I wish I had a small dog, so I could knit the Bark Obama sweater for it.
I don’t think I can knit fast enough to get this done in time.
I’ll have to settle for some fingerless gloves [pattern here]
I tried looking for McCain-inspired knit patterns, but came up short. The only hit of interest was the Spock Ears.
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Now that part of my job is to be hyper-organized, my brain has started clicking along those lines. I’m finally reading “Getting Things Done” (GTD)* and I’ve reinstitute rememberthemilk to keep track of the bits of spizz that come up while I’m working that I want to remember, but don’t want to deal with at the time.
I was reading a comment Richard left on my post about knitting mittens for reformed smokers, and decided that I wanted to knit the man some mittens. My brain clicked into GTD mode, and without actively thinking about the best place to note this or that adding it to rememberthemilk would probably result in me forgetting about it, thought to myself “OK, I need to add this to my Ravelry queue.
Stickies alone don’t do it, rememberthemilk alone doesn’t do it, and a tiny notebook alone doesn’t do it. I’m discovering that I need all of these thing, and I need to be aware of what kind of information should go in them.
*I’ve always felt weird about the part where I link to the book I’m blogging about. The first Google hit is always Amazon, and I feel trashy throwing them that particular bone. It just now occurred to me that if I link to LibraryThing, I’m providing useful information about the tome (reviews, tags, etc) but also if you happen to be logged in, you can see where to buy/swap/borrow it.
]]>I’ve always be just a little hesitant to get tattoos that are easily seen, and thus far have been able to avoid showing them whenever I want. To be fair, I don’t think it would have been a problem at the public library I worked at – the director is pretty cool, and the patrons certainly enjoyed my pink hair, and I’ve seen more than one back tat on a mom.
But, now that my job involves even less formal attire, I REALLY WANT A TATTOO LIKE THIS.
I just think it’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.
]]>I was bummed out to see that I’ve been foiled.
]]>I watched a lot of football at The Catwalk. They have UNBELIEVABLE crab cakes with a ramekin of spicy aioli that I hid behind my drink when the waitress came to clear the appetizer plate so I could keep it to try on my entree. I ended up trying it on the croutons from my salad, but it’s really the crabcakes+aioli that makes magic.
Jason and I went for dinner, and got to witness the awesome polar-bear action of the Packers. Then friends Jasmine and Kelly came to watch the Patriots in full New England style. (We rolled in chowder and mispronounced our rrrrrs.) No, we got drunk and felt superior. Seriously – that pump fake?
Anyway, Jason left some time in the third quarter I think. We girls were doing a good job of having just enough drinks to complete our New England duty, when our waitress came over and said that a representative from Narragansett beer was buying pints for anyone who wanted them. Haaaaar. I went home and tried playing Big Brain Academy for kicks. As you can imagine, I did poorly, but it was hilarious to my drunk self.
Sunday
The general events of my Sunday were unremarkably domestic until working out with Laura. We went to the gym, then walked all over New Bedford because it was so nice out. It quickly turned cloudy, windy, and cold. It was more invigorating than traumatic, and I felt better about all the crabcakes.
I made black bean hummus, which turned out surprisingly well, considering I didn’t have lemon or cayenne pepper. That was part of dinner (other parts of dinner? chips and salsa). Then Jason and I watched more football and I finally figured what was going on with my sweater.
{knitting diatribe} I am knitting a baby sweater for Steph, and since you pick up stitches for the sleeves, I can’t knit them at the same time, which would assure symmetry. I had finished the second sleeve, and could not figure out why it did not match the first sleeve. Same decreasing, same number of stitches started with and ended with … I kept remeasuring and counting until I was crosseyed. I should have recognized the symptoms, because in the end, it was that I had used the smaller needles reserved for the cuffs on the whole sleeve. There was an odd ridge where I picked up stitches, but I thought that was my sloppy work. Nope, it was my lack of attention. So now I’m back in business, and Oliver may have this sweater before he grows too big for it after all! {/knitting diatribe}
After the game, Jason and I decided to play some Lego Star Wars. I wanted to listen to an album at the same time, so I thought long and hard about what one would listen to while playing Lego Star Wars.
Now, it could be something light and whimsical, like the Juno soundtrack, because of the kidlike, Lego quality to the game, but I went with something that would make me want to get just a teensy bit agro, and revel in all the limbs I was going to be disassembling. I went with Superchrist.
We’ve listened to it enough now that we can sing along, and since Lego Star Wars is fairly easy to play, we could concentrate on both at the same time. It was a fantastic evening. Thank you, Superchrist. You’re keeping my marriage strong, and my deaf cat alert.
]]>Basically, you sign up for it, you receive your target (with their relevant information like shoe size and address), then you knit as fast as humanly possible to finish a pair of socks for them and mail them to them before you get a pair in the mail. ‘Cause then you’re dead.
This flies in the face of my recent self-call-out to start less projects, although I really enjoyed doing the Knitting Olympics.
I’ll remind you:
I have a few new up-and-coming interests that are of a professional nature. I’m going to be writing an article about youth librarianship, social web things, with my esteemed colleague Erin. I’ve been accepted as a reviewer of zines for Library Journal. These are both interesting to me, and all publishy.
Realizing that I could have professional success (or at least librarical infamy) if I keep this kind of thing up, I realized that I may just need to pare down some of my interests. I have simply too many things I want to do. I feel a list coming on…
Ongoing and Upcoming Projects:
Fix that accordion I bought, and learn to play it
Bind and cover books – with all the paper, board, and tools I’ve been hording
Master Knitter Level II
Knitting in general – and all the yarn, needles, and accoutrement
Letterboxing kits – carve stamps, write clues, hide boxes
Sewing wallets – sewing machine, giant tub full of fabric
Silkscreening – hoops and screen and paints and shirts
Painting – paints, brushes, and canvases
Develop last of the rolls of film I have – photo processing containers and chemicals
Wedding photography – take that camera I bought and shoot some people at their wedding (ha)
Making hollow books – random books I don’t want to read, but do want to hack apart
Learn more American Sign Language – I know about 100 words and can throw together a sentence
The 24 Hour Zine Thing – website, distro
Finish Outside Cat, the zine
Write a gyne zine
Work on DIY Reporter zine (bet you didn’t know that one even existed)
Play Pokemon Pearl on Shane’s DS
Practice the trombone
Work at a bike shop – sadly, I stopped, but I’m still accruing tools
Work as a children’s performer – I don’t know if I’ll have an opportunity to do this again, like I did with Toe Jam
Tell stories – I could get so wrapped up in the storytelling guild …
Work on Openknitting (bet you didn’t know that existed either)
Research for upcoming LJ zine column on medical zines
Start research with Erin for upcoming Library Review issue
Read books – like knitting, I don’t think I have a choice
Most of these projects require some sort of crafty supplies, and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but Jason, Stella, and I live in a very small apartment. A lot of my crap is out and about, since looking at it inspires me to make something. (Or, like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, it bounces me from idea to idea.) I think the tools and supplies of my interests are suffocating us.
So, I’ve decided that I’m going to pack up a lot of the crap. I’m going to focus on just a few interests, and let the rest be for a while. I get jealous of Jason, because a lot of his ongoing projects are computer-based, and therefore take up a lot less room (even if they incite the same amount of panic and overwhelming feelings I have).
I’m declaring my cleared head!
I would like to keep knitting, but stick to one project at a time, with no starting random socks just because I have nothing else planned. Much like Goodreads has focused my reading to books I actually am interested in, Ravelry should do the same for knitting projects. Lastly, I think I’d like to finish the zine of Outside Cat. It would be something you would subscribe to, and I’d mail it to you. I’ll post about that later.
I don’t know about you, but I feel better. I’m hoping that my intense list-making skills and cut-and-run tactics have left you breathless with wonderment, and willing to make changes to your own lives (as opposed to feeling overwhelmed and ADHD, as I fear you might).
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