Kat with a K

Clapotis!

Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Noro Matsuri, colorway 6, purchased at Webs. It took about 5.5 balls.
Needle size: 7
Ravelry project page

Yes, I know, I'm more or less the last knitter on the planet to knit this. Ah well. Better late than never, and now that it's done, I completely adore it. I found the yarn in the discount section at Webs at the end of February, started knitting immediately, and was fairly monogamous for a few months. Then I took a break to knit that scarf I posted a few days ago, and when that was done I got a burst of energy to just finish this. Now I'm trying to plan out outfits for the next few days that will look good with it so I can wear it as much as possible.

Daily Reading (5/29/09)

New American Girl doll! I, um, kind of want one.
A profile of two of the youngest House members.
Robert Gates: The Bureaucrat Unbound
Do CEOs Matter?
People should have listened to Brooksley Born.

Hey, look, a scarf!

Apparently I still knit!

Clapotis and I had been very monogamous for quite a while, but then I got to the point at which I felt like it would just NEVER END and I needed to do something else or I'd lose my mind. So I figured I'd do a nice quick scarf for charity for some immediate gratification and warm fuzzy feelings, and here it is. It's Lion Brand Vanna's Choice, which I've found to be a surprisingly decent basic acrylic, in broken garter stitch on size ten needles. Two balls; I just knit until the yarn ran out. Nice and simple and satisfying. Oh, and I think the color is "dusty blue." I know the color in the picture isn't great, but a glance at the ten-day forecast tells me that the color in the picture won't be great for at least a week or so, so I decided to just go for it. Ravelry page here.

So I finished the scarf on Monday, took out Clapotis, turned to Caitlin, and asked permission to start the decreases. We agreed that it was long enough, so now I am decreasing, and therefore seeing actual progress, and therefore enthusiastic about it again. Wheee.

Recipe: Blue Cheese Yogurt Dip

My new favorite dip:

Blue Cheese Yogurt Dip

(Adapted from "Simplest Yogurt Sauce" in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman.)

2 cups plain yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm Organic whole milk plain. I usually get their nonfat stuff just for eating, but for this, I'd recommend the whole milk version.)
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (I used Culinary Circle because it was on sale.)
a few tablespoons minced fresh dill
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the yogurt and cheese - don't bother with an electric mixer or anything; it's supposed to be lumpy. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Serve with veggies, chips, etc. It's thin enough that it would make a good salad dressing, too, or heck, put it on a sandwich. Or eat it with a spoon. It's that good. (And easy.)

Daily Reading (5/23/09)

The Republicans - or, well, some Republicans; it doesn't seem to be an official party thing - have put out a health care plan. Here's the summary (PDF).
Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals (h/t Ezra Klein)
Unsurprisingly, country clubs are having some issues due to the recession.
How the finance industry has effectively captured our government: The Quiet Coup
Do financial crises make people more socially conservative?

Two New Sites You Should Be Reading

Ezra Klein, one of my favorite policy bloggers, is now blogging over at the Washington Post. He blogs about health care policy, economic policy, environmental- and food-related issues, politics, and more, and he makes it all both enjoyable and understandable. (And he's cute.) Here's a good sample post: What Can Comic Books Tell Us About the Guantanamo Debate?

And Slate has launched Double X. Their description:

Double X is a new Web magazine, founded by women but not just for women, that Slate launched in spring 2009. The site spins off from Slate's XX Factor blog, where we started a conversation among women—about politics, sex, and culture—that both men and women listen in on. Double X takes the Slate and XX Factor sensibility and applies it to sexual politics, fashion, parenting, health, science, sex, friendship, work-life balance, and anything else you might talk about with your friends over coffee. We tackle subjects high and low with an approach that's unabashedly intellectual but not dry or condescending. The blog is at the heart of the site, but we also publish essays, reporting, and other features.

Daily Reading (5/20/09)

Your feel-good story of the day: Banker saves ducklings.
Is Michelle Obama "saving" J. Crew? Yeah, maybe not.
Michael Lewis reviews the Warren Buffet biography

Daily Reading (5/19/09)

The Internet: Making your brain an index. (h/t: Ezra Klein)
How Obama is like Spock.
Wolfram Alpha: Really not so great.

Daily Reading (5/18/09)

Why we should stop the drone attacks in Pakistan.

Imagine, for example, that burglars move into a neighborhood. If the police were to start blowing up people’s houses from the air, would this convince homeowners to rise up against the burglars? Wouldn’t it be more likely to turn the whole population against the police? And if their neighbors wanted to turn the burglars in, how would they do that, exactly? Yet this is the same basic logic underlying the drone war.

Daily Reading (5/15/09)

Another 100 Best 20th Century Novels list. I've read fourteen of them.
Here's a good 2004 profile of Dr. Tomas Frieden, the President's pick for head of the CDC.
Ron Paul's son is running for Senate.
The New Language of Feminism
Rick Warren's church and domestic violence
I didn't really realize the ramifications of gene patenting until I read this article about the breast cancer gene. Wow.

Review: The Bad Beginning

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Genre: Juvenile fantasy
Pages: 162
Rating: 3.1

This is the first volume of Lemony Snicket's enormously popular Series of Unfortunate Events; I had, of course, been aware of them for years, but never been terribly interested. I finally read this because my fifth grade book buddies wanted me to. When I started reading, my main response was "Oh, come ON" - I tend to have issues with narrative styles that are so deliberately cutesy. I eventually found myself drawn into the story, though. (For those who, like me, might have missed this phenomenon: it's about three siblings who are orphaned and face one awful happening after another until they manage to save themselves [until the next book] by their wits and ingenuity.) And it gets bonus points for presenting - and explaining - interesting vocabulary words, and for presenting a young female character who is a talented inventor and engineer.

Daily Reading (5/14/09)

A new Clash of the Titans? WIth Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes? This is pretty much the best news ever.
The gatekeeper of 'Hardball'
What's your NPR name?
Do Rahm and Nancy have chemistry? Um, yeah. A slideshow.
Wil Wheaton on the new Star Trek.
Ever wonder about Congressional divorces? I hadn't really, either, but the article is interesting.
Inside Barack Obama's Hispanic strategy.

The best quiz ever.

'Star Trek' character, NPR personality or food additive?

I got 93%.

(No, I haven't seen the movie yet.)