Best Weekend Ever!

Weekends like the one I just had make me wish I was a "journal" type person. You know, the type to write down all of the wonderful details so that they can be recalled and relived. But who are we kidding, I can barely blog on a consistent basis! Also, I can't 'misplace' the blog, haha!

I went back to my Alma Mater USC for homecoming and got to see all (most) of my favorite friends and sisters and revel in the LA-ness of the city. Campus, the Coliseum, The Grove and Farmer's Market, everything a little different but still very much the same. Sigh (of contentment)! I'm sure that I walked around grinning like a tourist/fool for 2 straight days, so lost in my own reminiscing. Also, it's unbelievably wonderful to have friends who appreciate your dorky accomplishments :-)

For anyone who remembers, the sweater I intended to finish for homecoming did not get done. As a matter of fact, I realized that the sleeve I had already finished was too short and ripped it back out. I also decided that knitting it in the round would be much better. So, I have less of it done than before, but this is ok with me, because it was waaay too warm for a sweater anyway. Pause and think about that for a moment: waaay too warm for a sweater, in November. I'm going to enjoy this 'global warming' thing :-D [Side Note: Yes, I do understand the "science" of this phenomena. Yes, I'm determined to enjoy it, because the next thing coming down the climatological pike is an Ice Age. Not that any of us will be around to see it.]


I also thought I could pop into a LYS while I was there, but nothing opens before noon on Sundays and by then I was already enjoying a smoked salmon, scrambled egg white, cream cheese and caper crepe with more of my favorite people. Then I had to drive back home and get ready for the week to start.

Test knitting on a wee scale

The prototype Wee Wizard Wrobe is zipping along. All I have left to knit is about half of the second sleeve. I'll probably finish it tonight during Trueblood. [Edit: Nope, did not finish it.]
[Side Note: I had no intention of adding another show to my TV viewing schedule. I'm two weeks behind on my DVR. But it reminds me of some of my best college friends. I'm sentimental about a sexually violent vampire show? Great.]
I did all of the seaming on Saturday in the daylight (see The Great Seam-As-I-Go Edict) because it is very difficult to see anything on black yarn. I guess that's a blessing too because I can't see any mistakes either :-) The neck area seems like it might be a little tight, based on the head of a Brand Name Patch doll (whose name is Charlie, very creative of those Patch people huh). I'll have to give it a little stretching when I "block" it. I know it's acrylic, but the preliminary blocking I did on the hood helped the stitches even themselves out and made everything lie flatter.

Speaking of the college friends, I'm eagerly anticipating homecoming in a few weeks here! Let's hope that all of this stomach virus plague nonsense dies down at USC before I get there. The hazmat suit just takes up too much room in my suitcase.

[Side Rant: USC did NOT run up the score against Washington. Mark Sanchez left at the half. There weren't ANY forward passes thrown after the half. We ran the ball using only 2 plays the rest of the game (left and right). Every Tom, Dick, and RUDY made it into the game. And yet, if the end-zone had been moved up to the 50 yard line, Washington still wouldn't have scored.
What more could we do? Play blindfolded? Take a knee? I think that would have been insulting. I'm finished now.]

Also, I'm still looking for an interesting pattern that will allow me to combine the Tonks and Lupin skeins of HP Opal in an 'individual and autonomous, yet matchy-matchy' sort of way. I'm open to suggestions!

Where have the pictures gone?

The pictures will be back soon, because I will find that darn camera. For now, how about a quick update? I went to the USC vs. Ohio State *cough* overrated-every-year *cough* and watched my Trojans dispatch them with ease. [Side Note: So that's how the SEC feels every year. Pretty nice!]

It was wonderful to have a little weekend vacation, but now I'm sicker than ever and have been without a voice since Saturday. Joy. [Quote my brother "I think I like you better this way."]
I will say that Ohio State has the nicest fans I've ever sat next to (even when I was obnoxiously dancing in aisles and giving high fives over 3 rows of people). All in all, I imagine Ohio must be a great place to live with all these happy, polite, friendly people around. [Side Story: One of the fellows I sat by informed me that Buckeyes are poisonous, which I'm not sure about, so I'll google it sometime when I'm bored.]

I got to see a few of the LA people I love, but it makes me miss my adopted home city and my Trojan family that much more. To be honest, I'm not that attached to Las Vegas and would gladly be back in Los Angeles forever, but alas that's not going to happen any time soon.

In other news, I got my replacement DPNs from Webs today, so now I have 9. Huh. I guess that enables me to knit a pair of socks at the same time now.

Contributing to society

I uploaded my USC chart to Ravelry today, officially becoming a contributing member of the community! Yay! I haven't done anything else with said chart in a long time though. [Side Note: I stand by my assertion that it would make a lovely blanket/afghan of many squares. I'm just too lazy to do it.]

In hindsight, I hope I'm not infringing on some USC copyright of the interlocking SC image... I think it's fair use, you know, for knitting research purposes :-) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Dark Knight = shorter days

We went to see the new batman movie in IMAX late late Saturday night. Originally we had planned to attend the 7 o'clock showing, but our customary half-hour-before-the-movie-starts arrival time was not enough to ensure our seats. I couldn't believe it! We had to go and get our tickets exchanged for the 10:30 showing which let out around 1-ish. The movie was worth the time and money spent, and if you get the chance to see it on an IMAX screen go for it!
The downside was that I slept the day away today. I'm done with the back of the Quidditch sweater though! And I started on one of the sleeves before we went to the movie.

I still haven't picked a pattern for my Ravelympics project (Scarf Stroke) yet. I wonder if it's possible to have knitters block. Only five days until the start. I had better get on this if I'm going to be a serious competitor :-) [Side Note: This is me psyching myself up.]

One quarter of a sweater

This is the front of the quidditch style sweater I'm making for myself.

I like the Plymouth encore worsted a lot! It's a step up from the
cheapo acrilics that I like to use when trying new things/learning but
it's not expensive at all. It's got just enough wool to be warm and
soft without being hard to care for or causing me to have an allergic
reaction! Yay! Must keep knitting!

Justification Plz?

I wanted a rugby style sweater, cardinal and gold with USC pride in every stitch, to wear to homecoming this year. I have hoodies and jackets and my Gryffindor SC scarf, but my jerseys are getting worn out. And they have acquired a beer smell that won't come out.

[Side Note: My mom tossed them in the wash just before the Stanford game last year. Their first washing since the National Title. Collective gasp anyone? Her argument was "I can't even wash the smell out, how can you possibly belive that I washed the 'luck' out?!?". Coincidence? I think NOT.]

Besides, ol' #11 and #5 have long since moved on to NFL careers, but haven't reached the epic status that allows alums to wear #34 around.

It's ok though because I am coping with my Paranoid Sweater Phobia quite well and ordered yarn from Webs for the project. It's the Quidditch Sweater from Charmed Knits (because the more I knit, the more I love this book cover to cover). $34 including shipping and I will have a great sweater by November-ish. {Insert plot twist here}

But then I found this:

For the low low price of $27.99! And it got me to thinking. Yes, dangerous 'thinking'. Even with shipping, it comes out the same as the yarn + notions and involves Zero work on my part. I never should have signed up for the damn e-newsletter at Whimsic Alley.

>:~[ (That's my scowling Snape smiley, haha)

Yes, I'm still making my sweater, believing that it will be far superior to the mass produced model in quality, durability, and warmth. And because denial isn't just a river in Egypt anymore.

Ulterior (Sock) Motives

I have a confession to make: I have only soldiered on in my sock attempts to prepare myself for some Opal yarn in the Harry Potter colorways. They come out in the fall, sometime before the movie. Since I've decided that I must possess them all, I feel a little obligated to actually make them into something. Though the prospect of just keeping the lovely skeins around (or having them framed) is quite appealing to me :-)

This got me thinking about the role the HP series has played in my knitting. After reading the books and having myself sorted (via sortinghat.com or something like that) into Slytherin I decided that I must have a scarf. [Side Note: Again, I'm not a bad person; though I suspect that my ambition can sometimes set my moral compass spinning, it does find itself again eventually.] I put aside the fact that I seldom visit latitudes North of, oh, Southern California or so, and sought out a Slytherin scarf for myself.

When I finally found a store selling them I couldn't bring myself to pay some $27 dollars for it. The USC bookstore sold a lovely Gryffindor 'SC scarf that fall for the bargain price of $10 and I caved, but it still wasn't the same. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself by wearing it to the movie premier. Weird huh? I found plenty of other things in WhimsicAlley to amuse me for hours on end (including a quill pen and ink, and a Dark Mark temporary tattoo), but the crafty part of my brain was whirring along at full tilt. "How are scarves made? They look woven together, not sewn up patches of color. Gee, I wonder how they do that. OH, knitting would do that ... right?" is how my internal monologue went. TO THE INTERNET!

After some brief googling I discovered that people can, in fact, knit these things themselves! I dashed out to Michaels, bought a skein of green and one of grey and a pair of needles. I had no regard for the type of yarn, it's gauge, or even the size of the needles really, so you probably know how this turned out. I worked diligently on my very first project and once I had mastered the Knit and Purl stitches (and realized that Knitting on BOTH sides means you end up with garter stitch) the scarf seemed to fly off the needles. Of course I was using US 10s (because 10 sounded like a nice round number at the time). I was very proud of my efforts, but not so much of the scarf. I had picked up reading a few knitting related sites and had learned so much that, despite the lacklustre scarf, I was hooked (or knitted, rather, as this isn't crochet afterall).

The scarf eventually ended up being ripped out and used to make Salazar the Bear. And I've never gotten around to making myself a proper Slytherin scarf either, but this doesn't trouble me much anymore because of a) the climate I live in and b) the fact that my halloween costume robe is Gryffindor too. [Side Note: this is because I could not find a suitable green lining fabric last year to save my life, but red was everywhere and on sale!]

Speaking of Sal though, I've found that his neck is a bit floppy which makes him look as if he's puzzled by something. Rather than busy myself with reinforcing his neck I decided to take a page out of Nearly Headless Nick's book and make him a scarf to hold his head up instead, haha! I took the book scarf pattern as it was originally posted and just kept knitting it until it was long enough for Sal. I'll have him try it on when I get home. [Imagine him with his head cocked to the side as if to say "For me?"]

Fight On!

Fight On for ol' SC
Our men Fight On to victory.
Our Alma Mater dear,
looks up to you
Fight On and win
For ol' SC
Fight On to victory
Fight On!

There's nothing like that Trojan Spirit! A hundred thousand fans in the Coliseum cheering, standing, and throwing up the two-finger Fight On! salute. It gives me chills! I'm getting so stoked for football season to start up again that I thought I'd created an SC embossed pattern. I worked the gauge so that it's a square, but you can knit it into anything/everything with just the graph (at the bottom).
I used b&w in an effort to show more detail on the embossing...
Here's another angle. It becomes more visible up close. I haven't decided what I'm going to make with this logo yet, but it could become a checkerboard blanket of Cardinal and Gold squares.