Crafting Jen

There’s been a request for Rattie pictures to hold you while I go on break. So I reached into Castle Rattie, and generated a little excitement.

This isn’t hard to do with Ratties. In this case, all I did was turn the empty tissue box so that it faced a different direction. Naturally, everyone had to check it out. Because, you know, it was facing a different direction. So it was a completely new box.

Lola climbed in first, while the boys milled around.

Before Leo would commit to any box exploration, he had to make sure that my presence didn’t involve the offering of any Rattie snack foods.

Yuri was the last hold out. Yes, in this picture, Leo is actually in the box. The very tip of his nose is just visible in the top right corner of the opening.

Soon, though, even Yuri had to succumb to the lure of the box.

Yes, all three of them fit. But not for long. A tissue box is a comfy nest for two, and Leo and Yuri are getting to be big boys.

It was fun to watch, though. Like when college students try to see how many of them can squeeze into a phone booth.

Hope that helps, Carol! Enjoy!

I’m feeling that familiar blogging slump again, not wanting to write anything. I think it’s time for another break.

As with last time, I won’t go away forever, and I will still be answering e-mails and reading comments. I’ll post again when I feel I have something to say, and you won’t miss out on any major news. I promise!

Enjoy yourselves while I’m gone, be crafty, and play nice! See you soon!

Ignore this post, please.

Slow and steady, the Adult Surprise Jacket grows. Here’s the latest look:

That would be the right sleeve of the jacket on the upper left of the photo, with the center front line to the right. I folded the rest of the jacket underneath to help you see how the shape is developing.

I recently added in a touch of a pink/orange/yellow/green acrylic worsted, just one garter ridge worth. It’s a hot colorway amongst all the cool. I like surprise contrast accents like that, they really pop and bring out the colors. I’ll probably add another small stripe of the hot in the body of the jacket, and when I add length to the sleeves later, I’ll be putting more of the hot colors there, too.

I continue to make good progress in EverQuest 2. Lolah, my Ratonga Ranger, has now reached level 20. This is a significant threshold - there are many rights and abilities that you earn once you make it to 20. For instance, a last name. Lolah is now officially Lolah Nimbletoes. I also decided that the 20th birthday deserved a present, and bought her a nice Misty Mustang horse to ride. She looks pretty spiffy in the saddle, I’ll have to get a screenshot one of these days.

If any of you are also EQ2 players, Lolah’s server is The Bazaar. I don’t usually care to chatter much while I’m in the game - I go in for immersion in my virtual surroundings, quests, and travel. But I don’t mind saying a quick “hello!” and expanding my friends list.

Gryphon and I are also hoping to start our own guild one of these days. Since there’s a minimum requirement of six separate accounts present at the registrar’s office simulatneously to form the guild, and only two of us, getting to know some other people in world will be essential.

Ours will be an extremely casual, non-raiding guild. Which is not to say that if you want to raid and can pull the group together to do so that you can’t. It’s just that Gryphon and I have neither the temperaments nor the schedules that allow us, personally, to raid. Primary focus of the guild will be in-world companionship, crafting, and helping each other out when and where we can.

The guild name we’ve come up with is “Companions of Karma.” We envision this as a group of people who have come together by the whims of fate - karma - and feel a kinship and comfort with each other. Membership will be solely determined by Gryphon and myself. We will not be actively recruiting, but will allow those same whims of fate to introduce us to new friends as we go. We’re not anti-growth - we just like to get to know people ourselves before we declare them a member of our “family.” Guild mates can nominate friends for membership, but the final decision will always rest with Gryphon and I.

Basically, we’re looking to form a guild that the two of us would be comfortable joining. We’re both the sort who form new friendships slowly, but once you’re in with us, you’re in. You’re our family, and family sticks together.

All we’ll ask of members is that they respect their guildmates, enjoy the game, and do what they can to support the status and reputation of the guild as they are able. Working writs that will lend status to the guild will always be encouraged. At the same time, we want everyone to experience the world of Norrath in the way that suits their own play style and the story of their characters, and never let the casual needs of the guild interfere with their enjoyment.

The preceding paragraphs are the simple seeds that have been sprouting in my brain as I try to define what it is we want a guild to be. It is subject to change, though I would be suprised if we altered any of the basic principles outlined here.

If you’re in EQ2, and on The Bazaar server, and feel interested in our vision of what a guild can be, look around for me. I’ll most often be present as Lolah, though I could also be found as any of several other characters:

1. Boris, Ratonga Bruiser in Timorous Deep;
   
2. Clover, Halfling Fury in Qeynos;
   
3. Dijon, Halfling Troubador in Qeynos (and Clover’s brother);
   
4. Kureyon, Kerran Guardian in Qeynos;
   
5. Mazhenta, Gnome Defiler in Timorous Deep;
   
6. Twixt, Arasai Troubador in Neriak

Some of these characters may vanish as I refine my play style and find the concepts that work best for me. But that’s the list for the moment. Look for Lolah first, though, if you’re trying to find me - she’s definitely developed as my main character, and the most fun of all of them. She’s an intrepid explorer, not afraid to run through lands filled with dangerous creatures. (I just learned that the Griffon Towers quest in Butcherblock Mountains is recommended for at least level 25, because of the mobs in the zone - Lola did it at around 14 or 15, and didn’t even die once!)

