It's the First of December, and There Are Only 24 Days Until Christmas!

Happy December!

I can't believe it's December already!

There are still Christmas presents to make!

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I have an appointment at the VA Hospital in DC on Friday, and I thought I could find some helpful person or agency that would give me a ride over there. I've been trying, but it hasn't worked out. So, it looks like I'm going to have to be out at the bus stop early, and probably won't be home until the last bus arrives here. There's going to be a lot of walking, and I'm not only going to be exhausted when I get home, but in lots of pain from so much walking.

I'll be talking to someone about getting new hearing aids, and probably getting an ear mold so that they can make the hearing aid just for me. The aids I have now can't be adjusted adequately so that I can actually hear right anymore.

That means that I'm going to have to do this all again when the aids are ready for me to get them.

I'm not looking forward to the trip on Friday or the other one, although I'm hoping that they'll be able to do something that will actually help me hear.

I have in-ear aids, and they just can't provide enough amplification for my right ear, so I'm probably going to have to go to a whole different kind of aid.

I guess I'll find out on Friday.

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Signature Needle Arts is having a sweepstakes! The prize is a Signature gift card, so if you're a knitter or want to buy for a knitter, check this out! It looks, if you just read the headline, like you need to buy something to enter, but if you skip down to the fine print at the bottom, there is a way to enter without purchasing anything. When I click on the official rules link, nothing happens, but there is an email address to send for the rules.

Good luck!

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Knit Picks currently has many of their books available with a fairly large discount. If you're looking for knitting books for someone, it might be a good idea to check it out.

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The major good thing on tonight is Human Target. Wednesdays are pretty disappointing, but I believe there's a new episode of Psych, too, and they've really been promoting it. It's worth checking out.

Have a fabulous evening!

Crash and Burn!

If I hadn't procrastinated so much in the beginning, I would have been all right.

But then, that's the story of my life!

Late yesterday afternoon, when I was still hopelessly behind but knitting my heart out and still trying hard not to admit how far behind I really was. I thought it would be a good idea to go find the small amount of black fabric that I was sure I must have somewhere and needed for the project.

Guess what?

I didn't have some somewhere.

So, I still haven't finished my entry for the contest that closed at midnight last night (1 am locally).

Since I'm not going to be able to finish the project and submit it by last night, I'm now free to tell you about it. I'm going to spread it out over a week or so, though.

I didn't take any photos earlier when there was some good daylight, so you're going to have to wait until at least tomorrow for photos of my unfinished project.

The knitting on the mitts is done, and also on the hat. The knitting is only a small part of those two projects, though. It's the embroidery that's going to make it though. They look like nothing right now.

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Brace yourself!

Last weekend, I was missing Comic Con (and if you missed Comic Con, too, be sure to see the rerun of the Psych episode that was on last night). This weekend through the following two weekends, I'm going to be missing Pennsic! I plan to pass on Tweets about it along with the photos that go with them, though, so for a taste of Pennsic, stay tuned and check the sidebar! As usual, I plan to reread Murder at the War, a murder mystery set at Pennsic.

Lots to do today, gotta go!

Have a great evening!

Just a Quick Note

There's a new Psych on USA tonight!

I've had a busy day today, and really can't sit here and write much, so this is just a quick note.

The repairman came early today and installed the card. Gee, It's SO hard, I have no idea why they couldn't just give it to me and let me install it myself. But if they did that, they couldn't try to get an additional $32 from me! I hate Comcast!

But it does work beautifully, and I can get all my channels now.

There was a new Doctor Who on Saturday, and I missed it, but it'll be on again on this coming Saturday along with a whole marathon of the Doctor! I can't wait!

I have to get going now.

Old Friends

Today, I got a comment on my other blog from my ex-husband, Steve!

I was really glad to hear from him since it's been a while, and he's fun. I didn't really want to lose touch.

He's starting a blog at http://www.xanga.com/etienne56. There's not much there yet except the standard "Hi, this is my first blog post, what do I do now?" kind of thing. But check it in a few days.

He's involved in SCA and lives in Chicago. It could develop into a fun blog.

Here is the URL for the trailer for Faintheart that I told you about yesterday. Some people had trouble seeing it on the other blog.

I really want to see this movie, but even if I never do, the trailer is priceless!

Back to the Ravelympics and knitting!

I got nearly 10 inches of the top back done last night. Almost to the bottom of the armholes. Here's what it looks like:



I'm currently thinking about ripping out the top of the back. The cross is just too small. I put a sort of "frame" around it because I thought it would be small, but it's smaller than I thought it would be.

