Quick Knitting Post

So that we don't have yet another week with no knitting...

Here's the Prepster Librarian so far...

Haven't picked it up in over a week, though. Too hot. Too busy. But I have started shaping the arm holes in the back, so it is coming along.

Here's the baby hat, which deserves an FO post but won't be getting one:

Huge. Oh well, the kid won't be getting any smaller.

Did not finish the Not Quite Christmas gloves in time to give them to Emily, who was here this weekend and who left this morning. I won't see her again for probably a few years at least, and that makes me sad. Knowing that there are more and more of those good-byes coming up in the next three weeks, well... I don't have time to cry now, must teach a lesson on numbers and counting in twenty minutes. I'll mail her those gloves before I leave, though.

Have not gotten ribbons for the baby booties yet, because the child's gender is yet unknown. I guess I'll try to find something in beige to match the blanket and hat.

Have not seamed the sweater yet. Shower is this weekend. Have not actually planned shower yet, and have no idea how it will go. Am slightly terrified, not least because what with classes and farewell work parties and speeches to write which must be given at these parties, I have approximately six hours this week to plan and get ready for the shower. On the plus side, I have enough beer and hot dogs left over from my super kick-ass July 4th party this past weekend to keep me fat and happy despite the stress.

Anyway. Hope you had a good Fourth. Mine was brilliant. I have now joined the rank of stupid Americans who've burned themselves with a firecracker while drunk on Independence Day. It was loads of fun and highly international (England, New Zealand, India, Japan, Canada, South Africa, Cameroon, and Australia represented, as well as at least six states), however, and everyone had too much to eat. Perfect.

Pictured: Patriotism.

An FO and Movie Talk

Yeah, I meant to write this earlier in the week. But I was attacked by an extreme case of "I'm SO bored! Therefore I cannot do anything I'm supposed to be doing and must go off in search of something new!" On the plus side, it did allow me to discover Dollhouse.

First, a Finished Object:Name: October Baby Blanket, for Brenda's baby due in (you guessed it) October.
Pattern: Janice's Easiest Ever Lacy Blanket, by Janice Helge.
Yarn: Wister Araeru Merino 100, in color #11, a very nice beige.
Needle: Bamboo Japan size 11 80 cm circular. 80 cm was a bit long, but I'm sure it'll come in handy later.
Finished Measurements: 22" by 27", roughly. The edge is scalloped, so it's a little hard to tell. I would've liked it bigger, but it should be big enough.
Pattern Mods: I added one extra repeat, casting on 108 stitches.
KIP/Movies Watched While Knitting: As previously mentioned on this blog, this blanket was mostly done while watching Battlestar Galactica. Brenda said she would be sure to tell the kid this when the time comes, and considering the dad's level of nerdiness, I have high hopes of geek vibes successfully rubbing off. I don't think I really brought this one into public, though.
Number of Times Frogged: None that I can recall.
Things I Would Change Next Time: I'd add another repeat or two to make it bigger. I didn't use up anywhere near the yarn I bought for it, since I wanted to stop knitting before it became a stole. The pattern didn't give yardage, though, it just listed a yarn, so I looked at the yardage for that yarn and purchased accordingly. It did end up being bigger than the pattern says, but still, I'd have preferred it larger. The pattern is really pretty, though, and I found it to be a quick, pleasant knit. I've even made peace with how much I stretched it, so I think all in all it's a great project.
I also have several WIPs: the Prepster Vest, a hat to match the blanket, and some booties. Prepster is coming along - I'm just splitting for the neck, and have realized what a pain it's going to be to do that in the round, since I will now have to do knit and purl rows until I get to the armpits, and that could change my gauge. The hat I found with a similar look to the blanket is nice, but it seemed to think that I could cast on 54 stitches and then join in the round on a 16" circular, so I ended up casting on loads more stitches and the hat will clearly be too big for a newborn (at least I think so, with my limited baby knowledge). The booties are the Moon Booties again, and after a slight screw-up I finished the first bootie and it looks much bigger than the last pair - the leg is freakin' huge.

Of course, my sense of proportion has been severely screwed up itself since living in Japan. Four-door sedans seem ridiculously huge, pants I hold up in the store that I'm sure will fit can barely be pulled six inches above my knees, much less hips, roads and corners that I'm certain could not possibly accomodate a car can be taken at speed, skeins of yarn with barely 70 yards seem perfectly normal, and I absolutely squeal with delight when there is more than one taller person standing next to me. Maybe this baby, being a child of tall white parents, will have no problem filling the hat and booties with robust Caucasian head and legs. We'll see.

Also, last week I went to see Terminator Salvation on its Japanese opening night. For once, the theater was pretty crowded - Terminator is big in Japan. I loved it. It was different, for sure, and not like the other Terminator movies have been. It wasn't just my appreciation of the plentiful eye candy, or the darling Anton Yelchin making his second appearance in Awesome Movies of This Summer, or even my obsession with apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies. I thought it was a great story, interesting characters, and a great direction for the franchise. It seems I might not be in the majority in this view though - while the people I went to see it with also enjoyed it, a friend back in LA has said that everyone she knows who's seen it has hated it, and the internet reviews I've seen all panned it as "having no heart". Well, poo on them, I say. I completely disagree.

Two of the girls that came to see it in my group had never seen any of the first three, can you believe it? They didn't even mention this until we were in the car on the way home, and they were understandably confused about how Christian Bale's father could be some teenage kid he'd never seen. I gave them the ten-minute synopsis of the first three and now I'm dying to watch all four in a row. I would go back and watch #4 (or ST) in the theater again if it wasn't so stupidly expensive and so inconvenient to get to (going on my own would require a fifteen minute bike ride followed by a 25-minute train followed by a shuttle bus, plus the $15 ticket - oh God I want a car again).

Today we're off to see the second Transformers movie. I know, I can't believe I'm going to spend $15 on that mess either, but you just have to see Baysplosions in the theater, right? Also, if the movie pumped billions of dollars into the economy to be made, I guess I can do my part to pump back. And use my money to vote for ludicrous special effects, bad writing, Michael Bay-style entertainment - okay, this is depressing.

Last night in my intense boredom I called my friend Fumiko to see what she was up to, and she told me she was watching Dollhouse. I promptly invited myself over and we stayed up until 2:30 watching it. Damn, that's a cool show. And it has Helo! Hot.

More Finished Things!

Hey, maybe by the time this wee one grows up, she really will be able to walk on the moon. Here's hoping!
Name: Moon Booties, for Mary Kathleen, the daughter of Sheila, my infinitely patient friend.
Pattern: Christine's Stay-on Baby Booties, by Christine Bourquin.
Yarn: Hamanaka Wanpaku Denis in color 2, a creamy yellow off-white.
Needles: Japan size 1 metal DPNs. It was a tough fit - the yarn was a bit too thick for those needles.
Finished Measurements: Yeah, I forgot to do that for these too. I suck.
Pattern Mods: None.
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched: I do not remember. I finished these bad boys two months ago and only didn't do this then because I assumed I wasn't finished.
Number of Times Frogged: A few, I think. It took me a while to get the joining into the round going on this one because everything was so tight.
Things I Would Change Next Time: Nothing with the pattern. A better yarn/needle fit would be nice so I'm not hurting myself. Also, now I know not to bother with a i-cord and go straight for a ribbon, since i-cords and twist cords were both way too thick for the tiny little holes I made. But they were truly adorable, and I only hope they still fit.

I finally mailed those packages today, after struggling for some time yesterday to find the appropriate box from my collection. I keep wondering what the post office thinks I'm doing here - I receive and send packages pretty regularly, and customs has taken to opening all of my packages as they come in, and there was that incident with the sudafed last year... Oh well, anyway, I sent off the blanket and booties and my godson's birthday gift in one box, and my dad's extremely belated birthday gift in another. Now I have to get my act together to start the baby blanket for my friend here (I leave in just over two months, and given my record for the last two baby blankets I've done, I clearly do not have enough time), and I guess I should figure out my sister's birthday gift, since again, my record shows that I've got barely enough time to do so in a suitable time-frame.

Right now I'm trying to force myself to do things on my to-do list and delay starting the next Star Trek movie I have from the store. I watched number V last night (God, that one's terrible) and number VI today (possibly my favorite - I just love this one, and Christopher Plummer as a SHakespeare-quoting Klingon? Genius! "Cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war." Guh.), and I'm itching to start Generations, but then I'll only have two movies to watch the rest of the week, and what will I DO with myself?

It's the Ides of May, so Tracy must be blogging.

Hey, kids! Whoa, I have been gone a while. I am terribly sorry, honestly.

It's just that, for some reason, my job has suddenly required me to work. Like, the whole time. And when I'm at home, I have been way, waaaaaaayy too lazy to do anything, you know, productive.

So here's a brief report and I will attempt to do better from here on out, but I can promise nothing, since I expect the next two months before I leave Yatsushiro to continue being super busy. After those two months, of course, there's the whole "going home" bit, followed by the "moving" bit, succeeded by the "high school reunion," "starting school," and "working" bits (that last one is more of a hopefully), and so who knows?

But for now, a few loose ends.The Leaf Blanket. It is done. It has been done for over a week. It is still in my apartment. It moved from the blocking futon to the coffee table pile of stuff to ship, to a box, to the spot next to the door where I put things I need to take out of the house - so there's been some progress - but still, it's in Japan and Mary Kathleen, the very Catholic-ly named baby girl for whom it is intended, turns three months old today. Not in Japan.

Details, anyway.

Name: Leaf Blanket, for the daughter of my good friend Sheila, whose other child is my godson (and shamefully neglected as such).
Pattern: Lace Paneled Baby Blanket, by Sarah Bradberry.
Yarn: Hamanaka Wanpaku Denis in color #2, an off-white leaning towards yellow.
Needles: A Japan size 7 round needle. Maybe 40 cm? Not sure. For the edging, Japan size 7 straight needles.Finished Measurements: Um. What an excellent question.
Pattern Mods: None for the body - it was a really nice pattern, actually. My first few major failures in counting took place before the revelation of regularly placed stitch-markers. I cannot recommend those strongly enough. As for the edging, the pattern suggests a couple, and it became clear that the yardage for those was not included in the pattern yardage. I used one sent to me by my mom - something she scanned, so I don't know where it's from. But it was quite easy, and aside from the fact that it took FOREVER, is very pleasing.Knitting in Public/Movies Watched: Please. I worked on this thing for months. Most notably, though, I took it with me to the top of the 777 steps a couple of times, and while at first I could not watch tv while doing the pattern, I got comfortable and enough and only knit on the edging at all while I was watching something. Mostly, it's been episodes of CSI season 6, the first half of Heroes season 1, and the first season of Battlestar Galactica (and no, I'm not done yet, I've been sidetracked by Star Trek and will return soon).
Number of Times Frogged: Body, three times. Edging, once, when I changed to another pattern completely.
Things I Would Change Next Time: I think it's a beautiful blanket, in need of no changes as is except a better understanding of how to attach the edging, especially at the corners. I would certainly give myself a lot more time, though. This thing took me three and a half months from yarn purchase to shipping (assuming I do ship it today as fully intended).

Yar. That's that. The Moon Booties that go with it are also finished, now that I finally bought ribbon, and will go out with the same package, but I don't have a finished picture of those so it'll have to wait. I swear, I will update again next week.

Surely that's enough for one entry? Anything else I have to report is just about how I'm trying to get ready to go home - freaking out about packing and shipping and plane tickets and money and resumes and laptops and getting rid of furniture and having to buy new furniture and all that mess. Nasty. Oh, and Star Trek comes out here on the 29th, and it had just damn well better come to Yats. Else we will have a problem on our hands.

I've been re-watching the movies in preparation, and will get to watch my old favorite, The Voyage Home, tonight. Score!

Friday night at my house sure is kickin', ain't it?

Progress Report For Those With Low Standards

Now for an actual knitting update.

Well, I've been... not living up to my own expectations. There's a big surprise.

On the one hand, I finished Brenda's gloves, a project I started back in January, I think. Way overdue.
Name: Not Quite Xmas Gloves, for Brenda here in Yats. A belated Christmas gift.
Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath. Again.
Yarn: Ski Yarn Imperial Junmou Aibito, in color #3. Ski Yarn used to be Motohiro, the name that's on the label I have. I noticed the change in Ravelry and it made me wonder. Why in God's name would you make that change? It's possible that "Ski" is actually some mangled anglization of the Japanese word "suki (好)", which means "like" as in "I like this yarn" and is pronounced much the same as "ski," but so many uses of English words in Japanese products are so completely and obviously random that I can't be sure.
Needles: Bamboo DPNs, size 5
Other Stuff: Nothing exciting. Tried a new trick with the thumbs that didn't make any difference. Worked on these at Starbucks, at home, on the train, and most unusually, at work last week. I went and hid in a back room with my Japanese homework poised to cover it should someone walk in. While nobody has specifically said that I cannot knit at work, I know damn well that it would not go over well. However, I'm four months from going home and finding it hard to feel guilty. Most likely I'll be doing more of that.

Gave them to Brenda over the weekend and she loves them. Too bad it's already spring here and they are no longer necessary. Bummer. But there's always next year!Also, the Moon Booties are just about done. They're only waiting for some sort of tie-type thing to go through those little holes. I haven't made one yet because I need to finish the edging for the Leaf Blanket first, then I'll see what the yarn situation is like.

On the other hand, the Leaf Blanket... I'm not sure I can make myself go into that right now. Later, maybe, after I eat this pig-shaped cookie one of the other teachers gave me for some reason. I mean, how can you go wrong with a pig-shaped cookie, right? Oh, wait, this is Japan. The number of things that can go wrong is very large.

Thank you for your kind thoughts regarding my computer! It's nice to know that others are as addicted as I am. And really, what did people do at work before the internet? Knit, I suppose, or read, or chat with their co-workers. Take long coffee and smoke breaks. Maybe they even worked? Naw. If that were the case, wouldn't we all have flying cars and peace on Earth or something?

The Balls Are Nippy

Hey, look, I'm actually doing another blog when I said I would. This is pretty amazing.

And what do I have for you? Balls!


These delightful little things are the Stockinette Short-Row Spheres that have become cat toys. They are cute, aren't they? And super easy and quick. At least, they're quick when I can be bothered to focus.


So I bought something that I thought was catnip at the pet store, and for once, what I bought turned out to be exactly what I thought it was. This does not happen as often as it might in a country where I could, you know, read the labels of things. Katie, Brenda, and I managed it together, though, along with the helpful picture on the package of a cat freaking out. It's just a tiny plastic bottle of powder, some of which I tapped into the stuffing as I finished the second ball. Before I shipped anything off to DC, I wanted to test it out, so I took that little beta ball over to Brenda's to be tested out by her cats Petruschka and Paljas. And woo boy, is that stuff potent. Petruschka nearly tore the ball to shreds right then and there. Brenda says she only lets him have it a bit at a time, but a week later it still seems to be working.


Details!
Name: Balls!, for the cats of Brenda and Reidy.
Pattern: Stockinette Short-Row Spheres, by Brent Annable.
Yarn: Patons Decor in Secret Garden, one of those variegated skeins I bought cause it looked so pretty but then turned out to be terrible in any actual pattern. It's nice for these very short rows, though.
Needles: Size 6 bamboo DPNs (only cause I didn't have regular size 6s).
Finished Measurements: Ooh, you know, I forgot to do this. They're just a bit bigger than a golf ball, if a golf ball is how big I think it is.
Pattern Mods: None. Pretty flexible pattern in terms of needle, yarn, and gauge, and if you changed anything else, it probably wouldn't be a sphere, would it?
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: Kinda had to pay attention to these dudes, but I did do the last one during Princess of Thieves the other night. Boy, Kiera Knightley started working before she started acting, didn't she?
Number of Times Frogged: None. I rock!
Things I Would Change Next Time: Well, it isn't finished on Ravelry yet because I want to do the larger size, too. That'll be a while yet, though.

Also, I realized that Sheila is due an entire month sooner than I thought she was, so I really need to get moving on baby stuff. Sigh.

The Basketweave Is Woven! And... Basketed.

Okay! Sorry for the delay. My birthday was last week and I took the opportunity to sit and do nothing but stuff my face and read embarrassing novels. And then I didn't want to post until I had something to show you. Which...


Ta-da! The blanket is done! Complete! Finito! Owarimashita!


I admit that I cheated slightly, and finished it a little earlier than was ideal. It's not quite square, or even longer than it is wide, which would have been a little better. No, no, I couldn't hold it, just could not keep going. But it still looks nice, and when I sit cross legged it almost entirely covers my legs. I think it will sit nicely on a chair or the end of a bed and comfortably hold two sleeping cats.

FO Details:
Name: Chussie's Basketweave (Of Doom)
Pattern: Basketweave Blanket, by Classic Elite
Yarn: Vittoria in dark blue, a random 100% acrylic yarn I got at Pandora, the crafty store in Jusco. Lovely color, and not bad for an acrylic, but it was definitely a discount yarn - constant knot ties in the yarn, one of which I stupidly went ahead and knitted into the project instead of cutting and fixing, and there were times when the yarn got ridiculously thin for a while, or simply ended in the middle of the ball and the next end was somehow hidden. But, the blanket looks nice and can be machine washed.
Needles: Bamboo size 6 24" circular.
Finished Measurements: 32" and a bit wide by just over 30" long.
Pattern Mods: Just made it slightly bigger and did seed stitch for the border, like most others. Cast on 180 stitches, 6-stitch border each side, blocks are 4 (across) x 6 (high).
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: Let's not get ridiculous, here. I worked on this thing for two months, and I watch a LOT of movies. So, just the most memorable moments: in the car on the way to see Tropic Thunder at Diamond City Clair (it's kinda far away but that movie was so worth it), the train to and from the JLPT in Kurume, and the car to and from the mid-year conference in Kumamoto for KIP. Now, movies or other screen watching: most importantly, the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I stayed up until 3 am here to watch that live. Naturally, I stopped knitting for the speech so I could give that my full attention, but the rest of it I knit through. I think the best movies I knit this blanket to were Sunshine (the Danny Boyle one), the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Lucky Number Slevin. The worst were the Avengers and Johnny Mnemonic. Weirdest was Samsara. Clearly, Amadeus was good and 2001: A Space Odyssey was weird, but I'd seen them before so it doesn't count.
Number of Times Frogged: Well, not counting the failed Diamond and Smocked attempt, none. I had to pick up a few dropped stitches and go back across a row to fix wrong stitches, but no frogging. Whoopie!
Things I Would Change Next Time: For this pattern, nothing but a nicer yarn. For this purpose, though, I am going to make Chussie a nicer and bigger blanket when I am back in the States. Notice how vague "back in the States" is. Gives me plenty of time.


