New/Old project

So we were over at my parents' for Easter, and discovered that Little Kitty Dude has seriously outgrown his Kitty Pi. Even all curled up into a ball, he still sleeps on top of it rather than in it anymore. If I'd known he was going to turn out to be Humongo-Cat, I'd have made it larger to begin with, but as it stands, I suppose I'll just have to make him a new one. Fortunately, I've got two skeins of Kureyon in colors that'll go with their living room, and I've got a few other assorted shades of green wools that I can stripe in if it looks like the Kureyon's not going to be enough. If my calculations are correct, I'm going to have to make this thing the size of my kitchen table (pre-felted - he's not quite *that* big....yet...)

Fortunately, my cousin picked up her cat from her folks, so the new kitty will be needing a bed and can make use of Kitty Pi Mark I. I'd thought about grabbing it for Miss Dummy-Fuzzbutt, but she seems to insist on pink.

Damned girly-ass cat.

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Now playing: Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
via FoxyTunes

a difficult choice...

So, the new DeVotchKa album came out Tuesday. I have enough money in my iTunes account to buy the whole album, but on the other hand, I really want to have the physical disk, with all the bookletty goodness. Is it a little sad that I'd kind of like to buy both? I suppose I shall just skip lunch for a few days and use the money to run out and pick it up...ever hopeful that a store around here will have it, now that I think about it, since the only way I've ever been able to get any of their albums has been at their shows.....

If I could just figure out how the hell to redeem my credit card points since they decided to go fuck around with the rewards program, I could resolve the dilemma in nothing flat. Oh well, I suppose I'd snap if I didn't have minor things like this to get all my worrying out of the way over.

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Now playing: Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
via FoxyTunes

Holy crap, yes!

Sometime in the dark of the last two days, Etsy brought Alchemy back up!!!!!11

Woo-hoo, I'm off to browse for potential shoppers!

There's a reason I had eye surgery...

So today I got a cute little metal bead of a skull garlanded in roses. I don't have a picture, but you can see the bead here. So, seeing as how it's lead-free pewter and miniature, my first impulse is to paint it. It's seriously tiny - maybe 10mm, tops - but it's not like I've never painted little tiny whites and pupils on a tiny pewter head before ;)

I'm not going to paint the whole thing - just the roses and leaves. Then a clear coat, and I think it'll look really cute as a cellphone charm. Either that, or I'll have to buy another one and turn them into earrings.

The topic of painting small pewter things of course brings to mind the recent passing of Gary Gygax. It's odd to think what an influence someone I never actually met in person has had on my life. Hell, my friends and I played D&D instead of going to prom, and it was my quest for a decent gaming group in college that led to meeting my husband. Kind of scary to think that tabletop gaming may actually have *improved* my social skills.

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Now playing: Marlene Dietrich - Lili Marlene
via FoxyTunes

In like a lion and a lamb?

Interesting weather this week - we've started March off with sunny clear skies and temperatures suddenly in the 70s - with straightline winds topping 30 mph. I honestly don't know if that counts as 'lion' or 'lamb'. I lean towards 'lion', since it's supposed to snow tomorrow. Yeah, 70s one day, snow the next. Gotta love midwestern weather.

So the satchel for her nibs is just about done - I just need to find my ironing board and put in some interfacing in the flap to reinforce where the snap is going, then attach the handle and it's done.

Hooray!

So happy - I need to go through my calender and start writing in all the awesome movies I want to see this summer.

Hellboy II Trailer


I'm just so freaking happy Johann is in this one - he's my favorite BPRD character (though I've heard rumours about Lobster Johnson in the next movie...)

Slowly going insane...

So, turns out the little satchel I'm making was supposed to be for tomorrow, not next Saturday. Could've sworn the kiddo's birthday wasn't until next week, or I wouldn't have said I'd have the bag done in time. Not that it's going slowly, but since I work all weekend, I don't think it'll be done until Tuesday at the earliest. Here's a few in-progress photos:







As for the insanity, while sewing tonight, I found myself meowing the theme to Bonanza... I really need to fix my iPod.

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Now playing: They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
via FoxyTunes

I haven't had nearly enough to drink today...

I'm still so worked up over my car that I can tell I'm not getting to sleep anytime soon.

I was out shopping earlier, and in the 15 minutes or so I was in the store, some asshole whacked the side of my poor little pumpkinmobile with his truck door. Then he came out while I was still on the phone to the insurance company, got all belligerent when my mom went to talk to him, and drove off.

And I even got a photo on my cellphone of how nicely his door matched up with the dent.

To give you an idea of just how bad this is, when the nice police officer (God, I love my local police - they're always so nice) showed up, he looked at the side of my car and went 'Jeez, what did he hit that with?' We're not just talking scratched paint, I've got a ****ing FOLD in my rear passenger-side door. I mean, it could be worse, the door still works and the glass didn't get cracked or anything, but still - and the man was just such an ass.

Anyway, the officer said that if no one actually saw the guy hit the car, there wasn't much they could do, so tomorrow I'll be calling the corporate office of the grocery store next door to the lot where my car was parked and see if their cameras extend over that far. If nothing else, I've gotten a paper trail started with the police, so it's one less thing my insurance company can raise as an objection to paying out to get my car fixed.

*deep breath*

Okay, so the reason I was at the store in the first place was shopping for supplies for an adorable satchel my mom's commisioned for a friend's little girl (which as an aside back to the car, means mom felt guilty about being the reason I was there, so she said she'll cover the deductable). This bag is going to be so incredibly cute - she starts preschool this year, so I'm making it kid-sized, but big enough for her to carry stuff like a couple of coloring books and crayons and whatever the heck else a kid takes to preschool. Also, I got a few supplies I needed for some plushies I'm planning on putting up on etsy soon.

Now for some fortified hot tea and a little mindless websurfing to calm down enough to sleep at some point tonight.

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Now playing: Alice Cooper - Steven
via FoxyTunes

Yarn Review: Himalaya Recycled Sari Silk

I'm liking this yarn, but not loving it. I think the finished piece is going to turn out fairly impressive, but the actual process of working with it has been a bit wearing. For some reason, the concept of knitting with television static comes to mind. A certain amount of slubs, knots, etc. were to be expected as the nature of the beast, being recycled and handspun, but the bits of straw I keep picking out of the yarn have been slightly offputting. Also, I was really not prepared for the amount of shed/fuzz that's being produced.

Overall, I think I'd work with it again for something special, but it's not something I'd use for just anything. Final judgment will be reserved for seeing how the finished hat washes - I have to admit to a few qualms concerning the colorfastness, but it's not like it's coming off on my hands or needles like some yarns I've used.

Let there be light - please!

Odd phenomenon lately - seems like everywhere I go, light bulbs burn out in my wake. We've got three out at work, five at home, and the streetlight on the corner goes out every time I go past it. It seems odd that so many light bulbs that were all last changed at different times would all go out at the same time.

I got a pack of bulbs on my way home last night, but I'm thinking that perhaps certain rooms would benefit from fancier bulbs. I wish I had my craft area a little better defined, so I'd know where to spring for the full-spectrum/true-color bulbs.

Also, it's snowing again.

Failure to Prepare

So during my lunch, I went to the pastry shop down the way to get my usual Italian soda. They were of course busy, and when the girl got me my soda, she apologized for the wait because, and I quote 'we just weren't prepared for this'.

We're talking about a pastry and chocolate shop here. And they weren't expecting a big rush on Valentine's Day? Of course, these are the same people who regularly run out of quiche (their main lunch menu item). If we just had the money, Tiwaz could totally blow them out of the water. Ooh, the dessert tonight...it pays, marrying a pastry chef!

In actual, to the point, crafting news, I'm very excited - I've actually gotten a list together of art fairs coming up, and I swear, this year I will actually make the deadlines for submission. I'm terrible about forgetting about fairs and gallery shows until a few weeks before they open, well after the submission deadlines. And as a happy coincidence, my favorite art-supply store is having a massive sale this month. I mean *massive* - buy one get three free canvases and 30% off my favored brand of paint.

I don't even care if I sell any of my work, it's just the thought of having some of my pieces in a real honest-to-God non-student show.

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

Delays

So frustrating - I got the stuff for my swap package done, but I won't be able to mail it until Monday. It's all just sitting there tormenting me. I almost want to post a few teaser pics on Craftster, but since my swap partner's one of the organizers, I don't want to taunt her too much.

Oh well, gives me a chance to get some decent pictures before I send for once - might even get creative and make a small extra just to pass the time.

Or, you know, I suppose I could send Tiwaz out to mail it for me - but the weather's gotten nasty enough, we're really trying to not venture out any more than we have to. Maybe if it's cleared up by Friday...

