Leaping into Fall

I really need to stop using "okay" to start my blogs. I have a better background than that, and while this blog isn't professional or trying to be, starting 75% of my posts with the word, 'okay,' is not.  It's almost the end of the month and it's finally starting to feel like autumn.  Since the Autumn equinox was on the 23rd of the this month, it's about time.  I like summer, but I think that's more along the lines of the fact that I used to be off.  I'm not anymore and this 110 degree weather at 6 pm is for the birds!  The last two days, it was around 60 degrees when I left the house, so I brought out my pediatrics jacket.  I like it, since I don't have another zip up jacket in brown and it's comfy jersey knit without being too heavy.  I've been trying to look for sweater dresses too and I'll have to do more shopping this weekend -- maybe check out Dillards, Sears, and Target before Ross and Marshalls.  I've looked at Penney's briefly and Kohls didn't have anything like last year, but it's been so abnormally humid that I don't think they wanted to put out long sleeves too soon.

I've been playing a new game on Facebook called Cupcake Corner, which is a lot like all the other café games, except this one is little desserts and I love cupcakes, so I joined.  It's kind of cute, but I don't like that it runs all the time.  I like games that when I leave, I don't have to worry about things going bad or losing all my money.  I'm not all about the real-time.  I have enough real life. I don't want to have to devote more to the games on facebook.  Am I not on that soul-sucking website enough?  I'm still trying to work out and I've re-cast on that pair of socks from hell and I'm working on the stockinette stitches before starting the pattern back up.  For those of you who don't knit, that's the part where it looks like just rows and rows of the same stitch.  When you do straight knitting on two single sided needles, that's accomplished by one row of knit stitches and one row of purl stitches, which alternate to give you this pretty flat fabric of little 'v's.  On socks, and other "knitting in the round" projects, you knit every stitch on the circle, because you always knit across from the same side instead of turning your work back and forth.  Some knitters get really bored with stockinette stitch, because it's the same two stitches over and over, but really, all knitting is the same two stitches over and over, it only matters if you do them in a different order or if you twist stitches to make new patterns.

This week, I hope to bake a loaf of homemade bread -- yum yum -- perhaps bake some cupcakes as well.  I'm thinking about cheesecake cupcakes or dr. pepper cupcakes.  Both sound really promising.  I'm also almost ready to tally up all my workouts for the next month.  I've got to subtract the money for the Halloween polishes from China Glaze and I needed to buy a new needle, because Lislis destroyed one of my cables last weekend, so I ordered two balls of Pirate King from Knit Picks to make the shipping worth while.  That will either become socks for Aaron or my brother.  I think that's it for today.  If I think of anything else, I'll do edits later.

Totals since my last post:

September 23, 2010:  Nothing.  I was going to workout with Aaron, but did not feel well.

September 24, 2010: 8 flights of stairs (30 minutes)

September 25-26, 2010:  Nothing, I went home for the weekend.

September 27, 2010:  Nothing.  My out-of-town doctor and the nurse returned and I was swamped all day.

September 28, 2010:  8 flights of stairs (30 minutes).  I usually work out tonight, but Aaron won't be staying to workout cause he doesn't want to miss Glee so I won't get the chance. 
Complete total so far:  71.5 -- I think I'll need to reevaluate my minutes for next month and cut down on the amount for stairs. *nods*

That's it for now.  Okay bloggers -- what's your latest purchase and are you super happy about it?

Sock Woes

Okay, so the day I'm having hasn't been the greatest, but Mom was able to find me a ticket to Hope's play this weekend, and I'm going home so I'll get to see the family, which is awesome!  Hope will be in Bull in a China Shop at Le Petit Theater this weekend, and all the reviews so far have been great!  I'm really looking forward to a little bit of theater with my mommy.

However, my sad news is that the socks I've gotten a good section finished on will have to be frogged back to before the pattern work.  There's several reasons for this.  One -- I miscounted the number of rows I needed in the length, and subsequently forgot to accommodate the extra length of the foot in rows of plain stockinette stitching.  Two -- I misread the pattern when I transcribed it from cuff-down to toe-up and I've been doing a single cable twist over two stitches instead of a double over four stitches, which changes the look of the pattern.  Normally, I would just leave this and keep going anyway, but as these socks are supposed to be a test knit for someone else's pattern, I'll have to go back and fix the error.  At least I'm only about 22 rows into the pattern, which is where I was supposed to start the heel, but am not ready, so I'll just undo those rows, add the extra stockinette rows and start the pattern over.  It's not an outrageous amount of work, but I really hate frogging those little stitches.  Maybe I'll move my Addi Turbo needle to the front side while I work up the pattern and move it back for the heel.  I'll be sure to take a picture before the frogging and after, so I can post them both on here and you can see the difference.  The only thing really making me frown about this is I'll be pulling out the lime green stitches, which have been giving me no end of grief, and putting them right back -- yes, it's still cute, but the other sock is SO much cuter for not having a HUGE break in the color.  You'll see when I put the pictures up.

Workouts have been doing well though, and we're getting closer to the end of the month! Yay!

September 18-19, 2010:  I don't work out on the weekends, because I try not to do much and relax.

September 20, 2010:  8 flights of stairs (up and down, remember) (30 minutes)

September 21, 2010:  8 flights of stairs; 30 minutes of DVD workout.  (60 minutes)

September 22, 2010:  8 flights of stairs (30 minutes)

I'm supposed to be working out with Aaron tomorrow since W will be gone and getting ready for his trip to France.  Let's see how that one goes!

Oh, as promised, here are the pictures of the Soft Rose Wave Socks!

Woot woot!

So, it's finally Friday -- this week has just drug it's feet on some days, and a couple of others, I looked at the clock with a double take that it was already 2 or already 3 (Then the rest went backwards. . . *HMRPH*

Yesterday, I got home from work and picked up the towels -- after stopping by Target and buying way too much stuff, including cake mix, so I can bake cherry coke cupcakes this weekend.  (They had some really cute Halloween cupcake papers and bone sprinkles, but I didn't buy any of them!  I stayed with the plan.)  What I did get, however, was some 1lb wrist weights because with the stairs I've been climbing at work, I'm not doing much for my upper body.  That's what yesterday's workout was all about.  I did the cardio and the upper/mid fix workouts on my Carmen Electra DVDs, to add another 30 minutes to my 8 flights of stairs (That's 8 down and 8 up.)  That means, I got a full hour.  I'm a little on the tense and sore side today, but I have to go get the mail in a few minutes, so I'll try to keep it up.  I've done it 3 days already this week.  I'll also try to get a little exercise besides walking the mall or Boardwalk this weekend -- maybe I'll take a brisk walk around the neighborhood.  I should also probably get on a scale Sunday.

When I checked the mail after my workout, however, my order from 8ty8beauty had come in!  That's right, China Glaze's Awakening Halloween Polish set.  Here's the display image:  

Aren't they just to die for?  I love the purple one (Mummy May I) and the Orange-y one (Ick-a-Body) Ya know, like Sleepy Hallow?  I think they have great names.  The Green one is Zombie Zest and the other polish is a clear top coat, although a moon light white would have been cool too.  I'll post swatches after I paint with them this weekend, although, there are lots of swatch posts all over the web.  (It took my forever to find someone selling these.  I've searched Ulta, Sally's, and all the mega chains -- I finally found them on one of my e-tailers, but the other is still sold out!)

Anyway, I finished the "Soft Waves" sock, (pictures later) and I've got almost two inches of the "Sherbet Socks," so I hope to add to that too, and I need to fix that last image set from the Northwestern game last weekend, and I want to do some more scrapbooking on my Disney Halloween scrapbook, so I've got a lot to do this weekend.  I hope I can get at least some of it done before it's over.

September 16, 2010: 8 flights down stairs and 8 flights back to the office. Then cardio, upper/mid fix from Carmen Electra  [60 minutes!]

September 17, 2010:  8 flights down, 8 flights up, then 3 more down and 3 more up. [40 minutes]

Have a great weekend, mina-san.  And if you'd tried these, or you're doing your own workout plan, leave a comment and tell me about it!

Chugging

. . . and not the beer kind.

I have been trying really hard to get into workout mode lately, but being alone most of the time makes it really hard.  Aaron works out at school with W and keeps saying that I could come too, but they mostly do weight training and I'm not into that sort of thing.  Plus, I don't want to interfere with their 'bro' time.  I've been doing my Carmen Electra dvds at home, but although fun, it can be quite boring without someone to share it with.  I know it's hard to talk while working out, but I want someone to collapse with after and smile and think -- yea, that was a great workout.  Not a cat that sniffs my face while I'm doing pushups. It's not so cute, and cat hair is really hard to dislodge from sweat-soaked skin.  I won't enumerate what I see in the mirror these days, since it's too depressing, I guess I just have to take it a little at a time and hope it all works out. (No pun intended).

September 11, 2010:  Sweated my butt off in 100 degree weather in an open-air stadium at Northwestern, which would count if I hadn't eaten Popeyes for supper and shared nachos at the game. [0 --boo!]

September 12, 2010:  Nada. Blah! [0 minutes]

September 13, 2010:  3 flights up, none down.  [5 minutes.]

September 14, 2010:  6 flights up, 8 down and 8 more up.  [45 minutes] [so far.  Workout night!]

September 15, 2010:  Didn't work out -- instead went to academy and school with Aaron, who needed to see if he had closed his lab. Today -- 8 flights up and down. [30 minutes.]

On the up side:  I finally found someone who had the China Glaze Awakening Halloween set on sale and ordered them immediately before they sold out.  Aaron says that counts toward my total for next month, but I have to argue, because I was lemming them and looking for them WAY before I started my work out regimen.  Maybe I'll take half the price from my total in compromise.

Keep on burning . . .

Okay Day 4, September 10, 2010.  Aaron didn't work out yesterday with Walter, cause he's headed out of town for a concert this weekend, so I didn't get much of a work out either.  Went down 8 flights and up 5, and I realized that each flight is 24 steps, not 20.  That's a whole nother 4 steps!  WOOT!.  Wish me luck!!

September 10, 2010: [25 minutes] (so far!)

Being Resolute

As much as I hate to admit it, I've put on a few pounds -- it's not like a ton, or even really like 20 pounds, but I am getting heavier and I need to get off my fat butt and work out again.  So, with the idea from flinty over at Polish or Perish,  I'm going to start an incentive program for my work outs.  For every 10 minutes that I work out, I get 1 dollar to use on nail polish or cupcake items.  She has hers set up that the longer she works out, the more expensive of a polish she can buy, but since I rarely have days that I can workout for 90 minutes or longer, I'll just use the dollar increments and they only last for the next month.  No roll over to get something really expensive, so I have to work out for it in that month.  At the end of the month, I'll tally all the times and that's how much I can spend in October.  And to keep my honest, I'll try to post all of the totals here.  We're at the beginning of September, and I know I've done some stairs in the past week, but since I can't remember exacts, they don't count.  Here's the total so far:

September 7, 2010:  30 minutes of intense cardio;  3 flights of stairs (that's 72 up and 72 down, which is 10 minutes, as agreed upon by Aaron.) [Totals: 40 minutes]

September 8, 2010:  Nothing yet today, but I'm going to take the stairs down this evening and back up to get my things for class, which should count as 192, plus the 60 steps back to 5th floor, which is not working out for 30 minutes, cause it only takes about 15 minutes total but as 72 steps is 10 minutes, 192 steps should be just over 30, but I will count it as 30. (Okay -- so I didn't make it up all 8 flights, but I made 6.) [20 minutes]

Wish me luck on keeping up with it, since my thighs are a little sore today.

Michaels Mini-Haul and Cupcakes (PIC Heavy!)

Konnichiwa!


As I’ve mentioned before, I am a major sucker for cupcakes. I really like trying new recipes – although I won’t be using any more Martha Stewart for a while – her last cupcake recipe I used didn’t rise at all! And her caramel recipe was completely not right to fill the cupcakes – it was kinda runny and poured right out the bottom, even after I let it cool in the fridge. And the peanut butter frosting was far too rich and just wanted to slide right off the cupcakes. Oh well. Since then, I’ve done fun-fetti cupcakes with rainbow chip icing for the Grad Student Council bake sale and helped raise over $1000 for two Gulf Charities. SO YAY!

