What I've been knitting, what I've been doing...

So apparently I lack the ability to remember to blog! ;P

I finished my brother's hat just in time for Christmas. I wound up not using the Brangelina Hat pattern, because the brim turned out to be twice the size it needed to be - I'm not sure if there was an error in the pattern or what, but it was gigantic. My mom helped me to re-do the hat by measuring my head (because my brother and I have similarly-shaped heads), measuring the gauge, and casting on enough stitches to the measurements. It turned out great, and he loves it. I might make him a Jayne hat next, when I get a chance to buy the right colours of yarn. A Jayne hat, for those who don't know, is a hat from the series Firefly, worn by the character Jayne Cobb and knit by his mother. I'd forgotten all about the hat, since I hadn't watched Firefly in a while, but I found the clip where the hat appears on YouTube...





I think I've seen some Jayne hats made in Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, so I might make one out of that for my brother - that way it'll be plenty warm. I made his toque out of Thick & Quick, so I know it works good for hats.

I also made an earwarmer for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup (otherwise known as HPKCHC). It turned out to be a bit tall, but I may try shrinking it in the wash. Either way, it covers my ears, and it can double as a cowl, so I'm not too worried - I'm just a little bit disappointed that it turned out that tall.

I was hoping to knit another object for House Cup, but I'm not sure if I have enough time. I might just work on my Ravenclaw scarf - I'm close to finishing it anyway.

In other news, Christmas went well for me. I got a drop spindle and some roving (yay!) from my parents, as well as sewing books, a book and DVD on spinning, sock-knitting DVDs, the sixth season of Doctor Who, and other lovely things. My brother gave me a PS2 and two PS1 games, and he's letting me borrow some PS2 games until I can buy my own. My sister gave me an aromatherapy bag that she made herself, some books, and some LUSH products.

And so, I draw this post to a close. Hopefully I'll post again soon :)

One of those days...

I'm having one of those days when somebody is causing havoc, Christmas stress is growing in the back of my mind, and I have "Gatekeeper" by Feist stuck in my head. I suppose it's less of an earworm than "Prince Charming" by Adam and the Ants...

Anyways. I went to church today, and had a nice time. It was the holiday Music Sunday, which was lovely - I always like Music Sundays. I still feel a bit odd about going to services: since I'm no longer part of the youth group, I feel like there's an empty space I need to fill. It also doesn't help that I'm still bitter about past events, but I digress.

I decided on a different pattern for my brother's hat, because I don't have the right needles for the pattern from DROPS. Instead, I decided on Laurie Perry's Brangelina Hat. I haven't started it yet - I know, I'm lazy - but it's made with super-bulky, so it should knit up quickly. It should also be fairly wind-proof, which is handy.

Well, I'm off to catch up on Emmerdale, one of my favourite British serial dramas. Happy blogging :)

"What's occurring?"

So, I'm still alive ;D I haven't been posting because NaNoWriMo was eating my soul. For those who may be reading this for the first time, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and that takes place in November - which is the reason for my absence.

I've not done much knitting, but I did get an extra skein of blue yarn for my Ravenclaw scarf. It's going to be very, very wide - I'm hoping it'll tighten up once it's washed. I probably should have gone down a needle size, but I was worried that the scarf would be too stiff. It doesn't matter too much - it'll be warm, and my ski jacket is loose enough to accommodate a thick scarf. I'll need a thick scarf in case we get dumped on with snow in January.

Also, I'm seriously considering making my brother a hat for Christmas. I have a skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in a gender-neutral colour that's been kicking around in a yarn bin for a while, so I should put it to good use. He could use a spare hat, anyway. I've been looking at patterns, and I found this one by DROPS Design. I keep forgetting that DROPS has lots of nice patterns in super-bulky yarn, so if you have a lot of that weight of yarn, take a look at their patterns.

I still have a ton of Christmas shopping to do, and it's making me slightly batty. I've got ideas for the people I need to shop for, but I feel like I'm running out of shopping days, even though it's only the fifth of December. I like getting my shopping done early, though.

Anyway, that's what's been happening lately. I'll try to make a habit of posting more often. Until next time...

Halloween, and why I love it

Halloween has always had a special place in my heart. At what other time of year can you let your imagination run wild? And the candy's not bad, either ;)

I think I can remember every one of my costumes. Some were handmade, or assembled from pieces bought at Value Village - which I still count as 'handmade', because they weren't packaged costumes. I've been a clown, Sailor Moon (made by Mom), Pebbles (from The Flintstones - also made by Mom), Baby Spice (of the Spice Girls, of course ;D), a ladybug, a witch, an angel, a kimono-clad Japanese lady (which was tricky to emulate, as I didn't have a proper kimono - I used a housecoat-type garment), and a kind of haphazard sorceress. The only packaged costumes were the ladybug, the angel and the witch - I'm not sure about the clown costume.

And then there are the experiences. Like when I went trick-or-treating with my brother, my sister, and one of my sister's friends, and our neighbour's son had scared us by hiding in a pile of leaves and jumping out. That same year, my brother decided he was too tired to do another street, so we went without him and gloated about our massive amount of candy.

Of course, I'm too old for trick-or-treating now. But I get to hand it out, which is fun because I get to see some cool costumes. I was thinking of dressing up as the Tenth Doctor (from Doctor Who) to hand out candy, but I don't think anyone in my neighbourhood would 'get' it.

