Goodbye '09

So here we are at the end of another year.

After working a lot the last three days and being busy in general, this final day of the year provided some of the respite I would like on the last page of the calendar. I lounged around at home until mid-afternoon. I watched two documentaries on DVD. I found and bought a pair of much-needed boots. I attended the Blue Jackets hockey game, although with the way the team has been playing, I wasn't exactly excited about going to it. (True to their form over the last month-plus, it was a blah game and losing effort for the hometown boys.)

Now I'm at home taking it easy and waiting for the new year to arrive. New Year's Day offers my pick of ballgames on TV or movies to pop in the Blu-ray player. I could use more time before the new work week starts, but there's no need to think that far ahead yet. For now, let's enjoy the pleasures and rest the first day of a new year brings.

To the limit

It's entirely possible that I blogged about the extreme knitting of Rachel John before, but I can't remember if I did or not. Regardless, here's a video of the preparation and execution of knitting with one thousand strands simultaneously.



I assume she did not do a traditional bind off. I can't conceive how that would even be possible considering how much effort is needed to make each stitch. The real question, though, is was she a good knitter who made a gauge swatch first?

DIY

While this article by a male newspaper writer learning to knit repeats what I consider to be a long, unverified, and likely untrue claim that Russell Crowe knits--and throws in Brad Pitt for good measure--it's a solid piece about trying to learn the needlecraft.

And if that doesn't interest you, the sidebar on that site has plenty of trashy celebrity gossip information for you.

(Sorry, another long day has left me fried. Hopefully there will be a return to more considered blogging tomorrow.)

A long December day

Pertinent time markers on a long day:

6:45 a.m.: Get up.

7:30 a.m.: Depart my parents' home in northwest Indiana.

12:25 p.m.: After driving Ohio roads slippery from freezing precipitation and tiny snow drifts, I arrive at my place of employment. I'm not in the office today but doing my side work there as basketball statistician.

10:25 p.m.: Unpack the car and finally settle in at home after a long day.

All that concentration, from handling the car in some stressful conditions to working on a computer while paying close attention to sporting events, has me wrung out. And tomorrow I get to repeat the work portion again...

Through the woods

Tucked under a close-up of my artificial Christmas tree is a blog entry typed out of necessity. Daily blogging, you know.

The return portion of my holiday travel will commence early Monday morning. Wisely or not, I decided to wait out the snow hitting northwestern Indiana today and stick around my parents' home another day. Instead of battling the weather, the road, and holiday traffic, I stayed in. Football was viewed, napping was done, and Wii games and cards were played.

The drive here was more treacherous than I cared for. Whether that trip is indicative of the condition of my tires or the slick surfaces they were sliding on is to be determined. (I'm hoping it's the latter.) At least this time I'll be driving mostly in daylight, which will provide some relief if I have long stretches where I feel like I may lose control at any moment.

Christmas with the family was good, but it's time to get back to work for a couple of exceedingly long days and (probably) face the latest in a long, ongoing battle on that front. I'd prefer to ease into the end of the year, but that's just not how things are working. For now, I'll settle for a safe, unexciting drive back there. The rest can be dealt with when it's more immediate.

By design

University of Central Arkansas Dishcloth

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton; worsted weight)
Colorway: Grape
Needles: US 7s
Stitches: 40

I did not attend or work at the University of Central Arkansas, but I am friends with some who are connected to the school in those ways. Among the items in the Christmas packages I sent south to Donna and Jenn--or will be sending, in the latter's case--is this dishcloth, which I designed based on the UCA logo.

The slimness of the letters and their close proximity can make them a little difficult to make out, but some blocking--my version: stretching out the dishcloth and setting DVDs atop it overnight--improved the legibility.

Since time was running out to get this knit and mailed before Christmas, this is the first version of the design. I plan on tweaking it a little. The slender left column of the A might as well be equal in size to the right one. It may not be true to the logo, but it should look better and have symmetry. I might consider making the letters wider, but there's the chance that I won't want to fuss with it and will just leave it be.