Funfetti Cupcakes with Toppers

I’m planning on making some Mountain Dew cupcakes from the Confessions of a Cookbook Queen blog this weekend and Paula Deen’s Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf to go with them since we have to stop eating out so much.  I even bought some really cute cupcake liners to put them in! Look -->




I finally found some Mary Engelbright Cherry Berries too so that I can use them on the mini cupcake and mini cake toppers for my cupcakes! They should be so cute! Here’s what else I found while I was perusing my local Michaels. . .

 

Martha Stewart CupCake Punch

Cupcake Corner

Yep! That’s a Martha Stewart item – I said I wasn’t using her recipes.  I didn’t say anything about her craft items. And it makes a really cute little corner punch.

Cupcake Brads

Candy Stickers

 I found these really cute cupcake brads and stickers while looking for metal findings to do some pressed penny jewelry.

Pumpkin Patch

Autumn Sprinkles

I also found these really cute buttons that will be adorable in my Disney scrapbook with all the Halloween pictures

Tink Stickers

And that wonderful boyfriend of mine got me these really cute stickers for my fairy obsession.



 

Tokidoki Stationary

Cute Food Stickers

 And last, but not least, I found these stickers and stationary that were just too cute not to get. I got the stationary when our local Borders closed and the stickers were from Michaels.


Anyway, that’s it for now – so bloggers, have you found anything cute lately??

 (WHEW!  That post took a lot out of me -- blogger really needs to find a better way to insert pictures without minute HTML changes!)

Blog Giveaway!

Mon Coin a Moua  is having a giveaway on their blog for subscribers.  Just look at all the stuff you could win!  Now, I admit, I just found this blog, but they have some great information about polishes and makeup for all you pretties out there!  Make sure to stop by and give them a few more followers -- Just click the link in the title, or in my side bar -- and the contest is open until August 31, so that only gives you a few more days!!

Catching up. . .

Lately it seems as if that's something I just can't do.  Granted, I'm kinda lazy.  I do my work -- I just do it in my own time.  As long as I have patients scheduled for a few weeks in advance, I don't see the need to panic and schedule every chart on my desk.  However, they continue to pile up.  As soon as I think I've got the schedule set and ready to call the 40 something people for the next month, I get told that she needs another vacay and I'm moving everyone around.  I mean, it's her prerogative.  She can take a vacation anytime she wants. That's why she's the doctor.  I just wish it wasn't so last minute that I'm shuffling the same patients further and further back.  I think I have enough patients on my desk to schedule into next year.  And don't even get me started on the ones that call like 10 times in the week I get the referral, but when I try to call them to schedule closer to their actual appointment, forget it.  I might as well try to reach Santa Clause.  At least he has a stable address that doesn't return to sender 3 times. 

But I digress.  I've been meaning to blog lately, but I haven't been able to f ind something to blog about.  In the meantime, I've started writing on some of my stories a little more and I'll try to post them and the prompts I've been working with on my Teases blog.  In the meantime, YOU could head on over there and tell me what you think . . . or even leave me a message here with something you'd like to see me blog about -- maybe something you'd like to see researched more?

Anyway, that's all the time I have for this minute, kiddos, so I'll catch you on the flip side.

SO BLOGGERS, WHAT ARE YOU BLOGGING ABOUT TODAY?

Leave your interesting or creative responses in the comment section BELOW!  (Thanks Ray!)

CUPCAKES

For those of you, who know anything about me, you know that I am an avid baker, who has an undeniable love for cupcakes.  And I'm not the only one.  Lately, cupcakes have been popping up EVERYWHERE!  I've seen jewelry, t-shirts, socks, shoes, folders, nail accessories, and even scrapbooking items.  There are yarns with cupcake names and my favorite lipgloss is a shimmery purply pink called "CupQuake" from Victoria Secret, that tastes like icing.  Here are some of the newest and cutest cupcake items I've found.

