I'm late! I'm late for a very ¿important? date ...

So, two days late is still better than never, right? I was supposed to do a post on Friday so I could wish everyone a happy World Goth Day! I even brought some of my old goth gear out of retirement for the occasion ... I received multitudes of stares (more than the usual amount just for my purple hair), some of which were clearly disgusted! My town has quite a few prudes, obviously.

I haven't been doing a whole lot of crochet recently ... I've mostly been playing with altered card art ... but I have completed one small project:

Meet Murray!

Isn't he adorable? The original pattern Skull Pincushion is by DIY Geekess, though I used buttons for eyes and crocheted the bottom closed. I have also crocheted a smaller one, called Murray Junior for my son - I'll post a pic once he has eyes.

This fortnight I have continued my book consumption. I partook in the last few hours of Book Depository's flash sale, gathering three new books - A Portrait of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, How to Draw Cartoons and Caricatures by Mark Linley, and Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures.
The latter I have perused with The Chook, to great satisfaction! I adore Wallace and Gromit! How to Draw Cartoons and Caricatures isn't all that exciting, though I have only flicked through it so far.

I have also purchased five more books on Thursday, four from Bookworld, the fifth from Book Depository (once again). From Book Depository I purchased Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures and Forms by Alisa Golden. From Bookworld I purchased The Imaginary World of... by Keri Smith, Subversive Cross Stitch 50 Designs for Your Sassy Side by Julie Jackson, Snail Mail: Celebrating the Art of Handwritten Correspondence by Michelle Mackintosh, and The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins.

It's crazy how quickly books from the UK (Book Depository) have been arriving! Usually when I order books from the UK it takes between two to three weeks to arrive - but the books I mentioned in my last post arrived in 9 working days, the books I mention in the second paragraph of this post took 6 working days - I wonder how long it will take for Making Handmade Books to arrive.

In my previous post I mentioned I was reading God is not Great By Christopher Hitchens. I enjoyed the read, though it was very different to Richard Dawkins The God Delusion. The God Delusion was about proving the claims for the existence of god(s) wrong, whereas God is not Great is about showing how belief in god(s) does not make people better or make the world a better place to live, but in fact makes it worse.

Well, enough about books ... how about movies? I purchased a few new movies, because Target has all Blu-rays half price. I picked up The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (3D), X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D), and The Imitation Game.

I don't own the equipment for 3D movies, but I figured they come with a 2D version, so why not buy the 3D versions - since the half price deal made The Hobbit $2 more and X-Men 50 cents more than the 2D versions.

The only one of these movies I have thus far watched is The Imitation Game. It's the story of Alan Turing, the father of the computers. I had heard of him and this movie didn't present me with many facts that I was unaware of, but it was a compelling and emotional ride. Normally I don't go in for drama - I'm an Action Sci-Fi kind of girl - But it was a film about an important historical figure I really enjoyed learning about ... and having Benedict Cumberbatch playing the lead role didn't hurt! I highly recommend this film to everyone.

TL:DR - I love books and I have purchased lots recently. The film The Imitation Game is amazing!


PsychoScissors out.

So...

On my whiteboard next to my calendar, for Wednesday I had written in that I would post to this blog. Completely forgot until I was getting into bed, thinking 'Oh, well, there is always tomorrow'. I didn't even think about it yesterday, but today I am here - better late than never?

I was having a read of some of my older posts and noticed that I had mentioned my Doctor Who scarf. Completing the scarf is one of my bucket list items! I am nearly halfway through making it. In the older post I mentioned not knowing if I would use single or half-double crochet and if I would make it 8" or 12" wide ... I decided to make it the wide version (it ended up 11.5", close enough) in half-double crochet. To figure out if I could do it without using up all of the hand dyed yellow I crocheted 10 rows and weighed it, divided the weight by 10 to get the weight per row, calculated how many rows I would need to complete the yellow stripes, then multiplied row count by row weight ... LOL. I had plenty!

Speaking of BBC ... I am now obsessed with Sherlock! After avoiding watching it for so long because I knew I would become addicted (just like a few other TV shows I am avoiding ... I have enough obsessions!) I finally borrowed the first season from a friend. As soon as I had finished watching the first episode I jumped online and ordered all three series! A few weeks later I had also purchased a Sherlock jacket and set of mugs from the UK ... I'm screwed!

I need to head off now, I'm helping out with tuck shop at The Chooks school.

PsychoScissors out.

P.S. I forgot about this lame poem I had to write for my poetry unit:

It was an exercise I had to do which required putting 100 words in a container, pulling them out and creating a poem.

Deplorable

You go further than a demiurge,

Amorphous plebeian.

Grand in your prideful ways,

Your intention notorious.

You're a meticulous juggernaut

Of compiled avarice.

Oh, tantalising travesty,

Graffiti with abandon!

You behave like a cloistered cat,

Bedevilled and deluded!

Betwixt the infidel and blade,

An apt finale.

Been A While ...

Not much has happened in the interim. Just the usual - take Chook to school, study some, pick up Chook.

I did recently purchase the Blu-Ray Box Set of Doctor Who Complete Series 1-7 from the UK BBCShop and I am waiting for it to arrive, rather anxiously. I'm starting to worry it might get lost or stolen or be delivered to the wrong house ... but it really hasn't been long enough for it to arrive yet. It has been 9 business days since it was dispatched, I just need to be patient.

On the topic of Blu-Ray, I actually had to go out and buy a Blu-Ray Player ... JUST so I could watch the aforementioned Doctor Who box set. I have even cracked the region restriction, just in case they come as Region 2 only - though according to an email explaining why I could not purchase the 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition from them, they don't sell Region 2 only items to Australians (This is only one of the reasons given in the cut and paste email, the real reason is licensing).

Thinking of parcels apparently summons a delivery person. Just received a parcel with the last ball of yarn I need to start a Doctor Who themed crochet project. I have decide to make my own 4th Doctor scarf! Not some small imitation, a full length (nearly 6 metres) scarf - although I am still tossing up whether I will make it the full width (30cm/12") or a skinnier version (20cm/8"), and whether I will make it in single or half-double crochet. The 'pattern' I am using is for an 8" wide by 15' to 18' long scarf, made in single crochet. I have enough yarn for this version, but getting more yarn isn't hard - it doesn't need to be the same dye lot, as the new yarn wont be worked next to the old. The only issue would be the mustard colour, as I will be hand dying it (couldn't get the right colour from the yarn company). But if I make the scarf to the pattern I will only need a quarter of the ball, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I can hear the school regional athletics final from here. The school next door is hosting it and I can hear it clearly ... they must be blasting the kids ears out! Their PA is nowhere near my house.

Better do some study now.

PsychoScissors out.