NaNoWriMo Day 10
NaNoWriMo is progressing fairly well. I am ahead of schedule at the moment by a day. My goal is to be two days ahead by Friday, so I can take the weekend off and work on some crochet projects I’ve got lined up for Christmas.
For any of you who are following this year’s story click on the more tab to read the rest of the story. Any of you interested in reading the first part click here.
NaNoWriMo 2009!
I have been plugging away at my contribution for National Novel Writing Month since November 1, and just now I’m getting around to posting about it!
I doubt anyone is interested in actually reading this thing at this point, but I will add the text here nonetheless.
The working title is pretty lame, but it is only a place holder after all, Ghost Plantation. I haven’t come up with anything better yet, unfortunately. I’m sure something will come to me before too much longer. I am currently right on track even though I wanted to be two days ahead. Oh well, if I finish my word count for today, I will be at least one day ahead.
This year’s story is also based on a dream I had a while back. I don’t remember the dream too well only that there was a plantation and a mist and rich kids in danger. The story then that I came up with goes something like this:
Two siblings, Cameron and Alexia, rich New England types, travel to a South Carolina resort for two weeks vacation thanks their grandparents, except when they were nearly there they discovered their reservations had been moved. They are now staying at The Plantation Hotel. An old converted plantation. Their rich friends start arriving to spend the two weeks with them, Becca and Carrie, Alexia’s friends, Adrian and Frank, Cameron’s friends and Amanda, Cameron’s girlfriend. The sibs meet Susannah, the hotel owner’s daughter when they arrive. They’re trapped by a storm. There’s no concern until some of the guests start going missing in this dense unfathomable fog. Is there something out in the fog or is there a killer among the guests? I don’t know yet, maybe it’s both.
For those mildly interested click the more tab to read the first few chapters:
Flirty 30’s Tank Top
I finally finished the top from Interweave Crochet’s 2008 summer issue. 
It took a while only because I had a problem with a big tangled mess that I posted previously. I thought it came out quite beautifully. I had a little trouble weaving in the ends, so I’m not sure how long it will last. I will try to keep washings to a minimum, I think.
I love this pattern. It was so easy to follow. My only problem initially was that there were not pictures of the back to know where the buttons would go, but the pattern was easy enough to follow there. Unfortunately, the pattern does not explain how to finish off completely where the ribbon is concerned, so I did not actually finish it. The ribbon is left loose in the back. As long as I wear my hair down, you can’t really tell. I will post the picture of the top being worn tomorrow.
Isis aka Little Furry Terrorist
Isis with new mouse toy
My husband and I have adopted a kitty cat. She is gorgeous, with beautiful black fur, and a little tiger striping underneath, she is a sweetheart, a regal queen, and a brat. We’ve had her for a total of 5 days including today and already she has us both wrapped around her little delicate claws. By delicate of course I mean until last night, razor sharp! She endured her first vet visit better than my husband did. All she wanted was some alone time in her carrier for a few hours, my husband on the other hand was afraid she would never speak to us again. It turns out she was even more loving after that ordeal than ever. She climbed right into my lap and watched me play on the computer until she decided she wanted a hug. She crawled up my chest and rubbed herself under my chin a few times. I’m not much of a ticklish person, but her little fir just set me off giggling.
Her namesake is from two sources, Isis from the 52 comic book in which she featured as Black Adam’s wife and a superhero in her own right and the 1970’s TV show, The Secrets of Isis. I never saw the TV show, but my husband did as reruns. There is an apparently huge cult following for that character.
Isis from 52 was my main inspiration. I didn’t finish reading that book, so I did not see how she changed later. Her introduction, though, was pretty awesome as pictured here.
You can see the resemblance, yes?
Yarn Disaster
I bought some very lovely hand dyed yarn at a local yarn shop a few weeks ago. I was very excited, the colors are gorgeous, the yarn fine and soft. In short perfect for a cute summer crochet tank. But then! Let us take into account that I am still a relative newbie when it comes to yarn and crochet but especially to more expensive yarn. Now imagine this beautifully coiled skein and an excited amateur sitting down together. This ameteur does not own a yarn swift (pictured). Some of you more experienced can already see where this is going. For the rest of you, this is what happens when you think you know everything:
Della Q Lily Crochet Roll
I just received my prize from Getting Loopy’s contest from the Della Q interview. I am oh so happy with the Lily Crochet Roll case from Della Q. The case holds crochet hooks from size D to M. It holds a couple hooks in each size. I received a beautiful purple silk case. After the episode, I looked into the Della Q collection. Although her bags are pricy, they are beautifully handmade. I really wanted to win and was completely thrilled when I did. I’ve already packed my hooks away. It is such a relief to be able to find them when I need them. The case is labeled for easy retrieval and organization. I was storing my hooks in a paper gift bag and boy was it difficult to find the hook I needed. It was with great pleasure that I threw the thing away. I will be saving up for a Della Q bag for carting around my current work in progress. I have to tell you my husband is very supportive of my crochet hobby, but he was getting fed up with the piles of yarn, the pink gift bag that had seen better days, and the fact that when I’m working on a project I tend to take over the living room. I bought a plastic bin for the yarn being used for my current project, so that got rid of another bag. Now I need bins for all the other yarn that I have in boxes and bags behind the couch!
Big Bow Cardigan Finished!
I need to take a picture, but I am officially finished with my Big Bow Cardigan. What makes it official? I wore it to work today. I know it’s a high of 76 today in Seattle and no one should be wearing any kind of wool today, but I wanted to show it off.
I am still working on the Snow Drop Scarf. I kind of stopped because I wanted to make a pair of socks for my husband, but the pattern I chose to start from is just way too hard! I found one pattern that I will try. I believe I have enough yarn to make it work.
