I'm totally obsessed with knitting hats recently. One for dad, one for me. And now I've started another that may or may not be for me (if it comes out fabulous, it will be a gift and I'll probably make a second one for myself).

I just saw this hat yesterday on GoodKarmaGo's website. She also linked to the pattern designer, Nik, so of course I downloaded the pattern and started knitting immediately. (Go check out their sites for pics of the finished hat). I think the thing I like the most about the hat is the button. Isn't it weird how you see something and then become obsessively in love with it? (Ok, maybe that's just me. And maybe I'm weird for becoming obsessively in love with a big wooden button).

I cast on last night with 2 strands of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora. I have at least 6 skeins of it from when I finished Katy back in August '05. In the picture above, I am probably about 2 inches from starting the decreases, which I think are the funnest part of the hat because they go sooooo fast! The size 10.5 needles are a little bothersome to my hands. I don't know why big needles make my hands ache more than little needles (and go figure, little needles don't make my hands hurt but they give me blisters if I'm not careful).

And I mean really really huge. And likes pink hats.

So the Republic hat is yet another example of the importance of gauge. I even tried folding up and resewing the brim. This made the hat an acceptable length, but it is still too wide. I'm thinking I will try again, but not for a chunky hat, but a worsted weight hat instead.

(Do you like my new shirt?! Hee hee, Saved By the Bell reference! Busted Tees as the best shirts!)

The hammie had his first adventure in the hamster ball Saturday night. He did a great job running here and there and not crashing into anything too much. I'm not sure exactly what we're feeding him, but he has an unbelievable amount of energy.

I got a nice email from Knitfriendly over at Adventures of the Newbie Knitter that she whipped up a Republic hat after seeing it linked on my blog. Go look at how cute her hat is! Well, that does it... I'm going to try again. Although not with the angora, I forgot how much that invisibly floats into your nose to tickle you mercilessly (especially mercilesssly because the fluff is invisible!).

While reading through some of Knitfriendly's other entries, I saw this:

I've been quietly searching for a shrug/shawl type pattern that is light and lacy (yet easy easy) for a possible wedding dress accompaniment (considering nearly all wedding dresses in the magazines basically have no arm/shoulder covering and if I'm planning a fall wedding, it might be chilly). I really like that the pattern is a shawl that can be buttoned to form sleeves or left as a shawl (the buttoning is described on the website even though the picture looks as though there is a little i-cord or something threaded through the cuff area). So I ordered it in Louet Kidlin Pixie in Smoky Grape:

Hey, let's make a knit list...

Must Finish:
-Kevin's socks (first one is finally on the toe!)
-Circle of Friends Blanket (there's no rush here, but would like to keep plugging along, should have strip 1 finished tomorrow)

Need to Start ASAP:
-Hat for cousin
-Hat for other cousin (and those are the extent of the X-mas knitting)

Want to Start ASAP:
-Republic Hat the Second Attempt
-New gloves for me (only to be started after Kevin's socks are finished... damn lack of another pair of size 0 circulars!!)

Long-term Slow Project:
-Log Cabin Blanket

That's not a bad list. Any bets on how many I can finish before 2007?

Last night I was thinking that I should write up a quick post about the two books I just finished reading, and this morning I saw that Lolly posted about books and asked, "What books are you reading? What books have you recently enjoyed?"

A couple of weeks back I finished "Moneyball." If you like baseball and statistics (and are a nerd like me), you'll like this book. While being very informative about lesser known baseball statistics (which are actually more predicitve of a player's ability than the more popular ones), there are some good story elements about Billy Beane, Bill James, and a variety of other big league players.

I just finished this book yesterday. My advisor had recommended it to me a long time ago, but by some interesting randomness, I got a copy of it from Kevin's aunt (who was loaning it to Kevin, but I snatched it up first). If you are in academics or thinking about an academic career, this book is hilarious (and a little disturbing and depressing). It is the first laugh outloud book I've read in a long time.

Now of course, I'm without a book to read on the train. (Although not really, I have plenty of books around to be read, but nothing that I feel strongly toward).

Tonight at knitting, I finally finished Kevin's sock, and now I need to cast on for the second one. I also finished the first blanket strip. But instead of casting on strip 2 or sock 2, I cast on for Republic hat 2. Pictures tomorrow!

Does anyone know of a good place to purchase wooden buttons like the one on the Republic hat? Maybe I'm just searching in the wrong places, but I can't seem to find any source of wooden buttons. Please help!!

On my walk back to the train station this afternoon, I took a little detour and popped into a store that I thought might have some buttons. They had a very limited selection, but I managed to pick out a few that might work for the Republic hat, even though they aren't exactly what I had in mind. Who knew you could find a million weird novelty buttons, but no simple wooden ones.

As promised...
pic removed (to be put back later!)
One cabled sock for Kevin down, one to go (status of sock 2: 4 rows knit).

The first strip of the Circle of Friends Blanket. I stole the needle from this for the second Republic hat, but I know I have more size 6s around, so I'll probably start another strip soon. The next strip starts with the light blue and then goes into the brown.

Yesterday was a good day. I went down to job 2, meet Kathy for a little yarn shopping after class, ate some Panera, finished up a little work, rode the train home, found a yarn package waiting, went grocery shopping, and finished a hat.

At the yarn store, I picked up some Print 127 for Calorimetry from the new Knitty. I'm going to make one for myself and one for an X-mas gift for my cousin. I also picked up the most recent issue of Rowan (#40).

As you all well know, Rowan can be very hit or very miss. The last issue I got in my subscription was very very miss, so I didn't resubscribe. This issue, that I purchased at the knitting store, is very very hit. At first I only liked about 1 or 2 of the patterns, and was completely baffled by the Knit Ballgown. I figured I'd purchase it because having a pattern for a Knit Ballgown is important (kidding!). There's an article/photospread inside called "I Could Wear That" which features a 20 year old, 40 year old, and 60 year old wearing a lot of the designs (not the ballgown) in the magazine. Designs that I was initially not interested in based on the pictures featuring models (and their horrid clothing) look a lot better on the "real" women. Isn't that interesting... the clothes look better on "real" people than on models!

This is hideous on the model. It is an unflattering picture and pose. But on the "real" women it is awesome!

Again, no good on the model. The shirt underneath is terrible and distracting. On the "real" women, it is cute and sexy.

Some of my other favs include:

But this one... this one I just don't understand why a woman would want to wear something resembling a horse blanket...

I've got pictures of Republic 2 and X-mas hat 1 to post, as well as the Louet Kidlin Pixie yarn for the shawl for the next entry.

Here are some FOs:

1. Calorimetry from Knitty.

This is knit with the recommended Filatura di Crosa 127 Print. I used size 6 needles after reading a number of people's complaints that the finished product was enormous. This is a good size, but for my second one (yes there's a second one already on the needles), I'm using size 6 with only 100 stitches.

Don't you love those colors?!?!

2. Hat for my cousin. It's your basic 2x2 rib.

I knit about 9 inches before the decreases. Then I decreased by p2tog, ribbed 5 rounds, k2tog, ribbed 3 rounds, k2tog all around twice. The yarn is Plymouth Encore Worsted and knit on size 6 circulars.

3. Republic Hat by Nik

This is made with some worsted weight yarn I had in my stash. I think it is some kind of hand-dyed wool, I don't exactly remember. I cast on 113 stitches and then cast off 23 at the appropriate place. I should have knit for another inch because the hat is a little small, but not terrible. I'll just have to try again on Republic 3.

I finished Calorimetry 2 last night. This one is also 127 Print on size 6 needles, but this time I only cast on 100 stitches. It is a bit snugger than the first. I'd guess that 110 stitches on size 6 needles would be optimum for me in this yarn.

As I was sitting around wearing my calorimetry, Kevin took out and handed me the hamster. The hamster immediately ran up my shoulder and jumped into the hood of my sweatshirt! He seemed to have a lot of fun playing in my hood, even eating some rice cake that Kevin handed to him (this is the first time he's taken and eaten food outside of his cage). Here are some pictures...

I don't know why I'm green in this last one, but I like the way the hammie is hiding behind my mini-ponytail.

Kevin's brother and his girlfriend showed us this little gem last night. Who knew Doogie had such a good singing voice?

This is mostly for my own motivation...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Must Finish:
-Kevin's socks one finished, number two started
-Circle of Friends Blanket one strip finished, six and a lot of seaming to go

Need to Start ASAP:
-Hat for cousin finished!!
-Hat for other cousin finished!!

Want to Start ASAP:
-Republic Hat the Second Attempt finished!!
-New gloves for me not, yet... need to finish Kevin's socks first

Long-term Slow Project:
-Log Cabin Blanket no progress to report

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The "can it be finished by the end of the month" List:
-Kevin's socks
-Lilith
-Circle of Friends Blanket

Ready to start in January:
-Homespun Blanket for friends (I'm copying Kevin's mom on this one. She's making the nicest blanket from Homespun, so soft and cuddly).

Long-term Slow Project:
-Log Cabin Blanket

(how cool... I just realized I can post this little list in the sidebar so I don't lose track of it!)

You'd think a week and a half without lectures or job 2 would yield lots of free time. But no. I've been dealing with an over-flowing inbox of emails from students. Before the exam it was full of questions and concerns and pleas for meetings. Now, after the exam and posting grades, it is full of whiny pleas for more extra credit and "just 1 more point." Argh!

The best, however, was the one that contained the string of letters "sumtn." I could only assume that "sumtn" was either the student bashing his hand on the keyboard in frustration or being used as a word. Since the letters s u m t n are not that close together on the keyboard, I ruled out option one. Using the skills I learned in 2nd grade of how to read a sentence and deduce the meaning of an unknown word from context, I was able to figure out that the student meant "something." I'm hoping that the student knows the difference between something and sumtn and just prefers to send the appearance to his professor that he is a moron and can only type in text message speak, but I do fear that there are young people out there who believe sumtn is the proper spelling.

I did manage some knitting time over the weekend and beginning of the week. And in true kim fashion, I managed to completely ignore the list of knitting that is contained in my last post. As I was reading Terby's post, I noticed she was knitting some cute mitts called Fetching from Knitty. And I thought to myself, I don't remember seeing those in the recent issue. I followed the link and realized that they are from the summer issue that I completely ignored when it came out because who wants to knit winter accessories in the summer?! But now that it is winter and my hands are cold...

Yep, I had to whip up my own. The yarn is Tahki Yarns New Tweed that's been in the stash for at least 2 years. The yarn is 70% merino, 15% silk, 11% cotton, and 4% viscose. It is soft and lovely. I actually knit both mitts at the same time (2 circs, baby). Knitting both at the same time was an adventure in patience as the balls of yarn got all twisty and the whole thing was a bit fiddly, but in the end, I had two finished mitts at the same time (minus the thumbs of course). I made a little modification to the finished product by sewing a little bit of yarn between my index finger and middle finger. This really helps to keep the top of the mitt at the base of my fingers. As I looked at pics of finished Fetchings on the interweb, I noticed that a lot of them never made it to the base of the person's fingers (how does that help in warmth?!). I really like my modification, I might even add a little between the pinky and ring fingers if they continue stretching as I wear them.

I just spent an hour manually entering my class's grades into the online system because the secretaries went home early and I couldn't turn in my grades to them.

And guess what?!

The computer couldn't fully load the page after I hit submit, so they are all gone. Poof! Into the vast wasteland of unloaded pages.

I'm about ready to throw the laptop across the room and rip the internet cable out of the wall.

Ok, so grades finally got uploaded. Immediately after which I got three emails from students (who missed my deadline for "complaints") with legimate complaints, so I need to fill out a bunch of forms... but not until January.

Of course the tragedy of the evening did not end with stupid internet failures, but as I was uploading grades (both the first and second time), Kevin, like the wonderful guy he is, was making us some yummy dinner (baked pasta with fresh homemade sauce). After about 20 minutes in the oven, we heard a loud crack and semi-explosion. Yes, the pyrex exploded and there was glass everywhere in the oven. Fortunately the pasta held mostly intact so there wasn't too much pasta to clean, but the glass was a mess. And of course, clutz that I am, I managed to cut myself once on each hand. Now I look like a bandaided freak.

Anyway, we kicked off the holiday season last Wednesday with a white elephant party. After the gift exchanging and trading, we played a bunch of guitar hero. And here on Christmas eve eve we are playing even more (waiting until Christmas proper to break out the new Guitar Hero 2 that my bro is getting as a gift).

I'll leave you with the holiday cheer of me in my white elephant gift...

Well, since I have a brief ability to upload some pictures, I'll share the few pictures I remembered to take on Christmas. (I haven't yet learned to have my camera attached to my hand at all times).

The hamster got to travel and live in the bathroom (it was the only room completely "secure" from cats getting in). He's still a little freaked from the traveling part.

My parents' cat Midnight decided to join in the present opening fun by plopping down on a pile of gift wrap and then permitting us to pile more on top of her.

Overall, X-mas was good with a lot of great food and gifts and fun (and even a little yarn!). Up next is X-mas part 2! I probably won't get to post again until '07, so have a great New Year's!!!