Olympic snowflake Monday

I'll probably be a little quiet for the next couple of weeks while I watch a lot of skating and skiing. It's not personal, I promise. You should probably just go enjoy some skating a skiing too. It's pretty fun.

It is Monday, howver, and snowflakes are appropriate to the Winter Olympics, so I'll show off the latest - #3. Riveting, I'm sure, but that's what you get around here. If you haven't figured that out yet. :)


Ooh! Skiing! Bye!

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Let's try a little Snowflake Monday, shall we?

Awesomeness of awesomenesses when I got home tonight -- broken hot water heater!! I never thought I would miss the creaks and clanks that thing used to make whenever I washed dishes. Oh, but I do! Not that I will be sad if it has to be replaced with a brand new one that doesn't make all those noises, mind you.

Only light yoga tonight, 'cause I'm going to work dirty!! (Yeah, like that's never happened before. Ha!)

Now back to your regularly scheduled handwork discourse! (I know you were worried I was going to further discuss my hygiene.)

So last year I totally fell off the Snowflake Monday wagon (pretty much everyone else did, too, so I didn't really feel too bad). And, come the holidays, guess what? I had no snowflakes to give to people! Amazing how that works! So I'm going to try to get back into the habit of making one flake a week and posting them on Mondays. I've got a copy of the book 99 Snowflakes and I've decided that this year I'm going to start with number 1 and see how far I get. The only problem with that is that the first several flake patterns are for small flakes...


That's just fine though because, as we must always remember, size matters not. Next week there will be another little tiny cute flake! And I will love it and stroke it and pet it...

I was at Hobby Lobby on Saturday to get a pillow form for the now-finished Not Terra Cotta Pillow (pictures coming later) and I "stumbled" upon the clearance section. I have a serious thing for clearance yarn. Pretty much, if it is marked way down and it's yarn, I will buy it. They didn't have any regular yarn, but they did have crochet nylon, which is awesome because I just saw a pattern in a magazine (Gator sweetly got me a subscription to this odd little 'zine) for an awesome little purse made of nylon -- and I had none in my stash! Whew! Glad that was rectified!!

But that is a project for much, much later! I also found a cute little cross stitch kit for $4 that will make an awesome mother's day gift! I haven't done a serious cross stitch project for some time and it feels a little foreign, I must admit. And, apparently, I am really slow at stitching these days. This is several hours' worth of work from Sunday:


It seems pretty pathetic to me. But it will be very pretty when it's done. It even came with a pre-cut mat board and I got the frame for it and everything (they were 50% off!)! So, now all I have to do is stitch! After I do some hopefully-non-sweat-inducing yoga.

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Yes, I said "doody"

There are two amazing things about this post:

1. I'm posting two days in a row. This hasn't happened since sometime in July. I even think I have something to blog about tomorrow. It's like I'm on fire or something!
   
2. I have a snowflake for Snowflake Mondays. (Judy! Lookie!) This hasn't happened this year. It's horrifying. Or, rather, it's going to be horrifying when the holidays come and I realize I have no snowflakes because I was a doody-butt slacker all year and didn't make any flakes. ::sigh::

But today -- today -- I am victorious! I have one cute little snowflake!

#15 from 99 Snowflakes by Leisure Arts
Design by Helen Milinkovich Milton
Made with size 10 Knit Cro-Sheen by J.P. Coats in White
and a #6 steel hook

Yesterday I also started a new fall purse. It's also the first time I've worked with Patons Soy Wool Stripes and can I just tell you how much I love using this yarn? It's all slick (though not in a bad way) and cooshy (another technical term) and doesn't ever split. Awesome! So, I'm making Inga's Haekelbeutel with SWS in Natural Navy and I'm gong to felt it when I'm done. I've never felted before but I have a friend who has and she said she would help me. So I'm very excited! I've only got two squares done (I'll need sixteen), but I like the way the yarn is pooling so far. I don't think any of the squares will be alike, which is just fine by me.


So I'm just flitting along up here and all is well. And now I'm going to watch my beloved Broncos play on Monday Night Football, knit dishcloths and stop obsessing about my upcoming experiments. Maybe this posting every day thing will become a trend!!

For Pete's sake, don't hold your breath.

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Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone has time for a little fun and rest today, even if it's not an official holiday where you live. Fun and rest are always a good idea, especially on a Monday!

I have labored (in the sun, on the roof, by the pool) this weekend and I'll have a little to show on that tomorrow. For now, I'll get back in the flaking groove:


This is another snowflake done according to Judy's pattern. I love this design. The first time I made it, I used #20 thread and the flake is pretty small. I wanted a larger one, so I whipped out the #10 thread and went to town. Hmmm. They're both pretty good, but I think I really like the small one best after all.


Have a great day!!

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What would the DSM-IV say about this?

It's been raindrop time in Beer Town for several days and more to come, but here in Sus' House of Yarn All Over the Floor by Her Chair it's once again snowflake time!


I really like this design -- I enjoyed making it and I like the look of the finished product. It's Number 43 of Leisure Arts' 99 Snowflakes. It's made with #10 cotton and a US7 hook, and I altered it from a seven point flake to a six pointer. I'm not a total convert to my buddy's strict criteria for flakes, but I am not a big fan of seven points. It just doesn't seem right, somehow. I like this one so much I may make it again next week with #20 thread.

On Saturday afternoon, I went to a production of the musical version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Now, I may be the only person in my age bracket that hasn't seen the movie (those who know me well, however, are never surprised to find that I haven't seen a movie), so the story was fresh to me. It was a great production and I had a terrific time. Spamalot is coming next season and I must find a way to get to that one. While I wait I can play the Spamalot game.

It was a pretty random weekend for handwork. I flaked, obviously, and tried to work on a WIP, with only a little luck. I kept being distracted by other things.

I made three new blocks for the Crazy Quilt Coverlet:


I finished the baby Ballbands:


And because of crazy Ballband addiction, I started a kicky new one:



I also spent a lot of time this weekend collecting patterns from the 'net and thus my queue of projects I want to start next is growing at a scary, scary rate. Is there a psychiatrist/psychologist out there? Because I'm thinking knit/crochet project counseling could become a really hot area of therapy. Throw in some group sessions on stash management and I think maybe you've got yourself a hoppin' little practice. Think of all the people you'll free from the stress of getting projects done on time, the painful process of deciding what to start next, the guilt of multiple WIPs and UFOs taking over all available surfaces, and the compulsion to continuously increase the stash. I'll happily settle for a 10% commission for giving you the idea.

You can pay me in yarn.

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I'm flaking again

Title sung to the tune of "It's Raining Again" by Supertramp.

Now that Gator's socks are done, I'm trying to get back into my routine and flake it up on a weekly basis. I'm afraid I've become disillusioned with the patterns from the SimplySnowflakes group, so I'm going back to my solitary ways (though I'm staying with the group, I'm just not going to participate in the sign-ups anymore). This pattern was a free Lion Brand pattern (Number 4) and it's okay. Not my favorite, but not too bad. I had to go back to size 10 thread (I had been using size 20) because the pattern is actually written for sport weight and the middle was killing me in such a small gauge. I'm so used to size 20, though, that this seems so bulky and inelegant. I'm sure it's a personal problem, so I'm going to ignore it.



Yesterday I went to the Brewers game, which was great until the ninth inning when we blew a big lead only to go into extra innings and lose 8-6 to the Phillies. It was still a fun day, but the outcome of the game was a bummer.

After the game, New Friend Veronica took me to JoAnn so I could get a zipper to finish the Zodiac. I've decided not to embroider anything on it, mostly because a) I can't find a design that seems just right, b) I can't find a 50% cotton / 50% acrylic yarn in a yellow that will match the buttons, which I'm not willing to change, and c) my duplicate stitches always look like crap, and why crap up a perfectly good sleep sack? So I've decided to just block it, put in the zipper, finish a pair of baby socks that marginally match it (they're made from leftovers from my First Socks -- hey, there's some orange in there!), and call it good. The more I look at the Zodiac without embroidery, the more I like it, anyway.

Tomorrow is my final exam for the radioisotope safety class. I'm very excited for it to be over. So much so that I'm going to the Wisconsin State Fair right after the final as a reward. I'll try so hard to remember to take pictures of the craft and needlework highlights. And food on a stick. Because, really, it's all about foods on sticks.

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Playing catch-up

Hang on to yer hankies, kids, it's all happening. Everything I've promised to show and failed miserably to follow through on. So sit back, get comfy, and bask in the part of my life that doesn't involve sucking up protozoa through a teeny tiny tube.

First off, unfinished Snowflake Mondays business. Yesterday's flake is now blocked and stiffened.


I'm not happy with it, but it's my fault, not the design's. First of all, I switched from a commercial stiffener to a mixture of white glue and water and it just isn't very stiff. Many people swear by the white glue, but so far I'm not impressed. Also, if I do it again I will use bigger thread (this is #20). You should have seen it in the voodoo stage -- it was just a sea of pinheads. There was barely room for me to pin some parts. Oh well, live and learn. But I love the design. Thanks again, Judy!

The Zodiac is finished except for the zipper (which I haven't purchased yet) and embroidery. The I-cord isn't perfect, but I got so frustrated with it that I was happy when it turned out this well. Otherwise I might have thrown it across the room and given up. So, in the interest of my mental health I decided to let go a little, slip out of the perfectionist persona, and call any errors "artifacts of a lovingly hand-made item". Plus, the wonky bit is mostly in the back where I can't see it, so I can live in denial. :)


Oh! And I found the cutest little buttons that I think are perfect for it! Cute, cheerful and bright. Lurve them!



Now, I realize that my previous photo of my first sock was barely a start at all. It wasn't a sock, it was jut a little tube -- it could have been anything! But now -- now -- it can only be one thing...


That, kids, is a SOCK!! Still don't believe me? Would it help if I stuck a poorly pedicured foot in it? It would? Okay, then...


Yep, that's a sock alright. Whee!

Last Saturday, I went on a little outing. There's a yarn store called Ruhama's to the north, up in Whitefish Bay, that has a nice website and is, most importantly, just a couple of blocks from a bus stop. It's also only about six blocks from Bayshore Town Center, a big new outdoor mall. I decided to make a day of it.

I did remember to take my camera with me. But, did I remember to actually take any pictures during the day? Of course not! This is Sus! Sus is an idiot! When Sus is shopping, she becomes as a chimpanzee! "Oh, look! Shiny! Ooooh! No! Look there! Shinier!" The best laid plans become dim, distant memories swept over by a sea of pretty things that Sus does not, but possibly could, own. I swear I'm a walking advertisement for evolution. 'Cause there ain't nothin' intelligent 'bout this design.

Now, you would think, since it was my first stop and the idea was fresh in my mind, that I would at least remember to take some photos of the great selection at Ruhama's, and I did. Remember, that is. But, thought me, I won't just barge into this lovely little shop, run, I'm sure, by sweet ladies, and start randomly photographing their stuff. So, my great plan went, I would go in, look around, chat with the yarn store people, develop a bit of a rapport, then start randomly photographing their stuff. A fine plan, I'm sure. But then, then, I was distracted...

... by CLEARANCE YARN!! Stacks and stacks of bags of yarn offered for less than half price! Alpaca! Silk! Mohair! Merino! Cotton! It was everywhere! I was helpless -- completely, utterly helpless. I looked, I stroked, I dreamed, I selected, I did mental math, I purchased! All thoughts of grand plans flew straight out me wee noggin. I was able somehow, mostly by thoughts of eviction and sitting in the dark without internet access due to bill nonpayment, to keep my fiscal sanity. But I did a mighty fine job, methinks.

Now, this is serious yarn pr0n. You may want to avert your eyes. Some of you won't care a whit, but some of you will. And I do and, really, isn't that what's important? ;)

Dale of Norway's Stork 100% cotton fingering weight, color "5", a pale, pale green. Two balls, 390 yds total. Destined to become Breeze socks.



Rowan Classic Natural Silk Aran, 73% viscose, 15% silk, 12% linen, color 464 "Aero". Four balls, 284 yds total. Destiny undetermined.


Blue Sky Alpacas 100% Baby Alpaca Sport Weight. Five balls, 600 yds total. Destiny undetermined.


Whew! I may need a nap now. ;)

So, that's what I've been up to. Upcoming fun? Well, tonight it's Summerfest to see Weird Al, and next week I travel to Toronto for a week to visit a lab at York University to learn an immunocytochemistry technique. And I'm gonna try real, real hard with that picture takin' thang.

Really, I am!!

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Delayed gratification

Okay, I know I promised pictures of pr0n, and I have some, but I'm in a hurry this morning (mating Tetrahymenae wait for no man!) so the pr0n will just have to wait. Sorry! Maybe waiting will just make it better.

I do have a sad, sad picture of a snowflake for your perusal, however. I finished it this morning (I was nodding off while crocheting it last night, so I decided to give it up for the night), so it's not blocked and stiffened. But it's a flake! I'm back, baby! w00t!



This is a sweet little pattern by my blog buddy, Judy. She designed it based on a photo of a real snowflake, and she did an awesome job. Once it's blocked I'll repost so you can see how nice the design really is.

Okay, off to separate individual mating pairs of single-celled protozoa by sucking them up a teeny tiny tube. You are SO jealous!!!

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Evening snow -- now, with prizes!

Howdy!

I had a really fun, then not-so-fun weekend, but I'll have to tell you about it later. Right now, this is just a quickie to show that I have, in fact, produced two flakes for Snowflake Monday. Both are simplysnowflakes sign-up flakes and now I'm officially caught up with Judy (who just won the contest over there with her awesome crochet adaptation of a photograph of a real snowflake -- go check it out!)

Snowflake signup #3

Snowflake signup #4

And speaking of contests, I won one, too!! I'm so freakin' excited! It's another fabulous blogging milestone for Sus! Becky has been asking for people to help her rename her blog and she picked my entry, Fine Martial Fiber (she's a fine artist, a martial artist and a fiber artist -- get it??)!! Oh joy, the blogosphere is full o' wonders!

All this excitement done wore me out. Peace!

The more I read these posts, the more I realize how lame my life is

Oh, I know you think it's all science and glamor up here. But wait! I'm going to talk about (and show pictures of) soap!

But first, Snowflake Monday! Last week, I joined a new mailing list, simplysnowflakes, and made the first pattern in the snowflake sign-up. It's a wee little flake called Edelweiss, and pretty cute. Next week I'll have #2 and a challenge flake to show you. Won't that be exciting!


Last night, New Friend Veronica and I went to the yummy Mongolian barbecue and I, unsurprisingly, did not take pictures though I did remember to put my camera in my new Parfait Purse. Oh well.

Last Wednesday, after my last final, V and I and our friend Anne went out to a celebratory dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. There, we made a fabulous discovery: Francis Ford Coppola makes wine. Not only that, he makes a sparkling wine named after his daughter, Sofia. And, not only that, but Sofia sparkling wine comes in hot pink cans which come with their own, individual, bendy straws!!!! Sweet!

In case you were wondering (and I know at least one of you were), I did get some laundry done over the weekend, but far from all of it. This is because I only had enough laundry soap to do three loads. So, yesterday, when I went to Walgreens (for Duracell batteries), I picked up some detergent. It was on sale! Yay! It was 3 for $15. Now, some places, this would mean 3 for $15, or 1 for $5. But not at the almighty Walgreens! One bottle is still the $6.85 of normal price (the campus Walgreens inflates prices like crazy, FYI). So, in order to feel like I wasn't bending over for the corporate convenience gods, I had to buy three bottles of soap. Like I was at Costco or something.


So fear not! I shall be clean for months!

The other day in my comments, Laura included a link to a post that made her think of me and she thought I should do something like this.
Just so you know, I have been planning to start such a project just as soon as I finish all my WIPs.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Ahem.

But I have been planning for it, nonetheless. Observe my awesome plan!


Yes! It is a mighty plan! It involves throwing all my Walgreens and Pick N' Save bags onto the top shelf of my closet so that someday, someday, I can turn them into plastic yarn and make wondrous cool items with them! Until, of course, I move and decide that there's no way I'm moving 147 pounds of empty plastic bags. But until then! I have a plastic bag recycling project practically started, as you can clearly see!

So now it's time to let the science-y glamor to commence! I'm ready for it any time.

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Cheap date

I actually had a snowflake last week. I just couldn't bear to show you, the pain was too new. But now that I have a successful flake,

#39 from Leisure Arts' 99 Snowflakes
I can stand to show you my failure. See, this is why I haven't been crocheting -- my concentration has been crap. Observe:


Yeah, I really feel a lot better about it now that I've gotten my groove back. But at the time I threw the dadgum thing across the room. Sigh. Oh well, onwards and upwards!

On Saturday, I went out in the afternoon with New Friend Veronica. We had yummy frozen custard at Oscars and shopped a bit. Okay, we shopped a lot. We've decided that there's no such thing as shopping a bit where we're concerned. I didn't buy much, but it sure was fun. But we happened upon a Menards so I begged to go in because I wanted to get...


...ceiling tiles!! Yay! 49 cents apiece! I'm so happy!

"But you rent, Sus, why would you provide your own ceiling tiles?" you might ask. Silly Rabbit! I use cheap ceiling tiles as blocking boards and they work really well. I have gone many years with only one ceiling tile to block with and lately it has become more and more of a pain in the caboose. I can stiffen a snowflake -or- block an afghan square (and only two of each of those at a time, if I really manage my space just right). But sometimes I have one thing ready to block before something else is dry and ready to remove from the board. I really don't want blocking to become my rate-limiting step because of a lack of 49-cent ceiling tiles. But now that I'm transportaionally challenged, it's difficult to get little things like this when the fancy strikes me. But sweet friend V is very tolerant. :)

Egads, it takes so very little to make me happy. I'm showing you a picture of three plain, white, cheap-ass ceiling tiles with absurd pride. I gots problems, kids.

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Blood on the snowflake, with flying cow

Above sung to the tune of the John Mellencamp classic, Rain on the Scarecrow. I'll be doing it all day.

Hi! I'm alive, never fear. Just crazy busy for a bit, then while recovering from that I just couldn't even bear to read blogs, let alone write on one. Ah well. Way back at the beginning I warned that this would happen.

Snowflake Mondays: Again with the no blocking. Just couldn't get around to it. Never in my life have a hated making a snowflake so much. Especially the last round. I thought it would never end and that my fingers would be bloody stumps by the time I was done. Ick. Maybe this is what I get for selecting a pattern with so freaking many picots right after deciding to switch to size 20 thread and a US10 hook. Ever shoved a tiny steel hook way far up under your fingernail with some force? Yeah. More than once. You would think I would learn. I did manage to keep blood off the snowflake, you'll be happy to know. But it was close. Anyhow, if I want to have one for next week, I'm going to have to pick something really easy. And no picots. While I heal. Owie.

And you thought crocheting wasn't an extreme sport. Silly muggles.

#79 from LA's 99 Snowflakes

I got to see Gator last weekend! I went to a protozoology meeting in St. Louis on the 30th, and he drove over and spent the night with me! I was so happy, but so sad to let him go again. I hadn't seen him since Christmas. I don't think we should ever go that long again. Anyone know of any good jobs for archivists in WI? I'm ready for him to move up here. Yessiree.

