23 July 2008

wednesday, july 23

I'm watching a show on the History Channel about the history of jokes. George Carlin is one of the (many) comedians featured, and it makes me a little sad. Maybe more melancholy. I really need to read his books, but I keep forgetting to pick them up. Maybe they will be my gift to myself for my upcoming birthday. This show is hosted by Lewis Black, who I cannot stand. Brian Posehn is also on here, and I love him. I love the show Mission Hill, which is currently on [adult swim] and he does one of the voices.

I'm turning 21 on the 7th. Pretty exciting.

I'm trying to stay up all night in an effort to help my ridiculous sleep schedule and actually get some things done. Hopefully that will happen, because if I fall asleep now I will wake up at around 2:30 in the afternoon.

My blog has really suffered in the past few months. I think it's because I have had a hard time concentrating in general. My attention span is terribly short. I am going to try to start reading again in the hopes that doing one thing consistently for long periods will help me get back to normal. And in the last few years, I really feel like I have been getting less intelligent. I don't know if community college really is sucking the life out of me or what. I don't write letters as much as I used to, so I wonder if that may have something to do with it. I used to write letters every day, and it was essentially like having a diary that someone else read. A diary with a dialog. Shit, maybe I need a pen pal.

I'm also trying to drink more water. This has been a battle for me for years, as I really drink entirely too much soda. I just love soda, and have a hard time not drinking it. So instead of trying to cut it out, I'm just going to try to drink more water, and see where this takes me. I recently read the "rule" that you divide your weight in ponds in half and that's how many ounces of water you should drink during the day, i.e. 200lb person should drink 100oz of water every day. That scares me. I probably don't drink that much water in a month. Not that I weigh 200lbs, either. Still! That would mean I should drink somewhere near 75oz of water per day. That seems like A LOT! I just really don't enjoy drinking water, and I have to force myself to do so. Soda, on the other hand, I could drink like ... well, water!

I'm working on a snood for my sister. Her birthday was yesterday. I hate this freaking thing. The current round is around 500 chain sts. Thrilling work! And this thing is going to need to have the hell blocked out of it. I just hope it turns out well and that Claire likes it. She told me she wanted a snood, and she'd better not have changed her mind. And really, I just like saying the word 'snood'.

My tattoo is healing, and itching like crazy. It woke me up the other morning because it itched so much. The old slapping trick really does not work. I do love the big flakes of color and scab coming off. Yummy!
DSCN0955.JPG

I did  a bunch of yard work today. It really needed to be done. Pulled some weeds, and started to dismantle my sunflower that is fallen over and just laying on the ground. I didn't have enough room to fit the whole thing in the bin at once, so I'm going to put as many leaves as I can in each day. They're big leaves, some more than a foot across! I'm also putting a bunch of vines that grow through the fence from the neighbors, so the composters (did I mention we have three?) are easily filled. I'm not sure there will even be room for grass clippings after the gardeners come today. Hopefully I can finally harvest one of my bins that had been going unharvested for almost three years. I also stuck some four o'clock plants in the ground in the front yard. They'd been in a pot and were really overcrowded and root bound. They should do well out there, and they have some room to spread. Anyone need four o'clock seeds? There are a million around here! I've got pink, yellow, white, and magenta. I've also got purple morning glory seeds out the ass. In a month or two, I'll probably have a bunch of sunflower seeds. I just need to keep getting outside every day and I need to keep the compost bins moist. I haven't been maintaining or regularly adding to a couple of them, and they're really not even very active. 

There is really nothing to watch at 8 in the morning on a Wednesday. Geez.

Snood is being blocked. I have a little more work after it's done, but this makes me happy. I still have a shawl to finish and one more to dye. What I wear to a wedding in early August is going to depend on which shawl I like better.
from the back. [365.14] i'm trying to get rid of that whole ball.

I'm on day 22 of Project 365. I'm really enjoying it so far. I think twenty-two is the last day I did on my first 365 try earlier in the year. I have a ton of ideas for those boring days when I have nothing better do to (which happens more often than it should), which is a good thing. Having "nothing" to take pictures of is a big reason for me to not even turn the camera on. I really love looking at everyone else's pictures and they are a constant source of inspiration. Plus, I am nosy and I love seeing what the rest of you knitters have going on in your daily lives. It's also really interesting to see how people change over the course of a year. 365 is the reason I'm getting myself (or having someone get me, if I'm lucky) a new camera for my birthday. I can't afford anything fancy, but my old Kodak shit out on me a couple of months ago and I would rather buy a new camera than try to get that one fixed. (So if you have cheap point-and-shoot recommendations, I'd love to hear them!) And if all goes well, I am planning on taking a film photography class this semester, using my mom's sweet 70s camera. I've never used an SLR or developed my own pictures or anything, so it would definitely be a learning experience.

