« February 2005 | Main | April 2005 »
March 31, 2005
BookBookBook
BookBookBook Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
It's here!!! Freshly arrived from Amazon, it's Stephanie's BookBookBook!
More posting soon - I've been sort of hoarding half-written things. I promise I'll finish at least one!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Stalker Angie
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/31/2005 20:26:45
Hi Shannon! Saw your comment over at the Harlot's and had to come see your bookbookbook. I got mine today as well!
Have a great day!
BTW, consider yourself officially stalked. :o)
--------
Posted by Shannon at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2005
More-riah
Mariah Fronts Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
What's more suited to honor St. Paddy's day than pictures of a green cabled sweater? Here are the fronts of Mariah, which have since been removed to stitchholders - yay! I cast on for the back last night, and knit a whole 2 rows! I was more in the mood to read a magazine and chat with my mom than knit, so I honored that.
I'm seriously considering getting this thing off of blogger. When I started it up, I picked blogger because they were free and didn't require me to use my 1 SQL database for this hosting account. I have Movable Type set up on my other domain (which pretty much only gets used for email these days), and I really like it, but I was planning on eventually putting in an online store setup over here and figured I'd need the SQL database for that.
But, with blogger's recent troubles, and my own recent thoughts about renaming my little company, I'm inclined to actually get MT installed over here and move onto it... There's certainly an appeal to having the blog tool on my server space, not just the blog... and MT has some great anti-comment-spam plugins and such these days.
However - I used to design all of my own website templates... I designed this and this and this (and more but they're either lost forever or have been archived somewhat poorly) from scratch, and modified this. Confessions is, somewhat obviously (especially when you run across a bunch of other blogs with it) using a pre-built blogger template with very little modification. I love the ease of using a pre-built template... now that I'm working at a computer 8 hours every day, hanging out at one to design a new website design isn't that appealing. But I also really like having something different, something that really fits my style and the point of the site. So I'm actually considering *gasp* paying someone else to design my site! There are some gorgeous linkware designs out there, but I'm really thinking I'd like to have something truly original again...
So, anyone have any recommendations for designers with skillz and good prices?
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Anonymous
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/22/2005 11:52:04
Watch your mail box... something is afoot!
Your SP4
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Deb
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/22/2005 22:11:03
Mariah is looking lovely:) Glad you'll be able to join the swap. I love the flicker photos--really cool!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: mayflwr
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/25/2005 12:32:23
hmmm, i wish i was in graphic design..i would help you out!
I have a buncha really talented friends in art school that are in graphic design..ooh, you should find people in art school to do it! cheaper , but still just as good!
--------
Posted by Shannon at 05:18 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2005
I'm smitten!
The shirt of many colors Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
While browsing the knitblogs todaay, I happened across the most recent post at Lollyknitting Around, and fell in love. Not with Lolly, though she is awesome, but with the shirt her friend was wearing. I must make this as a sweater, ASAP.
However, I'm going to need some assistance. I need help finding a yarn that comes in colors at least reasonable close to all of those shown, that doesn't cost a fortune, and that works for next-to-skin wear. Since we're heading into spring I'm inclined towards a cotton/blend/etc that would work for warmer weather; however, that brightness would also be a nice pick-me-up in the winter, so wool would probably be fine, as well.
So, any tips on yarns? I was looking at the Sugar 'n Cream at Herrschners and put together a set that would work well, but I'm afraid that the colors won't be as bright in the yarn as they are on the screen, and the brightness is the key part here. The price is certainly right, since it'll take 12 skeins just for the sleeves!
sugar 'n cream colors Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Renee
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/18/2005 12:51:46
I too saw it when browsing and loved it. I saved the picture for future reference to try to make sometime. I'll be watching your progress with interest. Your colours look great by the way.
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: La
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/17/2005 15:34:14
Just dropped by to read you and to let you know your interview questions are up!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: maryse
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/17/2005 03:37:29
i really like that sweater too. what a great way to get lots of color in a sweater without making a clown sweater. by the way, sugar n cream colors are that bright and saturated. it'll look great.
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Lauren
EMAIL:
URL: http://lollygirl.com/blog
DATE: 3/16/2005 19:08:15
I told her that this sweater was amazing! I too want to make it!! Your colors are dead-on. This is just too funny. Becca will get such a kick out of this! Thanks for commenting on my blog--I am glad you did, so I could come visit your cool space over here :)*Lolly*
--------
Posted by Shannon at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)
Public Service Announcement
You may have heard about the recent Bernat Fur Out and Sirdar Fizz recalls, for excessive flammability. If you have or have used these yarns, please don't ignore the recalls! See Knitdamsel's March 12th posts, where she performed flammability tests on a number of yarns, including both Fur Out and other fuzzy/boa-type novelty yarns - the Fur out went up in flames in less than 1 secod, where the other yarns took at least 5 seconds to have any significant burning, and the other novelties were actually difficult or impossible to burn. Scary stuff...Posted by Shannon at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2005
Last week & new yarn
I'm a busy, busy girl these days.I played hooky from work on Friday... not something I do very often, but for some reason I just needed to have the day to myself. I wandered around all day shopping, hanging out at a coffee shop, enjoying the gorgeous weather.
I bought some books (and immediately plowed through Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, which was calling to me from the buy 2 get 1 free paperbacks table at Borders), some art supplies (goodies to make those stitch markers and start a new art-journal thing) and yarn:
Goodwill Sweaters & Yarn Purchases Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
There you see 3 sweaters liberated from Goodwill and waiting to be unraveled (click the photo for more details if you want them), 2 balls of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool for a pattern idea I've had rattling around in my head, and an 800-yard skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts' rayon ribbon yarn (can't remember the name) in the Kiwi colorway. Let's just take another look at that:
Blue Moon Rayon Ribbon Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
Delicious. It's cool and slinky and destined to be a gorgeous tank to keep me comfy and gorgeous during even the hottest days of summer.
It ended up being an especially good thing that I spent Friday as a 'Me' day, since much of this weekend was taken up watching my little sister - though we did make a trip out to the Saturday Market, which is always fun. And this coming weekend, I'll be heading down to Eugene again, busy busy busy.
Last night I went to knitting group again, which was lovely. Our new recruit from last week, Julie, was back - with yarn and needles she bought over the week, and 2 hats she just made on a round knitting loom she also bought! She needed to be taught how to cast on, and then started on a scarf to match one of her hats... awesome!
I worked on Mariah, which has been fairly zooming along since I hit the stockinette section. I actually stopped last night, thinking I had the fronts as long as I wanted them, but decided after measuring that I wanted to add another inch or two. They are at 15.5" right now, and it seems pretty good when I hold them up to myself, but the pattern calls for 14.5 and I was planning on adding at least 2 inches (I made the ribbing 7" long instead of the 5" called for).
I just realized I haven't posted a photo of the fronts at all... I don't have one taken, either, so I guess it will have top wait until they are done! I'll probably finish up and cast on for the back tonight while watching Idol and House.
I know I had more to say, but my brain is somewhat fried and I can't remember what... I guess it'll just have to wait. Oh, well, this is still a reasonably long post. ;-)
Posted by Shannon at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)
English meme
I do have a 'real' post brewing - in the meantime, here's proof that there was a good reason I used to tutor high-schoolers preparing for the SATs:| English Genius You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 94% Expert! |
| You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go! Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: shortredhead78.blogspot.com |
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid |
Posted by Shannon at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2005
Eruption
Eruption Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
This was as much as I got to see of Mt. St. Helens's bout of indigestion yesterday. As I was leaving work, someone mentioned that St. Helens had just erupted - I headed up to the top (AKA second) floor of our parking garage and snapped this pic of the plume.
While driving home up the west hills, traffic was hardly moving, as lots of people tried to catch a glimpse, pulling off to the side wherever there was room. At every gap between houses crowds were gathering... I would probably have stopped too, but it was getting darker and cloudier, and little-to-nothing was really visible at that point. Wasn't stopping most people, but if I'm gonna stop I want to be able to actually see something!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Anonymous
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 03/09/2005 17:45:00
I'm using a different cable pattern for Mariah so there are no breaks. I can't wait to see how yours turns out. Looks great so far.
On your package...you should have gotten it ages ago. The company I ordered from requires signature confirmation so someone must have signed for it (maybe a neighbor?)
--------
Posted by Shannon at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2005
Hooray for social knitting!
I went to a recently-organized Sip 'n Stitch last night at a Beaverton Coffee People, and had a great time. There were only 3 other ladies there, and they all already knew each other, but everyone was very welcoming and cool. We even managed to recruit a new knitting convert while we were there - a chick sitting near us was updating her computer over the free WiFi and killing time, and one of the chicas ended up teaching her... turns out, from later conversation, we went to the same high school. She graduated 2 years ahead of me, and it was a pretty big school, so we didn't know each other then. While knitting away we also had a random guy come over and say "I like what I'm seeing, but could you do it with copper wire? If I brought in a few miles of wire, could you knit it? I want a chain mail art-thing..." Kind of cool, except that when we offered to teach him, rather than jumping on the chance to knit up miles of wire for a complete stranger, he just shrugged and walked away. Oh, well - no chain mail art-thing for him, I guess...
