Entrelac? Yes, please!

I thought I'd post a little teaser photo for my Hogwarts swap partner. Here you can see some entrelac done in Gryffindor colors. While I was working this project, I realized how amazing entrelac looks. It appears as though it's strips of knitting woven together, which is not the case at all. It really inspires me to do a little more entrelac knitting. Perhaps I'll go with a variegated yarn next time, that colors the squares automatically. Or maybe I'll try Eunny's entrelac socks in the knew Interweave Knits. I love it love it love it.

On with work so's I can get home and glue one more thing ... (oh, and speaking of glue, has anyone noticed how unique E6000 smells? Whew! But boy does it stick.)

Ah, it's Monday again

Them's some long Oscars, yo. Glad to see Helen Mirren picked up Best Actress and that Melissa Etheridge's song from An Inconvenient Truth took Best Song. Pan's Labyrinth got a couple of well-deserved Oscars as well (Art Direction indeed!). When it finally finished at around 11:15 last night, we flipped to Showtime tout de suite and caught the last of The L Word (which had its usual cliffhanger ending). I went to sleep almost immediately, but I'm still a very tired girl.

Ah, I heard back about the library position on Saturday morning while my mom and I were taking in some vocal jazz music in Creston (a hole of a town in my opinion). No dice, unfortunately; they wanted someone whose schedule was a little more adaptable. Oh well. My mom and I spent the rest of the morning browsing a couple of local shops in Creston — a fabric store and a scrapbooking shop.

The scrapbooking shop was my favorite, partly becacuse I don't sew but mostly because it was the type of place that sells lots of bits and bobs rather than scads of paper. There were lots of little charms and stickers and other fun stuff. I think the best part of the shop, though, was that it is a converted post office. It's a huge old building, rather courthouse / city hall-esque, with intact marble floors and old mail slots and counters.

I finished up a lot of items for my Hogwarts swap yesterday: knitting, crochet, doodles and a snap here or there. I'm planning a glue session during lunch, as there are apparently a lot of things that need to stick to other things. The matchboxes are done and will go out at lunch. I haven't heard from my Gaiman swap partner in a while. I'm wondering if she got bogged down with school or something. I do know that she got my package, though, so that's something.

I took the smallest cat, Gwiffen (whose full name is Slartibartfast), to the vet this morning, where I shelled out far more money than I expected on shots. I took him to a different vet instead of the privately owned one, and boy did it show. Good thing I got paid ... but I'm still kind of afraid to see what my balance is. Ah well.

But I heard tell of fudge in the back office, so I'm going to go find it.

Hecticity

I had my interview at the library this morning. It went well, but the library director said she'd gotten 20 applications and that some have degrees (even master's degrees), though not in the field. So we'll see what happens. I'll just be checking my phone obsessively for the next couple of days.

Last night I attended my brothers' pops concert. All of the performers did well (oh, how I love watching them sing and dance). One of their friends sang Evanescence's "Hello"; I think Amy Lee would have been proud of it. She has a very powerful voice, and I've been impressed by her talents frequently. She's a great actor as well.

In craft land, I've been working (albeit slowly, with all the hecticity* of work) on something inspired loosely on Knitty's Danica, an entrelac scarf. It won't be a scarf by the time I'm through with it. I've also got a couple of other things to find for the swap, but I may end up making my own. No hints, liebschien!

Tonight I plan to finish my matchboxes for the other swap. I just got the last address this morning, so maybe I can finish tonight and send tomorrow or Monday.

Now to get back to work and breakfast: yummy bagel chips dipped in Cranberry Boysenberry yogurt. Mmmm.


*New word. I thought I made it up just now, but apparently someone's put it on Urban Dictionary. At any rate, I thought it sounded better than hecticness.

I made you a cookie ...

I don't have anything constructive to say except that aside from work, I'm working on swap stuff (mostly Hogwarts Houses, though I've got some matchboxes to finish up). So I decided to share some photos from Cats hosted by Knitemare that kind of made me bust a gut.






Hasta!

TG&F!

Thank Gred and Forge! (I dunno. Call me crazy.)

Funny how having security cameras installed at your workplace just makes you feel like a criminal, innit? Actually, no. It's not funny, it sucks. 'Specially when we're moving out of this building in less than two months.

I got a surprise day off yesterday (mostly because that's when they were installing security cameras), which I spent applying for another part-time job (librarian), buying cheap-yet-clever crafty stuff, and making a huge mess in the living room (being crafty).

I joined another swap — the Fill-a-Matchbox Suppy Swap — mostly because I wanted an excuse to make funky stuff out of matchboxes. (I've seen altered matchboxes and matchbox shrines; they're pretty clever.) I found lots of stuff to put in the three I signed up for ... just by going through my beading / wire-working box. So apart from gathering little stuff, I've painted the boxes themselves. They're going to get more decorations, probably with Mod Podge or fun pens or something requiring hot glue. (I bought my very own hot glue gun a week ago to finish something for the Gaiman Swap. I love it. Yes, Dustro, I love a glue gun.)

Anyway, work calls.

Merda fit.

Shit happens. Today's title would be a particularly apt descrtiption of last week. I described it to a couple of people thusly: Imagine having a bad day, then having the same bad day four times in a row. So here's to having a much better week.

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I realized the other day that I hadn't posted any pictures of what MonsterPal sent me, despite having taken them on Tuesday with the office digital. Above you can see the whole package, except the chocolates. (They were mysteriously absent from the photo shoot.)

The yarns: the orange yarn is Fonty, an angora/wool blend; the blue is MonsterPal's own handspun. I love it, and am trying to think of a really good project. The Renew lotion works quite well — I've been very happy with it so far. The wooden needle case didn't photograph well, but it's certainly gorgeous. And lastly, the skull booty from Paw and Claw Designs: it is fantastic. There's some really amazing art on their Etsy shop. (There are little gems on the ends of the bones, which I think is just adorable.)

As for today, my goals over the lunch hour (which at 1:50 p.m. still hasn't arrived) include mailing two swap packages — SP8 and Gaiman — and buying a box of cheap-o valentines. Aside from the lunch part.

I haven't done a lot of knitting lately, but I bet it would sure cut down on this crazy work stress.