Author Archive: meri

I’m slow, but I do eventually catch on.

Since it’s a new(ish) year and all, it’s time to renew my crafty pay-it-forward thingie. It’s pretty simple. If, at some point in the next year, you’d like to receive something that I’ve made, respond here. The first five people to respond, win. (Or, well, at least receive something that I’ve made.)

Please note that this will most likely be a knitted something, though I’d probably try to come up with something else for those of you in Florida and Hawaii. 😉 But, I do have other crafty skills, and it might be a custom planner, or a photo album, or a calendar, or something similar.

Last year, nobody took me up on this, which is ok. I certainly give away plenty of hand-made goodness throughout the year without the help of this meme. But, if anyone is looking for something fun, please feel free to reply.

[The original meme I saw required that anyone who replied then turn around and post it on their blog / wall / timeline. I think it’s silly to impose that sort of unenforceable requirement. But, if you feel like playing along, the more the merrier.]

It would seem that there are a bunch of new TLDs available. And really, some most of them are just silly. Reading them, and imagining an actual domain, they read more like USENET (remember that?) group names.

soc.meri.land (I have to admit, I’m really tempted to make that happen.)

meditation.guru (For Amiga users everywhere.)

The possibilities are endless. And kinda dumb.

If you’re a female geek (sorry guys) and if you’re in the DC area, or are attending Shmoocon, you might be interested in this.

And by Santa, I mean the USPS, acting on behalf of Jer, Shama, Shamamama, Terri, and Krikor. Thank you all!

I will be strong. I will finish Shamamama’s vest first, I swear.  (more…)

The question is, do we use our powers for good or evil?

The next knit-along at Cloverhill doesn’t start until February 1st. This means that I have just under a month to work on other knitting. Despite the fact that I have some lovely Alpaca Lace in meri colors staring at me (really, it’s on my desk; I should get it some googly eyes), I am going to try to hold off on starting any new projects. Instead, I will work on wrapping up old projects. Really, there are just three: the Peter Easy vest for Shamamama, Missy’s cowl, and my Clara cardigan (which I really wish I had finished today, because it’s 63°F in my office).

Of course, all bets are off once the yarn for Shipwreck shows up. But really, I’d like to finish at least the vest and the cowl before I dive into any new knitting.

We’ll see how this goes. I’m currently fighting a, “Must start ALL THE PROJECTS!” urge, so I may not get far. But a girl can hope.

If you’ve paid attention at all over the last n years, you know that one of the things I do is design custom planners. So, I spend a lot of time creating calendars of various sorts. I was working on one today, and I stumbled upon something:

If you’re one of the people whose calendar weeks run Sunday – Saturday, then February 2015 fits exactly into a 4-week spread. I don’t think I’ve encountered that before, or at least, it never stuck out enough to be noticed before.

That’s all. Nothing overly interesting. I said it was a dorky realization, didn’t I? And yet you read on. You have nobody to blame but yourself.

If you’re here, you probably know that I’ve decided to knit the Shipwreck shawl, shown below. (More pictures available by following the link.) (more…)

I’m setting myself up to use the wonderful gift certificates I got to Jimmy Beans Wool and Fire Mountain Gems. Why those two, in particular? Because I’m going to knit me a Shipwreck, and it calls for 1,311 yards of wool, and 5,000 beads.

Here’s where your opinion comes in.  (more…)

The big calves are not, of course, of the mooing variety. Rather, the calves that comprise the lower half of your legs.

Even when I was thin (Really. I was. I swear. There are people reading this who have only known me as a thin person, even!), my calves were mighty, and knee socks were a problem. However, I’ve had remarkable luck with the Sock It To Me brand of socks, which I buy from Amazon (because, hey, Prime eligible). [1] The knee-high socks actually fit over my calves. They are taut enough to stay up, but are not so tight that they hurt. The fabric is thicker than nylon trouser socks, but thinner than your average sock, which I like, because my feet tend to overheat. Overall, I’m really happy with them, and I am pleased to have found funky knee-high socks that I can actually wear.

We now return you to your regular broadcast.

1. In the interest of full disclosure, if you buy socks using that link, I get a cut, but I don’t know anything about who bought things, or what they bought.