Knit Gangsta

Little Things That Make Me Happy: # 1

2009-07-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Rereading a favorite book for the millionth time. For me, this means Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle.

I've read each of these books so many times each that I've lost count. It rivals even the number of times that I've read the Harry Potter books. I've even read Parque Jurasico, the Spanish version of Jurassic Park.

The fact that I love Jurassic Park is a no-brainer; I love horror/thriller novels and I'm obsessed with dinosaurs. Not even kidding, I never grew out of the dinosaur phase of childhood. When I was in kindergarten, all the other kids wanted to be teachers and truck drivers and red crayons (uh, long story) and I was going to be a paleontologist. And yes, I knew the word. And could spell it. In kindergarten. So Jurassic Park is a win-win book for me.

The funny thing about Many Waters is that I'm not a huge fan of any of Madeleine L'Engle's other books. I find most of them wordy and over-complicated. Sure, I read A Wrinkle in Time and enjoyed it, but I've only read that twice, once on my own and then again because it was required for school. Does it sound cheesy to say that something about Many Waters just speaks to me? Which, in and of itself is funny, because Many Waters is of a semi-religious nature (it's about the biblical flood story) and I'm one of the least religious people you'll meet.

So, there you have it, two of my favorite books of all time. I recommend Jurassic Park to anyone who likes horrors, thrillers, action novels, or sci-fi that's not really sci-fi. (You know, it's all science-y without being about spaceships and aliens. It's the only kind of sci-fi I like.) I recommend Many Waters to anyone who likes....well, good books.

Summer Updates

2009-07-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Basically, I haven't been posting a lot because...I just have nothing to say. Sad, but true. Believe me, I've sat down a couple of times trying to write an entry......but nothing comes. An uneventful life + mediocre writing skills = an exceedingly boring blog. I apologize.

I guess I can at least make a few updates about knitting progress.

I've made good progress on the February Lady Sweater considering that I'm up to over 300 stitches per row. I'm on the first row of the lace pattern and am separating the sleeve stitches from the body stitches.

I've got another sweater in the queue: Cherie Amour from Knitty. I've already bought the yarn for it, too, Loops and Threads Impeccable in a gorgeous chocolate brown color. It's acrylic, but really soft. I haven't cast on yet, and I wish that I could claim that it's because of sheer will and my iron resolve to finish projects before starting new ones. But really, it's because I don't have size 13 circular needles.

Other projects include gifts, but on the off chance that the recipients read this, I won't elaborate until those birthdays pass.

All right, that's all for now...mainly because I'm procrastinating on some summer homework that I should be doing right now...

You know you're obsessed with knitting when...

2009-06-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

....the junk in your pockets consists of spare stitch markers, safety pins, a yarn needle, and some scrap yarn from when you trimmed the ends of your last project and didn't have a trash can nearby.

Admittedly, I did have my license and a credit card in there, too.

Wow, a whole year!

2009-05-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

It turns out that I completely missed my first "blogoversary"! I started this blog last year on May 4th, so I'm late by almost 3 weeks. I totally forgot!

Can you believe it's been a year? I honestly thought I would have given it up within a few weeks, so this is pretty cool. Especially since it was started on a random whim and I don't ever really have anything to say. Admittedly, I don't blog as often as I should, but things should pick up over the summer as I have both more time to blog and more time to get some knitting done.

Speaking of knitting, I've got a few updates on that front. No pictures, though, because I don't feel like getting the camera out, finding good light, actually getting a good picture, trying to upload the pictures, then struggling with blogger's stupid formatting of pictures for like an hour. (Yeah, i'm a bad knitting blogger, deal with it)

The most drastic update is that I'm frogging that blue cabled hoodie that I was working on. I finished the back of it, but the shaping wasn't right, and I ended up with the wrong number of stitches at the end, and it was too long. Plus, I realized that that sweater really wouldn't look good on me anyway, because it's basically a shapeless hoodie, but knitted. Basically, the whole project was a disaster. So, it really wasn't worth finishing it. It's been sitting untouched for about a month in my "unfinished projects" box. (That pink suede box you got me, Staci).

So, I looked for a more flattering sweater to knit with that same yarn and settled on the February Lady Sweater, which is really cute! I am going to modify it, however, so that it's fastened more in the middle, with either a single button or a shawl pin. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft in a greyish denim blue color.

I cast on today, and have about an inch and a half done so far. Another plus for this pattern: It's seamless! It's knit from the top down in all one piece! I'm pretty excited about it, and we'll see if I can actually finish a project for once, despite my long history of suckage.

'kay, that's about all I have time to type right now. I'm trying to post more regularly now, so hopefully it won't be too long until next time.

2009-04-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

Goodness, it has been a while. I have a whole list of excuses, but you'd just be bored. So basically, AP exams are eating my life, but now, the hard ones are finally over! So I have a bit of free time!

There's actually a lot of news to report this time. First of all, I'd like to introduce you all to the newest members of my family, Hera and Artemis:

(sorry for the bad pictures, the mice move so fast, it's impossible to get a good one!)

Aren't they adorable? Hera is the dark brown one and Artemis is the white. Don't you think it's ironic to name mice after the queen of the gods and the goddess of the hunt? Me, too. That's why I like it. I got them from my AP Environmental Science teacher. She also teaches an animal behavior class that did some sort of project with mice. Well, their original mice started having babies by the dozen, so she needed to get rid of them. So, I volunteered to take one home.

I did some research, found out all about how to take care of mice, bought a big aquarium, set up an elaborate cardboard jungle gym in it, and bought food and litter and stuff for them. Artemis was the first one I brought home, on monday (April 6th). I wasn't really sure whether she was a male or a female, so I looked it up on the internet. My original plan was to have one male mouse, because 2 male mice together will fight like crazy (they're really territorial) and a male and a female will breed at an alarming rate. But, it turned out that she was a female, so her name changed from Bartimaeus to Artemis and I decided to get another female mouse. See, mice are really very social creatures, and a female all alone will get depressed and sleep all the time.

So the next day, Tuesday the 7th, I took my little hermit crab cage to school again to pick out another mouse. But when I went to the teacher's classroom after school, the mouse cage was completely gone! It turns out, another student had volunteered to take them home over spring break and had taken them out of the classroom early. So I had to run to the bus loop to find her and pick out a mouse in a hurry. It is extremely hard to determine a mouse's gender, especially on the fly, so I took my chances and just grabbed the prettiest dark brown one. Luckily, she is a female, so her name's Hera. They are so cute!!

In knitting news, here are a few updates on my various projects on the needles (no pictures, though, because I don't feel like it):

1) Seascape Shawl

I need to come up with a new name for this project, because it's lime green and not ocean-y. Like, Winding Vines or something. Well anyway, I've got quite a bit done, at least, I've exceeded my own expectations for my progress. I finished the border section and now I'm a little over halfway through the first chart. This is going to be awesome when I'm done!

2) Garter stitch cowl

This is a new one! I went on vacation recently to the beach, and we went through this tiny, tiny town called Plymouth, NC. We were going through the pitiful little downtown Plymouth when we passed a store called Yearning for Yarn. So of course I was like MUST STOP. So went in, and was greeted by the store owner, a sweet little old lady named Catherine. She immediately introduced herself and the other woman in the store and took us on a tour of all the yarns she had. It was a little bitty store, and really long and thin, but it had a good selection! Catherine was SOOOO nice and sooo sweet that I HAD to buy something, so I bought a bag of used needles in various sizes (for 3 dollars, what a deal!!!) and a skein of Plymouth Yarn Co. Baby Alpaca Grande. This yarn is so soft I want to roll in it, or knit bedsheets out of it, it's incredible! I could only really afford one skein because it was 14 dollars, but I had to have it. And I didn't feel bad about paying that much, because I wanted to support such a fantastic store!

So anyway, one skein isn't enough for a whole scarf, unless it were really skinny. So instead I'm making a cowl. It's completely garter stitch, with 21 stitches per row on size US 13 needles.

The only sad thing is that it's getting warmer every day here, so I've got to wait until NEXT winter to wear it!

3) 3-2-1 Scarf

I just finished this one today! It's based on the pattern here: http://laughingpurplegoldfish.blogspot.com/2008/10/3-2-1-and-youre-done-its-curlicue-scarf.html
Mine is made with purple Caron Simply Soft, with a border of some teal Knitpicks Suri Dream. It's gorgeous! But again, i have to wait until next winter to wear it. :(

4) Crochet Earrings

I made the first pair of these for my mom for mother's day. They're basically tiny crocheted flowers made from embroidery floss and put on earring wires. I've done the first flower of the second pair now.

So, that's about all for now. I'll try to post again in a reasonable amount of time....

Life, etc.

2009-03-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I don't have a lot of time to write blog posts, what with all of the homework and stuff I've had lately, so this won't really be a full post. Just thought I'd update a bit in the meantime.

