The Blog to Nowhere

Halfway done the Scarf! In that, I've finished knitting the "Hero" half. Though, according to Scarf-O-Matic, I'm only this far done:



Still, this is pretty good. It took me two months to knit the season 13 length, and the "Hero" half is roughly a season 14 length, so it's safe to say that I'm progressing much faster this time around. Now it's on to the "Duplicate" half, which is a duplicate of the season 13 scarf, but knit on a smaller gauge. It's also whole, with no panels removed, so this is the full length. I'm thinking it will take me more than a month to finish off this half, but I should be done before the end of April. *fingers crossed*

If I am done by then, great, because that's when the comic book expo is and it gives my friend the opportunity to wear the Scarf if she decides to go. And then she can show it off. :-)

I'm definitely going to take a break before I tackle my second commission. Give my wrists a bit of a rest.

- So, The X-Files is finally back. I was a bit young to appreciate the show back when it was in its heyday, but I remember enough that I'm still excited for the revival. The first episode was... I wouldn't call it horrible, but it wasn't great, either. I personally can't remember what the whole conspiracy thing about the alien invasion planned for 2012 was about, so maybe that's why I couldn't get into the episode. There was also a continuity error with David Duchovny's hair that distracted me. The second episode was better. The Monster of the Week plot was always what worked best for the show.

And they acknowledged Mulder and Scully's kid! It's so weird to think that William is now 15. I'm still annoyed that Chris Carter broke up Mulder and Scully for the drama. Bleh. You can still have drama and tension even if two people are in a relationship.

- I have started the Fourth Doctor scarf (season 16/17 length) for my friend. This is a week earlier than I expected. I'm sure the extra time won't make a huge difference, but every bit counts.

- I'm also in the early stages of knitting up Rose's wrist warmers from the end of "Doomsday". I bought the yarn and I just need the right needles. I know it seems silly to tackle another project while working on the Scarf, but I'm more tempted to do a Rose cosplay for the comic book expo rather than a femme!Ten. Her outfit from the end of "Doomsday" is easy to put together and hey, it also includes an knitted item that I have enough talent to make. I get to learn how to do cabling, too, and if for some reason Billie Piper cancels, that's okay. I still end up with something I can wear every day. It's nice that my knitting obsession can lend itself to my fannish obsessions. ;-)

- I don't why I took this book from my book club, but I just finished reading Prom and Prejudice, a modern take on Pride and Prejudice set in a girl's boarding school. Guh, this was the stupidest thing ever. It's a high school AU of Pride and Prejudice that got published! Why?!? It takes the basic plot of the book and then does nothing new with it. At least Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has zombies and Bridget Jones' Diary was well written. This book has the usual YA angst and the main character has no agency whatsoever. Lizzie Bennett muddles her way through the plot and lets Will Darcy initiate any plot developments. If you're going to update a classic, at least make Lizzie more assertive.

The other sad thing about this? This is the fourth book I've read based on Pride and Prejudice (the third being Longbourn, which was also better) and I haven't even read the original yet. I should at least read the source material before reading all of these adaptations.

One last post for the year:

- Finished 59 books this year, one short from last year. Going downtown to visit with my sister and my niece really helped. The best book series I picked up this year was The Expanse series. It's a space opera at its finest. I need to get cracking on book three, but I have so many other books to read from my book club. Second best series I picked up this year was the Thursday Next series. I love the alternative 1985 England that Thursday lives in. Third best series I picked up this year was the Russell Quant series. Russell is a gay P.I. who works in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and he has such breezy and geeky attitude that's fun to read.

Last book I finished this year was Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond. It's written by a local author; one of the book club ladies picked it up at the literary con that's held here every August. It has a fun steampunk setting and a plucky journalist as the main character. The weird thing about the book, though, is that it reads like the second book in a series. There's all this backstory and references to past events, but as far as I can tell, this is the first book. Maybe the author didn't want to do an origin story. There are some witty character names, too. Colonel Muster, Professor Plumb, nods to Clue of course; Windsor "Windy" Jones, professor as Indiana University; a take on Indiana "Indy" Jones; and Hercule Hornblower, a Belgian detective who uses his "little grey cells" to solve crimes but mostly falls asleep; Hercule Poirot, if Poirot was narcoleptic.

- Completed 13 knitting projects. I say that's pretty good, considering I only picked up knitting at the beginning of the year. Best project, hands down, has to be my Fourth Doctor scarf. It wasn't the most complicated project (that honour goes to the Mass Effect scarf I knitted for my sister), but I ended up with something that is so iconic. Plus, thanks to that project, I'm getting paid to knit two more. :-)

My sister keeps bugging me to learn sock knitting, but I don't know when I would get around to that. I want to learn how to read charts and do more colour work first. I also want to knit Amy's scarf and fingerless gloves combo from "The Pandorica Opens". Why do I want to keep knitting scarves? You'd think I would be sick of them by now.

