A Day in the Life

Working on Something New

2012-02-10T17:17:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I'm teaching my first professional class at Stash, using my Sand Dollar Hat pattern. It'd been a while since I knit it, and not only did I need a refresher but also my old one is starting to lo a little, well, used.

So last night I procured some Abstract Fibers Super Sock in Snapdragon, which I am double stranding into the wildest hat I've ever knit (or even seen).

It's coming along nicely, I'm more than half way up the side, but the lighting in here isn't good for a picture.

I'll make sure to take pictures tomorrow at the class of all the hats being knit.

I'm also working on a seminar about dying fiber in your own kitchen. It started with an open topic for presentations in one of my classes, and is slowly morphing into something really fun. For one thing, I had a whole family of colorful mason jars in my kitchen,

and some lovely results.

All this color in my home and knitting has been a real boon during this grey February. And on that note, I'll leave you with this lovely painting by the Dread Pirate Roberts himself (via the iPad app Paint for Cats).

Yarn U - A Review

2012-02-05T17:45:00.001-08:00

I recently got the opportunity to do my first iPad app review for Yarn U. After spending about a week playing around with it, I'm finally ready to share with you, my bloggy friends.

Yarn U is a new app for knitters, crocheters, weavers, or any yarn enthusiast. It is compatible with iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone, and will work offline with only a little decreased functionality.

Yarn U is a database of yarns, with useful information about each yarn, a map feature showing where the yarn may be purchased, photos of the yarns and/or patterns, links to patterns for the yarns, average price, and a place for users to post questions and comments about the yarns.

There are multiple ways to sort the list to focus on what you're looking for. I like sorting by manufacturer, as shown above. That way I can easily look for specific yarns or browse through my favorite yarn providers.

Once I've found a yarn I want to know more about, I just select it and voila!

Pictures, fiber content, put-up, approximate gauge, and other useful information. Want to see more pictures? Simply select the picture and you'll move to a screen with more pictures.

Sometimes you get pictures of more color ways, sometimes you get more pictures of patterns...

And sometimes it's a mix of both. This feature is available for most yarns I the database. You can also mark yarns as favorites, and then sort the master list by that criteria.

The only feature I found a bit weak was the map feature. Each yarn oily has one map reference, and there seems to be a small pool that each was chosen from. I'm hoping that as the app progresses, more yarn stores will be added, and it would be nice to be able to sort by region, for if I'm traveling and want to know what the local yarn shops carry.

So, if you want to have a yarn database at your fingertips, this is the app for you. I know it will come in handy for planning my future yarn purchasing trips...

New Project

2012-01-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

I started a new project last night, as part of the Stash Knit Along. So far, I'm really liking it.

Pattern: Hado Slouch by Olga-Buraya-Kefelian

Mods: Using only one color with decently long repeats.

Yarn: Dicentra Designs 60% Wool/40% Tussah Silk fingering in Eowyn, purchased in 2008 at Black Sheep Gathering.

Fantastic Jewel Tones

My Kind of WIP

Interestingly, Hado is japanese for "wave surge," which is neat when you consider that I'm working at the Wave Lab. I'll have a neat hat to wear in just a short amount of time.

A Finished Object!!!

2012-01-18T22:51:00.001-08:00

Sneak peak.

Details to follow.

Look, rogue knitting!!!

2012-01-17T17:10:00.001-08:00

The only time I seem to have to work on these socks is during class discussions. Good thing this is the second sock.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tracks

2012-01-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

Another snow day yesterday, so more snow pictures. This time the theme is "tracks in the snow."

Tinkers' Tracks (downstairs neighbor's cat)

Wes and Mummy Tracks

Me and Red (driving was a dumb idea)

Duck Trakcs

Yes, Duck Tracks. You read that right.

And there is no knitting update for the simple reason that there has been very, very little knitting going on at Casa del Westley.

New Toy

2012-01-16T16:30:00.001-08:00

It takes neat pictures and organizes all my paper!

Too bad it won't wash the dishes or make going out in the rain/snow any less cold and wet.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Sound of Silence

2012-01-15T08:38:00.001-08:00

New Year, New Knits

2012-01-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here at the end of the holiday weekend with a pile of knitting sitting next to me. It's a lovely thing.

First up is my Tara Bolero. My version is named Slug because while at knit night we were discussing the fiber content of the yarn (Harlequin by Dale of Norway), and the slubs in the yarn. Someone heard "slug" and then commented that the color is right for slugs, then the conversation devolved to giant slugs and it was sealed. So here are the in progress pictures for Slug.

Color accurate close-up, with slubs

Left front

Back in progress

Second is a project that I just started today. I'm so enamored with it, even though there is extra work involved. Extra work? Yes, I'm thrumming!

Introducing my first thrummed project, Bunny Hop Slippers. I'm using Cascade 220 from my stash and some of the BFL roving that was my first roving purchase the day I learned to spin.

Prepared thrums

Thrummed close up

First sole, outside

First sole, inside

These things are going to be so warm and snuggly when they're done.

That's all that's been going on around here. I'm sure I'll have finished project pictures to share with you soon.

The Last of 2011

2012-01-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

The last of the Christmas presents have been delivered and opened, so I can now share the rest of my top secret 2011 knitting with you.

I made two Bandana Cowls by Purl Bee, one for my dad and one for my best friend's husband. Both were made with Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Denim Mix. One skein made two cowls.

I made Melissa a pair of slippers out of Panda Soy Prints in positive purple. I really enjoyed this pattern, they knit up super quick and are a great slipper for warmer climates.

Finally, last night I tried something new before the year ended. There may have been some alcohol involved in the planning and instrumentation of this knit.I used some pull apart cherry flavored Twizzlers and my US 8 needles to knit 4 rows of candy knitting.

It was the most delicious knitting I've ever done.

More Gift Photos

2011-12-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

I got the pictures of my grandmother's Veyla.

I did these without buttons. I modified the pattern to graft the cuffs together. After I've had some time, I'm going to make a pair of these for myself to wear at work.

Once one more package gets delivered and opened I'll be able to share the last of the knitted gifts.

Well Finally

2011-12-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is over, and gifts across the country have been opened, I can finally share with you some of the super top secret knitting I've been up to.

First up is a blankie I made for my nephew Kyle (relative by friends). I started this back in early July according to my Ravelry project page. In my defense, I designed this as I was knitting, so sometimes the blankie would sit and marinate while I sorted out the next step.

The yarn is Knit Picks Crayon, which was lovely to knit with and is deliciously soft as a blankie. I have plenty left over for the upcoming twins due it late May (to a different family).

Under Sea Baby Blanket

The report is that Kyle loves it. I hope this thing gets loved to death. It's just about the right size to be a cape for a toddler...

Next up is a pair of Veyla by Ysolda Teague, made for Val (Kyle's Mom). The yarn is Shibui super sock in a lovely deep purple. The "buttons" are snowflake obsidian beads from my stash.

Veyla for Val with David's present underneath

I made a second pair of Veyla for my grandmother using the Zombie Cherry yarn that I dyed during late summer. Sadly, I forgot to get a picture before I sent them away, so I'll have to wait for my mom to snap one.

I still have two secret projects that I can't share, since I only got 2 of 3 packages out on time. So I'm going to leave you with this really strange picture I managed to get of Westley. I like it. It's deep.

Who Wants a Swancho?

2011-12-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

The super top secret knitting continues at Casa del Westley. Sadly, I've been doing little but super top secret knitting, work, and ignoring chores. Soon, however, I will begin selfish knitting again and will be able to share with you. I want to get the better part of a sweater done while I'm off of school, and have narrowed my choices down to the following:

Ashfield Cardigan by Melissa LaBarre, from New England Knits, done in Cascade 200 Sport (purple, don't remember if it's 8885 or 8886).

Drawstring Waist Cardigan from Vogue Knitting, done in Sierra Pacific Crafts Katyil (the same yarn as my purple cabled sweater).

Lowry Pullover from KnitScene, done in mystery Danish wool blend that I got in a swap.

Mythos from Knitty in Elann Baby Silk (Oxblood).

Lazy Weekend Sweater, done in a recycled red wool/cotton blend, rescued from a very unfortunate Old Navy sweater.

OK, so I haven't narrowed it down much. I'll work on it.

And, so this post isn't all text, here's an apt cartoon for the season.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2011-12-06T17:05:00.001-08:00

We've been having a cold snap, and today it never got above freezing. Even with all of my wooly items, I'm cold.

It's so cold the spider webs have frozen. Which is really quite pretty (and means that the accompanying spiders have moved out).

It's finals week, and I've got one exam left to go (Thursday, statistics, not looking forward to it). With the term wrapping up, I've been able to get a bit more knitting done. Sadly, it's almost all super secret gift knitting, so I can't post any pictures for a while :-(. I am going to work on getting pictures of my finished shawl collared cowl (which it has been too cold for, I need the extra bulk of a full scarf). I am working on one shop model for FNC. I'll get pictures up as soon as that's done an delivered, hopefully this weekend.

A New Look

2011-11-28T15:52:00.001-08:00

To commemorate the rainy season here in the PNW, I've given the blog a face lift. Now you can all share the rainy days with me.

Definite Signs of Startitis

2011-11-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

I must be getting better physically, because I'm starting to get restless where knitting is concerned. I've got 3 patterns on my desk right now, I started a new project on Thursday that's almost complete, and I'm already planning my next project. Added to this, I'm not working on the large project that's been dragging on and on for months.

Unfortunately, two of the projects I'm working on (the large one and the almost done new one) are holiday gifts for readers of this blog, so I can't tell you anything about them. Except that they're both awesome. I can tell you about my next project.

Meet the Shawl Collared Cowl by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. I bought this on Friday at Stash as a "hurray for recovery" gift to myself. I will be using my first ever handspun to make a cozy cowl for myself. I've never knit with any of my handspun, so it should be an experience.

Speaking of spinning, it's Spin Day down and Stash, and I'm going to grab my wheel and try to make a dent in the never ending carbonized bamboo from the Tour de Fleece. I'm not quite half way through it. I'll make sure to get an updated picture.

Random Thursday

2011-11-17T15:35:00.000-08:00

I've been sick for nearly 2 weeks now, and as a result I am behind on absolutely everything, blog posts included. So I've rounded up several never before seen pictures from my camera and present them to you here in roughly chronological order.

Abbie in the leftover sock yarn basket at Stash.

My finished Chiton Pullover in action. It is very warm!

Abbie and some distant relations at Laughing Planet.

Abbie is impressed by my meal at Laughing Planet. So was I, considering it was vegetarian.

Abbie on my cubicle buddies' very large ball.

A new art installation on Campus. It's...interesting...

A blast from some of our past.

Abbie and Kevin eyeing one another at my desk.

Abbie at the fist Stash Fiber Day. Can you spot her in all the color?

Abbie pretending to be fiber.

Abbie checking out the medical equipment at Student Health.

Abbie helping me with a breathing treatment.

That's all for now. I'm finding no small amount of comfort in the fact that despite being sick and feeling really bad (the flu turned into bronchitis and my lungs won't give up the ghost), I still maintain my sense of whimsy and will photograph Abbie in the oddest places. Take that, microbes!

To Boldy Go

2011-10-31T19:01:00.001-07:00

The lighting in the computer lab is terrible.

Just One More

2011-10-30T22:08:00.001-07:00

Then bed, I'm tired.

My Weekend Away

2011-10-30T21:31:00.001-07:00

A few choice snippets before I completely succumb to regular life.

A Spare Moment

2011-10-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

I had my first exam today in evolution, and it was all of 50 multiple choice questions in a subject I'm familiar with, so I've got a few spare minutes on my hands, and thought I come by and photo spam.

Abbie riding in my new purse, which has special Kiwi pockets.

Abbie playing Angry Birds with me on Google+ while on shift in the computer lab.

This is Napoleon, the nervous narwhal, with me at work waiting to go to his forever home...

...which is Stash! Napoleon was done as a sample knit for Simplicity by Hikko yarn, and pattern by Danger Crafts.

This is a neat art display in the new Linus Pauling building on campus, which had it's grand opening last Friday.

This is, apparently, how fried pickles are done in the PNW. They were pretty good, if not what I was expecting. Done with house made pickles, too.

And finally, Abbie helped me with my evolution exam. It's a good thing, too, because there were some questions about Kiwis and their kin. Don't worry, the TA said it wasn't cheating to have a Kiwi's help.

Abbie at Stash

2011-10-10T20:08:00.001-07:00

Last week Abbie and I got to go to a pre-opening party at Stash, the new hip place for yarn in town. Stash officially opens this coming Thursday, October 13th. At the party, Abbie was a typical celebrity kiwi and demanded quite a bit of attention, and of course she wanted to see everything and I documented it. So, without further ado, here's a photo collection of Abbie's time at Stash.

The front doors, which look promising.

Welcome to Stash!

Hey look, refreshments.

What a pretty way to see and feel spinning fiber. Can you spot Abbie?

There's a lovely big mirror that makes the small store feel big.

Abbie would like to travel in style in this bag, instead of in my pocket.

Camouflage Abbie!

More little nibbles. Abbie's got quite the sweet beak.

More fun ways to display merchandise, this time locally made buttons.

