The Pools I'm In

I'm in a couple of Ravelry pools. One is for Dancing With The Stars and the other one is for American Idol.

In the case of Dancing With The Stars, we were assigned our couple for the pool by random draw. I ended up with Marlee Matlin and her dancing partner (who's never been on the show before), if you can believe it. Husband predicts my couple will be among the first three eliminated. I sure can't argue with him, but maybe they will surprise us and stay in a little longer.

The method for random assignment for the American Idol pool was more exciting. We had a number determined by our order of signing up for the group. In my case, I was number 5 since I was the fifth person to sign up. Then we all had to wait for Tuesday night (last night) for the top 12 to perform, and whichever order they performed in, that's who we got. In my case, since I was number 5, I got the fifth performer of the night, which was Carly Smithson. She's not a favorite of mine, but it could have been much worse. Husband kept predicting I'd end up with 'skunk girl' (Amanda Overmyer). At least Carly is popular, so she'll probably be around for a while, but I doubt she'll win.

I thought most of last night's performances were great with the exception of:

Amanda--always sounds like cats fighting.

David Hernandez--Simon described his performance perfectly: Desperate. (And BTW, didn't buy the ol' 'pizza bistro' job talk since we already know he was working as a stripper and nude lap dancer at the gay nightclub through September 2007, which was AFTER the American Idol auditions.)

Kristy--Way too twanged out. Should have gone for a more subtle country flavor.

David Archuleta--Love him, but at this stage in the competition, there is no excuse for forgetting the lyrics, nor for dissing the Beatles and their music.

The prize in each pool is the other 11 participants (i.e. the losers) gifting the winner with something knitting/crocheting related.

He Has Our Back!

(I decided to start importing my posts from my previous blog in order to have everything conveniently located in one place. This piece was originally posted on 02/15/2007.)

My reading yesterday was YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 22-24, which contains one of my favorite passages:

Jer 23:23 "Am I an Elohim close by," declares YHWH, "and not an Elohim afar off?
Jer 23:24 "If anyone is hidden in secret places, would I not see him?" declares YHWH. "Do I not fill the heavens and earth?" declares YHWH.

YHWH gave me this passage during a time of deep betrayal, and it comforted me so much. I was able to relax, knowing that I didn't need to be concerned about what was happening behind my back because He was there monitoring everything, even in "secret places". Because He was keeping track, I didn't need to. What a relief it was for that to sink in and be able to let go of my need to know.

Ravelry CAL Afghan 1

I have been unable to edit all of my page elements here apparently due to a problem with Blogger, and it seems like it's been going on for at least a week. So, I haven't been able to update my Mini Movie Reviews. I have 5 movie reviews I haven't been able to post in the past week. Boo-hoo! Hopefully by the time I can post them, I'll remember them!

Ravelry CAL Afghan 1: Somewhere when I was trying to figure out the best way to do the latest monthly square for the CAL afghans, I made the decision to do two of these monthly squares each month so that the afghans could all be completed within about a year since the intended recipients are anxious to receive them. This means that in order to catch up this month I have to crochet a second Dreamcatcher square, a second Cross My Heart square and two Cygnus squares for each of the seven afghans--so four squares for each afghan this month. Realistically it's probably going to take me at least another month to get caught up on all seven afghans.

For each afghan's individual colorway, I had designated a variegated color, a light color, a medium color and a dark color, so I decided to do each month's squares with one square out of a single one of these designated yarns and the other square out of a combination of all four yarns.

Afghan 1's designated colors are: Shaded Browns-variegated, Aran-light, Cafe-medium and Coffee-dark. I now have all six of the squares completed for this afghan so that it is up to date until the fourth square-of-the-month is posted in three weeks or so. I really like the way all six squares turned out. By modifying a couple of the patterns, I was able to make all six squares the same size. I love seeing the nice neat stack of them waiting for the next month's squares to be added on top.American Idol: My choices for elimination tonight--

Amanda Overmyer--Sorry, just can't take her voice anymore.

