One Blog is NEVER Enough

I Hate November.

2008-11-25T19:34:00.001-08:00

Well, I got up to the sleeves on my Snow White and I tried it on...and wouldn't you know it, I've managed to increase 2 inches in circumference pretty much EVERYWHERE on my entire body. Absolutely ridiculous! I weighed more than this in high school and I was not this big. And of course I'm only going to gain more weight before I lose anything, because I know how I roll. There's a back-fat joke in there somewhere but I am too angry/depressed to tease it out.

Also, I totally quit NaNo (again), this time after 10,000 words. I started to get stressed out about making my word counts and I realized it just wasn't worth it. I also realized that I don't really care for writing on the computer because I live in the Stone Age. (On a totally unrelated note--I just didn't want to make a new paragraph after three sentences) I haven't been sleeping. Now I have to leave the TV on or I don't fall asleep, so I don't put my earplugs in, and then when my dad leaves for work in the morning I wake up and then I have to go back to sleep, but of course if you sleep for an hour it doesn't really count, so I've been averaging 5 hours of sleep every night. Lovely.

In addition to my problems, K got let go from BOTH her jobs. THE DAY AFTER HER BIRTHDAY. I hate November. Thank goodness it's almost over.

The Point is that I Want Azn Babies.

2008-11-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

It is like the world is conspiring against me to not get any knitting or NaNo-ing done at ALL.

I blame YOU, Juri Ueno. You will not be forgiven until one of us has the other's babies. Or you can have K's babies or she can have your babies. We've got lots of wombs to work with here.

Seriously, why didn't anyone tell me about Last Friends? It has everything I love and almost none of the things I dislike! Japanese people, motocross racing (I am not being sarcastic. I have extreme enthusiasm for the fictional portrayal of motocross racing. I don't like real motocross racing because I don't like watching races--I get too keyed up), sissy main heroines getting beaten, lots of unnecessary drama, most of the cast of Nodame Cantabile, and, most importantly, an adorable, aZn, gendrally*-confused girl (we all know that's my favorite kind)! And since K and I promised to not watch it on our own, I have to wait until tomorrow to watch more of it...and until I watch it I have to spend every waking moment thinking about it. I'm pretty sure I wrote the exact same story my freshman year of college, only everyone was American and therefore much less adorable.

Unfortunately, that means I will be blogging more because I can vent my enthusiasm to the internet instead of annoying everyone I know with my inane chatter. Therefore, I will not be writing my novel nor will I be knitting. This show could not have happened to me at a worse time. Thank goodness I have less to do at work. My brain could have exploded.

I wrote some 3,000-odd words before I realized I wanted to get rid of one of my major characters. So I had to start again. I'm way behind, but I think I'm further ahead than I was last year (considering I quit after two days because of the intense wrist pain). But it seems as though I am unconsciously doing NaBloPoMo. Too bad when I blog frequently, it's mostly me fangirling over something lame.

I've learned that I enjoy reading my own blog. Is this the same as laughing at your own jokes? Do authors read their own books? Where the hell is my camera?

*If "center" becomes "centrally," then "gender" necessarily becomes "gendrally."

Blendtastic.

2008-11-02T14:36:00.001-08:00

"Fauxmosexuality" has got to be one of the most hilarious blends I have ever heard. And I thought I was pretty funny when I came up with "flesbian" (same concept--I'm sure I'm not the only one who came up with it).

Even funnier than "po-mo sexuality," which is also delightful.

In other news, I am apparently not keeping up with my queer celebrities. This is what happens when I actually have STUFF to do at work.

I joined the Sexy Knitters' Club on Ravelry because I have been meaning to make Snow White. I bought the yarn back in May (Valley Yarns Sugarloaf), but I've been putting it off because of the other sweaters I started. I thought I'd be able to start Snow White today, but I think I might need the size 6 circular I'm still using for Riding to Avalon (I'm on the first sleeve and I've sworn to actually finish this instead of letting it sit around for two years like my Rogue...I guess I have a thing for hoodies. I like to keep my head warm. Or my back warm).

I'm also doing NaNoWriMo (not NaNoPoBlo or whatever the blogging counterpart is--I did that last year and I ended up writing about candy or Canada or some third thing that has those same letters), so I don't know how much blogging I'll get done. I've already done two posts in the last month, which is better than I usually am about this! Stay tuned, all my loyal fans!

?!

2008-10-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

My camera is gone. For realsies. I have absolutely no idea where it could have gone. I vaguely remember loaning it to someone, but K says she didn't borrow it and I know my mom has her own camera, so I can't imagine who I could have loaned it to (because I have no camera-less friends). I am also extremely suggestible, so I could very well have lost it on my own with no help from a second party and then imagined that someone else did it because I felt so guilty. I don't know why I'd feel guilty. It's a pretty old camera and it was relatively cheap because my mom bought it after it was discontinued (story of my life--one day when I run out of ideas I will tell the story of my defective pants).