Of course, considering the Real Life inspiration for Lolah, I suppose she comes by her energy and fearlessness honestly!

Lola - Seeking New Territories to Conquer, New Stuffs to Chew…

Pretty cold and dreary today. It’s been raining for goodness knows how long, certainly since sometime last night. Good thing I don’t have anywhere else to go today, I wouldn’t enjoy going out.

No progress to report on any of the knitting. Weekends are turning out to be mainly for EverQuest 2. That’s when Gryphon has time to play, and we really do enjoy playing together. We’ve given up on trying to play the regular servers on the weekends, though, because enough people are online that the lag in the cities gets unbearable. So Saturday and Sunday are for running characters on the test server, and what play time we have during the week can be on our regular server.

The Ratties have accepted the Ruffled Rattie Nest, but I can never seem to get the camera in at a good angle to take a picture of them in it without someone (*koff*Lola*koff*) wanting to come sniff the lens. So no pictures yet, but I am watching for an opportunity.

We baked a large loaf of the Honey Nut Oatmeal bread from the Donna German book over the weekend. That’s become our current go-to loaf. We’ve also been gathering the heels of various loaves in the freezer - one of these days, I’ll be making bread pudding again.

I finally cut my hair last night. It’s been over long for, well, too long. I like it at a length that’s too short to pull back in an elastic, which seems to be the only way I’ll wear it when it’s long enough to do so. Since I don’t go anywhere to have it cut for me, it was just a matter of getting around to grabbing the scissors and chopping away. I must have hit some threshold last night as I watched television before bed, because I decided at 2 a.m. to do exactly that.

In other news, the part time job that Gryphon started at two Thursdays ago ended last Friday. The owner of the company decided a couple days in that he really wanted someone full time for the position. In spite of the fact that the department head he was working with really liked Gryphon and felt the job was adequately covered by his part time presence, the owner ultimately had the power to make this change.

Gryphon’s co-worker/direct boss is quoted as saying, “lessons will be learned.” ‘Nuff said, I think.

So the search is on, again, for the next job. Whether another part time gap-filler, or the full-time replacement job we really hope for. Fingers crossed, everyone!

Just a quicky today. I made a fair bit of progress on the latest sock last night at Panera.

As you can see, this is not my usual, plain vanilla, K2P2 ribbed sock. I decided it was time to branch out, and that the color patterning of this yarn, though bright, could support the right stitch pattern. This is an 8-stitch pattern called “Scrolls”, as found in the book More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

Since the colors of the yarn itself made a strong horizontal element, I knew that any stitch pattern with a strong vertical look would fight that. I rejected a lot of patterns that I liked, but that were very vertical in their overall appearance. Scrolls wasn’t as horizontal as I hoped for, but I considered it to be relatively neutral in orientation - almost like a curvy checkerboard, rather than either vertical or horizontal lines.

Drop By Friends

The other event of note last night was that we had a travelling knitter drop in and join us! Dorrie (I have no idea if that’s how her name is spelled - my apologies if I got it wrong!) is in town this weekend for, as she described it, a piano tuners’ conference. We had a fascinating talk about what she does for a living, and I learned a lot. I’ve never had much involvement with making music, so I had no idea - though it makes complete sense - that piano tuners needed to attend such conferences on a regular basis as ongoing education, to hone, improve, and maintain their skills. Thank you so much, Dorrie, for joining us, and I hope you’re having a great weekend!

Wow…it’s three years since I started this blog. Not sure where to go with that otherwise - I’m not doing contests right now or anything. So I don’t think I’ll do much celebrating beyond saying how very much I appreciate every single one of you! I never anticipated when I began a blog that I’d make so many - and such good - friends. Thank you!

Knitting

I hinted on Monday that I might start on the next pair of socks, and that’s exactly what I did last night. The yarn is SRK’s On Your Toes, a standard 75/25 blend of superwash wool and nylon, with aloe vera.

The colorway you see is ON223818. I bought this ball of yarn while visiting my family in Syracuse over the holidays, and ever since, it’s been sitting on the corner of a crafting table in the living room, taunting me. I love the colors, they’re so happy! I’m glad I’m finally knitting with it.

This pair would be, in my jargon, Socks for Folkcat: Pair 5 (SF:P5).

Edited to add: Correction! I was just looking at my projects on Ravelry, and realized I skipped a number above. These would actually be SF:P4.

I decided to cast on yesterday, and pulled out my KnitPicks Harmony DPNs. I grabbed the needles I usually use for sock yarn - the equivalent of US 1.5 - and was immediately struck by the feeling that they were huge. Go figure! So I went to the next size down, the US 1’s, and worked a gauge swatch.

A couple of calculations, the results plugged into my plain vanilla sock formula, and I began. I’m getting 10 stitches to the inch, making these the tightest knit socks I’ve ever worked. And yet, the resulting fabric doesn’t feel all that tight. I wonder if the On Your Toes is a little thinner than most yarns? Or if I’m just knitting differently?

In the Kitchen:

The Honey Oatmeal bread from the Donna German recipe (in The Bread Machine Cookbook) was a success. Tasty, nice texture, a little chewy, and full of flavor. The loaf size for the medium recipe was a little small to our taste, so I just pulled out of the machine today’s baking - the same recipe in the large size. It looks great, I can’t wait to try the bigger slices for a sandwich.

Not anticipating anything very exciting today. It’s Monday, and that’s enough sometimes.

Our lives have shifted again. Gryphon very quickly got a new part time job last week. As in, we saw the listing Monday night, he dropped off his resume Tuesday, and Wednesday they called to say “how soon can you start?” The answer was “tomorrow”, and so he’s been going each day to a part time job before going to his full time one in the afternoon.

It’s a lot of work, yes, but this time he A) doesn’t have to go in at 6 a.m. after working until midnight the night before; B) is working for a small, locally owned company (less than 20 employees), so the atmosphere is very different; and C) isn’t having to get up for a 6 a.m. shift after working until midnight.

Did I mention he doesn’t have to get up as early?

My morning wake-up now is happening without Gryphon, since he’s already at work by the time my 10 a.m. alarm goes off. Our baking this weekend included some preparations for the new reality. Morning routines have always included homemade breakfast sandwiches, prepared by Gryphon. Without him around, that’s not doable.

So we took our filled pie concept, based on refrigerated biscuit dough, and made a breakfast sandwich version. I scrambled up 8 eggs with some chopped green pepper and tomato. Divide into 8 portions onto the biscuit rounds (rolled out to at least 6″ diameter). Add strips of Canadian bacon and some American cheese. Seal, poke holes in the top, and bake following the instructions on the biscuit tube.

These keep well in the refrigerator, and re-heat nicely in the toaster oven. I had one this morning, and it was tasty. Also far better as a breakfast than what my bleary-eyed morning self would be likely to prepare. Which might just be nothing, because that requires the least thought.

In other baking, we did homemade pizza with fresh dough from the bread machine again Sunday. And the latest loaf of bread from the machine is a Honey Oatmeal recipe from The Bread Machine Cookbook by Donna German. Haven’t tasted it yet - it’s for today’s sandwiches - but it smells great. The loaf is a little on the small, dense side, for all that I used the medium recipe. This version includes some whole wheat flour, along with the bread flour and oatmeal, as well as using a smaller dose of yeast. I might just make the large loaf next time, just for a bigger sandwich size, assuming we like the taste of this bread.

Knitting Crocheting

Yup. Didn’t knit a stitch this weekend. But I’ve crocheted 2 1/2 utilitarian rugs for the Rattie Palace. With Stinky Boys in the house, we’re changing out the fabric pieces more often, just to keep the area habitable for humans. We’re running through rugs at an alarming rate sometimes, and barely have enough to get us from one laundry day to the next.

The knitted ones hurt my hands too much, and take too long, so I decided to crochet some simple rectangles from the same Sugar ‘n Cream yarn. Ch. 32, *work 30 half-double crochet (American terminology) across, ch. 2, turn and repeat from *. Easy-peasy, and good television crafting.

As for the Ruffled Rattie Nest, no pictures of mobs of Ratties crowding into it yet. It is, however, sitting in a dishpan with warm soapy water getting cleaned. They may not have accepted it as a nest yet, but apparently, it’s a perfectly good object to pee on!

For the rest of this week, I’m going to finish the current crocheted Rattie Rug, then get back to work on the Adult Surprise Jacket. By Thursday, though, I’ll probably begin the next pair of socks. Thursday is Panera night, and the ASJ has gotten too big to carry with me. The lucet is portable, but I’m beginning to itch to do something small in the knitting category. And we always need more socks! Ooh, just checked, and the last socks were for Gryphon. My turn next! I’ve got a fun yarn I picked up when we visited Syracuse that I want to see knitted up…

Just installed a new version of the blog publishing software I use, and had to check a function. Here’s a view of the Rattie Tunnel that hangs in the cage, looking down at Yuri looking back at you:

That couple hanging upside down by his head is a page from an old TV Guide.

Slow and steady, that’s the ticket. My Adult Surprise Jacket is getting large enough that you can begin to see the structure.

This would be the left sleeve and front. Currently, the stitches being knit run down the front edge, around the body, then up the other front.

That’s about all I have to say today. I’m feeling fairly uninspired when it comes to words right now. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you all next week!