Productivity

My desk went from this:

 To this:

Tonight.

I also vacuumed up the cobwebs in the ceiling corners and along the walls.

Now, I just have to vacuum up the couch, treadmill and the back of my cedar chest of yarny goodness tomorrow, and do my bedroom Thursday and Friday, and I will be done with my cleaning. I've been slacking on it, and I'm worried it's a sign of depression. I typically only let it build up like this when I'm down, so you can see why I'm worried.

I'm going to clean everything up and try to maintain it -- Saturday mid-mornings are not busy times, and I can do some spot-cleaning and tidying and get it out of the way so my environment doesn't get so icky again.

And my yarn isn't endangered by bugs anymore. Which is, ultimately, the most important thing!

Fiber Deficiency

I can't knit at work anymore, because I now have a job where I actually work, you know? And I can't knit in my chair at night because Rex. He's cute, but he chews anything he sees, at least once, if not twice, just to see what it tastes like.

He's lucky we love him.

Anyway, I'm sadly fiber deficient.

I also had a moth scare the other night. Yoda caught a moth in my bedroom (no one was more surprised than I am; he's not exactly the Great Fluffy Hunter, you know?) and until I verified through someone outside my own head that it wasn't a wool or clothing moth, I was tense. Here, have a lookey-lou:

Consensus is that it's just your average, 'round the ole porch light moth. But Yoda did bring it down, single pawedly (well, he used two paws, but who's counting?) and I tossed it outside. But then I took precautions and put all the projects and yarn that had been in my room into the freezer. Just...in case.

Now that I know it's not the dangerous sort of moth, I'm taking them back upstairs. I've got...my Double Cross Scarf, my Victorious (picture in case you've forgotten it):

And my new stash -- the mill ends in my last post, in particular.

But now that I know they are safe and secure, I will be taking them back up to work on up there. And some new yarn (well, not really new; I got it on yarn crawl this past winter):

and am going to cast on and knit a Mountaineer Hat. I've had the pattern for a while (a friend designed it; don't I have the most awesome friends!??!) but not the impulse. However, I now sit beneath an air vent at work.



I need a hat. Like, yesterday. Or, to be more precise, the eigth of July. Maybe I should go with something less...fitted, so I don't continually smush my curls....

More finished things!

I may have to make a tag just for finished things, and go back and tag posts where I've celebrated casting off. I have a hard time keeping track of things like that, and it sometimes feels like I never finish things.

This week I did finish a ting. Nemesis has come off the needles and had fringe put on. I don't have a current photo, I apologize. I'll get one up as soon as possible, I promise. But Nemesis is BIG -- at least 15" wide and probably 6' long. The fringe adds another foot, foot and a half to that length, too. I'll figure out how to get the whole thing in frame...eventually.

Anyway, I've got some other pictures to share, if you'd like to see....

I spoke last week of mill ends and me, right?

 

Aren't they awesome? Since they are mill ends, they were't labeled with the colors. But I spent some time on their website and think I've correctly guessed what they were supposed to be.

This one is "Jellied". Since there are no color flaws obvious from the outside of the skein, I'm going to guess it's one of the 'mis-spun' skeins. Or maybe there's some knots. Whatever. It's awesome.

And this is (I think) Liquid Sunshine. With a color flaw at the bottom. But who cares?

Not me. I will be enjoying this yarn...lots and lots and lots!

Mill Ends and Me

So, it's been a rough month and change since I got home from vacation. Had that vacation been truly restful, or had I not gotten an immediate promotion/transfer upon returning to work, the past month wouldn't have been so difficult.

Even good change can cause angst.

Last week, I got wind of a sale at Blue Moon Fiber Arts and picked up a mystery bag of mill ends in the heavier weight that's available. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm quite eager to see what I get. Then, today I went to Joann's for some earring backs, and found this:

It was in a bin that held bags of mill ends -- more mill ends! One pound per bag. You may not be able to see it in my craptacular photo, but the darker green thread is sparkly. We've had the discussion about me and sparkles, haven't we?

It was a pound for $8, and it's fascinating. $8. Considering I blew over $100 on books alone this past week, not even to mention the $40 I spent on my Blue Moon mill ends, I figure what the hell. So now it's mine.

I have no idea what yarn it is, all I know is it's a pound of acrylic/polyester/rayon/wool, and it's a mill end lot. It looks like four skeins of yarn, but the ends are all connected. I cut them apart. I have no idea what sort of mileage it is, although I suspect that as a super bulky yarn (you can't tell, but it's that odd sort of chain yarn -- not spun and plied, but chained up and looking a bit like a huge icord) and at a pound, it's about 400 yards.

I'm just guessing here.

Ah, well. Now I have about 400 yards of bulky chain-made yarn to figure out what to do with. And it's machine washable -- so that's about all I know.

I do love a good mystery!

The only other thing I accomplished today was getting my helix piercing out of my ear. I wanted to put my hoop back in. Unfortunately, the hoop was a capture ball.

The small ball has to be pressed between the ends of the hoop wire (which is closed with a jewelry plier as you juggle the hoop and tiny ball with one hand).

Needless to say, the hoop plan didn't work, but I did manage to get the rose on a post out.

So I cleaned up my ear, the earring and all, and put it back in. I feel slightly better for having control of the earring now. I'm leaving it in -- technically, it's not healed up until the end of August -- but knowing I can take it out makes me feel a whole lot better about it.

Maybe I'll find another hoop, one that doesn't require pliers to make work.

Awesome.

Done(ish)!

I finished (mostly) a thing yesterday:

He's gone into the washing machine for a whirl.

And when he comes out, I will stuff him and fit some washable bells and sew him up. Then he gets to fly off to the UK while I stay here and labor in the salt mines.

Which is totally fine, I mean I did just get promoted to the top of the quarry and all...

And here's a gratuitous picture of Rex:

On the general principle that a cute dog picture never goes amiss.

Adventures in Baking

I've had a hankering for clafoutis (a yummy, custardy fruit tart) lately -- a very strong hankering, made worse by the fact that the only place I've ever gotten pre-fabricated clafoutis (Trader Joe's) is not only a good half hour drive away by highway, but also doesn't carry the same products all the time. So getting clafoutis up there is a crap shoot -- with no guarantee of a sweet, pastry and fruit payoff at the end.

Too many times of rolling snake-eyes on the clafoutis table inspired me to find a decent recipe for it so I could take control over my own cravings.

I found this recipe over at Orangette: Clafoutis. It's an adaptation of a New York Daily News version of the recipe which I further adapted by adding a pinch of dried, powdered ginger and two hefty shakes of cinnamon to the batter and a light dusting of sugar on top of the plums as they lay in the dish, waiting for assault with spicy batter. My plums were slightly under-ripe (two of the three, anyway), and I intended the sugar dusting to help mitigate the sour bite of the fruit -- which may or may not have worked as intended. I'll not admit either way. The ginger gives the plums an additional bite, the cinnamon a hint of burning sweet, and the custard turned out creamy, sweet and luscious.

It's easily the simplest version I've found in my extensive searches, and as far as I'm concerned, it's the only version I need. Typically, the first time I make a recipe, it takes me slightly longer to put it together (because I'm getting used to the process). If that holds true for this one, I will bend space-time the next time I make this clafoutis, because it only took five minutes to put the batter together. Any shorter prep time, and it will be baking in the oven before I finish whipping the eggs. The plums took a good five minutes to chop, and I imagine that process will continue to be time consuming. Although if I get riper plums, it might get shorter -- the less ripe plums let go of their pits very unwilling, bless.

Soo....ten minutes? Maybe? from dry ingredients to sitting on my ass, waiting for it to come out of the oven. In my oven, it took slightly longer than the 50 minute baking time (I gave it 51), and waiting half an hour to eat it was painful.

I can't argue the product, though:

I ate nearly half of it. And that's after my dinner. Blob, but it's awesome. I may have to make it with cherries next time, as is traditional.

Full stomach aside, there is knitting news.

I'm making a toy for a friend's new baby. It's going to be a jellyfish-inspired stuffed toy with jingles inside.

It's knit from in a flat piece that gets folded over and sewn up and stuffed. I got lucky when my yarn striped in such a way that the colors on each side of the body match (mostly -- the front and back ruffles are two different colors). I've been doing the tentacles in a mix-and-match stitch patterns. There's a seed stitch, a garter and a stockinette so far. I may try a slip stitch or a simple check for the remaining two. Or I may just do another garter and another seed.


The intended recipient is new here, he won't know about the wide variety of stitch patterns available to the average knitter until well after he's chewed holes in his jellyfish.

And to close, a cute picture of Rex:

who is currently acting like a wild animal in an attempt to get sent back to the orphanage.


He's lucky he's cute.

Celebrate with me!

I apologize for that truly awful picture, but hey! That glass you can barely see behind the cupcake (which is the pertinent item in this photo) has some lovely, lovely blackberry wine in it. A little less now than was there ten minutes ago, but still. It's going to affect a body's ability to work a camera, you know?

I got promoted! With all attendant banners and extra money and stuff. I'll get more deets later, but the gist of the whole thing is this: They created a new position at my current workplace that actually relates to one of my degrees, sounds like a blast and is (and this is important) still at the same place where I work now and love.

I applied, interviewed that afternoon and got hired same afternoon. Then I had to wait until this morning to fill out the papers, but still. That's the fastest I've gotten anywhere ever.

This morning I did have a brief moment of Oh, my Dog, what did I just do?!?!? It took me a while to come to the realization that, like the guy in Ikea, I got this. I'm terrified and it will take a long time to get accustomed to the new shape of my life, but...I got this.

Now, if you'll pardon me, there is a cupcake on my desk, and I most desperately want to get that.