So I will have an ugly, pictureless blog. And I am going to give away the socks and booties I made and I will have no pictures of them (side note: Red Heart's "Heart and Sole" sock yarn got me a pair of child's socks and a pair of booties with barely any yarn to spare out of one skein, which makes it worth the five dollars full price I paid for it. Whoo!).

In other news, I have 871234021384 skeins of recently purchased yarn because I am crazy. My parents are going to disown me, I think. Or they'll disown the yarn. Whatever, my yarn is nowhere as huge as their dining room table, and God knows we use that even less than I use my yarn. Large, ornate dining room furniture is nice, but when it is so ungainly that it makes eating in the dining room a chore, then something is not doing its job. I apparently am full of direction-less rage.

On a lighter note: I may be participating in NaNoWriMo this year! I did not write so much in this blog about it last year, because of the carpal tunnel. I had to quit after a couple days because of the unbearable pain. But I am getting my laptop back from K and I am writing 50,000 words of utter crap just to say I did it. I've written several novellas in my lifetime, by hand, with illustrations--all when I was under the age of 14. They were crappy. Ridiculously so. With plots I stole from various Boxcar Children books. I plan to do better this time, but I can't make any promises. I hear supernatural/paranormal stories are on the way out. What's on the way in? I hope it isn't stories about racial tension. I'm several of the least important minorities and being from the melting pot that is my Northwest Chicago Suburb, I know very little about discrimination. Not that I'm incredibly familiar with vampires and sorcery, but nobody gets offended when you take creative license with THOSE topics.

I can't say enough nice things about the Cobblestone Pullover. Even out of my crappy Wool-Ease, it looks fabulous. You'll just have to believe me until I find my camera. K and I were going to have a photo shoot so that I'd have pictures for Ravelry, but now I have no camera, so I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe she will draw pictures for me now that she's a big time video game artist (seriously. My job is so unglamorous in comparison that I might as well just start telling people I'm a...actually I can't even think of a job as humorlessly unglamorous as mine. Don't get me wrong, it's a good job and I like it, but it does not make for a very impressive one-liner at a high school reunion).

If I Don't Blog, I Won't Remember My LIFE

2008-09-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

I think that maybe if I didn't sit on a wysiwyg interface all day doing stuff, I might enjoy blogging more. This is why I could never get a job knitting. I would learn to hate it, just like I learned to hate all wysiwyg interfaces, plus html, xml, and the internet in general. And yet, the internet is my ticket to Fame and Fortune, because I am far too lazy to do it the regular way (like winning 8 gold medals in the Olympics. Far too lazy for that).

I have gotten a New Uninteresting Job. This looks like something I'll end up doing for the next ten years or so, unless I get fired or get my own reality show. And due to this Job, I am on my way to Phoenix (?!) tomorrow. I am going to go on an adventure in the airport, much like America's sweetheart Bella Cullen nee Swan (SPOILERZ OH NOZ) and then I will listen to the Jonas Brothers and do some other thing junior high students like. Are they still into huffing spray paint? I didn't really like the same stuff as my peers when I was in junior high. I was a big fan of American folk songs that have since been turned into "Children's Songs." I had cassette tapes and everything. But the point of this paragraph is that I am not packing for my trip, but rather blogging, as blogging for me is an act of procrastination.

I don't understand how my cat hauls around 15 pounds of himself on those tiny, tiny paws. I guess he has four of them. Then again, I haul around ten times that on my tiny, tiny feet and I only have two. Boy, am I glad I don't have ten of him. There'd be so much hair.

I've been knitting and playing whistles, for those of you who are still interested. I've rediscovered how much I love the Clarke whistles (the ones with the plastic fipples; I don't have enough air in my lungs to play the wooden block mouthpiece ones). I used to think they sounded pretty weak, but maybe that is because my whistle of choice was a freaking Susato.

As for knitting, I plan to bring yarn for both Rusted Root and Riding to Avalon, plus sock yarn, on my trip. I don't foresee NEEDING that many projects, but I also don't want to have too few. Also, I have only the wooden circular needle in size 6, and I really hope they don't take away my DPNs at the airport, because that will severely limit the projects I can work on. I'm assuming it won't be that big a deal since I'm flying to PHOENIX and it's an early flight. Also, I don't really look threatening. Not even in a "so-not-threatening-it's-sketchy" sort of way. I could disappear entirely if I wasn't half a minority! But from the back I am culturally invisible.

That's enough for today. I've decided to resume blogging, which will probably occur once a month and then I'll ramp it up to weekly. But first I have to find my camera so I can take pictures. I have a slew of FOs that I need to get photographed. Preferably on my person.

Teh Worst Bl0gger Evar!!!1

2008-05-13T20:56:00.001-07:00

Yeah.

Well, anyway, my day was so spectacularly mediocre that I felt I must return to the blogging world. I realize I've been fantastically BAD at blogging, but you just won't understand until you graduate and then suddenly have to have A Career, and also carpal tunnel, tendinitis, AND suddenly find yourself obsessed with knitting socks (I've finally succumbed, and I have the sneaking suspicion there is No Turning Back).

