Kat with a K

NH Sheep and Wool Plans

So who's going on Saturday? Erica and I will be getting there around ten or so, I think. I was considering going back on Sunday, but it turns out that I'll be home waiting for the cable people to come hook up the cable at the new house. Anyway, if you're there on Saturday, say hi! We'll both be wearing bright red patent leather Doc Martens, so we should be fairly easy to spot.

I am going with the following shopping guidelines:

1. I really need some sort of new bumper sticker.
2. I am allowed to buy materials for one knitting project.
3. I am allowed to buy materials for two spinning and/or needle felting projects.
4. I have a $25 budget for miscellaneous other stuff - small tools, goat milk soap, etc.

Sounds reasonable enough, right? And my other big goal is to take pictures and actually post them this year. Really.

Baby blanket race progress

Here's my progress so far in the "race" my friend and I are having:

It's folded over width-wise, so there's actually more there than it looks like. :) I'd say it's about 30-35% done. The pattern is Yarn Harlot's Sam's Blanket, and so I took it with me to Stephanie's event at Webs last weekend. She graced it with some guest knitting:

There were also a few pictures of us together, but they didn't come out very well, so I'm going to do both of us a favor and not post them.

How Not to Keep a Customer

A few years ago, a new yarn store opened near where I was living at the time. I was a regular customer for a while, but I'm not anymore, partially because I live farther away (and closer to other stores) now, and partially because I'm not thrilled with some of the store's business practices. But I still go there occasionally, because I happen to be walking by or because I urgently need something when I'm in that town or whatever. Every time, the owner puts on a big show of being thrilled to see me, but it always includes a lot of "I haven't seen you in so long! Why haven't you been here?" Every time, I politely tell her that I've moved, so I'm not in the area as much. Every time, she makes a huge issue of it anyway. I end up feeling even less inclined to shop there, because it means I'll be interrogated about why I apparently don't spend enough money there as she wants me to.

Today, I met a friend who works in that town for lunch. We went to a cafe a few blocks from the yarn store - and there she was. The yarn store owner. And what does she say? "I haven't seen you in so long! Why haven't you been in to the store?" Sigh. Can't we just leave it at "Hi, nice to see you"?

Yarn Harlot at Webs?

Anyone else going on Sunday?

Better late than never?

I took this picture of the scarf I'm working on a week or so ago, and it's a lot bigger now. Oh well.

As always, Dewey is very helpful:

Spring ennui?

When I got up this morning, I noticed that I had apparently left my knitting bag unzipped and open all night. Uh-oh. But - shockingly, it seems nothing was disturbed. I think this means that even Dewey is bored with my knitting. Sigh.

It's not that I don't like the things I'm knitting. I do. Really. But I'm just feeling rather blah about most of them right now. I think part of the issue might be that I keep starting things (because I'm bored with the other things) and then I feel like I'm not making any progress on anything. And it's finally feeling like spring, which means I have a dozen lace projects, and then when I don't feel like knitting lace... yeah. But at the same time, I'm really wanting to knit, which actually makes it harder. If I was feeling "eh" about knitting in general, I'd just read more for a few weeks and wait it out. But I want to knit! I think what I'm going to do is pick the project I like the most right now (a simple lace scarf in yellow Silky Wool) and try to just knit that (except for the sock in my purse, for when I'm out). Until it's done. Really.

Of course, you all know I've said that before. We'll see how long it lasts.

Bah.

You know how sometimes you look around and you're completely uninspired by any of your knitting projects?

Yeah. Hate that.

Perfect for Spring

Here's my Rock Creek Yarn Simply Sock in Cherry Blossom. Look at the pretty packaging it came in!

And unwrapped:

It's beautiful! I wish I could show it to you knitted up, but I'm trying to finish a few things before starting anything new. Soon!

Rock Creek Yarn is open!

Check out the new Rock Creek Yarn! There's some lovely hand-dyed sock yarn and handmade stitch markers - I just ordered some Cherry Blossom sock yarn. (Disclosure: the proprietress is the wife of a dear friend from high school. I was thrilled to reconnect with him recently and discover that he had married a knitter!)

Spring Knitty!

Spring Knitty is up!

My favorites, on first look: Jaden, Yosemite, Honeycomb, Laminaria, Brighton.

Sock blockers?

I've seen some nice wooden sock blockers around the blogs, with various shapes cut out of the top - cats, or whatever. I seem to remember that someone said they come from eBay, but I'm not sure of the seller's name or anything. Help?

A few works in progress...

Here are pictures taken on Saturday of the things I worked on last week other than the two finishes I already posted.

River stole:

Arugula socks:

February socks done!

I was falling asleep on the couch on the 29th while weaving in ends, but I finished them in February! Yay!

Yarn: Dye-namics Slythern Stripe, sport weight
Needles: US 2
Pattern: I thought the cuff pattern was from Sensational Knitted Socks, but I can't find it. Hmm. The rest of it is just a basic sock.
For: A friend who really likes Slytherin stuff.

I love love love this yarn, and I'm happy with the way these came out.

You wouldn't know to look at me...

It struck me the other day that, even this cold time of year, you'd never know I was a knitter by looking at me. I'm usually wearing $1 "magic gloves" and sometimes a storebought scarf that was a gift a few years ago. I still haven't made myself a sweater. Basically, other than one pair of socks, I don't actually have any knitted items I wear regularly. That's obviously not acceptable. I have a few hats and scarves I've made, but they seem to clash with my winter coats. Poor planning, there. I must do something about this by next fall/winter.

Socks in Progress

Remember I said I had too many socks going at the moment? Yeah. How about some pictures?

Shrug - Done!

Look!

It's done! Yay! I'm very excited. Pattern is I Do, yarn is Tahki Cotton Classic. This is for a friend to wear at her wedding next month. I'll try to get a picture of her wearing it with her dress.

First finish of 2008!

I finished Mom's Christmas socks on January 27, and finally got a decent picture. Since I finished them in January, I'm on track with my "finish a pair of socks a month" goal! Yay!

