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I am practicing my favorite Sunday morning routine:
I make my way to my favorite local coffee shop.
I pack all of the necessary material to study such things as rhodopsin pathways and the results of autoradiographic experiments.
I focus, focus, focus. Study, study, study. Think, think, think.
I discover that someone has wisely and thoughfully packed my new favorite knitting project into my school bag.
What a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.
For my new sock pal:
About my sock size...I am sorry about this....my measurements are 10 inches long and 8.5 inches in circumference. That''s a size ten, baby. On a positive note, I like snug fitting socks and I also don't like my socks to be very tall, usually around 6 inches above the heel. So you catch a break in the leg length that (hopefully) makes up for the gi-normous feet.
In terms of yarns, I like Cherry Tree Hill, Koigu, Mountain Colors' Bearfoot and Schaefer Yarns' Anne. I really like all of the sock yarns, especially the nice ones.
About the pattern/color choices. I love all patterns and colors with one stipulation. I like pretty, patterned socks to be knit in solid yarns. I hate losing the pattern to a lovely varigated colorway. Plain ribbed socks can be in any yarns, varigated or solids.
I don't have any allergies, though I would always choose a softer wool over a coarser one. I'm also not a big holiday celebrater. I am more the winter solstice type.
Any questions, or comments about how snotty and elitest I sound can be directed to my email. I will have one of my peons get back to you in due time.
I cast on this morning for a new sweater. That said, only two short weeks ago I finished another sweater for myself. It can be seen on the wall of my LYS, where is will sit as a shop model for 15 long months.
That brings me to the question; What is wrong with me? I have been knitting for ten, count 'em, ten years. I have finished multiple sweaters for friends and family. Yet in my drawers, I can count 3 self-knitted items; two scarves and a OSW. The new job at the LYS should remedy this situation, at least in terms of yarn availability. That still leaves the little issue of time. Hmmm, what to do?
Scenario #1: I could quit school, ignore the mounting debt, and knit like a fiend for a few short months until the student loan bills start rolling in.
Scenario #2: I could stay in school, and use all of my "study time" to knit on the sly. Then, when I graduate with a 1.nothing GPA, I could sulk about my lack of job offers, while drowning my sorrows in yarn.
Scenario #3: I could stop posting (at least for the moment) and study my f*cking biochemistry, which I swear is trying to kill me. I could accept the death of my knitting life for now, while continuing to accumulate yarn like a mad woman, and them when I finally have a real job I can knit in the evenings and weekends.
Sounds like a plan.
Somehow I always knew...
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I have been a busy knitter. No time for pictures today. I have buttons to sew, necklines to pick up...and new projects tempting me at every turn.
I guess tempting isn't the right word. Tempting makes it sound as though I have just been thinking about these new, lusty garments when, in actuality, I have cast on (and made progress) for two new projects. As it turns out; I am a "process knitter". In case you are unfamiliar, this is kind terminology for "impatient and greedy about all things knitting". I would try to change, but it is just so much damn fun to play with the new while neglecting the old. The new LYS job isn't helping with my lack of focus. My focus actually blurs noticeably every time I set foot in the "workplace". I love it.
Most recently I have "finished" Rowan's Empire, knit from fuchsia Cashsoft dk. A beautiful, though slightly Judaic, cable pattern covers the entirety of the sweater. I knit to gauge and found it blocking out much bigger than anticipated. For a girl who always knits garments a size too small, this is a happy moment. For the rest of the world, beware. I did not complete the beading portion of the sweater, because I don't bead my knits. Some craft forms are too gruesome even for my tastes. Beaded knitting heads that list. I will make exception for the occasional (still!) single wrist-warmer.
I have also (mostly) finished Stefanie's Bulky Mini-Cardi. Fun and quick, and knit on VERY BIG WOOL. In fact, Rowan Big Wool. See...I try new things.
Like I always say, and sometimes truly mean...pictures are coming soon. Very soon. I just need to have some words with the photographer about staying on task and really seeing a job through. Some people just are so unprofessional. Really.
This is the third time I have tried to post in one crazy week. This won't be a special post, but my secret pal is going to pull her hair out (or mine) if I don't throw something up here.
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Behold, the lovely giftie that I recieved last week, just when I needed it most. Enclosed is everything that a girl needs to relax and pamper herself; tea, chocolate wafers, candles, 2, count 'em 2, types of hand lotion, and of course, the Celestial Merino (by Lucy Neatby!) yarn. We are talking about a big, lovely hank of Celestial Merino, the likes of which I have never before set my yarn-loving eyes upon.
