Hoard Enhancement

Hubby and I had a busy day on Saturday.

We had to take the car for an oil change. Since the dealership is in the southern part of the state near Hubby's new Karate Dojo he decided we should get an early start so he could go to the Saturday morning class.

Then we developed a laundry list of things to get at the mall since we'd been in civilization.

But I'm not here to talk about boring mall shopping. I'm here to talk about yarn!

After I dropped Hubby off I scooted over to The Yarn and Fiber Company over in Derry. This store was recommended to me by Pam's sister Nancy. I'd seen their booth at the NH fiber festivals I've attended but hadn't been to the store yet.

It's a big place, with big windows, so it's well lit and has aisles you can actually walk down. They also have a wide variety of yarns. I could hear laughter and chatting from a class, which I discovered at a big table in one corner. Another corner had big couches and chairs. Probably where the knitting group meets.

I didn't go with the intention of buying anything, I was just looking to kill an hour while waiting for Hubby. (True, I could have sat in the dojo lobby watching the training and knitting, but why do that when there is a yarn store within striking distance)

Then I stumbled on the book section. I was reminded of my quest for the Lucy Neatby finishing book (no dice) and the other Elsebeth Lavold viking knits books (also no).

They did, however, have a number of other Lavold books, which I flipped through. This led me to decide that although I like all her designs it's really her winter patterns that make my heart pound.

This led me to flip through The Embraceable You Collection a couple times.

The pattern that forced my hand was Worf. How can I resist a pattern named after an awesome Star Trek character? It is described as a sweater with detached sleeves, but it looks like a tunic vest with matching armwarmers to me. Although the sweater is neat, it's not really my style. But I'm all about the armwarmers.

Also, as you may recall, I'm currently obsessed with her hoods after seeing them at the museum. The ones at the museum just had ribbed necks. The Niella hood in the book flairs out to a cowl reminicent of my beloved Solo Cropped Poncho.

Although the armwarmers and the hood aren't a pair, they have the same feel, so I figure I can totally wear them as a set.

So I decided to get the book and take my chances on finding yarn that would work since I knew it was an older book. Until I came around a corner and found a display of EL's Designer Choice Angora right there at my eye level.

How very convenient to find the actual yarn for the patterns I as about to buy! No worries about yardage, or drape, or texture substitutions. Obviously I had to get enough for the two patterns I wanted to make. Especially since I knew the yarn was discountined. I might not have the opportunity again, at least not as easily.

The color selection was, admittidely, limited, which made it an easy decision to go with my tried and true blue. Logically, I got the same color for both projects since I'm going to call them a set.

The Worf pattern calls for 2 skeins for the sleeves. I wonder if these means each one will take one skein. I haven't read the hood pattern through, but suspect it starts at the cowl. Still, I'm thinking I'll make Worf first so I can put any extra yarn toward making the cowl longer.

Of course another option would be to make the hood first and use any spare yarn to make the armwarmers longer.

But, who am I kidding, it's going to be a while before I actually make either of these projects.

