I love the bathroom at my RealJob(TM). Well, I love the first stall in the bathroom. The lights are good but not blinding; the first stall is very small. It’s like a blocky gray womb that smells faintly of cleaner and nothing else.

I can sit in the bathroom alone. I’m not forced to answer any calls (although occasionally I do use my cellphone; yes, I’m one of THOSE people); I am not faced with any questions. I can read a book or listen to my mp3 player. Sometimes I’ll spend most or all of my break in there, happy to be behind a locked door. Far away from those that would say “Vox, I know you’re on lunch/break/etc, but I just have one more question…” A good-sized portion of my day is troubleshooting other people’s calls, fixing problems above and beyond those that run down my phone extension. For the most part I don’t mind, really. It makes me feel like I’m helping people, even when it gets a bit demanding.

But behind the door, I can escape the troubleshooting.

Sometimes when lunch comes around I just can’t take it anymore; I rush out the door to my car, drive down to the grocery store, grab something to nosh, drive back to the RealJob(TM) and sit in the parking lot with the windows down. I listen to the wind, and to my mp3 player (on it’s lil stereo speaker), and I eat and drink, and I read, and I relax.

I love my car. It’s driven me away from some truly awful things, and driven me to some absolutely magical things. It also has leather interior; an option that I personally feel the gods invented as a gift to man. I feel no guilt about loving leather — if I could have, I would have followed my Native American blood and eaten the cow and made other crafts out of its parts, too.

I’ve finished up another crocheted quilt square, this one with the “Bear Claw” pattern, and I’m about 85% done with Reno from Final Fantasy 7 — got to finish eyes, hair, and goggles. I’m hoping to have him done for tomorrow’s Finished Object Friday. I’m about 60-70% done with Pyramid Head; I hope to have him finished up for next Friday. The SOMETHINGINCRECIBLYPINK is on it’s way; I’ve found yarn for the hair, so now I need to finish the wings and put it all together.

I scrapped my Halloween plans for the weekend (my costume will keep until next year) and so I intend to spend as many hours as I can sacked out on the couch in my bathrobe crocheting like a fiend.

Tags: Final Fantasy, gonzo, life, pyramid head, reno

Today will be a rather general post, because frankly I’m feeling like I don’t have enough medication today. I had something planned for the day but after 3 hours solid of driving, 2 hours of laundry, enough emotional ups and downs to make an amusement park full of roller-coasters… I just don’t have it in me right now.

Yesterday was a bit more exciting. I think I like Cherrycola Red Heart Yarn. I think I like, MORE THAN like it. I think I’m in love with it. So I’m working on an afghan with it. Only problem is, I only had 3 skeins of it and I needed more like another 15 or so.

So the husband and I went on The Great American Yarn Hunt. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid –

Sorry, I spaced there for a minute and thought I was going to Vegas. We didn’t actually have any of that. But what we had was a rabid desire to find Cherrycola.

We went to:
1 Walmart
2 Michaels
1 Hobby Lobby
1 Joann’s

And at Joann’s we hit the jackpot. Not only did we find Cherrycola… not only did we find 15 skeins of it… it was ON SALE. Usually I don’t like Joann’s because their selection of yarn (at least, the location in my area) is not the most choice, but this time they did right by us.

Now that’s gonzo. *grins*

Also at Joann’s I got a skein of Williamsburg Print (also Red Heart) and 4 skeins of Sensations Rainbow Boucle in Red Print.

Now, working with the Rainbow Boucle, I can tell you that the yarn itself is a dream. It goes along just fine with my trusty I-hook, it’s softer than unicorn farts (which are pretty darn soft, take my word for it) and all in all just a total delight to crochet… UNTIL IT KNOTS.

Because of all the little boucles (I assume that’s what they’re called), it ties itself into little knots due to the terrible friction deep in the heart of a yarn skein. And you have to GENTLY ease them apart or the whole thread just breaks. Luckily I’ve only had this happen once; I have a way with yarn.

Sooooooo… projects for this next week:

Finish up Pyramid Head from Silent Hill
Finish Reno from Final Fantasy 7
Finish up something INCREDIBLYFREAKINGPINK.

Then take some pictures and ship some things out. Oh, and that whole RealJob(tm) thing I’ve got to do until I can buy my own yarn shop.

Tags: bless me yarn art, crochet, Final Fantasy, gonzo, pyramid head, the stash

Welcome to our first Finished Object Friday! I didn’t think I was going to make it, due to some incidents described in my entry for tomorrow. But I have overcome, and now I’m here to present to you whatever I’ve been messing around with for the last unmentionable span of time.

Let’s start with Sephiroth. (Seriously, until I figure out how to make good thumbnails with WordPress, just click on his picture. He really has a top to his head.) Sephiroth, as any good geek will tell you, is one of the villains from Final Fantasy 7 — arguably the main villain, but I digress. A figure of rage and pathos, he came out quite charmingly as a chibi Tribute Doll and I think my client will be pleased with him. I think he looks much like the original game character with that pleasing roundness and childlike quality of the original character designs. He’s sixteen swinging inches of cute evil. There will be a page with more pictures over at A Page A Day, and eventually I’ll give away his pattern on that blog. I would like to work through the other FF7 characters as well; I think they’d be ADORABLE.

I’m also working on a JENOVA PROJECT of my own… you know, in that COPIOUS FREE TIME I have, and everything. *insert mad cackling laughter here*

Ahem.

So let’s move on to Matt; my client tells me he’s from Deathnote but hell if I know. I have *one* Deathnote manga, and no one in it looks terribly interesting (in a visual character sense) except the shinagami. Now THERE’S a doll I’d love to make. Oh, but I don’t need to look in the direction of my manga shelves for more inspiration — it’d only add to the list of “Things Vox Isn’t Allowed To Make (until she finishes her commissions and her current unfinished projects and has the free time and she’ll probably be dead by that point)”.

But I want to talk about THIS doll. Specifically THE VEST.

LOOK AT THIS VEST. Man, it gave me just about the biggest hooker’s block I’ve ever had. The shape of the vest itself was easy enough. But then I got stuck for at least a week or two not knowing how to do the little lighter parts that mimic the lambswool inside of the jacket at the seams.

First I tried with latch hooked fringe. Yeah. It was so short it just came out when you touched it. *shifty eyes* I swear that wasn’t some sort of innuendo. And then I thought, maybe crochet strips and then brush them with a stiff bristle brush or similar to raise some fuzz but man, that’s like bumping the lamp. It’d be a ton of work, and I wouldn’t even know if it’d look right until I was done with it.

So finally I settled on cross stitch (even though you know I hate the needlework), and I feel that at this size ratio it was the best solution. It gives the right look while being sturdy and not so labor intensive that it made me want to commit hari kiri. So perhaps I just shimmied the lamp a bit. I may eventually put elements of his costume up on A Page A Day… even this freaking vest.

And, at last, my first Crocheted Quilt Square, the Snail Trail. Also not an innuendo. Truthfully, I didn’t know quilting had much to snicker at until I started researching it. But isn’t that beautiful? I love the colors, and it worked up pretty quickly. What you’re seeing is the “non-worked” side; the worked side is almost as pretty. I’ll eventually have this pattern up on A Page A Day.

Alrighty, I think I’m all talked-out for the evening. More tomorrow, and a fun new surprise on Sunday.

Tags: deathnote, Final Fantasy, Finished Object Friday, quilt squares, Sephiroth