Thursdays are For Knit Group And Survivor

Sometimes knitters buy yarn and begin knitting it right away. Other times, it takes awhile. Today, Bonnie started a little summer sweater with yarn she purchased a year ago.

In April 2009, hearing there was a lively bunch of knitters in Southampton, our group travelled over to visit them. While there, Bonnie purchased several balls of Katrina in a lovely shade of Lilac - and has been waiting for a pattern to catch her eye ever since. A mere year later, she spotted this pattern.

Turns out Bonnie has great taste. Both Nicki and I have also recently purchased that pattern. Mine is probably more than a year away from being knit making Bonnie a speedster.

Lois, today, was wearing a lovely hand-knit pink tweed sweater.

Since it took Lois most of eight months to complete a baby sweater & hat combo, I was pretty sure she hadn't knit it. The story behind it, she said, was that a friend had knit so many sweaters this winter she had no need of more and was complaining that her hands were idle. Lois asked her "Would you knit one for me"? And voila! Lois has a new sweater. Nice to have friends like that.

Nicki took a course on toe-up socks at Riverside Yarns. The cast-on, she said, took 'forever' to learn.

Looks like she has it mastered now. And on two circs, no less.

Now off to see Survivor. JT gone la st week. And Russell thinks there is no 'girl's alliance.'. Maybe not but mostly girls left. Hmmm.

Knitcroblog posting resumes tomorrow.

One Great Knitter

Day 3. of the knitcroblog asks for a post about a knitter whose work I enjoy. Perhaps, outlines the instructions, because of the project choice, the photography, the styling, or the scale of the projects.

My chosen knitter fulfills fills to overflowing, all the above categories

I dont know this knitter. She lives in France, which means I can't even read her blog. Or at least, read it well. (There is an English translation button, but the translation is quite poor.) Knitting, thankfully, crosses all language barriers and in the case of this knitter, 'a picture's worth a thousand words'. Her blog is the equivalent of a coffee-table book. One that I treasure simply for it's pictures.

Her choice of projects suit her perfectly. She knits with good quality yarns, so her finished projects look great. She knits often and much. Her styling is superb - very 'haute couture.' As if the knitting talent wasn't enough, she sews too. Her wardrobe is filled with both wonderful hand-knit and hand-sewn garments. When I want, or need, to be amazed by what a person can do with their hands and some yarn, I browse her blog.

Talk about inspiration.

Inspiration

Day two of the knitting, crochet blogging week asks for a story about an inspirational pattern.

Hmm. That's much tougher than recounting a bit of my history as I did yesterday. Usually my posts are written in less time than it takes to watch a sitcom. Today, however, this post has required deep knitterly thinking. Started shortly after breakfast, I am inserting this portion now as dinner cooks on the stove.

Sometimes, my knitting inspiration is based on fashion. The pattern might have a style, colour or fit that I like. When I knit for fashion, I expect the process to conclude with a flattering, wearable product. My 'skinny' ribs

or Easter Topper 2010

are good examples of that.

Sometimes, for me, inspiration is born of patriotism. As when I knit Prairie Sunset - a Canadian design, from a Canadian book, knit with Canadian yarn. Knowing that knitting needles could turn a cable into a sheaf of wheat

or produce a setting sun

inspired me. Prairie Sunset is a wearable work of art.

Sometimes, I'm inspired by the frugal nature of a pattern that uses stash yarn to create a beautiful garment. Sally Mellville's Ski Jacket was one such sweater. Made with stash yarns in all my favourite colours, it is a thing of beauty.

As I once heard Sally remark - "I am capable of doing complicated knitting. But why should I, when I can let the yarns do the work?" That is 'Ski Jacket' exactly. The complicated-appearing Linen stitch is so easy to do and with yarns I love, the knitting produced a spectacular sweater.

More than patterns, though, I believe I am inspired by thinking knitters. Sally Melville and Elizabeth Zimmermann come to mind. Knitters who encourage me not to blindly follow a pattern, but to experiment. Knitters who encourage me not to be afraid of my knitting. The yarnharlot once wrote -" Be afraid of bunging jumping or mortgage foreclosure - but don't be afraid of your knitting." After all, there are no knitting police.

