Hey, kids. Yes, I am a terrible blogger. I am doing my level best to get caught up this weekend, because guess what? School starts next week! OMFG! After that, I certainly can't expect to be blogging much more often than I am now. Let's hope, however, that when things settle down a bit and I get a regular internet connection again (ahem), I can at least blog semi-regularly.
Maybe.
Anyway. Here I am. How are you? I'm so sorry I haven't gotten caught up on all of your blogs. Hell, I don't even know if anybody is still reading this besides my mom (hi, M). If you are, Hey! I'll get caught up on your stuff soon. Er, soon-ish.
Quick me update: I am now in North Carolina, trying to find a place to live in Chapel Hill, trying to find a job, getting freaked out about the start of school, feeling a bit (okay, a lot) out of sorts because of the lack of settled personal stuff. Once upon a time I would have thought that home was where my stuff is. I have now amended that to where my stuff is organized.
It's good to be home, albeit weird. I've mostly adjusted, I think, and done most of the immediate gratification things I wanted to do - hung out with the rents, sat on the couch with the dogs for hours on end, eaten Taco Bell, Burger King, Cuban food, Chik-Fil-A, Steak'n'Shake, gone to the movies (more on that later), bought clothes and shoes in my size, driven around 'til I was tired of it again... All that. So, acclimated, I guess. I just miss my friends. A lot.
Trip and travel updates and pictures are still pending on my other blog. I might get around to doing some of that tonight. If you're lucky.
Okay, enough about that crap.
Knitting update: I've made a couple of wristlets for my new tattoo, and I've put them on Ravelry but I haven't yet put the patterns on this blog, as I've meant to do. It's on the list. But they're coming, as are pictures of stuff. I have also gotten Anne Budd's book on socks, and just today I cast on for my very first sock! Squeal! I like the yarn, JoAnn Sensations Bamboo and Ewe in a variegated purple and grey, and I'm excited to see the sock unfold and figure out how to do the heel and all that. Yea! I'm hoping to have the pair done by the time the colder weather gets here, but since school will be starting I just don't know what will happen to my knitting time.
Geekery update: Wanna know what kind of geek I am? I'm a Star Wars novel geek, that's what. When I got to my parents' house, I discovered, amongst the large piles of things belonging to me that they have patiently kept, the X-Wing series book 5, which I vaguely remembered giving to my mom to take home for me when I finished it two years ago, in the storage-unit-already-closed-but-still-in-the-US time frame before I left. Well, it looked a lot more fun than The Brothers Karamazov, which I was ostensibly reading, so in I plowed. And I've been geeking out to those, or the ones that I own on the East Coast, anyway, since I got home. Yes, I know.
Also, I saw G.I.Joe. I expected it to be utter crap, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it immensely. It was so over the top it was fun, and I don't think it was taking itself all that seriously, which I appreciated. Now that absurd child fight scene - well, that was a little disturbing, not gonna lie, but it was also just so damn absurd I'm not even annoyed about it. Then again, I was so absolutely delighted to be in that theater that I may have been more charitable than usual.
All right, that's me. I'll be getting on that stuff I mentioned above, hopefully, but until then, sayonara! Oh wait, I mean, Bah! Y'all come back now, y'hear?
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
One More Bit About Star Trek
This'll be a long one. I wanna talk about the movie, because this is a geek blog, and I am a geek. One of my geeky interests is Star Trek, and has been for a very long time.
First, though, a few words about my love for ST: I don't remember what grade I was in when I discovered the re-runs of Next Generation playing in the afternoons, but I was fairly young. Fourth grade? Fifth? Old enough to know I was a huge geek, but entranced enough not to care. I even remember the very first episode I caught - it was the one where Data gets into a relationship with that woman who was not Tasha Yar, and he goes around to all the other officers asking their advice about relationships while they smile smugly at his innocence. It wasn't the relationship bit that drew me in, though, or the brilliantly writing (that episode was hardly a gem, if I remember correctly from the last time I saw it). It was space. It was aliens. It was the idea of this fascinating future where regular people flew around exploring space from the comfort of this awesome ship and with interesting companions in complex relationships (okay, I guess the relationship bit was important).
I was hooked. I would watch ST:TNG every day at four 0'clock, and sometimes the Original Series when it took TNG's place during the summer. I got my dad to rent some of the OS on video from 16,000 Movies down the street. I watched the movies - Star Trek IV, the one with the whales, was always my favorite because it was hilarious, but when I watched the Motion Picture on tv one time I was bored to tears. TNG is still the only television series I have ever watched to its conclusion, the only one I have ever committed to while it was still on the air (I know - if I can't commit to a weekly tv series, imagine how I am about everything else). I even read the books - because nothing says nerd like fan-fiction: official or not. And of course, I once went to a convention. I'd like to do that again.
I credit Star Trek with my interest in make-up, which has had mixed results but was still an important part of my life, and with my whole-hearted embracing of my geekdom. Well, Star Wars had a hand in that, too, but I think we all know which group has traditionally received more derision, and which therefore requires a more fearless embracing.
So. To put it mildly, I was excited about the new movie. It wasn't going to matter whether the movie was horrible or not. I would love it for what it was. But then the most amazing thing happened - people said GOOD things about it! All kinds of people! Even people like my friend Stacey, who thinks most sci-fi is crap and was dragged to see the new one by her fiance, reported that they liked it! Amazing!
Finally, last Friday I was able to see Star Trek: The Movie. Although I try my best to go into new movies, particularly ones I'm very excited about, with a blank, open mind and no expectations, it was impossible to shut out everything for this one.
But I was not disappointed.
It was good. It was genuinely good. At the same time, it was wildly different. It was new, exciting, not at all what I was expecting, extremely modern - and very good.
Not flawless. But very good.
Here come the spoilers!
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Things I Loved:
1) Karl Urban. Note-perfect. Hilarious. Hotter than Dr. McCoy could ever reasonably hope to be. Proved that an actor I've drooled over for ages is also a talented actor. Mmmm, Kiwis...
2) The casting in general, with two notable exceptions (see Things I Did Not Love, below). Zoe Saldana as Uhura was fantastic, sexy, gutsy, and a great update to the role. Eric Bana as Nero was awesome and very, very sexy (then again, I like dudes with tats). Simon Pegg was as charming and wonderful as ever, and when he shouted Scotty's regular line towards the end I actually squealed. Anton Yelchin as Chekov was adorable - I wanted to wrap him up and take him home with me. Zachary Quinto was good - no Leonard Nimoy, but then, this was not your father's Star Trek. Chris Pine was excellent - at first I was disappointed to not see more Shatner in him, but then, it's hard to channel Shatner without looking like a jackass. There was one great moment right towards the end, though, where he walked on to the bridge, looked around and said "Bones!" with that little smile, so perfectly that all was forgiven.
3) The look. Again, at first my nit-picky brain was going, "No, no, no! That isn't what it looked like!" but I got over it. I do think it could have been modernized while still keeping it looking more like the OS ship, but everything was so pretty I just can't stay mad at them.
4) The dialogue, mostly. Snappy. Clever. Cute. Chekov's difficulty with the letter v was especially funny to those of us living in Japan - alas, the Japanese people in the audience did not see the humor. Kirk to those cadet thugs in the bar? Brilliant. Everything out of Karl Urban's and Simon Pegg's mouths? Completely brilliant.
5) The re-boot in general. I walked out of the theater asking, "Did they just re-boot the franchise? For real? Are we starting over, a la Batman?" Except none of the people I went with were nerdy enough to have realized how wrong the details were from the history, so I was talking to myself. As soon as Kirk's dad died, I started thinking, "Um, this isn't right." and by the time Vulcan blew up I was practically chewing the seat in front of me. By the end of the movie, I was already imagining a whole new series. Go for it. I can still love the originals.
