No pictures just now, I'm afraid, but I did want to check in and let you know I'm still alive. I'm at the Entomological Society of America meeting in Reno right now and not on my laptop proper. I did manage to get some pictures with Bug Girl, so I hope to post them when I get back. I've also managed to get lots of video of entomologists sending messages to the high school kids I'm working with, so I'm excited to post those as well. I'm wondering, having been inspired by Bug Girl, if it would be a good thing to start an entomologically-themed blog. I'm not sure my attention span is good enough or what my message is, but I do like bugs and I do like science outreach. I'll give it a think anyway. I've connected with so many people at this meeting, not only through entomology, but through knitting as well. I'm working on a pair of socks, as one does at these things, (okay, as I do) and have been able to encourage several people to pick up the craft or pick it up again. I've talked about the benefits of knitting and the devaluing of traditionally female crafts. I didn't want to go to this meeting at first. There's so much I could have gotten done at home, but this really has been valuable for me. All the same, I can't wait to get back.

Proud, but not prideful

You can tell this isn't Kansas because it's in color.

One of the first full garments I ever sewed by myself was a Wednesday Addams dress for Halloween one year and I still have it in my closet. Mom helped, of course, but she claims it's all my work and I can't help but be a little proud of it.

I made the above dress for Iris in '04 and the pattern is more fiddly than it looks, but that there is Dorothy Gale's dress. It's a licensed pattern, so it's the official Wizard of Oz Dorothy dress. I even compared it to the movie to make sure it was right and not some half-baked approximation.

There's been a Halloween costume dry spell the past few years and I've partly been thankful for it. Grad school occupies my brain like the 99% on Wall St., only it's been going on for much longer and I'm more willing to give into its demands. She's been wearing the costumes from her dance recitals and it's great she gets some additional use from them, but every year she doesn't ask me to make something for her, I feel a little bit like a kicked puppy.

Maybe that's silly, but in my head Mama is supposed to make the Halloween costumes. That's part of what a good mama does and it's one of the parts I really like. I like making something for the offspring that she's excited to wear and while I've made her lots of clothes, a Halloween costume is special.

Anyway, it's that time of year again and much to my relief, she's asked me to make her a fairy costume. She wanted a skirt and I suggested a vest to help hold up her wings. First, she wanted to be a woodland fairy and I'm thinking, "Browns and greens - no problem." I even found a camo that might have worked very well for such a thing. Unfortunately, she changed her mind in the fabric store. She wanted to be a rainbow fairy instead and no, there was no way to change her mind.

Sassy!

We got the last bit of a rainbow striped quilter's cotton and it was perfect. In fact, I think this is some of my best work. The black panel has a black lace layered in front of the cotton to give it a little opacity and it makes the other colors really grab your retinas and smack 'em around a bit. Both of the black fabrics were stash. Pro tip: Children grow. Measure them before you cut fabric to make a garment. Sure, you may have measured them last week, but they probably grew last night. I must admit to inserting this panel because I failed to measure the kiddo before cutting. It turned out to be a happy accident.

The closure is an invisible zipper and hook-and-eye, but the waistband has elastic in it to allow for growth of said kiddo. She should be able to wear it for a couple more inches of tummy growth. That might be a month or a couple years-- it's hard to say. Anyway, it fits perfectly, drapes well, the zipper looks great, and it the whole garment is the exact perfect thing for her. Not to mention that she loves it and is excited to wear it for Halloween. The part I'm really proud of is that I made this entirely without a pattern. I made it with maths from my brain.

I feel like a good mom again and that here's something that's as it should be. I feel talented and competent. I feel proud.

...but not prideful. I thank Athene for granting me skill with a needle, I thank Bekah for being a good influence in the use of references, I thank Iris for asking me to make this for her, I thank the Kindergarten teacher who suggested I learn to sew, and most of all, I thank my mom for teaching me.

It's not because I don't love you

Support Public Radio: They don't yell at you in the morning.

I'm continuing apace with handkerchief production, having finished one with a pine branch, one with the chemical structure of serotonin and the words "Serotonin: get happy!" and another one with initials on. I've got another with initials in the queueue...ue..ue and have plans to coffee dye one and stitch the chemical structure for caffeine in brown.

Anyway, I hope this ennui passes, though with October being fully itself and November looming on the horizon, I remain unconvinced. At least some stitching of some kind is getting done.

I've also got a Halloween costume to sew for a little girl and more presents to make than I really have time to make. If you don't get anything from me this year, it's not because I don't love you.

In other news, fall break for Iris and the school I'm working at has ended, so it's back to work for me tomorrow. Additionally, I just got the window on my Volvo fixed and it cost nearly as much as the car. (Say it with me: "Cheaper than a car payment. Cheaper than a car payment..." It's the cash-payer's mantra.) I managed to fix the fuel door myself and the head liner is high up on my list next to the trim piece that came unglued. That is, barring any unforeseen circumstances (Hephaestos forbid!). Lastly, husband's birthday is on Tuesday. Incidentally, it's also National Coming Out Day.

There's a lot going on here

Last night, Bubby and I went to a show on campus for an evening of free entertainment. We were up a little later than usual, so she's still sacked out in bed, but we had a grand time. She has had a deep fascination with China for some time now, so when I dropped her off for Chinese lessons last time, they gave us tickets to Song of Silk. The show was a mix of dance, music, and theater from many different regions of China, including a yak dance from Tibet. Her favorite part was the fan dance, but they had a demonstration of several instruments that was also very cool. There's one called the suona that can, apparently, hold its own with a set of bagpipes.

No lie. They didn't need a microphone for it. There were, sadly, no bagpipes or men in kilts last night, but we did see a dude in a fabulous hat.

We also saw a lady play the pipa, which I have dubbed the Chinese banjo. This video is of the lady we saw playing the same song we heard last night.

I would love to hear the pipa and the banjo together. That would make my day.

In other news, I haven't been doing much knitting lately. My knitting mojo has wandered off to Bermuda and is probably sipping mojitos and making a lovely scarf. If you see it, send it home, willya?

I did manage to finish a pair of circle socks (Ravelry link) and have been doing a fair bit of embroidery as well. I finished a couple of for-sale hankies and have lately been working on gift hankies for the menfolk I know and am related to. This is in preparation for the winter holiday season and I fear that I'm just not going to be able to finish all my making this year. I'm not sure I ever do, but I've been quite busy lately and having difficulty finding time that isn't occupied by something - mostly somethings that are not conducive to knitting. I've also lost my needle gauge, which makes the whole process a little more frustrating.

I'm sure that my knitting mojo will eventually miss me and come back home, hopefully with my needle gauge, and I can commence to knitting again. In the mean time, here are some pictures of recently embroidered hankies.

This one is just some freehand vines and leaves. I'd planned some kind of trumpet flower to go with, but decided to leave it as-is.

 

To the left we see poppies, a fairly common theme in embroidery. To the right and on the opposite corner of the same hanky is the chemical structure for morphine.

The biggest trick lately is balancing all of the things and doing them as well as is reasonably expected. I think I'm doing okay at it, actually, but I do miss knitting. I am deciding to take comfort in the fact that I'm not unproductive, I'm just productive in different areas of my life.

Relax, Cupcake!

Kirk's Cupcake

So, this is not actually a picture of my husband. It's not far off, though.

I know this will come as a shock to all of you, but Husband and I are pretty big in the Star Trek geek department. One of us writes fanfic, one of us plays STO, and between the both of us, we could tell you just about anything from TOS to the most recent movie.

There's nothing sexier than a big nerdy guy who's trained in take-down techniques and knows what you mean when you say your gaming group is going to be on an Akira-class ship in the new Trek campaign. Yeah, that's nerdiness to the nth degree, I tell you what.

My Cupcake

This is Husband. You'll note he's got more hair up top. I kinda miss the beard, which he has since shaved off. sigh What a handsome guy.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense. The stress that always comes this time of year when school starts and there are a hundred different things gearing up has finally begun to subside. It's also the middle of Birthdaypalooza here at the house, mine having just passed, the little one's being tomorrow, and the big man's coming up in October.

Making cake is fun and it's not often that I decide to really do it up bigtime. Really, Chekov/Sulu-related fic fests and Bubby's birthday are about it. Now, I'm not a gourmet cupcake-making person, I don't have much in the way of specialty equipment, but my artist's heart likes to come out and play with color, no matter what the medium may be.

We started with Pillsbury "Funfetti" cake batter because that's what she wanted and then dropped in some food coloring until it was just the right shade of pale blue-green. Now, I never can get quite two dozen out of a box mix and, being that there are 21 kids in her class and her teacher deserves a cupcake, too, I had to make the full two dozen. I ended up cracking open my trusty Joy of Cooking and flipped to a quickie cake recipe. In this case, "quickie" means that we used the 'lectric mixer. Y'know, like "quickie" mashed potatoes.

