Ninjas in Kilts?

I went to the Renaissance Festival the other day with Mary and her niece and nephew, two kids who are almost as cute as my own niece and nephews (what can I say? I'm slightly biased) and made the Ren Fest quite amusing. It was the Kilt-ic weekend but strangely enough, I didn't see a whole lot in the way of kilts. What I did see? Ninjas. Ninjas wearing Naruto Headbands. Talk about your double-takes, Anime Banzai was haunting me all the way from Salt Lake City!

Anyways, I didn't buy any yarn, do any knitting, or craft at all. But if you'd like, my best bud, Briana sent me a link to a fun little dragon you could put together for yourself: 3D Dragon Guy. Warning, it opens to a .pdf file!

I did, however, buy a copy of Tartanic's UnStoppable CD. Listen to some of those files, they're definitely outrageous. And they're also still together despite rumors to the contrary (Marc, you are in so much trouble).

And I'm still hacking away on Breton's sleeves, trying to get them done before I have to linger too long in the over-cold salad department at HyVee, my new place of employ. I'm trying to get over my embarrassment of working there but sometimes I am very glad that I'm going to be in the back most of the time where I don't have to risk being spotted by nursing colleagues, shh.

Ah, sweater weather. Wait...

Well, we had a couple of days where there was a chill in the wind. I spent yesterday snuggling in my stole after I got home from church but Kansas summer has said "Ha, suckers, I'm not done YET!" and thrown us all a curve ball. Huh, thaaanks.

But that hasn't stopped me! I am determined to have at least ONE handmade wooly garment ready for when Kansas autumn defeats Kansas summer in one mighty blow of rain and cold. So I pulled up my Ravelry, did a little perusing through some sweaters and jackets, added a few things to my queue and realized that one jacket in particular stood out and was already in my grasp:

Interweave Knit Fall 2006's Breton Jacket.



I'm not sure if anyone will recognize the purple yarn there, but it's had other incarnations as a Rogue and as a Nantucket Jacket. Sometimes a yarn needs several tries before it finally feels comfortable as something and as for me, well, it's all about the process, isn't it Margene? Heh. I don't mind knitting and re-knitting something, though I was impatient for a lovely purple sweater. Now, it seems, I'll be getting one!

So, I finished the back in four days:


Now, I don't know how sharp your eyes are, but do you notice something, well, wrong with the back?

While you mull that one over, I have a blog meme I picked up from Mary:

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Now who is surprised at that one?

Yes. Okay. I get it.

It seems that the older I get, the more people feel it necessary to point out the fact that I'm still single. I already have issues with crowds of people but if I go into crowds of people who know me, be it church, family reunions, office parties or the like, I always get one or two people who think they Really Know Stuff telling me "You know, if you _____, I'm sure you'd find someone!". Oh really now. Because, you see, short of signing myself up for the slaughter online dating services, I've DONE all x, y, z and I've asked guys out and I've been social (which I dislike, I'm just socially awkward) and as you can see, I'm still single. Sorry.

I'm not depressed about being single. It doesn't hurt. I don't sit all day and think "Gee, my life would be perfect if I only had a boyfriend". I've learned to be just fine with having my own time to do my own things, watch my own shows, knit my own stuff, and basically enjoy my own company.

So to all who read this, know that I'm okay. I'm happy enough being single. I have friends, really good friends. I'm not lonely and I don't even think about it. So thank you for the concern, I'm alright.

Except for the shingles, that's not alright. Ow. Though I do like to flout about that I have herpes, har har.

FO: Mystery Stole 3

Well, I finally have another finished object to show off, The Mystery Stole. Those of you who have read my LJ will have seen this already and will see it yet again. *ahem*




I didn't see very many people actually doing this but I added an extra repeat because I love long stoles.

And now a little time line of the stole in progress:



Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Iris Heather.
Needles: Clover Bamboo US #3s.
Beads: Hobby Lobby brand #6 white pearl applied with #14 crochet hook.
Time took: Finished about two weeks after the last clue was released.

Some things that I did to make this knitting easier:

1. A magnet board with little magnet strips. I always laid down the magnet strip above the line I was working on. This way I could see the line below and see what I was to knit into, whether it was a yarn over or a k2tog. This kept me from going too far off and if I dropped a stitch, I knew how to pick it up. I could also see if I missed a yarn over the line before, throwing off my count. It happened occasionally.

2. Life lines. Every ten rows I would put about three feet of waste sock yarn through the loops of my purl row. This saved me when I had some extreme stitch dropping. And though it took time, it was worth it every single time.

3. Blocking wires. It kept the edges of my stole nice and neat. This has nothing to do with knitting the thing but hey, T-pins don't always give one a nice and neat edge.

Also, my small opinion on Alpaca Cloud for those who are curious: It's a little slippery and likes to drop off my needles and run down, but it's not extreme. I also find it just a little ticklish because of the guard hairs left in. I wouldn't wear this next to my neck because the skin is more sensitive. But it's not itchy at all, on the contrary, it's very very soft.

Well is a very deep subject.

Sometimes you realize that the harder you try to catch up with yourself, the more yourself becomes extremely elusive. I can barely see myself on the horizon at this rate!

In the world of knitting, I only have about four more rows to knit on my Mystery Stole. But that's 8 rows of knit and purl and with every row, I gain another two stitches and it has gotten so that it takes over an hour to knit and another to purl back and I feel a little like Sisyphus, pushing that big rock up the hill, only to have to chase it as it rolls back down again. Gyah, and there it goes again! It's enough to make me cry!

And then going to Utah. How do I manage to have more and more stuff to bring with every trip? And in an attempt to keep healthy, I have cut up about five pounds of fruit and realized that this will probably give us all massive diarrhea. Well, I guess I got some more pills to pack.

Anyways, I have a few more links to share with the rest of you:

Chore Wars: The premise is to get us off our lazy tushes, abandon our wireless and push a mop around for 'XP' and gold that can be traded in. This works well if you're a World of Warcraft junkie (like about 10% of the people in my ward, though I think a few of 'em are keeping mum on that). I signed up for Lime & Violet's Knit Wars so that with everything I knit, I get points. It, uh, doesn't always work for me, though. I knit alright but I don't remember to document. Heh.

bubble.us: If you're a writer and you prefer to brainstorm, this is fantastic. It keeps track of all the meanderings that your mind takes that you bother to write down. I actually prefer to work in the form of an outline if I'm doing an official paper but this is good for story-writing.

Bloglines: There might be one or two of you who don't use this tool. If you have lots of friends who own blogs but don't want to check all your bookmarks to see who has updated and who hasn't, this keeps track. Well, most of the time it keeps track. Google Reader does the same thing but I kind of got used to Bloglines.

Well, have an awesome weekend and send me some good travel karma. I'm praying for low traffic, particularly through the mountains (we've missed most of the back-to-school/home-from-vacation rush but there might be some left), overcast but storm-free skies, and happy visits from inspired muses like Writos, Knitous, and Drawrius.