Monday, December 27

So ...

Yeah, I've been AWOL for a few months. My life is just not that exciting. Oh, I have lots of opinions I could share, but aren't there enough screaming heads blogging out there just now? Most of them aren't even literate let alone articulate, and that's just the people on my side of the aisle.

But my blog's been vacant too long, so here's some stuff ...


Finished crocheting this sweater about a month ago. It's made with Simply Shetland's Silk & Lambswool, a big favorite of mine. It's called Stepping Stones, by Kristin Omdahl, and can be found in the Fall, 2008 edition of Interweave Crochet, if you are interested. A slightly complicated start, but the top-down style means no seams to sew which makes it a lot easier than it looks.

Let's see ... Christmas was this past weekend. We got into a discussion of movies on Christmas Eve and boy is my cousin, we'll call him J, ever down on True Grit. I never knew J was such a fan of John Wayne, but he's taking the remake as an affront to the Duke's honor. It was pretty funny. Ordinarily I share his opinion of remakes ... why? Why remake something that's already a classic? Let's face it, they usually ruin them. However, they've done something right with this one, I think, in that they cast Jeff Bridges, who is not one of the new pretty boys. He's got acting chops, having been around for something like 30 years, so he just might do it justice.

I also made a few scarves as gifts, but due to the last minute crunch to get them finished (They were finished a while ago, okay? I just, er, forgot ... yes, that's right, I forgot to weave in ends and do the blocking and other boring stuff until the day before Christmas Eve.) they weren't camera ready until it was too late and I was too tired. But I do still have this scarf and mitten set, mostly because I made it for myself, heh. Oh, I did get a picture of this collar thingie I made for my niece. It's intended to dress up a tshirt or tank top.

What else? Well, I decided how to best make use of my new Kindle, with which I was gifted. Since I love to read, it was never a question of whether I'd use it. However, as nifty as e-books are, unless they are public domain, i.e., the author has been dead a long time, they still cost you something to buy, which is why I get a lot of books from the library; and since I know I'll still need to purchase hard copies of my usual keepers, I wasn't sure where e-reading would fit in. I got to thinking about the kinds of things I'm interested in reading, but don't usually want to buy. Magazines and nonfiction books top that list, so I went hunting and came up with The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain, because I like science stuff. And I have it say, it's a winner. The folks at Scientific American have been doing this kind of thing for a very long time so they know how to make science stuff accessible to us non-scientist types without dumbing it down, all the while showing you how relevant science is to your life. It touches on things like Alzheimer's and autism, but it also discusses why men don't like to consult maps while women navigate best via landmarks; why you'll know your car keys when you seem them, even if they aren't where you expected them to be; why so many of us aren't morning people; why a word might be at the tip of your tongue but not at the top of your brain; and a whole slew of other interesting questions. If you enjoy learning something new, I can recommend this one. With or without the Kindle.
And that'll have to keep you until the next time ...