Things I Did Not Love:
1) Two Terrible Casting Choices. Winona Rider and John Cho. I have nothing against either of those actors but Winona Rider was a bizarre choice (she is not that old, dudes, and I have issues with exceptionally recognizable actors in bit roles that aren't cameos), and John Cho, while cool, is not Japanese. In a cast of mostly unknowns, they did not need Harold for credibility.
2) James Kirk becomes captain for no discernible reason other than that his father was a hero. That is not how Starfleet should work. Cadets do not show up on ships, especially the flagship, and randomly take over the whole crew. Kirk would be a terrible captain, having never served as a junior officer and having no experience whatsoever. Then again, most of what he did on the OS was bang alien chicks and beat the snot out of people/creatures/alien chicks, so the movie certainly set up his experience in those areas.
3) We are left with Future Spock and Past Spock in the same time period. They talk to each other. WTF??
4) The Uhura-Spock romance. Where the hell did that come from? Everything else that was different from the OS characters and situations could be explained by the changes that occurred as a result of the Romulans' time travel. I was cool with that. Alternative reality, right on. That could not be thus explained. Yes, it was cool, and interesting, but unnecessary and odd.
In any case, the Loves outweighed the Did Not Loves. It was good. I want to see it again, especially because I was extremely stressed out the night I saw it for reasons that had nothing to do with the movie, and now I want to see it when I'm more relaxed. Also, because it was awesome.
Thanks for reading my novella. Live Long and Prosper.
First, though, a few words about my love for ST: I don't remember what grade I was in when I discovered the re-runs of Next Generation playing in the afternoons, but I was fairly young. Fourth grade? Fifth? Old enough to know I was a huge geek, but entranced enough not to care. I even remember the very first episode I caught - it was the one where Data gets into a relationship with that woman who was not Tasha Yar, and he goes around to all the other officers asking their advice about relationships while they smile smugly at his innocence. It wasn't the relationship bit that drew me in, though, or the brilliantly writing (that episode was hardly a gem, if I remember correctly from the last time I saw it). It was space. It was aliens. It was the idea of this fascinating future where regular people flew around exploring space from the comfort of this awesome ship and with interesting companions in complex relationships (okay, I guess the relationship bit was important).I was hooked. I would watch ST:TNG every day at four 0'clock, and sometimes the Original Series when it took TNG's place during the summer. I got my dad to rent some of the OS on video from 16,000 Movies down the street. I watched the movies - Star Trek IV, the one with the whales, was always my favorite because it was hilarious, but when I watched the Motion Picture on tv one time I was bored to tears. TNG is still the only television series I have ever watched to its conclusion, the only one I have ever committed to while it was still on the air (I know - if I can't commit to a weekly tv series, imagine how I am about everything else). I even read the books - because nothing says nerd like fan-fiction: official or not. And of course, I once went to a convention. I'd like to do that again.
I credit Star Trek with my interest in make-up, which has had mixed results but was still an important part of my life, and with my whole-hearted embracing of my geekdom. Well, Star Wars had a hand in that, too, but I think we all know which group has traditionally received more derision, and which therefore requires a more fearless embracing.
So. To put it mildly, I was excited about the new movie. It wasn't going to matter whether the movie was horrible or not. I would love it for what it was. But then the most amazing thing happened - people said GOOD things about it! All kinds of people! Even people like my friend Stacey, who thinks most sci-fi is crap and was dragged to see the new one by her fiance, reported that they liked it! Amazing!
Finally, last Friday I was able to see Star Trek: The Movie. Although I try my best to go into new movies, particularly ones I'm very excited about, with a blank, open mind and no expectations, it was impossible to shut out everything for this one.
But I was not disappointed.
It was good. It was genuinely good. At the same time, it was wildly different. It was new, exciting, not at all what I was expecting, extremely modern - and very good.
Not flawless. But very good.
Here come the spoilers!
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Things I Loved:
1) Karl Urban. Note-perfect. Hilarious. Hotter than Dr. McCoy could ever reasonably hope to be. Proved that an actor I've drooled over for ages is also a talented actor. Mmmm, Kiwis...
2) The casting in general, with two notable exceptions (see Things I Did Not Love, below). Zoe Saldana as Uhura was fantastic, sexy, gutsy, and a great update to the role. Eric Bana as Nero was awesome and very, very sexy (then again, I like dudes with tats). Simon Pegg was as charming and wonderful as ever, and when he shouted Scotty's regular line towards the end I actually squealed. Anton Yelchin as Chekov was adorable - I wanted to wrap him up and take him home with me. Zachary Quinto was good - no Leonard Nimoy, but then, this was not your father's Star Trek. Chris Pine was excellent - at first I was disappointed to not see more Shatner in him, but then, it's hard to channel Shatner without looking like a jackass. There was one great moment right towards the end, though, where he walked on to the bridge, looked around and said "Bones!" with that little smile, so perfectly that all was forgiven.
3) The look. Again, at first my nit-picky brain was going, "No, no, no! That isn't what it looked like!" but I got over it. I do think it could have been modernized while still keeping it looking more like the OS ship, but everything was so pretty I just can't stay mad at them.
4) The dialogue, mostly. Snappy. Clever. Cute. Chekov's difficulty with the letter v was especially funny to those of us living in Japan - alas, the Japanese people in the audience did not see the humor. Kirk to those cadet thugs in the bar? Brilliant. Everything out of Karl Urban's and Simon Pegg's mouths? Completely brilliant.
5) The re-boot in general. I walked out of the theater asking, "Did they just re-boot the franchise? For real? Are we starting over, a la Batman?" Except none of the people I went with were nerdy enough to have realized how wrong the details were from the history, so I was talking to myself. As soon as Kirk's dad died, I started thinking, "Um, this isn't right." and by the time Vulcan blew up I was practically chewing the seat in front of me. By the end of the movie, I was already imagining a whole new series. Go for it. I can still love the originals.
Things I Did Not Love:
1) Two Terrible Casting Choices. Winona Rider and John Cho. I have nothing against either of those actors but Winona Rider was a bizarre choice (she is not that old, dudes, and I have issues with exceptionally recognizable actors in bit roles that aren't cameos), and John Cho, while cool, is not Japanese. In a cast of mostly unknowns, they did not need Harold for credibility.
2) James Kirk becomes captain for no discernible reason other than that his father was a hero. That is not how Starfleet should work. Cadets do not show up on ships, especially the flagship, and randomly take over the whole crew. Kirk would be a terrible captain, having never served as a junior officer and having no experience whatsoever. Then again, most of what he did on the OS was bang alien chicks and beat the snot out of people/creatures/alien chicks, so the movie certainly set up his experience in those areas.
3) We are left with Future Spock and Past Spock in the same time period. They talk to each other. WTF??
4) The Uhura-Spock romance. Where the hell did that come from? Everything else that was different from the OS characters and situations could be explained by the changes that occurred as a result of the Romulans' time travel. I was cool with that. Alternative reality, right on. That could not be thus explained. Yes, it was cool, and interesting, but unnecessary and odd.
In any case, the Loves outweighed the Did Not Loves. It was good. I want to see it again, especially because I was extremely stressed out the night I saw it for reasons that had nothing to do with the movie, and now I want to see it when I'm more relaxed. Also, because it was awesome.
Thanks for reading my novella. Live Long and Prosper.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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?
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?
Friday, April 17, 2009
10 Things I Want to Share
So!
1) I am now caught up on all the blogs I read. Mostly anyway - I did skip over a few, but I will continue reading them now that I can just read the most recent one rather than have to wade through three weeks worth of blogs from a variety of sources.
2) I have posted some of my pictures from China and two little explanations of such. I'm not finished, but iWeb is making me want to hurt somebody. Those are available at my Japan blog. The reason that blog is separate, by the way, is because when I first got here I needed a way to post pictures and talk about what I was doing in a way that would be easy for my friends and family, but especially my mother, to access, and I started this blog much later. The Japan blog is unsearchable and only available to the people I give the link to, whereas this is available through Ravelry and is searchable (but who the hell would be searching or me?). I like my privacy. But iWeb is getting increasingly more slow and difficult, and access to that blog seems less likely to disrupt my life than it used to, so feel free to enjoy.
