Fiber Tools

 I've been listening to Fat Squirrel Speaks (a knitting vlog) for a bit now (discovered via TheKnitGirllls) and in one of her more recent YouTube posts, Amy (aka Fat Squirrel) had mentioned a random stripe generator. I found it fascinating in part it would be helpful in destashing some of the yarn I've had for waaaaayyyyyy too long. The blog the random stripe generator is on also offers a weighted version, so that way if you have more of one color you can tell the generator to create more rows of that color (i.e. give more weight or precedence to said color).

That's all for now, I'm still knitting a slouchy hat for myself, testing out a knitted pull over robe that I'm making the pattern up on the fly, and I've kind of stalled on a crocheted virus shawl (mostly because I've been focused on the robe and hat). And this is all in between working, required reading for a group I am apart of, and trying to be inspired to go out Geocaching (the current promotion they have isn't doing anything for me).

Monday Thoughts

I'm writing this on my second cup of coffee this morning, contemplating mainly the yarn projects I'm currently working on and want to make. Not sure if this will get published today (Monday) or not. But hopefully sooner than later.

Some of the current things I'm working on yarn wise. I am crocheting a virus shawl. The initial patten I had found was the Virus Shawl | Virustuch by Julia Marquardt. I could have sworn it was free at one point (it may have been) b/c I have a pictorial pattern for it that I remember getting from there. It's very possible that I'm misremembering. The Julia Marquardt pattern is a paid version, but they do have video tutorial on showing how to make it, so there's that. The Virus Shawl – Sultan Deluxe by Tine Sommer Hansen is free written pattern for something very similar. I've made SEVERAL of these using Hobbii's color changing cotton cakes. Once you get the gist of the repeat, this makes for a very nice, sort of mindless crochet. I am working on one that goes from a cream color through a violet and ending in black. It's an untwisted 4-ply where one of the for ply's changes to the next color every so many yards/meters. Example can be seen here of the cakes.

The next thing I've worked on (and finished) was a Lay Flat Dice Bag by C.B. Williams. I had some yarn I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do with, but I did stumble across this pattern and enjoyed making it. I did have to adjust the pattern a little b/c I wanted to use ALL of the yarn and not just some of it. I also wanted a lightly larger bag than what I would have gotten  just following the pattern - I noticed that the number of rows doubled in between every increase row, so I just followed suit until I felt I had just enough yarn to make an I-cord draw string for said bag. The cord is a little longer than what I would typically want for the bag I ended up with, but I'd rather it be a little long than have some yarn that was too long to just pitch and too short to do anything with.

I'm currently crochet the Red Heart Crochet Cat Pouch out of some yarn that was gifted to me in some nice bright short color changing yarn. I am also knitting the Sockhead Slouch Hat by Kelly McClure in some yarn from Another Crafty Girl (Strong Sock base in the "I'm Surrounded by Fools!" colorway - based off Skeletor from He-Man). I've altered the hat slightly after the ribbing b/c I kind of wanted a pattern there than it being all garter stitch. We'll see how it looks. I may need to rip back to the ribbing and start over.

There are a couple things on my radar that I want to make, some I don't have the yarn for at the moment and others I do. I want to knock out more of my stash before getting more yarn, so the Embrace Octopus Sweater by Maia E. Sirnes is something I want to do but I dont quite have the yarn for just yet. It'll be fun since I've never made a sweater for myself before. But for things I do have some sort of yarn to make it with the Pure Mesh Pullover by James N Watts, Floral Fade by Stephanie Lotven, and Vittorio Cowl by Janelle Martin are all in my personal que to start working on next.

I still really haven't done much with the crocheted ripple blanked I started back in 2009. It's "glaring" at me from the corner of my bedroom. It'll be finished in due time.

I'm also thinking about the current state of things. Here in the US, there are legislators (predominantly if not exclusively on the state level) that are focusing on (and passing?) laws that prohibit necessary health care for folks of all ages and people from dressing up (donning a persona if you will) and doing story time with children. When have we become more afraid of reading stories to children and affordable health care for all (no holds barred - no qualifying who can access it) than mass shootings? 

I strongly encourage those who live within the US to call their state and congressional representatives about it. If you're unsure of what exactly to say, there are scripts online that you can follow or riff off of when you call them (using key word or words + script in the search engine of your choice). Pro-tip from a good friend who calls their reps regularly, if you're not comfortable speaking to a live human, call after hours / on the weekend to get the rep's voice mail.

Our state and congressional reps work for us, and part of keeping them accountable is calling them and reminding them "Hey, you represent me on the state/national level, this is what is important to me." Let them know what your opinion is, and where you stand on things. Let them know they need to take the steps to ensure fair laws pass, and that the unjust ones get removed from law (at the very least scrutinized). Laws should be informed by the representative's constituents, not big corporations/organizations/religion that sponsor hateful and discriminatory (amongst other descriptors) laws that create more harm than good.

Happy 2023! Yarn Stuff and Life.

 Happy 2023! I do realize its a little over 1/3 into 2023, but it still can be a joyous thing. I know we need that more than ever now. I'm going to just leave it at - life as we know it has changed over the last couple of years.

I'm still knitting and crocheting. Not as frequently as I would like, but still going at it. Most of it are on the smaller side of things (scarves/cowls/gloves/etc vs sweaters or blankets). I was turned onto Kumihimo a few years back and have enjoyed the results from that. I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate it into my knitting/crocheting projects.

Also, to help keep me inspired I've created a knitting bingo card. Some of the spaces are for specific areas of the body (like for your head, for your hands, etc), playing around with yarn (like using only 3 shades of color or rainbow colors only, or play yarn chicken). Some of the ones I'm interested in are the 2 destashing squares (one is for 5lbs and the other is 10lbs) and finishing a WIP (looking at you crochet blanket I started in 2009). I am also hoping to post some of my finished stuff here.

We've been doing a garden-ish thing for the last couple years, nothing too serious, mostly growing tomatoes. This year I was hoping to get some herbs growing. Might not be TOO late for some. Idk. I do enjoy drying herbs and using them in loose incense. I am hoping to be able to create my own incense cones or sticks. I do have some catnip growing and hoping to use it for the cats. 

Anyway....here's to keeping up the blogging!

Getting Fancy

 I'm excited for having 'Spirit Week' at work. I wasn't planning helping or getting involved, but it should be fun.

I'm currently working on a chunky rainbow shawl and using the Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborn. I'll say it's one of my favorite patterns to do. One of the things I like about it is that the size is customizable. 

Baby Plant

 So, I got another plant from work called the "Macho Pepper". It has a fairly high Scoville rating, but I look forward to cooking with it.

General Chit Chat.

 Here's to getting back into blogging again! Wheee!

The last couple of years have been a bit of a blur for me, but I feel like it's been that way for a lot of folks.

I want to be able to show off some of my knitting and crocheting. And possibly other creative stuff. So here's a start!

The State of Things

So, it's been a while. Almost 3 years to the date.

And so much has changed.

A world wide pandemic. A reality tv star is running the White House like their former television show (or worse), and it's been more than a fiasco to say the least. More, unjust deaths of black folk. I am grateful that people are protesting and creating civil unrest to put the pressure on, making the call to action. To get the justice needed for those killed.

People, if you have a face covering - a mask, a bandana, an old t-shirt that you can repurpose - plase wear it. It helps more than you think it does. No, it isn't the n-95 medical grade masks, but anything to dampen the moisture coming out of  your mouth from spreading to surfaces etc (You glasses wearers know what I'm talking about when you come in from the cold). Remember to wash your hands for the count of 20.

