serasonho

Tilly Bagshawe, wtf bbq???

2008-06-12T14:12:00.004-06:00

I'm not finishing a book. I started it, read about half, and decided to give it back to the library.

This has nothing to do with late fees. I have no fear of late fees. I should actually have a chair with my name on it in my favourite branch because of all the fees I've paid in my life.

However. I very rarely stop in the middle of a book. Once, when I was very young, I watched a kid's show about a boy who never finished the books he was reading until they all came after him in the night. Since I am all about avoiding things that come after you in the night, I am all about finishing books. Plus, I hate not knowing.

The book is Showdown by Tilly Bagshawe, an author I thought I liked*. The book begins in the UK, and features rich people. The heroine is a young rich girl** whose daddy breeds horses for racing but is not allowed to ride herself, even though she is the bestest horse-rider ever. She meets Booby who is a real-life cowboy who inherits a ranch in Texas. The bad news is he's poor, and so is his ranch. He needs to live up to his dead father for some reason, and he chooses to do it by getting into a partnership with an ultra-skeezy land developer who wants make a ton of money off Booby, mainly by ripping off Booby's oil and whatever else he can get his hands on. Booby (it works better) wants to save the family ranch by breeding quarterhorses for racing. His dad (a terminal moron) was all about the cowboy way, which apparently, in T. Bagshawe's world, means no oil. Drilling for oil desecrates the land or something.

My suspension of disbelief faltered, failed and would not be revived. First of all, Texas = oil. And cowboy ranchers? cowboy ranchers = paying your damn bills and not losing the ranch because you've got no money because you are stupid.

Now, I don't know any ranchers but I do know quite a few farmers. I don't even have to call them up to ask what they think of this guy.

TOTALLY FAKE INTERVIEW

Me: So, the bank is going to foreclose on your farm and you're going to lose everything. The reason they're foreclosing is because you are poor, behind on the mortage, and they are pretty certain there's oil on your property. What would you do? Remember, this is the West, and in the West, your code of honour is apparently more important than having a place to live.

Farmer: Wtf? I'm not broke, I have oil. Lease the mineral rights for loads of cash, throw a party, buy a boat and go on vacation. In that order, and finishing in Hawaii doing some deep sea fishing.***

END MADE UP YET TRUE INTERVIEW

So, there you have it. My complete lack of belief in the stupid reasoning behind the conflict = putting it down and not picking it back up. Well, and the fact that most people in this book were head-splittingly annoying, crazy or just plain stupid.

Life is too short for this.

*and now I realize that I actually really liked Louise Bagshawe's books, not Tilly's. Boo british writers who have the same distinctive last name! Boo!

**I forget her name, but she had long blonde hair, and was kinda annoying and seventeen for a really long time in the book.

***Actually, this part is true. Including the deep sea fishing part.

So So Very Bad

2008-05-06T20:32:00.004-06:00

I've just finished reading a very poorly written book.

At first I thought it was this book, The Key to Conspiracy by Thalia Gryphon. Which was recently reviewed at Dear Author. Except that I read number one in the series, The Key to Conflict.

I have several issues with this book.

1. The characters

2. The dialouge

3. The writing

It is a comprehensive list. Be warned. There are spoilers ahead, although why you'd care after reading this review, I'd never know.

The characters were generally annoying. After about halfway through the book, I really got tired of the parade of SUPER HOTT! OMG SEXXXY para-whatevers! Apparently in this world, there are no normal-looking people.

The main character, Gillian (or Gill, the author uses a nickname to break up the flow of Gillian does... sentences instead of rewriting) is TSTL. This is not a label I throw out lightly, but I feel it is warranted. We are endlessly told how smart, tough and skilled this woman is. We are never really shown anything. She whines, she gets drunk in dangerous territory, and she is really confused about issues a real psychologist should understand. Like the definition of rape.

