Library Book Sale

Library book sales are dangerous.

The way things are priced, if you're going to get something, you might as well fill a bag. (It was two-something for one book, or $5.10 for a bag. The ten cents baffles me...)

Update

I decided I liked my bag too much to let the applique fray, and zig-zagged the edges:


The zig-zagging isn't that noticeable. I'm happy. :)

I stopped in at the library book sale tonight, and the lady at the circulation desk commented that my bag was "cute"! :D

The Omnivore's Dilemma

On Jess's recommendation, I picked up The Omnivore's Dilemma from the library.

Conclusion after reading chapter one of part one: if a disease develops that wipes corn out, civilization will collapse.

Correction: this conclusion was after reading section one of chapter one of part one. But the conclusion didn't change after reading the rest of the chapter.

Find God

Living Water
For those who thirst

That is the text on the front of a book one of my students tried to give me yesterday, right as I was closing up the help centre, and thinking about the pile of papers I still had to review.

I told her I'm an atheist, I'd talk with her about it later, and try not to burn in hell before then. (She did her shy/nervous laugh at that.)

I foresee awkwardness.
1. I'm not supposed to accept gifts. (Yes, I realize that this is something that the religious groups give out for free, which kind of blurs the line on whether it's a "gift".)
2. I need her to feel comfortable coming to me to ask about computer science questions.
3. I have no desire to be "saved", and was brought up to believe that lying is wrong.
Hmmm... perhaps I should have a quick chat with my bosses.

Finished Mittens

Thoroughly awesome. :)


Okay... enough of this winter-wear nonsense, time for a tank top or two! I'm going to ignore the WIPs on my coffee table, and start something completely new! I bought the yarn and pattern for Flow a while ago, and it's time to justify that purchase. :)

(In other news, I think it was a library book that was causing a lot of my earlier misery. I picked it up again after dinner, and have been a snot-factory ever since. *sigh* Time for the neti pot again...)

Miscellany

The calendula had me rather worried when several days had passed and only one of the five had sprouted, but a second sprouted yesterday, and another this morning. *phew*

The dianthus started popping up yesterday or the day before too. :)

I just discovered something really cool... McNally Robinson books are much cheaper online (I suspect to compete with Amazon), and if you choose to pick up the book in-store, there's no shipping! Woo-hoo! I looked there for Ann Feitelson's "The Art of Fair Isle Knitting", because KnitPicks didn't have it (a friend is doing a KnitPicks order, and KnitPicks has their 40% off book sale until the end of the week), and so it occurred to me to check McNally. McNally is Canadian, and lets us knit there once a month (even moving things and putting out chairs), so I like to support them. I can't afford to do so very often, but I did order this book. :) (They didn't have it in stock, and so said it will be a week or I could cancel my order... however, since knitting is there next week, if I'm lucky, I can pick it up when I'm there anyway!)

Yesterday I listened to an interesting podcast episode of CBC's Ideas, Aboriginals and New Canadians: The Missing Conversation. It talked about the effect that aboriginal culture had in shaping Canadian culture (among other things). It made a lot of sense, and explained a bunch about why Canadians are different than Americans.

Birthday Prezzies

L gave me a pair of KnitPicks Harmony straight knitting needles. :)

H gave me:
• a cool pop-up card with a cat watching the laundry go round, and a laundry line that spells out "Happy Birthday",
• "The Knitter's Book of Wool" by Clara Parkes,
• some *yummy* chocolate, and
• a "help Haiti" fund-raiser chocolate cupcake with a plastic heart ring embedded in the icing. (Guess what we passed on our daily walk? ;) )
:)

My brother is getting me "Amigurumi Knits" by Hansi Singh. :)

Since I haven't managed to bake myself a cake, I'm thinking of stopping off at Baked Expectations on the way home, and picking up a little something for dessert. (Although, knowing the sizes of their slices, it'll only be a "little something" if I spread it out over several nights!)

This morning I stopped off at the campus Starbucks for my free birthday beverage with my gift card I registered online, but was told that the campus Starbucks doesn't honour that. Party poopers. :P

I got two nice compliments in the help centre today (not birthday related, but a nice coincidence getting them today).

Tonight will be a quiet evening... just me, a big slice of cake, and a bigger pile of marking. (*sigh*)

Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes, everyone! (I don't feel a year older, though...)

Book

I couldn't stop worrying about that book, so I ordered a replacement from an Amazon marketplace seller. If the other copy turns up, that means I'll have one to keep, and one to loan. It's an excellent book, and I've loaned it to several people in the past.

AWOL Book

My book on drawing Celtic knotwork by Aidan Meehan seems to have wandered off. (I have several books by him, but the main one on the method he developed is missing.) I keep my knotwork books on a specific shelf, and that book is missing. Even more frustrating, I can't find an image of the cover that I remember on the web... which will make finding a replacement difficult, should it not turn up. I think the cover colour is mainly a creamy yellow. I'm pretty sure it's one by Aidan Meehan, not by George Bain.

I can't remember the last time I saw the book. (Did I loan it to a friend before leaving Chapel Hill? I'm pretty sure I had it when I was down there. Did I loan it to a friend up here? Is it still around somewhere, hiding?)

If you ever lived near me, and have an interest in knotwork, could you check to see if you have my book? (Even if you don't remember borrowing it?) Thanks! I really appreciate it!

Update: I found a link on the web! It's by Iain Bain, which is why I couldn't find it by googling! Amazon link.

Saturday's Shopping

The weather was miserable on Saturday too. I looked out, and asked myself, "do I really want to go out in that?" As it turned out, I did indeed go out... and it's lucky I did! I won a prize at Ram Wools' open house!!! (I'm not sure what yet... they called while I was out, and I have to wait for the store to open before I call back.)

My first stop was on my way to Ram Wools... a fun little antique shop on Main Street. Previously I had seen a cute little Wade hedgehog figurine, but hadn't bought it. Recently I've been wanting to try my hand at a terrarium, and I thought that hedgehog would look adorable in one. I've decided that I can only create the terrarium *after* I finish my desk and have it in my office (I plan on placing the terrarium(s) along the back of the desk... an antique hobby for an antique desk), and buying the hedgehog would be a reminder of my incentive to get the desk done. However, they were out of hedgehogs. *sigh*. However, they *weren't* out of cute little Wade figurines. I ended up with four:

A leprechaun "tailor" (he's actually darning his own sock, but he's referred to as the tailor), the Queen of Hearts, the house that Jack built, and a giraffe. Here they are from the other side:

I have yet to give the tailor a name.

Looking at other Wade Whimsy figurines online, I'd still like a hedgehog, I love the frog, and I'd love a "cat and the fiddle"... that nursery rhyme is special to me, because of a quilt my great-grandmother made. However, I plan to be good and not buy any more... at least, not until these are in terrariums. ;) (The giraffe might not end up in one... an African savanna creature would be rather out of place in a tropical terrarium.)

I think it would also be fun to make some of those mushrooms with the red caps and white spots to go with the hedgehog, and perhaps the tailor too. But, no Fimo/Sculpey buying until the desk is done!

After the antique shop, I went to Ram Wools where I entered the contest (and won! Yay!!!!), bought some sock yarn for heels and toes to make another ball stretch, and sold some stitch markers, cards, and magnets to a friend. (Yay! I earned more than I spent at the previous stop... but not as much as I spent at the first two stops combined. *sigh*)

Then I went on to the next antique shop to check out that chest of drawers (not as enthralling in person, but still nice... and $110), and wandered around the store to see what else was new (to me, at least... antique shops are so cluttered that you can't possibly notice everything). Ironically, I saw the same little tailor, but for $5 instead of $8. (He was the most expensive of the ones I bought at the first shop, the rest were $3 or $4 each.) Oh well... I had gotten a deal on the Queen of Hearts and the house that Jack built, since the clerk told me $4, and the other nursery rhyme figurines with stickers all said $5. (I did point it out, but she said she'd stick by what she quoted me.) I made it out of this shop without spending a dime. (Yay! Willpower!)

Then I continued south to the thrift shop with the 50% off sale... only to discover that I was too late, and it had already closed. (It was 5:30 by then... I hadn't been sure if they closed at 5 or 6... although, I suppose they could have closed even earlier.) Instead of getting off the bus (I saw that the "open" sign was off before I rang the bell), I continued on to the other thrift shop which didn't have a sale, and charges more in the first place. I figured I might as well make use of the trip, and see if they had anything I needed.

Not only did they have the Visions pot I've been looking for (yay!), but they also had a small muffin tin I wanted (for when I have just over a dozen muffins in a recipe... I can't fit two full sized tins in my oven), a really cool fish/whale sponge holder, and some really awesome glass jars for pretty decent prices... perfect for terrariums! Since you can never be sure what will be in stock at a thrift shop, I snapped them up while they were there. For $32, I came home with the following:

Oh... right, there was the giraffe bookend too. I've been needing more bookends. I was disappointed that the ears were broken off... but I liked it better, and it was cheaper than others I've seen lately. Since you can't see the whale's fins in the above photo, here's a better shot:

Isn't he cute? I think he wants to be called Thesselonius... don't ask me where that came from. (Even with the crazing, I suspect Thesselonius is relatively modern, rather than vintage. I love him anyway, even if he might be made in China.)

Any suggestions on a name for the tailor? I might go with Bartholomew, but I'm not quite sure.

Remember?

Remember "Where the Wild Things Are" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"? I want birthday cakes like these! (But made with my mom's cake recipe, because it *tastes* the best!)

Squeeeeeee!!!

Stitch-It Podcast Steek-It Contest Prize!

I won the Stitch-It Podcast "Steek It" contest! My first Wollmeise!!!! Such a *pretty* colour! And other wonderful goodies! Mmmm... pretty roving from her etsy shop!

This actually arrived last Thursday (as a missed-parcel slip), and I picked it up on Friday... but life has been so crazy-busy that I haven't had time to blog it until now. (Sorry!)

Um... the nuclear-green peeps scare me. I'm working up my courage to try one. (I can't remember if I tried a peep back when I was living in the USA and P was my roommate.)

One of my visiting cousins enjoyed the peanut butter cup, due to my allergies. I've been enjoying the Whoppers, though. :)

Hmmm... perhaps things have slowed down enough now that I can actually look through the socks book? ;)

Thanks Meghan!!!!!!

Minor Medical Annoyances

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and my left calf was trying to tie itself in a knot. Ow!

Lately I've also been having a mild pain in one spot on the right side of my abdomen. ("It hurts when I poke it." "So don't poke it!") Thoughts:

1. Gas. (So why is gas hanging out in that one spot?)

2. Kidney stones. (I get those. However, I'm not having any trouble urinating... but perhaps it's because the stone is just hanging out in the kidney, and not causing any blockage.)

3. Appendix. (This one would have me freaking out, but it's only a mild pain.)

Of course, when I looked in my home medical book to see if I could get any answers, I noticed that an awful lot of the diagnoses in the flow chart ended in cancer. (Say it with me in your best Arnie voice: "It's not a tumour!")

So I put the book back on the shelf, and am sticking with gas (or possibly another kidney stone). Perhaps it's the yogurt I've been eating?

Awesome!

Thanks to teaching this summer, I'm now on the *cool* book mailing list... I just received The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 4, Fascicle 0: "Introduction to Combinatorial Algorithms and Boolean Functions" by Donald Knuth (who happens to be my great-grandadvisor). This is much better than fifteen books on how to program in Java. :) (Not that there's anything wrong with learning to program in Java, it's just that I already know how, and there are *so* many of them! I don't need them cluttering up my bookshelf.)

Designer?

A friend of mine is looking for knitting designers for a book or three! How cool! Click here if you're interested.

Things That Could Be Better This Morning...

I think my iPod is FUBAR. For good this time. I'll look at it later, but for now it's in an infinite cycle of rebooting. Doing the reset thing doesn't help.

One of my dollar store tupperware containers cracked when I was putting the lid on. I only got it at Christmas... sheesh.

The four lids I washed last night didn't really get clean either. There were still suds in the water, but I guess maybe the cloth had gotten oily?

I'm late. I didn't get enough sleep last night either.

I didn't finish the book I'm returning to H today... although I might be able to finish it on the bus. (Since my iPod isn't working anyway.)

I didn't get my taxes done this weekend, and they're due Wednesday.

I didn't get my grocery shopping done either. (Food would be good.) I haven't even made my grocery list. Since I'm late anyway, I'll make it before I leave, and then hopefully I will only need a few things and can stop on my way home. (Woo hoo... I found the Safeway coupon book on first glance at my messy desk!)

One of the paintings I wanted to have done for this weekend's art show still isn't done. I need to do one more thing (sketch the painting I'll be demoing) to prepare for the demo there too.

I decided to practice dressing nicer this week, in preparation for teaching next week. I tried on two of my old blouses, but they're both too small for me now. Looks like I'll be going through the closet, making a pile for goodwill.

Ram Wools

I, uh, spent more than my $10 gift certificate... but not as much as Friday, thankfully. ;) My purchases:

I bought the book in order to make this pattern:

I also picked up some free patterns that were being given away:

They may be "oldies", but they look like "goodies". :)

I touched the Malabrigo baby lace again (first felt at WW on Friday), and had the same "OMG WANT!!!" reaction, even though I *know* I don't like knitting lace. I may yet succumb, but so far I've held strong. ;)

I noticed there was some Ram Wools Selkirk yarn in an absolutely *gorgeous* honey colour. A sweater's worth almost came home with me, but then I decided I should finish those final seams in Durrow to see how I like wearing the yarn first.

I looked for the EZ book I had postponed buying in January (I'm not sure I would have bought it this trip, or waited until the August sale, but I at least wanted another look). However, there were *no* EZ books whatsoever! One of the staff looked up the title I think I wanted (The Opinionated Knitter... I think that's the one with both the adult baby surprise jacket and tomten patterns), and it was listed as "obsolete". Uh... yeah. Methinks they don't read Jared Flood's blog!

Linky-Loo

Ooooo... cool library!

I can *so* relate to this problem.

Book Sale

Creative Machine Stitching

The U of M libraries had it's book sale today. I bought two craft books and a paperback novel, for a grand total of $2.25. I like book sales. :)

Silly Quiz

Take the Quiz here!