The day before yesterday I dreamed I was in the West End- I have this friend here who always wants to travel and for some reason I dreamed she and I had gone there- we were wandering around the West End (which looked less like itself and more like a futuristic shopping mall) and I ran into another friend of mine. We all decided to get dinner and then after that to walk to Oxford Circus to Beard Papa and get cream puffs.
Somewhere on the way I noticed things weren't right- there was supposed to be a bookstore somewhere and it wasn't there and that jarred me out of the dream before we'd made it anywhere near Oxford Circus.
I spent two and a half months living in Italy and I've never dreamed about it. I spent six weeks in England- mostly in London- and I almost can't believe how much I miss it. I miss the Tube. I miss my Oyster Card. A few weeks ago there was some site doing a bookstore review and the place was somewhere in Soho and I kept thinking I must have walked past the store at some point and never noticed it. I keep thinking the Chinese food I had in Brighton was the best I've ever had- even though I know it's a lie.
Ugh.
I picked up Andrew Grant's Even the other day- it's this pretty badass spy novel- that I first found out about on the Tube. They do these massive posters on the walls there about this week's book and David Trevalyon- the spy in the book- gets his life stolen and he's going to get... Even. Pretty Jason Bourne-ish. Turns out there's a sequel out now for it. Picked it up for my Kindle.
And back to the morose stuff. I saw this guy at work the other day- just one of the customers milling about- a doppleganger for Andy. It took my breath away. To some extent things like that make me angry. That there's only so many bone structures or hair and eye combinations amongst all of us. Other times I see something like that and, I mean, of course it's not him reincarnated- the time is all wrong for that, this guy was like, 20 or something- but it's spooky. It made me think of all the things we don't wind up doing or saying. I used to work at this pizza parlor and we'd get free pizzas all the time and I used to take them over to his apartment. I always thought how uncool it would be to tell him how much it meant that he let me in and I never said anything. I kept meaning to make him a pair of gloves and never settled on a pattern and every time I start to think about having cold hands in the winter and making myself just one more pair I remember I never made him any.
Showing posts with label Knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knitting. Show all posts
Friday, August 12, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sherlock 2 John Watson Scarf
I went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 Thursday night and it was great- there was a preview for Sherlock 2 that looked like a lot of fun (technically I'm still more excited about Sherlock season 2 on BBC, but whatever). RDJ looked horrific in drag. Jude Law had an amazing scarf- blue and brown and cream colored.
Sherlock 2 John Watson Scarf
I'm using Vanna's Choice yarn from JoAnn's. It's worsted weight. I'm having to guess at the amount but I bought:
3 skeins Colonial Blue
3 skeins Chocolate
1 skein .....that oatmeal colored yarn with the brown threads in it. I lost the ball band already :(
CO 40 stitches. I did it long tail, but whatever you like.
Oh, right, size 9 needles.
CO 40 stitches in chocolate, then knit, purl, knit, purl all the way across. next row knit the knits, and purl the purls. The scarf will shrink in width but be thicker.
This brown section, make it 16 rows. Then start with the oatmeal color and do 2 rows. Then start up the colonial blue and do that 10 rows. Then the oatmeal again for 2, then go back to the chocolate. Make it as long as you need to and be sure to end with a brown section.
Now that you're done knitting it and ready to go solve some mysteries get out your trusty copy of... (i was going to say Half Blood Prince, but...) Sherlock Holmes Collected. (if you don't have that in some massive edition, go buy one. but until you've got it, use your massive Harry Potter books) Watson's scarf has really big tassels and I've only got one decent-ish picture of them so I have to guess a bit how they're done. Wrap the yarn around the book- all three colors- and cut it when you think you have enough. In the pic I've got that shows the tail of the scarf, it looks like you take two strands of a color together, use a crochet hook to pull them through, then slip the ends through the loop of yarn you pulled through. Pull it tight. That's one tassel. If I squint really hard it looks like the order of colors of tassel are oatmeal, chocolate, then colonial blue. Repeat it across.
It looks like it hits Jude Law at the knee so make it pretty big.
(also, Charles, I saw an ad for Disney's John Carter of Mars, and at the bookstore there was what looked like a movie tie in novel for Solomon Kane, and there's Conan at the end of the year. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?)
Sherlock 2 John Watson Scarf
I'm using Vanna's Choice yarn from JoAnn's. It's worsted weight. I'm having to guess at the amount but I bought:
3 skeins Colonial Blue
3 skeins Chocolate
1 skein .....that oatmeal colored yarn with the brown threads in it. I lost the ball band already :(
CO 40 stitches. I did it long tail, but whatever you like.
Oh, right, size 9 needles.
CO 40 stitches in chocolate, then knit, purl, knit, purl all the way across. next row knit the knits, and purl the purls. The scarf will shrink in width but be thicker.
This brown section, make it 16 rows. Then start with the oatmeal color and do 2 rows. Then start up the colonial blue and do that 10 rows. Then the oatmeal again for 2, then go back to the chocolate. Make it as long as you need to and be sure to end with a brown section.
Now that you're done knitting it and ready to go solve some mysteries get out your trusty copy of... (i was going to say Half Blood Prince, but...) Sherlock Holmes Collected. (if you don't have that in some massive edition, go buy one. but until you've got it, use your massive Harry Potter books) Watson's scarf has really big tassels and I've only got one decent-ish picture of them so I have to guess a bit how they're done. Wrap the yarn around the book- all three colors- and cut it when you think you have enough. In the pic I've got that shows the tail of the scarf, it looks like you take two strands of a color together, use a crochet hook to pull them through, then slip the ends through the loop of yarn you pulled through. Pull it tight. That's one tassel. If I squint really hard it looks like the order of colors of tassel are oatmeal, chocolate, then colonial blue. Repeat it across.
It looks like it hits Jude Law at the knee so make it pretty big.
(also, Charles, I saw an ad for Disney's John Carter of Mars, and at the bookstore there was what looked like a movie tie in novel for Solomon Kane, and there's Conan at the end of the year. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Camp Nanowrimo and crochet armor
Nanowrimo has started a new event that can take place any time of the year. It's called Camp Nanowrimo and it's got a kid's camp sort of theme to it. It's still got all the tracking features, but there's no forums or regions or anything for an ML to do (thank god, honestly- the last two years as ML have been hard).
There's a link to the side if you're interested in looking at it.
I have no idea why but even though my DVR is set to only record new episodes of Ancient Aliens it records ones that are old. But only sometimes. So sometimes I'll come home and there's a new episode, but it's really an old one. Oh well. Sometimes they get confused about actual history in it- I seem to recall some allusion to the crown of Egypt being designed to hide an alien's head- but there's things they bring up that there aren't answers to. Like how the Egyptians built anything when we can't find any of their tools. Or some of the South American monolithic sites that are just preposterously oversized...
I put down Sherlock to read Conan and then wandered off into the horrible sea of trash that is known as Anita Blake. It's so bad in such a... guilt pleasure way. (oh god i can't believe i made that joke) The early evening was so nice I went to sit on the porch and read The Case of the Dancing Men. I didn't quite finish it but the people are dead and Sherlock is hiding behind a door about to capture the main suspect. Sometimes when Sherlock is at his most didactic I just want Professor Snape to show up. Then they could have awesome smart people adventures.
I picked up some kind of spin off Conan novel this morning about a guy named... Anok? I can't wait for the movie to come out. And I keep waiting to get to the story about Sonja- I keep looking at knitting patterns for bikinis and thinking how to modify them with little crochet armor bits into her costume. It's like comics/crochet/fiction madness.
And I accidentally got mom addicted to True Blood. No, not the books. The tv show. "Can we watch it? Are the dvds here yet? What's going to happen to Sookie now?" I'm going straight to hell.
There's a link to the side if you're interested in looking at it.
I have no idea why but even though my DVR is set to only record new episodes of Ancient Aliens it records ones that are old. But only sometimes. So sometimes I'll come home and there's a new episode, but it's really an old one. Oh well. Sometimes they get confused about actual history in it- I seem to recall some allusion to the crown of Egypt being designed to hide an alien's head- but there's things they bring up that there aren't answers to. Like how the Egyptians built anything when we can't find any of their tools. Or some of the South American monolithic sites that are just preposterously oversized...
I put down Sherlock to read Conan and then wandered off into the horrible sea of trash that is known as Anita Blake. It's so bad in such a... guilt pleasure way. (oh god i can't believe i made that joke) The early evening was so nice I went to sit on the porch and read The Case of the Dancing Men. I didn't quite finish it but the people are dead and Sherlock is hiding behind a door about to capture the main suspect. Sometimes when Sherlock is at his most didactic I just want Professor Snape to show up. Then they could have awesome smart people adventures.
I picked up some kind of spin off Conan novel this morning about a guy named... Anok? I can't wait for the movie to come out. And I keep waiting to get to the story about Sonja- I keep looking at knitting patterns for bikinis and thinking how to modify them with little crochet armor bits into her costume. It's like comics/crochet/fiction madness.
And I accidentally got mom addicted to True Blood. No, not the books. The tv show. "Can we watch it? Are the dvds here yet? What's going to happen to Sookie now?" I'm going straight to hell.
Monday, June 6, 2011
(Forced) Bachelorette
I'm not the kind of person that watches things like Bachelorette or Bachelor- it's just blah pukey fake relationship bs. I can't stand it.
But that doesn't stop Mom from loving it to death.
But this new season- the one episode that I've caught while making dinner- one of the guys on here is the most incredibly horrid person ever. His name is Bentley- he can fake cry on command, uses his daughter as an excuse to bail on the Bachelorette, and he keeps telling the cameramen he's only there to promote his buisness and get attention back home. Another girl told the Bachelorette what Bentley's MO was and she confronted him about it and he managed to spin the whole thing that it was his ex-wife's best friend telling lies...
I don't even understand guys. What was the point of all thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifat? The Bachelorette bawled for like ten minutes of what was on air and who knew what that was in real life time. And they kept cutting it with him talking to the cameramen about how annoying she was and how much he was "so over" her tears and how ugly she is.
IN MUCH BETTER NEWS I've been reading the Conan stories like crazy. I found a complete collection for my Kindle. And it's like every story some waifish Princess is throwing herself and her billowing irridescent veils into his arms. It's great.
And I've been looking for a pattern to make a Harry Potter sweater. I think I'm gonna go with the Incredible Custom-fit Raglan Sweater pattern.
But that doesn't stop Mom from loving it to death.
But this new season- the one episode that I've caught while making dinner- one of the guys on here is the most incredibly horrid person ever. His name is Bentley- he can fake cry on command, uses his daughter as an excuse to bail on the Bachelorette, and he keeps telling the cameramen he's only there to promote his buisness and get attention back home. Another girl told the Bachelorette what Bentley's MO was and she confronted him about it and he managed to spin the whole thing that it was his ex-wife's best friend telling lies...
I don't even understand guys. What was the point of all thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifat? The Bachelorette bawled for like ten minutes of what was on air and who knew what that was in real life time. And they kept cutting it with him talking to the cameramen about how annoying she was and how much he was "so over" her tears and how ugly she is.
IN MUCH BETTER NEWS I've been reading the Conan stories like crazy. I found a complete collection for my Kindle. And it's like every story some waifish Princess is throwing herself and her billowing irridescent veils into his arms. It's great.
And I've been looking for a pattern to make a Harry Potter sweater. I think I'm gonna go with the Incredible Custom-fit Raglan Sweater pattern.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Outlander and Sleuth
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Work and School have taken over all my spare time again. And I haven't cooked anything that fancy lately or knitted anything really spectacular (i mean, besides the shipwreck shawl from knitty that I'm in the middle of- I've just got to the beading part and it's making me crazy).
Just kind of blah and busy.
Anyway, now that it's the small little break between spring and summer semester I've been catching up on movies. MovieStop keeps having these four for three sales and I buy terrible movies- I bought some nightmare of a movie called Doomsday that's about a plague in the UK where the government decides to build a huge wall to block off Scotland and the plague. Oh god is it bad. It has a certain amount of punk rock Mad Max thing going on, but god is it horrid.
Outlander was a bit better- space man crashes in the viking times and the space monster he's got in his ship gets loose and then he's got to hunt it down. Honestly I felt bad for the Moorwin- the space monster, more than the vikings.
And now we're watching Sleuth, the remake with Michael Caine and Ewan McGregor. The dialog is so fast and sharp you can tell it was a stage play before it was ever a movie. So far nothing much has happened but I'm riveted.
I'm about half way through the complete Sherlock Holmes and I picked up a complete Conan because I've got one of the books and the new movie looks pretty. My Kindle is wrecking my life. New book, new book, new book.
Just kind of blah and busy.
Anyway, now that it's the small little break between spring and summer semester I've been catching up on movies. MovieStop keeps having these four for three sales and I buy terrible movies- I bought some nightmare of a movie called Doomsday that's about a plague in the UK where the government decides to build a huge wall to block off Scotland and the plague. Oh god is it bad. It has a certain amount of punk rock Mad Max thing going on, but god is it horrid.
Outlander was a bit better- space man crashes in the viking times and the space monster he's got in his ship gets loose and then he's got to hunt it down. Honestly I felt bad for the Moorwin- the space monster, more than the vikings.
And now we're watching Sleuth, the remake with Michael Caine and Ewan McGregor. The dialog is so fast and sharp you can tell it was a stage play before it was ever a movie. So far nothing much has happened but I'm riveted.
I'm about half way through the complete Sherlock Holmes and I picked up a complete Conan because I've got one of the books and the new movie looks pretty. My Kindle is wrecking my life. New book, new book, new book.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
And we're back on air
Thanksgiving through January is the worst time to know someone in retail. I swear I drop off the face of the earth. No hangouts, no movie time (unless it's midnight or something), no phone calls unless I'm at the grocery store.
My family knows this and deals with it. What I feel bad about this year is my other family, the biological one, which I don't think does. I feel like a jerk- I haven't spoken to my sister in a month or so. I called my biological mother for the first time back in early November or October or (OMG I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT DAY D:) and I said I'd come down and visit and I haven't called her back.
And now it's January and work is finally slacking off and I'm getting things together for the new school year and realizing I really, really need to call and explain myself.
1. I did not like this snow business this year. It was cold and wet and it made the roads scary.
2. Next year I'm starting all the Christmas knitting in June.
3. Thank god I have a new novel to work on or I'd go bonkers.
My family knows this and deals with it. What I feel bad about this year is my other family, the biological one, which I don't think does. I feel like a jerk- I haven't spoken to my sister in a month or so. I called my biological mother for the first time back in early November or October or (OMG I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT DAY D:) and I said I'd come down and visit and I haven't called her back.
And now it's January and work is finally slacking off and I'm getting things together for the new school year and realizing I really, really need to call and explain myself.
1. I did not like this snow business this year. It was cold and wet and it made the roads scary.
2. Next year I'm starting all the Christmas knitting in June.
3. Thank god I have a new novel to work on or I'd go bonkers.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Curse of the ADD knitter
Having seen Jean's post about knitting I feel the need to blog about it too.
I have come to realize over the last few weeks of knitting that I am hardcore ADD about it. I have at least ten projects going at the moment, and I sort of move between them depending on what I'm interested in working on at the moment. Give me something I'm inspired with and I'll work on it day and night and get it done in three days.
Give me something I am not so inspired with and it will sit in my knitting crate for a year.
And lately (much to Mom's horror) I have been frogging those uninspiring things. Frogging is where you pull the needles out of the project, then rewind all the yarn out of it, then do something else with the yarn. I used to be afraid of doing that because of all the hardwork I'd put in. Now I'm just like, urg, I can use that yarn on something else. Or I want the needles back.
Which is nice. It saves yarn. And Mom makes this face like :O only so much better. You can tell she wants to take whatever I'm frogging away from me.
Anyway, long story short, I have two shawls going at the moment, a pair of gloves in sock weight yarn (oh god all of those tiny little stitches), a pair of gloves with cables, at least two scarves... And I have a pair of gloves to finish for one of my WriMos.
And then today, knowing all of that, I found a pattern for fingerless gloves where you embroider words on the knuckles and it made me think of one of the sailors in Master and Commander who has "HOLD FAST" tattooed on his knuckles. I go to look at the yarn, see there's some I have in my stash already, but they're in some gloves from two years ago that I have never worn or finished. When I get home those things are getting frogged. Now if I only knew how to embroider so I can do little ships and Here There Be Monsters things all over the rest of the gloves...
I have come to realize over the last few weeks of knitting that I am hardcore ADD about it. I have at least ten projects going at the moment, and I sort of move between them depending on what I'm interested in working on at the moment. Give me something I'm inspired with and I'll work on it day and night and get it done in three days.
Give me something I am not so inspired with and it will sit in my knitting crate for a year.
And lately (much to Mom's horror) I have been frogging those uninspiring things. Frogging is where you pull the needles out of the project, then rewind all the yarn out of it, then do something else with the yarn. I used to be afraid of doing that because of all the hardwork I'd put in. Now I'm just like, urg, I can use that yarn on something else. Or I want the needles back.
Which is nice. It saves yarn. And Mom makes this face like :O only so much better. You can tell she wants to take whatever I'm frogging away from me.
Anyway, long story short, I have two shawls going at the moment, a pair of gloves in sock weight yarn (oh god all of those tiny little stitches), a pair of gloves with cables, at least two scarves... And I have a pair of gloves to finish for one of my WriMos.
And then today, knowing all of that, I found a pattern for fingerless gloves where you embroider words on the knuckles and it made me think of one of the sailors in Master and Commander who has "HOLD FAST" tattooed on his knuckles. I go to look at the yarn, see there's some I have in my stash already, but they're in some gloves from two years ago that I have never worn or finished. When I get home those things are getting frogged. Now if I only knew how to embroider so I can do little ships and Here There Be Monsters things all over the rest of the gloves...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Ennui
Sorry blog, haven't been able to think of anything to write about so it's been a slow month.
I did this big knitting project the other way and misread the directions (which weren't that clear) and two days worth of work is all wrong. Mom made a scene while I unwound the knitting so I could redo it- it was like I was painting over the Mona Lisa.
Haven't done any Christmas shopping, though two knitting projects are done. Two more to do, I think. Or three. I should probably make a list tomorrow.
Made up a character to play in my friend's Blue Rose game. Blue Rose is called Romantic Fantasy- I'm not fond of that name, but whatever- it's the difference between most Dungeons and Dragons games and most fantasy novels written in the last twenty years. More abandoned moonlit temples and court intrigue than undead vikings coming over the mountain to kidnap the mayor's daughter. Drew my character on the back of my sheet- it's amazing how well I can draw for someone who can't actually draw.
Saw Ninja Assassin and The Princess and the Frog. I don't know if my childhood memories of Disney are just rosy colored from that age- I don't watch Disney anymore- but when I heard that Princess and the Frog was the best since Lion King I was a little excited about seeing it. Went and saw it with Amie and Joel and I don't know what reviewer made that comparison or what they were on at the time, but they're not even in the same league. I can think of songs from Lion King (The Circle of Life, Can you feel the love tonight, Hakuna Matata) or Aladdin (A Whole New World) or The Little Mermaid (Part of Your World)- I can't recall any songs from Princess and the Frog besides "Almost There" and I've got nothing other than the title. I guess it was ok. I don't know. It was pretty. It wasn't Miyazaki.
(On that note, Ponyo rocked my face off. And now I really want to go watch Spirited Away again.)
However, Ninja Assassin was everything it promised- fifteen gallons of blood in the human body and it's all under high pressure and the ninjas have lots of sharp pointy things. It had a neat story too- though I think I thought it'd be a bit more since I saw JMS in the credits. There was a lot of back flipping, too. And the ninja hero guy spends a lot of time working out in his apartment in sleep pants.
I had a weird thought at the used book store the other day. I was over at Book Nook since some friends live near there, and I wanted to see if they had something I couldn't find at Book Exchange and I realized there's some things you just can't find. Oddly enough, there's about eighty something Outlanders books by James Axler and at least that many Deathlands books- you're lucky if there's more than five in a used book store. Where do they go? I have no idea. I never see them anywhere. However, there's usually at least one Zecheria Sitchin book and so far I've managed to collect nearly the whole series from Book Exchange alone. And I realized no matter what used book store I go to I pretty much always find something really interesting sounding that is book three in a five book series- and you are never ever going to see the other four books. It's like they don't exist. There's something called the Silver Thorn or Silver Throne series written by someone with a last name that starts with "Mc" and I see it every used book store I go to, and it's never the first one.
I did this big knitting project the other way and misread the directions (which weren't that clear) and two days worth of work is all wrong. Mom made a scene while I unwound the knitting so I could redo it- it was like I was painting over the Mona Lisa.
Haven't done any Christmas shopping, though two knitting projects are done. Two more to do, I think. Or three. I should probably make a list tomorrow.
Made up a character to play in my friend's Blue Rose game. Blue Rose is called Romantic Fantasy- I'm not fond of that name, but whatever- it's the difference between most Dungeons and Dragons games and most fantasy novels written in the last twenty years. More abandoned moonlit temples and court intrigue than undead vikings coming over the mountain to kidnap the mayor's daughter. Drew my character on the back of my sheet- it's amazing how well I can draw for someone who can't actually draw.
Saw Ninja Assassin and The Princess and the Frog. I don't know if my childhood memories of Disney are just rosy colored from that age- I don't watch Disney anymore- but when I heard that Princess and the Frog was the best since Lion King I was a little excited about seeing it. Went and saw it with Amie and Joel and I don't know what reviewer made that comparison or what they were on at the time, but they're not even in the same league. I can think of songs from Lion King (The Circle of Life, Can you feel the love tonight, Hakuna Matata) or Aladdin (A Whole New World) or The Little Mermaid (Part of Your World)- I can't recall any songs from Princess and the Frog besides "Almost There" and I've got nothing other than the title. I guess it was ok. I don't know. It was pretty. It wasn't Miyazaki.
(On that note, Ponyo rocked my face off. And now I really want to go watch Spirited Away again.)
