13 Nights of Halloween Swap Pt. 2

Day 4: Was extremely tired after getting only 3 hours of sleep before going to work (I went to see Walk the Moon with my sister since she didn't want to go alone - a good show but didn't get home til about 12:30 before having to work at 5:30).

It is actually very relaxing to hit this thing

13 Nights of Halloween Swap Pt. 1

Since I've started visiting the BPAL forum again, I've also gotten back into swapping. There's a sub-forum for circular swapping and I tend to spend a lot of time there.  Part of the fun of doing swaps is the stalking and planning of what you want to get your swappee.  This was a one-on-one mystery match swap (you send to one person, another person would be sending to you). We had to send our swappee's box at the end of September, but we didn't start opening until the 21st.  I got my boxes on the 30th so they were taunting me just sitting there for a while.

Day 1: I was very good and waited until after work to open my goodies. I didn't actually open my boxes up until the 21st so I was floored that both boxes were brimming with packages to open.

The Season to Knit

Nothing interesting has been going on.  One of the seniors at work just left and 3 people at work have talked to me about going for the position. My parents and sister think I should go for it, but I'm really not happy about the idea.  True, higher pay and the experience would look good on a resume, but I really have no desire for the job (it actually gives me some anxiety). I said I would consider it, but it's been two weeks and no one has said anything about interviews so my interest is dwindling even further.

When the weather starts cooling down, my love to knit comes back full force. I got some lace yarn from a penpal recently and decided to brush up my skills with a quick project.  The first pattern I chose did not work out - not entirely sure whether if it was the needles i was using or an issue of gaug, but after 4 attempts and getting no where, I stopped. I'm planning on going back to that pattern but using the recommended yarn instead.  The pattern I'm currently doing is the Easy Lace Stole by Arlene's World of Lace using Knit Picks Shadow lace yarn in Juniper.  It's simpler than the first pattern I chose - a repeat of 4 rows with the right side rows being a repetition of a set of stitches across. Very easy to memorize and easy to figure out which row you need to do if you've forgotten.

What I've knitted so far - started 2 days ago

Close up of pattern

The pattern called for 61 stitches but you could modify it depending on how wide you wanted it. I went with 49 stitches (7 repetitions of the pattern) so it's more of a scarf instead of a stole.  I probably should have gone for smaller needles (I'm using size 6 though it might have looked better with 3 or 4) but we'll see how to looks after I block it. I'm kind of anxious to get this finished, since I know this will look better once it's blocked (the pattern will be more obvious, too).

The most annoying thing was winding the skein into a ball. It took over an hour. Granted, the skein was a little over 400 yards of yarn, but I've forgotten what a pain it was to hand wind. I've been having skeins winded for me at yarn stores so it's been a while since I've done it for myself.

Anybody doing any fun projects?

Product Love September 2013

It's now officially fall! Winter is my favorite season, but fall is a close second.  I really love fall weather where it's still nice and sunny but there's a definite chill in the air.  We had a few days of really nice weather, but it's already been super rainy here (damn you Pacific Northwest).

Since becoming active again on the BPAL forum, my love and addiction to BPAL has been reignited.  I'm so grateful that I got 2 of the Dragon*Con exclusives.  It's also got me going through my current collection and finally doing a lot of testing of what I have (so far, the general catalogue scents I've tried do not work for me).  I got my Lilith decants and plan on getting a bottle of Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending (it's the perfect replica of Flowerbomb).

Current collection

Kuretake Envelope Template ~ Western Style

If you love pens and stationery (and everything that goes with them), you definitely need to check out JetPens.  This has become one of my favorite places to buy from, as I have a deep love for fun writing instruments (especially pens from Japan).  I finally caved and bought my first Kuretake template for a western style envelope. Since I've gotten back into letter writing, I thought that this would come in handy in the future.

Cataloging

I'm finally getting around to cataloging what BPAL imps I have. I've only been meaning to do this for about 3 years or so.  Right now, this doesn't include the imps of LE scents I have (I'm almost positive I have over 100 imps in total).  Right now, I'm just working on the one page, but everything will be further organized into the category each scent is from and alphabetized.  I have very few bottles that aren't LE and doing this is forcing me to finally test out everything I have. I generally have a good idea of what works for me and what are death notes, but this will really solidify that knowledge.

A Pair of Peaches

Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs had exclusive scents for Dragon*Con, all featuring peach which is a favorite of mine. I was extremely lucky in getting two thanks to a lovely forumite (I debated getting all five oils, plus the bath oil but restrained myself - not sure if I'm happy about that).

 

Peach II
Notes: White peach, tangerine, champagne grapes

In the bottle: It smells like one of my favorite ramune candy, I kid you not

On skin wet: A good word to describe this scent - bubbly.  The notes blend very nicely together, though it seems that tangerine is the star at the moment.

On skin dry: It's actually rather aquatic. Still sweet and fruity, but less effervescent.

Other: Stays strong for about 1.5-2 hours before becoming rather subtle. Very aquatic towards the end.

 

Peach V

Notes: White peach, white tea, honey, and neroli

In the bottle: A sweet honeyed tea. It is gorgeous.

On skin wet: I can definitely detect the Lab's honey note playing with the neroli, with the peach in the background giving it a sweet edge.

On skin dry: The peach gets bolder and what I think is the tea note becomes a bit more noticeable (my first time with the Lab's white tea note). Has the slightest herbal tinge to it.

Other: A much more full body scent than Peach II. All the notes compliment the peach nicely and is very balanced once dried.

I'm very happy with both scents, though Peach V is definitely the real star. I will definitely have to hunt down extra bottles of it. I really wish I'd gone for a whole set, as I would love to see how different the golden and Georgia peaches are to the white.