I am still so proud of my Traveling Woman shawlette that I keep trawling the shawl pattern pages on Ravelry and queueing things happily for the future, and at least I am UP on fandom news, because I keep cackling happily to myself, "Knit all the lace? Knit ALL the lace!"

(This will probably not last, by the way, but at least for the moment, I am happily trudging away on a feather and fan comfort shawl. Later, I shall probably return to my sixth pair of Sunday Swing Socks -- technically lace, yes, but different scale.)

I should probably not buy more yarn, but I kind of want more yarn. ...omg, The Dizzy Sheep has Malabrigo sock yarn today/tomorrow (different time zone than me), and I am all over that. Um, in the morning.

ETA: And of course I now have to frog the feather and fan shawl and start over because I screwed up.

ETA: And after ripping back eight rows -- it looks like I didn't actually have to rip. If you want me, I'll be the girl in the corner contemplating homicide.

I was out hiking around Vantage and Frenchman Coulee yesterday with my geology class, which was made of win; I haven't been out that way for a couple of years and I can't actually remember if I've ever been to Frenchman Coulee, which means I probably haven't. It's fairly well-known for rock climbing -- googling gets me some pretty cool pictures here, but the view is just fantastic. Washington's absolutely gorgeous sometimes, especially eastern Washington -- we're very geologically active, and have been in the past, too, and a lot of the land east of the Cascades has been shaped by the Great Missoula Floods. It's very stark and very impressive. It is also, not particularly coincidentally, my mental setting for the High Reaches in Narnia.

( Narnia, the Pacific Northwest, Cair Paravel, New Orleans, and the Doylist perspective* )

*Watsonian vs. Doylist, for those that haven't heard the phrase before.

*

I have also been thinking about domestic fantasy, which is sort of a rare subgenre in the fantasy world, and may not actually be an "official" subgenre the way high fantasy, urban fantasy, or swords and sorcery are, since I'm not entirely certain I've actually heard about it outside of my own head. Which -- doesn't seem unlikely, actually, because my mental picture of domestic fantasy is something that's very heavily based in the world, in the home, in small, discreet magics rather than grand, flashy ones, and -- need I say it? -- very female-oriented. The only published fantasy that I can think of that meets that description is in some of Robin McKinley's books -- my beloved Spindle's End being one of them, Chalice another. I would probably even count Sunshine in, because the main character is so heavily involved in baking. (Actually, I think the only RM books that don't fit this description are The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, though I haven't read The Outlaws of Sherwood, so I can't speak towards that.) All of RM's books tend to have grand magics at the end, but they're still fired by those small, domestic magics, and largely occur almost as an afterthought. I can't think of another author who does something similar. (Maybe some of Diana Wynne Jones's books? But those are less concerned with the home, generally.)

I've been thinking of writing an original short story for a while now that is domestic-y; the main character is a baker, and her magic is tied up in baking. (Also there is world-building where yeast is very important; an unmarried woman who works with yeast is something of a social outcaste, since yeast is traditionally associated with fertility and pregnancy. In this world, the majority of bakers are either married women with children underfoot or women who have passed the age of menopause and cannot have children. The main character is an unmarried woman without children, and doesn't work with yeast. See what reading a lot of cookbooks for fun gets you?)

Thinking of this because a lot of my pleasure reading lately has been cookbooks and food history, and I knit a lot, so I think of that, and I just picked up a couple of books on country traditions from the university library.

*

Kitten cuddling kittens! Puppies cuddling puppies! Kittens and puppies cuddling! Lots of animals cuddling!

*

Work proceeds on Traveling Woman; I am halfway through the last chart.

*

My Latin prof thinks I am a fast translator! *preens* I think, at least in this early stage, that this is one of the few cases where being really really good at English is actually helping, because I'm used to taking words and phrases that are jumbled together and then rearranging them in a coherent, meaningful order, which with the Latin-to-English translations in the first few chapters of Wheelock, is basically what we've been doing. Later this will doubtless no longer be as true, but at least the fact that word order doesn't matter isn't confusing me as much as it is some people in the class.

