Progress!

A few weeks ago I received the first advertising email for a craft fair being held at one of the colleges in my university's consortium. This is an annual thing and last year I was so bummed out that I couldn't take part since I was in England at the time. I filed it away under 'to be remembered' and, naturally, I forgot about it. My thinking then was that taking part would be a cool way to offset some of the costs my favorite book club's site incurs since it's an all-volunteer outfit that has server space that needs to be paid for. I know there are many worthy charities in the world, but the gift of literacy and reading, to me, is very worthy. So this year when I got the email I went into action and put a call out for crafty donations. With any luck, the webmaster won't have to pay for the server out of her own pocket for at least half a year. :)

So, what have I done to add to the donation pile? I've finally (!!!!) finished my stash busting throw blanket, that's what!



I used every bit of Lion Brand Homespun I had, working two strands at a time on US15 needles. I made the pattern up as I went alternating garter and stockinette. Easy peasy snoozy knitting. But it was good for pretty mindless TV watching knitting. I kept the first and last eight stitches in garter for a border. The blanket is so warm! I hope it goes to a good home.

In other news, I still haven't started any Christmas knitting and may not get any in. *sigh* Life will be so much easier when I finish this dissertation--I'm on the last 15pp of the final chapter! My SIL, however, will probably be getting a Rusted Root top of her own instead of the Soap Bubble Wrap since, 1) she liked my mom's, 2) I'm running out of time, and 3) top-down construction = seamless = faster = LOVE! We'll see how that goes!

cold, cold, please stay!

Wow, it seems like an eternity since I last posted, amazed that October had arrived. Now it's November and I'm sitting here begging the weather gods to let the temps in SoCal stay cool. We've just come off of another freak heatwave--it got up to about 90 yesterday! It's November, for crimoney's sake! And today we're in the mid 70s. I guess the good thing is that our desert designed house retains the cold. At any rate, I'm glad November is here. October proved to be a bear of a month for me. I started sending out job applications and that affected my writing progress AND my knitting progress! Seriously, though I finally finished my mom's Rusted Root (which she's been able to wear thanks to our strange weather),



I've had one sock languishing on my needles. Unreal. By the time I'd be done working, my October days saw me too pooped to even hold up one needle let alone two. Pathetic. Things started improving once I started putting the timer on my job apps. Course, why it took me until the end of the month practically for that light bulb to turn on is mind boggling. I guess my brain was too tired to remember the obvious.

At least I was able to knit up a gauge swatch for the Soap Bubble Wrap I've got planned for my SIL. This was supposed to be her bday present but considering it's the 5th and her birthday is the 22nd, I'm thinking this is going to be her Christmas gift. I'm using Lion Brand's Cotton Bamboo in Chocolate Dahlia:



The knitted swatch reminded me somewhat of nylon stockings which, I suppose, sort of makes sense since they're using rayon from bamboo. But it looked nice and felt soft which satisfies my yarn scrumminess criteria.

So hopefully November will continue to be more settled than last month and I can seriously get back to my writing and my knitting!

it's October already?

I can't believe it, but autumn is finally rolling into SoCal. Or at least it's trying to. The temperatures are starting to drop (hurray!) and I'm finally into the writing of my final content chapter. As usual, building momentum through writing angst has been a bit of a challenge, but it's starting to feel a little better. I'll spend this weekend at a dissertation bootcamp, writing among fellow dissertators so I hope to make better progress on that, and maybe finish the chapter intro by the end of Sunday.

Knitting-wise, about a week or so ago I finished my first toe socks!


Pattern: Toe Socks by Sandi Rosner (with modified toe construction)
Needle: US2.5 (3.0mm)
Yarn: Four Seasons Grundl Marathon Miro in colorway 607

I changed the toe construction by not casting on extra stitches at the between toe gaps since they ended up looking huge and sloppy. Instead I worked with the existing stitch count and worked the toes that way. They're snug, but considering the need for negative ease in socks, I'm hoping this will work. A fellow toe-sock loving friend saw these on Flickr and fell in love with them, so I'm going to make her her own pair in Knit Picks Felici as part of Socktoberfest. Since she likes bright, happy colors and works at an aquarium, I chose the Aquarium colorway naturally. This time though I'm going to follow the toe construction instructions in Sherbert Toe Socks and see how I like that. I think that picking up and knitting 2sts in the toe gaps rather than casting on four might work better. I'm hoping anyway!