Speaking of whoopie, by the way, I got 120 points for that in Lexulous. Damn, I love that game.

Okay, more later. I'll tell you about my other FO tomorrow. And by tomorrow, I mean any time in the future that isn't right now.

Booties All Weekend

Boy, am I a knit gift failure.

I still haven't given Katie and Aashima their gloves yet. They live right across the parking lot, too, so this is pretty inexcusable. I'd do it right now but it's just too damn cold out.

Haven't started Brenda's headband yet, either, although on the plus side, I did give her a knitting lesson this week! She told me way before Christmas that she wanted to take it up again (having learned as a very young girl) and make her fiance a hat. We bought the yarn and needles before the break, but finally did the first lesson on Wednesday. She picked it up again very quickly, I must say. Right now she's just doing a swatch and I'll print out the pattern she wants and show her how to cast on this week.

I also did not knit a single stitch on Reidy's blanket, in spite of the fact that her birthday is a week from today. The reason, my little chickadees, is that my only knitting project this weekend was this travesty:
Remember how I said that these booties were one of my favorite patterns from last year? Ha! Not anymore. Not after banging out three pairs this weekend while also trying to do the FAFSA and three more graduate school applications.

On Thursday, one of the English teachers (proper English teachers, not just some native speaker they pay to surf the internet) at my school asked me how long it had taken me to knit the first pair. She was the one who took the first pair to the music teacher's new baby for me, and she thought they were darling (well, who wouldn't?). I said, oh, maybe two hours for the pair (note: I am exceptionally bad at estimating things like how long something takes, how many somethings there are, etc. Exceptionally bad.), and she said, oh really?

Next thing you know, I'm agreeing to make three pairs for her by Tuesday. Today, Monday, was a national holiday (I know, I know, back from vacation one week and then a long weekend. I have it easy), so I thought, no problem!

Foolish, foolish creature. I spent Saturday finishing the Watchmen (awesome, awesome - highly recommended) then learning this new game that seems to be quite popular in the States - Settlers of Catan, and then we had our James Bond movie night, even though we couldn't get Dr. No or GoldenEye and ended up with just You Only Live Twice (fun - for a group that had all seen Austen Powers first and live in Japan, it was pretty hilarious) and the Family Guy Star Wars special. I did work on the booties during the movies, but without accomplishing much. Then yesterday was the FAFSA and applications to LIU, Simmons, and USF. All day. So that left today for the booties - Hayashi-sensei called at 5 to check on progress and I said something like, oh, another hour or so. I still had to sew them all up and attach snaps. I had everything sewed up by 6:15, and then I discovered that the thing of snaps I bought for the first pair had up and disappeared. I'm serious, I tossed this place looking for them. Nada. I found a pair that came with a small sewing kit, so I finished one pair of booties, but then, as I'm frantically turning over this disgusting trashpit of an apartment upside down to find the rest, there's a knock on my door. It's Hayashi-sensei, coming to bring me dinner because she realized I hadn't eaten to work on these guys. Argh!

But she said she had snaps at home and she'd finish them for me. She then handed me a giant tub of soup, veggies, and mochi she and her daughter had made themselves. The hospitality in this country is awesome. She had offered to pay for the booties, but I felt uncomfortable with that - it seems unethical. Anyway, she has paid for more than one of my booze-fest enkai fees. She tucked some money into the dinner bag but I'm going to return it to her on Thursday when I'm back at junior high.

So, finished a bunch of stuff school-wise, but knit-wise, I am so, so behind. And I only got these two lousy pictures as I pretended to be looking for a bag to put them in and Hayashi-sensei and her daughter stood out in the freezing wind (my apartment, remember, was beyond trashed, and with only one big room downstairs, there's nowhere to hide it from guests).
Be honest, terrible picture, right?

I think that maybe if I put in a good solid hour per night for the next week, I might finish the blanket next weekend and at least get Chussie's birthday packet in the mail on her birthday. Maybe. Sigh.

Anyway, FO stuff:

Name: Rainbow MJ Madness
Pattern: Knit Mary Jane Booties, by April Cromwell
Yarn: Patons Astra in Kool Aid Ombre. Decent yarn for this project, but the color variegation just looks like a bad trip. She requested it, though, so I used up the last of it.
Needles: Bamboo size 4 short round needle. Couldn't find the straight fours.
Finished Measurements: Yeah, right, like I had time for that.
Pattern Mods: Didn't bother with button hole (never came out right first time around) so just knit four rows for the strap and attached snaps at end. Well, a couple of snaps, anyway.
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: Well, that would be the Family Guy SW Movie, You Only Live Twice, and today was the five hour BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice. I don't even have to watch that one anymore, I just listen. Though I did put down the knitting for my favorite part, the showdown scene between Darcy and Elizabeth. "I had not known you a month before I was convinced that you were the last man in the world I could ever marry!" Man, love it.
Number of Times Frogged: Well, I frogged the first two I made when I was originally feeling this pattern out, so that I would have enough yarn.
Things I Would Change Next Time: I'd like to try it with a softer yarn in a solid color, honestly.

Okay, now I think I'll find a movie and pretend I don't have to actually work tomorrow, for the first time in a month.

Christmas Knitting is Over! (mostly)

Finally, I am caught up on all the blogs I read, emails I needed to send, major processes I needed to begin, and I can post the FOs that have happened over break.

Actually, there are only two, a few less than was ideal. I was also quite late on both of them and haven't presented either one to its intended recipient, but these are paltry details.

First, Katie's Fetching, an exact repeat of Robin's. I had hoped to have these finished in time to give them to Katie in Hong Kong during my brief layover there, but I still had two rows to go on the last thumb, as well as weaving in ends. Bummer.