My initial intention was to design something with the whole logo, including that paddle wheel-looking thing, but I was having enough problems with the A (and patience) that I decided that the letters would be good enough.

For those interested, I will be posting the pattern eventually. I need to make some minor alterations before it goes to publication. E-mail me if you want it now and don't mind getting version 1.0.

Touchdown

Seaman's Cap

Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian highland wool; worsted weight)
Colorways: 7824 (orange) and 8555 (black)
Needles: US 6 and 7 dpns
Stitches: 102

It's a Christmas miracle...or just some faster knitting than I expected I had in me. I decided that my dad needed a new hat from me. The one I knit two years ago was a little tight, and I don't think he was wearing it. I decided to make this one with Cascade 220, which I've had pretty good success with in this pattern, and picked Cincinnati Bengals colors for it.

I could have gone two ways with it: orange brim with black crown or black rim with orange crown. Knowing him, I figured he'd prefer the less colorful option of the two, but since I hadn't started it before arriving at my parents' home for Christmas, I asked what he preferred. My instinct was correct, as you can see above. I started yesterday afternoon and had it done this afternoon. Not bad. Plus, sew a Bengals patch onto the brim and it might look like the real deal.

One of the challenges for me in making this hat has been to get it long enough to cover my ears. I've experimented with different yarns and knitting more length than the pattern calls for. This time I think I hit upon the perfect dimensions. For the brim I knit ten rows instead of seven in the k1, p2 pattern after the knit row. Rather than knitting only 7.5 inches to begin decreases, I knit 8 inches. The hat has a snug fit and covers my ears, so it definitely works for me and should for my dad. Hooray!

I still have plenty of yarn left over, so I'll probably do a version with the colors reversed for myself. I don't know that I plan to work on it while I'm here--I'll be returning home before I realize it--but it's good to know that I can whip out one of these in short order. That's also helpful information since one of my brothers requested a hat too. He's currently out of the country and doesn't get back until January, so I can stall a bit more in knitting that hat.

I hope you've had a merry Christmas wherever you may be.

In service

Being a pastor's son, it is sometimes incumbent upon me that I pitch in for church services. My mom was having difficulty locking down some people to read scripture passages for the Christmas Eve service, so one of my brothers and I were listed in the bulletin and informed of our participation.

Doing so isn't a big deal, especially when it plays to one of my strengths--reading in public--so I didn't give it a second thought. It did occur to me that I would be wise to look at the passage in question before walking up the aisle to the pulpit. I scanned the verses in the church library and felt sufficiently ready.

I strode up to the front of the congregation and prepared to read from Luke when I became aware of a major problem. I could not find the necessary verses in my mother's Bible. The book was turned to the correct page, but smack dab in the middle of it was some kind of Biblical commentary. Lower on the page were something that looked like footnotes. One of them had the right chapter and verse, but being familiar with the material, I knew that I wasn't supposed to be reading that.

So I turned to my mom and had her point out where I needed to read. Then I read through it without any problem.

I figured I'd hear it from my family afterward and sort of dreaded listening to them laugh. Then my brother went up and did the very same thing on his passage. See, it wasn't my fault!

In my defense (and my brother's), the amount of text on the page that was not the relevant to the scriptural passages in question greatly exceeded the verses we needed to read. I was supposed to read Luke 2: 8-14. A thin strip at the top of the page started my passage, with the other 90% of the page being background, food for thought, and who knows what else. That's why I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was looking at. Also, the sanctuary wasn't exactly lit up.

It wasn't horribly embarrassing, and I imagine it's one of those stories that will become part of family history. (I once added "etc." into another passage I read aloud many years ago. I got lost or didn't correctly see what I was looking at that time. Yes, I am still reminded about it.) This is the kind of memory that, I suppose, helps make Christmas a little merrier, even for those who felt like they were flopping in front of a small group of worshipers.

