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May 8, 2008
Out of Bloffice
The weather is warm... the birds are chirping... and I just can't get that excited about blogging these days. I'm sure once the humidity hits 95% I'll be a lot more excited about it. =)
In the meantime, I'll be running, biking, and swimming to train for the Concreteman sprint tri in July, knitting a little bit, taking a trip to Austin, attending a fiber festival, and making a quilt for my friend Brianne's daughter's 1st birthday, and generally spending as much time outside as possible.
I'll probably pop in to post pictures from time to time. See ya!
Posted by zarah at 5:50 AM
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March 12, 2008
The "I'm Wierd" Meme
Kate tagged me, so here I go!
These are the rules!
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
Six non-important things about me:
1. I absolutely hate most housework, but for some reason I mostly don't mind laundry. Probably because the machine mostly does it for me (!) but I don't mind folding, either. It's the "putting away" that always gets me.
2. I have very strangely shaped thumb-nail beds. The cuticle doesn't come up the sides at all, so the white part of the nail goes all the way down the side. It's a bit freaky.
3. I lost my sense of smell for about 6 years, after a sinus infection. But it's mostly back now.
4. I really like long dangly earrings that almost touch my shoulders.
5. I hate most of the wallpaper in my house but I'm too lazy to take it down. I wish someone would come wave a magic wand and redecorate my house!
6. Lucy is my first pet dog.... and I'm strangely torn between never getting another dog and wanting another puppy RIGHT NOW!!!
Hmmm.... time to play tag?
Posted by zarah at 6:32 PM
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January 22, 2008
Blog-Famous!
Recognize this scarf? Cindy did. (If anyone's wondering, here's all the info on this scarf.)
I was on one of my very rare trips to Wal-Mart this weekend, stocking up on light bulbs, paper towels, and other random things. It's been really cold, so I was walking around the store in my red coat and scarf, just like in this picture.
My husband and I were standing in the checkout line, when the woman in line behind us walked up and asked me if I made my scarf. "Yes, I did!" I proudly said (thinking to myself "she must be a knitter" and noticing her own scarf that looked like it may have been hand knit.) Nothing too strange, just two knitters connecting over a common hobby.
Then she said, "You're Beauty School Dropout, right?"
Oh my gosh! How cool is that?! I squealed "I'm famous" to my husband (since he thinks the whole knitting/blogging/Ravelry thing is a bit much), then Cindy and I introduced ourselves, and proceeded to talk yarn and our LYS, Simply Fibers.
I still can't get over it... how cool. Have you ever met a blog reader "in the wild," that is, not at a yarn shop or fiber festival, but just out and about with non-knitter people?
Posted by zarah at 10:30 PM
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January 1, 2008
New Year's Meme
I did this meme last year, and it was pretty fun, so here it is again: The first sentence I blogged in each month of 2007:
January: Hi all - I'm back from Colorado!
February: Here it is - the much-anticipated "ice storm sweater"!
March: The most ingenious plan for solving my sock dilemma was coverting the pattern to resoleable socks - that way, the top of the foot would match the leg, but the bottom could be a different color, allowing me to stretch the precious STR a little further. (2008 Zarah sez: yeah.... that didn't happen!)
April: You know I love a good yarn sale.
May: (Blog title: Lace is fun!) Well, let me qualify that...Lace is fun, when:
- you charted out the pattern and have a magnetic chartkeeper to keep you on track
- you've learned the pattern so you don't have to rip out and deal with the yarn splitting
- you seem to be making pretty quick progress, even though you're using size 2 needles!
June: The Sunrise Circle Jacket is taking shape! (2008 Zarah sez: Too bad I didn't finish it until December!)
July: First, I want to send out a special thank you to my knitblogging buddies Tammy and Brianne. (2008 Zarah sez: Yep, I love my knitting buddies! 2007 was definitely the year of new knitting friends.)
August: That's Monkey-sock love, you sickos!
September: Woo hoo! I love days off, especially when they make a three-day weekend.
October: I can't believe it's October already, but there is one awesome thing about time passing so quickly - it's Socktoberfest again!
