DragonCon, post the first.

Posted on September 10, 2009 by HappyGoth

This is to say that I wrote all the back stuff about DragonCon, and then left the file on my work computer (don’t worry – I used my lunch hour). So instead, I give you this lovely video of a steampunk confetti standoff:

[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/happygoth/3907789535/]

Tcha. I am on a quest to locate such a sidearm for myself.

And also, sock #2 has begun (on the Interlocking Leaves socks)! I ripped it out once because I was using the wrong needles, but I have resumed knitting. I shall post progress after reports on DragonCon.

Posted in General stuff, knitting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Ugh.

Posted on September 2, 2009 by HappyGoth

I know I promised finished socks, but DragonCon is tomorrow and I’m going crazy trying to get ready.

There might be blogging over the weekend, but maybe not. If not, know that I am coming up with really awesome stories, and that you’ll hear  all about them next week.

Enjoy your Labor Day!

Posted in General stuff | 5 Comments

All. Right. Me.

Posted on September 1, 2009 by HappyGoth

In a mere 5 years, I have completed my first pair of socks. Only five years! Amazing, no? They sit, at this very moment, in my project bag awaiting a bind-off. And since I have learned the sewn bind-off and used it successfully on the single Interlocking Leaves sock I have finished, well, another 30 minutes of work should yield finished socks. And then I have 3 pairs to wash and block.

Did you know Atlanta has a task force to deal with stolen items that make their way to junkyards? Well, they do and I called them. I’m unlikely to get my furniture back, but hopefully the jerks who swiped it won’t be able to sell it, either.

I will so totally post sock photos tomorrow. This is very exciting.

Posted in knitting | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Frakkin’ toaster.

Posted on August 31, 2009 by HappyGoth

It’s all very clear now. While watching Due South, season 3, I was really unsettled and unhappy with what the husband and I like to call “Fake Vecchio.” In that the real Vecchio disappeared, and an impostor finished the rest of the season in his place.

That was several years ago. Now, I understand it all completely.

He’s a Cylon. Leoben, to be exact.

Yup. It all makes sense.

Posted in General stuff | 2 Comments

Okay, lace.

Posted on August 31, 2009 by HappyGoth

I get it. This is a learning experience. I am building character.

I am on to you.

Remember this bit of lace knitting I talked about a while back?

lace detail by you.

It’s the Muir shawl from Knitty. It’s really quite pretty. Doug finished his, and I was jealous, having hibernated this project at the point you see it above.

A few days ago, after my Interlocking Leaves (another Knitty pattern) success, I decided to pick it up, thinking that I had done a little lace, so big lace shouldn’t be that much more difficult.

Right?

I am mistaken. I have progressed a mere two rows past what you see above, which necessitates no progress photo. I had been going pretty well, and then I put it down. I picked it back up again, forgot I was on a wrong-side row, and tried to fix it (I couldn’t figure out why the yarn was on the wrong side), which made a bigger mess of it than if it was actually not right, and now I don’t know what to do with it, as I have one fewer stitch than I ought to. Kind of right back where I started, actually.

Lace, you are not my friend. Maybe we can get to the point where we’re buddies, but you have to meet me in the middle. This is no way to treat a friend.

On the positive side, I got a lot of work done on my Dragon*Con costume, so there is that. Plus I discovered that I asked for (and got) one more vacation day than I remembered. And I have a lead on replacement deck furniture (which will either be a. chained to the porch or b. stashed someplace until I need to use it).

Whew.

Posted in knitting | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Dear bastards who stole my porch furniture:

Posted on August 31, 2009 by HappyGoth

1. That’s completely not cool.

2. If you’re going to steal from somebody, steal from somebody who can afford it.

3. I hate you

Die in a fire,

Happygoth

Posted in General stuff | Tagged | 4 Comments

Lace, you vex me.

Posted on August 28, 2009 by HappyGoth

I have picked up a hibernating project in the past couple of days, after becoming frustrated that the Interlocking Leaves sock I finished was bound-off too tightly (I am undoing it and will re-do it using a sewn  bind-off). And oh, it vexes me. Originally I had hibernated it because I kept screwing up. I started it a couple of times, and consistently frogged the fourth and fifth rows because I made a tiny mistake repeatedly. The night before that I moved past that mistake, and did pretty okay, but now I have a mystery extra stitch, so I’ll be frogging back again to see what happened. I imagine that as I do more, I’ll get to the point where I don’t screw up on it any more, but this learning curve is harsh. I did manage to drop some stitches through a complicated decrease and then pick them up again successfully, though. So there’s that.

Perhaps I’d have more success if I didn’t watch TV while knitting. I think I’ll try again tonight, only more focused this time.

Posted in knitting | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Navel-gazing, part 4

Posted on August 27, 2009 by HappyGoth

Wretched excess example #309 by Don Nunn.

(Nobody needs a stretch Hummer. Photo from here.)

I’ve been very introspective of late, if you didn’t notice already.

So here’s the latest thing to occupy my brain:

I wonder what would  happen if the market for “wants” suddenly vanished.

As a designer, I often find myself in ambiguous territory, attempting to qualify the necessity of what I do. I think most artists are in this place from time to time. It’s easy to see the value in an apple, or in basic articles of clothing, or a glass of water, but how do you determine the immediate value of a painting or a really well-crafted logo? Is the logo even an essential thing? (Knitting does not present me with the same sort of quandary, in that I’m actually making an item that I would have bought, although the question of whether or not I need fancy yarn is still up for debate.)

I started in on this thinking after reading an article on “fighting chairs,” which are expensive, high-end chairs mounted to yachts, that aid in deep-sea fishing by giving the fisherman a place to brace himself and fight against the marlin or sailfish, or whatever is on the end of the line. I’m pretty sure no commercial fisherman sees a need for this.

People do not need the fighting chair for survival.

Or do they?

Have we progressed to such a point, as a society, that the creation of something non-necessary for one person is, in itself, necessary? The angler may not need the chair, but the production and sale of the chair has provided a livelihood for many other people. Computers are not actually necessary for survival (in the traditional sense), but without them many, including myself, might be without shelter, food and other basic human needs.

And if society limited itself to the production of essentials only, does that impede innovation? Where do you draw the line between the necessary and the excessive? Is inspiration a necessity (I think it is)?

Discuss.

Posted in General stuff | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Hello, Monday!

Posted on August 24, 2009 by HappyGoth

Not bad, as these things go.

The weekend was so incredibly full that today felt like a tiny break. Today I went to work and then afterward mowed the lawn with a manual mower, which gave me a great sense of accomplishment. And now I am making chili.

This weekend saw much done.

Firstly, and not over the weekend, I finished the Rivendell socks:

Rivendell socks, version the finished by you.

And the detail:

Rivendell socks, version the finished by you.

Only took me more than a year! Wooooo.ooo.oo. Yeah. Well, they’re done, and I have 3 sock projects on the needles at the moment, which is to be my maximum number at any given moment. So I have to finish the Interlocking Leaves socks (or the Socks of Eternity, or the pair which will be self-striping something) before casting on a new project.

The prospects of that happening are good:

Interlocking leaves sock by you.

This evening will see me finishing the cuff and binding off, plus starting #2. Woo!

I am successful partially because I brought it along to Six Flags on Saturday, and knit on it. The gate attendant checking my bag thought the yarn was pot. I feel kind of cool for that.

Six Flags was great. It was an outing in celebration of  a friend’s birthday, and Fast Passes were purchased. I rode Superman three times (hee – that sounds dirty). Three! But at the end I was done. I think I’m good for another five years. And at one point we rode the carousel, and I had the best horse:

My noble steed. by you.

We were riding four across, and decided we were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and naturally I got to be War. The Chickengoddess‘s husband was Reality TV. Our friends behind us never quite caught up:

I know those people... by you.

I wonder why…

And there was Freep riding, but not by me, though I was there in a support capacity:

Nooo. by you.

(I’m right behind you, yeah…)

Well, except when I went and rode a roller coaster, but I got to see them as they dropped, just before dropping down the first big hill myself.

It was a weekend.

And also, there’s a word in this, but it took me forever to see it:

PMH* sticker schwag by you.

(It helps to stand on your head). Now I can see it perfectly, of course. I felt real dumb when I figured it out. (Is a PMH* sticker, and came complimentary with my rockin’ shirt, woo!) I won’t tell you what it says, though, as you probably saw it right away, and if you didn’t, I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the joy of figuring it out for yourself, like with the FedEx logo.

And that’s it for today. I’m going to go eat some chili and watch more Due South.

Posted in Cool things, General stuff, knitting | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stuff this week, condensed version.

Posted on August 21, 2009 by HappyGoth

I have been rather busy. So here’s what has gone on lately:

1. Finished the Rivendell socks! Ends not woven in. But still finished.
2. Made progress on the Interlocking Leaves socks. This is also an accomplishment. I hardly recognize myself.
3. Survived four days of medicating Lemmy Cat. He is vicious and does not understand the sentence “This is for your own good.” Perhaps it is because he does not understand English, either (not really). He still understands treats, though. We’re working on helping him make the connection. I have, as a result, discovered new uses for old fencing gloves.
4. Was social outside of work with a coworker, another unheard of occurrence. We both ordered too much soup.
5. Received a packet of souvenir photos my grandfather brought back from his tour of duty in Calcutta in World War II. I will scan and post these soon.

The knitting is the biggest accomplishment of all of that, and I fear it will lead to the end of the world as we know it. However dismal this seems, I will have several pairs of very stylish socks to wear as I witness armageddon.

This weekend is Six Flags. I’ve not been in ~7 years, and am pretty dang excited. We shall see how sunburnt I get (forecast: very).

Today’s Fiber Friday is an old bit of fiber, or the alpaca that Baobh purchased at MDS&W:

I have found myself wondering what has been done with it, if anything. We both put our arms into the bag,  up to the elbows. It was lovely.

Posted in Fiber Friday, General stuff, knitting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment