Fact: I Do Things

I always have this problem of not knowing what to write about.

So, i thought i would just post some pictures of some things i do/have been doing.

"But you promised we'd go hiking!"

When my brother is home from college, we watch American Dad together just about everyday. When he's not home, i watch it by myself and take pictures when the characters (mostly Roger the alien) say funny things. Which is a lot. And if my brother is annoyed by all of them, he doesn't say anything. Nice brother.

"Stop, stop, stooop! You do know the competition's tomorrow, don't you?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Okay. Okay, good. Then why are you skating like a wiener!!"

We think the word wiener is funny.

I play Pauseface. It's that thing of when you press pause on the show or movie you're watching and take pictures of the funny faces the people are making, or what i like to call 'pauseface'.

I like to knit without patterns. I like to just cast on and knit and see what happens. I like to use the yarn i have to pair up colors that maybe i wouldn't have thought to before. And i love to knit hats.

Some people know me as bananaleg. Felt bananas

Panda sleep mask.

I join swaps on Craftster. And those are some of the things i've recently sent off to swap partners.

I like to watch Misfits and knit. I love Uncle Rudy.

The 17th of February

February 17 is not a day i'm particularly fond of. For a purely selfish reason. Two years ago, my cousin went to be with the Lord. While i am very happy she is no longer burdened by the pain she endured her entire life, i question why she had to live with all that pain; why she had to leave us so early.


Everybody has those memories that maybe wouldn't make it into a top ten list, but it's a memory you will always cherish just the same.

I don't remember how old i was. I don't remember the year. I don't even remember where we were. I just remember it was morning, and Kierstin was pouring herself a cup of coffee. She was so much older and more mature than i was. I asked her what coffee tasted like, and she handed me her mug. She told me to try it.

I knew i would never drink coffee again.

Things have changed since then. I'm older, and i've actually developed a taste for the bitter stuff. I don't make coffee everyday, but every so often i'll pull out the ol' coffee maker.

Well, imagine my surprise this morning when i read today is National Cafe au Lait Day. Yep. It's a thing. And it's today, of all days.

Meet Coach Gordon Bombay. Gordon, for short.

I have a tattoo as a memorial to Kierstin--a lover of ducks, and i think about her everyday. And today, i had to make myself some coffee. Not only to celebrate this food holiday (man, who doesn't love a good food holiday?), but to feel a little closer to Kierstin and remember that morning so many years ago when she made me try coffee for the first time.

And yeah, maybe i cried over a cup of coffee. Try telling me you wouldn't do the same.

Red Vines Fingerless Mitts

Last year, i was in an A Very Potter Musical / Sequel swap on Craftster. If you've never watched AVPM/AVPS, but are a fan of Harry Potter, parody, and/or musicals... you really should check it out.

In AVPM/S, Ron and Harry are always snacking. Their favorite snack is Red Vines. Every time they eat them, it's like a little commercial. Always making sure the camera and the audience can see the packaging. In fact, Red Vines are so amazing, that when Ron loses his wand in the sequel, he is able to use a Red Vine in its place. Then he looks to the camera and says, "Red Vines: What the hell can't they do?"

It might not need saying, but that was my partner's and my favorite quote.

I really wanted to knit something for the swap, but at first i couldn't think of anything. I knit a hat, but i just knew there was something else i was meant to be knitting. Then i found the mock cable and the mock cable rib. Thank you, Wise Hilda. As i looked at it, i thought, "Huh. In red, that would totally look like licorice." Light bulb.

I tweaked the mock cable rib until i thought it looked just right and made a pair of fingerless mitts... or wristwarmers, or armwarmers, or whatever you want to call them.

Since then, i've used some of the yarn (Red Heart Super Saver, by the way) to knit a market bag. Which, until last night, had been sitting and waiting for me to finish the border for.ev.er. The border took all of 5 minutes, so why didn't i just do it after i finished the rest of the bag? I don't know.

But i really just wanted to knit another pair of those mitts. I finally did this weekend.