Changing my policy?

My original policy on Ravelry was that I wouldn't post any projects that were finished before I joined, and I wouldn't post anything that was going to be for etsy. I'm starting to reconsider that second part of the policy, though. It seems like at the moment, about two thirds of my projects are being made with the hope of selling them, and while I certainly wouldn't post every single individual item that I'm making on there, I am giving consideration to posting the prototypes for the patterns that I plan to sell on etsy.

I'm just not sure if I'm comfortable with the minor self-promotion involved. Maybe I should just stick with the free patterns, and hope that people will follow the links on here to buy the other patterns.

Maybe I should look up some designers on Ravelry and see what they've done with works/listings

Up yours, global warming

Yesterday was beautiful, sunny and 60 degrees. Today, it suddenly snowed about an inch.

And here I sit, icing my rotator cuff.

On the bright side, got my sewing machine safely home and all set up. I'm going to do a few tests with my chosen fabric tonight to check my thread choice, maybe work on a mini version out of muslin to test the pattern I've worked out. I'm seriously pumped - I've got the book, the bookmark is just drying, all that's left is the bag, and that's maybe two days of work all together.

Hooray for early sending!

Damn, Damn, *Damn*

No sign of the sewing machine. Got everything else done, I just need to do the bag and of course the machine has vanished. This wouldn't be all that big of a problem, but my swap partner's allergic to wool, so I can't just whip something up and felt it, and I'm not sure if I'll get my paycheck in time to just go buy a plain one to gussy up.

And it's not like I can borrow mom's machine. There's a reason she got me my machine for Christmas last year - nobody wants to use her machine. Except maybe as a doorstop. Even then, I imagine I'd trip over it and hurt myself. It tears thread to bits every three feet, the thing jams trying to sew two pieces of muslin together - something is horribly and profoundly wrong with that contraption.

Well, fingers crossed, maybe mine is still at mom's.

Damned Jinxification

Well, spoke too soon. Somehow, I seem to have misplaced my sewing machine. I thought I knew right where it was, but it turned out to be some of my photography equipment.

Words can not express just how much I don't want to have to sew a tote bag by hand. I've got tomorrow off, hopefully I can find my machine then - if not, I'm going to have to change my plan and just buy a basic bag to revamp rather than starting from scratch.

Fortunately, everything else is okay - just a little shopping I've got to do, and a touch of inspiration to wait for.

Daily Dose of Awesome

So, I'm all in for the Reading Rainbow Round 4 Swap on Craftster, and in my various and sundry travels through the interwebs preparing my swap package, I discovered that the Barnes and Noble website has at least one HP Lovecraft short story collection listed under the category "Religious Fiction"

That is just freaking awesome.

Also, not to jinx myself (ah, crap, I can feel it jinxing already), but this is the furthest ahead I've ever been on a swap. Granted, we only have to send three items, but I've already got two just about done, so at least there's only the one area that can *seriously* go wrong.

Geek ahoy!

I am the biggest geek ever. This short, fuzzy video clip should not make me go all tingly and tear up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RllSZW_YLk8

Back into the black hole...

So day before last, mom brought over a WoW game card for us. (she and my cousin recently lapsed back into the game, and decided they needed Tiwaz and me as well) After spending an entire day upgrading my computer, re-installing WoW, getting all the updates, and upgrading my character to Burning Crusade, I logged in.

I spent the next 15 minutes getting repeatedly one-shot killed by a couple of undead in the Southshore graveyard as I was attempting to hearth. Way to remind me why I stopped playing.

So, I got everyone else to come join me on my nice safe, happy PvE (normal) server.

I've got a lot of other games I should really be trying to get through, but World of Warcraft does have the advantage of providing me with some truly quality knitting time. Between griffin flights, boats, zeppelins, and trains, there's a lot of downtime where I don't feel justified in actually leaving the computer, so the knitting basket just goes next to the chair.

I've actually got two new patterns I'm just polishing up - they were supposed to be Christmas presents for co-workers, but since we got a new printer for Christmas, I've told them there's a slight delay while I type them up and format them nicely rather than giving them xeroxed handwritten sheets. I'll give them a chance to make the patterns first before I actually post them. (Well, one - the other one had enough time put into it that I'll actually be selling it on Etsy. But not for too much.)


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Now playing: Weezer - Simple Pages
via FoxyTunes