Lisa Lately

Internet Archive

2008-09-27T16:14:00.002-04:00

Obviously it's been a while since I've posted anything. However, my blog still gets an interesting number of visitors, mostly looking at my patterns. I hear from you all occasionally about the dead links. I do not own the information on those dead pages, so I cannot reproduce their info here.

However, all is not lost!

Whenever I run into dead links anywhere on the Internet, I go to the Internet Archive. Just copy the dead link and paste it into the Archive's Wayback Machine. You will then get a list of dates that the site was archived. Just click on the latest date to see what the Archive saved. Sometimes the photos and other graphics don't show up, so then I either just reload the page or try one of the other dates.

I did go back to the patterns and updated certain links to go directly to an archived page.

More Ways to Waste Time

2006-09-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

I discovered a new toy today! Check out the results: Click here!

The really observant among you will notice that I've actually discovered TWO new toys!

Felting Success

2006-08-12T13:05:00.000-04:00

I finished my first — and second! — felting projects. I felted them both at the same time. I have to say I'm fairly pleased with the results — not perfect, but awfully dang good for a first try. Especially since I didn't bother to felt a test swatch first!

I used a K hook and Lion Brand wool yarn: two 3-ounce skeins of Lion Wool in Midnight Blue and four 2¾-ounce skeins of Lion Wool Prints in Ocean Blues.

I didn't follow a particular pattern for the tote bag, but I took some ideas from a variety of patterns I read online. [Click on the photos for larger images!]

I started by crocheting a rectangle for the bottom in single crochet. Then, for the sides, I worked in the round around the edges of the rectangle, in half double crochet, joining each round with a slip stitch.

For each strap, I joined new yarn and worked in rows in half double crochet, then fastened off and sewed the loose end of the strap to the top of the bag. Then I worked one round of single crochet in the solid color around the top edge of the tote and the edges of the straps.

I had just enough of the Ocean Blues yarn left over from my tote bag to make a small purse. Again, I didn't follow a particular pattern. I used half double crochets worked in rounds to make a small rectangular pocket, then half double crochets worked in rows to make the flap.

For the strap, I attached yarn to the top edge of the purse, then worked a starting chain, attached the end to the other edge of the purse with a single crochet, then worked slip stitches back across the starting chain. For the button, I crocheted a small circle, then pulled it tight into a ball and tied it onto the front of the bag.

To felt these items, I put each one into its own mesh sweater bag and washed them in my washing machine with four pairs of blue jeans. I used the regular amount of laundry detergent and warm wash/cold rinse. I checked the progress after five minutes and again after another five minutes, but not much seemed to be happening. So I let the whole normal wash cycle finish completely, but still not much had happened. So I started the whole load on another wash cycle, adding the regular amount of laundry detergent again. After five minutes of this, I could see some felting beginning to occur, but not much, so I let this whole cycle finish completely. When it ended, the pieces had felted a bit and had shrunk a bit, but they weren't really done, in my opinion.

So I sent the whole load on a third trip through the washer, but added only a couple tablespoons of detergent. I didn't even bother checking them during this time, just let them go for the whole time. At the end, the tote bag and purse had felted quite nicely and had shrunk quite a bit in the horizontal direction but not very much at all in the vertical direction.

My jeans are really clean now too!

My approximate starting and ending measurements for the tote bag:
· Bottom rectangle: 15" x 4½" shrank to 10" x 4"
· Sides: 19" high shrank to 17" high
· Straps: 3" wide x 24" long shrank to 2" wide x 22" long

And for the purse:
· Pocket: 7" wide x 5½" tall shrank to 5" wide x 5" tall
· Flap: 3½" long shrank to 3" long
· Strap: 17" long shrank to 13" long

I put the tote bag over a shoe box wrapped in a plastic bag in order to shape it while it dried. I hung the purse over a wooden spoon to dry.

And here are the finished pieces after drying.

All in all, I'm calling it a success. And I can't wait to try to felt something else!

Look! A New Entry!

2006-07-29T14:07:00.000-04:00

Okay, let's see if I remember how to do this.

Yes, it's been more than a few months since I updated this space. Sorry! Life has been really busy. But I'm hopefully getting a handle on things now and will be around a bit more. Or not. We'll see!

I'm still volunteering at the food pantry and the help line, but now I have a new part-time job, which I job-share with another woman. I'm working for a company that manufactures factory parts — that is, things like motors and drives and gears used in the factory itself. I'm a regional coordinator (aka administrative assistant) supporting a team that includes a regional sales manager and thirteen field sales engineers. The work is really interesting and varies day to day. I've been there for about two months now, and I still have a lot to learn, but everyone is nice and helpful.

I work every Thursday and Friday and every other Wednesday, and my job-share partner works the other days. Job-sharing is working out well. We cover for each other when one of us needs to take a day or three off. For example, I worked every day last week so my partner could go visit her daughter, and she'll work every day this week so I can go to Chicago.

So I've definitely succeeded in getting myself out of my dungeon office and into the real world. And so far I'm really happy!

Brigid has spent most of the summer up at Northwestern University for the Center for Talent Development summer program. They run two three-week sessions, each of which covers a full year of coursework. Last year she took a full year of honors physics in the three-week session, and she loved it so much that she begged us to let her go to both sessions this year. She took AP computer programming during the first session, and she's taking AP calculus right now. She'd originally planned to take Latin, but she was the only student who signed up for that class, so she ended up taking the programming class instead.

I've been working on a new crochet project. I haven't finished the afghan I was working on yet, but it's just too dang hot to work on an afghan right now. Instead I took up a smaller project, one that is much better suited to a scorching summer. I'm making a tote bag, and I intend to felt it, which I haven't tried before. And of course, rather than starting with something small, I leapt right in with a big tote bag. I sure hope it works right! I'm not really following a particular pattern. I looked at a bunch online in various places, then decided to just wing it. I'm still crocheting the bag, and I need to figure out how I want to do the handles. I have a few options to consider, such as crocheting attached handles, crocheting handles to sew on, or even crocheting or braiding leather strips. I intend to use the tote bag (assuming it turns out good enough!) to carry an umbrella and a book or two and anything else I need to tote into work every day, so the handles need to be moderately strong.

I'll try to take some pictures over the next few days and post my progress.

OOPs

2006-04-24T22:39:00.000-04:00

Okay, those of you who came here looking for crochet stuff today: Sorry! All nerdy programming stuff instead.

I've been slowly making my way through a couple of teach-yourself C++ books, trying to learn the language. I haven't done any serious programming for almost twenty years, and I'm finding that my programming muscles are a bit rusty. But it's coming back, slowly but surely.

Object-oriented programming (OOP) was just being invented when I graduated from college — or rather, it was just entering the mainstream at that time. In any case, they weren't teaching it at most universities yet. I learned BASIC, Fortran, and COBOL, then I learned top-down structured programming, using Pascal and C. I really liked the top-down structured approach. It just clicked with how my brain seemed to work.

I worked as a C programmer for a while after graduation, then eventually dropped out of the workforce to be a stay-at-home mom. Around the time I was having Brigid, OOP was really taking off, but I never had the opportunity to learn it.

So now, in learning C++, I'm making all sorts of baby programs, simple things like converting degrees from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and finding areas of rectangles, and printing cute grids of X's. Playing around with recursions and iterations, if...else statements, for loops, do...while loops, and so on. Simple stuff, but still fun to do.

I still haven't gotten to the OOP part yet though, and I must admit I'm a bit apprehensive about this part. Will I be able to break out of the top-down structured programming mold and embrace objects and polymorphism and encapsulation and inheritance? Oh, well, no matter. I'm having fun trying, and that's the important part right now.

What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up?

2006-04-19T18:56:00.000-04:00

Long overdue for an update here, I see. Well, life intrudes and the blog gets forgotten. Sorry!

First, my voice: I have had great improvement over the past few weeks. My voice is not completely back to normal, but it is so much better than it was. If this is as good as it gets, I'll be happy. Most of the time I sound pretty decent. I know it's not exactly my old voice, but most people wouldn't really notice anything weird about it. Occasionally, when I'm tired, my voice gets a bit grumbly sounding, but again, it's not been too bad and anyone who notices it thinks I'm just getting a bit hoarse. I did speech therapy exercises for one whole week, and my voice was improving so much that I didn't see much need to continue with the exercises. If my voice should get worse, I can always restart the exercises. The main improvement is in volume level. I'm able to speak at a normal volume, so I'm no longer competing with ambient noise. Overall, I'm extremely happy about my voice. Yay!

Next, work life: I have been taking a break from copyediting for the past few months. I edited for ten years, and although I absolutely loved it when I started, the work over the past year or three has gotten less enjoyable. When I took the break, I started doing some volunteer work at a couple of nonprofit agencies here in town. I have really enjoyed doing something worthwhile, which I expected, but the unexpected part was learning how much I had missed working with real live actual people, not just disembodied voices on the phone or, worse, inanimate e-mail messages. It has slowly occurred to me that I have spent the past ten years holed up in my dungeon office in the basement, alone far too long! My job was perfect for a stay-at-home mom of a school-age child. I was able to set my own schedule, work while she was at school, take off when she needed me to, and still bring in a bit of money. But now that I've had a taste of the real world again, I can see that I'm way overdue to rejoin the land of the working stiffs, following someone else's rules and schedules, trudging in the corporate cesspool, . . . Oh, wait, I'm supposed to be excited about this.

Yeah, I'm going to get a REAL job. Of course, Brigid still has one more year of school before she's off to college, plus I still want to continue my volunteer work for a while longer, so I'm trying to find a part-time job.

What do I want to do? Well, I'm starting out looking for an office job, clerical work of some sort. But I'm also relearning C++. Yes, I used to be a programmer way back in the Stone Age, and I hope to eventually return to a career in programming. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'll be happy if I can find someone who wants a Monday-Tuesday-Friday office worker!

And, yes, I actually am excited about this.

Pardon This Commercial Interruption

2006-03-24T14:57:00.000-05:00

I really don't want to sound like a commercial, but I realize that's how this is going to sound. So, yeah, I apologize in advance.

On most days, I fix a big healthy salad (recipe below) for my lunch. I have Hidden Valley Light Ranch dressing with it. I've eaten this light low-fat dressing for several years now. It's good, especially for a light dressing, but not as good as regular full-fat dressing, of course. (And for the record, both the regular and the light versions of Hidden Valley Original Ranch are the best-tasting bottled ranch dressings. I haven't tried the nonfat version, though, so I can't comment on that one.)

So, okay, here's the part that's going to sound like a commercial. Recently I open a new bottle of Hidden Valley Light Ranch dressing and am startled by the delicious — yes, delicious — dressing. Not merely good, but delicious. I look at the label to be sure I hadn't accidentally bought regular ranch dressing. No, the label says "Hidden Valley the Original Ranch Light Dressing." I take another bite of my salad. My tastebuds have a little party. This tastes as great as regular full-fat ranch dressing. I pick up the bottle again. Yes, it says "Light" right there on the label. And on the back label. And on the label wrapped around the neck. Has Hidden Valley reformulated its light dressing? If so, this could revolutionize salads! Imagine, a light ranch dressing that tastes exactly like a regular full-fat ranch dressing! I reread the label. Nowhere does it say "New! Improved!" Hmm, I say to myself, perhaps this bottle was accidentally mislabeled. If that's the case, when I open the next bottle, I'm going to be awfully disappointed and I'm going to have to get used to merely good dressing again instead of great dressing.

And now I'm in a quandary. Do I call Hidden Valley customer service and risk sounding like some cheesy beer commercial: "Um, yeah, my new bottle of light ranch dressing tastes really great. Have you all added extra flavor to your light ranch dressing, or maybe did a batch of regular ranch dressing get the wrong labels?"

I have such a hard life.

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Lisa's Big Healthy Salad

• 2–3 cups of torn romaine lettuce
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon of Hidden Valley Original Ranch Light dressing
• 2 thin slices of good-quality deli turkey, cut or torn into bite-size pieces
• ¼ cup of shredded carrots
• ¼ cup of frozen corn or peas
• 2 tablespoons of dried cranberries
• ½ large apple, chopped (save other half for tomorrow, in a zipper bag with a splash of lemon juice)
• ¼ cup toasted pecans (spread on a cookie sheet, bake in preheated 350° oven for 10–15 minutes, until you can smell the toasted nuts; let cool; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator)

Put romaine lettuce into a one-quart bowl, add freshly ground pepper to taste and the dressing. Mix thoroughly so the dressing lightly coats all the lettuce. Mixing this way is the secret to being able to use much less dressing on your salad without sacrificing the flavor of the dressing. Add the remaining ingredients. Enjoy!

Catching Up

2006-03-14T15:11:00.000-05:00

I had my modified barium swallow last week, and that went well. It showed that the paralyzed vocal cord is affecting my swallowing, but not terribly. I've been paying closer attention to how I swallow and when it causes me to choke, and I've noticed that it nearly always happens when my head is slightly tilted back — for example, when I drink out of a bottle, or when we eat out at a restaurant that has TVs along the ceiling and I tilt my head back to watch one while swallowing. So long as I take small sips and remember to tuck my chin when swallowing, as directed by the speech therapist in the hospital, I don't have trouble very often.

I now have an appointment for Thursday to actually begin speech therapy. I'm rather excited in an odd way about this. My doctor told me not to expect much voice improvement, but rather we'd probably focus on compensating techniques. He had said previously that vocal cords can sometimes recover spontaneously, but that it's less likely when the vocal cord is actually paralyzed rather than just paresed (weakened). He said today that if the vocal cord paralysis doesn't spontaneously recover within a year or so, we can consider surgical remedies, but that these won't completely restore my voice. So I really do need to accept the strong possibility that my voice will be impaired forever.

I also had some bloodwork done to be sure the remaining half of my thyroid is functioning correctly, and it's doing just fine. Most people can get along easily with half a thyroid, but you need periodic testing to be sure. I won't need a recheck on this until next year now.

I'm about halfway finished with my afghan, and I just love how it's turning out. The colors I selected are perfect. I want to keep this one for myself, but it's a gift, so drat! Here you can see Rika helping me crochet.

Brigid has been accepted into the Center for Talent Development's summer program at Northwestern University. She attended one session last summer, where she took a full year of AP physics in three weeks. She loved it so much that she begged to go to both sessions this summer. She's going to take Latin during the first session and AP calculus during the second session. Again, a full year of study in just three weeks each session.

Brigid has to leave campus for the weekend between sessions, so this means Ron and I will have to make three trips to Chicago this summer. Man, I hate it when that happens! Chicago is just far enough away that we'll have to stay two nights each trip. We'll probably add a few days to one or two of the trips, though. I love Chicago — the shopping, the restaurants, the Art Institute, the Cubs, just walking around!

Out and About

2006-02-25T14:36:00.000-05:00

I went to the health club and "worked out" today. I put that in quotes because what I did hardly counts as a workout. Normally I walk a hill course on the treadmill at about 4.5 miles per hour. Today I walked a flat course at 3.0 miles per hour. I followed this with about 10 minutes on the recumbent bike at level 0 — yes, level zero. After the bike, I lifted no weights at all. I barely broke a sweat, but Ron was happy because I didn't overexert myself. Still, I was definitely glad to be moving around and working some muscles. If I feel fine tomorrow morning, I might ramp things up a bit, but I'll still be careful not to overdo anything, especially lifting weights. I don't want to mess up the healing process of the incision area. I'm hoping the incision heals nicely with minimal scarring, and lifting weights too soon could interfere with that.

The worst part of going to work out was not the reduced level of my workout, but rather the too-tight neckline on my shirt. I've been wearing blouses with open collars ever since the surgery, but this morning I wore my normal workout clothes. The long-sleeved T-shirt has a fairly loose neckline — but apparently not loose enough. I was glad to get out of it when I got home.

After lunch today, I drove myself to get a much-needed haircut. Driving was fine, so I'm back in business now. Staying home the past two weeks has made me quite stir-crazy, and my release is coming not a moment too soon!

Progress on My Afghan

2006-02-23T16:09:00.000-05:00

I'm recovering well from my surgery, but I still can't drive yet. I can't comfortably raise my head enough yet to be a safe driver. However, my range of motion is improving a little bit each day, and I hope to be able to drive in a few days. For the time being, though, I'm stuck at home all day with nothing to do but surf the Internet, watch TV, and crochet.

After a week at home now, I can say with great certainty: Daytime TV sucks. I enjoy Ellen, the Ellen DeGeneres show. And of course, Oprah. But beyond that is a mishmash of just plain boring stuff. I'll be glad to escape and get back to my regular schedule when I can drive again.

I'm getting a good amount of crocheting done while I watch TV though. I'm making the "Great for Your Guy Afghan," which you can read about here. I'm about a quarter of the way finished with this one. When I get back to my regular schedule, I expect my work on the afghan to slow down somewhat, but I've made a great start on it.

Normally when I've made this pattern before I've used a pair of yarns with a higher contrast — dark plum with light gray, or dark brown with light brown. The Red Heart Super Saver in linen and aran I'm using this time make a more subtle contrast, but I love how it's turning out.

I like this pattern quite a bit. It looks sophisticated and complicated, but it's actually not too difficult to do. This pattern is the one where I learned how to do color changes in a way to avoid having thousands of ends to weave in. Each color is used for two rows, and instead of cutting the yarn and attaching the new color, you just drop the one color and pick up the other one. You carry the yarn along the side, where it will be covered by the border at the end. As you can see in the photos, it makes a rather neat edge that won't be hard to cover.

