Football, Knitting, Apostrophes, and a Eulogy

Football

I know, you are probably wondering what I will have to say about football, since I live in Philadelphia, and the Eagles didn't end up in the Super Bowl. True, that would have been exciting, BUT the fact of the matter is, the Steelers were in the Super Bowl, and they won!!! Being that I was born, and spent a lot of my growing up years, about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh, and that The Tim is from Pittsburgh, we are Steelers fans as well, so we have been happy campers this week. I didn't mention anything last week, since I didn't want to jinx them - then as the fourth quarter got underway, I thought maybe I'd jinxed them just by hoping they would win ... because of course, I have that kind of power ...

Knitting

I have been busy knitting, though I can't show you everything I've been working on right now. But as I don't want your day to be ruined because you had high hopes of seeing what's on and off the needles, here are the things that I can show you.

First up, the Penguin Pal Hat. I originally started this as a birthday gift for my great-nephew Zach, who is turning 3 years old. Once I got going on the pattern, I realized that it would be too small for him. So I decided to finish knitting it anyway, and donate it as part of a service project for one of the groups on Ravelry.

I think it turned out OK, though I'm not as happy with it as I'd like to be. In the end, I really didn't like the way the pattern was written - I would have liked the penguin's face to be lower on the hat, instead of on the top. But I think it will be nice and warm for a baby, so that makes it all good ...


This "blob" is the completed Snuggle I was knitting, to donate to an animal shelter as part of the Snuggles Project. I finished it this past Saturday, and wove in all of the ends. It looks better in person, but the main thing that really gets me is the weird color combo in the yarn! Especially since the name is "Sugar N Spice!" Huh? Anyway, in spite of it's weirdness, it is very cushy, so I think it will make some sweet homeless animal feel at least a little bit cozy.

The last knitting item I have to show you is something that I plan to work on for most of the year, so that I'm not trying to finish it up at Christmastime next year. Here's what I've knit so far:

I hope that eventually, it will look like this, which I just think is such a neat idea for a decoration! I know that a lot of people would improvise their own patterns instead of buying one, but I wanted to go ahead and have the pattern as a sort of security blanket. The little hats and mittens knit up easily in an evening, so I figure if I try to make 3-4 each month, I'll be set. Hopefully if I do that, I will then get my act together to add the numbers and the cord ...

Recently, I read on RosieBlogs about a new yarn in the store, made from sugar cane! The other day I had the chance to see it up close and personal, and it's very pretty and very soft. So now there is banana silk, soy, and sugar cane yarn. Maybe instead of the yarn weight system, they need to create a Knitter's Yarn Pyramid, similar to the Food Pyramid ...

Apostrophes

My sister recently sent me an e-mail with the subject line, "What is this world coming to?" that read as such:

Yes, I ended a sentence with a preposition. Apparently that's okay now, and my students tell me that you rarely need commas anymore. But do away with the apostrophe?!!!

and linked to this article. I sure hope it's some kind of joke - because the postioning of an apostrophe actually can/does change the meaning of a sentence. (Plus, I like the word - you know, as if there has been a grammatical catastrophe. Oh never mind.)

Eulogy

RIP, BATV

Big A$s TV

May 2001-January 2009

Once upon a time, the TV that had lived in Chez Ravell'd Sleave for nineteen years died. We were very sad to say goodbye to our faithful Sony, but it had given all it had to give. This was just when high definition TVs were becoming more prevalent, and The Tim was dying to have one. I told him that getting a new TV could be his decision, as long as we didn't end up with a really big TV. This was largely because the room where the TV lives is not very big, but also because at the time, we had a nice bookcase where the TV sat, and that was fine with me.

Long story short, we ended up with the Big A$s TV (BATV) shown above, which required banishing the bookshelves so that we could place it on a stand that would hold it. Plus, the screen was so large, and the room so small, that for a long time, I felt like I was living at Circuit City!

The Tim truly loved the BATV, and over the years managed to get it to do all kinds of wonderful things through the mysteries of technology. And I have to say that it was good company when I had two eight-week medical leaves in one year, where I mostly had to stay in bed, or sit on the couch (kids, don't try this at home). It showed us countless hours of holiday shows (including, of course "Rudolph"), things we had recorded, events like the Super Bowl and the World Series, and lastly, the inauguration of Barack Obama. Repairing it would have cost nearly as much as a new TV, and there were no guarantees that it would last much longer after that. So, my dear readers, last weekend, we bid a sad farewell to the BATV. It had been placed on the curb Sunday night, with a note explaining the more or less fatal condition. Monday morning it was gone. I like to think that someone took it for repair, and that they will be able to enjoy it for as long as it lasts after that.

Big A$s TV, we hardly knew ye.