Oh this little oyster, she's got nothing to hide

Sold a piece at the LYS, and got $200 worth of Malabrigo in trade. Started a project with that in Black and Sealing Wax (a lovely shade of red).
Its really great to be able to knit and not feel guilty about blowing off school work to do it.
(Oh by the way, I'm taking a hiatus from school! News flash!)

Recently started back up on the video game circuit with my poison of choice (which shall remain nameless), and working back at my uncle's trucking company as head dispatch and dabbling in sales. The money is great, despite the economy being...well, what it is at the moment. Plus Mum and Gary sold the old house, so it looks like I'll be moving. Again!

Life is full of changes and shifts, all of which are inspiring and welcome. I am enjoying this opportunity to make time for myself, and get myself standing on my own two feet again.

The Twin Peaks inspired sweater designs are coming along nicely, too!

I want spinning lessons, and to improve my craft from the ground up. I should focus on mastering new techniques after I complete a few more projects. The Sweater of Destiny is on hold until I can afford to order more of the requisite yarn.

Carl's Big Damn Hero hat came out fantastic, and from what I understand, he wears it regularly, since Kuwait is chilly this time of year. He tells me that camels are brownish in color and very unpleasant. And that they cannot paint the tanks because it would violate their warranty.

This seems... odd. Given that they are Green. And in the middle of a desert.
The camels seem to have a leg up in that department.

Keep your figgy pudding, that shit is gross

New Job = tolerable, and occasionally fulfilling. Also, paychecks!

The holiday was VERY busy. Amanda got hitched, and I drove 200 miles in 2 days.
I am in love with indexed in other news.

Recent Knit Objects:
Carl's Jayne Cobb Hat
Fetching Gloves for Mum
Fetching Gloves for Me
Fetching Gloves for Rachael

Pictures shall happen, probably.
Also, I have a new tattoo to hide from my family! It is big enough that this will be challenging. Pictures also on that front (or in this case, back) soon.

Moving this weekend. Bryan is helping! Thank goodness.

I'm a mountain / I'm a mountain like you said to be.

Chaos. Vertigo. A serious case of nerves.

These are things I have had for weeks.
Deep rumblings in life.

I am changing jobs --- back to truck dispatch for more cash, better hours, more consistent pay, and a chance to work with my family again. Excitement! My last Dynamic Day is the Twelfth of December. Also, l'anniversaire de Maman. Bon Anniversaire, Ma!

Things with the Cowboy look like they are coming to a sad, but probably necessary close.

The sweater of destiny is on hold. The Twin Peaks knitting projects are coming together nicely.

I'm moving out of the apartment, and back to Mum's house for mostly monetary and scholastic reasons.

Life is crazy. But hey. I have a spinning wheel named "Sgt. Hannah" and will be the recipient of a new tattoo shortly. Also? Piercings! Woo hoo!

In other news, I have been oscillating between being socially phobic, and desperately needing the company of others. This makes everyone around me angry and insane.

Mostly? I'm trying to do what's right. Sometimes, a girl really needs someone, anyone, to give her a damn break.

Ain't We Just!

Vacation was this weekend. Pictures and stories will come this evening. YAY. Also, a super awesome gift from Sergeant Carl arrived in the mail! Holy cow. I will document the crap out of it.

Connor's Sweater of Destiny is coming along nicely. I go from really liking the Fisherman's wool (it is as though it WANTS to be knit. It *likes* being knit!) to wondering if it isn't too plain. Perhaps some intarsia across the chest and upper arms will keep me satisfied. I need more yarn. I need more money. Like, whoa.

In other news:


Sweet Son of a Crazy Witch Named Stella -- BARACK OBAMA WON!!!!!! I cannot stress how awesome I believe this is. I have never voted for someone who won the presidential race. Moreover, I am strongly convinced that he is going to do Things That Must Be Done. /endpatriotism

Holidays are coming. I got my JingleBall Swap partner from the knittyboards. My deadline for mailing is November 17, so I have to keep this on my radar. Sgt. Carl's present is going to make finals, comps, and working the projected 70 hour weeks that are upcoming in December challenging. More later. Work = now!

Yay! Illness!

I've been sick, the last two days. It has been awesome.

Since last we spoke, dear bloglet, I have done the following:

Renamed the Ruby socks:to World Series Socks. Because they are red, and Philadelphia has finally won something! They look like this (See Right)












I turn a mean heel. It's true! Lookit!













I have also started Connor's sweater. He has named it the "Sweater of Destiny". Mostly, it is a modification of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Seamless Hybrid sweater (from Knitting Without Tears). It will probably end up having an obnoxious manly shawl collar (a la "Piers" from Rowan's Vintage Style pattern book) and some sort of wintery motif (I'm thinking trees? Reindeer?) across the super-manly chest. Note the strong, masculine language. Yeah. That's for Connor.

I cast on 180 stitches of Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool and knit for an hour and a half while watching the BBC Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988) (My favorite movie). I've done about an hour today on it and here's what's finished so far:

I think Connor is going to like it. This will be my first sweater project in a while. I'm pretty psyched. Also, design plans are in the works for Sergeant Carl's Jayne Cobb Hat. Woo. I'm a machine, despite my crippling stomach pain!
Fear me.

