Sunday, November 27, 2011

Craftybits

I had a very good friend over the other day (yes, I have friends. I don't just sit at my desk all day writing blog posts...*twitchy eyes*) and we spent a very pleasant afternoon beading and making things out of FIMO for my booth at my CEGEP's first ever craft fair! Well, she beaded while I made things out of polymer clay. I had run out of ideas for jewelry and she, being creative and wonderful, came up with these:

Double Stranded Bracelets
Simple, yet elegant and pretty damn cool. For some reason the ones I made came out looking like crap but essentially what you do is you take a piece of wire about a foot long (make it a little longer just in case). It's supposed to fit snugly around your wrist so just measure it like that, I guess. Fold it in half and put your clasp on this end. Next, choose your beads wisely. Don't use beads that are too large because it might look funky. Slide one bead on one strand and then another over BOTH strands. Repeat until it's big enough for your wrist. If you have really really tiny wrists and you're planning on giving the bracelets away, please, for pete's sake, don't measure it on your own wrist. The person you're giving it to will NOT thank you. In fact, they might die from lack of circulation. So that's a pretty simple design but the silver wire running in and out gives it a pretty cool finish.

Being unable to bead that day, I had busied myself with making more cheesecake charms for the craft fair at my school. They came out better than I had expected to be honest...

Cheesecake Charms 2
Ahh, so much nicer than the originals :) Clockwise from the top: ...let's say..Lemon/Peach or Orange Cheesecake, Strawberry Banana Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake, Very berry Cheesecake, Lemon Key Lime Pie, Blueberry Cheesecake!

Damn, now I really want actual cheesecake...
Anyhow, these ones have silver findings and they're a little bigger than my first batch. They're also a little more realistic..except for those weird Lemon/peach/orange/godknowswhat ones. Don't know what I was thinking but they do remind me of canned peaches. I love canned peaches. I also love fresh peaches but that's really not the point here.

So, we made bracelets, cheesecake charms...Oh yes. I also made these:

Cupcake Earrings :)
My first batch of FIMO Cupcakes.
For a first try, these are rather smashing. Still need some work on the actual cake parts, but hey.
These are all for sale so if you have any questions/comments/screams of rage/jokes or riddles, drop me a line!

Oh, I forgot about this:
Green Antique Bracelet
It's not actually an antique. The caps on each side of those giant green ceramic beads kind of give it an antiquated look I find. A little bit Gothic (Victorian Gothic. Not 80's goth)

Happy thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

It's beginning to be too early for christmas!

Unless of course, you're Michael Buble, in which case every day can be Christmas if you're singing to me <3

I'm a freaky fan girl. Get over it.
 
Oh yeahh...
But the point I'm trying to make is this:

It's halfway through November and already the Christmas Carols are out, the trees are being sold, the decorations are tackier than usual and goddamnit I can't think when he's singing this song...*turns off Buble*
SACRILEGE 
Warning: this might turn into a Buble-loving rant.
Anyways. So. Christmas. 
Or should I say: Commercial-mas
*obnoxious Daily Grace Laughter* (If you've never been forced to watch an episode of Daily Grace on youtube, count yourself lucky. She's really irritating)
Where was I?
Ah yes, Commercial-mas. Now, Christmas used to be about family spirit and giving little homemade knickknacks to your loved ones because there weren't any Wal-Marts back in the 1800s.

Alright, I'm not going to go on and on about how Christmas is now all about buying gifts that are going to break in about 2 months so you can say "hey, I'll buy you another one at christmas next year LOL"
Sorry for being such a cynic. I'm Jewish. People don't celebrate Hanukkah on tv (unless you're on the O.C in which case you celebrate Chrismakkah!)
the point I'm REALLY trying to make is this:

What. the. fuck.is.this???
Oooh damn, I told myself I wouldn't use profanity to such an extent on my blog.
Justin Bieber, you have caused me to break my anti-fuck streak!!!
POINT IS: I thought the Drummer boy song couldn't be any less massacred. it's a bad song, everyone knows it. the whole parapapumpum thing doesn't help. It's cute to see little eight year olds get excited at every Parapapumpum but...c'mon, seriously? This song goes beyond massacre: it's been maimed, raped, shot, drawn and quartered, hanged, dropped into boiling oil and every other medieval torture and/or death known to man.
Bottom line:

*dies a horrible and painful death. something about bleeding out from my EARS. and it's not that bieber can't sing, because he can. he can sing. this song is just ridiculously horrible*

It's too early for christmas carols >.<

P.S: Sorry, Michael Buble, for putting you in the same post as Justin Bieber. It won't happen again.