You do have to pay attention to the two skeins of yarn attached at once. They have a tendency to tangle if you don't rearrange them after each row. But I'd much rather move a couple of skeins of yarn every row than have a billion ends to weave in.

Have I mentioned how much I hate weaving in ends?

Don't Click Here . . . Well, Unless You Want To!

2006-02-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

I got my stitches out this afternoon. The final pathology report came in, and it's now officially not cancer. I didn't think it would be cancer, but it's still nice to have the confirmation.

The doctor stimulated the recurrent laryngeal nerve during the surgery, and said that it's definitely paralysis, not merely paresis (weakness). The nerve can spontaneously recover, and I asked how likely that is. He said he didn't really know the numbers but it would be about 30% likely or something similar — so, recovery is possible, but most don't recover. And the fact that it's paralyzed rather than paresed means it's less likely to spontaneously recover, but still, it's not out of the question. But it could take a year or longer.

So I'm approaching this with the expectation that it will never recover and I just need to accept it, come to terms with the vocal issues, and get on with trying to improve my situation. I'm not abandoning hope, but I also don't want to be all tied up in hoping it's going to recover and then end up spending the rest of my life disappointed every day if it doesn't. So instead I'm working to accept that my voice may never return. Then if my nerve does happen to spontaneously recover, that's great.

So, in trying to improve my situation, I'm going to pursue speech therapy. In a few weeks I'm having something called a modified barium swallow. I'll swallow some barium and they'll take X rays of my neck in various positions. This will help them determine the range of motion of my vocal cord and will help them develop a speech therapy program for me.

For the ghoulish among you, I took a couple of pictures of my scar. It's at the base of my neck, about 2½"–3" long. It looks much better without the stitches, but it's still not exactly pretty. The bruising has turned to that really lovely shade of yellow, except for an odd little purple line above the incision.

Feel free to not click on these links: here and here.

Learning a New Way to Savor

2006-02-18T23:02:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who has been sending me such supportive messages. You all are really great, and your kindness means so much to me!

My wonderful husband came home for lunch on Friday with chocolate pudding and chocolate fudge Pop-Tarts, and he hadn't even read my blog yet! Just goes to show what nearly 22 years of marriage can teach a man.

I've finally graduated to real food though. Today I had salad and chicken — real veggies and protein! Stuff I actually had to chew! I had to be careful, but everything went down fine, no choking, so I'm quite happy to be back on real food.

We also went to our brand-new Sam's Club, only five minutes from our house. It opened just a couple of weeks ago. This was my first outing since the surgery, and I was being careful not to overdo it. Ron pushed the cart and I pointed at stuff for him to put in it. And I did fine until about three-quarters of the way through, at which point I just conked out. So we skipped the rest and went home. Ron and Brigid put everything away and I took a long nap.

Overall, today has been a pretty good day, getting to eat real food and getting out of the house for a little while. I celebrated this evening with one of my Godiva truffles that I've been hoarding since Christmas. Normally those truffles would have been all gone already, but apparently having a paralyzed vocal cord makes eating truffles properly a difficult task. When I eat a truffle properly — you know, savor it: take a tiny bite and let it melt slowly over my tongue before allowing it to slip gracefully down my throat — it makes me choke and cough a bit. Kind of kills the pleasure aspect of the whole experience. I'm guessing it must be the high sugar content that produces this effect, but I don't really know. So anyway, the box of 24 truffles Ron gave me for Christmas, which I would normally have polished off in 24 days (or maybe 12 days), has instead lasted until now. I actually still have 12 truffles left. I've had to alter my truffle-eating procedure. I still take a tiny bite, but instead of savoring it, I actually chew it and swallow it on down. What a desecration of good chocolate! It's over way too quick! Oh well, it's better than no chocolate.

Is It Really Valentine's Day Without Chocolate?

2006-02-16T13:29:00.000-05:00

I'm back! My surgery went quite well, and although the doctor said he removed a rather large mass, the pathologist pronounced it benign, so we're all doing the happy dance here! I'm not having much pain, just some discomfort, and the last time I took any pain meds was over 24 hours ago.

I was having quite a bit of difficulty at first with choking, but the doctor sent a speech therapist to see me before I was discharged, and she gave me lots of good advice. The most important bit of advice is to tuck my chin when I swallow or cough. This has really reduced the choking, and as a bonus it has virtually eliminated any pain associated with those activities. I'm still on a soft diet, though, lots of jello, applesauce, yogurt, and pudding. I tried some scrambled eggs for dinner last night, and they went okay. Today I've advanced to grits! Still, the yogurt and pudding go down easiest.

The nurses at the hospital were terrific. Columbus Regional Hospital was Indiana's First Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence, and I can see why they earned this distinction. Each shift, the nurse and the nurse's aid assigned to me had only four patients to take care of, and thus were able to devote as much time as we each needed. I think the longest I ever waited for anyone to come when I rang for help was maybe three minutes. This was quite a different experience from my previous surgeries at other hospitals. I know one time I was one of sixteen patients assigned to one nurse, and of course I rarely saw anyone then. Everyone who helped care for me was uniformly kind and pleasant, and all seemed genuinely interested in helping me.

My only real complaint about the care was that they were out of chocolate pudding on the floor, so I ended up having no chocolate at all on Valentine's Day. What a disgrace! Actually, we don't have any chocolate pudding here at home either, so I still haven't had any chocolate yet. I'll guess we'll see just how closely my husband reads my blog and picks up on subtle hints like this now, won't we?

The Long Wait

2006-02-14T08:44:00.000-05:00

I've had 4mg of diazepam (Valium) to get me through the next few hours, and I'm pretty much ready to go. I need to be at the hospital at 1:00, and my surgery is scheduled to begin at 2:00. Now I just need to figure out how to kill time until then!

I appreciate all the kind thoughts and prayers you all have been sending my way. I hope to be back home sometime Wednesday, and I'll post an update as soon as I can. Try not to make too much of a mess here while I'm gone!

The Finished Sweater

2006-02-11T13:36:00.000-05:00

I finally finished weaving in all the ends on my sweater and sewed on the buttons. I used a free pattern from Kim Guzman (CrochetKim). The pattern is called Adult Jiffy Jacket and is available here. I used vanilla TLC Amoré, a yarn I've used for several items and really like. The pattern was easy to follow, and she includes good diagrams and measurements of the pieces.

I made the small size with a few adjustments: I made the sleeves longer and shortened the length of the cardigan. But otherwise I followed the diagrams and the given measurements. I still have not succeeded in making a sweater I'll wear in public, but this one is awfully close. Its main problem is it is just too big for me. It fits okay around the chest and across the shoulders, but the waist area is too big and the upper sleeves are just huge on me. In the photos, I've pulled the sweater together in the back so it looks better, but of course I can't actually wear it like that.

I'd like to make this sweater again, but I'd have to adjust the measurements to fit me better. But this would be fairly easy to do because of the great diagrams and measurements Kim included. Diagrams and measurements really help a lot. I wish all clothing patterns would include them. I won't even attempt a pattern that doesn't. How can you know if you're making it correctly if you don't know what the pieces are supposed to look like? And how can you alter it to fit your own measurements?

I really like the TLC Amoré, except when it comes to sewing pieces together. This yarn just is not well suited for that. After a few inches of sewing, the yarn begins to shred and unravel at the ends. All yarns display this characteristic to some degree, of course, but this yarn wears out sooner than others do. This means that instead of using short lengths of yarn for sewing, you have to use really short lengths, which means lots more ends to weave in when you're finished assembling everything. And I hate weaving in ends.

I'd still like a sweater made of this yarn, but I think I'll have to make a top-down raglan sweater with no assembly required. Time to turn to Janis Cortese and her excellent "General Guidelines for a Basic Sweater" (here), which includes instructions for both crocheting and knitting, and Pamela Costello's "The Incredible, Custom-fit Raglan Sweater" (here), which is for knitters but can be easily adapted for crocheting, especially if you read Janis's page first.

But first I'm going to make that afghan I mentioned the other day. This will be the "Great for Your Guy Afghan," which I've made a couple of times before. I posted an entry about it last year, which you can read here. I'll be using Red Heart Super Saver in linen and aran.

When 98% Is Not Good Enough

2006-02-09T10:08:00.000-05:00

I saw my doctor yesterday and got 98% good news. My biopsy came back normal, and needle biopsies are 95%-98% accurate. But the vocal cord palsy still bothers my doctor — and not because my voice isn't working correctly. My doctor says that the number one cause of this is thyroid cancer, and you work under the assumption that it IS cancer until you prove that it isn't. And since the biopsy isn't 100% accurate, we haven't proven it isn't cancer yet. It's only a really really small chance that the biopsy was wrong, but if we make a mistake here, he'd prefer we erred on the side of caution and do too much rather than miss a cancer and have it go unchecked and thus get much worse. The repercussions of being wrong are major bad, especially since thyroid cancer is very curable — but only if you actually treat it.

So, I'm having half my thyroid removed next Tuesday — yes, Valentine's Day. The pathologist will be in the operating room, and he'll test it once it's removed. If he says it's not cancer, which is what I expect he'll say, they'll close me up and that will be it. I'll have to have my thyroid checked in about a month once it calms down from the surgery, but usually half a thyroid works just fine. If the thyroid isn't working correctly, I'll have to take thyroid hormone pills every day forever. Plus, no matter what, I'll have to have my thyroid checked via ultrasound once a year forever.

However, if the pathologist says it's cancer, they'll remove my entire thyroid, as well as possibly some lymph nodes. Then in a few weeks, I'd take a radioactive iodine pill to kill any remaining thyroid cells, and I'd be radioactive for a couple of days, but that should take care of the cancer. And if they take the entire thyroid, I would definitely have to take hormones forever.

The surgery won't fix my voice, though. And frankly, I'm much more worried about my voice than about the slight possibility that it might be cancer. Once we're finished with all the surgical stuff, I can have some speech therapy to try to improve my voice. The palsy might resolve itself over time, but if after about six months to a year it hasn't, we can consider some surgical options. But in the meantime, I'll just have to get used to people asking me all the time if I have laryngitis and backing away because they think I'm contagious. I'm thinking of getting my forehead tattooed: "I'm not sick. It's a paralyzed vocal cord." But that would involve needles, and we already know I don't like needles.

Okay, I hope my next entry will be about crochet. If I can make myself go weave in those stupid ends on my sweater, I'll be finished with it and I can post some pictures. Hmm, I wonder if it's just my needle phobia that's preventing me from finishing this. I'm trying to decide what my next project will be. I have several things I'd like to do, but I think I should focus on something a bit mindless now, like maybe an afghan with just enough complexity to occupy my mind but not so complex that I have to think really hard about counting and shaping. Hmm, just like that, I think I've decided. I'm going to make an afghan I've made before, which should be perfect for this time period. Now I have to go weave in those ends.

Flowers from My Sister

2006-02-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

My sweet sister Michelle, aka Princess of Everything, sent me these beautiful flowers. Hey, my biopsy site feels better already!

Also, I want to thank everyone who has sent me encouraging words. It really does help! You all are great!

Valium Is My Friend

2006-02-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

I must say, the people who work in the radiology department at Columbus Regional Hospital are great. Everyone I've dealt with over the past couple of weeks of tests and more tests has been extremely friendly, helpful, sympathetic, and calming — even the radiology receptionist, who has gone out of her way to let people in the waiting room know where they are in the process and how long it will be before their turn comes up, all without being asked. The radiology techs have all carefully explained the procedures and kept me informed of their progress during each procedure. That kind of caring treatment sure goes a long way to helping an overly anxious patient get through the testing.

I had my FNA biopsy of my thyroid gland yesterday. I got through the procedure fine, albeit with the help of an exceptionally sympathetic medical team, my husband Ron holding my hand, a wash cloth over my eyes so I wouldn't accidentally see anything I didn't want to see, and oh yeah, 10mg of diazepam (Valium).

The procedure involved first numbing the skin of my throat with injected lydocaine, then numbing further into my throat. They said this would be the hardest part, and as far as pain goes, they were correct. The rest of the procedure was not painful, although I did feel pressure; that is, I could tell they were doing something. But since I knew what they were doing, my overactive imagination made this part harder. But it wasn't terrible and I survived. I have two nodules, and the doctor needed to take three samples from each one. This meant a minimum of six needle jabs. A couple of pathologists were in the room to examine the cells as they were collected. The pathologists needed to be sure the cell samples were good ones. If not, the doctor would need to take another sample. He did a great job, though, and got all six samples on the first try. I was quite relieved to hear the pathologist say the samples were all good. Now I just have to wait until the pathologists do whatever they do to the cell samples to determine what they are.

I have a small place on my neck that looks like a mosquito bite, until you get close enough to see all the needle pricks. That area of my neck is slightly swollen and quite tender, even today. I've been icing it for about 15 minutes every couple of hours. I was told I might have some bruising, and I do bruise easily, but so far the bruising has been really minimal. You have to look really closely to see it, and from a distance I think it just looks like a shadow.

My followup appointment with my ENT doctor is this afternoon, and he expects to have all my test results by then. As I said in an earlier post, I don't expect this to be anything serious, but still, I'm a bit anxious waiting to have that belief confirmed.

Do You Know My Name?

2006-02-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

Is it a bad sign that the receptionist at the hospital's out-patient registration knows my name now? When I arrived for this morning's tests, she cheerfully greeted me by name. Nice of course, but not quite the same sensation as when the wait staff at your favorite restaurant recognizes you.

My doctor has decided to add a new test tomorrow. I'm having an ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy of the nodules in my thyroid. I'll get the results Wednesday.

I expect this test's results to come back fine, but I'm not looking forward to the procedure. They can do all the CT scans and MRIs and X rays they want, but I'd really rather not have them sticking any needles in my neck, no matter how fine they are!

Impatient Patient

2006-02-04T12:23:00.000-05:00

On Friday I got the results of my medical tests for the mysterious laryngitis. My bloodwork and MRI were fine, but the CT scan of my throat showed that I have some nodules in the right lobe of my thyroid and that the lobe is enlarged. The MRI ruled out any neurological problems, so now we're focusing on the thyroid. Nodules in the thyroid don't necessarily mean anything: A lot of people have them, and in fact don't even know it. But this means I get to have a few more tests.

If we end up ruling out the thyroid, which I hope we do, then I'll end up with the normally dreaded idiopathic (unknown cause) label. In this case the vocal cord palsy and subsequent laryngitis aren't anything to be overly concerned about — except that I can't talk well and that I choke if I don't drink in just the right way. Sometimes these things resolve on their own, also for unknown reasons. So we'd watch me for six months or so to see if it does resolve, but if it doesn't resolve after six months to a year, then we'll look at other treatment options.

So, thyroid or not, I suspect the laryngitis is here to stay for a while.

So now I'm off on my next round of testing. First, on Monday I'm getting an ultrasound of my thyroid to get a better picture of the nodules. Also, I'm having a chest X ray that day, mostly as a precaution I think, just to be sure nothing odd is going on in my lungs.

I'm also going to have something called a thyroid uptake/scan, which is a two-day test. I go in the first day and get a scan of my thyroid and then take an iodine pill. Then I come back 24 hours later and get another scan of my thryoid after the iodine has reached it. One hitch, though, is that I just had a CT scan on Monday, and they injected me with iodine for that procedure. So before we can do the thyroid uptake/scan, we have to wait until the iodine clears out of my body — which unfortunately will take four weeks!!!! So I have a pair of appointments at the end of February for that.

I'll see my doctor again this Wednesday to get the results of the ultrasound and chest X ray, but I think the real test is the one I have to wait four weeks for. I am not one who waits for things like this patiently — but then, who is? — so I think February is going to be a long month!

The Dick Van Dyke Show

2006-02-02T16:58:00.000-05:00

Ron and Brigid got me a terrific gift for Christmas this year: The Dick Van Dyke Show — The Complete Series. This 25-DVD set includes all five seasons of the show, of course, but it also includes a ton of extra stuff, including episodes of other TV shows that featured characters and/or actors from the show.

This is my favorite TV show of all time. The writing, the ensemble cast, and the humor were all excellent and set a standard that few sitcoms have been able to match. Even though I've seen most (or maybe all) of the episodes and know what's coming, I still find them hilarious.

One of the things I'm enjoying the most about watching all these shows is also watching Brigid's reaction to them. She's seen several episodes on Nick at Night or TV Land here and there over the years, but most of the episodes are new to her. I love seeing her laugh at shows that made me laugh when I was a kid! The humor holds up well.

We watch two to four episodes at a time and so far we're only up to disc 3, so we still have a lot of watching left to do.

A New Look

2006-01-31T19:01:00.000-05:00

Ta-da! Here's my new look for my blog! I love the French Impressionists, and I decided to base this new look on the artwork of Claude Monet and his famous water lilies paintings. I also boosted the size of the font so the text would be easier to read.

For the record, I loathe Microsoft Internet Explorer. Get Firefox.

Am I Dreaming of Summer?

2006-01-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this photo because I want to change some of my photo settings and I can't do that without actually posting one. Or at least, I don't know how to!

Ron & me

Anyway, this photo of my husband Ron and me was taken on vacation at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, a couple of years ago when Ron and Brigid graciously agreed to let me take a nostalgia trip. My family used to go to Hilton Head for vacation every year, way back in the days when the island had only a small handful of hotels and not many people. Boy oh boy, has Hilton Head ever changed since I was last there! Way too many people for such a small island. Although I did enjoy revisiting this special place from my childhood, it was not much like my memories and we most likely won't go back.

Open Wide and Say "EEEE"

2006-01-30T10:47:00.000-05:00

Laryngitis sucks. Seriously. I've had laryngitis now for over seven weeks. My family doctor prescribed antibiotics first, then put me on a round of prednisone for two weeks, and finally turned me over to the ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor, who I saw last Friday.

The ENT stuck a tube down my nose to look at my larynx, but he didn't see any nodes or polyps or burst blood vessels or anything. He had me say "eeee" so he could see my vocal cords vibrate, and he determined that I have something called "right true vocal cord palsy," which basically means the right side of my vocal cord is kind of paralyzed. So now we get to try to figure out why.

The thyroid gland surrounds the larynx, and so that's a suspect. But this can also be caused by certain neurological events. So I had some blood work done on Friday, and this morning I had a CT scan of my neck. If the CT scan doesn't show anything, then I'll have an MRI on Wednesday. And I go back to the ENT on Friday to discuss any results.

I don't really know what to hope for here. Well, beyond a definitive answer. I don't want to end up with an undetermined cause. What I do know is that I'll probably hit my medical insurance deductible for 2006 this week! And Ron and I should have put more money into our 2006 health care Flexible Spending Account. Oh, well, it's only money. (You know I had to use the smilie again!)

I Hate Weaving in Ends

2006-01-28T17:30:00.000-05:00

I'm nearly finished with my sweater. All I have left to do is weave in the ends and sew on some buttons. Not very much — but then I realized my blog needs a button that people can use for links. You know, all those thousands of fans of Lisa Lately who keep pestering me for a button.

So I decided to make a button. Naturally, this has led to a complete redesign of my blog! I hope to unveil the new look in a week or so, once I get all the bugs worked out, but I'm having loads of fun getting all the pieces together. I've had a few distractions too, of course. For example, I had to create the smilie face above, just for the heck of it.

Hmm, is this all just to avoid weaving in those ends?

Aliens and Rubber Thingies

2006-01-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

We are having quite a mystery at our house lately. A few weeks ago I found this rubber thingie — we're researching the technical term — in our backyard near the porch. I showed it to Ron, who didn't know what it was either, so we just assumed it was some weird trash that ended up in our yard for whatever reason. No big deal.

Then last week, another one of these rubber thingies shows up — on our front porch roof! Okay, now it's become a bit odd. We still don't know what these rubber thingies are, and we're wondering how one ended up on the roof.

And now, just yesterday, we find yet another rubber thingie, this time on the main roof.

Click on photos for a larger view. The pencil is shown for scale.

Rubber thingie on our front porch roof.

We've now entered bizarre world.

Are neighbor kids going around and tossing these things on our roof? If so, why? Okay, kids don't really need a why, but still, why?

Are airplanes losing pieces as they fly over our house? Seems unlikely that they would all end up on and around our house, though, and no one else's.

Are aliens landing on our house for weird midnight abductions, but we're too drugged to recall any of it in the morning? Could this possibly be related to my laryngitis that has now lasted for six weeks and seems impervious to all medical attention so far? Hmmm.

So anyway, if anyone knows what these rubber thingies are, please let me know!

Brigid and the Shawl

2006-01-15T19:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, I got permission from Brigid, so here are some photos of her modeling the Serafina Shawl made with black Moda Dea Cheerio. I am really pleased with how this turned out. You can click on the photos for a larger version.

Bonus! Even though she's not wearing the shawl in this one, Brigid graciously allowed me to post this one, just because I think it's a beautiful photo of her.

Yet Another Serafina Shawl!

2006-01-13T14:19:00.000-05:00

I've finished all the pieces to my sweater, but I've had to put off assembling it. Brigid is going to the Winter Formal this weekend with her boyfriend. She'll be wearing the same dress she wore to the Theater Awards last spring, but since the dress has spaghetti straps and this is January, she needed a warmer wrap than the light shawl she wore with it in May. Brigid asked me to make her a Serafina Shawl (pattern here), so off I went to Hobby Lobby to find an appropriately dressy yarn to use.

I picked up several skeins of Moda Dea Cheerio in black. This is a soft, slightly furry yarn, sort of like a cross between TLC Amoré and a thin chenille yarn, but it also has some sparkly bits in it, which makes it perfect for a shawl for a formal dance. I used an N hook and about 3½ skeins (1.76oz/50g) to make a shawl that comes to Brigid's elbows.

I'd never used this yarn before. Overall, it was fairly easy to work with, helped by the large N hook of course. But the yarn did shed some of the sparkly bits as I crocheted.

Here are a couple of photos of the finished shawl. You can click on the photos for a larger view. I hope to have pictures of Brigid actually wearing it this weekend, but we'll have to wait and see if she'll let me post those here or not!

Serafina Shawl in black Moda Dea Cheerio

This close-up shows some of the sparkly bits. And if you look really closely, you can see where our cat Rika contributed some of her own sparkle to the effort. No matter how careful you are, if you live with cats, you live with cat hair!

Finished Crochet Projects

2006-01-05T16:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've bought new batteries for the camera, so here's my crochet update. You can click on the photos for larger views.

RECYCLED SILK SERAFINA SHAWL
Brigid bought me a skein of recycled silk yarn for Mother's Day, and I made a small shawl out of it, using Doni's Serafina Shawl pattern (found here). I've made several versions of this shawl in different fibers, and they've all turned out really nice. I just love this pattern! I had a small amount of the yarn left over, and I crocheted a small flower and placed it at the center of the neckline. Recycled silk yarn is made from remnants from making silk saris. You can read more about it here and here.

Recycled Silk Serafina Shawl

SHRUG & TANK SET
I made a lightweight shrug and matching tank top for Brigid, using lilac Red Heart Soft Baby. For the shrug, I followed Lauri B's incredibly easy Any Size/Any Gauge Shrug (pattern here). I used a very simple stitch pattern: (ch 1, sk 1, dc) across; then on each following row, (ch 1, dc in the dc). To increase, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1) in the dc. For the tank top, I followed Jessica Rice's Sherbert Tank Top (pattern here). I'm really pleased with how this set turned out. Brigid declined to model for me, though.

Tank top, full view

Close-up of lace pattern

Close-up of strap

Shrug, folded view

Shrug, open view

Close-up of shrug stitch pattern

ALPACA SHRUG & HAT SET
A couple of years ago a friend gave me a skein of really pretty pink and cream alpaca yarn that she got in Ecuador, and I finally decided what to do with it. I paired it with a couple of skeins of a cream wool/acrylic blend and made a child's shrug and hat. I used the same shrug pattern as above, only this time I followed Laura's stitch pattern. I added a simple tie, made by braiding together three strands of yarn and knotting the ends. The hat is a generic one, which I described in an earlier post (Crocheting Circles, in the Gallery at left). The brim is trimmed with (sc, ch 2, sk 1) around. The decoration on top is just a long chain looped to look like a flower: I attached the yarn to the center of the hat, (ch 15, sc to center of hat) and repeated so I had seven loops. I think this set turned out really cute. I only hope it fits, as I had to guess about the measurements of the intended recipient (not the recommended method!).

Shrug & hat set

Close-up of hat

Shrug, folded view

ADULT JIFFY JACKET
I'm currently working on a cardigan for myself. I'm using a free pattern from Kim Guzman (CrochetKim). The pattern is called Adult Jiffy Jacket and is available here. I'm using vanilla TLC Amoré, a yarn I've used for several items and really like. The pattern is easy to follow, and she includes good diagrams and measurements of the pieces. The yarn I'm using doesn't match her gauge — not even close! — but her diagrams and measurements made it easy for me to adjust the pattern.

Fronts

Back

Fronts & back

Sleeves

Now, I should mention that I've had a lot of trouble making sweaters. I do fine following the patterns, and my sweater pieces all end up the proper size and everything. But when I sew the pieces together, the finished garment just doesn't look right. So far I've made three or four sweaters, and I won't wear any of them. We'll see how this one turns out. If anyone has any great finishing techniques to share, I'd really appreciate it!

Hey, I'm Back!

2006-01-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't abandoned my blog. I've just been too busy to blog lately! So I think it's time for a quick recap of what's been going on around here the past few months.

The least pleasant part of this time was that I caught a cold the week before Thanksgiving, and I've been trying to get rid of it ever since. A week after Turkey Day the cold turned into laryngitis, but the worst laryngitis I've ever had. I do have a tendency to get laryngitis with colds, but usually that just means one day or so of no voice and another two or three days of hoarseness. This one is quite unusual: I've had laryngitis now for about four weeks! When my cold turned into laryngitis I went to the doctor and she prescribed antibiotics, and now I'm wondering just how long I should wait before making a return trip. In the meantime, I sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks much of the time, which of course makes me the highly amusing one around the house. Brigid and Ron have been having loads of fun at my expense.

We had Ron's parents here for Thanksgiving, and Brigid had volunteered to help prepare the big meal. Turned out to be a lot more "help" than she'd bargained for, though. My cold was at its worst on Thanksgiving, and I didn't think I should be handling the food very much. So Brigid ended up doing nearly all the work: preparing, marshmallowing (okay, that wasn't so hard), and baking the sweet potatoes; peeling, cooking, and mashing the potatoes; trimming and cooking the green beans; preparing and roasting the turkey. This was the first time she'd ever had to handle raw poultry, and she definitely was not happy about that. But she screwed up her courage and dug right in. The meal was a great success, but when the time came around to make Christmas dinner, she declined to help. Gee, I wonder why.

I've been doing some volunteer work two afternoons a week the past few months. I spend one afternoon at our local food pantry updating client files in the computer, and another afternoon as a telephone specialist at our local 211/information and referral service (www.211.org). The data entry work at the food pantry is pretty easy but necessary, and the other people I work with are fun to be around. The telephone work at the 211 call center is more challenging and more frustrating sometimes but also more rewarding. I take calls from people wanting information about a range of stuff, everything from local support groups to volunteer opportunities to government information to financial assistance programs. Most of the calls are from people who need financial assistance of some sort, though. The frustrating part comes in when a caller needs help with something that our community has no resources for or when the caller has already exhausted those resources; it's hard to tell someone that no help is available for the problem. But most of the time I'm able to point the callers in the right direction for the help they need, and it's especially gratifying to uncover solutions the caller didn't know existed.

I've finished several crochet projects. I'll write about them and take some pictures as soon as I get new batteries for the camera.

How to Calculate Pattern Multiples

2005-10-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's time for some crochet math!

Wait! Come back! It won't be that hard, I promise!

Sometimes you might want to make a crochet pattern a different size than the pattern dictates. This is especially common for afghans. The pattern might be for a baby afghan, but you'd like to make an adult-size afghan, for instance. Really helpful pattern writers will include a line stating what the multiple for the pattern is. This is usually given as something like "chain a multiple of 4 + 2," which means to make a number of chain stitches that is a multiple of 4, then chain 2 more. This is often abbreviated as "mult 4 + 2."

If the pattern doesn't tell you what the multiple is, though, can you figure it out for yourself?

Yes! To figure out the multiple, you need to count the chains used in the pattern repeat. Let's use the following pattern snippet as an example.

The pattern starts:

Chain 133.
Row 1: work shell (3dc, ch1, dc) in 6th chain from hook, *skip next 3 chs, work shell in next ch; repeat from * across to last 3 chs, skip next 2 chs, dc in last ch; 32 shells.

The pattern repeat in this pattern is the part between the *'s:
*skip next 3 chs, work shell in next ch; repeat from *
This tells you to skip 3 chains, then do a shell in the 4th chain, so the repeat uses four chains.

Next, you need to add the chains at the beginning and the end of the first row:
work shell (3dc, ch1, dc) in 6th chain from hook
and
across to last 3 chs
So you need 6 chains at the beginning and 3 chains at the end, or 9 total. Thus your starting chain is 9 chains plus a multiple of 4, usually written:
multiple of 4 plus 9
or
mult 4 + 9

In the example, the starting chain was 133, which is 124 + 9, or (31 * 4) + 9. The (31 * 4) is 31 shells. The 32nd shell is the first one in the 6th chain.

Sometimes you need to look at the second or third or later rows to be sure about your repeat. For example, you might need, say, an even number of shells to work the second row. If so, you'd still have the same repeat (mult 4 + 9), but you'd have to figure out how many shells you want first. If you wanted 16 shells instead of the original 32, do this: Remember that the + 9 part includes one shell, so you need to figure out only the number of stitches needed for 15 shells. This would be 15 * 4, or 60. So you'd need (15 * 4) + 9 or 60 + 9 or 69 stitches.

There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?

The Children of Hurricane Katrina UPDATE

2005-09-17T13:48:00.000-04:00

So I flip on CNN this morning and what do I see? The news channel is using the left side of its screen to show pictures of missing children! Each kid gets about ten to fifteen seconds of screen time. When the news cut to a commercial, CNN ran a splash screen saying these photos would air all weekend.

Who knew my little blog would be so influential!

Well, okay, I suppose other people could have independently thought of this idea too. But however they came up with the idea, I was quite pleased to see this on the air this morning. Kudos to CNN for using their powers for the forces of good this weekend.

The Children of Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-16T14:44:00.000-04:00

"As of noon Wednesday, the latest total available, 2,709 children had been reported either missing or found without caregivers, with 701 of their cases resolved."
CNN article "First Lady Urges Families to Prepare for Disasters,"
Friday, September 16, 2005; Posted: 1:16 p.m. EDT (17:16 GMT)

Look at the numbers: 2,709 children missing or alone, with 701 resolved, means 2,008 children are still missing or alone. Two thousand and eight! And that's just as of Wednesday. This number has gone up each day as more people realize that the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is the place to submit names. The website is missingkids.com, but it's often overwhelmed and hard to log on to.

Can you imagine the fear of the children who are alone?

Can you imagine the panic of the parents whose children are missing?

How do you begin reuniting your family if members could have been evacuated to anywhere in the entire United States? And evacuation to anywhere would be the good news. What if your child wasn't evacuated? And how would you know which occurred?

I know where my daughter is, and still my heart freezes at the very thought of imagining how I'd feel if I was one of these hurricane families with missing children, the thought of not knowing where Brigid is, of imagining all the terrible things that could have happened to her, that might still be happening to her.

Every evening Ron and I flip channels between Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, watching for the latest on Hurricane Katrina. Occasionally one of the channels will run a story about these missing kids. The media seems to enjoy showing a reunion or two, and I admit I love seeing these happy endings. But after the happy ending fades, the children still missing haunt me.

But last night Ron mentioned something that really resonated.

Why don't these twenty-four-hour news channels devote one hour every evening — just one measly hour out of their twenty-four hours — and do nothing but post pictures and verbal descriptions of these missing kids?

And then we wondered: Why don't all the major broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX — join forces to make a coordinated effort, just like they did for the 9/11 and hurricane telethons, and devote an entire Friday night to these missing kids?

Wouldn't you want all the help you could get to find your child?

Radio Paradise

2005-09-14T16:12:00.000-04:00

I have discovered the joys of Internet radio.

I'd tried listening to Internet radio a year or two ago, but I was unhappy with the Microsoft Media Player experience. We have cable Internet, so our broadband connection should be enough to handle the streaming music. I don't know whether the problem was in Media Player or in the particular radio stations I tried, but the sound kept skipping and pausing, which just doesn't make a good listening experience.

Then my daughter got her iPod and added iTunes to her computer, and next thing you know I've got iTunes on my computer too. My entire CD collection now lives on my hard drive, and I can listen to anything I own in whatever order I like quite easily. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something in particular, so I load up my playlist with these songs or albums and let them go. But usually I just want to listen to random music, so I generally listen to my whole library in a variety of orders: alphabetical by song title, alphabetical by album title, alphabetical by artist, . . . Okay, so I'm an alphabetical-order not-so-random-order kind of girl. I have enough CDs that listening to my entire collection takes about a month and a half to two months, but after almost a year of that now, I'm getting a bit tired of my collection, even with all the tunes I've either downloaded for free on Free Music Tuesdays or outright bought from iTunes.

I like listening to the radio, especially the unpredictable nature of what I'll hear next. Unfortunately I can't get good radio reception here in my dungeon office, but that doesn't really matter, because radio around here sucks big time. Most stations have a playlist of about 100 songs, it seems, and of this list, they play about 10 of them repeatedly throughout the day. For songs I hate, this is torture to listen to. But for songs I start out liking, this is just plain cruel, because the songs suffer from overplay and get old too fast. And don't get me started on the commercials.

Last week iTunes released an update, which I downloaded promptly. Rather than just hitting Play for my current playlist, however, I decided to poke around the application a bit. Previous versions of iTunes have included Internet radio stations, but I'd never found one I really liked. Admittedly, I try listening to a station for only about a minute or two. If the station isn't playing something I like immediately, I click on the next one. Sometimes a station will play a decent song, but then its next song sucks, so click and I'm off to the next station. After about five or ten minutes of flipping through the various stations, I give up. None of the stations play anything sufficiently compelling to keep me listening longer than a song or three.

