Loominous

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on July 22, 2008
in daily and weaving
. 0 Comments

Well first of all, I think it is noteworthy to inform the interwebs that my intestines have betrayed me. As soon as I finish writing this I am going to LIE DOWN.

Anways…

I am totally weaving you guys! My loom came in the mail last Wednesday. I’d been feverishly tracking its progress here via UPS and was rather irked when I got home from work and it hadn’t arrived. But then the UPS dude dropped it off at 7 p.m. and all was well.

So that night I put it together while watching the first episode of Project Runway Season 5, which I have to say was not very interesting. Tim Gunn seems put upon. But I got the loom mostly together until I got to the part where you attach the handles “with the screws that are already attached.” Well, mine came with extra screws, but they didn’t fit the handles as they were too wide and too long. So I knew I had to go to the hardware store. I also needed to get a candle to melt the ends of the nylon cords together. I’m definitely not a candle person so I was a little irked that I had go buy fire.

Anyway, so I also needed to get some T pins to block the Swallowtail shawl, so I stopped at JoAnns on Saturday and picked up some of those and also a candle tin that was only a buck. I also stopped at Ace Hardware and found new screws that fit perfectly in the handles, and only set me back thirty whole cents.

I tried to take a picture of me melting the nylon cords together, but that proved impossible with how quick the strings caught fire and melted together. So, here is a picture of the crappy candle and the mess I made, trimming the ends of the strings to match:

Burning the Cords

You can see on the right the little melted black blob where the ends are fused together.

And I finished putting together the loom and then I made a warp on the warping board (a Kromski Harp has a built in warping board on the underside of the loom - you just insert pegs and get to it) out of some Knitpicks Essential (the new kettle dyed stuff, I wasn’t too impressed with this reddish colorway - I was going to return it, but then realized that I wouldn’t care if I screwed it up so used it for the first warp) and put the warp on the loom:

Setting up the warp

It is pretty obvious that I ignored the instructions on how to center your warp, but for just eyeballing it I came pretty close. I am not super sure that it really matters on a rigid heddle, but I am just winging it at this point.

Then I started to weave, using the other ball of knitpicks essential that had a better color variation, and I added some extra sock yarn bits I had lying around and wah lah, I have a scarf well on its way to completion:

Weaving

Woo!

Anyway, so it is pretty easy to get started. My next project will be a wider and shorter scarf out of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. I am learning a lot from this project, about tension mostly, and I REALLY like weaving. I suspect that once I get my initial projects out of the way I will be doing a lot of Christmas presents on the loom. Also, I think it will be an awesome way to get rid of some of the goofy novelty yarns I have lying around - I think they’d work pretty good as wefts, not so much as warps. Luckily I don’t have any crappy fun fur but I do have some random stuff I picked up at Hobby Lobby and JoAnns.

I still love socks, I just totally got bored with them (all at the same point):

Socks in Progress

So for now you all will have to suffer through this whole weaving binge! :P

(Also no, apparently I do not make socks that are not pinkish or greenish.)

Enter Weaving

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on July 17, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Well, I have been waiting rather impatiently for the UPS guy to deliver my birthday present and FINALLY yesterday he did:

Kromski Harp

It has been a light spot in an otherwise hectic couple of weeks. I have spent the last two weeks training newbies and having to be “on” all the time, which is really tiring when all I want to do is hide in my cubicle and write minutes, you know. (Well kind of, since I hate writing minutes. Anyway.)

I am feeling whingey apparently.

So anyway, yesterday I finally got the loom and put it together while watching the first episode of Project Runway Season 5. I don’t have any readily accessible candles, so I can’t make the loops to attach to the end things yet, but I think I’ll probably do that tomorrow, along with picking up my mom’s blocking wires and blocking the shit out of the Swallowtail Shawl, which is otherwise finished:

Swallowtail Shawl

Speaking of whining, I don’t see what the big deal is with the nupps on the Lily of the Valley part of the shawl (for the uninitiated, the edge part of the shawl with the “pea pod” like sections).  I rather enjoyed them. The P5tog on the wrong side? I totally used a small crochet hook, and the sections went really quick.  I like the texture and would totally make nupps on another project. I also really liked the “elastic bind-off” which I think I might use forever more instead of the regular one.

