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New EQ7 Coming out in May!

I've been using Electric Quilt Software for ages.  In fact, I posted about EQ5 way back in 2006.  I loved EQ5 and I hope to get a chance to try out the new EQ7 and share the goodness.  In fact, they are having giveaways on 10 blogs, and I'm hoping I'm one of them!  Fingers crossed!

Kindle Goodies

I love my Kindle.  Lately I've been playing around with my it a bit more and I've discovered some great functionality, and some fun hidden features.  I thought this might be of use to other Kindle owners, so here are some goodies:

Tips and Tricks for your Amazon Kindle:

• Play Mindsweeper -- just press Alt-Shift-M (Shift is the up arrow on the Kindle to the left of the Alt button).  I think you need to be on the "home" screen when you do this -- not in a book.
• Play GoMoku -- just press G when you are in Mindsweeper.  
• View photos on your Kindle (sure, they will be low res greyscale, but it's still sort of fun) -- create a pictures folder on the Kindle, put a folder (or many folders) in the pictures folder and add photos to it (them).  The folders inside the pictures folder will show up as 'books" which you can click on to view the photos.

Shortcuts:

• Alt-B -- Bookmark (on/off)
• Alt-Sym -- Turn on Text-to-speech (on/off)
• Alt-Home -- Go to Kindle Store

Want to view a book or other document on your Kindle?  Try converting it with Mobipocket Creator.

Do you know any Kindle tips?  I'd love to hear them!

Going Toe-Up

I finally decided to take the plunge and go toe-up on tis pair of socks for Maddie.  It's been a long time coming.  I first attempted toe-up socks about 7 or 8 years ago using the figure 8 cast on and hated it.  Later I think I tried the provisional cast-on once and was less than thrilled.  So this time I rang up Theresa and asked her opinion, as she is a devoted toe-up sock knitter.  She recommended the magic cast-on and I gave it a try.  

 

Considering that this was my first attempt, I'm pretty happy with it.  As you can see, there is a little loose stitch on the left end of the toe, which was the start of my cast-on.  I didn't really notice it until I had knit a few increase rounds, and by then I was too lazy to rip it and start over.

The yarn, Heritage Hand Painted sock yarn from Cascade, is pretty, but I'm not enjoying it all that much.  It doesn't have much life, and likes to twist back on itself way too much.  I'm hoping it will wear like iron though.

On an unrelated note.  I got my MacBook and it seems to work with TypePad much better then my PC with Windows.  Very nice.

 

An Unintentionally Clooney Weekend

This weekend we picked up two videos to watch, and while I was aware that Up in the Air starred George Clooney, I had no idea that he was the voice of Mr. Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox until we started watching it.  As it turns out, both movies were quite entertaining and very funny.  Just what the doctor ordered!

I do not like John Banville

And when I say I don't like him, I mean his novels.  I don't say this lightly, I've given him two chances now -- most recently reading 130 pages of The Infinities. It started out okay, the characters seemed somewhat interesting and even a bit quirky. The themes were developing nicely and I had hope that a plot might appear at some point. Then the gods started arriving, and the damnable expository passages that I dread so much virtually took over the novel.

A while back I tried reading his award winning book -- The Sea -- and didn't get very far. I'm all for beautiful writing, but there has to be something else there -- a story to move the action forward. His books read more like essays than novels, and leave me wanting.

All kinds of Pesto

Did you know that you can make pesto using all kinds of herbs?  In the past two weeks, I've made both cilantro pesto and parsley pesto.  It's the perfect use for those leftover herbs -- especially cilantro and pesto which come in huge bundles at the grocery. 

For the cilantro pesto I skipped the parmiggiano, used walnuts instead of pine nuts and added a bit of lime juice.  It was a great coating for steamed salmon.

The parsley pesto was made almost exactly like regular basil pesto (great recipe here), but I subbed parsley for the basil, I used walnuts (yes, I have half a bag left over from holiday baking that I'm trying to use up) and I added some lemon zest.  I used this pesto variation on spaghetti noodles -- just add a little reserved pasta cooking water to get a nice creamy sauce. 

I hate wasting food and I'm finding that this "pesto" thing is really working for me.  I just can't wait until I'm using fresh herbs for my own garden instead of store bought.

Coupon for You!

I have a rubber stamp store that I've been running for about 9 years now.  Recently business has not been very good, but I have some loyal customers who special order from me.  So... I'm closing up shop and going to a special order only model. 

What this means, is that I have a bunch of inventory to sell -- and I'm selling it at really excellent prices!  Most of the items in my store are on sale, plus I have a coupon for you!  Just enter CLOSEOUT during checkout to save 30% off your order.

It will be sad to close the online retail shop, but at this point I just can't afford to pay for the pricey e-commerce package and the credit card processing fees.  Hopefully this means I'll have time for something new and exciting in my life.  Fingers crossed!

What I've been up to...

...attending Easter egg hunts.

... reading sci-fi -- namely Robert J. Sawyer's Rollback. (This is the guy who wrote the book Flashforward -- yeah, that TV show is based on it.)

... playing video games -- namely Pokemon HeartGold as my daughter is a Pokemon fanatic -- seriously.  Name a Pokemon and she know all its stats. Plus lots of Wii Fit Plus since our vacation is coming up and I want to be able to eat any goodies I desire without any guilt.

... learning more Python -- most fun I've had with a programming language in ages.  May make a little GUI knitting counter for fun.

... battling pain.  I had a few good weeks and thought maybe I was miraculously cured -- HA!  Advil and the heating pad are once again my friends.

... drinking coffee -- hot one day and iced the next, because our weather is crazy here.  40's today = hot coffee.