Carly Smithson--I've wanted her out from the beginning because this is not 'Irish Idol' and because she is a has-been who has already had a major recording contract.

Danny Noriega--I was a non-fan on first sight.

David Hernandez--His recent past of being a stripper/nude lap dancer at a gay nightclub should haunt him and should have disqualified him in the first place, else we need to bring Frenchie Davis back for another shot since his continued participation is completely unfair to her. I especially don't like the way he and the AI producers completely ignore the whole thing and refuse to acknowledge and address it.Dinner Tonight: Lemon-Barbecued Chicken http://www.deliciousdecisions.org/cb/show_search.cfm?RecipeID1=118&Nutrition1=

Mistress Of the Art of Death Square Pattern

Mistress of the Art of Death Square by Tuppence

Design inspired by Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

This is the first square I designed for My Reading Afghan. It is inspired by and represents the first reading selection of the Ravelry Book Club--Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin.

The description of the design components (and what parts of the book inspired them) includes spoilers, so I won't include that description and explanation here. It is available in a post on the Ravelry Book Club group page on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/ravelry-book-club/73444/1-25#4

You need to be a member of Ravelry to access the page. If you're not yet a member, join us!

Size: Approximately 8" x 8"

Materials used--

Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Burgundy (or any worsted-weight yarn)

Size 8 knitting needles (or size needed to obtain gauge)

Gauge: 17 stitches and 23 rows = 4" x 4" in stockinette stitch

Instructions--

(Odd-numbered rows are the Right Side)

Cast on 34 stitches.

Rows 1-4: Knit across.

Row 5: Knit 2, purl 30, knit 2.

Row 6: Knit 3, purl 1, knit 11, purl 1, knit 2, purl 13, knit 3.

Row 7: Knit 2, purl 1, knit 13, purl 2, knit 1, purl 11, knit 1, purl 1, knit 2.

Rows 8-11: Repeat rows 6 and 7 twice.

Row 12: Repeat row 6.

Row 13: Knit 2, PFB (purl through front and back loops--increase made), SSK (slip next 2 stitches as if to knit, then knit those 2 stitches together--decrease made), knit 9, knit 2 tog (decrease made), PFB (increase made), PFB (increase made), SSK (decrease made), purl 9, knit 2 tog (decrease made), PFB (increase made), knit 2.

Row 14: Knit 4, purl 1, knit 9, purl 1, knit 4, purl 11, knit 4.

Row 15: Knit 2, purl 1, PFB, SSK, knit 7, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 2, PFB, SSK, purl 7, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 1, knit 2.

Row 16: Knit 5, purl 1, knit 7, purl 1, knit 6, purl 9, knit 5.

Row 17: Knit 2, purl 2, PFB, SSK, knit 5, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 4, PFB, SSK, purl 5, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 2, knit 2.

Row 18: Knit 6, purl 1, knit 5, purl 1, knit 8, purl 7, knit 6.

Row 19: Knit 2, purl 3, PFB, SSK, knit 3, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 6, PFB, SSK, purl 3, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 3, knit 2.

Row 20: Knit 7, purl 1, knit 3, purl 1, knit 10, purl 5, knit 7.

Row 21: Knit 2, purl 4, PFB, SSK, knit 1, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 8, PFB, SSK, purl 1, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 4, knit 2.

Row 22: Knit 8, purl 1, knit 1, purl 1, knit 12, purl 3, knit 8.

Row 23: Knit 2, purl 5, PFB, slip 1 as if to knit, knit 2 tog, PSSO (pass slip stitch over--3 stitches decreased to 1 stitch), PFB, purl 10, PFB, slip 1 as if to knit, knit 2 tog, PSSO, PFB, purl 5, knit 2.

Row 24: Knit 3, purl 1, knit 11, purl 1, knit 2, purl 1, knit 11, purl 1, knit 3.

Row 25: Knit 2, purl 1, knit 1, purl 11, knit 1, purl 2, knit 1, purl 11, knit 1, purl 1, knit 2.

Rows 26-29: Repeat rows 24 and 25 twice.

Row 30: Repeat row 24.

