Alien Spouse

Idea: Range of Exercise Clothes for Intellectuals.

Sometimes I have great ideas that I am just not in a position to actually implement, the oft quoted example being the lavish mini-series of "Mame" and the sequel "Around The World With Auntie Mame" starring Megan Mullally (I'm going to keep mentioning that one, until someone steals the concept.  Unless McG is reading this. In which case: Yikes).

It's mainly casting, which would have been my dream career, but I do also develop product lines in my head sometimes.  Most recently I've been mulling over an idea I came up with when I was a teenager that I still think would be a winner.
When I was studying "Hamlet" for my Eng. Lit. A-Level I thought that work-out gear that had the quote "Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew", would be great.  I'm sure I've seen that phrase on t-shirts before, but I am thinking of a whole range of clothes specifically designed for exercise with that and other appropriate literary quotations.  You know track suits or yoga gear with lines from Dostoyevsky on, that type of thing.

The market would be intellectuals, or just people with intellectual pretensions, to wear their brains on their sleeves whilst on the elliptical machine.  Of course the range would also accommodate those people who want their tracksuits to say more than "Just Do It" whilst they are slumped on the sofa watching telly.

It would be cool, right?

Sunday Continues As It Began.

I have not left the house today, I didn't get dressed until two, I didn't put any product in my hair, I brushed the cats and I've been wearing flip flops with tabi socks all day.

Lovely.

Pro Love, Anti Hate.

We had a terrible time trying to find a parking space today because there is a big football game in town, but we managed to get to the library where the pro-gay marriage march was assembling in time for me to make a banner.  In the end I went with lots of red love hearts, partly inspired by the lovely necklace Jason sent to me as part of my birthday package (I also got Malteasers, cake decorations and a bag of assorted fabulous sequins!  All of it wrapped up in the most gorgeous paper!  Yay for birthday surprises!) I also wrapped a small hot pink feather boa around the handle, which helped to make it comfortable but was mainly because, hello, it was a hot pink feather boa!  That's my kind of protesting!

We marched in a circular route around the town which took about an hour and a half.  For the most part we got lots of smiles and thumbs up, with just one or two people expressing their disagreement with our views.  It was actually really quite fun!

It did start to rain towards the end, so I was glad to get home, which is when we discovered that Edith is pro gay marriage too.  She really loved my banner, and kept rubbing up against it.

Unfortunately she was so enthusiastic about the sign that she pushed it over on top of Nancy, who survived unscathed but presumably less keen on protest signs than our little fluffy radical.

Crochet Cachet.

I forgot to mention that I got my invitation to join Ravelry last week.  In case you aren't in the loop that's a social network exclusively for knitters and crocheters.  Did you see what I did there?  In the loop?  Because, you know, of looping the wool?  Fine.  I am ill here people, you can't expect my best work!

Thanks for suggesting that I apply for my invitation Megg.  I haven't explored the site fully yet but I have logged on and had a quick "Ooh!" over some of the projects and patterns.

The Polka Dot Courier Bag Has Landed!

This morning when Doc C went to check our post office box he collected three parcels, and one of them was my new courier bag.  Isn't it fab?  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Who would have thought hole punch reinforcers and a pot of paint would work so well?

My new bag is a small standard courier bag.  Which means it's about the size of a tote bag, has one large main pocket and a further five pockets on the inside, as well as a carabiner key clip.

I know I've said it before, but honestly Courierware are the best.  Eric at Courierware encouraged me to customise the fabric exactly how I wanted to, and then made the bag for me.  So he made not only made it possible, but did it within two weeks of me shipping the painted cordura back to them and at a reasonable price.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Zig-A-Zig Argh!

I was a bit disappointed not to have taken more pictures at the Ghost Train, but I just forgot that it's really really dark, which is the point I suppose.  It's got to be much easier to spook people out that way.

So I thought I didn't really have any good images that I could post from this year's Ghost Train, but then I remembered that one of the Spice Ghouls had been at the Alumni Tailgate a few weeks ago and I had a great picture of her playing twister in lovely bright sunshine.

It's a fab costume isn't it?  I particularly like the Bride of Frakensteinesque beehive wig.  In fact I think I might need one.

Boo!

I've had a lovely Halloween so far!  I re-deployed all of the decorations from last nights Dorm of Doom, so we had a nice scary office; and I've inherited the Fortune Teller's magic 8 ball, which perfectly matches the rest of my black and white office stationary.

