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

Cloud Drift, Drifting Away!

I'm zoom-zooming along through my Cloud Drift shawl.  It's definitely coming along very, very nicely and as I'm gauging how much of my Shadow Tonal Golden Glow yarn is left, I'm most certain that it'll use up a very good portion of my stash which is a sad thought to think about that after this shawl, I'll not have much if any at all left to knit with after growing so fond of this type of yarn.  So, the best logical step is to pick up more since it's being discontinued on Knitpicks.  It's been on the discontinued list for a while now but the price is at an all time low that I couldn't resist picking up a few more skeins while it's still available under the current price along with some in a red called Gypsy.  My total naughty treat even though I'm on a yarn diet.  :P 

Gosh, I love Knitpicks when yarn goes on sale.  The prices are within my range and while I still LOVE visiting my LYS to see and feel what I want to knit on a whim, there are a few staple yarns from Knitpicks that I adooooore.  Knitpicks, you complete me....and my yarn stash.

It reminds me heavily of one of the Worsted for Wear knitting web comics that popped up a few days ago.  Totally check them out here for the stash joke that came at the right time for me.  It's one of my favorite knitting centered web comics at the moment and they're usually spot on at poking fun with knitters and our obsessions in a way that I've been able to share clips of the comic with my non-knitting friends and they're able to get a light laugh out of it.  Or at me.  Whichever.  

I read Knit Princess too and it's enjoyable but they pick and drop artists every few months but my favorite was the artist they had briefly from January 2011 through January 2012 who had a kind of cute and whimsical style. Here's one of the archived months to get an idea of the artist's work at the time.  The current artist for Knit Princess has been working with a kind of Japanese manga-esque style but it sort of comes off sort of generic in a seaaaaaaa of manga-styled artists on the web.

I'll have to keep my eye open for an other knitting related comics.  I know of an actual comic book with superheroes that came out a while ago called Handknit Heroes.  Each issue comes with a pattern as well which is a cute idea although beyond that I don't know much more of it at the moment.

I'll keep my eye out for any other knitting web comics that pop up.  I so want for more!

Lace Destashing!!

 I'm destashing lace and lo and behold...my Golden Glow Cloud Drift shawl! Original pattern located here.  It's still in its baby stages.  The pictures don't do the yellow justice.  It looks in real life like a lovely deep, golden yellow but right now it looks like "pale, undercooked scrambled egg" yellow.  Actually, I get all warm and fuzzy (pardon the pun) nostalgic when I knit this shawl because pre-blocking it looks all fluffy and so yellow that it reminds me of scrambled eggs cooked on a Sunday morning.

The lace itself on Cloud Drift opens up (again, hard to tell by the pictures pre-blocking) to this really simple yet dainty all knit garter with spots of of open lace that reminds me of little sun drops or cat paws.  Choosing a fluffy merino blended lace yarn was definitely a GOOD choice with this pattern to give it a soft and fluffy, delicate cloud look but I would be curious if anyone has any alpaca blended interpretations of the same pattern.  So far I checked Ravelry and I keep checking every so often but the number of knitters to this project are still population: ME.  As such and given how much I quickly grew to love this pattern, I'm excited to try and make notation as much as possible the progress on this shawl as a reference point for other knitters.  

Looking on Ravelry is actually the FIRST thing I always do when I'm considering a pattern.  Partly to get a gauge on what other folks have tried in terms of yarn and needle size and what alterations or adjustments people made as they went along but mostly to help me predict how my version may look like.  It's cut me time and heck, I'll even use that to explore how different yarns I intended to buy tend to look like when knitted up in a variety of patterns by different users in the colors I was considering.  It's actually caused me to reconsider some of my yarn choices but also rethink my current yarn stash in a different light when I see what others have played with.  My only sadness is when I see an amazing end result that just blows all other projects out of the water but the user makes no mention of needle size, yarn, or adjustment notes in their project and you can TELL they worked some sort of knitting voodoo magic outside the norm but you haven't got the foggiest idea of where to begin with.

