The recent Torchwood miniseries has made me realize that it’s time to take Captain Jack and Doctor Donna down from my header. Also, if I ever meet Russell T. Davies, I might have to punch him in the balls.
How about a reading update?
Back at the beginning of the year, I resolved to read more. You see, I have been telling myself for many years that I am a writer at heart and, in fact, the primary purpose of this blog was to flex my writing muscles while showing off my knitting. Yet, in all honesty, I hadn’t been reading very much. And since they tell us that reading is to aspiring writers as a mountain stream is to thirsty hikers, I set my goal this year to read a book a month. Surprisingly, it appears I am ahead of the game. So far I’ve read:
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (well written, accessible, thought provoking)
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen (absolutely amazing and thoroughly satisfying)
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (wow.)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (double wow.)
Bodies by Susie Orbach (clinically dense, but paradigm shifting)
Overcoming Overeating (clinical but what I needed to read at the time)
Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby (fun and enlightening)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (holy shit this guy is just… wow.)
And currently, I’m reading:
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (loving it!)
and
The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (I’m reading this to Isaac and we are both enjoying every minute of it. Go now. Go get this book. But DON’T read it, it’s dangerous!!!)
Still ahead of me is the release of the next book of the Wheel of Time series (to be finished by Brandon Sanderson and to be three books instead of one–SQUEE!), in addition to:
Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
A Bad Spell in Yurt by C. Dale Brittain
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
Wings of Wrath by C.S. Friedman
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Already I feel the stories coming together in my head, ready to be spun into something new. I can’t wait for November and NaNoWriMo.
Dear Reader, how has your summer reading been?
Knitting is Therapy
While I am not going to blog about what has been going on here at Chez Interrupted, I can show you this:
Beautiful and useful socks, born from a shit-storm. It will never ever cease to amaze me how the comforting act of knitting produces an object that is, itself, comforting. And while I will probably always remember these as the socks I knit while riding an emotional roller coaster, I will also remember how they brought me perfect moments of peace and stillness.
Also, they are sparkly.
O Hai!
So it’s been nearly a month since I last posted here. Anywhere really. Not only have I been feeling sarcastically uninspired, but there has been a sarcastic amount of family drama over the last couple of weeks. Also, Michael Jackson died. Thank god for knitting.
A Tutorial for Adrienne
Or, How I Knit MLTU* Socks.
I use Judy’s Magic Cast On to cast on 16 stitches (8/needle). After I knit the first round as per the instructions, I begin increasing for the toe as follows:
K1, YO, k across to last st, YO, K1 (needle 1) then K1 YO k across to last st, YO, K1 (needle 2)
Repeat this for EVERY row (being sure to knit the YOs through the back of the stitch to close up the holes) until I have 1/2 of the total number of stitches (32 for a 64 st sock, for example) and then for EVERY OTHER ROW until I have the total number of stitches needed (e.g., 64).
I work the foot until it is about 1-1/2 to 2″ SHORTER than the total length of the foot I am knitting for. If I am doing a stitch pattern, I work it only on needle 1 (the instep stitches). I work the heel on needle 2 (the heel stitches. See what I did there?)
Then, I make a short row heel. This way, for example, is not the exact method I use, but it is very well explained and less fiddly.
After I have completed the heel, I work the leg until it is long enough. 3 inches seems about right for me.
Then I add some ribbing so the sock doesn’t fall down. I like 1×1 rib, but 2×2 or twisted 1×1 is also good.
Finally, I do a stretchy bind off, perhaps a surprisingly stretchy bind off, and celebrate because I have turned plain old string into useful clothing once again!
*MLTU=Magic Loop Toe Up
6 Months of Yarn Compulsion
There she is!
A Winner and An Update
By random number generation, the winner of the comment drawing is
Shannah! Congratulations! Please leave a comment on this post and I will contact you for your mailing information so I can send you your awesome yarn. :-)
Thanks to everyone for stopping by. I’m pretty sure they are going to go with Paisley Jane for the name. For a while there, it was looking like my friend would be able to have a “normal” delivery. Little Paisley had turned head down again and so they were able to cancel the cesarean birth they had scheduled for today. Regrettably, she has somersaulted once more and is now pointing in the wrong direction again. Sage announced by FB status tonight that Paisley will be born on Wednesday, either by labor induction or surgery. So, yay!
Dear Harumi Cardigan,
I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I think it’s time we went our separate ways. Your lace pattern, while perfectly lovely and very well explained, simply requires far more attention than I am able to give you. I blame the ADHD. It’s not you, it’s me. Really. I admit to browsing the other cardigan patterns on Ravelry and, honestly, I haven’t felt good about it. But now, it’s out in the open and I can flirt with other, more mindless projects shamelessly.
A quick survey and another contest!
A dear friend of mine is getting ready to deliver her 5th child (a 3rd girl!) next week and she and her husband still have not decided on a name. The only name she really likes is Paisley Jane. Her husband likes it well enough, but feels that it might be a little too weird. Personally, I think it’s unusual, but not weird. What say you?
She also wonders if you would a diminutive and what would it be. Paiz? PJ? Leave a comment below.
Speaking of comments, she is going in for a scheduled cesarean birth because this girl is stubborn and just absolutely refuses to turn head-down and go out the front door. So, my friend will be going through her 5th delivery, but her first cesarean, and she’s a little nervous. Please, dear reader, can you offer her some words of encouragement in the comments? How about a little incentive?
(Yarn Pirate in the “I Want Candy” colorway from the Booty Club)
And yes, I know I still haven’t sent off the last prize from the last contest to the winner, Yarnerinas. I have it ready to go, I just need to get over to the post office. I promise to do this tomorrow.
I’ll draw the winner from the commentariat using Random.org on the evening of June 8th, the baby’s scheduled birthday. Lastly, if you mention my contest on your blog and link back to me, guess what–you get TWO entries! Now, spread the word and get commenting!
Knitting Interrupted 
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