Where did July Go?

Greetings! My apologies for posting nearly a month ago and then essentially disappearing.
I thought of the blog often enough, but I didn't translate those thoughts into typing and blogging.
Why didn't I? Because I was engrossed with several projects.  (i.e. obsessed)

A huge project came into being at work - with a deadline that coincided with my being out of town. So - I had to design, setup and test my portion of this project and turn it over to our stellar Quality Assurance department for testing and implementation more than a week before the project was due. I took this task a little too seriously and spent a great deal of time at work. (Yep, fell off the work-a-holic wagon again...)

In my not very spare time, I was living on the internet - trying to plot my Portland explorations around my Sock Summit classes and events. The Sock Summit Raverly discussion group was a huge boon to this research and plotting (I seemed to have plotted a lot of restaurants to visit...). The Portland natives' suggestions on what to visit and where to eat was invaluable. Several people also organized events around the Sock Summit that were definitely intriguing.

And as my life was consumed with these projects, my body made it's preferences known (loudly) and I attempted to get some exercise and sleep between work and SS11 plotting. (I wasn't particularly successful at these endeavors.)

Deep Breath/Sigh.  {wry grin}

Thusly I disappeared for a bit, blog-wise. Now I'm "back" and I have a lot to blog about...a lot of pictures of events, food (YUM!), amazing craftsmanship (no, not mine), and new-to-me LYS pictures. As usual, I always have silly observations to post but there are also some Sock Summit Stories to tell.
(I think I managed to not entirely embarrass myself this time at the Sock Summit when faced with Knitterati. {whew!})

But it's going to take me a bit to go through all the pictures and plot the blog posts.
I will make an effort to post  smaller chapters rather than "War and Peace" blogs.
And I will fulfill my promise to include the progress of my own crafting exploits of late.

Please bear with me. There is more to come.
Blessings Be.

3 Years already?

Blogiversary #3. Here we are.

So what is this blog for?
Electronic scrap booking?  Editorials?  Diary entries?
When I look back over the blogs of the last year, there seems to be a little of each represented.

Scrap booking? The cats are the main thing to scrapbook about. Cheap entertainment, the lot of them.
I guess I "scrapbook" about my crafting too...representing the name of my blog a bit.

Gryphon's penchant for Netflix Envelopes continues. We hide them when they arrive in the mail, but he's still tries to pick them up and run off with them if he gets the chance.

All 4 monster-cats are still ornery but doing well and getting along quite nicely as opposed to the bouts of cat-hysteria during the introductory phase.  There is still the occasional skirmish but it's half-hearted and mostly posturing.
Personally, I'm slowly relaxing into having "young" cats - not having to care-take for ailing senior-citizen cats as I had for nearly the last decade.

Last July found a variety of critters in our house - not the usual furry types either. (It's getting back to that time of year again. The cats are having a grand time finding the flying ants and tiny beetles I seem to be walking in on my person at night.)

I introduced the blog to my office cat, Oscar, and have been keeping folks up to date on Oscar's seasonal outfit changes.

Craft-wise, I accomplished a fair bit. I did a little quilting, some charity knitting, and...uh...well, jeez....   Crimony!  I have definitely not been keeping the blog current on my crafting escapades. I'll try to do better in Blog Year 4!

Editorials? I'm a little light on this subject, but I did voice my opinions about the world at large regarding the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear", Giving Thanks and what we take for granted, and consideration of and support for the "It Gets Better Project".

Diary Entries? I view that as more of the personal side of my world. Guess I'm a bit light on that area as well. Seems a bit odd to be kind of a "private" person whilst blogging, huh?
I did consider the gift of a quilt from my Mom from almost 30 years ago.
I blogged about shopping for carpet (cat-assisted) and the return of the carpet.
Ah - and I posted about some shows I got to attend; Savion Glover and Brian Stokes Mitchell, as well as the Tucson Handweavers and Spinners Guild Fashion Show.
Then there was the tire and frozen pipes  adventures, WWKIP Day, and the Wednesday of the Godzilla outing/Quail rescue/Yarn Blessing.
And I finally finished documenting my trip to the 2009 Sock Summit.

Resolutions too. 
In July 2010, I had made of list of Blogiversary resolutions for Year 3.
How did I do on my Blogiversary Resolutions? Not too badly.
Not a 100% success rate, but not too badly.

  ~   Blog More. Post more Pictures. 

         I did blog more this year than the previous year. 

  ~   Catch up on my favorite blogs. 

  ~   Explore new blogs!

         I caught up and stayed caught up on many of my favorite blogs.  

         I'm still behind on several. (Knitting to Stay Sane, Yarn Harlot, etc.)

         However, I did start following some new blogs this year. 

         (Better Than Yarn, Disco Knitter, & Pom Pom)

         I have also gotten a little braver about posting comments on

         the blogs I follow. 

         (There are probably a few folks around the world wondering 

           "Who is this KiniaCat person??" {I wonder sometimes too.})

         

  ~    Knit a real sweater! 

         I have 3 "real" sweaters on the needles. Well, 1 real sweater 

         (February Lady Sweater) and 1 coat (Einstein Coat - the furthest

         along), and a well, a lacy shirt-like cardigan (Sabine). 

          (Yes, I owe you-all pictures/updates!)

  ~    Laugh More.!

         The monster-cats offer daily silliness that inspires laughter. 

         The recent addition of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" to the podcast 

         roll has also inspired a lot of laughter - and some perplexed looks. 

         I left work the other week listening to WWDTM as I walked to 

         the car, chortling and making comments to the podcast - as a car 

         full of people looked on bemusedly. 

  ~     Love more. Love myself more too.

          I actually think I'm doing a better job at this. It's hard to explain. 

          Some of it was accepting that I may have regard/respect for 

          people and family that don't have similar regard/respect for me. 

          Letting go of a reciprocal expectation seems to have eased some 

          of the feelings of inadequacy. 

          Makes for a lighter and more open heart, I think. 

Long blog. No pictures. 
Seems like and Editorial Blog today, don't you think? 

My New Favorite Things

I have to show you a couple o'things that are enhancing my life of late...

New Fav #1
I'm slowly working my way through the many, many podcasts I've queued up in iTunes. I use the Knitmore Girls suggestion of listening to 3 episodes to give a podcast a fair shake to decide if I will continue to listen. If I like the 3-fer, I go back and start listening from the beginning.
Can't help myself. It could be I go back to the beginning so that I'll know/understand the older references but I truly suspect it has to do with not wanting to miss anything.
Especially if the podcast is that good.

Anyway...the latest podcast that has entirely charmed me is NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!.
I find it to be clever, funny, and very interesting.

Their Website banner reads "The Oddly Informative News Quiz Show" and describes the show thusly:
"Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is NPR's weekly hour-long quiz program. Each week on the radio you can test your knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what's real news and what's made up."
I find these descriptions do not do the show justice. I am guaranteed to learn something about current events and spend a bit of time (and breath) chortling or even laughing out loud as I listen to each episode.

Peter Sagal hosts the show, which features 3 panelists that participate in a variety of news quizzes - usually to benefit a call-in listener. The listener is attempting to win a coveted prize - a message on their voice-mail/answering machine by Carl Kasell, official judge and scorekeeper.

A celebrity guest will also play the "Not My Job" game where they're asked to answer questions about a topic that is likely not their bailiwick.
(Examples: Ru Paul & Drag (car) Racing, Hollywood Stuntman Hal Needham & Famous Weddings, and Bill Clinton & My Little Pony)

The writing for the show is impressive, as are the host/judge and panelists. They display stellar, witty, quick minds, a significant knowledge of current events, and they poke fun at themselves, the news, and the human condition.
I equate it to one of my favorite sayings: "Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves - for we shall never cease to be amused".

"Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" is definitely worth a weekly listen!
(Which reminds me - I need to go donate to NPR. I donate regularly to PBS, but I seem to have been neglecting NPR. I'm off to go fix that...)

New Fav #2
My other new favorite thing is thanks to Jarod Flood of the Brooklyn Tweed blog. (Thank you, Sir!!)
I was catching up on his blog a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned a new book from Elizabeth Zimmerman. I have a few EZ books and the Knitting Workshop DVD. Based on those experiences, I immediately travelled to the Schoolhouse Press Website to go have a look.

"Knit One Knit All" was a book EZ had planned to publish in the 70's but the publishers she approached didn't think a book focusing on one knit stitch (Garter) would go over well.
(Hrumph. The numerous and successful one-stitch books published since then tell the tale yet again that EZ was a woman ahead of her time.)

My copy of this spiffy book arrived quickly and the top of the book shows some evidence of my delight:

The following are comments from the thank you note I sent to the amazing folks at Schoolhouse Press.

"I have to say - I am entirely smitten with your new book, "Knit One Knit All". 

The top edge of the book bears the evidence of my appreciation via the numerous wish-to-knit page markers I applied to all the patterns that immediately struck my fancy. 

I am especially enamored of the "Waistcoat Vest", the "Striped Blouse", and the "Long Collared Jacket". And the "Zig-Zag Jacket", both "Brimmed Hat"s, the "New Zealand Sweater", and the "Icelandic Overblouse"...I'm going to stop now because I could easily list the majority of the patterns in the book. {wry grin} 

Moreover, I love the comments, drawings and art you included from Elizabeth Zimmerman. 

Thank you for doing this. I know that my appreciation for this book cannot only belong to Elizabeth Zimmerman. I can only imagine the "village" that knitted this lovely book together.

Kudos to you all. "

"Knit One Knit All" is a gift to the Knitting Community.

And perhaps a labor of love.

New Fav #3
Lastly, another installation of an on-going favorite thing: another "Simon's Cat" offering: "Hidden Treasure".
(And here goes my first attempt at embedding a video...if it works, thanks go to Blogger, 'cause they did all the work.)

Tucson World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP) 2011

My very first WWKIP day - in 2009 - was interesting, fun, and had multiple locations and minimalist attendance (4).

Our 2010 WWKIP day had one location (Beyond Bread), Lots of attendees, and was much more fun! I believe we had close to 30 knitters, crocheters and spinners demonstrating craftiness in public last June. Humble apologies...I have no pictures. However, we had a grand time, the food was good, the seating was a little crowded (we took up most of the East half of the restaurant), and it was all sorts of interesting. So much to see. So many projects, so many people to talk to...although I was actually being a tad bashful so I didn't speak with everyone.

This year, Linda, our WWKIP day organizer, contacted the Murphy-Wilmot Tucson Public Library regarding having our WWKIP day gathering there. They were fine with our adventure occurring in their new library cafe!
(Ok, "cafe" in this instance = tables, chairs & vending machines.)
They gave us permission to bring our own goodies so I baked "Hawaiian" Shortbread (fancy name, plain, yummy shortbread cookie) and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. Linda brought a mondo bag of Hershey's miniatures (excellent rip-pit rewards) and coffee! (Thank you, I needed that!)

I have cheesy photos from my phone to document our public crafting.  (If I mis-name/mis-spell/mis-describe anyone, pretty please pipe up and correct me!)

On Saturday, June 11th, we claimed one of the wavy benches and some tables in the library cafe and we were joined by some known-to-me crafters and several brand new-to-me ones. We did not have LOTS of attendees, but I would say we did "Quality" over "Quantity". ;-)

I believe Linda brought especially crocheting to work on this day - a shawl in progress.
Debbie was the first to join us - wearing a crochet flowering-vine "scarf" and a hat that we thought was quite spiffy (hey, wait - did she crochet that hat too?!?). (Pictures are post-Debbie so you won't find Debbie or the hat in the pics below.)

Audrie drove from the other side of town to join us and work on a lovely kimono cardigan based on the colors/shading of Monet's Lily Pond. Diane came with two stunning bags (one knit, one sewn) that we ooh'd & aah'd over as well as some very nice stash yarn for adoption. Diane also came prepared to teach! Dena spontaneously joined us as her family explored the library and Diane gave her a knitting refresher and some stash to keep her going. (You should have seen Dena's face light up...well, you would have if I'd taken better pics...)

Emma, a very adept crocheter (whose way with words I greatly admire) is very successfully exploring sock knitting!
Jennifer turned up with some knitting AND crochet AND an absolutely Excellent WIP - 11 week old Benton.  She is entirely smitten with him, and I can't blame her. He was VERY well behaved, charming, and even though he's pretty well smitten with his Mom, he gifted us with smiles too.

 Benton was aptly dressed for our gathering:

We munched on the cookies. I broke into the chocolate first since I earned it doing some tinking (tink = knit spelled backwards. i.e. "un-knitting"). Other folks earned chocolate too although I ended up "earning" enough for everyone. (Oddly enough, the lace-knitting went fine for me. It was the simple sock that was earning me chocolate that day.)

Benton had other refreshments...

Linda pulled a few knitting books from the library stacks for inspiration and general perusal (I'm inspired to see if I can track down two for my personal library.). 

