Spoiling it

With all the brouhaha with the last Harry Potter book, I've been staying away from the news and much of the internet. I thought I was safe, but I opened up my Publisher's Lunch Deluxe weekly e-mail to find a bold blurb that pretty much answers that "Does Harry live" question. I was so angry because you'd think that an industry publication would be a little more sensitive to all of this. Or did they figure that it was a free-for-all now that the book's leaked out and the cat's out of the bag?

And the kicker? 1 1/2 hours later, somebody from Lunch Weekly e-mails everyone and warns against reading the weekly e-mail if you don't want the ending spoiled. It appears they also believe in "better late than never."

Thanks, Lunch Weekly.

Meet Wonky

This is Wonky, aptly named because he is very wonky. He is supposed to be a sausage dog, and when I sewed his body parts together, Josh said that it looked awful. I knitted him using Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight alpaca and this adorable pattern from Mochimochi Land. The pattern forced me out of the safety of my scarf-knitting limits, making me learn how to knit in the round, which uses a scary amount of needles at one time. It took me quite a while to get used to using four needles at once, but once I figured out how to arrange the needles and work, everything sped along. The body parts actually don't take too long to make; I just procrastinated on stuffing him and sewing the pieces together. And then I procrastinated some more about giving Wonky a face, having this weird misshapen pink hot dog hanging out in my knitting bag. A little creepy actually.



I embroidered his face on this evening and when I was done, I put him on the table for the first time, only to find that he tilts to his left and not all four of his feet touch the table at the same time. I also discovered that I embroidered his eyes on the front of his face, rather than the side like in the original pattern. I'm also rather unsure as to how his ears are of different lengths. Maybe I counted my rows wrong? But it's okay! His flaws are charming and I can say that his head tilt gives him a "quizzical brow," to borrow Elizabeth Bennet's expression. Can you tell I was watching Pride and Prejudice while giving Wonky a face?

I'm already working on a second sausage dog so that I can start linking sausages together. I hope to have at least three soon!

Brooklyn Squirrels

A squirrel decided to scramble all over our screen for a few minutes. Maybe he was confused.

Meet Winston

This is Winston. I made him out of two gloves. He is awesome.

He has a little necktie, as he has learned from his CEO that it's important to dress well so you can be noticed at work. However, Winston is but a lowly production assistant and can't afford any clothes besides the tie. All the better, Winston thinks, because he'll be noticed for sure!

I have nearly zero sewing skillz, but I was guided by this neat book, Sock and Glove and it gives instructions for sixteen charming little projects. And even if you're not an expert crafter, the little wonky flaws make your little softy so much more adorable. At first I didn't think Winston looked so great, but as each day passes, I like him more and more.

The essential wedding day emergency kit

I was in San Jose, CA for ten days for my beloved cousin Jessica's wedding. I was probably there earlier than I had to be, but the airplane ticket was so much cheaper going on Friday after work. Anyways, with me being paranoid, I prepared an emergency kit. It had a nail file, sewing kit, Tide-to-Go pen, and band-aids.

While Jessica was walking around the restaurant in her gown, which had been bustled up, I thought about advice that had been given to me by the Rutgers Bookstore merchandise manager. She told me that if I want a gown with a train, get one that's detachable, rather than one that bustles, as her husband stepped on her dress and broke the bustle so she was dragging her dress around for the rest of the night. And the same thing wound up happening to Jessica, although not to the same extent. One of her bustle hooks ripped and left the bustle all uneven.

So it was off to the bride's changing room to figure out how to fix the bustle hook before the first dance. I'm sure this is very riveting subject matter to those who don't care about weddings. But we couldn't use the sewing kit (from the hotel I stayed at for my last business trip) to fix the hook because it wouldn't hold up the weight of the train, what with our meager sewing skillZ.

There was only one solution: run to my mom, expert seamstress and maker of clothing. Within 2 minutes, my mom fixed Jessica's bustle hook with a length of hotel kit thread and needle. She had me thread the needle 4 times and she did this awesome thing where she braided the thread together and made a thin cord that she then anchored as a loop into Jessica's train, replacing the old bustle hook, and bang! It looked like nothing had happened.

