weekend in photos

Biggest thing: I finished the hat. With allllllllllllllllllllll the kitchenering. (Really, it's a lot: 42 stitches on each side, so that's a total of 84 to be dealt with. It does give a nice finish, but it is kind of a pain. (Am wondering if a three-needle bind-off might not look almost as neat, but would be easier).



As you can see, it's very, very pink. The colorway here is named "Pinkie Swear" (which is also what a Pinkie Promise used to be called, back in Season 1, and I am guessing some parent complained, most likely a parent who didn't get that it was A PUN and pinky-swears are totally a thing)

Here it is on:



Photograph taken from the "selfie angle" (above the head), and yes, it is a more flattering angle, because it reduces the hint of a double chin.

It's a clever construction and not a difficult knit at all, despite the agony of Kitchenering. At some point (soon) I have to start the one for my mom's gift.

I also repainted my toes with a color sort-of appropriate for Halloween:



Pacifica's color called "Temple," a goldy-orange probably meant to recall statues of the Buddha or the robes of Zen monks or something. I like the iridescence in it. I tried  it on my fingernails once but I am too active and it gets the heck chipped out of it, and unlike a more-clear polish, the chips are really noticeable.

Also, Ponies.

This weekend was the Season 7 finale. (There is going to be a Season 8, will be interesting to see where they go with it). The deal here is that there are "legendary ponies" (We had already heard of Starswirl the Bearded, who was Twilight's hero, and Meadowbrook the Mage had been mentioned in an earlier season....but also, there were episodes referencing Meadowbrook and Somnambula and then the three-story "pony legends" episode that covered Mistmane and Rockhoof and Flash Magnus.

It was a good episode. There were a couple interesting thoughts from it.

First, the "Pillars" each reflected some virtue: Rockhoof was strength and determination, Mistmane was beauty (but also really self-sacrifice), Meadowbrook was healing, Flash Magnus was bravery and cleverness, Somnambula was hope, and Starswirl was magic (? I guess. I can't remember what they coded him with). Of course, these have "come down to" "our" ponies, with each of the Mane Six more or less matching to one of hte Pillars:

Rockhoof matched to Applejack (honesty and hard work)
Mistmane matched to Rarity (generosity)
Meadowbrook to Fluttershy (kindness)
Flash Magnus to Rainbow Dash (loyalty)
Somnambula to Pinkie Pie (laughter, but also really just general "positive outlook" which is like hope)
And of course, Starswirl to Twilight.

Interestingly, all of them "match" in type (well, given that Twilight started out as a unicorn), except for Meadowbrook and Fluttershy (earth pony and pegasus) and Somnambula and Pinkie (pegasus and earth pony). Which makes me wonder if that's a tiny nod in the direction of Lauren Faust, the series' creator, who originally saw Pinkie's role as being something like G1's Surprise (a white pegasus with a yellow mane) and Fluttershy as being like G1 Posey (an earty pony with essentially Fluttershy's coloring).

(And now I once again feel a desire to make my own G4-ized version of Surprise, using the same old pattern I've always used. I already have yarn that would work....)

Also, the Pillars have been gone for "over 1000 years" but Celestia and Luna knew Starswirl when they were young...so either (a) Ponies mark time differently from humans, (b) Ponies are much, much longer lived than humans in Equestria* or (c) The princesses are immortal on some level (Not all ponies are, or perhaps they can be taken out by accident or illness - after all, Applejack's parents are "gone")

(*In my childhood, when we briefly attended  a church more literal than the one I go to now, there was some discussion of Methusaleh and other long-lived patriarchs, and the general hypothesis was "people lived longer back then because humanity was more virtuous then" and perhaps that idea fits here - and also  Granny Smith seems to be 100s of years old.)

Of all the Pillars I think Somnambula, who personifies Hope, is my favorite. But Mistmane has a cool design and backstory too.

And of my own pony collection? Here are the most recently purchased G3s: Minty (a long-time want), Sparkleworks, and Bumblesweet:



And I sometimes like making silly little tableaux with my various toys. Apparently Gabby is also a fan of Ponies: