IGN Spot On Coverage

Eavesdropping over the boyfriend's shoulder as he was watching an IGN video on a discussion of Bethesda's treatment of Skryim in between my makeup blog stalking and I have to say they were spot on.  I agreed with a lot of their points that Bethesda handled the situation poorly with little to no explanation on the situation for months to PS3 owners given how much money the company made from that marketed demographic of console owners and frankly, it does make me wonder how they'll handle Fallout as well if this trend continues.  Funny timing of the video given I really was just whining about never going to see Skyrim DLC pop up on my PS3 anytime soon just this past weekend!

I digress, I'm all excited because the best time of the year is coming soon upon me.  Autumn!  It's when all the most amazing things of the year come around.  Pumpkin spiced lattes, Oktoberfest beers, fall colored yarns and knits, big movie releases, holiday sales, and new video games slowly trickling in before the holidays!  Basically a giant amount of awesome filtering in all leading up to winter then the crash until spring!  Which, in Florida, our winter is more like a Wisconsin autumn in terms of temperature drops but without the crisp autumn air and changing of the leaves.  I'll be honest, I miss real autumn and winter but I still have memories of waking up at 6 in the morning just to dethaw and shovel my car out from a night blizzard before work.  *shudders*  Banish the thought.

Still watching the boyfriend play Skyrim.  My favorite series of events from the last weekend.

Him:  "How do I get out of this dungeon?"
Me: *typing at my computer without looking up*  "I dunno, did you check online?"
Him:  "I don't want to cheat."
Me:  "Then why are you asking me?"
Him:  "Cuz that's not cheating."
Me:  "Okay, but I'm just going to look up online anyway for the answer."
Him:  "Kay.  That doesn't count as cheating."

It turned out he was stuck on that "Man Who Cried Wolf" quest.  Long story short, he forgot to pull the lever to lower the bridge out and wandered about circling around the area of the lever for a good half hour until I told him to stop moving and just look AROUND with his camera at the bridge to see the lever.  Some days he amuses me.

Backseat Gaming

Yeah, it's like that.

So folks may or may not know, I took a little backseat to gaming after finally getting Platinum on Skyrim on PS3 a month or so ago.  FYI, that stuff is hard to do on PS3 with all the fun little buggies and annoying patch errors over the past year.  I absolutely LOVE the Elderscrolls series despite that they are notorious for having bugs as much as they are for being immensely huge worldscapes.  Morrowind, Oblivion, etc are amazing but good heavens do their bugs crash your game on a console!

The series' developer Bethesda have learned and fixed quite a bit over time but for some reason they still haven't learned their lesson with the PS3 and I don't want to try and upgrade my laptop or buy a gaming computer when I've been very happy with my PS3 for everything else.  You'd think I would just get this for X-Box 360 but I do my trophy collecting on PS3 so to PS3 I go for my version of Skyrim.  Still, I managed to fight through bugs and quirks and waited on patches and repatches to finally get my coveted first and only Platinum and it was worth it.  I'm still the only one in my group that has gotten that final trophy for this game either because they moved on to other games or I'm just that much of a fanatic for the series but I adored this Elderscroll setting in Skyrim.  The best so far and that's saying a lot give how much I used to love Morrowind.  

Anyway, after putting so many months into playing this game, I've taken a wee bit of a break and gave the reins to the boyfriend while I wait on the new DLC for Skyrim to come out.  If it EVER comes out for PS3.  We'll avoid my rant about Bethesda releasing the DLC vampire quests and werewolf perk tree for PC and 360 with no guarantee for PS3 before the holiday season.  Still, the boyfriend gets to play while I work on my knitting and crochet projects and just watch because it's still interesting although I've realized that not only have I taken a backseat to gaming, I've become a backseat gamer of sorts to the boyfriend. Like...wincing when he uses ice spells on a frost troll or dying 5 times in the same dungeon section because he forgets he can heal or the one that really makes me die a little inside...refusing to approach any door or treasure chest with a lock on it unless he finds the key because he thinks the lockpicking mini-game is too hard and he won't let me show him how to do it more efficiently so his game can go by more easily.  Yeah, looks like someone isn't going to be joining the Thieves' Guild anytime soon.  

I know he's tried to lend me Mass Effect 2 and Batman: Arkham City to play in my woman cave upstairs but the chance to just craft for a few weeks and get projects out of the way before the holidays while there's no rush is very enticing for me right now and his games aren't going anywhere.  I just can't help watching him play Skyrim either.  Plus, once I'm done with this crochet stash busting blanket, I can try my hand at spinning wool, a craft I really have put off for FAR too long.  My wheel is collecting a little dust, the poor girl. :(

Crochet and Tokidoki!

It's going to be a VERY photo heavy post between crafts and Tokidoki hauling, just to warn everyone.  I took a dive last night into crochet like a soldier through the trenches.  Okay, maybe not exactly but I had to justify the little gun toting Mozzarella figurine plunging through my DC stitches.  I usually knit and last night the boyfriend took my plush Donald Duck Sith apprentice blanket for his own uses when I was feeling a little cold, the brat.  Yes, the blanket is as nerdy as it sounds.  Between all the joking back and forth he boldly suggested if I was so cold then I should just knit a second blanket so we wouldn't have to fight over the main one.  My rebuttal was going to be that I couldn't knit a blanket fast enough to keep me warm that night when suddenly I realized perhaps I could crochet one instead so I pulled ALL my loose end skeins of yarns from my stash and one of the many gifted crochet hooks for the ultimate quick stash-buster!  Hint for non-knitters, normally you should NOT gift a knitter a bunch of crochet pattern books and hooks or at least check with them if they don't already own a full set.  I think I have 3 different full sets of crochet hooks now none the less the original hooks I picked up separately for picking up stitches and setting beads on lace.  Literally FULL sets of crochet hooks!?  Anyway, at least now one of those hooks will be getting more use.  Bonus, the boyfriend did not anticipate how much yarn I would pull out all over his living room for his insolence.

Ultimate stash buster  project indeed!  A few hours of running WILD with it in DC stitches I just went to town on my stash leftovers.  Little odds and ends in worsted I held 2 stranded to match up against the bulky yarns for a faster project.  So far it's a good square foot at least and growing fast.

 

  

In non-knitting news, I'm still rounding out my Tokidoki collection post Sephora's clearance and discontinue of the entire line.  Much sadness as they are ultra-cute and right now super cheap.  I wish I knew about this makeup BEFORE they were discontinued because I want to collect them all now before they pop up on Ebay for jacked up prices but at least I'm happy with what I've managed to stash away in my makeup caboodle kit.  So far I have 3 of Arte eyeshadow palettes, the Pittura eyeshadow brush set, Siberia blush brush, and the Love from London eyeshadow palette.  I can live without the perfumes, the lip glosses, the mascara, etc but what I really wanted was just the eyeshadow palettes and the brushes which I have succeeded at! Woot!  Side note, totally sorry for posting pictures of dirty brushes.  I couldn't resist trying them out and the white picks up color very easily and hard to get out.  Still, they are ultra cute and VERY soft.

Tokidoki Arte Eyeshadow Palettes-Vegas, 24 Karat, Lion Pappa with Pittura Eyeshadow Brush Set

Donatella, Mozzarella, and Adios.

Arte Palette-Vegas, 24 Karat, Lion Pappa

The last of the clearance haul came in today.  The original purchase was just the Love from London Eyeshadow palette, Siberia Blush Brush, and Kat Von D eyeshadow brush set all for 60-80% off from Sephora's website.  There were a bunch of sampler perfumes that came in my package in those tiny vials attached to cardboard cutouts and then came the small score of REALLY awesome freebies.  I got Coach Poppy Flower perfume and this fancy little facial cream moisturizer from Lancome for earning enough points and ordering online over 25 bucks between the two.  I actually wasn't expecting much from either as they were just freebies tossed in on a whim out of the selection but the face cream ended up being pretty sizable for only 0.5 oz and the Coach perfume was just adorably cute.  It's a tiny-tiny little bottle of perfume!  I don't know why but fancy stuff in tiny, well built packages make me smile.

Love from London Eyeshadow Palette, Siberia Blush Brush, Lancome Bienfait Free Sample, Coach Poppy Sample, Kat Von D Eyeshadow Brush

Cria Semi-Finished ~.~

Good news and bad news on finishing Cria.  Good news, I finally got around to sewing on the buttons but what with the weight I had been losing as of late and the original measurements being centered around a much larger me....well, the cardigan is a size too big as one can tell from the picture.  That's not just the yarn being stretchy, a lot of it's the amount of extra fabric when I first tried it on and I'm a good 10-12lbs smaller. The bust sags off me rather than remains snug up on top  The sleeve holes were the worst because I remember trying them on as I knit them and feeling comfortably snug only to find them HUGE on me now.  I'm trying to as a last-ditch resort to amend this rather than try to felt it smaller or gift it to someone else given I spent since January to knit it.   Don't get me wrong, I love that I lost weight because I can fit into my originally more snug tops and Hollister hoodies better.  A lot better!  I'm just THIS close to being able to wear my Calvin Kline military jacket again that I got on clearance at an outlet mall.  Stupid arms being stupid.

