The Little Things

I was exhausted when I got to work, thirty minutes late and way behind schedule. I dragged myself through the day, mixing molecular biology with centrifuge repair, while submitting online Grad School applications. My back was in knots and my breathing shallow from both the cold that has permanently taken up residence in my sinuses, and from the panic, the sheer dread of the whole Grad School idea.

I left work late, despite going in early, yes I was late at being early which still meant I was way early for a normal day but way later than I should have been. Does that make sense? I'm not so sure. Anyway, I went to Starbucks to hang out. I never go to Starbucks just to hangout, but I was tired. I could feel my body drifting off to sleep, the muscles relaxing in response to the steamed milk and gentle music...

I left and immediately felt tense again, the might of Starbucks only kept the demons at bay for a short while. On impluse I stopped in at a quaint fabric store, hidden on the Upper East Side a couple of doors down from Serendipity. It was run by an old couple, Eastern European by their accents, an ambience of quiet waiting a passivity.

On the counter there were little celophane bags of twiddly bits, 99c each. They made me so happy I bought two. And tomorrow I may go back and picck out some more, for the monkeys, for the baby sweaters, and for the peace of mind.

Baby swaeter pattern available here. It only takes a skein... go on, make a little person happy.

For Momma

Christmas Present Number One from the production line......

Unfortunately the rest are still in skein form. I'm going to be pretty busy these next few weeks.

It's called a learning curve

... that's my excuse and I sticking to it. Welcome to crocheting in circles!! Sit for a good few hours with a skein of nasty turquoise yarn you bought for $3 while having a brain fart as to what is and is not acceptable, crochet until the blister on your little finger bursts, completely make up your own pattern and you too could produce a lumpy circular tote like this!


Oh well, it serves a purpose concealing slightly more acceptable balls of yarn (Patons Katrina in Chocolate, oh so yummy) until I deem it time to turn them into a monstrosity.

And this wasn't the only productivity of the three day weekend, but until I procure the perfect button, that little gem is being kept under wraps...

Salopettes

You need your drive shovelling? This guy would be more than willing to help all snuggled up in his fleecey cold weather gear. And if he isn't willing, there's not much he can do about it, what with having no mouth and all...

My camera, or more precisely my 512mb memory chip, has crapped out on me. I'm back to the dinky 32mb chip. It's so frustrating.

Head Explosion

In between the trying to cram four years of my Biology degree into my head in two weeks, I've also been trying to teach myself to crochet. And this is my first attempt at double crochet. It's not so bad (dropped stitches and blisters aside), but goddamit, I'm sick of making scarves! Some poor soul is going to be getting this one as a gift, perfectionism be damned.

But now I want to try to crochet in circles and it is driving me insane. I can't figure out how I can start with a chain of six, make a loop, chain two more and end up with eleven sc stitches in the next row. It makes no sense at all...

Monday is back to the Monkeys and I can finally get rid of the evil ski monkey that has been glaring at me for the past month.