Woolen Rabbit Opal in "Godiva"

Let’s see…the Knitcircus sweater reached Jaala at Knitcircus right before she left for TNNA (lucky lady!).  I’m just about to start my run of editing for the Knitcircus Fall issue (and folks, this one is shaping up to be FABULOUS).  I’ve been editing some lovely pattern by other indie designers as well.

Here’s a yarn pic from the California Revival Collection….it’s so gorgeous, so luscious…. It’s from Kim at the Woolen Rabbit, her Opal base in Godiva.

In the garden….our Santa Rosa plum tree, little as it is, has been producing some luscious plums over the past week or so.  We don’t harvest enough to need to do anything with them, like jam or anything (though I fully intend to in the future, when the crop gets bigger).

The crows have been dining on our Desert King figs before we can pick them.  I’m sure I’ve asked before, but does anyone have any good fig recipes?  I like dried figs, but am clueless as to what to do with fresh.  (I suppose I could dry them somehow.)

Our peach tree is bearing a tiny bit of fruit — but what’s there is delicious.  I planted some raspberries a month or two ago, and they’re already bearing a tiny bit of fruit as well.  The one raspberry I ate was very, very good.

We’ve been having baby lettuce for salads for the past couple weeks (month?).  Lettuce, for us, is a pest-free crop (as opposed to the broccoli/ kale/ etc family, which attracts aphids like no tomorrow).  I’ve planted some varieties that are supposed to be slow to bolt — I’d love to have lettuce all summer.

I ate some cherry tomatoes yesterday — they didn’t even make it into the house, though I shared one with our neighbor Doug.

Oh — almost forgot!  I now own another loom.  It’s a used Wolf Pup that I purchased from the arts director at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. It needs some TLC, but I’m hoping to start nurturing it this summer.  Dave’s okay with it — it takes up about 1/6th or less the space the Beast would’ve (the Beast being the humongous loom I adopted last year, and for which I subsequently found a new home).

I finally agreed to getting smartphones. Dave & I both got Samsung Focuses (Foci?). Anyhow, one of the main reasons I thought a smartphone would be useful was to have my Outlook calendar handy.

Little did I know how much of a pain this would be. You’d think, Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Windows 7 phone. Should be easy, right?

Nope. Several hours later, here’s the final (and imperfect) answer, pieced together by finally finding a couple helpful sites (and this).  Note:  I could never make Outlook Connector work, so that option, well, wasn’t an option.  The following steps apply to getting the calendar from Outlook to Windows Live;  I’ve not included setting up the phone for Windows Live.

Go to Outlook.  Export calendar in .ics format — not by exporting, which seems logical, but by being in Calendar view and doing File >Save As.  Make sure you look at options such as date range, detail level, etc.  Default seems to be “Today” and limited details i.e. just showing if you’re busy;  not very useful IMHO.

Sign in to Windows Live and go to your calendar page (under the Hotmail tab).

Subscribe (not import, which seems logical) to your calendar.  If you’re updating your current calendar, make sure you choose to import into a current calendar.

Make sure that this calendar is the one checked as your primary calendar on the Hotmail Calendar page — this is the one that will sync with your phone.

So, obviously, there’s no way (without Microsoft Exchange) to directly sync Outlook with the phone.  If you make changes in Outlook, you have to go through the above steps to get the changes to show on your phone.

• Judy’s Magic Cast On
• Provisional cast ons over a second cable needle
• Techknitter’s 3 in 1 jogless join
• Magic Loop
• SpindleCat’s plain, hammered copper stitchmarkers
• Ravelry (duh)
• Top down sweaters, in the round
• Hemmed, picot edging
• Tubular cast ons & off

I finished the Bronte mitts — they are extraordinarily soft & fuzzy & warm.  I finished Dave’s house socks (pictured in the previous post with Obi as a model).  I’ve cast on for an extra Christmas gift — Lau socks for Dave.  (He knows.)  I’m in progress on PH’s mitts, should be able to finish them by tomorrow.

Movies I’ve seen recently…..

Lars & the Real Girl — not a new movie, but I just saw it.  Totally sweet.

Coraline (NOT recommended for young kids at ALL) — very creepy

I.O.U.S.A. — like I wasn’t already freaked out enough by peak oil & global warming.  Still, very good, concise & nonpartisan.

State of Play (2009) — not great but definitely enjoyable.

The Wrestler – well, saw it a while ago, but very good.  Even Dave cried at the end.

…the violence of the lambs….Black Sheep!

Weresheep?  There sheep!  40 million of them.  And they’re hungry.

One memorable scene Dave couldn’t even watch, he buried his face in the couch.  (I was laughing so hard I was crying).  Then he sold my copy of the movie on eBay.

I think it’s a funny movie.  Lots of gore, lots of sheep jokes, lots of sheep puns.  Lots of really cute sheep (other than the mutant sheep).

Other movies I’ve seen recently and enjoyed:

Watchmen:  I like this much more than I anticipated I would.  Very dark.