This year, I am taking that inspiration to a new level. I am spending the year with Elizabeth Zimmermann. Her construction methods differ greatly from current thought.

At the moment, I am knitting the Tomten Jacket. Instructions are based on 112 stitches and simply by changing yarn gauge, the jacket can be made for a baby or an adult. In February, for my Olympic Knitting Challenge, I was inspired to knit EZ's Green Sweater. It taught me about steeking, mitred corners and knitted facings.

Just completed, is my Waterloo Fairisle. Knit in a tube as Elizabeth recommends, then steeked for the armholes, centre front and neckline.

Her description of 'Prime Rib' garments inspired me to knit a Prime Rib hat.

My inspiration comes from many sources. It evolves, it changes, it teaches and it motivates. And as the length of time it took to write today's post proves - it causes me to think.

Knitting and Crocheting Blog Week. Day 1

When I read Eskimimi knit's idea about knitting & crocheting bloggers all posting about the same topic each day for a week, I was hooked. What great reading this should make.

Day 1 - Getting Started - or - What Made Me First Pick Up The Needles.

I did not learn to knit as a child. There were no knitters in my family, or in our circle of friends. Well, there was that one time - about grade ten - when the Home-Ec teacher announced that our knitting projects were due next week.

As one, the entire class asked "What knitting project?" The teacher thought of course that we were being smart-a----. But , I swear on all my high school reports cards, our class had not been told. Unwilling to believe us, she said no extension would be granted. Knitting projects due next week.

Most girls had Moms or Grandmas who knit. Some wonderful projects were turned in: Fancy baby sweaters, complete layettes and gorgeous mittens and hats. Me? I tried for a square, garter stitch, pot holder. Tried and failed, I might add. Wonky, irregular stitches in a free-form, convoluted shape did not garner a passing grade.

My knitting life didn't start until I was in my thirties. By that time, I had two children and needed something (something legal, that is) to detract from the constant work that comes with a full time job, a husband, a house and two kids. My interest in fibre surfaced when I saw a notice about a 'How To knit' night class being held at the high school. I talked my Mom into coming with me. She would take the crochet class, while I took knitting.

What this said about my Mom was all love, devotion and selflessness. My Mom would often say that she didn't even know how to sew on a button. Being the youngest of three children and admittedly a bit spoiled, she was never made to take up the wifely pursuits of needlework. She came to class simply as a way to spend time with her daughter. That would be on the drive over and back home as we were in separate classes.

Mom started with intentions to crochet a bedspread. What followed became family folklore. She purchased pounds and pounds of crochet cotton and the right-sized hook. It didn't take too many double crochets to convince Mom that she had bitten off more than she wanted to hook. She changed the bedspread to a table cloth. A few rounds later and the table cloth became place mats, which eventually became a set of coasters. An entire winter of classes and yet, coaster number one sat for years - perhaps, still does - unfinished, in the drawer.

While my Mom tolerated the class time, I took to it like a duck to water. I don't remember my first project but I do remember pouring over this book

as if it contained the gift of life itself. In those days before 'you tube' , ravelry and the resurgence of knitting amongst the younger generation, it was not easy to find 'help'. You were on your own for every facet of the craft from buying yarn to reading patterns. It didn't help me much to know that the picture on the front of the book was meant to say that even a monkey could learn to knit. Imagine how I felt, when I realized my knitting IQ was less than that needle-holding primates!

I can remember ripping out more than I knit. There were awful, awful sweaters and taking months to complete what I now would see as the simplest of projects. I can remember stitches so tight that the needle had to be sledge-hammered in and not knowing what I was doing or where the instructions were taking me. I can remember changing that really, hard-to-do SSK to a K2tog because I was sure there was a mistake in the pattern. One side said to K2tog. Why wouldn't' the other side be the same?

Despite all that and despite, of course, those awful sweaters never being worn, I was in love. I can remember stealing time from housework and story-time to knit. I can remember barely being 'in the room' while the kids played games on rainy days, because I was so caught up in my knitting. It was a life-line for me at that time in my life. Heck it still is.

