Test Knitting part 1

So, I recently agreed to test knit a pattern for hoodie  as it goes to quite large sizes and I am a plus sized knitter. The designed was king enough to let me give is a try even though I haven't knit a full sized garment before and I am perhaps not the fastest knitter in the world. I have decided to dedicate most of my weekend to working on this though. I decided to make this with a relatively cheap yarn as I didn't want to choose a really expensive yarn and ruin it. Also, since I need 3000 yards of yarn to make this in my size, I can only afford so much. I went with knit picks telemark in royal heather. The color is really lovely and I think it'll soften up nicely once I wash it. I'll try and post pictures as I go along with this. I am currently almost done with the bottom ribbing. I would probably have finished it by now, but I found a an issue where it looked like I sat down my knitting and dropped a stitch while I was gone, so when I came back I started knitting in the wrong direction. So half of the project was on row 5 and the other was on row 3. Yeah... so I just frogged it and started over.

The good news is now that I am wearing night braces for my carpal tunnel my wrist isn't getting all sore and numb from marathon knitting. So, I can knit a lot longer now. Though I think my doctor might not be so happy with that statement. Ah well.

Exercise Sucks

So, I decided this time around with Weight Watchers that I really had to exercise too in order to get the most out of it. So, I joined LA Fitness while they were running a great deal. I've been going to water aerobics 1-3 times a week since its easy on my legs. I love the Monday instructor, shes a good balance of tough and well rounded. I'm always tired at the end of her class, but not too sore until Tuesday. The Wednesday instructor is a bit easy and I have to actively remember to push myself. The Saturday instructor kicks our asses. I am exhausted before half way through and have to want to finish. So, after doing that yesterday I thought I'd try a nice relaxing yoga class. Hahahahaa! Yoga is apparently not so relaxing for fat girls who are tying to breathe while twisted into pretzel like shapes. Oh and the Saturday water aerobics instructor? Yeah, she's teaching the Sunday yoga class too. I feel like someone used me for a punching bag. Sitting now hurts and my motivation for doing anything around the house it totally gone. I hope it gets easier.

I have been assimilated

So, I love my Blackberry Storm, but Verizon has pushed so much crap onto it that it has gotten really glitchy. The good news is that it is time for my "new every two" upgrade. My husband has been going on and on about his Droid since he got it when they first launched. He's been trying to convince me that I need a Droid. I had firmly planted my heels as there isn't enough I want to do with a Droid. So, today I decided I'd look through reviews on phonearena.com  and see what they had to say about the new Blackberry and Droid phones. After an hour or so of reading and comparing I decided that perhaps it is time for me to change platforms again. The Blackberry OS is just becoming less and less supported by apps and less people are making new apps for it. As well, the memory available on the Torch and presumably the Storm 3 is far less than that of the Droid X. So yeah, I got home today and ordered a Droid X. It'll ship 9/10 with (in theory) FroYo already installed.


"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. "

SDCC Day 2

 So, I managed to achieve about 75% of what I wanted to do today. Which by Comic-Con standards is phenomenal. I didn't make it for the raffle drawing for the Charlaine Harris autograph session, so I was out of that. However, I did make it to the Once Upon a Time panel which was super awesome. It was mostly 6 fantasy authors discussing story construction and characters. They use big words when they do that. Following the panel was the autograph session during which not only did I get to chat with Brent Weeks  whom I love. He was really nice to talk to and very honest about some of his story choices. I also happened to mention the fact that I have started writing and he was really encouraging about this. Also, the book store that was selling the books has copies of the new Wheel of Time book, which I didn't know existed. Not only was it signed by Brandon Sanderson who has taken over writing the series after Robert Jordan's death, but it was signed by Robert Jordan. This was a very nice surprise. After this, I got in line for the Showtime Anti-Hero's panel which I did not get into the room in time for. However, I did make the Dexter panel and it was super awesome! Sometime after this we finally got some food, which was nice and some booze which was even better. Apparently Lori has never been drunk, yeah.... Ben, Sabrina and I changed that for her. It was a good day.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010

So, for those of you who haven't noticed yet, I like writing travel blogs. So going into day 2 of San Diego Comic-Con I thought I would share my experiences of day 1 aka preview night. I am down here representing Sakura-Con as we have a booth in the fan tables (MZ 6 if you want to come say hi).

So getting to the airport and onto and off of the plane went well. There was a small incident with getting our luggage (someone else's bag got stuck in the conveyor), but otherwise all was ok. Until we tried to get our rental car (I can't say I'd ever recommend Hotwire). After a long and sordid battle with getting from the airport to the apartment that was kindly lent to us, we gathered everything needed to set up our booth.Getting our badges went really smoothly which was nice. So then we were off to set up our booth, I am traveling with 3 people who have never been to comic-con, so seeing their faces when we walked into the exhibits hall was a lot of fun! After we got the booth setup, I got to walk around the exhibits hall for a while. I managed to get some convention business done and introduce Sabrina (no I am not talking about myself in the 3rd person, there are more than 1 of us) and Lori to some of the industry representatives. Then there was shopping! The one thing Joe really wanted was a spacesuit Nibbler plush (Futurama), so I got in line at the Toynami booth to find out that Nibbler didn't arrive. What was nice is they were allowing people to order them with free shipping to your house once they arrived. After that I managed to score an awesome Dr. Who shirt, a limited edition Evangelion figure and 2 new Be Kyoot purses (don't tell Joe).

After all this, we ran into one of my other convention running friends and ended up getting some super tasty Mexican food. Yum!

So, off to start day 2. If your interested in finding me, either check the Sakura-Con booth or here is what I'd like to do:  http://sched.comic-con.org/winterblizzard Oh, and don't worry, there will be pictures!

I'm officially hooked

Ok, after hearing whispers and comments for many years I finally took the plunge. I decided since it was easily available on Netflix, there was no reason not to. I started watching Dr. Who (2005). I actually have to say that after the first episode I didn't like it. I watched a couple more and I still didn't get the hype, so I shelved it. After watching Sanctuary (which is like a 3 our of 5), Netflix recommended Torchwood. So, I started watching that and I loved it!  Torchwood has a lot of new and interesting ideas and a cool approach to the sci-fi alien genre. So after getting about halfway through season 1, I looked it up. I then discovered that Torchwood is a Dr. Who spinoff (yeah ok, me and the loop are not seeing eye to eye). This lead me to give Dr. Who another chance. Apparently I quit watching it right before it got good. I am so seriously hooked on both series now!

Watching Netflix is what I do while I knit at night (I work 2nd shift, so I am up very late), so I am already through season 1 of both series and well into season 2 of Dr. Who. This is a product of finishing my swallowtail shawl, as I have been knitting long hours to finish it on time for class. I pulled it off the needles earlier today, so I'll post some pre-blocking pictures soon.

Now I have to seriously consider knitting a scarf.

Alright, it's been a bit since I've posted on here, and I really want to keep this going. I was on call all weekend and for memorial day. It turned out we were really busy at work. I ended up with over 13 hours of overtime and all of it was at night. So, I spent most of the weekend being tired. I even missed my last class for my sock knitting. I am almost finished with my first sock!! Now I just have to knit the second one. :) This pair will be a present for a friend of mine. Then my swallowtail shawl  has been driving me nuts. Its very much 2 steps forward and 1 step back, but it is finally starting to shape up. I'll post some progress pictures soon.

Meanwhile, Joe and I have been plotting putting together steampunk costumes. Both of us really love the genre and some of the things coming out of it. I have put together what I'd like my character to look like in my head. Now I just have to work on bringing it to life. I love Edwardian fashion, so I've been studying up on which elements I want to use. I've also had fun looking for knitted steampunk fashions.

Anyway, just a short update for now. I'll try and update this more frequently.