Beginning to see the light

Ah, the restorative power of a holiday weekend. I should have graded. I didn't. I did finish fixing the accursed hoodie:

Now it only requires a zipper.

I also finished sewing a bridal shower gift. This is the kimono-style robe from Amy Butler's In Stitches, made out of a 100% cotton Robert Kaufman screen print that I purchased from Pacific Fabrics and Crafts.

Speaking of Pacific Fabrics, they had a 25% off all fabric sale on Memorial Day. My credit card is still smoking.

Sweater surgery

My design project ran into a hitch. I finished the second sleeve and sewed it to the body. I persuaded a size small friend to try it on. The sleeve was dorky. It was too long, and the difference in gauge between the cuff and the sleeve made it poof above the cuff. Here's a picture of the miscreant, with the hood turned away in shame. (The picture fails to capture the full stupidity of the original sleeve.)

After long meditation and much advice-seeking, I decided to remove the cuffs and bottom 2" of sleeve (they were REALLY long).

Then I reknit the cuff so it was wider, decreased in the last row to allow for the gauge difference, and grafted it back on to the sleeve.

I'm just about done reknitting the second cuff. To deal with it, I have to unseam the sleeve that I've already attached to the sweater. I hope this damn thing is cute when it's done.

First ever meme

My big sis tagged me. Since I can't muster up the brain power or digital photographs to write a post about what's actually going on in my litter world, here you go.

Here are the rules:
-Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
-People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
-At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
-Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have a reading problem. If I’m seriously involved in a book, I can ignore almost anything. I have to be careful about how close I am to finishing a book if bedtime is approaching, because if the end is in sight I’m likely to stay up far too late getting to it.

2. I’ve never broken a bone. (Knock on virtual wood.)

3. I never saw the ocean until I moved to Japan after finishing college. I’m a Midwestern girl (Missouri), and I stayed pretty close to home until I made the big move. I lived very near the coast in Japan, and no one I met there could imagine a country so large that the ocean was unreachable.

4. If I have the house to myself for any length of time, the first thing I do is clean the kitchen. Then I go buy a frozen pizza, rent a fluffy movie, and begin the descent to barbarism.

5. I can twiddle my thumbs in opposite directions (i.e. one clockwise and one counter-clockwise) simultaneously. I taught myself how to do it during many, many boring high school classes.

6. I’m insanely fidgety (see above). I tend to fold, curl, and shred pieces of paper (or tie my hair in knots, or pull threads out of my blue jeans) if I don’t have anything else in my hands. One of the many reasons I love knitting is that it turns this problem into productivity.

7. I have two English degrees. I always kind of feel like this ought to mean I love great literature and choose to curl up with timeless works in my free time. In reality, I love pop culture fluff. Give me a plot, some explosions, and a steamy sex scene, and I’m basically happy. Of course I do also like some serious, weighty works of Literature, but I spend most of my free time with more lightweight fare.

8. I totally, completely suck at sending holiday cards. Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas – I ignore them all. I really love my friends and family, but that love just doesn’t seem to translate into purchased cards and postage stamps.

I'm not tagging anyone. If you, too, need a random blog post, consider yourself tagged.

Addictive

For the doubtless very small sub-set of blog readers who are fans of both lolcats and Project Runway. (If such a sub-set exists, we could take it as proof of the Long Tail.)

Mah catz haf been lolled

Courtesy of Camera Obscura (mah big sis), and the LolCatBuildr.

Big sigh of relief

We got Chloe's biopsy results today. The removed lump is not a scary cancerous tumor. It's a non-cancerous growth, which, in my giddy relief, I have promptly forgotten the name of. Since it may recur, and have to be removed AGAIN because it's in a place that's irritating to Chloe, Trent has dubbed it a "fiscal suckitoma".

The end is in sight for my SWTC design project. It's past deadline and I'm sick of it, but I still think it will be cute when done.

And in the "not sighing with relief" category, I got volunteered for another frakkin committee. Great is my joy. (By joy, I mean "snarling impotent rage.")

Poor, neglected blog

Work work work sleep dogs sleep work dogs sleep work sew work dogs sleep knit work dogs work etc.

Since I've been so damn useless as a blogger lately, let me entertain you with pictures!

Here are the cats, "helping" me cut out a sewing project.

Recently completed outfit. The picture doesn't show the pleats on the skirt (between ribbon and hem) very well. The blouse is a fancy rayon/poly burnout. (Obviously I wear something under it.)

It's little blouse on the prairie! Actually I love this blouse, but it is, as my friend Nancy predicted, a little prim. It's also wrinkled because I wore it to and from work that day.

Same basic pattern, but with cherries! ruffles! and rick-rack!

Finally, our household continues to be full of dogs. Briscoe the foster dog is convinced he's a lapdog. Stella alternates between being his best friend (play! play! play!) and being wildly jealous. Chloe just had to have surgery to have a growth removed . We'll get biopsy results Monday or Tuesday. It could be harmless; it could be a mast cell tumor. I'm fixedly not thinking about it.