Happy Halloween!




Just for good measure, here are some cute pets dressed up for Halloween. Halloween Dogs Another tip that Angela gets the credit for.

Actual Knitting Pic (are we amazed, or what?)

Here it is, Clapotis, from http://knitty.com. BTW, do read the Fall Surprise. It is a printable mini-magazine, and it's about cancer, and associated stuff to knit. And not only that, Theresa, of Bagatell, tells her survival story. Theresa is really neat. Were it not for her, I might not have discovered blogging. I saw one of Theresa's patterns (Vinterlue), in Knitty, and read her bio, and started writing to her. She lives in Norway, and helped me with learning Norwegian, and also with setting up my blog. When I saw hers, I knew that a blog was the type of website I wanted, because of the interactiveness. So anyway, do take a look. Thanks Knitty, and Theresa!

Back to my scarf. The yarn is Red Heart Symphony. It's acrylic. Not my favorite, but as nice as Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb (silk/wool) would be, it was beyond my budget this month, and I needed to start knitting something and didn't have anything spun that I wanted to use, and this felt warm. Yeah, I have this compulsion to justify any purchase of acrylic yarn that I make.

I'm using a circular needle. I rarely do single-pointeds, since circulars can handle anything. I am not turning my work - just knitting backwards on the odd rows. This pattern calls for lots of stitch markers - 18 of them. I have that many somewhere, but I could only find 10. That's ok - I don't believe in buying stitch markers anyway. If you must have stitch markers, you can just tie a loop of yarn in a contrasting color and use that (I'm using hemp for the markers after I ran out). Usually, I don't bother with stitch markers, since I think they are a pain and they get in the way, and I can see where my place is without them, but for this pattern, you do kind-of need them. They mark the untwisted stitch to be dropped later in the middle of two twisted stitches, and it's really hard to see. I could keep track of it by count, but the markers allow me to knit brainlessly, and that's rather nice at this point in my life right now. Oh, and there is an error in the pattern, but you can figure it out just fine as long as you remember that it's the stitch after the marker that you are going to drop.

Critters

They really are here!

And here's another view, from the pasture this time.

More on Languages

I have now, as of yesterday, used pretty much all of my languages at work.

• Spanish - helping with Spanish classes (mostly, the girls all ask, "Como se dice ...?" ) (does anyone know the html for the upside-down question mark that should be at the beginning?), and I try to think of an answer, hoping that it actually is Spanish rather than some other language.
• Norwegian - One of the girls has a Norwegian grandmother, and asked me to help her write a letter to her grandmother, på norsk.
• A co-worker mentioned spending several months in Taiwan, so I asked her, in Chinese, if she knew how to speak Chinese. That's just about the extent of what I remember of Chinese, but it sounds pretty convincing.
• Another co-worker has a son who is deaf, and she is good at ASL. We had a brief conversation in sign language.

For some reason, some languages are easier for me to understand, and others are easier to speak. I can say almost anything I want to in sign language (particularly if I use finger-spelling), but reading it is so hard. I guess I just need more practice. Norwegian, I can read and write fairly well, but I get flustered trying to speak it, and was barely catching on to hearing it after two weeks in Norway. Spanish, I struggle to think of how to say something, but when I hear it I understand most of it. When I can't think of a word, and someone else does, I'm like, "oh yeah, now I remember." Reading it isn't bad either. I guess it's mostly a matter of how I have been exposed to the languages, and how much opportunity I have had to practice.

Knitting

I promised a picture on Monday. Is it still Monday? Tell 'ya what - I took a picture, but haven't uploaded the camera yet. I'll do that in a minute and be right back. Hubby's out of town, so I can be a night owl. Of course, the picture was taken before my children played with candles and got wax on my project. Any ideas for removing wax from fuzzy acrylic yarn?

While You Wait

Angela sent me this. It's funny. Anybody on the market for a ring? It's only got a day or so left, so don't wait to check it out. It is worth a look. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4935177329

Languages

I need to brush up on my Spanish now, since I need it at work. One of the daily groups is a Spanish class, and while I'm not in charge of it (usually), I often end up helping with it. It's great to have an opportunity to try to use my Spanish, but it's frustrating that I ought to be doing better with it than I am. Spanish was my minor in college, and I lived in Spain for two years, afterall! But I am remembering more and more with the limited exposure I am getting.

It really is a good idea to study one language at a time until you learn it fairly well, before moving on to another one. There might be less interference that way. There are words that are in common, or similar, between English, Spanish, and Norwegian. Sometimes I can't think of a word in either Spanish or Norwegian, only to find out that the word is the same in both, so I had it but didn't know it. That's fairly rare though. More frequently I try to think of a word in one language, but my brain accesses that word more easily in the other, and makes a substitution. That's not good. Neither is applying usage rules from one language to the other. And then there are things that are just plain the opposite. Opposites are much more confusing than being entirely different, since being opposite is more of a similarity than a random difference. Here are some examples:

• Plurals in Spanish are similar to plurals in English (they end in 's.') - Possessives in Norwegian are similar to possessives in English (they end in 's.)
• Infinitives in Spanish end in 'r' (example: 'cantar' to sing). - Verbs in the present tense in Norwegian end in 'r' (example: 'synger' I/you/we/whoever sings).
• All the little words that sound the same but mean something entirely different, and also the ones that sound close and mean the same, such as in/i/en; the/en/el or la; but/eller/pero; you/du/tu; I/jeg/jo; cat/kat/gato.

I could think of a lot more if it were not past midnight, after I have worked a 15 hour day, and have another one tomorrow.

Knitting

I finally got a project started! The Clapotis scarf from the current issue of Knitty. I would provide a link, but it's too late at night and I don't feel like it, so you can use the button for Knitty in the left margin and find it. I'm using a fuzzy yarn. Pictures on Monday, ok?

Pictures

Here's the view from my backyard. Aren't those mountains pretty? This was taken when it was still summer, after the summer rain had quit, and before the fall rain started. It's currently a bit flooded out there. I took some pics with the animals too after they got here, but I don't have them processed yet, so you have something to look forward to.

Suzie is enjoying the new house now. Lots of cozy places to put herself into, as well as windowsills to sit in, and occasionally fall out of.

Uh oh, here I go with the quizzes again.

you are steelblue #4682B4

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect. Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

I really need to get busy knitting something, don't I?

I'm not that bad, am I?

Here, read this: things my girlfriend and i have argued about. It's long, but really funny. I feel sorry for Margret though. She ought to make her own webpage and tell her side of the story. But this piece really shows human nature, a little bit of culture clash, not to mention gender clash.

My good friend, Angela, told me about that site. Take a look at her site too.

Oh hey, would you like to see what Cedar City looks like? click here Wanna know more about Cedar City?

• Cedar City
  
• DesertUSA - Cedar City
  
• Destination Cedar City
  
• TravelWest