Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Nose Guy has the best laugh ever!
Posted at 3:11:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow. I think I'm about to develop a new obsession: True Yogurt. It is amazing.
Posted at 12:20:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Posted at 11:21:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Obviously, it was irresistible. The first one was actually insanely easy to copy and its mate matches perfectly. Either I'm going to have to grow narrower paws or wear them until they stretch out a bit, though, because they fit like a glove and my hands feel as if they're wearing corsets.
Mittens sure make one clumsy. There's not much you can do with them on, is there? Other than making and throwing snowballs, I suppose.
I love how they make my fingers look as if they're all the same length. Ha!
The thumb could be deeper. But it's not. The hand doesn't like to share space!
Posted at 9:39:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean thought this was super-cute and said I had to take a picture. It was just an experiment. Not sure if I'll do the right hand!
I do like it, but it's pretty tight across the widest part of my hand because of how narrow the sleeve was (that's nearly the entire right sleeve of the felted former sweater, turned upside down so the sleeve cuff becomes the mitten cuff). Not sure if it would stretch out any. (Also, I'm not sure, if I did make the other one, that I'd be able to get it to match!) I made it really square on the end on purpose because I thought it looked cute that way, with the stripes!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I got three more sweaters at Uptown this afternoon: 1) 100% lambs' wool, B) 97% lambs' wool / 1% lycra spandex / 2% other fiber, and, 3) 80% lambs' wool / 20% nylon.
Posted at 8:38:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The 100% lamb one was a Gap sweater with a little winter sweater kind of pattern [Fair Isle?] in it with tiny little flowery/snowflake designs (you know what I mean), but when I felted it they all merged together into fuzzy mauve stripes. It's so improved! I didn't really like the original pattern, but it was only 99¢ and I liked the color, so I figured it was worth experimenting on. Felting is magic!!
Sweater B was red/orange striped (also Gap), and it's still red/orange striped, but the stripes are a lot smaller. I washed that one twice to felt it extra. Both of them look like they'd fit a six year old! (They were originally size small and medium adult women's.)
The third sweater wouldn't totally felt (it's still stretchy, and the fibers didn't merge up into a solid sheet like it's supposed to), even though I washed it twice, so I'm not sure I believe the "only need 30% wool" thing. AND, it put off crazy insane amounts of cool nubby fuzzy things (I collected a giant pile which I could easily make larger). Not sure if I'll be able to do anything with the body of this sweater, BUT, I already cut off the arms and turned them into leg warmers! Even though it didn't actually felt, the knit thickened/snuggened up, and the cut part isn't even unravelling or anything. Since it didn't shrink that much, they fit on my legs perfectly (the original sweater was really big) and sort of molded to the shape of them. I suspected this sweater might not felt like the others, but I really liked the color, so I took a chance on it. Love my leg warmers!! They are WARM.
Here are the photos: 1) the first batch, from this morning (the orange one is a two-tone kind of color [heathered? variegated?], not solid), B) the whole pile, from this evening (notice how the ribbed parts of the sweaters don't shrink in proportion to the rest of the knit!), 3) my new leg warmers! You can't really see in the picture, but I cut off the tops of the arms at an angle (like how they connect to the sweater), so the leg warmers are higher on the outside of the leg, for warmth, and then cut across at a diagonal just below the kneecap.
(Oh yeah, what am I planning to DO with all this felt? That's a surprise.)
Posted at 12:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Hahaha, the gray, thick, looser-knit sweater put off a GIANT pile of fuzz! (I was expecting this.) The other two really didn't, though. It's much easier to get off the sweaters and the inside of the washing machine than the cashmere fuzz was, though, even though there's tons more of it. It separates itself from the actual sweaters and just sort of lies on top, so you can easily run your hand over it and pull away swaths of it.
Here's my preliminary pile (I'm sure there's more on the insides of the sweaters, and soon to be caught in the lint trap of the dyer). It's about six inches square and two inches high.
The two non-fuzzy sweaters are so cute and mini now! Actual sweater photos later (I should've taken a "before" shot, I know...); must check C.S. for more cheap wooly sweaters, while my washing machine's still in fuzzy mode!
Oh yeah, and I am very fond of my washing machine, which is why I posted the above photo. I think it's about 30 years old (it used to be my grandmother's), and it has the best logo. Futuristic, huh?
Oh, wow! The load isn't done yet washing yet, but I peeked just before the agitation cycle was about to end. It already worked!!!!! Even the one with the loose knit worked! Wowowow. That was so easy. I can't wait to see what they look like when they're done!
Posted at 11:41:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Last night I read that you can felt a sweater that has as little as 30% wool, angora, etc. So even if it's an acrylic or cotton blend it's still usable for felting! (??! Really?? Not sure I believe this.) Yesterday I ruled out anything at the consignment shop that wasn't 100% wool, but, now that I read that, maybe there's a few others that would be worth trying... (two of the sweaters I am doing now were only 99¢ apiece!) How come it's so incredibly easy with wool, but cashmere won't do it??
