Where would you go to await the end of the world? CONTEST!

Someone on another blog I follow posed this question, after being asked by a reporter for our local paper. They took a fairly serious view of it, but my first thoughts were humorous--probably because I spend so much time with gamers.

For me, it depends on the type of apocalypse we're talking about here. If it's the flame-out, one fell swoop and it's over kind of thing, then you'll most likely find me at the yarn shop or a library or book store, since book and yarn are what keeps me sane, and who wouldn't want to go out buried in cashmere?

But, if we're talking more zombie-style, fight-for-your-life apocalypse, then I'd have to pick my basement. In part, this is because I'm a Mid-Westerner, and when disaster strikes, we hide in the basement (provided it hasn't flooded). But, since this is MY basement (and we're assuming that by the 21st that I have it cleaned, organized, and properly stocked, since we have warning of this impending doom) I not only have a room full of yarn and pointy objects (all the better to defend myself with, my dear), but there's also probably food and companionship down there. And medical supplies (you should see our first aide kit), and any number of improvised defenses. If you're going to ride out the end of the world, do it on your own turf, and in in style, that's my philosophy.

Where would you go? Leave a comment below.

Make me giggle and I'll send you a prize. I've got two little prize packs--one for typists, and one for knitters. Specify which one you want and give me a way to contact you, and it's yours. Deadline to enter is midnight EST, December 20. Winners will be selected by who makes me laugh the most, or random number generator if I can't decide. I'll share some of my favorites here on the blog.

A Blog and a Book

I've been meaning to update this blog for the last three days, but I keep getting distracted, primarily by this: www.GirlonaShoestring.blogspot.com. That's right. I've got a new obsession--enough of an obsession that I started another blog about it.

GOAST is a blog about art nails and fashion, so if you want to see more of my funky manicures (like this one and this one) then head on over there. For writing, books, typewriters, and knitting, stay put.

In other announcements, I have a few more details about "Birds of a Feather:"

• While at first I thought it was going to be included in an anthology, it will not. It will be available as a single download (known as a "sip" on the Torquere website) for $1.99, if their current selection of standalone sips is any indicator.
• The release date is July 11.
• It will be available in electronic format only, but you can read it on your computer, Kindle, iPad, Nook, or whatever piece of kit floats your boat.

Once I hear back from marketing, I'll share the summary and blurb with you guys, and of course a link will be available in the sidebar once the story is released.

I do have more stuff I want to share with you, but that needs to wait until later in the week.

Annual Blogroll Rundown

It's been a few months since the last time I shared the new additions to my blog subscriptions with you all (Don't mind that list in the sidebar. It hasn't been updated in a while, and the actual list is far longer). So, if you're looking for something extra to read, here are my suggestions:

Knitting/Design:
Five Cats from Crazy Knitting and cats. Need I say more?
Pink Lemon Twist More knitting and the occasional kitty. Also, water balloons.
Knitting to Stay Sane 'Nuff said.
Stefanie Japel Knits Because I'm not just an author stalker. I'm a design stalker, too.
Ridiculous Knits The newest addition to my blog reader, this one has some great knits and a whole lot of sarcasm.

Art Nails:
Paint All The Nails! Mostly just inspiration shots.
Nails by Kayla Shevonne Inspiration as well as tutorials--and some downright amazing manicures.

Conservation/Art:
Ohio Archaeology The blog for the Archaeology department of the Ohio Historical Society.
Inside the Conservator's Art Because I'm a freak who thinks piecing together a shattered, crumbling, 3500 year old copper ewer sounds like fun.
Restorient While the project is now finished, this blog chronicles the conservation of two Japanese scrolls by the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin, Ireland (well worth a visit if you're in the area!).

Writing/Authors/Publishing:
Angie's Desk Written by one of the Torquere editors, this blog was pointed out to me by Missouri Dalton (whose writer and personal blogs can be found here and here), this blog features a monthly post of open anthology markets, and great information for writers the rest of the time.


Other:
Texts from Dog Imagine that someone taught Marmaduke to use an iPhone. Yeah, it's kind of like that.
Single Dad Laughing I don't like children. I have no intention of ever having them. But the daily posts on this blog are usually humorous and almost always touching. Share the love, man.
Reasoning with Vampires Tired of Twilight? Dana breaks down both the grammatical mistakes made in this book and why Edward Cullen is creepy and why no teenage girl should ever use Bella Swan as a role model.

Unplanned

Click to make it bigger.

