Fabulous News and Bad News

Monday, I got an email from Knit Picks telling me that two of my designs had been accepted for their independent designer program!

The first of the two is a scarf with a woven knot in it. I've already done a sample in Wool of the Andes sport weight, and have some really bad photos of both projects.

The wonderful, fabulous camera my sister gave me seemed to be malfunctioning, and the wonderful camera I bought before that seemed to be doing the same thing. Luckily, the problem was with the batteries, but it took me a little while to figure that out, so these photos were taken with my tablet computer.

Here's a view of the overall scarf:

As mentioned, that's in sport weight, and I'm also going to do one in worsted weight.

One of the ladies (Beth) at my knitting group (Flying Fingers) started knitting it. I was there for the meeting yesterday. Beth came in a little late, and when she saw me, her mouth opened, and before she could say anything, I said, "You want to talk to me!" She asked how I knew that, and I told her that she was close enough to weaving the knot last week that I was sure she'd be up to it by now, and I suspected she couldn't figure out how to do it.

So, we sat there, and wove a section of her scarf together. It really is a job for four hands. It was kind of fun working with another person so closely. There were cheers and words of encouragement, and everybody had fun. Afterward, every once in a while, she murmured, "I'm so pleased!" It gave me some ideas on how to adapt the job so it can be done with just two hands.

The other pattern that was accepted was the triangular shawl with the Saint John's cross on it.

You can't see it too well in the photo, but it really is spectacular! The fringe around the two sides is finished, in other words, there are no cut ends to fray! And you can't really see it too well in the photo but there's a picot bind-off across the top. I made it for a friend, who bought the yarn, and I'll have to knit it again for the pattern in Knit Picks yarn.

I'm so excited about this opportunity!

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The bad news is that about a week or so ago, a big, soft lump came up on my right elbow. I ignored it for a while, hoping it would go away, but it hasn't gotten any better so far.

So, today, I looked it up on the internet, and it says that the bursa in my elbow is inflamed. It says to take ibuprofen, use a compression bandage, try to keep my elbow elevated, and stop doing stuff that irritates it!

It said it makes your elbow hurt, and I hadn't noticed that. But then, I'm really good at ignoring things like pain. Once I stopped everything and paid attention to my elbow, I discovered that it really was hurting.

Stuff that irritates it includes knitting!

So, Knit Picks has sent out yarn support for the two projects. It hasn't arrived yet, and I'm going to at least stop knitting until it arrives. I may delay starting it or at least take it easy when I do start.

That not only includes knitting, but also typing, so I'm going to stop now, and you may not hear from me for a while. If you do, it may be very short.

I do have a doctor's appointment, so relax. The internet may be helpful, but doesn't really replace a doctor. I can't see her instantly, though, so I can at least start to treat this before seeing her.

In the meantime, have a wonderful week and the best Memorial Day Weekend ever. I'm going to try to get out at some point to see Rolling Thunder. I don't have to actually go anywhere to see them, they're pretty much everywhere on Memorial Day Weekend, but not in my apartment. I'll have to go out to see them.

Anyway, have fun!

Random Monday

I'm not going to be able to post tomorrow because my hearing aids will be getting a check-up at the VA Hospital in DC. This will (with traveling) take up most of the day.

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I hope you had a happy Armed Forces Day on Saturday! There's been a lot of things reminding me of the military just lately, and that was the first of them. The VA Hospital visit is the second of them because it is for veterans. And DC will be gearing up for Rolling Thunder over the Memorial Day weekend.

As if all that weren't enough, John has finally overcome most (maybe all) of the major problems he's had with getting the third and last Steve Canyon on DVD published. These have been many, and have included a hard disk crash that nearly took out the whole project, and illnesses involving people he planned to interview.

There's an article about it on the internet with more information. And another one here (scroll down for the info) which has a nice, big view of the covers for all three volumes at the bottom. Then there's John's Steve Canyon blog with a neat story about it with an update on what's actually happening.

He's been in contact with me about it, and I have some minor changes to do in the artwork, and I'm poised to finish it all off.

There is also a book coming out about Steve Canyon, which covers the comic strip, and I think there's stuff about the TV show, too. I gather it's pretty comprehensive, but I don't really know what I'm taking about because I haven't been directly involved with it.

If you're a Steve Canyon fan, or just like watching the Thunderbirds, or just flying, you'll probably be interested in this. Check it out!

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Well, my replacement TiVo HD just arrived, so I'm going to install it so I can watch The Event tonight!

I've gotten and will be getting some really neat things in the mail/via UPS lately. Stuff I've gotten includes: the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1) DVD, a copy of the book, Charted Knitting Designs, my Galaxy Tab, The TiVo (today), a micro SD card for the tablet, and I'll be getting a new knitting bag (the blue one) and two beautiful scarves! Oh, and I found out that I can't cancel my cell phone service without also canceling my at home phone service, so I'll be getting a cell phone, too.

