I’ve had the idea in my head for awhile to review some knitting apps for the iPhone & iPod Touch. Currently, I’ve only used a stitch/row counting app, but haven’t been convinced that knitting apps are necessary. Knitting is so pen and paper to me anyway (aside from the thousands of electronic knitting patterns out there, of course!).

Before I delve into my reviews, I wanted to hear from you. Do you use any knitting apps? Have you used any knitting apps in the past? What did you like/dislike about them? Please send me an email at themarioscarf@gmail.com if you want to contribute! I’d love to hear from you.

I don’t know how I’ve failed to mention this before, but I’m on Twitter as @cassinator. Feel free to add me!

Last night Jason and I went shopping for some gingerbread ingredients after I saw this AMAZING post about gingerbread houses that sit on mugs from notmartha.org, and while we were at the Farmer’s Market, Jason realized that last night would be really our only night together until December 29. I have so many babysitting arrangements coming up that we just won’t be able to have any Christmas fun. So while we were at Target, we ran back to look at their trees, found one for under $30 in clearance, and came home to decorate.

I started by making some puff pastry cookies. I wanted to make pie crust cookies, but all I found at the tiny Kroger in Decatur was some ready-made puff pastry sheets. Not a bad thing, though!

They turned out so crispy, puffy, yummy-delicious! I sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar, and was seriously debating pouring milk over them for breakfast.

I used some bite-sized cookie cutters which made them easy to pop on each trip past their resting spot on the stove. Jason almost had to duct tape their container closed.

I also made gingerbread dough for the little gingerbread houses. We used blackstrap molasses, which, along with all the other spices made the dough taste really, really, REALLY strong. The dark molasses also gave the dough a dark brown color that, as I piled up the dough on plastic wrap to rest in the fridge, looked like poo!

We also decorated the tree, but by the time we finished it was 2:00 AM, so there aren’t any pics of the finished tree yet. I did get a lot of pictures of the cats checking it out, though.

Nugget and Fat Stinky are celebrating their first Christmas.

What a fun night!

First off, many thanks to San (www.san-smith.com) who gave me her pass to the Neil Gaiman reading at Agnes Scott. I totally fudged myself by not bringing either of my two Neil Gaiman books to be signed, but I really enjoyed the reading. And I got to see an Internet pal Jessi (www.casual-dread.blogspot.com) and thanks to Jessi for letting me sit with her and getting a great view of Neil Gaiman! We had to wait a good long while to meet Neil (he signed books for every person in the chapel- maybe 400 people!), but when we did get up to him, I said I was an English teacher (ok, little white lie, but I am in school to be one!) and that I was impressed by how his books get reluctant readers to pick up a book (which is quite true!). He hadn’t looked up to speak to nearly anyone before us, but he looked up and responded along the lines that he’d heard that a lot and was glad to encourage young readers.

So yay! That was very exciting and I’m sad that San couldn’t go, but feeling very fortunate that I got to meet him and get a picture with him. I have pictures of Jessi and her friends on Flickr, and she has a picture of us with Neil. Weird camera acrobatics last night.

Anyway. The other thing I wanted to post about today was Lion Brand patterns. I was flipping through some blogs and someone posted a few photos of the wonderful crochet patterns Lion Brand has for FREE on their website. I’m still very biased towards knitting, but the winds may be a-changing now that I’ve seen the fantastic patterns on their site.

I LOVE this granny square scarf. It’s featured with a soft mohair yarn which makes it look cute and modern. Granny squares have a tendency to come off kinda clunky and old-fashioned (or maybe I just always picture the afghans my Nana made in the 70s), but I really like how bright and fun this scarf looks. The picture links to the pattern, but you need to be signed into the Lion Brand site in order to view it.

I also really liked this scalloped, lacy scarf.

Last summer I made a cute knitted dress for a girl I’d babysat with a light linen yarn. This pattern is similar to the dress I made, but I’m really digging the new handpainted yarn from Lion Brand that looks like a Noro colorway.

What a cute little outfit for the winter? I want to make this as a Christmas gift for the little one I’m sitting for now. She could wear a long-sleeve onesie and leggings or tights under it. With a soft wool it would be perfect for winter wear.

