Assorted randomosity

[oyceter]

For some reason, my brain hasn't been up to handling anything remotely like my normal activities (aka, obsessively reading manga; obsessively reading, period; obsessively blathering on about my latest obsession; obsessively watching anime). Instead, I have been obsessively knitting and obsessively watching figure skating.

Granted, the second isn't that surprising, and since it's very easy to knit and watch figure skating at the same time (less concentration required for watching), no wonder I am obsessively knitting. Not that that means I have cleared my stash any....

I will finally give in and admit I am a closet sports fan, even if the sport is figure skating. Um, given that this is my third year obsessively watching the Grand Prix events and comparing each skater to what they were doing in the previous two seasons, it was a little hard to avoid.

So... we're almost done with the Grand Prix series, which means there's really only assorted nationals, the European championship, and world's to go. And it feels like a bit of a downer, since it's the year right after Olympics. But still! Exciting things are happening!

Dear Johnny Weir,

You continue to irritate me; I think this is because everyone goes on and on and on about how artistic you are, while you attempt to be a Speshul and Unique Snowflake. I don't care if you are Speshul and Unique. You are not skating that great. But at least your fashion sense has improved a little! Then again, anything would be better than rags and tatters and fishnet. Alas, you still have one costume that involves grey-blue velvet pants (YouTube vid). I have nothing against grey-blue, but really... velvet pants? For a long program that is supposedly telling the story of Jesus? Because you identify with feeling persecuted? Oh, the wank, it writes itself.

Yours, Annoyed person


Dear Evgeny Plushenko,

I miss you! Wah!

Signed, Fan of big noses


Dear Evan Lysacek,

You are still cute! Thankfully, I feel less guilty about this now that you aren't 17. Still...

And even though you are skating to Carmen like every other person, I don't care because I like it and it is cool and your footwork sequence still kicks ass.

Signed, I swear I'm not a pedophile


Dear Brian Joubert,

Hey! You're back! And being good! And you are no longer dressed in brown naugahyde! But I'm not sure if your current outfit is an improvement, given that you have weird fake tribal tattoos all down on arm and other strange shiny metallic things elsewhere (link is a video). But you did three quads! In one program! And you didn't fall! It was great! Exclamation point!

Signed, Newly converted fan


Dear Kimmie Meissner, Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim,

Why are you all so young and good? Gah! Also, I cheer for Yu-Na Kim in particular because hey! South Korean figure skater! Go you!

Signed, Boggled and impressed


Dear Belbin and Agosto,

Wah, I want to like your program so much, but I liked last year's and the year before that's so much better! Although I have to say, I do like the new costumes more than the ones from Cup of China.

Signed, Still hopeful



My first attempt at fingerless gloves, courtesy of Noro Silk Garden and Stitch & Bitch Nation. I'm irritated that the colorways are off because one ball of the Noro had a random colorway knotted in. Argh. The purple thing is a scarf for my sister, made out of very nice alpaca.




More scarves! The one on the left is made from the dewdrop lace pattern with Rowan Plaid, which I love. It is giant and soft and squishy. The one on the right is Branching Out from Knitty, made with Cascade Highland Wool. I think I need to block it to make the pattern stand out, but I'm too lazy.



My first ninja, courtesy of rachelmanija. This set me down the long, lonely path of Naruto figurine obsessive hoarding collecting.




The figurines rachelmanija bought when she was here. I love the Naruto with ramen, the Jiraiya, and freaky!Gaara.




My figurines! Sand sibs, yay!




An attempt to show that the bookmarks that come with the figurines piece together. Pls ignore general messiness of the coffee table




My Bleach figurines! I love them so much! They are so cool!




And my FMA figurines. Cool points: Ed is taller than people, thanks to being part of a different set! And if you take Al's head off, there's a teeny blood seal painted on the inside. So cool.

Comments

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Is the first scarf Midwest Moonlight? I love that pale lavender color.

