Cake! Cake! Cake!

So I made a cake for our game night. I probably shouldn't be having cake at all, since I went on a shameful frosting binge twice this week.

Is it bad to eat two cups of frosting in one sitting? No? Okay, then.

This cake is a double dark chocolate cake, covered in a raspberry buttercream frosting. And, OMG, it is delicious. I have to admit, I ate quite a bit of this frosting, too.

I did kind of phone it in on the decorating. You can see it's not all that smooth. And I put the ginormous star tip on so I could get that bottom border done quickly. Sadly, I wasn't left with much frosting in the bag after that, for decorating.

And someone had eaten all the white and green frosting I had made earlier this week for the flowers.

So I just did a little splooge on the top. Not my best decorating job. But that just means we cut the cake quicker. Once you get three or four pieces out of it, it looks the same as a well-decorated cake with three or four pieces out of it.

Patwoman Goes Goodwill Hunting

Yes, after not being able to walk for two months, I finally went to Goodwill today with M! Yay!

Feels good to not be wearing the knee brace. Feels good to be able to bend my knee (a little, a least, enough to walk without too much of a limp). Feels good to be able to tie my own shoes, to put on my pants without laying them on the floor first, to bend over enough to shave my legs, to be able to sit on the toilet without dropping the last 4 inches to the seat.

Too much information?

It was nice. After I left work at 4:30, M and I went to GW, although I didn't see anything that was screaming to be bought. (I'm looking for a Spirograph set, mainly.) We went to dinner, then to Michael's (where I got some more cake decorating supplies) and then to Joann (where I bought even more cake decorating supplies). Did I mention, M and I signed up to take another cake decorating course?

And we went to Half Price Books, where I spent a great deal of time looking at books. That's actually kind of unusual for me, since I have been buying all my books on Kindle for a couple of years now. I didn't buy anything--not because I didn't want anything, but because the checkout line was a little long and by this time, my knee was getting extremely tired and shaky. I had worked all day and then went out shopping, remember? And this knee has been in a brace for two months. So, it was just a little overdone, I think.

Still, it was an enjoyable day and I'm hoping to be able to do a little more next week.

WIP: Another Ornament

I've been working on small things these days. Mainly ornaments for the Advent Garland. They're quick and easy and I get a FO almost immediately. Plus, I've been feeling a little restless about my knitting for a while--like, I want to knit, but I'm not sure what I want to knit. Or maybe it's that I want to knit a lot of things and I'm not sure what to do first.

I don't know. But, knitting little ornaments for Christmas is making me feel like I've accomplished something, at least.

So I started this little angel ornament for the garland. It's knit flat, so it goes pretty quickly. I actually just finished the head and started seaming it up in back.

Okay. That picture looks weird. I assure you, it doesn't look like that in real life. (But it is kind of funny. And very wrong, since it's an angel.) Oh well, it will round out once I put the fiberfill in it.

Stay tuned.

On Writing

I had a conversation with an acquaintance today and the subject of writing articles came up. He mentioned that I should write some articles on various topics. I just sort of laughed and told him that I actually have written many non-fiction articles and fiction stories for many different magazines and papers.

I gave him a few examples, of course, so he could see for himself. But then it occurred to me that these articles were old. The last article I had published in a magazine was about 2 years ago. Can I actually still call myself a writer?

True, I haven't had anything published in a while, but I have been writing. Of course, what I've been writing has been marketing materials and financial reports and this blog. I have to admit, especially with this blog, I cut myself a whole lot of slack when it comes to writing. I let myself make up words (awesometacular), I dangle participles, I switch perspective from first to third. Basically, I disregard grammar for style.

Whoa. Just like I disregard patterns for interest. I just realized. Ha!

And, I guess there are a couple of other things I'm writing. But they're bigger works that take a lot more thought and actual time than I have been giving them lately. So, I've kind of gone for the stuff that has quicker gratification.

Whoa. Again, just like knitting.

It's okay, though. I'm not really writing for the end result of getting work published. I'm really writing for the pleasure of writing. And because I enjoy the outcome.

Whoa. Knitting. I'm blowing my own mind, here.

Patwoman Has Bowls

Well, just the one bowl, really.

I've been looking for a nice wooden bowl at GW that I can use for a yarn bowl. Those things were everywhere in the 70's. It shouldn't be too hard to find, right? But, I had yet to find one when I injured my knee almost two months ago. And since then, I've not been Goodwill Hunting. Sad face.

Never fear, though. R and Bre go frequently. They are big DIY-ers. I asked them to keep a lookout for a good, solid, wooden salad bowl of a decent size that I can use as a yarn bowl. And, they have come through for me.

I was going to Dremel a slit in the side of the bowl for the yarn, maybe in a curlicue or something. But I kind of like the way it looks now with the yarn in it. I think the sides are high enough the yarn will stay in when I knit, anyway.

I guess I will have to knit with it a while and then let you know. Stay tuned.

Patwoman Has Balls

No way am I passing that one up.

So, remember when I dyed that yarn I reclaimed from a wool sweater? Well, I decided to go ahead and wind it up into balls.

Now, I'd like to show you some nice, even yarn cakes like you get at the yarn store. But that ain't gonna happen. I guess you can tell your old friend Patwoman doesn't own a ball winder.

Still, this method works ok. It's just not particularly pretty. (Unless you are fond of yarn footballs. Then, it's exceptional!)

I don't have a nosteprine, either. But that's okay. I use a size 50 needle. Those things are good for more than making a scarf in 40 minutes! Check it out.

I like the color of this one so much. It's so vivid. I had a dream once that I was talking to a dragonfly (Don't judge. It was a dream, remember?) and it had wings this color. Iridescent green and blue wings.

I didn't get the yarn coated enough in this batch. You can see a lot of white. However, I've decided I kind of like the way that looks. It looks floral. We'll see what it looks like knitted up, though. I think this one needs a lace project.

I've got a ton of yarn left to dye, if I ever get some time to actually do it. And I have a bunch of dyes. I think I'm going to try some double-strength dyes and go for a deeper color on one batch.

I'd like to see a deep blue color throughout the whole skein. What do you think?

I Am Nothing, If Not Teachable

My worst fear is to lose my mind. Okay, maybe not the worst, but definitely in the top ten. I'm sure being eaten alive by some wild animal would be much more terrifying than slowly lapsing into mental no-man's land, but (depending on the way and the severity of mind loss) it's still pretty bad.

If I ever do become senile, I hope it's just like static in my head or happy delusions or something relatively blissful. I fear the kind of senility and dementia that, looking back, my own father must have had for many years before we realized. His mind was angry and hurtful, as well as confusing and suspicious. It was the kind of affliction that, even though your logical mind knows it's the disease, it still makes your heart hurt.

This is one of the reasons why I am so committed to continuous learning. The brain must be exercised. And you can't just stretch the brain muscles you already have--although that's important, to be sure--you have to develop new brain muscles. (Yes, I know the brain is not a muscle, but I started with this metaphor and now I feel like I have to carry it through.)

This week, I've been working on our company's website. And let me assure you, Gentle Reader, it has been a learning experience. You know your friend Patwoman is a technophile. But you must remember, she was also a full-grown adult before this Age of The Web. So the internet, for me, is a learned skill rather than a genetic trait.

Still, I think I caught on very quickly. Most things were things I only had to be shown how to do once. Some things I was even able to extrapolate how to do, based on previous skills learned. It helps, also, that it is a very rules-driven process. That appeals to my Lawful Neutral nature.

I have a pretty good feeling of accomplishment now, I can tell you. I've not only been able to accomplish a great deal on the website (very practical), but I've given that brain muscle an invigorating aerobic workout.

Hopefully, this is preventative medicine.