Petite

I felt festive for Halloween this year so I made a chart from the silhouette of the Oogie Boogie Man from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I hope that everyone else enjoys having another TNBC knitting pattern floating around as much as I am!

• US size 5 needles if you are a loose knitter, or size 6′s if you are a tight knitter
• Roughly 20-40 yards of any worsted weight, 100% cotton yarn
• If necessary, a crochet hook for fixing dropped stitches, a pair of scissors, and a sewing needle for weaving in ends

Pattern

CO 38 Stitches
Row 1 (RS): K across
Row 2 (WS): K across
Row 3: K across
Row 4: K across
Row 5: K across
Row 6: K4, P30, K4
Row 7: K across
Row 8: K4, P30, K4
Row 9: K18, P2, K18
Row 10: K4, P2, K1, P10, K3, P14, K4
Row 11: K17, P5, K9, P2, K5
Row 12: K4, P1, K3, P8, K6, P12, K4
Row 13: K15, P8, K6, P4, K5
Row 14: K4, P1, K5, P4, K10, P7, K2, P1, K4
Row 15: K5, P2, K7, P10, K4, P5, K5
Row 16: K4, P1, K5, P4, K11, P6, K2, P1, K4
Row 17: K5, P3, K5, P11, K3, P6, K5
Row 18: K4, P1, K6, P3, K11, P5, K3, P1, K4
Row 19: K5, P3, K5, P11, K2, P7, K5
Row 20: K4, P1, K7, P2, K11, P4, K4, P1, K4
Row 21: K5, P4, K5, P9, K3, P7, K5
Row 22: K4, P1, K7, P3, K9, P5, K4, P1, K4
Row 23: K5, P5, K4, P9, K3, P7, K5
Row 24: K4, P1, K7, P3, K9, P4, K5, P1, K4
Row 25: K5, P5, K4, P9, K2, P8, K5
Row 26: K4, P2, K7, P2, K9, P4, K5, P1, K4
Row 27: K6, P4, K4, P9, K2, P7, K6
Row 28: K4, P2, K7, P2, K4, P2, K3, P4, K4, P2, K4
Row 29: K6, P5, K3, P2, K4, P2, K3, P7, K6
Row 30: K4, P2, K7, P3, K1, P5, K2, P3, K5, P2, K4
Row 31: K6, P5, K2, P3, K5, P1, K2, P8, K6
Row 32: K4, P2, K5, P1, K2, P2, K1, P6, K2, P2, K5, P2, K4
Row 33: K6, P5, K2, P2, K8, P2, K2, P5, K6
Row 34: K4, P2, K5, P2, K2, P9, K1, P2, K4, P3, K4
Row 35: K7, P4, K2, P1, K8, P3, K2, P4, K7
Row 36: K4, P3, K4, P2, K3, P11, K4, P3, K4
Row 37: K7, P4, K8, P1, K3, P2, K2, P4, K7
Row 38: K4, P4, K3, P3, K1, P3, K1, P2, K1, P5, K3, P4, K4
Row 39: K8, P3, K5, P1, K2, P2, K2, P1, K3, P3, K8
Row 40: K4, P5, K3, P2, K1, P2, K2, P2, K1, P5, K3, P4, K4
Row 41: K9, P3, K3, P2, K3, P2, K5, P2, K9
Row 42: K4, P5, K3, P5, K1, P3, K2, P3, K3, P5, K4
Row 43: K9, P4, K1, P3, K9, P3, K9
Row 44: K4, P6, K2, P10, K2, P1, K3, P6, K4
Row 45: K10, P3, K13, P2, K10
Row 46: K4, P7, K2, P12, K2, P7, K4
Row 47: K11, P2, K12, P2, K11
Row 48: K4, P7, K2, P12, K2, P7, K4
Row 49: K12, P3, K9, P2, K12
Row 50: K4, P9, K2, P7, K3, P9, K4
Row 51: K14, P2, K22
Row 52: K4, P38, K4
Row 53: K across
Row 54: K4, P38, K4
Row 55: K across
Row 56: K across
Row 57: K across
Row 58: K across
Row 59: K across
Row 60: Bind Off

Last month I participated in a gift swap on Ravelry for the first time. I had a lot of fun with my partner’s package, made her a hat and bought about $30 worth of stuff that I thought she would like. I shipped the package on 3-day shipping over a week ago and since: nothing. I thought that maybe the package had arrived and person I had been assigned had, perhaps, just been busy and not gotten around to making a confirmation post but I recently asked the person in charge of the swap about it and evidently my swap partner is known to be pretty good about that sort of thing. Plus. I checked her profile and found that she had posted on other message boards recently.

