Okay, let's try this again, shall we?

So, now that it's FRIDAY and all, I thought I would try to tell you about saturGEEKday. Not tomorrow, but LAST saturGEEKday. If you are just joining us, allow me to recap: I had a long, masterful post written about part one of my saturGEEKday which vanished into vapor after i posted it. just gone. the title was there, which was weird (or is it wierd? anyone? i know a million things I don't need to know but i can't spell that word consistently.)(seriously, it would be about a million unnecessary things. )(eventually "Jeopardy" will come looking for me.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, the recap: Last Saturday (known round these parts-my apartment where i live, alone-as saturGEEKday) I had a fun, busy, crafty day filled with deconstructing clothing, knitting, a bit of sunshine, fun with my friend, picture taking in public and really really bad sweaters.

So, that brings us to "saturGEEKday Part 1: GEEKing around the house"

I woke up early last Saturday. I hate that. It's Saturday, I don't have to work. It's like my body says "WAIT A MINUTE!!! You have just now hit your necessary amount of sleep, GET UP!!" Whatever happened to the days when the body would say "Nah, you don't need to be up! Sleep is good for you. Sleep some more" and would let you/me sleep until noon? Huh? Where did those carefree easy breezy days go?

(I realize that right now, those of you who are mothers/fathers are probably hating me. who am i, single, childless person that i am to talk like this? sorry. i realize that my idea of an early morning on a saturday doesn't even begin to compare to what you have to go through. leave me alone. it's my story.) (ha)

So anyway, for some reason, when I woke up "early" on saturday, i was really alert. i started cruising around crafster while waiting for my coffee to transform from dry unappealing grounds to the life-giving brew we all love. While cruising craftster, i started thinking that i should get to my list. my list of chores.

Now, at this point you are most likely thinking "you live alone, have no obligations to anyone in your free time and you have a list of chores? what are you, like 10?" (I assume you are thinking that because i assume that like me, and most of the inhabited world, you have watched one too many reruns of "Friends" and have a tendency to talk like that.)

Back to the chores list. (has anyone else noticed that i have a tendency to get MYSELF off topic? it's not just in writing. oh, no, you are getting the whole "Listen to Lori try to tell a story" experience here.)

BACK TO THE CHORES LIST.

I don't know if it is due to my upbringing (German farmer Dad and Mennonite Mom) (wouldn't "Mennonite Mom" be a cool name for a band?) (am I too old to say "cool" and "band" in the same sentence?) and the idea that "free" time only came after all of the work was done, or if it's just the fact that i know that i have a tendency to completely not see the massive bits of yarn and various other fibres (i'm canadian, these spelling things will happen from time to time. it's not consistent) and will completely not think to vacuum if it's not written down somewhere.

Anyway, I was cruising craftster, enjoying that first cup of coffee, and looking at my list, which included "do something with the piles of stuff" meaning the piles of stuff in my bedroom. These piles included a pile of jeans to be given away to Salvation Army or else deconstructed and used to make something, a pile of already felted sweaters that needed to be organized, a pile of t-shirts to be cut up for a rug and a pile of yarn. Yes, a PILE of yarn. So organized.

**ironic sidenote: I am known, at my job, for my compulsive organization. When I started, I reorganized some spreadsheets that I needed to work with and they were all amazed. Somehow, I am compulsively organized at work, but not so much at home. I don't get it either**

So I decided to take on the jeans pile, right about the time that I read a post about a suggestion for a Craftster Challenge about re-using jeans. Then I remembered that I had already cut up one leg of a pair of jeans. So then I dug out my 15mm crochet hook (I have no idea what the letter equivalent is. let's just say "LARGE") and started to make a granny square with the denim.

Now, I don't know if you have tried this before, but "yarn" made from denim jeans that are cut into a continuous strip with the seams still in doesn't really, um, slide, like yarn that we know and love. It is an arm work out. But, the great thing is that 6 rounds produced a 1 foot square granny square!

So, at this point, I sorted through the pile of jeans, picked out a pair of really faded, work out green cotton pants (chinos? who knows what we call these things... comfortable, baggy, sloppy possibly) and, due to the magic of the camera (and the recent thaw in tension between my computer and my camera) I have pictures of the process of turning a pair of pants into "yarn".
Take one pair of faded, baggy green pants

measure and mark your cuts. i made my strips 3/4" wide. then, using a straightedge and a rolling cutter, I make my cuts, leaving about 3/4" uncut at the top edge


Now, it was at this point that the geekyness really sprung up to assert itself. (oh, by the way, in the meantime, while I was working at cutting up these pants, i somehow managed to clean up ALL the piles in my room, clean my bathroom and do my dishes. I don't know how it happened. Some saturdays the whole day goes by and nothing has been accomplished)

I was cutting through the seams with scissors, since my rolling cutter was not hefty enough for the task, and the scissors were hitting a nerve in my hand. I wrapped some fabric through the handles but it kept slipping and was driving me crazy. So, without really thinking about it, these things just happen sometimes, this appeared in my house:


I know. geek.

Anyway, back to the pants:
after the cuts have been made


which made me think of

er... let's move on shall we?

so then i cut across the uncut edge at a slant, which produces a spiral



which gave me this:


and then this



This granny square will be a rug for my bathroom. It feels SO good on the feet, sort of a foot massage. I had to keep a close eye on my friend Cobi when she came over for part 2 of saturGEEKday (coming soon to a blog near you, yes, right here, "saturGEEKday 2: The Cool Kids Hit Value Village". I think I'll do a few more rounds and then it will be finis (yes, CANADIAN, THAT IS RIGHT.) (No, I DO NOT speak French. There seem to be some latent high school French areas in my brain)

In the meantime, in between the cutting and cleaning, and crocheting (alliteration. FUN huh?) i started ANOTHER version of my mom's poncho. You've seen it already. I discovered a huge hole in it while I was at work, I repaired it and installed a lifeline. You know. that one. (I will not be commenting on the number of DIFFERENT types of ponchos/stitch patterns i attempted before settling on this one.) (8)(yes eight)

Here it is, basking in the 2.3 minutes of sun last saturGEEKday:


**to give you an indication of the joy of working with my ancient arthritic computer, I started this post at 10:23pm. It is now 12:05 am. I did not take any breaks. It takes almost a full minute to switch screens. WHEE**

See you tomorrow, when I will attempt to post "saturGEEKday 2". My friend Cobi stars in most of the pictures. She's very excited about her world debut.