Alien Spouse

The Complete Yoda.

Instead of partying this evening, I got out the number 3 crochet hook (it's the light blue one, and it's my favourite) and finished Yoda's hands and cane.

Ta-Dah!

I have to throw false modesty to the wind and say he turned out far better than I was expecting him to.  Yoda himself is crocheted in cotton, with hair made of strands of cotton rug-hooked in and polymer clay button eyes.  His clothes are all knitted, the top and trousers from brown cotton, and the robe from new wool.  I also crocheted a cane from beige cotton, and made loops from his fingers so he can hold the handle.  The cane and the robe are removable, and of course Yoda can wear his hood up or down.

I made him for my friend Laura to give to a friend of her's who is a huge Star Wars fan, but Doc C is already starting to get quite attached, so I hope I can smuggle him out when the Doc isn't looking.

Friday Night - Before the Predicted Snow Storm.

We're going to my Department's Christmas Party this evening, which should be quite fun actually.  It's a very good thing that it's this evening, because this weekend we have been promised a blizzard.  In fact the University has already re-scheduled the exams that were supposed to take place on Monday to Wednesday, I'm assured that this is completely without precedent so this is clearly going to be some serious snow.

I'm already planning the supplies we'll need to buy tomorrow morning to survive the predicted long snow-pocalypse weekend - Mostly this involves having all the ingredients required to bake mince-pies and gingerbread houses, but I also have my eye on some draught excluding caulking cord for the window frames.  I am determined to stay warm this year, and I've been reading this blog post about things you can do to keep heat in when you live in a rented home with an eye to making that a reality.  Of course my top tips to staying warm over the winter is plenty of tea and a cat or two scattered about the place.

When life Gives You Snow, Make Hot Chocolate.

I stayed at home today, thanks to the combination of a bad headache and a heaping helping of snow.

Doc had a meeting so he still drove into campus, but the Mini is front wheel drive so he actually had a bit of a challenge just getting up the incline of the driveway and onto the main road.  It took him three tries, but he took a good run up and made it eventually.

I made myself some porridge and went back to bed with the cats.  They mostly slept, whilst I knitted and read "Freakonomics".

Doc came home at 12, and said he was really glad that I hadn't gone in today because the roads were awful already.  He'd brought home a lot of work to do, so he disappeared into the study.  

I felt much better this afternoon so I took the opportunity to whip up a batch of heart-shaped butter cookies and some hot chocolate; because if this isn't the perfect weather to snuggle up with a warm snack and a good book, then I really don't know when is.

A Friday Night List.

Home with Doc C.

Carr's Ginger and Lemon Creams.

A nice cup of tea.

Knitting Yoda robes.

A floofy lap cat's contented sigh. 

A Martini with a twist of lemon.

"CSI" (Original Flavour).

Spaghetti with veggie meatballs.

Red wine.

Dark Chocolate.

 

A Purgative of Mental Objects.

Edith woke me up at 5 this morning by miaowing pitifully, which she never does, so I went downstairs to check she was ok (she was totally fine, I don't know what that was about at all) and then back up to bed; but I couldn't fall back to sleep.  I just did that dozing thing, where you have your eyes closed but your brain is churning away.

Mainly I was thinking about life, the universe, and, you know, everything.  A recurring theme was blogging and what exactly I'm trying to do in this little bit of of the internet.  I read a lot of blogs, web comics and cyber-zines so I've observed there are as many approaches to maintaining an internet site as there are people on-line.  I've never wanted to stick to a particular theme, because my blog was more about keeping an open diary.

When I wrote about going to the hospital with Doc C on Wednseday evening he wasn't very pleased that I'd done that, but it was in defending those 2 posts that I came to the conclusion that I haven't been writing about the things I've been actually thinking about.  I don't really know why I'm censoring myself so heavily because all it means is that when I open the compose screen I'm stuck with a very limited selections of topics to write about, and it sort of feels like I'm making endless small talk.  Which is exhausting.

So I think it's time for a cathartic blurt of my current recurring thoughts:

• Doc C and I are going to try and get me pregnant in 2011.  This is a very weird thought.
• I haven't been home in over three years and I just have a small but constant lump of homesickness in my throat that I have to try and ignore or I'll just wallow in it.
• I've been on anti-depressants for 18 months mainly to cope with the homesickness, and that certainly helps, but it's still there.
• I don't like living in a small town, because I really miss being in a big city.  The job market means we are unlikely to move anywhere soon, so I'm trying to make the best of it all but it's not my ideal lifestyle.
• Only one person seems to be talking to me from my last office here on campus, and that makes me really paranoid.  Did I do something awful or are they just cross because I changed offices?  No one's actually mentioned anything to me, but it's a hard feeling to shake.
• I like my current job but I always planned to have got somewhere in an actual career by this stage in my life, and I'm getting a little bit panicky that I'm in my mid-thirties without any idea what the hell I'm going to do next. Part of the problem is that the only career option that seems viable in a small university town is becoming a university lecturer.
• I'd need to complete at least an MA, which would involve taking classes, researching and writing essays and doing student teaching whilst working a full time job.  I need a nap and a large gin just thinking about that. 
• I would like to start a small business but I'm not sure what I should try to do.  I'm always being told I should sell my Amigurumis or other stuff I make, but I'm just not sure if that's really what I want to do full-time.
• I'm not a very good house keeper, because I honestly don't notice that stuff until it becomes clear that it really needs to be done.
• I don't like my wardrobe.  The only place I ever seem to buy clothes here is Old Navy, which is fine for jeans and casual tops; but all of their skirts are too short.  I'll never be cool and that's fine, I just want to look smart and sensible, but also a bit funky or at least interesting.  
• I can't find time to exercise regularly.  Going to the University gym is free, but it opens at 7 so I can only fit in 20 to 30 minutes in the morning before I have to get ready to start work at 8; the gym then closes at 3 and I finish work at 5.  I can't run because my plataar fascitiis flares up again.  I want to take Pilates, but one studio just won't get back to me and the other isn't offering classes until next year now.
• I'm a natural blonde and, as is natural, my hair is getting darker.  I occaisonally think that I'd like to dye it a fun colour, but I've never bleached or dyed my hair and I'm not sure I could really be bothered with the necessary upkeep to keep it looking good.  Plus that sounds expensive.
• We will be in Boston for Christmas, which means we will be seeing the Doc's family and he hasn't even begun thinking what we could do for presents for all of them.  Actually when I mentioned it this morning he said he would tell them not to give us any, so we shouldn't need to get anything for them.  This strategy never bloody works, and I find it mortifying to be given gifts when I don't have anything to give in return.
• Edith keeps pooping on the bathroom floor, I'm trying not to get angry with her because I know she's just trying to tell me something, but I don't know what she wants now. This makes me feel like a bad cat owner.

Ummm... Yeah, there's other stuff too I'm sure, but that'll do for now!

Yoda 1 and Yoda 2.

I spent most of today watching films with Yoda.  The one on the right is my current project, and today he got his eyes and ears.  

This is the mid-way point, as I still have to add the top of his head, hair, hands and his Jedi robes, but having him be somewhat recognisable at this point is very reassuring.

Two Thirds of a Yoda.

Yoda now has trousers, but no arms, ears or button-eyes.

This is all according to plan, no need cause for concern.

 

A Previously Unthinkable Use of Time.

I'm still working on Yoda's trousers, whilst watching "The Damned United".  I'm pretty sure that a teenage me would be horrified by that.  Knitting and football?  Ugh!

 

 

My Weekend in Summary.

This weekend I have spoken to my Mum; been to a Zumba class; walked a dog who I would love to adopt; eaten frozen custard; watched Miss Marple solve the mystery of "The Body in the Library; made a pair of clawed feet for crochet Yoda; bought comic books; finished a Dorothy L. Sayers book; played video games; and had a really nice nap.

 

DPNs.

This is the second leg of Yoda's trousers.  Please keep your fingers crossed that I have enough yarn to finish a whole pair of breeches, or Yoda may be wearing leg warmers.

Also I'm pretty sure that Kerplunk had to have been invented by someone who knitted on Double Point Needles.

 

Tuesday Night Me Time.

Doc C has stuff to do on campus this evening, so I'm making lentil curry for dinner and watching "Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express".  I am also going to convert a knitting pattern for toe socks into a pair of trousers for the Yoda I'm making.  I'll probably read a couple of chapters of the Dorothy L. Sayers whodunnit, possibly whilst drinking a glass of red wine.

It's a non-stop 24 hour party around here!

Games, Detectives, Soup and Crochet.

Yesterday and today have both been a bit hectic in the office, and probably will be for the rest of this week too.  So I'm pretty much brain dead by the time I get home in the evening, yesterday I played video games and watched "Sherlock" and tonight I'm making lentil soup and watching "Castle".  I am also crocheting a soft toy Yoda which is very engrossing.

None of this is a particularly good photo opportunity, or white hot blogging material.

So... Hi!  I'm making soup!  How are you?

Snowy Saturday.

It started snowing yesterday, which was fine with me because I had my Coraline coat to bundle up in and besides it was only a light dusting so nothing really built up.  This morning there was some more light snow, which was really pretty; so we picked up some toasted cuban sandwiches and cafe con leche (there is a cuban cafe across the road from our house) and went for a walk around a lake.

On the way back we stopped to buy yarn because I am going to learn how to knit socks and I've got an idea for a crocheted teddy-bear sized amigurumi.

Apart from that I've been curled up in the warmest part of the house, the mezzanine conveniently enough, and reading Chine Mieville's debut novel "King Rat".

It has been a very nice Saturday.

Countdown to Halloween: Five Days

Today's batch of cookies are all headstones, and they came out very nicely - We ate all 13 of them within about twenty minutes.

I really like the headstone cookie cutter, because it's nice and simple but you can do fun decorating things with it, and it doesn't matter if some of the cookies have cracks in them because that just adds to the versimilitude.

As soon as these came off the baking tray I put on the seeds I'd just scraped out of the pumpkin I'm using to make risotto with this evening.  Then I added some olive oil, salt and pepper and put those in the oven to roast.  Then, when the pumpkin seeds were toasted, I swapped those for chickpeas because I'd just read a recipe suggesting that.

Doc C is loving this sudden burst of domestication, I'm even wearing an apron, but he is slightly concerned this might be some sort of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" slash "Stepford Wives" scenario.

Countdown to Halloween: SEVEN Days

These ghost cookies were some of the first batch I've made this year, and I overcooked them, as I'm sure you can see.  Good thing they were just for me and The Doc to snack on, so they were eaten immediately after I took this photo and went nicely with a strong cup of tea.  

I follow a very simple recipe from Nigella Lawson's "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" but I add in a lot more spices.  I used a quarter of the dough for ghosts and another quarter for skull cookies to be eaten this afternoon.  I'll probably make the rest into gravestones and bats.

Countdown to Halloween: Nine Days

This evening we went to the Ghost Train and screamed and screamed and screamed.

It was fun!

As you can see I wore my Coraline costume and took Coraline Amigurumi with me.

I also brought a hat with me, just in case, which was good because my Coraline wig started to come off on the tilt-and-whirl.

Countdown to Halloween: Twelve Days

Laura and Randy had a Pumpkin Carving Dinner Party on Sunday - And this is My Little Bat!  I based it on a pattern in one of the booklets that come with the carving tools.

Jill looked at it upside down, and said that the carving looked like a skull, which I love.

When we got home I put the pumpkin in our fridge to keep it fresh, and I intend to make a roast pumpkin risotto or soup maybe.  Spooky yummy!

Office Space - Germs and Grass.

I came home from work about an hour early and went straight to bed.  I woke up for dinner, and I intend to go back to bed shortly.  So there is a possibility that I may have caught another damn bug.

Look, if you are ill, don't come into my office!  I am sick of the germs! Ugh!

In other news I have been collecting the string from the twice daily campus mail delivery.  I just hate throwing yarn away, even if it is pre-cut into random lengths.  I had a whole drawer full of string, which had turned itself into a really big knot, so I spent some time this afternoon unravelling that knot (trust me it was the most useful way I could spend time this afternoon, I was so brain-dead).  My plan is to crochet it into rug to put under my desk (I am assuming the string is State Property, so I want to use it to make something for the office obviously); I have one in mind that I really like and there is a free pattern for it on the Lion Brand Yarn website.

It's a crocheted (or knitted) to look like a patch of grass, which means it uses a lot of yarn; so it is perfect for a project which is recycling otherwise discarded string.  I might even dye it green.

Knitting Sorbet.

As predicted I am getting bored with the blue striped knitting project, so I started something new!  Yay!  This is not what you are supposed to do of course, because starting something new when you hit the boredom thresh-hold on your current project is precisely how you end up with half a dozen unfinished bits of clothing cluttering up the place.

So it's a good thing I picked a nice complicated double knitted argyle scarf, which produces a reversible fabric.  I'd show you a photo, but I've worked on for about 90 minutes and kept having to unravel it all, so I've got nothing physical to take a picture of right now.  That's ok though, there is a picture in my head now because I think I've grasped the technique finally and I understand how to read the pattern now.

Anyway, I'll probably carry on with my nice simple stripes tomorrow.  I feel like I just needed to cleanse my knitting palate with something a bit jazzier.

Two Colours: Blue.

This is my current knitting, it is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, in that all of it's constituent parts; the yarns, the patterns and even the needles, have been ripped from something else to make it.

I bought five skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% Cotton, 20% Wool) yarn; two in Philadelphia and three in Asheville.  They were the same weight and brand, but not the same colour so I didn't intend to put them together.

The Philly yarn was intended to be a capelet, and was in fact knitted into that but then frogged due to the incredible ugliness of the finished piece.  The one thing I had learnt was that the yarn knitted into a gorgeously soft fabric and was a really nice weight.

So then I tried to work out what on earth I could knit with two skeins that was not a scarf.  I like scarves, but you really can only wear so many at one time and I have at least 47 now.  So then I thought about a tank top (American Translation: Knitted Vest) and decided to stripe the two yarns.

The really odd part is that I could have sworn that both of the yarns were blue, but, now they are side by side, the lighter colour looks more like a sage green to me and the darker looks a lot more lavender.  Which I fortunately like as a pairing, and it does suit the Frankenstein theme rather nicely as well.

My Free Time Needs A To-Do List.

So far this evening I have knitted 10 rows, finished the first volume of the complete Sherlock Holmes and added more books to Goodread's Bookswap.  I still have to eat dinner, put my clean clothes away, play with the cats and maybe play some video games.

I really have to start structuring my evenings more efficiently, so I can do more of the stuff I really want to do. Unfortunately, for me, scheduling is the very antithesis of relaxing so, yeah, that's probably not going to happen.

*postscript* I've had a glass of wine now, so all my clothes will remain un-folded for another day; but I did play with the cats, so I have my priorities in order.

Stitched Up.

Hmmm?

....Three from the end... Slip-as-if-to-knit twice, knit one. Next row, purl!

Yes the knitting is coming along nicely thank you! I'm about a quarter of the way through, so I should be re-joining normal society, and therefore writing more interesting blog posts, in about a week.

Not that It will be finished by then. I'll just be sick of this project and wanting to do something else.

Of course I already have the yarn ready for my next three ideas. Next comes an argyle scarf in hot pink and turquoise. I am a glutton for punishment.

New Projects.

This evening I started a new knitting project, a tank top in cornflower and dusty blue, and I've added half a shelf of books to the Goodreads Bookswap.

If you're interested in getting second hand books for merely the cost of postage, then it is a great way of getting more reading matter.  I am sort of getting addicted to hitting the "Request Book" button and then getting a fun parcel from the post office a few days later.

Oh, also if you look at the books I have put up to swap I would hasten to add these are not exactly the cream of my collection.  Some I really liked but don't think I'm likely to read again, e.g. "Millions", some I didn't read in the first place, e.g. the stack of Anne Perry books I bought second hand from Westminster Library, and some I hated, e.g. "The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum"

Rainy Saturday Bliss.

Doc C is still not feeling well (he has a cold, but it's not too bad so I'm not being totally heartless by enjoying myself), and it rained all morning; which means I get to loaf around the house!  Yay!  This type of day usually bores The Doc to tears, but I do rather love a Saturday devoted to reading, knitting, video games, cats and large pots of tea.  I also intend to make myself some egg mayonnaise to top a freshly toasted wholewheat (English) muffin for lunch.  Doc C is a grumpily independent patient, so I know better than to offer to make him anything.

The most exciting thing I've done today is decide to switch my wig-hat from my circular needles, which get a bit cumbersome once I start doing the decreases, to double pointed needles.  I've never used DPNs before, so this is intimidating, but if I'm going to make a matching mini-wig-hat for my creepy spy doll, then I really have to try.  So far it seems to be going alright, but I am very conscious that dropping needles is no longer just a possibility at the business end of things.

 

Late Summer Knitting Project.

Knitting has been on hold over the past few weeks, because it's just been too hot to even look at wool.  On our flying visit to Asheville I bought six skeins of lovely cool cotton in hot pink and turquoise.  It's three skeins of each colour, so whilst I am aiming for it to be a raglan sleeve sweater, but it might become a sleeveless tank top.

Or quite possibly a scarf/shawl with some really wide stripes.

I really just want to have something to do on the drive to Atlanta this weekend. And these were such pretty colours! *happy sigh*

I WILL Have A Cape By The End of This.

Ok fine, simple cape pattern!  I give in.

When last we discussed this benighted project, I had started knitting the new pattern I'd found that matched my gauge; but I didn't pay close enough attention to the equipment specifications and, after the second increase row, it quickly became clear that this project was going to be way too big for the needles I was making it on.

So I frogged it.  Again.

Then I sat down with the pattern I'd tried originally, but this time I worked out the dimensions of the finished piece and then I used the previously calculated gauge to convert it to fit my materials and equipment.

Damn it, I did a lot of calculations so this had better bloody work!

Humid, With Scattered Outbreaks of Natural Disaster Movies.

Today has been bad movie day.  

First I watched "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" instead of the USA v. GB match, and then the SyFy channel played a blinder with "Category 6: Day of Destruction" followed by the marvelously named "Stonehenge Apocalypse".  After this it's "Annihilation Earth", which I don't think we'll be watching actually, but I do appreciate the whole Armageddon theme they are going for this evening.  I bloody love the SyFy Channel.

That may sound like a very lazy day, and it's true I've done very little today.  In my defence it's been warm and humid with thunderstorms, which means Edith and I have been listless and sleepy because neither of us do well in muggy weather.  The pair of us flopped in the living room with the ceiling fan on all day.  I've napped and knitted, Edith has napped and tried out every possible piece of furniture in the quest to find the coolest seat in the room.

Nancy on the other hand loves this weather, she has been rolling around in a classic display of small cat hedonism.

All Change - Black to Smoky Blue.

It would really help if I remembered that I don't actually like knitting with fine black yarn before embarking on new projects, because after 5 rows of 135 stitches I frogged that version.  So now I've swapped over to the smoky blue cotton/wool yarn, it's actually a lot closer to the original gauge of the pattern so I don't have to do all the conversions I would have had to otherwise.

I think I'll crochet with the black cotton yarn instead, I'm thinking about a fine net headscarf, possibly with a sprinkling of crocheted flowers over it.

First things first though - I need to make this cape so I've got another layer to throw on at the office/cinema/restaurants or anywhere else with killer air conditioning.

Pattern Conversion.

It was sunny outside today, but it was chilly in my office and I was wearing knee length jeans with a thin shirt.  I ended up curled up in my chair, hugging my knees to my chest for warmth.  Doc C suggested that he take me home at lunchtime for a change of clothes, but that seemed like a wasted journey to me; so I just wrapped myself up in a fleece blanket.  That made me look totally insane, but at least it was warm and I only had to explain to one member of the faculty that, no no, this was not a security blanket.

So this evening I am going to buckle down and start the short summer-weight cape I've been skirting around making.  The hurdle has been that none of the yarn I have corresponds to any of the patterns for capes that I like; this isn't an insurmountable problem, but it does require the application of arithmetic to work out the difference in the gauges, and then conversion of the pattern based on that.

Which will take me a little while and I need to concentrate, so I'd better get it done before the finale of "Glee" starts, because O.M.G. REGIONALS!  Squee!

Cabled Scarf.

Having unravelled one sweater I was just hoping to get enough usable wool to knit another.  As it turns out the pattern I was following needed a lot less than the original, so I've got quite a bit of yarn left over.

I'm knitting a cabled scarf from the rest, but I have no idea how long it's going to be.  I'm fairly certain it's not going to be long enough to tie properly, so I might add buttons and get some practice making button holes; or I might just sew it into a sort of cravat-slash-cowl type thing.  Does that make sense?  I can picture how that would work, but it might be more of a mobius strip than I'm imagining.

Woolly Moth Tattoo.

I sewed the sleeves onto my navy blue sweater at the weekend, and this evening I embroidered a "tattoo" onto the left sleeve's bicep.

It's that classic of tattoo design, a heart with a banner,  and the banner says MOTH.

Love my Moth!

Yarn!

 I walked a lot again today to fit everything in before I met up with Doc C at the conference reception in the afternoon.  To show for all of this exercise I now have a blister on my heel, and some more yarn. 

Today I specifically went to find Sophie's Yarns on 4th street, because it's mentioned in the back of "Stitch n' Bitch Nation" and I'd read some nice reviews of it on-line.  I can highly recommend it!  I got three balls of black cotton and six of a hot pink merino, and had a lovely chat with the very nice lady behind the counter (it may well have been Sophie herself).  I particularly liked that when I came in she was sitting at a large table with two teenage girls, they were comfortably chatting and knitting; it was a very warm and welcoming atmosphere!

Knitting Complete. Assembly Begins.

This evening was rather taken over by sewing the seams on my sweater. All I need to now is work out how to attach the sleeves and it's done! With at least one ball if wool left over, oddly; you know considering this was a sweater I deconstructed and lost at least a bit of yarn in the process. I tried on the body without the arms and that fits, so I'm cautiously optimistic at this point of the process. Fingers crossed.

Reading and Knitting: Continued.

I've finished re-reading Charlotte Haptie's "Otto and the Bird Charmers" (by the way, if you follow that link, I really don't like the US cover art.  The UK paperback has a much nicer cover illustration), which was so much fun! 

The first book is lovely, but the second is where Mattie Mook and Mook's Famous Family WoolShop comes in.  As you may have guessed this means there is a certain amount of knitting in the story; but not just knitting though, combat knitting.  I won't spoil the story for you, but I can say if you get on the wrong side of "Lightening Needles" you may well end up struggling in a knitted bag with a raised floral pattern in a vibrant shade of Vampire Red.

At one point I got so carried away by the story that I knitted for half a row when I should have been purling.  Mattie would have understood though, she gets over-excited at one point herself and speed knits a sweater with three arms.

I started reading the third book ,"Otto in the Time of the Warrior", straight after and I'm almost halfway through that now.

Knitting and Reading. Yes, I'm Living The Dream!

It's ok!  I've worked out that my glasses case makes an effective book weight, because it's a good size and weight and the bottom of it has a slightly rubbery coating.  I have read two murder mysteries and the first third of a kids' book so far this week, and my sweater is coming along at a cracking pace. 

Just in time for the weather to become warm.

Next on my list is to read my way through all of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in chronological order, whilst crocheting a summer weight silk blend cape.

Overnight In Asheville

Doc C suggested we go to Asheville for the weekend, so I threw a t-shirt, a pair of pants and some socks in my bag and away we went!

I slept the whole way there, so the first thing we did was get a coffee at the Routemaster-Bus-That-Has-Been-Converted-Into-A-Coffee-Bar.  I tried to chat with the barista, but they were having none of it.  As the Doc said later, the one place where you'd think the accent would have some sway would be on a imported red double-decker, but apparently not.  Fine.  Nice coffee though, and the conversion of the upperdeck to the main seating for the cafe was very nicely done.  I took pictures, but I forgot my cables so you'll have to wait.

Then we went bookshopping, first stop was to look at shiny new books; where I found a book on cable knitting.  Thrilling I know, but I think cabling is perhaps the key to not getting bored during the long dark front of a large sweater.  One thing that I personally think you have to watch out for when knitting is getting caught up in a technique that is really fun to make, but produces a hideously overworked end product.  I think cabling gives you a nice blend of fun to make and interestingly textured textile, without getting too fussy. 

From there we moved on to the second-hand book shop.  I found three murder mysteries, one Tey, one Sayers and one titled "Knit One, Kill Two" which combines murder with knitting, and features a recipe for cinnabon buns at the back.  I'm not expecting high art from that one, but I think it could be fun.  I also got "Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul" which is a craft book with a Mexican edge to it.  There is glitter.  There are sugar skulls.  There is a lot of stuff I want to make already.  Doc found two philosophy books, so he was really happy too.

After books we did clothes, and I was trying to find a cheap swimming costume because I'd forgotten to pack mine and that meant we couldn't use the hotel swimming pool.  I found one in Urban Outfitters (Which we had no idea had even opened in Asheville, so Score!) but it was hideous and involved lace down both sides in an ironic nod to the 80's.  I think.  In one of the super cool vintage stores I got a great floral silk scarf which, although very pleasing, will not be so useful for swimming unfortunately.  No hot tub for us.

Finally we had dinner.  We went to our favourite curry place, Mela, and I had a delicious vegetarian taster selection with sour lime pickle, which I was sad to not be able to finish.  I'm not usually a huge fan of vegetable curries, but I was right to trust Mela's chefs, they do amazing things with chickpeas.  After the meal we window shopped for a while until we had made some room for desert at the French Broad's Chocolate Lounge.  Doc had a latte and I got a chai hot chocolate, both of us had coconut macaroons.  We've been meaning to go to the Chocolate Lounge for ages, and I really liked it.  Especially as one of the girls behind the counter had a cool key tattoo on her arm, and we bumped key tattoos in a sort of clumsy high-five!

Now I am lying on the bed back at the hotel, surrounded by books and full of tasty food. 

Oh yeah!  Asheville always delivers Baby!

Beautiful Blankets.

These blankets are AMAZING.  You have got to look at them.

The landscape blanket, the hooded blanket for two people and the beard balaclava are particularly piquing my urge to emulate and re-interpret.  I'm thinking nice chunky yarns...  I'm thinking soft, cosy and colourful...  Ooh! Maybe crocheting to get a more free-form graphic, and then felting to get that lovely thickness...

Wow. This could get time consuming and expensive.

Early Pre-Planning for Halloween

It's only March and already I am already well on my way to getting a Halloween costume together.  I mentioned when Mum sent me the "Coraline" DVD that I was considering dressing as Coraline herself as my costume this year.

It would consist of jeans, a yellow raincoat, yellow wellies and a hat/wig, which would be perfect for our annual trip to the ghost train!  I bought some great royal blue yarn for the wig last month, it's even got a nice strand of tinsel spun through it, and so now all I need to do is get the coat and boots.  Today I found great examples of both on-line today, so I'm thinking this is practically a done deal.

Now all I've got to decide is if I want to make myself button eyes, and work out some way of getting them to stay on.  Do you think a cheap pair of round shades painted with the four holes would work?  Oh, this is going to be GREAT!

Work and Relaxation.

Today felt disconcertingly Monday for a Tuesday, this might be because I'm trying to get back to working longer days.  This week I'm going in at 8:30, taking a two hour lunch break (to accommodate a mid-day nap, lunch itself and then a medicinal afternoon coffee run) and then leaving at 5.  My contracted hours are 8 to 5, with unpaid lunch hour; so I'm still 90 minutes off a full working day which adds up to seven and a half hours out of the week.  I'm losing nearly a whole day a week still!  Grrh!  So near and yet so far!

I was very glad to get home, especially because I had thought of a new variation to Jamie's basic rice pudding recipe I wanted to try out.  We had some maple syrup that needed using, so I used that instead of the sugar, added less vanilla and nutmeg but then added in cinnamon and raisins.  So it's got a sort of cinnamon toast influence to it, and I'm quite pleased with it.

I've also started to knit the sleeves of the navy blue re-claimed sweater project, which is exciting.  Well, maybe exciting is phrasing it too strongly; maybe it's more like personally gratifying.

Bedside Lamp of Terror!

My crocheted Angry Muffin has found a home along with the Day-of-the-Dead Cabaret Singer, and the Glow in the Dark Wind Up Scaries.

It is, of course, my bedside lamp.

I really like adding stuff to the terrarium, but it's going to get crowded soon.  I may have to make a small platform for those little guys at the back.

By the way, I heartily recommend this light for anyone who owns cats.  It keeps things safely displayed with no danger of them being knocked over or gnawed on.  I also like that they can't get dusty, but that's more of a personal house keeping issue...

Cabled.

This evening, whilst catching up with "RuPaul's Drag Race", I taught myself to knit cables!

Note to Moth:  No cat fur was intentionally incorporated into this swatch, but Edith was sitting on me; so I can't promise that a strand or two didn't creep in accidentally.

Haute Cature

I brushed Edith yesterday, which produced a very happy cat (Edith adores being brushed) and a nice big ball of grey fluff.  Edith fur is so fine and soft, that I'm sure it must be pretty similar to angora rabbit fur.  It just seems like such a waste of a natural resource to throw it away; which, naturally, leads me then to ponder the practical possibility of spinning it into wool and then knitting with it.  Would that be creepy?

Obviously I doubt that I'll actually get round to doing it, because I'd need a lot of fur to make a decent amount of yarn and that would involve collecting it after every grooming.  Then I'd need to store it somewhere between groomings, and frankly I can't see Doc C agreeing to me storing sack loads of fur in the spare room until I've got enough to spin with.

So, you know purely theoretically, would it be creepy to knit a sweater from my cat?  I'm thinking yes, but it would be such a pretty colour to knit with.

Hannah and her Hat.

Hannah finally got her finished Orange-with-Pink-streaks hat/wig today.

I think she liked it!  She wore it for the whole time we were there, and my omlette was free.

Thank you to Laura for the photo, I completely forgot to take one!

Lost and Found: Mitten.

I found a glove outside my office this week, and I scooped it up and brought it inside for safe keeping.  It's been sat on the hallway sideboard for a few days now.

I'm pretty sure it's hand-made, because of some of the details to it.

In particular that little bit of light blue in the top stripe speaks to me of someone finishing off a remnant from their stash.

Of course I shall be submitting it to Unloved Glove; which is geographically based in Winchester and was pointed to me by Mum (who is in Norfolk), after she read about it on @ctramsey's (who is here in NC) Twitter feed, because I had traded tweets with him about the magical properties of toast.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if that convoluted chain of communication somehow lead to the mitten being re-united with it's twin?

Tooth Marked.

Hmmm...  Call me paranoid, but I think someone grey and floofy has been chewing my needle protectors. 

This is a relatively new bad habit that Edith has acquired, and I have to be very careful to put my needles away or it will only a matter of time before she ends up doing some damage to something other than a lump of green rubber.

Spotlight on Amigurumi.

Amigurumi Dorian Gray has been getting some love on the internet recently, which is nice!

I already had set up an amigurumi set on my flickr account, but this made me think I need to also have a creature feature photo album here.  So if you look over in the left hand column, there is a link to my new "Alien Made" photo album.

Un-Knitting.

My latest craft project is to deconstruct a sweater, to reclaim the yarn which I will then knit into a sweater which will hopefully fit me better than the original jumper.  Fingers crossed, or I'll have just wrecked a perfectly good woolly.

I would post a photo, but navy blue wool doesn't photograph well in artificial light, so you'll just have to imagine the unravelling fun.

Orange with Pink Stripes.

I have finished the orange with pink stripes wig hat!  Yay!

This is the second time I've started this project off from scratch, and I ended up cannabalising the bottom of the hat to finish the top.  The problem being I only had one ball of the orange acrylic, and whilst I could easily buy more, I didn't want to because this is the only thing I really wanted to make from it.  So when I ran out of yarn, I started unravelling the hat from the bottom and then knitting the re-claimed yarn into the top.  Doc C was looking at me as though I were insane, but it was an interesting exercise in creative problem solving.

The pink stripe was tricky, because I wanted it to go along the ribbing instead of across.  I started off knitting the pink stripe in, which was ok on the straight needles, but totally infuriating on the circular needles.  So instead I finished from the bottom of the fringe (American Translation - Bangs) upwards in the orange, and then stitched the pink over the top where I wanted it.  The annoying yet gratifying part is that the embroidered pink stitches look a lot neater than the knitted pink stitches.

This is definitely the last time I make this particular hat.  I may well make another wig hat from this pattern, but the orange and pink monster is finished.

Knitting and Napping.

Today I've been re-knitting a project that I originally worked on the wrong sized needles, which meant it went all wonky beyond the possibility of rescue.  So I frogged it, which is always more satisfying than you'd think; one would imagine undoing work that took you hours would be frustrating, but actually the way the stitches just unravel is sort of like popping bubble wrap.  Destructive, yet oddly soothing.

Then yesterday I started the whole thing again, but this time on the right size needles.  These needles are made of bamboo and are part of the gorgeous set Mum sent me for Christmas.  Knitting with these is just lovely.

The bottom inch and a half is going to be rolled up into a curl across the bottom, but I wanted it to match the ribbing of the top, so I inverted the ribbing for the first 15 rows.

Knitting tends to be a sedentary activity, which is perfect for a snowy weekend when you don't intend to leave the house.  This suits Edith down to the ground, she's been curled up on me or next to me for the majority of the weekend.  In this particular picture she is using my foot as a pillow, I think she slept like this for about an hour.  It's a tough life for a floofy cat around here.

Third Anniversary.

The first business of the day was to start off well with a good breakfast at our favourite breakfast place, after the appalling lunch we had in Hickory yesterday.  I think the French Toast I ate has finally killed the tuna sandwich that I foolishly tried to choke down.

Then we went shopping for Doc, who needs some business wear, well, an academia version of business wear.  He now has a pair of grey trousers, a sage green shirt and a tie; it turns out that Calvin Klein can cut a shirt almost as well as H&M, even if 70% off isn't quite so bargain-licious.

This afternoon I've been crocheting like a mad thing, I have what feels like a billion projects bursting out of my head right now.  I have one more Threadknits design that I want to do, and then I have ideas for 3 or 4 amigurumi characters.  Yay crochet!

Mainly though I spent time with the Doc, because today is our third wedding anniversary and that made it a very nice day indeed.