Kat with a K

First Randoms of Spring

1. It is spring. Therefore, it was flurrying today. Come on, people. (And by "people" I mean "the forces of the universe that control the weather.") Either let it get warm already, or if it's going to be cold, how about some snow? A decent amount, not flurries. Like how about enough to close my office for, say, a week? Now wouldn't that be fun?

2. I came home from work today and slept for an hour and a half. Huh. Perhaps this surprise weekend off is coming at a good time. (I have, by the way, requested that I be switched from three shifts per week at the bookstore to two, so hopefully the crazy tiredness will soon be abated.) Of course, on my weekend off from the store I'm going to another Borders to see a friend and listen to her brother's friend, SJ Tucker. Ah well. That'll be at the Marlborough Borders if any of you local-ish people are interested in meeting up. I haven't heard SJ Tucker yet, but reviews on her site liken her to Dar Williams, Joni Mitchell, and Ani DiFranco, so that's basically enough for me, especially considering it's a free show.

3. Dave's Scarf is coming right along, but this evening I decided I was too sick of it to even take it out of my purse. (This is why my list is 10 projects, not one.) So I got out Branching Out. I had put it away last weekend because I was short a stitch and didn't have the brainpower to figure out why. As Tracy predicted, I had missed a yarn over. I managed to pick it up fairly decently and have started making progress again, albeit slowly. I still can't quite figure out how I feel about this pattern. Something about it and my brain just don't seem to be clicking: it's only a simple ten row pattern, and I should have memorized it by now, darn it. But I'm still not quite grokking it. At the same time, though, it's oddly addictive. Hmm. At least it's small, so hopefully it will be finished pretty soon. I want to start Clapotis. And Rogue. And Jaywalkers.

4. Podcasts? The best thing since self-striping sock yarn. Seriously. They make the work day so much more palatable. I'm working on a post of mini-reviews of my favorites, and I'll get them in the sidebar eventually too. I need more, though, if I'm going to be listening basically all day five days a week. So leave a comment with the names of your favorites - either knitting-related or not. (Actually, I think I've found most of the knitting ones, so I'm especially interested in other recommendations.)

5. I'm also thinking of doing a series this spring/summer of ice cream posts - reviews of ice cream shops I visit, flavor comparisons between brands, maybe even adventures in making my own ice cream. I'm still brainstorming about this, so let me know if you have any ideas on what you'd like to see in your ice cream blog posts. (Of course, now I'm thinking about ice cream podcasts. Hmm....)

6. I've added a few things to the sidebars. On the left, toward the bottom, you can see the covers of all the books I'm reading. (Sorry about the stupid "Buy from Amazon" thing; that was the easiest way I could figure out to get pictures up without uploading them all.) Yes, I really do read that many books at once. It's a sickness, I tell you. Also, in the top right there's a new "Check Out..." section. This is going to be links I think you should look at, but which won't get their own posts. I'm thinking it will be mostly blog posts, with some news stories and other links thrown in, but we'll see how it evolves. There will generally be about five at a time, with the oldest one bumped off when I find something new I want to add. Some sort of archive of old links will be available as soon as I figure out the best way to do that.

And I just did it again! Missed a YO in almost exactly the same place in the repeat. Argh.