Aliens and Knitting

Back from road trips and Memorial weekend weddings. I got some knitting done but not a whole lot as I would have thought but that can be made up this weekend.  Syfy Channel has a Alien movie marathon today preempting the upcoming Prometheus so after a fun day shopping at the mall earlier today (something I've been wanting to do for a while) I'm sitting back and relaxing with my lace destashing projects.

The "Good Morning Sunshine Shawlette" is in the boyfriend's car because I didn't want to risk its needles being confiscated when I flew back as he continued on his road trip to visit family for the next couple days.  In the meanwhile. I started "My Heaven" and "Cloud Drift" side by side.  "My Heaven" is definitely a treat to knit and I've finished about 10 of the first 22 or 27 repeats for one side of the edging.  I haven't decided if i want to do the small or the large version but I'll figure that out when I get to 22 if I want to move forwad or sit down and power through another 5 repeats.  Mostly likely I'll bunker down for the large side as its not that many more repeats as I have more than enough Alpaca Cloud in Carob Heather for it.

The second shawl, "Cloud Drift" is going smashingly faster than the "My Heaven" even though there are more stitches to work with per row (143 in "Cloud Drift" center panel vs 23-27 in the edge of "My Heaven") but it's just so mindnumbingly relaxing with "Cloud Drift' that those rows fly by vs the chart problems that arise in "My Heaven."  Let's just say that the writer for "My Heaven" wrote the chart in an odd way where the icons don't change meaning for even and odd rows which causes me a double-take when I see a "/" vs a "\" or even just a simple "o" symbol because I am so used to the symbol meaning changes when moving my eyes along the pattern in the charts reading left to right and right to left.  There is, however, written out directions for the charts which I really should just follow although I will scratch out when they mean to "k1 p1" in one stitch to just scratch out "into yo" because my fast knitting brain immediately things to make a yo everytime and thus making extra stitches without thinking only to get frustrated and either rip back or drop the extra stitch.  Thus..."Cloud Drift" has become my mindless knitting project with its simple rows and relaxing all knit alternate rows.  Pics will eventually follow when I get my camera back.

New Knits for Memorial Weekend!

Yay!  I'm all packed for heading out on a road trip to the boyfriend's friend's wedding!  It's going to be exciting to be sure and most of what I need is all set away along with a few knitting projects to bring with me on the drive to DC and the flight back.  I'd prefer to drive back but alas, work deadlines puts me at a standstill to return.

Still, a vacation is a vacation and I get to knit for a good long while which may mean just enough time to do some heavy knitting.  As a result, I've packed up 3 knitting projects.  My first is the "Good Morning Sunshine" shawlette which is nearly finished.  Just nearly 18 rows left then a bind-off.  My second project is Patusha's "My Heaven" shawl in Alpaca Cloud Carob Heather and Patons Australia's "Cloud Drift" shawl in Shadow Tonal Golden Glow.  Both of which I haven't started but I set aside the yarn for both along with the printed out patterns and appropriate needles to make do. 

I'll admit...when I went to my lys, a cute shop called "Knit 'n' Knibbles," I was planning on a quick in and out mission for a pair of US 2s but it's been a year since my first and only visit to the shop and I was very impressed by my second visit and all the goodies that were available that I made out with a new skein of lace yarn.  This is a win to some regard for managing to avoid buying potentially the roving that they expanded into and the knitting books on sale this week.  Lordy...and the staff were amazingly knowledgeable about the yarns and blocking techniques for the available yarns in regard to open lacework!!  Knitting squee, this makes me so happy.  I'll have to pop by again after I knit down the stash again.  :D

Movies and Knitting

I've been seeing a lot of movies this past week. The boyfriend is signed up for gofobo.com that nets him free preview movie tickets for him and a guest before the movie's release. It's a type of marketing gimmick if they can get spread news of the movie by word of mouth in addition to trailer advertisements and movie posters but due to the nature of the theater and movie studios, they tend to issue out more tickets than viewing seats so it's first come, first serve as to if you get in none the less if you can nab up a good seat or not. As I get out of work an hour before the boyfriend, I'm elected to go to the theater and wait in line for an hour or two depending on how popular the movie is to save us a good spot in line. By the way, I'm the sane movie goer, some folks will be there four or five hours early regardless of the film and camp out with fold-up chairs.

This waiting in line gig actually doesn't bother me in the slightest. I end up using all that delightful free time to whip out my knitting and have made ample progress in my Cria cardigan and given I'm low maintenance, I don't mind sitting curled up on the floor with my knitting in the slightest and the theater keeps everything in the lobby area clean. Some folks will sit and stare or read an e-reader or book....others whip out their cell phones and start laying games. I at least feel a little bit more productive using my time to whip out a few rows that I would otherwise have trouble finishing during my 'free' time between learning guitar REALLY slowly and playing Skyrim.

In other news, today is the one year anniversary with the boyfriend. It meant going out to the Italian restaurant we went to for our first date and watching movies for the rest of the night while I let all that good food digest....slowly.

Here's tonight's movie. Rare Exports, a Christmas story. Well, a horror Christmas movie.

Minzy's First Batch

Remember all that purple yarn I spun up earlier this month? I have been hard at work figuring out what to knit with it and decided on the greyhaven cowl pattern. It's a simple pattern with large, bold repeats that remind me a bit between castle ramparts or layered scales. I finally finished it Sunday night and set it to block but checking this afternoon after work, I realize it's still a it damp so not quite ready to take off the pins. I think the air humidity down in Florida just makes for a longer drying time down here than it did back up in the dryer climates of Wisconsin.

I do recall shawls much larger than this taking sometimes half a night to fully dry back up north with large sweaters taking a full day whilst this much smaller item seems to have taken most of last night and today with still a bit of moisture left in the material. There is the consideration that I should have left this to dry under a windowsill as well to take advantage of the constant sunshine peering in for a quicker blocking but that will be for next time.

I'm really pleased by my first yarn's turnout in project form. The yarn itself close-up is still a little nubby in some areas and it's clearly a thick and thin, tightly spun chunky yarn of a beginner. I've worked spinning on a drop spindle before and was able to get thin and lofty yarns before so it's just taking some adjustment to get a feel for the wheel. The next batch of yarn I'm playing with is a batch of recycled roving from Knitpicks in a gray. It's not done yet but that one I hope to get a more even, fluffy spun yarn.

I'm still very, very happy with my first batch and these pictures were one of the few pictures I could get that held true to the color of the yarn without graying it out in the lighting. The one strange lesson I've learned while spinning is I get a much better consistent yarn when I've got a beer or a bit of wine at my side.

My other lesson I've learned from going through my practice stash of roving odds and ends is if I'm not careful, I can easily spend hours upon hours and spin through all my fluffy roving in a weekend compared to taking weeks on one bit of roving on the drop spindle from start to finish with singles and plys. One may think that a weekend of spinning means I must not have a very large stash of roving, on the contrary, I have quite a bit of roving gifted from friends and family that would have kept me busy for a year or so on drop spindle. While this is an amazing testament to the speed and efficiency of the spinning wheel, this also forces me to have to take time to knit as much if not MORE than what I spin just to keep my yarn stash down to a reasonable amount. We will also ignore the....uh...imprompt discontinued stash of golden yellow merino lace yarn that is coming to me in the mail this week that will be enough to tide me over with a summer lace shawl and hopefully a new cardigan to wear over my sundresses at the office.

A quick sneak peek to the Golden Glow Shadow Tonal Lace I'm looking forward to coming in as well as the cardigan idea I'm playing with. Yes, the nerd in me wants Sookie Stackhouse's yellow cardigan but it is a very adorable cardigan that would look cute to keeping my sundresses perky but professional. I was a little concerned about the multi-tones in the Golden Glow but after looking at the different photos of users on Ravelry who've played with it, knit up it blends together nicely for a very soft effect. I will make note that some ravelry users have posted some very odd, odd photos of the final product with this yarn when its hit by direct sunlight. It just seems that almost every shot of this yarn knit up in direct light actually bounces off light in this funky, weird way that makes it glow an almost jarring yellow. Indoor lighting or cloudy pictures brings out the darker tones of the yarn but it I'd be actually kind of excited if it looks subdued in indoor lighting but glows bright yellow in direct sun.

