More Ravelympics and KAL!

I need to put together the chart for the rune bag and get back to knitting it. That's my project for today.

For the Ravelympics, I need to make some decisions real soon now. I'm thinking of making as many as two more projects for the Ravelympics.

I love that I joined Team TARDIS, and I really need to get going again on the Celtic sweater, but at the same time, I want to join Team Browncoat and Team Hogwarts!

I have yarn for a poncho, which might work for the shawl relay, but I'm not sure. I mean, it's not called the shawl relay. It would work well for Team Browncoat. The big advantage of this is that I already have yarn to do it with.

I'm also thinking that the cowl jump might be a good project for Team Hogwarts, and this would be a good, short project, but the problem with that is that I don't have yarn to do it in, or the money to buy yarn with.

Well, I take that back. I do have a batch of yarn in a faded denim color that's really pretty. I guess I could do it in that.

Now the problem is, how crazy do I want to make myself over this?

The big push is going to be on the Celtic sweater.

Do I really want to take on some more knitting?

Opinions! I need opinions!

I hope you're enjoying Eureka on SciFi today!

The Tour de Fleece Is Over!

Yesterday was the last day for the Tour de Fleece, and I finished!

In return for that, I got the spiffy little badge in the sidebar. 

You can see the beautiful yarn I produced in the previous post.

So, now that that's over what next?

Well, I'll tell you. There's a Harry Potter KAL/CAL on Ravelry that I've been meaning to join, but I keep knitting other things. You may not be able to see the page if you're not a Ravelry member.

Anyway, things are supposed to be finished by Harry's birthday, the 31st of July. That gives me until Thursday to make a project and finish it. I'm thinking about competing in the "A bag for all things" category. This will give me a chance to finish my rune bag. You know, the one that I expected to have done around the beginning of June. Yes, that one.

I've started it, but it's my own design, and I made charts for the runes, but I used square graph paper, and the knitted runes look all squashed and short.

So, I'm going to have to make new charts that will actually look OK. And then knit it. Or finish knitting it.

So, assuming that I finish that, that will give me a chance to knit some more bags before the real event begins!

The Ravelympics is about to start! Once again, if you're not a member of Ravelry, you probably won't be able to see this page. If you do fiberarts, you really need to think about joining Ravelry. It's just too much fun!

I have already signed up to compete in the WIP Wrestling for Team TARDIS. This doesn't start until the eighth of August (during the opening ceremonies), but if you are going to compete, you have to sign up now. If you are a Doctor Who fan, you really want to click the Team TARDIS link. It is just s0 funny!

The WIP I'll be wrestling with is the off white tweed Celtic sweater that I started months ago, and stalled out after knitting the hood. You can see a photo of the hood that I'm using as my profile picture, but I'll include it here.

I need to do an EZ type percentage system for picking up stitches at the base of a hood to continue with the body. So far, I haven't figured it out. But I did have a dream about it. That's where I decided I need a percentage system. I just haven't figured it out yet.

But I'll be starting a page for the Celtic Sweater with the directions. This will be a WIP itself until I finish the actual sweater, and possibly a bit after that until I get it all up there. Once I start it, I'll put a link to it in the sidebar, and I'll try to note that it's a WIP until I finish the sweater and the instructions.

For fans of the blue coat that I knitted for the knitting olympics, this will walk you though the same design process that I used on the coat.

For science fiction fans, tomorrow is a big day, at least if you like Eureka. Tomorrow seems to be Eureka day on the SciFi Channel. They will be showing reruns during the daytime rotation, followed by the season premier later. There's a lot to look forward to!

The big news for tonight on TV for SF fans is the Middleman.

My problem with this is that Comcast still hasn't fixed ABC Family so that the closed captioning works.

On the Comcast front, the repairman showed up today in the time slot he was supposed to show up in on Saturday. Well, the saying is "better late than never."

I let me know that the problem with the sound on 35 (which had grown and spread to 45 and 47 by then) could be fixed by turning on SAP.

Acording to Wikipedia, "Second[ary] audio program[ming] (SAP) is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over the air and by cable TV. It is often used for an alternate language..."

I guess I'm just so dumb that it never occurred to me that any cable or satellite company would possibly be obtuse enough to require having SAP enabled just to be able to hear a program.

The repairman also didn't fix the problem with closed captioning. He said that it's the network that's not broadcasting it. I pointed out that the network was broadcasting it to DirecTV, and asked why it wasn't broadcasting it to Comcast. He said he'd put in a work notice at the office and get them to check it and call me back either later today or tomorrow.

Why should I have to pay full price if they're not offering full service? I'm really unhappy with them.