Tonight we are going to the Ghost Train again, but this time we are going with a group of friends.  It started with just one other person, and has grown to six.  Mostly it's faculty from the Philosophy and English departments, but we do have an intrepid teenager coming too despite the distinct possibility that we will be very nerdy.

I don't really have a costume as such, I couldn't think of anything warm enough but still fun. In the end my solution was to just pile on the eyeliner, put too much product in my hair, accesorise with as many skull based things as I own, and go as "A thirty year old woman who thinks she can get away with being a bit Emo".  I have no doubt it will be the scariest costume of the evening!

p.s. I'll be skipping the photo post for today, because I'm hoping to have a lot from the Ghost Train to post tomorrow!

Things That Go Bump in the Night.

Tonight the students who live in the dorms above my office were staging Dorm of Doom, in the lobby of our offices.  I helped them set it all up this afternoon, then I came back to take some photos and listen to the creepy stories about the building.  The tableaux worked pretty well, and I was really pleased with how much fun the performers seemed to be having.  The evil scientist hadn't known that she needed to bring a costume, so I cut an apron out of a paper table cloth, and then we splattered it with red food dye.  It looked horrible effective, particularly when paired with the brain in a jar (or, maybe, it was actually cauliflower floating in red water).

I was really pleased that a lot of the students who came for the ghost stories had come in their Halloween costumes and they had a costume contest which was really fun.  In third place was a very good home-made Anne Boleyn costume, in second place was Alf Alfa and the winning costume was essentially a hospital gown worn over the top of a paper mache bottom.  Apparently the winner had been crafting the bum for weeks, and it was really effective.

After the prizes had been given out, and everyone had got their hot chocolate the ghost stories began. 

The stories that explain the origin of the ghost are pretty much the old stand-by creepy story about a girl who fell hopelessly in love with a professor, and then killed herself.  There is a delightful variation involving an unplanned pregnancy, but generally the message is "Don't have sex kids!", as with all classic slasher movies.  My favourite part was the repeated assertion that the building was so old, my guess is that it was built in the fifties at the earliest, but there was talk of the civil war!  Not to mention that apparently our building was built in the centre of a pentagon!  Good thing it wasn't built in the middle of a dodecahedron, eh?

Crocheted Skull and Cross Bones Scarf.

I've finished my skull and crossbones scarf!

I accidentally on purpose made it extra wide, and it took almost six balls of wool to get just about long enough, but it still looked a bit stumpy when I made the final stitch. 

So then I blocked it, which sounds really efficient and technical doesn't it?  It sounds as though you need some special piece of equipment, but it just means giving it a gentle hand wash in luke warm water, shaping it whilst damp and then leaving it to dry (You could use a steamer instead, and I might look into getting one of those, because I hear they are also great for cleaning!)  Actually the moment I took it out of the soapy water I could see that the stitches had all lengthed out slightly so the scarf is a good length now.  I wish I had done a Crazy Aunt Purl style before-and-after photo (She knitted the scarf, used a steamer and it grew a lot longer than mine.  Otherwise, same-same!), but I forgot to.

 As you can see it's a black scarf with an off white skull at one end, a pair of off white crossed bones at the other end and irregular off white stripes in between.

I sort of made this up by using two different patterns from the Stitch and Bitch Crochet book.  The Skull was mostly from from the pot holder pattern, except I made the left eye bigger and the skull shape slightly wonkier. The crossed bones were directly from the skull-and-crossbones sweater; but I didn't use the skull from that pattern because I wanted a more stylised look to it so I didn't want a lower jaw.  The stripes in between were placed randomly when I felt like they might look good.

The reason why I put the skull and bones at opposite ends was so that when you put the scarf on, the bones would hang lower than the skull and voila!  Skull and crossbones!

As I type this I am sitting on my sofa watching the Halloween specials of some of my favourite cartoons and wearing my scarf.  It's not really cold enough to justify the scarf, but I don't care.

I'm British - The Weather is Endlessly Fascinating.

As I mentioned yesterday the weather is starting to get a bit colder.  I've broken out the cosy undershirts that I like to wear layered under t-shirts and hoodies, so I am keeping warm.  One thing I really like about the change in weather is that it makes the cats much friendlier.  Nancy was taking an hour and a half to forgive me for giving her the bubble-gum pink antibiotics previously, but this evening she was on my lap within thirty minutes.

The cooler weather also means that I have an excuse to crochet up a storm!  Doc C wore his scarf last weekend, and said it was very warm.

Today I took my skull and crossbones scarf to the wool shop with me to ask the nice lady behind the counter how much more wool she thought I needed, and whether blocking would help lengthen it.  When I took the scarf out of my bag and unrolled it along the counter, the two other customers in the shop came to have a look.  One of them was a sweet little old lady who peered at it, then gave me a big beaming smile and said it was very pretty.  I'm not sure she had her glasses on, bless her heart.

I bought the two balls of wool it was agreed should get the length I want for my scarf, and I also bought some lovely Scottish wool to make Doc a nice warm hat, which I think I'll attempt to felt.  However the hat wool was ten dollars more expensive per ball then the wool I made the scarves out of, so I think I'll do a practice run in nice cheapo acrylic first.

If the Presidential Debate Ends in a Walk Off, I will be KICKING Myself.

So the second presidential debate is on this evening, at the same time as the "Project Runway" season five finale. 
Obviously I'm going to be watching "Project Runway", and I thought I may as well live blog it!

If you haven't been watching the show and you want to play along at home you can go to the show's website here, or the Fug Girls attended the Bryan Park show and actually handicapped the contestants in New York Magazine.  They have pictures of the runway show, bless their coal black hearts.

If you'd rather follow the debate, may I direct you to Defective Yeti?  Matthew Baldwin is live blogging this debate, and I can virtually guarantee you will find him immensely entertaining.

• 9.00 - I missed the first few seconds of the "Previously..." montage, but that's ok I'm up to speed.
• 9.03 - Tim Gunn's first appearance!  Hoorah!  Swiftly followed by Kenley-Disagrees-With-Tim shock.
• 9.17 - A model brought her puppy to a fitting and cleaned up the inevitable poop whilst wearing Leanne's evening gown.  It seemed a bit weirdly staged really.
• 9.20 - I would love to go accessory shopping with Korto, she has a great eye for a striking piece.
• 9.21 - Michelle Trachtenburg alert!
• 9.26 - Jennifer Lopez pulled out of judging the finale because of a foot injury.  When I first heard that I thought it was a joke, but, no, it's true.  Anyway Tim is doing it instead.  Kenley made a comment about how she should have worked on her attitude.  Umm, yeah, that might have been good.  Kenley starts the show.
• 9.28 - Shot of Rachel Zoe in the audience.  Nice product placement there Bravo!
• 9.34 - Korto's collection is a lot stronger with her new dresses.  Well played!
• 9.35 - Index tags!  That's what Leanne's collection reminds me of!  In a good way!
• 9.42 - Judging panel.  Let's hope Michael and Nina have been working out their bitchy muscles in preparation.
• 9.47 - Korto kicks off the crying for this evening with a few discreet tears, Leanne was completely self-possessed and under control but Kenley actually blubbered.
• 9.56 - Kenley's out. And crying again, and complaining about how unfair everything is.  Poor baby.
• 9.57 - Leanne wins Season Five!  And a hybrid car!  And Leanne's model wins her own magazine spread too, which is nice.
• 9.58 - Korto is the runner up, but we already know that she won the fan's favourite so she'll be getting $10 000 anyway and her little girl is super cute, so Korto's doing pretty well too.
• 9.59 - Is that it?  I feel like that was a bit of an anti-climax really.

Ok, well that's all for Alien Spouse's live coverage for tonight, but in real life I will now be watching "Top Design" with India Hicks.  I love Bravo...

A New Project.

I've started a new crochet project, and I got off to a really good start; but unfortunately I was a little over enthusiastic and the width really got away from me which I only noticed after about 30 rows.  If I carry on like this (which I think I probably will!), what was intended to be a scarf is going to be more like a shawl, but hey it'll still have a skull and cross bones on to that will be fine.

I started with the skull, which is what caused me to go a bit crazy, I am pleased with how it's looking so far and I think this will be an excellent project to try blocking on.  That might make all the difference.  or not.  We shall see.

Jason's On A Jet Plane.

Before we took Jason to the airport today, we packed in a few more fun activities.  First Doc C whipped up a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup, as well as eggs and bacon for the carnivores.  Then we went to the Humane Society to introduce Jason to the two cats we've decided to adopt, he approved of both of them; so we filled out the paperwork and we shall be picking them up on Friday (I'll wait till we've got them to post their details!).  Last thing before we hit the road was a trip along the Parkway, so Jason could enjoy some of the fantastic scenery in all it's early autumnal beauty.

