WAY too much to do today, and too little time to do it. So in lieu of a long post about my crappy time with teacher gifts this year, we have one piece of art and one cool link.
“Mom, Dad, the burglar alarm is ringing. A burglar.”
We do not own a burglar alarm, but Emily loves watching burglars in the Sims 2. We have a cheat that permits her to send a burglar to a house, and then a police officer comes, and they get in a cartoon-style fight with a cloud of smoke with the burglar crawling out and being dragged back in, etc. That’s where this drawing comes from, not from any anxiety about our house getting broken in to.
What I love about this picture: she’s facing away, looking at the alarm, and you can see the line across the back of her head representing her hair. It looks like she’s wearing earrings – you can see the backs.
Note the concentric rings coming from the alarm representing noise. All that time in the comic book shop is clearly paying off!
And now, a link that really makes me smile: sneaky, sneaky dolphins.
Have a good one! I gotta get cat food before the cat eats me!
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Super easy.
Materials:
Long size 11 needles
1 skein Noro Iro
Cast on 150 stitches.
Knit 10 rows.
Bind off all stitches.
Voila! Longways-striped scarf!
This colorway was 60A, but I’ve done it with others to good effect. This pic is from 2004 but this scarf is still Em’s favorite scarf. It’s weathered a lot of use, too, which is testament to the yarn. You want LONG size 11 needles because it’s a lot of stitches to jam on there. Here’s a picture showing how bunched up you have to make the stitches.
Very easy, and a good way to use up that one skein of Iro or Big Kureyon that you shouldn’t have bought but just had to have.
Okay, maybe it’s just me that does that. Heh.
Here’s a skein from the dye day at Jetsy’s. I experimented with winding the yarn in a different way. Five twists around the blue side, then looping around the black side twice. This should make a long strip of blue before the black comes into play. I combined different shades with one base blue for the longer section for some gradiations within the loops.
I thought unwinding the skein might be a challenge. Normally you’d put a skein wound this way back over whatever you wound it around in the first place, but I didn’t have access to that. So I used a pottery cup and a copy of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator to keep it from getting tangled with unwinding. It worked well.
Here’s the yarn wound into a skein. 220 yards of worsted weight – I don’t recall what the base yarn was. I’m not sure exactly what to knit with it, but I did enjoy dyeing it and I learned a lot. My warping board is still one of those “one of these days” thing, so this was a nice basic experiment. And at this point, having a good learning experience is still the goal.
I was feeling a little low the last few days, and when that happens, I try to think of things which would make me feel better. Spinning yarn is one, but it takes a certain commitment of time, and besides I loaned my wheel to Jetsy, so that’s off the table for now. Mainly because of the time, Jetsy, don’t worry – I’ll definitely ask for it back when I want it!
Playing piano is another. So I did, and that was good. I think I’m also going to order Denes Agay’s Best Loved Songs of the American People. The songs are old folk songs that I grew up with, and they’re quick and easy to play. That book was on my Amazon wishlist for several years, and it’s ridiculous that I haven’t managed to buy it when it’s one of my top picks. It’s vanished off my wish list now for some reason. No idea why. But it’ll be a quick fix to help me with a little piano pick-me-up when I’m down.
Third, play DragonRealms! And I mean play, not just GM. Usually I’ll play for a few minutes and then start thinking of new things to do for the game, and then I’ll wind up writing new vision messaging or shop items while I’m hacking and slashing. That’s probably what’ll happen today, but we’ll see. I logged my moon mage in this morning to discover that I had a couple of new spells from the Analagous Patterns spellbook. Woo! So time to practice a little magic, and maybe do a little hunting. I can take a break this morning for a little mindless entertainment.
And no, I’m not scripting while I write this entry. I follow the rules. 🙂
I have some non-Jayne knitting to show later. Nothing too complex, but still a nice break. Jayne hats do continue apace. Hats up for: Charlotte, Phoenix, and Chicago.
Pardon, I have to go kill monsters. Elanthia awaits!
Sorry for not writing – it’s been a hectic few days. Also, I stabbed the bejeebers out of my right middle finger today, and it hurts, so less blogging today. So, links, including stuff to buy.
How to sites:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
http://www.instructables.com/
http://www.wikihow.com/
Other stuff:
I’ve been watching Voyager, so Robert Beltran Gripe Generator
Fake bus stop for Alzheimer’s patients
Ten deepest lakes on Earth.
Snail art in London.
To buy:
Personalized pulp.
Seussian bookcases.
Pop culture art prints.
Brokenhearted sweater
Now it’s time for watching our latest DVD purchase, and one of the few we’ve bought new – Muppet Show Season 3! Woo!
Finally! According to Google, today I am the nicest lady in the world. Suck it, Oprah!
I had to try again, just to wash the taste of that scarf away. And this is better… but I think this technique just isn’t for me. So that’s it for felting with silk hankies.
Moving on, some Emily art! This is two girls playing a clapping game in the vein of “Miss Mary Mack.” The game is called Double Double. I had to look it up since this isn’t one that I did as a child. I guess it’s one Emily does, though, because I got her to demonstrate it for me and she did it correctly and without hesitation.
I like that she properly has them sitting to do it, and that she puts them in profile instead of facing forward with their hands to the side or some such. Good eye.
We heard from her teacher today that Emily is auditioning for the end of year school talent show. Her talent will be telling jokes. She’s going to tell five. Emily’s jokes can be a little surreal sometimes, but I’m confident she’ll do a good job. She tells jokes to her classmates every day as they’re lining up for lunch, and apparently gets good laughs.
She’s always trying to come up with new material at home, then she asks “is that funny?” That’s always a tough line to walk. You want to encourage her, but you don’t want to lie and then have her bomb in front of a non-Mom crowd. I wrote a new joke for her the other day. Wanna hear it? Of course you do!
Q: Why did the hen take her egg to the doctor?
A: It was time for a chick-up!
Thank you! I’ll be here all week! Don’t forget to tip your servers!
Okay, onward to the Jayne hat portion of the day. Hats up for: Dallas, Dallas, and Austria.
Y’all have a good one!
