The Thrifty Knitter

I spent WAY too much time yesterday finalizing and analyzing my 2011 Überlist. My theme for the year is finishing what I start, so that meant culling a whole shitload of new projects and concentrating on what I already have in progress, or at least have the supplies for. There are also a lot of loose end repairs, way less sexy and glamorous that my first choices, but this is the year to face the music. I also have a couple dozen rollovers from last year, both unfinished and completed things that I liked and want to repeat.

The stuff in *like this is recurring stuff for the whole year. I’ll be tracking the progress of everything here.

Several bits of my list focus on thrift/fixing crap/culling/establishing routines.

1. FIX: Burn off that last big pile of branches that was too close to the barnyard to burn before (Free!)
2. FIX: Door ($200?)
3. FIX: Finish barn. Specifically: make fold-up door for top of chicken coop; attach overhangs for all top edges of coop; seal all unsealed wood; make a new window cover from old fluorescent fixture plastic
4. FIX: Fix bed and put on new duvet set (Free!)
5. FIX: Glue that stupid loose tile back in place and re-attach that stupid light fixture that’s been hanging there forever (Free!)
6. FIX: Hide/tidy basement wiring (Free!)
7. FIX: Level, anchor, skin, edge with lath and recover greenhouse (>$75 total: anchors, $20; 2 layers of new skin $40; screws for batten, $2; already have old hose I can cut in half for batten material, scrap wood for reinforcing ends, washers, PVC pipe I can use in rows to make spacers between two layers)
8. *FIX: Mend or eliminate an item of clothing every week. If eliminated, these do NOT count toward elimination goal (Free!)
9. FIX: Reclaim those old galvanized trash cans (Free!)
10. FIX: Repair and return stanchion to Sherri (Free!)
11. FIX: Repair leak to roof on north top level ($100 for DIY materials if we can find the leak…)
12. FIX: Replace broken LCD on netbook (Free! Christmas present from Ron.)
13. FIX: Replace white board in bedroom with discarded white board or fabric covered acoustic tiles (Free!)
14. FIX: Roof tape loose seams over all 4 wings ($100)
15. FIX: Staple old billboard panel to cover east side of hay shelter and move dead freezer in for feed (Free!)
16. FIX: Switch bedrooms (Free!)
17. *FIX: Upgrade FP site and add a new recipe every other week (Free!)
18. GROW UP: Follow-up pap + regular annual exam ($200, hopefully)
19. *GROW UP: Keep new Sonicare charged and use it for the full cycle every day. (Free!)
20. *GROW UP: Keep up with chore routine. (Free!) Monday: sweep/vacuum; Tuesday: laundry; Wednesday: garbage/recycling; Thursday: Tidy halls/back doors; Friday: bathrooms.
21. GROW UP: Keep up with CSA produce–plan meals or freeze or can each week when bag arrives (Free!)
22. GROW UP: Lose 10 pounds (Free!)
23. GROW UP: Pick a doctor and get a checkup; encourage Ron to do same. ($200, hopefully)
24. *GROW UP: Spend 5 minutes/day handling/hanging out with the sheep. (Free!)
25. *GROW UP: Walk 3 days/week with the nike+. (Free!)
26. LEARN: Brew cider and bottle ($30)
27. LEARN: Build 1 heat grabber for Ron’s small room ($25)
28. LEARN: Buy a sheep chair and learn to properly trim hooves, dammit! If it’s a failure, admit it and give up completely and schedule regular vet visits. ($100; or $200 if it’s a fail)
29. LEARN: Do something to improve pasture. (?)
30. LEARN: Figure out an IE solution so I can order from Evco with my desktop (Free!)
31. LEARN: Have Ed show us how to actually work switchover thing, and print, laminate and stick instructions inside box and on generator (Free!)
32. LEARN: Install kitchen counters! ($200 for hardware & sealer?)
33. LEARN: Install motion-detector switch in at least one room: boiler room, pantry, shower rooms ($30)
34. LEARN: Install sweeper strip thingy on back door (Free!)
35. LEARN: Keep experimenting until I find a sandwich loaf recipe for the bread maker that I actually like (Free!)
36. LEARN: Learn how to use Cricut or sell it by March (Free!)
37. LEARN: Learn how to use knitting machine by the end of the year or sell it (Free!)
38. LEARN: Make a Hackintosh (Free!)
39. *LEARN: Make a new recipe each week (Free!)
    
40. LEARN: Paint my roaster inserts with grill paint ($6)
41. LEARN: Replace capstone mortar on one wing as a test ($100)
42. LEARN: Research DIY alternative energy and try out something ($100)
43. MAKE: Bottle and label beer (Free!)
44. MAKE: Build and fill a snowdome display ($50)
45. MAKE: Finish Kid’s Superman sweater before the Europe tour (Free!)
46. MAKE: Install the solar light by north back door (Free!)
47. *MAKE: Knit 2 feet a week on the building scarf (Free!)
48. MAKE: Make a deck on top of barn: cut and replace planks, extend railing, and make gate for ramp ($200 for extra hardware, frame for sunshade)
49. MAKE: Make a dozen dolls with Ron (Free!)
50. *MAKE: Photograph and document each foot of building scarf and make a giant scrolling panorama page for it. (Free!)
51. MAKE: Plant a winter garden in the greenhouse using just seeds I already have (Free!)
52. MAKE: Plant and keep up with summer garden ($20 limit)
53. *MAKE: Post something, somewhere every day (Free!)
54. MAKE: Put leather soles on all bunny slippers (Free!)
55. MAKE: Ron’s t-shirt quilt (Free!)
56. *MAKE: Sock a month. Mitten = sock.  (Free!)
57. *MAKE: Sweater a month. Vest = sweater. (Free!)
58. *MAKE: Spin a pound a month. (Free!)
59. MAKE: Tailor Ron’s tape machine cover (Free!)
60. *MAKE: Write, photo, make a pdf and publish a new free pattern every other month. (Free!)
61. ORDER: Clean and organize laundry room (Free!)
62. ORDER: Cull 20 cookbooks (Free!)
63. ORDER: Destash NET 100 balls and 10 pounds of fiber (Free!)
64. ORDER: Finish inventory and clearance out all old DH merch (Free!)
65. *ORDER: Get rid of at least one item a day. It can go into trash, recycling, or the Goodwill bag. But I must cull something each day. Obviously I’m not talking about actual trash here, but stuff that I was deliberately keeping for some idiotic reason. And extras for everything that I bring in that’s not, you know, groceries or household consumables or what-have-you. (Free!)
66. ORDER: Organize the craft room (Free!)
67. ORDER: Put together a binder with sleeves for internet recipes I like (Free!)
68. ORDER: Refresh all wool zones with lavender oil (Free!)
69. ORDER: Start wearing an apron with a notebook and pen all the time (Free!)
70. TCB: Add private workshop packages to HVP site (Free!)
71. TCB: Apply for 2 grants (Free!)
72. TCB: Apply for intern (Free!)
73. TCB: File remaining paperwork for Lab34 ($200)
74. TCB: Finish new proposal by Jan 9 (Free!)
75. TCB: Finish scanning all class pictures ($300)
76. TCB: Finish scanning yearbooks (Free!)
77. TCB: Follow up with county and vandals’ parents (Free)
78. TCB: Get a better accounting system set up ($200?)
79. TCB: Holy shit, lady, file your fracking taxes! (Free!)
80. TCB: Inquire at 3 localish colleges re: internships (Free!)
81. TCB: Join TNNA ($60)
82. *TCB: Keep emergency phone charged and up-to-date and update phone right before balance expires (3/20/11) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC ($100)
83. TCB: Make 2011 clip into yarn. ($400?)
84. TCB: Make a Lab 34 web site (Free!)
85. TCB: Make huge lot of batts & fiber for Winter Woolfest; add leftovers to site following week (Free!)
86. TCB: Make non-etsy Art Club web site ($100)
87. TCB: Move FP site to joint server (Free!)
88. TCB: New site for Dad (Free!)
89. *TCB: New work routine! Monday & Tuesday=Make (dye, card, sew); Wednesday=Sell (etsy, ads, web site); Thursday=Document (blog, photo, how-to); Friday=Admin (pay bills, inventory, clean, order stuff, plan). Before I always started the week with boring Admin, which seem to set an uncreative tone. I act as if I was religious about routine; I wasn’t. I’m just saying. (Free!)
90. TCB: Organize Cheese School, Wine School or Sausage School (Free!)
91. TCB: Pick bagworms off bushes before spring (Free!)
92. TCB: Process all existing fleece. ($400?)
93. TCB: Put dye lab gift certificates online (Free!)
94. TCB: Research insurance (Free!)
95. TCB: Review successful KAC grants (Free!)
96. TCB: Seek out a lighthouse keeper for Eskridge buildings (Free!)
97. TCB: Send in agritourism insurance thing (Free?)
98. TCB: Send in PSIQs for all 4 buildings (Free!)
99. TCB: Send last 3 years of tax stuff to dad’s new accountant for review (Hm.?)
100. TCB: Separate business account right at the start of the year ($20?)
101. *TCB: Submit a pattern to knitty each session. (Free!)
102. TCB: Upgrade HVP wordpress (Free!)
103. TCB: Upgrade TK wordpress or simply host on WP site (Free!)
104. *TCB: Write, photograph, make a nice pdf and publish one pattern for sale each month. These can be cheap pdfs for my existing free patterns. (Free!)
105. THRIFT: Cancel Dish, send back equipment, and use Netflix/Hulu instead ($370 total, including penalties, but a net savings of about $600 for the year)
106. THRIFT: Check into interlibrary loan thing from the Harveyville Library (Free!)
107. THRIFT: End the year owing less than I did at the beginning of the year. (Free!)
108. THRIFT: Get Purple Wave to auction the following: pizza ovens, broken stove, maybe printing equipment, acoustic tiles, old computer junk (Free!)
109. *THRIFT: Go a full year without buying any clothes or shoes. Nothing. Not socks, not skivvies, not Target Super Clearance, not thrift. Nada. Making clothes is perfectly okay, as long as I don’t have to buy anything new to make them. (Free!)
110. *THRIFT: Keep a budget record for personal and business expenses (Free!)
111. *THRIFT: Resist the impulse to expand hobbies. Stick with ones that don’t require any new supplies or extensive research.

And a few gifts from last year I couldn’t show at the time. I’ll be writing up the cabled cap as a free pattern next week (See #60) and the iPhone mittens for sale the week after (See#104–I still need to suss out the sizes, and it’s a busy month. And they’re not inherently watermelony mittens–I just made them that way to match Sue’s requested watermelon hat.)

And remember, next Saturday is the 3rd Annual Winter Woolfest in Wamego, KS! This year, it will be at the Columbia Theater with plenty of room to spread out! Free demos & classes & door prizes all day! Plus much local shopping. I’ll have an Art Club booth with my usual DIY Batt Bar for your carding pleasure, and I’ll be demoing a layered/blended batt combo, tweedy batts, roving, and a kitchen sink batt. Bring your knit/crochet WIPs or your wheel and join us for a post-holiday fiber break!

Merry Christmas from my mom’s absurdly frisky doggies, Chloe, Eddie & Antonio:

I was hoping to get just one Christmas card-worthy shot, but they are such spazzes, it’s impossible to get the three of them pausing long enough for a single shot. I can’t believe two of them are seniors. Of the dozens I took, the first picture is the only one where at least one of them isn’t just a Santa-suited blur.

My parents’ house is a treat for animal lovers. In addition to the three terriers, they have 4 full-time cats (evil short-haired gray Dorian, sweet black long-hair old one-eyed Emil, dopey Siamese kitten Ducky, and excruciatingly fluffy saucer-eyed Manx kitten Minxy), plus another dozen regulars they feed, including one poor stray sap who is convinced he lives there and stubbornly resists getting thrown back outside several times a day.