*

My cousin is having a baby! The (traditional Japanese) family is somewhat alarmed about this, because she is unmarried and her boyfriend is black, and therefore the first inkling we got of this is when my uncle (my mother's brother) e-mailed my father and told him how ashamed he was for the family and also to find out what kind of man had fathered a child on his daughter. My parents' reaction to this was somewhat hysterical laughter, as we have actually met my cousin's boyfriend on several occasions, and he's a very nice guy. (He's in the Army, as well, and has been shipped out to Iraq and Afghanistan twice since he and Maya have been dating? And keeps getting told he's shipping out again, and then they don't actually ship out.) So instead of hiring a private investigator, we called my cousin to confirm that she actually is pregnant (she is), and then assured her that we were on her side and we supported her. I don't think we actually care if she gets married or not, but he's asked her before, and now they're thinking about a courthouse wedding, with a big ceremony later. (Also, as I have mentioned, her boyfriend is Army, which means military benefits if they get married.) It was not planned, and she was on birth control, so -- an accident, but she sounds pretty happy about it.

(It also means I can start knitting baby clothes! What is the best yarn for baby clothes, o knitters?)

*

Huh, I should probably look up when the narniaexchange deadline is. (I have -- thoughts. And have to do research.)

*

I want to bake pie. Well, crostatas. I require blackberries, although blueberries are what I am more likely to get. (Blackberry pie is my favorite! But blackberries are expensive out here, because it's too dry for them to grow. On the West Side, they are an infestation.)

I shall probably attempt to do muffins, bars, and cookies this weekend, as well, since I am baking considerably less than I usually do because of classes, so I have to make it up during the week, as we have nearly burned through the stash in the freezer.

( cut for weight and clothes-bitching )

*

I love Japanese tradition, and also having relatives who like to give me money EVEN WHEN I AM NOT THERE. I mostly plan on buying yarn, which is at least one cause of my anxiety that I can do something about, even if I have discovered that I have been doing my yarnovers wrong. (Actually, I knew I was doing my yarnovers wrong the whole time, which is why I don't knit a lot of lace, but I couldn't find a good guide on actually doing yarnovers, especially since I knit continental. I did -- and still do, I think -- my yarnovers really weirdly.)

*

Human Voices is -- um, well, it's a braided POV, which isn't something I usually do. And I'm rewriting from the top down (or maybe the toe up? wait, I'm talking about Narnia, not socks), which is...tiring, a little, because the setting of the original draft was very firmly placed, and I have to move it up a year because of timing. (The difference between year one and year two, which is significant.)

*

I like knitting socks, but I always end up with yarn leftover -- probably not enough for another pair, but maybe enough for fingerless gloves? I'm not really sure what to do with the odd bits of yarn. (I'm not sure how much I have left over in either yardage or weight, so it's hard to guess. Hi, I'm Bed, I'm unhelpful.)

*

Herbs: we have parsley, sage, and rosemary already, and the basil died so we have to get more. I want to get mint, I'm not sure what kind, and coriander (although my mother hates coriander, so that's for me). Thyme, maybe? I kind of want to get catnip, for no particular reason. I hear it makes a good tea, although that one should probably stay inside instead of getting planted outside, as we have cats.

My mother says that if I can find somewhere to plant the corn, we can grow corn. We mostly do container gardening now -- not because we don't have the space, but because there are freaking deer (a couple wandering around the front yard right now, actually; I can see them from the window) and otherwise they'll get eaten unless we put up fencing, which we gave up on a couple years ago. Can one grow corn in containers? It seems unlikely.

I'm starting to hate staring at beads, y'all. I'd so much rather be spending money on yarn than beads. *sighs*

In other news, I seriously want to know the context for this picture (it's not new, I know I mentioned it a while ago), because the only thing I can think of happening ten seconds after it's been taken is Edmund punching Caspian in the face for being condescending. My Pevensies are angry.

...fuck it, I'm going to go take my last skein of sock yarn and cast on for my favorite socks, instead of working on Clapotis, which I don't think I have enough yarn for anyway.

I really wish these scarabs were cheaper, because I think they'd make great stitch markers. I am starting to hate the words "sold individually" and also "sold in anything less than a 10-piece set".

