24 July, 2008
My Blog Ate My Homework
Whew, I’m back everyone! My computer has been having some… er, issues with the WordPress software, but I believe that everything’s been sorted out, judging by the fact that my test post showed up.
Well, holy dang, it’s been a while since my last post! Almost a month, in fact. That is totally not acceptable. I could have a laundry list of excuses for you, but we’ll just skip right past that. My parents are on vacation, and therefore have the camera, but I can give you some rather out-dated pictures, and fill you in on what else is happening, knitting-wise.
First, the stuff that’s got pictures, which is sadly, not many. I have been making lots o’ progress on The Grey Beast, working all the way through Clue 4 and getting halfway through Clue 5 (the picture only shows Clue 4, though):
and a closeup (kinda):
I love all the ways the triangles within triangles build upon each other– it’s even more obvious in Clue 5, which I hope to have pictures for you tomorrow.
Remember when I mentioned I had startitis? Well, here’s the result of that:
Can’t tell what it is yet? Here’s a zoom-out:
Yep. I finally jumped on the bandwagon (about two years behind everyone) and cast on for a Clapotis. I had two skeins of Cotton-Ease that I’d gotten for my birthday, and thought it would make a perfect summer-y scarf/wrap (swrap? wrarf?). It’s definitely too short for a real stole, but it’s a great scarf, all drape-y and slinky and fun. Dropped stitches for the win!
Sadly, I believe that’s all the actual pictures I have to projects right now, but in my absence, I also:
*Finally, finally cast on for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, one of my most-coveted sweaters. I am most of the way through the body (only one more decrease section to go), and am going to start the sleeves as soon as I buy another US 5 circular needle from work (I only have one, it’s rather large, and it’s being used).
*To make room for the new, delicious yarn (and all the stuff to follow it, I’m sure), I reorganized my stash! More on that tomorrow, but let me say, it takes up a lot less room, and some summer camp kids will be very happy with the Thrift Store Arcrylic I put in the Goodwill truck last week.
I believe that’s all I can give you in terms of an update, so I’ll hit publish and pray that works. Let’s hope I can get another, actual post up tomorrow, with real pictures and everything! Someday, I’ll be a Real Blogger, with actual content and stuff. Okay, here goes!
23 June, 2008
Pomp and Circumstance
Hey, all! Thanks for the words of encouragement about my ankle while I sat around and was a good girl and healed. Lemme tell you, it drove me NUTS to just sit around whilst my friends get to run around and go swimming and the like. Last week was crazy, what with school letting out and me starting a new job, hence the no updates. I’m getting ready to run out the door to do some errands, so you’ll have to make due with a few pictures from last week’s graduation. I still have another year to go (…sigh), but The Faery graduated. Yay for you, sweetie!
Last week was also my mother’s birthday. Because of my sprained ankle, I wasn’t able to block her scarf, but that should be done and given to her within a day or two, now that I’m mostly healed. More later, though. I’ve gotta go be all responsible and stuff.
10 June, 2008
Everything Happens in Threes
…is how that old saying goes, I suppose, and that seems to be true for me right now. Last week, I got horribly sick (I went from “I’m going to die”, to “I want to die”, to “Well, maybe life’s not so bad” in the span of a week), the show I did sound for had major technical difficulties, and now I find myself staring down this:
(although I will admit, I do like my choice of colour for my toenail polish)
Yesterday, my body decided my life wasn’t exciting enough, and threw me down the stairs and off of the stage. Or at least, that’s how it felt to me. In reality, what probably happened (I’m still too stunned to clearly remember) is that I missed the bottom step of the stairs and tumbled down onto my ankle, spraining it quite nicely. Now, I’ve sprained both ankles several times before, and as sprains go, this one is mild. But it is still enough to knock me off my feet (literally!) for a day or two while it heals. I’ve got ice packs, pillows, and a new pair of crutches on my side, so I should be healed in a day or two (or three, because I am a stubborn S.O.B and don’t like to be slowed down, sprained ankle be damned). On the plus side, since I’ve had so much knitting time, I hauled out The Grey Beast again:
Yep. Dem Fischer Sin Fru is back! After taking a break from it, I’ve definitely rekindled my love affair for the pattern. It is still monstrous, but the rows feel a little less soul-crushing (yeah, remind me of that when I read Chart 5, and the rows are nearly twice as long). This shawl will be beautiful, an ethereal, floaty thing to drape myself in. I imagine wearing it over my gown when I graduate next year (assuming I actually finish the damn thing), wrapping myself in it when I attend the opening of my next gallery show– my own private little shroud of merino mystery.
In terms of the actual knitting of the thing, putting it onto circular needles has quickened my knitting progress dramatically. The weight is distributed more evenly, and the stitches feel less like they’re fighting for room. As you can see, there’s actually room for me to spread it out, and show a little bit of the pattern forming, on the sides:
And down the center:
The Options needles really are great for lace! They’re lightweight, and the tips are satisfyingly point, perfect for the delicate, splitty merino I’m using. I was really paranoid about the cable joins coming loose from the tips, but they’ve held steadfast the entire time I’ve been using them. I’ve been able to go pretty speedily through the last few rows, and finally, finally finished Chart 3. Luckily, the charts get smaller as the rows get longer, so I’m finally feeling like I’m on the home stretch.
Speaking of home stretches, my mother’s Dayflower Scarf is done:
Notice the working yarn still attached to the bind-off? That’s because I wasn’t sure if the scarf would be too long. I showed it to my mother, who draped it around her neck and announced it was the perfect length; but we all know (perhaps too well) that lace streeeeeeetches during blocking, so it may gain another half a foot on it. If it turns out to be too long, I’ll undo the bind-off and frog back a repeat or two.
But that’ll have to wait another day or two. As it stands, blocking is out of the question until I’m completely mobile again. The thing is, it’s not so hard to get down onto the floor; it’s the crawling around– and, more importantly, the getting back up– that’s the problem. I hate feeling useless, and am starting to get restless. Remember that “things coming in threes thing” I said? Well, I only have two major WIP’s, and I’m starting to get startitis. Maybe it’s time tro crack open Victorian Lace Today and start working on a lacey scarf for myself, too…
6 June, 2008
Eye Candy Friday (kind of)
Well, my camera’s on the fritz again, and I felt the need to post, since I’m trying to do the whole “more regular posting” thing and all. So, today is Friday, and that means Eye Candy Friday, that old blogging tradition. And thus, I give you a picture of my office right now, taken once again with my MacBook’s camera:
Boxes! Lots of boxes, all full of new power cords for our laptops. I’ve had a nasty cold all week, and am thus high on Sudafed and tripping over these at every opportune (and inopportune) moment. I think they’re kind of beautiful, in a strange, demented sort of way. Enjoy!
30 May, 2008
And Lo, There Was Geekery
So, I’m over at The Faery’s house for our weekly D&D game, bemoaning my lack of digital camera and the fact that I am doomed, again, to a picture-less post.
And then I remembered: I have a new MacBook, and therefore, it has Photobooth, which is like, the most ridiculously fun application ever, except for the one that makes your computer make lightsaber noises. And so, I give you: Ryn Knitting Crocheting at D&D.
It’s kinda hard to get a good picture of it, but the Little Star Afghan continues to grow. In nerd terms, it’s gone from Small sized to Medium sized:
I think our DM needs to compose himself a bit more:
That’s better.
28 May, 2008
Fall Down Go Boom?
Hey, all! I’m back from BayCon. Well, I’ve actually been home since Monday afternoon, but I came home and basically went to sleep for two days. I actually fell asleep at my work station in the IT department at school today. My supervisor came over to make sure I was okay. Heh.
In other news, knitting (and crocheting) progress has been slow-ish. The Little Star Afghan continues to grow in small bursts in between focusing lights and running backstage for more gaffer’s tape. The Dayflower Scarf, which is getting most of my attention, is working up lightning fast; a nice change of pace from the behemoth that is The Fisherman’s Wife (yes, I’m still working on it. No, there’s no pictures. It looks exactly the same as it did last time). I’m totally digging the awesome cotton yarn my mom picked out. It’s really soft and cool, and knits up like a dream.
Sorry, guys! No pictures today. I’m kind of in a rush right now, trying to get stuff together for the next few days, since I’ll be over at The Faery’s. Maybe pictures in the morning? I’ll try.
PS. I got a job! The JoAnne’s near my house practically hired me on the spot, and I’m über-excited! My first day is in a few weeks. Mmmm, employee discount…
22 May, 2008
Asaka, knit me a garden
Yeah, way to alienate the readers with obscure musical theatre puns, Ryn.
Anywho, the above title is a pun on a line from a song from the musical “Once on This Island” (and the green grass grows all around, all around…), which I am in the process of helping to produce. I’m on the lighting crew, and this is only the first week of rehearsals, so there’s been quite a bit of “sitting around” time in between waiting for the cast to clear the stage, managing the board, and teaching the tech-n00bs to focus stage lights. Thus, the Little Star Afghan has grown quite considerably:
I decided that I was going to stripe it with some black yarn I inherited a while back, because I like the sort of “punk-rock crochet” thing it created. That, and stripes are Teh Awesome.
Okay, and because I wasn’t sure how much purple I had left. I think a couple more rounds of the black, and then I’ll either switch back to the purple or I’ll add in some dark blue I have. What do y’alls think? What *I* think is that I’m going to need a bigger bag soon:
I want this thing to be snuggly monstrous when it’s done.
