cosmic_celery

It seems like I've not made a proper journal entry in forever.

Christmas went nicely and I managed not to make my mother angry about something or other, which is nice. It didn't seem to become the big deal that it could have...though at times it nearly got there. We did Christmas dinner at Grandmas and my Dad was there. Dad pushing himself last minute into holidays always pisses Mom off to no end, but things moved peaceably along.

I didn't really have much money at all this year, so she got a book and journal with the first page filled with nice things I think about her. ...I also wrapped up some tangerines and a banana, which made for fun unwrapping, and hopefully she thought it was as amusing as I thought it was.

For my dad the hit gift seems to be a book on beautiful experiments done in the history of science. He called me up and told me how much he likes it (no word of the other two books). When I was in the bookstore so much in the science section looked interesting, so maybe I'll head back later when I have more money and buy up a whole shelf's worth for myself.

I knitted my grandma a nice, warm scarf. I think that she liked it, and even if she doesn't she can still wear it while she's watching TV or something.

As for myself, I received some lovely things, including some awesome gloves from mertondingle a couple Past Doctor Adventures from shinnyjenni, as well as a bunch of wonderful cards.

Thanks, everyone!
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On New Years I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with mom. She hadn't seen it before. I drank a rum and Coke because mom bought rum....but I don't really like rum. Or at least that rum. Ah well. I'd like to figure out more what sort of drinks I like. How's that for a New Year's resolution? Drink more.

Maybe I'm missing the self-improvement angle.

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Oh, and now I'm sick.

So, I'm riding in on the tail-end of this five things meme. pimpmytardis gave me these things to elaborate on:

1) Six/Rani

( Cut because I rambled... )
2) Knitting and the Season 18 scarf in general

I've been working on my Season 18 scarf since around January, and so far I've gotten this much done:


This is my second project, and my last project was a scarf as well, so I still have a lot to learn about knitting. I'm thinking about knitting Romana's long, white scarf. That might be a fun project to practice stockinette with. Hopefully I can work my way up to sweaters and hats and things. Maybe I'll try socks soon! Goodness, isn't knitting exciting?

3) the Super Writing Challenge

Last year I forget National Poetry Month, which is April. A lot of people take the opportunity to write one poem a day for a month, which is a great writing challenge. But, since I forgot about it, during May I issued my own challenge. The challenge was to do one creative thing each day...a poem, a short story, or a comic.

Of course, in the end, I did a few things and then ended up making up the rest with haiku, but I still think it was a great idea. Maybe again this May?

5) socal_who

I created this with urchinmoppet on a whim, to see what chance there is of getting Whovians in Southern California together. I hope something comes of it, or at least it will be a convenient place to talk about the next Gallifrey One. I'm not sure how much use it will be to me personally since I'm a bit of a hermit, but maybe I can get over that if it means being able to ramble on about Doctor Who in public sometime. =) Flisters, if you're in Southern California, join up!

If you're observant, you'll notice that there's no number four. Number four was "Owen love" which I'll have to talk about later because I want to do him good, analytical justice.

Right now, it's about as wide as a piece of paper is tall, and a bit longer. I'm using Lion Brand Suede, which I wasn't sure about at first, but I'm really warming up to. It's fuzzy, but not fluffy.

Now if I can only get the cat to stop attacking my yarn as I knit.

I finally got the rest of the yarn to finish my super Five-scarf, and it's almost done. Really, this thing looks like what might happen if Four's scarf and Five's jacket had crazy fashion accessory lovin'. I'll probably finish it this week. Now the only thing to wonder is: To fringe, or not to fringe?

Eep, and classes all day tomorrow! Or rather, today, since it's past midnight...
Not all of my books have arrived yet, but hopefully I wont need anything the first day of class. Still, I may bring along what I do have. Whee. And I should be getting some sleep!

So, addressing one of my notes-to-talk-about from last time:
Knitting needles:

For my Doctor Five scarf (which is coming along AWESOME, by the way) I got some new needles made of something called "Casein" which, up til now I hadn't heard of.

The blurb from the place I bought them from:
"Casein is made from a natural organic protein polymer (skimmed milk) that is not toxic to produce. They are biodegradable, static eliminating, ideal for arthritic knitters, warm to the touch while being used, lighter than bamboo, and flexible!"

My first thought: Weird. Milk products in my knitting needles.
Second thought: Awesome. Milk products in my knitting needles.

Okay, so after I've been knitting with these for a while I've come to the conclusion that they're pretty neat, though I'm not sure If I prefer them over my heavier, metal needles.

From Wikipedia:
In addition to being consumed in milk, casein is used in the manufacture of adhesives, binders, protective coatings, plastics (such as for knife handles and knitting needles), fabrics, food additives and many other products. It is commonly used by bodybuilders as a slow-digesting source of amino acids as opposed to the fast-digesting whey protein, and also as an extremely high source of glutamine (post-workout). Another reason it is used in bodybuilding is because of its anti-catabolic effect, meaning that casein consumption inhibits protein breakdown in the body.

Equal application for both knitting and bodybuilding. Science? You win this round.

I started my first ever knitting project today! Whee. Unfortunately, I won't be able to join in with the good vs. evil knit-along over at who_knits, but I'm quite happy with what I've got going.  It's pretty much a POA Slytherin scarf, except not really. Mmmyup. I got the first two parts done today...the very first green section and the first grey bar that will become part of the trapped-bar pattern. I feel accomplished, but my thumbs hurt. I think I need to cut my nails down a bit. Anyhow, yay.


Come on, Draco, smile! It's a Slytherin scarf! All dark green and pretty and...oh, fine.