Am knitting Clapotis, six years after everyone else. We shall see how it goes, as the reason I took to one sock pattern and repeated it obsessively was that I really love short repeats, and fourteen stitches on a single needle was perfect for me. I could go on for two minutes or six hours! Shawls grow, and the only thing I've managed with that many stitches on a round at a time has been on a circ.

Also, I really need to get around to trying to make stitch markers at some point in time; I almost never use them so I don't have any, but they're kind of essential for Clapotis. I'm pretty sure I could make them; I used to make earrings and pendants and still have all the materials. (Including a hell of a lot of semi-precious stones, though now I can't recognize what any of them are. Some amethyst, various quartzes, turquoise, garnet, malachite, and some other stones I can't recognize. Topaz? Holy shit, I either need to get back into jewelry making or into making stitch markers; this is why Etsy was invented.) In the meantime, I am using bits of yarn tied into slipknots, which is slightly unstable, but will do for the time being. And it gives me something to do with all my little scrap bits of yarn.

Meanwhile, my canker sores still hurt like a motherfucker, and today I went in for an annual check-up -- as I can no longer see my pediatrician, new doctor, got a Tdap shot, so now my arm hurts as well and my daily schedule got fucked up, so I was off all day. I JUST CANNOT WIN, Y'ALL.

Speaking of knitting, I really need to finish up the Narnia bag; it needs to be blocked, lined, strapped, and photographed.

Huh, it struck me the other day that I have everything I need for making beaded stitch markers except for o-rings. I used to make jewelry, and I still have all the materials, including a lot of semi-precious stones. I'm too cheap to buy stitch markers, so I usually just use scraps of yarn, but I kept looking at all the pretty stitch markers on Etsy...

I am also baking every day. I like baking. However, yesterday I was four hours in the kitchen with two different kinds of cookies, one of which required me rolling balls by hand and rolling them in flour, and the other of which involved repeatedly re-rolling out dough and doing the cookie cutter thing. Cookies aren't exactly my favorite thing to bake. I much prefer muffins, which I haven't done yet, but plan to do tomorrow.

Also, gingerbread. It's seasonal! Except we ran out of (not used in the past decade or so) molasses over the past three batches of ginger cookies. And we have no cardamom.

Speaking of Etsy, you know what's fun? Typing narnia into Etsy's search and seeing what comes up. There's some pretty photography -- a lot of snowy landscapes and lampposts, mostly. Some interesting jewelry. Some artwork. These buttons, which I find pretty cool.

We are watching Narnia Christmas day. My mother may not know this yet, but I do! Because it has been far too long since I have seen any Narnia, and this is a crying shame.

Also, I have realized that because of my weird habits, it is easier for me to write fic when I'm at home. (Or it is right now. Also, not during certain hours of the day; I cannot multitask fic and the original at the same time.) Not that I am writing fic. Look, I'm afraid if I talk about it at all I'll jinx it, though let me just say, I have this really weird obsession with seasons. That fic? It should not be winter. It should be spring. IT IS NOT SPRING IN THERE. *throws up hands* Just because it is winter outside! It is not like there's alread 150K about HOW IT IS SPRING GODDAMNIT. *sigh*

This would all be cured if I just wrote a lot of LWW or pre-LWW fic, but...no. But maybe. We shall see.

I am tramping down on the urge to knit socks colored and patterned after various Narnia-related...things. Forests. Characters. Books. Scenes. I have a disease, guys. You'd think this disease would result in more fic, but I need to soak myself in canon again. Oh, Narnia canon, I MISS YOU. (Also, I have this weird urge to...write all the stuff I didn't write last year. Oh, God, last year.)

There may or may not be talking rabbits named Thumper and Killer. I wish I was kidding. Seriously, why the hell is it winter? I'm not sure if I have the emotional fortitute to go back and change the past 3K to spring. Yes, I too remember the days when I barely batted an eye at rewriting 10K. However, that was eight or twelve drafts ago. Oh, gods, I should not be talking about this. *debates deletng everything related to writing in the post*

...I woke up this morning and went OH MY GOD IT'S ALREADY OCTOBER AND I HAVEN'T EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT MY CHRISTMAS KNITTING.

