In Which I Show Many Projects, None Of Which Are Green

Happy Halloween, folks! I hope you did something fun. We watched a few horror movies this weekend, and tonight we went out for dinner (not that that has anything to do with Halloween), then we came home and handed out candy. (We had been vaguely planning to actually Go Out and Do Something this weekend, but... well, Zak is going away again soon, an we really just wanted to hang out with each other.) Zak carved a pumpkin in about 7 minutes flat (including scooping), and we dug out some "festive" clothes, applied black eyeliner.. it was fun. Right now I'm waiting to see if any more kids come, but I think... I think we bought too much candy. Oh well.

We gave out plastic eyeballs with the candy. Zak bought about 6 packages of them at the dollar store, and over the last week or two he has come up with all kinds of cool, funny things to do with them. I think we will be well prepared next Halloween. :)

Last night I was working on a knitting project that I had neglected recently, and I thought it might be fitting to tell you about some of my projects-in-progress, since this is, nominally, a knitting blog. These are only the ones that I'm actually working on. There are other things that have been started, but which are lying forgotten in some dusty project bag somewhere... poor souls.

I have to warn you: this post may be very ugly. I am still not so experienced with this sort of layout.

First, the one that wasn't getting much love lately. This is my version of Debbie Bliss' Lara, which I reworked so that it is almost totally seamless. There will be one seam down the center back, otherwise each half will be worked from the cuff to the center. The first half is finished, and I'm about 5 inches into the second sleeve.

I'm all tickled because I figured out how to knit this without a side seam. I love how this thing is turning out. Unfortunately, I have to knit it in cotton, because it's for my sister Shawn, and she can never know the love of wool. She is really and truly allergic to animal fibers. Poor Shawn doesn't get much knitting from me, sad to say. No matter how much I love her, knitting with cotton is just not my friend.


Next up is a vest I'm knitting for Zak, using Rowanspun DK. I love wearing my Goblin sweater so much, every time I wear it I wish he could feel the pleasure of wearing a garment knit from that yarn. I'm making this one up as I go. The details so far are a horseshoe cable down the center back, and seed stitch panels at the shoulders and down the fronts. There will also be some kind of cable running up each side under the armholes, and we'll see what else...


The project closest to competion is my beautiful, beautiful cardigan in the glorious Manos that Amy gave me for Christmas/birthday last year. I am a few inches from the bottom, then I just have to make button bands and block the thing. I really, really can't wait to wear this, I keep putting it on and thinking "surely I can just wear it at this length..."


Okay, so this one is mostly green right now. But it's not all green. And it will be less green soon. It's a top-down short-sleeved raglan thing from some Kureyon that has been knit, worn to death, and ripped. I have quite a lot of Kureyon that has been through this cycle, and I'm soon going to rip 2 more Kureyon sweaters, so I'll have even more. I can't really tell you how much I love Kureyon. The top bit is from the yoke of a jacket I really did wear to death, the bottom (just started a couple of inches ago) is from a vest. Sorry for the extra-triple-crappy photo, I'll take some better ones once there's more to see.


A couple of shawls have been languishing as well. Things have been so eventful lately, I've really just wanted stockinette projects to work on. There's Sivia's Diamond Fantasy Shawl, which I started in the summer using some Schaeffer Anne that Amy gave me. I really love this shawl, and I should get back to it! Maybe it'll be the thing to work on while Zak's away, and I have uninterrupted hours with no nice-smelling man to distract me.

Then there's the Birch I started a while ago, using still more beautiful yarn from Amy, which I coincidentally put down when the aforementioned Amy sent me the beautiful Birch she had knit me. Hm. Funny how that goes. I'll pick it up again soon, I still love it and want to finish it.

There's one more project on the go, but I think I'll leave that one for now. It's another reincarnated thing, I'm quite excited about it. For now, though, I'm going to go spend some time with Zak. He's been home for almost 3 months, and it has been much more than nice to have him around for so long. Thankfully, this is only a short trip (less than 2 weeks), but I'm going to miss him.

Euphoria

I still can't believe I got to see Bauhaus perform last night. I missed the "Resurrection" tour in 1998 (mostly because I live in a cave), and I never thought I'd have the opportunity to see them. So, even if the show had sucked, the thrill of seeing them onstage would have been worth the ticket price. Fortunately, the show didn't suck.