Some sweaters are still not worn. Some instructions still baffle me. Still no one in my family knits - or even truly understands the passion I have for knitting. Yet, I knit on. I started because there was an innate need to hold fibre in my hands. I knit today for the same reason.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group And Survivor

These are everywhere, I tell you.

From all appearances, a sweet little hand-knit doll. But! Appearances can be deceiving! Just lift that skirt and look what you see!

This one belongs to Gloria.

Pat brought 'Sandy Mctavish' to knit group today.

Wearing an exquisite kilt. Flat fronted,

pleated back.

What a tremendous amount of work Pat puts into her dolls..

Nicki showed off her first-ever hand spun yarn.

Done on a drop spindle. It is soft, lovely and very evenly/expertly spun. Sure wish pink was my colour, Nicki.

Bonnie used to be one of those self-less knitters. Always knitting for others, never for herself. Her first-ever, this-one's- for-me sweater was the lovely purple one she knit last fall. Today she was wearing 'for-me' sweater number two. A perfectly-fitting, navy, wool V neck.

Sandy B is back from Florida.

The knitterly highlight of her winter was meeting Ireland's Maggie Jackson. who was in Florida doing workshops.
Sandy is knitting this lovely piece from one of Maggi's books.

It is her first for-herself sweater in a black linen-cotton blend, minus the denim circles .

Now on to Survivor. The merge comes tonight. Will anyone ever discover Russell's manipulative manner?

Oh - darn it was cold today. Well, really, I mean - Yippee! Cold enough today to wear Waterloo.

Final Note

The final note - pun intended - on my Waterloo Fairisle came from two of my readers.

Laurie of Needles & Things sent me this rendition of Waterloo. She's right. It is a sticker. I don't recall having heard of Stonewall Jackson, but this you tube rendition of Waterloo had me searching I-tunes for more. Thanks, Laurie.

Then Sandra of Curlerchik sent me these lyrics. This song was also unknown to me, but I would bet, written by knitters. Who else could have such intuition into pushing on, uphill battles and keeping the faith? Thanks, Sandra.


The Climb lyrics
Songwriters: Alexander, J; Mabe, J;
I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

Now, doesn't that describe most of my knitting projects' road to completion! Music and knitting. They seem to have a lot in common.

Edited to add - Well, it seems I really screwed up. The you tube came not from Needles & Things, but from Laurie of The Art of Tying Holes Together.
and it was Laurie M, not Sandra, who sent me the lyrics to The Climb. My apologies. I don't know what happened to that search. I was writing the post too late last night for a delayed morning publication. That's my only excuse. Again, my apologies.

Post Waterloo

As Waterloo came to a finish, I began strolling through my EZ books , looking for my next project. And at the same time, thinking about cleaning up my knitting chair . acreage. When I knit, I tend to keep all the tools close at hand make a great mess. By the end of the project, there are piles everywhere. Piles of books, yarn, needles, notebooks, pens etc.

Putting everything away definitely lacks the fun and excitement of the knitting. Especially putting away the excess yarn, as I store my yarn by colour, Sally Melville style. In the case of Waterloo, that would mean pulling several bags of various coloured yarn off the shelves. How much work is that? Instead I could clean up the fun way - keep knitting until the yarn is gone.

It seemed to me that the Tomten Jacket might be a perfect use of those leftover yarns. The Tomten Jacket, found in EZ's The Opinionated Knitter, Knitting Workshop and Knitting Without Tears is another of Elizabeth's wonderfully constructed pieces of knitting. Knit in one piece, back and forth and garter stitch, the jacket is based on the number 112.

112 is the number of cast on stitches. The upper back and fronts are fractions of 112. (Precursor to Elizabeth's percentage system, I'm sure.) The sleeves are picked up at the top and knit down. The great thing about Elizabeth is how her instructions based on fractions can accommodate several sizes. Using the same 112 stitches, but different size yarn and needles, the instructions will make any size from baby to adult. I like that kind of thinking. (My Briggs & Little Heritage should make the baby size.)