In summary, I am beginning to suspect that my awesome package has been lost by the postal service. I have my fingers crossed that maybe there has been an unforeseen error (misspelled address or something) and the postal service is sending it back to me, thus the delay, but I really don’t know. I didn’t buy insurance or delivery confirmation for it because I am a cheapskate and am now deeply regretting my actions. Sarah (my sister) is really active in gift swaps on this website and she told me that the postal service lost two of the packages sent out in the December swap, thus she has sworn of the postal service and now worships at the altar of FedEx. I don’t have the funds (or the time) to do another swap in the next few months but I may have to keep these alternate shipping methods in mind for the future if this is how it’s gonna be.

First some sad news: my old man cat Big Hairy (the black and white cat in previous posts) was put to sleep several weeks ago. He had a saddle thrombus and I’d really rather not go into the details of that right now (though if someone asked I wouldn’t mind chronicling it in a separate post in the future) but suffice to say putting him to sleep was definitely the humane thing to do. He was 19 years old, which makes him well past being a centenarian in cat years. I had really hoped that he would live to the big 20, but ah well.

I would like to say that out of respect for his memory I waited a decent amount of time before getting another cat, but then my mom took me to the humane society “just to look around” a week later and I ended up coming home with this:

He is a 3-year old siamese mix and yes, he is cross eyed. He is also declawed but I swear that’s coincidental. I don’t advocate declawing cats and didn’t realize he was until after I had already decided to get him. He is also overweight and I am going to be rationing his food for the rest of his life, but eh. I actually had him on a diet cat food for a while but neither I nor Percy were very fond of it, and I’ve since switched him to a holistic cat food that we both are in favor of. I figure if I’m going to ration his food there’s no need to take even more fun out of his life.

I named him Percival, though we mostly call him Percy. My boyfriend calls him Demon Cat from Hell. We hadn’t realized quite how spoiled we were with Big Hairy, who mostly slept and snuggled for the last few years. Percy jumps on stuff and chews things up just for attention. We know this because he tears things up in our presence A LOT but not so much when we aren’t at home. He also can be perfectly sweet one minute and lean over to bite you the next. I think he’s kind of bipolar, but I still love him to pieces.

Anyhow, it occurred to me after a few weeks that Percy could maybe use a friend, and after getting the okay from our landlord I offered to get Mike a cat for Christmas. He has a much longer patience span than me but after a few weeks we ended up coming home with this:

We eventually decided her name was Scout. She is a 6-month old torty/tabby. We also got her from a humane society, albeit a different one than Percy.

If getting Percy was behavioral shock than Scout was almost a panic attack. For the most part she is perfectly sweet and doesn’t have any of the weird personality quirks Percy has. Nevertheless, it had been a really long time since I’d had a kitten. Mike tells me that climbing the curtains and running around for no good reason are perfectly normal behaviors for kittens, but it’s not something I was used to.

Mike had wanted to wait a while before getting a second cat but I’m glad we didn’t. My main reason for pushing it was because I was certain the longer we waited the more difficult it would have been to adapt Percy to having a second cat around. I still think I was right. Percy harrassed her almost non stop in the beginning, though he never drew blood or anything like that. They’ve gotten used to each other since and sometimes I even catch him licking her face.

Also, he stopped maniacally biting our feet shortly after we got her.

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and decided I HAD to try something with this label on it. Label of cat juggling fire = automatic win. Luckily (for me) they offered a sweet wine, as I never seem to like any other kind. I’m drinking it now and it’s pretty good. Will probably buy it again at some point.

He may be old enough to be my grandfather, but damn if Leonard Cohen doesn’t have one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.

