Today's Post Brought To You By Len's Pants

Work continues to kick my rear, and will through next Friday. The founder of Population Studies Center (where I work) died in November and our memorial will be May 2. I am doing the photo and table displays; his career spanned some 50 years and was incredibly varied. Trying to visually sum up a career which included the Detroit Area Study and fertility in Taiwan is a teeny bit daunting.

So, because I need a little levity: Len's pants:

I should have linked yesterday: Len's toys are the chickens.

Today's Post Brought To You By Bald Grumpy Chickens

Still insanely busy at work. Len's new toys are getting. Oh, let's say, less than pretty.

Today Brought to You By the Color Yellow

Judy is a Punk

I didn't mean to be away for so long. Work has been taking up a great deal of time (no, I haven't stopped coming to work). Don't you hate that? When work is work?

This is Gwen. Gwen is neurotic. Her life is far from perfect, and she complains about it regularly. We don't know why her life isn't perfect, but it isn't.

This is Simon. Simon is a big, dumb guy. His life is perfect and he rarely complains.

This is Fred. Fred loves water. Fred's life is perfect, too, except for the Monster.

This is Judy. Despite what Fred thinks, she is not a monster.

In her way, she is actually kind of sweet. But, Tea's comment from the other day isn't so far off ("She sounds like a housewife who got married as a teen just to leave her parents' home, but it turns out she's secretly a lesbian and now has 9 kids so she has to turn to the Vicodin & Gin diet.") Poor girl.

Because we can't seem to get the situation between Judy and Fred under control, we called in an expert. Yes. An expert. A cat whisperer, if you will. She had some interesting insights: it seems that female cats in general, and calicos in particular, are quite anti-social. Their little pea brains are all about maximizing resources for themselves and whatever litter of kittens they have hanging around. Even if they have never had kittens, this is still part of their genetic makeup. Calicos are even worse because it takes some extra female chromosomes to hold all of the colors. Super females. Males are only trying to maximize their own resources, so can afford to allow other cats into their orbits.

Judy was ok with Simon and Gwen because she was a kitten when she came. They were, for all intents and purposes, her parents. She is not ok with Fred because Fred is also a female, almost an adult, and kind of a bad ass herself. It turns out, Fred is a bit of a killer (or she wants to be). She got on this poor woman's lap and starting trying to eat her knee.

So. We are to start feeding them treats, first separated by a cracked door, then in full view of each other, but separated by a screen (child gate, or something), gradually moving them closer together. They should, in theory, begin to associate each other with TREATS rather than KILL.

Sounds good in theory. But we are having trouble getting them to step one. Judy is too freaked out to come out from under the bed and Fred is much too busy. We'll keep trying, our wits aren't at an end yet, but we're getting close.

Knitting! Weaving! Sewing! Oh My!

Finished in very short order:

The Walkaway Dress. Very, very easy, but the bias tape was annoying. I found 6 yards of the green and blue paisley fabric in a local antique (junk?) shop. At 36" wide, it worked fine for the skirt and back pieces, but the front (the white piece in the above picture) was too wide. I was afraid the paisley would be overwhelming, anyway, so wasn't disappointed to use a contrasting fabric.

Shoes, you ask?

Fluevog! Please don't look at the price, I'm embarrassed. My only excuse is a nice sized tax return.

Pleats continue to drift. The red continues to be impossible to capture. The color is about right, but the picture fails to capture the depth of the color (Blue Sky Alpaca).

A Koolhaas for my step-mother, Linda, in Rowan Calmer.

It doesn't look like much (and probably won't for a couple of years at the rate I knit), but eventually it will be Frost Flowers and Leaves. The blue is a lifeline, which I've not found reason to do before, but that row gave me a great deal of trouble. A lifeline hint: when you are threading it in, make sure you don't go through the markers. Learn from my idiocy.

It looks a bit like a hairy cloud, don't you think? This is alpaca from Henry's Attic, I may dye it when I am done. Then again, I may not.

A toe-up ribbed sock for Len, guaranteed to drive me to drink -- I hate ribbing, but this is the only way to get a little pattern into his life. Um. I don't know what this yarn is.

And. Finally. Weaving. Yup. We've been keeping Judy locked up in the weaving room, and to keep myself occupied while visiting her, I warped up the inkle loom. The selvages are pretty bad. I re-tied the warp so I think it will be better now. This will be a camera strap for my dad.

Whew!

I'm going to put up hints to the remaining quotes in a couple of minutes, so check back.

Movie Trivia Game

First, I want to say Hey! to everyone visiting from A Dress A Day, and thank you so much for your kind comments!

I was planning on posting pictures today of knitting (I do still knit), a new dress (will the obsession ever end?) and possibly some weaving (gasp!). But a plan is not a post, so instead I have a Movie Trivia Game (stolen from Miriam Felton's blog and the Caffeinated Librarian). 15 of my favorite movies in quotes (via IMDB), what are the movies (leave your answers in the comments)? If you cheat, you are the only one who will (but you will know and can you live with that?)

1. Good evening Sir, my name is Steve. I come from a rough area. I used to be addicted to crack but now I am off it and trying to stay clean. That is why I am selling magazine subscriptions.

Office Space, Keith M. For some reason, I know the name of the actor, Orlando Jones. I don't know why. Steve is, indeed, an out-of-work software developer. However, they start pumping him for information because they think, as a "former crackhead", he might know dealers who would know about laundering money. As it turns out, Steve wouldn't know a rock of crack (or whatever) if it hit him upside the head.

2. Mickey: Think her family's gonna be okay that you're a white guy?
Cliff: They think any woman over 30 who isn't married is a lesbian. She figures, they'll be so relieved that I'm a man...
Mickey: Yeah, it's always heartwarming to see a prejudice defeated by a deeper prejudice.

Lone Star, Helen (from the great John Sayles, he alway manages to get a great performance from Kris Kristofferson, which is not an easy task)

3. When you're in love with a married man you shouldn't wear mascara.

The Apartment, Helen (A recent addition to my list of favorites. Shirley MacLaine is just adorable and heartbreaking in this)

4. We musn't underestimate American blundering. I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918.

Casablanca, Keith M. (This usually sits at the #1 or #2 spots in my list of favorite movies)

5. I thought all writers drank to excess and beat their wives. You know one time I secretly wanted to be a writer.

Hint: "Sometimes, for your own sake, Red, I think you should've stuck to me longer." "I thought it was for life, but the nice judge gave me a full pardon." "Aaah, that's the old redhead. No bitterness, no recrimination, just a good swift left to the jaw."

Philadelphia Story (really? No one got this one? What a great, funny, funny movie, and lot's of drunken behavior!)

6. Are you sure you were talking about water skis? From where I sat it looked as though you were conjugating some irregular verbs.

Hint: Why do you think we moved so often? Your father was a swindler, dear, but a lovable one. If you ask me, this one's a bigger operator on every level.

To Catch a Thief, MichMash (So many Hitchcock movies, so little time...)

7. I can remember everything. That's my curse, young man. It's the greatest curse that's ever been inflicted on the human race: memory.

Citizen Kane, Keith M. (very good! Spoken by Jedediah Leland, as many of the really good quotes in this movie are)

8. Anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel, I doubt anybody would miss you.

Clueless, Helen (one of my favorite quotes from the best adaption of Emma)

9. The last time that I trusted a dame was in Paris in 1940. She said she was going out to get a bottle of wine. Two hours later, the Germans marched into France.

2 Hints: "How do I look so young? Quite simple. A complete vegetable diet, twelve hours sleep a night, and *lots* and *lots* of makeup." and "If you ask me, anybody that offers a million bucks to solve a crime that ain't been committed yet has lost a lot more upstairs than his hair."

Murder by Death (I first saw this was I was 10 or 11, and thought it was hilarious, even if I didn't get what it was satirizing. I thought the last quote would give it away for sure, since that's the plot.)

10. I don't think I've ever drunk champagne before breakfast before. With breakfast on several occasions, but never before, before.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Helen (sigh. Audrey....)

11. We're not in infinity; we're in the suburbs.

Hint: "Have you ever transcended space and time?" "Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."

I (Heart) Huckabees, MichMash (How could you not love a movie that takes existential philosophy as it's theme. Such a weird, funny, intelligent movie. By the way, is anyone else still surprised at Marky Mark's acting chops?)

12. I've hired you to help me start a war. It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition.

Princess Bride, Keith M. (I skipped many many classes to stay home and watch this one, and it never gets old)

13. I don't like warriors. Too narrow-minded, no subtlety. And worse, they fight for hopeless causes. Honor? Huh! Honor's killed millions of people, it hasn't saved a single one.

