Squee! I just got my person for the Fat Girl Swap (on Craftster)! I’m so excited! I’ve got a couple of ideas, and really just need to get started. I really wanted to do something with some Willendorf Venus beads – but after looking at the ones available on Ebay and thinking they were kinda overpriced for what you’d get, I’m thinking I might pull out the polymer clay and have a go at it myself. Plus, I was looking for some inspiration for some embroidery – how come when I try to find images of fat wimmin, all I get either makes fun of them or makes them look mad? BOO. Fuck those fascist beauty standards.
(Speaking of which…my swap partner has requested no profanity, and I am *such* a pottymouth. I immediately had to whip out the notebook I’ve been jotting ideas down in, and reword all my slogan-y ideas so as not to offend if I end up using them. Hee.)
Oh yes! And here’s my fabulous faux fireplace, courtesy of Niku:
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I love it, and it’s lit just about whenever I’m in the living room.
We had Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. Thursday, we drove into High Point and had Thanksgiving lunch at Susan’s and Mike’s new house – it’s quite lovely, and her kitten Mackie is adorable. The food was pretty good, and I totally pigged out. Later, we went to Greg’s mom’s house for Thanksgiving dinner – the food was delicious, and I totally pigged out. (Are we seeing a pattern here? And usually we go to *three* Thanksgiving meals on Thanksgiving – but my aunt, Bonnie, was doing her Thanksgiving on Sunday.) Unfortunately, I stuffed myself so thoroughly that I came very close to throwing up – that was not so much fun, and I’ve decided not to do two Thanksgivings in one day again. Or at least not to totally pig out. I started feeling better, though, and Greg and I went with his sister, Jen, to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – one of Jen’s friends got us all in for free, too. Bonus! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Then we hung out with James for a bit in Greensboro, before driving home *late*.
Friday, I woke up feeling sick, so I took some Dayquil and spent most of the day sleeping. Bill came over in the evening to hang out with Greg, and I perked up enough to go with them to Jo and Joe’s, one of our local bars. I really liked Jo and Joe’s, the ambience was nice, there were quite a few board and card games to play, my drink was just right, and they serve food, too! (We didn’t try any of their food, but it smelled fucking delicious.)
Saturday, I slept and recuperated some more – don’t you hate when you’re getting a cold or flu or something and it waits for a holiday to become fullblown? Anyway, last night, Greg and I ran out to get some movies: Seed of Chucky (which I loved), a Poirot dvd, and the Spheeris Suburbia.
Today’s been kind of lowkey. I ended up staying home because I’m still sickly, instead of going to my aunt’s Thanksgiving. Which sucked, because she throws a mean Thanksgiving. But I got to sleep in late, and take a nap, and a shower, and I feel much better for it all. Also, today has been cold and very rainy – perfect weather for staying home and keeping snuggly. And working on my knitting when I’ve been awake. A couple days ago, I felt like making something like a cravat, so I winged it and came up with this:
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I made it out of some Endless Summer Collection Lara I’d gotten a while back for Lana Hames’s Stripes Go Round (Interweave Knits, Summer 2004). But then I pulled the yarn out recently and couldn’t decide if I liked the colors I’d picked out anymore. So I made the cravat-y thing, and was going to put it up on Etsy. But then I changed my mind again about the colors, and started the sweater after all. So now I’m hanging on to the cravat until I finish the sweater, in case I need that last bit of yarn. Here’s my progress on the sweater:
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But I also like the ruffly, cravat-y thing, so I’m making some more out of some stash yarns for Etsy. And I’ve got to pick out some yarn for the next Six Sox pattern.
And Greg’s birthday is Tuesday, so I’ve got to make some blueberry cupcakes and a lasagna for his birthday dinner. Yum!
Oh my god, I am soooo farty today. And the worst was while I was at work – you know those farts you totally think you’ll be able to stifle against your chair? And then they explode out REALLY LOUDLY and you’re totally mortified (if you’re me and at work, anyway)? Yeah, that, only constantly. But they’re the opposite of SBD – so my cube didn’t stink. Although, really, I’d rather have SBD – it’d stink, but it wouldn’t be so very loudly and obviously MY farts.
SOCK PORN!
Finished Mosaic socks:
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And check out this HOT Kitchener stitch:
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Okay, now the grafted toe on the second sock looks slightly wonkier than that, but, really, it’s barely noticeable. And I have to thank Nancy’s Knit Knack’s Knit-Kards for putting the Kitchener stitch in the category of “why didn’t someone tell me it was just this easy?!” My friend Bill (Nancy’s son, as a matter of fact) gifted me with a set of knit-kards, a needle & hook gauge, a WPI tool, some circular needle ID tags, and some other stuff a while back – and I LOVE it! Right now, I’m especially loving the Kitchener stitch Knit-Kard – because I am so impressed with those grafted toes. It’s like I’ve moved into the big leagues, and am making real socks now!
Thursday night, Greg and I went to see a Twin Peaks tribute band, Garmonbozia. I can’t seem to find their website (if they’ve got one), but I did stumble across this other seems-to-be-local blog mentioning it here. (It feels kinda weird coming across another blog in the area – like bumping into a complete stranger, and yet somehow recognizing them. Although maybe that’s appropriate where Twin Peaks/Dale Cooper/David Lynch is involved.) Anyway, Garmonbozia rocked my socks off. And then I went home to go to sleep, because I’m an old lady, and old ladies need sleep.
Friday night, we went to Danny and Michel’s for more Twin Peaks-themed fun! We watched Fire Walk with Me, and ate “diner food” (like from Norma’s): scrambled tofu, fake bacon, and creamed corn for us non-meat-eaters, coffee, grapefruit juice, and cherry pie – damn good food. Danny and Michel also set out a bunch of donuts on the table like in the show, and we ate those, too. As it turns out, Kathleen is related to Julee Cruise – an aunt by marriage, if I understood the relationship. Pretty cool. It was an awesome time. Greg hadn’t seen Twin Peaks before Thursday – somehow he managed to not catch it years ago when I went through my Twin Peaks obsessive phase. He likes David Lynch, though, and I think his interest is sufficiently peaked to warrant pulling out the dvds soon. Which is fine with me, since I haven’t watched them in a while.
I slept soooooo much Saturday. Eric’s game was cancelled, which was a shame, but kind of alright since it gives me more time to read up on my Taurian documents and figure out where to go from where we are in the game currently. And the game being cancelled also let me accompany Greg to Niku and Krista’s housewarming party. Or quasi-housewarming party. Or Fall party. Or whatever it was. It was awesome, is what it was. And there were freebies, since Niku had a bunch of stuff she was getting rid of. I scored some awesome fabrics, a cute lucky cat (Maneki Neko), some shirts, an owl (I had to have it because the owls are not what they seem), and a pair of sweet candle holders. After we left Niku and Krista’s, we went home to watch the UFC payperview. Jesse and Sumi came over. And Greg picked up some soda for mixers, and cider for me – and the first jug of cider had severely gone off. It stank like rotten cheese – that’s the closest smell I can think of to accurately describe the stench. And when Greg took it back to the store, the guy there informed him that cider “isn’t supposed to look like that, either.” Well, I couldn’t tell until I smelled it, but now we know, I guess. And now we have delicious, non-spoiled cider. Yum. We also introduced Jesse and Sumi to the wonders of kettle corn. Yum yum. And the payperview was pretty good. I was a little irritated that Joe Riggs didn’t make weight, but judging from the match, he wouldn’t have been a threat to Matt Hughes anyway. I really dislike Matt Hughes – thanks to either his own real shitty attitude, or the editing for Ultimate Fighter 2 – and am looking forward to the match that takes the belt away from him. I figure it’s just a matter of time. George St. Pierre was fun to watch, and how adorable is he with his franglais and his happiness to be there? No wonder the crowd loves him. The Nate Quarry/Rich Franklin bout was THE BOMB. And it was especially awesome after that shitty heavyweight match. I can’t remember their names – I know one guy kinda looked like Coolio, and his opponent had to have a translator for his pre-match interview, but that’s all I can tell you about them specifically. The match SUCKED. They did NOTHING. But it was refreshing to hear the commentators just start shit-talking – in the WWE, it wouldn’t have been admitted, and stuff like that happens so often. Like rest holds in a tag match – ridiculous. But Joe Rogan was like, “This sucks. And I have to piss.” Hee. Awesome. Anyway, so the Quarry/Franklin match was awesome, even if it was short. And when Quarry got knocked out – holy shit, that looked unpleasant. I couldn’t handle it, that’s for sure. That’s why I’m not in the UFC. Well, that and my lack of MMA skillz.
As I was making dinner last night, I heard a scurrying and scratching in the attic above the kitchen. Sounds like we’ve got a squirrel for upstairs company. So my mom and Sarah came down today to graciously loan us the have-a-heart trap, so I can boot the little squirrel out. I felt kinda bad about it at first – I mean, it’s getting COLD outside, and it’s just a little squirrel. But if I let him stay over the Winter, he’ll still be up there come Spring, and he’ll probably be making a family then, too. So he has to go.
I worked on the second Mosaic sock while we watched the most recent Lost – my mom likes the socks. I kinda don’t like them – I mean, they’re kinda cute, but not really my style. So they’re going to my mom. I’m pretty sure I can finish the second one before Thanksgiving lunch at Susan’s house. I’m almost ready to start the toe-shaping, so, not much left to do. And the Hallmark Channel – which I normally avoid like the plague, because I assume they only show schmaltz – is playing Bedknobs and Broomsticks, one of my favorite movies from my childhood. Sweet! Pictures soon, dumplings.
Oh my fucking goddess. I had no idea these were such easy techniques: knitting on two circulars and the magic loop. Thanks to that site for explaining it so clearly to me. I’d looked at a couple other sites a while back, but they just confused the hell out of me.
Awesome. This opens up a whole new world of knitting (especially sock-knitting) opportunities! And less fumbling with dpns. (Although I really don’t hate dpns, but they can get a little tedious.)
Furry Friday!
Here’s a short little “movie” we made of Chalupa in her carrier, waiting to go to the vet’s. Chalupa in her carrier
For some reason, I thought she’d be the hardest to get into a carrier, so I did her first. Then it turned out Skeeter was the problem – I guess he knew they were getting tested for worms, and pilled, and he ran and hid. So, while I was waiting for him to calm down so I could grab him and stuff him in a carrier, we taped Chalupa beating the shit out of her carrier. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted that “movie” (it was only a couple seconds, anyway, before she calmed down). But we still have that one above, of her crying to be let out. And of course, the minute we get to the vet’s and it’s exam time, they both want back IN their carriers. Cats. But they’re fun to laugh at, occasionally.
Greg’s guitar came today! So here’s a little movie about that. It’s an awesome guitar.