They're plain socks in Dye-namics Small Stripes, "mystery" colorway, sport weight. Love love love this yarn.

P.S. Mom, they'll be in the mail soon!

Sock issues

I seem to be having sock issues. I keep starting plain socks because I'm going to an event for which I need mindless knitting. But then, right when I get to the heel, I have another such event, so I have to start another sock. It's nuts. But I never think of knitting those heels, because when I'm home I have bigger projects (often on a deadline) that take up the time I have for more complicated knitting. Apparently I need to take a weekend or something to just knit heels.

But tonight? I'm going to the movies, and I'm starting another sock. Sigh.

New sock yarn!

I was going to show you some more pictures of Christmas gifts, but I can't find the... thingy. You know. The CompactFlash card adapter. So those will have to wait. Instead, how about some new sock yarn? Any interest in seeing that? Yeah, I thought so. I got these all 60% off! They're all Claudia Hand Painted.

Blue Terra Cotta:

Bearded Iris:

Plumicious:

Tychus!

A Christmas gift:

Pattern: Tychus
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino
Changes: I only did four sections, not five, and it was big enough. And I used a provisional cast-on and then grafted the ends together, instead of seaming.
Comments: Fun, quick, and looks great. My main problem was that I spent more time untangling yarn than actually knitting, since I was working from both ends of two balls of yarn.

2008 Goals: Knitting

1. Finish an adult sweater. I've finished a few baby sweaters, but never an adult-sized one.

2. Finish at least one pair of socks each month. I love sock yarn. (Don't we all?) And I have a lot of it. And I need socks, actually. So I should knit a bunch of it up.

3. Knit at least one thing for charity each month. This way I'll have a decent box of things to donate next winter.

4. Felt something. I'm thinking maybe the ever-popular clogs.

5. Post knitting pictures at least once a week. With my new camera, I doubt this will be much of a problem.

6. Put all finished items on Ravelry. I'll enter stash and works in progress as I have time, but I want to make sure I definitely at least enter all my finished projects.

KnitML!

Look, it's a knitting encoding schema! My little knitterly librariany heart is racing with the excitement.

New Knitty!

The new Knitty is up! I haven't looked all the way through yet, but I'm very impressed so far.

Sleepy Wednesday Randoms

1. Blah, sleepy. Oh well. This week is crazy busy and it's not going to get better any time soon. My big dream for the day is that I might have time to stop for milk on my way home tonight. Yeah.

2. Speaking of sleepy: I got a surprise transcription job last night. The good news is that it will about cover the tires I had to buy last week. The bad news is that there goes most of my knitting time (and a bit of my sleeping time) for the next week or so.

3. My Christmas knitting list is scaring me. My goal is that by the end of this coming weekend I will have fewer projects to finish than days left. We'll see.

4. I have at least finally purchased all of the supplies and tools I need for holiday gifts. I think. Of course, as soon as I post this I will realize that I need another set of needles or something.

5. I want to make fudge. (Because obviously I don't have enough to do.) Anyone have a favorite recipe?

This Year's Department Store Knitwear

I was at Macy's the other day waiting to meet a friend, so I decided to see what was "in" as far as scarves and things. I was very pleased - there were virtually none of the long skinny boring scarves of the past few years, and lots of fair isle and wonderful cables. A few of my favorites:

Charter Club Vintage Cabled Hat, Muffler & Glove
Calvin Klein Basket Weave Muffler, Hat & Glove
Lauren by Ralph Lauren Fairisle Scarf, Hat & Glove
Charter Club Fairisle Scarf
Ralph Lauren Cashmere Cable Beret

Alas, I couldn't find my favorite - a Ralph Lauren scarf that was basically like a sampler, with a bunch of different complex cable and lace patterns.

This is wrong.

It should not be too hot to knit on September 26.

Crafting Miscellany

I'm not sure I mentioned that last week I went to a sale at A.C. Moore and got the yarn I needed for about half of the Christmas presents on my list. Wheee. Yes, I am trying, again, to give all handmade gifts (although not necessarily all knitted). I think I may have a better shot this year, since I am not a) in school, b) working retail around the holidays, or c) doing NaNoWriMo. Therefore, my November and December are looking much less stressful this year.

I am afraid that some sort of crafting alien possession or something has happened this week. Because you know what I've been doing? First of all, I've been crocheting. This is for a Christmas gift, and after I bought the yarn it suddenly came to me that this particularly item needed to be crocheted, and um, okay, who am I to argue with the yarn? (Even though it's really awful cheap acrylic, I have to admit. You'll understand when you see what this object is. Which probably won't be until after Christmas, because way too many of my gift recipients read this blog so I have to be really careful this year.)

And the other thing? I woke up the other day actually thinking "I feel like knitting a fun fur scarf." There is at least one of those on my gift list (because I try to give what the recipient will like/use, not necessarily what I will enjoy knitting), so I dove right in, because seriously, this feeling happens to me, um, never. And yeah, my enthusiasm began ebbing after, oh, three rows. But I've stuck with it, because boy, is fun fur on size 15 needles quick! Sheesh. In about three episodes of Bones, I had half a scarf. And that half only took one skein of yarn, and I bought four (on clearance, even), so I'll probably make two: one for the original recipient I had in mind and another for the Long-Range Planning Box, because you never know when you're going to need to give someone a fun fur scarf.

I did actually start and finish another project this week, and it even used respectable wool yarn and decent-sized needles, but it was a test knit for a pattern a friend is submitting somewhere, so I can't show you yet.

Attn. Cate and anyone else on whom I inflicted my "What should I do with this green laceweight?" angst at Fiber Revival: this will be pretty much perfect, huh?

Query: Does anyone know of a source for small amounts of roving, suitable for needle felting? I want to make some ornaments and/or pins as small Christmas gifts. I have a bag of assorted colors I bought when I took the needle felting class, but I'm going to need some more of specific colors and I'm not sure where to get that.

Resolution

Okay, time for a Resolution. It's not really that I've been spending too much on yarn, but more that a) I'm trying to save up for a new car and b) I'm trying to clear out some stash. So. I will not buy any more yarn in 2007, with the following exceptions:

1. Gifts. This will likely end up being quite a lot, but I'd be spending money on gifts regardless, so it's fine.
2. Materials for classes or workshops. As of now, there are none I'm planning to attend, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility, so I want to have that option in there.
3. Work. I'm going to be writing craft articles for a local paper, and will likely need yarn for things related to some of those.

We'll see how it goes...

Take me out to the ballgame...

Last Wednesday, I went to a Lowell Spinners game with my SnB group:

I'll admit that a few of us didn't exactly pay tons of attention to the game... we were more of the "hey, an excuse to drink beer and knit!" mindset. But we had fun.

This is what 1 outdoor concert + 1 ballgame =, in sock:

Christmas (Planning) in July

Well, it's all sunny and warm out, which means that I'm dreaming of cool weather... and Christmas knitting. I'm at the point at which I'm thinking "Well, I'm not in school anymore, and I won't be working retail around the holidays, and I'm not even going to do NaNoWriMo in November... so I'll have plenty of time!" Yeah. We'll see how that works out. Although I have been finishing more projects recently, so I suppose there's a chance. I will soon have my very own Long-Range Planning Box (thanks to Steph for the term) for storing up generic gifts, like hats and scarves and baby things. (I have a few things just laying around in my WIP box or storage room now, so it will be nice to have them in one place.) So that should help.

There are a bunch of things I'm currently trying to decide about, in this pre-planning stage. Opinions?

1. How much to do at once? Do I start a bunch of things and switch around so as not to get bored, or should I try to focus on one gift project at a time (rotating with other non-holiday stuff, of course) so I don't end up with everything half-finished on Christmas Eve? The answer to this is probably some sort of happy medium...
2. Is it okay to give more complicated/larger projects to some people, even if those who got smaller/simpler things will be receiving their gifts at the same gathering? This happens because a) even I am not crazy enough to think I can knit sweaters or afghans for everyone and b) my Official Gift Recipient Vetting Process*.
3. What about people who just aren't crazy about knitted things? I'd like to knit for those I love most, of course, but my dad and brother, say, just don't wear the kinds of things one knits. They never wear sweaters and only rarely scarves. Hats are possible, but they'd both tend more toward fleece or something than wool, I think. My brother liked the school-color scarf I made him last year, but by this Christmas he will be done with high school football and I'm not sure we'll know yet which college he'll be attending. Hmm. Ideas? (I'm leaning toward hats at the moment, because I think even they wear hats when it's really cold.) Strategies for their conversion? Or should I just buy them something they actually want?
4. How to blog it? Many of my gift recipients at least stop by the blog occasionally. Should I just call everything "Holiday Project #whatever" and not post any pictures until the gifts have been given? Or can I post the more generic things and just say they're going into the Long-Range Planning Box and not who they're for? Other options?

I'll probably have more questions later, but that's all for the moment...

___
* Official Gift Recipient Vetting Process: People to whom I have never before given a knitted gift get something small and quick first. A bulky-yarn scarf, a hat, a dishcloth. Something like that. If and only if they express an appropriate amount of appreciation, they may receive a sweater or shawl or afghan in the future. If not, they will get a book or CD or something else that they will like more. I think it saves everyone involved a lot of angst and possibly heartache.

Summer 2007 IK Preview

Right here. I have to say that I'm not overly impressed on first glance - there are a few things that look great, but several that just look bizarre. Hmm.

Need opinions! Quick!

I need to decide what needles to use with Tahki Cotton Classic (II? Maybe it's II.) Bamboo or metal? Bamboo is generally my favorite, but I have it in my head that bamboo + cotton = not so happy. Opinions?

(Although, actually, I'll get whatever I can find, as apparently size 7 16" circs are weirdly hard to find.)

If lots of you vote, I'll give you a picture of a finished knitted item and a picture of Dewey tonight.

Spring IK preview!

The spring Interweave Knits preview is up! Looks good, at least mostly...

Hrmph.

I feel like I've asked this before. But. If you were my copy of Mason Dixon Knitting, where would you be? Because I am in the mood to knit bibs, and I cannot. Find. It. ARGH.

Look, I've actually been knitting!

There's even photographic proof! I've been mostly working on Arwen, and it's coming along nicely, although it's not that thrilling to look at at the moment:

I pulled out the aforementioned baby blanket, although I haven't actually resumed work on it yet. See, I told you it was almost done:

And this will be something secret. Actually, I'm not sure if it's secret - must check whether it's okay to blog about.

I have kitten pictures too, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow.

Clarification

It seems that when I said that I only had three things on the needles, several of you thought that I meant, you know, that I only had three things on the needles. Which was quite reasonable of you, really, given that that's what I said. But I need to clarify. What I meant was that I only have those three projects that's I'm currently working on and considering to be "active." I probably have a few dozen things on the needles, either on hold or abandoned. And at some point I need to figure out what to do with them all. The vague plan is to gradually add them in among new projects and get them finished. Or rip them out, if I'm just not interested anymore. I'm not really sure when this is going to happen, though. I'm really enjoying only working on a few things at a time.

Maybe in 2007 I'll plan to find one UFO per month and either work on it or rip it out. Hmm. That could help. My other big knitting goal for 2007 will be keeping track of exactly what I finish. I was going to try to make a gallery or something, but it is occurring to me that it might be easier to make a "2007 Finishes" category here and do a post with pictures and specs for each project, and then just have a link to that category. I think I'd be more likely to keep up with that than a separate gallery. I'll probably also make a spreadsheet so I can easily sort and see how many of each type of item, etc., I've done.

WIP Round-Up and Self-Bribery

Well, I'm not exactly on the one-at-a-time plan anymore. But I'm still keeping things nicely under control, I think.

1. Knit Unto Others I showed you the first scarf I finished yesterday. Today I started another: ribbed again, in Baby Clouds from the stash. It's driving me crazy - too many little loops and fiber bits getting stuck on the needles, too plasticky. But it's going quickly, sort of. Will try to finish by the third. I have D&D tomorrow night so I'm hoping a big chunk of it will get done then.

2. Shedir I love love love this project, but it's going soooo slowly. I'm on row 31 of 83. My friend is having surgery on the twelfth, so I want to get it in the mail by early next week.

3. A Cardigan for Arwen Self-bribery #1: I told myself I could start this when I finished my homework tonight. Just finished casting on, and now I'm alternating between it and Shedir. Pictures once there's something to see.

4. Wine and Roses Mitts No, I haven't started these, but I bought a skein of Seascoast Handpainted in Cherry Fizz the other night. I'll be starting them when I finish Shedir.

5. Victorian Lace Self-bribery #2: When I finish my work for the semester (December 13 at the latest), I get to start something from Victorian Lace Today. I'm leaning toward "Large rectangle with center diamond pattern" (p. 20) or "Melon pattern" (p. 146) because I have the KidSilk Haze in stash, but laceweight is reasonably cheap, as decent yarn goes, so I might just decide on a whim and get something else when I'm ready.

In summary, I only actually have three things on the needles, which isn't bad at all. And, perhaps most importantly, I am not stressing myself out over any holiday knitting this year. It just seemed like a better idea for all involved.

Wool Arts Tour

Captions later.

One at a time.

Hey, look! A knitting picture! I bet you thought you'd never see one of those here again!

This is all I've been knitting for... oh, two weeks or so? I go through the cycle like clockwork: school, work, everything starts feeling overwhelming, so I make a wild stab at getting back in control. Or at least feeling like it. So I resolve that I'm going to be less scattered, more focused, get things done. Knitting seems like an easy way tto do this. Pick one project, stick with it, get it done, feel accomplished. Easy, right? (Hah. Who's taking bets on how long it will last?)

Anyway, the above is a Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf in Knit One, Crochet Too's Paint Box. The label says it's color 8, Painted Desert, but I swear mine is more brown and less blue than that picture looks. I got it in Texas in February, and realized a few weeks ago that it would look great with my new fall jacket. And since it's October, I should, you know, get going on it before I have to put away the jacket and take out the parka. So. I am knitting. One thing. For now.

The other place where the "one at a time" rule applies, of course, is books. I'm trying. We'll see. Expect a "Why I love Nick Hornby" post soon.

Don't die of shock...

But I actually knit a swatch this morning!

Hey, I didn't say it was a big swatch. But it was enough to confirm that I'm getting six stitches to an inch on 2.75mm. Which means that the sock I'm making is... 48 stitches. Which seems an absurdly small number. Hmm. After looking through all my sock books, I ended up deciding to use a stitch pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks with the short row heel and toe from "Priscilla's Dream Socks" (on the IK subscriber-only site, alas). I sure you're just shocked.

During this search, I concluded that knitting books, or at least those dedicated to one item, like socks, should have an index by gauge. So that you can see all the patterns written for 6 st/in, say. Or if there even are any. Instead of, you know, flipping through the whole book. Grr.

Oh, and how I said Trekking was my favorite sock yarn? That may be changing...

Bless me, knitters, for I have sinned...

I know, I know, I just changed the rules and I'm breaking them already. But I realized I had no plain vanilla sock to knit at the movies, and that simply will not be borne. I decided I wanted to try Claudia's popular picot-edged stockinette virus, as Cate gives it high praise and, as we've discussed, I generally find obeying Cate to be a reasonable method of action when I don't feel I can make decisions for myself.

Of course, I was in paper-writing mode this morning and not quite thinking clearly, so figuring out how to do the picot edge was rather a challenge. Frantic Googling and panicked e-mails to Cate ensued before I finally noticed that Claudia has "HOW TO KNIT A PICOT EDGE" in big letters on her sidebar. Right. So I started, and then went and watched The Da Vinci Code (which wasn't as bad as I'd expected/heard), and then here's what I found when the lights came on:

Yes, I took the sock to the new Ben & Jerry's scoop shop in Manchester. SO exciting to finally have one nearby! Of course, today, the day I got to go there for the first time, was also basically the only day in my entire life so far when I was not really in the mood for ice cream. qw21? So I got the Sorbet Splash, pictured on the right; the exciting-looking sundae belonged to my companion.

Oh, and Claudia, just in case you happen to see this: the reason why the edge of the sock is flailing up there to be tacked down later is not because I am a wuss, but rather because the lights went off around row ten and I didn't think it sounded like a very good idea to try the "knit the cast on edge together with the live stitches" thing for the very first time when I couldn't see it. So this is an experiment: the edge will be sewn down on this sock and knitted down on the mate, and I'll see what I like better.

(Trekking XXL, Color 126, in case anyone was curious. Am I correct that Trekking doesn't name their colors? My companion this evening saw the pink/white/brown colorway and decided that the color should be "Neapolitan" [also perhaps because we were sitting at the ice cream shop at the time], but then he noticed the tan and reconsidered. I suggested that the name be amended to "Neapolitan in a cone.")

Baby Blanket, One Week In

Again shown with a skein from the Trekking Collection for scale:

Rules: Made to be broken?

So I've been using my Rule of Ten for several months now, and it's been going well. So, um, clearly now is the time to change it. This is the dilemma: I have something I really want to start, and it's for a mid-August deadline. And there are a few wool projects on the current list that I probably won't have much interest in knitting until the temperature drops a few dozen degrees - especially the Baby Aran, because while I still love the pattern, I don't have a baby in mind for it anymore (because, you know, he grew more quickly than the sweater did...), and it's a pretty involved sweater, so not for the baby of a casual acquaintance. Although it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep working on it at some point so that when a very special baby does come along, I'd have a chance of finishing the sweater in a reasonable amount of time.

But anyway. I think I'm going to amend the rules so that a project can be bumped off the list in order to make room for a new project with a deadline. But this can't happen twice in a row: the next new project has to be added when something is finished. I think this will be a reasonable addition to the method. And, of course, it means that tonight I can start the thing I've been dying to knit...