Name: Christmas Fetching #3, for Katie here in Yats.Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath
Yarn: Diakeito Dia Tasmanian Merino Lame in #604, lavender-pink
Needles: Bamboo size 5 DPNs.
Finished Measurements: Just over 5 1/2" long and almost 2 1/2" wide lying flat. Thumb is about 3/4" long.
Pattern Mods: Same extra cable repeat at the top as usual, and I no longer how remember how many rows I did for the thumb but it was at least six or so.
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: Heh. Quite a list this time. I cast on the first one on the train from Yats to Fukuoka to get the plane to Saigon. But then I didn't touch them until we'd gone to the nice hotel in Qui Nhon, where it was rainy and we spent two days in the hotel eating room service and watching movies. So I finished the first one and did a big chunk of the second while watching Batman Returns, Hot Fuzz, True Lies, and some special on Saturday Night Live commercials. The best one? This one, new to me and completely hysterical - because it's your problem, not theirs. Then I did almost all the rest of the second glove on the plane from Saigon to Hong Kong, in business class, mind you. The flight attendant, in between delivering me glasses of complimentary champagne, was very interested in what I was doing. FYI, I am not so shcmancy as to be able to afford business class - it was a very happy, lucky, free break. Then I finished the second glove at the start of the Action Movie Marathon at my house last weekend, so I guess that would be Next, that Nicolas Cage clunker.
Number of Times Frogged: None, bless it!
Things I Would Change Next Time: Not get too comfortable with the pattern and forget to count rows.

Then the second FO:
Name: Christmas Fetching #4 (and final), for Aashima here in Yats.Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath
Yarn: Motohiro Imperial Junmou Aibito, in color #20 dark blue.
Needles: Bamboo size 6 DPNs.
Finished Measurements: Just over 6 1/2" long and 2 3/4" wide lying flat. Thumb is just under one inch long.
Pattern Mods: Same as above - extra cable repeat and longer thumb.
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: I'm sure there were some movies during the first glove, finished before winter break, but I can't recall what. The second one was during the Action Movie Marathon here at my apartment last weekend, so that would be Next (horrible - good story ruined by atrocious dialogue and direction and completely wrong casting choices), Terminator 3 (better than I thought), and Shoot 'Em Up (ridiculous but entertaining).
Number of Times Frogged: None.
Things I Would Change Next Time: Not gonna lie, sick of this pattern. Don't like afterthought thumbs and want to try a gusset thumb.

Also, Emily said she liked her headband but I think she wasn't very sure at first. She seemed to warm up to it, though, and I think the pictures of her wearing it outside my apartment are too cute. She probably won't get much wear out of it on a sub-tropical Japanese island, come to think, but maybe when she goes back to England one day. Also, she decided she really wanted a pair of the Fetching, once she saw Aashima's. Sigh.

Yar. I think when I'm done here I will go give these to Katie and Aashima (the blessings of living in Foreigner Heights). Now I'm trying to work on Chussie's Basketweave, but it's going slowly. But I'm all caught up on my blogs and hearing about everyone's vacations, so maybe I can get more done. It really needs to get done this month, I think, to get tucked into the package for Chussie's birthday. Alas, her birthday is the 19th. I really want to work on something for myself, though, dangit! Next in my queue is the stockinette sphere, which looks so cool, and I would LOVE to have the Prepster before winter is over. But then Sheila's due in April and I want to do a blanket and booties...

Well, there just isn't enough time, is there? There certainly isn't enough money for yarn. More important than knitting this month, unfortunately, are the financial aid appications. Oh, finances are depressing. But tonight, I have a James Bond movie, Licence to Kill, to distract me! Never seen this one, and I'll probably be thinking of Sissy Skinner the whole time, but hey, here's hoping it rocks my world.

Oh, and a HUGE thanks to Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns for being my first commenter! I love her blog and read it religiously. I wanted to go to Ireland (the motherland of my mother's side of the family, don't you know. Fagans and Haggertys all over the place) before I started reading her, but now I really want to go. So thank you very much for the lovely comment!

メリークリスマス!!!

Finished the headband for Emily, woo-hoo!

I finished and blocked it last night, added the cords tonight, and I think it looks nice, although it still seems quite big. I think it's smaller than the last one, but I can't compare them side to side because Sheila's is already on it's way to Maryland. So now I have something to give to the person I will actually be spending Christmas with, even though it's going to be a half-ass Christmas of us waking up in some hostel in Saigon, saying Merry Christmas, and running off to eat some delicious Vietnamese food and possibly going to the beach (depending on exactly how warm it is there). I leave tomorrow after work, so this is none too soon. Um, as you might have guessed (oh, omniscient imaginary reader), I have not gotten to Aashima's other glove. Aashima, Brenda, and Katie will all be getting their presents late. With any luck, however, I will be able to present Katie's to her in Hong Kong just before New Year's, as I am on my way back to Japan, but since I don't know how much actual knitting I will be doing in Vietnam, that's just a hopefully.

So, the FO Details!:

Name: Christmas Head Thing #2, for Emily of Kagoshima-ken, my Xmas traveling companion.
Pattern: Bamboozled, by Random Cyn.
Yarn: Diakeito Dia Tasmanian Merino Lame, in the lavender-pink. This photo finally shows the purplish color! All the others just look pink and I was wondering if I'm crazy.
Needles: Bamboo size 5 DPNs with a cap stuck on one end.
Finished Measurements: 15" long, knitted part, 32 1/2" long total; just over 3" at widest part, just over 1" at ends.
Pattern Mods: None.
Knitting in Public/Movies Watched While Knitting: Started it during the Nightmare Before Christmas the other night at Jon's house, but it was kinda dark and not good for my eyes.
Number of times frogged: Well, I ripped back a few rows at one point when I realized I forgot to do the cable twist at the end of the first diamond. Then there was some confusion with forgetting to yarn over and having to do some very fancy needlework to figure out where the hell to fix it, but I think just the once.
Things I Would Change Next Time: For this yarn, the smaller needles, I think.

Later: I just tried it on and I look like a Bulgarian barmaid. Hopefully Emily will not.

