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?

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.

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.

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.

Coming Attractions: A Preview

The Periodic Table Scarf, in all its unfinished glory:And a close-up:

I apologize for the awful picture quality--these were taken using my camera phone. Still, you get the point, right? I just finished the lanthanide series yesterday. It's my first attempt at stranded knitting, so there's quite a bit of puckering going on. I'm hoping that blocking it to within an inch of its life will help when it's finished (whenever that might be.)

An FO and an almost-FO!

The SWS socks are finished! I'm wearing them now. They're on the big side, but they're fine for lounging around in. Depending on how I like them, I might give them a conditioner bath.

Pics when my camera cooperates with my computer.

The almost-FO is the IHS. I'm down to the last little clump of alpaca. This is DEFINITELY getting a conditioner bath when it's done. The stuff feels so good when knitting with it and the fabric is all squooshy (yay! I made up a word!) but when it's around my neck, it's a little scratchy.

Projecty-ness and new books!

So I thought I'd get some knitting done over the break. Of course not. I don't know what I spent it doing.

Project breakdown as of 3 AM, January 8th 2007:
Gryffindor Scarf (SS/CoS-style): 16% done (3 and a bit of 19 stripes).
Irish Hiking Scarf: 75-80% done.
Fetching 2: 66% done.
Stockinette scarf: 45% done.
Toe-up socks: 40% done.

What happened to the hoodie? I think it died. It's not working. Any ideas as to what to do with 4/5 balls of Homespun (in a discontinued color)? :P

Things that need to be cast on:
Fetching 3 (Will be in Lion Brand Wool-Ease (worsted) in Blue Heather)
Fun Fur Fingerless Mitts (Fetching-based) (Patons' Decor in Black, Lion Brand Fun Fur in Copper)
Second toe-up sock (Patons' SWS in Natural Earth)
Socks for Socktopia.

Yes, I joined a knit-along. Unfortunately, I need to decide NOW what I'm doing so I can at least buy the yarn and/or needles. The themes for January are "Celebrate good times", "blue monday", and "snowflakes and starry skies". The "snowflakes" would be a perfect opportunity to learn Fair Isle, I think. Or I could do a plain pair of blue socks, maybe with some cable-y things. I don't have sock yarn in the stash in any color. I have a skein of off-white wool, and a dye-able skein of the same stuff in white, so I'm thinking white socks with snowflakes around the cuff. :)

In other news, I have some new books, both fencing-related. One is The Inner Game of Fencing: Excellence in Form, Technique, Strategy and Spirit by Nick Evangelista. It's an interesting read, if at least for some different perspective. (I was taught by a "trigger the light"-variety coach. The instructors at the salle (I miss them!) and Evangelista are technique-oriented.) (Not that I don't like my high school coach. He was great, just not necessarily as a sabre coach.) The other is By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions by Richard Cohen, a British(!) sabre fencer(!!). I've flipped through it, but I haven't had a chance to actually read it yet. Looks good, though.
I have a giant list of books I need to read:

• Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
• Against the Grain (Richard Manning)
• Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)
• and now, these. (and whatever else I have lying around)

I'm not going to get a chance. I'm back in Cleveland in a week. I did get my biology textbook...

The Kool-Aid gods must hate me. :(

Or, how to get pink variegated yarn without trying.

I have been playing with Kool-aid over break, trying to dye myself some nice dark red. It's worked, except for the dark and the red. The first batch (1 skein Patons' Classic Merino in Aran, 2 packets Black Cherry, one packet sugar-free Cherry) turned out a salmon pink. Nice, except that I hate pink. And it's a subtly-variegated salmon pink, because a)I don't have a pot large enough, and b) I tied it too tightly. It was dyed at three AM, so maybe I have an excuse, but I suppose that it might have to turn into a Liesel for my sister. (She looks good in that color, anyway.)

The second batch (dyed in the hopes of a purple--most of one skein of the same yarn above, with 2 packets each sugarless Cherry and Grape) turned out mostly a dusty rose/washed-out wine color, lighter in some places (I used the same pot...) and with the same skein-tying issues. I have no idea what to do with it. I wouldn't wear it, and neither would anyone else I know. But knitting with it is out of the question at the moment--it's horribly tangled. I am vaguely reminded of intestines. I'm thinking of overdyeing it with black cherry or grape, but I don't know.

If I'm not intended to have either red or purple yarn, would the Kool-aid gods kindly tell me?
I'm going to buy several packets of black cherry tomorrow. Hopefully it'll go better next time...

Knitted stuff...and the rest of life.

Or, more accurately, stuff in the process of being knitted. On the needles, I have:

-Irish Hiking Scarf in Alpaca Yarn Company's Landscapes (will be finished when I run out of yarn)
-Toe-up socks in Patons SWS (one done, partly frogged; one started)
-Hoodie in Lion Brand Homespun
-Gryffindor scarf in Caron Perfect Match and Red Heart Supersaver
-Striped stockinette scarf in Lion Brand Homespun

My ongoing project is a garter stitch patchwork scrap blanket. I have one finished square at home, and one on the needles here.

And, on top of that, I have two pairs of Fetching to do for Christmas presents, and the commission Fun Fur version to do for a friend of a friend. Yay for a month-long winter break.

In other news, I have two more finals to go. One is a take-home for Environmental Studies, the other is for Microeconomics. For the former, the professor expects four to seven typed pages per question. If that's the case, I'd rather take an in-class exam. At least that way, they only care about content and not about how you write the essay. The latter...I'd rather not think about. I don't even know why I took that class (yes, it's a prerequisite for Environmental Economics, but I don't have to take that either. I can get away with taking History of the American Environment.) I have at least 8 chapters to read by 12:00 on Tuesday. Not counting the fact that I'm going to have to write that other final. But then I get to go HOME.