cats and dogs, living together...

points for the reference. ^

and brace yourselves, it's going to be a long post today.

so here's what's going on at our place right now, in reference to the title of today's rant:

that would be lucy and clarisse, apparently getting along. it seems that if i am present, and we can keep the dog out of the cat food and the cat out of the dog food, we will have peace. it's not so bad, really. they're adapting well. besides, it was easier and cheaper than letting the poor pup stay in a kennel for a week and a half. now, instead of laying around in her crate all day, she can lay around on the couch.

christmas, i think, was a smashing success, although i didn't get a few things done on time. the one person (my loving hubby) was very gracious about it and i turned the other one into a christmas/january birthday present. so i have a little more time, though the damn thing is sucking my life away.

here's a funny story for you though... the 23rd of december, i was sewing away on a practice reusable shopping bag in preparation for making one for my brother, because it had been a long time since i had worked the pattern. well, it turned out pretty well, easy, and fast, and apparently i got a little cocky because this is what i did next:

what you see on the right is a proper pattern piece. the handles are on the sides, and the space is in the middle. what you see on the left is, well, not. the handles are in the middle and the space is on the side. i could've dealt with this mistake, but there was one major flaw.

no matter what, the pattern pieces have to match. which means i either need two of the one on the right (preferable) or two of the one on the left. there ain't no workin' it any other way.

and i didn't have enough fabric.

i never thought i'd say this: wal-mart to the rescue! they had 1 yard left on a bolt on the clearance table. talk about christmas luck!

i didn't get a picture of the finished rams bag - it even has a pocket it can fold itself into, but here are the ones i made for me, at various points in the past.

the veggie one on the right is the first one i made, a looooong time ago, but i cut the fruit one out at the same time. the kitty one was the practice bag and i just finished the leaf one the other night when i was bored out of my mind with this stupid soul-sucking crochet project i'm working on.

and the linings:

i think i'll make one for everyone next year. they cost about $5 each, so i'd still have some money to play around with for everyone, but they're sturdy, quick to make, and environmentally responsible.

i've invented other chores for myself to avoid this crochet project i'm working on, but i think it can't be helped anymore. i must return to it, for 40 minutes at least, at which time i will be eating lunch and preparing to embark for work. whoopdeedo. love you all!

crunch, crunch, crunch

i wish it was a cereal thing.

instead i'm feeling the holiday pressure, and the final exam pressure, all coming down at once. it's monday night, which means i will be studying until my caffeine buzz from my Stash White Christmas Tea (spectacular stuff, love it, especially with a 3-second squeeze of honey) wears off, and i will be studying tomorrow, both before and after work, then i will be going to two finals on wednesday, coming home and finishing two (hopefully three) christmas presents, one of which i have to completely re-chart.

i know i don't blog about this kind of stuff usually, but i couldn't help sharing. i did some christmas-presents-for-myself shopping last weekend because it was so cold outside and i wanted more cozy things to wear to work, so i sort of did this...

it's not my fault. i'm helpless and weak in the face of words like "extra-fine merino" and "fifty percent off." i got the sweaters for about $6 each though, so i don't feel so bad. one of them is a brooks brothers sweater.

i made some more headway on christmas presents too. this is the five-spice hat from the crochet me! website through interweave, and as a pattern review, it was pretty easy to follow, though it had a couple major drawbacks. it is pretty though, isn't it?

one: there's an error in the pattern. to fix it, don't do any decreases in round 15 and follow the rest of the pattern as directed.
two: gauge was nearly impossible to get, if you're a tight crocheter, like me, you may want to configure some way to do a size up.
three: instructions on the different stitches used (slip stitch front and back loop, slip stitch decreases) aren't given in the pattern, so you should know how to do them before trying it.

if i made it again for myself (and i'm going to), i'm going to make it just a tad bigger and definitely longer. the earflaps on this one are my addition, and i made it in a yummy thick-thin wool called "licorice."

it's for a twelve-year-old girl, so i hope she likes it!

i don't know why i'm speaking so technically about projects tonight. to keep this one simple, it's for a sixteen-year-old girl and its an adaptation of a knit pattern called "just enough ruffles." wool of the andes bulky, colorway "spumoni."

again, blogging with cell pictures stinks. i wish i had my camera fixed!!

i don't think i'm going to be able to get my father-in-law's scarf done on time. i hope he understands.

more tea. more studying. more crocheting.

Good News!

Somehow, (I'm not sure exactly how - maybe time warped in my favor for once??) I passed the halfway mark with my homemade gifts! And I got my hubby to agree to help with one of them, though I'm trying to convince him to take it over for me.

"Okay, hon, I can help but I've never made these before."

Dear Bairloch knows for a fact, however, that I've never made them either, and that he is most definitely the superior baker (shut up, you are). So here is a public plea from your just-barely-half-done-with-christmas-crafting wife to please, please, take this one over.

I dramatize. I know you'll help if I ask. I love you.

Here's the item that set me over my halfway mark: another McCall's 6049 kid's apron. This one is for a little girl, so i went ahead with the cupcake fabric and the ruffles and the bobble trim. I used view A but left the ruffles off the top and did the trim as I pleased.

Stupid ruffles. I now hate ruffles. My thread kept breaking on my longest basting stitch on the machine (which was quite short anyway) so i had to pin the damn things every centimeter. Lots of sticks. Ick. The bobble trim was too think to turn under and task with the seams and all, so i trimmed it flush and sealed the edges with super glue gel (it's the same thing as fray check but thicker).

Cute flower buttons! The casings for the straps were easier on this one because, unlike the Thomas apron (where I cut the piece wherever I had room left), I actually cut the casing pieces on the bias, so they stretched a bit better and laid flatter.

I'm beginning to panic a bit about getting everything done in time. I'm starting to rationalize and prioritize, which is never a good sign. One family comes first, and I have.... 4 projects and 2 half projects to finish.

I'm supposed to be taking notes in class now. At least I'm here (it's a step up).

I've been Linked!

Turns out there's a whole blog devoted to geeky crafts, and I got one of the daily posts!

http://geekcrafts.com/the-big-bang-theory-cross-stitch-bazinga/

pretty cool, huh?

Insanity, thy name is Einstein

Not that Albert Einstein was himself insane (remind me to change my facebook profile; I think I may have misappropriated his quote to someone else). Einstein is attributed to leaving us this brilliant little gem:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Clearly, by Einstein-ian measures, I am insane.

Once again, despite giving myself a pep talk a few weeks ago (sort of - that one was about not skipping class), I have ended up in the position of having a bunch of work to do (read: tons) at 10:30 on a Sunday night. And it's no one's fault but my own.

I readily accept blame for this predicament, but to make myself feel just a tad bit better, I turned to Jean Debuffet (like french "john" + day-bouf-fay: don't worry, I had to look him up too. He's a painter/sculpter-type person) who said:

"For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. 'Normal' means lack of imagination, lack of creativity."

So by this definition, because I'm insane, I'm most definitely sane. But if I'm sane, I'm normal, which apparently also means I'm psychotic.

To be insane? Or to be psychotic? Choices, choices...



p.s. No knitting for me tonight.

p.p.s. Okay, maybe just a row or two, you know, to take the edge off and keep me awake at 2 a.m.