end of tournament the fourth

okay, i know i'm more than a little behind. since i didn't actually finish anything in march (i know, i'm terrible), i decided to wait until after round three was over. had trouble getting my act together in the last two months.
anyway, here's what i've gotten done in the last two months.

for round two's technical challenge: the scrap heap, we were challenged to make something from the scraps we had left over from previous projects. i started with a third of a skein of Caron Simply Soft Brites Blue Mint. i feel the need to tell you exactly what it was solely because i have now used the same skein of yarn on four different projects. that and i still haven't used it up. who knew one skein could go that far!? anyway, i decided to make a hat that looks like dr. manhattan's head. you know, from the watchmen. it is really good. if you haven't read it, you should. go ahead. i'll be here when you get back.

for round three's geek pride challenge: follow the leader, we were meant to go back and gain inspiration from a project submitted to previous rounds by someone on a different team. i was inspired by a project from team PI, an open lace crocheted scarf. i have always been jealous of the ease of open lace done in crochet (it is so pretty!), so that project gave me the kick in the pants i needed to go searching for a good open lace knit pattern. and i found one! in a book i already had, no less. so i set about the task of making the Salmon Scarf from One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn-Shop Favorites by Judith Durant. it turned out beautifully. when i started it, i had just finished reading Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, and had chain mail on the brain. i swear, especially when i held it up and it caught the light just right, it looked like spun silver. i'm very pleased with it. i was also pleased with myself for my team tie-ins for the challenge (mostly because our team unity project was to have two different tie-ins and i ended up with something like five!). for the main tie-in, there's a webcomic i once a devoted follower of called Real Life. it was really good. pretty sure the reason i stopped reading was finals one semester. anyway, at one point Greg decides that his Renaissance costume should be more in depth (translating to “lots of armor”). he finds instructions and materials online to make his own chainmail. a few months later he has finally completed a chainmail mantle.

something i had been meaning to make for a while was a towel. more specifically, a towel in honor of towel day. "what the heck is towel day?" you may ask. well, towel day occurs every year on May 25 to celebrate the life of Douglas Addams, the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy of five. there's even an official website if you want to learn more information about it. anyway, in high school i had a dish towel that i clipped onto my school bag and carried around. actually managed to convert a few of my friends to seeing the infinite usefulness of knowing where your towel is. when i started knitting, one thing i knew needed to be made was a new towel for towel day. so here it is, made from deep purple cotton. love it. i used this pattern from Kaitie's Knits blog. i may rework the letters to be bigger when i make one for my dad (i get my awesome nerdiness from him after all), just so they'll be a little easier to read. if nothing else, i will rework the N. it came out kinda wonky. i am now prepared for this year's towel day.

so yeah, that's everything i've made in the last two months. still working on that baby blanket. it was honestly the only think i worked on for about two and a half weeks. we needed some time apart in order to save our relationship. i know that seems silly, but we've all had friends like that. i believe it also applies to projects and even appliances (hopefully the oven will be healed for good tomorrow). anyway, the snail-ish pace of the blanket put a definite crimp in my inspiration/motivation gland. thus, the low number of projects.

summer seems to have settled upon west texas with the usual speed and disregard for what anyone may say. it is significantly more difficult to motivate myself to knit in the heat (piling fiber on your lap does nothing to help combat said heat). i apologize for my whining on the subject. still working at the whole trust thing. it is one thing to know everything will turn out alright. it is another thing entirely to believe it with every fiber of one's being. dealing with my own dislike of change is rough. keep me in your thoughts on that one. it will be a seriously long road.
may we stay the course, despite the pot holes, and trust with every fiber.

seasons of change are upon us

Nerd Wars began tournament the fourth at the beginning of february! so exciting! i am once again on Team Shady Cels, and am still completely thrilled about it. i was really inspired by the challenges for round one, so much, in fact, that i submitted to three categories. i realize that i've done more in a month in the past, but i simply didn't knit at all in january (recovering from christmas knitting frenzy). therefore, i was really proud of myself for getting back in the swing of things so quickly. so here we go!

