NaBloPoMo Is Finished? Already?

Natalie Dee is ultrasuperfantastic!

So here I am, the last day of November. It's hard to believe that 30 days and 30 posts have gone by so quickly. Some days were easy and some were really easy (i.e., I actually forgot about posting on one day -- I posted twice the next day, so as far as I'm concerned, I made it).

In some respects, a post a day isn't hard at all. It would have been more of a challenge if my blog were subject-specific. It's more stream-of-consciousness specific, I guess.

Lesson learned: posting really isn't and shouldn't be a chore. I doubt I'll keep up with the once-a-day regimen; however, I do think that I'll be posting a bit more frequently than before I participated in National Blog Posting Month.

So, ta ta for now!

My February Lady Sweater

Picture from Flint Knits, (C) Pamela Wynne

My goal was to wear my February Lady sweater to Stitches East last weekend. *snort* I was nowhere close to being done. Oh, all I had left to do was to knit both sleeves, weave in all the ends, seam the sides, sew on the buttons, and block and let dry. Shoot, it feels like this first sleeve is taking longer than the entire body did. I'll post pictures of it once I've finished.

On the bright side, now that I've reached this point, I finally have the pattern memorized. I know, I know. So I'm a slow study, OK? I do have some goof ups in the body, but I decided that I could live with them and that if anyone so lacked in sensitivity as too point those errors out, I'd just have to give 'em the look. You know the one I'm talking about, don't you? All moms have it, and apparently I have it in spades. I was even able to make the head teacher at our karate school back down. He basically asked us how we'd walk in a way that communicated that we weren't to be messed with. I walked right up to him, giving him "the look" the entire way, and he took a step back. Seriously. How sweet is that?

Anyway, back to the sweater. I'm loving this sweater so much that I'm planning on making at least one more. This is my first foray into lace, and it's really been fun. For those of you who neither know nor care, tough ... This pattern involves multiples of 7 stitches (across) and 4 rows (up and down). So you make the same pattern of 7 stitches over and over for a row, then do the next row all with the purl stitch, then a different pattern of 7 stitches over and over for a row, and then a row of purl again. You have to pay attention, but you don't have to be absolutely glued to your work. I have a battered index card and a row counter to help me out. The sleeve is looking really nice, even if it is taking forever.

Many thanks to Flint Knits for sharing this wonderful pattern! It's beautiful, challenging (but not frustratingly so), and appears to be fairly addictive.

And, speaking of addictive, I just today joined the Diet Coke Lovers group over at Ravelry.

SpecialEd has just informed me that we've missed The Office (another group I'm in over at Ravelry). Dang you, NaBloPoMo! I was so focused on doing something productive that I completely forgot about my weekly date with Michael, Jim, Dwight, and the rest of the gang. Oh, well. Thank goodness for the internets!

NaBloPoMo--Let the Relentless Posting Begin

Today is the first day of NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. Originally I thought I might sign up for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, but I just couldn't think of anything novelish to write about. However, I did think that being forced to write something -- anything -- every day for 30 days would be a good thing. So here we go ... 30 days of mindless blathering about nothing significant.

My thanks to the fine folks at nablopomo.com for the nice little graphic.




Say hello to my little friend: Lord Bufo (Bufo americanus, American toad). We have three of these guys or gals living with us.

I love this little guy. He always looks vaguely irritated and unhappy that I've spotted him. However, he will begrudgingly let me touch his little tummy, where it bulges out at the sides. I think he's so round and happy because he's been eating our monster crop of slugs. Before he and his buddies moved in, we had slugs all over the place, leaving their trails of snot all criss-crossed over our screen door and having sex while dangling from a long strand of snot from our trashcan lid. (I do have to say that slug sex is fascinating in a truly disgusting way. But I'll let you check for it on YouTube rather than try to explain it.)

Winter is lurking right around the corner, and it's time for Lord Bufo to curl up and go to sleep. I'm thinking that Santa might just bring our little guy something special: a toad house. No more rocks and piles of yard debris for him. My little guys deserve the best!