Gorgeous blue Donegal Tweed with yellow, purple, and light blue flecks
A cute little bag
And adorable stitch markers (which defy good picture taking)
January 30, 2006
I got my butt out of bed this morning
and got over to my office to do some work. I don't like getting up
early and I don't like being at my office when the weather is beautiful,
so I wasn't in the best mood. But then there was something wonderful!
I looked in my mailbox in the psychology office and there was a package.
And it wasn't a package from the book companies (which are typically disappointing
because they are textbooks, oh fun another free textbook!). I grabbed
the package and ran (ok, took the elevator and talked to a professor) back
to my office and ripped it open. Inside I found a lovely note and...
Gorgeous blue Donegal Tweed with yellow, purple, and light blue flecks
A cute little bag
And adorable stitch markers (which defy good picture taking)
This magical and wonderful gift
was from the super fantastic Terby.
Isn't that the sweetest thing?! Thank you so much! And I agree
with you, knit bloggers are the nicest people!!
January 29, 2006
Well, I didn't accomplish as much
this weekend as I wanted to. I've got 3/5ths of the exam and study
guide completed and some outlines for the 2 lectures. But finishing
all that is what Mondays are for, right?
I did finish the first sleeve of Tubey yesterday and have about 4 inches on the second sleeve.
Extreme close up. It is interesting how combining the pink and
brown results in a fabric that appears red and black. Closeup you
can see pink and brown, but from a distance it is red and black.
Here is a picture illustrating the two changes I've made thus far.
The blue circles are paired decreases. After knitting 4 inches of
the sleeve, I started decreasing 2 stitches every 7th round (about every
inch) 12 times. For the last decrease, I only decreased 1 stitch
to be left with an even number so I could add the second change, ribbing
at the cuff. I did 3x1 ribbing so it will match the body (when I
get there). As much as I love big, wide, bell sleeves, I have too
many sweaters with such sleeves and I have found that I sometimes avoid
wearing those sweaters because I can't fit them under my coat. For
example, both Klaralund and Suss Zip Up have such huge sleeves that a good
six inches sticks out of my jacket. I'm hoping that Tubey will have
nice tapered, wrist length sleeves, and so far so good.
Tubey changes thus far:
Fitted sleeves
Ribbed cuffs
Tubey changes to come:
You'll just
have to check back for the major body change.
January 28, 2006
Self-Defense Mechanism...
Cordelia tagged me and since this is probably more entertaining than a lesson on Person Perception (current lecture that needs to be written) it is what you get.
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.
(I blame these on Kevin playing them over and over and then they get stuck in my head because they are too funny...)
I've got to write 2 lectures, 1
exam, and 1 study guide this weekend, but I'm still hoping to finish the
first Tubey sleeve over the weekend (which might mean knitting all day
today and doing work all day tomorrow).
January 25, 2006
Starting at the left with the knitted item (because that's most important), we see a Tubey in progress. After seeing these two fabulous Tubeys, I had to join in. Being a good girl and wanting to start ASAP, I went into the stash and pulled out the 10 remaining chocolate skeins from Top Secret and 10 skeins of Cherry Blossom also in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes. Holding the two colors together gave me close to gauge, although it is a thick fabric, so this will be a warm Tubey. I actually have some ideas for altering the pattern as I go, but I'm still thinking them through, so you'll have to wait and find out!
Under Tubey is a pile of papers I need to deal with including a car insurance bill, which seemed appropriate to toss on the chair instead of placing with the bills. I'm lazy. On the right side of the chair is the textbook for my class. I just wrote tomorrow's lecture today and I need to start reading for Tuesday's class. On top of the textbook are a couple of DVDs including Old School, which I ripped clips off of to show in class to demonstrate concepts relating to self-awareness and self-regulation. Finally, the papers in the foreground are 50 pages of a new report out from the American Association of University Women about sexual harassment on college campuses, which is just more reading for my dissertation.
Comments...
Ok, that's a really hard one and
if someone knows it I will be very impressed!
January 23, 2006
Sorry for the disappearance, I
was briefly possessed by the Jersey Knitting Devil...
Complete with needle horns!
Thursday in the mail, I received another super quick package from Patternworks. This contained the yarn for Sheepy Blanket 2.0, aka Olympic Knitting Entry.
Also in the box from Patternworks was a pattern and some more yarn:
Too cute!! I just need to find some buttons now. The second
purpose is that this will go to my cousins who are also getting Sheepy
Blanket 2.0.
I don't know any 6 month old babies, so the Philly Phanatic had to
substitute.
I also finally got around to blocking the Montera Bag. It is amazing what a good blocking can do!