She is repeatedly assaulted without her knowledge (she was dreaming) and did not consent to having sex with her attacker or consent to him coming and making her have dreamsex with him. She does not know who is in her dreams or what is going on. This is rape. Saying otherwise is terrifying. If you are so drunk you cannot say yes or no, it's rape. If you don't know what's going on, it's rape. Does the fact that she had orgasms negate her lack of consent? Apparently Gillian thinks so, which makes me wonder how she managed her PhD, her internships, and well, her life so far.

For a psychologist, she is very lacking in self-awareness.

"I did not survive battlefield conditions in Serbia...blah blah blah I'm not delicate or stupid!" I know someone who did, and they wouldn't be caught dead saying something like that. Also, they wouldn't be caught dead being as TSTL as she is over and over again. Because they survived Serbia and where ever else she said she'd been. I'm not going to re-check that quote, but "survive battlefield conditions"? Who says that?

The dialogue forgot it was supposed to sound like people talking. There was a consistent lack of contractions. People don't really speak the way they write. Perhaps vampire=super formal diction, but with all of the other issues, I'm doubtful.

Technically, this book was in need of a rewrite. The repetition, the mixed constructions and complete lack of showing the action (remember that old rule? show, don't tell) made me feel like someone was telling me about this story that could have been really interesting. Except that I needed to stop listening to the teller, and just read the book myself before the end gets blabbed.

This book is filled with wasted detail. So much time is spent on unnecessary information. We are told who characters are after we have met them several times, we are told boring and unnecessary information on the different types of the magically-inclined, we are even told who JRR Tolkien is, and that he wrote the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.

Surprisingly enough, the sex scenes we the best written in the book. Even though I have no desire to read more about the exact dimensions of Gill's canal (and am so unbelievably sick of the phrase "ridged canal") Gryphon uses imagery, description and setting to show the reader the action, instead of telling us what is happening.

This book was one big info-dump.

This book had a lot going for it. I really liked the idea of psychologist to the undead. How many times have you read an urban fantasy and gone "Hey, that dude is totally messed up, therapy is totally necessary." I thought the flame thrower was cool.

I only wish that Gryphon had a more aggressive editor. Apparently LKH's Darla was a line editor (?proofreader?). I would suggest a professional editor who is willing to suggest more substantive and aggressive changes. There is a good book in there, waiting to get out. It just needs a lot of help. If that doesn't work, Gryphon may want to switch to writing erotica. Writing sex seems to be her stronger suit.

Connie Willis

2008-04-14T01:02:00.003-06:00

As a review goes, this should be somewhat short.

I love Connie Willis. She's wonderful, go read her stuff.

Why do I love her?

I've only read two of her novels, To Say Nothing Of The Dog and The Bellwether. They both were wonderful.

TSNOTD is a time-travel story about a young man and the boss from hell. It is a mystery and a who-done-it as well as a what-the-hell-happened?

The Bellwether is also a mystery of a sort.

They are both laugh out loud funny. The characters are amazing and real and the stories aren't flashy, but they will be amazing.

I read both of those books a while ago, which is why there's a distinct lack of detail, but you should still read them. These books are smart and also entertaining. I still giggle when certain scenes from these novels drift through my consciousness.

Go. Read.

testing...

2008-03-25T16:19:00.000-06:00

Funner than I thought

2008-03-25T16:03:00.001-06:00

http://www.bitstrips.com/read.php?comic_id=18097&feed=a_x

yup. now I've just gotta figure out how to post this directly.

well, here's something

2008-03-25T15:34:00.001-06:00

update: I'm imbedding it now that I know how.

Returning....

2007-09-04T12:26:00.001-06:00

I'm back. and with a purpose.

I've joined Samurai Knitter's Strikke-along.

I feel myself very qualified, and in several ways.

