Frustrated

I am frustrated and upset because I cannot alter a sweater as I would like to.
I want to make a version of the ever popular Central Park Hoodie, but I want it at least three inches longer and FITTED. Also, I'd prefer a larger hood without a point. I'd probably also want to make it in one piece to simplify it. The only problem is: I don't know how to alter a pattern! >:(

Stitches West '09

I love knitters. I love how strangers can go up and talk to each other as if they've known each other for their whole lives. I love that camaraderie that comes with knitting. Here are two quotes that I picked up today. Remember, these people have never met each other.

One woman was wearing yarn around her neck. Another woman approached her, saying, "Oh my, you're wearing the yarn! It looks beautiful on you!" Then she went on her way.

Two women were looking at rainbow roving displayed in braids. One woman said, "Wow, it's so beautiful! But what do you do with it?" The other replied, "You hang it up and look at it!"

Also, I struck up conversation with many of the owners of the booths. Generally all were friendly, especially those at the wooden hooks & needles booth (the owner knew I was eying those rosewood crochet hooks). The owner warmly informed me that I was more than welcome to try any of the hooks. I grabbed one labeled "G" and started working on one of the 200 baby hats I need to make for charity. She saw me struggling a bit with the hook because it was too long for me, and promptly supplied me with a shorter one (7"). I started working at a rapid speed, and all of a sudden everyone at the booth went quiet and the owner just stared at me. She gaped in awe and said, "Looks like we have a competitor against Lucy Chen!" I don't exactly know who Lucy Chen is, but they were so sweet, I ended up buying that very hook just before we left. It's a beautiful Rosewood, but it cost a whopping $32. Regardless, it was worth it.

Oh yes, and I got a little tutorial on spinning. I never really had understood it before, but now it seems so simple. I've got to give it a try one of these days. Yikes I'm so busy though; I'll probably have to wait until summer.

OH. And a huge thing happened to me too. So me, my mom, and my aunt were gathered around this superhuge needle and hook booth, when I notice the guy trying out the huge needles. He is wearing a red Boston Symphony Orchestra shirt, so of course I asked him if he was a part of it. He looked at me, and responded that he was not a musician but his partner was; his partner played oboe. Apparently his partner was once an oboist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but is now playing for the San Francisco Symphony. He introduced me to the oboist, Jonathan Fischer. He asked me what I played, so of course I said that I played violin and bass clarinet. "Bass clarinet?" he asked. "Not regular clarinet?" "No" I replied, "I can sort of play it but I don't like it as much as I like bass." "Ah, early specialization. That's good."

So the long and the short of it is that I had an awesome knitting day and an awesome music day. It's pretty awesome being the knitting musician. :)

(Oh yes, and the videos I've been taking at http://www.youtube.com/anonymousenough have gotten me fame at school... sort of. I got interviewed and journalism is going to publish an issue in the school newspaper about students [that go to our school] who use youtube.)

Ravelry Patern?

MY PATTERN MAY BE UP ON RAVELRY!

Why am I so happy, you ask? Simply this: I worked for about two weeks straight last year trying to get it up (Snow White Scarf, a simple pattern involving a basic braid in the middle). I thought I had failed... until tonight. I checked my inbox on Ravelry and saw that I received a message asking for permission to use the photos. I assume that's a good sign. :) YAAAYYYYYYYYY.

I'm loving the horns in this song:



Yayyy :) I feel like jumping around. I think I will.

Musical rehearsal is going a lot better than anticipated. The music is actually a lot easier than was the audition. Though the director gave us the music from the musical to sightread during the audition, he said he will end up cutting it out because it doesn't sound clean enough (fast eighths in cut time [so they sound like sixteenths] in the upper stratosphere dwarfing the melody played by the saxophones and clarinets).

We had a sectional yesterday, and it went really well, except for my occasional forgetting A-flats and D-flats. I can actually play all this music.

My new project: baby hats for charity. I get community service for crocheting in class. Not too shabby. I usually get about 1 1/2 per day, or 2 if I have time and the pattern is quick. I wouldn't normally crochet in class, but it's just too boring to pay attention so I fall asleep if I'm not doing something with my hands. Now I'm out of acrylic yarn so I have to wait until my mom can stop by the craft store. Yeesh that sounds so strange to say that one stops by the craft store to get yarn.

And I went into a bow-obsessive phase that I'm still actually in the midst of.





The Final Word:
+ "Wait, we're in cut time, right?" "What? We've been in four four for the whole number! Brass..." Trombonist & Band Director

Do Forgive Me

for I have been negligent.

This is what I've been up to:

For friend's birthday.

Christmas presents for everyone.

Birthday present for my favorite band geek.

Irish Hiking Scarf for my mom's friend's birthday

Octopus for my friend's birthday (another band geek).

Yep, fun stuff.

Update

I doubt this post will be too long.

So I ended up getting third chair clarinet out of seven. I think it might be a delayed apology from the conductor, though, because last year when I was in string orchestra, he placed me in the very back though both he and I knew I didn't deserve that spot. The year before that, when we had a different conductor, I had been eighth chair (out of over 30 violins).

But now I'm playing bass clarinet, so I'm first chair! And last.

The blanket has grown tremendously. I'm still not halfway done, but I'm making good progress. I've been taking it to school and working on it during class (which, surprisingly, hasn't gotten me in trouble yet). I've been knitting during presentations, movies, after labs, at lunch, but not during lectures because I like taking extensive notes.

Physics homework calls. But to avoid a boring picture-less entry, here's this:

The portion of French that wore costumes.

I guess I might as well post my schedule, since I neglected to do so earlier.
1. Anatomy & Physiology
2. Physics
3. AP French IV
4. Wind Orchestra
- Lunch -
5. Honors English
6. Honors Pre-Calculus

Not Much Progress

I am terrible at clarinet. We started seating auditions today, and my audition was so terrible, I'm guaranteed last chair. And there is no up-side. I was supposed to get a school bass clarinet, but even that didn't happen. One bass we have is apparently so gross no one is allowed to even touch it, and half the body is missing on the other one. If I'm lucky, my parents will let me rent a bass clarinet.

[/rant]

News!

I finished the Transition Scarf (school spirit scarf from the last post), and hopefully it will receive at least 2nd place at the fair next year.

I'm not even halfway done with the afghan from Ravelympics. Looks like it will be an ongoing project throughout the year.

Trust me, the color looks way better in person.

Woven. :)

Gotta love the new liondesign.



Still working on Seeing Green.

The Final Word:
+ " 'Victime' is always feminine. What does that tell you." - Mme Smith, AP French teacher