In the meantime, I'm about midway through my mom's Rusted Root top, just before the waist shaping. So far so good! I'm making her the L size.

Well, it's back to Napoleon for me. Toodle-oo!

of socks and sizes

I submitted my 3rd content chapter yesterday so took the day off today. :) What better way to pass the afternoon watching a little baseball but to knit? I'm working on the first of the toe socks and as I started knitting the foot, it hit me that this is the first pair of socks that I'm making where I don't have the person they're for at hand to make sure the socks fit well. So, I went off in search of a handy chart and I came across this one by Catherine Goodwin of Knitting Anyway. It looks very useful. But it occurred to me to ask if any of you have a favorite way of sizing socks for absent feet. Feel free to share!

momentum

I seem to be feeding off the writing momentum I'm building. The chapter is in the final example of the final section, I'm waiting to hear back from my advisor on submitting my intent to receive my degree form this semester, and I'm knitting. lol, ok, so I'm never not knitting lately and that's a good thing I think. I've finished the baby blanket I was working on--I love knitting on big needles; it makes everything go so much faster, even with DK weight yarn, which is what I used.


Pattern: Soft and Sweet by Evelyn A. Clark in So Sweet Baby Afghans from Leisure Arts (#75015)
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby in Pale Blue and White
Needles: US13 (9.00mm) & US15 (10.00mm)

This is a really fast knit and the drape of the blanket makes it snuggly and soft. There is an error in the pattern I have. It begins with 89 sts and then omits a YO on the final repeating lace row. So, I left it off and, before the second repeat (and subsequent repeats), increased a stitch two rows before the lace row to get it ending with a k2tog instead of a YO right before the side border. Then I increased again two rows before switching back to the smaller needles to finish off with the top seed stitch border. This is the second time I knit this but I didn't leave myself any notes last time! (I'd knit it when I was still a knitting noobie, just a few months into knowing how.) Have fixed that now since I'm sure I'll be knitting one of these again.

So, since I still haven't placed my Knit Picks order (the one with the yarn for my mom's Rusted Root, and my Blooming Cotton Scarf), I've moved on to the toe socks I promised the fabulous housekeeper at Chawton House Cottage (where I stayed on my research fellowship last year). I love the yarn the designer used, but it's discontinued and I am trying to destash! So, I rooted out some Marathon Miró from Four Seasons Gründl.



It's going ok so far; am on the leg of the first sock now. Oh, and speaking of yarn, KP is E.Vil! They've got their lace yarn on sale for a week! I think I may take advantage and get the yarn for the Celeste long cardigan from French Girl Knits and the yarn for the Shipwreck Shawl I want to make in honor of finishing my dissertation and Margaret Fuller (who died in a shipwreck). The only thing is that I'd like to make it in a colorway that's greyish/blue/black like the color the designer ended up with, but I don't have the patience or inclination to dye my own yarn. So I was thinking of either (from L to R) Shadow Kettle Dyed in Soot, Gloss in Cypress, or Shadow in Midnight Heather:



From the projects and stash pics I've seen on Rav, the Soot looks like it's more black or more grey, depending on the dye lot and lighting, and the Cypress has a bit too much green in it for my taste (I know! I'm poo-pooing green!) The Midnight Heather might work because it's blue/black, and the designer said she used a mix of Sapphire and Black dye to get that color. What do you think, dear readers?

Rusted Root

It's done!




Pattern: Rusted Root by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy in Sea Foam
Needles: US7 (4.5mm) and US6 (4.0mm)

I'm pretty pleased with it. When the yarn arrived a few months ago I was annoyed to see that KP had sent me yarn from two different dye lots, but when I inspected them in good light, they looked identical so I thought all would be well. And from these pics, I don't think you can notice any difference. But when I wet blocked it (couldn't find my spritz bottle) HOLY COW! I had wide horizontal stripes! Now, if I'd meant to do that, it would've been perfect, but as I didn't I was really afraid I'd have to toss the whole thing once dry.



You can kinda see them in this pic, though since it was dry, they'd practically faded. But I was really annoyed with myself for not knitting the same dye lot balls in order. Ah well, knit and learn.

Overall, this is a really cute pattern, and I really liked working with Comfy--it's a much softer cotton/acrylic blend and is pleasant to work with, holding up nicely to ripping out, and isn't splitty at all. I'll definitely be using it again (and making sure I let KP know to PLEASE send me balls from the same lots!)

I'm now working on a baby blanket for another of my friends who's adding to her family (a growing trend among my friends, no pun intended!).

interruptions and progress

That's how it's seemed this month over here -- lots of things interrupting my writing progress and me taking out my frustrations by knitting (but still only at night before bed). What's really going on is that I've been fighting off diss fatigue, and when I'm ready to go, a ton of things suddenly appear that compete for my attention (as happened again today). The result is that though I have a good base to work from, three weeks into the month, I've written about 15pp in my third content chapter. A major PITA. I think I need to go back to my strategy of saying no to everyone and everything and hole up to finish this chapter, which I still think I can finish by the end of this month--like I said, I have a solid base of notes and free writes to work with.

On the bright side, I'm making progress on my Rusted Root:


Lace detail:


The color is way off in these and I was too lazy to fix it, and they were taken with natural indoor light. Ah well. The colorway is Sea Foam so it's actually much more aqua-blue than this; the pics make it look like Rowan's Cashcotton in Clear. Anywho, I'm quite pleased with this so far and am about an inch from starting the hem, then it's sleeves and neckline and voila! Top-down construction rocks. Mom has now requested one of her own, hee!

Since I had my camera out I decided it was time to finally get some pics of the Yaquina Bay cardy:


I knit it top down, left out the waist shaping, changed the ribbing at the cuffs and hem to 1x1, and added pockets as well as my color windows and racing stripes (as I call them). I probably should've gone with slightly wider pockets but these are good for those pocket pack tissues and my cell phone, and a little dosh(!), which is probably what'll go in them, though they are actually big enough for me to get my ridiculously thin hands into them comfortably, lol. Obviously, I still need to weave in the ends but I did at least get the zipper for it finally! It's very snuggly; I can't wait to get some use out of it this fall/winter.

Well, I'm off to work on the Rusted Root again. I'll definitely be holing up this weekend to write!

an update with more happy

lol, I know. I've been such a slacker updating over here. But I have a good reason and that is that I've been diligently working on my dissertation. Two content chapters drafts have been turned in and I'm working on the third. The last content chapter is also partially written thanks to a conference presentation that earned me a lot of compliments and praise, and my intro and conclusion are also starting to take shape. It's been a busy four months. My knitting has continued and I've been good at sticking to my stash as well. I'll be adding to it for three specific projects soon though (two more gifts!), but overall, I'm pleased that I've been sticking with my destashing resolution.

I'm currently working on Rusted Root by Zephyr Style in Knit Picks Comfy in Sea Foam. It's a nice aqua blue color and the yarn itself is so soft. It's quickly become one of my favorite yarns. I had to start over and cast on for the next size up, though, since it was fitting a little too snuggly.

Speaking of KP, I'm sure you've seen the new Zephyr acrylic needles they've come out with. I've been debating whether or not to try them since I've become such a fan of their Harmony needle tips (I barely use my nickle plated Options anymore). I started poking around the Ravelry forums and found out that KP is sponsoring a giveaway of an entire Zephyr Options set! Click here for the details and to enter yourself!

Off for more writing! Will update with pics soon. And I need to finish weaving in the loose ends on the Yaquina Bay that's been done forever and get that zipper in! Summer heat has not helped my finishing that off unfortch.

things that make me happy

feeling good about what I write

finishing a project (in anything)

scrummy yarn

the sound of rain or the ocean

sunny days

and my newest one:

blocking mats!

Ok, so obviously this isn't a complete list or anything, but hey, this isn't the place to write a book, right?

Blocking mats. Thank you KnitPicks! I'm also the proud new owner of a KP yarn ball winder. Seriously, at that price, why wouldn't I get one?? The mats are also well priced and they interlock nicely. I've got some of them in use right now with the Not Quite Straight Scarf.



I think the blocking should help with the length of it--it was rather on the short side since I used only one skein of Medicolor (sock yarn). But, it's a spring scarf to be worn in SoCal; who'd want something bulky? I've got it blocked out to about 5 feet long and 5 1/4 inches wide. Even better? Yet more stash yarn used. Woot! I must admit I do like using it up. What's even better is that I have projects planned for a goodly portion of the stash, which should keep me busy for most of the year. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't look. Or haven't bought more. But anything I have bought has been for a specific project (like the Knit Picks Comfy I just got for the Rusted Root top) and not because I've given in to Yarn Temptation. This is good!

I may, however, be revisiting some of my old FOs and reclaiming the yarn. The shrug I made for my brother's wedding (very pretty but will probably never wear it again) and my cabled hug, which I love!, need attention. I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran on the wedding shrug and it feels like such a waste to leave that nice yarn in something I won't use again. And the cabled hug. Ugh. I tried to fix the fit of it a few weeks ago and completely made it worse. So, I think I'll tear it apart and reknit it. That is something I wear, and would wear even more if I was happier with the fit. Luckily, it's a fast knit and I have a new shiny yarn winder I can use. Mweheee!

Incidentally, I'm sure you've all seen the new Knitty by now. Shipwreck? I think I may just possibly be using this as a prize for finishing my dissertation. So, I shall be saving my yarn pennies and ogling the carrot/pattern for now. Aside from the pattern itself, the name appealed to me. Total nerd connection--Margaret Fuller died in a shipwreck--makes it more appropriate for a dissertation prize then, doncha think? *g*

Next up? More socks and probably the Leaf Top Kimono. I've also got to shop the stash for some yarn for the Half-Blood Prince KAL! Yaquina Bay is also coming along nicely. I'm knitting it top down with some color pops thrown in for interest. Now if only I could be happier with my noncolorwork skillz.

getting ready for the '09 season

Baseball!! I'm so happy baseball's starting again. Stitch 'n' Pitch ahoy! Of course, the story right now is about A-Rod and his testing positive for steroids back in 2003. While I'm very much in favor of cleaning up the game, the reaction of the New York media continues to frustrate and annoy me. Not that I should be surprised by much of their tabloid-esque, ridiculous scrutiny. They complain when Alex plays well, they complain when he admits to using steroids, and they complain when he says it was a stupid mistake. Alex said again today that he was young and immature when he was with the Texas Rangers, and that he regrets not having gone to college grow up. You know what? I believe his 'young and stupid' excuse. Why? I've known too many athletes, even those who've gone to college, who aren't the sharpest tacks in the toolbox and who don't ask questions when someone they trust comes along and says, here, do this or do that. And what about the legal ramifications of this story? There's talk now that he'll be charged with something, so could he truly give a 100% full response today if he's going to be called to court or before Congress? It's not like when Andy Pettitte had his HGH conference last year after he'd testified before Congress.

Ah, sports media. I hope this story doesn't have legs for too much longer. I'm ready for some baseball.

waiting for Henry to stew

I'm stuck in the middle of a paragraph discussing Henry Tilney's use of the phrase "voluntary spies" in Northanger Abbey so I'm updating here while my brain works it out. Funny how multi-tasking has been helping me write this week. I feel like I've spent more time writing about knitting this week (via email with TheBlackSheep) than I have on my actual chapter but I know that's because I've had about three different ideas spilling out of my head simultaneously making things go slower than normal. Today, after some driving and yarn shopping (more on that in a sec), everything fell into place. The section that had been bugging me all week finally smacked me and it's been moved down a few pages, showing up in a much more natural spot, no longer interrupting its old paragraph. Huzzah!

Sock knitting's been on hold this week after I spent three nights last week working the short row heel on the first On the Fly sock (I call mine Flitter Toes). Note, this is my first toe up sock. The pattern is fabbity; not too tricky and interesting enough to keep you going. But Ugh. That heel drove me a little batty. I like the ease of the short rows but I first tried Priscilla Wild's 'no wrap' method which isn't supposed to leave holes. Yeah. I had a holey heel. I think it may've been because of my yarn (cotton blend), so I ended up ripping it all out and using misocrafty's pass-the-wraps-over method. It got a little tricky on my tiny needles, but the result is fab!

Ta-da!



No holes!! Not bad, eh? I'm quite happy considering this is my first try at short row heels. The first sock's done (after fighting my yarn to make the loose cast off loose enough!), and I've already cast on the second and finished the toe increases, but I'm taking a break from it. In the meantime I cast on the Not Quite Straight Scarf as part of a KAL. Easy pattern. This is one of three gifts I need to finish by April. The other two are a pair of socklettes in pink (I have no pink yarn!) and a felted bag in green. Hence my yarn shopping today. I got some Paton's Classic Merino in Leaf Green for the bag but struck out on pink sock yarn. Will have to keep looking. I also got some storage drawers at Big Lots! for $11!! That beat JoAnn's 40% off clearance price! So, this weekend I plan on getting control of my sprawling stash and reclaiming space in my small room. Oh, and also swatching and casting on for the Yaquina Bay cardigan FINALLY! I used my gift certificates and got some Patons Merino in Cognac Heather and Dark Grey so I'll get to finish off the rest of the grey sitting in my stash as well. So what brought on this cardigan decision, you ask? My office happens to be in the coldest room in the house--great in the blistering SoCal heat, but not so good in winter. I tend to be cold regardless of the season and the significant difference in temperature between the great outdoors and my office (20 degrees F easily) is killing me. I've had to dig out the space heater plus bundle up in cardies, gloves, and blanket. It's pretty ridiculous. I'm hoping a wool cardigan (instead of my standard cotton ones) will help.

I think Henry's percolating so off I go!

Good grief, it's time for an update!

It's 2009! I can't believe I haven't posted here since last August. Life with the dissertation has been going full throttle since then. Of course, this doesn't mean I haven't picked up the sticks, but I've been sticking mostly to small projects since I knit Hey, Teach! Seems I haven't been able to muster the concentration or willpower necessary to tackle another big project. Even my throw blanket is languishing in the UFO pile. Ah well. I am now the proud owner of 12 hanks of Rowan Summer Tweed in Smoulder! Isn't that a great name?



I picked it up at my old LYS in England when I was there in November/December for my research fellowship. Initially I thought I'd FINALLY knit the replacement for my tired but comfy blue cardy, but I've changed my mind yet again. *shock* Strangely enough, I'd planned on canceling my subscription to Interweave Knits after the holidays. Now I'm not so sure. I wasn't all that impressed with the preview galleries for the Winter '08 issue, but when I saw the Blooming Cardigan, it started calling to me. SO, I think I may just use my smoulder for it. It deserves something where it can show off. I think I'll nix the belt though.

Other than that, my knitting resolution for 2009 is to stash bust. I know, I know. I said that last year. I'm planning on sticking with it this year, despite having a gift certificate for my local craft store (hurray for Christmas!). I found two groups on Ravelry to help keep me motivated: Stash Knit Down 2009 and The Great Sock Off of 2009! So far so good! I've knocked out a couple hats, a scarf, and a pair of socks. Huzzah! Now if only I could get myself a ball winder for my myriad hanks. Shall keep you posted! Hope you're all doing well!