How I am qualified to Strikke-along:

I do think that Viggo Mortenson is extremely hot.
I will be knitting things to get me ready for winter. As a Canadian living in Edmonton, winter lasts a long long time. Wardrobes become necessary.
A proper winter wardrobe consists of several hats with matching mittens and scarves. These items should be also of varying degrees of warmth, so that you are covered from October to March.
I worked for Ikea. And I definitely shop there too.
There will be colourwork. Definitely two colors, maybe three. It depends on how I feel. There will be stars and lice and crosses and flowers, all looking properly Nordic.
I will (sometimes) be knitting on alpaca that I got from a Norwegian friend of mine. But it will be a lacy scarf, so I'm not sure how much this applies.
I think Norway looks pretty. I've never been there, but I've seen pictures.

No Motivation, So Much Work

2007-03-21T07:55:00.000-06:00

That just sums up where I am right now. I have a ton of things to do, both interesting and completley horrible, yet I really don't want to do any of it.

Spring has sprung, and being inside, in the big old building of work is not really as appealing as it could be.

I'm finally getting over Daylight Saving Time Anger because the sun is now rising when I'm leaving for work. To have the sun being up when I'm going to work in the morning and then to have it go away was... crushing. Now that it's back, going to work in the morning is not quite so horrible as it once was.

I am not a morning person, and to be up when the freaking sun isn't even up yet makes me cranky.

In other, better news, I can knit again.

Yay! I've dropped my project, my pink mitten things, and had to rearrange things a bit. I'm not too crushed becasue stockinette is now evil, and the colors were seriously beginning to pool. I will probably have to do a big old chunk of ripping anyway now, and put in some sort of change so that the pooling gets fixed and I don't have to spend the rest of my life knitting the exact same stitch over and over and over again. Which makes it that much harder to not get sore wrists.

My new Plan

1) Knit in seed stitch, avoid the stockinette. Long strings of the same stitch = hurting non-fun.
2) TAKE BREAKS. Do serpent arms and serpent fingers to loosen up.
3) Use laceweight yarn and 2.75 mm needles. all in all my current project weighs 50 grams. This includes the ball of yarn, needles and knitted fabric.
4) If things super hurt, take a break and try some tiger balm. It stinks, but it really does make things feel better.

This is good because lace is good for spring, super cheap per project, very travel-friendly (as long as your pattern is not too complex) and did I mention cheap? And tends to be very very impressive to the non-knitter's gaze.

I am around...

2007-03-12T17:47:00.000-06:00

So, work has been really busy lately, and on top of that I have bad news.

My forearms hurt. In an achy bad sort of way. I'm pretty scared that I'll have tendonitis or carpal tunnle and that will mean no more knitting.

I'm taking a week off of knitting, and trying (ha! ha! ha!) to take it easy with the typing at work. I keep thinking about lace, and how it is really light and filled with different things and moves, so maybe it is just the stockinette that is bad for me. Bad repetitive stockinette.

Maybe I can crochet? I like crochet. Maybe that will work, and I can do loads of superfun crochet.

In better news, Charming and I are planning our honeymoon in Hawaii. It is shaping up to be freaking great.

Working, still working

2007-02-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'm drinking chamomile tea because I'm too close to a migraine to even think about caffeine and chocolate, but I am.

Oooh, I am.

Monday Monday....

2007-02-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

It's Monday. I'm at work. I slept most of this weekend, which was nice, because I had a migraine Thursday and Friday evening.

I did get some things done this weekend though.

I did most of the laundry.

I finished knitting my hat, and discovered that I need to rip it and add more depth to it. However, one of the people I work with, Sarah, decided that she needs a hat and loves my yarn, so I'll whack this little hat into a pattern for her and then she can make it.

I snapped one of my 2mm dpn needles (actually, that was this morning. arrgh. stupid bamboo.)

I did some reading, and found some good books.

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

I've loved Vernor Vinge for a long time. He writes excellent excellent science fiction. It is intelligent, and has very real seeming science stuff in it Which is logical, since he was university science professor.

