Moving into the Universe

October 2009

Current Mood: accomplished
What's Playing?: Type O Negative "Cinnamon Girl"

1. 4 or 5 out of 6ers are welcome here and have always been. *However*, this is a bi-centric comm, and a kink-centric comm, and a gamer-centric comm, and so on. Entries are generally expected to be about at least 1 of the 6 interests, and you do not get to tell bi people "chill out" when they protest their lack of inclusion. You're expected to be an ally.

2. This community has always strongly valued civil discourse. Criticism may happen, especially of someone's ideas rather than their selves, but ad hominems and responses like "fuck you!" are not tolerated. I try to give a warning first, but repeated offenses are not tolerated.

3.

melssexysecret was warned and continued to behave badly, so zie was banned. After zie sent a private message consisting of nothing but 300 "Fuck you!"s to my inbox, zir sockpuppet was also banned. Please remember this is only the second user who has been banned in the history of the comm. Don't be afraid that I'm on a power-tripping rampage. I have no desire to micromanage this community and rarely even have to comment wearing my mod hat. I have no intention of banning a ton of people.

Tags: admin note

I've Googled my question and found many conflicting responses, so I'm trying here - realizing that I also may get many conflicting responses. ;)

Is the cable cast-on more stretchy or less stretchy than long-tail? And is there a time one should NOT use the cable cast-on? I think it's great and wouldn't mind using it all the time, provided there are not some specific cases where it's not advisable.

As an example, I'm knitting my second pair of Berry Hill Fingerless Mittens - here on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/berry-hill-fingerless-mittens

I'm not a terribly tight knitter but I'd still like my cast-on row to be a bit looser. I know I can go up a needle size or two to get that, but I'm also wondering if the cable cast-on would provide a bit more looseness as well. Advice, please? Opinions? Conflicting or otherwise? ;)

Thanks!

So, yes... I just wrote a comment to the previous post here, went outside and took some pictures. Take a look.
This is my crazy re-blooming iris. I don't know if you can see it on this picture but there're some buds that are still opening

( more pictures )

Current Mood: amazed

Gov. Paterson is trying really hard to get the State Senate to pass a same-sex marriage bill duringt he ession that started today.

I live in Sen. Betty Little's district (the Northway, basically), and I am in favor of same-sex marriage in new York.

I think it's important for our citizens, and I think it's important to take the momentum away from the decision in Maine.

Our senator, Betty Little, who is generally and good and supportive senator, has oppsed same-sex marriage in the past, and I have express my concern about that.

I called her office at (518) 455-2811 and talked to Kathy, who said the senator does not think the state should redefine marriage.

She also said they are keeping track of the number of calls they receive expressing an opinion.

Honestly, if you have a strong opinion on this, I urge that you call either way.

In case you are not up here, this site will tell you how your senator stands on the issue -- http://tools.advomatic.com/24/nyequality/totals

Even if your senator has declared opposition to same-sex marriage, please contact him/her so our voices can be heard.

Update: Fom the Albany Times-Union's "Capitol Confidential" blog a little while ago:

As for legislation legalizing gay marriage, the Senate Democrats engaged in heated discussion during conference earlier — a conference meeting that did not include Sen. Tom Duane, the lead Senate sponsor of the bill. But so far, there’s been no indication that it will be brought on the floor today.

Can you believe it's November and my roses are blooming!!!! my white creeping phlox is just finished with its [???] second blooming[???]

As you can see, my Spring broccoli is still going in a put-to-bed garden, this is my Spring broccoli, it has been going all summer!
I've put my gardens to bed with a nice thick layer of leaves:

and here is today's picking:

there are some Brussels Sprouts tops in there [my favorite bits], as you might see someone has been nibbling the top leaves. I don't mind feeding deer but not my favorite parts.

here is a mystery cauliflower, I don't remember planting it or seeding for them, but it's definitely a fall crop. but with the eaters in there at night, I'll probably have to pick it early.

</cut>

what a weird year

I am a university student looking for volunteers in order to exam methodically the constitution of the lexical variations of french dialects. The need for warm bodies is needed in order to examine these variations in regional language unknown to others. If anyone citizen of a country part of the Francophonie is interested of just giving their own interpretation of a few words in their local speech, please leave word. Would appreciate any help that may be given.

The heavily armed monkeys guarding the servers currently report no site-wide problems.

I have found a pattern for socks that I must have and they are knit toe-up and I haven't done socks that way before.

Is it more complicated to knit socks this way? It seems so foreign to me!

Thanks for your input.

I am getting ready to make my first pair of socks. I've purchased one skein of Berroco Sox. I've been looking at patterns. Most suggest using DPN, however, I already own two, size US2 circular needles that I would like to use. I'd like to either transpose a dpn pattern to a two circular pattern, but I don't have the technical ability to do that. Does anyone have a pattern suggestion that already uses circulars, or an easy why to turn a double pointed needle pattern into one using circulars?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RealBakingWithRose/~3/vdesFgHcV5k/superchef_blog_review_of_rhc.html

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2009/11/superchef_blog_review_of_rhc.html

This review is dear to my heart, not just because it is so well written, but because through it I discovered that the author, Juliette Rossant, author, journalist, and poet, is the daughter of the renowned food author and journalist Colette Rossant, and also the renowned architect James Rossant.

Colette and I met over 21 years ago on a culinary trip to Japan. As a result of this trip Colette wrote a book on Japanese/French fusion cuisine and I wrote my first article for the New York Times on eating desserts in Tokyo. What a great treat to be acquainted with her daughter through the internet.

http://superchefblog.com/2009/10/28/rose-levy-beranbaum-roses-heavenly-cakes/comment-page-1/

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who responded to my earlier question about the age of an 'old woman', it really helped a lot. This is a really fantastic forum :)

(and in case any of you were wondering, I was looking at translations of the Mrs. Pepperpot stories. In the Norwegian original stories, I would assume her to be in her early fifties, whereas the constant use of 'old woman' to describe her in the English translations seemed to age her in my opinion.)

Thank you again

-Gry

http://akittenknits.blogspot.com/2009/11/blogging-to-win.html

as you may or may not know, i occasionally like to sew.so i was very excited to see that Sweet Jessie is having a contest to give away an awesome new book:one yard wondersthis is by the same people who did one skein wonders which i already have, and love.why not go on over and enter yourself?

New member here. Does any one have or know where I could locate a polka dot afghan pattern? I checked all the usual websites and they just don't have what I am looking for. I just want straight forward polka dots in a symmetrical pattern. This will be for a baby blanket. Thanks.

Possessive *it's
Plural *city's
The mind-boggling, nonexistent *its'
Conjugation *say's

Is it getting worse, or have I become hypersensitive to this? One thing that I've noticed is that it rarely presents as an error of omission. There is a very strong tendency towards error of addition. I've even seen signs where two plural words are side by side, but one of them (and not the other) inexplicably includes an errant apostrophe to form the plural. I can see how a misunderstanding would lead to the error here and there, but what reasoning drives this misuse to appear in side by side plural words, neither of which requires an apostrophe?

Yes, this is venting. But I'm also genuinely curious. It has come to the point that when I come across the spelling it's and there is no error in usage, it gives me pause. I silently thank the writer before I move on.

Edit to add asterisk to city's.

So, I always hear Americans taking about all these weird and wonderful creations like tofurky and amazing sounding stuff like that!
It's never been available in the UK, so I just ignored it and stopped drooling over the idea.

I have, however, found a couple of sites that are starting to do a wider range of veggie things now.

I have finally found tempeh, which I had never found before, and so I've never cooked with it.

I mostly cook with Quorn, and sometimes tofu.

So first off; how do I cook with tempeh? And any great recipes with it that are different to Quorn/tofu?

Secondly, they have veggie chorizo pieces!
OMG!
Any good recipes for that?
They also have proper 'turkey' and 'beef' roasts.
Wow!
I'll try them as they are first off, with the usual roast potatoes and veg, but any ideas for making them nicer?
I use the Quorn chicken style roast, and I like smothering it in garlicy herby butter, and stuffing it with the same. That comes out lovely.
I could do that with turkey I guess, but not beef.
I WILL try a stilton sauce with the beef, as that just sounds gorgeous.
Ooh and people have peppercorn sauces with beef?

