I do not own any sock yarn. This has been a bit of a sadness, because sock yarn = amazing. It's all so pretty! And there's so much of it in a skein! But there are maybe three crochet patterns for socks, and the yarn is awfully thin, and the stitches pretty small... so the knitters get to hog the sock yarn.

Until Interweave Crochet had to go and find this pattern for a scarf! A light simple little throw-scarf, like the ones that are everywhere right now, that I have THE worst time talking myself out of buying.

It is made out of sock yarn.

...I actually spotted this pattern like a week ago on Interweave's site, I just got my magazine in the mail today. I spent faaaar too long drooling over sock yarns online. I want hand-dyed. I freaking adore hand-dyed yarn, the subtleties are amazing. And it's way more fun to work with multi-colored yarn.

I have like... uh, crap, about a dozen different yarns bookmarked. Just one skein (of most) to make the scarf. Unfortunately, those skeins run like $15 each.

Fortunately, that's about what it would cost to buy a scarf anyway. And those aren't handmade. And I don't get to have all the fun of making them. (I am allll about instant-gratification projects. And scarves.) So it all balances out.

...except that the yarn for my skirt is not even here yet. It has left Elann...apparently as of today. They are in Washington. Like the state not the city. C'mooon, Priority Mail! I'm almost done with my shawl! Did I mention I'm making a shawl? I finished that little scarf (should still try blocking it though, acrylic doesn't officially block but I want to try it anyway), AND I whipped up a beret that Tom won't let me wear, and my necklace is almost done and the sushi...alright the sushi is still neglected. But there's only so much working from stash I can do!

And I WANT SOCK YARN!!!1!

I am giving you pictures I'm ganking. Which I'd like to think would make you understand, but, I am fully aware that I'm getting to be a bit obsessive with the yarn-thing. (I can't even tell you how much I'm in love with the stuff I'm using for the coral necklace. LOVE.)

    The recommended yarn has some pretty awesome colors, AND, some of the fiber is stuff that helps heal injuries? I haven't told my story of today yet, but I think a scarf of that stuff would be juuuust enough to deal with this little blood blister.

This Mini Mochi stuff caught my eye weeeks ago, it's the most amazing rainbow yarn EVER. This particular rainbow might be a *bit* excessive, but, I'm still in love.

... ...wow okay so my list of yarns is dropping, now that I'm looking at prices. ick.

But there is Noro sock yarn. That would be worth $20. My amazing rainbow Noro birthday scarf is hanging nearby, taunting me with its awesome colors, which I can't wear because it's actually gone and gotten warm finally. Wool might be a smidge warm, but it's a really thin and airy scarf, I think it could work.

  
And then there are things like this and this...


...but Lion Brand makes a good reasonable $10 for 400-ish yards sock yarn. The colors aren't as exciting, but it's a good fall-back plan, especially since my next order is supposed to be through them. (They have a great, affordable, recycled cotton that I'm going to make Tom's blanket out of.)

EDIT five minutes later: OH LOOK Paradise Fibers is having a sale! Mini Mochi yarn is 10% off! Among other things! *closes out the tab before switching to it* NONONO 10% is really basically nothing wooo $1.50 off that $15 yarn IT IS THE END OF THE MONTH THERE ARE BILLS HI.

 
Mel told me to update:

I am piiiiissed as hell at dealing with high schooler co-workers who have NO work ethic, NO responsibility, and NO common sense.

I am also growing tired of freaking psychopath customers. PSYCHOPATHS. I am not even exaggerating. Poor Ann was actually flipping out to me about this one set of people.

On the other hand, last weekend I sketched out my first Paper Factory comic, and it is funny as hell. I've also been managing to stay on top of the banner thing, and pretty thoroughly rocked every assignment I've had this week. (Who can whip up some spiffy looking graduation invites in, oh, ten minutes? Oh me. Who can crank out a SEVENTEEN FOOT LONG sign, to replace the lighted sign a tractor trailer knocked off another Paper Factory's store, get it designed-printed-grommetted-gone, in like four, five hours? Oh me.)


I do not have to work tomorrow, and while I'm leaving my phone on in case of emergency, I am also playing on the Webkinz site, dealing only with non-thinking email, aaaand drinking a half-bottle of seriously froofy alcohol.

Alizé, Rose flavor. SO highly recommended. It is pink, and it is froofy, but absolutely delicious. Vodka base, with litchis, strawberries, and rose essence. I also have a little mini-bottle of vodka + herb flavors, which is also delicious.

Which reminds me. Mom and Grandma were down last weekend, we picked up...good god I can never remember how people are related to me. I think she's my great-aunt Marion? Anyway, the four of us had lunch at this tiny little local diner out in Brocton, where the food was quite good, and I got a vague tour of the town (which has exactly one stoplight). After that, I directed us to the Boardwalk down in Dunkirk, where last summer they opened up a little strip of a handful of local shops, down by the pier. It's such a nice little setup, I really love it, anytime someone visits me I try to drag them down there. There's a little shop that carries wine from ALLLLL the local wineries, and there are free samples, and a bit of everything which is wonderful. Mom bought me a bottle of wine, and it was *delicious*. A semi-sweet white that had a really great depth to it...and, as anticipated, Tom LOVED it. So much so that the bottle was *gone* before I'd had more than a glass. He has promised to buy me a replacement bottle. (But while I was quite sad it was gone, I was also quite happy I'd picked out such a good one. I usually do alright at picking out wines, though we're both still fairly noobs, while he's good with cheeses.) We nosed around some gift shops, I picked up a super-pretty multi-stranded necklace with scattered pearly stones, Mom got cornered by the rather sketchy owner of a rather sketchy half-open shop, and Mom and I both decided that I should start selling my crochet work, since someone was selling simple little knit towels for like $10. (And I knew at a glance that it was the cheap $1.50 cotton yarn they used...I've used it too. If I'm going to make something for someone else, I'm going to use nice special yarn, or at least put more effort into the colors and things!)

And, of course, we had to stop in at Yummy's and get ice cream. The owner still recognized me! I used to see him at the store every week, back when I worked day shifts and his shop was in town, but that was at least six months ago. But he remembered me! He's the friendliest guy ever, he's like on par with Ann and Bruce as a store owner, the kind of guy who knows allll of his customers by name, and makes conversation and is just so friendly and awesome.

Also, the ice cream is always AMAZING at Yummy's.


Other than that, I am on a crochet freaking BINGE. I need to post some pictures. I finished up Tom's glove and he is in SO much love. I whipped up a pair of gloves for me, because my hands freeze in air conditioning, and I had a ball of elasticy cotton yarn that I needed to test. Sushi is still not done, I get sooo booored of doing single crochet stitches in black in eeeendless rounds. But it's getting close. I poked around in my stash, and decided that I could make a nice simple little light scarf out of some yarn Mel bought me for Christmas and using part of a table runner pattern - that's nearly finished. I have the yarn picked out for my next two projects, but am not allowed to buy it until a) I finish the damn sushi, and b) next paycheck, which, OH LOOK, was today. First the skirt. Then a throw blanket in recycled cotton for Tom, to use on chilly days, and to use instead of a towel to prevent sticking to his plastic-leather computer chair on hot days, aaaand because making the blanket for Kate was so much fun and so relaxing. THEN, I'm scouting out yarns for two Christmas presents I have in mind, and since I'm binging anyway I figured I might as well actually get a head start for once in my life.

Still working on a necklace/scarf for myself, I'm in absolute freaking love with the yarn, and the end result, but, the pattern consists of doing like five feet worth of little bitty one-inch circles. So it's my dinner-break project.


I'm on the last book of the Tamir Trilogy, and I still can't put it down. I *hugely* recommend, especially to Mel. (If you want it in audiobook, I can probably do some illegal file-converting, but only because you're my sister. ;)

I have a huge stack of dishes, and am running low on clean underwear, and Tom polished off his weekly casserole. Somuch to do...but TOMORROW. Tonight, there are froofy drinks and Webkinz and crochet and SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. <333

 
Tom and I just watched AMV Hell 3 (again). (Highly recommended, but only if you've got a good handful of anime-watching under your belt. And tired/drunk/stoned.) There were several clips of girls with ridiculous boobs shooting guns, and then reloading those guns with bullets that magically fly out from between said boobs, and bounce off of said boobs into the gun. Tom immediately announces, "Oh I am SO watching that anime!"
Melissa, while always up for the completely ridiculous, is skeptical.