Las Vegas Highlights

Shall I finally tell you about my trip to Las Vegas back in June? I didn't blog about it at the time since I didn't have internet access and then when I got home other stuff was going on to prevent me.
Shall I make it easy on us and just hit the highlights?
We were staying at the Hilton at the Convention Center, which was very convenient because it was:
1) Across the street from the convention location.
2) The hotel where the Star Trek Experience is was located.
Oh my gosh! I was going to link to the website and it's gone. The website and the Experience! I found a website from June saying it closed down in early September. Boy, am I glad I was able to go back in June. I've wanted to go since it opened, but never had the opportunity until I had to go to Vegas for this business trip.
Of course, this means poor Hubby won't ever get to go.
(Oh, phew, I did save my ticket stub).
Well, anyway, it used to be a Star Trek Deep Space Nine themed restaurant, Quarks, and two of those full immersion virtual reality rides, Klingon Encounter and Borg Invasion. And, of course, an extensive gift shop.
Leading up to the trip I talked about the rides extensively trying to drum up interest, but no one bit so I had to go by myself.
They were so fun. I did the Borg Invasion one night. The group was herded into a shuttle bay and the Doctor from Voyager explained we all had DNA that might make up resistant to the Borg nanoprobes, so we were being brought to a space station for testing. But the Borg attacked and the room shook and the lights flashed and we had to evacuate to a shuttle. So we hustled down a hall and around a corner to the right, and you could see a hall extending to the left with damage and injured crewmen. Then another crew member was briefing us, but a Borg Drone came in! and started accessing a computer terminal. Since he didn't perceive us as a threat he ignored us. So we turned and ran the other way and finally into a shuttle.
Which is where the traditional part of the virtual reality ride was. Big, 3-D screen in front of us, the room shook and moved—and implements in the chair poked us and wind blew on us(!), the Borg Queen and Captain Janeway put in appearances. It was all very exciting. And actually left me a little dizzy, so I had to go back to my room.
The next afternoon, which was our last full day in town, I ran over and did the Klingon Encounter. This one started out as a traditional ride with the saftey lecture, but then the room when pitch black, lights flashed, there was a gust of wind, and when the lights came back on we were on a transporter pad on the Enterprise from Next Generation. Really, all the walls were gone and the floor was different, it was cool.
Then we were all herded onto the enterprise bridge. Cmd. Riker appeared on the monitor and explained that some Klingons tried to capture us and brought us into the future because one of us was an ancestor of Captian Picard. Jordy made an appearance too. Then we all got on a turbo lift so we could go to a shuttle pod and be evacuated. Well, this ride was a bit crowded and I was at the end of the group, so where they all got a piece of wall me and two other people were out in the open. And then the ship was attacked and the turbolift when into freefall and was shaking all over the place—it was hard to keep my footing.
When we got to the shuttle pod (and again, the corridors when off to the sides and were elaborate, I don't know where they fit all this stuff) the traditional part of the ride started. You could tell it was older because the seats were hard plastic and the ceiling was much close, which kind of added to the stomach churning effect of the swooping photography.
It was very exciting as well. And I just remembered that Cpt. Picard told us not to tell anyone so we didn't mess up the timeline. Drat.
I thought the rides were way cool and told anyone at the convention who would sit still all about them. I hope they reopen it in another location. If they do, I don't think I ruined anything for you, my description isn't a fun as being there.

Quark's
Of course I also had to eat in the restaurant. Since they don't feed you on airplanes anymore, when the Other Associate Editor and I tumbled into town we were rather hungry. Boss Man had flown in the day before, so he was a little more adjusted to the time zone. After showing us the lay of the land he agreed to each lunch with us.
Silly people let me choose the place. You would think they would have seen it coming.
Of course, it was all normal food, it just had silly names. I had a Capt. Janeway's Salad, which was a cobb salad with a nice presentation. The Other AE had a Starfleet Salad, which was a more traditional tossed salad, but molded into a triangle shape reminiscent of a communicator. Boss Man suddenly claimed he wasn't hungry and just got an iced tea.
There was a Klingon wandering around harassing dinners and later I saw a Ferengi and a Borg as well.
And the really cool souvenir for Hubby I kept referencing are travel mugs with stainless steel interiors. I got him a blue one with the Star Fleet emblem and me a red one with the emblem of the Klingon Empire. It fits in my purse really well when I'm on the train!
Well, that about wraps up the trip to Vegas. It was June, so it was around 100 degrees out each day and we were all dying of thirst the entire time.
Oh! forgot one other cool thing.
Hitachi gave out free video iPod Nanos at their press conference. It was a really well attended press conference. In my experience, the only thing that gets an editor's attention faster than free food is free gadgets. I had already RSVP'd when they e-mailed that announcement a week or so before the trip. Luckily I ended up near the counter where they were handing them out because I was able to just turn around and snag one. It's silver and says "Hitachi Inspire the Next" on the back. But what do I care? It was free! Oh, and loaded with their press releases, etc., which was clever.
This was way cool because I did not own an iPod. I had bought Hubby a refurbished Nano for Christmas, but having two seemed frivolous. Since being on the train I'd been considering swiping his, but now I don't have to. Oh, iPod, how I adore thee.
Ok, I think that's it.
Wow, I hadn't intended this post to be so long, but I was so stunned to see the Star Trek Experience was gone that I got carried away!
My stealth knitting is progressing nicely, thanks for asking.

