Now Norma Knits

The Return of WTF Wednesday (and Prizes)

I suppose it was time for a smackdown.  It was Wednesday, after all. 

I had a deposition yesterday; the deponent was a young Chinese woman.  I was marveling at her excellent English and marveling at my excellent steno and my even better hearing and understanding of her (excellent) English, because, you know, I am such hot shit.  All throughout the depo, she talked about a restaurant at a shopping center, and the entity or store adjacent to the restaurant was The Futon Bed. 

Makes sense, right?  Everything is good.  I'm such hot shit!  I am!  I am!

Then the attorney asked a question about the ATM.  Still nothing out of the ordinary.  The witness responded about the ATM at The Futon Bed, which I assumed was a store at the shopping center.  Could happen. 

Then what the f*ck was the attorney talking about next? 

The Fulton Bank.

All those times she said (or rather, I heard) "Futon Bed," she was really saying, "Fulton Bank."

Apparently I'm not such hot shit after all. 

*sigh*

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So, take a look at this. 

No, not the book, although that is interesting, too.  My name is in it -- you see? 

Anyway, that is 7 inches (wide) of pure cashmere.  Can you think of anything that would feel better than 7 inches of pure cashmere? 

Okay.  But other than that?

I am using Paula's "Corrugater" scarf pattern for this manly scarf.  Manly, yes, but I like it too.......  (Who is too young to know what I'm referring to there?  Step up and raise your hand.  You might win a prize.)

I am enjoying the knitting of this verra-verra much, even in the brutally hot temperatures we've been having lately. Yesterday I had some down time. I went into Bruegger's, which has delicious sandwiches (I highly recommend the Western Wheat, Available-All-Day, Breakfast Sandwich) and exceptionally virile air conditioning (some people were complaining it was cold and putting on sweaters!  wimps!), and I ate my sandwich and soaked up some of that air conditioning and knitted on cashmere for an hour or so.  This one thing might actually make me into a knitter once again.  Imagine that. 

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Speaking of scarves, are you knitting or crocheting on your red scarf?  The mailing can begin any time now.  We need to send a few right away so Doug doesn't worry too much that, with the excitement of the Red Scarf Fund, we've all forgotten about knitting scarves.  I assured him we haven't, and that once the weather cools down a bit, we'll be knitting even more.  :)

Doug reports that the Red Scarf Fund is at $4315 from over 200 donors!  Way.to.go, friends!!!  That is just wonderful.  I feel so good about it, I'm going to give away some stitch markers.  Right now.

Melissa, please send some or your sweet little stitch markers to:

Shelly G.

and

Donna W.

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Well.  That felt good.  And then there is the lingering memory of knitting on that wonderful cashmere..... 

I feel so good, I think I'll keep on giving.  How about if I have Kay send her lovely pile o' books and yarn to......drum roll, please.......

Rose, aka Madame Purl.

Ahh, now, that felt nice. 

But WAIT!  Don't go!  I'm not done yet! 

How about we have Margene give her Suri Alpaca Laceweight to the recently delurked Pamela M.  See?  Delurking has its advantages.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you again to all the donors! 

Now, go have a good Thursday, and don't forget to knit or crochet red scarves and send them to the OFA starting next week, through the month of October.

If I'm not too tired tonight, I'll draw some more prizes for tomorrow.  If I am too tired, I'll do it first thing Tuesday morning, following the Labor Day weekend.  Stay tuned.  Custom-knit socks could be in the offing.  You never know. 

Winter's Coming! Warm it Up!

As I've been sitting in the steambaths of the local high school, elementary school and university gyms, it's a bit hard to remember that it's gonna get cold soon.  But all it takes is a drive down the highway in Vermont to notice that the trees have already started turning colors.  You know what that means -- winter is coming. 

And you know what it takes to get me to get out my needles and yarn, right?

....another good cause to knit for. 

EDITED TO ADD:  Elizabeth D. told me of this wonderful group, The Mitten Fence.  OK!  Now we're cookin'!

Wish Me Luck

Well, with regard to yesterday's post about my hoped-for schedule this semester, I might have gotten my wish!  I hope it doesn't turn out to be a case of "be careful what you wish for."  Today is my first day.  Fingers crossed! 

Abigail had a very exciting day of work, too.  Who knows when down the line I can actually tell you about it.  (Don't you love people who drop big teasers like that?)

And I kicked back and knitted some lovely, super-soft 8-ply Aran-weight cashmere on big needles.

Yes, it was a very good day, indeed. 

Dropped Balls, School, and The VT S&W Breakfast Club

Julie brought to my attention that I forgot to email her about the winner of her prize the other day.  That error has now been corrected, but did I forget to email any of the other winners or prize donors?  The names are listed in Friday's entry.  I tried to connect everyone up so addresses could be exchanged, but it's possible I may have lost my marbles messed up.  Please let me know if you notice your name on the list but did not get an email from me.  We want you to get your prize!

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School is back in session, so I'm right out straight.  I was busy CARTing orientation events all weekend long, in packed, un-air-conditioned gyms.  I left each time feeling as if I'd done a Bikram yoga class...without, you know, that whole stretching [and relaxing (?)] part.  It's a good thing the work is so rewarding and appreciated. It's a great feeling when people ooh and ahh over one's work and oodles of college kids and parents and grandparents come up and say, "Wow! That is the coolest thing!  How do you do that?!" Kinda worth all the sweat.

There's an interesting dynamic at work there that I never really thought about before.  It would be a better, easier-to-control, easier-to-concentrate, more comfortable, and more anonymous environment to be in a sound studio with audio and video feeds, like the work in television captioning, but then no one would be saying, "That's so COOL."  The "that's so COOL" is pretty awesome.  Things that make you go hmmmm......

It looks like my course load for this semester (subject to change, especially in the first couple of weeks, of course) is Abnormal Psychology, Sports Nutrition, and Human Biology.  Not nearly as varied as last semester.  Relatively speaking, it should be a piece of cake, except it's not quite enough work for me in a week.  Only a very few people get to have their cake and eat it, too. Sadly, I'm not one of them.  So this might mean I will have to take a smattering of depositions, as well. Bah! I don't like moving back and forth between the two -- the equipment needs are slightly different and the brain skillset is quite a lot different.  Fingers crossed that I can pick up a few more classes so I can do just one thing and do it well, rather than having to tax my brain too much by having to constantly switch between the two.  I can't afford any more overuse of this little brain.  I'm running on a deficit most days as it is.

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A reminder that the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival is coming up September 8 and 9, 2007.

Breakfast Club!

Two years ago several of us met at Libby's Blue Line Diner, which is right off I-89 in Colchester (Exit 16, a/k/a "the Costco exit" -- if you're coming north, take a left off the exit; right if you're coming south), for breakfast before heading to the festival.  In an email the other night, Lee Ann asked if we could do The Breakfast Club thing again this year.  I said, "Perfect!"

Paula and Lee Ann (with Twinkletoes) and I will plan to be there on Saturday (the 8th) at about 9 a.m.  Wanna join?

 

Prize Winners, and a New Very Special Enticement to Give

Carole can knit socks.  Beautiful socks.  You can see a few examples of her work here.   

How does Carole's sock-knitting affect you and me?  Well, let me tell you. 

Carole has offered to knit a pair of women's medium socks, pattern and yarn to be determined based on the winner's preference, (and, she says, limited by "her abilities") to a lucky winner here at Red Scarf Fund Central. 

So if you'd like to have a nice pair of handknit socks that you don't have to knit yourself, and knitted by our Carole, get your donations in!  (and of course, email me to tell me you've donated)  Thank you so much, Carole, for the lovely donation!   (When you visit Carole's blog, you might want to sponsor her in her Walk For The Cure)

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And now for the current round of winners!  We all love to be a winner, don't we?  Let's get on with it, then!  Look what these lucky people got:

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1.  Yerin K. won the gift certificate from Scout's Swag

2.  Doris K. won the Viking Patterns to Knit book from Julie

3.  Kelly (the one I emailed) won the bouquet of Opal yarns from Margene

4.  Marguerite won Ryan's autographed headshot, a skein of A Piece of Vermont sock yarn, and a jar of my homemade jam from me

5.  Imbrium won the Spunky Eclectic gift certificate

6.  Irene won the felted pig pattern from Tanya

and

7.  Shonda G. won the Koigu from Adelaide

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you all for your donations!

As the astute of you will have noticed, I'm sure, the Starmore book, as well as a big pile of other fabulous prizes, is still on the table.  Keep on donating for chances to win! 

Red Scarf District

Yo!

  We are getting close to $5,000.  Well, okay, we have about a thousand more to go to get there.  But I'm an optimist.  Who knew?

Can we do it before the end of August? 

What do you think?   It's a knitters' and crocheters'
back-to-school challenge! 

Remember to email me if you've donated, if you want to be entered in the drawing.  And if you make multiple donations, I'll enter you multiple times.  More prizes thankfully received, as well. 

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Look, we have a few more prizes to offer:

  Larkin has a copy of Knitting Under The Influence to send to a lucky winner. 

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Blog-free MaryBeth M. has thoughtfully donated the following:

  Regia Cotton Tip and Top;

A hank of Wool in the Woods yarn;

and 3 balls of Fortissima Cotton sock yarn.

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I'm tempted to keep this one for myself, it's so soft and squishy and just my color:

A whole sweater's worth of Jaeger Persia, in taupe and cream, with a Rebecca pattern leaflet for a nice cowl-neck boucle sweater.  Wonderful!  This is donated by Elizabeth M.

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And Helen will send you this fabulous skein of Sweet Feet in the colorway "Cowboy" if you win:

Thanks to everyone for the generous donations!

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We also have a wonderful new crocheted version of Gwen's Scarf pattern to offer from Carol:

Jeanne has kindly converted the Word doc into a lovely pdf.  Thank you, Jeanne! Here is the pdf:

Gwen's Scarf in Crochet Version

***COME BACK TOMORROW FOR SOME PRIZE AWARDS.   DONATE NOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO EMAIL ME) TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR DRAWINGS.  YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THAT STARMORE BOOK OR SOME OF THOSE LOVELY YARNS YOU'VE BEEN COVETING MIGHT BE GIVEN AWAY!!***

Vicki asks:  "THAT Starmore book?"  which I take to mean "WHICH one?"

This one, donated by Chris N:

a like-new copy of Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting.

Did you click that link?  Did you perchance notice the price tag on that baby?

Admittedly I Left Out A Few Details About Boston

It was a very quick trip for me, and we only had a couple hours to get together, but we managed to cram in a lot of fun and laughs in a brief time.  We did break away from Dave's Ass Watch long enough to go to a yarn shop on Newbury Street, appropriately named:

I need no yarn.  We all know this.  But I could not resist poking my little self into this shop.  I bought something.  And here's the thing about the shops on Newbury Street:  The rule applies, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."  In fact, I'm convinced that on Newbury Street, it'd be considered downright gauche to ask.  So of course this yarn shop has no prices on their yarns. 

After placing a call to Cara to ask her how many skeins of Euroflax I'd need (I knew she'd know, and I'd somehow neglected to put the ultimate resource's number in my phone.  That situation has since been rectified.) for a Mason-Dixon hand towel, and blissfully ignorant of the rack price of Euroflax, I went to the counter to pay.  I don't think I'm telling any tales out of school when I say that getting off the phone with Cara is no easy task, so, much to the consternation of Sandy and Dave, we kept on gabbing while the lady rang up my purchase.  I nearly dropped the phone. $42.  For a hand towel that still has to be knitted by me.  And we all know my hourly rate.  Well, we don't "all" know -- but *I* know.  Hee.  Anyhoo, still, it'll be worth it, should I ever, you know, take up knitting again.

But here's the kicker:  The pattern calls for sport weight Euroflax.  The one I bought?  Light worsted.  Perhaps this will be a body towel, not a hand towel. 

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I managed to photograph some handknit socks.

Look!  Cabin Cove socks!  And Cookie Shut Up And Knit(ted) those pretty socks on the right.  Fab!

What else.  Oh, yes, a sky photo.  It was a Sunday, not a Saturday, but still.  I was with Sandy, after all.

And because Boston is so pleasant to drive into now that the Big Dig is done, I think I'll do it all again real soon -- next time with much more time to spare.  See you then!

Poor Dave

Dave's Sunday started out pretty bad.  He called it his WTF Wednesday, Sunday Version.

Why did Dave have such a bad Sunday, you ask? Well, he had Sandy and me to contend with in downtown Boston. 

 

Aw, c'mon, Dave!  It wasn't THAT bad.

(lifted from Dave with his permission)

Another favorite photo of the day, this time stolen from Sandy (without her permission):

We made him eat salad. (horrors!) Then we went to a tea shop.  He didn't like that, either. Honestly, have you ever?!  I personally think he should turn in his gay card, but I digress.  He was a good sport about it, though.  We didn't push the Annoy Dave envelope too much by insisting that we go for ice cream. (We totally would have, except I ran out of time.)

But wait!  Sandy and I found out he has a superpower:  He can spot any nice male buttocks within a half mile.  So he eventually came 'round and made a silk purse out of a sow's ear, you might say.  You can see the fruits of his labor in his blog today. It was actually an interesting circumstance, Sandy and I decided -- finally we found an activity that we all could enjoy.

I woke up first thing this morning, before I even knew about Dave's post, to Instant Messages from Rabbitch:  "Ass Watch?!!!!" she said.

I've said it before a million times, but I'll say it again:  I love this knitblog community!  My rep as a troublemaker apparently remains intact, and word sure does travel fast.  Rabbitch had already heard about our escapades from Mel (they both work the night shift on opposite sides of the coast and two different countries) that more than likely "That Norma" was egging Dave on in this enterprise.  Who, ME?!  Mwahaha....

But since turnabout is fair play, I present to you something I have in my "arse"-nal:

Dave's ass.

A Few Days Off and Heads UP! More Prizes

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT JENLA:  If you're missing your dose of JenLa, (I won't bother linking it, since that might just compound the problem) their blog is having a hiccup, but they will be back.  Darn technology.  Isn't it great when it works? 

Speaking of that,  I am not going to complain about my work.  I am NOT.  So don't try to make me.  I will not, I will not, I will NOT.  No, no, no. 

Anyhooooooo.........

After today, I will be away from the blog for a few days. I might even be seeing some cool friends this weekend, maybe.  Maybe, might, maybe. 

What I'd really love is to come back to find a whole slew of donation emails to the Red Scarf Fund for Foster Youth.  I find if one doesn't say what one wants, one really has very little chance of getting it. 

So. 

I said it.   

[Edited to add:  Doug gave me an update after reading this blog entry:  $3,765 as of Friday evening.  WAY TO GO, PEOPLE!!!  I'm so happy and proud.  Donate again for more entries in the drawing.  If you donate again and tell me about it, I'll put your name in again -- more donations, more chances to win!] 

Need some added incentive?  We have a few more prize offerings.  And I'm making an unannounced prize award right here and now.  You never know what's going to happen around here at Chez Norma, so you'd better stay on your toes!

From Susan, a prize offering of a lovely skein of Socks that Rock Silkie in colorway Mystic Kelp.

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And from Gale Zucker, one of her beautiful sheep prints, up to 11X14, like so:

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And here's a fun one, from me and Ryan and Abigail:

An autographed head shot from our favorite new soap star, and when I send it to whoever wins it, I will no doubt put something soft and knittable, and maybe something sweet, in the package.

And now, a drum roll, please......We have some winners, chosen at random.  I've emailed winners and donors.  Thank you all for participating!

1.  Keisha P. wins Mary Beth Temple's new book, The Secret Language of Knitters;

2.  Melissa L. wins the Socktastic Sock Kit from Cathy R.;

3.  Janna L. wins the Mystic Creations yarn also from Cathy R.

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Remember all those wonderful prizes we have.  Wouldn't you like a chance to win them?  You know what to do:

1st Round of Prizes Awarded

Prizes!  Prizes!  Since I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I'll just jump right into it.  I've emailed the recipients and the donors, so they can exchange addresses etc.  Thank you to everyone who has donated prizes (more donations gratefully accepted) and donated to the fund. 

Marianna is the winner of Annie's beautiful sweater's worth of lavender Manos.

Martha in Mobile wins the Handmaiden cashmere, also donated by Annie. 

Shelly G. wins the Rum Rummer yarn from Isela.

and Carla Hibbard wins one of the sets of soap from Blessed Juno. 

Thanks again, everyone, and congratulations to the winners!

There is no deadline for donations.  Maybe today is the day you will click the Paypal button? 

Here it is, for your convenience: