The "Quickie" Project

...is taking slightly longer than I thought.

So I've been thinking for a while that there are two things that I need in my bathroom, which kind of also became Hermes' room when Jolie was staying with us (did I mention that she finally went home, after over three months? I am overjoyed! Sweet cat--not so great to have around when she makes you break out in hives and attacks the host kitty for no reason).

The first thing is a mat to go under the litter box, so that the litter doesn't get tracked all over the place. With hardwood floors, it ends up all over the house. I could go out and buy a rug from Target or wherever, but why spend the $10-15 when I have yarn?

Yeah, I know. I'm knitting something for my cat to wipe his paws on. Clearly, I have crossed over into crazy cat lady territory. But here's how I'm looking at it:

1. It's something mindless that will keep me occupied while my brain is still restarting.

2. I like knitting.

3. If it makes it easier to keep the house clean, then I am all for it.

4. It saves me $15, since I already have both the yarn and needles, and what else am I going to do with two balls of acrylic boucle? Cat crap seems like a good use for it....

I swore off boucle yarn about six weeks after learning to knit. If you don't know what it is, boucle yarn, rather than being smooth, is covered in little loops. Those little loops love to catch the tips of unsuspecting knitting needles when attempting to insert them into a stitch, and also love to snag on anything and everything that gets within six inches of them. I've knit with it. I've crocheted with it. The one thing I haven't done with this yarn that I would love to do is set it on fire, because I'm sure that acrylic would make some lovely, multi-colored flames.

And heaven forbid you have to rip it out.

I've actually found more practical uses for eyelash yarn and fun fur than I have for boucle, and it's easier to work with.

The second thing that I need (I use the term "need" loosely) is a second mat to go under the cat food/water dishes, since Hermes likes to take his water dish for a walk and the sound of ceramic dragging over ceramic is not something I like to hear at two in the morning. When we lived at my mom and dad's place,  his food and water were on a rug, and he had no problems. Here, he will stick his paw in his water bowl, drag it six inches to the right and take a drink. Then he'll move it eight inches to the left, and take another drink. But no, he's not done yet! Next he walks around the dish, and the process repeats an additional 2-3 times before he's satisfied. By this time, the floor is soaked.

I do not even pretend to understand him. I'm just trying to get a decent night's sleep.

And a bonus, since Bill asked for it:

If you haven't seen the other Hermes comics, you can find them here.

ETA: Thanks Rob, for pointing out the error with the link. It should be fixed now. Blogger won't let me link to just the correct search results, but keep scrolling for more the comics.

UFO Sightings

I made a few small dents in the UnFinished Object bin over the weekend. On Friday, I cast off the dish mat that I started just before we moved into our current house--back in November, I think. It's been languishing for a while. First because lack of yarn, and then because I just plain forgot about it.

When that was done, I had some scraps leftover. Not enough for a new project, but enough that I felt bad about throwing them away. I remembered seeing several small balls the other day when I was organizing the stash, so I laid them all out on my bed, grabbed a couple of crochet hooks, and started work on some more squares for my scrapghan (afghan made of scraps). It's been well over a year since I made any progress at all on it; partially because of my wrists (the main reason that I don't really crochet anymore) and the fact that I've been concentrating on other things.

I finished Missouri's socks, too. No pictures, since they are currently wadded in a ball under her desk. :/

I've got about six inches and then the trim left on the work shrug. Hoping to finish that up today or tomorrow.

Lastly, my first batch of yarn for the book came in last week. One of the blends is a superwash merino/cashmere blend that is DIVINE. More details once I get the rest of the yarn and can really start to play around with it.

Odds and Ends

I've done a little bit of shuffling around on my projects this week. I usually try to keep no more than 3 active knitting projects going at any one time, since that seems to be the limit of my attention span.

My nook cover--which you'll hear a lot more about once it's done--is on hold at the moment. I need something stiff, sturdier than cardboard, to use as an insert, and so far haven't been able to come up with anything. Book board would be ideal, or perhaps a really heavy matte board, but I'd rather not buy a full size sheet when I only need two 6x6" squares. I'm hoping that among my many artist friends, I can find someone with some scraps lying around that they'll let me take. If not, I may break down and get a full sheet once I've knocked a few other projects off of my list. In the mean time, it's hibernating in a storage bin on my new yarn shelf:

Last weekend for Pride and the Raverly meetup, I decided that I needed a new project. I've been tripping over the same hole in my wardrobe for the past couple of weeks, so I pulled some really old yarn out of my stash (it's been marinating since spring of 2008) and cast on for a really simple shrug to wear over tank tops at work. We're not supposed to wear tank tops, but I don't have any sleeveless tops (basically, a tank top with a 4" strap) so at least this way I can be a little cooler and not show my shoulders.The yarn matches about 75% of my work clothes.

Another need that I've discovered--or rather, rediscovered--is for another dish drying mat for the kitchen. I started one just before we moved into this place, but never got around to finishing it. I fished it out of storage while my hand was bothering me, since it's plain stockinette and uses much larger needles than all of my other projects. It's moving right along and I'll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow, provided I don't run out of yarn first.

My last project is the socks I'm working on for Missouri. No pictures of those just yet, but they should be off the needles this week and I will post pictures then.

I know it's a little early but for those in the US--Happy 4th!

Mutterings and a thank you

How do you like my new laptop?

Click to make it bigger.

I typed that up on Saturday, when the Sterling first arrived. As yet I haven't had a chance to really play with it, since Missouri has been off for the last few days and the basement is really in no condition for much of anything yet. For starters, it's been mopped twice but still looks like a pigsty, partially the fault of the former tenants, and partially because of all the construction that had to be done down there. On the bright side, I have yet to meet any Rachnoss, so while some of their webs remain intact (every time I THINK I've gotten them all...) they seem to have abandoned our basement for greener pastures. Or darker caves, or whatever it is that giant, half-human alien spiders prefer.

It seems that all of the blogs I follow are doing retrospectives this week, but honestly, I'm not feeling the love. This is probably because at the moment I am sick AGAIN (this is is what, the sixth time this year?) and my general feeling towards 2012 is "Good riddance, don't let the door hit you on your way out." The election, partisan politics, the increase in violent crime around the country (at least in terms of mass shootings and such), and some of the natural disasters the world has suffered of late, have not helped this feeling. For my part, I'm lighting a candle and hoping we can put all of this bad juju behind us for 2013.

Some good things have happened--I got published, twice for short stories, and once for a knitting pattern; I had a knitting pattern go semi-viral (1739 downloads and counting), I was saved from near homelessness by the kindness of one of my dad's clients, and through the magic of the internet I met some fantastic people at conventions and writing meetups, and have gained both a great typewriter (or three...maybe) and lots of knowledge because of it. So all in all, not too bad, I guess.

Now pass me that Nyquill. I'm going back to bed.

A New Addition

There's been a little radio silence around here, both on the blog and on the podcast. (I'd hopped to have a new episode up by this week but the essay isn't gelling the way I'd like. So if you have anything you would like to share on the subject of typewriters in film or on television, drop me a line.) On the one hand, life has been happening and there hasn't been a lot of time to write, but on the other, it's mostly boring every day stuff (Work. Knit. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.) and didn't seem worth posting about.

Today Missouri and I went house hunting, checking out several condos that fit into our budget. Now we're just trying to decide which is the best for us, and if we want to try proceeding within the next month or if we're better off waiting a few extra weeks, though that puts us closer to the unpredictable-but-always-crappy weather that passes for winter in central Ohio. The one we both liked the best was actually the handyman special that needed the most work...more work that we could afford. The other three are all basically clones of each other in the same subdivision. We'll see how it goes.

But that's not the new addition I was referring to.

Meet Athena. She came home with me this afternoon. A good friend found her on the side of the road (after nearly turning her into a kitty pancake). Since no one else would take her and said friend is allergic, I took her. She's a feisty little thing and already is standing up to our labradors. Hermes, however, is less than amused. He seems to think she's a Devil Cat, and hisses and runs away every time he sees her. Even though she's usually hiding from him and roughly the size of his head. Right now he's camped out under the kitchen table staring at the laundry room door, waiting for her to make her move so he can attack. Meanwhile, Athena is napping on a shelf, completely worn out by her new surroundings.

