Category Archives: Knitting

Indian Food & Second Life & Knitting & Second Life

January 28, 2007Geek, Knitting, Recipes, WorkMush

In which I cook Indian, freak the fuck OUT — omg! you have no idea! DUDES! — on a virtual world, and talk about the perils of knitting. In the process I manage to put a rather astonishing number of links into a single entry. (Mouse over ’em for snap-ups!)

This morning (and I use ‘morning’ loosely here; you should cleverly interpret it to mean ‘early afternoonish’), I got up and immediately cooked a feast!

Chana masala. Egg curry. Long-grain Basmati rice. Papadums. Yogurt, chutney. So good! OMFG, so good. We all ate heartily.

Then I got back on the laptop and booted into Second Life. (I was up until five-thirty this morning wandering around in there.) It’s so, so fun. I want to move to San Francisco and work at Linden Labs, like, toute suite, swear to God. And I don’t even like living in SF!

This world, this Second Life, it’s everything sci-fi ever taught me to want! It’s virtual. It’s wonderful. It’s a/the progenitor of the metaverse, and that’s HOT. Sweden is building an embassy there. You can fly in there! How did I not know about this until now? Has my entire head been up my arse since 2003? It’s practically better than knitting!

Oh, and on the subject of knitting, I’ve divided my sweater for the front and back around the armholes. This means I’m actually lurking up on being halfway done with it! Yay!

The bad news is that the bamboo circulars I bought (from Knit Picks, along with the yarn and pattern), which were supposed to be size 10, are not in fact size 10 at all — they’re more like 9.75s. This means I have to knit the entire sweater with them, including the collar and the arms (which will be a pain in the arse), or my gauge will change noticeably. Luckily the circulars in question are long enough that I can use the magic loop method, but it still kinda pisses me off. I guess it’s taught me to use my needle gauge to check new needles for accuracy of size upon purchase, at least. Pah.

In other news, I submitted a resume to Robert Half Technology last week — for a tech position they’d listed on Monster.com as “Web Administrator’s Dream Job” — and they called me back and left a message Friday night! I’ll be calling them first thing Monday morning.

I suppose moving to Cedar Rapids wouldn’t be too terribly bad; it’s only an hour and a quarter from Fairfield so I could still come see my friends on weekends, and it’s almost practically a city (by Iowa standards, at least) so if I lived there I might could find myself a working band and have access to quasi-decent restaurants!

On the housing front: a reprieve

January 23, 2007Finance, Knitting, WorkMush

In which there’s some good news… for once.

We don’t have to move! AmmZon’s mother has offered to sell her the house, and at a remarkably reasonable price. AmmZon is considering it, and in the meanwhile: we’re not evicted! Yay! I can stay here until I get a job and an apartment!

My previous employer — the one that laid me off last June — is hiring again. I sent in my resume today. Maybe they’ll hire me back. (I think I’ll go in tomorrow and sit on the HR person’s desk… for like an hour. Or three. Maybe she’ll hire me just to get me to leave her the hell alone.)

On the knitting front, I finished my first gray gauntlet and have started the second one. The fabric is much firmer made of the superwash wool sock yarn I used, and I really like the way this one fits and feels. The one I made out of the bamboo yarn has in barely twenty minutes of wear lost its shape and is beginning to pill up, so clearly that particular yarn is too delicate for a hard-wearing application like gloves. (I’ll probably make the second bamboo one anyway, and give them away, and use the remaining bamboo yarn for something low-impact, like a scarf.)

In other news, I’m downloading Bee Gees dance remixes from Limewire, because, um — well, for no good reason at all, really — and one thing that drives me utterly, incoherently apeshit is mislabeled tracks! Who are these fucking idiots who can’t tell the Bee Gees from Chicago? Or Rick James from Hot Chocolate? Or Hall & Oates from Player? Or Barry White from Marvin Gaye?! WHAT THE FLYING FUCK, people!

In Hiding

December 22, 2006KnittingMush

In which I’m all stealth.

It’s That Time Of The Month again, so I’m antisocial. I did not go anywhere yesterday, and I will not go anywhere today. I might go out and rip this town a new one tomorrow, though. We’ll see.

