a vintage year for scoundrels

Comment with your favorite color (or a color you really like, if you don't have a favorite) and I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better. Update your journal with the answers to the questions. Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions. (NB I am REALLY BAD at thinking of questions, so this may take a while, but I will get there!)

ladymercury_10 asked me:

( questions that I had long answers for )

In other news, I am still feeling very cheerful about the existence of Fearless Defenders! Obviously there's still plenty of time for it to go HORRIBLY WRONG, but if you're interested in fun comics about diverse women having adventures, this would probably be a good shout. (Not least because I fear it may not be that big a seller, and if it gets cancelled I will be sad, and you wouldn't want that, now, would you? ;D) I am also feeling v. fannish about it, but there doesn't seem to be any fic yet, not even the Warehouse 13 crossover that issue 1 was crying out for. CATER TO MY WHIMS PLEASE, FANDOM.

This post mostly FAO tigerpixie, who was wanted to know how I made my Captain America brooch, so she could make one herself. It was really easy! Here are some instructions, for her and for anyone else who fancies making one.

( under here, with pictures )

And here are some pictures of another geeky thing I made, since I've posted it everywhere else:

( Tree of Gondor handbag )

halfamoon is running at the moment, and it is full of awesome! Two multifandom vid recs first: Tightrope by such_heights and She's A Rebel by kaydeefalls, both of which make me v. happy. Also, the Unpopular Woman Love Post is going again (I am tracking it so my inbox is FLOODED WITH LOVE) and there is a female character friending meme too! \o/

I have some new friends as a result of that last one (yay!) so here is an introduction thing: I am Jenni, I like stuff. When I am not on the internets, I work full time in an academic library, and also I am studying part time for a Masters in Information and Library Management, so if I am not around much from time to time it is probably because I am reading ALL the things. I also like to knit; here is a picture of the last thing I made, one of a pair of cabled handwarmers which I am mostly wearing inside at the moment, because my flat is cold. And here is what I am making at the moment - Knitty's Spoke. Fandom-wise, I moderate amongthedeadmen, a Benny Summerfield community (and if you don't know who Benny is, I recommend getting to know her, especially if you like time travelling archeologists who have adventures), edit soniclipstick on Mondays and edit who_daily every other Friday. I heart vids the most, though I don't know how to make them, and I am going to vidukon this year, which I am VERY excited about. :D Other places where I am: twitter, librarything and ravelry! I am also on tumblr as usuallyhats, but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

And now I am off to look at halfamoon some more. :D

I knitted a squid! I wanted to see if I could recreate the one from the Natural History Museum's knit-a-squid evening, and, well, here she is:
( picture! )

30 days of Who meme, two days today because I missed yesterday:
( Day 26 – Favourite Who Actress )

( Day 10 – A Who-Related Photo That You Took )

( all the days )

- trying to decide what to get in the Big Finish sale! I think it may be IRIS TIME, but Dalek Empire II is also tempting, as I enjoyed the first series much more than I was expecting, and I have nearly bought the New Worlds book bundle so may times now...

- sorting out my tags. I have finished the Dreamwidth ones (see how beautifully they nest!) and am working on the LJ ones. When I have finished they will all be ORGANISED and LOVELY.

- growing food! Well, not successfully yet, but I do have lots of things in various stages of growingness, some actually in the garden (runner beans, possibly dead, oh dear; potatoes, which I actually planted last year and forgot about, but they have reseeded themselves so it's ALL FINE), some on the outside windowsill (french beans that I am planning to plant out this weekend, purple sprouting broccoli seedlings, lettuce seedlings - slightly squashed), some inside (courgette plants, chili seedlings). Also The Parents are bringing me some tomato plants on Thursday, I have grown tomatoes before so am on firmer ground with them. With everything else, I don't know what I am doing and spend a lot of time peering at the back of the seed packets.

- not sleeping properly, i.e. I can't get to sleep at night and then I can't wake up in the morning. FROWN.

- failing at knitting. I started making this cardigan from the latest Knitty pretty much as soon as I saw it. All the time I kept thinking "hmm, is this maybe a bit small?", but then I would think "well, I am a bit small, also, it's lace, it will stretch" and carry on. (*all the knitters reading this shake their heads sadly*) Well, inevitably, it was indeed too small and I had to unravel it and start again. It turns out the unravelling something you've knitted with two strands of yarn held together is rather problematical, as the two strands tend to become inextricably entangled. Grrr! Also I expect that this time it will be too big. *is pessimistic*

1.) Wrote and submitted my pitch for Big Finish's opportunity for new writers thing over the weekend! It is not that great, but I think it follows all their rules, is reasonably in character and is mostly punctuated correctly, so should hopefully not be the cause of too much headdesking. I know a few other people on my flist have sent in pitches too - good luck, everyone!

2.) Last night I picked up a knitting project that I hadn't work on for a couple of months. Within three rows I'd made a huge mistake that needed lots of unpicking to make right. Why you do these things, self?

3.) I listened to the latest Big Finish audio, A Thousand Tiny Wings, over the weekend. It was fantastic. ( spoilers )

4.) QI was great this week! As was The News Quiz, which had two female guests for the second week in a row. Since the chair (the wonderful Sandi Toksvig) is also female , that meant more women's voices than men's, hurray! This may sound like a small thing, but the The News Quiz is about the only thing I can say this of, out of all the things I watch/listen to (except deliberately women-focussed things like Women's Hour, obvs), so... yeah. More like this, please!

1) I made a hat! I have been making it for a while but I finished it today, spurred on by the freezingness of my walk home from work. Here is a not entirely awful picture of it in situ, i.e. on my head:

( actually it is mostly a picture of my camera, tbh )

2.) Have not yet won anything in Big Finish's daily podcast competitions, and I don't know the answer to today's question so the prospects are not good. But they are a great listen anyway and I was pleased to hear that the main range will include the Eighth Doctor again from 2011. Eight is my favourite but I can't afford to subscribe to the separate Eighth Doctor stories and the main range and the Companion Chronicles, so something had to go and I don't like the format of the separate Eight stories, so that was it.

3.) Snow is forecast for tomorrow everywhere in the country but here, which is a little sad, but on the other hand I have some travelling by train to do tomorrow so maybe it's for the best.

4.) LJ are doing a holiday promotion thing whereby paid account holders like me get ten vouchers foor $10 off a paid account to give to basic/plus account holders, thereby giving LJ more money. If anyone would like one, give me a shout in the comments or by PM, or email, and it shall be yours!

5.) Today at work the PGCE Music studios came in and sang carols to us, it was lovely. They do this every year but there were loads of them and they sounded great. I could even hear them when they went down to sing on the floor below. ♥

- Halloween! I went to Croydon at the weekend for Izzy's halloween party; many school people were there, hurrah! I made black fairy cakes, Girid made some incredibly lifelike finger biscuits, we watched Little Shop of Horrors (which I'd never seen before) and much fun was had. The next day, Izzy, Jess, Vanky and I went to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs. And then I missed my train. Whoops!

- I'd got a little out of the habit of watching Doctor Who over the last few weeks, but I made up for it on Wednesday by watching the last two episodes of Invasion of the Dinosaurs (wee rubber dinosaurs! Benton's "bracing myself to be knocked out" expression! ♥) and all of Death to the Daleks (playing spot the things that will reappear, slightly modified, in Blake's 7: I spotted the insignias, a character called Jill Tarrant, and SPACE ARCHERY). ( spoilers ) Last night I started The Monster of Peladon, which I'm enjoying, but then I always love stories with lots of different aliens in them.

- Whilst watching all that, plus Spooks, True Blood and 45 minutes of Adulthood (at which point the disc gave up, grr), I've been working on the top I'm knitting for The Sister. I finished the body (which I think would work on its own quite nicely, too) on Tuesday, and I've nearly finished the collar - assuming that I don't rip it all out and start again. Which would not exactly be uncharacteristic of my knitting style.

- Halloween! I went to Croydon at the weekend for Izzy's halloween party; many school people were there, hurrah! I made black fairy cakes, Girid made some incredibly lifelike finger biscuits, we watched Little Shop of Horrors (which I'd never seen before) and much fun was had. The next day, Izzy, Jess, Vanky and I went to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs. And then I missed my train. Whoops!

- I'd got a little out of the habit of watching Doctor Who over the last few weeks, but I made up for it on Wednesday by watching the last two episodes of Invasion of the Dinosaurs (wee rubber dinosaurs! Benton's "bracing myself to be knocked out" expression! ♥) and all of Death to the Daleks (playing spot the things that will reappear, slightly modified, in Blake's 7: I spotted the insignias, a character called Jill Tarrant, and SPACE ARCHERY). ( spoilers ) Last night I started The Monster of Peladon, which I'm enjoying, but then I always love stories with lots of different aliens in them.

- Whilst watching all that, plus Spooks (ETA that there may be spoilers in the comments!), True Blood and 45 minutes of Adulthood (at which point the disc gave up, grr), I've been working on the top I'm knitting for The Sister. I finished the body (which I think would work on its own quite nicely, too) on Tuesday, and I've nearly finished the collar - assuming that I don't rip it all out and start again. Which would not exactly be uncharacteristic of my knitting style.

What I could be doing this evening: going to a spa with some friends from school. What I am actually doing: working the late shift at the library. Boo! On the other hand, I'm only here til 7.30, I do like my job, and I also like earning more money, so there's that.

Things I want to do at the weekend, which I am writing down here in public in the hope that that'll make me actually get on and do them:

- More tidying! I want to clear out my storeroom (yes, I have a storeroom, it is to make up for the lack of central heating. At the moment this is an acceptable trade-off, but ask me again in a month or two...), I feel like if it was all organised properly I would be able to fit more in there and it would be easier to get at the things I actually need.

- KNITTING! Best way to reduce ridiculously large wool collection = knit it into things, y/y? Especially things for other people. Also I have about four projects that I want to cast on, but feel I shouldn't until I've done a fair bit of my current project. Current project is shaping up to be v. fun; I promised The Sister that I'd try to recreate this top for her. I'm vaguely basing it on this pattern, which I've made before, but there will be lots of modifying and trial and error and stuff. I also have a backlog of Big Finish audios which I must listen to before I am allowed to buy any more, so that should be a good combination.