Geektastic Thursday: Summer TV Plans

With Memorial Day now past it is for all intents and purposes officially summer here in the US.  I went for a run last night and I found that in the past week our humidity has jumped, making breathing a whole new pressing issue for anyone doing outdoor activities.  With summer also comes the end of the regular US tv schedule.  As a kid this meant reruns of all my favorite shows where I could catch up on episodes that I had missed or rewatch ones I loved before they were gone forever (I did not buy my first box set until I was 17).  However, now we are treated to a host of bad reality television.  And while I like my Real Housewives just as much as the next grad student, it is something I try to watch on a more occasional basis rather than every day.  But with all of the knitting wedding stuff I have to do this summer, I'm going to need something to play in the background.  With that in mind, here's a small list of what I plan to watch during the tv hiatus season:

1)  Pretty Little Liars

This one is a no-brainer.  I have been anxiously awaiting the return of this addiction ever since The Great Reveal at the end of last season.  Revenge offered a welcome distraction for a while, but now I'm back with great anticipation.  I cannot wait for more Evil Mona, more Jenna-Bot, and please oh please more Toby.  I would call this my guilty pleasure, but with writing that strong, there's nothing about this show that makes me feel ashamed.

2) Being Human (UK)

I know this one has already aired and I missed it, but I'm hoping it will be up on Netflix soon.  At the time of its return I had still not reconciled myself to the end of series three that left me curled in a ball on the couch sobbing.  The last thing to make me cry that hard during a tv show was when Fred said goodbye to Wesley, and I still haven't forgiven the writers of Angel for that one.  Series 4 has Being Human return without some of the major characters.  A part of me is really concerned it will be like when Supernatural got season 6 when it was supposed to be a five season show, but the writers managed to make that whole Master storyline work, so maybe I should trust them.

3) The Killing (US)

Yes, season two is now airing/has aired, so I am now way behind.  I started season one, but soon realized that it was going to be like Damages and there was just no way that I could sit and watch the entire season with the schedule on which I was living.  I am really looking forward to finally making the time (on a day off, I'm not crazy) to sit down and watch my way through the rest of the season.  Is it going to be super morbid of me to do this while I address invitations?  Well, if it is, that's just the way I operate.

4) Big Love

Don't judge me.  I see that judging you've got going on there.  But don't.  I never had the opportunity to watch this show when it first aired, starting in 2006, but Andrea and I recently started season one and we are completely addicted.  The storyline is fascinating, the writing is compelling, and it's like one big Veronica Mars reunion.  We are only a few episodes in, but I'm really hoping there will be a reason for Mac and Beaver to interact because that'd just be so weird.  I know, strange, but you remember what he did to her at prom.

This is my list so far.  I'm sure it will change as I move through the summer and discover that I really can't stand Being Human without a certain character or that Big Love has made me desperate for a Veronica Mars rewatch.  But it is nice to come into the summer with a plan for nights when there really is absolutely nothing on tv to tide me over until the return of Once Upon a Time and the premier of Arrow.  And before you ask, no I'm not watching True Blood.  I read the books and they were so much better.

So Far, Destined

Sometimes I find something I want to knit and it absolutely has to be this specific pattern and that specific yarn.  Forget the fact that the pattern has not come out yet.  It has to be this way and there's no convincing me otherwise.  Often this means that yarn is completely wrong for the pattern.  It doesn't have enough yardage, the verigation pools in unappealing ways, the pattern is complete chaos, etc.

Georgia on My Mind by Leslie Thompson in Gnome Acres Merino Nylon Fingering, Molly Weasley -- can you tell it is raining today?

So far that does not seem to be the case.  But then I've only been working on these socks for a day.  There's still plenty of time for user error.

For sunnier WIPS, check out Tami's Amis.

