Sue's inane ramblings

Good evening fiends, I hope you've all had lovely weekends.
  
I have been a busy bee and really ought to be in bed, but...  (drum roll) I have just cut the ribbon on my shiny, virgin Etsy shop!  
      
Do you wanna look?  http://www.susief.com
        
So far I've listed a few flower corsages and some sterling silver stitch markers.  I guess now I just have to suck it and see...
  

 

To any kindly f'listers out there, please don't feel the urge to buy something just to be nice.  I'd hate for you to do it out of politeness and in fact I'd like to see what the genuine demand is like...  or if it even exists.  It could be a useful learning curve if nobody buys anything. 
 
However, please feel free to spam others at will with my shop url :-p   (assuming you know anyone who might be in need of posh knitterly tat!)  The prices are in dollars but it's all using paypal so easy to pay in any currency. 
    
So far it's not looking likely to be a very profitable enterprise...  (once I subtract the cost of materials, it works out waaaay below the minimum wage).  This is a regular lament of knitters, but I'm not complaining really...   it is a truth universally acknowledged that a craftsperson in possession of high profit expectations must be in need of a psychotherapist. 
 
For now, as long as it is fun and exciting that will do...  and if it helps to contribute towards my filthy yarn habit then all the better!
 
I have heard on the grapevine that you need to keep listing new things, otherwise you drop way down in the search rankings, so I've held back quite a few items in order to list them gradually over the next few weeks.   I may list a few more tomorrow night...   and when it gets cold I plan to list my spiral cashmere scarf and a couple of neckwarmers.  
   
Yeek!  Fingers crossed!
 

Which of the following wrong things have you ever found yourself secretly fancying? (tick all that apply)

Details please...

Which famous person(s) do you have the slight hots for even though you know you shouldn't?

What feature or attribute is enough to make you fancy someone against all reasonable odds?

What attribute of wrongness could you NEVER fancy, even on an otherwise perfect hottie?

Oh god, I've just remembered that I once found myself freakishly attracted to a man standing next to me in the supermarket who had a mullett AND was wearing a tracksuit. I can only assume I must have been on heat that day, cos really there can be no other reasonable explanation...

Mmmm, speaking of supermarkets, I am super hungry and need to go forage. Hope tomorrow is a less aggravating day...

* my new collective noun for colleages of unsavoury virtue (ref Steer's post... steer.livejournal.com/316556.html#cutid1)

Hello fiends, how are you all doing on this fine, yet chilly, June evening?
   
So...  um, do you wanna see my socks? 
    
What?  No?  Oh come, on...  
   
Tear yourselves away from voting for 5 mins and come look at my socks.   You know you want to really.  They're special magic socks... with yarn that does freakishly clever patterny things all by itself.  And so soft!  And plush on my feet...
 
Unfortunately I can hear sara_lou's voice echoing in my ears from last time at Rosa's saying "why on earth would you want to make socks?"   And, well, the answer is "nnnnnuugh-nnnnngh" (pronounced in the style of a teenager saying "I dunno" when asked anything at all by a parent.)
  
Oh, but I do love them though...  pics here:  http://susiefhandmade.blogspot.com/


 

Hello fiends, how are you doing?  Longish time no post, n'est ce pas?  (Sorry if I have failed to read or comment on any fab posts...)

Much to my dismay, I have returned from belle Paris and am back at horrid old work, which is a v. poor state of affairs. G remains in lovely Paris until 8th June, the lucky boy.   But I shall stop moaning because I did have an utterly delightful little escape. I posted a few pics on FB and flickr (but they're both f'locked so here are a few for anyone who missed them...)

 

On other matters, I'm having a bit of a dither / rethink regarding my blogosphere presence. Any opinions would be v. welcome...
 
I'm debating whether to switch to Blogger for my creative posts (e.g. posts about knitting, art and other crafty things) and keep LJ just for private ramblings and other random ephemera.
 
