icarusancalion

And I thought it would take just a month or so.

A year later, part one of the O.A.R. (overly ambitious rug) is finally done: 3 x 5 feet of fluffy, sheepy, thick cream-colored plushness is on the floor, getting stomped on.

It began last Christmas. It was such a little thing, just a cat-sized pad of fluffiness. Now it makes a warm texture accent in the room. You hop off the bed into floof. The pile is about an inch-and-a-half to two inches thick, so your feet really sink in.

I suppose the next 3 x 5 foot section's going to take another year, eh?

Discovered in process:

- Keeping the design simple avoided the attacks of Ugly that infected my past rugs. This rug is not a stand alone work of art but a design element (with added practical warmth for a basement apartment floor).
- Not changing the design midway also helped....
- A monochromatic color scheme is enhanced by a deliberately uneven pile. Good call by designer!mom.
- Technique-wise, I latchhook the reverse of most people, pulling it away from me from beneath the rug. This helps my stamina because I'm not working against gravity (but it gets more difficult in the last few feet when the pile is crowded and I can't see what I'm doing).
- I could buy a rug for the cost in materials (so far $150), but I couldn't get one this thick that's hand-tied. The test for a good rug is to pull on one of the strands -- if it comes out, it won't last. Learning too much about rug quality is like knowing too much about wines. The cheap stuff is ruined for you.
- However, buying yarn online saves mucho dinero.
- Latchhook is mindless and relaxing, a good TV activity.
- Cats like to sleep on rugs while you're working on them, thus adding at least two months to the completion time.

Part two is underway.

I need more yarn.

You know, we're not sure we want this apartment.

- It's too dark. This is Seattle, it's grey, and we need light.

- It's ground floor so we'd have to keep the curtains shut since WG walks around naked all the time, so it would really be dark.

- WG is concerned about noise. The laundry room is right across the hall, and it's ground level, so he's concerned about street level noise as well.

- We both think our friends won't like how dark the place is and wouldn't want to spend time there, which negates one of the points of getting a new place.

It's a nice place, good location, but most apartments in Seattle have a better light situation, and that's important to us.

I think we've decided to call them and say no, we don't want it.

I am so very sick of music in the park. Every weekend. All. Day. Long. Today we've had mediocre jazz.

Six and a half hours of mediocre jazz.

I want to move. This used to be a quiet neighborhood.

( Three things about SGA: The Shrine. )

Yes, very happy with SGA.

I can't decide whether this is awesome, or a new kind of horror inflicted upon the neighbors by the park. The ice cream truck has yet to swing by although we did get rescued by rain yesterday.

This is the weirdest concert yet. I think it would work as the soundtrack to a Conan The Barbarian movie, when some evil priestesses show up.

Creepy. With dissonance. For two days.

I guess the podfic idea is on hold -- there's jazz in the park all day today. I don't want the unintentional soundtrack.

The best part is the fact that there's an ice cream truck driving by at the same time. Ha. If these guys were real jazz musicians they'd incorporate the ice cream truck music into their improv.

Think if I paid the ice cream truck a hundred bucks, he'd circle the jazz concert for the next hour? *g*