Channeling Madame Defarge

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:24:00.001-06:00

A few resolutions I'd like to share with everyone (because if other people know, I feel more obliged to keep them): A new post on my art Tumblr every day, even if it's just posting doodles/sketches/swatches. Keep my Etsy store stocked with a better variety of items. Find someplace to have *good* prints made of some of my work (happily accepting suggestions) Try to remember that making and

Bread Weather

2011-11-28T23:58:00.001-06:00

It felt like baking weather today, and operating under the influence of having read through most of Historical Foods last night (a great site - I kind of want to make some of the Medieval recipes for our next D&D night), I decided on the Dyett Bread - a fennel seed/sage bread recipe from the Tudor period. It occurred to me as the bread was baking that while I bake a fair amount, it's usually

Quilty as Charged!

2011-11-19T20:13:00.000-06:00

So, this year for one of the Christmas presents I'm making, I thought it'd be nice to give quilting a try - nothing huge, just a nice throw with a simple pattern. It's a craft I've never really tried before, and we get a fair number of quilters coming in at work, so it seemed like a good idea to get a little experience with it. This is just four of the blocks laid out to give a general idea of

Presents Ahoy!

2011-11-16T21:59:00.000-06:00

Our friends were getting married, and they'd really just asked for cash as wedding presents. On the one hand, I like giving cash as presents - always a welcome gift - but the packaging nerd in me cringes. How do you make a cash gift look pretty? Fancy envelope? Hidden at the bottom of a box of marbles? Then I had a flash of brilliance. One unpainted wooden chest from the craft store: Plus

Moving Recovery

2011-10-17T18:24:00.000-05:00

Some of the most currently needed items still missing from the move: All of my Inspector Morse novels (which wouldn't be so big of a problem if I hadn't recently discovered how many people I need to lend them to) All of my guitar picks At least one knitting magazine with the pattern for a current project My electronic tuner (yes, yes, there are places on the internet to get a pitch to tune, but

Shoes pre-dropped for your convenience.

2011-06-26T00:46:00.000-05:00

Normally, every year things start to go terribly wrong around my birthday. I either spend the week in a general state of crisis getting things straightened out, or just waiting for whatever's going to go pear-shaped. Things are still going wrong this year, but at least they had the decency to go wrong a bit early, so we're already to the getting things straightened out part and I can enjoy my

A dispatch from the walking (crafting) wounded.

2011-05-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

So, I suffered another of my mysterious balance failures on Saturday, though a bit more severely than usual. One minute, I'm standing at the counter sticking price tags on things, the next I'm on the floor and have whacked my arm on the edge of the counter in an unsuccessful attempt to regain my balance. I've ended up with one hell of a bruise along the inside of my arm on one side (I thought

Pampering

2011-04-04T23:33:00.000-05:00

Honestly, sometimes I think the main reason I go to the Asian market is to get the Chinese-language newspapers for craft projects: I don't even remember how I originally found out about this technique, but there's great instructions over on A Pretty Penny if you want to try it yourself. This was a good test run, but I think I need to use a more opaque color as my base - the yellowish orange

Fresh Batteries

2011-03-31T03:38:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling a little drained of creative energy lately, but it turned out I just needed a good day out to recharge my batteries. Through happy coincidence, I ended up having a Sunday completely free - no class, no work - that happened to coincide with Planet Comicon. I really wish I'd had the time to finish my Fourth Doctor scarf, since there were a lot more people in costume than I

Of Mittens and Kittens

2011-03-01T02:16:00.002-06:00

I'm terrible about knitting things for other people but never making anything for myself. Somehow, I never feel justified buying yarn for something that isn't going to be a gift or for sale. So, when I got a gift certificate for Christmas, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to get yarn for a little something for myself. The crazy amount of snow we've been getting lately has just been too

In with the new, out with the...well...find storage space for the old, at least.

2011-01-09T03:22:00.000-06:00

Well, new year, new projects - I've downloaded an open-source page layout program called Scribus that I'm going to give a try, and I'm hoping to have a few of the new patterns I've been working on out soon. With a little luck, it'll work out and I won't have to worry about trying to scrape up the money for Illustrator. I'm particularly excited about the project this swatch is for. I think

Greetings from under the avalanche...

2010-12-07T02:04:00.000-06:00

Well, it's that time of year again - crafting frantically as I watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on a constant loop. I actually got a pretty good start this year, so everything's at least started, it's just a matter of prioritization to get everything finished in the right order. Highlights of this year's workload include:Hooded Scarf (that didn't start off as hooded, but then she was

Milliput FTW! (part one)

2010-10-16T22:58:00.000-05:00

I've been having a lot of fun with a little sculpture and miniature painting lately, and I finally decided to buy myself some epoxy putty for a project I have in mind (no details yet, it's a seeeeeeeeecret!). I went with some Milliput (the standard grey-green), and started off with a couple of smaller projects to get the feel for working with it. The tentacle is a sculpt of my own - I've been

Of Things to Come

2010-09-29T23:59:00.000-05:00

Been a little overwhelmed lately, but here's a few sneak peeks of projects and patterns I hope to be posting soon: Keep your eyes peeled!