Actually, the show was incredible. I have been a Bauhaus fan since I was 16 or 17, so I knew all the songs that were performed, and am pretty familiar with their body of work. Seeing the live performance, however, gave me a new understanding of their music, and made it come together as a cohesive body of work in a way I hadn't previously grasped. Even songs I'm not always that engaged by when I listen to them on CD, were amazing last night. The songs I already loved had new beauty and depth (and did I mention how exciting it was to see these songs performed live??)

I had the address of the venue wrong, so we were about 20 minutes late, and arrived in the middle of "Burning form the Inside". A few songs after that, they played "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" (one of those that was unexpectedly beautiful live - I had never imagined that song sounding beautiful), followed by "Swing the Heartache" and "She's in Parties" (favourites that almost made me cry). Perhaps that was the high point for me. The band seemed to be having a great time, and was really responsve to the appreciative (to put it mildly) audience. Zak, who is not a Bauhaus fan at all, thought the show was amazing as well, and agreed that everyone put in a fantastic performance. I was really glad he had a good time. I hope I enjoy Judas Priest as much when we see them on Sunday.

In short; if you are or have ever been a Bauhaus fan, or are curious about Bauhaus, or... okay, if you like music at all, and if the tour is coming anywhere near your planet, I would strongly urge you to see the show. That is all. :)

Holy Crap - It's Knitting Content!

...But first things first: Happy anniversary, Honey!!!
Yesterday was our ninth anniversary. (As in, we've been together nine years, not married for nine years.) There was the traditional indulgence at a (new) favourite restaurant, and mushiness ensued.

And now, on to the knitting:

This is my recently completed pullover in Rowanspun DK, which shall henceforth be known as the Goblin Sweater. (Isn't that a perfect colour name? Goblin. I love Rowan colour names.) I actually did about 6 inches worth of waist shaping, but the yarn is so drapey, it doesn't look very fitted. I also did the waist shaping at 12 different points around the sweater, instead of just at the sides, so that the shape would be totally smooth, without an exaggerated curve.

I used a decrease scheme I haven't seen before. I did one two-stitch cable decrease every other row at each decrease point, which moved back and forth over the decrease line.

I adore this sweater beyond reason. There was much fussing at the end, lengthening it, messing around with the lower edge, blocking it twice (the first time I blocked it out too big)... but it was all worth it. I am completely happy with it now. I predict that we will have a long and happy future together, the three of us.... me, Zak, and my sweater.

Fun Fact About Me

I have a hard time writing anything when my life is in flux.

I bet you hadn't noticed, huh? That's really earth-shattering news. I had a moment, earlier tonight, when my mental planets were aligned correctly for writing (or something like that), but I used it on writing a very-long-overdue (3 months, to be exact) email to a friend. So instead of an entry, I leave you with a photo of scary food, taken at my favourite Vietnamese restaurant in calgary, taken long before I knew we were moving to Vancouver. (No significance to this photo, I just really like it. And I do miss the restaurant.)

Believe It Or Not

*sniffle. Snuffle.*
Yuck. There's some cold going around right now. I had it last week, and it's finally clearing up now. Zak started to get it, but a friend told us about this, which... holy shit, it actually works. (Am I the only one that's surprised when things actually do what they are supposed to do? When advertising doesn't lie?)

I have a finished sweater to show you. I even had Zak photograph it for me. In reviewing the photos, however, I realized that the steam-blocking I gave it effectively obliterated the 6 inches of waist shaping. I have the thing wet-blocking now, which promises to make it even softer and more irresistible than it already is, so... photos of that soon.

In the mean time, here's the delicious shawl Amy made for me. Glorious, yes? And... enormous? Definitely yes.

This shawl is proving to be very easy to wear. It is very light and malleable, and it is big enough to wrap in many different ways. It sheds a bit, but not much, and it tends to stay put once it's wrapped. I think I will wear it most as a scarf. It looks pretty strange and spectacular that way.

I realize the layout of this entry, with the photos all shoved in at the bottom, is not so nice. This is the best I have been able to do so far; otherwise, blocks of text get shoved into the sidebar. I'm going to have to learn more about HTML, specifically about the unfamiliar bits in the photo-insertion blocks of text Blogger gives you, so that I can have a bit more control over this. I miss Moveable type.

I love the last shot, with the Rammstein guys peeking out from behind the delicate lace. I'm easily amused.