This is what the Easter Bunny left for me. Of course, the bastard couldn't find my actual house, so I had to go retrieve it from the convenience store up the street. And then pay for it. Harumph. Stupid Easter Bunny. But! Awesome Vermonty Python! It has little chocolate cows in it! I desperately want to fling one off the top of my building, which I've already taken to calling "Catholic Kuhnigits". I'm surprised how many people don't get it. Luckily I'm used to living in my own little world.


No rest for the wick-- er, grad students. Back to the lab with me!!

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I made a snowflake this week, it's just that with the exam and everything, I didn't get it posted. Well, okay, I didn't even get it blocked, but I suppose that's minor. So here, utterly unblocked and perched on my awesome lime cutting board (Target Dollar Spot, baby!), is this week's flake, one day late:



Ah yes, the exam. Well, it's over! Not the best exam I've ever taken, but not the worst either. We'll see what the grading is like. Everything else is going really well this semester. Even if I do poorly on this one exam, it certainly won't be the end of the world.

Totally off topic: Have you had your Cadbury Creme Egg yet this year?? I have a long-held tradition of having one every year before Easter (I guess I just can't wait until Easter, once I see them on the shelves). One. Because one is about all I can stand in a year's time. They're good but, egads, are they sweet. Do they make anyone else's teeth hurt?

Mmmmm... Sugary fondant fake egg yolk...

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Crochet and coughing

I seem to have taken a chest cold. Harumph.

I did not leave my apartment the entire weekend (except when I took my Saturday Sky photo). I sat around, crocheted, listened to NPR, coughed, and watched some free movies on CinemaNow. I actually wasted a bunch of time trying to crochet a Tetrahymena keychain, but I can't find a way to make cilia that don't look like crap. A common crochet conundrum, I know.

I'm not sure that this is strictly how I'm supposed to do it, but I crochet my snowflakes for Snowflake Mondays over the weekend and show them on Mondays. So, while feeling sorta crappy this weekend, I crocheted Noel Nevin's #1 (the pattern does not have a picture). When I was done, I was surprised to find it was a five-point flake, as I had been expecting a six-pointer.


I looked at the pattern again and, lo and behold, it is a six-point pattern! My cough medicine-addled brain completely malfunctioned. After a heavy sigh and a little giggle, I tried again.

Oh, much better!!


I also took a little chunk out of one of my WIPs -- the Crazy Quilt Coverlet. I started this about two years ago and have never gotten very far. But I will be finishing it soon, galdarnit!!

Here's the progress so far...


I love the colors in the afghan. I think it's going to be really stunning.

Alrighty then. Must find expectorant. ::hack, hack, cough, cough::

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Good as my word (don't get used to it)

In Monday's comments, I said that after I got through with my school-
related craziness this week, I would post the pattern for the
snowflake I made up last weekend. Well, I actually did, and did it in
a timely manner. This is not the way it usually works. Just so you know.

So here it is (props to Becky for the name, which I'm totally using
without asking her -- hi, Becky!!)! You can also get a PDF version here.

Fancy Star Snowflake

      Materials

This can be made with larger yarn and a larger hook, or with finer thread and a smaller hook. The snowflake pictured was created with:

Size 10 crochet cotton
Size 6 (US) steel hook
sewing needle (eye just large enough for crochet cotton)
stiffener

a good overview of stiffeners can be found at http://crochet.tangleweeds.com/stiffeners.html

      Directions:

Stitch guide:

Tr decrease: YO twice, insert hook in st indicated, YO
and pull up a loop, (YO and draw through 2 loops on hook) twice, * YO
twice, insert hook in next stitch nd pull up a loop, (YO and draw
through 2 loops on hook) twice, repeat from * once more, YO and draw
through all four loops on hook.
__________________

Ch 5; join with slip st to form a ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 6 (counts as first dc plus ch 3), (dc in ring, ch 3) 5
times, join with sl st to third ch of ch-6. (6 dc and 6 ch-3 sps)

Rnd 2: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in next ch-3 sp, ch 5, dc in
same ch-3 sp, (dc in next dc, dc in next ch-3 sp, ch 5, dc in same ch-
3 sp) 5 times, join with sl st to first dc.

