Quelle Erqsome

three short sentences

Sweetpea tagged me for a meme ages ago and today I found myself engaged in something that seemed worthy.

The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

I was going to put:

He will become scared and fall apart. The reader waits for the practically inevitable. He knows that the writer in this instance will usually be willing to subject the hero to further danger, an ultimate trap, in order to demonstrate his ingenuity in springing him.

from The World of the Thriller by Ralph Harper, which was the closest book when I first looked at the rules. But I'm going to go with this instead:

A somewhat exhausted, reflective McAlpine walked towards me from the mirror behind the bed. His mouth was slightly parted and he wore an amazed expression.

   Melanie Omega wore a pure white cotton dress, trimmed with gold like a toga and which ended roughly two inches below her loving cup.

from Adam Dimant's The Great Spy Race, which is effectively a soft-porn spy spoof and an absurd one at that. It's all in first person (McAlpine is speaking of himself in the third person in the first paragraph), completely over the top, even in its ironical approach to pisstaking. I'd be very much mistaken if it weren't in the Top Ten Greatest Books of All Time list for most of the authors I dealt with at Rubbish Books Publishing.

I'm going to tag Justine, Diane, Heather, Laura and  Sharon, hurrah!

listening to things

Since the Stash and Burn executive decision to cut back to every other week in their podcasting, I've been suffering. I miss the regularity of that show. After the decline of Lime'n'Violet into sporadic yet oddly never-ending Limeless shows*, it really seemed as though all I had left were KnitPicks Podcast and Ready Set Knit -- both of which are fab but they're more scripted and run by people with yarn to sell. And though Craftlit and Sticks and String never went anywhere (hurrah!), all the other knitting podcasts I regularly listened to became unbearable, scheduleless or just quietly vanished.

Fortunately Stitch It! came along and then I found Belle of the Ball, and then Knit Naturally, Faeryknitting, and then rediscovered She-Knits**, and then the ubiquitous Miss Flip Knits came on the scene (but their back catalogue is not yet enough to satiate my knitting podcast hunger).

But still, none of them are Stash and Burn. Fortunately, last week I tuned into Katia and Kyliemac and there was a 'piiiiinnnnggg!' and everything settled into place. Katia and Kylie are an Australian and an American living the expat dream in Paris and back in 2006 some time, Katia declared they should do a podcast (I think they were even in an Ikea when the eureka moment happened, and somehow that just shouts magic to me) and they've been 'casting ever since. They upload twice a week and this year created Katia and Kyliemac Learn French and Katia and Kyliemac's Tourist Tips which are effectively just soundbites.

I actually first heard them on Forgotten Classics a couple of months ago, but for some reason never wandered over. It's all right, though. They're currently on episode 141, so I've got plenty to catch up on. Regardless, if there is anyone else out there feeling the SnB void, I highly recommend K&K. It is completely (that I've discovered yet) of non-knitting material, but it's frequent, it's hilarious and it makes me yearn to be in Paris.

*I like Karen, but I don't think they're equally matched. Sometimes I think Miss V is a bit bullying and it makes me want to put her in a headlock until she apologises.

**I did listen to She-Knits from the very start, but frankly (and she'll admit this herself) I found her very negative at times and rather sheltered, which at the time I didn't need. It was when she had a mini-rant about Stephanie Japel that I stopped listening (because really she's a designer too! It seemed crazy to me that she didn't see the irony in what she was saying). In any case, I've gone back recently and I'm glad I did. She's a lot more positive and much more confident about her role, both as a knitting circle leader and someone gaining prominence in the community. Plus, I love how she always announces that the podcast is sponsored by herself and no one else. It produces a small spark of vicarious pride that makes me want nothing but the best for her.

tick tock

My friend Emily is going to give birth in three weeks and I still (eep!) haven't knit up anything -- however, this weekend will be all about the baby knits (though possibly next weekend, depending on the progress of Introduction Part Deux) and the baby crafts, because it's not just about baby knitting.  

These soaker and diaper-wraps patterns are so cute and environmentally friendly too. I've got a few ideas for reusable baby wipes and a floppy-eared bunny, plus Laura pointed me in the direction of these baby socks, and of course, there will be bootees -- cute! All I need is a teeny cotton cap for a June baby and s/he'll be ready to go.

inspirations

For very different reasons today's inspiration comes from  CheekBone Magazine and Stitchywitch.

four bits of yarny loveliness

1. Choochie and Riwen have posted pictures of their Masonic Lodge socks, hurrah! I love both their yarn choices and think they look fab. Neither have blogs, which suck, but you can follow the links to their Ravelry pages to see the results.

2. Laura went to the States and came back with yarn! For me! And lots of it, too. I think the complete haul requires a post all of its own. However, she also came back with some Noro Kureyon Sock! It's gorgeous and I cannot wait to get stuck into it:

3. Alice hosted the most awesome party EVER on Saturday and it turns out there was at least one of every Sock(topus) Club pattern there in full (including one of mine in a non-regulation colourway!):

4. Speaking of Alice, she returned from sock camp with a birthday gift for me! Some yarn:

and a beautiful set of stitchmarkers which she made herself:

Alice, thank you so much! I've been dying to try BMF for years and the stitchmarkers are amazing! Perfect for keeping tracks of my Swallowtail.

date and walnut loaf (incidentally vegan!)

