Nipped off to The Yarn Boutique, wherein I decided that the Jamieson's Spindrift was too scant per skein, too scritchy withal, and available in no color sufficiently sunny.

BUT! The owner of the store is Helpful on a scale not heretofore seen since my last romp through Purlescence. She kept waved different yarns at me--and I was nearly tempted by Kauni Effektgarn, but the EU color is too fiery to be solar (I mean, seriously, Sol is a type G, not M) Dale Baby Ull? Well, eject that high-minded astronomical theory, because that one is too yellow to be golden; needs more red...

(I'm unskilled-at-best at most visual arts, but hanging around dpaxson, lferion, and others has made me care more about color than any keyboard jockey who doesn't specialize in website design should.)

After thrashing through the store and chirping happily about all, we settled on Mirasol's Tupa, which at 50/50 wool/silk in their color 801 should be a very sunny, sunflowery gold indeed. The gold, however, was in their warehouse, and had to be fetched by the owner's husband, who was in yet a third location, all of which added up to more time for more temptation.

Dangerous.

"Hey, y'know what would make that even more sunflowery?" I asked myself, "if the center bit were a nice warm brown". Thus, a hank of 810 (Dark Auburn) was added to the stack.

And then, well, the owner was so nice, I finally broke down and bought a ball winder...

Oh, hey, this will be pretty slippery--look! Wooden shawl pins and this one looks sunny! Yay!

Now I remember why wolfs_daugher recommended this store! They have Harry Potter scarf yarn! I consulted the usual site, and indeed YB had the colors for the requested house (Ravenclaw), but I don't like their suggestions--old country blue is too greenish grey and insufficiently corvine. Instead, I went with Cascade 220 Heathers, in 9449 (a deep, luminous cobalt with a nigh-subliminal turquoise halo, like the sky in deep twilight) and 9491 (a medium/light heather grey). The gentleman in question, a master costumer, will listen to important details like "hand wash only!", so he can has 100% wool. *grin*

Now we'll see how long it'll take dpaxson to knit it...heh!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

(cross-posted to allfathers_own)

The next issue of Idunna, number 81, will have a theme of Odin--Your Intrepid Editors are indulging themselves in the fact that eighty-one is nine nines, and besides, we haven't run an Odin issue in ten years (wow!).

You--yes, YOU--if you have something to say about Odin, whether or not you are a Troth member, we would like to hear from you, and we would like your article, poem, essay, paper, and so on. Heck, last issue had a sketch or two I wouldn't've minded as a pinup, like Raven Livingston's "Oski".

If nothing else, consider a few paragraphs for our "Close Encounters of the Þriði Kind" section, also known as "How I Found Odin and What He Did to Me When He Found Me". If you got recruited at a black metal concert, a Swedish folk music recital, a poetry slam, a data center, we want the story. If you ran into him as a drifting grifter or out hiking, we want to hear about it.

Submission deadline is 15 August, which is a month and a half away. Contributors get a copy of the issue or, if already Troth members, one more issue added to their membership.

If you are interested, please reply to this message, drop me a PM, or e-mail my LJ name at snugharbor.com for more information.

Thanks!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: hopeful

Okay, after three posts hip-deep in Unix geekery, let's have one steeped in knitting-geekery:

Currenly on the needles, I have Brooklyn Tweed's Girasole, a pretty round shawl named for the sunflower it resembles.

Now, I didn't know it was named "Sunflower" when I cast on in Berocco Ultra Alpaca, color 6269 "Cashel Blue", named for...cheese! The yarn, however, is colored like the blue bits in a bleu cheese, not actually like bleu cheese. Thus, it is colored something like:

...the dye lot I have is bluer than this shows up on screen. It's a dark, luminous blue with some medium-grey heather/halo effects.

It probably won't show up on my blue-gray leather couch all that well, but it will be lovely and cuddly and warm (a throw in which one cannot cuddle will not be much-loved, I ween).

BUT! It's called Sunflower, and one may execute either at worsted-weight for a blanket or at lace-to-fingering for a shawl.

I'd stopped making devotional shawls, but if a surprise Sunna falls into my lap, well, all righty then. I can work on it during my next summer festival in a wretchedly hot place. *grin*

The designer-recommended yarn is Jamieson's Spindrift--I would think that any of the first few of might do, but I'm more than passing fond of the heather, Scotch Broom.

This is available sort-of-locally, at Yarn Boutique in Lafayette, which comes highly recommended as a store by wolfs_daugher. They're open today--so I might wander on by...

There! Now, for real balance, I should post about something heathen. *nodnod*

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

After a crawl through grub, lorien is back online. Apologies for any inconvenience.

I'm still mighty tempted by that replacement hardware...

-- Lorrie

YOUR DATA IS SAFE.

lorien had two different /boot directories--one on a mounted partition, and one just lying around on the file system.

The mounted /boot doesn't keep itself mounted in the running filesystem (I vaguely recall I did this for security reasons, but who knows?), so the new OS's new kernel installed itself in /boot.

On reboot, of course, the old /boot partition was consulted, and the old (OOOOOOOOLD, two updates ago) kernel loaded.

countgeiger and I guessed at a fix--and failed.

YOUR DATA IS SAFE. Just in an advanced state of inaccessibility, which will be remedied as soon as I spank grub a few times.

A risk I knew I was taking when doing a massive OS upgrade in place--and hey, it almost worked except for that pesky pesky kernel!

Meanwhile, once we have this back up and running, our thought is to whip 'round to the Apple store and pick up some replacement hardware that will be much quieter and more energy-efficient. My only concern is that going from two hard drives in a RAID-1 to one (even if I sit that one on top of an external HDD attached with firewire 800 and sync every hour or some such) will make it considerably less fault-tolerant, so I'm still thinking about it.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: determined

I'm upgrading the operating system on my server, lorien, today--from Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10) to Jaunty Jackalope (9.04). This "shouldn't" (ha ha ha) involve anything more catastrophic than a reboot for anyone who isn't me, but y'all should be duly advised.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

Given my office kitchen, with the following:

1. On-demand 207° F (97° C) water, i.e., "just off the boil"


2. Arbitrary numbers of black tea bags (including Earl Grey)


3. On-demand ice of several sizes.


4. My not-inconsequential cooking fu

Current Mood: food-nerdy

Dear Freyja:

Fancy a cat toy?

May I suggest one to you?

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: disgusted

ninevirtues, bearfairie, (does Jer have LJ or a preferred nom de net?), and hilarypoet held a Þor Blót and BBQ at her Santa Clara townhouse yesterday, and dpaxson and I, along with about a dozen others (hi, wyrdgrrl!) were privileged to attend.

ninevirtues just bought a new Weber grill, and I was delighted to be able to break it in for her. Before we started the blót proper, another gentleman and I lit off two grills (he'd brought his own juuuust in case).

The blót was held along very simple lines: hilarypoet performed the Hammer Rite and each attendee said a name of Thor (provided on slips of paper). There were more slips than attendees, so we went around several times--I overcame my handicap of only having one slip by creating Eddic epithets on the spot.

I was deeply honored that my homebrew hefeweizen was chosen to fill the horn for the three-round sumbel that followed: one round for Thor, one for the gods, and one for the spirits of all sizes, with a suggested theme of blessing ninevirtues and her home. At the end of each round, a particular plant in ninevirtues tidy garden was chosen to receive the leftover beer and lemonade.

By this time, the coals were ready to go, so go we did!

bearfairie has a very complicated list of food issues (so complicated that she became a nutritionist in self defense!), so my primary contribution to the affair was to fulfill the challenge set before me of Meat She Could Eat.

Herewith, my nearly-completely successful recipe: bearfairie-Safe Buffaburgers, which makes 6-8 patties, compiled with the happy help of arianrhodstorm, who contributed the Secret Ingredient to my "Herbes de bearfairie" blend and helped smell-test and mix the ingredients.

bearfairie

ninevirtues

ninevirtues

Current Mood: cheerful

I wonder if anyone has, free or reasonably priced, a toolbox, framework, or whatever into which I could dump a PDF (etc) of a book--and sell the result on the App Store?

I do not want "PDFs on my iPhone!" or "zomg kindle!" or any of those: I want something like any of the eleventeen single book-reading apps, only blank. Then this doohickey accepts my PDF (etc), compiles the app, I upload the app, profit. This would be useful for dpaxson's back catalog, Our Troth, or other similar and worthy volumes.

Any thoughts, O Social Network of Awesome and Win?

(Also on the To-Do, a way to make runes that appeals to a heathen aesthetic more than the current rune apps, sheesh.)

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

Hey, folks--an Intrepid Correspondent just e-mailed me and said that she'd called the Pantheacon 2010 hotel (Doubletree San Jose), and they no longer have rooms available for the entire con, although some rooms may still be available for Sunday night.

