If I Were....

Thanks to Tiny Adventures for the inspiration...

a month, i would be: April
a day of the week, i would be: Thursday
a time of day, i would be: about 10am
a planet, i would be: Neptune
a sea animal, i would be: a seahorse
a direction, i would be: North
a piece of furniture, i would be: a bookcase
a sin, i would be: gluttony
a liquid, i would be: tingly spring water collected directly from the source
a stone, i would be: an amethyst
a tree, i would be: a Monkey Puzzle Tree
a bird, i would be: a kākāpō
a tool, i would be: hedge trimmer
a flower/plant, i would be: the rose
a kind of weather, i would be: cold and clear
a mythical creature, i would be: a unicorn
a musical instrument, i would be: a theremin
an animal, i would be: a giant Galapagos tortoise
a colour, i would be: pine green
a vegetable, i would be: corn
a sound, i would be: ducks landing on water
an element, i would be: earth
a car, i would be: a Goggomobil
a song, i would be: Dream Girl by SHINee
a movie, i would be directed by: Miyazaki Hayao
a book, i would be written by: Tom Cho
a food, i would be: Scotch eggs
a place, i would be: home
a material, i would be: paua shell
a taste, i would be: melted cheese
a scent, i would be: Dutch 4-spice mix
a religion, i would be: the Old Custom
a word, i would be: flâneur
an object, i would be: a snuggly crocheted blanket
a body part, i would be: nape of the neck
a facial expression, i would be: wonder
a subject in school, i would be: Ceramics
a cartoon character, i would be: Aang (though I've only seen the first season so far...)
a shape, i would be: curved
a number, i would be: 17

Chanrio >> Sanrio Character Creator!

I'm home sick from work today, but I thought I'd share this Chanrio Creator that I've been having fun with this week.
Note: I was not able to use the site with Firefox, but had success with Chrome.

The most important instructions are in English as well as Japanese, and I had no trouble figuring it out, but if you need extra help there's a tutorial here.

With my first Chanrio I went the Kawaii route, then tried Mori with my second one:

As you can see, there weren't too many Mori options -- my look is still more Kawaii than Mori! Kawaii was my first love though, and I've been pondering lately how the two could be combined. It's a slight shame that there's no option for red hair, otherwise they'd look more like me, but if you're a kimono fan, there are many to choose from -- you'll be in heaven!

In other news, my Marie Kondo book arrived yesterday and I've started reading it. She's a very interesting person!

Right Now : Saturday 4th May, 12pm

Today I'm working under the theory that, not having done anything to post about shouldn't stop me from posting. Actually, I've been doing some things in the last week or so, and I'm currently working on writing and taking the photos to be able to share them. Today though, I'm going to do a little activity I saw on another blog called Right Now.

feeling: restless.
reading: The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy.
following: Journal Girl
in love with: Pens!
eating: a home-made ham & cheese croissant washed down with a strong coffee.
waking up: glad there were no nightmares last night.
dreaming about: paint. the brighter the better.
grateful for: all the support that's out there if I choose to reach out for it.
listening to: the breeze rustling the tree outside punctuated with a female voice yelling "come on!" from Husband's computer game!
fantasizing about: rolling around in paint with abandon, and not caring about spills or stains!
working on: changing the way I think.
undecided about: which option to try next on the path of my inner life.
dreading: cleaning the house!
feeding: my need to write.
excited about: all the sources of inspiration I'm drawing on right now!
looking forward to: Eurovision!

Autumn. From Pinterest.

Delays and confumbuments

The knitting has slowed down a little, cos I had to read the Harry Potter book. But thankfully that only took me until about 3pm on Sunday, so I have my normal life back again! Whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen...

I worked on the Jaynes quite a bit last night. Both the hats themselves are finished, and the first one has 1 1/2 earflaps at the moment. The excitement is building! I think I'll be almost as excited to give them to their recipients as they will be to receive them!

Next, I want to work on finishing Ami Chihuahua and the Sachets (both Fruit and Square). I figure if I get all the nasty stuffing and such out of the way in one hit, I'll feel better about it. Plus, there'll be the pleasure of working with my essential oils to scent them. I haven't done anything with them for so long. I'm eyeing off a bath bomb making kit on Ebay as we speak!

I bought some wool to make an Amigurumi Cat when I was at Lincraft the other week, but now I'm thinking of making an owl instead. Cause I bought my Harry Potter at Borders, and you are supposed to get a free stuffed owl, but the lady wrote "no owl" on my collection slip, and the handwriting was so bad and I was so bored, that I didn't realise til I was paying for the book. So I didn't query it, because I was just happy to have the book, AND to get the adult version and not the fugly, Pratchett-style kids version. But I'm not sure if my personal Potter-mania will last long enough to carry me through a whole project.

No pictures today as I'm at work, but here's something:

Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

60% Affectionate, 45% Excitable, 73% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

---

P.S. I've decided to call acrylic Muggle Wool from now on.

Bag Bag and Knitting Meme

Aside from annoying things like work and sleep getting in the way, I've managed to knit quite a bit. I was going through my stuff the other day, and I found this project:

It's a bag made from bags! It's knit from strips of supermarket shopping bags which I've cut up (I'll show the technique in a future post) and knit. It's pretty easy to work with once you get used to it. It's just the rustling that can be a little disconcerting at first! When I first found it, I racked my brains trying to think of some use for the project. Then I realised - I can use it to keep my wool in! With that revelation, I started knitting. I knit til I ran out of strips, and then went looking for more plastic bags. I found a butt-load in the back of the cupboard that I had been hoarding for this very purpose.
This re-use, recycle stuff is all right.

I found this thing called a Meme on another blog:


Edit the list, bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket [working on]
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire [not knitting but macrame]
Shawl
Stockingette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL [Knit ALong. Nup. That would involve contact with others. I'm a lone knitter.]
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn [got some lined up]
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting) [dunno what this is]
Twisted stitch pattern
Knitting with bamboo yarn [if I ever get rich]
Two end knitting [dunno what this is either]
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn [if I ever win Tatts]
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn [if I can ever be arsed]
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) [why would you do that?? *horrified*]
Continental knitting [that is how I knit]
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental) [do it when the pattern requires]
Designing knitted garments [not very well]
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book [*snorts* yeah, right!]
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money [gettin' rid of stuff I don't really want, more like]
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca [do they give personal loans for that sort of thing??]
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting [not sure what this is - thought it was the same as Fair Isle]
[Actually, I wonder if they mean naalbinding??]
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads [not knitting, but crochet]
Swatching
Long Tail Cast On [that's how I always do it!]
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting [what's the point?]
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia [isn't this the same as Entrelac?]
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom [working on]
Thrummed knitting [dunno...]
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair [apparently that's not a hoax now]
Hair accessories
Knitting in public [not after all the sleazy horror stories I've heard!]

There! That was rather tedious, wasn't it?