The sweaters are being jostled in hot water and castile soap right now! Eeek. I hope hope hope hope something actually happens! This is exciting.
Posted at 11:29:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I bought some wool sweaters today at the consignment shop, and I cannot wait to try felting them tomorrow. Okay, okay. Bed(-ish).
Posted at 3:30:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow, I love High Quality mode on YouTube. The difference is so dramatic! Crisp and sharp. Too bad you can't force embedded videos to be in high quality. And I still can't figure out why some of my videos are available in HQ mode and some aren't. (Like some of my Miracle Fruit series videos offer the High Quality option, and some don't. Why??) It seems awfully random.
Posted at 3:17:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Exciting!!! They're coming out with (or already came out with?) a Poe stamp this year! (A gorgeous one, too.) I got Year of the Ox last week (very nice). I'm sad that I missed Latin Jazz, though; it reminds me of the Jeeves & Wooster opening credits, but when I asked for it at the post office it was already gone.
Posted at 2:55:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Other good 2009 stamps I need to keep an eye out for: Redwood Forest (wow), Hawaii Statehood, and Kelp Forest. But where are the rest of the pictures, after February? And it looks like they're planning to raise postage rates again, in May.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
As promised, here's the rest of my Adventures in Eating miracle fruit taste-test video series.
Posted at 9:34:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Part Four: Lime Time.
Back again after eating another berry, we try more sour foods under the influence of Miracle Fruit.
Part Five: In Which We Are Underwhelmed.
Trying still more sour foods under the influence of the berry. (Continued from Part Four.)
Part Six: The Second Course.
We start to get philosophical and cynical, eat pickles, capers, plain yogurt and cottage cheese, and drink vinegar. The Sea Salt & Vinegar chips were good, by the way. We just failed to get that part on camera (ran out of space on the data card at the end of this recording and had to go copy everything off!)
Part Seven: The Bitter End
Sugar, honey, stevia and wine. By now we're getting loopy. And it's true that Miracle Fruit destroys the taste of wine!!
One observation from part of the video that I cut out: "Everything has a little bit of a nice miracle fruit taste always lingering on your tongue. It sort of effects everything, but it's like the taste of the miracle fruit itself." The nice Miracle Fruit tongue taste actually lingered all the way 'til night. If Miracle Fruit was just a fruit (and had no special makes-other-things-taste-sweet powers), I'd still eat love to eat it! It's good just on its own taste merits.
I had a hair appointment at 12:00, and when I got to John's, everyone was sitting glued to a tiny Sony TV John had rigged up with long rabbit ears on top! I arrived just in time for the pre-oath music (nice performance!) and we watched the whole swearing-in ceremony and President Obama's speech afterward. So my hair got bumped by about half an hour, but I didn't care. It was cool watching it surrounded by John and Michelle and three old ladies, everyone rapt. I don't think I've ever watched an inauguration ceremony before, but I'm glad circumstances conspired to allow me to see this one.
Posted at 6:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I finished all the Miracle Fruit videos! Will post tomorrow (aka Tuesday). Bed time now. Not to be confused with lime lime.
Posted at 2:25:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Okay, here are the first three Miracle Fruit "Flavor Tripping Experience" videos! I have two more finished, and I'll try to complete the rest tonight. (Don't bother trying to turn up your sound! It's better if you just leave it on mumble-mode and follow along with the subtitles. Make sure you watch our expressions, too!)
Posted at 2:26:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Part One: First we tried the sour fruits before eating the Miracle Fruit, to gauge what it's like to eat them straight.
Part Two: Eating the Miracle Fruit berries.
Part Three: Trying the first sour foods under the influence of the berry.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
We had another Miracle Fruit tonight. Starfruit under the influence of Miracle is REALLY good, like Hawaiian starfruit. Last night, our pizza at Slice of Heaven (former Luna's) tasted incredible; we couldn't figure out if it was lingering Miracle or not.
Posted at 10:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean loves the strawberry and grapefruit. I love star and kiwi. And lemon. Straight lemon is good.
The combination of Bucheron cheese + Scharffen Berger 82% dark chocolate reminds me of cheesecake (Miracle Fruit or not!).
I think it would be impossible for a third-party to understand what we're saying in the videos (we're both quiet people and are just acting normal, not playing it up for the camera, and the sound quality isn't that good either), so I'm making subtitles! I did four so far. It's very time-consuming but turns out nice. Of course, that means I have to listen to my own voice for hours on end (aaaah!) but it's not as horrible as I would've thought, even though I hate my voice. I kind of like watching myself on video, even though I don't like hearing myself. I have a very expressive face.
Vic called us this morning and left a voicemail, so we called him back tonight!!! Vic is hilarious.
[Edit: Pretzels!]