You'll poke your eye out kid

Actually, the duplicate stitch on my Ravelry ID bag is moving along much faster than I expected. This is about 2 hours of work, one hour on each of two nights. Wow, maybe I'm not doing as well as I thought.
Anyway, I just have to get the rest of the way around the ball and then do the lettering. My two concerns are that the ends will work out as it felts, so I'm trying to leave long ends. And that it will look like heck once it's felted. Some of the columns are coming out nice and dense, but others the white is peeking through. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently, since it's one column to the next in the same session, but I'm afraid the white will show after it's felted. I suppose I'll be able to go over it again with more unfelted black. I wonder if I can just color it in with a Sharpie....
Goals are Good
Or so I hear. In honor of that, and since my knitting has felt a little scattered lately, I've decided that I want to have my Ravelry bag done and felted and my Nell sweater done by the time I have to go to a conference in Las Vegas in June. Then I can take them with me. Hopefully that will keep me focused on those two projects and I'll actually get them done.
Of course one landmine is the conference hotel is the Hilton, where the Star Trek Experience is located. I want to do the rides, but I'm not sure I'll have time. At a minimum I'll eat in Quark's Bar and hit the shop. I have a brilliant idea for a present for Hubby.
Of course all those thoughts of Star Trek led me to think it might be cool to have socks with the emblem of the Klingon Empire on them. (The Star Fleet emblem would be too fiddly with all those little stars.) I don't know if I would to a varigated background with a solid logo, or vice versa, or both solid. I emailed Hubby, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.
With that in mind, I checked Ravelry. No other socks. But someone did a cool felted bag. I sent her a message asking if she'd share the chart she made, so I don't have to figure it out. Her version might be too big for socks, but I won't know until I get my hands on it.
Scattered, but focused
I actually haven't been terrible with my knitting.
I finished the Stars and Stripes sweater a few weeks ago. When it had its office premier Boss Man said I looked like a superhero because I had a big star on my chest. Hadn't thought of that. But people thought it was cute. Now it has to be washed because it has two muddy paw prints on the belly. Gee, I wonder how that happened.
And I finished the Cat's Pajamas Socks over the weekend. We were up at the in laws on Catholic Easter weekend and I had time to just sit and knit. They are lovely. Cynthia said she would consider the pattern for the store, so I just have to work up additional sizes. I have to start designing socks that either have more stretch or can be resized by switching needle size. Oh well.
But she also really liked the pattern stitch in general and wanted me to work it up in a scarf version for the store. I threw some figures out before we went UpState and she was going to work on it over that weekend. I'm working at Knitting Central this weekend, so I'll be able to see what she came up with. That should be easy enough to write up.
So I have been finishing projects, just not the projects already in progress.
Oh, and another Raveler asked about my Yankee's Socks. I took another look at the pattern and it is more comprehensible than I thought. I might run those by Cynthia, too. Of course, the Yankee's logo is a trademark and I wouldn't be able to sell it, so it would have to be something funky like people buy the base sock pattern and get the logo as a gift.
Ok, there is duplicate stitching to be done and Hubby is going to start thinking about dinner soon.
The blog is a vicious circle. I don't update often because it takes so long since I write such long posts. But I write long posts because I don't write often. I have to learn to do sudden impact entries!