Little gifts

Princess Peach Washcloth

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton; worsted weight)
Color: Rose Pink
Needles: US 7s
Stitches: 44

Mario Washcloth

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton; worsted weight)
Color: Red
Needles: US 7s
Stitches: 44

The Christmas package reached Arkansas today, so I can now show two recent FOs that have only been referred to in general terms in previous blog entries. (I'll save the third for tomorrow.)

I was stuck in the design process for the other FO included in the package to my friends, so in the meantime I decided to knit a dishcloth/washcloth for each of their kids. After all, what child wouldn't be thrilled to receive their very own dishcloth? Consider one item checked off the letter to Santa.

In all seriousness, though, I know that the kids enjoy the Mario games for Nintendo, so I figured that getting their favorite characters in knitted form might tickle them. I found the patterns and thought it would be quick and easy to make them. (As it turns out, they were quick and easy once I translated the charts into written patterns, although that process produced its share of frustrations because I kept getting turned around or forgetting a row at the start.)

Mario turned out reasonably well, although this FO isn't entirely correct due to my error. (Essentially I don't have any space between the character and the border.) I may have goofed up the M in his hat too--I'll have to doublecheck my translation--but all in all it looks like it should.

I thought I had figured out which way everything needed to be knit by the time I got to Princess Peach, but there were a couple false starts there too. Once I got it down, though, I whipped through it in a single knit night. The stitch definition looks really good and worked very well with the color.

Once again dishcloths prove to be versatile projects for the knitter and, from one friend to another, a small way of wishing a merry Christmas.

December

December has been far busier than I ever expected. It's also been far more dramatic, especially in relation to some circumstances with my job. No, I'm not in any danger of being unemployed--at least I don't think it's going to reach that point--but considering we've been down this road far too many times with the issues in question than is reasonable (or productive), the matter can be categorized as infinitely aggravating.

That mess should hopefully be behind me for a few days, although for all I know it will pop up again on Wednesday. After a hectic year and the frantic nature that the holidays can have, I really look forward to easing into the last few days of the year. Hopefully I'll be permitted to do so.

After the unpleasant surprises, it was nice to be paid a small, unexpected compliment today. I stopped in to pick up a pizza and had one of the workers say that he liked my hat and that it looked warm. (It is.) It's one I made myself two years ago. Since I rarely receive compliments of this sort, it was nice for this one to come out of the blue, especially when I'm feeling particularly beat up about things out of my control.

The dreaded Christmas sweater

Even if you give a knitted gift that is received less than enthusiastically, maybe it will work its magic through the years. Check out this story about three Christmas sweaters given in 1959. Doesn't that warm your heart on a cold winter night?

The Big Knit

I'm not sure what exactly The Big Knit is supposed to be other than an art installation project in Australia. True to its name, it is big and it is knit. And it gives me a blog entry for a work-filled day.

On the boardwalk

Continuing to find instances of knitting in films...

The 1947 film Brighton Rock was co-written by Graham Greene, but of interest in this space is the fact that a woman is knitting while sitting on the Brighton boardwalk.

As for modern films, will The Friday Night Knitting Club movie ever get out of development? Considering that the IMDB info page doesn't even list a cast or director--I think it used to have some names attached--I'm wondering if this might be stuck.

Blur

I saw five films in movie theaters today, so I'm in a celluloid-induced haze right about now.

Living in the middle of a blur of activity is how things are at the moment. In the sixteen days from December 6-21, I will have spent a grand total of two full evenings--last Sunday and this Sunday--at home. So much for thinking this month might be a little slower.

I was so out of the loop today that when I left the theater around 10:50 p.m. to come home, I was surprised to see snow falling and lightly coating the ground. Where did this come from?

I've done fun things during these head-spinning weeks and completed a fair amount of work, but being perpetual motion is not always very satisfying. Plus, I don't feel like I've had time to work on some things that are important, if not urgent.