I dream lo-tech and the Bing; Life in a Typewriter Shop and the post featuring the Remington.

Sweet dreams.

Points

1. I've submitted my final Nerd Wars project for the month. I'll spare you my pathetic attempts at photography. You can see the Ravelry project page here.

2. I've been going through the blog trying to figure out a way to update it, and I'm actually thinking of clearing the decks and starting fresh--over on Wordpress. I've been using the side for the Nerd Wars blog (I'm the blogger for Team Enterprise; you can keep up with our progress here, as well as all of the other teams). I think the layouts just look a little fresher and cleaner, and I like the program for the posts themselves. I think the site in general just gives more options for customization.

3. I'm hesitant about moving because I've been on blogger since 2007, so you all know where to find me here. Also, I don't want to loose my posts. Anyone know of a way I could archive the blogger site into the wordpress one?

4. All of the typeblogs I follow are here, which again makes me hesitant. Not that I don't already have them in my favorites on Firefox, but still. It's community. A network. And I don't like to break the chain.

5. Also, the CFM is here, which makes the linking and updating easier, and makes the magazine more streamlined.

6. So, thoughts? Anyone want to weigh in one way or another?

Pardon the Dust

Alice is helping me revamp the layout of the blog (it's easier than I thought!). We're still working out the kinks, but I like this better than the boring layout I was using before (simply because I don't like the colors in most of the Blogger layouts).

I had my thesis review yesterday, so I've got to turn in the final edits by tomorrow. The frustrating thing? Out of the four teachers and two TAs in the review, only two of them had bothered to read my thesis. In Alice's case, only one teacher bothered to read it. We spend so much time on these theses, trying to get them done and turned in a week in advance of our reviews, and no one bothers to read them? I find that more than a little irritating.

Since the review is done, I'm going to call the sock done. It isn't acutally finished, but there's no way I can rip back the needed two inches and then knit everything from the heel down by tomorrow (not on size 0's, and not when I have no idea what I'm doing). Eventually, I will finish it, but it's not going to be this week.

Packing has commenced and is roughly 75% complete. I can't find anything and so far I've got two boxes of stuff, plus a shopping bag, a coat, and a pair of boots to donate. And a bag of medication, since all I seem to do here is get sick. Case in point: I would have updated a few days ago, but I came down with a stomach bug on Monday. I'm still feeling completely great, but since last night I've managed to eat two actual meals which is an improvement.

On top of everything else, K, our other roommate, has suddenly decided that the housing situation is "completely unacceptable and inappropriate"--but only since I got sick. She won't even make eye contact with me. I'm sorry, the next time I decided to get laid up for two days with a stomach bug, I'll check to make sure it's convenient for your first. Gr. Some people...

And now I have a thesis to edit and print, a blog layout to adjust, more packing to do, and at least one more load of laundry. Three days and then I'll be headed home!

Off Topic

Well, I'm just blazing through my 52 books list, aren't I? I'm two weeks behind on the regular challenge, and six books behind on my personal goal. This is partially because the last few days I've been sick, and reading was making my eyes water. I did a lot of knitting, working on two new hats (no pictures yet).

I'm feeling much better now. What I should be reading are books and articles in preparation for my thesis, but it's kind of sad how quickly I've gotten bored with the subject. I got a bit more energized yesterday. We went to the Anthropology lab, and I got to clean part of an iron age skeleton! It was so cool. I also learned some of the male/female markers that can be found on a skull. It was by far the most interesting morning I've had all semester. I really enjoy the hands on classes, especially for archaeology, but the lectures have been putting me right to sleep, especially diagnostics and chemistry. It's either very, very basic chemistry that even I know and have heard five million times, or it's completely over my head and may as well be in Mandarin.

I thought that since I'm doing so poorly on my reading list, that maybe I'd highlight a few of the author blogs that I follow. I'll start on that...tomorrow. Next week. When I make it back here.

Blossoming

Well, it certainly took long enough, but here is a picture of my first ever batik! It's going to be a cushion, but I can't really stuff it until I get back to the US, just for the portability of flying.

This particular project had to be centered around Florence/Tuscany/Italy. What does this have to do with Florence, you may ask? Well, the Fleur de Lis at the center comes from the Loraines, a French family who married into the Medici, who where the rulers of Florence in the middle ages and Renaissance. The word Florence actually means something like "city of flowers" or "field of flowers;" I don't remember the exact translation. It felt like everyone in my class was doing some image of the Duomo, the huge church at the city center, and I wanted to be a bit different. I also just really like the Fleur de Lis; it's the Francophile in me.

