Note to self

No more swaps.

::rant on::
For the second time, I'm in a swap where I have to put a package together for a person's family member instead of the actual person in the swap. I cannot express how much this annoys and disappoints me. The whole fun goes out of it when you can't go poking around on the internet and see what the person likes. There's no way I can do that as I don't even know the name of the person I'm making the package for. On top of that, the person in the swap is requesting that it be based on a television show I've never heard of. The recipent would like hand knit items but no sizes are indicated other than "big". That's a recipe for not working at all. The recipient is going to be as disappointed in the package as I'm going to be in putting it together. Lose:lose situations suck.
::rant off::

An all-socks round

I'm having one of those attacks of fear about hoarding. I've been pretty good about not buying more yarn and using up the club yarns as they arrive. Still, the yarn I already have is telling me I should use more of it up. I've decided to give myself another challenge on top of those for this month's Nerd Wars. I'm going to meet all but the giving challenge with socks.
Here's the plan:
::swearing and throwing things because Blogger went stupid and lost most of the post::

• Nerd Culture/6 degrees of Kevin Bacon: Plain socks using A Little More Sonic yarn. Yarn links to Captain Jack, played by John Barrowman. JB's Bacon number is 2.
  
• Intellectual/Klimt: Socks with a seal of Raissilon design from Gallifrey Mitts pattern. I've seen the mitts done in multicolored yarn, so I'm hopeful it'll work okay. The multicolored Koigu has many of the same colors as Klimt's painting The Girls.
  
• Geek Pride/Bare Bones: Here's where I start having to think about stuff. I'm going to do a pattern called Paraphenalia. It has a cool cable down the front and it does show up nicely on striped yarn. The yarn is self-striping Time Traveler. That will cover my team challenge, which is to do something related to The Scarf. The Geek Pride challenge has to do with archetypes and I'm going to have to think a little more about how to present it.
  
• Technical/The Scrap Heap: Make socks using leftover Doctor Who-inspired yarn. I have a pattern I want to use and I think I know where it is. I need to hunt down more yarn, though. I only have about 300 yard so far.
  
• Scientific/Differences Matter: Just picking something out for this was hard. I need a project and yarn inspired by water in its liquid state. I think I can link this to Battlestar Galactica with a little research. I can link it to the Waters of Mars in Doctor Who.
  

At least I've got some things to think about while I knit the first two pair. Stay tuned.

By Hand

A new magazine is in the works by the folks at Juniper Moon Farm.  It is called By Hand and will cover all sorts of things that are created, well, by hand.  I'm not connected with the project in any way except I think it is a good idea and made a Kickstarter donation to help.

Kickstarter is a process by which individuals raise money to get their projects, well, kick started.  It's another good idea.  It benefits the donor and the receiver.  The donor gets something they like that they wouldn't otherwise get.  In the case of By Hand, it ranges from a temporary tattoo to guest editing an issue of the magazine.  The receiver gets the funding they're seeking plus the knowlege that there's a solid interest in their project.  I don't think By Hand has to worry.  Their Kickstarter campaign was launched earlier today and they were around 70% funded a little while ago.

You can read more about it here.

The Leon Syndrome

I've got this mental block when it comes to letters.  If the order needs to be changed or the shapes reversed, odds are I'll screw it up.  I call it the Leon Syndrome.  When I was in junior high school, we were making  Christmas cards using linoleum block prints.  You carve out a design, ink it up, and then press it onto paper.  The one I was doing was meant to say noel at the top.  I did do the shapes correctly but I switched the order and ended up with leon.  I was humiliated when everyone laughed, but think it is pretty funny all these years later.

The Leon Syndrome struck again yesterday.  I was knitting several dishcloth squares at the same time.  I wanted to make a little rug for the kitchen.   The patterns I'm using were different sizes and not all of then had graphs.  I carefully worked out a consistent size and how each pattern would be placed.  I graphed the patterns that needed them.  I didn't remember that the design is knit from the back.  I didn't notice for about 20 rows.

I stuffed the whole thing in a bag and switched back to knitting a sock.

Fibery mail day

Happy fibery mail day, with a Knit Picks catalog and two skeins of yarn.  First is a trade:

This was a little risky because I never received the yarn in the last trade I did.  Not only did this arrive, the USPS says that the yarn I sent is out for delivery.  Whew!  This is The Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga.  I had hoped to get some more of this after I got some in the Cookie A sock club.  The most recent Cookie A offering was some really nice yarn except it was red.  I don't do red.  Life's too short to knit with yarn in a color I don't care for, so I was able to swap for this.  Thanks, Kathy!

The second skein is from Indigodragonfly's Smart Ass Knitters/World Domination Club.  I admit that I joined the club because the name made me laugh.  The yarns are no joke, though.

This is two ply organic merino in the colorway Goodbye Kitty.  The actual color's a bit lighter than the picture.  The kitty is on a project bag.  It is the same Eco produce bag that I've gotten from the Cookie A club.  They are more practical than the ones I have made.  They'll hold a pattern in a plastic sleeve without folding it and still have plenty of space for yarn and needles.  Two paws up!

Tournament 4, Round 1 (the rest of it)

They are cases for Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick.  She can use the clip to hook it to her keyring.  She needs the keyring for her car keys.  She drives the cutest little green car.

Not pictured is the final challenge.  I'll donate six hats and six pair of mittens that I made to charity.  I'll also donate a nice scarf that someone knit for me that I'll never use unless I move north.  Like that will happen.

Tournament 4 Round 1 (most of it)

T4R1, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I have been knitting, just not finishing much. The two round things are hats. They will also be part of the Giving Geeks challenge. I'll gather up all of the extra hats and send them to a charity. The multicolored thing started out as a square I wove on my little Weave-It loom. The blurry blue thing is a tiny (about 3-4" tall) Tardis. Someday I hope to learn why I can take close up pictures correctly sometimes and not other times.

I've also finished one of the two shawlettes for my dissertation. It needs washing and blocking

The remaining challenge has something to do with love in your nerddom. I'm going to do other stuff for a week and see if an idea presents itself.