I’m not a web designer, as you know, and I don’t know how to fix this. I’m assuming it’s been hacked at some point, but have no clue what to do to make it right. And so Chappysmom just sits here, alone and lonely. (And, ironically, still being paid for by me to the webhosting company that threatens me with shutting it down because of using too much bandwidth. Ah, the irony, when I’ve barely been able to use my own site for a year. But that just reinforces my assumption that I’ve somehow been hacked.

Meantime … life goes on. You just haven’t heard about it.

Chappy is well and happy. Cute and adorable as ever. He’s ten and a half now, if you’ve lost count. Playful, eager to get out for walks, but taking his napping more seriously these days. He was depressed around Christmas when his best friend, Horatio, died suddenly. They’ve known each other since they were puppies and even though they hadn’t seen each other in a while, they were still best friends.

My niece graduated from college in December. My nephew is a freshman in college. I don’t know how they got so big. Mom and Dad are well, if dealing with a few more aches and pains these days. They both had “big” birthdays this year, too. (You know, the kind that end with 5 and 0, but I don’t want to get in trouble with Mom by telling you what the digit before her 0 was.) She and I will be going into NY one of these days very soon as her birthday present from me, because she loves the city. She’s also willingly tagged along with me a couple times, for Vogue Knitting Live in January, and to see the Harry Potter exhibit with Jessalu in September.

We’ve been having crazy weather. Not extreme, exactly. No, you couldn’t call it that. This is one of the mildest winters I can remember, but we had almost a full quota of snow in OCTOBER when we got 18″ of the stuff the day before Halloween. That was simply tragic. We’d had an usually warm autumn, too, so half the trees hadn’t even changed color yet, forget about dropping their leaves. Then, add 18″ of wet, heavy snow on top of that and, well, disaster. We lost power for 5 days (which has never happened before), and my entire town shut down for days because there were so many roads blocked and power lines down.

It absolutely decimated the trees. I have never, EVER seen so many huge trees down, or so many branches. Truly heartbreaking.

And that, of course, was just two months after Hurricane Irene in August which flooded the entire downtown. We’ve got a river running through, and there are spots that flood in big storms. That’s not uncommon, but we’ve NEVER had the entire downtown washed out before. Ever. In the history of the town. I’ve never seen anything like it.

On the plus side, I’ve also never seen anything like the community response, either. I’ve been so very proud of my town. People opened their homes to neighbors who were washed out, and they knocked themselves out trying to help the businesses that were washed out. I think there’s only one that didn’t make it back at all, and one–a gourmet Italian deli/shop–hasn’t quite opened again yet. Some of those shops lost everything, so the fact that they were able to pull it together to open again at all is impressive. (This includes the LYS, Nonna’s Yarn Cafe.) There have been follow-up articles in the paper about how my town is practically the poster child for exactly how a community SHOULD respond to a disaster, so that’s kind of nice.

Let’s see. Oh yeah, there’s been knitting, too.

When’s the last time I showed you any knitting? I mean, the last “real” post that wasn’t just a reading list was last JUNE, for heaven’s sake, and I’ve definitely done some knitting since then!

I finished my EZ Green Cardigan, which I kind of love and wear often.

I knitted a pair of boot toppers for the Juniper Moon Farm trunk show last Fall, too. The yarn is to die for.

Then there’s the Deco sweater (by Kate Davies), which I love so much words can’t even say. It’s knit in Spud & Chloe “Fine” in the Goldfish color which I adore. Its gold-orange-yellow color is one of my favorites. (And kind of reminds me of my bedroom-that-was, too. And my new teapot.) LOVE this sweater.

I made a lap afghan out of Plymouth Encore in green and gray. This is an early photo, but I kept going until it was about 3′ square. Perfect lap size, very cuddly. And it was delightfully mindless knitting.

Made a pair of slippers for the Juniper Moon Farm design contest. (Actually, I made the first pair for my sister for Christmas and THEN knit a second pair to submit to the contest.)

Chappy likes them, which counts for a lot.

Made a scarf (back when I thought the winter would be cold enough that I’d actually NEED one). It’s green to match my new coat which I bought to match the FABULOUS alpaca hat I got from Rhinebeck as a birthday present. (Because, oh yeah, I turned 45 in November.) This was Cascade Venezia yarn and I loved working with it. Loved the olive-green color, too, and keep thinking what a nice sweater it would make.