With food, it can be good or it can be fast. Rarely is it both.

Anyway, I whipped that up and voilá! More than enough batter! I actually made sixteen more cupcakes than were needed. They were slightly flatter than their box-cake counter parts, but that could have been easily fixed. I think I was a little batter-stingy toward the end, there. I'm particularly pleased that when I tried one of the surplus, it was soft and fluffy and cake-like where my previous homemade cake attempts had been...

...dense.

Birthday Cupcakes

Those are cupcake-flavored goldfish on the top and I was quite pleased how the combination of blue and green decorating spray made a lovely sea green/ocean blue. That stuff is amazing and I feel like a dang genius.

In the interest of full disclosure, Little Bit did most of the box-cake mixing and baking, reading the instructions, measuring, and putting the first batch in the oven. The only thing I did was mix while she very carefully added food coloring and measure out batter into cups. Bedtime came before decorating time, but she could have done all of this herself. I'm proud of how self-sufficient she is becoming and while baking cupcakes isn't an essential life skill, knowing how to read and interpret recipe directions (or any kind of directions) is. With these tools, I don't have to worry whether she'll be able to feed herself good food when she grows up. Whether she chooses to is another matter; at least she'll be able to.

Today has been quite relaxing, as was yesterday. I actually spent some time on the Echo Flowers shawl (which Little Bit is convinced is going to be hers) and carding and spinning some hand-dyed wool. It's beet/curry flavored, which makes for an exciting orangey color. I'm a little excited to try out some cream of tartar/alum mordant for my next batch involving some shriveled-up beets in my crisper. I had intended to try to make a further dent in the llama, but did this instead. I needed the break.

I needed the break from school and from all the responsibilities that seem to pile up quicker than compost at a commune and I had that opportunity today. I hope this will allow me to face the coming weeks with renewed strength. I think it will.

I did it myself

Yesterday was lovely and relaxing. I spent most of the morning with good friends, then went out with the offspring to get a couple zippers and to look at birthday-related things. Though I'd planned to finish up at least one of the skirts I'd started to make for her, I got on a crayon-making kick. You see, I've wanted to make new crayons from old since I was a wee one and when Crayola finally came out with a crayon maker, I was thrilled and went right out and bought one. Unfortunately, the mold wasn't very sturdy and crumbled after a while (several years, I think) and there aren't any replacements, so I can't make crayon-shaped crayons anymore. I had an idea that one might take candy molds instead, so I thought I'd give it a try. Blending colors is a little different with this process and in order to get the streaks and swirls that the original crayon maker made, you have to start with a base color and add shavings and other bits of color after the hot wax is poured into the mold. It helps if the wax is good and hot so it melts the shavings on contact. If you were to try this at home, only use low heat and good crayon pieces. Crayola and Rose Art are fine, but I wouldn't use anything else.

The results were great! The only difficulty I have now is that I haven't got enough crayon pieces. If ever there was an indication that I need to color more, that's it.

 My other Sunday project was to finally replace the taillights on my car. Generally, I like to have someone else do car maintenance and repair for me, but I had the utmost confidence I could do it. The hardest part was remembering which wires went where and putting the bulbs back in. They're a little fussy, but I eventually managed. It turns out that there's this vast underworld of people who restore Volvos. Who knew? At any rate, this means that I can the parts I need and short of anything that requires me to take parts of the engine out, I can fix things on my car. Woo! Next on my list is the head liner fabric and any of the bits of missing trim I can find. I can even get a replacement hinge for the little door that goes over the gas cap.

Look at that butt

I'm certain there are professionals that could have done a much better job of it, but the brake lights and turn signals all function and it looks a hundred percent better than before. Throwing out the old lights was cathartic and I've been walking around with my head a little higher ever since. Sure, it wasn't a major job, but it was my job and I did it myself.

I don't look good in yellow anyway

So, the Tour de Fleece is over and while I didn't finish the llama, I did make a decent-sized dent in it. Mind you, I haven't been as gung-ho about the Tour de Fleece as I get about the Olympics and I've been distracted by shiny objects, but I did participate.


I think that, for the rest of the month, I shall focus on WIPs. I've got several now that are just kind of waiting in the wings for me to work on them. To be quite truthful, I've been neglectful of almost everything lately. I haven't been exercising, working in the lab, doing housework, or doing very many of my fiber-related projects. I'm only just now catching up and starting to do housework again and I'm planning to go into the lab today. Right now, I think I'm going to wake the sleeping offspring and knit some lace.