I kind of hate having plain white wool in my stash. I swear it is whispering "Dye me!" over and over, all day every day.

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04 May 2008

Pay It Forward

When I saw Cher's post about Pay It Forward, I really wanted to take part in it. I love giving (and getting!) fun stuff for no good reason, other than fun. I am one of those people, that when it comes to holidays, gives really crappy gifts. I really need inspiration to strike me. The best gifts I give are the kind that I randomly find somewhere and think, "Oh, this is so perfect for _______!" The other kind of best gifts are ones given for no good reason.

I received Cher's amazing package a couple of weeks ago, and my lazy ass kept forgetting to photograph it. (I had it on my to-do list, which I would forget to look at. Every night I would go to write down what I wanted to do the next day and realize I forgot. Again.) So I finally sucked it up and broke out the poster board and made the most of the late night light I had.

Pay It Forward! (22/365)
cutest card ever! super cute bag lining. i could not get this in focus.

I didn't take close ups of the dishcloth or cup cozy because action shots are always better!

Thank you so much, Cher! I love all this stuff, and felt so special that you looked at my ravelry queue and knit something from it! The day I got this stuff I was sick and really feeling like crap and it really cheered me up.

And now it's my turn to send you some awesome stuff! Just leave me a comment and the first 3 of you to do so will be getting great packages of your own. I don't know how long they will take me (I'm poor!) but I promise you'll get them eventually  and I will try to fill them with awesome stuff you will like. Especially if I already know you and what you like. Just make sure that you do the same once you receive yours. (Post it on your blog and mail 3 handmade gifts to people, that is.)

19 April 2008

ew. in my backyard.

I hate when things shake my sense of security. I'm admittedly pretty paranoid, but there are a lot of things I don't worry about. Too much.

Dying via spider bite is usually not one of them. (This is your time to stop reading/looking if you really hate spiders. I don't want to give anyone nightmares or a panic attack!)

Now, don't let that make you think I'm not freaked out by spiders. I totally am. But I normally just want them to not crawl on me or my stuff.

This was not the case yesterday, when I found this little lady in my backyard.

fuck spiders. (10/365)

Yeah, that red hourglass on her abdomen tells you she means business.

Her 6" (at least) web was underneath a downspout right off our patio. Less than six feet away from our back door. Less than six feet from where my dogs sleep. Right next to/under where we often store gloves and tools.

large shot of spiderville. (The photo has notes if you really want to see where everything is!)

Finding a black widow in my compost bin was one thing. There are all kinds of yummy little bug buddies in there to eat. But this just freaks me out.

And I've now given myself the creepie-crawlies! Fuck spiders!

07 April 2008

Untitled

As a kid, one of my favorite treats that my mom made was Amish Friendship Bread. The nurses at the hospital passed it around, and we had some going pretty routinely.

In case you're not familiar, Amish Friendship Bread has it's own wikipedia page. There are tons of (identical) recipes for it online, as well as how to start your own starter, and some variations.

My favorite variation has always been substitution vanilla pudding with chocolate. You can also use pistachio, or really any other pudding flavor. When I got a bag of starter from theboy's dad's girlfriend I was excited. I wanted to start baking as soon as I could, but the recipe takes 10 days, which puts a damper on things.


Amish Friendship Bread
Amish Friendship Bread
Amish Friendship Bread



Of course I used the chocolate variation.

This batch didn't turn out as moist as I would like it to be, but that has not deterred me from eating it!
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06 April 2008

fishies!

I love fish. If I had the time and commitment (and money!) I would have a gigantic fish tank. Or quite a few smaller ones. My dream is to be able to hire someone solely to take care of my amazing fishtanks. It's really a lot of work, especially with the more interesting stuff.

I especially love bettas. They have such personality! They're interested in everything they see. My boyfriend's dad and his girlfriend recently acquired a black fancy goldfish, and they are another of my favorite fish. I decided last week that I needed new fish, and had a really hard time deciding between a couple of fancy goldfish or a betta. I ended up opting for a betta.

looking in the mirror F is for fish.

