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

Sockey?

Class is over. Yay!

I made a sock. My very first. :) Made from worsted weight (scrap acryllic that was bugging me), it's too baggy to wear around the house (or at all). At least now I know what to do for the next pair.

The pdf of the pattern I used is found here.

I made several modifications, including the number of stitches I picked up. I picked up fewer than were recommended, but it worked out in the end.

Progress

Guess what finished blocking today. :)


Pattern: Woven Transverse Herringbone from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, 604 - Golden Ochre
Yardage: 100 grams, 216 yards per skein
Yarn Source: ImagiKnit, San Francisco
Needles: 14" size 8's
Gauge: 16 sts x 28 rows = 4" x 4"
Modifications: selvage: sl 1, work in pattern until last st, k1.

I'm amazingly happy with this scarf. :)

Stripey

Such beautiful shorts, right? :) They're my house shorts.

Inside-out in my very girly room.

Pattern: 13. Tassled Earflap Hat from KnitSimple Magazine (I don't know the issue number; sorry!)
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, half skein each in Sky Blue and Charcoal
Yardage: 170 gram skeins (106 yards)
Yarn Source: Leftovers from other hats (birthday presents); stash
Needles: 10mm, 24" Addi Turbo Circulars
Gauge: 2 sts/inch over stockinette
Modifications: switch to cc on Row 3, alternating mc and cc throughout; border in cc; ties are basically thick cords

It's my newest project, Stripey! :) I love it! ("Too bad I have all these extras. One of these would only make half a hat. Wait a second...!") The tassel's a bit short, but overall, I'm overjoyed. I realized that I had never done multicolor knitting before this. I was so thrilled watching it come along, that I took many pictures, all of which are posted on Ravelry.

I'm willing to bet that Mary Weaver will be the next Eunny Jang, and hopefully I'll be her right-hand, er, lady. I definitely want to be the next Kim Werker. Now that would be awesome.

The Final Word:
+ "Really? I thought it would be yellow. She reminds me of butterflies." Friend's Grandpa

Wanted: 200 Hours of Community Service

Junior in high school, and 0 hours of community service. Pathetic. Ah, but I have things to show you:

I made this for Mom some time in elementary school. :) I had skills in needlecraft even then.

Status: Finished!

Mom and I were talking at dinner last night, contemplating how I could get the 200 hours of community service recommended for college-bound students. All I could talk about were my projects (Progress, Shades of Green [now finished!], Snow Blocks Afghan, and other planned projects for the future), which got her thinking: why can't I knit or crochet for community service? We talked it over briefly, and I figured that if it took me two hours to make one hat, I could probably make 100 hats in a year and a half. That would get me my 200 hours! Now I just have to make a deal with a hospital that can give me two hours for every hat I send in (and maybe three for every scarf...).

I really like the Stitches from the Heart program, so if I can guarantee that they will give me community service hours, I'll be knitting/crocheting up a storm in the next year and a half.


Updated at 1:18pm to include:

New wanna-do: Square Lattice Afghan from freepatterns.com with this yarn (Jiffy by Lion Brand).

Neglect & Progress

I've been neglecting this poor blog. Unintentionally, of course. There's been so much going on: hanging out with my aunt from the 3rd - 5th (the fair, the chili contest at the park in Mountain View, etc.), hanging out with Mom's friends she hasn't seen for ten years, and going crazy with new books. We went to Borders on Saturday, where I bought The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. I just finished it today at around 2. I have to say that it was very difficult to put it down, especially to study, and honestly, obsessively reading the book caused my B- on a quiz this morning (thankfully, though, it's my lowest score [others were A+'s :) ] so this one will be dropped and consequently won't affect my grade). At Borders, I also bought The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and Anthem by Ayn Rand. Then, on Sunday, my mom reconnected with some of her old friends from work at the Cheesecake Factory in Palo Alto (10 years had passed since they had last seen each other). Then we went shopping (still in the group) at the Stanford Center, meeting up at Neiman Marcus at first, then realized that we couldn't afford anything there. We moved on to Bloomingdale's, then Macy's, but didn't end up buying anything. Then Mom realized she had to go to Santana Row in Santa Clara to return some things. After the return, we wandered into the Borders there, where I (happily) purchased the first installment in the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind. I had read the first part of it after being loaned the book from a friend of mine, but soon gave it back feeling guilty of separating him from his beloved book.

Class is boring as ever, but almost over. Just seven days of it left, then it's over and done with. Then, after one week to chill, I get shipped off to band camp! More specifically, La Honda, located in the forresty mountains off of Highway 1. Then two weeks right after that, when I should be going to school band camp, but since my parents forbid me from taking part in Marching Band next year, I don't have to go to school band camp. But I'm going anyway on the first and last days just to watch (and hopefully some more in between) with a friend who was in Marching Band both last year and the year before, but couldn't due to his obsessing over AP classes (he's taking a crazy SIX!).

Ah yes. I'm going to make knee socks! I've finally decided that this is what I really want to make. Also, I want to make sure my first socks are special, so that's why I'm taking the trouble to make them go all the way up to just below my knees (+ extra ribbing). Inspired by these, I'll be following this pattern using this yarn (Lion Brand's [New!] Sock-Ease in Lemon Drop). I'm so excited. Now I just have to get the yarn. And the needles. And the measurements. :) I can't wait until I actually start!


Updated at 8:08pm to include:

I want to call this "Progress" because I finally am making progress on this scarf (simply adore the yarn, which is from my trip to San Francisco over Spring Break '08).



I absolutely adore this stitch (Woven Transverse Herringbone from Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns), though I don't knit evenly enough for the scarf not to be a little ripply. Looks like this will be my first project I actually take the time to block.

The Final Word:
+ "Wow. It's huge. Is it a blanket?" -Fellow CalTrain rider

Trente-Trois

It's my 33rd post!

Okay, so I lied. I wasn't able to take pictures like I wanted to. So this will be yet another boring, picture-less post. Actually, maybe not. I have the scarf I'm making for my friend's birthday right here.

I just took the picture, but there's some kind of "internal error" involved with uploading it right here. I'll try one more time.

It's definitely not working. I just took another picture too. How frustrating.

Now I just uploaded them to flickr. I'll try using the url.


Hooray! Amen for flickr. I think the scarf looks pretty darn cool, if you ask me. :) I'm proud of it. I think my friend will like it.

Cheesecake Factory > any other restaurant. Amazing salmon + creamy mashed potatoes + decadent rich fudge cake = my kind of meal. Lemon sauce with the salmon and mashed potatoes too. Yum.

I have this incessant craving to go to San Francisco. I could go so easily; just hop on BART, sit there for half an hour, get out, and there I am. Round trip is less than $13 I think. But I have an exam for US History tomorrow (the course I'm taking at a community college) and I have to study. Tomorrow, our History groupie wants to see WALL-E after class. Thursday, I'm going to the fair with my mom, dad, and aunt (she's taking BART here). Then my parents will drive me to my aunt's house in Mountain View where we'll spend the weekend at her friend's house who's on vacation (they needed someone to watch over the animals). We're supposed to go to her local yarn store and stuff too, so that should be fun. I'll be sure to bring my Seeing Green Scarf (pictured above) and the blanket I'm making, along with my trusty camera. I'll be sure to document the weekend to prevent my posts from being overly boring and text-heavy.

One of my best friends is in Omaha, Nebraska right now, hoping for a spot on the national swim team. She's competing.. actually right now. Right this second, actually! Omaha's on Central Daylight Time, and swimming finals (semifinals, for her) begin at 6:45 pm. It's now 6:46 pm over there, and her event is the first. She swims 100 Back and 200 Back, and I hope the best for her. Her birthday was on the 15th, and I gave her this charcoal-black earflap hat with a tassel on it. I called her a few days later for the events she was going to be participating in for the Olympic Trials, and she said that she loved the hat so much. Not only that, but she was also going to take the hat to Omaha with her! I get to watch her performance (that's going on now) tonight at 8 (that's when it will be televised). I'm so excited; just over three hours until I get to see one of my best friends on TV doing what she loves!


So that's the view out my window, wonderfully blocked by the annoying shutters. But there you have it. The sky is a bit yucky because of all the Californian wildfires right now, so there's tons of smoke around. On the news last night, they were saying that there is a mass of unhealthy smoke floating above California. I've been coughing and sneezing, and I really hope it's just from the smoke and that I don't have another cold.

And I have news: I CAN DRIVE. Officially & legally. I got my permit on June 24th, 2008, and I had my first driving lesson on that very same day. Now, I can drive my mom to and from the store. I also drive to pick up the two girls we carpool with for class, but I don't drive them all the way to school.

Lots of studying for the big exam tomorrow that must be complete before 8 pm.

The Final Word:
+ "She's my little deuce coupe; you don't know what I got." - "Little Deuce Coupe", Beach Boys

Results

It's been ages. Eons even. I've been so preoccupied with school and finals and other commitments that I haven't even had time to blog. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten! I suppose this post will be all about results. So here goes:

Didn't make jazz; didn't make Chamber Choir. Pathetic. But I made Women's, so I guess I'm stuck there. However, one of my friends consoled me as I was looking at the list, saying, "It's all politics. Trust me. There are tons of girls in Chamber next year who don't deserve the spot. They're just placed there because their mom is best friends with the teacher or have some other political affiliation. Don't worry. I've heard you sing. You're actually pretty good." So yes, I was disappointed, but at least I didn't have to worry about other girls who made it directly into Chamber without stopping at Women's first. Ah well. Stuck in a class with all girls. Oh, the horrors. I've heard it's hellishly cliquey. Something that I hate. I guess I'll have to survive. I'll learn to deal.

So I entered my stuff into the county fair. I did fairly well, and there was actually quite a bit of competition. The item that did the best at the fair was my Fabala afghan. I'll post a picture of it soon. I'm so proud of it; I was looking for it feverishly with my friends, and suddenly they just said, "Well, maybe it's over there, in the Winners' Circle". I looked, and there it was! It was displayed beautifully, and not only did it win First Place, it also received.. get ready for it.. Best of Class and Best of Show! :) Hooray! Other items did pretty well. I entered a scarf with colors of our rival high school (purposely) and my friend who attends that high school took a picture and displayed it on the internet. Here it is. :) I love how they displayed it. People have been saying they've "(seen my) scarf at the fair", but I never know which one because I entered four.

My dad's still really unwilling to let me participate in Marching Band in the coming year. He feels I'll fall behind in my studies and that I'll soon be flunking. I doubt it's going to happen, but he feels it's entirely possible. He made a deal with me: If I can get a score of 2200 on the SAT Reasoning, I can do Marching Band. The only problem is that I'm at 2000 right now, and I have about three days to get it up 200 points because if I let the counseling office know any later than that, I won't be enrolled in Marching Band and that would just be terrible. So I'm studying. Very hard.

I started a scarf with this stitch, and I also started an afghan in some old Caron Simply Soft (White) in this stitch. I'm almost halfway done with the afghan but I have a lot more to do on the scarf. I just bought the scarf yarn today. It's green in place of the cranberry on the stitch website, with the white squares. The scarf will be for a good friend of mine who is in colorguard. She's really sweet and I've been meaning to crochet her up another scarf. I gave her one several years ago, and in that time, I've seen her wear it twice. I suppose that's better than the never other people have worn the items I've made them. But hopefully this one will be more attractive for her and she will want to wear it more often.

I'm earning serious moolah from taking care of my neighbors' animals. I guess I shouldn't talk about my salary, but I frankly could care less. I got $40 + shower kit + chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for taking care of my neighbor's cat and taking in the newspaper and mail every day for about a week and a half. I worked for my dad the other night by entering contacts from a cell phone onto a spreadsheet because it's a company phone and he wants to return it. Extra $20, but I think I really deserved it. It took over two hours to enter them all because he has over 200 contacts. Ouch. So I have $60 floating around, and my parents owe me more for my grades (not all As, but really close, so I get some money), plus I went to the fair and Discovery Kingdom with my friend, and my expenses need to be reimbursed.

Ah yes, the fair. Basically all that happened was this: I hung out with my friend + her sister, spent serious money (ride wristbands alone were $25), went on rides, one ride in particular held us upside down for an agonizingly long time (I had a headache afterwards), and then went into some gallery place and relaxed in the air-conditioned building. It was over 100 degrees that day.

Then we decided it would be awesome if I could sleep over at her house. My mom agreed, and I did, which was amazingly fun. We played Rock Band for several hours, then we had to go to my friend's sister's dance recital. It was a dress-rehearsal at Ohlone Community College, and was amazing. It's traditional Chinese dancing, but it was actually really interesting to watch. It wasn't all that Oriental as I thought it was going to be; it had a lot of Western influence as well. Then the next day, we went to Discovery Kingdom (formerly known as Marine World); owned by Six Flags. Super fun. That night, we went to my friend's sister's dance recital (the actual thing), and it was more spectacular than the dress-rehearsal. I even saw one girl in Marching Band there (flautist). I didn't say hi, though, because she was too far away.