Baby Blanket Watch: Day 1

I'm kind of amazed by how quickly this got started:

That's what I knit yesterday. (Skein of Trekking included for scale.) It has continued to progress tonight, although not quite as dramatically. I have high hopes for tomorrow, as it seems that D&D will provide optimal knitting time. I'm hoping to get this to the baby by the end of the month... we'll see.

Knitting! Pictures!

I told you I was still knitting! I even finished Birch!

Not blocked yet, obviously. And, um, apparently all the ends didn't get woven in, either. Oops. Detail:

I've also started a chevron sock in lovely, very bright Trekking:

But my current obsession is the French Fleurette Scarf in coral Zephyr:

I started this a few months ago, but I must have been tired or something, because I just couldn't wrap my head around the pattern. It is written a bit unclearly, but once I went back with a clear head, I managed to get it. Mostly. I'm still getting confused by it more often than I'd like, but I'm getting there.

Ouch.

Birch is on hold for the moment, because... my hand hurts. My right hand. I don't know why. I'm mostly blaming it on excessive mouse usage at work the past two days, but just to be safe, I decided to use different needles for a while. And you know what? Apparently I'm knitting a heck of a lot of stuff on fives and sixes at the moment. Huh. Who knew? So I pulled out my long-neglected Trekking sock. I have about two inches of the foot left, and then the toe. And I've been meaning to get back to socks, anyway, because apparently they will keep me sane:

Cate says so. I find Cate is usually right about these things.

And apparently my return to socks came none too soon, because, um, I picked the sock up and knit from the wrong needle. I just... skipped one. Big honking loop of yarn going around the inside of the sock. Oops.

Pretty please let me have enough yarn!

I've been working on Birch a lot in the past week or so, and I'm almost done with the second of three skeins of KidSilk Haze. And I'm suddenly absurdly afraid of running out of yarn. I mean, it's not totally absurd, because I have heard of people running out of yarn with this pattern. But I have no actual evidence that I'm about to run out. I haven't done any calculations or anything. My solution seems to be to knit as much as possible, as quickly as possible, because then at least I'll know. Right?

From March to April

Well, at least I finished one of the red scarves before Easter:

That's Dave's Scarf, in sort of wonky colors. The close-up:

After all my complaining at the beginning, I think I actually like the way it looks all done. Let's hope my brother likes it too.

Since I finished that, I moved on to April's Project Spectrum color: orange. The Asymmetrical Cable Hat from One Skein:

Well, that's the beginning of it, at least. It's going astonishingly quickly. As much as I generally prefer small needles, I must admit that it's kind of fun to see this hat appear so quickly on size 11s.

Hey, this blocking thing works!

I've been knitting for several years, but somehow, I'd gotten away with not blocking anything. I made mostly scarves and stuff, anyway. And on some level, I think I thought the whole blocking concept was an elaborate joke being played on me by all the other knitters in the universe. Or, um, something. Because really, you do what? Wet it? And pin it to something? How does that make sense?

But then I finished Branching Out, and it was lace, and everyone said that lace had to be blocked. So I figured, what the heck, I'd give it a try. I came home from work on Thursday and gave it a little bath and pinned it to the couch:

And look! It actually worked!

I believe you all now. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. (But I still think steeking must be a joke.)

If I blog it, I have to do it.

I'm feeling vaguely out of it today, and have been for most of this week, actually. Part of it, certainly, is a need for just a bit more sleep than I have been getting. And I just have no focus. I don't know. Maybe it's because of spring. And actually being fairly happy sort of leaves me at loose ends. I can't decide whether I want to go run around crazily in the sunshine or take a road trip or hide under the covers and read obscure British novels. So. Um, anyway, where was I? Oh, lack of focus, right. I think I've made my point.

SO. Anyway. My plan for the evening is to go home, get some stuff done, RELAX a little, and SLEEP. Early. Theoretically. And because we've seen how scattered I am today, I'm going to put my to do list right here so that you all can harass me about it tomorrow. Okay? Okay.

1. Clean a bit. Honestly, my main point with this one is to find my copy of Last Minute Knitted Gifts and my missing Netflix envelope, but I'm planning to look for them in a way that makes the room look tidier rather than messier.

2. Finish translating Lauren's diploma. Yay Latin!

3. Block Branching Out.

4. E-mail my professor about my final paper topic.

5. Work on the Call for Submissions for the new online magazine I mentioned yesterday. (Thanks for all the enthusiasm about that! More details soon!)

6. (Finally) finish knitting the second ball of Dave's Scarf. I think it has entered the black hole phase - I've been knitting and knitting and nothing has been happening. At least if I finish a freaking ball of yarn I'll feel like I'm making some progress.

7. Start a grocery list. I'm out of hummus and pita. This can't be good.

8. Finish reading Knitting Rules and Bad Kitty.

Okay. That's totally doable for an evening, right? And theoretically it will result in pictures of a blocked Branching Out for you tomorrow.

Quick Randoms

Because I was supposed to go to bed on time tonight, darn it! Argh.

1. Operation: Harlot was successful last night. I arrived at the store at 10:30, unpacked boxes for the first 15 minutes, and then realized that I had 15 minutes and about 25 boxes left and I had to go more quickly. So then I started just opening boxes. Blood was drawn. (Boxes are sharp!) But I found it. Wheeeee. It's wonderful. Better review after I finish reading it.

2. Clapotis = fun. And I haven't even started dropping stitches yet.

3. Watched the fourth Harry Potter movie tonight. Some of the exterior shots seemed oddly cartoony, but I thought it was good overall. Hermione is still my favorite, of course. As always, I found myself sort of wishing that they'd hurry up through the dragon/battle/whatever scenes and get back to the academics and interpersonal relationships and lovely boarding-schoolness. Maybe I should just go find some school stories to read.

4. Don't you hate it when something disappears right after you discover it? Last week, I discovered the green tea lattes at the coffee stand on campus. Now, I don't normally like green tea much, but these were all milky and melony and yum. Yesterday? They were gone. Bah.

