Knit, Purl, Repeat.

Say you're knitting a scarf.

Say this scarf has a big fat cable running through it. Say this requires use of a stitch counter so you know when to cable. Say you're not entirely joyous about the product, but you're continuing just because it's something to do.

Now, say you lose your stitch counter. It mysteriously vanishes. You can't find it anywhere. Now you can no longer comfortably cable without marking your progress on a piece of paper or some other such bother.

Lesson: When your stitch counter vanishes and you can no longer easily cable, frog the darn thing (which was turning out fairly ugly anyway) and make stripes instead.

Somewhere a deep life lesson is buried in there. Something highly metaphorical. But I'm too cross-eyed from 1x1 ribbing to figure it out.

-The GLS

Haha...ish.

Okay, I don't really want to think about this, but there's a LOT of vampire-themed knitting going on over at Ravelry.com's recently-added patterns section.

It's a little disturbing.

In other news...

I have never found female comedians (or comediennes, I suppose) to be all that funny. I don't know why.

Although to be fair, male or female, I'm not crazy about American comedians anyway. But that's beside the point.

Female comedians. Don't find them that funny. And for a long time, the only exception was Josie from "Whose Line is it Anyway?" because she was the only chick they had on there with any sense of timing. The rest of them were kinda like politically-correct punching bags for Ryan, Colin, and Wayne to toy with. And really good props for when kissing was a possibility. And I know I sound terrible for saying so, but go watch some of the episodes with Kathy or any of the other ones I've forgotten and TELL me the boys were anglin' for some kissin' throughout the episode.

But I can learn. I'm an adult. I'm still growing and attitudes are still shifting. I'm not set in my ways, yet. No one ever is, really. And the walls of prejudice CAN come crumbling down.

So I'm watching "Chick Comedy" on YouTube in the name of broadening horizons. I'm saying it's good for me, you know? Spending some quality time. On YouTube.

I know what you're thinking. This sounds like an excuse not to go to bed, right? Oh, how wrong you are. You're just jealous that YOU'RE not doing something gutsy like sitting on your butt and allowing the expansion of your mind simultaneously.

Here. Have a link. Enjoy.

That's right. I'm like...a pioneer.

So there.

-The GLS

Sticks and String.

You know, it's funny how hobbies ebb and flow. I hadn't even given a thought to the fact that I hadn't been knitting, lately, until my mom mentioned it last week. So I found a pattern for a slouchy hat and whizzed my way through it, starting late last night and ending about ten minutes ago.

I'll post pics tomorrow, since the knitting is done but the hat is still sans decorations (because, you know, I'm all about at least a LITTLE bit of embellishment).

This post is also by way of an apology, because I didn't post last night, and this is because I couldn't stop knitting this stupid hat. It became a night of "just one more row! one more row!" and I was up pretty late.

Now, to buttons and pom-poms and fringe, oh my.

-The GLS

The Stupid Purple Scarf.

So, awhile back, I started knitting a Stupid Purple Scarf. To be fair, when I started it, it wasn't stupid yet.

It came directly on the heels of my first (inadvertent) shawl experience, the shawl which was SUPPOSED to be a scarf.

After I finished the Big Green Shawl, I still wanted to use the pattern to make a scarf, so I started a new one. Although this time, in shades of purple.

Well, I got a few stripes into it and then lost interest.

The stupid part started growing as I left the scarf un-knitted in the bottom of the basket I keep my mugs in. It took up room (being that it involved three skeins of purple yarn), it was teasing me to finish it, but I got so irritated with those darn STRIPES.

So I left it alone. For months.

Until a few nights ago, when I picked it back up and completed the pattern WITHOUT the stripes. It looked a little gawky, but at least it was DONE.

Then, I spent all of this evening putting tassles on the dumb thing. The tassles were to serve two purposes. One, to satisfy my need to put tassles on things. And two, to hide the ends of the striped section so I wouldn't have to weave them in. Because I'm lazy like that.

The result? REALLY THICK TASSLES.



And when I say THICK, I mean THICK. Cushy, even.



But it's still wrapped around my neck, and it's quite warm and cozy, and it's even slightly big enough to drape around my shoulders as a shawlette.

The part you CAN'T see in these photos is that my brand new white tank top is covered in purple fuzz. But, you know, that's why this scarf is stupid.