P.P.S: this is the real reason for my untimely death (see below)

B.I.E.B.E.R = Believe in Everything because everythings reachable :D♥
...
A good friend of mine called this girl a "Belieber"

I'm sorry, Justin. I just don't "Beliebe"

Saturday, November 19, 2011

November, Movember, Rovember, Nanowrimo!

It’s been a busy November so far this year; Movember, International Day of Tolerance, and dipping into serious mode for Remembrance Day. But something you might be less familiar with is an event that could explain the mysterious disappearances of aspiring writers across North America: 

NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, is an annual, month long creative writing project started by Chris Baty on the internet back in July 1999 where aspiring novelists and angsty writers alike disappear from society until December 1st where they finally turn off their computers and let out a collective sigh of relief. In 1999, Baty offered San Francisco a challenge: Can you write a 50 000 word novel in 30 days? And while this may seem extreme, NaNoWriMo has expanded from its original 21 writers recruited by Baty, to include more than 200 000 aspiring novelists from all over the United States and Canada with more than 37 000 winners each year. The collective word count of 2007 was a mere 6 million and it has grown to more than 1 billion this year.

1,856,502,337 to be exact...and November’s not even over.

So don’t forget, Nanowrimo’s not over yet. There’s still time to jump on the novel wagon, sharpen your pencils and brains and just write whatever it is you want to write about. And after four weeks of stressing out about midterms and finals because you’re just a thousand words shy of being on target, or your friends are wondering why you’ve disappeared off the face of the earth and you come to class every morning with a permanent glazed expression because you’ve been staring at a computer screen for too long watching small lines of script cross the screen since you’ve been writing all night trying to stay on the 1,666 words per day goal...crossing that golden finishing line will feel better than winning an Olympic medal. Or at least it should. 

But what do I get for finishing NaNoWriMo? Unfortunately, you don’t win money. Nanowrimo is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing their love for writing to classrooms across the continent through their Young Writer’s Program and the Office of Letters and Light (HQ to NaNoWriMo). So far, they’ve raised $493,822.54, but they’re hoping to raise at least 1 million by the end of the month. So, what do you get for all the stressing and caffeine induced jitters? Prestige (you just wrote 50000 words in a month. You rock), a crazy cool certificate that is awarded exclusively to NaNoWinners and various widgets, bookmarks and printable items featuring cartoon monkeys and palm trees. And there’s an added bonus to people willing to pay a mere 15 dollars to support the YWP: you can get a printed copy of your novel with the cover art of your choice from the Office of Letters and Light so you can show it off to your friends and say “that’s right. I’m a published author”.
 
 Note: this is not me! This is someone awesome who has actually managed to finish NaNoWriMo whereas I have not to this date!


NaNoWriMo: Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

More scarves...

I'm beginning to think it's possible to have just too many scarves!
I thought I had too many hats but now scarves are my problem. I really hope someone has the decency to buy them otherwise I'll be out of money for supplies before I know it.
That last scarf (the crazy pink one) is going for about 15-20 dollars because I know no one is willing to pay more for something they can buy at Old Navy for 7 bucks made by starving children in India working for 5 cents a week.
Enough with the blasting. Here's something new!






Yes, this is my sister wearing my latest creation (I finished it today incidentally) And indeed, she looks a little crazy here but normally she looks...well, more normal.









Like this:





Which makes my scarf look more cool, sophisticated elegance.
Well, as much elegance as you can get from purple acrylic yarn and contrasting outfit. And yet, me likey. This one took a little longer than the other scarf (in terms of hours of labor. Not in terms of procrastination time. The infinity scarf took about 5 months while this only took about 2 weeks of hour long crocheting sessions).

Oh yes, I should probably mention that this was crocheted. By me. Obviously. But you already knew that.




