Oh, look! Shiny and wonderful ways to procrastinate!

So, I did something stupid. But fun! But something that captured my fancy and has the potential to derail my recent good job at staying focused on my research and spin me off into the lovely, comforting world of handwork, handwork, handwork! I played a game on Facebook where I promised to make handmade gifts for five people. And while the rules state that I can make a mix CD, or bake something, or glue together bits of whatever, I am and always will be two things: a) a handworker, and b) a perfectionist. So, you see how this could potentially tip the delicate balance of my life. But so fun! How could I refuse? I love making things for people, and I love an excuse to make something for someone I would not otherwise have a reason to shower with little bits of love. They will necessarily be small things, but still! Fun!

The first project is a hat, but it will be a silly, fun hat (the rules said the gifts could be weird) that I don't know if the recipient will actually wear, but I like to think that my bizarre sense of fun is contagious and will soon take over the world. So I don't worry about it too much. The basic hat is finished and I hope to embellish it and bring it to life this evening (even if I ought to work on a presentation tonight instead. ::sigh::):


It's a very basic hat pattern, but a very bright yellow. I hope the finished project is as awesome as it is in my head. Admittedly, things often aren't as cool in real life as they are in my head. But hope springs eternal and I soldier on. FO in a couple of days!

Last night, I knocked out this little coffee cozy. I had some Soy Wool Stripes left over from the bag I made last fall and this project was perfect for it. So simple, so basic, so completely useful! I love projects like this.


So, that's almost two projects down. I have the next one planned, but I may not start it right away. I do really have to put together that presentation and get a bunch of research done so I can make a poster for a conference next month. You know, little things like that...

Hope you had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! I didn't do much (except make the coffee cozy) but that was okay because I went to the Milwaukee St. Pat's parade on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and I felt like that was my St. Pat's celebration. Even if I did go to Mader's for a late lunch. Maybe not very Irish, but very Milwaukee! (Mader's is a German restaurant and a Milwaukee institution.)
Yesterday was a gorgeous day, however, so it was a wonderful holiday and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Off to do more of that research stuff! Ta!

The twelfth day

It's Epiphany, which means the tree should come down tomorrow. :( It's not that I'm so sad for Christmas to end, it's just that I really really like the fairy lights in the dark evenings. Maybe I should just string some up for the rest of winter. I should be able to find some super cheap. (The tree is pre-lit, so it's not like I can just [easily] take the lights off the tree and string them up alone.)

It's been a fun twelve days, though, full of get-togethers and much food and drink -- all of which I have no pictures of because I SUCK, but rest assured a marvelous time was had by all. :)

Now that the holiday is over, though, I can show you the gifts I made for Gator and his mom. Teena got the waterlilies drop-stitch scarf, which I think turned out lovely. She says it will match her new coat quite well.

Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine
Red Heart Super Saver Ombres in colorway Monet
Size US 8 straight aluminum needles

Gator's present this year was pure fun. I've made him hats and a scarf and socks and I was running out of ideas of things to make for him that he'd actually appreciate. It came up during a phone call that he would like a stuffed animal ('cause he's totally secure in his masculinity and super cool like that), so I tried to find something that was big enough to be cuddly. I found the Animal Pillows pattern on Ravelry, modified the nose so that it's more of a muzzle, and totally winged it for the eyes (the googly eyes alone were much too small!). It's purple because that's his favorite. I call him Pudgy, but he calls him something else that I can never remember. I think he's pretty awesome and good for hugging, though.

Animal Pillow by Jennifer Down Under
Red Heart Super Saver solids in lavender
Hook size US I (5.5mm)

As for me, I got some really cool and awesome gifts this year, but the one I want to really show off, the one that makes me go "Squee!!", is my new microwave!!! It's full-sized but not too big, and has a moisture sensor so it will automatically determine how long something needs to cook based on its steam production! Science!!! It works really well and it's pretty, to boot!


This is what it looks like inside (this picture is mostly for Gator, who hasn't seen it yet -- sorry it's so boring, but be glad I didn't take close-ups of all the buttons and stuff):


While I was at the store picking out my wonderful new microwave, I also hit the 75% off Christmas decorations aisle. I controlled myself pretty well, I think:


This is all-metal and is pretty heavy. It's bright-colored and super cute. A fun addition for $3.75! Bargain!


This one, I admit, I have no idea what I'm going to do with. But I think it's incredibly neat-o. It has an eye at the end of each ray, so I can hang it quite easily, but it's pretty big and I'm not sure where a good place would be. Since we'll be living someplace new next Christmas, I'll worry about it then. In the meantime, it's quite festive on my floor.

I've also been working steadily on my latest Seraphina shawl and Gator's new socks, but photos of them will have to wait until next time. Oooh! Anticipation!

I've also been having non-stop lab frustrations, and I had better go face some of those right now. Thanks for attending my Christmas show-and-tell! Have a great one!

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Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

First of all, I'd just like to point out that this is a real card that you can buy. Why did I not know this months ago??? (Click to embiggen)


It's been a nice and quiet Christmas Eve here in Beer Town. I mostly listened to the radio while I knit and crochet, made some more shortbread, had nice visits with a couple of people who live in my building, and surfed the innernets without guilt of any kind. Wonderful.

Now that the gift-related handwork is done for another year, I started right in on a couple of projects I'd been itching to get at. Gator gets a new pair of socks. I've started the heel flap:


I've also started another Seraphina shawl, this time made with Joann Sensations Rainbow Boucle in an awesome chocolate brown/robin egg's blue stripe. So squishy and yummy! I wish I'd found this yarn a long time ago!! I also wish this colorway was not apparently discontinued. I think I'd make about four dozen things with it!


Aside from the card I featured above, the other TOTALLY AWESOME thing I discovered today on the 'net was the Droidel. Oh yes, kids, your eyes do not deceive you -- that's "dreidle" spelled like "'droid". As in 'droids. As in R2D2. It's things like this that make me almost not hate George Lucas anymore. Almost. I had to print it, cut it out, and glue it together POST HASTE!!!


Then I had to spin him and scamper about my apartment singing,

"Droidel, Droidel, Droidel!
I made you out of paper!
And when I'm good and ready,
with Droidel I will caper!"

(apologies to the real dreidel song and anyone who thinks I'm making light of a significant tradition. I'm not, I swear. I genuinely think dreidels are cool. I just happen to think that just about anything can be improved by the addition of R2D2. And it makes me ridiculously happy. Happy's good, right?)

Another happy Web-related Christmas bonus: Amazon has a bunch of free MP3 downloads and right now that includes a bunch of really great Christmas music. Another thing I wish I'd know about a lot sooner. But better late than never!

Tomorrow I'm going to my friend Rachel's home for the day to eat, play Wii with her kids, eat, watch movies, eat, and possibly pass out in mid-crochet. And I'll probably call Gator every fifteen minutes or so. I love you and miss you, honey. Merry Christmas, my darling. :)

I wish you all a wonderful holiday full of peace, love and laughter. Merriest of Christmases.

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Baking for the holidays

The end of the semester and the beginning of the holiday season has left me little time to blog -- sorry! I have been doing some knitting and crocheting, but as this has been all gift-related, I can't show you anything until after they have been received. But I can show you this:

Spritz cookies -- recipe straight from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook -- just like Mama used to make!


And classic shortbread using the recipe that came with the super-cute shortbread pan.


There will probably be more shortbread on Christmas Eve. I forgot how simple it is!

Hope your Holiday prep is going well!

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Those crazy kids

Just as I was sitting down to write this, I heard something that sounded like an oddly percussive motorscooter or something. I wasn't really paying attention. Then I heard it again and thought, "no, that sounds like a snare drum. Why would I be hearing a snare drum?" I live on the fourteenth floor* of an apartment building in downtown Milwaukee. This drumming seemed very odd. But I looked out my window and, sure enough, on the sidewalk across the street was a dude standing there playing a snare drum. Not like he got lost from his pep band or anything, but standing straight, playing his drum on a stand, while a girl stood facing him holding some sheet music. Two other girls stood off to the side as if in rapt attention. I watched as he played for a bit, then he finished. The girls clapped and jumped up and down, the guy picked up his drum, plopped it in a case, turned to the car parked right beside where they were standing, put the drum in, got in himself, and took off.

Bizarre.

But then again, my friends and I once re-enacted the entire mad tea party from Alice in Wonderland in the middle of a Perkins restaurant. So it's not like I can talk.

But this isn't really what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to tell you about the awesome time I had last Saturday night once I'd recovered just a bit from my Very Long Experiment. As you may or may not know, Tuesday was the start of Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights. The Indian Student Association is very active on the Marquette campus and they have quite a festival to mark the event. As some of my grad school compadres are from India, I accompanied them and had a terrific time!