Checking in right quick

2010-08-31T00:48:00.000-05:00

Just a quick heads up - I'm having an earring sale on Etsy until September 6th. All earrings marked (SALE) are $5, and you only pay shipping on the first item - all additional items in the same purchase ship free. You can get to the store from the widget in the sidebar, or you can just click here: Effulgent Studios on Etsy

Am I That Transparent?

2010-08-03T01:22:00.000-05:00

Since my first batch of resin casts, I've been tweaking my technique a bit and experimenting. The first thing I discovered is that somehow in my head I had the climate requirements of concrete and resin mixed up - while concrete sets best when cool and slightly damp, resin prefers a nice dry heat. Since the house is currently about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, this means that the resin casting

Adventures in Crafting

2010-07-07T16:46:00.002-05:00

I'm very excited about trying a new craft today - a few months ago, I'd found a kit to get started with casting resin on clearance, and I finally got things cleared out and set up to give it a try. I'm going to just be doing some little rounded squares, and a small batch just to test and see how this EasyCast resin is to work with. If it turns out well, I may get a bit fancier with future

Ker-Birthday!

2010-06-26T00:57:00.001-05:00

Some of you may recall that last year, I posted a list of five impossible things I'd like for my birthday. This year, I've got a more reasonable list - a birthday present from the internet, if you will. I would really like to break my pageview record for my webcomic. Not a huge target to hit, I have a fairly steady readership, but not overwhelming numbers. This weekend, I'd like you to take a

While Twitter Was Down...

2010-06-15T02:34:00.000-05:00

I know I've got dozens of other things I should be working on tonight, but when I went to check Twitter and found that between E3, an earthquake, and a giant statue of Jesus being on fire (no, really), Twitter was over capacity, I was struck with inspiration!Voila! My very own Fail Whale. Mostly backstitch, though I did a split stitch to make the ropes look more 'ropey'. Also, those are two

The Wild Goose Chase Ends!!

2010-06-09T18:14:00.001-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the two most difficult things to find in my town: Russian Standard vodka, and Lion Brand Wool-Ease color #179. I'm not joking. Finding each of these items required trips to at least three different stores over the course of the last two weeks, and in each case, I got the last one the store had. Watching Iron Man 2 was particularly difficult, because I

Busy Busy Busy...

2010-06-01T00:14:00.000-05:00

Everything's been kicking into high gear, and it looks like it's going to be a busy summer. I finally found a new host for my main comic, Ooh Shiny, and I'm really happy with it so far. The hosting service is great, the domain transfer went over without a hitch (from their side, at least...the old hosting service kind of dragged their feet), and I've got such an unbelievable amount of room, I'm

Easter Roundup

2010-04-05T16:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm very pleased with myself. With the exception of store samples, I didn't start a single new project during Lent - it was all about trying to finish what I've already started. I didn't even buy supplies for projects, I only used supplies already on hand. I got two scarves, an amigurumi, and a pincushion completely done, my sweater just needs about 3/4 of a sleeve, I got a new pattern

Spaced Stripe Scarf

2010-04-01T00:26:00.000-05:00

This scarf is something I've been carrying around as my lunchtime project for a while, and even though it's a fairly simple stitch pattern everyone seems to like it so much, I thought I'd put up a pattern. Materials: Worsted weight yarn, 190 yards each of a self-striping yarn and a solid contrast yarn (in a color that's not part of the striping pattern). You may need more if you want fringe on

Preparing a new backlog

2010-03-04T00:49:00.001-06:00

It seems that I'm coming up with new project ideas faster than I can finish things. While my lenten moratorium on starting new projects has helped me get several things finished, I was worried that come Easter, I'd forget all the ideas for things I had that I couldn't start in on immediately. The highlights so far: Synaesthesia paintings. - sometime around New Year's, there was the gradual

Would you look at that f-ing snow?

2010-02-21T18:07:00.000-06:00

I could've sworn I saw the snowplow go by a few hours ago... Fortunately, with my Lent resolution to only work on finishing projects that I've already started (don't ask how many things I started on Pancake Tuesday...), a little enforced crafting time was not a bad thing. I've already knocked a nice grey/black/white striped scarf off my Ravelry list (and into my Etsy shop, in all likelyhood),

Vanilla-Rum Frosting

2010-02-20T00:54:00.001-06:00

This round of cupcakes was not as pretty as they could have been - I was using up the last of a bag of 'natural' (read - 'no anti-caking agent') powdered sugar, and as it turns out, I don't actually own a flour sifter. So, the icing's a bit lumpy, but still extremely tasty! After the last batch, I had several requests for the icing recipe, so I made careful notes this time. Vanilla-Rum

Domestic Pursuits

2010-02-03T23:37:00.000-06:00

Got a domestic little bee in my bonnet today, and started off the day with a round of cupcakes: These turned out better than the last batch I made - those were tasty, but closer to the consistency of pound cake than I really like my cupcakes. The cake recipe I found for these guys was nice and simple, with a bit more leavening to them. Also, there was no separating of eggs involved. It's not

The cake is a lie!

