No Title Thursday, September 8, 2011

I think my brain is fried.  I can't think of a title for this blog.  I get tired of using "Update."

1. TV Update
 I finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Series.  I admit it, I sobbed.  It was the 2nd time I have watched the series.  I noticed so many more things this time.  And I seriously love Andrew, Anya, and Spike.  Definitely the 3 best characters ever created for TV.

2. New TV Update
I am casting about for something new to watch while I knit.  I am trying Doctor Who: The Complete First Series.  I really enjoy it.  Last year I made a Dr. Who scarf, for my friend, Ael.  He watched the show in the 1980s. I asked him if I needed to watch the older versions, to really understand it, but he said, no.  It's not like Buffy that way.  Buffy is one of those shows that you really need to watch from the beginning to really understand it. 

3. Gaming
I have started playing a new online game, League of Legends.  It's free, so you don't need to buy anything from Amazon.  It's one of those games that are free to play, and you can buy swag or extra stuff for the game.  One of the guys in our guild in Aion: The Tower of Eternity Steelbook Edition, Zeia, just got a job working for the company that makes LoL, so we are all trying it.  It is really fun, but I am pretty bad at it.  I don't know how long my kids will be willing to play with me.  It is a PvP (player vs player) game, and I am a bit of a liability.  Anyway, it is fun for now.  But, it is cutting into my knitting a bit =)

4. SKA Sockdown September Challenge
I am barely knitting the Glass Slippers socks for Samantha.  It is my "sit and knit" project right now, but I have made a bit of progress:

Can't remember if I wrote this, but, I started with size 0 needles, and was getting some serious ladders.  I dropped down to size 00, and it seems to have fixed the problem.  I need to take a sock class.  I just don't  know why I get such ladders.  I really think it is because I am trying to knit tightly.  By dropping down a needle size, the knitting is tighter, but I am knitting more loosely.  Does that make sense?

The pattern has a cable with a twisted knit (ktbl).  It is done without a cable needle.  It is a bit of a tricky maneuver, since it involves dropping a stitch, then picking it back up, always difficult for me.  But it is much faster for these little twists.  My big problem is that I am incapable of counting.  How can I get off in a seed pattern?  Well, once again, I hope no one looks at these socks too closely.


5. Hannah's Ballet Socks
I am ready to start the heel cups.  When I bought the yarn for these socks, I wanted to use the "right" yarn, the yarn actually used in the pattern.  I actually checked the user recommendations before I bought it, and they all said, "splitty."  When I made the gauge swatch, I had no problems with splitting.  However, I wasn't cabling.  Now I see it.  SPLITTY SPLITTY SPLITTY.  They are still beautiful, though.

The real problem is that I think they will be too wide.  I believe my sister when she says that Hannah has "wide fat feet."  So I used the wide version.  But these seem super wide.  They are wool/nylon, so I think they might shrink a bit, but I don't want them to be super loose.  They are taking way too long to knit, and are too beautiful to not fit.

I hope I can finish up the heel cups today.  I think I might be able to finish one.  That will have to do.