skittermagoo!

Way behind in the room-a-month project! February 5, 2010

As is usual for me, I’ve procrastinated myself into a corner yet again!  I acutally am only a week behind on this, but completely neglected to post the “before” pictures for my January room!

For January, I chose to work on our entryway . . . it’s kind of a cop-out choice because it’s the easiest one, but I did it that way sort of on purpose.  It’s not going to take any money, which is good since I’m broke; also it will just invove some cleaning and reorganizing and/or relocating a thing or two.

Here are my before shots: (I’m a dumbass and took photos from the “in the house” perspective rather than the “coming in the front door” perspective, duh)

front door, obviously.

this is part of what will change -- the unused scratching post and some random ikea footstools

the "middle view" between the first two pictures, looking into my studio room

and finally, my favorite part of the entryway. My antique singer treadle sewing machine (it works!) and a cross-stitch sampler my great-grandma (or maybe my great-great-gran) made.

So, at some point this busy weekend, I plan to relocate the footstools and some of the cat toys, as well as deep-clean this area (including the baseboards).  I was going to include the entry coat closet in this month’s project, but I just organized it at some point over the holidays, so it’s disgustingly tidy for now.

(also, those pictures up there are supposed to be centered . . . but they aren’t when I hit “preview”. Not sure why Wordpress will not bend to my will . . . if they don’t look centered to you, just squint and pretend.)

2010 Project: a room a month January 6, 2010

So, I read about this on Julie’s blog . . . she came up with a clever idea to work on house projects one room at a time, one per month. There are a bunch of things I want to tackle at home, but when I look at the entire list at once, my head wants to asplode and leak brainy stuff out my ears. Also, we are working with limited funds Chez Skittermagoo (thank you, Economic Downturn or whatever you want to call it).

Because I’m usually late to things like this, I don’t have pictures yet, but I do have my list and an idea of where to start. So that’s something!

I don’t really have twelve separate rooms (we have a very open floor plan), so some areas I’ve broken up into smaller bits, which is actually good — I’m sure there are some months that I will be less motivated than others. Or maybe busy knitting or something.

So, here it is; my list of “rooms”, in no particular order:

1. Dining room
2. Kitchen
3. Laundry “nook”
4. Downstairs bathroom
5. Living room
6. Entryway
7. Upstairs landing
8. Master bedroom
9. Master bath
10. Garage
11. Deck/breezeway
12. Hobby room/fiber studio

I’m thinking for January I may tackle the entryway, mainly because it really doesn’t need much and will be an easy thing to start with! Stay tuned!

2009 in review (or, a halfhearted attempt to make up for not blogging very much) December 31, 2009

So, 2009 is about to end, and I can’t say I’m sad to see it go . . . it was a challenging year in many ways, and I hope 2010 is going to be a better one!

Since I love lists so much, here’s a list of some stuff that happened or didn’t happen this year around these parts:

1. B lost his job not once, but twice, which is Very Bad, but also made us hunker down and conserve, which is a Good Thing.

2. I joined a kickass local Fiber CSA, and as a result have made some very good friends (some of whom say “baa” and “cluck”).

3. Planted a bigger garden, and though it was not at all successful, I’m going to do it again in 2010.

4. Missed waaay too many knitnights.  Not a good thing.

5. Talked for months about getting chickens for my backyard, only to realize how unfeasible it really is, leading to #6.

6. Helped spearhead the formation of a Chicken Sponsorship program with my kickass local CSA (above, see #2), which will allow me to sponsor a chicken, get fresh eggs, and not piss off my neighbors or feed fresh chicken to our neighborhood feral cat population.

7. Worked on small ways to make our home a “homestead” (I’m still not sure what exactly that word means, but I did stuff like make bread from scratch, grew plants, made my own laundry detergent, etc).

8. Learned how to brew beer at home, and found out that it is really good!

9. Made handmade gifts for xmas, most of which were received positively.

10. Maybe have sort of learned how to crochet, kind of.

11. Really truly stopped being a vegetarian, and no, I really don’t want to talk about the particulars.

12. Used my crockpot a few times.

13. Learned to weave!

14. Made soap!

15. Finally hung up pictures in the house (we’ve only been here almost 5 years!)

16. Painted the downstairs bathroom (had only been primer-white for 3 years!)

17. Hm, not sure what else to say — fingers cold and tired.

Looking back at the list, maybe it wasn’t all that bad of a year (except for items 1 and 4), though there are definitely things I’d like to improve on this coming year.  I think I’m also glossing over some stuff in the attempt to not be a Grumpy Face.

Random, um, what the hell day is this anyway? December 17, 2009

Yeah, it’s like that.

I spent most of today thinking that it felt like a Friday, which is a cruel, cruel thing.

I have no pictures for you people (person), but I do have a list.

1. I am so not ready for Xmess . . . thank goodness I took three days off work next week.  I have cookies to make, and gifts to finish making, etc, etc.  The ETC is what’s really getting to me.

2. Work has also had me very stressed, though I should really shut up and be grateful that I have a job.

3. Husb still has not found a job, which is adding to the stress (holiday and otherwise)

4. We are very, very lucky anyway . . . on Sunday we are getting a new (to us) hand-me-down Giant Plasma TV, and possibly a Wheelbarrow Gift.  Also, there is a Secret Santa out there who sent us a gift card (thank you, whoever you are).

5. My work holiday party is on Sunday and I have nothing to wear.  I’m not buying anything new either . . . will have to find something deep in the closet, as there is no knitting time left. The upside is that I’ve heard that the party will be open-bar.

6. I may or may not have taught myself how to crochet.  Sort of.

7. I’m not sure how I feel about the crochet thing.

8. Does handmade soap really make a good gift, or am I kidding myself?

Random Wednesday . . . in list form! November 12, 2009

1. It is not actually Wednesday, it is Thursday.  Random.

2. My coworker (whose desk shares a common front wall) is driving me crazy with his throat-clearing and expectorating and random sick-sounding noises.  If I get H1N1 flu this year, my bets are that he will be the origin.  I asked him if he wanted a cough drop and he seemed very offended . . . probably a cultural thing, but still.

3. I have not been able to knit or spin in AGES because of stupid tendinitis in my right shoulder.  This makes me cranky.

4. My job in general is also making me cranky lately . . . this week in particular.  Come on, weekend!

5. I really don’t want to be this annoyed.

6. There is a new local radio station here that is making me very happy.  If you are in the Dallas/North TX area and you hate all the commercial radio stations but are sick of listening to nothing but grim news on NPR, tune in to KTX 91.7.  It’s an offshoot of KERA but they play all kinds of eclectic music.  Love.

7. The picture above is from a camping trip B and I did in October.  Just below our cabin was a rocky trail down to the beach; the water level is usually higher, but because of the drought we got to benefit from some really cool rock formations.

8.Maybe, just maybe, I will have something fiber-related for you here next time.

November harvest November 1, 2009

We’ve had the weirdest garden this year* . . . we had a very late frost in the spring and then it got really hot really fast, and none of our veggies really produced much of anything, until now:

Three green bell peppers, three jalapenos, and a mutant tiny red bell pepper of some sort . . . and there are a bunch more on the plant almost ready to be picked!

And yet, our eggplants had tons of blossoms, but never made any eggplants; same with the tomatoes.  Hmph.

*I say this, but I have yet to know what a “normal” gardening year is . . . maybe someday.

Pogue Mahone! October 31, 2009

Last night B and I had the distinct pleasure of going to see the Pogues (one of my favorite bands ever), and I’m happy to report that the show was FANTASTIC! (B’s writeup is here)

We started the evening off with dinner at the House of Blues (the show venue as well), which was surprisingly good . . . also, our waiter reminded us both of Mickey Dolenz (of the Monkees).

Our seats were in the balcony, which is the only thing I might change about the night if I were to go back in time . . . when we bought the tickets I briefly considered buying General Admission, but then thought, “Nah, I’m too old for that sh*t”.  The balcony audience turned out mostly to be a little tame for us, so we probably would have been better off down in the pit.  In any case, the seats were great.

Opening was Justin Townes Earle (Steve Earle’s son), whom I’d heard of, but never listened to his music.  I can say now, though, that I will probably be buying some of his music very, very soon.  He was pretty entertaining to watch, too — very tall and thin like a folk/country-music-playing stork,  he shuffled around the stage while he played, at one point unplugging his guitar lead.  I don’t know how he did it, but he made one guitar sound like at least four separate musicians.

As usual, I did a fair amount of people-watching at the show . . . there was a couple in front of us (who were the only ones in our section as “into it” as we were) who were kind of interesting.  He looked like he could have been Jamie Hyneman’s dad; she was disproportionately young and pretty.  Indeed, both B and I thought she was his daughter at first.  Also nice was seeing the parents who brought their young daughters (maybe 6 and to the show.  We dubbed them “Coolest Parents Ever”.