And finally in nonknitting news, I've discovered two new favorite foods: Ferrero Rocher and Nutella. I know you are wondering, "Kim, how did you not know those were the most delicious foods on earth?" I don't know!!! Over x-mas, Kevin's family had a big package of Ferrero Rocher and everyone else was eating them like crazy, but I avoided them. Why? Because I had some insane belief that I disliked hazelnuts. I have absolutely no idea were such a thought came from. But eventually the pretty gold package and everyone else's enjoyment piqued my curiousity and I asked Kevin if I could try a bite of one that he was eating. Needless to say, I had a bite and then shoved the rest in my mouth and then ate another one. Since then, I found them at the grocery store (and since they aren't the cheapest candies around, I've even found which store has them for the best price) and can't stop eating them. And then we went to Wegman's yesterday and Kevin put some Nutella in the cart. Last night he was eating it on toast and wanted me to try it, but something in me went "ewww chocolate on bread!" and so instead I dipped a pretzel into the chocolate on his toast, then quickly put down my knitting, got up and put some Nutella in a little dish and double, triple, and quadruple dipped my pretzels. So add Ferrero Rocher and Nutella to the list of foods I now love that Kevin introduced me to (list includes: broccoli, sushi, guacamole, lamb, and much more!).
Alright y'all... I'll try to post
when I can, but I'm swamped with my class and have 2 big deadlines quickly
approaching (need to submit info for a poster at APS
by 1/31 and need to submit forms for IRB approval for my study by 2/12)
and one looming too large (finish my proposal by 3/1). Stupid grad
school getting in the way of my knitting and blogging!
January 18, 2006
Everyone else is doing it, aren't
you?
Yes, count me among the crazies.
So what is my knitting challenge you ask?
Sheepy Blanket Version 2.0 in Lt. Sage (thanks all for voting!!)
I figure Sheepy Blanket Version 1.0 was my training. That blanket took nearly 4 months start to finish. Sheepy Blanket 2.0 will be knit, sheep duplicate stitched, and fabric back sewn on in 16 days or... well, I'm not sure of the penalty for not finishing, but I suspect the Harlot will get to go to all of the failers houses and steal their stashes. (Speaking of such, I just recently got around to reading her second book and just finished the section on her stash. I tried to convince Kevin to read it because it would show him that my little stash is virtually nothing! He claimed that I was just trying to normalize my own behavior. Damn, he's too smart!)
The Plymouth Encore in lovely Lt.
Sage (why do I keep thinking Lieutenant Sage when I see that?) was ordered
yesterday (ok, along with some other Encore which I hope gets here soon
because I need to knit up a sample baby sweater for my knitting class which
starts on 2/6). Now, I just need to relocate the Sheepy pattern and
I'll be all set for the challenge!
January 17, 2006
Self-Portrait
Tuesday: Personal History
(Please ignore my poor photoshopping skills... especially since I am
using Microsoft Paint).
The gloves are very comfortable (I've been wearing them constantly since finishing them). Kimberly asked if they were scratchy. I don't find the gloves to be scratchy, but I actually have a fairly high tolerance for scratchiness. The yarn certainly isn't the softest around, but I would think it would be fine unless you have very sensitive skin.
I cast on for the second purple kneehigh sock yesterday while watching football with Kevin. I didn't really care about the games, but I did enjoy the ample knitting time which was only interurpted by pizza (yum!). After a bit of knitting today, I am already finished the foot and heel, now it is just onwards up the leg.
I found out over x-mas that my cousin's wife is probably pregnant, so I guess that means another Sheepy Blanket. I really liked the red of the first one, but I'd also like to try another color. Here are potential colors (obviously the top one is the red I did on the last Sheepy Blanket).
Which is the best color and gender neutral enough for a baby boy or girl?
In this poll, you can vote for multiple colors if you can't make up your mind. If there isn't one clear winner, hopefully the list will be at least shortened and I'll do another poll. (I'll trust that you won't peek by clicking "view" to see the current leaders before voting!)
Yep, snow on the ground (although it is probably only about 1/3 of
an inch).
I really love these gloves. Nona's i-cord gloves pattern is fabulous. I had to ignore most of the numbers because my gauge was much smaller, but the gloves still turned out well. Interestingly, the fingers are all a little too long (which I'm very used to with store bought gloves). Next time I make this pattern (and this is definitely going to be my go-to gloves pattern) I won't make the fingers as long (I knew that I was making them long, but for some reason I had it in my mind that they should be a little long because they would shorten up when joined. Yeah, I don't know where that idea came from). I still have nearly a full skein of Regia left over. Thanks Secret Pal for sending me this great yarn!! (Oh, and I did weave in the ends even though I spent some time considering Christy's suggestion of leaving them loose for warmth!).
