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.

I am busy, therefore I blog.

I have a physics exam on Friday. 17 chapters. I'm working through chapter 4 at the moment. (So, am I going to get this done?) I have a 76% in that class at the moment. 75% is her cutoff for a B. Think I can keep it? The final is worth...24% (random, no?) of our grade. Given my past performance on exams, I am assured of a C, except that I have no idea how many points the exam is worth.
No knitting news to report, except that I'm going back home Saturday, so I can hopefully take pictures of things.

Back to physics.

And look what I found:

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Literature Nerd
Social Nerd
Musician
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

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.)

The Physics of Fainting

I wound up in the ER yesterday. Long story short--dehydrated. Blacked out in bookstore. Spent 3 hours in the ER with a saline drip in my arm.

Physics is driving me up the wall. It's a chapter a day, basically. And I have an exam on Monday. So I'll be spending tomorrow and perhaps part of Sunday where I can't get so distracted--Starbucks.

I have an FO to show you all. Very cute. I don't have my camera with me, so you'll have to wait until I get home. (July 6th.)

The knitting I have with me is something I started back in March or April, and got sick of knitting. So, a fiber change, a needle change, and life is better. What is it? Let me tell you a tale:
Back in March, I was hanging around outside my chem professor's office, knitting one of the SWS socks. There were a bunch of people already in his office, discussing test corrections and such, so I- along with a bunch of other people- just sort of stood there outside his office. (Very narrow hallway, so it's not conducive to doing much.) The prof came out of his office, told the assembled masses that he'd be back in a little while, then saw me, knitting away. "Knitting again?" he asked rhetorically, in a somewhat disparaging way. I usually get ignored or "Ooh! That's so cool!" when I knit in public. This little comment was annoying. I think he meant it as a joke, as I don't think this professor is the type to be nasty to people just for the heck of it, except that it didn't quite sound that way.

So, on the advice of some Knittyheads, I set about looking for something chemistry-related to knit, just to...I don't know, be strange. It'd be very Case of me anyway. :D I was pointed towards this chart, so I modified it to include Sg-Rg, cast on 260 stitches (that was a nightmare) and got knitting. My first foray into colorwork of any type. Might I add that I was using Clover's Bamboo circs (16"). Terrible joins. And might I also add that I was using Red Heart Supersaver. That was no fun to knit with. It was initially a very Oberlin-spirited scarf (maroon and gold). Fitting, as that was where I bought the yarn while I was visiting a friend. I hated knitting it, if only for the yarn and needles. So, when I went home, I made a trip to the LYS and bought 2 skeins of Cascade 220 in a purple color. I'm still using the gold (Paton's Classic Merino) from Oberlin. (It's very Imperial Rome-ish now, I think. And, as an added bonus, it goes with both my coats.) I also bought an Addi Natura circ in a size 5. So much easier, apart from the fact I can't seem to read the chart anymore! And the yarn keeps tangling.
And, as a bonus, an amusing story about it (which I posted on the Knittyboard, so I'll just copy and paste):
[Originally posted Wed April 18, 2007]
"I had a few spare moments after class today, so I pulled out the periodic table scarf and knitted a few more rows, with the chart balanced on my bookbag. While I was doing this, my professor walked over and asked conversationally how my day was. He then happened to see the chart, said "Is that what you're working on?!", picked it up, looked at it, and then: "That's the coolest thing I'e seen all week!" He then told me not to leave out seaborgium."
[end]
Of course, the man also asked if it was a cross-stitch pattern. :| I think I'll go back and annoy him when I finished the scarf. I'll post pictures when it's recognizable. (Right now, it's about two rows into the actual table part of the chart, with a gold border.)

I'm HOOOOME!

Actually, I've been home for nearly a week. Then I get to go back to Cleveland in June, so I can take the first semester of physics--in five weeks. I'm nuts.
I made my decision about majors: I'm doing a BS in biology and a BA in chemistry, with possibly an add-on major in Environmental Studies. Yes, I AM nuts. Well, it's not quite so bad: I have an extra semester of physical chem plus lab, a semester of quant. analysis, and another semester of o-chem lab. In addition, I have whatever electives I need to take. But since I'm doing a BA and a BS, I get out of 6 credit hours for the BA. Now, the question is, do I want ACS certification? If I do, I need to take a semester of biochem, a semester of inorganic chem, and five hours of research. Given my combination, the biochem might be a good idea. The research...we'll see if I can wrangle something that fulfills that and my research requirement for bio.

I actually scraped an A in chem this semester!!! When I went to pick up my final, my professor handed it back to me and said "Congratulations! Well done!" I looked at it, and discovered I got EXACTLY the number of points I needed for an A. Ended up with an A in anthropology, and a B in my seminar and chem lab. Not surprised. Next semester, I'm taking:

1. Introduction to Organic Chemistry I
2. Cells and Proteins
3. Shakespeare: Histories and Tragedies
4. Organic Chemistry Lab
5. Calculus II
6. Fencing.

I'm thinking of signing up for the orchestra for non-music majors, but I'm not 100% sure of it yet.

I do actually knit, in case we'd forgotten. I'll get some pictures of the WIPs up tomorrow. (And maybe an FO or two...hmm....)