November: My big event for Vacation Day 3 was driving to Taos to visit La Lana Wools.
December: Remember that pretty blue and green yarn I got from the Loopy Ewe? (2008 Zarah sez: MORE Monkeys!)
Posted by zarah at 9:16 AM
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September 26, 2007
The blog is fixed!
Hmmm... I'm not really sure what was wrong, but my blog was broken for a few days, and now it has magically healed itself! Anyway, comments should work now. And I can post! I started a new pair of socks for Matt, I still need to post a picture of my finished Monkey socks, and I'm slowly but surely making progress on the sleeve of the Ice Storm Sweater. (That thing is killing me. But I'm determined to finish it in time to wear for this fall/winter.) Oh yeah, and I managed to royally screw up the Baby Surprise Jacket. You have to see it to believe it. I'll try to post some photos tonight.
Posted by zarah at 6:45 AM
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April 24, 2007
Where's Zarah?
Wow... it's been a while since I posted, huh? I guess it's just like anything else, you get out of the habit and don't even realize how long it's been. I'm still reading blogs and knitting, but I just haven't felt like posting lately. I even thought about taking the site down. Then, this morning I get an invite to join Ravelry, a new onling knitting/crochet community (myspace for knitters? That's pretty funny, actually.)
Anyway, I'm going to try it out, plus I am going to try to blog pretty regularly for a couple of weeks, even if I don't feel like I have anything interesting to say.
Posted by zarah at 6:06 AM
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March 12, 2007
Blog Hiatus
It's that time of year again - the sun is out, the warm winds of Texas and Oklahoma are blowing into the Ozarks - it's almost spring! The daffodils should be blooming any day now.
As part of this lovely circle of life, my laptop has decided to go on the fritz. Maybe it has allergies? It doesn't know it has a battery when it's not plugged in, and I spend WAY too much time each day staring at the evil spinning beach ball of death. Anyway, long story short, I'm going to take a blogging break while I get my computer fixed.
But stay tuned, there are exciting things happening behind the scenes at The Dropout:
- I finished the Silk Shrug!
- The backing is almost done for the Lizard Ridge afghan
- Retro Rib sock #1 is done, #2 is begun
- and now for a teaser that only Anne knows... Hempathy, anyone?
See you in a couple weeks!
Posted by zarah at 6:09 AM
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January 11, 2007
The comments sage continues
Geez. I am really hating technology right now. I get soooo many spam comments, so I've been trying to figure out what I can do on Movable Type to stop them. I've finally decided the only way to really do it to require comments to be authenticated. Is that just too annoying? I hate having to sign into stuff to comment, but I can't see any other way that doesn't require me to wade thourgh thousands of junk comments just to find the 6 real ones. Email me at zarah at beautyschooldropout dot net if you don't want to sign in.
Posted by zarah at 6:42 AM
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December 29, 2006
New Year Meme
I saw this meme at another knitting blog I read, Some Bunny's Love, but I hope it catches on outside the knitting world. It's an interesting glimpse into the past and the types of things I write about on a daily basis. I really enjoyed looking back over my last year of posts and remembering all the stuff I did this year.
Instructions — Copy the first sentence that you posted in each month of 2006. Post it in the following format:
January
I love New Year's Day -- that feeling of a fresh beginning is great, even if it doesn't last very long.
February
A new Magknits is up! (now, with more knitted sushi)
March
It has been nice to have a little rest from blogging (and knitting).
April
Ah, April is finally here and it is sock-yarn dyein' time!
May
Hi everyone - I don't have must time to blog (White House tour this morning) but I just thought I'd say hi from Washington DC!
June
I realized I had never reported on my May round of dyeing for the yarn swap.
July
I hope everyone gets to enjoy a day off, family, fireworks, and good food sometime over this holiday weekend!
August
Non-knitters are an interesting group.
September
Yee haw!
October
Dang it!
November
Yes, I'm alive, although you wouldn't know it from checking this blog lately.
December
I survived my "snow day" - which actually turned out to be just a light dusting of snow on top of a massively thick layer of ice.
