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.

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!

Ravelympics!

I admit, I have not really been watching the Olympics. I’ve spent most of my evenings out with friends instead, stocking up on friend-time before I leave for college on the 27th. I think I saw men’s synchronized diving.

But god forbid I be left out on something fun and huge like the Ravelympics!

So I also decided it would be a “good idea” to knit for Christmas this year– something I’ve sworn not to do before. But since I’ve started now, and I have a plan, etc, it should work out with minimal embarrassment.

Start: August 8th, 2008
Finish: August 13th, 2008 It really only took two days to knit, but I made it too big the first time. Boo.
Pattern: Aspen Cowl by Andrea Tung
Yarn: Malabrigo Sily Merino in “Nocturnal,” which I bought at Yarn Paradise in Asheville, NC. Exciting!
Needles: US 8.

I cast on 130 stitches at first, and knit all the way to the end of the yarn, but that ended up very wide and short and outrageous, so I frogged it and started again with 110, which was perfect. It’s very cozy, and exactly why I prefer cowls over scarves. Plus they take 1/27th the time to knit, practically. I love them.

So that was finished, and then I cast on a pair of gloves for the Glove Decathalon. The Playwright asked for a pair of gloves, and so these will be for him (he’s already seen them, not to worry).

I love them. I love gloves! I even love fingers. I don’t love knitting fingers (I don’t mind it), but I love the way they look and how pretty the yarn is in the narrow tube. They are beautiful. I want a pair for myself.

The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Sport in “Jeans,” and while the PW asked for gray, I found blue/gray, and he was content. I love this yarn. And these gloves. I will have new gloves this winter too, let me tell you.

And then there I was yesterday in Lovelyarns, and I was there for a whole hour or more, knitting contentedly, when I got up to get different 4s for the gloves. And walked right by the new Dream in Color Smooshy that Sue had. At eye level. Damn!

So since I’d worked before I left and had some hours stored up, I might have come home with some.

I am a Smooshy whore. I’m pathetic.

From left to right: GoGo Grassy, Flamingo Pie, and Lunar Zazzle. They are beautiful, and exactly why I love this yarn. *flail*

Anyway, next in line after the Ravelympics are over: potentially a gift for my dad, although I’m thinking it would be okay to like, save that for later. I might get him something else. Whatever.

And then! More holiday knitting: socks for my cousins.

Last time I saw them they were little, and now they are 11 and 14 or something outrageous, and have normal-sized feet of normal-sized people, and not, say, children’s feet. But I’m knitting them socks, and I’ll start soon. My self-imposed deadline is September 31st, and then it’s on to presents for my other set of cousins (who are toddler sized).

Blue for Joel, yellow/green for Anna. I’m excited, actually. Anna’s socks will be Hedera socks, in conjunction with the Sock Knitters Anonymous Sockdown! 2008-09.

PicSpam!

I don’t waste any time…

From Toys

Diamond, checking out Happy Bear. Happy Bear is a present for my cousin, but I haven’t given it to him yet. I’m taking Happy Bear tomorrow to Woolworks to show him off, so it’s actually good that I forgot him at home the last time we went to visit.

From Bits

Gloves I made for my father, modeled by the lovely Rebecca (not that you could tell). They came from a mietered mitten pattern that I adapted to make gloves. It worked out pretty well, but I got tired of them pretty fast, and had to force myself to finish them. They turned out nicely. I gave them, one finished and one half-made, to Dad for Christmas. He used them in the snow recently, and we’ve come to the conclusion that, while warm, they are not snow gloves. That didn’t stop him from throwing snow balls at me, but I digress, I’m sure. Hah.

From Bits

These make me pretty happy, though they have a hole and need some edging so they suck a little less. They’re awesome, though, and I wrote/made/faked the pattern. It was a lot of, “knit until you get bored and/or it’s the proper length.” I wish the wrists were longer, but Leah doesn’t seem to care. I have them back now, and I’m going to fix them up for her. But, yeah, they’re cool. Thumb cap and mitten cover. ^_^

That’s all. I haven’t pictures of Happy Octopus, the green/black scarf, or the Blanket now. My camera is getting fixed.

I’m going to Mexico in two days. Hopefully, there, I can finish the first set of blocks for the Blanket and show them off.

Cheers!