- Got laid off this year, but let's not dwell on that.

- Had a fun vacation cruising around the Mediterranean. Venice was the best port; so much history and culture there. Pompeii was the best excursion, but visiting Trogir is a close second, if only because it was a filming location on Doctor Who.

- The comic book expo was crazy busy and fun this year. Meeting Ming-Na and Hayley Atwell was the best part of the weekend. I don't see the expo getting a lot of big name guests next year. The Canadian dollar is super crappy right now. Though, who knows. The expo team has pulled off huge last minute surprises before so I wouldn't put it past them to do it again.

Things to look forward to next year:
- Cruise around the British Isles in May with Amsterdam and Paris thrown in. Sadly, the cruise is no longer stopping in Wales, which makes me very sad. The port would have been in Northern Wales, presenting me with an opportunity to visit Portmeirion, the filming location of The Prisoner. I may need to head back to Wales in 2017.
- 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas in August. I attended this con a few years ago and the company that runs it really knows their stuff, so this one should be a blast. I expect Paramount and CBS to do a ton of stuff for the anniversary next year. And man, Star Trek Beyond better not suck. This is their last chance to get it right.
- Plus other miscellanea, like superhero movies and TV shows.

As usual, nothing extremely exciting, but there's nothing wrong with that.

- All of my Christmas knitting is done! Man, it was a sprint to the finish there. I was spending, like, every waking hour knitting in order to get everything done on time. Next time, I'm going to start my projects early. Pictures to come after the gifts are given to their intended recipients.

- AbbyShot is taking pre-orders for their Twelfth Doctor coat. It looks pretty sweet. Expensive as heck, but pretty sweet. The only thing they didn't get quite right was the red lining (from what I can see from the pictures on the site). On the replica, it's plain red, but the coat lining on the show is actually two toned and with a subtle pattern. It's a minor thing, really; most people aren't going to notice that the lining isn't exactly right.

I just wish they had a ladies version of the coat. There may be one in the works for all I know, and if so, they really should release it along with the guy version. There are women cosplayers out there who would probably love to do a femme!Twelve costume, me included. The price, though, gives me pause. I know AbbyShot does quality work, but they don't even have free shipping. Maybe I'll see the coat at the comic book expo in April. The vendor I bought my ladies Tenth Doctor coat from had a bunch of AbbyShot coats, so I could judge for myself whether it's worth buying.

- Currently watching The Expanse, the TV show based on the book series of the same name. The pilot was great and the space scenes looked amazing, but now the writers are starting to change things from how they are in the first book. I didn't mind that they introduced a character from the second book for the first season, but there are other deviations going on that I'm not so sure about. I know a TV show based on a book doesn't have to follow every event to the letter, but these changes better pay off.

And you can totally tell that the show is filmed in Canada. A lot of the minor characters are played by Canadian actors. It's like a game sometimes, because you tend to see the same Canadian actors over and over again.

- Space, the TV channel that airs Doctor Who in Canada, is having a Doctor Who marathon that lasts for three days. My god, I love this channel. They're showing all of the Christmas specials (with "Planet of the Dead", "The Waters of Mars", and "The Day of the Doctor" thrown in), all of season eight, and all of season nine. This is all lead up to the new Christmas special on Friday. I've already seen all of these episodes more than a few times, but it's nice to know that I can turn on the TV at any given point during the day and Doctor Who will be on. :-D They've also been airing promos for "The Husbands of River Song" and they make me smile every time. I hope the episode ends up being a fun romp. We need something upbeat after how things ended in the finale.

- Well, I'm officially unemployed now, but what are you going to do.

- At least now I have time to knit and read. I've been visiting my sister and my niece a lot over the past couple of weeks and I once again I get in an hour of reading while taking the train in and out of downtown. Maybe I can finish off the pile of books I got from my book club. I am definitely grateful for the knitting time. In my enthusiasm to make things, I decided to knit all of my Christmas gift. I've finished two but I still have two more to finish. Fingers crossed that I get them done on time.

- Speaking of knitting, I've been watching Jessica Jones and I can't stop staring at her grey scarf. It's an infinity scarf, but I can't make out the pattern on it. Hell, it might not even be knitted. But that's how my brain works now. I look at knitted items and I obsess over how they were made. I think Jessica's scarf may be a seed stitch pattern, but who knows.

- I'm only three episodes in to Jessica Jones, but I like it. Similar to Daredevil, they really down play her powers and so the show feels more like a detective show rather than a super hero show. I'm surprised they haven't referenced Daredevil yet, but maybe there's something later in the season. And damn, David Tennant's English accent is so slick; I'm so used to his rougher Tenth Doctor accent. I know Kilgrave is crazy and sadistic, but I would totally listen to anything he has to say with that accent. ;-)

- And Happy 52nd Whoniversay! It was two years ago that I got to tour the TARDIS set. Man, I really need to get back to Cardiff at some point. I didn't see enough of the city when I was there.

