The box o'yarn for Twining Ivy arrived last night, and, despite all my good intentions of working on the Big Fleece Thing for Liam (which has been a saga in and of itself), I cast on instead.  I'm through the bottom seed stitch band and into the first stretch of stockinette before the decreases for the waist shaping--this thing might not be meant exclusively for larger women, but I'd like anyone to be able to get a good-looking sweater out of it, and waist shaping is very important for that.

What I'm mostly concerned about is that I'm basing all my measurements for this test version on me--I am, after all, going to wear it.  Which is fine for the first-pass "Is this a plausible design?" version, but for the production version of the pattern I'm going to have to get some data on more typical bodies, because I know quite well I'm insanely short-waisted.  My rib cage ends all of an inch above my waist; this is one of the reasons I've gotten into making my own clothes, because it's so damn hard to find things that fit.  But it also means I can't assume that my measurements are typical.

The handy thing about this design is that, with all the vine design done in appliqué, the body is just plain stockinette with the occasional decrease.  So it's nice boring watch-a-movie knitting. 

It's getting to be that time of year again: the time of year when we should start gearing up for the Alzheimer's Memory Walk in the early fall.  They're generally held then, one assumes to take advantage of the cooler weather; it wouldn't do to have people participating in a charity event falling over from heat stroke.

Anyway, what the walk really needs is local team captains, people to get walkers together and promote the event in their own areas.  It's pretty easy to become a team captain with information and materials you can find on the Alzheimer's Association website, and then all you have to do is schedule your walk.  If you already walk for your own health, this is a great way to help out others at the same time, so think about joining a walk in your area or, if your area doesn't yet have one, becoming a team captain.

I have to wonder if I'm living in my own little version of the timeline again, because it seems like everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere is complaining about the heat.

Meanwhile, what I've been noticing about this summer is that it's been noticeably cooler than usual--rainy and humid as all get out, yes, but not really all that hot.  Not that humid's a lot better, since it can make an otherwise just warm day miserable, but still.

I guess there's plenty of time for it to get horribly hot; we're well into the Dog Days, and anyway Pennsic is about to start and it wouldn't be Pennsic without miserably hot weather.  But really, this is not a bad summer, all things considered.

This is a SC post!

I'm not big into women's magazines (though I admit a deep and abiding love for Real Simple), so I don't do a lot with relationship quizzes and makeup tips and that sort of thing.  But every now and then it's fun to go and do a quiz, or look at the diagrams of how to put on eyeshadow, or read articles on what's the best kind of shoe--and if nothing else, there are always those moments where you have five minutes where you have to be sitting at your desk but you're not actually doing anything, and in those moments a silly quiz can be a girl's best friend...

We have come to the hard part of Pennsic packing: what to take.

I mean, yes, garb, socks, toiletries, tent, bedding, plates and silverware, all that stuff.  That's easy (though I think I might try to get a smaller tub for my garb).

No, the big question is, which projects to take?

Boreas is obviously going, and probably my rough draft of Twining Ivy if the yarn gets here in time.  But what about Baby Goth?  What about the second pair of New Pathways socks, which have been languishing for who knows how long?  And if the socks are going, what about all the other sock yarn...including the stuff I bought at War last year¹ and never finished?  Or the sock yarn mitered square blanket, on hiatus approximately since the NP socks got set aside?  I think the epic tablecloth is staying at home this year, though oddly I'm not as discouraged as I thought I would be over not being able to find the first half--maybe it's just that it's such a huge project to begin with.  Anyway I'm sure I'll find it eventually.

OK, this is it: I am officially not buying any more yarn until something gets finished.  Fortunately Pennsic offers a lot of opportunity to sit around.

1: Speaking of which, I really need to do something cool with those lovely laceweight alpacas.  Maybe those can be the Driving Gloves.

This is a SC post!

I'm getting more and more into being eco-friendly lately; I'm using dish and laundry soap that aren't petroleum based, recycling paper, turning off unnecessary lights, carrying string bags to do my shopping--simple things, but if enough people do them they can add up. Thus I'm delighted to see eco-friendly products meant for the geek in all of us that are still good for the environment, or at the very least less bad than the mainstream versions.  I think my favorite is the flashlight that has its very own mini electrical generator in it; you power the thing by shaking it, or turning a little crank.  No need for batteries, and that's all good...

I almost forgot to mention that I discovered today that the Mint is embarking on yet another of its periodic Don Quixote-like attempts to tilt at the windmill of the American reluctance to use dollar coins (which I totally don't get.  They're so much more convenient than bills!)

They're gold again (love the fact that you can talk about American coins in terms of copper, silver and gold pieces), with presidents on them--the ones I got all have John Quincey Adams.  The reverse has an image of the Statue of Liberty; the E pluribus unum, In God we trust, and mint mark are all on the edge in lieu of milling.  I do wonder if the shiny gold finish will last longer on these than it did on the Sacagawea coins, but for the moment I rather like the implementation.

This is a SC post!

I do believe I have mentioned Hue socks before, in large part because I really like them; while I am perfectly capable of knitting socks for myself, I don't really see a need to when there are so many other, much more interesting things I could be knitting, so I'm quite happy to let the machines do my knitting for me--they manage much smaller gauges than I could get, anyhow.  The only thing I'm less than perfectly happy about with Hue is that they seem to have discontinued my favorite kind of knee-high, which was very fabricky and which I can't find anymore now that my old pairs are wearing out.  But that's a small issue, and in general I'm delighted with their product.

Thanks to one of my geeky obsessions, I've been pointed at another: change ringing.

If you've ever heard the phrase "ringing the changes" on something, this is where it comes from.  Basically, you've got a bunch of bells, each with one person operating it, and they're rung in sequences that are determined by, basically, mathematical formulas.  You don't have to have printed music once you know the formula, because it's a simple matter of knowing the pattern, knowing that on this repeat, you ring your bell at a particular place in the sequence.  There are names for different kinds of patterns and all sort of cool stuff, and if I could just get hold of some info on what the names of different patterns mean I'd be all set.

Not that there seems to be a proper change-ringing tower along here, and even if there were I wouldn't have time to join it.  But the concept's fascinating. 

This is a SC post!

I've never ridden a snowboard in my life, and have no particular plans to--I like my sports a little more controllable, thankyouverymuch--but I can recognize quality when I see it.  I must say the whole thing is rather like my reaction to skateboards: who knew there was that kind of variety in something as simple as a board you strap to your feet?  But hey, at the very least some of the designs are awfully cool, at least in the collection of  Burton snowboards on my sponsor's page today.  I'm especially fond of the Andy Warhol one for the whimsy factor.

I just want to know, what makes it a "women's" snowboard?