I’m hoping to add a few more items to my Etsy shop this afternoon before I go out to babysit for the evening. I’m thinking it may be a much later update, but debating between adding handspun yarn and knitting up some of my handspun. I think there are so many established and popular handspun yarn sellers on Etsy that I may be wasting my time listing just plain yarn. I’ve had a raspberry colored yarn with over 250 yards (!) sitting in my shop since March. I’ve always wondered if I shouldn’t just knit up and see how that goes. I don’t know. Are there more knitters on Etsy or people who want already-knitted items?

One of the yarns I will probably list is a beauty I’ve been holding onto for a long time thinking I would ply it. But I really like it as a single.

It’s a little over-wound in a few spots, but I plan on soaking it and giving it a good WHACK and stretch before listing it. I spun this in January and didn’t intend at all for this to be listed so close to Christmas. It reminds me more of roses and leaves than Christmas. But oh well. Now’s the time.

I better get on with my real life chores today. Have a lovely day!

Finals are OVER and I’m happy to report that I received another 4.0 this semester. I am making up big time for my undergraduate GPA. Also, my professor wants me to submit one of my final exam essays to a peer-reviewed education journal. Cool!

And I gotta tell ya, there is nothing better than coming home on a freezing cold, rainy day to a package. Especially when inside the package you find:

A hand-crocheted Jayne hat! OMG WHEEE! Thank you so much, Julia! This totally made my day.

I will be adding a few new items to my Etsy shop this week. I lowered my prices to make holiday shopping a touch more affordable, and I’m willing to (reasonably) negotiate on what’s still in there. I’ll be adding at least two other scarves and some handspun yarn. http://cassinator.etsy.com

Have a lovely weekend!

Lots of pictures and links tonight!

On Sunday I saw the matinee performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at my friend’s high school. Her kids did a great job and I was happy to see everything come together. I visited the school earlier in the week to attend their final dress rehearsal and take pictures. When the student who the Gigantor Pink Sweater was made for came out, I nearly lost it laughing because he pulled the hat down too far and came out like this:

I gave him a few pointers on wearing the hat a tad more “jaunty” and I was glad to see he figured it out for the actual performance! That right there is my very first sweater, ladies and gents!

This week is all business, though. I have a presentation in each of my classes this week. One is a book presentation on Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl. I’m sort of winging that one. I taught myself how to play “Happy Birthday” on my new ukulele to play as I enter the classroom in character, just like Stargirl sings to people in the cafeteria. I also stitched up a little “Cinnamon” rat out of an old t-shirt.

I plan on getting a classmate to tape my book presentation tomorrow night so that I can save it for posterity’s sake. Actually, I live to embarrass myself on the Internet (see above). Really, I’m kinda excited about walking, playing the ukulele, and singing at the same time, and if I can pull it off, I’ll be damn proud of myself!

My other project is for my Content Area Literacy course on how to activate students’ prior knowledge on a particular subject, and ways to get them excited and motivated about the upcoming lesson or unit. My group covered four subjects of high school, and I made a website with iWeb to share our information. I got to cover English-Language Arts and am particularly proud of my motivation ideas. You can check out our website at: http://web.me.com/cassiecsmith/Interest_Ignition/Home.html.

After Thanksgiving, I’m turning in my completed list of twenty-four young adult books that I’ve read this semester. I just started Little Brother by Cory Doctorow this evening, and am extremely fascinated by its premise. The l337 speak and hax0r language in the novel makes me have to read certain passages a few times to make sure I completely understand what’s just been said, but so far (20 pages in) I’m enjoying the novel. And bonus that it’s an ex-library book from Cleveland!

Also due after Thanksgiving is another project for my young adult lit class involving the creation of learning centers. Like centers in kindergarten only for high school students and way cooler. My learning centers are all about comics and graphic novels. Again, I’m using iWeb to create a website to showcase my learning centers and w00t- iWeb has a comic book theme! So I borrowed one of Jason’s many superhero shirts and totally geeked out.

Tee-hee. Anyone know why I have those two super hero ladies next to me on the page? I’ll give you a clue- look in the blue box to the left.

Also after Thanksgiving, I may do a tiny neighborhood craft show. Key word is may. I’m not sure if I’ll have enough stuff to show, but really I wouldn’t be going to make a lot of money. It’d definitely be more for the fun of being around other crafters.

