Eep!

Yesterday was almost TOO exciting! Kathy and I were talking about being mini-bloggers in a world of blog superstars. That prompted me to go and check my stats (I used Statcounter) which is always fun. My favorite feature is the map--I love seeing that someone in Turkey is reading me! I don't get the flood of comments that some bloggers get...I try not to speculate about why, but my main theory is that my entries are long and text heavy, I'm guessing most people skim them heavily. Anyhow, yesterday I saw a rather engorged number of hits and I went to Visitor paths to see who had linked to me...it was none other that Blueprint Magazine!! I love Blueprint, and I'm using the magazine pretty heavily in my academic work. Last semester I compared the aesthetic of Blueprint with an indie DIY zine compliation. Through content analysis I tried to prove that there are simultaneous parallel DIY movements going on right now. My basic point? Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah! I'm trying to develop a home economics curriculum based on critical theory and texts in the consumer culture 'canon', not that there IS one =)

Oh, did I tell you? Eric is blogging these days. AND modeling!



Well, not exactly, but this doppelganger freaked us out! Eric usually wears the exact same hat and some variation of that plaid shirt. Here is a profile pic for comparison (handsome, no?)



To to keep it manly, here is Zach, a Webs intern, modeling a men's sweater (in the mailroom, natch) that will be available this fall. It's knit from the top down (our designer coordinator's speciality) in Berkshire Bulky--fast!



There is much more to blog about but I have to get to work. I'm on a special mission for Nicole from Stash and Burn (it's just more excitement!) More later!

Tschau,

CR

Potter Haze

Is anyone else in a total Potter stupor? Book 7 made me feel like re-reading the entire series, which I've started. I'd already been heavily skimming the older books in anticipation of July's Potter-fest. I've seen the movie twice-the first time I was too distracted by the scenery! The films are so visually rich, it sort of makes the at times impressionistic take on the content forgivable in my opinion.

Of course I'm immediately drawn to anything that will translate to a knitting project. In this film I noticed a lot of Norah Gaughan-ish vests on Ginny, cables and some hexagons (maybe, hard to tell for sure). A lot of Luna's blue and lavender crochet was pitch perfect but Hermione's striped pullovers sort of bored me. I'm not a huge Hermione fan to be honest, I'm definitely over the smugness and her snottiness towards Ron...probably because Ron/Rupert Grint is one of my favorite Potter characters. His garments are always my favorite at well! The original Weasley sweater, the Animal Cracker hat, the swatch blanket (cannot find a single decent picture of it, just a hint of it in this Talk Soup parody), his ragg raglan, and now this plaid number:




I'm a huge fan. One of my job perks this summer was getting access to the Rowan image database (I know, heart attack, right?) and getting to see all the garments from magazine 42. There happens to be a sweater that resembles the latest Ron sweater, it's a saddle shoulder cardigan knit in Wool Cotton and 9 colors of Felted Tweed (hello, leftovers!). Oooo, awesome, I can link to it, there is a tiny picture here. The best part is the name--Striven. If you look at the definition for the word, you can't help but think of Ron.

There are projects on my mind that tie to Deathly Hallows, as well. I finally see the appeal of the Invisibility Cloak projects, I might use Jade Sapphire cashmere with a touch of sparkle. If you're on Ravelry, you can see my thoughts for the project I'm most excited about, Hermione's beaded bag with the Undetectable Extension Charm. I'm waiting for a purse frame to arrive before I get started. I'm actually knitting two versions, one lavender and one pale green. I've started the lavender one and it features a beaded cast-on with some smoky amethyst glass seed beads, size E/6.0. It will be a drawstring pouch with a rather obscure lace pattern. The green bag will be somewhat more formal, sort of like these (minus the odd fringe). If I had a million dollars I would have bought this amazingly apros pros Lion Queen purse frame.

I realize that some of you might be a little sick of Pottermania. If that's the case you might want to watch this, another parody that sounds like it was dubbed by a Moonanite (not work or kid safe!)




CR

I just don't know what to do with myself.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Book Seven...


It took 24 hours and it was entirely beautiful. I want to re-read everything. I hope you all enjoy your Hallows experience as much as I did...

CR

Welcome to Linkland...