- I saw this on io9.com the other day. They introduced a female Captain America in the Spider-Gwen universe and her origins were laid out in the latest issue. What really caught my eye, though, was the fact that on Earth-65, there's a eye patch wearing Peggy Carter that's basically a stand in for Nick Fury. I totally love this idea. This makes Peggy even more bad ass. I really want to read the Spider-Gwen series now, if only to see more of Eye Patch!Peggy. Ooh, maybe this female Cap will get her own series.

- I'm 95% finished on my first ever Jayne hat. It knitted up pretty quick thanks to the fact that it uses bulky yarn. I love bulky yarn. It's not too thick, but it's thick enough that you can knock out projects in a couple of days. I think I have enough yarn left over to make another hat and I would love to make one for myself. The one that was gifted to me is a bit tight; apparently I have a large noggin. We'll see. I'm knitting a few things for Christmas this year and I don't have a lot of time. A Jayne hat for me will probably have to wait until after the holidays.

- I finished reading Armada, the second book by Ernest Cline. He wrote Ready Player One, which I loved, so I thought Armada would be just as good. Sadly, I was disappointed. Armada is okay, but it doesn't have the same spark as Ready Player One. All of the geek references in Ready Player One made sense within the context of the world. In Armada, all of the geek references seemed tacked on, like it was in Cline's contract that he had to have geeky references so he just threw them in wherever. And he actually explains some of the geeky references! Wha? You shouldn't have to do that. Just reference it and the reader can Google is later if it doesn't make sense.

- The big crossover for The Flash and Arrow is at the end of the month. I think I saw a thing saying that Mark Hamill is back as the Trickster for the crossover. That would rock. Mark Hamill and set up for Legends of Tomorrow? Yes please. :-D I'm so excited for Legends of Tomorrow. Both shows have been busy setting everything up. All of the players are in place. Now we just need to meet Rip Hunter. I still can't help but think of him as a time displaced Rory who was recruited to sort out the timelines. Hmm, maybe there's a fic idea in there...

Hey, remember that scarf that I finished knitting ages ago? You know, my very first knitting project? Well, I finally finished it for real!

(Yes, it took me seven months)

I kind of got sick of looking at it, just hanging from the back of my chair, with the tail ends of the yarn not woven in. So, yesterday, I finally blocked it. It didn't do much to help the width issue (it should be an inch wider), but it's washed now and the ends are woven in properly.


It's starting to get cold again, so I'll be able to wear this when I'm walking to work. I've only made a few things for myself since I started knitting so it'll be nice to actually use these things instead of just looking at them.

Or thank god it's done and I don't have to think about it again. Or post about it again. Truly, I'm sorry about all of the posts, guys.

Whoo, just under two months to complete this thing. I think that's rather good. It's not a week (Yarn Harlot, a knitting blogger, did it in a week, but she's a speed knitter), but it's not six months, either. Giving myself a deadline certainly helped.

( Blocked scarf behind the cut )

So, in the end, this project took:

- 57 days total
- 14 balls of yarn (some were completely used up, others were not)
- re-watches of season 8 of New Who and seasons 12 and 13 of Classic Who to keep my sanity while knitting (with the odd episode of The Avengers thrown in)

These scarves are oddly addiciting, despite how much work it takes to make one. Would I knit another one? Maybe. Depends on the circumstances. But it was an interesting experience and I learned a few things about colour changes.

Up next: Who knows. I started to learn how to knit socks before I started this project. Maybe I should get back to that.

Knitting is done!



Now I have to weave in the last bunch of ends, attach the tassels, and then block the whole thing. I'll probably block it next weekend. I need to take a break.

- Whoo, the Scarf is just over half done!


We're in the middle of a heat advisory, though, so it's a little uncomfortable having a heavy knitted scarf sitting on my lap.

- I went out today, hoping to buy a Fourth Doctor sonic screwdriver to go with the Scarf, but the geeky store at the mall didn't have any. All they had were Third Doctor and Fifth Doctor sonic screwdrivers. To my untrained eye, the Fifth Doctor one looks just like the Fourth Doctor one, but I didn't buy it. I know no one will notice if I did have a Fifth Doctor sonic screwdriver to go with the costume, but it would have bothered me. Hopefully I will have more luck online.

- Trying to keep up with the news coming out of the Comic Con, but I'm feeling so lazy in this heat. I do have a friend who's there this year and I'm so jealous of him right now. He ran into Joss Whedon and got a picture with him! I would love to meet Joss. I'd probably stare mutely at him until it got really awkward, but still. That man is my idol.

- And I really need to buy a new desktop computer. My little netbook can't keep up with my Internet surfing. It's going to have a meltdown at some point and then all I'll be left with is my phone.