Nerd Sadness

So, yesterday I was messing around (where I probably shouldn't have been messing around) on my computer, trying to get a game to work, and apparently did something wonky. After I restarted my computer, I couldn't log in. It was all, well, wonky. So, I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu from scratch. I didn't really lose anything, since Pretty much everything is still on my external hard drive, but I spent a lot of time making it look all pretty and installing programs and stuff. So, mild sadness. Oh well. Lessons learned the hard way, I guess. Also? need to look in to how to make a restore disc or something. Kind of bummed, though, because I would rather be knitting instead of messing around with my computer crap all over again. I really need to get cranking on the knitting- it's almost December! Are you knitting Christmas gifts this year?

LINUX

A few days ago I decided to switch to a LINUX operating system called Ubuntu. (non-nerds, this isn't going to get any less nerdy, so feel free to vacate if you want to, guilt-free. Promise. Knitting content tomorrow.) Actually, let me backtrack a little bit, because I really do not make major decisions like this on whims. About a month and a half ago, a friend told me about this "great operating system! it's LINUX! I'ts fast and pretty and awesome!" (Okay, that might not be his EXACT words. Sue me.) I checked out the website repeatedly for about two weeks. By "repeatedly" I mean that I probably wasted at least 10 hours of my life just researching this silly thing. Then I took a week or two off, and did that all over. About a week before I decided to make the change, I was looking up all kinds of crap. What programs could I not live without that don't have equivalents? What the bloody hell is an emulator? What makes LINUX so special? You get the picture. Finally, one day, I decided to make the leap. I carefully scoured my computer for anything that needed to be be backed up onto the external hard drive and did so. Then I started installation. (My first thought was to partition hard drives, just in case, but decided to just go for the fresh start.) So, now we are back where we started. I installed Ubuntu, blah blah blah. So far, though, I really like it. I think it is pretty user friendly, even for a non-nerd. There are TONS of helpful resources out there whenever I get stuck doing something. It is super-duper fast, and I found out how to customize and make pretty much everything a lovely shade of bubblegum pink. There is NOTHING on my desktop. (SQUEEEE!) the only major snag that I have run into (and yes, this is pretty major) is that I can't seem to get my printer to work with the OS. Sadly, Lexmark (my printer manufacturer) doesn't really have printer support for LINUX operating systems. Which, really, is just sad. I searched briefly for a workaround of some sort, but gave up pretty quickly, since I had homework to do. Anyways, besides the whole printer thing, I really, really like it. I am looking forward to spending more time in the Terminal (kind of like DOS) and playing around there. I think I am forever a LINUX convert already, though, and you would have to have some pretty compelling stuff to get me to go back to Windows or to shell out the major bucks for a Mac. I'm off to look for LINUX related knitting patterns. Tee Hee! Any of you use LINUX?

Stuff.

Another busy day- Hubbster was home a little early from work, so we decided to go get some supplies for the upcoming SCA event. We both want a rosary to wear, so we got supplies for that. I also made myself two necklaces today- a pearl one, and another with red glass beads. Both turned out great! I'll have to post pictures soon. My rosary is going to be a little, delicate one, with dark blue jasper beads. Should be very pretty, and go well with my dress (it's light blue). I did some more sewing, and all of the sewing on the bodice of my dress is done, and I pieced together the skirt tonight. All that's left for the dress is pleating and attaching the skirt, hemming, and putting eyelets on the bodice for lacing up the front. I'm getting close to being done, which is good, considering the event is next weekend! I'm planning to make a cloak, too, in case it gets cold and yucky. That should be a one-day project, though. I need to do the sleeves, too, but those should go quickly. Then more eyelets on those. I need to order some ribbon for lacing, finish the edges on my under-bodice...jeez, I still have a lot of work to do! Should be well worth it, though. I'm excited. Well, that's about it- see you tomorrow!

Knitting on Hold

Yep, that's right. Although I've been knitting here and there, aI now have a major undertaking. The Hubbster and I are planning to go to Lonely Mountain, a local SCA event in July. This means I have some garb to make! I'm planning to make an Italian renaissance dress, which is quite a big undertaking. Here's a general idea of what I want my dress to look like. I'm currently working on a type of corset that doesn't use boning- it's going well! I'm definitely excited, and am enjoying sewing again, if if it does mean that it takes time away from my knitting. I may start a "dress diary" as well, and chronicle my adventures in sewing for this. Wish me luck! Side note: The "10 items or less" lane at Wal-Mart is NOT the place to buy $200 worth of groceries. Bitch.

Cooking and Gaming

Tonight for our little gaming group, I made these wonderful Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches. (We served ours on whole wheat flat bread.) It was super yummy! I also made this peach cobbler, which failed miserably. I'll try it again and see if I can get it to work. Another great, suspenseful, and slightly creepy gaming session. I don't know if I've told you guys, but we're playing a Serenity role playing game. The world is a blast, and Erin is a great GM! My intuition (I have a good gut for these things) tells me the next session will be a crazy one... Too tired to blog much else. See you tomorrow!

Gaming!

ETA: I once again was too tired blogging last night, and hit "save" instead of "publish". Sorry! Hubbster, Erin, and I started a new role-playing game tonight! Last week we rolled up our characters for a Serenity rpg, and this week we played! Erin was running the show, and she did a great job. We got into a bar brawl, hosted a high-stakes poker game that went terribly wrong, tried to figure out the mystery behind the security guard, and developed some character relationships. All in all, a great night. Right now, though, i'm exhausted, and going to bed. Tomorrow I'll fill you in on my gigantic knitting undertaking that I've let myself be guilted into! YAY!

Hubbster Thinks I'm Nuts

I was printing off some magnets of the Monsterette for my sister today, and had some extra room on the sheet. I decided to make some fibery love magnets for myself! Here's what I got: They make me giggle, and I love them! Especially that llama. He looks so lovable. Sheep you tomorrow!

Cool Things

Here's a post of some cool things I've seen around- knits, websites, blogs, and the like. Enjoy! Disclaimer: some hard core nerdery follows. Clink links at your own risk! (No, not all are nerdy, just most.) LOLTHULHU Little Otsu The Very Secret Diaries of the Lord of the Rings Which way is she turning? Can you make her switch? Make yourself think you're crazy! Pirate-ize your vocabulary, mateys! This is just funny, in that messed-up kind of way. See you tomorrow!

White and Nerdy

Yes, I am a big enough nerd to think this this is hilarious. Are you? See you tomorrow!

G is for...

G is for gaming. We're talking full-blown nerd gaming here, with dice and dragons and miniatures and stuff. I'm relatively new to gaming- we're currently playing my fourth campaign. I started while I was pregnant, and my first gaming experience was a Cthulhu role-playing game. Since then, we've also played a Zombie game and two Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. Starting to game was the beginning of my true nerdiness- there are very few thresholds to cross before I will be a full-blown nerd. Even though I'm a nerd, I still maintain some of my feminine charms. For instance, my dice- owning and collecting dice is an integral part of being a gaming nerd. My dice are all purple and pretty, some of them are even sparkly! Of course, they live inside a cozy little frilly dice bag that I knit. No surprise, that's purple as well. I posted about it a while back. Even though it may be nerdy, I love gaming. It is so much fun to get into a story that you are helping to create. Besides, we get to hang out with awesome friends and eat junk food and stuff. I look forward to it every week! I know I told you I'd show you pictures of my new hat, but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow. See you then!

Dice Bag Pattern

Alrighty. A few of you loverly readers have aked for my dice bag pattern, so here it is! I would love it too if you would email me pictures of it when your done. Yaay for my very first pattern! Frilly Girly Dice Bag Yarn: I used Caron Simply Soft in Lavender, but any yarn at all will do! Needles: I used Size 6 straight. You should use a size or two smaller than recommended for a tighter fabric, unless you don't want a tighter fabric. Alrighty. I know most of you out there hate gauge, but you really only need to knit a few rows here- it won't be hard, I promise! So. Get your yarn and needles of choice, and cast on about 15 stitches. knit about 5 rows in stockinette stitch. Get out a ruler and measure how many stitches are in one inch. Multiply that number by how many inches wide you want your bag. For example, if you want your bag 3 inches wide and knit 4 stitches to an inch, multiply 4 and 3 for a total of twelve. Now multiply that number by 2- a total then of 24 for the example above. That is your number of cast on stitches. (I used 40, if you're wondering.) Pattern: Cast-on your decided number of stitches.( see above for instructions) These rows will make the two decorative bands along the bottom of the bag. If you do not want them, just knit along your merry way in stockinette or garter stitch. Row 1: knit. Row 2: purl. Row 3: knit. Row4: knit. Row 5:knit. Row 6:purl. Row 7:knit. Row 8:purl. Row 9:knit. Row 10:knit. Row 11: knit. Continue in stockinette stitch until the bag is one inch shorter than the total height you would like it to be, ending on the wrong side (purl side in stockinette). Eyelet row: knit 2, YO. Repeat until end of row. Knit 3 more rows in stockinette or garter stitch (whichever you are doing.) Picot edge bind off: Bind off two stitches, * slip stitch from left needle to right needle, cast on 2 stitches, bind off 4 stitches*. Repeat from * to * until no stitches remain. (Note: If you are right handed, please use the opposite needle in these directions- I knit left handed. So, where it says "slip from left needle to right needle", you should slip from right to left instead.) Finishing: Fold the bag in half, right sides together. Seam any way you want to. Flip your bag right side out, weave a pretty ribbon, small i-cord, or braid through the eyelets. Fill with dice or other things. Enjoy! This pattern would be really easy to customize. You could do stripes, felt it, do more rows of garter stitch, or pretty much any pattern you can think of. Have fun with it!

Blog Makeover

TADA!! Well, folks, here is the new and improved blog! I hope everyone likes it. If you don't, well, you can suck it, because I've put a good 15 hours of work into this. I have to thank a few cool people for the background and the font- you can check them out in the box at the bottom of the right side. I really like what I ahve going on here, and I think it will stay this way for a while. Let me know what you think, and if you ahve any issues with links or anytihng like that. Okay? Okay. In other news, our regualrly scheduled gaming session was a bit different tonight- we finished up our last game and are kind of in limbo at the moment. Tonight was one of those fun board game nights. I am quite proud to say that I am the reigning Scrabble Master! I won by a mere 3 points, and contribute my success to the words hex, pyre, yu, and lah. I couldn't have done it without you! Wish you could've been there, Erin, to bask in my glory! *wink* Friday James and I decided to try somewhere new for lunch, so we went to Saggio's. Let me tell you, if you live in Albuquerque, you NEED TO GO. It is that simple. The food is amazing Italian cuisine- from gourmet pizza to giant calzones to custom-made lasagna. They sell pizza by the (gigantic) slice as weel, and had some sinful looking desserts (which we were to stuffed to try-next time!). Not quite sit-down, but not quite fast food either. If you've been to The Frontier Restaurant, it is exactly like that. Actually, it is directly across the street. Check it out! YUM! Current knitting is making slow progress, but I seem to need a little breather after I finish something, even if it is a measly little bag. I'm planning to pick up the needles again here this week, though. I'm really just enjoying my weekend hanging out with my man. I've also been still mildly busy with the Favorite Color Swap, trying to sort out people who haven't heard from their pals yet, et cetera. I'm glad the insanity of making matches and sending a gazillion emails is over, though, and I have some treats in store for my pal that I think she will love! Now just to get started on them. signing off now- I really should get to bed!

All Things Purple

Alrighty! I have been a bit of slacker for this whole Project Spectrum thing, but not this month! The color this month is purple, and frankly, I'm on a roll! Let's start, not with knits, but with my purchase this weekend: That's right, folks. Dice. And not just your basic ol' six-sider, either. Why the hell would I buy dice, you ask? I asked myself the same thing. Actually, it for very nerdy reasons I have purchased not one, but TWO, sets of dice. A few months ago I decided to start "gaming" with James and our friends, mostly not wanting to be left out and desperately craving social interactions. Now, this is like the sit-around-and-make-stuff-up gaming, not like board games. Although we do that occasionally too. This is more the Dungeons and Dragons, nerdy style gaming. Although we played something much cooler. My character died bacause she was mauled by a zombie werewolf. That is cool. Okay, okay. Maybe not.By purchasing my first dice, I may have become a little more nerdy. I realize this. I did manage to pick the prettiest, girliest dice in the store, though. And they are purple. To offset the nerdiness with even more girliness, I decided I was going to knit the frilliest, girliest, cutest dice bag ever seen. Voila! My dice bag.I used Caron Simply Soft in a nice shade of lavender. To match my dice, of course! I knit it on size 6 needles in stockinette stitch. On the bottom I did two single rows of garter stitch about 4 rows apart to add a little pizzaz. On the top is an eyelet row without the decreases (to add to frilliness) and I ended with a picot-edge bind off. I used a plain white ribbon to tie it off, and there you have it! The frilliest, girliest dice bag ever known to man! Here is a better picture of the top. The finished bag is 4 inches across and about 5 1/2 inches high. For those of you so inclined to make little bags, I can esily type up the pattern. It is easily customized to make the size of bag you would like, too! I think off the basic pattern, one could have a lot of fun with adding little details, using different colors, et cetera. Let me know if you want the pattern and I'll email it to you. In more purple news, here is a picture of the Short Row Ribbed Scarf I'm working on at the moment. I really like the pattern- it is so simple, but makes for a really interesting scarf. I'll definitely be making more of these! So there you have it, folks. All kinds of purple-y goodness. Enjoy!!