-The GLS

Pledges and Purple and Peach Tea.

I just started on the second part of my exciting, summertime top-secret knitting project. More information as it comes, but it will certainly be fun. I think knitting in the summer is a strange, but perfectly acceptable form of entertainment. After all...knitting in the winter actually seems sort of weird. Don't you want the knitting DONE by winter so you can actually use it? Of course you do.

I'm also going to make a pledge to either frog or finish some of the projects that have been sitting around for months, like the Stupid Purple Scarf I started in, like, January. Finish the dang sucker, you!! So I will.

This holiday weekend is going to be very busy, very fun, and very full. Celebrations, cookery, knitting, books to read, music to listen to, baby showers to attend. So much hobbitness! Yikes! I can hardly wait to get started!

But for now, this week has completely mowed me over and I feel a cold coming on. So, if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you now so I can go sip some peach black tea and finish the Stupid Purple Scarf.

-The GLS

Self-Talk.

As per the title, I needed a little bit today. But I gave myself a good talking to, and we're back on good terms. I don't want to ever get back into the headspace I found myself in even a year ago. No, sir. We're happy, here. And that's because we have Jesus (and by the way...you can too!). :)

Anyhoo, I started knitting a new pair of handwarmers on this, the first day of summer. I figured, why not? I think I'm going to line these ones, too, with some fabric from a blouse of mine that ripped awhile back. I kept the fabric because I thought it was pretty. Maybe I'll actually DO something with it? Shocking!

I'm intending for these handwarmers to be a bit girly and spring-timey, not so much heavy winter ones. So the lining is going to be a thin cotton floral print, and the yarn itself is a fairly lightweight heathered peach color. Throw in a bit of moss stitch and some plait around the cuff, and you've got yourself a pretty pair of fingerless non-gloves! That's what I figure, anyway.

I also inherited (shoot, there's that word again!) a whole box of FANTASTIC old-fashioned buttons from my great-grandmother's sewing kit. Seriously, these things are AWESOME. If I give you something with buttons on it, they may very well have once belonged to Grandma Dot. Just so you know.

Off to make a little more headway on these handwarmers.

Happy first day of summer! Hope it's warmer where you are than it is where I am. :)

-The GLS

If A Frog Had Wings...

(If you're a Coen Bros. fan you can probably finish the title on your own. I'll let you go ahead and do that, now.)

Hi! Long time no see!

I've been constructing s'mores, singing songs, and generally being campy for the past few days. Now I'm back! The cuffs of my jeans are drying, my muddy converse are outside, and the smell of woodsmoke still lingers.

Yes, I'm back, and I'm still going gutsily.

Gosh, where do I even BEGIN?

First of all, I'm officially beginning to knit the covers for the Bacher Rocker, the old dark wicker rocking chair sitting sadly in the corner of my room. Sadly because the upholstery it currently has (NOT original to the chair, by the way) would like a little makeover. So I'm knitting them some cozy covers. They're not going to be spectacularly detailed and/or colorful, but they'll do. (For those of the knitting persuasion: I'm doing a plaited stitch in a sort of off-white heather color.)

Then, I went to Joann Fabrics and Half-Price Books to do some major financial damage, and I failed, because both places were having major sales and I walked away with lots of merchandise for less money than they might have liked. But there's more yarn, cute buttons, and Irish trad LPs lying around than ever before!

Oh! Oh! And I got the boxed set of the UK Office, too! I know, you're all major US Office fans. And that's fine. But give me Ricky Gervais and Mykenzie Crook and I'm there, wot?

Finally, I crashed and burned in my attempt at baking. Which is good, because it keeps me humble. I was attempting to amend a recipe, turning some Irish oatmeal biscuits from savory to sweet, but didn't quite get there. My parents (read: guinea pigs) were nice about it as always, but the biscuits aren't what I wanted them to be. Not quite right. Never fear...I'll try again. And this time, bring on the sugar.

What a busy day! And work tomorrow. But a short week, yea verily!

-The GLS

Congratulations! It's A Hat!

Yep, it's finally happened.

I was a busy little bee, today. Before noon I had already hung my tea-dyed yarn out to dry on the gazebo, measured my nearly-completed prototype elfin hat on the head of the elf to whom it would be given, and started making a batch of tea scones for brunch.

Phew!

