Peep. Peep peep.

Scooter, it's time. I bet Phil would even co-farm with you.

Photo from my un-iPhone.

Summer in a bottle

Direct from Capri to me (via my friend, Laura):

Limoncello e Crema di Limoni.

The RHS Chorale spent their Spring Break singing their way through southern Italy. Sigh. Laura brought this back for me as a grazie for shuttling her to the airport for their early departure. Mmm.

Pitch, 10; Rhythm, 3

Ooh, it's the morning of the district Solo/Ensemble Contest!!!

Did anyone else go through this rite of musical passage? I'm sure most of my students woke up with butterflies in their teenage tummies in anticipation. All that preparation (or last-minute memorization) for a 10-minute slice of your life to be dissected and evaluated and r a t e d.

And on top of that, seven lucky events get to have me as their accompanist. Mwah hah hah...

Saint Cecilia, pray for us.

UPDATE: No one died. Several cried (not mine), mainly because of one very questionable judge. My piano skills did not inflict pain or suffering.

Do you like holes in your knitting?

Then go sign up for Knitting Daily. It's free e-newsletter published by Interweave Knits, and they currently have a bundle of 7 free lace patterns for you to download. Can't shake a pointy stick at that price...

Note to self:

Check the homework before it leaves the house.

Exhibit A: The Artwork

Exhibit B: The Explanatory Note

Knitters are clever people

From the Knitter's Review article:

We have an insatiable appetite for new and novel fibers. We've created yarns made from corn and bamboo. We've seen yarns dusted with jade, laced with copper, and even fortified with crushed crab shells and seaweed. So it should come as no surprise when I tell you about a new company that has just launched a line of yarns made with recycled kitty litter.

Based in Urbana, Illinois, the company is called PurrFect Yarns. It was founded by inveterate knitter and former R&D scientist Patricia Krapsch—who also happens to have a household full of cats.

"It really bothered me that I couldn't easily flush my used kitty litter down the toilet, nor could I spread it on my garden," she told me. "Every week I'd carry huge plastic garbage bags of used kitty litter out to the curb, and the waste really bothered me. So I thought, hey, I'm a scientist. I should do something about this."

You can read the full article here.

The OMG update where Meema eats crow

Friends, we are in the presence of greatness: meet the very real, verrrrry talented Colleen Ballinger.

All I have to say is TGIF - Thank God It's Faked!
(Here's her YouTube channel.)

Heroes

For those knitters who collect/read/enjoy comic books graphic novels, meet your new best friends:

Handknit Heroes! Each issue comes with a pattern in the back. Subscriptions are $20/year for quarterly issues mailed right to your door. No e-publications here - you can almost smell the ink...

Oh. My. God.

Hello from somewhere beneath my taxes...

I know, I know - it's another YouTube post, but I need the readership's help with this one.

Is this woman really serious, or is this an attempt at comedy? Please cast your vote in the sidebar poll, and a few evaluative statements in the comments.

Norwegian purls

What? Purling with the yarn in the back? Say it isn't so...

Those clever Norwegians!

p.s.

Happy birthday, Caytie!!!

Is this thing on?

Hi, I'm Meema. Apparently I'm the author of this blog. Nice to see you again.

I can't complain about the recent weather. I saw my first robin this weekend, but honestly, I wasn't looking hard for them, because I thought spring was never. going. to. get. here.

So tonight I was flipping through the spring issue of Knitter's Magazine at the LYS and saw an little blurb about

KnitGauge , an application for (what else) the iPhone. Can you say craftech? Dang. When I went online to check it out, I also found a link to KnittyBag, a very handy way to inventory your knitting needles. Don't tell my phone, but I'm a wee bit jealous.

Many mumbling choral singers

Today is the 105th birthday of Theodor Seuss "Dr. Seuss" Geisel!.

As a child, I fell in love with the inventive language in his books. Even today, I still have ample opportunity to enjoy his alliterative powers. Karle Erickson (a name I never thought I'd type into my blog, but that's another story) wrote an oft-used set of choral warmups using the text from Dr. Seuss's A-B-C. "Many mumbling mice" makes multiple manifestations in rehearsals at St. Paul's. I dare say this collection has become a choral classic.

(And a big thank you to Google for pointing this out - so informative, they are.)

Spring with a twist

The spring issue of Twist Collective is online, and it is a feast for the eyeballs - beautiful sweaters, socks with texture, baby items, and an intro to wire knitting. I could go on, but you need to see it yourself.

Must. Knit. Now.

The end of the story

Paul Harvey, legendary radio personality, died yesterday at the age of 90.

His news spots are a huge nostalgia trigger for me. I have many memories of hearing his reports, which were (and are) the ultimate cliffhanger format; it's hard to imagine anything that could have kept two kids riveted to the car radio like "The Rest of the Story".

Amazingly, but not surprisingly, he was still under a 10-year, $100 million contract with ABC Radio.

Paul Harvey. Good day.