3) I bought hiking boots the other day. They are very pretty and I love them. I will wear them tomorrow when I do the 777 again, so I can start breaking them in at the same time I continue my quest to get in shape for Fuji-san. Last weekend I did the 777 twice right in a row, and I wasn't all that sore afterwards. Good sign.
4) I saw Watchmen, finally. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the book. Several of the actors were not just terrible, but terrible choices for the role. Rorschach was the notable exception - he was note-perfect, as far as I was concerned. The change to the ending made sense for the movie, but I was still disappointed. The fight scenes were great and very sexy, but all wrong considering the whole point was that these were normal people acting as superheroes. Anyway, if nothing else the release of the movie prompted me to read the graphic novel, and I loved it, so at least there's that.
5) I saw the Twilight movie, too, finally. It was even more terrible than I expected. Way more terrible than the books, and they weren't in line for the Pulitzer to begin with. Oh, well, now I know.
6) I am still working on the lace edging for the Leaf Blanket. The child for whom it is intended is now two months old. I feel sort of like a failure. In the failure vein, I also still have not mailed my dad's birthday present, even though his birthday was April 2 and I called from China and had a Chinese beer for him (several, actually), just as I said I would.
7) Just when I thought I was done with baby things for a while, another friend is pregnant, and for once it's a friend who I know will genuinely enjoy and appreciate a hand-knit item. Sigh.
8) I started the Prepster, because every time I looked at the lace edging and thought how I needed to work on it, I talked myself into doing something else instead, and I needed to get back into the knitting groove. Also, I needed to knit something for myself. I adore the yarn I'm using, because it feels so soft and squishy and slippery-in-a-good-way. Here's hoping I've done my math right, cause I'm doing it in the round.
9) I have decided to attend the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's School of Library and Information Science in the fall. This decision and process, and the financial implications that I am only now fully grasping, have caused me a great deal of stress and taken up a great deal of my time lately. I am excited, but also sort of feel like I might vomit. If anyone has a few spare tens of thousands of dollars lying around, I am a very worthy recipient.
10) I am tired of my job. Also, today I am extremely grumpy. There is a bachelorete party tonight for someone I don't actually know, but to which I am invited because I'm American and am friends with the organizer of said party. Part of me is insanely curious about the stripper that has supposedly been procured (this being rural, backwater Japan, I'm having a hard time with the visuals), the rest of me wants to just sit at home, knit, and watch the Full Monty (either way, I get strippers). Regardless, two and a half more hours of work and grumpiness. Bleah.
But here's some Engrish for you, from the Lama Temple in Beijing:
1) I am now caught up on all the blogs I read. Mostly anyway - I did skip over a few, but I will continue reading them now that I can just read the most recent one rather than have to wade through three weeks worth of blogs from a variety of sources.
2) I have posted some of my pictures from China and two little explanations of such. I'm not finished, but iWeb is making me want to hurt somebody. Those are available at my Japan blog. The reason that blog is separate, by the way, is because when I first got here I needed a way to post pictures and talk about what I was doing in a way that would be easy for my friends and family, but especially my mother, to access, and I started this blog much later. The Japan blog is unsearchable and only available to the people I give the link to, whereas this is available through Ravelry and is searchable (but who the hell would be searching or me?). I like my privacy. But iWeb is getting increasingly more slow and difficult, and access to that blog seems less likely to disrupt my life than it used to, so feel free to enjoy.
3) I bought hiking boots the other day. They are very pretty and I love them. I will wear them tomorrow when I do the 777 again, so I can start breaking them in at the same time I continue my quest to get in shape for Fuji-san. Last weekend I did the 777 twice right in a row, and I wasn't all that sore afterwards. Good sign.
4) I saw Watchmen, finally. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the book. Several of the actors were not just terrible, but terrible choices for the role. Rorschach was the notable exception - he was note-perfect, as far as I was concerned. The change to the ending made sense for the movie, but I was still disappointed. The fight scenes were great and very sexy, but all wrong considering the whole point was that these were normal people acting as superheroes. Anyway, if nothing else the release of the movie prompted me to read the graphic novel, and I loved it, so at least there's that.