Becky from Grandma's Spinning Wheel stopped by for just a little bit. (Thanks again to the GSW folks for mentioning our WWKIP Event on their website!) Debbie and Diane had to leave after a few hours, but we were joined by Valerie, another extremely talented crocheter. She was even wearing a lovely, lacy, lavender example of her crochet talents! (Uh, no, I don't have a picture of Valerie...sorry/sigh).

(Ever notice how studiously we knit when there is a camera out?) ;-)

Various library patrons stopped by to ask about our projects and when and where we meet and...you guessed it - whether we were knitting or crocheting. The head librarian also stopped by to check on us and she seemed pointedly tickled that we were there.
We stayed for about 5 hours and then a few of us adjourned to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for a late lunch. Even fewer of us traveled over to Grandma's Spinning Wheel to craft there for a few hours.

It was a bit of a long day, but it was inspiring and fun and I got to spend it with all sorts of lovely people - some new to me and some that I got to know a bit better.
Grateful thanks to Linda for organizing our WWKIP Day event again!

Godzilla!, Tiny Wildlife Rescue, and Australian Treasure!

Last Week I experienced a particularly nifty day...


Godzilla!

After work, I'd met some friends at the Loft Theater to watch the last movie in the "Cinema Atomico - The Cold War Goes to the Movies" series sponsored by the Titan Missile Museum.
We saw the original Japanese version of "Godzilla" from 1954. 
(In Japanese with subtitles in case you were curious.) 

Yes, I am that geeky. However, I'm way less geeky than some of my friends - such as the clever gent who was offering excellent Godzilla movie trivia! 

• The man that throws the switch when they try to electrocute Godzilla was the Director of the movie (appearing in the movie a la Hitchcock). (OK - I only saw an arm throwing the switch not a whole man.). 
• The Godzilla cry/sound was made by rubbing a rubber glove across a cello (Think about it! That's exactly what it sounds like, isn't it?).
• There was more, but I did a poor job storing them in my brain.

The Loft Art Director did an excellent intro; very funny, informative and charming. They drew some names for Raffle prizes - including a Geiger Counter and an overnight stay at the Titan Missile Museum (Do you see the Cinema Atomico correllation?).


The Loft also presented a short "educational" film before they started Godzilla.
It's called "The House in the Middle" - produced by the "National  Clean up - Paint Up - Fix Up Bureau"in 1954.
No, I'm not kidding.
If you've got 12 minutes - go take a look at this, uh, innocent time capsule of 1950's American Nuclear Perspective.
(I have to repeat one audience comment offered during this movie short: "Lead Paint". Go. Watch. You'll understand when you see it....)

I couldn't remember having seen the original Godzilla when I was a kid. Odds are I did 'cause my little brother was a serious Godzilla fan. (No, we were not around for the original movie release...)
I knit on 3 projects during the movie.
I have to confess, I knit on so many 'cause I had technical difficulties on two that required sight to repair/correct - but I did make some good headway on all three! (2 pairs of socks and a lace shawl.)

Tiny Wildlife Rescue!
I came home to find a very tiny Gambel's Quail chick in my car port. 
It was a little late for quail to be out foraging and becoming separated from one of their little ones (they roost at night) so I called the local Vet (Valley Animal Hospital) that works with Forever Wild Animal Rehab Center and they said to bring him on over.
(I have to note that Valley Animal is not my regular Vet, but they have always been very kind and supportive when I turn up with Wildlife-needing-assistance. It happened more often when BobCat was still alive and, uh, patrolling the neighborhood - but that's another blog).

I cropped down a box from the recycle bin, tossed some tissues in the box, put on my work gloves, and went to collect the wee one.  Oddly enough, when I came out to collect him, he started for me almost immediately and then he trundled right to my gloved hands. (I had to wonder if my shoes somehow resemble parent-quail).

(it's only about 2 inches or 5.08 cm)

I checked around for parents/siblings but none could be seen or heard so I drove the chirping little one to the Vet.  They said Forever Wild would pick him up in the morning. (I also dropped off a donation to Forever Wild since I was especially adding to their workload.) I understand the rehab folks will raise him to be released back into the wild.


Australian Treasure! 
(Also a "Blogs to Explore" review...)
And then I came back home and found spiffy things from England and Australia in the mail!


