News: Earthquake Hits Southern California

An earthquake hit southern California today. It was centered near Chino Hills, not too far from L.A. Initial estimates put the quake's magnitude at a 5.8; several sources say that it's since been reduced to 5.4. So far the sources I've seen are reporting no injuries.

Coverage:
The New York Times
CNN
Reuters
Washington Post
The BBC

Photos (as promised) of Yesterday's Knitting

Yesterday afternoon I reported that I was nearly finished with a pair of armwarmers. I finished them yesterday, and took pictures. They're a bit fuzzy (the photos, that is), but if you're on Ravelry, you can check the project page there in a week or two: hopefully I'll have some better shots up by then.

In fact, though I took three pictures that made it as far as my Flickr photostream, there's really only one photo in which you can get any sense of what these things look like:





The pattern, Alexandra Tinsley's "Salad Wristers" (from Presents Knits) is knit as directed, except that I worked the first five rows in knit 1, purl 1 ribbing. I used Cascade 220 in Charcoal Gray for this pair, but I expect to make more -- this is a great pattern to be knitting when you expect to be waiting around a bit, but not for extended periods at one go.

Links:
Project page on Ravelry
"Salad Wristers" pattern
"Salad Wristers" pattern on Ravelry
Cascade 220 on Ravelry
Cascade 220 on Yarndex.com

Duly Noted: NASA is 50!

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, was formed on July 29, 1958. (As with the anniversary of Beatrix Potter's birth -- mentioned yesterday -- Google has a special logo.)

Linkage:
NASA's home page.
NASA on Wikipedia.

A Pint-Sized Sweater (and some other stuff)

Back at the beginning of June, I told you I'd gotten the yarn for my knitting circle's first-ever Knit-Along. We chose Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Baby Surprise Jacket" through a complicated (read: messy) process involving several rounds of voting on two different websites. While I don't yet have the ends woven in or the buttons sewn on, the sweater is, essentially, done. The yarn pooled nicely, don't you think?



In a week or two, we'll be starting our next knit-along. The pattern, the Foliage hat from Knitty's Fall 2007 issue, came in a close second in the voting. (The pattern was my first choice; details on why can be found in this post from late May.)

Among my other knitting updates, I'm within a row of binding off a pair of ruffled armwarmers (pictures to follow within a few days). I printed out the pattern last month, shortly before I left for Seattle, and finally got them started three weeks ago. And now, after a false start involving the wrong cast-on method and too-small needles, I'm nearly done. I'll tell you more about them when I post the photography.

Duly Noted: Beatrix Potter's birthday

Author Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866. Her books, mainly (entirely?) for children, featured such charecters as Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.

Links:
Beatrix Potter on LibraryThing.
Beatrix Potter on Wikipedia.

Update (3:50 PM): Who2's Editorial blog has a post featuring the graphic Google has on their homepage today. (That graphic is how I found out about the anniversary.)

Travel Video: SushiCone

As much as I'd like to get back into the swing of blogging things, the computer I'm sitting at is having one of its paroxysms of what can best be described as navel-gazing. I'll just post another Seattle video and let it get on its way.