Happy New Year everyone! I'll see you in 2007!
Posted by zarah at 6:21 PM
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February 24, 2006
Are YOU a sexy knitter?
I am! The
Sexy Knitters Club is an online group dedicated to changing the common perception that knitters are all old grannies sitting in their rocking chairs making toilet paper roll cozies. Right now we are deciding what our next KAL is going to be, but you have to be a member to nominate your favorite sexy pattern. So go to the
website and join! (There's also lots of fun SKC merchandise to buy.)
Posted by zarah at 1:25 PM
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February 6, 2006
Photography blog
I recently discovered a really neat photography blog, A Walk Through Durham Township, PA. The photography is amazing and the landscape reminds me a lot of where I grew up in northwest Missouri.
This site is definitely inspiring me to learn more about photography.
Posted by zarah at 10:00 AM
January 23, 2006
New Blogger in the Neighborhood
Let's all give a warm welcome to Brianne, a knitblogger who recently moved to my neck of the woods. She looks might prolific -- and she takes pictures in the yarn shop I go to (so maybe the owner thinks she's even crazier than me!)
Posted by zarah at 10:34 AM
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January 14, 2006
Real-life bloggers!
I met one of my fellow Springfield bloggers in real life a few days ago. It's Bethany from rantings in red. She is my age and also fairly new in town. I've been reading her blog for a while and tt seems like we have quite a bit in common, so I figured, what the heck? She doesn't seem to be an axe-murderer. We should meet!
I didn't take any pics (oops!) but I think we'll probably get together again soon. She is a relatively new knitter, so I helped her find a cast-on that worked better for her and gave her some pretty yarn (KnitPicks Shine) to play with. I think it's so much easier to learn to knit when you like the yarn you're working with. If any beginners are reading this -- put down that nasty Red Heart from your grandma's basement and go get something you like! It doesn't have to be expensive -- just so long as you think it's pretty.
Posted by zarah at 2:51 PM
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Memememe (Meme of four)
Four jobs I've had in my life:
1. YMCA - front desk and scorekeeping
2. Anthropology Museum - rebagging and writing tags for arrowheads and other random stuff
3. Law Library - shelving books and putting on labels
4. Law firm - lawyer! (also legal research monkey)
Four movies I could watch over and over.
1. Legally Blonde
2. The Sound of Music
3. Grease
4. O Brother Where Art Thou
Four places I've lived
1. Chillicothe, MO
2. Columbia, MO
3. Springfield, MO
4. Pamplona, Spain
Four TV shows I love to watch.
1. American Idol
2. Desparate Housewives
3. Seinfeld
4. Law & Order
Four places I've been on vacation.
1. Santa Fe, NM
2. Oregon
3. Hilton Head Island
4. Colorado (I could go here every summer. Love it!)
Four websites I visit daily
1. Slate
2. Bloglines
3. Google news
4. Weather.com
Four of my favorite foods
1. Dark chocolate
2. Risotto
3. Cheese dip
4. My grandma's sugar cookies
Four places I'd rather be
1. On the beach
2. At my parent's house
3. At my grandparent's farm
4. In the mountains
Four Albums I can't live without
1. REM - Green
2. Randall Goodgame - Arkadelphia
3. Garden State soundtrack
4. Dar Williams - End of the Summer
Posted by zarah at 9:09 AM
October 14, 2005
Blogs I Read
For all those dog lovers out there, I present: DogBlog!
Posted by zarah at 5:02 PM
August 31, 2005
Blog Day 2005
Today is Blog Day 2005. Here are my favorite non-knitting blogs, in no particular order:
Stay of Execution: A young ex-lawyer writes about nature, friends, her dog, sailing, creativity, and finding her own way in the world.
Dujour: A cool photography website with a new picture every day.
Jeremy Blachman: A funny guy who recently graduated from law school.
Kerner on Food: What can I say, my husband is a delightful cook!
I hope this inspires you to find some new blogs to explore.
I also read many (too many?) knitting blogs. I'm looking for more knitbloggers in Missouri.
Posted by zarah at 7:43 PM