Until now.

I am completely in love with a radio station called Radio Paradise (click here). It bills itself as "DJ-mixed modern & classic rock, world, electronica & more." I've been listening to it for several days now, and I don't think I've heard any songs repeated even once during that span. This station plays plenty of groups I've heard of but plenty more that I haven't. It plays much much deeper cuts off of albums than what most stations play, even the local so-called alternative independent radio station. So while I might have heard of a particular band, I usually haven't heard the song before — unless I happen to own the CD. But mixed in with all this new-to-me music is also a bunch of classic stuff I know intimately. To me, this is the best of both worlds — cool stuff I know along with great new stuff.

Here's its playlist for the past hour (Pacific time, since that's where the station is located):
1:09 pm - Chris Isaak - Dancin'
1:05 pm - Squirrel Nut Zippers - Blue Angel
1:01 pm - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed
12:57 pm - John Lennon - Watching The Wheels
12:52 pm - Gooding - For Love
12:49 pm - Sonny Landreth - South Of I-10
12:45 pm - John Hiatt - Drive South
12:41 pm - Gomez - Miles End
12:38 pm - Rheostatics - P.I.N.
12:32 pm - Ray LaMontagne - Forever My Friend
12:27 pm - Daniel Lanois - I Love You
12:23 pm - Mindy Smith - Jolene
12:18 pm - Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
12:12 pm - Snow Patrol - Run
12:08 pm - U2 - The Ground Beneath Her Feet
12:04 pm - Grey Eye Glances - Close Your Eyes

If you have iTunes, you can find this station by clicking on Radio, then opening either "Alt/Modern Rock" or "Eclectic" and scrolling down to Radio Paradise. If you don't have iTunes, why not? Geez, join the 21st century already! Okay, if you don't have iTunes, go to Radio Paradise's website and you'll find a variety of listening options.

Da Agony of Da Feet . . . okay, i'm sorry for that

2005-08-25T23:01:00.000-04:00

My feet have been hurting for the past few months. I go to the health club about five days a week, and I walk 4.5 miles each time on the treadmill, plus I spend some time on the elliptical trainer and I do some arm exercises with free weights. Anyway, one day as I was massaging my aching feet after I got home from working out, I suddenly remembered the sales guy who sold me my walking shoes telling me that I should replace them every 300 miles or so. Hmm, I've had these shoes for 13 or 14 months, which means they have about 1,200 miles on them. I smacked myself on the forehead and said, "Duh! No wonder my feet hurt!" Of course, ever since I realized that, my feet REALLY hurt!

I've been kind of looking at new shoes the past week or so, whenever I've been out and had a few minutes. But you really need to spend more than a stolen moment or two to try on walking shoes. So today I decided to spend the whole day looking for new shoes.

We have a dinky little mall in our small town, but it has three shoe stores, plus shoe departments in three department stores. We also have an outlet mall, and it has six or seven shoe stores. I also need a new pair of dress shoes, so I thought I'd shop for both, seeing as how I was going to be at all those shoe stores. So I had quite a job ahead of me.

Well, it seemed like a good idea this morning.

Shopping for dress shoes and athletic shoes at the same time is just a really bad idea. No matter how comfortable a particular pair of dress shoes might be, they just aren't going to be as comfortable as tennis shoes, and so all those dress shoes that looked so cute on display got rejected because they failed the comparison test with the tennis shoes.

I did ultimately have good luck. I found two pairs of walking shoes on clearance in my size, and once I bought them, I was able to focus on dress shoes and found a pair that'll do for now, also on clearance.

I am now looking forward to my workout tomorrow, with not-aching feet for a change!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

2005-08-19T17:18:00.000-04:00

Boy, has it been a busy summer! And it just flew by too! I can't believe I haven't updated in so long.

Our summer plans this year were based around Brigid. She went to the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University for a three-week honors physics class that covered a full year of material. She's planning to major in astrophysics in college, so this was her idea of good summer fun. And although it was a lot of hard work, she did have a good time there — enough that she wants to go back next year and take something else.

While Brigid was at Northwestern, Ron and I got a preview of what life will be like in a couple of years when she goes off to college. (She's a junior this year.) We had a lot of fun being just a married couple for a change and not parents. Brigid is a really good kid, very responsible and mature, but even so, parenting is a huge responsibility and a lot of hard work. We really missed her, and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when she does go off to college, but for three weeks we had fun.

Northwestern is in Evanston, Illinois, which is essentially Chicago. So we spent a few extra days in downtown Chicago at the start of her program and another week after her program was over. We went to all the major tourist sights — the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute. And we spent a few days shopping as well. We managed to be in Chicago during the big summer clearance sales, so I got some great bargains at the major department stores. Nothing like a 70% off sale!

Chicago is about five to six hours away from us by car. I am not a good passenger; all those other drivers on the road drive too fast and too recklessly! But Ron and I have discovered that if I crochet, I'm too focused on what I'm doing to notice all the crazy drivers, and so the trip goes much smoother. I had lots of time to crochet on the drives to and from Chicago.

I made a tank top and a shrug to go with it for Brigid. I used Jessi's Sherbert Tank Top pattern (click here) and Mrs Who's Any Size/Any Gauge Shrug directions (click here). For the shrug, I used a simple (dc, ch 1, sk 1) pattern. Increases were a really easy v-stitch, just (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1) all in the same stitch. If Brigid ever cooperates, I'll take some pictures and post them here.

Now that the school year has started again, I'll be back into a better schedule, and I hope to update more often.

Pattern: Crinkle Textured Baby Blanket

2005-06-11T15:44:00.001-04:00

Here's another fairly easy baby blanket. This pattern creates a border as you go. The main stitch used in the body of the blanket is really easy to do, but makes a pretty crinkle pattern.

Click on photos for a larger view.

I begin with a foundationless sc base row. Directions for this (which Josi Hannon Madera calls Double Base Chain) are available here.

You can use this pattern with any type of yarn and any size hook. I made mine with a sport weight yarn, Red Heart Soft Baby in Bunny Print. I used an I hook and one 6-oz. skein to make a 16" × 21" blanket, small enough to use in a car seat or baby carrier. I started with 57 foundationless sc stitches.

CRINKLE TEXTURED BABY BLANKET

Row 1:Foundationless sc an odd number of stitches to desired width. Ch 1, turn.

Row 2: Sc across; ch 1, turn.

Rows 3-5: Repeat row 2.

Row 6: Sc in first 4 stitches. *Ch 2, sk 1 st, sc in next st; repeat from * to last 3 st. Sc in last 3 st; ch 1, turn.

Row 7: Sc in first 4 stitches. (Sc, ch 2, sc) in each ch-2 space across. Sc in last 4 stitches; ch 1, turn.

Row 8: Hdc in first 4 stitches. (Sc, ch 2, sc) in each ch-2 space across. Hdc in last 4 stitches; ch 1, turn.

Rows 9-?: Repeat rows 7 and 8 until desired length. Repeat row 7.

Bottom Edge
Row 1: Sc in first 4 stitches. 2 sc in each ch-2 space across. Sc in last 4 stitches. Ch 1, turn.

Rows 2-5: Sc across. Ch 1, turn. On last row, do not ch 1.

Fasten off. Weave in ends.

Brigid: Theater Crew Member Extraordinaire

2005-05-18T23:14:00.000-04:00

Our daughter, Brigid, became involved in her high school's theater group this year. She worked crew for the two main plays this year, George Orwell's 1984 and Seussical the Musical. She learned how to use all sorts of tools while building sets, and even though she said it was a lot of work, she had a lot of fun, too.

Tonight was her school's theater awards. The kids get all dressed up in formal attire, just like the Academy and Tony awards. Brigid won the award for Best Technical Newcomer for the overall year, plus a group award for Best Technical Ensemble for one of the plays. Obviously we are really proud of her, and she is getting to experience the particular joy of having her hard work truly appreciated.

She said I could post these photos here. Click on the photos for a larger view.

Isn't she just beautiful?

Pattern: Easy Baby Blanket

2005-05-11T11:45:00.001-04:00

This baby blanket pattern is good for beginners.

It starts with a foundationless double crochet (directions and photos here, where it's called the Triple Base Chain Stitch). Gauge doesn't matter, and you can use any type of yarn and whichever hook you like.

The pattern is basically groups of two dc's, with a single dc at the beginning and end of the row. The single dc's will be used in the border round.

I used a G hook and one 6-ounce skein of sport-weight Red Heart Soft Baby in Bunny Print. I made mine about 19" x 23" to fit a car seat or baby carrier.

Easy Baby Blanket

Note: Ch 2 counts as first dc in the dc rows. You can ch 3 if you prefer.

Row 1: Foundationless double crochet the width you want, ending with an even number of dc's. Ch 1, turn.

Row 2: SC in 1st dc. Sc in space between 1st & 2nd dc, *ch 2, skip 2 dc, sc in space before next dc; repeat from * across, sc in top of turning chain. Ch 2 (or 3), turn.

Row 3: 2 dc in each ch-2 loop across. Dc in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

Repeat rows 2 & 3 until you reach the desired length. End with row 3, but ch 2 (or 3), turn.

Last Row: DC in each stitch across, dc in top of turning chain. Ch 2 (or 3), turn.

Border:
Work in rounds.

Round 1: *Top edge: DC in each stitch across, 3 dc in top of turning chain for corner. Side edge: Work 2 dc around each dc post and 1 dc in the end of each sc row, ending with 3 dc in last stitch for corner. Repeat from * for bottom edge and side edge. Join with a slip stitch to the top of the first turning chain. Ch 1. Do not turn.

Round 2: SC around, working 3 sc in center dc of each corner. Join with a sl st to first sc. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

Cats in the Box

2005-05-02T17:28:00.000-04:00

Cats are just so . . . so . . . well, I don't know what they are, but whatever it is, they excel at it. Our cats, Rika and Keiko, get along about as well as you might expect for an arthritic senior citizen (Rika) and an exuberant teenager (Keiko). Rika tolerates Keiko for a while, then hisses at her and bites her whenever Keiko oversteps Rika's boundaries.

Rika and Keiko like to sit in boxes, and since they couldn't share one nicely, we had to provide two for them. Of course, having two boxes doesn't really help. Whichever box one is in, that's the one the other wants.

So Brigid just got home from school and told me to come upstairs from my dungeon office, "quickly but don't scare the cats!"

Here, for your viewing pleasure, Rika and Keiko.

Keiko (on the right) says, "I was here first, but Rika just plopped herself right in like she owns the place!

Brigid said I should image-edit this one to make it look like they were left on our front porch like this!

Cocoon Sweater, aka Polish Sweater

2005-04-26T22:15:00.002-04:00

I recently finished making this crocheted Cocoon Sweater, also known as a Polish Sweater. The pattern is available here* and here. [*Sorry, the first link is to a message board that deleted the message containing the pattern. I do not have a copy of the message. -Lisa, 27-Sep-2008]

My camera-shy daughter, Brigid, graciously agreed (i.e., I had to bribe her with chocolate) to model for me.

Here are front, side, and back views of the sweater. Click on photos for a larger view.

Front

Back

Side

Here, the sweater is lying as it would be worn.

Here, the sweater is folded flat. To wear it, you open the bottom part to access the sleeves.

Here's a close-up of the collar area.

The sweater is crocheted in one piece, starting with the back. You crochet a rectangle for the back, then you bring the corners together at the underarms and join them. You then crochet in rounds to make the shawl collar, the sides, and the bottom. After you finish this portion, you attach yarn at one of the underarms and crochet the sleeve in rounds, then repeat for the other sleeve.

The pattern calls for 6-8 skeins of worsted weight yarn and a size J hook but gives no measurements or gauge, nor does it mention what size those skeins of yarn should be. So I played around with it a bit. As it turns out, you need only three measurements:
• the shoulder width, for a fitted sweater (for a looser fit, add one to three inches to that)
• the armhole circumference
• the sleeve length.

Gauge is not important for this pattern, and you can use whatever yarn and hook you want to. For an indication of how much yarn you'll need: Brigid wears a misses/juniors size small, and this sweater is a bit big on her. I used one 16-ounce, 930-yard skein of Red Heart worsted in off-white and had only a tiny amount left over.

The pattern as written (see links to pattern in first paragraph above) starts with a long chain, but instead I began with a foundationless double crochet (directions here, where it's called the Triple Base Chain Stitch). Using the foundationless double crochet, crochet a length equal to the shoulder width, on a multiple of 3 dc's plus 2 more. That is, crochet the length needed, then count your stitches. Subtract 2 from this number, and if you're left with a number that's a multiple of 3, great! If not, add either 1 or 2 more stitches to make it a multiple of 3.

To make the rectangle for the back, repeat rows 2 and 3 of the row pattern until the length of the rows is equal to the armhole circumference you need. Row 2 makes a row of loop stitches, and row 3 is groups of 3 dc in the loops. At the end of a row 3 repeat, bring the corresponding foundation row corner up and join with a sl st. Turn, then work a row 2 across your just-completed row 3 repeat. Bring the other foundation row corner up and join with a sl st, then work a row 2 across the foundation row; remember that the row begins and ends with a 4-dc group rather than a 3-dc group. You will now work in rounds, following the pattern until the body of the sweater fits comfortably and meets in a point in the center. Fasten off.

To make the sleeves, attach the yarn at the bottom of the armhole and work in rounds, following the pattern. I wanted tapered sleeves, though, so I decreased occasionally on the loop stitch rounds.

Here's a close-up of a sleeve.

You can use whatever number of decrease rounds you want, but I tapered the sleeves in the following manner, where a round below actually consists of one round of loop stitches and one round of dc's:
Round 1: Make groups of 3 dc all around.
Rounds 2-3: Groups of *3 dc, 3 dc, 2 dc* all around.
Rounds 4-5: Groups of *3 dc, 2 dc, 2 dc* all around.
Rounds 6-7: Groups of 2 dc all around.
Rounds 8-20: Groups of *2 dc, 2 dc, 1 dc* all around.
End after a dc round.
Begin the cuff rounds. To decrease sc (dec sc), insert hook into the next st, yarn over and pull through (two loops on hook), insert hook into the next st, yarn over and pull through (three loops on st), yarn over and pull through all loops (dec sc made).
Round 21: Dec sc around; or alternate sc with dec sc, or whatever dec amount makes the cuff fit properly.
Rounds 22-23: Sc around. Fasten off.

When I finished the sweater, I crocheted an easy flower for a closure.

Here's a close-up of the flower.

Leaving a long tail, ch 3, join with a sl st in 3rd chain from hook.
Round 1: Ch 1, 8 sc in ring, join with a sl st.
Round 2: Working in front loops only, *sc, ch 6, sc in same st; repeat from * around.
Round 3: Working in back loops of original 8 sc, *sc, ch 8, sc in same st; repeat from * around. Join with a sl st. Fasten off, leaving a long tail.
Weave each tail a bit to secure the ends, then use the tails to tie the flower to the point of the sweater. Use one of the holes in the sweater as a buttonhole for the flower.

This Is Supposed to Be about Something Else!

2005-04-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

I recently finished making a shrug/sweater, and I have a post all about it ready to add here whenever we get one small problem taken care of.

A week or so ago Ron decided the time had come for his Annual Nuke the Computer and Reinstall Windows Event. In general, this is no big deal—well, other than the work involved in backing up all his files and then reinstalling everything afterward. And it would definitely be no big deal for me other than listening to him grumble through the process, which usually just makes me decide I can wait a few months longer before I hold my own Annual Nuke My Computer and Reinstall Windows Event.

But this year was different and has affected me adversely. We got a Kodak digital camera last year, and for some reason we'd installed the camera software only on his computer. I guess I was just too lazy to install it on mine. Anyway, after Ron finished reinstalling and updating Windows and was ready to install all his other software, I asked him to install the camera software so I could get my pictures I'd taken recently.

He tried, but the software wouldn't install. Hmm, perhaps he had some problem induced by his Annual Nuke Event, so while he worked on tweaking his system some more, I decided to install the software on my computer, which should be a piece of cake since I hadn't been messing with my system. But the software wouldn't install on my computer either!

This all happened over the weekend, and a trip to Kodak's Web site resulted in no help at all. But when I went there this morning to find their customer support phone number, Kodak had posted a message explaining the problem. Apparently the most recent Windows security update won't allow the camera software to install, and now Kodak is working to update their installation software Real Soon Now. Well, at least this is now a known problem rather than a mystery problem, but it's still a pain in the butt—and one more reason to hate Microsoft.

If Ron had postponed his Annual Nuke Event a bit longer, we'd still have the camera software on his computer. Or if I hadn't been too lazy to install the software way back when, we'd have it on mine. But instead, my pictures of my latest crochet work are languishing in the camera, unattainable. Sigh.

It's Really Clean

2005-04-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

Don't try this at home. Brigid and I combined on a really big mistake. She left her cell phone in her jeans pocket when she put her clothes into the laundry basket, and I neglected to check the pockets before tossing the clothes into the washing machine. Yikes! Ron discovered the misdeed when he put the clothes into the dryer and then heard a terrible clunking sound.

Cell phones don't like to get wet. We took the battery off and let it dry out overnight, but it was still nonfunctional the next day.