Last night I made a huge leap--I cast on for my first ever sock! The yarn came from the dollar store, and it was finner than what I usually see there. It reminded me of the sock yarns back home, even though it wasn't quite the right weight. Well, I had a pair of size 2 DPNs in the apartment, and decided it was about time I started using them.

Even more shocking than the fact that I'm making a sock, I'm actually using a pattern! This will be a first for me. Well, there were the hideous fingerless gloves I made last spring, but I only finished one, and I hated every minute of it.

The pattern is the plain Widdershins, from the Knitty Summer '06 issue. I'm doing them in plain old stockinette right now, just to learn the construction, but I think I'm going to do the leg part in a k2p2 rib, and turn them into knee socks. I've been wanting a pair of socks that are a little heavier duty, because I keep wearing holes in all of the store bought ones I brought with me. I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth my time to go back and sew them up again.

More news!

Alice and I have started recording our very first podcast! I should have it up on Itunes within the next week or so, with a link to appear here in the sidebar. I can't tell you the title yet; we were thinking about MisKnits, but that's a blog here on blogger. Then we decided on Pomcast (long story), but there's already a PomCast on Itunes.

So long, Farewell

Alice will be picking me up any minute. We'll go to her house, marathon Tin Man, and then sometime in the early hours of the morning we'll be heading off to the air port.

I joined my first blog ring, the Knitting Bloggers. For some reason, even though I copy-pasted the code for the banner there in the corner, it didn't come out right and I can't seem to find a way to fix it--I can't get back to the page I copied it from.

The longer I'm on Blogger, the less I like the way it formats things. This is probbaly because I don't know HTML (I was finnally learning BBC code for Gaia, and now I'm getting this thrown at me).

I still have a few more last minute things to stuff in my suitase. Cross you fingers that I don't get charged too much by the airline. I know I'm over the weight limit for the European flights; I think I might be okay for the US ones though.

Am I making any sense? It's hard to tell. Dad came home sick two days ago, so I've been eating vitamin C and zinc like candy, but I'm still tired and getting a headache; The last hour or so nothing has made sense (probably another reason that code isn't coming out right) and now I'm rambling, have you noticed?

Well, over and out. Next time you hear from me, I'll be...not here.

Vocabulary Lesson

It occured to me as I signed in that some people might not know what an "eff'd oh" is, especially if they are one of the non-crafters I handed this web address to directly. An "eff'd oh" is a way of saying FO or "Finished Object". I kind of stole that name from the JenLa blog in the sidebar. It's something they started saying, calling those projects where you have to rip out a million stitches and start over five or six times "eff'd oh's" rather than an "FO", because...well, I think you can put the pieces together.

Tonight is knitting group over at the Yarn Shop. I missed the October knit night, so I'm really going to try to leave ceramics a bit early to make it this time. It isn't too hard; ceramics is one of those come-and-go as you please, just turn everything in on time sort of classes. All I really have left to do is the second half of my mold (today's project), and to make some glazes (Wednesday's project). Then I'll just be making some additional pieces, and trying to throw porceline for my jewelry class (hopefully it's easier when I'm using properly mixed clay rather than leftovers from the slop bin).

I have started my skirt, it's about halfway done. I hope to be able to wear it by Thursday or Friday. I'm also working on a top-down rib brim hat for my dad. Top down works so much better for me than bottom up!

Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair

Obviously, this description does not apply to me. But, if you look over in the sidebar, you'll see a link to Crazy Aunt Purl.

Laurie Perry is the woman who writes that blog. CAP is the reason I got into the blogging community. I can't remember what I Googled, but I was looking up something knit-related one day, and came across the Cheeto Scarf (this is back in the Dec. 2005 archives, somewhere, I think). I started reading the blog, and couldn't stop. Laurie is halarious, and honest. I was hooked from the start.

Within the last few months, she has also released a book, based on the blog but with lots of new material. The book, Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair is available on Amazon. I picked up a copy this past weekend (though I will admit, I got mine from the library because I am broke). Almost everything she writes has a humerous twist, and the way her mind works is unbelievable. But, at the same time, it's also 100% dead on, which makes it even better.

Like I said, this is the blog that got me drawn into the world of knit blogging, and I think the most awesome thing that could ever happen to this blog would be for Laurie to leave a comment. That would be the end all be all for me.

So. Go out and buy or borrow this book. It really is a good read, even if you are neither drunk, divorced, nor covered in cat hair.