Tuesday, January 19, 2010

First Finished Object

Needles: Size 6US, 2 circulars
Yarn: Lion Wool Ocean Blue Prints, about .75 skein

Pattern: Improvised (guess how this will end!)

Cast on 80, K1P1 ribbing for 6 rows
Row 7 *K2 m1 (120 stitches)
Rows 8 - 14 K
Place markers every 12 stitches to show where decreases go
Row 15 *K10, K2Tog 110 stitches remaining
Row 16 and all remaining even rows K
Row 17 *K9, K2Tog 100 stitches remaining
Row 19 *K8, K2Tog
Row 21 *K7, K2Tog
Row 23 *K6, K2Tog
Row 25 *K5, K2Tog (this is a good place to switch to DPNs, you should have 60 stitches left)
Row 27 *K4, K2Tog
Row 29 *K3, K2Tog
Row 31 *K2, K2Tog
Row 33 *K1, K2Tog
Row 35 *K2tog 10 stitches remaining
Row 37 *K2tog 5 stitches


What this produces is a child sized tam, atop a generously sized brim. Since I am not a child, this was something of a disappointment. Too feminine to be worn by either of my children. So, I will have to send FailTam to a charity that accepts all woolen items, like Afghans for Afghans perhaps. This was a test knit for my planned pattern for some Cash Vero and Dream in Color yarn. Now I know that I should perhaps K1, M1 right after the brim and do fewer than 10 decreases every other round to make the tam more of a slouchy plate. Furthermore, the brim ought to be knit on size 5 needles to create the level of snugness I like and keep a neater looking rib.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Ganked from Wil Wheaton

http://www.steelheadstudio.com/100cupcakes/

OMG! Cupcakes! Decorated like games! For! The! Win!

Book 1: Jailbait Zombie

Book 1? Seriously? Ok, 2010. Whatever. I shall roll back the odometer. Pageometer? No, wait. Bibliodometer.

So Jailbait Zombie-- another fun read from Mario Acevedo. This time, Felix Gomez is hunting some persistent and un(super)naturally intelligent zombies to protect the secret of the supernatural from regular folks. Felix also has to find out who is reanimating these undead and eliminate them too. Should he fail in his mission, the Vampire Bosses will send his buddy to stake him and skin him. No pressure, Felix! Of course, there is some weird psychic-mojo stuff going around and giving him crazy visions. And then the Mob gets mixed up in it! I do not know how so many genres can be crammed into one book without making a big, hot mess. Still, this amalgam of genres is what really draws me to these books. They could go so horribly wrong, like Frankenstein! Yet they have thus far ended up like quilts. I hope to God that Acevedo doesn't overshoot the mark, like the Harry Dresden series did. After he saved the whole universe, it was all sort of a letdown.

Along for the ride with Felix is Phaedra. She is the (mortal) child of a mobster, living with the death sentence of a terminal illness and the changes in her brain have allowed her to see things she shouldn't. She is in on The Secret and the Vampire Overlord Council wants her eliminated as well. Phaedra wants Felix to turn her to a vampire, cheat her disease-- something he has not done before and is reluctant to do. Phaedra is a trainwreck of dysfunction and she ends up being even more crazy than I realized. The last few pages, oof. A little disturbing.

It's interesting that in the whole vampire genre, I've yet to read of a Vamp who is all gung ho and evangelical about the blood sucking thing. The rules of the fiction (as currently written) seem to dictate that the Vampire feel shame for what (s)he is. Usually when a vampire makes another, it is because of force, accident or some sort of tortuous loneliness. Usually, if it's done on a whim or as a joke or a trick, the character turning another into a vampire is Eeeeeeeeeeeevil. It's as if writers are ashamed of immortality. Interesting.


Also? Acevedo's picture on the back of the book? Muy guapo. Sigh.

In other Book News-- I am reading the Harry Potter books to my son and it is so awesome. There was a time I wasn't sure I would have kids and it is really so much better than I imagined. It's also a lot harder, but today I'm just inexplicably grateful for what I have. Augie has always been more like Jason than like me and to find things we can do together is really precious to me. For just a few minutes he is snuggled up to me with all these long, slight, spindly limbs of his and he doesn't want to be anywhere else.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Resolved

In 2010 I have a few modest goals:

1. Learn to Knit Lace and Socks
2. 52 books in 52 (more) weeks
3. Learn Visual Basic
4. Take the boys to swimming lessons
5. Go to Church at least twice a month
6. Do something movementy (let us not use the E word) 5 days a week

Friday, January 1, 2010

(Adjective) New Year!

I'm shooting for easy instead of happy.