Thelma and Louise:  an old favorite.  I, of course, sob at the end;  this time I sobbed whenever Jimmy was with Louise…especially when he leaves her in the cafe and knows he won’t see her again.

King Corn:  nothing I’d not already learned via Omnivore’s Dilemma and other books, but still engaging.  Two guys, upon learning that they are mostly corn (testing of their hair revealed corn as the primary protein source), plant an acre of corn and make a movie (investigating government subsidies, herbicides, feedlots, corn syrup manufacturing and more).

Would Would Jesus Buy?:  Follow Reverand Billy and his choir as they perform/protest at various stores, malls and Disneyland against rampant consumerism.

In Debt We Trust:  another anticonsumerism doc.  Not much new here either but still interesting.

The Garden:  about the South Central Los Angeles community garden.  Sad.  Corrupt politicians and greedy developers.  What’s new?

Anvil:  The Story of Anvil:  it’s one of those movies, that if it was a mockumentary, it’d be funny;  as it is, it’s just really sad.  They really aren’t that good of a band, not even after practicing for 20 odd years and making 13+ albums, but they have good hearts.

So far I’ve finished a pair of Husbeast and have cast on for Thuja and am about halfway through the first sock.

October goals:

• Thuja done!
• self-designed man socks
• basic, ribbed house socks (though I could do these and have them count for the November SKA KAL)
• finish the 2 pairs of in progress fingerless mitts
• one pair of women’s fingerless mittens

Leaving me to finish before Christmas:

• 2 pairs of women’s fingerless mittens
• 3 pairs of women’s house socks (which fall under the December SKA KAL, but I don’t know if I’ll wait that long to start all of these pairs)
• 1 pillow(actually started this)
• 3 toys
• 3-4 hats

Gardening:  got the garlic, peas and fava beans planted.  Planted some kale seeds in the seed starter thingy — those will be transplanted to the side yard when ready.  Otherwise we’re now in maintenance mode.

Other crafts etc:  I’m planning on making some candles & some melt & pour soaps today (more gifts). (Done!)

I also want to finally make some Poetry Stones.  I purchased the kit on sale at a Borders with the intent of making memorial stones for our pets.  I planned (and still do plan) to mix their ashes with the concrete, so they each have their stone, but if (& when) we move, we can bring them with us.  Anyhow, I’d like to get started this weekend.

Finally, any spinners out there?  Here’s a shout-out to MVFF for a fiber giveaway.  It’s a couple blog posts down, and ends October 11th.

I have no clue what happened to September. It’s gone.  Even here in SoCal the mornings are finally a bit cooler.  I was still in a t-shirt and shorts for Rigel’s 6 a.m. walk, but the 68 degrees house temperature felt toasty and welcoming when we got back.

September, other than finishing up some sock WIPs that I didn’t get done as planned in August, was sockless.  Hats, mittens, yes.  I finished one pair of mittens, one pair of fingerless mittens, one of the pair for two different sets of fingerless mittens (here and here), and one hat.   I’ve also cast on (and am more than halfway done, and may finish it today,) for the Celtic Cap. (One pair of fingerless mittens was completed prior to September.)  That may not sound like a lot for an entire month, but the holiday knitting really didn’t start til September 19th.

October shan’t be sockless.  The Sock Knitter’s Anonymous Rav group KALs for October include Man Socks, so all the man socks I was planning on doing for holiday presents will get started (and hopefully completed) this month.  I have 4 pair to do:  Thuja, Husbeast, and two self-designed (not yet designed) pairs.  Yes, they will be worsted weight. I’d never be able to get them done otherwise.

On another note:  I’ve been interested in the voluntary simplicity movement for many years, first reading Your Money or Your Life then other books, running a study group,  etc, and more recently following various blogs.

It’s no surprise that the basic tenets of voluntary simplicity — living mindfully, valuing time with family and friends, decreasing or more thoughtful spending, etc — are gaining popularity with Americans in general during our current recession.  Lemonade out of lemons (hopefully grown on your own or a neighbor’s tree, if not, purchased from a farmer at your local farmers’ market), so to speak.

To me, the idea of voluntary simplicity, and especially mindfulness over thoughtless consumption, ties in with many of my values and concerns.  Handmade vs mass produced;  buying produce and meats at my local farmer’s market; supporting small businesses and artisans; the fear and cognizance of peak oil.

But is voluntary simplicity (or its values) becoming something people are being forced into?  And is that a bad thing?  (I’m NOT talking about people losing their homes, having to declare bankruptcy, etc:  that is horrible.)  But we’re now seeing commercials (I think Allstate?) talking about rediscovering the things that really matter.  When an idea is incorporated into insurance commercials, it’s definitely hit the mainstream.

Have you been thinking more about these things?  Changed your lifestyle?  Your goals?

In a shameless shill for comments, I’ll run another small contest.  Comment on the idea of voluntary simplicity by midnight PST Oct 4th 2009 (Sunday evening) to win, yep, stitch markers, note cards and some California poppy seeds from my garden.  Monday I’ll post the winner.