Yes we did!

I am so proud of my country. The great majority of Americans banded together yesterday (and in the previous days of early voting) and sent the message that WE are the ones with the voice, and no amount of scare tactics or mudslinging can distract us, WE decided what direction we wish our country to go in the future.
This country can now get back to being the great nation it is. Hopefully we will regain some of the respect other nations once had for us. And we can get a little self respect as well. I proud to say that my president is Barack Hussein Obama.

Sleepytime on the busyville express.

So, I have been really super busy. And I am extra sleepy, as a result. I just woke up from a 2 hour nap, and am still pretty sleepy. But I have stuff to do! I am going to post, too. I have so much to talk about!


Like the fact that I met Richard Leakey. Yes, THE Richard Leakey. Photographic proof below.

He is a very charming man. But most importantly, I am pretty sure he is the smartest man I have ever met. Thats saying a lot for me (I admit sometimes I am a total jerk about these things, and maybe am not impressed by the intellect of much of the general public). I was so starstruck, considering his "Origins" was the first science book I ever read, and he is the first scientist I ever knew of. Yes, I knew who Richard Leakey was before I knew who Einstein was. Thank you, Daddy. And that copy of "Origins" now bears the signature of Dr. Richard Leakey on the title page. I can't tell you how unbelievably awesome this is.

So basically, this was a huge deal and I am now very happy. Considering I saw the remains of "Lucy" in Houston last April, I don't know how 2008 could get any better!

Okay, on to more recent things (Dr. Leakey was here October 8th). The dogwood tree by our driveway is starting to blush out. Its so pretty when its red. I think I took pictures of it last year. I will try to this fall, too, as it wasn't as dry this summer so it may even be prettier this year.



On to more knitty news. Sylvia was using some kind of yarn that she got at Michael's that goes from fine to chunky and back again. She was trying to knit a shrug or wrap or something and ran out near the end. So what does she use it for? A wig? Order in the court! Judge Sylvia is going to kick your ass!

I am pretty sure this is the biggest smile I have ever seen out of her. We all thought that putting knitting on your head is hilarious. Maybe you needed to be there. Or we are just very goofy.

Ysolda Teague, a great designer from Edinburgh, designed some grown up booties and is offering the pattern for free until November 1st. I saw the pdf and said GIMME THAT. Such a quick and easy knit, and a great way to use this wool yarn.

Sorry for the poor photography. Photographing your own feet is very difficult.
Although they give me funny square toes, they are comfy and nice. I thought I made mine a little too big because they felt like they were about to fall off, but they haven't yet. I highly recommend them, and am making a pair for my sister for Christmas using Paton's SWS. I'll post those when I finish.

I also made some sideways dishcloths the other day. I totally love this pattern. I have linked to it before, but I can't recommend it enough. Its so simple, and so nice. Because it is garter stitch, the ribs created are great for scrubbing that stubborn cheese left on the side of the casserole dish. You can see I got a little excited about the Sugars N Cream colors. The one on the left reminds my roommates of Sprite.

And for the first time in literally months, its a brand new episode of Cats on Tuesday. Enjoy!

I am totally blown away by the cuteness inherent in the Ditto. She can't do anything wrong that she can't schmooze her way out of. Including sleeping in people's laundry.

Rainy.

So. After weeks of bright sunny weather I woke up this morning to rain, lightning, and thunder. The lightning and thunder didn't last very long, and it has been drizzly/sprinkly off and on since then. As you can see, our flowers are in the end of the year slump. The rain isn't helping matters.

One thing about rainy days is how sleepy they feel. Apparently if you are a cat, this is especially true.
Poor Stubble is trying to sleep. So what do I do? Harass the piss out her! Here she is peeking at me with her little mean kitty eye. She's probably pretending to sleep, hoping I will give up and go away...

Wake up sleepy cat! I want to take pictures and harass you endlessly! Poor kitty, just oh-so-tired. She worked so hard sleeping all this morning, I should feel guilty for disturbing her rest.

This picture is so cute. At this point I think she was like, OK, really, go away stupid human.

In other cat-related news, Ditto apparently loves my knitting bag. She doesn't often sit on the couch, but she probably thought that the bag was hiding her. Look at those glowing eyes, she takes some creepy pictures:

She doesn't quite understand why she bothers to let us associate with her. She forgets how much she enjoys kitty kibble. We never forget how much she enjoys it. For that matter, all you have to do is look at her tracter-trailer sized butt to see how much she enjoys kibble.

Poor kitty. We love her though, even though she takes up more chair space than some people I know. Look at the cuteness!

Time to begin again. Bring on the FOs.

First day of Autumn. Mmmmm I love it. Our computer kicked the bucket about May, so thats where I've been. I just got a new computer a week or two ago, so back to the blogging. I have a couple of FOs, its pretty exciting. That will be the topic of this blog. I plan on a Cats On Tuesday for tomorrow.

First is my mom's new slipper socks. I knitted these from a pattern in the book One Skein Knits. I need to update my Ravelry book list, as this is just the first of a few books I have picked up on knitting. These were knitted from Red Heart 100% acrylic. I have been knitting her slippers from this for while, since it is washable and cheap. However, they wear out rather quickly, stretch out rather quickly, and I HATE KNITTING WITH THIS CRAP. I am such a tight knitter, I have been trying to relax it a little. However when I was doing the cables on these suckers it was soooooo squeaky. So, I think that next time I am going to try to knit her something in either a wool-acrylic blend, a washable wool, or maybe even cotton. I am concerned about the stretchability of cotton, but if they seem a little stiff I will just knit them with a strand of elastic or something. I have nothing but good things to say about the pattern. It was simple, quick, and did use less than a skein of yarn. I have made the little spiral bag from it for my mom (sorry didn't take pics before I mailed it to her) and Sylvia made the ruffle caveat, a short little ruffled scarf. We were both pretty happy with the book, and I can recommend it without reservations.

Now for my favorite FO, my socks! I used one of the sock yarns I got on sale at Yarn Mart, my LYS. Its Berrocco "SOX", and is a washable wool blend. As you can imagine, since I live in Arkansas, these have yet to be worn outside the house. They are so very warm. I can't wait until its cold enough to need them! I think they look beautiful, and I am now in love with sock knitting. For this pair, I used a simple rib stitch pattern.

I have a few WIP as well. I am making a pair of gloves for a friend. He saw my socks when I was working on them and wanted some colorful stripey gloves. And he wanted WOOL. I told him he is going to have to hand wash these, but we'll see how long they last until he accidentally felts them. These are being made with Paton's Wool, I think they're gorgeous. They are pretty warm, too. I need to finish the thumb and then move to the fingers on the second glove. I could probably do it in one sitting, but I am not in a hurry as it is still around 85 F here. Also, something else has captured my attention...

I love you sock knitting! I can't stay away from you! I have started something harder than a ribbed pattern, I am trying out Monkey by Cookie A. I am a little unsure if it is turning out right, we'll see. It looks okay now. Everyone on Ravelry has said it's super easy, but I don't trust my skills in lace making (more appropriately, lack thereof).

So thats whats up in the world of knitting. I have a lot going on with school as well. I have started another journal about a project I am envolved with, Primate Enrichment. It is mainly for my use, since I will probably have to do some sort of presentation about my work and need to keep up with it. Feel free to check it out. More on school later, its time for homework.

And so the story goes.

I have a job now, which isn't too awful terrible. I am, however, much tired everyday. I have 3 weeks of school left until summer break, and I can't wait. I can't keep up with all this crap. Blarghh. Let this craziness end soon. And make my Middle Eastern Cultures professor stop assigning stuff.

You know I, you know I'm not dead...

Now you know where I've been:
Buying new yarn, because adding to the stash is very important. Especially when your LYS has a 20% off of everything anniversary sale. Normally, I go in there to drool over the stuff I can't afford, and sometimes pick up a clearance item or two. Hey, college makes you poor.

But I actually was able to buy this skein of Manos del Uruguay Kettle Dyed Silk-Merino blend. I LUUURVE it. I always admired you from afar, Manos, but now you are mine. I don't even know what to do with it yet. Maybe a hat? Or a luxuriously fine tudora? We will see.

They had such a large amount of mohair on sale (this one was $3.60 after the discount) that I was able to buy this little gem. I recently found a blue-purple-dark navy ball of mohair at Tuesday Morning for around $3. I bought it just to see how it knits up. Before this, I did not care for the look or even idea of mohair, but as some yarns have surprised me (Lionbrand Boucle, for example), I have decided to be more democratic to all yarns. As it turns out, I really like the look and feel of knitting with mohair. I bought this ball because it picks up some of the colors in the Tuesday Morning ball (I'll post pics when I get the project underway). I needed another ball because I want to make a head-wrap scarfy thing. I had started it with the T.M. ball but ran waaaay short and had to frog it. I will have updates on that as it is knitted.

In other news, the dogwood outside is blooming. This is my favorite kind of tree, as well as my favorite flower. I love it. Also, the azaleas are about to burst into bloom. As you can see from the leaves, the bushes have some type of scale but I didn't have the heart to spray any pesticides for it last fall. They aren't dying or anything, after all.

See? Almost blooming, but not quite. Sorry for the blurriness, my camera decides where it wants to focus and doesn't discuss it with me sometimes.

And here it is, its back after weeks of hiatus.


This post will be a little different. I had to go to the zoo, so I took some pics of the jaguars and tigers. I should have done with the lions, but I was too lazy to walk back over to their enclosure after I thought of it. Sorry.

They are maybe a little hard to see. The black jaguar had his ears back, there were lots of kids there that day, making lots of noise. He is so beautiful, I wish I could have taken better pics of him. He looks like my roommate Dave's sister's cat. Except bigger, of course.

The tiger was pacing, as you can see. He wasn't roaring, as I have observed hungry impatient tigers in zoos to do, just pacing.

But do you see that fence behind him, on the other side of the rock wall?

This is who was in the fence. I would be pacing if I was trapped in an enclosure less that 50 yards from a delicious hamburger. I bet the smell of these gazelles drive him and his pen-mates crazy.


On to other zoo creatures. I was there to observe primates, which I was unable to do. There were too many people. I am going to try again tomorrow afternoon, my instructor said afternoons were better than mornings.

Here is a siamang. He was sitting about 4 yards from the edge of the enclosure, hoot-calling at all the people staring at him. It was so loud, I could feel the vibration in my clothing and backpack. I caught a picture of him in mid-hoot. While I'm here, I would also like to point out that he is NOT A MONKEY. Siamangs are apes, like gorillas, chimps, and orangutans. They have no tails, that is the easiest way to tell an ape from a monkey. As this guy is sitting on his tailless rump, here is a picture of a gorilla butt to clear it up.

See? No tail. By the way, that stuff on his back is hay. I don't know if his keepers were playing with him before I walked up or if he put it there, playing by himself. Either are possible.

Here is another kind of primate called a prosimian. He is a lemur from Madagascar, and no he is not dead although he looks it. The others were on a platform sleeping together, I don't know why he didn't join them. As you can see, he has a tail. He is NOT a monkey though, prosimians are kind of their own thing. Lorises and tarsiers are also prosimians, but I don't have pictures of them. Their enclosure was kind of dark. The most noticeable difference I can spot in the lemurs from monkeys is their snout. They kind of look fox-like.

This guy is a Talapoin Monkey, part of a group called the Old World Monkeys. They are basically monkeys from the African and Eurasian continent. They, of course, have tails.

These guys are Spider Monkeys, from the New World Monkeys. New World Monkeys are from the Americas. New World Monkeys also have tails, but some have prehensile tails. None of the Old World Monkeys have this. A prehensile tail can be used as a sort of fifth arm. When you see a monkey hanging onto ropes or branches with his tail, then you know for sure that he is a New World Monkey.


Although I am trying to get into the Primate Enrichment program next semester to work with some primates doing mentally stimulating activities, zoos generally make me feel bad. These guys are probably not that happy. For example, this is the female gorilla with her new baby. You can kind of see her baby between her legs, the baby's arm is around her as well. The mother kept moving around, trying to get out of sight of the enormous crowd. In this picture, she has her arms folded where her hands are on her shoulders. This is something you would do to try to block out unwanted attention. She is doing the same thing. It made me profoundly sad. One mother near me told her children "look, they are hugging!" No lady, they are not hugging, the gorilla mom is miserable and trying to hide.

On the other hand, without zoos people (most importantly, children) would not develop an empathy for these creatures. Seeing them helps them connect, and ultimately helps them care more about what happens to animals in the wild. In addition, many of these creatures are likely one day to become extinct, and locking them in zoos may keep them safe from our destructiveness, as backwards as that sounds. I believe that many zoos have a long way to go in terms of suitable enclosures, but people are working on things like that right now. Thats why I want to join the primate enrichment program. It basically involves thinking of things for the animals to do so they aren't bored or inactive. They are intelligent creatures, and need stimulus just like people do.

Another thing that gets me is the insensity of some of the people (adults) at the zoo. I overheard several unpleasant comments, including an older man's claim that the guy below would "make a good pair of boots." Dammit, people.


So please take your kids to the zoo, but be sensitive about what you say. Even if you are kidding, your children are listening.