AtomicKnits

Nineteen Eighty-Four

I was never forced to read Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell in high school, so I went this long without reading it.  I usually like novels set in terrible future worlds, so I wanted to give this a try.  I have to say that I'm glad I never had to read it in high school, because I think it would have scared the crap out of me, especially with some teacher saying things like "This is how it could be if YOU children don't fix it!" Scary things happen in this book! I personally don't think the future will ever be like 1984 unless some crazy global event happens that changes people and allows them to have their rights taken away out of fear or some "greater cause."  I don't know what that event would be. I think he did get it right where the future would not be an entire collective society, but really a dictatorship trying to disguise itself as a collective similar to what we've seen happen in certain countries already. I would recommend this book to people who like reading about what the future might be like, and who like suspenseful stories.

Tour de Fleece Day 2

Ounces Spun: 0

Well, I'm off to a slow start for the Tour de Fleece this year.  Above is a picture of my wheel and all of the fiber I am planning to spin during the next three weeks.  It's about 20 ounces.  I know it's an ambitious goal, but I haven't spun in so long, and I really want to get back in the habit of spinning at least a little bit each day.  Most of it is new fiber I bought at MDSW in May, so I'm excited to get going!

This year, I joined Team Battlestar Galactica on Ravelry, and I made this sweet Ravatar of Starbuck in a maillot jaune.

I had an almost finished project left on the wheel from before I moved into Justin's apartment, so as "training" I finished this up the day before the tour started.  This project actually has kind of a horror story attached to it.  After I skeined the finished yarn, I put it in the sink to soak, and when I took it out of the sink, I tangled it up SO MUCH, that I had to sit there and untangle this wet mess of yarn.  Because of that, this skein has a little bit of a fuzzy halo from being untangled and messed around with so much already.  I'm glad I salvanged it.  The color reminds me of Andes mints.

In addition to the larger skein above, I also have a smaller skein 3-plied, and a baby 2-ply skein with the leftovers.

Fiber: Hanks in the Hood merino batts, colorway Grasshopper
Yardage: ~253 yards 3-ply, little bit of 2-ply
WPI: 15

Laminaria is bound off!

Man oh man, this thing is FINALLY off of the needles. Laminaria, which Justin and I have affectionately been referring to as "the shawl from hell" is this close to being all the way done.  I just need to block it.  My pins are in a box somewhere in my storage unit, and totally not worth search for, so I have to get some sometime when I am out and then the blocking will begin!  I'm going to use our bed and pin it out in the morning on of these days so hopefully it will be dry by the time we need to go to sleep. The yarn is so thing, and the A/C will be blowing on it, so hopefully it's not a problem.  This thing was difficult to knit.  I really hope it comes out mind-blowingly beautiful after blocking.

Revolutionary Road

During my last trip to the library, I picked up Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.  I have been wanting to see the movie, but since I haven't yet, I decided to read the book first.  It was really good!  It's about a typical suburban American couple in the 50's (?) whose lives spiral out of control for no reason really.  Both Frank and April Wheeler make bad decisions, because they are frightened to pursue what they really want.  All of this builds up and explodes and finally comes to a really sad conclusion.  One of the most interesting things to me was that the character with the most insight into what's really going on is the one who's in the mental institution.  I really liked how this story was written.  It was really easy to read while being really interesting and meaningful. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes reading dramatic stories about American families.

Viper Pilot Socks *pew pew pewwww*

After I packed my stash away into storage (yes, it's true :( ), I kept out this one skein of yarn specifically to knit the Viper Pilots.  I finally got to start them, and I'm having a lot of fun watching the birds take flight through the swirly maelstrom.  After Justin and I watched every episode of Battlestar Galactica, I wanted to knit these and now I want to knit more BSG inspired things!  The yarn is Stitch Jones Supersocks in the Dark and Divine colorway.  I thought this color looked like a space fight and I like making the Viper and Raider noises while I'm knitting these. Nothing but the rain!

Wicked is finished!

I definitely left my color comfort zone when I decided to knit an entire sweater in yellow!  I'm glad I did, though, because I really like this color a lot.  I think this sweater turned out great!  The fit is really nice, and I like the style a lot.  It's way too hot to wear it now, but it will be really nice when fall hits.  I'm glad I decided to make the long sleeve version.  If it's going to be super warm, why not go all the way.  The cotton/alpaca blend of the yarn gives the fabric a nice drape.  I'm hoping it won't stretch out too much lengthwise as it gets worn. I didn't make any modifications to this pattern at all except add more length and place the waist shaping increases and decreases where they were appropriate.  Aside from the miles of plain stockinette, this is a fun sweater to knit, and I think it would be hard to really mess it up!

Wicked
Pattern Source: Zephyr Style
Yarn: Catalina Baby Pima
Needles: US 7

Breaking Dawn

Ok, I just finished Breaking Dawn, the 4th and final installment of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga.  I have a lot to say about this book and the series as a whole, but I don't want to write any spoilers here.  I can say that I was pretty disappointed.  The book is split up into three sections, and after I was finished with the second section I was really pissed off and didn't really want to read the rest.  The story gets SO RIDICULOUS.  I did come back and finish it, but it felt kind of like a chore.  There was hardly any sexual tension in this book, and without that to distract me, I had to focus on how much the characters sucked.  The only character that doesn't such AS MUCH is Jacob, and that is mostly because he is hot and tan and buff.  I don't think they are bad people, but none of them have any real wants or goals for themselves.  They are all about serving others exclusively and that is something I do not like.  All of the romance was gone by the time this book started, and it was replaced by half-assed backstory with a ton of build up and way anti-climactic conclusions.  Also, the writing style actually tried to be something more than just story telling in this book.  It ended up sounding really pretentious and annoying, and it was like 'you are here to tell me this story and NOTHING MORE. just tell the story so I can be done.' I feel like this story had a lot of potential to have a really cool ending, but I was just really disappointed.

(I will still see all of the movies.)

More Wicked Progress

I'm to the usual point where I just want this sweater to be DONE.  I am very happy with the way it's coming out, but I am anxiously eyeing this awesome skein of sock yarn I took out to start my next project.  You can see here that I finished knitting and attaching the pocket, knitting the rest of the body, and started on one sleeve.  Once I got to the pocket and I could stop knitting huge rounds of stockinette, my interest in this project came back a bit.  Now that I'm on the sleeves, though, I'm kind of bored again and want to finish.  The good part about that is that I WILL finish soon!  I will work on it more and more just so it will be done, and then it will!

I put it on and took a picture for you. It looks like of weird and bulky under my shirt, but you get the idea.

Eclipse

I finally bought the 3rd and 4th installments of Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga.  Eclipse is the 3rd installment, and I read it so fast!  The story is kind of stupid, I will admit, but I can't put it down. It totally plays to the same part of me that wants to watch all three High School Musicals in a row in a rainy day or when I'm sick. It is full of all of the stuff you agonized over between the ages of 13 and 17 when you didn't have to worry about getting a job and making money.  A lot of the reason I love reading this so much is the simple fact that both vampires and werewolves are wicked hot.  I mean HOT!  You got the vampire - all cold and lanky and gothy and serious and pale and stuff.  Then, you have the werewolf - all warm and buff and tan and playful. I have no idea what Bella is complaining about all the time. Just be in the middle of those two and live it up! My head would explode.  I'm starting the 4th installment tonight and I can't wait.

This sweater is Wicked yellow.

How about a knitting post, huh? I have been knitting. Not as much as I normally do, but I'm trying to get enthusiastic about my projects again.  This happens at the beginning of every summer.  As it gets warmer, I want to be more active, so I stop sitting and knitting as much and do chores or go for walks outside.  It also gets so humid here, and it's hard to want to hold onto the wool when it is so muggy. I've also been reading more.  BUT, I have been plugging away at the body of my Wicked.  My knitting group is doing this sweater as a knitalong, and it's fun to watch everyone's progress and everyone's different perspective on the same sweater pattern. I have been trying on this sweater as I've been knitting, and I'm so happy with the way it's turning out.  I'm ready to knit the pocket and then attach it to the body.

My favorite part of this sweater so far is the kind of boat-ish neckline with the little cables. I also love the yarn I picked!  It is Catalina Yarns Baby Pima in the coolest mustard color.  I have never really knit anything in yellow, and I thought this would fit in nicely in the EAST part of Project Spectrum.