A bit of knitting

Lately, I've started knitting again. It's making me absurdly happy. I put off important things (like going to the bathroom, or drinking water) because I just have to finish one more row. As if I'm reading some kind of thriller or something. I sit next to Victor while he plays video games, and knit, while I express polite interest in what he's doing - instead of trying to wrestle the controller away from him so I can play Valkyria Chronicles. It's like I instantly turned 80.

Last year, I knitted a Noro Silk Garden scarf that might be longer than I am tall. I knitted at work, on the bus, everywhere, and I was pretty happy with the result. And now, I'm knitting two scarves at once (which is a bit like reading two books at once) - a Noro one for a family friend who recently did turn 80, and a Sutra scarf based on , well Sanzo's sutra from Saiyuki. If you haven't actually read Saiyuki (what's wrong with you?! Kidding) I will post a picture here for your edification:

As for why I'm doing this, Minekura Katzuya, who draws Saiyuki, isn't doing so well these days. She's been having surgery for fibrous dysplasia on her face - basically, part of her right jawbone had to be taken out, and replaced with a bone transplant. It's supposed to be incredibly painful, and it'll be a long time before she comes even close to looking normal again. Inspired by how the people on this website collected fan art and over 2000 paper cranes for Minekura, a few of us want to send her some fan art of our own. And since I can't draw, I had to make something else... hence this:

I've never made anything from wool this thick before, but the whole point was that I want to be able to finish this quickly. So it's not as even as I would like it to be, but I'm still pretty happy with it, considering that I bought the wool today and have managed to knit this much in just an afternoon. I was never, ever going to try for the Chinese characters (or is that supposed to be Sanskrit?), but Minekura herself mostly draws them as navy blue squiggles. Poli thinks this would be the ultimate geek accessory. And even if it doesn't come out perfect, at least it'll be warm and cosy. Fingers crossed it'll cheer poor Minekura up...