First there was dinner:


I'm not a huge fan of Indian food, but I do love to try new things. Mostly I like hearing my Indian friends talk about the dishes I'm eating and telling me how they're made and stories about food and their families and their way of life. I guess I like the culture of food more than I like most food. But not always -- those big fried things are my favorite -- they're called samosas. They are pastries filled with potatoes, onions and peas spiced up just a bit and deep fried. Heck, it's practically Wisconsin food!

I got some of the required smooshy-face pictures. First, Radhika and me...


...and then Priyanka and me!


After dinner was a big dance program, which I couldn't get pictures of because my camera doesn't like to do that. It's very persnickity, that camera. The dances were wonderful!! Afterwards, I got a photo of a couple more of my friends that danced in the Bhangra -- they were amazing! Here's Anjali, their friend whom I don't know, and Jasvinder all decked out!


Don't they look gorgeous?

It was a great time and I'm glad I went, even if I should have been catching up on my sleep. It's been a crazy busy week and I'm still not caught up. So I think I'll just go to bed right now.

As long as there is no more random drumming outside my window.

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*Since there is no thirteenth floor in buildings (just like there's no thirteenth row in airplanes), the fourteenth floor is really only thirteen stories off the ground. So, I actually live on the thirteenth floor, regardless of what they call it. I'm not fooled, I'm telling you. Not for a minute.

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Memorial Day and MeMe

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a nice holiday and yet takes a moment to remember the real reason we have this day off. I am sad that I am too far away to decorate the graves of my ancestors, but I trust that, wherever they are, they understand and forgive me.

On a lighter note, I was tagged by Becky for a fun little meme. The rules are: You must answer the following questions using only pictures or graphics. NO WORDS ALLOWED!!!

1. What is your current relationship status?


2. What is your current mood?


3. What is your favorite band/singer?


4. What is your favorite movie?




5. What kind of pets do you have?


6. Where do you live?


7. Where do you work?


8. Who do you look like?


9. What do you drive?


10. What did you do on Saturday?




11. What did you do on Sunday?



12. What is your favorite network TV Show?


13. Describe Yourself.


14. What is your favorite candy?



If you read this, consider yourself tagged!!

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Year end loose ends

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday was fun-filled and safe and I hope you've settled into the post-holiday routine with a minimum of pain and suffering. ;)

I spent New Year's with my friends Veronica, Anne, Anne's fiance' Andy, and Anne's cousin Kelly. We had a nice, low-key evening hanging out, watching some retro music videos and playing games. Oh, and eating. A lot. Or maybe that was just me. It was a good time, anyway.

Since then I've been taking it easy and coming up with new ideas for my research project. After months of frustration with a project that just does not work, I've got a new direction and it's pretty exciting. I'm pretty happy about it. I'll talk more about it when the wheels are actually in motion.

I only have one new year's resolution. I will not apologize if I don't blog for awhile. It's a hobby and, let's face it, an ego trip (look at me and what I did! Cool, huh? Yeah!). So if I fail to be trippy, we'll all survive. I have plenty of real things to worry about, I'm not about to let myself feel bad for not posting to a blog. Why I let myself feel guilty about not posting in the first place, I prefer not to examine too closely.

That said, Hi! How are y'all? Wanna look at the cool stuff I made? Yeah? AWESOME.

I didn't get my last FO's of 2007 posted while it was still 2007, so I'll do it now.

Gator received his Christmas hat just a couple of days late and he claims it fits great and that he likes it. Yay! His request was a hat with cables and I had some really great clearance yarn that I was dying to work with. I first tried to make cables all around the crown, but it made the hat almost too small for me so I knew it wouldn't fit him. So I frogged and redesigned. There are three cables up the crown with stockinette in between.


It looks kind of funny when it's not on a head, but it's big enough that it looks ridiculous on me...


You can't really tell that there are multiple cables unless I turn around, so...


Info: Three Cable Hat of my own design. Rowan Big Wool Fusion (discontinued) - 1 1/2 balls. Double pointed needles, sizes 9 and 9.5.

Though the Fusion is discontinued, Rowan still makes Big Wool. If you ever get a chance to use it, jump. It's so great to knit with and the resulting hat is crazy warm. I loved every minute of making this hat! I wasn't even that sorry to have to frog it and reknit!