Bake it Pretty                   
                 Bake it Pretty Blog
Bake it Pretty has cup liners, sprinkles, toppers, packages, and everything else you need to make your cupcakes the cutest EVAR!  They have a store and a blog, where they can give you recipe ideas and the shop to get all your ingredients.  My favorite are the shaped sprinkles and colorful nonpareils with the unique cupliners -- Like these: 



Cupcake Cupcake Toppers
Confessions of a Cookbook Queen is a blog by a self-professed cookbook and cake decorating collector.  Not wanting to part with her cupcake toppers, she set about making her own.  I first learned about her blog from EpiCute, but I just couldn't pass up copying down her idea to try it on my own.  Here are her cupcake cupcake toppers:



Cupcake Yarn
Cupcake is a yarn line by Lion Brand.  It is a medium worsted-weight afghan yarn, which means it's on the thicker side, but not too bulky for slipper socks.  It comes in 8 colors, with cute names like "SugarPlum" and "Marshmallow."  Here's my favorite, "Pink Lemonade."




All Things Cupcake
All Things Cupcake is another blog about cute things: Cupcakes.  They feature the best of everything cupcake, from tv shows with cupcakes to reader tattoos.  It's updated daily and has been running since 2007.  They have recipe book reviews, pictures, ideas . . .if it has a cupcake, they have it. And if not, send it to them and they'll be happy to add it to the site.


EpiCute
Epicute is a blog that's part of the famous Cheeseburger Network, which includes LolCats, GraphJam, and FailBlog.  They feature cute food and food items, be it savory or sweet.  Updated daily (or close to it), there's usually some sort of cute cupcake to get the ideas flowing.


Cupcake Nails
So the latest craze in nail art in Japan has been to add bulky acrylic decorations to the acrylic nails before gluing them on.  There are lots of different designs with bows and Hello Kitty and just about everything, but the ones I think are Supa Kawaii are the cupcakes, of course.  I found these on Etsy:  (note: these exact ones are sold out, but she might have more.) 


Then I saw these, and I'm not sure where to get them, but they are so cute.  A little too expensive for these types of things since I'm sure they wouldn't last a week on my beat up hands, but they are really cute anyway.  And I found the last ones a while back and saved them because I wanted to try to paint something similar on my nails so I wouldn't have spent so much money.  The last ones are from the Tokyo Fashion Expo and I think they're the cutest.

I also bought some nail polish called Cupcake by ORLY when I couldn't find the Sprinkles color from China Glaze.  I think they would be very pretty together, what do you think? 








I'll leave you with some random cupcake images I found on Epicute and Etsy.  A quick search on either site will give you the cutest things from jewelry to food boxes to ornaments.   The first two are from Epicute, the second an Etsy vendor.

 

 

 

So forum:  What's your favorite cupcake?

My socks.

Okay, I've been working on my hand-knit socks, and actually making some progress now. I think I have a couple of inches left before I can start the ribbing on the first sock.  The next pair will be knit two-at-a-time in some hand-spun wool that my sister-in-love got me from her trip to Alaska, but those will have to be after the entrelac scarf I'm gonna knit for mom.  It will be my first time trying entrelac and I've heard at the beginning it seems like you're doing everything wrong and all of a sudden it's like magic and beautiful.  Okay -- I know most of you out there don't know what entrelac looks like, so here's a picture of it.

I really like the woven look of this design.  I'm going to do it in variegated yarn with a brown and blue color-way.  My socks are in Schoppel-Woole's Zauberball.  I've heard a couple of different names for this.  The first was Tropical Fish, and more recently Rich Jewels, but the rainbow effect is beautiful for socks.  It's a little expensive at about $20 per ball, but I can get a pair of knee high socks from a single ball, so I think it pays off for this type of work.  I have a couple of little holes in the sides where I transferred from one needle to the next on the circular, but I think it adds some character to my first pair of hand knits.  I knit some baby socks before, which can be seen on my facebook page, but those were simple on size 8 needles.  This is yards and yards of knit on size 1 needles.  They're only 2.25 mm around. 