Long-time congoers know the drill by now: check the con lodging page (still not updated from P-con 2009) to look into your overflow options. These may not yet be available for booking, but you can call now to check.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: grateful

The Baycon 2009 preliminary program is now online. Among its excitements and inducements, I'll be at:

Pyrocumulon!

The theme is a roughly steampunk new-minted shared world. Thus, an excuse to haul out my Dickens Faire duds, at least for one of the two Regency Dancing sessions (Friday, 8:30 PM and Sunday, 8:00 PM). Alas that I have no steampunky accessories to add to these. Alas!

The Zombies Are Coming!

cadhla and I are on a panel about the Coming Zombie Apocalypse--I wonder if I can talk the mod into giving me a few minutes to explain Why Draugar Are Cooler Than Hollywood Zombies. Oh, hey, Kevin Andrew Murphy is the mod...I have a shot. (Saturday, 11:30 AM)

When the Last Paper Dies

This is about the slow death of newspapers and investigative reporting. I'm ambivalent on this: no, blogs are not a substitute for real journalism: the Fourth Estate should be preserved. Yet, as with anything in a dead tree edition, they're floundering to keep up with online media distribution. The question of "who's paying for this!?" is always going to be with us. I am on this with jon_decles, which might argue for the appearance of Special Guest Star Mark Twain. Who knows? (Saturday, 1:00 PM)

Floating Islands and Lost Cities in History and Literature

I originally thought this would be on Floating Cities. "Ah ha!" I said, "it's Monday morning, I can just babble mindlessly about that one episode of classic Star Trek, with a side of Cloud City on Bespin and a side shout-out for Lobot and I'll be safe! But no--floating islands. Lost cities. Not in the air, apparently. Perhaps I'll babble about the lost cities inside the stratovolcanoes of the Cascades... (Monday, 11:30 AM).

The Pantheacon website has been partially updated for 2010.

However, on the con site's lodging page, they say that the main hotel is sold out of con rooms. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The hotel's own website may say similarly

Call the hotel.

Call now.

The Pantheacon bloc is open for your reservation--they already have mine. *grin*

I don't care that it's frickin' May, and most of you are prepping for Baycon right now.

Take the five minutes, whip out that plastic and call the hotel: (408) 453-4000. Operators Are Standing By!

Thanks to evergrey for the heads-up!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: happy

dpaxson and I are in Chicago this weekend, running a workshop sponsored by The Brotherhood of the Phoenix. We'll be back late Sunday.

Whee!

-- Lorrie

PS, especially to Raven Wronghands, but to anyone else in the Greater Chicagoland Area. Tomorrow is our gadding about day, wherein shall be eaten a Proper Chicago Dog and a Proper Deep-Dish Pizza. Anyone potentially available should leave a message at the beep below, but no promises...

Forthwith, a note of the "I ATEN'T DEAD" variety, as one of you was kind enough to send me a message asking if I'd suddenly started blogging someplace else.

Nope!

Dusty here, isn't it?

Let's see...

Current Mood: busy

[zomgwtfbbqGEEK] Mail Server Selection Made Easy, by lwood

Meanwhile, somewhere where geeks were lunching...

$some_guy: "And then you just reconfigure sendmail..."

lwood: "Sendmail? Ew! Ptui!"

$some_guy: "Sendmail is nice! Sendmail Is Your Friend!"

lwood: "Sendmail? Sendmail is not my friend. Postfix is my friend! Sendmail is the high school crush with whom I had an acrimonious breakup. I know he exists, I try to forget about him, but like a bad penny, he just keeps turning up."

*pause*

lwood: "By this logic, QMail is the funny little weirdo mouthbreather who smells like cat pee. Also, his momma dresses him funny."

$some_guy then tries to say something about how sendmail's config file m4 nightmare is Not That Bad, Really, but he's got no traction here.

Postfix and lwood, BFF.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

On the first Tuesday of every month, Spiral hosts an event called "Gateway". While this was originally intended to showcase a beginner-friendly ritual from any of Spiral's member groups, it has grown from there to include the idea of being an open space for public ritual.

Next week is my turn. BFUU at 7:30 PM. Once we start, the doors will be closed; no latecomers will be admitted. Afterward, we will repair to Au Coquelet for a light dinner and debrief.

( So what am I doing? )

For those of you who witnessed Obama's oathtaking, and noticed that it was a tad off--fear not, it's been redone.

