Yarn!

I finally finished the afghan I was making for my sister in the nick of time (aka, some time Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend in NY). Alas, I miscalculated the length of the border, and so the afghan has a tail. And I was too lazy to weave in all the ends. Oh well... more things to do next time I visit! But everyone was suitably impressed with my first foray into crochet, which made me very happy.

I also just about finished another project I've been making (details vague as it is a gift). And! I have mastered Kitchener stitch! I grafted! I sewed! I connected two pieces of knitting seamlessly and beautifully!

*does the dance of knitting prowess*

I rock ^_^.

Well, I had to try about three times, and let me tell you, undoing things that you've already grafted together with Kitchener stitch really, really sucks. I also messed up a little and had one extra stitch at the end (probably a result of messy undoing earlier), but I sort of futzed around it. Plus, it was just really cool watching live stitches sort of transform themselves into actual knitting.

I shall now venture into the exciting world of blocking on the weekend.

Weird. I'm pretty much done with two of my three projects! I've already started two more scarves, one with the fuzzy eyelash yarn chi_zu gave me a while back (drop stitch pattern for a very skinny scarf, to make sure the one ball goes the whole way), one with a merino blend I got on sale (reversible cables! This marks my first attempt at cables).

I think I'll also undo the lavender alpaca scarf I've been making for my sister; the pattern is annoying me. It's not that pretty, it's a pain to do (k 2nd stitch on needle, leave on needle, k 1st st, drop both), I don't like how it's not reversible (the back looks really boring and ugly), and the needles I'm using are probably too small, because it's not draping like I'd want a scarf to drape. Sorry sister-person, will take even longer! But it will still be purple! And prettier! There's a nice sort of open criss-cross weave pattern in Scarf Style that I want to try.

I almost missed my exit off the highway today because I was so excited about using up my stashed yarn.

So... does anyone have opinions about cotton scarves? I know usually they're wool, but I've got random balls of cotton and cotton/cashmere blend sitting around, and it's not enough to make anything but a scarf. Well, I could do an afghan, but I don't want to. Plus, scarves are nice ways to experiment with different patterns that would be too scary normally.

Other yarn plans:

Green cotton braid from Rowan - maybe a long, skinny, droopy ruffle scarf?
Green cotton/cashmere (Debbie Bliss) - leaf scarf from Scarf Style
Grey cotton/cashmere (Debbie Bliss) - cable?
Blue cotton/cashmere (Debbie Bliss) - no clue
Grey cotton (Debbie Bliss) - something complicated. Maybe lace or cable, since it's such a plain yarn. Hrm, actually, cables might show up nicely.
Pink shiny yarn - Branching Out, take 2 (this time, sans fuzzy yarn of doom)

Watase Yuu - Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden, vol. 01-02 (Eng. trans.)

I picked this up because both coffeeandink and rachelmanija mentioned that they liked it, despite me never having read Fushigi Yuugi. Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden is apparently a prequel of the events in the original FY, but so far, it seems to be ok that I haven't read the original yet.

Okuda Takiko is a young girl living in Taisho Japan (1920s). Her mother is sick, her father is lost in his world of scholarship and woefully neglects his family. Takiko seems pretty cool -- she learns naginata (some weapon that's a long stick with a blade on top) at school and doesn't seem too irritating. Anyhow, Taki basically feels abandoned by everyone she loves in the real world and ends up being sucked into a mysterious book that her father has translated from Chinese.

I have no idea how close this is to the original FY.

Regardless... Taki is apparently the mystical priestess of Genbu and needs to find the seven celestial warriors to save the world. I personally don't care too much about the prophecy plot/plot coupon type thing, but the warriors she has been finding so far are really cute.

Also, one of the warriors turns into a girl when he uses his powers! Ahh shoujo manga, how I love you and your on crack gender-bending devices!

So far all the warriors seem to be men -- are there ever cool girl warriors? Or does that completely defeat the point of having seven guys in love with Taki? I want a cool girl warrior, damnit, and warrior-who-turns-into-girl doesn't count.

I am also deriving great joy from the setting in Japan! It's not quite Meiji Japan, but it's close enough! I really like the little historical notes that Watase puts in the side, down to Taki's hakama and boots being historically accurate, along with her naginata classes. (I adore hakama. That was the best part about taking kendo.)

Only... obviously the majority of the story isn't going to be taking place in Taisho Japan, since it's in the Universe of the Four Gods. Oh well. It is one of my favorite historical periods though, just because it's so interesting seeing the blend of what's thought of as "traditional Japanese culture" and "Western culture."

( Random language notes )

NYC and book loot from the Strand and B&N

Argh, have just found out that LJ is still not emailing me all my comments! Grrrr.

But... Yay! I have made my very first gingerbread house ever, with much help from cychi, who I made do the icing. It is ugly and lopsided and completely, disgustingly packed with candy, but now I feel all holiday traditional! Well, as much as you can get with a prefabricated gingerbread house kit from Costco. But I care not! Plus, have never made one before ^_^. (Also, the front has a frightening resemblance to a spider's face. I am not quite sure how this happened.)

Am still somewhat missing New York and visiting people and crashing at my sister's apartment, and all that happy holiday stuff. It was also just nice being in the city itself again; four years of college in New Jersey, and I'd grown to think of New York as The City. I didn't get to go there as often as I liked, just enough to pretend that I actually knew where I was going and the like. Also, I just like cities. I like figuring out the subway and the bus systems, and I like digging around in all the nooks and crannies.

New York was grey and dirty and much taller than San Francisco, which is cloudy but pastel and ornate. There's more honking and more biting wind. And I don't care, because I love it, from the clanking subway cars that come to screeching halts to the crowded streets. I seriously contemplated moving there for a few hours (mostly while I was at Chikalicious and the Strand and coffeeandink and my sister's apartments), but promptly reconsidered the second I stepped outside. I don't deal well with the cold.

I felt all happy because after a day being completely confused by what was where, I went around and felt all New-Yorker-y because I was walking around really fast and dodging people and avoiding eye contact! Of course, the fact that this excited me probably already disqualifies me from New-Yorker-dom ;).

And now... book loot!

( Much loot )

Wah, now that I have typed this all up, all I can think about are the poor books that made their sad way to my cull pile =(. Oh well. The library calls!

After seeing coffeeandink's book-filled house, I am now inspired to fit in even more bookcases! fannishly and I sort of went through the living room and figured that we could fit in three more bookcases or so, and I think I can fit more shallow media cases for manga or mass markets in my bedroom. Ha! And! I shall copy Mely and use my kitchen cabinets too!

This is probably a good thing, because I just found out that the library sale is this weekend! My public library always has things in pretty good condition. I am planning on going twice, once for stuff I actually want and once for the bag sale.

Why, yes, Bob, I did indeed buy over twenty books this weekend. I do not understand what this has to do with anything ;).