I had to  make some adjustments on my Cria but I THINK based on the fabric notes by folks on this wool that MAAAAYBE I can stretch it vertically by hanging it over a chair.  It'll mean though the collar will be much lower than anticipated as you can tell by the second picture below when I tried tugging the cardigan down back and front to see if that made things better.  Also...I've decided to only keep three top buttons and sew up the rest of the button holes for a more flattering cardigan line because the sweater's decrease line would end up being unflattering after I stretch it length-wise.  It's not too bad and the top stops folding in on itself when I stretch it out.  Yeah, the top of the cardigan had a tendency of folding in backwards because there wasn't much on top to hold it up.

It's still a flattering cardigan and I LOVE the shade of yellow but the size will take some work stretching vertically even with having spot-on gauge. I had to tug and pull it down a bit to see what it would be if I did the stretch.  Originally pre-stretch, this cardigan was just at my hips when I measured and knit it.  Stretched with the fabric and it goes past my butt.  My other option is to try and lightly felt it down a size and in the process maybe make the fabric less likely to stretch further over time.  

Reminder to self...I must get my hair cut.  Also....counting down the days until my package of clearanced goodies pop in the mail from Sephora!

Mini-Makeup Splurge

Knitting and wool spinning was put on brief hiatus along with putting together mini-gift packages to send out this week while the boyfriend is out of town and I'm basically house sitting while he's gone.  I had these grand plans of knitting, watching movies, splurging on making amazing home cooked meals made just for moi, and all sorts of girly glee boxing together some gift yarn and more to mail out with time to spare to clean this house better than what the boyfriend had left!  It was a pretty epic plan when I stocked up on delicious chocolate, wine, and lovely things like fruit and cheeses and crackers for delightful little appetizers to nibble on over the weekend while he's away with a list of books to read and movies to catch up on.  So far though the reality of being at the house without the boyfriend ended up being the opposite experience of complete girly pampering indulgences.  It's been mostly eating frozen pizza or sandwiches, going for long walks, and sitting in sweatpants at home with one night of knitting and mostly surfing the web and watching Netflix without worrying if I bothered to shave my legs for a week.  My knitting centered around the second edging of 4 large panels to go around the center of my Cloud Drift Shawl so there isn't much to report on other than to knit another panel that looks exactly the same as the last.

Despite earlier intentions, this glamorous girl pampering experience turned to sweatpants and pizza rather quickly.  I did get to go out with gals for a Sephora trip with coworkers (which now has me hooked back into my long love of eyeshadow) and go out to a fun little gay bar called the Body Shop for a fundraising drag show with one of my coworkers to raise money for her friends' local softball team.  I loved the bar.  It was kind of cute and cozy where you can have some drinks and chat and given the size and atmosphere, it's easily one of those bars that will remember your name popping in.  They won me over with a combination baked goods and jello shot sale.  We even managed to be there for their happy hour which I will never say no to a 3-4 dollar Mojito and Bloody Mary drinks.

As for that Sephora run, I forgot how much I loved eyeshadow...so much so that when I found out that Sephora was clearancing out all their Tokidoki Arte palettes for 4 bucks a pop I picked up a palette of Vegas and Lion Pappa to play with along with their eyeshadow brushes for cheap-cheap online so I've a pretty package to look forward to in the next three days in the mail.  There was ONE eyeshadow palette in 24 Karat that I really wanted but it was sold out online BUT I remembered seeing a stack at the Sephora store at the mall so I crossed fingers and hoped they still had them for 4 bucks. I lucked out and found it to round out my Tokidoki stash and splurged on a Kat Von D True Romance eyeshadow palette in Sinner. I popped pictures of the Kat Von D metal palette inside and outside it's little cardboard box and the really ADORABLE Tokidoki palette in 24 Karat.  I realize that both palettes that I picked up have that kind of gothy-looking packaging schemes but the Kat Von D has this cool, tough girl metallic case with these really pigmented, long lasting smokey purple and grey shades and the Tokidoki is just uber-cute.

