December 14, 2014

More winter knitwear!

Yeah, I have to admit, I am an addict.
This week i finished my lopi sweater and my tri colored slip stitch beanie. Check them out!


I'm thinking of writing a pattern for the beanie. I loved how it turned out. I think my next cardigan project will be that kind of design, but with five or six colors rather than three.

Anyway, time to go. I have more knitting to do.

Sarah

November 29, 2014

It's a Calendar, Charlie Brown! (Mini Post)

Merry Christmas yall!

If you've liked my mountain pics, you should check out my new calendar right here! Yes, that's right, just in time for Christmas, I have made a calendar, huzzah! I hope you like it!
It's also 10% off until December 31st!


- Sarah

Knitting Addiction

It's that time of year again!
Yes, I'm back at knitting, and reading, doing what I love the most. And it's fantastic!
So, this week, i have made numerous hats, unraveling old projects to make room for the new. that;s the great thing about knitting, you always can start over, recycle, reuse, upcycle... So have a look at the latest! Check out my ravelry page to see the pattens used.
You may recognize this yarn from an older project of mine. The hat was too loose along the rim, so I unravelled and started afresh. This is my all time favorite yarn, Katia's Azteca. I also made a sweater out of their red variations. The softness of the yarn, enhanced by alpaca wool, makes it not only a pleasure to work with, but a joy to wear.

I made a tam out of Katia's New Nepal a last year, but again, I was terrible at judging my gage, and it fit poorly. This project took me a day and I just love the colors.

Katia's all natural, 'Love wool' wool and alpaca blend feels fantastic, but there's really nothing in a skein. I barely had enough to finish the cap, and it's short enough as it is. But doesn't it feel nice!

I wanted to try a new variegated wool, and loved Katia's Inca wool. I invented a pattern, following my all time favorite moss stitch, and love the finished result.

Now I have no idea what wool this hat is made of. I found it in the cellar! I felted it and embroidered stars along the top with a metallic wool. I'm pretty happy with it!

Thoughts? Ideas? Let me know int he comments below!

Oh, and I started a review blog with a friend of mine! The first review is of one of the book con ARCs, Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon. Check it out and let me know what you think!

November 14, 2014

Shopping Sarah's Stuff

I have been busy creating things, and don't really have a great platform for sharing them. So here's the best I can do!

First up, my Etsy shop. Many cross stitch designs here for the geek stitcher! The patterns for many of my Night Vale projects are available, as well as for the cushions I have made. Check them out here -
Stellar Space Craft

If you would like to purchase one of the scripts for the camp plays, look no further than here. These scripts are for christian children's plays; True Power is a superhero play about faith, and The lands of Exandria is a fantasy story about grace. Both are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, here -
True Power: Adventures of the Hero Squad
The lands of Exandria

Some of my artwork and illustration designs up up on different cool things on zazzle, from posters to t-shirts to iphone cases. Enjoy!
Sharks vs Penguins Shop

I also have a few designs on Spoonflower, the coolest website ever. If you want to design fabrics, this is really the place to do it!
Spoonflower Shop!

Please help support me by checking out my stuff. Every penny of it is going into my education, so that I may continue to study Astrophysics. Thank you!

Sarah



The (not so) Grand Return

Oye Oye Maidens and squires!

I've been out of the loop a few months due to issues with visas and schools. You cannot imagine just how obnoxious paperwork can be! Well, maybe you can, but ouch, this is a real pain!

So here I am, back in the saddle again. And life is good! I'm doing a big to logo design for a few organizations while continuing my physics studies. I'm also going to be placing links to my shops here so that you can see my designs and creations. I hope you enjoy!

Sarah

September 26, 2014

Adventures in Cross Stitching

I made new things!

So while it looks like this Gap Year Girl will now be taking another gap year, I'm going to try and keep producing and creating as much as I can. I've got a few new project to share, too! First of all, I'm finally working on writing the memoirs of my childhood here in France. Will let you know more about this project when I get more of it completed.

