Thoughts for 05/16/07

I wish I could knit faster. I wish I could knit faster!!! I'm making very slow progress in everything I'm trying to work on. :-( I've got some deadlines to meet and wish I had Hermione's Time Turner. Thanks Grace for the great advice, I had forgotten about that possibility. It's so obvious after you mentioned it. BTW, I haven't had time lately to keep up with Elann/blogs, but will try to do so soon; I hope things are improving in your neck of the woods.

I wish I could read faster. I wish I could read faster!!! I'm way behind in all the blogs and things I want to read in Internet Land. And I'm not doing any better in the book dept. I am on Chapter 5 (pg 46) of The Ice House by Minette Walters which I started a month or so ago.

I wish I had the will power to organize all the photos I've been meaning to go through. They're all of M. I've been meaning to post them on my other blog which is for the in-laws to see, since I wanted to be able to add commentaries on photos so they would understand the context, etc. It's also supposed to keep them informed about what is going on in M's world. But they don't visit the blog often (or at all); DH says they don't bother because it's just more English they'll have to read. So now I'm even less motivated to post photos of M in a more timely manner.

The ladies at the SF International Airport are trying to organize another get together. We had lots of fun at our last meeting. They were considering May 18, June 1, June 8, or June 15. Not sure which date it will be, but I'm guessing it probably won't be this Friday... perhaps I should go check my email. Since these dates are all Fridays, I have a higher chance of being able to attend... we probably won't be rushing over to meet with our Realtor to sign offer papers on a Friday. Most offers are due on Tuesdays, but we have also seen them due on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The current house we're bidding on are looking at offers on Thurs.

One of my readers informed me that my Quicksharing link to the Chessboard hat was not working, so I have fixed it by reuploading the file and fixing the link to the file. I guess I should periodically ping all the links to make sure they still work.

I've been having intermittent computer problems and am currently in the process of ~~~ gosh, should I even mention it here? will my poor laptop sense what I am typing and retaliate? ~~~ upgrading to a pre-owned IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad T60. It's not that I don't like my Sony Vaio PCG-GRV680, but I have been experiencing some problems for a while and it is definitely getting worse. My laptop keeps dropping to battery power, I jiggle the cord to get it back to AC power, and seconds later it drops back to battery power. It's very frustrating. It doesn't matter which AC adapter I use (I have two), so I'm guessing there is something going on where the cord connects into the laptop. And no, I am not going to get the motherboard replaced to see if that solves the problem.

The Thinkpad will be a refreshing change as it is light enough to lift with one hand. The Sony weighed a ton and had to be carried with two hands.... probably a slight side effect of having a 16" screen too. The Thinkpad has a smaller 14" screen and is much slimmer. The Thinkpad also has a much quieter fan.

Upgrading to another computer is never as straight forward as one would think. We installed WinXP, a gazillion security patches, a bunch of extra IBM stuff, and then configured wireless before it went kablooie and wouldn't reboot again. So it is back to square one...

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Sarebear wrote: I love the sims! I have the sims 2 though, is yours 1 or 2? We could trade houses!

I was addicted to The Sims 1 -- before baby -- and had spent many hours glued to my computer. I associate Bath & Body Works White Tea & Ginger lotion with The Sims because it is one of my favorite scented lotions and I used to use it a lot back when I played The Sims. I have all the expansion packs and still haven't tapped into all the features or tried everything. I'm still playing it "as is", that is, I haven't downloaded/installed any 3rd party hacks/objects/etc. I am looking forward to playing The Sims 2 after I have exhausted The Sims 1. There are two reasons for waiting.... (1) I don't have time right now (side effect of having DD) and (2) I'm not sure whether I will buy the PC version or Mac version.

How do you trade houses? I didn't know you could do that.

Joan wrote: You need a bigger cord. I use Knitpicks so can change out the cords as I go along.

I was looking at the KnitPicks Options set (which I assume is what you were referring to) and it says it comes with 24" and 32" length cords. How do you get the longer length? Can you connect two cords together? I'm warming up to getting one of these sets (how does it compare to the Denise?), but I think what I would really want is more needle tips of the same size, and the set sounds like it comes with only one of each size.

