Strings 'n' things

To the left, to the left, now slide, slide!

2011-06-05T00:53:00.001-07:00

Finished the first repeat on the right side. This would be going faster if I actually was working on the project. Alas, yorrick, work beckons. And is very stressfully insistent that I pay attention to it.

In other, more important news, my brother graduated high school last week. Meep, when did he get so old? I wish I'd been there to see the important event, but I'm under contract in another state for the summer and the contract butted right up against the ending dates of school. Someday, soon, I hope to be in a position where I don't have to jump and clamor to go and take one job after another with no break in-between. Hopefully my MFA will give me a leg up on actually being able to spend time to be a full-fledged human.

Irony: Surrendering my humanity to go to graduate school, so I can reclaim what makes me human.

Anyway, it's surreal to see him all dressed up and looking (almost) like an adult. He looks deceivingly mature :) Very proud.

2011-05-21T18:47:00.002-07:00

Yeah. Totally didn't finish it in time, so the baby shower gift has now become a "Thanks for watching my cats" gift. But I did get the back done!

Started with the left side last night. Woot!

Green for Spring

2011-03-20T12:48:00.001-07:00

Under a bit of a time crunch, as I would like to have this complete for my friends' baby shower, but I'm also well aware of how I deal with deadlines...

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. - Douglas Adams

So we'll see if I actually achieve this, as I also have a handful of other, graduate school related deadlines looming over my head this week...

(Above is not an example of my graduate reading)

Not to mention the stack of reading my mother has so willingly provided me in the last few months. Oiy. We haven't even set a season yet, much less a year.

Anyway, the green yarn is (the now discontinued) Mission Falls. How sad to discover this yarn right when it comes to its end of production! Anyway, I'm enjoying the knit, I just hope to actually finish it sometime before the child is born (August). We shall see, we shall see...

Yaaarn!

2011-03-05T20:11:00.000-08:00

Yaaarn, yaaaarn!

Today I bought Yaaarn!

Posted to prove I still exist... and at least think of knitting...

New Years Resolutions

2011-01-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

I have a simple resolution for this blog: to knit more. I have bundles of yarn here that need to be made into items and gifts and the like. So 2011 will be about stash-busting.

The mittens for my dad were a success, and used yarn that was strictly from my stash: leftover gray from his Dr. Who scarf that was knit eons ago, and a skein of red, deeper in real life than the photo shows, that I'd had idling around for awhile without knowing what to do with it. Combine them and success! I really wanted to keep these for myself, and might make a pair but using different colors. The pattern is knitty's Manly Mitts, which is very easy to read and lovely quick to knit up.

Next on the dock is finishing a WIP that sadly got neglected when the last semester slammed into me like a tidal wave of papers, books and projects.

Re Dedication

2010-12-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Refocusing on knitting this year.

Not that I wandered far away from it, really. Anywhoot.

The mittens were received by my dad with much glee, and now I'm eyeing a pair of socks as my next task. Specifically these: The Eesti Trail Hiking Socks (Ravelry page). These will be for my fiance as a winter gift.

I am not very excited to knit something for man-feet, what with their large size and all, but determined. He's been begging for another pair of handknit socks for awhile.

Knit in progress

2010-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

And if you thought that was Radio Silence, how about THIS...

2010-11-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

*ahem*

I've been meaning to say for awhile (like three months awhile), that I've been in graduate school. I've been meaning to write about how big of an adjustment it's been, how I've been managing to schedule things, how many nights I've gone without sleep, about the impact on life sleep deprivation can have to one's ability to manage time, about how busy I've been... Strangely enough I just haven't had the time to write any of that until now.

I'm actually forsaking learning just to write this.

And let's not talk about the knitting. Though if I am very lucky, I might actually start a project soon. Maybe. But of course it's for Christmas, so there won't be any sharing of that, will there?

Well, at any rate, I haven't been absent in thought on this blog. Yes, lots of thinking. Oodles or a plethora of thinking, if you will. With all that time being taking up by being educated, working for the education or learning to get educated, this blog has occasionally whispered through my thoughts. On what I want it to be, or would like it to be. I'm not saying that knitting, cooking, being earth-friendly, or any thing in-between those no longer falls high on my priority list; just now two of those now take more time than I have and the third has been happening on an off-the-internet level. Frugality obviously becomes more important when one no longer has a full-time job (or as was my case, five part time jobs strung together haphazardly).

At any rate, it's the holidays! Wooo. I look forward to the end of my first semester as a graduate student, and the beginnings of a new year.

2010-08-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

Radio silence for July was brought to you by a hectic work schedule (7 days a week leaves little time for blogging or for knitting). And then there's this:

Yup, I've had plenty of reasons to not be on the internet, most having to do with family business and planning. Ooooh boy, lots of planning.

I have started a knit though - a pair of fingerless gloves out of a green/white variated yarn.

Why hi there, feet.

2010-06-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've been crazy at work, but look! Socks!

Made using my own "pattern", i.e. I cast on enough for my ankles, knit ribbing until I was done, knit stockinette until done there and onwards to the heel! Made a heel flap, and using the Yarn Harlot's suggestion in one of her books (look, it's not near me, it's packed in a Pod. I don't remember) I knit the flap until it was a square - roughly thirty rows. Picked up stitches on the sides (fifteen) and knit alternating knit rows and decrease rows. Knit another long tube in stockinette, and then decreased for my wide toes.

They fit beautifully. I've decided I have ridiculously long feet for stockinette and self striping yarns are not for the faint of heart. I tried so HARD to make them match. Failed magnificently but learned that my OCD can rear it's ugly head when it comes to my hobby.

Am planning my next knit. Stay tuned.

Quickly!

2010-04-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Busy packing to move out of the apartment, setting up the beginning of my summer season, and filling out the MILES of tree-killing paperwork needed to make myself an official graduate student.

Have knit: one sock in two weeks. No pattern here, just cast on as many stitches as I needed to make it around my fat calf, knit ribbing until I was sick of it, knit a stockinette tube until I was sick of that, then made a heel. Turned said heel all by myself, knit until it was 2" shorter than my foot, then closed the toe and kitchener'd it shut. Voila!

Am knitting: Well, crocheting... a Dalek (you read that right). Am not 100% satisfied with it though.

Will knit: Other sock, and begin my cardigan. I also left unpacked a skein of green yarn for other socks I am planning, as well as the yarn I was using to crochet a Dalek (Again, what you are reading is correct).

Decisions are hard

2010-04-11T21:13:00.001-07:00

I began a pullover, but a few rows in and darn it I really want a cardigan. I have two options here;

1) Modify pullover pattern into cardigan pattern

2) Pick new pattern, frog and re-begin.

I am leery about option one, since I feel that to modify any large garment pattern I should perhaps first know how to construct a sweater. More confidence would be present after knitting a finished sweater/cardigan. And there are hundreds of patterns out there. Why stress myself unnecessarily?

So frog on!

I saw a pattern in Michaels that seemed very much like what I want. I want cables and slightly fitted but still casually slouchy. I want ribbing. I want buttons...

Okay, perhaps the word "cardigan" implies the last one. Free would be nice. I have a book of cabled knits, one of which has a cabled pattern that I adore. But it's a zipper. I am dreaming of buttons. The other might be too slouchy... but I may try it.

(Warning: Lots of Ravelry links)

This or this. The second I would not knit as long. Or this. Or this.

And having said CABLES - I NEEDZ THEM there is also this pattern, which in fact has no cables at all.

So the short version of this is perhaps I should go to bed and look at these patterns anew tomorrow, and maybe one will jump out to me with more clarity.

2010-04-01T18:40:00.003-07:00

Bought enough yarn for a sweater.

oooOOOoooOOooo....

Won't start it until the scarf is complete however.

Leafy scarf

2010-03-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

With the gloves completed I've moved onto knitting my lovely scarf. I am using Brooke's Column of Leaves pattern combined with my Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk yarn, and so far I am enjoying the results.

This pattern pops already, but it will require blocking to really stand out. I have actually knit this before, in orange, back when I was a fresh-faced knitter still negotiating patterns. While the end result was riddled in mistakes, I was in love with the scarf and heartbroken when I lost the bloody thing a week after casting off. It's a good thing I like knitting, as so many projects of mine end with leaving the finished project somewhere and never finding it again.

I'd originally started the scarf using the Marijke pattern, but the bobbles and faux cables weren't reading very well in the yarn and I wasn't satisfied. Unsure what to do, I randomly remembered the leaves pattern and how much I enjoyed it. It's lacy but textured at the same time. Enjoyable.

Anyway, I'm only a wee bit into this project. I'm hopeful that it won't take all three skeins to get the length that I want, and perhaps I can use the leftovers to make a hat that matches.

Done!

2010-03-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Endpaper Mitts, pattern created by Eunny Jang. The only modifications done were to not bother with the final row of the pattern at the end (my fingers are stubby, as you can see by the glove swallowing my pinkie) and to just use my regular knitted cast on and not the tubular one recommended.

I totally don't remember what this yarn is, and I'm a bit too lazy right now to go plowing through what records I do have to find it. I feel like I wrote it down somewhere. I just know I blogged it. I feel like it's Lorna's Laces or something I've heard a fair bit about that I always wanted to knit with.

Anyway, something pinkie and something greenie. The first two photos are the most color-accurate (but the green always seems more olive in photos than in reality), and they show that the green does disappear right into the pink like I'd feared, but it doesn't bug me as much as I had worried. In fact, I like it.

However if I'd knit these again I'd pick something SUPER contrasty to show off the pattern.

The innards for those who care. I'm not the neatest stranded worker, but these weren't too bad. Could still use a blocking. I cast on Saturday, frogged twice (I'd originally done pink ribbing, but decided that was Too. Much. Pink), and sewed in the ends today. They are very snug but supposed to be. Me likey.

(P.S - I got accepted into my top choice graduate school. I'm getting my MFA!)

2010-03-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Finished my Skew Socks. Fun knit, though the pattern makes my feet look extra wide, and my ankles extra skinny. Weird.

Up next are two skeins of yarn I've had lying around for nearly a year. I was using them to make Endpaper Mitts but the pattern has fallen out of my interest. I might try again, but before I cast on I'm planning on doing a little rolling through the internet to see if anything else catches my interest first.

As the photo shows, they are perhaps too close in shade to make good dense colorwork like Endpaper knits. Perhaps. Though I still might. Who knows :) I kind of like the you-see-the-pattern-but-don't look.

Hampering the pattern hunt is the part where I don't have any record of what this yarn is... though I SWEAR I'd mentioned knitting these in the blog.

quickly quickly

2010-02-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

To the left: Jaywalkers that I finished last week. Love the pattern.

To the right: Toe up skew socks, from the recent knitty pattern. Definitely a case of "trust the pattern". I've turned the heel, which involved kitchener. I'm not sure how I feel about the fit, as the kitchener leaves a small nubbit on the bottom of the heel, but perhaps that will lesson when I actually go to weave in the ends? Not sure. It's a different sock construction method so at any rate it's been interesting and held my curiosity.

2010-01-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

It took me a week to whip out one of the socks (see previous entry), but alas I'm going to have to slow down. Carpel tunnel strikes my right wrist. Again. I'm currently braced.

Probably for the best, as I really need to focus on some job activities. That involve a lot of sitting in front of the computer... typing...

Riiiight. This will end well.

Wait - Knitting something for myself?

2010-01-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

Alright, so it isn't anything to do with my purple yarn, but I remembered other yarn my family got me for my birthday for socks, and pulled out a partially done sock leg that I'd started last year (and never finished). It was a bit too saggy for my tastes, so I frogged it and went down a needle size.

As of yesterday night I had already turned the heel and begun on the gussets. It's Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern; I love it as it's simple enough that I can TV knit but looks more complicated and keeps me entertained enough to not get bored. On size 2 1/2 mm needles (I think). I've knit this pattern before, and loved it then and now.

I'm excited to be doing these, a lot of the socks I'd made for myself are starting to show their age and I need something gaudy and knew for my feet.

Lace mc-lacerstein has been put in the post as of yesterday, and once the recipient receives it I'll post pictures here ;)

2010-01-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

It is done! The long lacework is done! Blocked, dried, and now neatly folded on my desk. All it needs are its ends woven in. I spent a full day yesterday getting the thing knocked out.

I am so relieved. And plotting my next move. I have three skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca in a deep purple, a gift from my last birthday when my mum handed me some money "to buy yarn with", that I think is begging to be made into a hat and/or scarf. The current plan is to spend a few moments rolling around Ravelry and Knitty to find some inspiration.

Photos of lace project later, when I get it shipped off to its intended recipient.

A few things...

2010-01-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

Can I start by saying one thing?

I WANT THIS LACEWORK DONE. I don't want to post many pictures of it on the internet, as it is meant to be a gift (albeit a gift I wanted to grant three months ago), and I don't know if I have ever shared this blog link with its intended recipient. This means, that for nearly a year I have been slowly churning out this unbloggable project, for nearly a year I have banned all other knits from my To Do list (well almost all knits - for THREE DAYS there I whipped out a kitty pie, which I could only work on after I had knit a full repeat of the lacework in question). I view garter stitch as a treat. Yarn-overs and knit two togethers are to be viewed with extreme suspicion.

Yes this is a gift for a friend, and I love her and what this to be beautiful for her, but damned if I am a classic gemini in that I want a variety of new things. This is no longer novel or new. I want to bury this behind some couch cushions and pretend it doesn't exist.

If I did that, I could knit something else. Something fast, thick, with lots of cables and not an inch of lace anywhere.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

Well 2010, here we are!

So... uh. How you doin'?

Knit goals for 2010 are simple: finish this white lace thing that has been taking me forever, and wrap up my on hiatus unfinished objects. Whether I finish them, or re-evaluate their status and rip them back to do something else, it doesn't matter: The goal here is to free up my needles and get these WIPs done. I also want to do some selfish knitting; I am wearing through socks and have a list a mile long of items that I want (my precious).

Of course, I've asked The Boy if he wants me to knit him a pair of socks. For his giant size whatever-who-cares-they-are-huge feet.

A 2009 holiday

2009-12-30T19:32:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a state that includes this view:

Get it? Chicago. Christmas was great. I received a new camera, a lovely Canon point'n'shoot. Allows me to take photos like this:

A new ornament for this year to add to my snowman collection.

Packed stockings for the kitties. I was feeling a bit guilty because they spent a week in boarding.
So they got some extra.

Iz my fish. You can't have it.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year!

squee!

2009-12-28T22:08:00.000-08:00

Two words:

New. Camera.

Details tomorrow :)

(ok. details now - my point and shoot kicked the bucket when it took a drastic fall during my friends' wedding in September, and I've been alternating between pilfering The Boy's camera and hitting my broken one like a demented The Fonz to get it to work*. I received a lovely one for Christmas and I am delighted. But photos will have to happen tomorrow. I am le tired.)

*no, really, I found if I hit it really hard I could get the screen to come back and the button would click to actually take a picture. But the amount I had to hit it increased every time.

New Year, New Vow, New Stuff

2009-12-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

These are just ideas and wishes for the next year, not resolutions. That way I don't feel terrible if I don't do them!

- I want to find time to knit more stuff. I've found I can whip out a pair of mittens in a few hours. If I can do that even once a week, I would have enough to perhaps sell at a craft fair next November. Whoot!

- Volunteer for... something. It's been awhile.

- Blog at least once a month, and say more than some variation of "it's been awhile but I am soooo busy!" Booooring.

- Get my computer organized. Files everywhere.

I might do a list of "wishes" for the next year, especially as it is very, VERY likely to be very busy as I am going to slam into graduate applications. Maybe 10 for 2010 or something catchy? I like lists :)

So the next time...

2009-12-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

So the next time you go and see a show...

Please remember it's very likely that someone backstage has knees that look like this:

Especially if it's a Nutcracker.

holidays are approaching

2009-12-06T08:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas presents this year will consist of a lot of cookies. Mmm. Cookies. Test baking will of course be in order. I can't mail out things that don't taste good, now can I? I'm looking to avoid sugar cookies; I've made them so many times and I want to try new recipes. I went plowing through my cookbooks yesterday, and will be testing out pinwheels. I am now looking for something nutty and something chocolatey. Any thoughts out there?

Tree is up, decorations are up, it is snowing, I am dressed warmly and drinking my warm beverage of choice (coffee, duh)... so of course it must nearly be time to go to work. Bah humbug.

Knitting progresses. I have turned a corner and now have only three more corners to make. It. Will. Get. There.

2009-12-02T13:55:00.001-08:00

GRE test was taken Monday, and while I did decently I can't help but feel a little listless. Er, what now?*

It's been snowing all day, and I can't peel myself away from my desk which is nestled by the windows in our apartment. I like watching snow while drinking warm drinks and not being outside. I know I will most likely be stir crazy by the end of today, but this is a nice respite.

*Ok, I know what comes next in this process (I think), but still. Sentiment remains.

picture spam

2009-11-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

In no particular order, to prove that I still exist.

I came into possession of a wee venus fly trap around Halloween. I've named it Nibbler. This is a photo of it still in its tiny plastic pot, but since then I've transferred it into some peat moss into a clear lidded bowl that is supposed to be a cookie jar (obviously it is now a terrarium). I nearly added a pitcher plant as well to my carnivorous plant jar, but thought that perhaps I should wait awhile and see if I can keep this guy alive. So far so good, however when I was transplanting it to its home I accidentally made it chomp down and close a lot of its jaws. I worry that perhaps this will stress it out too much.

I used to keep one of these in college, though it was weak (could never get it enough sun). I think I named that one Nibbler as well. I guess I'm not creative in the naming department, but I don't want to name it Audrey.

Knitting happens. This is the never-ending project... that I fear will end not when intended (complete), but when I run out of yarn. Damm, and other worse words.

I had to take a small break from complicated knitting to whip out a kitty pie.

Cat for scale.

Cat approved. Malabrigio yarn of a thick kind. They do use it, though they still prefer deforming the backs of the sofa and chair in the living room. I have made one of these before, when the guy shown was a wee little kitten, but unfortunately I made it kitten sized and he quickly out grew it*. Project took only a couple of hours of knitting interspersed over a couple of days. I'd work on the Bane of My Existance (white thing above) for one round of the chart, and then move on to this relatively mindless and quick knit to decompress.

Photo of the other kittah so she doesn't feel left out. She's nutters.

*and then he vomited a tapeworm on it so I threw it out, but that's another story from the "Oh God Why" category.

that is all.

2009-11-20T07:58:00.001-08:00

Coffee is fantastic.

Tear down that wall!

2009-11-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

"Fans hoping to glimpse U2's free concert celebrating 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell were outraged Thursday to find that a 12-foot (3.6-meter) metal barrier was installed to block the view for those without tickets."

There's an irony here that I just can't put my finger on....

victim blaming

2009-11-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091102/lf_nm_life/us_egypt_niqab

This article is about the rising use of the face veil in Egypt. An interesting article, but I would like everyone to draw their attention to the sentence at the end:

"When a man cannot see a woman, then what is he going to harass her for? Nothing," said Abu Donya, a taxi driver, whose views are shared by many Egyptians. "So imagine if all women wear niqab, things would be better," he said.

This is the wrong approach to removing sexual harassment. It is not the women's problem to deal with, it is problem. No, no NO. This shifts the blame onto the victim. "Well, the way she's dressed she was just asking for it." Wrong. Clothing or where the woman is not an automatic excuse to harass.

Though at least there was a study that refutes the idea that women can only be safe in today's male dominated society by covering herself head to toe. It won't work. Harassment isn't about wanting sex. It's about domination, about putting people in "their place". Reminding them that they aren't equal. Trying to hide will not alleviate the problem, it will only give the misogynists more power.

cupcakes

2009-11-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to show these here. These are apple cupcakes from a couple of weeks ago. Nom nom nom....

Completely tasty and fantastic, they only lasted a handful of minutes. The recipe is from Eating Well, but if I do these again I believe I'll have to do some adjusting as they were very, very moist. Like, dripping down the chin moist. Delightfully apple-y though.

So yesterday was Halloween. I had work and thusly didn't dress up (I get to tonight however) but someone got put in a costume that started out as $4.00 and was 30% off. How could I not resist?

Yeah. I'm one of those cat ladies apparently. Oh well, better accept it now. My cats have.

This picture sends me into hysterics. She was just meowing at me I swear, but by the looks of it, well...

"Your arse is MINE when you put me down!"

Took her out of the costume moments after the photoshoot. And laughed. A lot.

blather bother oh brutha.

2009-10-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

One show down, and I'm slamming right into the next one due to a slight change of plans. Slightly down, as Halloween is one of my favorite times of year and yet it always seems to get shoved aside for other needs (i.e. education when I was in college, money now that I'm all degree'd up). It doesn't help that we are on day two of snow, and I desperately want to stay at my desk while drinking coffee or tea and enjoy a snow day. Hell, I'll even do computer desk work while doing it*.

I have time to knit but lack the energy currently. That, and I'm studying for the GRE's while trying to snap my portfolio into shape. Oiy.

What's a weekend?

*Ok, probably not, but I'd earnestly try to do work.

green things and fall things

2009-10-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Well, now that we are firmly entrenched in the Fall here, now of course is when I start to think about being more eco-friendly. With the sudden fleeing into the mountains for the summer (and then back out of the mountains for the fall), I've slipped a bit in my personal quest to be more green. I think my next goal is to phase out the cleaners we have, and replace them with baking soda/vinegar alternatives.

I also have lost some weight and suddenly I'm wearing only a quarter of my wardrobe. Both great! and ugh, as now I have to do my least favorite activity - sorting out clothing. I may try to sell these to a consignment store, as a bit of cash would be nice, but I'm not fashionable and I doubt the place will want them. Still, we'll see. Whatever they don't take I will donate.

Since Colorado lowered its minimum wage (hey, you know what's a great idea when we're trying to recover from an economic slump? Cut people's pay!) I've been a bit more aware of my spending. Time to clamp down on the budget again, just in time for the holidays.

Boo!

2009-10-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

October! I've been decorating.
I prefer the tuck-it-in-everywhere-you-can overkill style of decorating. A constant reminder that Fall is here no matter where you look. (And winter is coming, as the snow yesterday so reminded me. But let's ignore that)

Baking! Using my mum's sugar cookie recipe (so lovingly yanked from the red-checkered cookbook). Nom nom nom.

This is a rather "well, duh!" moment, but I learned that the sugar to flour ratio in sugar cookies is just about one to one. Holy sugar, batman!
(Seen here is the first victim of the "I can't do frosting" debacle" being sent to his grave - my belly)

Yup. Fall's here.
Get the idea that I like halloween?

I'm going to attempt to make apple cupcakes today, recipe via my subscription of Eating Well. We'll see how this goes! I am excited, as the dried apples that are called for in the recipe are from our apple fest that occurred last weekend. Which was awesome.

I did the unfortunate thing of dropping my camera at a friend's wedding a month ago, rendering the viewing screen useless. But as seen in this post, it still takes photos. I just don't know how they turn out until I upload them. It's like an old school camera, only still with a computer attached.

What's this about?

2009-09-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just joined blogher on a whim but... uh... don't really know what I'm supposed to do with it. I gather it's supposed to help promote women-specific blogs.

I'd like to be a more focused blog. Knitting, DIY, ecologically friendly living and gender in society. Is that a weird mix? I suppose it is, but that's me.

I'd also like to write more, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Can't complain much - I'm finding work which is a damn good thing, but leaves me with little time to do much.

I'm such a dweeb.

mercury retrograde

2009-09-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

I have a coworker who is into astrology. And all this month anytime something goes funky with a piece of technology, she's the first to exclaim, "oh my god it's Mercury retrograde guys!"

So! My camera's dead. Takes somewhat OK pictures but the screen is gone. Hmm... car, phone, camera...

Maybe my coworker's onto something.

urk.

2009-09-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

Boo.

Work teamed up with the month of July* to beat me into a pulp, but I am slowly emerging. I've talked of the car and the phone, but I neglected to mention the near-miss my computer had when it drank a bit too much vodka** (which led to a computer time-out of one week, while I let it dry and frantically prayed that my coworker's klutziness did not do damage), and the death of my grandmother.

Yeah. It's been a heck of an end to the summer, culminating in the lovely wedding of a dear friend of mine (so things got a lot better). And fall is here! And as we know, I love fall. I love cider, leaves turning color, the changing of the weather... and Halloween.

And I am still knitting. Just a lot slower. Work has really taken the mickey out of me. It's taken a trip back to Denver to visit my apartment (boyfriend) and cats to sort of get back back into the groove. But through my birthday and the kindness of others, I have gotten my paws on some new, lovely yarn, and am plotting lovely fall things to knit with them.

So I'm here, just terrible at writing about it. I'm going to try to do better, but I'll probably continue to be under the radar for a couple more weeks.

*And then August chimed in, because August is a PITA who doesn't like to be left out of the crowd.

** I.E. any amount of Vodka. For a computer, at least.

one week in review:

2009-07-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

This week has been a rough one. Firstly, we were in tech for our last show. This meant we all wanted to kill each other, but with the end so close just could not do so.

Then a lady backed into my car into the parking lot, and put a dent the size of my fist in my bumper.

See? My poor baby. Ouch. That was Sunday. A total accident but a bummer nonetheless.

Then, three days later, I put my cell phone through the washing machine. No, really. I am that much of an idiot. Cell phone = ded. That is D-E-D. Ded.

Not dead, D-E-A-D, because I was able to partially resurrect it, whereas DEAD would mean it was well.. kaput. I could keep it on long enough to pull my phone numbers from it, and while half the buttons did not work, the other half did which meant I could almost make calls (if it decided it was in a good mood).

But the week drew to an end and things have begun to look better. My car will be fixed, eventually, the show opened with a full house and is getting good reviews, and luckily my parents had come to visit and had left me with a belated birthday gift of money for (coincidentally) a new phone.

I swear I did not intentionally wash my old phone to get a new one. I would have waited until I was nearer to my upgrade time before making it kick the bucket*.

Thirdly, The Boy came to visit, which means that the weekend was a good one. And fourthly...

When you work at a place that looks like this, how bad can it be, really?

Onto the next week. Whee!

*with less water and more explosions, might I add. Something worthwhile, damnit.

boring is as boring does

2009-06-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

Man oh man haven't I dropped off the edge of the earth, eh? I have been crazy busy with work, and when I get home I am not very invested in blogging on the internet for long. Sorry, internet. I know you've suffered without me.

Sunday was my birthday, and my parents gifted me with lovely sock yarn with a pinky blue green theme, as well as some cash to make a yarn purchase for a project of my choosing. My mum also ran up and down the aisles picking out the free fliers to help with my selection. Love.

I also am now in possession of baby photos from when I was two days old. One of my mum holding me, one of my dad.. and then one from when my brother was 6 months old and I am holding him. My mum inscribed on the back of hers, "I loved you from the first time I saw you, and that has not changed".

Yeah, way to make me bawl on my birthday, Mum. You're the best ; ) In all seriousness, I'm considering getting a photo album of some sort that I can properly put these in to protect them.

No photos of my current knitting project - it's a gift for a friend and she may read this blog. You know who you are! This one is taking all my focus, so I'm trying to not get sidelined by knitting other things.

Yeah, boring blog material, I know. Ooh! How about this: My ever-loving boyfriend gifted me with Venture Brothers Season 3 and Sims 3... which he will probably later regret as this means I will never, ever, EVER get off my computer. Ever. Sims 3 seems fantastic; I've only played it a little bit and am excited to really get into it. The graphics are fantastic and there seems to be more to do. Awesome!

I spent my birthday with The Boy hiking, where it snowed, and watching The Tony Awards, where I nearly choked on my tongue when the singer Bret Michaels got clocked by some flying scenery. Theatre can be dangerous folks, especially when there's crap overhead. This is why hitting your mark onstage is important, y'all. I am glad to hear he is okay, which admittedly makes the video footage funny in retrospect.

2009-05-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

I love you for loving me, even when I think you're nuts.

I love you for loving me, even when you think I'm nuts.

(Thanks for keeping me through those teenage years)

I love you for thinking I'm awesome,

and that I can take on anything in the world.

Even when I think you're nuts.

I love you for not being perfect, but showing me how to strive for perfection.

I love you, mom.

Project complete

2009-05-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

Dude, okay.

So I'm buried into the Rockies for a summer of work. The Boy and I drove up separately last Sunday, so he could get me settled and spend the night before leaving me up here to get into it. I greatly appreciated this, as it is a LOT of driving for him to undertake in a weekend. So that night I cranked on the socks (with only the toe decreases left), and presented them to him.

And promptly didn't take any photos of them to show 'em off. I'm such a putz. Boo.

I'm attempting to figure out what the heck I want to do this weekend. This will probably be my last relaxing weekend in a long, long time - so perhaps I'll just veg and wander into town for a bit to window shop. Considering how stir crazy I can get when just sitting on the couch, venturing out is probably a good idea.

The house I am in is just fantastic. Hot tub, great views, large kitchen. Eventually I will be joined by five other coworkers - but for now I have the full thing all to my onesies.

Isn't that view just amazing?

Well, this entry was about nothing.

I demand a shrubbery. Ni!

2009-04-24T13:48:00.001-07:00

We won't think about how, in a week I will have to abandon this:

Or how likely it is that I will actually get to eat these:

Green things are just so, f'n pretty.

How cruel I can't take it all with me into the mountains. The Boy has sworn he will do his upmost to keep green things green, and eat the things they have produced (and report back to me how yummy they were).

I have my days off (working nights now, as a show has opened), which meant I "accidentally" found myself in a lil'local gardening center. Where I found these. I never have success starting tomato plants from seeds, but have middling success keeping them alive once they are bigger; So I tend to buy them prestarted, as it were.

And I picked up some flowers. Although I like practical gardens, sometimes just having pretty things to look pretty and smell good is nice.

The balcony garden list now consists of: Pansies, lavender, cilantro, basil, oregano, sage, bell peppers, lettuce mix, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and beans. I purchased some snap dragon and sweet pea seeds to throw them into the mix as well. I am hoping for a colourful mess. Some of the smaller pots I will take with me, with vague hopes I can find a sunny corner for them. I can't go a summer without trying to keep at least one plant alive*. I love gardening and like going to gardening centers. It reminds me of springs and summers with my dad. A Secret Garden was a well worn book in my childhood, and when he let me have "a little corner of my own" I just about peed my pants I was so excited. In my first garden, I grew yarrow, corn (we got a quarter of an ear as harvest), tomatoes (which our golden retriever ate, and we had none), roses, daisies, and tulips. Gardening is love to me, even if it is not successful. My dream house consists of an english countryside style garden, with plants crammed together in a hodge-podge mess that only I can decipher.

Mmm.

*And oh, how quickly does one plant suddenly turn into ten or fifteen....

today

2009-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am going to be productive today. At least, vaguely.

If I keep repeating that, perhaps it will come true? I have the day off, and have spent my morning rolling around in bed and surfing the internet. Loverly. Plans include some grocery shopping, cleaning my desk, and organizing like I'm a big girl who's capable of acting like an adult.

I've begun to read a book that is a compilation of snippets from Susan B. Anthony's letters and speeches. Strong woman with a quick wit. I've added her to my list of People I'd have liked to have met.

2009-04-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't been knitting, or baking bread, or barely even cooking the last few weeks. Kind of a bummer. I've been so balls-to-the-wall at work that when I get home all I seem to be able to manage is a comatose like state in front of the television. Ugh. Banana bread may happen this morning just so I don't feel like a total slacker in the kitchen. If the bananas thaw, that is. The Boy froze them in a desperate attempt to keep them around for bread. I don't know how that will turn out...

sad news

2009-04-07T07:07:00.001-07:00

We had to put our puppy down last week. Complications from something very sudden that hit her. Chest cavity filled with air, vet was unable to stabilize her, and was very suspicious of her blood test results. This was so very sudden, as that morning she was her normal goofy, lazy butt self.

She was such a sweet dog. Seriously. A better dog could not be found anywhere and she was always complimented on it.

a dip back into the internet.

2009-03-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have thought of this place often, but see previous entry. I've been working and trying to save money. Results have been middling. My biggest problem is that I eat out (I know I know! Bad for my waistline, and bad for the environment considering where I end up eating). It is too easy to forget to bring my food to a tech or a show, or to be coerced into going out with the gang and not be in the theatre. Not being in the theatre can be key to not being insane, especially when the weather turns warm and sunny. I just wish the warmth would hold long enough that I could throw some seeds into my pots and start my garden. I have been thinking a lot about the motto "Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, or Do without", but have no further thoughts past "sounds like a good idea".

We can't all be philosophers.

Organizing has been happening. This giant clusterfuck of a mess here were the clothes in my closet. Some I shrank and/or am too fat for, some are too big, some I just don't like anymore and no longer wear. Some I love but no longer wear as they are too worn, and had to admit that they were just taking up space.

This slightly less clusterfuck of a pile are the clothes that fit the above list, that are in queue to be sold to a resell store, or donated. Wherever I can pinch a penny, folks. Now if only I could get my arse out the door and actually get rid of these items. Oiy.

Now the closet is relatively neat. I still feel like I have too many clothes, but at least I now have fewer. Future resorts will occur, but this first step was progress.

I walk by this house often on the way to work. This house is Love for me. I Love it's little fence, I love it's little arch detail on the porch, the colors, the neatness of the yard, and the plethora of bird feeders in the tree. I dream of owning a little house like this one day.

Luckily my dream house is on scale with what my payscale will be - very tiny. But I like tiny houses. Means you can only own so much, and chances are the garden might be bigger.

Speaking of gardening, I found these yesterday:

Every year I try to grow strawberries, and have only been successful once. Perhaps this year I will have luck. If anyone reads this thing who can get a strawberry plant to grow, for the love of Bob leave me a comment. Current vegetable gardening list includes spinach, a variety pack of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, beans, cucumber, bell peppers, hot peppers. I will probably take a clove of garlic or six from the fridge and attempt to get those to sprout as well. My herb garden, which I have already started indoors, consists of my sage, oregano, basil, lavender, cilantro and chive*. I also have some snapdragon seeds that I am trying to cultivate. I love snapdragons.

If you haven't caught on by now, I love gardening.

Also if you couldn't tell, I love knitting (how is THAT for a segway). I have been on my needles, working on a sock for The Boy. He has chosen the colorway, which is this subtle(ish) self striping yarn. Since Boy has big manly feet, I normally err towards patterns with ribbing. I like socks, but only so much.

We are still working on the leg of the first sock. Progress is slow, as this is my backstage knit. I am still rethinking my Super Sekrit gift, but hope to re-begin it once the crazy that is March dies down.

*Or it would, if the cats would stop EATING it.

bloop

2009-03-01T09:15:00.001-08:00

So busy. I have the Theatre version of March Madness: back to back load-ins, techs, performances and strikes. I may drop off the face of the earth for a wee bit.

Knitting has stalled, because my boy got SIMs to work on my computer a lot faster. Wheeee! I love playing mini-God. I have a vest on the needles, some socks, and my Super Sekret Gift is being re-thunk. The yarn doesn't work with the pattern.

I have a day of "rest" today - meaning grocery shopping, cleaning my desk area, and emailing some people like I should have last week. D'oh.

YARRRRRRGH

2009-02-17T19:33:00.001-08:00

Super Sekrit project* will most likely be frogged. Wrong gauge yarn, unless I want to work on super teensy weensy needles.**

Hey Teach, I am eyeing frogging - because I don't think the lace is working with the kind of yarn. I have completed the back (i.e Really Freakin' Big Gauge Swatch), and am still not sure. And I am eyeing vests. So. Yeah. Hm.

Just not satisfied with anything at this moment in time.

*So secret, I haven't even mentioned it here... yet.
**Which I don't.

Finishing loose ends

2009-02-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

I have made a goal to finish up some items that have been laying around for a long, long time.

Remember this post? Pay close attention to the brown blob in the (horrible) photo. That was to be my Sheldon. Well, almost two years later, here he is:

This is one of my long outstanding FOs. Reason? I didn't have much reason for a stuffed turtle. This guy was all whim and a random moment of inspiration when my closest friend and I decided, in the throes of impending graduation and all the stress and mayhem that inspires, that we needed to knit something silly (two years ago).

Then of course it never got finished (two years ago). I'd decided on the brown for the body, which I think was a mistake. The thing looked like... okay well it was brown and odd shaped, okay? So it sat (for two years).

With all the impending babies on The Boy's side of the family, I pulled this guy out again and eyed it carefully. Purple, I decided, would be a better body color, with the brown as the shell. And so it was!

There were other issues with the original brown blob. His stuffing showed, as I was using a needle size too large for a toy. There were mistakes. He was too floppy from being lightly stuffed. Reknitting was the way to go, in a smaller needle size, and, you know, with the purple being the dominant color.

I am mighty pleased. And I stuck a jingle bell in him so he rattles. Bwah so cute! I am endlessly amused with how fast this guy knit up versus how his predecessor did. He took less than a week to throw together, where I think the original brown thing took maybe three weeks. Proof indeed that I am a faster knitter (or at least more intelligent at reading patterns?) The yarn was Ella Raie's Silkience, and is lives up to the "silk" in its name. I did find it to be a might splitty however, working on my tiny-ish needles (size 1 DPN).

I have also finished my thneed. Except that it did turn out to be a baby sweater. With itty-bitty fishy buttons.

Love! The color falls somewhere between those two photos.

Dr. Seuss meets reality.

2009-01-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

I don't think I am knitting a baby cardigan.

I think it's a Thneed.

A Thneed is a thing that everyone needs.

I hope this turns out to fit a human baby in a normal, non-crazy way.

2009-01-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

On the baby sweater front, I am at the itty-bitty arm shaping. Itty bitty! I have settled on the Ribbed Baby Jacket. This has snap enclosures, but I'm going to figure out something for the buttons. When I get there. You know.

It might be sooner than I think at this rate.

I wrangled someone into sitting still long enough (read: waved Dr. Who marathon in face and led into living room), so I could wind up some more yarn into a ball for knitting.

Doesn't he look so happy? You wouldn't think he spent half the time squirming. I might be a half-step closer to my own personal non-human ball winder. But the yarn is in a ball and now it is time for pattern hunting... I have no idea what I'm doing with this one. I can't make up my freaking mind!