I am the girl anachronism

Dear self,
Don't be such a jerk.
Seriously. You are a pretty gentle person the vast majority of the time, but you have these moments when you are so insensitive! Knock it off.

Also? No more using other people's sweater patterns. Unless they're vintage, and you've fact-checked them. Because there is just not a market out there for hand knit items in 36/25/47. You will only end up frustrated, disappointed, and tearful if you think that any pattern in a book someone managed to SELL to people will lend itself to your freakish freakish figure. Elizabeth Zimmerman will save you. That and your crazy math skills, eye for creative texture-work, and a set of US size 6 aluminum circular Addi turbos in various lengths. Or some of those needles from Knit Picks. How I covet them.

Discouragedly yours,
-Self.

In other news, I have the basic motif worked out for the first of the Twin Peaks sweater series:
and I'm working on getting the proportions between the waist/hip ribbing and the bodice. It needs to drape correctly, which I know can be hard to manage with fair isle, since it alters the tension so dramatically. I'll have to work up a nice-sized swatch to make sure it works. I'm also not sure about yarn choice. I'll get on knittersreview, and see what happens. Mull it over.

Somebody out there loves me.

Holy. Crap.
The APA (of which I am dues paying member) dedicated this issue to philosophy and knitting. I am currently printing ALL of it. Totally. Effin'. Sweet.

In other news, it is cold again today at work, and I am still wearing my pajamas (sweatpants, tee-shirt, sweatshirt). I want cinnamon toast pretty badly, and have to focus on papers this week instead of knitting. Anti-thrills, and drudgery. Reward? Spooky Symposium on Friday, and the annual Galloway All Hallows' Eve Gathering on Saturday. Thinking about a secondary costume to go with their theme --- seance and divination. Apparently, these things require more duct tape than Adam was counting on, which is a very interesting thought, indeed.
So! Secondary Costume: Bettie Page? A Gypsy? Something less 1983 than Jem? We shall see.

Green Eyed Lady

I've chosen the yarn for the Knitty Thrum-a-long I'm trying to organize. PrairieSarah's package needs to be taped closed and addressed, and then it will be ready go to. I have my own roving combed out and sitting in cedar and lavender, just to be sure. I never trust free fibre.

Gotta run to Philosophical Society meeting, then American Pragmatism. I THINK we might buy PUMPKINS tonight. Sweetness.

And I sang and danced about a high-rise

Pittsburgh = awesome.
SPEP = pretty cool.
Open bar at philosophy events = priceless.

Had a great time at SPEP with the posse. Photos and details will follow sometime when I have 15 spare minutes and my laptop at the same time.

Right now, its time for a "Dear So-and-so..."

Dear Professors of Universities Everywhere,
I'm a big fan of yours, generally speaking. You do one of the most important jobs around, and its one I would consider for myself if academia and university politics weren't so market-driven, counter-educational, and egomaniacal. That said, I like what you do, and wish I were not so delicate a person that the organization imposed on the post-secondary educational system caused a visceral reaction in the approximate region of where I would imagine my soul would be, if I had one, which I probably don't.
This is why I will one day open up a charter school that will change the American educational model, and hopefully make your jobs much more productive, fulfilling, rewarding, and socially significant. You can thank me later.

...

IN THE MEANTIME!
What, precisely, is with you people? That's right. I said "you people". Now you know I'm pissed. Whenever the sweeping generalizations hit the pavement, you can bet the gloves are off, and I'm going to come at you swinging like the drunken low-down dirty Mick I am.
My job -- you know, the one I actually get paid for? The one that makes it possible for me to participate in your classes, while racking up astronomical amounts of debt (that's $75,000 and counting not including interest for any of you keeping score) -- that job is specifically to help you compile, acquire copyrights for, scan, crop, clean up, copy, print, bind, and sell your course packs. It is a large part of what I do, and I'm pretty damn good at it. You've even said so.
What boggles my mind, what cooks my noodle, what makes me irritable and grouchy, is how you make this ideally simple task completely torturous.

No bibliography? Really? What if your students are looking for more source material for their papers? Do you submit papers or anthologies for publication without any citation? No? Well, then. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU GIVE IT TO ME LIKE THAT?? Why. I have to obtain copyrights (which is an entirely different rant, given that I'm an anarchist, and sort of skeptical about intellectual property to begin with) in order to make sure that you are protected from copyright infringement liability. Yet NONE of you EVER give me the information that I need to acquire those copyrights quickly, efficiently, or migraine-free.
I want to stress: It is totally rad that you provide me with lists of articles, for those of you that give me at least this much with which to work. Please don't stop doing that. If you don't do it already, please start.
But I don't know how to be clearer. Obviously, you have the original source material. It had to come from somewhere. Why would you not give me the publication year at least? Or the authors' names? I have in front of me a list of 67 articles that I now have to hunt down in all corners of the interweb (*bows head in thanks to GoogleScholar*) for each article, which often has multiple publication dates, journals, and anthologies, because all of you still live by the adage, "Publish or Perish," therefore making multiple articles with almost identical names and content being published in six different journals an occupational necessity for you, and an occupational hazard for me.

Whoa. BIBLIOGRAPHY! Maybe you should try it.

I am going to go impale my face on copyright law now.

Thanks for your time, and have a lovely day.
Sincerely yours,
Prag.

Quelqu'un m'a dit....

THIS is an awesome motif design tool. Like whoa.