It's a big as the uuuuuuuniverse!

 

This time, it's something big!

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I finished my Frozen Leaves shawl, aka "Aaaachoo! Spring Leaves" because I had an attack of the allergies while knitting it, and because it's a nice snotty color. Like I said before, I've got the sense of humor of a seven year old boy.

The shawl is nice, and lovely, and best of all, HUGE. It was so big, in fact, when I tried to block it out on my bed, I very quickly realized that it would be bigger than my bed if I had blocked it out to it's fullest extent. As it is, it's perfectly lovely.



I knit it out of this lovely yarn I scored on sale, Baruffa Cashwool (don't you just love that name?) on size four needles. Initially, I was rather nervous about how loose my knitting was, but I think it turned out perfectly, and I still have a billion yards left of the yarn!

I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but that's a thought for another day.

I went a bit bead crazy. Not only did I add it on every other row of center stitch  of the leaves,  I also added them on the stitch that joined three stitches together, until the last chart, where I knit it every other row because it lined up weird.



I think those beads may have added about five pounds to the finished weight. I do know that this provides no warmth against bare skin, as the beads are freezing, so I suspect I'll be wearing it either over long sleeved clothing or when I want to be cooled off, rather than keeping warm in restaurants like I originally thought.

This was a lovely pattern, and absolutely addictive to knit. I kind of wish I was still going!

Then again, I worked on it for like a month, so it's a good thing I finally finished.

Lost in a Good Book (Literally!)

Uh, talk about an awesome book- Lost in a Good Book drew in me completely. Not only was it a great expansion of the incredibly interesting premise the prequel introduced, it also made Thursday Next an even more likeable character. I'm not talking about introducing something for her to mope over- meaning the removal of her spouse, I'm talking about her reactions to small events. They made her seem so real to me.

I sped through this book a few months ago, so I'm afraid I can't remember too many of my thoughts other than "AWESOME". I know I was a bit disappointed with the ending- I was moving the next day, and I couldn't check out the next book, so it was a bummer the ending ended on rather a cliffhanger.

I loved Mycroft's "retirement"; it was an absolutely perfect tie in that I didn't (surprisingly) see coming. I also enjoyed the steadfast devotion Thursday's partner showed her when she told him what happened to her husband. I may still be a bit mopey that Thursday didn't wind up with him, rather than her actual husband who has had shockingly little screen time, and from what I can remember, little personality as well. Whatever, to each their own. Any way you look at it, this was a great book, one I'd definitely recommend.

(5/5 stars)

bippity-boppity-boo

Because apparently I'm baby-crazy, I made more baby clothes during the Ravellenic games. I know anyone who is reading this, myself included is sick of hearing about the Ravellenics (which reminds me of calisthenics, which I suppose makes sense- knitting is a rhythmic activity).
and I have no idea what that even is), but I have one last project to go until I'm done talking about what I finished during them.

Before the games started, I finished this adorable pumpkin baby hat. Unfortunately, my camera decided to go crazy with the colors. I apologize if it makes anyone's eyes bleed.



Cute, right? Let's just hope I eventually meet a baby born in October or November.  Of course, I couldn't just leave it alone. I just had to make the bootees. That mandate was mostly because I still had more of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and I just wanted it out of my stash.



So I whipped up another pair of Saartje's Bootees, this time with ortsandaughts' mods. It took me a while to understand her directions, but after a few times of ripping out, I finally figured it out.

I kind of want to knit these in my size. I can't get over how cute they are. This picture doesn't do them near enough justice, though the colors are a lot more closer to life than the one of the hat.

Now I have that Cinderella song stuck in my head. I might have to drag that movie out and watch it tonight. Now all I need to do is make a reversible carriage/pumpkin toy and I'll complete the set.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of those books that I felt obligated to read. It's on every SciFi list. Most of the CPAAGers love it. It glares at me from shelves of Barnes and Nobles.