You can buy Zauberball in several places around the net, but here's the best two sites I've found:

Webs: Yarn.Com http://www.yarn.com/webs-knitting-crochet-yarns-weight-sock/webs-knitting-yarns-schoppel-wolle-zauberball/

Paradise Fibers http://www.paradisefibers.net/Zauberball-Sock-Yarn-p/472458.htm

In looking for some more Zauberball colors, I ran across a new yarn that I might have to try out called Flying Saucer -- it makes ring patterns like space particles when knit at the right gauge, which is perfect for socks.  I'm just having trouble finding someone besides a wholeseller that has it for sale.  Even the Schoppel-Woole website is not helpful.  The wholesale site says that "Knitting Under the Influence" here in Shreveport shops from them, I'll just have to find out if I can get it from them and make a trip sometime since their website does not exist.  Here's some of the Zauberball colors: 

Oh, and before I forget, I posted these on FB, but here's the "so far" pictures of my socks.  They fit well and feel good, so that's all that matter. 

So forum,  "What's on your needles?"

Nails

So today, I wanted to talk about something that goes along with socks, but isn't necessarily sock related.

Nail Polish.

There I said it. 

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately.  A LOT.  Most of them have been comics like

• Girls with Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto (Yay Sprinkles!)
• Something*Positive by Randy Milholland (Yay Choo-Choo Bear crossovers!) and
• XKCD (Have to love geek comics with stick figures)

But I've been looking at a lot of makeup and nail blogs too.  While looking for new polish designs and ideas lately to remove the Bahamian Escape (China Glaze) and Snow (China Glaze) from my toenails and replace it with something else.

 Don't get me wrong, the colors are brilliant in the blue with white polka dots, but I love to change it up.  Today, for instance, they are Snow with Significant Other Color (OPI) over the top, which partially makes them look dirty and partially gives them a pretty pink/orange/green shimmer.  The color is very pretty by itself, even if it's a bit translucent after 2 coats and you can still see a nail line.  I might try it over a more muted color than the Snow.  I've also got a few more colors on the way that I'll have to swatch up and post, but here's the Significant Other Color.
   

I've also got the For Audrey (China Glaze)  that I ordered a while back.  I'm really digging the China Glaze colors, although the formula seems almost different for each one.  Some are very smooth and thin and some are really gloopy, but dry nice without streaking in two coats.  I don't like to put more than that, because it tends to get too thick and chips super easy.  Here's the For Audrey.

Please excuse the horrible images, but my phone doesn't take the best images in bad lighting.  These are both one coat of NailTec Maintenance Plus with two coats of polish and one coat of China Glaze Holographic Top Coat.

Anyway, I started this blog with the intention of giving you two of the new blogs I've been reading a lot.  The first is The Daily Nail (http://daily-nail.blogspot.com).  She is trying to do 365 different designs in 365 days and so far, she's doing well.  I don't have the patience to change my polish every day, but she's got some great designs and I've gotten to see some of the Konad plates from her.  The second I want to share is Polish or Perish (http://polishorperish.blogspot.com)  She's got some great swatches of color and I suggest checking her out before buying because she gives a good detail on how it applies and how many coats they need to make it opaque.  The third, is Dr. Frankenpolish (http://drfrankenpolish.wordpress.com/) and this one is all about showing you what mixed polishes look like.  It's got some pretty colors and it's another good way to see what colors go best with others.

I think that's it for today.  If you have a favorite blog or site you look at for polish, just leave your response below.  And to borrow from Ray William Johnson,  "So forum," What color are your nails?

Writing

Okay, so my last few posts were about socks -- which is all well and fine, since "socks" is in the name, but in the past, I've also talked about writing, and that's what I want to bring up today.

I've been doing some research lately on plotting, since I don't usually map out a full plot in my head, and in the end, I actually never get to the end, and well, that's got to stop.  I decided in order to get the time line down for The Senate Race, I needed to write down my major plot points and make sure they were all in order.  To do that, I enlisted the help of the interwebs in order to see what advice other writers had on the subject.  I came across quite a few sites that were helpful and some interesting links on other subjects that I'm going to share with you today.  And if you have any tried and truth methods that you swear by or swear at, even, you can leave me a comment and I'll check them out as well.  Let's get started, shall we?

http://www.diyplanner.com/    I came across this site looking for tips, and lo and behold, they have a little program that installs super fast that allows you to create your own planner with just a few clicks.  It's really simple and I made a few daily, weekly, and monthly so that I can seen everything at once and map out which hobbies I'm going to work on which days so that I can actually get some work done across the board.  For example, my knitting class is on Thursdays, so I can work on my socks on that day and I can scrapbook and work out on Tuesdays, because I know Aaron works out.  It's all there in my planner.

http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/read/plot1.html  This site wasn't what I was looking for, but it offers some basic information on Plot, Point of View, Elements of Plot, and Characters -- it appears to be a textbook companion and indeed, I seem to recall some of these stories from my high school texts.

http://johnaugust.com/   This guy has a lot of information on screen-writing, but he's also got a pretty in-depth archive covering an exhausting set of topics.  Luckily he has a search box right there in the side bar.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/112552/tips_for_plotting_how_to_create_a_fascinating.html  This is some more basic information about plots, not really the diagrams I was interested in, but some questions to ask yourself when setting up your story.  Since the story I'm working on already has a cast of characters, and I pretty much know how and where everything will play out, I might use this for a later story.

http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm  -- this site has a lot of diagrams and information on all the parts of the novel.  This particular page is on Structure and Plot and diagramming the elements of your plot.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/plot-diagram/  This is a cute little flash site with a diagram plot builder.  You just put in headers and a brief (really brief) description of what's happening.  I created one, but the description is so small, I couldn't put half of what I wanted in some places.  I'll have to use a page and separate them one by one.

Pretty much every other site I looked at said the same things these did -- and for those of you to still prefer a paper book, there are a lot of books out there that discuss this at some length.  Here are just a few that I turn to whenever I get the chance:

• Braine, John. How to Write a Novel.
• Brande, Dorthea. Becoming a Writer.
• Brohaugh, William. Write Tight: How to Keep your Prose Sharp, Focused and Concise.
• Burack, Abraham Saul. Techniques of Novel Writing.
• Burnett, Hallie Southgate. Fiction Writer’s Handbook.
• Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction.
• Edelstein, Scott. The No-Experience-Necessary Writer's Course: A Unique Stress-Free Approach to Writing Fiction and Poetry for Anyone Who Ever Wanted to Put Words on Paper.
• Hubert, Karen M. Teaching and writing popular fiction: horror, adventure, mystery and romance in the American classroom. 
• Lowenkopf, Shelly. Secrets of Successful Fiction Writing: A Guide to Techniques and Approaches the Professionals Take for Granted(Santa Barbara Writer's Conference Sh)
• Saunders, Jean. How to Plot your Novel
• Unknown. The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers.
• Unknown. The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life.
• Unknown. The Writer’s Mind: Crafting Fiction.

So if you have any others that you turn to, and I haven't mentioned it, just leave me a comment and I'll check it out.  Or if you've read one of the last three books and have the author's name on them . . .I'd appreciate it.  I couldn't look them up before this post, and I've heard them mentioned a couple of places with out author attributes, and they deserve all the credit for them.   If you have questions or if you want me to look up something to add to the next rant -- just leave me a line.  Until next time blogger-geeks!

Keeping Busy.

Gomen nasai – I am so sorry.

I told you guys I’m horrible about actually keeping track and updating things.  Yesterday was the deadline for the 2^nd Annual Little Miss Matched Project Sock contest, and I’m happy to say that I sent in 3 entries.  Maybe I’ll do a few next year.  I had one character, one animal print, and one weather design and I think they came out good.  I’ll update everyone when voting begins to look at the participants.  I’m still meeting with Dawn to work on our knitting class on Thursdays, so anyone in the Shreveport area who wants to be in a Stitch and Bitch, you can leave me a message and I’ll give you the details, or you can come.  We meet in the BRI at about 5:20.  Just message me before you come so I can make sure we’re meeting that week.  I’ve been making a little progress on my rainbow knee socks.  I’m up over the ankle and about to start the increases for the calf area.  They’re just beautiful in that ShoppenWoole tropical fish yarn.  It’s really fine, so the needles are tiny – size 1, which makes the work go pretty slow, but it makes the work that much better.  I’ll post the pictures as soon as I get them off my phone.  You’ll be able to see my pointy heel – I think the other will work out better, but it fits well for my first pair of socks and my first time with the short-row heel work.  I’ll try to post some of my scrapbook pages as I get them finished as well. Other than that, work has been busy and so I’m keeping my home life simple.