I have to say dropping Jason off at the airport was a lot less fun than collecting him; but the woman who checked him in loved my "Miss Scarlet in the Hall with a Revolver" T-shirt which was gratifying.  We walked Jason to his security gate, waved him off and promptly left, because I would have got something in my eye if we'd hung out for too long.

Right now he should be in Atlanta waiting to transfer to his flight to Heathrow; let's hope his suitcase has learnt it's lesson and catches the same flight as him this time around.

I Think Therefore I Am! Woooh! I Love This One!

Yesterday Doc had given his afternoon lecture which went as normal, dismissed the class and he then turned to clean the board as the students filed out.  When he turned back to the classroom there was a pair of pink lacy g-string knickers on the floor right where he had been standing whilst lecturing. 

He has no idea who they belonged to, and the last few students in the room claimed to have no knowledge of them either.  The Doc grabbed a piece of scrap paper to pick them up with, and threw them in the bin.

So in case you'd ever wondered how good a lecturer The Doc really is; he can make a lecture on Decartes so rock-and-roll that he gets underwear thrown at him.  He is the Aerosmith of Philosophy.

Day Three of Jason's Visit!

This evening we introduced Jason to Kim, Jill and David, "Project Runway", our shiny new grill and smores.  It was very fun!

Tomorrow I will take Jason out to my favourite breakfast place, then around campus and the antique shops in town, before we go bowling in the evening.  More fun!

Ngaio Marsh 15: Swing Brother, Swing.

Ahh! Lovely! I find this fabulous image so soothing after yesterday's eyesore.  And I love the frock that the woman is wearing on this cover, it's so gorgeously fifties in shape and a beautiful colour too.

As I am sure you would immediately guess from the cover art this particular mystery is set in a jazz club, and it is a really fun plot.   

Notes on Fashion Accessories.

I am trying to bring back proper handkerchiefs.  They've got to be more environmentally friendly, and it's so nice to remember you have a freshly laundered hanky in your pocket or bag;where as a grotty old tissue is never a welcome find except in a direst emergency.  Plus cotton hankies don't make your nose go all horrible and red when you've got a cold, and they don't disintegrate at inopportune times.

Also you can get them with nice embroidery in the corner.  In my pocket right now is a lovely hanky with the White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" on it.  He's blowing a trumpet whilst wearing a tabbard from the court of the Queen of Hearts.  Naturally what I'd really like a set of skull and crossbones hankies, and I may yet investigate making them myself.

This is definitely a better trend to try and start, rather than the time I decided that wearing one of those plastic rain-hoods whilst queuing in inclement weather outside a nightclub was a good idea; I reasoned I may look funny briefly, but at least when I was actually in the club my hair would be dry.  I still think it's a good idea, and maybe with the right marketing it could be done, but I'm clearly not the girl to start a grass roots fashion for them.

Painted Polka Dots and A Striped Scarf.

It being Monday I am feeling slightly stunned that the weekend flew by so quickly, and I'm not at all convinced that was a whole 54 hours of relaxation.  I think that perhaps we should demand a recount.  Who is with me?

As my one task for this evening, I am planning to finish the third coat of paint on my polka dots.  Then I shall leave them over night to dry and then tomorrow I shall remove twenty one rows of hole re-inforcers and see how things have turned out.  Let's hope that my almost foolishly simple plan worked beautifully, or I shall be slightly peeved.

As for my other main creative project, I still have about 8 rows to go on Doc's scarf, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I am working width-wise not length-wise, so each row is 300 stitches long.  Which makes it about 7 foot long.  Umm, I suppose I may possibly have got a little bit carried away with the starting chain.

Crocheting a 7 foot long row may sound like a chore, but fortunately I like how the pattern of stripes is working up, and Doc has been making some appreciative noises too.  The book I bought recently on knitting/crocheting for men said that the main trick to getting men to wear things you have spent hours making for them is to encourage their in-put in the planning stage, long before you actually start making the garment.  In this case Doc choose all of the colours and told me what sequence of colours he wanted the stripes to go in.  He went with variations on a theme of drab, so hopefully he'll feel happy wearing it looped round his neck a couple of times when the weather turns cold.

Friday! Friday! Friday!

I cannot believe it is Friday already, this week has flown by.  Bob started driving back to Boston today, because he'll be taking a couple of days to get there; unlike our fourteen hour marathon last time we went.

This weekend I shall be getting some more wool to finish off the scarf I am crocheting for Doc C and to start off the one I've decided to make for myself.  I shall also be positioning stickers, and using them to paint polka dots on the fabric for my bag flap.  The piece of cordura arrived this morning and  extremely thoughtful people at Courierware have even chalked in guidelines for me, so that I don't polka dot anywhere that's going to be hidden.

Apart from that I am intending to sleep a lot, but I don't know if that's going to happen because I drank half a litre of coffee at this morning's breakfast meeting.  That was at 8am, and I am still feeling wired.  I drink tea every day, or I might have a latte once or twice a week, but half a litre of strong filter coffee is clearly not a good idea for me, and yet I manage to forget that and do it again every five years or so.

Note to self:  This is your brain on too much caffeine, Eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Polka Dots.

I am definitely on my way to owning a black-and-white polka dot courier bag.  I'm going to order a bag from a company I really like called Courierware, they make great bags to customer specifications and Doc C has been using one of their bags for six years now.  I cannot imagine him not having that bag, fortunately they are virtually indestructible and have a lifetime warranty.

One small confession I already own a large red courier bag (perfect for carry-on luggage when flying), and a small hot-pink walking bag (perfect for carrying stuff whilst walking dogs) from Courierware, but what I need a medium size bag for work. 

Hi.  My name is Jen, and I am addicted to bags.

Anyway, Courierware do offer a great range of colours in cordura, and will work with other fabrics; but what I want is a bag made from the waterproof cordura, and cordura doesn't come in polka dots.  I did some internet research, and eventually found a bike courier's forum thread that was discussing how to stencil onto cordura bags.  This is exactly what I am intending to do, so I was pleased to find that other people reported good results using gesso.  Artists use gesso paint to prepare canvases, it comes in different colours, and it's quite cheap.  Perfect.  I don't really know hard wearing it will be, but I can easily touch up the bag when needed.

We went to an art shop today, and I bought a pint of black gesso, a pint of white gesso, a paint brush, a sheet of acetate, an exacto knife and a self-healing cutting board.  I also bought a ruler and some punch hole reinforcements from the supermarket on the way home.

I've pretty much given up on finding a cheap polka dot stencil, there is one on e-bay but I've already been outbid on it and I don't fancy getting into a bidding war for the thing.  Instead I used the hole reinforcer stickers to stencil a row of three practice dots on the inside of my small walking bag, which is also made of cordura.

I'm really pleased with how the dots came out, the hole re-inforcers are really simple to position and the dots were nice and crisp.  All I need to do now is order my bag from Courierware, and then spend a few hours ruling a grid on it with tailor's chalk and positioning the stickers.

In the meantime, I'm going to be stenciling the pink bag, and this time I'll be using the acetate to make a stencil.  The original design was going to be a stylised black cat, but now I'm thinking about doing something else.  Maybe an off-center black, white and hot-pink Union Jack, but I definitely need to practice that a few times first though.  Can't have a wonky looking Union Jack.

Photo Opp.

Today Doc C came up with a three point plan for the day, which I was free to pick and choose activities from.  I turned down the chance to put air in the tyres, and get a new gas tank for the grill, but I accepted the invitation to go for a walk to Linville Falls and see a lovely waterfall.

It was only a half mile stroll, and it was through a very pretty forest.  I enjoyed all of that, and the falls itself were quite lovely.  When we got there Doc asked if I had my camera, which I always do, and suggested I take some photos.  I took a couple of the river and the falls, then a few of the Doc in front of the falls.  Then Doc took the camera and got me to pose for a photo, he took two and then handed me the camera.

I deleted those pictures, and handed the camera back whilst correcting my posture, and re-adjusting my t-shirt so that it didn't cling exactly where I didn't want it too.  He took two more, handed back the camera and turned to leave.  I deleted those pictures too, and gave him the camera for a third time, then I very clearly explained how I needed to be framed, so as to avoid us being there all freaking day.  Essentially I wanted a shot from the shoulders up please.

Honestly I don't hate having my photo taken (not that I'm about to post any here to prove that!), but I do object to Doc C taking a photo of me in an unflattering pose, and not telling me that I need to straighten up, or raise my chin slightly.  Anyway, I simply art directed myself based on the photos I deleted, and we ended up with a single shot that I didn't absolutely hate.  As I believe I said yesterday, I am my mother's daughter in many many ways, but I don't seem to have inherited my great grandmother's fondness for portraiture, we have some amazing photos of her posed in some fabulous fancy-dress outfits from the twenties (I think).  Hmmm...  Maybe if I had an art deco head dress, or a pet dove I'd reconsider...

Slightly Dotty.*

I have woken up this morning with a sudden obsession for polka dots.  I am attributing this to two recent purchases which feature polka dots and both of which are making me very happy.  I've already mentioned my black-and-white polka dot Converse, and they have become a favourite item in my wardrobe by the simple method of enlivening many an ensemble.

When we first moved in practically the first thing we bought was shower curtains, and we didn't want anything too wacky because that's just jarring first thing in the morning. Initially I was greatly enamored of a metallic silver shower curtain, but when it came to the crunch, I choose an opaque white shower curtain with glossy white polka dots.

Having lived with these two items for several weeks now I have come to appreciate the polka dot more than I had previously.  It adds some visual interest without being overwhelming, and it is a pattern that plays well with others in small doses.  Plus whilst polka dots clearly have a retro appeal, they somehow still look fresh.

Right now I am trying to track down a polka dot stencil, because I want to buy a new courier bag. A black bag would be the most sensible choice for work, but I've decided that I want to add white polka dots to it to make it a bit more distinctive.  I don't want to make the stencil myself, because I know I wouldn't be able to cut out the dots sufficiently accurately for my liking.  I've found one which seems to be reasonably priced in itself but the postage is surprisingly expensive.  Does anyone have a top tip for a cheap polka dot stencil.

* Post title chosen in honour of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch.

New Specs.

My eyes seem to have settled into my new glasses now, which is excellent.  Here are those pictures I've been meaning to post of the frames from different angles:

Aren't they cool?

Sunday Morning Me Time.

Doc C has gone hiking with Randy this morning. 

Meanwhile I am enjoying breakfast in bed whilst watching "Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" (a program that Doc C would never watch, because he doesn't like reality shows) later I might do some pilates, make a dress, bake, or watch a really terrible teen musical. 

The possibilities are endless.

Washinton 10 - (Finally) Bullet Point Number Ten

As we came out of Lush directly across the road from us was a branch of Urban Outfitters and we briefly discussed going to see if they had anything we wanted, but we agreed that really on the last couple of occasions we'd had looked round an Urban Outfitters we had been really disappointed with the selection and quality.

Thinking about it later Doc C said he felt that the main problem was that they sold too many t-shirts with slogans that "...Frat boys would think of as witty".

Which probably means we are not the target demographic anyway, so we carried on to Barnes and Noble instead.

Stripes and BUG!

See how brave Doc C is being?  That caterpillar clearly had entirely nefarious intentions, and yet he let it climb him!

Until he decided that it really did have too many legs and that it really would prefer to be in a nice big leafy tree.

Washington 10 - Bullet Point Number Nine.

Before leaving on the trip I had gone to the Lush website and found the addresses of their shops in DC.  There was one in Georgetown, and I think Doc wanted to take me there anyway, so we stopped off on the way home.

I really like Georgetown, it's like a nice English market town, if they'd had a Waterstones, a Monsoon and nice tea room (and if the traffic was on the correct side of the road), then I would have thought I was in the home counties.  sigh.

Even better the Lush was between an American Eagle Outfitters, a clothes shop which does Doc C's current favourite cut of jeans, and a Barnes and Noble bookshop.  Heaven.  Doc bought three pairs of jeans, whilst I bought three books and a pilates ball, not to mention a tidy sum of delicious smelling cosmetics.

It was a very good day of shopping and we both left very happy.  Next time we go to Washington I really want to spend much more time in Georgetown.

The Hope Diamond.

This is the Hope Diamond. 

It is very big and shiny.

The crowd to see this at the Smithsonian was enormous.  It's displayed in a four-sided glass display case, and the plinth it's on revolves; stopping for ten seconds at each side to accommodate photography.

Which you have to admit is very thoughtful, especially for a diamond with a curse on it.

Of Television Shows.

There are only really four television programmes that I am really bothering to keep track of the schedule for so I don't miss anything.  Fortunately for me "The Daily Show, With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" are on every night back to back, so it doesn't take a lot of effort to catch those.

The other two are on Bravo, and Bravo are the world champions of repeating stuff, so there is no danger of me missing anything vital in "Shear Genius" or "Project Runway" but I still like to catch new episodes as soon as I can.  Which is all a roundabout way of saying that I've made a small effort to  watch every week, and there is some emotional involvement now and so last night was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. 

Last night I was very disappointed to see Paolo knocked out of "Shear Genius" because he was my favourite.  I was taken in by the tough outer shell for a week or so, but it soon became clear that the man is just a big old fluffy kitten underneath.  Paolo is great with the clients, pretty much the only contestant all of the others seemed to genuinely like and I am very sorry to see him leave the show.

