Bill G. of Massachusetts won the Handknit Habitat Gallifrey 2012 Scarf Raffle...

and happy Handknit Habitat customers loved their new TARDIS caps...

...what will happen THIS year at Gallifrey 2013...???

As we eagerly await Gallifrey 2013 (the largest Dr. Who convention in North America!), I wanted to share a quote from a fan I found on a forum about the latest Dr. Who series -- I think it sums up the actors' portrayals quite well:

"Personally, I thought Christopher Eccleston was very good, but he was outshone by David Tennant, who himself was later outshone by Matt Smith. That's not to say that the latter two are better actors (they're not), but they just fit the role much better than Eccleston did. I enjoyed watching Eccleston, but I just didn't feel as though I was watching Doctor Who. Tennant was better, but still too human for my tastes. For my money, Smith has nailed it - he has the perfect combination of silliness and seriousness, and it never feels jarring when he switches between them the way it seemed when Tennant did it.

I would have liked to see more of Eccleston, though. I think that my opinion of his series was brought down by a few appalling episodes (the weak Aliens of London and the horrifyingly awful Bad Wolf did much to dispel the good will that was brought in by the wonderful Empty Child and Fathers' Day), but then every series has had its share of duds so far, so it would be inconsistent to hold it against them. "

Readers: do you agree or disagree? Who is your favorite Dr. Who? I love Matt Smith but my heart will always skip a beat for my first Doctor --Tom Baker!

(Hardcore Whovians: test your knowledge of the Dr. Who universe here!)

[Image credit: Wikipedia]

...and here's more great news for Dr. Who fans!!!

Gallifrey 2013 (Feb 15-17) celebrates the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who! And just in time for the celebration...

"NASA has confirmed the existence of a real-universe analogue of Gallifrey, the fictional Time Lord
planet that features in the BBC science-fiction drama series, Doctor Who. According to an article in the Register, NASA came across what it calls a “transiting circumbinary multi-planet system” – in layman’s speak, “two worlds orbiting two suns” – using its Kepler planet-hunting telescope, and the Register likens to “Doctor Who’s Time Lord homeworld [of] Gallifrey – or alternatively the luxury-planet-builders’ planet Magrathea [from] The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy”! The Register reports the lead author of the study, Jerome Orosz – associate professor of astronomy at San Diego State University – as saying, “Each planet transits over the primary star, giving unambiguous evidence that the planets are real.”

Digital Journal's Andrew Moran first reported on the discovery in January of this year, but the full study report has now been accepted by and published in Science. The new system, which has been named Kepler 47, has two stars circling each other every 7.5 days. One of them is similar in size to our sun, whereas the other is approximately one third its size. The inner planet – Kepler-47b – is three times the size of our world, making it the smallest known transiting circumbinary planet, and it orbits the stars every 49 days. The second – Kepler-47c – lies in the habitable zone around the two suns.

The Register goes on to state that Kepler-47c is “slightly larger than Uranus and circles its stars every 303 days, making it the longest transiting planet currently known. The whole system lies about 5,000 light years away in the Cygnus constellation”. The full report of NASA's twin-system discovery is published in Science.

Fictional worlds: The fictional Time Lord planet of Gallifrey resides in a binary star system within the constellation of Kasterborous. Although Doctor Who began in 1963, the name of the Doctor’s home planet was not revealed until his second regeneration in the ten-part story The War Games (1969). Since then, exiled from his own people, the Doctor has returned to Gallifrey on only a few occasions – The Deadly Assassin (1976) The Invasion of Time (1978), Arc of Infinity (1983) and The Five Doctors (1983). During the Time War, Gallifrey was time-locked and has only featured fully once since 2005, in David Tennant’s swansong as the Doctor, The End of Time (2010). "

Source: Digital Journal

I found a wonderful quote on the Etsy blog the other day, that sums up how I feel about the spirit behind Handknit Habitat...

