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Adventures in Slackitude

I have always maintained that if there is a chore that I have been putting off because it’s A) time consuming or B) boring or C) gross or D) expensive, then somehow, if I wait long enough, the universe will take care of it for me.

This has happened on numerous occasions, like, I needed to vacuum Jason’s house while I was still living there and then suddenly I come home from work and my aunt is randomly there, vacuuming. Or, I need to seriously wipe the stove down, but then my mom comes to stay and randomly cleans it up.

This time, I have been wondering about my central air conditioning unit. I am the only person in my family who has one, so nobody knows anything about it. It works fine but I just don’t know what to do about it: do I get it serviced every year? Should I call PG&E and have them come out to check it? I haven’t a clue.

Anyway, so my community is actually having PG&E come out and look at them and service them for free. My appointment is on Monday.

And once again, procrastination wins.

(I am seriously like the worst role model.)

***

I went through my yarn cubbies and pulled out all the random skeins of worsted weight yarn like so:

There is lots of fun yarn in that pile, including Malabrigo, Dream in Color Classy, Cascade 220 and even some Araucania. There is also some Berroco Vintage in dark purple and bright blue; the blue is leftover from my Vaila sweater.

I’m about to embark on some serious hat pattern making. I feel the need to knit some hats and knit them like the wind. I have a bunch of different ideas and since I have that patterning software I am going to write up some patterns. Should be fun (and eventually, profitable! :P).

First I plan on reknitting my alpaca rib hat (rav link). I’ve knit it twice and it’s easy but that was like 8 months ago and I don’t totally recall actual numbers involved. This pattern would be free because it is so, so easy. I also have an idea for another hat that I want to make in both worsted and fingering weight yarn that is more a beret style. That one will involve maths and a pattern growing out of the ribbing, so I’m still mulling it over.

I also need to start thinking about Sam’s yearly birthday hat. Man hats are so boring and Sam refuses earflaps (I KNOW, RIGHT??) so I really have to think about what I make. I think I have a pretty good idea but like the above hat, I have to mull it over.

Anyway, I also made some random crochet hexagons.

They aren’t for anything, though, just practice.

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Crocheted Snowflakes



Crocheted Snowflakes, originally uploaded by Pynnski.

I mentioned previously that I had made a small banner of snowflakes to decorate for Christmas. These are the ones that I made.

I used a variety of patterns, including several from a vintage pamphlet from the sixties. I also used a couple from Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs, which is a great book with a lot of variety of so-called granny squares (or, hexagons, circles, etc.).

The yarn I used was a sparkly DK weight Vanna yarn that I can’t remember the name of, but hey, Vanna White = win, so whatever, and the blue yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Some Summer Sky.

I forget what hook I used, probably like an E or something.

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Things I Make When You’re Not Looking

I totally knitted an Ishbel shawlette while nobody was looking.

Ishbel Blocking

Ishbel01

(Least of all myself – this was a fast knit.)

I have turned into a chart knitter without noticing – if a pattern doesn’t have a chart, I won’t use it. The charts on Ishbel are great; easy to read and interpret. I will definitely be making this shawl again, probably in the bigger size.

I knit it in Malabrigo Sock in the Terracotta colorway, and this thing weighs nothing. I will have to show a pic of it modeled because wowza, this yarn feels so nice against your skin, soft and wonderful.

I knit this on an Addi Turbo lace needle in size US 6 that I picked up at Cottage Yarns in South San Fran a few weeks ago. These needles are great, and I really think that helped with how fast I knit this sucker up.

I also had an urge to crochet on my Babette squares, which comes and goes in fits and starts. But I’m almost done with the 49 4-round squares.

Babette Progress

(Aren’t they purdy?)

Yesterday I cast on for an Aeolian shawl, also out of Malabrigo sock, plus beads. Pretty awesome!

And finally, I made sushi for the first time and it was great:

Sushi

I am too chickenshit to deal with raw fish, so there was none of that, but I did use a variety of fillings, including avocado, cucumber, crab (fake), tuna, green onions, and tempura shrimp. Above you will see my practice sushi; I forgot to take pictures of the “real” sushi that I made for when my friends came over on Saturday to sample it.

Above all, my favorite was the spicy tuna roll, which was a mixture of canned tuna, mayonnaise, and sriracha sauce, plus green onion I think. I am not sure how my friends liked that one, but they did enjoy all of the different varieties and I was complemented specifically on the California roll, and also how “nice” they looked, which I thought was funny, but apparently some people don’t roll them very well.

Anyway, super easy to make, and now I’m going to have to keep tuna on hand for when I want a spicy tuna roll. WTF! I never eat tuna. UNTIL NOW, apparently!

…And I thought I was sick of sushi but I guess not because now I want a spicy tuna roll again. Go figure.

***

This weekend is my ten-year eleven-year high school reunion, which should be interesting. I am going to bring my camera to document the event. I am looking forward to it, but I’m going to be bummed if a couple people with whom I would specifically like to chat with don’t show up.