major crochet geek-out:

JACQUARD CROCHET!!!

So I've always really loved the look of traditional Scandinavian sweaters, which are usually knit. The intricate patterns and colorwork are so impressive. Anyone who is familiar with the fiber arts/handicraft knows that colorwork is basically the hardest, most intricate, eye-squinting, and frustration-inducing type of knit or crochet that exist. For those who don't know, when you crochet or knit a piece with multiple colors, like a fair-isle sweater (what's up posh spice?), you don't cut the yarn and tie on the knew color every time you need to switch colors, because then the sweater or whatever you're making would have knots all up in its grill and would be all lumpy. Instead the technique, which is hundreds and hundreds of years old, is to run one color through all the stitches you're making in the current color in such a way that it's hidden inside/behind the stitches, and then switch to that hidden color when you switch colors. That way there are no knots and constant tying on new colors, but it means you're working two strands of yarn at any time, and possibly many more if the item you're crocheting has many colors. What results are beautiful crocheted pieces with pretty colorful designs, just like knitting, created in a traditional Northern technique that people in Scandinavia and the Baltic area have been using for centuries. Being of partial Baltic descent myself (sup Latvia) I find this connection to craft history really cool. I always thought fair isle was just for knitting and that crochet didn't have an equivalent, and I had major knitting envy, even though every time I try to learn to knit i end up injuring myself, others, and my ego. Then I found out about this! It's called either jacquard crochet or tapestry crochet, because like woven tapestries it's colorful and pictorial. I'm so excited about trying some of this stuff out. I've been eye-ing some crocheted mittens done this way but I think the pattern is too advanced to attempt now, I'll try to make some test swatches and just play around first. I found this site, wow!, which is amazing so I'll be futzing around with this all winter I'm sure. Also, you've noticed I figured out how to post links on the blog, so no more copied and pasted websites guys! Gotta go crochet for 10000 years now!

oops! forgot to blog this week.... well, it was basically the same as last week. intersession classes are tiring, have too much reading, and way more work/hours per week than their measly 1 or 2 credit status. Maybe it's because the other years I did intersession I took art history classes so I was more interested in the material, but these classes seem way harder than the norm for intersesh. Blegh! I've been staying up super super late, like 5 or 6 am, and sleeping horribly late on the days I don't have class, and mostly pulling all nighters on the days I do have class. I can't seem to make myself start on my reading before midnight the night before, and then I finish everything class-related by like 8 am, sleep till 11 or so and then get up and go to class. It's not a good system but i can't seem to function like a real human. I'm exhausted all the time and just want to crochet and sleep and watch gilmore girls and do nothing else.

some proactive things i did manage this week:
finished two scarves for etsy shop
started a pair of glittens/convertible mittens. very excited about these!
read for classes and did class assignments
went to the grocery store and stocked up on foods
made lentil soup (delicious, easy)
avoided getting caught in the two snows we've had so far
called mimz and caught up with her
made awesome girl rock/female singers mix to cheer up jess about her stupid schmuck of an ex-bf

still need to do:
tidy room
organize all craft supplies
sleep regularly
laundry
B&N run- need books and supplies and tape for wall decoration project

fun things i did this week:
watched football game with jen and john, which involved lots of snacks and then me falling asleep after i lost interest in the game. jen made her delicious and oh-so-bad-for-you onion dip and her chili cheese dip, which involved cream cheese en mass quantities so i only ate a bit of that, and i made cheese straws- classic cheddar/cayenne and mozz/parm/pesto which are so good it should be illegal. Also drank New Orleans beer that I discovered while there and is delicious and probably the only amber beer I like. Also found kriek and black currant flavored geuze at the liquor store when j and i went there to get beer for the football game. Waiting for A and S to return so we can all experience it. v. excited about the prospect of anything black currant flavored. one of the all-time best macarons i ate while in france was a black currant (cassis in french, there's your french word of the day) in honfleur while we were on our weekend trip to Normandy. Droooool.

Being back in Baltimore is going well despite the cold cold cold weather and the immense amount of reading for each of my classes. it seems totally absurd that my one credit 100-level class has tons more reading than my 300-level 2 cred class, but both have way too much for intersession. In the 1 cred class, citizenship and nationalism, we have really good discussions though and it's an interesting topic, especially because the prof is from a former soviet state so she has a unique perspective. plus i think she likes me because on the first day she asked us what our citizenships and nationalities were and i said i was american of latvian and polish descent, and she's lithuanian so we got the baltic thing in common. my other class the teacher just lectures and we had to read an essay line by line all together because he seems to think we've never encountered any text more challenging than the tv guide, so.... yeah. We get to talk about the apocalypse and zombies and nuclear war a lot though, so that's lively.

j and i are going out tonight to get afghani food and drink even though i have reading to do for my classes tomorrow. it's not like i would start it until midnight anyways so it doesn't matter. i'm crocheting new things for etsy! yayyy! its 27 degrees out oy vey! instead of saying jesus christ like people do when theyre like its so cold jesus christ or something like that, im going to toss random jewish figures into my vernacular. Its so cold out, moshe rabeinu!!!! You can go straight to Gehenah mothafucka! Need to think of a Jewish/yiddish equivalent for douchebag.

etsy etsy etsyyy

so i'm getting closer to my new year's resolution of getting an etsy shop up and running (other new years resolutions include: stop biting nails, find work after graduation where i can learn new things, don't lose sight of my goals or my friends after graduating, try new things, find a nice jewish boy, and take risks, which i'm horrible at.) anyways, i went to michael's and bought a ton of supplies, which i'm very excited about.

now it's down to the finer details, like naming the shop. i was brainstorming with jess earlier and after coming up with many horrible ideas, i came up with a few cuties. input from anyone would be lovely as i'm the most indecisive person to walk the earth.
-in the lead we have, chartreuse crafteuse
- clementiny was takennnn waaahhhhhh
- tangeringaling but i'm not wild about that (mostly a reaction to seeing clementiny was taken)
- craftycat or crafty kitten but i feel like that's basically ripping off the name taylor and i came up with together and i don't want to steal it.
- bramble scramble (bramble is my favorite word in the english language)
- teacup picot (pronounced peeko, its ironically my least favorite crochet stitch)
- curl-up-cozy crafts

some are cheesier than others. littlebird crafts already exists, and petite oiseau is a bit hard to pronounce for les americaines so i nixed that idea. also if i ever open a maternity store for any reason, it will be called chrysanthemummy, i claim this. dumb people will think its chris and the mummy and that will allow me to feel superior which is always a pleasant little boost.

for some reason i cannot make myself do school work. it's my first reading assignment for intersession, and i can't even make myself finish it. usually at the start of a new semester i have a new burst of energy, but im still exhausted from travelling all day (had to sit with an annoying fellow hopkins guy who i know from hebrew school, can only tolerate so much saccharine my goodness). I think i might use parentheses too much. (but i love them). maybe i'll get fancy and switch to brackets. {maybe not}. Break was great over all despite catching a cold, endless rains and lack of sunshine. I didn't want to leave, but it's nice to be back in the apt in Baltimore. Desperately need to go to the grocery, will try to find time tomorrow. Lentil soup is in my future.

leaving for baltimore tomorrow. blergh. not excited to leave the warmth here and return to snow and freeze. also none of my friends' breaks are over yet so they're all still going to have fun and i have to jump ship early. intersession will be fun and i need the s credits, and i always love being at school, its just the process of packing, flying alllll dayyyy lonnnnggg and the prospect of the weather that deter me. yurk.

packed: about 75% done
sandwich for plane: made and in fridge
flight: in 5 hours
leave for airport: 2 and a half hours
sanity: nope
sleepiness: yesss
adhd-like distractions: shiny!

currently working on

Hey all! i'm still sick as all hell, but the good news is that it's giving me a lot of time to crochet and watch house reruns, which have already proven their importance as purveyors of wisdom in my life.

