The Glass was Mostly Full =)

Select Glances of My Beautiful Disaster

The Grand Princess may be
the most aesthetically pleasing cruise ship departing Galveston.
It was definitely the only one that looked decent in port, because those
other things looked like tugboats in comparison.

Costa Maya is an awesome place to shop for souvenirs,

especially if you bring your
resident bargain hunter/diplomatic negotiator
who at least tries to speak Spanish.
The food was good, the waiter was perfect.
He even sent someone to a neighboring eatery to get me the
MOST perfect FRESH avocado filled - tortilla soup
so that my friend and I could keep our
picture perfect bird's perch table with a view
that just went on and on into the turquoise horizon.


The beach is also something to behold. If you look close you may
see something interesting in the stuff that washes
up on the beach from the coral reefs. Each reef unique, like a very precious fragile necklace gracing and protecting the neck of a gritty yet enchanting earthy princess.

And then there was Roatan.
From the deck of the ship, you see a pulsing rainbow,
who's end is somewhere between the school buses and the bay.


The eye wanders up and down the flank of the island
and at first you see only trees and a village and a
young woman sprinting through the rain in such a way
that makes you think her errand may be of some vital importance.
It's raining gently, but it doesn't last long,
and pretty soon it starts to rain again.
It's a rain you don't mind so you let it kiss your cheek
while you stand mesmerized by the possibilities
you imagine must be hidden in the dense thicket of various shades of green.
When you find your favorite tour guide and gentle cab driver you'll
experience everything your open mind will allow.
Your tour guide will notice you seem dizzy at times and will gently let you take him arm
and gentleman he is, will read nothing into it.
Your cab driver, who you've named Aguas Calmas, observed it as well
and will drive appropriately to compensate.


The culture is so rich,
so diverse, so colourful the people
make their own arca iris de la tierra (rainbow of the earth).
Again the European spelling, because all of the Islanders
are the descendants of everyone you can imagine from the Eastern Hemisphere.
Your tour guide will then reward your genuine interest for his precious island by taking you to the best food on Roatan, a classy yet relaxed spot right on the water. Then you'll have a Salva Vida - a beer named "Life Saver" and you'll smile a little sadly about the irony while being serenaded by the sweet voiced lone mariachi guy.
Blissfully ignorant, the bitterness of the irony on the morrow. Your Spanish is still rusty
but it has something to do with a little rancher girl - so fitting,
he has no idea how true it is.
Your tour guide will then point to the water and say,
"There's the coral reef. "
This one, like Roatan is also special, the grandest most pristine
and very protected coral reef on this side of the earth,
being just smaller than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
"Is it safe for people to be out there?" you'll ask trepidaciously. "No one goes out
there without a guide, and they won't let you touch it or disturb it." "WOW" you'll say
and then you'll sit in silence and wonderment, perplexing over the idea
that there is at least one place on earth where people can live in an ancient Rain Forest
where it still rains on you sensuously, yet you aren't drenched. More like Archaic
because the rocks aren't normal rocks, but petrified wood,
the actual fossils of the ancestors of these very trees are paving your
way through the trails you walk. Proudly sharing their progeny
with whomever wishes to pass this miraculous path.


An ancient Rain Forest on the balcony of a preserved coral reef, with people who smile at everyone. So many beautiful people, no two looking very similar to the next and they respectfully address each other as 'cousin'.
Then your quiet cab driver, who was too shy and stealthy
to join you for lunch when
you didn't remember to invite him again to walk with you,
will approach the armed guards in a certain place
where there are only a few cabs today. They nod, and open the gate
and you are allowed onto the beach.
You don't know if this is the only beach or if there are any
requirements to gain access.
You didn't ask, they didn't offer,
and you were just grateful to be there.
Grateful for everything.
Grateful for the Music
Grateful for the dance of the iguana
Grateful for the kisses from the rain
Grateful for the caress of the ocean
Grateful for the rest on the beach
Grateful for seeing a Rainbow,
for being in and under a Rainbow
for meeting Rainbows
the pot of gold is there for you if you open your eyes.

So grateful for the crystal memories of these gifts. They'll help when
reality becomes as twisted and tangled as the mangroves on Roatan.
When those nice young women in scrubs come and take you away and tell you to relax
and go to your happy place, at least you now have a happy place named Roatan.
You'd love to be in the Mangroves.

Even now, the hurricane seems gone, yet in the distance...
I am more me now than I have been in years.
I didn't even know I was lost, because happiness isn't a destination
it's a decision. A decision I made very young.
Again my head is full of Rainbows and it's nice.

I am SUCH a Cappuccino

What Kind of Coffee are You?

You're a Cappicinno!
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...and I don't mean to be vain since it's all complimentary or whatever. But I'm in such a pissy mood that even if I did mean it vainly, I would still write it! so HA! Wrong or right, it is what it is - insert angry rant of your choice. I'm sure you have a favorite, I do.

I'm ok, really, it was just ONE of those nights last night. In the end it turned out nicelyish? It did and it didn't - but that's life in the real world. I'm not depressed or anything, mainly just ticked off and I'm not going to go into any of the real details here - of course - but lemme just say this.

Some times, SOME people - JUST. DON'T. GET IT.

Which is frustrating for me, because I make a very sincere effort to understand people, and their issues and limitations (myself included) and it took a LOT of work to get where I am today. When a person puts that much effort into understanding people it'd be real nice if those on the receiving end of that could put some small little effort into the same sort of thing for me. I'm not saying there is no one that doesn't do that and like I said, I'm pretty darn pissy at the moment and just venting. I have one particular person in mind and the likelihood of them reading this is about... oh somewhere around ZERO. I'd be impressed if they did, actually, because that would mean they'd have to THINK a bit and that's a little too hard for them.

I told you I was pissy. That's another thing. When I TELL a person I'm pissy, they need to hear that and not tick me off more. Right? what is UP with that? Are there really people who are SO stupid to jab a stick at a raging Sasquatch? Yes there are. They just don't get it. It's a very good thing for them that the Sasquatch has conscious thought good boundaries AND has, as mentioned before, done a lot of hard work to cage that beast and put forth the blood, sweat and tears to TRY to understand them on a level most people only ever dream of being understood. A very good thing my friend. Because when I spin out, it ain't pretty. I can tell you that with 100% confidence.

and can I just say... Why is it that I can spell Cappuccino and Quizzilla can't? I'm not even Italian. Even though I have been repeatedly asked all of my life if I am. I feel Italian sometimes! How does that work, eh? who knows. maybe I shoud do that dna thing where they map out your ancestors. I'd really like to know the answer to that, b/c I think at least some of my genes never dreamt they'd be in the same body with the others! LOL

ok, I'm done, and no apologies to anyone I confused - I'm too pissy for apologies of that nature, but I do love you all.

hahahahahaha =)*)

A Tale of Two Scarves & The Return of the Sasquatch

Installment 1 of Vintage Junk =)

Once upon a time somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant, there lived a very strange little girl who just loved to sing. She would sing along with Snow White, impersonate Cher and even do her best to keep up with Sarah Brightman's Christine, although everyone in her village would scramble for the earplugs at the very thought. You see this little girl, while being small, had the lungs of a long distance runner. She was a willful child, who really was convinced, in most cases, that she knew exactly what she was doing.

When the girl learned to knit, she was a little trepidatious at first, but once she "found her feet" in the craft, the old over-confidence began to slowly creep back in. So, the strange, yet melodious little girl, singingly subscribed to two knitting mags, Creative Knitting and Vogue. In spite of the small voice of reason that would not be tolerated, she embarked on a "Very Vogue" scarf that was just too cool to ignore, the Leaf Pattern Scarf from the Spring/Summer 2005 issue on page 91. Unfortunately, she was not aware of the fact that she didn't fully understand yarn overs yet. OH she could DO a yarn over, she just didn't know ONE KEY VITAL DETAIL: The yarn over is not a stitch unto itself.

Confidence bordering on arrogance bolstered her to dive headlong into the pattern, and the strange little girl worked and worked to get the numbers right in her head. She knit and knit and knit, hundreds of little lacy leaves that in NO way SHAPE or form, resembled the leaves of the scarf in the picture. She twitched and toiled. She tweaked and squirmed, perplexed and stressed. She reworked and even changed the sequence of the instructions and gallantly struggled to make it work out, shaking her fist at those people, that person, wherever they were, that wrote the pattern that just wouldn't work. Even though the leaves she made DID resemble leaves, the just weren't the SAME leaves in the picture! "why?" she squeaked, then louder, "Why?" A small pause ensued, and then one little tear that in no way could have given anyone a clue as to what would follow. "WHY DO I PICK THESE PATTENS WITH CRAZY ERRORS?" she roared, in a foreign throaty voice.

Yes, the poor strange little girl was now starting to shape shift from cute and strange to beastly and VERY LOUD. The long distance runner lungs began to kick in with a vengeance. She shook her fist again yelling, "Khan! Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

What to do? She decided very emphatically that HER leaves looked better anyway. What else was she gonna do? Give up? NEVER! She would have her revenge on the elusive Leaf Pattern Scarf. (She may have thought about cussing at this point, we can't be sure, but she very well MAY have thought about it.)

Whatever the case, it was a good decision. It was time to relax and accept that her leaves were different, yes, but they were leafy at least and they would have to do. By this time, she had completely forgotten to read the pattern and it TOTALLY escaped her that the scarf was done in Stockinette Stitch, not Garter Stitch, because (obviously) she wasn't gonna be purling AND thinking about leaves at the same time, are they INSANE? (no they aren't insane, in fact, the sweet yet strange girl was in fact, now insane herself, but that's neither here, no there)

In a flash, she churned out two of these scarves. One with mostly green leaves and one with purple leaves for her best friend who really loves purple. She'd won, or so she thought. Then she moved on to the Lacey Leaf Scarf, when she finally got an inkling of a clue and got on the Internet and started looking for help. She finally learned the proper way to do yarn overs and the numbers finally made sense and AT LONG LAST made a scarf correctly. But she never looked back at the original scarf and only ever wore it once.

That is, until the other day when she had once again shape shifted from strange little girl into something beastly. This particular day she arrived at her looking glass only to find Sasquatch Freak staring back at her. Apparently she had drifted into a time warp. She thought that her hair was clean enough to throw into a ponytail for the evening to go to meeting, but she was sadly mistaken. She had already gotten all three children bathed and dressed and ready, it was nearly time to go. So she decided to try a little trick she'd seen on a talk show that she loves but will remain nameless in this case.

This 'trick' consists of a little baby powder and a blow dryer. Well, suffice it to say that in the case of the Sasquatch formerly know as Strange Little Girl, it didn't work so good. The hair began to grow taller and thicker, and as we all know, Sasquatch hair needs NO thickeners; it's already pretty dern thick. In addition to growing it turned a very disturbing shade of gross. No longer brown, not quite gray but just very, very, horribly inexplicably not human. She was already late, she couldn't wash it out, if she could only THINK! No longer was she strange/cute, just fuming, puffy haired, SASQUATCH, rage monster.

Stomping through her bedroom frantically, “A scarf perhaps? Did she even HAVE a girly, Jackie O type scarf that she could wrap around her head?” she wondered stupidly. Well, neither Sasquatch Freak nor Strange Girl was girly enough to own such a thing. But then.... her Leaf Scarf caught her eye. "It'll have to do!" roared Sasquatch Freak, and she tied her hair up in a spikey "Phoebe Do" with the scarf spray glued to her head.

Yes, she was Strange Little Girl again - which although eccentric and confusing while wearing a freakishly long scarf on her head, is always much more pleasant than Roaring Sasquatch Freak.


How cool is it that I have the comments to this post? That's the part that hurts the most about losing a blog - all the comments! So I have comments from some posts, at least - these are some of my favorites =)

Baby Jays Pattern

Installment 2 of Vintage Stuff =)

We don't need no stinking titles

It seems like ages since I posted any knitting content! That probably has something to do with how much I didn't want to put the BabyJays right next to the finally completed Jaywalkers. Then, when I had gotten up the nerve to post them, I realized I had to rip back about half way to the beginning. Even tho mine aren't finished, I'm posting the patten now, in case Trek wants to start hers before I get my booty in gear. This pattern assumes you already know short rows and I'm not man enough to do the calculations for normal toes and heels at this point. I am using magic loop with these socks, but you can just as easily use dpns, just divide the stitches evenly onto 4 needles - 2 for the top and 2 for the bottom. =)

SO..... from the famous Grumperina's Origianal Jaywalkers ....

come the toddler sized version!

Toe Up - BabyJays
Short Row Toe and Heel

Abbreviations
k-f/b: increase 1 stitch by knitting in the front and back loops of the same stitch.
dd: double decrease � slip 2 stitches together as if to knit, knit the next stitch, pass the slipped stitches over the knitted stitch.
Guage
18 stitches and 24 rows ='s 2 inches.

Provisional cast on 22 stitches on size 2 circs, using an extra circ in place of the waste yarn. Oh,yes, quite by accident, I did Garter Stitch for 2 rows after the the Cast On, which is just across and back. So there is one line of Garter Stitch on the toe, which really looks good, strangely. It sort of ties the raised stitches of the Jaywalker pattern to the toe, which otherwise looks rather plain. Once you start the Jaywalker pattern, it forms a perfect 'M' shape. Cool, eh? =)

Then Short Row toe, wrapped 7 stitches per side, leaving 8 stitches acrosss the toe, then short rows back up to the 22 stitches. Join with the 22 provisionl stitches in round.
(44 stitches total)

Do Jaywalker pattern on the top of the foot, sized down to 22 stitches which means:
Rnd 1 - Knit
Rnd 2 - On top of foot -- K-f/b, k3, dd, k3, k-f/b, k-f/b, k3, dd, k3, k-f/b on bottom Knit

Repeat Rnds 1 and 2 up foot almost to heel, next round will be and INCREASE ROUND

Increase Round
Rnd 1 - Inc 4 evenly on top by k-f/b , k9, k-f/b, k9, k-f/b - on bottom of foot inc 4 evenly
Rnd 2 - On top of foot -- K-f/b, k4, dd, k4, k-f/b, k-f/b, k4, dd, k4, k-f/b on bottom Knit
Rnd 3 - Knit
(52 stitches total)

check fit, if the child has a thicker foot, you may need another INC RND. I only suggest inc'g by 8 per round. If you need another inc it would be as follows:

EXTRA Increase Round
Rnd 1 - Inc 4 evenly on top by k-f/b , k10, k-f/b, k10, k-f/b - on bottom of foot inc 4 evenly
Rnd 2 - On top of foot -- K-f/b, k5, dd, k5, k-f/b, k-f/b, k5, dd, k5, k-f/b on bottom Knit
Rnd 3 - Knit
(60 stitches total)

Do Short Row Heel down to 10 stitches left in the middle (or according to fit), if you did one IncRnd that means wrapping 13 stitches per side - if you did 2 IncRnd's that means wrapping 10 stitches per side. Do the short rows back up to the original amount of stitches.

Resume Jaywalker pattern, but both on top and bottom, or now, what is Front and Back. Depending on how many inc's you did, proceed accordingly

1 Inc done:
Rnd 1 - (K-f/b, k4, dd, k4, k-f/b, k-f/b, k4, dd, k4, k-f/b) twice
Rnd 2 - Knit

2 Inc's done:
Rnd 1 - (K-f/b, k5, dd, k5, k-f/b, k-f/b, k5, dd, k5, k-f/b) twice
Rnd 2 - Knit

Continue in Pattern until sock cuff is desired length, finish with desired amount of ribbing, if desired, depending on the number of inc's you did, you may choose ribbing that works with those numbers. Cast off and weave in ends! Admire and bestow on toddler of choice =)

Like I said, mine aren't finished, but here's how they went.

Awesome start! See the 'M' shape? COOL!











Making progress!












Cute Wittle Heels!


DRAT! FROGGED BACK TO HERE!









AND THEN I PUT THEM DOWN


I'll get back to them after I finish the other Grumperina Pattern I'm working on, PICOVOLI! This one is for the KAL at SKC

I think I'll be making lots of these! I love this yarn! Knit Picks SHINE - color -- SKY what a fun pattern!

13 Comments:

• At 6:13 PM, Kim said�
  Cuuu-uute.. All of it : ) Baby Js are SO CUTE.. and your picovoli is looking just great : )
• At 6:45 PM, trek said�
  Nice job, April. My knitting peep J is doing the SKC KAL and is already bored with it!
• At 6:40 AM, amylovie said�
  Your daughter will have the sassiest feet around.
  
  Amy
• At 1:13 PM, Rebekah said�
  Oh how cute, of course I think the cutest part were the pictures of the teeny tiny feet!
• At 12:02 AM, Kim said�
  Are you ok? I ain't heard from you for a few days... Have you fallen into your stash and can't get up? (Would you even want to?) Or did your kids somehow manage to flush you down the toilet? (Not that they would ever do such a thing on purpose. Lol.)
  
