The 500th Comment Award goes to Cordelia! I wasn't even paying attention to realize that the 500th was coming up. I really can't believe that in little over a year this blog has collected 500 comments!


Moving on... my issue of Interweave Knits arrived today. I gotta say I still don't like the new format. I get about halfway into the pattern pictures before realizing that they are the actual patterns and not just advertisements. While most of the patterns are very pretty, there was nothing that jumped out and screamed "knit me, knit me!!" However, I did see two appealing ads...



I am in love with these gator scarves. Even though it is in the magazine ad, I can't find it on Morehouse Merino's website. I can find the dragon scarf, but no gators. I want to make a gator scarf, or 12!!!



I'm curious as to the meaning of this Lorna's Laces ad...
---is it that buying Lorna's Laces is smart?
or
---is it that that particular colorway is called Brains!?!?
Because if it is the latter, I would definitely buy it.


In actual knitting news...

The summer shrug (that was the summertime tunic) is now the summertime cardi. The sleeves are done (I like the little cap sleeves), and I love the ribbon holding it closed. Now to use the remaining 1 3/4 balls to length it and viola a FO!


And lastly...
I bought yellow shoes!!

Yellow yarn a few weekends ago, now yellow shoes... I don't know where this yellow fetish is coming from.

Friday's Feast


Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
8

Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
The Colbert Report the other night when he was talking about the Commie Goats and flubbed his line. Just made me laugh out loud again rewatching the clip!

Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Dr. Girlfriend, of course!!

Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
Ok, I've got three...

First, the professor that got me interested in studying psychology. I had him for Intro Psych 1 and Abnormal Psych. He had absolutely no shame and would act out various disorders, which probably shouldn't be funny because mental disorders are serious, but it was insane. He didn't really tell jokes to make the class laugh, but he was just so enthusiastic and spastic that it was always entertaining.

Second, a professor I had in grad school was beyond fidgety. He couldn't stand still and lecture, he was always moving. Squatting down, hiding behind chairs, jumping from behind the wall. Sometimes it would be funny in class, but it was mostly funny when reminscing with other students.

Third, a professor who made me laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe and was actually crying. Basically we were discussing an article or book or something and there was these cryptic words written on it, including "gonad". Frequently professors would give us copies of their originals that have their own notes scribbled on them. Someone asked what the words meant. And it turns out that he and another professor used to joke about how you'd say their names backwards and whose was cooler (keep in mind this is a guy who's in his 60s). It doesn't seem as funny to write it up, but it was among the hardest I've ever laughed in my entire life.

Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ______________________.
I strongly believe that Paypal's security procedures for updating your email address, home address, and phone number are ridiculously excessive, but at least the people were nice.

On the hottest day of the year thus far, I sat inside in the air conditioning and knit with 100% Pure Wool from the Shetland Isles. Crazy, huh?


But before we get to that... I finished the Summertime Cardi.





Several people have asked if there is a pattern. And unfortunately, there is not. I just made it up as I went along. If you are familiar with knitting sweaters from the top, you can approximate your own. Instead of starting with enough stitches for up around the neck, I picked a lower point along my back and then added about 1/4-1/3 more stitches from that number to each of the sleeves. I increased at the seams until it would connect comfortably under the arm, then I set the sleeves aside on separate needles and cast on enough stitches to each side of the fronts to equal the back. The ribbon is just woven between the knit stitches, no eyelets for me! I went back and added a few rows to each sleeve and then bound off, and then knit down the body until I ran out of yarn. Again if you find a good top-down sweater pattern or read "Knitting from the Top," you can probably figure out how to make your own cardi.





Of course, I'm not perfect. And like many of the pictures in the knitting mags, the pose deceives the viewer of the imperfections...





Yep, it's a shoulder-slider. I haven't decided if I care and if I do, what to do about it.


Are you still wondering about that Shetland Wool from the beginning? I finally broke down and had to get the Baby Surprise Kit for myself. No, there are no babies that need knitting for, but I've seen this on a lot of blogs and Ravelry, and I wanted in on the trick of how its constructed. This is how far I've gotten, and I'm stumped as to which part of the sweater this is going to be! (If you know the secrets of the Baby Surprise sweater, please don't spoil my discovery! If I get the thing finished and am still stumped, then help will be nice. But right now, I'm enjoying being befuddled by the makeup of this sweater.)





I wasn't entirely keen on the stripes until I saw that picture. I'm alternating colors every 2 rows (you could probably tell that!) and knitting on a size 3 addi that I really wish was a bit longer, but it's ok.


Tomorrow is Stitch n Pitch at Shea! Hopefully the Mets will crush the Braves and hopefully I'll get about half through the foot on the second Summer Solstice sock.