He was the sickliest one of the bunch the little pet store near my house. But I liked his colors the most. And I knew that with proper feeding and water changes he would be fine. You should see the difference in his colors in just a little over a week! He is so much darker. I think that darker gravel would help, too. He doesn't have a name yet. I've been considering a few different things.

He reminds me of two of the bettas I had last year at about this time.


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dscn0921.jpg    dscn0696.jpg    

This new fish is full of personality. He is really inquisitive, and I swear that he was watching the television while I had him in front of it during his tank cleaning!

After looking at pictures on flickr, I really want a black betta. I don't think I've ever seen one IRL. I definitely see how people get addicted to betta keeping. They don't require much of anything, and their upkeep/maintenance is minimal, especially compared with other fish. I want about twelve more, in various colors.

27 March 2008

What you might call a dyeing tutorial.

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but that's just how things have been going around here. I was gone for 5 days over the St. Patrick's Day weekend, and I still haven't recovered. Like, I'm still living out of my suitcase so to speak. Really it's my duffle bag.

All that said, I've been doing quite a bit of crafting. Even some dyeing!

kool aid mosaic

I dyed this with 9 different flavors/colors of Kool Aid: Cherry, Black Cherry, Strawberry, Grape, Orange, Lemonade, Lemon Lime, Ice Blue Lemonade, and Berry Blue.

Basically, what I did was soak the hell out of the yarn. Patons Classic Merino, if you wondered. I wanted the yarn to absorb as much colors as possible and not have any white blips, so I made sure it was really saturated with water. Then, I squeezed it out a little bit before I laid it out. That way when I painted the dye on it would be sucked up by the yarn. I
arranged it in the biggest pan I could find, which happened to be a metal roasting pan. I proceeded to paint it in rainbow order, mostly to avoid weird color muddiness. (i.e. red touches orange on one side and purple on the other.) I made my dye really concentrated (less than a cup of water to each packet) and just kind went crazy painting. I only painted enough on so that the yarn would absorb it; I didn't want a lot pooling in the bottom and thus mixing with other colors. I ended up with quite a few places where one color dripped onto another while I was painting and things like that. But they really give it character. (Expect some pictures of those spot when I photograph this yarn knit up.)
Once I was content with my painting job, I covered it with aluminum foil, stuck a meat thermometer in, and popped it in the oven at about 180°F. I left the oven on for about 20 minutes and then turned it off and left the yarn in there overnight to cool.

(eta: I used the knitty.com tutorials as references for this. There are a few good ones about dyeing with food color there.)


I'm super happy with this yarn. If I re-create it, I will add more blue. The darker color, Berry Blue which is consequently in the lighter package, came out great. I love it! I also would make at least part of the yellow darker, maybe by adding food coloring. But I like intense yellows. I've already got something knit up with most of this, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest. I'm not normally into such bright colors, but hell, I did it myself!

I'm working on quite a few other things, including some secret gift knitting. And I am definitely open to suggestions about cute baby patterns. Everybody and their mommy-to-be is having a kid, it seems!

06 March 2008

more favorites.

I know it's a little late, since I made this on Monday, but I wanted to post my newest favorites mosaic.

Monday faves

I've been doing a little tattoo planning, and also trying to figure out what color of STR to order (see post about wanting opinions!). Oh, and I'd never seen granny triangles before this. I love them! I am dying to make some.

typing is not my strong point.

60 words

Speed test



I took it three times and that was my best result. Interesting, though!

02 March 2008

Wanted: your opinions.

A while ago, I saw an ad for a place to take surveys for money. I thought, "what the hell" and signed up. Turns out that it was legit, and I actually made $4.50 from taking a survey last week. (If you want more info I will give it to you but I don't want to sound like an infomercial!) Anyway, I've been saving this money in my paypal with the intended goal of getting some more STR to knit a pair with it for myself. It's basically the only way I could afford it. Well, it's been a few months and I finally have enough to get some. Now, my dilemma is choosing which colorway and what pattern to knit.

I've narrowed my choices to Fire On The Mountain and 24 Karat. There are a LOT of colors I like, but I think these two are the most fun. I like the rainbowyness (totally a word!) of Fire On The Mountain, but yellow is my secret favorite color and I have been thinking about 24 Karat for at least a year.
Look at my flickr or ravelry favorites, and you'll see what I mean. There are a lot of gorgeous socks in both colors.

I'm alsot debating whether I should go with lightweight or medium. I liked th medium the first time I knit with it, and I do like thicker socks. But I also like cute patterns, and most of them work better (meaning with fewer mods) with the lightweight.
Pattern-wise, I'm really having a hard time. I have a personal rule (for the time being) that I won't knit the same pattern more than once. I have a tendancy to get caught up on one thing and miss out on all the great other stuff out there. I've seen a lot of Fire On The Mountain Jaywalkers, and I like them a lot. But, I've already knit a pair of Jaywalkers, so that's out. I also think Charade would look good in that colorway. Then, I saw a pair of Hedera socks in 24 Karat. Beautiful! Also, some Pomotamus socks turned my eye. And really, grevillea's recent FO in 24 Karat is what stirred my liking for the colorway again in the first place.

Now, I know all the socks I've mentioned are like the most popular patterns around, other than Monkey, which I despise. I'm not a trend-follower. Most of the time! I've been searching through pages and pages of patterns on ravelry, looking for something good.

Basically what I'm saying is if you have any suggestions or a strong opinion one way or the other, throw me your two cents. I tend to either look at the big picture and over look the details, or get so caught up in the details that I miss the overall point. You might have that unique perspective I need right about now!

(Some requirements, though, now that I think about it. I prefer socks that can be knit toe-up. I'll knit 'em to-down if they're cute enough to warrant the extra hassle. Also, I will only knit socks using the magic-loop method. Fuck DPNs!)

29 February 2008

and sometimes things don't work out at all.

So long story short, there was a welding-related fire in theBoy's basement last night. The house is okay. No structural damage, just superficial stuff and a lot of soot everywhere. He is out a boat, all his fishing poles, and most of his fishing lures. (He had one backpack with a tackle box and lures in it that was okay, so he says he can "survive" with those.) He is really bummed. The boat was the whole reason he was welding, and now it is useless. He is pretty bummed. (Imagine your stash - GONE!) His house doesn't have power or water until some shit gets fixed.
I spent this afternoon scrubbing soot off walls and mopping floors. (Fire damage fixinf/removal tips welcome! Getting the smoke smell out is going to be a real bitch.) He spent the afternoon hauling burnt shit out of the basement. It sucked.

Be careful. Get a fireproof box to put your important stuff in. (He didn't loose anything more important than fishing stuff and tools, but there is a huge 'what if' factor.) Think about your favorite items, and love them while you can. Things are temporary.

He lost a fishing pole his grandpa gave him when he was a kid, and this makes me want to cry if I think about it for any length of time. To me, things are tangible memories. When I crochet with yarn and hooks that were my great grandma's, I feel such a connection. Seeing so much stuff damaged and worthless makes me very sad. I have a very strong connection to tangible stuff, which is probably why I knit, crochet, scrapbook, and just make things in general.

Please don't almost burn your house down. It's not fun.

And do something fun today, since you won't get another one for 4 years.

28 February 2008

Things work out great when you don't expect it.

Sometimes when fate brings things together. The marriage of the perfect yarn and a fantastic pattern is one of those things that doesn't come around every day. For me, these things usually happen by accident. I started out thinking this yarn would be perfect for Hedera. I liked the idea of the ivy-based lace pattern in a green yarn. But those socks are top-down, and after I turned the heel and did the gusset on the first sock, I thought I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish it. Also, I just don't like the way top-down flap and gusset heels fit me.
So I decided to do something different with my other ball for the second sock. I searched for patterns, and remembered Charade, which I had seen before. I liked the pattern, because while it is written top-down, it seemed easily adapted to be toe-up. I started in on my toe-up Charades.
I blew through the first sock, but then needed my only pair of #1s to work on socks for theBoy. I actually lost the first sock in the time it took me to make the second one! By the time I did get the second one finished, my gauge was totally off from the first. The second sock is visibly bigger than the first but by the grace of the wool/elastic blend, it makes no difference when I wear them.
I love this yarn. It is mostly wool but you really wouldn't notice. It is so soft and smooth. And, oh, are they warm! The elastic makes them the most comfortable socks I have ever put onto my feet. If you have a problem with short row heels making it too tight across the heel/ankle, the elastic eliminates that.
The pattern is great, too. It's fantastic for variegated yarns. It's fun to knit. It's also easily customizable and adaptable because it's well-written.

What I'm trying to say is I really like these socks. I recommend both the pattern and the yarn one hundred percent. (Really, I am one picky bitch so it tells you something. I have never been so completely happy or liked a FO so much!)

Charades! crime scene-esque I am so in love. in your face point and flex

pattern: Charade by Sandra Park
yarn: Knit One Crochet Too's Soxx Appeal in colorway 3590, Jungle.
needles: Addi Turbo #1 1/2; 2.5mm
mods: I did them toe-up; one with a magic cast-on toe and one with a short-row toe with provisional crochet cast-on. I don't care that they don't match. Also, I substituted a short-row heel for the one in the pattern. And, instead of the 2x2 twisted rib, I did 1x1 twisted rib. I like it more.
[ravelry page]

27 February 2008

ILLUSION KNITTING TUTORIAL

Once I got a substantial way into my first illusion project, I had a basic understanding of what was happening. When I designed my first illusion project, the light bulb really went on. Illusion knitting is a technique that uses raised and flat stitches with two colors to create a design that is visible only when viewing the work from an angle. It might take a while to really comprehend what that says, but it's simple. If you can knit, you can purl, and you can follow a pattern, you can do this. What you're doing is knitting all the right side rows, making a flat row so that your design will show up on the nest row. On the wrong side rows, you're going to either do a series of purls surrounded by knits on both sides, or vice-versa. What that does, is either create the background or the design itself. The scarf I'm currently working on (which is the basis of all the pictures and charts in this) has a black background with a pink illusion. Okay, now to really get into this and explain it. To knit a pink "T" on a black background, one would do this: (most illusion patterns are charted, but I'm writing this out to illustrate it a little.)

CO 8 stitches
Row 1: Main Color. K all stitches (8). [this is a flat row]
Row 2: MC purl 2, knit across. [this row makes background stitches]
Row 3: Contrasting Color. K all stitches.[this is a flat row]
Row 4: CC knit 2, purl across. [this row makes your design]
Row 5-12: repeat rows 1-4 twice.
Row 13: MC Knit.
Row 14: MC Knit.
Row 15: CC Knit.
Row 16: CC Purl.



That will give you a letter "T". This is the "T" from the top view. Looks just like rows of stripes from here.
T top view

In the scarf it's done with two more background stitches on each side, but otherwise the same. My chart looks like this: (The pictures and charts I'm using are for a scarf that has the "T" or other letter patter twice, with blank stitches on each side. So it's 24 stitches across)

T chart O Chart N and I chart


So if you can do that, you can really do any illusion pattern. I'll give the pattern for this scarf, which I charted out by hand. Letter by letter, square for square. I really should have cheated with it but I didn't. One resource that's great for illusion patterns: cross stitch charts! Everything is already made up in nice neat squares, and you're ready to go. If you compare the first chart and the second ones, you can see that when you chart it out, the illusion only goes on every fourth row. DO NOT FORGET THAT! The row two rows before the illusion row is the background row, which is the illusion row with OPPOSITE stitches (knits are purls and purls are knits). I like to chart my things out just as I would knit them. I draw a primary chart with just the illusion, and then I chart it all out with both colors and what each stitch will be. It's a lot easier for me to follow a chart like that than one with symbols and all kinds of crazy stuff.

TONI chart


I think the best learning is to design your own illusion knit piece. The only limitations are that you need to use one contrasting color on a background, and some things just may not look right. You just have to try it and find out.


So here are some suggestions of things to knit using this technique:

-
Card Trick Illusion Scarf - I love this! It was my first illusion knit project, and I'm so glad I did it! Thank God for Knitty Gritty! (Which is basically the only resource I've used to learn about this, other than my knitting.)

-My "TONI" illusion scarf- Once I get a whole alphabet's worth of illusion letters this might be better. But if you know a girl named Toni, you should knit this for her! I need to get the last chart uploaded, and then I'll really put the pattern up.

-
Naughty/Nice scarf from Son of a SNB. This is my favorite illusion pattern! Such a great idea.

Here are
some search results on ravelry for "illusion knitting". There is a lot of cool stuff!

Illusion scarf from the top, and from an angle:
Illusion Scarf - above Illusion Scarf - angle Illusion Scarf - angle
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!


