Tuesday, September 20, 2005

pwnage!

At some point last year, I plotzed all over LJ about the way that Jany Temime has the Trio rewear clothing during the course of PoA, as though it's their favorite outfit -- Harry's navy tracksuit jacket, Hermione's pink zip-up, and Ron's Fair Isle Sweater of Hotness come to mind first. I was really tickled to see that level of attention being paid to the development of the kids' different styles, especially since the casualwear in SS and CoS was pretty disinteresting.

But now Jany's one-upped herself, because Fred and George's offwhite-and-blue hat from PoA is set to make an appearance at the Quidditch World Cup. Not only does that make me all sorts of happy as a geek in general, it ought to light a fire under my knitterly butt about finishing off (or, really, getting started on) the pattern for it. If the animal cracker hat turns up too, I give you all permission to prod me daily, because I'm sorta stalled out as it stands now.

(Also, plz to nag me about sending my camera for repair. I've got the funds -- about $200 -- set aside, I've just been too lazy to go get it packed and sent. I feel like a very bad person.)

Speaking of stalling out... apparently all I needed to do with the vest for String was bitch about it a bit, because I cast on the front on Saturday and finished it this afternoon. The ladies really like it, so I'm happy. I get my next project tomorrow or the day after, although I ought to start knocking out the super-cabley turtleneck my landlady wants. (She's got all this sportweight alpaca she bought in Bolivia and insists on paying me -- don't gotta tell me twice!)

The rest of this post will be spent replying to comments on the last few entries, so if you think it's awfully conceited when bloggers do this, you might as well scroll...

Laurence directed me to her free Kiri shawl pattern, which is currently duking it out with Peacock for the right to come into existence. I think Kiri may win, and not only because I shouldn't be spending $9.50 on a pattern right now. I think Peacock deserves to be done in some opulent variegated hair-of-some-sort/silk blend. I'm trying to be responsible for now, but I'm sure I'll be casting on in no time, because me? willpower? nuh uh.

Suzanne says that Alpaca Cloud is thicker(?!) than most laceweights, which makes me quake visibly in my flipflops. I'm sensing this is a very slippery slope, and one I'm likely to wind up at the bottom of in no time.

Knittingnurse asks which shade of Alpaca Cloud I got, and the answer is Stream. It took a lot of effort not to go with a shade of green, but I'm pleased with my choice. And as far as the Flirty Ruffles shawl goes, the ruffle is exactly the part that I like. I have 1760 yards of yarn, so I may just tack a ruffle onto whatever I make. For a girl who wears predominantly t-shirts and jeans, I sure do like my girly things.

And last but certainly not least, Karen encouraged me on the job front, which is muchly appreciated, because I've felt a bit woe-is-me the last few days. I have two interviews with temp agencies tomorrow (which doesn't quite explain why I'm up now blogging instead of sleeping) and an appointment about a permanent position on Wednesday, so fingers crossed. I know these things take time, but dammit, I need a job yesterday!

Lauren posted at 2.41 on 09.20.05 comments (0)

Sunday, September 18, 2005

yes, i'm nocturnal now

I am not mentioning my job search in this post. You may interpret that in as negative a fashion as you want, and it'll probably be true.

argh.

I've had about as much luck with my current project for String (a burgundy men's vest in Filatura Di Crosa cashmere, mmmmm) as I have with that thing I'm not mentioning. I swear to god, I've never had this much trouble with gauge in my life. I have almost textbook tension these days; I rarely have to switch needle size to get my gauge. This makes me very happy. So when Ivete said I'd probably get my 4.75 sts/" on a 7 needle, I took her word on it. I swatched, it was tight, so I went up to an 8. This seemed fine when I swatched, but by the time I got up to the armpits I realized the back was a couple inches too small. I frogged and went to a 9; same thing happened, except that I noticed only a few inches into the body. Now I'm on a 10 and just barely making gauge with a pretty loose fabric. It's driving me absolutely mad, because I've gone up 3 needle sizes and only picked up like a quarter of a stitch. After two weeks of knitting, I've only just finished the back. It makes me a little miserable.

On the bright side, my Alpaca Cloud showed up yesterday (er, it probably showed up on like Tuesday, but I only made it to the post office yesterday), and... wow. It's so soft and lovely and alpacalicious (and after this much cashmere, me praising softness is a big deal). But um... okay, I knew laceweight was thinner than sockweight. I knew it was meant to knit up light and loose on biggish needles. But like... I've seen sewing thread thicker than this stuff. A teeny part of me is afraid it'll break if I blow on it too hard. I almost never get intimidated by knitting these days, but geez, color me scared.

Not letting that scare me away, though, because my craving for a lace shawl grows every day. (This might be due in part to my wanting to one-up the vastly overpriced travesty the Gap is calling a shawl this season.) So I'm open to pattern suggestions -- I'm eyeing Fiddlesticks' Peacock and Lotus Blossom shawls right off the bat (I actually prefer Flirty Ruffles to either of them, but I have neither enough yarn nor enough money to justify ordering another hank). I'm looking for a semi-circle/Faroese style, something pretty and fairly abstract and interesting, and the cheaper, the better. So, let's hear it!

Lauren posted at 3.16 on 09.18.05 comments (0)