A couple weeks ago I got some new yarn and started the yoke of a new sweater for F.  A top-down raglan cardigan.  I knitted a few inches over the past couple weeks, but I went to pick it up last night, looked at it, and thought, "I just do not want to do this any more."  So I ripped it out.

I've been thinking about the logic of making baby clothes.  I know there's some kind of formula involved, something about the pleasure derived from the process + uniqueness of finished item + cost of materials - cost of store-boughten equivalent - period of time item will be worn.

I made a couple more sleep sacks for her yesterday.  She is growing out of the other ones.  A yard of flannel each, simple, straightforward sewing.  It took me an just over an hour to make two.  She'll probably be able to wear them for months.  Totally worth making.

But sweaters?  About $20 worth of yarn, weeks of knitting, dull stockinette stitch (I could always use a fancier stitch pattern to make this less dull, but then it would take even longer to knit).  She would probably wear it for the remainder of the winter, which is about 4 months.  Maybe a little longer.  And while I really don't mind handwashing my own wool and delicate clothes, there are two important differences: 1.) It's somehow, actually easier to wash a larger garment than a teeny one, and 2.) I don't barf on myself with nearly the frequency she does.

I really like the knitted sweater and vest I made her while I was pregnant, and she wears them all the time.  But I think I am just going to try to crush that little DIY urge this time (you know, the one that says "Hmm, shoddy workmanship, too expensive, I could totally make this myself!" when confronted with, well, most any item in any store) and buy sweaters for her until she's old enough to make them more worth knitting.

The thing that convinced me was reminding myself that this is my hobby, and I do it for my pleasure.  I'm not Caroline Ingalls out on the frontier; I don't need to knit for my family to keep them from freezing to death.

So last night I instead picked up my orange lace scarf and put a few more rows into it.  Totally selfish, and totally worth it.

Loads of fun! And even if I never got my right skate on properly, I managed not to fall. Sarah and Twila even knew what they were doing. Oh, and we went out to lunch. And a little shopping!

While skating, we were asked if we were Mennonites. Too funny!



Shoe shot!

( More this way! )

Oh yeah, I'm knitting again. It must be something about the season - last year around this time I cast on the 1873 sparkly scarf - which has been done and worn for months now, but which I still didn't get to photograph (don't hit me heileen ! I did try and then my digicam pretended it was dead !*). Now this year I've been on a mitten craze, obviously. I've just finished the pair for my sister-in-law, just need to take pictures, upload them, wrap the mitts and put them under the tree.



Now I just want to start a new something to knit, since it seems like a really Heimlich-compatible activity, as opposed to sewing. I have some yarn of course, but nothing suitable for the project I had in mind (actually I do have a nice mohair yarn, but I already have a knit tunic-dress-thingy in that exact same color). Buuuuut... I did find a niiiiiice place to get cheaaaaap yarn from... Check it out in Euros (complete with auto-translation, *giggles*) ! And in Dollars ! Saw good comments on the Ravelry forums about them, and well, I'm really tempted. Of course, that would mean I'd need to start another project to keep me waiting until the yarn arrives...

*We want to order a DSLR, but we hope there might be some % off after Christmas...

I decided that since I went to two events without making anything, I needed to make something for ice skating, right? So I decided to make the ale-house dress early :)



( More, of course! )

Before Williamsburg, I'm going to make a new shift with tighter sleeves, a new bigger cap and do big hair :)

Oh, locked entries unlocked too. Not that they're super exciting or anything :)

Despite little Heimlich having been turned into an even more angelic angel right in time for Christmas (no kidding, if he gets any nicer he'll grow wings !), it's still good to have the Home Geek well, ... home, to take care of him. It allowed me do run some pre-Christmas errands today. I actually wanted to get my new glasses as well (more on that when I get them), but in the end I just gave up. It was freezing - like, still below 0°C at 3PM when we got out with the (carefully wrapped) little one - , it was dark, and I ahd the very very bad surprise when reaching grenoble itself that they did NOT salt the streets. It had been snowing all day yesterday and some of the night too, and some snowflakes still floated through the air. That gives you something like 3 centimeters of slush slowly turning to ice in every streets except the very large avenues. Ugh. It took me half an hour to reach the little shop that sells good candied fruit, and then another fifteen minutes to drive from there to the place I bought the snails from - which is less than it usually takes per foot from one to the other. Ugh.
I have a fingerless mitt and a half for my sister in law, I should be able to get them done and wrapped up tomorrow. Yay for bulky yarn and quick projects ! I actually think I might knit myself a pair of those as well, since I lost my purple mitts.