5. Interested in reading or contributing to a free online knitting lifestyle magazine? Sort of Glamour meets Knitty, with a little Bust thrown in? Let me know.

I'm sure there was more, but I really, really should be asleep. Good night!

Oh, look. A Plan.

So I'm loving the Rule of Ten idea (well, except for this weekend when I was chomping at the bit to start Clapotis), but I'm apparently feeling the need to prioritize a bit more. Basically, what happened was that at some point last night I realized that I had all these vague ideas floating around in my head. Ideas like "You know, it was be awfully nifty if Birch was noticeably bigger when I bring it to Steph's next signing than it was at the last" and "If I wore Clapotis to NH Sheep & Wool, it would be easy for people to recognize me because it's so freaking bright." (Because you're all coming to Sheep & Wool and want to meet up, right? Right?)

So it seems as though it could be beneficial to write up a list of when I'd sort of like to have various things finished. None of these are hard and fast deadlines, per se - they're more just... goals. A Plan. I seem to attract Plans. Anyway:

April 16 (Easter/next time I'll see my family) - Dave's Scarf and Irish Hiking Scarf
April 21 (Steph's signing in Grafton) - Birch
May 13 (NH Sheep & Wool) - Clapotis and Salina
June 16 (roommate's birthday, so it would be nice if his Christmas present were done) - Campus Scarf
August 5 (family reunion) - Baby Aran
October 14 (Rhinebeck) - Rogue

I've been averaging three finishes a month of late, so that's all totally doable, even with my usual lack of focus. Well, April and May look a little cramped, but... we'll see. The main challenge will be convincing myself to knit anything but Clapotis. It's rather addictive. But today I left it at home and so I have high hopes of getting well into the third ball of yarn for Dave's Scarf at class tonight.

In other news, we're on Harlot Watch around here. The book is on the truck. On its way to my store. The shipment should get there this afternoon; they may or may not have time to unpack it. (I may or may not go unpack it for them after class.) Erica is supposed to call me with any news, but I'll be driving more or less by the store on the way to class (around 3:30) and on the way back (around 10:30). So. Unless Erica calls and tells me not to, I'll stop on the way down this afternoon - heck, I wouldn't mind a latte for the car anyway - and if there's no sighting by then I'll go back after class. And if for some reason that shipment doesn't make it there today, I'll go back after work tomorrow. Because, you know, what better to do on my night off than go to work? (Don't answer that.)

Things About Which I Am Happy

It's Monday, so it's time for Participation Positives!

1. Spring! It's finally feeling like spring out. It's going to be in the fifties all week, perhaps even getting up to the sixties on Thursday and Friday. I do know that we are pretty likely to get another snow before it's all over, but I'm enjoying it for now.

2. Comments! Wow, lots of you commented on the socks yesterday. Thanks! Just to clarify, I never thought that that socks themselves were ugly, but the first picture I posted of them was all dark and made them look oddly shaped. I think the pictures yesterday show them off to much better advantage.

3. Branching Out! It's done. I even just about memorized the pattern by, oh, the last two or three repeats. Yeah. It's nice, though. It's currently deciding where it wants to hang out while blocking, and then we'll have a picture for you.

4. Clapotis! It's started. The yarn is behaving a bit better than it was while winding, thank goodness, although it is a bit splitty. But OH so soft. It is also looking less pink than I expected, but not necessarily in a bad way. Pictures soon. I'm on repeat increase 2 or 3 or 4 or something. I'm just looking forward to getting to the straight rows so I can see what it looks like when the stitches start dropping.

5. Dr. Who! Are you all watching this? It's wonderful. I can't recommend it highly enough. Hilarious and snarky and British. And boy, is the doctor cute. Too bad he won't be there next season.

6. Taxes! Well, not taxes themselves. But I finally did my taxes this weekend and it was extremely painless, and I'm getting lots back. Wheee. And yes, I'm already negotiating with myself about how much I get to spend on yarn.

Just because you're pretty...

Dear Silk Noir,

You seem to be laboring (laboring? Hah. Lounging is more like it.) under the misapprehension that just because everyone has told you how pretty you are your whole life, this somehow means that you do not have to conform to the standards of decent behavior expected of other yarn. Let me just say that I hope your behavior during our (several) hours with the ballwinder and swift are not an indication of what is to come when I am actually knitting with you. That was deplorable. I am not supposed to have to wind half of you by hand in order to get the other half to wind onto the ballwinder. You are not supposed to constantly wind yourself around everything in range EXCEPT for the ballwinder. Just no.

I know how you pretty yarns are. And it's not even your fault, not entirely. You've always been able to get by just based on your looks. You don't think you have to be nice to the other girl yarns, because they'll want to be friends with you just because you're pretty and popular, so why treat them well? You don't say thank you when the boy yarns hold doors for you or pay you compliments, because you just think you deserve it. You just don't think about how the other yarns feel, because if they're not as pretty as you are, they might as well just not exist, right? No. Wrong.

And you know what? There are plenty of other yarns in this house that would be more than happy to be knitted next, missy. (Did you see those five projects' worth of yarn I brought home today? Did you?) Sure, most of them aren't as flashy as you are, but I'll take a plain, decent, good wool who cooperates with me over an obnoxious silk prima donna any day.

I'm going to go work on something else while you think about this a bit. And I'd advise you to think hard: I'm afraid that if your behavior doesn't improve, my next step will have to be to send you to stay with Vickie for a while. And trust me, she is not taken in by your shiny rainbowy ways.

Hoping we can work together here,
Your Knitter

P.S. Have you seen the last yarn that went to stay with Vickie? Has anyone? Just think about that for a minute.

I spy with my little eye...

From JenLa:

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered: The Magpi
2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative: The Stitch Witch
3. An unusual or weird animal picture: Many of Chaos
4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers: Oh, so many. Recently: Peukalo is thumb. by Steph
5. An idea you wish you’d thought of: Buy More Yarn. I mean, really. 'nough said.
6. Something you’d like to knit: Rogue
7. A picture of something you consider beautiful: Juno's Highland Triangle
8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person: FemiKnit Mafia
9. A blog of someone you have already met in person: mamacate

P.S. 10 Reasons Why Liberal Men are Better in Bed

Let there be light!