I hope to be surprised by them and be able to read what's going on with Middleman this evening. Even if they don't get it turned on tonight, if they turn it on at all, I may still be able to catch tonight's episode later in the week. They run it several times over the course of the week.

I haven't gotten a chance to talk to John about yesterday and the panel at Comic Con yet. I suspect that he's busy putting up a new post at his Steve Canyon blog about it. His computer is online, but that doesn't prove that he's sitting in front of it and is actually present.

More info when it happens!

In the meantime, join the Ravelympics! And expect to see some really neat Ravelympics buttons in the sidebar soon.

And have a great Monday!

Rune Bag

Winding the silk into balls last night took a lot longer than I anticipated. I had washed the yarn very vigorously, and it was pretty tangled. Or, in other words, I had four big knots to untangle and wind into balls.

Mostly what you can see in the photo is the bottom of the first bag. The runes are starting to appear on the sides, but there's not enough for there to be a coherent pattern, visually.

Holly called and insisted that I was wrong, that Malaia has never been to the Sheep and Wool Fest. I could swear I remember her being there with Kyle.  

Today will be a busy day, so I don't have a lot of time to blog.

I will be getting to the "How to Photograph for the Internet" subject probably next week. And you can expect no posts over the weekend (well, maybe Sunday evening) due to the Celtic Festival.

Have a great Tuesday!

Holly's Back!

Holly was able to find the bus station in Baltimore, and get back to DC by about 7 pm.

She called at ten to let me know that she was alright.

She had something interesting to say, too. She and John went right past the Howard County Fairgrounds on their way into Baltimore. Holly pointed out the location and said it was where the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was held, and John surprised her by telling her that he and Malaia will be living about 5 minutes away from there.

When she told me, I asked her if she warned him to expect a whole batch of people arriving to stay at his place on the first Friday of May and staying until Sunday. Holly was giggling about the plans I was making to arrive on Friday evening, get a good head start early on Saturday, and then stay over so we can get back and get what we forgot on Sunday.

She was trying to explain to John why he really wants to go to the festival. She doesn't have to explain it to Malaia, who has been there several times while she was growing up.

But they did discuss the Maryland Renaissance Festival. John loves the RenFair, no matter where it's held. He was flabbergasted when Holly told him how long it runs, and I don't think he has any concept of how big it is, even though Holly tried to tell him.

He was really upset about some of the people he'll be missing in the Toledo area, but he was even more upset about being away from Malaia, even though that's going to be for a short time. They're hoping that Malaia will have moved out here by the end of August. Just in time for the RenFair.

I'm finally starting to get excited about the Celtic Festival.

I don't know what's the matter with me. The festival just hasn't seemed real to me this year. Or maybe it's the problem I have with time. The fest is real, but it feels like it's two months from now, so I'm not really excited yet. In real time, Lynn will be arriving later this week and the fest is on Saturday.

I just have so much I want to talk to Lynn about. And Holly. I want to hear all about the party. And I really want to see photos!

The silk yarn is washed and dried and ready to wind into balls. Knitting will commence on the rune bags this evening.

I'm almost finished rereading "Small Favor" from the Dresden Files books, and I still really want to reread "Deathly Hallows." I read it twice last summer, and then wanted to read it again, but got distracted with something else. What can I say? I guess I just LOVE wizards named Harry!

There's nothing but The Hulk on SciFi during the day all week. Good luck with that.

I planned a post telling you how to take good photos with the equipment I told you about, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow or later this week. I also changed my recommendation for a camera. Further investigation showed that the one I recommended has a bad track record for reliability, although it's otherwise very nice. Canon cameras have a number of features that are really good for this kind of thing, and are usually quite reliable. What happened to this particular model, I don't know. There are some new camera bags in my store, too, and a new section for cool DVDs.

Have a great Monday!

Hi! It's Thursday

Today, I'm feeling like Arthur Dent, who never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Usually I can do it, but this whole week is one I haven't been able to get the hang of.

It's been a very quiet week. Not much happening. There's nothing worthwhile on TV (except a rerun of Supernatural tonight), although the SciFi Channel will have The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Doctor Who on tomorrow evening.

I'm still struggling through the prototype for my rune bag, although it's been put on hold until I can get some size 6 DP needles. In the meantime, I've been knitting another poncho with a hood just exactly like the last one. So, there's not even any point in new photos.

But I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that in about 3 weeks we'll be going to the Potomac Celtic Festival. Usually I look forward to this with eager anticipation, but this year I feel like I'm in some kind of daze on the subject. 

I do want to finish at least one rune bag by then, though.

The Weather Pixie seems to be having a problem today. Just not feeling well, I guess.

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!