Congratulations!!

"GAAAAAA!" screamed Dimitri suddenly. "I HATE THIS STORY WHY DID I EVEN GO ALONG WITH CASEY'S IDIOTIC PLAN?" 

um... delete that bit. 

That is an excerpt from  my book, The Pandora. The book that I finished last night at about 12:30 am. That is one of the parts that I wrote when I was particularly angry with the book and did not feel like writing it. Sometimes having your characters rant about things you are unhappy about is the best way to get over writer's block.

The book is exactly 45,360 words long- about 170 pages, in non-writer terms. Hardly more than a novella, but I don't think I'll have any problem adding another thirty or forty thousand words to it during the editing process- reading through it today, I've realized that there's a lot of information missing.

I'm proud to have finished my fourth (!) novel, even if they are all only rough drafts. And I'm not going to start any new novels until The Pandora is completely edited. Which means no Nanowrimo this November, of course...


Also, I managed to skip the last two days of KCBW- understandable, considering I was struggling to finish The Pandora- so I apologize, if you were looking forward to those posts. They'll be there next year (probably).

Excuses ( 4KCBWDAY4 )

This post is two days late. And I have an excellent excuse: Thursday was a really busy day for me. I accidently slept in late, had to rush to get ready for my class, went to class, came home, made a cake, remembered fifteen minutes too late that I was supposed to be babysitting the neighbors (thankfully Mrs Neighbor hadn't left yet), babysat for two hours (I say babysat, but mostly I just read and knit), came home, ate dinner, had my friend over to eat the aforementioned cake, and then we watched Penelope. Which is an amazing movie, by the way.

But the cake was really, really good.

So, today (or rather, Thursday) I am (or was) supposed to write about colors. What colors do I use in my knitting? What are my favorite colors?

When looking at a rainbow, all I see is color- I don't see one color that I favor.  When I think about it, I can't think of any colors that I like or dislike, except that hideous greenish-yellow color that everybody should hate.

And in my projects? I use a lot of blue, but that doesn't mean I prefer it. The only color you won't see in my projects is yellow, and that's only because I don't have any yellow yarn- I love the color yellow.

I love color, and playing with color, and creating color combinations. I love neutrals- gray in particular.

And I don't have a favorite color.

Randomosity ( 4KCBWDDAY5)

RANDOMOSITY
by A.T. Lowery

For the prompt given today

We bloggers are to write in a form 

Differing from our usual way

And I decided to do this with a poem

But yet you'll find that poetry is not

In my overflowing arsenal of talents

For though I enjoy reading it a lot

My inability to write it is quite blatant

So what do I blog about this time?
I can hardly write of knitting
When every other line must rhyme
Perhaps there is no category fitting!

Perhaps today I simply make myself a fool
It is not difficult, with my poetry so foul
But to your ears am I being cruel
To force upon you this poem? Owl

But I am having so much fun
I think I may employ this style often
I'm sure you all love it a ton
But this blow of my leaving will soften

And so farewell dear reader
I know you love me so
But this poem grows weirder
And so, xoxo! 

WIPs and Books: The Leaning Tower of Hexipuffs

This month has been fruitful in terms of hexipuffs. I think I have 24 so far- one a day. Of course, I haven't actually been doing one a day; I've been doing 3 in a day and then not doing any for two days. But it all evens out in the end.

I lay them all out on the floor today, all 68 that I've done since I started in January. The collection seemed pitifully small, but 68 is still an excellent somewhat good accomplishment. By  the end of May I intend to have 100- perhaps that will make it look slightly more impressive when all spread out.

In terms of books, I haven't been doing very well in writing or reading. I'm about 1000 words behind in my novel, and I haven't read Jane Eyre since last Thursday, exactly a week ago. Hopefullly next week will see some progress in both.

Linking with Tami's Amis today.

Me (4KCBWDAY3)

So, today I'm supposed to use an infographic to convey something. I wasn't really sure what sort of statistics I should talk about via image, so I just decided to do one about me.

Technically speaking, if I only think I'm that amazing I can't know how amazing I actually am, but humility adds to my amazingness so I couldn't make how amazing I think I am equal to how amazing I actually am.

You get the gist. I'm incredibly vain and probably suffer from Narcissism. But hey, at least I know it, right?

I'll be back later today with my WIPs. See you then!

Like Bears to Honey ( 4KCBWDAY2 )

Today we're supposed to choose a 'mascot project' for this week, something that has to do with our House. If you missed yesterday's post, I sorted myself into the House of Bee. My first thought was to make my Beekeerper's Quilt my mascot project. But then I thought, something so obvious will be used by other people. Tons. So I'm doing a different, though still bee-related, Tiny Owl Knits project.