For the kool-aid dyed yarn, I've decided not to do any of the possible ideas I had last post. You know, just to shake things up. No, really it's just because I tried a few of them out and didn't really like any of them. For a first lace project, the branching leaves pattern was just too difficult, at least for me (don't laugh, lace knitters) and I got frustrated VERY quickly. The very first row had types of decreases that I'd never heard of before. And after working a swatch of about 1/2 of a repeat, I had already had to rip back so many times that I had to restrain myself from flinging the whole thing across the room. If I can't handle 1/2 a repeat of the lace pattern, I sure as HELL wasn't going to attempt a whole shawl. I still think it's a very pretty scarf, but I'll probably come back to it much later, after I'm more experienced with knitting lace.

So, it was basically back to the drawing board. Or in this case, back to Ravelry pattern search.

In the end, I decided on the Seascape wrap from Knitty. It looked fairly straightforward, I could understand all of the charts without having too look anything up, and there are good sized patches of stockinette that make the lace pattern look a whole lot less daunting. Not to mention the fact that it is GORGEOUS. I'd admired the pattern when it first came out (Summer '08 issue of Knitty), but just in a wow-that's-awesome-but-i'd-never-knit-that kind of way.

So anyway, I started the pattern, and I'd like to say that this is probably a perfect first lace project. The first thing that you knit is a simple border with basically just knit stitches and YOs in a repetitive sequence. It's a great introduction to reading a chart and dealing with laceweight yarn because it's easy, and every row is the same. Fantastic! Then, once you get past the border section, the wavy pattern is pretty much just the same sequence of stitches, but with more space in between and an extra increase or decrease here and there. It's easy to understand why the lace pattern works the way it does. I mean, it's not just blindly following a chart, the mechanics of it actually make a lot of sense.

I've knitted about six inches, impressive progress for about three days of work, if I do say so myself! (it's actually been about 2 weeks, but I only have time to work on it on weekends). I'll put up a progress picture when the lace pattern takes shape a little more. Right now, you can't quite see the swirls yet.

Would you look at that, this turned into a pretty decent-sized post. Huh.

Frustration

2009-03-12T12:01:00.001-07:00

I wrote in my last post about trying to knit/crochet a shawl for prom. I even picked out a sort of fishnet lace crochet stitch pattern for it. I crocheted a couple of inches in this stitch pattern when I realized...I really don't like it. It looks too....cheap. I don't know, just somehow it reminds me of a string bag or something. Not glamorous and elegant and prom-like.

So, I've been looking for other lacey shawl patterns on Ravelry. I'm thinking of making this pattern from Knitty, just making it wider and longer. That's really a last resort pattern, because I think the yarn I'm using would do better in a more classical lace pattern. I'm also thinking about one of those dragon scale-looking lace stitch patterns. I like those, and I think I have an afghan pattern around here somewhere that I can adapt. There's also a leafy lace pattern called branching out that I think would look gorgeous if I knit about 2 or 3 side by side. Especially since the yarn is green and would look terriffic as leaves.

Two problems, though.

1) It needs to be relatively fast to knit/crochet. I've only got until April 25th to have this DONE. And this is working around the intense workload I've got at school right now.
2) I've never knitted lace before. I have never even worked with yarn this thin before. The pattern needs to be simple enough that even a beginner like me can do it with no problem.

Not to mention the fact that I have to actually LIKE it...

Ideas? Suggestions? All are welcome!

Pictures!

2009-03-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!

It's been a while. Yeah, i've been busy, then was out of town, then was really sick for a few days, but all that is behind us now. Because I'M BACK, and I come bearing gifts! Well, photos, but I so rarely add photos to my posts (it's a pain in the...ahem...rear end with blogger) so the addition of photos is exciting, and just as good as a gift! (just nod your heads and humor me, people)

First of all, I'm going to prom this year, and I really wanted to feature something handmade in my prom wardrobe. So, I bought some Knitpicks Gloss, a laceweight merino wool/silk blend yarn from knitpicks.com, to make a sort of a stole/wrap thing. The yarn is super soft, and so affordable!

Well, I wasn't really a fan of any of the colors that the yarn is sold in, so I bought 4 skeins of the bare (undyed) yarn to dye with Kool-Aid! I chose the Lemon-Lime flavor, and dyed it Monday while I was staying home sick (i had...and still have...a really bad cold. yuck.)

Here is the result:

It was a whole lot of fun to dye! After it was done and hanging to dry, it took considerable self control to LEAVE IT ALONE and not try to do anything with it while it was wet. It's just so pretty!!!

Here is the makeshift swift that I used to wind the yarn into a ball:

(By the way, the fabulous chairs were hand-painted by my mom! Check out her etsy site at maryjostudio.etsy.com)

And here is a shot of my ball winder with about half of a skein already wound:

I am in LOVE with my ball winder! It makes jobs like this so easy!

And because I am already adding a bunch of pictures, here's one of my cat, Stormy Llewellyn, asleep on a straw hat:

Awwww!

And finally, I leave you with the challenge of the day. What is this picture a close up of?

First one to guess it right gets a prize!

Hat update

2009-02-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

I finished the earflap hat! And I modified the hell out of it!

Yep, that old urge to mess with the pattern struck again. I went with the two white stripes! And I only really followed the pattern as far as the crown of the hat and the front flap. I totally omitted the back flap and for the earflaps I ignored what it told me to do, went down a few hook sizes, just used one strand of yarn, and made them a lot smaller. Then, when I crocheted the "fur" lining, I realized that it would look great as one of those russian type hats (What are they actually called? All I know is that the girl in Balto got one like it as a present...). So I flipped the earflaps up and tied them. So basically, the finished hat looks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like it was supposed to. I do like it, though.

Only one problem: The hat is waaay too big for me. It doesn't really stay on my head. It doesn't even fit my brother (a.k.a Owen of the Gigantous Noggin). But there is NO WAY i'm undoing the hat to fix it. So whatever.

I'll post a picture as soon as I get a good one!

Dilemma

2009-02-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

So, I am currently crocheting this hat from the newest issue of "Crochet Today" (a really cool magazine):

But I changed the brown to navy blue, mostly because the brown I had looked yellow and sickly with the white trim. Well anyway, I have the crown of the hat done, but I'm afraid that I will run out of the blue yarn. So I was thinking about striping the rest of it to conserve yarn. What do you think of this:

(MS Paint - looks real professional, doesn't it?)

Do the stripes look good, or stupid? I can't decide.

New Knitty Issue!

2009-01-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

I've always been a huge fan of Knitty, an online knitting magazine with tons of free patterns, but the most recent issue (Winter '08), they have really outdone themselves!

I realized earlier this afternoon that I hadn't checked to see if the new issue was out yet. When I went to the website, I was immediately blown away by some of the patterns! Never before have I seen so many in an issue that I MUST KNIT right away!

My favorites of the issue (there are a lot of them!):

Amused, a raglan sweater with a huge cabled collar, 3/4 sleeves, and ribbed bottom and cuffs (This one is definitely my favorite of the issue. It's gorgeous!)

A little bird told me, a felted purse with an adorable embroidered bird

Fish hat, a hat shaped like a fish. Because who doesn't want a hat that's eating your head? Adorable!

Miitens, mitts for babies shaped like Mii hands (you know, the little people on the Nintendo Wii)

Oomingmacks, slippers shaped like musk oxen. I never realized until today how much I need slippers shaped like musk oxen. (Is that the plural of 'ox'? I wasn't sure.)

Socktopus, a toy octopus wearing 8 different socks

Amelia, an incredibly cute cardigan

and finally Maja, a shawl using a fascinating crossed stitch pattern

I really need to finish up all of my current UFOs (in non-knitter lingo, un-finished objects) so that I can start on that Amused sweater. Because I MUST HAVE THAT SWEATER! It's so pretty!!! I also really want to make a fish hat for myself and for my brother, and my mom would really love that shawl!

I've got to go get knitting!

Finally, I'm back...

2009-01-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

...With a brand new computer!!! OMG!

I haven't been able to post in a super long time because I have had some crazy computer problems recently. All of our old computers had crashed at some time or another, so they were all moderately "injured", but suddenly all three of them decided to just die on us.

Okay, it wasn't all at one time...It was more like one died, then we were trying to fix it and another died, then we tried to take them apart and mess around in there, so we got them both up, and one of them was working properly, just like new, but the other one had a damaged keyboard driver, so you couldn't type anything. We spent several days where all we could do to type stuff was copy and paste individual words or letters from Wikipedia. Anyway, so we had two working computers and one useless one, so we ordered new parts for the broken one, but the new motherboard didn't fit in the old one's CPU case, so we decided, lets put it in the other one's CPU case (one of the working ones, the one that had died a few days before, but had been repaired). Well anyway, that didn't work, and when we were trying to put the other one back together, a wire on the inside broke, so it wouldn't even start up.