My dad is recovering (sort of; mostly he’s just popping pills and whining and resisting his physical therapy) from knee surgery, so it was a quiet Christmas, without the usual house-hopping. We came up a day earlier than usual, so my dad invited their neighbors over for Christmas Eve dinner for a change (the Friedmans usually have them over on Christmas Eve), which was low-key and very nice. My dad claims he thought he’d be up and about when he made the plans and that he wasn’t deliberately burdening me with all the cooking–which also include all the shopping and grilling pork chops outside in the freezing pouring rain with no fracking lights–but I don’t entirely believe him. Luckily, they Friedmans are late eaters, like us, so it was a breeze. I think the whole mid-day holiday meal thing is barbaric, so I always get stressed and resentful preparing holiday meals with early birds chirping around me. Give me a fashionably late guest who likes a glass of wine and some cheese and conversation before a meal, and I’m happy as a clam.

(By the way, if you happen to live in northeast Houston, the stuffed pork chops we had were inSANE. They’re from an outstanding mom & pop meat market, which also offers turducken, whole boned stuffed chickens, marvelous steaks  and fantastic sausages. Like all mom & pops, they’ve got a challenge in the strip-mall generica of suburban Houston, so if you’re anywhere near, definitely make the trip out and give them your business. You will not be disappointed: Veron’s Cajun Meat Market. I meant to bring home some chops with me but forgot to grab them before I left, and I’ve been sulking all day about it.)

Holy shit, another year almost out the door!

I really want to show off my Christmas knits I haven’t shipped off to their new owners yet. I was scrambling to get out the door for the holidays (visited my folks in Houston), so I blew off Christmas shipping for my friends. I’m still not quite ready to pack it all up, but I want to show off some pretty and some handsome and some funny things I made, but I can’t yet, on the off chance they get spotted. It’s killing me. But In addition to the Items I Can Not Show, I also finished the lining for Ron’s Flocked Mittens (Hello Yarn Mitten School pattern), and a cabled hat made of Mister Shivers fleece and lined with cashmere for my dad.

My dad and Mr. Shivers have an adversarial relationship. That is, Mr. Shivers got a running start and knocked my dad down last year, and now my dad would like to roast him. I have to admit that was a roast-worthy act, though I did warn my dad not to turn his back on him, which certainly included not giving him a 50-yard running start towards the back of his knees. My dad wasn’t hurt or anything–the only reason squat little Mr. Shivers was able to topple him was the running start and his head being right at back-of-the knee level. But still. Very bad form. If he’d actually hurt Daddy, he would be going into some nice stew despite his gorgeous gray fleece. Luckily, my dad’s not decrepit or anything, and he was already in the queue for a couple of new knees, so it’s not like Mr. Shivers hurt anything that wasn’t already slated for the dust bin. So I get to keep him and his pretty fleece. And he’s been behaving pretty well this year. Maybe he’s mellowing with age. I hope so.

Anyway, I thought it would be funny to give my dad a hat made from his nemesis (I think my dad would have preferred a sheepskin jacket). But knitting for my dad means knowing that my hard work may very well go to waste because A) he lives in Houston and doesn’t have much occasion to wear warm knits; and B) he comes more from the crank-up-the-heat school than the put-on-a-sweater school. Plus my dad won’t wear anything that either his 20-something backup daughter Heidi or his friends tell him is cool. I don’t rate, apparently. My middle-aged dad has decided I’m impossibly square. Anyway, to increase the odds, I lined the whole center of it in cashmere so it’s super soft and extra warm. That way if he flirts with wearing it occasionally, he’ll realize it’s actually super toasty and luxe and maybe put it in permanent rotation. I made it nice and snug so it would be a good motorcycle hat or convertible hat, assuming he hasn’t lost interest in either of those things.

Ron, on the other hand, is great to knit for. He wears the shit out of everything I make him. Yay, Ron!

I just love the week between New Year & Christmas, don’t you? Everyone has abandoned the idea of getting any more work done for the rest of the year, and with the stress of Christmas shopping/travel behind  you, you can just relax and have a nice leisurely go at tying up this year’s loose ends and making next year’s big plans. Lovely!

I intend to pay a few bills with some holiday scratch, ship out orders, finish and pack up my straggling holiday presents, maybe try out that milk liqueur, finish up the last box of my 2011: The Year of the Brain calendars, obsess over next year’s Überlist, and forgive myself for my shortcomings on this year’s. I do have one onerous task, covering up some broken windows, hopefully without impaling myself on shards of glass. And I’ll probably wrap up just a couple more almost-done items from the 2010 Überlist, but that is it!