However, Ninja Assassin was everything it promised- fifteen gallons of blood in the human body and it's all under high pressure and the ninjas have lots of sharp pointy things. It had a neat story too- though I think I thought it'd be a bit more since I saw JMS in the credits. There was a lot of back flipping, too. And the ninja hero guy spends a lot of time working out in his apartment in sleep pants.
I had a weird thought at the used book store the other day. I was over at Book Nook since some friends live near there, and I wanted to see if they had something I couldn't find at Book Exchange and I realized there's some things you just can't find. Oddly enough, there's about eighty something Outlanders books by James Axler and at least that many Deathlands books- you're lucky if there's more than five in a used book store. Where do they go? I have no idea. I never see them anywhere. However, there's usually at least one Zecheria Sitchin book and so far I've managed to collect nearly the whole series from Book Exchange alone. And I realized no matter what used book store I go to I pretty much always find something really interesting sounding that is book three in a five book series- and you are never ever going to see the other four books. It's like they don't exist. There's something called the Silver Thorn or Silver Throne series written by someone with a last name that starts with "Mc" and I see it every used book store I go to, and it's never the first one.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Cobb County Library Book Sale
This is probably going to be the last big booksale of the season... Kevin and I got up really early and went to wait in the cold for the doors to open, then rushed around looking for things from 9am til 1pm. Found a few grocery bags worth of stuff, some records. The records selection was practically all Vivaldi this year, just crates and crates of it, no big band.
Well, having Kevin along was great because he's big enough to fight his way in amongst all the grannies at the craft table (I'm too scared to start pushing) and he came out with a few knitting books for me. The first was like, 80's colorwork for children (SCARY) and the second was... Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting, which is one of my favorite knitting books of all time. I never thought I'd get a copy since it's price is usually somewhere between 200-300 dollars but this was ONE FREAKING DOLLAR!!
Other than that I got a Cole Porter bio, a few really old Horatio Hornblower books, a comlete set of Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars, a couple of good history textbooks, some King Arthur fiction. One of the records is "Monster Concert" which has like, 20 pianos and sixteen players- it has to be cool.
And, not adding in the real value of the Alice Starmore book, I bought $445 worth of books for $26. Best of the season so far.
ALSO DO NOT TAKE KIDS TO WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. IT'S MADE OF AWESOME AND NIGHTMARE FUEL.
Well, having Kevin along was great because he's big enough to fight his way in amongst all the grannies at the craft table (I'm too scared to start pushing) and he came out with a few knitting books for me. The first was like, 80's colorwork for children (SCARY) and the second was... Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting, which is one of my favorite knitting books of all time. I never thought I'd get a copy since it's price is usually somewhere between 200-300 dollars but this was ONE FREAKING DOLLAR!!
Other than that I got a Cole Porter bio, a few really old Horatio Hornblower books, a comlete set of Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars, a couple of good history textbooks, some King Arthur fiction. One of the records is "Monster Concert" which has like, 20 pianos and sixteen players- it has to be cool.
And, not adding in the real value of the Alice Starmore book, I bought $445 worth of books for $26. Best of the season so far.
ALSO DO NOT TAKE KIDS TO WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. IT'S MADE OF AWESOME AND NIGHTMARE FUEL.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Knitting Terminology
That is a kimono. The huge belt around the middle is an obi.
So, I'm teaching a friend to knit and she's asking me about some yarn she got that came without labels and how to find out what it is, but what she really says is, both skeins "had their obi removed".
I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING.
Friday, July 3, 2009
So...
I found this really fantastic shawl at the Thrift Store. Like, really, really fantastic. It's purple and soft and knit with boa feathers in some places, and it has tassels.
AND SOMEONE HAND KNIT IT- AND WHOEVER IT WAS HAND KNIT FOR, THEY DROPPED IT OFF AT THE THRIFT STORE.
*sigh* I mean, before I took up knitting I'd never have been able to tell the difference between machine knit and hand knit, and I'd never have thought anything about seeing something hand knit at the thrift store. But now I'm like "do you have any idea how long it took to knit that? how much it cost? do you have any idea how much someone cared about you to make it?". Of course, the person who dropped it off can't hear me- but I wish they could.
Oh well. It's *mine* now. ^_^
I was going through these Alice Starmore knitting books- they're like knitting sudoku in russian with a blindfold- brilliant, beautiful patterns but Alice even admits to how insane they are... There's a quote near this one shawl pattern about how "some of my cable patterns are too big for sweaters" so you need to make something larger than a sweater to hold the whole cable design- and this shawl is the size of a small blanket. I really want to do the shawl but you need a mountain of yarn for it. But look at this thing- it's art.
The Harry Potter scarf I'm working on is coming along pretty well. It's... about half done, I guess, but it doesn't seem like it's as long as it needs to be. Because it's circular it's almost half an inch thick- I'm not going to die of hypothermia this winter. ^_^ I should have some left over yarn from the project, so I might do a pair of gloves to match, or just add more stripes until I think the scarf is the right length.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
It's Been Weird
Sorry for the long break, things have been a bit crazy.
Started my second summer class which is a snore-fest. It's a history class where we spend most of the time discussing where commas go and "coordinate adjectives".
Began working on a Harry Potter scarf. You know, just in time for hellish summer temperatures and the movie. ^_^
Built an epic lego castle- which isn't epic in a huge, or turrets sort of way, but wins in sheer fury and creative use of clear red 1x1s as blood. (KSU did something wrong with my financial aid that day)
There's this study abroad next summer to London out of Valdosta State and I'm seriously planning on going. It's six weeks and there's a class on Shakespeare and another on London as a Setting in Novels (seriously, that's the class name)- think I'll get an extension on the ticket and stay an extra week or two so I can go to Cardiff and do all the stuff I couldn't do in the two days when I was there last fall. I just spent the last two hours reading stuff for class and babbling in IRC to my friend in London (who's asleep) about all the stuff I want to see/do.
(narg. it's still bugging me. i mean, i write stuff, and i never think to myself, "gosh, i'll put the coordinate adjective here." who names these things?)
London. London. London. It's going to be awesome. Did you know I only took about three pics while I was there? Remember when I dislocated my knee in Florence? That was about two or three weeks before London so I was hobbling around by myself on these crutches and it was like a bad comedy putting a crutch aside without dropping it to get in my bag and get the camera out and take a shot. I think there's one of a "do not put your bike here" type sign in the brownstone-y type part of town I was in, the Gloucester Street Station of the Tube, and me at Platform 9 3/4. The hostel I stayed in, the first night I got there, it was about 4AM when I wandered in and when I got up to my room there were like, six bunk beds and the only bed open was on the top of one, and everyone else is asleep and I couldn't even switch the light on while I hauled myself up the ladder with the bum knee. In hindsight it's insanely funny.
Somehow international travel is much funnier than local travel. I can't think of anything particularly funny about this last trip to Florida, back in May. But I think of Italy and there's the night where we were so punch drunk happy to be heading home from Pisa that we danced in the train. Or the demonic killer cherubs painted on the wall of the hotel room in Pompeii. Or my bum knee and climbing up a bunk bed at 4AM. Or this really nice older lady I met on the Tube while I was heading to Kings Cross and she asked me what else I was going to be seeing in England and I said I wanted to go to Wales and see Cardiff and she got so angry with me she started yelling in the train and I thought she was going to punch me. (Wales is like the boonies to people in London) And she wanted to know if London wasn't good enough for me? Couldn't I just go see Oxford instead- Or was I too good for Oxford?!
Heh. Travel. It's awesome.
