Speaking of which, Showtime will introduce a social component (i.e. you need in-game friends). If anyone else is planning on getting it, let’s be Showtime friends!

(Click for big.)

I pulled over in the parking lot of a farm stand called – coincidentally enough – . . . → Read More: Geese For The Weekend]]> Every spring the huge flocks of snow geese make their annual stop here in the Skagit Valley. It’s an impressive sight, but unfortunately (as many tourists discover) it doesn’t work very well as a photograph.

(Click for big.)

I pulled over in the parking lot of a farm stand called – coincidentally enough – the Snow Goose. It was crazy windy, I had to actually lean over and push my car door open with my feet in order to extract myself from my car.

The geese were having trouble, too.

(Click here if you can’t see the video.)

It was a dramatic day, weather-wise. The skies had finally cleared, after a 36-hour downpour where we received (according to my rain gauge) 5.5 inches of rain. The sun was out, but dire clouds still threatened.

(Click for big.)

When I post pictures of Skagit Valley, people are often surprised at how flat it is here. But you can see the foothills of the Cascades in the background, shrouded by the rain clouds.

Anyway, in conversation with the store employees I mentioned my . . . → Read More: World’s Worst Scarf: Trunk Show]]> Yesterday I stopped in at Weaving Works on my way to meet friends for dinner in Seattle. Weaving Works has SO MUCH FIBER YOU GUYS IT’S AMAZING. I knew they had a lot? But I wasn’t prepared for them to have so many colors.

Anyway, in conversation with the store employees I mentioned my World’s Worst Scarf. And then I realized that I had it in the trunk* of my car. And it was just too funny not to share!

It really does feel like a bathmat.

Here it is, lounging with the pretty yarn, just like it belongs! You don’t belong! Get out, you ugly thing! I’m sorry I love you come back.

* I know they mean the “trunk” in “trunk show” like “steamer trunk,” but I always have to think about it for a second first. If you have ever been confused on that point, I have just made it worse. Ta!

In my first (only) drop spindle class, we were taught how to make an Andean Bracelet for plying. I admire the fact that this lets you ply together 100% of the yarn you have spun, without any left over.

But whenever . . . → Read More: My Awesome New Spinning Tool]]> I trust other spinners will recognize “The World’s Most Affordable Lazy Kate.”

In my first (only) drop spindle class, we were taught how to make an Andean Bracelet for plying. I admire the fact that this lets you ply together 100% of the yarn you have spun, without any left over.

But whenever I tried it, all my yarn became a terrible tangled mess.

Enter the Cardboard Box Lazy Kate. You wind your yarn off your spindle and onto a bobbin. (Here, the part of the bobbin is being played by a pair of knitting needles I never use.) Then you can simply ply away!

Also, I can now make three ply yarn, which is a concept that I find genuinely thrilling.

My big knitting surprise of 2011 is that I became smitten with that Red Heart sock yarn. It’s durable, has good . . . → Read More: Envy Socks, Complete! Thought For The Day, And Thanks]]> Last night I sat down on the couch around 9:30 PM and thought, “Okay! Let’s knit and watch some television!” And then I looked around and realized that… I had nothing to knit!

My big knitting surprise of 2011 is that I became smitten with that Red Heart sock yarn. It’s durable, has good shoe-fitting-ness, and the colors reportedly hold up well in the wash. And I bought it for only about $2.50 a ball! (2 balls required for one pair of socks.)

Thought For The Day

You know that old saw “What would you do if you weren’t afraid to fail?” I propose a variant for women: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid of not being liked?”

Thanks

I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who responded to my poll last week, both by voting and by leaving a comment. I was genuinely surprised at how the numbers were distributed across responses.

Just goes to show you, “everyone” has a lot of varied opinions!

The pattern is easy, but that didn’t prevent me from messing it up several times. How hard can it be to just do “slip, purl, slip, purl”? Pretty hard sometimes, I guess.

You might be tempted to stop before you reach . . . → Read More: Honey Cowl, Complete]]> I really like what the Honey Cowl pattern does with a multi-colored yarn.

