Neglect.

Wow. Have I truly not posted at all this month? Well, let's get back on track.

Firstly, I want to share SuperBaby's first handknit sweater, the Offset Wraplan, designed by Fyberduck. It turned out so well, I almost wanted to keep it just so I could admire it. The sweater is a bit on the big side for SuperBaby right now, as you can see.


A touch big for him ...

It was knit in red Rowan Felted Tweed (wool and alpaca), and has little blue fish buttons that I found at Jo-Ann's. I hope he has some time to wear it before it gets to be too small for him, not to mention unbearably hot for Iowa. (We have strange weather here. I swear I heard the weather man say the temperature will climb to 80 by the end of the week!)

Let's see ... what else is new? I've really been enjoying Dollhouse and Castle, and I read the other day that Project Runway will be back on the air this summer; season 6 will finally be aired (on Lifetime, which I'm still not sure about), and they're putting out casting calls for season 7. So glad to hear the show didn't get flushed entirely. I was really beginning to be concerned about my Tim Gunn deficiency.

Also, I discussed starting up a community musical theatre group with a few former classmates. That would be kind of fun, I think.

As for what else I've been up to, let's let some crappy camera phone pics do the talking.



Watching your parents playing tic-tac-toe with straws and fake sugar at Perkins on a Friday night is always a great way to beat boredom while waiting for your nosh. (Note: this is before I got pulled over for speeding. With the parents in the car. At midnight. Talk about awkward. Good thing I only got a warning, or as my mom said, "That was almost a really expensive dinner." But we got pie, and ate it last night and it was delicious.)



I discovered this gem, a store version of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, when I was making grilled cheese for lunch yesterday. It was sitting innocuously in my parents' fridge, and cracked me up. When I commented on it later, my mom got very defensive and there was a five-minute discussion on how often my parents got real butter during their childhoods. I think I might draw a question mark on the packaging, because the phrase is really screaming for one.



And finally, the forsythia is starting to bloom. Spring is really here. (Of course I could have told you spring was really here yesterday; I was woken up by a chorus of every chirping bird in town telling me that the sun was going to come up soon. Ah, the woes of being able to sleep with the windows open at last.)

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

I saw the pattern for Lacy Clover last week in the HP House Cup group; someone had made it for Charms class. Well, I snagged some DK cotton and a hook last night, and set to making the pattern. I found it was a lot easier to follow the schematic than the written instructions (once I deciphered all the symbols, that is). I finished it off this morning. Have a gander at my terrible cell phone photo below:


Just in time ...

It's a bit brighter than that, but my photo editing program didn't want to go there. I'm pretty happy with the project; it was fairly simple, yet challenging in some spots. (I re-crocheted the last two rows of the leaves two or three times to get it to look right, and in the end deviated slightly from the pattern.)

I would have stuck it in my hair, but my hair would have none of it today. (Not to mention it's a bit heavy, as it's DK cotton and about the size of my palm.)

Don't drink too much green beer.

Spring Knitty: made of win.

I haven't written, dear friends, and I apologize. To make up for it, let me tell you what I want to knit from the Spring '09 Knitty, which went live this morning.

• Shipwreck Shawl: a pi (circular) shawl, with a seaweed-y central motif and a fishnet outer edge. I am in love. (And if you scroll all the way to the bottom and look at the last shawl picture, you can see the sparkling green beads in the netting. LOVE.)
• Aeolian Shawl: another beautiful shawl. This one calls for beads, which is fun. There are also 7- and 9-stitch nupps, which scare the hell out of me. (Nupps are notorious for being difficult. I've successfully done 5-stitch nupps, but these really big ones are intimidating.)
• Hanne: an interesting vest-like scarf (or is that a scarf-like vest?) that would be a nice addition to a steampunk wardrobe, I think. It would probably look pretty smashing with my new goggles, which I got on Saturday.
• Ripple: a faux entrelac scarf with a really ripply edging. Not queued yet, thought I might knit it sometime. It's really pretty to look at.
• Absinthe: beautiful cabled socks done by my classics buddy, fyberduck. She has really outdone herself, and she's a fantastic designer. (Seriously, I let out a squeak when I saw the chart for the foot, let alone the whole sock.)
• Flit 'n Float scarf: the description of this one made me want to knit it for my mom, because she likes butterflies. She also likes lavender, which is the color of the modeled scarf.
• Flock: A mobile, made with knitted branches and birds. I love it. It will be perfect for my impending nephew.