What other turkey and beef roast recipes has anyone got?

There's steaks too... never done a steak!!

Sorry for the total vagueness, but I've never cooked with any of this stuff, it's all totally new, and I'd just love a whole bunch of ways to cook with them that are all yummy!

Current Mood: excited

16:25 Has new boots! I <3 Zappos! I ordered Friday night, I got them today. Woot! #

20:49 The gym kicked my ass tonight. I lost alot of ground in a week and a half of the flu. Stupid flu. But I stuck it out. Go me! #

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091109.html

Where do stars form when galaxies collide?

Hello lovely people :)

I am new to this community, been a lurker for a bit and finally decided to make a post. I'm currently getting over a I WANT TO CUT IT SHORT NOW NOW NOW phase and trying to get re inspired to grow my hair out. Currently while it's wet, it's probably 6 inches below my shoulders, dry it's shorter because i have curly hair, but the curls are quite loose.... but not quite waves either. It's confusing. Anyways, I just got into using an organic shampoo from Chagrin Valley Soaps, because my hair started falling out like crazy, and I think its partially due to a sensitivity to SLS. Since the switch, MUCH less hair has been falling out, and i'm hoping some of it might fill in the bald patches (i'm only 20, its hard to deal with bald patches when you're this young).

SO my question to you, lovely long haired friends, have you ever heard that brushing your hair every night pretty vigorously helps stimulate the follicle? I'm not convinced...

Thoughts?

Pictures soon, I promise.

Pleasure to meet you all. =D

Current Mood: calm

I cracked open my skull, and all this oozed out....

12:02 my head really hurts. #
19:30 Seriously? City park cancelled kickball for this? #
22:07 Hanging at bayou beer garden. I love kickballers. Good people. Wish we would have played! #
23:37 Has a really horrific headache and is going to bed now! #

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So I'm doing a christmas gift / swap with my freind. She does art and I'll give her a poem. But she wants it on nice paper and me being me I want to make the paper. I have some ideas but I would love more. I may do this for quite a few christmas yule time presents. Here are some ideas. They aren't mine, they are taken from my giant list. Sorry if it isn't that glamourbomby but all of the ideas are originally used for glamourbombing. Sorry if it's off topic.

( Paper Ideas )

Tags: ideas
Current Mood: calm

Hello,

I apologize if this is not allowed here.

I have published a couple of books and my current one is going to be potentially called "Coming Out" or "Knocking the Closet Door Down". It is going to be made up of various people's coming out stories. Whether gay, lesbian, trans, poly, kinky or even funny ones like Republican (kidding!)

So I need stories. If you are interested in being in the book please email me your story to shampoo150@gmail.com and out "coming out story"

also let me know here if you're interested so I can look for you email.

thanks!

Hi! First time poster and first time homeowner. :)

Since I'm extremely new to all this, I'm not sure where to figure this out. My hubby and I just bought a house last Tuesday, and we noticed what seems like hundreds of these cocoons made out of sticks ALL over the front of the house. In all of the bushes, on the windows, hanging from the roof. I have NO idea what they are, my parents don't know, and apparently the pest guy that came by on Wednesday had no idea.

So, if anyone could help identify this, it would be great! My parents did such a wonderful job cleaning out the front of the house, I don't want a swarm of bad insets coming and destroying it all. The pictures of the cocoon, and a tiny bit of the insect inside, are in my journal along with the before and after shots of the front of the house, a few of my new animal neighbors. :)

CLICK FOR PICTURES

Thank you to ANYONE that can help me!

Tags: garden pests: insects

Hi all,

I plan to make grasshopper pie from scratch for a friend's bday. For the crust, instead of using the chocolate wafers, can I use chocolate graham crackers(which I already have) adding extra cocoa powder(which I already have) or something else to it? I'd rather use the chocolate grahams instead of buying chocolate wafers if I can do so without compromising the taste and texture.

What do you think?

Also, I've never made grasshopper pie before. I'm assuming it's pretty straight forward, but if there is anything I should know about (including, for example, the world's best recipe for it) please share your wisdom. :-)

Hi, everyone. I was just wondering if you could look over these sentences that I had to write for my (high school) Italian class and offer any corrections. I hope this is okay! My teacher gave us a couple of stipulations for each sentence but he let us write whatever we wanted; they're not translations of anything.

( Read more... )

Tags: italian

I recall that at some point Jake wrote a song entitled something like "The Joke's On You" about needing to laugh at yourself if you want to laugh at the world. Lines included "God's idea of slapstick is to slap you with a stick," "Your lover can be quite a riot/ if you learn to giggle quiet," and something about if you want the right to laugh, you have to do so "when the one slipping on the banana peel is you." I've searched my stacks and cannot locate it. Any help?

This is a peculiar question, I know, but it's something I've got a sudden curiosity about.

Are there any particularly brilliant phrases or words in your dialect that you think are region specific to the extent that would probably make no sense to no-one outside your own area (language permitting, I mean)?

The reason I ask is, my Nanna finally explained to me the meaning of a phrase that I've heard all my life here in Grimsby, England, but that I never questioned:
"Eggin' ba o' Doigs" [Egging at the back of Doigs']
Used to evade a question, particularly if you think someone is being nosey. For example:
Person A: Where are we going? / Where were you last night?
Person B: Eggin' back o' Doigs'
I've only ever heard this once or twice, but it can also be used to describe something that is futile:
Person A: I tried to get ma lass out o' bed fo' school this mornin', it were like eggin' ba o' Doigs'...

Back when my Mum was a kid (early 50s) and most people were hard up in the town, people would steal birds' eggs out of trees ['egging'] (back when this was still legal and not morally questioned). Doigs' was a shipyard in an industrial estate, so obviously bereft of wildlife, and therefore it wasn't possible to go egging at the back of Doigs', because there weren't any trees. It's giving an answer without giving an answer, and essentially a way of saying "mind your own business!". It used to do my head in when I was little because my Mum would say it to me all the time and I'd never heard of egging (outside of the modern term of throwing eggs at buildings as vandalism), or of this shipyard (as far as I know it no longer exists). To make matters worse, she would evade my question about evading the question by evading the question...
Me: Where are we going?
Mum: Eggin back o Doig's.
Me: Where?!
Mum: Eggin back o Doig's!
Now that I understand it though I think it's ace, and inventive on the part of whoever made it up!

I can think of other similar phrases and words in Grimsby's dialect too that would fly over peoples' heads without an explanation like the above, and wondered if other towns, cities, states, whatever, had their own :) I'm aware from having an ex with a very VERY strong Black Country dialect that they have a ton in that dialect. I'm kind of fascinated!

Who's going tonight? I will likely show up around 8ish. Still @ flavours?

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2009/11/09/all_sparkles_all_the_time.html

I don't really know what came over me when it came to this sparkle yarn, but I'm a smidge obsessed. (I know. It's so unlike me.) It came into our local shop a few weeks ago, just one skein in...

Works last winter on my window. Made some upgrates and now on tree.

( +2 )

Hi, linguaphilians!

I'm about to write my course paper on problems of English poetry translation. The practical part of the paper will be a translation of Dylan Thomas's verse into Ukrainian, and comments on it. But I have no idea, what references should I use for the theoretical part of the work.

So the questions are:

1. Could you kindly advise some books in English, where the problem of rendering English poetry into various languages is discussed? Poetry translation theory, rendering stylistic devices etc.

2. Could you advise one or two books of critical essays about Thomas's poetry, maybe a stylistic analysis of his poetic devices and language in general? There are hundreds of books, but I'm looking for really useful ones.

Thanks!

Million dollar question - "are you wearing extensions"
Personally this is my favourite reply - "Does it fucking look like i'm wearing extensions" Though this is rather vulgar ha!
Grr really annoys me because natural long hair is beautiful + certainly doesn't look clipped in!