Guessed it yet? Probably, considering the rather giveaway title. I'm making my mascot project Oh My Bear!, which is convenient because I'll be working on it a lot this week. I showed you a progress photo yesterday and honestly it doesn't look all that different now, so I made a cross between a hexipuff and Oh My  Bear! to show off.

Look! I embroidered a bear on a hexipuff! I'm so happy. And goodness, look at that picture. It's terrible. You can't even see the bear's eyes. Not that they're anything great- my duplicate stitch skills are nothing to brag about.

So, you guys will all bear  (haha) with me throughout the rest of this week, and listen to me rave on about my sweater? Good. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Life Just Got Buzzier ( 4KCBWDAY1 )

That is such a good pun up there. Dad would be proud.

For the KCBW, I was sorted- rather, I sorted myself - into the House of Bee. After all, the description fits me (and almost every other knitter in the Universe) perfectly:

Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest.

Pretty much a perfect fit! But, why? Today I'm meant to talk about why I'm in the House of Bee, what brought me to that busy hive, what made me make this decision? Well, would you like to have a look at all of my WIPs?


Yesterday, I put every single WIP I had, excepting 3, into my Hibernation Can. This was to help me finish my Oh My Bear! sweater more quickly, because I have a goal to get it done by the end of May and that wasn't happening with a billion other projects waiting to snag my attention. But even yesterday, I made good progress on the sweater and I've now finished the back and started the hood.

What can I say? I'm extremely proud of that bear.

The other two WIPs I left out of the Hibernation Can were my Thor Scarf and my Beekeeper's Quilt. The Thor Scarf just came out of the Hibernation Can, and it seemed cruel to put it back in again, and I'm trying to make one Hexipuff a day for my Beekeeper's Quilt and I can't reach that goal if the project is in hibernation.

Thus ends my first post of KCBW. Thank you for stopping by- if it's your first time here, follow, leave a comment, etcetera etcetera. If you'd like me to see your KCBW posts, leave me a comment and I'll drop you a visit!

FO Friday: Y e Olde Gnomes

Pattern: Gnome Homes by Tiny Owl Knits

This morning, I thought, I don't have any FOs to blog about today!

Then I rememberd my Gnome Homes, and was extremely grateful that I chose not to blog about them on Monday.

The pattern is another by Tiny Owl Knits. I've wanted to knit it for a long time, because Gnome Homes aren't just little sticks with beards and hats- they hold your DPNs.

I constantly lose my DPNs (most of my sets only have 3 or 4 needles left), and I'm really hoping these guys will help me keep them in order.

Unfortunately, they aren't quite done- I need to reknit the hat of the blue one to make it bigger, and I still have to buy elastic to attach the hats. BUT apart from that, they're done, and I've started using them already.

They're super fast- I knit these over the span of about 3 days, but I could have easily knit both of them and more in one day.

One more thing- I knit the green one in sportweight yarn rather than 4-ply. I cast on 1 stitch less than the pattern states to make up for the difference in yarn weight. It worked out perfectly, and in fact holds my needles better than the blue one, which was knit with fingering.

As per my frequent habit, I am linking with Tami's Amis today.

Warning: Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is Coming

So... I'm joining in Knitting & Crochet Blog Week IV. To all of my non-knitting followers: don't run away. It's okay. My blog will be just like normal but every day. Remember February? It'll probably be even better than normal because there are prompts, so I won't be coming up with everything myself.

Also to my non-knitting readers: you're probably wondering what KCBW is. To find out just click the link above, because it's my first year doing it and I don't really know what it is either.

So, bear with me for one week, beginning on the 22nd of this month. It'll be fun. You guys will laugh at me. My blog's popularity will sky rocket (I'm probably joking about that, but hopefully I'm not).

Oh, and, I'm still planning on doing separate WIP Wednesday and FO Friday posts on Wednesday and Friday (mentally insert smiley face emoticon now- I'm too sophisticated to put :) on my blog).

WIPs and Books: Getting Back into It

It's been a pretty long time since I've worked on my Thor Scarf. That's mainly because I needed my size 8 circs for another project so the Thor Scarf has been hanging on a life line for several months. But this afternoon I felt like working on it, so I put the other project (which I'm angry at so it is hibernating) on a life line and got the Thor Scarf back on the needles.

So far I've done 3 rows today, and plan on doing a few more tonight. I'd forgotten how much I love working on this scarf- it's such an easy stitch to get into. Of course, I'm still only about an inch and a half into it, but I'm hoping that it'll be smooth sailing from now on and I'll be able to get done quickly.

(Of course, I also have a sweater to finish by the end of May and a friend's birthday coming up, so I really shouldn't be working on this scarf at all.)