Minzy's on Fire this Weekend

There's Minzy, all dolled up in tough as nails black paint and ready to rock and roll this weekend. I worked up the purple roving that my knitting friend gave me for Christmas this past year and started spinning it between Friday and today. It was a lot of roving that I didn't think I'd be able to get through for weeks if I did it by drop spindle but Minzy just tore through that roving like a beast, a smooth, well oiled beast. I'm now a 2/3rds through the roving but that 2/3rds is also been spun out in singles, plied, set in a warm and sudsy bath, and set out ready to dry for tomorrow so I got a lot of productivity out of this Ashford Kiwi for my first serious round of spinning.

I have to say this, spinning on a wheel, particularly with this Ashford Kiwi is like a dream. It was a slow start initially with my practice white roving but I got the hang of it enough that I wanted to put some time into my pretty purple stash and see what I could make with it. I'm really pleased with the yarn and it came out pretty even. A few lumpy bits in my singles in the picture below but I'm pretty satisfied and for now I'm not concerned with being absolutely perfect. For now just enjoying the smooth ride with this Kiwi.

I'm really happy with how Minzy turned out from her paint job. There are a few areas where the paint may have dripped or I realized too late that the paint had an uneven surface from the spray primer to stick to and adding layers of paint wasn't going to fix any of that BUT, that glossy black just looks gorgeous on her. I painted both her, the lazy kate, and all my bobbins up in black. I didn't do the niddy noddy in black paint although I may decide to remedy that down the road. I'm heavily debating now that I've worked on this bad boy and my tendencies to want to spin more singles that maaaaybe down the road I'll want a jumbo flyer. Maybe, I dunno. It seems tempting but is darn pricey and maybe I can cut corners by just....controlling my desire to filling my entire bobbin with too much wool.

In either case, after 2/3rds were in singles, I double plied them all up and dunked them in their sudsy bath and stuck them out to hang dry for the evening hoping maybe tomorrow I can start knitting...who knows?? I know that I want to knit maybe like a cowl or a shawlette? I'll have to check on the wool again in the morning before I decide. The color of the wool looks actually darker than it did when it came out of the wash which I'm hoping is the color saturating itself deeper because the roving itself wasn't all uniformly purple. It was mostly purple dyed and then blended in with flecks of dark red and blue together for a heather look so perhaps the color deepened when the two interacted with each other in the bath for a richer, darker purple? The reds and blues didn't all go away because looking at the skeins hanging while wet that they still have some red and blue heather in it so that should make for an interesting contrast. Well, I'll know by morning anyway.

Well, below it my lovely attempt at spinning wool in its three steps. There is the third left in roving, the third left in singles, and the final third all plied up. :D

Primed to Paint!

My weekend project thus far is to get this little spinning wheel in tip-top-shape for spinning in no time. It's my labor of love and I will admit, I've made several trips to Home Depot and gotten the advice of one of the boys in the paint department on this one. I have to admit, it's an utter delight to tell someone I'm spinning wool and not get an odd response from because this guy was utterly non-chalant on about giving me advice which I greatly appreciated.

Everyone down here in Florida that I've told seems to think I'm batty even down to a yoga instructor who up to fifteen minutes before I told her was gloating up and down about how she stood on her head while 8 months pregnant covered in sweat doing Ashtanga yoga in a hot heat room! Oooh....not to be mean but lordy...I'd like to think my hobby is less extreme!

Still, I sanded down the whole shebang and sprayed it with primer between Friday and Saturday morning. Afterwards I spent the rest of the day painting, waiting, and repainting. I used oil-based paint from the Home Depot painter's advice that despite the the length of time in drying and the initial smell of oil-based paint, in the end it is the most durable and long lasting of all the types of paints. All in all I settled on a glossy black. I perhaps should have sanded the prime a bit before the first coat but my eagerness caused me to to skip it so the paint job isn't that slick. Looking at other folk's self-painted wheels online though has reassured me though that it may not be the most perfect but the beauty is in what in spins and after a while all its tiny perfections will go away in my mind as I work with it. After all, if you stop and stare and squint and nitpick, every hand painted wheel has its flaws so I mustn't be harsh on this one before I've even finished painting the final coat none the less started spinning it!