As for Thanksgiving itself, I will most likely be traveling to Carbondale, Illinois (home of the Southern Illinois University Salukis) to visit my mom’s entire family. My grandmother had a massive stroke this past Friday and is still in the hospital, but fortunately she’s been able to speak when she’s conscious and can recognize people around her. All of my mom’s siblings are up there with her, and my brother and I will probably be up there, too. My poor dad has to work next week so he’ll be home alone with the pets. I may stop off in my new favorite city of Nashville if my friends are in town, but don’t expect too much excitement. I haven’t been to Carbondale in over ten years so maybe there’ll be something new to see. I finished some pretty blue socks for my grandmother and it’ll be nice to give her those while she’s recovering.

I didn’t want to end this post on a downer. So here’s a cute picture of me and the little girl I babysit riding the kiddie train at Zoo Atlanta. Happy Thanksgiving!

I finally finished the Gigantor Pink Sweater and matching Pink Tam tonight. I cannot stop giggling over the fact that I got my boyfriend to put both on, but sadly he would not allow pictures. I, on the other hand, am a glutton for punishment. Here’s the [video] I made after I finished the tam. I’m whispering because Jason was in the adjacent room and I didn’t want him to laugh at me. Yeah.

And here’s the (almost) whole shebang:

It is intentionally supposed to look crap because the character who will wear it in a high school musical this weekend knitted it. “Mr. Biggley” from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying has the pleasure of some handmade knitwear! I’ll take pictures at tomorrow night’s dress rehearsal, which I am attending because apparently the numbers I choreographed are the best of the show so far! It’s been a nice trip down musical theater memory lane the past few weeks. And getting the chance to knit my first sweater vest was the cherry on top… even if it does look crap.

What’s the Eddie Izzard line about looking cool and looking like a dickhead?

This year’s Dragon*Con acted as a great trial run for me. I vaguely remember my first (and prior to 2009, my only) Dragon*Con two years ago and that’s probably because I had to work both Saturday night and Sunday morning so I didn’t do much. I dressed up as Leela from Futurama one day, but that’s about it. This year’s Con was a much more serious attempt at attending panels, making new friends, sitting next to celebrities (Malcolm McDowell, fools!), hiding alcohol, and figuring out how to stay well-rested. I failed in the latter item as it took nearly 15 hours of sleep on Monday to recover.

On Friday I saw a bunch of stellar costumes to start off the weekend:

This Nurse Joker wasn’t messing around. It usually makes me giggle when people are in character, but this dude had it DOWN. The voice, mannerisms, everything. Best Nurse Joker I saw all weekend.

I refer to this guy as “Man Leia.” I have another pic of him trying to lick himself.

This gal did an excellent job on the Johnny Depp version of the Mad Hatter. Really loved the hair and eyebrows!

A walking, talking TARDIS!

Dr. Mrs. The Monarch gets checked out….

A huge lucha libre group. Check out the guy’s pose on the front left!

So yes, the costumes were fun and there are many more on my Flickr site. Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures during panels because I didn’t know we were allowed to, but now I know for next year and will make a point to take pictures during big panels and try to get pics with panelists.

As far as panels went, I attended several from the Young Adult literature track and enjoyed them very much. I especially liked the religious themes in YA lit panel and look forward to next year’s YA track. Jason and I attended an voice acting panel with several famous voice actors including the guy who did Roger Rabbit’s voice, the current voice of Porky Pig, and Vic Mignogna (who is 47 years old?!?!). That was quite the interesting panel- I didn’t know who most of those guys were at first, but they were all so funny that it didn’t matter.

I missed a lot of great panels though due to working half of Sunday and then needing sleep like crazy. I’m a little sad, but mostly I just feel like it’s good prep for next year. We definitely plan on getting a hotel room at the Marriott, stocking it with booze, and taking naps as needed. No more of this schlepping back and forth to East Atlanta on the MARTA business.

Another great event from the weekend was meeting up with some fellow-crafty-types at the Marriott on Saturday:

From left to right: Renee, Alexia, Dot (aka Nancy), Jessi, and Misty

You can follow theses ladies on Twitter: @obajoo, @emberlexi, @DotatDabbled, @jessidee, @mistyg

They are all amazing crafty ladies- you may know Renee from the great blog The Domestic Scientist (she’s had several items featured on the Craftzine blog!) When I fix up my blog’s appearance I’ll add a special place to link to their blogs.

