A Platypus and a Hedgehog Walk Into a Bar

Every have one of those days when you feel like you're really good at everything?... No? Um... ok, then... me neither...But really? No?

This whole weekend is awesome sauce on toast!

Fantastic

With all my deadlines lately I haven't had the chance to knit much. But I finally finished the socks from the swap yarn.
I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

Just a little basket weave pattern from my head on 56 stitches. Heels and toes in white.
They look like Christmas.

I'm a Nail Blog Now. Nail Blogs are Cool.

I've never had luck with painting my fingernails. I have a tendency to pick the polish off when bored or nervous but after painting my toenail I decided to give my fingers a shot.

The 88 cent polish washed off in the shower but the more expensive polish did pretty ok. Well enough that I was encouraged. However, a single chip or flaw and my will power breaks and I'm back to picking at it.

A little Internet research that said I need a top coat which led to a midnight impulse buy of essie. I was hooked. A whole lot more Internet research ensued. It appears that I need a base coat too. Also OPI.

OPI has a cult following rivaling Knit Picks, or Jarrod Flood, or Sanguine Gryphon . I could see that after a really hard day at work a midnight bottle of essie would be great retail therapy. I also knew I would end up trying OPI and if the heaven truly opened up and angels flew out that my having the essie around would be a disappointment. That started my quest of finding some OPI now rather than later.

First, OPI is only carried in a few stores. Stores that I would have to visit on a weekend. I am not a fan to weekend shopping but I resigned myself. Waking up early on a Saturday did not make me love this plan. The plan is one bottle of OPI or maybe a sample pack of the apparently to-be-coveted-and-hard-to-find Pirates of the Caribbean that seems to be sold out everywhere.

I step into ULTA and am pounced by the sales lady. When she found out that I wanted OPI she took me strait to Pirates of the Caribbean without my mentioning it. Ok, good start.

I wonder and wander around and wonder. There are about 150 colors but there isn't a single one color I wanted. I could narrow it down to 15 or zero but not one. Also? No iced aqua or any aqua. Teal... check. Mint Green... check. No Aqua. I'm very disappointed.

Zero was not an option after getting up on a Saturday morning. Besides I like how my nails are growing out and not splitting since I started using polish. However, the colors weren't calling to me. Or at least not screaming and shouting.

I finally pick up 2 sample packs. I'm a sucker for a deal and I wasn't planning on having a repeat of Saturday morning shopping anytime soon. It's nothing like midnight shopping. Not one bit.

Eight tiny cute little bottles. I'm going to wear every color so I might as well start on the left end.

my ironic photo

I applied the polish on Saturday and it's Tuesday now without a single chip or touch up. I'm still unsure about the color which has led to a new game. The game of matching my nails to things.

My nails are the color of...

weathered brick


sun bleached wood


limestone rock


cement

pottery glaze

window blinds

my favorite sweater

angora bunny, or a hat knit from one.

remote control

Grandma's button tin.

also:
kitty litter
the bathroom stalls at work
the bird poo in the top photo
the letters on my keyboard

It's like having a Pantone swatch on my fingertips.

Simple Dog

Yesterday, Joey spent 3 hours walking in a circles. At first I thought he needed out so I took him out. He spent the 20 min outside walking in circles. I brought him back in and he he kept walking in circles. A lot of walking for such a old dog. I finally convinced him to take a nap on the couch. I'm not sure what snapped in his old brain yesterday although he's never had much brain to snap.

Recently I ran across this. Exactly this. Joey's and my life summed up. I laughed until I cried. Then I cried. And I laughed. Oh Joey. My simple baby dog.

Mittens in May

Elizabeth Zimmerman said the best time to knit mittens is the summer. They are small and light and don't fill a sweaty lap with great swaths of wool. That waiting until winter when mittens are actually needed is too late to give them the time and attention knitting mittens deserves.

I have 2 pairs of mittens in time out and a glove too. All have been there a year or more. By the end of May I hope to have them finished or decided they are done and throw them away. I just cast on a new pair of mittens too.

However, right now I'm knitting on a scarf and some socks. Mittens and self imposed knitting just isn't appealing today. It's hot. I'm exhausted and stretched a little too thin. My being wound just right maybe doesn't apply to May. But with some deadlines whooshing up by the end of this weekend it should be a little better.

Wrapping it Up

Wild Abandon April is over.

It's been a great month of my Birthday, Fiber Retreat, and Doctor Who Swap. A month of doing and buying anything I wanted to. My purchases through the year are few and far between so I made sure and hit every shop that's important to me.
You see The Studio, Yarn Barn, and Webs in that pile. I also hit Knit Picks. Of course there has to be a stop at Dusty Bookshelf and I bought my first limited addition Tee Shirt from Ript. There is Eco + yarn in there along with Rowan, Noro, and Mission Falls. I ate out at my favorite Tia restaurant too. Maybe twice. And a mini blizzard from DQ.
Cotton Carders from a local fiber event KAWS where I took classes on spinning cotton and novelty yarn. I also bought naturals colored roving from local sheep, yarn made out of corn, and alpaca yarn spun at the only spinning mill in Kansas.

Yarn to knit scarves. After 10 years of not knitting scarves because they were too 'big and boring' I'm now knitting miles of scarves. Acres of scarves.At the Dusty Bookshelf I bought one book. When it's by Ursula K. Le Guin one book is all a person needs.

A tiny muffin tin since gluten free baking does better with a lot of wall surface area to cling too. Tiny muffins are all surface area. I didn't realize that half bites of cupcakes are addicting and I eat so very much more. But hey! It's Wild Abandon April so what's it matter?

And a complete impulse buy. After a spa night in February and conversation with friends on-line and off about nail polish I had a hankering to knit my toenails and make them all cute for my spinning classes. So I did.

It's Bigger on the Inside

Day 14

Time to open the last package of the Doctor Who swap.


"It's bigger on the inside"


Hey! What's that?

A police box. We don't have those around here. Look! It's glowing.

Let's go peak in the windows.

What's that? It looks so big in there. How does it do that?

Wow. Are those controls? It's all so very Star Trek.


It's bigger on the inside!


Wow! Just wow. This is a perfect little TARDIS with glowing console that IS BIGGER ON THE INSIDE! It really is. A full 360 view from those little windows. I expect Doctor and Rose to come walking through at any moment. It's BRILLIANT!

Everyone all together now SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

onemilljellybeans Thank you for a wonderful marvelous swap box. It's FANTASTIC! You have made this the best swap ever.

Barbarella

Day 13

"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left. Hurry up!"

Today was a tiny little package about the size of a chapstick. Squishy chapstick. Our best guess was gloves, although really how could gloves get that small, or stockings or a tiny red bikini bottom. Although none of those was a good match for me or a Doctor Who swap.

Oh My Barbarella! This is perfectly stunning.

In my excitement I wasn't able to get a good photo of the whole thing. It's a long lace scarf of the most impossible blue.

Exquisitely knit and it's as light as a wisp of air. A wisp of air with neps.

amazing, beauteous, classy, delicate, elegant, fashionable, glorious, heavenly, impressive, jaspe, kalon, luxuriant, marvelous, natty, out of this world, pulchritudinous, quality, remarkable, spectacular, top notch, unique, valuable, wonderful, xenium, yowza, zephyr

There are no words in the dictionary capable of describing this.

A great big THANK YOU I LOVE IT! to onmilljellybeans

I Kept the Clothes

Day 12

“Well I just saved the world…the whole planet for about the millionth time, no charge, yeah, shoot me. I kept the clothes.”



Oh yeah. Bow Ties are cool. Pink is cool. Pink and brown is even better. More sock yarn hand dyed by onemilljellybeans. I love sock yarn. lovelovelovelovelove sock yarn. onemill did a great job supplying me. I’m going to cast on as soon as I finish the other pair. This is just right for the Ducks May KAL. Yay!

Rexacoricotallapatoriu

Day 11

“What else- what else? Hyphenated surnames. Yes! That narrows it down to one planet! Rexacoricotallapatoriu!”

“Oh yeah, great! We can write ‘em a letter”

onemilljellybeans is brilliant. This pressies is super sweet but something that would have been tucked away and not given the full attention it deserves in a group photo. A small unassuming package of hand made stationary with the sweetest little drawings. My photography doesn’t do them justice. They are super sweet. A hand written letter on paper like this and the receiver will know they are loved. How could they not?

It’s the same apple


I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool.



Sonic me


Decorative vegetable


She was quite a knitter


Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Thank you and big squooshy hugs. I love them.

Only One Dalek

Day 10

Sorry for falling behind but I’m as tired as he looks. But the first Monday of the month is over so everything is better until the last Friday of the month. Since that just past too I’ll be my happy, cheery, energetic, squeeing self again in no time.

Dalek Sec: “We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect.”
Cybermen: “What is that?”
Dalek Sec: “You are better at dying”

Behind the couch scary.

Good thing Pillow Bear is on the job.

onemilljellybeans made another awesome project bag. The stenciling is impeccable. So nicely done. We all had a good time teach Boy how to say EXTERMINATE in just the right tone. His squeeky young voice is perfect for it.


It doesn’t show in the photo but the tie dye of this bag has brown tones in it. Like coffee has been spilled on it. You can’t believe how much I appreciate that. It seems that everything I own gets coffee spilled on it at some point. This one is prestained. Thank you. And to show how tired I am I’m blathering on about coffee and the fabric rather than on how awesome the dalek turned out. It’s incredible.

Here’s some tiny cakes for everyone. Enjoy.