Since I've been avoiding work as much as possible this weekend, I also finished the bag portion of the Montera bag from Handknit Holidays.
..
Once I got into the rhythm, the two color portions weren't too hard.
The bag looks kind of crappy because of this...
This is the inside. It really needs a good wash and blocking
to relax all of the stitches. Hopefully, I'll wash it up tonight.
I'm also thinking it might be helped by placing a piece of cardboard in
the bottom to keep the bottom of the bag from sagging.
I still need to i-cord two handles for the bag. After that, I'm planning to finish up the Wildfoote purple knee highs and the Lopi circular needle case knitted portion (so that I can felt it and the Montera straight needle case knitted portion at the same time. Then I get to break out the sewing machine and sew up some insides for the cases).
Does anyone know a lot about digital
cameras? For example, why would a memory card stop functioning?
I have a tiny memory card that came with the camera that I don't normally
use, but thankfully I had it since the mega card I've been using for 2
years decided randomly to stop working. Stupid technology!
January 13, 2006
Hopefully before the weekend is
over, I'll have a new pair of gloves!
Both gloves are to the wrist at this point. I figured since it is a serial pattern, I should knit each glove to each part of the pattern before continuing to the next step. So first the fingers, second attaching the 4 fingers and knitting to the thumb line, third attach the thumb and shape the gusset, and finally the cuff.
The yarn is Regia so it is self-stripping,
I'd be insane to make all those stripes myself, but I still have (or will
when I finish knitting) 22 ends to weave in per glove.
January 11, 2006
oh baby!!!
I LOVE PATTERNWORKS!! Yes, I ordered the needles Monday morning and they arrived yesterday at 9pm via FedEx (I also love the FedEx guy). I spent an extra $5 for 3 day shipping and it arrived in 1 day. I suspect that if you live outside the Northeast you might not get as speedy service, but I'm always going to think Patternworks first for any order!
Oh, and please ignore the finger fringe (wow finger and fringe have the same letters). There is also quite a bit of... uhm... internal fringe too. You'd think that with the several day delay in being able to knit on the glove I would have woven in those ends. But no.
In other knitting news, this Montera bag is zooming along (at least now that I've figured out how to knit with two colors, which might not be the "proper" way, but it works for me).
The picture is a little fuzzy without the flash, but the colors are
more true.
Thanks to Sarah and Annette for the comments on the self portraits yesterday. In answer to the question, "How did you manage to avoid looking like a total dork in high school," by only showing you the good pictures! Hahahaha! Depending on my mood next Tuesday, maybe I'll share some of the dorky pictures. Maybe.
Finish this lyric:
"The future only belongs
To the future itself
And the future is..."
(I'm very much loving my iPod and rediscovering
songs I forgot I had!)
January 10, 2006
Self-Portrait
Tuesday: Personal History
The self-portrait theme for January is Personal History. Today, I present you with some pictures from my past that are a few of my favorites. I'm including four pictures since I missed last Tuesday. These pictures are taken from a scrapbook I made several years ago before I got into knitting, got a digital camera, and ran out of pictures (and thus set aside all of my scrapbooking supplies). I'm excited after looking back through my scrapbooks and the scrapbook my mom made for me that I have 3 more Tuesdays to come up with interesting personal history portraits. (And I apologize now for the poor quality of these photos, my camera batteries were on their last legs).
Young me complete with pigtails!
The undead me.
This is one of my most favorite Halloween pictures. The actual
picture is nearly as dark as this one, and it is supremely eerie.
It looks almost professional.
These pictures are from my senior year of high school. I was
the number 3 singles player on the team. These pictures were all
taken by someone on the yearbook staff; at the end of the school year after
all of the yearbooks are printed, they sell all of the pictures; basically
you pay a dollar to get into the room with the pictures and get to leave
with as many as you want. (I still swear that someone on the yearbook
staff secretly hated me because the one of these pictures that made it
into the yearbook on nearly a full page has me making an extremely unattractive
fish face).
This was another picture taken by someone on the yearbook staff (although
it didn't make it into the yearbook). I've always really loved this
picture because it has a paparazzi feel to it, as though it was taken surreptitiously
and capturing a moment. This, like the ones above, is from my senior
year of high school, more specifically this is from the spring when I was
the manager for the boys' tennis team.
Back to our regularly scheduled
knitting tomorrow (when hopefully my camera batteries are recharged).
