Productive

Tuesday was a very productive day. I...

• went to a yoga class*
• took out the trash
• did the dishes
• worked on cleaning my room
• did the laundry
• vacuumed

Where did Lisa go, and what did I do with her? :)

*The yoga class was a lot of fun! I've only ever been to one other yoga class in my life, and I wasn't too terribly impressed with the first one. This one, however, was more interesting. It was mildly challenging, but definitely something that will get easier as I continue to go. What probably made this yoga class more interesting was the fact that a friend of mine from school was there! We'll hopefully be going every Tuesday/Thursday (though not today because she worked late and I'm... well... lazy). There's also talk of a pilates class on Saturday...

Sacramento Zoo

I went to the Sacramento Zoo today with Heather and Stephanie. We were observing the primates for our anthropology class to write a paper about them (it connect with the section we just finished in class). I got up a little later than I planned, so I was frantically printing out directions and the assignment paper. As a consequence, I forgot to bring a jacket (it was slightly chilly), a notebook, and my camera. I should do like Stephanie and just have it sitting in my bag, SOP.

Of the primates, we saw black and white ruffled lemurs, mongoose lemurs, ring-tailed lemurs (way too cute! Like baby raccoons with super long tails), Coquerel's sifakas, white-handed gibbonses, Schimdt's spot-nosed guenons, white-handed gibbons, chimpanzees, Sumatran orangutans, and chimpanzees.

Of the non-primates, the animals ranged from lions, tigers, and snow leopards to zebras, ostriches, giraffes, and giant anteaters to kangaroos, wallabies, and emus to the incredibly cute red panda! There was also a selection of reptiles and birds -- including orange flamingos! Orange! Flamingos!

I liked the zoo better than I remember liking the San Diego Zoo, but the San Diego Wildlife Park is still, by far, the best.

WIP Wednesday

Time for a WIP progress report!

1. Dovetail Pullover

Look how much it's grown! I've been thinking... the pattern calls for the the back to look exactly like the front... I'm not sure that's something I'd like, so I'm throwing around the idea of making the back (pictured here) into the front (it's not to late to make that call without frogging, fortunately) and just knitting the back in plain reverse stockinette stitch. Thoughts?

2. Mystery Stole 3 (MS3)

It appears that I haven't blogged about this yet. For shame. Last July, Melanie from Pink Lemon Twist hosted her third mystery stole knit-a-long. Basic premise: the final product was a mystery to the knitters, we knit as the clues were released (6 clues in all, I think), and at the end we had a gorgeous stole. I jumped on the bandwagon and signed up. When I began, it was slow going for a number of reasons. I think I was playing video games quite a bit at that time, since it was summer, and I may have been deep in the pit of spinning, then too. I remember that knitting on MS3 required a lot of concentration, especially for the beads. I also had problems keeping track of where I was in chart. Consequently, I spent a bit of time tinking rather than knitting.

I'm home on spring break now, so I have time on my hands. When I left Sacramento, I brought along the Dovetail Pullover and some socks (more on that later) to knit, with the intent of forcing myself to seriously work on the Dovetail Pullover. Um... that didn't go over too well. I dug out MS3 and have been working mostly on that since I got back home.

3. Sweetheart Socks for MP

Mom complained bitterly about the fact that she didn't have lilac socks. I have to do everything, so I bought some lilac yarn from Whorled Peace. MP cares not a whit what kind of socks they are (lace? cables? spirals?) so... it's knitter's choice. I thought the Sweetheart Socks pattern was rather appropriate. :)

4. Video Games

The last thing I've been doing is video games. I recently picked up Kurt's Gameboy with the intent to finish the dungeon I was 90% done with. Link's such a champ; he doesn't complain that I kill him about every 7 or so minutes. (It's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, if anyone is curious.)

I've also been playing a Gamecube game I picked up a few weeks ago: Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. I played Super Paper Mario for the Wii and loved it (very retro, mm). I decided to spring for the GC version game-unplayed based on the Wii version. Aside from Mario on the N64, the last time I seriously played any Mario game was Super Mario Bros. for the SNES. That's a long time.

Old FO: CMR's Birthday Socks

I decided that CMR needed blue socks for her birthday. (We will conveniently forget that her birthday is in December.) I wanted an interesting design, and since CMR and MP (not Military Police... mom's scarier) hold the same "whatever you want to make is fine!" mentality (do correct me if I'm wrong, CMR, my recollections are rather dim), it was up to me to define "interesting."

Pattern: 9 to 5 by All Buttoned Up
Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura (the wool-bamboo blend.... 70%/30%? Something around there.)
Needles: US 2 Lantern Moon Sox Stix
Time: December 19th, 2007 to February 2008

While browsing Ravelry, I came across All Buttoned Up's sock pattern, 9 to 5. Between what I thought were cables and CMR's new status as gainfully employed, I decided that they were the perfect pattern!

Further investigation proved that those cables? ...weren't really cables! They're a travelling stitch very similar to Trellis' faux-cables. (And before you ask, no, I still haven't finished my Trellis. Ahem, ahem.) I really, really wanted them to be cables, so I changed the stitch pattern to include cables. Of course. I also decided to work them toe-up instead of top down. And I completely disregarded the half-linen stitch pattern on the heel flap; I did the standard slip 1, knit 1 heel flap. I did keep one of the interesting/distinguishing features, though!

Mmm... my favorite...

When I finished, I asked CMR if she wanted them NOW or if she wanted to pick them up next time she was at the parents' house. She wanted the NOW (of course), but I am the knitter. Therefore, she will pick them up in July, when we go camping. (I was especially paranoid about the socks getting lost after reading about Too Much Wool's postal tragedy with her knitting.)

Look Alikes!

...I apparently also have a 72% look-alike with a young Hillary Clinton... oh dear...

Unblogged Finished Objects

I realized (again) that I have a lot of finished items that I've taken pictures of... but never got around to posting about them. For your viewing pleasure, and my embarrassment... The List:

1. Dad's blue Christmas socks (finished December 2007)
2. CMR's birthday socks (finished February 2008)
3. Rene's ex-monkey/embossed leaves socks (finished November 2007)
4. Milanese Lace Anklets (finished December 2007)
5. Ribwarmer (finished February 2008)
6. Roman-esque non-Earflap hat & mittens (finished December 2007 and January 2008)
7. Belle's Diamond Scarf (finished January 2008)
8. Dad's boring white socks (summer of 2007?)

FO: Bunnies!

Pattern: Knitted Bunny
Yarn: Wintuk (bodies) and Beautiful(tails) from Jo-Ann's
Needles: US 5 (beige) and US 7 (pink)
Time: March 19th, 2008 to March 21st, 2008

These guys, affectionately known as ProtoBunny and Gen1Bunny (I almost went with F1Bunny, but decided against it), are way too cute for anyone's sanity. Seriously! The only way they could possibly be cuter is if they were made out of fuzzy yarn (like angora, mm...).

One of Mom's friends are having a baby, and when I showed her the cuteness that is The Bunny, she immediately asked if it would be too much trouble to make one for said baby. How could I possibly resist?

This pattern is super easy, if you don't mind more sewing than is "typical" in a knitting pattern. You start out by knitting a square, then follow some deceptively scary-looking sewing instructions, stuff, sew some more, add some ears and a tail a bam! it's a bunny! Both of them looked rather, er, retarded until I put on the ears and tail. They really make the pattern.

Modifications? I decided the ears were too big to have them pricked up like "normal" bunnies, so I made them lop-eared. I'm quite pleased.

PS: I love my pompom maker.