ANYWAY, we were stuck with only one working computer, in a family where one member spends literally all his free time on Facebook and IM (my brother), another member relies on the internet for her business (my mom sells her painted furniture online, maryjostudio.etsy.com) and yet another member has a million essays and stuff to write and spends almost everyday doing homework on the computer until like 9:30 (that's me). Needless to say, it was not a good situation. So anyway, I thought my mom was just going to order new parts for the old computer, but when I got home from school yesterday, here was this brand new PC sitting on the computer desk and my mom looking sheepish.

So, now we have this super cool, super fast, super awesome new computer, and I can actually blog again! Yay!

So, how was everyone's [Insert whatever holiday you celebrate here]?

Santa Claus is coming to town!

2008-12-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Holidays are right around the corner!

And if you're a knitter, you know what that means... Time to knit presents!

This year, I wanted to make something easy and quick enough to make several in time for Christmas. What I came up with is this:

An awesome Santa Hat!!!

And my Christmas present to all of you in cyberspace is this free Santa Hat pattern! Yay!

Materials:
-Yarn
A: 1 ball of white eyelash yarn (I used Paton's Cha Cha in color White)
B: 1 skein of white worsted weight yarn (I used Red Heart Super Saver in color White)
C: 1 skein of red worsted weight yarn (I used Caron Simply Soft in color Autumn Red)
- US 11 straight knitting needles, or size needed to obtain gauge
- Yarn needle
- Scissors
- Pom-pom maker (store-bought or home-made, doesn't matter. See this website for instructions, if you need them)

Gauge: in st st with two strands of C held together - 11 st and 14 rows = 4"

Hat:
With two strands of A and one strand of B held together, CO 48 st

Rows 1-7: work in garter st (k all rows)

Rows 8: With two strands of C held together, k across

Rows 9-23 , work in st st. You should end with a purl row.

Row 24: k1, k2tog, *k 6, k2tog, repeat from * 4 more times, k5 (42 st)

Row 25: purl

Row 26: knit

Row 27: purl

Row 28: k1, k2tog, *k5, k2tog, repeat from * 4 more times, k4 (36 st)

Rows 29-31: Repeat rows 25-27

Row 32: k1, k2tog, *k4, k2tog, repeat from * 4 more times, k3 (30 st)

Rows 33-35: Repeat rows 25-27

Row 36: k1, k2tog, *k3, k2tog, repeat from * 4 more times, k2 (24 st)

Rows 37-39: Repeat rows 25-27

Row 40: k1, k2tog, *k2, k2tog, repeat from * 4 more times, k1 (18 st)

Rows 41-43: Repeat rows 25-27

Row 44: *k1, k2tog, repeat from * 5 more times (12 st)

Rows 45-47: Repeat rows 25-27

Row 48: k2tog across (6 st)

Row 49: purl

Row 50: knit

Cut yarn, leaving a really long tail. Thread yarn through all remaining stitches and pull closed.

Finishing:

Use tail of yarn to sew up the back of the hat. Make a pom-pom about 2" in diameter, and attach to the point of the hat. Weave in all ends. Wear and enjoy, or give as a gift!

See? I Told You So!

2008-12-01T02:43:00.001-08:00

Having decided to stop wrestling with that god-awful yarn, I feel so much freer! I don't even feel bad, really, for stopping because I got three projects completed in the rest of November. That's right, THREE WHOLE PROJECTS, start to finish!

And guess what!!! I even wrote a pattern to share with everyone! What do I have a pattern of? It's a surprise!! Yay! But it's awesome!

Ah December. I'm so excited! We set up our Christmas tree two days ago! Well, it's not really a Christmas tree. We made it out of bamboo poles set up in a sort of a teepee shape. My mom's an artist, so we usually have unique trees like that. It actually is really cool, though, it looks like something from Dr Seuss books, so we call it our Who-ville tree. I'll put up a picture later!

That's all for now! Adios!

Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T15:17:00.001-08:00

Much news to catch up on!!

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there! To the rest of the world, happy Thursday!

Next: NaKniSweMo.

Since I last post, I have given in to all the guilty voices in my head that are saying "It's almost Christmas, and you're spending a whole month on a project for yourself???" I don't want to think of it as "giving up".....I mean I could possibly finish the sweater by the end of the month if I set my mind to it. But then I start thinking, "Yeah, but if I put that much effort into other projects, then I could get multiple gifts done in the same time." So I start getting into this weird guilt thing.

Yeah.....basically, I suck.

Not that it was particularly hard to tear myself away from this project. I mean, the project is fast and all with the size 13 needles, but I am getting really sick of the yarn. I have never before seen yarn that caused more dropped stitches. The furry alpaca sometimes glues two stitches together so that only one of the stitches gets knitted. So then I get several rows down, and I notice the dropped one. And don't even think about just ripping back to the mistake, oh no. Once a stitch has been....stitched, the fuzz pretty much glues it in place. So you CAN'T rip back to mistakes. Basically, the yarn is a pain in the butt.

I have good news, too, however. Yesterday, I finished an entire Jayne hat in one day. Shiny! (By the way, Jayne is a character in the TV show Firefly. In the episode called "The Message" he receives in the mail a hat his mom knitted for him. So he's this big, tough mercenary guy wearing this cute little hat with earflaps. And thus, a nerdy joke is born.) Here's the TV version of the Jayne hat, modeled by Adam Baldwin (the man who played Jayne):

And here is my version of the Jayne hat, modeled by my brother (for whom the hat was knitted. Though I'll probably steal it from him like every day.)

Pretty cunning, don't you think?

It's a little (okay kind of a lot) bigger than the original pattern intended because 1) it's supposed to look dorky, and 2) I'm sorry Owen, but you have a giant head. Plus, I think I have a disease where I can't just follow a pattern to the letter. I just have to go make some modification. I mean, look at the sleeves I'm doing for the NaKniSweMo sweater. I just HAD to go knit them in the round, didn't I?? *grumbles incoherently about the stupid yarn*

I fully intended to follow the pattern this time, but the urge to modify is apparently too strong. For the hat, I extended the orange section by one row, shortened the yellow section by one row, worked the decreases at the top of the head differently, and increased the width of the earflaps by two stitches. It turned out great in the end, so I'm not complaining.

I've also started another pair of fingerless mitts for my mom's friend Tammy. I'll upload pics of them when they have a little more shape. Right now, they're just garter stitch rectangles with thumb holes.

All right, I think that's all for now. Don't eat too much turkey, everyone!

Nearly there!

2008-11-17T02:28:00.000-08:00

I have now completed the front and back parts of my NaKniSweMo sweater!

This is such an effortless project. I haven't rushed myself at all, just picked up the knitting whenever I was watching TV or something. I have started on one of the sleeves, and I decided to knit it in the round on DPNs to avoid the huge seam up the arm, but I fear that I may be making things to complicated for myself. Skinny yarn does NOT want to be knitted on huge DPNs. I only have about two inches done, so I'm going to wait until it's a bit longer to decide whether I should just frog it and restart the sleeve on straight needles.

I will have pictures later!

I feel a little...betrayed

2008-11-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

When it comes to music, I'm not really that picky. I'm not a big fan of country music, death metal, or those female pop singers who stretch their words waaaay out (like Beyonce), but other than that, I'm not hard to please.

My favorite genres, however tend to be rock, like the Beatles, world music, and what I like to call "folkish rock". My two favorite bands (besides the Beatles, who are pretty much a given) are the Waybacks and the Duhks, both of which practically no one has heard of. The Waybacks tend to be more of a rock band (especially their live performances; they played part of a Led Zeppelin song at the last concert I went to!), with folk and bluegrass influence. They have a banjo and a fiddle, so people tend to automatically stick them in with bluegrass, but really, they defy categorization.

My other favorite band is the Duhks. They're a band from Winnepeg, Manitoba that plays what they describe as "fusion of traditional bluegrass, folk rock, Afro-Cuban jazz and soul", which really is a spot-on description. A lot of their songs are instrumentals with a marked Irish influence, while still others are folk songs sung in French. It's a great mix of INCREDIBLE musicians (the violin player is magnificent!), amazing lyrics (check out "Heaven's My Home" or "Mountains of Things") and fantastic vocals.

My favorite part of the band was the lead singer, Jessee Havey. She has an amazing, really powerful alto voice. It was a treat to see them perform live, because she would get so into the music and dance onstage. Unfortunately, about a year ago, she quit the band to "pursue solo endeavors" or whatever the words they used were. Just recently did the band release their first album without Jessee Havey, "Fast Paced World". I hadn't even heard the new lead singer until I got an iTunes gift card for my birthday a few weeks ago and decided to download the new album.

These were not the same Duhks.

Not only was Havey their lead vocalist, she was also the songwriter for the group. The woman who took her place, Sarah Dugas, just doesn't have the same style as Havey did. The very first song, "A Mighty Storm" is a lot more blues-y than their previous CDs. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, it's just not the same. I actually liked quite a few of the songs. The ones that were just instrumentals are just as good as their old instrumental numbers. But I really can't stand the song "Toujours vouloir". It sounds way too much like pop music, and has too much of that slow, same-y sounding female singing that's heard in so much music nowadays. And I don't even know what to think of the song "You don't see it". I try to tell myself that I would like it if I didn't know it was supposed to be the Duhks. It's a lot more pop and country-sounding than their old songs. It's just so different!

