But I even made the marshmallow, and I'm not finished with my crochet thing. Plus, it is so very pink!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Ok, yes, food is kind of cheating
But I even made the marshmallow, and I'm not finished with my crochet thing. Plus, it is so very pink!
Saturday, February 2, 2008
And now for today's thingie
Yes, I made new covers for my throw pillows. I've had the fabric for, oh, ever and now they are on my couch. As expected, my slipcovers now look old and blecky.
I am not much for sewing, so even something like this makes me frown between my eyes with those lines that your mother always told you would stay if you kept making that face.
I need to go look in the mirror now.
Oh no, megaman has fallen into my drink!
tee hee. Ok, here's a non-action shot:
I totally forgot the smell of these things. Serious olfactory nostalgia.
Even the Earth is an oblate spheroid
All right, so I was aiming for crocheting a sphere. Keeping in mind that I wasn't bothering with any of that pattern nonsense, I thought, "okay, start with a little loopy bit, increase, maybe a couple of rows at the same diameter, decrease. Clearly this should be acceptable."
Not so!
Instead of getting a nice sphere (I went for eyeball colors, because, hey, if you're crocheting a sphere that is going to have no obvious purpose, anyway, it might as well be an eyeball, right?), I got this:
Not even close to a sphere. Really, I don't even think it constitutes an oblate spheroid--if anything, it sort of approximates a cylinder, and even that is rather a stretch. Just to avoid people making the same mistakes I did, here is what I did:
The whole FAIL aspect where the geometry of the thing is concerned has me thinking that I will attempt another stitchsphere later in the month. For now, though, please enjoy (hell yes).
Not so!
Instead of getting a nice sphere (I went for eyeball colors, because, hey, if you're crocheting a sphere that is going to have no obvious purpose, anyway, it might as well be an eyeball, right?), I got this:
Not even close to a sphere. Really, I don't even think it constitutes an oblate spheroid--if anything, it sort of approximates a cylinder, and even that is rather a stretch. Just to avoid people making the same mistakes I did, here is what I did:
- Chain 3, then loop what would have been your fourth chain stitch through the first chain stitch to make a little loopy jobber.
- Working into the center of the loopy jobber, make 8 single crochets (or I think that's what they are, anyway. I'm still a little unclear on the terminology).
- Start a new row by chaining 3 through the first single crochet, then single crochet two stitches into each of your 8 stitches in the previous row.
- Start a new row, then alternate between stitching once and stitching twice into the stitches from the previous row.
- In the next row, stitch singly into two stitches for each one you double stitch into
- keep up the pattern you should see emerging here whereby you stitch singly into one additional stitch between doubly stitched stitches compared to the previous row.
- How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- At some point, decide you are happy with the diameter of the thing, do one row where you just stitch once into each stitch from the previous row.
- Decrease by stitching singly into the same number of intervening stitches as you had on the last increase row, only now instead of having that double stitch, skip one entirely, and stitch into the following stitch. (i.e., stitch 7, skip 1, stitch 7, skip 1, etc.)
- Stuff with stuff. Tie off and explode head.
The whole FAIL aspect where the geometry of the thing is concerned has me thinking that I will attempt another stitchsphere later in the month. For now, though, please enjoy (hell yes).
Friday, February 1, 2008
happy Crappy Week week
This has just been one of those weeks when everything has pretty much sucked. Monday? Sucked. Tuesday? Tuesday really sucked. Wednesday? I had a ton of meetings, and also it sucked. Yesterday? Started out like it was going to be okay, but then descended into suck. Today? Exhausting, erratic, more fun than the previous days (everyone at work apparently got the "inappropriate for work Friday" notice, which at least made the day interesting), but still pretty well punctuated with suck. To make it even more fun, the majority of my local buddies were also experiencing Crappy Week week, so I couldn't even wallow in misery.
Please don't even ask about Tuesday, though.
However, today was different, because today was February, and, like my sister, I have embarked upon a perhaps misguided effort to make something every day this month. This meant two things: a trip to Michael's for some supplies (which was facilitated by the fact that I sat on the edge of my tub this morning creating a list of completely random stuff I could make over the course of the month), and the incredibly painful act of making my first thing.
I decided on a self portrait. Well, more like 2.5 self portraits. Here are some of the things that make these particular self portraits particularly excellent:
So yes. It's a rather inauspicious beginning to a month of craftiness, but that's okay. I have...ideas. And I do believe rather sincerely that if I can execute successfully on even one or two of those ideas, I will be most satisfied with the outcome of the month. There are a couple in particular that I am pretty excited about. Conveniently, the exhibitionist element of blogging means that you all get to watch as I spiral downward into a dark place where arts and crafts dare not show their faces.
I also feel compelled to mention that I've just discovered that my roasted acorn squash has gone bad.
Awesome.
Please don't even ask about Tuesday, though.
However, today was different, because today was February, and, like my sister, I have embarked upon a perhaps misguided effort to make something every day this month. This meant two things: a trip to Michael's for some supplies (which was facilitated by the fact that I sat on the edge of my tub this morning creating a list of completely random stuff I could make over the course of the month), and the incredibly painful act of making my first thing.
I decided on a self portrait. Well, more like 2.5 self portraits. Here are some of the things that make these particular self portraits particularly excellent:
- I don't actually look like any of them.
- Looking at yourself that closely for that long really draws attention to all seven signs of aging that they mention in those skin care product advertisements. Note how this is particularly clear from my depictions of the dark circles under my eyes. Did I mention that this week sucked?
- I used to be pretty good at this.
So yes. It's a rather inauspicious beginning to a month of craftiness, but that's okay. I have...ideas. And I do believe rather sincerely that if I can execute successfully on even one or two of those ideas, I will be most satisfied with the outcome of the month. There are a couple in particular that I am pretty excited about. Conveniently, the exhibitionist element of blogging means that you all get to watch as I spiral downward into a dark place where arts and crafts dare not show their faces.
I also feel compelled to mention that I've just discovered that my roasted acorn squash has gone bad.
Awesome.
An auspicious beginning...
Happy February!
So I went to register for Thingaday and couldn't because of random computer glitch that was annoying. That sister o' mine said that I should just do it on our blog. Hey, there's a thought... and much less pressure if I skip a day.
At work, I pondered, what shall I make today? Which was ironic, considering the job, and in particular the job today. Today's work involved making a (I kid you not) $1800.00 birthday cake for a thirteen year old. This involved fashioning a crown shaped cake top out of sugar, fondant, buttercream, a bundt pan, a wire rack, cake boards, and masking tape. We pulled it off, although I still say that red and fuschia pink DO NOT MATCH. Three giant cake tiers, cake stand, and crown are layered together, and loaded into the boss's wife's car (a corvette wouldn't work for this, so he had to borrow that car). I am elected to join boss in the delivery process.
Of course, the trip there involves many sudden starts and stops, sharp curves, speed bumps, and my job is to say if the cake slips. All is well until boss gets impatient and tries to zip around a car trying to turn left. Splooty. The cake slides off the cake stand, into the hatchback door. Of course, the part that hit is the front of the cake. The good news is the cake holds together - we can repair it, we have the technology!
And so I found myself piping buttercream on top of fondant in the back of this SUV to cover the splooted parts, then holding the cake on the cake stand while trying not to mess up anything else for the harrowing remainder of the trip to the event. We got it in, got it down in place, and RAN for the door.
I got home a good while later, thanks to 5 o'clock Friday commute times, and realized I had to still make something. I made cheeseburgers appear in my hand that someone else cooked. Does that count?
Ah well, there is still time...
So I went to register for Thingaday and couldn't because of random computer glitch that was annoying. That sister o' mine said that I should just do it on our blog. Hey, there's a thought... and much less pressure if I skip a day.
At work, I pondered, what shall I make today? Which was ironic, considering the job, and in particular the job today. Today's work involved making a (I kid you not) $1800.00 birthday cake for a thirteen year old. This involved fashioning a crown shaped cake top out of sugar, fondant, buttercream, a bundt pan, a wire rack, cake boards, and masking tape. We pulled it off, although I still say that red and fuschia pink DO NOT MATCH. Three giant cake tiers, cake stand, and crown are layered together, and loaded into the boss's wife's car (a corvette wouldn't work for this, so he had to borrow that car). I am elected to join boss in the delivery process.
Of course, the trip there involves many sudden starts and stops, sharp curves, speed bumps, and my job is to say if the cake slips. All is well until boss gets impatient and tries to zip around a car trying to turn left. Splooty. The cake slides off the cake stand, into the hatchback door. Of course, the part that hit is the front of the cake. The good news is the cake holds together - we can repair it, we have the technology!
And so I found myself piping buttercream on top of fondant in the back of this SUV to cover the splooted parts, then holding the cake on the cake stand while trying not to mess up anything else for the harrowing remainder of the trip to the event. We got it in, got it down in place, and RAN for the door.
I got home a good while later, thanks to 5 o'clock Friday commute times, and realized I had to still make something. I made cheeseburgers appear in my hand that someone else cooked. Does that count?
Ah well, there is still time...
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