His characters also seem real. I've read a collection of his short stories, A Deepness in the Sky, and A Fire upon the Deep. The two novels are written in the extreme future, (more than 1000 years from present) and definitely involve some interesting changes from the present. They both get a super-recommendation from myself, if you like science fiction that involves some science. Or if you like science fiction itself.

This latest book reminds me quite a bit of Neal Stephenson, who tends to deal with the immediate future and the effects of modern technology on society. However, this book has some things that Stephenson tends to lack completely, and those are realistic and dynamic characters. I ended up caring about the characters, and felt that instead of the characters merely being flat illustrations to explain differences from the present known world, the characters were dynamic creations in their own right.

With the character of Robert Gu, a world-renowned poet and university professor, Vinge takes a very unsympathetic character and shows how his personality has and hasn't changed as a result of technology and through the events in the story. Gu is and has been verbally abusive and toxic to a nuclear level. He is cured by the wonders of medical technology from old age and severe Alzheimer's which leaves him stuck in a world where technologically, he is decades behind, and in great danger of never being able to catch up and find relevance in a society where the aged must struggle to keep up to their children and grandchildren or become obsolete and wither away.

Gu changes, and is forced for the first time to actually have to work at reschooling himself while he is in a vocational track in the local high school, along with other people in similar state to himself (that is, seniors who have been made physically and mentally mobile to differing degrees) and the rest of the second tier students.

There's also bits about access to information, and how that is changing, and what does that mean? Should we hold onto old methods of storing information? Should these things be made? What use is a library when all the data can be put onto a single disc?

It's an interesting book, and I think everyone should pick it up, if you like science-y fiction. It's good stuff.

2nd Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Silent Poetry Reading

2007-02-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

After discovering while at work (with all my poetry books at home) that today is the Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Silent Poetry Reading Day, I find myself looking for an appropriate poem to post in order to join along with others.

City

if one is not looking closely enough,
one might think that the snow had leapt from its tidy boundaries
and spread itself over the sidewalk again

but it is only salt, left behind.

one day,
will the grass not change back to green?

Not much interesting today

2007-01-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well...

I'm working. At work. Today was ok.

I had one person quit on Friday, and another person tell me that they needed a week off. Starting the 30th.

Arrgh. The schedule was done.

WAS done.

Aftermaths

2007-01-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

1) Felting.

Did not happen. I started to do it by hand, and after approximately 15 seconds with no noticeable change, I gave up.

I will be throwing it into the washer tonight, with the rest of the laundry that I didn't do over the weekend.

2) More knitting.

I stopped using the Bernat Harmony because either I got a bad ball, or they changed how it was made last year sometime. I found the receipt, and am going back to Zellers to return it due to extreme suckiness.

I'm still using stash yarn to knit my shawl though, but now I'm using some Lion Brand Homespun (light blue/white blendy colour) that I couldn't return. It was going to be an afghan crocheted for Charming, but then I realized something. Charming doesn't wear sweaters. Charming would happily wear shorts until the snow fell. Charming used to have two sheets on his bed. One white and one blue. The blue one was his "blanket".

So - Charming has no use for a cozy warm blanket. He'd just get uncomfortably hot.

I've ripped my mitten again, and am redoing the decreases. I think I've got it the way I like it, but who knows. One day I'll finish this project and move on to mitten number two. And then matching hat number one.

3) Haircut.

Is effing fantastic. I still have longish hair, and it's all jagged at the ends and the back, and I have these superfun asymmetrical longish bangs that kindof hang in my face in a very sexy way.

Oh yes, I have sexy fun hair. I also have much easier to blowdry hair, because putting in layers meant taking out a lot of weight. There was a huge pile of hair on the floor after the razoring was done.

I do like my hair. Oh so much.

I LOVE FRIDAY!!!!

2007-01-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Friday is the best.

It is the quietest day of the week. There are no students (I work in a school). There are no professors. There is hardly any staff. The accountant doesn't come in. The staff that are here are usually in meetings all day.

And tomorrow is Saturday.

Saturday is usually a stay home and sleep and laundry and snooze and knit or whatever day.