In other exciting news, I got the book I ordered on CSS and HTML! Yea! Now I can have a nice website! Yes, after I told everyone I know not to ship me anything for Christmas because I didn't want to ship anything at home, I went and ordered myself some books. But I'll probably donate some of these when I leave, and you shouldn't donate gifts. Of course, I won't get around to reading the book or being able to implement any changes until January, but I hope that this site will soon look sort of decent. If this coming January is as slow as last January was, I may just read the damn thing and fool around with the site at school. Not that I'm complaining about how cake my job is. Nooooooooo, sirree. And then I will have some practical background knowledge for school. Right? Let's hope so.

By the way, I highly recommend the site I use to order books, Better World Books. They ship internationally for a good rate, they have used books available all from one place (unlike Amazon, where they all come from individual sellers and you pay shipping separately), they ship carbon neutral, and proceeds benefit literacy efforts around the world. If you live in the US, shipping is free. Their new book prices are slightly higher than Amazon, but if you live in the US, the free shipping is golden, and if you live in a non-English-speaking country such as Japan, they are still cheaper than Amazon.jp or the shipping from Amazon.com. Plus they contribute to a good cause (one I particularly support) and they are pretty green. Of course, you should still try to buy from your local new and used book stores and support those good people, but when they don't have what you need (or don't exist near you), try this place.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the cards and gifts for Christmas are 90% sent. Just a couple small packages to mail and I'm waiting on a couple of addresses. Since I leave tomorrow, this is simply adequate.

Where We See Yet Again My Shining Brilliance

At last, an update. You were starting to worry, weren't you?

(yes, I love talking to my imaginary friends)

Took me a while to update because once again, I am having technological issues. For a geek, I am remarkably computer-retarded. For a geek with an Apple computer, I have the IQ of pond scum. As I mentioned previously, my computer is full. I got a temporary reprieve by learning how to actually delete photos, instead of just thinking I'd deleted them, but I'm still a little too full to do very much. Since I love to take photos with my stupidly-huge megapixel camera, this creates a problem. Now, the solution according to some dude on the Apple support forums was to buy an external hard drive, clone my internal drive, and then boot from the external until I could get around to buying a new and bigger internal drive. This I tried to do, buying a 500 GB external HDD, eventually, and cloning my current drive. Then I tried to boot from the external, and this is when I discovered the crucial point I had overlooked when I went to buy the external HDD: firewire. I bought a drive with a USB connection, and apparently, that makes it unbootable. (@*$^#%^!&*!)#*#^&$. So I'm right back where I was before, except now I have a useless $100 external HDD. Also, it turns out that I could have just bought a firewire enclosure and a new internal drive and cloned my old one directly to the new one without doing this stupid external nonsense. As an added move to tick me off, I can't buy music from the iTunes store, because I live in Japan and my debit card is from America. Apple sure is trying really hard to make me not spend any more money on them.

Anyway, I deleted enough photos over the weekend to upload more, although a video I very much wanted to upload wouldn't. And then I forgot to take a picture of my newest project. Dolt!

The Xmas Nebraska Hat is done, yea. The yarn was not pleasant to work with, although I think it's fine in the hat. As for the hat itself, I don't love it. The pattern is not my perfect hat, but I'm not sure how much had to do with the yarn I ended up using. I did end up casting on the 100 stitches the pattern calls for, after realizing that the 90 stitches I first had just didn't look nice, but I think the ideal would be in between. Since the pattern needs multiples of ten, that wouldn't have worked anyway. The hat feels too big, even though it fits fine, as you can see on the head of my neighbor, Geoff. It's definitely a little long - the pattern tells you to knit for 20 cm, which when I stopped to convert to inches seemed a bit long, but I figured she knew better than me and kept going. In the end, I started the decreases before 20 cm, and I still think it's too long. Then the decreases themselves just don't look as nice as I want them to. That might be me, but I definitely think that the second k2t in the pattern should be a ssk instead.

FO details:
Name: Christmas Nebraska Hat, for Stu in NYC
Pattern: That Chocolate's Gone Straight to Your Ribs Hat, by Leonie Connellan
Finished Meaurements: Forgot again, next time!
Yarn: ¥100 stuff from Daiso, wool/acrylic blend, in red and white.
Needles: Clover bamboo size US #8s, 16" circular.
Pattern mods: Not in the end.
Number of Times Frogged: Once, when I already had a good two or three inches, so I could cast on the proper number of stitches.
Knitting in Public: Um, no.
Next Time I Would Change: Definitely a different yarn, one not so scratchy. Probably a smaller needle. Definitely shorter by a couple centimeters. Decrease differently - k2t on the wider rib first, then a ssk. Also take the advice of Norma in her blog about ribbed hats regarding color changes. Hers looks way nicer than mine. Live and learn.

Now, about the knitting that is not-so-finished. The Diamond and Smocked has been done away with. Bad yarn choice for the pattern. I did the swatch and enjoyed the yarn and the color and even knitting the pattern, but it just didn't look right. So I finished off the swatch and went straight into the Basketweave pattern. I wanted to make it bigger than the pattern size, so I decided to add some pattern repeats. In my head, it went something like this:

"Okay, it says cast on 158 stitches. 7 stitch borders, pattern repeat in multiples of 8. So, add 8 to 158, that's 164. Plus 8 is 172, plus 8 is 180. Okay, cast on 180." Bam, I cast on 180.

Maybe you saw the glaring flaw in there, but I certainly didn't see it until it was time to start the pattern (ten rows in), when all of a sudden I thought, is this a 7 stitch border on each side, or is it 14 stitches? I started doing the math in my head and suddenly nothing was adding up. I looked back at the pattern, I re-counted my stitches, and then it hit me: 158 + 8 does not equal 164. It equals 166. I was missing two stitches. So now I have a 6-stitch border on each side.

Otherwise, it's going fine. I'm alredy bored and the thing is barely 4 inches, but hey. It looks nice, although the yarn is a little dark for the pattern, but seriously what pattern can you do with a yarn this dark? Lace, really, or stockinette. Then there's the fact that I might run out of yarn, in spite of my ten skeins. The first skein gave me 2 3/4", so assuming that each additional skein will give me 3" (I did a fairly substantial swatch of the D&S), that'll get me to just under 30" x 33", assuming my measurement of the bottom taken in the car yesterday was accurate. All of that's not to mention that this was a silly project to attempt anyway, because she specifically asked for a blanket for her four cats that would match her living room, and I heard: Christmas gift! Find pattern! Here's one, and even though it's baby-sized, I'll make it a little bigger and all will be well! Um.

Note to self: when people request a knitted something, they can pick a pattern or an exact color, not both. And if they've actually requested a knitted something, you should give them that something, not something else that you've decided would be better. Sigh. I think the kitties will be disappointed.

Ribbit.

Oi.

Here are the pics for the lovely finished Diakeito Fetching for Robin. I think they turned out quite nice. I didn't screw up very much (you might notice the slight difference in length here - difference in tension? an extra row somewhere? I have no idea), and they look very sweet. The yarn is nice, not itchy, feminine and pretty without being obnoxiously so. They are quite tiny, though - here they are shown on Katie, a five-foot-tall Asian, and they fit nicely. Since Robin is a five-foot-tall Texan, I'm still assuming all will be well. Then the question remains, will she actually wear them?

FO Details:
Name: Christmas Gloves, pair #2 for Robin in LA
Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath
Finished Measurements: Whoops, forgot to measure - will go back and edit this later...
Yarn: Diakeito Dia Tasmanian Merino Lame in color #604, a slightly lavendar pink with sparkly bits in it. A bit splitty and much finer than the label claims, but lovely. I still have a bunch left in the first skein, maybe even another glove's worth.
Needles: Clover Bamboo DPNs in size 5 in US size 5.
Pattern mods: The now-standard extra cable twist at the end, two extra stitches on each side of thumb which get decreased in the next row, and I didn't bother with the funky extra-stitch cast-off. I just did a regular bind off.
Number of Times Frogged: It's been a while now, but I think just the one thumb, once. It's a dang miracle.
Knitting in Public: None, weird. These gloves were clearly flukes.


Last night was all about the frogging. First I ripped out the "swatch" for the Diamond and Smocked, because once I got into the pattern stitches I had clearly cast on a completely random number of stitches, and I immediately got completely confused. So I ripped all of that right back out, and then sat down and figured out how many stitches to cast on for a proper swatch, which will then give me an idea of how many stitches I will want to cast on for the blanket. It will also be good to do an actual swatch so I can figure out how the heck to do that funky wrap around thing in the tenth row.

I really do like this Vittoria yarn so far. It's surprisingly soft and a nice color. Regardless of whether it's just so nice in comparison to the Nebraska Hat yarn that is ripping up my cuticles or whether I've talked myself into liking it because I couldn't find anything else, it's fun to work with. But now we'll have to see all about the how much and how's it look with the full pattern and can I even do this pattern. I've already gotten screwed up on which row I'm on and how many stitches are even on the needles and will I be decreasing at any point? There's no key for the w.r. n and w.o.p. listed on the pattern, but I read in someone's blog that it's just a fancy way of saying yarn over, which makes sense but when will I decrease? It might help if I'd actually read the pattern all the way through...

And then I brought the Nebraska Hat over to Jon's to work on while watching the UK Office. It was finally long enough to actually try on, and since Katie was already modeling the gloves for me, I had her try on the hat, too. And while it fit, it just looked too stretched. I didn't like it. Bleah.

Thus, the Nebraska Hat got frogged, and I cast on 100 stitches, like a real knitter. The slight difference in needle size is obviously not enough to make up for a 10% reduction in width. Dolt. This time I will also make an effort to carry up the different colors properly rather than letting them hang out with their wangs out.

Oh, Christmas knitting, how will I ever complete thee?

I'll Just Finish This Before the Hypothermia Kicks In...

Finished the Christmas Head Thing and Robin's Fetching, and started Stu's Nebraska Hat!

The head thing is nice enough, but huge. Here it is being modeled by Brenda. I like the pattern and all, even with my wonky tension, but it's just so big I'm not sure if it's a practical wear. Was that just the yarn and needles? I felt like the yarn was thin enough, but maybe no. Now I'm wondering about making one for Emily. Maybe I should do something else for her. Anyway, FO details:

Name: Christmas Head Thing, #1 for Sheila in DC
Pattern: Bamboozled, by Random Cyn
Finished measurements: 15 1/2" long in body, 33 1/2" long with the twisted cord ties. 3 3/4" wide at its widest point, 1 1/2" wide at the narrow ends. See? Almost four inches across the top of your heaad? Doesn't that seem excessive?
Yarn: Patons Decor in New Lilac, the remnants of a scarf. Definitely less than 100 yards, as the pattern promised.
Needles: Size 6 bamboo needles I got for ¥100 (just under $1 US, yo!) at the new crafty store in Jusco. They're more than 12" long, which was silly for this project but will come in handy later, I'm sure.
Pattern mods: None, for once. I mean, yeah, I screwed up the pattern and didn't y/o properly for half of it, but that doesn't count.
Number of times frogged: Only once for real, when I took out a couple of inches after doing the pattern a little too incorrectly, and then once where I undid just one row. Sweet!
Knitting in Public: Not really, just the car on the way to Costco.

Robin's gloves look pretty good. I just need to get Katie to model them for me and you'll get a good picture. I'll save the FO info for that.

The hat is easy-peasy. I started it last night while I ate dinner and watched a terrible movie: Cyborg Soldier. I got the DVD for free, along with a DVD for a Steven Seagal movie, by commenting on the Great White Snark's blog. The Seagal movie, KillSwitch, was so incredibly terrible it wasn't even funny. No, I mean, I didn't even enjoy making fun of it because it was so bad and had the most mind-boggingly terrible ending I've seen in ages. Cyborg Soldier was a cinematic gem in comparison. Anyway, already more than an inch on the hat and it's pretty relaxing. I thought I had knit this pattern before but it turns out not, because I don't have the right needle size and the one I did was 2x2 rib, where this is 4x2x2x2. The pattern calls for a 4mm size, 40 cm long circulat, and I'm using a 16" size 8, because that's what I have. So I only cast on 90 stitches instead of a hundred, and when I get a bit more length I'll try it on.

And oh my God is it freezing in my apartment right now. My fingers are going numb and I swear I feel a draft against my ear, the only other part of me that isn't covered in fleece or knit blanket. Oh, for some insulation! Why, Japan, why don't you have any insulation in your houses? Maybe I could stuff some of the acrylic cotton from the Stripey Zo around the windows...