Except, my yarn stash is big enough to be going on with, don’t you think?

Made an “Austin Hoodie” out of Madelinetosh yarn (in Vanilla Bean, which may be one of my favorite colors), though I left off the hood. I never wear them anyway. Love the way the sweater turned out, though, and am particularly pleased with the accenting/coordinating zipper.

Finally.

FINALLY. A Hyrna Herborgar shawl, in Juniper Moon Farm Findley. (Which is also an amazing yarn. Wool and silk with a gorgeous sheen, but which actually cooperates, which Zephyr never did.)

And, currently, working on a Log Cabin afghan, using Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool from my stash. (Every sweater I’ve ever made with this has grown disastrously as soon as I’ve washed it, but I still love the stuff. So … afghan is perfect.) (And, some of the brighter colors were generously contributed by a Ravelry friend who was destashing.)

Oh, and my sister cross-stitched this adorable little Chappy for me. I charted it from one of my favorite pictures of him, romping in our backyard-that-was. Isn’t it sweet? I keep it next to my computer and it makes me smile every time I see it. (But then, Chappy does that.)

In current television obsessions, now that CHUCK is gone (it finished its 5th and final season January 27th), and now that DOWNTON ABBEY has finished its second season … I’m obsessing on SHERLOCK. Have I mentioned before how much I adore Sherlock?

If you haven’t heard of it, it’s the BBC show by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (the team behind the current Doctor Who). It sets Sherlock Holmes in modern day London and it’s BRILLIANT. Absolutely wonderful. Season 1, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, aired in 2010, and season 2 just aired in England last month. It’s so delicious and so addictive, I ordered a multi-region DVD player just so I could order the DVD set when it came out on January 23rd so I wouldn’t have to wait until May when it airs here on PBS. (Yes, MAY. Don’t ask me why it’s 4 agonizing months later. It’s just cruel.)

There are only a total of 6 episodes, but they’re each an hour and a half long, so it’s really more like 6 films, and they’re just wonderful. I was hugely skeptical–Sherlock in modern London? How good could that be? Except it IS. Really good. It’s so easy to forget that the character of Sherlock Holmes was totally cutting-edge in his day. He was like an entire Victorian CSI lab in a frock coat, solving crimes that could have happened right around the corner from the people reading the stories. They weren’t “quaint” little mysteries that took place over 100 years ago when things were simple and sweet. So the idea of imaging Sherlock into a world with computers and cell phones totally works IF it’s done right, and this really, really is.

“Obsessing” is truly the word, too. Not only did I buy the DVD and player from England, but also the soundtrack–which also is not yet available here in the USA–because the music is so good. I’ve watched all three of the new episodes multiple times, and have spent an absurd amount of time reading fanfiction–a trend which I’ve managed to avoid for years. I’ve never been sucked in, before, but it’s been so frustrating being the only person I know who’s SEEN the second season, and not having anyone to talk to about it, that reading fanfic by other people who had (1) seen it and (2) loved Sherlock as much as I do became a welcome release valve.

In other words, you should absolutely be watching this show. Does it help if I tell you that its two stars are just about to become huge? Martin Freeman is playing Bilbo in the upcoming “The Hobbit” (prequel to Lord of the Rings), and Benedict Cumberbatch, just in “War Horse,” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is going to be in the next Star Trek movie as well.

In other words, it’s really, REALLY good that they’ve already got these two gents locked in for a season 3 of Sherlock. Otherwise that season 2 ender would just break my heart.

Reading-wise … well, I need to get my reading list up, I suppose, because you KNOW I’ve been reading. In fact I did so little writing towards the end of the year ( I lost my writing mojo for a while), I got a lot of reading done. (And that’s another thing about fanfiction. I enjoyed reading it so much, I actually wrote some, which kind of got me started writing again, so … no worries there.)

Well! I think that pretty much catches us up!

I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen here at Chappysmom. I’m not saying this blog isn’t fixable, but it is very definitely not something in my skill set to fix. I don’t want to lose it, I don’t want to lose the archives, but … at this moment, I don’t really see how I can move it forward, either. (And, honestly, I’m not crazy about paying for the hosting that I essentially can’t use, either.)

I’m thinking about setting up a blog over at Knitting Scholar and posting there, but again … I need to figure out HOW to set up a sub-blog on the existing site and again … not my skill set. I do want you all to know that I’m still here, though! Still knitting. Still interested. Still reading all of your blogs. (Though I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed a HUGE drop off in general in comments and blog interactions in the last couple years. And I admit I don’t comment as often as I used to when I read other blogs, either.)

Hope you’re all well!

1. FLEDGLING by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
2. SALTATION by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
3. GHOST SHIP by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
4. DRAGONSEYE by Anne McCaffrey
5. MASTERHARPER OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey
6. DRAGONFLIGHT by Anne McCaffrey
7. DRAGONQUEST by Anne McCaffrey
8. WHITE DRAGON by Anne McCaffrey
9. RENEGADES OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey
10. ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey
11. PIONEER WOMAN COOKS by Ree Drummond
12. REPORTER’S LIFE by Walter Cronkite
13. FLOUR by Joanne Chang
14. KNIT, SWIRL! by Sandra McIver
15. WENDY KNITS LACE by Wendy D. Johnson
16. ALICE IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll
17. INNOCENT MONSTER by Reed Farrel Coleman
18. THE WIDOW’S WAR by Sally Gunning
19. KNIGHT IN CENTRAL PARK by Theresa Ragan
20. SUMMER AT TIFFANY by Marjorie Hart
21. BLUE CASTLE by L.M. Montgomery
22. WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED by Gail Colins
23. WRITE THE PERFECT BOOK PROPOSAL by Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman
24. COOKWISE by Shirley O. Corriher
25. KNIT ONE, KNIT ALL by Elizabeth Zimmermann
26. LORD VALENTINE’S CASTLE by Robert Silverberg
27. TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter
28. PRINCE OF ILL-LUCK by Susan Dexter
29. RING OF ALLAIRE by Susan Dexter

1. The Grand Tour : Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Sequel to the “Sorcery and Cecelia” book which I liked rather better, this tells about the wedding trip of both couples, only instead of being written as letters to each other (which gave the first book a better “voice”), this is a journal and a deposition–not nearly as much fun, but still an enjoyable book.
2. Longshot by Dick Francis. A strugging writer agrees to ghost-write a biography of a famous horse trainer and finds himself in the middle of a murder cover-up.
3. Decider by Dick Francis. Mystery focusing around a failing race course and one man who owns shares through his dead mother and who may be able to make a difference.
4. Good Night Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas
5. Good Morning Irene (AKA The Adventuress) by Carole Nelson Douglas
6. Irene at Large (AKA A Soul of Steel) by Carole Nelson Douglas
7. Irene’s Last Waltz (AKA Another Scandal in Bohemia) by Carole Nelson Douglas
8. Femme Fatale by Carole Nelson Douglas
9. Spider Dance by Carole Nelson Douglas. I do love the Irene Adler mysteries, based on the character from Sherlock Holmes. (Though I skipped the two about Jack the Ripper.)
10. Fiddler’s Gun by A. S. Peterson. Yawn. A YA book about a misunderstood orphan girl during the Revolutionary War who ends up becoming a pirate … I was bored the entire time, though I suppose for only 99-cents for the Kindle version, that’s okay.
11. Counterfeit Son by Elaine Marie Alphin. Gripping YA story–the son of a serial killer, when his father is shot down by police, tells authorities that he is actually one of the boys the man had abducted so that he can go live with their family. Considering how awful his life has been for this boy, and the things he’s seen, and the lie he’s telling, this isn’t a happy book, but oh, it was was surprisingly good and has a great twist at the end.
12. Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn. Sci-fi murder mystery taking place on a desert planet where someone is targeting the religious sisters from two different orders.
13. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction–and Get It Published by Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato. How-to book for getting a book published.
14. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Deliciously quirky epistolary novel, told entirely through letters, and about how the island of Guernsey made it through WWII.
15. Run by Ann Patchett. A lovely book involving the two, black adopted sons of a former mayor of Boston. One is about to be hit by a car on a snowy night when a woman pushes him out of the way and is hit herself, right in front of her teenaged daughter … who tells them that the woman was actually the boys’ birth mother and family lines start getting confused.
16. Wilder Sisters by Jo-Ann Mapson. Two sisters who haven’t spoken in years but find themselves making up when circumstances force both of them to their parents’ ranch in NM.
17. Blue Rodeo by Jo-Ann Mapson. Woman heads to NM to be closer to her teenaged son, recently deafened through a case of meningitis.
18. Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Liaden universe, covering the courtship of Er Thom yos’Galan and Anne Davis, parents of Shan. It’s really a lovely little love sci-fi/regency kind of love story.
19. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. So, imagine there were some people who were genetically able to time-travel. And then suppose that you had always expected your cousin was the one in your family to have inherited this gift but then it turned out to be you instead? Add in some kind of plot/mystery and there you go–the first in this YA trilogy.
20. No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne. L. MacDonald. The social history of knitting in America. It’s been years since I read it, and it’s still fascinating.
21. The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud. History about Edward R. Murrow and the other radio news pioneers on CBS during and after WWII.
22. Scout’s Progress by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Liaden universe. Story of how Aelliana Caylon and Daav yos’Phelium (parents of Val Con in later books) met.
23. Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Liaden universe. Second in the story of Aelliana Caylon and Daav yos’Phelium, telling of their time together.
24. Seamless (or Nearly Seamless) Knits by Andra Knight Brown
25. 10 Secrets of the LaidBack Knitters: A Guide to Holistic Knitting, Yarn, and Life by Vicki Stiefel and Lisa Souza
26. Loop-d-Loop Lace: More Than 30 Novel Lace Designs for Knitters by Teva Durham
27. Knitted Lace: A Collection of Favorite Designs from Interweave by Interweave Press
28. The Gentle Art of Knitting: 40 Projects Inspired by Everyday Beauty by Jane Brocket
29. Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac: The Commemorative Edition by Elizabeth Zimmermann. Because, yes, I’ve got an old edition, but I couldn’t (finally) resist the new one.