Via Ravelry I wandered over to the blog of Pom Pom in early February. She's an English lady living in Australia. She has organized the World Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) day in Sydney for the past couple of years (A Much larger event then our improving WWKIP Day attempts here in Tucson) and her voice is somewhat familiar to me from the Sticks and String podcast Easter Show reviews. I enjoy her blog observations and humor. I am curious but rather ignorant about her comments regarding Australian politics - but I find them educational and interesting. (Not unlike when the Yarn Harlot comments on Canadian Politics.)
I became intrigued by her blog and continued to visit.
And I began to submit tentative comments on occasion.
Although Blogs are generally "out there for all to see", I do sometimes feel as though I've wandered into a private forum; as though I'm reading someone's diary.
However, Pom Pom was particularly kind and welcoming of my stray comments and questions.

As it turns out, she blogs every day for her Blogiversary month of March. So, there were more blog entries to visit and I continued to occasionally leave comments.

Pom Pom was able to blog every day but one in March. An illness and death in her family drew her back to England on short notice.
I was not alone in leaving notes of sympathy, concern, and support on her blog.

Another tradition of Pom Pom's Blogiversary Month is to use a random number generator (family member) to pick two numbers that would correlate to two comments left on the blog during the month. One Australian commenter and a commenter from somewhere else in the world are gifted with a prize. 


The random number generator happened to pick one of my comments and I received Treasure from Australia in my mailbox:

 This lovely yarn, Scrumptious Lace by Fyberspates, is very tactile and lustrous - and, as noted by a friend of mine, is the colour and sheen of a deep red rose. Pom Pom indicated that she'd chosen it for me when she was in England.
She also enclosed a note on a spiffy Sydney Postcard and my "bag-lady" heart sang when I realized she'd also gifted me with a bag from the 2010 Sydney World Wide Knit in Public Event. 

What an amazing day!
A ginormous Japanese Radioactive Lizard, a tiny/helpless Arizona Quail chick, and English/Australian yarn-y blessings.

Treasures from 'round the world.

Actually, I have not been overloading on cute

I admit it, I like to treat myself to a CuteOverload update when I get online...

Recently, these videos have been inspiring re-visits, a lot of grins, and some serious giggles...even a few tears when I laughed just enough. Enjoy!

The Owl and the PussyCat

An excellent example of owner-training

The Orb of Madness!
(I especially like the excellent "soundtrack" matched to this one!)

Back to the Days of Yore - Sock Summit 2009

And now for the Rest of the SS09 Story.

August 2009 was a wondrous but emotional month for me.
I got to attend my first major knitterly event: The Sock Summit in Portland, Oregon.
I spent a lovely, relaxing weekend at a crafting retreat in the White Mountains of Arizona with some friends.
And I was shocked and grieved to find my sister-in-law had been much sicker than they had let on and she left this realm just a few days later.

If you visit this blog somewhat often, you may have noted that I didn't blog for several months. Life was a bit overwhelming for me. It has returned to some semblance of normalcy but reality has shifted a bit.

Anyway - I had intended to finish the Sock Summit blogs I started in 2009. Much of it was generally written but I needed to go through pictures and just do the deed.
Heartened by the recent Sock Summit 2009 podcasts that the Knitmore Girls released over the last few months (i.e. "Look - I'm not alone in my backlog!"), I decided to stop practicing my procrastination talents and finish up the August 2009 blogs.

I've back-posted them for the sake of time-line, but I'm confessing here and on those belated blogs about the true reality of when I pulled out the 'Round-To-it and finished up the blogging.

Yes, this is a real wooden Round "Tuit".

Hence, I have absolutely no excuse for not doing something until I get Around to it - 'cause I already have a Round "Tuit".

So - the shortcuts.
For the 2009 Sock Summit adventure:

• "I've got a Golden Ticket" - created and posted July 25, 2009
• "Sock Summit 2009 - Part 1 - Getting to Oregon" - created and posted August 12, 2009
• "Sock Summit 2009 - Part 2 - Classes, Marketplace, & Opening Ceremonies" - created and posted September 11, 2011
• "Sock Summit 2009 - Part 2.5 - Marketplace Acquisitions" - created 9/5/2009 - finished and posted April 23, 2011
• "Sock Summit 2009 - Part 3 - Breaking a World Record" - created 8/12/2009 - finished and posted April 24, 2011.
• "Sock Summit 2009 - Part 4 of 4 - Barbara Walker, Voodoo Donuts, and Home" - created 8/12/2009 - finished and posted May 5, 2011. 

The Show Low retreats will be documented in a separate "Back to the Days of Yore" blog.