Still, I can have fun by watching Halloween movies and handing out candy. I've got Red Riding Hood out of the library, so I might watch that. And maybe Hocus Pocus, if I can find the DVD - I own a copy, but it's hidden somewhere. I watched a bit of The Rocky Horror Picture Show last night, which was fun, as always.

Speaking of movies, I'm going to follow the trend set by my fellow bloggers and compile a list of my favourite Halloween movies (year made and rating are in the parentheses):

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, R) A cult classic. To explain the plot would not be doing it justice. Stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf, and Richard O'Brien (whom also wrote the original stage musical), among others.

Hocus Pocus (1993, PG): A fun movie about three witches who are resurrected after centuries. Stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966, family-friendly) I know it's not actually a movie, but it deserves to be mentioned. I love all the Charlie Brown TV specials, especially this one.

Ghostbusters (1984, PG-13) I couldn't find an MPAA rating for this, so I used my best judgement and put down PG-13 (IMDB just says TV-PG, so I'm not sure what that means). This movie is awesome, plain and simple. Stars Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver.

There you have it. Have a happy Halloween! :D

Post-Thanksgiving,,, post.

That's right, I'm attempting to be witty today.

The holiday weekend went fairly well. Dinner at my grandparents' house was oddly civil (the roast beef was a bit dry, but my mom said that it had to do with the cut of beef my grandfather cooked). Sunday was nice. Thanksgiving Day was nice, too, because I got to eat turkey without the extended family squabbling over something stupid.

And my brother kindly gave me a new computer! Yup, I have a new rig now, and it's excellent. Now I have to get used to Windows 7, which is interesting - I've managed to freak myself out on more than one occasion. But at least I can now participate in National Novel Writing Month without worrying about my computer crashing.

I'm definitely knitting something for my brother for Christmas :) It's the least I can do. I'm thinking of knitting him a hat, because he lost his Noro hat that my mom made for him. I'm also thinking of making something for his girlfriend/fiancee, like convertible mittens - that might be a bit beyond my skill level, though. We'll see. If I can't manage convertible mitts, I can always make her some fingerless mitts.

I'm also thinking of making a scarf for my dad, since his cowl got eaten by moths. I think I'd make a scarf for him out of acrylic, though, so that he won't lose it to insects. That, and acrylic is machine-washable, so he wouldn't have to worry about washing it by hand.

Wow, I have itchy fingers. I should look at patterns...

Family dinners

So, I have to go to my grandparents' house for dinner. It shall be interesting. Certain Relatives ducked out, of course (funny how that keeps happening! /sarcasm). I'm not too enthusiastic about this dinner (which is a sort of pre-Thanksgiving dinner to work with people's schedules), but I'll bite my tongue.

I don't think I've ever liked holiday meals with my extended family. Dinners with my immediate family and their SOs are fine, but I've always hated the big family holiday dinners. Here are just a few reasons why...

1. I always got shunted to the 'children's table', even as a teenager. And eating at the 'children's table' with your cousins isn't fun when you don't like two of your cousins isn't much fun. I'm on better terms with them now, but I still am not crazy about taking supper with them.

2. If I bring a book, I'm deemed as 'being rude'. Even though I'm bored to death and my grandfather is more interested in watching hockey than being with his family.

3. This is sort of a companion to #1. For some reason, when we have turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas, my grandfather carves it all wrong. By the time it gets to the 'children's table' - or wherever I'm sitting, actually - the turkey is cold and has lost a lot of it's flavour. I don't think I really loved turkey until we started having holiday dinners at home, actually.

So you can see why I'm not totally pumped for tonight. Granted, we're having roast beef instead of turkey, but I've never liked having dinner with my grandparents regardless. Even now, there's a 'pecking order', and I'm at the bottom of it - and that sucks. A lot.

I've been contemplating ways to slightly freak out my grandfather, from whispering to myself like Brick from The Middle to talking like Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show. Of course, whenever I do something slightly eccentric (like when I bowed and said 'merry Christmas' in Japanese), my grandfather just kind of smiles at me as if I'm a little kid. Never mind that I'm old enough to vote! (Speaking of which, I have a semi-prepared argument in case somebody pulls the 'you're to young to talk about politics' scheme.)

Meh. I'll find a way.

I really should eat something, and clean up the house a bit.

Tune-ups

I'm on my computer today, because I needed to 'tune it up' to get it in fighting shape for NaNoWriMo - basically, I needed to do updates. It's slower than my dad's computer, but it still works fine. That makes me relieved, because the guy at the computer shop told me I'd only get six more months out of my computer when the power supply had to be fixed.

However, there are little things that I miss when using my computer. For instance, my keyboard is clunky and rather gross-looking (I think my brother had spilled Pepsi on it previously - I still need to find a way to clean it), and my mouse has no 'back' button. And you don't realize just how complacent you really are until you hit the 'magnifier glass' button expecting it to take you one page back.

As for knitting, I've been making another dishcloth. I'm in a real 'use up the yarn' mood, starting with my scraps of cotton. I might make myself a hat afterwards (because the only winter hats I have are my knitted hood and a bright orange Thinsulate toque), and I've been thinking of knitting Christmas gifts for people. The selfish side of me doesn't want to, but the generous side does. If I do make something like hats or scarves for people, I might buy new yarn, because my stash is kind of peculiar - I have either a lot of one colour, or not enough. If all else fails, I know my brother would be grateful if I gave him hand-knit dishcloths ;)