Charloween

Made from mystery eBay cotton and this pattern: Omelet shawl.

Still working the edging, might have it done this weekend if I get some TV knitting time.

That pic doesn't give a good sense of scale, so I called my flatmate over (just as the camera battery died). I said I needed to borrow her arm for a moment. She wants everyone to know she has smallish hands.



It's the same pattern as this, only with heavier yarn, bigger needles and a bit less swearing involved in the crafting. (though I did get called out for muttering at the edging while at the pub on Tuesday.)

I started knitting this shawl just before Easter, as airplane knitting for my trip to Texas.

Earlier this week I finally finished casting off. The hard part was done, it just left... blocking. Duh duh duuun.

Blocking is how you take something that looks like this:


Or, more charitably, like this:


And turn it into this:


So yes, blocking makes a big difference for lace. It's like ironing out wrinkles in a crumpled-up handkerchief and discovering you've got a blanket. The gauge for this project was a little off, which means I've got even more stretch in blocking than I'd expected.

( Warning, artistic close-ups )

After I got home from work, after about eight hours' drying time, the shawl was ready to be unpinned. And draped around a convenient arty wire mannequin dress-form thing, of course. (Lacy superhero cape!)


I will never use such fine yarn again. I appreciate the effect, but it was tedious and difficult to keep consistent tension with something so fussy.

I'm at the start of making a bigger, heavier version (aran weight, 5.5mm needles; this was 2-ply yarn on 3.75mm) to use as a throw. I've changed the way I knit (an even faster continental style that I was shown a few months ago) and that might help with some of the tension issues.

As always, the ol' bank account is the big limiter. I mean, I want to go. ( warning: boring )

In the interests of being less boring: pictures from my cell phone!


( a signpost in an Icelandic bus stop )

( a dune on the Aberdeen sea shore )

( an Ontario Heritage sign in the middle of Warwickshire )

( a cat who would like me to stop taking her picture )

( a street in Warwick )

( a bit of Warwick castle )

( taken from the train as we passed through )

( Southampton )

( a view from the medieval city wall in Southampton )

( more of the same )

( the Southampton Maritime Museum )

( my latest half-knit Dalek )

( the lace scarf I'm working on )

...the Gryffindorish one belongs to serrico. Brent (the green one) will be sad when the red-and-yellow one goes to live in his new home.

ETA: in previous posts about this project, I'd given credit to the pattern's designer. penwiper337 figured it out, I just built it. All credit where credit is due.

Happy Feast Day of St. Anthony the Hermit! In honour of this saint, I'll be staying in tonight, probably watch a little TV (that last Heroes ep again, most likely) and curl up with a mug of tea and a good book. I've spent the last solid week around people (people I love dearly, don't get me wrong) but I need to hide in a corner for a while. I'm also blowing off going to the gym. BWAHA look at how powerful I am, all full of power.

Speaking of, I'd forgotten that there's a Profit episode called "Hero". "Hero"... Heroes... zomg! I bet Nathan Petrelli lives in a box. Now all I need is Near Dark on DVD and I can take over the world.

Last night and then again this afternoon I met up with Ian (the_blog_frog) and Zanne while they made a quick stop in Toronto on their way to Places Elsewhere. It was good. The dope (aka "Ian") only mistook me for xtinethepirate the once, and it was only a quick trick of peripheral vision that did it. Still, it was funny. He had to confess he's made the mistake, which left him ripe for mockage. I am she as you are she as you are me and we are all together. I gave Ian+Zanne the baby-sized Jayne hat and it was a hit. Zanne still hasn't seen Firefly. *shakes head*

This afternoon we hit the Italian Arts and Design show at the ROM, and it was good. Highly recommended. I'd like to go back just to write down some of the artists' names. There was some really great work done in oils, and another few drawings that blew my mind. Ian's mother and I had fun checking the keyboards on all the different typewriters in the exibit. Only two of the six I can remember had the standard QWERTY layout. They were all variations on that layout, but no two of the others were alike. They were almost all bright red, too... scary.

I've had no news on Dad, so I'm going to believe that no news is good news. He's still in hospital and probably will be until the New Year. Beyond that, we don't know.

As a distraction, I went shopping! Boxing Day was good to me. I bought some shiny new toys (like a functional desk! which means the old one is now the TV stand and the "TV stand" is back to being a coffee table as it was meant to be) and might play a little DDR before settling in to finish that City of Masks book that aoshi lent to me. It's very good. I highly recommend it. And I want the sequels, NOW! *rrrraaaarrrr*

The con happened, and we survived. It was bloody cold because the a/c thought that we needed frostbite and cold noses INDOORS and in SEPTMEBER in TORONTO. ( But other than that, it was a fun, fun show. )

1. serrico came to visit the Hobbit Hole this weekend. Even though my body and soul were owned by The Bank for much of the weekend, I was able to partake of some of the antics. I doubt I'll ever recover from Once A Thief, and I need to see more. NOW.

2. "Elevator Love Letter" by Stars is such a great song.

3. Knitting update: 3 Ravenclaw, 1 G-dor & 1 Huffle completed. Slytherin will have to wait until the yarn comes from Herrschner's. I should probably warn The Landlord to expect a huge ball of yarn in the mail...

4. I still haven't figured out my schedule will be for next year. I'll get a better idea once I see if I get any transfer credit from my college diploma. *anticipates*