I recently joined Ravelry which is kind of like the Facebook for crocheters and knitters and therefore AWESOME. There are THOUSANDS of free patterns and for a cheap geek like me, it's basically heaven. BOOYEAH.

So I got the pattern from this person:  "Jennifer Fayard" and it's called "Sandbar".

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sandbar

There's the pattern and I"m too lazy to copy the instructions, not to mention I adapted it for my own personal needs. For example, instead of casting on 60 I only chained about 42 because it was just too damn wide and it would have A)Taken me FOREVER to make and B)Used a whole extra ball of yarn while I had already used up 2 for the whole thing. And it's already about 6 feet long (which is alot when you're only 5"3. I hate being short) and precisely 8 1/2 inches wide! I measured with a sheet of paper.

I feel sneaky >:D

So yeah, that's about all I'm up to nowadays. I mean, hey, I do have two papers to write but I'd rather finish up these scarves, you know what I mean? I hate fundamentals of business with a burning passion. Anyone want to write my paper on corporate sponsorship and women's sports teams for me? I have to admit that watching sports doesn't really interest me. I do love sports but...not so into the watching OTHER people play them.
Ahem, I really need to go to sleep now because I need to get up at, as my friend would say "the crack of stupid" so I can get to school at 8:15 for 2 HOURS OF BADMINTON!! YAY!!! :D
Night!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Scarves Abundant

I don't think I've ever worked on this many scarves at once in my entire life.
Scratch that; I've NEVER worked on this many scarves EVER. There's a craft fair at my school in two weeks and I've decided that, along with selling some jewelry and my cheesecake charms, I'm also going to sell some scarves and some hats.
Crocheted/knitted scarves and hats. And so far I have one scarf completed (see below), three more on the way and no hats.
Kill me.
Here's the deal with scarves: they're pretty, they're snuggly, they're warm, they make you go 'aahhhhh' when they're soft and fuzzy.
But they're ANNOYING to make. Not only do most patterns (crochet at least) tell you to chain the number of stitches the scarf is LONG, but if you're knitting them they just never ever ever seem to get longer! It's kind of like your last boyfriend's junk; you want it to get bigger, but it's not getting any longer (courtesy of highschool lady friends. Thank you Andrea.)
Ahem.
Phallic jests aside, the completion of scarves does tend to give the maker a great deal of satisfaction, especially if one has been working on said scarf for a while, then gave up...lost the scarf in the making...and finally found it again only to finish it in two days! YAY!
Take this Circle Scarf for example:









Now, this may look very complex and difficult and you might be saying "Gosh, Gabs, this is really quite something"...
Thank you, thank you *blushes*
Oh, go away false modesty/pride/stupidity. We have no use for you here.
So, despite my ranting that I hate knitting (oh, I haven't ranted about that yet? Ah well, next post will be an anti-knitting rant!), this never ending scarf was indeed knit..knitted? knitteth? I don't know anymore.
So yes, this was created using a Basketweave stitch (as you can see from the photo, it looks kind of like it was woven. I assure you, it was knitted using a combination of purls and knits).

And as you can see from the pictures below, it can be worn in various ways:


This is how normal and beautiful people wear it. If you want to be normal and/or beautiful, wear it like this!

Alternatively, you can wear it this way:

This is how crazy people wear it casually. Don't ask me how they wear it on a bad day. Trust me, you don't want to know.

Ah, so you want the pattern now, do you? WELL YOU KNOW WHAT, I WON'T GIVE IT TO YOU
MUAHAHAHAHAH
Just kidding. Here you go!

Circle Scarf (AKA Infinity Scarf)

1 Ball of 100% Wool (pink) [I don't actually remember what the brand was as the label has been discarded for quite some time. But Facebook Garnitures Dressmaker Ltee., check out their photos and keep going till you see the photo of their yarns and it's the pink ball in the 6th row of the 2nd column) so yeah...not helpful

1 Ball Mohair to match (same instructions as above)

Correction (November 2012): The yarn is called Patons Wool Classic in blush pink and the thin yarn is Patons Lace in the Pink/brown/black blend. Use size 8 (5mm) knitting needles. 