The scones were delicious, although a bit dense...but scones often are, right? And the clotted cream to put on them was fantastic. Thank you, PCC, for stocking Devonshire cream!

But my greatest achievement is this: I FINALLY FINISHED THE ELF HAT.



Yes! I had decided I was going to give the hat to the child of a friend, whom I refer to here as "Cheeks". I drove over there this morning with the hat sans strap, buttons, little flower things, and with the elastic untied just to see if the body of the hat itself fit her head. And it did! Perfectly!

After measuring it on the little elf's head I went home, added the finishing touches (the strap, the buttons, the cute little flower/leaf/treestar/butterfly things), and drove back to their house a few hours later to drop it off and let Cheeks put it on!



She seemed to really like it. At the moment the strap is a bit too loose under her chin (I'm hoping she can grow into it), so she enjoyed pulling the hat off and then sticking it back on, pulling it off, sticking it on...great fun. Glad I sewed that strap on good and tight. :)

It feels nice to have that bit of knitting done. And now I want to make more. Lots more! Uh oh. This may be the start of a beautiful friendship between me...and elfin hats.

-The GLS

Redefining "Tea Room"

What is this?



Is it muddy spaghetti? The world's largest pot of pho?

I'll give you a hint: My room smells very strongly of Irish Breakfast Tea.

Here's another hint: The cupboard in the background is where I keep my yarn.

Got it yet?

Yes, I'm TEA DYEING yarn!

I bought this skein of white Kerry Woollen Mills yarn from the Irish imports store a few months ago, and I mainly wanted it because it smelled like sheep. I LOVE that smell.

But it's white. And I make a point of not buying white yarn, because there's very few things I'll wear that are white. It just invites stains.

So I thought...why not purposefully stain it? Using Irish Breakfast tea, and keeping well within the same theme? I'm going to let it set overnight. I hope the color darkens a bit more than it already has. That weird effect in the photo is actually a glass plate that I set on top of the yarn so it doesn't float. Apparently my great grandma used to do that with her pickles to keep them submerged. According to my mom, anyway.

I'll let you know how it goes. Could be interesting...

-The GLS

Unlikely Greeting Cards.

(The title is courtesy the BBC comedy show "Mock the Week". I can't exactly recommend watching it, because it's not for the sensitive....but parts of it are very funny.)

Alrighty, here's the thing. Today was (obviously) Easter, so not a lot of gutsiness occurred.

However! There is a lump of orange yarn sitting next to me that was the victim of a rather unfortunate...well, I can't call it an accident.

I can call it my first attempt at crochet.

My sister-in-law (whom I affectionately refer to as Sister Bear, because my bro is Brother Bear...see what I did there?) and her mother are both extremely talented crocheters, and we got to talking about crochet vs. knitting, and I wondered if perhaps I ought to give it another try.

I'm...not sure what I did could really be called crochet. It came out looking more like an orange worm with a glandular problem. But, you know, practice makes perfect?

Other than that, I hope you all had a lovely Easter.

He is risen! He is risen indeed.

-The GLS

Gutsy Enough Not to Use An Ampersand.

Oh my gosh!!

Yeah. I decided I was in a title rut. So the ampersand is going to take a little break.

Today I realized I had too few knitting projects going on. Basically it's just a re-start of this adorable elfin hat that I've been inching my way through for weeks. And the "Pippin" scarf that I started but never continued because I realized I'd been reading the pattern wrong the whole time. Phooey.

So I spent some time this afternoon re-winding all of my messy skeins of yarn into nice little balls and then organizing them in the antique hutch they should live in (they tend to spill out all over my workspace). I also now have a paper bag full of yarn scraps to use for stuffing, should I ever need it, and a jar for varying balls of scrap yarn. One for larger scraps, and a smaller one for scraps that are too long for stuffing but not long enough to make anything bigger than a coin purse.

Having organized my yarn, I came across the red yarn that I got from a hat I bought in Galway. It was a cheap (like, 3 euro) hat that I really liked the style of, but it melted a day or two after I bought it. And by melted, I mean unraveled. In an epic fashion.

So I spent WAY longer than I needed to unraveling the yarn from the hat so I could use it for something else. It's a bright, cherry red and oh-so-soft. So I'm making a pair of handwarmers with it! It just seems right. Add a pair of red-and-white flapper buttons and we're in business!

The pattern for the handwarmers was one of the first patterns I ever tried when I first started knitting, and I've wanted to make these with this yarn for several months now, but I'm only now getting started. I think this is going to be a norm for me, unfortunately.

Pics when I finish. Perhaps even a before and after...hat to handwarmers. :)

-The GLS

Gaslights & Elfin Hats

Just a few things before this very disconnected-feeling weekend draws to a close.

"Gaslight" -- VERY good old creepy classic movie. Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman doing some of their best work, and an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury, too! It's about this young woman with a shadowy past (of course!) marrying this exotic man and discovering he's not what he seems (of course!). Truly, it was pretty sensational. And terrifying, for a movie made in 1944. Althought I tend to think the old black-and-white movies got it right, horror-wise. Ever seen "The Innocents" with Deborah Kerr? Holy crap. That movie was terrifying...

In other news, my dear little elfin hat experiment flopped. Literally, actually, it turned out ridiculously floppy. That's the problem with cotton, I guess. Besides that the proportions were all wrong. So I started another one with a different yarn, and it turns out it was the YARN'S fault for being the wrong size.

But then, I have to remember that I CHOSE the yarn, so...there's still no one to blame but myself. Phooey.

Well, I'm starting the hat over. Hopefully soon I'll have a nice, finished product to show off on here.

Until tomorrow,

-The GLS

Cotton & Catalina

It was a wacky, wacky day, today. But a good one, ultimately.

Stopped off at Fred Meyer with my mom and found the skein of yarn I had been looking for. Ironic, yeah? Looked all over at fabric stores and...Freddy's has it. Ah.

The yarn I'm using is cotton! It's my first time knitting with cotton. Not that it's much different than wool or acrylic or alpaca or bamboo (what I'm used to knitting with), but it has a LOT less give/elasticity and therefore less stretch when you're working with it. Other than that I LOVE the color (it's a nice, rich navy blue) and it feels nice to knit with something a little different this time around.

Another classic film night! This one was another doozy. "The Glass-Bottom Boat" starring Doris Day and Rod Taylor. (In case you're wondering: no, it's not about a glass-bottom boat, so the title IS meaningless...glad you asked.)

First, I must restate something very important: I LOVE classic movies. I'm an old movie buff. I thoroughly enjoy them in all of their black-and-white vs. TECHNICOLOR, weird editing, fantastic dialogue glory. I have no prejudice against old movies. This must be clearly understood before you continue reading.

Sometimes I think giving my reviews of movies like "The Glass-Bottom Boat" is kind of pointless, because...let's face it...the movie was made in 1966 and is a self-professed mix of a romcom and a spy movie. So...you can only imagine. Bright jewel-tone paint, misunderstandings, ugly men in drag, "Que Sera, Sera" following Doris Day around like a particularly sad puppy, chauvinistic undertones (or overtones), baritone ukuleles, Cold War "us vs. them" spygames with the Russians, and Rod Taylor with no shirt on. Not that I mind.

Seriously, this film was very strange, plotwise. The actual glass-bottom boat DOES start the film, but never really makes an appearance any other time. Sooo...one DOES wonder about the title a bit.

Okay, yeah, the film was pretty funny. I laughed aloud. HOWEVER if for no other reason, watch this film for Dom DeLuise. Holy cow, I love that man. I love him when he's falling all over himself, stepping in banana cream cake (not pie), stuttering uncontrollably, bugging the hors d'oeuvres, and getting hit in the head with things. He's amazing and hilarious and beloved.

I lied. If for no other reason BESIDES Dom DeLuise, watch this film for Eric Fleming, of "Rawhide" fame. Scratch that. Just go watch "Rawhide". Best TV show ever. And watch Eric Fleming and witness the awesome. Whether driving cattle or trying to steal government secrets, he's just so dashing!

When I was little I saw the old film version of "The Time Machine", and it was the first time I saw Rod Taylor in anything. I fell in love.

Well, I'm older now. And with Rod Taylor and Eric Fleming in the same movie...I think I've grown a bit wiser. I'll take Mr. Fleming, please and thank you.

...I think I need some sleep.

-The GLS

Optimism & Digestives

Today's gutsiness was thus: I had the unmitigated gall to have a wonderful Monday.

I know it seems bizarre. Wonderful and Monday? No. Never.

But yes!

First of all, there's no algebra this week until finals on Thursday, so I don't need to go rushing out the door at 7am. Yay!
Next my dad (who is a genius) fixed the turning signals on my car. I hopped in the car to go to work and the first song that popped on was an old favorite, Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead". Yes, I have it on my iPod. But admit it...sometimes there's a special feeling about hearing a favorite song on the radio. Because you didn't choose it. It chose YOU.

Work was great. The kids were in a pretty great mood, considering it's the first day of the week. The sun was out, so we took them out to the playground for some fresh air.

When it was off to Poetry class for our final classtime and party, I stopped off at the Irish imports store to pick up some digestives. One packet for the Poetry class party, and one for our St. Patty's Day celebration at work. I want the kids to try some Irish "cookies"...I think they'll like them. They're covered in dark chocolate.

The Poetry class was good, but ended somewhat bittersweet. Sometimes I don't like the last day of classes. I bond with people in my classes and then we have to part ways. However, we swapped cell numbers and hopefully will have a write-in sometime in the future. These girls were what made this quarter bearable in that class, and I'll never forget them.

Got home and decided to embark on a new knitting project. So I headed to Joann Fabric to pick up some yarn to make this adorable elfin hat. As part of this pattern I'm learning a new stitch, "seed stitch", which is pretty simple but new to me. Since it's an experiment I don't know if I'll be gifting it or if it'll stay with me for the time being. Who knows...maybe I'll give it to a little elf of my own one day. :)

Ended the day with Indian food from Trader Joe's, the ABC miniseries of "Alice In Wonderland" that is my absolute favorite (and part of the reason I'm reluctant to see the new Tim Burton one...), and working on my knitting.

I'm so easy to please.

-The GLS

Remember & Critique

KEXP is on a roll. At LEAST one new song per day in the past week that I have loved. Today it was "I Remember" by Yeasayer. Really lovely song. That guy's voice made me shiver, in a good way. I can't think of who his voice reminds me of. Falsetto-y? With some tremolo? Gosh, I can't think.

Yeah, we've got another knitting post. But the post goes a bit beyond knitting, so bear with me.

Tonight, I had to fight a little battle over critique.

I have a hard time with critique. As a writer I know I ought to be better about it, and as a writer I usually AM better about it. But this critique didn't have to do with my writing. It had to do with my knitting.

And I haven't really had to deal with this, before.

As many of you know, I am trying desperately to be rid of a bunch of yarn that's lying around my room. Yarn that I bought when I was young and naive and woefully under-educated about the best sorts of yarn to use. Just because I know better now, doesn't mean I'm suddenly rid of all this cheapo--but still quite useable--yarn. So I've been busting my stash, slowly but surely.

In an effort to bust a particularly loud color of chunky green yarn and some off-white of the same brand, I decided to make a hooded scarf based on a pattern I found. I had to re-judge for needle size and number of stitches (as I don't have circulars big enough...argh!). And we all know my success with going off-pattern, don't we?

Well, my off-pattern luck struck again...in the worst way. It ended up being really awkward looking, and since I ran out of the green and white earlier than I expected to I had to compensate with the only other color of chunky yarn I had: a reddish-purple color. So naturally it started to look really funny. And with the wrong needles, and different dimensions, oy.

So I finished it and showed it to my parents, and they were less than enthusiastic.

Understand: I am a performer. I am also highly sensitive to the emotions and social cues of others. Which can be good and bad. As a performer, I get to be fun and light-hearted when I feel like it. But when no one's clapping, I get upset. Being highly sensitive, I am usually able to tell what's going on with someone before they say anything. However, it also means I can tell when something I'm doing is not appreciated as highly as I think it should be. And I can't just "let go" of it as easily as others can. I hold on and shake it until it dies.

So I went back upstairs feeling bummed out and wanting to burn my new knitted monster and wishing I could un-buy the stupid yarn. Basically, I threw a little temper tantrum.

And then I put the hooded scarf on.

And I thought, hey. It's not THAT bad. I mean...yeah, it's weird. But it's not unworkable. Is it?



You know what? Don't answer that. Because it doesn't matter. I like it. It's cozy and warm and on a blustry day it's going to save my poor little ears. And it's funky. I like funky. So there.

And I love my parents for not massaging my ego every day. It gives me something to learn from. And blog about.