2010-02-02T19:42:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to switch over to using more cloth towels in the kitchen, but I didn't want just plain white towels, so I broke out the embroidery box and got to stitching. It's all backstitch, except for the edging of the cake, which is done in about three rows of French knots. I will never fear French knots again after this project. The original intent had been to make the cake slice a bit

Odds and Ends

2010-01-30T00:17:00.006-06:00

I found a great tutorial on making a light tent for photography, and thought it might be worth a try to improve my product photos on Etsy. Took me a while to find the right box, but once I had all the materials gathered, it was only an afternoon's work to get it all put together, and I'm quite pleased with the results - especially as I had a few things to show off. First off, I've been eying

Minor setbacks ahoy!

2010-01-27T23:10:00.000-06:00

Though I've been trying to get ahead on some of my projects, it seems like there's a few that have actually gone backwards the last few days. The sample gloves I'm knitting hit a bit of a snag when I went to do my decreases after the three inches of ribbing on size 3 (3.25 mm, for the metric) needles, and discovered that I already had the right number of stitches on the needles. Or rather, the

A White Freaking Christmas

2009-12-26T19:44:00.001-06:00

So...this is my mom's neighbor's mailbox... We got just a little snow for Christmas. Fortunately, we'd thought to bring overnight bags and the cat with us, so we've just been having something of a Christmas sleepover party. I felt bad about having to call out from work because of the weather, but when I saw the mail truck start up the hill, then give up and turn around I felt a bit less

3 Kind of Sad Things I Would Like for Christmas

2009-12-06T01:56:00.000-06:00

At the risk of sounding like a grownup, there are actually a few depressingly useful things on my Christmas list this year: 1. A decent hairbrush - I used to have a really nice, actual boar bristle brush. It worked great, and I've never been able to find another one I've liked quite as much. I need something with bristles rather than the plastic spiky things that just static up my hair.

My house is the crappiest parfait ever.

2009-11-19T22:38:00.000-06:00

As I soldier on towards the eventual goal of getting my bathroom painted, I am astonished how a house less than 40 years old can have this many layers of stuff. And I mean LAYERS. When we bought it, the house had been sitting empty for a while, so at the very least I expected some redecorating just in the name of freshening things up. The main bathroom, though...everyone's first reaction on

Simple Lace Headband/Sash

2009-10-30T23:06:00.000-05:00

Needed a little something extra for my 'Knitting Fairy' costume, and I found about half a skein of Berroco Lumina left over from a crocheted headband I'd made for a friend, so I whipped up a quick lacy headband for myself. With more yarn, you could easily keep knitting to make a sash/hipbelt, but for this particular project, I was constricted by both supplies and time.Yarn: Berroco Lumina (

I don't know why this works, it just does...

2009-09-30T03:17:00.004-05:00

Hit the writer's block hard enough to knock the wind out of myself again, so I present once more my top ten most listened to songs.Listed by total play count:10. Ocean of Lust - DeVotchKa9. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode8. At My Window Sad and Lonely - Billy Bragg & Wilco7. Anthem for the Already Defeated - Rock Plaza Central6. Corrupt - Depeche Mode5. Energy - The Apples in Stereo4. A Pain

Fall Cleaning

2009-09-29T13:43:00.002-05:00

I've never quite understood the point of 'spring' cleaning. I mean, spring rolls around and you want to go out and do stuff (in theory). You're not really going to be inside that much for a while (again, in theory).Fall, on the other hand...it starts getting cooler, and you sort of look around and go "I'm going to be in here a while - better clear some of this crap out of the way." There's

Best Cooking Accident Ever!

2009-09-17T23:53:00.002-05:00

I had some leftover rice from making chicken fried rice for dinner, so I thought I'd whip up a little rice pudding as an evening snack. I had just dumped in a couple of big spoonfuls of ginger and was reaching for the cloves, when I saw, sitting on the shelf proud as you please....the jar of ginger...I looked at the jar on the counter, and realized that I'd actually just added garlic powder to

Quite a bit of knitting, indeed.

2009-09-10T17:47:00.006-05:00

So, I'm finally getting some of my older projects finished (mostly because I've got great ideas for new stuff and I'm too cheap to just buy more needles). Right now, I've got a kitty pi that's all done but the felting running through the washing machine. I'm a little nervous, honestly - I haven't felted anything in this machine before, and the damned cat bed took me so long, I'd really hate for

Swatching up a storm...

2009-09-07T20:02:00.009-05:00

I was going to be all good and not start any new projects until I got a few things finished, but then I realized that if I want to actually get a baby blanket to my cousin in Australia before she's due, I probably want to have it done and mailed by Thanksgiving. I decided to go with the Op Art Blanket from Knitty in a nice washable cotton - good to wrap up in, but not too hot for Western

More doom on a cup!

2009-08-31T23:18:00.004-05:00

Went with something of an unintentional Smurf theme today:It started off as just a cat stalking something in grass, then I thought that the cat sort of looked like Azrael, and decided that the subjects of today's doom would be a few hapless Smurfs - perhaps a branch village of political dissidents, striking out on their own against the patriarchy of the main village, and about to discover that

Reorganization, and the unluckiest city ever built on styrofoam.

2009-08-29T22:20:00.007-05:00

So I'd been planning on entering a local knitting contest, all gung-ho to show off a lace entrelac pattern idea I've been kicking around for a bit, but after realizing thatA) I'd have to buy tickets to the festival to get in to even submit my piece andB) that the prize was just a gift certificate to go buy yarn someplace I DON'T get an employee discount, I decided that my time was better spent

Catching up on things.

2009-08-02T00:20:00.007-05:00

I was kind of operating on silent running for a while, as there were some birthday and swap projects I was working on that I needed to keep quiet until the big reveal. My two favorites out of the batch:OCTONINJA!!!Made this little guy for my friend's birthday - she likes squid/octopi, her boyfriend likes ninjas, so I figured it was something she could proudly display anywhere in the house. He's

5 Impossible Things I Would Like For My Birthday.

2009-06-24T14:13:00.004-05:00

My birthday is coming up soon, and as usual, I can never decide what I'd like. I'm terrible about talking people out of buying me awesome stuff because I get all 'reasonable' and ask for something I need instead of something I want. So, in that vein, just in case anyone I know has suddenly developed magical wish-granting powers and has been holding out on me, there are five completely

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

2009-06-16T19:00:00.007-05:00

Went out roller skating for a friend's birthday Sunday night, and realized three very important things that I should have thought of earlier:1. I cannot skate on regular roller skates, only on rollerblades.This was quickly remedied, as the rink had rollerblades available at no extra charge as long as you left your shoes with them. Of course, the rental rollerblades were missing a wheel and had

Just a quick nerd check-in.

2009-06-10T22:52:00.005-05:00

I finally managed to get to see the new Star Trek. I confess, I was sort of putting it off because I was certain it couldn't live up to my mental picture, but I was more than happy with it. I was actually tempted to go kill some time until the IMAX showing started at ten, but I have work tomorrow, so probably not the best idea... It combined three of my favorite things: Star Trek, Simon Pegg

Look on my scarf, ye Mighty, and despair... (part 6)

2009-05-14T00:29:00.005-05:00

It's been slow going between various injuries, new pattern ideas, and generally a metric shitload of other stuff that I needed to work on, but the scarf is up to 26 inches. On the one hand, I want to see just how fast I can get this thing done (is there a record for fastest Dr. Who scarf ever knit?). On the other hand, since it's all garter stitch it makes a great breather from my more complex

Hooray for Multitasking!

2009-05-06T00:14:00.007-05:00

Taking a little break from the Scarf to do a few swatches for some other projects: The tri-color one is just an actual gauge swatch so I can get some sizing into the mix, but the brown striped swatch is giving me fits. I'm not sure if the colors are quite right, and I know that the 3x1 rib pattern isn't what I need. I thought the two variegated browns would get the right feel to the

Look on my scarf, ye Mighty, and despair... (part 5)

2009-05-02T22:24:00.003-05:00

I've re-started the scarf, this time in a mix of Wool-Ease and Signature (mostly because there was a KICK-ASS sale on it). I was originally going to make it about 3/4 the width the pattern calls for, because last time it seemed really wide, but in the better quality yarn, it's so much softer that it really does need to be that wide.Just updated the laptop to Ubuntu, BTW - very very happy with it

Fresh Out of Armageddon...

2009-04-30T23:46:00.006-05:00

Neil Gaiman asked the people following him on Twitter to tweet pics of ourselves with tea and armageddon, but all I've got is a stockpot full of tea:Hopefully, someone has some leftover armageddon they'll be willing to share in exchange for the recipe:2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces1 heaping tablespoon of loose black tea1 heaping tablespoon of whole cardamom pods1/2 tablespoon whole

Look on my scarf, ye Mighty, and despair... (part 4)

2009-04-24T02:50:00.002-05:00

Well, the time may have come to start the scarf over. Turns out that what with having used up a fair amount of the cheap acrylic on other projects, there's probably not going to quite be enough for an entire second scarf. I suppose I could just make it narrower, but I'll be damned if I'm buying any more of this particular yarn (the best comparison I can think of is that it's the Coors Light of

Apparently, I do not know how to use spray paint.....

