tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:264450L'opera, mi amore!a slice of my lifeAmber Sweet2010-11-15T00:08:51Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:264450:41300Seafoam shawl redux2010-11-15T00:08:51Z2010-11-15T00:08:51Zaccomplishedpublic3If I have learned anything from listening to knitting podcasts, it should have been that when you try to knit for a non-crafter it becomes a much more massive undertaking than it should have any right to be. Non-crafters don't understand how difficult things are, so they don't realize when they're asking for something irritating or impossible.<br /><br />I mentioned previously that someone essentially offered to buy the Seafoam Shawl as soon as I was finished with it. At the time, it was about kerchief size. Now, understand, the pattern for this project came out of a book called <i>One-Skein Wonders</i>. I expected it to take one skein. Granted, I figured out that the yarn was a bit bulkier than the pattern called for, and so it was knitting up denser (and thus making less fabric). I ended up buying a 24" cable needle (because it was the longest needle in that size that JoAnn's had). So, fine, I used 3 skeins on it, knitted until it was longer than my cable needle, fit comfortably over my shoulders. It was a small shawl, but undeniably a shawl. Also I was bored with it. So I bound off, as I mentioned, and took it back to the prospective owner on Friday.<br /><br />After waiting for her for 45 minutes, she says to me, "Oh, it's lovely, I definitely want it when it's done." I look at her, I look at the shawl. No needles in sight, ends all neatly woven in, very obviously (to me, at least), a finished object.<br /><br />"It's done," I told her.<br /><br />She wants it bigger.<br /><br />So I ended up having to buy a longer cable needle, and because <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://finch.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://finch.dreamwidth.org/'><b>finch</b></a></span> loves me, he bought me a 40" #9 Addi Turbo. Addi cable needles are widely accepted as the finest needles on the market. They have the most flexible cable, the smoothest joins, the highest quality needles. Plus, the coating on the Turbos make them the most friction-free needles available - which means they're really damned fast.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://ambersweet.dreamwidth.org/41300.html#cutid1">Technical babbling about knitting</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=ambersweet&ditemid=41300" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:264450:27654An academic question.2010-04-01T07:23:31Z2010-04-01T07:23:31Zpublic12I have to ask this, so I can concentrate on the paper I'm <i>supposed</i> to be writing, rather than sitting here mulling over this or (worse) researching it.<br /><br />O ye writers of fanfic:<br /><br />Have you ever written a gender-swap AU? This includes fics where one, a few, or all characters are just naturally genderswapped (e.g., a universe in which Squall and Seifer are female and Quistis and Rinoa are male), or Something Happened to cause one or more of the characters to spontaneously swap genders (e.g., Hermione slipped polyjuice potion in Ron's pumpkin juice to make sure he NEVER laughed at her cramps again).<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://ambersweet.dreamwidth.org/27654.html#cutid1">If you have, could you answer me a few questions?</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div> Feel free (oh please please please) to pimp this out to your friends, relations, acquaintances, random people on the street, whoever.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=ambersweet&ditemid=27654" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments