Knitting on Hold

My knitting wrist is unhappy, so all projects are on hold :-(

I took this picture of my backyard today. No, just kidding. I stole it off the internet. But we do have lots of snow here, which, now that I really am an adult, I'm hating.

There's the shoveling, of course. But for me, the biggest snow-related pain-in-the-butt is trying to walk around the city. I'm a walker--don't drive, take public transportation, the whole bit. It took me twice as long as usual to walk home from work today because some people didn't shovel their walks and I had to walk in the street, jump walls of snow, ford puddles, and keep from slipping and killing myself.

FO!

I have a finished object to report! And it's a cutie.

One of my co-workers left today to start her maternity leave. I put together a little hat-and-mitten set:
So sweet! I don't have anything in there for scale, but trust me--they're small.

The cap is Watchcap, which I modified by using 2x2 ribbing instead of 3x3. I made a single Knitted Flower and attached it to the brim.

I decided that I had to make the fingerless mittens to go along with it after seeing the ones CCR made. She gave me a tutorial at Stitch-n-Bitch, though with my sport-weight yarn and size 6 needles, I cast on only 24 stitches instead of her 28. I did 2x2 ribbing on the cuffs so they'd match the hat.

And the best part is that I made this from my Peruvian alpaca stash! I've been trying to figure out what to do with this pink, so I'm glad this came up. These are so soft and smooshy!

Themes

OK, I know, I know. I'm a bad blogger. As Blogless Stef said to me the other night, "Enough about the Top Model already!" I understand--you need new reading material.

I, on the other hand, have way too much reading material. I have about 30 blogs I track with Google Reader, almost all of whom participated in the Blog-Everyday-In-November challenge. Now that I'm working and spending less time online, I have 1000+ unread posts. I'm not joking. 1000+ posts. After 1000, Google Readers just stops counting and uses a +. That's when you know you're in trouble.

And this part can't be right. I have Angry Chicken on my reader list. Today when I checked there were 148 unread posts from her blog alone. She can't possibly have posted so much in 3 weeks.

Anyway, one of my problems is that my life feels pretty boring right now. I go to work, come home tired, and try to be in bed by 10:30. What's there to blog about? Hmm?

I was thinking of coming up with daily themes. Have you seen these? I think Angry Chicken has a Quilt Monday theme, where every Monday she posts about a quilt she's working on or one she's seen that she likes. John over at Ectomo has lots of daily themes, like Cthulhu Cthursday
and Moustache Monday ( <--!!!).

What do you think? Any theme ideas for me? And for those of you who blog--want to do a theme together? That might get our creative blog-juices flowing. Um, that sounds gross.

By the way--see the clock image I put in here? I love the guy at 3 o'clock. He's screaming into two phones at once. And Mister Ten Thirty is sawing his monitor in half. Ha.

ANTM

Some of you know that I love America's Next Top Model. It's the only show that I watch regularly. Everyone in the house must be silent, preferably in another room. I don't even knit while it's on!

Tonight, they kicked Heather off of the show:

I really liked Heather. I'm not sure they did enough to accommodate her Asperger's. It's always a tough call. If she became ANTM, she'd certainly have enough money to pay someone to take her directly to her Go-Sees!

I just hope Bianca doesn't win. She's an awful person. And the preview of next week's episode looks like she's all extra mean.

Here it comes...

Uh, yeah. All of that downtime? Long gone ;-)

Greetings!

Oh Blog, you're still here! I'm so glad to see you. I've been busy getting ready for my first day of work, which was yesterday!!! So far, so good. My co-workers are very nice, my superviser is helpful and patient, and my boss is friendly. It's a bit boring right now, just because I don't know how to do very much, so I have lots of down time. But that's sure to change!

In other news, I need to send out my Ravelry Scarf Exchange project by December 1st. Yikes!!!