I am also working on a rectangle sparkly shawl for my mom. I’m hoping to have it done by her birthday in October or at least by Christmas from Crochet World magazine. I’m not liking the yarn much. There’s a silver thread interwoven that tends to pull and bunch around the cotton thread. Hopefully it will finish up nicely.
I’m sorry, but I really liked Transformers II
Despite the title of this entry, I am not sorry that I enjoyed Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen. The plot was fairly simple to follow even if it was filled with holes so wide Devastator could waltz right through them. The parents were hilariously annoying, Shia LaBeouf was perfect as Sam, and Megan Fox was hot. I actually liked John Turturro more in this movie than in the last one. He and whoever played Leo Spitz, Sam’s new roommate, had me laughing oh so hard.
My biggest complaint with the first Transformers movie was with the robot fight sequences. Because most of the ‘formers were the same color in robot mode, I could not tell who was fighting who and who was winning! The fight sequences were also shot with incredible closeups making it even more difficult to tell what was going on. This time around, Michael Bay and company decided to go more colorful. When Bumblebee was fighting the red Decepticon in the desert, I knew who was throwing the punches.
I love the nods to old school mythology with the Matrix of Leadership and Optimus Prime’s and Jetfire’s combination for the final fight between Prime and The Fallen. Something my husband brought up, Alicia, the hot robot babe/spy that tries to seduce Sam while away at college, is a Pretender. The Pretenders were toys that came out after the show stopped airing here in the States. I’m thinking that they were introduced in the Japanese episodes later on. Other happy moments included seeing the RC’s even though there was only one in the cartoon, Wheelie (am I spelling that right?), and of course Sound Wave.
I especially loved the introduction of a new mythology for the movies with the Primes and their history on Earth and the source of Energon. I want more of this in future installments.
Now we come to the stuff that bothered me. The twins are a stereotypical insult I had a real problem with. Their inclusion was both disgusting and racist. They were rarely funny and were this movie’s version of Jar Jar Binks.
In all honesty, though, I do not understand why this movie is getting panned. I saw no difference between this movie and the first except that I had an easier time distinguishing the good guys and the bad guys, and there was no more need for a set up. I say if you enjoyed the first one, you will probably enjoy this one just as much. Pay no attention to the negative reviews, most of what I’ve heard/read is nitpicking anyway, except for the twins. — 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
Big Bow Cardigan & Snow Drops Scarf
I finished the crochet portion of the Big Bow Cardigan the other night and am now waiting for it to dry before piecing it together and adding the buttons. I know this one has taken me forever! I got bored with all the single crochets once I got over the initial hurdles of where the stitches were supposed to go. I’m just glad the designer was open to questions on Ravelry!
Anyway, while looking for a project I could start with material already at hand, I flipped through the magazine one more time and came across the Snow Drops Scarf. It is quite pretty and I am enjoying working in filet for the first time. However, I am not happy with the yarn I am using. I forget right now what brand it is, so I will update later tonight when I have the tag in front of me. It bought it fairly cheap at Wal-Mart because I loved the color and how soft it feels. However, after working a few rows, I came across yarn that had begun to unravel or uncoil. Hard to explain but basically the yarn had puffed up to twice it’s normal diameter making it useless. I had to snip that off at both ends and kept going. I thought well this must be an anomaly, I’ll keep going. Well, I’m into my third pattern repitition now and I’ve had to snip several inches maybe now as much as a foot and a half of this fat yarn. I am quite annoyed!
On the other hand, the pattern is actually quite fun to follow, props go to Doris Chan the designer. Its not insultingly easy (at least not to me!) but neither did I feel I needed extra help to understand. My problems stemmed from not re-reading the instructions at the beginning regard the right side and wrong side and losing my place. My husband’s iPod Touch has a great program called Stitch Minder which really helps to keep you from losing your place. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a similar widget for the Mac or for my PC for that matter. This makes it difficult when I want to crochet and he wants to use the iPod at the same time. In any case, if you happen to own an iPhone or Touch, I would recommend downloading this free app. It has saved me several times with the Big Bow Cardigan and the Dr. Who scarf.
I will post pictures as soon as I’m done with both projects!
Dreams and memories
Artist: Ralph I Steeds
Have you ever had a memory surface, and for the briefest of moments you could swear it was a real memory, or snippet from some book or movie you’d just enjoyed? Once the moment is over, though, you realize the memory was actually from a dream. This happens to me all the time. Sometimes, my dreams are about people at work and everyday sort of things. When they are that ordinary it takes a little time to realize that the events I so clearly remember never actually happened, I had only dreamed it. The memories/dreams that bother me the most are those where I’ve had a fight with my husband but only in my dream. I wake up very angry with him, and there’s nothing I can do about it. After all, in the real world he had done nothing wrong.
Most of my dreams tend toward the fantastical, though. These are the dream memories I think are a part of a book or movie. I tend to come to the realization that it was only a dream with a slight sense of loss. The fact that it was only a usually means I will never be able to revisit that world or find out what happens. Of course, if I had the luxury of sitting down and writing out my dreams the moment I wake up, I could maybe learn more about the world my subconscious has created.
For a long time now, I’ve been hoping to have another one of those dreams that would be interesting enough to perform a writing experiment. I’ve tried to write up my dreams before in order to develop a story (for snippets you need only look through this blog’s previous posts) but I have a terrible time translating them to paper. This is usually because I’ve left too long before I put pen to paper, but mostly because I try to force the dream to follow a linear narrative. I want to try and write up my next dream the way I remember it with the twists and turns and changes in identity that is so common in dreams.
I’m curious if anyone else has had this or a similar experience. I’d love to hear from you to reassure myself I’m not alone in this!
