still training for the big race

knitting & reading

2009-10-23T19:17:12Z

Simultaneously, I mean, of course. Since radiantwterror has confirmed receipt, I can now discuss the Hufflepuff scarf (and bonus item) that I made. So here they are (apologies again for crappy cell phone pics):

I used KnitPicks Swish DK, which I found quite lovely—silky-soft and the colors were beautiful. The yellow ("semolina") was especially gorgeous, very rich and not-quite-gold (although the scarf colors do shift through the movies—I actually can't really remember what the yellow was like in the first two, but it's paler and buttery in the third, and from the fourth onward, rather intense and tending to bronze). And I wanted superwash so that the fringe wouldn't felt together. So altogether, I was very pleased with this yarn for this project.

The scarf is meant to be pretty long (if you look at the first couple movies, they reach down to the characters' knees, but then again, these are ten-year-old children, who are probably not very tall), so I was a bit worried I'd burn out on the knitting before I reached the end. My solution to this was to find other entertainment while knitting: I therefore conceived the brilliant plan of re-reading all the books as I knit. Luckily the scarf is straightforward stockinette, which I can do without needing to look at (apart from the color changes), and I have the hardcover books, which stay open pretty well without needing to be held too tightly.

This scheme worked out well; I actually ran out of yarn before I ran out of reading, finishing the scarf about a third of the way through Half-Blood Prince. I made it through the knitting fairly quickly—I can read the whole series in about a week if I don't get distracted, but I did stall for several days in the middle of Order of the Phoenix. I'm not sure, but I think that might be my least favorite of the books—while it's true that some of my favorite moments are in OotP (I mean, Neville in the DA—how can you not love that? or really, any of the scenes involving Neville), there are also parts that just don't hold my interest very well. Maybe it's Emo Harry who puts me off.

Anyway, I made the scarf as long as possible with the yarn I had (four balls of each color)—there were probably less than 20 yards of the black left when I was forced to end. I did have the foresight to measure out the yarn for the fringe before completing the scarf. I recommend this technique if ever you make anything fringed...

So there wasn't enough yarn left to make anything substantial, but I was able to eke out another small item:

Hufflepuff catnip mouse! He's rugby-striped.

Having completed the knitting, I was left to launch into the final volume of the series with no distractions. Some of you might remember that I didn't much like Deathly Hallows the first (and second) times around (uh, spoilers if you haven't read the book yet. It was kind of fun re-reading those comments though, heh), so I was a bit trepidatious about tackling it again. However, as you might expect, time has softened my judgment. Basically I'm more willing to recall that the whole in-story universe is, you know, fictional, and so let pass some of those extremely implausible and convenient plot devices that bugged me so much initially. Now there's really only one particular thing that continues to annoy me deeply by not conforming at all to the rules that Rowling set up. Well, that and the fact that the epilogue remains stupid and clumsily-written. Definitely looking forward to the inevitable big action set-pieces in the final movie, though!

here is your knitted DSi case

2009-07-28T18:51:27Z

Well, not yours, but...yours to admire? I have to admit I'm rather pleased how it came out:

Though it does look a little lumpy and wrinkly in this picture. (As is habitual with me, I didn't block it, and also I didn't have the actual DSi to put into it to fill it out for the photo.) Still, the lumpiness just makes it more cuddly.

I got the chart here, but there seems to be quite a vogue of NES controller crafts. I don't quite get that nostalgia (my family never owned one, although I realized while doing research on the NES for this project that we did have the Asian version, the Famicom, complete with Famicom Disk System), but I figured it was appropriate—I mean, they're both Nintendo products. Also I suspect one reason this particular design is popular for cases for other things is that, unlike most controller designs since, it's a simple rectangle in shape rather than having a bunch of curves and protuberances.

And that's my sharing for today. I think I might try to get a better picture of the case when it's actually on the DSi...

aliste @ 2008-12-19T11:30:00

2008-12-19T19:30:27Z

I know this is capitalizing on others' misfortune, but today I'm happy about Mervyn's going out of business, which enabled me to score this adorable sheep-festooned flannel sheet for only $6.50 (cat not included).

Sadly the close-out nature of the inventory meant no matching pillowcases, but I do have other pillowcases.

EDIT: ScrapBook is being kinda wonky today, so you might get an error message when you click on the pic link above, but just keep trying if you really want to see the cuteness...

aliste @ 2008-12-18T21:48:00

2008-12-19T05:48:09Z

Let's see, what made me happy today (part 4 of 8)?

I didn't have to go to work! And, I got to play LittleBigPlanet with a friend, which is even more fun than playing by myself. We got some new stickers & costumes & stuff! I am a happy nerd!

happy 3

2008-12-18T04:55:29Z

Today, and pretty much every time I cook meat, I am happy about those 3-pound tubs of peeled fresh garlic at Costo. I love garlic, and pre-peeled individual cloves are so convenient.

Yum!

aliste @ 2008-12-16T20:12:00

2008-12-17T04:12:17Z

Okay, for day 2 of happy posts, I entered an online giveaway for a videogame and got a free copy of PixelJunk Eden. Which is actually something I was interested in trying out, so hurrah!