See you soon! *kisskiss*

Lord of the Sings Transformers Karaoke Competition

Last weekend we had a karaoke throw-down at Eamonn's house. Karaoke at Eamonn's is unique because it is a themed competition, complete with prizes. The theme is predetermined by Eamonn, and is always tied to a movie. Contestants must plan ahead, choose a song in Eamonn's collection and change the lyrics, a la Weird Al Yankovic, to make the song about the movie. Eamonn serves as both the judge and the MC, and writes a minimum of four songs, which he performs between each of the entries, kind of like a screen wipe.








In the past, we have had a Lord of the Sings Karaoke Competition for each of the LOTR DVD releases (hence the name). I'm proud to say that I was the first every LOTSKC champion (I chose Belinda Carlisle's Heaven Is A Place On Earth). The following year Scott took my tiara. It didn't look half-bad on him ;-)

This time Eamonn chose the new Transformers movie. Eamonn loves transformers. Actually, Eamonn loves anything he was supposed to stop loving when he was 12: brownies, Transformers, Coke, people talking in funny voices, people wearing clown wigs, gold stars, cartoons, action figures, inflatable beach balls, bubbles... Note that even though Eamonn can write witty song lyrics about Transformers, he's not clever enough to change the title of the competition--instead, he just shoves the word "Transformers" in there.

Patrick and I put together a duet, sung to the tune of Islands In The Stream. Turns out, so did Dave and Stef. DOH!

Anyway, after four song entries, and just as many by Eamonn, Stef and Dave were declared the winners. Good on you, Stef and Dave. Your song most directly taunted Eamonn and all that he loves, and because of that I gladly throw open the LOTSKC Hall of Fame's* doors and grant you entrance.






*Funds for the construction of the LOTSKC Hall of Fame were secured by Tom Hanks

The Perry Bible Fellowship

I don't spend much time reading comics online, mostly because I hate reading things on a screen that I'd enjoy more if reading them curled up on the couch. I found out about The Perry Bible Fellowship from Tim Burke's blog, Easily Distracted. It's really funny.

Here's my favorite so far: Casting Call

Little Stuffies

Tomorrow, I'm taking a table at a craft fair at the Cheverus School (10-3). At first I thought I'd knit some stuff, but my hands started hurting so I stopped (no sense being "laid off" from knitting for weeks).

So instead I'm putting together some stuffies. I've never made them before, though I've thought about them. I'm using wool sweaters that I've shrunk/felted. Here's my favorite:

Little Elephant

Belated Hap-Bea Halloween

For reasons I won't get into because they make for a long and boring story, Patrick and I carved Bea Arthur's face into a pumpkin. Behold!

Scarf exchange goodness

I'm taking part in the Ravelry Scarf Exchange, in which I knit a scarf for my assigned buddy, and someone else knits a scarf for me. The buddy making me a scarf has popped into this blog a few times--Hi Pixie!

Well, I got Pixie's package last week. So great! First, the scarf. She chose the Branching Out pattern, which is beautiful. The yarn is a lovely red alpaca (the one picture makes it look magenta, but it is red). The whole thing is just perfect--I love the pattern, I love red and I love alpaca.

Included in the package were all kinds of goodies, based on some of my "likes." My own fluffy cloud ;-) , a cranberry candle, and more.

This is the first exchange I've taken part in, and it was great. Thanks Pixie, for being a great exchange partner!!!

I Got a Job!

I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job I got a job

Won't Lose This Between The Couch Cushions

As potentially impractical as this is, I really want this ceramic remote control. The whole idea is that it becomes an object of beauty, so you'll give it a space on the coffee table--then you'll always be able to find it!

Halloween, Engineer Style

These pics come from the family Halloween party at Patrick's work:

Concerts

I haven't written about it, but we've been to two concerts lately.

A week ago we went to see Erin McKeown at Club Passim. I saw her perform on tv a few years ago and went right out and bought all of her albums. My favorite one is Grand, especially the song Slung Lo. You can check out her myspace page to hear songs.

