The great round up, or, a post about many things

I've been rather lax about posting lately, so you're going to be treated to a whole bunch of photos.

Way back last Friday, Catherine, Ariel, and I went spent the evening celebrating the forthcoming Harry Potter book. We started out in Harvard Square but left quickly after the opening band turned out to be three eight year olds screaming into the microphone. So we ended up in Coolidge Corner, at Potterpalooza. And we had a blast.

There were cookies.



There were tattoos (we all got the golden snitch).



Here are the three of us, ready for the book to come out (Catherine painted her shirt herself!).





We also did trivia contests and a scavenger hunt and watched wizard lookalikes dance. And then we settled into wait for midnight.

Catherine read.



I knit.



And just before 1 am, we got our books.



(And, in somewhat fiber related news, as you may have noticed from the photos, I also cut a foot off of my hair that week.)

And I found out this week that my good luck in Harry Potter related things continues (remember, I won the Ravenclaw scarf kit at Webs). I won the grand prize in the bookstore's trivia contest!

A Hogwarts Pillow!



And the back is all stars:



As for knitting, we've been hanging out with a new Ravelry group in Cambridge, and also did some knitting when we went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream on Boston Common. And what have I been working on? I started work on the Tomato sweater, from No Sheep for Ewe, and I had gotten pretty far until disaster struck late last week, and I had to frog back seven rows of colorwork. It was not pretty. But here's a little taste of its current state:

And magically, they're done

The Sockapalooza socks are finished! Yippee!



Pattern: Cross Hatch Lace, from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Socknitters' Summer Sunset
Needles: Knitpicks Classic Circulars US 2.5 (3.0 mm)
Notes: My Sockapalooza pal has larger ankles so I cast on 72 stitches for the cuff, and then reduced to 60 at the gusset. I really hope they fit. This was also my first time using my Knitpicks needles and I love them. The cord was flexible and had no memory and they were great for Magic Loop.

I finished the socks on Saturday night, but my Sunday was also yarn-filled. A good number of the Knitsmiths took a road trip out to the western part of the state to visit Webs and support Alison at her book signing. The group of us had much fun roaming the store and warehouse, fondling many skeins of yarn, and eating Harry Potter themed treats. And look what I won in one of the drawings:



It's a kit to make a Ravenclaw scarf, which is rather appropriate since that's probably what house I would be in. It came with the yarn and bamboo needles, and it is all in a Lantern Moon silk bag!

And, of course, I didn't come away from Webs without spending some money.



The large amount of brown yarn is a cotton blend that is destined to become my Tomato sweater, with the blue being the accent color. And the yellow and peach are some Regia Silk that was on closeout which I've been wanting to try.

On the way back from Northampton we got caught in what was essentially a monsoon. I've never seen raindrops that large in my life! But we made it back safe and sound, and it was a very fun day.

A miscellany

1. To give this post some knitting content: The second episode of Fiber Cult is up and waiting to be downloaded. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but we had fun making it.

2. Cassandra tagged me for the Wikipedia meme that's going around.

The deal is that you go to Wikipedia, look up your birth day, and then post 3 events, 2 births, and a holiday.

September 10

Events:
(You know, it was hard to find non depressing events that happened on my birthday.)
1608 - John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia.
1846 - Elias Howe gets a patent for the sewing machine.
1963 - 20 African-American students enter public schools in Alabama.

Birthdays:
1934 - Roger Maris, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1960 - Colin Firth, English actor

Holidays:
Gibraltar - National Day.
World Suicide Prevention Day.
Teacher's Day in China.
Day of the Child in Honduras.

I don't think anyone actually reading this blog hasn't already been tagged, but if you want to do it, go for it!

3. Yesterday was the fourth of July, and a rainy and cold fourth it was. I spent most of the day huddled under an umbrella on the Esplanade. My back is complaining now. But here are a couple of pretty fireworks pictures that I took last night:





And these ones are even stars, which Ariel should enjoy:

One sock done on the 1st

Happy Canada Day, my northern friends!

I finally cast on my first Sockapalooza sock about a week and a half ago and I even finished it this morning. One down, one to go. Here's a sneak peek at sock #1:



It's Lorna's Laces in an older colorway. Working on these socks has been a bit of an adventure as my sock pal's ankles are rather larger around than her feet, so I've been doing some adjusting. I'm also finding it interesting that with the larger number of stitches I used on the ankle, the yarn striped, but when I reduced that number to create a smaller foot, they pooled. But at least it swirled, so I still find it attractive. I'm also enjoying the Cross Hatch lace pattern I'm using, easy to do, but very pretty looking. Thus far, I am pleased with how they are going.

I also got my Ravelry invite last week, so I've been busy uploading all of my old projects to that, as well as wandering around and seeing what everyone else is up to. I'm poodlestar over there, like my blog, if you'd like to friend me.