End of the Work Week Wisdom!

Me: "I'm a little surprised it's already a thing...."
Cyrano: "I cannot say I am surprised. (: I know these people."
Me: "What are you talking about? We ARE these people. :)"
--Me and C.J., talking about the Doctor Pooh idea

Because I found a picture on Tumblr, and then found out it was a T-shirt design, and then found another T-shirt design, and then he found fanfic, and then I remembered that fanfic gives me hives.

(But it doesn't stop me from making weird mashups, and/or wanting to play in weird mashups.)

Not-So-Experimental-Cooking!

In my neverending quest to find meals that are home-cooked and delicious, I stumbled across this site and fell in love. Voila! Budget Bytes!

I'm pleased to say that I've made a few things from this site so far, but I am feeling most accomplished after making the ricotta gnocchi. Yes, for real, I made this recipe! I was concerned, because this is basically handmade PASTA!

There was a large mess involved (flour ALL OVER my clothes), and I've decided I need an apron now, but it turned out really good! I almost stopped eating to take a picture so I could post that, but it was too good to stop eating!

I put a little olive oil, garlic paste, and pancetta (one of my new favorite things) in the hot pan and swished around the gnocchi a little bit, but that's it. And there's a TON of leftovers (frozen)!

So yeah, it's not-so-experimental because I'm following other people's recipes, but it's still cooking, and that's awesome. :)

Crocheted Wedding Flowers

Yesterday, the lovely ladies at This Charming Candy mentioned that you could find their lollipops on a site called Shop Then Wed, so I popped over there to see what it was about. It's a lovely site, some handmade and some commercial, where brides (and grooms) can find things that they might want to buy for their wedding. I liked this idea, so I contacted the site owner to find out about getting listed there as well!

And now Scary White Girl Designs can be found at Shop Then Wed. You'll find crocheted roses in the bridal hair accessories, flower girl, and decorations sections. But the crocheted roses can also be made into boutineers for the guys or corsages for the mothers. They could be in bouquets or as centerpieces. Really, they can pretty much be used for anything you can think of! (At my wedding they were only on the bouquet fans and in the tossing bouquet, but I thought about adding a couple to my dress or hat! I just ran out of time with all of the other wedding prep!)

If you're interested in crocheted flowers for your wedding, check out some of what I've done in the past at Shop Then Wed or Scary White Girl Designs, and let me know what you're looking for!

Why must they do this to my music?!

I work in an old building downtown. It's an awesome place, very different from the normal high rises and towers that you see in most of the Seattle skyline. Because of this, it attracts a wide array of tenants--there are doctors, architects, and lawyers, on some of the other floors.

Our nearest neighbor in the building, however, is a training program for a hair salon. I think they've been there for maybe a year now, maybe longer. I walk past there several times a day, because the restroom for our floor is clear at the other side of the building. They're not in session every day, but when they are, they typically have loud pop music blaring from the space.

They seem to have this strange fondness for ... I want to call them mash-ups, but it's probably more accurately sampling. Like today, they're playing "Dreams" by The Cranberries, but someone was rapping over it. This is not the only time I've heard such atrocities. It's seriously at least once every time they have a class in there, and often more than that. And it's almost always songs that I know and like, too. Or at least the originals were songs I know and like.

I realize that most of the people in this training program are probably college-aged, which means that some of them have not heard the originals of the songs that are being massacred. Some of them may not have even been born when the originals were released (there's a lot of 80s music involved). But it still hurts my soul. A lot.

Oof.

In the process of making dinner last night, I managed to gash my thumb open. Ow. I'm going to get a tetanus shot today, just in case. (Especially since I can't remember the last time I got one!)

But what's worse than having a gashed open thumb and needing a tetanus shot? The fact that it's going to be a while before I can crochet. :( That puts a small crimp in my star making plans... right after I figured out how to make one that I liked AND how to make it look extra snazzy. Ah well. The notes are in my phone. I can make them after my thumb heals.

Now with 100% more substance!

I realized that pretty much all I've been posting here is End of the Work Week Wisdom, and while that is entertaining (at least to me), I should really post something of substance.

Crocheting has been a little bit on the slow side, as I haven't had a lot that I really NEED to be working on right now. My shop is more than well stocked, and we're entering into the time of year when sales are slow for me. When it starts to get warmer, people look at yarn and just sort of shudder. (Not all yarn is ridiculously warm! Really!) I started working on a couple of new things, but decided that the legwarmer idea was right out, and the patterns are taking me longer to deal with than I had hoped as well. I'm beginning to think about working on some new amigurumi stuff to pass the time, though today I was having fun trying out a couple of different star ideas on the bus. There's a plan for those, but I haven't quite gotten the star how I want it yet.

