Yellow and Black, Purple, Red

As everyone who knows me is aware, two weeks ago was my birthday. It was great, it was awesome, and it hasn't stopped. Last weekend my mom and I went to a GIANT (I mean giant. Get it?) concert for my birthday. We went to see Superchick but saw 7 other bands as well, culminating in Stryper, who is on their 25th anniversary tour. I've been waiting to see Superchick since I was in the 9th grade. Which means I've been wanting to see them since I was 13 or 8 years. Needless to say, it was awesome. I love having my mom come visit, and buying my tshirt from Matt (Superchick's lead guitarist) was just the icing on the cake. We actually took knitting with us because it was a day-long outdoor event that was supposed to be around forty degrees, but we didn't need it. I did make a lot of headway on my Angela Shawl on the way there, but that was all the knitting we accomplished that day.



Oh yeah. Did I mention we were second row center and the people in front of us never showed?

Speaking of the Angela Shawl, it is all but finished. I highly recommend this pattern because I had so much fun making it. Monday night all I did was knit the last bit of the lace chart and did the bindoff Tuesday morning. However, I still have not blocked it because I've been way too busy due to school to take the time I'll need to figure it out. This was my first lace shawl and I'm very proud. I found Ravelry user sarah1's spreadsheet for the initial stockinette section to be quite helpful to get started. Then it was just a matter of finding a pencil and ticking off the chart rows as I went. Only problem-- those last rows are WAY too long for my small project knitting taste.



I used my Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock yarn and still have quite a bit leftover. I'll save it for future scrap yarn fun and look into getting some more. That yarn is awesome!

Last weekend was also one of many Cons in NYC. In attendance were many big names including Linda Hamilton and the ever lovely Miracle Laurie. Also in attendance were my good friends over at Echo Alert, Frank and Andrew. If you read this blog regularly then you know about this already and if you haven't go look at the preceding post. They gave Miracle Laurie my scarf!


(screencap courtesy of Frank)

I can't tell you how excited I am. I love Miracle as an actress as well as her character(s) and she was so nice to the guys (and me by extension). I made the Haruha scarf for her because the leaf motif reminded me of her initial Dollhouse character, Millie. Millie was a very sweet, down to earth, caring girl (woman?) who wore a variety of outfits that were more bohemian in overall style. The leaves seemed like something that would appeal to her and the Finnish origin seemed just exotic enough to intrigue her. And of course it's purple because that's Miracle's favorite color (and mine)!

While they were at the con, Frank also picked up a birthday present for me that's, well the best way to describe it is frakin awesome!



That's really all there is to say on that count. It's now sitting in a frame in a place of honor near my Firefly autographs, Indiana Jones whip, and lightsabre.

Lastly, I cast on a new project last night for my friend Carmen. I'm improvising the pattern myself, but she showed me some pictures of what she wanted, so I'm working an insane amount of stockinette to make this crazy hat for her to wear with her Bella mittens. The good thing about stockinette was that I could work on it at the movies last night when we went to see Zombieland. Yes, this is not my typical movie choice, but I actually mostly enjoyed it. Probably because of all the cultural references. You can tell I'm working on a degree that involves some film cultural analysis because that's all I seem to look for anymore. I think my favorite reference was to the song "Send in the Clowns" (or whatever the title is). That was pretty sophisticated for a vulgar comedy full of zombies.

Placeholder for Future Rockingly Awesome Post

They did it! The guys over at Echo Alert met the amazing Miracle Laurie at Big Apple Con and GAVE HER MY SCARF (I know, tone down the enthusiasm, right)! I really don't have time right now to write up the post dedicated to the episode, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up (see, I said everyone. I know you're out there). Go watch the video cast on the website or download into your itunes, which is really what you should be doing anyway. The scarf itself is the Haruha scarf by Mari Muinonen, whose beautiful pattern can be found on MadeByMyself or on Ravelry. The website is in Finnish, but if you scroll down you can look at the pdf, which is in English and Finnish.

So go! Watch, enjoy, knit. And don't forget to watch Dollhouse Friday nights on Fox at 9/8 central.

Urchins Live At the Beach

Single Skein September ended last night. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, September is the month set aside by listeners of the Stash and Burn podcast to knit those random single skeins that knitters inevitably have lying around. Unless you're me and you actually don't have much of a stash and actually have to go buy the skeins for those projects. Kind of defeating the purpose, but that's ok. I'm the moderator for the Ravelry thread so starting tomorrow I have to start counting everyone's projects to put in the spreadsheet. It is a lot of work but it's also fun. I'm getting to see all of this beautiful knitting and getting great ideas.

For example, I'm becoming obsessed with fingerless gloves. I really like Fetching which has been the #1 glove pattern for a while. I started looking at Debbie Bliss yarn last night on Ravelry and had to convince myself I don't have the $7 quite yet that I'd need for this pattern. I also really like Suzie's Reading Mitts and CanCans so I'm thinking I'm going to use that extra skein from my Summer Beret.

My own contribution that I'm most proud of is URCHIN! Yes, I finally finished and just in time for the hint of a season change. I'm hoping to find an excuse to wear it this weekend because I'm so excited to finally have it finished. Despite the headache it caused I still love it so much.



I'm now wanting to make more designs by Ysolda. In particular I'm really liking the things I'm seeing come from Whimsical Little Knits 2. Especially Ripley and Veyla. I could just buy the patterns online which would be about $10 or so, but I want the book version to, which means I'd spend around $22 because it's shipped from Scottland. I should probably just buy the digital version and get the print add-on later, but I'm not sure I can afford it so I just keep looking at the patterns and sitting on my hands while I drool.

School's keeping me super busy (surprise!) but I did find time to hit our LYS here, The Quarter Stitch, for the first time today. It was a wonderful experience. There were women knitting and talking and the store had that close in, friendly feeling. Yeah, I loved it. I'm still such a newbie when it comes to knitting (not a noob, that implies incompetence and I think I have the hang of most things now. Except socks. I have yet to knit a pair of socks). When I go in a store I just have to touch everything and I'm shocked by the amount and variety and the colors. It's like a sensory overload. So of course I bought some things (duh!). I picked up these amazing Japanese bamboo circs for the project I'm making for my twitter friend Amanda's baby due at the end of the year/beginning of '10. Can't tell you what it is because it's a secret, but I promise to post a preliminary picture once she gets it and later a picture of the adorableness once the baby is born. I also picked up a skein of Borroco Ultra Light Alpaca in color way 4288. I know, sounds like nothing, but it's a stunning deep grey-ish blue with flecks of dark purple. I fell in love with it and the fact that it was under $6 guaranteed I was buying it.



One last thing. I just heard from Frank that Echo Alert has been in touch with Miracle Laurie and she remembers the scarf I was making for her. She will be at Big Apple Con this month and wants them to give it to her there! I'm so excited (even though I won't be there). Of course because they're giving her something I've made, but also because they get to meet her. Yeah, I'm really really really jealous.

Ok, I'm stopping for now. But the fact that I have more to say is a good indicator that I'll update sooner rather than later (provided my classes don't cause me to jump out of my second-story window. JUST KIDDING MOM!)

Disappointment and Dinner Plates

I am a slave to academics. I truly am. I spend all my time either at school or doing school work. When you just look at the class hours, it doesn't seem like that much. But when a professor looks at you and says "wow. you're doing a lot" you realize that you're not just lazy, it really is a lot of work. And when you spend all of your time doing this it's really nice to just take some time to relax and calm your mind. So when you do take this time to knit some calm and 2.5 hours later discover that the amazing hat you were making was way too small for any adult human being and have to rip all of it out, it's really sad.

