Huzzah!

First sweatshirt day of the season!

No huzzah for the extremely uneven haircut I gave myself, though.  It looks like I gauged out a spot there on the left side.

Make a List

Tap and I took a stroll to the Little Free Library in our neighborhood today.  I didn't find anything to take, but did find something amusing.  Same book:

Can you imagine how much smaller the print must be in the one on top?

I have read Crime and Punishment, by the way.  Those lists of "Classic / Great Books Everyone Should Read" always find me wanting, given my preference for non-fiction.  But this I have read.  And of my own choosing.  Not a school assignment or nothin'.

Now I want to look up those lists and see what I have read.  "Classic / Great Movies Everyone Should See" is another one I don't do well against.

You?

Just Sittin' Around

I hope anyone and everyone in Florida who comes across this is safe and sound.  

There isn't anything out of the ordinary happening here.  I did come across a funny t-shirt: 

Well, This was a Surprise

Long story short.  Going through stuff.  Found University of Alabama newspaper from 1986.  Article about dating.  "Professor"* Kim (my last name) quoted throughout.  No memory of doing an interview.  And yet. . .

 

Sadly, "safety" on a date is a different concern now.  And "my teenage daughter"?  Not a hypothetical anymore.

*A  former student of mine, to this day, calls me "Doc."

Daily Bread

I baked a loaf of dark pumpernickel, and it made the house smell wonderful.

Even as the day and night wore on, I could still catch whiffs of the aroma.  Glorious. 

Just Thinking About Stuff. No Real Reason.

I never learned to roller skate.  My Brownie troop once took a field trip to a rink, and I wasn't allowed to sit out.  You know: "Oh, Kim, look at everyone else having so much fun!  You don't want to miss that, do you?"  "It's so easy!  I know you can do it.  You just have to try a little harder."  My etched-into-place memory of the whole thing features how dark it was inside the Roller Drome, and clutching the wall as I snailed my way through one lap.  Then I re-sat and was teased therefor.  (Although in the mid-to-late-60s, that was considered fun bantering and means of motivation and en-toughening.)

By the by, up the street from the Roller Drome was the park pool where I was once enrolled in swimming lessons.  On the first night, all of us children (I still see maybe 6 or 7 to my left --- the only way I looked) were lined up on the pool's side and told to jump in.  There may have been helpful pushing for some who didn't take kindly to that instruction.  Literal "sink or swim."  I can still hear the gruff meanness of the "teacher."  I can also flash back to bobbing up and down out of the water a couple of times.  I don't remember how I got out of the pool, or anything beyond the bobbing and the terrifying flailing.  I never learned to swim.  I'm sure I have underlying trauma from that "lesson." 

I could never hula hoop.  Never could turn a cartwheel.  I could twirl a baton a little.  (1960s, folks.  Southern and female.)  I could skateboard.  I could throw a football and a kickball.  I could kick a kickball really well (not just "for a girl" --- for anybody.)

 Some of you are remembering the smell of a kickball now, aren't you?  And feeling the pattern on it?  Memories, huh?

 

 

Routine

I don't  know why Tap and I so often come across single shoes on our walks, but we do.  Today's exhibit:

Every time we get home, Tap jumps on my bed and rolls and kicks and stretches for a couple of minutes,  :

roiling the covers, and then:

The Crash of the Very Tired.

I'll Do Me

Both Bridget and Kim just had lovely posts about local yarn shops and spinners and sudents, and it made me think about teaching people to knit.  I've taught several people how: my daughter, friends, students, even my therapist (!).  I applied to Michaels once to be a knitting instructor, and it required certification from the Knitting Guild, which I didn't have then (and don't have now.)

I don't think you should charge someone to teach them how to knit.  That's just one of my "things."  I can see and understand charging for advanced knitting techniques, but just how to knit and purl?  Cast on and off?  Count rows?  Nah.  It may come from my lifelong experience with a knitting mother, knitting aunts, a kntting grandmother.  It was always around me, and it was handed down.  It was never something I had to go to anyone else for.

Now, I'm not chastising anyone who looks for classes.  I'm not bad-mouthing anyone who gives lessons.  Y'all do you.

I'm Up, I'm Up

It was one of those things where I could  have gotten in a quick nap before the coverage of the Queen's funeral began, but I thought I'd just stay awake.  I got quite a bit of knitting done, got the latest jigsaw puzzle going --- you know, the types of accomplishments of night owls.