Then we’ll ring in the new year quietly with a little champagne and our traditional New Year’s feast of black-eyed peas with greens and cornbread, and hopefully the better part of the New Year’s Day in bed watching the Roku and shoveling junk food into our faces.

Then on January 2, New Year! Hurrah! And a good 3 weeks of Pollyanna-approved positive energy and fresh-year momentum to start 2011 off with a hyperproductive bang. Yippee! I so adore the turn of the calendar.

Been doing lots of Christmas knitting, but I can’t blog anything until next week, not that my giftees read this (but they do look at my flickr).

I’ve officially given up on last year’s Überlist. I have a few more items I’ll be wrapping up in the next week, but for the most part, I’ve once again abandoned the hope of being a Brenda. I’m in the brainstorming phases of my new Überlist. (Speaking of the list, the 2011: The Year of the Brain calendars are going fast! If you want one, snap it up now–see the sidebar.)

One of my probable goals is to write one new free pattern and one new pattern for sale each month! That should keep me busy. I’ve got January’s patterns almost ready, in fact.

Bad news today. Ugh. Depressing.

But instead of letting the miserable crap define me, I’m going to go all Pollyanna and count my blessings. As nerdy as this is, I love doing it. I also love making lists of all my terrible flaws (There are just so many!), and of people who look like puppets, and of self-improvement ideas, and of things I would like to make if I had unlimited supplies, time, and skills. Really, any kind of list will do. But today, I need a booster. So I’ll make my list of blessings without muddying them up with the downsides.  It’s all silver linings in Pollyannatown! Here goes.

1. I love Ron.
2. My parents are both alive and well (though my dad is recovering from knee surgery–but still, recovering, and finished knee surgery, so let’s go ahead and count that as a complete blessing instead of giving it a qualifier).
3. I have a good relationship with them.
4. Ron and I are strong and able-bodied.
5. My partner is funny and talented and handsome and makes me feel proud and lucky.
6. I have a few great friends I can count on, plus others who make my life brighter because they’re smart and funny and entertaining (not that the ones I can count on aren’t those things–they’re all those, plus).
7. I have friends in my industry/crafty community who support and buoy me.
8. I don’t actively wish anyone ill.
9. I live in an amazing building with a fantastic creative workspace.
10. I have 2 very nice cats, 7 very nice sheep, and 5 very nice hens contributing to my quality of life.
11. The winter has been fairly mild thus far.
12. I have a great yarn and fiber stash that could probably keep me happily knitting/spinning until the end of time.
13. Two of my credit cards are going away for good this year. One of them has already gone. When Citibank rushed to double/triple all its rates last year in anticipation of credit card reform, I decided to opt out of the no-cause 3X interest rate increase on both my Citibank cards. Which means when the last card expires at the end of the month, it’s gone for good. But I get to pay off the balance at the low original rate, not the alarming raised rate. So yes, Citibank and I are officially breaking up, but we’re parting on good terms. We’ve been going steady since 1989, but it’s time. And while the lack of credit is a little scary, the liberation of being unfettered from the potential to rack up infinite debt is, well, a relief. It’s like I’ve finally left my abusive boyfriend.
14. I’ll soon be liberated from satellite TV, too. We’re keeping our internet and we can get most of what we watch from Hulu and Netflix on Roku. And I’ll be glad for less TV in my life.
15. I get to host Yarn School twice a year, plus many other stimulating workshops.
16. I already have all the gear and supplies I need for many hobbies: knitting, spinning, cheese-making, brewing, small-scale printing, baking, sausage-making, sewing, embroidery, paper craft, felting, etc.
17. I have great cooking pots and appliances.
18. I think my little DIY greenhouse is going to serve me will this winter.
19. I’ve got another pattern in the upcoming knitty (a great one! Oooh, I want to tell!).
20. I’ve got an excellent book proposal in the works.
21. I’m reasonably skillful at several pursuits.
22. I don’t have any overwhelming emotional impediments.
23. I love my kitchen
24. We have high-speed internet, nothing to sneeze at in the country.
25. Sketchers is going to replace those stupid fitness shoes that always pop off my feet for other stupid fitness shoes that will actually stay on my feet, hurrah!
26. We haven’t had a problem with mice this year (thanks, Sugarfoot!)
27. I’ve got some great new patterns and projects in progress.
28. I’ve got to believe that there’s some solution to The Big Problem, and that if I seek enough advice, I will find it.
29. I have many pairs of warm wool socks.
30. I have meat in the freezer and beer brewing and hens laying fresh eggs.
31. We have a car that gets good mileage.
32. I don’t have anyone dependent on me to survive, which means my stress and problems aren’t magnified by anyone but me.
33. I live in a place with clean air and starry skies and quiet nights.
34. I live in a place that has somewhat calmed my voracious consumption.
35. Living somewhere that’s not a cultural and political echo chamber of my own opinions has made me more tolerant. It has also made me use the phrase “echo chamber” a lot more. You forget you’re in one until you leave and you can suddenly hear more than the sound of your own voice.
36. My Lexulous addiction is currently under control.
37. I have a job I love.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, Gee, I’d really like a hooded flannel nightgown, but I’m worried it will look like a wizard costume–your concerns are well founded. It probably didn’t help that my base garment came from a 70s dashiki dress pattern, or that I used a blue novelty flannel. I tried to counteract the wizard effect by adding a kangaroo pocket to make it look like a hoodie instead of a wizard cloak. But now I just look like a wizard who’s keepin’ it fresh. Maybe I’ll try  that Simplicity pattern…..

On the upside, tonight I had a brainwave: Rustoleum High Heat spray paint!

Huh? you ask. For my dye roasters, dummy! The acid in the acid dyeing quickly eats away the surface of the inserts, so I have to scour them well before each use to get rid of any rust. I was scrubbing one out tonight, when I suddenly realized: grill paint! I never use it hotter than about 350°, and the paint’s rated for 1200°, and it’s not like I’m going to eat off it, so it’s perfect. Yay.

Almost makes up for this idiotic nightgown.

Foolishly, I only took advantage of the last half hour or so of this beautiful day. And it wasn’t even for anything fun, nor did I get to cross anything off my list, since I got such a late start. I was able to fix my hay shelter roller blind and finally tear out all the deflated tomatoes I let freeze because I am a fucking idiot. Gardenwise, there’s nothing more depressing than chucking out 20 pounds of mature, mushy green tomatoes that could have been happily ripening inside if you weren’t a complete moron.

Ironically, the nicer it is outside, the colder it is in here; and the shittier it is outside, the cozier it is inside. That’s because when it’s just me & Ron, we try not to run the boiler if we don’t absoultely have to (because it is really fracking expensive). When the overnight low is in the 30s, we really don’t have to run it. Of course, we’re freezing our tits off unless we’re in the basement or my bedroom (which has a space heater), and I have to admit I’m a little slack on the personal hygeine when the boiler’s off. So I’m perversely looking forward to tomorrow night’s single-digit lows because that means: YAY! TOASTY WARM! (Importantly, toasty warm without feeling guilty for being a whiny pansy who can’t quit winging and put on another fucking layer).

Running the boiler is also fantastic for dyeing fiber, because I can drape it all over the vents and it dries up all fluffy and lovely in no time. So I’ll be dyeing all weekend. I’m actually kind of psyched we decided to move this weekend’s classes, because now I get a surprise extra weekend for free! I’m going to catch up both on dyeing and Christmas knitting, and hopefully finish off a little test project I’m working on. I also get to FINALLY test a sample of my languishing beer and see if it’s reached it’s final density or whatever they call it. I suspect it will still be way high, but who knows?! Maybe it will be ready to go and I can bottle away.

If it’s still not ready, I will probably start another batch of beer (my mom sent me TWO coopers kits) and try pouring the old stuff over the new yeast, as someone on one of the beer forums I was haunting suggested. If it is ready, I’ll still start another beer, but I will also start a cider! I’m super psyched about the cider, even though apparently it takes a lot longer. I really should get a decent homebrew book.