Meanwhile, Cross Stitch projects! I've recently finished a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy project -





And I've taken some much better pictures of my carina nebula cross stitch. If you'd like the pattern, I'm selling it here!




Yes, I have an etsy shop now! It's called Stellar Space Craft and it's all cross stitch patterns for geekery. It's small for now, but I have tons of patterns in the works! So get excited!

Other projects - I'm self publishing the plays I wrote for camp. I'm trying to get all three looking good, so that'll be coming out within the next month. Yay!

Meanwhile, i'm rethinking my life. That's fun too.

Love,
Sarah


September 15, 2014

Don't Hate, I'm Going Through a Hard Time.

Hi everyone. If there's anyone out there.

I haven't posted in a while because of all the crap I'm going through to get visas. Visas here, visas there. I can no longer live where I want to, go to school where I want to, without originals and three copies and a whole pile of paperwork.

Note to TCKs applying to university - run, you're doomed.

I used to love being what I am. Now, I just hate it. I can't do anything without filing a form first. I can't even leave the country now, because of how the process works for visas. My classes started last week and I'm still here, trapped.

I don't know what to do anymore.

I'll get back to posting regularly, biweekly hopefully, when everything cools down. Sorry for the disturbance.

Sarah

July 4, 2014

Grave Beginnings

Yay, it's Book Review Friday! Today, I have a very fun supernatural mystery novel for you all. It's Grave Beginnings, By R.R. Virdi, the first in the Grave Report series.

Full disclosure, I love supernatural detective novels, but I have a hard time finding ones that are actually intelligent books. A lot pander to the reader (like most, if not all, paperback romances), and have no true essence. They start to blend together, becoming boring, repetitive, copies of one another.

Not so for Grave Beginnings. Right from the the beginning, the reader is dragged into the story and clings on tight for the thrill ride. It's almost impossible to put down - as a matter of fact, I read almost the entire book in one sitting.

The story centers around a soul who wakes up in the body of a dead man. This soul, Vincent Graves, is somehow caught between this world and the next, and to move on, must solve supernatural murders by inhabiting the recently deceased. The man he is now walking around as - Norman - recently came about an extreme bout of luck, which left him looking younger, thinner, and with a lot more money in his pocket. But it didn't last long, because something put him in the ground quite soon after. Our hero has thirteen hours to solve his murder, before he must move on again.

Cool concept, amiright?

Virdi masterfully plays with the myths of the supernatural, introducing us to a whole new host of characters, drawn from the most unlikely of folklore. It's always great to see a fresh take on the supernatural: too often these days authors limit themselves to taking old myths and making them sexy for a general audience. You won't find that here - so sexy vampires or werewolves, thankfully! Instead, some intriguing myths that i don't want to spoil for anyone.

While the plot is compelling and gripping, the writing is not as effortless. The descriptions tend to be on the lengthy side (especially for background characters) and wordy. Some key plot points can be easily predicted if you're paying attention. But that's alright - this is Virdi's first published work, and I'm certain that the next one will be better.

I'm going to give this book 5/5 stars - Not docking any points for style because DARN IT THAT BOOK WAS FUN! Would recommend to anybody in need of a fun, smart novel, who loves a supernatural tale.

Check it out here!

June 30, 2014

It's Monday, so here's DC again. For the very last time.

That's right - I'm gone! Going back home for the summer and for the next year too... and the next year... not sure when I'll ever come back.

Anyway, let's not be sad. Let's be happy, because this city is amazing.









June 27, 2014

Carina Nebula

No review this week - I'm a little too busy to read; GASP! - so I'll show you the project that has been taking up most of my time these past three months.

TADAA


I cross stitched the Carina Nebula! First person (that I know of) to cross stitch a Nebula. Yay! 




Accidentally got the wrong canvas and made it out of 22 Stitch per inch rather than 18 - so instead of being 8"x8", it ended up being 5"x5" (12cm). Each stitch was smaller than a millimeter!