Of all the loaves one might want to make on a hot day, Date and Walnut always tugs at my heart. After all, the two key ingredients are from hot, hot places (Greece and Turkey in this case, which made me feel a little like I might have a loafy mutiny to contend with when they found each other out) and oh, but it's refreshing. 

This recipe produces a very moist, light loaf and with few ingredients, which can't but make a girl happy.

ingredients:

8oz plain flour (I use Dove Organic)
1 level tsp baking powder
1 level tsp baking soda
4oz granulated sugar
4oz margarine (I use Pure Dairy Free)
6oz walnuts, chopped small and evenly
6oz dated, pitted and chopped
150 ml (1/4 pint) soya milk

method:

Preheat oven to 150 C or Gas 4 and have prepared a greased one-pound tin. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar in a large bowl, then add the margarine and rub together until crumbly in texture. Fold in the dates and walnuts -- I tend to add the dates an ounce at a time and give the mix a bit of a stir to cover them so that they don't stick to each other. Add the milk and stir until the batter becomes almost lofty. I actually substituted about 50 ml for cold coffee this time and it's given the finished product a light caramelised finish throughout.

Pour the batter into the tin and set in the oven on the next-to-lowest shelf. Bake for one hour or until the test knife comes out clean.

The original recipe (off my baking powder container of all things) recommends you leave it cooled and wrapped for 24 hours before cutting into it, but I've never made it more than 20 minutes. Delicious!

strange fruit

I like it when vandels have a sense of humour.

SPOILER ALERT! sock(topus) club part iii

Alice is very clever. The parcelling alone, all silver and glittering, whispers delight.

The delicate tissue moves under your hands with the yarn it holds, the plush bounce and handle seem to seep through, heightening anticipation.

This month's instalment of the Sock(topus) Club is fantastic! Even before I looked at the yarn I was taken by the 'extras': a stiff badge, just waiting to be stitched to a knitting bag, or Girl Guide's fisherman's hat, and a set of gorgeous stitchmarkers! Knowing Alice's keen eye for colour and coordination, the blue and purple of the stitchmarkers were sure to be an omen of great things to come.

And how right my suspicions were! Middle Earth Yarns! I've been dying to try this out ever since I met up with Diane some time last summer and she gushed over it (she may have even been knitting up her Latte socks...) and then let me play with her yarn cake.

The pictures really do the colour justice -- perhaps it's just the way it's been reskeined, but I think mine might be a bit lighter than other people's that I've seen, but I don't care. There's something very engaging with the way the purples and burnt oranges of my skein play with each other. The blue-ish skein is quite perfectly drawn in with the small rusty tints and flecks of bronze.

But the best part is that the pattern is one of Diane's! The very person who piqued my Middle Earthing interest in the first place!

I'm so looking forward to casting these on, and this time I swear I'm going to finish them before the next package arrives.

i want to tattoo

Dear Mithranstar,

Thank you so much for pointing me Fox-way.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The Team, as always, misses the point oh-so-slightly (as though the 'attractive' part of attractive women means anything; they have clearly not come across the likes of this), however, it does not detract from the fact that it is truly a wonderful thing.

Thanks for thinking of me!

Your kindly,

emmms of erqsome xx

there's some meme in my soup

Lovely Heather at Zuzushine tagged me for a Seven Random Things meme, and I'm always partial to a bit of meme, so here goes.

The rules: Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.

1. I have a birthmark on my upper right thigh. It's shaped a little like Baffin Island and is exactly three inches higher than the same-shaped birthmark that can be found on my father's right thigh. My mother used to joke that that was how we knew I was his.

2. I get somewhat distressed if I don't wake up hungry. I try not to have anything to eat before going to bed because that empty feeling at the start of my day makes me feel like all I need to make the day AMAZING is eat breakfast. It can only go up from there.

3. Every time I go to the toilet I think of Sheryl Crowe's (apparent joke of an) announcement that she never uses more than one pieces of toilet paper unless it was a 'pesky occasion' and wonder.

4. When I was sixteen I tried to run away from home, for reasons I sure seemed important at the time but can't remember now. What I do remember is confronting my mother, with this huge fury that had welled up inside me ready to back me up, and suddenly realising how totally absurd I was to think it was going to solve anything. I started giggling in the middle of the argument that ensued and I think that was what actually got me grounded.

5. Sometimes I wonder if the real reason I want children is so that I have an excuse to engage in proper babbling nonsense without anyone thinking twice about it.

6. Two things can make me want to turn off my iTunes when listening to podcasts: a lack of basic pre-recording research and the mispronunciation of terms/phrases. It makes me furious. If you're going to take the time to record, make sure you've double-checked what patterns are called and where they can be found and who designed them instead of adopting an 'oh well, I'll put it in the show notes' attitude. And I don't care if their only knitting buddy is the microphone, if they listened to other podcasts they'd learn how things should be pronounced. (Z Knits, I'm talking to you. 'Mittered' square indeed. It's MIGHT-ered, dammit.) It's so off-putting and just seems to announce that they've no interest in the community. No matter how much I like the 'casts I'm listening to, when I hear either of these things it just makes me want to switch the whole thing off.

7. Every year I buy seeds, full of hope that this year I will plant them. I'm still hoping.

I don't really know who to pass this off to, so I'm going to be lame and say that if you get inspired to meme yourself, let me know, I'll want to hear about it.