Fulcrum

It’s the final installment of this Thank You Trilogy to the EPIC BOX OF EPICNESS

Maggie seemed incredulous that I wanted a rock. I mean, sure, I was being a little facetious when I said that I would be happy with a box of rocks. Inside duck swap joke from years ago… and also true. Last swap I was in was the geology swap. Most fantastical box of rocks EVER. That box of rocks about made me cry just by opening the first card. I love those rocks so much.

 the sealing wax and twine is brilliant
 
Maggie didn’t make me cry. Instead it’s a fist pump of victory and epicness.

See, with this rock I can reference “Stars and Stones” because it glitters like the stars in the sky or Demonkeep with the crystals parkour or Fool Moon with the pentagram and the stones.

 

 Harry draws circles not pentagrams for his magic...

...and this stone would be the fulcrum of power

I would say I saved the best for last, except in the EPIC BOX OF EPICNESS- OMG ITS SO EPIC there is not a best…

 The yarn.

Maggie spun it and Karen dyed it!

Everyone knows Maggie and Karen, right? Right!?! Knit 1 Geek 2 podcast? They’re Rock Stars, those two. OMG Maggie and Karen!!! Karen and Maggie!!!

 I started knitting it right away and am almost finished with the mittens. The cable on the backs of the hands are the Ley Lines converging under Chicago and they barely made a dent in the first ball! 

We’re always ready for the end of the trilogy but so sad that there isn’t more. Thankfully, Jim Butcher has said he is writing seven more books so we should have fourteen more years to geek out. I hope that means there will be more swaps to come.

Thank you, Maggie, the box is pure magic. Astonishing, Wonderful, Tremendous Magic. I love it all so much. Thank you.

Epic Swap Box of Epicness

Last time I left you with the EPIC SWAP BOX OF EPICNESS we were here

 It turns out there isn’t a better word than Epic…

A locking journal so I can keep my own diary like Merlin. That’s right The Merlin, the real one, not the puff-up running the White Council at the moment.

This journal has fancy clasps that even though I could see exactly how they worked took an embarrassing longtime to actually open. Something like full 20 seconds. It took some magic words to get it to open but I showed it who’s boss and now can get in with a snap.

 A coffee mug that Maggie designed herself. I’m blown away! It has the ingredients list for the Pick-Me-Up-Potion on it. A full nights sleep in a cup. She also included the base ingredient of Casi Cielo “almost heaven” Coffee. I LOVE THIS MUG SO MUCH! As If I didn’t love every single thing SO MUCH but I squeeeee every time I pick this up.

Perhaps the most personal part of the swap package is this drawing. Yes, Maggie drew it herself. I used to draw before knitting hijacked my brain 14 years ago and now all I can think about it yarn, so I know this isn’t a little doodle, this, this right here, this is some serious time and effort. I’m going to frame it and put it on my bookshelf with the books.

The Chlorofiend is one of my favorite moments. Walmart…. Chainsaw…. and Murph “Put on the BOOTS” The boots for kicking some monster ass. Oh, yes. In 15 books that could very well be the best moment. And what do you do after you kick monster ass in a walmart? You go eat pizza. I love these books SO MUCH!

And do you know who else loves these books SO MUCH? Dresden Files Fan Filming! That’s who.
See there is this group of fans that make YouTube Movies. Because you are not really a fan until you have made a movie trailer to your favorite book. IT'S AWESOME. LOAD IT UP NOW!

 And that is an autographed photo of Matt that plays Harry!!!

So, here, Matt is dating Gilly of Knit Princess and Gilly is going to be here in KC for Planet Comicon so that means when I go to meet Gilly then I will have a chance of meeting Matt too? Maybe. I haven’t checked facebook in a million years so these things slip by me. But it’s all just so cool.
Also in the photo is the Shield stitch markers so my knitting will be well protected from evil.