Row 31: Knit 2, PFB, SSK, purl 9, knit 2 tog, PFB, PFB, SSK, purl 9, knit 2 tog, PFB, knit 2.

Row 32: Knit 4, purl 1, knit 9, purl 1, knit 4, purl 1, knit 9, purl 1, knit 4.

Row 33: Knit 2, purl 1, PFB, SSK, purl 7, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 2, PFB, SSK, purl 7, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 1, knit 2.

Row 34: Knit 5, purl 1, knit 7, purl 1, knit 6, purl 1, knit 7, purl 1, knit 5.

Row 35: Knit 2, purl 2, PFB, SSK, purl 5, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 4, PFB, SSK, purl 5, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 2, knit 2.

Row 36: Knit 6, purl 1, knit 5, purl 1, knit 8, purl 1, knit 5, purl 1, knit 6.

Row 37: Knit 2, purl 3, PFB, SSK, purl 3, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 6, PFB, SSK, purl 3, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 3, knit 2.

Row 38: Knit 7, purl 1, knit 3, purl 1, knit 10, purl 1, knit 3, purl 1, knit 7.

Row 39: Knit 2, purl 4, PFB, SSK, purl 1, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 8, PFB, SSK, purl 1, knit 2 tog, PFB, purl 4, knit 2.

Row 40: Knit 8, purl 1, knit 1, purl 1, knit 12, purl 1, knit 1, purl 1, knit 8.

Row 41: Repeat row 23.

Rows 42-45: Knit across.

Bind off as if to knit. Weave in ends.

New Afghan Started

Pineapple Square Afghan: Yes, I actually did start a new afghan. This may be a new record for me for the most works in progress at the same time. I love the color of this yarn. It's called Painted Desert. You can see it a little better in the close-up picture, but the actual color is still more brown than it looks in the pic. The pineapple pattern is one of my favorites, and I've made several things with pineapples in them. Mostly I remember a poncho I made as a teenager that was all pineapples like this. I loved it and wore it for years. Can't remember what happened to it. Probably ponchos went out of style and I got rid of it. Too bad because it would be totally in style today again. Oh, well.

American Idol: It was really weird. Some of the guys that didn't do so well the previous week did great this week. For instance, Luke Menard. I thought he did great this time after being totally out of tune last time. He talked about being in an a capella group. I wonder if that made it more difficult for him to adjust to singing with a band and maybe that caused his pitch problems the first week? Michael Johns, whom I liked from the beginning, did not do very well this week. He's originally from Australia, but I wonder if he's a naturalized citizen. I don't want anyone to win 'American Idol' if they're not an American. I loved David Cook again this week, and of course, David Achuleta was awesome again. Right now, I'd say he's the most likely to win the whole thing. The girls were about the same, I thought, though my favorite, Ramiele, did not do as well as last week, so that was a disappointment. It feels like they're really trying to push that Carly Smithson down our throats, and I'm just not a fan. In addition to her being a has-been who has already had a major recording contract and CD and all, if she hasn't become an American citizen, she has no business being on 'American Idol'. If she's an Irish citizen, she needs to be on 'Irish Idol' or 'European Idol' or something like that.

Big Brother 9: This is the most boring Big Brother ever. I think forcing them to compete in 2-person teams must be stifling and constraining everybody. If it weren't for the drama of the health emergencies, it would have been a big yawner so far. I'm amazed that kind of thing didn't happen sooner with people having to eat that nasty-tasting slop. I'd rather not eat at all than to eat something so nasty. And apparently that's what happened to Amanda--not enough food led to the hypoglycemia. I wonder what set off Allison's allergic reaction? Was she on slop, too? Wouldn't surprise me. I think they need to go back to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches rather than that yucky slop.

Lost: Lost is on tonight--can't wait! It's apparently supposed to be a Desmond-centric episode, so looking forward to that. Really curious to find out how Kate got little Aaron in her clutches, but that probably won't be revealed for a while. And why doesn't Jack want to see him? I'm still wondering if she was actually pregnant and just named her own baby Aaron. As usual, lots to speculate about. I definitely want to know why Sayid is under Ben's thumb.