I think 40" in US7 is the longest needle I own right now; I bought that to work on Marisa's baby blanket. Never thought I'd ever need anything longer, but you're right, I'll probably want a 60" cord someday, lol, especially now that I seem to have caught the shawl bug.

You mentioned that my Luna Moth Shawl in Red Maple HW looked a little pink. That's probably because I can't take photos that show a yarn's true color. I can send you some of the Red Maple if you want to see what it looks like. (The colors on Elann don't show up accurately on my screen)

Sandra D wrote: Wow, that IS some sticker shock to me. Houses go for a fraction of that here, especially with many moving out-of-state to where the jobs are.

I bet they're moving to Silicon Valley, lol. It's sad when I think about how we can buy a way more affordable house -- and a much larger one too! -- almost anywhere else in the United States, and might even get away with paying the full amount upfront or getting a very minimal loan. Of course sometimes I think we could live like Kings (or Queens) in another country ... :-)

I can only imagine how stressful it must have been for you to move house. I'm hoping we can move house before having #2. I'd be too stressed out trying to do both simultaneously.

Wow, I had never heard of someone taking a photo of a real object (in your case, a lamp) and somehow importing it into The Sims. Now that's way too complicated for me! lol.

No, I am not using end stoppers. I suppose I should get some, huh? :-) I'll have to see whether I can make it out to a Joanns/Michaels with M in tow, but I'll probably order some online for the convenience... besides, I'm itching to buy some more Highland Wool. I haven't looked yet, but surely they must sell end stoppers too...

Benne wrote: When my girls were little, I always said I wanted the inside of the house to be rubberized with big floor drains so I could hose it out. ;-}

LOL! When M was a newborn -- when she was just an eating/sleeping/pooping-machine -- Jim told me to put her in a plastic bag and poke a hole. Now that M is older, I love love love your idea, it is exactly what I need in my house!!!

Lisa wrote: Last night at hospital one of the nurses I taught to knit last year decided she's ready to do cables and when i showed her your site and the 3AM Cable Hat, she downloaded it for her first cable project. Look at your influence on knitters as far away as Alaska!

That's so cool that you're teaching others to knit. Thinking back on all the people I have worked with, I can't imagine any of them knitting or wanting to learn how to knit. I hope the nurse has fun knitting the hat, it's really pretty easy to knit, and I bet it helps knowing that she has you to turn to when she has any questions.

Trish wrote: Do you have any balls left? It's hard to believe that scarf could use 800 yards. I have some weighing to do with that Marly.

I still have no idea how much yardage I used for the Ariel Hat or Scarf. I used 6 balls for the scarf, and less than 3 balls for the at, so I must have 1 ball plus some scraps left of Marly (since I started out with 10 balls).

How do you figure out yardage by weighing yarn?

Beverly has made some beautiful chemo caps. I will post the photos soon so y'all can see. And Kelley sent me a photo of her Vine Lace Cloth, which I will be posting soon also. Sorry ladies, I meant to move on these sooner, unfortunately I'm just currently moving slowly -- more slowly than usual, lol -- in all aspects of my life right now.

TracyKM wrote: I like making it straight across the top (you'll have to graft one 'half' to the other 'half') and add a pompom or tassel to each corner.

I had never thought of doing that. I imagine that would be cute for a kids hat. I'd have to figure out how to make a pompom. Never made one of those before. But I'm gonna have to figure it out on the sooner side since I'm planning on making a Jayne Cobb hat for a Firefly fan.

Pheelya wrote: What book it that in the background??

It's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker.

Bets wrote: Are you using all the child names/dog names you like, so your next mouths to feed can have names like Ken or Rover? ;-)

Ariel is a name of a planet in Joss Whedon's Firefly.

Rhoda wrote: Are you guys willing to move outside of SF or is it still too high?

We're trying to move closer to where DH works so he doesn't have to spend an hour commuting in each direction (there have been times when it took him 1 hr 40 min to get home). That time could be better spent by living closer, getting home earlier, and spending more quality time with family. :-) Unfortunately there's the higher cost of living close to work. Living in the "outer" East Bay would probably be more affordable, but that does not improve his commute.



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