Instructions:

(Double up wool and mohair and knit with all four strands-->2 wool, 2 mohair. don't worry, it's not ridiculously thick)

1. Cast on 16 stitches (or 20. I found 16 made a nice width but that was also because I wasn't sure I had enough yarn. Turns out I didn't which is why the scarf turned into an infinity scarf).
2. Rows 1-4: Knit 2, Purl 2 across
3. Rows 5-8: Purl 2, Knit 2 across
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for desired length.
5. Cast off and weave in ends.
*NOTE: THESE ARE INSTRUCTIONS FOR A  NORMAL SCARF

*If you decide to make an infinity scarf:
A) Make sure you leave a long tail at the beginning of piece (at least 20 inches. I'm not kidding)
B) Knit until piece measures (just let me go get my measuring tape)..we'll call it...45 inches from beginning
C) Cast off
D) Crochet short edges together (I suppose you can always sew them together, but I am deathly afraid of sewing so a crochet hook is the next best thing. Crocheting is actually always better than knitting but hey, another time.)

Correction (2012): having finally mastered the Mattress stitch, you're still going to need at least a foot of yarn when you bind off, so you can always sew the edges together if you're afraid of crocheting. 

Enjoy!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Bonny Wood Green- In Honor of Rememberance Day

Despite the fact that it's only sunday and remembrance day is on the 11th, let's just roll with it.

This is a piece I wrote based on this song:
(Bonny Wood Green)
...to commemorate all those lives lost, all the men who served and never made it home, and all the women who waited for their loved ones to return.


   The meadow is green, the fresh green of a new spring. The birds sing above in the canopy of trees. I watch, hidden in the foliage as a girl and her friend dance around the clearing. Carefree. Not thinking of me. She was never thinking of me.

   I watch for a while, hidden above, the branches threatening to break at any minute. Once or twice I think her eyes flick in my direction. But all too soon she is gone, leaving nothing behind her save the memory of a girl dancing in an ivory tunic, auburn curls flying everywhere, chicken legs awkward and graceful. And beautiful.

   I walk about the village at night, the stars twinkling gaily above me, their spirits alive with the thought of such innocent, young love. I see her at her window, staring into the night. Her eyes are glazed over and she doesn’t move. Thinking, just thinking. She was never lovelier than when she just pondered the most insignificant details of life. The leaves falling from the trees in October; the smallest snowflake stuck to a woolen mitten; a petal in the mud, unsullied by the heels of boots stomping through the village.     

   When a door opens, I nearly jump out of my skin. She creeps into the growing darkness, a candle in one hand. Her nightgown billows about her unshod feet, exposing three inches of bare ankle. The wind sweeps her time darkened hair away from her neck, gleaming pale and milky white in the moonlight. Her lips part in a perfect O when she sees me, a silhouette in the dark. She follows the shadow to the clearing where the stars peek through the canopy of leafy, green trees. I am the boy she once made fun of in school; now a young man. But she is still the girl I was always in love with. She takes my hand in hers; they are so very small and pale in my own roughened, weather beaten hands. I bring it gently to my lips, a silent promise. I caress the soft skin of her neck, her cheeks, her arms; one shoulder escapes from the loose gown she wears and I trail down soft kisses, swift and light as the flapping wings of the butterflies in the summer; she sighs, one hand knotting tightly in my hair, the other strokes across my jaw, roughened by two days’ worth of unshaven skin. I press my lips against hers, my breath ragged with longing and desire…

But, too soon, the night is over and day begins again. We seem to have all the time in the world together; every day is spent wandering the lush green hills. I kiss you every moment I can and when I ask you to marry me, you say yes. That was the happiest day of my life, the day we said “till death do us part”.  But when the British army comes recruiting, I find myself leaving; walking away from my home, my family and my one true love to join the forces at war. It is agony, agony in its purest form. I walk on, not knowing what lies ahead. But I don’t want to know what is going to happen to me. All that matters is that nothing ever happens to her. But I cannot leave without kissing her sweetly, one last time…

 When I reach my post, the men are weak and tired from hunger and disease. Their loved ones are all they talk about when they receive the news that they can go home: their service is finished. Mine is about to begin.
I have never felt so alone; never have I missed her more than I do now.

