Maid of Honor Duty: Crashing President Snow's House!

Saturday, I felt like I did some hardcore Maid of Honor stuff: I got to attend the dress fitting with Lauren and her Mom!!  It was awesome!  The dress is gorgeous and I can't share it right now (for obvious reasons!) but I want to so bad!  It's gorgeous!!  :D

As a treat, Lauren's Mom treated us to lunch at the Swan Coach House.  It was definitely an experience for me!  I wanted to take photos of the dining space but I thought that would be in bad taste, so I kept my phone locked in my purse (for the most part).  The fun part came after dessert when we went to check out the Swan House grounds.

You might remember the Swan House from a little movie called The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  That's right - the Swan House was used as President Snow's house for the film so it was only natural that we tour the grounds, right?!  Luckily for us, they were having an open house, which meant we could enter...FOR FREE!!!  What a pleasant surprise!  Too bad we weren't expecting it or else I would've had my Nikon at the ready for photos galore!  Instead, we used up what little iPhone battery power we had left to take as many photos as possible!

The Swan House was like a mix between the Henry B. Plant Museum and The Biltmore.  I definitely need to go back with the old man so we can take proper photos.

Later on, Lauren, Chandler and I played the craziest game in existence: Dicecapades!  Arm wrestling, push-ups, sit-ups, drawing, math problems...you name it, it's in there!  It's definitely a lot of fun but after a few cocktails, the last thing you want to do is a math problem!

How was your weekend?

Check out my best Victor's pose here!
Check out Lauren's photos here!

Happy Monday!

That Katniss Wrap - My sketch

So...I had some ideas forming in my head about the "Katniss Wrap" (that's what I'm calling it) and the more I broke it down, the more I realized that it's not really knit - it looks more of like a woven or braided piece.  Not to worry because I deconstructed it in the best way that I could: I talked it out on my car ride on my way home from work last night and on my way to work this morning.  As soon as I got in, I printed out the loveliest photo of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss (from Captiol Couture) and another that featured a front-on shot of the "Katniss Wrap" and sketched out my version.
Keep in mind that I'm a terrible illustrator


Do you like how I'm wearing Peeta's locket today?

I decided it would have to be constructed in two parts: the cowl neck and the arm piece.  I love knitting in the round!  I think it's a fun way to knit things up quickly and efficiently but because I felt like the neck piece needed some texture, I can't knit this one in the round because the texture I want is a able (or possibly two) and I'm not that confident in my cabling skills in the round just yet.  I barely have enough patience for a single cable and here I am designing two flat pieces, each with cables.  Go big or go hime, right?!
In case you can't see on my terrible illustration, the cable is pretty basic with the straight line representing a knit stitch all the way down on each side of the cable - which is the way I feel comfortable doing cables.  So, the arm piece will be done in the same way - even though that's clearly NOT how it is in the photos.
In the photos, it looks like a very intense braided piece - which it very well could be since District 12-ers are pretty resourceful.  I think I might be able to recreate the "weight" of it with a really chunky yarn and some large needles but I want there to be some play room for the cowl to be more relaxed than the arm piece.  We'll see what comes off the needles since I don't ever swatch anything - I kinda just go.
The more I look at it, the more I think the neck piece could be the only cable part and maybe the arm piece could have some light ribbing on the sides and it could be two strands of yarn held together for a thick, basic knit, maybe?  That'll give the arm piece the "tight braided" look and the cowl a more relaxed feel.  And then the whole thing could be crocheted together with a basic chain from the inside or I could sew it with a large yarn needle?  We'll see how I'm feeling when I get there - if I get there, that is.  Sometimes, knit pieces get boring and I abandon them (like the countless scarves in my knitting bag) BUT this project seems short enough that I can make it during my time off during the holidays next week!  Fingers crossed!

I'll be sure to post progress photos and *try* to write the best directions I can (if it works out the way I want it to!)

THG:Catching Fire

Image source 

 I FINALLY saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and let me tell you, I was a big ball of emotions.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* in case you haven't seen the first movie or read any of the books...

Three Day Weekend Antics

Not gonna lie - I feel like I've kinda been allergic to taking photos lately. I don't know why exactly, but picking up my camera / phone to document things just isn't the first thing I do anymore.  It feels weird and in order to combat that, I picked up my camera a few times this weekend to try and get back in the swing of things.


Green screen lighting tests at work / Sulking around Corner Bakery on Friday morning / Channeling my inner Blaine Anderson with this sweet bow tie I got for the old man (and myself) from H&M.

Also - I got a haircut!  This is the shortest it has EVER been!  On a whim (as always) I made an appointment with my girl Sheila (at Toni & Guy - North Point) and let her go to town.  At first, I was afraid that I had made a crazy decision in the sleep-deprived state I was in but I LOVE IT!!!  Of course I love it!  Sheila always does the best cuts on me!  I highly recommend her!!




My Stay Home Club items came in forever ago and my Mom was nice enough to drop them off for me.  I LOVE them!  The "I Miss You" card is going to someone very special on the West Coast but the No New Friends shirt has to be my new favorite shirt (which I'm planning a new outfit around)...right next to my most recent purchase...




That's right - my Jax Teller mugshot shirt is pretty awesome and right up there with my No New Friends shirt!




And because I'm all excited about The Hunger Games: Catching Fire coming out soon, I bought Peeta's necklace!
I made the gif using the Gif Shop app.

I mostly tried to lay low since I worked for 3 weeks straight, so I ended up staying at home most of my weekend.  I guess it was a good thing since the weather was nasty.  Did I get any NaNo writing done?  That's a big fat NO.  Ugh...I suck.  I also ended up missing my friends' pop-up shop in Gainesville but I hope she'll understand that I was trying to catch up on sleep.  I think this gif sums it up quite nicely



How was your weekend?