So. Dave's Two-Sided Scarf is Not Done. Not even close. But I had to go march in a parade with a giant purple hippo:

Yes, I was serious. In case you missed it, a giant purple hippo:

So I think that's a pretty good excuse, don't you? The hippo is the mascot of, well, The Hippo, a local newspaper for which one of my best friends is a reporter. I went along with my friend, planning to say hi to his coworkers and then go watch the parade, but someone handed me an official Hippo 2006 St. Patrick's Day Parade t-shirt and, well, there I was. It was fun, if a bit cold.

But oh, you want fiber pictures? Right. First, look at the belated Christmas present I got last night! (It's a long story.)

It's one of those nifty natural light lamps, and as anyone who has tried to knit in my living room would tell you, it will certainly come in handy. In addition to using it for knitting and reading, I'm hoping that it will help me take better pictures for the blog at night, because pictures during actual real daylight are pretty hard to come by. Let's test it out on my haul from my visit to the Woolery with Erica yesterday, shall we?

First, the find of the day:

Yes, it's really, really bright. It's silk, from Great Adirondack Yarn Co., which does not seem to have a Web site. It's going to be Clapotis. I am rather taken with this yarn. The colors! The texture! I may or may not have worn it around my neck while walking around the bookstore yesterday. (Not while working. Just on my breaks.)

Less, colorful, but still nifty:

A whole bag of Jo Sharp's Desert Garden Aran Cotton in color 201, Parakeet. And, um, wait. Ack. It was supposed to be for Chaise from The Holiday Island, instead of the Hourglass Sweater (because it would serve basically the same purpose) but apparently I can't read, because that is not in fact the yarn called for in that pattern. (My wonderful yarn store owner said "Here's the book that goes with that yarn" and I stupidly assumed the whole book went with the yarn. Oops.) So. Any suggestions for 600 yards of this yarn?

And last but not least:

Because really, who has enough sock yarn? It's Trekking XXL, of course. The orange (it's more orange in real life) will be for Project Spectrum next month, and I think the other might be for Jaywalkers.

Now I just have to finish something so I can start all these things.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig

I am (part) Irish, but I'm not really doing anything to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. Had I been clever about it, I would have arranged things so I could start my blue-green Rogue today.

Alas, I was not. There is currently no room on my List of Ten, so no starting for me. Nope nope nope. I'm still pushing for Sunday. But I did wind up a few pretty blue-green yarn cakes, just to tide me over:

And that is it; I must finish Dave's Two-Sided Scarf before I can think about anything else. Must must must. Oh, but before I go, look at my cute new lantern!

And really, the combination of a candle, some yummy tea, knitting, and Mediaeval Baebes makes for a darn good way to relax after a long week.

Random, with Pictures!

Wow, it's already Wednesday again! And I'm still in a good mood. Yay.

1. I knew the recent springlike weather was just a tease. We had some bizarre fits of snow this afternoon. At least we know who to blame.

2. I'm liking the scarf better as it gets longer, so that's good, I guess:

As you can see, it's not exactly reversible, but rather two-sided. I'm hoping to knit a ball of yarn every two days, so I finish on Sunday and can start Rogue. The picture has about half a ball knit up, mostly from lunch yesterday, subway and class last night, and lunch today.

3. On Sunday night, I realized that, improbably enough, I didn't seem to have any plain decaffeinated black tea in the house. I picked up some Red Rose at the store today, and they have new figurines! I've been sort of collecting them since I was very young, so it's always exciting to get a new one. I got the cute little bunny.

4. I saw Match Point over the weekend. Whoa. I think I've decided that it was very good, and you should see, but I probably do not ever want to see it again. But ahhh, Jonathan. Even in this rather, shall we say, questionable role, he was gorgeous. Oh! And according to IMDB he's going to be Henry VIII! That's one of the most exciting things I've seen in a while.

5. I'm doing some reorganizing of my Bloglines feeds. I've realized that I have a hard time getting into new-to-me blogs without reading all the archives, so now I have a separate category for blogs I think I'll want to read regularly but that I have to catch up with first. It's making it all much easier to navigate.

6. Last night for dinner I tried an Odwalla Strawberry C Monster smoothie and Super Protein bar. It was filling and surprisingly satisfying. Hmm. This may have to become my default quick dinner for nights when I have class or work. If I can find them, of course. I found the smoothies at the grocery store tonight, but I couldn't find the bars, even though the cashier told me they sold them. I got a few Luna bars, since they seemed to be the closest, but they don't have as much protein. Ah well.

7. And another for Project Spectrum: (blurry) strawberries!

Woolgathering

I haven't had much time to knit in the past few days, so of course that is All. I. Want. To. Do. So let's just talk about knitting for a while instead, shall we? I will actually get to knit in class tonight, so that's something. And on the subway. And tomorrow night I should have a few hours. Hurrah.

I ripped out my brother's scarf ("Dave's scarf" in the Ten) because it was too fiddly and I wasn't enjoying knitting it and couldn't imagine that he'd much like wearing it. So now I'm doing a ribbed thing with a few cables in the middle. I think it will work better. The yarn - Classic Elite Princess - is wonderfully soft but a little too smushy for this, I think. It's not very crisp. Not great stitch definition. Perhaps TOO soft. Why did I get this, again? I don't remember. Oh, right: I was afraid he'd turn down anything that could possibly be construed as "scratchy." Well, scratchy it certainly isn't. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this project, but I'm going to keep going, and hope that the cables will look a bit better after blocking. It's funny - I love the yarn and I love my new pattern. It's just the combination thereof that makes me nervous. We'll see. If the pattern works as it should I'll post it. Along with the baby hat pattern. I'd like to get a little "Free Patterns" section going.