I didn’t use any lifelines on this project, though there are definitely some goofs scattered here and there. I like to call one of them in particular the “Twin Peaks Fuck Up”, even though I will be the only one who knows its even there.

So yeah, Twin Peaks, a big fat WTF towards that television show. I got the first disc from Netflix and watched the first episode, which is supposed to be this iconic moment in television history or whatever and IT WAS NOT INTERESTING.

After I was done watching it I watched the alternate ending for the international release and okay, it totally had a random dancing little person (the guy who played Samson in Carnivale) so while it was weird, it certainly made an impression.

I’m not sure why we are supposed to care about Twin Peaks, and I will not be watching any more of it. Also I went on Wikipedia and spoiled the end for myself, whatever.

The other stupid thing I watched this week was a 1999 adaptation of Mansfield Park (Jane Austen). I’d watched the recent adaption with Billie Piper on PBS earlier this year and other than Billie Piper’s hair, it didn’t make much of an impression on me, so I thought I’d get this other version to compare. I have never read Mansfield Park so I can’t say anything about plot, but I CAN say that this 1999 Mansfield Park was HEINOUS in its interpretation. Also kind of boring. You would think turning a Jane Austen story into a bodice ripper with hints of lesbianism and Jonny Lee Miller would be kind of, well, awesome, but you would be SO wrong that it is not even funny. I’m not even sure what the hell was going on during the whole movie, with Fanny Price talking to the camera and making out with Henry and then rebuffing him, and to top it all off I stayed up stupid late watching it so I was really tired all day today.

So, don’t watch that Mansfield Park unless you don’t know anything about Jane Austen. Jonny Lee Miller was pretty good, but I kind of like him so whatever.

I read you read we all read

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on July 14, 2008
in books/reading
. 1 Comment

Book meme stolen from Jennifer…

  1. One book that made you laugh: I can’t think of any off hand. Meg Cabot can be pretty funny.
  2. One book that made you cry: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. WHAT. Do not tell me that you did not shed a tear for Fred, for Lupin, for Tonks.
  3. One book that you loved as a child: I loved a lot of books as a kid, most notably the Sue Barton Student Nurse books (Helen Boylston), anything by Edward Eager, and the Betsy-Tacy books (Maud Hart Lovelace). When I saw the entire set of Betsy-Tacy books at Barnes & Noble in a nice reprint, I bought them ALL. Love ‘em.
  4. One book you’ve read more than once: I read a lot of books more than once, but the book I’ve read the most is Jurassic Park.
  5. One book you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: I read a lot of crap, I am not embarrassed to admit it. I will never admit to having read most of the Jackie Collins oeuvre though. Oh wait.
  6. One book you hated: Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath can suck it.
  7. One book that scared you: I was quite freaked out by the R.L. Stine books when I was a kid.
  8. One book that bored you: Most of Shakespeare, The Color Purple, Red Badge of Courage, um, most of the books I was supposed to read in high school.
  9. One book that made you happy: The final book in the YA series from Meg Cabot, The Mediator. I forget what it was called, but it pretty much embodied the perfect ending to a series: nicely wrapped up with a happy ending. Sweet.
  10. One book that made you miserable: I don’t read miserable books. I can think of a few that pissed me off to the extent that I stopped reading the author’s books.
  11. One book that you weren’t brave enough to read: Most of the horror genre. Despite my love of zombies and gore, I just don’t do horror.
  12. One book character you’ve fallen in love with: I kind of love Stu Redman from Stephen King’s The Stand, even though I never finished it. (still 200 pages to go)
  13. The last book you read: After the Kiss by Suzanne Enoch. It was okay.
  14. The next book you hope to read: The new Artemis Fowl.