I'm taking History, now, at a community college (not Ohlone). Some people are even going as far as Laney Community College so they won't have to take History during the school year. For me, I'm clearing up my schedule so I can do Marching Band, but many other people are doing it so they can take more AP classes. I think they're just crazy.

In a nutshell, my summer (so far) has encompassed:
+ Karen's Birthday
+ Paul's Party
+ Cynthia's Birthday + Party @ Tara's
+ Fair
+ Discovery Kingdom
+ School

My summer is about to encompass:
+ Cheering on best friend for Swimming Olympic Trials :)
+ Watching Olympic Trials (Tomorrow - Friday)
+ Hanging out at my knitting aunt's house for the weekend (+ her local knitting store!)
+ Band camp
+ Watching the Olympics held in Beijing, mainly swimming + track
+ School band camp (possibly; only if I make Marching Band)
+ And hopefully movies


I want to see WALL-E so badly; it seems so cute! A few friends from class are going to see it too, so I'll just see it with them.

We're going to Cheesecake Factory tomorrow. Maybe I'll get a few pictures to spruce up this blog and keep it from getting excruciatingly boring.

The Final Word:
+ "Stop trying to make her white, Chris." "But I've already half-succeeded!" (reference to my being half white [Mom's white, Dad's not]; Chris was messing around with the white-out)

L'Amour

My band geek finally called! It was so good to hear from him. Band's coming home tonight anyway.

I picked a rose from our garden the other day.


Elle est tres belle, n'est-ce pas?

We're reading The Little Prince in French, so my rose reminds me of "la rose du petit prince". Supposedly the rose symbolizes the author's wife, Consuela, and their hardships. I can see how it fits together.

Earlier in the week, I made fudge for my friend's birthday. Finally, here are the pictures:

I made chocolate-covered strawberries with the leftover melted chocolate. I haven't had them for so long, that when I took the first bite, I was addicted. I melted chocolate the next day and made some more. I finished the last of them today. I'll probably be making some more tomorrow after school and I'll probably eat them around 5 PM. They're straight from the refrigerator when I eat them, so they're nice snacks after a hot day.

We started swimming in P.E. today. So many of my friends were sick or they got hurt (one of my friends messed up her knee or something and she could barely walk) that they couldn't jump in with me today. Most of them were overjoyed to get out of swimming, but one of my friends with allergies was really upset. Apparently she really loves swimming. I admire her so much.

In-class essay in English. We're supposed to be preparing for the SAT, so it was completed in 25 minutes. The prompt was difficult: What motivates people to change? I blanked, but after about three minutes, I started my introduction and realized that I could use the book I just finished reading: Ayn Rand's We the Living. It is a very loose example if you've read the book, but I used Kira Argounov's determination to go to the Institute of Technology, though it is unladylike in the Soviet Union of the 1930s. I basically said that she desired to be greater and build an aluminum bridge, despite the protests of her family. Then I connected that to how her motivation came from the inside and Kira's own desires, certainly not from outside sources. Tada! I'd say I got a 5. Certainly not a 6, but I doubt a 4.

I haven't been knitting for a while. It feels so strange. It's almost been a week now. I believe I'll start a yellow scarf from the Malabrigo I got at ImagiKnit during spring break. Plus, I want this really badly. So many cute sweater patterns!

Vest-Hunting

I've wanted a cute vest for a really long time now. I've always dreamed of a cute little thing that fits snugly but not too tightly, and carries an air of femininity I could wear over a blouse. I haven't been wearing blouses lately because they're somewhat boring. Now, I wear polos all the time instead. In fact, my enitre wardrobe is composed mainly of polos from various stores, including American Eagle. But now I'd like to pull those four blouses out of their corner and actually start to wear them. While looking through KPC, I found only one vest that meets the criteria I desired. This is it. I love that it's not huge and saggy, but I don't like that it's so see-through. I also don't want ribbing the whole way up. However, I adore the neckline and the armholes. So I think I'm going to take my chances at designing my own vest! I plan on making the bottom half entirely of ribbing (either 2x2 3x3, or maybe even 4x4 - I'm leaning towards larger ribs) and the top half entirely of stockinette. The length seems fine, so only simple adaptations will be needed.

