FOs: Verity and St. Vincent Cloche

Yes, I know... I haven't even mentioned these projects on here, and now I'm posting them as FOs. Sorry, I suck.

The St. Vincent Cloche is a free pattern I started on last year. I actually finished it before Christmas, but just now stitched the ribbon down to the hat. This hat was inspired by the hat that Anne Darrow wore in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. I loved that hat so much. Of course, mine doesn't look much like it, but I still think it turned out well.

This hat is knit and felted. I used Paton's Classic Merino in natural. It took over one skein but well under two. The hat came out HUGE. I am not sure how many times I had to felt it to get the right fit, but it was a lot. After I'd finally gotten the crown to fit my head, I had to cut the brim to make it just the length I wanted (about the length of the inspiration hat). It is waterproof. Very much so. To shape it, I had to wet it, and it took a lot of water to accomplish that. I need to reshape the brim, I think; it looks a bit squished.

I found the ribbon for around one dollar at Michael's. It is Christmas ribbon, white with silvery-gray snowflakes. I machine stitched it onto the hat.





Verity is a project I started and finished last week, in just a couple of days. It's a hat by the super-talented Ysolda Teague. It's available on Ravelry. I had a skein of Malabrigo that I'd bought from someone's stash on Ravelry (it seems all the online stores that sell Malabrigo charge flat-rate shipping and that's usually good for big orders, but I can rarely afford to make large orders, though when I get rich, I am buying so much Malabrigo!). Malabrigo is my very favorite yarn. I love the current trend of slouchy hats. I will probably be wearing them even when the trend ends. This one is really not that slouchy (I made a M), but I like the fit of it. I made the M because I was worried I'd run out of yarn with the L, otherwise I would have liked to do the L hat and M brim. But no worries, I still love the hat! And I didn't have a button lying around, and I really wanted to go ahead and wear the hat, so I found this old (fake) gold brooch whose origins I do not know. It is a little heavy for the hat, but it looks cute imo.




Tomorrow I am going to try to have the nerve to finally sew up my quilt. The Drops sweater is still going - I've finished and blocked the front and have just started the back.

I have become obsessed with Sylvi from Twist Collective. It is so striking! My birthday is next month, and as one of my gifts, I asked for yarn to knit Sylvi. I found a purple color I love, Phantom in Louet Riverstone Chunky. I've read that this yarn is thin for a bulky, but even if it is, that's ok... I think this sweater-coat calls for much more ease than I'd ever need or want. It was also a great price, from WEBS Yarn. So I didn't really splurge in asking for that, as even the Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes Bulky would not have been much cheaper, and they didn't have a purple that I loved. I wish they carried it in the color Hyacinth like their worsted WOTA. LOVE that color so!

I bought both Vogue and IK for Winter 2008 and now I don't think I'm going to knit anything from either. Maybe the Victoria Yoke Pullover from IK; it looks surprisingly good on curvier women.

Anyway, that's it for now! Cheers!

Drops Sweater Update

Just a note to say that the Drops pullover seems to be going... not too badly. I wasn't sure about this project because the pullover is designed for a yarn with a halo, which I do not have. But the Shadow, while not haloed, is... halo-y. There is a (very small) bit of fuzziness to it which works. The teal color is lovely, and the yarn surprisingly soft, considering how inexpensive it is. I'm almost to the waistband, which is a bit of a dilemma. Do I go out and buy a skein of Paton's in the closest thing to teal I can find? Or do I use something I already have? I've some leftovers in brown, natural, green, gold, and purple. I think I'm going to try to find some teal yarn, because I like the monochromaticness of the photo on the Drops site. Then again, the purple might be cute and Anthropologie-esque.

Projects and FO: Mysteriously Green Slippers

I used to be pretty good about updating on my projects, but I've really been slacking there. It only matters because then I forget what I've going on and what was frustrating me most about a project.

I now know why Rapunzel was given that name (the sweater, not the princess). It is because this sweater is never-ending, just like her hair... well, at least really, really long like her hair. I've restarted it about three times and am getting nowhere. I am beginning to think I really need to choose a different yarn for the sweater. Thing is, can't really afford to buy new yarn right now. So, for now I am calling this sweater "Aurora" after the Sleeping Beauty princess (or Rosie, if you're a Robin McKinley fan like me), since it has been sleeping quite a while. But fear not, fair maidens, for I am determined that this fairy tale shall have a happy ending!

I've been working on an entrelac hat, but it, too, has been discouraging. I love the idea of this hat in this yarn, but seeing it knit up... it's just not working for me. The colors keep trying to pool, the hat itself is too large, and the yarn is too heavy. So I cast it aside, too. I think this is going to be a "loser" project. I don't really know quite what to do with it.

Fortunately for me, Drops Design released this pullover pattern. I didn't have any Kidsilk-like yarn, and again, couldn't buy any, but I did have some Knitpicks Shadow in Snorkel lying around, that was originally going to be for a shawl. I needed a quick-and-easy knit; something to get me motivated on knitting again. Why yes, those ARE size 10 needles. As many projects that I've completed and been not quite satisfied with, I need something that will, hopefully, help me get my knitting mojo back. Fingers crossed!



One thing I did finish on my trip to western Kansas for Christmas was a pair of green Mystery Slippers, from the Yahoo Holiday Mystery Knits group. This pattern was great! I love the finished slippers and have already worn them so much that I've had to shave them once or twice to get rid of pilling. They are warm, cute (although they make my feet look HUGE), and the green color is great. My only complaint is that they get rather loose, and being in 100% wool, can't be dried to tighten them up. (well, I suppose they COULD, since felting does have that effect...)



I also finished a pair of short ankle socks (western Kansas is a long ride) that had been lying around for a bit. They're really not worth posting, since they are just plain gray, from KP Palette, but they are very comfy. I ran out of the gray and had to finish one of them in black. I really love handknit socks, even if I do have to hand wash them.



Earlier in the week, I went out to Hobby Lobby to find some things for my quilt and some buttons for the slippers. I ran across a new magazine called Stitch. It's a publication by Quilt Arts and... wow! Really loving this magazine! There are two skirts I am definitely making, and soon - warm weather will be here in LA before we know it (and by warm, I mean unbearably hot - people around here say Hell is where New Orleanians go to cool off). The cover skirt is my favorite. I am going to have to finish up at least my quilt and the two paintings I am working on before I can even seriously think about these skirts, but it's never too early to look around for fabric. Fabric suggestions, anyone?





The quilt top is entirely sewn together, and now I need to do the quilting. So far I love how it looks (it has been covering my bed for the past few days), but the real challenges are coming up now. Wish me luck!

Also, Brisingr has gotten much better. It took almost a hundred pages to get me really interested, but this book is really easy reading, so that's not too bad actually. I'm enjoying reading the book now.

Last, I re-arranged my sidebar by craft, rather than by year as I had it before, though past projects are still separated by year. Is this an improvement? Please let me know! I have little time to work on things such as my blog's format, but I know how irritating a poorly set-up web page can be. I'd like to have it look nice, but I honestly just don't know how.

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans was a very good movie. It had the advantage of being only an hour and a half, which was nice in this era of needlessly long movies. I have probably ranted about this before, but: yes, some stories (such as LOTR) take two or three hours to tell. SOME, not ALL. Most movies do not need to be two hours or two and a half long! Thank you, Underworld writers, for making a great movie that was not needlessly long.

That said, the writers of the A Song of Ice and Fire TV show that is in pre-production for HBO can take as long as they need or like to tell the story, so long as the tell it RIGHT. I have never been excited about a TV show before... but YES!

How Time Flies!

Seriously! I have been so busy with life that a month has passed, and I have forgotten to update. Well, I ought to say I've neglected to update. I thought of posting a couple of times, but I never got around to doing so.

School has started again, and that will be keeping me busy for the semester. I am also working on a slouchy entrelac hat, two paintings - one a gift and one for myself, and my quilt... I mean comforter. I made the mistake of saying once I was going to make a quilt to Dusty, and got called "grandma" for the next week because of it. So I've been saying "blanket" or "comforter" around him. Haha.

For the quilt, I've more than a third of the squares sewn together. I don't know if anyone will recall my earlier posts regarding making a quilt, but I was inspired by all those cute quilts at Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie to make my own. So, I bought a bunch of different fabrics over a period of several months, and cut 8" squares of them, and now I'm stitching them together. I'm also going to "cheat" on the whole quilt-making thing, because I'm not using batting, well not the normal kind. Considering that this is going to fit a queen-sized bed, I didn't think it a good idea since this is my first quilted anything, after all. So, I went to T. J. Maxx and, for around $15, picked up a nice, plush microfiber full/queen-sized (90"x90") blanket. I do wish it was a little longer, because it limits my "comforter" to being 90"x90" rather than the 90"x96" I would prefer, but it will be easier (I think) to use a blanket as batting than trying to get nice, even batting on my first try, on a queen-sized quilt that I don't intend to quilt heavily. The blanket does cover the bed as well as the comforter currently in use. I may only "tie" it, which I'm told can be done with embroidery floss.

For the backing, I cheated again. Urban Outfitters sells these tapestry-bedspreads, which are basically bed-sized (108"x90") lengths of fabric, a bit on the thin side, but very cute and, when on sale, affordable (I paid ~$20), too. So my backing is a bright bird print (called "Mod Birdies" or something like that), with lots of pink and green, brown and blue, and orange, too. Should go nicely with the rest of the fabrics. The only thing that concerns me with this is that somewhere on the packaging it said something about the dye possibly running, but I washed this with all my other fabrics, and I didn't notice anything afterward. I've washed it twice already because of that warning, and so far, I've had no problems. Hopefully, it will turn out fine.

So far, I love how it's coming along. I adore each fabric I am using, and I think (read: hope) it's going to turn out fun, bright, and funky without being obnoxious. Which is pretty much my style.

After I finish the quilt, I am going to add a big, black bird applique to the bottom edge of it. Should be fun.

Oh! A while ago, I posted about the neat Garnethill Mirror Plates. Well, a kind Raveler messaged me with ideas on how to make them. So now I am going to try that soon.

I'm also reading Brisingr. So far... eh. I need to stop comparing it to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, because that's really being unfair. No one alive can compare to the quality of those books. Hopefully the story will get better, though. I've heard this book is better than the last two in the Inheritance series, Eragon and Eldest. There are things I liked and disliked about each of those books. But really... if you want talking dragons, go read Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern stuff.

By the way, I want IK Winter 2008. I am kinda in love with the Manchester Jacket. I want to make it in a leaf-green.

More painting, yay!

While I'm not that great at making jewelry, I still like to try on occasion. "But the title of this post is about painting. What," you ask, "has that with making jewelry?,"


At Michael's (arts and crafts chain store), they have some great finds. Among them were these black plastic pendants with birds and flowers on them, in a set of four. You could hardly make out the birds when they were black, but the design of them is fabulous even if the color sucked, so I thought it would be fun to try painting them. As I had enough to make 2 pairs of earrings, I tried two vastly different styles.

I can't take credit for this idea - a friend did it first, though not in multiple colors as I used.

Here, I dry-brushed gold and a dull, dusty brown over the black. It made the earrings turn out looking antiqued.



Here, I went a bit wild with color. The design is of a bird in a tree, with branches, leaves, and flowers, so I painted the branches brown and the leaves green, the flowers red on one side and purple on the other. For the bird, as far as I know peacocks don't hang out in trees, but I painted them to look like peacocks anyway since the shape of the birds themselves made me think of peacocks. I used blue, green, and gold for that. I really love how they turned out!


I'm posting the painting I did of the shrimp boat again, because I touched it up - mostly by thinning out the "wires" and outlining the white rigging bits of the boat. I think it is just what was needed for me to be happy with it.


This is a painting I just completed, of a Nawlins French Quarter balcony during Mardi Gras. This took quite a while to do, what with all the fine detail and all. Like my other Louisiana-inspired paintings, this one is 8x10".


Both of these paintings are Christmas gifts. I still have one more to do. I hope the recipients love them!

