Tuesday, July 12, 2005

T minus 3.41 days

You'd think that after spending the weekend knitting and listening to the OotP audiobook, I'd have more to show for it. And yet!

I made a film Ravenclaw bookscarf, a clever little bookmark that looks like a PoA scarf. I untwisted the plies in my leftover Naturespun Worsted (colors: blue knight and silver sage) and knit with one ply on US1 dpns. It's the cutest thing ever - I duplicate-stitched my initials at one end and everything. Sooooo woobie. I'm a bit worried it'll be too thick to work well as a bookmark, but it's fine for this weekend - not like I'll be pausing my reading if I can help it!

I (mostly) swatched the twinhat colorwork using some spare Rowanspun DK on US4s, which actually achieved the fabric I want quite well. At first I was annoyed because I realized the colorwork works best as duplicate stitch, which makes for boring tube knitting with a couple color changes thrown in (sound familiar?). It turned out really nice, though. After HBP is out and I've recovered, I'll start looking for a sportweight yarn that's a good color match.

I did my stockinette swatch for Momma's Soleil, and I'm definitely gonna have to refigure the pattern a bit for worsted gauge instead of DK. It happens. :p

Last night I threaded black elastic in the ribbing of my Quidsleeves. Works like a charm, and I can barely see the elastic from the right side. There's Quidditch padding and a beater bat waiting for me on Long Island, and Payless has sneakers (eta: I'm back from Payless and I got a pair that's similar - not quite so close, they've got olive green on them too, but I can't complain about $18) that'll work for now. I daresay there will be many pictures taken on Friday, so I'll finally post some after that.

I may not get a chance to post again before Friday night, so if I don't, I hope everyone enjoys their release-night plans and manages not to get too traumatized in the aftermath of HBP. I've, um, heard some stuff ;) and it sounds as though it'll be worth the wait and the excitement and the anticipation. And if anybody's gonna be at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York, keep an eye out for a flock of Quidditch players! I'm the Ravenclaw, natch. :)

Lauren posted at 14.16 on 07.12.05 comments (0)

Friday, July 08, 2005

on a roll

I cast off my second Quidditch sweater sleeve last night. whoooohoo! And maybe I've come completely unhinged, but I actually think that my pair of bright blue ribbed, past-the-elbow armwarmer-like things looks sorta cool. Not like I need another pair of armwarmers, since I already have three pairs in yarns ranging from unplied merino to sari silk, but hey. I think I want to dye some elastic (if I can - anyone know whether the casing on thin elastic cord is nylon or polyester? I won't waste the dye if it's poly) and thread it through the inside of my ribbing, because I have a *ahem* slight tendency to flail uncontrollably when confronted with new Potter, and I don't need my fake sleeves falling off in the process.

I'm a few inches past the heel on my candy-colored socks using the Magic Stripes I bought upstate. I'm working four 2-stitch cables around the leg, so it's quick but not too boring. It's a little hard on my fingers, but I think I want to finish at least one sock before I go starting again on Jon's Koigu socks. Gonna just do some purl ridges on those, nothing fancy. I'm still a bit surprised he consented to a non-solid yarn in the first place. :)

Oh! I found my notes for Ron's animal cracker hat last night while hunting for another chart (my duplicate stitch letters, which I also found). I forgot that I'd only charted one repeat of the pattern, and on the same page that I started charting the twins' blue-and-white hat. Another project to work on instead of being even remotely responsible. Score!

My sunburn still hasn't gone away, though it's stopped being outright painful and started peeling instead. Great huge patches of new pink skin peeking through what had finally faded to a rather nice tan. It's just as attractive as it sounds. :p Especially sucks because it's actually been cool/rainy in New York the past few days, and I'm stuck in tank tops without a single cotton sweater to wear (wool seems like an inherently bad idea). Might hafta suck it up and do something about that sometime. O;)

eta: Eruantale is gauging interest on the weasleysweaters LiveJournal community in an HP knitting Room of Requirement (an informal meetup of attendees with a shared interest) at The Witching Hour symposium in Salem this October. Naturally I think it's a fantastic idea, and if you think so too, go leave a comment! You can comment anonymously, so it doesn't matter whether you have an LJ or not.

Lauren posted at 10.30 on 07.08.05 comments (0)

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

lauren: 1. quidsocks: 0.

I'm up at my mom's house outside of Syracuse, have been since Sunday. Before that, I was in Philadelphia with my mom and the aptly named Philly Dave of the SW Line for Live 8, which I won't bother soapboxing about because you've all heard it by now. Besides playing host to the Kaiser Chiefs, an excellent million-person concert, and also to the first live performance by Linkin Park and Jay-Z (normally I wouldn't care, but it's a first, and brilliant marketing to boot), Philly saw another momentous occasion last Saturday:

I.
Finished.
My.
Quidditch Socks.
!!!!!!!!!

I knitted all through the concert (much to the amusement of the many people who could not identify the sock hanging from my needles despite its obvious sock-like shape), a good five inches or so, and finished it off at Dave's house that night. I am pleased beyond words to have finally conquered these f*$%ing socks after 14 months of blood, sweat, and tears. I haven't yet worn both socks together because I think I might just die from the joy of it. What a freaking relief!

I also finished my first Quidsweater sleeve and am about halfway done with what was left on the second one. I'm not even sure I'll get to wear these on the 15th - not if Barnes & Noble make us line up outside, god forbid - so they're not so crucial. Still, it would be awesome to have a fully finished costume. whooooo, go me!

Gotten quite a bit of knitting done on non-blue things, too, owing to the fact that I got a particuarly stubborn sunburn at Live 8 and haven't done much besides wear as little clothing as possible and knit. Byron's PoA Gryff scarf is 3 stripe sets from being done, and I washed two scarves (though they've been refusing to dry on the carpeted floor, the bastards). I panicked at my lack of sock yarn on Monday and, since it was a national holiday and the LYS (a lovely little place called Elegant Needles, definitely stop by if you're ever in the Fingerlakes region) was closed, wound up with a skein of candy-colored LB Magic Stripes from Hancock Fabrics. It's certainly not what I'm used to </snob>, but I was in withdrawal and it's tiding me over nicely 'til I'm back in the city communing with my already-wound balls of Koigu.

Also got some cornflower blue Cotton-Ease at 25% off to make a tank top, probably a slightly modified Soleil, for the maternal unit. So much for not knitting in blue yarn.

And, to top things off, I've officially gone down another pants size. Go me indeed!

Lauren posted at 2.59 on 07.06.05 comments (0)

Sunday, June 12, 2005

while staying in and knitting

I have the absolute worst knitting ADD right now. I'm trying to be responsible and finish the sleeves for my Ravenclaw Quidditch sweater. I didn't have a chance to finish the sleeves for last Halloween, so I added armbands at the armholes to make a vest, and wore what I'd done of the sleeves - just shy of my elbows - separately. It was actually quite comfortable, since a full ribbed sweater in Encore Worsted is way too much for almost any season in New York, so I'm gonna leave the sleeves separate like that. I want to finish the sleeves for the HBP book release, though - knit them up past the elbow, then switch to 1x1 rib with some elastic for a while so they stay up. Should be snazzy.

Anyway, my ADD. I'm trying to work on the sleeves, and it's just not happening. I feel like knitting something complicated and summery, or at least something in a nice yarn - definitely not 3x1 ribbing in a wool blend. ugh! There's a skein of gorgeous green and pink handpainted DK cotton (and a matching solid cotton of the same gauge) calling my name from the closet, and it is killlllling me. I keep telling myself that a mini-Clapotis would be 1) ill-fated in cotton, and 2) not much more exciting than the ribbing. Or I have a half-dozen socks' worth of Koigu, or or or...

Figures that I lost temporarily misplaced my notes for the animal cracker hat. Then at least I could feel responsible in starting another project.

Lauren posted at 0.55 on 06.12.05 comments (0)