2009-04-16T23:53:00.004-05:00

Exhibit A:Exhibit B:Note that there is little, if any, paint on the finger actually used to trigger the can. Was my hand in the way somehow, like an accidental photograph of a thumb? Was I using some odd technique that others would want pictures of to illustrate the 'don't' section of an informative "Spray Paint Dos and Don'ts" pamphlet? Was it a faulty nozzle that was leaking? (I lean towards

Look on my scarf, ye Mighty, and despair... (part 3)

2009-04-12T02:49:00.003-05:00

The soldering class this morning went fantastic, but I started to lose my voice about halfway through. I thought at the time it was just because I'd only brought a cup of tea that lasted barely a half hour into the 3-hour class, and I was talking pretty much the entire three hours straight, but it really didn't improve even after I got a soda. Then I went and got some more painting done, and

Look on my scarf, ye Mighty, and despair... (part 2)

2009-04-10T21:22:00.004-05:00

Huh...was scrounging around for the next color in the sequence for the Scarf, and discovered that apparantly I'd started another scarf some time ago. Long enough ago that I didn't remember having started it...or these two single socks...or this other scarf...or that hideous sweater out of Lion Brand Homespun...It seems I need to keep a better eye on my stash/projects. This is where Ravelry

Look on my scarf, ye Mighty, and despair... (part 1)

2009-04-10T00:18:00.005-05:00

Well, I was browsing the yarn stash, trying to think of some way to clear some of it out, and I came across the leftover yarn from my Dr. Who scarf. And I looked at it, and I thought to myself 'huh - I probably have enough here for another one'. And so I am...Not sure if I'll keep this one, or if it'll end up being another present. I suppose it really just depends on when it gets finished.4

More random lists...

2009-04-07T00:44:00.004-05:00

The five words that clear out most of my spam:ReplicaOprahDietAcaiFacebookI'll take "Things That Can Go F*** Themselves" for $500, Alex.

Because I didn't have enough projects...

2009-04-03T03:41:00.004-05:00

I realized recently that the 'play count' on iTunes isn't quite as useful as I'd like it to be in determining how much I actually like a song - a song that I've had on my playlist since January and have listed to 20 times isn't necessarily as popular as one that's been on there for three days and has 15 plays. What I need is an average plays/day count. Ideally, there would be something I could

More teeny tiny painted things

2009-04-01T15:51:00.004-05:00

Or more accurately, more paint on the teeny tiny things.Fronts:Backs:Next time I buy a figure, I'm going to set something up so I can do time-lapse pictures of me painting it. Now if I could just get my hands on a Witchalok mini...----------------Now playing: The Clash - London Callingvia FoxyTunes

Go Forth and bask in the Awesome

2009-03-31T14:41:00.004-05:00

My article detailing the awesomeness of Dr. Strange is up: http://www.gamingangels.com/2009/03/made-of-awesome-dr-strange/ Go forth, read, comment, go out and buy a few back issues, petition Marvel to hire me as a writer. (Also, I think it says something about me that I already had 'Dr. Strange' as one of my tags...) Edit:(link to article changed)

...sigh...

2009-03-31T14:14:00.006-05:00

Why do I do this to myself? I despise pineapple, I dislike ham, and Im not really all that fond of cranberries. So why am I sitting down to eat a slice of ham on toast covered in pineapple, cranberry sauce, and melted cheese?Okay, so I know perfectly well why. But I'm going to blame sleep deprivation and go work on tomorrow's comic.Update: I have discovered why pineapples were placed upon this

Head Clearing

2009-03-30T23:29:00.003-05:00

In the middle of trying to convey to others the awesomeness that is Dr. Strange. I need to take a step back and do something else to clear my head for a bit, so I thought I'd randomly share the current ten most listened-to songs on my iTunes playlist:10. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz9. Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac8. The Oblivion - DeVotchKa7. 500 Miles - Peter, Paul, and Mary6. Ashanti's Letterbomb

General whatsits.

2009-03-27T22:08:00.005-05:00

Went to check out a new game store today, and decided to splurge and get a couple of new minis to represent the cleric and warlord in our current D&D campaign. Got a good start on them tonight, here's a pic of all the in-progress minis:Somehow, I managed to stumble upon the female mini showing the least amount of skin out of any sculpt Reaper makes. Seriously - the two bulky fighters behind her

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-22T01:32:00.005-05:00

Managed to get some projects finished this week - finally. Got mom's socks all done, got a few store samples ready to go, and I think I could make a granny square in my sleep now. I've been trying to go through my Ravelry notebook and get some old projects a bit farther along, as well as getting photos on everything.The big thing has been getting good photos of all the projects I've done for

I have officially ruined the mailbox

2009-03-21T19:00:00.005-05:00

When I painted the mailbox yesterday, I started to get all panicky that I couldn't find the stencils to replace the house numbers on the side of the box. My panic was proven correct today, when we got a slip of paper in the mailbox from the postman saying we needed numbers. This really pisses me off because, well, it should have been pretty obvious that we'd just painted the box and needed to

General Updates

2009-03-18T23:16:00.003-05:00

Started in working on the outside of the house today. The backyard in particular is going to take some doing. Two hours outside, and I only just got the patio cleared off and got a dead branch cut off of one of the trees. I really need to do something about the side yard, too. Maybe just till the whole thing up and cover it with pea gravel to make a nice path to the backyard that'll be a bit

My day thus far...

2009-02-25T11:47:00.003-06:00

Woke to the sound of birds singing and the first ice-cream truck of the year driving by. Then I hopped out of bed and brightly started in on a fun art project.........Then the weird 'no no no' noise started coming from the cat.....I managed to whisk her out the door in time to keep the kitty spew confined to the doormat...where I didn't see it and put my foot in it tossing her out...Foot

Funny, or sad?

2009-02-09T18:37:00.002-06:00

So, my boss made this pendant that said 'Yes We Can'. It was only after she asked which color represented Democrats that I realized it was an Obama reference. Hand to God, I thought she'd made a Bob the Builder necklace. I have no small children (yet), I have no excuse. Other than being Libertarian. Is wanting to have an excuse for being completely out of the pop-culture loop an acceptable

Somewhere, Ford Cruller is crying.

2009-02-07T23:03:00.006-06:00

So...yesterday, I put on a pan of bacon to cook, set the timer for ten minutes, and went upstairs to grab my camera to take some pics for Etsy.Good news is, apparently if something catches on fire, my oven shuts itself off and locks the door until it cools. It must have happened pretty fast, because the timer never actually went off, and the pan is perfectly fine, since I'd thought to line it

Making a note here - HUGE SUCCESS

2009-02-05T22:08:00.003-06:00

*whew*Yesterday afternoon I got a call that one of the knitting teachers at work had needed to cancel, so I stepped in for her. (since I'd knit the sample and made the adjustments to the pattern anyway...) Fun, but a bit exhausting after a full day of work. I think it went well, though. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and more importantly, seemed to get the hang of fair isle okay. And

Good on you, Ann Norling!

2009-02-03T00:14:00.004-06:00

Well, the handwarmer pattern is almost ready to go forth into the wide world and bring pack some spare change. I had a friend do a test-knit, and she pointed out a few things I'd kind of skimmed over (like the dimensions of the different sizes...oh, details), so I just need to fix those and get my little hand up to be added to the list to sell patterns through Ravelry. The Top-Down Raglan class

Next coat...

2009-01-17T23:18:00.002-06:00

Almost forgot, got the first coat of actual colors on the minis the other night:Tiwaz says that so far, the beetle is looking disturbingly life-like. I give full credit to the mica topcoat. I've mostly been focusing on the creatures, as they're the most urgently needed (in the sense of 'someday when everyones schedules aren't totally fucked over, we might need those'), but I've got a nice base

Knit, knit, knit, CROSS-STITCH!!!

2009-01-17T22:30:00.004-06:00

I'm finally starting to reach the end of the knitting backlog. Got both of the remaining pairs of handwarmers done, and the socks are coming along nicely. I really need to get the handwarmer pattern all polished and posted - it's not going to be a free one, though. Assorted reasons lead me to believe that I should charge a little something for it - not much, probably only 50 cents to a dollar.

New Year, New Stuff

2009-01-07T16:24:00.003-06:00

Well, got my first comic of the New Year posted. Hopefully, I can keep this up as at least a weekly occurrance. I've got my next two weeks done too, so that's a good start. I figure I can manage to come up with 52 funny things to say within the space of a year. I could probably do more in terms of ideas, but unless I become an overnight success with merchandising and such, I don't think I can

Race to the finish line

2008-12-23T01:04:00.009-06:00

Caution - I don't think anyone's going to have time to read my blog until after Christmas, but just in case, I've made certain parts a bit hard to read as something of a spoiler protection.Well, I figure there's no time to get every project done in time, so I've finished the ones for the out-of-towners, and I'm going to make sure all the others are at least started, so I can wrap the projects

Christmas Looming...

