mere_vanilla

Stuff and Things going on in my life right now include:

a) Slowly but surely, I'm making headway on my next amigurumi project (a Tachikoma from the Ghost in the Shell anime series from the early- to mid-00s. A content note, though--they're based on spiders, according to their Wikipedia page, so a head's up for that silhouette/imagery, should you go looking up the characters).
Husband took a liking to them, however a lot of the scale models and kits are a bit much for our budget. Caron Simply Soft, though, is a fair compromise--especially since the colors are versatile enough that I can use the remaining yarn for other projects. I've been following a pattern from a wordpress blog, and so far it's going well!

b) More blu-rays of... not necessarily who I want to say is my favorite actor, but an actor whose work I appreciate and enjoy, continue to be released. I couldn't find the DVDs at any of the local used media stores, and I politely refuse to use Amazon until absolutely necessary (for health-related equipment, for example), so this is a very nice development.

c) Getting a small garden ready. This year we're planting more sunflowers, some rainbow carrots, green onions/scallions, and some purple green beans. I'm hoping that I can start some cabbage later in the year, as well.

Other than that, mostly it is raining with some pleasant days between. The cats continue to get up on the kitchen table, and meow for wet food ten minutes too early.

Has anyone else ever been inclined to crochet a wall hanging or some kind of mini tapestry? I'm considering making a few to decorate with and absorb environmental noise from inside and outside. I'd have to use bulky yarn with a fair amount of animal fiber, since from what I understand, natural fiber tends to insulate better.

Cross stitch is too small, in my opinion, and macrame is too light. I want to do, like, the cover of The Little Prince, but as a giant crochet panel the size of a film poster.

I posted about this a year or so ago on tumblr, but I think revisiting the topic here might be a good idea as well.

I'm considering doing a one-piece crochet doll more in the style of a fashion doll (e.g., more like a 1/6 scale kind of doll), rather than a "chibi" style I've been attempting for the last few years. I'm hoping to try seamed or wooden bead joints, as well.

I think I'd have to sketch out the idea before actually crocheting it, though.

I have almost finished up the years-long knitting and crochet projects I'd started at various points in the past few years. ...That sentence makes no sense. Argh. Anyway!

I've had three separate projects with which I'd hit a wall: 1) the knit blue 100% wool hat for the husband; 2) A purple crochet/amigurumi cat for kiddo; 3) an amigurumi version of a secondary character, Sailor Pallas, from Sailor Moon, for me. Over the last couple of months, I've finished both the cat for kiddo, and the Sailor Pallas amigurumi for me.

All that's left is the last inch or so of husband's knit hat... and it is taking so long for me to finish, augh. But! I refuse to start any more yarn and yarn- accessories related things until I'm done-done with prior projects, dadgummit! :D

Finished up the second Space Odyssey book. A whole lot of stuff going on in there!

Something I'm noticing about the Space Odyssey books is that the chapter sizes sharply remind me of both a) the way a movie script divides scenes and b) the way Good Omens is separated into days.

It makes sense, since the first movie and book were written concurrently in the mid- to late 60s, and Pratchett began publishing in the early 70s, so (shrug emoji).

Getting better at trying new things with the various sauces and spices we have in the house. My favorite so far is the pumpkin curry that goes very well with poultry. The pumpkin is canned from the regular grocery store, and the curry sauce is from Trader Joe's. The two go well together in roughly equal amounts (alongside of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder/actual garlic; as well as a bit of oil and about 1/4 cup of chicken broth).

On the flip side, I've made a peach sour cream cheesecake which is really interesting to taste, but feels more like a novelty instead of a viable dessert at this point.

Tonight I made cranberry shortbread cookie dough, to cut out and bake tomorrow. Right now, it needs to chill in the fridge overnight.

Well

I started writing the 2001: A Space Odyssey fanfic.

I am... very out of practice with technobabble. Ouch.

DISHWASHER IS ALL SET UP AND READY AND RUNNING

"Watch 2001: A Space Odyssey with me," my husband said

"Oh, okay," I said. "Surely this won't become a new interest for me," I told myself, "where I have hypotheses about it, and end up getting the cheesy 80s sequel movie, all the books, and outline an accursed fanfic for the series over the course of two freakin' months before even finishing the books. Ohhh no, that'll never happen." (/Sarcasm)

The husband thinks this is hilarious, btw