  I know.. it's only a couple days.. but I'm just used to you being around!
• At 8:28 AM, trek said�
  There's a new button on my blog - the plain little sheep in the hatlet. No text. I like it better. Also a new one on the Kepler cables with the new blog title.
• At 8:30 AM, Renee said�
  Those socks are sooooo sweet. Anything that is a miniature of something originally intended for an adult has an added cuteness factor.
• At 2:28 PM, Donna said�
  Dear April, COMMENT!
  
  No, no, I'm just kidding! Your jaywalkers look great! But you already know that so why rehash the obvious! Thanks for answering my Meme BTW! Thanks for adding my button 2!
• At 1:16 AM, trek said�
  I worked up numbers for Baby Jays tonight while not sleeping. I want to do cuff down and came up with 52 sts to cast on and working down to 26 sts on the instep and 22 on teh sole - 48 sts total to run down the foot. And I have some cool zebra striping yarn for knitting them. AFTER I finish her current pair of light turquoise solid yarn socks.
• At 11:59 AM, Latoya said�
  That yarn with the toe up baby socks is gorgeous! Can't wait to see them finished - I'm sure you can't either. Smile.
  Knit on!
• At 3:11 PM, Miriam said�
  The baby jaywalkers are so cute!!
• At 3:04 AM, Bagpuss said�
  This is just I wanted, I've been planning xmas presents and wanted to make my sister and her baby daughter matching socks. Hurray! Mummy and Baby Jaywalkers. Fantastic.
• At 6:40 PM, Ann-Marie said�
  hi i LOVE The baby jays.
  i made a pair and you can see them here:
  http://thechickswithsticks.blogspot.com/2006/09/baby-jays.html

Photo Intensive - Short Row Toe - Tutorial

Installment 3 of Vintage Stuff =)

Well, my deary dears, here's the Tutorial. This is a demo of the short row toe, specifically, but these same instructions and principles apply for the short row heel. Personally I have grown to like mixing it up. I like the simplicity of the short row heel, but I need the depth of the heel flap unless the yarn is verrry stretchy =) I do suggest at least trying the short row heel to see if it works for you, because if it does, the time you save is WAY worth it.

So, here goes.

Once you've knit to the desired length, usually 2 inches from the tip of the foot, you'll need to arrange the bottom half of the total amount of stitches on one needle. Like this:

The little dangly stitch marker, marks the middle of the bottom of the foot. This is only so you know where the middle is in the photo, no need to do this unless you are SO new you are confused as I was. =)*)

In a way, this is similar to doing a heel flap, in that you leave
the top half of the stitches alone, while you knit the bottom.
So however you usually keep the unused stitches will do fine in this case, too.

Now, knit as normal all the way across the bottom stitches until you get to within one stitch of the end, then instead of knitting that stitch, you slip it onto the right needle.




Then wrap the working yarn around the left side of the slipped stitch to the front of your work,

then slip that stitch BACK onto the left needle











Put the yarn back to the back between the slipped stitch and the stitches on the right needle.


So..... now you have the slipped and wrapped stitch on the left needle and the working yarn in the back of your work ---->

You have just wrapped one stitch

Congratulations! =)

Now it's time to turn your work, keep the slipped stitch secure, and Purl.

Purl all the way, to within one stitch of the end and, instead of knitting that stitch, you slip it and wrap it.

Then, of course, slip the stitch back onto the left needle,

bring the yarn back to the front and turn your work.

Continue in this manner, back and forth until you have the desired
number of stitches remaining on either side of your stitch marker.

Knit or purl to the second to last
unwrapped stitch, slip it, wrap it, put it back, turn and repeat, until you have 'decreased' enough stitches for a comfortable toe.

In my case, I started out with total of 38 stitches which puts 19 stitches on either side of the stitch. The end of my foot is pretty wide, so I didn't go down too pointy, I wrapped 12 stitches on each side of the stitch marker - which 'decreases' 24 stitches total. I left 14 stitches across the middle which is 7 stitches on either side of the marker.

The next step, can be done a number of ways. Most of these ways leave eyelets or little holes, which don't bother me, much, but seem to annoy the rest of my peers. =) So here's the link to the way to do it without holes: Hole-Free Short Rows

The standard way is to knit and purl, back and forth, picking up the wraps and knitting them together with the slipped stitches. The tutorial I used picks up the slipped stitch, the wrap, and 'wrap' from the stitch below the slipped stitch. I only explained that because I was confused about it at first.

OK, I am very tired now, as I have been working on this all dang day, and now it's 11:40PM, my house is, as my DD would say, "A disaster!" and I think I'm getting sick AGAIN =( - So hopefully this makes a little sense to someone. I'm off! Tootleloooo!

posted by Aprilynne @ 6:57 PM

5 Comments:

• At 9:24 AM, Pixiepurls said�

  I tried reading it but its overlapped and stuff in my browser (I am on Safari on a Mac). Great pics tho, I like that sock yarn hehe.

• At 2:36 PM, Kim said�

  Wow.. that's awesome! Thank you so much!! I didn't expect it to be so much work for you.. (I almost feel guilty.. lol) I'll definitely try that on my next socks.. (Probably dad's) Oh and by the way.. your nails look great ; ) Much better than those scary ones on that other tutorial..

• At 3:22 PM, Mom said�

  Wow, what a lot of work you put into that post. I haven't knit socks yet, but I am going to save you post for future reference.

• At 8:01 AM, trek said�

  Lots of detail and hard work, April.

• At 12:52 PM, knit_chick said�

  Wow. You're really tackling socks and all the different techniques like there's no tomorrow! Short row heels & toes are next on my list. Thanks for all the great notes. They'll definitely help!

Edited 2/2007 to add:

Since doing this tutorial I have tried a bunch of ways to do the 'unwrapping' part. I had a bookmark on my computer to the link for it before my computer went into a coma. I can't remember the link even a little bit, but if you want to know about it, send me an email and I'll explain it, lol.

As tiring as it is making tutorials, re-posting them is only a little less tedious. I'm actually breathless. Of course being the MOM has something to do with that, right? Interruptions, etc...

I'm not sure how many more installments of the vintage stuff I'm going to do, anyone have any suggested previous posts?

I'm a work in progress, like my life

Clandestine - /klænˈdɛstɪn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[klan-des-tin] adj. Kept secret; surreptitious. [Origin: 1560–70; clandestīnus, equiv. to *clande, *clamde, var. of clam secretly (with -de adv. particle) + -stīnus, prob. after intestīnus internal; see intestine]

Quote using said word:

She preferred to keep some things to herself, it was a lesson she'd learned the hard way a few too many times. Some things must be kept clandestine until she was more sure of her own feelings and ideas. - April =)

Candor - [kan' der] noun

1.	the state or quality of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; candidness: The candor of the speech impressed the audience.

2.	freedom from bias; fairness; impartiality: to consider an issue with candor.

3.	Obsolete. kindliness.

4.	Obsolete. purity.

Also, especially British, candour.

Awesome quote using said word:

Nor yor unquestioned integrity Shall e'er be sullied with one taint or spot That may take from your innocence and candor. --Massinger.

I am using the British spelling because I like it. Because I like the UK and because I like Canadians. I don't have an explanation for this, it just is what it is. I don't understand myself all the time, so I don't expect you to either. Maybe someday it'll come to me clearly and I'll explain it, or maybe it won't......or MAYbe it will and I'll just keep it to myself and I can just use that for one of those jokes I tell myself in my head so that I just start laughing at the Doctor's office even though I'm all by myself.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I think Jane Austen might even approve. It's sort of a tribute to her with my own little twist. Ya know, like Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility - except.... different - oxymoronic, even. It's about finding balance between the contradictory in myself. There are lots of examples of it pulsing through my neurons. I won't bore you with the details, but most of you know me enough to know something of what I'm describing. Yes? No? Maybe? Well, if you want I WILL bore you with the details, another time, perhaps? Persuasion? Ah yes, another Jane Austen masterpiece.

My first order of business will be to post some of the posts I recovered. I won't put them all on this blog, but my favorites will be coming along. As for the rest, I'll try to get them all back on the former blog, mainly for reference and nostalgia =) It was a good blog and I loved it. I hope I can get it put back together, eventually.

I already like this blog, too, though and I hope the transition is good for all of us. I'm going to keep this post at the top for a couple of weeks so that everyone has a chance to see my thought process as to why I chose this name. Names have always been important to me and I choose them very carefully and deliberately. Stereotypes and restrictive labels... begone. It's time to be me. I'll still be fighting the fine fight, knitting, taking pictures, writing poems, singing, doing all the homemaker stuff and honing my computer geekiness while dreaming about the new Star Trek movie. Firm flexibility. Oxymorons galore!

PS - I'm putting the wrong year on purpose to keep this post at the top for a bit while I repost some of my vintage stuff =) Once I start posting for real, I'll change it to the right year. In case anyone happens to notice that.