2008-12-16T03:27:00.002-06:00

Bleh.Eight days of crafting time left. I sort of hope we get more snow tomorrow so I can just tuck in for the day and get some quality crafting time in. (of course, I'll probably need to go get a few extra supplies, so....)There are ends to sew in, knitting projects to finish, bits to be sewn together, jewelry to finish, prints to be made, inks to be heat-set, items to be pre-washed before

Updates

2008-12-09T17:03:00.004-06:00

I added my twitter to the sidebar - I do tend to talk to myself a lot, I feel a bit less silly talking to the internet rather than sitting here talking to the cat, especially as the cat has a tendency to wander off a bit.The pickles are all done. And nearly all eaten. Needless to say, they turned out well. We're already planning all the vegetables we'd like to plant to pickle for next year.We

NaNoWriMo Fail

2008-12-07T00:07:00.004-06:00

Once again, I did not complete NaNoWriMo. November is really never a good time for me - it's usually when I start panicking about getting the Christmas crafting done, not to mention that I had a craft show to prepare for this year and the brief possibility of hosting Thanksgiving.However, on a brief spin through Wikipedia trying to recall if James Bond works for MI5 or MI6, I happened to read up

Hello, Winter!

2008-11-30T22:54:00.005-06:00

Yay! First snow of the season.Looked very crisp and snuggly this morning, too bad I had to go to work. Fortunately, the pavement was warm enough that the roads were just wet rather than icy. Meant a nice slow day with plenty of time to work on the store samples, at least.Got some pickles started, as well. They were the leftover radishes from the Thanksgiving relish tray, and I'm hoping to

In progress

2008-11-15T23:00:00.004-06:00

Thought I'd post a few in-progress paintings that I'm working on for the show next week:This one is going to probably be the most heavily reworked. I don't know what the hell I was thinking here, trying to just paint a checkered tablecloth without doing a few sketches first. The perspective problems just make me cringe.This one is just an abstract, it's almost done, I just have a few details to

Novels and Knitting

2008-11-14T22:11:00.002-06:00

Well, NaNoWriMo is going fairly well so far. It helps that this year I had a setting planned out. I'd actually started to write a story in this setting several years ago, but I'd been writing it all longhand between classes, and and some point the envelope I was keeping my pages in kind of vanished somewhere and is still probably floating around campus. I still had all my setting and character

And now a brief political message...

2008-10-24T00:09:00.003-05:00

That is all...(images CC from wikimedia, poster generated by diy.despair.com)

And this is why I waited to register to vote.

2008-10-13T20:55:00.002-05:00

In the last two hours, I have had THREE political poll phone calls. They've got four minutes, and then the next one gets immediately answered with "I'll vote for whoever will shut the hell up and let me get back to what I was doing!"

Updates all around

2008-10-07T01:23:00.002-05:00

Well, I just finished going through my Ravelry notebook and taking some fresh pictures to update my projects in progress. The big one to update is the hat I'm working on - it's an original design, and I'm really very pleased with how it's turning out. Took a little while to get the hang of the shaping in double-knitting, but it looks pretty good, and I think I've explained it nicely in the

Another thing to add to the list of things I can only do when no one is watching...

2008-09-21T22:34:00.004-05:00

Seriously, since when can I make an omelet? Without fail, every time, it turns into scrambled eggs. I don't even know what possessed me to try today. Perhaps Cooking Mama really can improve your cooking skills...or maybe it's that I've simply never tried when there was no one else home to whom I could show the perfect, perfect cheese omelet.

Starting the Christmas Crafting

2008-09-21T00:44:00.002-05:00

Well, the Christmas crafting has begun in earnest. So far I've got one original pattern I'm working on, and two more projects I'm working on from other patterns. I'm trying to do smaller projects and not take on too much, possibly famous last words.

The Triumph of Planned Obsolescence

2008-09-12T02:18:00.005-05:00

Last week we were getting ready to leave the house, and the garage door opener wouldn't work. This has happened before, and turned out to be a broken spring that time, but we could tell all the springs were intact this time. So, we tried running it again, paying closer attention to the actual opener, and found that while the motor was running and the chain was hooked in properly, the chain was

Best laid plans of mice and men are all f***ed up by cats.

2008-07-30T13:08:00.002-05:00

So I woke up this morning all "I'm gonna write, and do some painting, and clean the kitchen, and get that hat pattern posted", but then I opened my bedroom door and found this:So the cat got dumped out on her fuzzy little butt, I cleaned up the trail of shredded toilet paper, found where she'd hidden the toilet paper roll holder, and now I'm going to eat and play World of Warcraft, because it's

Recipe: Caprese Salad Extreme

2008-07-20T22:38:00.005-05:00

A deli near my house makes a truly awesome caprese salad, but it doesn't seem to be something they make every day, so as my contribution on the Fourth, I sort of reverse-engineered it and added a few touches of my own:1 1/2 lb mozzarella (the nice fresh squishy stuff or the little balls)3/4 lb cherry tomatoes1/3 cup olive oil1/3 cup balsamic vinegar6 whole sundried tomatoes, chopped5 tablespoons

Of Heroes and Villians

2008-07-18T12:15:00.004-05:00

When Heath Ledger died, I went 'oh, that's too bad.' Having seen The Dark Knight, I now feel his death as a great personal loss. This was not campy clownish Joker, this was pure Frank Miller-esque chaos given human form Joker, and it was amazing. I honestly don't think that the next Batman movie can possibly be as good, simply because the Joker is really your classic top-shelf Batman villain,

The fruits of my rummaging

2008-06-30T23:01:00.003-05:00

So excited about the results of my thrift store rounds - the big winner of the day (not counting the furniture at my friend's garage sale) was an old ammo case I found at Salvation Army. It smells really strange inside - sort of like fireworks, but not quite. I thought maybe it was some other kind of munition, but the only one I could think of was cordite, and I've been informed that a) it

Odd thoughts...

2008-06-30T15:07:00.002-05:00

Where does the government get those markers to black out documents? Because the brand-new Sharpie I'm using can only do the tabs on three file folders, tops, before I have to let it sit and rest. Are they using special markers, or is there some technique I don't have down?

2008-06-29T22:21:00.005-05:00

Always nice to feel like I've added a little awesome to the world:I'd made a painting of Hello Kitty as the Mona Lisa for my latest swap, and everyone loved it so much that I cleaned up one of my concept drawings and made a screen at work. I now know what every girl I know is getting for Christmas ^_^. It looks a little blotchy because I had some glow-in-the-dark screenprinting ink that came

"Get your car in the basement..."

2008-06-03T21:24:00.003-05:00

I kid you not, the weather girl honestly just said this. I mean, there's a big storm, hail, gas storage facility hit by lightning and on fire (which is why I just came back from running out into the storm to fill my gas tank up), and this weather girl is currently in the process of warning people on the OTHER SIDE OF THE STATE about their weather. I know damn well and good that none of them get

Memorial Day Goodies

2008-05-27T22:36:00.007-05:00

Ah, it was nice to have a day off. Lots of things I'd been meaning to get around to. Between all of us, we managed to get the living room cleaned, new fan installed (I can't believe what a difference a better light makes - I'm all pumped to start painting the living room now!), bought fabric for dining room curtains, and made some truly fantastic burgers.I'm actually so pleased with how the

Potayto, Potahto

2008-05-14T12:00:00.006-05:00

So my assignment at work today was basically 'fit ten pounds of potatoes into this five-pound bag'. Turns out it's an easy enough task to accomplish, but when you're done, a lot of potatoes are going to be very pissed off at you. Fortunately, enough of the 'potatoes' have given me crap that I don't care quite so much if they're pissed off anymore. After all, you can't make an omelette without

You get what you pay for...

2008-05-11T01:34:00.001-05:00

So I found out today that GameTap is offering Psychonauts as a free download. My first thought was 'great! I almost paid $15 for the XBox version'. My second thought, about an hour into the game, was 'oh yeah...I really hated trying to play the demo on the PC'. I just can't find a comfortable button layout to play this game using the keyboard, I really need to get it in a version I can play

I Miss Coffee...

2008-05-08T21:05:00.003-05:00

Well, that drawing I wanted went up on eBay today - I got the first bid in, and was instantly outbid all the way up to my limit. I honestly didn't think for a moment that I'd be able to get it, but at the very least I was hoping to keep the lead for a full minute. And this is why I don't buy much off of eBay. Believe me, it's not for lack of trying some days.Regardless, I've been on an Etsy

multi-talented cat

2008-05-02T22:45:00.002-05:00

As I awkwardly type this, all eleven pounds Miss Minerva is carefully perched on my kneecap, cleaning her own butt. I have no idea when she suddenly developed a sense of balance, as earlier today, she tripped over a rug in the living room. I shall attempt to get the hell off of me and continue later...

A faint glimmer of garden...

2008-04-23T22:46:00.004-05:00

In hopes of actually having a garden this year, I picked up one of those little greenhouse thingies at the grocery store and seeded it Sunday night:The chamomile has already sprouted nicely, and it looks like the basil is close behind. I'm hoping that at some point in the next couple of weeks, it'll stop raining long enough for me to get out in the backyard and actually get a place ready to

Little touches of awesome

2008-04-15T22:29:00.003-05:00

Several random bits of minor awesomeness this week:Yesterday I went to the Sonic near my office for lunch, and the carhop that served me was actually on roller skates! I've never actually seen a carhop on skates before.I have had several random people at both jobs tell me I have a very nice voice. I feel like I should finish those flash lip-sync tests now >_<. I've been using Google Maps' Street

So Far, So Good

2008-04-02T22:39:00.004-05:00

Well, the new job is going well so far - I don't seem to be suffering from any reduction in crafting time (although sleep has been another matter - it's going to take me about a week to adjust to having 'grown-up job' hours). We'll see how long I can keep up the full seven-day workweek between the two jobs, though. I do dearly love me some employee discount on crafty goodness...It may not have