Awesome weekend, and more knitting geeking

In spite of my brain fart that led to last minute plan changes for the day, I had a fabulous day.

Got up, packed my stuff, showered and shaved, and then got picked up by sassyfae to head off to Casa Van Hiel.

There we ladies spent the afternoon in needlepoint while the men watched bad old scifi movies and the adorable toddlers played with each other. It felt really traditional, except that we're not traditional peoples. Funny that.

I also got to corrupt some of them with my liquor cabinet. Mmm, top shelf girly drinks! :)

Anyway, I'm almost done turning my fuzzy yarn into an ear warmer, and when I'm done with that I want to do something with my dazzle yarn. But, I only have the one ball of it, about 100 m or 109 yards. It looks like this (it's the silvered midnight one):
http://www.wool-tyme.com/wt_usa/catalog136_0.html

Anyway, I'm collecting a list of patterns I could use to do something with it. But, I may just give in and buy another ball to supplement it. I was thinking I'd make some kind of dressy scarf, but we'll see.

This one I can theoretically do with just the one ball I've got.
http://www.estelledesigns.ca/images/FreePaterns/EstellePadPattern.htm

These I could do if I supplemented with other yarns:
http://www.estelledesigns.ca/images/FreePaterns/double_shimmer_and_dazzle_scarf.htm
http://www.estelledesigns.ca/images/FreePaterns/shimmer_and_dazzle_scarf.htm

I'm actually more interested in having a pretty shawl than in having a fuzzy scarf; I'm not a scarf person. So, I'm thinking maybe I could get a complimentary yarn to do a large triangle, and then do an edge using this fancy yarn. Or if I found more of the same yarn, I could do something like this:
http://store1.yimg.com/I/the-knitter_1806_89156080
Or, with some eyelash yarn, something like this:
http://www.theknittinggarden.com/nv-pattern15.htm

Except that requires more yarn. D'oh! I guess a trip to the yarn store is in store, both for this project and for the baby/toddler hats. And for those, btw, I plan to make the dragon hat for the toddler and the ladybug for the baby, though I'll hold off on that one for a while, and start on the dragon first. Dragon!

There's a Lewiscraft in Woodbine, the mall next to my office. Except, I'd rather buy from a knitting store like on Ottawa St... I just won't have the chance to get at those stores until Friday, and even then I might not. But, I'm probably going to Ottawa St. to search for fabric on Saturday with sassyfae, so maybe I should be patient. What needlework will I do while I wait, though? Oh no! :)

Jobby foo in Portland

Please pass on to anyone who might be interested in the Portland area:

Surveymonkey, a company that hosts surveys and polls for other, less tech savvy companies, is hiring. My company uses their service, and it seems relatively well-designed; I know we've been using them for several years, so the company has been around.

( the ad )

Can't take it

My supervisor is not even at work (she's working from home), but I'm sufficiently irritable and she is being sufficiently annoying/incompetent that I'm going for a walk to the mall just to "walk it off." If I don't, there might be some violence against some inanimate objects... and really, what did they ever do?

God damn I hate having an incompetent supervisor.

Scheduling

I'm getting more aggressive about scheduling things, so I give you all my calendar:
http://calendar.yahoo.ca/wyldefey

If you have a yahoo id, let me know so I can add you as a friend or special friend as is appropriate. This won't remain public indefinitely.

Ambitious much?

So, I'm basically done with stripping and sanding the dresser, and now it's time to do something with it. Thing is, the thing I want to do is CRAZY.

The undercolour on my comforter is a dusty rose, and on the other side I have a purple that iridesces a slate blue at times.

What I'm imagining:

An image on the plain rectangular dresser in question which has a weeping cherry blossom tree.
http://image04.webshots.com/4/7/28/95/70872895NwMYXj_ph.jpg

But wait, I'm not done!
See, I want to do something magical and unnatural with my cherry blossom tree. I want it to be encased in ice while in bloom, either fading from "winter" to "in bloom" across the face of the dresser, or encased in ice WHILE being in bloom.

Here's a close up and long shot at a normal weeping willow encased in ice:
http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rega7586/Winter/winter2002/icyday/weepingwillow.jpg
http://mobry.dyndns.org/~bhorling/photos/snowday2001/P1230895-1-0.shtml

I am not experienced enough at painting right now to do this. I haven't sketched in AGES, and when I did it was mostly women's faces. I think that the only way to do this is to take real pictures and photoshop them, and then use them to create a decoupage.

Yes. I'm crazy. But this is FUN! And if it goes horribly wrong, well, it still can't possibly be as ugly as what I started with (teal body, yellow drawers), and the dresser was free. I wouldn't want to do something like this with a nice, wood dresser!

Weee!

---

On my lunch break I went to Lewiscraft, where I bought a membership, a pattern for an even cooler children's dinosaur hat (with matching mittens), and the yarn and needles necessary to do the tuque portion. I want to either use some of my existing yarn for the scales down the back, or get something sparkly! *bounce* You can see the pattern here, although the tuque will be in a nice lilac colour; just page down:
http://www.patonsyarns.com/patternbook.php?PG=acc&PID=799

I was weak, and also bought myself some purple eyelash... enough to make myself a hat and scarf according to their free pattern. *crazy maniacal giggles* still nothing to do with the dazzle yarn, but I didn't have it with me, so I decided not to make any rash decisions. :)