I've decided on a name for my wheel. I'll name it Minzy after the 2NE1's group member. She knits, she dances, and she's the toughest mamma-jammer in the Korean pop/hip-hop world. Also, she is the most adorable gal with the cutest name to impart upon a spinning wheel ever. That's how I want to keep my spinning wheel, tough as nails but still adorably sweet at heart.

There is still the matter if I plan on doing any acrylic stencils or gold painted trimmed edges on it or if I'll put on a clear poly coat over everything just to 100% guarantee that the paint will last forever without need of a touch-up for *just in case* but it may just be an unnecessary step. We shall see and think on it awhile.

Ashford Kiwi

I've done it, I've done it. I've ordered the Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel as my very first spinning wheel. I am a naughty knitter but I've been wanting for quite a long, long time to have a spinning wheel of my own after playing for a while here and there with doing it by hand off a drop spindle and the briefest tantalizing taste of it from trying out one of my aunts' spinning wheels over a year ago.

I do like spinning yarn but the one downer is it takes quite a bit more time than I'd like to despite my speed with either top or bottom whorl drop spindles. There is something nice about being able to spin wherever I'd like to off of a drop spindle but I will admit you do get a few odd looks doing it in public and I'm more comfortable doing it at home anyway so having a stationary spinning tool isn't a problem. Plus, the one big downside is my drop spindle just gets too bogged down eventually because I'll spin and spin then have a full spindle too heavy to get the job done.

I do warn though, up ahead is my very, very lengthy explanation for why I chose the Ashford Kiwi. A lot of research went into this purchase which, given I was going to drop a pretty penny for this purchase, I wanted to be quite sure I had what I wanted in a wheel without having to spend 800 bucks to do it.

So the one I got was the Ashford Kiwi, a delightful spinning wheel with unfinished wood that is reputed for being an excellent spinning wheel for beginners in both design and affordability with double treadle foot pedals. Most spinning wheels range from 500-800 but I opted for this one as it was much more in my price range, much more so in the 300-400 range for this model. There are less expensive wheels than the Kiwi but those generally are made of PVC piping like the Babe wheel in the 150-250 range along with the hand cranked table types of spinning wheels but I generally don't like the lightness of pvc which doesn't feel particularly strong to me and I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of a hand crank when I had my heart set on the foot pedal method.

There were other reasons as well. Aesthetically speaking, the unfinished Kiwi looked pleasing and I liked the idea of saving myself an extra 140 bucks for the unfinished version versus a finished glossy model. With the money I saved, I figured I could sand and either stain or paint the wood myself for under 30 bucks, win for me. This being easier as the whole machine comes disassembled and is relatively easy to put together as well. The shape of the overall device and the broad wheel lends itself to a lot of different designs and colors that can be played with when you do choose to pimp out your wheel but this feature of it is more a bonus and not really a deciding factor in why I chose it. Still, credit must be given to a lot of folks on ravelry who have gone above and beyond to personalize their own Kiwis from something as simple as a rich dark stain with gold stencils, stickers, glossy finishes, and one gal who had hers painted with zombie sheep. It's pretty freaking boss is what it is!? Aesthetics and endless possibilities with painting this wheel wasn't the main feature BUT there is something to be said to enjoy looking at it while you're spinning. There was also the Ladybug wheel mentioned in an article on Knitty that is cute and lightweight but from what people have said about it, it's a bit overpriced for being made of plywood and having a red plastic wheel priced at over 500 bucks. Cuteness is one thing but I didn't want to necessarily sacrifice quality or spend too much money for cuteness and from what other spinners on ravelry's forums had mentioned, it's not much better to spin with than the Ashford Kiwi, just darn cuter.

So aside from just the myriad of customizations you can do, there is straight to the mechanics and options of this beast that compelled me to pick it up over other models. I like the two foot pedals because personally I like being able to start and stop a wheel with my feet and decide if I want to turn left or right depending on my Z or S type twist. It's the one thing I remember from working with my aunt's spinning wheel that I knew I'd want double treadles on a wheel. Likewise, the design of the Kiwi allows for using either your left or right hand to pull depending on your preference which for me...I'm contrary and knowing how I spin with just drop spindles, I change hands depending on my mood. I'm weird that way.