for round one's Geek Pride challenge entitled "wove, twue wove"(geek pride replaced team spirit as a category, just fyi), we were supposed to make something that represented a relationship (whether real, implied, or purely fan suggested) within our team's nerdery. i made a set of gold fish intended to look as close to Cosmo and Wanda from the Fairly Odd Parents as possible. afterall, if 9895 years of marriage isn't real love, i don't know what is. i think i did a pretty good job. for those of you playing at home, yes, you are right. i did make a set of the exact same gold fish last october. however, a friend of mine's son is a fan of the show as well and thought they were super cool (he's a pretty awesome kid). so, my friend and i traded. i made her a set of fairly odd fish and she made me the cutest little owls ever (she has taken up needle felting, way spiffy). i feel like this was a completely fair trade.

for the scientific challenge entitled "all for one and one for all," we were supposed to be inspired by the simplicity of nature and unicellular organisms. one way we could do that was by only using one skein of yarn, which is what i did. i used my one skein of lionbrand homespun yarn, and made what i affectionately call fuzzy infinity. it is a simply infinity scarf that is just so skooshy and warm that it makes me all warm and fuzzy, inside and out. plus, i think the colors turned out really beautiful. i wasn't expecting it to be variegated, so the whole thing was a lovely surprise. it was so simple that is was incredibly relaxing to work on. it only took a day, which made me feel good about my knitting speed. i'll definitely be doing many more of these.

for the nerd culture challenge entitled "i, for one, welcome our new man-made overlords," we were supposed to be inspired by technology and human/non-human ingenuity. so, i made a little plushie Winslow from Questionable Content. anyone that has ever seen any of these posts knows that i am startlingly fond of QC. i've been thinking about making either Winslow or Pint Size for a while, and the perfect challenge finally presented itself. another reason i am so proud of my little Winslow is that i was forced to finally figure out real color work, by which i mean not just stripes. i carried him around in my bag for a week after he was done so i could show him to everyone i knew. i got some odd looks that were quickly replaced by smiles as he is just too dern cute not to smile at him.

so, that is what i made last month. i'm pleased with all of the resulting items, i must say. haven't done nearly as much this month, and probably won't. still trying to kick the tail end of terrible allergies/cold. that'll knock into your productivity and motivation. also having a tough time being inspired by the round two challenges. oh well, there's still three solid weeks left in march. we'll just have to see how it goes. the seasons here are getting more sporadic, as is usual for west texas. yesterday was a beautiful 77. today is in the forties and drizzling and windy and miserable. that is supposed to persist into the weekend and next week, but you aren't here for the forecast.

all the screwy weather does remind me that spring is a time for change. whether that means big life changes or small changes in routine or goals, tis the season for it. personally, i am working at keeping an open mind and heart to the changes God has in store for me in this season, whether it be radical or subtle. as i am personally highly non-spontaneous, this isn't particularly easy for me. therefore, i am approaching it as an exercise in trust (and i don't mean like the ever corny trust falls and things of summer camp). i like knowing what is coming. i am terrible and handling change in any form, but i'm learning. however slowly, i am learning.
may we be open-hearted to His will, where ever it may take us

end of the year already!?!

well, here we are at the end of the year. the last couple of months have simply flown by. so many thing have been made, and since Christmas has come and gone again, i can finally share those things with you! stay with me people, this is gonna be a long one.
we'll start with what was unsharable in september and october. september, if you'll remember, was the off month between tournaments (woo! love me some Nerd Wars!). i turned out a couple of things that simply needed doing.

i made this hat for the cousin christmas exchange we do with the hubster's family every thanksgiving. i used the ribbed hat pattern by Hannah Felting from one of my favorite pattern books, One-Skein Wonders, 101 Yarn Shop Favorites. simply love this book for so many reasons. anyway, the recipient really loved it and had been needing a hat for the coming winter! love how that worked out. :)

october arrived with the beginning of Nerd Wars: Tournament the Third. my dad had been asking for a Jayne hat for a while, so i went ahead and made one and stashed it away for christmas this year. for those of you who don't understand the reference here, shame on you. go watch Firefly and Serenity immediately. this will be still be here when you get back. this hat was made in answer to the technical challenge: colortastic. it required the use of at least two different colors. for team tie in (go Team Shady Cels!), i cited one the web comics i read almost religiously, Unshelved. actually, this comic in particular. anyway, i used the My Jayne Hat pattern by Erica Barcott (Ravelry page; login needed). my dad simply loved it. :D

in november, i submitted had a request (which turns out wasn't entirely serious) for a turkey viking hat that one of the cousins had seen online (ah, the wonders of the internet are vast indeed). well, i made it, much to her surprise and delight, using the Jive Turkey Baby Hat pattern by sewgeeky (Ravelry page; login needed). you can see what i fondly refer to as turkey head on the recipient here on his mom's blog. is he not precious!? anyway, i submitted turkey head to the nerd culture challenge: revenge of the nerds, in which you were supposed to explore another team's nerdery that you were unfamiliar with. i decided to look into Team UU, based around the Discworld series written by Terry Pratchett (link to the series map). well, i must say, i'm in love with the series, hands down. it is so much fun! as far as team tie in goes, well, it is turkey head, there are loads of cartoons with thanksgiving specials.

for november's technical challenge: from a different angle (make something involving angles), i made one of the flying keys from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (another one you should go read if you haven't already). i used the "Flying Keys from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" pattern by Kristina Gill (Ravelry page; login needed). for team tie in, i cited another comic read almost religiously, Penny Arcade. this one, actually. one of the creators (and subsequently, his comic counterpart)love the Harry Potter series. it turned out so well that i'm considering covering my Christmas tree in them one year.

for november's giving geeks challenge: it's hip to be a square (blanket square for charity), someone on my team found Project Linus. they only accept whole blankets for donations, so our team banded together to make an entire blanket. this one was mine. we decided to do them all in shades of blue as tribute to linus and his blanket. not all of the squares are quite done yet, but i'll let you know when there's a picture of the finished blanket.

for november's intellectual challenge: periodically scientific (make something inspired by, representative of all or part of an element on the periodic table), i made my mother's christmas present. it is a scarf, as i'm certain you can see, that is blue. it was inspired by the element actinitum. “Owing to its strong radioactivity, actinium glows in the dark with a pale blue light, which originates from the surrounding air ionized by the energetic particles emitted from actinium.” for team tie in, Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen by Alan Moore(yet another you should go read is you haven't) is both and radioactive.

for december's team spirit challenge: nerds in their natural habitat, i made these fingerless mitts for my grandmother for christmas using the 75 Yard Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts pattern by Jeanne Stevenson. i also used Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off for the... well... bind off. i call them forever summer because (and here's the team spirit tie in) they are inspired by Phineas and Ferb's backyard. they also strongly remind me of said grandmother's backyard. green grass, blue sky, and clouds with lots of sunshine. good memories.

this one was actually started as my submission for the november team spirit challenge: winter is coming, in which we were supposed to make something for a character within our nerdery for the coming winter. i finished the first week of december and gave it to my delightful sister-in-law for christmas. it is an infinity scarf from the Stockholm Scarf pattern by knittedblissJC (Ravelry page; login needed). i absolutely love the way it turned out. i'll have a better picture of it later (my camera decided to be less than cooperative for Christmas day), i just wanted you to see the stitch pattern. so lovely.
well, that about wraps up the Christmas items i couldn't tell you about before and the other miscellaneous items that i just hadn't told you about from november. it has been an absolutely crazy couple of months.

let me see, what else... oh! still haven't opened an etsy store, haven't really had time to give it the thought lately, what with all the holidays and family and such. i have, however, done some knitting on commission, which is very exciting. i did three super cuddly scarves for friend for Christmas gifts for her family.

i also did this bearded baby beanie for a friend's baby. he is entirely too cute for words in it. i'm very pleased with the way they all turned out. oh! i'm also giving knitting lessons! so much fun! my first student is the most excited, enthusiastic ten-year-old girl i've ever seen. we have so much fun.
so, it has been busy and crazy and wonderful for the last couple months. i'm reminded of how much family means to me (even when they drive me crazy). i'm reminded of all the wonderful gifts this particular season brings. however, i'm mostly inspired by the joy and generosity and overwhelming love that is Christmas to me. so i pray that we may keep this joy, this generosity, and especially this love alive in our hearts, minds, souls, and attitudes as we enter and live in the soon coming new year.
may Christmas truly live on in us, and in everything we do, everyday.

i fell into fall

the past two months have simply flown by (not something i'm used to saying) and they have been great. time for the parade of showable finished knitted items. i'm been working on various christmas gifts of late, so i can't share everything i've made in the past two months at this juncture.
september was the month between tournaments for nerd wars, so i had time to knock a few things out that would be difficult to fit into categories and challenges. unfortunately for you, they were all christmas gifts and i won't be posting pictures until the end of december. sorry about that.
october was the first round of nerd wars: tournament the third. i was sorted onto Team Shady Cels, a team devoted to cartoons, comics, web comics, anime, and manga. i couldn't have been happier. seriously. i love cartoons. more than a person my age should, according to the majority of the people i know. it has been so much fun so far. i'm on a team of people who love them too! huzzah! anyway, again i can't share everything i made this month since several of them are christmas gifts, but i will share everything else.

for the team spirit challenge: you say it's your birthday, i made a worry hat for Hannelore from Questionable Content. now she has her very own and can remove "messing up Martin's worry hat" from her crazy long list of worries. i'm really pleased with the way it turned out. admittedly, it is a tab bigger than i meant for it to be. i used the Warm Up Hat pattern from LionBrand. you can find it here. no lie, i know i didn't actually do the beginning right, but i like the way mine turned out better anyway. i went in the round on dpn's instead of working it flat and seaming it at the end (which i what i think it wanted me to do).

for the nerd culture challenge: best dressed nerds, i made Cosmo and Wanda from Fairly Odd Parents in their goldfish form since Timmy Turner simply can't be done as a costume without his goldfish by his side. once again, i am beyond please with the way they turned out. i think they are super cute. i used the Orb-it Ball pattern by Staci Perry (Ravelry page; login needed) for the bodies and added the rest myself.

as a last minute submission for the intellectual challege: i haiku, you haiku too!, i made a quick little bottle koozie with a rhinoceros on it. the challenge was to create something (potentially inspired by a previously published haiku) and write a haiku to go with it. mine was inspired by a Questionable Content strip from the early days of the comic. this one, actually. i think my rhino is pretty cute, personally.
i also submitted for the technical challenge: colortastic, but you'll have to wait until after christmas to see and hear about that one.

oh! i almost forgot. completely apart from any of the challenges in october, i made several breast cancer awareness ribbons. most of them went to the rest of my team at the bunco for breast cancer event that we went to. the other five (not pictured) went to a friend of mine for her team in the breast cancer walk they are participating in tomorrow. i think they all turned out pretty cute personally.

so, there you have it. it has been a busy couple of months that have yielded a variety of wonderful (in my opinion) knit items that i'm fairly proud of. let's see, what else has been going on... oh! i'm thinking of opening an etsy shop! i haven't yet, so don't get too excited (okay, that was wishful thinking on my part). i'll be letting you know if and when it actually happens. trying to iron out some details first (like what i would sell). there will be some serious, shameless self-promotion happening if and when it comes about, don't you worry.
something i've been reminded of recently is that even though things don't always turn out perfectly or exactly the way you want them, it isn't by any means the end of the world. if you need proof, just ask my test gold fish. i call him special fish, or sf for short. he is far from perfect but still has a smile on his face. plans don't always work out, perfection is almost never achieved. but that is okay. it isn't really about the imperfection, it is about what we put into it and take from it. the attitude with which we regard it. i mean, think about it. with all the imperfection of this world, i think God still looks at it everyday and proclaims anew that "it is good."
may we face each day with the knowledge and attitude that "it is good."