So that just shows you that you shouldn't have a wedding without my mom there. Or just get a wedding gown with a detachable train.

His name is Wellington

I decided months ago that our next pet will be named Wellington. A tribute to two of Josh's likes: beef wellington and Wellington Mara, the former owner of the NY Giants who passed away in 2005.

A couple months ago, we found ourselves with a third cat (in very loose terms), as we haven't taken him in and don't feed him. Wellington actually scared me with his attention to our apartment when I was home alone one weekend. I walked to the kitchen for a drink of water during a freelance assignment proofreading a horror novel that involved a black and white zombie cat. And then there was this black and white cat peering at me through my kitchen window!

But Wellington, as I've taken to calling this stray cat, is around very frequently, despite my not feeding him, and Morty and Eli love rubbing against the window when they see him. Wellie is very polite and hasn't peed on our window, and he's even gotten used to me coming right up to the window to look at his handsome face. I'm a sucker for black and white cats, and a total sucker for pink noses. Morty and Eli have noses that match their coats, but that doesn't mean I love them less.

I also don't know if he's actually a boy, but as someone who made all her stuffed animals male, it's easier this way.

Hanami

As a reward for my dogged efforts to produce a manly feast for the manly men watching the manly NFL Draft, Josh took me to view the cherry blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden as I've never seen a lot of them at once. It was so crowded because of the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival).

After my lost Friday night and Saturday, I expected him to follow through on his promise to take me to view cherry blossoms. I thought it was going to be a romantic outing for the two of us, as spare time is rare for Josh as a teacher, and when he has any, he's usually spending it as he wishes to relax. I'm used to it now, but it doesn't result in fantastic weekends. So when Josh said today that we'd be attending the festival, I was so excited. Before we left, Josh made his weekly call to his parents so they'd know he hadn't died on the job, and to fill them in on our planned visit to the BBG, only to find out that they were already at the cherry blossom festival! Fantastic. My first romantic outing with my boyfriend in goodness only knows how long, and his parents and little brother are also present. They'd already been at the BBG since 10:00, so we figured that they'd be gone by the time we got there at 1:00 (a couple hours away), but they said they'd hang around to see us in person.

We met up with them after making our way to the main tent, where performers displayed various Japanese arts. I avoid those kinds of things because it's usually a lot of gawking by people who remind me of a woman I used to work with who asked me, "What do Chinese people eat for breakfast?" Anyways, as Josh's parents (excluded from my generalization about gawkers, at least, I hope) wanted to stay and watch the performances, so Josh and I were free to roam. I was blown away by how many people were crowding into the gardens, and not so surprised by the number of couples I caught making out in secluded areas (i.e. underneath the branches of a weeping willow). I guess they got the spring (mating season) fever. The clouds even broke after a while, making the visit even better.

In front of the conservatory, we found a large pool inhabited by a few ducks. We were privy to a territory dispute when a third male flew into the pond and the already-present males chased him out with much flapping and splashing of BBG visitors. It lasted about 5 minutes, with the interloper flying away with his feathers ruffled. There was also a wedding reception taking place in the conservatory, and while I was admiring the centerpieces, Josh pointed out that it wasn't a traditional wedding, as the groom and groom were enjoying their first dance. Traditional or not, it was so sweet and made me tear up, while Josh was saying that he'd never seen two men dance together like that in real life.

I also saw some lovely spring green tulips, my favorite tulip (and that's saying a lot as I don't relaly care for tulips). But eventually, we made our way back to the main tent so Josh could talk to his parents and let them know that all was well in his life and they had nothing to fret about in their stereotypically Jewish fashion. If Josh's mother is afraid I'm not feeding her baby properly, he'll be home next weekend for her to fatten up with horse-sized portions of salad and fiber. I tuned out for most of that conversation, and we left soon after that for our apartment and our own dose of Japanese culture, which consisted of several episodes of Bleach. We were in good spirits until Josh started grading American History essays and got frustrated with his students and their lack of ability to construct sentences, let alone cohesive essays.

And that was the end of a weekend that went by far too quickly.