Sure, on the one hand...it's no big deal, but on the other, especially speaking as a heathen, and thus as someone to whom Words Damn Well Matter, it is, and I'm glad it's been redone all right and proper.

-- Lorrie

gnowun is out of surgery and now in Critical Care Unit 3 at Mercy General Hospital in Merced. Surgery went well; he's got a temporary colostomy bag until things heal up, but he should be able to go on normally after that. He's loopy from morphine right now for that extra "whee!" factor.

The hospital's website is down; have a GoogleMap instead. Their central switchboard is (209) 385-7000. gnowun is in the patient directory now--by his legal name.

They'll be moving him to a more normal ward soon (3 West?). Visiting hours are 10a-8p, and Merced is about a two hour drive from Bay Area. dpaxson and I will be lighting out for the Valley from Greyhaven sometime this afternoon--call my cell if you're interested in carpooling and can make it to Greyhaven by 3pm.

Keep those prayers, candles, reiki, and all-that coming, folks--and gnowun and I thank you all for your support.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: hopeful

Last night, I came up with a vegetarian entree suitable for an Odin Party and tested it out on my favorite vegetarian, purplevenus and my favorite reluctant eater of veg (countgeiger) as well as two accomodating omnivores (dpaxson and myself). All approved and so, suitably multiplied, I'll be making it again next Saturday.

To give proper credit, auntiematter had the idea of using a risotto technique on barley, zoe_me burbled happily about hulled barley as opposed to pearled, and yes, Alton did an episode on barley(YouTube part one and part two, and here's the obligatory fansite page) but I haven't seen it lately.

For a wholly vegan preparation, use another fat instead of butter. You'll be missing out on browned butter, alas, but that's your call. Toasting the grains in butter before cooking ("risotto method") reduces cooking time, broadens flavor, and adds a creamy texture; otherwise you'll be simmering forever.

Current Mood: creative

gnowun In Hospital for Colon Cancer

Hey, folks--gnowun, know to many of you as Boris, called me over breakfast yesterday.

He's got colon cancer, and he goes in for surgery today.

Now, if you know Boris, you know that this is a man who never fails to give of himself for his community, or indeed anyone who asks--and never mind that giving that aid means he drives in from the Central Valley. I am honored to call him friend.

All permission for wealful work has been given, under whatever auspices, gods, or philosophies you feel called to do so. Surgery starts at 0900 PST--so now. Recovery is going to take a good while, too.

Sing a charm for the sharpness of the scalpel.
Sing one for the surgeon's skill.
Sing one for sailing on the sea of sleep.
Sing one for his safe return.

A suggested bindrune is Elhaz-Kenaz-Jera, but swing it however you like.

If you need a location do do your thing, he's at Mercy Hospital in Merced, California. He is known, variously, as Gnowun Uno, Boris of Bedlam, and sometimes even under his legal name. ;)

dpaxson and I plan to light out for Merced tomorrow afternoon, if you'd rather your astral care packages were sent c/o Someone Uno. *grin*

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: mellow

countgeiger took pictures of the socks I made for his dad and stepmother--more details for the fiber-inclined ( behind the cut. )

Current Mood: geeky

krellan, countgeiger, teloric, and I have successfully brewed our first beer, a hoppy little amber ale.

It'll be in the horn at Hrafnar tonight as we toast the new year.

Next stop, a double-header: a hefeweizen in one carboy, and a simple mead in the other--yay!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: bouncy

Valleywag is a notorious Silicon Valley gossip site, so I wouldn't take the following as gospel:

They report that the owners of LJ have let go 12 of their 28 employees.

Now--maybe LJ is circling the drain and maybe it isn't, but it's never a bad time to back up your LiveJournal.

IF you have an account on my server, I can set you up with a daily backup of your entire livegerbil, with comments, to my server. I will need a couple pieces of data from you--specifically your LJ username and password (sorry!), but they'll be stashed in a way that makes migrating them to another server easier than it would be otherwise.

If that's too geeky for you, may I suggest LJBook?

