Adamas and Computer Woes

Yesterday, my computer did a double crash - within thirteen hours of one another. So I am currently without a personal computer and most of my knitting patterns and creative writing. It says something about how electronically dependent I am.

I had just cast on for a modified Roman Hat with Earflaps (without earflaps) as a Christmas gift for my uncle, but I put that aside. (It's an awesome brim pattern though.) I have picked up my Adamas pattern and Shadow yarn that were set aside over the summer and left on a shelf because I was lacking in the chart reading skill. Since today was laundry day and I couldn't surf the internet while I waited on the clothes, I brought the chart with me and spent several hours staring at it and trying to work it out logically in my head. Around 11 a.m. it clicked. Suddenly the chart which may as well have been written in hieroglyphics for all that I could understand it made sense to my eyes. Time will tell whether I made the right logical leap or if I'm on a wild goose chase - but the stitches are matching up in the right numbers and each mark on the paper has a sensible meaning now.

Pom-poms and Lace

The two Jayne hats still sit on the table, sans pom-poms. I'm trying to figure out pom-pom making from Internet instructions and I'm not sure if I'm bad at it, pom-pom making is a slow process, I'm doing it wrong, or if it's something else entirely. It might end up being a project to do Sunday night while we watch Firefly. On the plus side, Colin is delighted with the Jayne hat and was upset that I'm not going to let him take it until it has its rightful pom-pom in place. My concerns that he would not remember Firefly or Serenity are apparently unfounded.

On the plus side, the lace scarf is done. I'm not entirely sure what did it, but by the sixth repeat of the pattern, I found a rhythm and realised why everyone keeps telling me that lace knitting is relaxing. (Yes, I realise that I'm the one who was complaining so vocally about it before - now watch me look up lace scarf patterns on the internet for myself.) Mom likes the gift, even though I had to block it after I gave it to her.

(Yes, eventually there will be pictures of everything, but only after I get my hands on a working camera.)

Fall break is nearly over, which means returning to the Philadelphia airport, medieval literature, and school food. Blech. For plane reading, I have World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and hopefully my iPod won't bite the dust again. I'll just cross my fingers and pray that there won't be another two hour delay on the flight.

Knitting, Films, and Books

I am currently sitting in front of my parents' computer, knitting a Jayne hat. It is a delight of fall colours and my parents think I'm nuts to be making one (I think I'll live). The Falk is going to be toasty warm around my ears this winter, I think. I'm making two - one for myself and one for Colin. I remember him loving Firefly two years ago when he saw it and Serenity for the first time, but I'm not sure if he remembers it.

I watched Serenity again tonight and then all of the bonus features, most of which were quite new to me. I loved it. I love Joss in general, actually, so that was no surprise. And enough people have called me a Browncoat that I suppose I'm one by default by now. I just need to figure out if Kaylee was, in fact, supposed to be played by an Asian actress originally - and how to get this from some kind of official source. (Okay, I suppose wanting to include Firefly in my thesis make me a Browncoat, wouldn't it?) I think I will watch the film with Joss' commentary tomorrow while I knit the ear flaps on the hats tomorrow. (Ear flaps. This might be interesting.) And then I will probably attempt to swallow Laurie Finke's Women's Writing, Feminist Theory whole.