Fark.

Today was decent until about 6pm. Went to bed at 1, woke up at 4 for no reason, went back to sleep. Woke up again at 6:15 by my alarm clock, went back to sleep and woke up (properly) at 6:45. Oops. I had to be at the gym at 7:30 today. That's...half an hour to do everything necessary, plus eat breakfast, with the end result that breakfast consisted of a container of coffee-flavored yogurt and a cup of hot chocolate. Yummy. Not to worry, since I can't eat anything before fencing. I have to snack.

I walked to the gym with one of the foil guys that lives in the building next to mine, and one of the sabre guys who lives at the bottom of the hill. Of course, no one else was there. Just a note: When you say "get there at 7:30," that means YOU need to be there at 7:30. And then we spent more time waiting around for the guy with the key to the equipment room to get there. (I love fencing. It's so disorganized sometimes.) And then more time waiting for the rest of the drivers to get there.
Unlike October's tournament, this one was three schools (us and two others) and local--20 minutes away from campus. We were still there from 9:30 to 3:30. We had some equipment issues (dead body cords, and for some reason all but one of our sabres is two-prong, and some flying masks) at the beginning when we tested our gear (hurrah for crappy club stuff!) but we got it ironed out in the end. We fenced the "easy" school first.Their women's sabre squad had two people on it; ours had three, so we only needed to win two bouts. (For every person missing from a squad, they forfeit the bouts the missing person would have fenced.) The sad thing is, they didn't really seem to know what they were doing, and I was the only reason we beat them, not trying to brag or anything. My teammates...one of them only started this year, and the other started last spring. We can chalk one up to inexperience, and the other...she has some good instincts, but she gets very nervous when fencing and it all goes out the window. So guess who won those two bouts? And unfortunately, they were the only ones I won all day.
The host school is a division II school with a varsity fencing team. We are...division III with a club team. The men had a much harder time than we did (the men's foil event was a bloodbath), but we still lost all our bouts (at least, sabre did). A lot of it was "where the *%&! was my brain in all this?!" Lots of touches that I missed, and lots that I should have known how to deal with. J was unusually sympathetic to me today--he usually isn't. He doesn't try to be nasty or uncaring, but he takes his fencing very seriously and so is usually too wrapped up in his game or what's going on on the strip at the moment (for some reason, only the men's events get his attention...) to be particularly sympathetic. He wasn't fencing today because he sprained his ankle the week before, so I guess he was more into providing coaching, equipment and support today. I was beating myself up about my performance on the strip, and he came over, patted my shoulder and said "Hey, don't worry about it. We're all in the same boat, and yeah, there are some things you've got to work on, but it's getting better. That was the most aggressive I've ever seen you. That's good. Keep it up and come to practice." Last bit is a tiny bit awkward since I've been missing practices due to...me not sleeping and exams. (Not that J can talk on the first front, because he doesn't sleep either.)
Anyhow, we got back to campus at 4:15ish, I had a sort of late lunch/snack thing. Tea-- only without the tea--is the best description of it. Then I hiked up the Stairs of Doom so I could take a nap...which was interrupted by the fire alarm going off. Again. Why are the people in my building idiots? At least this time they called security and told them to tell the fire department not to show up. And then I got dinner. Somewhere between my room and the dining hall, I lost my brand-new, just-bound-off Foliage. It had been in my pocket until I realized this, so I guess it's in the dining hall, from where I either fished my ID card or gloves out of my pocket. But it makes me sad, since I'd only worn it for a little while and I hadn't even gotten to take a picture of it. I'll be checking the dining hall tomorrow, as well as the route down there (for a third or fouth time). If it's not there, it may be in someone's car (I hope that's the case.) And if still nothing...I guess I'll be casting on...again.

Since someone asked...

Midterms went. How they went varies by subject. I got B's on my genetics and biology midterms, dunno on calc (she doesn't give them back and I have yet to look my grade up online) and chem...the less said about it the better.

And I have another set coming up. Why are they all at the same time? I have a calc exam on Tuesday, a chem exam on Thursday, and both bio subject exams are the following Monday. I don't think I can handle that. *Hides under her desk*

In Blogstalking...I'm sorry I didn't get the stuff up. I wound up having less time than I thought I would. I'll try to get you "A day in the life" either tomorrow or Thursday. (I'll have a reason to leave my room other than the grocery store tomorrow, and Thursday is my Day Off.) And I can almost certainly get you the statues tomorrow. I have the perfect one in mind. :D

In the meantime, look at some pictures of knitting!


The Gryffindor bookscarf. It should be a quick knit, but no. It's been languishing on my "bookshelf" for the last couple of months. And this is part of the reason why--My first actual sock-weight sock! Toe-up sock, knit in Tofutsies (the color name/number escapes me for the moment.) The top of the foot (and eventually, the leg!) is in Irish Moss stitch, with four-stitch cables at the edges.
This is also part of the reason why. The sleeve for Mariah. The same sleeve from the last picture. And yes, I know that there's that huge gap right there, where I think I knitted an extra row or two between the repeats of the cable charts. I'm not going to frog. I'll just knit the other sleeve the same way and call it a "design element." So there.

What's this? Something else new? Yep! Lace! Pattern is Foliage from the Fall 2007 issue of Knitty (sorry, to lazy to link at the moment), in Patons' SWS (color: Natural Plum). This is an enjoyable knit--quick, yet interesting enough to keep my attention. Knit, as are many things, on 5 of my trusty 20 (it must be somewhere around that...) size 6 DPNs. My alarm clock is graciously modeling this partly finished hat for me. I do wish I could have gotten a better picture of the stitch marker. It's one of my favorites. (It's one I made myself out of a couple of jump rings and a charm thing I found lying around my house.) Because it's hard to tell from the picture, it's a silver elephant on top of that purple glass ball.
Am I the only one who must coordinate their projects and stitch markers?

3 Things...

3 things I love:
(aside from the obvious--family, friends, chocolate...)
1. Science! (in case that wasn't obvious enough.)
2. Baking.
Mm....pumpkin muffins!
3. Weekends, which are far too short.

3 things I hate:
1. Math.
2. My far-too-messy room.
3.Never-ending road construction.

popping in briefly

If you Blogstalkers have been wondering where I've been for the past week or so...I've been hit by midterms this week. And for some reason, all but one have been this week. (WHY do the science and math departments do this? Are they trying to kill us?) I have an organic chem midterm tomorrow at 11:15...and I can't sleep because I'm a teensy bit freaked out about it. But I did get my lab report done (due tomorrow)!
I'm done with most things tomorrow after the lab, so I have some time to update/take pictures/catch up on blogstalker business. And then...fall break! (More time! I'm going home, but I'm probably going to do homework.)

These boots were made for walking...

This last week's Blogstalker theme was "How I get from here to there" or something very similar. I think this picture basically does the trick:
Believe it or not, that did not take too much effort on my part to compile. (And my feet aren't usually that unhappy with everything. I had just gotten back from class when I took that picture.) Being a college student with no car (and on a relatively small campus), I provide most of my own transport--I walk nearly everywhere. Class, activities, grocery store. Yes, there's theoretically a shuttle system...except that by the time it gets there, you could have been in class five minutes ago. It's a 10-15 (depending on how lucky I get with the traffic lights, of course) walk to most of my classes from my dorm. Unfortunately, my dorm is at the top of a hill, which is accessible by the a set of stairs. Whoever built these stairs was a freaking idiot. The treads are all different so that it's hard to get a rhythm going, and it takes me two steps to clear most of them. They're not terrible to walk up or down...until you try it with a backpack full of books or a computer and an organic chemistry textbook.
For anything further afield than class, activities and the grocery store (about a 10 minute walk from the dorm), I utilize my "free" (read: $25 but they include it in the housing charges so you don't see it) pass and take the city's public transport system. Hence that collection of papers--it's a bunch of bus schedules I grabbed on my last trip.
My hometown, however, is not nearly as enlightened as this one when it comes to sidewalks and public transportation. So I resort to the usual suburban mode of getting from point A to point B--The Car.
(which I don't have a picture of. But it's a silver Honda Accord.)

Look, knitting!

