Mix Tape's a Masterpiece

Summertime Tunic is complete and blocking!

I tried it on, and it fit really well, and I'm a little concerned that blocking will change that. But I'll take my chances. Even though my spray bottle did break while I was spraying it down, so I had to just put it under the faucet... pretty sure that's unorthadox.

Since I joined Ravelry two days ago, this blog has experienced a pretty decent increase in readers. So, like, yeah! And with that, I got tagged! I know. Exciting.

I was tagged by Kaya, and I'm not entirely sure how this whole tagging thing goes, and who I'm supposed to tag or not supposed to tag, so I'm just going with it, and copy and pasting the rules from Kaya's blog.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are 7 things about me:

1. When I was really little, I used to walk around the house and pick up lint and strings that I'd find, then mold them into a ball. Pharmacy Pete found it one day, and asked me why I was collecting lint. I told him that I was making a ball of yarn so that I could knit a sweater. Then he made me throw it away, and told me that when I got older, I could buy a ball of yarn to make a sweater. I got mad, because I thought that meant that I had to wait until I was, like, 90.

2. I wrote I book when I was in the eighth grade, then tried to get it published. It obviously wasn't because the book sucked, but it taught me a lot, and I'm a better writer for it.

3. Boyfriend is my first real boyfriend, and we've been together since we were 15. And even though I love him now, I still like him as much as I did back then. The thought of being with anyone else makes me sad. And I hope he knows that.

4. I'm a huge That '70s show fan. Huge as in, seen every episode at least 5 times, own all the DVDs, and throw quotes from the show into my everyday conversations. Bitchin'!

5. The last time I checked, I was third in my graduating class. That may have changed, but either way... I was there.

6. I won Marshmallow in a raffle at my doctor's office when I was five. He has slept in my bed with me every night since then. And I'm taking him to Dream School with me. Shut up.

7. I don't believe in premarital sex, and I don't care what people think of me for it. Lucky for me, Boyfriend agrees, so there's no cause for disagreement on that front.

That was fun! And here's who I'm tagging:

Mary

Rachel

Rachel

Nik

Wendy

Octupus Knits

Hmm, I can't think of another one. Maybe I'll add one later if I think of it.

And now, I must go start the secret project I'm going to be working on. Anyone on Ravelry can see it here, but I can't put it on this blog. The recipient of the secret project reads this on occassion, but isn't on Ravelry.


Have a lovely day!


Song of the Day:
"When all words fail, she speaks. Her mix tape's a masterpiece. Walks through the garden, so the roses can see. Oh I. . . have you got nothing to say?" - Ben Folds Five, "Kate"

Thoughts Seem to Scatter

Where did January go? Even though this past week was, like, the longest week ever, it still seems like January should have been longer. And on that note, why aren't the new MagKnits patterns for February up yet? As I mentioned before, I never really like too many of the patterns on MagKnits, except for maybe Holly. I just like to see what's new.

I'm starting to get scared that my Summertime Tunic not's going to fit. I mean, it looks really, really small. I'm trying to tell myself that it's because it's still on the needles, which makes it seem smaller. I'm not entirely sure if that's right or not, but I don't need anyone to correct me on that. It's just to prevent me from abandoning the tunic all together.

In other, slightly more intelligent news:
My fellow editors-in-chief and I spent a good hour going over all of the submissions that we received for the high school lit mag. Some of them are really good, but most of them are just miserable. I had no idea that my high school was so filled with secretly-emo kids.

I understand that writing is a way of venting. I get it. I really do. But why do you have to show people what you vent about? That I don't get.

If I'm in a bad mood, I try not to write because I know that everything that comes out will be sad and angry and miserable, and when I go back and read it later, it will just put me in a bad mood all over again. This past week was particularly sucky, so I tried to avoid writing as much as my writer nature would allow.

Now, I understand if not everyone has that point of view. If you're in a bad mood and need to vent, than by all means, write if it helps you and doesn't make you feel worse later on. But why feel the need to submit it to a high school literary magazine, where other already emotionally unstable teenagers will read it?

I can't know. I just wish people would be happier. Maybe the world would be in better shape if our world leaders just got a good night's sleep, ate more Skittles, and weren't mad at each other all the time.

Song of the Day:
"I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter, but my will gets weak, and my thoughts seem to scatter." - Don Henley, "The Heart of the Matter"

I'll Just Write This Down

What is the matter with me? I have nothing else to do, and I have an idea all cooked up in my noggin, and yet I can't bring myself to sit down and write the story, due tomorrow mind you, for the lit mag. For my lit mag, no less, as I'm one of the editors.

And also I'm sad because I bound off BFF's birthday scarf, and all that is left to do is weave in the ends and find a way to block it, and I finished the swatch for my Summertime Tunic, so I have nothing to knit until that blocks.

It is a sad day when there is nothing to knit.