I am still without photodock, so no photos can be uploaded. The battery life is pulling one of those biblical stretches of longevity, I'm trying to avoid creating too much of a backlog for myself. To compensate, it appears I've gotten a little link happy.

TKGA was, to quote Count Blah once again (scroll way down), 'aiii-ig-it'. Kathy and I were immediately deflated when we learned that Brooks Farm had to cancel due to floods in Texas. Our sadness about this was at least 51% not about yarn. I'll be making my usual beeline to them at Rhinebeck.

There were some purchases, a skein of deliciously speckled Koigu for a Purl beret (not unlike the birthday cake version I got at Stitches West), some hilarious albino (#269) Silk Garden, Lexie bags and some patterns I'm really excited about: a steeked Fair Isle wrap knit in Reynolds Whiskey (if I ever finish Enid I'm sure to have leftovers to work with) and a drop dead cute cardigan with (channeling Anne Shirley) short PUFFED SLEEVES. I'm sorry I can't link to either of these, Google yields nothing! I do know that the latter is a new Jordana Paige design for Stitch Diva and it's called the Trapeze Jacket. I love their patterns with all the excellent information but the layouts are so cramped, it gives me mee-graine!

TOO BAD IT ISN'T AS USER FRIENDLY AS....RAVELRY!! What else?? Just as Kathy and I were flagging on a slow Saturday in the booth, Jess and Casey stroll by, causing me to short circuit. Speaking of Johnny Five, I can totally picture the two of them replicating the encyclopedia massacre, hands flailing saying "Imput, moorrrre IMMMPUT!"


Picture borrowed from Jess, but I'll post my own when my dock arrives. Fun fact: out of all the Ravelers, my #1 neighbor (based on # of projects we have in common) is Jess! Casey is on the verge of joining the ranks of needleworking men, who never cease to amaze me with their fearlessness. I almost pulled one of these:


More later, with pictures (bitte Mutter, padded envelope, automated mailing center...I will send yarn in exchange...)

CR

Bum-OUT.

So I left my camera charger/USB stuff at my mother's. And I kinda refuse to make pictureless posts. I'm actively trying to improve my picture snapping skills for the sake of the blog. Jenna and I are about to GEEK OUT and leave work early to see Order of the Phoenix, I might have to pick her photojournalist brain during the previews...

Anyhow, my point is that I will be on a brief blog hiatus while I wait for the charger to arrive in the mail. I still have a lot of pictures to show from D.C. (thanks for all the store recommendations!) and a fair bit of knitting as well. And of course...plenty of new yarn =)

I'll be busy for the rest of the week up at TKGA, please stop by if you're attending! If it turns out that lots of New England bloggers will be there, I'd love to have a meet-up somewhere.

Since I must be multimedia, I'll leave you with the videos I watch to keep myself from bursting into tears about the summer heat wave we're "enjoying." If Kathy is a lizard, I'm a polar bear!

Scene/song from Flight of The Conchords (Jemaine's scatting KILLS me):



Cutest commercial ever:



Check you later*,

CR

*I was once ridiculed for using this salutation, is it deeply uncool? I'm pretty sure I cribbed it from someone who is not uncool, but in fact quite gnarly. Don't you love old websites?

Blush!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about the hat! 100% of the praise belongs to Kathy for writing such a flattering pattern--NOT easy to do when it comes to hats, esp. berets.

I'm down in the D.C. area visiting my mother and sister. Ever since I reformatted my laptop I've been having a load of trouble getting online, it's incredibly frusturating and I even threw a tantrum when Eric the Electrical Engineer couldn't counsel me over the phone on how to fix it. Guilty of the sexist assumption that all hot geeks know how to fix any computer problem I might have? Yes *hangs head in shame*. Lately everyone I know has been loving their new Macbooks, and after many snide remarks about rampant Apple lust I have to admit I've finally started considering one.

I finally started my Sock Pal's socks, and it's really the only project I brought (lie: I also brought a ball of Trekking just in case!) so I'm hoping to be done very quickly. The pattern is sort of a secret, I'm test knitting for someone! My pal will have mega-exclusive, mega-pretty socks!

Besides Knit Happens (been there a million times) are there any D.C. area yarn stores I need to check out?

CR