-The GLS

Shawls & Fire

I wept openly in the car, today. I blame it on the morning KEXP DJ picking perhaps the best three songs ever to play.

To be honest, I've forgotten the other two. But it was Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go" that made me weep openly on the way to work. Weep openly in a good way, I might add. It was just so awesomely epic and gorgeous and sweeping. You know what I mean? Glorious song. Made the pouring rain this morning less of a bother.

In other news, it's FINALLY DONE. The Shawl of Death.

I don't think I've explained this project much at all, so allow me to enlighten you all. Knitting nerdiness ahead.

I found this pattern for a scarf a week ago and thought it would make a fun way of getting rid of a bunch of my random yarn. So I started in.

Now, part of learning to knit is learning how to multiply stitches and inches so you find the perfect "gauge" for your knitting. Basically how to make something the right size.

Well, apparently, my multiplication was rather off. That was my previous post about casting on 181 stitches. Which I still find ridiculous. And for good reason! No scarf knitted with worsted weight yarn was ever 181 stitches across, I have a feeling, and yet...

Here I am, a week and five skeins of yarn later, and I don't have a scarf. I have a freakin' shawl. It's very cozy, of course, but it's HUGE. I don't know what I was thinking when I did my math.

However, the irony is that I've always wanted to knit a shawl but never managed to. Now that I've knitted one, it was entirely by accident. *sigh*

Here's a few pictures of the thing. Note the lace interchanged with knit stitch. It was really quite fun, if not exhausting.





Don't I look exhausted? This is me tired of looking at these rows upon rows upon rows of lace...knit...lace...knit...*screams and runs for the hills*

The colors don't show up great in these images, but I used five colors: dark green, a light grass green, a dark teal, a jewel-tone "peacock" color, and a pale blue. I was going for a cool colors palette, really. But mostly I wanted to get rid of all this random yarn.

Well, it worked. I'm lighter five skeins of yarn. Yes! But there's plenty more to be rid of soon enough. More projects are likely on the way.

This is the first night this week I haven't been slaving away on some school project. Feels good. Finals coming up.

The end is near (read: graduation).

-The GLS

Prodigal & 60 Stitches

Quick note before I have to go be responsible.

Tonight I watched the BEST-WORST movie I have ever seen! Like, delightfully campy!

Those who know me know that I like classic movies. A lot. I mean, heck, I had a crush on Cary Grant when I was ten. My mom likes to borrow old movies from the library, and she always brings these totally obscure films home with her. Some of them are awesome, and some...well...

Tonight's offering, "The Prodigal" was SO bad it registered on the "This is so bad it's awesome" scale. Picture the BASIC (I cannot stress this word enough) frame of the biblical prodigal son story, and then turn it into a 70 BC cinema spectacle, complete with Lana Turner as the seductress who lures the son away from home in the first place. Totally kitschy.

Actually, if you watch it (and I halfway recommend it), the best scene has to do with a fantastic fight between the main character and an incredible animatronic vulture. It's awesome. I almost peed my pants.

Although, there are also human sacrifices, sparkly bedazzled pagan costumes, blond and ginger-haired girls (in 70 BC Damascus?), random resurrections, stunted dialogue, someone who escapes harm by running across the backs of about six horses (!), afore-mentioned homicidal vulture...gosh, this movie has it all.

The 60 Stitches part of the title refers to my endless knitting project, in which I am down to 60 stitches. So close to finished! I will be sure to post pictures once I'm done. I'll be parading it around for awhile, I think.

Okay. Time to go be responsible.

-The GLS

Two Updates & Symbology

Well, hello!

Just thought I'd update two of my knitting projects, because I've been remiss (read: lazy) in uploading pictures of certain projects.

The two I'm most excited about are 1) my new and improved coffee cozy with the clasp-enclosure, something I've never tried before, and 2) my first Fair Isle hat.
Both projects were/are knitted with yarn in my stash that I'm trying to be rid of, so I feel really quite accomplished that I'm using stuff up.

First of all, the coffee cozy. It's knit with a pale blue mystery yarn that I got from the yarn store near my house for dirt cheap. I'm pretty sure it was $2 yarn. But it's definitely wool and is nice and cushy. The silver clasps cost more than the yarn, but it was worth it for the effect. The picture doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid, since my photography skills, camera, and lighting (I always take pictures at night...) are not the greatest. But here it is:



Not bad, eh? That cable was also something I haven't tried before, called a Horseshoe cable. In all, it's nice having a new coffee cozy for myself, as my old one was pretty ugly (it was my first attempt at one, so I can't be too hard on myself).

The second project, still in progress, is my "Rose Red" fair isle hat. For the yarn I'm actually using four different kinds and double-stranding for each color, and it's ALL leftover yarn from something else. So, for the off-white/grey portion I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease in "Wheat" doubled with Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in "Oatmeal". Then for the red portion I'm using Vanna's Choice in "Cranberry" (leftover from my brother's Jayne Cobb hat) doubled with a mystery yarn from a hat I bought in Ireland that unraveled before I even got it home. It's nice to recycle.
And here's the hat, so far:



Yeah, it's a lot of work. But it's SO worth it! I can't wait to see it all finished, even though I have a terrible feeling it'll be very big and slouchy because I'm ignoring gauge just so I can get rid of all this ridiculous yarn.

In other news, I'm continuing to knit with "The Boondock Saints" in the background. Everyone needs their guilty pleasure movie, the one that respectable people arch a quizzical eyebrow at them for watching. The Saints is mine. Along with Zoolander.

Phew, I am tired, and I still need to go over my slam poem for Poetry class tomorrow. Time for a little scholasticism.

-The GLS

PS: Say it with me. "I think the word you're searching for is symbolism. What's the symbolism there?"

Hats & Prayers

We come to the end of one of the longest weeks in recorded history. Sickness sweeping through my workplace, heinous videographic crimes shown in the classroom, general mayhem involving poetry and mathematics.

*sigh*

In pretty strict contrast to my last post, all I have to say is this: I've started two new knitting projects! Bringing the total works-in-progress for the moment to six. Whoa. Maybe I ought to finish something soon....

1) Starting my very first fair isle hat! As you may remember, fair isle is a type of knitting with two or three or more colors to create really pretty patterns. Now I'm putting that fair isle-ness to good use in hat-form. Wish me luck...so far I'm not sure if it's working or not. Hard to tell when you're only a few rows in. In any case, the finished product will hopefully look something like this.

2) Ever heard of a prayer shawl? It's where people knit shawls--because they're pretty easy to do without concentrating--and pray as they start every row. It's kind of like a spiritual discipline, in a way, and in the end they typically give the shawl away as a gift to the person they prayed for. Well, I'm starting a scarf with some of my scrap yarn, and I've found myself thinking about different people and things in my life as I start every stripe, so I thought...why not? It's a prayer scarf! Cool!

Yikes, that's all, I can barely keep my eyes open. Three...day...weekend!

-The GLS

Conlangs & Horseshoes

A few small but gutsy things to report.

One is that I tried a new cable in my knitting, called a horseshoe cable. I'll be sure to post pictures once I cease to be lazy and actually take a few.

The second is that I've been playing with conlangs again. Conlang stands for "constructed languages", and since I'm a linguistics geek I've always thought it would be interesting to create a language. Marry a love of linguistics with a love of writing and you get...a person who creates worlds and populates them with languages that each have their own grammar system and unique vocabulary (read: a Tolkien wannabe).

Obviously it's not an instant process, but now that I'm working on a novel for FebNoWriMo I thought I'd get back into it a little more. Working on a language now that is a mixture of Irish, Russian, and French. Pretty fun, and crazy, but mostly fun. It's a time filler, anyway, and a good daily puzzle to solve. Hitting a word I haven't come up with yet and being like, "Drat...gotta pull out three different dictionaries and figure that one out."

Incidentally, my FebNoWriMo is currently up to 10,690 out of 50,000...so I'm behind. But the important thing is that I'm writing, so even if I don't make 50,000 I totally don't mind. It's just good to be working on something. And I'm liking my story so far, as that's good.

To be honest, though, the gutsiest thing I'm going to attempt tonight and tomorrow is NOT getting the stomach sickness that is sweeping through Seattle right now. Really, honestly, I don't want it. Mainly because throwing up is my least favorite thing. I can handle a lot...really I can...but throwing up sucks big time.

Anyway, wishing everyone a healthy long weekend (for those of us with President's Day coming up!).

Maybe I should plan a gutsy adventure on Monday?

-The GLS