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Self-Awareness Can Only Lead to Self-Improvement

I was looking on Modcloth last night, as my sister had sent her Christmas wish list to me and there was an item on there from that store, and I took to looking at the clothing. I don’t fit in the majority of their clothes (a lot only go up to a large [!]), which I find irritating, but since I don’t have any money anyway, it’s sort of a moot point. Anyway, so I did come across this dress that I really liked:

I think it’s really cute. I like the idea of a chevron stripe being the main visual feature around the neck, and since it’s a knit dress, well hell, I could make that!

I don’t think a worsted weight dress would be a good idea, though, so I would shorten it to hip/tunic length. Also since there’s a ridiculous amount of stockinette, which I find tedious to knit (less so in the round than flat, but still) This would be an ideal candidate for the knitting machine. In theory, I could try my standard machine(s) out for this, but I actually have a random ton of dark dark heathered gray worsted weight yarn which I think would work out pretty well and plus I could use stash for it. As far as the chevron, I don’t know about the colors yet but I’ll check the stash. I’m also not totally clear on technique either: I’d like to try set-in sleeves in the round, but I think I’m leaning towards intarsia for the front chevron, which wouldn’t work very well in the round. At any rate, there would be folded over hems as opposed to ribbings. That part I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve done folded hems on socks but never on a garment before, so I think that will be pretty cool.

As far as what I’ve been up to lately (since I haven’t updated since Mid-October):

  1. HARDWARE: Did you notice that I mentioned standard knitting machine(S)? Yeah, that’s right, I managed to acquire a fully outfitted Toyota knitting machine complete with ribber and punch cards for the low low price of $40 (yes I still owe you Mom, just remind me…) at the Legacy Thrift Shop’s first annual rummage sale! From what I’ve been able to deduce from my interweb research, the Toyota is compatible with the standard Elna machine I already own. SUH-WEET! So if you’re paying attention, that means I now have three knitting machines and am basically turning into my mother with every passing day.
  2. THE CAR: Got the car fixed: my uncle came over and removed some sort of mystery squishy rubber piece from the clutch area that he was baffled by its very existence, let alone what it was doing in my car. No problems since, knock on wood. No really, knock on wood, wherever you are, I need all the cosmic points I can get.
  3. ZOMBIE INFATUATION: I made zombie cupcakes:

    They were fun to make, even if my kitchen is now under a sheen of red food coloring. These are actually red velvet cupcakes. I don’t think I really like red velvet cupcakes – I mean, they are pretty and all, but they don’t really taste like anything.
  4. LOS ANGELES: I went to see my friend Sarah two weeks ago. I took a day off work and drove down to Santa Clarita, listening to talk radio the whole time. It was really interesting to listen to, because that was the week Juan Williams got the heave-ho from NPR and he went on Hannity to talk about it. Once I got to Santa Clarita, Sarah and I went to dinner at New Moon and hung out the rest of the weekend. I even managed to squeeze in a trip to the Super Walmart! I love the Super Walmart! And Sarah. I love Sarah too. *ahem* 😉

One of the main things I’ve been working on in the past few weeks is getting my house back into order. This year has been kind of sucktacular, and I do have a tendency towards “clutter blindness” (and laziness) so I have been trying to get more organized in my day-to-day lifestyle. Last week I spent some quality time decluttering the kitchen, and I also did a small home improvement in my bedroom where I hung a row of hooks for my long necklaces:

…That’s not even all my jewelry, but I am trying to get organized and stay neater. It will be a challenge because I am kind of a slob, and like I said, I do suffer from clutter blindness to some degree, and if there is a flat surface soon enough I will put something on it. I was particularly struck yesterday when my parents stopped by after I’d cleaned up (and out) the den, they basically were all, “WOW.” so it must have been pretty bad, but really I just don’t see it, which I’m working on trying to recognize. Being self-aware is the first step to self-improvement, right?

Anyway, isn’t that rack nice? I got it at Target. It’s hanging where that picture used to. I also had a clock up there, but I moved the clock to another wall, along with a sculpture I made in my ceramics class in college, lo those years ago.

I like that corner a lot better now; it’s improved by the addition of the clock as it adds a little something to the composition of the area, and breaks up the solid blue of the wall.

I’m now working on getting some things framed and up on the walls in other parts of the house. I picked up some velcro sticky things by 3M to use to hang pictures – the wood paneling that makes up every wall in my house is often times hard to get a nail through, but the velcro stuff can hold things up to several pounds so I’m looking forward to finally getting my art collection up. What, I’ve only lived here for two years, isn’t that about the amount of time needed to get your crap together? I can’t believe I’ve already been here that long. And with the economy being the way it is, I bet that I will be here for awhile! AWESOME.

Hey at least I got another job, so I should just shut up.

And someday I really will take photos of the Wollmeise I got and post them. Someday, if the sun ever comes out while I’m at home!

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Oh Hello Again

So I haven’t been updating much lately – and haven’t posted anything in a month, but I have actually been busy! It is very peculiar. I also spend all day in front of a computer and generally come home and don’t want to continue doing that.

Anyway, I have been making things in the background.

What is this? you may be wondering. Why, these are several non-sock related projects that I have been enjoying working on at my leisure. The orange one is the Multnomah shawlette in Sanguine Griffon’s Eidos, the weird yellowy one is the Brandywine shawl in Sanguine Griffin Skinny Bugga, and the turquoise/brown thing is actually a scarf (!) from Knitty, Wisp in Collinette Jitterbug (the new 400 yd skein).

Here are some thoughts on the yarns used:

Sanguine Griffin Eidos: Has a peculiar crunchy texture that I do not entirely dislike. It is a sturdy yarn that I think will stand up to abuse. I also sprayed it with water a little, and it did soften right up, so a Soak bath will definitely help the finished project. While I like it, and the color is amazing (my camera did not give the fiery colorway justice), I don’t think I’ll be getting it again because:

Sanguine Griffin Skinny Bugga: HOLY CRAP I LOVE THIS YARN. The merino/nylon blend gives it strength, while the 20% cashmere lends a softness. If I ever have any money ever again, I will probably try to get enough of this yarn (or the fatter yarn Bugga) to make myself a cuddly delicious sweater. I guess it’s true: once you’ve gone cashmere, you can never go back. Le sigh.

Collinette Jitterbug: This is a nice basic sock weight yarn. It has a high twist and therefore tends to twist up on itself which I find annoying. But it does seem to be pretty sturdy and is knitting up nicely in this pattern.

In other, exciting news, my sister is currently in Munich on a business trip, where she did me a huge, fabulous favor:

That, my friends, is a wall of Wollmeise at the brick & mortar store in Pfaffenhofen.

Where Abby bought me Wollmeise.

I have always wondered about Wollmeise, and been weirded out by the way people stalk the website, and its unavailability to us normal folks who don’t stay up till 3 a.m. to catch an update. I mean, I love yarn, and I want to try out as many different yarns as possible, but I do have some standards.

So, I’m pretty excited about that.

Other things that I have been doing but not blogging about:

  1. I went to the Star Trek exhibit at the Air & Space Museum in Sacramento, and that was pretty fun.
  2. I went to last week’s A’s vs. Red Sox game, where my dear Sox sucked, but the A’s did well – and viewed the game from a deliciously catered luxury box.
  3. Had my six month dental checkup, and am in the clear for another six months. I’m glad I seem to be past the really amazing bad part of this whole dental experience. I’m still really mad about it, because I miss my money spent on the whole ordeal. 🙁
  4. I was poisoned by the egg-related salmonella outbreak for a rather tiring Saturday as my innards rebelled in a revolution worthy of the French.
  5. Got sent to collections by Capital One over a bill that I hadn’t even gotten the bill yet (and was intending to pay in full). After causing much wrath to flow over the poor Indian who answered the phone, I got things cleared up. The following week, I received the notice that I’d been sent to collections… dated the day after I called customer service. I would like to take this opportunity to say, Screw You, Capital One, Screw You All The Way To The Top!
  6. Enjoying the heck out of the wackadoodles on the current season of Project Runway.
  7. Went to a library book sale where I for once found exactly what I was looking for! It’s always sort of luck-of-the-draw for these things.
  8. Randomly ran into my mother at JoAnn’s, who then spontaneously took me out to lunch at the Chinese buffet.

