My brother's graduating tomorrow

From HIGH SCHOOL.

And then he'll be coming up to college about an hour and a half away from where I am. I get to visit him on occasion. I'm going to be really busy with 18 credit hours, potentially two clubs, potential research, and a job. Two of those classes are online, though, so we'll see how it'll go. If all else fails, I am dropping one of the classes before it impacts my grades. 

Right now I'm making the From Afar scarf by Caitlin ffrench. I like her triangle scarves/shawl designs a lot, and I need something to wear to Ricky's graduation that isn't a  faintly pink cardigan because I accidentally washed a bright red dress with a white cardigan. Oops. After that, I'll be working on the White Russian skirt. I found an extra ball of cotton yarn in the color I was using- totally didn't know I had it! So I get to continue that project. 

In addition to all of that, it's father's day this weekend and I get to chill with my dad! It'll be fun. I'm contemplating getting him a Kindle Fire. He mentioned how he'd take my Kindle if I wanted a new one, but I'm perfectly content with my old 2nd gen Kindle (it's old. Pre-internet browsing for kindles). It'd give him something else to do beside watch TV, he said. So I'm thinking it'd be a good idea for him. I just got to get my brothers and my mom in on it. Otherwise, I'll pay for the whole thing myself. He deserves it.

Two Weeks!

I'm going to be in Japan in two weeks, for two weeks! Lots of two weeks stuff. I'm really excited for it. I'm staying in Tokyo, Takaoka (near Toyama), and Kanazawa. In Tokyo I'll be hanging out with my friends a lot, in Takaoka I'll be conversing with my grandmother (who understands no English so it's a speaking challenge!) and helping out at a middle school, and meeting with friends in Kanazawa and exploring that city more. I'm bringing my good camera so I'm hoping for some quality pictures to share!

In the mean time, I'm working (a lot...), crafting, and looking through various handpainted yarns to make myself feel better. Next week (the week before I go to Japan), I'm working just over 37 hours. I have no break. Seriously, my break is this weekend when I go home. I was supposed to have Saturday off (I leave Sunday), but lo and behold I end up taking someone else's shift because "I need the money." All of Saturday that isn't me working will be me preparing to go to Japan. Alone. Likely exhausted and needing some R&R and not getting it until Japan (kind of) and when I go back home to Vegas after Japan (a whole month without doing anything? HEAVEN).

Vacation time!

Sorry it's been a while since I've written! I went back home for the weekend and spent a lot of time away from my computer. Which ended up being a problem because I promptly forgot the log-ins to a lot of websites. Except this one and a few others. Oops. My memory isn't as good as I thought.

But yeah! I went home this past weekend for my birthday and I'm going home next weekend (not this one) for my brother's graduation. He's graduating high school! And then coming to school an hour and a half away from where I currently go to school. I asked him why, because I was certain he was going to go to an in-state school. His response? "I hate a lot of the people I went to high school with and I want to get away from them."

My exact same reasoning. Both of us knew that people were going to go to the two big in-state schools.

I also get to celebrate my third anniversary with my boyfriend when I go back this time around! It's actually this weekend, but we're in two different states. Oh well. Still, it will be fun when we get to do something together!

Future Project Ideas

So I've been thinking about what I want to do for future projects. I feel like if I can design my own knitwear I don't have to rely so heavily on patterns. Of course, to design, I need to study what came before. If any of these ever come to fruition, it's probably because I studied how I make things before hand. Also, you can probably tell what I've been in geeking over for a while.

Mass Effect Jacket

It'd have an N7 stripe on the appropriate arm and a paragon/renegade symbol on the back. I know something like this already exists on the Bioware website. However, it doesn't have the paragon or renegade symbol on it. What if I wanted to declare what my Shepard is? Or what I am? 

The Winter Soldier Jacket

I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier last week and I am a fan of it. I'm a huge fan of Bucky Barnes, though. And after I got out of the theater I was talking with a friend about the mechanical arm. That arm is ridiculous to construct for cosplay purposes. I was thinking about making a jacket similar to it, with the left sleeve looking like Bucky's arm.

Captain America Jacket

Okay, I like Captain America too. Not so much, but his ideals are nice. At least as they're portrayed in the movies. I haven't read the comics much. So I was thinking I maybe be able to eventually make a Captain America-inspired jacket, based off of the first movie's costume.

Black Widow Jacket + The Hulk Jacket

I also like Black Widow and the Hulk. Enough said. 

Divergent Factions

I am a huge fan of the Divergent books, and the movie made me want to create pieces for each of them that would look and feel like something that belongs in each faction. This should be an interesting challenge.

Photography Friday

My roommate and I went on a walk last week, while the place we worked as closed, and I brought my camera, so I could start taking pictures again. We walked to my university and back. It's approximately 6 miles total. Along the way, I happened to pass by some lovely orange flowers in someone's front yard. So I asked the roommate to stop and let me take a picture. This is the result:

I'm very glad I have time for photography again. I've missed it, and I can do it now that I have no classes. Just work. Which may be taking up most of my time in the next month. We will see...

Travel Satchel- WIP Wednesday!

I've decided to hold a WIP Wednesday today, focusing specifically on one project: this travel satchel by Stephanie Shiman on knitty.com! Mine comes in light blue and a dark blue heather. This is my first time working on a project that needs to be felted, and I must say, I haven't screwed up (yet!).

Here it is unfelted. All curly because of stockinette stitch.

I realized (about 5 seconds after I wrote the above sentence) I could've used a normal messenger bag for my "travel satchel," but there's nothing quite like being able to make my own- especially since I can decorate this one with a lot of cool thing! Plus, my messenger bag was kind of falling apart. I've used it on and off since about 6th grade. That was nearly 8 years ago. The awesome part is that it was totally customizable- no one else will have a bag like this one! 

Seriously though, who else is going to be crazy enough to make a striped handle??

Someone with not enough of the primary yarn color, that's who.

I made this travel satchel because I'm going to Japan in June and wanted a travel bag that could hold my camera (which doesn't have its own bag), a notebook, some pens, my passport, my wallet, and some other odds and ends that I would likely need while traveling in a foreign country. Plus, it'd be a good conversation starter. Likely. If no one looks at me and thinks, "She's a foreigner so she must not speak Japanese." I look kind of Asian. Being a half-Asian: you get questions all over the spectrum. 

It's not quite finished yet. Obviously, because it's being featured on WIP Wednesday. I still have to cut off the extra little tails and sew everything together. I'm contemplating adding a fabric of some sort to the inside and to the inside of the handle, to reinforce it so it doesn't accidentally break. Not saying it will, but I like to be on the safe side. It'd suck if all my stuff exploded out while I'm in Japan. 

Until next time!

Back (for good?)

I have had a rough semester. It's the reason I ended up dropping the blog, ended up withdrawing from a lot of my social activities, and a lot of my hobbies so I could focus on school and my two jobs. It's summer now, which means FREE TIME! I may go back to Musings Monday, WIP Wednesday, and Finished/Photography Fridays if possible.

Musings Monday is most likely going to end up turning into "let's document my attempts to pick up new hobbies!"  Currently I'm trying to learn how to code HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Who knows, I may get good enough to redesign my blogger (so if it goes wonky one day, you'll know why). And maybe get hired by a company! Total sarcasm. I don't think I'll be able to get that good enough.

I'm also trying to start up my own store so I can make some extra money, and I'm also co-blogger of a travel tumblr blog. My friend and I are doing it for funsies, mostly. we shall see! Summer should be good to me, especially since I am going home frequently, working, and traveling abroad.