Taking my new crocheted cap on the road. Look for us tomorrow night at Kauffman Stadium where I, husband, his father, and his stepmother, will bear witness to the defeat of our Enemy, the cardinals, at the hands of the Kansas City Royals. Travel knitting is the second Dresser Scarf Sock, but it won't be attending the battle. At ball games I usually keep a scorecard or use my camera to take snapshots of objects which are unrecognizable when the prints come back.

Did some work the last couple days on adjustments to the Eyelet Skirt. I have concluded that I am not going to be making this -- not this year anyway. The specs are too vague for me to feel comfortable about the size changes I wanted to make, and in places the directions aren't clear and also don't seem to come out right. I couldn't make the row counts given match the finished size, for instance. I could figure it out if I had the time, but I don't. There is too much other stuff I want to do.

Finally started Harry Potter. All this teen angst suddenly erupting in this childish world is a little jarring. I suppose it is appropriate in a way, though: that is probably what real teenagerhood is like. (I honestly don't remember.)

It took only one evening to turn one ball of Denim-blue Cascade Pima Melange into the Very Cute Crocheted Cap from Family Circle Easy Knitting and Crochet. The perfect distraction from my WIP-weariness. I was a little careless about gauge on this project and it came out a little loose. I thought, “Hey, it’s cotton.” There were no care instructions on the ball band so I went ahead and machine washed and dried it. Shrunk up to a perfect fit.

I've started watching my new Season 4 Buffy DVD Collection while I walk on the treadmill each morning. I just finished Episode #3: Harsh Light of Day. When I watched Season 4 the first time, I was irritated by the Parker Abrams story (Buffy dates Parker for about a week/he seems sweet and sensitive/she sleeps with him/he moves onto the next conquest and never wants to see her again.) I thought it was useless. Now that I've seen it again, I think I see the point. As much as anything else, the show was always about Buffy's journey as a person. In that context, you see this illustrates how, as a woman and a young person, she faces dangers in life she can't combat with physical strength.

A large time was had at the Threadbear Open House yesterday.

My purchases:
3 skeins Koigu in shaded greens for socks
2 skeins Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Cranberry for socks
Faina’s Scarf pattern
2 balls of denim-y blue Cascade Pima Melange for lace cap
10 balls of gorgeous, beautiful, soft, lovely, Noro Silk Garden in Color #45 which is fuchsia, sky blue, olive, amethyst, hot pink, lilac, and teal-ish to make the sweet little cardy on the cover of the Debbie Bliss Noro Collection.

I attended the festivities with cousin Lana and her husband Josh. They played with the spinning tools. (Word is, Josh is a natural which could be very lucky for Lana.) I knitted and ate crab dip on crackers that tasted so good it almost killed me.

While at the Open House, I finished my first Dresser Scarf Sock and it looks beautiful, though I say it myself. I love the way this Cascade Fixation fabric looks and feels as clothing but, I have to admit, I’ve hated working with it. It is a pain to me in every sense of the word. I will note the recommended gauge on the ball band of this yarn is 25 sts/4”. The gauge for the sock pattern is 30 sts/4”. That is working sport yarn at fingering gauge and I have to think doing that with any yarn it is going to be uncomfortable. So, as I still have 3 balls of Fixation in my stash, I am going to give it another try before I write it off.

I had hoped to report completion of the Corset Pullover by now, but it has taken me four hundred and thirty nine tries to successfully "use kitchener stitch to graft live stitches to top edge of twisted rib panel.” I was unfamiliar with the concept of using Kitchener stitch to graft live stitches onto a bound-off edge. (I can Kitchener all day and all night on sock toes.)

Another Corset Pullover setback: the silver D-rings are too big. I bought 1 1/4” instead of 1” accidentally. I went ahead and sewed the straps up with the gold instead. I figure if it becomes too painful, I can take them off and replace them with new silver ones when I get a chance to buy some.

Today is the 21st and, even though my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been released from the Secret Room of Papa’s Bookstore, it’s not what I’m in the mood to read. Instead, I’ve been dipping into Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players. I bought this a while ago because I am intrigued by the “narcotic allure of strategic games” (I quote the book) and I’m just now getting to it. Interesting so far, but a tad overwrought. Example: “It is a hot, humid, windless Sunday afternoon in August 1997 in New York City, an asphalt-and-concrete circle of hell.”

I'm glad I accidentally made one extra Corset Pullover strap. My first starching attempt was fraught with peril. One thing I learned: iron and starch the Wrong Side.

My swatch for the Eyelet Skirt looked nice (I always frog my swatches -- poor form, I know.) I decided to stretch it a little for the row gauge measurement. I think this denim cotton worsted is going to be heavy enough that the weight of the skirt is going to drag it down some while wearing. I figured, if it doesn’t, I’d rather add extra eyelet rows at the bottom than have to take them away if it does.

Lana thinks Christopher Judge needs a virtual hat wardrobe. I wonder how he'd look being all stern and stoic Teal'c in Staceyjoy's Bobble Hat?

Corset Pullover straps all done, but I haven't yet managed to buy starch. I'd skip it, but I think my straps could use a starchin' -- they are pretty wiggly. The pattern instructs one to sew on the straps before seaming and putting in sleeves, which I think will be easiest, so it's back to the Clock Vest I go.

It seems the Reptilian Dating Games were a success. For the last two days, turtles from our pond have been swarming across our yard looking for places to lay their eggs. They are most active at dawn and dusk and if any of them get too near the kennels, the dogs go INSANE.

Went shopping today and picked up some Aunt Lydia's Denim at the Hobby Lobby for the Knitty Eyelet Skirt. They only had three balls -- 1200yds -- which I worried would not be enough. When I got home, I dug through my stash until I found the single ball of this yarn I'd bought a long time ago and, thankfully, it was the same color (chambray) with no distinct difference in dye lots. They only had white, ecru, or chambray in stock. I'd hoped for red. Too bad.

Big Stargate fun last night with the “behind the scenes” special and the season premiere. The premiere itself was just more InterGalactic Goa’ould Battles and Political Power Plays with some Season Seven Set-up stuff thrown in, but it was amusing. I don’t understand why Jonas had to leave just because Daniel came back, though. An SG team can’t have five members? Lana says Teal’c’s chain mail is a knitted garment. How did I miss this? When I read that on her blog I wanted to check right away, but baseball’s on so I searched Goggle for some Teal’c images. Found one that looked a little garter-stitchy but it’s not sleeveless so I don’t think that is what she had in mind. I also discovered with this search that a lot of people seem to name their creatures Teal’c. There were dogs, cats, horses, and, oddly, gerbils.

Perhaps I should have made the Corset Pullover straps first. Now that I am so close to the end they stand like a Looming Obstacle blocking me from the Big Finish. All the pieces -- front, back, sleeves -- are done and they look pretty good. Instructions say to iron and starch the completed straps. My sub-yarn is ironable but I have no starch. Who would have thought I'd ever need such a thing?

Went through the new Knitty pretty thoroughly Monday. The one thing I want right away is the Eyelet Skirt. Before I can make it, however, I have to resize it. It's only offered in "Medium" and I feel that I am probably "Large."

OH! It's so close now, I'm aquiver with excitement: Season 7 premiere of Stargate SG:1 is Friday!

So, Sammy got busted and now HEE SEOP CHOI IS BROKEN. How much more proof is needed that interleague play is Unnatural and Wrong and should be STOPPED?

In case you ever wondered, I am aware that my constant row gauge problems are the result of my insane compulsion to substitute yarns. On occasions when I have used the sample yarn for a pattern I have enjoyed spot-on gauge. However, right now I am working on the Clock Vest and I am vexed.