I’ve also been working on some jewelry pieces. Here’s the one I made for my sister that is a knock-off of one she wanted from Modcloth.

It turned out really well, and she liked it a lot. It was also a ginormous pain in the you-know-what, so I’m glad that it went over well.

So, I’ve been pretty busy lately, but I hope to be a little better about updating in the coming weeks.

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BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

When I was a kid, my dad called me his “late firecracker” because I was born on the 5th of July, one day too late to share our country’s birthday. But I’m okay with that because every year it’s like two days worth of partying all for me.

This year it was quite an extended celebration, starting last Wednesday when my aunt and cousin brought over a cake and presents for me when we all gathered over at Jason’s for our weekly dinner! And then they crammed 31 candles on top (+1 to grow on, I am *only* 30) which, because I am full of hot air, I managed to blow out in one single breath.

Then on Friday, I baked myself a cake that fell apart. This was for my friend-gathering on Saturday. It was still tasty, though. I think that it was a combination of errors on my part (cake not cooled enough, forgot to grease the non-stick pan) along with a Pillsbury cake mix. I tend to prefer the Duncan Hines brand. But I did make homemade frosting that turned out really delicious.

It was the rancor's fault.

So on Saturday, Sarah (all the way up from LA) and Malvina (all the way down from Sacramento) came over and we headed off to lunch at Pasta Pomodoro in Pleasant Hill. Then, we celebrated being adults by going to see Twilight: Eclipse. Oh man, that movie was fraught with giggles (from us) and tortured significant glances (from the cast). Teenage girls just eat this stuff up, but I found myself relating more to the dad in the movie, who was like, holy crap, these people are dumb, also why am I in this movie. Team Charlie! From a “Let’s Go Laugh At Twilight” vantage point, Eclipse (dare I say it) eclipsed the first two movies in its constant barrage of unintentional giggle moments. From a “Is This Movie Actually Any Good” standpoint, the answer is: not really. I still rate it an LOL+, however.

Then everybody (Sam, Amy, and Ben) came over and I made Thai food and we ate the cake and took silly pictures with my rancor toy. Have I ever mentioned my collection of 100+ Star Wars collectible figurines? And how most of them are still in mint condition in their boxes? But how the rancor is not? Anyway.

On Sunday I made a red velvet cake that did not fail with cream cheese frosting and took it over to Rossmoor where we had lunch over at my grandparents’ condo. Technically speaking I suppose the cake was another birthday cake (my grandma put candles on it and everybody sang the birthday song) but really I just made it as a contribution for the dinner. Still, it was nice to be with family and eat delicious meat and whatnot.

Later we went to the fireworks over at the Benicia waterfront and that was pretty great – we were right under them and it was really windy so there was an element of danger as the sparks kept raining right down over where people were sitting. Luckily the wind shifted all that over about forty feet away from us so we could enjoy the danger without worry. Haha.

Then yesterday was my actual birthday and my sister had been wanting to see the Swedish movie version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. They weren’t playing it at the dome anymore, but it was still playing at the Rheem in Moraga, and Abby bribed me by paying for my ticket so off we went. And it was excellent! Now I’m so worried about the Hollywood adaptation. It will be okay if they use character actors or unknowns, but Brad Pitt as Blomkvist? Kill me.

After that we stopped at Jason’s for a bit. He looked good. Then on to the parentals’ and out to dinner at the Outback. Not super original but I wanted steak and an Awesome Blossom, and they brought me free ice cream.

All in all, a great way to ring in my fourth decade. I think my thirties will be pretty awesome, all in all.