Tomorrow will be slightly different, because I am getting a haircut, and possibly some color as well.

Wheeee! I'm ready for a change. I'm so bored with my hair right now. It seems like every time I grow my hair out, there is this stage where it becomes every long haircut I've ever gotten.

Well every long haircut except for when I was really little and my mum cut the never ending bangs of ginormousness. You know the ones I mean. We all got them.

The person doing this magic cut is a friend of Charming's and mine. In a previous life, he used to own a salon and now he does other things.

Words Used to Discuss Haircut
razoring
layers
more layers
lots of razor
beige dye
long bangs

In other news, I'm almost done my first item to be felted. I've done the knitting, I just need to do the sewing together. I couldn't quite stay awake long enough to finish that part. I've been desparately wishing to try felting. I keep seeing felt everywhere and it taunts me.

I used the last of the wool scarf yarn from the Christmas scarves. It's all Lamb's Pride Bulky. Which is nice, but sheds when I knit it. And makes me wheeze a little bit.

But anyway, now I've done it. Almost. There WILL be pictures.

Well, maybe. I have no idea how it will turn out. AT ALL. I cast on for that project when I had a migraine. I worked on that project while I was still recovering from the migraine. I finished the project as I was coming off the last effects of the migraine and realized I never did a swatch. At all. I've also never felted before. Ever.

This should be interesting. I'm going to try and sew it together tonight and felt it too. There is only a little bit of sewing up to do before the big washie washie.

I seem to be taking a bit of a break from the mittens. I think it's because I have to rip them again. I don't like the decreases that I've done and so now I must redo them. Again. And then do the thumb.

I've started another new project as well. I've discovered that knitting anything that even remotely requires thought does not work on the subway or at work. So - I'm knitting a shawl. And it is out of my stash. I have two balls of Bernat Harmony in black that I bought that was going to be a Christmas scarf, and when the yarn is done, the scarf is done.

Unless it looks stupid or too short, and then we'll see.

So far, the shawl pattern is just cast on three, knit first row. Next row - knit one, yarn over, knit until you have just one stitch on source needle, yarnover, knit last stitch. Repeat until you almost run out of yarn, then cast off loosely.

I'm being good. Stash-knitting and all.

Except I'm going to have to switch needles. I'm currently using my one bamboo circular by Clover, and the acrylic sticks too much. I'm going to have to use my knitpicks circ in the same size.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

2007-01-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I've got all that I need from Pitney Bowes, but I did get some of it. And found out that the phone lines were indeed down, and that the PB people couldn't actually call out. Sucks to be them.

I didn't realize until the next day but I picked the day of Canada Post's big rate change to call to order printing supplies.

Am I not as smart as I could hope?

Oh yes. Not the smartest bunny in the clover patch right now. Smart bunnies call stupid companies when it is not Crazy Busy Day.

Whatever. It's Pitney Bowes.

On hold....

2007-01-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for Pitney Bowes to pick up their phone.

I've been on hold for over 45 minutes. After being repeatedly disconnected from one of their numbers many times, and discovering that their previous ordering phone number is no longer in service or something.

I hate pitney bowes. If you are a company thinking to use them - do not. Save yourself the aggrivation. Find another company.

On a happier note. I want to share a few links. Because I can do that while I'm holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder.

New Favourite Links (or one day I will update my links, but not today)

1) Samurai Knitter - She's fun, she knits and she has a cute baby. I'm not so obsessed with the cute baby thing, but it is nice to hear someone talk about parent-life in a way that seems kindof realistic. You know her baby is cute, but that she also will have bad days. I knew I would like her blog when I read her discription of her arm pain, and when I read the phrase "demented weasels" I knew that this would be a blog I would enjoy.

2) Yarn Harlot - Also funny, and it's nice to know that someone who knits as wonderfully as she does also makes mistakes. It leaves me hopeful. The only downside - she doesn't like crochet. However, she did leave comments on my blog. Yay! I'm cool. Almost.

