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I am a few days late, but here are the (best) pictures of A Better Bombshell. “Better,” because I made a bunch of changes. The waist ribbing is up about four inches higher, the “skirt” (what the hell is that called?) is eight inches longer, and I used short rows to lengthen the back and bring up the neckline.

Love love love. I still have a ton of the yarn left, so I might end up lengthening the sleeves for fall. We shall see.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thing for the knitterly and non-knitterly alike:
I am considering another tattoo (as is every person who has ever gotten one — they are addictive (even if they DO feel like being drawn on with a razor blade (which they do))).*

I have several in mind: a goddess/spiral jobby that I can’t quite get down on paper correctly, a sunburst with a bear paw that needs more work, and a very simple “yes,” written in half-inch high simple script on my left wrist curving up to the heel of my hand. The decisions left on that one include choice of color and font.

*My parentheses keys have a headache. (Yes, they are sharing one between them (Ouch.).)

Also:  big news from Michelle on this date.

Filed Under knitting, what? | 2 Comments

Thanks for voting, you guys. Michael was disappointed that “two” didn’t win, but was able to resist stuffing the ballot box. We’re working on getting the rest of the colors to go with the new image, so please bear with me if things look weird for a little while (and let me know if anything breaks).

The images were of the “Tofu Tee” from Southwest Trading Company. When I told Bex that I’d be done with Bombshell soon, she asked me to knit her a sample of the pattern for her to take to Stitches Midwest next month.

It’s been fast and fun, so far. It’s a plain and boxy top, but knit across from sleeve to sleeve, rather than up or down. The pattern calls for five different colors to be knit across in a gradual way (two strands of color A, then one strand of A with one of B, then two of B, then one each of B&C, etc.) so as to make the color changes subtle. That’s the only subtle thing about the sweater, though, since these are the colors I have to work with:

I’d never wear such bright colors, but they are crazy-fun to knit with. It’s a treat, actually, to get to knit with such happy brights, and not have to worry about how I’ll look in them. And it’s nice, after spending two months fighting with the fit of Bombshell, to be knitting something with no fit concerns whatsoever. No risk of being disappointed with how it looks once I put it on, since I won’t be!

You are getting very sleepy…you have an odd urge to buy me yarn… Yaaarrrrrrrrrnnn….

Filed Under blogging, knitting | 3 Comments

I’m working on a bit of a redesign here. I think I’m keeping the same layout, but I’m going to play with the colors, maybe add or subtract a plugin or two, and change the header image. If you’ll help me pick one, that is…

One

Two

Three

I’ll tell you tomorrow what you’re looking at up there.

Filed Under days | 3 Comments

I finally finished knitting Bombshell on Friday night. The saga goes like this…

Michael bought me the yarn for Bombshell for my Birthday. I cast on for it in March, but had very little time to knit, what with all the schoolwork. After finals, I got right on it, and finished on May 20. I was very happy with the drape of the yarn, and the fit of the sweater was B+/A-. I blocked it, and discovered that the yarn G-R-O-W-S. From this:

to this:

Yyyyyeah.

I’d been so happy with the pre-blocking result, and the yarn was so nice, I wasn’t willing to give up. So I’ve spent most of my knitting time between then and now in a seemingly-endless quest to re-do this sweater. I went down two needle sizes and two pattern sizes. The post-blocking fabric looks much better, and the smaller size takes care of the weird back-bagging.

Once forewarned of the growth issue, and having adjusted the gauge accordingly, the drape and feel of the fabric is absolutely delicious. I have the whole thing outside blocking right now. I took a picture of the stitches before and after blocking, to show how well the process evens out the stitches.

Once I had the yarn issues worked out, I had a bunch of pattern alterations to do. I increased the number of moss stitch rows for the borders, lengthened the sleeves a bit, and added a couple of inches of short rows to the neckline, so I could wear the sweater without a tank top (or a ticket). I had to reknit the “skirt” part (is that the peplum? or is a peplum something else?) three times to get the length and increases right.

I should have pictures of the finished project by Wednesday.

(Yes, I’m already 80+ rows into a new sweater, why do you ask?)

Filed Under days | 1 Comment

We are nearing five a.m., the approximate time that my brain decides it’s tired, when left to its own devices.    Before I climb in bed, though, I wanted to post this list here, so I don’t lose it or forget that I made it at all.

I got a message today from J., one of Joseph (my brother-in-law)’s friends from high school.  Back in McAlester, at least before I turned twenty, I was firmly lodged in the broom closet, way behind the dust brooms and questionable cleaning products.  Consequently, I still come across school friends who are surprised to find I’ve been pagan almost since menarche.

So J. contacted me with a request for book recommendations.  The following is (most of) the message I sent back to her.

I started on my path nearly seventeen years ago; there’s such a vast selection of books out there now, compared to what used to be available!  There are countless different traditions and approaches to paganism, so what books would be best for you will depend on where you’re coming from, and where you want to go.

Generally, the two starter books I recommend are the first two I ever had.  Wicca and Living Wicca by Scott Cunningham.  He has an uncluttered approach, and is ethical without going too far to the “fluffy bunny” side.

An article by Laurie Cabot in “Sassy” magazine (before it died) is what introduced me to Wicca in the first place.  Her first book, Power of the Witch, is great for meditative exercises and a quantum approach to theory.

Drawing Down the Moon is a great scholarly piece on the reemergence of the pagan tradition in Western culture.  The Spiral Dance is a bit more approachable, but in the same vein, and with more practical applications.

My husband wants to recommend Silver Ravenwolf’s Solitary Witch.  She is a prolific author,  and a lot of her books are geared to a younger crowd.  I still like her stuff, but it can be a little…sweet for some people.

I just wanted to make sure I could get to this later.  Have a happy Friday, everybuggy.

Filed Under books, paganism | 4 Comments