Okay, folks. What are you still doing hanging out here?
Go over to my newly-hosted blog at
I'm still unpacking and figuring out where to hang pictures on the wall . . . in fact, I plan on not doing ANY of that until tomorrow at the earliest . . . but at least it's UP, with all the archives, and all the pictures, and all the comments.
I'll worry about things like sidebars, widgets, colors, themes, internal links . . . all that . . . later.
Just something pretty to look at while I wait for the new hosting to kick in...
Don't forget--you'll need to visit me at www.chappysmom.com . . . any day now....
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Hey, folks. I bought the domain name www.chappysmom.com a year ago.
If you haven't yet, you might want to make sure that THAT is the address you use to get here, because, you never know, there could be changes coming. I wouldn't want you to be unable to find me!
(Hint, hint.)
Okay . . . hold your breath!! Here we go....
And, I'm closing comments until we get to the other side...
Well, it's as good as it's going to get, I suppose.
Yes, the fit is just about right. (It's good to know my math skills still work, even if my knitting gauge slides.)
But, also yes, it still looks a little odd along the seams because of the multiple layers of fabric in what should have been seamLESS, but now has actual seams.
And, also yes, the underarms are rather low.
Really, though, I'm just so thankful I moved the neckline UP, since, with my modification and my wonky, ever-changing row-gauge, it ended up just about where the pattern had put it in the first place.
It does look pretty, though. When I'm standing still.... (Again, too, ignore the weird way my skin looks--this camera does NOT like taking pictures of people, don't ask me why, but I didn't feel like going downstairs to get my other camera from my purse.)
Did you know that J.K. Rowling was named Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of the Year for 2007? Go read the wonderful article that explains, once and for all, why Harry Potter really IS that good.
And, yep, we're gaining on that 10,000th comment. Phew!
Okay, for Kay:
In the beginning, all the recipe cards were hand-written.
And they lived happily in their card box, with hand-written dividers to keep things organized.
But, as life got busier, The Cook started taking short-cuts. Like, cutting recipes out of magazines and taping them to index cards.
Then the whole thing started to snow-ball, and The Cook just folded the recipe page into approximately-index-card sizes and stuck them in the box.
With the advent of the internet, though, things really got out of hand, and The Cook began to just fold them in half and pile them.
Sure, she could have used a 3-hole punch and a loose-leaf binder, but she had actually tried that and ended up with an even worse mess . . . not to mention recipes in two different locations--the recipe box in the kitchen and the binder in with the cookbooks. And while it's one thing to know that, if a recipe you need is in a cookbook, you need to go to another room, it's a totally different story to try to remember what size and format a given individual recipe is so that you can find it.
Which brings us to where we are today. An overflowing tupperware container (originally intended for photo storage) overflowing with somewhat unsightly, recipe goodness. It's not a fancy recipe box like some people have, but it's BIG. Which, when you think of it, makes the fact that it's overflowing that much more surprising, huh? I really need to do something about that one of these days....
Happy New Year, everyone!
And, Jen and La? Chappy's tail is going a mile a minute. You really made his day!
Added:
Obviously, all I needed was some extra incentive. You'll be pleased to know that I went through and organized all of these recipes after lunch. The pile of paper are the copies and cards for recipes that I decided I really didn't need anymore, and all the others are IN the box. Granted, each individual section may not be alphabetized at the moment, but at least everything is in categories!
I mean, really, that lid hasn't been completely flat in months. (And, granted, it's not closed, but some of the cards are bigger than 4x6" and don't fit as well as they should. That's not the point!)
Here's my reading list from December:
1. LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King (495 p.) The most recent of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books, and my favorite of the later books. In this one, she and Holmes visit San Francisco for the first time since her family was killed a decade earlier, but someone seems to be trying to kill her--could her parents' deaths not have been an accident?
2. CAPRICE AND RONDO by Dorothy Dunnett (539 p.)House of Niccolo book 7. Having met with disaster at the end of book 6, Nicholas tries to make a new life in Poland and the Slavic states, travelling with his old friend Julius and his wife Anna . . . while back home, his estranged wife starts looking into his past....
3. PAT OF SILVER BUSH by L.M. Montgomery (278 p.)
4. MISTRESS PAT by L.M. Montgomery (277 p.) These two are a pair of books by the author of Anne of Green Gables and tells the story of Pat, who dearly loves her home and wants nothing more than to stay home forever and care for it.
5. JANE OF LANTERN HILL by L.M. Montgomery (217 p.) Jane is growing up miserably in Toronto with her mother and her cold grandmother, then one day, she gets a letter from her father, inviting her to Prince Edward Island for the summer, where suddenly, she blooms.... Sweet story.
6. CONRAD'S FATE by Diana Wynne Jones (375 p.)
7. PINHOE EGG by Diana Wynne Jones (515 p.) Two of her YA fantasy books in the Chrestomanci world. Light, fun, entertaining.
8. HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones (212 p.)
9. CASTLE IN THE AIR by Diana Wynne Jones (299 p.) Two more YA fantasy books, based on traditional fairy tales, kind of, but with her unique outlook and sense of fun.
10. PEGASUS IN FLIGHT by Anne McCaffrey (290 p.)
11. PEGASUS IN SPACE by Anne McCaffrey (373 p.) So, suppose it was the not-too-distant future, and futher suppose that psychic gifts like telepathy and telekinesis were real, measurable talents. Now, throw in a world-wide effort to build a space station, and a base on the moon, and a powerfully-motivated paraplegic.... I've always liked these books, precursors of her "Talent and Hive" series.
12. EXILE'S SONG by Marion Zimmer Bradley (493 p.)
13. SHADOW MATRIX by Marion Zimmer Bradley (556 p.)
14. TRAITOR'S SUN by Marion Zimmer Bradley (534 p.) A trilogy written by Deborah Ross and the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, taking place on her world of Darkover, a "backwards" planet with psychic gifts . . . a complete surprise to Margaret Alton when she returns to the world of her birth for the first time after spending most of her life at a Terran University.
15. GEMINI by Dorothy Dunnett (672 p.) The eighth and final book in the House of Niccolo Series. It's a huge book, both in pages and in scope. It ties up loose ends to the series that you didn't even realize were loose until you read them. A massive undertaking, and quite the cap to an amazing historical fiction series. I always say that nobody wrote historical fiction like Dorothy Dunnett.
16. RUN by Ann Patchett (295 p.) A Christmas-present book by an author that pretty much never disappoints. I very much enjoyed this. Two black boys were adopted by a well-off white family and have grown into handsome, intelligent young men. Then one snowy night, a car almost hits one of the boys, but he's pushed out of the way by a woman and, when she's when she's taken to the hospital, they step up to look after her daughter. Awful description of a really good book.
17. TALK TO THE HAND by Lynne Truss (202 p.) What has happened to manners these days? Respect and consideration for other people? Any semblance of civilized behavior? Well, here's your answer... Enjoyable and informative.
18. PERMISSION MARKETING by Seth Godin (240 p.) A discussion on the difference between traditional, "interruption marketing" where ads and marketing schemes try to distract your attention to make you buy something and "permission marketing," where you build a relationship with your potential buyers and never pressure them to buy.
19. KNITTER'S BOOK OF YARN by Clara Parkes (252 p.) Exactly what it sounds like--a discussion about yarn. Fibers, spinning methods, plies, and the characteristics of all of them. Good reference and some good patterns.
20. LEAVE ME ALONE, I'M READING by Maureen Corrigan (184 p.) A retrospective journey through books the author's read and loved over the years. Enjoyable tone, nicely written, and it doesn't really matter that I'd never read many of the books. Sometimes, in books like these, it matters a lot because the author will mention the title and then go on as if you've read the book as many times as she has . . . this author doesn't do that, so it's possible to read about her feelings on, say, Dashiell Hammett, without having ever read any of his books yourself. Good book.
I've done a recap for the last two years, so I had to this year, also, right?
In 2007, I....
Okay, here are my favorites from 2007. For the purposes of this list, my rule is that I have to have read the book for the first time this year, regardless of whether the book was actually new this year. So, something like War and Peace would count because I've never read it, but of course, it doesn't qualify because I still actually haven't. Clear as mud? Great. Let's get on with it:
And, oh yes, books appear in the order of their appearance in my reading log--they're not alphabetical or in sequence of most-to-least favorite, or anything like that. It's just the order they showed up in my life.
Fiction:
Non-Fiction:
I read 288 books in 2007. The most in one month was 31, in May, the least was June, with only 18. Of the 288 books, 119 of them were new (to me), the other 169 were re-reads. The authors read the most? Mercedes Lackey (18 books); Anne McCaffrey (13 books); Sharon Shinn (12 books); David Eddings (12 books); Diana Wynne Jones (12 books); Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (11 books). (Um, you can certainly tell which genre is my "comfort reading," huh?)
And, a recap of each month's lists for you....
Well, here's my final two projects of the year.
Autumn Rose is washed and blocking as we speak. How she's going to fit, and if she's ever going to get worn is, of course, entirely up in the air. But she IS done.
And, see the socks there in the corner? It's a relief to get them off the needles, too. I still need to weave in their ends, but the knitting is done. (Hey, I wanted to get them done by the end of the year, and look, hours to spare!)
They certainly are colorful, too!
You may (or may not) remember that I started these socks in August, out of the Shetland wool I spun from Spunky Eclectic's monthly club.
I still have quite a bit of yarn left, too, but I don't know what I'm going to do with that. I'm still a bit in shock at the way those socks turned out. Such VIVID color (grin).
But, really, isn't that what socks are for? I'm not a bright-color person, really, but if I'm going to wear it, it's usually going to be socks. They're so handily mostly-hidden so that you catch glimpses over the shoe, under the pant leg, yet YOU know that it's there. Isn't that part of the fun?
The good news is that they fit wonderfully. It's almost like they were made for me, you know?
I don't know what I'm going to do for purse-knitting next. I really do want to take a bit of a break from traditional socks, so . . . mittens, maybe? Although I got a copy of Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Knitters for Christmas. That might help the sock-ennui, but then, since the new designs require thought, well, that's not necessarily purse-knitting, either.
Hey, I put up a recap post over at my Punctuality Rules! blog, if you want to go take a look. I'm actually surprised at how much "ground" I've covered in the last two months.
Anyway, it's been a quiet day here at Chappy's house, and it will be a quiet New Year's Eve, too. Although somebody, apparently, has been practising his toasting....
ADDED: Would you believe that I'm rapidly approaching the 10,000th Comment??? Gosh, that almost seems like something worth celebrating, doesn't it??
Okay, first, the good news--I found the yarn in the dyelot I needed! Flying Fingers yarn shop in Tarrytown. The only unfortunate part is I didn't see my e-mail until after 11:00 last night and they're closed, now, until January 4th. But, who cares? Of course, I'd already given up and placed an order at Infinite Yarns because Anne had been so helpful. I sent her an e-mail at around 11:30 last night asking if it was possible to cancel it, because I really don't need 8 skeins of the stuff, but no complaints if I can't. It's my own fault for (1) giving up too soon and (2) being a little too eager to support a helpful shop owner. I'd rather not have spent the extra $35 just now, if I can't cancel it, but, well . . . it is beautiful yarn, right?
Now, I was away from the computer all day yesterday for a perfectly good reason. My best friend is home visiting from California, and we always make a point of getting together . . . and it usually turns into an all-day thing, and whoever could complain about that? She got down to my house a little before 1:00, and we chatted and opened Christmas presents for a while.
Her present? Well, I gave her a combo Christmas/birthday gift, since her 40th birthday is just a few weeks away. It was a bit of a wrench to part with, I admit, but so worth while. Not only was she very touched, but it looks fabulous on her. (You'll remember that, on me, it looked huge and out of proportion, even after I tried reblocking it to be smaller.) Obviously, it was meant for her.
And, I know she'll take good care of it, too. I did love that yarn, though--but at least I still have its first-cousin Peacock Stole to keep me company.
After we opened presents, we decided that we were hungry but that we wanted to go to the movie. So, we headed into the kitchen to look at movie times in the newspaper, and tried to find one we wanted to see that would give us enough time to grab lunch first.
She was really hungry, though, and said that, "I could really just go for a big tub of popcorn."
Well! I'm always happy to oblige! I turned around, picked this up and plopped it down on the newspaper. "Here you go."
Because, yes, it's a huge tub of Popcorn Factory popcorn, courtesy of my aunt. It arrived on Friday . . . great timing, huh?
We ended up eating chicken salad that I very quickly threw together, and then went to see Charlie Wilson's War, which we both enjoyed. Because, well, how can you not like Tom Hanks? And his chemistry with Phillip Seymour Hoffman was fabulous--their scenes were just great. Really, the whole thing was good. Funny, yet thought-provoking. It's just a pity that "we blew the end-game" quote at the end was so very true.
Anyway, after the movie, we decided we weren't really hungry enough for supper, so we came back to the house for some pumpkin pie and to give Chappy his supper. Except, we'd barely gotten our coats hung up when the phone rang. It was Mom--she, Dad, my sister, and my niece were on their way home from New York (they had Christmas-present tickets to see Curtains)--and would we like to meet them at Wendy's for supper? Well, um, okay. I fed Chappy and we all kind of stood around for a few minutes, and then, back in the car. (You know, considering how much I dislike Wendy's I sure have eaten there a lot lately! That's at least three times in the last few months, whereas before this summer, it had been years.)
Here's a look at my pretty, new yarn.
Yes, it's a little over-plied. But since I had planned on this being sock yarn, I'm okay with that--it would just wear really well.
Although, I've been thinking that maybe it would like to be something other than socks. Like lace.
To recap, this is the Socks that Rock superwash merino roving I bought at Rhinebeck in 2006 from the Fold. 9.25 ounces, in the Carbon colorway.
It took me a full week to ply it all. And it's got three plies. I didn't check the w.p.i before I skeined it, but going by little Spinner's Rule, it's between 24-28 w.p.i. and it's a fairly consistent size.
Really, I'm quite proud of it.
(Oh, and it's not quite as blue as it's photographing . . . It's got more yellow and purple and really not much blue at all . . . go figure.)
I hope you're all enjoying the end of your year . . . only a day and a half left of 2007!
