JFC

It’s been six and a half million years since I was here. Dinosaurs literally walked the earth last time I posted. Okay.

Last time you saw me, I was at Rhinebeck in October. What.

November
I wrote a novel: ongoing! Original goal of National Novel Writing Month is 50,000 words in 30 days. I have 90,000 now, after 3 months. It’s almost done. Sort of.

I finished Juno for my grandmother for Christmas.

10/21/09-11/13/09, Juno Regina in JL Yarn Vinca. Pink! Lauretta loved it. Blocked it on my shiny new blocking wires which were a fabulous birthday gift from my mum. <3

I finished my Clover socks.

Clover by Kate Blackburn, fun to knit, in my handdyed in a “gradient” that was actually just kind of mostly purple. Brand! New! Picture! I blame my lightless dorm room partly for why I don’t blog. Pictures are crap. Blah.

December
Socks for granddaddy:

“No one has ever paid such attention to my feet!” Dec 10-20, 2009. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “China Blue.”

Clapotis for mom:
no picture! Sadpants.
Clapotis by Kate Gilbert, in BMFA Mediumweight “Tanzanite”: October 26-December 21, 2009. Purple! Shiny. Excellent.

Also in December was Finals Week and a personal ass-kicking, as well as winter break. I went home and promptly spent every day sleeping, writing, internetting, eating at weird hours, running occasionally in the mornings, and knitting. I ignored Daegmund the whole time and felt bad. Oh well. Made many plans. Spent time with friends. Enjoyed myself!

In January, I finished some Christmas presents, such as Dad’s gloves and Disco the hedgehog:

gloves by DROPS, 12/22/09-1/14/10, KnitPicks Gloss.

Hello terrible dorm picture! This was for Sarah. Smith by Ysolda Teague, with Cascade 220 and Berocco alpaca and fluff. 12/24/09-1/21/10.

The Whirlpool socks from my personal sock club got started and finished…

December 2, 2009 – January 3, 2010. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “Lakeview,” plus beads!!!!!!!!

ALSO, my pride and joy of the month:

The motherfucking DNA hat.

LOL. omg. So excellent. I had to knit it three times because it was too small EVERY TIME. Fuck you colorwork. Whatever.

Anyway. In the end, successful. January 1-19, 2010, Cascade 220, no pattern, just the chart on my Ravelry page (above).

Finished winter break with a whole lot more of the same, and came back to school. Had an impromptu “airing of the stash” all over my bed.

Not bad, eh? Still not buying more yarn. I just need to not.

Oh, also forgot, new fun incarnation of the sock yarn blanket!

This one is the Ten Stitch Blanket that I saw Erin knitting and waaaaaaaaannntteddd. So I ripped out the squares and went to town.

I started two new pairs of socks, also. My shitty shitty photography does not do these two justice, because they are both SUPER AWESOME.

The first (started at home) is York and Lancaster by the Lisa Grossman (the Tsock Tsarina). I bought the kit at Rhinebeck, and I adore it. Except that it has colorwork and pattern and is WAY TOO HARD to work on while also taking notes in Organic Chem and Biology of Macromolecules. FUCK. I love these. They are not getting worked on. ;_;

Also, Viper Pilots, still super awesome, still too hard to work on and take notes. Wah! I want them. Yarn is Neota Designs Zephyr in “Mountain Majesty” or something. Estes Park.

AAAAAANNNDDDD finally, what I actually HAVE been working on because it was easy enough:
One Row Scarf and Fetchings for Mary in Malabrigo “Amoroso.” No picture because I can’t get my camera to acknowledge a) light or b) saturation, so fuck it. Whatever. It’s very red.

and technically I’m still working on my Bayerische socks, but remember when we talked about things being too hard to work on while note-taking? These are too brain-consuming to even work on while doing fuck-all else. What.

THE END

Welcome to February. See you guys in May, probably.

Or for Ravelympics, which at this point I’m participating in with my goal being KNIT ANYTHING EVER.

My Rhinebeck Sweater…

is under way! Squee!

I’m finally knitting the February Lady Sweater, as planned. I’m knitting it in the Brooks Farm Four Play wool/silk blend that I tried to knit a sweater out of this spring, but failed. It’s knitting up beautifully now, and I’m psyched. I’m going to go visit my friend at Middlebury the week before, and then drive down to the festival and camp out in my car. =D It lines up perfectly with my fall break!

Okay, crap, I didn’t mean to leave this alone for two months, but many things happened since you last saw me!