Because you know I'll be putting something up when I have something major due the next day. In this case, a biology lab report. (It's nearly done. Just need to add figure legends to the graphs and put my group members' names on the word document.)
So, almost fittingly--a modified DNA scarf. I'm using the DNA cable (I am too lazy to look up the link right now), but I must have had Mariah on the brain when I started this. Rope cables, ribbing...look familiar? The bottom 3 or 4 rows are 1x1 ribbing. This makes excellent lecture knitting.
Is ANYTHING I knit not nerdy in some way (apart from Mariah)? I have this scarf, the Periodic Table scarf, the Harry Potter scarf (back at home), the matching bookscarf...I have the penguin! (Know what's pathetic? Last Monday, I was sitting in a review session for biology...and was trying to figure out how I'd knit a benzene ring using cables.) I have some SWS for socks (courtesy of a shopping trip to Joann Fabrics 2 weeks ago), so I might cast on and hope I don't try to put an alkane-looking cable on there. I think a nice mistake rib or basketweave pattern.
Mariah...it's very much a matter of "one step forward, two steps back." (Reminds me of all the footwork drills we do in fencing.) Short attention span? What short attention spa--ooh! Sleeve! This thing has been frogged I don't know how many times. Numerous times at the beginning for messing up cables. The first major one was because I knit about 24 inches of sleeve and then realized I had forgotten to increase. Riiiip. Then, more ripping because of cables. And then....nearly a full cable repeat that was mis-crossed, probably the product of...knitting in lectures...or bio lab (what? it was a lot of waiting around while stuff was in the centrifuge! And then an hour sitting around doing nothing...)

See that mistake? I'm NOT fixing that...at least, not at the moment. And is it just me, or did my gauge change over the course of this sleeve? I wouldn't be to surprised.

Er, stuff.

The answer to this week's Knittyhead Blog Stalker 2 prompt ("what's in your purse?"). I don't carry a purse normally, so I shall show you the innards of my backpack...ooh, scary.

The Monster and the Generic Dorm Furniture:

I'll do this by pocket. What's in Pocket Number 1?


Well...that's nice. But what IS it?
Ah. Much better. That would be...my organic chem textbook, notebook for o-chem, notebook for o-chem homework, the Notebook That Gets Used For Random Things and a Catch-all for Miscellaneous Paper, my biology notebook, and what looks like random paper and some escaped biology notes. On the left is a chem textbook I borrowed from my professor from last semester (and I need to give it back...) and my planner. In case I have to be reminded how busy I am.
Onward to Pocket Number 2!
It would appear that it happens to contain the bag that would otherwise function as a purse. If I weren't lugging the Monster around, that is.
The contents of that bag:
My wallet, $1.50, a receipt, and a copy of the bus schedule.
And the rest of Pocket Number 2:
A WIP (the periodic table scarf), a dime, a wrapper to a cough drop, an eraser, and my flash drive (I was wondering where that went).

And now...the Pocket that Needs to be Emptied:Not too bad, right? Au contraire.
From left: chemistry flashcards (is there anything in this bag that is not somehow related to chem?), some random trash-type stuff, calculator, a pen cap, a bunch of abused post-it notes, pens on a keyring, index cards, a green pen, a mechanical pencil, 4 crochet hooks of varying sizes, another receipt, Vash keychain, owl keychain, scissors, a highlighter, clicker thingy for biology.
But wait! There's more!
From the left--the highlighter and clicker thing from the last picture, a huge number of writing implements of different colors, dock adapter for my iPod, jingle bells, 2 tubes of Burt's Bees lip balm, more writing implements, 2 AAA batteries, various pins that either fell off or never ended up on the outside of the Monster, and $0.67. I didn't include the "supplies" (do you really need a picture? Honestly.) or the two containers of bubble liquid, which I only just found. My backpack must be some kind of bottomless pit or something.
And I just discovered that I had actually folded the gold wrapper into an origami crane...

...I'm late. Is that an answer?

This week has been the Week from Hell, so I haven't been able to get this past week's theme for Blog Stalker 2 up until now. I blame midterms. Anyway, last week's theme was "Who am I?' I don't know if I can answer "who?," but I can answer "what?". Those are two different questions. Funny how we tend to define ourselves by roles we play.
Back on topic...
I am first and foremost a student at an Ohio college. And yes, I have three majors--BS in biology, BA in chemistry, and a second major for the BA in environmental studies. This means I'm insanely busy. The tools of the trade:
Calculator, pile of chemistry textbooks, homework, coffee cup, laptop, printer, iPod.
And all the rest of my books (apart from the ones in my backpack).


And a bag of Hershey's Kisses. I think I went picture-happy in this post. Incidentally, I hope you appreciate it--I cleaned especially for this! (Not that my room didn't need it.)