So we trudged off to the cell phone store to buy her a new phone. We decided that since Brigid and I were equally at fault, we'd each have to pay half. Well, when you buy your cell phone as part of a service plan, they sell the phones really cheap. I think we paid about $50 for Ron's phone, and we got mine and Brigid's free. We were unprepared for the regular retail prices! Brigid ended up choosing the least expensive phone for $150, but it's not as nice as her original phone (i.e., no camera). But at least it's a phone.

Fast-forward a few days. I decided to look at her washed phone and noticed that the screen was now dry. I tried to turn the phone on—and it turned on! I looked through her contacts list—and they were all there! I tried to make a call—and it sort of worked: I got a recording saying this phone wasn't in service (since her service was transferred to her new phone), but the call to wherever the recording comes from did go through! I then tried to take a picture—and it worked, too!

So we trudged off to the cell phone store again to return the new phone. The store manager said we could definitely return the phone, but he suggested that we wait the full fifteen days of the return period just to be sure Brigid's old phone was really working. That sounded reasonable, but so far so good, and now we're planning to return the new one on Friday.

Brigid is really happy, of course. That was an awful lot of money that she'd much rather spend on video games and manga. And she and I are both being fanatical about checking pockets before doing laundry!

***********
We have free nationwide calling in our cell phone plan. So we haven't been using our home phone to make long-distance calls anymore. After two months of not using our long-distance company and not exceeding our cell plan's minutes, we decided we could definitely cancel that service.

So I called our long-distance company. Suddenly I was offered a no-monthly-fee plan with 50 "free" minutes each month, then 7¢ a minute after that. We'd have to pay taxes and fees on the 50 "free" minutes as we used them, so they aren't completely free. Interesting how the really good deals come out when you tell them to cancel your service.

Pattern: Dishcloth

2005-03-30T21:41:00.001-05:00

People on the Crochet Partners list recently had a long discussion praising the superiority of crocheted and knitted dishcloths to store-bought dishcloths. So I crocheted a dishcloth.

When I used it, I experienced an unexpected sensory memory. This crocheted dishcloth felt just like the dishcloths I grew up with. I immediately made a few more so I could have a whole supply!

You shouldn't use acrylic yarns for dishcloths. The acrylic doesn't absorb very well, and it doesn't dry out well, either. Cotton yarns are much better.

I used Lily Sugar'n Cream and Bernat CottonTots. The CottonTots makes a softer fabric than the Sugar'n Cream, and I think the Sugar'n Cream makes a better dishcloth for this reason. The CottonTots would be better for clothing, though.

You can click on the pictures for a larger view.

Above is a newly made dishcloth, before going through the washing machine.

The dishcloths in the rest of these pictures have been through the washing machine a few times and are holding up well, so far.

The dishcloth above is made from Sugar'n Cream. It's an earlier version of the pattern given below.

This dishcloth is made from CottonTots. Its texture is softer than the Sugar'n Cream.

This Sugar'n Cream dishcloth is currently in use at my sink. You can see how the dishcloth expands and stretches when it's wet. This is a great trait for dishcloths, not so great for swimsuits!

This pattern is extremely easy, excellent for a beginner. Gauge isn't important, so use whatever hook feels comfortable to you. I make my dishcloths approximately 8.5 inches square. This is easy to measure without a ruler if you have a piece of 8.5" x 11" printer paper handy, perhaps the page you've printed out your pattern on!

I like to have a row of slip stitches on both ends (top and bottom) of my dishcloth to give it a firm edge. To get a row of slip stitches at the beginning, you'll need to leave a really long tail when you start.

I also like to begin with a "foundationless" sc. This allows you to start making sc's right away without having to make a long foundation chain. Okay, so this isn't such a big deal for a little dishcloth, but this method really saves a lot of time when you're making an afghan that calls for a foundation chain of 200 stitches! A dishcloth is a good item to make to practice foundationless foundation rows.

Josi Hannon Madera has great pictures showing how to do this. Josi calls it the "Double Base Chain Stitch." This site also gives pictorial instructions for other stitches, including the Triple Base Chain Stitch (foundationless double crochet).

Basically, you'll be making a chain stitch at the base of each single crochet, then you make your next set of stitches into that chain stitch. Follow Josi's pictures while you work the foundation row below.

MESH DISHCLOTH

2-2.5 oz. worsted weight cotton yarn
I hook, or whatever size hook you prefer

Measure off 5.5 to 6 times the width of a sheet of paper (8.5") to make a long starting tail to use for slip stitches later. Tie your slip knot at that point. Be sure to work with the ball end of the yarn now, not the tail end.

Foundation Row 1: Chain 2. Insert hook into second chain from hook, yarn over and pull through one loop (ch st made); yarn over and pull through both loops (sc made). *Insert hook into the chain stitch you made, yarn over and pull through one loop (ch st made); yarn over and pull through both loops (sc made). Repeat from * until your chain is about 8.5" long and an odd number of stitches. Ch 1, turn.

Row 2: Sc in the first sc. *Ch 1, skip next sc, sc in the next sc. Repeat from * across. Sc in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

Row 3: Sc in the first sc. *Sc in the next ch-1 space, ch 1, skip next sc. Repeat from * across. Sc in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

Row 4: Sc in the first sc. *Ch 1, skip next sc, sc in the next ch-1 space. Repeat from * across. Sc in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until dishcloth is almost 8.5" long.

Next row: Sc in each sc and each ch-1 space across. Turn (do not ch 1).

Last row: Sl st in each sc across. Fasten off.

First row: With the long beginning tail, sl st in each sc across foundation row. Fasten off.

Weave in the two ends. Wash your dishcloth before using it. Now go wash some dishes!

Exercise Really Works!

2005-03-28T17:54:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a while ago that we'd joined a health club. Ron has spent the past several years being a couch potato—or more accurately, a computer chair potato. The only real exercise he got was cutting the grass once or twice a week during the summer and occasionally shoveling the snow off the driveway in the winter. He was out of shape and was carrying a few extra pounds.

We joined the health club around Thanksgiving, and since then Ron has been working out three or four days a week for about two hours each time. He hasn't changed his diet at all. But he has managed to lose over twenty-five pounds, and he's still losing. He's lost the pudginess around his waist and built muscle everywhere. Every time I look at him these days, I do a double-take because the change has occurred so quickly. I am really proud of him for working so hard at this.

Ron is cleverly imitating a kitty condo.

Creating a Happy Marriage

2005-03-26T19:15:00.000-05:00

I've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't updated in a while. Sorry!

Ron and I just celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on St. Patrick's Day. I have been fortunate to be married to my very best friend. The term soul mate is often tossed around carelessly so that it's devoid of actual meaning, but Ron is in fact my soul mate, "a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament," according to Merriam-Webster. He and I complement each other nearly perfectly. Ron has an overall positive attitude, while I'm more of a negative person. Together, we balance out nicely, not unrealistically optimistic but not overly pessimistic, either. Ron is a terrific big-picture person, while I am great at all the details. Together, we see both the forest and the trees! We each have strengths to counter the other's weaknesses.

Our secret to a long and happy marriage? We went on a Marriage Encounter weekend nine years ago and changed our lives! Marriage Encounter was created by a Catholic priest and is intended to "make good marriages better." This link goes to the Catholic version, but Marriage Encounter is available for other denominations, and the site includes links to them. (I should note that I'm a seriously lapsed Catholic and Ron is anti-established-religion but still spiritual, and we had no real trouble with the religious element of the weekend.)

On our Marriage Encounter weekend, we learned how to dialogue, a method of communicating on a deeper level. After our weekend, we spent several months working hard on our relationship, using dialogue. Then we took our work to a new level. We read John Gray's book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus together. We sat next to each other and read a few paragraphs at a time, then we'd talk about what we read. Our conversations frequently went like this:

Spouse 1: [nods silently in agreement with the book]
Spouse 2: [snorts] How stupid is this! I've never read anything so ridiculous!
Spouse 1: [surprised] What? You don't get this?
Spouse 2: [equally surprised] What? You really think like this?
Spouse 1: Well, yeah, doesn't everybody?
Spouse 2: No way! How can you possibly think like this?
Spouse 1: How can you possibly not?
Spouse 2: Wow. That sure explains a lot.

Even though we'd used dialogue to create a safe place in our marriage to discuss our deepest feelings, our conversations about Mars & Venus were often difficult. But we persevered and in the process learned a great deal about each other. We agreed that if we'd tried to read this book before our weekend, though, it would have been a disaster.

Once we got through Mars & Venus, we turned to Stephen Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and worked our way through that one. We set a long-term goal for our marriage, one that sustains us whenever life gets tough.

In the nine years since we went on our Marriage Encounter weekend, we have continued to work on our marriage. Our task has not always been easy, and life has occasionally handed us some seriously challenging events to deal with, but throughout we've been able to hold on to the core of what we learned on our weekend: We love each other, no matter what.

Kodo Drummers

2005-03-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

Last night, Ron, Brigid, and I drove up to Indianapolis to see a performance by Kodo, a group of Japanese taiko drummers. WOW! We were absolutely blown away.

We first got a glimpse of Kodo when we saw Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey at the IMAX theater a year ago or so. We enjoyed the IMAX movie quite a bit, and were especially taken with Kodo. So when I saw that Kodo would be appearing at Clowes Hall at Butler University in Indianapolis, we got tickets as soon as they went on sale. We ended up in the fourth row, really good seats.

Kodo uses a variety of drums in a range of sizes, from fairly small to gigantic. The group had about thirteen performers. Most of them are drummers, but a few play other instruments, such as the fue (a bamboo wind instrument) and shamisen (a large stringed instrument). A few numbers included some singing, too.

But the main focus was the drums. The huge drums created such a sound that the rafters of the concert hall buzzed with the vibrations. I could feel the drums deep in my chest. But somehow it wasn't too loud to listen to. Although I have often left rock concerts with my ears ringing and feeling plugged up, that didn't happen here.

I don't know what was more impressive: the precision group drumming, the sheer athleticism of the drummers, or the muscles! The drummers performed many of the pieces without shirts, and their backs and arms are extremely well muscled. They didn't look like body builders, more like people who actually use their muscles to work.

During the grand finale the drummers wore only Japanese loincloths (like a sumo wrestler wears). One drummer spent about twenty minutes pounding away on the gigantic drum. He stood with his back to us, and the play of muscles in his back was mesmerizing. After that, he then was joined by two other drummers at a row of smaller (but still huge) drums. These they played by sitting on the floor with the drum between their feet, then they leaned back and started pounding. Their abdominal muscles were exquisite.

One of the drummers had muscles so well defined that he looked just like the transparent guy in the encyclopedia where each transparent page has skin, or muscles, or bone. He was the muscle page.

We heartily recommend seeing Kodo if you get the chance.

Oscar Winner

2005-03-04T17:45:00.000-05:00

I've been too busy to update in a while. Sorry! So some quick catching up is in order.

Our local newspaper sponsors a Pick the Oscar Winners contest, and I won! I picked the correct winners in the categories of best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best director, and best picture, and for a tie-breaker, best foreign language film. Two other people also picked all these correctly, so the tie-breaker didn't work. A roll of the dice resulted in me being the first-place winner. I was really surprised when the paper's movie critic called me to tell me I'd won.

What did I win? Well, something this dedicated moviegoer can really use: ten movie tickets and ten $5 gift certificates to a local restaurant! Ron and I have been seeing a lot of movies the past couple of years. We have date night every week, usually a weeknight, and most weeks we go to dinner and a movie.

I think this year's best movie was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Charlie Kaufman won an Oscar for best original screenplay, and Kate Winslet snagged a nomination for best actress. But the movie was otherwise overlooked in the Oscars. Too bad. This quirky movie has an intense love story at its core, and the method of storytelling requires the viewer to bring along some brains—two things I really love in a movie. I highly recommend this movie if you can handle a little weirdness in your entertainment.

Look! Up in the Air! It's Lisa the Copyeditor!

2005-02-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

I had a little spare time on my hands this evening and nothing to crochet, nothing to read, nothing to watch on TV. And I'm brain-dead from copyediting a difficult book that's requiring heavy concentration on my part. Yep, not a good combination.

So here's the result:

Here I am, the fearless copyeditor, ready to tackle another manuscript.

Want to make one yourself? Go to the Mini-Mizer on Christopher Doyle's Reasonably Clever website.

Oh, and thanks for all the nice comments and e-mail about my hats, and especially about Brigid!

Hats!

2005-02-18T21:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've got hats. Lots of hats. As I mentioned sometime earlier, my mother-in-law asked me to make her a hat. So I did. But I couldn't make her just one hat. What if it didn't fit? What if it wasn't the right texture? What if she didn't like it? What if I wasn't such an obsessive perfectionist?

Well, hats are really easy to make, and quick, too, so I bought a few skeins of several different yarns—Lion Brand Homespun in Edwardian (a mix of shades of black) and Wool-Ease in Chocolate (dark brown), Bernat Soft Bouclé in Misty Shades (a mix of shades of brown), and Caron Jewel Box in Deep Jasper (a brown and black mix)—and I made a bunch of hats. So now Mom gets to go "shopping" in my box of finished hats!

Complicated stitch patterns would just get lost in the texture of the Homespun, the Soft Bouclé, or the Jewel Box, so I used simple patterns. I rarely follow the patterns exactly. I follow the increase rounds only until the hat fits the top of my head. Then I follow the rounds worked evenly only until the hat is as long as I want it, usually until it just covers my ears. Then I follow the brim rounds, but sometimes I change the edging.

I bribed my daughter into posing for me again. Shy Brigid didn't want too much of her face showing, but she balked at my idea of turning her into an anonymous mannequin by covering her head with a stocking. Go figure. So these pictures will show only glimpses of her face. Too bad. She's a beautiful young woman.

This pattern from Bev's Country Cottage calls for Chenille Sensations yarn, but I used Homespun (with a P hook) and Soft Bouclé (with an N hook), with nice results. I've made a bunch of these hats. Below are photos of two of them. Click on the pictures for a larger view.

This hat is made from Lion Brand Homespun.

This one is made in Bernat Soft Bouclé.

I made this Crochet Cloche, with Homespun for the hat and some leftover Jiffy (in Duluth) for the rosette. I followed this pattern fairly closely, even using the suggested hook sizes—something I rarely do! I crochet tightly, so I normally use a larger hook than a pattern calls for.

Here is the Crochet Cloche made with Lion Brand Homespun.

I made several hats based on Janelle Schlossman's hat pattern A Little Bit of Funk. Her pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn, and the stitches are worked in the back loops only. I used only a single strand of my yarn, and I worked in both loops. Because I used only one strand and because the yarns I used aren't as stiff as worsted, my hats don't have the pronounced brim that her hat does. Instead, my brims are much floppier and more ruffled. I like how these turned out.

This hat is made from Caron Jewel Box.

This one is made from Lion Brand Wool-Ease.

And this one is made from the Soft Bouclé.

I liked all the hats I made out of these yarns, but I really like the fabric I created with the Bernat Soft Bouclé. I used this yarn once before for a really lacy open poncho, and I liked that well enough. But I like the texture of the fabric made with simple single crochet much better. So now I'm going to have to make something else out of this yarn.

Here's a close-up of one of the hats I made from the Soft Bouclé. I really like the appearance of this fabric. I also really like this picture of Brigid.

Crocheting Circles

2005-02-07T20:25:00.000-05:00

To crochet a circle, you need to increase each round. If your shape buckles, you're crocheting too tightly. In that case, you might try a larger hook.

I'm going to use sc in this suggested pattern, but you can use hdc, dc, whatever. If you use hdc or dc, you need to chain a few more for your starting ring and work a few more stitches in the first round, but this is the basic idea here. In this pattern, I suggest joining at the end of each round. As an alternative, you can work continuously, making a spiral. In that case, don't ch 1 at the beginning of each round, and do be sure to mark your first stitch in each round. I use small safety pins to mark my stitches.

***********
Chain 3, join with a sl st into the 3rd chain from the hook.
Round 1: ch 1, work 6 sc into the ring, join with a sl st. (6 st)
Round 2: ch 1, work 2 sc into each st, join with a sl st. (12 st)
Round 3: ch 1, (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (18 st)
Round 4: ch 1, (sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (24 st)
Round 5: ch 1, (sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (30 st)
Round 6: ch 1, (sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (36 st)
etc.
Each round you increase 6 stitches.
***********

Worked in this manner, your increases will all be in the same place and you'll end up with a six-sided shape, which isn't really a circle. If you can pay enough attention to what you're doing, you can space the increases (2 sc in next st) differently on each round, and your shape will be more like a circle. For example, in round 5, instead of working (sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st), you might work (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st) around. The part in the parentheses still makes 5 stitches either way, but it just puts the increase in a different place.

Another way to get a more circular shape is to start with more stitches in the ring. For example, you might chain 6, join with a sl st; then chain 3 and work 11 dc in the ring, which would give you 12 stitches in the ring (the chain 3 counts as your first dc). Then each round you'd increase 12 stitches. This will give you a twelve-sided shape, which also isn't really a circle, but it's closer to a circle than a six-sided shape is. And if you space those 12 increases out differently each round, that will make your shape even more circular.

***********
Here's the generic pattern, where:
•N is the number of chains to make the beginning ring;
•Y is the number of chains for the first stitch of each round (ch 1 for sc, ch 2 for hdc, ch 3 for dc);
•X is the number of stitches you crochet into the ring in the first round.

