Six. You pass 
Call it 5-1/2 (partial credit for one of the questions. You pass, too
Oy, what a mess, Sean.
**
{{{picunurse}}}** and Green River Gorge is just amazingly beautiful! I’ll bet it’s a peaceful place, with the water rippling around those sculpted rocks. Lovely, and a wonderful place to honor your son.
:eek: :eek: :eek: Welby!! Good on you for being alert! Bad, bad mother for paying no attention with her precious child! :eek: :eek: :eek:
I’m not taking orders for FCMs…yet. Give me time. He is pretty fantabulous, isn’t he? My thanks go to the brilliant knitter who created the pattern, I just copied it! But I’ve got the wherewithal here to make several more, so maybe I’ll just putter with making more of Him when I can’t work on other projects – like in the car when it’s dark; I can handle knitting noodly appendages without having to see what I’m doing. Whereas lace or cable knitting? Requires lots and lots of bright light, as you can imagine.
Thanks for all the compliments on my knitting. I’m really not that good; I’m just willing to take chances and really screw things up. And, being left-handed, I have to reverse everything in my head; that’s why I never tried lace before, because it takes a lot more mental work than cables, for example, all those decreases/increases slanting in one direction or another. I’ve probably thrown out more knitting than I’ve kept over the years.
I would have shown you my favorite sweaters that I knitted about 15 years ago, except that they’re buried in the attic somewhere and I’m not quite up to a serious dig up there yet, since you have to climb a ladder and crawl on your knees to get up there. One I call my Yosemite sweater because it’s knitted from Aran weight wool (slightly heavier than worsted) on size 2 needles to make it incredibly tight and warm, in a tree of life pattern; I wore it for the first time camping in Yosemite, and was snug as a bug even though the temps were down near freezing. The other one was a cabled sweater I made from amazing alpaca yarn, that I got when a friend took me to her local Very Expensive Yarn Shoppe in Pasadena; I ended up having to go back and buy every scrap of yarn they had left in the shop since I was knitting it tighter than the pattern called for and also slightly longer in the sleeves (since my arms are long), and literally had about 4 feet of yarn left when I finished it. :eek: That was my closest call yarn-wise; since then, I make sure I always get more yarn than I think I’ll need. I’m very proud of those two sweaters, however; I’ll never be ambitious enough to knit anything like them again, I suspect!
Fae, if you want to find amazing silk yarn for cheap, check out a shop on eBay called Julia’s Yarn. I stumbled across her, and she sells the most fabulous Japanese silk yarns (that aren’t otherwise available in this country – as Papa Tigs said, “They don’t export the good stuff”) for ridiculously good prices. All those silk yarns in that one photo are from her, and I didn’t pay more than $5 for a 100-gm skein for any of them. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful stuff!
Breaking News Alert: The judge issued a decision in the $56 million lost pants lawsuit: He found in favor of the defendants! The idiot plaintiff gets nothing, nada, zilch, zip! Yay! Justice is served!
Not all yarn needs to be balled – some of it comes in nice usable skeins, and you can just use them as is, but others comes in giant loops all twisted up. The yarn in the photo “this” in my op is an example of that – when I untwist those bunches, I’ll have a hank of yarn in a loop 4-5 feet in diameter. You can’t just knit from that, you have to do something with it. In my “that” photo, the big ball of pink yarn on the top left and the hank of green at the top of the photo are the same type of yarn; I’ve balled up the pink but not the green yet. And winding it by hand takes effing forever, hence the winder and swift. Make sense?
I is a gen-yous!
- How long did the Hundred Years War last?
116 years
- Which country makes Panama hats?
Ecuador
- From which animal do we get cat gut?
Sheep and Horses
- In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
November
- What is a camel’s hair brush made of?
Squirrel Fur
- The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
Dogs
- What was King George VI’s first name?
Albert
- What color is a purple finch?
Crimson
- Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
New Zealand
- What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?
Orange, Of Course!
Yes, you is. 
But I’ll bet you looked the answers up 
Well, a few of them, anyway…
Either that, or Miller Beer really helps keep that brain sharp! :eek:
Cool OP, Tigs. Those look beautiful – though I’m no expert in such matters. As a child, my talents never manifested themselves in things textile, and furthermore I, like most children (or a typical boy, anyway), generally turned up my nose at the things my grandma knitted me for Christmas. Appreciation for clothes wasn’t the sort of sense I developed until well into my teens, and knits in particular until well into my 20s – for knits just brought back memories of those then-uncool grandmotherly gifts. I can’t honestly say that I’ve gained a tremendous appreciation for knits even now – it’s a guy thing, I suppose – but I respect the skill and know good work when I see it, and that’s some fine work right there. I can’t even imagine how most of it is done – quite frankly it baffles me a bit how you can have patterns going one way then the other, or how you manage to keep where in the pattern you are in your head when you’re working on those intricate, lacy patterns.