Since I got here last fall, I've become something of a chemistry nerd. I live on a floor full of chem nerds. You should hear the conversations. We somehow manage to compare things like homework and eating lunch to chemistry. It's terrible, and really funny at the same time.
My bulletin board, with pictures from home and something every chem major should have (in my opinion) on their wall--a periodic table.What? It's relevant to two of my majors!
Okay, I think I have a life outside schoolwork. I'm a fencer (with swords, not stolen objects, thanks). Fencing owns the part of my life that higher learning doesn't. Here's a picture from a tournament my college's team went to last year:

Terrible picture (I didn't take it, obviously), but not bad considering it was taken at about 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I'd gotten three hours of sleep the night before. (I cropped it to remove my teammate who probably wouldn't want her picture plastered on the internets.) I'm primarily a sabre fencer, but I'm learning foil in my phys ed class.
I'm also a violist, and have been for the past...nine years. Well, nine years had I actually practiced for most of them. Unfortunately, this was the hobby that had to go when I came to college because practice time was so limited. I didn't even bring it up with me this year, so I don't have current pictures, but here's one from my high school "senior spotlight" concert from two years ago.That's all I can think of to say about me. I'll be back for this week's post on Thursday, probably. (Biology and o-chem exams next week.)

Oh yes. I knit too.
Sometimes.

AAAAH!

Okay, I am now thoroughly convinced that college is trying to either kill me or drive me insane, whichever comes first. My course load is not exactly taxing, it's just that my schedule sucks:

Calc II: MWF, 8:30-9:20; Tu 11:35-12:25
Bio 215: MWF 9:30-10:20, Th. 1:15-4:15
Fencing: MW 10:30-11:20
O-chem: MWF 11:30-12:20
Genetics: MW 12:30-1:45
Chem lab: M 2:00-5:00

On top of this, I have fencing practice (for the club) on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30, and Fridays at 3.
The work isn't hard (yet), but the volume of reading is huge. I have another chapter to read for bio, and 2.5 chapters of genetics to read. For Monday. As well as my o-chem homework to rewrite so it's actually legible (resonance structures are evil!), calc homework, and the video to watch for lab. For Monday. What HAVE I been doing all weekend?

The tale of the Second Hedgehog.

Yes, friends. I have another FO, and yet another stuffed hedgehog. Only this time, I documented the entire process. So, without further ado:
Here is the knitted-up, un-felted hedgehog. Poor thing, doesn't know what's coming.A watched pot never boils. Or does it? And is this going to turn out a bit like Schrodinger's cat? (I'm probably misremembering that...)

The tools of hedgehog torture--the shampoo and a potato masher. Don't worry, my friend. It won't take too long. I hope.

Since I shall refrain from quoting Macbeth (too easy), I shall instead quote The Goons. "He's fallen in the water!"A partially felted hedgie. Elapsed time between this picture and the last one: 1.5 hours. Yup.
And here he is, all finished!
Specs:
Everything is the same as the last one, except that I used both Copper and Chocolate Fun Fur for the back.
Comments: He didn't felt nearly as well as the last one. I don't know whether it was because I got sick of trying to felt it, or because I used Burt's Bees shampoo rather than dish soap or because of the much thicker fur on his back, or a combination of these. He is rather more huggable, though--I used up all my polyfil on him.


In other knitting news:
Periodic Table Scarf: Through knitting in lectures, I managed to get started on the bottom row of the main part of the table.
Mariah: Slowly working the sleeve again.

Sigh....

I had most of one sleeve of Mariah done this afternoon. Then I went back and looked at the pattern...and discovered that I had forgotten the increase stitches. So off to the frog pond with it. And it was working up so nicely too. Can I go cry now?

FO Friday!

Hedgehog

Pattern: Fiber Trends Huggable Hedgehog
Yarn: Patons' Classic Merino in Natural Mix (body), just under 1 skein; and Chestnut Brown (paws), leftovers; Lion Brand Fun Fur in Copper
Needles: Clover Bamboo circs in US 10.5 and 11
Started: July 2007
Finished: August 6, 2007
My first felted project! I washed the thing three times, and apparently the water temperature isn't high enough to felt anything. So, off to the boiling cauldron of death with him. It took about two hours of soaking in hot soapy water and rubbing the thing to death, but it felted. Eventually. I had to resort to a less dignified (but far more effective) method involving a towel and the family room carpet to get his back to felt under that fur.
Fun fur doesn't seem to have such a thick "eyelash" component as the recommended yarn. Hence the somewhat sparse fur on his back. So for the next one, I'm thinking of doubling it and then going up a needle size for the back.

My parents have dubbed him Ginger...