Also, you are cool for finishing Branching Out. I tried and tried and finally gave up on it, the problem being that I get bored if I just knit and don't do anything else (usually I watch TV), and the pattern was just complex enough that I kept screwing it up because I wasn't paying enough attention.

[oyceter]

It is indeed Midwest Moonlight! I love the color as well; I bought the yarn two years ago and finished the scarf several months ago, but I still haven't blocked it to make the wavy edges go away..... sigh.

I actually had a lot of fun with Branching Out, once I started it in a non-mohair yarn! I get bored when I just knit too! But since I was watching a lot of TV that I didn't have to pay full attention to, I think the lace stuff was ok (I leave anime and subtitled fare and stuff likes Spooks to garter or stockinette).

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Now I desperately want to expand my Bleach figurine collection! The abscence of Byakuya and Urahara from my collection is a major problem!

Do your Renji and Ichigo have wavy swords because of the materials that the figures are made of? Mine do, and it makes me laugh all the time, because they don't look very threatening when they look like they're melting. Hee.

[oyceter]

Actually, amazingly, the swords are both straight! For now....

But I giggle all the time because Renji's is bigger than Ichigo's, and I'm sure it vexes figurine!Ichigo a lot.

The Urahara figurine is especially awesome, because you can remove his jacket!

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I made a Branching Out too (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a176/sophia_helix/BranchingOut001.jpg)! Sadly, it's from the pink laceweight I bought at your yarn shop last summer, so it took forever to get it right and it doesn't look as fluffy as yours. Also, seriously needs blocking.

I love the lavender one! The pattern is so pretty.

[oyceter]

Oooo, I like that! I, uh, still have my laceweight stashed somewhere, heh.

[littlebutfierce]

Hehehe, I love Johnny Weir. The one I can't stand that everyone else seems to is Sasha Cohen. Barf. Even if she didn't choke all the time I'd still want to smush her face in.

I love figure skating, but we got rid of our cable (& thus effectively all TV, since we have no reception) this summer. Neither my partner nor I miss anything--but skating. I know we could download stuff, but... somehow we never get around to it. It's just not the same as sitting down in front of the TV & watching it all the first time it airs! We got to go to Skate America last year & loved it, & got all crazy during the Grand Prix last year, & now we're not keeping up @ all. *sniff*

[littlebutfierce]

The one I can't stand that everyone else seems to

That everyone else seems to love, I mean.

[oyceter]

Hee! Your Johnny Weir icon is awesome. I think I would like him better if the commentators liked him less, if that makes sense. Same with Sasha Cohen. I mean, yes, she skates beautifully (though she chokes a lot), but I am so sick of hearing the commentators gush about her!

I just found out that you can watch some stuff via YouTube! The quality isn't so great, but still.... I bet you can search for "grand prix johnny weir" and get his competitions this season!

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I am already addicted to the colors on the Cascade Highland thingy. :-)

[oyceter]

Oh I'm glad you like! I've still got some of that yarn left, would you like some fingerless gloves made with it?

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

That would be lovely! But please don't feel obliged. ^_^

[oyceter]

Hey, not a problem! Though you may end up getting them some time next year....

I knit way more stuff than I can actually use.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

What is the source for the lace/texture pattern on the scarf in the first picture? That's gorgeous, must knit one. :->

[oyceter]

Um, it's Moonlight Madness from Pam Allen's Scarf Style. It's basically:
Row1: knit an even # stitches, then k2tog yo the same # and repeat
R2: knit the purls and purl the k2tog and yos.
R3: knit #, ssk yo the same # and repeat
R4: same as R2

It's pretty easy.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Ohhh -- I see! It's panels of yo/k2tog alternated with garter panels. Duh. It looks so cool! I guess the biasing causes the curves.

[oyceter]

Yes that's it! I probably could have said all that much shorter ;). I think it alternates between panels of yo/k2tog and ssk/yo between rows to also create the curves.