January 9, 2006
I think something is wrong with
me...
I could have gone to the yarn store yesterday and decided not to.
I ordered new needles online and that's all... No yarn!
Ok, let's back up. Yesterday I called 2 yarn stores and the phone rang and rang, meaning they were not open on Sunday. One of these stores was Pins and Needles in Princeton, who I love and who I have bought tiny Addi Turbos from in the past. There is a high likelihood that they would have had the needles I needed. The other store is a store that is 5 minutes away and I hate. Most other knitters I have talked to that have been there also dislike this store. I was only there once and the owner was nice, but the store is cramped and disorganized (at least I couldn't figure out if there was a scheme other than sticking yarn everywhere) and they don't accept credit cards. I called there today and she doesn't carry needles that tiny, but she did offer to order them for me, which was nice. I didn't call the third store, the Knitting Gallery which I also love, because that's were I got the needles that broke and I got them because she didn't have Addis that tiny. Also, if you live in the area you know that Rt 18 is becoming a road straight into the depths of hell, which means that it would take twice as long or more to get out to the Knitting Gallery. (The damn construction on that road also means no more quick trips to AC Moore). Anywho, attempts to make it to a yarn store yesterday were thwarted by few being open and my desire not to challenge the road gods into getting an easy trip down Rt 18. (Ashley mentioned another Princeton yarn store in the comments, I was there once and wasn't impressed, but I've also heard several horror stories about that store, so I try to avoid it).
I looked around at at least 10 different online yarn shops for the needles. They all had them, but I was trying to see if some yarn would jump out at me and scream "Knit me!!" to help justify the shipping charges. I found nothing. After the call this morning to the nearby LYS, I went online and ordered the needles and only the needles. There was yarn in the cart briefly, but I decided against it.
So what's wrong? I mean, my bank account certainly doesn't mind this new maliase towards yarn purchasing, but a good knitter worth her needles should be all about yarn all the time!
Maybe it is just that I'm very content right now with what I'm knitting. I'm not feeling much burning desire to cast on a million new things.
I just finished yesterday the knit portion for a felted needle case.
This is from the Montera grab bag I bought just before x-mas. This is for the straight needle case. I'm going to use some of the Lopi for the circulars case.
My ten fingers are waiting for new needles and they are feeling quite patient.
This sock needs a buddy, but I'll cast on for that in a couple of days.
I just started this last night with the rest of the Montera.
It is from Handknit Holidays. I had some delusion back in November when I bought the book, that I would knit like 5 of these for x-mas gifts. Depending on how this one turns out, I am still thinking about knitting at least 2 (maybe) 3 for gifts in a couple of months. (The gift ones might be plain versions).
Maybe my lack of desire for stash enhancement comes from the fact that I have 3 sweaters worth of yarn sitting in the stash and no desire to actually start a sweater. I have a lovely pink from Knitpicks that was intended for Kepler but could easily be anything since it is a versatile amount and gauge. AND I have an equal amount of chocolate Knitpicks yarn leftover from Top Secret. In the trunk of my car (for months now!) is some Noro for York.
What's a knitter to do?
January 7, 2006
2413 - songs downloaded (uploaded?)
onto the iPod
10 - fingers (8 fingers, 2 thumbs?) knit and ready to go
1 - size 0 circular needle dead, 1 living
Yes, my friends... the needle snapped halfway through the last finger.
I guess that means a trip to the yarn store tomorrow, although I need to
call around and see who is open and if they have size 0 16 inch circulars
because the 2 LYS are each 30+ minutes away (not so local) and in opposite
directions. I don't expect to buy much more than the needed needles
since my new credit card has still not arrived despite the promise it would
show up in less than 3 days and I just blew through all of my x-mas money
on some new clothes and shoes (one pair needed, one pair frivolous but
there was no way I was leaving without them!).
I'm no glove expert, but my general advice would be 1) be comfortable knitting in the round and 2) use 2 circulars. For me, both of those were well practiced on socks before gloves came into the picture. The cuff of the glove and even the hand of the glove a fairly straight forward. Deciding how to do the thumb (gusset or thumb hole) can add a level of complexity, but if you know how to increase, a gusset is no problem. The fingers admittedly can be fussy if knit last because they are tiny, but this is where experience knitting in the round and 2 circs helps a lot.
I'm also hoping that Nona's i-cord gloves knit from the fingers down will decrease the level of fussiness in gloves. So far I have 7 fingers knit and am finding them quick and easy (while loading more and more music onto the ipod).
Let's look at a finger in progress (and I apologize now for my camera's inability to take good pictures)...
