Having found my sub-niche

Thanks to everyone for your sympathy in my last two posts. I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply to all of you directly -- Blogger doesn't give me your email addresses all the time. Grr.

This week has gone better (dark chocolate and Merlot have kept me just out-of-it enough), and is ten times more better because I have tomorrow (Friday) off. And though that means I have to work Saturday, I'll be all alone in the basement of the library and can play music through the computer's speakers instead of my headphones. !!! That's just the kind of rebel that I am.

And for the record, I did totally kick winter's ass and send it packing. For about three days. Now it's cold and grey and rainy and entirely non-glorious today, and winter just sits out there, begging to come back into my life and telling me it's the only season that could make me happy, that spring doesn't love me like it does, and that summer's just a flash-in-the-pan.

Whatever. Winter, you suck.

And I suck for not having a photo of anything WIP-ish, but I am in a bit of a snit with most of my projects just now, and we're not speaking.

This, however, does not suck:



Yes, it's the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Knit Along. I'm a fan of Buffy, I'm a fan of knitting, it all works out beautifully. It's the whole pointy stick/pointy stick affinity. The sweet thing about this KAL, aside from the obvious BtVS-ness, is that there are no time limits, no mandated patterns. Just hang out and knit and discuss. Plus you get to pick which category you want to be in -- Slayers, Vamps, Witches, Scoobies, Watchers, Demons. It's awesome. If you love Buffy (or Angel), you should join. (I'm talking to you. You know who you are.)

I embrace the weird, and it embraces me back.

Revenge of the Snowed-Upon

Take that Winter, you bastard!

(It's a bad cellphone pic of me, kicking snow. Yes, I am twenty-seven years old and mature beyond my years.)

The Universe Slaps Me Down

Just a short post to let the internet know that I can't write a decent post right now. This week is not going my way in so many different ways that it's hard to know where to start the story of how I hate it. I'll give you a list, because as Femiknitter knows, there are few things I like as much as a good list.

1. It freaking snowed last night. Ugh. Winter is starting to act like the scummy, needy ex-boyfriend who won't leave you alone and leaves notes for you on your doorstep and slowly creeps into stalker territory. Winter is a stalker. Go away, Winter, you bastard.

2. I can't count. I have now put the heel in one of my socks twice, and both times I have had either too many stitches or too few. I have temporarily banished them until I have my wits about me. This may take a while.

3. I don't know what month or week it is. Seven times this week (and keep in mind that I'm writing this on Wednesday morning, so that makes it "in two days") I've thought that it's either next week or 5 weeks from now. Seven times in two days. I need more of something in my diet. Probably more vacation.

4. The software switchover at work is not. going. well. Day one? 1500 errors from the offline/back up system we were using last week. Day two? Staff records still not uploaded. What could day three possibly bring? My money's on a plague of toads. Toads or book-eating locusts.

5. I had ten people clamoring to get into my beginner knitting class, and I could only take eight, and ONLY FOUR OF THEM SHOWED UP LAST NIGHT. I could spit nails. And one of the four women left right away. She already knows how to knit (using a spool to make i-cord) and just wants to know how to bind off (she'll come back on the last day). Another woman just could. not. get. it. I felt so bad for her, especially after a 7-year-old girl came up to us while I was helping her do the long-tail cast on (she was trying to use two needles; she never did get it), and told us she learned to knit when she was five years old. After a while this woman just sat and cackled and tried to knit with three straight needles (I honestly have no idea). I don't know how to help her, especially as I've already put my hands on her hands and demonstrated the knit stitch and she still did not get it. Fortunately the other two women took to knitting like ducks to water and are even knitting continental (yes!). Only one of the four people who showed up actually brought the yarn (Cascade 220) that I put on their required materials list.

And now I have to get ready for work (deep sigh). I wonder how this day will go.

Some Observations

1. The weather has gone bat-shit crazy, as is usual here for March. Yesterday it rained all morning, got sunny and warm at lunchtime, then went grey and evil during the afternoon. Then it snowed all night with high winds (my apartment building? It sways in the wind. Yes.), and that seems to be the trend for today. Fantastic. But the weird-and-happy thing is, the wind that's blowing feels not as soul-crushingly cold as it has been. That long-awaited season (I'm not going to jinx it by saying its name) is coming!