 More candy. Of course, Maggie, made the labels. She’s Kick-Ass that way.

There is still a box to go. I had planned on finishing off the thank you in this post but I got sucked in watching Matt on YouTube.

Maggie, you’re amazing!

Thaumaturgy

A HUGE thank you to Maggie in the Dresden Files swap. I received an AWESOME EPIC BOX OF MAGIC GOODNESS.

The kind of EPIC that makes winter come early and it blizzard on Halloween or it be 70 degrees in February like it was here last week. The forces of Summer and Winter are battling it out over the contents of this swap box.

First up, Maggie made me a calendar.

 That’s right! She made this. It’s HUGE. It broke my camera. All I can show you is the little corner or it will break all of the internet and melt your computers. You’re welcome.

Next is the Fuego Cowl. Harry’s favorite spell for blowing up building (even if he said he didn’t blow up that last one we’re all pretty sure he did). It’s firmly knit and I could tell impregnated with magic to stop the coldest winter wind. Well I washed it in running water, destroying the magic and it’s now soft and supple. Oops. But the blocking made it sooooo soft. I love it!

 Harry doesn’t wear hats but I do. This little cabling lace beauty has Thaumaturgy written all over it. Don’t believe me? Look it up. Here. Thaumaturgy (from the Greek words θαῦμα thaûma, meaning “miracle” or “marvel” and ἔργον érgon, meaning “work”) is the capability of a magician or a saint to work magic or miracles Our Maggie worked real magic with this.

A box bag. The outside is Harry’s books the inside Soul Fire! Maggie, didn’t make this. She tried to make one but it came out sort of half baked. I’m secretly glad. It means that’s she real and human. Really really above average, possible a Valkyrie, but not one of the Fae. Whoo. I’m glad. I was a little worried that I was trading away my soul for this swab box. Not that I wouldn’t. You’ll understand once you see what’s coming up next.

 But more of the Box Bag first. She did make the zipper pull. My very own Bob! This is amazing!!!

Inside the bag was the YUMMIES and yes she made the awesome wrappers.

So much epicness in the epic swap box. I maybe need a new word

There are still these parcels to go. I must stop now as I try to find an new word for epic. More to come soon.

Maggie, I’ve said thank you a few times and I LOVE IT once or twice but it doesn’t come close to conveying how wonderful this swap box is and how much it means to me. It’s phenomenal and you’re a dynamite. There aren’t enough words.

Cult Classics

I'm getting together with friends weekly to watch movies. We are featuring art movies, iconic, pop culture, and cult classics. The loose criteria is that one of us hasn't seen it before so that it's an educational experiences. Being an adult is great. We don't have a bedtime and get to watch movies and call it educational.

Last weekend I was on my own but stayed on theme. I loaded up Mad Max and did some spinning.

Alpaca/wool blend from Midwest 2013 feature fiber. I spun a nice lofty 2-ply aran weight.

Now that Dresden Files swap is almost over I've joined the Dystopia/Utopia Swap and nothing is more dystopian than Mad Max. Quite the movie from my childhood. Or so I thought.

Turns out I've never seen it before. It's very low budget, very art house, and very very gruesome. I spent the whole movie with knots in my stomach because three minutes in I could tell there was no way it was going to end well. I was right. It didn't end well and in ways I never imagined. It was low budget so not much happens on screen but the off screen suspense and violence was very effective.

The hat I knit from the yarn while watching Pitch Black. The pattern is Citric by Alex Tinsley. Dull Roar Design is a bit of knitting cult classic and she has a way with the hats.

Last night we watched Pitch Black which was billed to us as a horror. Besides one spot were I was grossed out, needles ick, and a surprise jump it wasn't horror scary. However, in looking it up to be sure I had the name right I found it's billed as a low budget cult classic thriller.

It makes me feel better calling it a thriller, but it was so strong in the Sifi trops I had tagged it as one maybe two people making it out alive in the first five minuets. Since, obviously, one was going to be Vin Diesel (the antihero never dies) the rest of the movie watching was waiting to see which trop the director was going to allow to live and making personal bets about the survivor. Not really the right frame of mind to be taken in with suspense.

I wonder about the low budget part of Pitch Black. To me low budget mean Mad Max style- hey lets go rent cameras for a month and hire all our friends as extras so they work for beer- while Pitch Black had known actors and quality cameras and special effects.

Tonight I cast on Fructose, another Dull Roar design in the classic malabrigo Twist. Keeping in the cult classic trend, I watched Leon: The Professional which was absolutely adorable. Bloody extravagant violence and adorable is just so French.

Road Trip

I took a little road trip to Independence, Missouri.

 Wait! What? Doesn’t Jim Butcher live in Independence, Missouri?

 Why, yes. Yes, he does!!!

I stopped at Jim Butcher’s coffee shop.

 Jim Butcher’s game store.

Jim Butcher’s art supply store and gallery of local artist.

Jim Butcher’s specialty grocery and down the way to Jim Butcher’s candy store.

And finally, and most important.

Jim Butcher’s local yarn store!!!

It doesn’t look like much on the outside but it’s magic on the inside. The largest selection of hand dyed yarn around. I had no idea!

That's right. I'm in a Dresden Files swap! I'm so EXCITED!!!
  
Oh, how I suffer for my partner. I bought one for you and two for me.

Finishing 2014

2014 slipped a way from me and I had a long list of things I needed to do to finish up the year. I let them all go except this. I need to post the rest of the Thank You photos of listeningmoth fantastic swap package.

She collected garnets for me. Garnets are one of my favorite and it's so cool that she could just go out and collect some. ok, just go out might be understating. I believe she drove a ways. The whole thing is just too cool!

The garnets are the little red dots so I also received a jeweler's loop to see them better.

She crocheted a bit of lace around the stone.

A knit cowl in the colors Chrysocolla. I wear this all the time! I have a sweater in a similar color and I love to layer this over top. It's a truly gorgeous knit.

She made me a puzzle where I have to match the rock up with it's name.

 This one goes here. Isn't it pretty?

It took me a while but it's finished!

The tin is salt and there was really yummy maple sugar candy. So very yummy.

Thank you, listeningmoth! I really love it!

Rocking the Thank You's

I have half a second to breath again so I can finally start the Thank You for the Geology Rocks swap. I'm still going to have to break it into installments so I can do it justice.

What I wanted most from this swap was a local rock. Whenever I travel I pick up one rock from the trip as my memento. They have such a feeling of place to them.

listeningmoth, sent me this rock from her Grandmother’s farm in Virgina. She said it was typical of the location. We have nothing like this in Kansas. We specialize in roundish jagged rocks. It never occurred to me that a rock could be this shape or so smooth. I keep picking it up and feeling it to reassure myself it’s really a rock and not a railroad spike. It just blows my mind. I love it. I’ve added it to my small collection of travel rocks and feel like I’ve visited Virgina

 

 Among my travel rocks I had a sand rose from Africa. I had mentioned that while I still had the petrified wood from my time there the sand rock had broken in a move. Look at that. She sent me a sand rose! I reverently added it to my travel rocks too.

The swap yarn is the blue corner of the first picture. That is the best photo I have of the yarn. It’s wonderful yarn in one of my very favorite color but I was so excited about the rocks it didn’t get it’s due in the photo shoot. I can’t wait to knit it!

Cherry Opal Thank Yous

A special thank you to listeningmoth, who spoiled me rotten and has waited so patently while I get this thank you is order. Sadly, I still can’t get a real thank you up yet.

My swapping pal and I are hanging out heads in shame at the delay.

The photos are done but to express the epic stalking listeningmoth did of me and how each and every rock as an incredible special personal meaning will take time. Until then let me post a teaser of the photos that speak for themselves.

