martinimade

* Sneaky Hate Spiral. (HT Debra)

* How do you know when you have a good egg?

* "Franzenfreude." I haz it, too.

* These pictures of female tennis players are stunning.

* Yum.

* What parents should really be worried about.

* Another reason to love the Old 97's.

* Another reason to love Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers.

* Sarah Haskins nails everything you need to know about pregnancy and vampire/zombie plagues.

* Generally, I'm anti-wallpaper. But I'm being won over.

* I've been fascinated by the Vancouver disembodied-feet-and-shoe, um, case? phenomenon? I'm lacking an adequate noun here. Rachel Maddow does a great job illustrating what we know so far.

* Hitch on the Glenn Beck rally: The clue, surely, is furnished by the remainder of the speeches, which deny racial feeling so monotonously and vehemently as to draw attention.

This weekend's trip to da 'burgh started with a stop in Johnstown to see some friends from Knoxville who now live there. After a night's rest, we went to the Heritage Discovery Center, which one of said friends works for.

The new kids' museum on the site is themed by place, so the visitors can learn about floods, which Johnstown is famous for, and the coal/steel industry (ditto).
 

The Diva got to work.

The native plant rooftop garden had an aptly named specimen.

The Diva, said friend's daughter and locally famous dog whose name I can't dredge up right this second.

Then we drove onward, where we ran in to a gathering of local knitters at Natural Stitches, where the Diva's mom (ahem, me) blathered on.

The guy in this picture just happens to be my Dad. If I do an event in Pittsburgh, it is entirely likely someone I am related to and/or went to college or high school with will show up. Both happened on Friday.

The event was big fun - I hope you all had as nice a time as I did - and the Diva and I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at the Zoo and with friends and family, which was also big fun.

When we got back home, we found out that someone had shipped us a Boy:

"It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around."

- Stephen King, On Writing, which I'd resisted reading but now have. It's one of those mallet-to-the-head books - but in a good way. 

A bonus quote:

"American grammar doesn't have the sturdiness of British grammar (a British advertising man with a proper education can make magazine copy for ribbed condoms sound like the Magna goddam Carta), but it has it's own scruffy charm."

It appears that my tendency to take pictures of the cats on the window seat has been passed down to the boy.

From my camera, which I'd handed to him to keep him busy for a it:

And, of course, for posterity:

I found all of these - and there are about 50 more that follow the same theme - because I wanted to download a picture of my cross-stitch progress, such as it is.

My goal is to finish it before the first official day of Fall. I'll keep you posted. It may be a nail-biter.

The next two weeks promise to be bedlam. Do not panic if there is a blog post of three that contains nothing but vowels. Some settling may occur during shipping.

In short: my classes started; the kids' classes haven't. They are being shuffled hither and yon, up to the ROC and back again but never simultaneously. The Boy is up there now and this is the first time he's stayed with the grandparents solo. They haven't called to beg us to get him - so I'll just assume it's all going well enough. I miss the little booger every now and again. It passes.

I'm still a little stunned that he's already old enough to do this - but he is. 

The Diva and I head out for the 'burgh tomorrow. The Boy comes home Saturday. We come home Sunday. Then horse camp, then back to Rochester, then...oy. Just a lot of shuffling. My hope is that no one will be stranded or, if it's me, that I at least have my knitting close by. 

Actually, I wouldn't mind a good stranding. It'd be a nice break.

Just a quick reminder: Friday. Natural Stitches. 6:30ish. You can meet my Dad.

I need to go put The Sweater in the car, along with 9,000 other things that the Diva will insist she needs. Onward.

* I love this cover art.

* Food souvenirs. I always bring back as many Coffee Crisp bars as I can fit in my luggage. You?

* The Writing Parent. Having kids has completely changed the way I writer, too, and for the better.

* Do you know any men who've gotten a Brazilian wax?

* Ganesh (or Buddha or Guan Yin - but I'm partial to Ganesh) looks over your knitting. 

* Nine underrated US Cities. I've lived in two of them (and loved them) and enjoy the heck out of visiting one of the others. Soon, maybe, I'll get to all nine.

* Math lesson for locavores.

* An infographic for the knitters.

* I'd missed this when it was first posted: Scott Miller sings Appalachian Refuge live. One of my favorites.

* Self-promo:  review made me happy.

* My new obsession is now going to be obtaining copies of Flair.

-- from Harper's Weekly Review.

I had to move McGregor off of the window seat in order to take pictures of current wips. While there are other places in the house with decent light, I usually use the window seat because it has the best light and I can aggravate whichever cat has claimed it for the day.

He just looks too comfortable, you know? Can't have that, especially when he and Barney wake me up in the middle of the night with their hijinks. 

Current cross stitch project:

It's Just Nan's Summer in the Square. The other three are already framed and hung.* The spot where this one will go has been empty long enough to bug the crap out of me. Also, I wanted to finish it before this summer is gone.

The slip stitch scarf in progress. I'm not sure about the grey. McGregor decided to seek revenge for being booted from the comfy, sunny seat.

He also had to help take this next picture, which I took just to show you all how much hair I had cut. And, yes, it really does curl wildly. It has its own agenda and will someday develop sentience. Much like McGregor.

 
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* hanged? 
 
 

The past few days have been spent staring at my computer screen trying to figure out how the back end program for a brand-spankin' new website works. It's been... challenging. But the upside is that I'll have a grown-up website soon. Let's focus on the upside.

Also on the upside are a couple of me-getting-out-of-the-house dates that are rapidly approaching. If you can, please come see me.

On Friday, August 27 from 6:30ish to 8:30ish, I'll be speaking and signing books at Natural Stitches in Pittsburgh. Please bring your own epic project for show and tell. 

On Sunday, Sept. 12 from 1-1:45, I'll be doing a similar thing at the Endless Mountains Fiber Festival in Harford, PA, which is between Binghamton, NY, and Scranton, PA. I can also promise that I'll be spending a good part of the rest of the day looking at yarn. 

I'll also be traveling to Nashville and Rhinebeck in October. More on those gigs when I have it.

Right. Back to the learning. Oy.