From what I can see, Blogger is the leading home for 'special interest' blogs, with a strong creative/craft community and a nice, professional-looking sheen for arty blogs.  LJ, on the other hand, seems to be geared up for real friendships, fun and idle banter...  like a cross between a blog and facebook.   (I'm not sure how many people in the outside world ever visit LJ blogs.) 
  
I'm undecided though, for the following reasons:

1. Creating things IS a huge part of my private life so why try to separate it from my personal blog?
2. A lot of my posts are likely to be 'borderline' (could get messy deciding where to post things)
3. It might make more sense to move the whole lot to Blogger rather than flit between places
4. But if I moved I would miss all you lovely LJ'ers...
5. Blogger is a grrr-inducing bastard when it comes to laying out image-heavy posts
6. Is it possible to make LJ look more shiny and feature-rich like Blogger?
7. Why not just post a link to my Blogger posts when I want to share something crafty with LJ friends?
8. What exactly am I trying to achieve? (this links to some scary life questions that I strive to ignore)

Dear fiends, a helpful point to remember...  
  
When a Thai menu has a picture of 2 chillis next to something, what it means is that there will be two whole, seed-filled, red-hot chillis in your personal portion...   whooo hooo hooo.   That took some recovery.   But all in all a delicious meal was just had by moi. 
  
S'funny how Thai menus call salads "Yum"....   (Have sara_lou  and rosamicula  been writing their menus?)
  
Gosh it's quiet on LJ this week, what are you all up to?
  
And on other matters, how long must I wait for a scenario in the workplace where someone says "do you know... XXX?"   cos I really want a chance to say  "Know?  Of course I know!  I am Doctor Fucking No!"
 
(Ok, back in my box....)
 
 

Hello peeps, hope you are all having lovely Sundays.  
 
I'm feeling less grumpy today...  in fact it is G's fake birthday.  (It's really tomorrow but nobody wants to do birthdays on a Monday).  So he opened his pressies at lunchtime and is now playing with his new netbook and wireless headphones.  I was rather miffed to have bought him The Wire Series 2 on DVD only to find that it is now being shown on flipping telly... grrr!
   
We had a good day yesterday....   met up briefly with steer  for some gallery mooching and drinks, and then went for a total yumfest at Zaika.   (We chose their delicious 6-course tasting menus with wine and then had to roll ourselves back home like a pair of over-stuffed gout-ridden Victorian gents).
 
There's a fabulous room in the Tate Modern filled with Soviet propaganda posters (helpful snapshot here http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitfisch/3046445113/sizes/l/).   One poster in particular caught my eye, with the slogan "Women Workers, Trust your Rifles!"  I want to get a print of it so that I can stick it up by my desk at work...
   
Anyhoo, in the spirit of improved cheer, I thought I would post about something completely unrelated that has been making me smile of late.  Namely, the ever-growing link that I am noticing between crafty people and all-round, shocking levels of geekery.  What IS that about?  There must be a reason for the seemingly endless profusion of uber-nerdy knitted fangirl items popping up on ravelry, not to mention the thriving websites dedicated purely to geeky crafts.
 
So I decided it was high time to share a choice selection of such fripperous nerdy nonsense here...   
 

This evening, courtesy of my friend Madeline, I went to a talk at the National Gallery, by Picasso's granddaughter.  It was about his love/hate relationship with the old masters but with a pleasing sprinkling of personal anecdotes.  There were also several Picasso bods there (art slebs!) including Pablo's daughter who was sitting a few seats down from me.
    
What was NOT remotely pleasing was the rude and officious behaviour of the security guards on the door...
     
I've been invited to this memorial lecture for three years running, and the usual deal is that you mill around in the Sainsbury Wing drinking splish before presenting your ticket on the way into the lecture theatre.  So having arranged to meet Madeline inside, I was surprised to be faced with two over-the-top security guards at the door.   (What IS it with the uniform effect?)
 
My exchange went something like this...  

