A New Year...

My resolutions this year are to:

1. Write more - like every day if possible
2. Finish my crochet projects before I start a new one
3. Use up all my yarn stash.

So far I finished a harry potter scarf I started over a year and a half ago (though it's probably been longer than that). The sad thing is that it was pretty much finished last January - all I had to do was sew up either side and add fringe. I'm currently plugging away now at a baby blanket I started in October for a friend from Church - I think I have 20 more rows till I'm done. After that there's another baby blanket to finish for a cousin. However I lost the hook I was using for that one, and now I can't remember what size hook it was, so I may have to frog it and start from scratch.

Oh, well, at least my neck will be warm while I do so. 

(Ravenclaw  Forever)

I am beginning to plug away at my stories more. I updated both of my fanfics for the first time since April. I finally just deleted the chapter that was annoying me on The Undying Ones. It turns out that I didn't really need it after all. I still have no idea if I should change the first couple of chapters of the Descendants, or leave it as is.

Anywho, today is WIPpet Wednesday. Since there isn't anything I can really share in TUO or The Descendants at this point, and there's nothing new in Mary's story, I'm going to share a little bit from one of the aformentioned fanfics I updated last week - Renegade Weyr. Just like Between Two Worlds, it's a Dragonriders of Pern Fanfic, but unlike Between Two Worlds, this actually takes place on Pern and the two main characters are both dragonriders.

There are five different dragon colors on Pern - Golds are female dragons and are the largest, and are often called Queens. Bronzes are male and the second largest dragons. Browns are also male, and are the next in line on the size scale. They're followed by Blues, who are male too. Last but not least are Greens, who are the smallest and are female.

When dragons hatch, they 'impress' upon a human, and then they and that human are bonded for life. Queen's impress on women. Bronzes, Browns, and Blues impress on men. Greens either impress girls, or men. They can communicate with their rider and each other telepathically, but it's very rare that a dragon will talk to another dragon's rider.

When men impress they shorten their name - so Jason, becomes J'son. Women who impress don't change their name. Dragon's names always end in a 'th'.

Dragons and their riders all live together in a Weyr, but occasionally they'll leave to go and visit a hold, craft hall, or a Gather - which is kinda like a county fair.

N'kar, the character in this chapter, is the rider of brown Elanth. He grew up in a Weyr surrounded by dragons and eventually impressed. His family, however, moved out of the Weyr and into a Hold after his oldest sister got married. He's gone to a Gather near their home to spend some time with them when his dragon encounters another dragon that isn't what it seems to be.

Since today is the seventh of January, here are seven lines from the first chapter.

I thought you were going to sleep? N’kar asked the brown.
I was, but then more dragons arrived and I had to move. There are two very pretty greens here now but they won't talk to me. There's a small bronze and a blue that keep watch on them constantly. The dragon sounded annoyed, They're very nervous.
Maybe they're coming into heat? The brownrider suggested in an attempt to soothe the dragon.
No, I would know. And no one else has seen them before. The large green isn't right, she's nearly as big as me, but she isn't a green.
How can a green not be a green?
I don't know, I don't understand. She's green, but she isn't a green.
I give up. N'kar's brain hurt from trying to understand Elanth's logic. Try to ignore them and go to sleep.

To read more of the fanfic (there's 31 chapters) you can go here.
To read more WIPpet Wednesday updates - go here. 

WIP Wednesday the Seventy Second...

I do not have a picture of it, but I did get some knitting done this weekend. We went over to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl, and, since I really have no interest in football whatsoever, I spent the entire game working on my Ravenclaw scarf. Currently I'm about halfway through the orange stripe.

I have pretty much given up on the mystery baby blanket. I just have no interest in continuing it, and I suspect the person who it was for has given up on it anyways. However, I can't bring myself to frog it just yet.

I purchased Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger yesterday since I finally finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened last week. I loved Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, and The Finishing School series is set in the same world as Parasol Protectorate, so there's still Vampires and Werewolves and steampunk gadgets galore. However, it's set 20 years earlier than the Parasol Protectorate, so the steampunk gadgets that the characters have encountered so far are a bit clunkier; there's automaton butlers that run on tracks, and the dirigibles haven't quite mastered the aether yet. Also the characters are much younger - Sophrina is 14 where as Alexia was 26 - which was a bit of a shock since most young adult novels have characters that are 16 to 17 nowadays. So far I've only gotten to the 5th chapter (or is it the 4th?) where Sophrina and company arrive at the location of the Finishing School and are greeted by a werewolf.

I haven't done much writing this week. I did a little playing around with the Adult Story (I really need to find a better working title for that) on Thursday and Friday but nothing has flowed since. I'm tempted to go the serial route with that one a la Anything He Wants, but I've read mixed reviews about serials. Some people enjoy them. Some people don't.

TUO is being just as stubborn. I finally sent what I had written to one of my friends to go over to see if her thoughts or questions about it might get things moving again. I'm tempted to play around with another story while I wait, but the amount of research I need to do on that one is daunting and part of the reason why I haven't written anything for it yet aside from the prologue. Plus, having two stories going on at once is enough thank you.

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress!

And be sure to check out ROW 80 as well for more writing updates, tips, and advice!

WIP Wednesday the Seventy First

I have finished another blue stripe on the scarf and I've started on a new orange stripe. I believe there's twelve more stripes to go before the scarf is finished - though that could change. Even though the pattern for the Harry Potter scarf knits up pretty long, when they're done they almost look as if they should be longer. The one I made for my husband almost looks like it's too short. I like nice long thick scarves, so I'll be adjusting mine accordingly - and possibly making a new one for the husband eventually.

If it seems like all I ever knit is scarves, I apologize. I do have other patterns I want to try, but I never really have the time to work on them, or there may be something going on in the background that's distracting - like hockey. I know I could turn it off, or go upstairs away from the TV, but I don't want to miss any game in this season since it'll be such a short one. Though, in all honesty, the Kings haven't been doing so great so far. The season is only just beginning, so hopefully they can get their act together quickly.

I made a little progress on TUO. I just finished another flashback scene, and I hope I'm not being too obvious about who a certain character really is. Now the main character gets to do a bit of sleuthing around the castle before I finally let her run into the King - which was originally going to happen later in the book, so I forsee some cutting and pasting in my future. 

The other story I'm working on is being stubborn. I think it's because I just don't know the characters well enough yet and they're being elusive. I believe once I finally hammer them and their back stories out, everything else will fall into place. I also think I may be trying to move the story along a little too fast so that the leads can bump into each other as quickly as possible and get down to business as quickly as possible, because, honestly, that's when the fun begins. 

The update for the long forgotten fanfic is coming along quite nicely though. I've managed to write 3000 words since Monday, however it feels like I'm just repeating myself in some of the scenes, and the male lead is beginning to sound a bit like a combination of Thorin from The Hobbit film, and John Thorton from North and South (I'm a bit infatuated with Richard Armitage at the moment). It's not a bad thing as the character in the fanfic is a bit stiff and easy to anger (he doesn't put up with idiots) just like Thorin and Thorton, but it's interesting to see how other media influences our writing sometimes. 

The husband and I are going for another adventure on Saturday! This time we'll be heading up to the Malibu Creek State Park. In another life it used to be the old Fox Movie Ranch, and there's a trail that takes you to the old MASH set. Sadly there isn't as much left as there was out at Paramount Ranch, but there's a sign post like the one they had in the TV Show, and a couple of old trucks, and it'll be really good exercise. So, be sure to check back for pictures on Sunday!

Until later!

Check out Tami's Amis for more works in progress!

Or head on over to ROW 80 for more updates from other writers!

WIP Wednesday the Seventieth!

Or... of Knitting and Writing.

Despite running around Paramount Ranch on Saturday, I still had time to knit a bit.

I'm getting close to the end of the blue stripe though, so soon it'll be time to start an orange stripe. I seem to go faster on the orange and slower on the blue... Maybe because blue is more soothing and orange is more exciting? Hmmm.

