A Few Good Things...

1. I have my pals for HSS3! The person I am knitting for is another Ravenclaw (good thing I like blue, as I always get Ravenclaw pals), but has no preference between the book and movie colors. Since I did the movie colors (blue and silver) for the last Ravenclaw pal I had, I'm going to do the book colors (blue and bronze) for this one. I ordered some self-striping Ravenclaw yarn from Cosmic Fibers and I hope it comes in soon! I'm thinking about doing Broad Ripple Socks, Tropicana Socks, or Elodea Socks with it. It will depend on how thick the stripes are, I think. I don't know what house the person knitting for me is in, but she's been in touch via email already and seems nice. I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

2. I've rededicated myself to learning Spanish. I took a few years of it in high school, and a few semesters in college, but it's actually useful here. My brother brought me his books from when he took it in college when he stayed with me last year, and I've been going through them and doing the workbook exercises and whatnot. It surprises me how much of the grammar I remember, although my vocab is really rusty! Between that and joining a Spanish-speaking(typing?) group on Ravelry, I'm getting a lot better at reading and writing it already, and I can generally speak it pretty well given time to think through what I need to say. My downfall is, and has always been, hearing it. I have a really hard time picking out words and translating them in conversation. I have a couple of CDs to work with, and TKD Grandma said she would help me, too. There are a couple other people at the dojahng who I'm sure would help me out as well, but I haven't asked them yet. This is mostly coming from several recent encounters in kickboxing and just out in public in general where people have asked questions and I didn't know how to answer them. I really doubt "right hook punch" is going to be in too many primers, though ;)

3. I've gotten this much done on the sweater so far:
I'm in the plain old stockinette for four inches portion, so I'm hoping to get a good movie or tv marathon or audio book going and crank it out. The sleeves are knit flat and seamed for some reason, and I forgot to check my gauge for flat knitting, so I'm hoping they'll be okay length-wise. I'll have to try it on again before I do the cuff.

4. I'm realizing as I work on projects like MS3, the sweater and Wendelin that when it comes to projects, I'm not really a monochromatic kind of knitter. Unfortunately, I love wearing monochromatic shirts - I really keep patterns down to a minimum in my wardrobe. I like varigated yarns and switching colors. I have one friend who is expecting next month, maybe it's time for another colorful baby blanket! And Baby S has a birthday next month (wow! really? no way!) so maybe I'll find something colorful for him, too.

5. I was oddly pleased to know that Sir's neck was sore after Thursday night's class, too. We did a drill at the end where we had to do situps keeping our hands in guard/protective positions while our partners hit us with tombstones. It wasn't bad, for the most part, except for the whiplash when P caught the back of my head with one hit. Sir said his partner caught him, too. Misery loves company, I guess. The bruises from knife sparring that night are starting to appear, too, just in time for me to have to dress up for opening. How come the guys don't get nearly the bruises I do?? It probably doesn't help that those are also the exact places that I use to block in sparring, too, so they kind of get hit two days in a row. Large bruises on the shoulders, forearms, and legs while wearing a dress. So sexy and attractive!

6. Speaking of sexy and attractive, Ma'am and I agreed last night at Klondikes that if guys get to watch Victoria's Secret commercials during the Super Bowl, we should, at the very least, get an Abercrombie & Fitch commercial. Preferably Chippendale, but an A&F guy without his shirt will do. Seriously, it's only fair. We'll start the revolution!

7. I started a group for knitting stage managers on Ravelry. It's called The Ghostlighters (an obscure nickname for SMs, since they are usually the first ones in and last ones out and have to deal with the ghost lights usually). It's kind of an addendum to the Theatrical Crafters group. Some of the other SMs on that group and I have been PM'ing back and forth about various issues we deal with in our specific jobs and companies, and we decided it would be easier to get more input from more people and not bother the rest of the TC group if we had a separate SM group. It's no slight on any of the other theatrical departments! This is the first time I've started a group, and it's been interesting so far!