"Crotchety" *is* a real word

BBC News: The book that influenced all others. Samuel Johnson, born 300 years ago this week, wrote one of the most important books in the English language. So what made his dictionary so special?  "Dictionaries", said Samuel Johnson, "are like watches: the worst is better than none,

Startitis

Had a little falling down in the projects department.  I'd been planning to start Heather's Christmas socks once I got done with the previous pair on the needles, but this got there first: This is MimKnits Flutter Scarf, in Skylark Yarns Les Oiseaux, a 70/30

Tweets for the week of September 11th

* Got Eclipse and Tomcat, please don't tell me I need Struts too. I just want to display the JSP! Shouldn't be so sodding hard to do... * Only a Real Nerd has the Doctor Who books arranged on the shelf in correct publication/chronological order. Or a

FO: Pillar Socks

I have never had this much trauma getting a pair of socks out the door. Got partway through the cuff on sock #1 with a rogue loop of yarn at one side, I thought I could live with it.  I couldn't, but I deluded myself for an inch

Bells of St Lawrence

BBC News: Oldest ring of bells played again. For the first time in almost 25 years, Ipswich is waking up to a unique medieval sound.  The Suffolk town's St Lawrence Church houses the oldest circle of church bells in the world.  The five bells have been silent since

999 Emergency!

Had to be done.  I am still English after all.  It's 999 day! This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 9:09 am People are flocking to get married in China and at Gretna Green today.

More chives and no-one gets hurt

My house is near the best spice shop I've ever met, Penzeys.  They have every herb, spice, seasoning, and blend you could imagine, all in jars for you to smell, plus an amazing hot chocolate mix.  The Network Guy at work also loves Penzeys, and we have an

Tweets for the week of September 4th

* Going to Krispy Kreme tomorrow for some "evil little lard-pods of joy".  Must do penance in the gym afterwards. * Installed Snow Leopard and got 11.78Gb of disk space back.  Painless install, took one hour and one reboot. So far so good. * Spinning lesson #1: not all fibre

FO: Handspun Halfdome #2

Got to my doctor's appointment crazy early the other week.  Lunchtime traffic was less than I expected, the doctor was late, and, well... RIMMER: There:  some kind of writing on the floor.  P-S-I-R-E-N-S. Psirens? KRYTEN: The poor devil scrawled it in his death throes, using a combination of

Spinning frog hair

I wanted to spin something thin.  I was planning to spin a 3-ply Targhee yarn, but the roving wants to be spun too thick.  Tried a cabled yarn with Gale's Art black BFL, but the roving feels a bit felted and it didn't inspire me.  The