Started my second summer class which is a snore-fest. It's a history class where we spend most of the time discussing where commas go and "coordinate adjectives".
Began working on a Harry Potter scarf. You know, just in time for hellish summer temperatures and the movie. ^_^
Built an epic lego castle- which isn't epic in a huge, or turrets sort of way, but wins in sheer fury and creative use of clear red 1x1s as blood. (KSU did something wrong with my financial aid that day)
There's this study abroad next summer to London out of Valdosta State and I'm seriously planning on going. It's six weeks and there's a class on Shakespeare and another on London as a Setting in Novels (seriously, that's the class name)- think I'll get an extension on the ticket and stay an extra week or two so I can go to Cardiff and do all the stuff I couldn't do in the two days when I was there last fall. I just spent the last two hours reading stuff for class and babbling in IRC to my friend in London (who's asleep) about all the stuff I want to see/do.
(narg. it's still bugging me. i mean, i write stuff, and i never think to myself, "gosh, i'll put the coordinate adjective here." who names these things?)
London. London. London. It's going to be awesome. Did you know I only took about three pics while I was there? Remember when I dislocated my knee in Florence? That was about two or three weeks before London so I was hobbling around by myself on these crutches and it was like a bad comedy putting a crutch aside without dropping it to get in my bag and get the camera out and take a shot. I think there's one of a "do not put your bike here" type sign in the brownstone-y type part of town I was in, the Gloucester Street Station of the Tube, and me at Platform 9 3/4. The hostel I stayed in, the first night I got there, it was about 4AM when I wandered in and when I got up to my room there were like, six bunk beds and the only bed open was on the top of one, and everyone else is asleep and I couldn't even switch the light on while I hauled myself up the ladder with the bum knee. In hindsight it's insanely funny.
Somehow international travel is much funnier than local travel. I can't think of anything particularly funny about this last trip to Florida, back in May. But I think of Italy and there's the night where we were so punch drunk happy to be heading home from Pisa that we danced in the train. Or the demonic killer cherubs painted on the wall of the hotel room in Pompeii. Or my bum knee and climbing up a bunk bed at 4AM. Or this really nice older lady I met on the Tube while I was heading to Kings Cross and she asked me what else I was going to be seeing in England and I said I wanted to go to Wales and see Cardiff and she got so angry with me she started yelling in the train and I thought she was going to punch me. (Wales is like the boonies to people in London) And she wanted to know if London wasn't good enough for me? Couldn't I just go see Oxford instead- Or was I too good for Oxford?!
Heh. Travel. It's awesome.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
All things not being entirely equal
I'm taking a MayMester class on Gender and Women's Studies. Right now we're still back in the Women's Suffrage movement era learning about the struggle to get the vote, but today we watched a film called "Killing Me Softy 3" which shows a lot of magazine adverts on how women are sexualized to sell things. To go along with the film we had to bring in a magazine so we could analyze adverts ourselves.
With a choice between Torchwood Magazine and Knit.1, I went with Knit.1. (the Torchwood Mag only has ads for Lost Mag, and Supernatural Mag anyway...)
And after the film I had a chance to flip through Knit.1 with an idea of what we were looking for... And was actually really impressed. Especially since Vogue runs it, and after a movie worth of scrawny models half dressed, Knit.1 was really refreshing.
There's young ladies, old ladies, blonds, brunettes, a college girl in pj pants, some guy from SNL, a guy designer in a clothing warehouse/design shop, a guy in a tie, guys in hats; you get the picture. There's everyone.
And that world famous model pose, with the girl in a chair sprawled with her legs spread? That's actually a guy in this magazine. And it's more sensual than sexualized.
So, anyway, long story of analyzing magazines short, there's obviously guys in the knitting magazine. Modeling stuff. But they're also in there as designers or talking about themselves knitting. The guy from SNL knits. Two of the knitting blogs I like to here go to guy's blogs. Then there's this article. I know two guy knitters on IRC, and one of them is teaching me to spin.
So, we're in class learning about equality and objectification and rights and my female classmate leans over my shoulder to look at my knitting magazine and scoffs. And I'm like 'what' and she's like 'they're knitting'. In the sort of tone where you'd say 'they're eating. WITH THEIR FINGERS!'. And I'm like 'so?' and she says guys shouldn't knit, or guys don't knit, or something equally insane. Clearly they do. And she says she knows, because she saw a guy on campus knitting the other day and she laughed at him.
Part of me is like THERE'S A GUY KNITTER ON CAMPUS?! and the other part is like aren't we in equality class? Aren't we all equal? I forgot how men knitting is a sign of the apocalypse and madness... I know sexism goes both ways, but part of me really really wants to stand up for the rights of guy knitters. Not that John Brinegar really needs me to fight his fights for him, he's kinda big and grrr looking.
With a choice between Torchwood Magazine and Knit.1, I went with Knit.1. (the Torchwood Mag only has ads for Lost Mag, and Supernatural Mag anyway...)
And after the film I had a chance to flip through Knit.1 with an idea of what we were looking for... And was actually really impressed. Especially since Vogue runs it, and after a movie worth of scrawny models half dressed, Knit.1 was really refreshing.
There's young ladies, old ladies, blonds, brunettes, a college girl in pj pants, some guy from SNL, a guy designer in a clothing warehouse/design shop, a guy in a tie, guys in hats; you get the picture. There's everyone.
And that world famous model pose, with the girl in a chair sprawled with her legs spread? That's actually a guy in this magazine. And it's more sensual than sexualized.
So, anyway, long story of analyzing magazines short, there's obviously guys in the knitting magazine. Modeling stuff. But they're also in there as designers or talking about themselves knitting. The guy from SNL knits. Two of the knitting blogs I like to here go to guy's blogs. Then there's this article. I know two guy knitters on IRC, and one of them is teaching me to spin.
So, we're in class learning about equality and objectification and rights and my female classmate leans over my shoulder to look at my knitting magazine and scoffs. And I'm like 'what' and she's like 'they're knitting'. In the sort of tone where you'd say 'they're eating. WITH THEIR FINGERS!'. And I'm like 'so?' and she says guys shouldn't knit, or guys don't knit, or something equally insane. Clearly they do. And she says she knows, because she saw a guy on campus knitting the other day and she laughed at him.
Part of me is like THERE'S A GUY KNITTER ON CAMPUS?! and the other part is like aren't we in equality class? Aren't we all equal? I forgot how men knitting is a sign of the apocalypse and madness... I know sexism goes both ways, but part of me really really wants to stand up for the rights of guy knitters. Not that John Brinegar really needs me to fight his fights for him, he's kinda big and grrr looking.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
My Knitting Birthday
Sometime in April last year was when I started knitting. I can sort of pinpoint the date because the November before I met this super awesome girl and her boyfriend at a Nanowrimo event. Or it might have been the year before's Nano, but we didn't really get to be friends until the 2007 Nano. Her name was Amanda, her boyfriend was Owen. We all sat around at WriteIns talking about our books or his plays, and eventually I was like you guys have to come over and watch Torchwood or Doctor Who or Garth Marenghi's Dark Place- whatever it was, they did and we all started hanging out here and while we'd watch TV Amanda would knit, and I'd ask what she was working on, and she'd offer to teach me, and I'd say, nah, I'm good.
And then they got engaged and he got a job in Chicago and in March she was gone. And as soon as she was gone, I was like, actually, I do want to knit.
That's Amanda and Me at my birthday party, which is why I'm so tarted up.
