No way!!

I just found this on Tammy Myrold's Yahoo group. Unreal!

Singing Larynxes

This view down four singing throats is incredible from both anatomical and musical perspectives. They look like friendly little alien faces, don't they? Cute tune, too.

Got Horses?

My friend and photographer extraordinaire Annaliese Moyer has just established a new website: Equigraphics. Beautiful equine portraits and some other critters too. :)

Pattern Stash Contest / Giveaway

UPDATE: PEOPLE! Please leave me a way to contact you! About 50% of you have given me wonderful patterns but no way to say thanks!

SECOND UPDATE: At the end of the contest I'll be publishing a free pattern of my own - my third one. Keep spreading the love! :)

Before The Crash, I had a truly massive pattern collection. For 9 years I have been snatching up every free pattern that even mildly intrigued me, and paid for a few more (Oh Rogue, I can’t believe I never got to you!). I had hundreds (probably thousands, actually) of them carefully categorized and tagged so I could find just the perfect thing for a given yarn, giftee, or garment need. The irony here is that I almost never follow patterns… but they are oh-so-useful for inspiration to produce my own creations!

Now that comforting safety net is gone. Thanks to Jess & Casey I still have Ravelry’s pattern search (I'm Needlegrrl there, too), but it’s not set up the same way, and … well… it’s not the same.

Here’s where you come in. Help me rebuild my stash! Send me your favorite essential / must make / most unique / “best kept secret” pattern. Please note: I am NOT asking anyone to break copyrights. I’m only looking for free stuff or notes you’ve written, please. Patterns worthy of being purchased for stash can be nominated as well, but remember that I’m a notorious cheapskate. You may email a PDF or Word doc directly to me (laughinglagomorph at gmail), or post a link. I’ll pick one winner on merit (the one that makes me say “woo!” out loud) and one by random number generator.

Hints:

1) I’m not generally into the basic beginner patterns. I like complex lace & cables & weird challenges. That said, sometimes a good simple recipe is awesome. They’re so easy to pervert. :)
2) Crochet edgings are fine, but beyond that, please stick to knitting.
3) Socks, mittens, hats, shawls, sweaters, toys… it’s all good.
4) Garments appropriate to a curvy stumpy girl are helpful. I’m 4’10” and fat. I’m losing weight, but I’ll never gain height, and even at my ideal size I’m very hourglassy. So no long skinny coats, k? And not so much with the super-bulky yarn.
5) Garments appropriate to a tall, athletic Scotsman with excellent legs are also appreciated.

Winners will get something tasty from my stash! The Merit Prize chooses first, then the Random winner. If you hate all of these glorious options I can spin you something or go stash diving again. But what's not to like? Claudia Hand Painted (the purple mash-up), Panda Silk DK in Berry Smoothie, Fortissima Socka in a wonderful olive green, and C*EYE*BER Fiber in Glacier. This last one was Swag from the Alaskan Sea Socks cruise in 2008.

Contest ends Nov 30th!

Computer Disaster (Doubled)

My trusty old Mac melted down after 4+ years of service. The bad news is that it went suddenly - a massive stroke - and I hadn’t backed it up. I’ve lost everything. All my photos, all my marketing materials for the clinic, and all my knitting patterns (I had a huge collection, meticulously organized, including the three I was writing for publication).

Back up your hard drive!!!

Yes, I know about data recovery services and will try one, but the Genius at the Mac store wasn’t hopeful.

The bit that really stinks is that Matt’s went 3 days ago. He had some warning and saved all his stuff… I was literally bugging him to copy mine when it failed. We had Figgy at the vet’s, too, so it’s been an expensive week. sigh

Good news: The cat butt seems to have returned to normal function.

Whoops

Forgot to give you this one, so you can get the full effect of us as a pair:

Vaguely Medieval Dwarf & Archer

Okay, so you know Matt calls me Dwarf. I mean, most people think that's my real name around here. :) I started with a knit helmet with an attached beard. There was a felting disaster (knitting details on Ravelry) so last-minute desperation led us to insert bits of an old pirate hat as quarter panels. I love it - better than the original. :) My knit Mithral vest isn't showing up properly in these pics but it's a dove grey with sparkly bits. It came out really well. Matt made the the tunic. Add some knit gauntlets, my felted colonial bag, and a loot bag on the belt... voila! I'm one feisty battle Dwarf.

Matt turned heads (as usual) in his archer outfit. He sewed a quiver from pleather originally purchased to make wings for Elphaba's flying monkey. I dyed the dowels, and he fletched the arrow ends. Is there nothing this man can't do? Thanks to Loveduck Leather for the hat.
Nae was a superhot Succubus. Yowza! On her shoulder perched a movable puppet.

We went to the Henri David Halloween Ball. You know those scenes in movies and TV when the characters go to huge parties and everyone is wearing fantastically detailed costumes? I was always jealous. I wanted to go to that party! Last night I did - we were surrounded by original, beautifully done outfits. I loved that they played great music at non-earsplitting levels. On the central stage were male go-go dancers, chosen more for their quantity of muscle than their dancing ability. It was just SO much fun!! There are about 50 pics here on Flickr, but I have to share my favorite costume (a Faberge Egg and his Czar) and my favorite picture: Wolverine snapping a photo of a man at a portable urinal.