Afghan Update

The Ravelry CAL Afghans: I finally finished the final two colorways for this afghan, so now there are a total of seven of these afghans in progress. I really like both of these colorways. The first one is a combination of black, white and light and dark gray. The second one has a linen color with two shades of blue. At this point, I am caught up as far as this CAL is concerned, but I also wanted to investigate the Tunisian Crochet CAL's January and February squares to see if they'd work with these squares since combining both of these CALs this would result in a full-size afghan in 12 months instead of 24 months. But that's going to have to wait because I need to get a couple of gift projects done in the next couple of weeks.

My Top 6 Girls

American Idol: I'm sorry, but I could only come up with 4 girls that stood out from the pack in last night's show (in order of their appearance):



Kady Malloy--Liked her since her initial audition and still liked her performance last night. I thought she made a very 60s song (Groovy Kind of Love) sound contemporary and entertaining.




Asia'h Epperson--I was not a fan of hers during the early auditions because she seemed to repeatedly suffer from what I call 'the Johnny Mathis syndrome'. This is where the singer starts singing a note/word and then their voice disappears for a second or more and then returns. During last night's performance, she had no Johnny Mathis episodes until the latter part of the song, and by then she was doing such a great job with the song that I was willing to overlook the latter-end Johnny Mathis moments.


Ramiele Malubay--This girl is an awesome singer. Great voice. Great stage presence.






Syesha Mercado--She already looks and sounds like a polished professional. Pleasant and entertaining.





At first, I couldn't even come up with a couple more to add in to make a Top 6 because the other girls were even more 'forgettable' than the 'forgettable' boys, but I guess if pressed I might include:


Brooke White--Sang well and on tune, but just not a stand-out performance.





Alaina Whitaker--She also did a decent job, just not outstanding.






The Bottom 6 (and why they're there):


Alexandrea Lushington--All I can remember is the goofy pants and suspenders.





Amanda Overmyer--Was never impressed with this one. Why hasn't anyone noticed that she never holds a note longer than a nanosecond? The reason for that is usually because they can't.




Amy Davis--Sang the entire song out of tune. All the more offensive because I always liked Connie Francis' version of Where The Boys Are.





Carly Smithson--A has-been. She already got her shot with a big-time recording contract with MCA a few years ago. The fact that her shot didn't happen wasn't because of her story that the record company went defunct. The fact is that her CD only sold like 478 copies, and maybe that was at least partly why the record company went defunct after they invested huge sums of money in her. I didn't even like her singing before I learned of her previous recording contract, so I like her even less upon reading all about her long-standing entertainment career going back to childhood. Her place in the competition should have been given to someone who's never yet had a shot.

Joanne Borgella--I wanted to like her, but sadly, her voice was just too unremarkable.





Kristy Lee Cook--The way she kept making bug-eyes freaked me out. She just didn't seem at all comfortable on stage in front of a camera.





Big Brother 9: I'm so glad that Jen didn't get vetoed off the block. Although I like Parker better than her, she just has to go, so I sure hope they get evicted rather than Ryan and Allison. I'm not thrilled with either of them, but Jen is the most offensive by far, so I'd really like to see her go. Aside from her abrasive personality, what's with her wanting to see Adam's uncircumcised penis? And what's with her boyfriend apparently not having a problem with that?

Terminator-The Sarah Connor Chronicles: I have really been enjoying this story. Even after three movies and a few of these TV episodes, it is still a good story and keeps me on the edge of my seat. I hope they don't cut it short like they did with JourneyMan, which is apparently never coming back (boo-hoo).

Dinner Tonight: Herb-Crusted Chicken Breasts ( http://www.deliciousdecisions.org/cb/show_search.cfm?RecipeID1=227&Nutrition1= )

My Top 6 Guys

American Idol: After watching the 12 male finalists, it was fairly easy to pick my top 6. Actually I ended up with a top 4 that were especially impressive and then added in 2 of the more or less 'forgettable' (as Simon would say) ones that I liked better than others.

