Six (long-winded) things about me

DeuceMom tagged me for this meme. I don't usually do memes, but with this blog I've made a concerted effort to just talk about yarn, so I thought it might be fun to reveal a few non-yarn-related things about me, especially the ones I'm usually doing while knitting and blogging. (What can I say, I like to multitask.)

1. I love to watch so-called reality TV, the trashier the better. I watch most of the VH1 Celebreality block, snarking the whole way. I know it's fake, and in a way that makes it more entertaining -- it's a genre like comedy or drama, and as an English-major genre-freak, I like to try and figure out how the storyline's being manipulated. (English major moment: Trashy genres are nothing new. Bloody revenge tragedies, which frequently ended with everyone killed in ridiculous ways, were all the rage in Jacobean England.)

2. I also like to watch sports while I'm yarning. The NBA is my absolute favorite -- it's just as nutty as any reality show -- but I have a passing familiarity with just about anything covered by SportsCenter. I also gripe a lot because even in the middle of a really tight and exciting NBA playoff race, SportsCenter would rather talk about baseball and football. No one's even playing football right now! Steve Nash is my favorite player (I've actually followed his career since he was a skinny college freshman hitting all his free throws to give Santa Clara the upset win in the NCAAs) and I refer to him as my "basketball boyfriend."

3. I was a contestant on Jeopardy! My episode aired in June 2004, during Ken Jennings' reign of terror. I really think I could have contended if he hadn't had the buzzer timing down perfectly after two weeks of filming. I was the only contestant to get the Final Jeopardy question right. I wore a red jacket and Alex Trebek called me "the lady in red." I made the studio audience laugh by complaining about an email forward I'd gotten titled "Things You'll Never Hear a Southerner Say" which included the line "I'll take Shakespeare for $1000, Alex."

4. The Mad Husband and I like to think of ourselves as tea connoisseurs (kinda like wine connoisseurs, but less drunk). We're constantly making trips to Teavana to stock up on loose-leaf tea.

5. I collect rubber duckies. I have a row of them on top of my desk at work and they're really a great icebreaker.

6. I swear like a drunken sailor. This blog is one of the few places I try to contain it, because I don't feel it's appropriate here, but sometimes a few words slip out. As the makers of Gone With the Wind discovered, "frankly my dear, I really don't care" just won't do, and frankly "darn it to heck" out of the mouth of anyone over the age of twelve just sounds ridiculous.

I'm not tagging anyone specific for this, but let me know if you decide to list yours.

Do or do not, there is no try.

I can't believe I just said that, because after the prequels where he behaved like a complete jerk (and a total wuss in Episode III), I've got a bone to pick with Yoda. Bail Organa was the only real hero (and likable character) in all three of those ill-considered Star Wars prequels. And I never thought I'd have reason to mention this here, but since I'm on the subject, Light Wading has been after me for a long time to blog this, so I'll call it her birthday present: After the prequels, Princess Leia represents the triumph of nurture over nature. Look at the genetic material she was saddled with: whiny, violent Anakin and whiny, passive Padme. Neither one of them could string together a coherent sentence! The whininess was full force (pun intended) with her twin brother, but at the same age he was whining about wanting to go to Tashi Station, she was a diplomat, a Rebel Alliance leader, and a better shot than any stormtrooper I've ever seen (as opposed to her mom -- was the entire character of Padme proof that feminism is dead?). Bail Organa, you did good. You'd be the reigning Father of the Millenium if you hadn't gotten blown to bits in Episode IV.

But I digress... (and how!)

As I was saying to Nell earlier, jumping into a pattern truly seemed like the best way to learn. I can practice increases and decreases till the cows come home, but I'm not really going to learn anything about them until I put them into practice. And so far, the experience is bearing this out. Not only have I successfully increased, I've made short rows. Short rows!! The way I hear knitters going on about short rows, I thought they were the hardest thing on earth. I was surprised when StringTheory2.0 and Natalia explained how simple they were, and even more surprised when I navigated some with no difficulty, save knitting into the wrap and twist, and I didn't do that the second time. It's like magic!

So I can actually talk about the pattern and have it make sense, I will reveal here that I'm knitting Norberta. At this point it only needs to stay secret from the Mad Husband, because he loves dragons and I want to surprise him. I came across her and it was like fate. She's made with KnitPicks Crayon, which I actually had in my stash -- I'd gotten it on sale, but the one time I tried to crochet with it, it was a mess because it's boucle and I couldn't see where to put the hook. Turns out that whatever its failings for crochet, it knits up beautifully. The pattern calls for two strands held together and it makes such a lush, velvety fabric. And it's machine washable! At $1.99 a ball, I'm going to have to reconsider this one.

At this point I've knitted the main body up to the neck. I'm curious to see how the head's going to come together, but the pattern's been so well-written so far that I'm not worried. I am a little nervous about the decreases, since I'm combination knitting, but the boucle texture should disguise any decreases leaning the wrong way. The Ravelry project gallery has been totally helpful; I even modded the pattern a little to make the tail longer after reading other knitters' suggestions. I'm having so much fun! I hope I can finish her before the Mad Husband figures out what's going on.