Back at Home...

2007-01-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

To my great surprise, Toronto has started to feel like home. Coming back to our apartment definitely felt like home. It was a nice surprise.

Going back to work?

Arrgh, but not as badly arrgh as I was expecting. I think that I'm almost caught up and almost done with the beginning of year stuff.

Now?

I fell asleep just before nine last night, and woke up at 10 am feeling pretty chipper. Which is odd, because today I have a very long list of things to do.

1) do laundry
2) clean the living room
3) clean the bathroom
4) maybe finish unpacking the last suitcase
5) sort clothes, giving away all the clothes that don't fit and I don't wear so that I can put all my new clothes (NEW CLOTHES!!!!!! YAY!!!! NEW CLOTHES!!!!) in the closet nicely.
5) play with my new knitting needles

The most interesting is, of course, playing with my new knitting needles. While I was home, I got new yarn. Some of it is for me, some of it is presents. However, I get more new mittens, and a new hat. To knit those things, I needed new needles. So - I am now the proud owner of a set of Clover 2.00 mm dpns, and a set of Clover 5.0 mm dpns. This should be fun, and definitely be an incentive to learn how to download pictures onto the internet from our camera.

I'm going to go and finish the last episode of season two of Buffy now and play with my 2.00 mms. Then I'll start cleaning. Yup. Then I'll start cleaning.

Still Packing....

2006-12-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Always a fun read.

Go enjoy. I'll be home this time tomorrow. Or at the very least, I'll be on the plane.

Crowded

2006-12-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

I think I've come to grips with the fact that Toronto is not home, will not be home, and probably never will be.

I don't hate it here, but I don't love it either. It seems to be pretty ok most of the time. I've gotten familiar with some parts of Toronto, and can make my way myself through several places without even a map. Some sights are becoming immediately recognizable.

The shopping is fun, especially for yarn, but the air smells like vehicles all the time. Public bathrooms are usually disgusting. There's so much stuff here. So many people, so many stores, so much random crap everywhere. Stores vomiting up random merchandise onto the street. There isn't too much of that at home, it just doesn't happen. Sometimes something will happen, or someone will say something, and

It's hard to feel like you can catch a breath here sometimes.

It feels a little like I'm on an extended vacation from my real life and when I go home, my life will start up again, except that right now, I am working, so that's not very vacation-y.

I'm going home soon.

Weeeeee!

Easy Peasy Free Lace Pattern

2006-12-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, here is my lace pattern. It is fun, and pretty easy. I think it is a great starting lace pattern because there is a good balance of knitting and lace knitting. It will keep you from being bored, but won't drive you to drink. I borrowed heavily from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting Stitch pattern "Feather and Fan".

If by 'borrowed heavily' you mean pretty much 'cut and pasted'.

The dimensions of this scarf are still pretty nebulous, since I haven't blocked mine yet, however, it is currently about the width of my hand, and goes from just below my belt, around my neck, and back down to just below my belt. So it is long enough to not look funny for a decorative scarf. However, be warned that it isn't really wide enough to be a proper "it's minus 40 out right now and I need something to keep from losing my face to frostbite" scarf.

You will need:

Circular needles (or not, again, this is your choice) at least a size 11 or bigger if you've got them. I used 11 because that was the biggest I had. I would have used a bit bigger if I could, like a 15.

1 skein of bulky weight wool yarn. Or not. It's not like there is a gauge or anything. Pick something you think is pretty and you keep touching. Use a needle size a bit larger than what your yarn calls for. Remember, the bigger the needle, the bigger the holes. However, also remember that there is an inverse relationship between size of holes and warmth of scarf. I used Lamb's Pride Bulky in White Frost. The mohair is really pretty with the lacyness.

A row counter, but only if you really like using them. Unless you like to live on the edge, like I generally do. Although it is more of a "losing small articles is very common" rather than a "has problems with authority figures" sort of living on the edge.