So, since I last posted, I finished work and went on vacation, and then got back from vacation and went to school, and have been educating myself for four weeks. I have since struggled valiantly to keep up with my Google Reader, but right now, five whole weeks after getting home, I am still ~175 posts behind.

Before I left, I finished the Charade socks.

Start: May 26, 2009
End: July 31, 2009
Pattern: Charade
Yarn: Crash Into Ewe Merino Sock, in “Lady Sings the Blues”
Needles: US 2

Next were the Anastasia socks, which I started before we left as a new selection from my personal sock club.

Start: August 1, 2009
End: August 19, 2009
Pattern: Anastasia Socks
Yarn: Jojoland Melody
Needles: US 2

These were fun, and simple. I knit them all over the country!

I knit another pair while on vacation, and started another pair when I came up to school, but I haven’t taken pictures of them yet. Ack!

I’ve started to rethink my sock yarn blanket, too. I know, I’ve been working on the original since like, 2007, but I think this method might work better. It means I can use up every little scrap ever, and always be working on one piece, and not have to think about shaping too much.

It’s the Ten Stitch Blanket, inspired for me by Erin. I love the look of the mitered squares of the original blanket, but I think I’m going to like working on this one even better.

So, so far I’m just knitting what’s there, and I’ll see how quickly it grows, and how excellent it looks. So far so good.

Unf. October is almost here. I love October! Maybe we’ll get our regular I LOVE OCTOBER post on 10/1/09, but no promises. I have no goddamn time to do anything except problem sets and knit in class.

non-video post

I was going to do a video post for simplicity’s sake, but it was too difficult. Go figure.

Charade socks are coming along– I’m past the heel turn by now, and have finished the gussets. Yesterday at work I separated them from one another and I am working them one at a time. Not that this is particularly logical, given that the repeat is so short row-wise, but they seem to go faster. Also one sock was less unwieldy than two yesterday when I was knitting AT WORK because it was SO SLOW, so there.

Sock yarn blanket has 1.5 new squares: the green one, and the teal one. I love this blanket. That is all.

Last, I’m about 12 or 13 rows from the bind-off of this shawl, but it’s SO BIG by now that each row takes me 45 minutes. Plus nupps. It’s lovely, though, and the only thing I’m worried about is the liiiiiiittle tiny ball of yarn that exists now. Hopefully it can carry me through.

Bayerische socks are abandoned, because they’re hard! There’s no convenient time or place to work on them. Bah. Qiviut cowl is coming along, slowly but surely. It’s about 3/4 of the way done.

Today, I’m working at the LYS, and may have convinced one of the ladies from real!work to come in and learn how to knit. Hooray!

Pi Day!

Was yesterday. But my mommy sent me a package that I have yet to receive that I expect will be full of pie. Oh boy!

So I’m back from Spring Break, which could probably be put down as the worst spring break I’ve ever had, but I’m not really going to go into it. It was shitty, and I know why, and I can’t wait for another opportunity to go home instead. South Carolina, however, was beautiful, I love the beach, and I think I have a tan, too.

Today, instead of working on a paper I need to have revised for tomorrow evening (I did a little editing, I swear), I’ve spent some of my time organizing a stash-based sock club for myself. Squee! I’m so outrageously excited about this. Here’s what I did:

1. Remove all stash from sexy clear hanging yarn-rack, and put it on the bed.
2. Admire yarn.
3. Label envelopes with each yarn’s name and colorway.
4. Choose patterns for each yarn.
5. Print/obtain each pattern and put it in each yarn’s envelope.
6. Seal the envelopes.
7. Put all the yarn back in the yarn-rack.
8. When ready for a new pair of socks, grab a yarn and its pattern!
9. Be surprised and delighted!
10. Knit awesome socks all year!

I had 11 sock yarns ready for a pattern. Or, maybe 10, because one of those yarns is supposed to be for the Playwright’s very boring and plain socks. I’m going to knit him Thuja socks instead of boring socks, out of Dream in Color Smooshy.

It’s a bit like cheating, but I’ve also got the next two pairs of socks I want to knit planned. Once I finish my Eleanors, I either want to knit a pair of Leyburn socks out of STR in “Chapman Springs,” or a pair of Herringbone Rib socks from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn in Black Bunny Fibers in “The Deep.” It seems fitting to pair a Carol Sucolski yarn with a pattern from her book! So excited.

Some pictures! Works in progress!