I am off to a great start. Past the pockets

and with two sets of short rows in the back section, finished,

I am about half way to the underarms. Much faster than Waterloo.

Garter stitch can be boring, but this construction defies boredom. I am anxious to see the finished product. This is much more exciting than cleaning up.

The Waterloo Finish

Waterloo is done. I couldn't be more pleased.

My Waterloo is a sweater based on Anne Williamson's design for Waterloo County Fairisle in Knits From the North Country. I loved the colour choices and fairisle motifs of Anne's pullover, but not her knit-in-pieces method. By combining the best of Anne's sweater with my year of knitting with EZ, I created my own Waterloo Fairisle cardigan.

I took the motif from Anne's sweater, and knit it in the round using steeks to create the centre front and the armholes. I also simply cut away the neckline opening, dressmaker style. These methods - IF I had ever thought of them - would have been too scary to try prior to studying Elizabeth Zimmermann. Now, however, I am a convert. A born-again steeker, so to speak. With no purl rows, the knitting is faster and in my case, more even. With no decreases, the neck opening is neater and the picking up of stitches for the ribbing much easier.

My Waterloo, like Anne's, is knit with Briggs & Little Heritage, on 5 mm needles. The neckline and front band ribbing were knit on 4mm. The bottom ribbing - because I didn't want it to pull in - was knit on 5 mm needles with the total number of body stitches. The total number of body stitches BTW were simply my desired width times my gauge of stitches per inch.

I ignored the 'start here-stop there', sizing details on Anne's motif and simply knit the entire motif. Sizing my sweater to exactly the width I wanted was a bit of a problem. Multiples of that 28 stitch motif had to create my desired sweater width. Sometimes motifs lend themselves to the addition of a few stitches somewhere within the motif, to slightly increase the finished size. But with this one, and despite knitting a substantial swatch, adjusting the motif defied me. Until the sweater was complete, that is. Now, I can see where this might have been easy to do.

So - for those that might want to make this sweater, in this E.Z. way, I now know that stitches one, two and twenty eight of the chart form a three stitch column between motifs. Re-sizing the sweater would be easy by adding two extra stitches - '#29 & #30' - to the chart to make the column five stitches wide. Two extra stitches between motifs would easily increase the sweater size.

With all that steeking there were some raw edges inside the sweater. Some black, gross-grain ribbon and they have been neatly covered.

There are a couple of designer touches, dreamt up by yours truly, that I think significantly add to the sweater. One is the row of garter stitch at both the top and bottom of the neckline ribbing. I chose my favourite, and most personally flattering, of the sweater colours for this bit of trim. The buttons are lovely. Maroon - just like the sweater - but with an iridescent quality that picks up the grey-ish tones of the 'Brown Heather' yarn.

The other designer touch concerns the button bands. They are three colours wide and it was my intention to sew the buttons in the middle of the middle colour to correspond to the buttonhole placement. But I saw that by placing the buttons just a smidge off centre,

the maroon colour would be revealed on both the button and the buttonhole side. This makes it appear as a designer-intended column of maroon stitches travelling up both sides of the buttons. How 'haute' is that?

It is a wonderful sweater.

Fits like a charm

and despite borrowing the motif, is truly mine.

Thanks for staying attentive during the months it took to knit this.

Almost

Once I received my wonderful gift of Knitters Almanac, there was no stopping the completion of Waterloo. Or the 98% complete, completion.

There are still buttons to be sewn on and tails to be woven in. In the meantime, take a look.

My lovely 'sew & cut' neckline with a row of garter stitch at both top and bottom of the 2x2 rib. The neckline lies very flat and has no 'lumpy', left-turning decreases as sometimes happens with conventional neckline shaping.

Elizabeth's "definitive ( I think) buttonhole. One row. " In my case - 2 stitches, not 3 as EZ"s instructs.

Found on page 80 - not page 72 as I thought - of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac.

After many weekends of false, finishing promises, this weekend - for sure - I think - I can promise you a completely finished Waterloo in Monday's post.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group And Survivor

You might find this hard to believe, but Pat, today, was NOT knitting a stuffed toy. Instead, she was working on a pair of socks. I have never seen her knit socks before, so had to take a picture.

