[365.2.11]

[365.2.11] surveying
Originally uploaded by dead redhead

we all spend a lot of time just looking out at the lake and watching boats and animals (there was a family of otters out last night! so not usual) and whatever is out here. it's pretty relaxing. it's really neat that at night you can see the headlights of the cars coming into town across the lake. last night we could see a fire burning on a hill out of the frame to the left. we could also see the red lights on the fire trucks going to it. we've also watched an osprey fishing (he got one!) and an egret/heron catching minnows. no one has caught a fish yet, excepting the neighbor guy who lives here.

i went on my first jet-ski ride today. it was fun. what i really want is a water-proof camera for times like that.

2008 finished knit and croched projects

2008 knits and crochets
Originally uploaded by dead redhead

they were mostly small things, and there were many that were not even photographed. (i have a huge to-photo list.) but overall, i LOVE all of them.

and hi! i can't believe you still read this blog. i've been gone for so long. i really need to start making an effort to post here.

wordle. really?

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!


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.


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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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.




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.)

Pay It Forward!

Pay It Forward!
Originally uploaded by dead redhead

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.



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.

(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!

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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.








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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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.



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.


                                
        

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.

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!



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!