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:

Musical meme

Hello October! Sometimes, when I don't have anything in particular to say, I like to share a meme. Here's one I saw over on CBear's blog, Fuzzy Sheep Crafts.

- Choose a singer/band/group
- Answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
- Tag 7 more people. Or not.

I choose: Tori Amos (of course.) And I'm providing links to the lyrics.

1. Are you male or female? Girl.
2. Describe yourself. Bouncing Off Clouds.
3. What do people feel when they’re around you? Riot Poof.
4. How would you describe your previous relationship? Strange.
5. Describe your current relationship. Happy Phantom.
6. Where would you want to be now? Hey Jupiter.
7. How do you feel about love? Murder, He Says.
8. What’s your life like? Pirates.
9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish? Snow Cherries from France.
10. Say something wise. Take to the Sky.

That is all. Time to go home and think about laundry and choir.

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...

Shoes.

I got new shoes last night, because I wanted my feet to look cute while I sing at the wedding tomorrow. I've got the music down, I think, though I'm going to sing with a cheat-sheet. I'm too chicken not to. Just a lyrics cheat-sheet, though; I can visualize the pages enough that it will be fine. Still a little nervous, though.

Also, I have nothing else, because I have to go deposit a newly-fixed car at my dad. He's having nicotine problems, and I have to bring his cigarettes. *headdesk*

Bordering on arachnophilia

(Note of hysteria prevention: links in this blog post will contain photos of spiders.)

My house has become a spider house ... but only on the outside.

Seriously. I have two, and now perhaps three, spiders living by my front door. There's a brown crab spider with a lovely huge web going from the east side of the house to the trash can. The only reason this makes me sad is that when I take the crash to the curb tonight, the pretty web will be broken. (Here's a link to a picture of a crab spider, xysticus, though not mine in particular.)

The spider that lives on the east side of the door is a funnel web spider. I know this because there is a web there, shaped like a funnel. Sometimes, if it's not afraid (which is rare), it will come out of the funnel-y bit and wait on the web for some food to wander by. I haven't seen this one, whom I've been calling Remus as I initially thought it was a wolf spider (before I remembered wolf spiders don't spin webs), for a few days.

I did, however, see an actual wolf spider today, near Remus' usual hiding spot. (I know it's not Remus, because Remus was missing one of its legs; the wolf spider has all eight.) Actually, I think this wolf spider is a rabid wolf spider — Rabidosa rabida.

I don't really mind spiders, apart from if they crawl on me. If I happen to spot one in the house, I catch it in a glass and let it outside. (After all, they take care of all the nasty bugs I don't want in the house.) I think probably the only spider I would have problems with would be a huntsman spider, also known as a clock spider, because they're fucking huge and scary.

I probably shouldn't go on too long about spiders, as I'll just scare Oboekönigin away from my house forever.