Rnd 3: Ch 4 (counts as first tr, now and throughout), tr in next dc,
ch 4, sc in next sc, ch 4, tr in next dc, (tr in next 2 dc, ch 4, sc
in next sc, ch 4, tr in next dc) 5 times, join with sl st to first dc.

Rnd 4: Ch 4, tr in next dc, ch 7, sc in next sc, ch 7, tr in next dc,
(tr in next 2 dc, ch 7, sc in next sc, ch 7, tr in next dc) 5 times,
join with sl st to first dc.

Rnd 5: Sl st in stitch to right, ch 4, * YO twice, insert hook in
next stitch and pull up a loop, (YO and draw through 2 loops on hook)
twice, repeat from * once more, YO and draw through all three loops on
hook, ch 9, sc in next sc, ch 9, (work Tr decrease in next tr, ch 9,
sc in next sc, ch 9) around, join with sl st to top of first st.

Rnd 6: Ch 1, sc in same st, ch 6, sc in same st, * ch 9, sc in next
sc, ch 6, sc in same st, ch 9, sc in top of next Tr decrease, ch 6, sc
in same st, repeat from * around, join with sl st to first st.
Fasten off and weave in ends using sewing needle.

Block and stiffen using a six-point blocking pattern.

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I got yer flakes right here

I've been pretty busy with school, but I did manage to get some flakes done. The first one is #26 from 99 Snowflakes. I've done this one before and I rather like it. Simple, pretty, snowflakey.



Then I got a wild hair. I sat down with thread, hook, and no plan whatsoever, and just started in. The result is not fabulous, but it is a snowflake (even though I missed a picot -- oops!), as opposed to a big knot of crap, a mini-doily, or a zebra.



It's pretty geometric and not very graceful but, like I said, I just made it up as I went along. Maybe someday I'll make a plan and come up with something better. But I'll probably just stick with patterns for the most part. It was fun, anyway.

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Oscar Sus screws Morning Sus

Jerry Seinfeld used to have a bit about Night Guy always screwing Morning Guy. You'll go out on a "school night" to have a couple of drinks, but you need to leave at 10:00, so you can get eight hours of sleep before work tomorrow. But you start to have a really good time and someone offers to buy another round and you think, "I don't really need eight hours -- seven will be just fine", so you have another drink. Then you start dancing and another round comes up and you think, "Six hours of sleep is just as good as seven, really." This goes on until you stumble home at 4 am, and a couple hours later when you have to get ready for work, you really hate yourself. Rather, you hate Night Guy and his cockamamie ideas about screwing Morning Guy out of a night's sleep. Night Guy always screws Morning Guy.

Well, okay, nothing that dramatic happened to me last night. Morning Sus knew that the Oscars would end late, and she knew that the LIMO would probably take a while to pick her up from V's apartment. But Oscar Sus got home and wasn't tired. Oscar Sus was well pleased by the ceremony, thought Ellen rocked as host, was psyched that The Danish Poet, Helen Mirren, and Forrest Whittaker won their categories. She had enjoyed good food and a great time with New Friend Veronica, and though she missed sharing the awards with Missa as she had done for years, she was happy and content. But she was not tired. Oscar Sus was still "up". Oscar Sus was bubbly. Oscar Sus stayed up for awhile. Oscar Sus totally screwed Morning Sus. The alarm was a brutal enemy this morning. Today will likely be a struggle, especially the part where I have to sit in a darkened classroom and try to stay awake. Ah well. It's not like those stupid, stressed out all-nighters I was pulling a couple of weeks ago. I guess I really should quit my bitchin'.

Oh look, a snowflake! Much like it's four million quadrillion brethren that blanketed Milwaukee this weekend. Only not so cold. Or melty.