My top 4 (in order of their appearance on last night's show) are:


David Cook--Love the texture and tone of his voice.




David Archuleta--This kid is a natural. I don't think he could sing badly to save his life. It's like he was born to sing. Reminds me of Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken in that regard--flawless and seemingly incapable of hitting a wrong note.




Jason Castro--Jason made it into my top 4 because he surprised me so much. I was fully prepared not to like him, and then he did such a fun authentic performance, singing on tune and sounding like he would sound if he had actually lived and performed in the 60s, but still sounding fresh and today as well.


Michael Johns--Great-sounding voice, star-quality presence and consistently excellent performances.





My add-ins so that I could come up with a Top 6:


Colton Berry--Pleasant voice. Sings on tune.




Robbie Carrico--Pleasant voice. Sings on tune. But not quite the rocker sound he seems to want to have.

The rest of them and why they didn't make it into my Top 6:

Chikezie--Aside from the odd name, he just has such a stock sound that doesn't stand out in any way. Plus I didn't like his attitude. The best way to respond to criticism from Simon is with grace, not attitude. What Simon wears is irrelevant since he is there to judge, not to be judged by arrogant contestants. Every one of these contestants signed up to be on this show, very well-known for criticism given by Simon Cowell, so for any of them to come back with any kind of arrogant attitude towards one of the people that gave them their shot on national TV is just plain tacky and trashy.

Danny Noriega--Too flaming full of himself.

David Hernandez--I just couldn't take the overdone mouth manipulations and stylizing.

Garrett Haley--Looks and sounds too much like a girl.

Jason Yeager--Moon River brings back bad childhood memories, and he just wasn't impressive enough to overcome that.

Luke Menard--Sang pretty much his whole song out of tune and then alarmingly failed to recognize that fact during his after-performance interview, even AFTER the judges pointed it out to him.

I sure hope that at least my top 4 end up in the top 6.

Big Brother 9: Bonehead move #1--Jen and Ryan telling their respective partners about the fact that they are a real-life couple, together for 10 months before entering the Big Brother house, thus giving up their distinct advantage in the game.

Bonehead move #2--Jen and Parker telling everybody the secret about Jen and Ryan already being a couple out of some strange need to tell before Allison tells, even though Allison had no reason to tell anyone.

Bonehead move #3--Allison and Sheila pretending to be a lesbian couple of long standing before entering the Big Brother house and announcing this to Joshuah and Neil (and maybe others?) AFTER the swearing-on-the-Bible ceremony where everyone swore that there were no other prior relationships in the house other than Jen and Ryan.

Cherry Chip

Ravelry CAL Afghan 6: I finished the Cross My Heart square for this afghan, and I definitely do like this color combination. I especially think the name of the multicolor yarn used for this afghan is cute--'Cherry Chip'. I pretty much have this pattern memorized by now since I've made it a few times. This makes it easier to crochet while watching TV. I love seeing how the different color combinations turn out.

Big Brother 9: Apparently that Sheila was more hard-up than she tried to make it appear on the first show because on last night's show she was all over Adam, the guy she supposedly couldn't stand. Well, okay, she was all over him with the exception of when she was making a big deal about his 'insensitive' remark, talking it up to everyone in the house--this on the heels of her completely insensitive tirade to everyone in the house on the previous episode. Jen and Ryan are completely stupid for telling their secret that they're a couple IRL (in real life). Nothing like putting a big target on your head and taking away your advantage in the game! But then Parker and Allison would be equally stupid to leak the secret since it would put targets on their heads, too. But that Allison seems really vindictive and angry about the fact that she can't have Ryan as she had hoped, so she may end up cutting off her nose to spite her face.

Lost: I finally made it through the season 1 episodes on the ABC website and have also managed to see the first three or four episodes of season 2. I wish I had enough time off to just do a marathon and watch all the remaining past episodes one after the other so I could be completely caught up. I'm hoping that some of my questions get answered after I've watched all the episodes so far. I know new questions come up because I'm also watching the current season on TV. Anyway, it's a great show, and I'm enjoying watching it.