Now I think I’m going to look for my copy of The Stand and maybe finish it.

Post Holiday wrap-up

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on July 6, 2008
in adventures and daily
. 2 Comments

On Friday, I celebrated Independence Day with my immediate family by eating pork ribs at their house and then going home, and then going to the fireworks at College Park later in the evening. I’ll spare you the police and fire-zone related issues, and suffice it to say, a good time was had. My aunt, uncle, and cousin found us and we all watched the fire works together.

My sister took a short video of them:

Yesterday (saturday) was my 28th birthday, and there was yarn and sheep cake involved:

Huffin and Puffin

(I ate its jugular vein; that is, where the pink ribbon is. I named it Stan.) Earlier in the day, I went peddle boating with my dad at the Lafayette Reservoir and then we had breakfast at Country Waffles.

Now I’m going to order my loom and call it a day.  Looks like we’re in for another heat wave, yay. At least the air quality has been better lately from all those fires that have been raging across California.  Oh, and I learned how to put washer fluid in my car, that was pretty exciting.

A Week In the Life

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 28, 2008
in daily, knitting and tv/movies
. 1 Comment

I have been run ragged this week, and it’s not over yet! OY VEY.

Last Monday was the last day I was just at home with nothing to do. Oh, Monday, you were great. Tuesday I had a large homeowner’s meeting to record minutes for, Wednesday I had another board meeting to record minutes for, and Thursday I had a Chamber of Commerce mixer, and Friday I went out with my cousin to the movies. So I kind of haven’t been home in forever. Today I am off to Sacramento for a birthday party and tomorrow I am going with the fam to Placerville and a flower farm.

Luckily, next week is a short work week and I don’t have any meetings. Friday is the 4th of July and Saturday is my birthday. I’m hoping that the smoke from the 800 fires dissipates because I REALLY WANT to go peddle boating for my birthday out at the Lafayette Reservoir. However, we are being told to stay inside and not go out and breathe all the smoke.  I can understand this - yesterday I was out in Brentwood on a site inspection, and was horking up snot and ash for an hour afterwards. It was still fun, though, Phil and I went off-roading in his golf cart up on the hill, where I hadn’t been before, to survey the goat damage.

So, my cousin Amanda and I went to see Wanted, starring the fawn from Chronicles of Narnia and Angelina Jolie. It was totally not what I was expecting, but it still really great. Completely violent and excessive, which I have really been in the mood for. Earlier this week I got Shoot ‘Em Up from Netflix and THAT is an AWESOME movie, if you haven’t seen it and you enjoy a spot of violence and Clive Owen killing a bunch of people while running around holding a baby, then that is the movie for you! However, not for the faint of heart, so if you are easily bothered by gore and lactating prostitutes (hi google searchers!) then you should probably avoid Shoot ‘Em Up. I loved it a lot however and watched it twice, it was that good.

/end gushing

So I haven’t completely just done nothing. I got a couple boxes in the mail this week. I purchased Norah Gaughan Volume 3 and a couple of the new pattern pamphlets from Berroco and those came quite promptly.
I also finally got my box of stuff I bought in Texas, which had more yarn and all those beads in it. AND I was bad and ordered from the Loopy Ewe.

Recent Yarn Acquisitions

And I am working on a sock in Araucania Nature Multy:

New Sock

And a swallowtail shawl:

Swallowtail Shawl

I’m knitting this shawl in the Daffodil colorway of some Rio de la Plata sock yarn. I really like the yarn, it’s got a great rustic feel to it, and as you can see, the stitch definition is tops. I’m having fun diving into the stash and trying out the different yarns I have. I’m hoping to finish this shawl in time for my cousin’s wedding.  Not that I am going to wear a wool shawl to a summer wedding in REDDING but it’s a timeline goal anyway.

Now I am off to the post office to mail a check and my Netflix (Talledega Nights, which was funny but stupid) and get gas, drop off some stuff at the library, and go to Target.

Later taters.

Stash Enhancement

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 21, 2008
in daily and weaving
. 2 Comments

Do you remember at the beginning of the year, when I said to myself, “NO BUYING SOCK YARN!” Well, in anticipation of Summer of Socks 2008 (which I signed up for ages ago and completely forgot about and starts today, the first day of summer), I would like to present photographic evidence of the progression of the stash: It is either scary or awesome, depending on your point of view. (In other words, no buying sock yarn = big fat fail.)

Exhibit A (February 2007):

State of the Sock Yarn Stash

A respectable stash! Some good colors, quality yarn, something to be proud of.

Exhibit B (August 2007):

Sock Yarn Stash as of 8.11.07

Larger, but still respectable. A noticeable love of winding skeins into cakes is starting to come into light. (I bought my swift at Stitches West 2007).

Exhibit C (June 2008):

The State of the Sock Yarn Stash

ZOMG I need to start knitting.

If you click on the second two pictures, I have tagged them in Flickr with the different kinds of yarn. I also maybe possibly made an order at the Loopy Ewe yesterday. OH SHUSH.

However, may I present to you the latest in my upcoming interests:

Yeah, my birthday is in two weeks, and I’m going to use birthday money to hella score a rigid heddle loom. This particular model has everything you could need, and folds up, and turns into a warping board. I’m really excited - I think it will be a great way to use some of the stash, and I’ve been really impressed with some of the weaving I’ve seen around the internets.

If you’ll recall, I’m definitely more of a product over process knitter, and weaving seems to me a great way to get a product, even if to set up it’s somewhat time consuming. I’m looking forward to ordering the loom and getting started on teaching myself a new skill.

Here’s to crafting!

the zombies are coming

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 16, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

the zombies are coming, originally uploaded by Pynnski.

This is pretty much all I did all weekend, aside from:

  1. Cleaning out my room, and my closet, which resulted in two large garbage bags full of great clothes for the Oakland Rescue Mission and the reappearance of the carpeting.
  2. Stepping on a live cockroach, barefoot.
  3. Hanging out with my sister, who brought me the above copy of The Zombie Survival Guide (can you believe I didn’t already have it? Craziness! Abby rocks!)
  4. RSVPing to my cousin’s upcoming wedding in Redding.
  5. Working on (and fucking up the increases on) the February Lady Sweater.
  6. Eating too many carbs on Father’s Day, which has left me feeling rather bloated and wilty. Abby and I took our dad out to breakfast and we feasted upon eggs and biscuits and gravy. Later we had a luncheon at the parentals’ house for my grandfolks that was full of potatoes, corn, meatballs, homemade bread…
  7. Thinking about stepping on that cockroach barefooted.

So, not too much crafting going on around here - I am still waiting for my Box of Stuff from Texas to get here. Or, get shipped, whichever.

I Heart Pig

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 14, 2008
in daily
. 0 Comments

I love pig in most of its delicious incarnations. So when I say that the new (ish?) edition of The Anticraft is pro-bacon, may I just say that I whole-heartedly support this silly endeavor?

Mmm, bacon scarf.

I was sort of thinking about spending the month of August vegan, just for kicks, to see how I felt when I ditched even more of the things I like to eat. I may wait until I am not living with Jason anymore, because I don’t think he can handle a vegan experiment - he barely can handle my South Beach (”Can’t you eat potatoes?” “It’s not on the list!”) and I have a list posted of all the food I can eat on the cupboard. Sigh.

Still, I would never go vegan all the way, or even vegetarian. Because I just love pig.


picture stolen from here

I am currently working on the February Lady Sweater (Rav link) in a dark copper Red Heart soft. No decent pictures yet because I actually lost my camera battery charger for a week (I thought it was still in Texas) and finally located it this morning when my mom came over to help me clean my room. Yes, cleaning my room is a two man job. You should be so lucky to have so many books and a ridiculous yarn stash.

I also want to show pictures of my new shoe rack and an action shot of the Mexican Peasant Blouse my mom made me, but that will just have to wait for another day.

All Good Things

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 7, 2008
in adventures, daily and knitting
. 0 Comments

Well, I am back in California after a really awesome trip to Texas. I am beat!

Yesterday Tara, Cindy, Julie and I headed up I-35 to Austin, the state capitol.

DSC01193

We just drove by the actual capitol - we had better things to do, such as stopping at Hill Country Weavers, where I totally gorged on sock yarn:

DSC01190

Here’s what I bought:

mosaic6713643

Nature’s Palette, Jitterbug, Araucania Ranco Multy, Araucania Ranco Multy, Jitterbug, and Malabrigo Worsted.

I love Hill Country Weavers. If you are ever in Austin, you must stop there!

The girls were pretty cool about me dragging them to a yarn store, since none of them knit. I think part of it had to do with the intriguing Airstream right across the street:

HEY CUPCAKE

Did we totally partake of cupcakes following the yarning? Yes, yes we did.

After that, we stopped at the huge Half Price Books on North Lamar, then headed back to San Antonio.

And took a lot of pictures. As you can see, I am now a redhead, courtesy of Garnier Fructisse.

DSC01200

I had a GREAT TIME on vacation. I miss Texas a lot. But it was good to get home, especially when I knew this was waiting for me:

My New Eee PC

(Note the chapstick for scale!) It’s my new tiny laptop, an Eee PC. I was hoping it would arrive prior to the trip, but it didn’t. It’s Linux, which I was expecting to be difficult to get used to, but it’s easy and I love it.

Now I am broke, but it was SO WORTH IT - the trip, the computer (though that was courtesy of the U.S. Government and their ESP [hahaha esp]), and seeing my best girlfriends. I am mentally recharged and ready to write - and finally finish a novel or too.

Also: damn, June already? Yikes.

El Mercado, Alamo

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 5, 2008
in adventures and daily
. 0 Comments

Last night Julie and I headed down to Market Square and the Alamo.  We went to the Farmer’s Market and El Mercado, where I took a ton of pictures. (Mom, there are a bunch of Mexican dresses in there!) We stopped for margaritas and queso at La Margarita (infamous site of a long-ago midday accidental drunk-in-public incident during the Latin American Music Awards… fond memories!) and then headed downtown to the Alamo. 

El Mercado

The Alamo

I lived here for five years and never took a picture of myself in front of the Alamo, so I made Julie take a picture.

We then went to the Mirror Maze, which I think is part of the collection of Ripley’s Believe It or Not attractions across the street from the Alamo. It was pretty cool. After that, we headed down to the Riverwalk and went to County Line for dinner.

County Line is a delicious bbq restaurant, a small Texas chain. I got the chicken platter, which is chicken, sausage and beef brisket. I also got it with garlic mashed potatoes and potato salad. Julie got the beef ribs with garlic mashed and a side salad. (I did not travel 2,000 miles for my health! haha also if I am paying $15.99 for a dinner it will be for all the things I love, the end.)

So today there will be more putzing around the apartment. I have the truck today so I might go see the movie. I was captivated by The Fall’s trailer, though I may go see Indiana Jones. OR conversely, I may just nap all day, we’ll see. We’ve been getting Red Box rentals from the Walmart - it’s a dollar a day for movies rentals, and we’ve rented 27 Dresses, The Golden Compass, National Treasure 2, and Stardust.

Anyway, this morning I am going to go to Sonic and get a delicious breakfast.

Tomorrow: Austin! All of us (Julie, Tara, and Cindy) are going to Round Rock to the Ikea, then I am forcing them to go to a bead store and Hill Country Weavers. But also to the ginormous Half Price Books on Lamar.