I have had NO luck with FOs since my CPH. I had to bind off early on my Tempting and I STILL ran out of yarn (might fix this with WEBS sale, or might frog). My Gretel is a huge (literally) disaster that only looks good on my dad, who is surprisingly able to pull off lavender (but he won't. He's secure in his masculinity, but the hat is ridiculous). In fact, I have not had a successful FO SINCE the CPH (the Camisa is almost wearable, but I MIGHT reknit it in a smaller size. The style is good, otherwise! But until I decide what I'm going to do, there is a 2-inch long gap that will not be seamed).

I've become obsessed with knitting socks, but fortunately have only acquired 5 skeins of sock yarn (and 4 of them are single-sock skeins). More on this as it develops.

And now, my spectacularly mediocre day!

As nobody on the internet knows, I now have A Job, which mostly involves doing the work that nobody wants to do! Yay! And no proof that I am the one doing it. But soon that will change. At any rate, today I went to my first board meeting (yup, it's THAT kind of job). It was boring, because I have no idea what's going on! But there were cookies and some new variety of almonds, so it wasn't a total waste. I felt like a Real Grown-Up. This is a strange feeling that started when I first put on my business suit, and gets more and more obnoxious every day. I combat it by reading YA novels (I am absolutely OBSESSED with Twilight. I don't need to hotlink it because everybody knows what that is, except, apparently, ME). Wait, I was talking about my day.

I guess blogging was good for me, because the wysiwyg interface at work is JUST like a blog! Oh, I also am in charge of updating my association's website. One day I will give it a content overhaul when nobody is looking. And until then, I shall not link it here, because I am ASHAMED of its total lack of cool. Also, the TINY bit of tooling around with html came in handy (not so the XML. All that taught me was to look for breaks in patterns. I'm like that guy with the beautiful mind, only less interesting), so, props to high school nerdiness, and thank goodness for love affair/serious relationship with web designer who will help me out.

So, that's my job.

Then, after my productive day, I came home and ate sausage that came for free in the mail. That's the best part. Unsolicited free sausage in the mail, and flavored with jalapeño! If only every meal came for free in the mail. The gf is really sketched out by this, but she should know better, since I eat stuff that I find. And as my last semester roommate knows, "it hasn't killed me yet!"

Whoo.

2008-02-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

I realize that I have been neglecting the blog for many months (2).

Reasons for doing so:

1) I've moved back home for good (which probably means forever...oh dear).
1a) I no longer have internet access right next to my bed
1b) Even if I did, I've loaned my laptop to my girlfriend.
1c) The computer room in my house is REALLY FREAKING COLD and I can never stay in here for long without getting the shivers.

2) Carpal tunnel. Want to reserve non-pain time for knitting.

3) Lack of knitting. This has been resolved.

Anyway.

I've decided to make this my full-time, f'reals, all-encompassing blog-of-all-trades, and no longer just knitting and whistles (not like there was much of the latter anyway. It SUCKS not living alone and being plagued by crippling embarrassment). That means you get knitting, whistles, fangirling, barely legal obsessions, my sporadic love of the great white North, and all other stream-of-consciousness nonsense that pops into my head.

Probably not pictures, though.

Stay tuned for my eventual ramblings about race! Because as a biracial person of many adjectives, I should talk about serious bidness once in a while, although it most likely will degrade into "why I can't wear beige" (the answer: IT'S MY SKIN COLOR).

In conclusion, my cat feels that he must be heard. So he says "Raaw! Mrr. Meeaaawww. Mrrmrr. MrrRR?" At that last part, he almost fell off the chair. Cat, there is not enough room in this chair for both our fat asses.

Not Just Regular Dumb

2007-12-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

Huh. Apparently I am really super dumb at making berets. I tried making the one out of Hip Knit Hats, and that was a bust, and then I tried the one out of One Skein Wonders. It's blocking (which is dumb because it is acrylic) and hopefully it will turn out okay. If not, I suppose I shall try the Gretel beret and it might actually work, but now I'm really wary of starting another beret pattern that will turn out crappy.

I've finished most of my Christmas knitting, except for something for Shari (which is fine; she still owes me for LAST Christmas) and something for Karlene (but I have bought her two presents already! Cheap ones! Not like the expensive ones she bought me and SHOWED me so that I would feel guilty and buy her MORE things!--just kidding; she's a sweetheart and would never manipulate me like that. She just couldn't wait until Christmas to show me what she'd gotten me! She's really bad at withholding surprises). Hopefully Monique will not look as dumb in the beret as I did. I think it will be okay because her head isn't a giant rectangle like mine is (thanks a LOT, grandpa!).

I scrutinized family pictures today to see who I could blame for my giant masculine jaw, and it is my paternal grandfather. I've been preoccuped with my jaw lately, because it's big and square and masculine, which totally detracts from the porcelain doll image I seem to be projecting otherwise (that and my mini-giant-European-stature; if I weren't so small, I'd be really freaking huge. People who know what I look like understand; the rest of you must just think I'm a complete nutcase).

You know, the only good thing to come of my physical appearance is that during those awkward geeky years when all of my friends were AzN wannabes, I TOTALLY didn't look like the Caucasian loser that I am inside. I am an extreme twinkie, because my insides are so white that they give off heat. LOSER heat. I lie, my insides are pink and bloody like everyone else's.