"Humor and wit are like a kind of leadership. We see models of leadership like that in animals. For example, wolf culture is not based on dominance as was once thought. We know now that the alpha wolf is the charismatic one who invites everyone in the pack into creative play. And you can identify an alpha wolf within 10 days of birth because it is the cub in the litter with the lowest resting heart rate. The calmest, coolest wolf turns out to be the most charismatic, the most fun. It’s the opposite of road rage. This says, “No, thank you,” to models of leadership and influence based on authority and empire-building. They bring out the creative spirit. It’s the spirit of “Woof, woof, want to play?”

--Caroline Casey

[Image Credit: Wolf Kingdom]

American Express had a fun marketing strategy for its card a few years ago that I started thinking
about as a way to focus on my goals for the new year.  Remember this...?

Name: Carla Cain

Childhood ambition: Knitwear Designer; Science Fiction Writer

Fondest memory: Fishing trips with Dad

Soundtrack: Chicago, “Beginnings”

Retreat: At home, knitting and watching 50’s sci-fi movies and/or romantic comedies.

Wildest dream: Surfing in Fiji.

Proudest moment: Climbing the waterfall with the boys at Camp Wildwood when I was 11 .

Biggest challenge: Learning how to be a successful entrepreneur.

Alarm clock: The sun.

Perfect day: Any day on the beach in Baja.

First job: writer for a children’s magazine called Young People Today at age 13 .

Indulgence: Good food.

Last purchase: Yarn

Favorite movie(s): Star Wars; Diva; Room with a View; Ladyhawke; The Fifth Element

Inspiration: the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars

My life: ...is good!

My card: Cash

My inspiration? Adventure, optimism, navigating an unconventional path, a dreamer looking for more creativity and freedom. How about you? Where have you been, where are you headed, and how can you use your past to mold a better future?

Wow--it's 2013, really...? That means it's been 25 years since this photo was taken back in college:

...that's me in the black sequins and pearls, standing next to the girl in the hot pink dress. We were all dressed up for a holiday party and I do remember that we had a great time!  Hope you had a great time this new year's eve and that your 2013 will be absolutely fabulous...

 Auld Lang Syne is a poem written in 1788 by Robert Burns.   It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world, its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the new year at the stroke of midnight. By extension, it is also sung at funerals, graduations andas a farewell or ending to other occasions. The song's  title may be translated into English literallyas "old long since", or more idiomatically, "long long ago", "days gone by" or "old times". Consequently "For auld lang syne"  might be loosely translated as "for (the sake of) old times".

[Source: Wikipedia]

It's done!

...I love it, even with all its glitches...

...and overall I think it came out pretty good. The weather here in L.A. is cold and rainy so I'll be wearing it with pride. To all my fellow Angelenos: honk if you happen to see me and my h@t!

I had such a great time at KnitCulture yarn store here in LA when I got to take a course  from a famous knitting designer,  Mel Clark! Mel used to own Wildfiber Yarns in Santa Monica and she has 2 knitting books out:

Knit 2 Together

and the book our pattern (called "The H@t")  is from,Knitting Everyday Finery:

 ...and a third one on the way (woohoo!). Over 2 Saturdays in November Mel taught us the difference between Fair Isle and stranded knitting, then patiently showed us how knit with 2 colors (stranded) to make our h@ts. The finished h@t looks like this:

...but right now mine looks like this:

I created a "cheat sheet" to help myself keep track of the pattern by writing out all the color changes on a note pad. And stitch markers between pattern repeats really help me keep track as well. The striped part of the hat is the contrasting lining of the hat that will be popped in after the top is done:

I will have to re-work the crown of the lining (the gray/pink/blue section at the bottom in the photo), but for right now it serves as a great little sack to hold my working yarn till I finish the H@t! After several attempts I finally got the design right and I've developed a good rhythm for working with 2 yarns so I am confident that the finished product will turn out great. More pics to come when I'm done!