I expect that, if you're a knitter on Ravelry, that you've already padded your queue considerably. If you're not on Ravelry yet, ask me for an invite, or get yourself there and get on the waiting list!

By the way, I also got my Princess Bride swap package last Friday. Grace from Ontario sent me a beautiful package full of awesome presents.


Foam crowns, yarn sleeves, knitted Inigo doll(!), chocolate wafers, a "farm boy, fetch me that pitcher", a lovely yellow scarf, and gorgeous, squishy yarn.

All of that was packed in a bubble mailer, which is pretty amazing. I sent a box to my secret pal (who is also in Canada). Maybe I should have gone the really-big-bubble-envelope route, too, now that I know you can pack way more than you think in one of those bad boys!

Bread pudding and meditation

Bread pudding makes a delicious breakfast, by the bye, if a little sweet. It's like shredded French toast, really, with raisins on top. And sugar.

As you can see, I did a little baking on Sunday, to celebrate the arrival of February and that spring is just a little closer. It was so nice that I was able to turn off the heat and prop the front door open for a little fresh air. Of course, then we were back to ice cube air by Sunday night, but spring is tip-toeing closer. And I did a little pre-spring cleaning, besides. Four bags of shredded paper? I think so. And Saturday I pulled out the washer and dryer to dig out everything from behind. I found old mail (not mine) from 2006 back there, as well as enough dust bunnies to join forces and make a dust jackalope.

I've also been doing a bit of knitting, as usual. Here's something to help with meditation a bit: the Baltic Finger Labyrinth.



Except I got a little carried away last night and will have to frog back a couple rows. Something is a little whacky with the center. I'm not exactly exactly following the chart to the letter, so that might be why my center is strange. I tried dropping the offending stitches this morning to attempt to fix it without frogging, but I think I just made it worse. So when I'm finished with choir rehearsal tonight, I'll curl up in my chair, queue up a few podcasts, and work it out.

I'm still quite pleased with how it looks otherwise. I'll have to add some edging to it to keep it from rolling — probably single crochet — as I chose to knit the project in stockinette. The original was knit in garter stitch, which probably would have been a smarter choice, but I decided to go with smooth.

That's all she wrote for today. I can't really think of a whole lot.

Let's go treasure hunting!

I accomplished the homework for another House Cup class since I last posted, and I'm a big fan of how it turned out (and I didn't bleed due to trying to put it on my cat).

Because this project was so open-ended, it took me a really long time to come up with something. In the end, I decided to make something for my steampunk alias, which I'm still in the process of developing. Her name is Ginevra Lucette Valentine (and kudos to you if you can figure out the two references in there), and she's an adventurer and explorer.



The task was to come up with a project corresponding to the Character, Heart and Social numbers unique to your name. (Numbers discerned with the help of this link.) What's interesting is that my online alias xamonster and my steampunk alias have the very same numbers: 3 Character, 3 Heart, 9 Social. (A link to the further explanation of personality numbers can be found on the link above.)

Here's my description from the project page:

I chose scarlet (S9) and tangerine (C3) for my main colors. I chose to do a travel case (h3) for a map (C3): no true steampunk treasure hunter goes exploring without a map! I opted to crochet my case in order to have a stronger fabric.

The disc for the base began with 6 stitches (3+3) around, increased to 24. I continued in dc for 9 inches before finishing in sc with 3 tangerine stripes. The disc for the cap began with 9 stitches around, increased to 27 (9x3), dc for a few rounds, then adding sc with 3 tangerine stripes. The strap was dc on a base 3 stitches wide.

To reinforce the case, there is a cardboard tube, which will (at some point in the hopefully not-so-distant future) painted a metallic color with a Mod Podge top coat to protect it.

Check out my sexy coffee table. It's a trunk that used to belong to my great-grandmother.

That is all.

I will taunt you a second time

How, you may ask, did you manage to get a cat to hold still long enough to place a hat on his head?

In short, I didn't. This photo is some kind of miracle. Most of the brief photo shoot this morning actually went like this:



This is the aptly-named Demetrios is an angry French cat hat, but is known on Ravelry as International Cat Hat: France, Le Mieux. There is a small number of hats for other countries: Germany, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom — even the US (a stunning rendition of the Statue of Liberty's crown and scepter).

That's all I can muster today. Happy MLK Day!

In which my toes are a little cold.

As I may have mentioned previously, I feel that Neil Gaiman has a way with words. Let me once more demonstrate:

Oww. Windchill. Cold like knives cold.

Twitter from neilhimself

Concise, yet accurate as always.


I also learned last night that I am, in point of fact, a bad person for wanting to de-claw my cat primarily because he keeps making holes in the window plastic. I would make him duck tape mittens, but he would just gnaw his paws off. Ah well. Patchwork Window Project continues. More photos ought to follow.

Also, I have finished my January Charms project, Urchin. Expecto patronum!



Nice, eh? Now back to your regularly scheduled cold air, which is probably causing hell to freeze over again.

Ra Ra Ravenclaw!

This post is going to be primarily about knitting and Harry Potter, so if you're not interested in any of that, you probably ought to skip this post.

I finished my Luna scarf, which was my first project for the new term of Harry Potter Knitting / Crochet House Cup. I'm knitting (and crocheting, as you can see below) for Ravenclaw again, which is nice. I was prepared to knit for another house again, but the numbers ended up being fairly balanced and I think everyone got their first choice.


Luna Lovegood scarf. Slightly twisty, slightly itchy, but sweet

The scarf was crocheted from stash wool, which is amazing in and of itself. I ran out of the first color (the lightest) and went stash diving to dig out some more coordinated colors. The Luna scarf was an assignment from this month's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The task was this:

This month you will be learning the Imperius Curse: Go to our Group Members Page. Close your eyes. Click on a fellow Housecupper. Make something from their projects page. (Because it’s like the other Housecupper controlling you - but there’s a certain amount of agency, because you can choose what project you do…and also because if you hate everything, you could choose another person - we totally wouldn’t know.)

So I thought the assignment was pretty cool. I clicked on a person called MOEgir198, who had already made a Luna scarf, and there you have it.

Here's a quick rundown of the rest of the classes for this month. (And the list of classes available to take has been expanded, which was nice.)

• Herbology: cleaning the greenhouse. Clean your Ravelry queue, update stash and needles lists, organize yarn stash (with before and after photos) and make a 12-month plan of at least one project per month to work on.
• Care of Magical Creatures: knit or crochet something that will keep the magical creature in your home warm. These items can also be donated if you don't happen to have any pets.
• History of Magic: knowledge. The first assignment is a 25-question quiz; the answers are to be found in the seven books of the series, as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Tales of Beedle the Bard.
• Charms: the Patronus Charm. Create either a cure for seasonal depression (i.e. something to make YOU happy) or depicts the patronus as a messenger (a messenger bag or book cover).
• Arithmancy: the magic in math. Using the site Intro to Arithmancy, obtain your three numbers of interest: Character, Heart and Social. Then craft a project that features these three numbers.

I have a few ideas so far, and I have already started on my project for Charms class. I'm knitting a beret called Urchin which is from the Fall '07 issue of Knitty. The wool I'm using is the giant cake of black wool from Heartland Fiber Co (that new LYS in town that I finally visited*).

A new thing for the winter term is OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). The assignment is to choose a class to attempt an OWL for, present your written portion, and then commence the project, which is due at the end of the term (end of March). I'm thinking of doing a project for Herbology ("students should be able to easily manipulate oversized organic creations"). My project plan is a cabled blanket, Serenity. I was also thinking about Charms, for which I'd knit a shawl. I'm still up in the air about that.

That's really all I have to say. Kudos to you if you've made it through this whole post!


*This link, coincidentally, is the same one I shared two posts ago when I mentioned the cortisone shot for my shoulder. Weird.

On finished knitting and broken scrapers

I have managed to finish a couple projects since last I posted. Firstly the Whovian Fish Hat, which will hopefully be a good compliment to my dad's Dr. Who scarf. (You know, the really long-ass scarf that he never wears.)


Won't this be sexxy on someone's head?

I also finished a gift for (my brother) Brox's girlfriend. She told me that she's often cold, so I designed a pair of armwarmers for her. They're made of worsted wool, and have cables. I intend to post the pattern to Ravelry. They're called (at the moment) Not Fancy Cabled Armwarmers.


I am testing them at work today for ... quality assurance.

I think there are a couple adjustments I might make (like not as many thumb increases, or using twisted rib instead of regular ribbing), but all in all I'm very happy with them. Hooray!

In other news that's not related to yarn (except for all the knitted things I was wearing at the time), I managed to break the ice scraper while chipping really thick ice away from the van. Oops! That's the second scraper my family has broken in a week — my mom broke her new one chipping through ice last Friday. That's crazy.

Needless to say, I had to walk to work this morning. And I had to deal with Frosty Scarf Syndrome (which is when your exhalations leave a cold, evil residue on your scarf and then it presses against your already frozen face).

I'm done with winter.

In which there are terrifying space monkeys

Not really space monkeys.

I visited the new LYS here in town recently, and I'll tell you what: it's a closet. Really, it's only a few feet wide and maybe four times as long as it is wide. Ridiculously tiny. That didn't stop me from buying this yarn, though.


Recycled sari silk and a giant cake of wool.

I also entered a raffle, as they were having their open house that weekend. And I won two magazines! I just got them today. They're pretty ... country crafty. So they're going to stay at work for now and be "library" reading material. Ah well. I'm still quite surprised to have won.

I visited the doctor last Friday for help with my shoulder. I had a bit of bursitis in my shoulder, and the doc gave me a pop to quiet the pain. (No, he actually gave me a shot of cortisone to reduce the inflammation.) I am a very happy camper now that I can raise my left arm all the way again. I have a bit of kink in my neck, but it's so much better than it was. I can't even begin to describe it.


I make things with yarn.

I changed the layout again. The Scribe layout was really starting to bum me out, because it would be just a little too narrow for something, and cut pictures off. No more! Now I've got a stretchy layout. I just need to decide on some non-bland colors. This may take a while.

I've been thinking, off and on, about moving the blog to Wordpress. Blogger is so flexible with the design, which I enjoy, but I find it lacking a little. I really ought to take up the Blog More Often mantle before I make a decision like that.

The name Crimson Mittens will be changed soon, though. Maybe this'll become Xamonster's Hot House of Yarn or something. But we'll just have to see.

In which I actually blog

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It's been over two weeks since my last blog-fession. I have been busy: let me show you the ways.

Firstly, I received an excellent Firefly swap package from kodama on Ravelry. You can click on the picture to see the notes on the Flickr. She sent a Jayne soda cosy, beautiful fall colored yarn, a tin-adorned box filled with strawberry sweets, really cool stitch markers, a Fruity Oaty Bar magnet, a Blue Sun sticker and a Browncoat pin. What a rock star!

And then, for the HP Knit / Crochet House Cup, I've been crafting up a storm. Here are a couple examples:


Before the crock pot dye adventure


Colored with blackberries

The dye project was for the October Herbology class. The assignment was to dye something with a natural product. My blackberries weren't exactly fresh picked — I got them from the frozen produce aisle. I love the subtle mauve effect they gave the yarn. It's really shiny, too.

And then there was the Astronomy project this month: a project inspired by the sun and / or the moon. I chose to craft both. I found 5-inch rings at Ben Franklin, crocheted around them, and went from there. If you're on Ravelry, you can check out my project page for details.


You are my sunshine!

What's really cool about the sun is that if you flip the rays up, it looks rather like a crown. puckstopper9 had an excellent thought on that: she said it reminded her of Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem. I have to say I agree, and I might take that idea and run with it. I wonder if there are slightly larger rings available ...

In non-crafty news (not that there's a whole lot), I saw this link on Plurk today. It's really freaky. Soylent Green is people, man!

Also, I signed up for NaNoWriMo on Monday. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel during November, which I intend to write by hand. I don't know whether I'll make it that far, but that's fine with me. I'm starting to get a few ideas, at any rate, and I'll take my best shot. I'm xamonster there, as everywhere.

That's all, dear friends. Tschüs!

CBF 2008, and some knitting content at the end

I don't know whether I have a whole lot to say today, as I'm rather tired from the Covered Bridge Festival this weekend. I will, however, show you a bunch of photos.

First, I did a little running around on Saturday morning. I got back to my house to find two things: a package on my stoop and, thanks to the festival, a car blocking my driveway. My driveway's not entirely obvious as it's covered in grass, but there is a cut-out in the curb, and it should be fairly obvious, considering the weird gap left between my house and the neighbor's attached garage. So I left a note. (Check out my sexylicious handwriting.)


Passive aggressive? Why yes, I am.

And then I opened my package, and it was the Kauni I ordered from WEBS last week. I did the biggest happydance ever. (You'll just have to take my word for it, as there is no photographic happydance evidence at this time.) I got one skein each of EH (bronze and blue and dark brown) and EQ (rainbow). I cannot wait to work with them. Aren't the colors so pretty you could just eat them? Now to decide on projects ...

After leaving that nice note and opening the yarn, I went downtown to see what they had this year for the festival. And I found alpacas there, with sock yarn nearby. I purchased the purple on Saturday; my dad gave me the green/gold on Sunday. What's funny about that was I was initially debating between the purple and green yarns, choosing purple in the end. And here my dad goes and buys me the yarn I didn't get. He's too good to me.

And someone sheared sheep occasionally.



And there was a parade on Sunday.



Yesterday was a long, long day. There was probably stuff about covered bridges in there somewhere, but I didn't pay any mind. After all was said and done, I needed a little knitting time. Here's some of what I'm working on right now.


Young Helena hood, with cool feathers.


2x1 Flat Feet sock.

Oh, and I forgot to say that I sent off my package for the Ravelry Firefly Swap on Friday. Kaylee, along with a lot of fun little goodies, was inside:

Of Quidditch, weddings and spinning

I saw a link for Muggle Quidditch the other day and thought it sounded interesting. I popped in my email address and thought, well, it says it starts Oct. 15, so I should expect an email a little before then. But nope — here's what I found in my inbox over the weekend (links intact):

Friend,

Serious trouble is afoot and Muggle Quidditch 2.0 is in danger...

How did the goblins find my trail so quickly?  When did the Ministry begin monitoring the Muggle Interwebs?  What does this mean for the future of this project?  And my future…?

Alas, there is so much to be done, and so very little time.  I have reason to suspect that any or all electronic owls I send may fall into the wrong hands, so I've encrypted my instructions and dispersed a series of clues across the globe.  Yours is below:

Part Three of my Domain
This riddle's answer does contain:

An ancient brigade, strong and true
In battle we gained our name.
As deadly Arrows around us flew,
Not a single man was slain.

So tread softly, and carry your wand at the ready. We need everyone we can get to join our cause.

Good luck, and Godspeed.

-L

Post Scriptum:
Five of five, together achieve
What one alone could not perceive.
A gambler's word, the safest bet:
Play your part on the Muggle's Net.

So clearly, this is a test of wits. I, not feeling terribly witty on a Monday such as today, copied my bit of the riddle and Googled it. My first result was this bit o' pretty, wherein I found a link to another discussion. Curiouser and curiouser.


Other than all that, the wedding singing went well. The rehearsal on Friday evening was nice. The one song I had a chance to sing then (as it was the bridal party processional) felt a lot lower than usual; I guessed my mom had forgotten to transpose it up a couple steps, which I had decided to do a couple weeks ago. (I didn't want the notes coming out all crap and growly.) So Saturday rolls around, we're getting ready to start the ceremony, and my mom switches on the keyboard and whispers, "Ok, I've got you transposed down two steps." And I looked at her, all panicked, and said,"Down?! I need it up two steps!" So crisis averted, just in time. And all was well with the world.

Finally, I did a little spinning last night. It's not the fanciest, most even spin ever, but I'm fairly pleased with it. Have a look:


Top whorl is the way to go.

Now all I have to do is finish up my crafting for the Firefly swap. I feel woefully behind on it, though I don't think I am, really. I just need to fix up my sewing skills...

Hey look, I can blog!

First things first: I adopted a friend's cat. She has become increasingly allergic, and I've got extra room, as it's just been Demetrios and I.

At first, things were a little rough, and Burgy demonstrated her dominance (although one night Demetrios decided to retaliate and camped in front of the litter box. That was fun). Now they get along. There's the occasional nose-touch and butt-sniff, so I call that a win. See? They're pals.

Now I'll tell you what I've been doing lately: knitting! (Like you couldn't guess that anyway.) Actually, it's really geeky knitting, so beware. I joined a Firefly Swap on Ravelry, and below is a test model for one of the many fun things I have planned. I even found some fun packaging that has a bit of Chinese flair, like so much of Firefly does.


A tiny Jayne hat was a warm-up for a similar keychain, which will be sent to my (secret!) Firefly Swap pal.

I also joined the HP Knitting / Crochet House Cup on Ravelry, which also has a blog. I'm knitting in Ravenclaw. Each month there will be assignments for different classes; we're allowed to do as many or as few as we like. Being the typical Ravenclaw, I signed up for everything except Quidditch.

In Potions, we're meant to knit something using two yarns you wouldn't normally hold together. I decided to use jute twine and fun fur. As you can see below, it's very ... colorful. In Astronomy, the assignment is to make something star-shaped, or with a star on it, while the Herbology task is to knit a dishcloth with hemp or cotton. As for Transfiguration, the assignment is to learn something new, or get better at something we've barely tried. For me, that's definitely spinning. So hopefully by the end of September I'll have a nice, consistently-spun skein of yarn to show.


Potions by the Numbers

Oh, and I almost forgot Charms: we're to create something using either lumos or wingardium leviosa. For wingardium leviosa, we're do to something that flies. For lumos one must have something that holds or gives off light; I'll be knitting a tealight holder out of wire and beads. It might even turn out to be sculptural, if I can find some a light-gauge wire that is still sturdy. Maybe a Whomping Willow candle holder?

So I'm about half done with both my Potions and Herbology homework, and a third or so of the way done with Astronomy. And that's all she wrote.

Drive by blogging

Alas, the drag queen challenge wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. I think maybe Project Runway is losing its zest and zeal, which just makes me sad.

But what I really came to talk about was the knitting, and how I even have pictures. (Hush, Oboekönigin! You have such a dirty mind.) I finished my Ravelympics socks on Friday and a shawl earlier this afternoon. What's interesting about the shawl is that I started it yesterday afternoon. Lemme show you it.



It's the Ruffled Shawl from a new knitting magazine that will be on stands early next month. Here's my Ravelry page on it.

I also mentioned the Kaylee socks, of which I'm quite proud. See?


My feets aren't deformed. It's an odd angle. I swear.


Oboekönigin and Sister Berte might remember this sculpture in a more put-together form. It's currently parked a block from my parents' house.

But I just got a call that the closing ceremonies have started, so I'm going to head back to my parents' house and watch them. And ponder what to knit next. 'Cause I've got yet another knitting event coming up. I'll probably enlighten you tomorrow, or whenever I happen to post next. (You know me and my sporadical posting.) But here's a hint.

I see you!

Look at all that work I've done on the Kaylee socks! See the dangly pink bits (oh, that sounds disgusting) hanging off my socks? That's where the heel will go. I decided on Saturday to do an afterthought heel, which is a new thing to me. Hopefully it will turn out well. If not, I suppose I'll just have to give these socks to my mom. Again.

