My Random Monday - Halloween Edition!

1. I'm not that big on Halloween.  Candy? It's a nice indulgence but why eat a bunch of it in one go? You just make yourself sick.  Costumes? You go out and buy it, then wear it once and never again.  It's weird, because Halloween used to be my favorite holiday.  Now, not so much.

2. Maybe I'm just being a wet blanket because this week is the busiest ever for me.  I'm travelling for work, then I have a 3-day summit for school.  It should give me some good knitting time, at least.

3. Oh.... this:

I joined a crafty directory! I had a lot of fun looking at all the different blogs in it... so, you should check it out and join, too!

4. Here's something spooky... GMOs.  I'm a big non-GMO proponent, and I guess I'm not in the majority.  This poll asked people "Would you eat genetically modified salmon?" and when I took it, the majority said "NO WAY!"  Sadly, most of us ARE eating GMOs every day.  It's not enough to just buy the stuff that says GMO-free on the label - if you're in the U.S. you should go to the Center for Food Safety.  They have a form that you can fill out in thirty seconds to write to the FDA.  Even if you don't think it'll work, at least give it a try if you feel strongly about the issue!

My Random Monday - 10/24

1. It is now week 8.  If there's anything you know about RIT, you need to know that there is a lot of work.  Some people might say "Hey, I'm in department A and you're in college B, I have more work than you," but I completely disagree with this. I think we're ALL overworked and cranky, but it prepares us to be overworked and cranky in the real world, so it's not so bad.  When it's over.  Right now it's pretty dumb.

2. I haven't been knitting so much, but I have been working on W's puppets all weekend.  I'm kind of disappointed to say they despite swatching, it took me three tries to get most of the body parts right for his little puppet. 

The cast-off parts have turned into a little bunny, which I still need to sew together and stuff... but I kind of like her.

Hand felting is a total chore - I'm not thrilled by it.

3. I'm on a mission to try all the noodle restaurants in Rochester, in preparation for this coming winter.  I will figure out the best!  A few weeks ago I went to Aja Noodle (twice) and I was impressed with some stuff but pretty disappointed in others.  Tonight I'm going to try Mamasan's Noodle Cafe.

5. And finally... You should try this!

I got loyal, restless, courageous, and sweet.  I'm interested to see what other people see.  No cheating!

My Random Monday - 10/10

1. OMG FIVE DAYS UNTIL RHINEBECK AND THIS SHAWL IS NO WHERE NEAR DONE HELP WHAT DO I DO?

2. Okay, for some reason I'm not at Defcon 5 on this project.  I am convinced that I can take it with my in the car on the blocking board. So, it will be worn on Saturday!

3.  All of my spare time has been spent playing Glitch this week.  I think my friends have conspired to make me not finish this project.  Glitch is VERY addictive, so if you like online game you really shouldn't click the link!

4. Between school, actual-get-paid work and not-paid-really knitting, I think I am the most miserable person in the world. I have a team project in every class and they are all giving me ulcers. 

5. W has been working on his thesis, and he has a blog, too! It makes me very excited.  I have a post about my work on that... I should post that tomorrow.  A lot of posts that I write get lost in neverland and never published.  I need to work on that.

6. I made Jambalaya completely in the rice cooker yesterday.  I was really proud, but it didn't taste as good as I thought.  It looked good, though!

7.  This week is HUGE, Rochester, HUGE.

My Random Monday - 9/19

1. Arrrr! Today be me favorite holiday, it is! Talk like a Pirate Day! Be sure ye celebrate by riling up yer wenches and heading to the saloon for rum, arrrrr!! Or, if ye work in an office place, give yer interns donuts. Or chocolate dubloons.  Us interns love chocolate.

2.  Also, there be this survey through Technorati called "State o' the Blogosphere" spreading around like scurvey on rough seas! If'n ye have minutes to waste while ye should be swabbing the deck, take the survey, Arrr!

3. Ye knowst by now that I am a green lass, caring about the trees and what, and this video on the tube of you has scared me, mateys, scared me from eating those tasty french fries:

4.  Arrrr... the sea, she calls me, but the homework, she screams at me.  It's like seeing the most beautiful wench when you've already paid for an ugly one.  Or something. Arrrr.

My Random Monday - 9/12

1. The flower of the week is goldenrod.  It is EVERYWHERE around here!

2.  I cleaned up today (more than usual) and unpacked some figurines that W got me for my birthday:

They're supposed to be for kids, but I just think they're cute! <3

3.  School is REALLY busy and kind of frustrating.  It's hard for me to read things that I don't like/don't agree with, how I got this far in the environmental field I don't know.  But, this really made me spit out my coffee today:

"... is becoming increasingly central to religion, science, medicine, literature, the arts and women."

Really? Why women and not men? Are women more eco-contientious? This just seems sexist to me! It's from Ch. 1 of Paul Hawken's "Ecology of Commerce."  I'm going to refrain from critiquing this gem for the sake of my future career.

4. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the things I'm supposed to - I guess the mystical-sounding word would be "on the path of my destiny." If I am on the right path, I'm a little peeved that that path has led me to live in my boyfriend's run-down college apartment with three other people I barely know and who seem to have a problem with the fact I keep fresh veg in the crisper.

My Random Monday - September 5th 2011

L is for Limonium - flowers I bought :)

Also, the club fair was yesterday - Hooks and Needles got 78 new members! I bought lots of cups and juice for the first meeting, tonight. I can't wait :)

My Random Monday - August 22nd

1.  My short skews are not going well.  I'm using the SKF technique - SWAG, Knit, Frog.  I know how to do it... generally. I'm just being a little discouraged by all this frogging! I think tonight I'm going to sit down and actually THINK about what I'm going to do instead of knitting and guessing.

2.  Lilac has been having lots of outside time.  She loves it!

3.  When Lilac is outside, I sit out on the porch, and I've been keeping my crafts in bowls and plates.  It's so soothing to sew the little petals onto my knit hedgehogs...

4.  I'm going back to school, but I'm not so sure what I'm going to do.  My plans for school were kind of ruined when my internship unexpectedly ended, but I'm trying to make the best of things, even though I'm not sure where I'm going to be living at school I bought some supplies today anyway :)

5.  Oh, I was published!

I designed this knit jellyfish last summer and submitted it to the Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar.  Well, the 2012 Calendar came out, and I'm innit! They even sent me a complimentary copy! SQUEE!

My Random Tuesday

1. Yesterday I slept more than I was awake, though I did manage to work and visit with W.  But no blog, so I guess I'll post my updates today! :P

2. My WIPs are all coming along steadily.  I'm 95% done with my bead-along mitts, cast my second lifeline for my shawl (which I haven't shared yet :X) and ... well, I'm working on the socks. 

3.  The weather has been REALLY crummy every time W has come to visit, and I can't get anyone else to photograph my feet, so no nice photos of the socks yet.  I want to release the pattern on Friday, so fingers crossed that that will get done - but chances are I may have to wait until Monday.

4. I have fairytales on my brain... that's the current DAL theme! I'm going to do a post on it sometime this week, too! So many posts to write, so little time XD

5. You may notice the photos for this post are especially random.  Above is a cool embroidery I saw at the fair, and then at the top is a rainbow that graced our little street over the weekend.

My Random Monday - August 8th

1. I spent most of my weekend working on this:

Yes, a new project!! I was inspired by reading Wildflower Wool Knit's project.  It really is an exciting knit that keeps you on your toes.  Plus, the way this is knitting up, W will have new socks for the new school year.

2. Lilac is adjusting well. Her favorite thing has been the tasty greens that I can bring her from my mom's garden.  She also likes to sit in front of the fan - I mean, RIGHT in front - and close her eyes.  It looks like she's imagining being somewhere nicer.

3. Speaking of Lilac, I left her for 24 hours Saturday night and when I came back, she was SO mean to me. She would hop up to me, sniff my hand, then huff away. I'm still not out of the bun-house, even after giving her two treats and taking her outside to sun.

4.  My other weekend project!

Fruit Salad :)  I used half a honeydew melon, one mango, one kiwi, and two small apples.  The secret ingredient? Two tablespoons of lemon juice keeps the apples from oxidizing (The mom translation: "Getting all brown, gross, I'm not going to eat that.")

5.  My other Bead Along glove is going well, I've had pretty bad tremors so the threading went really bad until my mom showed my a really cool technique that just uses a needle and thread.  I think I'm going to put a tutorial up this week.

My Random Monday - August 1st

1. Whew, my weekend was crazy! Through a combination of personal and family craziness, I found myself in NYC, Towanda, Troy, Sayre, and then... back in Elmira, happily.

2.  I also finished a mitt for the Summer Bead Along - but that's another post :P

3.  Here are photos of the Troy Fair.  I'm sad that I only made it to one day - I love people watching at the fair! That's hours worth of entertainment :)

4.  I actually got to enjoy Pinkberry in NYC! It lived up to the hype, I'm happy to say!

W mentioned how much it tasted like yogurt - I kept saying "Well, duh." One of my favorite breakfasts is vanilla yogurt with fruit mixed in, so I loved it!

5.  Some more NYC aquisitions:

Hedgehog erasers! I wanted to go yarn shopping, but sadly I had some problems with my wallet (the main problem being, I left it under the seat of the car that gave me a ride down to Maplewood to see W) so I'll just have to cope by purchasing a plethora of cute hedgies for my shadow box.

6.  Speaking of shadow box, here it is!

If you click on it, you can play a game of "I Spy." Though, some of the stuff (Like the condom!) were added by my mom... I have no idea the story behind those.  But most of the other things are just little trinkets that I've picked up in the past four years.  My shadow box isn't filling up as fast as my mom's, but each little thing has  story behind it, so I think that's better!

7. Also, my Pink Lemonade Socks pattern was sent out to testers today... I'm so, so, so excited :D

My Random Monday - July 25th

1. The past week has flown by.  I've moved, cleaned out my apartment, gone into Boston... phew.  I feel like an itty bitty dandelion seed floating around in the wind.