Also, my boss agreed to let me have Thursday & Friday off. Whoopee!

aliste @ 2008-12-09T12:40:00

2008-12-09T20:40:18Z

What the hell, Rod Blagojevich? (pdf link)

Oh, Illinois politics.

KILL

2008-12-09T06:07:29Z

GRRRRRRRRRRRR I'm about to go postal on UPS. They twice promised delivery of a package and twice didn't show up and twice LIED about the reason it didn't arrive, because I was here both times that the tracker says I wasn't. I called them three separate times today trying to find out the status, the last time at 8:48pm (I remember the time because the customer service guy asked me), and at that point he said that the latest information he had was that the package was still on the truck. About forty-five minutes later I checked the tracking page again, and lo and behold, somehow there was an update at 8:36 saying that I wasn't home during the delivery attempt. Odd how that hadn't been there when I talked to the customer service rep TEN MINUTES AFTER THAT.

It wouldn't bother me so much that the package is taking this long if it hadn't originally been promised to me on Friday and then the company hadn't made up reasons why I'm not going to get it until (if I'm lucky!) tomorrow. I am so full of rage right now!!!

p.s. to hobbitgrrl, this isn't your iPod, so don't worry about that—I got it today and ~~will send it tomorrow~~. ~~Or not. Sigh.~~ Or...well, still not, but...heh. Funny story there.

aliste @ 2008-12-05T12:42:00

2008-12-05T20:42:45Z

Wow, since LJ increased the number of userpics for permanent accounts, I can now have up to 195.

Why the hell would I ever need 195 userpics?! I know some people would love to have that many, but I've been sitting on a hundred for a while now and I don't even use most of those.

Okay, another slow day at work...um...soon(ish) I will go home and play some more LittleBigPlanet. So...yeah.

November wrap-up

2008-12-01T05:50:57Z

Well, I did it, I guess. I had an entry for every day of November. I must admit that I feel less triumphant about this than I might have hoped, possibly because too many of the posts were of the "I have nothing to write about but I am obligated to" type.

Still, it was an enjoyable experiment. I think what I'm taking away from this is that my life is not interesting enough for me to write about every day, but I do have enough to say to update more often than once every couple of months.

Obviously I'm not going to try to keep up this pace, since it didn't result in many quality posts, but having gotten more back into the habit I'm going to try to be back a little more often. Like, at least a couple times a month.

And if I slack off again, there's always NaBloPoMo 2009. :D

Thanks for reading & see y'all again soon!

aliste @ 2008-11-29T23:24:00

2008-11-30T07:24:27Z

Long day, tired.

Cop-out post.

But I did get some laundry done.

aliste @ 2008-11-27T21:13:00

2008-11-28T05:13:58Z

So, today I cleaned the bathroom, played some video games, and cooked dinner (Chicken Vesuvio—we don't do turkey).

And I put aside my usual cynicism for a few minutes and felt thankful for everyone and everything that I have. :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

I have nothing to say today!

2008-11-27T06:12:34Z

Like that's much of a change from usual, though. Let's call this entry a placeholder, but when I, er, forget to come back and turn it into anything substantive it still counts!

aliste @ 2008-11-25T11:03:00

2008-11-25T19:03:21Z

What the hell, somebody stole our coffee maker. >:(

aliste @ 2008-11-22T23:08:00

2008-11-23T07:08:23Z

Today I went through my yarn collection to try to trim it down a bit. There is a substantial amount of beautiful new stuff that I just haven't gotten around to making anything out of yet (lots of different awesome sock yarns, a few large stashes destined for sweaters/cardigans, some gorgeous laceweights), but quite a bit of what I had clogging up the closet was odds and ends left over from previous projects.

It's cheesy to say, but it was fun picking through all the scraps and remembering what I used them for—you know, "oh, this was from the very first thing I ever knitted" (man, that was many years ago—it was a little garter-stitch alligator-shaped toy in faux mohair), "here's all the ends of Lopi from that Icelandic sweater that came out looking gorgeous but was so itchy and too warm even for a Chicago winter that I never wanted to actually wear it," "this is the leftover from some socks I made for wallacecat that got a hole in them so fast that I swore never again to make socks [for him] out of 100% wool sock yarn," "hey! I made mittens for obsessical out of this," etc. etc.

Ah, memories. And that was a nice trip down memory lane, but really, there's too much junk in that closet and I had to get rid of some of it. I'm a pack rat so it's really hard for me to part with anything, even that 2-inch ball of of a discontinued yarn that deep in my heart I know I would never use again even if I could think of something to make out of that small an amount.

I was kind of thinking I might make a wacky rug out of all the different scraps...I might still change my mind and do that, but for right now all those partial balls (and a few whole ones that I just didn't want to keep around) are in a couple of grocery bags in the car, waiting to be taken to the convenient local Goodwill drop point. I'm not sure they'll actually accept something like this (I'm sure radiantwterror knows more about that than I do :) ), but, I don't know, I'm sure there are crafters who could use small amounts of different colors, or it might be good for a school for student art projects.