And if you really liked it or found it useful, it would be wonderful if you would donate something. Anything is welcome! <3





26 February 2008

tangled up in barbed wire love

Since I've had pretty much no attention span lately, I've wanted to work on granny squares. They're perfect, because it doesn't take long to finish one and yet I'm still contributing to a bigger project. They are also great for things like Project Spectrum. I love looking at what squares and yarns I already have and getting them to work for the month's colors.

granny square mosaic


As for layout goes, in the end I want to have things looking very random. I don't want any two squares of the same color touching. Which makes things a little hard. I also am trying to avoid two solid squares next to each other. In these pictures, I didn't pay very much attention to that, and I now notice a lot that shouldn't be together. It's really hard to do, especially when there are a lot of squares with 4 colors, and a lot of similar colors throughout.

laid out. granny squares leftovers

These aren't final. I just wanted to lay things out and get a visual for what I've got done. Like I've said, they will also all have a round of black before they're seamed together.

I cannot stop sneezing.

I don't know what the deal with my nose is. I even took some benadryl and it hasn't helped. It's been going on for a couple of hours and it's driving me crazy. Allergies, go away!

favorites mosaic

This is the first favorites mosaic I've ever made. I don't really favorite photos too often or as often as I should, so some of them are pretty old. And I barely have any knitting pictures favorited! I need to rectify that, for sure. And a couple of them have me in them, hahah!

I did a TON of seed starting today. I got supplies at the hardware store yesterday and set to work this afternoon. I didn't take any pictures because I was a little pressed for time, but once things start sprouting I'm sure I will have some.

I can't concentrate with this nose.

15 February 2008

C is for ...

fucking crazy! Which is how busy I've been lately. (Notice how I've blogged twice in one week and put up a ton of pictures? That just means I was really supposed to be getting other things done.) I have had at least two different things to do every day, which is not the norm. And I don't mean I had to both do the dishes and vacuum the carpet. I've had appointment and meeting type stuff, as well as dance classes, work parties, practices and helping cook for and serve a dinner for 60-ish people. And I memorized like 3o minutes worth of a speech and said it on Tuesday. No one today when I was supposed to be handing someone as check, I pulled out my school ID/bus pass and started to show it to him. Uh, what? (I also managed, on Tuesday, in the middle of my speaking thing to almost fall down and knock a waist-high pedestal over. I'm not very coordinated, what can I say.) On top of all this, I am one of the co-chairs for planning an event with an expected 600 people in attendance. So let's hope I can keep my head on straight 'til Sunday night when I am done with all this. I am really not good in high stress situations. (Really not good. I just end up frustrated any crying most of the time.)


C is also for cap! I finally took pictures of the Amelia Erhart aviator cap I made in about 2004.
Amelia Erhardt Aviator cap Amelia Earhart Aviator cap Amelia Erhardt Aviator cap
I've only worn it a couple of times because I'm really not a hat wearer, but I do like it a lot. And good god was this thing hard to photograph! It is a challenge to take pictures of the back of yuor own head.
yarn: LB Cotton Ease -the original- in red
needles: I'm guessing a US #5, but it might be a #6 or something in that range
pattern: Amelia Erhart aviator cap
ravelry page

I tried to avoid more obvious Cs like, craft or crochet. Really, I haven't got an crochet WsIP. After that giant freaking afghan, I could use a little break.

C is also for cutting out 600 moons and 1800 stars. Also well as punching footprints in all the moons. That sucked, and I'm still really not done. (And I should be doing that right now!)

abc-along

Oh my gosh, I can't believe I almost forgot about this. I have the best boyfriend in the whole (fiber) world. You know what he got me for Valentine's day? A ball winder! I've already wound 1/3 of my stash into neat little yarn cakes. I have some pictures. I'm so excited, I've wanted one of these for so long! I love having yarn wound up so that it doesn't roll everywhere. Very helpful, especially on the bus ...

13 February 2008

chatter.

The wind is back. No sixty miles per hour madness, but it's still windy. It's sunny out, but the wind just steals any warmth you can get from the sun. And it seems like I always blog when the weather sucks. Maybe I just find crappy weather inspiring or something.

I have a lot to blog about. I've actually got a list sitting on the desk next to me. I've been taking a lot of pictures lately, so if you really want to know what I've been doing check out flickr. I'm trying to not be lazy and make sure that every single one of my pictures is tagged and described. Especially since it bugs me when other people don't tell me exactly what every single item in all their photos is! hey, I'm nosy. I'll admit it.

Speaking of things I'm trying to do, I've been participating in the 2008 ABC-along for a little while. I've been doing things the lazy way (of course) and just putting things into the flickr pool. Hopefully from now on I will get an entry up about every letter.
I'm also trying to participate in 52 weeks, and in Ravelry's Project 365 (but again, 52 weeks-style). I really need to get in the habit of taking pictures and putting them up right after they are taken, when things are still fresh in my mind.