Now, one more thing. Over at Knitting Scholar, I compiled a list of new and upcoming knitting books–and there are a LOT of them. Please head over and check them out–there are so many titles, it took TWO posts! Here’s the first post, of recent and soon-to-be-out books. And here’s the list of somewhat further-out but still coming books.

My nephew graduated high school!

And he put the sweater I made him on just long enough for me to snap one (not very good) photo:

The important thing, though, is that (1) he seemed to like it, (2) he definitely seemed to appreciate it, and (3) it fits! The rest is out of my hands.

As to other knitting, I’m almost done with my EZ Green Cardigan. I’m working on the neckband and when that’s done, the only thing left will be to sew on the buttons and to add loops to hold them. So … which buttons do YOU like for this almost-finished sweater?

I asked Chappy, his opinion and this is what HE said:

Not particularly helpful.

Speaking of green–I made this lovely green yarn out of those three bobbins of singles–two dark olive, one light olive–and am thrilled with the way it came out.

I also turned my Autumn Dreams sweater (which never fit right) into a purse. I tried so many things to try to salvage it as a garment, but none of them worked, so finally … I just cut off the top altogether, added a lining and some leather handles I picked up at Rhinebeck, and here we go.

Actually, I was really proud of myself for coming up with a way to attach those handles. They had a loop at the end that couldn’t be opened, so I took the neckband of the felted sweater and threaded it through all four handle-ends and then sewed it to the top of the bag (which is actually the bottom ribbing of the sweater) and tucked it in behind the lining. Those handles aren’t going anywhere!

Didn’t my nephew look handsome in his tux for the prom?

Let’s see, what else?

My sister enjoyed her birthday present:

Homemade Vanilla extract by yours truly.

Oh, and it’s entirely possible that I might have put my tax refund (which I didn’t expect to get in the first place) toward a new camera. (Cough)

Chappy had a rough night the other night. We had some big thunderstorms and instead of being stoic like usual, he sat in his crate PANTING at me, nudging the latch every now and again because he so badly wanted to be OUT of the crate. I figured he would quiet down after the worst of them passed overhead, but no. So after about an hour and a half of pant!pant!pant!, I got out of bed (about 4:30, this was) and petted him for a while. He was so GRATEFUL to be out of that crate! I still can’t figure out what made him react that strongly. I mean, I know he hates thunderstorms, but to pant nonstop for over two hours in the middle of the night? When he usually is so calm about it? What was it about this storm that set him off so?

Still, other than that, I swear Chappy spends most of his time laughing at me.

What can I tell you? Life is just a bowl of …

Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff. A nice chick-lit kind of book about a woman trying to restart her life by opening a vintage clothing store.

Knitters’ Home Companion by Michelle Edwards. Sweet, heart-warming little book of stories, patterns, and recipes.

Philosophical Breakfast Club by Laura Snyder. The history of science, all in one neat little package. Or, well, not the ENTIRE history of science, but it follows four men who, while at Cambridge, got together and decided they were going to transform the way science was studied and treated … and then went ahead and did it. Fascinating and incredibly wide-ranging.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. The story about the horse, which I decided I had to re-read after re-watching the movie. It’s still a really great story.

World Without End by Sean Russell, and…
Sea Without a Shore by Sean Russell. You’ve seen this pair on my list a lot. I love this duo—both fantasy books, but taking place in a world much like our 18th century with a main character who would have fit nicely in with the real-life mean in the Philosophical Breakfast Club above.

Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn. Favorite author. Favorite book. Beautiful cover. Good story. There’s a reason it appears periodically on my list.

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. An interesting and somewhat irreverent approach to the idea of space travel and what we need to do to get ready for a trip to Mars. There might actually be more detail than I really wanted to know about vomiting in space, or how weightlessness affects certain bodily functions, but it’s still fascinating—and entertaining—to read the author’s exploration into sending fragile humans into space.

Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer. Hmm. She’s a good author and talented. The story sounded fascinating, but … I was bored and ended up closing this one before I technically finished it. (Yawn)

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma. Such a nice little memoir. When she is in third grade, Alice and her father decide to challenge themselves to not missing a night of bedtime reading for 100 nights. When they’ve accomplished that, they decide to go for 1,000 … and then keep going. Right up until she left for college. Sweet. Touching, and full of the love of reading.

Last Bookstore in America by Amy Stewart. A Kindle book that supposes that we all—every one of us—suddenly were so enamored by e-readers that we simply didn’t want paper books any more. (Yes, the author knows that’s a stretch.) How do you suppose the last bookstore in America would survive? Light and entertaining.

Only Mr. Darcy will Do by Kara Louise. Light, fluffy little pastiche based on Pride & Prejudice (because that’s nothing new, right?) This one supposes that Mr. Bennet had passed away shortly after Mr. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth at Rosings. Mr. Collins therefore moves into the Bennet’s house and Elizabeth becomes a governess. And when Mr. Darcy hears about it? Naturally, he invites the family she works for for a visit… An entertaining little look at the “what might have been” theme.

An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan, and…
Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan, and…
These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan. Well, while on a P&P-pastiche kick … I reread this trilogy that tells the whole story from Mr. Darcy’s point of view. They’re not perfect (and book #2 is by far the weakest and most ridiculous of the three), but it’s still fun.

Wildwood Dancing byJuliet Marillier. Fairy tale of 5 Transylvanian sisters who go dancing on the “other side” every full moon.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Because everyone should read the original once in a while, right?

What Ho, Automaton by Chris Dolley. Okay … imagine if P.G. Wodehouse were writing steampunk stories about an airhead named Reginald Worcester and his robot valet named Reeves…

Winston’s War by Max Hastings. History of WWII as shaped by Winston Churchill. I so wanted to love this book. It’s thoroughly researched and chock-ful with information (not to mention a certain amount of hero-worship on the part of the author), but I didn’t. It was wordy with the ridiculously circular, passive-verb sentences that are the worst in British writing styles, and it assumed the reader already knew too much. If you had no idea what happened at Dunkirk, or what the Battle of Britain was, you would flounder trying to catch up. No comparison in interest, readability, or good writing to the two-part Churchill biography I read last month.

Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony, and…
Source of Magic by Piers Anthony, and…
Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony, and…
Centaur Aisle by Piers Anthony. Okay, so I loved this fantasy series about Xanth when I was younger. My best friend and I devoured them in junior high and even wrote fan letters to the author, but it’s been years since I read them. And, well, they’re not as much fun as they used to be. The dialog is hopelessly unrealistic, the puns are already taking over the series (which they had completely done by book #7 or so), and yes, God yes, they are so sexist. How did I never see this before? But, still, they’ve got some good laughs and they certainly are creative so I guess revisiting them every 20 years or so isn’t a terrible idea.

The Wish by Alexandra Bullen. A YA book about a girl who wishes to have her dead twin sister back … and thanks to a magic dress, gets it.

Memoir by Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 1. A little too much with the military tactics but that’s certainly no less than one would suspect. This is still interesting and impressive as memoirs go. (Especially knowing that he was dying of cancer the entire time he wrote it.)

Reading Jackie by William Kuhn. A look at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s life through her reading, and the books she edited. Interesting look at the woman and the reasons she worked with the authors she did.

You’ll remember that this is a cardigan version of Beth Brown-Reinsel’s wonderful “Celtic Dreams,” knit out of my CSA-share yarn (Cormo/mohair blend) from Juniper Moon Farm. I even had the perfect buttons all ready. I think I’m going to run a ribbon along the inside behind the buttons to make it look tidier inside, but otherwise … done. I finished it almost exactly a year after I finished my last Aran cardigan which I made out of the yarn I recycled from my original Celtic Dreams pullover.

Did I tell you I need to buy a zipper?

For something I can’t entirely show you in case a family member who’s not supposed to know about it sees the blog?

Did I tell you that Chappy still has a tick embedded in his face, poor boy?

He picked up a little, sesame-seed-sized tick a month or so ago and I started to pull it out with one of our “Ticked Off” spoon gadgets–which have never failed me–except the stupid tick was so tiny that instead of coming out, it stripped, with the head left in place. I called my vet to ask what I should do and they said to just leave it alone, which was backed up by the JMF group on Ravelry. So … I’ve tried very hard not to touch it, but I’ve kept an eye on the spot. It’s conveniently located just under an inch from his eye, so the little lump of callous that’s formed around it is easy to spot. (If this were on his back somewhere, you can just forget it. I’d never have found it again in all that fluffy brown fur!

May I just say here what a wonderful dog I have? Because, with that tick an inch from his eye, attached to his sensitive facial skin, he let me poke and prod and pull with tweezers and such without a single complaint. It never fails to amaze me how GOOD he is when I need to do stuff like this.

Did I tell you I’ve been spinning?

After lots of emails back and forth with Majacraft, I finally got the spinning head on my new Aura replaced. They sent a replacement for it right away when I told them about the crack, but I couldn’t–really Could Not–get the whorls off the original one. I got the little plumb screws out and then … no amount of pulling or twisting would budge the whorls, so they had to send me replacements for those, TOO, which is just crazy but much appreciated. Their customer service is awesome.

So, I’ve just finished spinning my third bobbin of singles. This is corriedale from the Sheep Shed that we picked up at Rhinebeck a couple years ago. (Technically Mom picked it up because it was my birthday present exactly 1.5 years ago.)

Anyway, I’d always planned on these three lots of roving would make a 3-ply yarn. Two plies of the olive green, one ply of the lighter green. And how awesome are these bobbins that they HOLD 8 ounces of yarn?

Of course the plying will be challenging because I only have one other bobbin, so once it’s filled with plied yarn, I’ll have to wind all the yarn off before I can continue. Not ideal, but … hey, I’m still happy that I got all of each color on ONE bobbin.

Did I tell you I had a guest post at Susan’s Juniper Moon Farm blog?

Yep, and doing one of my favorite things–reviewing a knitting book.

For that matter, Juniper Moon Farm is coming out with a commercial line of yarn in the Fall and I can’t wait to see it. Mom and I are seriously hoping Susan comes to NJ on her promotional tour and that we get to see her.

Did I tell you I’ve been doing some writing?

I unofficially participated in Script Frenzy last month–the screenwriting version of NaNoWriMo, only instead of writing a 50,000 word novel, you write a 100-page script. I took one of my unpublished novels–one I’ve always vividly pictured as a movie anyway–and converted it to a script. Of course, I’ve never written a script before, so I’m sure there are all sorts of things I’m missing, or structure things I got wrong, but … that was fun! In fact, I think the story is much stronger as a screenplay than as a novel, so good for that.

Did I tell you that my niece and nephew are getting too grown up?

My nephew is graduating high school next month. How did this happen? My little baby nephew is almost a foot taller than me, turning 18, and finishing his basic education. He’ll be heading to community college for the next two years which I don’t think he’s particularly thrilled with, but at college prices these days, it’s the only option he’s got for higher-education (grin). He’s having a hard time finding a summer job because there just really aren’t that many available where they live (or anywhere?), but we all hope he finds something. Not only for gas money (!), but because he gets bored so easily.

My niece is finishing up her senior year at college–though she has one more semester to go. She’s also working at the Merry-go-Round theater in NY state this summer, building and painting sets, which is exactly what she wants to do for a living. We won’t get so see her all summer, therefore, but we’re happy for her anyway.

Did I tell you I bought some yarn?