Last fall I found out that Sugar n' Cream started making a self-striping line. I had a little trouble finding some, but I was really psyched to find out how it would look to use it for a garterlac cloth. It pooled more than I had hoped, but it's an interesting result. It's pretty trippy, I must say:


I kind of like it -- it's got a folksy look to it.

So this concludes the 2007 FO parade. I also already have a 2008 FO, but I'm saving that for my next post. I'm super happy about it. I'm sure you'll be on the edge of your seat until I share it with you. Because I'm just that important. And I refuse to apologize for that fact.

Hee!

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What I did on my Christmas Break

Christmas was nice and quiet and cozy. I talked to Gator a couple of times, made a little Christmas dinner, watched DVDs and knit. I finished my new hat!


I made up the pattern, but it's just alternating 6-stitch cables and stockinette, so no great shakes. But I like it! It has a nice, big brim that folds up to make a warm double layer over my ears and forehead.


The brim is so big that you can't really see the pattern unless I look down like this. Of course, now it's not cold enough to need it, but it looks like tomorrow I'll be glad I got it done -- big storm's a-brewing for Beer Town.

I mailed Gator's hat to him yesterday, so as soon as I have word that it's arrived, I'll post pics of it, too. But it doesn't really look right on my small noggin since it's made for a much larger head. Maybe sometime I can get pics of Gator modeling it. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

I don't feel very well this morning, so I'll go to the lab a bit late. There's not a great deal to do there anyway, but I do have a lot of reading to do. I really wish I'd arranged to take more time off over the holidays, even if I didn't go anywhere. I feel I need some re-charging time after such a strenuous semester. I'm sure it will be fine -- it's not like I'm working that hard right now anyway.

It's been fun browsing around the Blogosphere, seeing what y'all did for the holidays. Plus, I got pulled into the vortex that is Facebook, so I've been strolling around there a bit, too.

If you haven't already posted it, what did you do for your holidays?

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Christmas Eve

It's been a quiet day today. I slept late (for me), lounged around, watched some episodes of The X-Files, and cast on a new hat for me.


I'm kind of making it up as I go, but I know I want a wide brim to turn up, so that's where I am so far. I'll keep you posted. I using yarn to match my braided cables scarf, though the pattern will definitely not be so intricate. I kind of like the matching thing, plus I think the natural color will go well with my new dye job (another fun Christmas Eve activity):


I was going to show a before pic, but it was too horrifying to see the light of day.

Right after I colored my hair, my wonderful Aunt Judy called me! It was a great surprise and a nice treat. I hadn't talked to her since I visited her last Christmas (I know, I'm a bad niece), and it was so good to hear her voice. Merry Christmas again, Aunt Jude, and a very Happy New Year. I love you!!!

This evening I'm going to watch a few more DVDs and knit some more. Nice, quiet, restful. And I'm going to get a warmer hat out of it, so hoo-yah!

Becky tagged everyone who visits her blog for the Ornament Meme, so I guess I'm "it". I'll pass on the favor -- consider yourself tagged.

Here are the rules:

1. Take a picture of your favorite ornament and put it on your blog telling everyone about it.

2. Post a link to the person on whose blog you found out about the Ornament Tag.

3. Post the rules.


This is my favorite ornament. It's the first in the Hallmark series of "Frosty Friends" ornaments from 1980. My mother won this as a deuce prize at a bridge game that year and we/I have collected every ornament in the series ever since. I still buy the new one every year. This year was the 28th year and they're all on my tree. In fact, those and several Star Wars ornaments make the bulk of my ornament collection. My tree is pretty full.

Here's where I cheat in the meme. I'm adding my two favorite new additions to my tree this year:


My dear blog buddy friend Judy sent me this lovely, colorful snowflake with my Christmas card this year. I really do have a card and flake for you, Judy, I'm just very behind this year! Thank you so much! Isn't it gorgeous?


Also, my neighbor and new friend Ron gave me this anchor ornament. He's a Navy man, loves the sea, boats, and sailing and I love how this ornament is so "him". I think it's charming.

I just talked to Gator a bit ago, and he told me the mailman knocked at the door with the books I sent him from Amazon just as they were opening gifts at his Mom's! What good timing! He also reports that he is now the proud owner of Guitar Hero III, so he's in hog heaven for a while. He won't even notice that his hat is late! ;)

Some hot cocoa is calling my name, so I'm going to enjoy the rest of my quiet evening. Best Christmas Eve wishes to everyone!

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