In getting things done news, I finished two projects this week! I finally finished theBoy's giant silver and black afghan! It was getting to the point where I just wanted to finish it so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore and I could just sleep under it. You know when you make something like an afghan as a gift that you have to test it out for a night or two. it's a quality control thing; you've got to make sure you've made a good, warm afghan.
I also finished my toe-up Charades last night! I'll take some pictures soon, when the wind isn't blowing a million miles an hour. I washed them as soon as I was done, and was hoping they might be dry by this morning. I really wanted to wear them today, but they were still wet.

I've been spending a lot of time at my new favorite "place": folia. It's like ravelry, but for gardeners. (I almost typed, 'It's like ravelry but for knitters'! Which is just confusing.) I've got a good portion of my plants in there, and almost all of my seeds. Everything, I think, but 3 packets. In doing this I've discovered that I'm really not a yarn stasher, but I am a big time seed stasher! I don't have a lot, but most of them I have no particular plans for. I just want to have them in case I need them, or something. Anyway if you're on folia add me as a friend. If you're not, you should check it out. It's still very small. And it has great new features, more of which are being added daily. It seems like every time I comeback there is something new, much like ravelry.

viola seedling

26 January 2008

It has been raining since Tuesday.

I'm sitting backwards on the toilet in the downstairs bathroom of theBoy's house because this is the only place I can get a good internet connection. And even here it's not very good. I'm in the process of cleaning his room for him. I'm getting paid for it, which makes it better but it still sucks. However, it brings peace of mind. I don't have to sit and think about how filthy everything is anymore. At the moment I'm working on a massive laundry pile. And once I get through it, it's on to the dreaded closet. But at least I will have a place to hang all the clean laundry up! I'm doing a load of sheets right now, including a blanket I crocheted for him but have never taken pictures of.

I've really not been doing that much crafting lately. I haven't had a lot of uninterrupted time to really have marathon crafting sessions, and that's really how I get things done. I'm working on the silver and black afghan (ravelry link) but it is sometimes taking me half an hour to get across one row. Slow going!
I was doing a bit of work on my toe-up Charades (ravelry link) but I can't seem to find the first sock! So I have temporarily stalled progress on the second. I'm at the crucial heel-turning point, and I want them to match. (Seems like I should be spending time cleaning my own bedroom, huh?)

I did take some stash photos the other day, so check ravelry in a week or so and they may be up. Nothing exciting.

In exciting news, I made some awesome earrings!

DSCN7485 DSCN7480 Earrings

They are made with fishing lures. I had talked about making jewelry out of fishing stuff, at first as a joke when at the sporting goods store with theBoy. But pretty much immediately I realized that would be a great idea. It took me a little while to actually get stuff for it, but I'm super happy with my results so far. I may even make some more and list them on etsy. They are easy, fun, and cute! They were super hard to photograph, though!


The weather here has been sucking! It's been raining since Tuesday, maybe Monday, and there are clouds if not rain for the rest of the forecast ('til next Friday). Yuck!

05 January 2008

Watch for falling gazebos.

We have had some pretty fucking crazy weather around here! 69+ mph winds and a TON of rain. Our gazebo ended up stuck to our neighbor's roof, and put backyard looks like a hurricane struck. All the chairs and chaise longues are upside down, blown around, or in the pool. A ton of pots are broken. I have pictures, but my camera is in the process of dying. But, we are lucky enough to not have any trees/limbs on our house or car. Driving downtown, there are limbs everywhere and all over there are trees that have totally blown over. The Boy said while he was at work yesterday he saw a bunch of stuff like downed power lines on the wet ground sparking everywhere. He said it looked like it should be in a movie.
I've seen pretty crazy stuff in the past in terms of flooding, but never wind damage like this!

I will have so crafting stuff to post about soon. Really! And some pictures.

04 January 2008

Rain, rain go away!

It going to be raining for the next week in my neck of the woods. Which is fine. It's much better than snow, and really, we need it! But it's also going to be windy which SUCKS!

detailed weather

Gusts around 65 mph after midnight. Which is right now! It basically sounds like the roof is going to come off. So I'm comforting myself by listening to my ipod rather loudly through headphones. I'm good with thunder and lightning and all that jazz but wind just fucks with me.

Hope things look better where you are!