I pulled out Branching Out for the first time in months and worked on it for a while on Sunday. The chart seemed much easier to deal with this time around, and it was going along pretty quickly until I realized that I was short a stitch. I was too tired/distracted to figure out what had gone wrong right then, but maybe tomorrow night. That one should be quite quick if/when I manage to actually memorize the pattern.

Salina is moving along as well: I'm in the increase part of the waist shaping now. I was rather proud of the waist shaping and showed a friend, and the look on his face was marvelous: I hadn't mentioned that this was just the back of the sweater, and he was trying to figure out a polite way of saying "That wouldn't possibly fit all the way around you." Hah.

Erica and I are doing a bit of yarn shopping on Saturday, so I'll continue my quest for a cotton blend for the Hourglass Sweater. We'll see. I'm also hoping to finish something so I can start Rogue this weekend. Right now, nothing sounds so appealing as spending the entire day in my apartment on Sunday, knitting and watching DVDs and maybe cleaning a bit. So I think that will be the plan.

This is the blanket that never ends...

It just goes on and on, my friends... um, anyway. I think I like this Rule of Ten thing: here's finish number eight for 2006 so far!

A hat, to match the Boring Baby Blanket. I had extra yarn, and Princess Aaralyn likes to be matching. (Well, honestly, I'm not sure she's quite up to such complex fashion decisions yet, but her mommy sure likes it when she's matching. Which isn't hard, because 90% of the child's clothes are pink. And super-adorable. But I digress.) I made up the pattern as I went along - the lace at the top (i.e. where I got bored of stockinette) is supposed to more or less correspond with the lace on the blanket. And that ruffle? Cute, but casting on 240 stitches for a baby hat? Can we say "counter-intuitive"? Anyway, if people like the pattern I'll write it up. Let me know.

Since I finished that, I got to start something new! I decided it was time for something pink for Project Spectrum. This is French Fleurette scarf in coral Zephyr. Because really, what says "spring" like pretty little pink French flowers?

This is my first time working with Zephyr. I'm liking it, but it is splitting a bit. Let's hope that stops as I get used to it. My goal is to have this done by Easter. But I'd better finish something else sooner than that, because I want to start Rogue SOON.

Why didn't I figure this out before?

My job isn't so big on the motivation to actually work bit, so this week I decided to try some internal motivation - or really just out-and-out self-bribery - to spice things up a bit. If I get to my self-imposed goal for the week, I can get the pattern for Rogue.

I was past Monday's portion of said goal by 1:00. Huh. This system just might work.

Let's back up a little and have a bit of an update on the sweater lust from last week. Lovely Salina is still coming along nicely, if slowly - I've been concentrating on the baby hat the past few days because I got something very exciting yesterday that I want to start. (More on that tomorrow.) And I'm still planning to order the yarn for Starsky when I finish a sweater. But. The whole hourglass-like sweater in some sort of cotton something issue? It's not going so well. I haven't been able to find a yarn I like in the right gauge at the right price. And then, well, I was flipping through the L.L. Bean catalog and saw this. Which is almost what I wanted. So I might just order that for now, and wait until the perfect yarn/pattern combination for the ideal spring sweater in my head jumps out at me.

So. I crossed that sweater off my "To be done very soon" mental list, and then Tracy came into the bookstore and we started talking knitting (I'm sure you're shocked! Shocked!) and she mentioned Rogue. And I had one of those "Oh, I meant to knit that three years ago. What happened?" moments. And I looked it up when I got home to refresh my memory and fell in love with it all over again. Yesterday I made my first trip up to the Elegant Ewe and got the yarn (as well as other exciting things you'll see tomorrow). I ended up with Cascade 220 in a lovely Celtic green with a bit of blue in it - color 9451, maybe?

And THEN I came home and saw that Cate is starting Rogue too, and Kristen just pulled hers out and Juno is talking about it and so is vm and then of course there's Tracy, who got me back into this mess in the first place and hey! We practically have a knitalong going here! Actually, I'll host if anyone wants to make it official. The Really Late Rogues. Let me know if you're interested.

Meet Watson.

Remember Aloysius? This is his brother Watson.

He wanted a scarf too. And it's red(dish), so it's my first entry for Project Spectrum. I have two red scarves and a red shawl on my list right now - it's almost like I knew about this before today and didn't join at the last minute! Hah! The other color of the month is pink, which is one of my favorites. But, oddly, I don't have anything pink on the go, I don't think. Oh, yes I do! There's that sock I abandoned back in, oh, May or so. Hmm.

I don't think I want to add that to the list right now, though. (I get to add something because I finished the Teddy Bear Scarf!) Just not in the mood. I think I'm going to put Branching Out back into rotation instead. And that means I'll have to finish something else in the next, oh, ten days, because I want to start Danica during the first F1 race of the season. (Yes, I know Danica isn't in F1. It's going to be my general watching-races project.)

Oh, and Watson's scarf is my seventh finished item for 2006 so far! Woohoo!

Oh hey, it's Wednesday!

I finally went to work today, after being out sick, so it felt like Monday, so I'm totally confused. Anyway, it's Wednesday, so that means randomness!

1. FIRST of all, do you like the new layout? It's March 1 (Happy March!) so I decided something bright and springlike was in order. It's a very slightly tweaked version of a template that the lovely and generous Becky made for us Pretty Posies members. Let me know if anything seems to be working incorrectly.

2. Based on the comments I got yesterday and what I've seen at other blogs, I think Post-Olympic Startitis should be declared an official disease. I've managed to stick to my ten, though. Aren't you proud of me? (Birch was added to the ten when I finished the Olympic socks. The first ten were in basically random order, but I'll be adding new items to the bottom as I finish things.)

3. I decided to add my LibraryThing widget to the sidebar even though only a fraction of my books have been entered so far. (All the cool kids are doing it.) I'm going to try to add a few each day.

4. I was on Morning Edition on NHPR yesterday, talking about the Knitting Olympics. Want to hear me?

5. It has been brought to my attention (thanks Chris!) that an all-cotton sweater, as I was discussing last entry, might not work so well. So that project is on the back burner for the moment, and I'm open to yarn suggestions for a DK cotton b