#25 from Leisure Arts' 99 Snowflakes
Now, Morning Sus is off to face the day!

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Start the week with flakes and tunes

I have two flakes this week, mostly because the first one was so simple and quick that I decided I could get a leg up and pad my flake stash. I've made the first one before and i really kind of like it. The second one I had not made before, and I was a little afraid it wouldn't look very good. The pattern is written as a beaded snowflake, which I always think look really nice in pictures, but I can't figure out how you get the stiffener completely off the beads when you block.
Mine would look like crap, I know. So, I decided to make a picot everywhere they called for a bead. It turned out all right. I like the "arms", but the center seems a little dense for a snowflake. Or, I'm totally over-analyzing this.

Last Thursday, in the midst of hyper-presentation-preparation, I did what any good graduate student would do: I went to a concert. Now, to be fair to myself, the tickets had been purchased before my presentation was scheduled. So I went. New Friend Veronica had seen the band, Girlyman, before and had really liked them. I had not heard of them before, but I'm always game for a reasonably-priced live music experience. Some of my favorite bands-nobody-has-heard-of are the result of blind concert-going. They describe themselves as "Delicious Acoustic Harmony-Driven Gender Pop". It is, in fact, acoustic and harmony-driven, but I don't know what the other two descriptives mean. In terms of music, anyway. I hate to think that there might actually be something legitimately called "gender" pop. WTF?? I'm not going to start a tirade about the stupid use of words, I promise. Though I could really go to town on that one. But I'm not going to, because I really liked Girlyman. Their songs are melodic and the three-part harmony lends a complexity that makes their songs much more interesting to listen to than those of a lot of bands today. The overall mood is cheerful, but there are a few beutiful ballads that are sad and mournful. I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys new folk or tight harmony and to a few people who don't. But if your idea of a great new-ish band is Lamb of God or Avenged Sevenfold, they may not be for you (Hi, Sweetie!!)

You can check out some Girlyman songs on their MySpace page (I recommend "Speechless" and "Young James Dean").

And now, another week begins. Please send warm, sexy thoughts to my little Tetrahymena so they will mate well! They seem to need a little help, lately.

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Still not chatty

I rooted for the Colts last night, but I really would have been pleased had either team won. I enjoyed the whole game. I knitted a hot pink dishcloth and ate way too many empty carbohydrates. All in all, a success, I'd say.

I'm pretty proud that I've stayed on top of the whole Snowflake Monday thing. Last year I fell off, but I really don't want to this year. I know I may have some huge test or project that makes me miss, but I want to stay on course even if I skip one or two. It's so nice to have all those snowflakes at the end of the year.


I don't really love this pattern -- it's kind of chunky or something -- but I'm trying to complete the patterns in Leisure Arts' 99 Snowflakes in order unless I really hate them (and they're over 2 1/2" in dia. and not 3D). And this one is just kinda eh. This is number 20. 21 is better. You'll like 21.

I have a big presentation this Friday, so you'll hear little from me until after that. Have a great week!

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You would think...

...that I would be a swirling fury of studying, what with the beginning of the semester and all. But my heart's just not in it. Not that too much has been expected of me so far. I love being in the lab, I love doing research -- I just hate the classes. Can I skip strait to quals and do my dissertation research, please? I really didn't ever think I'd be burned out on school in the classic sense, but boyo am I. This semester is going to be a trial, I fear. I know I have to take the classes in order to do the research. I know all the things I'm supposed to know about how this process works. I don't need plucky platitudes -- I know them all. But when one professor assigns eight (8) articles for one class, and you know he's not going to actually cover them all, or ask any questions, and pretty much tell you what he wants you to know about them, the motivation to actually read the freakin' mountain o' papers gets pretty low. So I crochet. It's just my way.

Oh, look! A snowflake!



Okay, I guess I'll go print the articles at least.

Oh, and I'm starting my new rotation today! Wohoo! (see? I'm totally excited about some aspects of this program!!)