On the other hand next week is Drag Queen week on "Project Runway" and I spotted Miss Varla Jean Merman in the trailer!  Ohmygod!!!  I adore Varla Jean!  We first saw her in the hilarious and gleefully offensive "Girls will be Girls" at the annual London Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual Film Festival, and then actually got to see her live at the Soho Theatre about six months after that.  She is magnificent, I really hope she gets paired with a designer who can create something really gorgeous for her.  I am really looking forward to this episode of the show, because there are bound to be some Drag Queen meltdowns and it's going to be extremely entertaining.  How on earth am I going to be able to wait a whole week for this?

Washington 10 - Bullet Point Number Two.

Whilst planning our trip to Washington we had asked our friends for any recommendations or suggestions.  Top of everyone's list was an Ethiopian restaurant called Meskerem in Adams-Morgan, and Doc had been there a couple of years ago; so naturally we went on Saturday night.

I'd never eaten Ethiopian food before, but Doc assured me there would be a good vegetarian selection and he was absolutely right.  I choose a platter which had a little bit of everything on it, and all of it was delicious.  Doc C had lamb, which I understand was really good too.

Everything was served on big plates (usually just one from which everyone shares, but Doc asked our waitress to keep our main dishes separate because he's very considerate like that) with a lot of soft floppy bread, sort of like a pancake, but with the little bubbles you get on crumpets.  You tear off bits of the bread and use it to scoop up a mouthful of food.  The platter is placed on a low wicker table, which is concave so you have to reach down into it.  That sounds so weird, but it's really nice and creates a very relaxed intimate atmosphere.

It was a perfect atmosphere for a second or third date, and I had a whale of a time eavesdropping on nervous young couples.  In my opinion the guy in the blue shirt was completely wasting his time, because the young lady he was with barely spoke and was wearing a scruffy beige cardigan which would indicate to me that she wasn't keen, but he seemed to really enjoy the sound of his own voice so perhaps he won't be too upset.

Another thing I really liked about being out and about in Adams-Morgan on a Saturday night was that everyone had really dressed up to go out.  Women were wearing beautiful dresses and jewelry, or well cut jeans and tops with really good hair-dos, so they looked great.  The students round here seem to believe that dressing up is putting on their least filthy pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so it was just refreshingly fabulous to see all the glamour

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jog.

We are safely back in NC, enjoying the deafening sound of crickets and their insect friends.  The 24 hour traffic of Capital Hill was distinctly quieter.

Remind me to tell you about:

1. How brilliant the new Diana Wynne Jones book, "House of Many Ways" is.
2. The Ethiopian restaurant we went to on Saturday night.
3. Why pavements (US translation: Sidewalks) are A Very Good Thing.
4. The amazing brunch we had on Sunday that involved both crab cakes and oysters.  Yum!
5. The International Spy Museum.
6. How we came to realise that Doc C really does have far too many siblings.
7. Why a good curry is just the best thing ever.
8. The foresight of BMW to provide little plastic valet keys.
9. Georgetown, and how nice it was to find a Lush, an American Eagle Outfitters and a Barnes and Noble within walking distance of one another.
10. Which shop Doc C describes as have the type of clothing that "...Frat boys would think of as witty".

There is other stuff as well, but those ten will do to be going on with.  It was a very fun trip!

A Saturday in Washington.

My feet are aching.  It was such a fun day, if a little too blazing hot for me.

We left the hotel at about 10.30, and we haven't stopped since.  We've been walking everywhere, past the White House, past the Treasury, through the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, through two art galleries and a sculpture garden, before finally investigating every square inch of H&M (We needed new clothes for work, we now have them).

I took the most photos at the Smithsonian, because they allowed photography and they had so many interesting things.  The moment we walked in I was immediately impressed by the Easter Island Figure they have just sitting in the Constitution Avenue entrance lobby.  I have always been fascinated by those statues, and this is the only one in America.  Inevitably I have a new Facebook profile picture with my stone-faced buddy.

I also fought through crowds to take a few shots in the Harry Winstone gem gallery, why hello there Star of India and Hope Diamond!  

Surprisingly it wasn't the gem room that I got completely snap happy in, mainly because there were just too many people in the way; in fact I took the most pictues in the skeleton exhibition.  I mean, who doesn't love skeletons?  Right?

Anyway, it's been a very exciting day.  I think I need a nap.