In short, I was going to have to read it whether I liked it or not.

Thankfully, I liked it. No, actually I loved it! I first downloaded the ebook from my library, but very quickly discovered that the wonderful Stephen Fry narrated the audio version. As quick as I could, I traded versions, and then gleefully waited for the start of the Ravellenic Games. The anticipation was killing me. Not because all of these people loved the book, but because I got to listen to hours of Stephen Fry speaking. That man's voice is second only to Alan Rickman in my mind.

About five minutes in and I was completely hooked. I adored Arthur Dent. I liked Ford Prefect. I didn't quite enjoy Zap but I'll take what I can get. The concept was so interesting and well executed that I couldn't stop listening. It was a bit difficult to understand in some places (especially when it came to the Ultimate Question. I think that may have been because I was listening, rather than reading the page), but just how overwhelmingly funny it was more than made up for it.

I can not wait to read the next volume!

(4/5 stars)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Pretzel Crust

Wait, I'm actually writing about something that isn't knitting or cupcakes?! Shocking!



As delicious as cupcakes are, sometimes I want to branch out of the cake world. A few months ago, I decided what I really wanted was some chocolate chip cookies.

I hate baking cookies though. With all the scooping and waiting to cool and wire racks, it takes forever. So I went trolling through recipes and found a suitable substitute- chocolate chip cookie bars with a pretzel crust. Can you say "yum"?

Except, they weren't. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad. The crust just didn't stick to the cookie,  and there was too much chocolate for my taste. Everyone else loved them. I wound up surrepticiously scraping all of the pretzel  crust off and gleefully eating it in the pantry. I think if I made it again, I'd actually reverse the order- I'd pop the crust on top so it had a better chance of staying on.

Actually, scratch that, I might as well just give it up and make the actual cookies.

To recap: not a bad recipe. They were suitably delicious, but not holy cow amazing. I'd recommend making them at least once!

A New Sort of Challenge

I know I haven't been the greatest at blogging recently. In part, it's adjusting to my new schedule. In part, it's that I haven't felt up to really writing- even if the only thing I write is a paragraph's worth of bad jokes. I have a  backlog of photos that I want to talk about, and I promise, eventually I'm going to get there. In fact, I think that next weekend I'll be dedicating an afternoon to writing up some of that backlog. In the meantime, accept this brief, ridiculously excited post.

I've been hit by the startitis bug. There's nothing that motivates me more when it comes to crafting and baking than a self-induced competition. Set me up against other people and I get wishy-washy. Tell me to compete against myself? Game ON. When the Ravellenics ended, I was pretty bummed. For one thing, I didn't finish that shawl. For another, it meant that race against time was over. I had nothing to be excited about when it came to competing. I didn't know of any other challenges that I could compete in apart from One Day a Week for UFOs (a group which, I admit, I kind of abandoned because I ran out of UFOs!), and Stash Knit Down (which I'm not really interested in competing. I'd actually prefer to increase my stash because I know I'll be facing the real financial world soon).

So yes. There was some significant moping when the Olympics ended. Thankfully, I also was listening to this great videocast called The Knit Girllls, which introduced me to my newest obsession: The Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. Yes, you read that right. I'm competing with others in a.. fictional challenge.
 
Okay, I admit it. I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan. I loved the books when I was growing up. Then the fifth, sixth, and seventh books came out and I realized that frankly, J.K. Rowling, while a great kids/action/fantasy writer really wasn't great at all aspects of writing, and those books kind of ruined the series for me. Don't get me wrong- I read all the books. I still think it's an amazing series, and I'm so glad that I was introduced to them when I was... I just grew out of them. So when I first heard about this knitting and crochet group, I wasn't really that thrilled... and then I heard Laura continue to talk about it and explain and I was intrigued.

Okay, I was more than intrigued. I impatiently waited for the sorting to open and stuck my name in as soon as possible. I expected to be sorted into Ravenclaw or Slytherin (the two houses I self-identify with the most because the whole interacting-with-people thing? Not really my forte). Surprise, surprise! Instead it was Gryffindor!

Roooooar!

I understand where it came from (kind of). I'm very ambitious about my projects- stupidly so, see the aforementioned Ravellenics shawl- and that can be translated into bravery when it comes to setting goals for myself.

Regardless, I'm so happy to be participating in the cup. It's only two days in, and I'm already having so much fun! It's seriously started a bout of startitis in me that has yet to fade (if anything, I'm getting worse!)

So far, I've cast on for a lovely beaded shawl:



The photo does nothing to show off how gorgeous this yarn is in my Holden. It's going to count for my Flying lesson- it'll be awfully pointy!

Then today, I couldn't leave well enough alone, and cast on for another project.



These Seeta Mitts are for my sister, Jennifer, as well as counting for DADA. Hopefully they're bright enough to help identify her.

And that's it... For now. I suspect that by tomorrow another project will sneak onto my needles. I already have a few more projects assigned to different classes, but I'm afraid that if I cast on too many things, they won't all get done! So I'm trying to reign myself in.

Trying being the key word. 

Blood Rites AKA Jim Butcher's Personal Fantasy

Blood Rites made me seriously wonder if Jim Butcher has ever spoken to a female without her running screaming in the opposite direction.

No, seriously, I actually wondered.

This book took every criticism I had for the previous books, and made them a thousand times worse. Rampant sexism and one-dimensionality to female characters? Check. Gratuitously lecherous inner dialogue? Check. Unbelievable action scenes and save the day heroics? Check. Inability to write a conversation that sounds even one iota like something you'd overhear in real life? Check. Cliches at every turn? Check.

I could go on, but I won't. I knew I wasn't going to like this book as soon as the porn aspect was introduced. Not because I have any problems reading stories that center around that setting, but because I knew that Butcher was going to turn into a drooling hornball forcing Harry to live out his own fantasy involving oogling attractive women and being heroic. Ew.

I think the reason I might be so incredibly frustrated with this book mainly stems from the potential. Butcher has created a great concept, a great world, and a logical premise for magic. He really did a fantastic job with that. I just wish he could have handed the reins over and let someone else actually write the books. I admit, I like some of Dresden's one liners. They're cute and catchy- but they're also incredibly unbelievably. Throw one in during a conversation, but don't pepper each line with them!

Thinking about this book really frustrates me. I know, I just know that I can't stop with this one, I'm going to have to read until the end (or there's no doubt in my mind that Butcher is getting his rocks off with every single scene. I think it might have been every other scene in this book, but I digress). I keep hearing about how Butcher's writing gets better and better, and I'm beginning to suspect that really, the reader is getting more and more accustomed to his bad writing habits.

(1/5 stars)

Clearly I'm Optimistic

There's no other excuse for it. Either I'm batshit crazy (entirely possible), or I'm too optimistic for my own good. Remember how I was going to finish that shawl for the Ravellenic Games? Remember how I had a ball of 800 yards of lace weight yarn and beads?

I'm sure all of you saw it coming.



I clearly did not finish the shawl. In fact, I didn't even come close to finishing. I almost got finished with chart one, but I didn't even finish that. But hey, that's okay, the games are about challenging yourself, and honestly, getting it even on the needles was a challenge in itself.

Still, I thought certainly I would be finished before I had to move! I happily continued to knit, knit, and then move, and then keeping knitting.

And keep knitting.

And keep knitting. It's been almost a month since the Games ended. Finally, finally the end of this shawl is in sight. Am I anywhere near finishing?



Uh, no. I'm on row 13 out of 16 for the last chart, and I strongly suspect I'm at a billion stitches because it takes an hour to do one row- and not even the beading rows. I can't even imagine blocking it.  It'll take up my entire apartment because I can already tell it's huge. It's huge and heavy and fun to knit. I actually don't even mind that I have to look at charts to knit it. It's the power of beads I tell you. I am going to be so excited when it's done.

If I ever get there that is...

I Am Half Sick of Shadows

I just finished with I Am Half-Sick of Shadows , and it left me so incredibly sad. I've always been particularly empathetic to fictional worlds. Whether they exist in books, movies, or even commercials, I've found myself holding back sobs at some depiction of sadness or incredible happiness. I think that's one of the reasons I found such solace in books as a child. Whenever I was unhappy, or bored, I could just plant myself in the narrative of someone else- feel their emotions for a while. I think most voracious readers experience this. After a while, I had to learn to disengage myself. Often, if interrupted during a particularly intense scene, I tend to take out the emotions of the character- or the emotions I feel on behalf of the character- on those who surround me.

I've had to be wary of particularly depressing books for this reason. When faced with a work of fiction that isn't concluded happily, or has significant amount of sadness throughout the story, I tend to become melancholic for long periods of time. It's why I never saw P.S. I Love You, or read the novel. I can usually tell right off the bat which books are just going to make me miserable.

That's why this came as such a surprise. I expected a lighthearted mystery and adventure through the eyes of a precocious little girl. Instead, what I got was transported into an incredibly lonely childhood. I'm not sure what exactly made this book more sad than the others in the series. Perhaps it's the Christmas setting- a time normally reserved for fiction devoted to familial  togetherness and good cheer. Perhaps it was just that the actual murder mystery was rather lacking. The plot was rather thin, and clues were never really thrown in properly. Rather than a long, drawn out puzzle in which red herrings are eventually explained, and motives are really schemed at, you get a few scattered clues and a speedy end to the overall mystery (though I was left with quite a few unanswered questions- like what the hell the chauffer had to do with anything).

In any case, this book reminded me of the loneliest times of my childhood. In that respect, Alan Bradley did a wonderful job of creating an entirely believable girl. I could remember doing foolish things at that age, without thought of consequence (though never on the scale of setting off fireworks). I can remember trying to build inventions that would "catch" the tooth fairy. It also hit home that this little girl who has faced so much death and has missed out on so many potential friendships is my sister's age. An age of awkwardness and isolation that can only really be endured by having at least one good friend who is going through the same thing. Flavia lacks this. 

Perhaps another reason the depression resonated with me is because I'm still missing Monkey. While he at least has phone access at this point, it almost makes it harder. Feeling lonely has become a bit normal for me. At least, unlike Flavia, I do have friends, and this feeling will be over in less than two weeks.  

I think I'm going to have to at least start reading a happier book before I'm able to go to sleep tonight. The last thing I want to do is go to bed with that sort of depressing aura.

(3/5 stars)

Italian cream cupcakes

Yet another delicious cupcake! I seem to be on a roll with picking out delicious recipes!

This time, I ventured into a traditional area that I had never tried before. I had originally intended to make an Italian cream cake, but after some persuasion from my mother (who had to bring said dessert into work, and consequentially was all for portability), I decided to go back to my old standby.

One of these days I'm going to actually bake a real cake.



My only other experience with Italian cream cake was a frozen slice from the cafeteria my freshman year of college. Not exactly the most appealing treat. However, I knew that the cake had potential- I lve coconut, I love nuts, and most of all, I love cream cheese frosting.



Boy was I right! These cupcakes were delicious! They had the perfect ratio of nuts to cake, and the coconut was just right. Instead of leaving the frosting as is, I wound up dipping the cupcakes in some of the left over coconut flakes, which gave each cupcake the final touch it needed.

This definitely isn't my prettiest cake. The nuts prohibited me from using a frosting bag, and I didn't want to get too thick with the frosting, as I thought it might be overwhelming. It didn't matter though- between my mom's coworkers and my family, we wolfed down these cupcakes before anyone could take a good look!