Married!

I'm back at last from a wonderful week with my family, a weekend of insanity and joy and, well, marriage, and a five-day cruise to Mexico and back. You can see three pictures so far that Christine/BigPinkCookie/PointySticks has released to the world.

I was typing up a post on the Ravelry wedding planning board about everything that went wrong and everything that was unusual and everything that went really well, when I realized that my blog was probably a better place for this nearly full-length novel than the Ravelry forums. So if you are completely uninterested in wedding stuff you should probably skip to the next blog on your feed reader, because there aren't even any pictures here. Well, except this one of the queso fountain.


It's something you actually can pull off if you're serving TexMex at your wedding, it turns out. I think my caterer may be the first one to think of it, so you saw it first here. Any standard chocolate fountain can be converted to a queso fountain, but hint: puree the rotel.

Ok, here's the scoop:

First piece of advice: make up a schedule for all the wedding events and a map with all the relevant locations. Out of our rather large wedding party, only three people were even remotely familiar with the town where we held the wedding. I sent a schedule to the bridesmaids in an overly wordy email. Not so easy to print out and carry around. And I sent it to Dave so he could consider sending something similar to his guys, but he never took the time to read it.

Second piece of advice: if you ask someone, say an FSIL, to be a bridesmaid so you can get to know her better, make an effort to actually include her with the bridesmaids activities during the weekend. Do not forget about her in favor of more talkative people you know better. This is something I'm really upset with myself for doing. Somehow she didn't even find out where the bridesmaids were getting ready and was completely left out of that. If I could go back in time I don't think I would have asked her at all. I think she would have enjoyed herself more as the best man's date than as one of the bridesmaids. But I really should have worked harder to include her.

First triumph: our amazing friends, along with some amazing relatives and some amazing friends of my parents, managed to set everything up at our reception site in less than two hours and everything was completely stunning. I hope you are all lucky enough to have willing and able friends like ours.

First hiccup: not having anybody call FSIL to tell her where the bridesmaids were getting ready, but we covered that already

Second hiccup: forgetting the beautiful heirloom handkerchief that MIL gave me, which had once been Dave's christening bonnet.

Third and biggest hiccup, with some advice: forgetting to get everything set on the ipods (one for ceremony, one for reception) before I even left home a week before the wedding. One of the ipods didn't have any of the wedding music on it at all, so I spent a lot of extra time on the day of my wedding trying to get the d*mn ipod synced so we'd have music at the reception. Then, when we got to the church, it turned out I didn't actually have all my ceremony music.

Let me just say a word about my ceremony music. My father is a musician, and he wrote a song for me when my mom was pregnant, and named it Elizabeth Jeanne (just like me). This was to be my processional. There are two recordings of this song, one very casual which he did for a cd he sells at his gigs, and one more elegant version he recorded just for my wedding. Guess what wasn't on the ipod? The second one. The other was there because it was on the reception playlist, so we made do with the other and nobody knew the difference. Dad was a little upset because he'd put so much effort into the pretty version, but he got many compliments on the song and I think that helped. (I had, of course, put a very sweet summary of the song in the program to make sure everybody else was crying too)

But if you decide to self-dj, make sure you have all the music right!

Second triumph: we wanted to do our pictures before the ceremony, but we got started a bit late. Our church doesn't have any good ways of entering or exiting without everybody seeing. So just about the whole wedding party, plus a good chunk of family, was at the church before I even got there, and Christine the WonderPhotographer had to convince everybody to leave the marginally comfortable seats of the air conditioned church to go outside. We did this so that when Dave and I saw each other for the first time, it would just be us and the photographer and not fifty other chattering people. But it meant that pretty much the whole world saw me outside the church before I got to go in. Still, our quiet time in the church was very nice.

Then we let everybody else in so we could take pictures, and pretty much everybody came in. Including all the guests, pretty much. And there I was, not cloistered away like brides are supposed to be, but up in front of everybody. I wound up seeing some old friends who'd traveled for the wedding and went to go mingle. I know not every bride would be willing to skip the big reveal, but I am SO glad I got to talk to people before the ceremony. There were quite a few guests I wouldn't have been able to spend any time with at all had I not been out there in front of everybody.

Fourth hiccup: We got married. It was awesome. We went outside. It started to rain. It rained for a half an hour--the entire time needed for everybody to move from the ceremony to the reception. Thanks, weather, that was super brilliant. Also: if you're going to dye your shoes to be your something blue, SCOTCH GUARD. I didn't think of it till today, but it would have saved the dye from running. My shoes look pretty awful now.

Third and biggest triumph: Ninja Attack! Because there was only food and no dancing, pretty much everybody split after cake. By the time Dave and I were ready to go, only the wedding party was left to shower us with flower petals or whatever, or to catch the garter and bouquet. We decided to just go ahead and leave, and handed out our special showering apparati: Ninja Attack!



We'd only gotten enough for the wedding party but since that was pretty much everybody who was still there, they all got 'em. I think those pictures are going to come out really well. And after Dave and I had run the gauntlet, he turned around and threw my garter, secretly removed so they wouldn't suspect anything, at the group of guys. Surprise!

Well, in my list the hiccups outnumber the triumphs but really the triumphs far overshadow any problems we had. The food was great, and I think everybody had a great time. Plus Dave and I couldn't be happier together. So, yay!

If you ask nicely maybe I'll pick out some good honeymoon pictures to post.

I made yarn!

Because I SO need a new hobby right now, with the wedding going on and the dissertation and all.


I took a class through the local Parks board, which was run at the LYS. There was only one other student in the class, and we had a pretty good time. I'm still getting the hang of things, but my yarn so far does not look too hideous. I think I've settled at a mostly-consistent heavy worsted weight, but that's just me eyeballing it.


(Isn't my spindle pretty?)

Dave's afghan is moving shockingly fast. I cast on for the fourth block today. Here's Section C, a neat scale-like motif.


And to continue the "things Liz has made out of natural-colored wool" motif, this week I finally attached my veil to the comb. I had my hair trial yesterday (where we tested out my desired hairdo) and here's how the two look together:




24 days till I get to wear all that stuff again!

Update-o-Rama

As you may or may not have noticed, it's been a long time since I updated. I've been really busy, and my rechargeable batteries gave up the ghost so I couldn't post pictures anymore. So here's what's going on with me.

1) The wedding is a month away! I have a long to-do list but most everything is minor. It's been coming together very well and I'm really looking forward to the big day and being MARRIED! And I got a really cute bathing suit for the honeymoon cruise, so that's taken care of.

2) School stuff is coming along slowly but surely. Nothing interesting to say on that subject, though.

3) Dave is, by far, the best roommate I've ever had. And I've had a lot of roommates, some very good and some very bad. And he's definitely the cutest.

4) The Ivy League Vest is very nearly done. I mean, I am very very close to being done. But it's been in the 80s here, so I'm unmotivated again. I hear there's a cold front coming in this weekend, though, so maybe I'll try to finish it.

Here's what it looked like just before steeking:


I'll have modeled FO shots soon.

5) Because I am a madwoman, I decided to knit little purses for my five bridesmaids. I have the knitting done on 4.5, but haven't done any finishing at all. Well, that's not true, I think I wove in 2 ends. Here are the bags. They're all done in the same linen yarn.











6) Because there's only so much blue linen a girl can stand, I made a pink burp cloth for a friend's baby. I am calling this project "good enough to puke on."


7) In anticipation of finally being done with the bags, I cast on for an afghan for Dave. This is the Sampler Afghan from Cables Untangled, and you knit 26 patches of different sizes, sew them all up, and then knit on a border. This is a marathon project, but I'm loving it so far. I'm using Knitpicks Bare Superwash Merino worsted weight, so it's white and soft and cuddly.

Been so busy!

I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas and a great New Year. And I hope that your new year continues to be great.

As the post title says, I have been sooooo busy. My grad school career has gotten to the point where all I really need to do is write my dissertation, and I don't really need to show up on campus every day. So Dave and I have upgraded from a medium distance relationship (1.5 hour drive each way) and we moved in together. In just three months we'll be married, and we wanted to get all the crazy moving stuff out of the way before the crazy wedding stuff happened.

So, how about a tour? You walk in the front door and the living room is on your left. There you see the couch that gives our apartment its name, Orange Couch Land.


On your right is the dining room and the closet that I guess is supposed to be a kitchen. I mean, there's a fridge and a range and a sink in there, but not much else. Some freshly baked cookies are cooling on the table. That's Dave's doing. The man can really bake!


