Color Meme

Iiiiinteresting. I'm terribly late to the party (over 2 years late), but I just did this color meme and this is my result:

You are the sort of person that needs a peaceful environment. You seek release from stress and freedom from conflicts and disagreements, of which you seem to have had more than your fair share. But you are taking pains to control the situation by proceeding cautiously and you are right in doing so as you are a very sensitive person.

You are feeling very disillusioned at this time and you feel that you are being left out of things. You know - or you think you know - what you want, but you seem unable to exert the effort to achieve your objectives. As a consequence, you are feeling left out and neglected. You would like to be afforded greater security and fewer problems.

You have a high opinion of yourself. It is perhaps because of this self-centredness that you become exasperated when you feel that your needs are misinterpreted by those around you. When this happens - and it does quite often - you feel that there is no-one that can understand the way you feel and it is because of this egocentric self that you are quick to take offence.

Setback after setback has resulted in considerable stress and now you have got to the stage where you are continuously on your guard, not only to protect yourself from others but to protect yourself from yourself. It would seem that many of your unfulfilled hopes and dreams have led to uncertainty and suspicion. You no longer wish to answer to others and you are insisting on freedom of thought. You feel that you are fully self-sufficient and can control your own destiny. You are seeking ways to protect yourself from further loss of prestige and against further setbacks. You have become very dependent and you doubt that matters could possibly get any better in the immediate future and this negative attitude is leading you to exaggerate your claims and to refuse reasonable compromise.

You wish to be left in peace... no more conflict and no more differences of opinion. In fact you just don't want to be involved in arguments of any shape or form. All you want is for 'them' to get on with it - and to leave you alone.

It fits. Really, really well. How did they manage to eavesdrop on my inner dialogue? >_>

Morton Arboretum & Some Links

*ignores the many-month-long lack of posts*

*whistles innocently*

So, I went to Morton Arboretum yesterday. My mom bought herself a membership last fall and added me to it for my birthday. I've been there 3 times in the past 3 weeks, and it's a lot of fun to see all the new blooms as they show up.

This week the crocuses are gone and the daffodils and snowdrops are blooming instead. There's another change on the East Side as well. I strongly suspect that someone at the Arboretum is an Adam Lambert fan.

Evidence:

(relevant lyric, from "Aftermath": "Tell a stranger that they're beautiful." But everyone knew that already, right? RIGHT?)

Sorry about the bushes that are in the way. It was raining, and I'd have had quite a bit of trouble walking far enough to see it from the path that has a clear view anyway. But you get the idea. I wonder if they're leaving it up all summer, or if it's just for the race today.

I ended up taking over 100 photos. If you're interested in seeing the rest of them, here's the link to my photobucket folder. (or view as a slideshow)

... ETA: I'm sorry about the blurriness of some of the pics. It was rainy and windy, so if I had to use my zoom (most of the time), the focus wasn't great. The Arboretum's a beautiful place though, and I hope you get that idea.

Other Links:
Hidden Worlds by Kit Campbell is listed as a Goodreads Giveaway at the moment. Enter until May 15 to win a copy of this young-adult novel about a writer who gets trapped in her own book! At the moment it's on the top of that page, but you know the giveaway page. Enter soon while you can still find it! >_>

Speaking of Goodreads, Knight Errant by KD Sarge has 4.57/5 stars there, and 5/5 on Amazon. Go here to read the first 3 chapters for free. Bet you'll want the rest of the book after that. The ebook is still just $0.99 on Amazon. You can read it by downloading the free reader there. The price will be going back up at some point, so buy now for maximum savings. ;)

Turtleduck Press also has a new book out this month. Erin Zarro's second poetry chapbook, Without Wings, was released on the first. Perfect timing since April is Poetry Month.

If you haven't seen these two videos featuring Stephen Colbert ... wow. You live under a bigger rock than I do. But go watch them now! Walgreens (really funny bit starts at 1:35) and Friday

Okay, I think that's it for the links. Other life stuff? Still no job. The temp one ended on April 2. That schedule got me so stressed and wound up that I wasn't even knitting, and I haven't really started again yet. I need to get back to that. Other than that, nothing new really. Oh, wait. My mom's retiring on April 21. Just 4 more shifts. o.o

Maybe I'll post more often from now on. Just don't hold your breath.

Color Meme

"If you want to do the meme, leave a comment requesting a colour and I'll give you a colour that I think represents you / makes me think of you, and then you list ten things you like in that colour!"

Stolen from Kate & Scribbles & Taya & a bunch of other people. Scribbles gave me "green". I haven't done Kate's and Taya's yet.

So, GREEN:

No, I kid. The Grinch is much too Christmas-y for me. Even in that pic.



Yes, yes, there are eleven pics there. Two of them are really the same thing. I was having trouble deciding between the two windmills, and then I needed something to balance the lower corner, so they're both in there.

Anyway, left to right, top to bottom. If you get confused, look at the pictures for heaven's sake. ;)

Windmill: I like green energy. I like lower electric bills. I like the look of wind farms.

Mountain Dew: Do I really need to explain this one? It's the elixir of life! Or at least of NaNo.

Yarn: Again, this should be self explanatory. Yarn is soft and squishy and has such amazing potential to become cool knitted things. Or crocheted, I suppose. This is the color Evergreen from The Unique Sheep.

Cat's Eyes: This is Tiptoe, my mother's cat. (The cat formerly known as Spare. My mother finally caved to the peer pressure and renamed her.) She has beautiful green eyes.

