Snazzy Beret

When I decided to spin again, to ply that lovely purply stuff, I needed to free up a bobbin. So I balled up this multicolored silk I spun up ages ago – it was just singles, and not spun particularly evenly or anything, but for some reason it said ‘beret’ to me…I don’t even wear berets very often, but whatever. When yarn talks, a knitter listens. So I found a wonderful (free!) beret recipe, which I modified a bit to conform to my vision, and voila! A snazzy multicolored beret! The only snag with this quickie project was that the first time I bound off (it’s top-down), it was too tight and wouldn’t fit on my head. Undoing a silk bindoff is NOT FUN. I repeat – NOT FUN. It took half of the second Indiana Jones movie to do, the silk was so sticky. Then I redid it with two needle sizes bigger and all was well. Well, I supposed you’ll be wanting pictures, eh? Ask and you shall receive…

I’ve been wearing this thing most of the day – it makes me feel very Bohemian. Is that supposed to be capitalized? It always makes me think of it like Bohemia is a place or something…(yeah, yeah, RENT…)

Also, I decided to join the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl group on Yahoo! It’s free, and her designs are great, so I figured it would be a good place for my first mystery shawl and also my second lace project – first big one. I have decided which chart I’m using for Clue 1 – chart A. I’m putting that up here as much to stop myself from changing my mind again as anything else, though…

Here’s the yarn we found for it:

Lorna’s Laces. Mmmm…

Spinning again!

Finally, more than halfway through 2008, I begin to fulfill one of my New Years’ Resolutions – to spin more!

I finished some today yesterday – it was skeined today, though. Oddly, Flickr is being mean and not letting me rotate pictures…so you’ll have to turn your head to see them properly. Flickr stopped being mean! But it’s yummy yarn anyway, even if it’s only 55 yards and sideways. Navajo plied, BTW. I forget what fiber it is, but it looks/feels like it’s got some silk, and possibly some merino or tencel.

Ah, nerdiness – how I love thee.

So, we’ll start off with a slightly sad fact: School ended Monday (NOT sad), BUT I was there Tuesday almost all day for the benefit concert, I was there today to get my final grades, and I will be there tomorrow for graduation – my friend got me a ticket. I guess I just can’t get enough of the place. And today, after we got out grades, Alethia’s other half and I played Scrabble using my Comp Sci project for a good twenty minutes. In case anybody wasn’t completely sure we were utter nerds already.

And continuing with that theme, see what my physics class made:

This was a good few weeks of our year after the AP exam. For most of it, our teacher was trying to teach us particle physics, but we worked on this monster every spare moment. It was alternately hilarious and the most frustrating thing I’ve ever laid hands on. But ultimately rewarding, as the last 20 seconds of the video will show. Listen hard to hear the easy button at the end – the flying kookaburra triggers it.

Oh yeah – and ‘Fly Like an Eagle’ came up on random shuffle when we were filming that. Call it fate.

P.S. My mom and I went on a short (aka 11 mile) bike ride today, and I SMOKED her. It was cool – I think the music helps. I <3 my new Shuffle.

P.P.S. Regarding bike ride, we still haven’t gotten the pictures developed, but I hope they’re magnificent and I can post them. Also, I haven’t forgotten about the contest! Well, okay, I did for awhile. Unfortunately, we didn’t even make it to the first drawing, so I’ll have to see if my mom still wants to part with that exquisite skein. She probably will, but I need to check. There will certainly be a drawing for everyone whom was promised one, though! Fear not!

ETA: Okay, so it HAS to be a secret conspiracy. Turns out I have to go to school tomorrow TOO, to get my work papers for my job this summer.

Yay! Loot!

Sorry it’s been so long – I’m finally resurfacing from finals. I have one left, but it’s no big deal. I’m basically done! Gloriosity!

So.

We biked. Around Lake Tahoe. It was intense. I don’t have any pictures from the ride yet, because we used disposable cameras and I haven’t finished it yet. But it was breathtaking. It SO made the 7-mile climb starting at mile 80 worth it when you came around a corner and saw this incredible view of this gorgeous lake. Here’s my helmet:

And here was me:

And then after we finished, I ran into a parked car. We had these giant buffalo on our helmets (because the rest of our chapter is from Buffalo…) and I was trying to copy our coach and duck under a rope hanging maybe five feet high while on my bike, and I veered to the side. Only there was no space to veer. So I crashed and left a big scratch down the side of a black SUV. The people were standing right behind it loading the trunk, too – and they didn’t notice until I called to them!

Me, lying on ground beneath bike, trying not to sob: Excuse me – I’m really sorry, I just ran into your car!

Them: Oh, it’s a rental – we won’t tell if you won’t. Are you okay?

Me: *sigh of relief and pain*

I was rather scraped up. But my bike computer still only said 99.75 miles when we got back to the hotel, so I rode in circles on the sidewalk until it said 100. You can’t work all day not to get that satisfaction! Here was my bike shoe after:

Yeah.

Oh, and another story from that. One guy on our team is a pastor, probably about 60 years old. His wife has lymphoma, and she actually had a relapse during our training. During the ride, he crashed going downhill at twentysomething miles per hour. The medical team had to pick him up – he even cracked his helmet. But after they fixed him up, he got back on the course and finished – 7-mile climb and all! He had been talking earlier about how he talked to teens and was disappointed to find that when he asked them who their heroes were, they were inevitably some actor or athlete – someone who makes a lot of money and lives glamorously. I told him after the ride (and I usually don’t say stuff like this out loud, so it took a bit of courage, mind you) that he was more of a hero than any of those people. Because it’s so true.

Oh yeah, and my birthday is tomorrow! But my dad is out of town, so we did the ‘family celebration’ yesterday. We went out for hibachi, which was fun – but it was a bad day for it. It’s obscenely hot. So we pretty much sweltered in front of towers of flame wondering when we could return to the air-conditioned car…but the food was good! And then we went home – my mom had made me strawberry shortcake! – and I got the family presents. Got some sweet loot:

• iTunes card
• an iPod shuffle! (for running and such) And a ‘puck’ case for it.
• three shirts – a biking one and two T-shirts, one biking-related (this one if anybody’s curious)
• A Life is Good keyring – to which I promptly transferred my (lonely – I hopefully get car copies when I pass my road test!) key and other paraphernalia
• A book of short stories about time travel
• KnitPicks interchangeable needles!!! As well as stitch markers and a new set of cable needles – the two knitting artifacts I never fail to lose.
• that reference thingie that tells you how much yarn of various gauges you need for stuff
• a book of Japanese knitting patterns…I’m going to need some help reading those…but they’re pretty neat.

And then tomorrow – on my birthday, when it’s supposed to be over 90 degrees – we’re biking 40 miles. We signed up awhile ago – we knew we’d be in shape from the century ride. But I’ve done basically nothing athletic all week because of finals. And we just got our bikes back (they had to ride back cross-country in a truck) today…so that should be interesting…

And finally, I’ve resumed the lace scarf I started on the NYC trip, and I’m almost done with the Prom Socks. Pictures will come…at some point.