Tom: "Oh come on, honey, it'll be educational! You can learn how to bounce bullets off your boobs!"
Melissa: "Nooo, because my boobs are not made of rubber. We've had this discussion, you don't want me to have fake boobs."
Tom: "Well... if it meant you could bounce bullets off of them..."
Melissa: "Honey. You know me. Would you REALLY want ME handling a gun?"
Tom: *laughs* "Y'know... you can't even carry the teapot upstairs."
Melissa: "I KNOW."
Tom: "About as coordinated as a feather in a tornado."

I think that's pretty much the most apt metaphor ever.


[And now that I've typed all that, Tom's computer is being grumpy about playing mkv files, so YAY, no bullet boobs tonight!]

 
So, for any of you following the whole gay marriage in NYS thing...

You probably already know IT PASSED!!1! in the House of Representatives. It is supposed to go up for a vote in the Senate before their session winds down in the near future. The Republicans just took over the main seat of the Senate, and there's a bit of concern that the whole thing won't even reach the floor before the session's out.

Megs posted a link to a fantastic site that has the email addresses of ALL the NYS senators. Sorted into groups of who would vote yes, who would vote no, and who's undecided. Click a link, and you can email them in large chunks - it'll even throw a pre-written email into your email program (if you have one linked up. I usually don't, but I'm on the laptop and Linux linked to my gmail in like two seconds, woo!).

Link! to the list



In other news, I am freaking pooped. Ten foot banners are a pain. And they're an even bigger pain when... god I don't even want to explain this image issue. PEOPLE ARE RETARDED that is all.

One day soon I need to post some pictures. Kate and her new husband LOVED the blanket I made them and it made my day, she said it was one of their favorite gifts and it is beautiful. Yaaaaaay. Also I am fiiinally almost done with Tom's new gaming glove. It is going to be awesome, but it's taking so long, between trying to make it right and writing down everything I'm doing. Also the yarn keeps splitting on me, which is sad, because it's super soft and I love it otherwise.

//end ramble

 
Tom got out of work at 4. I was working until 5. Tom decided not to drive around back and forth, partly because his car battery is currently iffy, and partly because he is lazy. Tom was bored, poking around the store. Tom looked at our coffee selection. "I want coffee. How much is coffee?" 8.95 a pound. "What would you recommend?" Uhhh... what do we have left that is not boring? Chocolate Caramel Truffle. "Okay I want two pounds." Uhm... that bag we have bits left over from our anniversary, in February? was only half a pound to begin with.

As he watches me coerce the beans out of the dispenser: "We should probably have a grinder." I can grind it here... "Nah, I want an excuse to buy a grinder anyway." Okay, so after this, go buy a grinder while you're waiting for me to finish working.

Is .95lb enough? "Nooo, I want a pound!" Okay well now you have 1.3lbs.


5:10, I stumble out of the store, where there had been a bit of a gift-wrapping rush/certain employees being slooooow when customer was in a hurry. I get into the car. Tom points at the back seat. "Look at the espresso maker I got! Oh and look at the grinder! That was the cheapest grinder they had. But I was looking at it, and saw that it has an espresso setting. So I thought hmmm..."

And I get harangued (teasingly!) about my $30 yarn and/or t-shirt splurges.

So now we have an espresso/cappuccino maker sitting next to our big ol' coffee maker. Tom not only likes espresso, but also feels it is more *efficient* than coffee. Less to make and drink, same amount of caffeine.

I will make coffee (because Tom doesn't measure amounts), and I will be the expert on tea. This persnickety beast? Is allllll him.


I do not currently own a dresser, but we have an espresso machine. Oh priorities.

(Okay granted espresso machines are way easier to move than giant chunks of furniture. still. I do not see making seriously concentrated amounts of caffeine available to Tom as being a good thing.)

 
GRATUITOUS DESKTOP ALERT

Penguins!!!1!



Base is a photo I took on Long Island, cropped to horizontal. Mostly just messed with the lighting, sharpened it all, aaand messed with dark/light more. Then threw in a bit of extra texture just for fun.

 
The grocery stores have had strawberries on sale almost every week for like a month and a half now, and by the time they're through I'll be able to get local ones. I have been seriously craving some strawberry shortcake.

The main version that sticks in my memory, is the kind my Grandma Antes made. Bisquick (or similar) biscuits, broken into several pieces and popped into a cereal bowl. Pile up some strawberries on top. Drench it all in cold milk. Smush together as desired while eating. It's pretty clearly a backwoods Pennsylvania version, but still delicious in its own right. Kind of like eating Cheerios with strawberries on it, it's a light kind of comfort food.

Tom looked rather bewildered by this description, so I tried describing the classic Better Homes and Gardens recipe, a biscuit-y cake with a few layers of strawberries and whipped cream. Still no-go. "Well what's *your* kind of strawberry shortcake?" "...oh, I don't know, but it's not that...ask my mother."

It slipped my mind for awhile, but I finally remembered - and called him on that, though I doubt he expected I would. The response I got:

"Here is the "official" strawberry shortcake recipe from bisquick...however, if the boy is being a pain in the butt...and wants his "mommy's" version (oh how I went through that too)...below the recipe is my changes (aka Doug's mom's changes...ps: also see if it's on the box)"

Ingredients are the Bisquick ones, but the presentation is totally different. Cook up the Bisquick portion in a square pan, and cut it into squares, which get sliced in half and berries put in the middle and on top. The strawberries get soaked in sugar + their own juices all day in the fridge, which makes a bit of a juice syrup to pour over things. Then scatter a few sliced-up strawberries around/over it all. I have a hunch it is going to be very pretty - I might tackle this sometime this weekend.

...but, I have to admit, I got a little flash of feeling a part of a tradition, and it made me really happy. I'm using the recipe that my boy's mother used, and she used the one *her* boy's mother used... it's very cool. It's making me all happy. :)


(which is good, because today was one of those days where I made every silly little mistake I pretty much possibly could. and that roll of 13oz vinyl is SERIOUSLY out to get me. grr.)

 
Companies are putting PATENTS on HUMAN GENES. Like ones linked to cancers. Like the ones that we want as many people to be able to study as possible to help out the human race. Medical studies being a purely commercial venture are never a good thing.

Link to ACLU, where you can sign their petition.

Good freaking lord.

 
*The military junta running Myanmar (despite a democratic party being elected, oh, a decade or two ago) is trying to put Aung San Suu Kyi into prison. Again. Send an email via Amnesty.


- In other news, Tom and I made a day-trip up to Buffalo, and saw the Star Trek movie. It is AWESOME. Whether you're a Star Trek person or no, it is quite enjoyable. The character continuity is phenomenal, the characters shown in the movie are so perfectly younger (and thus more volatile) versions of everybody. Tom wants to watch it again just so he can memorize more of the "Scotty-isms". It's a wonderfully fresh take on the whole Star Trek universe, and it's been a long time since we've seen that, and god is it great to see. At the same time though, there are still elements to tie it to the previous things - the style of the music, the way certain shots are set up, the vaguely-plausible science, the same cross-screen linear lens flares... Also, the whole intro-bit where Kirk is born, made me cry. Star Trek doesn't usually do that. It was pretty awesome.

- I was going to post a picture of the dress I bought, but I can't find one. Least-painful dress shopping I have ever managed - once I, uh, actually *found* the dress-section in Macy's, the first dress I spotted was the one I ended up with. It's really simple and un-fussy, but very cute and very me. Olive green with dark brown trim, and this intricate geometric pattern in dark brown on the green. And I found shoes to match nearly as quickly! This was all still too long a process for Tom ("Wait... you're not going to try that on, are you?"), but he is a boy and doesn't understand these things. (Though he did luck out, I only went into the dressing room once, since there was a freaking line. The one I tried on was just a *bit* too small, and I could tell going a size up would be perfect, so I just snagged and bought.)

- We also bought more tea! And it is DELICIOUS. Samurai Chai Maté - *awesome*. We love the Maté Vana they sell, and this is similar, but with a slight citrus twist, instead of the more chocolate-nut flavor of Vana. We're finding that herbal teas are too weak, we're tea-wimps and need something with some... depth? to it, something with the substance that coffee and hot chocolate and things have. The two maté teas we've had totally fit the bill. I also got a rooibos chai, which I think is delicious, though Tom's not so keen on. But the boy is freaking adorable - mostly, the tea is my thing, inasmuch as I'm the one who knows how to make it right, and am more interested in reading through all the descriptions and picking things out and whatnot. But Tom wanted to be in on it too, so he made me spreadsheets with allll the different teas they offer (with hyperlinks to the corresponding webpage), and columns for us to rate and put in comments. We are actually kind of considering their Tea of the Month thing - though it seems a little pricey, it actually averages out pretty nicely, given how expensive some of the teas are. Plus, it would be shipped to us. And a good way to sample different things. I'm also considering getting one of their travel tea mugs, so I can have tea at work on days when I'm feeling icky. (Heating a paper cup of water in the microwave and dropping a teabag in feels pretty sacrilegious even to me - and doesn't taste a tenth as nice.)

- It would appear - so far - to be a calmer week at work, which is good. I have a big pile of paperwork still, but I'm waiting for people to send photos on most, and none of them need done before June. (I have most of the layouts done already anyway.) The princess banner, I've been poking at on and off for like a week or two. I made a freaking awesome tiara, but, it doesn't fit into the space I need it to very well, so I'm kind of butchering it now. I may have gotten a layout that works today, but, we'll see what I think of it tomorrow. I am also feeling better after talking with the other girl who does banners the other day. Chad showed her how to use the giant laminator and the cutting machine, both of which I am not at ALL comfortable handling on my own. She, on the other hand, said she'd rather do that kind of thing than the designing. "YES! We are going to ROCK IT this summer!" I'm really enjoying the designing lately, I've got a good handle on our fonts, and every now and again I get a new and interesting idea about how to set things up. Plus I somehow manage to come up with decent graphics under the gun, which is a great feeling. :)

- I am, however, going to lose my temper with a couple of employees in the near future. I got pretty exasperated with one girl today (she was the THIRD interruption while I was on my dinner break - BREAK, people, that means I AM NOT WORKING), and while it's not entirely her fault she doesn't know how to use the fax machine...it still kind of *is* her fault, because the main reason she hasn't been shown is because everyone knows it's pointless because we'll have to show her AGAIN every freaking time she goes to do one. x_____X

- This Tamir Trilogy I'm listening to? Is freaking awesome. This is the kind of fantasy I like - there are no elves dwarves ditzy knights and corseted princesses with swords and really, REALLY cliché storylines. It's a fully-realized world, with believable magic, and believable people who get trapped by circumstances and political machinations and unsought destiny. In some ways, it's like the Earthsea stuff, only more accessible - the oooonly time I felt overwhelmed by weird names and references to things not explained was in the first ten minutes of the first book. That didn't last long. The characters are believable and people you care about. There are some seriously strong emotions all through it. Very vivid ghosts and spirits. And playing with gender roles! Fantastic stuff. I'm halfway through the second book, and it is damned hard to press pause. The writing style is seamless, I haven't even thought about it in awhile, which is a very good sign.

- I just realized what the little silver round thing on the floor is. It's my computer's power button. I have no idea how that fell off, and if I try to put it back on I'm going to turn my computer off. damnit.

- Food! I have made some awesome food again. I fiiiinally made it to the organic food store in town. Dad came down to visit...a week ago? and we actually made a fantastic afternoon of it, going to the organic store, and down by the pier in Dunkirk, checked out the gift shop on the Boardwalk strip that went in last year (allll locally produced goodies! yay!), and had a really nice time. It made me happy. :) Anyway, I FOUND AMARANTH FLOUR!!! So I finally got to make the ginger-amaranth shortbread I've had on my list since Christmas, and it is delicious. (WAY ginger-intensive, which's fine by me.) The flour has a really rich nutty flavor, I'm looking forward to making more with it. I also found several types of seaweed and other odd goodies, and! Tom and I made a trip back a few days later to pick up REAL WASABI. (Well, 45% real wasabi anyway. Which's a vast improvement on the 0% real wasabi in eeeevery other jar of wasabi we've ever found.)

- So, yesterday, I made up a big delicious casserole for the week (Ground Turkey Noodle Bake, which is far more like lasagna than it looks - just throw in more spices and more mozzarella than called for), and then I made us a dinner. I don't usually do more than one dish, since there's just the two of us, but this time I had a gut instinct that a few things on my list would go nicely together.
- Middle Eastern Turkey Dogs: These required me handling raw meat again, but I managed 3/4 of the mixing with a fork, so that helped. These were freaking *delicious*. I popped them onto bamboo skewers, and we didn't actually need any condiments, though I suspect flavored mustards would be good with them.
- Satsumaimo Amani: I spotted "Japanese Sweet Potato" at the organic store, and snagged one on a whim. I got home, and Google gave me its actual name of satsumaimo. From there, I found recipes, and this one looked both simple and *awesome*. Which it was. I did finally make my own dashi, though I kept it simple (i.e., cheap) by just making it with some kombu (seaweed). I have yet to tackle the giant mound of scalded sugar I accidentally ended up with in my littlest saucepan, but oh it was so worth it. Quite like the candied sweet potatoes with marshmellows, only a little less intensely sweet. I nibbled at a bit of the satsumaimo before I cooked it, and it has a *really* great flavor, it has a bit of a sweet spiciness to it.
- And to round things out, I whipped up a batch of rice (holy cow has a rice cooker been an awesome investment for us), throwing in some leftover coconut milk and just a touch of garam masala. It came out a little less flavored than I'd wanted, so I drizzled it with some of the Samurai Chai Maté tea I'd just made, and *oh* was it perfect.
- And it all tasted so good together! I was bouncing off the walls, I was so excited at how well everything complimented each other. I so rarely make full meals, and that one worked out so, so well. YAY.

- Quinoa! That was one of my other new foods. Heidi always uses all sorts of grains and things that I've never tried, so I snagged one to give a shot. I kept it simple for my first try of the stuff, to see how it tastes on its own, so I went with her Delicious Big Bowl of Quinoa recipe. Veggies and olive oil and quinoa. It *is* delicious - the quinoa has a great nutty flavor to it, about the same consistency as rice and couscous, but a little more stable, a little more solid flavor. (Plus, it is super-fun to cook: You start out with these perfect little spheres, which you need to rinse, and it is super-addicting to run your fingers through the stuff under running water. Then, as the perfect little beads cook, they uncurl! And there are little spiral-y bits that show up as they expand! ...I was seriously entertained by all this.) Tom is not a big fan, but I'm pretty sure if I flavored it up like I do with rice, he'd eat it. Put a sauce over pretty much anything and he'll eat it.

- Picked up the latest R.E.M. album, Accelerate, which came out not too long ago. It is GREAT. All of their albums for the past decade or so have been pretty wimpy, each has had like two really great songs, and then the rest very dreary and thin-sounding. This album really does sound more like their older stuff (offhand, I'd say a halfway between Monster and Automatic for the People), it's nice and dense and has their trademark harmonies and there is guitar and volume and it is GOOD. I'm so glad to hear them back again. I've only listened through to it once (and that via my craptastic laptop speakers), so I haven't analyzed anything in depth, but I've heard enough to be happy about it. :)


- And it is time for me to stop putting off washing dishes. booooo.

 
I've had this desktop kicking around in my head for days, because I keep wanting to use it, but I hadn't finished it. So I pulled up the file and took a look - and decided, oh hey, look, it's done! It just needs swedish words scrawled on it, because I am listening obsessively to Kent - mainly "Vinternoll 2", which is freaking amazing. (I am trying to learn the words - this is made much easier by the fact that the word "igen" ("again") turns up a lot, and I know that one! I need to actually learn the rules for k's though. Sometimes they're a k, and sometimes they're a "sh". I think the ä's cause that. And b's are like Irish ones, they're more of a "bhv", which I forget.)

That, and I'd initially started this one just before Mother's Day, vaguely trying to make something my mom would like. Orchids! Light blue! So the Swedish works.

"Vinternoll 2"'s lyrics, however, did not. All about a long cold winter. So I turned to "FF", one of my other favorites, which is all about spring and life and happiness.



Lyrics written on there translate as:
"You fall asleep
Your head close against the window
And by your cheek
The steam floats like a dream

We count in days, we count in years
A touch of sun, the smell of Spring
Soon the rain will come like a wave
And wash away
All that is not music

So far away from this world"

(Actually the last line is in French, but whatever. I'll let it slide.)

Base is my own photo, taken on the DC trip. There are some brushes of paper and grungy stuff that are not mine. I did a smidge of lazy masking and messed with the lighting a bit. I reeeaally like it. It is now on my desktop. :)