Hint: "Mul-ti-pass"

Fifth Element, Lacy (one of those movies that shouldn't work, but does, in all its campy wonder. Milla is gorgeous, Bruce is Bruce, and Oldman chews so much scenery I'm surprised he has any teeth left.)

14. The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

High Fidelity, Helen (I kind of thought this was on the obvious side, but these are words to live by, or at least make mix tapes [or CDs] by)

15. Doctor, I'm takin' your sister under my protection here. If anything happens to her, anything at all, I swear to you, I will get very choked up. Honestly, there could be tears.

Serenity, Mim (another recent addition to the favorite list. A western, in space, with zombies, written and directed by Joss Whedon. What's not to love?)

I'm going home now, so check back tomorrow for answers..

5th Anniversary

Today is the fifth anniversary of Len and my first date. What I wrote for our third anniversary still rings true (and it is the story of how we met). Len is the love of my life and my very dear friend, I can barely remember what it was like before him, and I don't want to imagine it without him.

And he has the prettiest eyes of anyone I've ever met.

Len's New Toys

Taking pictures of the little buggers is about the level of involvement in this venture that I want. They are cute now, but they grow up to be nasty creatures.

This is their temporary housing (borrowed from a neighbor). The former owners of our house had a dog run in back of our barn, which Len will convert to a chicken coop. Note Fred in the background. She was intrigued.

Never in my life did I suspect chickens would be part of my world. Chickens. Oh well. Len did need a hobby!

And Another Thing

I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I just have one thing to say:

Damn you, Barbara Kingsolver and your mozzarella making ways!

(It came out really badly. I'll try again this weekend.)

Dress!

I have achieved Dress! The pictures are awful -- these are the best of the bunch.

It is very hard to take pictures of myself. The pattern did not promise to be "Easy", and it was not: the collar was hard, the midriff was hard, I had to take the bottom trim off and do it again (mostly due to my own boneheadedness). The seam ripper and I became very good friends during this project. And to be honest, I enjoyed every head banging, frustrating minute of it. It was like a big puzzle, and at the end...a dress! Very cool.

Next up, something easier. This pattern is much more appropriate for the blue and green paisley fabric (something having to do with grain direction). No ifs, ands, or buts about it: I am obsessed.

On Having a Kitten

Fred discovered toilet paper.

We're so proud.

It's exhausting work.

Spring is Springing

Despite threats of more {insert swearing} snow, spring is coming. I think.

Bell's Brewery thinks Spring is coming.

I've been seeing more of these rotten creatures.

Look! It's already trying to sniff out my garden! Rotten creature.

You might think this is a robin. Fred calls it "dinner".

You might call these "violets". I call them "weeds".

The best sign of all: Daffodil shoots.

Even snow {insert swearing} can't keep spring away forever. I think.

Pretty Girl

We had Easter with Len's family. I only managed to get two pictures before my camera batteries died, one of which was a nice shot, but blurry. So I've been playing with it, trying to make the blurriness look deliberate.

Equinox Done!

Two adult size sweaters in one season. That is surely a record. For me, anyway.

The picture is horrid of course. Taking a picture earlier in the day wouldn't have made a difference, since the sun was obscured by the {insert cursing} snowstorm.

That is a better representation of the colors, also a close up of a button. Unfortunately, I lost a button in the deep recesses of a bag of yarn, where it seems to have been eaten by a lint monster. I'm very proud of how this came out, I think this is the most thought I've put into a sweater and made it very much my own.

Comments on the sewing:
@: I always say: why start with something easy, when you can start with something way beyond your skill level and drive yourself insane in the process? Ha!

Miriam: I don't even know what a "feeder dog" is, which might also be part of the problem! I do love the obscure language of craft. Until recently, the machine hasn't had much use. I bought the thing to aid with steeks and hemming handwoven stuff (and notice how little of that I've done). Had I thought for a minute I'd take up sewing clothes, I'd have paid more attention to what I was buying (it's an el-cheapo Brother from Target). Oh well. I'll probably upgrade if I continue to do this.

Sharon: Don't worry. Despite all evidence to the contrary {insert swearing}, Spring is coming. Soon I'll be up to my elbows in dirt and have no time or energy for much more than three exhausted stitches of knitting a night. I have to say, though, this has been way more fun than I expected, and I keep thinking of things I could make. Not underwear, though. I won't go that far.