I didn't finish the Mother's Day Purse on time. Oh well. Mom understood. Dad got her flowers anyway.

I get to find out about Chamber auditions on Tuesday! Only two days left. Though I think I'll check on Monday too, just in case the teacher's back. She hasn't been here the entire week because she caught pneumonia and was apparently in the hospital. Poor thing.

We're going out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory for Mother's Day. It will be extremely crowded, but that's okay. That's what knitting's for.

Peace Treaty Scarf Update

I saw band this morning! I asked my P.E. teacher if he would let me go early (half an hour early; I have P.E. during A period and marching band is also during A period), and he finally relented. He's a cool guy.

I've decided to change the Peace Treaty Scarf. I have this nifty olive green yarn (Red Heart's Super Soft or something like that; it was for birthday gifts) I got for $2.49. Though it may not last very long, it's really soft and it looks more manly than the ivory I was using before. Our orchestra conductor might like that better. Ah yes - it will also be knit instead of crochet. I'm using the "Men's Cashmere Scarf" pattern from this book. I really like the pattern.

We had to do an in-class essay on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and finishd it today. I ended up getting so involved in the essay that I wrote over five pages (double-spaced). We wrote about a theme in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and I chose something about stereotypes. I think I did well; probably an A. It's Regular English (as opposed to Honors) and I was in Honors last year, plus the fact that I've never gotten lower than an A- on any essay this year, so I think I'm a pretty fair judge.

We had a math test today on probability. Hopefully an A. I don't think it will be lower than a B. I studied pretty hard and knew pretty much everything that was on the test.

I've been making an off-white little clutch for my mom for this Sunday. I don't think it will be ready in time. Maybe next week or the week afterwards. The body is finished, but I have to felt it and sew it together. Belated Mother's Day gift, it looks like.

Friend's youth group is tonight. Fun fun fun.

Alameda County Fair

The fair is coming up! This will be my first time entering any of my projects into any kind of competition. I looked at the items at the fair last year, which sparked my interest and fueled my crochet passion throughout the rest of the summer.

These are the projects I have chosen to enter, plus a green afghan I've labeled "Fabala".

From left to right: Snow White, Fancy Fans Stole (blue, in the bag), Forrest Wrist Warmers, AVocation Scarf, Flammable, and Percy Plaid.

I really wanted to enter the Foothill Scarf, but realized that I had worn it too much (visibly worn projects will be disqualified). I've never worn the AV scarf, so I figured that it would be the better bet. Plus, more people attended Amador, so it might look favorably upon the judges. I would have entered both, but I have already entered the crochet Percy Plaid scarf, and there is a limit of only two entries per class.

I probably should have mentioned this earlier: I'm entering everything under the Adult section. I could have gone under Youth, as I am not yet eighteen, but I have been crocheting as long as I can remember (and frankly, I think I'm pretty good), so it's not really fair that I join Youth. Plus, there is only one division for Needlework and one class for all knit and crochet items for Youth, whereas in Adult, there is a different division for all the types of crocheted garments and items, and separate ones for knitted garments and items. There are six to eight classes within those divisions, so it's way broader. And not to mention the prize incentives. For Youth, one pays $1 per item submitted. First place is $1.50. Yes, one dollar and fifty cents. So if I won first place for everything I entered, I would gain $3.50 (I would really get $10.50, but $7 pays for the cost of submission). For Adult, on the other hand, one pays $1.50 per item submitted. First place is (usually around) $10. Second is $7 and third is $5. Not too shabby. Granted, I will be competing against people at least double my age, maybe even triple. But as I scoped out the competition last year, I didn't think there was much to worry about.

Updated to include:

So I was looking through Michaela's former posts at Dollar Knits, and found this thing that tests the reading level of your blog. Check this out:

Isn't that awesome? I feel so smart because Junior High was around two years ago or so.

I want to make Saartje's Bootees so badly! They're absolutely adorable, and they would be perfect for the fair. Not to mention that some of our friends at church have a recent addition to their family (a baby girl!), and I would love to make Jannell some booties.

I'm in the middle of uploading the Snow White pattern to Ravelry. I'll publish a link to it later.

Busy Busy Busy

It was cold today. It was supposed to be 85 degrees, but it only got to 79. 79! I can't wait until it really starts heating up. And I don't mean 80-degree-weather. I mean the super hot 105.