Given a choice of habitation I’d say I’m more of a city person than a country person. I enjoy greenery, but I like not having to go too far if I run out of milk and having the option of public transportation if need be. That said, one of the nice things about moving farther out of town is the animals. I’m not the type of person who enjoys having a lot of pets, but seeing a lot of different animals always makes me happy. My grandparents keep horses, our neighbors on one side have donkeys, llamas, and cows, our neighbors on the other side kept sheep for a while this summer, and the people down the street have goats. The other morning I looked outside and saw two foxes playing around. Wish I had pictures of all of that…

Anyhow, moving on.

There are also different pests when you live farther from town. My grandparents have a problem with toads. This sort of problem is similar to other people who live near prairie dogs and gophers, in that toads burrow under the house and destabilize the foundation. Despite my best intentions I’ve still grown fond of one specific toad that likes to hang out near my door, prossibly because the heat and light help him catch bugs. He’s also distinctive in that he’s a lot larger than the other toads; most of them are quite small and he’s about the size of my fist. You will notice I have made a conscious effort to not name him, mostly to save my own sanity because I know my grandparents are probably going to do something about the toad problem eventually.

I’ve attempted to take several pictures of the-big-toad-that-hangs-out-near-my-door (he did not appreciate this show of appreciation), but unfortunately this was the only one that turned out unblurred and without red eyes.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that he’ll hibernate soon.

I’ve taken a couple of whacks at making potato chips before and have never really managed it, mostly due to the fact that every time I tried I set my parents oven on fire. Luckily, Mike and I evidently don’t have this problem with our toaster oven, and I finally had some success with the venture.

• 1 potato
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil or butter
• Your choice spices. I used seasoned salt, garlic powder and onion powder

These ingredients will make 1 serving.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Scrub the potato under warm water to remove dirt. If you don’t like potato skin, you can peel it instead.
3. Slice potato so the pieces are your preferred thickness.
4. Rinse potato slices under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
5. Coat your baking pan with oil and lightly sprinkle the spices on it.
6. Lay the potato pieces on the baking pan, making sure they do not overlap
7. Coat the tops of the slices with the rest of the oil, making sure to spread it evenly. Sprinkle your spices onto the potatoes.
8. Put the potatoes in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Turn them over halfway through so they will cook evenly.
9. When the potatoes are done to your liking, take them out and let them cool off. Eat and enjoy!

I should probably mention that my efforts at making potato chips are adapted from the following article, which also has directions on making potato chips via microwave or frying pan: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-make-potato-chips.

My chips came out a bit crunchy and very heavily spiced, but that’s okay with me and I’m certain I’ll make them again now that I’ve finally had a success.

Have some pictures.
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The past week has been a lot busier than I’m used to, and the upcoming couple of weeks aren’t looking a lot better. I have a lot going on and it’s resulted in me being anxious in general. I’m especially not fun in the mornings right now, which is when everything, especially messes, bother me the most. Later in the day I tend to be less stressed, but I think this is because I’m a lot more tired out by then.

Mike and I won’t see much of each other tomorrow due to conflicting work schedules. However, we have Wednesday off together this week and have made tentative plans to use that time and celebrate our one year anniversary a bit early. It feels a bit presumptuous to make plans to celebrate an anniversary early, but we have good reasons. Our anniversary (August 30′th) coincides with some big stuff that goes on in his family, and we knew from the beginning that we wouldn’t be celebrating the way we’d like on the day-of. I had assumed until now that we’d end up celebrating a bit late, but the change in plans is a good surprise. We had already decided that we’d like to revisit the botanical gardens for our anniversary, and one of the positive reasons to celebrate early is that we’ll be able to visit them while it’s still warm this year.

I didn’t feel like posting a picture today, but as far as art news I can say that I’ve made a start on a short story. I really haven’t written much, and probably shouldn’t even be mentioning it, but eh. I don’t like the first few paragraphs, but presuming I finish the story they can be altered (or deleted) later. Right now I want to just focus on adding a bit at a time. Considering my recent history with fiction writing (or lack thereof) a paragraph here and there is still progress worth keeping to.

I am a bit superstitious when it comes to writing projects that require a commitment greater than a single sitting. So even if I make progress, don’t expect me to talk about it too much until I either feel really firm in sticking to the project, or I’ve actually finished it. This could be soon or very, very far away.