Keep my updated and leave me comments in the box BELOW.  

Ja ne!

Types of Socks

Okay -- so I've been doing some looking around, and I'm with wisegeek.com on this one:  if you think the only type of socks are the white ones that come to your ankle or part way up your calf are the only socks, then you definitely have not been shopping lately. There as many styles and colors and you can imagine.  Below I've listed some of the basics styles and shapes, starting from the bottom of the foot, going up.

• Anklet --these socks are just like the name implies.  They reach about ankle level and are mostly used in cases where you don't want a lot of the sock showing.  A lot of men wear these socks with tennis shoes since they are more sporty and you don't have to continuously pull them up while moving.  These are often divided into three categories, no-show, low, and quarter.  No-show does not show over the ankle and usually has a tab to keep them pulled up.  Low reaches just to or just below the ankle and quarter reaches just above.  I've also read that many schools with uniforms are abolishing ankle socks -- for various reasons of course, but statistically, the most common reason seems to be that teachers are unsure students are wearing socks with some ankle socks and therefore it can become a hygiene issue.  They don't seem to be differentiating between no-show socks and other ankle socks. Never bothered me since I don't particularly care for these socks.

• Crew -- these socks are the working man/sometimes woman's staple sock.  They are mid-length (usually 6-8 inches above the shoe line) socks, often reaching to mid-calf and have a ribbed cuff to keep them snug to the leg and in place. They are, I think, the most commonly used type of sock, since they are simple and versatile, especially for crew workers, as the name implies.  

• Knee-High or Over the Calf -- Socks in this length often tend to be one of two styles: athletic or novelty.  It doesn't mean that there can't be socks in other styles that are athletic or novelty, but since these socks come up to just below the knee, they are more on display than ankle or crew socks.  Toe-Socks, which are novelty (usually) socks with separate areas for each toe, rather than one full area, are often in this length.  These are also my favorite type of sock since they are cute and warm, but not heavy.

• Over the Knee -- These socks could just as easily fit into the knee-high category, but they are a little longer, reaching to the thigh area instead of just the knee.  Often this style of sock is a novelty costume sock, but if you group socks and stockings together, thigh-high dress stockings would fit into this category as well.

• The other style that could possibly be included here is Stockings or Tights.  These are usually made of nylon/lycra blends and come in two basic shapes: stockings, which are like socks, but usually sheer and should be held in place by garters; and pantyhose, which come in a variety colors and designs with a undergarment style waist band to hold them in place.  There are also foot-less tights, but since the whole point of the "sock" is the actual foot, I am going to ignore them for the sake of argument.

What are your favorite styles of socks?  Do you have a favorite place to buy socks?  Right now, I'm really into the knee highs, and I'll explain more on why next time!

Little Miss Matched

Those of you who know me personally know that I like lots of bright colored socks.  I ran across a company recently that caters to that whimsy.  It's called Little Miss Matched and they carry lots of different styles of socks, including sport length, knee high, and anklets.  More specifically, however, their socks don't come in pairs.  They come in sets of three, designed to be mixed and matched as the mood strikes.  You can see some of the new line below.  They have similar colors and styles, so that they match, but don't.

So, for the second year now,  the company is holding a competition for new socks.  You have to design 3 mismatched socks for one set.  You can send in as many entries as you want and they hold a online vote for the winners.  The winner gets like BIG BUCKS and to see their socks in the new line.  I've done two full color sets so far and I have another drawn to color, so I thought I would share my socks with my readers!  I'll post one from each of the two I've finished because I don't want to give away all of them -- just in case anyone out there wants to attempt to steal them from me.  I'll keep everyone posted on the deadlines and such and I'll post more later.

Ja ne!
HKat.