-- Lorrie

Sick lwood Is Sick // Farewell, Family Christmas Tree // Going Mobile

( hack cough wheeze )

Current Mood: sick

Welcome to the intercalary week, that moment to catch your breath between Solstice/Christmas/etc and consensus solar New Year. We're scratching the old, worn-out skin of 2008 on any post that'll take our backs, because that shiny new 2009 molt wants for airing, and why isn't it now yet?

countgeiger

1. Blu-Ray Player What Is Actually Blue.


2. Hard drive and RAM to Pimp His Ride Laptop.


3. Magic box what connects to the CD changer hitch that's never had a CD changer connected to it and turns it into a mini-stereo plug--more socially known as an "iPod hitchy thingy" or "connectordoodle".

countgeiger

krellan

teloric

dealan_de

netik

Current Mood: productive

In the heathen/Norse Recon paradigm a human being incarnate here in Midgard is a constellation of souls: this shared with family-by-blood, this shared with family-by-choice, this memory, this personality, this body, this spark of divinity, these choices, this set of predestined conditions, this...

Right now, they travel in summat close formation--in death, they part. Some are potentially contactable, others less so. Like old friends who have each other on speed dial long after graduation, having one part nearby can make it easier to check out what's happened with another bit. Which, and how many, of these persist and are reborn (as opposed to other potential outcomes) isn't something to which I've given a lot of thought, and it's also so that the members of that constellation are themselves, occasionally, divisible.

Yet, more than one of these, at any time, can be the "I"-which-speaks; so while I've given a lot of time, thought, and effort to answering "Who am I?", the question remains...who is it who asks?

-- Lorrie

Good Yule, Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and an otherwise happy Winterthing to one and all!

Not-Fiber:

The Hunt rides! Also--happy day--it's raining! More not-fiber stuff after some fiber stuff:

Spinning:

Have whipped out some of the Mountain Colors dyed targhee roving that was included in my wheel package, and have since managed a hank that sucks much less than the first hank, and as such can likely be knitted with. H'ray.

Knitting: (don't worry, there is also not-knitting and, in fact, completely not-fiber)

Socks socks socks!

Mum got socks (Crystal Palace Merino 5, color "ultra blues", all-over pattern of Icelandic Box Stitch & Cat Bordhi's Riverbed sockitecture).

Father-in-Law is getting socks (Mountain Colors Bearfoot, color Grey Wolf, pattern Danny Ouelette's Diamond Waffle sock hacked to Cat Bordhi's Riverbed Sockitecture).

Stepmother-in-Law is getting socks (Yarnsmiths' Cool Wool, color stormy, pattern unknown). This is a yarn that wicks well and is otherwise a good idea for the diabetics in your life, the first commercial yarn I've seen that includes CoolMax.

Then a pair of something or other for countgeiger.

Not-socks, still knitting:

The Hrafnar gift exchange got a brioche version of this fad.

Two Faroese shawls, one falcon-wise, one not, both done, could use fringe.

The yarn for walkyrja's sweater mocks me from its bags (SWTC Pure, 15 skeins each Vineyard Green and Marigold) and remains skeery.

Not-at-All Fiber:

Huginn 1 and Idunna 78 have come ripe at the same time, and not a couple weeks apart as originally planned. Alas, this means that Huginn is getting bumped to after the first of the year. The Editorial Staff regrets this, but it was necessary to ensure the best possible quality of work on our hatchling's first issue.

Concurrent with learning to spin, I'm learning more nuts-and-bolts networking stuff, addressing a significant gap in my sysadmin quiver. countgeiger has made noises about actually getting his CCNA alongside me--that might be fun!

Okay, Mike's back with the car, so it's time for me to drive away south and visit the computers. Until later, Constant Readers...

Current Mood: busy

My precious came...



I spun this--two plies of blue-faced Leicester. It sucks, and it is lumpy, but it is MINE! ALL MINE! HA!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: accomplished

Something in the water, something in the air...

There's naught but knitting in this post. If that's not your fancy, have a ridiculously funny fanvid instead, courtesy of norsebiker43:

Current Mood: creative

From dealan_de: Save This Dog!

[Edit: News! dealan_de reports that Tigger has just been adopted. Hooray!]

dealan_de would like your help, Gentle Bay Area Reader, in saving this darling doggie:

Current Mood: hopeful

*flail* Glass! Spinning wheel! GLASS! SPINNING WHEEL! *more flail*

Courtesy of willowwolfe:


Holy cats--the sculptor has stills, and the piece is for sale.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: impressed

Would you know, dpaxson never learned to bake?

Somebody has to...otherwise, it'll be apple and pumpkin pies from a freezer, augmented with mass-processed gods-know-what. I dunno, melamine.