Although I love Viking Patterns for Knitting, I really don't like the way the cables and motifs are charted. The system used doesn't correspond to any charting system I've ever seen, and there is no legend to say what the symbols mean. I can almost figure out how to do them just by looking at the photos of the finished work, but I want to redo the charts so they're easier to read.

In this case, though, I'm going to have to redo the chart just because I want to make it bigger.

You would think that being a graphic artist, I would have no trouble with charting, but I'm beginning to realize that I hate it!

If I ever manage to get together all the charts for this, I think I'm going to sell the pattern. For a lot of money!

Back to the subject!

Last night, I switched back to knitting the wimple for the Ravelympics while I think about the sweater and what I really want to do with it.

If I redo the back, that will mean that I have to work out the whole chart before I can start reknitting. That's a lot of work and will make it much harder to finish in time. It will definitely mean that I will almost certainly not be able to finish the poncho in time for the deadline.

Who am I kidding? It will make it impossible to finish the poncho in time. Period. And it will mean that there's a good chance that I won't even get the sweater finished by the deadline.

But then, if I don't redo it, I'll always wish I had, and every time someone complements me on it (and it will be complement-worthy, even with the smaller cross), I'll think about how wonderful it could have been.

At this point, I think I'm going to leave the back and continue knitting the wimple while I spend some time charting. If I can get the chart done in the new size, I'll rip it and redo. If I can't possibly manage to get the chart working at all, I'll continue with what I have.

I'm really hoping I can get the chart to work.

I've seen some other really nice Celtic knots that I'd like to have charts for. I was going to say that I'd like to chart, but that really isn't true. I just want to knit them, not chart them.

As they say: back to the drawing board.

Joan of Arcadia will be on tonight on SciFi, along with a new Stargate Atlantis.

There will also be new episodes of Psych and Monk on USA.

There will also be some old Doctor Whos and a new Primeval on BBC in America tomorrow. If you missed the pilot of Primeval last week, they'll be rerunning it before the new episode tomorrow.

Primeval is interesting, and could develop into a good show. We'll see. 

Anyway, it's based on the premise that an anomaly/wormhole/something odd has opened up in the Forest of Dean in England and is linking that point with a time when there were dinosaurs, and some of them are getting through. The main character's wife disappeared a while before this, and he thinks she might have gone through the anomaly, and he's hunting for her.

Well, I have lots to do today, and not much time to do it in, so have a great weekend.

Oh, and birthday presents will be gratefully accepted. See the donate button in the sidebar.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday at Pennsic

First of all, I have to thank Crandall, who sent me this link so that I (and you) can read the Pennisc newspaper. I haven't read it all yet, but the parts that I have read are great! He also sent me to the following quiz...

Your result for The hardcore SCA Test...

The Lord or Lady

You scored 42% hardcore SCA!

You really enjoy the SCA and like to go to events when you can. However it doesn't take over you life or anything. You've probably got an AOA or will have one soon. Sometimes folks wonder where you've been when you make it back to a meeting or event.

Take The hardcore SCA Test at HelloQuizzy

We now return you to your interrupted Pennsic information.

After finishing my post last evening, I suddenly realized that I forgot to tell you about the meteor shower! How could I possibly have left that out?

You can find info about the Perseids meteor shower here. Of course, the shower happens everywhere, but being up in the mountains and away from major cities makes it so much more impressive. If you wake up at night and wander to the portacastle, you can stand out in the middle of the road, look up at the sky and see the meteor shower. It's always been a part of Pennsic for me. A part I love.

By the way, this has nothing to do with Pennsic, but while we're on the subject of things in the sky, there will be an eclipse of the moon on the sixteenth of August (my birthday!). The total eclipse will be visible in the North (pretty far north) with other areas seeing only a partial eclipse. What a great birthday present! Thanks, universe! There's a countdown to the eclipse (and my birthday) at the bottom of the blog.

So, on Tuesday, you're probably recovering from the previous night. Wednesday night is "Moonlight Madness" at Pennsic. All the merchants stay open until midnight, and most goods are on sale.

The wares are staggering! You can buy almost anything at Pennsic that you could buy during the middle ages. I bought a bead whorl spindle there with an amethyst whorl. For under $10! It's a work of art.

You can expect to find places selling jewelry, especially penannulars, circlets, coronets, and even crowns. My friend, Brock (the Magik Badger blacksmith) is usually there selling and making his wares. The thing he made that amazed me most (and that I was really brokenhearted that I could not afford) was a small forgewelded knife. Some people call forgewelded goods "Damascus" steel. This particular one didn't have the traditional wavy patterns in it. It had shiny stars against a dark background. I fell in love with it.

