I Feel Ready to Go Back to School

I got my WOMBAT results. For those not in the know WOMBAT is a test on your knowledge on all things having to do with Harry Potter. On JK Rowling's official website she posts these tests every once and while. There have been three total. I missed the first two and was wondering how you play until I saw a post saying that the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the secret door was off and the third test was available to take if you could figure out how to open the door. I did and took the test which is the last and the hardest of all of them. You literally have to have read and know the subtle things about Harry Potter's world because they asked things that weren't in the book but you should be able to figure them out by just knowing how things work in Harry Potter's world. I must know it pretty good because I got an Exceeds Expectations on my results, something that surprised me because I really felt like I had no clue. What made this test even harder is that you could lose points for getting something wrong so I must have gotten most if not all of my answers right. I don't know what the highest grade is, but I'm guessing outstanding if they use the same grading scale as for the OWLS in Harry Potter. I'm such a dork and I know it.
I'm thinking I should have everyone send me money for this birthday since shipping anything is going to cost. At least with money it's only regular postage. That and I keep thinking about all the knitting supplies that I want to get along with some new clothes and shoes. My flip flops are coming apart and I've had my eye on this cute pair of sandals (very important to have in a warm climate). I thought about having people order the knitting stuff that I want, but I'm not even 100% sure about what project I want to start right now. There are so many that I'm anxious to cast on. Not to mention the whole Buffyverse set that I'm eager to get some yarn for and start reconstructing. I have come to the realization that the Buffyverse sweater reconstruction is going to take up years of my life because a sweater isn't cheap and while I did contemplate making them only big enough for my kids to fit into (use them as my models) it doesn't really help those adult knitters out there who maybe grew up watching Buffy like myself and would enjoy having one of those sweaters to fit themselves. I decided to make them big enough to fit an average sized woman and all that yarn can get pricey. I'm going to have to work it one at a time and slowly too because I've never done something this ambitious before, but I would feel like a chump if I give it up and back out. I can go with cheapy yarn and maybe I'll be able to eek out more then a couple every year along with everything else that I want to knit.
Currently I am knitting the short sleeve blouson from page 52 of the VOGUEknitting knit.1 summer 2007 Green Issue. It's a top down knit which I must say is a first and a pleasant experience for me. I was able to get to the waistband and bind off, finish the sleeves and then try on to see if it needed any adjustments. I found that I needed to add a few more rows in St st before decreasing for the empire waist, to allow for my larger then the norm bust. That's nice because knitting from the bottom up would have meant that I would have had to finish the entire shirt before trying it on and finding that my boobs did't fit into it. That would have ticked me off as I frogged over half of it to fix the problem. This way I only had to frog ten rows and I'm well on my way again. Sweet.
I bought the book Knitting with Balls by Michael del Vecchio and I'm excited to finally have some really nice gift ideas for men. It would be great if I could get my hubby to knit, but he's expressed no interest and that's fine, but still you dream. Maybe my son will want to learn. Either way I have some great patterns that I'm dying to knit. The Fisherman's Watchcap and Scarf Set would be a great Christmas gift as well as the Hiking Boot Socks and the Aran Laptop Cover. My brother-in-law requested wool socks once and I feel guilty because I never made them for him but these Hiking Socks would be an easy and quick knit on size 8 needles. Perfect for when he goes skiing. There's also a Hooded Alpaca Parka that I'm all set to knit for hubby, although I must confess that I'm sure I'm knitting it more for myself because I plan on stealing and using said Parka for me. Maybe I'll just make it for me and knit him the Argyle vest or the Aran Pullover. I wonder if he would like Knee Length Coat, but I'm guessing he wouldn't and I should probably stick to something simple and classic. I'm in the process of finding yarns to substitute since I'm unsure of how my skin would like alpaca (especially with everything here lately). I have plenty time to decide since I nor my hubby will need any sweaters anytime soon unless we decide to go to Tokyo in the winter. Which is a possibility. If I can get our passports. And save enough money. And get hotel reservations at the military hotel in Tokyo. And take a class in Japanese. And save enough money. And......... save enough money. Money is key. *sigh* So many things that I want to do....... if only I had a million dollars. Think of all the yarn I could buy with that! Actually I would buy a house in SC and a semi newer car for my hubby and then the rest could be split three ways between my kids: Charlie, Lola and yarn.

Summerwear and Christmaswear

I'm still in the process of cataloging and picking which sweaters I'm going to recreate from the Buffyverse. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Willow has a yellow and orange mohair (or angora?) overlay that looks like it would be really neat to recreate. There were a lot more then I thought there were and I'm kind of in overwhelmed mode right now. Between that and making out my knitting Christmas list I'm up to my eyeballs in designs, yarn, needles, and lists. I'm also trying to work out how to knit and work out at the same time. If I work out as much as I knit I'll be as buff as..... well Buffy. I was also struck by inspiration. I've had a cone of a cotton/linen blend ribbon yarn and I had no idea what to do with it until I purchased the Summer issue of knit.1. There's a blouson knitted from the top down that looked like I could pull it off with this ribbon. That way I'll have a nice shirt for myself and get rid of this yarn that's been mocking me from the back corner of my knitting drawer.
To keep things simple I have decided that my mom and dad are the only ones getting big knit gifts this year. Everyone else will be getting hats, scarves or socks. As much as I would love to knit everyone a cardigan or sweater I just don't have the time or the money to do so.
I also have been thinking about what I want for my birthday. All knitting related of course. I'm quickly running out of all that yarn that I bought and I have so many projects that I want to get going and done. I also need new clothes. Not of the knitted variety but just your general everyday t-shirt. Don't know where to buy for them here though. Everything's so expensive and if I'm going to order off line I like to do so in one big shopping event so that I have minimal in the way of shipping. There are the local shops that I need to locate, but general wardrobe consists of long skirts and tees..... the local outfit of choice for women island wide. No MuMus! I have seen lots of them sold everywhere along with skirts and dresses which would be nice except in order to wear a skirt of any kind I need shorts underneath. For comfort and modesty purposes. I always feel like my butt is just hanging out in the wind whenever I wear a skirt. If I could find a pair of spankies with a little pocket that would be great. IDEA!!!!! Maybe I could knit some!!!. But first I need yarn and needles!
I dyed my hair. Just thought I would throw that in. Natural reddish blonde. I like it. I'm still getting used to it though. I haven't colored my hair in years and it shows. I'm going to have to redo it in a few weeks because I focused on my roots and should have used two bottles instead of one. The result is that it looks like my hair is growing back in natural reddish blonde. The ends are a little red, but there is a strip of hair (a horizontal strip) that is my original color. But I've been ponytailing it until I can fix it. It'll be okay. For the next dye job I'll focus more on the middle and ends and make sure that I have two bottles in case I need them. This will actually work to my advantage and keep me from getting hot roots. My hair has been growing like crazy and is back to the same length that is was before I cut four inches off of it about two months ago. ohhhh...... m&ms. I just found sitting next to me.