Damnation! CSTS Reminder and I am totally Smitten with....

"Damnation"is one of my favored pseudo expletives.

I am applying it here in relation to the"Big Damn Heroes" of Firefly/Serenity and my recent addiction to "The Piano Guys"music.

CSTS = "Can't Stop the Serenity" Event by the Arizona Browncoats Group. 
I posted a blog about the Phoenix and Tucson "Can't Stop the Serenity" event a couple of months ago. The time is nigh for the Tucson event (Phoenix had theirs earlier this week).
This coming weekend, 6 PM at the Fox Theater downtown Tucson.
It'll be quite the Shindig. Come along if you've a mind to.  

"The Piano Guys" = music that is taking over my "Top 25 Most Played" list on my iTouch. 
 I posted a blog with 3 links to spiffy videos/music from "The Piano Guys" about 10 days ago.

One of the tracks on their album (#3 specifically) has become a Happy-chair-dance addiction for me. Ok, I tap my feet and dance a bit to this no matter where I am (and I don't dance).
It Works for me. Makes me smile, cry (generally happy tears), tap feet/fingers, chair-dance, miss folks that have passed on....it certainly catches me emotionally.
Per iTunes, I've listened to this 108 times in the last 12 days. (Yeah, what iTunes doesn't know is that most of those plays happened in the last 3 days...and then there's all the times I've listened to the video on YouTube).

There's a few songs that affect me that way. I should track them down to inflict them upon the blog. It would be very interesting to see if that music affect others that way too. Let me know what you think!

Anyway, this is "The Piano Guys" cover of "Without You".
I've heard the original by David Guetta/Usher a few times and it is quite nice. But it's not this combination of piano, cello, vocals, percussion, and .... - yeah, I'll stop typing.    Go listen.
Pick up the album if you've a mind to. ;-)

Note - as confessed my blog post of t'other week, I'm still pretty smitten with "The Cello Song", but it hasn't crested the "25 Most Played" list. Yet.

Have a lovely week.
(Yep, I'm still listening to "Without You" and my right foot is a-tapp'n.)
(Pssst - you can also become a Founder's Club Member for "The Piano Guys".)

The Best $4.00 Cat Toy Ever (well, what's left of it...)

A few years ago, I was at Wally-world picking up kitty litter, and I also picked up an inexpensive kitty toy.

A pop-up play cube. Purple.
Made of that paper-plastic fabric.
For 4 bucks.
I bought it and brought it home for the fur-balls to inspect.

They loved it.

• The purple cube has often been used as the starting point for the evening "Happy Feet" cat dash around the house. 
• And as the "I'm invisible" place. 
• The purple cube mysteriously travels from the dining room to be found parked the kitchen or partway down the hallway (a near-heart-stopping surprise for me when I'm crossing the house in the middle of the night). 
• It is not bad for storing kitty-toys, but the toys do tend to escape from the multiple cube entrances. 
• It's not great in the traditional "King of the Hill" skirmish but the intention and victory is unmistakable.
• The Pilobolus-esque kitty toy can be clawed to wrap around the feline hiding inside to create something resembling modern art. 
• Best of all, it is an excellent place from which to launch a variety of paw-reaching ambushes on passing fur-brothers or Mom's bare toes.
• The ultimate ambush involves the passer-by being literally attacked by the flying, cat-infested cube.

However, in the past few months, the cube began to show some wear and tear. 

 

In the last year, CooPurr had especially adopted it as his favorite play-toy and loitering spot. 

His tail doesn't usually make it inside the cube.

"I see you, Mom".

Can you see his eyes? {grin}

 Sometimes Gryphon or Mikale would take a turn...although rarely Nikoli. Hmm.

It had been played with, sat in and upon, dashed into/out of, worn during the dash, clawed, (cleaned a few times), punctured, and shed upon and it was looking a bit, uh, ventilated. 

So the other week, we visited Wally-world and found...they still carried the pop-up cubes. 

We picked out another purple one, brought it home, popped it up, and watched. 

Yep, CooPurr was first in. 

We put the old and the new side by side.

CooPurr checked out the feel of the new cube...

Hmmmm...but the old haunt looks pretty cozy...

Yep, he crossed back into the old cube. 

And Mikale hopped into the new cube. 

 The next morning, they revisited their evening cube-positions.

The old cube stayed a few more weeks.
It continued to be a favorite play toy...until it was so "well-loved" that it had to be permanently retired.

I think this wins, paws down, as the best $4.00 Cat Toy Ever. 

More Shared Video Joy and Giggles

Just a quick post to share out fun stuff I've lately tripped over on the Internet.

I noted a previous admiration for Matt Harding of "Where the Hell is Matt" fame in an earlier "Shared Video Joy" blog post. 

I smile and cry and giggle over his videos, which I think demonstrates "Shared Joy" at it's best. 

Yep, he has another video out - you can view the 2012 Where the Hell is Matt shared dance joy on his website (along with the previous year's videos) or on the teeny version in this post (thank you YouTube and Blogger): 

I've also recently become smitten with The Piano Guys. 

Someone had "pinned" one of their videos on Pinterest and I was charmed and tracked the video back to The Piano Guys YouTube site. I found I was already  familiar with one of the members. I had some Jon Schmidt music, having been introduced via a favored podcast (apologies, I can't remember if it was "Sticks and String" or "Cast On"). 

These 5 gents are "The Piano Guys": Jon Schmidt, Steven Nelson, Paul Anderson, Tel Stewart, and Al Van Der Beek. (All visible and displaying their talents in the 2nd video I embedded below.)

Clever, funny, extremely talented, and with some terrific arrangements, I watched all the videos I could find and happily bought the music.

This one is probably my favorite. I've listened to it dozens of times, shared out the videos via Pinterest, Twitter, and now here on my blog: "The Cello Song".

This one cleverly shows how a piano is a percussion instrument beyond the expected keyboard use but they also use it as a string instrument: "What Makes You Beautiful".

Love the sense of Humor AND the music: "Me and My Cello - Happy Together".

I'll stop now, but I suggest you go explore their music and videos. More smiles, heart, and musical charm can be found in "Paradise (Peponi) African Style", "The Charlie Brown Medley", "Cello Wars" and "Bourne Vivaldi". 

Ok, ok, I'm stopping with the Piano Guys linking. Can't help it - soooo much good music!

Two more links: 

Trekkies - go have a gander at "Star Trek Continues" and at who is doing the continue-ing.

And lastly, More Simon's Cat videos are up. 

I'm gonna go knit/walk on the treadmill for bit whilst you explore YouTube -n-such. 

Have a good evening. 

When Cake Decorating Meets Home Repair

Outside:
The DH was inspired to do some "Handyman" duty yesterday and he went back this AM to finish the job.

The brick edging at the bottom of our front window has some loose spots.
(The "stable" bricks appear to be mostly stabilized by the wrought iron security window covering we had installed a long while ago. (Wrought Iron Window covering = rock repellent. But that's another story)).

Yesterday, he pulled out the loose mortar and a few of the bricks and re-inserted them with new mortar/filling, propping them up with other bricks to dry overnight.

Today he went out to fill gaps between the bricks.

I peeked out shortly after and asked how it was going. Seems the mortar-stuff in the caulk gun was too thin and he was attempting to push mortar in between the bricks with a putty knife.

I pondered this and noted he could probably insert the mortar-stuff pretty easily using a cake decorating bag. He liked the idea and asked if I had an old one I'd be willing to donate to the cause. I offered to make him one but then noted we could use a baggie. He agreed with the idea and I went off to collect supplies.

We started out with a regular sandwich baggie. That worked fine but it surprised us with a wee hole in the side when my left hand was instantly gooped up with gray sandy stuff.

I covered the hole with a fingertip, finished the gap I was filling, and then went inside for a thicker, freezer bag.

Mo'betta. I filled the gap, tamped it down a little with the putty knife, and filled it some more.

We'll see if it works.

Inside:
We could tell we were being watched by some furry person(s) inside by the movement of the window blinds.
I came inside to cleanup and found Gryphon had taken up an excellent home-repair view point from the top of this kitty condo.

Yeah, it's a bit less sturdy than I'd like and I've sewn it back together in spots. It came with the Ginger Cats (Mikale & Nikoli) when we adopted them. All the cats take turns using it for playing, bathing (Gryphon's taking a bath in it right now and it's making me uneasy watching it swaying back and forth with his cleaning strokes), bird watching, sleeping, king-of-the-hill skirmishes...

Anyway, the fierce black cat looking all cute, soft, and strikingly colored against the red kitty condo inspired a few more pictures:

The DH walked by outside just then...

Slightly blurry picture but it shows off Gryphon's Green-y eyes. 

Forget you, I'm going to take a nap.

Settling in for a nap made him all the more irresistible and I stepped up to pet the cuteness.

  

But I smelled "interesting" after the outside home-improvement so I just got sniffed over.

Later, I was loading pictures to create this blog and I was overwhelmed by the sight of the snoozing Gryphon with his paws and tail collected at one corner of the kitty condo.
Yep, I got up to take more pictures.
(The blog can always use more kitty-pictures, right?)

His ears clearly state "What - you're back?"

See - 4 paws and a tail.

(Black cats show lint really well, huh?)

When I couldn't resist petting his toes just a little, he shuffled around but accepted some pets on his head and went back to sleep.

May all your Sunday tasks go well - even if it's a cat-nap.

Want to send a hug to Heather? Knitterly/Literary goodies available!

If you've visited my blog before, you've probably heard tell of my various educational and knitterly adventures with Heather Ordover of the CraftLit PodCast.

To quote meself:

"Heather is the mastermind behind CraftLit - and - "What Would Madam Defarge Knit"!

She is also one of my favorite teachers and introduced me to Goodreads, moebius knitting, Cat Bordhi (live and in person), and she was the first knitterati to sign the SS09 Sock Blocker! 

She visited Tucson briefly in December and offered to teach the Plaited Edge from the Paivatar Sock (her socks gracing the cover Knitting Socks from Around the World!) at Kiwi Knitting."

I've spent hours and hours enjoying the Craftlit Podcast as she discusses her crafting and the books she features on the podcast. (She is the best English Lit teacher I've ever had!)
I've also been lucky enough to spend some lovely afternoons knitting and chatting with Heather. She is an excellent writer, teacher and one of the most amazing souls I've ever met.
To quote Mr. Spock: "Fascinating". ;-)

In my opinion, she's also a terrific Mom.
To quote her,"The Short of it

My son needs surgery.

Not planned surgery but that kind of kick-in-the-gut surprise surgery that is halfway between, sure okay and It’s An Emergency."

Here is the full article and longer explanation, "The Short of It", where she explains the variety of Knitterly, Literary, or goodies-in-general that you can purchase to support her livelihood and her family at this challenging time. 

I have read (and knitted from) the first "What would Madam Defarge Knit" book. 

A month or so ago, I pre-ordered the "What Else Would Madam DeFarge Knit" Book. 

Yep, it's that spiffy.

I'm looking into the opportunity to take the virtual version of Heather's Sock Heel Classes (I'd missed out taking it at the 2009 Sock Summit)! But then, I've also been considering reading Andrew Ordover's Book, "Cool for Cats". So many choices!

Please - go read Heather's "The Short of It" post. 

Consider treating yourself or a loved one to a book, knitterly adventures, educational opportunities - there are a variety of options in the post to send Heather a hug. 

My Thanks to you for reading and considering my blog post/request. 

Blessing be to you and yours. And to Heather and her Family. Hugs!

The last thing I blocked was a Bookmark

Yep, lots to learn.
The last thing I really blocked, T-pins and all, was some lace bookmarks I'd knitted.

(That was also the day I learned that Gryphon has "Magpie" tendencies. He walked up, looked over what I was doing, took a sniff, gently grasped a T-pin in his mouth, pulled it out and turned to leave with it. I was a bit astounded (and impressed) with his chutzpah, but I grabbed him firmly and relieved him of the sharp, pointy thing. {sigh}).

I've mentioned before I inherited this yarn. A friend travelled back East to visit family and came back with 2 skeins of Gentle Breeze Alpaca yarn indicating that I was gifted with the opportunity to do some knitting with her cousin's alpaca handspun.
By the way - the yarn is blended from three alpacas: Alagash, Harpo, and Caesar. (I love that the spinner noted from whence the fibre came!)

I was a bit boggled. I hadn't knit with handspun before and the looseness of the twist confounded me. I contacted the cousin and she indicated she'd like a scarf knit from the yarn.

I contacted spinning friends for pattern suggestions and began exploring Raverly for scarf pattern options. I tried multiple patterns, swatching several times. I even started the scarf on a few patterns but ripped back when it didn't seem to work well with the yarn and my knitting expectations.

I finally settled on the June is for Jag pattern by Lorena Haldeman, but it came out huge in this yarn. So I modified the pattern, casting on fewer stitches and tweaking the edging. And I liked the outcome.
I worked on it on and off throughout last year and finished it at a retreat earlier this year.

I then turned my mind to the 2nd skein of yarn. Another scarf?
Honestly, my first thought when I'd seen the yarn for the very 1st time was: "Cowl".
Another perusal of Raverly and I settled pretty quickly on the Squishy Cowl by Thayer Preece.

I swatched and then decided to log the cowl project as one of my Ravellenic projects. And I carried it with me to a quilt show and cast on a while after the Olympic Opening Ceremonies had started.
I was beyond pleased...the Squishy Cowl pattern is perfect for this yarn.
It was a quick knit and I finished it the next day.

Today, I blocked both projects with an eye to getting them shipped back East to the spinner of the yarn.
I put both pieces into cool water with a teeny bit of soap and left them to soak for a bit. Later I pulled them out, did a general squish to remove the bulk of the drippy-ness, and rolled them up in towels to remove even more of the water.
Because Gryphon is much more sneaky (and faster) than I am, I did the blocking outside. ;-)

Sadly, I noticed that I proved I was human near one end of the scarf...it's missing a purl bump ridge. {rats}. But blocking has been achieved.
Now to ship!

Less Trash and more Updates

More to recycle in Tucson = "Less Trash". Excellent!!

A year or so ago, our curbside recycling was expanded to handle rigid plastics like ice chests, 5-gallon tubs, and old plastic lawn chairs. Larger stuff that I'm Very tickled will not be laying about in the landfills for centuries.
A few weeks ago, we received a notice from the city that they were expanding the types of recyclables that could be handled via curbside recycling.
Excepting plastic bags, basically the new rule is "If it’s plastic, recycle it.".

Alllll recycle numbers of plastic are accepted now!


 Oh, plastic bags? A few years ago, several Grocery stores in Arizona began collecting all manner of plastic bags and shrink wrap.
I was pleased to find this website associated with our City Recycling that offers guidance on how to dispose of pretty much anything - via curbside recycling, hazardous waste, or donating reusable goods to various organizations.
We're doing better.

Updates: The Little Brother (Diabetes Update).
The Little Brother is also doing better! He's back to work, he's walking better, and slowly gaining strength. He has hair on his legs again {wry grin} - the body tends to shut down "unnecessary" systems when under stress. That his legs are hairy again is a very good thing. Recent doctor appointments indicate his eyes are responding well to the treatments and his endocrinologist recently lowered his insulin doses. Pret-ty darn good!

Updates: Los Gatos
The monster cats are doing well, although they seem to be putting on some (more) weight.

(Due to food-bowl grazing or are they preparing for winter??) {sigh}
We changed their food to the "7 years +" version (Gryphon still has access to the "under 7" version). They seem to have adapted well and are spending more time streaking around the house with kitty-happy-feet and then snoozing in very charming positions.

Mikale and Nikoli win paws down for sleeping in interesting positions. 

Gryphon, uh, testing how well this paper bag is constructed.

CooPurr...More happy-feet moments and several instances
 where he looks a lot like a cat-calendar model. ;-)

Updates:

Meself - health.
"Life Happens". The stuff found in the annual mammogram was removed this last week. It seems I did pretty well with anesthesia (no real nausea) so the biggest challenge was my profound fear that I wouldn't wake up and the DH would be left with a ridiculous amount of yarn and books to dispose of.   I'm a bit tender, still waiting for the final biopsy results, catching up on some stuff I taped last year, and doing some knitting.

Meself - knitting.
As previously noted, I had some challenges during the Ravellenic games.
The Little Brother's Tardis Socks are pending the arrival of the new yarn. {sigh}

I did earn a few Ravellenic Medals.
Also as previously noted, I did finish my first Ravellenic project, The Squishy Cowl.

My 3rd Ravellenic project was also completed - the Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) by Elizabeth Zimmerman.
Although, I must confess that for all the ripping/tinking I did on this project, I could have knit 3 jackets.
{wry grin} I would say the majority of the issues had to do with my ability to count...or to stop doing increases.
Here's how it looks when the knitting is done, before it is folded into the surprise:

And here's the folded version. Hence the "Surprise". After the above creative wavy bit of knitting  - it folds into a Baby jacket.

Buttons were chosen from the button stash and the shoulders seamed up (a few times).

I do have to confess (some more) the seaming up took me a couple of tries {sigh}.

Today's model is a ceramic cat finished by the DH's Grandmother.

This is a "Note to Self" picture I took so I could skip some of the un-seaming challenges the next time I make one of these jackets. (i.e. my interpretation of which stitch to use in the seaming technique suggested by the very nice ladies at City Knitting in their BSJ Knitting Nugget videos (also included in the Raverly BSJ Wiki page)).

The stitch marker is in the obvious stitch beneath the cast on row. However, when the
stitch where my needle is  positioned is used in the seaming, it leaves less of a seam-ridge.

The delays in finishing the BSJ didn't leave a great deal of time to work on the Tardis-stand-in project before the end of the Ravllenic games.

But I've been knitting on the Spacious Show and Tell Moebius Bag (designed by Cat Bordhi) list last week and it is nearly done. Actually, the bag is done. I'm knitting the pocket. There will be a fulling day in my future.

Meself - California Quilts and another Whaling wall.
And this last "update" is fodder for a blog post of it's own.
More a little later;-)