Uncreated Conscience

This is the best costume for the day.

Halloween was a blast this year, but then again, Halloween is a blast every year. I need no excuses to dress up as whatever character I please, but it’s nice when the rest of the world has license to be five years old again. In New York it’s especially great because you get to ride the subway with adults dressed in costume on their way to various parties. On our way to a med school party in New Jersey, The Inimitable Bex and I spotted Dwight Schrute on the N train into Manhattan.

I loathe store bought costumes but I love the creativity of thrifted ones. Bex was Joan Holloway, having borrowed my retro dress and shoes (as well as a coworker’s DD bra) and our friends Alex and Jay were Big and Little Edie, but my roommate Rachel takes the cake as she was Effie Trinket from THE HUNGER GAMES. She had a pink wig, a spring green trench coat, my mockingjay pin, and a glass bowl filled with names for the Reaping. How awesome are my friends?

As the weather has grown cooler, it is now time for me to be busting out the knitting needles. Last year I made a few scarves, a hat, and a pair of mittens before retiring for the spring. This year I am determined to make these mittens (yes, they’re named for the TWILIGHT books, but I don’t care—they’re pretty!), as well as these arm warmers to wear in freezing cold New York offices. More knitting follows beneath the cut.

(more…)

For my friends (and non-friends) who knit:

What is the difference between a place marker and a slip marker in a pattern? I’m working on a pair of mittens that I’ve had to unravel twice because I keep getting screwed up at that point in the pattern. :( Halp?

Oh botheration! I’ve realised too late that the perfect perfume to wear as Mrs. Coulter (for that is who I’ve decided I’m going to prom as) is Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab‘s Penny Dreadful and my imp is empty. If I ordered now, a bottle wouldn’t get here in time so now I must rummage through my remaining collection for something appropriate.

Penny Dreadful
Also called Gallows Literature. A dime novel rife with melodrama, horror, madness and cruelty; a ten cent analogy of vice and virtue in conflict. Soft perfume evocative of noir heroines over rich red grave loam.

It really does smell like something a noir heroine would wear and I don’t have anything like this in my big bottle collection. I am a girl who by and large wears floral scents (generally rosy) and while Penny Dreadful is flowery at heart, it’s that earthy, musky spiciness I swear must be sandalwood (the dirt note) I’m needing. (It’s either sandalwood or patchouli or vetiver–the base note is similar to the base note in my White Musk bodywash from The Body Shop. What can I say? I like smelling like dirt.) The only other “sexy” scent I have is Bengal, while beautiful, is not the scent impression I want to create. I may have to experiment a bit with layering: De Sade (pure “leather” scent created from vegan oils–I suspect it has a bit of tobacco and honey and vetiver to create that impression) and a slightly more “mature” rose in my stash. I wear Rose Red on a daily basis during the chill winter months, but it’s too bright and young. (The three perfume successes with regards to Bear: Alice, Pumpkin II, and Rose Red.) Halp!

However, perfumery was not what I initially intended to post about. I figured it was time to reveal to the internets my finished hat/mitten/scarf set, despite the fact that I’ve been wearing them for over a week now.

(more…)

I am apparently a knitting guru. Yesterday on the commute ride back home to Astoria from work, a random girl asked me to help her with her dropped stitches. Is it easy fixing a stranger’s work while standing on a moving W train? No. Did I do it anyway? Yes. Not that I’m a font of knitting knowledge myself; I just started a new pair of mittens that I may or may not have to unravel entirely. (Six inches of it! Watch as I cry.)

Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter

I have changed my mind with regards to how I will style my makeup and hair for med school prom. As my dress is not period 20s, I will forego the flapper makeup for another time and occasion and instead ape Claudette Colbert‘s look from It Happened One Night (a favourite romantic comedy of mine and Mum’s along with The Sound of Music).

As I’m researching fashion and hairstyles of the 1930s, I’m finding that a few of Nicole Kidman’s recent movies serve as great visual inspiration. While The Golden Compass isn’t set in any “real” time period, the art design team obviously went Art Deco with the movie’s look which is perfect for my needs. Australia is a little later what I want, but I love the idea of a white flower in my hair.

(more…)

As promised, some shots of what I’ve been working on knitting-wise.

My latest scarf

A close-up of the trim.

One of the assistants here said it was “very preppy” when I wore it into the office. It appears as though I cannot escape my upbringing, no matter how hard I try. Once the matching hat and mittens are made (I went out and bought some more yarn during my lunch break), I will attempt to felt a White-Harp onto them. I’m also thinking white pom-poms for the hat and mittens.)