Chain N, join with a sl st into the Nth chain from the hook.
Round 1: ch Y, work X stitches into the ring, join with a sl st. (X st)
Round 2: ch Y, work 2 stitches into each st, join with a sl st. (2X st)
Round 3: ch Y, (stitch in next st, 2 stitch in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (3X st)
Round 4: ch Y, (stitch in next 2 st, 2 stitch in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (4X st)
Round 5: ch Y, (stitch in next 3 st, 2 stitch in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (5X st)
Round 6: ch Y, (stitch in next 4 st, 2 stitch in next st) repeat around, join with a sl st. (6X st)
etc.
Each round you increase X stitches.
***********

To make a hat, you start with a circle. Once the circle fits the top of your head, you stop increasing each round, and instead you crochet even. The shape will turn on itself, becoming a hat. I leave a stitch marker in the first stitch of the last round that I increase. This way, if I decide the hat is too tight, I can rip back to that point and work another round of increases.

I'm almost finished making hats, and then I'll post some pictures and links to patterns.

Mathematical Crochet

2005-02-01T20:55:00.000-05:00

I've recently been interested in crocheted mathematical objects.

The easiest one to understand is the Möbius (or Moebius) strip. You can make a Möbius strip with a long thin rectangular piece of paper. Hold the two ends, give the paper a twist, then tape the two ends together. The cool thing about the Möbius strip is that it has no inside or outside. That is, the strip has only one side, even though it looks like it has two. Using a pencil, start at any point on the strip, follow the strip around, and you'll touch each side of the strip and end up back at your starting point. A good illustration of a Möbius strip is M.C. Escher's Ants. A Möbius strip makes a great scarf or shawl. It has a natural drape that allows it to rest nicely on your shoulders. I've made this pattern, although I used Lion Brand Homespun.

Another mathematical concept that illustrates the "no inside or outside" principle is the Klein bottle. Here's a pattern for a crocheted Klein bottle. This knit Klein hat gives a good explanation of a Klein bottle, but of course we need a crocheted Klein hat. While you're looking at the crocheted Klein hat, just for fun, look at the rest of this cute guy's website.

Fractals turn up in crochet, too. This pattern makes the Sierpinski triangle.

Crochet can also be used to construct a hyperbolic plane. A pattern for a hyperbolic plane is here.

And for a seriously dedicated mathematician/crocheter, check out the Lorenz equations crocheted by Dr. Hinke Osinga!

Nerds Redux

2005-01-31T20:59:00.000-05:00

So I saw this link on someone else's blog. The link goes to a test to determine how much of a nerd you are. I couldn't resist:

So then Ron took the test:

And Brigid joined the fun, too:

I wasn't exaggerating when I called us the Nerd Family!

Hats: Scary and Artistic

2005-01-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

I've been crocheting hats lately. My mother-in-law asked me to make her one—a real request! Of course, being the perfectionist that I am, I can't just crochet a hat. I have to crochet a bunch of hats so she can choose which one suits her best. I'll take some pictures soon of what I've come up with, but in the meantime, you might like to look at some interesting hats some of the Crochet Partners found on the Web. For some reason, my mother-in-law doesn't want me to make her any of these. Hmm.

The nightmare hats first: Swapatorium.

These next hats are works of art, actually, but you have to be really confident in yourself to wear one of these, I think: Voog Hats.

Well, that's it for today. As soon as I finish all my hats, I'll post some photos. That is, if I can convince Brigid to pose for me!

Firefox and Other Non-Microsoft Software

2005-01-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

I've recently worked to shake off the shackles of Microsoft. And except for Word and Excel, which I need for work, I've succeeded. What brought this on?

A while ago, I was hit by a bad virus. I keep my antivirus and spyware software up-to-date and run them regularly, but I stumbled onto a website (a reputable commercial website) that had just been hit by a hacker with malicious code. The next day, all the major antivirus companies had this particular code in their databases, but alas, it was too late for me. I was an early adopter. I ended up having to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows and all my software.

Fortunately I religiously back up my data files. Every day I back up the work files I used that day, and once a week I back up all my data files. At that time, I was using rewritable CDs for my weekly backups. I used two CDs for this, rotating between them each week. Each CD could hold two weeks of backups, so at any time I had four weeks of backups to use if disaster ever struck.

Well, disaster struck, and after I reinstalled all my software and tracked down all the updates and all that other stuff that goes along with formatting your hard drive, I went to my backup CDs and restored all my data files.

I cursed the hacker for wasting a long weekend of my life, but I was proud of myself for being such an obsessive backer-upper. I even allowed myself to gloat a little. Then life went on.

But one day a few months later, I needed to access an e-mail discussion I'd had with an editor the previous year. I went to Outlook and opened my archive files. I was shocked to discover that instead of going back to 1995 like my archives should have, they went back only a few months! What happened?!

Well, as it turns out, although I'd restored my current Outlook files, I'd neglected to restore my archive files. And in the intervening months, I'd also written over the backup copies of those archives on my CDs. Besides losing all my e-mail, I lost my calendars, and worst of all, I lost my journal entries. I'd been using Outlook's journal feature as a timer for my work, and I used this both for billing and for my taxes. This was a terrible turn of events!

I cried about this for a few days, then realized that no matter how many tears I shed I couldn't retrieve my archives. I decided to place blame squarely where it belongs: on Microsoft's shoulders. Microsoft is such an easy target for hackers. Even though I did everything right, I still got hit with a virus. If I hadn't gotten that stupid virus, I wouldn't have lost all my archives. And if Outlook wasn't such a bloated program that makes bloated data files, I wouldn't have even had to archive my old data. I could have left it in the regular data files where it belongs and where it would have been restored instead of forgotten. This was the end of the road for Microsoft on my computer.

I still use Windows, of course; I have a PC, after all. And as I mentioned above, I also still use Word and Excel, but that's only because all the publishers I work with use them.

So, what do I use instead of Outlook and Explorer?

I have a Palm Zire, so instead of using Outlook, I'm now using the Palm Desktop software, which I've discovered I actually prefer to Outlook. For one thing, I don't have to have the Palm Desktop open for my alarms to go off—unlike Outlook, which will uselessly inform you of all your missed alarms once you open the program.

To replace the journal timer function I used in Outlook, I now use Cratchit.org TimeTool for Windows, a small open-source program available here, which does precisely what I need it to do. Using the journal timer in Outlook required a bit of fiddling on my part each day.

To replace Explorer, I switched to Mozilla. I use the Firefox browser and Thunderbird for my e-mail.

Mozilla is open-source software, which means anyone can tinker with it. Lots of people have written extensions for the software, and you can customize the programs to a great degree. No software is safe from security issues, but so far the Mozilla organization has been extremely quick in responding to security flaws, providing fixes immediately, unlike Microsoft.

Firefox is much smaller than most software these days. It's small enough that you can even load it onto a USB memory key, and then you can run it directly from the memory key on another computer—without having to install it. This is great for people like my husband who work for companies that don't want employees to install software but who would rather use Firefox. Or when you're out of town and need to use someone else's computer but want your own bookmarks available.

The thing I like best about Firefox, though, is tabbed browsing. Instead of opening a new copy of Firefox when you want more than one website open, you just open a new tab in your current copy of Firefox. I use the Internet extensively in my work, and having just one copy of my browser open saves valuable space. I open Firefox, then open tabs for Merriam-Webster's dictionary, for Google, for the Library of Congress card catalog, and for whatever other sites I need for the specific manuscript I'm editing. Tabbed browsing changes everything.

I highly recommend Firefox!

And where do I keep my backups these days? The last time we upgraded to a new computer, we kept the old one and use it for backups. Ron dumped Windows from that computer and installed Red Hat Linux. Who knows, maybe someday we'll escape Microsoft completely!

Pattern Update

2005-01-25T17:55:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of pieces of business today.

First, I've received some questions about my Collared Poncho with Flower Trim. Can you tell this is the first pattern I've written? So I've updated the pattern, which you can find here. I hope I've addressed all your questions, but if not, please e-mail me! I've also placed a permanent link to the pattern in the Gallery in the sidebar to the left.

Second, I still have a few Gmail invitations left. Read this for details.

Thanks for all your comments and e-mail. I appreciate hearing from you!

The Phantom of the Opera

2005-01-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

A few years ago we saw The Phantom of the Opera as part of the Broadway Series at Clowes Hall at Butler University in Indianapolis. Although I enjoyed the experience of seeing the stage play, I wasn't completely thrilled with the play itself. The music was just okay, and in an operatic play, the music is rather important. I also couldn't understand the lyrics very well, and in an operatic play, the lyrics are rather important. So I didn't enjoy the music and I didn't understand the story.

Brigid, however, loved Phantom. She insisted on buying the soundtrack, Highlights from the Phantom of the Opera, which featured Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. She also got the piano music book and can play several pieces. She plays the Phantom theme on her keyboard using the organ setting, rather than on the piano though. Sounds very cool. As a result, I have listened to the Phantom music quite a bit over the past few years, and the music has grown on me. I can't say it's among my favorite music, but at least it doesn't make my ears bleed.

When we first saw a trailer for the movie version, Brigid was excited, and naturally has been looking forward to seeing it. So today Ron, Brigid, and I saw the movie.

I enjoyed Emma Rossum as Christine, and I prefer her voice over Sarah Brightman's. Gerard Butler, as the Phantom, didn't suck, but he's no Michael Crawford. I was better able to understand the lyrics in the movie than in the stage production we saw, and so I understood the story better. I thought the love triangle was stronger in the film. Being able to actually see the actors' faces really helped. The movie was a faithful representation of the stage play. A few sets in the movie seemed to be lifted directly from the stage, particularly the scene for "Masquerade." Overall, however, the movie—like the play—was just okay.

Brigid thought the movie was disappointing. She enjoyed the music for the most part, but she absolutely hated Gerard Butler. She knew he had a tough role, trying to follow in Crawford's footsteps as the Phantom, and so she said she tried to keep an open mind about Butler's performance. But according to Brigid, he didn't even sing tenor properly. For example, in one bit he started an octave lower than he should have, which made her mad, then he moved to the proper octave, which also made her mad because that part was supposed to be all in one octave. Yeah. Well, Brigid has taken piano lessons for about nine years and is in her third year of choir at school, whereas I play the kazoo, so she has a bit on me, musically speaking.

Brigid also pointed out a major difficulty of turning the play into a movie: In the play, people often just stand around and sing a song, and it's fine because it's a stage play. But a movie needs action, so in one scene, for example, Christine sings while she walks ve-e-e-e-ery slo-o-o-o-owly through a graveyard toward her father's grave. In the stage version, she merely stands before her father's grave and sings the whole song there. The graveyard in the movie is beautiful, full of low smoky fog, evocative statuary, and dark atmospheric tree branches, but before long I was paying more attention to the cool statues, trying to decide which would look best in my backyard rock garden. A scene loses its emotional punch when it causes you to begin shopping!

Overall, we were happy we saw the movie. We couldn't not see it. For a good take on the movie and the play, read Roger Ebert's review.

By the way, I still have a few Gmail invitations left. Go here for details.

Gmail

2005-01-20T18:22:00.000-05:00

I got a Gmail account several months ago. I have to say, I'm impressed.

I have a Hotmail address, but I dislike the interface and I especially dislike how Hotmail opens links in a Hotmail frame rather than just opening a plain new window. I'd used that address for a few newsletters, but the Hotmail frames just bugged me so much that I've since transferred all those newsletters to my other addresses. I keep the Hotmail account open just because I don't want anyone else to have the address.

I also have a Yahoo address. Yahoo e-mail is okay. At least I don't hate it like I do Hotmail. But the interface is a bit clunky, and I don't like the Yahoo ad that gets pasted to the end of every message. Yahoo also has some weird way of handling suspected spam. A few of my newsletters continue to get routed to my spam box, even though I always click the "not spam" button and even though I've added their addresses to my address book as suggested by Yahoo. And the ads on the web site are too large and annoying. Still, Yahoo mail has served its purpose for me, and I'll retain this address, too.

But Gmail is easily the best online e-mail service available. The interface is decent, and the 1 GB of storage is generous. You can search your saved messages with Google's search engine, a seriously useful feature, especially if you have a pile of saved messages.

What I like the most, though, is the storage scheme Gmail applies to your saved messages. Most e-mail programs let you set up folders, and then you save each message into a specific folder. Gmail doesn't use folders, though. Instead, it lets you apply one or more labels to each message. Then it stores only one copy of the message. So I can label a message that someone sends me through my blog as "blog," but I can also label it as "crochet" or whatever topic the message is about.

You can also download the Gmail Notifier, a small program that informs you whenever you get mail. You don't even need to have a browser open to run the notifier.

This is a free service, so ads are inevitable. But Gmail's ads are generally unobtrusive, which is another thing I like about the service. The e-mail messages themselves contain no ads, not even one for Gmail, so the recipient sees no ads at all. The ads appear only on the Gmail web site, where you read and compose mail, and they are in a strip down the right side of the screen, just like the ads on the main Google search site. I mostly ignore them, which is really easy to do because they are all text ads—no graphics, no blinking, no sounds.

For now, Gmail is still in beta testing, but so far I've noticed no problems with my account. But since it's in beta, you can't just go to the web site and open an account. So how do you get an account if you want one? An interesting marketing ploy on Google's part, a creative way to increase demand: You have to be invited to join. Google occasionally gives account holders some invitations to share. As it happens, I have a few Gmail invitations. E-mail me (the link is on the left side of this page), say something nice that proves you've actually read more of my blog than just this post, and I might send you one! I have only a few, though. As they say in the kiddie contests: Many will enter, few will win!

Bob Dylan Chronicles

2005-01-19T22:10:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Bob Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles, Volume One. This is not a traditional autobiography. He doesn't follow a nice chronological order. Many reviewers of this book have pointed out how much Dylan has protected his privacy over the years, and they express either disappointment or resignation that even in writing an autobiography he still manages to maintain his privacy. I agree that he doesn't divulge juicy details about his life, his family, his marriages, and so on. That doesn't matter, though.

What does matter is the glimpse into the way Dylan thinks, and as a result, the way he creates songs. Instead of divulging juicy secrets, Dylan has instead divulged the inner workings of his creative mind. He has an eye for detail and a gift for expressing them vividly. His descriptions of any particular evening at a coffeehouse, afternoon at a friend's apartment, or night at a New York party may not be entirely true in the strict facts but are certainly true in the details. He notes what a person looked like, how the room was decorated, the feeling of cold winter in the city. In the end, the effect is that the book reads like an extended folk song from his early years.

If you enjoy any of Bob Dylan's music, I recommend this book. Fascinating read.

Scary Movies

2005-01-18T18:33:00.000-05:00

We see a lot of movies. I love everything about going to the movie theater: the huge screen, the great sound system, the popcorn. I especially like how much it still feels like going out on a date with my husband. Even if the movie turns out to be not so great, I still enjoy the experience of having gone. I can recall only three exceptions.

The first completely unredeemable movie I went to was Alien. I saw this movie before I met Ron. I love going to the movies, as I said, but I don't like scary movies. Alien had all the elements that I hate in scary movies: tension that starts high and builds, things that jump out unexpectedly, and gross things depicted graphically. What I remember most about this movie is unrelenting terror followed by nightmares that lasted for weeks. I did not marry the guy who took me to see this movie.

The next memorably bad movie I saw was one of Jamie Lee Curtis's slasher movies. I'd seen a couple of bad slasher movies (with other guys I did not marry) and had no desire to see any more. But Jamie Lee Curtis's were supposed to be "good" ones, so the buzz went, and I asked Ron to take me to see her latest—Halloween II. We were dating at the time, and because I'd told him previously that I didn't like scary movies, he tried to convince me that I wouldn't like it. But I ended up prevailing, and off we went. And no more than ten minutes after the opening credits, out we went! As I recall, this movie begins with a quick recap of the first Halloween movie, and the ten-minute opening included all the hated scary-movie elements. This is the only movie I've ever walked out on, but I realized immediately that Ron was oh-so-right: I would seriously regret it if I stayed to watch the whole thing. I felt really bad, though, because now Ron's money had been wasted, but he eventually married me anyway, so I guess he got over it.

The third bad movie experience was Aliens. Yes, the sequel to the much-hated Alien. Ron and I—now married—saw this movie with another couple, Tim and Kathy. We'd decided to see a movie, but hadn't picked one yet. Tim and I both said the only one we didn't want to see was Aliens. We had both seen Alien, we had both hated it, and no way were we going to sit through the sequel. I still don't know how we ended up watching this one. Just before the movie began, a large man with an even larger head sat right in front of me, blocking my view of the screen. Normally, this would completely ruin the movie for me. That was not the case with this movie. I grew to love the back of this man's head. As the movie progressed, I figured out that if I scrunched down in my seat, the man's head would fill nearly the entire screen, and that's how I "watched" the rest of the movie. I remember during one scene I had to turn my head away so that I wouldn't see even the edges around the man's head, and instead I watched Ron's face in profile. He had the most god-awful expression, then his face contorted into something even worse. I did not want to know what he was seeing!

We did not see Alien³, Alien: Resurrection, or Alien vs. Predator. We are still married.

Lord of the Rings

2005-01-16T14:12:00.000-05:00

We got two feet of snow just before Christmas. This is a lot of snow for us. A normal "big" snow would be about six to nine inches or so.