I've been trying out a lot of new recipes, though they've mostly been recipes that come from the internet. Last night, we had homemade mac and cheese that ended up a bit soupier than anticipated. I've got leftovers in my lunch today, so I'm going to see how those turned out before I start tweaking that recipe. I'm planning on jambalaya for dinner tomorrow night, which seriously already has my mouth watering. :)

Been doing a bit of writing and editing, which you can read more about at my writing blog. The short version, however, is that right now Jeremy is reviewing my novella. When he's done, I'll make some revisions based on his suggestions, and then it will be going out to some beta readers. Then it'll undergo another round of revisions, and then I get to start shopping it around. This is going to be all new to me, because I've only shopped short stories previously, and that's a very different sort of process. So fingers crossed that it works out!

Roller derby is still going strong, though we have a couple of weekends with none. This is planned, however, since we'll soon have three weekends in a row with bouts, followed by a week off, followed by four weekends in a row with bouts. Whee!

End of the Work Week Wisdom!

"He's more of a spooner than a forker."
--Christy, expanding on a person's proclivity for snuggling


And in other, completely unrelated news, why is it that I can have shelves and shelves of yarn, but I'm always running low on the yarn I want/need to use?

End of the Work Week Wisdom!

"You know what else keeps wine fresher? My belly."
--I am so clever.

The hubbie was trying to convince me that the wine with twist-off caps that my dad had bought at Grocery Outlet was because the twist-off caps keep the wine fresher. I disconcur. I think it means it's cheap. :)

(Hubbie is semi-right. Looks like the concern is bad cork ruining good wine. But I maintain that the stuff my dad bought was not good wine. Plus, wine in my belly is yummy. :) )

End of the Work Week Wisdom!

K: "Dawn, I have a question for you."
Me: "I'm sure I know the answer."
K: "Why are there a bunch of people walking around around downtown dressed up all weird?"

It's like my co-workers know me or something. :) It's SakuraCon this weekend (and NorWesCon as well, but that's near the airport).

The sekrit revealed!

Okay, so now that my friends are married and their big reveal has happened, I can share with you the sekrit project that I talked about a bit. They asked me to make a blue shell from Mario Kart for them to toss in lieu of a garter at their wedding reception. And, as you can see, I did.

Of course, when they first asked me to make this, I had no idea what a blue shell from Mario Kart was. Console video games are not part of my geek universe. But they were able to find pictures, and I just guessed on the parts I couldn't see in said pictures. :)

The finished plushie is pretty sizable. The body is probably around the same size as a football. (When I asked the bride how big to make it, her point of reference was a standard size Quaffle. Geek girls rule. :) ) I don't have any pictures of me holding it for scale, but the wings alone are far bigger than my hands.

The wings also took the longest to design and put together. Each wing had eleven individual tubes of varying sizes, which I then stitched together in clusters to make up the wing shape. I only ended up stuffing the body portion, in an attempt to keep it from being too top heavy. The wings are heavy enough just with yarn content, so they didn't need any more weight!

I wrote down most of the pattern for this as I went, but I haven't typed it up to make it pretty yet. I've got some folks who have offered to beta test it for me, but I'm anxious about figuring out how to describe exactly how I did those wings. It makes sense to me, and I could reproduce them. I just don't know if my explanation will be clear or not.

Anyway, voila! Marvel in the awesome. (And as a shameless plug, when I say I can crochet pretty much anything, I mean it. Please feel free to contact me about weird crochet projects. I like the challenge!)

Belated End of the Work Week Wisdom

It's one of those weeks.

There are chickens across the street from me. I don't milk them.
--Christy

I saw some ducks waiting for the bus today. That was kinda cool. Ducks waiting for the bus
--Nate

Snark, snark, snark.
--Eric

Yeah, that's writer's group for you. :)

Guilt-Free Cupcakes!

I love cupcakes! But sometimes, you want something that's cute like a cupcake but that you won't regret later. Enter crocheted cupcakes. Sure, they don't taste as good as real ones, but they're just as cute, and they have 0 calories!

These cupcakes also last a long time. They're great for decorations, or they can be used for pincushions (they're stuffed with fiberfill). And if you'd rather have a slightly more unusual cupcake, I make Cthulhu cupcakes (tentacles and all) and the ever popular Jayne cupcakes! I also have Halloween cupcakes, but those are seasonal, and not in the shop at the moment. (But if you're interested in Halloween cupcakes now, be sure to let me know! Otherwise, they'll be back around August.)

I'm always looking for ideas for more unusual cupcakes. I still want to make a Dalek cupcake, and I'm happy to hear other ideas you have!

+++++

And in other news, my ice cream cozies were featured in a blog today: check it out!

Sekrit project done!

I knuckled down and finished my sekrit project on Saturday! (And no, you still can't see it. I can't show it to you until April 2nd, at the earliest!) This means I'm back to making the usual stuff for my Etsy shop for at least a little while. Which is nice, because I found out today that I'm going back to longer commutes for a while... probably a few months.

Projects for the immediate future? A couple more coffee mug cozies and a hat or two. Then I'll start on the longer arm warmers and maybe leg warmers. I've got Decapitated Dollies and rose hair accessories in the works as well, but those aren't as easy to work on while busing, because they involve stuffing or sewing (or both). And while I'm fine with my hooks and large needles on the bus, tiny thread needles are just begging to be dropped in the semi-twilight of the bus.