Writing is going. I'm slowly finishing up the editing/rewriting that I needed to do on TUO, and eventually I'll be able to move on to rewriting other chapters. Exciting, huh? The story is still clocking in at the 30,000 word mark, so unfortunately I have not made the 500 a day goal that I have set for myself - not even on the fun little side project I started. Thankfully, ROW 80 is forgiving. It gets that we have lives outside of our writing. I, however, am my own worst critic - however I think that's normal for writers, so it's nice to know I'm not alone.

I do have yet another idea fermenting in my mind (plot bunnies are prolific as real bunnies) that is set in a semi dystopian future where the world has been taken over by zombies. I blame this entirely on watching the trailer for The Host and listening to Radioactive by Imagine Dragons far too often. Seeing pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch as the new baddie for Star Trek didn't help matters either.  

Now to get back to catching up on Castle!

Check out Tami's Amis for more Work's in Progress, and be sure to check out a Round of Words in 80 days as well!

WIP Wednesday the Sixty Ninth

The great thing about knitting is that even if you're working on a huge project, you can see some sort of progress. Right now I'm currently on stripe 7 of 19. I'm having issues with tension, but overall I really like how it's coming along.

The husband was teasing me that at this rate I'll be done by the time winter is over. I replied with 'well, at least it'll be done by the time we go on our next big trip' and 'this is why the moment I finish this I'll get started on the knitting and crocheting for Christmas.'. I'm planning to make scarfs for some of my cousins (green and white, or red and white, so it's Christmas-y but can be used year round) and I also want to make a blanket for my Mom and possibly my Aunts.

Unlike knitting, or sewing, or crocheting, there really isn't a measure of progress with writing unless you're working on a term paper. Sure you can see how far you've come, but you have no idea how much longer you have to go until you've reached the point where it's done - which can be 5 words from now, 15, 100, or 20,000. It all depends on the story.

This is probably why I get depressed about my writing sometimes and opt to knit instead: yes, I have an outline and so I have a better idea of where I am in the story, but sometimes it feels like it'll never get done.

You can probably tell by this little rant that I haven't made as much progress on TUO this week as I would have liked. I did get a bit written for another story, but as that's a fan fic, it doesn't really count. I also had plenty of ideas for my fun on the side story... which makes me think I should focus on that for now since it seems to be flowing better. I hate to flip flop between stories, but, thankfully, I'm not the only writer who does it - Neil Gaiman and a few others are guilty too! - so I don't feel as bad when I do.

How are your WIPs going?

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress

New Year, New Blog...

Once upon a time I had two blogs. One for writing and one for knitting. This lasted for a few months until work got busy, and then I was loaned over to IT. Slowly both blogs became neglected, the posts coming fewer and farther apart. As a result, I have decided to close one of the blogs and do all my posting (writing, knitting, sewing, music and meatlocker Mondays) on the other one. As this blog has been around longer, has more posts, and more readers, it has won out over the other blog and gets to stay.

To reflect the fact that this now a writing and a craft blog I have changed the title and the url, added some gadgets to the side, and imported some posts from my writing blog - so now everything is in one place!

Here's to more posts and adventures in 2013!

WIP Wednesday the Fifty Fourth...

Since I tend to forget to update my blog on Wednesdays a lot, and since trying to write a blog on my tablet or phone is a pain in the butt because the blogger app won't let you add pictures from Picasa or create links, I am going to try something different this week. I am going to write my blog a day in advance and then schedule it to post on Wednesday instead! (And of course, as soon as I did that, I realized that tomorrow is the Fourth of July and my Birthday, so I'd be home to write the post and didn't need to schedule it. Oh well!)

Slowly but surely the scarf is getting ever closer to it's completion!

I had to go in on Saturday to work since it was the end of the month, and man was it dead - we're talking 30ish minutes between calls, under 20 emails... I don't think people realized we were open - so I plugged away at it until I was sent home early. I am hoping that I can finish it this week, and then I can focus on the baby blanket (though taking that to work will be impossible!) 

I started A Round of Words in 80 days this week! It's kinda like Nano in that it focuses on trying to get people to write more, but you get to set your own goals. For me, I am hoping to finish the short story (officially renamed... to what you'll just have to wait and see!) but my hard goal is at least 200 words a day.  I'll be tracking my progress over here at my new writing blog: The Girl Who Writes (which is a spin off of what one of the higher ups at my job calls me; the girl who knits) 

Check out Tami's Amis for more work in progress updates!

