AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

More cake decorating

I wish I could say I baked this from scratch, but I was in a major rush (poor planning on my part). I baked this cake (and its earlier attempt) with a standard white cake mix. As soon as I took it out of the pan I used my cake slicer to cut off the uneven bottom of the cake and let it cool while I made frosting. I normally make my frosting using the Wilton standard recipe (half butter, half shortening, lots of confectioners sugar), but I use cinnamon oil - just a drop - instead of vanilla or almond flavoring.

I wish I had given myself about two hours more time, and in truth I did but the first cake cracked. A huge fissure through Superman's head and torso. Sad that the man of steel was so tissue like.

The cake was well received however, and that is all that matters.

These are not the socks I knit...

I finally brought my Sockapal000za socks into work for those days when my feet get really cold (which is happening a lot more now than I am older and thinner, stupid insulating properties of fat!). I was prepared to leave them in the cabinet I have behind my desk that holds some food and some handknits for the day a month or two from now where my feet were little blocks of ice.

However, there must be air conditioning or something because I broke them out today. It isn't even October and I am starting to get cold. Fooie on that, but huzzah for comfy socks!

My poor hubby

My hubby works for the DET, which is a very thankless job. I really wish that he could just leave his job and look for part-time work or something to help make ends meet until he found something he liked. It is hard watching someone you love going through job fu that is quite so annoying and bad.

It is times like these when I start looking at what I could make a second (part-time) job. I have worked the multiple jobs thing before, and while it makes me miserable it is sometimes worth it for the extra security in paying the bills. If the situation got desperate I would sell parts of my stash. I have a goodly stash of multiple crafts, most likely more than enough for any four lifetimes. And after all that I still need to find another skein (maybe two) of Adrienne Vittadini yarn Martina in color 406, lot 402 (candy apple red).

Something new...

I just got my order in the mail.

It sounds really mysterious, right? But no, it's not. I ordered rings from The Ring Lord in order to make chain mail jewelry. I have had this idea for a while, and I tried to order rings from them a few years ago when my fundage wasn't as consistent. This time, however, it worked. I have a book at home and some appropriate pliers and rings in golds and purple and black. I'm not sure if I will have time to start this tonight. I think there is some cleaning and cooking that needs to happen, but it will either be knitting or this.

Think I can make things like this?

Newsie news!

Dulaan 2007!

I'm not a great photographer (and one of my friends has done photography for Neil Gaiman, so I'm sure she would cringe looking at my blog photos... we just won't tell her that this site exists), so I won't show my paltry collection of items for Dulaan 2007. Suffice to say that I have more than 5. Maybe I will be extra motivated and knit like the dickens and finish more than 30 items (that would be cool for me and warm for them).

Other newsie news. My pyogenic granuloma is back and I have scheduled surgery evaluation. This means waiting a month and living with what is mostly annoying (and certainly not life threatening) and trying not to get too annoyed at it all. The condition isn't slowing down my knitting progress, but my desparate attempts to find a gallery software I like that won't break and doesn't look completely unprofessional and uber ugly are stymying my attempts at photography.

Has anyone used something cool? I am almost tempted to move the blog again (two moves in under a year would probably be too painful for words) just to move it to Typepad and pay for what I want. I haven't because I am a skinflint and inclined to learn to do what I want so there will be more money for yarn even if it results in less time to knit.

Bleary-eyed me...

I had today off from work, so I could go to court and officially change my name. I am not sure how it works in other parts of the country, but in Massachusetts this involves going to your local probate court and filling in a bunch of paperwork indicating the reason for the name change, what your current name is, and what you would like it to be. To legally change your name, you need a certified copy of your birth certificate and (recommended, but not actually required) a certified copy of your marriage license.

There were about five forms to fill out, mostly short. The long form included a brief reason, your full legal name, your intended name, your job, and spaces for your spouse to fill in appropriate information. Kind of neat. If you bring cash, then you can have your name change official that day provided the following items are accurate. 1) Your name change is relatively minor (mine was mostly a spelling change), 2) your last name is not changing, and 3) you have cash. The judge can require that you publish a legal notice in your local paper about your intent, but if your changes are minor then it might not be necessary.

I highly recommend cash. If you pay by check, then you have to fill out the paperwork and cannot see the judge to have the name legally changed until the check clears - about a month all told.

Of course, celebrating my name change is not why I am still up after 01:00. I was finally sucked into Perplex City. This is a game of connected and interlocking puzzles that you can solve and answer online for points. A lot of people seem to have only solved one or two puzzles, so initially it is really easy to move up the ranks. I have only solved four or five puzzles (extras from friends), but that put me surprisingly high (my first solved puzzle put me at about 22000th).

But now I should be done for the night. I need to go to work tomorrow after all.

Spin-a-long little doggie.

I signed up for the Spinning Roving Swap a few days ago, because it sounded like a lot of fun. In some ways it feels more creative than the Sockapal000za swap, even though there are tons of things you can do with socks. This is probably because I am a complete novice at spinning. There is this long questionnaire to fill out and I don't really feel like I know the vaguest about any of this, but it is all about learning a new experience, trying something new and happy. Here goes nothing.

1) How long have you been spinning?

I signed up a virgin, which is pretty much true. I have a small bag of brown roving that I bought from Mind's Eye Yarn with my first spindle ages ago and a single 2 ounce bump of superwash merino that I bought about two weeks ago. I can't really say that I have been spinning, but I can say that I enjoy playing with the fiber. I want to learn how to make the yarn to give myself a better appreciation of the fibery goodness that I play with.

2) Are you a beginner, novice, or experienced spinner?

Beginner. Rank untutored beginner. I am so new that the roving shivers away from my touch. I do such nasty things to it.

3) Do you spin on a drop spindle or wheel, or both?

I have a cat and a small condo, so I don't have a wheel. I have a spindle, but I don't use it very often (I have used it recently though on the subway).

4) What types and weights of drop spindles (or what type of spinning wheel(s) ) do you currently own?

I blush because I haven't the foggiest idea what the weight of the spindle is.

5) What type of fibers have you spun with before?

Wool and superwash merino. I don't know if I have even produced a single yard of quality string, much less yarn but I have enjoyed trying.

The remaining 12 questions are behind the cut, because I don't want this getting too huge!