Not Easy

The dress pattern I have been playing with lately is not labeled "Very Easy", or even "Easy". It is labeled "Step by Step for Sewing Success!". I'm looking for success, so it seemed like the pattern for me. Yep.

It turns out. "Step by Step" is not the same as "Easy" and certainly not "Very Easy".

That neck trim is hard, at least for someone who is just learning how to sew. This isn't so hard in knitting, but yarn is much more forgiving than cloth.

There are a couple of little wrinkles up there, where the cloth didn't quite do my bidding, but given how really difficult this was for me, I can live with them.

Also. I still can't sew a straight line, which leads to problems like that one. I was talking to a co-worker about this issue. She remembers in her Junior High School Home Economics class having sheets with straight lines and swirls. They were graded on how many stitches fell outside the lines. I, myself, was so damaged in my own Junior High Home Ec. class by a fondue recipe which involved cheese and Sprite that I don't remember anything about sewing (except that it happened), but it does seem like a very good way to practice. I think I will make something up and sew lots of straight lines and curves. Fun!

I should have pictures of a finished Equinox on Thursday. It is drying right now. I'm very happy with how it turned out, but I don't see myself getting pictures until tomorrow evening. Instead, how about a picture of Fred giving tribute to Simon:

100 Years Old

My Aunt Penny sent an article about a member of her weaving guild:

I thought you might enjoy reading this article about a weaving friend of mine from the Salem guild. She's a gold mine of knowledge and positive attitude. We often sit together at the meetings and I've picked up a lot of good hints from her.

I Just Happen to be 100 Years Old, That’s All

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Dress Failure

It should come as a surprise to no one, except me, that I failed at the dress skirt. I was surprised because that seemed like the easy part. But when I put it together and sewed up the pleats, the waist ended up being the perfect size for a very skinny 10 year old (which is to say, not me). I took it apart and did it again, thinking I had connected the wrong dots. Nope. So I set it aside. Sewing, like knitting, should be something to do for fun (if not always for relaxation).

I had a mental breakthrough, though. It seems that I had misinterpreted the number of panels for the skirt. It seems there should be four, rather than two. I thought the extra pieces were linings, but this makes much more sense. Today, Erin at A Dress A Day posted about good beginning dress patterns, and several people noted in the comments that Vogue patterns do not make good first (or second or third) dresses, even if they are labeled "Easy" (as mine is). I feel much better. Vindicated, even.

I'll get back to that dress someday. In the meantime, I've taken up with this one:

Which is probably not much better as a beginner pattern. Oh well, at least I'm consistently boneheaded.

Machine Gun Bikini!!

Otherwise known as the naughty bits.

I've been cheating on you. As if sewing content in what is ostensibly a knitting blog wasn't bad enough, I am also working on another blog, this one is for work. I suppose if it is my job, it isn't technically cheating, but it has been so much fun I feel I've been neglecting this one. Even worse, I've put pictures up in Flickr no one but me can see. I feel a little dirty. Here, I'll make up for the transgression:

These are U.S. Census volumes from 1940 and 1950 (mostly) -- the blue books are 1940, the black are 1950. You can also see bits of the 1902, 1960, and 1970 sets (we have through 1990, the 2000 Census was too big to print, so it's online). Very exciting, eh? In any case, the blog operates as an online bulletin board and since I'm the only one of the contributors with any blogging experience, it has fallen to me to play around with the templates and HTML code. It is a strangely compelling process, especially since I don't know much about HTML. If you have some strange desire to see the thing, it is here (I warn you, there is not much interesting about it).

I finished the Equinox knitting and wove in the millions of ends.

Fred approved. I cut open the steek last night and have been working on sewing it down. I borrowed Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting via Inter-Library Loan. ILL is a wonderful thing, especially when you are dealing with an insanely overpriced, out-of-print book. However, it is only wonderful if you manage to take said book home rather than leave it on your desk, where it does you no good at all. Ask me how I know.

I thought I had more to say, but apparently not. So I will leave you with a video clip which makes me very happy:



We've watched every episode of Scrubs at least 6 dozen times. I'm sick of most of them now, but that bit still makes me laugh. The upshot of this episode is that, sometimes, if you've pissed someone off, you need to swallow your pride and give that person what s/he needs. It is very, very cheesy, and it makes me very, very happy.

Is it Friday Yet?

Not even close..

These were taken at my old high school, where I am taking a photography class. The class is held in an area of the school where I had never gone as a wee young thing, so I can fool myself into thinking I'm in some other school.