2.  I'm surprised how well Lilac took the move.  She has definitely downsized, from my 300-square apartment to about a six square foot pen.  I think she's also a little transfer shocked.

3.  I went into Boston on Friday with W and my brother.  It was a seriously awesome experience! I have to admit, that's something I may miss about New Hampshire.  It cost quite a bit for the four of us to go in, then there was the food, tickets to the aquarium... but I didn't regret spending a single cent! :)

4.  In the same vein, I'm going to NYC this weekend to visit W and see the studio he works at.  I feel like such a globetrotter!

5.  Back to Boston... I saw this fish at the aquarium.



Doesn't he seem so happy? I dunno, for some reason his face reminds me of a baby's smile. Maybe I'm going senile.

6. W got WAAAAYYY better photos at the aquarium with his fancy DSLR.  He's really turning into a camera buff.

7.  Last but not least,  picture of my brother and his friend goofing off on 88 Saturday.

My Random Monday - July 18th

1.  Have you ever seen unwords?  That has been a fairly recent timesuck of mine.  Neologisms are great - I honestly think that the English language would be dead without them.  Seeing a word that goes from something that makes most people say "huh" to something everyone understands is pretty cool!

2. With that, I present my own neologism:

"chaussadisproprotiophobia" - n. - the fear that your socks are not the right length.

I have counted rows so many times I might be insane, but the row counts were the same yet the measurements were off between my two socks! So, I said the three magic words that every knitter says at some point:

3.  "It'll block out" - Knitterspeak for "I seriously can't be bothered to bother with this right now, I'm going to finish these up anyway because I'm probably not going to notice this mistake in a year (or twelve)." See also: "Giving up", "Picking battles", "Another glass of the nice wine, please"

4.  Another neologism:

"abstraphotomania" - n. - the intense desire to take artsy-looking photos of your F.O. 

These photos may be in black and white, but it is not necessary.  98% of these photos will be deleted, and 0% will actually end up in the pattern for said F.O.


5. "Congratulations?" - What you say to a student whose co-op has ended unexpectedly as she spends her fourth straight day in sweatpants.

The Return of My Random Monday

1. Though, don't expect any good pictures until my camera charger returns.

2. Yesterday I went to the American Textile Museum with Angela - it was really great, I would definitely recommend it for people in the Lowell vicinity!

3. At said museum, I saw a bunch of amazing garments - they make me think of sweaters! Though I have to admit, I haven't made a sweater yet that I like...

4. There was also this, who is currently a prominent figure in my nightmares:

5. On top of the textiles, there was also some interesting Occupational Health stuff - of course, during the industrial revolution mills were pretty much the forefront of inhumane working conditions.  So, that was fun to learn about!

6. After the museum, we stopped off at Michael's and I bought some sock yarn for W, among other things... I just love the colorway!

7. I have an ulcer, so Lilac gets to eat all the tasty food that I'm not supposed to eat (Spinach, Cabbage...)  I made beets for dinner, and this happened:

I know it's kind of faded, but I washed the dickens out of them and they're still purple!

Perpetuating a Stereotype

I like Charlotte Russe.  Really, I do.  Enough to get their emails every day, and, once in a while, look at their gorgeous clothes.  Today I found this.

Here's a picture:

And another picture:

Do you see what I see?

This "crocheted" wrap is obviously knit.  It's enough to make me write a strongly-worded email.  Crochet is not knitting.  Knitting is not crochet.  They are two.  Different.  Crafts.

What's worse is people just don't understand my angst. I understand, if you do neither it may not seem like a big deal. But to me, semantics is an incredibly important aspect of intelligence.  It just seems like an incredibly 'DERP' moment.

(Note: I do not own these images, nor am I claiming ownership in publishing them here.)

My Random Monday: Fall Week 4

1. Last weekend was crud.  I didn't want to do anything, which is a kind of bad idea, because that means that nothing gets done (except a lot of knitting.)

2. Today is looking up, though.  I have homemade chicken soup (from yesterday) and I love the weather. It's rainy, but a special type of drizzle that I will always associate with school.  *sigh* It's good to be back.

3. Except for all the freaking work!!!!!!

4. Okay, now that that's over with, they're making a movie out of one of my favorite books, It's Kind of a Funny Story.  It's about a 15-year-old kid who becomes suicidal, goes to a psychiatric ward, and discovers wonderful, warm fuzzy life lessons. 

I totally relate to the main character (the over-pressured kid, not the drug-experimenting-eating-disorder-having kid... though those are all coping mechanisms to the over-pressured-ness) and I can't wait until the movie comes out :)

5. I am almost finished with my knit tie, and progress has been made on Borneo test knits! I'm super excited :)

6. When I was in the bookstore, I was looking through the magazines and guess what I found! Hedgehog cross stitch!!

I love all things hedgehog :)

7. Now for something completely random: the chair in W's apartment has a face.  I swear.  Can you see it?

Maybe I AM having a nervous breakdown.