Oh, that’s one for the 2011 Überlist: Check back into interlibrary borrowing from the Harveyville Library (which is open like 4 hours a week, but still: free books, if I can actually get the ones I want).

Tonight’s really too cold to be up in the craft room, but I’m itching to make a flannel nightgown, so I’m going to give it a whirl. I’m flip-flopping between using a pattern and experimenting. I was all set on this one vintage pattern when I realized that it’s actually just a frumpy pattern and only looks adorable and winsome because the girl in the drawing is adorable and winsome (and leggy and beribboned). So it’s back to the drawing board.

Oh, that’s another one for the list! Make something from my vintage sewing patterns! (I’m bolding them so I can find them later on when I’m compiling my list. Working on my next Überlist is still on my list of Things I Must Not Do Right Now Because They are Distracting Me From the Work at Hand.)

Anyway, I toyed with making up my own pattern, maybe something boxy with  gathered shaping. Then I thought: what about a hood? That would be cool! So I made a little tissue paper model while I was playing Lexulous with Suzanne. Only, it looks like some kind of witchy Druid ceremonial robe, not the fetching nightie I was imagining, so… I dunno. Maybe I should try it anyway. Maybe if it’s made out of flannel instead of tissue paper and Priority Mail stickers I peeled of a box it will look less, you know, ridiculous. We’ll see.

If you’re looking for sweet last-minute knits that don’t look last-minute, I have 3 new quick-knit patterns in my Ravelry shop. These will take an experienced knitter about 2 hours each, less if you’re super speedy. Keep in mind that using dpns, magic loop, or a yarn that splits will slow you way down, so if you really want to crank them out, stick with 16-inch circs and a snugly-plied yarn. I’ve found a soft-twist single can add as much as 45 minutes to my knit time, ouch (but that’s still under 3 hours, so just a mild ouch). As long as you’re getting gauge, any yarn will do.

And while I’m hocking stuff, my new calendar, AKA the Überlist calendar is here, too!

2011 is The Year of the Brain, with one of a kind covers from vintage science books & encyclopedias. Yes, I got to destroy old library books! Don’t have a heart attack, nerds! They’re all very dated (=bad science!), so they don’t belong in any real library, and they’re also very common books, so I’m not ruining our collective kitschy science nostalgia but defacing them. Hmph. You just made cutting them all up way less sexy. I was starting to feel like a thrilling delinquent. Turns out, I’m still a big nerd.

I’m having a hard time focusing this week. Oh, wait. That’s every week. I feel like I need to make a list of THINGS I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO. I keep telling myself not to do them, but I do them anyway, like picking a scab. Maybe if I write them down, that will help me cut it out.

Thing 1: I must not stare at the airlock, nor time the bubbles, nor check the temperature.

Thing 2: I must not obsessively check home brew forums to find the magic bullet for my sluggish fermentation, because I don’t even know for sure if it is sluggish (but it totally is) and I’m not even going to take another hydrometer reading until Saturday, so what’s the point of looking up the solution yet another time if I don’t even know the problem.

Thing 3: I must not play Lexulous with robots, only with Suzanne and only one game a day.

Thing 4: I must not drift around the internet looking at stuff I can not buy.

Thing 5: That includes imaginary Christmas gifts I can not afford, even if they would be just perfect. You can’t get blood from a stone, even if Daddy would really really like some blood. Actually, my dad will probably be the one person I will spend cash money on, because he never seems into any of my handmade gifts.

Thing 6: That also includes adding a bunch of stuff I can not buy to my wish lists instead of buying it. Coveting is not productive even if it’s free.

Thing 7: I must not start any new projects until I finish my current projects. Making Christmas lists counts as a new project. Starting my new Überlist counts as a new project. Organizing my Tupperware counts as a new project. Inventorying my pantry counts as a new project. And yes, even cleaning my room/office/sundry work areas counts as a new project. Updating all my web sites, even if they desperately need it, counts as a new project. TASKS TO COMPLETION!

It seems like such a simple list. I don’t know what my problem is.

Does making a list of my tasks in progress count as a new project? Let’s say no. Good. Then I’m going to go do that. Wait. What?