7.00 with Crochet.

I got my book on crocheting exactly fortnight ago, then I went out to buy hooks and yarn two days after that, so I have been crocheting for exactly 12 days.  Today I am wearing my first completed crochet project!

I am not embarrassed to say that I am proud of that time frame; I think that 12 days from initial perusing of instructions to end garment is pretty good going.

Of course I will be the first to admit that I deliberately started out with a simple project that didn't require an awful lot of work, but still I did it all by myself.  I took this photo in the bathroom mirror this morning, and it's a bit blurry.

If you want the details of the t-shirt itself, I can tell you that it's a Threadless T-shirt called "7.00" but they've sold out of all the girls' sizes now (I've also bought an XXL mans size, I was thinking about making a floor cushion out of it but I'm not sure about that idea now).  I love this design, but frankly as a blonde with very pale skin, any cream T-shirt just washes me out.  I decided that changing the shape of the neckline and adding a band of green to the collar and cuffs would help with that problem and I'm pleased with the results.  It also helps that the design has a nice retro air to it, which I think goes really well with a bit of crochet.

Here's a link to the website, if you want to see the design properly click on the handy Threadless button below.

 

Anyway, the bands of crochet were based on an idea I'd seen in a book called "Tease", which has loads of different projects for de-constructing T-shirts.  Funnily enough this project in that book was designed by Debbie Stoller, the woman who put together "Stitch n' Bitch Crochet" the book I taught myself to crochet from, so it was fairly simple to follow her pattern.

Me being me, I can't just go the easy route and follow a pattern exactly; I have to tweak it.  Before I started I'd already decided that the original pattern, although lovely, was too flouncy to really go with this particular T-shirt design.  So I fiddled around with it until I reached a happy medium between what I was imagining and what the pattern directions were.  I re-did the neck line twice, and the sleeves three or four times until I'd got the crocheted elements to sit as I wanted them to.

Hopefully this will mean I wear the T-shirt more than I would have done otherwise, but even if I don't, it was very satisfying to to do.

 

RSI. Like CSI But With Fewer Corpses.

I've finished one sleeve on the T-shirt, and changed the pattern so I actually only did three rows of crochet instead of five.  When I went to bed my right arm ached, so it took me ages to go to sleep.  Is crocheter's elbow a thing?

Yet More Crochet.

Doc C had flipped through the crochet book and found a scarf he liked so we went shopping for wool today, and he choose what the colours he wanted.  It's a stripy scarf, and in the pattern the stripes were light pink, hot pink, leaf green and white cotton; but Doc has chosen black, grey, beige and sage green wool.  It's going to be a very different scarf to what the designer had in mind, but I'm looking forward to making it.  When I spoke to Mum yesterday she said she'd got a book of crochet patterns out of the library to see what sort of thing I would be able to make, so I'm looking forward to getting some patterns and requests from her too.  I love making stuff for people!

Although before I start taking requests I'm going to work on a project for me, which is fortunately very simple I'm just adding a few rows of crochet to the sleeves and collar of a T-shirt.  I started that off this afternoon whilst watching a succession of terrible teen movies.  I mean you know it's going to be bad when Chad Michael Murray turns up in an updated version of Cinderella completely miscast in the role of Prince Charming, but somehow you just can't look away from the horror.  At least Hilary Duff got to wear a pretty dress though.

So I'm sorry that this is yet more crochet, but you know how very engrossing.it can be when you start a new hobby.

Crochet Heart and Umbrellas.

I heart crochet!

Cheesy I know, but this was the image used in the book to demonstrate tapestry crochet.  Don't worry, next time it'll be a skull and cross-bones!

This is pretty much it for the swatches I think, now it's time to actually consider which object I'm going to make first.

In the meantime I also have to make a decision about the dress fabric I bought at the weekend.  I have a plain chocolate brown fabric (made from bamboo), which is to make a loose V neck dress.  

I also bought a printed linen which was a bit of a spur of the moment purchase, and at the time I intended to make a wrap skirt from it.  The thing is that now I've got the fabric home I'm not sure it's right for a skirt.  As it happens I have the right amount to make an A-Line dress from it, so now I'm considering that but I didn't buy enough bias binding, or a zip, so now I'm confused. 

Here is a photo of the linen, as you can see it's a design of glamorous women carrying big colourful umbrellas, whilst apparently floating around Big Ben.  Like you do. 

The print is quite large, and I think it would be more wearable as a dress, maybe with black or red bias binding round the neck and some little cap sleeves.