I’m online now to catch up on my email — haven’t checked it in days — and to get my calendar all straightened out — there are weddings and gigs and things I must attend in the next two weeks — and then? I’m going back to bed to read or listen to my iPod.

Speaking of iPods makes me think of iTunes which reminds me I owe Shenry a CD for the swap. Gah! How can someone with as much free time as I have be so behind on her social duties? I haven’t written to my relatives, or shipped the one gift I need to ship, nor even mailed my mom her wool slippers yet.

Bleeding sucks, but at least I no longer get the horrible cramps I was getting last summer. Those REALLY sucked.

I made another sheep:

It’s knitted out of wool and mohair and then felted. I started it about a year and a half ago and decided it was time to get it OFF. MY. NEEDLES.

In other news, a guy from this site asked me if I wanted to maybe contribute blog entries. Could be fun, but I bet they won’t fucking let me use the fucking F-word as much as I normally fucking do.

Knit-o-rama

December 15, 2006Knitting, WorkMush

In which I’ve been knitting.

I came down with a knitting bug, and decided I had to get a bunch of old stuff off of my needles. Some of these projects have been in progress for over a year, and that’s just wrong. So I finished some slippers, two hats, and am nearly finished with one of those sheep I was so into about two years ago.

I’ll be mailing out knitted items to two different households soon! I feel so… accomplished! (Yes, mom, the slippers I promised you over a year ago will be on their way soon.)

My schedule has moved entirely to India time. I’m up all night, and I sleep all day. Sometimes I get up around noon and eat lunch, and then go back to bed. I’m such a rock star! (If only I had a rock star’s clothes, groupies, drugs, and deluxe tour bus. That would be tits!)

As there have been no jobs in any of the papers, I haven’t applied for anything this week at all. I was offered a temp part-time gig painting, but I don’t think I’ll take it. I don’t have any clothes I can afford to get paint on, and I don’t know how to paint. On the other hand, beggars can’t be choosers. Hmm. Maybe I’ll paint for a bit.

I splurged tonight: I had artichoke-spinach dip at the Dead Cock. That stuff is hideously good. Other gross things I’m indulging in are Justin Timberlake’s latest album, cans of icy cold Coke, and late night television. I’m disgusting.

Weather, working, and hippies

November 30, 2006Finance, Knitting, WorkMush

In which I couldn’t go anywhere even if I wanted to.

Freezing rain last night. It is, as they say, colder’n a witch’s tit outside. I can’t even open the jeep’s doors because they’re frozen shut.

I can’t finish the BME site until — gag! — I get a copy of MS FrontPage installed. Fucking ASP anyway.

Bread’s refinancing the farm so those litigious hippies will go away. I really don’t talk shit to people, but I’m afraid that if I found myself face-to-face with them I’d go right the hell off.

We were paying, damn it, and they decided to sue us because they wanted out of a contract they’d agreed to carry! They nickle-and-dimed us the whole way, from the $6k they added at closing for no reason to the money they demanded for the propane left in the tank the day we took possession. They’re creeps, basically, so screw ’em.

I have practice tonight for the 2006 holiday benefit, so I think I might bathe today.

In other news, I hear it’s NLW’s birthday!

I Still Ain't Got No Job

November 29, 2006Finance, Geek, Knitting, Weather, WorkMush

In which I didn’t go to jail.

I have made $0.07 from my Google AdSense ads so far. (That’s about $25 a year. Whee.) Go, me.

It’s getting c-c-cc-cold here. I am not diggin’ it. I much preferred yesterday’s chinook, in which I wore a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt and was comfortable, but right now there’s a winter storm watch for the area and I bet everything freezes solid tonight.

On the work front, I applied for the webmaster position at Overland last week. BvB, the other singer in my band (The Band That Never Gigs), works there, and tells me that she’s pushing to get me an interview. HELLO EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT!

I’ve also applied here, but they haven’t even acknowledged receipt of my resume, so no high hopes there.

Oh, in late breaking news, cops now love me. This totally freaks me out. For instance: the night before last, I drove a drunk friend home. This was after after-hours, so it was probably around three or four o’clock in the morning. I was sober, but I had a… questionable… item or two in my bag and my friend was most likely carrying; who knows. I have a brake light out, plus cops scare the shit out of me in general; when they turn their lights on I basically have a heart attack each and every time. I knew I was going to get pulled over, and depending on the behavior of my drunk friend I was possibly going to get Fucked With. My heart started going about 210 bpm and I was already dreading my name in the next day’s police report.

Anyway, this cop followed me for three blocks… and then turned off without pulling me over. I could not fucking believe it. And then, last night? A cop followed me down an alley as I was walking to my car, then waved when I turned to look at him, and then waited for me to get into my car — like, to make sure I was safe or something? — and then he drove away. It’s weird, OH YEAH it is, but I’m grateful. They can love me all they want, fer sure. Better that than pull my ass over!

I distinctly remember telling someone yesterday, “That was funny! That’s totally going on the blog!” but now I can’t remember what the situation was. Perhaps sleeping twelve hours a night affects one’s short term-to-long term memory transference?

I’m still into knitting, like, a lot; and also: my Wee Mee:

I gave her a bulkier sweater, boots instead of Birks, and a seasonally appropriate coffee cup. SO FREAKIN’ CUTE!!!

In other news, my band, The Band That Never Gigs, is doing a gig in December! A benefit for a guy with brain cancer, but a gig nonetheless. And tomorrow night I start rehearsal for JAM’s annual holiday benefit concert because, you know, hey, it’s for a good cause, even if he *does* try to make me sing Bette Midler’s From A Distance.

In other other news, I love Gmail on my cell phone. It rocks.

Loved all your jokes in the last entry’s comments. Thank you! *smooch*

Superfine alpaca, bitches! II

November 10, 2006KnittingMush

In which I’m geekin’.

It’s cold out, and rainy, and overcast and unfriendly; plus I got totally hammered last night so I’m veeery lazy. So: cuddled up doing some knitting is just my speed today.

Superfine alpaca, bitches. So soft.

I’ll probably get bored soon enough, but right now, I’m ultra super deep into knitting this brown sweater. When it’s complete, I will live in it.

Superfine! Alpaca! SO SOFT!

I also installed BOINC and checked out my stats. I’ve been running SETI@home for, like, ever.

In other news, Mother’s coming to Michigan in a couple weeks and I was really hoping to be able to go to the November programs since I feel like I barely saw Her in July but yeah like I can afford that. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Knitting Meme

October 7, 2005KnittingMush

In which I talk about knitting.

1. Do you knit continental or English?

English.

2. How long ago did you learn to knit?

A few years ago, from a booklet I bought at Wal-mart.

5. First FO?

A sweater for a doll, on tiiiiiiny little needles.

6. Favorite yarn?

Lamb’s Pride bulky. I loooove knitting wool on bamboo needles, it’s the best texture ever.

7. Favorite pattern?

Fuzzyfeet! There is something so wonderfully satisfying about this pattern. It knits up quickly, it taught me how to turn a heel and kitchener and felting, and when you’re done you have toasty toes.

8. Favorite pattern source?

Knitty.com, I guess.

9. Favorite needles?

My bamboo DPNs, size 10.5 – I use them the most.

10. Nicest thing youï¿½ve ever knit?

Probably Redbone’s gray hat (from this pattern), because it looked good, fit well, and he actually wore it all winter last year.

11. Most hated project?

I don’t think I hated any. Some I finished much faster than others, but I don’t think any made me want to use the word ‘hate’!

12. What do you have on the needles right now?

A sock, a sheep, and a shrug. All things that start with S.

~+~+~
I stole this ‘meme’ from enviroboi’s blog and posted it to Iowa Chicks Knitting, and am now answering the questions here.

Knit

May 11, 2004KnittingMush

I worked on I.C.K.^* some today; I don’t really know much about CSS so it takes me a long time to get stuff to look the way I want. (For instance, I actually want the content on Iowa Chicks Knitting to be centered, but I have no idea yet how to do that!)

Here’s my knitting gallery. And I’m also on Ravelry, here.

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^*Iowa Chicks Knitting was a community knitting website I ran for awhile. It’s now defunct.

goblinbox.com

blogging for no apparent reason since 2001