First, a great big THANK YOU to my sock pal Alice, who knit me the most beautiful pair of socks. They are Lucy Neatby's Fiesta Feet socks. They are knit in Koigu (white) and Lorna's Laces (rainbow). They are truly the most impressive and beautiful socks I've had the privilege to put on my feet, and they fit perfectly! She also spoiled me with some Tofutsies sock yarn, note cards, Brown's Top of the Lamb Shampoo, and a cute little knitting charm.








Click here for a big version!


Thank you, thank you sock pal!! I love them. I am wearing them right now because the weather turned freakishly cool. I have happy feet!!


In other knitting news, my Alligator Scarf kit arrived as well.



Stitch n Pitch night was a lot of fun. Mostly because the game was awesome and the Mets beat the Braves. I won't go into the train and subway rides there and back (this was in the evening of the day that started with the storms that flooded out many of the subways). I'll just say that it was hot and sticky and CROWDED!! I was wearing my knitted Mets shirt and once we got to the game, it was catching the eye of various knitters, including Debbie Stoller who was at the Stitch n Pitch table.


Like a total and complete dork, I walked up to her and said "Are you Debbie?" After she said yes, I introduced myself (just by name, I didn't say, I've had patterns in your books). We shook hands and said nice to meet you in person. As I walked away, I was (and still am) terrified that she has no idea who I am and why some strange knitter in a knitted Mets shirt would introduce herself as if she should know her.


But I was able to get some schwag even though I bought my tickets separate from the group.











There's some yarn, a size 2 circular needle, some back issues of Interweave Knits, Spin Off, and Knit 1, some leaflets, and a tape measure. It isn't fantabulous, but it was free, so I'm not complaining!!

I finished the knitting of the Baby Surprise Jacket and am truly impressed that a flick of the wrist and the blob becomes sweater shaped. Unfortunately, I can't show you a picture. And I'm conflicted... do I wait until I can take a picture, take one, and then sew it up? Or do I sew it up and trust that you, dear readers, have seen the magic of the sweater elsewhere.


Why no pictures?


It seems my camera has taken its last picture. Last night in composing my post, it took me two hours to get the camera to take those three pictures of my sock pal socks. It seems my camera likes to view the world as black with purply streaks and takes pictures of utter blackness. When nearing the end of 2 hours of frustration I told the camera that I was getting the hammer, it miraculously managed to come back to life and took 3 pictures. The LCD screen is fine and I can review pictures stored on the memory card. Today I tried and tried to get a picture out of it, but even threats of hammers won't make it work.


I've been madly reviewing new cameras online all evening and I've found one that I like. Now, do I buy it and feel guilty for spending the money or do I wait two months and feel depressed with no camera?


Of course, on top of this is the new knowledge I have from reading "Stumbling on Happiness" by Daniel Gilbert that we human beings are terrible at predicting what will make us happy. (If you are a psych nerd, this is a must read, and even if you're not, this book is well-written, funny, and engaging). Why are we terrible at predicting what will make us happy? Three reasons...


1. Realism: Our imaginations tend to fill-in and leave out information without telling us.
By this, I imagine myself happily playing with my new camera, but leave out the frustration of trying to figure out how it works, reading the manual, the added costs of additional memory cards and batteries. I imagine using the camera frequently, when in reality after a day or two I probably won't take very many pictures.


2. Presentism: We imagine the future as we experience the present.
Right now I want to take pictures and having that ability would make me very happy, thus I imagine that having the ability to take pictures, say tomorrow if I run out and buy a camera, will make me equally as happy. And combined with problem 1, my imagination fails to fill in the stuff that will keep me busy in the upcoming weeks and ignores that right now I have a bunch of free time to take pictures that won't be available in a few days.


3. Rationalization: Imagination doesn't realize that things appear different after they've happened.
Mostly, bad things look better after they've happened. Gilbert's argument here is that you imagine something really bad happening (for example, being hit by a car) and imagine being devasted by it, it being the worst thing in the world that could happen to you. But if you do get hit by a car (Gilbert doesn't deny that you'll be upset and hurt), you'll actually be able to cope much better with it and get beyond it (emotionally speaking) faster than you predicted. So in the case of my camera, if I don't get a new one soon, the death of my current camera will eventually not be as painful as I imagine it being right now.


In any case, for you, my readers, it would probably be best if I got a camera soon, or you're probably going to get my psychological analysis (note that that's not psychoanalysis!!) on a lot more topics, which might warrant a blog title change to Dr. Girlfriend Psychologizes.

I woke up this morning after many dreams of cameras (psychology note: one the current theories on the meaning of dreams is that they are merely our brains repeating what is on our minds in our waking states) and decided that I should just buy a new one. Of course after making this decision, I decide to give the old camera one more chance and don't you know the damn thing starts working again! This would have been good except I was now set on getting a new one. After debating with myself, reading the blog comments, and then finally listening to Kevin say just do it, I ordered the camera. We picked it up after dinner (online ordering and in store pick up are very convenient!!)