Wow, that totally went off on a tangent. I should write a novel, so that the other girls that are built with Asian engineering and European aesthetics will know that they are not alone (and that's just the tip of the cultural iceberg that I am! I could save LIVES).

Crimefighting Delusions.

2007-12-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hats: 4.5 out of 8

Day I planned to have them all done: TOMORROW

Wrist braces: $36

Day I'm going to have hats done: NEVER.

And that's the progression of my life. I like to pretend my wrist braces are actually crimefighting wristbands. Like Wonder Woman...or...Leela (hers is not for fighting crime, but I still feel cool).

I don't completely blame the knitting for the hella carpal tunnel AND tendonitis; I blame my job and my family. And my poor posture. I blame everybody but myself (my poor posture is due to popular culture's ideal woman image! If I hunch, it will be like I have no boobs! Holy crap, my back sure hurts!).

I am apparently too snarky today. I'm not a big fan of blog snark (which sounds like what's in my nasal passages right now--gross!), so I shall just leave and go marinate in my bitterness until I am salty and gross, like that chicken I made last week. I blame the marinade.

Crunch.

2007-11-26T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's crunch time! WHY do I need to knit everything for everybody at Christmas? BECAUSE I AM CRAZY.

I need to knit 8 hats by some time next week. I have knitted 1. Plus there's embroidery involved. OH DEAR.

I've finally split the body from the sleeves on my top-down-raglan-dealie, but now HATS.

Nobody else is getting presents this year. Good thing I finished my mom's scarf already.

Oops (originally typed "Loops").

2007-11-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well, 1/2 of my dream* has come true! I now live about a 7-minute walk away from my closest LYS! Or rather, there is now a LYS within 7 minutes from where I live, since I have not moved.

Knitty Couture just sort of appeared, and it is such a nice place! Granted you have to walk past a few hobos and a sketchy area (the gas station at Skinker and Delmar, which I am very familiar with and therefore less sketched out than most people), but then for some reason it stops being the ghetto again for a few blocks (mostly because the ghetto seems to run north/south and Delmar is an east/west street) and there's all these OTHER boutiques! And to think if I had never gone to see Hanson at the venue across the street, I never would have known the place existed. And for that matter, if Isaac Hanson hadn't had that pulmonary embolism, the concert would have been in early October, before the store opened, and I never would have known it was there (it just opened a few weeks ago). So, thanks, Isaac Hanson's potentially fatal health conditions!

Oops, I promised myself I wouldn't get fangirl juice all over this blog. Oh well. I also promised myself I wouldn't buy any more yarn but I always feel like a bitch going into a yarn store and then leaving without buying anything. Especially a little one like Knitty Couture, because they'd totally see me leaving with nothing, which would be horribly embarrassing since I'd talked to all the employees. I ended up with 3 skeins of Berroco Comfort to make the Shaped Lace Tee from Knitting Lingerie Style, and the Vogue Knitting Magazine from spring 2006 (I think--it's the one with the pretty pink skirt on the cover) and all in all I didn't spend too much money, but it was also my first visit! However, it is winter and therefore they've stocked a lot of wool, and since I am hella allergic to wool I don't foresee too many purchases in my future. I wanted to get sock yarn, but when the hell did sock yarn get so expensive? I'm not spending 40 dollars on my first pair of socks! I guess it will have to be knitpicks.

*My dream is to live within walking distance of a LYS and a bakery. Preferably, I would live in an apartment above the bakery and have a pole to slide down into the bakery, but I know that is just a pipe dream.

Friend or FO (I'm 2 Clever 4 U)--this will be my hit single when I am a pop star.

2007-11-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

I haven't had an FO that I didn't frog since...a REALLY long time! I think not since I made all those hats over the summer. Everything just languishes around now, because I fear commitment (?).

Also, I guess I haven't had that much knitting time, what with the job and the homework and the relentless kanji quizzes (ASK me about my Japanese minor, if I haven't blogged about that enough) and the carpal tunnel and the drugs! Oh, the drugs (not the steroids though. I am proud to say that issue cleared itself up with no side effect of hair growth).

Strange that this is a knitting blog, yet the only thing I've managed to accomplish is soup. And something about Uncle Remus? I seem to recall blogging about that bit of excitement. Then I moved my work-talk to my other blog, because I am ashamed of my Joel Chandler Harris fangirlery, and fangirlery is for livejournal. I should make a T-shirt.

Man, as soon as I'm some sort of celebrity, I can be 9000 other things too! Fashion designer, talk show host, director, cereal spokeswoman, dancing with the stars, the list goes on and on. Now all I need to do is be really hot and in some sort of lawsuit. Or a reality show. Holy crap it's almost midnight and there's totally another one of those awful kanji quizzes tomorrow. But after tomorrow there are only three kanji quizzes left and then I'm DONE with Japanese forever. I'd be sad except that, like most things with me, I've done too much Japanese in my life and now I hate it.

I really hope that taking a carpal-tunnel-induced break from knitting will prolong my knitting-love for a few more years. Then I'll become obsessed with something else, let's say the hammer dulcimer, and the yarn will just hang out in my house with all my other abandoned hobbies such as needlepoint, clothespin dolls (I was REALLY good at making likenesses. I never made one of myself that I didn't give away. I smell a project!), sewing, reading, making those felt chocolate people from that one craft magazine from 10 years ago, plastic canvas box-making (I don't know what that's called, but I made a lot of boxes), and exercising. Maybe I'll take up yoga. I think I might need to relax.

I bought Gretel, by the way, and am delaying starting it because I can't find a crochet hook, and my roommate is too far away (20 feet or so) to ask for one. Plus, OMG KANJI QUIZ. WHAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF 浅い?! AND WHAT DOES THAT EVEN SAY?!

(it says "asai"--"shallow"--and the opposite is 深い)

Splurge!

2007-11-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

WHOO I bought the Phildar pattern books today, from Little Knits. I also bought last summer's IK because I needed to get over $25. I probably should have waited until the winter one came out, since I really like the patterns in the preview, but I also wanted to get the Phildar books as soon as possible since things tend to sell out quickly from that website.

Now, hopefully they're telling the truth about the directions being in English. If not, I'm totally screwed.

I think I WILL buy Gretel this weekend. But by then a pound will be worth like, five dollars. Go America!

Huh.

2007-11-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot to mention this yesterday, which is weird because that's why I POSTED yesterday...I just recently discovered Phildar. No, really. I suddenly have the desire to buy every single one of their pattern books because their designs are SO CUTE.

I sort of wish I had taken French now, but then again, I'd probably be terrible at it anyway.

Also, I have yet to buy the Gretel pattern. Maybe this weekend when I'm not just procrastinating. I don't need more things to distract me.

It's That Time of Year

2007-11-05T20:57:00.001-08:00

Edit: GUY FAWKES' DAY! But that has nothing to do with the post.

Time for me to make a list of things I have to knit for the Dreaded Holiday Season. Some people are not Gift Knitters. I'm not really a Gift Knitter, but I am apparently a Stash Magnet, and that yarn needs to go SOMEWHERE. Might as well go to other people!

So here's a list for my own reference. It's much better to have it on this blog that nobody knows about, so the surprise isn't ruined.

Karlene: Dashing armwarmers (her birthday is on Friday and this SO won't be done, so she'll just get them for Christmas--I am the Worst Girlfriend Ever). Probably some sort of hat as well, because I like hats and I like Karlene and therefore they should be perfect together.

Mom: Malabrigo scarf (I chose Palette from Knitty for the pattern--it's almost done already because I started early!)

Dad: Some sort of hat, probably from Hip Knit Hats, because those are hella easy. My dad is really hard to shop for, so I always end up getting him shirts. He's built up quite a collection over the years due to birthday, Christmas, and Father's day getting him six shirts per year (one each from my mom and me), so now he really does NOT need shirts anymore. And I have NEVER seen the man wear a tie as long as I've known him (21 years). Once I bought him sandals. That was probably the most thoughtful gift I ever got him.

Shari: "Peasant Brown" hat, which I am basing off helloyarn's top down bonnet pattern. It probably won't be brown, because neither Shari nor I can wear brown as it is our hair and skin color, respectively. I need to get some screencaps from "the Emperor's New Groove" to find a different color scheme. I will probably make a striped hat and some matching wristwarmers because I'm an overachiever. I just got some blue and yellow yarn. I might do that. I seem to recall that color scheme in one of the hats in that movie.

Monique: Some sort of beret. I want it to be the Gretel beret, but we shall see what happens with that. It might end up being that Pithy hat except I canNOT stand purse stitch. Maybe Ysolda's Urchin, since I have some blue yarn at home that would match perfectly with Monique's eyes.

Sarah K: Legwarmers! By her request. If I had slender awesome legs, I would want to keep them warm too, but since my legs are covered with bulgy muscles and fat, they do a pretty good job on their own.

Sarah F: Gosh, I don't know. I know nothing about her anymore, but I'm related to her, so gifts have to happen. I want to make a beret or something by Thanksgiving, and if she says "I love your hat!" then I'll totally have an idea. Something pink. Maybe some pink Fetchings to match the hat I made her last year. That actually sounds like a really good idea!

Various other people who will get hats if I have time: Sue, Aunt Susy (actually, she might get some Fetchings this year. Sue got some last year and liked them a lot. We shall see).

Grandma: ??? She doesn't have space to OWN things! And she doesn't go OUTSIDE, so there's basically nothing I could make for her that I haven't made already. If I had time, I'd make her the Hemlock Ring lap blanket dealie, just because she'd think it was cool and never use it, but who gives a crap; it's the thought that counts. She'd at least be impressed with it, if nothing else. And Grandma is SO not easily impressed.

I told my cousin Erik I'd knit him a sweater, which I really don't want to do, as I see him every five years. Also I lost his measurements. I will wait until he gets married, which will not be soon. Yay!

