stuff roundup

- I have been unceremoniously [accidentally] booted off the Team Canada blog. Yay Blogger for making it so complicated to add someone to a group blog! [boo! hiss!] all feex. whew. i was feeling a little lost for a few minutes.

- I followed this link from the page of my new BFFs!!!!!!. And I scrolled down to the little girl who won the tug-of-war over the purple Coronet. And I just stared at that face. Frustratingly, cotton and cotton blends [my usual staples] don't make a Mongolian-winter-proof hat. Knitting with pure acrylic is cruel punishment for my hands. But I have a few skeins of silk that are in need of a project...and they WILL make quite a few damned-warm hats. So I'll be making up some Dulaan hats between now and the summer mailing deadline. My thanks to Ann and Ryan for opening my eyes.

- Have you seen what's going on with the Harlot's Knitting Olympics? It's huge! 2500+ of us have signed up to challenge ourselves for 16 days. This ain't your regular knitalong, people. This is a group of knitters reaching for self-improvement through yarn. How can you not love that?

Right now, my olympic challenge idea is to spin 550 yards of bulky thick-thin silk and knit my version of the long-coveted Hello Yarn bulky shawl. aside: If Adrian'd spin silk, I'd just buy the yarn from her, but that's not possible just yet. Adrian is mighty sweet, though. The last time I mentioned how much I loved her pattern, she sent me a copy. However, the spinning part could be beyond my reach. So I have a few backup ideas which I will keep to myself for the moment. I'll commit to something soon enough.

- In aid of avoiding Pullman withdrawal, I'm back listening to book 1 of the trilogy again. I really wanted to re-hear the part with Lyra in the retiring room and what was said. And other things now are making complete sense to me that I must have just mentally skipped over at the time. Anyway, I don't imagine i'll listen to all three books again. But for now, uncharacteristically, I'm re-savoring book 1. [Four Pullmans in print are on their way to me from Amazon. One is Lyra's Oxford, cause I just have to have the maps and stuff.]

- The bunnies say hi. They are, relievedly, most certainly re-bonded and are rarely annoying to each other. There is much mutual grooming and lying side by side. You would love it. There will be pictures as soon as I can catch them in daylight doing something cute at the same time.

And that is all. As this is a Friday, I would like to thank $deity for the weekend that is to come. Man, do I need it.