I feel almost childish for complaining about the change. I mean, it's the band's choice if they want to play different music. And you never know, the rest of the band may have hated Jessee Havey's songs, and that's why she left and why they've changed now.

So, basically, I'm indecisive about the new album. I like a lot of the songs, but it's so different that I'm a little bit in shock. It feels almost as if I had a boyfriend, but then the boyfriend went and got a haircut, and I'm trying to decide whether I like the haircut or not. I liked his old hair!

Give me a few weeks to get used to it, and I'll get back with you.

I miss Jessee Havey.

VICTORY!

2008-11-05T02:54:00.001-08:00

Obama is our next president!!!!!

Yay, pictures!

2008-11-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Since it is so hard to format text and pictures, I'm just going to type all the text up here, and leave the pics in a group at the end. Sorry, my camera is so blurry. Using the flash is the only way to get clear pictures. However, if I use the flash, the color gets all washed out. So, I'm going with the lesser of two evils here and just taking the darn picture with no flash. These pictures are just of what I got done on the first day because I haven't taken any pictures since then. The last picture here is just a view showing how open the stitches are. Seriously, this sweater weighs nothing at all.

A Whole Day of Excitement!

2008-11-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Well, have I got a lot to tell you guys!

First of all, two days ago was the first day of NaKniSweMo! I stayed up until midnight the night before, and cast on just as the clock struck 12. On Saturday I managed to knit almost 15 inches of the back of my sweater!! I have some pictures, but I'm on a different computer today (my brother commandeered the good one for NaNoWriMo) so I can't upload them. But I will.....eventually. So, anyway, this is probably the fastest sweater to knit, ever. I finished the entire back of the sweater yesterday, and started the front. So I'm predicting I'll be done in maybe a week. This feels like cheating! I'm also going to have a bunch of yarn left over, because I'm still on my first ball. I'm taking a bit of a break today because I have to get Death of a Salesman read and annotated by Wednesday...

So anyway, on to the excitement of Saturday!

I had originally decided not to discuss politics on this blog, because I didn't want to offend any of the people who read it. However, I'm such an opinionated person that I should have known that I would be forced to bring up the subject sooner or later.

So, just to start, I'm very liberal, and proud of it! I support Obama for president whole-heartedly. I'm the vice president of my school's Teen Democrats club. So, yeah, I'm pretty passionate about politics.

So, Saturday: There was an Obama rally at Shaw University, which is not far at all from where I live, where Chris Rock was scheduled to speak!!! I went with my parents and my brother to the rally. When we got there, there weren't too many people, and we got a pretty good place to stand where we could see the stage. But then, some guy with an Australian accent (He was a volunteer helping organize the event) comes up to Owen (my brother) and asks him "Do you want some VIP tickets so that you can stand by the stage and meet Chris Rock?" He just randomly chose us to get backstage passes! So of course we accepted, and we went inside this little fenced-in area right next to the stage.

But that's not all! You know how in videos on the news and stuff of people giving speeches how there's always a crowd of people behind the speaker? Well, some other volunteer came up to us and asked if we wanted to sit behind Chris Rock while he was talking! Which means that we'd be in practically all of the pictures and videos of the speech!!! And we'd be like 5 feet away from Chris Rock!!

So Owen and I went up onto these bleachers that were set up behind the stage. The only spots left were on the back row to the far right. Which means that we had to sit, with no back to our seats, with a 15 foot drop right behind us. If you didn't know this already, I'm TERRIFIED of heights. Like, it's the only thing that I'm really horribly afraid of. I don't mind snakes or spiders or bugs, and I actually really like frogs and thunderstorms, but I HATE heights. So here I am, sitting in front of a bunch of television cameras scared to death of toppling backwards off the bleachers. I just knew I was going to make a fool of myself.

We had to sit there for a really long time. Chris Rock was scheduled to speak at about 3:45, but I don't think he even came onstage until almost 4:15. And then, he only spoke for eleven minutes! Seriously. I felt almost ripped off; the whole rally was so anticlimactic. Plus, afterward when Chris was supposed to meet us and give autographs and such, he gave maybe two atugraphs and posed for two pictures, then he left! All the time with this really forced "I really don't want to be here" smile. But, it was still cool to see him speak.

Check out this link to see a few pictures of the event. I'm the person in the top left of most of them.

Alright, that's about all, I think. If you're old enough, GET OUT AND VOTE TOMORROW!! If you're not, TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO GET OUT AND VOTE TOMORROW!! My philosophy is, if you didn't vote, you have no right to complain about the government. So, go exercise your rights!

Boo!

2008-10-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

This is just a great day overall, not just because it's Halloween. It's also the day before NaNoWriMo and NaKniSweMo (!!!), and the day before a FOUR DAY WEEKEND!! Yay! And I don't have loads of homework! Double yay!

I am sooooo excited about casting on for my NaKniSweMo sweater!! I have the pattern practically memorized because I've looked at it so much, and I have all the supplies I'll need (yarn and needles) all set out and ready. If I stay up late enough tonight, which is likely, I can start it at midnight! Hooray!!

Another exciting thing: I've started regularly updating my Ravelry account! Look for me (and friend me!) there as browncoat50.

Happy trick-or-treating everyone! Be safe!

yawn

2008-10-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

I really feel like I should post something....but I don't really feel like it....I'm REALLY tired...

Sorry for the second lame-o two-line post in a row.

Birthday!!!

2008-10-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

Yay! Today's my birthday! Go me! :)

yeah, that's all.

November is coming up fast!

2008-10-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yay! Masochism month!

This year I'm doing NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month), the knitter's version of NaNoWriMo, and I am so psyched! (side note: I think that is officially the first time I've ever used the word "psyched"...)

This is technically going to be my first sweater (the pink bamboo top doesn't count), so I kinda wanted something easy. Plus, I needed something I could do while still keeping up with my insane workload from school. So, I've decided to knit this sweater:

(It's the To Dye For sweater from the book Stitch & Bitch)

With this yarn:

Knitpicks Suri Dream in Lilac Heather (it's the very middle skein, the darker purple. Yeah, this isn't my picture, but my camera is a butt that can't take any pictures that are worth a darn. Whoa, did you just see me not swear in that sentence? Go me!)

I'm soooo excited to start the sweater! The yarn is incredibly soft and fluffy and cuddle-able, and I am head over heels in love with the pattern! My favorite part is the bell sleeves! Yay! I can't wait!

That's all for now, Adios amigos!

Seriously, I'm sick of being sick.

2008-10-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

There comes a point, when you've been coughing, and sneezing, and sniffing, and congested for TWO FREAKING WEEKS that you just can't stand it any more. God, I wish I could breathe through my nose right now...

Yeah that's all.

OH GOD more school ranting....

2008-10-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

So, last week, I missed school Thursday because I was sick. Technically, I was sick all week, but I'm super paranoid about missing school, so I only took the one day off, thinking that that was the day we wouldn't have much to do.

So, along comes Friday. I felt worse on Friday, but I had this group project to present in class, so I went anyway. I walk into first period, which is English, and the FIRST thing we do is take a reading quiz on The Metamorphosis, a story I DIDN'T READ. So, right about now, I'm thinking "Well, sh**, this sucks." But, I'm a good test-taker (seriously, I have amazing guessing skills on tests and stuff, just ask my friend Staci). So, I just go ahead and BS my way through the thing. Optimist that I am, I keep thinking "well, at least my day can't get any worse!" And that's when Fate started laughing in my face.

Right after the teacher takes up the quiz, she starts talking about existentialism and Metamorphosis, both of which I soooo don't get. Apparently we were supposed to research existentialism the night before, but I wasn't there, so I didn't know, so I feel really really lost and confused. Which I don't like. At all.

So I spend the rest of the class period struggling to keep up with everything and feeling like crap because I don't understand what we're talking about. At the end of class, I go up to the teacher to ask what we did the day I was out. And apparently we turned in some questions, which I so didn't know were due that day, so I didn't have them. I'm the kind of person that almost always has their homework, so I was really upset. My record has been so good all this year, too!

Oh my gosh, and that was all just first period!

I go into Pre-Calculus, which is second period, and apparently the day before we went over something we were supposed to learn in Algebra II, but which I never learned because my teacher last year was STUPID. So I spend yet another period feeling like I'm in the wrong classroom. By the time I left second period, I really felt like crying.

And it goes on!!

Third Period: I was supposed to present a group project about saving a fictional town called "Carbonville", so I was all dressed up. Which I hate. Jeans are so much more comfortable than skirts or dress pants! And yet, we didn't even present the stupid project that day! So I had to dress up AGAIN today! Not to mention the fact that it is freaking nerve wracking waiting for your turn to present a project that you're not really prepared for, and especially when your self-esteem is at an all-time low.

The rest of my day, I had two in-class essays, one of which was in Spanish, and a Psychology test. It sucked. Luckily none of these were too hard. If I had totally bombed any one of them, at this point I probably would have either broken down and cried or gone on a murderous rampage, I can't decide which.

*sigh* Junior year is turning out the way everyone warned me it would....Why didn't I take them more seriously? Why?!

School is eating my life.

2008-09-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, the title just about says it all.

I really don't have anything to say, I just felt like complaining and thought, "hey, that's what blogs are for!" so I posted.

Okay, back to work. *bangs head on desk repeatedly*

Om nom nom

2008-09-22T13:42:00.001-07:00

Yay I'm actually posting again!

And I actually have PICTURES!! Go me!

Pictures of what, you may ask?

Gratuitous yarn porn!!! (um, before you start looking at me funny, that's just a knitting blog/forum term for unnecessary pictures of yarn). And, sorry for the awful picture quality, my camera sucks booty (to borrow a term from my favorite 6' 5" musical star).

These are all pictures of some yarn given to me by my mom's friend. She wants me to knit some stuff for her. The green fuzzy yarn and the red and green are for scarves for her.

These purple/blue-ish and the burgundy are for a felted messenger bag for her daughter Livian.

The rest are undecided, except for this blue and green fuzzy yarn that's ALL MINE! MUAHAHAHA!

Ahem. But it's so beeeyooootiful! And lovely and soft and it will make a purdy scarf!

And this is my latest project:

It just looks like a rectangle now, but it's actually the back to a cabled hoodie I'm making. It's pretty sweet!

Alright, that's it for now. Adios amigos!

Knitting = Crack.

2008-09-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that knitting is completely addictive.

I don't mean like, "hmm this is fun, i'll make something else now!" casual kind of addiction. I mean like shaky hands "I NEED TO KNIT!!!" desperation kind of addiction.

Not only that, but I have to take on more drastic projects to get my knitting fix now. Those quick size 35 needle scarves are just not doing it for me anymore. No, I have to be knitting sweaters and blankets and hard stuff! Not to mention the fact that yarn itself is ridiculously addictive because its so soft and pretty (and expensive...) and has so much potential!

Since school began, I've had hardly any free time at all, let alone time to knit (or blog...sorry about that). So I'd gone several days without picking up the needles at all. I came really close multiple times to just abandoning homework to go knit. But thankfully, that little inner voice that is constantly telling me "you must get good grades so you can go to college and go to grad school so you can get a good job and do a lot of research so you can cure cancer!" won out over the knitting jones. Not that that was an easy choice, mind you.

So, I've been finding sneaky ways to get a few minutes of knitting in. I even took my latest project to school so I could knit on the bus ....and during class....:)

Speaking of my latest project, I am currently knitting a cabled hoodie made from Caron Simply Soft (doncha love the cheap stuff?). The pattern is from one of those leaflets you get in Michaels next to the yarn. I picked one up and just HAD to have the sweater (addictive, I'm telling you!!!).

Alright, that's all for now. Hasta luego!

School. Yuck.

2008-08-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

I went back to school monday. And I've had homework every night til nine. So, I haven't been able to post until today.

I wore my bamboo shirt to school today! It was pretty great, because the shirt is the first knitted garment I've completed. Go me! I still don't have any pictures, though. Sorry everyone, I'm a bad blogger. :(

All right, that's about all I've got to say. Bye!

More Podcast Updates!

2008-08-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

The third episode of the MAD Podcast is out! It's about Coldplay's most recent album Viva la Vida. So go download it! themadpodcast.libsyn.com

Slightly less exciting news, and definitely less pleasant: I broke my toe yesterday on a doorframe. This is sooo like me. I was leaving my room to take some clothes out of the dryer when I accidentally smashed my toe against the doorframe. I actually heard a crunching noise when it happened. So now it hurts to walk, and I have to go to school in two days where I'm going to have to run all around the freaking ENORMOUS campus with an injured foot. *Bangs head against desk*

*sigh* Adios for now!

2008-08-22T08:54:00.001-07:00

Yeah...it's been a while since I blogged last...Sorry about that.

Anyway, I think I'll take an idea from Deborah at Toss the Apple and give little blurbs of info about a wide range of subjects instead of trying to write about just one.

First of all: Honk! The play went well! We had nearly full audiences for every performance, and no major screw-ups. Success! I think last year's play (Godspell) was better, though. Thanks to Deborah and Sarita for coming!

Next: Vacation. I got back last night a little after nine from a vacation to Marion, VA to visit my dad's family. His mother (my grandmother) has a little cabin next to Hungry Mother State Park in Marion that we stayed at. We brought the bicycles with us, so we stopped at Foster Falls (a park where you can rent kayaks and inner tubes to go down the New River) and biked the New River trail. The trail was great. It's used to be a railroad, so the path is wide and flat and goes on forever. The only problem is, once you bike so far one way, you have to turn around and come back. So you have to try to decide when you are halfway to too tired to keep biking, and turn around then. We biked about 11 to 12 miles there, then went and relaxed by the river for a long time, because the weather was so beautiful.

The next day we borrowed a canoe from my Aunt Melanie and Uncle Doug and took it out onto the lake at Hungry Mother State park. We also rented the "Paddle Boat from HELL!!", as named by my brother and me (or is it "me and my brother"...or "my brother and I"...oh, who cares!!). This was a seriously defective paddle boat. The rudder was practically out of the water, so you had to hold the little lever towards a direction for like 10 minutes before you'd even start turning in that direction. Ugh.

Anyway, the last day of vacation, we went to another bike trail called the Virginia Creeper Trail. It's another trail that used to be a railroad, and it's named after the nickname for the train that ran on it. Anyway, in Damascus, VA there are a bunch of bike places that charge about $11 to shuttle you up White Top Mountain to the beginning of the trail. Then you ride down the mountain back to Damascus. It's a pretty incredible ride. It's slightly downhill the whole way down, so it doesn't take much effort, but we saw people riding up the trail. That's pretty hard core. The view from the trail was beautiful, lots of creeks and valleys and rock formations. There were also a bunch of old trestle bridges left over from the railroad. The trail is 35 miles long, total, but we only went on 17 miles of it (just back to Damascus). There was a cute little restaurant about halfway down that we stopped and ate lunch at. All in all, it was a great ride, and highly recommended if you like biking. Even if you're not a serious biker, it's not a hard trail so anyone can do it.

Okay, next topic: knitting. You remember that bamboo shirt that has been languishing incomplete for ages and ages? Well, I got it back out as something kinda mindless to knit backstage during Honk!, and it is now completed!!! I had to do some serious modifications though, because the people who wrote the pattern are apparently mentally disabled. The pattern clearly says "knit 11 inches" before making the V-neck. So I knit 11 inches and thought "Hmm, this seems a little short, I'll knit 2 more inches!" So I did. So it was now 13 inches before the V-neck. So I finished the V-neck shaping, exactly the way it told me to and checked the size by holding it up to myself in the mirror. The V-neck exposed waaaay more of my chest than is decent, and the rest of it barely went past my belly button. WTF??? That is not what it looked like in the picture!!! And it was 2 inches longer than it was supposed to be!! So i went back and added an almost 2-inch seed stitch border to the hem and a 1-inch seed stich border to the V-neck. So I finished all that, sewed it all up, wove in all those loose ends (ugh), and I'm done! yay! I'll have a FO post for it later. (For those of you who do not regularly peruse knitting blogs/forums, FO=Finished Object).

All right, If I think of anything else to say, I'll be back later, but that's all for now!

Honk!

2008-08-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I haven't posted for a long because of my insanely busy schedule. I have HONK rehearsal every day. The play's going well. We're performing August 14, 15, 16 at 8:00 p.m. and August 16 at 2:00 p.m. at the Garner Historic Auditorium. See http://www.towneplayers.org/ for more information!

So, other than that, I haven't got much more news... I just thought I'd post so that everyone knew that I didn't just fall of the face of the Earth.

New Podcast!!

2008-08-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

My friends and I have successfully released the first two episodes of our podcast!! It's called the M.A.D. Podcast, (it stands for Media Analysis and Discussion) and on it we discuss music, movies, books, other podcasts, and more; anything that can be classified as "media" is a viable topic. So, check it out at http://themadpodcast.libsyn.com/, and in a few days, you'll be able to search for it on iTunes. Our first two episodes are about Prince Caspian and the Twilight series, respectively.

I went to Joann's (a craft store) the other day, and this time I was unable to withstand the temptation. I bought 2 skeins of some gorgeous, unbelievably soft yarn called Angel Hair, and 3 skeins of cotton Sugar and Cream yarn. The Sugar and Cream is going to become reusable shopping bags eventually, but I just couldn't keep my hands off the Angel Hair. Even though I have way too many projects going right now, I put them all aside to work on the Wavy Gravy scarf from the book Stitch and Bitch Nation. The yarn's so amazing to work with, but I wouldn't suggest using aluminum needles with the yarn. It's so soft, it's slippery and would just slide off aluminum needles. I used my favorite bamboo needles, and even then the yarn is super slippery. But oh so soft!!! The Wavy Gravy pattern is awesome, too. It's simple enough to work on at Honk rehearsal while waiting for my cues, but interesting enough that I don't get bored. I love it!

I'd also like to thank Knitting Pattern Central for posting my fingerless gloves pattern on the site!! I'm so excited, I feel like a published knitting designer now! Okay, it's just a link to a blog post, but still! Yay! At the Knitting Pattern Directory, look under Mittens and Gloves. My pattern is there under Super Funky Fingerless Gloves! Awesome.

So, yeah. That's it. Bye for now!

I don't feel like thinking of a creative title...

2008-07-31T09:12:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I haven't posted in while, sorry.

Things have been happening, though, and I shall fill you in now.

Honk Jr. rehearsals with the Garner Towne Players have been going well. The show's going to be great! It's such a fun show to do, and I'm loving working with my old friend Patrick again. The show is basically a musical story of the ugly duckling. Patrick plays the main character, and he's pretty amazing. But, then again, he's always been amazing. I'm so jealous. :)

We almost got a new pet yesterday! A baby possum got stuck in a bucket in our garage! (Okay, we were never actually intending to keep it as a pet, but we joked about the idea.) We had no idea where its mother was, and it was just a little guy, so we took in out of the bucket and put it in a dog kennel with some cat food and a bowl of water. It loved the water; it eventually started just sitting in it. It was hilarious! Possums are so ugly and scary looking, but he was so tiny he was almost cute! Except for when he was trying to bite us...
But anyway, we let him go last night, and hopefully he found his mother. We weren't real sure what else we could do for it, but we did the best we could.

We got a new dishwasher! Our old one broke about a week ago. But this story isn't very interesting, so I'll just move on.

Owen, my younger brother, is going to be a freshman next year, so he's taking a class over the summer called Freshman Seminar. Basically, it's a bulls**t class where they're supposed to teach you how to do the "graduation project" that we all have to do before senior year ends. Anyway, he has to do a "mini" grad project, and for some reason he chose knitting as a topic (don't ask me, I can't explain why he chose it, either). So I've taught him how to knit, and for his "product" thing he's knitting some squares to donate to the "Warm up America" foundation. It's pretty cool, because I've been trying to convince him to learn how to knit for years.

So yeah, I think that's about all I've got to say. It's funny, I expected this to be a really short "I haven't left, I promise!" post. but it ended up pretty long. Not bad!

Super-Funky fingerless gloves

2008-07-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

These gloves are knitted with some yarn I got for Christmas one year without a label, so I have no idea what type it is. As long as the yarn you use is either sport weight or DK weight and knits up in the correct gauge it should be fine. Since these gloves are worked back and forth on two needles and use basic stitches, these are an excellent first or second project. Hey, it's quicker than a scarf! Plus, they are great for stash busting and are easily customizable. They fit an average-sized hand, but you could make them bigger or smaller by just casting on more or fewer stitches, respectively.

Materials:

2 Skeins Sport or DK weight yarn in 2 different colors to make stripes. Or you could use just one skein and make solid color gloves. Your choice.
US #5 straight knitting needles
Yarn needle for seaming

Gauge: 20 st and 15 rows = 4 inches in St st.

Pattern:

CO 32

Rows 1-2: With color A, *K1P1, repeat from * to end of row

Rows 3-4: With color B, *K1P1, repeat from * to end of row

Repeat rows 1-4

Rows 9-10: With A, *K1P1, repeat from * to end of row

Row 11: With B, K across

Row 12: With B, P across

Row 13: With A, K across

Row 14: With A, P across

Repeat Rows 11-14 twice more

Row 23: With B, K across

Row 24: With B, P across

Rows 25-26: With color A, *K1P1, repeat from * to end of row

Rows 27-28: With color B, *K1P1, repeat from * to end of row

Rows 29-30: With color A, *K1P1, repeat from * to end of row

BO in K1P1 rib.

Finishing:

Sew the edges of the ribbed sections together so that you have a tube with a thumb hole in the middle. Wear, and enjoy!

(oh, and if you make this, I'd love any feedback you have. Just send me an email or comment on this post! :D)

Super-Happy-Photo-Fun-Zone

2008-07-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Yay! Photo time! Most of these are pictures of projects I'm working on or have recently finished.

That blanket I've been working on. It's not quite done yet, but it's already a suitable blanket-size.

The mittens I made from the back of the "Chicks with Sticks" book

Ssssssid the Diamondback Draft Dodger. The pattern is here.

Simple red scarf. Thanks to R2D2 for modeling.

Awww it's my puppy, Scoop.
Okay, he's not really a puppy....he's actually almost 8 years old.....but he'll always be my puppy!

Jazzy Coffee Cup Sleeves that I mentioned in my last post. The green one is Owen's (my brother's) and the multicolored one is mine. I didn't have any coffee cups, so it's on just a normal glass.

That's all I've got for now. Adios!

I'm back!!!

2008-07-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!! I'm back from vacation.... and an eventful vacation it was. Here's the story:

First, the car tire blew while the car was just sitting in the garage. So we had to take the tire and get it fixed. The first place we took it to said that it would take almost 2 hours to fix it, so we took it somewhere else. So finally, we had the tire fixed and we were ready to go.

The journey there was uneventful. I was actually feeling pretty good because I finished two Jazzy Coffee Cup Cozies (for me and my brother) and we stopped at a Barnes and Noble and got to use them. Also, I made one of a pair of fingerless gloves that I've been meaning to knit for ages.

Once we got to Asheville we got a little lost, but not drastically, so we found our hotel without too much stress. After that we went for a late lunch/early dinner at Chili's because we were starving. Then I managed to convince my family to take me to a yarn store called Yarn Paradise, which was amazing. Since there's only one real LYS (besides Michaels and Wal-Mart) anywhere near me, it was a real treat to get to go in one. I went in looking for some yarn to make my NaKniSweMo sweater, but quickly realized that unless I wanted to pay $150 for a sweater, I should look elsewhere. I ended up spending about $37 dollars for three skeins of Berrocco "Bonsai" (a super-cool bamboo and nylon ribbon yarn) and two skeins of some Kaffe Fassett self-striping sock yarn in an awesome blue and brown colorway. They're going to be the coolest socks ever!

The next day, we went to an awesome concert called Downtown After Five, which is a monthly concert the city of Asheville puts on, and the whole reason we went to Asheville. The featured band was The Waybacks, one of my favorite bands ever! They were so amazing live!! It's hard to describe the genre of music the Waybacks play, and they're usually categorized as bluegrass, which they are sooo not. Check them out at their website http://www.thewaybacks.com/.

After the concert, we wanted to walk around downtown for a little while. The streets were pretty crowded with people returning to their cars from the concert, and with people just walking around downtown like we were. I had my knitting project in my purse at the time, because I'd worked on it a little bit at the concert. So, I was dodging some of the crowd when I ran into a pole, like a light pole or something, I'm not really sure. My purse ran into the pole first, and then me into the purse. The result: the vintage (and therefore sharper than normal) knitting needle in my purse went through my purse, through my pants, into my thigh. Ouch. Talk about freak accidents. It didn't hurt at first, but then when I realized I couldn't pull my purse away from my leg, because there was a knitting needle stuck in it, I started panicking. My dad had to pull the needle out of my leg because I was too freaked out at the fact that I'd just been stabbed. I thought there should be blood gushing down my leg or something, but there was almost none. The next day there was only a little scab on the wound. But Jesus, It was scary when it happened. Then I had to limp several blocks to get back to our car.

My bad luck wasn't even over, however. The next morning I had a little stomachache. I shrugged it off, thinking it wasn't that bad. We were planning on driving to Marshall, NC to take a raft down the French Broad river. Since my name's Marshall, of course we couldn't pass by the opportunity to take a few pictures with road signs:

If I don't look happy, it's because I was standing on one of those little metal barriers on the side of the highway (y'know, the things that are there so you don't drive your car off into a ravine or something) while I was 1) scared of falling off the thing backwards, 2) annoyed because people kept driving by and waving at me, so I was a little humiliated, and 3) really nauseous.

So anyway, driving to Marshall meant miles and miles of twisting and turning mountain roads. Not good when your stomach already hurts. I got really carsick, which has never happened to me before, so I knew something was wrong. So we couldn't go rafting because I felt so awful, so we went back to the hotel room. Where I spent the rest of the day either in bed shaking with fever or throwing up. Yuck. Especially when you're in a hotel room and want nothing more than to be in your own bed at home.

So then, this morning, I felt a little better and we came home. I still don't feel well, considering the only things I've eaten for two days is half a bagel and some toast.

So, that's all about the vacation. Stay tuned for upcoming posts, including the photo-packed one I promised, and one with a pattern for those fingerless gloves I made. So yeah, I'll get back with you soon. Adios!

Out of Town

2008-07-17T06:33:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

I'm going to be in Asheville until the 20th, with no access to the internet. That is, if we can actually get there...We hadn't even left yet when the tire blew on the car. So my dad went to the tire place, but apparently it's going to take a really long time to get a new tire, so we have to wait until they get back home to pack up the other car and go. Which sucks, because the other car is a pickup truck that gets less than excellent gas mileage. *sigh*

But anyway, I got the memory chip from my camera to work in the computer, so when I get back, expect a huge, photo-packed new post!!! Woo!

Adios y hasta luego!

The Knit Zone

2008-07-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

I am currently in what can only be described as the Knitting Zone. If I'm not knitting, I'm looking at knitting patterns, reading knitting books, or blogging about knitting. Something is seriously wrong with me....in a good way! I finished up a scarf I was working on ages ago but never bothered to finish, and I'm finally sewing up a snake shaped draft dodger that I'vee been avoiding for almost a year (seriously though, it's a seam almost two feet long, and I hate finishing. That's why i tend to do all the knitting for a project, then let it fall to the wayside forever, because I can't stand all the finishing.)

I found the perfect pattern for NaKniSweMo in November! It's an awesome garter and stockinette stitch sweater in bulky yarn. I'm so excited to start it, I don't think I can wait until November! My fingers are literally aching to begin. The only reason I haven't caved and started it yet is that one of my friends borrowed the needles I need for it. Here's a link to the pattern, but I think you need a subscription at the site to view it.

All right, I'm going to go knit some more now. Adios!

I must be bored...

2008-07-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

...because I randomly embroidered my socks. No, not some nice, handknit socks that I made. Just your normal, run-of-the-mill, storebought socks. I embroidered three flowers on each sock. I've known that I'm going insane for some time now, but somehow I fear this is some sort of sinister indicator of how fast this process has become...

Also, I was extremely excited to learn that there is a NaKniSweMo, or National Knit a Sweater Month! It is the knitting world's response to the NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writer's Month that has become so popular. This November will be the third annual NaKniSweMo, and I intend to participate! I was looking at knitting patterns online, and I think my favorite sweater pattern is the one here called Tubey. I have no idea if it will look good on me though...I don't even wear sweaters, let alone knit them, so I have no idea how to judge.

By the way, I found another knitting blog today called Half-Assed Knit Blog. The whole time I was reading it I was practically rolling on the floor in laughter. Check it out!

I had taken a bunch of pictures of WIPs and FOs (including my awesome embroidered socks!) to finally put some on my blog, but my camera (or at least the memory card) is still being a butt so I can't post them. I'll go do some troubleshooting and get back with you.

Adios!

Eventful day...

2008-07-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

I've gotta say, yesterday was more exciting than like the rest of my summer put together...not completely a good thing. There's good news and bad news.

Good news first: I finished my birthday present for Sarita, and it's ADORABLE! Seriously, I don't want to give it away...okay, yeah I do, because I know she's going to love it. So I'll just have to make something just like it for me! I've moved on now to a cat that I told my mom I would make for her. It's from Knitty, the knitting web-zine, from I think a few years ago. The link to the pattern is here.

Bad news: My mom cut her hand really bad on a piece of glass. It was really scary, actually, there was a LOT of blood. She had been putting dishes away when a glass broke, making a really sharp edge that went right into her finger. I thought we were going to have to go to the emergency room or something, but once we got the bleeding stopped enough to look at the cut, it wasn't big enough to warrant stitches, just deep. So I just called my dad, who came home from work and I went to Walgreens to get some of those bandages that they always have in movies when someone gets beaten up. Y'know, the little white, thin ones. Apparently they're made to hold the skin together on bad cuts. So, more good news: she's fine now. No lasting damage. Joel (my cousin) was actually over at my house for the whole thing. He spent the night at our house the night before last.

I also watched the movie Persepolis yesterday. It's based on a graphic novel that we read for school in the 9th grade. It was pretty good. Actually it was a lot better than I expected, and even Owen, my brother who didn't want to watch the movie in the first place, liked it. It had a lot of funny moments, even for all the sad ones. So I'd definitely recommend it.

Alright, that's all I have for now. Adios!

Stuff

2008-07-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to my cousin Joel, who turned 15 yesterday! We're going tonight to some restaurant in White Oak shopping center for his birthday. Should be fun!

So, the past few days I've been working on my Graduation Project for school. It's this huge essay thing that's due your senior year, and it's a real pain in the butt. My topic is HIV/AIDS. The stupidest part of the project is the requirement of a "mentor", someone in the community who has at least two years of professional experience in our topic field and who can meet with you a total of at least 15 hours. It's stupid to require EVERY student to get a mentor, because it's a state-wide project, and it just doesn't seem like there would be enough people to fulfill every individual's topic. So, If anyone knows of someone who works with patients with HIV/AIDS, oro who researches it or deals with the disease in some way, AND who would be willing to help out a high school student, please let me know! :)

In crafty news, I'm putting my blanket on temporary hiatus while I work on a birthday present for my friend Sarita. But I'm not saying what it is until after I give it to her.

So, that's all I've got to say. Adios for now!

Awesome New Layout!

2008-07-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Check out the spiffy new layout!! Cool, huh? I made it myself!

Actually, I used this program to make it...but the point is i didn't just download it from somewhere. It's almost TOO colorful, but I kinda like it that way. If it gets obnoxious, I'll just go back and change it.

So...yeah, that's all.

I <3 KPC

2008-07-08T12:13:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

This post is basically just a shout-out to my favorite knitting website, Knitting Pattern Central and it's crochet cousin (ha! alliteration!) Crochet Pattern Central. The Knitting and Crochet Pattern Directories are totally awesome. Seriously, go to the "miscellaneous" section of KPC; people make some craaazy stuff!

So yeah...nothing else to say...

Adios for now!

2008-07-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hola Hola!

Update on log cabin blanket progress: It currently measures a little over 3 ft by 3 ft, which is pretty darn good for less than a week of work. I am now out of blue AND white yarn, though. I was just using stash yarn, most of which comes from thrift stores and yard sales. That means I can't get any more of the same yarn because it was made over thirty years ago... So I'm just going to improvise from here. I might make a really big black section around the outside to make up the rest of the size. Here's a picture of what the blanket looks like now, courtesy of Microsoft Paint because I can't get my computer to read the memory chip in my camera:

Well, actually, I'm still working on the black around the outside, but this is what it will look like once I finish the black section.

All right, I'll keep you posted on further progress, because I know you're just dying to know how it's going. Adios!

Happy Fourth!

2008-07-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

Basically the entire point of this post is to say HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to everyone out there!

Hope everyone eats lots of hot dogs and watermelon, and uses firecrackers responsibly!

The Next Frontier

2008-07-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe "The Next Frontier" is a little too drastic for the title...Well I was going for a "Where no man has gone before" sort of thing, because I tried something new, but I failed to come up with a good way to phrase that. So I just stuck with the "Star Trek" theme and left it at that.

Back to the point, the +-*0\
=
=------------7

Sorry that was actually way away from the point...my cat stepped on the keyboard trying to attack my cursor, and it was so cute I had to keep it.

ANYWAY, so I started a new crochet project, which is *drumroll*...a blanket! I've never attempted to do a whole blanket before, so this is exciting. It all started when I checked out Mason-Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne (who run http://masondixonknitting.com/ together). This is probably my favorite knitting book ever! Tha authors are hilarious and the projects are some that i might actually do, a big plus for a knitting book. I think I've checked the book out from the library about three times... Well anyway, there's a section in the book about Log Cabin knitted blankets. This is a technique where you start by knitting a square, then pick up stitches from one side and knit a block, then pick up more stitches and knit another block. Well the end result looks something like this. (The link is to someone else's blog who has a pic of a log cabin blacket. It was the best picture I could find.) I'm improvising a crochet version of the technique, though. It's going to be black, white, a really pretty light blue color, and probably another color because I'm pretty sure I'm going to run out of blue. All are just yarn from my stash. I took a picture of what I have finished so far, but apparently my computer isn't reading from drive "I" so I can't load it. Maybe next post.

Alright, I'm going to go crochet now. Adios!

TV Movies, Mittens, and Novels about Knitting

2008-07-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Whew, it's been a while since the last post. But this is actually a good thing, because I actually have stuff to write about.