She doesn't look all that happy about it, does she? Out of her comfort zone, perhaps. But that's not to say that there were no stuffed toys. Pat brought in this one.

Right side up.

Upside down. These two-in-one dolls still strike me as odd, but they seem to be growing in popularity in our knit group.

Gail finished her lovely summer sweater.

Isn't that fabulous? Gail used Mirasol, cotton and silk and this pattern from Knitty. Wilma made one, now Gail made one. I think I have to put that on my summer knit-list too. Can I EZ it? Probably. Knit in the round with raglan sleeves then steeked. That should work.

Then of course, Ingrid's new piece.

The back she says is all one colour. But we are not to tell her daughter. Ingrid says her daughter thinks patterned fronts deserve patterned backs. Ingrid's creativity suggest otherwise.

Off to watch survivor. Coach now gone. Not at all a smart move, IMO, but Russell continues to have his way.

Friends

Yesterday was a very busy day. I am the secretary of our local Legion and yesterday was monthly newsletter day. That means typing up minutes from the previous night's meeting, creating a colourful, clip-art filled front page announcing the social events, taking the copy to the printers, labelling and stamping 85 envelopes, retrieving the newsletters from the printers, folding, stuffing and sealing the envelopes, then rushing them down to the post office - hopefully before the 4:30 box-emptying time, and finally putting the file into PDF format and sending out the online version to our computer-savvy members.

On top of that, it was Book Club meeting and I had yet to write my book review. There was also the laundry and my intentions to tackle some spring housecleaning.

In the midst of all that, Nicki called, in answer to my email query wondering if she happened to have my copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac. She doesn't have it. I casually mentioned to Nicki that I would buy a new copy Wednesday at work, then went back to newsletter writing.

Later, Nicki called a second time to ask if I would like to go out for tea. I hesitated, mentioning to Nicki the newsletter and my book review. But I heard my Mother's voice in my ear, saying as she always used to do " Never turn down an invitation. You might not get a second one."

With that, I agreed to meet Nicki at 2:30. When we took our tea to the table, she laid down the a copy of Knitters Almanac. "You found it!" I cried.

"No, I went to the store and bought this one for you."

You should know that from Nicki's house to the store is roughly a 60K round trip.
She said it was worth the drive and distraction from her plans for the day just to see the look on my face.

Thank you, Nicki.

Yet Again - Not Yet.

Waterloo remains unfinished. I had no luck in finding my copy of Knitters Almanac. Tomorrow, at work, I will buy another copy. That way, I am sure to find my original copy and then, will have two copies.

Waterloo does have a collar now. One of my re-design dilemmas was whether to do the collar first and then pick up stitches for the button bands all up the front and also up the depth of the collar OR to do the button bands and then do the collar all around the neck including the button bands.

The first method, is, of course, the more common, cardigan closure, but I did toy with the alternative. In the end, I chose the more common way. I knit the collar first and will pick up stitches from the bottom of the sweater to the top of the collar.

Once done the collar, I knit the first button band. Then, I decided to re-knit it, because the ribbing pulled in. I had picked up stitches for the band at the 'perfect' ratio of 3 stitches for every 4 rows with a 4 mm needle. But the look was not so perfect. To prevent the pulling in this time, I have two choices: A bigger needle or more stitches. I like the look of the ribbing on the 4 mm needles so tonight I will re-do the band with more stitches. That will help me put in my time until I get the Almanac with the buttonhole instructions.

Without knitting, what have I done today? This.

Paintings? Sketches? Wallpaper? No - that is a sheet hanging on the clothesline with the shadow of the Birch tress showing through. I thought it quite extraordinary. Small things ---

Not Yet

Waiting, as I'm sure you are, for photos of a finished Waterloo, I feel badly that it's not done. Almost, but not yet.

The one thing I enjoy about designing my own knits is the inclination to re-knit until I like what I see. Of course I could do the same when following a pattern, but for some reason the motivation to do so is not there.

It was the multiple re-designs and re-knits of collar and button bands that slowed down the completion of Waterloo this weekend. That and the fact that I can't find my copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac. The best buttonholes in the knitting world are the one-row buttonholes that Elizabeth explains in Knitters Almanac. Page 72 I believe. I took a quick look for the book in all the obvious places but didn't find it. That leaves Waterloo about 3 rows of ribbing short of being complete.

Today I will have to search for the book in all the not-so-obvious places. I do lend out my books often, so perhaps one of my knitter friends has it. Too bad my memory is so poor.

Stymied just rows short of completion, I turned to finishing these socks.

Good ol' Kroy sock yarn, purchased many moons ago on sale for $2.79 per ball.
68 stitches knit on 2.25 needles. Most often, when knitting socks, I use 2 x 2 ribbing for the cuff and morph it into 3 x 1 or 5 x 1 for the leg. That little bit of ribbing helps to achieve a great, leg-adhering fit. This time, I took the lazy route and knit the leg in stockinet stitch with the result that the leg is 'titch' sloppy. But I do love the bright colours. So cheerful for a winter sock.

Now back to searching for my book. Maybe this sweater is named Waterloo for a reason.

Down Another New Path

Knitting roads diverged ... and for 2010, I took the Elizabeth Zimmermann way. Being a knitter of more than 30 years, I did not think there were many un-explored paths to be found. But Elizabeth has proved me wrong.

There was the new-to-me path of 'prime rib stitch', travelled when I made the Prime Rib Hat.

For whatever reason, I had never before knit 'prime rib stitch'. Following the marathon of Olympic Knitting, I needed a small project and decided on EZ's Prime Rib Hat. Not being a novice knitter, I was surprised by the struggles I encountered in understanding that stitch. A humbling experience every now and then helps to gain perspective. Or so I'm told.

Then there was the path of multiple steeks I went down when I knit the Green Sweater.

There were four steeks in that sweater. Not just the basic centre front steek, or even the slightly more intricate sleeve steeks, but also a square neckline steek.

Now on Waterloo, there is yet another new path. A neckline steek that more closely resembles dressmaking techniques, than knitting. Studying both Sally Melville and EZ's books, I determined the appropriate neckline width and depth needed, basted an outline using those measurements, sewed the requisite two lines of stitching, then cut.

Voila! An instant neckline. Perhaps the perfect neckline for knitters who don't like fiddling with decreases to achieve shape. This weekend will tell, as I intend to pick up stitches and create trim. Come Monday, Waterloo could be ready for a stroll. Down a real path.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group And Survivor

It felt great to have a finished object at knit group today. Nicki took my picture

so you could see the Alpaca Shawl over something more suitable than the housecoat I was wearing when I posted about it earlier this week. It received rave reviews, but of course all the knitters have been watching it's progress over the last several months and are probably as pleased as I am to see the end of it have it finished.

Trying to capture the view of the shawl front, Nicki took this photo. I opened my mouth just as she snapped the picture so she took a second shot in which I purposely kept my mouth closed. But in the end, Nicki, I'm using this one. The open-mouth look is more me.

Gail is knitting this sweater

from Knitty. Wilma knit the same sweater about a year ago. Now, Gail too, will have one in her summer wardrobe in this wonderful, rich shade of blue. Nicki was interested in her work it would appear.

Ingrid was wearing another stunning, Kiogu creation. - This too interested Nicki.

A simple seed stitch rectangle. With three on Ingrid's famous buttons.

In case you think Ingrid fabulously rich to always knit with Koigu, you should know that the Koigu farm is not far from Meaford. Ingrid visits there often to take advantage of their deals on 'seconds'. Which works well for Ingrid as nothing is a 'second' in her hands.

Pat had another stuffed toy. A 'Bobby'.

She told me a Bobby at knit group meant I had to behave. Words that naturally fell on deaf ears.

Did you notice that Nicki featured prominently in today's post? That is because today is Nicki's birthday. A very BIG birthday. She looks much younger than the BIG birthday would suggest.

Now off to watch Survivor. Survivor without Boston Rob. Hard to imagine. How disappointing if Russell is right and he is the best player to ever play the game.