(more…)

As I was recovering from whatever illness wreaking havoc with my immune system this past weekend, I found myself with plenty of time to knit. I’m officially hooked; I’ve finished two scarves and have been knitting practice swatches like crazy; I’ve been working on my cable, Fair Isle, and textured pattern skills. I will reveal my little project swatches another time, but for now, my next goal is to start needle felting a baby harp seal into my newest scarf. And then make a matching hat and mittens.

I’ve been extraordinarily into handmade crafts lately and I discovered via Etsy an amazing shop in Prague called Baba Studios that sells Alice in Wonderland-themed items and other assorted fairy tale/Gothic wares. I want.

Wares from Baba Studios

1. The Shower of Cards Messenger Bag
2. Alice & The Caterpillar Wristlet
3. The Mad Tea Party Shoulder Bag
4. Winter Ukiyo-E Messenger Bag

When discretionary income comes my way, I shall have to be sure to purchase at least a messenger bag. I’m in need of one anyhow.

I have now joined Ravelry! Let me know if any of you are also on there so I might friend you.

Mum flew into town last night for business and we had dinner and watched parts of The Beethoven Virus before passing out. I am now sick as a dog with a head cold, but still I managed to slog it into work despite the snow.

Dear My Boss Will Probably Request You Slush-Slogger:
If you seal your SASE, we won’t be able to contact you.

Dear We’ve Requested Your Partial Slush-Slogger:
Your manuscript does not, I repeat, does not need to be bubble-wrapped. Twice. With differing sized bubbles. You also don’t need to duct tape the box you sent it in within an inch of its existence. All this does is leave the intern with raw fingers and a bad mood and your likelihood of being rejected increases threefold.

For those of you who read my blog with any consistency, you might know that I love Myers-Briggs type indicators and that I have (for the past few years, at least) consistently tested as an INFJ.

(more…)

Twilight the Movie

Friday night instead of watching La Belle et La Bête, I went in an entirely different direction and watched Twilight. I was simultaneously bored and amused, and then utterly conflicted, mostly because my entire reaction was OMG it doesn’t suck! Oh wait… It isn’t by any means a great film (despite the director’s pedigree), but by virtue of the fact that Bella doesn’t make me want to vomit for most of the film, it rises in my estimation. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s not ludicrously bad in spots and some of the dialogue, while lifted directly from the books, is so awful in its cheesiness I cringed with embarrassment for the actors.

However there are times when the movie is wonderfully atmospheric and gothic, the way any good vampire flick ought to be, yet there was still something wanting in the entire film. Take this infamous “meadow scene” for instance:

BELLA: I know what you are…
EDWARD: Say it. Out loud. Say it.
BELLA: Vampire.

And I’m thinking, God, if they weren’t so afraid to let Robert Pattinson off his Hunky Hero leash this could have been so fascinating! Perhaps I’m letting my own deviant proclivities slip, but what he’s saying isn’t too far off from a pimp slapping around his ho and screaming, “Say my name, bitch!” Now, how much more awesome would Twilight have been if it had been played that way? It would have certainly been far less dull.

At least I didn’t waste my time; I managed to finish my scarf while watching the movie.

(more…)

My mother is adorable. She’s coming into town next week on business and promised to bring with her the Korean drama (그들이 사는 세상 – The World That They Live In) we started back when I visiting my family in Los Angeles featuring my favourite actress Song Hye Gyo (송혜교). My other also recommended one called The Beethoven Virus in an email the other day.

Hey Sarah,

It was good to talk to you.
Check out the link: here

I love this drama!!
Talk to you later this week.

Love,
Mom

Oh Mum, with her multiple exclamation points and recent discovery of YouTube. My parents might be technologically inept, but they try to keep abreast of the times. (You wouldn’t believe the flurry of texts I got from “ur teenage dad” once my brother taught him to how text message people.) “The main guy isn’t that good-looking,” she warned about The Beethoven Virus, “But he’s a very good actor.”

(more…)

Number of times rebuked by Sister Babs for being shoeless: 2 (not bad)
Number of times “DOOM” was mentioned in AP English: 27 (conservative estimate)
Number of Calories burned by knitting: billions

I think I’m addicted to knitting. I seriously can’t do anything but knit. I came home yesterday (and I had lots and lots of work to do), but all I did was knit and take a nap. Oops. It doesn’t help that the scarves I’m knitting are Harry Potter related, which gives me an incentive to knit them faster (in order to wear to the opening of the movie in what…sixty-two days?).

(more…)