In which I become a game

I ran across this at knitnut.net and had to see if I was Scrabble, too. Yes, with reservations (added below in blue).

You Are Scrabble

You are incredibly clever and witty. You can talk your way out of (and into) situations easily. NOT You are an excellent decision maker. NOT You are good at weighing the options in front of you. You're the type of person who can make something out of nothing. You are very resourceful. You know a lot of things. Most importantly, you know when people are wrong - even when they won't admit it. NOT

What Board Game Are You?

On the knitting and holiday fronts, I'm moving at glacial speeds. I have 2/3 of the kids' 3 pair of slipper socks to knit and about 5/6 of a pair of big adult socks (toe-up Jaywalkers of Sockease) to go. I'd show you, but my brother has my camera for a few days. He's selling Dad's excess cable chains on Craigslist; they're hot sellers just now due to the snow and predicted freezing rain in our area. We might even have a White Christmas which sounds romantic and traditional but just makes the travel between homes problematic!

"A" My Name is "____." My Husband's Name is "____."

Recently one of "my" bloggers posted 10 things she loved starting with the letter B and I opted to be tagged, winding up with the letter A.

First off, I thought of the alphabet jump rope rhyme that goes

A my name is Alice My husband's name is Al We live in Atlanta And we sell Apples B my name is Betty My husband's name is Bob We live in Boston And we sell Beans

The rhyme continues through the alphabet and was quite fun to jump to.

So 10 things I like that start with A:

Apple chopped up with celery, walnuts and cottage cheese or yogurt is a favorite meal. It's a variation of Waldorf Salad, something my grandmother made for Christmas Dinner (and others) every year.


Adhesive of various types is a necessity. Except when its remnants are stuck to my skin! One of my favorite adhesives is silicone.

Arse the word, not the thing. Stephanie, The Yarn Harlot, use this word and it cracks (ha ha) me up enormously.

Antigravity is a regular feature in Science Fiction stories, but beware that the mass is still there and can cause damage!

The A tile in Scrabble, drawn to determine who plays first, is beat only by the Blank tile. Drawing it ensures that my first word gets double points, a good thing indeed. On the other hand, the one who starts has to keep score!

Almonds are one of my staple foods. Tasty, full of mono-saturated fat, protein, and a few carbs, I eat them whole or chopped every day, often with cottage cheese and fruit, always in hot multigrain cereal, or any time I need to add a little good fat to a meal. I buy them whole at Trader Joe's and use my hand-cranked nut chopper as needed.

Alpacas are a favorite animal because they produce such soft fiber for spinning, knitting, and so on.

Air is my favorite mixture of gasses, though I admit to not thinking about it often. I'm starting to run out of ideas here! Do I have 10 yet? Only eight? OK. Two more. Where's the dictionary? LOL

Alligator, as in "See you later, alligator." If you get C, you can use "crocodile."

Arithmetic! It's so clear cut, black and white, with easy rules. Completely unlike history, literature, or philosophy. But let's not extend my favor too far into trigonometry or calculus!

If you'd like to play, let me know and I'll send you a random letter of the alphabet.

Knitting Meme

I got this from Catalogrrr Knits.

Mark with bold the things you have knit, with italics the ones you plan to knit sometime, and leave the rest. Of course, I can't follow the instructions exactly, so I added comments, comments, and comments! And I added four items at the bottom of the list!

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk a fine strand with wool for socks
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting maybe
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting fun concept, but not *me*
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitch
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere (mmm, cashmere!)
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves mittens are warmer!
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting fun concept, but not *me*
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets does a crochet dog coat count?
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair accidentally or on purpose?
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
Knitting with buffalo yarn
Knitting with pygora
Dyeing with food dye/drink mixes
Dyeing with chemical dyes (acid, etc)

I had lunch with my sister because I'm sexy and I do what I want

Actually did have lunch with my sister last week, but for a different reason! Catalogrrr posted this fun game:

Pick the month you were born:

January------I kicked
February-----I loved
March---------I smoked
April-----------I dry humped
May-----------I choked on
June----------I murdered
July-----------I did the Macarena with
August-------I had lunch with
September---I danced with
October------I sang to
November----I yelled at
December----I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a Mexican
6-------a gangster
7-------my cell phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19-------myself
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an ipod
29-------a permanent marker
30-------a llama
31-------A homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White--------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink----------because I'm NOT a homosexual.
Red----------because the voices told me to.
Blue----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want
green---------because I hate myself.
Purple--------because I'm cool.
Gray----------because I was drunk
Yellow--------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange-------because I hate my family.
Brown--------because I was high.
Other---------because I'm a ninja.
None----------because I cant control myself

Consider yourself tagged! And, please, leave *your* results in my comments.

Not Full of Nothing

My Fortune Cookie told me: This report is filled with omissions. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

It's Christmas Day, and I'm reading knitting blogs like this one and sipping hot cocoa before I get dressed and head out to visit some feline friends whose people are out of state for the holiday. Miss Fortune renews my belief that I'm also easily amused.

My gift knitting got done enough; there's a baby hat that didn't get done, but he's not due until February, so that's OK, especially since I didn't tell anyone I was knitting it! The sewing went fine as well, though the knitting needle roll for my newbie knitting friend is only 3/4 complete. I'd scheduled Sunday (the "free" day between my family's gathering and today) for sewing it and a couple of wool dog toys, but her invitation for homemade pizza, Rummikube, and ice cream cones prevailed. I gave her the WIP (sans instructions for finishing it herself, thank you), her lhasa/pekinese mix dog Mattie her wool toys (those got sewn first), and her handy husband his not-wool knit hat. Here's the hat:



The pattern is here, knit with Red Heart Soft Yarn in Cherry Red. It's very stretchy and a good pattern. Mine turned out with a cute peak (probably my fault, not the pattern's) if you don't pull it down firmly, so when I knit another one (for nephew #2), I made my own decrease pattern like this:



The yarn is Paton's Classic Wool in Deep Olive. At each of the 4 decrease points, I just knit or purled 2tog as seemed appropriate. Toward the center, I decreased every row to prevent the pointiness (that was probably my fault anyway). This one didn't need to be tugged down to fit smoothly, and I prefer it's simpler design.

When I got up the other morning, I saw this:



That's Pepper, who specializes in finding soft, cramped, defendable places to sleep. She's on the fabric for the second needle roll. I love her anyway.