As for the 'books' part of this posts? Well, I haven't been reading very much this week. I've stopped reading Jane Eyre at night because I'm scared of having nightmares about crazy people, even though I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet. Aside from that, I've been reading the comics in the newspaper in the morning and Calvin & Hobbes at lunch, and I've been knitting in the afternoon so really I haven't been putting aside much time for reading.

So that's all for me this week! Linking with Tami's Amis.

5 Things About Me

Earlier today, I was reading the latest post from one of my favorite blogs, Crafts from the Cwtch. I've mentioned her blog a few times I think- she never fails to entertain. Today, however, she not only entertained me but also provided the inspiration for today's post.

There seems to be a meme going around where you write 5 things about yourself, so I thought I'd give it a go. But then I thought, you guys already know everything about me. So I had to delve a little deeper to find 5 somewhat interesting things about myself to provide you with.

1. I have two spinning wheels. They have names. Nobody in the world but me knows this- until now. Their names are Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Weasley, named of course after the landlady of 221 Baker Street in Sherlock Holmes and after the famous Mrs Weasley from Harry Potter.

2. I love wearing aprons. Seriously, the best thing about baking or cooking is wearing an apron. I love wearing aprons.

3. Until aproximately a year ago, I couldn't walk out of a gift shop without a cute stuffed animal. It took me a long time to grow up, but a few weeks ago I donated all of the stuffed animals that didn't have any sentimental value to a thrift shop.

4. My three least-favorite foods all start with M: Mayonnaise, Mustard, and Mushrooms. And yes, two of them are condiments.

5. I wear glasses. Red rectangular plastic frames. They're quite fashionable, and they improve my vision greatly.

So there you have it. 5 totally random things about me. I bet you think I'm a pretty interesting person now, eh?

FO Friday: Walking Bunnies

I saw a bunny this morning! It was so exciting! Okay, it wasn't that exciting: I've seen bunnies before. But never in the wilderness (sort of not really wilderness- perhaps I should say natural habitat)! I was walking along the trail and suddenly I saw him. He was fluffy and light brown, with a twitchy little bunny nose and big ol' ears. He stared at me for a while and I stared at him. I think he was probably pretty scared of me. But I was fascinated by his adorableness so I stayed behind and looked at him for a few minutes. That, mom, is why I was so far behind on the walk this morning.

I thought I'd bring up the amazing bunny encounter because, right on the Orchids & Fairy Lights pattern it says that it's perfect for *walking your bunny*! So was it coincidence that I ran into a bunny this morning? Yes, probably, but I like to think differently.

Also on my walk I ran into a duck! He was a big fellow, with a very ugly red face but very pretty feathers. He was just waddling along so I walked beside him for a bit. He was very nice and didn't run ahead or anything, though he did look it me quite warily.

I wish I'd gotten pictures of the two of them- never again will I fail to take a camera on a walk!

So I've thus far managed to almost entirely evade discussing today's topic- Orchids & Fairy Lights- but I won't dwell on it for too long. It took me exactly a month to make, which is pretty pitiful when you think about it. But I was only working on it on and off, and it hibernated for a couple of weeks while I finished up some other things. It was a very fun knit, though if/when I knit it again I will be sure to buy a pair of US7 circular needles because working on it with the stitches divided over 4 dpns was really quite difficult. The yarn I used, Manos del Uruguay Maxima, was wonderful and soft. I still have a good bit left, too.

Today's link is FO Friday over at Tami's Amis.

P.S. Happy belated birthday to my brother Ben, one of the best 5 brothers in the world!

WIPs and Books: Pixar

Yesterday, I finished my Orchids & Fairy Lights hat- it will get its own post on Friday. But since I finished it, I haven't made any significant progress on any of my other countless WIPs, unless you count the Beekeeper's Quilt, which I've been working on steadily.

This evening, I started a quick project that I'll finish up tomorrow . I'm knitting a cuff/bangle inspired by the heartfelt rings pattern by Tiny Owl Knits. I did a small swatch which is shown in the photo, and cast on. I'll put a row of hearts around the cuff- either in white or in different colors, I haven't decided. Hopefully it will work, and if it doesn't I can be consoled by the fact that it's not taking very long to knit.

I'm still reading Jane Eyre of course, but I've also been reading this book my brother gave me about Pixar's 2012 movie Brave, and it is fascinating. The book, called The Art of Brave by Jenny Lerew, goes over all of the artwork that went into making the animated film. More than anything, this book makes me wish I could draw. I've done a few drawings that I'm proud of (namely, my drawing of Iron Man and Thor), and it doesn't take an artist to note that these drawings are quite terrible.

Today I am, as always, linking with Tami's Amis.

I've Been Educated

As I said on Thursday, I went to the DFW Fiber Fest yesterday morning. I'm not one of those people who can spend 3 whole days walking around looking at yarn I don't have enough money to buy, and I was only at the fest for a few hours.