2. I have purchased new yarn.

Cherry Tree Hill in Monet.


Fleece Artist in Moss.

I decree that this is not a falling off of the KFYS wagon. I have determined that casting on for a second pair of socks practically equals finishing a second pair of socks, the prerequisite for purchasing more sock yarn. Plus I wanted it. Plus the CTH has turned into a beautiful teal-green-based rainbow of a yarn cake. And the pretty pretty Moss is for a specific project (more on that later... it is marinating just now). So I am entirely justified. I mean it.

3. Our friends Mark and Amy are coming to town tonight! We haven't seen them since New Year's Eve: Hammerfist Style and I'm totally excited about it. Friends of ours are having their wedding reception tomorrow, and MarkAmy are staying with us and it's going to be awesome with the cooking together and the dressing up for the party and the hanging out. I've started the pre-preparation for the crockpot dinner I'm going to put together on my lunch hour, and dinner will be ready just after they get here, and all will be awesome. Awesome, I say!!

4. I have made progress on the to-be-felted tote.

I finished the base,


and cast on about thirty-seven times for the side. First it was too small. Then it was too big. Then it was way too big. Then it was too small. Now it is just right. Ugh. Garter stitch is a little sneaky stitch when it comes to how many stitches equal how many rows. This last time (the time that seems to be working, unless I have jinxed myself by saying that) I cast on 64 stitches, which is the number of ridges (2 rows of garter) I have in the base. I hope this is right.

5. My Mom's feet make sort of cracking/snapping sounds when she walks. It's not painful (I think) or problematic, her feet just do that. When I was little I could always tell when she was walking down the hall or up the stairs or wherever, just by hearing her feet snap. I never really thought about it until I moved out of the house and didn't hear it regularly anymore. This morning, as I got up early to chop vegetables, my feet made the snapping noise and I realized that my feet have been making that noise for a long time. I have my mother's feet. It made me all happy.

(I just don't have any good recent pictures of me and Mom, what with the camera being a twit, so I give you a picture from my wedding day)

Anyone else have any physical trait from your parents that makes you smiley and happy?

How Cold Is It?

It's so cold that there is no moisture in the air anymore. Everything is drying up and freaking out. I live in fear of the inevitable bloody nose, my hands appear to have aged 75 years in the last week, my hair is static-y and clinging to my face and neck which is making me want to just hack it all off with a knife, and the snow makes this annoying squeaky-squeaky sound when one steps on it.



That's how cold it is.

I am pretty much done with winter, thank you.


Oh, and the vegan bechamel sauce? Right. The other night I had a taste for pasta with leftover vegan sausage (it tastes amazing and very much like sausage, because sausage tastes like spices), and thought I'd make a white sauce to go over it. In my mind it was going to be a lot like biscuits-and-gravy, a very savory white sauce full of pepper and goodness.


Did I go to the computer and look up "vegan white sauce" or "vegan biscuits and gravy"? Of course I didn't, for I was feeling cocky and oh-so-capable and full of my ability to MAKE FOOD OUT OF NOTHING! So I just grabbed a non-vegan cookbook full of pasta sauce recipes, found one that resembled the concoction in my brain, pulled out my vegan ingredients, and went at it.


My first red flag should have been the quantities called for. Six tablespoons of butter (I used Earth Balance... mmm)? Some flour... three cups of milk (soy milk)? All this wasn't really necessary -- it was just Nick and me. Did I stop and reconsider? Of course I didn't, for I was feeling cocky, etc. It was only after I'd added everything together and tasted it that I realized what was certainly obvious to Nick (who was humoring me in the cutest way): it was wrong on many, many levels, not the least of which was the fact that it tasted like a damn sugar cookie.

We had marinara with our pasta and sausages that night.

Snrain-drops keep falling on my head

Mother Nature has a messed-up sense of humor. Yesterday it was beautiful... sunny, warm (darn close to 50 degrees, according to "they say"), did I mention sunny? It's been gloomy for days and days here, and yesterday was such a nice break from the dreary mucky muck. So nice. Of course it wasn't going to last.

Today the weather is bastardous. It is either snowing or raining, or possibly both. First it was rain, then it was snow, then it was snrain (a more descriptive word, I feel, than "sleet"), and now it's snow. Bastard weather!

Ah well. This just makes me appreciate these pictures from yesterday more. Because yesterday's light was lovely and made for some great shots of new knitting. [interruption for bastardous weather update: it's either raining again or snowing with more aggression.]


(This picture not taken in the pretty light. This picture is old and is used only to advance the story. Click to bigginate)

This is what I bought 3 months ago (or more) for to make the wristies/fingerless mitts. The yarn is Knit Picks' yummy Sock Garden in Zinnia, the pattern is free from their site and is a 2-needle pattern (happily, because I haven't even tried dpns or circulars). I procrastinated (as is my nature) on starting these, using my lack of size-3 straight needles as an excuse. Then for Christmas, my wonderful mother [who is being an absolute treasure about this whole wedding deal, by the way... very helpful but at the same time being very hands-off] gave me a whack of straight needles (Clover bamboo ones!) in sizes 0 - 4. Because she loves me and understands the crafty nature (she quilts. Sews too, but only under duress). [Bastardous weather update: snowing fluffy flakes again, like it's all innocent and sweet. Liar!]


(My work basket next to the couch! I love it! Love it! Again, click to bigginate)

Here is the first wristie in its infancy, perched atop the Lloyd Scarf (don't ask, it's getting finished today, dammit!).



Here is the wristie just before beginning to shape the thumb gusset, now perched atop Ziggy, my finger plant. My (mom's) camera is just tempermental enough to get the plant in focus, but not the knitting. Of course. But the red/orange/yellow wristie looks so nice against the green, so I'll let it slide.

And now the snrain is coming in sideways. Off to finish the Lloyd Scarf and do mad amounts of housework. Or not.

When is a Book like an Armpit?

I ask you.

Libraries are delightful places. I love working at my local public library... seeing familiar faces (I've worked here for 5 years), helping people find stuff they need, teaching crochet classes... ah, it warms the cockles of my heart.

Unfortunately, that's about all that's warm here right now. Because of the sauna-esque weather we've been having in Northern Illinois the air conditioning in the Library building gets cranked down to what feels like 43 degrees and gets even cooler in the basement from whence I write these dainty missives (but never on work time, of course). And why? The books need to stay dry (like an armpit) in order to not rot and be disgusting (mold on books is the most icky thing going, by the way. Avoid it at all costs). And in this climate, dry = cold. And that, my friends, is why I sit here freezing my *ahem* off: for the love of books.

Finally, I have pictures!

This is the sun hat for my Margaret-type friend:

It still has 4 more rounds to go on the brim. The end result will be less Gilligan-y and more sunshade-y.
This is the first sunshade hat, which is my very own:


And here is my granny-square scarf (merino... mmm)


I took these and some other FOs into a local resale/vintage clothing/gifty fun shop (Cracker Jax) today and will soon be putting some of my designs in the store for sale. I am near swooning with excitement (does anyone swoon anymore? Can anyone define swoon? I'm almost certain my sister Laura can swoon on command). This is the second time I've discussed money for my crocheted goodness, and the first time I've dealt with a store as the middle-man. Woohoo! Cash! Man, is that stuff ever helpful.

Reminder to DeKalb Area Sit-n-Stitchers
Despite the recent lack of attendance on my part, we will indeed be having a meeting this coming Monday, 8 August 2005. Doors open at 6:30 and close at 8:45pm. Bring your fabulious projects, your fabulious chatter and your fabulious self (fabulious [fab-oo-lee-us] is the invention of a friend of mine). I haven't seen you ladies in about a month and I'm jonesing for a good chat. As always, we will be meeting in the Meeting Room (imagine that) of the DeKalb Public Library. What could be better--books and hooks at the same place. Can you stand it?

I think I may have found my next project. I mean, after my thirty current projects are complete. Yes. Crochet Me just put up their latest issue, and here is the fabulious pillow sham which I hope will grace our futon/couch in the near future. Or the far-away-type-future. Whatever comes first.