So, to Greyhaven's T-Day, I'm-a bringin':

• Two apple pies


• A twenty-eight pound Diestel Heritage Heirloom Tom Turkey, brined after the fashion of Alton, only (shh!) stuffed. Yes! This is in blatant contravention of the inevitable backlash agin' brined turkeys! Neener neener neener.


• Two pumpkin pies


• Sweet potato pie isn't coming out of me this year, though I love them: no bandwidth left!


• Alton Brown's cranberry sauce--

countgeiger

Current Mood: busy

While chatting about the Æsir/Vanir War in the context of Völuspá 24, especially the latter half:

brotinn var borðveggr    borgar ása,
knáttu vanir vígspá    völlu sporna.

Current Mood: hungry

From dpaxson:

If I am going to put this in my blog, I guess I need to provide some explanation for the many who will have no idea what I'm talking about.

Way back in 1990, I started working with the survivors of the first rune class to recover the oracular practice of the Viking period, known as spae or oracular seidh. I worked out a ritual based on elements from the Eddas, the account of such a ritual in the Saga of Eric the Red, and the journeys to Hel described in Saxo and elsewhere.

A year later, we tried it out at Ancient Ways, and we've been presenting this as a service to our larger pagan community ever since. We work every year at Pantheacon and four times a year we have smaller gatherings at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists hall, on the corner of Cedar & Bonita in North Berkeley (on Cedar between Shattuck and MLK). This is near the Downtown Berkeley BART station, and the 7, 9, and 18 local AC Transit lines.

As in ancient times, people ask questions about relationships, livelihood and decisions, as well as ancestors or the gods.

Tomorrow evening, Tuesday, Nov. 11th at 7:30 p.m., we'll be there. If you are in range, or know someone who would be interested, encourage them to come.

You can find out more at our seidh-related website, seidh.org.

- Diana

Current Mood: geeky

Thanks to and others who pointed me at two of the comics this week from Questionable Content...
( Knitting and Mad Science! )
The ninth-dimentional hypercardigan looks like a fine project choice. But with what fiber? Well! Apparently, yes, there's an answer to that too:
( Spinning and Mad Science! )
Everything goes better with nanotubes, with the possible exception of otters.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: creative

Whole post edited to be less stupid, because it helps to put in the right link:

You know what makes darn near anything better?

Live streaming puppies!

Thanks, ciannait--you're welcome, everyone else!

Y'know what'd be even more better?

Live streaming baby otters. But for now? PUPPIES!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: cheerful

maradydd has gone into some depth on the California-specific reasons why the challenge to the Prop 8 result has merit--check it out, as well as the followup that she'll be posting eventually.

-- Lorrie

Yes, Proposition 8 won. Sorry, Rest of the World, that 52.2% of the people in my state thought marriage needed "defending". I assure you that I was in the 47.8% that felt otherwise, as are most Californians who happen to write blogs and thus with whom you are likely to interact this day. Don't blame us in San Francisco (76.5% against), don't blame us in Oakland and Berkeley (61.9% against), don't blame us in San José and Silicon Valley (55.6% against).

[Edit: The moment it won, of course, the legal challenge began. The same Chronicle article points out both--but that doesn't change the rest of this one bit.]

Folks, whichever way Proposition 8 worked out, you could tell going in that there were going to be an awful lot of unhappy people.

I think it's no secret to anyone that I was against it, that my husband and I voted against it, and that any friend I had who voted for it didn't bother to tell me about it--and if you did I honestly don't want to know; your vote is Your Own Business, thanks. I didn't blog about my choices beforehand because they were My Business.

Still, whether it won or lost, on such a divisive issue it would be guaranteed that the other side would be down at the courthouse forthwith. There are a lot of newly married men and women with a lot of money in San Francisco, who are, doubtless, this moment, getting their legal acts together. If one of them has just moved in from Boston--why, so much the better.

It ain't over, and it ain't gonna be over until it runs all the way to the US Supreme Court. California's Proposition 8 has language ("regardless of where or when they were performed") that runs directly against Constitutional law (Article IV, Section 1):

Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Current Mood: bitchy

countgeiger and I ambled down to Purlescence just to look at spinning wheels. He said he'd lay a goodly sum towards one for my birthday, and I thought...