Windows Shopping

... Because I use Windows. Hahaha, I love puns, don't you?

See, back when I had more time to do things and bothered to write in this blog more regularly, I would mention other things, such as my opinions of the patterns in the newest IK (not that anyone cares) or point out cute things that OMGILUVZIT!

Of course, life got in the way and so I didn't blog for a rather long period of time, and now, when I have been able to blog, it's been only about things I've made. But since it's Christmas season(for many of us, shopping season), and I've done almost all my shopping online this year, I thought I'd point to some things I am digging now. Who knows, maybe I'll help someone with Christmas shopping!

I don't have my own place right now, but I really wish I did, as I love the current decorating trends. I know they are probably all things that will look dated soon, and that sucks because I adore the vivid and dramatic colors that are popular. I believe I've mentioned before how I little I like neutrals, but let me reiterate. I don't particularly care for neutrals ("What makes a good man go neutral?"). Yes, they are necessary, I suppose, and of course you can't avoid them, but I am not an "all neutral" type of person. White walls make me cringe and always have, but I suppose beige or some variation of it is alright as long as there is color SOMEWHERE... plenty of it. With that said, a good deal of what I am about to post is actually neutral... go figure.

At Garnethill, these plate mirrors. They come in three sizes; I particularly adore the Large.



Dusty's mom actually has the Patchwork Rose Hooked Wool Rug hanging as a tapestry in her house. It is much prettier and more vivid in person than online.



A rug with less color but just as much appeal is the Dharma rug. I love the chocolate brown and pink together.



The Wendy's Garden Hooked Wool Rug is another fun, bright rug. If only they showed a photo of the entire thing! Edited Jan 2009 to say: Dusty's mom bought this rug for her laundry room and it is FAB!



I'm digging everything "birdy" right now, especially these Ceramic Pigeon Vases at Threepotatofour.



If wishes were horses and pennies were hundred dollar bills, I'd possess the Cleopatra Neoclassical Chaise, available at Design Toscano. I just love this site. They have some very unique (and some very weird) things.



I've been dying to make an afghan using this Haverhill Afghan Throw as inspiration. Once I finish some of these projects that have been sitting around for a year or more, I am going to start on it. I like the pillow, too... maybe I'll make a matching pillow as well.



This Mademoiselle Haute Couture Floor Lamp is just too awesome for words. I love the dress form lamps I've seen online, and this is even cooler.



From Garnethill, this White Coral Lamp is gorgeous, though I'd like it better if it were the actual color of coral.



If you're looking for artwork, a great piece is Apple Tree with Red Fruit by Paul Ranson. I purchased this print from Allposters, and though the size is odd, so I haven't been able to find a frame for it, the print itself is fantastic.



Another great art print is Rain on Royal Street by Dianne Millsap. ALL of her Nawlins paintings are fantastic! The wonderful thing about these paintings is that you can enjoy the life and energy of the French Quarter without the smell.



Another artist with amazing Nawlins art is James Michalopoulas. Every time I walk into Barnes and Noble, I pick up his ($100) book (that I can't afford) to look through it. It would be such a great addition to my collection. One of these days...
A print of his I particularly like is Bisecting Balconies.



I'm loving the Vitruvian Collection, in particular the Peace, Warm Hands, and Kissing the Hand. "Kissing the Hand" makes me think of Mr. Knightley, literature's finest gentleman.




Finally, these Agate Coasters look like great fun, even if agate doesn't naturally come in blue or green.

Paintings

If there is anything I love, it is painting. Granted, I am no true artist, but I enjoy it and that's all that matters. Here are the paintings I've done thus far this year.

The first two paintings are not "originals." They were done at CorksnCanvas, a place where you do a painting in an evening. There is an instructor who tells you what to do, and everyone in the class does the same painting, but they all come out remarkably different. I went with a couple of people, and we had a blast. We really liked the New Orleans house paintings, so we did two of them (on two separate occasions).


This pink house was my favorite of all the paintings they offer. I just love how mine turned out, but I forgot to add some potted plants, which I still need to do.