I finished the yellow socks, met with a minor disaster, and then fixed it quickly and dirtily. No pictures yet, I keep forgetting. I totally misread the toe shaping bit of the pattern and ended up with an elf toe on one sock. So I picked up stitches back where my toe actually ends, and kitchenered it off. I didn't feel like reknitting the entire toe. So there's a nub where the toe suddenly cuts off, but I'm okay with that. The rest of the pattern is lovely!

it's been awhile!

2009-01-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been awhile, hasn't it?

The Boy's sister is expecting a child, which means I have an excuse to knit baby knits! I don't think anyone who knows me really understands how badly I have been drooling over knitting tiny baby sweaters and things. Quick sweaters for tiny people! Especially tiny people who belong to wonderful older sisters of boyfriends.

So she's going to get inundated with wee lil'sweaters and hats. Including this whimsical one here. It is family tradition to have one or two outfits that are ridiculous for the baby. My mum still has a baby cardigan of mine from my great aunt that was yellow, and had an intarsia lion on a pocket and a little orange mane to make the baby look ferociously cute. Fishy hats for everyone!*

Now the question is, this sweater or this sweater? The first is Knitty's Trellis, the second is the Ribbed Baby Jacket from Debbie Bliss, found in various locations (the link is to the Ravelry project page).

Behold, the first nearly finished knit of 2009!

Socks from my fabulous Interweave knits sock book. I've turned the heel on my second, and hopefully will not run out of yarn before I finish the toe on this puppy. I hope to have them done soon, as I want to move onto other knits for the year. Yes, my Hey Teach has stalled. Big shocker there.

I will be wandering off to a knitting group as soon as my bread finishes baking. It's been since September** since I was last there! I'm excited. They're good people.

*Including myself, maybe. I've lost my #*%!in' hat which I knit to replace the first hat I #@*!ing lost.

** I think?!?

Happy New Years!

2008-12-31T19:00:00.001-08:00

The Boy and I look kind of like our cats right now...

Rounded bellies up, happiness and content. Why?

We broke in the Wok tonight. OMG GUYZ - WHY DIDN'T I HAVE ONE OF THESE SOONER? Seriously. Deliciousness in a big silver pan. Mmm. I might be cooking in it right up until midnight.

Happy New Years, here's to a rockin' 2009!

Why Cats Are Evil: Reason 2,302,200.005

2008-12-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

Remember this? And how I said I would properly block it when I had found some blocking wires?

I went to block it today, because even though I've been up to my eyeballs in Nutcrackers and barely have had time to eat and sleep, let alone knit and prepare knits, The Boy found me some wires at a hardware store that could serve as cheap(er) blocking wires. So that's what I set out to do.

I lovingly washed the shawl in its warm bath with the nice smelling wool juice that was gifted to me from a swap I participated in a while ago. I moved to the bedroom, where I knew I'd have isolated floor space that is out of the way of foot traffic. I threaded in the wire on one end.

See how pretty it is already starting to look? (Please ignore the poor photo quality - I can't bear to stare at these too long nor can I be bothered to take a decent photo of the carnage).

I lovingly unroll it and begin to stretch it out, until I see this:

Oh my fucking stars. WHAT THE FUCKING BATSHIT IS THAT?

Here, look. A blurry photo of my thumb for scale reference. Blurry because I was shaking from The Rage.

Upon closer inspection, after looking away and back again a handful of times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, it looks like little teeth had their way with the shawl. The shawl I have had sitting on my desk, lovingly petting for a few weeks now. The shawl I was so proud of. The shawl I - yes, myself - was so STUPID to have left out in a cat zone.

There is only one miscreant in this apartment who appears to have an affinity for yarn.

Ignore the cute pose. It is merely a ploy to make you think she isn't a minion for Satan. Once I could breathe again, I gave the shawl a closer scrutiny and it appears to only be that corner afflicted. It's fixable. It is doable. The anti-yarn feline militia may have struck but the shawl is not dead and done for. I have the yarn, I can rebuild.

Except I don't wanna. I was so happy to be done with this thing. Fuck. This thing is so not getting a fringe now.

Solution? Drink a glass of whine, try to not burst into a fresh set of tears, and blog about it. And try to not kill the orange cat.

It's a good thing she's so cute.

Er, sidetracked

2008-12-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

WAAAH my brain is melting and I haven't had time to knit. Too much Nutcracker work (although I am working on a pair of gloves for me).

Oh well, I've been sewing....

(wait... what?)

Yeah. Can't tell you. Nyah. Maybe pictures later if this doesn't suck. I have a "weekend" Monday/Tuesday where maybe I can get some home stuff done... but I will probably veg out and do nothing.

Have yourself a Green Holiday

2008-12-04T09:16:00.001-08:00

Ok. So I'm big on this sustainability thing. I try. Very hard. I'm not perfect, and I slip up, and there are definitely things I don't consider (it is embarrassing how long it took me to figure out and remember the "turn the faucet off while brushing my teeth" thing) but I try to make the biggest effort that I can.

Over in this corner, I also celebrate Christmas. And I love a tacky festooned Christmas. The tree and ornaments flew up after Thanksgiving Dinner (the earliest The Boy would allow me to to so), the lights are up and I am already humming carols while sipping cocoa and plotting my gifts (knit or otherwise) for friends and family. It occurred to me, during my latest bought of "Deck the Halls" while writing my list and checking it twice, that the Holidays are often portrayed over television as a time of gluttony and of throwing out the normal habits (Okay, well Christmas is often portrayed over television as a time of gluttony). Diets? Meh. Eat that whole turkey. Buy extravagant gifts for each other and blow that budget that you normally adhere to. C'mon. It's the Holidays! Indulge. How do you mesh the "traditional" (depending on your view of traditional. I guess I am referring to the 1960s and onwards "traditional") holiday spirit with being Green? I will admit firstly that this epiphany occurred mainly because of my budget.

You see, I don't have one. The months of unemployment + my current freelancing = not a whole lot of money for gifts. I never have had a big budget for gifting, but I think this year is the smallest. Luckily most of my gifts will be more of an investment of time than of money, and even luckier homemade can oftentimes mean Greener or more Sustainable while simultaneously being frugal. There is no pretense here that my inner miser fully supports the Green Movement because it works out to be cheaper in the long run. Whatever it takes to motivate people to climb on the Wagon.

So, I am doing a lot of making (except for The Boy, but what I want to get him is very hard to make. 'Nigh impossible even. But I won't divulge what it is here because the Internet has Eyes. Maybe later). This year a portion of my gifts are au naturale, as an attempt in keeping my ever-growing beliefs about keeping it real and less harmful for the environment. There is always the worry though about whether the recipient will like the item that is made.

You see, as much as I don't like to believe it, some people don't like knit things. And some people don't like handmade soap/spice mixes/bath salts. It is a weird quirk, but the fact that some people like store-bought items is something to keep in mind.

(Most people do however like cookies. Remember that.)

So it is always important, no matter your beliefs, to remember the person you are gifting.

I realize I've focused a lot here on Gifting for people, and have rambled off on a slight tangent, which is that homemade gifts are not for everyone. Which is funny because to me the Holidays are not primarily about presents (although I appreciate them and will not turn them away). They are to me mostly about food, and about decorating a home to make it cozy while the nights get longer and it gets colder. But mostly the Food. And keeping warm. So back to my first and second paragraph.

How do you celebrate your sustainable Holiday of choice? I have to admit I am having a hard time viewing things from a "Do This and it Will be Better for the Environment" angle. Everything about the next few weeks seems destined to harm the earth. There will be a lot of travel in the next month, a lot of purchasing (quadruple plastic wrapped items) and wrapping (and then unwrapping and throwing away) and other such nonsense that comes with the spirit of Giving. How do you keep your winter self focused on being Sustainable and Healthy for the environment? How do you rectify your love of holiday lighting with the knowledge that you are wasting electricity? Do you make your own decorations? Plastic tree that will eventually fill a landfill, or real tree that got chopped down? How do you deal with the fact that your thermostat is set very low but you have poor circulation that leads to numb fingers and toes? How do you accept that your tea must be shipped from eons away because Tea Leaves Do Not Grow Where You Live? If it weren't for the fact that I have enough ornaments, a lot of ideas here would be useful; As it is I am taking note of their gift wrapping ideas (problem: do not eat potato chips in nearly enough quantity).

How do you keep your Holidays Green?

holidays are here again

2008-12-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas knits are here!

And are practically done :) I'm going easy on the knitting for others, as I am crazy-busy with the work right now (Nutcracker performances galore). Right now the focus is on earning my rent and food monies. Gifts are still of the homemade variety this year, but not the knitting variety. That being said I did knock out a pair of fingerless gloves for a special someone. Working backstage means I do have chunks of time where I can knit, but I needed a pattern I can quickly drop to go work, come back to, and easily figure out where I left off. This is that pattern. Quick and simple. I can knock out a pair in roughly four hours.

Thanksgiving came to my home and the food was delicious. I used a new pumpkin pie recipe (Caramel-Pecan Pumpkin Pie) and it was out of this world delicious.

Looked Gourmet too. Speaking of food, I just have to puff up with pride here and say this - The Boy went grocery shopping the other day (when I was pulling an all day tech-a-thon for work) and found cheap GOOD meat. Good as in we bought $90.00 worth of meat for... wait for it - $23.00. Astounding. Our freezer is currently overflowing with frozen steaks, chicken and pork and I want to run down the street bragging to everyone about how awesome he is at shopping. We also still have ten pounds of turkey to eat. Mmm. Turkey in everything.

I'm kind of sick of turkey.

Awkward transition time: we put up our Christmas Decorations on Turkey-Day, as I am a total whore for decorating. It makes the place all cozy.

The Boy has a thing for rustic ornaments, whereas I collect glass snowmen and Santas.

(By collect I mean I have more than 3 and I plan on adding to the collection.) Altogether our tree looks beautiful. And I topped it with my fairy that I found last year. I believe I'd mentioned before that it is my family's tradition to use a fairy as a tree topper instead of a star or angel. In fact, when my parents first moved here, my mum found a small ballerina doll and fashioned some butterfly wings on it to make it more fairy-like, and that has been our tree topper ever since.

Mine is of the Michael's store bought variety, though I nearly did resort to tearing apart and repurposing an angel tree topper (to make it look like a fairy) before I found this little Tinkerbell-like ornament. I have to admit that I was in the store the other day and I saw another fairy ornament that I was tempted to get to serve as this years tree topper... but I've grown attached to my tiny lady.

By putting up the Christmas decorations, we have inadvertently created a Cat Den. I'm pretty sure that here I interrupted a super sekret meeting to discuss how to get next years Thanksgiving Turkey all to themselves.

2008-11-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Scrunchy.

Bloom.

I have finished the shawl! I started to block it last night, but one bazillion pins later I decided I'd rather buy some blocking sticks (or whatever they are called) to help keep the edges straight. I think I'll scope out some official blocking wires and then see if I can get cheaper similar things from the hobby store. But I was encouraged by how pretty it looked stretched out, even if the edge was atrociously not straight because I don't have enough pins to make it so.

I am blocking it before putting the fringe on. I am not sure if there is an "rule" for doing shawls with fringe - block then fringe or fringe then block? But I can't fathom a reason why it would matter what step comes first. My theory is that with it blocked I will have an easier time locating the eyelets that the fringe inserts into.

I love the end result, but I hate doing fringe. I foresee lots of cursing in my future.

It snowed last week, but quickly melted and we are back up to temperatures in the 70s. Bummer. It doesn't feel like November here. Normally by now I'm under three layers of clothing and still cold.

We are trying another round of root beer. We've tweaked the recipe and are using sugar instead of molasses... we'll see how this one goes. Finger's crossed.

Also, Kangaroo's genetically similar to humans? Neato. :)

This - is all I can say.

2008-11-04T22:52:00.001-08:00

YES!

Hooray for president-elect Obama.

I am... beyond happy.

To the two people who may read this blog....

2008-11-04T09:37:00.001-08:00

GET OUT AND VOTE!

(In)Decision 2008!

2008-11-03T19:49:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be knitting Hey Teach from Knitty, I think. It comes boyfriend approved. It isn't a thick and fluffy cabled knit, but I don't have the yarn/money for that. It is a garment. That looks cute. And allows me to fret over gauge/probably really screw something up/hit my knitting learning curve.

Luv!

I am planning on spending tomorrow drinking while watching the Dirty Jobs marathon and knitting. The television will NOT be turned on until 9pm, much to The Boy's disgust. I do not want to hear the media blab on and on (and on and on and on) over the last 90 seconds of news they've received for eight hours straight. We've got supplies for margarita's and rum and coke, so we're set for election night.

So. Alcohol and Knitting. That goes hand in hand, right?

I am pretty demanding.

2008-10-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

I am so frustrated!

I have roughly 660 yards of Cascade Heather, in this mottled purple. This is the largest quantity of yarn that I own. I can't afford to buy more yarn.

I WANT TO KNIT A SWEATER/CARDIGAN/SOMETHING OF BULK. Grr.