Row gauge is an important factor in the Clock Vest. Its length is based on pattern repeats, not on inches or centimeters. Since three of my diamonds are longer than three of the designer’s diamonds my vest is going to end up that awkward weird vest length that looks terrible on everybody. I’m going to make adjustments but I won’t know till the Very End if they work out. Wish me luck.

Here's an unfortunate truth about my color knitting skills: they suck. I do okay with intarsia but my fair isle/stranding work is abysmal. That averages to thousand G-force suckdom. The Indian Floral Vest swatch looked dreadful -- MESSY -- so I ripped it out. I should have ordered A LOT more yarn because I am going to have to do A HUNDRED practice swatches. That is in addition to the hundred I already knew I was going to make to practice all that embroidery adorning the vest fronts.

On the flip side, the Clock Vest is going well. I'm starting to pick up the rhythm of the cable patterns so my speed has increased. Unfortunately, this Plymouth Bamboo Circular is not making me happy. The finish isn't as smooth as I like and the stitches get hung up at the joint. I’m going to have to remember not to buy any more.

I watched the most recent movie version of The Time Machine again this week. This movie, like the Frankenstein movie Kenneth Branagh put out a few years ago, made changes to the story that brings to my mind an interesting question. In the books, the protagonists in both stories are motivated purely by Science (I think, it’s been a while since I read Frankenstein.) In the movies, the motivation is personal: in the Time Machine, the scientist builds his machine to go back in time and change his past, and in Frankenstein, the child Victor Frankenstein is so shattered by the loss of his mother that he determines he will find a way to conquer death. Apparently, nineteenth century audiences were willing to accept that a man would make enormous sacrifices for, and devote his life to, a quest for knowledge, and modern movie audiences are not. Is this true? If so, what changed? Is it a true shift in thinking or just the mode of storytelling?

So, I type in my post, click "post and publish" and my post just disappears. Where does it go? Does it go to heaven? Is it reincarnated? Is it beamed via transporter to Wil Wheaton's Blog? Who knows?

Anyway, I’ll try to make this quick (as if it matters.)

My Cascade 220 in Celtic Green arrived this week and I am making tracks on the Clock Vest. Found pattern mistake almost immediately: it specifies to begin the lower edge with a needle two sizes smaller but never tells you to begin using the larger needle. I was going to bring it in after the ribbing since that's SOP, and what do you know, that's what the Errata Sheet says to do.

Work on the Corset Pullover has slowed way down. Elbows and wrists hurting me, partly because of cotton and partly because IT IS STILL COLD HERE. Little did I know when I made my Fuzzy Feet in March I’d still be needing them in JUNE. But I do. I’m wearing them right now.

I don't know why The Fifth Element isn't more widely acknowledged as one of the Funnest Movies Ever. I mean, c'mon: Bruce Willis doing his patented Die Hard routine in a hyperactive, overbright sci-fi world where every scene is colored like a comic book and all the clothes are designed by Jean Paul Gaultier? And, it KILLS me. I love the opening scene, where the WWI-era archeologist turns and finds an eight-foot-tall, armor-plated alien staring down at him and, stunned, the archeologist stammers, “Are you German?” And the alien just shakes his head. And then, later, the space ship blows up, and the doctor announces there is one survivor. The General looks down at the gloved, disembodied hand and says, “You call that a survivor?”

Of course the end (“I don’t know love”) is a little dumb. And what makes Bruce Willis think he deserves the Perfect Woman anyway?

Same old thing on the knitting front. Working on Corset Pullover’s second sleeve and, now that I am past the heel on the Dresser Scarf Sock, it is good for internet knitting. Two swatches in progress: a pattern swatch for an original design idea and swatch with color-work for the Indian Floral Vest. The Vest swatch will later be washed so I can see the fulfillment of this beautiful dream I have where I dunk all that red and gold cotton in a soapy bath and the color stays true and there is no “migration” whatsoever. It really is a beautiful dream.