Or I might end up keeping it and making that rug.

aliste @ 2008-11-18T15:02:00

2008-11-18T23:02:29Z

Happy birthday to vovat!

And thank goodness for November birthdays giving me instant easy content for NaBloPoMo.

Oh! and I have a tiny knitting project that I finished and can post pictures of, but not while at work, not because said project is not work-safe, but because I have no photos of it here.

Yeah, I like drawing out the suspense like that.

aliste @ 2008-11-16T21:51:00

2008-11-17T05:51:40Z

Happy birthday to goldenmoonbear!

Um...wow, you know what? It's hard to think of new things to post every day. I just don't have that much going on. All I can promise for the future is the Decemberists concert on the 25th, but I hope I will have something of more substance for that at least. So...right now I guess it's back to playing We ♥ Katamari.

50%

2008-11-16T08:18:25Z

Oh shoot! I have to start remembering to update earlier in the day. But hey, I'm halfway there!

south side 4-evah

2008-11-11T22:41:24Z

It's not like I'm saying that I wouldn't have voted for him if he were a Cubs fan, but this just makes me feel extra-happy about the whole deal.

aliste @ 2008-11-08T21:08:00

2008-11-09T05:08:57Z

It's raining. I think that means that winter has started? I love the Californian weather, but there are still some things I don't understand about it. Like, how do the leaves know that it's time to change color? I mean, I was taught that trees need a good blast of cold to bring out the really brilliant colors (which is why autumn in Florida is just dull brown). But here we're still getting days in the 70s and yet there are gorgeous reds and oranges in the foliage.

Hm. Maybe it's dry weather that the trees want instead? That's certainly something we have in abundance here over the summer.

I can feel that this is not one of my more scintillating entries (such as they ever are). Sorry. But if I'm forcing myself to write every day, there's going to be some really lame ones in here. I could add, for example, that perhaps the most exciting thing that happened today was that I took advantage of Mervyn's going out of business to obtain a fancy memory foam pillow for 30% off. I'm going to sleep well tonight!

Yeah, I'm sorry. As always, let's hope for a better tomorrow.

aliste @ 2008-11-07T13:35:00

2008-11-07T21:35:00Z

Okay, this article kind of made me well up. Which is a little bit awkward while at work. (Reading the Washington Post is actually part of my official duties, though, so at least I didn't need to hide that bit.)

I'm a big softie, though—I've been known to cry at certain TV commercials.

aliste @ 2008-11-05T08:33:00

2008-11-05T16:33:41Z

Damn it, Prop 8 supporters, you're harshing my Obama mellow.

WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-05T04:12:34Z

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that about sums it up. :D

I guess right now is one of the few times I regret not living in Chicago anymore. I bet they're gonna be having a good time there tonight. :D :D :D :D :D

EDIT: Florida too? SUCK IT, MCCAIN/PALIN!!!

waiting...

2008-11-04T21:33:12Z

Ahh, I'm all jumpy and cannot settle down and work (even though I still have to finish arranging this damn breakfast meeting for Friday) and it's not because of the double espresso and double chocolate bars I just downed. I voted weeks ago thanks to California's awesome "permanent vote-by-mail" option, and confirmed receipt of my ballot thanks to Santa Clara County's convenient tracker, so now I just want my election results. Happily for me, I suppose, I'm way out here on the west coast, so I only have to wait until about 3pm in my time zone to start seeing reports on polling sites closing.

I'm sure most all of you are going to have heaps of posts on your friends pages urging you to go out and vote. I'm not going to add my voice to that—I mean, I honestly do believe that your right to choose not to vote is as strong as your right to vote should be. I'm pretty excited and anxious about this one though. One thing I will say, Sarah Palin's tactic of campaigning on fear definitely worked on me, in the sense that I became deathly terrified at the idea that she might be a heartbeat away from the presidency. More than anything, I want her to be stopped. Oh my god, my loathing for her is so extreme that it kind of makes me forget that I don't actually like John McCain either.

So, we'll start seeing the payoff in just a few hours. Right now it's back to planning that breakfast...

aliste @ 2008-11-02T22:11:00

2008-11-03T06:12:00Z

Okay, I'm not trying to copy annarama :P , this is just something I've been thinking about. It's actually highly unlikely that we really will buy another game console, definitely not any time soon anyway, but still. I've been thinking about it.

Note that for purposes of this poll we are pretending that price is not a factor. Also, online gaming is not important to me (but I'm open to advocacy on that point).

View Poll: 7th-gen consoles

Feel free to elaborate in comments. Oh, and I didn't include the Wii since we already have one of those (as well as a PS2).

Now I think I need to go play a video game to shake off some lingering annoyance from work today. I had a conversation with a very negative customer, and I know that any retail establishment is going to have people criticizing its products, but it bugs me. I just don't understand why this guy wants to waste his time and mine coming into my store and deprecating the chips in our MacBook Pros. I mean, really, what kind of person takes pleasure in going into stores and telling the employees he doesn't intend to buy some item? Does that make him feel superior? Well, I wasn't impressed, especially since I later learned that he was actually wrong.

So now I get to feel superior, heh.

'night, all. See y'all tomorrow!