The rock is upside down in the photo. On the other side are green crystals. I didn't know that until later.

 Sadly the photos don’t do it justice.

See, like this one. Cherry Opal chips. The photo barely shows it but they flash green and red fire in low light. Pretty right? You look at them and move on. But NO! They are so much more than pretty. listeningmoth, listened when I lamented about how I dislike my April birthstone of diamond since they are expensive, and I’m sensitive to the negative consequences of the diamond trade, and the fake ones usually look like cheap glass.

Well, the mystical birthstone list from Tibet list OPAL as the April birthstone. Here they are, my very first birthstone that wasn’t my wedding ring. The first time in my whole life I received a birthstone “just because”. I about cried when I opened it and they were in the card before unwrapping anything in the box.

Worlds of Fun

I'm just back from Worlds of Fun. It wasn't my idea but I was practically begged by coworkers to go with them to the hunted houses there. Surprising, since they are about half my age, but flattering, so after the third time I was asked I said "Yes".

My outfit. That's glow in the dark nail polish to match the highlighter yellow undershirt.

We left right after work at 6pm when it was still warm out but the forcast for the night was 40F. I dressed in layers. Long underwear, wool, lots of wool but I don't have a causal jacket, just winter coats that I didn't want to carry. My sweaters are pullovers and I didn't want to cover up my themed shirt.

So I pulled this sweater out of time out. I finished knitting last May but I didn't put in back darts and I didn't like the baggy look. I tried it on today and it fit great. I've put on weight this summer so it's less baggy and I don't mind oversized for the fall. I wove in all the ends and tried out buttons from my button jar. It took a moment to realize there is no way I could sew on 7 buttons in 15 minutes so I left it button free. I ended up letting a coworker wear it all night and did well enough in my layers even when it became cold enough our breath steamed. 

The spooky stuff wasn't that scary. I dislike scary but the fog machines were pumping and then a real fog rolled in blanketing everything so we could only see four feet in front of us. The monsters were hidden in the fog making them less scary not more. The scary part was that we might get separated. We were all rocking it old school with no cell phones since we left everything in the car for easier ride ridding and if someone got just a few feet ahead they could take a different path and nobody would know.


I had said yes to going as a social opportunity, not because I thought it would be fun. I though of World of Fun for preteens because I haven't been there since I was that age. I was wrong. Riding roller coasters in the dark might be the best thing EVER! It was fantastic to see the city lights spread out all around and to not see what was coming up on the ride. I would do it again next week. Hell, I would go back tomorrow.

Geology ROCKS!

I'm in the  Geology ROCKS! swap right and have been doing things and crafting for my downstream spoilee. Yesterday it wasn't raining so I went fossil hunting!

It's been fun making projects inspired by rocks for my spoilee but they are all super secret so let me pull out some old photos from this summer instead.

This project was for the challenge inspired by a place you have traveled. When I was a child, from time to time, Dad would wake us up and tell us we were skipping school to go out and really learn something. We would then take a day trip to a museum, visit a university, a historical monument or stop at a state park.

One of the most memorable was the trip to Mushroom Rock State Park where we learned about Dakota sandstone concretions, glacial action, quartzose sandstone, and the lichen that grew on them. I spun the yarn for this Lichen scarf colors to mimic the sediment layers of the sandstone we saw that day and chose the pattern because of its reminiscent of the lichen.

Pattern Lichen and the yarn I spun from a merino wool/tencel/banana fiber blend. 

Heat

I finished the hot water bottle cover. The whole thing is just too adorable. There isn't anything better than a hot water bottle for heating the bed or on the couch while watching tv. The heavy, squishy, warmth feels alive. It's such a low tec solution and so much nicer than an electric heating pad. I like the Fashy brand because it's made out of silicone so it doesn't have that strong rubber smell and doesn't leak as it ages.

It's October and that means I'm not running the AC or the heat, like I always do in October. It's nice to have a month with a negligible electric bill.

