Thursday, August 21, 2008
Swap-o-spoilage
Swaps are wonderful things, especially when you realize that while karma can be a beeotch, she can also smile upon you in the form of lovely cable knit scarves with matching hand warmers, balls of Noro Kureyon, and rubber duckies.
Coffee Shop people
Inspired by a post by Franklin on Panopticon:
1. Knitters can be snooty. There were five of us in a Starbucks one night, and not three feet away at another table were three people actively knitting, talking about knitting, helping each other which knitting, and they would not even make eye contact with us. Not that we wanted to be their best friends, but an acknowledgement that we are all KIP knitters would have been nice.
2. People pray loudly at Starbucks. People also cuss loudly.
3. Starbucks' baristas like a challenge. Come up with something wildly exotic and order it with a smile, and chances are they will come through like champs, taste your drink, and never ever forget you. Of course, they probably also laugh at you when you leave.
4. No matter what hour of the day or night, at some point during your visit there will be a herd of cackling teenagers, plus two sorority-type girls that need VACANCY tattooed on their foreheads and two painfully metrosexual guys.
5. Starbucks, home of poser musicians with more hair product than good taste.
6. Remember my last post, when I said knitting was a great way to get people to leave you alone in a crowded place? This does not apply to Starbucks.
7. Stay until closing time, and then ask if they have any iced coffee or tea they are going to throw out. Chances are they will, and you will be caffeinated beyond your wildest dreams.
1. Knitters can be snooty. There were five of us in a Starbucks one night, and not three feet away at another table were three people actively knitting, talking about knitting, helping each other which knitting, and they would not even make eye contact with us. Not that we wanted to be their best friends, but an acknowledgement that we are all KIP knitters would have been nice.
2. People pray loudly at Starbucks. People also cuss loudly.
3. Starbucks' baristas like a challenge. Come up with something wildly exotic and order it with a smile, and chances are they will come through like champs, taste your drink, and never ever forget you. Of course, they probably also laugh at you when you leave.
4. No matter what hour of the day or night, at some point during your visit there will be a herd of cackling teenagers, plus two sorority-type girls that need VACANCY tattooed on their foreheads and two painfully metrosexual guys.
5. Starbucks, home of poser musicians with more hair product than good taste.
6. Remember my last post, when I said knitting was a great way to get people to leave you alone in a crowded place? This does not apply to Starbucks.
7. Stay until closing time, and then ask if they have any iced coffee or tea they are going to throw out. Chances are they will, and you will be caffeinated beyond your wildest dreams.
Since I'm a slacker
It's been a while, so let me begin with the biggest event of the last few months, my trip to Comic-con.
Thank goodness that I now like to knit, as it kept me from wanting to kill people. Seriously. But in addition to the joys of knitting in public, I learned the following very important lessons:
1. Knitting is a great way to keep open seats around you in a crowded room. People will either not sit next to you or, in one case, a guy GOT UP AND MOVED when I pulled out the WIP. And it wasn't even scary little pointy needles. It was chunky yarn on bamboo 15s. What did he think, I was going to gouge his eyes out? And ruin the lovely wool? In either case, a giant thanks to the knitting gods, for knitting is nearly as useful as earphones to keep people from talking to you (unless they are other knitters, which is ok).
2. Knitting dark-ish yarn in near darkness while distracted by the faces of Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Finion leads to a very wonky scarf.
3. Trying to knit a pattern while distracted by Harold and Kumar leads to realizing when you get home a week later that you you completely and hopelessly screwed up the pattern and the project requires full frontal frogging.
4. Trying to knit a pattern while distracted by Kevin Smith leads to not even bothering to rip back the disaster and just hoping it works out.
5. Realizing you might run out of yarn before you run out of convention leads to panicked phone calls to SO to find a yarn store on a bus/trolley route so you can get more yarn. Better to miss a couple hours of convention than go yarn-less. Note: I should've gone to the other store, but I completely forgot that rather than take the hour+ bus trip to get there, I could've taken the 35 minute trolley trip. Oh well. I got yarn, which is all that mattered, and it is a Lamb's Pride Worsted brown varigated colorway that has everyone around me slobbering. Jealousy yarn = bonus! And pink Silky Wool for ridiculously cheap - double bonus.
6. Knitters are everywhere, even at the World's Biggest Gathering of Scificomicbookvideogameanimepopculture geeks.
Count: projects started and completed - 1; project brought with nearly completed, but back burnered because of the thought it required - 1; project started and later frogged due to John Cho and Kal Penn - 1
Thank goodness that I now like to knit, as it kept me from wanting to kill people. Seriously. But in addition to the joys of knitting in public, I learned the following very important lessons:
1. Knitting is a great way to keep open seats around you in a crowded room. People will either not sit next to you or, in one case, a guy GOT UP AND MOVED when I pulled out the WIP. And it wasn't even scary little pointy needles. It was chunky yarn on bamboo 15s. What did he think, I was going to gouge his eyes out? And ruin the lovely wool? In either case, a giant thanks to the knitting gods, for knitting is nearly as useful as earphones to keep people from talking to you (unless they are other knitters, which is ok).
2. Knitting dark-ish yarn in near darkness while distracted by the faces of Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Finion leads to a very wonky scarf.
3. Trying to knit a pattern while distracted by Harold and Kumar leads to realizing when you get home a week later that you you completely and hopelessly screwed up the pattern and the project requires full frontal frogging.
4. Trying to knit a pattern while distracted by Kevin Smith leads to not even bothering to rip back the disaster and just hoping it works out.
5. Realizing you might run out of yarn before you run out of convention leads to panicked phone calls to SO to find a yarn store on a bus/trolley route so you can get more yarn. Better to miss a couple hours of convention than go yarn-less. Note: I should've gone to the other store, but I completely forgot that rather than take the hour+ bus trip to get there, I could've taken the 35 minute trolley trip. Oh well. I got yarn, which is all that mattered, and it is a Lamb's Pride Worsted brown varigated colorway that has everyone around me slobbering. Jealousy yarn = bonus! And pink Silky Wool for ridiculously cheap - double bonus.
6. Knitters are everywhere, even at the World's Biggest Gathering of Scificomicbookvideogameanimepopculture geeks.
Count: projects started and completed - 1; project brought with nearly completed, but back burnered because of the thought it required - 1; project started and later frogged due to John Cho and Kal Penn - 1
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