Happy new year!

A cab driver just told me, Kids these days are ove
r nutritioned, all fat and meaty. Heh.

I don’t know why I had this bright idea to crochet a turtle. If you click on the picture below, you can see her somewhat bigger.

Mel is an outcast among the turtles. For one thing, she’s pink, very un-turtle-like. Second, she has two tails, which makes her a COMPLETE AND UTTER mutant. So she gets a bit lonely and sad at times, spending time all by herself, ostracised by the cool and normal turtle set.

I made Mel in parts, so it’s not very amigurumi (well, it’s more because she has no nose so her eyes can’t be placed below it). I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I guess I managed, sort of. She also has a small bag of aquarium gravel inside her belly, so she can function as a small paperweight.

I did loads of reading on this years ago, so it’s heartening to see that the peace deal between GAM and the Indonesian government has taken steps most would never have dreamed possible a few years ago. Let’s hope it holds.

“Zzzzzzz…”

“Hey, you asleep?”

“… mmm? Hmpf. I was.”

“I was just checking.”

I would have argued that no one could know what to believe once politicians got involved: “Now we know Saddam’s aides weren’t the only ones spinning the truth. It’s hard to know what to believe anymore.” — Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax Set Free

This is beginning to annoy me,

but if I get a phone that can send e-mail, it’ll be okay.

And here we go again.

Terry sent along news of the Needies (I’m fairly certain I’ve read about them before), along with the comment, “I thought of your dolls when I read this.” He was probably thinking of the difference between the Needies and the Twisted Socksters — the Needies are deliberately designed to show jealousy and possessiveness, while the sock dolls inadvertently show my desire to be loved and accepted.

(Though it might be easier to be loved and accepted if I wasn’t freakishly obsessed with sock dolls and amigurumi…)

Heh.

It’s only recently that I was told one of the blokes I know here in Xiamen designed the Zespri spife (the kiwifruit cutting and scooping utensil). I’ve met two of the Haythornthwaite brothers, and I bet the other two are as insanely brilliant as David and Andrew.

There was a little goodbye party held on the sofa here the other day, as Darth Made in China had to be on his way to New Jersey.

He’d been purchased!! I’m happy I’ve sold a sock doll, but I’m also a little sad — one of my creations has left the fold.

I didn’t know I could pose my dolls in a hug. Nice to know it’s possible. I think Darth’s cape made it work, though.

Here we have Jetlito giving Darth the homeboy something or other handshake.

And Titch wants Darth to bite him, just this once. (Darth declined.)

Godspeed, Darth Made in China. I hope China Post and the US Postal Service treat you well and you get to your intended destination safely.

A nice wee pouch to hold my skein(s) of yarn and crochet hook securely, so I don’t have to keep stuffing them in my pocket when we go out so I can craft away from home for coffee. I’ll probably get a cheapie from Yisa, but it’s nice to dream.

Thanks to Kristen and Mark, I now know that Eddie Izzard’s Unrepeatable discusses, in depth, two of my favourite topics: cats and Star Trek. It was hilarious, and just so you know, it’s very hard to crochet when you’re laughing so hard you’re crying.

(My mother’s cats clearly realise the futility of drilling in a flat — they don’t really purr, they stick their bums in your face and also bite you if you don’t respond to their meowing, i.e. you’ve gotta meow back otherwise you’re in trouble, mister, know what’m sayin’?)

Seriously. This is so fiddly.

Baby Savage is a Christmas gift for Georgie and Gary, whose little savage was feeling a bit lonely in his savage garden. I like his crooked smile and lone tooth. I had not intended them to turn out that way with my half-arsed embroidery, but it worked, I think.

… I had a cold and Neil got food poisoning.

Well, this is exciting, isn’t it? I’d be allergic to technology if it was an animal.

Update: the crontab and PHP didn’t get along, which can be fixed, but I can’t be arsed, so… no automated updates. I’m sure you’re heartbroken.

Is it just the service I’m us
ing? Or is it my phone? Inquiring minds want to know.

I’m sitting at the computer, testing the m
oblog.

Meet Nigel. Nigel is my first successful amigurumi thingamajig. I was initially going to make a rabbit following the instructions on Roxycraft, but I got taken with the idea of crocheting amigurumi paperweights — ornaments / softies with a practical use and all that. Nigel is stuffed with polyfill and has a bag of aquarium gravel wedged into his middle to give him a little more density.

Nigel is far from perfect, as I’m only beginning at crochet. The hardest part for me was working in the round, as I’m not very good at paying attention and counting stitches. I used a safety pin to mark the last stitch in a round, and was very rude to Neil as I was always trying to keep track of where I was in the stitch sequence.

The stitches aren’t too uniform, but they’re close enough for my liking and I imagine I’ll get better with practice.