Notes: You can do a gauge swatch, if you like doing that kind of thing. They're also good for getting used to a new yarn, but again, a scarf is a long rectangle, and there isn't any fitting or not fitting, there is only not long enough.

Now:

Cast on 12 VERY LOOSELY. I did a long-tail cast on, because it is the only one I know, and the others don't really make too much sense from only pictures. However, it did work, and it is very pretty.

To Begin:

R1: Knit all
R2: K2tog, K2tog, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, K2tog, K2tog (This row is the lace row. It doesn't change. The sooner you memorize, the happier you will be)
R3: Knit
R4: k2tog, k2tog, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, k2tog, k2tog
R5: Knit

The Body:
Do this part until you have about 6 rows worth of yarn left, or you start going buggy. Remember though, that it should be long enough to wrap at least once around the neck, and the ends should hang at about the belt of the person it is going to belong to. Another good thing is to remember the approximate size of that person. Kids = short. Adults = long. Big tall adults = even longer.

R6: K2tog, K2tog, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, K2tog, K2tog
R7: knit
R8: knit
R9: knit
R10: knit

To Finish:

R11: K2tog, K2tog, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, YO K1, K2tog, K2tog
R12: Knit
R13: K2tog, k2tog, YO k1, YO, k1, YO k1, YO K1, k2tog, k2tog
R14: knit
R15: Cast off LOOSELY

Helpful Hints:

Read the whole pattern. No really, it might help.

When you are knitting the lace row, think of it this way: "knit 2 together, knit 2 together, yarnover and knit one (think of it as one step, and errors will be easier to fix and find) until there are only four stitches left on your source needle, then knit 2 together, knit 2 together"

If you are doing the full 4 rows of garterstitch between each lace row, there will be two bumps one each side of your knitting between each lace row. If you are doing the 2 row alteration, you will only have one bump on each side of your knitting. This will be invaluable knowledge if you are prone to losing row counters or just don't feel like using one at all. Picking up your knitting in the middle of a repeat has just lost its terror.

Alterations:

1) Leave out R9 & R10 for a more lacy lace. However, make sure that your lace repeat has an even number of rows of knitting between each lace row, because otherwise your lace will become off center and look really odd. Not that I know this for a fact. Oh no, not me at all.

2) Change the second k2tog to a ssk, or your favourite left slanting decrease. Not that I know any left slanting decreases yet, but someday. Someday that knowledge will be mine. When I get off my butt and go look it up.

3) Make the scarf three times as wide by repeating the pattern three times. However, you will then need approximately three times the yarn. Just so you know. But this could be really interesting in a "I totally am just thinking of this right now and have never actually tried this" kind of way. You could make the lace row:

k2tog 6x, YO K1 12x, k2tog 6x*

or

(k2tog 2x, YO K1 4x, k2tog 2x)3x*

Either way, I totally haven't tried it out and have no idea how it would work in reality.

*2x means two times, 6x means six times, ()3x means do everything inside the parentheses three times. Just so you know.

And now for something completely different...

2006-12-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

After a barely useful day of Christmas shopping, I discovered this.

One of my favourite comics has an issue online. I definitely recommend it, for anyone who likes superheroes, or even just grand stories.

Go enjoy.

News News News

2006-12-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Work News
Work is slowing down. And by slowing down, I actually mean that I think I might be a little less stressed.

Today there aren't any bosses in the office. YAY!

Today is the work Christmas party. Everyone gets to donate money for World Vision goats, and then bring a White Elephant present instead of buying presents for people.

In theory it works a little bit better than in actuality, as not everyone who works here and is coming to the Christmas party has a house. A House Full of Stuff.

While Charming and I do have an apartment, we were actually pretty good about what we packed and brought so we are high on the essentials, but low on random stuff we never use.

Knitting News
The first three scarves are done.

The stockinette faux-clapotis for A is done, and wickedly curly. I'm not sure how well it will work, because it is made of acrylic, and I don't think you can block acrylic. However, it turned out to be this really long decorative scarf, so it should be ok.

The racing stripes for S is done, and looks not bad. Still a little curly, despite its border, but nowehere near as bad as A's scarf, and the colors are very nice. The stripes are not lying flat because I was knitting tightly as usual, and it wasn't until I relaxed about half way through the scarf and realized that drinking wine + knitting means that two-color knitting can lay flat. So then I had to tighten it up to finish it. Because then it means that it looks like you meant it to do that. Which I did once I saw how it turned out. It looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

The lacy scarf for G is done, and was ridiculously easy and fast. The final pattern turned out to be a variation of feather and fan. The variation was that it was one repeat, in a garterstitch, not stockinette. Because I was so sick of curly scarves. SO SICK. I should post this pattern for anyone who might want to try lace, but thinks it is scary. The scarf is really pretty too. I think I might have to make one like it for myself, but maybe in a bright red or something fun. The yarn is a bit scratchier than the others, because that yarn was originally planned to be something for me, and I couldn't make up my mind, and I ended up ripping it a bunch. It will definitely get washed in conditioner. I still can't really believe that it was so much fun seeing the lace row come out after you knitted it. It's not exactly like the row ever changed, but damn, it was so fun seeing the holes show themselves.

The cabled scarf is coming along nicely, and I've discovered that CABLING IS FUN!!! and also easy. It does need a rowcounter though, but I've developed a rhythm, so its getting a little better. Fortunately, I'm using a very dark yarn, so any artistic licsences are not as noticeable as they could be. Cabling is also very good for when you are stressed. I think it's the twisty-ness that makes it so satisfying. I now really want the Cables Untangled book. I was in a bookstore last night and flipped through it, and it looks pretty good, plus she has a TON of cable patterns in the back.

I will admit a very strong weakness for stitch patterns. Not so much for patterns themselves, but definitely for stitch patterns.

All my scarves are knitted in Lamb's Pride Bulky, except for A's acrylic which is Patons Chunky Softee (in Carnival).

Christmas Knitting

2006-11-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've started my planning for Christmas Knitting.

I'm not sure if I will:

a) crash and burn or
b) totally kick ass with the knitted gifts and win everyone's admiration and acclaim.

It involves a lot of scarves. I'm actually happy about this because a scarf is a good way to try to try something new without a lot of investment. Like cables. Or lace. Or two colour knitting.

My List of Scarves to Make... so far

1. A's scarf - it is a stockinette with a k2tog yo border. It is the scrolling curler of epic proportions. I started it last monday.
2. S's scarf - something with a racing stripe in manly yarn.
3. Polar Bear's scarf - cables? in a dark blue
4. Grizzly Bear's scarf - more cables? something? who knows?
5. G's scarf - white garterstitch lace of some sort

Rank Heresy

2006-11-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

I'm at work.

It's very quiet right now, and while I do have a big bunch of stuff to do, I really don't want to do any of it. I want to have a nap. This is not at all surprising. What is surprising is...

I wore a skirt today, and have mostly bare legs. I'm wearing my leather boots, but still, that doesn't equal pants. I have the window open right now. It feels so wrong to be wearing skirts in November. It feels like heresy most rank.

I'm wearing a skirt, and I didn't freeze on my trip to work this morning.

Another surprising thing, I was in the best mood walking to work and for the first few hours. I was all chipper and cheerful watching the extremely fat squirrels running around Philosopher's Walk as I was coming to work.

Now... I feel like all I want is a nap. Or maybe some nice mindless knitting.

ps. I started a new scarf after I cast off my italian babyblanket. It is pretty fun. Its just stockingette with a knit2tog, yarnover border. The interesting part is that I'm probably using needles about 2 full sizes too small, and it's making the fabric really dense, and causing this odd rolling. It looks like a partially rolled scroll. I'm using Bernat Chunkee Bulky (?) in Carnivale.