Hermes and I had a long talk about the proper way to treat one's younger siblings. I told him that violence is unacceptable, as are excorcisms (since that's what it usually looks like he's trying to do). He told me I'm an only child and am therefore inexperienced on these matters, and that bloodshed is a normal part of family bonding.

...It's a work in progress.


Hermes is not amused.(That's one of my typewriter covers he's hiding under, by the way.)

I hate moving.

July is moving too quickly. In less than five weeks, I'm supposed to be in Italy, and I haven't even gotten my Visa paperwork sent out yet. Packing is at a stand still. I hate moving, and I espcially hate the temporary moves I've been making for school--three weeks here, four months there, six here. I love to travel, but I need to have a steady place to come back to, and unfortunately, my parents house no longer qualifies for that, since (after living in various apartments, houses and dorms) I now have too much stuff to fit in my shoebox bedroom.

On top of packing and all of that, I've also got a lot of crafting I need to do. I need to finish the top down sweater I started in June, if for no other reason than if I let it stew while I'm in Italy, I'm not going to have a clue what I was doing with it in the first place. I've got four or five garments that need fixed/altered so that they can come with me, and Mom asked me to dye a scarf for one of her friends. Oh, and I'm making Alice's bridesmaid dress. I've got the lining, bodice, and one sleeve done so far, and she needs it by the 28th at the latest. I don't often make clothes for other people--as in, never. This is the first time. I'm really nervous that it won't come out properly, since I'm on a time limit and neither of us has enough money for her to by a dress if this one doesn't work. From now on, I sew only for myself.

Cleaning and packing are threatening to make my head explode. I need to figure out what's coming to Italy, what's going to my parents house, and what is getting sold/thrown away/donated, and what to do with it in the mean time.

I want a hoard of fairies to clean my room and do all of my packing. That would free up a lot of time for me. I could finish this Visa paperwork, read my library books before I have to return them, and write. And sew. And not feel like I'm about to implode.

Well, enough complaining. I've got work to do.

Hey, Look Over There! Knitting!

I present you with: A very exciting photo of 3/4 of a stockinette sleeve. Ooh, Aah. Have you ever seen anything as interesting?

I <3 Sarcasm, by the way. Just in case you didn't notice.

So what is going on in CrazyLand? Well, for starters our kitchen is getting redone by our landlord, who wants to sell the house this year. Which means we have no appliances except the fridge, everything from the kitchen is in the dinning room (which was our craft room) and everything from the dinning room (i.e. all of our craft and art supplies) has been moved into our bedrooms, because once the kitchen has been put to rights, the dinning room is getting re-done. And I didn't know about any of this (at least the part involving the dinning room) until after I had finished cleaning and organizing my room, which I'd been meaning to do since December. Let me just express how happy I was to move all of that stuff into my (newly cleaned) living space: #$%^*&##$%^&%@@¢∞¶™!$&%$#µµ∫˚©ß†ˆ¬˚…∂å%**^@!#$!$%^&**!!

I keep asking if they need help (the landlord and his wife), but they keep saying no, so I've been hiding in my room knitting for the last few days. I feel kind of guilty because their son has been coming from the East Side to help, but every time I ask, "No, we've got it."

In better news, my printer came yesterday, which surprised me since I'd only ordered it on the 18th. It's shiny and spiffy and photo quality with a flatbed scanner and I can't wait until my mini comes to try it out. I could hook up the laptop, I suppose, but I prefer to only install things once. Now if only I could get the rebate center to work and get my $100 back, everything would be just dandy.

I've been in a much better humor since graduation. Probably because I have time to breathe now, and it doesn't feel like every single thing has to be done RIGHT THIS SECOND OR OH MY GOD THE WORLD WILL END AND I WILL DIE ON THE STREET. I have a little bit of leeway at least, though the job hunt continues and I still don't have any options for grad school.