I'd never been to a show at Club Passim before. As it was an all-ages show, Patrick and I took Little Sis with us. I thought that the benefits of seeing a girl onstage, in charge and playing a guitar outweighed those of going to bed on time, even if it was a school night. I think I was right--Sis really like the show. As Patrick said, Erin is like sunshine on stage. She is just so natural and comfortable, and she her voice holds up in a live performance. After the show we went for autographs and pictures. I'd like to see Sis get that kind of interaction at the next Jonas Brothers concert! (If you don't know who the Jonas Brothers are, count yourself lucky. I've had to listen to their inane Disney-pop toooooooooo many times.)

On Tuesday we went to see The Thermals at the Middle East downstairs. Patrick and I love love love The Thermals. We first saw them open for Sleater Kinney and couldn't believe their energy. Hutch's vocals really sets the band apart.

This time we took Little Sister and The Cousin. The Middle East is not exactly a warm and fuzzy place, but it was an all ages show (again on a school night--I'm trying to show them other definitions of cool. Plus I get to be cool). They were, of course, amazing. Patrick and the girls perched themselves on a disused bar to get a good view, while I went up front to dance. Amazingly, they played not only my favorite song, but also Patrick and Cuz's. Again, the myspace page will give you a couple of songs to listen to.

Now a Teenager

Little Sister turned 13 this month. We had a family party for her last night. Patrick and I usually make her birthday cake, and in the past she has wanted a strawberry cake. This year she surprised us by asking for a giant chocolate chip cookie.

I went online to search for recipes. Normally I hate Emeril, what with his spices bamming all over the place, but I decided to give his recipe for a chocolate chip cookie cake a try. It was fantastic! The only change I made was to pour the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan (thanks for the wedding present Marc!). You should give it a try.



My friend John got me a subscription to a magazine called Craft, which is always full of neat ideas. Sis loves to look through it and bookmark projects. That's how we found out about this cute bunny made of felt. Patrick's mom and I each made one and incorporated them into our gift wrapping. Each bunny is about 3 inches tall. Part of my gift for Sis was a copy of the designer's book, The Cute Book--and it really is cute!



The in-laws leave tomorrow. They've been such a huge help to us this visit. The wall sconces are now installed, and the exhaust fan is pretty close. Soon we'll be able to paint!!!

Boring and Interesting

I found out today that Malden Arts has received the grant we applied for! This is great news.

Traci and F came over for dinner last night. My in-laws loved him, and he was very well-behaved (not that I would expect that from a one-year-old). The subject of my blog came up. Patrick hadn't read the blog until recently, and he's never left a comment. He claims that he doesn't comment because the blog is boring (he says this only half-jokingly). To quote him, "You put the blah back in blog." Well screw him! Not really, but I don't care--I'm going to keep posting. He can make his own interesting blog, and then he can talk to me about blah.

Yesterday we went with Patrick's parents to the De Cordova museum. The bulk of it is an outdoor sculpture park, with some indoor exhibits of a variety of media. The temporary exhibit that Patrick wanted to see is called Trainscapes. Twelve or so artists were asked to create a setting through which model trains would travel. Some made settings very similar to traditional model train settings (trees and mountains), but with twists. Others made settings nothing at all like a traditional one. There was a little boy there, about five years old. I'm guessing that his mother fed him cocaine for breakfast, what with the way he was bouncing off the walls. The moment we approached the setting he was looking at, he started to break it all down. "See the train is coming it's a freighter it goes past this rock and the rock almost falls on it and if you push this button the chair rocks and..." So on. At one point he turned to us and said, "This isn't as boring as I thought it would be!" which cracked me up.

It's Coming Along

Rhinebeck

So I didn't go to Rhinebeck. More like I couldn't afford to go and my husband was afraid to send me there with a credit card.

But now everyone is posting about the fabulous time they had, and the parties, and the yarn, and the sheep shearing, and the... so on. Mini went. Yarn harlot went. Knitfreak went. And of course Casey and Jess went and had a whole Ravelry party, which makes my heart sad. I want one of those little buttons with my username on it!!!