October Earth

Elemental Animals by Shadow Wolf

It is time to unveil the October theme.... Kudos to Susan, who guessed it!
November is the last of the "officially beaded" clues. If you track back those months with beads in the clue, March represented Wind. June, Water. August, Fire. And therefore, October represents the element of Earth.
I know this clue is very vague clue, and possibly a hard to represent. So think hard!

Here is another little bit of inspiration. The most "earthy" place I have visited, Yellowstone park. It has some of the most gorgeous formations that earth, water, fire and wind can create - mountains, prairies, streams, geysers, "paint pots" - a fantastic place. I hope it inspires a fantastic clue. I have absolutely no preconceived idea of what to do yet!.

Happily,  September is all done, and in the mod's mailboxes waiting to be proofread. Right on track for release  September, 1st. Whatever you may think of this clue, it promises to be interesting and I am fully looking forward to see what you make with it.

Physics phenomenons applied to everyday life
Do you know that there are many phenomenons of physics that apply to daily life? For instance, the Black Hole of the domestic appliances. Once one appliance breaks down, it seems to create a well of gravity that causes all other appliances to fall apart under its pull. Example in point: as soon as we came back from our trip, the caulking of the guest shower collapsed and caused a massive leak which ruined part of the floor of the kids room next door. The black hole effect immediately caused the pool pump to quit working, the car radiator to spring a leak, and my husband's phone to spontaneously crack across the screen. Odd, uh?

Let's move on to the Butterfly effect, where apparently small events have wide and unforeseen consequences. After the shower leaked, the whole place smelled rank and damp, and my husband had to rip this full-sized wall ceramic plates that form the shower enclosure so it would not mold out. High fashion in the 80's, mind you - real imitation marble. Of course, he went at it with gleeful , primeval glint in his eye  that every woman has learned to fear: the larval stages of the House Remodeling Project.

My sadly gutted bathroom

uh yeah baby, you know you want this wallpaper...

We thought things were under control, gutted bathroom notwithstanding, until my eldest son Ollie came pelting into the living room with his eyes big as saucers to announce that there was "a pink animal" in the bathroom. Boastfully we marched, thinking it would be one of the baby geckos that scurry around the house. Nope. It was a gigantic, nasty, flying sewer cockroach, the kind that lurks behind bathroom walls. Battle ensued, husband emerged victorious, monster roach squashed, but we had to dig Ollie from under the pillows. It soon was obvious that Ollie was so traumatized by the incident that he refused to use the bathroom. Instead, he would go in his clothes, then find creative ways to hide the soiled clothes, which we would find by scent. We hit rock bottom when he desperately tried to hide a rather large, um, poop, and instead succeeded in fingerpainting all over the computer room. Heck, even I was traumatized. It has taken a lot of bribing to retrain him, but he still wants to use the master bathroom all the time. There goes the privacy.

Which takes us to the nuclear fusion effect. Where a small explosion causes things to collide around creating a huge explosive force. Really, this was just supposed to be a small remodel. Get a new shower head, re tile, some painting. We dutifully visited Home Depot. Checked the supplies. Then made the mistake of visiting a designer fixture store. I never knew before people is willing to pay upwards of 5K for a new shower!!! and of course they are so gorgeous... And tiles??? We went to One World Tile and spent two hours shuffling and reshuffling the most gorgeous hand painted Mexican tiles. And oh, you should see their painted sinks. To die for. We came home with a loot of little tile pieces to play with

Even before we start the little remodel, I know we are going to bust the budget. Stay tuned.
So finally, the Fight or Flight reaction. When facing a lenghty bathroom remodel, choose to fight (and face the remodel) or flight (and use the money you saved in the honeymoon trip it was intended for). Guess what I chose. Aloha Hawaii!!!!! We bought the tickets before we could succumb to the instinct of sensibly spending the money on the remodel.

And yes, knitting happened too
Soon after the last update, I got this on the mail:

King Cole Merino Aran

  My long awaited yarn for the secret submission project! I had to drop everything to get working on the sample, so most of my other "personal" knitting is hibernating while I power through this one. This is a very soft and supple yet hardy superwash merino, with excellent stitch definition, and it knits like buttah. Excellent workhorse yarn and moderately priced. A bit short in the color range though.

I have a few ideas prickling in my head for a while. I knew I had an unused Cascade skein with the receipt still in the bag, so I headed to my favorite LYS, Tempe Yarn and Fiber, just to exchange it for another color. I should know better. Fred and his minions are so evil. I walked out of the store with:

DIC Smooshy in Lunar Zazzle

Crystal Palace Kid Merino in pure white

Shepherd's Wool in Hot Pink

And a spiffy 30-pocket Nantucket Bagg. For my travel, you understand. I am absolutely in love with this bag!!! Stylish enough to carry as a handbag, it can be unzipped totally flat, and you can cram a LOT of knitting there.
As much as I love to shop for yarn online, there is no doubt that yarn shopping is a highly tactile experience. Nothing compares to being able to pet the yarn. Then it follows you home.
My, erm, excuse is that i have a pattern projected for each of this yarns... good luck guessing what, because my sister's visit seems to have awaken my inner corky.

Stay tuned... sharpen your needles...
And learn why the latest Vogue Knitting issue reduced me to tears. Real tears with sniffling.