My friend Shari once posted her Christmas Wish List on the refrigerator, and as her parents bought the stuff on it they crossed it off the list! It was pretty insensitive, and in retrospect, hilarious.

There's a Weird Sesame Street Digression in the Middle

2007-11-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

So, I have become the fourth hand recipient of 923947238432 skeins of crappy acrylic yarn. Which is totally okay with me, because I am allergic to everything but apparently cashmere, silk, and Yarn That Is Ridiculously Expensive. That and all my friends are bums who never do laundry and when they do, it sure as hell won't involve handwashing, so I don't feel bad making them gifts out of crappy 2-dollar yarn.

I've also received some of that KnitPicks dye your own merino laceweight, and I fondle it daily with no sort of hives as a result. I'm thinking I'll order up some of the Swish Superwash for...something...just to see if I'm allergic or not. But first, I need to make almost ALL of this stash go away. It's really getting out of control. I might just make some really crappy sweaters. Some of the acrylic I received is in the colors of Ernie's (from Sesame Street) sweater, and I may or may not knit my very own ugly striped sweater.

(A note on Bert and Ernie: I totally don't think they're gay. I mean, I know I have broken gaydar and stuff, but I wholeheartedly believe that if they were gay, they'd have better hair, clothes, and especially eyebrows. My take on their relationship is that Ernie is Bert's retarded half- or stepbrother, and when their parents died, the last thing Bert's mother said was "don't forget to take care of Ernie!" Bert, of course, could not refuse his mother's dying wish, so now he is stuck with Ernie, who he can't stand, but out of filial obligation, Bert cannot take Ernie out back and shoot him--can you tell that my stupid minor is turning me Japanese?).

I have a paper to write for Japanese Lit that is due tomorrow and because it is only 4 pages, I keep thinking "well that's EASY. I can do that in 3 hours or less!" and therefore have been putting it off for two weeks now. To be fair, I want to write it on the reading we had to do for last Thursday, and I sure as hell was not going to read ahead just to see if I wanted to write my paper on that particular reading. I really do NOT like the "choose your own topic" method of assigning papers. I am not good with picking topics that do not end up being done to death, or just so absolutely ridiculous that I sabotage myself (the one exception being my "Holden's-Hat-Can-Predict-The-Future" paper I did junior year of high school--pure genius! I love how I wrote that paper the day before it was due and had been putting it off until I beat Mango Boom!...now I really want to play Mango Boom!).

I haven't really done THAT much knitting. My poor Camisa is hibernating because by the time I finish we will be in the throes of winter. However, I should probably finish it now, just in case my hands explode and suddenly I am no longer a freakishly tight (or loose, depending on the yarn...buh?) knitter. My raglan is hanging out, waiting for like 4 more increase rows that I am too lazy to do. I've started a scarf for my mom in Malabrigo, which should be done in the next month or so (hahahaha I've doomed it) and I'm working on a crappy cheap beret for myself to see if I look good in berets.

I think when I finish my paper, I am going to finally buy the Gretel pattern as a reward. Horrible exchange rate be damned! I want to knit this pattern while it is still trendy.

Soup, Glorious Soup

2007-10-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

I've lately become addicted to this potato soup I made. I absolutely love potato soup, and then I found out there is a website dedicated to potato soup recipes! However, one single recipe did not have all the things I wanted in it, so I combined a bunch of recipes together (there was a lot of fudging on my part), and hopefully I have created soup that is as delicious to everyone else as it is to me!

Now for the recipe:

Jenny's AWESOME Potato Soup

Note: I start with the measurements, but I tend to add more of everything than what I'm actually going to list.

1 14 oz. can vegetable broth (more is okay)
3 regular-sized potatoes or 4-5 small potatoes, diced into smallish pieces with the skin still on
1/2 cup diced onions (regarding the 1/2 cup measurements--I tend to make them rounded)
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
3/4 tsp. McFadden Farm Bean & Soup Herbs
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
2 tablespoons butter (or butter-like-product)
2 cups milk
water
1/4 cup flour
Salt to taste
Shredded Cheese (I use Sargento brand of the "Mexican" variety)

Dice up all the stuff if you haven't done so already.

Melt the butter in a regular-ish sized saucepan or pot. Add the onions and cook until transparent.

Add carrots, celery, potatoes, and vegetable broth. Mix the flour with enough water to dissolve it and add that too. If the liquid doesn't cover all the vegetables, add more water (you shouldn't have to add too much).

Bring to a boil and cook for ten minutes. Add the soup herbs and garlic powder.

Cook for 10 more minutes or so, until the potatoes are soft.

Add the milk and cook for 5-10 more minutes, or basically until the soup looks all right. Make sure the soup does not boil over.

Let the soup sit a little while off of the heat, and then serve. Add salt to taste. Also, add maybe a handful of the cheese and stir it in to melt.

DEEEEELICIOUS. And I'm not even a fan of cooking. I just love soup so much.

div3 type="CRAP"

2007-10-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

And BAM, I'm on another Uncle Remus epic.

Here's the kicker: IT HAS THE SAME CONTENT. Like, the same plantation songs and everything. I'm really tempted to just copy and paste the code out of the other book, except that my meticulous nature forbids this. If this were my permanent full-time job, I'd choke myself (or maybe I would just choke on my irritation).

I've been in a knitting slump, but I've also had a bunch of schoolwork to do. I am crazy for taking six classes and working 16-18 hours a week, but I honestly don't have anything better to do with my time, apparently, than proofread post-Civil-War childrens' literature and read Dickens. Man, I can think of LOTS better stuff, but none of it is blogging.

/div3

2007-10-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings can KISS MY ASS because I am hella DONE with it. I even encoded every single small-cap author name there WAS in the back (there were SEVERAL) and now my fingers automatically go to ctrl+v, even if I just want to type a capital V. You have NO idea how hard that was for me just now.

I have a very long and ugly history with that book. Computers are involved. Also a faceless grad student (I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl!). And now that chapter of my life is closed, /div3, huzzah (div1 is my college career and div2 is my job. That's RIGHT I'm making xml/html jokes. That's how cool I am--i.e., not very).

I want to marry Ysolda's Gretel beret. First I want to marry a girl, now I want to marry the idea of a beret (that seems to be female). Conservative America, eat your heart out. The trick will be getting the beret to propose (I guess I'm just old-fashioned).

Seriously, I don't even know if I'd look good in that beret. I generally look dumb in berets (except those weirdo kangol ones, but those are hella expensive). But all the FOs I've seen lately have been done in MALABRIGO, so holy yarngasm, Batman, I think I have to have this hat. I'm seriously tempted to use the Malabrigo I bought for my mom last year to make this hat for ME, although my mom might look super cute in a beret (not that she'd wear one--it would mess up her hair). However, I don't think I'm a neon-pink-beret sort of girl.

I also can't bring myself to pay so much for the pattern, what with the weak dollar and all. Four dollars is NOT that much, but it is when it could totally be cheaper. Stupid economy, and Ysolda's patterns being ALL AWESOME. I'll be poor and blind yet, just you wait. I'm already a crippled drug addict! Poverty would be a lovely garnish on the poorly-tossed salad that is all my medical conditions.

Now I'm hungry.

Jobs and Such

2007-10-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

I wasn't entirely excited about this Ravelry business when it first started, so I was a little late queue-ing up for it. I'm not so sure I'm too excited now, since it's probably just going to be another message board I futz around with for a while until I get bored, but hey, might as well get all the futzing out of my system while I'm in college and have few friends and even less stuff to do when not doing homework (or work work...but I can futz around during my boss's lunch break. YOU try reading ONLY Joel Chandler Harris books for five hours and see how thrilled YOU are. Then render everything in small-caps! NOBODY KNOWS MY PAIN).

At any rate, I should probably be on Ravelry in the next two days, and definitely by the end of the week! I'm vaguely excited about joining an "exclusive" club, since it's free (unlike that sorority I almost joined by accident--my roommate is the president and therefore I've attended the required amount of rush events by virtue of the fact that I live where they were held! If this were the only prerequisite, my girlfriend could also join, since she was here for all those events too. I'm just too lazy to go to chapter meetings, and too cheap to pay to join a club I won't go to; as for my girlfriend, well, she DOESN'T GO HERE!).

My Ruffled Surplice makes me cry, my Camisa keeps unraveling of its own accord, and I've started that ubiquitious top-down raglan, which I have merged with the Boatneck Bluebell to create some sort of unholy monster (although you shouldn't quote me on that, since all I have is 3/4 inch of a neckline so far). I'm really paranoid about my FOs being depressing, and may go back to just making hats. There's always someone with a smaller head than mine (there's 99% of the world of someones, judging by those one-size-fits-everyone-but-me hats out on the market. I have this problem with shirts too. I am a rather bulbous individual).

I don't talk much about my job, because it frankly is not even interesting to me even in a "MY JOB IS BORING" sort of way. Its boringness is not really even very interesting. Joel Chandler Harris is vaguely racist in an ignorant, post-Civil War sort of way (as I imagine many people of the white persuasion were), but not malicious, although his rendering of Southern dialect makes me want to bash my face into the monitor until it explodes (quite a feat, as all the monitors in all the labs are LCD now. I miss those old HARD monitors. I did bash my face into one once, and let me tell you, I never made THAT mistake again).

Maybe I'll get in a procrastinate-y mood later this week and actually talk about what my job IS. Or I'll just ramble in a vaguely stream-of-consciousness fashion, which, after all, is what a blog IS.

And on that note, I will laugh at the idea of James Joyce or Virginia Woolf doing memes. I hate being a freaking English major. I don't like that I find that crap funny, or that I've read the intro to Leaves of Grass twice.

So Sad

2007-10-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

My parents came to visit this afternoon on their way to Branson (yay?) and my mom tried on the Ruffled Surplice. It looks better on her because she has no shoulders, but since she's so short, it's waaay too long on her. The Sugar 'n' Cream will shrink up when I wash it, and maybe it will fit better (I hope). She also says she doesn't notice the dye lot differences, which is pretty cool.

