Joy, my friend and one of the greatest beings on this planet, is raising money for Team in Training by selling off her fabulous collection of yarn (you will need a Ravelry account to read the last link). Please join me in buying her stuff and raising money for a truly worthy cause. If you don’t knit or crochet, you can learn. I will give two free knit or crochet lessons to anybody who buys at least $20 worth of yarn from Joy. If you don’t want to learn (and why not?!), you can also just give the yarn to me. True story.
Good riddance. I love it when reason triumphs over irrationality. – NYTimes: Rep. Allen West Concedes After Florida Recount Fight
http://nyti.ms/UcuT1Z
What? No!
Ugh. Let’s be real here: Channing Tatum could be all by himself and wouldn’t even be the sexiest guy in the room. I have no dog in this fight, per se, but I think it reflects badly on all of America when our foremost schmaltz-peddling magazine is incapable of accurately identifying truly sexy men to objectify.
So, to recap, People Magazine chose Channing Tatum:
Looking better, Charming Potato, but seriously?
Over any of these people who I came up with after .04 seconds of thought.
The Tater’s best is still not even in this guy’s league.
He’s too pretty not to post twice.
Or this guy’s.
Also, I’m not alone in this opinion (tingly part warning: this post contains a squijillion pics of Ryan Gosling, fyi).
Racist friend of friend is racist.
I said yesterday that I wouldn’t go to Facebook, due to the overwhelming number of heavily-partisan political posts people were making. And I didn’t, technically, since I saw this conversation in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, but it just goes to show that I really need to stick with my first inclination; deviating from the plan and winging it doesn’t seem to work out too well for me. Besides, everybody who knows my way of thinking knows that it’s still the same day until I go to sleep and wake up again, regardless of what time that happens. In my defense, I was on my way home after watching the voting results come in at Dempsey’s Pub (don’t go there, btw), and riding NJ transit in the early AM isn’t the most scintillating experience.
The conversation pictured here has continued, with everybody else staying far away from the racially-coded land mine of Shaquita to focus on entitlements, the military, and how Obama will continue to ride around Virginia in his rap-blaring Escalade, snatching money out of old people’s hands and food out of children’s mouths. I may have extrapolated a little there, but I that’s my general reading of the subtext.
And let’s not even talk about the secession comment. Man, I was so tempted not to hide some of those names.
I voted how I voted, and lots of other people are voting how they’re going to vote. I encourage all of my fellow registered voters to go cast their ballots, and then kindly not post a zillion partisan things on their FB timelines. Not like I’ve been going there much lately except for work anyway, but today is one day where you could not, for love or money, get me to go on Facebook. As usual, the ha ha guy says it best.
Wherever you are, you can help donate to Hurricane Sandy Relief efforts. If you’re near an effected area and can do something in person, consider giving of your time. If you aren’t, please make a donation. Many charities are accepting donations and helping those in need (although you should definitely be on the lookout for scams). The American Red Cross is accepting donations online, in person at their offices, and via text (text the word REDCROSS to 90999).
You may also donate items directly to those in need via Amazon wishlists that have been set up for specific neighborhoods.
Long Beach, NY
Breezy Point, NY
Staten Island
However you choose to do it, go out there and make somebody’s life exponentially more awesome.
That’s not a typo. Just imagine Gollum saying the post title. I’ve become obsessed with kiddo sweaters, and have made three in as many months. They’re the perfect gift because 1) little kids need to stay warm; 2) they’re more likely to stay on than booties; 3) they’re faster to make than blankets; and 4) they’re more interesting to knit than just about anything else.
Pattern 1: Raglan Baby Cardigan (Top-Down)
The first sweater I made was for my friends who recently welcomed their first child. Can you guess their last name? I’d actually been playing around with this idea for years. Initially I thought I’d make them a blanket in these colors, but then I remembered that I’m still traumatized by the thought of knitting another baby sweater, and went back to the drawing board. I bought the yarn in March, before I knew that they were expecting. The color was exactly what I’d had in mind, and it seemed too fortuitous to pass up. Then I ended up needing more yarn for the sweater I wanted to make, so I had to turn to my fellow knitters on Ravelry. I was able to find more of this yarn, but the yarn I had was discontinued and the new yellow wasn’t as good a match for the colors of the Brazilian soccer team, which is what I’d been going for. Curses, universe! The color in those pics is pretty weird, since I took them with my cell phone (why couldn’t I have reached for my real camera?); the picture of the front of the sweater is most accurate, color-wise.
Pattern 2: Crossed Cardigan (not yet available)
The second sweater is one that I test knit. I made the 1 – 2 year old size. I didn’t get gauge on the completed project, and my model also experienced a terribly inconvenient (for me) growth spurt, so this one will be passed along to somebody else soon. This sweater was also done in one piece, but involved a lot of picking up stitches that struck me as too fiddly. The end result was lovely, though. I’ve decided that my current block-fu may not be working anymore, and finally caved and bought some blocking wires. Once they arrive, I’ll reblock this sweater and see if it ends up at the right dimensions. Even if this one doesn’t end up conforming to the suggested gauge, I think I’ll make this sweater again (the pattern includes directions for many sizes). I didn’t love all the picking up I had to do, but now that I know what to expect from this, I’m sure I could do it again.
Pattern 3: Sunnyside
I haven’t 100% of the way finished my third sweater, because I have yet to figure out how it’s going to close. I have a matching zipper I could put in it (learning that you can purchase $.27 zippers fixed something in my soul, btw), but since the buttons were the least of my concern with the Crossed Cardigan, maybe I should stop avoiding them.
So I met Jason Mraz on Saturday and I’m still super psyched about it. As my friends, family, and many casual acquaintances know, I’m just a smidge obsessed with seeing Mraz perform whenever and wherever I can. Seeing him earlier this year in Dubai was a treat, since I didn’t know that he was going to be there until after I’d already purchased my ticket (this following thing apparently works both ways). We chatted for a minute or two, which was pretty neat. I managed not to come across as a complete airhead, which I count as a victory.
This is maybe the best (shot of me) of the four pictures that his assistant took of him with me. The larger the pic is, the easier it is to see that it’s blurry. Sad face.
Amazing people, Awesome, Crochet, Knitting | Nicole | 
December 17, 2012 2:27 pm | 
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