The last package, which I also failed to blog about, contained a pattern for the fantastic One-Skein Wonder, and RED yarn to knit it from, along with lovely yarn acoutrement. I knit said One-Skein Wonder first from a substitute yarn so that I could save the special yarn for after I had made any nescessary pattern alterations (not necessary, as it happens). I have recieved numerous compliments on the little red shrug. I would say that it is just about perfect. I am going to start the second version straight away, just as soon as I take pictures of my other projects, finish all my homework, bathe my children and collapse into bed.
I love my secret pal, and I am dying, DYING to know who she (he?) is. Please, tell me now, the suspense is killing me.
I am on vacation. I am knitting like crazy and comtemplating the upcoming semester. There is so much news and so many pictures to post. I purposefully left my camera and other equipment at home. Silly me, thinking I needed a break from this world.
Before I left, I recieved a lovely gift from my Secret Pal. I will post more details and photos very, very soon.
Wish you were here...
Last Friday I completed a summer course in Physics. The class itself was not a stretch for me, but the summer opportunities were killing me. There were parks to go to and ice cream to be eaten. Mostly though, there were two children to play with and watch attentively.
Unfortunately, with my summer’s goals in mind, watching them sporadically had to suffice. I feel like I missed so much. Every morning when I woke up, I thought they would be completely grown when they entered my room to say “good morning”. Every time I look away, they have each acquired a new skill or word (not always good ones, either). With Thing 1’s kindergarten entry imminent, I am missing them already.
Every garment that I knit marks a place and time in my life. In this summer of short attention spans and to-do lists, the stitches mark particularly bittersweet memories. The knitting has been scarce, but the items that I have gained feel heavy with days.
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Among the few completed projects that I can claim this summer is this lovely tank/sleeveless tee*^ from Grumperina's Tivoli pattern. It does not accentuate my best features, but it is flattering in some ways, comfortable to wear, and it holds memories that I could not bear to part with. Note the look of mixed emotions. Just from first glance, you could probably catch love and sadness and a whole lot of exasperation. Do not pay any attention to the dirty kitchen.
*Unblocked of course, I mean, really, who has time for that shit?
^Obligatory pattern notes:
size: smallest
yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay. I really liked this yarn, and I loathe working with cottons. I think that the blend of silk and what-have-you helped my gauge become almost tolerable. And for all that, I won't have to wear a wool tee shirt in the summer. Yea, me.
pattern adjustments: I knit a few extra inches of waist length before I began to knit the hip shaping. I am a long waisted girl, and this pattern is better for normal-waisted ones. This, of course, is a terribly easy adjustment, as the garment can be tried on as it is knit. Do the benefits of a top down (or toe-up) garment never cease?
overall: very fun, I love it, and it was a FREE pattern. Go check it out.
Last week, while I was riding my bicycle along Snelling Avenue, I saw a dead rat. It was a little flatter than your average rat, to be sure, but otherwise ordinary. While I’m sure that most of you don’t care about rats (or reading about them for that matter) I am a little bit intrigued by their habitation in big cities. Truthfully speaking, we all know that the rats are there, however unpleasant or uncomfortable that knowledge may be. The thing that troubles me is that I never see any evidence of these small, scrappy citizens. Sure, I can occasionally see a shadow slithering into a dumpster if I am walking near a particularly good restaurant at midnight. Shadows though, are by nature a little rough around the edges, lending the possibility of many small forms that could be casting that rat-like shadow. We can tell ourselves, “That may not be a rat. Keep walking.”
So I grow accustomed to not seeing rats…and then one pops up, willy-nilly, in my path. And I am forced to think about the rats. Where are they during they day? Do they get tired of prowling and shadowing all night and then sleep the day away under our houses? And why do they so rarely show their dead, little, ratty faces on the street? It might be that they are so smart that they can usually avoid cars, unless they are sick or disabled like the weaker rats in “The Secret of Nimh”. It might also be that the quantity of cars passing a given rat crossing at 3 o’clock in the morning is significantly smaller that the quantity that passes that same spot during the day (when it is called a squirrel crossing). Could it also be that we can know that the rat population is smarter than the squirrel population because the rats have learned to adapt the traffic flow, while the stupid squirrels just keep running across the damn street in the middle of the day, causing me to suffer smallish heart attacks?
All these scientific rat theories aside, I was thinking how this blog is like the rats. That is nice isn’t it? The jist of it is that although you may not see knitting going on around here, it is not because the knitting is not happening. More than likely, the author is just busy or disorganized or has to use a dial-up connection from 1943 to post her entries or she is “lazy” in her own busy way. Or it could be all of the above. Or maybe her husband broke the digital camera while taking pictures at a friend’s bachelor party and conveniently “doesn’t remember” the breaking of the camera. Who knows? However, there are rats in the vicinity.