 

Inside Sinner-8 Eyeshadow Shades and 1 Eyeliner Pencil

 Inside 24 Karat-4 Eyeshadow Shades and 1 Blush

They're all just something to play with and I decided every ten pounds I lose with my diet and exercise plan (yeah, I know, frozen pizza was cheating) then I'm just going to splurge at Sephora...so that means 5-6 more pounds and I'll go on another Sephora binge...probably for Too Faced's Matte finish eyeshadow palette or an Urban Decay palette given it'll be the 20lb mark in total for me...so maybe do something big and sparkly special?  I just don't want to do a big clothes shopping yet until AFTER I lose more weight or just stabilize what I'm already dropping because 10lbs in a month is still kind of a big/fast jump for me.  Still, the whole adventure in diet and exercise with its ups and downs created an amazing high when I tried on all the clothes I couldn't fit into since last year just suddenly could slip on!  Still a bit of a squeeze from my undergrad size in the jean department but some of my favorite flattering blouses from high school are now wearable again.  It's like I magically doubled my wardrobe possibilities!  :)

Olympic Knitting!

Back from tons of back and forth traveling this past month between Cleveland as a bridesmaid for my gal pal's wedding to the week long in Orlando with college friends for the post-wedding hoopla! The past two weeks after traveling has just been dealing with a sudden uproar in work and stress at the office.  I am convinced that I cannot leave for more than a few days at a time now without something changing or being turned upside down at the office during our current work project but now that I've officially settled back into the work grind, things are going much more smoothly and JUST in time to enjoy some of the London 2012 Summer Olympics!  And knitting.

I'm still working on my Golden Cloud Drift shawl although NOW as if this all happened while I was out of town, everybody and their mamma posted up all at once all their projects so I am glad to be not the only one who has knit this shawl before.  Still knitting through the 4 borders though.  One border down and working on the second border!

I am also jumping back on my diet and exercise plan with the help of the "My Fitness Pal" app after being on hiatus during the wedding and Orlando trip!  So no knitting any cardigans or sweaters or anything particularly fitted for a while until AFTER I hit my weight loss goal.  I'm pleased because all the walking I did every day in Orlando through the major Disney theme parks put my metabolism in high gear despite the copious amounts of food and drinks I consumed on vacation but now that I'm back at the office in my sedentary state but with a significantly reduced calorie intake, the vacation weight has melted off and I'm actually a pound less than when I left. Knock on wood that I can upkeep the metabolism boost with some daily walks and controlled portion meals just long enough to hit my goal weight before I can move into just weight maintenance.

Knit Makeup!

I am a little brat.  This week with all the rain and the impending visit from the boyfriend's parents means I'm temporarily scaling back on the knitting in favor for some heavy duty late spring cleaning around his house  So off and about I've been picking up cleaning supplies and just plowing through room for room with the boyfriend with moderate success.  We have the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen clean so those are just a matter of maintaining for the next few days but the next challenge is the living and dining room area. 

This doesn't necessarily mean though I haven't kept knitting SOMEWHERE in my mind though.  During my stop at the Super Target I was completely charmed by the makeup aisle for a buy 1, get 1 free coupon on certain Physicians Formula powders and fell in LOVE at first sight with the Cashmere collection.  Adorable!  The girl-girl in me nabbed up the blush in Natural since its easier for me from experience to just build up with a lighter shade than try to tone down when I accidentally add too much with a darker.  The Bronzer I got in regular Bronze by accident because I wanted the Light Bronze for a more honey golden look.  This mistake was not realized until AFTER I got home.  :(

Still, I figured since I opened the packages, I'd give both colors some love and it turns out I love these little guys.  They came in little velvety brown boxes with an adorable tassel and even better...purl, knit, and cabled imprints!  I didn't take a picture of them in their original sales package but you'll recognize them in most general makeup aisles otherwise just google and I'm sure someone has a picture of them in the original packaging.  I just tore into them when I got home. 

The blush was JUST the right shade for me without being too crazy dark or Mimi-reddish.  Just a nice, soft, warm pink that I can build up and play with.  The bronzer meanwhile ended up THANKFULLY looking good.  The Light Bronze may have ended up being almost too light because I have a weird skin tone that looks like a medium but some colors end up overreacting and looking too dark or uber-too light very easily because of my undertones so that's why I was a bit reluctant to have the regular Bronze at first.  Was it too dark?  Nope!  It went on perfectly and was blendable and felt smooth.

So that was my knitting makeup diversion!  I love these little guys so much that I may have to try and play with them in the morning and get a little dolled up for work.  <3