Me:   Hi, um...  can I come in?
Guard:   why do you want to come in?
Me:   I'm here for the event
Guard:   (raising a sceptical eyebrow) And what event would that be?
Me:   The talk...
Guard:   Have you got a ticket?
Me:   Yes, but my friend has them, I was supposed to meet her inside
Guard:   Well then you can't come in.
Me:   But she's already in there...
Guard:   Then she'll have to come out again won't she

And then they watched me standing outside in the rain for 15 minutes, failing to get through to Madeline and leaving voice mails.  
  
Until finally - hoorah!   Madeline came like a knight in armour and unleashed her special brand of scary fury on both security guards.   It was total "Respect mah authoritah!"   A pair of naughty schoolboys being scolded into submission.   Tee hee.  (I stood by gleefully going "yeah! What she said!)  Uncouth as I am, it was all I could do not to mime wanking at them as I breezed past... 

 

My work has just announced the shock news that there is a "feasibilty study" underway to decide whether to relocate the people in my building from the main campus in South Kensington to some ex-BBC premises in Wood Lane.
 
Er....   can somebody please tell them no?  Good grief, I don't want to go to skanky old White City every day...   it's a soulless wasteland devoid of all things attractive and interesting.  I belong in Kensington, darlings, land of museums, cafes, shops, big green parks and direct trains to where I live. 
 
Somebody tell them...



 

First of all...  aarrggghh!!!  Please can someone recommend an anti-wrinkle treatment for around the eyes that actually works?  Please?  I seem to have woken up 20 years older than when I went to bed.
 
And double-arrggghh!  How can it be that I have the worst spot ever on the same day as a dire need for anti-wrinkle cream?  What kind of warped, evil deity would think that this is a reasonable thing to happen to people in their 30s?
 
Oh well, I shall distract myself by moving onto matters of general geekery...
  

Starting with something for knitting geeks and/or elephant fans...
 
I am pleased to announce that Elijah #2 is *finally* finished and all ready to be packaged up for ms_siobhan's mum.  He's virtually indistinguishable from Elijah #1 (except he has a slightly longer trunk and had to have various body parts ripped out and re-knitted from scratch, due to me not paying proper attention!)

Secondly, for yarn geeks (this is even more nerdy than knitting)...
 
Yesterday I mentioned that I had a new nostepinne... but no idea how to use it. Well thanks to the lovely interweb and the power of youtube, I have worked it out.  

 
Finally, something for traditional geeks...
 
I want to make a comment about the Star Trek movie...  
 

Poll #1390844 Temptation
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Faced with such frivolous, frilly, un-credit-crunch-friendly, spatty temptation, what's a girl to do?

Any superfluous suggestions welcome here...

Today I have a quick question about bodily function (apologies) but it is very profound and potentially useful.  (If it works, I could sell it on the internet as a get-thin-quick secret for £9.99 a go).
  
Ok here we go...   I think most people would agree that if you have a coffee or a cigarette first thing in the mornng, it kick-starts your metabolism pretty quickly and makes you want to go to the loo.  Right? 
 
The thing is, I find that I get the same effect when I start to smell the coffee being made... or even just *think* about the coffee  i.e several minutes before I have had my first sip.  I might have been up and about for ages, but it is the expectation of coffee that will suddenly make my metabolism do a little flip and wake up for the day.
 
So here's the plan.  Theoretically...  if I were to envisage imaginary coffees, cigarettes and amphetamines all day long, could I make my metabolism run a bit faster and therefore be thinner with no real physical effort required?
 
On a similar note, I believe that basic brain usage burns up some calories.  After all, just staying alive burns up calories.   BUT... does the brain use up more calories if you think harder?   (Like, if I spent the day doing very hard cryptic crosswords or impossible maths, would that burn up more calories than if I loafed around reading Heat mag?)  
 
You can see where I'm going with this.  Suggestions welcome, especially from anyone who actually knows what they're on about.