As for size and weight. It's not as light as say a PVC model or tiny as some of the foldable travel spinning wheels on the market but at 11-12 lbs it's comfortably sturdy without being a heavy beast if I wanted to move it somewhere but with enough oomph that it won't tip over or go flying in the wind. The castle aka vertical design means it will also take up less space if I need to tuck it away. I love my hobbies but I just don't want to take up whole rooms with it.

As for drive wheel/ratio, it's a slower wheel with two ratios of 5.5:1 and 8:1 which isn't a problem for me given that the higher ratios that go up to something upwards of 17:1 are meant for efficiently spinning cottons, alpaca, or angora and the like. I mostly want to stick with wool so this isn't an issue and if I later want to go with that, thankfully the Kiwi has high speed adapter kits and jumbo flyers to upgrade your model with what you need when you need it down the road. Again, this was a bonus for me and my budget to pay for what I want now than what I may possibly need and not ever use. Plus, if I do choose years from now that I want a spinning wheel with all the bells and whistles then thankfully the Kiwi doesn't depreciate in value as say the PVC Babe wheel does and judging from ravelry and online ads...used wheels tend to disappear incredibly fast online for about almost the same price used as they sell new give or take 50-100 bucks (factors depending on how well kept it is and the wicked paint job you give it and what goodies you toss in extra) within a week or two.

Speaking with goodies, at this point almost every store online selling new is selling at the same price exact. I ended up going with the Woolery's online store because they had a very good reputation among ravelry spinners and a large number of Ashford Kiwi owners had bought from this store with very positive feedback. It's a ma and pa spinning shop owned by a couple stationed in Kentucky who not only sell yarn, roving, and spinning wheels but also offer spinning classes so I am comforted that if any problems arise in the product or if I have questions their staff is friendly and knowledgeable and their website has a wealth of knowledge to glean from for making your future purchase a wise one indeed.

Phew, that was a lotta info. D:

New Year Knitting!

The X-mas gift-giving holidays is over along with a few work deadlines that required after hours attention throughout November so now this new year I can focus back on de-stashing again. Earlier this month I redecorated my room to look less like a college hodgepodge of mess and more my crafting cave with a visit to Ikea. Took me an hour putting it all together by myself. It has made my room look much more organized and so the next few weeks I'm going to have to look through everything to find all my knitting projects and eventually organize my yarn to make destashing it easier.

See all that pretty new, spacious room? Step 1 in making my bedroom my own crafting cave! Off camera but you can *kinda* see in the mirror reflection are the boxes of unorganized video games, bins of unorganized yarn, and my nightstand covered in stuff....still a work in progress but eventually I would like to see in my dream of dreams either a cute little desk or a nice comfy chair in that corner by the lamp to do my reading and/or knitting. I didn't realize it until now but I MISS having a desk from back in college when almost every dorm room had one. I forgot how useful those were to crafting along with just surfing the web, reading, and writing at was.

I like how all my knitting, gaming, and fiction and reference books all have their own little shelves and my magazines have their own little racks. There are a few of the shelves that are kind of decorative space holders where I stashed make-up, random DVDs, and my dolls but eventually those will be transitioned into just space for my books in storage and possible where I'll add more of those black boxes. Inside the black boxes on the shelf are where I plan on storing ALL my yarn and knitting projects. So far only one of the boxes actually does store yarn, the others are empty and its just a matter of time before I go through all my yarn and organize by weight from lace yarn descending through fingering/dk to worsted and eventually bulky.

It's odd thinking that I put so much effort into organizing a crafting cave...but now that I'm a working adult and Ikea makes it so ridiculously easy and affordable in my budget...frick, it makes me happy to actually have a room that reflects me and not bare bones functionality (aka originally my warped plastic moving bins and wire rack book shelves). Debating drilling hanging hooks into the side of the shelf so I can hang my ukuleles too so they can have their own personalized zone. Still some time and I definitely want to give this project a lot of time over the year to pick out the RIGHT pieces to put together my craft cave and not just throw together everything all at once. :)

(...the only downside is if I move anytime within the year is moving all this stuff up and down stairs....hmmm, whoopsies...)