If Bruce Wayne Could Knit...

If Bruce Wayne could knit, he would open an Etsy shop and sell these shawls, and I would buy one for you. Unfortunately, he's too busy saving Gotham, so I made you one instead. 

I knit this shawl for my sister (the same one I knit the hat for) for Christmas. It was inspired by 

Wa na na na na na na na Bat Shawl!, but I made it into a rectangular shawl and designed a couple of charts myself. As the original pattern suggests, I used Knitpicks Gloss Fingering, but I need about three and a half skeins.

I started the shawl in late August and finished it in late November. Of course, a lot of that time was taken up with various other projects, and I think I knit about two thirds or more of it in the last two weeks of November.

I have to say, I'm really proud of this shawl. I think it's the first big lace project I've done (excluding my Holden Shawlette), and I will forever look upon it with the memories of working on it into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning, whenever the recipient wasn't around. 

One of my favorite things about it is the edging, which is mostly invisible because the edge curls up. But I'm still happy with it, and it's a nice detail if you happen to notice it. 

I designed a chart for a tiny Batman symbol as shown in The Dark Knight Rises:

I'll be compiling the pattern for the shawl from the infinite amount of notes I took, and hopefully it'll be ready in the next few days. And, of course, I'll be back later today with some pictures of my Holden Shawlette. I'm almost halfway done with the lace section, but I want to do a little more before I take pictures. 

Am I Obsessing Over Nothing?

Not really.

It all started in the summer of 2007, when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book and the Order of the Phoenix movie came out. It was then that I decided to read the entire series. I had already seen the first five movies; I practically grew up on the first two and the third was my favorite for a while.

It took me a very long time to read the books- the fifth one probably took about six months. But finally, I finished. And read them again. And again. And again. And again. And again. I must have read some of them eight times in a row.

As far as I can remember, here are the things I have been obsessed with in order, from 2007 to 2012

Harry Potter (2007-2009)
Lord of the Rings (2009)
Enchanted Forest Chronicles (2009- 2010)
Artemis Fowl (2010-2012)
Doctor Who (2010- )
The Dark is Rising (2011)
The Avengers/ Superman/ Batman (2012)
The Adventures of Merlin (2012- )

So in the past five years, I have been obsessed with eight different things.  That's pretty sad. Two of them are still up and running. Of course, it would be really sad if I weren't still obsessed with Merlin seeing as I've only been watching it for a week and a half. (Or is it sad that I'm already obsessed with it?) And Doctor Who, well, it's not the sort of thing you can stop being obsessed with. Especially with series 7 currently airing.

Who knows how many other amazing things there are out there, just waiting to be discovered? And to think, five years ago I thought Harry Potter was the only best thing in the world.

The Bakery

Last week or so, at dinner, two of my three sisters suggested a remodeling of our 'Garden Room.' The Garden Room, I suppose, used to be a place of gardening and plants. But for as long as I can remember, it's been the place where my mom bakes bread.

This is how the more redone side of the room looks now. I unfortunately neglected to take a picture of how the room looked before. Imagine an off-white wall with none of the shelving. 

The first day, we painted the walls. We painted one wall red, and the other three and a half (I'm allowing room for doorways and stuff) the same creamy white they were before. 

Before we got to work on the red wall, we gave it a little decoration. 

Just to show our fandom. By the way, we redid this room before DKR came out. 

After the first layer of paint, you could still see traces of Batman

It's a good thing we still had another can and a half of paint. 

I took the initiative to bake a snack. What other than our favorite, chocolate chip cookies? 

I somehow managed to make one of the cookies without any chocolate chips, so our dog Homer got that one. He loved it. His very first whole cookie. He did have some trouble getting it off the ground...

On day 2, my two sisters installed the shelves. I think. I might be getting my dates a little mixed up. But I think it was day two. I didn't help with this at all. 

On day 3: Ikea. We obviously had to buy new jars and containers for all of our baking supplies. 

I loved Ikea. Best place in the world. My new life goal is to get a 24 hour job there. The dozens of bedrooms and kitchens put of display on the second floor made me feel like I was in heaven. Who would have though pulling out every drawer in a model kitchen could be so much fun? I also took advantage of the beds in the mock bedrooms. Very comfortable. I really could live there. They even have a restaurant! 

That evening, we put everything in the room, and voila, we have the newly renamed Bakery! 

Oh, the beauty of it! 

A Bat of Yarn

Crochet is definitely getting more love from me these days. Having never designed a crochet pattern that's more complicated than straight right to left rows, I decided I wanted to crochet the Batman logo. How hard could it be, after all? It's just a bat. 

vs

I'd say I did an awesome job. Obviously (Well, I hope obviously) it's the newer Batman logo, which I find much neater and more aesthetically pleasing than the original. My sister Rebecca certainly thought so. ("Oh my gosh, did you see what Anna made? Without even using a pattern?")

I'll post the pattern when I get it on paper in a way that makes sense, and once I  I'm not much of a crocheter, so bear with me if the pattern makes no sense and is impossible to follow...

Poster Revamp

Earlier today my dog Homer starred in the poster of the Dark Knight Rises. With the help of my friend Rose and her PC (the only flaw in Macs is that they don't have Paint) I have given the poster some new flair:

Batman! 

The Dark Knight Rose

This is the Batman's darkest hour. He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further. 

Actually a quote from Doctor Who, with a bit of manipulation (the Batman instead of the Doctor). I think it fits the movie almost perfectly.

Batman (Homer)

Last night at 9:45, my siblings Rebecca, Thomas and Mary Margaret and I went to see the Dark Knight Rises. At 12:00, we saw the Dark Knight Rises. 

It was amazing. Few movies warrant no complaints, but this was one of them. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman was perfect; no connection to the high-pitched princess in Princess Diaries I and II. Bane, too, was awe worthy–– my brother Thomas said a mix of Voldemort's wit and Darth Vader's voice. 

On Tuesday, I watched Batman Begins for the third time. On Wednesday, I watched the Dark Knight for the first time. I loved the Dark Knight–– and still can't decide whether I like the Dark Knight or Batman Begins more. Naturally, DKR trumps all...