I'm also trying to navigate this world and be the best ally I can be to those who experience more disparagy than myself, owning up to when I make mistakes and trying to become a better person from them. As a white person, I've found these resources helpful to my understanding of things and what I action/s I can take to help others:

• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo - A quick blurb from her website: "Professional: I have been a consultant, educator and facilitator for over 20 years on issues of racial and social justice. I have worked with a wide-range of organizations including private, non-profit, and governmental." With her book, DiAngelo addresses, in part I feel, the elephant in the room, of how white people have a responsibility to challenge their own perspective and actions, in the way it can drastically impact non-white people. To be able to change the invalidating behaviors (to say the least) to more supportive one, one of ally-ship. (Some are excelling at this, but as a whole, we need to better at this).
• 13th - a shot film that was originally on Netflix. I was able to watch it on YouTube, but as of publishing this, I'm not sure if it's still available there or not. A little search on the internet will be able to tell you where you can watch it. It's about an hour and forty minutes
• 97 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack - This article does date back to 2017, but lists things that you can do, resources for people to learn from. 
• And support locally if you can.

This is no way an extensive of exhaustive list, but it is a start.

Summer!

So the summer solstice came and passed, and the weather is finally warming up. Like a warm, wet blanket warming up. :P

The year's half over and I still feel like I've done nothing [notable], and I'm ok with that. Meh. I'm on par with my reading challenge over on GoodReads.com (though, just barely. And I'm ok with that), finally got my first tattoo and just waiting to get it filled in with color, and I haven't been geocaching as much as I'd like to. It also doesn't help that I work weekends when the majority of the events I want to attend are (not just geocaching events, events in general).

I've also been wanting to blog more, actually writing stuff because I use to really enjoy that (still do), and I've just gotten out of the habit of doing it!

Hope your week's been treating you well!

Adulting and Life

At what age does "Adulting" start? I feel it's like a math problem, if you've done x, experienced y, and accumulated z, by or on your "blup" birthday, then you're free to adult at your discretion. If not, here, take this pill.....

It's sort of a thing that feels like you should be adulting by a certain age, standards are very different (what age you should be "adulting", etc). Where the social [perceived] norm is wack, and not really the norm.

I don't know.

This past week I finally saw Deadpool at a 2nd run theatre (they get the films either after or at the tail end of it's run in the main theatres), LOVED it. A friend ended up joining me, and for both of us to get a ticket, and a large popcorn, two large sodas, and a concessions candy, it was a little less than $26. TOTAL. Yup, you read that right, $26 for two people to see a main stream flick, a huge ass bucket of popcorn, two huge things of soda and a thing of candy.

I loved the fact Deadpool breaks the 4th wall (and then some) several times through out the movie, and his sense of humor (sort of reminded me a little bit of Dane Cook).  If you haven't seen it, you should, unless blood, and stuff offends, then don't. Whatevs.

Have a good one. Put the fun in funky again.

Some Days...

There are days where I feel I'd be a kick ass, lip sync performer.

In other news...

A little over a year ago, I found full time, that paid decently about an hour away from where I live.  Granted, you start off as a temp, then a year to a year and a half, if all goes well you get hired on as a "real" employee (there are some departments that have a high turn over).  I was glad for the work, enjoyed it well enough to see it through until I could get something that I would be happier doing (either with in the same company or something a little closer to home). The commute isn't horrible, I'm heading against rush hour traffic when I go into and from work, and the plus side is that my weeks alternate between 3 and 4 12-hour work days (long days, esp. when you take into consideration my commute each way but that means I get a 3 or 4 day "weekend").

About 4 months into working there, the company had shift change and I got bumped from mine (went to working an 8 hour shift, 5 days a week from 3pm - 11pm. Wasn't too happy about the whole situation). Fortune smiled a little, and I was able to not only go back to the shift I was orig. on, but go into a position where 1. I'd be getting paid more than what I was getting paid, 2. I had become a full time employee with all the benefits that it entails, 3. I was moving around more during the shift (the fist position I had, I was sitting on my ass for most of the 12 hours), and 4. I got to work all by myself.  I couldn't tell you how happy that made me. Didn't have to directly deal/interact with the drama (the company is located in a small, rural town, where most of the employees are from that town - to give you perspective of it's rural-ness (I just learned this a couple days ago), the head honcho for a certain discriminatory "club" for the region lives in town).  Just saying.

