Yarnification

A few days ago I got a package in the mail from Marvie with all sorts of bits of rovings so I can felt some of my steel hooks and avoid Numb Finger of Doom Syndrome! There’s some undyed wool in there, too, so I can play with Kool-Aid dye. Thank you, Marvie!

Kittycat apparently smelled Other Cats and felt a need to investigate. He was hilarious, sticking his paws and head under the envelope as though he fully expected to find some cats hiding under there. Once I convinced him to let me have it and opened it up, I wasn’t quick enough for him—he stuck his whole head in there and tried to make off with a piece of fluff. After I put away the Bag of Fun he did the sad eyes look. You know, the one that says, “You are Breaking my Heart by withholding that Thing! That Thing, which is rightfully mine, because I found it right there on the table, and finders keepers! Give it here now! Or I will be sad and make the pathetic mew!”

But then he found his giant bead (he has this big bead about an inch across that he found somewhere in the house and appropriated) and knocked that around for a while, so I figure he’ll survive without the Bag of Fun.

I made an attempt at felting a hook last night; this is my #5 (1.90mm) Boye hook, and I’m hoping I did this right and it doesn’t un-felt on me because I was in the middle of a project with this hook when my wrists started going south on me. (They are much better now, by the way, but I’ve still been afraid to pick up the steel hooks.) I’m not sure, though, I think it might need a tad more felting to make sure the purple bit doesn’t peel off. The rest I rubbed a whole lot, but when I came to the last part with the purple I think I might’ve stopped too soon. I’ll see when it’s finished drying whether it wants to stay put or whether I need to have another go at it. Anyway, can’t wait to try it out on that doily I was working on. I might need to remove a little bit of the wool near the working area of the hook, but I’m going to try it out before I go messing around with it.

In other news, I was in Hobby Lobby the other night and found Red Heart Symphony for $2.12 a skein, so I bought four skeins and started a shawl. I decided to have a try at the Seraphina shawl—I’m hoping four skeins is enough. I think it’s plenty, though. They’re big fluffy skeins. I’m a little ways into the shawl now, enough to have pretty much memorized the pattern and not have to stop and scratch my head every few stitches, and based on how much yarn I’ve used so far I think I’ve got plenty.

I love Stewie! Though I find it a bit disturbing that the second place result was Peter. Ack.

You scored as Stewie Griffin. Congradulations you are Stewie. One of the best characters on the show and usually everyones fav. Because you are stewie you prob are one evil sick bastard. Stewie Griffin 63% Peter Griffin 38% Lois Griffin 13% Chris Griffin 13% Joe 13% Quagmire 13% Cleveland 13% Meg Griffin 0% Brian Griffin 0%

Find out what Family Guy character you are. (pics included)
created with QuizFarm.com

You fit in with: Taoism Your ideals mostly resemble those of the Taoist faith. Spirituality is the most important thing in your life. You strive to live by all of your ideals, and live a very intellectually focused life. 40% spiritual. 30% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Looky what I got in my email last week! I was away from the computer all weekend so didn’t get a chance to post about it till today. (Actually I thought I had posted this earlier today. Anything computery that is equipped with a “Save as Draft” button is the bane of my existence because I save drafts and then end up believing I actually posted or emailed whatever I was writing.)

Dear Stacey,
I’m pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a esteemed recipient of The Bona Fide Shrone Award! I’ve determined that you possess many of the salient characteristics of a Shrone! Here are the reasons why you are a Shrone:

1. You have truly masterful fiber art skills as demonstrated with your ability to work with yarn and thread via knitting, crocheting and tatting.
2. You were a “shining light that shines” during my dark days of illness, and I truly appreciate you being there for me.
3. You have a kind and generous heart.
4. You are a dedicated feline maintenance worker.
5. Something about you says when you get old and withered, you just might go out crusing for penis!
6. You are unknowable.
7. You began blogging around the same time I did because great Shrones think alike!
8. You’ve had your share of bodily ailments so you know what it is like to have a poopy body.
9. You’re one groovy chick and I think you are super cool!
10. You haven’t killed your inner child and you freely allow it out to play. (This is true since your quiz about your inner child reveals you haven’t formed one of those hideous “adult thick skins”!)

Yours in Shronedom!
Lori

P.S. Your distinguished Bona Fide Shrone card will be sent to you shortly. Feel free to post and brag about your Shrone status! To assist you, I’ve provided the attached button proclaiming your Shronedom to place on your blog!

Thank you, Lori! I’m all excited—I knew there were going to be new Shrones inducted soon but it totally didn’t occur to me that I would be one of them. Look out, world—there is now an Official Reason for my eccentricities :-p

My shiny new button—click on it to read about what a Shrone is:

I finally finished the comfort pack last night. I was watching TV and wanted to pick up something mindless, so I decided to finish sewing the buttons onto it seeing as it had been sitting around with only one button for ages. Then I figured I might as well sew the inner pack up, too, since I cut the fabric ages ago and it’s been waiting in my sewing box.

The final seam on the pack has An Issue; I need to re-sew it. It’s not leaking seeds or anything (do not believe that picture! Those seeds are ones that fell out while I was sewing and didn’t work their way out until I was about to take the picture!) but there’s about a quarter inch of fabric where I only caught one layer of the fabric, and about an inch or so before and after that spot where things are wonky and uneven. You can tell from looking at the photo. I plan to take another photo after I re-seam it and replace the one here because it looks awful.

What happened was that I didn’t pin that seam. Not sure what I was thinking, since I usually pin everything within an inch of its life while sewing, except that Don was fixing dinner and right when I finished filling the pack the biscuits came out of the oven and I became all addled with hunger and did a half-assed job. So that seam needs to be redone.

Anyway, photos. The pattern is Donna’s Comfort Pack, altered to make it longer and narrower, and the yarn is Sugar ’n’ Cream in cornflower blue.

See where I screwed up the seam? But really, it is not leaking seeds. Those seeds just kinda landed outside the seam while I was sewing. Addled from biscuits, remember? Also I don’t sew all that well. So I had a bit of a spill and was cleaning up stray seeds for the rest of the night it seemed like.

Anyway, will post a new photo of the pack after I get a chance to fix it.

I still have a lot going on, haven’t even worked on any of my projects in…actually I’m not sure how long. A week? More?

But I had to come here and ask a question. I don’t know where I first saw the link to this site, so you all may have seen it or not. But. Have you seen the Stuff On My Cat site? It’s hilarious.

My question, though: Do any of you really have cats who are that tolerant? I truly cannot picture Kit-Kat or Lena putting up with that sort of hijinks. Kittycat would flee. Lena would probably smack me around first (she’s skittish, and if someone touches her in an Unapproved Manner she’ll smack you—no claws, unless you ignore the Warning Smack and keep doing whatever it was she didn’t like). And then flee. I’m having trouble picturing how these photos get taken without sedation.

Oh, and a photo on that site that I can relate to: Remington the cat loves to knit.

Okay, I have got to take a break here. Even though I do get out of work in 40 minutes. I’ve been completely insane this week trying to get the business’s tax return done. It was due in April, and I got a six-month extension and swore I wouldn’t put it off until the last minute. Then I put it off until the last minute, and here I am trying to do this tax return that needs to be postmarked Monday. Hence the total lack of answering my comments and email, crocheting, or posting here. I’ve been reading and posting a little bit at Crochetville; it’s been the only place I’ve been visiting to keep my eyes from glazing over. Well, that and hitting Bloglines about once a day, but I’m way behind on reading blogs.

Swiped from Lori—the Google Needs meme. (Lori, did I do the trackback thing right?)

Here’s what to do: Google “[your name] needs” and list the best.

Stacey needs understanding, not rejection. (Yeah. That.)
Stacey needs a break. (And one of those.)
Stacey needs a lot of help from everyone around her. (Anyone detecting a theme here yet?)
Stacey needs more signs. (Are those street signs or signs from the universe?)
Stacey needs all our prayers (because if she doesn’t finish this tax return the IRS will come after her!)
Stacey needs to be at work in two hours. (Nooooooo! I’ve already been at work for almost twelve hours! Noooo!)
Stacey needs to take some responsiblity for her actions and change her life. (Oh, that, too. Sigh.)
stacey needs to get some balls. cheesey balls. (snort.)
Stacey needs to learn how to wrestle (Or juggle.)
Stacey needs treatment and lots of it. (Er. Well. Stacey really needs Ritalin and can’t afford to see a shrink.)
Stacey needs to get rid of the mullet. (Okay, I haven’t had a mullet since I was trying to grow my hair out when I was fourteen, but that was too funny not to put in here.)
Lastly, a non-Google one: Stacey needs an accountant and twelve hours of sleep!

Yay, I finished fringing! It started going much faster after Deneen was nice enough to point out that I was really going about things the hard way. I even think I don’t hate doing fringe anymore. Seriously, much much faster. The first half took two or three times as long to do as the second half. What Deneen suggested was wrapping the yarn around a video box and cutting around one end. Since I was already locked into a particular size, what I did (since I was cutting 14″ lengths) was just wrap it around my 7″ ruler instead, and it was so much easier after that.

The part of the fringe that came from the end of the last ball was a little kinked up at first, but I’ve been coaxing it to be straight and it’s relaxed a bunch. I know I saw a thread about that on Crochetville a while back; I should dig it up and see what it said in there.

I love how this shawl turned out. It’s sooo comfy, and I didn’t finish it a moment too soon either because it’s chilly (54°, which is 30° colder than the day before yesterday) and drizzly outside today, and I am all wrapped up in my nice warm shawl. Happy happy happy.

I got Don to take pictures for me (clickable for full-size versions & details):

Am I overly critical of myself, or do I always look like a dork in photos? No, wait, I don’t think I want to hear the answer to that… :D

Haven’t posted for days and days. I’ve been in one of those moods where I want to write but can’t think of much to say.

I finished the shawl and am almost halfway done fringing it. Muttergrumbledamnfringe. I’m not very good at fringe. I tested out doing the twisty fringe, but it just didn’t look right that way (or without fringe), so I’m making normal fringe. I’m sure once it’s finished (and evened out) I’ll be glad I did it because in the picture on the pattern it looks great. But right now I’m going insane with the fringing.

You Are Apple Cider

Smooth and comforting. But downright nasty when cold.

Mmm…apple cider. I think the only things I really like about fall are apples and the leaves turning. And being able to crochet with yarn again after it being too hot to touch it much all summer. The rest is a little depressing because it means that winter is on the way. (And yes, I am downright nasty when I’m cold! Though I like cold cider. Not sure what the quiz writer’s problem is there. Maybe it’s the same quiz writer who thinks my inner child is sad because I’m not a social butterfly?)

But it is nice being able to bake again. I made an apple crisp last week. I really need to make another one soon—I still have half a sack of apples in the fridge. Mmm…apples…