Tons of Pictures Update

I started a pair of "Hearts and Flowers Socks" from Socks from the Toe Up, by Wendy Johnson. Uhhnnnnn. I realized when I started them that my needle size was 2 when they called for 0. I hit gauge! 8 stitches per inch! Why are these socks so big?!

I have only knit one toe and one pattern chart, so it's not like I'm any where near finishing the socks and just now realizing that they are too big. I would probably finish them and give them to my mom, if that were the case. Unfortunately, I'm broke. So, it's not like I can go out and spend money on two pairs of size 0 circular needles; even though, I totally want to! Plus, the yarn shop closes at 4 p.m.

I never got to talk about my Sunday at the Midwest Fiber Festival or my awesome adventure to Chicago last week Thursday, so I'm going to do that now.

Part Two:

Sunday, my mom and I went to the final fair day. We could have used a lot more time! We did not see everyone's booths, but we did get a peek at the alpacas and pet some awesome skeins of yarn and projects. I bought a drop spindle from Sistermaide and it is pretty. I wasn't going to buy any roving, because I have some from Yarncon last October, but then I did. Unfortunately, I can't remember who I bought the roving from! I won't be getting it until Christmas, along with three other hanks of yarn, and I think the tags are with them. I don't even have pictures, but trust me, they're gorgeous! The roving is full of greens and blues and purples. Very mermaid-chic. Two hanks of yarn are red and are intended for a super duper lace shall. The other hank is of the blue(?) variety and is also intended for a lace shall (for my mom!). I lurve my mum, so she gets lots of knitty things. And it helps that she kind of buys me yarn to feed my addiction. :P

I also bought a fingerless glove kit from Wool, Warp & Wheel. And I knit those last week, but it's too hot to wear them.



Oh, and the other thing I bought was a knitting bag. It's just a cloth bag for small projects, like socks (yeah, like the socks I'm knitting now, but they are too big). The bag was stitched by Lorel. It is so pretty! And I'm kind of toting it around with me everywhere.



We had a fantastic time. I was really glad that my mom was able to go with me on Sunday, not that my boyfriend wasn't fun, but my mom definitely appriciated it more.

Part Three:

I don't really want to make this post too long. I'm just going to talk briefly about my Thursday and then maybe post more details later? I don't know. Thursday, John Green spoke at a library in Chicago and I was there.

Like the Princess Spa mask (for Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries 10 release) I knit something for John, too. Not a spa mask though, because that is way too girly and he needed something nerdtastic. I knit him a scarf instead. It looks a little bit like it could be a slytherin scarf, but it is green and white striped. At each end of the scarf I grafted John and Hank's cartooned faces. It turned out pretty fantastic.



John wore it in this video, which was pretty jokes. I gave it to him when I went up to get my copies of An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns autographed. And he asked twice if it was really for him. Of course! Unfortuneately that also meant I distracted him and I only got a best wishes! but no JScribbles in my Paper Towns. Oh well! He'll just have to come back to Chicago, right?

Saturday!

Today's post comes in two parts. I have had a fantastic day, and I'm excited that the day is only halfway over. I have got plenty of time to do the dishes and clean up around the house, or just sit and watch t.v.

Part One:
The first thing I'll talk about is the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair Festival. Honestly, I can't say that name out loud without bungling it. I always want to put the Folk before the Fiber. It kicked off yesterday and will continue on until Sunday. I wasn't sure if I was going to go today. My mom and I planned on going Sunday, since her schedule was full for today, and there wasn't anyone else around to go with me. Or so I thought.

I woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine and thought, "Who cares if I have to go by myself!" Apparently, all I need is a sunny day to really get my confidence up. As it turned out, my bf offered to go with me. :O I was shocked, too, believe me. I bought lunch and drove, so the only thing he was responsible for was keeping up with me.

We saw a lot of ladies knitting and spinning, lovely lovely fiber and yarn, and those cute alpacas in the tent outside. I bought a beautiful handwoven lap blanket for a more than reasonible price from Bleating Heart Haven's stall. I plan on looking at a few pattern books tonight and choosing some yarn tomorrow at the fair.

We did not spend too much time there, but I never once had to elbow my bf or tell him to be nice. For someone who doesn't get 'yarn addiction' or particularly like getting warm knit gifts, he behaved himself very well. And that made me happy!

Part Two:
I wanted to talk a little bit about the scarf I am knitting. The concept of it has been brewing for quite sometime. It's interesting where ideas come from and how they manage to wriggle themselves out of the brain and into the knit.

I started watching the vlogbrothers channel on YouTube around February of this year. A few years ago John and Hank Green, two brothers living across the country from one another, decided to forgo any textual communication for one year. Hilarity ensued and from that I translated it into scarf form.

Starting two days ago, I am about halfway finished with it; though, considering the ends will take longer to knit than most of the scarf, I guess I could count that as more than halfway finished.

I tried using microrevolt to graph my images, but in the end I just printed off the picture, drew a grid on it in pencil, then judged everything by eye while I knit it. I wouldn't recommend it with a more complicated pattern, but whatever works, right?

Movies, Books, Knit Books, and more Books

I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night/this morning. It was amazing and I was going to write up a whole post about it and its awesomeness, but I've been awake and thinking about it all day and I'm at that point where I just want to go watch Driving Lessons and take a nap.

So, I'll skip that and talk about my rocking new clutch instead. It is the Monsterous Book of Monsters in knit form. I know. How awesome is that?! I have yet to add the teeth on it, but I had to take it with me to the theater last night. I suppose if you wanted to make a pillow/plushie out of it, you would only need to sew up both sides of the front flap. If I keep it as a clutch, I think I will add a fabric lining to it.

Dog sitting and opera at Ravinia tomorrow. I will probably fall asleep. And I should definitely put on bug spray if it is as warm tomorrow as it was last night. Is it finally summer? Nice!

And in other news, bookish news, YA author John Green is coming to a city near... me! And I found out about it before the date passed. Woohoo!

Possible pdf file of Monsterous Book of Monsters available sometime in the nearish future, but for now its dinner, Driving Lessons, and sleep!

Happy knitting!

July Update

It's been a while since I updated, so I guess I'd better! Not that the world really depends upon it, but you know, it might.

July is shaping up to be a busy month between participating in Julnowrimo to events, such as Ravinia and the Mid-West Fiber Fair. To be perfectly honest, I know that I will not be completing a 50,000 word document this July. My goal is to complete the first draft of a twelve chapter manuscript. I'm still on chapter one. :P

As for knitting, I plan on seaming the sides of my lining for my Daphne Purse today. I've got the material cut and bought a spool of white thread (why isn't this finished, yet?). I've also ironed on the interfacing to the handles, so they're ready to be tacked down.

And!!! I'm almost finished with the socks I started for my mom. They're ready to be bound-off and have their ends tucked in. The Serenity sock yarn is so soft and lovely to work with. I might cast-on my next pair of socks soon, though I really, really should finish a few other projects first (like the Daphne Purse)!

Happy knitting!

P.S. New tea cup from TJMaxx, you like?