"Done Just Right"

This is a picture of an art quilt that will be featured in the 2011 Quilting Arts Calendar. I Love It. So vivid, so warm, so unique... and such happy memories.

little updates

I'm sore. Last Thursday we got a call asking if we would take pre-possession of the house we're buying, and immediately we learned we would close this Wednesday, so we opted for pre-possession, and have been moving all weekend. Lots of heavy lifting of mattresses and box springs and solid wood dressers and tables up the stairs, just Evan and me. Phew. I may not need to exercise for the rest of the summer.

Wedding is done, and it was awesome. Maybe tonight I'll post pics from my family on facebook. There are about 300 so far. Still waiting for the disc from the professional photographer.

I'm trying to get my head back into science mode so I can maybe graduate someday. I know I've got years left in my program, but it's all about getting the work done. I just had a meeting with one of my advisors, and I've got a LOT to do: write a grant, grab some more data and write a paper, learn about establishing and maintaining mouse breeders and colonies for our special genetically modified lines, iron out the best possible experimental design for an upcoming study (include behavioral measures? reduce mouse numbers?), learn a few new lab techniques, use said techniques to finish a study currently underway, begin another study to parallel the current (very large!) study in terms of experimental conditions but with a different means of analysis, and consider adding a study for potential therapeutic application of a new antioxidant agent one of my advisor's contacts has developed, while advising an undergrad and keeping him busy.

I want to huddle in a cozy corner somewhere and knit.

Super cool: grass sculptures

I just came across this link today, and it makes me smile pretty hard. Take a minute and go visit!

13 Most Amazing Grass Sculptures

name changing

I'm getting married in two weeks. (Yikes.) And I'm changing my name to his.

I've also been thinking about changing the name of my shop. I had originally decided on SarahsAmiables to include my identity and to keep my options open as far as what I could sell -- knits, jewelry, handbound books, whatever I felt like making. Still, I find I'm pretty much exclusively selling fiber-related items. And I find I'm still not particularly fond of the name SarahsAmiables. Yes, it's charming and friendly, but it's not descriptive, nor is it super memorable. So I'm thinking of shutting down that name and getting a new one.

My favorite idea right now is WoolheadWorks. I've been listening to an audiobook in which the characters keep calling this one guy "woolheaded," and I can't help thinking that it doesn't sound so bad, being woolheaded. It's funny and playful, and a little pun-ish, given that wool is my most common fiber selection. But just "Woolhead" sounds a little bare, not to mention that there's already a shop by that name. So Woolhead-something. "Designs" and "Studios" sound too lofty for me, but "Crafts" doesn't quite fit. I think I like "Works" for the alliteration, as well as its pragmatic sound; and it still keeps my product options open, moreso than "Knits" would.

So. What do y'all think? Stay with SarahsAmiables? Switch to WoolheadWorks? Something else entirely?

Baby Sweater

Here is my latest listing on Etsy:


A baby sweater I knit, commissioned by my mother, for the daughter of my cousin. (Is there a name for that kind of familial relationship? The daughter of my cousin?)


I used Cascade 220 superwash wool. I bought two skeins, which was clever of me because the sweater took approximately 1.09 skeins. So, grr, I don't have enough in this color for a second sweater. This one was a lot of fun to make. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's pattern from the Knitter's Almanac. I'm thinking about altering the pattern a bit, maybe changing the lace pattern, to see what happens. :)

I've also got a scarf in the works for the RNEST monthly challenge. It's blocking now, so it's almost ready!

wedding dreading

Words becoming synonymous with "wedding:"

work
obstacle
expense
headache
trial/tribulation
time suck
money suck
distraction
complication
inconvenience
affliction
burden

even: deterrent


Evan told me yesterday that he looks forward to the day he could call me his wife. I thought for a moment and replied that I looked forward to the day after I could call him my husband.

Feline Favorites

I have made my first treasury on Etsy! I call it: Feline Favorites.

Speaking of felines, Jude has developed a new endearing but not convenient habit. At some point in the very early morning, generally between 3 and 6 am, he leaps onto the bed, climbs over Evan's head, purring loudly, and paces on my pillow until I wake up. He then settles in the little space between me and the edge of the bed, so I have to spoon him hang on to him lest he fall. Of course I have to pat him, too. Very sweet, but I think I would more fully appreciate the sweetitude 12 hours later.