Bows that grow on me

This one was one I wasn't to crazy about, but it is really starting to grow on me. Sometimes I see something and think I don't like it... I almost threw it into the dreaded "failed prototypes" pile, but I think it is really cute now!



I can't believe I almost dismissed it before examining its full potential.

Pictures as promised!

This one is the bow for Dorothy. Pictures of her with the bow to come later! Can anyone guess where I took this picture?



This is a picture of my research bench mentor with the beard hat he asked me to make him. This was NOT my idea (he was dreaming for one of these), but he totally digs it. I think it is kinda odd, even for me. And that says a lot. He made a similar picture to this his profile picture. It is not yet finished, as it needs some hemming. However, it will be completed this week.

I just made up the pattern as I went. It happened to turn out pretty well, in my estimation. I have never made a mustache, beard, or aviator-style hat before.

More to come!

-Bow Girl

Losing and Giving Bows

I lost one of my favorite bows. I was carrying it with me and it fell out of my bag. I really hope someone will find it and return it to me since I was with people I know, but I am not holding my breath. The great part about making my own bows is that they are easily replaceable, but it does take time and work.

On another note, I made a bow for a worker at the Bear's Den and I can't wait to surprise her with it.

I also made my bench mentor a beard hat. I love making people stuff they want/love.

Pictures to come soon!

If you want a bow or flower, go to WUSTL, and like to eat food, if you are one of the first 3 people to comment, I will:

A) Make you a bow or flower
B) Eat a meal with you
C) We don't have to talk about bows, we can talk about whatever you want!
D) You don't need to know me already...
E) You don't need to be a girl
F) The bows/flowers don't have to be part of a headband
G) The crocheted item is FREE for you
H) It has to be when I am available
I) You can pick the style you want

Thank you!

-Bow Girl

Biggest bow to date!

This one was a pain in the butt to make because it was made of novelty triple-stranded yarn, and it is GINORMOUS! I made it for tonight's philanthropy event.

It is also almost as big as my face... Another picture in public!



Dream big, bow peeps!

Pun-tastic. Have a great day!

Wearing two separate bows at once...

I think it is totally acceptable, and thus I am more than happy to do so. I made the small bow a while back, but last night I made the big one. Here is another photo from my "pictures in public" series. I am in the engineering school, which is really funky inside, but you can't really tell too much by the photo.



Have an awesome day! Don't be afraid to wear two bows at once... it is so liberating.

Plus I can say "double flower, it's so bright, so vivid!"

and "Double flower all the way across my head! Whoa, oh my god, look at that flower!"

I have that song on my iPod.

Bow win:

Making jokes from popular culture :D

Picots on my bows...

I just love using my new picot stitch. Here is a picture of me in the library cafe with my new bow. I didn't want to smile because I think these two guys might have been on to the fact that I was taking my own picture. I have been taking lots of my pictures in public lately. The one of the daffodil was in the Bear's Den, the sparkly silver one in my floor's common room... I have to be a bit more discrete in public or else people get weirded out when I freeze and smile staring at my computer screen.

Here it is! Happy Tuesday!

Being completely unproductive is EMPOWERING... sometimes.

Today has been less than productive in the "getting homework done" department, as you may be able to imagine. However, my bow making has been completely productive... And guess what?!?! I feel awesome!

Here is another bow: a silver (sparkly, but you can't tell in this picture) flower with picot stitching because I like double trebles and picots now. They are my stitches of the day.



2-a-days in Bowland are way more pleasant than 2-a-days in any sport I can imagine. : D

5-a-days are perfectly doable as well. If only I could spend all day blogging and crocheting. That would be the life...
Although I suppose there is such a thing as too much paradise!

Day 15: The Daffodil

I am SOOO proud of myself. Today from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM, I mastered the picot stitch, the double treble stitch, both of which I have never used before, and I made a white daffodil. So cute! I wish pictures could capture how it looks in real life. I have already gotten 3 compliments on it and I have only been wearing it for 45 minutes.




Such a bow win. I hate to play favorites, but I think this is might be my favorite so far!

It took quite a bit longer to make than most of my flowers and bows take, but it was so worth it.

Happy Monday (rare, right?)!

Today marks TWO weeks!

So I will make TWO posts today! You like? I made it last night. If you look back, you will notice I always wear bows on my left. Well guess what! This one is being worn on the right side of my head. Aren't I becoming so versatile? Not really, it's still a bow. There is no versatility to the whole bow scheme at all. Anyway, I figured no one reads this and hardly anyone looks at the pictures, so I might as well throw one in for kicks!

Have a bow-tastic day!

Snowing, Bowing, Frat Rowing...

Another pun-tastic rhyming title!

It started snowing on the Wash U campus. It felt and looked like January all over again. Seriously. But today is sunny and nice-enough out... 35 degrees can be quite pleasant without wind chill.

Last night I went to see the ICAC Midwest A Cappella finals where my cousin competed and won first place! Go family!

Friday night I went out to the frats for a bit, which was fun, but semi awkward. It was my first bow/frat experience. Usually I avoid bows at the frats. However, it was dark and everyone there (except for me and my friend) was pretty drunk.

Saturday night after the a cappella concert, I went to a party in Village East, the nicest housing at Wash U. Their kitchens are as big as any kitchen in a modest house, if not bigger. I wore a bow there too. The pink one that looks like a flower (not a rose). Someone complimented it. I have gotten some good compliments on the subtlety of my flat flowers. They don't stand out as being babyish as much as the normal bows can. Nothing wrong with being babyish, as long as you don't throw a tantrum (I don't, no worries).

Also on Saturday: I explained my bow theory on life to someone at the Bear's Den. They thought it was cool that I can tell what kinds of people I am dealing with based on their reaction to the bow. Although, not everyone openly reacts to it.

However, my bows help me to deal with social situations pretty well.

Today in Bowland: Day 12

Day 12... Almost two weeks have gone by since I've been in public without a bow. More, actually. I guesstimate that it's been about 4 and a half weeks since I've been in public without a bow, except for initiation, but that was NOT technically public. However, we did go out to frozen yogurt and I had NOTHING in my hair. I don't recognize myself in the mirror in the morning without my bow. I feel right with a bow on, and I am glad the bows happened to walk into my life slowly but surely.

I got two bow compliments today and a yarn compliment today. A definite rarity at Wash U... It was nice.

Today was a good day overall.

Day 11: Chemistry and Bows

Bows don't help in chemistry, but they don't hurt either! I survived through both exams and lived to tell the tale, all with a bow in my hair and a smile on my face.

Life is good.

Two chemistry exams in two days

I had a chemistry exam today (It is after midnight, but I am still calling today Tuesday since I haven't slept yet) and a chemistry lab exam coming up tomorrow, but that has not gotten the best of me... yet. What did get my knickers in a bunch was when my little lime green bow detached from its headband. I fixed it in a hurry, but I need to legitimately mend it. It is weird how I won't let my real stresses get the best of me, but my bow nearly threw my stomach for a loop. I feel like the bow is a part of who I am now, and not just my persona. When I am not doing stellar in school, it is okay because I have dissociated my grades from myself as a person. You kind of have to at Wash U or else it can be too much to handle.
Smarts and grades and extracurricular involvement aren't really as big of a part of my identity anymore at Wash U. Everyone is a smart, overachieving, involved person. My bows are one of the few things I've ever gotten complimented on here. The thought of losing it, one of the only things that makes me special, and the thought of all of the work I put into making it just made me so upset.

Oddness...

Bow Girl is Back in Sunny STL!

Today I woke up at 4:20 AM and flew back to Missouri. Fun times! I am so glad to be back in the Lou.

A) The weather is absolutely gorgeous
B) I have so many new bows to sport
C) I get to see my friends

In other news, the beautiful weather and the break brought so many people outdoors who I have never seen before. Almost everyone in/around the Bear's Den was someone I didn't recognize. Some people stared at my bows with a suspicious gaze, others smiled at my bow made out of they yarn that must have been designed specifically for me. See earlier post.

Today is my official 1 week anniversary of declaring my yearlong bowstravaganza! I am very happy to be back in my element at school, but someone asked me today, "You are going to wear crocheted headbands in public? In school too?"
Seeing as how I live at my school, yes, and yes! I am fully embracing the beauty that lies in the bow.

And by beauty, I mean both physically and symbolically. See earlier posts.

Now for the bow wins of today–
11) Getting away with carrying illegal items on the plane in my carryon: This includes two pairs of scissors, a bottle of glue (definitely counts as a gel or liquid), needles, etc. I guess the bow makes me seem less suspicious? Yes, this official bow win will be "being less suspicious/TSA fail"

12) Confusing people about my age: Whenever I go on a plane by myself, and I have about a dozen times at this point, the people sitting around me ALWAYS try to sneakily ask my age. Or directly. I was insulted when the 39 year old guy next to me thought I was 26 and awkwardly realized he was 20 years older than me. My bows might have made that less awkward, in fact. But really, the bow makes people think I am younger than 26, which I guess is a win!
Win #2 for today is looking younger/being age ambiguous.

I can't believe March is almost over. This year is going to go by way too fast!

Happy first week!

Love,
Bow Girl

Day 6: Last day at home.

Today I remembered why I crochet and don't knit: dropping stitches is so frustrating and annoying.
Today I realized that as much as I love wearing crocheted flowers and roses in my hair, bows fit me best. I am Bow Girl after all.
Today I am sad about going back to crocheting once a week and having so many stresses back in my life...

Bow wins:
8) Feeling at peace with the world
9) Feeling well accessorized (for once)
10) Looking friendly and approachable

Going back to STL in a few hours. Wash U, watch out! Bow Girl is coming back with more bows than ever!

Happy Day Five!

Dear Readers (if you exist),

Happy day five of my year long bowstravaganza! I came up with a new bow pattern for flowers involving a triple crochet stitch, and I think it finally did the trick in making my flowers look cute. Behold!



I also went to this novelty yarn shop that had everything a yarn athlete would ever want. I consider yarn crafts sports in their own right. Afghans are endurance events, flowers are sprints, but still... You DO have to be pretty nimble!

Here is my new yarn used in my new pattern. Admittedly, the yarn is three separated strands and is kind of hard to work with, but the end product made my day!




The yarn even looks pretty on the spool, like argyle! In all of my favorite colors. It was meant to be!

Today I saw some friends from high school, and I wore my two new flowers from the first picture in this post. I really felt alive today.

Bow wins:
6) Finding my perfect yarn. That yarn was MADE for me!
7) Feeling alive... I should try to feel like a living human being more often.

I am not going to get all philosophical... No worries.

-Bow Girls

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I, of course, wore my green bow today, and I did a lot of studying for my upcoming general chemistry exam! Aren't I such a dedicated student? Chemistry is always more fun with a bow... Not really.

Yesterday was a bit more fun. I prepped to study chemistry for today, and I got through March 16th without ANY snafus. March 16th has been a rough day in years past. In 2nd grade, I broke my wrist, and almost every year since I have had some sort of snafu. I think this year and last year may be the end to Snafu Day! That's a relief. I am also not nearly as superstitious anymore, and I do NOT think correlation implies causation, so I am going to declare March 16th (officially) as a normal day!

My gen chem exam says "Happy St. Patrick's Day" because the practice exam from two years ago was two years ago today! What are the chances? High, actually. : D



-Bow Girl

Finding a needle in a haystack. Or a couch.

I lost my yarn needle that I need to make my flowers. It got stuck in the couch, and finding it felt like finding a needle in a haystack. I was glad to have my spare back, since having two of something that is tiny and easily losable is way preferable to having no spares. Now I have two 5.0 mm crochet hooks and two needles.

I made a silver sparkly bow, a white bow, started a teal bow, and made a white flowered headband with roses on it. Yay for being productive.

I visited some of my teachers from high school in my white bow. My white bow makes me feel like I look tan, which is something I don't feel too often. I am as white as a Russian winter. I am not sure if I like feeling tan, but hey, I am experiencing new things left and right.

Bow Wins
3) Not feeling awkward going back to high school to visit the teachers I liked
4) Experiencing the feeling of being tan for once in my life, even if it was only a feeling and not reality
5) Putting off doing my quantum mechanics and thermodynamics homework sets



My new white bow and my forehead! : D

Have a bow-tiful day!

-Bow Girl

Days one and two (so far)

Happy Pi Day!

My first day as Bow Girl wasn't so dramatic. I have been wearing a bow everywhere for weeks, with the exception of one event where I had to wear white head to toe. I am making a white hair ornament later on to avoid that problem in the future. Thus, I waited until after I was 100% prepped to declare a year-long bow celebration, and day one was a great start. I spent the day with my family in beautiful weather and crocheted a lot! I wore an orange bow with my exercise outfit and a red bow for the rest of my day. I added a headband to my red rose prototype. It grew on me!

In no particular order:






Today was a bit more hectic, but fun. I went to the eye doctor. Not only are my eyes worse, but I am confined to my glasses for the week. I can put in my contacts for a few hours here and there, but it is recommended that I don't. Normally I am not so confident in my glasses, but I embraced the situation. I am never inclined to say, "Oh my gosh, I want to wear my glasses today!"
However, once clad in my glasses, I couldn't help but feel cute in them. Thanks bow! I am just deliciously nerdy today, and that is awesome. My bows help me say, "Hey world, this is who I am! I am cool with being deliciously nerdy, and if I can accept it, you can too!" I also ran many errands and exercised a bit, because what is a day without exercise? I am trying to forget there is such a thing as a day without ANY form of exercise. Brisk walks definitely count as exercise in my book, especially if you walk a couple of miles in the hills for 45 minutes to an hour. I like being in my home town in California because outdoor exercise is almost always an option.


Me being deliciously nerdy! Or so I hope! Bows make my feel 100 times cuter in my glasses.



I am going to start compiling a list of "bow wins," things that make my bows special or symbolic or helpful...

Bow Wins:
1) Confidence to rock my glasses
2) Not caring what other people think

Those are the two obvious ones for today! I think they are pretty important, so I will leave it at that.

More later, and eat some pi(e)!

Love,
Bow Girl!

Why bows? Why now?

1) I am a first year college student at a mid-sized university that is known for its medical school... Most people from my home town haven't heard of it unless they're a physician or in academia.

2) I love to crochet all sorts of things: hats, bows, flowers, and experimenting with/inventing new stitches and patterns.

3) I am always looking to improve myself as a person. If I'm not my best me, what me am I?

But still, what does this have to do with bows, exactly?

A few weeks ago was National Engineers Week, lovingly referred to as "EnWeek." I was at my school's EnWeek kickoff party, and there was a large spool of bright orange yarn (orange is the color of engineering), and I crocheted an orange rose. I wore the rose all week long to display my pride in the fact that I am a woman in engineering, and I was so delighted every time I saw my little orange rose in the mirror.

The bow made me feel strangely confident. It represented my personality to a T. People either loved the bow or scoffed at the bow. It helped me figure out who really likes and supports me as a person, and who is primarily concerned in my superficial traits. It's made me a new friend, a girl who often wears a flower in her hair. And it still makes me smile every time I look in the mirror, even after nearly a month.

Every Friday, I go to the commons and make a bow or flower. It only takes 15 minutes or so, and it is so rewarding to get to wear the fruits of my labor.

Here is where it gets interesting: I am going to wear a crocheted hair ornament EVERY day, EVERY time I am in public for a year, starting today, March 13, 2011. If you see me without one, you are probably dreaming.

Here is the EnWeek Flower that started it all:



Here is my current bow collection:



Here are some flower prototypes (not yet attached to headbands):





Happy day one!

-Bow Girl