We go saltwater fishing, usually once or twice a year. I have taken some great photos on these trips, and I always wanted to do paintings of them. Well, I finally did, at least started my "series" of Louisiana wetlands paintings. I did the red tugboat first, and then the shrimping boat. More will follow.

Jewelry at its worst

Oops! 2008 is almost gone, and I have a few things I've made that I've not posted. Mostly in the form of jewelry, which I am posting now, but I have a couple of paintings as well, which I will post later, when I get around to taking pictures of them.

Honestly, jewelry-making is one of those hobbies I wish I could indulge in more frequently, but just cannot afford to (without giving up pretty much all of my other hobbies). Plus, for those of you who make jewelry on a regular basis, how do you decide to buy your supplies? Namely beads and stuff. Do you just buy stuff you like, or wait until you have an idea? Also, are there any websites you frequent?

Anyway, so the main point of all this being that I do not make elaborate jewelry. I am aware of this, and most of what I have made is nothing special.

First, we have two pairs of earrings I made for my Secret Santa partner. We are doing several small gifts, then a big gift. These were two small gifts. The shells are just beads put on earring hooks, and the leopard print was a set of pendants that I simply put on hooks. So, nothing complex, but I think they are cute.



Next, I made these seahorses from beads that came out of the same pack of beads as the shells. I loved these little seahorses, and really, so much could have been done with this pack of beads (in fact, I have some left over and hopefully later can try something more elborate), but really I didn't think it NEEDED that much as the beads were so cute.


This pendant is a gift. I couldn't resist, as the person who is going to receive it for Christmas has the last name of Lucky.


I made these peacock feather earrings earlier in the year, but they are probably still my favorite pair of earrings right now. I saw the idea for these on some website; they were $99, which I could not afford no matter how well I liked them. But they were so simple, I figured they'd be easy to recreate, and they were. They were hard to photograph; when being worn, they do not look raggedy as they do in the picture. Additionally, I love the closures I used for these - I don't have to worry about losing an earring or an earring back.


I love these little jewelry-sized bottles. I wanted to use the green sand for something, and I thought this was perfect. Then I found the little green shell beads, and voila! I think the necklace turned out really cute.

2 FOs: Serrano and Goddess Halloween Costume M4954

So, I've been a busy little bumblebee, and though most of that has been with school and work, I did manage to finally finish Serrano and make a Halloween costume as well. So, here's that stuff.

M4954:
For Halloween, I was attending a party that was (months ago) originally supposed to be a toga party. The theme changed to just plain ol' costume party, but as I already had the stuff for this, I stuck to it. It's a Roman/Greek/Egyptian "goddess costume," in quotes because I doubt the design could be much less historically accurate. At any rate, it was cuter than a toga because I look awful in a toga. I didn't do white because there wasn't any cheap white satin at Hancock fabrics, and this lavender stuff was cheap. I wore this to two parties and made it the day of the first one. I did all the cutting one day and then all the sewing the day of the party. It took most of the day, but I finished in time and that's that. Excuse these pictures, they were taken after the party when I actually thought to take a picture, so I look like crap. Really like crap. In fact, I can't believe I am posting such bad photos on the internet, and I will probably regret it someday. And I can't even blame it on being drunk.





As always, there is a review for this at PatternReview.

Serrano:
This thing took for-ev-er and two days. Mainly because I quit knitting for almost a year, and only haphazardly picked it back up a couple of months ago. Then, I couldn't find the zipper I wanted (and never did), and I couldn't decide what else to do with it because, as it turns out, a plain black cardigan is just not me. So I crocheted an edging (out of gray I was using for a pair of socks, which will now be finished in leftover black) and made an applique out of interfacing,(note to self: always check the interfacing before buying - make certain it is fusible! This is the second time I have bought the wrong kind of interfacing), scraps from my Leg Lamp costume, and a scrap of quilting cotton. I added a button on the applique, too, from God-knows what project that I probably didn't finish, but hopefully will someday. Then I painstakingly hand-stitched it on there (and let me tell you, my hand-stitching is a fright. Martha Stewart would have a stroke if she saw it. Actually, does she sew? I know she's Martha Stewart and all, but do you think she sews stuff by hand?). I chose a fleur-de-lys because I realized I live in south La and had nothing with fleur-de-lys on it, and I think you get arrested for that here. Or at least mobbed.