Then, though, I began to flag.  Hello, Dr Pepper.  Or two.  Or, maybe, three.  I watched it all.  I ricocheted among networks when anchors' incessant chatter was too much to abide.  (Honestly, silence on the air is allowable.  Stop talking,)  

So here I am with my KC notes.  Let's begin, shall we?

When Bill Nighy showed up in last year's contest, it made me quite happy, as I think he's rather divine.  It was nice to know a lot of other people knew him and appreciated him, too.  (Fact Obscura: he delivers one of my All-Time Favorite Movie Lines in "The Young Visiters.")

This year, there were a couple of people who got no votes at all in their first match-up.  None.  That had never happened before, and I did have to wonder where the people who nominated them were.

This year, I wasn't able to use black and white photos, which I like to do.  The pairings just didn't work out that way.  I was also unable to find any pictures of the two candidates in a given pair together, which I've been able to fairly often in the past.  As it turns out, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jason Momoa were never at the same event at the same time. 

Can I say here that the Kearns Goodwin / Momoa match-up provided maybe the most difficult search for pictures?  Doris often appears in front of full, oaken bookshelves, while Jason, well, doesn't.  I'm pretty sure that both of them would find humor in their pairing;  they both seem to "get it."

In the shallow end of the contest pool, let me say that when Momoa and Chris Evans came together in the semifinals, it did cross my mind that photos of each of them shirtless was a possibility.  I'll leave you to do your own research there.  

I always feel compelled to tell you who I nominated.  1) Chris Evans.  2) Jason Momoa.  3) Tea Leoni.  4) Robert Redford.  5) Isabella Rossellini.  6) Rashida Jones.

And that's a wrap.  And here comes a nap.

Break Up the Team!

(You know --- when a sports team has too much success.  People say to break it up to give others a chance.  Really.  It happens.)  But can you break up a single person?  'Cause. . .

William Nighy is the Knitters' Companion for the second consecutive year!

Now, he went into the draw automatically, having won last year, so Chris Evans' nominator will get the Grand Prize.  Congratulations, Terry!  (And thanks for getting your niece involved this year;  I hope she had fun.)

The Second Prize will go to Jason Momoa's nominator

 since he made it the second farthest.  Congratulations, Camille!

I'll try to have the official de-brief tomorrow, but I'm going to watch Queen Elizabeth's funeral and don't know how weird my sleeping and staying awake are going to be.

Thanks again as always everyone.  See you next year!

 

Final Step

Alright.  Finish the weekend by voting for the 2022 Knitters' Companion, then start your week by seeing who won!

Thank you to all of you.  You make this thing go every year.

 

Oh My Goodness

We kicked this thing off with so many tiebreakers, why not one more?  Evans and Momoa re-face-off to meet (name intentionally and sneakily not provided) in this year's Knitters' Companion Final.

We have fun here, huh?

Semi Steps

Four nominees left, four nominators left.  It's gotten real, y'all.

Choose wisely.

 

Quarter Steps

Quarterfinals, y'all!  Three nominators are still in the hunt for the Grand and Grand-2 Prizes.  Good luck to the nominators and the nominees.

Stepping Into the Sweet Sixteen

 That's right.  Getting to the end.  No need to list winners, because you can see who won based on who's in the match-ups.

Hit it!

Step the Seventh

Winners from Step the Sixth:

Helen Mirren

Catherine O'Hara

Christine Baranski

Doris Kearns-Goodwin

David Oyelowo

Jason Momoa

Major Sixth

Ties broken!  Well, some.

Sophie Okonedo

Tom Hanks

Caroline Kennedy

Toheeb Jimoh

Chris Hemsworth and Queen Letizia tied again, so they will both face the next opponent.

I keep doing this, don't I?  Forgot to post a couple of match-ups where they should have been.  So, here.

 

Tiebreaker Sunday

 Or Step 5A or Little 6th.

Saturday's winners:

Alice Walker

Chris Evans

Olivia Colman

Bill Nighy

Taking the Fifth

 Step, that is.  Again, if you read "taking the Fifth" as something else, that's between you and your conscience.

