Coping
01 May 2012 1 Comment
With finals but a week away, the dread is beginning to really mount. I’m feeling pretty solid in one class, but the other I’m totally lost in. Who would’ve thought librarians needed to know anything about web design or the various bits required by working with software? Not I!
To deal with the mounting frustration of waiting for finals to come around, I’ve reverted back to some pretty pathetic habits.
1. Reading manga.
2. Watching livestreams.
3. Knitting armwarmers for the Etsy shop while watching livestreams.
And my mom gave me a set of four beautiful bookmarks to embroider. Oh, the temptations. It’s so much nicer than studying when I’m marking up old tests with stitch counting. And with such beautiful yarn!
I mean, com’on. Self striping is awesome.
But not to worry. I have a study group on Sunday and I plan to be prepared. Hooah.
- Red
Middleton
23 Apr 2012 1 Comment
I hate the library. Thank goodness the catalogs and online journals are accessible through my laptop safe in the coffee shop I frequent (or pretty much live in). 
I swear Middleton Library is haunted. The stacks move around like the evil maze in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Like Florida Boulevard, which I’m not entirely sure is safe to drive in. I’m always afraid it’ll move when I’m driving on it and direct me into the scary hell that is Mississippi. I certainly don’t want that.
Worse yet, it’s always at least ten degrees colder in here than the temperature outside. As I have “reptile blood” (Mr Mojo’s-to-be words, not mine), this is not a survivable situation. It’s impossible to type when my hands feel like icy blocks of suckage.
On a nicer note, I’m donating a bunch of my books to a drive and friends, and have managed to find a replacement for them, because I have this nonexistent room in my apartment for them. The encyclopedia of world costumes is the one I’m most excited about, because I’m the weirdo who watches historical movies for the fashion and does extensive research on dress in my free time for writing. There’s also a bunch of Greek philosophy books that look interesting, and hopefully I’ll get to during the three weeks I have free between spring and summer sentences.
Oops, I mean semesters.
- Red
The Blog Comes in Handy
20 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
So I had a job interview today at a studio for an assistant and they wanted to be sure I was a creative personality. Since I didn’t have a portfolio on me (I wasn’t aware I needed one, actually), I remembered I had a few pictures up in the gallery here.
Go figure. Blogging IS useful. Kind of.
Hopefully I’ll get that second interview.
- Red
Happy Ostara
07 Apr 2012 1 Comment
Easter, Passover and so on. Have some peeps on me! These virtual peeps are even calorie free, so you can eat the whole football team and fans!
So I’m back in Maryland for the next week and some change. School and work have sucked up a lot of my time, so this week off is going to be great. Dr. Mojo is also going to be in town, so we’re doing some shopping for her wedding, a caterer tasting and a celebration for Mama Mojo’s birthday. And some just plain old fun hanging out. Missed that girl.
Did I mention that I’ve been enjoying sunny 80-degree weather in Louisiana this spring? It’s wonderfully warm there. Coming to Maryland in April has been a shock. It’s prettier than the south (sorry, y’all), but cooooooold! I’m walking around the house in a jacket. My parents think I’ve lost it.
What I’ve been doing in school:
1. Building a webpage with my group for the St Amant High School library. I’ll throw a link up when we have the finished product. It’s looking great. After break I have to start working on the final reports, but so far, we’re way ahead of schedule.
2. Starting projects for my System’s Analysis class, in which we do something crazy, like analyze a system. Sounds like…not a lot of fun, actually.
3. Procrastinating on studying for finals, which are coming up in about a month. I’ll be starting that up soon as I get back from break.
Other things in life:
Back on meds (crud) and seeing new doctors in Louisiana. Am also apartment hunting, and with luck, I may have a new, quiet roommate, or a single place all to myself. I’m also getting a bike soon, if there’s money left over from my job and paying for wedding jewelry and the venue for the shower I’m planning for Dr. Mojo and Mr. Mojo’s fest. Because I am SO out of shape from my stay in the hospital.
Did I mention that? I was in for about a week a month and a half ago. Healing up well as can be expected, and managing fine.
Book quota:
23 read so far, 37 to go.
I’ve recently read (or am reading):
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (Pi’s suggestion)
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice (Again)
Warchild by Karin Lowachee
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Pheonix said this book isn’t supposed to be funny, but I don’t believe him)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Again)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Yes, I’ve hopped on that crazy train, but the movie was darn good)
Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics by Max Planck
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Abandon by Meg Cabot (Which I highly recommend to anyone who loved Greek myths as a kid, and which is going to have a sequel come out this month)
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Which was excellent, and something else I highly recommend to YA readers)
The Disappearing Spoon by Max Kean (Which I’m leaving unfinished. It’s a little dry, but a very interesting history of the periodic table, if you’re into that sort of thing)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Again)
The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche (Again, for laughs, though Elly tells me this isn’t supposed to be a funny book either)
Suppose that’s all for now. Have a picture of the awesome cherry tree by our house! This is why I love Maryland!
Red
The 6s Basic Cabled Scarf
25 Mar 2012 2 Comments
in Patterns, Project Roundup Tags: 6s Cabled Scarf, Andrew's Cabled Scarf, Basic Cabled Scarf, Knitting, knitting cables, knitting pattern, pattern
It’s my birthday today! And as my gift to you, I have a new pattern!
Also, this is my birthday cake. Which is awesome and gothy. Like me.
I designed a basic cabled scarf first as a Christmas present to a friend, and decided to reuse the design for a birthday gift for my father in July. The pattern is based entirely off the number 6 (since it’s easy and pairs up well with itself and translates easily for cables. The single rib stitches keep the scarf from rolling up into itself as purled stitches love to do.
6s Cabled Scarf (or Andrews Basic Cabled Scarf)
Skill level: Beginner-Intermediate
You will need:
Size 8 US needles
A cabling needle (the one with the curvy U shape)
Size 4 Medium weight yarn (Though this will also work with worsted, it’ll come out a little bulkier)
Stitch counter or pen and paper
Method:
Cast on 42 stitches.
Right side:
Single rib for 6 stitches
Knit 6 stitches
Single rib 6 stitches
Knit 6 stitches
Single rib 6 stitches
Knit 6 stitches
Single rib 6 stitches
Wrong side:
Single rib for 6 stitches
Purl 6 stitches
Single rib 6 stitches
Purl 6 stitches
Single rib 6 stitches
Purl 6 stitches
Single rib 6 stitches
Repeat until 6th row, then when you reach the Knit portion, cable. To cable, you will slip the first three stitches onto your cabling needle then drop it to the back of your scarf. Knit the next three stitches as normal, then pick up the cabling needle and knit those stitches as normal. Then continue the work as normal. Repeat cables every 6 rows where you would knit. Continue until you have about 66 inches of scarf and cast off.
This video was a huge help for me in learning cables. The pull the cabling needle to the front to have the cables leaning leftways, when I put it to the back to have the cables leaning rightways. It’s really up to you. Look up more videos on youtube if you need more help and don’t worry, after you finish this scarf, you’ll have the basic cables down pat!
Happy crafting,
Red
Like this:
Back from the Haitus
01 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
That’s right, Red’s back from her minivacation from blogging. Christmas break was fun, and events have unfolded since then which make me glad I didn’t have a blog to fuss about. Midterms are upon me now, next week, in fact, and I have a new job at a bakery up the road from home. The only downsides are that I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning (when my roommates are all still such lovely and loud nightbirds) and that I have to wear a uniform. I’m also not baking anything (I’m a sale associate), but hey, it’s a paycheck, and it’s slightly better than minimum wage. I could do worse.
We’ll give it a couple weeks before I decide to stay or go. At least earn back when I had to spend on said uniform.
In other news, I have a new knitting design for y’all, which I’ll be putting up with pictures soon as I get a decent bit of swatch put together (this may take a while, as I’m presently working on two other projects for the holidays). In any case, your patience will be rewarded with cables!
I will also not be publishing every day of the week. If I publish a new blog post on a weekly basis, I’d be surprised. Between group projects, homework, doctors visits, work and life, there’s not much time to do anything like write if I want to sleep and shower regularly. We’ll fit it in when we can.
Toodles for now,
Red
Vacation from Vegetarianism
22 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
I’m a vegetarian any other day, but when at home, all bets are off. (also, so is my digestive track)
From the Shed
05 Jan 2012 1 Comment
in History that Actually Happened Tags: christmas present, History that Actually Happened, Joey, Louisiana, Louisiana living, Pi, squirrel, tree rats
So what was it that Pi got for me for the holidays, this blog-related gift of hers?
Meet Joey.
How’d she know about my hatred of squirrels, I don’t know, but she hit the nail on the head with this one. Soon as I get back to Louisiana, I’ve got to figure out a place to hang him!
- Red
This is My Father
03 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
In asking what blog-related Christmas gift Pi has drug out of the ‘shed’ for me:
Is it a Zipper or booze? (obviously I’d had a bit of end-of-finals-yay wine)
Pi: No
Or jars of botchulism?
One time we were emptying the garage of my recently-deceased grandfather’s house and found jar after jar of what had to have been home-canned vegetables, tomatoes probably, that had been stored and forgotten for years. They were completely black. So naturally my father grabs one and chases me around the yard screaming, “Do you want some botchulism?! It’s TASTY!”
Pi: hmmm. My aunt is a biochemist, so we’ll leave that open as a possibility
Me: This is my family
Me: Is it less strange now that I collect articulated skeletons, anatomy books and methods of torture?
Pi: Maybe a smidge.
But not more than that.
Me: But no, seriously, can I have some botchulism? I could use that.
What Pi really gave me:
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