5) I saw the Twilight movie, too, finally. It was even more terrible than I expected. Way more terrible than the books, and they weren't in line for the Pulitzer to begin with. Oh, well, now I know.
6) I am still working on the lace edging for the Leaf Blanket. The child for whom it is intended is now two months old. I feel sort of like a failure. In the failure vein, I also still have not mailed my dad's birthday present, even though his birthday was April 2 and I called from China and had a Chinese beer for him (several, actually), just as I said I would.
7) Just when I thought I was done with baby things for a while, another friend is pregnant, and for once it's a friend who I know will genuinely enjoy and appreciate a hand-knit item. Sigh.
8) I started the Prepster, because every time I looked at the lace edging and thought how I needed to work on it, I talked myself into doing something else instead, and I needed to get back into the knitting groove. Also, I needed to knit something for myself. I adore the yarn I'm using, because it feels so soft and squishy and slippery-in-a-good-way. Here's hoping I've done my math right, cause I'm doing it in the round.
9) I have decided to attend the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's School of Library and Information Science in the fall. This decision and process, and the financial implications that I am only now fully grasping, have caused me a great deal of stress and taken up a great deal of my time lately. I am excited, but also sort of feel like I might vomit. If anyone has a few spare tens of thousands of dollars lying around, I am a very worthy recipient.
10) I am tired of my job. Also, today I am extremely grumpy. There is a bachelorete party tonight for someone I don't actually know, but to which I am invited because I'm American and am friends with the organizer of said party. Part of me is insanely curious about the stripper that has supposedly been procured (this being rural, backwater Japan, I'm having a hard time with the visuals), the rest of me wants to just sit at home, knit, and watch the Full Monty (either way, I get strippers). Regardless, two and a half more hours of work and grumpiness. Bleah.
But here's some Engrish for you, from the Lama Temple in Beijing:
Oh, but I am excessively diverted.
Ed: Because I am retarded.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
A Small Promise
Why, hello, my little langoliers!
It's Saturday, and I'm too lazy to go to the gym, and as soon as it's late enough to decently call Katie I'm going to see if she's interested in going to get something to eat. After that I will work on the Basket Weave of Eternity while watching Finding Nemo, and then tonight a group of us are going to see Quantum of Solace, which has FINALLY arrived in Japan. Squeal!
Wow, you might be saying. How fascinating. La-de-da. Well, as I was catching up on some blogs this morning (Yarn Harlot has been blogging for five years, dudes, and Knitting the Blues' computer died. Very emotional), I realized that I have got to stop writing novels every time I get on here. I mean, if I ever hope to attract a readership, and I guess I do, I can't expect people to slog through six pages of me rambling about whatever every time they visit. I think people will be much more forgiving of me rambling about whatever for half a page at a time.
And pictures, of course. Pictures are important. Nice ones. This is sunset over the river and bridge that cut right through the center of Yatsushiro.
Plus a wee mention of knitting: The Basket Weave is 24 1/2" long. So, 7 1/2" in the pattern stitch left and than an inch in moss stitch (bleah). I still have not started the finishing on the first ball, but I think I might do that today, after I've gotten bored of doing the blanket for a bit.