The might-never-get-finished Alaska mittens that I’m sort of working on. Sort of.

The sock yarn blanket, which at 35 squares is now almost wide enough (one more), and is 21% complete. Woo hoo!

Eleanor socks, about to get toes. Knit out of Mind’s Eye Yarns Merino/Tencel, on US 2s.

The Bayerische challenge. Knit out of Cascade Heritage, on US 1s.

Yay socks!

Okay, seriously, I need to work on my paper.

More hats, more things

Wow, so I was updating my little widgets on the side there, and got a bit embarassed that it had been NEARLY A MONTH since I posted, since in that time I have finished multiple things and started multiple more.

I’m still working on my Christmas presents.  I finished two hats, one for each of my Oregon grandparents.

This one is for my grandmother:

Start: October 20, 2008
Finished: October 22, 2008
Pattern: Foliage by Emilee Mooney
Yarn: Noro Kureyon in color 147
Needles: US 10, but I made the smaller size and it came out perfectly

I was surprised with how nicely the Noro striped to fill the leaves in this pattern. I was a little afraid when it first started to seriously stripe that it would look weird and crazy, but I think it looks really nice. ^_^

The next hat is for my grandfather:

Start: October 22, 2008
Finished: October 27, 2008
Pattern: Jacques Cousteau hat by Typy
Yarn: O-Wool Classic in white and blue, left over from my Elinor tunic
Needles: US 8

This pattern for whatever reason gave me a whole lot of trouble. I tried to decrease in the ribbing and had to rip it out over and over, either because I wasn’t getting the look I wanted, or the decrease was taking too long and making the hat pointy, or it was just weird. I don’t know why it was so difficult, but there it is.

Also, I didn’t get to show you yet my finished Hemlock Ring Blanket!

Start:May 30, 2008
Finish:October 20, 2008
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood
Yarn: Blue Moon handspun, and Cascade 220 in lilac
Needles US 10.5 circulars

It’s smaller than I expected, but it’s beautiful, and keeps my lap warm when I sit on my bed to work on homework or on my computer. I love it. I blocked it on my floor first over towels, but then I removed the towels and stretched it a little more with push pins in the rug, which worked shockingly well.

The two new things I’m working on are my Christmas presents for JP and DN, my roommmates. I’m making DN a pair of mittens, because she asked, and now that I’ve overcome their sheer defiance, they are coming out nicely.

I have one mitten finished and the other one started.

JP is getting a hat, with simple colorwork: every row has two colors just alternating, making a check pattern, and every eight rows I will switch out one of the colors and continue on with the second one and a new color, so that it is all blendy and continuous. So far so good. Simple knitting.

Otherwise, I just keep knitting and working and going to class. I’ve started a painting class that replaced my photo class for this quarter, and that’s a big giant challenge because I know very little about painting, but color is fun. Also, if you noticed the button on the sidebar, I’m writing for NaNoWriMo, so it might be another month before I post again. So it goes.

Dad came up yesterday for Parent’s Weekend, and we went and hung out in Philly and went to Loop. I bought sock yarn for his Christmas socks, regardless of whether I finish them by Christmas or not, and it’s lovely yarn. Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock. Fun!

Wee Tiny Socks!

So I knit a wee tiny sock,

and sent it to Mrs. B of Knitters Uncensored. She posted about them here on her blog, and it is such a silly cute sock.

I knit it for the Wee Tiny Sock Swap, which was literally a swap over the weekend. On Friday we got our partners, and on Monday we mailed our socks.

My socks came from Ireland, from Fiadhnat, and they were so adorable!

The green one is my “Haverford Luck” sock. One side has a little purled H, and the other has a little purled four-leaf clover. I’m trying to keep them away from the kitties, but they do love their tiny socks to play with.

So there.

I’ve got a couple of other things going on, also.

I crunched the numbers for my sock yarn blanket and came up with a bit of insanity. I want it big enough to cover a double bed (my bed), so it has to be 12 squares wide and 15 squares long. This comes out to a total of 165 squares, and every five squares I knit is another 3% of the blanket finished. I’ve knit 15 squares, so I’ve knit 9% of the blanket so far. Yikes. Some of the squares are smaller, so actually I’ve knit more than 15 squares, but it’s about 9%.

Speaking of sock yarn, I’ve knit 19 pairs of socks.

That means my Drunken Bees socks are pair 20.

That means I’ll be having some kind of elaborate contest soon.

Stay tuned!