Books books books

I haven't been knitting. At all. Not a stitch. I think it's some sort of knitting malaise, and I'm sure I'll snap out of it eventually. But for know, I'm following my whims, and I'm not knitting even though I'm co-hosting a knit along. Slacker.

Instead, I've been reading voraciously. I hadn't been reading a whole lot recently because I always needed my eyes for other things. I listened to recorded books, but I only actually read before bed.

I had been reading The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch since Thanksgiving. I love her writing, but I read it rather slowly because it's dense. The copy I have has the most densely filled pages, too, of any book I've read before. I think maybe the margins are narrower and the typeface is small and more narrowly spaced between lines. I just finished it this morning.

I read The Other Boleyn Girl in about 5 days. That was a speedier read- much lighter fare. But it caught my fancy and I really enjoyed it. Especially since it spurred me on to read a bit more Tudor history and learn about Henry VII and his wives. Ok, I looked it up online. I didn't read any History books. But still.

This morning I started reading another purely candy book while in the bath. It's called Lirael by Garth Nix, and it's the second in a trilogy. I think they are young adult books that SVH discovered while working in a bookstore. They appeal (to me) in the same way the Harry Potter books appeal to me. The magic in this world is very different than anything I've read or seen in movies. It's a nice treat while I continue to process the Murdoch book I finished.

Lirael is SVH's book. When he saw it on the bathroom counter as I was running my bath, he said, "If you get that wet, I swear to Jebus ...." He loves his books. I'm a pro at reading in the tub, so I assured him it would be fine. Still, later, I couldn't help myself, and I called from the tub, "Carl? I was going to practice reading underwater. You don't mind, do you?" He came slamming into the bathroom, grabbed the book and stormed out. My man, he has excellent timing. I couldn't stop laughing. I think he scared the hell out of the cat. He came back in with the book and said, "Don't push me, woman."

Oooh - he's in the tub right now! Maybe I'll go dangle the book over him for a while.

Did I ever tell you...

...about the time we had to go to a workplace violence training session? We weren't trained to be violent in the workplace, of course. We were being trained on ways to avoid violence in the workplace. The first suggestion of the video was not to hire people who were likely to become violent, which was my first clue that this video was meant for people who had control over things like HIRING and not for average employees like me.

The part of that meeting I was thinking of just now was the email announcing the training. It said "You are cordially invited, but required to attend, a training session blah blah blah." Don't you just love that one?

I won't go on too much about all the off-color comments made between myself (I was sitting in the very front, of course), Fantastic Boss, and my Sleepy-Voiced Coworker/Husband. We were particularly interested in whether violence between Carl and myself would qualify as workplace or domestic violence because we're married. Just in case you were wondering, domestic violence that spills over into the workplace is considered workplace violence. I realize this is a serious subject, but because this training made no attempt to separate what employees at different levels of authority could do, nearly all suggestions had nothing to do with what would be my response or role in such things. So I became a 10-year-old again and made jokes. Quietly. To the people next to me. And then try desperately not to laugh.

So after a long morning of stifling the giggles, the piece de resistance was when our safety coordinator announced that she was available for questions 24/7. Except weekends. And evenings. And holidays.

Ew

Hi. Me again. Started off the week by vomiting spectacularly. I mostly slept and stared today.

Sometime, I'll start doing things to write about again. For now, about the most I'm capable of is reading The Other Boleyn Girl (nothing like a little tarted up historical fiction, eh?) and watching the DVDs of Firefly. Can anyone tell me why a show that good was canceled?

More when I feel better

2006 in Self-Absorbed Review

Hi. You know what I don't do much anymore? Blog. But you knew that.

The past couple of weeks have been 100% gray. I have a bit of trouble with the short daylengths and cloudy days. I didn't really want to post about how I was doing nothing more than holding down the couch. I'm barely knitting. I'm working on a second fetching for a gift (LATE late Christmas gift) for my friend Nicole. But I've hardly even been interested in that. Much less the miles of fine knitting to be done on my Enid cardigan in GRAY when it was so bloody GRAY outside.

BUT! Today, in my narrow swatch of upstate NY the sky is completely blue and cloudless as far as I can see! It's sunny and lovely and I've a new spring in my step. I thought I'd finish a post I'd started last Friday (sorry). This is the 2006 Year-in-Review. I know, it's late for that kind of thing, but I think I could use a kick start.

Knitting (completed projects):
Harry Potter Scarf
Annouk
Homely Socks
Kitty Toys
Clapotis
Baby Yoda Sweater
Kitty Hat
Felted Bag - No pic - bad blogger
Jaywalker socks
Baby Pullover - No pic again - see jaywalker picture for pieces of the body
A single Fetching for me - You'll get pictures when you deserve them, dammit!

Knitting (incomplete projects):
Tempting - To the Frog Pond, Baby!

Art (completed projects):
Still Life in Color (pics later?)
Portrait of Steve
3 Women (did I ever show that one?)
Sets and backdrops for Pirates of Penzance
September Piece-a-Day project (Just look at all of Sept '06 and the first of Oct '06)
Backdrop for A Christmas Carol

Art (incomplete projects):
Still Life in Color - did you catch that? It's done, but I'm not happy with it. Must fix.
A lovely little oil of some squash that has nothing more than the underpainting
Portrait of Miranda - one of those from my class last spring that just never looked right
Wise Guys - A painting based on some of my Grandmother's pictures from the 20s and 30s. It doesn't even have the underpainting.

Additionally, I managed to plan an art show where I work, and snare a couple of awards for my artwork. Oh- and I started a blog about the creative work I do. Yes, I just linked to this blog. Delicious.

I feel better. When I'm sitting at work, I feel like I'm not making any progress toward an artistic career. This little strutting-of-my-stuff reminds me that I'm not as far back or inactive as I feel sometimes. Thanks for indulging. Love you!

Many random comments

My cat snores.

I found out when he began snuggling and falling asleep with me, usually around 3 am. He stretches out his full length with his back to me and front paws up next to the top of my head and his head under my ear. It's maybe a bit more of a wheeze than a snore, but it's enough to wake me up.

In other news- I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go get a size 3 needle. I know, I know, I've already been through this. I even said my gauge problems were solved. But I was smoking crack or something. I think in order to make gauge with my #4 needle, I would be knitting so tightly I wouldn't enjoy the project. I'm not even knitting on my swatch because I know this #4 isn't working and I'm all crabby, so I'm totally stalled. Suck it up, soldier!

I'll go to the yarn shop tomorrow.

I made home-made mushroom soup tonight. Just for me. SVH hates mushrooms, so they're mine, all mine! Mwah hah hah hah! He made wild rice soup for himself, and he can have it, the nasty stuff.

In yet other news- I'm still polishing up my list of new year's resolutions. Yes, I make them, and yes, I take them seriously, but no, I don't feel they need to be solidified right away on the first of January. I've found if I take a little longer to think about them and decide, I actually keep them. I've got one that I've kept for 2 years solid now. But you can hear about that another day. Toodles!

New Rules For Susan

I, Susan, do solemnly swear to live by the following rules:
1. I will not spaz about my gauge before my swatch has even reached 3 inches in length
2. I will not measure my swatch with the needles still in the fabric (Can I get a duh?)
3. I am not the Yarn Harlot. I will do a proper swatch and not claim a sleeve counts. Maybe once I've knitted as much as the Harlot, I can do the same as she.

The gauge is looking much better, and I won't do my final measurements until I've given it a bit of a wash. Honestly, measuring gauge on 2 inches of fabric with the needles still in it...

Nintendo Weekend

I was wishing, wishing upon a star for today to be gray and cloudy and guess what!? It is!

I'm actually serious about that. I wanted this weekend to be, as the SVH calls it, a Nintendo weekend. We're still recovering from the driving, the visiting and the driving again. We had considered going to Syracuse or Rochester to shop- Christmas at my parents' house was an embarrassment of riches in the form of gift cards- but we were just too damn tired. Perhaps next weekend we can go get some cute shoes, some Starbucks coffee and some knitting books. This weekend, we're following Kouros's lead.

So, I never managed to take a picture of the baby sweater for my nephew-in-progress. I also never managed to take a picture of my fulled/needle-felted bag that I gave Carl's older sister for Christmas. I needle-felted a martini glass and a couple of olives on the front of it. I think I'll see if the Mother-in-law can snap a pic of the bag. And maybe once the n-i-p is born, my family will get a digital camera and they can take a picture of the nephew in the sweater. It was such a bizarre shape, but then again, it was the newborn size, and newborns are bizarrely shaped. They're all big head and chubby torso.

While I was home, I got a wonderful hand-knitted scarf from my friend Jenny! Check it out! It's a rattle snake scarf! It's so soft and warm, complete with a forked tongue and a beaded rattle! I think it's looking pretty snazzy with the tie-dyed shirt I got for Xmas. My niece Emily said I could wear the shirt on Halloween, and I think Gabby said it would make me the queen of the bumblebees. Pay no attention to the Saturday hair.

So my current knitting project, the Enid cardigan, is going slowly. I've never knitted on 4 dpns before. My other issue is this sleeve is going to be HUGE! Pay no attention to the pasty white arm- other than to show the scale of the monumental sleeve. SVH was asking if I could photoshop in a tan.

So, I guess I may be in for a quick trip to the LYS to get a smaller set of needles. So much for not leaving the couch today. I guess I did play about an hour of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (shut up)... well, until Hooktail laid the smack down and Mario bit it. Aaaah, Nintendo weekend.

P.S. Isn't my breakfast adorable? The mug is part of the incredibly thoughtful Christmas gift from Carl's younger sister (yes, he has 3 sisters- his older sister, his younger sister and the sleepy-voiced-sister, who's the youngest). Her friend's father made it. I love everything about it- the shape, the handle, the colors, the capacity! She also gave me some handmade earrings. I'll post a picture of them later. They're really cool.

Happy New Year!

Just a quick pre-2007 note (I'm in the central time zone, even though the blog is on Eastern). We're heading back to NY all day January 1 (and into the wee hours on the 2nd), after the best Christmas ever and one of the best new year's eve's ever, too. We've had a fabulous trip, despite the fact that I functioned mainly as a jungle gym for my nieces the past few days. It's been really good to spend time with family.

See you next year...

Merry Christmas!

I dropped out of communication there in the rush to get out of town. I've been safely at my parents' house since Saturday around 10am. We made the trip in 17 hours! I couldn't believe it.

I finished all the knitted gifts I wanted to get done. The sweater for the nephew-in-progress did have to wait for its final wash until after the gift was given, but it was essentially finished. Of course the batteries in the camera were dead, so I don't have any pictures of the gift opening. I think everyone was pleased with what they got from us. My brother asked me to sign the photos I gave him to hang in his apartment, so I think that makes me officially a famous artist.

It's been fun to be at home so far. I have to admit when I saw the stroller and car seat my parents bought (to keep around their house for ALL of their grandchildren, my Mom assured me), I got teary, but mostly it's been fine. I forgot that even though my sister has gotten much happier, she's still pretty self-centered. She mostly talks about what the baby is doing, how she's feeling at any given moment, whether or not she needs to eat/go to the bathroom/pass gas, and she truly believes it's terribly fascinating to all the rest of us. I don't really know if it occurs to her that it might bother me. And for the most part it doesn't. I'm fine.

I just wanted to say merry christmas, all you lovely little imaginary friends out there on the internets! And happy whatever holiday you celebrate, too. Thanks for being out there!

Have you ever had crab rangoon at 4am? It's delicious.

I woke up at about 3 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep because I was starving! Finally I got up and threw a couple of leftover crab rangoon into the toaster oven and chowed down. It's not a practice I intend to continue, but it seemed to work at the time.

Six Weird Things About Me

It's Christmas, and I'm feeling expansive, so I'm not going to tag anyone specific. Whatever holiday you celebrate, think of this as my gift to you. It's just your size, right?

1. Sometimes, when I think of something stupid that I've done in the past, I wind up talking to myself or making some sort of loud noise to either (A) correct the situation in the past or (B) drive the disturbing thought from my head.

2. When I get into bed and the sheets are cold, I have to run to warm them up. I lay in bed on my side and run my legs (or bicycle them, I suppose). I've done it ever since I was in nursery school.

3. I always drink milk with spaghetti and tomato sauce. Again, something from my childhood. I spent time in Italy- I know this is a faux pas. My friend's Italian grandfather used to punish the kids for drinking milk with tomato sauce. My Sleepy-Voiced Husband calls it borderline-repulsive.

4. I was totally compelled to look at the photos of Britney Spears's "Devil's Onion Ring" as SVH calls it (just that specific one- not all of them). Oh yes, I regretted it. Oh yes, I think it's ridiculous that all these notorious tabloid queens are flashing their ladybits to the world and it's being considered news. I don't normally seek out pictures of the cooters of the rich and famous. And yet- I looked. And I made my husband look, which is simultanously weirder AND hilarous, because it made him very sad.

5. When I get the oh-my-god-it-hurts-but-I-can't-stop-laughing giggles, when I begin to settle down, I have to make a "hmmmm" sound. Which usually sets them off again. It's a vicious cycle. I didn't know I did it until SVH pointed it out.

6. I love bizarre, violent anime. I practice yoga, I'm compassionate, I'm a bleeding heart liberal, I hate real life violence... but give me an animated film with women with impossible measurements wearing too little clothing, carrying ridiculously huge machine guns and causing people's limbs to fly off in fountains of blood, and I can't get enough! Actually, one of my very favorites was called Hellsing- it was about vampires, and the main vampire gets shot so many times that his jaw falls off. Then he laughs and he reassembles, and dogs come out of his hands and then nothing recognizable is left of the people who shot him, and, and ...it was awesome. I may have blended a few different scenes together, but you get the gist.

If you need to know any other weird things about me, I direct you to the post a few days ago in which I showed pictures of my bathroom and told how I was going to eat in the tub. Which is apparently much more common than I thought. I'm glad I'm in good company.

P.S.

I finished the socks!





Kouros helped them get dry by lying on them shortly after this photo was taken.

The Big 3-0

I went to my friend's 30th birthday party on Saturday night. In the upstairs of a bar that he rented. As Carl, Nicole and I headed up the stairs, feeling the thud of the pounding music, I turned and said (in what would be the last thing I said that night in anything resembling a normal voice), "I'm getting too old for this shit!"

Oh, I only celebrated my 30th birthday about 2 years ago (I'm an aquarius, of course), but considering I was planning on being about 7 months pregnant right about now, I really hadn't thought I was going to be in the position to be doing a lot of late night, loud, dancing and partying any longer. By the end of the night (make that OUR night- it was only midnight), Carl was losing his voice from trying to chat with people. He said, "Hey Nicole, just give a yell when you're ready to go," to which she said, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed catching up with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. And I just love the birthday boy. But I'm beginning to understand why my Dad used to grin at my Mom on nights when we'd all be laying around the fire playing games and say, "There is no place else I'd rather be right now!"

We had such an active social life right up until maybe the last year... now it's more mellow. We like it that way. I reckon I'm nesting.

In honor of this weekend and my old age, I give you a picture of me at MY 30th birthday party.


I was given a tiara by a friend.

The one where I have no pride

As promised, a picture of the gifty Jaywalker socks:

So this morning, I started to feel just the slightest bit of concern about whether I'll get everything done that I want to get done before we leave for Christmas (Friday). I decided that I needed to do something terribly nice for myself to get through. I'd been reading about April (Yes, yes, I'll get to that meme later) having those moments where she just had to follow her gut with her knitting and how doing what felt right rather than what she should do. It actually got her further in what she needed to do than forcing herself would have done. I'm actually not worried about completing my Christmas gifts- the socks are nearly done and the baby sweater should be a breeze- I'm thinking the Christmas cookies might not happen this year. At least, not before Christmas.

So anyway, I decided to do something nice for memememememe! I ran a nice hot bath, made a pot of coffee, lit a bunch of candles and had a bath while listening to Heather Ordover's dulcet tones. I found a really good bathtub iPod set-up where I was unlikely to drop the little thing into the tub with me.




I love knitting podcasts in the tub, don't you?






















And I had a friend join me. After trying to sniff the flame on one of the candles, Kouros decided to hang out further away from them.

*
*
*

Dear God, I'm posting pictures of my bathroom. I have really lost it now. Well, as long as I've destroyed any illusion of normalcy, I'll confess that if Sleepy Voiced Husband hadn't awakened and come out to talk to me, I was fixing to eat that last piece of caramel apple pie IN THE TUB. Instead, I ate it while we chatted and before I got in the bath. He saved me from truly bizarre behavior.

Wow. I think I'll go now before I completely embarrass myself (actually, before I embarrass SVH- as I said, I have no pride). I'll answer April's 6 weird things meme later... although I think this post may have provided more than six on its own.

Ciao!

The beauty from afar

I'm working my way through the heel gusset of my second Jaywalker. But it's dark so I'm not going to take ANOTHER crappy picture. Honestly, I fancy myself an artist, and then I post positively horrendous photos on my blog. Of course, I'm never in my home when it's light unless it's a weekend, so I'm going to have to wait until Saturday to post a picture. Instead, I think I promised a long time ago to say something about painting things to be seen from afar.