Then some geekery, since perhaps none of you who read this, if you exist and are actually thinking about it, have seen any real evidence of my geekiness. Clearly that would be those of you who have never met me. Anyway, geekiness: I watched Amadeus last night for the first time in years, and was just marveling over that aging make-up on F. Murray Abraham. That's kind of a make-up artist legend, how Dick Smith made a cast of his own forehead to get the wrinkles he wanted for old Salieri. And it worked! He and Paul LeBlanc won the Oscar for it. Not just for the forehead, of course - the hands! Did you see his hands as old Salieri? Beautiful, seriously. Sick Mozart was pretty nice, too. Afterwards, being the geek I am, I put on my 25 Mozart Favorites and went to Wikipedia to find out how much of that was made-up whole cloth. Almost the entire relationship between Salieri and Mozart, turns out. Which is cool, it's a story that got pieced together for dramatic effect from bits of intriguingly vague history and the fact that if it was creepy that Mozart couldn't quite finish what turned out to be his own Requiem, it would be even creepier if some malevolent force made him write it and thus killed him! But I was surprised that it turned out his wife was also musical (which makes sense) and that fact was completely ignored in the film. Hmph. Oh! and I was wondering why one of the supporting actors seemed so familiar, and after a bit of digging on IMDB, it turned out he played Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia in 1776, one of our family favorites.
Also, Quantum of Solace better not have any scars or contacts that change color, as Casino Royale did. Maybe it was the lighting, but come on. A make-up artist of the caliber that gets a mega 007 gig ought to be on that.
Okay, that's enough for today. If you didn't think make-up commentary was geeky, you do not know enough theater and make-up geeks. For that, I'm not sure if I pity or envy you.
It's Saturday, and I'm too lazy to go to the gym, and as soon as it's late enough to decently call Katie I'm going to see if she's interested in going to get something to eat. After that I will work on the Basket Weave of Eternity while watching Finding Nemo, and then tonight a group of us are going to see Quantum of Solace, which has FINALLY arrived in Japan. Squeal!
Wow, you might be saying. How fascinating. La-de-da. Well, as I was catching up on some blogs this morning (Yarn Harlot has been blogging for five years, dudes, and Knitting the Blues' computer died. Very emotional), I realized that I have got to stop writing novels every time I get on here. I mean, if I ever hope to attract a readership, and I guess I do, I can't expect people to slog through six pages of me rambling about whatever every time they visit. I think people will be much more forgiving of me rambling about whatever for half a page at a time.
And pictures, of course. Pictures are important. Nice ones. This is sunset over the river and bridge that cut right through the center of Yatsushiro.
Plus a wee mention of knitting: The Basket Weave is 24 1/2" long. So, 7 1/2" in the pattern stitch left and than an inch in moss stitch (bleah). I still have not started the finishing on the first ball, but I think I might do that today, after I've gotten bored of doing the blanket for a bit.
Then some geekery, since perhaps none of you who read this, if you exist and are actually thinking about it, have seen any real evidence of my geekiness. Clearly that would be those of you who have never met me. Anyway, geekiness: I watched Amadeus last night for the first time in years, and was just marveling over that aging make-up on F. Murray Abraham. That's kind of a make-up artist legend, how Dick Smith made a cast of his own forehead to get the wrinkles he wanted for old Salieri. And it worked! He and Paul LeBlanc won the Oscar for it. Not just for the forehead, of course - the hands! Did you see his hands as old Salieri? Beautiful, seriously. Sick Mozart was pretty nice, too. Afterwards, being the geek I am, I put on my 25 Mozart Favorites and went to Wikipedia to find out how much of that was made-up whole cloth. Almost the entire relationship between Salieri and Mozart, turns out. Which is cool, it's a story that got pieced together for dramatic effect from bits of intriguingly vague history and the fact that if it was creepy that Mozart couldn't quite finish what turned out to be his own Requiem, it would be even creepier if some malevolent force made him write it and thus killed him! But I was surprised that it turned out his wife was also musical (which makes sense) and that fact was completely ignored in the film. Hmph. Oh! and I was wondering why one of the supporting actors seemed so familiar, and after a bit of digging on IMDB, it turned out he played Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia in 1776, one of our family favorites.
Also, Quantum of Solace better not have any scars or contacts that change color, as Casino Royale did. Maybe it was the lighting, but come on. A make-up artist of the caliber that gets a mega 007 gig ought to be on that.
Okay, that's enough for today. If you didn't think make-up commentary was geeky, you do not know enough theater and make-up geeks. For that, I'm not sure if I pity or envy you.
Monday, January 12, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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 NiamathYarn: 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 NiamathYarn: 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!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
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...
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