How to Dry Herbs in the Microwave

I've really enjoyed my fresh herb collection that I've amassed on my little front porch - I'm pretty bummed though, because my apartment at college is way smaller! I won't have space for all these plants!

Thankfully, I've found everyone good homes - Some italian parlsey and basil are going to live at my house, and my peppermint plant, but everything else is going to be given away! Before I do that, of course, I had to steal as much as I could ;)

So I went to the store and bought some of these...

... and now, I have these!

From left to right: dried peppermint, Catnip, Fennel and Parsley

I was a little nervous that I would mess up, but overall it was totally easy!

My Random Monday

1.   

This week is a major "Get stuff done" week for me.  I want to work on every little thing.  Erm... actually, I have to work on every little thing. I'm moving out on Saturday.

2.  

I'm pretty bummed about everything.  No W.  No Lotus.  Leaving work.  Having to do dishes.

3.  

I just saw a ten-year-old girl wearing a suggestive tee shirt.  Why am I leaving this town again?

4.  

I turned this:

Into this:

In 36 minutes. It will be the FROG for my old floor once school starts, which is why it's so simple. Each week, a new person that has done something nice (like helped someone out, or done something good for the floor) is given this doll and must add something to it.  By the end of the year it is decorated to the nines! I must remember to post a picture of it in May.

5. 

Why didn't I put my sewing stuff in the living room table six months ago? Maybe the reason all of my sewing has been neglected all this time was because it was shoved in the studio.  Oh, no. I remember the reason! It was because I messed up on every project that I started on the machine.  Because I don't sew so well.

6.  

People seem to think that I sew well, which sometimes makes me think that I sew well, then I sew something and I realize that the people that think that I sew well don't sew.  This puts it all into perspective.

7.  

When I was downloading photos of the narwhal, I found out that I had photos of Lotus that I had forgotten about, so, here you go:

She is cuddled in a blanket in W's arms after a bath. No clear pictures of her face (she was moving around and being fussy) but you get a good idea of her mood.

URG... ACK.

 
This week has been crazy.  No W. No Lotus. Not a lot of time to knit or blog between OT and packing! I'm a little worried that my apartment isn't going to be moved out by the end of next week. I'm a little worried that I'm going to lose everything in the move, and not have time to find it all! I'm a little amazed by all of the crap that I have.  I went through all my clothes (which was crazy! I have so much!) and those were easy to get together to take to goodwill.  All my books... I dunno.  Those are going to go into storage I think.

And my knitting... well, packing away the stash was easy.  It's already in a bin! The funny thing was all the little balls and stray skeins that I squirreled away. A tiny ball of stray yarn beneath the sofa, two or three skeins packed into an end table drawer... it was madness!

Hopefully I can finish this week off with a bang.  I have no worries about work, it's just getting packed up and keeping on schedule! That will be the challenge.  Food needs to be cooked (and eaten), herbs need to be harvested, dishes packed, narwhals sewed, and a thousand other things that need to be done!

But, I do have good news! I got some gorgeous yarn at a festival yesterday! It's suri alpaca from a local farm (Well, local to W, not to me!) and it's a super deliciously soft.  I wanted to make a shawlette, but there's only 100 yards... so perhaps a ciof.  What do you think? Does anyone have any patterns for neckwarmers that are less than 100 yards?

My Weekend in Photos (so far)

Today has been super jam-packed with action! For one, my brother dearest goes off to college this week, so we had a family get-together with hotdogs, hamburgers, and brats.  Also involved were about 8 dozen assorted cupcakes.

My aunt got these gorgeous cupcake displays!

Vases with fresh cut flowers :)

Besides awesome food, I finished something last night! I can't show pictures because it's going into a swap, but I can give a teaser photo:

Also, I got to start another swap project! I can't wait to make this, since it's going to be... AWESOME.  Already, the more I talk about it, the more tempted I am to reveal.  So no more of that! I'm still chugging along on the factory.  The main body is done, and so are the things that go in and out of the factory. All that's left is a replacement panel on the side of the body of the machine.  Whoo hoo!

