So Pretty!!

Isn't this beautiful? I'm not going to tell you exactly what this is, since it's my sister's birthday present.

(And I know she'll see this, but I couldn't resist sharing.)

I just had to post a pic of this - I'm using Lily's Sugar'n Cream yarn, and the combination of greens and purples is making me feel like I'm creating a field of flowers. I think this is my favorite project yet, and I absolutely love this yarn.

Which is fabulous, because it's pretty inexpensive, too!

Knitting Addiction?

Well, I've been productive the past couple of days, but not precisely in the way I should have been, most likely.

I've been feeling completely icky for about the past 48 hours, which I won't go into any detail about, except to say that it meant that instead of going to my friend's cookout today, I sat in front of my computer and knit while watching old episodes of Star Trek.

Upside of this is that I have finally, finally finished a poncho I originally started over a year and a half ago. And, contrary to what I was expecting, I actually like it. I'd spent so long ignoring it and not wanting to work on it, I was sure I was going to hate it when it was done. I was determined to finish it mostly because I didn't care to frog the darn thing, either. Now that it's all done, I do rather like it - especially the fringe, which is what I spent most of the afternoon putting on.

Fringe is hardly difficult, but it is time consuming.

I'm also feeling accomplished because yesterday, after sending in a job app (yay!), I finished off my aunt's scarf. One Christmas present is done!! Whoo!! All I have left to do is block it, which I aim to do either tomorrow evening or Monday. Depends on how exhausted I am after work tomorrow.

In any case, since I've finished off those two projects, I've been working on my sister's Christmas scarf - at this point I just plan to use the whole skein, and I know I'm getting close - should be able to finish it up soon. If I get that done, that'll mean I only have one actual WIP sitting around - my lace afghan. And I've actually been wanting to work on that, since I've figured out better how to follow the pattern. I may have to frog it and start over, though - I need to pull it out, take a good look at it, and figure out whether or not I totally messed it up yet.

I'm also excited because I found a pattern I think will work for a couple skeins of purple boucle I picked up at the Knit-Out in February. I'd been wondering what I would do with those, but I saw a pretty pattern for a wrap that should work, just need to test it out.

If you can't tell, I have some major urges to finish things off and start clearing out some of my stash right now. Some things I just want to get out of my way, some projects I really want to work on, but either way, I'm finally clearing out some of this stuff that's in my way.

Of course, part of working on clearing out my stash is that I'd have room to buy more yarn. I've spent the past 20 minutes or so drooling over some yarn over at Sereknity - which I checked out solely because I loved the name. I am really, really, insanely tempted to buy a couple skeins - particularly that lovely skein of Blue Lagoon lace yarn - I know that a lace shawl is still somewhat beyond me, but as soon as I looked at it, I wanted to snatch it up and cast on for an overly-complicated, but absolutely gorgeous, filmy lace shawl. It would look sooooo pretty. And just about any of the sock yarns, too.

I've also been getting urges to make myself another pair of socks. hand-knit socks really are nicer than store-bought.

Yeah....so, right now, want to clear out my stash and finish off projects, and I want to buy some absolutely drool-worthy yarn. Knitting is getting rather addicting.

I wonder if I can justify buying that yarn as a way of keeping my spirits up while I job-hunt?

Lace Knitting

So, lately, I've been working on Christmas Presents - it might only be June, but I would really prefer not to feel pressured to sit and knit for 12 to 14 hours straight 3 days in a row to finish things up. Once was quite enough, thank you.

I'm also taking the opportunity to learn knew knitting techniques. I've been having fun with lace knitting lately. Well, mostly fun, anyway.

It is fun to see how increases and decreases make what, at this point, really looks like a rumpled, hole-y mess, and then to spread it out over my lap and see the lovely pattern that's actually inside. If I can maintain enough patience for it, I might really like lace knitting.

Of course, for right now, it's a good thing I'm only trying simple stuff - the scarf I'm making right now is a very simple pattern, a variation on the feather and fan - I repeat the same pattern every right side row, and purl every wrong side. Means that now, almost half-way in, I have the pattern memorized, and all I have to do is keep careful count. After ripping out about 6 inches in because I'd ended up with the wrong number of stitches, and could not for the life of me figure out where the mistake was, I wised up - I now count my stitches out on every row, to make sure I haven't done too many YO's or decreases.

I do really like the way this looks, and I'm sure my Aunt Chris will appreciate it, too. (I'm not posting a picture here, just in case, even though I want to - presents should be a surprise.) The only real downside on this particular pattern is that it isn't reversible, which I think is an important thing, for a scarf. It is, however, probably going to be wide enough to fold in half (which it wants to do anyway), so it should be alright.

Unfortunately, the non-reversibility isn't the only thing I'm regretting, somewhat, about this pattern. This is actually the second pattern I've tried out for my aunt - the first was a pretty lace motif at either end, followed by plain stockinette which I was supposed to graft together, since the motif needed to be worked right after casting on at either end. The problem with that was that I didn't have enough yarn for a densely-knit scarf on small needles, and, since I'm rather broke, trying to find another skein in the same dye-lot didn't seem like the best idea. My goal is to finish off each scarf I'm making this year with only one skein of yarn each.

So, I ripped out that scarf and started over with a new pattern. Fine, except, since I had cut the skein into 3 pieces (one for each end, plus some set aside for fringe), I now have more ends to weave in, in the middle of the scarf, which is going to be very annoying, with lace.

Okay, I'll admit that really, that should be a fairly minor concern - it probably won't be very noticeable to anyone but myself.

The other thing is that I'm wondering what to do about my sister's scarf, now. The plan is to make a scarf for each of my aunts, my grandma, my sister, and my mom. I'm not making them all to the same pattern - if I did, I'd be sure to hate that last couple of scarves, and that doesn't seem right, to me. Nor will I be using the same yarn for all of them - I can't, since my mom's allergic to wool, the type of yarn I'm using right now. But I've already started my sister's, using a yarn she'd actually bought herself once, but since she's decided not to try to learn knitting, doesn't have much use for.

So far, no problem, right? Except that my sister's scarf is a simple ribbed scarf, with a slit for closure, but nothing special. And the yarn is not suitable for lace or cables or anything, anyway. But I kinda feel like she'd be getting shafted, if I'm making lovely, complicated(-ish) scarves for everyone else, and hers looks rather pedestrian by comparison. So now I'm debating making her another scarf similar to the ones for my aunts.

Yay for creating more work for myself!!




As a side note, I don't think I should ever bother with Twitter - I'm clearly too wordy for it. I'd intended this to be a fairly short post...

Speechification!

You know, one weird thing about me - or at least, I think it's weird - is that I tend to pick up ...speech mannerisms? I'm not exactly sure how to phrase it, but it's true. It's not just that I tend to pick up phrases or even accents from other people - it's just...weird.

For example, I've just been reading a new online comic (well, not new - just new to me). And now I'm thinking in the same way the comic is written - I can feel myself thinking with the same sorts of emphasis, the same short phrases and sentences - it's like a new type of language, and I'm repeating it, testing it out.

I'm not making it my own, which would be one thing. I'm just copying it, testing it out, kinda trying to make my thoughts fit in. Usually, this goes away relatively quickly - every time I watch Sweet Home Alabama, for instance, I think in a southern accent for about half an hour or so afterwards (and speak in one, too, although I'm sure it's atrocious), but then it's gone. I pick up accents from books - sometimes accents which don't even exist, but I get this weird feeling in my mouth, like I want to hold my entire jaw differently to pronounce things.

This is probably related to why I find languages relatively easy to pick up - somewhere along the way (I think a lot of it was from taking Sanskrit), I learned to pay attention to how to pronounce things - and how to hold my tongue and lips and jaw to replicate it.

Some things - ways of emphasizing certain words, turns of phrase, I decide I like, and keep, but it always feels kind of weird. Usually these are things I picked up from friends of mine, and I keep on expecting someone to say something about it. I'm basically parroting them, after all - I would think it must be annoying.

I almost wonder if this is some weird way of trying to make myself fit in. I've always been somewhat socially inept, and I don't feel like I'm very good at making conversation. Listening I can do, but actual conversations with people are hard for me. Sometimes I think I imitate others because it's easier than working out how to talk to people on my own.

I don't feel like I'm a very interesting person to talk to, a lot of the time - one on one is fine, but in large, or even medium-sized groups, I'm usually drowned out. I don't know if that just means I'm quiet, or if I'm actually boring to talk to. I think it's a mixture of both, but there are definitely times when I feel like it's entirely the latter. So I think I pick up things from friends of mine to try to make myself sound more interesting.

Whatever the reason is, though, I wish I could stop doing it - and it's usually subconscious, so I don't know how. But it would be nice, to find my own voice.
~2/5/09
~~~

Okay, I'm not actually sure why I didn't post that ( I wrote the above several months ago), but I didn't, and I feel like adding to it now - so I guess this'll probably be a pretty long post.

Anyway - I've been reading Ivanhoe lately - which I am actually enjoying, and I don't think it's that difficult a read. Just takes a bit of getting used to the language and style, really. It does mean I find myself thinking in an older English style, though. Fortunately I haven't said anything odd (yet), but it is very strange to find yourself thinking things like "I doubt it not".

Of course, besides this, I've also been working at Subway. And I generally let myself slip into 'dumb English - or whatever you might want to call it - while I'm there. Not that I think my coworkers are dumb, mind you, it's just that I try to fit in with how they speak. I've learned that there's nothing more uncomfortable than having coworkers think you think that you're better than them in some way. So, I try to avoid sounding like myself while I'm there. I don't mean to sound patronizing or anything, I just, apparently, naturally use a larger vocabulary than most people.

I have the same thing happen with my brother-in-law; I'll use a word that I assume is well-known, and he doesn't know what I mean. It's not that he's stupid - I'm just...introverted? I've definitely spent too much of my time reading books instead of conversing with people.

It does feel very strange, though, to be thinking in an old English rhythm, and then go to work for a few hours and deliberately use very poor grammar. Maybe I really should just talk like I normally would, but I hate it when people look at me like I'm crazy. I don't really mind not fitting in at work - I like who I am, and I know that the life I've chosen is very different from that of most of the other people there. I just try not to stick out like a sore thumb. Particularly since so many of the customers around here have a tendency to look down on us. Well, not the regulars so much, but other people...it's not exactly unusual for me to really wish I could point out that I probably went to a better college than them or their children, and, dammit, they should treat me like a regular person, not a servant.

In any case, with customers like that, it's easier to get along at work if I can joke around with my coworkers, and that isn't easy to do if you seem to think you're above them at all. It's not like I lie to them about anything, either - they know that I've got a degree and I'm looking for a job, just working at Subway temporarily. The point is to try and get along - even if I do occasionally catch myself wincing at what's coming out of my mouth.

Which brings me (sort of) back around to my original point - it's a very odd dichotomy, switching back and forth from Ivanhoe to street English. But maybe this means that my mimicking is actually a good thing?