The two patterns I have found, one needs 900 yards (and is a size small, which I am not). One needs about 1200 yards. So I can knit the front and the sleeve. Glorious.

I could probably knit Knitty's Versatility but I want shaping. I want arm sleeves that I won't know how to put into place. I want to fret over gauge.

Dear Internet: Show me a miraculous cardigan/sweater pattern that uses roughly 660 yards of yarn. Or show me where I can get one or two more skeins of yarn for cheapity-cheap-CHEAP.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

From all who are here.

Busy busy.

2008-10-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

I have discovered Pandora's closet: Home of the Cheap, (vaguely) Stylish clothing.

I am currently wearing the red one on the far right and mmm it is comfy/warm. Especially nice as we approach buttfuck cold outside. The fabric is from Jo-Ann's.

It's fabulous and I used it to reline my handy-dandy sack that I use for work/general slogging around of supplies and knitting. I justify these purchases on my "Cut the Crap" budget because 1) The clothing is "gently used", and I had a grand total of two long sleeved shirts and two sweaters to get me through a Colorado fall and winter. I am reusing clothing for a fraction of the cost! The haul above, which includes stuff from Old Navy, Gap and such, was $15.

2) The fabric is to reline a bag. Much cheaper than purchasing a new bag of the same quality.

Knitting hasn't really been happening. I've been caught up with work and living. Work has been sporadic, but with Xmas incoming it has picked up a wee bit. I did finish my mom's scarf, and all I need to do is weave in the ends, block it and send it. Hopefully I get to that tomorrow. It's on my list o'things to do. I have started a version of the Yarn Harlot's (not so) Original Hat, because I'm a dumbass who lost the first one. Oh well. An excuse to make another.

One more photo. See this?

This. THIS - is fucking liquid gold. Homemade caramel sauce. Oh. My. Goodness. This is my precious. This is why I am jealously guarding the fridge right now, much to the annoyance of my boyfriend.

Rarr. Mmm. Nummy. I must make more.

Ok, that wasn't the last photo. Look!

Ha. Hurr hurr haaa.

Halloween is a month long holiday for me

2008-10-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

It is OCTOBER!!

I decorated yesterday.

Apparently I have a thing for pumpkin decorations. I didn't realize this until I put them all up. I don't think I have that many decorations, but The Boy thinks we have plenty. I think it looks sparse and we need more. Much more. Whatever.

I love Halloween and October. Fall is a great season to be in!

Toad in the hole... say wha?

2008-09-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Mmm. Toad in the hole.

(say what?)

Toad in the hole. Mmmm.

For those who have no idea what the hell I am talking about , it is this:
Sausages in Yorkshire Pudding. Do not ask me why it is called Toad in the Hole. I have no clue. It is supposed to be because the sausages look like little toads peeking out of their holes (I think) ... but I don't see the resemblance between an admittedly cute but-not-edible Toad, and delicious sausage.

I normally mix up my Yorkshire pudding first. I use one cup'n'a bit flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 cup milk, and two eggs. I whisk the crap out of it until it is a runny smooth batter, and then I let it sit for a half hour to an hour. Again, like the name, I don't know why I do this but my Dad does it, my Mom does it, my Nana did it (before she went loony)... it is what you do. Then I lightly grease a glass pan and put the sausages in (around 350-ish) I cook them until they are mostly done, and then near the end I CRANK the heat up to a whopping 425 (all Fahrenheit). I also pour in a heavy helping of oil (1/8" thickish). I let it sit in the hot oven for 10/15 minutes. If I fear the sausages are getting overdone, I let them sit outside the oven until the pan heats up.

The important thing is that the pan with the oil gets holy-jesus hot. As in "holy JESUS that's hot". Only I hope you never have to say it, because that likely means you burned yourself. And that's no good.

When its sat in the oven for awhile (10-15 minutesish), (put the sausages back in if you removed them) and quickly pour the batter around the sausages. Then slam that pan back into the oven before it cools. Let the concoction cook for 15-20 minutes (or until golden brown, yadda yadda).

Also, I was up in Boulder the other day, and I had what is single-handily the best caramel latte of my life. It was even photogenic.

Why I suck at this.

2008-09-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

I suck at taking photos of my works-in-progress.

I like to consider myself someone who can take a moderately pretty photo. While not a master photographer or someone who could make an actual career out of the art (no, I had to choose theatre to struggle in), I enjoyed photography in both high school and college and the smell of a darkroom puts me in an instantly happy and cozy mood. In fact, when I decide to grow up and have enough money, I want a darkroom in my house. I love photography.

So I am ashamed that this is the caliber of photos I have been taking lately:

Lighting is crap, format is crap. Why? Because I was knitting. It was around 9pm and dark outside, and I had a case of the lazies. And for some reason, it occurs to me only at night that I should take photos for my ravelry/blogging purposes. And then I have to do it right then and there, otherwise I will forget.

This would be the handy-dandy clapotis I am knitting for my mum. I increased enough for a scarf-style version, as my mum is not really a wrap-person, and am on the 22nd repeat of the pattern. I think I need to do 10 more to reach optimal scarf length. My original clapotis for me petered out at this point, but that was because it looked like pink camouflage, and I could not picture myself in any circumstance where wearing pink camo would be acceptable to my brain. It was in fact, this original failure that inspired me to knit this for my mum. If by inspired, I mean that my mum saw me working on it months ago and got really excited and babbled something about oh-what-a-LOVELY-scarf-wouldn't-this-be-nice-in-something-bluesy-or-well-YOU-know-what-colors-I-like-hint-hint-etc. How could I resist?

I hope she likes it.

Have I mentioned how stupidly in love I am with Knitty's Fall'08 versatility? This was a good issue, there are lots of patterns I want to add to my never-ending queue.

whistling a favorite tune

2008-09-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have rediscovered Everclear. Woo junior high!

It's been hot'n'heavy in my brain for awhile, but the rain is coming down outside, fall is in the air, and I am wearing my first sweater of the season. One that I grew slightly too fat for last winter, but I have lost nearly 10 lbs (10 more to go) by simply trying to eat healthier and walk more. This has put me in a happier mood. Skinny (or skinnier) does not make me happier, but knowing that I am making an effort against my family history of high blood pressure and heart problems does.

Ok, the fact that I can fit into a size 12 jean again did make me do a booty dance. I'll admit that.

I plan on getting motivated at some point to start lifting weights again, so I can have moderately strong arms for work.

I have to get books in the mail. I am participating in Bookmooch, where you trade books online. I figured its one way to get rid of books I don't read anymore. This is one attempt at cutting back on some items I no longer use. I will own up to the fact that I am holding onto some of my Dr. Seuss childhood books, but that is because he is awesome.

I have been knitting on my mother's clapotis scarf and making good progress, the lace is on temporary hold (figured. I'm halfway there and I got nuts about the thought of working on it), and I want to work on the Versatile from knitty. I think that is next, if I have enough of one kind of yarn in my stash.

I don't really have large quantities of one yarn in my stash. Its problematic because I want to knit a sweater/cardigan, but am trying to cut back on my spending by participating in my own "cut that crap" 2008.

thunk.

2008-09-10T21:31:00.001-07:00

I've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing. ~Gloria Steinem

That is a good point, isn't it? Not saying that men do not have those worries... but it does seem to be a conversation that is more commonly seen with women, yeah?

You PINHEADS.

2008-09-10T11:14:00.001-07:00

Why Palin? This choice just makes my blood boil. And I am not just thinking about how her stances on women's rights, the environment, or the economy, although those are some very serious stances that need to be looked at very, very closely. But for right now, I just want to ruminate on WHY PALIN?!

If the republican ticket wants to play the gender card, why not choose a female candidate with actual experience and qualifications? How about Elizabeth Dole, Olympia Snowe, or Kay Hutchison? Someone formidable with experience?

I get the nasty feeling that the reason why is that this decision was not thought through from a "best person for the position" point of view, but from a "lets make a political move" PoV. It is a simple ploy to get a woman on their card and they chose poorly. And the news of how McCain chose (she wasn't fully vetted, he met her once) reflects poorly on him as a presidential candidate. What did he do, look into her eyes as he shook her hand, and see her soul? I know another candidate who did that with a Russian politician once.

And especially, what does he think of women voters and the American public if he thinks he might get away with this obvious move? That we are stupid and will vote for him because he's a maverick who has a women on his ticket, LULZ?

Yeah, bring in a candidate with minimal experience after slamming the democratic choice for his purported lack of experience. That won't open you up for any mocking. Nope. And when people do point it out, cry sexism. Because making logical statements and questions about one's qualifications is sexism. Even though similar points were made about Hillary when she ran, and she was openly SLAMMED for "playing the gender card".

Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has been asked by a coworker if her boobs get in the way while she's working.

I do not deny there has not been sexism or racism in this presidential race. There has and it has been both disgusting and enlightening. I hope it brings out some open discourse about where we are on the roads of both issues in today's America. This could be a good thing. But if McCain/Palin win, this could be a Very Bad Thing. The ticket is a blatant ploy to use sexism to their advantage and if it works, well... that does not move us forward in the fight for equality. It is yet another example of a women being used as a puppet, put up on a podium to look pretty and smile a lot while the men get the work done.

But let's not forget about the important thing here: McCain. We can't get distracted by his pandering political moves that the real issue here isn't gender. It is THEIR STANCE on the issues. Their past experiences, their past choices, and how it reflects on who they ARE. And who they are doesn't look too good. It looks like more of the same.

I know the Daily Show is a credited news source*, but it makes an excellent point and compares things far better than I could.

*'cept you know, not really. But it still uses facts to point out how illogical and stupid they are being.

This entry is all about food.

2008-09-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

Mmm. Deliciousness.

The boy made some amazing guacamole last weekend, and we ate all of it in one sitting. Deliciousness on a tortilla chip.

I had to re-start the sourdough starter I was using to make my weekly bread, because when I left town I forgot to tell The Boy that it needed feeding once a week, and after being gone for nearly a month it... wasn't going to start anything but mold over the fridge. Feeding intentionally growing yeast in your fridge isn't something you sort of normally remember to tell someone as you are going out the door ("Don't forget to water the plants, there's frozen leftovers in the freezer, and oh yeah, one tablespoon of sugar for the yeastie-beasties once a week so they don't take over the fridge").

So anyway, I was remaking it. Same recipe as before (its really easy actually - yeast, water, flour and sugar), same container, but for some reason this batch of sourdough starter is determined to take over my kitchen. This is after 20 minutes of rising:
I've had to beat it back with a spoon twice now.
Here it is eating the spoon. This stuff is wickedly fluffy.

just oil filled machines

2008-08-30T11:55:00.001-07:00

Nothing like fancy cheeses an actress bestowed upon you, while she was emptying out her fridge, to make a delicious lunch. Mmm. That and farmer's market peaches.

No knitting has been done because I have been working hard during the day. I have been inventorying during the day, and frankly the last thing I want to do at night is count stitches. Bad because I have a deadline in October for my mother's bday present (which I have not mentioned here as I have just started it). Oh well.

I drive back to Denver tonight for a long weekend at my real home, where apples do not cost nearly $3.00. Lovely.

But work is well and I am happily fed on my fancy cheeses, pretending I am a rich person in my wee studio apartment.

oooohhh la la

2008-08-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Oooh what an adventure! I have been out of state, out of the country, and am currently merely out of town working to earn the monies. I am exhausted and sick of traveling.

I have been knitting but I keep frogging it. Oh well. Nothing I have begun has struck me as inspiring enough to continue and finish, and I am at the halfway mark on my blue lace blob and therefore appropriately petered out.

But see? Lovely. I would love to live there one day.

Whee!

2008-08-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

This about sums up how I feel about mapquest and my satellite navigation sometimes. I swear it would send me off the edge of a cliff if there were any around here (Dear navigation... that is not a challenge. Please do not prove to me there are cliffs around here. Thanks, much love, me).

It is 10:40 on the night before I have to leave for an overseas trip, and I am just beginning the process. Yay! Luckily, partially because I forget half of what I need to pack, I am a fast and efficient packer.

So. Ready. Set. Go... PACK!!

Late night.

2008-08-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to improve upon my spinning (and actually using up that big ass bag of roving. In between single plys, I put a coat of clear varnish on my spindle for protection purposes. And it did not screw anything up. Go me.

I have been very stressed lately, so simple semi-mindless things like "twist roving lots of times and put on stick" have allowed me to stay busy. I would be sewing, and finishing my shirt, but someone has decided that he likes my machine.
Hmm. Yeah. Don't mind the sewing pattern on the table, or the fabric I'd just ironed... just lie there. That's okay. Not like I was planning on using the machine today or anything.

Stress-combined-with-bad news-combined-with-a-crummy day-combined-with-disappointing news-combined-with-cramps from hell means... cookies.
Tasty.

At least I can rewire a dryer without electrocuting someone ~~yet~~ or setting things on fire ~~so far~~. I knew my degree was good for something.

That and I can follow directions like a good little mindless drone. Minus the part where the dryer randomly shot a nail out of its back (NOT MY DOING, I never touched the back or took it off or otherwise did anything so that was totally NOT me, nyah), it still works too.

And yes, I will not be watching the olympics. I do not agree with China's political policies, and the latest news that it is revoking the visas of those who Oh Noes Disagree with Them... well, I can't say I am surprised. Just more disappointment. No, I am not so self centered to believe my little boycott will do anything to change the world - I just do not want to hear our media endlessly droning on and on (and on) in 90 second blurbs that give no meat to the actual debate over human rights, while only lending more sensationalism just to boost their ratings (ask me how I feel about the media... no really, ask me!). If I tuned into the olympics the only result will be a raised blood pressure and a higher chance of my launching into incoherent rants. I have had enough of the higher blood pressure lately, really.

It's August!

2008-08-01T09:32:00.001-07:00

Celebrate, yo. Moving closer and closer to fall. I need to do some sweater/shrug knitting! (Okay, I do not need to, but I would like to) There is definitely not enough of the same kind yarn (in either gauge or color) to produce a lovely cable sweater, but I may have enough yarn in my stash for a shrug. Maybe I will put my "1 project purchase" towards sweater yarn. That would be hellishly expensive though. Need a job first. Crap.

But first, shawl.

It is coming along as slow as all hell. I am on the small paisley pattern. It would probably go faster if I actually knit on this nightly, but you know... life. And stuff. Like other things .
I believe blocking will do wonders for this thing. I hope blocking will do wonders for this thing. There will probably have to be a break from my "Cut the Crap '08" to buy blocking wires, because pinning this sucker out when complete MAY KILL ME. And I like living. Or maybe that will be my "1 project purchase". Blocking wires.

I'd rather get sweater yarn. Darn.

Besides interviewing, today I'm using my degree to change the plug on a used dryer that The Boy and I received yesterday. Whoo. Exciting times.

Kittens! Covered in spikes!

2008-07-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Whatcha lookin' at, human?
Oh. You wanna see my new collar? I R so badass. I am the fluffiest badass cat EVAR.

(Yes. I am a massive dork.)

As a woman I say "Oh bloody hell", and the feminist in me agrees!

2008-07-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Feed the skinny princess cake to make her too fat to move...

To answer the ending question: No. It does not make this any better that it was designed and created by a woman.

Why?

Because women can also be sexist, and women can also pass along negative stereotypes that hurt their own gender, whether intentional or not. I will not even touch how the princess here is being treated like an object to be captured and locked up like a possession. Oiy. I know that it is a dumb game, and in the long term scale of things, not a very significant strike against equal respect, but still... the fact that such a thing can be made points to a gap that exists between equality and reality. Someone thought this was acceptable.

I have had feminism on the brain lately, and what it means to be a feminist in today's society, and why that seems to be such a NEGATIVE thing.. and then I see this. And I explore and read the comments associated with it. And I know that it is just LULZ internet!!11!1! where anonymity can lead people to act like greater assholes than they may actually be... but still.

It was said. It is done. It is there. Stereotype upon layered stereotype with hateful language strewn in between. And the women who defend themselves and their gender are on the defensive end of the spectrum. People who think the game is no big deal are hateful, misogynistic bastards. And of course, anyone who points out how this could be seen as offensive is an overly sensitive, fat, femanazi bitch.

Must reserve judgement until I see more of the game, must reserve judgement until I see more of the game...

It is not just the game. It is bigger than the game. It is yet one more notch on the wall of ways women are minutely and subliminally subjugated.

But who knows - maybe the game ends with the princess reaching a healthy weight (where 2/3rd of it is not constrained to a gravity defying bosom), leaves the dungeon, and finds self fulfillment in whatever way she possibly finds. One can hope, right?

And don't get me started on the tone of voice in this article. Blah. It could have left a more neutral ground to facilitate an open and honest communication between peoples reaching for an understanding of why this might be offensive, or why it might not be seen as offensive. An exploration of gender roles and how they are portrayed in games and movies. But it automatically sticks any woman who might view this as a negative in the defensive. Thanks.

Sometimes I really understand why my mother became hysterical when Hillary lost to Barack. She practically screamed at me that I just could not understand, I had not been there to see where things began, I had not been there to see where women succeeded, and I was simply too young to understand how much was left to go. I was angry and shocked into silence at the time, shock because I had never heard my mum lose it like that before, angry because I already thought I knew of the injustices that exist, and thought that either candidate could be someone to help push us forward. For the life of me I could not understand why my mum would disagree so vehemently with that. But sometimes I see little glimmers and think I understand what she meant.

Ugh. Got sidetracked. It is late and the brain is running on too much coffee. Delicious but leaves me unable to really develop clearly anything I am thinking. Too easily sidetracked. Ooh look. shiny!

On Rocks and Money

2008-07-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Went to meander Garden of the Gods yesterday. I am sore, as The Boy and I decided that the best trail for people who have never hiked before is the one marked "moderate" that is the longest of them all - 3 miles.

I question their definition of "moderate". That did not feel moderate.

So sore. But it is gorgeous there. Simply oooh-worthy.
I had to take this picture. This is totally where the Eye of Sauron would come and vacation. Hee.
The view. GUH. It was hot as Hades, but way more fun. I've forgotten how much I like hiking and creating sore leg muscles.

We poked around the gift store, because even though we do not purchase items from them, they are fun to poke at and explore. I even found an "organic" shirt that I liked, and I almost did the unthinkable and purchased. Until I saw the price tag.

Thirty-freaking-dollars. $30. Holy hindu. The price made me back up quickly before the expense somehow rubbed off on me. And then I got to thinkin'.

What is more organic? Buying a new $30 shirt that proclaims "LULZ look how green I am", or actively being green and reusing? Buying vintage (or not buying at all) means that there was no factory waste and no shipping involved. I think there is a stigma in America about reusing - it MUST be new otherwise it is old and therefore outdated. I fall into the consumer mindset a lot. I'm guilty of emotional shopping. Incredibly guilty. I shop because I am happy, stressed, or feeling guilty. Must have new things! Must fill up apartment! I am now in a big time conundrum in my brain, because I am unemployed and very, very stressed about this fact. The stress makes me want to shop. The unemployment means I really should not give into this. Luckily I have been fairly good about keeping my shopping to necessaries.

But I liked that shirt, I won't deny it. However it wasn't worth the price and when I thought about the reasons why I was interested in the product, I could not reason with myself to actually buy it. Mind you, I do not think buying organic clothing is wrong. It is better than buying the polyester-made-in-china (and therefore shipped from china) shirts. I just think there are other alternatives that do not get consideration because they are considered less than stellar.

A blog I read, CrazyAuntPurl, has began a mid-year resolution to not buy crap. I think I am going to hop on that band wagon. Until December 31st, 2008, I resolve to not buy extraneous things. That's right. I am CUTTING THE CRAP out of my life. I have established a few rules that I hope to remember.

The Cut that Crap rules:

1) Essentials are allowed. I am defining essentials as the following: Food. Toiletries. Medicine. Pet items (the logic here buying them toys is better than them making toys out of my yarn/fabric/furniture). Items that I may need to further my career or do my job (print cartridges, paper, stamps... etc).

2) I am allowed to purchase items to replace ones I already have, should they wear out or break. Example: I lost my @#*$ing battery charger for my camera. My camera and I are close buds. I rely on it to take pretty pictures, it relies on me to keep it charged and fed full of electric goodness. So buying a replacement charger is okay. (What I should have done first is seen if someone were looking to get rid of their charger on freecycle.org, but I will learn to do this as I go along.) What would have been breaking the rules is buying a new camera to replace one that is perfectly fine. When my shoes or clothing wear out, I am allowed to buy replacements. If I have to purchase an item as a replacement, I will check out and consider freecycle/resellers/making it myself first. Except for food. Buying recycled food could be Very Questionable.

3) If I see it and think OMG I must have it!, I will make a note of the item. If at the end of this experiment, I still want it, then I can purchase it. (this idea is yanked from CrazyAuntPurl. Seems like a good idea).

4) Gifts for other people = perfectly acceptable. I can't wimp out on peoples birthdays and weddings just because I've decided to be a slightly greener cheapass. 'Sides, I am a bridesmaid for a wedding that will occur in a year, and if I need to do purchasing for that well then I'm gonna so nyah. :P Just because I am open to reused items does not mean my friends are. I will try to keep this in mind.

I'm kind of excited to see how this goes. Maybe I can get The Boy in on this as well. Because, holy crap, it is only 5 months of not purchasing random stuff.

2008-07-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

This place was awesome-sauce.

I love zoos. I really really do. I used to volunteer at one while in high school, and for awhile I dreamed of working at one. I still think it would be neat to work around animals. Who knows, maybe I still will!

I checked out a new-to-me farmer's market, and a sweet couple selling potted herbs threw in an ornamental sage bush for free when I brought the oregano. Finally something green in my garden. Makes a nice change from the dirt pots that are growing... dirt.
The pumpkin vines are doing alright so far, however. Touch wood, maybe it is possible to grow them on a balcony.

This is my favorite photo from the day at the zoo:
Yes, it was so hot even the bear flopped. 100 degrees-ish, I believe.

culture - i not haz it

2008-07-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wish I was more... traditional? I do not really know what I mean by that. Save for the slight chance I have a couple of distant cousins in Australia (no one seems to remember their names, who they are, or what they are doing in the land down under), my entire family except for my Mum, Dad, and brother, live in England, are living in England, and have lived in England for over 200 years. Maybe it is because I grew up with English parents in America, but I just do not feel very European or American. I do not think I even know what I mean by that.

The gaps between myself and my family can sometimes feel very, very wide (er, like an ocean). But then I have a hard time describing what I mean by that as well. Perhaps it is because of my blended upbringing, but I just do not see too many differences between "British" culture and "American" culture. I can have a hard time knowing where the line is.

But then I will do or say something, or act in a way that my family does, and get the weird-ass look from The Boy that tells me that what I did was Foreign. Normally, if I have to start the explanation with "Well, in my family..." - chances are it is an "English" thing I just did. I used to get teased for not pronouncing the word 'garage' right, which I chalked up to my being an idiot with words, until I heard my Aunts pronouncing it the same way I do. And yet I definitely have an American accent. I theorized in the past that the reason I become so easily tongue-tied is because I have two different accents that want to say the same word in different ways. At least, that is my excuse for why I can have difficulty speaking :)

Anyway, the reasons for these ruminations is that my Nana is not doing very well. Earlier last week she was in the hospital, and the idiot-fuckwad* doctors were convinced she was going through the earlier stages of brain death. The doctors get their descriptive moniker because he/she/they apparantly told my Aunt that they do not bother to do much to fix things for patients with dementia, because oftentimes the symptoms come from the disease. So, you know, why bother trying to make things better? After that, they sent her back to the nursing home, with some antibiotics for a mysterious black spot they found on her breast that could either be an infection, or cancer (tests will show sometime next week, I think). At any rate, the antibiotics seem to be doing something, as she has returned to swinging her cane at the nursing home staff and leading the old people revolution.

(Side note: I have never met the nursing home staff, and yet the descriptions that I hear they give my family are hilarious. Apparently they know when things are not right because my Nan stops swearing at them and there is a marked decrease in the number of times she tries to attack people with her weaponry**. My Aunt remarked in an email a couple days ago that she had seen an improvement in her spirits, as my Nan tried to "have a go at her". I feel this explains a lot, really.)

Anyway, it is not clear if she is having brain death (that is such a creepy term), it is not clear what the black spot is, but antibiotics seem to have fought off whatever-it-is at least temporarily. My mum will be going over to visit sometime before my brother's school starts up again. I suppose all this thinking about "culture" stems from the fact that I do not feel very connected to my extended family. I have not seen them in five/six/seven years. And now my Nana is insane and fading away, and I can't do what a granddaughter should do and be there to say goodbye.

*My computer wants to correct the word "fuckwad" into "duckweed". I find this oddly amusing.

**Whatever is nearby that she can fling. According to the Uncle with the healed black eye, this could be as simple as her fist.

sporadic

2008-07-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

Fin.

Squishy and too warm to wear right now. It occurred to me that the warmth might, maybe, possibly could be because the fabric is twice as thick from the yarn carried behind the right side. Durr.

Also included are some outside lights, and the pumpkin vines I am trying to grow. On my balcony. In my defense, they are not supposed to be large pumpkins.

Don't look at me like that.

I've also been spinning.

The single is on the wooden spoon because I do not own bobbins, and the spindle was getting too heavy for me to comfortably manage.

Again, quit looking at me like that. I consider this an upgrade from when I used pencils to ply.

There has been some radio silence here because I have been exploring. This is a neat state to be in.
We had a weekend of exploring, and this weekend we are planning on hitting the zoo (and perhaps seeking out a local theatre to see Hellboy II.

Weddings have been on the brain. We have recently gotten basic cable, which here apparently includes TLC... which should be called The Wedding Channel with the number of hitching-related shows it has. Friends have been dropping like flies with little diamond rings tied to their legs and I am almost at the point where I need a separate calendar to remember who is getting married when and to whom. Oh yeah. I am in THAT age bracket. Oiy.

I hate to admit this, but I am so jealous! Not in that "want to get married" way, I do not enjoy being the center of attention nor am I ready for the commitment that a marriage symbolizes. But right now, I am really craving going dress shopping for someone else. Do not ask me why. I have never been dress shopping. I am not a "dress" kind of woman. But I really want to go with someone to try on wedding dresses and to make them look pretty. I want to poke pretty things. I want to coordinate someones hair with the tiara/veil/thingy (I do not even know what it is called), shoes, and makeup. I don't know anything about makeup! I don't wear makeup!

I don't know what has me. Must be the wedding bug. I am sure that the Boy is off in another room twitching because the hairs on the back of his neck are rising. Heh. Anyway. It is just interesting being at this juncture in life, and experiencing all these new beginnings. I think that is where this comes from - the excitement for something new. As if dropping my job suddenly and moving cross-country wasn't excitement enough.

I'm a conundrum. Or something.

How I am beading the Ice queen...

2008-07-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have not shown any progress photos on my Ice Queen - but I am working on it. Kidsilk Haze does not seem to photo well, it looks like a blob of blue crap. There IS a lace pattern in there, I swear.

Using a tip I learned from the yarn store where I used to live, I use a floss threader that I separated the end on. I slip that through the stitch I would like to put the bead on.
I jam the bead over my impromptu bead threader, and onto the yarn...
Replace the stitch on my left needle...
And knit! Voila! Done.

It is hard to tell, but up on the mountains you can see snow. In July!

No... the mountains will never get old to me.

If I were a firefly, I would like up my ass at night...

2008-07-07T10:15:00.001-07:00

Green Porno by Isabella Rossellini

The one of the spider running away makes me chortle. Yeah. That is right. Chortle. Nothing like multiple flailing limbs to start my day off.

The "From the behind" (behind the scenes) is also interesting. Seriously. Check it out.

Vroom vroom vroom...

2008-07-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have turned the corner of the 2nd sock...

Vrooooom.....

Live from Denver: Part II

2008-07-05T08:41:00.001-07:00

Well, here I am.* The apartment is gorgeous and we are so settled in that we can not find anything without yelling across the apartment "Where the f*ck did you put ____?!" (Normally followed minutes later by "Why the hell did you put it there?")

Ah, living with a room-mate.

In all seriousness, it is good here.

This is my corner where I keep my crafting, computer, tools and general mayhem. It is sunny and bright with lots of windows and cozy. The Boy, being a natural neat-nick, has allowed that in this corner I can be as disorganized and messy as I want. We will see how messy I can let it go before his eye starts twitching.

I started the toe of sock no.2 a couple of nights ago. Behold the grainy pictures taken at night!

Color is horrible faded in these photos. Blah.
The toe is complete and I have moved onto the foot. The colors are fun (and so poorly represented in my horrible pictures). The skein does contain this funky murky mustard color, which I do not like unless it is paired with a really bright color, but overall colors=rainbow goodness. I am going to try to make this sock less saggy on the ankle area than the other one.

Randomly, I did an unusual thing today and exercised. Ten minutes on the stairmaster, ten minutes of weight lifting, and 10 more of biking. The Boy and I are going to try to make this a habit. I have never had an exercising habit before. Considering neither of us have been of the exercising breed since junior high, a half hour was enough for today. We eventually will work up to a full hour of burning calories. We both want to lose weight, but my big main goal is that I want to be able to bike to the supermarket. It is 2 miles away and involves going up and down two hills. I would like to be able to get to the supermarket without having to walk my bike up the hills gasping for air.

We will at some point today, be venturing downtown for the first time. I do not want to be one of those people who live so near a large downtown area but do not take advantage of it. I did that too much in high school.

*Incase it has been forgotten, "here" shall from herin be known as "Denver".

yarrr me mateys!

2008-07-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

My cats have hoisted their colors in our living room! Dogs who live with in this apartment beware...

There be fierce buccaneers on these carpet seas.

I suppose I should introduce what the pattern is for that sock below. I did not realize that I had not updated my blog with the note that I had begun my Ziggy from Knitty! So yeah... I have begun. And am halfway done.

Live from Denver!

2008-07-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Despite U-Haul trying to screw us over by not having a truck ready for us to pick up, despite car-sick kittens and cats prone to stress diarrhea (mid-ride, might I add. Ugh, yuck, goodbye carrier), and despite any stress that may have occurred in the past 72 hours, we have made it. The truck is unloaded and returned (never to be used again, fuck-you-very-muchly, U-Haul), 80% of boxes are unpacked, and we have internet and cable!! Thank God.

Stress knitting has produced one of a pair. I will most likely cast on for the second in the next few days.

It is a little loose around my leg, but that is okay. I would rather it be too loose than be unable to get it over my fat ankle and heel. And check out those colors! I even like the crappy faux-green the yarn started to turn when I was rounding the heel... although I probably would not have tolerated it if the other yarn was not doing pretty things. I have not done a toe-up sock in a long time, so my picked up wrap & turn stitches are butt ugly, and my toe is a little "misshapen", but it is a very comfy and warm sock. The yarn is softer on the foot than it was knitting.

Oh, did I mention the mountains?
Delicious views. And we can see the foothills from our balcony. Now I need to find employment so I can join The Boy in job-bliss.

Packing really sucks... and other thoughts.

2008-06-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

I am pretty much done with my packing, save for my kitchen and bathroom. We hit the road Sunday and arrive at our new place Monday. I think we may have internet by Tuesday, but who really knows. I hope to not go too long without it. Internet withdrawal sucks.

My mum and brother are on their way to give me a hand with the part I enjoy the LEAST about moving - cleaning. Ugh. Suck. Hate it. I hate cleaning in normal circumstances (as The Boy can attest). When we eat dinner? We have reached a compromise; I cook and promise to not splatter sauce on the ceiling (very much sauce at least), and he cleans. I promise to throw clothing into the washer and dryer, he promises to fold it up and put it away. For some reason, the act of putting things away is a near herculean task for me to accomplish. I think it is a futility thing in my head. Why make the bed when twelve hours later you are going to mess it up and sleep in it anyway? As long as things are clean and not collecting cobwebs, I do not have the urge to clean like The Boy does. We have both agreed that this is the thing we will likely bicker about the most when we live together (in 72 hours and counting). I am a messy slightly obsessive packrat, and he is an neat slightly obsessive minimalist. Let the fun times begin! :)

The big thing that allows me to make jokes about this, and even slightly look forward to the discovery of quirks that the other did not know about prior to moving in, is that we are able to sit down and talk about silly things like this. We are aware that his cleanliness and my lack-of will be a minefield to negotiate. We have discussed spending habits and what money issues we may run into. That is the key - discussion. We will still probably argue over dirty dishes and Oh-My-God-You-Spent-How-Much-On-What? (probably in regards to my yarn habit), but we are aware that compromise will be needed.

A close friend of my who has a blog posted recently an interesting thought on consumerism/sustainability, and wheat bread. When my comment to her started to surpass commentary and head straight into an essay, I thought I would jump over here.

I have been making more of an effort lately to become sustainable. I am by no means perfect and am still seeking out all the opportunities where I can reuse items instead of purchasing, or become more "green", but the effort is there. I bake more, I keep my AC/Heat low and rely more on wearing layers or drinking cool drinks (depending on what the goal is), I try to buy more used items, I live for the Farmer's market, and I have built up enough of an arsenal of cloth bags that I no longer have to use paper or plastic ones from the supermarket. I try to not be as much of a consumer packrat as I used to be (that is a struggle).

The big thing that I enjoy about attempting sustainability is that it slows me down but I still end up feeling productive. Baking bread is an almost day long production, but it ends with an enjoyable product that makes me feel like I did not WASTE a day. I enjoyed punching down bread, kneading, and watching it rise. The first time I made sourdough and read the recipe of "let it rest until it is nearly double in size", I admit that the first thought I had was "double. yeah. right". When I came back to it however, and saw that it was nearly overflowing the bowl, my thoughts ran more along the "holy shit" track. Because of how impressed I am with how the bread rises, I am currently on a sourdough kick - keeping the starter going is not that hard at all, and it comes out less dense than the wheat bread I make, which means I am more likely to eat it and less likely to use it as the foundation to my new home. I think the best thing about it is the sourdough starter. It is like having a little invisible pet in your fridge - you have to feed them once a week but you can't really see the yeastie beasties at work. If I could, I would live in a near-zoo of animals. So having my yeast starter is almost like having sea monkeys, except I don't name it and I eat a portion of it once a week. I doubt sea monkeys taste like anything except poopy water. And that is no good.

The hardest thing I have to fight against inwardly, I would say, is that I am an emotional shopper. When I am bored, my first instinct is to go wander a store. When I am stressed - to the store. When I am sad - to the store. I get a bad, BAD case of consumerism. OMGWANTITNOW-itis. Bad for my wallet, bad for the miles in my car, and bad for what space I have in my apartment. I find that taking the time to bake, spinning, knitting, sewing... all these things help me STOP and just focus on where I am at this point in time. The commitment to making bread is almost a day - mix it, knead it for 10 minutes, let it rise for an hour and a half, punch it, shape it, let it rise for half an hour, set the oven, prep it, bake it for half an hour... that is a significant chunk of time of my day, and I find that I look forward to that. Nothing like punching down rising bread to alleviate stress, after all :)

Anything to slow down the pace of life is good. Successful people in today's society are defined differently from those in the past (I feel) - the "successful" ones are described as sleeping for 2 hours a night, waking up at 3am and accomplishing 18 different tasks before breakfast. They do everything in the span of one day and never, ever stop. "Motivated". I think the unfortunate side-effect of the big successful people that you hear about in the news all the time is that everyone is under the impression that in order to be fulfilled, happy, and successful as a human being, you have to never ever stop moving. Multi-tasking is a skill you can put on your resume. Technology, as wonderful and lovely as it is (I would not be typing here if not for technology), has only sped up the receiving and sending of information, contributing to the problem. It is too easy to get instant gratification. Willpower is almost a thing of the past. I know that I lack it.

So whatever I can do in my lifetime to enjoy the present, the better. And healthier. Too much value is placed on having the latest gadget, the coolest clothes and the biggest apartment. Everyone must have and be identified by a label. The emphasis should be less on what do you own, and placed more on what is right for you. I hope to work more towards that. I am not holding myself to perfection, but I will aim to be better.

Packing sucks.

2008-06-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

No really. It sucks.

Radio silence may continue, as my life is currently strewn across the bedroom, kitchen, living room and hallway floors. Things are slowly migrating into boxes and being labelled, but god damn... I had forgotten how much I hate, hate, HATE packing.

In better news, I can express my love of tea through my new teapot.

I love the fact that it comes with a little warming stand. You are supposed to light a candle underneath it (I think).

Happy teatime.

in which I learn why I can't have nice things.

2008-06-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Finished! Upon completion, I do think I will use this bag more if I give it a lining and a clasp. I have already used it, and am happy with it, but I am so very paranoid about items falling out of open bags, and this one is not very deep. This project went on hold for a couple of weeks because I reached a First - the first time I have ever run out of yarn. Whoopsie. So I had to wait for my paycheck to purchase more.

(Of course, now I have nearly a full skein of leftover sari silk)

I also learned that Tweedle Dee LOVES her some sari silk. She was stretching out on and kneading the pieces that I had laying beside me, and once the bag was complete she tried to crawl into it (semi-success - her butt is a wee bit too big to fit in the bag). I think that my leftover skein might have to be used as edging on a kitty pi, except I am not sure how much of a problem its shedding might be. The threads might be a safety hazard if Tweedle Dee takes to chewing on it.

The sari silk is so scrappy as is, if she noms it, chances are she will devour it whole. Ergh.

But naturally when I went out to get my extra sari silk, a few other things fell into my bag for purchasing :) Could that be some sock-weight noro (to be used for Knitty's Ziggy) and a stitch counter? How conveeeenient, I believe it is!! No more forgetting what row I am on ... unless I lose my stitch counter or forget to use it. Both are possibilities. The Noro sock knitting is on hold until I finish my Jaywalkers. I wonder how this yarn will feel on my feet, as it is a little scratchy feeling, and I hope it will soften with washing.

I have started another lace project. Knitty's Ice Queen. Will post pictures when I actually make progress on it. True to form, I did not do such a good job of putting it away last night, and this morning found that the yarn had mysteriously been chewed on and broken. Cats are the reason I can't have nice things. However this is okay, as I am determined to make no more than two mistakes on this item. I made so many mistakes on my estonian lace shawl that it shows. I am still very happy with my shawl, but I think I would be more satisfied if there were fewer errors. Therefore, I will work to improve!

Do not laugh too hard when I come back to complain about frogging mohair.

