Back in Black

Sometimes, it's hard for me to blog. Sometimes it's because I can't order my thoughts, or because there's something going on in my life that doesn't leave me time for the internet. Sometimes I'm just feeling low and don't want to spread the negative vibes, and other times there's just nothing going on in my life worth sharing. Sometimes, I'm anxiously waiting on news and don't trust myself not to post obsessively about it, so I have to avoid mentioning it altogether.

That last one is actually why there haven't been many posts for the last month and a half. I found an opening for what sounded like a dream job, applied, interviewed, and then had to sit on my hands for five weeks while I waited for a reply. I didn't get the job (I wasn't really expecting to, but I really, really wanted it and I think I'd be good at it), but that means I'm now free to resume my life prior to the last month, which I spent obsessively babysitting my email and cell phone, waiting for a response. Life in general was pretty much put on hold, since the job would entail moving out of state, and I didn't want to make plans.

That wait left me with a lot of time to knit, and the attention span of a sugar-addled squirrel, so I have a lot of projects in progress but none of them are finished. The two I'm focusing on at the moment are for Nerd Wars, which has started up again on Ravelry.

The first one is my Dissertation. It's a shell I'm knitting out of Knit Picks Comfy Fingering on size US2 needles. It might not look like much now, but I promise that's about 3-4 hours of knitting there (almost 400 stitches per round on tiny needles...why did I pick this project again?). The pattern is of my own design and inspired by one of my novels--which has a new title as of this week! I finally decided that Threadbare would do the trick, after flip flopping between several other (horrible) options. (This would be for the book previously known as Fortune's Fight.)

The other project I've been working on is another of my own designs, which has been sitting in my queue since I joined Ravelry. It's a hat based on the Quebec flag, intended to be work with my Oh, Canada! scarf. It's coming along pretty quickly on size 7 needles. I wasn't intending to use anything special for it, but I just couldn't say no to the glitz in the blue Caron Simply Soft Party.

I have to get back to all of those things I've been ignoring lately (like cleaning...and edits...), but I'll try to be more regular with my posting again.

Cloudy with a Chance of Tribbles

I have come to the conclusion that I either need a professional in-house photographer, or daylight needs to last until at least 12 am. Of course, it would help if we had sunshine out here once in a while, since it's been cloudy and icky for the last few days.

In the mean time, I'm making do with a compact fluorescent in "Daylight" Although I'm beginning to suspect there's a problem with my new camera. I just bought it at Christmas, but it never seems to record colors accurately. I really don't want to break down and get a fancier camera, especially so soon after getting this one. I might even be forced to get a non-Fuji next time, which is sad since I love their cameras.

I managed to get a halfway decent (but boring) shot of my latest Nerd Wars submission. Tribbles have invaded Team Enterprise, and Maison du KM is no different.

I've also been going through some of the older projects I'd made patterns for, back when I first started the knitted journey. As much as I love these arm warmers (very steampunk!) I think I'm going to have to alter the pattern and retire the prototypes. What do you do with a failed prototype? Store it? How? Frog it? Donate it? I think for the remake I'm going to move to a thinner yarn (and something that isn't acrylic, at least not that breed of acrylic), and instead of crocheting all the way around I'll just to the scallops and knit the sides, working in eyelets for the ribbon. I'll add that to the ever-growing list of stuff I want to knit.

Currently Watching: What a Girl Wants
Currently Reading: Consequences (Torchwood novel)

New Hair

I got a couple of gift certificates to the local beauty school for Christmas, but I haven't had time to make use of them until recently. I knew that I wanted to do something a bit different with my hair, but I wasn't sure what. Then I got sick of my hair (which tends to get rather triangular looking when it's about shoulder length) looking like a Lady Gaga wig and decided that Now. Was. The. Time.

After having Normal Hair for about a year, I decided it was time to go back to something funky and picked out a layered style that will still grow out easily (since that is the ultimate goal) and decided I wanted it to be two-toned in some way. Red. Bright, firey red. So when I talked to the girl (a lovely senior from not to far from where I live) we settled on this:

I'm quite pleased with it, though it takes some getting used to. It also means I have to re-evaluate my wardrobe a little, since it clashes with most of the dark red, all of the pinks, and about half of the purples in my closet. So it looks like I'm going to be wearing mostly black and blue for the foreseeable future (gah, black and blue and red on top? I'm going to look like a scraped knee. But a very fashionable scraped knee).

I can't post any pictures of my knitting right now, because it's part of a Top Secret Mission for Nerd Wars, and the hem of the sweater I'm working on isn't all that fascinating (yay, 2 1/2 inches of 2x1 ribbing. Joy). I did manage to have a spinning mishap that resulted in the loss of about 1/4 ounce of tussah silk. I still weep for it.

I've been accomplishing very little in the world of writing this week, but I hope to rectify that tomorrow or possibly later tonight, depending on how long it takes me to finish up stuff online. I have been hampered slightly in my productivity by the rain, which has flooded both our internet and phone lines meaning that I don't have access half the time to the numbers I need to call and the other half I simply can't call them (because if I'm going to be on hold for an hour, there's no way I'm using my cell). So since I don't have any other concrete accomplishments to show you, I will distract you with another shiney picture of me and my new 'do:



Also, don't forget about the Japan Relief Drawing, which is still open to anyone who donates to any organization providing aide over there. I'm going to keep blogging as usual, but remember that you can still enter by leaving a comment on that post. There's also a helpful little link in the upper left hand corner of this page, right next to the post title.

Points

1. I've submitted my final Nerd Wars project for the month. I'll spare you my pathetic attempts at photography. You can see the Ravelry project page here.

2. I've been going through the blog trying to figure out a way to update it, and I'm actually thinking of clearing the decks and starting fresh--over on Wordpress. I've been using the side for the Nerd Wars blog (I'm the blogger for Team Enterprise; you can keep up with our progress here, as well as all of the other teams). I think the layouts just look a little fresher and cleaner, and I like the program for the posts themselves. I think the site in general just gives more options for customization.

3. I'm hesitant about moving because I've been on blogger since 2007, so you all know where to find me here. Also, I don't want to loose my posts. Anyone know of a way I could archive the blogger site into the wordpress one?

4. All of the typeblogs I follow are here, which again makes me hesitant. Not that I don't already have them in my favorites on Firefox, but still. It's community. A network. And I don't like to break the chain.

5. Also, the CFM is here, which makes the linking and updating easier, and makes the magazine more streamlined.

6. So, thoughts? Anyone want to weigh in one way or another?

Nerd Wars

I find it rather shocking that somehow I managed to make it over halfway through February and forgot to mention my latest activity. I've spent the last three weeks knitting my little fingers to the bone for Nerd Wars on Ravelry (you will need an account to view the page if you aren't a Ravelry member).

Basically, it's a competition between geeky knitters. There are several teams (I'm on Team Enterprise, but there's also a team for Firefly fans, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, RPGs, video games, and others) and every month members compete in six challenge categories to knit an item which answers the challenge in under thirty days. Points are awarded for completing the challenge, and there are also arbitrary bonus points awarded. It's great fun. Yesterday I finished a beret for the Nebula-inspired challenge:


We have two weeks left (or thereabouts) in the first round, and I'm about 1/3 done with my second challenge project, which falls under the team spirit category (basically, making something "for" a character in your fandom. My "recipient" is Spock). I don't have any photos of it yet, but I'll post pictures when the challenge is over.

If you're on Ravelry, it's too late to join this competition, but it runs three months so at the end of April you should be able to sign up again. And you can always watch as a spectator! There's some great people and we've been having a lot of fun.