Oh, good--I'll get a wee portable one and spook people in airports with thoroughly innocent activity, e.g. a Louet Victoria. Or perhaps some other aimed-at-newbies wheels, like the Ashford Joy. Oh, hey, the Schacht Ladybug was just reviewed at Knitty, maybe that! At any rate, insofar as one can ever call a spinning wheel a sensible purchase when one is not, say, Amish, then I shall be Sensible. I shall most assuredly not get one of those fairytale, Sleeping Beauty sorts of wheels. A Schacht-Reeves wheel is gorgeous, but costs more than my rent. Get thee behind me, ye Ashford Elizabeth! We shall buy Small! We shall be (relatively!) Inexpensive!

But I shall also heed all the wise women who said, "go to a store with many, that you may treadle with your very own feet. The wheel chooses the spinner!" Sounds a bit Harry Potter, but in a way I actually agree with. Bring on the wheels!

Current Mood: amused

Courtesy of mordantcarnival, via some e-mail list:

"New Age Bullies", by Julia Ingram

I wouldn't agree with her use of the word "bully", here, but it's worth chewing on nonetheless, especially to the ecclesiastically inclined of my Constant Readers.

That said, don't necessarily think it mayn't apply to you. How often might a shallow understanding of some of your own jargon come to hurt someone who hasn't been soaking in it as long as you have?

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: thoughtful

A Meme from dpaxson

Edited from this post by dpaxson--post it, spread it, pass it on!

As you call on the ancestors this Samhain/Winternights/All Hallows/etc, pay some extra attention to our American heroes and heroines, who fought for liberty and justice in their various ways, and surely have an interest in preserving them.

The immediate problem is the election--not so much who is going to get the most votes, but whether all those votes will be correctly counted. I'm willing to bow to the will of the People, but I want to make sure that the published results in fact express it.

My plan for the next week or so is to spend some time every evening visualizing Lady Liberty shining her torch across the land. As that light penetrates every dark corner, it banishes fear, confusion, and deception. I ask her not only to inspire people to vote for the laws and candidates that will be best for the country, but to illuminate the vote-counting process so that the true will of the people is known.

If you like this idea, spread the word. The more of us who hold that image, the more powerful it will be.

God(s) bless America.

Current Mood: hopeful

Thanks to maradydd and the fine folks of NoiseBridge, this day I learned to solder, putting together a Trippy LED Waves Kit--and then just to make sure I knew what I was doing, I did it all again, so now I have two.

Had I more than two of these, I could do something like this:

--'twould be an amusement worthy of the next Greyhaven Charlie Party (wherein Greyhaven goes back to the sixties, but takes back with it that which denizens have deemed appropriately interesting).

I admit, all that knitting and beading really helped me with the fine manual control needed to pull off soldering, but I didn't find it a difficult skill to acquire. Whee!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

Anyone who can understand what evilwenchesinc (aka Mrs dr_beowulf) is talking about in this post is hereby requested, begged, and pled to assist. She doesn't need her homework done for her, but could really use a suggestion on which set of lies, damn lies, and statistics will do what needs doin'.

Thanks to anyone who can offer useful advice...

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: hopeful

LOST

General PSA--I've lost a couple of my handknit things recently, possibly at your house, Constant Reader. Please help...it's getting cold out here!

Black and Blue Beaded Beret
I made any number of beaded berets in the past year, and one of them was actually for me. I recall that I lent it to...someone...that they might have a model from which to make their own, and they may not have returned it to me. In any case, I can't find it and am sad.

The beret in question ranges in color from blue-black to nearly electric blue, like this:

(Claudia Handpaints Fingering weight, color "Argyle 2")

There are three rows of beads on it, in a random array of cobalt blue, shiny black, and possibly silver. I made a few of these as presents--I don't want those back! Anyway, if you have this little guy lurking around, please return him. Thanks!

Raven Sock
There I was, making myself a luvverly pair of Hrafnsocken (Raven Socks). I had succeeded in making the first sock, got just to the point of turning the heel on the second...and promptly lost the first sock and the book from which I was appropriating the architecture.

This sock is sized to my Women's US size 10 foot--and there is only one of it, Gentle Reader, what good might it do you, alone in a cruel world? The color is, again, black wafting through blueblack to blue, a little brighter than this:


(Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight, color "Haida").

It's lace, patterned with feathers. He's flown far from his mate, who misses him terribly. The missing sock may or may not be near the book New Pathways in Sock Knitting, Book One--I've since replaced the book, but dangit I want my sock back!

Current Mood: cold

For years, knitters have cooed over the color palette and shifts of NORO yarns from Japan.