Ain't she pretty?! I love that the camera is black. I've been very into black appliances and electronics recently (everything on our wedding registry is black). I've been playing around with the settings and functions. I even took a video of folding the Baby Surprise Jacket. Tomorrow I'll install the software on the computer and upload the new photos!!

(oh my, did I just make a Wilson Phillips reference?!?!)


As always other life things step in the way of plans (in this case to post pictures from the new camera). Last night one of our air conditioners had a bit of a melt down at the outlet (I'll post a picture of the remains of the plug when I can), which blew out its outlet and the one the desktop computer is plugged into. We were very fortunate that an electrical fire didn't start. It would have been really bad because inches from the outlet that got burned was all of my books (in cardboard boxes; most of which are not replaceable) from my office (oh, and not far from those is all my yarn!). The landlord tried to fix it, but it needs an electrician (who'll be coming tomorrow). So right now we've rigged up some power so that the modem/router stays alive, but the desktop isn't available for picture downloading.

Trouble-Maker



Gator Head



Surprise Baby Jacket

The pictures look lovely in the entry below. It was easy to knit and fun to fold up (sewing not so much, I did a whip stitch because I couldn't figure out anything neater or better). The problem is that I skipped the first step. The first step of any knitting pattern because I'm cavalier like that. I didn't do a gauge swatch. The picture looks good, but the sweater is itsy, bitsy, and certainly not normal American baby sized. But that's ok because this wasn't intended for a baby anyway, this one was about the process. And check out the process of folding it up!





The sweater is inside out with the bottom edge at the bottom of the screen. I try to highlight the little neck shaping area on the left and the button holes on the right. I apologize for the weird movements and odd color changes, but it was my first movie with my new camera.


Now that I know the tricks of the pattern and just found out that a grad school friend's wife just had a baby, I'll probably be casting on another of these as soon as I finish the Summer Solstice socks (which should be this evening with any luck... well, free time).

I believe that this is the first and last time that the Yarn Harlot and I will post the same FO on the same day (scroll down a bit).








And click here for a biiiiiiig close-up! (My new camera is so fun!)


Speaking of fun...





Here's Kevin playing Wii Bowling!

Some notes on the Alligator Scarf...
1. The yarn is very sticky. Not lollipop sticky, but you know how wool can be sticky. I started knitting on bamboo needles and it was hurting my hands beyond belief to just knit a stitch. I switched to metal needles, but the stickiness factor is still limiting me to just a few rows at a time.
2. Not only is the yarn sticky, it isn't particularly soft. If it didn't come in the kit, I wouldn't have selected this for a scarf. I'm hoping that a long soak after it is finished will soften it up.
3. And thirdly on the yarn, it is full of bits of twigs and wood and other crap that you expect in something like Noro (since it is subtitled "World of Nature"), but I wasn't expecting it in Morehouse Merino. But I'm getting annoyed pulling out little prickly things.
4. The pattern is easy-peasy, but again takes some hand flexibility that is making it a slow go for me.


Overall, I still really like it. I can't decide if it needs teeth or not.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And because I'm still exploring functions on my camera and our hamster is insane and tries in vain every night to escape, here's some hammie video.

Ms. Knitfriendly nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger, which is totally cool because I like totally rock out on Guitar Hero 80s (I kick ass at "18 and Life" on Expert). In actuality, I don't think she knows of my Guitar Hero prowess, but in a much sweeter move picked me because I was her first knitting blog!

So now apparently it is my turn to nominate a few gals as rockin' bloggers...

Cordelia from Llyr's Daughter because she is awesome and my best real-life knit bud. She's journeyed with me to MDS&W and Rhinebeck. And she just won an award!

Terby from Terby Knits because as (part of) her subtitle says "scientist, knitter, reader, pop culture junkie." That's my kinda gal.

Nona of Nonaknits because she creates awesome and unique patterns (i-cord gloves, sideways socks).

Jody from Savannahchik because she was the first online friend that I met in person and she taught me to knit socks on two circs.

Yay for Rockin' Girl Bloggers!!
_____________________________________________________________________
I'm nearing completion on a pair of socks and have added a few spikes to the alligator. Today I had orientation for my new job. The very best part was walking by my new office (before even having a key) and seeing the very official looking name placard with "Dr." in front of my name. My office mate (also a newbie) seems very nice and the other newbies were friendly. I haven't sniffed out if there were any knitters, but that might take until the weather cools for real and some investigation of people's wardrobes.
I have a few pictures from Sunday's short tour of NYC with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. But I'm too tired right now to bother uploading them on the other computer.