Defcon 4 1/2

Image from here

So last night, I had this dream.  In it, I was standing at an empty table at the club fair (which is tomorrow).  People were walking by and ignoring me.  I felt pretty confused as to why they were walking by and not (at least) stopping to admire some of Hooks and Needles's fine samples (I have the Kitten Mittens, Baby hats from last year, samples from the Hooks and Needles's pattern book...)

Then, I turned around, and I noticed that I didn't in fact have any of the samples.

I had forgotten them.  The table was empty.  I didn't even have the nifty sign-up sheet that people sign up to the mailing list on.

Then, I reach for my knitting and find that I've forgotten that, too.

And a voice echoes in my head "The Club Fair is tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow..."

And then I woke up and realized that, in fact, I have forgotten all of my sample designs... D'OH.  This is what happens when you give away 80% of what you knit and put the other 20% in a box in a closet at your Dad's house.

Image from here

Thankfully Ash has most of the club stuff, and I didn't have to forget EVERYTHING. Anyway, I'm going to rush and try to make things look very nice while I work on them tomorrow.

What I'm Doing Wrong in my Life (aka How Not to Design a Knit Toy)

I'm having one of those days where I'm thinking - WTF. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why do I keep doing what I'm doing? It works, but it's stressful. Not fun.

Classes are starting soon, and I'm having a lot of fun cooking delicious things for anyone that shows up at my apartment ;) I have all the textbooks I need, know where my classrooms are, and all-in-all don't need to worry about anything in my life.

Except knitting.

**Here are a few lessons for those of you who may ever decide to design a knit toy. These tips will absolutely, positively maximize your stress during the design process.

1.  When writing a pattern, be sure to write as much as you can in completely different places.  Make sure that you use different colored pens, different sized papers, and do NOT number your sheets.  That way, when you drop them on the floor, you will get to put your notes together like a puzzle! This will be a welcome break from knitting.

Find above: Notebook A, Notebook B, Field Sketchbook, and the back of a Vogue Magazine.

2.  When you need to pick up multiple sets of stitches (for arms or legs) make sure NOT to look ahead to see if you have enough room for that last pair of legs.  One side will work out perfectly the same as the other, of course, always.

If you can guess what I'm making... I'll be seriously impressed, then a little annoyed.

(2.1  When in the early stages of the design process, make sure you add as many repeat parts as possible.  Tentacles, legs, arms, antennae, wings, leaves, and flowers are good examples.)

3.  Make sure that you design this toy on a deadline, as part of a swap.  If you stress out about deadlines, you will stress out 100 times more at the thought of some person awaiting for your package to arrive, in vain, since you aren't done yet.

4. Also, make sure that person lives as far away as possible to you.  Like, maybe, Alaska.

5. Then make that person really, really nice and understanding. Guilt multiplier!

6. Then, decide that you really need to knit a hat.

But it's so mindless! And someone asked me to make it! And I was supposed to make it weeks ago!

... So, if you take everything from the double asterisk (**) to here, you have how to design, the Alyssa way! Now I need to get back to work... =_=

Have a good weekend though, really, seriously, do!

My Random Monday - O-Week.

1. O is for oreintation, not for something else. Get your minds out of the gutter!

2. I am super tired, and have made knitting progress but none I can show off because it's supposed to be SECRET.

3. Everyone that has seen me knitting today knows the secret.

4. During my move, my basil plant got knocked over.  I was hoping that it would be okay, but today my hopes were dashed.  Look at it!!

5. I also tried to start a new WIP, but this happened.

6. Also, my favorite 50 cent pants have been ruined.

Thanks, mom, for having an angry and vengeful cat with a full bladder.

7. My feet feel really swollen and hurt :(

8. Other than all that, today went pretty awesome!! I met a lot of people and got a lot of bug bites.  And I'm pretty tired... Good night :)

Moving! Almost Done!

So, yesterday I checked in to my shiny new apartment at UC.  I really like it here, except for maybe the shelves being too high and the microwave being too high and some of the cupboards being too high, but I'm pretty used to that since I'm too short. 

The one minus is that I had to cut my stash down from the usual tub of yarn-y goodness...

To this.  One blue duffel bag which fits my needle box and yarn.

Granted, this will probably supply me with all the yarn for all the projects I want to do in my queue in the next 12 weeks... but STILL.  What if something comes up? My parents aren't going to overnight "that gray alpaca sock yarn" to me.  A birth certificate or passport, or some other essential... maybe. (Heck, probably not.  My parents are busy people! But I'd like to think...)

Other than lack of yarn-ness, I'm psyched for Honors Orientation tomorrow, since I'm an OM (Orientation Mentor).  Today was fancy meetings where we talked about leadership, which I missed half of due to drama.

Hopefully after this next week I can get a schedule in place that works for me and my housemates (none of which have moved in yet) but until classes start a week from Monday, I'm probably going to spend my free time relaxing, reading, and knittingunlessmyarmhurtsthenstopping.

The living room table is a good spot for my plants. Notice the mint? I feel like I just plucked a jar of leaves off two weeks ago... didn't I do that? They all grew back! So, I made fresh peppermint tea.

And it's delicious.

My Random Monday

1. This week is so hectic, I'm making this post now.

2. My right hand has carpal tunnel. It started in the afternoon on Sunday, when my hand felt tingly. I thought "This sucks" and complained to my mom.  Of course, knitting is the source of all of my carpal tunnel to her... when I KNOW it was moving all of my crap!

3. Because of number two, I have not knit a thing since Sunday afternoon.  I'm sad that I'll probably have to "take off" today as well, because my right hand still has this feeling like it's caked in mud.  :\

4. I'm typing this with my left hand.

5. I'm not super sad about not knitting, which I see as a really big step for me.  Maturity level +5! Well, I also had practice last year.

6. I'm also not super sad about not knitting because I have so much stuff to do! Don't tell me about decluttering your life.  I'm using the time before I move to RIT to get rid of the stuff that I don't use, won't use, and will only clutter up my Dad's house!

7. For example, there's currently a box that contains four cubic feet of books in my dad's attic.

8.  There is also this in my dad's study.

I planned on taking it to the Salvation army and getting a nice write off, but there are 8 bags there.  8.  I think I'm going to do the drop and dash... erm, well, there's a drop-off point in town.

9. For those of you who don't know me well, getting rid of the books was a big deal. W said he was proud of me.

10. Tomorrow I move into my apartment at RIT... I have all my packing done, but I need to get it all into the car! 

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.