So, April comes and I... don't actually remember how I learned to knit. I think I looked at some sites on the internet, or checked a book out of the library, and wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into, so I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff and find out I didn't like knitting, so I posted a want ad on FreeCycle for knitting... anything. And someone behind the Marietta Square was like, I have a bag of yarn you could take, and someone near Roswell behind Sandy Plains was like, I have some needles.
I go to the Square, pull up at their house, and I'm looking for the bag, only all I see is this hugenormous yard bag- like for fall leaves, and I'm like, no way is that my bag. Only I peek in the top and it is. It's so much bag-of-yarn that I have to lay it down in the backseat because it won't fit in the trunk. And over in Roswell there's a freezer bag of needles- mismatched dual points, cables, circulars, straight. Enough needles that for a while I had about five matching sets in each size.
So, I start learning to knit from a book or whatever, and it just all constantly goes wrong. Casting on is a nightmare and everything I try knitting just gets wider instead of going straight up like it should...
Which is where I get to my first teacher, my best friend Kevin's Mom, who's from Germany and knits really fast, so at first you're always like "wait, how did you do that?". She showed me how to do a long tail single hand cast on, which is so easy- and what I was doing wrong- the book wasn't clear about what happens at the end of the row, so I kept adding a stitch. So, she sets me straight on what I'm doing and I'm so excited about being able to knit without the thing getting wider that I just start knitting a four or five stitch wide scarf and it's about ten feet long before I realize I don't know how you finish it.
Anyway, around this time Mom has to go to some doctor appointment down at Perimeter so I go with her because there's a knitting store there, and it's really the first place I've ever been to for yarn besides seeing it at JoAnn's or where-ever. We go to Strings and Strands which has so much yarn stacked up you sort of feel as soon as you open the door it's all falling in on you. I find a couple of nice skeins there, and ask what I do to get the scarf off the needles, and she's like it's called a bind off, and this is how you do it. And then I'm able to get the long thin scarf done and move on to something else.
I do a scarf with two colors all at once, a pair of armwarmers in July which I was so proud of I actually wore them right then, and Kevin's Mom shows me how dual point needles work, and I start a pair of gloves.
And you know what pattern I used for those? I didn't. I totally made that up in my head, based off what I learned from Kevin's Mom. I mean, yeah, they're totally shapeless and not formfitting, but I made that up. I didn't know anything about increases and decreases then or cables or anything.
So, I go to Italy which is where really nice wool comes from but no one knits there and I was living in what might have been the only city in all of Italy to have a place that sold yarn and needles. You hiked out of the town, down a hill, turned down a neighborhood street, and next to a Laundromat there was a store that was sometimes open and it sold buttons and pantyhose and beads and they had about twenty skeins of wool there and a few boxes of needles.
I finished those handwarmers the same day I dislocated my knee in Florence. So at least my hands were warm while I huddled miserably in the Florence McDonalds while everyone else went and saw the museums and I had to wait for the bus home so I could lay in our flat's front room and watch Doctor Who on my laptop all weekend.
The only other place to get yarn there was the weekly market- I still have some of it, and boy is it loud. And strange.
I got home and hadn't really gained any new knitting knowledge since I'd learned to use dual points. But while I was in Italy I'd fallen in love with Anticraft's Swamp Witch pattern, and I'd never done a pattern before. I decided not to buy the yarn for it until I had a job, and so it wasn't until late November, mid December that I finally got all the things I needed. Started the project, was super proud of it, took it up to my Uncle's, got done with it and started putting the tassels on. Which is where it all went terribly awry.
I'd screwed up counting the pattern somewhere and one side was about six inches wider and I didn't have enough tassels for it. And Mom was convinced that even though I couldn't finish it and it was lopsided and lacking tassels it was the greatest. thing. ever. Which only made it worse, because... well. I mean, it's broken. I didn't have more tassels. I had to hide it in the garage to get her to stop talking about it.
And it wasn't for... Oh, four or five months before I took it out, used something else for the tassels, and wore it. And everyone was like OMG THIS IS GREAT WHERE DID YOU BUY IT. Which is sort of a riot. One of the guys in my History class was talking to me about it and I admitted the screw up and he was like *rolls eyes* oh, well, I noticed that, I just didn't want to embarrass you in front of everyone by pointing it out. And then everyone at our table laughed.
That's sort of an extreme close up of when I started it.
And somewhere around that time I learned to cable, too, which is so much easier than it looks.
The funny thing is how many guys are interested in knitting. I mean, yeah, knitting. I've met guy knitters, but this time I mean like, oh hey what are you doing? that's neat looking, kind of stuff. I was working on this pink and brown shawl in class during a movie and the guys at my table kept reaching over to sort of pet the fabric. At the end of class they were all asking if I was going to put tassels on it, and maybe they should be bright red, and shaped like this...
That's the shawl. No, it doesn't have red tassels. But then again JoAnn's ran out of the yarn and can't get more at the moment so I'm kind of screwed until I get more.
And here's a hat I made.
And in that year of knitting I've had a bunch of teachers. Kevin's Mom. Jean. The nice lady at Strings and Strands. People at The Whole Nine Yards. And I actually taught people how to knit, too, which is the most astounding to me. Kayla, while we were in Italy, Mom when I got back. I've even gotten to the point where I'm planning knitted Christmas presents this year, and some for birthdays, too.
One of the other things that gets me as a history student is the strange and mysterious history of knitting. Egyptians knitted, only it was more like advanced knot tying. No one is entirely certain where knitting came from, other than probably the Mediterranean, since it's found in every place that had a port that shipped to, from, or through there. It's even in the Bible- the part about the soldiers dicing for Jesus' seamless garment. I always kind of thought that was a metaphor- that Mary was so badass she could sew something without seams, but it's actually dual point knitting.
Basically I am super happy to be a knitter.
And then they got engaged and he got a job in Chicago and in March she was gone. And as soon as she was gone, I was like, actually, I do want to knit.
That's Amanda and Me at my birthday party, which is why I'm so tarted up.
So, April comes and I... don't actually remember how I learned to knit. I think I looked at some sites on the internet, or checked a book out of the library, and wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into, so I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff and find out I didn't like knitting, so I posted a want ad on FreeCycle for knitting... anything. And someone behind the Marietta Square was like, I have a bag of yarn you could take, and someone near Roswell behind Sandy Plains was like, I have some needles.
I go to the Square, pull up at their house, and I'm looking for the bag, only all I see is this hugenormous yard bag- like for fall leaves, and I'm like, no way is that my bag. Only I peek in the top and it is. It's so much bag-of-yarn that I have to lay it down in the backseat because it won't fit in the trunk. And over in Roswell there's a freezer bag of needles- mismatched dual points, cables, circulars, straight. Enough needles that for a while I had about five matching sets in each size.
So, I start learning to knit from a book or whatever, and it just all constantly goes wrong. Casting on is a nightmare and everything I try knitting just gets wider instead of going straight up like it should...
Which is where I get to my first teacher, my best friend Kevin's Mom, who's from Germany and knits really fast, so at first you're always like "wait, how did you do that?". She showed me how to do a long tail single hand cast on, which is so easy- and what I was doing wrong- the book wasn't clear about what happens at the end of the row, so I kept adding a stitch. So, she sets me straight on what I'm doing and I'm so excited about being able to knit without the thing getting wider that I just start knitting a four or five stitch wide scarf and it's about ten feet long before I realize I don't know how you finish it.
Anyway, around this time Mom has to go to some doctor appointment down at Perimeter so I go with her because there's a knitting store there, and it's really the first place I've ever been to for yarn besides seeing it at JoAnn's or where-ever. We go to Strings and Strands which has so much yarn stacked up you sort of feel as soon as you open the door it's all falling in on you. I find a couple of nice skeins there, and ask what I do to get the scarf off the needles, and she's like it's called a bind off, and this is how you do it. And then I'm able to get the long thin scarf done and move on to something else.
I do a scarf with two colors all at once, a pair of armwarmers in July which I was so proud of I actually wore them right then, and Kevin's Mom shows me how dual point needles work, and I start a pair of gloves.
And you know what pattern I used for those? I didn't. I totally made that up in my head, based off what I learned from Kevin's Mom. I mean, yeah, they're totally shapeless and not formfitting, but I made that up. I didn't know anything about increases and decreases then or cables or anything.
So, I go to Italy which is where really nice wool comes from but no one knits there and I was living in what might have been the only city in all of Italy to have a place that sold yarn and needles. You hiked out of the town, down a hill, turned down a neighborhood street, and next to a Laundromat there was a store that was sometimes open and it sold buttons and pantyhose and beads and they had about twenty skeins of wool there and a few boxes of needles.
I finished those handwarmers the same day I dislocated my knee in Florence. So at least my hands were warm while I huddled miserably in the Florence McDonalds while everyone else went and saw the museums and I had to wait for the bus home so I could lay in our flat's front room and watch Doctor Who on my laptop all weekend.
The only other place to get yarn there was the weekly market- I still have some of it, and boy is it loud. And strange.
I got home and hadn't really gained any new knitting knowledge since I'd learned to use dual points. But while I was in Italy I'd fallen in love with Anticraft's Swamp Witch pattern, and I'd never done a pattern before. I decided not to buy the yarn for it until I had a job, and so it wasn't until late November, mid December that I finally got all the things I needed. Started the project, was super proud of it, took it up to my Uncle's, got done with it and started putting the tassels on. Which is where it all went terribly awry.
I'd screwed up counting the pattern somewhere and one side was about six inches wider and I didn't have enough tassels for it. And Mom was convinced that even though I couldn't finish it and it was lopsided and lacking tassels it was the greatest. thing. ever. Which only made it worse, because... well. I mean, it's broken. I didn't have more tassels. I had to hide it in the garage to get her to stop talking about it.
And it wasn't for... Oh, four or five months before I took it out, used something else for the tassels, and wore it. And everyone was like OMG THIS IS GREAT WHERE DID YOU BUY IT. Which is sort of a riot. One of the guys in my History class was talking to me about it and I admitted the screw up and he was like *rolls eyes* oh, well, I noticed that, I just didn't want to embarrass you in front of everyone by pointing it out. And then everyone at our table laughed.
That's sort of an extreme close up of when I started it.
And somewhere around that time I learned to cable, too, which is so much easier than it looks.
The funny thing is how many guys are interested in knitting. I mean, yeah, knitting. I've met guy knitters, but this time I mean like, oh hey what are you doing? that's neat looking, kind of stuff. I was working on this pink and brown shawl in class during a movie and the guys at my table kept reaching over to sort of pet the fabric. At the end of class they were all asking if I was going to put tassels on it, and maybe they should be bright red, and shaped like this...
That's the shawl. No, it doesn't have red tassels. But then again JoAnn's ran out of the yarn and can't get more at the moment so I'm kind of screwed until I get more.
And here's a hat I made.
And in that year of knitting I've had a bunch of teachers. Kevin's Mom. Jean. The nice lady at Strings and Strands. People at The Whole Nine Yards. And I actually taught people how to knit, too, which is the most astounding to me. Kayla, while we were in Italy, Mom when I got back. I've even gotten to the point where I'm planning knitted Christmas presents this year, and some for birthdays, too.
One of the other things that gets me as a history student is the strange and mysterious history of knitting. Egyptians knitted, only it was more like advanced knot tying. No one is entirely certain where knitting came from, other than probably the Mediterranean, since it's found in every place that had a port that shipped to, from, or through there. It's even in the Bible- the part about the soldiers dicing for Jesus' seamless garment. I always kind of thought that was a metaphor- that Mary was so badass she could sew something without seams, but it's actually dual point knitting.
Basically I am super happy to be a knitter.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Good Knitting Lunch
Knitting outside on lunch break:
Pros: The weather is nice, there's squirrels, male classmates tanning outside shirtless...
Cons: Bees are wayyy, wayyy too interested in knitting in a i-must-get-a-much-closer-look way.
Pros: The weather is nice, there's squirrels, male classmates tanning outside shirtless...
Cons: Bees are wayyy, wayyy too interested in knitting in a i-must-get-a-much-closer-look way.
Monday, March 16, 2009
What I did on my Spring Break
Mostly: nothing.
The booksale was the last day before break, so I had plenty to read. Made some headway into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, read chapters here and there in Sitchin's Cosmic Code, flipped through the Esperanto book and tried to explain to mom why it's a brilliant idea.
Did a lot of knitting. Hobby Lobby isn't what I usually think of when I think 'yarn shop' but they have their own in house brand of yarn and it's mostly insane artsy acrylics which, when that type of yarn's time is over, go on sale for $1.99. Which isn't bad for a skein of yarn; it's even better when it's neat yarn with bright colors, all sorts of unusual styles and types. I bought this lemon-lime yarn that reminded me of those subliminal message Sprite commercials from last year and did a thin summer weight scarf out of it; Mom went nuts seeing it so I gave it to her. Another yarn I bought was this purple furry yarn with bits of sewed stuff in it; it's called ragg yarn and it looks like it's spun out of lumber jack shirts and muppets. Mom started giving it the 'that's mine' look but I told her I'd just knitted her something (and it's not like she doesn't know how to knit). I finished the purple scarf in South Carolina and Aunt Marilyn got the same look.
Monday we watched Castle, which was funnier than I thought it would be.
Thursday we drove down to Hilton Head to visit my Aunt and Uncle at their vacation home, which is in one of those golf course resort neighborhoods. I hadn't seen them in a year or two, and I loved taking pictures of the Spanish moss covered oaks in the area. We couldn't play golf with them because I have no idea what I'm doing, and secondly I brought clothes and then a dress, and the clothes weren't nice enough for golfing and the dress was too nice, and thirdly I don't even have golf shoes. Apparently golf is such a historical sport you have to dress up for it. I just found the whole thing a little silly and weird; I mean, how are you supposed to try it out?
We went to the beach once, so I could see it, and it was freezing and the wind was blowing like a hurricane- It was still stunning, especially since there was enough fog on the ocean to make the horizon invisible. The Savannah River side of Hilton Head was somewhat warmer- I poked around the beach there picking up seashells and looking at a few beached jelly fish; the largest was the size of a colander.
Friday night we ate at a local place called Pepper's Porch where I had fantastic jambalaya. I got to watch Bones on my laptop that afternoon, since we missed it the night before- Booth and Brennan continue to be the highlight of my tv week.
Headed back today and I made the mistake of taking Dramamine on an empty stomach- I slept eight hours last night, the entire ride back up, and a five hour nap this after noon. Went to get the dogs from Fred's house just in time to catch the premier of Kings...
Kings was epic. I like the drama of it, and the politicking, the uniforms, and David. David spent the whole episode being badass without even noticing it; he can't sleep so he rescues his fellow soldiers, he faces his court martial without reservations, hides from the King's party to play the piano... Spends money buying his fellow soldiers beer and video games.
Which reminded me this has been an incredible year for television. Not just since January 1st because a lot of shows have been on midseason break, but this season since last fall. Fringe. Bones. Leverage. Castle. Lie to Me. Kings. Being Human. Dollhouse. (i'm probably forgetting something) Practically everything that's been on has been fantastic. I was eating dinner the other night and turned to Mom and said "I miss Leverage." right out of the blue and she was like "Me too.". At least there will be more of that this summer. Fringe there's still something like 20 days until a new episode. Bones is going to be new until the season is over. I have no idea what Kings' schedule is going to be like, but I'll be glued to my seat when it's on.
Yay for tv!
In other news, I remain jobless. I'm trying to keep my chin up about the whole thing, but it's really depressing and aggravating. I'm the next person to be hired at two places, if anyone leaves. But who's going to leave right now? No one. Mom's got the same thing going on. Since I got home I've filled out at least two or three applications a day, more when I wasn't in class, and I've had one interview. One. I got the job at Aero because of how awesome Kevin is and the fact I'm an epic employee- I was supposed to be seasonal for Thanksgiving, not until January. I just worked like a powerhouse and impressed everyone and they kept me on until they couldn't anymore. It's even more ridiculous when you're on these job finding sites and they're like "Now Hiring!" so you rush to fill out the application only to get a reply back asking if you have a commercial drivers license when they weren't advertising for *drivers*.
Anyway, we got home from South Carolina early so I can make it to my England to 1688 class tomorrow- it the best thing I'm taking this semester.
The booksale was the last day before break, so I had plenty to read. Made some headway into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, read chapters here and there in Sitchin's Cosmic Code, flipped through the Esperanto book and tried to explain to mom why it's a brilliant idea.
Did a lot of knitting. Hobby Lobby isn't what I usually think of when I think 'yarn shop' but they have their own in house brand of yarn and it's mostly insane artsy acrylics which, when that type of yarn's time is over, go on sale for $1.99. Which isn't bad for a skein of yarn; it's even better when it's neat yarn with bright colors, all sorts of unusual styles and types. I bought this lemon-lime yarn that reminded me of those subliminal message Sprite commercials from last year and did a thin summer weight scarf out of it; Mom went nuts seeing it so I gave it to her. Another yarn I bought was this purple furry yarn with bits of sewed stuff in it; it's called ragg yarn and it looks like it's spun out of lumber jack shirts and muppets. Mom started giving it the 'that's mine' look but I told her I'd just knitted her something (and it's not like she doesn't know how to knit). I finished the purple scarf in South Carolina and Aunt Marilyn got the same look.
Monday we watched Castle, which was funnier than I thought it would be.
Thursday we drove down to Hilton Head to visit my Aunt and Uncle at their vacation home, which is in one of those golf course resort neighborhoods. I hadn't seen them in a year or two, and I loved taking pictures of the Spanish moss covered oaks in the area. We couldn't play golf with them because I have no idea what I'm doing, and secondly I brought clothes and then a dress, and the clothes weren't nice enough for golfing and the dress was too nice, and thirdly I don't even have golf shoes. Apparently golf is such a historical sport you have to dress up for it. I just found the whole thing a little silly and weird; I mean, how are you supposed to try it out?
We went to the beach once, so I could see it, and it was freezing and the wind was blowing like a hurricane- It was still stunning, especially since there was enough fog on the ocean to make the horizon invisible. The Savannah River side of Hilton Head was somewhat warmer- I poked around the beach there picking up seashells and looking at a few beached jelly fish; the largest was the size of a colander.
Friday night we ate at a local place called Pepper's Porch where I had fantastic jambalaya. I got to watch Bones on my laptop that afternoon, since we missed it the night before- Booth and Brennan continue to be the highlight of my tv week.
Headed back today and I made the mistake of taking Dramamine on an empty stomach- I slept eight hours last night, the entire ride back up, and a five hour nap this after noon. Went to get the dogs from Fred's house just in time to catch the premier of Kings...
Kings was epic. I like the drama of it, and the politicking, the uniforms, and David. David spent the whole episode being badass without even noticing it; he can't sleep so he rescues his fellow soldiers, he faces his court martial without reservations, hides from the King's party to play the piano... Spends money buying his fellow soldiers beer and video games.
Which reminded me this has been an incredible year for television. Not just since January 1st because a lot of shows have been on midseason break, but this season since last fall. Fringe. Bones. Leverage. Castle. Lie to Me. Kings. Being Human. Dollhouse. (i'm probably forgetting something) Practically everything that's been on has been fantastic. I was eating dinner the other night and turned to Mom and said "I miss Leverage." right out of the blue and she was like "Me too.". At least there will be more of that this summer. Fringe there's still something like 20 days until a new episode. Bones is going to be new until the season is over. I have no idea what Kings' schedule is going to be like, but I'll be glued to my seat when it's on.
Yay for tv!
In other news, I remain jobless. I'm trying to keep my chin up about the whole thing, but it's really depressing and aggravating. I'm the next person to be hired at two places, if anyone leaves. But who's going to leave right now? No one. Mom's got the same thing going on. Since I got home I've filled out at least two or three applications a day, more when I wasn't in class, and I've had one interview. One. I got the job at Aero because of how awesome Kevin is and the fact I'm an epic employee- I was supposed to be seasonal for Thanksgiving, not until January. I just worked like a powerhouse and impressed everyone and they kept me on until they couldn't anymore. It's even more ridiculous when you're on these job finding sites and they're like "Now Hiring!" so you rush to fill out the application only to get a reply back asking if you have a commercial drivers license when they weren't advertising for *drivers*.
Anyway, we got home from South Carolina early so I can make it to my England to 1688 class tomorrow- it the best thing I'm taking this semester.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Yarn of Shakespeare
Kevin and I had lunch today and I got my birthday present from him early (since there's a party Friday)- It's this really lovely yarn, all slate blue and gray and black called Shakespeare Yarn. Two skeins! Now I have to agonize what to make out of it since it has to be super awesome.
Went and picked up Lady Friday since I've been on a Keys to the Kingdom kick the last two weeks, and saw this fantastic hardcover Gustave Dore art book in the bargain section. Might go back for it, but Barnes and Noble doesn't take coupons like I wish it would.
Went and picked up Lady Friday since I've been on a Keys to the Kingdom kick the last two weeks, and saw this fantastic hardcover Gustave Dore art book in the bargain section. Might go back for it, but Barnes and Noble doesn't take coupons like I wish it would.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Blah
Despite the June 1st deadline coming up I can't seem to muster any sort of get-to-it for my novel. I know how it goes but I feel like blah when I think about opening the file. Even after finding Sophie's actress finally...
Started reading Orphans of Chaos finally... But there's a point where there's just too much... It's cool when you've got a private school full of children with mysterious pasts who don't know who they really are and have various reality altering powers... but the story started to feel caked on after you find out the school governors are Grendle and Ares and some Kitsune Japanese Gods...
At least my knitting is coming along well. I learned to cable! Which is that braided stuff on sweaters, not CAT5 cable. Which people keep getting confused about.
Started reading Orphans of Chaos finally... But there's a point where there's just too much... It's cool when you've got a private school full of children with mysterious pasts who don't know who they really are and have various reality altering powers... but the story started to feel caked on after you find out the school governors are Grendle and Ares and some Kitsune Japanese Gods...
At least my knitting is coming along well. I learned to cable! Which is that braided stuff on sweaters, not CAT5 cable. Which people keep getting confused about.
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