to have to go in the back and look it up, it was going to bother me all night.”

So we shared a little text game moment there, too. Wish I’d remembered to tell him that you can download those games for free now.

Good times, good times.

Hats up for: CA, MI, and NM.

Ihavespilledyetanotherdrinkinmykeyboard.

Asyoumayhavenoticed,thespacebarishistory.

Doublecrap.

Last night at around 7:30pm I was deleting a bunch of spam from my inbox. I was going too fast, and just as I hit DELETE on one, I saw the word “Jayne” in the body of the one line e-mail.

I almost never delete anything by accident, but that’s why God made trashcans, so you can fish the e-mail back out again. Except that apparently after all the computer woes of this month, when we got my mail server set up again, the trash was never configured properly. All the e-mails I’ve deleted since Nov 11th haven’t gone to the trash, they’ve just been immediately deleted.

In spite of my husband’s best efforts, the e-mail was unrecoverable. So whatever somebody wanted to tell me about Jayne hats at 7:30 last night is gone forever. One line means it was probably “Are you still making the Jayne hats and how long would it take to get one?” Alas, the poor sap will never know.

Crud.

Him: Aren’t you hungry?
Me: Eh, my appetite’s been down since I’ve been sick. But if you’re hungry, I can make some buttermilk pancakes with bacon.
Him: I don’t want you to go to any extra trouble.
Me: No, it’s fine. And I did buy buttermilk and bacon.
Him: Well, can I help you in some way?
Me: You can help clear the decks. The kitchen’s still pretty trashed from yesterday.
Him: …
Me: Of course, doing dishes may not be what you had in mind.
Him: … So, sandwich then?

ETA: Two hours later, he did in fact do the dishes without me asking him. So props. 🙂

Well, I’m still sick, but am definitely much better than I was. Very little coughing, a little sniffling, but I’m going to cook everything today, come hell or high water!

I’m doing the heel on those Crusoe socks, but am not far enough along for it to be worthwhile to post pics. Now that I’m better, projects for myself will take a backseat to the Jayne hat queue. Speaking of which, another Kureyon hat for someone in line is done. Things proceed apace!

Also have done another dinosaur toddler hat. Next up will be a space invaders hat and then more Jayne-a-liciousness!

Today, Cornish game hens with rosemary, garlic, and lemon, plus lots of other goodies including the mandatory pumpkin pie. Mmm! Here’s hoping you and yours eat until you have to loosen your belt.

Next in the queue: CA, IL, MI

Yesterday I was feeling low, and rather than inflict my germs upon any of my knittees, I decided to lie on the couch, eat tomato soup, watch some DVDs, read some library books, and rest. Anything else made me heave great sighs while my body tried to get enough oxygen. I sounded like I was trying to get attention for poor pitiful me. But I did have enough energy to intermittently knit, so what the heck, I decided to knit for myself. I can count on one hand the number of things I’ve actually made just for me. So I picked out something incredibly bright and cheery and had at it.

Behold! Marilyn Roberts’ “Crusoe” from Knitty! I’ve had this very colorful Koigu in my stash for a couple of months now, and it reminds me of Spring. The best day to indulge is surely a day when the weather is awful and I’m under it.

Modifications so far are that I didn’t do the roll-brim cuff, which seemed bulgy, but instead did some ribbing, so it’ll stay up better. The gauge was supposed to be 6 stitches per inch on a #1, but I was getting 8 stitches per inch, so I cast on 64 instead of 48 which it seems many other people on the web also did. Knitting is so math-y that it’s no wonder so many geeks enjoy it.

I would have preferred to work this on two circular #1 needles, but apparently I don’t have any #1s! Quelle horreur! It’s a pretty astonishing lack in my needle collection. So DPNs it is.


And while I was feeling sick yesterday, what arrived out of the blue?

I got post! From !

At the top is a Tall Card deck! This is a reproduction of the one featured in the Firefly episode “Shindig” where Simon, Book, and Jayne played cards until River went crazy, as she was wont to do. Too cool! I just need to cut it apart and then I, too, can barter for chores. Knock it off, Jayne! I saw that!

Upper right is a card holder made of fabric. I can use this, as my current methods of “stuffed in my pocket” or “loose in my purse” leave a little to be desired. Note also super cute winter-themed emery board.

Lower right is one of Mel’s cool garland kits which looks like a fun project which shouldn’t tax my limited paper-type skills.

Lower left is four big crayons, thoughtfully included for my daughter! How sweet is that? She was excited to get them and has them in with her other craft supplies now.

There was also another little knit-related surprise tucked in for me, which I was very happy to receive.

The timing of this unexpected package was great. Getting a little pick-me-up on a day when I was laid low was perfect. Thanks so much, !

In other news, I meet with a new speech therapist today who specializes in conversational and interactive skills. This is the same speech therapist Emily had when she was about three, who later left to start her own practice. My mother forwarded her name to me, not realizing the connection. I’m feeling good about this. We’ll see how it goes.

After calling Scout HQ on Thursday and Friday and getting no response, I called someone else on Monday, only to have the first person call me back apparently about five minutes later. It was a message on the machine, and she was very interested in finding out what was going on and getting the girls taken care of. I wasn’t able to catch her before she left the office yesterday, so I’ll be calling her back shortly. I’m glad there’s progress on that front.

Jayne hat orders have picked up again, although I can no longer guarantee Christmas delivery on finished hats. The queue’s up to 28 as of about ten minutes ago. Atsa lotta hats.

All in all, physically I still feel like someone’s paving the inside of my skull, but aside from that, life is good. I’m satisfied.

Yesterday I finally caught what my daughter has. If this is how she felt last Thursday, I’m glad we didn’t send her to school. Ugh.

I’m not knitting nothing for nobody today. I’m taking the morning off. Time to rest.