Of course, I felt waaaaaay better about my shawl when I attempted to reblock it. Much better this time around. I did discover that if I leave it out for longer than five seconds, Tweedle dum pounces on it and tries to run away under the bed with it. Bastard. They will not ruin this!!!

This weekend I have also done some "gardening" (term is used loosely because I live in an apartment). Of course, since then my cats have chewed them to the NUB. Bastards again! I've sprayed the remaining stalks with cayenne pepper in an attempt to thwart them from eating what is left.

I swear, Cats are why I can't have nice things.

See? Evil incarnate, the pair of them.

so... where have I been?

2008-06-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, before I turned into a lazy blogging slacker I was going to show you progress photos, like this, showing the neatest heel-turn I have ever completed.

Seriously, I am so. Freaking. Proud. There is barely a hole there.

See it? See it?!? No. You do not. Because the picked up stitches are AWE INSPIRING in their neatness.

- ahem-

I even have a great photo showing just how unable to bend I am. This is probably the downside to trying to blog about knitting socks. I have never been good at yoga.

Seriously. In elementary school the gym teachers would make us have a "Fitness Test Day" where we would have to run a mile (timed), do as many push ups as we could, and various other exercises to point out to us how out of shape/athletic we all were. One such exercise was sitting on the gymnasium floor with your feet against a box with inches marked out on its surface. You would then push a board across that box as far as you could without bending your knees. All fine and DANDY... except I could never bend far enough to even get the board on the box. If my knees could not bend, I doubt I would ever be able to touch my toes in my lifetime. This girl just does not bend that way. Nyah.

I do enjoy what yoga I can do however. But enough about that. Back to the sock!

The stitches are the neatest I have managed so far. I did wish the colourway had more blue in it, but the brown/blue striping was almost enough to keep me entertained.
For when it did get boring, I had BlackAdder to keep me entertained. I really enjoy my cheesy, old(er) Britcom. They remind me of watching television with my parents when I was really young. Keeping Up Appearances, BlackAdder, Thin Blue Line, Vicar of Dibly, The Red Dwarf... Some (Red Dwarf especially) are simply not that good, but I enjoy them all the same.

And some of them like BlackAdder are simply brilliant.

Well, before I knew it, enough life had passed by and enough BlackAdder had been watched, that I was ready to kitchener stitch. So Voila! Five days later I have a sock. This is the fastest I have knit a sock before. And it fits amazingly well. Here is to hoping that I can make the second one just as nicely! I have already cast on for it and have finished the ribbing already.

I have also dusted off what was formerly my mum's sewing machine, which she gifted me when she received a new one for her quilting. I have dusted off what limited knowledge I know about sewing and reading patterns, and am embarking on a mini-creation adventure.

I have no idea if it will turn out alright. But that seems to be the theme of my life lately.

There is a whole lot up in the air right now. Long story short(er), come the end of June, I will be moving to Denver. I will be far away from friends and family, and be doing something very scary for me. Which is moving to an area without having a plan fully intact.

Thankfully I am moving with The Boy - he has received a great job offer which is the reason for our move in the first place. But with this comes enormous (obvious) stress - need an apartment, need a job, need to finish old job, need to make sure my emergency unemployed funds are in place (yes, I do have an emergency fund. At least I am responsible with something). There are a lot of "needs". I am fully comfortable with working at a Starbucks or bookstore, to at least make ends meet for awhile. I have never made such a big decision without having all the details planned. It has me very on edge.

So of course, I had to treat myself. This weekend, which was a very special weekend, so as a gift my parents and the government helped buy me something very special.

What was the occasion, you ask? Well... other than the fact that I wanted to be very irresponsible with my tax refund and stimulus check (George Bush, this is probably the only time in your 8 year span of idiocy where I will ever say thanks without being 100% sarcastic), my former laptop has slowed immensely, and does not run programs that I might need (should I become employed again) very well at all. But there was also another very important reason for this purchase.

Another year older, it is still undetermined if I am a year wiser. I get the feeling I have gained some and lost some.

This one is a biggie...

2008-05-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Cuz I have lots to share.

My garden is growing! Normally my garden... shrinks... but I am having unusual success with leaving things alone. Even the tomato plants are okay. I would say they are the worst of (I never have luck with tomato plants, but I try every year anyway), but even they are blooming.

In fact, my garden is doing even better than growing larger - it is growing new future gardens :)

Pansy seeds. I let Caboose out for an exploration of the balcony this weekend, and he decided he really liked my spinach. Really. While he was enjoying himself, I took to making bread. Turned out pretty decently, if I do say so myself (The Boy concurs, so I do not say so myself, so nyah). After bread baking, we went out for cupcakes from the local cupcake store.
Onto knitting related content... I finished something! Dun dun dunnnn!!!!! I crocheted a small cover for my brand-spanking-phone, to protect it in my purse. Oh yeah. And I finished something else. Now... how the hell do I block this thing?

We there yet?

2008-05-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am a wee bit bored, so yet another sporadic entry! When encountering a ton of stress, I tend to focus on random things. As my coworkers would say "Oh look! There goes a chicken!" ... Well, it makes sense in context. I am just not going to tell you what that context is. So there.

Flowers I gave my Mum for Mother's Day.

They are Mums... Get it? Get it? I'm so phunny. Well, my mum thought it was funny (or she could have been pretending. Moms can do that).

Nothing of interest here. I made some cheese on toast... a childhood comfort food that is also very, very easy to make.

Step 1: Turn on oven to random temperature.
Step 2: Put bread on tray in oven.
Step 3: Obsessively check oven until bread is slightly brown. If you are me, burn first batch of bread. Feed to cats.
Step 4: Make new toast. Obsessively check.
Step 5: Flip (correctly browned) toast over, and add cheese.
Step 6: Obsessively check oven until cheese is the right level of melted.
Step 7: Make hilarious ketchup patterns and consume!

As you can see, I made ketchup faces.One of them was a little misshapen. I ate him first out of sympathy. So simple and so tasty. Nom.
On (yet another) random note: the farmer's market has begun! A small turnout of vegetables, as it the weather is still iffy and prone to moodswings - I sometimes liken spring to Mother Nature's PMS: the weather can change at the drop of a misguided comment and you had better not be between her and her midol - so even though it is still slim pickings, you do get to feast your eyes and ears on such things as the tap-dancing violin player. He was actually very good, as I had never seen him there before. The return entertainment was also there - there is a man who I can only describe as "looks like a 49er and plays a mishmash of stuff he drags around". The kids love him. Personally, I love the farmer's market, which shows as it is the only thing that could get me out of bed at 7am on a Saturday and actually be happy about it. There was still an abundance of asparagus, rhubarb, and crafty items. I snagged some of that, as well as some amish bread and a soy candle. Normally I stay away from the bread/meat items, not because they are bad (they are actually absolutely delicious), but they are pricier than what you get at the supermarket. While I am all for healthy homemade items, I do have to remember my "budget" (sometimes). But still, the bread is delicious. I'll have to start making my own again.

I also picked up a sock stuffed with catnip, as a gift to my big fluffy guy. Here is the best photo I could get of him and it...As he would not stop rolling on it. Note the wee'un in the background, so obviously not caring. Yup. There she is. Not. Caring. Nevermind the fact that five minutes later she was all over the toy herself.

Here is the second-best photo I could get of him and it... I SWEAR IT IS THERE, you just can't see it because he has enveloped it in his FLUFF. The sock toy is currently covered in cat-drool. I think it is a success. Once he bored of it, I opened up the cat television to keep them amused.

They are so incredibly appreciative of the bird feeder I have hung just above the door (out of sight). The birds are very appreciative that there is a layer of glass and screen door between them and my "mighty hunters".

Onto the Gratuitous Knitting Content:

The shawl is eating my brain. It demands sustenance! BRRRAAAAAIIIIIINS.

I have just finished the 8th blossom repeat, and am finally moving onto the next chart. Yay! It is still lovably squishy and when I stretch it out in a "mock blocking" action, it is so pretty. There are mistakes galore, but I do not have the heart to frog it. I think of the mistakes as less "accidental fuck ups" and more "signature markings" that this shawl is mine. There will be no mistaking that this shawl is hand knit (nope. none at all). I am nearing the end of my first skein, and have wound up the second one in preparation. I think there will be leftovers, but I do not know how much.

what do I have to do to get a drink in this place?

2008-05-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

Work is beating me into a pulp. Knitting has been moving along in tiny increments... as silly things like life, stress, and damn interesting times continue to get in the way. Every facet of my life seems to be exploding, as if things were not busy enough as it is. I started a Jaywalker today, but managed to break my plastic knitting needle because my tension was so tight.

@#*!%.

I am not normally a knitter who could forge diamonds using the pressure of the stitches on her needles (I would be far more rich if this were true). To make it worse, all of my DPNs are at The Boy's, for some reason I can't remember anymore. So I am without DPNs. No more socks tonight.

More @#!*%.

I wanted to work on a simple pattern. Oh well. Back to the shawl.

I drove three hours to my parents' house to surprise my mum for mother's day. Surprised her! It is rare I actually do that - she is quick to catch on to when her offspring are up to no good.

Can you keep a secret?

2008-04-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

So... I cheated on my shawl again. Sssh. Don't tell.

It is pattern and yarn gifted to me by the lovely HappyCRNA . The pattern is the Ricki's Rack Rib Scarf, pattern no. 187 by tilli tomas. I used 1 skein of Asteroid tilli tomas yarn. Delicious.

For a short scarf, it is heavier than I imagined. The pattern gives it incredible stretch. It still is a little shorter than I am comfortable with, but I think it will grow over time (literally - see aforementioned stretch!)

She also gifted me a little sheep kit to knit - I think I'll do a bit more shawl and when I get the "must do quick knit" itch that will be next on my hit list.

When I don't eat with The Boy, this is what my dinner consists of.

Yum.

Oh, yes. And I got my hair cut.
And apparently this is the closest thing I can do to a smile in a photograph without looking like a total git.

simple solutions

2008-04-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, I got to admit, I'm pretty proud about this one. And it's so freaking simple.

See this item here?

Well I adore this little single-serve french press. It gives me my life liquor every morning. I am forever indebted to the inventor of the french press. May the coffee beans be in peak flavor for you for all eternity, Senior/Madame French Press Inventor.

The only downside to this little bean juicer is that it can get cold easily. It is small and quick to give off it's heat. So as I was trawling my groups at Ravelry, I was poking around the Caffiene Lovers and Cuppa Tea? and the thought came to me - if tea kettles can have cozies... why not french presses? So I present to you my french press cozy!

I'm sure something of this flavor exists already out on the world wide internet, but I winged this. My press-cozy was completed in 2 hours... by taking a scarf I had begun before Christmas but abandoned because I decided the color did not really fit the person I was knitting for. While it is definately not long enough to be a scarf, it ended up being the perfect height to match my french press.

I had a bit of a conundrum about how to make it fit over the handle. I think buttons would be a really cute idea, but knowing myself I am more likely to use something if I don't have to fiddle to throw it on a coffee pot. And early in the morning, I do not have the patience nor coordination to button items up. When I was originally going to make this from scratch (instead of pillaging an old unfinished object) my intent was to knit something ribbed in the round and leave a slit for the handle.

But in a pinch this would do, and I wanted instant gratificaiton (I've been needing that more and more lately... stupid neverending tiny stitches on a shawl...) As you can see, it didn't quite wrap all the way around my lil'press, so I knit some I-Cord, sewed in some ends, and voila! I think it's a cutie. The stitch that is on this scarf-turned-cozy is smocking with two cables flanking the side. It's a neat way to cheat and make "almost" cables. I do have to admit that I'm pretty chuffed that I remembered this almost-scarf that was buried in the bottom of my stash bin. I knew I had left it there for some reason :)

one step closer to crazy-cat-lady

2008-04-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

It goes and it goes and it goes.... not too much to show of anything right now as currently I am crazy-go-nuts busy with life and work. Name a standard area of life (relationships, work, house, etc.) and I can name something back that is causing me stress in that realm. My parents tell me this is part of being a grownup... but I feel there must be a better way (I am stubborn like that). I would at least appreciate not being sent into a dizzying panic attack at the first thought of where I am at in life. Oiy. Too many unknowns.

I hit the pause button long enough yesterday to get a good solid chunk of knitting done, but that was on my shawl... so I might as well just insert a previous picture of it here as it looks no different. However, I am nearly at the point of doing the edging. I have opted to do 8 repeats of the blossom pattern instead of 4 (the shawl comes in two sizes and I am doing the larger), and I am nearly complete with the fourth repeat. Yay! I have put very little thought into how I'm going to block this sucker - I've never blocked a large lace pattern before. Oh well, that step is ages off.

I am.... tired.

This brings me no limit of giggles.

see more crazy cat pics

Oh LOLcats , you so crazy. My kittens have the same obsession about sitting in boxes - they MUST fill an empty box with their behind. It is for the good of the country.