springading.com

From my informal poll of the providers I talked to while taking hotline calls this week, I’ve learned that my company is one of the few that have Martin Luther King Day off. No wonder why the day after MLK day is the busiest phone day of the year–the providers are trying to get two day’s worth of stuff done in one.

At any rate, I do have a three day weekend and an agenda to match:

• Bread machine! I love my bread machine. So far, I’ve only made the one, plain, white bread recipe in it several times, but it’s just so good. I might try one of the other recipes this weekend, though. Just because.
• Craft stores! I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned the giant Warhammer 40K army that Jim was commissioned to paint a while back that he’s still working on. Anyway, Jim told Phil and me last night that he was going to Hobby Lobby today to get something to make one guy glow-in-the-dark. Of course, you know I’ll be going with him…and that I’ll drag him over to Joann Fabrics while we’re out because I still have money on my giftcard, which brings me to…
• Knitting and crocheting! I’m thinking of using aforementioned giftcard to get the needles for this cthulhu dice bag pattern. Phil asked me last night if I thought I could make that, and I said no way, it’s above my skills, but then I started looking at the pattern, and you know what? I think I might be selling myself short. Sure, I’ve never done the magic loop on knitting needles and I’ve never worked on circular needles period, but I think I could do it. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to get to this right away, as I’m still in the middle of crocheting Piper’s cat mat. I ended up having to rip out just about everything I got done on New Year’s.
• Sewing! Ha! Okay, yeah, I’m not about to sew just yet. But my other plan is to take my sewing machine out of the box, dust it off, and just figure out how to put the thing together. Even if I had time to try a project, I don’t have the stuff. One thing at a time.

Now, as to how much of this list I’ll actually attempt is anyone’s guess. For now, I’m gonna watch some season 6 of Supernatural.

Confession: I rarely look at my stats. I figure because I don’t exactly tell people I blog, most of the incoming links are coming from spammers anyway. My spam filters backs this theory.

However, today, I did happen to look at it, and guess what I’ve noticed? A lot of people are coming here looking for Jayne hats from Firefly. Which is odd because I think I’ve only mentioned it once, and I’ve never actually sat down and made one. For a very good reason: I have neither circular nor double-pointed needles to make them with.

One could point out that I could crochet it, but I’m with Jim: After you see the knitted Jayne hat from Firefly, the crocheted ones just look wrong. Not terrible, mind you. I’ve seen some good ones, actually. Just…not what you saw on the show.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the Jayne Cobb hat is from this scene in the episode “The Message”:

And if you really have an itch to make one yourself, you can find a knitted version of the pattern here. This is the one in my queue at Ravelry right now. (Although I do think the yellow color looks a little off and plan on changing it to more of a marigold.) But if you really want to crochet it–hey, some people do–you can also find a pattern for that, too.

Did we get that out of our systems? Good, then. Carry on, Browncoats!

As I’ve mentioned, I ran out of yarn for scarf #1 for work. So I started–and finished–scarf #2 this weekend.

Scarf #2

Hm, one day, I’ll have to find a way to take better pictures. More light would be nice. Until then, suffer.

The pattern is the Shimmer Lace Scarf one that I mentioned a couple posts ago. And, by the way, rotating the work does mean to flip it upside down. This scarf was several firsts for me. One, this was the smallest yarn I’ve worked with to date. Two, I’ve never done lace before. And three, I never use patterns, and I used a pattern for this. Well, you could argue that I’m using one for the Lego Pirate Ship blanket I’m working on, but that’s actually a latch-hook pattern that I’ve altered for the blanket.

All in all, though, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully, tomorrow, I can get more yarn for scarf #1 and get that one wrapped up as well, and then I can start on scarf #3. Woot! It’s nice to actually finish things for a change!

I spent a better half of yesterday knitting. Well, there was a brief excursion where I left to go for a walk and ended up coming back with nachos instead. But other than that, I was a girl on a mission. Knit, knit, knit, the thing’s getting long, I can see that the end is near and then–I ran out of the dark gray yarn.

Which is SO annoying  because, honestly, I could get away with just a couple more rows, switch it out with the blue (which I still have left), and call it done. But now I need to buy more yarn for just a little bit more scarf. ARGH.