So, I'm a birdlover and an artist, and my favorite form of ~~self-torture~~ art is jewelry-making. Several months ago I had the idea to try to do tiny paintings and turn those into earrings, and the first pair I did was of some downy woodpeckers. My second pair involved barn owls, which I was not as happy with...the subtle changes within a somewhat limited range of color are damn hard to communicate on something that's about the size of a quarter.

So, my question to you is this: what are some birds that you think would translate well to a) tiny surfaces and b) acrylics? I've got a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds in the making (with jade and jasper beads, I think!) and am contemplating the possibility of loons...

Current Location: Library.
Current Mood: calm
What's Playing?: Classic Trance stream from DI.fm.

I have (reluctantly) decided to use a buttonhole band with a knit facing on this cardigan I'm working on. Don't get me started on why (do you ever wish certain pattern writers should be shot and their patterns burned before you can knit to the part where THEY SCREWED UP?)*

Anyway, I just wondered if anyone here has a simple method they like for aligning and anchoring the buttonhole to the facing buttonhole?

*Truth is, probably every Scandinavian who knits could have followed this with no problem, in fact, they don't even use the instructions, just the stranding charts and make the sweater the way they learned at the age of 9!

I am trying to knit Best Friend as a christmas gift. I'm using Patons Grace, and I'm getting frustrated because for the life of me I can't figure out what the heck is going on with my scrunched up yarn. Case in point this photo:
( Read more... )

Can anyone tell me why my stitches look so scrunched up? Is it me or is it because the yarn simply scrunches up like that?

I know this sounds like spam, but there is a reason why I'm asking, i promise.

How old is an old woman? i.e. if you saw the phrase "old woman" used to describe someone in a story, what age would you assume that person was?

I'm trying to comment on a translation of some Norwegian childrens stories, and I think they might have aged the main character, but I need the opinion of native speakers in order to really say anything about it :)

Thank you
-Gry

"Banking instutions are more dangerous than standing armies." - Thomas Jefferson.

Tags: quote

Finally. At long last. After 2.5 months of off-and-on crocheting, my Berroco Betty shrug is... kindof-sortof-half done.

I finished up the flat work just a bit ago and I'm going to weave in ends before sewing this beast closed. (Way too many ends to weave in- some due to poorly placed knots in my Red Heart, some due to me thinking I was at a place to cut only to find that I was nowhere near ready to do that, and only one due to actually running out of yarn. 16oz/835yards is a LOT of yarn.

Weave, sew, then it's time to start working on the border/collar. This is going to be a BEAST!

Total active volunteers this week: 40

^Owwww.

We have several admins and high volume folks who are taking time off right now due to personal reasons (and don't any of you dare feel guilty about it, because you need that time off and this is a volunteer thing, after all), so we're going to need all available hands on deck this week in order to keep things under control.

Remember: just five touches gets you on my weekly report! And if you have questions about requests, we're here in IRC and

learn_support for assistance. :-)

What's Playing?: Ingrid Michaelson - The Hat | Powered by Last.fm

I have trouble picking appropriate yarns for projects. I mostly crochet and the stuff I do it doesn't make too much of a difference, BUT - I have a fancy scarf I want to knit (for my boyfriend's MOM!) and need help!

I want to knit this Lazy Angles Scarf. From what I can tell, the yarn used is a worsted weight wool/acrylic blend. I want to be able to make this for not too much money, and preferably yarn I can find a Joann/ Michaels.

I want it to be cheap, but nice.
I would love to use something cheap like Vanna's Choice, but am afraid that might be too "cheap". Then I was looking at this Paton's Silk Bamboo yarn, but I don't know if it'd be too "silky" and too slippery for the pattern??

I really honestly have NO idea how to pick yarn!!
Can you help please - maybe recommend a yarn to use for this pattern (keeping in mind I'd prefer something I can pick up near me.)

Thanks!

I'm doing a vine lace scarf, over 51 sts ( from interweave 2000 spring).