It wasn't that much work, but I'd still be sad to frog it, especially since I did all that seaming. Also, it's such a cute pattern and such a cute sweater by itself. It's too bad I look stupid in it. Maybe if I had done a solid color instead of that variegated blue.

Of course now I'm even more afraid of sweaters! Augh. I should just go back to generic baggy ones, since those work out in my favor.

I Shouldn't Be Surprised

2007-10-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

My Ruffled Surplice makes me look like a linebacker. Stupid puffed sleeves and broad shoulders.

Going to go cry now.

Or maybe I'll finish it with all the ruffly bits and it'll look better. But now I seriously doubt it...waaaaaah. If only I were slender, then I could wear nice trendy clothes all the time.

At least I got a new free shirt that actually fits yesterday. That will balance out the heartache...maybe.

Sadpants

2007-09-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting recently because my girlfriend came to visit (for 10 days, YAY)...except she went home today, BOO. I think I might be a bit too attached to her, as it always practically destroys me when she leaves after visiting.

Also, I'm a bit upset as I have two midterms this week and a paper due TOMORROW (also one of the midterms is tomorrow) that I'm not even half done with. I neglected a lot of schoolwork for my girlfriend too, which is now biting me in the ass. But since this is my last semester here and probably the last time she's ever going to visit me here, I figured it was worth it.

I'm not entirely fond of school at the moment, in case you can't tell. I just want it to be over so I can have a job I hate but at least I'll be getting paid (unlike school). All of my friends are talking about grad school and all that crap, and I'm the only person I know who has absolutely no desire for any sort of higher degree. When I was in high school, I was TOLD that all I needed was an undergraduate degree to get a decent job, and now apparently you need to have more and more schooling in order to get a job that is NOT making sandwiches. If only I made gourmet sandwiches for super rich people, this would not be a problem.

Okay, now I am absolutely miserable.

Plus, the dyelots on my Ruffled Surplice are apallingly and clashingly different. The seaming is wonderful (I like seaming once I get around to actually DOING it--I've been influenced by many people to dread seaming, even though I know I like it! I think it is because I have to actually pay attention while I do it), but the dyelot differences make me cry. I will most definitely be buying some of that Rit dye business and dyeing the whole thing some other color. Purple, maybe. I've recently discovered that I love purple. I'm wearing purple right now! Actually, I loved purple from about age 6 to age 10, but then it lost out to green. Which is why I have a buttload of various green yarn. I do have that Sugar n' Cream that is purple AND green. We shall see what happens.

I Want Pizza

2007-09-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

I've finished one of the sleeves for the Ruffled Surplice, and the dye lot of my new yarn is drastically different. I really hope that I can just throw this sucker in the washing machine and it will fade to a nice uniform nastiness. If not, I guess I could dye the entire thing so that the color variation is less noticeable. I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

I also started the Camisa from last year's fall Knitscene. I really love basketweave. I've only ever done basketweave once before and it was for a washcloth for my cousin (I made her more than ONE, jeez, I'm not THAT cheap), and I'm really fond of the stitch. I don't know why. I also really love this TLC Cotton Plus, even though it splits like crazy. That's one thing I have to say about the Sugar 'n Cream: it never split on me. That and I got through the entire 14-oz skein with NO knots, which is more than can be said for Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. I have yet to hit any knots in the Cotton Plus, but I have only used half a skein per basketweave panel (which is all I've accomplished on the Camisa).

However, I think I should probably knit a sweater sweater, as I am always freezing to death in my classes (ironic, as it is in the upper 80s outside). Since I've got the Knitscene out, I will probably start the Central Park Hoodie, since I never really jumped on that bandwagon. But I refuse to let myself start another project until I've finished the Ruffled Surplice.

...I also bought some Softee Chunky for one of the Fitted Knits patterns. I haven't decided if I want to do the Textured Tunic or the Short-Sleeved Cardigan. I'm leaning towards the cardigan, though, since I don't have any of those (cardigans). I also don't have any buttons. This will be an adventure!

As for the subject line, I have been thinking about pizza all the time lately. At first I could not figure out why I was thinking and even dreaming about pizza (even more so than a Ninja Turtle), and then I realized it is because every example in my accounting textbook is for Papa John's. So in order to take a break from the pizza cravings, I decided to post about my knitting cravings.

For some reason I really don't like taking pictures. Eventually I'll start doing that again.

EVENTUALLY.

Ribbit.

2007-09-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

I had to frog my Mini Cardi for a second time. I'd forgotten to do the YOs at ONE increase point and it was for the second increase row, so it wasn't even worth it to just rip back until I'd gotten to the mistake. Therefore, I have put the Mini Cardi materials into a bag under my bed to get rid of their bad mojo.

I may or may not have started the Camisa from last year's Knitscene. We'll see how far that goes before frogging.

I just remembered that I have the sleeves to do for my Ruffled Surplice. I'm just really worried about the dye lots being NOT THE SAME AT ALL, MAN. Hopefully the color variations will disguise the fact that it's two completely different sets of colors.