The pattern is easy, but that didn’t prevent me from messing it up several times. How hard can it be to just do “slip, purl, slip, purl”? Pretty hard sometimes, I guess.

You might be tempted to stop before you reach the full 12 inches of height, but don’t. It puddles around on your neck. I’m glad I knit the whole thing, several people have told me they stopped short and they regret it.

I love the mock seam that happens when you do garter stitch in the round!

Isn’t it funny how different the two “sides” look?

And best of all… it’s another skein of sock yarn used up from my stash!

Updated with a link to the pattern. I made the smaller version, because I only had one skein of yarn.

That egg-shaped head! Those trout pout lips! THE EYEBROWS.

Well, it was time for him to start working towards his ultimate goal of reaching the top of the Politics career . . . → Read More: Sims Sunday: The Campaign Trail]]> Look, I know I should love all my Sims equally – and I do – but DAMN, little Dallas is SO UGLY.

That egg-shaped head! Those trout pout lips! THE EYEBROWS.

Well, it was time for him to start working towards his ultimate goal of reaching the top of the Politics career ladder. I decided to choose a look that was a little more “presidential.”

Hair by Harry Potter; outfit by Alex P. Keaton. And look, the greedy little monster is thinking about gems! It’s a good start to his burgeoning political career.

Time for Butters to die. Sad. He looks surprised that he just died.

“Why am I see-through?”

Butters begs for his life while his son wails in grief.

In order to climb the Political ladder, you need to have a lot of friends. Which is kind of a problem, because our town is experiencing a real lack of children. For example, Dallas is apparently the only kid enrolled in grade school.

Soon enough he was a teenager, with access to way better outfits and hairstyles.

Still ugly, though… although I did fix his eyebrows.

Speaking of ugly things, look at this ugly-ass cat the game coughed up! What color is that? “Liquid Concealer Make-Up”?

It’s cute that he’s thinking about a teddy bear, though.

Time to make friends! I picked this lady for him to befriend first. She’s a knock-out, right?

Unfortunately she didn’t seem to care for Dallas. And he stayed late at her house, and the cops came to get him, and he got in big trouble.

That is going on your PERMANENT RECORD, mister!

Finally he was nearly finished with high school, and it was time for prom night. So dapper!

While he was gone, Coreopsis got old and also hungry, and she drank a Plasma Juice juice box, which is only supposed to be for vampires.

I don’t know how she got hold of it, but I knew what would happen next.

Ha ha! Old lady barf!

While at the prom, Dallas pledged his undying love to a girl named Kathryn Irvin, who we hadn’t met before. I invited her over the next day to have a look.

Okay… honestly, I think she has the potential to be pretty cute, but it’s hard to see past that OUTFIT.

It’s nice to have a “Just add water, no assembly required” romantic relationship all lined up, though! I hope their kids take after their mama.

Anyway, I took two more pictures outside with a potted plant for scale. Even though it was drizzly and the light was weird and made everything look unreal.

Here you . . . → Read More: Twine Cowl: Technical Pics]]> A few people mentioned having trouble visualizing the construction of the Twine cowl. Which is funny, because I thought it was just me!

Anyway, I took two more pictures outside with a potted plant for scale. Even though it was drizzly and the light was weird and made everything look unreal.

Here you can see how the individual pieces are linked together. Like one of those puzzle rings, or a Celtic knot.

Pick them all up together, and they collapse into one big snuggly ring.

I made my pieces a little bit longer than the pattern specified. And I regret it. Next time I would want to make them either the correct (shorter) length, or even longer so that you can double it over.

I might also experiment with doing all the pieces in the same color yarn. Although that might lose some of the sculptural quality, and being able to see the separate pieces.

Some of what I have created is, in my estimation, “remarkably yarn-like.”

Other bits of it are not.

Oh, . . . → Read More: Spinning Update/More Cat Pandering]]> I have been trying to spin a little bit every day, usually only half an hour or so. It’s difficult, and not just because I have no upper arm strength and now my shoulders hurt.

Some of what I have created is, in my estimation, “remarkably yarn-like.”

Other bits of it are not.

Oh, I’m sorry, am I in your way, darling?

“Put my window cushions back where they belong and GTFO, human.”