My gauge was a little off on my swatch. It was 24 stitches x 36 rounds per 4 in., and it's supposed to by 22 x 30. I don't think the rounds really matter that much though, because the pattern calls for you to knit for a certain number of inches, not a certain number of rounds. And I'm hoping the stitches will even themselves out with some good, old-fashioned blocking. I'm really hoping.

Grrr.... got to go write that damn story.

Song of the Day:
"I'll just write this down in hopes that you'll understand. I will no longer be disciplined by the frustrations of an insecure man." -Maria Mena, "Our Battles"

I Never Liked Your Hair

You know what gets my goat?

The fact that I'm planning on spending over a hundred thousand dollars to learn how to write better because writing is my passion, and the fact that I am one of the three editors-in-chief of my high school's literary magazine, and yet, now that my submission for the lit mag is due in two days, not only have I not even thought about starting it, but I have no idea what to write about.

This is supposed to be what I do. I am supposed to be a writer with some knitting and balloon creations thrown in. And yet...

Maybe it's due to the fact that I spent the better part of the past three months forming an advertisement campaign to convince other people to submit to the lit that I forgot that I'm supposed to submit as well. Or maybe it's that I've gotten so caught up in scarves and summertime tunics that I've lost all interest in anything else for a minute. But I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Little Buddy is in the next room over plucking on a damn guitar that has 35 year old damn strings that need to be damn tuned, and every time I yell at him to stop he gets LOUDER!

No. I'm sure it's not that.

Speaking of gee-tars, Boyfriend keeps talking about getting one and taking lessons, to which I can only say, "Hell-a yes!" I have such a thing for boys with guitars. Oh, and it's good to learn an instrument because it helps you improve in other areas of your life. Or at least that's what the letter the superintendent of our school sent out today said. That, and you're not supposed to watch more than two hours of non-educational television a day.

Yup. Break out the Bill Nye.

Also, I feel as though having a guitar-playing boyfriend will help to complete my transformation into hippie-dom. Because, honestly, I think I would have made a good hippie if I was born a few dozen years earlier. I like peace, not a big fan of war, I'm becoming increasingly interested in making my own clothes, and I believe that if my curls were manageable, they'd be boring, which has to fall into the hippie philosophy somewhere.

I'm not so hopped up about the idea of drugs, and free love, and not showering, and communes. But other than that I could totally be a hippie.

Oh, and hemp. I'm not a fan of hemp.

Maybe the word I'm looking for is Democrat. But I'm too much of a hippie to believe in labels.

Song of the Day:
"And I never liked your hair, or those people that you lie with, but I'm not satisfied until I hold you tight." - The Killers, "Leave Your Bourbon on the Shelf"

You Know the Movie Song

I have never been so overwhelmed in my life.

And no, not because I spent an inordinate of time blowing up an inordinate amout of balloons this weekend. Even though I did.

Boyfriend took me to my real live LYS today.

!!!!!

As I've mentioned here before, I'm not a highway driver. There are too many crazy drivers doing crazy things, and I am just not up for that. I take defensive driving very seriously. As a result, I rock the craft store acrylic.

But I really wanted to make that pretty tank top, and the acrylic and wool that I would have gotten at Michael's would a) be too warm, and b) not hold up very well. It's okay for a scarf or a hat or something that I'm not going to wash every time I use it (not good, but okay), but not for this.

I told Boyfriend, and he took me. He volunteered to take me. I didn't even have to ask him. I have to keep him around.

Of course, the yarn isn't the only reason why I have to keep him around. Just one of them.

So we go there, and we were greeted by this extremely nice woman who was so full of energy that she made her little converted barn seem so much bigger than it really was.

The shop was a barn behind her house, that was every inch of wall space was covered with shelves and shelves of yarn. There was even yarn hanging down from the ceiling. And it was all so pretty.

I showed her the pattern, and she showed me three yarns that would work well with it within five minutes of me walking in the door.

I never would have thought to pick out those yarns on my own. She was so knowledgable, and so friendly, and so helpful, that I want to keep going back there. She even told me that if I ever had a problem with a pattern, I could come and she would help me with it.

I might love her.

And all the yarn. I didn't know yarn like this existed. She had Debbie Bliss, and Berroco, and Manos de Uruguay, and I think some Rowan, but I could be wrong about that. She knew just how much of it I had to buy, too. Including enough for a swatch for gauge.

Then, she took me around and had me feel all of the diffent kinds of yarn. I had no idea that alpaca and merino yarns were soft. Like, really soft. Like, Caron Simply Soft soft. The merino that the craft stores have is kind of scratchy, and I'm not even sure they have any alpaca.

I am a changed knitter. I have an LYS.

This is what I bought:

Isn't it pretty?!?!?!?!

As soon as I finish BFF's birthday scarf (which is almost done), I'm going to start working on the top until I find a coupon to Michael's so that I can buy yarn for my grandpa's hat.

I still don't know what I'm going to do about blocking the scarf, because it's so so curly on the edges, but I don't want to wet it or steam it and have the teal and purple bleed into the grey. Sounds like a job for Vogue Knitting!!!

And in college news, I talked to Shelly about the scholarship that I got to Second Choice, and about how I didn't want to just throw it away. But she thinks that, for what I want to do, Dream School is really the only place for me, and that she'd hate to see me not go there.

It's good to know that Shelly and Pharmacy Pete won't get mad if I have to take out loans that I'll have to pay back until I'm dead.

If I don't go to Dream School, I'm so afraid that I'll never be able to get published. And if I can't published, how can I save the world? Writing is the only thing I know how to do that can influence and inspire people. I want to help people, and save them in anyway that I can. I want to inspire them to do great things, and I want to save the world from all of the hate and crap that goes on.

I have a while to decide, anyway. But I think I know what I'm doing.

I bet my LYS lady would know what to tell me.

Song of the day:

"Juliet, when we made love you used to cry. You said, 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die'. There's a place for us, you know the movie song. When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong?" - Dire Straits, "Romeo and Juliet"

Let the Cold Winds Blow

Snow day!!!! And I have to say, looking out and seeing all of this snow, it's a little bit of a relief. Last week, it was in the 50s and 60s all week, and even though it was nice not having to wear a down coat whenever I wanted to check the mail, it had me worried about global warming. Marshmallow was worried to, but he does have an invested interest, being a polar bear and all.

Plus I missed my scarf.

We found out last night that there was no school today when Shelly, Pharmacy Pete and I were watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight on TLC (I get exhausted just watching that show. God bless them for their patience), and Shelly flipped over to our local public access station, where they had posted a notice about it.

Even though I have to go into the party store later on (in order to serve the zero people who are going to come in for all their party and balloon needs. Oh, and also to make sure that the candy department doesn't fall into a state of total and complete disarray, as it is apt to do when I, as the candy department specialist, am not around.), I kind of wanted to start working on writing something. Anything. An outline for a new book, or a story for my school's lit mag, anything. I'm jonesing for some good fiction. But instead, I have a crap load of other stuff to get done. Like finish BFF's scarf for her birthday, which is in the beginning of February, and it's already the middle of January (which, oh by the way, how did that happen?). Or spend some quality time with College Board searching for scholarships. Or read the two Ayn Rand books that Shelly got me that, if I read them and write essays about them, I could win some pretty decent scholarships. The only problem is that, together, they're almost two thousand pages long, and the print is so small that it's almost impossible to read. But if it means I can afford Dream College, then it's worth it. Hopefully.

I'm probably just going to end up watching Clark and Michael until work anyway. I'm very productive.

Song of the Day:
"If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow, just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow." - Barry Louis Polisar, "All I Want is You"

We Sure Are Cute For Two Ugly People

I decided to do this blog because I just saw Juno. And besides being one of the best movies ever (next to Say Anything, course), I heard the writer, Diablo Cody, say in an interview that she was a stripper, writing a blog about stripping, and someone read it and asked her to write a screen play. Not about stripping.

I am not a stripper. I promise. And I don't expect that someone important will read this blog and decide, "Oh, that's it! Get her in here and get her published." In fact, Diablo Cody is the only person that I've ever heard of that happening to. But regardless, I figured that it can't be a bad idea to have this mode of expression, where I can practice writing for an audience.

Here's the deal-i-o... writing is my passion. Knitting is my interest. One of the many. I go to high school, I get good grades, I bide my time until graduation. I've been accepted into one of the best writing colleges in my area (which is filled with good schools to begin with) for creative writing. Which is super.... too bad I need to find the money. Anyone who would like to pay to send me to college is more than welcome to!

No takers? Hmm... I'm shocked.

I live with my parents, Pharmacy Pete and Shelly, and my little brother, who I most commonly refer to as "Little Buddy." I have a boyfriend, who will hereby be called "Boyfriend," who I love very much.

Blah blah blah... all that stuff.

I also blow up balloons and assist customers, a.k.a. "party guests," in purchasing party supplies.
When I'm not working, I'm writing. When I'm not writing, I'm knitting, on account of the methodical movements of knitting give me the opportunity to think of new ideas to write. And also cables really impress people. Like, more than they should.

And I always have a song stuck in my head. Always. Usually all it takes is someone saying one word to me, and I launch into a song that somehow incorporates that word. Today the song is from Juno, by the Moldy Peaches, called "Anyone Else But You." It's a Juno kind of day!

I know. You are all marveling at my amazingness. Please, try to contain yourselves.

Song of the day:
"Here is the church and here is the steeple. We sure are cute for two ugly people." - Moldy Peaches, "Anyone Else But You