I absolutely know what you mean about being “in the zone” though. I get the same way when I’m working on a piece of music (or something else creative, like some artwork or prorgamming). Under the right conditions (unbothered by noise or other distractions) the entire world around me can completely disappear such that it’s just me and the music, and I end up losing all track of time for significant stretches. It’s great though. You come out the other end of it feeling like you really immersed yourself in the work and got a lot done.
Well, I’m caffeinated and workin’. Looking forward to the coming weekend – a long one for us Canucks (Canada Day), so next Monday is a holiday here. This past weekend was rather busy though. Saturday was mostly about getting stuff done and doing some shopping. Sunday also included shopping, but the day was capped off with spending a few hours at a friend’s place with MindWife for another Beer & Barbecue. This time I did most of the grillin’. There was a good selection of stuff, too. Italian sausage, Angus burgers, ribs grilled with smoky chipotle sauce, and chicken & sausage kebabs. And beerverages, of course. We also had some chicken legs 'n wings we could have made up, but this was plenty of eats. On the side, there was a mixed garden salad he picked up, and just prior to going over there, I made up my macaroni salad, which turned out better than any of my previous batches, and which I never actually got around to eating any of because I stuffed my face with everything else first. My buddy loved it though, so I just left the tub with him. It was the least I could do for the beer. (Even if it was Heineken. :D) It was a great day for it though. The evening was warm without being hot; there was a slight breeze, but by and large it was calm enough to enjoy being in the hard without worrying about stuff blowing away.
They’ve finally finished painting everything at work. Now it’s just the reception area that’s in disarray, but as that area doesn’t really have much in it (an L-Shaped desk, a couple of chairs and coffee table, two shelving units and a display rack) it’s pretty simple to return order to. Now everything’s freshly painted and looks like new again. Smells like it, too; Eau de Latex.
Gonna be a bit of a scorcher here today, too, hitting around the 33°C mark (low 90s). Given the rather cool start to summer we got, this is much more like what it should be. But thank Og for AC.
Bobbio - Sounds like you had an eventful time. I really don’t think I could ever do the EMT thing. As much as I am sure I’d find the work rewarding, injuries just squick me the hell out. Especially very broken bones and large cuts. I got light-headed enough when I stuck a box cutter through one of my fingers. Having to deal with any more than that would put me on a stretcher. Incidentally, what is it to “blackboard” someone?
Welby - Eek! That would have been jarring. And it’s just further proof (as if any was needed) that if you’re going to be anywhere that moving cars are going to be, pay attention! I’m glad no one was hurt here.
Mork that’d be backboard…
Og dangit. What idiot made the word “submit” look so much like “preview?” Sheesh.
Haze - I read an article about that study. Being an only child I guess I don’t know what to think about that. I’m tempted to think that it’s true, but purely for environmental reasons – sibling rivalry, and possibly middle-child syndrome. I do not think it has anything to do with intelligence though, but rather the younger child’s attitudes and desires as a product of their experience in the capacity of being other than firstborn.
Bobbio - Doh! It’s the Mondays. They make my eyes hurt. Backboard. I presume this is a more sturdy mooring than a stretcher for a patient who needs to be immobilized?
Okay. Now I’m done for now.
:smack: for me now. A backboard is usually used to immobilize people with head and/or spinal injuries. We use them a lot as old fashioned stretchers for carrying people out of mobile homes or other situations where we can’t take the wheeled gurney from the back of the ambulance.
Morning all.
{{{picu}}} My brother died (before I was born), 33 years ago, and I still see my parents’ pain from time to time. Losing a child is a horrible thing to go through, and it’s understandable that you might get emotional sometimes! You know we’re all thinking about you today.
Biotigs, your knitting it gorgeous! Maybe I’ll get to a point someday where I can make things like that. But for now I think I’m going to stick with very simple pieces that just involve knitting a straight line all the way across, no funny stuff. If I can get a few baby blankets and shawls made, then maybe I’ll think about something more complicated! I’d love to be able to do all that someday though!
Sounds like an exciting weekend, bbbobbio! I’m glad there are people like you who do that, because I certainly couldn’t handle the blood! KeithT banged his toe a few days ago and the toenail is falling off, and I get oogied out about that!
Scary stuff, welby! Glad it turned out ok.
Quiet weekend here. Spent lots of time by the pool. Watched lots of Myth Busters cause we just got a TiVo last week, and we’re all excited about having hours worth of stuff to watch and skip the ads!