But that was plenty of time for me to make a few well selected purchases.

First was a skein of sock yarn from Western Sky Knits. I almost bought this yarn in the form of wool roving, but then saw that they had the same colorway (Lucy) in yarn form and decided to get that instead.

I love the colors of this yarn so much- I can't wait to knit something with it. But I will wait, I will wait until all of my other WIPs are done.

Of course by then it will be old and dusty and moth-eaten...

Second up was some roving. It's from the same place that I bought the roving for my Holden Shawlette. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the exact same roving but in a different colorway, which is Sunflower.

I don't know when I'm going to spin this, but when I do I will be on cloud nine.

And my third purchase was a skein of madelinetosh mo light in the colorway Earl Grey, or as I prefer to call it Rivendell.





Doesn't it look like somebody just took the Last Homely House and spun it up? This yarn's resemblance to Rivendell is what made me choose it above all the other yarns in the Madtosh booth.

The fourth and last thing I bought is  a miniskein that I'm not going to bother posting a picture of- you guys all know what miniskeins look like and, while this one certainly is beautiful, it doesn't quite need its own photograph.



I probably enjoyed the fiber fest more than last year, mainly because I know so much more about yarn. I remember last year, feeling all the Madelinetosh yarns, and thinking, this is pretty soft, but I wonder why it's so expensive?

I knew so little back then.

How's it goin'?

I love wearing mismatched socks, don't you?

I've spent a wonderful day knitting and writing. I knit 3(!) and a half hexipuffs, which brings this month's total up to 6, and I'm about 200 words above par in  my novel. I've been writing about 800-1000 words a day, and haven't fallen behind yet. I'm almost managing to move the story along pretty slowly, which is good. 

Tomorrow is the first day of the DFW Fiber Fest, and I'm going to go with my mom again. This is the second year I'm going, and I am so excited. I've been educated in the fiber arts a lot more since last year (though my grammar doesn't seem to have improved) and I'm looking forward to actually being able to appreciate all the yummy yarns this year. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a lighter purse and, hopefully, a heavier stash. See you then! 

WIPs and Books: Owlish Things

This afternoon, while I finished listening to the Prisoner of Azkaban, I worked on three of my current projects: my Beekeeper's Quilt, my Orchids and Fairy Lights hat, and my Oh My Bear! sweater. 

All of these patterns are from Tiny Owl Knits, and Harry Potter is all about owls, so everything was very owlish this afternoon. 

My BKQ is coming along excellently. I'm on hexipuff number 47 altogether, and the third one for April. I'm going to try and knit at least 15 in April, and so far I'm doing pretty good. 

Poor Beorn has been hibernating for a while because I had to work on my Holden Shawlette and because, truth be told, it's a little bit boring, just working stockinette stitch for 16 inches. Thankfully, I'm about halfway done with the back and then I get to do the hood, which is sure to be more challenging, and therefore more interesting. 

O&FL is getting done slowly but surely. It was also hibernating for the same reason as Beorn, but now I've brought it back to the light and I only have 1 more repeat to do before I get to start decreasing. I'm knitting it on 4 dpns, and the stitches seem to threaten to fall off the tips of the needles every other round. But I'm still enjoying working on it. 

Not as much, however, as I enjoyed listening to the Prisoner of Azkaban over the last few days. I forget sometimes how good Harry Potter is, but then I stumble across it again and I love it again. The Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorites in the series- J.K. Rowling does such an excellent job weaving the mystery in. Also, it's the only book in which I really enjoy Lupin's character. After this one he gets a bit too grim. 

That's it for me this Wednesday. Hopefully I'll have something finished by Friday, but as always, I'm not making any promises. I'm linking with Tami's Amis.

Let it Begin!

It's officially April 1st. Which means it's the beginning of Camp Nanowrimo, which I have decided to take part in this year. I have 24,000 words of my novel left, and I am raring to go.

I only have to write 800 words a day to get 24000 words, which is pretty much nothing. I'm going to try and get a head start tomorrow (it's very late at night on the 31st of March as I write this) and write a couple thousand words, because it's always easier to write at the beginning of Nanowrimo.

My novel, The Pandora, is actually going wonderfully at the moment. The only problem is, I'm not sure I can stretch the plot to 50,000 words. Chances are, I have more left to write than I think and I'm worrying about nothing, but I'm still a little paranoid.

I have every intention to win Camp Nanowrimo this year. Because if I don't hit my lowly goal of 24k, I'll not only be sorely disappointed by I will be the lamest reacher of goals in the Universe.

Cheers, fellow Rhinos. And for those of you who aren't taking part in this with me, just so you know I'm kissing my social life goodbye for a few weeks.

Now, quick, I have to get in a couple hundred words before I go to bed!