You'll find people selling garb, feast gear, miscellaneous period camping gear, shoes, boots, leather goods, scribners' supplies, handwoven goods, and lots more.

Another thing that I couldn't afford at Pennsic and have been looking for ever since was a pocket watch. This was a very special pocket watch. When you flip the top open, there was a scale model of Stonehenge underneath. If you flipped that up, there was an actual watch below.

I take that back. I looked on the internet and found this! It's not the one I saw a Pennsic, but it's pretty neat!

Then, later on Thursday, you'll want to take a nap so you'll be fresh for the party to end all parties at Chez D'Argent. This usually involves flaming and other drinks (Baron Silver invented the flaming dragon, and at least one other flaming drink in addition to my favorite, the Irish Fog), bagpipers, kings of several kingdoms, bards and drums! A mere blog cannot begin to do it justice, so I won't even try.

Then there are the things people do.

During my first Pennsic, two of my camp-mates, Lavender and Aurora, got bored. How you could possibly be bored at Pennsic is beyond me, but they claimed that they did.

So, they went over to camp security and volunteered.

The overworked people at security weren't too careful about looking at their motives. They gave them a golf cart and a little authority and sent them off.

So Lavender and Aurora proceeded to stage a mobile "kilt check" on the theory that you could never be sure what those guys might be smuggling under there. 

Eventually, security caught on, and that was the end of their fun, but not before they'd had several amusing adventures. They left one Count, who had been waiting in line, shouting at a Portacastle "Your Grace! Your Grace! You should have been out here a moment ago in a kilt!"

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Switching gears in my train of thought...

I was about to swing into action, run out and catch the bus this morning, and then I thought to check the weather forecast. They said there would be thunderstorms this afternoon, but none tomorrow. So, I went back to sleep and plan to go tomorrow.

If I understand it correctly, sign-ups for the Ravelympics are over, buy you can still watch the fun if you didn't join. The board to watch will be the Finished Objects board.

Oddly enough, there is a list of projects signed up for competition that lists many projects that are already finished according to their creators. I think that something or someone is a little confused.

I've been dreaming about the Celtic sweater, and have even been doing a little swatching. I've decided that the bottom edge of the hood that I've already knit is a little bigger than I want the neckline to be. I had originally intended to make the cables that will go down the front overlap, but after thinking about it, I now think it would look better if the fronts butted together and the two cables ran parallel to each other. So that means that the hood is now too big around the bottom.

I'm going to put a band around the bottom of the hood that will extend into a loop for a button, and will also extend into the cable on the shoulder. I've started a swatch for this. It's not finished, but I have refined the buttonloops already. 

The I-cord that I did on the other swatch is thicker and bulkier than I really liked. I found that if I continue the two-stitch cable segment as three stitches in stockinet stitch, it looks good, not thinner, like the I-cord does. The edges turn under and it looks finished. 

If I do short rows on the loop, I can make it assume a nice buttonloop shape without all the extra bulk, and it looks much better and will button more nicely. I'm about to start the shoulder part of the swatch.

I'm also reevaluating the cable around the armhole idea. The more I think about it, the more I think I want to do something else.

On TV tonight, we have a rerun of Supernatural, and a brand new Burn Notice!

Don't forget the Doctor Who marathon on SciFi during the daytime tomorrow, too! And in the evening, there's a brand new Psych on USA.

And have a great Thursday!

Quick Post!

I tried to put up a post, and something with the technology went horribly wrong.

I finally gave up, restarted, and am back to give it a second go.

I've been continuing my love affair with the Knit Picks needles. They're like knitting with jewelry, and they make knitting a joy to do! I may even get back to working on my Celtic sweater so I can use the Options size 8 needle.

I'm almost at the end of the last (for a while) feather and fan sock, and have a new sock design percolating in my head. It'll either be a marvelous triumph, or a total disaster. We'll see. Triumph photos if they happen.

Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy will be rerunning tonight! So will Supernatural. I think ComCast has it's digital TV guide messed up again, because it's showing two episodes of Burn Notice tonight on USA, each with a different episode title, and both with the description of a rerun from last season. One of them might be the premier of the new season, because it's twice as long as the other. And there's an episode of Psych airing in between them.

I had a nice, long post here before technology destroyed it, but I don't have the patience to deal with it all again.

Have a happy Thursday!

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I looked it up. The premier for Burn Notice with be on the 10th of July.

The two hour episode airing tonight is the two-part season finale. The first part of the season finale will air later in the evening.

Oh, well!