Everybody Loves Saturday Night

this right here

is a hot yarny mess.

But hey, it only took 2.5 hours to get it to this:

Sheesh.

argh, but also some cool stuff

Computer status is still non-functional. I took Melissa's suggestion and zapped the PRAM, which caused my computer to prompt me for the second install disc. I inserted that, the computer went through the motions, and I actually made it to my desktop. Yay!

And then I went to check for updates, because I had just reinstalled an old version of OS X. I got through all those updates, hit "Restart" as I was supposed to, and . . . I went back to the Black Screen of Panic.

Grrr!

Does this mean the problem is local to the most recent version of OS X?

I can't even think about it right now.

So on to brighter things. Literally. I've been working on the crochet ripple afghan from time to time, and have progressed by several stripes since the last time I put up pictures.

I love the way it's turning out. It feels very graphic and mod to me, the way the neutral and heathery colors work with the bright, almost day-glo colors. I think it's time for a return to heathers, but the next stripe will be red.

And speaking of red . . . true to my intentions, or half of them anyway, I started the $1.50 Cardigan. And by "start," I mean "swatch." I'm going to save the George Eliot for when I start the sweater proper, but I did swatch in front of "The History Boys" (verdict: not a bad movie, would like to see the play, took me forever to figure out that the actor playing Irwin also played Adam in "Bright Young Things.") And once I finally figured out that:

1. "multiples of 3 + 1" does not equal "multiples of 4"
2. the instruction "sl, k2, psso" does not mean SK2P
3. Row 7 is only used when the pattern indicates; the lace pattern simply repeats rows 3-6

I was able to produce a decent looking swatch. And the movie had ended as well.

I'm going to work a couple more rows of the rev st st and then dunk it in water to see how it behaves.

It's not a very good image, but I hope you can make out some of the pattern detail.

Did I finish anything in February? I don't think I did. Except for those quickie crocheted slippers. But the other goals--finishing Starsky, socks--weren't realized. Starsky is almost there, I just need a quiet day to sit and seam. Quiet days are hard to come by at the moment. And socks--I'm just a little bit off socks right now. Not a good thing, since I'm getting holes in my other socks and I could really use new pairs, but there it is--can't motivate myself enough to finish, and don't really want to start any new pairs. What's wrong with me? Surely this illness will pass.

i see. it's like that, is it?

Sheesh. I barely have time to enjoy my newly washed and functioning keyboard than I have to go and do another stupid thing. This time I somehow disconnected my iMac from the computer end while it was on. As opposed to accidentally unplugging it. I don't know what happened. I stood up at my desk, and the next thing I knew: unplugged.

When all was again plugged in and turned on, I received this message:

So I did. iMac turned off. I turned it back on. Same message as before. I turned it off again. Turned it back on. Same message. I turned it off again, unplugged at the surge protector end, waited 10 minutes (this is the amateur computer person's version of "go back to the room you were just in to look in the same places you just did for your keys"), turned it on. Same message.

It is, I believe, the Apple equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death. Only they call it "kernel panic." The "panic" part I get. What's a "kernel"?

Jackie recommended booting up from the Installation DVD, which was fortunately (and somewhat amazingly, given the status of this office) easy to find, and that got me past the message. But then I was faced with choosing to reinstall an old version of OS X or quitting the installer to choose a startup disk. Among my options for startup disks was the current OS X folder. Made sense to me, so I clicked it.

I chose poorly.

So I've lathered, rinsed, and repeated, this time gulping in hope and installing old OS X, with plans to upgrade upgrade upgrade once I can get back into my computer.

It occurs to me that both Apple and PC would be better served by co-opting Douglas Adams. Wouldn't you rather see this when your computer crashes?

Update 3:22 pm: Reinstall failed. Time to call in the professionals. Damn.

mrmph

Michelle's Rules of Dishwashing, Part the First:

All coffee-making equipment and tools must be clean and dry by 6:00 AM.

This is especially necessary after a night of wine drinking.

could i be wearing any more clothes?

socks: two pair
underwear
long underwear
sweatpants
thermal shirt
long-sleeved shirt
lambs' wool sweater
robe
scarf
hat
fingerless mitts

and I'm wrapped in a blanket.

and I just made tea purely for the sake of holding a hot mug.

and I'm about to start knitting emergency mitts that go past the first knuckle of my hand.

shall we place bets on whether I will be done with the mitts before the heat comes back on?

I may need to don a cowl because right now the only part of my body that's really cold is my nose...so all I can think about is my cold nose.

maybe I should knit a nosewarmer instead.

it could be worse...the thermostat reads 64 F. Why is 64 warm in the spring but cold in the winter? At any rate, it's not criminally low. In fact, it's close to the temperature my dad keeps his house at in the winter.

in North Dakota.

this is why I don't visit my dad in the wintertime any more.

[two hours pass]

ahhh...I can hear the guys in the building working on the heater. Emergency mitts may not be necessary. I should probably make them anyway, for the next time. I should have a go kit just for the winter, full of accessories knit with alpaca and llama and yak.

but speaking of mitts...

these are the fingerless mitts I made for my sister-in-law:

These are the Herringbone Mitts, a free pattern from Brandy at The Purl Parables. Brandy wrote that she wanted something similar to Eunny's Endpaper Mitts, but a faster knit. I had been looking for just that--something quick that would also satiate my stranded knitting jones.

Inside and outside shot:

I used yarn from my stash (bonus): Filatura 501 in black and white. I made the middle size (on 3s, which turned out to be very snug, a little bit of a struggle to put on but not too bad when they are. I may make the largest size for myself. Fingerless mitts have apparently become the new socks--I keep finding patterns I want to make.

case of the mondays

Wake up due to cat wailing for food and boyfriend attempting to take covers from under my body. Why I'm above the covers when I'm always cold is beyond me. It's 5:50 am, though, so all I'm really thinking (and saying out loud) is "Oh, for fuckssake."

Sorta misting and damp. Might as well be living in London, which is sounding better and better every day, come to think of it.

A/C subway issues at Broadway Nassau, three stops away from work. First it's "all uptown trains will be running on the F line from Jay Street to West 4th," which wouldn't be a big deal if we'd started moving shortly after that. But then: "This train is now out of service."

And the fact that I'm at work isn't doing much to improve my mood.

However.

I have a new favorite song. I watched "Inside Man" last night, and while I thought the movie was pretty awesome, in that it both throws back to classic heist/hostage movies while being totally modern at the same time and everyone in it is good and I didn't see the twist coming and Chiwetel Ejiofor is in it and hilarious ("Lemme see your shoe!") and I love the way Spike Lee films New York...all of that, yes, but the opening title song is AMAZING. It's from a Bollywood flick called "Dil Se" which I'd never heard of before, but which went right to the top of my Netflix queue. And the song, "Chaiyya Chaiyya," went straight to my iPod. Check the video out here.  (yes, that's how I dance to the song as well. Probably would've made the subway ride better.)