Something New

Guess what I got?

One of these:


I've never been very good at sewing. Every time I tried it, I felt like I was being tied up and put in a cage. It just drove me crazy. Actually, my lack of sewing ability is what led to crocheting/knitting. My gramma tried to teach me to sew, but my ineptitude drove even that patient saint to swear, so she introduced me to yarn and hook.

Well, I was cruising blogs and saw this on cosmicpluto. I was smitten, and decided to try something besides straight seams. I made a couple of versions of the shirt, this being the more successful of the two:


Simplicity 3835, shirt


And I tried a dress version as well. I opted to use the shirt top (elastic) instead of the dress top. It turned out OK, but looks a little like a mui-mui. I think if I shorten it a little (or a lot) it will look less frumpy.


Simplicity 3835 dress with shirt top


Here's what the fabric looks like close up:


I also made a skirt. The pattern is Simplicity 7655. It turned out pretty cute, and was easy as pie. I've got a few other sewing projects going as well. Maybe this will be the thing for summer. Give knitting a much needed break.

21 Years Ago Today

All day I've been thinking it was 20 years ago today, but I just figured out it was 21. I was riding my bike to work, and it was raining slightly. I had to be there at 1:00 and I had slept late and not eaten. I picked up a doughnut at the the shop on the way and put it in my backpack. I was hurrying and not paying attention, and I almost missed my turn at the bottom of the hill. I turned too quickly and the bike slid out from underneath me, causing me to pivot down on my hip. The result was instant shock and intense pain. I had to lay in the rain for about 1/2 an hour before an ambulance got there, and several more hours of emergency room/pain medications/X-ray/Orthopedic surgeon consultation before it was determined that my femur was splintered in 4 places near the hip. I had to have emergency surgery involving a pin, some kind of fake metal joint, 4 screws and 37 (if I remember correctly) staples to close the whole mess.

Result: 2 surgeries, 1 nasty-thigh-long scar, and an uncanny ability to predict impending changes in the weather. I hardly ever think about it until April 13th rolls around. I always wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't screwed up my leg. How I wouldn't limp when I get tired, or how people wouldn't stare at the swimming pool or beach. The weird thing is, I'm pretty proud of my scar, and I feel bad for the people who see it for the first time. I can see the shock on their faces and how they try to pretend they didn't notice. I want to make them feel more comfortable by acknowledging it and telling them what happened.

I'm not sad, I just can't believe how much time has passed since the accident. In a couple of years I will have lived with the scar longer than I lived without it. That's just so weird.

DOINK!

OK. Has this ever happened to you? You're working out at the Y, zoning out to make the time go faster. Only 55 more minutes of step class left, what can my brain do to make the time pass more quickly? Your mind wanders around and goes AHAAA!

Camper Van Beethoven is a play on words! It's camper van+ludwig van.

I've know of this band for, let's see, 20 years or so.

I'm so dumb.

I've Got to Get My Act Together

I'm so far behind in so many things, I'm not even going to list them. I haven't been lazy, just crazy busy, and um, a little too preoccupied with Ravelry. It's killing me folks.

I'm going to take care of some loose ends here. Lovely Del, at Cozy's Place honored me with a you made my day award, some time back. I think I thanked her, and I'm supposed to list 10 bloggy friends who've made my day, so here I go (in no particular order)
Betty: Words can't express how great she is
Sharon: we were separated at birth or something
Elabeth: she's living my dream
Susan: she made such a sweet little girl
Sandra: not only can she craft like hell, she'll tell us about her sex life, too
Sam: she's the cutest ever and just started her own blog
Del: Ping Pong, she's just so lovely and multitalented
Bubbo: she pantzed me
Squidwidget: she's just so damn funny, and can pour bronze
Vintage Purls: I love her cool vintage patterns


Done.

Next, Sharon (see above link, I'm getting lazy) tagged me for this meme

The Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (I'm cheating a little here, cuz the nearest book was a cookbook, and this is what I've actualy been slogging through. The British spellings of ploughed and colour are in the book. They are NOT my affectation)

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence.

If you ask me: "By what practical experience can you show me these points?" I reply-so far as concerns the point of diminution which moves with you-when you walk by a ploughed field look at the straight furrows which come down with their ends to the path where you are walking, and you will see that each pair of furrows will look as though they tried to get nearer and meet at the [farther] end..... (Apparently Leo loved the run-on sentence)

3. Post the next 3 sentences.

In so far as the Art of Painting is concerned with the representation of the surfaces of objects it is allied to spatial geometry. The surfaces are conceived as without substance like geometric planes; and the axioms of Euclid's Elements defining the point, the line, the plane apply to them.

Moreover, the places and colours of objects are revealed by rays of light which radiate from their source in pyramidal formation.

4. Tag 5 people - Yeah, I'm pulling a Del on this one.


Gratuitous kumquat
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