As we go down the hall we pass the 1.5 baths. I didn't take any pictures of the bathrooms, but it's kind of a funny layout. The first bathroom is a tiny sink and toilet, with a door to the second bathroom which has a tiny sink, a toilet, a tiny cabinet over the toilet, and a shower. Having them connected has been pretty convenient, though. It means you can put the extra toilet paper in just one bathroom and you don't have to go running across the apartment to get it for the other bathroom. It also means that if the shower has steamed up one mirror you can use the other bathroom to do your hair and makeup.

Anyway, here's the bedroom.


And, my favorite, the "study." Dave is hard at work, but most of the books in here are mine.


Here's the other side of the study. More of my books (all the knitting ones are on the bottom shelf) and a futon for overnight guests.


Back in the living room, this shot contains some of our favorite things in the new apartment. There's Banjo, my wooden drawing figure; a really sweet lamp that I've had for ages but could never find the right size lightbulbs for; and Dave's new rapier. Some friends and I got him that for Christmas. It's very nice, but I don't think Banjo likes it much.


I have an FO to show you but I think I'll wait until I've presented it to the recipient. Here are my works in progress.


A Coriolis Sock from New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I love the way this thing looks, but I'm gonna have to frog it I think. It's too small for my feet, and I don't know anybody with smaller feet that I'd want to give such cool socks to.


And here's a swatch for my new Fair Isle. These are six natural Shetland sheep colors. I've always wanted to knit FI using only natural colors because I think they're just gorgeous. To think that there are sheep running around in so many beautiful colors! These will become a very subtle, earthy version of the Ivy League Vest from IK Winter 2007. Yum.

So many socks and sweaters

My little ornaments are getting popular! Several people on Ravelry have posted projects. Wild Tomato made a bunch and had the funniest blog post about them. And yesterday I made it onto Lime and Violet's Daily Chum!

I've been making so many, and they'll soon start leaving, so last week I took some time and made a Flickr gallery. With the exception of two stripey socks, all of these are plain stockinette with no fancy techniques. Imagine what you could do with a little color work or cables. I'll have to try it next year.

I am hard at work on the socks for Dave's mom. I took pictures on Thursday and I was this far along:


By the time I went to bed Friday I'd gotten over half of the second foot done, but I wasn't able to work on them at all over the weekend. I need to get these done tonight so I can mail them off tomorrow, and I think it's perfectly doable.

I love the way the star toe looks, but I don't know if it'll be as comfortable because the purls make a ridge on the inside. Anybody have any experience wearing these socks?

The state of my Christmas

Christmas is coming. Are you ready? I... might be.

I've got my tree up now, and I seem to have just the right number of tiny socks and sweaters for the two sides that face the room. I'd like to cover the rest of the tree if I can, but I'm happy with the state of things so far.


Many thanks to my mom and Noricum for donating sock yarn scraps. I think I am set. Noricum sent me yarn all the way from Canada! In return, I'll be sending some her way that she can use in her beautiful sock yarn blanket. There are quite a few balls of varying sizes, but the smallest one was also my favorite. And just enough for a sock.


Any idea what this one is? It's so pretty!

Last year I wrapped garland around the balcony rail, but it didn't seem worth the effort this year. On December 26 Dave and I are moving into a new apartment together. I have gotten to the point in my academic career where I do not need to be on campus more than once a week, so I'm moving to his town an hour and a half away. It's been two and a half years since we lived in the same town, and I am really looking forward to seeing him every day.

But anyway, it didn't seem like I should put forth all the effort to put garland up outside, but I didn't want to just keep it in the box, so I got out one piece and draped it over my bookshelf. Festive, no?


I've helpfully labeled each section over on the flickr page, if you want any insight into my library.

As for gifts? I have two completed pairs of socks to give away. But the gifts I most wanted to finish are giving me fits.

I was going to make Dave an afghan. Over Thanksgiving he decided he wanted color work, so we picked out a second color and... it is backordered. Until December 21. Gonna have to think of something else.

I've been working on Tom's Comet Gauntlets on and off. Over Thanksgiving I got the hand done and knit the first finger, then stopped so Tom would have something to try on. The danged thing is way, way too small in the wrist. Still. Even after I frogged like halfway down the arm and reknit it, leaving out the final six decreases. This thing is going to need major surgery, and I am Not In The Mood. Any ideas what to get a seventeen year old boy who really would've liked a pair of knit gloves for Christmas?


With the failure of these two projects, I decided to go ahead and make a pair of socks for Dave's mom. This project had been on the back burner because I really wanted to do the other two, but since I was not destined to make either of those boys anything I decided to turn my attentions to something I already knew how to do and already had the yarn for. And I'd use a real pattern instead of writing one, because I have had enough of designing for a little while.


These are the Embossed Leaves socks from Favorite Socks, and I love them so. The pattern is relatively easy and the yarn is soft and lovely. I am so much happier knitting these than I was struggling with the gauntlets. The gauntlets will happen, for Tom's August birthday at the latest, but for now I am content to relax and let somebody else do the thinking for me.

The sweater it wanted to be

Before I show you how my cardigan turned out, let's review.

This yarn began its life intended for the Origami Cardi from IK Summer '07, but I was having Gauge Issues and decided that I didn't want something that weird and boxy and bobbled after all.

In this post I showed you how the back, which was supposed to be one Liz wide, turned out to be nearly one Liz long. So it got frogged and I started turning it into the Equestrian Blazer. I'm still too traumatized by all the problems I had there, so I won't recap in too much detail, but all the entries are here.

So I started working on a version of Glampyre's Minisweater and modified it almost into oblivion. I didn't post much about the knitting because it wasn't nearly as interesting as the other stuff I've been working on.

I finished knitting it the Monday before Thanksgiving and washed and blocked it right away so that I'd be able to wear it in my future BIL's freezing house in Oklahoma. But when it was time to leave on Tuesday, it still wasn't dry! What to do?

Bring the blocking with you, of course.


The sweater, pinned to the blocking board, resting in the back seat of my car. (I really hate how the picture came out so blurry but you can still see all those dings in my door!)

I'd bought some nice metal buttons but they were too big for the button holes, so Wednesday morning before Dave and I left his apartment for his brother's house I stopped at Hobby Lobby and found some buttons that made my geeky heart sing for joy.


Having done some checking, this turns out to be a pretty inaccurate reproduction of several different German coins, but heck, I'm a historian, not a coin collector. The Vereinsthaler was the coin used by the German trade confederation in the 1850s and 1860s, and after the birth of the German empire in 1871 (see the year on the coin?) it was used to represent three marks, or so Wikipedia tells me. "Ein Pfund Fein" means "one pound exactly."

At FBIL's, when the sweater was finally dry and I sat down to sew on the buttons, I realized that I'd left the yarn at home, so I made due and sewed them on with some of the green sock yarn, which is probably not going to last very long as the knots keep slipping. You can actually see a bit peeking out from behind that button.

With the buttons on and everything finally ready, the yarn had finally become the sweater it wanted to be. I love it so!


The Specs
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Spruce
Pattern: Minisweater/Boobholder
Mods: I think the only thing I didn't change was the cast on numbers and the raglan increases. I changed the rate of neckline increases and made it a full-sized sweater with waist shaping and 3/4 sleeves. Oh, and as a somewhat tall girl, these are my first ever actual 3/4 length sleeves: they actually hit where they're supposed to, instead of right at the elbow! I love knitting.

It may not be too obvious in these pictures, but I knit the garter edging at the hems on sideways rather than normally. I think it's a nice touch.


I heart my new sweater!

Tiny sweater: with pattern!

This will take you a bit longer than the little sock, but the sweater is rather charming. As always, if you knit this and find any errors or weirdness in the pattern, please tell me!

(updated 12/15, and I'll continue to fix problems as people report them to me, so check back and make sure you've got the best version before casting on!)


CO 24 sts and join to knit in the round. Knit 2 rows in k1, p1 ribbing. Knit 10 rows in st st and set aside.

Sleeves: CO 10 sts and join to knit in the round. Knit 1 row in k1, p1 ribbing. Knit 14 rows in st st.

Now, since I knit my sweaters on 2 circs I think of the front and back of the sweater as separate entities. Each round starts on one "shoulder" and the midway point is opposite that on the other shoulder.

Choose a sleeve to start with, and knit the first four stitches. Knit the next stitch together with a body stitch. Knit 10 body stitches, knit the last body stitch together tbl with the first stitch of the other sleeve, knit the remaining 4 sleeve stitches. Repeat for the other side of the sweater: k4, k2tog, k10, k2tog tbl, k4.