And finally, I ran into a local hero of mine: Lucky Yates of Dad’s Garage fame!

I talked to him for all of two seconds and totally gushed like an idiot (look at my giddy smile in that pic), but this was a major fan moment. I’m a little surprised at myself as I used to interview famous musicians at the radio station and always prided myself on my composure, but damn, even Jason said I was acting stupid silly. I think I actually forgot the name of the neighborhood I used to live in (Inman Park) and Lucky finished my thought for me. Major stupid silly, I tell you.

We had a great weekend and now I have all sorts of inspiration and ideas for next year. I’m already plotting costumes (Hank Venture as The Bat, Duck Dodgers, and Futurama just to name a few…), plotting tactics, plotting mini-events (more crafting, anyone?). Why, why, WHY does this only have to be one weekend out of the year?

But there are some fun events coming up to keep me occupied: Oktoberfest/JapanFest on Sept. 19/20, GreekFest/my birthday the weekend of October 3-5, and HALLOWEEN! Yes, I am totally succumbing to the marketing tactics of Michaels, Target, and every grocery store in Atlanta.

I miss all of my new friends already, though, and hopefully we can all get together before next year’s Con!

I don’t have much time to write a great Dragon*Con update, but I did want to add this for the ladies who met up at Pulse Bar next to the “Geek Crafters Unite” sign:

“Penis….NOOOOOOOO!”

I was going to wow you with my l337 HTML skills by putting a lovely table with my proposed schedule on here, but when I realized how many rows this thing would need, I figured you probably wouldn’t mind too much if I abstained this time. I’ll show you what a l337 hax0r I am some other time.

As for my schedule, it’s in list-form with highlighting on the “crafty” panels I’ll be attending. I have a birthday dinner to attend Saturday night and work on Sunday morning so sadly I don’t get to go to some of the costuming panels I want to visit, but since Jason wants to try his hand at cosplay next go-round, maybe over the course of the year we’ll both start learning costuming skills. I am attending several Young Adult Lit panels as I’m currently taking a YA Lit graduate course- doesn’t hurt to get a little Sci-Fi and Fantasy into the classroom!

Friday:
10:00 AM – Shatner/Nimoy
11:30 AM – Spin City
2:30 PM – Tarot Reading
5:30 PM – Animation Voice Acting
7:00 PM – Religious Themes in Young Adult Lit
8:30 PM – Dunny*Fest
11:30 PM – East Asian Tattooing

Saturday:
10:00 AM – Dinosaurs!
11:30 AM – Firefly Verse
1:00 PM – Venture Bros / Crafty Meet-Up (UH-OH!)
2:30 PM – MST3K to Cinematic Titanic
4:00 PM – Story Origami *crafty*
7:00 PM – Costuming 101 (maybe)

Sunday:
2:30 PM – An Hour With Space Ghost
4:00 PM – Gonzo Panel Show

Monday:
10:00 AM – Sci-Fi/Fantasy for Teachers
11:30 AM – Origami Open Fold *crafty*
2:30 PM – Futurama

I have some major gaps in my schedule (Friday afternoon, Sunday night, Monday) so if anyone has some suggestions I’m totally game. I’m not well versed in a lot of what Dragon*Con is about, but I’m definitely open-minded and game.

Also, still debating whether or not I will wear some sort of fun dress-up outfit one day. I have a platinum blonde wig somewhere and some fun shoes. I’d love to go sort of Harajuku one day… we’ll see.

And you may have noticed that the Venture Bros. panel conflicts with the crafty meet-up at Pulse Bar: I may go to the panel for a little bit and meet everyone around 2 pm. Just keep me updated as to where you are- email me your cell #s so I can text/call you. cassiecsmith [at] gmail [dot] com.

Unrelated: I’ve gotten some fun goodies from Etsy this week. New earrings, vintage shoes, and this fantastic Elizabethan frame necklace from eRosasJewelry. I’m modeling it while trying to look fun and fancy-free, but I think it just comes off as silly!

No, the gigantic house in the background is not mine. I was babysitting & the baby was asleep. Here’s a better pic of the necklace:

Mmmm, loooooove.

See you at the *Con- email me/Tweet me for my cell #!