To make things worse, I came to this realization that I needed more yarn at 10 o’clock at night, past Hobby Lobby’s bedtime. Hobby Lobby isn’t open on Sundays, and my guess is that it won’t be open for Monday either, since it’s a holiday.

So, onto scarf #2 for work. I decided to make this scarf. One of the reasons why I decided to make this scarf is that 1) it isn’t horribly ugly (do you know how many ugly scarves are out there? And people are making them! On purpose!) and 2) the pattern is easy. I’ve never made a project from a pattern, and I wanted to give it a shot–but I do want to start with something easy. And 3) it’s lace. I’ve also never done something “lacy” before. I wanted to do something a little different.

Already, I’m running into problems.

First of all, I can’t seem to get the gauge down. Granted, I’ve never really worked from a pattern before, but I have made a few swatches in my time, mostly just to see if I can match whatever’s on the yarn label. And I always nail it, with the exact dimensions, exact stitches, and using the exact hook or needles (depending on if I’m knitting or crocheting) that they recommend.

Well, this thing says rows rows 1-7 should be 3″ X 5 1/2″. I crochet the first seven rows with the I-9 hook. Measure across. 5 1/2″ inches. NAILED.

Measure upward. 2 inches. Hmmm.

Rip it all out. Try again with a larger hook. Measure. Now it’s too wide across and still not high enough going up.

Oh, I’m confused. How on earth did they get this gauge? The only thing that I can think of is that I’m misinterpreting some of the pattern because of Row 2:

Rotate to work in unused loops of beginning ch

When I saw this, I just stared at it. Rotate? I thought. ROTATE? WTF, what the hell do you mean by ROTATE? I was expecting a nice, normal “turn.” Is “rotate” the new turn? Looked further in the directions; they use a “turn” later on. So “rotate,” most likely, means something different.

In the end, I remembered reading somewhere that some patterns will tell you to flip the work upside down to work on the stitches on the other side. I decided that this is what the pattern is telling me to do. And if it isn’t…well, it looks cool, anyway. Also, other people who have made this scarf have posted pictures on Ravelry, so I checked them out, and mine is looking like theirs.

Now, to figure out the gauge thing. I’m thinking that I’m just gonna end up going back to the I-9 hook to get the 5 1/2″ inch width back and then crochet more rows upward. Screw you, gauge!

And to think, this pattern is EASY. I fail.

Yesterday, at 5 AM, I made the executive decision to call in sick.  I had a MASSIVE headache, the kind where even your cheekbones hurt, and stomach pains.  I had been trying to horde my PTO, but no way was I talking to people all day with that kind of a headache.  After Jim came home, he felt my forehead and announced that I also had a slight fever.  I didn’t even know that.  I just thought it was a little warm, but we’ve been having a heat advisory, so I didn’t think much of it.  So much for my theory that my issues were blood sugar related.

Today?  Day two of staying home.  It’s not nearly as bad as yesterday, and I had a heated debate with myself whether or not I’d go in.  I feel better but still not 100%.  I decided, hell, I still have 1 unscheduled PTO day left, I should be getting another one back tomorrow and a few more hours back sometime in November.  (I was late to work around then due to a flat tire.)  I’d rather just stay home and get completely over it rather than go in, drag whatever this is out, and end up calling in sick later in the week anyway.

But staying home sick is boring.  Okay, yesterday, I didn’t have much problem because mostly I slept.  A LOT.  I guess I should have been clued in that something was up over the weekend when I took a nap Saturday afternoon.  I never nap.  But I slept all yesterday afternoon, went to bed early last night, and slept until 9 this morning, which is late for me.  Even for sickness, I think I’m all slept out.  I feel kinda spacy, so I’m glad I didn’t go to work (keeps me from screwing up and getting an error), but now I’m in strange place: Well enough to be bored but not really well enough to feel like doing anything about it, either.

I really wanted to use my unscheduled PTO for something like, you know, deciding out of the blue to ditch work and go to the zoo or something, not for actually being sick.  Oh, well.  I guess that’s why we tend to call them sick days.

So, right now, I’m writing in here (I always feel like writing, even when I am sick) and watching Supernatural.  The comments to last entry has convinced me that I really must watch Firefly.  According to Kyle and Ruth, it’s a must-see.  Like I said, I’ve always wanted to see it, I just never got around to it.  Maybe I’ll ask for it for my birthday, which is only a couple months away.  If I ever pick up knitting again–and you know I will–I might try doing that Jayne hat, even if I’ll never, ever wear it.  Why?  Because, apparently, other people would.  Maybe I’ll make one for them.  Like I said, it does look fun to make.  I just can’t fathom why anyone would wear it, but those people who would would at least give me an excuse to make it.

Thanks to Kyle’s wife Nikki, by the way, for linking me a pattern to it on our forums.  I have bookmarked it.  In fact, I think I’m going to put that as a planned project on a site I just found yesterday, during the time I was actually awake.  The site is called Ravelry.  I still haven’t sorted out what all you can do there, but I guess you can get patterns, keep a “notebook” of your current projects, keep inventory on your needles, stuff like that.  Interesting stuff.  Well, if that’s the kind of stuff you like.

I did a lot in the short time I was awake yesterday.  I opened an account on Etsy, for one.  I like the homemade stuff idea.  Plus, I saw on Ruth’s blog that she’s opening a shop up there to sell cthulhus, and I’m thinking of buying one from her.  I want to see what those things look like in real life; I think I might try my hand at one.

Of course, this will be after I finish Jim’s pirate ship blanket.

What else?  Oh, yesterday, I tried to get into Live Journal to read someone’s blog and saw the username I wanted was taken.  Surprised, I looked up the journal and realized that my username was taken by ME.  I had opened an account there in 2004 and forgot about it.  Surprisingly, I remembered the password!  So I logged into LJ and joined some communities.  I’m also going to move my Myspace posts there, since Myspace seems to have a glitch where private blogs are no longer private.  (Way to go, Myspace.  And you wonder why everyone is making the jump to Facebook.)  Also, I’ve had some personal stuff pop up that I don’t want to post on a public blog.  So, hey, if you have a Live Journal, add me–http://chaoticspring.livejournal.com/.  You can hear me complain about stuff there.

Most of my posting will remain here, though.

Well, I guess since I’m all slept out, I should look at the Savage Worlds PDF that Kyle linked for us in our forum.  I think even I can manage that.  Besides, I would like to not be late at getting my character created.  I was late for the first character concept because I missed seeing the deadline on our forums, and I felt bad about it.  I don’t want to be late again. 

I wish Jim were here, though.

So, I lied:  The next “Homebrewed” will not be a long post.  In fact, it will be the shortest one to date.  Natalia didn’t even have any encounters.  I’m telling ya, we’ve had so few encounters with how short our game sessions are, that I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting what to roll and what to add.  And Natalia is still stuck on level 9.

Why was it so short?  Well, Natalia finished out the storyline and was preparing for the next part.  I had already told Jim what exactly I had planned on doing.  And I guess Jim didn’t expect me to go from point A to point B so quickly, and to go from point C to point D, Jim had counted on having something else involved, something that we don’t have yet.  I won’t go into it here because his plan hasn’t exactly been “confirmed” yet, but Jim believes it will be.  If he’s right, then it’ll be changing the game up a bit.

You’ll see.

Moving on.  First of all, Happy Father’s Day to the dads out there.

(Suckers.)

Secondly, Jim told me once that one of the reasons why he reads my blog is to find out what I want so he can give it to me.  I’m starting to suspect that is true because in my last post, I had mentioned wanting to watch Harry Potter once Jim was done with his Charmed marathon, and last night, he announced he was going to take a break with Charmed, and hey, would I like to watch Harry Potter instead?

WHOA.  My boyfriend really does read my blog to give me things I want?  Reeeeeaaaally…

I will not use my blog for evil, I will not use my blog for evil…

Let’s switch gears because that is what I do best: I am still working away on the pirate ship crochet blanket.  I definitely didn’t buy enough yarn.  Oh my god, nobody told me what YARN WHORES blankets are.  Because of how blocky-looking it’s going to be, I’ve nicknamed it the Lego Pirate Ship Blanket. 

Anyway, I was working on that blanket last night, when I remembered once, long ago, Jim mentioned that there’s a hat in Firefly that everyone he knew tried to make and seemed to fail miserably.  Now, being the fan of Buffy that I am, you’d think I would have seen Firefly.  I have not.  I’d like to, but I just haven’t yet.

So I didn’t know what hat Jim was talking about.  I asked about it last night while crocheting the pirate ship blanket.  He described it to me, and I was like, dude.  That sounds ugly.  Why would anyone want that?  Just because some guy on TV is wearing it?  He said it was stupid-looking, but he remembers everyone trying to crochet it, and by the way–he did not want it.  (I think that was his way of hinting to me, saying Please, don’t look it up and try making it for me.)

Whatever, Jim, because I did a little looking around, and I think he’s talking about this “Jayne hat”:

THIS is what everyone wants to wear??

First of all, looking at this picture, it’s clear to me that the hat is knitted, not crocheted.  Jim did mention last night that none of his friends knew how to knit.  I think I’m the only one he knows that can do a little bit of both.  Anyway, my guess is that they were crocheting the hat.  Nothing wrong with crocheted hats, but I suspect that’s why Jim didn’t think any of them looked “right.”  Not that they were necessarily doing it “wrong”–in fact, I saw some pretty comparable crocheted versions of this hat out there–but you know how it goes.  If you’re expecting something EXACTLY one way, any variation could look “wrong” to you.

Second of all, Jim’s right.  That’s one goofy-looking hat.  I guess that is what people think half the fun is.  Whatever, I’m not a fun person.  It does look like it would be fun to make, but hell if I’m going to make something I would never wear.  If you would, though, more power to you.  I, on the other hand, am about function: I hate the crocheted roses and muffins and crap that doesn’t really do anything.  Furthermore, I find them ugly.  If I’m going to spend time making something, it has to be useful.  Like, you know, a blanket.  Even if it does have a dorky, blocky-looking pirate ship on it.

Although I am thinking about making one of those mini-Cthulhus I’ve seen online, just so Gremlin can bat it around.  Who doesn’t want to see a kitten take on Squid Face?

Gah!  I had my schedule all worked out.  Play a little online, watch a little TV, starve myself with Slimfast bars, run to store to get a few things, come back, do laundry, and pick up Jim from work.  I’m a simple woman, really.  I want simple things.  But my man?  Not so much.  I have everything timed out where the laundry will be done with plenty of time to fold and put away before I pick up Jim.  Except, of course, Jim calls me and says, “Hey, baby, there’s been a change in plans.  I’m getting off at 2:15 instead of 3:15.”

That sound of the screeching halt you hear, by the way, would be the sound of my WORLD STOPPING.  Okay, I might be exaggerating a little.  “2:15?  That’s when the laundry will be done.”

“It’s just a little earlier,” he says.

“And it’s exactly when the clothes will be ready to come out of the dryer,” I say.  You think I don’t have the timing on the laundromat dryers down?  You obviously don’t know me, nor have you ever had clothes stolen from a laundromat.

But, alas, clothes be damned, I’m not going to make the guy wait just because I have sartorial-related paranoia.  And there’s another paranoia: Today, I attempted doing Jim’s scarf, except I forgot that my blood sugar likes to swing around more than a stripper on a pole.  My hands are so shaky.  Furthermore, my eyesight keeps getting worse (I actually have a slight blur in the left eye that they say will probably never get better) and I was having a hell of a time seeing the chain stitches.  Finally, I got frustrated and went out to buy this magnifying glass thing that hangs around your neck so you can see stiches better.  I was hoping to use get the first couple rows done and then hide the thing so Jim wouldn’t see 1) how it makes me look like an old lady, and 2) how I keep fighting with it because it won’t stay “propped” on my chest.  I seriously think they designed this thing for women with no chest.  I’m usually grateful I’m not part of this demographic, but today, I think I would have preferred otherwise.  The grass is always greener and whatnot.

Whoops, off to pick up Jim!

I shouldn’t even be online.  Really.  Earlier tonight, I asked Jim if he would like me to crochet him a scarf.  This came about because I was thinking about how I need to put the Christmas tree up, then about how Jim’s stuff is taking up all the storage, then about how it was cold outside and we needed scarves and hats just to get to Jim’s stuff in the storage, and how, speaking of Jim’s stuff, he used to have a scarf crocheted for him by some girl several years back, so maybe I wouldn’t need to make him one.  I think he threw it away, though.

