After going through a summer, early fall knitting slump of just churning out a few socks, I suddenly have a bunch of project that I want to knit. Thankfully, the semester is nearly over, so I might actually have some time to make some progress on a few of them. (Of course, I am teaching 3 brand new courses next semester, so I should spend some serious time prepping so I don't want to kill myself by spring break).


So here's the knitting to do and want to do list...


1. Finish Ravenish socks (scroll down / ravelry) My modified Lenore pattern with the previous yarn installment of RSC.


2. Finish Little Gems Mitts (scroll down / ravelry)


3. Finish Naughty/Nice Scarf (scroll down / ravelry)


4. Lots and lots of socks with this, this, and this


5. Urban Homesteader Hat (site / ravelry). Too cute with the pigtail/ponytail flaps and buttons.


6. Featherlight Lingerie Dress from Lace Style ( shown here / ravelry)


7. Lidsville Hat for my dad (shown here / ravelry). Yes, for dad, I will figure out how to crochet something.


And there's much more that I'm not even thinking of at the moment!

Last night after a depressing trip to the grocery store* I wound up a skein of Cascade 220 Tweed in Charcoal and went in search of the appropriately sized knitting needle... wait, I mean crochet hook. Yes, last night I took up hooking... crocheting... the evil sister craft of knitting.


Seriously, crocheting isn't evil or bad. I am curious as to why I have 2 K hooks, 3 Gs, and 1 H. (And one tiny one for sock/glove stitch rescue, but I couldn't find that last night). Where did these crochet hooks even come from? I have zero memory of purchasing them.


I forged ahead on Lidsville for my dad. I used the H hook since I didn't have an I, and what do I know about figuring out crochet gauge. I'm viewing this as an experiment. I was proud that after only two false starts that I was able to crochet a back piece for the hat. At which point I was completely confused. There is no schematic for the hat and no illustration of the construction. I just had this bizarre fish shaped piece. After a lot of pondering, and recrocheting to arrive at the same bizarre fish shape, I finally had an a-ha as to how the hat is constructed... or at least the back part is constructed.


I'd show you a picture of my fish shaped piece, but it is at home and I'm at work. And get this... I'm actually eager to go home (no, that's not shocking) and crochet some more!!


Don't fret, I won't leave the knitting behind. Crochet instructions still make very little sense to my mind, and my freakish hand motions cause wrist pain if I crochet for too long. But I'm eager to see if this hat will actually turn out to look like the picture!




*Grocery shopping was not fun. Usually I don't mind grocery shopping, especially when Kevin and I go together. We laugh at silly foods and encourage each other to indulge in treats. But we were so spoiled with Wegman's and I miss it soooooo much. We went last night to ShopRite. It was dirty and disorganized. The employees had no respect for customers and not even the minimal amount of care for their jobs. The bagboy literally and RANDOMLY threw our groceries into bags. Because, yes, I want my cleaning products in the same bag as my fruit. And no problems throwing soft and delicate foods (bananas, avocados) into a bag, no they won't bruise, oh and go ahead and throw some heavy stuff on top of them, they can take it. I don't mean to be so anal about the bagging of my groceries, but a simple policy of cold stuff together (maybe separate out meats), fresh stuff (fruits and veggies) together with sturdy ones (potatoes) at the bottom and delicate ones at the top, cleaning and nonfood products together, boxed goods together, cans and jars together. And it isn't like I make this hard... I put everything onto the conveyor belt already organized. Bah!! It is worth the bridge tolls, turnpike tolls, and long drive to go back to Wegman's.

So I went home the other day and excitedly crocheted another piece of the back for Lidsville. Then I started looking at my pieces and the seemed kind of small. I sewed them together and they seemed even smaller because of the amount of space taken up by the seams. I got depressed and didn't do any more work on it.


Yesterday after powering through some work in the morning and eating an energizing lunch (yay for sour cream and potato chips!), I started over with a bigger hook and renewed determination. While watching a mega-marathon of Project Runway, I worked and worked. Each piece crocheted up pretty fast.



Back pieces



Top piece



Side pieces



Brim



Inner band



Button


By the time I was finished with all the pieces, I felt proud of myself for actually following crochet instructions. Then came the seaming and construction. I don't know exactly what I did or how I did it, but it turned out looking sort of like the hat in the picture.








I have no idea if dad will like it. I figure I'll give it to him on Sunday, if it is no good, I've got time to fix, make something else, or whatever before Christmas. Surprisingly it only took 1 skein of Cascade 220 Tweed, and that's without ripping out my three too small back pieces.


Now that I (sort of) understand the construction and shape of the hat, I may try to make a garter stitch knit version if dad doesn't like the first one.


Turns out that dad likes it! Yay!

I still have 100 more rows on the first half of the naughty/nice scarf, but I finally got through all of the patterning for the "lady." She is a bit shy and doesn't really want to be photographed. When I get a little more of it completed, I'll try to figure out how to capture a better image.

So I was looking at my projects list on Ravelry and realized that my WIPs had grown to 10. Ok, ok... I know that's nothing compared to some people, but it saddened me to have so many started and abandoned projects. When you abandon a project you want to shove in the bottom of the knitting bag and mostly forget its existence until you've finished the lovely new things that took your attention away from the abandoned project.


Anyway, I moved 6 of these projects to Hibernating. Now they are at the bottom of my project's page sleeping (Zzzzz) where they won't taunt me so much!!


40ish more rows and one half of Naughty/Nice will be fin!






In nonknitting stuff... without Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for nightly snark and keeping me up to date on current events and celebrities, I think I've found 2 new men for the job.

Keith Olbermann. Funny, smart, hates Bill O. What more do you need?! Don't tell, but someday I'm going to stalk him outside of Rockefeller Center and tell him how awesome he is. Actually, I'd probably see him, freeze up, and then hide behind something.



Joel McHale of The Soup. Keeps me up to date on all the bad TV I don't want to waste time watching, but thoroughly enjoy laughing at.


"Sticky?" Hahahaha!!



Short Version of "Sticky?"

Because I don’t have anything else right now, and because I’m proctoring an exam and am bored. I give you the Christmas Meme borrowed from Boogie Knits . (Oh, and I apologize if this is a little Grinchy, I’m definitely not feeling the holiday spirit this year).


Christmas Meme
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper mostly; occasionally a bag if it is cute. I take pride in my wrapping skills and being able to wrap anything. I worked during college at Natural Wonders (which I think is now out of business). At Christmas, I would work the register and wrap gifts for people, elaborately wrapped. It didn’t matter the size or shape, I could, would, and did wrap it.
2. Real or artificial tree? Kevin and I have only had one tree because we’ve mostly lived in apartments that don’t have room for them (oh, and they are a royal pain to deal with and I’m a Grinch). I kind of like the artificial ones for the fun of constructing them and the fact that they don’t smell.
3. When do you put up the tree? In the hypothetical world in which we had a tree, we’d probably put it up about a week or less before X-mas.
4. When do you take it down? Probably just after New Years… again in that hypothetical world.
5. Do you like eggnog? Barf!! Ok, I’ve never actually tested eggnog, but I don’t drink anything including eggs (eggs are for eating not drinking) or with the word nog.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? There’s no one favorite because I got a lot of great gifts. One that really stands out is a Rudolph deer that was battery powered and could walk across the room while his nose lit up. I remember asking for a Rudolph for a couple of years before getting one… apparently Santa’s elves weren’t making them the first couple of years I asked.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My parents, maybe? Really, anyone who has a job and can buy themselves stuff is hard to buy for. You want to get them something unique or different that they might not get for themselves.
9. Easiest person to buy for? ME! Who doesn’t buy themselves X-mas presents?
10. Worst Christmas present you ever got? Hmmm… I haven’t received too many bad gifts. My mom picks out good stuff for me and if family members don’t know what to get me, they’ll just give me gift cards or money, and those are never bad!
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Is neither an option? No, we’re mailing them out this year… especially now that we have everyone’s mailing address from sending out wedding invitations and thank you notes.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Today is the 13th and I haven’t started yet. I think I’m in some trouble. I might be able to convince Kevin to go to the mall on Saturday. We like to try to do it all in one shopping excursion.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can remember.
15. Favorite thing to eat on Christmas? Freshly baked mommom-made buns.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored. White lights are too boring. But again, we don’t have a tree.
17. Favorite Christmas song? ???
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel, although not as much this year because of work.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? No, maybe halfish?
20. Angel or star on top of tree? If this is a forced choice, star. But I think if we had a tree, we’d find something more interesting and creative.
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? Traditionally, both our families do Christmas eve with extended family and Christmas morning at home. This year is all screwy.
22. Most annoying thing this time of year? Everything! (Ok, is that too Grinchy?). I hate the TV commercials, especially the ones that try to convince you that a car is a good X-mas gift. I hate the forced cheerfulness. I’ve got to go with Scrooge on that and say “Bah-bug.”
23. Do you decorate your tree in any theme or color? Well, no because we don’t have a tree, and if we did there might be a bit of a theme because we don’t have much in the way of decorations. The one year we had a tree it was green and blue with homemade decorations of stamped paper and pipe-cleaners.
24. What do you leave for Santa? Coal. Hahaha!!

1. Why are people around here so stupid that they think repeatedly flooring it for 45 minutes will dislodge their car from the mountain of ice that they parked it on? All day for the last two days there has been nothing but engines roaring and tires slipping. If your car is that stuck, then call out sick from work or school... or or take public transit!!! But please stop because I've got a constant headache.


2. Just because the snow on the ground is dirty does not mean you don't have to clean up after your dog!! Dog poop on the grass is gross, but dog poop on a mound of snow. That's not going to decompose or disappear. Clean up after your freakin' dog!!!


3. I don't understand why when there is a street cleaning day and everyone moved their cars, but because of the dirty snow no street cleaner comes, that they don't send the plow around to clear out the slush and ice. Because that would help eliminate the problem of #1 above.


Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Yarn Harlot in the NY Times

kinnear v.

To take a candid photograph surreptitiously, especially by holding the camera low and out of the line of sight. Coined in August by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of the Yarn Harlot blog when she attempted to take a photograph during an encounter with the actor Greg Kinnear at an airport.