The Announcement!

Hear that hush? The storm has passed. The gale-force winds of Christmas have quieted, leaving behind colorful debris of wrapping paper, tinsel strands, and cookie crumbs. New Year’s is still upon us, in all its cork-popping glory, but it’s a mild rain compared to Hurricane Xmas.

I, for one, had a lovely holiday. We had our first official Bay Area Xmas--my folks made the trek up from SoCal--and there was much merriment and feasting. I think the highlight was playing Rock Band until 3 a.m. with my entire family, and hearing my Mama sing Rob Zombie’s “Superbeast.” These are the precious moments holiday specials are made of.

But now, the parents are on their way home, the fridge is stuffed with leftovers, and it’s time to settle in and get ready to welcome the New Year.

New Year’s is both about reflecting on the events of the past 365 days, and looking forward to the clean slate of the next year. I, like many other folks, already have some goals set out for 2011, but there’s one in particular that got a bit of a head start this week: that thing I announced that I was going to announce.

Thank you for being so patient, dear readers. I can finally tell you what it is I’ve been sitting on for the past couple weeks:

I’m a new contributing writer at Geek Crafts!

I’m super-excited about this new gig, seeing as it’s the fusion of three of my favorite things: writing, geekery, and crafting. I’ll be combing the interwebs to find some of the best in geek craft to share with the world. My first post went up yesterday, and I’ll be posting every Tuesday and Friday.

This is not to be confused with my Crafty Bytes column over at Electronic Wasteland, which is all about interviewing video game crafters.

So, if you have any geek crafts you’d like to see featured, send ‘em my way!

"Oh no! Old Man Winter!"

It may not be snowing, but Old Man Winter has definitely moved into the Bay Area. It's cold and drizzly, Club Mallard down the street has put up its giant Christmas-light logo, and Professor Lefty is giving his last final today.

So, why am I smiling? Could I have contracted a case of holiday cheer? Could I be looking forward to the end of the semester even more than my husband is? Could it be that I have exciting news to share?

Well, yes. But it's also because I can finally break out all my warm n' fuzzy knits!



This is my first foray into using those fancy-pants yarns that cost substantially more than my usual, newbie-friendly cottons and acrylics. It's Aslan Trends Del Sur in Scarlet, 100% Merino. Translated into plain English: It's pretty red and soooo very soft.

I picked up two skeins of this yarn over a year ago when I was visiting my sister-in-law in La Mesa, CA, and pawing through her local yarn shop, Two Sisters & Ewe. I instantly fell in love, though I knew a yarn this scrumptious was far beyond anything my needles could produce. So, I held onto it, knowing one day I'd have the skill to make something worthy of the yarn.

The day came last month, born out of a combination of impatience and inspiration. I'd hoped to make something a little more snazzy than (another) scarf, but then I spied an ingeniously simple pattern on Ravelry, courtesy of Twilightgirl. It's seriously the easiest knitting project I've ever done, and yet looks like one of the more complex.



On a side note, this picture also marks the last appearance of the black-rimmed glasses, both in this blog and on my face. Though I do love the new glasses I got today (hooray for no cracks!), I will miss those glasses.

Through those lenses, I saw New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, and Portland for the first time. They helped me read countless books, see hundreds of movies, and play dozens of video games. They survived a car crash, numerous baby grabs, and years being toted in my messenger bag on contact lens days. I'll miss you, old friends. You've earned yourselves your retirement.

As for my news...well, you'll have a wait a day or two. But I promise. It's awesome and exciting. Stay tuned.

The Mystery of the Glowing Calavera

Okay, so maybe it's not much of a mystery. I took some nifty glow-in-the-dark floss, a scrap of fabric from a pair of torn trousers, and an awesome pattern from Sew Lovely.





The results? A spooky-yet-festive embroidery, perfect for scaring your spouse in the middle of the night.

Seriously. Wouldn't it freak you out to wake up to this?



Boo!

Tee hee. I'm mean.

NaNoWriMo madness and Halloween recap

It's been a little quieter over here lately, I know. This time, I have a genuinely good reason, beyond the excitement of Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos, the thrill of the Giants winning the World Series, and the turmoil of the election season.

I have finally plunged off the deep end and straight into the vast, blue waters of National Novel Writing Month. It's something I've always wanted to do, but have always had some reason or other that I couldn't. Mostly work-related. Well, this year, little unemployed ol' me has run out of excuses.

I'm knee-deep in my first real novel, and I have to admit I'm loving it. I'm also having days of hating it, to be fair, but all in all, it's been amazingly freeing to sit down and just write every day.

All I can tell you now is that it's officially a high fantasy story of sorts (and here I thought I'd be writing a nice, marketable romance), which is as daunting as it is exciting. I never thought I'd be one of those people who wrote a book with a map in it (seriously, this was the reason I never read fantasy books when I was younger. I hated the idea of having to use a map).

But before I set out on this mad writing crusade, I did manage to squeeze in some holiday-related baking and crafting!

Usually for Halloween I go all out with the decorating and cooking, but this year I decided to mellow out a little. I'd put a lot of energy into some different holidays this year, and I felt like I deserved a bit of a respite.

So rather than baking a passel of cookies, I focused on one new recipe: quince turnovers.




This marks my first successful attempt at making pie crust, as well as with cooking with quince. An interesting fruit, that. Looks like a big, green apple, but once cooked becomes a lovely pink color.


I also finally, FINALLY finished stitching up the Halloween Ghosties I was working on last year from a free Annie Oakleaves pattern.



Here's a close-up of the brand-new one:



Last, but not least, were the touches I put together for the spouse's and my Halloween costumes.

I decided to be Maryann Forrester from True Blood, the wicked -- yet classy -- Maenad who plays the big bad in season 2. Considering my costume was mostly just a long black dress and hippie jewelry, I thought a little human heart would get the point across that Maryann is not to be trifled with:



I whipped it up in an evening out of felt and embroidery floss. I figured it'd be much more fun to have around than an ugly rubber heart.

There's one more project I have to share, but I feel like it deserves a post all its own. Not to mention, I should get writing! That book isn't going to write itself.