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Sunday, March 29, 2009

In L.A.? Come see my new play!

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Do you live in Los Angeles? If so, you should come see the world premiere of my new play, "Beneath Her Feet" (co-written by Jason Matthews). It's about living and working and loving in Los Angeles, and it's sure to be a good time.

April 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 2009. Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. 4735 Lankershim Blvd, 91602.

It's a 3-week run, so there are 9 -- count 'em: 9! -- chances to come see the play!

Tickets are only $10! Make your reservations today -- don't miss out! Exclamation points!!!
http://www.abovethecurvetheatre.com/reservations.php

Can't wait to see you there!

Go see my play!

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

iPhone Mittens


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It's cold in Chicago.

chicago weather

I live in Los Angeles (currently 66°F), where it's easy to forget that most of the country is experiencing this thing called "winter." I also don't realize the special challenges that bundling up under countless layers of clothing presents.

For example: my friend Danielle, a PhD student at the University of Chicago, told me she was getting frustrated with wearing gloves all the time. It's too cold in Chicago to go bare-handed, especially while walking her dog. But when she gets a call on her iPhone, the gloves get in the way of her answering the phone. The solution?

iPhone Mittens

The iPhone Mittens! (Ravelry) They have a flap to cover your fingers that can be quickly pulled back to answer your phone:

iPhone Mittens in action

The pattern is my own, yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran (Ravelry). I used the majority of two skeins, and cut it REALLY close with the black. If I were to re-create this pattern, I'd use the grey on the finger-flap to make sure I wouldn't run out of yarn.

I'll write this pattern up if there's interest -- let me know if you'd like to see this pattern online!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Warning signs?

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I've never really considered knitting a high-risk hobby. Sure, my wrists are often sore and I even gave myself tendonitis from knitting too much. As a naturally paranoid person, I have considered the unlikely chance of getting stabbed by a needle while driving or during plane turbulence. But as I had never heard a verifiable story of such a stabbing happening to anyone, I brushed the notion aside as urban legend.

But then I started to read The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood. (On my Kindle -- the original version, not the new spiffy Kindle 2, but oh well.)

The VERY first story of suvival was about Ellin Klor, titled "A Knitting Needle Through the Heart" (click link for excerpt). I had to do a double-take. A knitting needle where exactly? The heart you say? Egads!

The very next day, I was knitting and watching TV, and I stumbled upon Mystery Diagnosis on the Discovery Health channel. After a story about a boy who had breathing problems, they played a piece about a woman who stepped on a crochet hook and impaled her own foot! Yikes! And the scary thing is this injury triggered a slew of other health problems (hence the mystery diagnosis) and kept her essentially bedridden for weeks.

If the universe is trying to warn me against knitting, I'm not listening. Though I'm now being a bit more careful about where I keep my needles when I'm not knitting, lest I sit down on them and pierce my behind.

Whether it's the cosmos trying to put a damper on my knitting or just the result bad planning, I knit the ugliest bathmat in existence recently:

Ugliest bathmat ever?

It was supposed to be Absorba (Ravelry), from Mason-Dixon Knitting, but since I don't actually own that book, I decided to ad-lib the pattern. This was not a good idea. Once I realized the color scheme was all messed up, I gave up and just made the edge striped. The good news is that it's comfy to stand on and it absorbs a lot of water, so it's not a complete loss. Since I accidentally bought twice as much yarn as needed, I'm making a new bathmat in a different stitch pattern to atone for the ugliness of my existing one.

Final question for my readers: have you ever injured yourself while crafting? I'm curious to find out if it's as dangerous as reported!

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