This is the blue color one I wanted:

They didn't have any of those, so I'm getting the same model in gray, which is not as nice, but still pretty good. The outside of it is a non-slip rubber-type material that's easy to hold, and that clear part at the bottom of the photo has "light effects" when it rings. Hopefully, the ringer will be louder, too. so that I'll hear it. It should be fun, even if it's not blue.

I have to go install my TiVo now!

Have a wonderful week!

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CBS Is Helping Us Save Money

There was a show on CBS at 8 pm that said it will help you save money. Well, if you earn a quarter of a million each year, it might help. For somebody like me, it would be a disaster.

They started off by telling me that I could save money by only spending $7 per meal. The fact that I spend less than half that for a typical meal, and often less than a dollar means that this would not save money. They did recommend thrift stores, and that was a good tip, but something I already do when possible.

Other than that, they showed how to have a wedding for about five times what I spent on both my weddings combined, and how to get 4 round trip flights to 3 European cities and Tokyo for $600, which is where my perceived reality differed so much from theirs that I erased it from my DVR.

Actually, if I didn't need the space on my DVR, I might have saved it for it's ridiculousness. They said they could save me $120,000! 

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I have gotten to about 13 inches long on my shawl, measured along the front edge. I need to get to 16 inches in order to have completed one quarter of it for my Charms OWL in the Harry Potter House Cup KAL. So I'm far enough along that I'm reasonably sure I'm going to make it by the end of the month. Since it's an OWL, I have three months to complete it, but I have to be a quarter of the way through by the end of this month. 

I'm hoping to get a hat like Hermione will be wearing in Half Blood Prince done for Muggle Studies, too, by the end of the month (see the last post).

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I still don't feel good from all the walking, and have not mustered up the courage to walk somewhere to get a screwdriver, so I'm still sitting on the chair that hurts, so this will be a brief post. I'm planning to walk to the library, CVS (for the screwdriver) and Safeway tomorrow. 

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, and if you live in the DC area, get out there and watch Rolling Thunder!

Towel Day!

Today is Towel Day!

And it happens to fall right in the middle of Memorial Day weekend. Make sure you carry your towel with you today!

Holly's sister, Heather has joined Ravelry! Please feel free to bop on over there and welcome her.

For any of you who don't know, Ravelry is the place for knitters and other fiber artists on the internet. You can see what others are doing, talk to them about what they've done, get to know new people, find someone who might be willing to part with the ball of yarn you need to finish a project and much more.

There are groups for people who are interested in Firefly, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Red Dwarf, bad movies, typesetting, publishing, making movies, reenacting, felting, spinning, fans of particular spinning wheels, and much more. 

If you're making a sweater and can't figure out the directions and what you should do next, you can get help here. You can find many (usually hundreds) others who are making the same pattern.

And patterns! There are tons of free patterns, and a few that cost a bit.

At the risk of repeating myself, it is the place for knitters on the internet!

Well, Doctor Who is on BBC in America at the moment, and I want to watch. They're showing Human Nature, The Family of Blood, Utopia, The Sound of Drums, and The Last Time Lord.

Those last three are a series (one story) and include Captain Jack Harkness as a companion, and at the end, we find out more about Jack. The kind of information that makes me want to go back and watch all the Doctor Whos and all the Torchwoods over again!

Holly and I went out yesterday, and had fun admiring rolling thunder. We decided that our best strategy would be to wave and flirt.

For those of you who don't live around here, every Memorial Day weekend, DC is host to Rolling Thunder, which is a gathering of veterans to honor other veterans. They all ride motorcycles, which is where the name comes from. It's also a great opportunity to flirt with guys and admire motorcycles. There was a guy who went by on a blue chopper that caused Holly and I both to forget about what I was saying. Beautiful!

One of our stops was at AC Moore. Holly was looking for origami paper, but didn't find any. She did, however, get the Beadnik yarn she was looking for to finish her shawl. She actually owned enough to finish the shawl, but it has mysteriously disappeared. 

I found the knitting needles I had been looking for.

Well, I thought I had been looking for them. Susan Bates has a new series of circular needles out called Velocity. I'm not sure why they made them. They're exactly the same as their Silverado needles, except that the "wire" is navy blue, and they only seem to be available in one length: 29 inches. Silverado is available in 16, 24, 32, and 40 inches.

I need a size six needle to knit the rune bags I'm designing, and I thought I could use this with the magic loop method, but no, 29 inches is too short. The bag is a bit bigger around than a sock, and the needle is much too short. It's possible to knit a bag with it, but not pleasant. I think I'm going to try to get some double points and try again.

When I came home, I raided my stash to make a sample bag before committing the beautiful silk yarn. I'm glad I did. The design and construction seems so straightforward, but is proving to have a few kinks to work out.

Off to watch Utopia!

Have a great weekend!