Now observe my underhanded attempt to distract you from the fact that I am only actively working on one of my three Ravelympics projects. I never ended up casting on poor Gerda. I started Spring Things over with a different yarn because the Dream In Color wasn't draping the way I wanted to. You can't win 'em all, I suppose.

Blah blah Monday blah

I joined the 2008 Ravelympics today. They're similar to the Harlot's Knitting Olympics in 06. I'll be competing in the Sock Put for Team Browncoat (Firefly / Serenity fans) and Team KTog (my LYS). I can cast on on Friday, August 8, at 7 a.m., which is local time for the opening ceremonies in Beijing. I will knit the Kaylee socks, since they're all Firefly themed and stuff.

I was also going to mention what books I've been reading lately. Thanks to a camper, I started reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and am hooked. What can I say? I love young adult fantasy. I'm pretty pumped for the final book to come out at the beginning of August. Right now, I'm reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and the last book in David Eddings' Belgariad series, Enchanter's End Game. I'm really enjoying Middlesex, and I've been ignoring the Eddings since, er, I found out about Twilight. Oops.

...

You know, I was going to post about a couple things today, and I can only think of the one. I was composing my blog post on the way to work this morning. And now here I am, and I can't remember a bloody thing. Damn you, Innernets Of Distraction and Air Conditioner Of Forgetfulness!

ETA: I remember now. I decided I want to be a vegetarian again. You see, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (high school), I decided to give up meat for Lent (back when I did the churchy thing). It stuck for a while, but eventually I got back to my carnivorous self. So I'm going to do a trial, no-meat period of one week, starting today, to see if I can do it again.

Now, what to have for lunch?

Wup wup wup!

I decided just now that I want to make a Zoidberg costume. I already have a white coat, after all.

But Morehouse Merino has a pattern for lobster claw mittens. I just blew up a picture of a pair of finished mitts, and I'm 90% sure I can figure it out without purchasing the pattern kit.

After the claws, all I'd really need are red socks, white flip flops, and mint green scrubs. Easy peasey.

Um, that's really all. I have 10 repeats done on the Swallowtail now. Woo!

'Tis June.

I got a new phone today. It was about time — my old phone pooped out about two weeks after the warranty expired, and I had to switch to my very first phone. Good thing I kept it. My mom decided it should be an early birthday present. Woo! Free phone! (Pause here. Can you believe I'm going to be 25 next Friday? I surely can't.)

We both got new phones, actually. Mine has the most phenomenal ringtone called "Acapella Beatbox." You can listen to the mp3 directly here, after I read a blurb about funky ringtones on a post this guy made. The ringtone is so cool that my mom almost got the same phone (LG UX380, if you want to know).

And my phone has Bluetooth. In fact, I just Bluetoothed some pictures that I took today to my computer.


Here's my mom at Ben Franklin. That's her phone. She was taking a picture of me.

Also, I started the ninth repeat on the Shetland Triangle shawl. Yes, the pattern calls for only eight. I'm doing 13, because I like the number.

Here's a blurry picture of Shetland from the phone. I sharpened it a little with Picnik.



P.S. It's about 3:30 a.m. that I'm posting this. Nothing like Saturday night insomnia, eh?

Knitting quietly, feverishly

The house is very quiet without Gwiffen. She had all these funny little quirks — most of them quite noisy — and Demetrios just doesn't make enough noise to fill up the Gwiffen-shaped hole that's left. I think he's making an attempt, though; he's a lot more cuddly lately (and not that he wasn't cuddly before), and I even saw him playing with one of Gwiffen's favorite toys the other day, which he never really did before. So we're getting along, but it's still very quiet.

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I have been knitting like mad on Laminaria. So mad, in fact, I'm five rows into the final chart. At this point, there are so many stitches that each row takes a good half-hour to complete. So I've been knitting while watching Firefly, or Food Network Challenge, or How It's Made. Or catching up on podcasts, which I rarely listen to right after they come out.


The blossom chart transitions into the first edging chart.

That's all I have. My mom and I are going to see the new Indiana Jones flick tonight, because it's showing here in town (and we both enjoy Indiana Jones).