The yoke decreases will work like this: every row will contain four decreases, one at each side of each armpit. On even rows, the decreases will “eat” body stitches, and on odd rows, the decreases will eat sleeve stitches. Still with me?
Yoke row 2: knit 4 sleeve sts, ssk, knit 8 body stitches, k2tog, knit 4 sleeve sts, repeat for other side
Yoke row 3: knit 3 sleeve sts, k2tog, knit 8 body stitches, ssk, knit 3 sleeve sts, repeat for other side
Yoke row 4: knit 3 sleeve sts, ssk, knit 6 body stitches, k2tog, knit 3 sleeve sts, repeat for other side

(you may want to pause here to sew up the underarms before the neck hole gets too small)

Yoke row 5: knit 2 sleeve sts, k2tog, knit 6 body stitches, ssk, knit 2 sleeve sts, repeat for other side
Yoke row 6: knit 2 sleeve sts, ssk, knit 4 body stitches, k2tog, knit 2 sleeve sts, repeat for other side
Yoke row 7: knit 1 sleeve st, k2tog, knit 4 body stitches, ssk, knit 1 sleeve st, repeat for other side

Collar: 1x1 rib for 1 row, BO in patt. Weave in all ends.

I'm making these from sock yarn on US 1s, and as you can see the latest one has about a 4" wingspan.



In order to get stuff all lined up on Ravelry they want me to give them my real last name. But it's a secret! What to do?

The madness continues

I can't stop. And I've branched out a little.


Meet Banjo the Wood Boy, my drawing figure. He's holding the three socks from last post on his left arm and two new socks on his right arm. And I made him a Santa hat.


Yes, in fact, I have become a little obsessed with tiny things. Why do you ask?


Check out the improved version of the mini sweater. I decided to leave the letter off because the attitude really says it all. (The truth is, I pinned that arm down because the arms were just sticking out way too far. I'll have to figure out a way to improve on that for the later versions.)

The bad thing is, I'm running out of sock yarn. I could have a tree full of identical ornaments, but the color palette is neither Christmasy enough nor random enough. So I have a proposal for those of you reading this who go to my SnB. Can I have some of your leftovers? If you bring me some on Thursday, I'll make two socks--one for you, and one for my tree. If I can. If not I will probably fill the void left by your lack of a tiny sock with some chocolate or maybe a candy cane. Sound like a deal?

Rockin' the macro setting

Having finally discovered the macro setting, I have a lot of tiny things to show you! (And a pattern at the end!)


I made this Little Coriolis sock like a month ago but never took a picture. It's really cute, and I can't wait to try the pattern on a human-sized sock.


I will be hanging this Mini Weasley Sweater from Charmed Knits on my tree. The M is for "Macro Setting." Not really, Dave and I both have last names starting with M so I can either keep it for us or give it to my parents.

I would like to take a moment to say that while I think this sweater is seriously adorable, this is probably the stupidest pattern I've ever knit. I probably brought a little of the grief upon myself by doing it in sock yarn and 1s instead of DK weight yarn and 5s, but still. This tiny sweater ornament is constructed in exactly the same way as the real Weasley sweater: knit a back, knit a front with neck shaping, pick up stitches for a flat sleeve on either side, sew side seams, pick up and knit collar stitches, embroider the M. It was a lot of work for something I won't even see the inside of again. I did tiny mattress stitch! I kind of like the result, but if I decide to make any more they will be seamless raglans. I spent an hour doing one sleeve and sleeve/side seam. Life's too short.

Anyway!


This trio of tiny socks is the start of my Christmas ornaments for the year. The goal is to fill up my entire tree with tiny socks, and then give them away. Regular readers may note that generally I have been giving them away *before* putting them on the tree. But I think these three will stick around until Christmas.

I've been promising to post the pattern for a while, so here goes.

Cast on 16 stitches, leaving a generous tail (6" at least). Divide stitches onto two circular needles and join for knitting in the round. Knit three rows in 1x1 ribbing. Switch to st st and knit about 12 rows.

I like to have my heel centered over the back "seam" (it makes the CO tail in just the right place for hanging), so knit the next four stitches and transfer these four, plus the four just before them, onto one needle. Leave the other 8 on a separate needle. The two striped socks have slip stitch heels, but I've decided I don't like that as much, so knit 8 rows in st st, ending with a RS row. Are you ready for the fastest heel turn ever?

P4, p2tog, p1, turn
sl1, k1, ssk, k1, turn
sl1, p2, p2tog, turn
sl1, k2, ssk

Pick up five stitches along each side of the heel flap and rearrange your needles so that the round starts at the bottom of the heel. On the next round, k5, k2tog, k8, ssk, k5. Knit one round plain. Then k4, k2tog, k8, ssk, k4. Knit another plain round. Then k3, k2tog, k8, ssk, k3. You'll have 16 stitches again.

Knit the foot plain for several rounds. I like having about 15 total rounds from gusset pickup to toe decreases. For the toe, *k2, k2tog, ssk, k2* twice. Knit a round plain. *k1, k2tog, ssk, k1* twice. Now rearrange the needles so that the top of the foot has four stitches on one needle and the sole stitches are all on the other, and knit two stitches so your yarn is in prime kitchenering position. Graft the stitches together, hide the yarn end inside the sock, and cut it so it doesn't try to pop out.

Now comes the part where you convert your tiny sock into a tiny sock ornament. Cut a length of yarn just over twice as long as your cast on tail. Using your darning needle, thread it into a stitch near the co tail. When you have the yarn about halfway through (so two equal pieces of yarn, about equal to the co tail, are also hanging off the back of the sock), braid the three strands together. When you are nearly to the end of your braid knot it, and use one of the loose pieces to sew the end of the braid into the inside of the sock, two or three rows down. Ta-da!

Life interrupts Halloween

My Halloween did not go as expected. The Plan was to wear the Luna earrings to class, then hang out for a bit showing them off and studying, and then come home to help my family with the trick or treaters (their neighborhood is quite the hub). I had a dress fitting scheduled for this morning at 10am.

First, I woke up late, but not so late that I wouldn't make it to class. I had stayed up till 3 the night before, grading and procrastinating the grading. The phone was what actually got me out of bed. It was Dad, calling from the hospital to say that Mom had appendicitis and they were going to have to operate.

And that was when I knew, Halloween was not going to be quite so awesome this year.

Class didn't go smoothly for me, the TA, but that is a slightly duller story. It involved me tripping in front of the class. I did wear the Luna earrings, with a gray sweater and a black skirt which I thought sort of resembled an undercover Hogwarts uniform.

I headed down to Galveston, where my parents live, a little before noon and got there a little before one. Mom's appendectomy started just before 11, but the hospital took its sweet time in getting her from recovery to her actual hospital bed, so she was still in the surgery area when I got there just after 2 (Dad said they didn't need me just then, so I took a nap at their house). To give a little more information, she had gone home sick on Tuesday, thinking she just had some minor intestinal issues, but it kept getting worse so after midnight she and Dad went to the ER. She works at this hospital and knows a lot of people, so she gets pretty good treatment, but they're still pretty slow. Dad's glad that her surgery was done by the day staff, though. Everyone keeps asking, so they didn't do it laproscopically, or however you spell that. The surgeon she got was highly skilled and respected, and he doesn't like it, so he just went in the normal way.

Dad and I hung out with her for a few hours, and then I stayed there and Dad went home to pick up my brother and deal with the trick or treaters. His totally sweet setup for scaring children and dispensing of candy involved a few tealights on the stoop which my brother didn't see, so he caught his enormous baggy pants on fire. I was on the phone with Dad at the time and heard Tom say "why am I on fire?" Dad put it out with his "spooky" black gloves, now also singed, and there's about a 5" hole in one leg of Tom's pants.

Mom was very sensitive to the drugs they had her on, so she pretty much slept all day yesterday. I brought her some little satyr horns so she'd have a costume, but she couldn't keep them on very well so we gave up. It was pretty funny when the nurse noticed, though. I got a bunch of knitting done.

I got home at 9. Dad had been out of candy for an hour and a half (they never, ever have enough, so I'm glad I stole some candy corn before going to the hospital). I got into costume anyway so I'd at least have some pictures. The robe is my Dad's from when he got his master's, and the "wand" is one of Mom's long cooking chopsticks.


Mom was much better today, and she'll be discharged this evening. But this recovery will not be quick. So we could use some vibes. The dress fitting went pretty well, but I have no new pictures for me. She did give me the leftover scraps including the still-intact bodice. Tomorrow when the light is better and my batteries are charged I'll try to get you a closeup of the material.

