New Determination

Time for an update on things... I must admit that I have been slacking on my ScriptFrenzy project. However, in the last 24 hours, I have experienced a surge of renewed determination to not just participate, but to win! There is just under a week remaining until the end of the month. So by my calculations, I need to write at least 10 pages a day for the coming week. In fact, as few as 11 pages a day would put me over the goal in style. Right before I wrote this blog post, I had a burst of activity and am happy to say that my page count is now up to 37!

In other news, the sweater is proceeding apace. I am about a third of the way thru the yoke, and deep in the middle of the colorwork. I do like how the various shades of blue and green play with each other, although the shading from one to the next is more subtle than I thought it was going to be. I think it is due to the fact that most of the colors of Lopi have about the same level of saturation, and therefore the contrast is low. I have also discovered that when the sweater is illuminated by any kind of light that is towards the yellow/ red end of the spectrum (like incandescent lightbulbs), the main blue for the body and the darker green blend right together. In daylight or full-spectrum artificial (or even under fluorescents), the colors stand out more.

In other knitting news, I have been working a bit on the third pair of socks for the year. I am on the heel flap and will soon turn the heel. This is really turning into my favorite part of sock knitting. It looks as impressive as hell to non-knitters, yet it goes fairly quickly. It also makes it clear exactly what is that you're working on.

One last bit of news and then I'll wrap this up. I am so happy that the guys at Threadbear came thru with more tickets for Stitch'n'Pitch with the Lugnuts! I am really looking forward to hanging out at Oldsmobile Park with Dave and my fellow crafters, eating lots of good food, catching a game, and of course the goodie bags! It all makes for a happy pup!

Promised Pix

It turns out that the hat I made for a friend's daughter is just about the perfect size for Teddy!



Here's the top of it so that the rest of the pattern can be seen:



And here's how it looks on a humanoid:



It's a bit tight on me but not uncomfortable. I would really like to make another one in a similar design and the right size for my noggin!

More Knitting Stuff

I forgot to mention that the Lopi sweater, which had stalled, is moving again. I decided how I want to do the little bit of shaping for the torso.

Also, I will put up pictures of the tam being modeled by Teddy soon too.

Steam Powered Aereo Plane

When it comes to music, I often tend to stick with my favorite familiar artists (which encompass a wide range of genres and styles). Sometimes, though, an out-of-the-ordinary mood will possess me and I will take a by-way off the usual road.

I appreciate bluegrass and old-timey music, but don't listen to them on a regular basis. Today, however, I felt like it and wound up listening to a lot of John Hartford tunes (mostly from Aereo-Plain). While searching for lyrics, I somehow stumbled across the Old Crow Medicine Show. I had heard of them before, but had never listened to any of their songs. Anyway, I got hooked and spent a large portion of the evening listening to their stuff on YouTube. Here's the video for their song "I Hear Them All".



Lovely stuff, and I really want to see them live now!

In other updates, Script Frenzy is going along alright, I guess. I am up to 20 pages and am figuring out how to patch plot holes as I go. I am also learning more about my characters, who are going in some surprising directions.

As far as knitting is concerned, I finished the stranded tam'o'shanter that was to be a birthday gift and delivered it to its recipient. I am still working on the intarsia-in-the-round hat. I'm about halfway thru the chart and then I'll do the crown shaping. After that I need to figure out how I want to use short rows to shape the brim and do the duplicate stitch for the smiley-face details. I am pleased that I've learned about this method of intarsia, but doubt that I'll use it again soon.

Further Evidence of my Insanity

The month of April may bring showers (although it's just as likely to bring snow around here), but it also brings a month-long feverish writing jag known as Script Frenzy. This contest challenges writers of all levels to draft a 100-page screen- or stage-play in 30 days or less. It is the brainchild of the same folks who thought up NaNoWriMo.

So, I have committed to participating in both contests, in the spirit of challenging myself to do things that I've never done before. I am going to try my hardest to emerge at the end of April, able to call myself a screenwriter!

Getting started on another one of my goals for '08

Today I have started on my first sweater. It's going to be a seamless Icelandic yoke style done in blue and green heathered Lopi yarn. I am going to use the Zimmerman Percentage System to get the sizing right and pretty much make it up as I go for the color patterning. The nice thing about Lopi yarn is that the knitting goes quickly, since the yarn is so bulky! I pretty much have the ribbing for the body done already.

UPDATE: I now have the body over halfway done.

UPDATE 2: I'm now working on the sleeves, using the same 2-on-2-circs technique that I've been using for socks. I'm past the forearm shaping and into the straight stretch up to the underarms.

Unventing Things

I have been on the hunt for copies of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books for a while now (I know, I know, Amazon; but I like to flip thru a book before I decide to buy it). Anyway, I recently found a copy of "Knitting Without Tears" and have read it cover to cover within the last couple of days. I love her writing style and agree with the idea that had EZ lived a few years later, she would have made an excellent blogger.

More than the writing, though, I appreciate her approach to seamless sweater design. I now feel like I can make my own Lopi-style sweater on the fly, without having to slavishly follow someone else's pattern. I am really itching to start, and think that I will begin as soon as the current socks (done in basket-weave pattern) are finished.