On the smaller side of things, my dear mother’s birthday is coming up on three weeks or so. So, I took her to the yarn store yesterday, and she picked out this:
Two skeins of Rowan’s Wool Cotton, in a lovely sort of “robin’s egg perriwinkle”, if that makes any sense to anyone but me. The colour in the photographs is horribly innacurate, but I have limited time right now so I make due with what I’ve got. Two skeins of this great yarn is enough to make the Dayflower Scarf from StitchinGirl’s blog, which my mother herself picked out for her present. I’ve already done maybe three and a half repeats:
DK-weight yarn on US 8 needles = super fast knitting! I’m really hoping that I’ll finish this in time for her birthday.
A note about the yarn: I was really worried when my mother said she wanted a cotton scarf, because I’d heard a bunch of stuff about cotton hurting the hands when it’s knit with; not so with this stuff! I think it’s partially because it’s a cotton/wool blend, but it feels like butter on my hot little hands, which are made even hotter by the fact that it’s… well, hot here. The blue is so cool and refreshing, I wish I could just dive into it. I so want to try knitting with more cottons.
Speaking of which, I finally picked up the new issue of Interweave Knits when I was at the yarn store:
Can we say “major coveting”? Yes, we can. I want to knit practically all the designs here! I think the Apres Surf Hoodie and the Tidewater wrap (sorry, Ravelry link only, since I don’t have the time right now to hunt for the proper link) are on the top of my “must knit” list right now…
PS. I’ll be away at BayCon this weekend, so no post until Monday, at the earliest (I am so not taking my brand-new computer with me– too paranoid). Have a great Memorial Day weekend to my US readers! To the Canadians, enjoy the beautiful weather, if you’re getting it!
19 May, 2008
The Eye of the Tiger
This year, I had a truly awesome Pre-Calculus teacher. He was smart and sarcastic, lax about stuff like eating in class, and super-friendly. He’d always take extra time to explain a particularly difficult concept if even a few people weren’t getting it, making sure the majority of the class was all on the same page before moving on to the next topic. And when we came into class on exam days, he’d always have “Eye of the Tiger” playing on his computer for us, as sort of a “congratulations, you’re almost there. Now all you need to do is take all the information spilling out of your brains and dump it on the paper, and you’re done.”
That is exactly how I feel right now about the Sunrise Circle:
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Look! Look at how close I am! As you can see, the jacket is fully wearable, but it still needs a few details. Things such as sewing down the front hems and buying buttons. I need something truly spectacular for this jacket; I mean, this is my first sweater! I’m thinking sea green or deep turquoise, fused glass or vintage pearlescent. Maybe even wooden toggles. It’ll all depend on what treasures I find at Stonemountain and Daughter when I drop by after school tomorrow.
On another note, I am completely enchanted with the hem facings:
Tacked down on the inside,
Barely visible from the outside!
So neat and tidy! I am already plotting what the next garment might be… I’m looking at you, Tangled Yoke Cardigan…
PS. Check out the cutie I found on my wall this morning:
Wouldn’t that be the perfect closure for the jacket?
17 May, 2008
In Which My Bedroom Smells of Wool
Yup, you’re hearing (er, reading) that right: my bedroom smells like wool. Wet wool, to be specific. You see, I am blocking the pieces of the Sunrise Circle Jacket:
You only see the sleeves in the above picture because the back has already been blocked:
And is waiting for me to block the sleeves. Again. See, what happened was that since it was so unbearably hot on Friday, I thought a good way to cool off and be productive would be to submerge woolly items into cool water, then pin them to my bed with the fan going full-blast. They’d dry quickly, right? Well, they did. The only problem was that I’d forgotten to close the door all the way. Enter the guilty party:
Louie here decided it would be a great idea to JUMP ON THE BED. I damn near had a heart attack when I came back in and saw the pieces in disarray. Luckily, the back was totally fine, and the sleeves just needed some “touch-ups”. The right sleeve needed it’s collar re-blocked, but the left sleeve needed a full do-over. So, now I have the fan going full-blast again, and hoping that they’ll dry pretty fast, since there’s still a bit of carry-over heat from the day.
Luckily, it’s cooling down fast, so I don’t have to feel like I’m dying anymore (heat wuss, remember?). This has been my hot weather project:
(Pattern in the Little Star Afghan, found here)
I know, I know! It’s crochet. Don’t kick me out of the club, please? See, I re-learned how to crochet not that long ago, and when it’s hot, crochet is easier on my hands. The yarn is arcrylic, so it doesn’t stick to my hands and start to felt a little like wool does, and holding one hook is easier than two needles.
Speaking of yarn, I scored at Thrift Town yesterday. Check it out!
Bag o’ Yarn for the win! I don’t know the full extent of its’ contents, but I’ll certainly fill y’alls in tomorrow when I plumb its’ woolly depths. I’m gonna go play with my shiny new toy:
(Shiny new MacBook! The other computer in the background is my faithful iBook, which was school-assigned. I have to give it back in a week or two)
Did you hear that? That was the sound of all my free time going down the drain. I have a new computer. I think I might be in love. I shall call her… well, I don’t know yet. I think we need to get to know each other more…
The Knerdy Knitter 