It was time for a new TV obsession...

So I'm obsessed with Community, in love with Jeff, and Britta is not only my new spirit animal*, but she also has what I think of as my spirit wardrobe. Lots and lots of fitted check shirts, leather jackets and dark skinny jeans.

Anyway, since I have a whole lot of telly to watch now and Lincraft coincidentally has a lot of their yarns half price, I did some crocheting.

I may switch back to knitting. I prefer the smooth finish of stocking stitch, and I like the edge finish better too.

*I have a lot of spirit animals. Caitlin Moran, Lou Brealey, Taylor Swift My Car (as opposed to the actual Taylor Swift) and EmmStaff, who is my real life spirit animal and the person who told me I should move Community up to the top of my to-watch list. There are others too, I just can't remember them right this second. Spirit animals are a Tumblr thing, it's kinda like saying "when I grow up I wanna be..." but more concise.

If I have to...

Obligation craft is such a weird thing isn't it? Lets be honest, we don't sew because we have to, and if we did have to, we probably wouldn't want to any more.

The main reason I make stuff, I think (and actually, it's the reason I do most things) is curiosity. I either want to see if I can, or want to see how well I can. I have terrible vision in my mind's eye, so if want to see how a quilt will look, I have to make it. That also explains why I dislike binding. It is obligation sewing. It is a necessary evil that gets you to the bit where you can put a quilt in the washing machine and have it come out all crinkly.

Hems are pretty much the epitome of obligation sewing. I can't be the only one who hears the question "hey, you sew don't you?" and immediately thinks great, hems... before they've even asked it. It's interesting to note that most people I will shoot down without any guilt whatsoever (because, hems...) but a friend that has agreed to give you a waxing appointment at 11 at night, you're quite happy to. But then, she said she thinks I'm like the Hulk, cause I don't even flinch when she's doing that bit of the underarm that really hurts.  All part of why I love her I guess. There needs to be love, to willingly do hems.

Tassels on scarves need a fair bit of love too, especially on a red and white scarf, as a Hawthorn supporter. Of course, it might not be a Swans scarf (Hi, number two on the ladder, having fun down there?) it might be for a Where's Wally costume. Though I find it hard to believe that a woman who's been knitting for 80 odd years doesn't know how to put tassels on a scarf.

On the other hand, Nana Joy's probably spent the last 80 years deflecting requests to take up hems in favour of knitting blankets, like she wants to. So no doubt she's also an expert at delegating that last little dull bit. When I grow up, I want to be just like her.

Ow.

For some inexplicable reason, I have made myself a snot-green snowflake.

But I've learned that the first stitch of your round is actually the last*, and I feel the better for knowing it.

I've also learned that when you pick up your yellow crochet hook and bit into it quite hard, because you thought it was a breadstick, it hurts.


*I know that that statement doesn't really make sense, but it's hard to explain. I know what I mean.

Maybe...

I've finally gotten the hang of the middle of a crochet circle, though the necessary rate of increase is still a mystery to me. I haven't got the hang of a centre square yet (I just back and forth crocheted a square, and then went around it) but I'm feeling confident in my statement that for a treble stitched square, you need six on the corner.

I could be wrong though, because I've decided, just for shits and gigs, to not seek the wisdom of the internets. I'm going to do this the hard way, mainly because the internet is too busy keeping me updated on all the spoilers from Comic Con.

Round and Round

Tonight, I finally got the hang of treble stitch.

Alas, I still haven't quite got the hang of how many increases per round are needed to make my circle flat.

Just for shits and gigs, I'm gunna try make a big round blanket.

Yes, yes we do.

Do other people do this? As the crocheting gets longer, so it doesn’t get more and more twisted with every time you change direction, you roll it up and loop another bit of yarn through it.

If I were a biscuit, I wouldn't be in the sweet or savoury sections. I'd be in the section with the smart cookies :P

Okay, maybe smart cookies wouldn't stay up till 5am crocheting and watching DVD commentaries. But that's only because cookies are inanimate objects, without brains, and therefore have no concept of DVDs or commentaries. Smart is relative. And cookies are delicious. Even though this is Australia, and we call them biscuits.

Good.

One would assume, seeing as how I've watched THIRTY HOURS of True Blood since Sunday night, that I'd make that my favourite for this week. Or at the very least, that I would make last night's strawberry cider, breadsticks and True Blood night my favourite thing this week. But I'm not going to.

Nor am I going to go with my fantastic friends at work, or trashy romance novels, or Wrigleys Strongmint chewwies, or even the very pretty yarn I got with the $10 voucher that Lincraft sent me.

Even though I find the tingly sensation that I get in my legs when I sit down in my skinny jeans to be weirdly enjoyable, that's not it either. Nor is it the entertainment I get from trying to push repelling magnets together.

Nope, today, my favourite thing is the tiny tick of my watch. It's so quiet that I can only hear it in the really quiet moments, and I don't get them too often. So I like the fact that the tiny tick of my watch is there to remind me when they're happening, so that I know to enjoy them.

Oh, okay, all the other stuff can be a favourite too :)

I am not counting down...

So I'm watching True Blood, since it's still TWENTY FOUR whole days till White Collar starts, and I need a new addiction to help while them away.

I'm loving it. All the sex, and the boobies, and the fantastic Louisiana accents, and shirtless (and pantless) Ryan Kwanten. Yay for all of it. I'm only up to episode eight, but it's all brilliant. The soundtrack too. There was even Cowboy Troy! And the quilts! If you need a cover story, because you're worried about someone judging your enjoyment of the kinds of gratuitous sex scenes and swearing present only on a show from HBO, just gush about the quilts. There's one on her bed which has that fantastic is-it-vintage-or-is-it-modern aesthetic, and I just saw a stunning hexie quilt, with one block in bright colours and the others in pastel...

Anyway... I'm toats in love with Bill, even though I think if I met them both at the pub I'd pick Sam. He's got prettier eyes, and nice boots and a very shiny belt buckle. But it's kinda the whole Buffy/Angel thing all over again, but with less clothing witty one-liners.

And while I've been watching it, I've been crocheting.

One ball of three down, but then, I'm only 2/3rds of the way through season 1...

Days of Somethingorother.

So today was apparently International Yarn day, but since Google didn't have a doodle for it, I'm not sure how serious it is. But Spotlight had yarn on special to celebrate, so I decided to go with it, and do something that had been worrying me for a while - crocheting an Escher-esque scarf with a twist so I could loop it twice.

As for why it was a worry - well, I was pretty sure that doing it would create a black hole that would swallow the earth. I'm not sure why I thought this, and thankfully it didn't happen (because that would be toats awkward) but I'd been holding off on trying it out for a little while because of it.

Frankly, I think I still prefer my super duper long brushed yarn dyed checks. And since yarn is in the name, I'm set.

After midnight I decided I'd quilt the top I made last night - it's pretty small, about 85x105cm, so it didn't take long. I haven't done a great job - the fabrics just didn't want to stretch taught over the batting, but I've already explained to Meagan that this is a using quilt, not a good one.

And I used a cheater fabric for the back - actually the top was pieced to match the cheater fabric, which Meagan picked way before having Thomas.

I've trimmed it down and cut my binding strips, but it's not actual finished. It's the international day of yarn, not miracles.

Another one

A bit more restrained than the last one, and weirdly the colour ended up mostly on the edge. I like the thicker, more gradual change, but I'll always prefer bright rainbows.

Coulda Shoulda Woulda

There's so much stuff that I should have been doing tonight - sorting out a dress for the weekend, a couple of half finished bags, working on the most epic road trip CD of all time, washing my hair, things like that.

Instead:

I really like using two threads at once, I like the challenge of picking two that will work together, without any real knowledge of what to expect. The variegated ball is a 70% acrylic 30% wool blend, the cerise a 50/50 cotton and acrylic. I'm back on the decreases now, still just making it up as I go along.

It's a shame rainbow has only two syllables... it would work better in song with three.

So today, before my doctor's appointment I got my rainbow beanie/beret finished.

As evidenced by the last selfie, I'm not great at it, so I figured I'd take pictures on my bed head, as opposed to my actual head.

I think from the top/behind it looks like a gobstopper when you break it and look at all the layers

I wore it to my doctors appointment, where I got all chopped up (I've got a hellova lot of bandages for a 1 1/2cm incision) and the doctor recommended I give Bricanyl a go, if Ventalin was doing nothing to stop my cough. I did, but it didn't help, and the side effects of the Bricanyl are somewhere between being quite drunk and having had way too much coffee - an odd combination of tense and jittery and kinda dizzy and woozy, with an inability to concentrate. It's not been fun, and I'm back to work tomorrow, which is equally sucky.

Hopefully tonight though I get to sleep a bit earlier: I was up till 6am coughing, and since mum was working at The G till 3, she came in last night offering to take me to the kiddy ward at the hospital, since I last sounded like that when I was 4 years old.

I said no. Their wi-fi probably isn't all that great.

Ironically whinging post.

Most nights, before I go to bed, I click on the bookmark for the latest xkcd comic. They only update 3 times a week but I press the random button a few times, just to see which of the thousand or so comics pop up for me. It's kinda like a weird fortune cookie/horoscope type thing.

Last night:

Having a positive attitude is almost tautologically good for your mental health, and extreme stress can hurt your immune system, but that doesn't mean you should feel like shit for feeling like shit.

I know that it's actually about his girlfriend having breast cancer, which is a whole lot worse than having a stupid cold, but the mouseover text (I put it as the caption) seemed to ring particularly true. At the end of last night's whingey post I considered hashtagging firstworldproblems onto the end of it, so everyone knew that I knew that I was being whiny and pathetic, but it got a bit too meta, and I already have a headache. Thanks to this though, I'm gunna feel shit. I'm gunna roll with feeling shit. I'm gunna shove tissues up my nose, drink Demazin like it's cordial, pop Panadols like they're smarties, sit in my electrically blanketed bed and watch all of season 1 of White Collar tomorrow. I'm gunna take my sick days, like a normal person would, and in a few days time, my nose will stop running, my eardrums will stop popping every time I blow it, and I will once again be able to bend over without feeling dizzy. This will happen whether or not I spend tomorrow in bed, but I may as well make the best of a snotty situation.

Oh, and the stunningly pretty yarn I bought to crochet myself a beret with is 100% wool, and not quite as soft as the cotton or bamboo I would like it to be.

#firstworldproblems.

Babies, Trucks, Crappy Poetry and Head-Devouring-Moss.

Meagan had her baby (around 4.30pm, Thomas James, 8 pounds 1, 51.5cm) and cause he's a boy, I'm getting started on my "if it's a boy" quilt - based on this pattern called On The Road Again, since her fiancee is a truck driver. It needs a fair few changes though - the bonnet is too long (trucks have shorter heads here - many have no bonnets at all) and the gap between the truck and the trailer is too big and in Australia semi-trailers need to have at least 3 axles, so there's not enough wheels for it to be road legal.

And that led to this:

Scanned copies, so I can draw all over them.

Which led to this:

Trucks are big,

Quiltmath is hard,

If you expect a rhyme,

You'll be disappointed.

Having done the basic math, if not the cutting layout, I spent the rest of the night sitting in front of the fire crocheting. I even finished a beanie.

Unintentional crimes of fashion. Whatcha gunna do?

It looks horrible - like a killer moss is eating my head. Still, it helped me get a good idea of how much decreasing to do to get a nice curve, and since the next one I've started is using a fluro-pink and white 8-ply, I have somewhat higher hopes. I mean, you've gotta love a fluro and white combo.