The trenches teem with a number of horrifying things, but we have no choice but to bunker down deep into the filth to avoid the bullets flying overhead and the shells exploding around us. The ground shakes as another artillery shell lands close by. The sudden cease in gunfire tells me that men are either dead or dying. The sun creeps over the horizon, but it is not the warm carefree sun that we spent so many days lying under; it is laughing at me, mocking how few hours are left before the nightmare begins again. As we retrieve the wounded from the fields, I feel a pang for every soldier I see that I had met and befriended.

There are so very few of us left now. When night falls, the horror starts anew. I can’t hear my unit commander over the steady firing of a machine gun. I only see his lips move as the ground beneath me erupts. All I can do is shout your name until everything turns black…


Miles away, you wait for me in a white apron. Every knock at the door, every footstep outside makes you run to the window, hoping for me to return. But the days turn into weeks, the weeks into months and you give up all hope for my safe return. And so you sit at the window, your dress faded in patches where the rays of sunlight seeped in. Your auburn hair is coming loose and there are such lines of sadness on your young and beautiful face. But I will return, my love. And when I do, I will kiss you sweetly, as if I had never been gone at all. 

Saturday, November 5, 2011

My cat is a parrot

holy bejeesus my cat is smelly :S who knew that such a small creature could smell so bad?
Okay, that really wasn't the point of this blog post. I should really be studying for my math midterm next thursday, but I would much rather write for a bit. About myself, of course ;)
If you were curious, this is what my kitten looks like:
















He's kind of freakishly adorable <3
I'm also using that photo as advertising for myself, as I made the necklace he's trying to chew on. His name is Mr Miyagi (my sister chose the name despite the fact that he's a cornish rex... not a chinese mountain cat). Anywhozzles.
I knew I said I wouldn't be writing another post until nanowrimo was over....well actually I lied because I never said that. It was implied however so I offer my sincerest apologizes to the few people who actual read this XD. Aw, mr miyagi you're too darn cute!
He's chewing on my math notes. How sweet that he wants to help me procrastinate. But yes, I insinuated that I would not post until Nanowrimo is over. However, I discovered that I dislike writing when forced. Although I will attempt to finish on time, it is far more likely that it'll be a particularly half-assed attempt. Woohoo!

Anyhow, I've recently become slightly obsessed with Titan A.E. It's essentially a post apocalyptic 2d animation from 20th Century Fox before they pulled the plug on their 2d animation studios because Titan did so badly at the box office. Incidentally, Fox also made Anastasia which is probably why the main character, Cale, looked so much like Dimitri...
But yeah. Titan A.E. Good movie. Super entertaining, crazy graphics, clever script geared towards us teenagers and plenty of sexual tension. Oh, and gratuitous naked 2d animation characters. Odd, I know, but I suppose they needed that bite. I mean, you don't actually see anything. Just a shot of Cale's bumbum and Akima, lead female, in an itsybitsy towel. Who knew that there was 2d animation just for us?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

It's gonna be legen....wait for it....DARY!!

Greetings faithful subjects! It has been too long that your dreary lives have not been graced by one of my excellent blog posts.
Yes, I love myself. Get over it.
Anyways, the point of me finally getting around to a new blog post is for one simple reason:
Two words:
IT'S NANOWRIMO TIME!

*ring ring*
Hello?
*hushed tones*
What??
*more hushed tones*
WHAT?!?!?
*urgent whispering*
*phone slams down*

My secretary has just informed me that that's three words. Not two.
Curses.
But seeing as I am currently being happy eating Halloween candy, I've decided that trifles like those simply do not matter. Because I have delicious candy but more importantly because it's time to start writing again!
Or at least I would...If I could find my USB key. That's possibly the only thing I keep losing time and time again. It just seems to pop up everywhere when I'm not looking for it yet I can never find it when I try.
Last week I found it in my pencil case and I can't remember how it got there. Post if you've ever lost something and then found it in the randomest place.

Alrighty, gotta go. Got places to be and a novel to write.
I WILL SEE YOU AT THE END OF THE MONTH AS A NANOWINNER BABY! BOOYEAH!