We went to Trader Joe’s yesterday and got more crab so had crab cakes last night. YUM! Tonight’s a pork loin that we also picked up yesterday and KeithT made a apricot ginger marinade that’s tres yum. Should be a good dindin. Oh and this is all after homemade pizza on Saturday using some of our own basil, and some fresh oregano that his mother gave us last weekend. It’s been a very good food weekend!
Now back to analyzing stuff. Why did I want to be an analyst? Bah!
Love the knitting pics, biotigs!
swampy, there is *one * book on left-handed crochet out there. As a bonus, you can crochet one of those “fashion” dolls, the kind you use to cover toilet paper. How could anyone resist? 
But the instructions in the book are really good, I recommend it for left-handers.
This morning was kind of weird. I got in, and someone had been using my desk recently. All the lights were on, and stuff was re-arranged. Since I lock my laptop up, I assume someone was using the docking station. There’s a lingering stench of perfume, too, which is giving me a headache.
Crikey–a QUIZ in the MMP? My head hurts already. I’ll just stand back and admire all the Smart Cool Kids we got here.
picu–I hope you do go to that meadow. I can understand your reluctance. Are you sure you want to go alone? I’m thinking of you.
I got some fantastic news. Turns out that someone in HR didn’t roll over my status to float pool from PT with bennys. Which means I am still covered with health insurance. Also, even if they had rolled me over(that sounds vaguely dirty), they continue coverage until the end of the month! My hospital visit will be covered!
Thank God.
I am jittery as hell on the albuterol. I don’t see how anyone takes speed–this is damned uncomfortable.
Great MMP Biotigs–I quasi-learned how to knit a few years ago. It’s something I really want to learn, but have no time for right now. I also want to learn to quilt. You are very talented with needles!
Vunder-that sounds like an eventful shift. One reason I never worked ER was because I can’t handle trauma to kids. Also why I didn’t go into peds. I’m surprised the kid wasn’t in shock. And that broken leg sounds icky.
Off to the library to get more books to do homework. I may well pound out ALL the papers this week (since I’m off work) and then coast the rest of the summer. This has its appeal. I will rest, but these papers aren’t much of an intellectual challenge–I’m writing about adult pop literature.
Mornin’ everyone. Not much to report here - I got up late 'cause I got to bed late.
{{{picu}}} You are in my thoughts.
Oh yeah, I totally agree. I mean IQ, btw, not intelligence, as Nava pointed out. I shall post more later, but must run off to my next class.
But it’s a fun quiz! Really!!
And great news about being covered for your hospital stay. Maybe I’m too “European” in this sense, but I cannot wrap my head around Medical Coverage depending on your employer (or not being covered at all, in general.) Talk about making people’s head hurt…
My word, you’re all busy.
MamaT, your knitting is beautiful. I really like the lacy scarf. And the FSM, of course. I’m jealous of SCL.
welby, I’m glad everyone was okay, and damn that woman was stupid.
Bob, you’re doing awesome stuff. QD should get back in here, she loves stories about broken/pierced/sprained/oozing stuff.
((((((picu)))))
Not throwing up today, I think. I think I may be easing slowly out of morning sickness. Slowly. Thank goodness. I’m at twelve weeks, and it should stop completely by fourteen. I hope.
Off to laundrify.
I’m there! Thanks for the tip. I was looking at Handmaiden silk yarns and YIKES! 28-30 buck a skein!!! And I need 3!
I have worked the past 6 years strictly for health insurance–not that the salary didn’t come in useful-but I would have done other work, that I liked more, except the family needed the insurance. Now we will be moving to my husband’s insurance, which is loads more expensive than our current policy. He works for a small company; I work for a huge chain of 7 hospitals. But now we can afford his insurance and my job was not good for me. Wow-lots of info there. I would love universal health coverage–as a nurse I see first hand what no insurance or poor insurance can do to families–medical bills are the number one cause for personal bankruptcy in this country. Skeery.
Sean-how many times do I have to tell you–don’t play with water! Jeesh.
Maggie has set the tone for the day. We went out, looked around, and we went back in and went to sleep. I do have 3 loads of laundry going, and am making chicken and swiss sandwiches for lunch. It’s hot out, and I can see the haze. I can’t see the Haze though, or today would be uber-jake.
welby, I’ve never hit anybody, but I was almost run over once getting carts at Phar-Mor. Sad thing was that I saw her eyes in the rear view mirror, so she just wasn’t paying attention.
Sean, ick. We had the celing go out a a store once. Some genius had the bright idea to use bags of cat litter as sandbags. :smack: Mud.
rigs, glad you are covered. I had the same problen with Abuterol. We seem to be having the same health problems, that means either I’m due for pnumonia, or you are going to grow a third buttock.
good job BBBobbio!!
Special1, I got four on the quiz.