Mariah sleeves Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
As you can see by the photo, I have finished both of Mariah's sleeves - until they get joined into the yoke, at least. I cast on for the fronts last night. I want to make the fronts before the back because I have a feeling I may want to make the sweater longer to account for the Breasts Of Doom! For the same reason, I decided to do both fronts at once. After last night's knitting and a couple of rows at the end of my lunch today, I have about 2 inches done - no photo yet.
I got my order from Oriental Trading company, and I'm very pleased. I'm going to be making some very fun stitch markers - but I'm not posting pics because I plan to send lots of the out as RAOKs and to my sp4 pal. Speaking of which, my first SP4 gift has been received by my pal, and I believe it went over quite well. =)
In other news, one of the local colleges just posted 3 Resident Director positions, which I will be applying for. All I need to do is get over my fear of cover letters and write a new one, and send it off with my already-fabulous resume and references. I really want one of these jobs... wish me luck!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: 1nderlandwoman
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/9/2005 17:49:27
ok, 2 things - how come I didn't know about the Beaverton Knitting thing. How did you find out? And don't be afraid to write the cover letter. Just tell why THEY would benefit from hiring you - not why you would like the job. Really think about it, then write it down. You will do great, I will be thinking of you.
--------
Posted by Shannon at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)
Poor Miss Finch Stitchmarkers
Poor Miss Finch Stitchmarkers Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
Many thinks to the fabulous Laura of Poor Miss Finch for the valentine gift of sparkly stitchmarkers and dark chocolate. I was remiss and got my address to her well after valentine's day, so these just arrived yesterday - but I love them, and her, none the less for it. Go check her out!
--------Posted by Shannon at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2005
Happy Thoughts
Things that are making Shannon happy today:
1. My Fabulous secret pal! I was greeted this morning by an email announcing that I had been given an Elann gift certificate - I'm not sure what kind of goodies I'm going to get with it yet, but I'm very excited! Thank you, secret pal!
2. Being done with moving out of our old apartment (almost). Everything's out, and it's as clean as it's gonna get by me (there were a couple of carpet stains that had been hidden, that I wasn't able to get out - like the ring of rust created by the bottom of the trash can under my desk! Not quite sure how that happened...) We weren't able to get ahold of the manager at all last night, so one of us will still have to go back and do a walkthrough with him at some point, but otherwise we are D O N E done!
3. PODS. In a related note, I have been absolutely thrilled by the service this company provides. Not only are the storage units lovely and bright and clean and waterproof and well constructed, with good nooks for pictures and mirrors and hanging bars from the top for clothes/etc; but the people working there are wonderful. Our apartment manager was letting us put the POD in his parking spot while we had it, but he didn't tell his wife and she left their car in the spot the day it was being delivered - the delivery woman called me, tried the office, talked to our neighbors, and waited there for over an hour while we tried to get things figured out. Eventually she had to go do her next pickup, so she just had us reschedule for the next day... And today, they called us before heading out for the scheduled pick up to make sure we were ready. At every turn they've been pleasant and easy to work with, and gone above and beyond - I'd highly recommend them to anyone looking for a moving/storage service.
4. Oriental Trading Company. I just remembered this website and spent a while today having fun looking at the crazy stuff available on it - things like "Mini Foam Princess Missiles" (what a perfectly strange name), and "Flashing Neon Stretchy Noodle YoYos". I placed a small order, but it didn't include either of those!
5. Flashy Undergarments. (Possibly TMI) Today I am wearing green underwear. Not a sedate mint, or forest green, or even a dignified kelly green either - these are the brightest fluorescent neon 80s flashback green out there. Not something I would generally seek out in underwear, but they were on sale at Nordstrom Rack last time I went, and for some reason wearing them today (under an almost-entirely-black outfit) is bringing me great joy.
6. Mariah. I'm just about an inch from setting aside the first sleeve, and I expect to cast on for the second tonight. I thought about starting one of the other pieces before doing the other sleeve, but I made some changes to the increase spacing to account for my differing row gauge, and I don't want to forget them and make mismatched sleeves!
Mariah Sleeve 1 almost done Originally uploaded by SpiralShannon.
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Anonymous
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE:3/2/2005 05:51:14
I'm so glad you recived the certificate! Enjoy!
Your SP4
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: caro
EMAIL:
URL: splityarn.typepad.com
DATE:3/1/2005 19:29:19
your mariah sleeve looks great! LOVE the colour!
caro
splityarn.typepad.com
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Bron
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/6/2005 06:08:45
Wow - you have a lot going on! Congrats on being outa there. :)Thanks for explaining the Feral Chicken - too bizarre. :) Mariah's lookin' good - the color is amazing.
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Gina
EMAIL:
URL:
DATE: 3/1/2005 18:44:55
This winter is so long and tedious that neon undies are practically required.
--------
Posted by Shannon at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
