26 posts tagged “knitting”
We are having our branch Halloween party. Sadly, I don't have a costume, so I will probably have to dig my Harry Potter stuff out of the closet. Unfortunately, most of my HP stuff is unwearable, unless I'm outside at the REAL Hogwarts.
This scarf is about 3 mm thick and handknitted from Peruvian wool by house-elves. I only wear it when there's ice on the ground. I have a matching Hatmione. And I still have yarn in that colour, so maybe I should make some Hermittens, too. (All I can say is that the Sorting Hat suggested Ravenclaw to Hermione, but she chose Gryffindor.)
Just to prove that I haven't been spending ALL my time watching American Idol and dissing Danny Gokey online, here's a picture of a Finished Object:
I woke up early so that I could watch the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics live (and to resume work on my WIP Wrangling project for the Ravelympics). The opening ceremonies were pretty cool. They covered China's four significant contributions to the world -- gunpowder, paper, moveable type (print) and the compass (what, no mention of noodles? BLASPHEMY!) and then went into Chinese history. Sadly, the history part didn't cover Sun-Yat Sen, Mao tse-tung (or would that be Mao Zedong?), the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen Square. Or even the Simpsons' historic visit to the country.
The camera panned to the leaders or representatives from some other countries. Vladimir Putin looked soooooo thrilled to be there. (Not.)
The parade of athletes was long and boring and I took that time to go out and water the garden. I got back in time to see Yao Ming (who I really look up to) carry the Chinese flag into the stadium.
As for the Ravelympics: I thought I'd try to get a shot of me knitting right at 5 am (8 pm Beijing time) - and my camera battery crapped out big time. I made a little progress (finished the heel flap on a sock and shaped the heel by the end of the broadcast).
What is your preferred method of transportation for trips over a couple of hours and why?
Boat or plane (although I hate the waiting around). I like boats (i.e., the ferry) because I can usually walk around the deck during the trip, and I like planes because they get me to my destination fastest, although I hate going through all the crap at the airport and sitting for long periods of time. Yes, I was a basket case when I went to London and Paris.
I brought some knitting (Pomatomus socks) on the Paris trip. I even got it through security, although it was a little nervewracking when the security person at CDG (which is patrolled by guys in fatigues carrying machine guns) saw it show up on the X-Ray machine. Fortunately, the next two things that she pulled out of my carryon were a French-English knitting glossary and a book of patterns from La Droguerie. She said "If you promise to make me a jacket (sweater??), I'll let you go," and sent me on my way.
Unfortunately, while I was knitting on the plane, I messed up on the pattern and had to frog back to the beginning and start over. (It's easy for me to do while knitting lace; miss--or misplace--one yarn over and the project is toast.) Which was probably why it took me another eight months to complete the project.
Show us something striped.
Blog reading is as much a habit as checking e-mail.
They [the researchers] found that regular blog reading can become "an internet ritual," with the content secondary to the process of checking for new posts. The researchers said this is much like the routine of checking e-mail regardless of whether a new message is expected or not.
True (takes break to check RSS reader on Apple Mail).
The researchers also found that the date and frequency of the posts matters little to the readers, but the position of the entry on the page is important.
Oh, good. So I don't have to feel guilty for only posting once or twice yearly on my knitting blog. (Maybe I spend too much time reading other people's knitting blogs--and hanging out on Ravelry--instead of, like, doing some actual knitting.
I found an article about tree sweaters today. Tree sweaters. That's actually pretty funny. (And the sweaters are pretty nice.)
Show us something pink.
Well, here's the yarn (Fleece Artist Blue-Faced Leicester, for the record):
Boy, did I every break my yarn diet. Big time.
I started out the year with a skein of Silk Garden. And a skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn. (Both of which were earmarked for projects, by the way. And I've used up the Silk Garden. Thank God for that cold snap in January.)
Then I went to the sale at Urban Yarns. I prided myself on my restraint; I only went home with one skein of Kidsilk Haze. (It's going to be an Ice Queen, by the way.)
To make a long story short, and because I'm feeling a bit uninspired to knit socks, I surfed to Elann.com and bought some Peruvian Donegal Tweed and some more sock yarn. (For some reason, I can't find burgundy sock yarn, and I really want a pair of socks knit in Gryffindor house colours. It beats knitting a Harry Potter scarf, which can only be worn at Hogwarts -- global warming has made it too uncomfortable to wear it anywhere else.)
One of these days, I'll have to figure out how to reset my camera (where's the manual?) and take some pictures. Not this weekend, though; it's gonna rain. And rain. And rain.
Anyways, better get off the internets now and knit, before I'm overrun by all this yarn.
Last year, I finished some socks. And a bag.
This year, I hope to finish 6 pairs of socks, and get some of my Almost-Finished Objects finished.
