Webs We Weave
How badly do I want this uppercase scarf? Pretty badly, I tell you. The scarf led me on a typographic journey of the net which yielded new interesting sites: the & Blog, Bembo's Zoo which is seriously cool, FontStruct which lets you design your own (very basic) typefaces, and, er, The Swedish Furniture Name Generator.
Hey, I can't be all arty and intellectual all the time!
How about A.S. Byatt on textiles, textures and texts, then? It marries all my loves: books, texts, literary theory and, ahem, yarn.
Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger on a spindle, the Lady of Shalott is entwined in thread, Silas Marner is enclosed in his loom - why have spinning and sewing so often been associated with danger and isolation? (..) We think of our lives - and of stories - as spun threads, extended and knitted or interwoven with others into the fabric of communities, or history, or texts.
Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Teaser
Just sneaking this one in: the teaser trailer for Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And if you are thinking Bzuh?! (which is admittedly very likely), here's an explanation:
During the WGA strike ['Buffy' and 'Firefly' creator] Joss Whedon started writing a three part musical series for the internet. Each of the three episodes will be approximately ten minutes each. (..) “It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.” says Whedon. “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will star Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny and a cast of dozens.”
General awesomeness, in other words.
Fantabulous Faber
Faber and Faber is sending me a proof copy of Andrew Sean Greer's new novel, The Story of a Marriage. Greer's The Confessions of Max Tivoli was excellent and I'm looking forward to see how his new novel compares.
Thank you, F&F. I hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship between TS Eliot's old publishing company and yours truly.
(If you ever feel like letting me rummage through your archives, you know how to contact me)
The Timeline of Fictional Events
This is really nifty: The Timeline of Fictional And Fictional Future Events.
1609: A vampire known as the Master converts a young woman dying of syphilis to fellow vampire Darla. The conversion reportedly took place in the Colony and Dominion of Virginia which at the time only included Jamestown
1620: Norville "Shaggy" Rogers' and Scooby-Doo's ancestors, McBaggy Rogers and Yankee Doodle Doo, arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower.
1622: Duncan MacLeod revealed to be an immortal.
1626: D'Artagnan arrives in Paris and meets The Three Musketeers.
1635: Gotham City is founded as part of the Swedish colonization of the Americas.
1659: Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked
1666: September 2 - September 5 - During the Great Fire of London, the Ancient One battles Dormammu and forces him to retreat.
1685: John Ridd and Lorna Doone find themselves caught up in events surrounding the Monmouth Rebellion
1687: Robinson Crusoe rescued
The Dark Side
I'm hand-dyeing yarn right now.
Edit:
Modus Operanti:
First, I soaked a hank of merino laceweight yarn for about forty minutes in lukewarm water. While it was soaking, I mixed green food dye with a touch of blue food dye into about two pints of water. I added citric acid as a fixing agent. I heated up the dyeing solution in an old stovetop pot. When it was very warm (but not boiling), I took the soaked yarn and gently put it into the warm dye. The idea is not to agitate the yarn because agitated yarn = felt. I let the yarn simmer for about 35 minutes until I saw the liquid running clear. I turned off the heat and let it cool for ten minutes. The yarn was rinsed gently in very warm water as temperature shock would cause the yarn to felt. And now the yarn's drip-drying, huzzah!
I'm reserving judgement on the end result but at least the merino's no longer pale yellow-green..
Five Things I Have Learned Recently
Don't you just love lists? I do.
+ Mattel has made The Birds Barbie. It's brilliant. (thank you Darth Ken)
+ Wordle is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It even makes Spandau Ballet seem cool.
+ I have finally found a food item that I simply cannot abide.
The falooda we bought at today's Glasgow Mela bore an unfortunate resembles to worms bathing in strawberry milkshake with added (pink) tadpoles. I think we were unlucky because all the falooda recipes online have very yummy photos. How did it taste? The kulfi was delicious but I couldn't really cope with the rest of it..
+ I can knit quite awesome shawls and watch football at the same time. Both my teams are out, alas.
+ This is how stormtroopers are made. They're not space soldiers of Maori descent - no, they're Danish!
That’s Not My Name
Yesterday I had to convince nurses that my name wasn't Flora Westmark of [absurdly named Glasgow suburb]. It wasn't until I pointed out that Flora's patient file stated she was born in 1949 whilst I clearly was not that they went in search of my file. Oh, you wacky NHS with your strange disorganisation - I think I'm growing to almost love you and your quirks.
Title courtesy of The Ting Tings, natch. I'm naff.
FYI
A quick little plea from the heart before I find my anti-histamine pills (as close as I get to sleeping pills) and drown them with decaf tea:
Please do not text me before 11am UK time.
I really need my sleep these days and it's so difficult to come by.
I find it unusually difficult to fall asleep these days and if I'm woken up by an unusual noise - somebody knocking on the door, the phone ringing or, yes, a text message - I'm awake. Some days I manage to nap. Most days I do not.
Why do I keep my mobile by my bed? Firstly, because there might be an emergency and people should definitely contact me then! Secondly, because I might wake up feeling very bad and I need to be able to contact the outside world.
I love hearing from my friends but I also need to be able to function. And I need an enormous amount of sleep in order to function, alas.
Now I do hope that I'll be able to get back to sleep soon because I have a brain scan lined up for today..
Stick A Fork In It
Today is World Wide Knitting In Public Day. That means I'll be bringing my needles and wool to the F.O.R.K. Gala (as well as a rug and a book and my patient Other Half). Meanwhile, The G delivers a deliberately misguided attack on crafters. I'm slightly disappointed.
I've been reading up on D&D 4.0 and so far it sounds intriguing - particularly the "streamlining of skills" bit which was something which always frustrated me somewhat with previous editions. It didn't feel entirely intuitive that certain skills - say Climb and Tumble - weren't connected (although 3.0 introduced the idea of synergy). I understand the new set of rules have implications for magic users but as I have never been massive on magic (I think I've only had one magic-using PC), it is not such a massive thing for me. You gamers out there, what is your take? Are you going to convert to 4.0 or are you holding on to previous editions?
Finally, because I can, here's something for the easily amused amongst you (and also me).
Ghost Tree
The other day we went for a stroll along the river and saw a ghostly tree. It stood out like a sore thumb around the rich, green foliage: it was completely white with no leaves.
We walked closer trying to find out what it was: was it an art statement or maybe an act of vandalism? We were busy discussing various possibilities but as we got closer, we fell completely silent.
The tree was covered in a web of white silky strands. And it was alive.
It was alive in more than one sense of the word. It was alive with tiny caterpillars crawling all over it. The grass area surrounding the tree was yellow - that is, the part of the lawn which was infected by caterpillars. Tent caterpillars, to be precise.
The local birds were quite enamoured by this tree and happily swooped down for an extra juicy caterpillar or two whilst completely ignoring the two foolish humans below. One bullfinch even posed for a photo or two whilst enjoying the caterpillar buffet.
And at home the internet provided us with answers and I realised that things could be a lot creepier than just a single ghost tree down by the river.