Okay, so on to the actual show . . . let me preface by saying that my expectations were very high (I’d seen the Pogues a couple times before, so I knew they put on a good show), and I was not at all disappointed.  They came on to the song “Straight To Hell” by the Clash (no doubt one of several nods to Joe Strummer), and played an incredible playlist of songs mostly off their first three albums.  Shane MacGowan was resplendent in a purple shirt and red cowboy boots (and some sort of pants); James Fearnley was wearing an incredible red satin suit (!), and Philip Chevron had on some really cool black and white wingtips.  OH!  I can’t pass over Spider Stacy’s black duster coat, either.

Last time I saw the Pogues play was about 20 years ago, and it was a great show, but last night definitely topped it — the band was tight, and also did not stand still and let Shane steal the show.  Fearnley was all over the place with his accordian, sliding on his knees onstage (and wearing holes in his red satin trousers), and the rest of the band played it up, too . . . they looked like they were having a lot of fun up there.  Shane was not sloppy drunk (you never know), and though he took several breaks (filled in with other band members singing, which was perfect), he did not disappoint at all, banshee screams and all.

They played all my favorites, and there was not one song that I wanted to hear that they didn’t play, except for Fairytale of New York, which I did not expect to be on the setlist anyway.  I cried a bit during Pair of Brown Eyes (a personal favorite) and during Thousands are Sailing (which was sung by Chevron — appropriate since he wrote it), and at many points during the show I had the shivers because their performance was Just. That. Good.  I don’t think I sat down once the whole time except for maybe between the first and second encore.

Incredible.  I hope they come back before 20 more years have passed.

feeling a little loomy October 29, 2009

One of the things I’ve been wanting to talk about lately (and have, over on the forums on Ravelry) is weaving. Not sure what happened, but a couple months ago I woke up one morning with the urge to weave. Did some research and decided on the loom I wanted (a Schacht Flip rigid heddle loom), and was waiting until payday to order one. Then Mr. Skitter got news that he was being laid off. Again.

So I put my loom plans on hold, until my friend Cindy very generously offered to lend me a rigid heddle loom and stand that were hanging out in her studio, unused.

I brought it home, warped it the next day, and started a project on it right away!

I have about a million skeins of dishcloth cotton hanging around in my stash, so naturally made a dish towel. Of sorts.

I gotta say, this weaving thing is FAST! I finished the sorta-kinda-dishtowel-thing in a total of about 3 hours, not including warping the loom.

Visions of quick handmade holiday gifts dancing in my head.

Sadly, I’ve not started a second project yet because of a bad bout of tendinitis in my shoulder (which has rendered me unable to knit, spin, or weave — thus making me very cranky), but there’s a good possibility for some fiber arts this weekend!

Let’s try this again October 28, 2009

Okay, so I just renewed my blog hosting for another six months, and realized with horror that I’ve only posted twice since last time I renewed. Twice in six months, people! No wonder I have no readers left (except for the two of you, which I totally appreciate!).

So. I’m gonna try and get this blog thing going again, if for no other reason than to feel like I’m getting my money’s worth for the hosting fees . . . I may even change the template, or screw around with the settings, etc. Perhaps a change of scenery will help jump start the part of my brain that used to blog.

And if it doesn’t take, and I find myself posting on average once every three months? Then it may be sayonara for this old thing.

The sock that almost wasn’t . . . September 7, 2009

So, I’m knitting this sock . . .

Yep, that’s right, Pomatomus.

I think the designer hates me.

You see, this pattern, though beautiful and challenging, is one of those that is not for knitters who make errors. If you are a knitter who makes errors, take note: if you mess up in a way that is obvious, then knit eleven or so rows before you realize the mistake, it is virtually impossible to drop a stitch or two down and then pick it back up in pattern and fix the mistake.  I tried.  Twice.

So, this sock was destined to be ripped completely, and I really wasn’t going to start it over again, as I was already past the heel and halfway down the foot.  And yeah, I couldn’t have lived with the mistake(s) or overlooked them somehow.  They were that bad.

Anyway, the sock was spared . . . because after ripping out a repeat and a half (but not quite down to the gusset), I realized that the stitches were pretty stable, and that if I wanted to try it, I could probably get the live stitches back on the needles and figure out where in the chart I was and just keep going.

So I did.

Behold the first finished Pomatomus sock.

For about a minute I thought about leaving it an only child and not knitting the second one at all.  Then I cast on for sock #2.

And then?  I went out and bought the designer’s recent book of sock patterns.

(why, yes, I AM a glutton for punishment!)