Anyway, I digress.

I've been working independently since the end of August of last year, for about 6 months. Now the company introduces a couple more steps to what I need to do, to do my job. This just threw a monkey wrench into things, because it now meant, I need another person to help me get stuff done. Daily. ~.~ Not horrible, b/c with the extra steps I need to do, I want a 2nd pair of hands to help.

They eventually get the 2nd position filled. Unfortunately with someone whose skill set doesn't quite match what the job/position needs.  I know the guy is new to the position (like almost straight off the street new), but after being there for about a month, he still wasn't quite getting it, nor really making progress towards where he needed to be. Yes, the finer details would come with being in that position and doing the job for a little while, but the general gist of it should have started sinking in. :| The down side is, the area/department I/we work in, doesn't really have direct supervision the other departments have. We have a supervisor, but she oversees the ENTIRE plant production flow (we mail mail from the facility, and she makes sure that once we get the information for printing the mail, it gets to where it needs to be with in the facility and out the door, when it needs to be out the door).

I did talk to my supervisor about it this past week, and we saw eye to eye on the situation, fortunately.

I am hoping something positive comes from this.

Books and Things...

I love to read books.

Every start of the new year, I set a goal for myself to read roughly 50 books, figuring on reading 1-ish book a week.

I love GoodReads.com for this very reason (and many more). It helps me keep track of what I've read, where I've left off in a book (if I remember to keep what page I'm on up to date), how close I am to reaching (and exceeding) my reading goal, to name a few.

I can't stress how much I ***LOVE*** how it keeps track of my books and some statistics (like how many pages I've read in 'x' year). Yay numbers!

One of my favorite books I've read this year is Nimona. It's a graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson, where the main character is a strong female character. Here's a little blurb I found on Amazon.com:

Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel has been hailed by critics and fans alike as the arrival of a “superstar” talent (NPR.org).

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

It's awesome in an unexpected way. Its a refreshing read about the antithesis to the normal "hero" (and usually male) perspective. It is told from the main male character's perspective but the story line heavily revolves around the the female character.

I am currently, since Jan 1 of this year, I'm 50% way through my goal at 25 books, have only done a handful of rereads, and broadened my reading scope to include more graphic novels.


On a slightly different note, I need to plan a visit to the beach. A "long" weekend, and fortunately since my work week includes the weekend (Sat, and every other Sun), my "weekend" is during the week, kudos for hitting places slightly off of their busiest times.

Frozen Condensation Accumulates....

So, not really new news, it snowed/iced/whatever along the East Coast of the US this weekend.

I am grateful, that I was able to leave work a couple hours early to make it home before the worst started to hit.

It's always fun to watch the snow come down, making everything calm and quiet. We had thunder snow last night, as in there was thunder and lightning as it snow. It was very cool hearing it! Down side is, is clearing the cars out from under ALL THAT SNOW (about 30 or more inches of it)! Ick. Oh well. It's gotta be done some time.

Nothing TOO major happened since last post. My grandmother (not unexpectedly) passed away (very, very prolonged passing - declining health etc) as well as the family dog (about a month later).  Both were expected to happen soon. So *not* a total shock to us.

Been trying to be more social with different activities, but it seems to settle on being "social" at work, or the occasional Geocaching event that I'm not obligated work that day/evening.  It's a LITTLE bit of a challenge since I work 12 hour shifts, Thu - Sat and every other Sun (on top of an hour commute each way). But I find I'm able to work SOMETHING out. :) :)

I've been slowly collecting supplies to make a GeoCoin binder display. It's just a matter of cutting out baseball card sized foam stuff and the shape of the coin somewhere in the center of it.

I've also been SLOWLY (almost painfully so), getting rid of stuff in my room. Stuff I don't need, used, or even looked at in over a year (sometimes several years).

That's it for now. :)

ROAD TRIP!!! (sort-of) - A Wee Geocaching Adventure

Yay for blogging again...

So, the inspiration for this post is Geocaching.com's summer Road Trip 2015. (If you're new to Geocaching, here's a Geocaching 101 for you!)

Geocaching.com this summer decided to shake things up a little. The last couple of summers, August specifically, they have done a souvenir thing that you could "earn" for your profile (one year was find a cache every day in August you'll get the souvenir, the other year was "find this kind of cache" and you'll get the souvenir). This year to celebrate 15 years of geocaching, they decided to spread the fun out over the ENTIRE SUMMER! So every two weeks, beginning June 19th the website has enabled a new "challange" for it's users to get more shiny for their user profiles.

I'm excited, this year you have 5 different types of caches to find and earn a total 6 souvenirs. . So far, I got 3 of the 5. What's nice is everyone has until Sept 2nd to find the 5 different caches.

What's the kind of caches you're finding, you ask? I'll tell you! :D








On June 19th, you had to find a cache that had at least 10 favorite points, earning you "Fun With Favorites". Favorite points is usually a good indication of a nifty/cool/awesome cache (sometimes it's for the journey to the cache - like walking along a trail with the most spectacular views).

July 3rd brought us together, attending a geocaching event earned you "Meet Your Road Trip Crew". :) Had fun discovering a nice out of the way winery and a new favorite wine. ~.~

The most recent one, starting on July 17th, "Let's Get Extreme", was finding a cache that had a difficulty level or terrain level of 5 (caches are rated out of 5 on how much of a challenge it is, mentally or physically - a 5 terrain (or T5 if you want to get technical), you should have some sort of safety gear, like hard helmets and spelunking gear).



The next two are coming up on July 31st and August 14th will round out the summer fun. July 31st is "High Five for the Earth" - getting an Earth Cache or a geocaching event where you "Cache In - Trash Out" (i.e. clean up trash as you geocache). And August 14th is "Putting on Your Thinking Cap" for finding a Mystery Cache.

I will admit the "Let's Get Extreme" had me a little worried, only b/c I was afraid I would be trying to find this one by myself.  ~.~ Luckily I got a friend who caches as well to come with me and discovered it relatively quickly (if she wasn't there, I would have left sooner after looking for a short time. Took us about 15 min before I found it, granted it should have taken us a bit longer, but I would have walked away a lot sooner than that by myself).

My friend and I went to a near by National Park to find a couple more caches and to hike a little to an overlook with an awesome view. Well worth it in the heat and sweating buckets.

And in case if you were wondering about the different cache types, they can be found here.

Late Night Knitting and Music....

...Or I just refuse to go to sleep post.

Up late (like almost 1am-ish), knitting listening to music on Spotify, vaguely thinking about a Cuddle Party I'm attending tomorrow.

I am tired. I really am, but like a tired 5 year old, I am in complete denial about my current state of awakeness. I'm awake, therefore I should be, NO MUST, stay awake. Admittedly, I kind of want to lay on the floor and flail, just b/c I don't want to go to bed, even though I know I should.

Thankfully, I've refrained...so far.

The music keeps drawing me in on Spotify. It really hasn't played all the songs/musicians fairly. There is so many times I'm willing to listen to "Man or Muppet" and I love the Muppets like getting a surprise package/letter in the mail or a hot stone massage.  So this means I need to search out all the songs Spotify feels like I don't need in my life any more and never get any sleep for the near future.

Ok. Fine. Bed has made the "Last Call" move. I see how it works now. :P

Winter Is Here!!!

So it snowed today for the first time this season (and is still falling as I write this). It seems summer more or less fled the scene and winter took over, all while fall wasn't looking.

I've made a little headway in finding mys state's Geocaching Geo-Star but not much (compared to some).  Just need to get out there and actually do it. There were one or two I tried but couldn't find, in part to my GPSr's signal bouncing all around. Go figure. Been waiting to find the unfound ones when some/most of the leaves have fallen off the trees to get a better signal.

GeoWoodstock XIII is coming up in roughly 6 months, and want to go. :) 

Knitting has taken over my book reading obsession at the moment, if only because the holiday season is encroaching. :look

Plotsy People Being....Well, Plotsy

So, I've decided to not only do ONE state's 50 "Mystery" Caches, but a neighboring one too. I must be sadistic for "solving" them.  I think this type of thing is called GeoArt, where caches are laid out/placed to form a certain design on the map. Like the state ones, they form a star, I've seen an alien and a snoopy design. Go figure.

I know I'm not up to that level yet, creating GeoArt, but definitely up for placing a couple caches myself.  The fun part is coming up with them and finding good hiding spots.

Huzzah!

It's been a while since I've written anything more than my name, anywhere. I figured I'd get back into the groove with talking a little about Geocaching!

I joined the website, Geocaching.com, back in mid-April 2010, but hadn't done anything beyond joining. Roughly 2 years after that, I actually started participating in finding these Geocaches or Caches (for short).  I didn't realize then what an addiction it would become!!!

Roughly 272 caches and 2+ active caching years later, I can't get enough of it.  Now I want to place caches for others to find, from simple nano caches to large constructs that I've made myself.

I will admit, there are some pretty clever or interesting geocaches out there. Like the Tin Man (GC3JAY4) or Heads of State (GCE041). There are personal goal(s) each cacher has, whether it's solving a whole bunch of mystery caches, or trying to find at least ONE cache in each state, or even having a long streak of finding stuff (either quantity of caches found in one day or longest stretch of back to back days of finding caches).

Personally, I am on a kick of solving some mystery caches, specifically the 50 State Star ones.  And I'm also trying to come up with creative ways of releasing some trackable items.

New Year, New Floors?

Sort of new floors.

Family recently discovered the other day, that the family room has wooden floors beneath the carpet.  So tonight they are cleaning up the floor from all the carpet ripping.

Yay new floors!

New Year, New Start?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope everyone's 2012 was at least passable (by that I mean a year that you had ups and downs that somehow managed to equal each other out).

So, over the last year, I've felt I've been hitting a proverbial wall. Career, romance, social..... you get the picture.

I've been wanting (and sort of needing) to find a Full-Time job. It's been a challenge. What ever I apply to, I never hear from or the pass me over for someone else (one of the perks of USAJobs.gov is you see what your status is) and I've been looking for about 3 years now. Mind you, it's been on again off again looking for work.....

I *really* just want something to land in my lap. But doesn't everyone? Right now, I really want to be able to work outdoors.  Yes, I *KNOW* that means working in REALLY cold and REALLY hot temperatures at time, but, I feel like that's where I should be right now. Working outdoors. I've applied to a couple Park Ranger positions, but with ALL the competition for those jobs, I realize it's a shot in the dark.  It is what it is.

I am hoping this year brings some romance into my life. Because, quite frankly, I need some. At this point, I do want to find "The One", but I am not holding my breath.

I am so ready to have my own place. So, so, so ready. My own place, quiet, no one else bothering me. SO MUCH ME TIME!!!!!  Family is annoying me. But that is to be expected????

This year, I want to be able to knit down my yarn stash and read 26 books. 1 book every two weeks is reasonable, I think.


Anyway, I'm rambling.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Geocaching

I will admit there are some things that when I initially hear them I AM interested in them, but not necessarily gun-ho "LETS DO IT" sort of interested. (Some times it takes friends who've joined after I did to get me involved :look )

Geocaching has been one of these things.

Geocaching is probably best described as "modern" treasure hunting. From the site: "Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location."

I will I have been recently trying to organize local caches so I can collect as many as possible in as few trips as possible. 

Lets see how well this works (and how long it lasts). ~.~