My set looks pretty good from far away, but when you get up close, the freaks come out. Here's the little mutant girl, who doesn't have features, just creases:


Have you ever been to the Cosmos? It's this crazy-ass house in the Black Hills in South Dakota that they claim has all these weird, mysterious forces. Whatever. It's all how it's constructed. The floors and walls are at odd angles so it looks like you're standing on the wall or a ball is rolling uphill. I've apparently channeled the Cosmos Mystery Area in my church- this building is NOT structurally sound:


And no freak show could be complete without a bearded lady:

So that was all in fun- really, I felt pretty good about the set. However, I noticed when my friend Nestor came over to do the lettering (he wants to get into set painting- he does billboards right now) I immediately began to point out all the flaws. I thought I was making a joke, but at one point he said, "Man, you haven't said one nice thing about yourself all night!" And I realized that he was right! I didn't even feel bad about what I was saying, it just seemed natural. Like I needed to say, "Hey, don't think I didn't notice that thing sucks. I don't want you to think I'm dumb and didn't see it or anything." Why do we do that? It's almost encouraged in women.

I'm beginning to think that shit is for the birds.

Adventure

I was in the kitchen and I heard a strange noise.

I found this cabinet open (note the gap at the top between it and the next cabinet).















The noise was coming from the next cabinet over (which was closed). So I looked inside.
















Three guesses why he climbed in there...

Better Late Than Never

I went to the show last night, and I was duly impressed. It was one of the better high school plays I've seen. The actual title of the show was

The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of "A Christmas Carol" by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr.

and it was hilarious! We laughed a lot, which is always good. Really brought me into the spirit of Christmas happiness.

Here are the pictures:










The blank slate... well, with the place we tested the airbrush. It's got the sketch drawn on it, but you can't see it here.










Maybe here you can see a bit of the sketch













The sky brushed in... and it looks like shit.














The trees add a lot and make the sky look less shitty... it recedes. So then I forgot to bring my camera for the next 3 days...

And this is the final, finished project

This is the corner I kept showing you before. There was a lot more going on in it than you could see from the earlier pictures.



Tomorrow- how painting things to be seen from a distance is different than my regular painting.

Tired

I finished the crazy air-brushed backdrop tonight, since the little high school play opens tomorrow. I started taking pictures of the process, but I don't have any of the past couple of nights. Maybe tomorrow I'll bring my camera and snap a few shots before the play so I can show you the progression.

Air brushes are kind of cool. However, they are often A HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS! They get clogged, they are temperamental, and you have to have a frigging air compressor to make them go. I don't think I'll buy one any time soon, but I do appreciate what you can do with a good airbrush. Still, give me a real brush any day.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with what I managed to accomplish in a week's work. The first time I ever touched an airbrush was last Friday night. I learned a lot. And whatever isn't so great doesn't show up from the audience. PLUS, the thing was supposed to be painted by a bunch of batty old British ladies anyway.

Like I said, pics tomorrow. Ta!

Cara's Story

I don't know if you read January 1- a lot of knitters do, though I only started reading it recently- but she told her story today about leaving grad school and the panic and anxiety and being a perfectionist and feeling sick all the time and it was all so familiar and so RIGHT ON THE MARK that I felt that feeling in the pit of my stomach all over again.

It's been nearly 3 years since I left. I haven't moved on as quickly as I'd like in some ways and in other ways I'm progressing so fast. I really didn't know what the hell I was going to do, and while I'm still working in science, I've got a JOB that I can forget about when I leave at the end of the day (and sometimes even during the day) and a Fantastic Boss who knows the score and is glad to have me work for him for as long as I wish. I've taken a few classes, learned to paint, designed a few graphic-type thingies and been paid for them. I've painted sets and even won awards. I know it's only the beginning. I've got good feelings about the year to come.

I'm so glad Cara decided to share her story. It was so similar, except that she showed amazing maturity at 22 and stopped it THEN rather than at 29 with 7 years of torture under her belt. I don't know how to explain the sense of deja vu... it was like she was saying things from out of my memories. And it was good to remember, to take stock of where I am now compared to then. It was good, too, to know, even now that I'm through the whole ordeal, that someone else out there knows how terrifying, and yet how absolutely, undeniably necessary the choice was.

My New Year's Resolution

One of my new year's resolutions last year was to knit a sweater. And I did, albeit a mini-sweater. This year, I'm going to knit one hell of a sweater, starting on New Year's Day! I'm inviting all of you to join me and my favorite displaced Minnesotan, Amanda, in our quest to learn colorwork and steeking! The THRILL! I give you, the Enid Cardigan Knitalong!







This will be my first adult size sweater, heaven help me, and I'm going to jump in with both feet! Yee haw! Our group blog is located here. This will be our first big project of 2007, so you don't have to worry about it while you're frantically doing your holiday knitting. And the bonus? You can ask Santa for the yarn!