Friday's winners

Tea Leoni

Helen Mirren

Jhumpa Lahiri

Jennifer Lawrence

David Tennant

Colin Firth

Saoirse Ronan

Rachel DiPillo

Step Four

Well, if you need to take a personal inventory, that's between you and your conscience.  The rest of us are here to look at pictures.

Yes, ties today.  It's looking like Sunday will be Break These Ties Day!  You'll see Chris Hemsworth/Letizia, Queen of Spain and Toheeb Jimoh/Zendaya again.

Some people did win, though:

Levar Burton

Olivia Colman

Daniel Levy

Christine Baranski

Titus Welliver

Laura Linney

Doris Kearns-Goodwin

Isabella Rossellini

I want to apologize up front for misspelling Brett Goldstein's name here.  To change it would mean taking that match-up down for a bit, and I didn't want to keep the choice away from you.  Any of you who know Brett can, with my permission, apologize profusely on my behalf.

Which Step is This, You Ask?

Backing up to Step Two, though:

Alice Walker

Rashida Jones

Chris Evans

Idris Elba

Jason Momoa

And, believe it or not, Day Two brought two more ties:

Sophie Okonedo and Harry Styles, and Daniel Craig and Caroline Kennedy.  At this rate, we'll have an entirely Break the Tie Day!

Also, I somehow forgot to post match-up #8, which explains its presence here.

Second Step

All this new stuff is making me itchy.  I may tinker and tinker, but don't lose hope.  Your voting shouldn't be impacted. My goal is to post the new roster of candidates each night at 10 PM (ET), and voting will be open for 24 hours.

 

The results of your first day of voting (ie, the winners):

Bill Nighy

Catherine O'Hara

David Oyelowo

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Chris Pine

and, first tie on the first day.  We'll revisit Tom Hanks and Mark Ruffalo later.

First Step

Are you ready to start voting?  Tap is chiming in with a "Lemme hear ya say 'yeah!'," by the way.  (Wow --- punctuation city there at the end.)

Here you go:

Y'all.

Say that word with any neutral-to-resigned-to-infuriated tone, and you've got me today.  The site I've used to build all my KH/KC/KC questions over the years has completely changed, and the new parameters I have to stay within are a mite constricting.  

The site won't allow me to use certain shapes and sizes of photos.  Therefore, my desire to give you as-alike-as-possible pictures in match-ups is going to be really, really hampered.  Sorry.

The template I have to use now doesn't allow voters to see the running vote totals.  Sorry.

There is going to be a big ol', honking Crowdsignal logo on each poll, taking up space and your time.  Sorry.

64

 64 people in this year's Knitters' Companion contest!  A nice round (as far as tournament brackets go) number.  The draw is made, and the seeds are:

1.  Bill Nighy

2.  Daniel Levy

3.  Olivia Colman

4.  Chris Evans 

5.   Jason Momoa

I've been working on setting up the polls for Tuesday, and have slammed into an enormous problem.  I shall keep at it, though.  Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, here are some teeny mushrooms Tap and I passed on our walk today.

Boom

That would be the sound of the vault door closing on nominations for Knitters' Companion this year.  My goal is to have voting start on Tuesday.  I'll most likely spend part of tomorrow making the draw.

I spent a lot of today watching the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Right now, I'm watching the Vanderbilt football game;  it's been a screen-type day here at The Chez.  It was Opening Day for UGA today, but, thankfully, the game was in Atlanta, and I'll say no more about that in deference to my Twinnie.

Speaking of, go by her blog to see her tour of her new patio.  Her calm, soothing voice makes it an all-around wonderful experience.

Speaking of Vanderbilt, the current starting quarterback is named Mike Wright.  There was another quarterback named Mike Wright back in the mid-70s --- he grew up around the corner from me.  His sister (Melody) was a friend of mine in elementary school.  Yes, ancient history, I know, but it's still cool to me.

For all the screen time today, not a lot of knitting got done.  I'm still sewing quilt squares together, but there really isn't much to show yet.  I'm unlikely to get much done during KC, as the contest tends to chew up my days.

Finding pictures is hard, y'all.

Tick, Tick

 Nominations for Knitters' Companion are due tonight by Midnight.  We've a fairly robust field right now, but your additions can only make it better!

Negative

 Today is Barry Gibb's birthday.  No, I  don't know why I've never nominated him in any of my companion-like contests.

And, no, I don't know why the last three posts have included emphatic "no"s.  

Also, tomorrow night is the deadline for your nominees.