Random Thought 11/18

My iPhone is my new favorite knitting accessory. I can punch up patterns online instead of printing them out (and more likely than not losing them); and if I forget a row counter, I can open a note and keep track of them there.

Also, have I seriously not updated since January? That's a new low. So much has happened since then, including but not limited to:

-Losing my old job
-Starting a new job
-Getting drafted to a home team (I was previously skating on the farm team)
-Adopting two cats
-Developing an insane addiction to fancy tea

I tend to have downtime at my new job, so my intent is to use said time to update more often. This, of course, is when I'm not using it to work on league business, as I was also elected co-chair for one of our committees.

Makeup is an art, too!

One of the many ways living in Japan changed me is that it gave me a new appreciation of makeup (other ways were a taste for coffee and yoga). I've been addicted to lipstick since 8th grade and used to wear powder in high school because my skin was wicked oily, but I was opposed to eye makeup of any sort. I would wear foundation and mascara when cosplaying out of photographic necessity, but that was the most done up I ever was.

Somehow, though, I got hooked on eye liner in Mihama, and shortly thereafter I started using powder again. When I moved back to Chicago my roommate at the time introduced me to mineral makeup, and that was the end of me. Now I won't even run errands without a full face of makeup. I think it's an extension of playing dress-up when I was little. I used to rock the Jem look like nobody's business!

The result of this makeup fixation is that when I get bored, I start to play. I found out about Doe Deere's makeup tutorials a long time ago, and now that I've amassed a ridiculous collection of shadows, I actually have enough of an arsenal to try some of them. Last night was one such experiment:


I'm a pirate! ARRRRRR!


I'm a stoned pirate! DUUUUUUUDE! (Ok, not really. I'm just a lousy photographer who's up past her bedtime.)

The look was inspired by the Pirate Girl tutorial.

One of the socks hanging in the background is a Pippi Kneestocking.

A very belated birthday present, and even more belated photos

My friend Rie's birthday is in October. I finally gave this to her when I went back to visit in March.



Yes, it's a Hangover Helper! It's mostly leftover yarn from what I was sent to make the Beermeister bottle for the SnB book, which is Lion Suede and Lion Wool-Ease (even though the book says to use Vanna's Choice, mine were originally Wool-Ease). The dark gray is left over from my Gryffindor sweater (which I finished a while ago, but I don't like how full the sleeves are so I never took pictures).

Fun fact: when I initially submitted the idea, I considered using Asahi for the beer bottle model instead of Budweiser, but I ultimately decided that Bud would probably be more popular. The Asahi label was infinitely easier to design, though.

Random Thought 1/15/09

Both knitting and roller derby involve blocking.

(P.S. Happy Belated New Year!)

One from the vaults

Here's a project I finished a while ago, but the pictures were held captive on my camera until recently when I *finally* got a replacement battery charger.



It's Knitpick's Checks & Charms hat, made using the pattern-specified US 5 needles and Merino Style yarn, although I used a slightly different color scheme. I finally learned how to do proper 2-handed Fair Isle on this project, and it knit up a lot faster than I thought it would.

Please forgive the super zoned-out look on my face. I took this at about 7am one day before work when I was still commuting over an hour.

When one hobby cannibalizes another (aka Random Thought 12/12)

When I first moved to my aparment, I practiced bass almost every day. Since I've started skating, my bass playing has become almost nonexistent. The money I was set to pour into bass lessons is being spent on league dues and skating lessons instead.

That could be another reason for my knitting resurgence: it doesn't cost me anything. Aside from the yarn I bought to make the sayonara sushi scarf and some beautiful impulse sock yarn, everything I'm working on has been made from yarn already in my stash using needles already in my arsenal.

And there's no end in site to the leftover yarn: last summer my friend had a stashbusting party (which I've mentioned but never ended up writing about in depth), her sole purpose being to get rid of as much as she could so she had an excuse to buy more yarn. Any time I mention using leftover Simply Soft or Microspun, that's where it came from.

When hobbies collide!

Seriously, have I not posted since July? Shame on me, really.

I figured "collide" was an apt choice of words given my newest pursuit, which I briefly mentioned in a previous post: Roller Derby.

Since I started skating in July (which was my first time on roller skates since I was about, oh, 12) I've worked my way up from beginner technique classes to more advanced technique classes, speed skating classes, skating with the lovely ladies of Derby Lite, and upon trying out at the beginning of November, a member of the Windy City Rollers!

Somewhere between speed skating and joining the league, I finally reawakened my crafting bug. I stopped into Have Ewe Any Wool? to buy yarn for my boss's sayonara present; since he was retiring and moving back to Japan, I decided to crochet him the sushi roll-up scarf from Son of Stitch n Bitch (marking the first pattern I've made from the book besides my own). If I ever figure out how to get the photos off my phone and onto my computer I'll post them.

As often happens when I stop in "just for a sec", I got drawn in by pettable yarn and lively conversation. The topic of roller derby came up, and the owner told me about Knockdown Knits, written, designed, and modeled by Naptown Rollergirls. Not too long after, I got my hands on a copy.

The patterns are a blast, mostly on the easier side of the spectrum, and the best part about them is that even though they're designed with a roller derby angle, most of them can be adapted to non-roller derby purposes. Arm warmers, leg warmers, and messenger bags have widespread appeal, and rollergirls aren't the only ones who need crutch cushions or slings (they just need them more often)! Heck, even the underpants-mouthguard cover could easily be used as a change purse.

I, however, made mine with the original purpose in mind. Fed up with wrapping my mouthguard in paper towel, I decided this nifty cover was just what I needed:


My US 8 needles were otherwise engaged, so I used Japanese 9s instead, which are similar if not the exact same size. It's made with leftover Lion Microspun, as almost everthing I've been making lately has been a stashbuster.

I have two other WIPs from the book right now: the sling (which I figured I should knit ahead of time, since I won't be able to knit should I actually need it), and the ice pack holder (since I slap an ice pack on my left leg every time I get home from practice, and I'm sick of holding it in place).


They're both made from leftover Caron Simply Soft. The sling is in our league colors, and the ice pack holder is bright orange because, hey, that's what I had on hand.