The Not-Quite-Lucky Sweater

We had so much fun at Wicked on Wednesday that Sunday we decided to go lotto for tickets before it left the next day.  So Sunday morning arrived and I found myself, as I often do on my day off, wide awake before 7 am.  This is a serious condition with which I seem to have been cursed -- the inability to sleep in.  I blame my parents, as it seems I should for all problems of such gravity.  When I finally admitted to myself that there was no way I'd be able to fall back to sleep (sometimes I can trick my brain into thinking I have to go to work, then I drift right off), I brewed a pot of coffee and settled in with my knitting.  The night before I had knit the left front button band on my Kaleidoscope, so all I had left was to finish the right front button band, sew on buttons, block, and weave in ends.

By ten, when we were to leave, I was sewing in one of the final ends and was determined to wear the sweater to the theater.  I had joked on Wednesday night that I could have it done in time to wear for the lotto, and by golly, if it was within reach I was totally going to do it.  As I struggled to brush my teeth and apply eye liner at the same time I realized something truly upsetting.  The buttons would not stay closed.  Not because the sweater was too small, but because the button holes were too large!  Somehow, despite my careful gauge swatch and needle choice, despite all the math I did to rework the button band for five rather than six buttons, I managed to forget that I had gone up a needle size, which made the buttons I had carefully selected from my meager stash just shy of large enough to fit.  Not to be deterred I found my shawl pin and used it to secure the second button in place, leaving the top to flop over in a manner I hurriedly deemed flirtatious.

On the way to the theater Andrea and I joked about the fact that we never win anything and how the bright spot of our day would realistically be cleaning out the refrigerator.  I knit on the sock I had started just in case we actually got to see the show and we strategized about where to pick up more coffee to sooth our disappointment.  As we pulled into the parking garage I noticed a sign that featured the dates of the show run.  May 2 - 27.  And then it hit me.  I knew from looking at my project page that I had started this sweater on May 2.  And I knew that I was wearing the sweater I had "finished" that morning on May 27.  It was fate.  We needed some luck and we grabbed on to that for all we were worth.  When we met up with the cast outside the stage door we'd tell them of the unintentional creation.  It was the sweater of destiny.

What we learned that day is that a sweater really needs to be finished before it can be lucky.  I still need to reinforce the button holes, weave in the final ends, and give the bottom edge a good blocking before I can call the Kaleidoscope done.  But I did wear it on Sunday.  And while it  eventually got too hot for even fingering weight wool, my little sweater can be considered not-quite lucky.

Maybe lucky-adjacent, if you will.

Soccer Time

Time passes in weird ways.  I'm aware of how long it has been since I graduated from high school, since I finished college, and since I defended my thesis.  I am aware of how long I have knit and just how much I have progressed in the many facets of my now adult life.  But sometimes time just stands up and slaps you in the face.

On Friday my high school played in the women's soccer state championship game.  The only time any team has made it to the state championship is when my brother's cross country team competed his freshman year.  Needless to say, this is a huge deal and as an alumni who was working only a few miles away, I of course had to go.  I am, after all, a Lady Gryphon myself (just not in soccer).  So I dug out an old basketball tshirt and met up with my family at the game.

It was a most surreal experience.  I try to go to things at the high school in which my brother is involved.  When my sister was still in attendance I went to things they did together, but attending living no less than four hours away for the past six years has made it difficult to go to much.  So it had been quite some time since I had seen the students of our small school en mass.  And it was like time had suddenly jumped.  The five year old I used to babysit is now taller than me.  The sixth grader I tutored in math is now a senior and I'm pretty sure has no idea who I was.  A girl who was the youngest on our rec swim team was the star of the game.  And my own little brother was somewhere in the student section -- tall and yelling with his ever deepening voice.

We lost horrendously, but it was a great time.  I got to see my family, if only for a few hours.  And I even worked on the longest sleeve ever.

FO: Elphaba Beret

Wednesday night marked a significant event in my life.  As a long time theater fan, raised on the soundtracks of opera and musicals, it was always disheartening to have to say I had never seen Wicked.  I owned and loved the book, I thought the music was splendid, but I had not actually seen it on stage.  So for Christmas my roommate, a certified Wicked fanatic, bought tickets for us to see the national tour when it came to our area.  Wednesday night we finally got to use our tickets and sat in the front row for one of the most magnificent productions I have ever seen.  I would rave on and on about the dialogue and the staging and how I may or may not have cried during Defying Gravity, but you can read all of that on any high school girl's facebook page provided you can decipher all of the emoticons and glitter.