When I get through Monday, the most critical stuff will be done. That's what I'm looking forward to. Christmas will be here and be gone before I know it, although I'm hoping it will bring things to a crawl a little. Then it's back for a stupid amount of work to make some extra money and, hopefully, easing into the last two days of the year.

Intent

It was without a second thought that I sat down at last evening's knit night and began working on a project in pink. There I was, knitting in public, and of all the colors I could be using, it has to be that one. Whatever will the other patrons of this establishment think?

You know what? I couldn't have cared less. OK, so I tend to keep my head down and don't know what's going on around me--and last night I was locked in on the task at hand to an exceptional degree--but if people were thinking how stupid I looked, that's their problem. I have been (and can be) self conscious about knitting in public, but last night I wasn't concerned if I was drawing weird glances.

Wednesday's determined knitting carried over to today. Awhile back I was designing a pattern but got stuck. I knew it was the next thing on my list of projects in urgent need of completion, so this morning I turned my attention to it. I had already plotted out most of the design on graph paper but had stopped a month or two ago when I wasn't sure how to create part of it in knits and purls. The break, plus the past couple days of translating someone else's charts, helped me see the solution.

Suddenly I was writing and knitting the pattern a line at a time, and voila, it was done. I actually think it turned out pretty well, although it could probably stand to be blocked. There's no time for that, and I wouldn't truly know what to do. Miraculously, my goals for a week of intensive knitting in the margins of the day are being realized. I'm not done, but the lion's share is finished.

Forward and back again

The (insane) goal I set was to try and turn out some relatively quick projects each day this week. That crashed and burned on Monday when I accomplished a grand total of zero FOs. In fairness, all sorts of things went unexpectedly that day.

On Tuesday I translated a chart into a written pattern and intended to stay up a little late if necessary to finish the project. About ten rows in I discovered that my translation was off. I'd been somewhat frustrated by some vagueness I'd encountered a similar pattern, but this one goofed me up more. OK, fine. I'll reset it the next day.

Today I started reversing all of the stitches before realizing that this solution wouldn't actually solve anything. I began with an alteration of the type of stitches and then realized I needed to reverse their order as well. Here's an example of what I was doing:

Original: k1, p2, k3, p4, k5, p6, k7
Alteration #1: p1, k2, p3, k4, p5, k6, p7
Alteration #2: p7, k6, p5, k4, p3, k2, p1

I thought I was good to go, but when I got to this portion of the pattern, I could see that clearly alteration #2 was not going to be the solution. Actually, alteration #1 was correct. The problem? Everything I have saved in a computer file and printed out looks like alteration #2.

My solution was to stick with it and follow the instructions backwards while knitting the project. Surprisingly I was able to do this during knit night and completed the project in about three hours. I still need to fix the written instructions, but I'm really happy with tangible evidence of my work. I suppose that's all that matters in the end.

More knitting in films

Four films in two days and some metaphorical fire extinguishing going on at work has me more than occupied, so today's entry is another in an ongoing series of documenting knitting in films.

In Did You Hear About the Morgans? Mary Steenburgen is seen knitting a sock, probably to indicate how down to earth she is. Later on Sarah Jessica Parker is seen knitting too, which likely means that this New York woman is taking to life in small town America.

Diplomacy

At work and, I suppose, in life it has fallen to me to be the diplomat. Most likely this is because I don't enjoy conflict and want to do what I can to set things right. Well, there's that and the fact that I probably have the least volatile temper in whatever situation I'm in.

What can complicate this at work is facing criticism, anger, and entitlement when such complaints are often not merited (and usually have nothing to do with anything I'm directly responsible for). While I project an image and voice of being cool under fire, that stuff can really eat at me, even when I'm delivering a measured response, typed or spoken, to defuse a situation.

I spent more than enough time today exercising this diplomacy in a couple work-related matters. While I realize that I am good at it and that I have a valuable skill, there are times, like one instance today, when it drives me crazy. I prefer straightforwardness and sincerity--probably to the point of earnestness--so it pains me to write something that I don't really mean but need to say in the politics of work.