More recently, though, reports have been heard of a yarn manufacturer that takes a really l-o-n-g view of color changes--no Japanese these, but rather the wily Danes at Kauni, have a sturdy light fingering/heavy laceweight yarn that will, given enough time, amble through an entire ROY-G-BIV rainbow--or any of several other color sets.

I haven't found it in anywhere...until this week.

Piedmont Yarn and Apparel has it--and because I had bouncy bouncy squee the day before it cleared customs, it's in the front window with little sample swatches for your petting and observing pleasuate. $20 gets you over half a kilometer of yarn, as it's 400 m (400 yd) per 100 g, and one skein is 140-160 g.

It's getting a lot of mileage in lace shawls, and I'll be picking up some for a Freyja shawl in the rather near future, to be knit after A Certain Sweater.

(the certain sweater's yarn has all finally found me and I am now buried in tofuyarn. YOnks!)

YAY!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: geeky

Over the past couple months, I've been swapping e-mails with Cat Bordhi, sock hacker, math teacher, and doubtless all 'round good egg. Yesterday, I e-mailed her a letter...

In New Pathways for Sock Knitting, Book One, one of the toes she describes is called a Whirlpool Toe. It makes a convex disc shape, with increases swirling along six evenly spaced curves. It's handsome of itself but absolutely crucial when dealing with the Spiraling Coriolis Sock (here's someone else's handsome example). The increases in this pattern are expressed in a slowly spiralling band, and the cylindrical toe and midfoot means that the whole sock may be rotated on the needles so the band can continue on, swirling above the heel flap and on up the leg.

Anyway, the toe as presented in the book spiraled one way, which matches the direction of the gusset-creating band on the first sock. However, as a pair of these is done with an eye to bilateral symmetry: the band goes one way on one foot, and the other way on the other. If both socks are done this way, the toe and band will match harmoniously on one, but not the other.

I didn't like that, so immediately developed a reverse whirlpool toe so they'd match. The change was easy enough that I was sure she'd thought of it, but, y'know...just in case.

She wrote back--and y'know, first, more fangirl squee.

Second, yes, I can release patterns of my own into the wild that use her sockitectures, as long as I give proper credit. w00t!

Third--eee! She would like me to be a test knitter! *boing*

Last: I can release patterns using her sockitectures into the wild! Huzzah! Soon, precious, Tuonela socks for all--but not until a couple other projects come off the stove.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: creative

( And Now, Your Moment of OMGWTFBBQ!? )

Current Mood: giddy

Okay, after reading the responses to my first announcement--yes, Sea Salt is spendy. However, if a body can't have what she likes on her birthday, when else can she, I ask you?

BUT I want to see as many of you as possible. Can has cake--and can eat cake!

SO--

Thursday 2 October: (Dinner and) Ice Cream at Fenton's!
At 8:00 PM, whoever has time amidst Certain Other Preparations is welcome to turn up at Fenton's for food and--wait, who am I kidding?-- ice cream.

Friday 3 October: Nice Fishes, Precious!
Again at 8:00 PM, that we may be joined by the lovely Miz purplevenus, this one at Sea Salt. I have made a reservation for 6 persons, and currently Scheduled to Attend are dpaxson, countgeiger, purplevenus, and I--leaving two spots for drop-ins, but if more turn up I daresay room can be made. [Edit: maiagirl will now be there too, eating TASTY FEESHES! w00t!] [Edit²: maiagirl is doubly booked, but bellacrow is now in.]

Wednesday, 8 October: Dead Guys and Live Chicks
The next regularly scheduled meeting of Hrafnar is taking place on the 68^th birthday of one of our other members. A couple days ago, she told me she was choosing to spend her birthday at our meeting, and asked if I might cause a nice cake that would be better than the grocery store and not jostled about on public transit. I allowed that as how it was only a few short days after my birthday, so surely something joint could be arranged.

SO! If you miss out on the first two, then do come to Hrafnar, where after the Álfablót ritual...There Will Be Cake.

Current Mood: cheerful

This is a CA (SF Bay Area, really) teapot tempest--if you don't live here, this may not be particularly relevant to you, but read on if you like:

The CA State Assembly has proposed a Harvey Milk Day, and there's a movement afoot to stop it based on a lot of very vigorous speculation about what that might entail.

So, of course, it made Snopes.

Now, I'd just like to point out that one could just as well use those contact data that are so thoughtfully provided to phone up our beloved Governator and voice support for a Harvey Milk Day.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: sympathetic