Here is the beginning of a finger. The only difficult part so
far were the increases at the tip. And those were only difficult
because I'm using size 1 bamboo needles that I'm paranoid of snapping if
I pull to hard. Once beyond the 2 increase rows, the icord zips back
and forth on the cicular needle (added bonus of the circular needle over
a DPN is that you can "try on" the finger as you go and you can slip it
onto the cord part and it won't ever fall off).
Here is the back side of the finger. That's the ladder Nona mentions
in the pattern. It is because you can't pull the icord closed like
you would if you only had 3 or 4 stitches. Once the finger is to
the length you desire, you'll use a crochet hook to pick up the stitches,
just like you would a dropped stitch.
Just a little tip on crochet hooks for picking up stitches... use one
that is appropriately sized for your yarn! I was using the F hook
on the right, and it was damn near impossible. Then I found I had
a C hook (on the left) and it is a million times easier.
A finished finger. Because my icord gap was so big, I needed
to pick up 2 stitches (whereas in her pattern Nona only picks up one).
All I did was picked up one stitch from the tip and crocheted it to the
opposite end and slipped it onto the scrap yarn with the rest of the stitches,
and then went back and did that a second time with a new stitch.
(I'll try to take pictures of this when the next finger is near completion).
So far, this pattern has been fairly
easy and not too fussy. By tomorrow evening I should be ready to
join the fingers and start the hand, so I'll keep y'all posted!
Yay for the map! Keep on joining!!
January 4, 2006
Thanks for all the sympathies about
my purse and its contents. After several hours of driving from place
to place and spending $36, I now officially have an identity again.
It was an interesting day. We had what was probably the shortest
trip to the DMV in the history of mankind. The longest part was waiting
for the girl who was supposed to be looking up my driver's license number
to pull herself away from text messaging with her friend. After that,
walked right up to the picture counter, paid, got my picture taken, and
a minute later my license was printed and we were out the door. Of
course, we couldn't sustain such good gov't office building karma and spent
an hour at the Social Security Office, which is one strange place full
of strange characters, so at least it was entertaining.
Now that most of the important pieces of my wallet are back together, it is probably time to take care of cleaning up our apartment.
This is the area we plopped down the majority of our x-mas gifts.
(See Celebrity Scarves 2 in the bottom left corner. The book is interesting,
but come on, just because they are famous and use a pricey yarn doesn't
mean a garter stitch scarf is a new invention!) Oh, and poor Alpy
the Alpaca is still waiting to be stuffed with real stuffing!
Yes, many of my cds are occupying the desk. Sunday and Monday
I imported enough music to my ipod to bring my total number of songs to
over 1000. As you can see I still have over half of my cds to import
(and what you can't see is the stack in my car and over at my office).
I don't think I'll come close to filling up the 7500 songs it can hold.
Interestingly my ipod has a bigger hard drive than both my desktop and
my laptop.
Oh look! Knitting!! Yes, I decided to use the Stripe yarn
to make legwarmers. One was finished on the drive up to Kevin's parents
and the other has been ignored, although I have a sudden urge to finish
it today because tomorrow we are going to see the Daily Show and will likely
be standing around outside for 2 hours beforehand. I don't know why
people are so anti-legwarmer, I mean I'd never wear them over my pants
(a la 1986) and I wouldn't wear them with a skirt, but they are nice and
cozy under a pair of jeans. (And let's ignore the Social Psych textbook,
in the picture, that I should be reading and using to prep my lectures
for my class which starts in less than 2 weeks).
And here is the other knitting I picked up on Sunday from my secret
pal. She sent me two beautiful skeins of Regia (one of which is here)
and some beautiful Lantern Moon DPNs. If you can't tell from that
mess, I'm making Nona's i-cord finger gloves. I have 5 fingers finished
and 5 to go. It seemed only appropriate that my ipod be in the photo
with the icords.
-A new purse
-A new wallet
-New sunglasses
Sounds ok, so far. How about these...
-A new driver's license
-All new credit cards
-All new bank accounts
-A new SS card
-New insurance cards
-New cell phone
So yeah, after a fun time hanging out with Kevin's family for Christmas and my family for Christmas part 2, some supremely evil person stole my purse from my aunt's house during a family holiday party (how, when, why? that's questions we all want answered).
Happy end of '05 and beginning of '06 to me!
I haven't knit in 5 days.
(Although I did come home to find a gift from my SP6, which lifted my spirits
and might spur me to pick up my needles again). I'll probably start
posting again later this week after I finish replacing the stuff that was
lost and am not as depressed.
Yay for the map! Keep on joining!!