They're completely knit in a rib stitch, so they've got stretch to them, but the mock cable keeps them nice and snug.

 

By the way, WeeWee just woke up from her nap, and she said if she could read... she would want to read this post. My niece has good taste.

P.S. It should be noted that i added 6 rows to this pair to make them a bit longer... and lengthwise, they fit perfectly in the Red Vines packaging. Completely coincidental, but let's just pretend i knew exactly what i was doing.

Seatturday

When i take Saturday day trips to Seattle, i call them Seatturdays. And last Seatturday was gorgeous.

My mom and i decided that we wanted to go up to Seattle. It's one of my favorite cities, and i just love walking around. All over.

Our day started in Federal Way. I'd read about a LYS on Ravelry called Unraveled. A LYS so close to home? I may not have money to do any shopping at these stores, but i could honestly spend all day there. Sitting and knitting, looking at all the yarn i'll never buy because i'm broke... So, we checked it out. It's cute. The ladies working were so friendly. I didn't want to leave, but Seattle was calling me.

We headed north, and found a parking spot a few blocks up from Pike Place Market.

Some parking lot graffiti for your viewing pleasure.

I can't make out what it is. I hope it's not inappropriate. :D

We started out across from the market, looking out over the Sound.

Look at the mountains. How lucky am i to live in such a beautiful state?

From there, we headed toward Cost Plus World Market. I don't know what that sign is supposed to be... A woman must be flanked by men? Should i have climbed up there and put sparkles on one dude and wolf ears on the other?


Then we saw the first of so many So Much Yarn... signs. To get there, you have to go through a black gate... you need to be buzzed in. Up some stairs. Through a courtyard. In a back, dark corner... If they didn't have signs up all over the place, i'm not sure we would have found it. But find it, we did. It was wonderful. Despite the heat being on, and with all that wool in your face, with several other people around, in such a small area, it didn't need to be on.

I ended up leaving with a skein of delicious green baby alpaca yarn. If there hadn't been a ray of sunshine leaking in through a window at So Much Yarn..., i probably wouldn't have gotten that color. But there was. And i'm so glad i did.

Once again, i was sad to leave. But there are time limits on parking spaces...



We walked down the waterfront a little before heading back to the car to make sure we had some time. (Dumbos we are, we didn't look at the time before walking away from the car.)
I believe this is called "Waterfront Whimsea"...

CLink, Safeco, a ferry, and Mt. Rainier.


Nirvana, Sonics, Space Needle.


Luckily, we still had a half hour. It was actually warm outside, so i swapped my peacoat for a light sweater, and we headed back to the market.

I didn't want any pictures of myself, but then i remembered i was wearing the t-shirt my brother gave me for Christmas. I had to show him i was representin'.

By the way, that's me. Hi.


I don't care how many times i've been there, i feel like i have to get a photo of that sign every time.

You know that macaroni and cheese that Oprah said is the best ever? This is where they make it. That big vat right there? That's making cheese. Sadly, i've never tried this glorious mac and cheese. Every time i try to, the place is packed. Going to Pike Place on a beautiful, sunny, warm Seatturday doesn't help.


On the way back to the car, i noticed Molly Moon's for i think the first time. I've been in the chocolate shop it's connected to, but somehow i never realized the ice cream part was Molly Moon's! What!

Ever since Nathan Fillion tweeted about Molly Moon's salted caramel ice cream, i've wanted it. And i finally got it. And holy wow, they aren't kidding when they say it's salted caramel.

We ended our day at Dash Point.

I love the moon.


Oh, and best news! They're putting in a BigFoot Java across from the Chevron on our way to Dash Point! It's not everyday there's a BigFoot on our way to wherever we're going... So, we'll be going to Dash Point a lot this summer.



Whew. That's a lot of pictures, huh? And i'm not done!

At some point during the day, i finished my second pineapple iPod cozy.

Is that not the cutest?

On Sunday, I decided that i needed to make a pineapple coffee cozy.

And now i just want to keep making more.

And now i will leave you with whatever snippet of wisdom i find on the tag of my tea.