Still, ugh...

Cranking

I started and finished one knitting project today, but there's not much I can say about it just yet. Yes, it's a gift that needs to be kept under wraps for the time being. I'm late at getting this stuff done, but I've finally had a window open that gives me the time to work through it. I'll be pressing to finish up what I want to do, but if I can do one a day for the next few days, then everything should be good to go. These aren't big, involved projects or even medium level. Those will have to wait a week...maybe.

Twelve days until Christmas, but who's counting?

Uncharted

The lack of time between now and Christmas is really hitting me. With limited free hours today, I thought I might be able to whip up something that I've had in mind to knit but haven't had the time to do.

The preexisting pattern isn't written out. It's in chart form instead. I have found it to be more of a challenge than expected. The creator doesn't seem to have done it entirely in a conventional manner, so I had to study it for awhile until the directions finally made sense. I'm writing down the stitches as I go along because that process makes more sense to me (and is surely be faster).

My downfall was that I lacked a piece of fairly critical information. About ten rows in I could see that it wasn't right. So, it's all getting ripped out. I'll give it another shot on Sunday.

A grand day out

With a ticket for tonight's Dayton Flyers college basketball game providing the reason for returning near to my hometown area, I decided to make a full day of revisiting some old favorites and dropping in on a place unfamiliar to me. (Despite that statement, I didn't actually go to my hometown but cities close to the little burg.)

My first stop was for lunch. My love of barbecue and the ridiculous name of the newly opened restaurant motivated me to go here. OinkADoodleMoo in Englewood is sharing space with JD's Old Fashioned Frozen Custard. What a combination this place will be when warmer weather returns.

The barbecue was good. It's better than the national chain joints but not yet on the same level as City Barbecue, which I consider the local standard. That said, the smoky sweet sauce was a nice twist on what I'm accustomed to. They do beat the City in one area, though. Oink's kaiser roll easily tops City's regular white bun.

While the custard shop is closed for the season, their workers were present to fulfill holiday orders. Lucky me. I ordered a scoop of the peppermint. It was amazing. I don't recall this place being there when I lived nearby. Then again, I haven't been around much since midway through my time at college and very little since my parents moved out of state.

When I was looking for things to do during my brief visit, I kept returning to pizza. Having just polished off a good sandwich and great frozen custard, I wasn't hungry, but I figured I'd next get a pizza that I could bring home with me to eat this weekend. Such is the nostalgic pull of local food and eateries.

I've been partial to the Dayton chain Cassano's, although I'll admit to it lacking much substance. This time I thought I'd pop into Marion's Pizza, which was just around the corner from where I had lunch. Yes, I realize how silly it was to buy a pizza that was going directly into my car's trunk, but I can't remember the last time ate something from there. I got an individual size, not the least of which is because they only took cash, and will hopefully enjoy it on Saturday.

Their restuarants are known for having old photos of celebrities eating at their shops. The actors were in town for Kenley Players' summer stock productions. You might be able to pick out a few celebrities you recognize in the above photo I snapped at the Englewood Marion's.

Then it was off to the University of Dayton area for a little bit of browsing. Second Time Around was a place I'd go regularly with my friends to shop for used CDs. I was pleased to see that the store looks to be booming and that the neighborhood it's in has been built up since I was last there. A used CD store with decent selection can be a dangerous place, but I held myself in check and left with just two CDs, which I bought for the price that one of them alone would have been new.

A short walk up the street let me catch a glimpse of the UD campus, seen above, and pop into the fan store for all things Flyers. Then it was a a couple blocks' walk to Cassano's for some pizza that I would actually eat rather than squirreling away for another day.

Finally it was time for the main reason I'd come back here: the basketball game. My dad was a season ticket owner when I was growing up, so my affection for the team runs deep. I try to attend one game a season as a reminder of all the fun I had as a kid going to the games.

I did not have as good of a vantage point as you see in these pictures. (Best I could do was seven rows from the top. Keep in mind I even bought the ticket a couple weeks in advance.) The first was taken upon my entrance during pre-game warm-ups. The last was snapped near the end of the game after I had made my way down to stand at the back of the lower bowl. The idea was to be poised to see the final seconds tick off and then quickly hop outside to be in a prime position to catch one of the first shuttle buses to where I was parked. (The empty seats you see are the result of others doing the same.)

I had a delicious Mar-Chele soft pretzel. The Flyers won. What better way to cap a really good day that gave me tastes of home.

Spruced up, in a way

Christmastime doesn't necessarily feel like Christmastime without the decorations, but what am I going to do, put stuff up in my apartment? As busy as I can be, the holiday tends to sneak up on me as it is. By the time I might even consider decking the halls the big day is almost here anyway.

Last year I bought a string of multicolored lights that I draped across the thing holding the blinds in place by one of my sliding glass doors. It was lame, but I kind of liked having the lights there for me. That's the most I've decorated my own place to generate the holiday spirit.

This year I decided that I needed to get a little artificial tree. Of course, when you first look for one on December 9, the pickings are slim, at least if one doesn't want to get something enormous. Luckily, it only took me four stores to find something like what I had in mind.

I bought a three-feet tall artificial pine tree that came with white lights already wrapped around it. (Since it's a pine, can I technically say I've spruced up the place?) I wanted one with multicolored lights, but none of those were available. Buying additional lights was out of the question because everyone seems cleaned out of their inventory of them, but I do have those I bought last year that I can add to the tree.

I'm still trying to find the right place for it, namely because I'll need two outlets if I add the other string of lights to it. I haven't been home much in the day-plus since I got it, but I look forward to having it add a little seasonal cheer to my dwelling. At least for a little while the place won't seem so decoratively sterile.

On the rise

With all of today's chatter of excessively high winds, snow, ice, and possible power outages on the way, I was a bit concerned whether I'd be able to make it to tonight's sold out Phoenix concert. Other than some traffic lights near me that got knocked out in mid-afternoon, the winds didn't wreak much havoc, and the precipitation hadn't come. Which is all for the best because Phoenix put on a terrific show at the Newport Music Hall.

The French rock band's set drew mostly from its stellar 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which one website tapped as the best album of 2009 and one of the decade's best. I'm inclined to agree on both counts. Played live the shimmering songs sounded exceptionally clean and rich, perhaps the best I've ever heard the sound at this venue. With the band often performing backlit, the music truly served as the focus and not just part of a visual extravaganza.

For me this has been a great year for attending concerts. Tonight, packed in among 1700 people, Phoenix brought it to a terrific end.

Lead singer Thomas Mars even wandered back to the area where I was watching, as he and the band finished up "1901" and the evening's concert.

Preview

Here with a perfectly worthless report of knitting glimpsed in upcoming films...

-The mother of Matt Damon's character in Invictus is seen knitting in an early scene.

-In The Lovely Bones Rachel Weisz's character gives her eldest daughter a hat she knit and briefly talks about knitting.

Now you know.

Red scarf redux

As promised, here are some better photos of my latest Red Scarf Project contribution. (Here are my 2007 and 2008 donations.)

Yes, I used the same pattern last year. With as uninterested as I was in this scarf, I think I'll have to try something else next year.

If interested, you still have time to knit something up yourself to send along to the Red Scarf Project.

Red scarf

Scrunchable Scarf

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Superwash (100% wool; worsted weight)
Colorway: SW01 (Red Wing)
Needles: US 7s
Stitches: 30
Size: 5" wide, 70" long

It's done, it's done!

My contribution to the Red Scarf Project is finally finished. I think it took me a little over two months, which is ridiculous but indicative of the slog that knitting this scarf was.

After being exposed to the cold for a good part of the afternoon at work, I would have never expected to feel up to working on this for a couple hours, yet I was drawn to getting it done and just plowed through what remained. Actually, I knit it longer than I was intending, if that tells you how much I zeroed in on completing it. Maybe my eagerness to finish was because the deadline for sending it looms, maybe it was because I have other projects I'm anxious to start. Whatever the case, I'm glad to have this done.

I messed up and did all stitches in pattern, so this doesn't have a border, so to speak. Does it make a big difference? I don't think so.

I'll snap some better pictures of it tomorrow. In the meantime I wanted to get something posted about this because it's my first FO since the end of September. Let's hope this indicates an the start of an uptick in my knitting productivity.

Another future WIP

Christmas knitting time continues to vanish, but I've purchased yarn for yet another project that I'm aiming to complete by the holiday. The Cascade 220 pictured above will be for a hat in Bengals colors.

The plan is to do the brim in orange and the rest of the hat in black. Since it's for my dad, I figure using the color as an accent rather than the base will make it more likely he'll wear it. (He's a fan, but I don't see him wearing something predominantly orange.)

Now I just need to have more projects in completion than projects in conception.

Knitting mania

Your wishes have been answered. A knitting version of a Guitar Hero-like game is now available for your iPhone and iPod Touch.

Knitting Mania is a free app--and supposedly available to play online at this website, although you may need to read French to find it--that lets you simulate what you already know what to do. It can be found here on iTunes if you want to download it to your phone. I haven't done so yet, but with it being free, I imagine it's inevitable that I'll try it out.

Going by the largely negative ratings and review on iTunes, I don't know if Knitting Mania is even worth the trouble of downloading, playing once or twice, and deleting. But hey, knitting game app.

Late addition: OK, if you want to give it a shot on the website, you can go to the main page, click on the balls of yarn, click on the button with "commencer à jouer", click on the trophy with "Niveau 1", and click on the button with "commencer". You can also bypass clicking on the balls of yarn by going directly here. FYI, the site refers to the game as Tricot Mania.

Lost in the supermarket

Someone in my Twitter stream mentioned enjoying Little Debbie Christmas Tree Brownies, which reminded me of their seasonally available Christmas Tree Cakes (vanilla, thank you). Although I can't remember the last time I had them, I'm very fond of the latter. Suddenly I was planning to go to the grocery store and get some.

On the way home tonight I stopped at Kroger's to get these snacks. I encountered one significant problem, though. I couldn't find them.

I went to the snacks aisles, cookies followed by chips and pretzels, but Little Debbie products were nowhere to be seen. I'm not as familiar with Kroger's set-up as some other grocery stores, so I began roaming aisle after aisle figuring that I'd come upon them sooner or later. No luck. Hmm, maybe they're by the breads and baked goods? Nope.

Perhaps I should have taken this as a sign not to get them. After all, I don't need them and probably shouldn't be eating them, but at this point it had become a mission. Surely they stock the products. I will not leave until I locate them!

I weaved among the aisles awhile more before finally asking a worker where they were. He pointed me back to a display at the rear of the store in the middle of path by the milk and the end of the freezer cases. I was told that the snack cake company pays for this particular spot. I suppose it makes sense to be by the milk, but I probably spent a good fifteen minutes trying to find their products and was unsuccessful. Maybe they should rethink that placement strategy?

Also, I rule that the Christmas Tree Cakes are better than the brownies.

Tickets, please

Things are just terribly uninteresting at the moment, so I'm going to keep it short today for another bit of advocacy targeted at area knitters and crocheters. The 2010 Sticks 'n' Stitches in Columbus takes place on Saturday, January 16. I know the organizer would appreciate people getting their tickets early, so why not go to the Ravelry event page for all the pertinent information?

Yes, I'm going. (Apparently I purchased the first ticket.) No, I won't be knitting, mainly because I don't want to drag all that stuff in. Also, I'll be watching the game anyway.

Red scarf alert

Apparently the Red Scarf Project is still well short of this year's goal. Since I need to finish my contribution, I'm going to keep this blog post short and sweet. Since you've saved so much time by reading such a short entry, maybe you can help them out too?