Not a lot of yarn, but enough for a sweater. It’s Spud & Chloe “Fine” in this gorgeous gold-yellow color. I used the $50 gift card I got when I bought my new cell phone last November, so only had to pay $5 for the whole thing. I was thinking that Kate Davie’s “Deco” might be perfect for it.

Did I tell you I’m making EZ’s Green Cardigan?

(Yes, the yarn really IS green.)

You know, the cardigan that was recreated last year? (You might have read about it in Twist.) I bought the kit from Schoolhouse Press which came with the yarn … though I’m not crazy about the yarn. It also skews because it’s a singles yarn, but … hey, it came with it, right? And I don’t have anything I like better, so …

Did I tell you I have a Chocolate-Mint Plant? Sort of?

A Ravelry friend sent me a seedling to grow, but apparently the trip from Oklahoma was tough on it. Almost all the leaves came off and I’m left with pretty much just a stem. But, I put it in a pot and am hoping for the best. It’s meant to be an outside plant, but it doesn’t seem sporting to put it out there before it’s got its roots settled, don’t you think?

Did I tell you I think Chappy’s top-knot is coming back?

So far as his other health issues, he seems fine. We stopped going for platelet counts at the vet a few months ago, finally, and I haven’t seen any signs of a recurrence of the problem. Whatever caused it is a mystery. His fur has finally grown back–he lost massive amounts just as he came off the prednisone and my feeling is that it was all a reaction to the medicine. That and having any blow to your system can make your hair fall out months later when what would have been the new growth fails to come in.

Chappy used to have this adorable “top knot,” a tuft of unruly fur on top of his head that I adored.

But, since the Prednisone last fall and the flaky skin/seborrhea/bald spot thing of the last month or so … his top-knot is gone. The top of his head is sleek and smooth.

But I think he’s starting to get a little crimp to the fur on top of his head, so I’ve got hopes for his top-knot to return. Handsome though he looks with a smooth head, I kind of miss the top-knot.

1. Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
2. The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
3. Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones
4. Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
5. Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones
6. Cart & Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
7. Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones
8. Spellcoats by Diana Wynne Jones
9. Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones–All part of my Diana Wynne Jones memorial tour through the bookshelves, pulling off some books I haven’t read in a while. I miss her already.
10. Bang the Keys by Jill Dearman–Writing book whose main intent is that you need to sit down and WRITE to get anything done … with tips on how to do just that.
11. Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip–YA fantasy about a girl who befriends a prince obsessed with the sea and a water drake obsessed with the land…
12. Od Magic by Patricia McKillip–Charming little fantasy centering around a school of magic. Beautiful and atmospheric as are all her books.
13. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
14. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey
15. Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey–The news that there may actually be a Dragonriders of Pern movie inspired me to pull out some of my Pern books. Love them as much as ever.
16. Case Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle–The very last Sherlock Holmes collection.
17. Duty, Honor, Country by Bob Mayer–Story of the Civil War centering around the fact that so many soldiers on both sides went to West Point together.
18. Screenplay by Syd Field–How to write a screenplay.
19. Conflict of Honors by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
20. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
21. Carpe Diem by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
22. Plan B by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
23. I Dare by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
24. Saltation by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller–With their newest book coming out that will FINALLY move past the “It’s kinda complicated” point at the end of “I Dare,” I had to reread all the earlier books, didn’t I?
25. Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller–Officially not out until August, the authors announced that it was possible to buy the electronic ARC (advance reader’s copy) and, well, I couldn’t resist. I was dying to know how the story moved forward! I so wanted to know what would happen with Theo’s “kinda complicated” problem, and how Korval would settle in on Surebleak … so I splurged and bought the eARC. I couldn’t help myself.
26. John Marshall by Jean Edward Smith–Biography on our first great Supreme Court Chief Justice.
27. The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure–The explorations of a woman who grew up obsessed with the Little House on the Prairie books and dove right into “Laura World,” bringing her boyfriend along for the trip.
28. Modern Top Down Knitting by Kristina McGowan.
29. Knits That Fit by Potter Craft.

Spinning Around by Jeannine Bakriges. Review here at Knitting Scholar.

Honestly? None.

Between worrying about Chappy and feeling lousy, beset with truly terrible seasonal allergies that made me feel cold-ish and asthma-ish for a couple weeks … there just wasn’t time.

What? You don’t believe me?

Just because it’s April 1st??