Currently crocheting a little baby outfit for my baby cousin Charlotte who i get to meet for the first time on Saturday night. I'm so excited to finally see this little wriggly thing in person! My second cousin Shayna was the first to get married the summer after i graduated high school, and then a bunch of other cousins followed suit in the years that have followed. Now she was the first one to have a baby, last September after a difficult pregnancy, so I'm hoping more cousins will have more babies soon! My cousin Ross's new wife is pregnant and due soon (they had to move their wedding up by like 8 months hahaha good job Ross! she was 4 months pregnant when they got married lolz) so there will soon be more babies to crochet for. I started making Charlotte a baby blanket with mini granny squares but i realized i wouldn't finish it before Saturday so I started making a little sweater for her instead. It will probably fit her when she's bigger, maybe like 9 months? And if I finish it soon enough I will make little crocheted leggings to go with it. SO cute! Basing it off a vintage crochet pattern from this site, which has a lot of cool vintage and antique patterns.
http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/free-crochet-patterns-for-children/five-piece-baby-set-american6e
Color is a nice fuschia/dark pink. I think the leggings will be a warm tan color, which i will use to trim the baby sweater, and use the dark pink to trim the leggings. Might make a little flower applique in the tan for the sweater also, which i need to find some chunky wooden buttons for. I know I have some around here somewhere. I'll post a picture when I'm all done with it. It's so little and cute! Babies aaahhh!!!

Back from New Orleans and a New Year

well new orleans was fun but kinda a bust because it's such a seafood-centric food culture, there was nothing for me to eat, and just slightly more for my parents and my brother who eat fish but keep kosher and therefore don't eat shell fish. i basically had side orders and salads all week and the rest of my family didn't even seem to notice as they were getting far too much enjoyment out of their fucking shrimp. it almost got to the point in when harry met sally where she has the fake orgasm in the restaurant, i mean the way they were carrying on about the damn shellfish was ridiculous. i don't care when people eat meat or fish in front of me, keeping kosher or being vegetarian is a personal choice and i don't care what other people do, but when theyre like making a scene in a restaurant its just like ENOUGH ALREADY! so the food issue was frustrating but new orleans itself was fun. it was good to see the family and its a neat city, but it's like las vegas; debauchery is the endgoal, means to the end, and starting point. if you're not up to your ears in alcohol, there's nothing to do. it got kind of tiring after a while, since i'm not into drinking for absolutely no reason all the time. i'll post a day by day of what we did while there later.

got home late on thursday night after a frustrating travel day of delayed flights, crying babies, lack of food choices in southern airports and smelly dogs on the plane. new years eve day, i got a haircut at a new place, happy with it. after my last haircut from carolyn in france, it could only get better haha. then i went home, helped mom cook for shabbat dinner, and then it was off to laura's to get a ride with her to jessica's party. jess always has new years eve parties and they are always insane, this year being no exception. the ex-bf was texting me annoyingly, i answered the first one, the ignored a bunch, then seeing as i was drunk, i decided it was a great idea to text him random letters and numbers. he hasnt texted me since so i am pretty happy with that decision. also at the party, i apparently was flirted with by people. it appears i don't notice when guys flirt with me, i can't differentiate between flirting and just talking. jess's advice is to just always assume everyone is flirting with you, and flirt back. i like this idea and will now be executing it. hey, how you doin'? that's right. but yeah, the party was tons of fun, from what i recall. slept over at jess's and the next morning, after we all regained the strength to stand up and get dressed, despite MEGA HANGOVERS, and went to norm's for breakfast around noon.

i love norm's. SO MUCH. cheap greasy spoon, walking distance from jessica's apt and home of the best hangover food ever: loaded hashbrowns. for like $2.50, you get hashbrowns covered in cheese, tomatoes, green onions and salsa. DELICIOUS. it was the perfect hangover food, even though i was almost dyingggg. took a note from A's book and had some seltzer. laura drove me home after we finished breakfast and cleaned jess's apartment from the party mess, and then i spent the rest of the day recuperating. and then yesterday i went to andrew, and old camp/usy friend's graduation party and saw a bunch of the old usy crew. then once i got home, i seemed to have caught a cold. i thought when i woke up feeling congested, it was just allergies, but now it's clearly more. today has been miserable. i am queen of tissues and mucus and tea. ugghhh headcolds, why can i never fully escape you, especially when im on winter break?

time for more medecine and a nap!