Over the weekend I cast on Urchin, which I'm really excited about making for myself. I had finished a few things for friends and wanted to do something fun. I followed the pattern, thought I had gauge, and started making the smallest size. After a while I realized that was going to be too small, so I decided to make a larger size. Then on Wednesday I was watching Selena Gomez's Facebook live chat only to discover after I finished and grafted (which involves cutting the yarn) that it was insanely too small. You know those caps that Jewish men wear? Yeah, it was like a tall version of that. So sad. So now I'm remaking it, again, on much larger needles. It's looking better and I'm hoping this time will work out much better.

I did learn two techniques for this hat. One is the w+t, or the wrap and turn, which is explained on the Knitty abbreviations page. There are no pictures, but when I went hunting I discovered it to have been the most clear explanation out there. W+T is my new favorite stitch, especially in this hat, because it makes the knitting go bye so fast and is very gratifying to look at (oh no, the writing teacher just ended a sentance in a preposition).

Even more important than the W+T is the other thing I had to learn to do for this hat-- hand winding. As you know, I bought some gorgeous yarn via Ravelry, which came in hanks. These are great because it's theoretically more yarn and it's just plain pretty looking. However, you can't knit anything in a hank, it has to be wound into a ball. So that's what I did (after losing circulation in my fingers the first time around)!



I do have some FOs (finished objects. I do knit-speak!) to show for the past month. In the finished pile are Miracle Laurie's scarf (pics to come when Frank gets it to her) and yet another pair of Bella mittens which are sitting waiting for the baby gift and beanie to be sent out with it. I also made another beret for my friend Stephanie over at La Femme Chic. I love the hat, but I must say that she totally rocks the look (and you can't even tell I blocked it on a dinner plate).

Purple Rows

I'm sitting on the same couch from which I wrote my previous post, only in a much better frame of mind. After three really long weeks I have an apartment! I'm moving in next week, so in the meantime I'm living with my aunt and uncle. I have been blessed to have a lot of people help me as I deal with everything that was going on, and now am happy to report that next month things should be more settled.

In the meantime, I have, of course, been knitting. Last week I misplaced the pair of circulars that I needed to knit the next section of my Great Gatsby Dress, so I stopped by AC Moore and picked up supplies to knit the Grace Lace Beret. This beret is a fast knit, but intricate enough to yield a stunning result. I used NaturallyCaron.com Spa in "Green Sheen", which as you can see is quite a nice color. This is the first time I've used a bamboo yarn, and I've been very pleased with the result. It's a very soft texture that is different from other yarns I've worked with. Smoother, I think would be the word for it.



I've also been continuing to work on my Great Gatsby Dress. The picture below is of the completed back skirt, but I've finished the ribbing on the back bodice and am starting to increase up to the arms. I had a lot more completed but unfortunately I somehow misread the pattern to read "three inches" not "three rows." To those who don't knit this might not seem so bad, but in a tight knit, this can be very long. Add the fact that the section is done in stockinette, which bores me to no end, and I was not a happy camper when I found out my afternoon of knitting was for naught. However, my summer job ends this week and then I hope to put more of my attention on finishing this garment.



Earlier this week (I guess now it was last week) I picked up a copy of KnitScene for Fall 09 in celebration of finally finding an end to this madness. I love the style with which the designers approach garment knitting. Every page made me think "I want to wear that." Ultimately I bought it for the Balmoral Vest pattern, but I see myself making time to knit most of these pieces if I have the funds for all of that yarn. It has definately succeeded in reminding me how much fashion is influenced by knitted items right now, which makes this so much fun.

My last bit of news is very exciting. My friends Frank and Andrew host the Echo Alert Podcast about the show Dollhouse (I believe I've mentioned it before). In their last episode they interviewed Miracle Laurie, who plays my favorite character Millie/November/whoeversheisnow. On a whim I had the guys ask her if she'd wear something I knit, and she said yes! Now I'm searching for patterns for a light scarf that I can make in a really soft yarn (I'm pretty partial to bamboo right now). She said her favorite color is purple, so I'm waiting for something to inspire me. Right now I'm just very excited that one of my favorite actresses on current television is willing to wear one of my handknits.