Money: I like having money. I like having enough money that I don't need to budget every penny. I really like having enough money to spoil my friends. >_>

Desktop: Kate made this for Kay, but it's so pretty that I stole a copy (with permission). It hasn't been off my desktop since.

Moss: I love the look of moss. I used to love the feel of it, too, but there was an incident with a moss-covered rock and a wolf spider. *shudders*

Forest: I love trees, especially in forests. I may be part dryad or something.

Knitting Kit: This was a "freebie" from one of the shipments of a Sock of the Month club. At first I thought it was kind of silly, but it's incredibly useful and handy to have all my little tools in one place, and to not have to worry about losing them because they're so small.

Tupperware Bowl: I'm a dork, but I really love this particular Tupperware bowl. This isn't a picture of ours, which is a slightly darker green (mom/camera problems), but it's really a wonderful bowl. Microwave-, freezer-, and dishwasher-safe, even on the lower rack. It's a great size--big, but not too huge. The perfect size for hat modeling. >_> And jambalaya storage.

The other windmill: (see above)

Links & a Contest

Just 1 week until Knight Errant (by KD Sarge, available from Turtleduck Press or from Amazon for the Kindle. Or a few other ebook places, I believe) can be bought. Want to win a copy? Go here! KD is giving away TEN copies on Library Thing. (LT account required, but free.) You'll need to scroll down to find the right give away. KD and Knight Errant are also on Good Reads, and I've even got a (very brief) review up there. I'm working on a better one. >_>

I can't wait to get my hands on an actual PHYSICAL copy of the book! That will make it so much easier to reread all my favorite scenes at night. As it is, I go to bed, want to reread something, and have to decide if I really want to reboot the computer to get to the proofreading file.

Bookmarks! And Squid!

My bookmarks are here! YAYAYAYAY! They arrived yesterday, and I'm still gleeing about it. :D Sorry about the weird background color. The colored paper I had handy was melon-colored, but it scanned pink. Hope the boys will forgive me. (Click to embiggen so you can read it! Even my mother thinks it sounds like a good book!)

Do you want a bookmark of your own? (And if you don't, WHY ON EARTH NOT? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU???) Go here! KD's still giving them away.

Now then, I believe I promised people a post about a squid hat. >_>

It's big.


Really big.

Almost as tall as I am.

It took me about 5 months to knit it, using this pattern. Except I think KD's squid is cooler, because I made him in rainbow colors. (His name is Skidoo.)

It started with this.

Well, actually it started with this. I cut the yarn into lengths and spliced it to form the rainbow ball(s).

Then there was the inner hat. I don't actually have any pictures of that, so here it is inside out. The circle is where the eye was attached, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Next, 8 arms. Although I think of them as tentacles. (Yes, there are only 7 in the picture. Hush. I obviously wasn't thinking about photographing every stage as I did it.)

Then the 2 tentacles proper. (You are ignoring the backgrounds of the messy house, right? >_> )

Skidoo is so friendly. Even before he was completed, he'd hold hands with me.

Now come the eyes.
And the other one.

Attached:

Next up, the body! It took FOREVER, but at the same time went much faster than the tentacles. I don't have any pictures of this stage completed either. But here are the fins.


And the finished hat! Yay! (No cats were eaten in the taking of this photo. Afterwards? >_> Well, I think Lilac's still around here somewhere.)

And here's a post from KD in which she talks about Skidoo a little.

SO EXCITED!!!

Anyone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter knows that one of my all-time favorite authors is releasing her first book on Dec. 1 (Knight Errant by KD Sarge, available from Turtleduck Press). Now she's giving away bookmarks! Squeeeeeeeeeee! I've wanted one since she first posted a pic on her blog, but I felt weird asking for one since they're a promotional tool and I'm already buying the book. >_> But now I can have one! Yay!

I've read the book already, as sort of a beta/proofreader. It's wonderful! You should all buy it! Seriously! Buy it, tell me you bought it, and I'll knit you something. Maybe not something as big as the squid hat, but something.

What's that? I never posted about the squid hat? You're right! But that's for next week. I don't want to distract from the bookmarks.

Edited to add: KD has now written a blog post specifically about this bookmark giveaway here.

Deadline Knitting

I like crazy deadlines. This explains a lot about me.

It also explains why I'm knitting a child-sized afghan. In 2 weeks.

You see, one of the charity knitting groups that I'm involved with (For the Children of Pine Ridge (Ravelry link)) is trying to make blankets for the children enrolled in the Head Start program at one of the kindergartens on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Many of the children do not have their own blanket at home. Starting this past April, group members began knitting and crocheting squares to be joined into afghans. The goal was to make a blanket for every child (130 total), but at this point, we're still a bit short. So I'm going to make a whole afghan by myself. In 2 weeks. Yes, crazy deadline. But it's not really like I'm doing much else at the moment.

So, here's the yarn. (That shiny thing is a quarter.)
Each skein makes three center-pull balls like this. (Same quarter.)

And here's my progress so far. (The edges look stretched and uneven, but once it's blocked and the border is added, that will be fixed.)

I started last Tuesday. It's about halfway done at this point, because there will be a border to knit once the square's completed.

(This is the From the Heart Mystery Baby Blanket. (Ravelry link) I'm adding a bigger border to make it the required 48 inches square.)

Also, obviously, the blog has a new look/theme. Orange was my favorite color when I was a little kid -- so little I pronounced it oranch, as my mother never fails to remind me. It's taken a while, but I seem to be back to liking it. So welcome to my orange blog. Sunglasses are on the table to your left. >_>