Further Proof

I just want to clarify and reiterate that I think that Crocs are a wonderful choice for gardening (their intended purpose) or hanging out in your house or backyard or heading to a theme park or other casual event. I object to them as everyday wear (unless your days keep you in the aforementioned places, in which, go on). I object to them as office wear (when your office is not in your house) and I object to them as going out wear or cocktail wear.
But, it seems that in addition to causing problems when worn in hospitals, they apparently create a higher risk for "shoe entrapment" in escalators.

Another Level of Shopaholism

I love to shop - as my bank account can attest. In my teens I could take twenty bucks and spend the whole day at the mall (admittedly it was more fun when I had more than twenty bucks). It is the whole process that I love, although certainly the purchasing is fun too.
But, I have to say, I have never once thought: I am having so much fun that I wish I could just sleep here so I could get a quick start tomorrow.
And yet, I'm a bit jealous that the first Ikea hostel, allowing one to sleep over at Ikea, is in Norway. Hopefully the idea will catch on enough to head over here long enough for me to test it out. Just once. After all, their meatballs are really good.

My Two Cents

I love music. I love songs. I am totally the person who listens to the lyrics and tends to eschew the stuff where you can't hear the lyrics. (I am not the person who knows all the lyrics to all the songs, however.) So, I am the person who snickers on the call in shows when people dedicate "I'll Make Love to You" to the person they met in the coffee shop or "I Will Always Love You" to the person they are marrying the next day. So, of course I have stuff to say about Entertainment Weekly's Best Love Songs list.
I tried to first come up with songs I thought had to be on the list. (I don't know that I could come up with twenty five without serious angst.) This was also the point where I realized I can come up with a lot more break up songs that I love than love songs. (I'm not a bitter person, but I do have a schmoopy threshold.)
"If I Could Make a Day For You"
"Grow Old With Me"
"God Bless the Broken Road"
"Perfect"
Then I scrolled through the list - eh, eh, okay, - "Your Song" - total agreement.
"Time After Time" gave me pause, not because I don't like it, but because I never really considered it a love song, but okay.
Eh - Dylan.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - Love it.
Eh - Beyonce
I agree that lyrically "Unchained Melody" is a great love song (and really a better choice for serenading someone you want to impress than "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling") but - as they mention - it's got a very dark feel to it. But this isn't love songs that you can dance to, so okay.
"These Arms of Mine" - Very nice.
"You Send Me" - Sure.
"At Last" - Ah, yes.
"When a Man Loves a Woman" - Sure. A bit like "Unchained Melody" for me - good on paper, but eh.
"Ring of Fire" -Again I say, huh. It is indeed about love, I just didn't have it in my head as a love song.
"In Your Eyes" - Agreed.
U2 - eh.
"Sweet Child O' Mine" - Sure.
"Wild Horses" - Eh.
"I Will Always Love You". And now - it's one. Is this a great song about the end of love? Sure. But then, this list is desperately missing "Kerosene", and "I'm The Only One" and all sorts of other our love is ending songs. If we are talking about love songs in the more standard schmoopy sense, this song about leaving the one you love does not belong.
Eh.
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - Okay.
"Can't Help Falling in Love" - Always a good one.
"God Only Knows" - Hmmm. Okay.
I guess, even though my own teeny list has stuff that people don't all know, I feel life I should have had more of a reaction to more of these. Ah well.

Mystery Stole 3 - Glacial Progress

The MST3 and I had a bit of a falling out when I had to rip back past several lifelines. We finally agreed that while the intended design is likely much prettier than the mistakes design features I have put in, that given the length of the stole, and given the fact I plan to wear it rather than hang it on the wall where people could stare endlessly and remark on it's lack of symmetry, that really, we are close enough here and forward progress is - at this point - better than no progress. And if I wanted it to look machine done, well, I wouldn't be doing this, right. (Work with me here).
I take heart. After all while there are all these annoying gifted people who's stoles turn out perfectly - they just read the yarn and hardly need to glance at their chart at all - there are froggers and slow bees and those of us who have decided to put an individual flair on the design. And I just want to finish Clue 1. So I picked it back up, repaired some of the damage and am continuing on.
There are folks coming up with strategies to deal with the long stretches of knit stitches, right now - that sounds like heaven.
This badge was created by the lovely Suzan.

Not Kauni

I decided to make my Kauni with Noro Kureyon, so I am referring to it as a Not Kauni. I am still using Ruth Sorenson's excellent pattern, although I haven't decided what will happen with the sleeves.
So, I swatched and figured out the gauge calculations. And then I cast on. Things were going along great. And then I got to the second sections of blocks. And the color changes were coming a little fast. So, I thought about it. And I decided that I need to shorten up the space between transitions, so I tinked back and came up with a small pattern adjustment, essentially shortening the spaces between the blocks. Since it is being knit in the round, the color transitions on the Kureyon still don't quite make it through the whole block, but I love my color changing blocks, so I am good with this.
By the way, since my adjustments alone are not enough crazy, I am using two colorways - I have three skeins of 95 and two of 138. While I like the way it is turning out, I can only blame yarn fumes for why I thought either of these colorways was not enough on its own.