As a thank you for buying my ticket I decided to make Andrea a hat to go with the shawl I made for her last year.  The only problem was that the shawl was in lace weight and Knit Picks does not make that particular color in any other yarn.  Thanks to a Ravelry de-stash I was able to score two skeins and decided to knit with two strands held together.  All that was left was to pick a pattern, which took a while but I finally settled on Springtime in Philadelphia, as I had always liked the pattern and it used a light fingering weight.

Elphaba Beret in Knit Picks Shadow, Midnight Heather

I only used about half of each skein.  The entire hat is knit on size US 2, 2.75mm needles as I do not own US 0s.  To make up for that I decreased the stitch count when I got to the ribbing and knit it all through the back loop to make it a little tighter.  The color is really hard to photograph, but I love it.  It hints at all the colors in Elphaba's black dress.

Our Glinda was played by Tiffany Haas, and we were honored enough to be at Anna Eilinsfeld's debut performance as Elphaba.  It was a really fun night and I'm glad that even though Andrea's seen it now five times she will still let me drag her to lotto for tickets this weekend before the tour leaves town.  Maybe I can talk her into wearing the hat again.

For more FO's visit Tami's Amis

A Real Knitter

If you had asked me a few weeks ago if I would become completely addicted to knitting a stockinette sweater, I would have said that you were crazy.  No, my brain is too active to knit plain stockinette, even when I'm reading.  I'm just too much of a multi-tasker.

And I would have been wrong.  In the past two weeks I have not been able to get the Kaleidoscope out of my head.  Since I took the above picture Monday night I have finished the body and knit seven inches on the first sleeve.  I just can't stop!  I tried it on last night with a tank top and found it to be completely charming.  I am glad I decided not to try the modifications for a higher neck but rather stuck with the original almost off the shoulder design.  This might be the beginning of a new aesthetic for me.

The best part is that all the guys at work have been completely fascinated by it.  They've watched the garment come together from when I cast on for the opening weekend of The Avengers.  Last night one asked me just how many sweaters I had knit for myself.  I had to stop and really think about it, but I could not give him a definitive answer.  I guess I really can call myself a Knitter.

Under the Sea

I don't like to blog much about my yarn acquisitions.  I don't like to feel like I am bragging or showcasing any wayward financial behavior.  But every once in a while I get something that I just have to show off, and last week was one of those times (onces? whiles?).

Last week I got two lovely packages from Dragonfly Fibers, filled with all sorts of fun goodies.

The first is my May shipment of Club Dragonfly.

As always, the lovely folks who put together these shipments outdid themselves.  The pattern this time around was a great pair of socks by RosiG.  I am actually not planning to knit these out of the yarn we received, but the pattern is pretty rad.  The extra was a lovely set of stitch markers, and who doesn't need more stitch markers?  But the kicker, as always, was the yarn.

Dragon Sock in Octopus's Garden

Have I mentioned that this is totally my colors?  Because it totally is.  I know it's intended to be socks, but as soon as I opened it I knew this wanted to be striped with a grey.  Maybe a shawl from the upcoming Knitscene Accessories?

And then, on Saturday, I got the motherload of all yarn packages.

Speaking of grey -- three skeins of Selkie in Black Pearl.  This was my very generous payment for the Lonicera I sample knit.  When I opened it I just started petting the yarn.  And then I shoved it in Andrea's face and made her pet it.  And then I continued to cuddle it for a good ten minutes.  It's just so soft!  On the one hand I'm enjoying the warm weather we are having, on the other I cannot wait for it to get cold so that I can knit this up into something spectacular!  I'm thinking something hooded, cuddly, and with enough of a pattern to show up the great stitch definition.

For someone who is not particularly fond of the ocean, I am super psyched about this oceanic themed yarn!