So, you're probably wondering what we did while we were snowed in over Christmas, with no newspaper and no mail delivery. Well, first, Brigid and I took a trek around the outside of our house. The extended version of the third Lord of the Rings movie had been released just two weeks before that, and we'd watched all three movies over the course of the previous weekend. While trudging through the knee-deep snow, we decided we felt like we were part of the Fellowship of the Ring: While Gandalf and the others fought their way through the deep snow, Legolas the elf trod lightly atop the snow.

In the snow up to our knees. Brigid is trying to look like the ultralight elf Legolas. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Our adventures in the snow made us want to watch LOTR again, but we decided we really needed to try to see them all in one day, rather than spread over a weekend. And so on Christmas Eve, Brigid and I had a LOTR movie marathon.

For those of you who've seen only the theatrical versions, you really need to see the extended versions. The extra scenes are woven in seamlessly, and they all add great detail to the movie. Some of the extra scenes are crucial to a fuller understanding of the events and the characters. In my opinion, the theatrical versions of these films are really just trailers for the real versions. But the extra scenes do make these already-long movies even longer.

The extended versions of all three movies all together are about eleven and a half hours long. We planned breaks for preparing meals—which we ate in front of the TV—as well as breaks for bathroom, laundry, and a few other small things. We decided it would take us fourteen hours to watch all three movies.

Brigid and I woke up early to start the day. We started watching The Fellowship of the Ring at 8:15 a.m., moved on to The Two Towers in the early afternoon, and began The Return of the King in the evening. The final credits rolled at 10:10 p.m. Our estimate of fourteen hours was accurate!

Where was Ron during all this? He decided not to participate in the LOTR marathon, although he did wander in for a few scenes every so often.

I think seeing them all in one day is the best way to watch these movies. The emotion really builds over the day. You end up feeling as though you've been on the quest with Frodo and Sam and the rest of the fellowship.

We decided that because this certainly isn't something we can do very often, we'd aim for once a year: We would make a LOTR movie marathon our new Christmas Eve tradition.

Great idea in theory. Not so great in practice, as it turns out. As I type these words, Brigid is upstairs having another LOTR movie marathon. At this rate, she's going to wear out the DVDs before next Christmas Eve arrives!

Pattern: Collared Poncho with Flower Trim

2005-01-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's me modeling this poncho. Brigid took the photos, and apparently she had no problem cutting my head off! (Click on photo for a larger view.)

I designed my own poncho recently. I used TLC Amoré for the body of my poncho and Red Heart Super Saver for the flower, but I think this pattern should work with any yarn. I do like how the TLC Amoré drapes, though, and how soft it feels.

This poncho has four points. The increases at the front and back points alternate between 3 dc and 5 dc every other row, but the increases at the shoulder points are always 3 dc. This method makes a poncho that is slightly longer in the front/back and shorter from side to side.

The neckline is an open collar, and I've attached a crochet flower for added interest.

The poncho I made would fit a medium through an extra large, but ponchos are really easy to alter so they fit properly. In this one, be sure the beginning chain is long enough to fit around your head and settle comfortably on your shoulders.

If you need to adjust the beginning chain (smaller or larger), make sure you chain a multiple of 4, plus 2 more. My starting chain is 70 (or 68 + 2), which gives 68 stitches in each collar row. Then when you start the body portion, divide the number of stitches by 4 to determine where to put the increases. In my poncho, I used 68 ÷ 4, which is 17, so I dc in 16 stitches and increase in the 17th stitch.

Then, because this is crocheted from the neck down, once you start the body portion, you just keep crocheting until it's as long as you want it to be.

I use four stitch markers (I use small safety pins) to mark the increase stitches so that I don't have to pay too much attention to what I'm doing.

COLLARED PONCHO with FLOWER TRIM

Size: From bottom of collar to front point, approximately 25". From bottom of collar to side point, approximately 22".

2 6-ounce skeins of Plum TLC Amoré
1 6-ounce skein of Lake Blue TLC Amoré
small amount of Plumberry Red Heart Super Saver
J hook

Gauge: 5 dc = 2"; 3 rows = 2"

Note: Ch 2 counts as first dc in each row or round. You can ch 3 if you prefer.

Collar
With Plum, chain 70. (mult 4 + 2)
Row 1: Dc in 3rd ch from hook, and in each ch across. Ch 2 and turn. (68 st)
Row 2: Dc in each st across. Ch 2 and turn. (68 st)
Rows 3-5: Repeat row 2.
Row 6: Dc in each st across. Cut Plum, leaving a 6"-8" tail for weaving in, and join Lake Blue. Ch 2 and turn. (68 st)

Body
Round 1: Dc in each st across. Join with a sl st to first dc. Do not turn. (68 st)
Round 2: Ch 2. Dc in next 16 st, *3 dc in next st, dc in next 16 st. Repeat from * two more times. 2 dc in last st, join with a sl st to the top of the ch-2, forming the last 3-dc cluster. (76 st)
Round 3: Ch 2. Dc in each st around, BUT: 3 dc in center st of the 3-dc clusters at each shoulder, and 5 dc in center st of the 3-dc clusters at front and back. Join with a sl st to the top of the ch-2.
Round 4: Ch 2. Dc in each st around, BUT: 3 dc in center st of each cluster. Join with a sl st to the top of the ch-2.

Repeat rounds 3 and 4 until you have 9 rounds of Lake Blue. At the end of round 9, cut Lake Blue, leaving a 6"-8" tail for weaving in, and join Plum.

Repeat rounds 3 and 4 until you have 20 rounds of Plum, or until poncho is desired length. Cut Plum, leaving a 6"-8" tail for weaving in, and join Lake Blue.

Work one more round in Lake Blue.

Border round: *Ch 3, sc in 3rd ch from hook, skip next st, sl st in next st. Repeat from * around. Fasten off. Weave in all ends.

Flower
With Plumberry, and leaving a long tail to tie flower at the end, ch 4, join to form a ring.
Round 1: *Sc, 2 dc, sc into the ring. Repeat from * four more times. (5 petals)
Round 2: Ch 3, join with a sl st to 2nd sc on back of each petal. Repeat so you have 5 sets of ch 3. Join with a sl st.
Round 3: Sc, 4 dc in each of the ch-3 spaces. (5 petals)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail.
Weave the two tails in enough to secure stitches, then use the remaining length to tie the flower to the front of the collar.

Here's the front point and one shoulder point. (Click on photos for a larger view.)

Another view

Notice the picot border.

Close-up of the collar and the flower

Hey, thanks for all the kind comments and e-mail you all have sent me. I really appreciate hearing from you. Thanks for reading my blog!

Rika and Keiko

2005-01-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

We have two female cats.

Rika (pronounced REE kuh) is almost 15 years old. We've had Rika since she was about nine months old. She showed up at our house when Brigid was just two. At that time we were temporarily catless. I'd had to put my first cat, Helix, to sleep while I was pregnant with Brigid. Helix had gotten a stomach tumor and got really sick. After Helix, we took in a stray Siamese cat, Samantha, for a while, but she was not a good pet for us, and we gave her away to another family. At that point, we decided we'd better wait until Brigid was a few years older before we got another cat. Toddlers and cats just don't mix well.

But then one day Rika showed up in our backyard. She let two-year-old Brigid carry her around and pet her too hard and pull her tail, and never once tried to bite Brigid or scratch her or anything. So we ended up adopting her. Brigid came up with Rika's name. One of Brigid's favorite shows at the time was one on Nickelodeon called Eureka's Castle, and I think Brigid must have gotten the name from Eureka. Brigid and Rika have essentially grown up together.

Our other cat, Keiko (pronounced KAY ko), is about five years old. She showed up on our doorstep about a year and a half ago. Normally when a cat comes onto our porch, Rika goes into full cat alarm mode. She alerts the whole house to the mortal danger we're all in. But when Keiko showed up, Rika was really just curious about her. Brigid spent an entire day on the front porch with Keiko, and to make a long story short, we ended up with two cats in our house. Brigid came up with Keiko's name, too.

We thought we'd have trouble converting Keiko into an indoor cat, but as it turns out, she wants to be an indoor cat. Whenever we open the door, she runs away and hides. I think she's still afraid we might kick her out.

Rika and Keiko have quite an age difference between them -- about ten years, which is a lot for cats. Rika is a senior citizen, and the poor girl has arthritis in her hips, which sometimes squeak when she walks. We had to get a two-step stool to put by our bed because she can't jump that high anymore. And I have a chair beside my desk to make it easier for her to climb up here, too.

Rika and Keiko get along pretty well for the most part. Rika lets Keiko groom her, and on rare occasions Rika will take a lick or two on Keiko's head. But Keiko, being much younger, likes to play a lot. Rika tolerates Keiko's playing, and sometimes if she's feeling good, she'll chase Keiko around a bit. But Rika wears out much sooner than Keiko would like, so then Rika ends up telling Keiko rather firmly to leave her alone already.

Keiko for some reason also seems to believe that Rika is the path to the food provider. So when Keiko thinks it's time for dinner, she starts meowing adamantly at Rika. Rika objects to the tone of voice, and next thing you know, they're having a heated discussion about just who is supposed to get us to serve them dinner.

But other than that, they get along great.

Rika and Keiko are enjoying a nap together. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Great for Your Guy Afghan

2005-01-11T20:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, another afghan I'm proud of. This one, the "Great for Your Guy" afghan, is from the September 2002 issue of Crochet! magazine. I don't know if their site has back issues, but Jennie Gaskin at Country Yarns carries all sorts of hard-to-find leaflets and back issues of magazines.

This pattern uses a lot of long double crochets, where you double crochet into the stitch in a row below your current row. This makes a thick fabric. As a result, this afghan is heavy and warm. This pattern was fun to work. I think it looks like rows of birds. I also like the border on this afghan.

I made this one using Red Heart Super Saver. The colors are Dark Plum and Light Gray. (Click on the pictures for a larger view.)

Wide view of the afghan

Close-up of the stitches

Another close-up

Hobnail Afghan

2005-01-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, two posts in one day. As my daughter Brigid would say, Woot!

I've crocheted a lot of afghans over the past few years. Here's one of my favorites. I am really proud of this one, because it was rather challenging for me at the time I made it.

I'm a member of a crochet mailing list, Crochet Partners. This Aran-style pattern, Hobnail Afghan, is from the Crochet Partners Library. I was wanting to make an Aran sweater for myself, and I thought it would be a good idea to make an Aran afghan first, to get the hang of the complicated stitches. I found the stitches weren't difficult once I got going, and this afghan was a lot of fun to make, but I never did make an Aran sweater.

I made my afghan with Red Heart Super Saver. The color is Aran. (Click on the photos for a larger view.)

Hobnail Afghan

Close-up of the stitches

Tight close-up

Petal Stitch Poncho

2005-01-10T21:20:00.000-05:00

I do crochet things other than the butterfly shawl. I made this poncho, for example. I made one for my niece Mallory for Christmas, and when I had Brigid try it on for size, she liked it so much that she asked me to make one for her, too. Ooh, a request! How could I turn her down?

This pattern is slightly tricky at the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, it's actually quite easy and goes rather quickly. I can make one of the ponchos in just a few hours. I like the open lacy look. This poncho can be worn two ways, with the flowers down the front or over one shoulder. It looks really nice over a turtleneck sweater, like Brigid is wearing in the photos below, or over a tank top in warmer weather. Brigid is still headless in the photos, of course. Shy girl.

I made Brigid's poncho with two 6-ounce skeins of TLC Amoré. The color is Sand. (Click on the photos for a larger view.)

Here, the flowers are in the front.

Here's a back view with the flowers in the front.

The flowers can also be worn over one shoulder.

The points of the poncho are off-center in the front and back.

Here's a close-up of the stitches.

Butterfly Shawl

2005-01-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

I've fallen in love with a crocheted shawl pattern. Doni, the creator of the pattern, has beautiful close-up pictures of the shawl's construction on her site. The pattern is fun to crochet. The shawl is crocheted from the top down, so you just keep crocheting until you get the size shawl you want. The shawl drapes nicely, and its shape helps it stay on your shoulders. Doni calls it a "batwing" shape, but Brigid thinks it looks like a butterfly. I have to agree with Brigid.

I've made shawls with two or three 6-ounce skeins of TLC Amoré, Lion Brand Homespun, and Bernat Soft Bouclé (5-ounce skeins). I'm pleased with how each of them turned out. The TLC Amoré yarn is rather light and makes a good shawl for spring or fall. The Lion Brand Homespun is much warmer, appropriate for winter wear. The Bernat Soft Bouclé is soft and fluffy.

I made Brigid's shawl (below) using two 6-ounce skeins of Lion Brand Homespun. The color is Montana Sky. I'm particularly happy with this one, perhaps because Brigid has been wearing it quite a bit! (Click on the photos for a larger view.)

Butterfly shawl

Shawl from the back, showing shape

Shawl from the back, showing drape

Shawl from the front. Brigid didn't want her face in the picture. Do you know how hard it is to intentionally cut off someone's head in a photo? Doing it accidentally is much easier!

Nerd Family?

2005-01-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted. But can you really expect anything more from a die-hard lurker? No. In fact, my output has been quite remarkable so far, so get over it.

We went to a lot of movies over the past few weeks. We've seen National Treasure (B+), Oceans Twelve (C+), Meet the Fockers (B-), Finding Neverland (A), Closer (C+), The Aviator (A), Primer (A), and a few others.

All three of us went to see Primer. Twice. This movie was made by a former engineer and self-taught filmmaker for about $7,000. It's an interesting puzzle film about a pair of engineers who build a time-travel machine in their garage. The story is naturally a bit convoluted, but well done. We had to see it a second time, though, just so we could figure out exactly what happened. And even after the second viewing, we had quite a discussion and didn't all agree on what happened. This movie was definitely a hit with our family. Of course, I have a degree in math, Ron's degree is in mechanical engineering, and Brigid plans to be an astrophysicist, so we may not be your typical family.

Magic with Yarn

2004-11-23T20:44:00.000-05:00

I am a crocheter. I learned to crochet when I was in college, but I made only a few afghans, then put my hooks aside and didn't pick them up again until a few years ago. I started crocheting again by accident.

At the time, I liked bath puffs a lot, but I hated how quickly they lost their puffiness. I remembered seeing instructions somewhere for making your own bath puff. So I did a Google search for the instructions and found some for crocheted puffs. I decided that I should practice crocheting a bit before I tried making a puff--you know, to refresh my memory--and the next thing you know, it's a few years later, I'm deeply into crochet, and I still haven't made a bath puff! I have made a whole lot of afghans, though, and a bunch of hats and scarves and ponchos and shawls, plus the occasional odd item like a teddy bear.

I like to crochet for several reasons. Taking one strand of yarn and one hook and creating a piece of fabric seems magical to me. I like seeing my finished work and being impressed with myself, that I created that usable but beautiful item out of a few skeins of yarn. The process of crocheting is relaxing, too. Something about working with the yarn in my hands is calming, almost meditative.

Crocheted wearables are popular in the stores right now. I'm sure most people think those items are made by machine. Knit items can be made on a knitting machine, and most knit garments sold in stores are machine made. But no one has ever figured out how to make a machine that can crochet. Crochet stitches are too complicated for a machine to duplicate. Therefore, all crocheted items are handmade. Even the really inexpensive stuff at Wal-Mart and Target and Kmart is all handmade. And the large crocheted tablecloths and bedspreads you see in bedding and bath stores and catalogs are all handmade.

Depending on the thickness of the yarn or thread, the density of the weave, and the intricacy of the stitch pattern, a poncho or a shawl can take a day to a week or more to crochet. A tablecloth can take a few weeks, and a king-size bedspread can take a month or longer. So who hand-crochets all these items to sell as if they were mass-produced items? Usually people in underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

A crocheted item is a labor-intensive work of art. Next time you see a crocheted poncho or scarf or bedspread in a store, look closely at the stitches. Even the least expensive stuff took a lot of effort to produce. Be in awe of the worker whose hands created this piece of fabric out of one strand of yarn and one hook.

Critters in the Window

2004-11-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

My home office is in the basement. On the wall just above my desk is a small basement window, complete with a small window well. Every so often, a mouse, baby bird, frog, or other small critter manages to fall into the window well, where it is then trapped because it's too small to climb back out. I'll hear it scratching around, trying to claw its way out. I usually have to climb up on my desk to actually see what type of creature it is. That usually scares the heck out of the poor thing, unfortunately.

Yesterday, I was the one who had the heck scared out.

I heard the typical scritch-scratch in the window well, glanced up, and caught a glimpse of fur in a gap in the curtain. Poor mousey, I thought. I finished the paragraph I was editing, then climbed up on my desk to get a better look at the mouse. I pulled back the curtain, but the window was really filthy--unusually filthy. I pulled the curtain back further and moved closer to the window. I then noticed that the screen was shredded and only a few tattered bits remained hanging in places. The glass was covered with smeared paw prints. Wow, that's weird, I thought. This mousey must be really desperate!

I pressed my face against the window to get a better look through the shredded screen and the smeared paw prints. I then saw the animal in the window well: This was no mousey. It was so huge that I jumped backward and nearly fell off my desk! It was easily the size of a small cat. It had long fur, beady eyes, a pointy snout, a long thick hairless tail, and no visible ears. Its legs were hidden under its body, so I couldn't see what the legs or paws looked like. Was it a mole? I didn't think so, because it looked kind of big for a mole, plus it had really long fur. But I'm no expert. Maybe moles grow longer fur for the winter.