So, without further adieu, the pictures! The usual disclaimer of how un-photogenic I am, but my boyfriend took these and he wasn't going to stand there all day taking photos till we got one I liked, since that probably would have taken hours.





And finally, a photo of Dusty's Halloween costume. Can you guess who he is?

Just a quick update

Life (to be precise, school) has gotten in the way of crafting. I finished Serrano but have not been working on anything else because I've been ill and my classes are kicking my butt. I can't remember ever being this stressed. Anyway, I will put up pictures of Serrano as soon as I get a zipper for it. I have been trying to find a dual zipper, and have had very little luck with that. I may have to look online. The positive? Serrano just may be a winner.

FO: McCall 5584

About that "I haven't been sewing at all comment," I lied on accident without even remembering. I did sew this one thing this summer, in late June/early July.

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this. Here is the costume I made for work. I work at a very popular retail store that sells its brand-name ornaments, and for the ornament premiere, we pick an ornament and dress as that ornament. I chose the Leg Lamp from the film Christmas Story, and made my costume using some poly satin from Hancock fabrics and this pattern, M5584. I also found earrings made from real little light bulbs, and decorated the head dress. The beads are from Mardi Gras (never thought MG beads would actually come in handy). Fishnet thigh-highs, of course, completed this costume. This swingy dress, once finished, made me feel so like a flapper that I had to embellish on that end - thus the headband with a big, fat Christmas light bulb and gold pipe cleaner "electricity" wrapped onto it. The dress was very unflattering, but since it was supposed to be a lampshade, that was ok. Everyone thought it was a great costume, and someone even bought an ornament because of it - score! I'm posting the review at PR, so if you want to know more details, just click the link after I edit this post to include it.

Anyway, here are the pics! I probably didn't need to post so many, but oh well.

Me, the Leg Lamp. Yes, I did get many "I'm turning you on" and "I'm yanking your chain" comments!






ETA: Link to review on PR

Oh yeah, also, sleeves on Serrano are done and blocked. Next comes the seaming. It will probably be a hellish ordeal, as seaming always is, but I will survive it. Then the collar and adding a zipper, and I will finally be done with this sweater!

And, finally, I don't normally talk about anything other than crafting on here, but I wanted to mention that my friend Dave Yaden's album, "Bear Me Up," just came out on iTunes. Please check it out - "Down the Line" is particularly amazing and catchy! Dave is immensely talented, so don't miss out!

I spy... amazing fashion

She's armed and extremely dangerous

I know I said I was done with sewing clothes for now, but I love this dress and must have it. Any pattern suggestions?

Zombie-fied Return

Ok, so I am not really a zombie, but since it's been nearly a year since I have posted here,(good Lord, where does the time go?!) and nearly that long since I've done any knitting, it is like being a zombie, so that's what I am. A knitting, sewing, blogging zombie.

I know, I know what you're thinking right now. "Crystal! We're so glad you're back! What on earth have you been doing?"

Well... um. Grad school. Working. Reading. A bit of drawing, a wonderful, loverly bit of painting. Learning that, surprisingly, life goes on without knitting (so long as I have books). An exciting, surprisingly fun summer trip with my mother to Graceland. But mostly school.

"But," you say, "something must have encouraged you to blog again. After all, this is a knitting/crafting blog."

And you are correct! I picked up the needles again and started back on Serrano. I'm shaping the second sleeve. I originally put this down because it seemed to be taking soooo long, and now I can't imagine how I ever thought that. I feel like my needles are on fire! Hopefully I will finish that soon.

I haven't been sewing at all. I am still on a hiatus from it for now, since clothing wasn't going too well for me anyway, and I just didn't have room to keep up with all that stuff. It will have to wait a bit until I am in a place where I won't be moving any more for a long while, and have room to spread stuff out. Just like my scrapbooking stuff. But.... I am planning and buying fabrics for a patchwork quilt, inspired by this Urban Outfitters quilt and this quilt for Michael Miller fabric. I want the squares from the UO quilt, with the bird/leaf thingy from the MM quilt. I think it will be pretty darned pretty. I am one of those people who always associated quilts with grannies until recently. Now I am dying to make one, and it's not because I'm old. You heard it here first, quilts are cool! (I know it's been hinted at for a while now, but no one has actually come out and said it until now).

Anyway, so what's the rule for quilting? Do you need a theme? Or can you just put together any fabrics you like? I really, really hope it's the latter...

Stop! Grammar Time!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting blog to bring you this strictly non-knitting, nerdy post. Just in case you ever use (and trust) MS Office's grammar check, keep this picture in mind.



I wonder what severity cans? It has to be anchovies. After all, anchovies sound gross, and "severity" doesn't exactly leave one with a warm, fuzzy feeling. So it probably has canning parties with other unfriendly words like "discord" and "depreciate," and they can anchovies...

Or are they telling me to write that the severity of the disease fires "double"? Poor "double." Getting canned by MS Office's grammar check. I thought he was doing a pretty good job, myself. Good ol' "double"... but he is always getting into trouble, they say. I guess it was bound to happen.

This brought out the nerdiness in me enough to merit putting up the Hammer "Grammar Time" icon. Which, if you look closely, the background is "netspeak," making it even more awesome. I did not create that icon and I don't know who did... it was on one of those random websites with free icons. So if you made it, thanks, let me know if you want your name up there, and also you are the coolest person ever. Except for me. But that goes without saying. ;-)

* And yes, I know that's not the way to cite in a paper. But it's the way I begin citations all my papers. I have the actual citations on their little page, and I just put the number in till I am done and ready to purdy up all the citations. I'm not sure if it's quicker than doing them as you go (because I don't think I've ever actually tried that), but whatever. Works fine for me.

** And yes, I see the grammatical error in there that MS Word DIDN'T catch. And I fixed it!

*** Oh, by the way, as this post indicates, I'm still alive. I'll have to do a real post later... when I'm not extremely busy doing crap for finals.

Edit: Oh, I guess you can't look closely on the GrammarTime picture because Blogger stretches it out. But the background is netspeak. This image is only 100x100 pixels or something like that, but apparently Blogger says "NO! Ye shall have no photos smaller than 200 cubits" (and by cubits I mean pixels). I wonder if I can fix that.

Edit 2: Yay, fixed!

Seranno progress and my next project

I am now knitting the back armholes of Serrano. I am doing so well! I have not been perfectly monogamous in my projects but I have mostly worked only on Serrano. (by the way, anyone have any idea why, when typing on my laptop, sometimes the cursor just skips to somewhere else entirely and I end up writing in the wrong sentence? it is like accidental madlibs or something except madlibs are totally awesome and funny and this is annoying). Anyway, I just have to finish the back and sleeves, do some blocking and some finishing, and find a zipper. I plan on doing one of those 2 way zippers instead of hooks and eyes because it's annoying to mess with those things.

I've been swatching for Eunny's Venezia sweater. I loved this to begin with, and after spending a long time deciding on colors and thinking of some modifications, I love it even more now. I am going to knit it in 2 colors only - a bright pink and a light pink - and I also want to add a v-neck, maybe a collar too, and make it into a cardigan similar to an anthropologie design I've been admiring. It's the Jacquard Jacket under Cardigans if my link doesn't work (I can never get links to this site to work). I would really love to hear any advice or ideas about this since I know I will need to add a steek but don't know exactly how to do that (add stitches, yes, but how many? etc) so any help would be sooo appreciated! Also, look at the photo on the model - if you zoom in, the sweater has what looks like a tattoo on the arm! How cool is that?! I am going to do that, too.

Edit: Ok, the link doesn't work. Here's one picture of the jacket:



I need to start sewing again too. I had quit because I felt bad sewing, having projects never turn out right, and then feeling like I wasted time, money, and good fabric. Also I really don't have too much time. But really I am wasting the fabric all the same if I already have it and don't use it. So I am going to try to make a top or something soon.