“Jim,” I remember telling him once, “usually if a girl makes you a scarf, it means she likes you.  You sure you want to throw that out?”  My feeling, at the time, was that not all sentimental things should be tossed aside.  What can I say?  I was feeling generous.

“No, she didn’t, and I don’t really want it, anyway.” he had said.  “This girl was always making crappy things for everyone.  This was just for a game.”

Ouch.  And I guess, thinking back, I wasn’t exactly right on the sentimental factor, anyway.  There’s a time I would have made a scarf for anyone who would have asked. 

At any rate, Jim decided he didn’t want the “crappy scarf,” so I’m “burdened” with the effort of making him a non-crappy one.  The problem?  I haven’t crocheted myself in years and seem to be unable to regain any interest in it.  But I think he really wants me to make one for him, so I will.  Except it probably won’t be much better than the one he tossed out, since I’m so out of practice.

Except, of course, it will be made by someone he loves.  And that makes all the difference, right?

Okay, now I feel guilty that I’m even on the Internet.  I’m off to try to regain my interest in crocheting.  Maybe it’ll help the “blahs” I’ve been having.  Wish me luck!

The look of this blog will inevitably keep changing in the next few weeks or so.  So far, I just can’t find anything I really like.  Most themes are too complicated.  I don’t really want a five-column blog.  I want two.  Maybe three, tops.  I don’t want it loaded with graphics that mean nothing to me.  But the more simple-looking blogs are so boring. 

I also prefer not to have a dark background.  What am I, some sixteen year old goth kid?  (The right answer, by the way: Hell.  No.)

So, I’ve determined that I’m going to have to dig up and dust off my old CSS skills and try my hand at my making my own template.  Something that used to come so easily to me now daunts me.  But I’ll muddle through.  Just not tonight.

In other news, this is day two of not playing Warcraft.  What makes it harder is that, technically, my account is still active until something like Janauary 8th.  And without it, I sit here and wonder what I should do.  But that’s kind of the whole point of this experiment–trying to take care of some things and find other things I like.  Trying to create more tangible things rather than new characters.

But it’s not easy.  I’m a little interested in everything and I have no real interest in anything.   I remember I used to be into knitting and crocheting; my yarn now sits next to the rocking chair, with only the kitten paying any attention to it whatsoever.  Jim and I made a pact to get back to writing again, but it’s hard for me to write without an assignment driving me.  Jim told me the other night that he thinks I should try drawing.  I’m flattered that he thinks that with practice, I’m good enough to actually do something with it.  But seriously, I haven’t really drawn much of anything in 14 years.  And, like writing, I stare at a blank sheet of paper and am helpless.

Sometimes, I envy Jim.  I know he likes that I’m the more low-key part of the relationship, the yin to his yang and what have you.  I’m the grounding factor, I know this.  But I love how dynamic he is, how full of ideas and excited he is about things.  I feel like most days, I’m just coasting through, trying to cause as few ripples as possible.  It seems a little sad, to live life this way.

Nothing a Prozac won’t cure, I’m sure.   Except, of course, I’m not on it.

Topic change!  Last night, I actually remembered to log into AIM and got to talk to my buddy Adam again.  It was really great.  I used to consider him one of my best friends, and his support was especially appreciated during my divorce.  He’s a GM now for a gaming company that creates MMOs.  (Sorry, Adam, I forgot the name of it!)  But, my, how have things changed.  Several years ago, when Adam and I first started talking, I was married, he was single, and we both were unhappy.  Now?  I’m with Jim (of course) and he’s with a girl named Jillian.  Now our conversations consist of us gushing over our significant others and patting ourselves on the back for dating the most awesome people ever.

I guess I should probably wrap this post up.  I want to read a little more of Kelley Armstrong’s Personal Demon.  I’m having a harder time getting into it than I did her other books.  Hope just isn’t growing on me as a character.  I find her dull and flat.  But it does have some chapters written in Lucas Cortez’s perspective, and Lucas is one of my favorite characters in the Women of the Otherworld series.  (Yes, a MALE character is one of my favorites.  Does that shock you?)  So that’s a plus.