While Twitter Was Down...

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 very buff little birds, because I didn't feel like stitching the full half-dozen or so that normally keep Fail Whale aloft.  To give you a sense of scale, this is in a 4" (10 cm) hoop.

No idea what I'm going to do with this guy - maybe sew him onto a laptop carrier as a patch? Sometimes you just have to go with your first instinct...which in this case was embroidering a whale...I haven't even had anything to drink tonight, I have no excuse besides my own inherent randomness.

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

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 - DeVotchKa
9. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode
8. At My Window Sad and Lonely - Billy Bragg & Wilco
7. Anthem for the Already Defeated - Rock Plaza Central
6. Corrupt - Depeche Mode
5. Energy - The Apples in Stereo
4. A Pain That I'm Used To - Depeche Mode
3. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode
2. I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters
1. John the Revelator - Depeche Mode

Listed by average plays per day (oh yes, I got it set up properly...):

10. Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
9. Precious - Depeche Mode
8. Energy - The Apples in Stereo
7. California Stars - Billy Bragg & Wilco
6. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode
5. Black Mission Goggles - Man Man
4. John the Revelator - Depeche Mode
3. A Pain That I'm Used To - Depeche Mode
2. Song of Our So-Called Friend - Okkervil River
1. I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters (seriously - an average of 1.9 plays per day, not counting listening in the car?)

I like being able now to look at my songs organized by plays per day. There's not really all that much difference in terms of artists, but I think it's fun to be able to take a look at my listening habits on a shorter term basis than the total play count provides.

Okay, enough math/analysis - back to language skills!

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Now playing: Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky
via FoxyTunes

Catching up on things.

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 made mostly out of black denim, with a square of Amy Butler's Full Moon Dots for around the eyes.












And from the swap, PAMCAKE APRON!



I was discussing how awesome this came out with a co-worker, and she suggested a tutorial. There is a small problem with this, however, as you soon shall see:
Step One: Draw 'lil Hellboy on apron
Step Two: Color in drawing with acrylics mixed with fabric medium.
Step Three: Heat set.

Yeah....

Latest kick has been embroidery - got two projects going there, bunch of knitting projects, both for myself and as samples, knitting contest I'm gearing up for, soldered pieces I'm working on as a commissioned job, the new fabrics the store just got in are inspiring me to do some more sewing, and I found an awesome plushie contest I want to enter...

What's that? Sleep? Never heard of it.

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Now playing: The Apples In Stereo - Energy
via FoxyTunes

Race to the finish line

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 with a picture of the pattern and everyone will know I didn't just flake, and know what things are going to look like.

So I'll have a pair of socks, two hats, a two and a half pairs of handwarmers, a pair of slippers, a couple of plushies, a small pile of cellphone charms, sleep pants, possibly some more earrings, and a sweater that the freaking yarn hasn't actually arrived for yet (seriously - this is two years running!  I order the yarn to make the sweater back in October, and it just never arrives.  Last year's was discontinued, I can't wait to hear the excuse for this one)

Then there's also rewiring the plug that fell off of the tree (shouldn't be too hard, but it's the downside of the pre-lit tree), wrapping everything, and I think I was supposed to make cookies. I don't know anymore, my caffeine level has dropped slightly below rational thought, but still holding above motor control.

Christmas Looming...

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 wrapping, patterns to finish, etc, etc, etc.  I'm a little glad that not all of the relatives are going to be able to make it in for Christmas, since it gives me until New Year's to finish up their stuff.

I'm supremely confident that I can get everything done, but there's gonna be one hell of a crash Christmas evening when I fall over from exhaustion.

Updates all around

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 pattern. I'm actually pleased enough that I think people might be willing to pay money for it.

The felted satchel for Tiwaz is coming along nicely as well - I'd hoped to have it done for our aniversary, but I don't think I'll quite have it done by then. Definitely before Thanksgiving, though. Now that we have a washer and drier, I have a bit of a backlog of things that need felting anyway - best to just set aside a day for it.

And, of course, we're heading dangerously into NaNoWriMo time again. I'm thinking this year I'll actually prepare a bit, try working up some character profiles and such. I've got two pages of a comic that I drew as part of an art project, and I'm thinking that might be a good jumping off point for me this year - I essentially drew a trailer, no plot really involved, just a hook. I don't even think there was any dialog, just character introductions. I've got my author page all updated, though, and I just need to grab this year's badges and fix my sidebar links.

Of Heroes and Villians

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, and I don't think anyone else could play him. Honestly, if you define a superhero by his villains, then Batman really is near the top (I'm sorry, but Dr. Strange still wins the villain contest. I mean, Shuma-freaking-Gorath!)

The whole movie was amazing - we went to see it at this awesome theater that's pretty small but very 'golden age of Hollywood' themed and serves actual food and booze. It was like watching it in a big room full of friends - we all cheered and laughed out loud and screamed and when it was over the whole audience burst into applause. I'm kinda glad we didn't go to the IMAX theater for the opening, because I think it just would have been too much for me at that time of morning -I would have been too shaky to drive the half-hour home. (Though I do look forward to going out there to see it again, as I've heard that some scenes were actually filmed especially for IMAX)

And then we went to IHOP, and the waitress asked as we'd finished off our pancakes and waffles, were we interested in dessert.....

eBay has its uses...

Funny the things that suddenly bother you in the middle of the night.

I recently traded in my Stratocaster for an acoustic, and for some reason about an hour ago it started nagging at the back of my mind that I really had no idea if I'd gotten a good deal on the trade or not. So, I nipped over to eBay and looked up my model - turns out I got a fairly good deal for it (it was a modern Mexican), and they threw in a hard case for the acoustic.

I've always had good luck with that music store in the past, don't know why that was bothering me, other than I've managed to take care of most of the other stuff I was worrying about and needed something new to keep the list full.


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Now playing: DeVotchKa - Miette
via FoxyTunes