First of all, I watched the movie (well TV miniseries, but come on, it's still pretty much a movie) Hogfather. It's based on the book of the same title by Terry Pratchett, one of my favorite authors. The book is really good, and I freaked when I saw the movie in Blockbuster. I read some reviews of it, which ranged from "My wife and I loved this movie, It was so well acted!" to "I have rarely ever hated a movie this much" (seriously, that's word-for-word). So I didn't know what to expect, but I rented it, and convinced my brother to watch it with me. I have read the book and loved it, but my brother has never even read a book by Terry Pratchett, so you understand that we're coming from 2 different points of view. However, we both loved it! Most of it was well acted, the costumes and sets were creative and interesting, the special effects were good for the most part, and the story was interesting. The character Teatime (pronounced Tay-uh-tee-may) was especially good and well acted, and creepy in a "Willy Wonka-meets-child molester" kind of way.

I have too admit, I didn't get a lot of the book, and it was that way for a lot of the movie, but it did explain itself in the end. I was a little worried that Owen (that's my brother) wouldn't understand what was going on, but he seemed to follow along just fine. All in all, the movie was very faithful to the book. And a lot of it was very funny in a sarcastic kind of way, very much Terry Pratchett's style. My only complaints would be that some of the supporting characters were really awful actors, the Tooth Fairy especially, and that Death's scythe kept changing shape, which was basically just a careless mistake of the director. Overall my rating would be 3 out of 4 stars.

In other news, I checked out a book from the library called Chicks with Sticks: It's a Purl Thing by Elizabeth Lenhard and its sequel Chicks with Sticks: Knit Two Together. I expected them to be really stupid girly books, and the second one was. But I did really like the first one. It was basically about four unlikely friends who meet at a yarn store and form a sisterhood called "Chicks with Sticks". It was a really cute, relatable story that was well written for its genre (young adult fiction), especially when compared to books like the "Mates, dates" books by Cathy Hopkins; those were really awful and I'm ashamed I read the first two (in my defense, they only took about an hour to read each, so that's only 2 hours of my life wasted).

The seccond book in the "Chicks with Sticks" series, however was a classic, predictable, overly mushy, girly romance book. It consisted basically of the main character, Scottie angsting about not having a boyfriend, and then when she gets one, totally overanalyzing the relationship and angsting some more. It was almost painful to read some of it. It was especially disappointing considering the first one was actually good. I mean, what happened there? However, the redeeming element for the whole series is the inclusion of knitting patterns at the ends of the books. They were especially cool because some of them were the patterns that the characters knitted in the book.

After reading the first book, I was in such a knitty mood I immediately went to my yarn stash and started knitting a pair of mittens using a pattern from the back of the book. I used Lion Brand Homespun, in a sort of charcoal grey color. I already have both a hat and a scarf knitted from the same yarn, so the mittens just complete the set. It makes me happy :) I finished the mittens in two days, so it's a great weekend project. I'd include a picture of the mittens, but I don't think my camera has any batteries in it, and I don't feel like finding any.

So that's all I've got for today. Adios!

PS. A note for people who feel the need to correct the grammar in my blog entries, *cough* staci *cough*, I write my blog the way I talk, which includes putting commas in wherever I would pause while speaking. :P

Panda

2008-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Meet Mei Mei, my new pet panda! (on the sidebar)

Yes, its tacky to have widgets like this, but I don't really care. I'm really tired right now and the panda was too adorable right now to resist.

By the way, "Mei Mei" means "little sister" in chinese. Oh yeah. I'm cool.

Ravelry

2008-06-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hello hello!

I've decided that since its summer and I have much more free time on my hands, I'd return to my Ravelry account that I let languish during the school year. For anyone who doesn't know, Ravelry is essentially a social networking site geared towards knitters and crocheters. You can put in your WIPs, chat with other knitters and crocheters, and find patterns. There's also this thing where you can put in all the balls of yarn in your stash, but I tend to avoid that because it seems like too much trouble when I don't even know what half of the balls of yarn in my stash are...

In other (knitting) news, I'm almost done with a red scarf done with Lion Brand "Color Waves". The ball of yarn had been sitting on my shelf for almost a year, so I felt like I should probably get it out of the way. The only problem is, its almost 100 f***ing degrees and really humid where I live and this yarn is really warm. Not a good combination. So I tend to only do a few rows at a time. Here's a picture of the scarf:

Also, a cause for celebration: I actually organized all of my sewing stuff!! I had these two sewing boxes that I had barely even looked through (they were from yard sales) so I just dumped them and started sorting the stuff that fell out. The result is.....more mess! But that should be cleared up once I deal with all the little "leftovers" that didn't belong anywhere (seriously, how do so many pennies, screws, paperclips, and clothespins end up where they don't belong???).

Alright, I am now officially sick of writing this post. I had just finished it the first time, and clicked "Publish Post", when the stupid website said "Blogger is currently unavailable" and the post wasn't saved. This was more than a little frustrating, so excuse me if I sound a little pissy this time around.

Adios!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

A very Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I hope its a good one!

There's no real point to this blog post; I've got nothing really to say, but I figured it was best to get in the habit of posting regularly, and thought I should probably leave a "Happy Father's Day" message.

So, have a great day, dads!

Life

2008-06-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again.

So, as you can probably figure out by the huge gaps between my posts, I'm not very good at posting regularly. I get on the computer to write something, and I end up playing Mario or something. But here I am now!

School's out now, so I've got a lot more free time. Mostly spent reading, knitting, cleaning, or playing KoTOR, a Star Wars video game (that I beat yesterday!). Yes, I do know I am a nerd, I don't need reminding. For the record, I DON'T play any other Star Wars games, read Star Wars books or comics, or edit the Star Wars "Wookieepedia", so that should be a few points in my favor.

Also, I think I deserve some recognition for something. I was in Joann's the other day, and I didn't buy any yarn! I should get a round of applause for my self-restraint. I did buy a pair of needles, but they were size US17, which I didn't have already. Plus, they were on sale for like 97 cents. I couldn't afford *not* to buy them. I love Joann's because they have the most random sales. You'll look at the crochet hooks, and only one size will be on sale, not the rest. It's really strange.

I'm making practically no progress on the shirt I'm knitting from the bamboo yarn. Each row takes about 5 minutes to knit, so its slow work. I usually do projects with huge needles and bulky yarn when I can, so I'm getting a little impatient. Another cause for stress, I can't get the hang of cables. I don't have a resident knitter to talk to or to show me anything, so I'm teaching myself everything from books.

In other news, I just finished reading Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite. It freaked me out pretty bad, but that's a good thing because I love horror books, especially ones about vampires. I tried to write a vampire novel one time for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month, it's this thing where you have to write a 50,000 word novel in one month), but I failed. I'm also continuing to read the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Okay, I'm gonna sign off now, mostly because I can't think of anything else to write about. Adios, amigos!

...And We're Back!

2008-06-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Yes, yes I know it's been ages since my last post...But it's not my fault! Really! Heres the story:

I try to log on to my blog (this was a few weeks ago), and the site won't let me. So I ignore it, thinking maybe the server is down, or they're renovating the site or something. So the next morning, I check my email, and I have one from the Blog site saying they have shut down my blog because it's a "spam blog". What?!? There is nothing "spammy" on my blog, and there was only one post... How they figure out what makes a spam blog, I don't know, but it's probably some computer program that just filtered out my site by mistake. *Sigh*

So now my blog has been reactivated, and I'm back! Just in time to vent about my end-of-course exams. Yippee. Though they are more than half over now, so the end is in sight. I have already taken English, Anatomy, and Algebra, and there wasn't one for World History, so all I have left is Genetics, Spanish, and....*shudder* Chemistry.

At least it's almost summer. I look forward to more free time for knitting! Currently i'm at a bit of a standstill. I finished two scarves a few days ago, but they were just the fun fur ones with huge needles, so its still not much of an accomplishment. I need to work more on the shirt I'm knitting from the bamboo yarn. If you knit, you have got to try the stuff, it's amazing! I'm using Bernat brand, in color "Rosehip". The pattern is here, but you have to be a member at Bernat's website to access it.

Well, technically I should be using this rare bit of free time to study for my genetics exam, so I better go.

<3

Welcome!

2008-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
Welcome to my brand-new blog! I've been meaning to make one for a while, but never got around to it until now.

First of all, a few fun facts about me:

I am obsessed with knitting and crocheting. I believe i am literally addicted to yarn. Seriously, you should see how much of the stuff I have around my house.
I am an avid reader. I used to write, too, but that hobby kinda fell to the wayside when the aforementioned obsession took hold. I need to get back into that...
I don't eat red meat.
I have one brother, who is three years younger.
I love animals. My friends have pretty much unanimously voted me "Most Likely to be a Crazy Cat Lady". The sad thing is, that's probably true...
I want to go to pharmacy school at UNC Chapel hill and go into pharmaceutical research.
I am also (strangely) obsessed with microbiology. I get overly excited talking about diatoms. (I do know i'm a loser, i don't need to be reminded...)
I am semi-fluent in Spanish. By semi-fluent, I mean I can carry on a reasonably long conversation, and I could get by on my own in Spain, but I'm not totally fluent.

Yeah that's all i feel like thinking of right now.

Adios y hasta luego!