Irish Hiking Scarf

Pattern: Hello Yarn's Irish Hiking Scarf.
Yarn: The Alpaca Yarn Company Landscapes (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk) in Green Acres; just under 3 skeins
Needles: Bamboo US 8
Start Date: October 2006
Finish Date: August 3, 2007
Another one of those embarrassing range of dates, methinks. Good mindless knitting for lectures, though. I screwed up the cables because I just stopped counting rows, so they ended up being crossed when I thought it looked right, rather than every eight rows as the pattern says.
The yarn was nice to work with--nice and squishy, if a little splitty, but I'm not going to use it again for cables, and it's slightly itchy. There are a bunch of guard hairs in with it. I've found myself plucking them out of the scarf. Sigh.

A close up of the cables. The color's closer to the first picture.

And a WIP:
Gryffindor bookscarf!

Remind me never to do that again.

Stovetop felting, that is.

Details later, when my the skin on my fingers doesn't threaten to crack and bleed at every keystroke.

uh...

I want this shirt.
(or I could buy a cheap-o shirt from Target and freehand it...)

Done...

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at about 3:00 this morning. I'm trying not to give anything away, but...

Wow. It doesn't seem 759 pages long. It's very fast-paced, and there are a bunch of twists and turns. There's one chapter that you don't expect at all. It's good. And now I'm sad that I don't have anything to look forward to.

Midnight Mischief Managed!

I solemnly swear that I was up to no good.
That's about as far as I got on the Gryffindor scarf. Oops.


So I went to the midnight release of HP7 last night (this morning?) wearing the garter stitch version I made last year, my black spider shirt, jeans, and my black cloak.
For reference, I'm 5'6", the scarf is wrapped around my neck twice, and the tassels still reach my knees. It's a very long scarf.

I spent the day psyching myself up. Lots of Potter Puppet Pals (yay!), and I listened to the PoA soundtrack (my favorite) in the car on the way there.

My local Barnes and Noble held a release party, of course. I originally wasn't planning to go, but I figured I'd never get that chance again, so I went. They had food and the cafe had "butterbeer" and "polyjuice" frappucinos. They also had a little scavenger hunt (except someone stole one of the clues...), crafts, and other activities. A pet store in the same shopping center brought over a rat (aww), some frogs, and various reptiles. Here's the non-book Potter loot from last night:

And because I forgot to include it in that photo:
The tassel was for answering a trivia question, and most of the rest was for the scavenger hunt--glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses, and the "7" temporary tattoo. I also included my wristband for fun (I've become an expert at getting them off without tearing them). The big black thing is an "amulet" sponsored by one of those "paint your own ceramic XYZ" places. A little tile, some acrylic paint and 12 minutes, and we have...I was initially going for a dragon, but since that wasn't working, I decided to be totally unoriginal and painted a little Golden Snitch on it. It says "HP 7: 7-21-07" on it. Note my pathetic attempt at shading. People liked it though.

After that dried, I hung out with my sister and her friends and went to be Sorted. I wound up in Slytherin. (Which is funny, because I was wearing a Gryffindor scarf). My sister went as a pseudo-Death Eater and was assigned to Hufflepuff. I laughed. I ran into some of my high school friends, did the scavenger hunt and all manner of good stuff. And bought him because I couldn't resist:
Dragon!
Getting the books was organized chaos. But I got my book. To quote Hagrid (in SS/PS), "An' here's Harry":
And Book 7 in its rightful place on the shelf with the rest of its fellows:
I didn't start it last night, because I was exhausted (fell asleep at 6 on Friday morning, woke up at nine). And now I can't bring myself to start it. I've been looking forward to this, but I don't want it to end. So I don't want to finish it. Sigh. I'll bite the bullet and get reading tonight. (My sister was up until 6 or so reading. I'm staying away from her.) The other reason I didn't start reading was this music video. So I had "Music of the Night" stuck in my head. With Lucius Malfoy 'singing' it. It makes me want to take a shower. Methinks Potter needs some bookscarves too. And my sister wants one too. Another trip to Michael's is needed.

I'm off to barricade myself away from the rest of humanity.

Owlie and the Mad Dash

Right. I have about thirty percent of the Gryffindor scarf done, and twenty-three hours to finish the other 70 percent. Can I do it? Without getting carpal tunnel?

Here is the progress as of 1:19 AM, July 20th:

Yes, I realize that last yellow stripe is a little too wide (or it looks that way), but at this point, I'm not going to rip it out. I don't know if I'm going to the midnight release this year (I didn't for the last two books; I only went to the midnight release of GoF.). I have a cloak. It's awesome. Black crushed velvet, and a purple satin lining. Only problem is that it's a little bit loose. Okay, very loose. I (or rather, my mum) didn't put a piece in the collar area, so the seam where the hood connects to the rest of the cloak slips down my shoulder. (Partially to blame is my slippery choice in lining material.) Any quick fixes? It needs a proper clasp as well. I might get one at the Renaissance Festival next year if one catches my eye.
Back to the knitting. I'll keep updating this...

And now, for something almost entirely knitted.

Warning: Picture-heavy post!

Amazingly, I have finished stuff since the start of the year. Really. Here they are:
The Socks

Specs:
Pattern: Knitty's Universal Toe-up Socks
Yarn: Paton's SWS (70% wool, 30% soy silk), Natural Earth, 2 balls
Needles: US 6 metal DPNs, of some unknown brand.
Started: November 2006
Completed: Feb 2007
Notes: Um, that's an embarrassing range of dates right there. Especially the fact that I'm posting a picture NOW, in JULY. And my excuse? I started the first one over Thanksgiving, frogged it, started again, but left the crochet hook for the cast-on at home, which delayed the start of the second sock. And yes, I am aware that the stripes don't match up. Who needs matching socks anyway?
The yarn wasn't bad to work with. One of the skeins (from the first attempt at the same sock), had several knots in it. It was also a little splitty. It's not exactly cuddly, but soft enough for the wool-sensitive me, and the colors are beautiful. It doesn't frog at all well, though. (It was bad enough that I went and bought another one.)
As for the pattern, the instructions were pretty clear, and that's all I ask for in a pattern. It was my first attempt at short rows, so once I got past the toe on the first sock, it was smooth sailing (if a little boring because of all the stockinette!)

On to the next one:
DNA iPod Cozy:
Pattern: Made up as I went along; cable chart from here
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool (100% wool), Leaf Green. Less than 1 ball
Needles: US 6 metal DPNs, D crochet hook for finishing
Started: April 2007
Finished: same week.
Notes: Quick little project, used as a nerdy stash-busting exercise in cables. The hard bits were finishing and starting. Before I cast on, I was deciding between knitting it from the edge of the flap down, or from the bottom of the pouch up. (I went with bottom-up, so when you fold the flap down, it appears that the spiral is backward.)
This was one of those projects where stuff clicked--as I went, I discovered that I didn't actually need the chart. The knitting and the shape of a DNA molecule told me what to cable and where. I couldn't find the tapestry needle when I finished it, so I...used a crochet hook to seam it (not ideal, but it worked), then chained around the edge of the flap to neaten it up a bit. This is the picture of it blocking in my dorm on my makeshift blocking apparatus (a towel and a bunch of push pins. Isn't it lovely? :P) I don't have a better picture, unfortunately. You can still make out the double helix of backbone cables, but the base-pair purls are kind of obscured because it's so dark.
Paton's Classic Wool. Decent yarn, generous yardage, and fairly cheap. And it's a very pretty green, I think.

PENGUIN!
Pattern: Pasha, from Knitty
Yarn: Patons Decor (75% acrylic, 25% wool) (black); Caron Simply Soft (100% acrylic) (white), Paton's Classic Wool (100% wool) (yellow)
Needles: Clover Bamboo US 5
Started: May 2007
Finished: May 2007
Notes: A fairly quick knit. Apparently my stuffing, seaming and finishing skills leave something to be desired, but I think he turned out rather sweet. (My penguin is a he. It's my penguin, after all.) The eyes took forever to get in the right place. There are a number of little imperfections on the belly (which is unfortunate, because it's white and they show up), and I had a little trouble with the increases. Ah well. I've got a second one in the works, though, so I think any of these mistakes should get ironed out in the process. And it's a penguin. Penguins are cute in any form. So there.

Two squares of the scrap blanket:
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Corinthian (Purple-ish) and Colonial (blue), Caron Simply Soft Thick in Dark Sage (dark green), Lion Brand Lion Suede in Olive, Alpaca Yarn Company Landscapes in Autumn Harvest (yellow/orange) and Lion Brand Chenille Thick n' Quick in Terracotta (orange). Don't worry; the fug fur edging will be gone.

Yarn (to center): Caron Simply Soft Quick in Autumn Red, Lion Brand Lion Suede in Orchard Print, Alpaca Yarn Company Landscapes in Autumn Harvest, Lion Brand Homespun in Mexicana. Those ends will get woven in, eventually.
Needle size for both of these were US 10.5.


And for another WIP:
My progress on Mariah.

That would be the back. I'll get back to knitting that. Really.