Little Loki Pattern

Yes, I go away, I come back. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say I'm happier now that I can be here again.

I missed you.

OK, whatever. On to the business of the day. I finally -- after a shockingly long time, considering how much work I do on the computer using multiple flavors of software/OS/stuff -- figured out how to make a PDF of my Little Loki pattern.

You remember, this one:

I'm sorry, I am blonde.


 
So, anyway, here's the linkie to the pattern and charts (there are two documents, be sure to download both of them):

Little Loki Scarf Pattern and Charts

It's on Dropbox, a handy little place to stash documents for public consumption. Click on the files, download to your computer. I swear my computer has been practicing safe connection, I have no virii. Knock on wood.

Happy knitting, and let me know if there are any problems with the links, pattern or my psychology.

Eh, scratch that last one.

In other news, I found out that Red Heart is going boutique in their new yarns. I've bought a couple different flavors and have every intention of reviewing them for you. Look for that in the coming days.

Golly gee whiz. Did I mention I missed coming to my blog? I did.

Experiments in Knitting

I'm trying something new, and I'm a little proud of myself. See this stuff?

It's Yarn Bee Princess. You may not be able to see, but there's two strands plied together there -- a matt yarn and a shiny yarn. It is beautiful unto me, and I wants it.

But, in a very different move from the typical, I have decided to choose a pattern before I actually buy the yarn. That way, I get enough yarn but not too much.

Who am I, and what have I done with myself?

Typically I'll just stash yarn and then when I find it again will decide what I can do with the yardage I have. This is the first time I've actually considered choosing the project first and then buying the yarn. It feels rather weird to me, like putting on a new pair of shoes for the first time. Sort of right while still managing to be sort of wrong.

But I don't want to end up with an extra skein that I can't use and have to attempt and trade or just leave to languish. Nor do I want to end up one or two skeins short of the project I really desire. I want enough yarn, and only just enough yarn, but not yarn lying around at sixes and sevens in my stash with no purpose. In other words, I want the yarn to use, not just to have.

Am I growing up as a knitter? Have I passed some sort of knitting maturity test? Or am I just trying something new in my knitting to see how it works as opposed to my other methods?

Gah.

Anyway, I've got my Little Loki pattern off with a friend who is going to check it for clarity. I tend to be a "pantser" when it comes to my personal designs -- the only thing I actually wrote down as I knit was the bead chart; all the rest was catch-as-catch-can.

I hope to have it back, revised, edited and posted within the week, both here and on Ravelry.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Bestiest Besties Evar, Part Deux

Heh, and she even spelled my name right:

Too right, sister. Too right.

It's so very pretty, I'm going to put it between two sheets of clear plastic in a frame and hang it against my wall -- which is a bright jade green, so it will contrast beautifully.

In other knitting news, someone actually asked for my Little Loki pattern, so I'm transcribing it. It's harder than I was expecting, actually. I had to build the chart and now I'm filling in the chart. When I did it by hand, it was much easier. Typing it up on a computer, though, is about to drive me nuts.

You'll see it when it's done, though. As will everyone else on Ravelry. If I can figure out how to post it....

Oops. Gotta go do some more thinking, I think!

Little Loki wrap-up and S-'s post.

I'm not sure how to begin with this post. It's almost like titling things -- I'm sort of crap at it. I have two themes to this post, and while they sorta-kinda go together, they really don't. And since the post is photo heavy, I'm going to jump-cut it in the middle of the first section. You'll understand why.

Little Loki

My beloved Little Loki has gone from this:

(JUMP FOR IT!)

Yet more screaming out here!

This popped out of my knitting today, with a little help. And look, just look at what was left behind in my lap:

Look at the beading on the second half! Such beautiful asymmetry! Such beady wonderfulness!

It's so strange, really. To have finished it, I mean. You get into the middle of the thing, wading knee-deep in left-leaning mesh, and you feel it will never end, but suddenly...the needles spring free! The scarf falls to your lap, and you are left with nothing to do but block the thing and weave in ends.

I'm a bit at sixes and sevens, I must say. What now that the thing which has been, to a certain point, the only project in my life in which I had total confidence is done? I'm not sure what to do next.

Strange lassitude aside, I've got some leftovers.

 That's a massive ball of yarn there, just in case you weren't familiar with the size of my weird man hands.

I also have beads leftover. These in silver and the one token blue (which I'm going to string on something and use as a necklace) from the three tubes originally opened and used. It's been so long, I'm not sure where the other three tubes are -- I know I've kept them, I just don't know where. Well, maybe that's what I'll do with the rest of my day.

But that yarn ball had me curious. Just how much yarn is left over?

European bakers, drug dealers and knitters all have one thing in common, what is it?

Metric scales. After that whopping great scarf, nearly six feet long unblocked, I've got 50 grams of sock yarn left. By my measure, that's about 250 yards. My friends weren't kidding; I could make a pair of matching wristers. And I may, when my eyes have recovered from the trauma of knitting on a dark day with black yarn.

The exhilaration has worn off, lunch is now two hours late and I feel in need of food and, perhaps, a nap. Then I'm going to soak the scarf, pin it out and dry it out for the wearing. I've got my rust-proof t-pins around here somewhere.

Something else to look for in addition to the three tubes of beads.

In case you heard the screaming where you are....

around one in the afternoon-ish, here's why:

 That is the last of my left leaning mesh! Woohooo!

Yes, there's two safety lines in there. Yes, I have security issues, why do you ask?

Anyway, I got to the end of my mesh section and tested all my stitches by pulling on the fabric. Everything was secure, nothing started running so I did this:

I took two of the security lines out. The one in the center of my mesh is still there -- my momma didn't raise no fools -- but the other two are free. Well,...

I left one in at the end of the mesh. So right now, there's two safety lines in my knitting -- the one in the center and the one at the end of the mesh. Still and all, that's one fewer than there was before, and, most importantly, the mesh is done!

I wish I had a bottle of wine, I'd get snookered and do a secret Little Loki happy dance. I cannot believe I've finally gotten to the end of the endless mesh. Sigh.

Only one thing left to do:
 

Get started on the beads!

I hate it when the weather changes.

 

 It's the start of orange tree season! I loves me some orange trees.

 

Not that I don't like new weather. I do, I love new weather -- particularly when we arrive at the beginning of  Supposed To Be Cold season (we have two seasons in these parts, Supposed To Be Cold and Supposed To Be Warm, which is why I always laugh when someone says they won't move south when they retire because they "like having seasons." What seasons, for the love of qiviut?!?!?) I love the first half of Supposed To Be Cold. But the change, the actual process of going from STBW to STBC, gives me headaches. I've been battling a rather nasty one today, as a matter of fact. As I was trying to function and write despite the feeling that my head was being slammed repeatedly in a metal drawer, I realized my tolerance for pain has radically dropped since I had my wisdom teeth pulled. The magic of the little brownish pink pills has made me weak, I suppose. So I began  to frantically toss my desk drawer like a robber on the clock, looking for my bottle of magic beans. No love. I start moving things on the shelf of my desk complex where my drive sits, trying to find the bottle. Again, no love. I knew there were some pills in my purse (insurance against facial swelling from days of old), so I got one out, swallowed it and came back to my desk to await the magic.

And then I just about slapped myself silly. Here's my desk as it was this afternoon (taken only moments ago; I swear I haven't touched anything but the sticky note pads):

Oh, my. What could that ever be sitting right in front of my monitor?

Maybe I should have slapped myself. Not that it would help, the Advil is helping (my headache is no longer pounding, it just feels like my sinuses have been filled with lead shot), but slapping myself around would not help. I will blame the loopiness on the pain. Yeah, that's it, the pain. Because I'm totally not blonde or anything like that. *facepalm*

In other news, the work situation may be looking marginally more hopeful today. I just have to not screw up an interview I've got on Friday and hope for the best possible outcomes. Which is, really, all anyone can do -- hope for the best possible outcomes. Control is a seductive illusion, and giving it up is hard, hard, so very, very hard to do. But I understand that, while I can control myself and my reactions, I cannot control others or their reactions, either to me or other events.

I hate that aspect of life.

I also got some work done on one of my fiction projects. Precious little else to do today, really. I've got that and a non-fiction project in process, and a second fiction project that's on hold until I get my first one done. It's a trope that your first fully-realized piece of fiction sucks, and I want to get that out of the way before I work on the one that I really, truly love. In the hopes that it won't suck, if you see. I figure I can use any help I can get when it comes to writer juju and rituals.

Writers are very superstitious, you see. I suppose all artists are. Because we know, deep down in our heart of hearts, the art isn't coming from us. We're just transcriptionists of something that floats out in the ether. So we do all we can to raise the best antennae we can muster and hope we get the best signals to transcribe.

Despite the fact that I've been worrying myself sick and cross-eyed the past three or four days, I managed to get some work done on Little Loki. I'd show you, but seriously, do you need to see three more inches of left-leaning mesh? If you do, might I recommend therapy, because, dang, that's strange. I mean, it's my scarf and even I'm having trouble working up enthusiasm for looking at any more left leaning mesh.

But I'm thisclose to getting to the end of the left leaning mesh (and, oh, the parties we'll have then, my friends) and finally, finally!, gaining the tail section, which is chocka-block full of beady, stockinette goodness. And then the cast off. And then the blocking and the wearing. *shudder*

Is it wrong of me to feel more enthused about wearing my Little Loki scarf than I ever have at the thought of an actual man? I know I'm a yarn pervert, but I hadn't realized how much of a yarn pervert I was. Then again, I can honestly say that Little Loki is absolutely perfect for me -- seeing as how I designed him (well, took the transcription on the coolest scarf inspired by a movie villain ever) and then made him my very own self -- which is more than I can say for the poor guys who had to endure my presence in the years I was pretending to be Little Miss Business Suit.

I wonder if I can send them apology cards after all this time, that had to have been a trial....

Half-way mark

Tonight I went to knit night. I admit, I've not been feeling the knitting mojo lately, and that's always a sad thing. But I still go every Monday -- if nothing else, it keeps me in contact with humanity at large. I wasn't feeling what I've got on the needles, so I asked the group what I should work on. The only vote I got was for the Loki scarf. So I worked on it.

And then I frogged everything I accomplished at the end of the night. My friend was right; mesh doesn't TINK. Thank the knitting goddesses that I use not one but two safety lines -- one where I stop for the night and one was left at the base of my mesh.  You know, just in case I find something way back that I missed the first time. So I only lost seven repeats of mesh -- 28 rows. When you only have 21 stitches, that's not all that much.

Still and all, I got home and was waiting for Castle to start and decided to try again. I mean, there was nothing to do until 10 but knit, so...

I got everything I'd done at knit group and frogged re-done, and more. You'll notice, too, that the rescue line at the base of the mesh is gone. Where did it go?

I moved it up. I measured tonight and I'm at my half-way point. Half-way through the entire scarf.

Good Lord, y'all. I never realized how tiresome mesh can become! But at least I'm on the downhill side of the scarf, and there's more beadwork to look forward to, so maybe now that I can just...fold over the scarf to check my progress vis a vis the mesh, I'll be moving along more quickly. If nothing else, I can now see how many more repeats I've got, and just having a number is a great relief.

Of course, when I get to the beading section, the knitting will slow right down again, but that's just to be expected. The last few rows before the center and the last few rows before the bind off warp time so that they actually take longer to knit than anything that came before.

Oh, well. I'm closer! That's what counts.

I've never been so consumed by one project before.

I have no problem knitting on my Little Loki scarf -- none. I will state right now for the record: That is hella weird. I've always, always made a habit of having three or four projects on the needles (and in my knitting bag -- I'll be honest and admit I've probably got about six project bags in the Stashtainer of Yarny Goodness with needles in them, but they're not in my knitting bag, big distinction) due to the occasional onset of knitting boredom. Suddenly, it's nothing but Little Loki all day long. When I'm working, I want to be knitting on LL. When I'm reading, I want to be knitting LL. When I'm watching t.v., I want to be knitting on LL. And when I give in and knit on the Loki scarf, I keep knitting past my bedtime. I never do that. Or, at least, I never did before.

Part of it is the sheer giddy joy of designing something, using a technique I've never even tried before, and having it turn out just like what I saw in my slightly overheated imagination. I'll probably never do that again, you know, hit it right out of the gate. I'm making hay while the sun shines on this feeling of Awesome Win because it's not likely to repeat itself frequently.

Part if it is...I've dreamed of this scarf for so long, seeing it unfold before my eyes is just unbelievable. It's been percolating in my head since the first time I went to see Thor, maybe it popped up between the first and second showings, who knows (and yes, I think I'm getting the DVD for my birthday -- well the pre-order, it doesn't come out until several weeks after -- so I'll have hours and hours and hours of personal enjoyment of my favorite anti-hero of all time -- I grok his story so well, it's creepy), and now it's flowing off my needles with a quickness.

In a life where so little goes to plan, this one thing, this silly little scarf, provides a beacon of hope. So, yeah, I get a bit weird about it. I suppose I shouldn't be confused as to why I'm so up on the Loki right now. I need a smidgen of win to counter the great masses of fail I'm going through right now.

Is that so bad of me?

And just because:

Look at that pooling. The colors are even schmexier than I'd hoped they'd be when I ordered the yarn. When I finish this thing, I'm emailing the nice lady who dyed the yarn for me, just so she can see what I did with it.

Lovely Little Loki

OMB, I am just rockin' out on my Little Loki scarf.

 Bead Segment 1 is complete, I've started up on my mesh. The mesh is the middle of the scarf; basically it's the length of the scarf.

 There's a close up of my mesh. It's a fairly easy pattern, but I'm paranoid about messing up. So, yes, that's two rescue lines you see in the stitches. I don't want to have to burn my Little Loki for inattention -- not that I didn't completely enjoy the act of beading (although there might be some sort of muscle strain in the wrist inherent in the act of sliding beads down the flosser and onto the stitch), but I don't want to have to redo that segment. I love that segment. It's beauty incarnate. Taking it out and redoing it would be like scraping the Mona Lisa down and repainting her on the same canvas. Vulgarity.

The other bead segment will be every bit as beautiful, I'm certain.

Here's a close up of the part of the bead section you didn't get to see in my previous pictures:

It will be asymmetrical, the beading. The pattern on the other end is almost a mirror image, although the straight row sections are different.

I am conflicted about the matchy-matchy thing, you know. It's like rhyming iambic pentameter, take it too far and you could serve apples with the cheese. A part of my mind is eased by symmetry and equality between parts, part of me is just as soothed by asymmetry -- and sometimes, it's the very same parts. The conflict makes for some interesting breakfast conversations, I can assure you, but there is a middle ground. Well-reasoned asymmetry. I believe I have found it in this project and am greatly pleased with myself.

If it weren't for my remaining flaws, I would be impossible to live with, with this massive wave of self-satisfaction.

Still and all, can't wait for tomorrow. I shall have some prime daylight knitting hours to work on Little Loki. More inches of mesh, will the thrills never end. But every little bit gets me closer to the casting off, blocking and wearing!