And there's 4 yarn overs per knit row, 2 ssk, and 2ktog.

By my math, this should mean one winds up with the same number of stitches at the end, right?

ie: row 1 k4, yo,ssk, k2tog, k2, then a repeated section of k1,yo,k2,ssk,ktog,k2,yo, ( repeat this 3,times,and then k3 to the end.)
row 2 and 4 are purled. row 4 is essentially the same, just offset from the first by one. (I can clarify if this isn't clear.it's late, I'm frazzled.)

But in the repeated section I seem to be gaining more stitches. I don't think I'm doing the yo wrong, but my otherwise great lace eyelets are going all over.

I haven't knit in a while, but never lost my skill, and now I'm thinking I'm thinking it too much, ( 4 yo's per row and 2ssk and 2 ktog should mean no net increase in stitches, right?)

I'm assuming stitch markers will be of no help, it seems to make it worse when gaining/losing stitches.

( Read more... )

Which of these sounds better/is more correct?

Choose the category that better fits your document.
Choose the category that best fits your document.

or total rephrasing?

Choose the category that fits your document best.

Edited to add: Has ended up being rephrased to:

Choose the category that best describes your document.

Thank you all for your help!

I am getting married next year in the Fall on 10/10/10 in my home in Nashville. I am wondering if anybody in this area knows what flowers, bushes, etc will be blooming at this time. I'm hoping to try and grow all or most of the flowers that I would need for the wedding as a way of keeping costs down, and our theme is basically anything to do with autumn, so we're not planning on having any out of season flowers being displayed.

Does anybody have any suggestions on flowers that are easy to grow outdoors, no greenhouse, very little fuss, potentially drought resistant, hardy little things that will survive the summer and bloom in early October in the middle Tennessee area?

Current Mood: curious

I went through the tag and memories looking for other posts on the Romany language and none of them had replies. But none the less Im hoping someone could give me a hand. I would like to know if someone knows how to say "forever" or even "always".

I understand there are dozens of dialects. I am trying to keep from giving a huge story so to be breif; Im looking for something around the Hungarian/Romanian area. More or less Northern Vlax.

Any help is appreciated!! And thank you in advance!

Tags: romani

Hello all you fabulous knitters! I come begging your help. I'd describe myself as a somewhat-advanced beginner, in that I've completed a few toys (a boob, an elephant, and a lobster!) and scarfs and I've started some fingerless gloves, although I just put them down a while ago and can't quite find the motivation to pick them up again. I kind of have a short attention span... but I'm pretty comfortable working in the round on double pointed needles or circulars and I've done some stuff with flats as well. I even taught myself how to crochet to do the ears for the elefante pattern.

My question is this: I have a friend who is a big fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I want to surprise him with a gift but I'm having trouble finding any patterns out there, save for a few things I don't think I could finish before Christmas (like the really cool but very big crocheted Avatar blanket at ravelry). I thought maybe a hat with an arrow on it (like the one on Aang's head) or maybe a knitted Appa or something, that might match better with my experience knitting toys. I found a mention of an Aang hat in the community here, but it's kind of old and my searching skills failed at finding the finished product. Not to mention how to do it (and it sounded kind of hard). I also looked in the avatar crafts community but couldn't find anything there.

I'm hoping maybe somebody can give me some recommendations of either patterns or places I could look for one? I've never designed anything myself and I think I might fail miserably at it. I love the idea of knitting a hat with an arrow on it, but I don't know his head size and because I want it to be a surprise I don't want to ask. Which might make that impossible. Plus, I've never knitted a hat before. Also, I live in rural Japan, so finding pattern books in English is a near impossibility for me, unless I can get it off the internet somewhere.

Help me, please?

Tags: pattern request
Current Mood: hopeful

I figure there are enough comic geeks here that someone can point me at the sort of pics I'm looking for.

I want some pics of the 40s/50s Catwoman from Batman. The old brown or gray outfit with the cowl and the fairly long skirt.

Need it as a starting point for an outfit for a custom character.

16:22 Apparently Old Navy thinks I'm a size 12! WOOOT! Yay new pants! #

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