I climbed down from my desk and pondered the situation. My usual method for removing small critters from the window well involves a shovel, a bucket, and my daughter. It would involve my husband, but normally Brigid gets home from school before Ron gets home from work. Anyway, working together, we scoop up the mouse and deposit it in the bucket. We then take the rescued mouse across the street to the park, where we release it far enough away, we hope, that it doesn't come back.

I wasn't sure my usual method would work with this particular animal, however. I climbed back up on the desk and looked at the giant creature again. No, the shovel-and-bucket method would not work. Unless... Hmm, the animal had been staring without blinking the whole time I stood there looking at it. Had I frightened the poor creature to death when I opened the curtain?

I went outside to get a better look. The creature still wasn't moving when I stood over the window well. I looked around for some way to determine if it was alive, and I noticed a bunch of leaves on the ground. I dropped a leaf onto it. The creature moved a bit when the leaf landed on it, so apparently it was not dead. This was good news for the creature, but it definitely meant the shovel-and-bucket method was out of the question.

I went back inside and did what any self-respecting wife would do: I called my husband at work. Unfortunately, his boss is kind of picky about things and expects Ron to actually work during his work hours (geez), so, no, Ron could not drop everything and come get this monster out of the window well. But he did suggest I call animal control, which turned out to be exactly right.

The animal control guy showed up within an hour. At first glance, he wasn't positive what kind of animal it was, because its paws and legs were still hidden. He used a long metal tonglike device to grab the animal, which objected to being grabbed. The poor thing struggled, but the animal control guy prevailed. He was a bit surprised to note that the animal was a muskrat! He said a muskrat should have been able to climb out on its own, but perhaps the animal was hurt when it fell into the window well. The animal control guy (what are these guys called, anyway?) put the muskrat into a small pet carrier. He said he takes animals like this to a nearby wildlife area and releases them.

So now we have to replace the screen in our basement window. And I know I'll be a lot more cautious when I climb up on my desk to investigate the next time a critter falls into the window well.

Reality TV

2004-11-14T20:04:00.000-05:00

Brigid and I are hooked on a few reality shows. I can't decide if reality TV is the end of life as we know it or just really interesting entertainment.

Ron and I watched the first season of The Real World way back in the olden days. That show was definitely groundbreaking, and we ended up watching the first three seasons before letting it move on without us. Reality TV took off from there, but I can't say that we were overly interested in much of these other offerings. We didn't watch any of the bachelor-type shows, for example. We've watched one or two other shows -- the first season of Big Brother, a season of Survivor, a few episodes of later Real Worlds -- but overall, we've pretty much avoided a lot of the reality shows.

But then Brigid and I saw the ads for Joe Millionaire, and it looked really interesting to us. We watched the first episode and were immediately hooked. After that, she and I "graduated" to Married by America and My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé. I watched the first season of The Apprentice by myself, and Brigid decided to join me in watching the second season. We're also watching He's a Lady and My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss.

These shows all fit into the category of guilty pleasures, although I do think we're having some pretty good learning opportunities while watching them together. They do a decent job of showing people having to deal with the natural consequences of their actions. But mostly we're just having fun watching people do stupid stuff on TV.

And now Brigid and I are reality TV junkies. We watch the ads for new shows and decide which ones are good enough to watch. They either have to be "realer" than most, such as The Apprentice, or have to be twisted somehow, such as My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss.

So the ad for Tiny House definitely caught our attention. A couple gets married, then has to move into a tiny house. The ad shows clips of the couple trying to cook in the tiny kitchen, sleep in the tiny bed, walk through the tiny rooms, etc., and getting really frustrated about everything. Just as I was wondering if this one would be good enough to watch or just be really stupid, the ad turns out to be one of those fake Geico ads -- and I nearly died laughing!

Okay, you know we want to see it anyway. This one definitely meets our twisted criteria.

Working Out

2004-11-13T13:58:00.000-05:00

I've been walking and working out with free weights since last May, and I feel really great. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the mild weather this summer was ideal for walking, and then we've had a really nice fall. But it's getting cold now, and I really really don't like cold. I don't like heat and humidity, either, but this summer managed to avoid much of that. Now that it's getting cold, though, I'm worried about staying in shape over the winter. After all this work, I'd hate to lose everything I've gained.

Just down the road from us is a health club, about a two-minute drive or a twenty-minute walk away. This location is really convenient for us. They recently sent us a postcard offering a free three-week trial membership, so I've been going there for the past week or so.

I like most of the various machines they have, but the real draw for me is the treadmills. I've been trying to adjust to walking on the treadmill rather than the ground. I am not the most coordinated person in the world, and trying to keep my balance on the treadmill has been a challenge. But I'm improving. I still can't swing my arms freely, but I don't have to grip the rails much anymore, just lightly touch them.

I've always known that I walk fast, but using the treadmill has let me quantify that. I set the rate to 4.6 miles per hour, which the machine apparently considers to be a running speed, a slow running speed no doubt, but still running. I'm helped quite a bit by having long legs, though, and thus a long stride. I'm sure when I get more comfortable with the treadmill (i.e., not so concerned about losing my balance) I'll actually walk at a faster pace. I'm not sure how my pace on the treadmill translates to my pace on the ground, but I'd guess it was fairly comparable.

One side benefit to walking on the treadmill: My husband went to the health club with me today, and we were able to "take a walk" together much more easily than normal. Usually when we walk anywhere together, I notice Ron, well, not really struggling to keep up, but definitely not comfortable with the pace, so I consciously try to slow down, but that lasts only as long as I'm focused on the effort, which usually isn't very long at all. So our walks are usually at a constantly changing pace, with neither of us really comfortable with the result. The treadmill, though, allowed us both to walk at our own pace but still be beside each other and talk.

So far I've enjoyed working out at the health club. I still have another week and a half or so before my trial membership runs out, but I'm thinking I might join.

k.d. lang

2004-11-12T20:54:00.000-05:00

Last month, Ron, Brigid, and I went to Indianapolis and saw k.d. lang perform with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Wow, what a terrific show! Okay, I'm a big fan of hers, but still, I think anyone who saw her and who appreciates a great voice would have to agree that she is an outstanding live performer. This was our second time to see k.d. lang. The first time we saw her was during her tour for Ingenue.

I first heard of k.d. lang when her single "Trail of Broken Hearts" played on VH-1. I just loved the sound of that song and her voice, so I bought the CD Absolute Torch and Twang. That song is still one of my absolute favorites, but I like "Pullin' Back the Reins" from that CD even more. I played the heck out of that CD. Then for some gift-giving occasion Ron bought me her first two albums -- Angel with a Lariat (as k.d. lang and the Reclines) and Shadowland. I liked both of them, but Shadowland just blew me away. I did not expect an album of torchy blues. She has such a powerful voice and projects so much emotion. So, when Ingenue was released, I snapped it up immediately. This CD is also a good one, but it's one that grew on me slowly. At first I didn't like it as much as Shadowland. Today I love every song on it, and it's one of my favorites of hers.

The first time we saw k.d. lang in concert was an elaborate surprise for me pulled off nearly perfectly by Ron and his parents. They knew how much I liked her, and when they saw she was coming to Louisville during her Ingenue tour, the three of them bought tickets and planned their surprise. Ron's parents told us they and another couple had tickets to see Michelle Shocked, but the other couple at the last minute had something come up and couldn't go. So Mom and Dad asked us if we'd like to use the spare tickets and go with them. We liked Michelle Shocked, so we said yes.

The day of the concert, Ron pushed me through the lobby quickly. Then we ran into the other couple! As I learned later, the other couple knew all about the surprise and were able to play along quite nicely. But at the time I was really embarrassed for them having been apparently caught in a lie. After that, we went to our seats. When the usher tried to hand me a program, Ron pushed me hard enough that I stumbled! And needless to say, I didn't get a program. After we took our seats, I asked to see Ron's program, but he kept saying he was still reading it. Ron does read slower than I do, but this was ridiculous. Between getting pushed all over the lobby, him not letting me get a program, and now this, I was getting mad.

To say the least.

Ron could see I had reached my boiling point, and when I asked again if I could at least look at the ticket stubs while he read the program, he practically threw them at me. I glanced at them, but I was so mad I couldn't really see them. I mean, Ron was being a complete and total jerk. But then I could hear Ron and his parents laughing, and I looked up to see the three of them leaning out from their seats, all lined up so they could each see my face, and all nodding and smiling these huge smiles. I was a bit confused, so I glanced at the ticket stubs again -- and saw they said k.d. lang, not Michelle Shocked. Well, maybe Michelle wasn't, but I sure was Shocked!

That was a terrific performance, and I left an even bigger fan than before the show. I continued to buy her CDs, including the soundtrack for Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, even though I never saw the movie. And I continue to love her music and her voice. So, when I saw that she was touring and performing with local symphonies and would have a stop in Indianapolis, I knew we had to go.

Now, it's been more than a few years since her Ingenue tour. I fully expected at this concert that her voice would have lost something in the intervening years. She still sounds wonderful on her CDs, but who can't sound good in a studio? But even with my lowered expectations, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hear her live again.

Well, not only has k.d. lang not lost anything, she has actually improved with age. She has greater control over her voice and is more able to finely nuance her emotional range during each song. Nearly every song was a highlight. She sang many of my favorites, including "Don't Smoke in Bed' and "Still Thrives This Love." She can't be beat on Roy Orbison's "Crying," of course. Her rendition of Neil Young's "Helpless" was beautiful, and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" was nothing short of brilliant.

Yes, I'm a k.d. lang fan, but really, I have no choice. What a voice!

Happy Halloween

2004-10-31T01:39:00.000-04:00

I’ve just finished a killer six-week project that is due first thing Monday morning. As it turned out, I really could have used another three weeks to work on this at a more reasonable pace. For this job I had to put in longer hours than I normally work each day, plus I had to work on the weekends. But I just finished the last bit, and now I’m one happy woman to have that beast off my desk.

I believe I’ll sleep in late tomorrow morning. Oh, wait. It is tomorrow morning. No wonder I’m so tired!

Happy Halloween! And Happy Birthday to my daughter!

Psychedelic Disney

2004-10-27T23:32:00.000-04:00

My Family, Walt Disney World, October 1999.

I was reading through some of the help files for Blogger and decided to try publishing a photo just to see how it works. I downloaded the Hello program suggested by Blogger, and it looks like it's worked pretty well. My picture showed up, at least!

I looked through my photos to find one to publish here, and found this photo we took at Walt Disney World in October 1999. I believe it was at a Kodak display, but I might be wrong about the company. Anyway, after we took the picture, we got to play with the display and distort the photo, then we could e-mail it to ourselves. The nondistorted photo is pretty decent, too, but I like the psychedelic look better.

I'm not a fan of amusement parks, and so I was definitely not interested in WDW myself, but I was willing to go because I knew my husband and daughter would really like it. I was quite surprised when it turned out to be the best vacation we've ever had. I wouldn't want to go to WDW during a busy time, but October was a nice time to go.

We stayed at the Beach Club right outside Epcot, and our accommodations were great. We had easy access to Disney's transportation system, and we had Park Hopper passes, so we could come and go as we liked to all the various theme parks. Our favorite park by far was Epcot. We went there nearly every day.

The only dim spot in our vacation was that our daughter got sick at the end. We had tickets to see Cirque du Soleil, and she was too sick to go. My husband coincidentally was going to attend a seminar at WDW a couple of weeks later, though, and we found out that we could exchange two of our tickets for when he'd be back. So the two of them stayed at the hotel while I went to the show alone.

Cirque du Soleil was spectacular, but I really missed having my family with me to ooh and aah with. Seeing a show like that alone was definitely weird. My husband got to see the show when he returned for his seminar, and he also saw it alone. Our poor daughter missed out completely. But we made it up to her a few years later: Cirque du Soleil appeared in Columbus, Ohio, just a few hours away from us, and we took her to that show.

Well, I didn't know what I would write about today, but I sure didn't expect it to be about a vacation from five years ago!

Walking

2004-10-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

The town we live in has a great system of paved walking paths. One of these paths passes right by our house. Every few years I get on an exercise kick and walk the paths. I like to walk first thing in the morning, when it's not too hot. I live in Indiana, where the summers are hot and humid, even at the crack of dawn. Come August, when it's really bad, I open the front door and the thick air hits me in the face, then I wimp out and fall out of the habit of walking.

I got on another exercise kick this year. I started walking in May, during nice spring weather. We had an unusually mild summer, with little humidity and only a few days over 90°, great for walking. So I was able to keep walking right through the summer into the fall. Then we had the most beautiful September on record--bright blue skies, temperatures in the 70s, no rain. It's only now starting to get cold, and I hope I can manage to not let the cold chase me indoors.

I walk fast. Really fast. I don't walk fast on purpose; that just seems to be my natural gait. When my daughter was younger, she used to say I had my rockets on. But now she's the only one I know who can keep up with me. I must have trained her right!

The walking paths are really popular, and I see a lot of regulars while I walk. One of the more interesting walkers is an older woman, maybe 70 or 80 years old. I first noticed her in the middle of the summer. She was wearing a trench coat, gloves, and a knitted hat and was carrying a small gift bag. I saw her again a few days later, and she was dressed the same way but carried a small folded umbrella instead of the gift bag. Since then, I see her several days a week, and the only thing that changes is the gift bag or the umbrella. She's always friendly whenever we pass each other. Now that it's getting colder, I don't wonder about her warm clothing the way I did in the middle of the summer. But I still wonder what's in the gift bag!

iTunes

2004-10-25T20:16:00.000-04:00

I'm self-employed and work at home in my basement. I always have music playing all day. I would go in spurts of listening to CDs for a few days, but that gets old fast because my CD player holds only five CDs and after I've heard them a few times in a row they get boring. And I'm too lazy to get up and put in new ones. So usually I'd just end up listening to the radio. But I don't get great radio reception at my house for the station I prefer, so that doesn't work great, either.

So I downloaded iTunes back in June and then copied all my CDs into my computer. That took about a week and two CD drives. I actually burned out the CD drive on my computer and had to buy a new one! But I now have all 2,866 songs in my computer.

If I'm in the mood for something in particular, then I go ahead and listen to that, of course, but I've frequently just been listening to my music in alphabetical order by song title. That makes for a rather eclectic mix. It also takes several weeks to play through the whole library. The thing that surprises me sometimes, though, is how often back-to-back songs will be by the same artist. For example, "Going to California" and "Going to California" and "Going to California" and "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin. ;-) Okay, not counting multiple versions of the same song, I have "21 Years" followed by "29 Palms" both by Robert Plant. Or "Across the Universe" and "Act Naturally" by the Beatles. Or "Post" and "Postcard Blues" by Cowboy Junkies.

Now playing on iTunes: Joan Osborne Relish. Great album.

Because all my music is now extremely convenient, I've been listening to stuff I hadn't heard in ages -- you know, those albums you buy, listen to a few times, then forget about. Some of it deserves to be forgotten, but not all of it. My favorites still rank pretty high on the playlist; I generally have a Led Zeppelin day or k.d. lang day once every couple of weeks. But now I'm also getting to listen to that great Chris Whitley album Living with the Law. And the Laura Love Collection. How could those have fallen out of the rotation?

One of the features I've found useful on iTunes is song ranking. You can click on a song and give it one to five stars, or leave its ranking blank. Well, I don't want to get into the nuances of whether a song deserves three stars or four, but the rankings are still really useful for me. As I play through my library, I'll rank the songs I really like with five stars and the songs I hate with one star. Then I set up two playlists: the Top Rated list (all five-star songs) for when I want to hear one good song after another; and the No Crap list (no one-star songs) for when I want to hear everything, but not the crap. One disadvantage to listening to the Top Rated list, though: It's always playing something too good to turn off!

Another thing I really like about iTunes is the free music download every Tuesday. The iTunes store offers a specific single every week. I've gotten some really cool stuff for free: "Staring at the Sun" by Simple Kid, "Letter Read" by Rachael Yamagata, "So Far So Good" by Thornley. I've gotten a few duds, too, but I won't mention those.

I've also bought a bunch of songs I just love: "Holding Back the Years" by Simply Red, "Lovesong" by the Cure, "Loser" by Beck, "Under the Milky Way" by the Church. And then I have the guilty pleasures: "How Much I Feel" by Ambrosia, "Lay Lady Lay" by Bob Dylan, "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent. Lots more. Lots and lots more.

I enjoy going to iTunes and reading through the various playlists that people upload. They always make me want to buy a bunch more songs!

Now playing on iTunes: Mindy Smith One Moment More. I really like this album. She does a killer version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" (great song) and even has Dolly singing backup! Okay, I just had to go to iTunes and buy Dolly's version.

Well, that's it for today.

First Post

2004-10-24T23:35:00.000-04:00

So, I've decided to start a blog. Why? Well, that's a good question. I belong to several online lists, where I'm a great lurker. In fact, I have posted notes on only one list I belong to, and that's only to answer people's questions, never to start a conversation myself. So I'm really not sure why I decided to start this blog. I don't know what I'll talk about here or what it will become. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see what develops.