Quietish

Happy Birthday to J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter!
< end obligatory fangirling >

July 28, 12:31am.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, end of Chapter 24.

I told Katie yesterday, as we journeyed from The Village Library back to The Gourmet Yarn Company, about an annoying behaviour I display sometimes when I’m really, outrageously excited about something. Maybe others don’t notice it, but I certainly do and it annoys ME. And anything that annoys me is unacceptable.

When I am totally stoked about something, my inner fangirl may be bouncing up and down squealing shrilly, but what does the outward-me do? Generally, what she usually gives is a slightly raised eyebrow and an uttered “Yeah, that’s pretty cool.” She then goes back to her coffee or whatever she’s keeping her hands occupied with.

I hate that. What I really wish I could do was somehow learn to show my glee in a tactful (non-scary, non-stalkerish) way, while remaining cool. Apparently I’m not capable of this, so I act like a prat instead. Yesterday was no exception, although I may not have been as horrible as I have in the past.

Yesterday, Oklahoma received a visit from the Yarn Harlot.

Imagine RoseMolly’s inner-fangirl’s squeals.

Ludo2 and I enjoyed a front-row seat.

She showed us her Olympic sweater.

I later fondled it, having seen it while actually conversing with Stephanie and losing track of what I was saying when I caught sight of it peeking out of her bag.

We had 115 show up at the Library, and the line for the signing back at the store was quite long.

Everyone was pretty well-behaved, which was rather disappointing as I was supposed to be a bouncer of sorts and was looking forward to roughing people up in Stephanie’s defense. I’ve got such a girl-crush on her.

I got to introduce Ludo2 to The Travelling Sock.

There will undoubtedly be many photos floating around from yesterday evening, and I will try to post them here. So far I’ve found pics from:
The Yarn Harlot herself
Beverly
Emily and Emily again
Emma
Katie
Katya
Kay
Phoebe
Shelly
Sue

A baby hat, based on Knitty’s Baby Tart. I didn’t have the patience for all the bobbles.

Peacock. I have restarted her and have overtaken the spot that I was on in the first run.

Started a Gryffindor scarf, because I couldn’t hold out forever. I have always said that I wanted my own HP scarf to be DK in something really luxurious, but there is a local event coming up quickly that causes me to really want a scarf to wear. So I am using Cascade 220 and it’s flying along. I actually love how it feels, but I’ll have time to make a fancier one as well, later.

Jamie’s sweater. I need to turn it over, finish the front side, and start the sleeves. Once I get this thing done, I will probably be holed up for a week weaving all those ends in.

Reflected in my car window, during my evening walk.

Just a wee notice: Because I’ve had some issues with comment spam lately I changed it so that comments with certain keywords will automatically be deleted. The last time I messed with these options, some people told me that they weren’t able to comment at all. As it is, I generally don’t even get a email notification when I get a comment, no matter what I do. (Which also explains why I’ve been so awful about replying to them. Sorry about that.)

If you have trouble posting a comment, do me a favor and send me an email to let me know. I’m thinking I may go ahead and upgrade to the newest version of WordPress soon, so hopefully that will fix some things.

Been at the scrapbook store tonight. Lotsa fun!

This buffalo statue in front of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History seemed really interested in what I was knitting on Saturday.

And since I know you must be interested as well, meet Ludo1.

“I am not worried, Harry…I am with you.”
~ A.D., HBP, Ch. 26

(Amazing Lace Challenge #4)

I’m sure some of you are wondering what has become of poor Peacock Feathers Shawl. The truth is, I’ve been an abysmally lame team member. I’ve been distracted by yarn and chess. I’ve been a master (mistress?) procrastinator. And I’ve been frustrated. In the knitting bag miss Peacock sat.

It really has been no fault of her own. The mistakes I have made have cost her her freedom. I stupidly started her on 3.5mm needles when I knew that I truly wanted to knit her on 3.25mm needles. I used inappropriate stitch markers that moved too easily under yarn-overs. I fudged on earlier rows instead of properly correcting mistakes when I knew that the imperfections would drive me mad later on. So, we’re just going to call that first run a practice run. Just a tad late in the game, is all.

So the current Amazing Lace question is If you bound off your lace RIGHT NOW - what could it be used for?

Well, since today I cut off what I have and put it aside, it is the perfect time to consider this. I wondered for awhile what I could possibly do with what truly is an incredibly small portion of the whole shawl. I sat fidding with the heap of mini-shawl sitting on my work table, considering, when the answer meowed. You see, Peacock-practice still has her circular needle in her, and my precious Callie-cat loves-loves-loves dangly circular needles.

Voila! A Callie shawl.

She requests that I leave the needle in there.

Well my kit for the Knit Sock Kit Swap is done and ready to go to the post office today.

As for Jamie’s sweater, well, when Shelly and I met Kay for some knitting last night, this is how the sweater looked:

And after a bit of reluctant gauge checking, and sheepish grinning, the sweater became this:

My gauge when I originally swatched for this was the 24 st./4 in. that the pattern called for. Sometime after I began the actual sweater, it became about 25 st./3 in. So we got to enjoy a little bit of sweater ripping, re-swatching, and I will start again sometime this week on 3.25mm needles. Yippee!