In this place saying I'm not running the heat in October isn't very impressive. This apartment is well insulated and on the top floor so it stays 30 degrees warmer than outside. It's 85F in here right now!  The windows take three hands to open and four to close so I don't open them very often and never at night. I should be commended on not running the AC when I sleep. Some night it's tough to not turn it back on. Maybe I will try filling the bottle with ice water.

Brown Bagging It

Since last Thursday my coffee maker would no longer seal and the steam escaped instead of making coffee. I could make coffee by holding the lid down with a spoon (so I didn't get burned) as it brewed.

This weekend I went to Wal-Mart to replace it and ended up in the sandwich section looking for a better way to cart my lunch to work.

The second hardest part of working 10 hour days is food (the hardest is sleep). I'm at work by 12:15. My lunch is 4:15 and I clock out at night at 11:00 or later and it's a really long time from 4pm to 11pm. I'm not even hungry at 4pm.

It's all about managing the snacks and my current system was too small, no good place for snacks, and, most importantly, I can't find the lid.

That's when I found this cute little system with two large side dishes for my snacks.

The best part about it is that it snaps together. I can tip it over or turn it upside down and it stays in the cube shape.

I've started knitting a lunch bag. I'm unraveling a cowl to reuse the yarn. The yarn is my very favorite malabrigo Twist and the pattern is something I'm making up as I go.

Oh, and now my coffee maker is working fine. I had left the new one in the trunk of the car and only carried in the perishables through the rain. The next morning I needed coffee before I could face trudging across the quad and the parking lots to the car for the coffee maker. I used the old one "one last time" except that it worked great.

Now I have to decide if I return the new one (ugh, visiting wal-mart is unpleasant), store the new one for later (I have so little space I avoid keeping things just in case. When I do, I end up without enough room to live) or just move out the old one and start using the new (but the old one has lasted forever what if it has another 5 years left and the new one doesn't last a year). Well, it can ride in the trunk of my car until I decide.

Hmmmm maybe the answer is to store it for "just in case" out in the car instead of in the apartment.

Such a Fangirl

I also knit myself a red bandana style scarf. 

I can not express enough the SQUEEEEEEE factor of this project. First, the yarn was a prize drawing from the Stash and Burn podcast. My favorite podcast of all time!!! OMG Squeeeee. Second, the pattern was a RAK birthday present from the Doubleknit podcast. Squeeeee I can’t even. They know who I am and noticed my birthday. Third, the pattern is written by a local designer that I bump into from time to time at the LYS! squeeeeeeeeeee.

Zuzu's Petals knit in is Pigeonroof Studios Cassiopeia DK. I was working on this project when I first started listening to Dresden Files. I had to redo the lace bit quite a few times because I was so engrossed in listening that I couldn’t count. It's why I switched to socks, pushing me into that rabbit hole that became 2014 Epic Summer of Socks.

Cowboy

Today I made a trip into Yarn Barn for my current swap box and some Christmas presents. A trip to Yarn Barn also means a trip to Subway Thai. This time I picked up food to-go for everyone at Movie Night as we started going through our lists with my pick Run Lola Run. 

Bandit Cowl knit in malabrigo Twist in the color Sealing Wax 

It was Kiddo's birthday and as we ate dinner he unwrapped presents. I gave him a neck warmer shaped like a cowboy bandanna since real men don't wear cowls but might like a neck warmer. I didn't wrap it since I wasn't sure he would be interested and wanted to keep it causal and not as a real gift. Knitwear as a gift on a Birthday or Christmas just doesn't even register among the video games.

I asked him if he would wear it, meaning "Would you wear it and if you won't I can make you something else that do like because that is some damn fine yarn. Oh, and I want you to be warm. That too. And you won't be warm unless you wear it", but he took it to mean to try it on for everyone to see and thank me nicely. He's really growing up.