We also let Lotus run free in one of our garden boxes.  It was a closely supervised freedom, of course, with photos. I had visions of my cute little hedgie among the flowers, but she had different ideas.  She rolled in the dirt and anointed herself with it, which was still cute! Then she hid under the lilies, digging and chasing bugs.  She got one at one point!

She was so dirty afterwards though! I'm happy my mom and aunt don't use fertilizers or any other additives in their soil, so my happy hedgie can roll in it.  She was super excited to get dirty... dunno how she'll feel about a bath that's coming though! This picture illustrates half the horror.

It was hard to get good ones, she was running around so!

And then when we picked her up, she was grumpy again.

Maybe next time I'll get some pics with flowers and some lovely grass! I can dream.

Oh, also... I finally took pictures of the owls! My plan is to start test knitting sometime this week. I have to get in touch with the few people that have mentioned test knitting to me, but I think that it's the more the merrier.  If you're interested, let me know :)

The Last Week of W.

So, this weekend W is packing up and leaving! He's doing some excellent things for an excellent theatre production, but I'm going to miss him. That said, we're making the most of the week and having every night be something special! Last night we drove to Wal*mart and ate at Applebees.  Tonight, we're going to have a roast chicken dinner with green bean casserole.

I'm going to miss my boyfriend for so many reasons. He's my best friend, and having him stay with me has been the best part of a pretty already awesome summer. Also, who else washes my dishes and gives my hedgehog a bath!?

Erm... that sounded like a euphemism, but wasn't.

Anyway, I want to finish my tiny factory by Friday at the latest! It's already looking more factory-esque.

It needs a panel and a gauge on the front still, which is going to be crazy.  Plus, all the little things that come out of it! We have decided that it's going to make penguins... Yikes! Wish me luck! :X

100 Things

1. I really like seeing these on other blogs, so I thought it would be a cool way to start things off.
2. This is not my first blog. In case you didn't know, I also blog here.

Oh, by the way... I was in a KAL!

Um, I know I'm going to kick myself for this, because I didn't blog about it (which is strange, since it's me...) but, I was in a KAL.  It lasted the whole month of July, and I finished the mystery doll last night at an ungodly hour.

So I took pictures.

And I'm done.  The pattern was a mystery, written up by Pheony (rav link) and hosted by the Knit Toys Group (rav link) on Ravelry.  It was exciting to work with a bunch of other knitters on the same project (erm, hello, that's the definition of KAL?) and I waited excitedly for each clue to come out... but nothing in this went right. 

My arms are way too long, my head is too big, etc etc etc... I don't want to talk about it any more.  I was at the point where I told myself I would write about what I was doing, but everything I wrote about was ranty and ill-tempered, so I didn't hit post.  As I was sewing the ears on, W commented that it looked like a pig.  I wanted to cry. I don't think that there was anything wrong with the pattern, just, there are certain patterns (*cough* like the socks I made for Ashley *cough*) that I just can't make correctly.  I've come to the conclusion that a power greater than my own refuses to let me make them correctly.  Sure, I could take apart the pieces, re-knit with the end product in mind, and be happier with it, but frankly I'm too lazy! Maybe if it was a sweater or a sock.

Anyway, that's water under the bridge.  It's done, finished and there's nothing I can do about it or it's hump-back! W snapped it up (like he likes to do with stuff I make) and I thought that it would disappear at the end of this weekend, stuffed away in the attic of his mother's house or something... but I came home and he was stuffing armature wires into it.

 I'm gunna be a star?

GREAT. My boyfriend wants to animate what I consider the most shoddily knit stuffie I made this year! That's Alanis Morisette irony for you.

And, if you want to make your own sheep, leave a comment and I'll e-mail you the PDFs! They're probably still up on Google, but knowing my luck, someone will be interested in making this two years from now and they'll be gone... so, drop me a line :)