What They Said, What They Shared

Without other people in our lives pointing us to new things to read, new things to cook, new reasons for "why things happen", new things to view on tv, and  new knitting techniques and patterns, our lives would not be near as diverse.  So here are a few of my new favorite things that have lateley been pointed out to me.

...as relating to online games, this article is well worth a read about Granny Chichi who lives in Belize and is whupping her journalistic grandson in the most charming of wordy ways  (Severo Avila said it)

...as relating to cooking, here are a few absolutely delicious recipes my friends and husband have made over the past few months. I was a lucky recipient of their good eats. (Gene, Natalie, and Dottie said it)

• cold cucumber soup
• banana crepes with orange cognac sauce from Michael Richardson of Cottey College in his excellent cookbook
• gelato with moscato wine, divine!
• trout cakes
• easy flourless chocolate cake ... a true winner
• eggplant dip with yogurt *great as a dip for artichokes last night*

...as related to why it rains in the fall, this is what Simon said

...as related to streaming movies, this summer I have watched and enjoyed the following older movies, new to me (Pam mostly said it)

• The Chorus
• Haute Cuisine
• Found Memories
• Stories They Tell
• Midsomer Murders with new episodes just released

...as relating to knitting, (Esther Budd  said it) the Her Royal Highness Shawl, which I am knitting for the second time because I am a glutton for punishment, tells me I am currently knitting, in the round, several thousand stitches just on one round for the ruffle on this shawl.

(source)

Above is Kate the Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 in a knitted green shawl that caused a stir in the fiber world. If you click on the source link, you will see where it could have been purchased back then.  Esther Budd came up with a pattern for the knit shawl that you can purchase here.  So now you can make your own shawl similar to that of the Duchess.  You can see why Budd calls it the "suicide ruffle" in her pattern if you have ever knit this many stitches in just one pattern repeat

(started on the suicide ruffle a day ago, apologies for poor quality of that green color)

this is the yarn for the HRH shawl I'm working on:  numma numma in wintermint and a truer color shown, referred by The Knit Girllls

source

What have YOU been pointed to lately?  What have you learned?  What can you recommend?  Tell, tell!

Linking as usual with Tami at Works in Progress Wednesday and Yarn Along and Fiber Arts Friday.

and Natural Suburbia.

Orange-Grey Delancey Cardigan

After eight months in knitting process, it is finished.  "It" being the cardigan begun in the low lights of December last year.

 Yup, it is a l-o-n-g...sweater.

 With an orange grosgrain button band attached to the back of the front buttons for stability.

Orange flower buttons on the front.

And pretty orange cosmos from our gardens!

(information about this project here; with prior posts about Delancey Cardigan here and here)

Joining in with Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday and Fiber Arts Friday to share finished projects.

DNA Lexicon of Scrabble is Morphing

As an old dog playing Scrabble in tournament play since the mid '90's, I am very sorry to see that the new OWL (Official Word Listing) list in effect since 2006 will be changing at the end of the year.  Over 5,000 new words will be added.  Sigh...this old dog is rolling over.  Even more information to try to pack in between brain neurons and synapses.

According to a well written post here, the new acceptable two letter words are not just baby talk.  The four two letter words that will be allowed in tournament play effective December 1, 2014, DA GI PO TE, are going to change tournament play.

Just for your information, here is the existing list of acceptable two letter words, with thanks to The Phrontistery.  (He has an extensive listing of Scrabble words for cloth and fabric that is fascinating.)

AA AB AD AE AG AH AI AL AM AN AR AS AT AW AX AY 
BA BE BI BO BY 
DE DO 
ED EF EH EL EM EN ER ES ET EX 
FA FE 
GO 
HA HE HI HM HO 
ID IF IN IS IT 
JO 
KA KI 
LA LI LO 
MA ME MI MM MO MU MY 
NA NE NO NU 
OD OE OF OH OI OM ON OP OR OS OW OX OY 
PA PE PI 
QI 
RE 
SH SI SO 
TA TI TO 
UH UM UN UP US UT 
WE WO 
XI XU 
YA YE YO 
ZA 

To give you the full flavor experience in a small shot, these are the new three-letter words that are are back hooks for those new two-letter words: DAS DEP DOH EMO EST FAH GIF GIS HOM HOO LAH LOR MAM MEH MES MMM MOI MUX NAV NUG OIK OMA OPA ORG OWT PAK POS REZ SHO SIG SOC SOH TEC TES TIX TIZ UMS UNI YAS YER YEZ.

Wordologists are cleverly at work creating a new listing of all the new words.  Seattle and its Scrabble club are well on the way to creating their own list, but it will be a while before all of us catch up on a complete listing.  A new OWL dictionary is not yet  available, although you can buy an updated Scrabble Players Dictionary for non-tournament play.

(Remembering my 149 point play of "m-u-t-i-l-a-t-e" in 2009 in a Calgary tournament: post here.)

“It's not about the cards you're dealt, but how you play the hand.”

― Randy Pausch 

Leaving you with this mushroom under one of the trees in back, and wishing you good luck in whatever game you play!