I just noticed on Facebook that someone joined a group called this:

Were against Facebook charging 14.99 pounds a month from July 1, 2010

OK, so you* were* against it? Now you're for it! Well, good to know :)

Apostrophes are our friends. Execept when they're not, that is :)

The Big Bang Theory cast dressed up like Twilight (and other 2009 stories)
http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/787330.html

A 70 minute review of The Phantom Menace in 7 parts.
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/17/watch-this-70-minute-video-review-of-star-wars-the-phantom-menace/

Sure it's long, but it goes by super fast. You can't dispute much of his logic, even if it's like listening to a review of the movie by the dude from Silence of the Lambs. (It put the lotion in the basket!) Seriously worth a watch, especially as it takes an odd turn in the 2nd part.

The mitts are done! Hmm. Must update Ravelry status. I think I'll wait to officially call them done until I have pictures of them with costume tomorrow though. I'm also happy because I found all of my costume bits, even with both 18c shifts deciding to hide in totally the wrong place. I was afraid I'd have to cut down the sleeves on the Tudor shift! Which I wouldn't have done, but I think contemplating it made it easier to find the 18c shifts.

I even sewed black ribbons on my black felt hat. Seems better than straw :)

Anyway, tomorrow, attack things with the lint roller. No point in doing it tonight! I'm very excited about ice skating in costume tomorrow. Can you tell? And I have been ice skating before. During college, and despite the obnoxious teenage hockey players doing their best to ignore everyone else, I managed to stay up with no difficulty. And though it's been years, I do know how to rollerblade :)

It was fun though! But tiring. On the way back home I had a quadruple iced latte and went straight to bed. See, I've always had weird sleeping habits :)

Is it just me, or are these stockings
with cherries printed all over them in the Met some of the most
amazing things ever?

I want some. Seriously want some!

Knitting the mitts (almost done!!!) has made me want to do something I
never thought I'd want to do. Knit stockings. It really doesn't look so
bad. Of course, I'd want to do cotton, not wool since I think I'd like
them for Williamsburg in June, and while I'm all about the tropical weight
wool for a comfortable dress, wool stockings? Uh, no.

They don't look so bad. I'd follow this chart.
I think I'd be happy with 10-12 stitches an inch. And purled clocks,
because really, why not?

Plus, I really want to try knitting garter stitch in the round the way
it's described in the notes for the pattern. I wish I had seen that
before regular purling on the mitts. I still have some garter stitch
left, but I want to do it the same way as I did the first mitt.

Could be a fun project :)

In the airport, working off my last ten minutes of battery!

I finished my last exam for my comp course last night. I am so glad to be done that! Don't get me wrong, I found it very interesting, but it was WAY to hard for me. I thought it would be a fun web design course and I ended up learning how to program in javascript. Murder! This course was the first time since grade 11 math I actually worked really hard at the class and still didn't get ANYTHING. Oh well. My prof was awesome, and gave me a wicked extension my last assignment. Which means I can get my computer-programmer dad to help with it/do it for me. :-D

As much as I complain about Acadia on this journal (maybe because I use this journal for complaining about a lot of things), I really LOVE going here. At what other school would you get one-on-one help, twice a week with the PROF of the class, not the TA. Plus the class sizes mean they Profs know who are you and know how to help you accordingly. I am one of the few people I know who have smaller class sizes at university than I did in high school.

Well, my flashing red battery light tells me I'll be kicked off soon, so see ya later!

Staying up to finish the first mitt was a good thing, since I enjoyed
doing it, but not going to bed until two? Well, I napped for two hours
and went to bed four hours after that. Oops. I even made a silly mistake
on the second mitt. Fortunately one that means nothing. I thought I
forgot a decrease on row 15, so did the one at the end and the beginning
decrease on the next row. Well, the decreases were supposed to be on row
16. Thankfully, having one decrease one row off doesn't affect anything.

Anyway, I've done 24 of 181 rows. I can finish by Saturday easily. Now
that I've had enough sleep :)

I haven't sewn much lately - it's not the most practical thing to do when taking care of a two months old. So the bustle is a bit at a stillstand. I've finished the yoke and sewn it to the back panel, and it's looking good (the picture is without any bone in). I have the front panels assembled as well, still need the part that ties the bustle together behind the legs, though.

I have had other priorities lately as well, as Christmas is coming up and I was really short on ideas, I took up the needles for at least one (possibly more if I get to it) last minute present.

This is an early progress pics, I've finished knitting both mitts and seamed up one already. I'm adding a little black ribbon bow and then under the tree they go !

...with the Smithsonian's entertainment costume/props curator!

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/tales-from-america%E2%80%99s-attic-an-interview-with-smithsonian-entertainment-history-curator-dwight-blocker-bowers/

verdaera just posted this. It's someone from the Rebel Legion. It's only 40 seconds long. *Hilarious*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b7nTIriJ1c&

I'm surprised none of the people driving by had accidents doing a double-take.

The fabric 18th century mitts refused to cooperate. So, last night I decided to try knitting a pair. For Saturday. And here's my progress so far:



Not bad for just over a day's work, I think!

The pattern is Mara Riley's mitt pattern with size 2 double pointed needles and Blackberry Ridge lace weight yarn in chestnut. All of which I had on hand.

My goal of having no papers to grade this winter break? Not going to happen. I'll still have fewer than usual, which is something!

But, three more days! Yay!

I've been doing more boot research, and these are the closest I've found.



http://www.amazon.com/Dolce-Vita-Womens-Webber-Marrone/dp/B0029PNSDK/ref=reg_hu-wl_item-added

They're not quite the right colour, and the ties at the back are different, but still pretty close.

apocalypticbob just posted this, and she said we could relink/repost, so I thought I would, because I really liked what she wrote! Her words, not mine!

http://apocalypticbob.livejournal.com/523376.html

Several people have posted recently on the topic of regifting, and oddly enough my brain was already spinning a post on this topic last night, so now I thrust it upon you.

First, a little background. Most of you know this, but I state it here to refresh your memory and catch others up to speed. I have OCD in the form of compulsive hoarding and compulsive shopping. I've been dealing with it since I was a young girl. I hate this part of myself, and I'm battling it, but it is an uphill climb, and I'm still losing right now. Hopefully knowing that about me will help you take this in the proper context:

DO NOT KEEP THINGS YOU DO NOT NEED!!!

Seriously. Don't fall into the trap that I have. Letting things go can be one of the most freeing things in the world, as I'm slowly learning. Thus, I present to you:

MOTHER BOB'S TOP FIVE REASONS TO REGIFT THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:

5) It costs nothing. - Look, the economy is crap, people are losing jobs right and left, jobs are cutting back hours, killing bonuses, and eliminating pay raises. No one has any money. If you are one of the few people who has money, I urge you to support local independent business and crafters, but if you have no money, look around your home and see what you might have that someone you love would enjoy. I love used books. I love used DVDs. What cooler gift for someone than to hand or mail them a book or DVD that you enjoyed with a note inside about what you thought of it? It allows them to share something personal, which is far more meaningful than a new copy.

( Read more... )

One exam down, one to go!

Also, I decided to change my default icon. While I LOVE my "everybody thinks I'm weird" icon to death, I felt like I needed something more colourful. Plus with tights. And Kate.

:-D

EDIT: While I was at it, I thought my journal needed a face lift. What do you think?