I'm also trying to figure out how to handle the pattern that I wrote up while I was working on the sekrit project. Unfortunately, there's one REALLY complicated portion that I kinda had to make up as I went. But I think that there are parts of the pattern that can be turned into something similar, so that might work out alright. :)

P.S. Longer commute also means not in my office, which means less posting here. :(

End of the Work Week Wisdom!

Only a quick one, because my lunch break is almost over!

"We miss you hiss the love cats."
--The Cure, "The Love Cats"

Keeping your arms warm

I started out making arm warmers for myself, because we have strange climate control in our office. (Seriously. The AC kicks on regularly in the winter.) My first desk was in the coldest part of the office, so there was a lot of bundling up. Now I'm in my own office, which tends to be warmer, but still oddly variable. Also, there are days when I just don't feel like wearing long sleeved shirts, but then I realize the error of my ways when I get to the office. So I like having a pair of my arm warmers close at hand.

They're perfect for wearing with short sleeved shirts or 3/4 length sleeved shirts, and they can be worn over a tight fitting long sleeved shirt as well. I'm planning to start making longer arm warmers soon to go past the elbow, which I plan to wear with the massive quantities of cap sleeved shirts that I seem to have acquired. The past the elbow arm warmers should also work well with short sleeved shirts.

In recent months, the color selection for the yarns that I use has expanded greatly, so there's a good chance that I can put together nearly any color combination you can dream up. Most of the arm warmers are made of acrylic or other synthetic yarn, but I can make them in wool blends as well.

Ten Years of Blogging

My blog is ten years old today. My website is a bit older, because I bought my domain when I decided that having a website of my own was the way to go. I started blogging because a lot of my online friends were doing it. And though there have been plenty of breaks in that ten year span, I'm happy to say that my blog is still going strong.

It's amusing to look back at my old blog posts, and see how much I've grown from the person who started this blog. About half of the blog was written when I lived in Illinois, and the other half since I've moved to Seattle. There have been any number of hobbies and other craziness that has come and gone. But writing this today, I feel like I have a sense of direction that I was lacking ten years ago. I know I'm happier overall, but also busier and often more tired.

At any rate, here's to another ten years... probably more! I will always be the Scary White Girl. :)

End of the Work Week Wisdom!

Wherein I prove that I am like a twelve year old sometimes. :)

See?! Buffy didn't feel it. I think you're drawing a lot of crazy conclusions about the Unholy Prince! (They look at him) Bator.
--Xander, from the Buffy vs. Dracula episode

Which might make more sense if you realize that Xander also called Dracula "Master." But I think it's HILARIOUS to just add "Bator" to the end of everything now. Because I am twelve sometimes. :)

In related news, Nate said last night "After five years, there aren't spoilers any more. It's called 'history.'" Which I suppose is fair. But I keep tripping over Buffy spoilers, and as you can see from the quote, we're only at the beginning of season 5. If there are any more spoilers that I haven't accidentally hit so far, I'll be impressed.

Vampire Fang Necklace from Weirdly Cute

Back to normal!

Jeremy's surgery and recovery has gone swimmingly well. There have been a few little difficulties here and there, but nothing insurmountable. So we're both back to work in our respective offices today, armed with a list of physical therapy appointments a mile long. This mainly affects me in that for the time being, I'm the only one in our household driving. So I've shifted my work schedule a smidgen to be able to come in late some days and leave early on other days to drive him to his appointments.

One thing this whole process has convinced me? It's gonna be a while before I think about getting back on skates. I stopped reffing for adults about a year ago. I stopped reffing for junior derby a few months back. I'm only doing non-skating officiating now, and I haven't even been to the rink for fun. Ultimately, I stopped because it seemed like skating hurt every time I tried, and also because I was enjoying NSOing a lot. I also am paranoid of getting hurt, and Jeremy's surgery has just reinforced that in my head. And while I'm fully aware that I could suffer a similar injury without having skates on my feet, I figure it's best not to tempt fate.

Still hanging on to my skates for a while longer, just in case I change my mind. But the odds of that keep decreasing...

Vintage Roller Derby Skates from Sit and Sing Vintage

Love is a Warm Scarf!

It seems like the weather has been a bit wacky all over the place lately, so it's hard to say if winter is coming or going! I've got friends who had snow and ice yesterday and are expecting a warm day today. In Seattle, we've got the cold rain that's pretty typical this time of year. I'm sure I know someone who lives somewhere that spring is already sprung, though that doesn't mean it's here to stay quite yet.

A warm scarf is a good way to beat the cold days, no matter what time of year they appear! Soft and fluffy, the scarves in my Etsy shop are skinny (2-4 inches wide) and LONG (some of them up to 9 feet long), so you can wind them around your neck a few times, or just wear them long and decorative! They're also all machine washable and made from a wide variety of fibers!

End of the Work Week Wisdom!

"I don't want to pursue a painful policy of truth. I'd like to pursue a gentle policy of truth. If it starts to hurt, I don't care about the truth!"
--Jeremy's thoughts on "Policy of Truth" by Depeche Mode

And yes, this is pre-pain meds. :)