Dear Santa

No, I don't know how my spare size 1 DPN found its way into the washing machine.

Yes, I know it's bad for the blankets.

Still. I'm being such a good girl this year...

New Futurama Episodes

We were well-prepared.

Pattern: Bender Bending Rodriguez from Soph Stitch (free)

(Here's where I admit that you won't see loads and loads of crochet from me in the future, 'cause... I don't think I like it as much. Cute stuff, but my knuckles freakin' hurt now.)

The Kitchen Did Not Burn Down

I would like to report that I made this Lime Yogurt Cake with Strawberry Sauce tonight for myself, my fella, and his parents.

(Dish without sauce; with sauce, its life expectancy decreases radically.)

I am pleased to report that after one hour, we all appear to be of sound health.

The strawberries were hand-picked by the fella's folks on their own land, and I happen to think they were all the more delicious for it. (The strawberries, I mean.)

Meryton: a knitter's nod to Jane Austen

I recently uploaded a new pattern to Ravelry, available for $4.99.



Meryton is an excellent cardigan to wear over a close-fitting top. It provides enough extra coverage to give you more outfits to wear to work or school, and it keeps the chill off your shoulders for a walk through town. That, plus the empire waste, suggested the Austen-inspired name.



My two test-knitters did superb jobs helping me to find the occasional error in the first draft, and they wound up with great FOs themselves. Thanks, Frick and Soprano1!

A few have asked: will this work on other body types? Yes, it will. The diamond shape of the lace crossover draws the eye up, which is generally where most of us fare best.

Happy knitting!

If Knits Could Speak

Some of my recent FOs speak up on my behalf.

"Stand up straight, young lady."

Funny... I didn't actually intend to wear that dress that day. But then I tried it on to take pictures with this new bolero I had just finished, and the zipper got stuck in a major way. My fella had already left for work, so... I wore the blue dress.

(Pattern: Ribbed Lace Bolero)

"Maybe crochet isn't so bad after all."

(Pattern: Foamies)

"No, I'm not pregnant."

I just think Wii hands are cute.

(Pattern: Miittens)

Wisdom Tree

I got no pithy intro this afternoon - it's a holiday, and my nap-addled brain is like a dehydrated fig. (Wait, is that pithy?)

At the beginning of this month, I finished this:



It's for the Arthouse 5x7 show. And y'know what? It sold the first night. Didn't expect that!

I called it Wisdom Tree. It's supposed to represent the tree from which Odin hung for a week while he figured things out; the eyeball is the man himself. (High concept? Me?) I imagine some folks might look for heavy interpretations, but in truth, it was all about "Dang I wish I could just finish this," since I had two days to start and finish, thanks to our recent move.

My fella also contributed a piece - which also sold. See the wall of artwork for sale? This was taken on the second night. Ours are right next to each other, the only ones with the tags taken. (To purchase at this show, you take a tag to the cashier.)



I have enough iffy things in my life without starting a career as a visual artist, too, so this is likely a one-off deal that was lots of fun.

The Creatures You Meet

Yes, it's been a while.

So we bought a house.

And I didn't want to say anything, because for a while there it looked like it would all fall through. Then it didn't, and we had a house, and we had to move into the house. And I was like, blog? What? Do I have one of those?

But we're moved in now. It's way more suburban than we'd prefer, but there's this thing about price ranges and location.

On the upside, we have a yard. I've planted some things that will hopefully survive, and there's room for us to take crazy art projects (more on that later) outside where we won't destroy the wood floor.

On the downside... we have a yard. DANG it.

And suburban though this might be, I'm learning that having a yard brings you a little closer to nature. You take care of the lawn and observe every critter you see, in case its behavior turns invasive.

In fact...

We chose this morning to attack the lawn. I went as the vanguard, trowel and gloves at the ready, pulling weeds so the fella could mow. (And by the way, there is no faster way to age yourself and face the sudden reality that your hipster days are like so totally finished than to push a lawnmower around the place. Again: DANG it.) Everything was going swimmingly - and then, I spied something unusual:

At least, I thought it was unusual. I don't know, we're new to suburbia. Maybe these things crawl out of the sewers all the time.

But that's probably Florida. And this is Texas. Do they have free-range crawfish in Texas? Um.

He was still alive, too - he was crawling through the St. Augustine. I was willing to pick up the guy, but we had no idea where to put him. Should we be humanitarian and give him a shot at life? Or boil him ourselves?

Turns out, the neighbors are having a crawfish boil. He'd set down the cooler for a few minutes next to the house... and a couple escaped, and tried to make a run for it. Quite fresh and healthy little buggers, too: they were like five feet from where he'd set the cooler. The neighbor kindly picked up the stray crawfish and returned them to death row.

We combed the yard to make sure no more renegade crustaceans waited for us. After all - and I'm no expert - but I think that would gunk up the mower.

(DANG it.)