Na(Fail At)NoWriMo

So, erm, yes.  Maybe you've noticed, maybe you haven't, but I have not succeeded in writing a novel.

For a number of excuses reasons, that I will elaborate on here:

1. Finals.  Oh, yeah, those two middle weeks in November? Dear Alyssa, you forgot that those were finals week.  So you didn't sleep.  Bah.
2. No support system.  Yeah, I guess this should be minor, but from the beginning I was hearing from W how people were asking why I was "writing so much." And by writing so much, I guess they meant writing 2,000 words each day? Anyway, people started making comments like "Well, I'd write that much, but I have SCHOOLWORK." As if they were so much busier than me.  
   
   In the end, I felt BAD about writing. Different.  Socially shameful.  I wasn't skipping schoolwork or shirking obligations, but I just felt alienated by these people.  I don't know why I let them hurt my feelings, but it did and that was probably the major reason I stopped writing. 
3. I just got lazy.

In the end, though, I learned some important lessons.

1. The people that W gossips about suck. Not all of them, but the ones that are hurtful. Yeah, they're losers and I need to not care about them.
2. Finals are hard when you're taking 20 credit hours :(
3. Everyone has a novel inside of them, and mine is NOT about a pediatric nurse falling in love and knitting.  Mine is much more exciting.

My plans for next year? Eh, probably NaKniSweMo :P

Pre-Quarter Crafting

I returned to school on Friday, partly to prepare for the upcoming quarter and partly to just sit and relax somewhere without feeling guilty for not visiting family.

I also spent some time cleaning up the apartment for the quarter, and organizing things! One thing I did was do this spiffy wall art above my bed, using contact paper.

I plan to spend a day making some paper snowflakes to further spruce up my room.  I'm not a big Christmas decorator, but I do love decorating for the winter season with snowflakes and of course, warm throws.

Also on the list of things accomplished were these: Oreo truffles, which I am quasi-famous for :) 

My Christmas knitting is reaching a bit of a paniced state.  I know I can finish everything, I just have to TRY HARDER, darn it, and not get so distracted by shiny things.  For one, I underestimated the size of my brother's feet, his socks look like Christmas stockings!

I'm knitting them in Plymouth Yarns (a worsted weight) on size 5 needles, that I bought at the Yarn Crawl. He told me he wanted "slipper socks."  What are slipper socks?  Slippers? Socks? These are more sock-slippers, I guess, because they're just thick socks. But he tried them on before I left (to make sure the heels are in the right place) and he liked them! So good!

Oh, did you notice the cool stitch marker? It was an odd earring, then I was inspired by Jordan at In It To Knit It! You should check out her tutorial here.

There's another project I'm working on, but it's still in the planning-esqu stages. I'm sorry to say that I'm hoping once again to get into Knitty - and I'm close to actually submitting this time :) So, if I get rejected, it will just be a for-sale pattern, like Borneo.  

Also, W is working on a stop motion puppet for his two quarter, who need clothes! So, I taught him how to use the sewing machine! I'm also knitting him a scarf and a pair of miniature mittens, but I figured I could do another post on that later :)

But, as part of W's sewing machine training, I made him he made this pencil case.  At least... part of it.  The seams were a little uneven, and I tried to fix things but just ended up screwing things up even more when I added the zipper.  So the result was this.

Hey, it still holds my pens and pencils... so so what if it's a little different? It's my pencil case, made with love from W :) 

How to Write a Great Knitting Blog

As a serial blogger and a crazy avid blog reader, I feel like I have some wisdom to impart on blogging, especially for those who want to start or improve their own knitting blog.  I know I'm no means an expert, but there aren't many posts on the subject.  So if you want to write a good knitting blog, here are some steps!

Vacation Update

I've had a nice time on vacation so far, time to craft and time to spend with family.  I'm pretty frustrated with a current WIP, which I'm thinking of abandoning (at least for a while.) Another is finished, and the pattern is being written up!

Good luck Rocky! Erm... Pinwheel!

Rocky has been passed on to Tanglewood, and I'm sure he's happy to be there! They kept his original name, Pinwheel, which W and I gave him.  He seems happy, though it's hard to see it through his huffly exterior.

And on the bunny front, we have had success getting Samson to use a potty pad! I woke up this morning to this sight.

His pee isn't really that color, it's the pen liner showing through ^_^;

Okay, his pen looks totally gross but I HAD to run and take a picture, I didn't even think to clean his cage... whoops.

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their week, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not! :) We sure are.

Free Pattern: Tiling Tiger Print

This isn't exactly a pattern, per se... but it's a useful download nonetheless! This chart is a tiger print pattern, which you can apply to any knitting pattern - just work the colors off the chart whenever your pattern calls for stockinette stitch.

I can see tons of awesome uses for this! Tiger print hats, tiger print dishcloths, tiger print bath mats, felted tiger print bags, tiger print laptop cases, tiger print scarves, cowls, mittens...

While I was uploading the pdf to ravelry, W told me that it could be zebra print... just change the colors!

Another plus to this pattern is that it tiles! Which means that you can repeat the pattern over and over, with not a lot of troubles.

Anyway, click the link here to download a copy of the chart: download now

If you're on Ravelry, check out the pattern page here!

Walkabout

Exams are finally over, final projects are turned in, hearts were broken and drama was had.  I'm happy to say that I spent the past (almost) 24 hours being a lazy young person. There was a short time where I worked, but for the most part, laziness!

And it was glorious.

Today me, W, and two of our friends decided to go to Eastview Mall, just for the heck of it.  Two things I love about Eastview. [1]: Yogenfruz.  It is a yuppie frozen yogurt stand with (usually) sour-tempered employees who go to private school and hate their families.  At least, today it was.

The second, and perhaps most important one, is ANTHROPOLOGIE.

I love the anthropologie store.  I love walking around and looking at the expensive clothes, not touching them because it's like a museum of glorious clothing, if I were to touch them then the oils from my skin would stay on them forever, and then sediment will be unable to deposit there, and people that want to come and see them in the future will never be able to! Or is that a limestone formation?

But really, I do love that store.  It really inspires me, mostly because I could make things like the stuff in anthropologie! It wouldn't be that hard! Ever been to a paint-your-own pottery studio? Corning NY has one and I'm totally going on a date with W over break to make some dishware :)

Here are some other goods that I thought "Oh, man, I could make that myself!!"

I could probably make this BETTER than Anthropologie... This looks kind of shoddy, for $15...

The cardboard stumps just made me think of W, wouldn't that be a cool stop motion set?

And some gloves from Charlotte Russe.  They're really chic, but if I knit myself a pair I would make glittens.

So what do you think? Do you get inspired by stuff you see in stores or magazines? Do you buy it, or go and craft it? What will happen when the crafty look goes out of style!?

Burning Low

The Hooks and Needles Felting Party was Friday! I made roast chicken, corn, and roasted carrots and onions (assisted by Ash, of course.) Gillian brought brownies, and Rebecca, who's moved to town, came!

I would show you pictures of our felted slippers, but I'm the only person who's finished them, so you'll just have to see pics of mine.  Other people's projects were just these :P

And, our special guest was Samson, fresh from the vet.

He's coming home with me for Thanksgiving break, so there will be plenty more gorgeous angora photos then!

Right now, I feel burnt out... like, I'm a candle that's about to die. I can't wait for break! It'll be nice to relax, visit family, and sleep without an alarm.  Then, next quarter, I'm cutting back on credit hours a bit, so that will be nice too.

Time to get back to studying and paper-writing.  I wrote this post while the rice for my soup was cooking :)