moving on

let me just say that i don't know about you, but for me, july was absolutely crazy.
first the important stuff, knitting. did a good bit of it this last month. submitted to three challenges for nerd wars (one of which was only partially finished). doing my part for the team. woo! go team 4-panel! so, for the nerd culture challenge: big (nerd) love i submitted a d4 shaped dice bag in honor of team meeples. you can find the pattern here.

made it for a friend of mine that also enjoys a round of d&d.
for the team spirit challenge: it's fun to be bad, i submitted a pair of fingerless gloves that would look awesome on poison ivy. however, they are for me for when the weather here dips back down to a temperature that doesn't lend itself to cooking on the sidewalks. sigh, someday. you can find the pattern here (Ravelry page, login needed).

they turned out really well, better than i really expected. i guess i'm improving with my dpns after all. :D

so yeah, july was long for a variety of reasons. after my family finally finished moving my grandparents (mom was super stressed over the whole thing), it was time to pack up my brother and sister-in-law for their move to new york. the week they left was rough. still having a bit of a time with my brother being so far away. to top that week off, the hubster's grandmother departed this world for the heavenly one. the funeral was really sweet and we got to see lots of family that we wouldn't normally. while we are sad she is gone, she had been battling alzheimer's disease since before i even met the hubs (according to him). i learned loads about her that weekend, and was greatly saddened to have never truly met this remarkable woman. when she was herself, she was an amazingly hospitable and godly woman that never met a stranger. i really do wish i could have know her. if you could, please keep the family in your prayers. they've temporarily lost a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother and could use some uplifting.
so, during this month of losses (some greater than others), i've learned a good bit. i've learned that following your God with all of your heart leads you down a path of love. granted, i technically already knew this. however, really seeing how such actions played out over a lifetime was inspiring and beautiful. i pray i have the courage to follow my God at least half as loyaly as she did.
on a completely unrelated note, i've also learned that i am not as slow to anger as i would like to be. i've been rereading a favorite recently, Little Women, for the umpteenth time and i was reading chapter 7 or 8 (i don't recall which) in which amy burns jo's little book as an act of revenge and jo is dealing with her anger. she describes her anger as all-consuming and wild, growing to the point that you are capable of terrible things and take pleasure in hurting the feelings of others. i read this chapter almost immediately after being exceptionally frustrated and fuming with someone. i was struck by it. i thought back to my behavior and was instantly wholly embarrassed with myself. upon mentioning said situation to the hubster and how i hadn't meant to be awful, he informed me that he had been mildly frightened and on looking on me in that moment had seen malicious intent in my eyes and heard it in my tone. i didn't know what to say. jo's own anger and repentance immediately popped into my head. try as i might, my anger remains my "bosom enemy" as it does jo's, never to be cured, only to learn control. so, if you don't mind, i could really benefit from any prayers you would care to throw my way on this matter. and if you haven't read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, you should. just saying.
so, this has been quite a month for moving on. i continue to learn more every day. i pray fervently that i may truly learn to love properly from God, who is abounding in love. i pray that i may not fall head first into the all-consuming fires of anger and learn to control my temper and sooth my agitation with lashing out from God, who is slow to anger. i also ask forgiveness from any victims of my anger.
may God continue to work on us all, no matter what our "bosom enemy" may be.

adjustments need to be made...

well, june was quite a month. lots of things going on. i made my first doll as a result of a nerd wars challenge, for instance. she is based on Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham from probably my favorite web comic, Questionable Content. she turned out really well and just so cute! you can see her here.

she was a learning experience for a variety of reasons. for one, i've never made anything stuffed. it wasn't as hard as i thought it would be (granted, she is pretty basic). for two, i had to figure out how to make a tiny little dress without a pattern. i ended up writing my own. i think it turned out pretty well, if i do say so myself. afterall, i did make three other dresses in the process. one of which looks more like a vase than a dress (plus side to that, totally already know what to do if i ever need to make a tiny vase!). for three, i had to figure out how to attach hair. not as easy as you may think (a small amount of trial and error on that one). so, that's what's been done recently. there will definitely be more to report next time.
i had an exceptionally negative attitude for a good chunk of june and the very beginning of july for various reasons that i won't get into here. i generally pride myself on being positive and optimistic and, for the most part, content. the last several weeks, however, i was living on the other side of that coin. when i finally noticed my own negativity, i was dreadfully embarassed with myself. instead of really making the effort to look on the bright side, i had been dragging my poor attitude around and practically beating my friends and family with it. not cool.
it is one of those things where, once i finally realize what i've been doing, i have to stop and really think about what has been causing me to behave that way. to be honest with myself, it is never just one thing or an easy fix. there's usually a small amount of dissatisfaction and a large amount of frustration (generally job related). i know in my head that it is a mind over matter deal. as my mother has said numerous times, "you can do anything for a short amount of time." and much to my chagrin, she's right. and i know that. i practically chant it to myself some days. thing is, i think my mindset has been wrong. i've been thinking of it as something to get through and deal with, but, while that may be true to an extent, there's more to it. there are other things going on too. there's more to life than getting through the next day of the week. there's more than just dealing with it. there's life out there to be lived, not necessarily apart from the daily grind, but along side it in harmony. every life song has some minor undertones to it. they grant it depth and different level of emotion. they don't rule the piece, they add to it in ways that the major tones can't. wow. that metaphor works, but it kinda got away from me.
anyway, i guess my point is that it shouldn't be about the minor tones and what causes them, but how the composer reacts to them and blends them with the rest of the composition (i know, again with the music metaphor, can't help it). okay, i need to abandon that. anyway, you know what i mean. taking the less than wonderful feeling and experiences without letting them rule you. it is hard. i know i can't do this on my own, but being the stubborn human being i am, i keep trying to anyway. i'm just gonna have to try and remember that God is in control and to let him carry me through.
i'm probably going to start sounding like a broken record soon, but my previous prayer still needs saying. God, guide me on a path of contentment and peace that only you can provide.

happy towel day all! :D

today is may 25 or, to nerds in the know, towel day. towel day is celebrated to honor the life and work of Douglas Adams. if you haven't read the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy yet, then i strongly recommend that you do. after all, "A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have."
may has been pretty good so far. since nerd wars: tournament the first ended with april, it has been a month to rest the creative muscle and just relax. as a result, i made my first pair of fingerless mitts, which you can see here.

they didn't turn out as well as i would have liked, but i'm still practicing with double pointed needles. all things considered, i really like them. bonus: my hands no longer turn to ice cubes at work! huzzah for working hands!
speaking of nerd wars, tournament the second is starting at the beginning of june! i've applied for different teams this time around, so i'm hoping i get my first choice. i'll know on friday when they announce the rosters. if i do get my first or second choice, i've already got a variety of ideas and i couldn't be more excited about some of them. :D w00t!
so, in this month of no deadlines, i learned that i can get things done in a timely fashion without the pressure of said deadlines to push me. got my mitts done in less than a week (i think keeping track of the actual hours of work would make me super neurotic)! so proud of myself. it feels like i'm growing in a variety of ways and i know that isn't my doing. God is so good. i just pray that He continues to show me things the way He has been. it is such a wonder to experience the smallest percentage of the joy i know He has when working on His own creations. i know my own joy doesn't really compare, but creation isn't a contest. it is a labor of love on so many levels.
i can't wait to see what He has in store for me.