I don't usually even do Christmas knitting, by the way. On the other hand, I've been doing a lot of knitting this year, and also, it strikes me that if I have to make them, I may actually give out Christmas presents.

I know. I am the bad relative. And the bad friend.

My life has not become more interesting in the past three (wow, really? I think that's the longest I've ever goen without updating) days, except that I think I perhaps am employed? Perhaps. I don't really want to be employed, but I just blew through the last of my Noro Kureyon yesterday and I need the money to buy yarn.

Which, you know, is a plus from last year when I came out with ten billion books; yarn you get something solid out of, and also, it's not as heavy to haul cross-continent.

Of course, I don't actually have the time to be employed, not between school and the co-writing thing, which is pretty much a part-time job in itself, because I am on a schedule! And occasionally have to get up at unholy hours! But I don't get money. I do get to write hot lesbian porn, though. *waves to aella_irene*

So that's what I've mostly been writing. I have two of the Dust missing scenes that are being worked on in during odd hours (read: class) -- I thought I'd see what the commonalities were between the requests, and then kind of shove stuff together, so there's a first year Jill POV and a second year Mayor POV. I'm surprised; Mayor is apparently the most popular of my OCs. Who knew?

I am still not entirely fond of my classes, though literature and I are slowly beginning to rediscover each other (I don't want to be an English major, though) and I wish I had my AP English Language notes, but they're back in Ellensburg and in a place too obscure for me to ask my mother to send them to me. The Russian Revolution and Arab/Israeli Conflict intersect just enough to confuse me, and Arab/Israeli confuses me anyway because I never know what's going on in that class, and Russian Revolution bothers me because I just. Don't. Care. Although this week is WWI, so that gets me a little excited; I like wars, and the military. The readings for Gender and Sexuality Studies piss me off on a regular basis; I realized that one of my problems with that is that they basically just recycled the Women's Studies curriculum when they switched the program last year. It's still pretty much about women's studies, which is kind of annoying. Japanese is...Japanese. I keep being in sincere pain on Fridays, which is unfortunate: my quizzes are always on Fridays, and I kind of suck at them.

Things I have not watched this week: Fringe, Supernatural, Merlin, anything else that aired on any channel except the Food Network. Things I have watched this week: the episode of Chefs vs. City set in New Orleans (gee, thanks, that was PATHETIC, guys), a lot of Alton Brown reruns, and some Chopped.

I like the Food Network. I'm also reading some food blogs. Seriously, some kind of masochism.

I just want to say that mattress stitch is really cool. I mean, I kind of hate myself now (and there is still one armwarmer to go!) but it's so cool. It just disappears! And it looks like you knit it in the round! (I sat myself down and had to decide whether I hated purl stitch and seaming or DPNs more. I decided to go for the unknown evil in seaming, after I did about an inch with DPNs and wanted to stab myself in the eye. And was kind of afraid I would stab myself in the eye. I know, this is going to make making socks very hard.)

There is a slight unevenness because the two sides don't quite line up -- I missed a stitch somewhere -- but it's not that noticeable. I'm making a matching scarf, armwarmers, and Calorimetry from four skeins of Noro Kureyon I bought this summer to make a feather and fan scarf with, but I didn't like the way it turned out, so I ripped it out and brought the yarn with me to New Orleans, and now -- matching winter accessories!

Yes, I know what y'all are saying, but this is not for me in New Orleans. This is for snacky in Boston, where they have this crazy thing called actual WEATHER. We just get rain. And sun. Sometimes wind.

I would post pictures but (a) my computer and my camera are still on outs so (b) I left my camera in Washington.

(Amusingly, today I have done all my reading for Tuesday but none of my reading for Monday. Uh.)

Every time I get the urge to crochet -- usually after I've been doing plain sc for a strap -- all I have to do is try and follow a pattern for a while.

The urge passes.

Quickly.

Crochet patterns are writtn in some obscure code that us poor knitters can't understand. And I'm not talking about the stitch names; I can Google those. I'm talking about everything else.