"Glove" must be short for "Grrr... love."

Okay, I really need to be in bed, to start with.  But I took a nap this afternoon, which always feels delicious when I do it, but then when I go to bed and stare at the ceiling that night, and struggle to wake up the next morning, it always turns out to have been a rotten idea.  So I'm doing this quickly so I can go stare at the ceiling.

I finished the first pair of Xmas gloves, finally.  Rather a trial.  After the heartbreak of the other night,  I gamely cast on again, did most of it yesterday, and then finished tonight.  Of course, I managed to screw up SEVERAL MORE TIMES.  (the excessive use of caps regarding these gloves should should how ticked I am at myself, since I personally hate reading type like that).  First I did an extra row or two on the thumb, and had to go back and unravel it a bit.  Then I realized that I must have done an extra row between the two cables at the top, but there was no way I was going to go back and fix it.  Possibly if it bugs me enough when it's actually time to send them I will redo it, otherwise I'm hoping Jess won't notice.  The above picture also demonstrates one of the downsides of living alone: being both model and photographer for pictures of gloves is a bit tough.

So the details:

Name: Christmas Gloves, pair #1 for Jess in NYC

Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath

Finished measurements: just under 7" long, thumb is 1/2" from base to edge, about 6" around when not being worn.

Yarn: Hamanaka Exceed Wool Fl in color #213, a dusky rose/mauve type color.  I used up most of the skein, maybe 5-10 yards left.

Needles: KA Bamboo DPNs in US size 6.

Pattern Mods: Added an extra cable repeat (lengthwise) at the end before binding off.  I'm not sure whether the first glove only got three rows before the extra cable or if the second glove got five rows, but I was aiming for four rows in the ribbing after the last cable row called for in the pattern, then the extra cable, then four more rows, bind off.  Also, I followed a recommendation from someone in the Fetching group on Ravelry to pick up four stitches on each side of the thumb rather than two, then k2t twice on each side on the next row.  It does help a bit with the holes that show up.

Number of times frogged: 3, counting each separate instance of ripping out (bottom of 2nd glove, attempted graft and entire 2nd glove, thumb of 2nd attempt of 2nd glove)

Important Lesson About Life and Knitting Learned In Process: Just because I've done a project once or twice before does NOT mean I can turn off my brain when doing it again.  Especially if I expect to give it as a present to someone I love.  Doing so only leads to mucho, mucho frustration, and possibly to throwing things.

Knitting in Public: Cast on and started in the common room of the Sora House in Naha, worked a couple of inches in a Starbucks in Naha, finished most of that glove at the Yats Fireworks, and cast on and worked some of the other glove (first time around) at the Yats Board of Education.

I think they look pretty good, excepting the slight boo-boo at the top in differing lengths.  And they're finished!  God, if I have this much trouble with the rest of my Xmas knits, about three people will be getting presents this year.  Sigh.

But I did cast on the next pair while I was waiting the six years it took for this picture to load to iPhoto and then to Flickr.  I'm going down a needle size because the yarn is thinner, but I think it will be okay because Robin is tiny and has small hands.  Emphasis on "I think" it will be okay. Given my current track record, the gloves will probably land in poo somewhere along the line and size won't matter.

Stripey Zo is Done, Done, Done!

I love knitting, I really do. But towards the end of a project with any level of complexity, there is always a time when I start to hate it. The seaming, sewing, blocking, making it all look put together part is by far my least favorite part. By the time I was finishing this little guy, I was calling him the Little Bastard. But he's done now, and he's so incredibly adorable that he is completely forgiven for the pain he put me through.

As I mentioned, I barely finished the ears. I had to take apart the crochet attempt to finish the second one, but all turned out well. I was able to sew the ears to the head with the tails from the bind-off, and there was even plenty left over to attach the legs and body. After the various ear fiascos that made me believe crocheting requires some special ability I lack, I thought sewing would be easy. No. The first leg was fine, but after that it became an exercise of knitting yoga. And the head! I attached it a bit and thought, hey, that's fine, but he flopped around like a movie corpse. Since I was listening to some NIN at the time, I considered leaving him as a head-banging elephant (he keeps good time), but then I recalled that this was being given to a two-and-a-half year old. So I tried again, and while he is definitely a bit crooked, he is just plain adorable. Oh, and no eyes yet, but I kind of like him this way. I'll look for some buttons this weekend and see if anything strikes me.

Name: Stripey Zo (btw, "zo" with a long 'o' means elephant in Japanese)

Pattern: Elephante, by Susan B. Anderson

Finished measurements: 5 and 1/2" tall, 6" long, and 6" from ear to ear.

Yarn: Used up the last of my Patons Classic Merino in Good Earth, which I was only guessing at 3/4 of a skein, or 167 yards. I didn't weigh or measure, so that's only an estimate.

Needles: Clover Bamboo size 5 dpns.

Stuffing: Some sort of acrylic stuffing I got at the ¥100 store. No pellets.

Pattern mods: I used the knit ear pattern posted by BettyBoops in her project notes.

Knitting in Public: The train to Kumamoto and the street outside the dentist.

Cuteness Level: Off the scale.

Now, as for why there are no pictures. Sigh. My computer is full. My beautiful, trusty, never messes up Powerbook G4 purchased on credit at the beginning of my make-up career, is full. And I don't know what the hell to do with it. It totally sucks. I have the Halloween video clips on the camera as well as the Stripey Zo pics, and nada. They may as well be on the moon. It's one of those fun aspects of digital technology that makes me pause - none of it physically exists except as tiny switches until you do something with it. Pictures, patterns, all that knowledge - it's intangible until you suddenly have a picture in your hands or an elephant on your table. But anyway, I posted a question to the Apple support forums and expect to get an answer soon. I know that is likely to involve buying some sort of external hard drive, and that sounds like a pain in the ass. Quite frankly, I'm nervous about doing it, but since my next career will certainly require far more computer knowledge than I currently possess, I'm sure it will be good for me. But in the meantime, no new pictures. You'll have to imagine it. However, I promise to provide pics as soon as they are available.

Just make sure you imagine cute.