WIP Wednesday the Fifty Third...

Slowly but surely, we are approaching the end of the technicolor dream scarf.

The skeins are getting very small, I estimate I have a few more rows before it's done - and now that the Stanley Cup Finals are over with (YAY KINGS!!!!) I can complete the scarf without having to worry about frogging every other stitch. 

If my writing would let me, that is. It's been influenced by all the hockey going on lately, and it doesn't seem to want to leave me in peace any time soon (which is perfectly fine by me.)

Since everyone else is reading it, I decided to break down and start 50 Shades of Grey. It's okay. Not horrible like I was expecting, but not fabulous either. You can definitely tell at times that it started off as Twilight fanfic since Christian Grey does resemble Edward Cullen in that he's controlling, too good looking to be true, and seems to prefer monochromatic clothing. Anastasia is a clutz, and is far too forgiving of Christian's behavior because she loves him just like Bella.And they have that unhealthy dependent relationship - just like in Twilight. But it is a bit more understandable given their roles in their sexual relationship, though still so not healthy. I'm all for doing what you want in the bedroom as long as you don't seriously maim or kill your partner, but breaking down in to tears because they have to leave because they have to work in the morning? REALLY?!? Ugh.

The emails and texts between the two are probably my favorite parts - they're fun and flow well, and are full of flirting and teasing. Now if the author could have only let Anastasia could only open up like that in conversations, it would have made the book a lot better. 

As for the naughty bits? Well those are definitely fun. As George Takei would say... Oh, my!

Check out Tami's Amis for more WIP goodness!

WIP Wednesday the Fifty Second...

I have come to realize that knitting and watching the Stanley Cup finals do not mix. I lost count of the times that I knitted when I should've purled, or purled when I should've knitted. Thankfully I always caught myself before I completed the next stitch.

I have also come to the realization that there are portions of my scarf where the yarn is a bit thinner than others... so it's ribbed in more ways than one!

And, as always - Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress!

WIP Wednesday the Forty Eighth...

I have actually made a little progress this week: the scarf is nearing it's fourth color repeat, and I was able to knock out two more rows on the baby blanket. I don't have a sewing update because we were more focused on cleaning the apartment this weekend, and pulling stuff out of the Harry Potter room seemed contradictory to that task. However, my husband is awesome and offered to get my sewing gear out of the closet for me since he gets home before I do - so, barring any unforseen complications, I may a sewing update next week!

Check Out Tami's Amis for more Work In Progress fun!

WIP Wednesday the Forty Fifth...

I've started on what you could call the third color repeat of the scarf. I think I have one, maybe two more, before the scarf is done.

I'm not even done with this project and I am already plotting my next knitting project. I was going to make a Ravenclaw scarf for myself, but the powers that be at work have decided to turn the air conditioning on full blast recently so I spend a lot of time sitting on my hands to prevent then from freezing solid! I think a pair of fingerless gloves are in order!

The baby blanket is still progressing slowly but surely. I am determined to have this done by the kiddo's first birthday. I've learned a lesson from this baby blanket: the next time a pattern says baby blanket size is only so many stitches - follow the pattern! Don't think to yourself, oh, I'll make it a bit bigger because that seems too small. Well, by the time I'm done with this blanket, it'll be a decent sized blanket and will probably last till the kiddo is a teenager. 

I also have not started cutting out the fabric for my new bodice yet. I meant to. I really really did. Unfortunately I had to work on Saturday, so by the time I got home I was too exhausted to want to even look at my sewing stuff. I did cut out the pattern on Sunday (with the 'help' of the cats) but I didn't get around to cutting out the fabric. 

Today I decided I would definitely cut out the fabric and start piecing things together. Then I realized that my sewing stuff is in the Harry Potter closet we have (yes, our apartment came with a 'room' under the stairs!) and there was a bunch of stuff blocking the door. 

(this is a fraction of the stuff sitting in the corner)

I moved the stuff aside and found that the closet was just as packed as I remembered - except now there's a couple of boxes full of comic books and God knows what else in front of my sewing stuff. 

(Ugh.)

I think I'll go through it tomorrow when the Husband is home to distract the cats. 

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works In Progress!

WIP Wednesday the Forty Fourth...

Yet again, a few more rows of progress has been made on both the scarf and the baby blanket - but not as much as I planned or wanted. I've been reading a lot lately: I finished volume 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead comic, Jane Austen and the Ghosts of Netley Hall, Miss Lacey's Legacy, and The World We Live In (which is the third book in the Life As We Knew It trilogy)

While The Walking Dead comic, Jane Austen and the Ghosts of Netley Hall, and Miss Lacey's Legacy were fun reads, The World We Live In was not. It's a good book, but it's also very depressing. So much so that I immediately came home and hugged the husband and the cats. I then proceeded to reassure them that if an asteroid hit the moon and caused a world wide catastrophe that I would do whatever I had to to ensure we all had food to eat and didn't starve to death. Needless to say the husband just laughed at me and the cats promptly started squirming until I put them down.

The process of making myself a new bodice for Renn Faire has been started. I went over to my friend Jeffrie's house - she has a lovely foodie blog - on Friday and was duct taped up. 

Now a lot of you are probably raising your eyebrows at this point. I don't blame you, the first thing I thought of when making a bodice for the first time was not duct taping - I'd actually read a number of websites on how to adjust commercial patterns and make them period appropriate prior to my first bodice and all I could think was: aw, crap... I'm going to have to do math and sew muslins... what's a muslin?

That first bodice turned out okay, but the shoulders were a bit big, so there was some gaping going on. Still not bad for someone who had only shown chemises and skirts before. Then another friend explained that duct taping was the way to go. 

Basically with a duct tape pattern you wear an over sized shirt - big enough that you are comfortable, and that it hits your hips or thigh, but not so big that you're swimming in it. A friend then proceeds to wrap duct tape around your torso starting from either your waist up, or from your chest down. Duct tape is applied over the shoulders and built up in the front and the back to a desired height. Over time more layers are applied until it's not as flimsy, but not too thick. Normally at this point the design for the bodice is sketched onto the duct tape with a pen and then the victim is cut free. I usually go one more step and I'll even measure the person while they're in the duct tape - but that's only because I sometimes have a hard time finding the middle... sometimes I can be off a little. 

There more details on how to do a duct tape bodice pattern here, here, and here.

Here's what three rolls of duct tape looked like once I escaped:

Jeffrie is an amazing seamstress (in addition to being an amazing cook) and was able to make a pattern from the bodice without any sketching on the duct tape or measuring. She simply folded the duct tape pattern in a couple of different ways, took her scissors to it, and viola!

Now all I have to do is transfer the pattern to paper, clean up the lines, add seam allowances and then I'll be good to start cutting out fabric. 

I bought some yellow gold gimp braid to use as trim this weekend, but I recently read about Petersham ribbon, and I'm sorely tempted to get some in gold and use that instead of the braid. It's pretty inexpensive, and would be easier to sew with as it's not as bulky. Hmmmmm.

Next week, making a pattern from a duct tape pattern, and possibly cutting out the fabric. 

Check out Tami's Amis for more Work In Progress goodness!

WIP Wednesday the Thirty Fourth...

No progress has been made on the Gryffindor scarf. I ran out of yarn last week, and hadn't had a chance, or the funds, to get more yarn until just recently. But, now that I have more yarn, I figure it won't be much longer now until I'm done. Maybe another week or so?

The baby blanket is coming along smoothly. I will eventually need more yarn for this as well, and I had planned to get some more today, but Joann's was pretty picked over (It took me awhile to find the Gryffindor yarn!) and they only had one of the colors I needed. I decided to wait another day or two. 

I finally ordered some more yarn for the Husband's Slytherin scarf. Knitpicks no longer offers Telemark in the grey that I needed, but their Wool of the Andes Sport brand is the same weight, and it has the same colorway, so I ordered a skein. Hopefully it works out so it can be totally finished!

Today I start my first day of work at my new job. I'm excited and nervous!

WIP Wednesday the Thirty First

I have passed the middle of the Gryffindor scarf.

(Connor modeling the scarf)

The baby blanket is coming along quite nicely. I may have to block it to try to get the bottom row to open up and hang right, but I don't know if blocking will work since simply soft is acrylic and I read somewhere that blocking doesn't work on acrylic yarns. If not, I'm hoping that the border will resolve the issue. 

On the job hunt front I've had one interview with a temp agency. They were supposed to call me back this week but haven't so far. Tomorrow I have another interview with a totally different temp agency, and an interview with a company that found my resume online. 

Sadly, I haven't done as much as I wanted to while being unemployed yet. I have written a bit. An author that I liked also released a new ebook, so after downloading it onto my computer I was able to open that into an ebook editing program that I found and see how she put it together. See, a lot of the ebook selling websites tell you to to build an ebook this way, or that way, using Word, or HTML, but none of them really give exact details. I found a WYSIWYG e book editor online, and it cleared up some of the confusion, but actually opening up an ebook file in this editor to see what size font she used and how she included the cover art, etc etc etc. helped a lot and gave me ideas for when the time comes (though that's still a ways off) The Husband and I have also cleaned a bit - those last boxes I never unpacked from the last move are finally unpacked and the Husband found the Christmas lights - but I haven't started walking yet because it's been too cold and windy to venture outside for very long. 

Hopefully all your works in progress are going well

Check out more WIPs at Tami's Amis

Work In Progress Wednesday the Thirtieth

Good news - the Slytherin scarf is 99.9% done. All I have left is the fringe. The bad news? I ran out of the Knit Picks yarn I was using for the gray stripes. I could finish it with just green fringe instead of the green and gray fringe I was planning on, but that seems boring to me. Unfortunately Knit Picks no longer has any yarn in that that shade of gray available in Telemark. In fact, they seem to have all the Telemark marked as sell out, so I think they're getting rid of that brand. Knit Pick's Wool of the Andes has a similar shade, and it's the same weight and fiber, but they aren't going to have any more until February. I haven't been able to go to Michaels or Joanns yet to see if they have anything close. 

Several months ago I told a friend that I would make a baby blanket for her. Between working on the scarves and the wedding, I just didn't have time. Since it could possibly be awhile before the Slytherin scarf is done, I went ahead and finally started the blanket over the weekend. I, personally, LOVE granny squares, but I didn't want to do another one, and I didn't feel like another granny stripe. Then I found the granny ripple and I just knew I had to try it. 

It's actually pretty easy. However, I had some problem starting it because this pattern here said a baby blanket sized granny ripple afghan should be a 133 long chain, but that seemed too small. I did a 188 chain instead (which is supposed to be an adult sized blanket) They also said to keep your chain to length that is multiples of 11, but I had at least 5 left over when I started the first row, so I'm thinking they did the math wrong. But it could also be that I made a mistake when I was counting because I had this guy begging for my attention:

(Even now he is curled up on my arm as I type this blog)

Thankfully the left over stitches can be hidden by the trim. 

The other problem I've had is figuring out how to start the new color of yarn when it's time for a color change. When I did the granny square blanket and the granny stripe I had a certain way where I would tie things off and hide the left over yarn by the next row - I can't really do that on this one though, so I've been having to tie things off and weave the ends in as I go. It's a bit more work, but it looks nice!

The boys have also been good the past couple of days about being loving without attacking whatever I might be doing, so I've been able to get a lot done on the blanket even though I just started it.

You know how I said the boys were being loving but good? Well, I think they sense its been a rough couple of days for me. See, I was let go from my job yesterday. I had a feeling it was going to happen and I was already looking for a new job, so I'm not as upset about it as I have been when I've lost jobs in the past. It still sucks though. I'm hopeful that something will happen soon - that I'll either get a new job that's better then what I had before or that EDD will come through quickly.

There are upsides to being let go though: now I have more time to apply for jobs and now I don't have to worry about taking time off from work to go to interviews when I get them. Plus I'll be able to finally unpack those last couple of boxes from when we moved in April (there's always one or two) and I can work out (I plan to start walking every day) and knit, crochet and write of course. Maybe this is the opportunity I need to get one of my stories finally done, edited, and sent out to publishers (or self published as an ebook) So it's not all bad.

Who knows, like I said, something will happen. Something's got to. 

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress!

Work In Progress Wednesday the Twenty Ninth

I am four rows away from completing the Slytherin Scarf. It's been slow going lately though because the cats have been very clingy lately, and they do not approve of me knitting when they feel I should be petting them.

Since I'm so close to the end, I realized that I had no idea how to bind off (it never occurred to me to practice that like I was practicing the other stitches) and the little 'how to knit' booklet I have from Red Heart doesn't really explain binding off clearly. I'll be checking out Knit Pick's tutorials later, but if anyone knows of any other tutorials with clear instructions (preferably step by step with pictures) please let me know!

On the Gryffindor scarf I seem to have mastered the k2tog stitch. Obviously the scarf just calls for round after round of stockinette, so I shouldn't have to k2tog - but on a couple of stitches I apparently forgot to drop the old stitch and ended up with something like this:

Of course, by the time I realized what I had done I was already on the next row, and there was no way in hell I was going to pull the scarf off of the needles, frog those rows and then put everything back onto the needles. It's one thing to do that on the Slytherin scarf since that's on straights, but it's quite another thing when you're doing it on circulars. I ended up doing the k2tog and then moving on with the project only to discover a few rows later I had done the same thing again. 

In my defense, last week was rather rough - so I'm going to blame the screw ups on that. 

But in the end, none of them show up, so no one would notice them (except for me)

There hasn't been any progress on the job search front. I do get calls from prospective employers who are interested in talking to me - but they all seem to be offering me sales jobs where you just get paid on commission, or they're going to train you and give you enough money to start your own office up but after that you're on your own. No thank you.

In regards to reading, I highly suggest picking up The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. It's not your average paranormal teen book in that a girl meets a vampire, or ghost and falls in love with them. No, in this book an American girl travels to London for her last year in High School (her parents have taken up teaching positions at a college in England) right when a copy cat serial killer decides to mimic the Jack the Ripper murders. There's a smidge of romance, but it's mostly a mystery as the girl tries to figure out who the new Jack the Ripper is, and, in the midst of all that she discovers that she can see people her friends can't. It's a bit slow at first, but the last 2/3rds of the book make up for it. 

I started The Beauty Bride by Claire Delacroix last night. I had read some of her other novels when I was younger, and I figured that this one would be just as good. I was wrong. It started off strong, but then after the heroine agrees to marry the man who just bought her at an auction, and they consumate their relationship, the man tells her that she better give him a son or else he's going to start sleeping around with other women just like his dad did in order to get one. I understand the novel is set during the medieval period, and that society was very different then, and it wouldn't be a good book if there wasn't a bit of conflict between the heroine and her man, but still! Ugh. 

So, if anyone has any good books to suggest, please do so! My own good book finding mojo seems to have failed me. 

Check out Tami's Amis for more Work in Progress Wednesday Updates

WIP Wednesday the Twenty Second

Another week of knitting while on the job because the phones are so dead that there are points where it is 8 minutes in between calls. Which is really nice after all those months of having call after call after call after call.

The Husband's Harry Potter scarf is coming along. I accidentally forgot it at work over the weekend so I haven't made as much progress this week as I wanted. To keep my hands busy I picked up the Gryffindor scarf and started work on that again, and, boy, let me tell you it's an adjustment to go back to knitting in the round after a couple of months of doing nothing but K1P1. Thankfully I didn't have any mishaps, but I had to keep reminding myself not to pull the thread back and forth in between stitches and not to purl.

(Yup, I'm attempting to get on Pottermore while knitting a Harry Potter Scarf. I am a nerd.)

On other fronts the next trip update for our honeymoon was posted here, and I've also been going through an old short story of mine and editing it in the hopes that I can get it done and up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble self publishing websites in time for Halloween. It's proving to be a bit harder than I expected, and I'm beginning to think that maybe I should just redo the whole entire last half of the story. I knew it was lame, that the ending was wrapped up rather abruptly so I could turn it in on time (It was a project for a class in college) but I had forgotten how horrible it really was. Ugh. 

But despite how horrible some bits of it are, there are also some really great lines and images so it's not totally hopeless. I'll be sure to post more information about the ebook when it's ready.

In the meantime make sure to check out more WIPs at Tami's Amis!

WIP Wednesday the Twentieth...

I failed in my mission to get the scarf done before we reached Ireland. I thought I would have time to knit on the plane ride over, because it was a 5 hour flight from LAX to Newark and then a 6 hour flight from Newark to Dublin, however, I didn't realize that plane seats in economy class could be so small! The last time I flew, it seemed like I had plenty of room to do what I wanted - read, write, draw, you name it - but this time we were packed so tightly together that my shoulder was smushed against my husbands, and the arm rests were digging into our hips. If I tried to knit anything, I would have ended up stabbing him.

However I was able to knit a bit while we were in Scotland. Most of the stuff we wanted to visit closed around 5 or 6pm, so we were usually back at the hotel by 8pm. As a result I did manage to get a couple of rows done:

My new plan is to have both this scarf and the Griffyndor one done by the time Winter rolls around. I believe this is an easy goal because 1) the wedding has come and gone so I don't have to worry about that stuff anymore and 2) Winter doesn't show up in Southern California until like January/February. 

Picture updates of our trip will be following later today. I meant to do them while we were actually on our trip, but most of the hotels we stayed at either didn't have internet, or, if they did, the internet refused to work with our computer. 

Go check out Tami's Amis for More Works in Progress!

WIP Wednesday the Eighteenth...

This will be my last blog update before the wedding and our Honeymoon to Ireland.

Sadly I didn't get as much done on the scarf this week as I wanted to:

I've only made two stripes worth of progress. I'm hoping I can catch up today and tomorrow, I don't know how well I'll knit after then, because I'm getting my nails done for the wedding, so knitting may be impossible for me, or it may be easier. Who knows!

I did find out that I can knit on the plane! Woo-Hoo! But I'm not understanding the restrictions they have on scissors. It says says that scissors with blades under four inches long are okay, but yet, thread cutters with and enclosed blade aren't? I would think that those would be safer than scissors. Or maybe I'm not understanding what they're talking about. Maybe I'll just buy a pair of collapsible scissors and if they get on me, I can just toss them. Or I can just carry my yarn along the outside of the project and trim it when I land. I can imagine how well that will go over:

HTB: Honey, look at that castle! Look at how green everything is!

Me: Uh-huh, now where's some scissors, I need to finish this thing!

HTB: *insert dirty look here*

And then I would never hear the end of it for the rest of my life:

HTB: Honey, remember that trip to Ireland, where you ignored everything

because you were too busy looking for scissors?

Me: *insert dirty look here*

I kid of course; neither HTB and I are that bad. 

On other fronts, I had a GREAT idea for the favor bags for the wedding last week. Since they're a bit plane I wanted to spruce them up by stenciling a copy of the celtic knot we're using on our invites onto the bags. Sadly it didn't work out; the design was too small, the paper too thin, and the fabric paint got over everything. See:

I know of ways to fix it, but sadly, my printer is not cooperating and my hands aren't steady enough to try to enlarge the design the old school way with graph paper, and there simply isn't enough time. So the idea has been scrapped. I'm not shedding any tears over it though, because, in my opinion, people will care more about what's in the bags than whats on them - right?

Okay time to run some errands before I can knit knit knit some more!

Check out Tami's Amis for more Works in Progress!

WIP Wednesday the Fifteenth

I've made a bit of progress this week. I finished the most recent grey stripe, and I'm almost done with the next green stripe. After this it's 6 more green stripes, and only 5 more grey stripes, and roughly 3 weeks until the honeymoon. I think I can make it by then if I keep plugging away :)

On other fronts I have been writing a little more this week - though it's nothing I really feel comfortable posting here yet...

As always, check out Tami's Amis for more work in progress goodness!