Je tricote! Je vous promets! Part I

OK, OK. I have been knitting these past few weeks, albeit sporadically. Somehow, reading Renaissance revenge tragedies and writing short fiction and re-making costumes have eaten up some of my free time this semester.

First, the sweater of All Things Epic, St. Brigid. I'm delighted (read: relieved) to report that the back and front are now finished, and I've got both sleeves on a circular needle right now. After the sleeves, I'll only have the seaming and collar left. I am not doing the silly fringe on the hem, as I have yet to find fringe around my hips a flattering look.


A sleeve!



A front!



Up-close-and-personal shot of the cables


The astute reader will observe that the sweater looks...large. Do not adjust your monitors! The sweater is ginormous. In fact, the size is 40" (stop laughing). I'm aware that it's big; it's going to be a burrow-inside-a-cabin sort of sweater, not a stylish runway piece.

In my next post: new socks!

"Geek Love" in the NYT

Yesterday's New York Times ran a tribute to Gary Gygax, the famed creator of Dungeons & Dragons. While I never played D & D (RPGs are one of the few arenas of geekery that I have yet to explore), I can appreciate its continuning influenced on some of my interests. Thus, I found the diagram the paper ran alongside the article quite amusing:


[Large Version Here]

Yes, this chart lists a few of my interests...just a few.

The Violent Collision of My Interests

When it comes to subcultures and styles, I've never fallen into one perfectly. Too gypsy for the preppy set, not hardcore enough for the punks, not quite intense enough to join the goths, too pragmatic for the bohemian types...

And yet, I think I may just have found a subculture/movement/aesthetic that neatly sums up my interests. It is Steampunk.

Most simply, Steampunk is a type of science fiction set in the Victorian era (when steam power was still prevalent -- hence the first half of the name). More broadly, it's corsets and goggles, fine calligraphy and spaceships, classy manners and fighting with rayguns. What appeals to me most is the embrace of new technology along with the historical setting of Victoriana and a certain attention to beauty. Why use an ugly plain brick for computing when you can enjoy a machine of elegance and style?
I always thought that being interested in the archaic disqualified me from being interested in new technologies; surely I couldn't hold a PDA in one hand and an antique classic book in the other? With steampunk, I'm learning how those two are not mutually exclusive.

Besides the excellent Wikipedia article, I also recommend the forums at Brass Goggles, where everyone has been solicitous and helpful. One of the best parts of steampunk is that there is a wide range of interests: some people use steam power for their creations, but dress in a normal fashion. Others wear cravats day in and day out, but may spend more time tailoring their clothes than welding in a workshop. Overall the community seems reluctant to set boundaries to declare what counts as steampunk and what doesn't; instead, people embrace the idea of a spectrum. That is vastly more apppealing than an over-policed group of elitists, laying down the law.

Coming Attractions

Alas, I have been remiss in not posting nearly often enough, and now that I have content to post, I am without my camera cord.

Look for these updates in the coming week, which should include pictures:

1. Progress on St. Brigid
2. A Civil War era corset, made entirely from stash material
3. Thoughts on the cemeteries around town
4. Possibly musings on tea
5. Extra ramblings

Please contain your enthusiasm; all in good time.

Finished Object!

Socks are charming little projects, which can be carried handily in a bag and drawn out during dull moments. However, it's difficult to finish them if you stuff them in a drawer.

I started Cookie A.'s Monkey socks from Knitty last semester, but only finished them this week. To tell the truth, the pattern started to frustrate me, but I did complete the pair at last.


More details are on Ravelry, but for all the non-Ravelry folk, here are the details:

Pattern: Monkey
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn in Sand Ridge
Needles: Size 1 Bamboo dpns
Verdict: Good pattern, well written. The socks fit nice and snugly.

A Tribute to S.I.B.

I have a fantastic roommate.

Before you go to college, all of your well-meaning friends (mostly the older ones) counsel you to not expect to be best friends with your roommate. "You'll just live with them," they say, "so it's a businesslike arrangement." You're told to be reasonable in what you think your roommate will be like.

The Residence Life Office here matches up students well, taking into account their likes and dislikes, circadian rhythms, even their Myers-Briggs results. Even so, I was not positive that they would do a decent job. I was quite afraid that I would end up with someone whose loud, wanton ways would drive me crazy.

Then I met Sarah, my amazing roommate. We are highly compatible -- her F type complements my T -- and she has an incredible ability to overlook my more atrocious caprices, like my very noisy coffeemaker and tendency to strew my clothes everywhere. Every day we discover ways in which we are similar, sometimes reading the other one's mind, but we also learn the ways in which we deviate -- and we definitely have our differences.

Besides her high tolerance level for my nonsense, Sarah is also very creative, making beautiful cards for people on their birthdays and covering the walls of our room with her calligraphic brilliance. When we got back from the Christmas holiday, she presented me with my gift: a recipe box.

[It is not crooked. I just can't take normal pictures.]

Not only did she paint the box with a fantastic goddess/fairy/muse/nymph, she wrote Rensad ryn adin on the cover. I was so dumbstruck by the gift that Sarah had to remind me that rensad ryn adin was from the language I created. The phrase means "to eat and to drink" in Pannat.


I can't thank Sarah ever enough -- not just for the beautiful recipe box, because her friendship extends way beyond that -- for her gracious spirit, her charming presence, her perfect advice, and her enduring patience. This post is thus dedicated to her and her wonderful self.

Surely it's not 2008 already?

Poor little abandoned blog! It's not for lack of events in my life that I haven't posted. I suppose the end of the semester was simply too overwhelming. As for NaNoWriMo, let us not even speak of that false start...

In the area of knitting, I have been a busy little bee. I finished the Gryffindor scarf for my little sister in time for Christmas. In truth, it was all knit up a while ago, but I delayed the finishing because I find putting on fringe so tedious. My monkey socks are on the backburner because they are sort of driving me mad.

The main project I'm working on now is St. Brigid, a sweater that I have admired, adored, and longed to knit for about, oh, three years now. I'm working it up in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, in Firecracker Red. It's a heathered yarn and I'm pleased with how it's turning out.


That's the back of the sweater, with about four repeats of the main charts. I love the Celtic cables!