Don't let it end like this. Tell them i said something. -- Pancho Villa

The Horse of a Different Color Slippers You've Heard Tell About

I had planned on writing about my day trip to Seattle on Saturday, but then i ended up having a pretty great day with WeeWee¹. She woke me up and we had breakfast. Then, as she does every time i see her, she asked, "Can we watch Wizarboz²?"

Well, of course. This is only the 34th time we've watched it since that first time two months ago.

As Dorothy was crying to her aunt and uncle about Miss Gulch, i looked down at my Scarecrow slippers³ and realized i hadn't yet made anything Wizarboz-inspired for WeeWee! Unacceptable. I quickly did a little inventory in my head and realized i had some white, purple, red, and yellow yarns that i could use to crochet her some slippers. She loves her some slippers.

By the time we got to the Horse of a Different Color, i had gotten to the yellow on the first slipper. Perfect timing. Well, good timing. Perfect timing would have been having both slippers totally finished.

I said, "WeeWee, look! It's the horse!" Of course she knew the horse was on the screen, that's her favorite part. I showed her the almost-finished slipper and said, "Look, it's white, just like the horse. She loved that. I asked her what color the horse would be next. After a second, she exclaimed, "Purple! Like on the slipper!" So i asked her the next color. Red. Of course. Then she asked, as she does, "When will the horse be yellow?" Well, WeeWee, he still hasn't turned red, so just hold your horses. Of a different color. What. That was bad.

After the movie had finished, and we'd watched all of the "If I Only Had..." songs again, her slippers were done. And super adorable, if i do say so myself. And i do. I just did.

I mean, little kid slippers are just cute, anyway. But when you add something that's special to both of you...






After Wizarboz, WeeWee had to take a nap. I asked her, "WeeWee, what do you want to do after your nap?" "Um... um... um... crafeth⁴?" "What kind of crafts?" "Um... OH! We can go outside and get leaveth! And then we can get glue and glue them to the paper!" I said we would see.

We watched some Little Einsteins... she napped... i crocheted... she woke up.

Time for crafeth. The leaves fell some time ago, so they're all brown. And brittle. Not the greens, reds, and yellows she was expecting. I suggested we pick up some sticks instead and make God's Eyes. We found some sticks, avoided a weird pile of sap in the grass... and headed back in.

We made one to match her slippers, but i don't seem to have taken any photos. She did not appreciate having to sit in my lap so i could help her. So she took her sticks, the yarn, and claimed her own spot on the floor. He God's Eyes turned out a little differently. Imagine twigs wrapped in yarn and cast aside.

While she was busy, here's what i came up with.



It's nowhere near as interesting as anything WeeWee creates, but we can't all be artists.




Glossary
1. WeeWee: niece number 2. Real name: Kalia.
2. Wizarboz: The Wizard of Oz.
3. Scarecrow slippers:

4. Crafeth: crafts. She adds -eth onto words when she wants to pluralize them... (In case you haven't figured it out, she has a couple little, adorable speech problems.) So instead of crafts it's crafeth. Leaves are leaveth.

Post Number One

I've never been good at blogging. In fact, i pretty much suck.

Buuuut... it's kind of a blogger's world out there, isn't it?

It kind of blows when your passion is knitting and nobody sees it. Oh, sure, i get a view or two on my etsy every other week... but. I mean. A view is not a sale. People are making their living off of etsy. They are thriving.

I am drowning.

It's time to get myself out there!



Do you even know how long it took me to come up with the name of my blog? A long time. And it's ridiculous. In a good way, i think. I hope. I went through a lot of ideas. Most of them stupid. Some of them not as stupid. Some of them inside jokes that nobody would understand.



Enough of that. This blog is about my passions.
In no particular order:

• sewing
• knitting
• old films
• tattoos
• baking

So, as i get this going, i will be posting photos of all the things i make. Let's start with this washcloth. It's an Autobot. Did you know i looked and looked and looked and could not find a good chart for this? I eventually found a hat and tried to copy it. I think i did alright.
Thoughts?