I'll close with a bit more Luna.

Dirigible Plums

I'm dressing up as Luna Lovegood for Halloween. I've got the scarf, and now I have the earrings.

Luna was wearing what looked like a pair of orange radishes for earrings, a fact that Parvati and Lavender seemed to have noticed, as they were both giggling and pointing at her earlobes.

"You can laugh!" Luna said, her voice rising, apparently under the impression that Parvati and Lavender were laughing at what she had said rather than what she was wearing. "But people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"

"Well, they were right, weren't they?" said Hermione impatiently. There weren't any such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

Luna gave her a withering look and flounced away, radishes swinging madly.

-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I forgot to include something in the picture for scale, but they're about an inch and a quarter tall and 3/4 of an inch wide.

I didn't have any exclusively orange yarn, so I cut the orange stretches out of my Yarn Pirate Punkin Head yarn. Each radish took two orange stretches, a bit of white undyed knitpicks, and the leaves are from leftovers of those socks I just finished.

Sundries

I find it a little ironic that just after I started acquiring a pretty decent readership to this blog, I suddenly became unable to maintain regular blogging habits. Part of me hopes that you are all reading this through bloglines so you don't waste a lot of time each day clicking through favorites, only to see that once again, Liz has not updated. I used to do that before I found bloglines, and the one that sticks out most is Eunny's blog, which dropped off around the same time that I started reading it. (hope that wasn't my fault!)

Anyway, here is a brief update on where we stand with the wedding plans.
-The cake has been arranged and is going to be delicious
-The rehearsal dinner has nearly been arranged and is going to be delicious
-The flowers have been arranged and are going to be beautiful. We're using blue and white hydrangeas--white for me with a little blue, and blue for the bridesmaids. I showed the florist my veil and he immediately pulled out some Queen Anne's Lace, which will pop out of the hydrangea bouquets in a most attractive way.
-The dress. I am so excited about the dress! When my grandparents got married in 1948 my grandmother wore this dress.


My aunt wore it, then my mother wore it, and then my uncle's wife wore it. And as much as I loved the idea of being the fifth bride in my family to wear such a special dress, I could not get past that shoulder ruffle and the giant butt bow, not shown.

To make a long story short, we're taking apart that enormous skirt and turning it into another dress entirely. I had my second fitting last week and have the third on Thursday, and it's coming together beautifully. I may post pictures later, provided my fiance will agree not to look. It's not the bad luck aspect I'm worried about, it's the ruined surprise.

I have been knitting, too! Those Christmas socks are done.


Yarn: Claudia Handpainted in DF Green
Needles: US 1
Pattern: nothin special in the toe and foot, Baudelaire heel, 3x1 ribbing in the cuff.

I still need to give these a vinegar bath so they don't bleed on the recipient's feet. I think he's going to love them, though.

Much progress has been made on the cardigan front, and I am working on the bottom of the sweater right now. I am making things more complicated than they need to be, but I think the final result will be worthwhile. I couldn't get a good picture, though, so you will have to wait. I haven't knit on the gauntlets at all, but anticipate picking those up as soon as the cardi sleeves get boring.

Something for me

My Christmas knitting list is very ambitious this year, but it is on hold for now because dangit, I want a cardigan!

The Equestrian Blazer has been frogged once and for all and is now on its way to becoming something else entirely:



A top-down, raglan sleeve cardigan that may slightly resemble the Glampyre Minisweater, but without the ruffled edge or the puffed sleeves and regular-cardigan length. Basically the only resemblance will be in the cast-on numbers, the garter edges, and the neckline (but that's got mods of its own). So far I'm a lot happier with this than I was with the first two renditions of this yarn. Will the third time be the charm?

I should also say that Ravelry was a huge help here. I would not make a sweater like the one in the Glampyre pattern. But if you look up the dozens of Minisweaters on Ravelry, many people have omitted the puffed sleeves and the edging doesn't appear at all. I certainly won't be the first one to make it full length, either. And I noticed that the less busty girls wound up having to put two buttons on (think double-breasted jackets) because the increases were too much, so I modified the neckline increases for a sweater more suited to my smaller chest.

Tom's gauntlets are looking more awesome, but are slightly stalled because he wants the arms two inches longer than they came out, so I'll need to modify the pattern some to add two inches worth of swirly comet tail.