I really want to make this bag, but I don't have any yarn in that color and my parents won't buy me more until I've used up the stuff from ImagiKnit. The bag is so adorable, that whenever I have to bring my lunch to schools in emergencies (such as having to talk to a teacher during lunch and not being able to get lunch in time to eat, or maybe having to PERFORM, LIKE TOMORROW, during lunch and not getting a chance to buy lunch), I just dream of having a cute little bag like that I get to carry around to my classes. My friends know I have a strange (to them) obsession with band and knitting, so whenever I have some kind of scarf, hat, or other cool accessory, at least one of them always says, "Let me guess. You made that, right?" They're pretty much the greatest.

Speaking of the performance, we were notified today in class that small ensembles have to perform tomorrow. We're sort of a "warm-up" to choir. An opening group, I suppose, although not exactly. Three groups are all that are going to perform. We just play as people attening the choir thing walk through the hallway. We are stationed in the hallway. And that's about it. It's weird; the choir concert is in the middle of the day (during school). Oh well.

Tomorrow, I get to see my orchestra buddy from camp! She goes to another high school we're competing against in the track meet. I have yet to race her, and as we run the same events, that's pretty pathetic. She was in Mexico last year, and this year, I'm not in track.

Today, my band geeks (yes, my; I do own them) called me an idiosyncrasy. Well, mainly one in particular. I got mad at him because not only was he using a big word, it was a vocabulary word from last week that I will probably be tested on on Friday. I looked at him, dropped my stuff right there, and rummaged through my backpack, searching for my vocabulary packet. I found out that it means a characteristic habit or mannerism, but it my case, apparently it's more "peculiar" than "characteristic". (He thinks I have issues because I love band so much. Silly boy.)

If I ever start seriously selling what I knit, I think I'll start donating 5% or so to the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra. They're amazing, and I think it's really cool that they try to support kids that live in slums by putting a trumpet or a cello in their hands instead of a gun or a knife, as would normally occur.

Lots of homework tonight. Better get to it.

A Day and a Half

I made another hat last night! This time, I used Araucania's LIMARI color 553. I think I'll call it Flammable. When we went to Sonoma last weekend (we went to Bella Yarns of Sonoma, where I got the Cashsoft to make Triple S), I saw two fires. One looked like it was a controlled fire about a mile off the highway (the flame was just barely visible) and then a truck pulling a camper had caught on fire. We drove past before it had been extinguished. I even got a picture of the smoking truck. But I won't publish that. Instead, I'll publish my hat!



So this year so far, I've made a My So-Called Scarf, Triple S, Little Mermaid, and Flammable, all of which were completed during Spring Break. That's.. hardly anything! I guess it's because I've been busy with school and all.

I checked our band's website, and the Jazz Festival is NEXT SATURDAY. APRIL 5TH. AHH!!! That's the same day as our Winterguard/Percussion show, so I'll have to skip it this year. I'm so nervous for Monday's auditions! Hunting Wabbits 2 isn't necessarily a hard song, but the shifting's kind of weird, and there are four flats in the key signature. It's fine with practice; I'm just glad I don't have to sightread that. OH. Speaking of sightreading, after the first Jazz Band performance at the Festival, the itinerary says, "Jazz Band sightreads". I flipped. I don't mind sightreading during an auditition. That's no problem because it just affects my placement into an orchestra. Sightreading during a concert with 12 TOP JAZZ BANDS OF THE NATION is a bit different. Serious pressure!

Yesterday, Mom went to Carmel so I got the house to myself! Yay! I watched movies because they were on and I was bored knitting in silence. Well.. okay let me reorder things. First, I called Round Table for a pizza because we didn't have any food. It came an hour later (they had warned me in advance, but I wasn't too hungry when I ordered it) when I was knitting a scarf with Oro y Vino and watching Mighty Ducks. So I ate my pizza and drank my Dr. Pepper (I'm supposed to be on a soda diet for track, but I'm not in track this year) while finishing up Mighty Ducks. It was a really cute movie. Next, United 93 was on, so I watched that for a while. I got really emotional at the very end, but it was really well-done. Then I sat knitting for about an hour, musing over the film. And finally, I saw that Meet the Parents was on ABC Family at 6, so I watched about half of that before my dad came home and demanded my assistance. I recorded it (DVR) so I can watch it tomorrow. I think a working title was Meet the Fockers, if I'm correct. I thought about it while watching, but realized that it wouldn't make sense because there's just one guy, Craig or Greg Focker who meets his girlfriend's family, whose name isn't Focker. Hopefully it'll end well.

But for now, lunch is ready.

Someone's Up Early This Morning

Good morning! I feel like I'm back at band camp (the one in the woods with cabins, not the one for school), having to wake up around 6:30 and get to breakfast before 7:30. Today will be a busy day I'm sure. As far as I know, I will be knitting as long and quickly as I can to finish up the Triple S ('Scrunchable Scarf' Scarf) in Cashsoft. In the afternoon, I'll probably head over to our local yarn store to try to exchange some yarn I bought there a while ago. It was in January, so I doubt they'll let me exchange it, but I might as well try.

I wanted to go to Berkeley's Ifshin Violins to get my bow re-haired, but I don't think that's going to happen today. I know the owners (they come to band camp - the one in the woods) so I know the store has to be good. Maybe in a few weeks or so. I'm freaking out about an audition to be part of a string quartet for our school jazz band. They have one selection that requires two violins, a viola, and a cello. I'm auditioning for second violin and almost all the other violins are auditioning for first, so I have a pretty good chance, but it's still nerve-racking. And if I do make it, will I be good enough? What if I mess up? Our jazz band is competing for the best high school jazz band in the nation with twelve other high schools from across America. Pressure? I've always wanted to do something like this, but.. I don't know. I thought maybe re-hairing my bow would help my sound quality because it was dropped in a puddle of water in the band room two years ago. I didn't even drop it. It was someone else who was borrowing my violin and bow and was trying to "wash" his hands with a bottle of water. Some water fell on the floor, and AHHH! Then he dropped my bow. I (obviously) freaked out. So anyway, to repair water damage from two years ago, I thought re-hairing my bow would work. Oh well. Hopefully I'll just make the cut and can re-hair my bow before the performance.



Updated at 8:23 AM to include:

I finished Triple S! I've decided to leave it a bit short, and it comes just below my belly-button when wrapped around my neck. I won't crochet a border after all because it looks cute as is. It almost looks like a crochet picot border. I can always a border later. I have a skein and a half left of Cashsoft, so I'm planning on making a hat; making it up as I go. I'll post the pattern whenever I come up with it.


So here is my lovely Triple S.

Isn't it wonderful? I can't wait to wear it on Saturday night!

Updated at 9:18 AM to include:

I know I'm obsessed. But I finally got pictures of my yarn! After finally finishing Triple S, I started winding my new yarn into balls. So here you go.

Color 115. I'll be making a Prismatic Scarf with this.

Color 602. Golden Ochre colorway. I'll be making another My So-Called Scarf.

And color 114. Oro y vino colorway. I'm supposing this means 'gold and wine' becuase 'or' in French means gold, and 'vin' in French means wine. Hooray for French in the real world!

Updated at 9:29 PM to include:

At 7:00, my mom dropped me off at our local knitting store for tonight's Sit & Knit. True, the ladies weren't my age (the youngest one was 28), but I had tons of fun otherwise. One of them, Joe, obsessed over her "Gizmo" that was supposed to airate wine (yes, wine was present tonight) to make it taste better. It made funny noises. This evening, I bought a skein of Araucania's Multicolor Limari (AHH $16!) to make my friend a hat she's been wanting for so long (I charged her $20 figuring that the yarn was only $11.50 or so. I won't change the price for her because that's just mean and I already told her the set price, but if anyone else asks, I'll probably charge them at least $25. She got a super discount!) I worked at the hat for about two hours and I'm ALMOST DONE. It works up quickly and is incredibly soft. I just have to crochet the border, finish weaving in the ends, and add a tassle, and it will be complete! I was finishing it up at the shop tonight, and one of the ladies there said, "Ooh such thick dpns. I'd have to get my AspiraCream to do that!" I was using size 15s.

Okay now it's 10:55, and I'm done with the hat! It's all packaged up, but before I wrapped it up, I took a picture.

Due to the lack of natural lighting now, it's all.. yellowish and greenish. In actuality, the tissue paper is a bright teal and the hat is mainly light blue with darker blue and purple highlights. I believe I'll call this Little Mermaid because of the undersea influences. Though I hate the ocean. Oh well.