Here's Peaceful Knitter, the lovely owner of Stash.

There's even an old spinning wheel (non-functional but pretty).

There's knitters in Stash (no Abbie, she was taking a short powder break).

The decorative elements in Stash are truly lovely and inspired.

After all that, Abbie needed a cupcake and some punch, and then she fell asleep in my knitting bag.

We can't wait to go back and visit Stash after it's opened!

If you need a laugh

2011-10-04T19:16:00.001-07:00

Abbie

2011-09-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce Abbie, the little Goth kiwi. I finished her last Thursday, and on Friday she joined me for a day at work.

We walked in to work, and on the way we stopped to enjoy some lovely late summer flowers.

We stopped to admire some of the Pinwheels for Peace.

Then we walked in to campus, since I'm now working in the library.

Abbie wanted to push the button in the elevator.

When we got in to work, Abbie was impressed by the dual monitor display, and by my choice in wallpaper.

I appointed Abbie as Work Sheriff to make sure I stayed on task.

Abbie thought I needed some help doing my work.

All that work made us very hungry, so we stopped for lunch. I had red beans and rice, Abbie had yummy little tomatoes.

After lunch we went down to a software training for Drupal.

Abbie helped me make my trial web page.

On our way out of the library, after work ended, Abbie wanted to stop for a picture with some dead guy.

Then I got Abbie to pose with the goofy beaver welcoming the new students to the library.

Then it was time to go home, and Abbie was ready.

After a short argument, Abbie rode in the basket and I rode the bike*.

My new laptop came, and Abbie was there to make sure it was up to spec.

We didn't have much time, though, because we met friends for dinner. Abbie really liked the sweet potato tots.

After that we went to bed. I'm sure there will be more adventures with Abbie in the future, she really likes going out and having them.

*for the astute, yes I did walk in and then rode a bike home. I had to run home (almost literally) in the middle of the day and so I rode back in to save time.

Limbo

2011-09-22T10:38:00.001-07:00

How long does it freaking take to get from Nashville TN to Oregon!!!

I want my new laptop, dang it!

I'm in California!!!

2011-08-20T08:52:00.001-07:00

Here's some pics from yesterday in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. I'll elaborate more once I get back home.

A Good Day

2011-08-07T16:03:00.002-07:00

Actually, it's been a good weekend all over. I've finished 2 knitting projects and today I picked up my county fair submissions.

On Friday night I finished a chunky capelet (next summer I'll know better than to knit a chunky wool anything in July of all months).

Second, I finally finished my "June" socks on Saturday evening. These will be so cozy in my boots come winter.

Finally, I won 11 ribbons this year at the county fair for my knits and yarns.

I think I'm proudest of the socks, which are of my own design. My design won first place in socks, hand knit with purchased yarn (class 6).

Now for relaxing.

2011-08-07T16:03:00.001-07:00

Three

2011-08-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

10 new stitch markers from the Sock Summit swap.

Yarn dyed with cherries from Amy's ornamental cherry tree (don't worry, they didn't taste good).

Snapshot from tonight's painting class.

Knits on a Train

2011-07-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a brief recap of yesterday's Awesome Adventure of Awesomeness.

It started at the Albany train station

where I boarded the north bound train.

This was my first time traveling by train, and I rather enjoyed it. Instead of dealing with traffic and stress, I had a lovely and productive trip.

After about two hours I arrived at my destination: Sock Summit 2011! First thing I met up with Jocelyn.

The train was late, but I managed to catch the line and achieve one of my primary SS goals.

This was then succeeded by an ever bigger geek moment of win.

That's me with Lucy Neatby.

And that's me with THE Yarn Harlot.

After these two big events of Awesome, Jocelyn and I had a lovely lunch and catch up. I miss her since she moved to Portland.

After lunch I was on my own for shopping, and so I hit the market. I saw everything, but the long months of fiber diet practice and training, I wasn't tempted by the massive overload of pretties. I stayed within my planned budget (hurray for cash!) and got things that I really like.

Yarn for a sweater, the first JazzKnitting book, a cone of Habu linen steel, and my SS11 official button.

After I was done spending I hung around, ran into friends, knit, watched a rigid heddle loom demonstration, and waited. Why? Well for one thing my return train didn't depart until 6:15, but my collection of pictures was incomplete. So I waited for classes to end so that I could get one final picture.

That's me with Franklin Habit.

By this time I was very tired, so after one last hop through the sockgate

I got my dinner (Subway), and headed back to Union Station

where I boarded the train and came home.

End of the tour, and a new member of the family

2011-07-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the final roll call of the finished yarns of the tour: Baby Camel, Silk Mawata, and Crab.

I also have a new member of my electronic device family. And the very first thing I did was knit it a little cozy to keep it safe (out of Malabrigo, no less).

I'll be taking my newest cyber child to Sock Summit with me tomorrow. :-)

Tour de Fleece, day 23

2011-07-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is actually a picture from yesterday. I helped a friend with yard work today and was too tired to spin.

Tour de Fleece, day 20

2011-07-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

I've started spinning the last of my exotic fibers: carbonized bamboo (2 ounces).

It's spinning up to be probably a light lace weight once it's been plied. As it is right now I could probably thread a sewing needle with it.

Tour de Fleece, day 19

2011-07-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

I've finished spinning my one ounce of crab fiber that I bought at Black Sheep Gathering.

I haven't counted the yards, but I'm guessing it's around 100 yards of sport weight 2 ply.

On to the next challenge!!

Tour de Fleece, day of Rest

2011-07-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

It's a rest day on the Tour de Fleece, so I caught up on a great many things today. I did laundry (sheets and towels), cleaned the kitchen (all those dishes!), cooked dinner, put clean sheets on the bed (with help from Wes), cuddled with Wes, and continued to lament over the amount of dye that has come out of the Hempathy I'm knitting my Strafford Tee out of (see how close it is to being finished!). And finally, I got to work on a project that is a secret. I made a collage of some of what I did today.

Tour de Fleece, day 17

2011-07-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

I went to a lovely Tour de Fleece inspired spinning party this afternoon and had quite a bit of fun. Except for the spinning myself into a headache part, but that got better with Advil. I did some batt designing with a friend's drum carder, and this is what I came up with.

It's mostly a teal-ish blue (the kind that's impossible to accurately photograph) with bits of red wool and some orange firestar. I'm trying to come up with an appropriate Dr. Who name (probably 10th Doctor). Any suggestions will be taken into consideration.

Tour de Fleece, day 16

2011-07-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

I've been spinning every day, but I've been failing on the pictures. I do have one picture of the cotton/lycra in spinning process. Great googly moogly, cotton is difficult to spin. I've made some progress since this picture, but not much.

Tour de Fleece day 9: Silk

2011-07-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

I finished my mawata (0.3 ounces) and ended up with 110 yards ove lace weight 2 ply. This yarn is very, very hot pink.

Now I'm working on the cotton/lycra blend fro BSG. It's much more difficult that anything else, since it's got an even shorter staple length than the baby camel. No pictures yet since it doesn't look like much.

Tour de Fleece, day 8

2011-07-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

Ow, drafting the mawata is hard on my right hand, especially my left thumb. But I'm moving along, today I spun 4 "sheets."

I'm loving how shiny it is.

Tour de Fleece, day 7

2011-07-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

I decided that my next Tour de Fleece spinning challenge would be some silk mawata (hankie). I picked the hot pink that I got at Black Sheep. There was a learning curve when it came to drafting, but I've managed to get that sorted out. However, if I spin too thin and the yarn breaks...well, the spun silk really doesn't like to stick to it's un-spun counter part. Luckily breaking is rare since the fiber is so strong. So far this is the thinnest spinning I've ever done.

The following pictures is the first three "sheets" of the hankie spun up. The whole hankie weighed about 0.3 ounces.

Tour de Fleece, day 6

2011-07-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

I finally have a finished yarn to show. Well, I have two finished yarns because I finally got my act together with the camera and the sun.

1 ounce of baby camel, plyed back on itself. About 185 yards, light fingering/heavy lace weight. It turned out fairly nice.

Also, here's what I finished up at the start of the tour. 4.something ounces of BFL dyed by Dicentra, colorway Twig, Navajo plied. Each skein is about 180 yards. The first bobbin plyed up at about a DK weight, and the second one at a nice sport weight.

Tour de Fleece, day 4

2011-07-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

Didn't post yesterday because there wouldn't have been much to show. But I'm nearly done with the baby camel. Another couple of days should have it sewn up.

Tour de Fleece, day 2

2011-07-03T21:53:00.001-07:00

Got more done. Have 0.7oz roving left to spin of the original 1.1oz.

Westley still runs and hides whenever the wheel is in motion.

Tour de Fleece

2011-07-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in this year's Tour de Fleece on Ravelry, and today was the official start. I'm part of Team TARDIS and am spinning up all of my "exotic" fibers. That means all of what I got at Black Sheep 2011 plus my 1.1 oz baby camel that I've had since the Newport Spin-In 2010.

Here's the progress that I made today. It's not as much as I'd like, but I had some technical difficulties with my wheel. After lots of trouble shooting I figured out that the bobbin I was using is broken. Also, I need to do what feels like over spinning to account for the short staple fiber and slippery fiber.

I'll probably be doing more frequent updates here during the tour.

Black Sheep Plunder

2011-06-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

Dyed Silk Mawata

Organic cotton and Lycra (about 1.5 oz)

Carbonized Bamboo (2 oz)

Knitting themed fabric (1/3 yd)

Crab shell fiber (1 oz)

Also, finished May socks!

A Day in Still Life

2011-06-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

May Socks

2011-06-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's June, but these were supposed to be the May socks, and I did start them in May. I actually finished the first sock in May. The following pictures are of the second sock, that should be completed with enough time to start the June socks while it's still actually June.

Here's my sock while I was visiting the coastal tide pools on June 9th.

Here it is later that day at the Devil's Punchbowl (low tide). I love that these socks move fast when I actually knit on them.

This is a rather strange webcam photo taken today during some downtime at an orientation conference that is part of my summer job. If I'm really good I might be able to finish the leg of the sock by the end of the orientation (tomorrow involves a bus trip to and from Portland).

Part of the reason why this sock is taking longer than it's mate is because I finished up being a Master's student.

I've also started my new job that lasts through the summer. If I'm on my game I'll try to get some photos of what's going on as the summer progresses. My part is fairly mundane (TA for the online segment) but there will be neat stuff going on in my vicinity.

I don't have a current photo of my Hempathy top. I've got hung up on it (there are too many stitches on the front panel). When I get that sorted out I'll put up pictures.

That's all for now. I'm really going to work on posting more frequently this summer. Stay tuned for more reports form a day in my life.

Long Time No See

2011-05-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted here. Between the move and finishing my thesis (which I passed with flying colors) I've been alternately busy beyond all reason or mentally comatose. But I'm (nearly) back to my normal self and I do have some things to show for myself.

First, the new apartment is a big improvement on the studio. For one thing, my bed isn't my couch. I have separate furniture for living and sleeping. It's wonderful, and, more importantly, Westley approved.

Westley also has his very own furniture that allows him to look out of two windows whenever he wants.

I have been doing some knitting, though my progress has been much slower than normal. First, two finished items.

This pattern is "Summer Vest" from Creative Knitting May 2010. The only mod I did was to omit the lace patterns, since I felt they would get lost in the color changes. The yarn is Crystal Palace Cotton Twirl.

The second is Flappy Flounder from the current issue of Knitty, knit with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Her name is Kevin.

Kevin isn't very big, in fact, she's quite pocket sized.

What I'm working on now is the Strafford Tee from the current issue of KnitScene. I'm using Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy.

That's all I've got for the knitting, but I have recently learned that the local library carries a current subscription of Burda Style. So yesterday I got out this...

...and made this...

It's a nice little summer top that will look lovely on my sister-in-law. Hopefully the next one will fit me.

That's all I've got for now, and so I'm going to go work on my Strafford Tee. I've been averaging one ball for week, with 5 balls required, so if I can get ahead it'll be done even sooner. Maybe I'll be able to wear it for my graduation party.

I'm Alive

2011-05-16T08:49:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been so long, bit I'm working on a great post that will be up soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

i shouldn't be left alone

2011-04-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

with my crazyness for too long.

Cause that's when I physically cut up my thesis and rearrange it while whistling bits and pieces of songs to myself. I went from having an introduction and literature review to having a shorter introduction and literature review and part of my conclusion.

Now to reproduce the mixup on my computer.

DISASTER!!!

2011-04-01T12:26:00.001-07:00

When I put these socks, that I knit with my own two hands, the very first pair of socks I knit that fit me, and the second ever pair of socks that I knit, these socks that I love and are beyond comfortable, when I put these socks in my laundry basket they were WHOLE SOCKS. When I pulled them out of the laundry basket to go into the laundry machine, they were HOLEY SOCKS. Gigantic holes in both heels, at the same spot, one slightly larger than the other.

These socks weren't wearing out. There were no thin spot, and if anything the heels had felted slightly and were quite sturdy. So the only thing I can figure is this.

SOMETHING ATE HOLES IN MY HAND KNIT SOCKS!!!!!

And just these socks. My other hand knit socks that were in the laundry are fine. I also didn't find any multi-legged culprits that would have eaten the same spot on each sock for just this pair of socks.

The damage is fairly extensive. There's a large chunk of the knitting missing from each area. I don't know if I'm going to be able to fix these poor socks. They've had such a short life, too. I finished knitting them in July of 2009, so they only had two seasons to keep my feet warm, which they did admirably.

And before you ask, no, I haven't found any yarny bits in a certain someone's litter box.

Things I Learned Today

2011-03-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

1. Quarters are no longer the gold standard at the local laundromat.

2. Standing and typing makes me antsy.

3. It takes less than 30 minutes for my duvet to dry in a commercial dryer, and the spot came out even without detergent (which I forgot).

4. The coin machine at the bank eats money (I brought in $2.75 of carefully counted nickles and dimes and the machine said I had $2.55).

5. I shouldn't book things while in a vegetative state. Note to self, cancel study room for Friday, I'm already busy during that time.

6. Theses don't write themselves, no matter how hard you think about it and wish for it.

7. You can't get at a person's innermost workings through two vague questions.

8. I have the willpower to resist free popcorn while doing laundry. This will come in handy when I start doing my laundry here weekly.

It's Getting Busy

2011-03-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I missed last week's post. Things are starting to heat up around here, some things fell through the cracks.

I have two important announcements.

1) I have a set date for my thesis defense: Monday, April 25th.

2) I'm moving! Move date is set for March 26th. My new place is about half again as big as this little studio, and it has a separate bedroom, a real kitchen, and a SINK in the bathroom. I'm very excited, but moving out of a place this small is presenting some challenges.

These two things together have me in a near petrified brain state of "way too much" which is why some things have slipped. But I've got a list this week, I'm feeling energized (cleaning the kitchen last night helped) and I'm ready to do this thing.

I do have pictures for you, though, so don't despair. First up, an update on my WsIP. First off is the long anticipated (by me) Whale Watch Hat from New England Knits. I've made some progress on it since this picture, but you get the idea.

I'm using Louet Gems fingering. It is a very fun knit, and all of my floats along the back are just right to not pucker the knitting but not be loose and sloppy.

Next up is the start of my Summer Vest (ravelry link). I like this one for the shape, so I've ditched the lace and am working plain stocking stitch since my yarn is variegated. The yarn is Cotton Twirl by Crystal Palace Yarns (the same stuff in the last actual blog post).

The next series of pictures are my goodies from the Portland Yarn Crawl (whose website has mysteriously disappeared).

And finally, I'll leave you with a series of pictures of Westley helping to open a package that I got in the mail. He's such a good helper. I'm off to finish the results section of my thesis. Hope you're enjoying the start of spring, and stayed tuned for another day in the life.

2011-03-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

Why does it have to be Monday?

Say It With Pictures

2011-02-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

It's Been Quiet

2011-02-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

I don't have a whole lot to show today, due in large part to the migraine I had last week that knocked me out for days.

First, I've finished half of my Camilla mitts.

I'm pleased with the actual knitting and the colors of both the Koigu and my hand dyed brown. Unfortunately, it's too big for my hand.

It is especially baggy at my wrist. I'm considering several possibilities, the top one is finishing the pair and gifting them to someone with larger hands. Who knows, though, blocking may help if I stretch them a little lengthwise. The other option is to knit the second one on US 0 needles and see if that fits better, and if yes, re-knit the first one. I'm not as fond of this option.

Second, I started a new project last Tuesday because I needed a simple project on large-ish needles for my headachey-migraine state. I chose the eternalism vest from KnitScene winter/spring 2011. I'm using my Malabrigo in Hummingbird. This is a remarkably quick knit. In less than a week I'm more than 50% done. I've gotten several inches further from when I took this picture, which was just a few hours ago.

The Malabrigo is wonderful to knit with. I found it's extraordinary softness very comforting last week in my semi-vegetative state.

My final crafty item is some pictures of my painting. Below is the color wheel that I painted, for which I mixed all of the tertiary colors.

Last night I was feeling fairly abstract, so I put that impulse into my first abstract painting.

My photograph doesn't do this painting justice, but it gives you an idea of my mental state.

Other than a little bit of knitting and an abstract painting, the only news I have is that Westley has been officially tagged. We went to the bet today and he got microchipped. I'll be sending out the registration paperwork tomorrow. I'm off now to wash dishes, which piled up alarmingly last week.

I Totally Forgot

2011-02-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

I won the first door prize at the Spin-In and got to choose my gift-y.

It's a lovely felt vine/lanyard/scarf-ish thing.

Whirlwind

2011-02-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

Oh spit, I just realized that I forgot to take painting pictures, and the batteries in my camera are dead. Oh well, you'll just have to be entertained with the pictures I did manage.

First off, Damson is done!!!

I finished it Thursday and wore it Friday and Saturday. I got many compliments on it both days, especially Saturday at the Newport Spin-In. I'm still working on getting an action shot, which will now be more difficult with the dead batteries.

In order to prepare myself for Saturday's spinathon, I cleared off the bobbin I was working on. I've been working on the roving I got last June in Elgin after the wedding. I used the opportunity to try out Navajo plying. I do love a three ply yarn.

This is about half of the 100 grams of roving. This cleared up my wheel for a new spinning project. I got out a top that I bought at the store in town, dyed by Dicentra Designs. It's 4.1 ounces of Blue Faces Leicester (less-ter) in the colorway "Twig."

I rode out with Kelli and got started spinning up "Twig." I had every intention of not purchasing more fiber, since I have plenty and I haven't really been spinning. That's why I brought the Dicentra roving. It's pretty and exciting with the color changes, so I would be less tempted than if I had just brought the green from above.

My resolve lasted for several hours. Then I found the Danger Zone. It was a bin of little one ounce baggies of luxury fibers for $3 each.

Sigh.

I walked away with two ounces of a silk and camel down blend. I took the Dicentra off the wheel, put on a fresh bobbin, and got to work (cause it doesn't count if it goes home as yarn, right?). I spun up the first ounce on Saturday, started the second, finished the second on Sunday, plied it back on itself for a two ply, wound it off, and counted. I ended up with 188 yards of the prettiest yarn I've made yet.

Here's one ounce of the fiber:

The first ounce spun up:

And the finished yarn:

It really does look just like spun gold, and yes, my arm hurts from patting myself on the back. Two ounces in two days, plus I've got the spinning bug again, so my fiber stash should start to shrink.

My resolve returned right up until the last half hour of the spin-in. That's when I found the mawata.

What is mawata? Another name for it is silk hankies. Individual silk cocoons are stretched out onto a square frame, and then individual layers can be separated and spun into silk yarn. I bought one ounce, which gives me a surprising amount because silk is such a light fiber. I'm looking forward to playing with this.

And finally, my SpillyJane Camilla mitts keep marching on. I'm having fun doing the colorwork, and feel more confident about doing the Whale Watch Hat (ravelry link) from New England Knits.

Just one more thing to add. Mom sent this to me, and I'm in love. Too bad I'm in such a small place (and can't bolt things to the wall).

How'd I Do?

2011-02-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

It's officially February (I flipped the calendar last night so I wouldn't forget). I told you at the beginning of the month that I was going to get a whole mess of things finished up and out of the way so that 2011 can be a great creative year. Let's see how I did.

First off, the things that actually got finished (in order no less).

The brown and blue dress is done. I don't have pictures because I can't find my excavation equipment to get it back out of the closet.

My plaid coat is finished and is quite warm, too.

The ladies at my ASG meeting commented on how well I got the stripes to line up across the coat. I'm rather pleased with that, because it involved a lot of extra time on my knees measuring and placing the pieces very precisely.

My Valium Bandit, started on October 30th, is finished.

It's large and also quite warm. I like to snuggle in it during movies, and I'm not the only one.

I wrapped Westley in it for a photo, thinking he'd get up (and out of the prime couch spot).

That'll teach me to expect things of my cat.

Finally, my Handy Knitter's Carry-All Tote is finished.

I used it today as my bag and got a compliment it at the bus stop. It is quite large, so I used Wes for a perspective shot.

The next category is for things that *almost* got finished.

My NaKniSweMo sweater from November is in this category. I've got the body of the sweater done,

(there's Westley sleeping in "his" shawl)
I got the collar of the sweater done,

but when I went to attach the collar to the sweater the collar was much too big. By about 6 inches, so not really fudge-able. So I put that aside to rip and re-knit. I still have plenty of winter left.

Damson came out of hibernation for an impressive rally.

I've only got 12 rows and the bind off left for this. I should be (hoping to) able to wear it this weekend.

The third category are projects that got a little bit of work done on them. For this I have my thesis, for which I have not picture because that would be boring.

The final category are projects that didn't get worked on at all. I didn't work on the maroon sweatshirt. I meant to, and I got it out, but when I tried it on it wouldn't close around my hips, and I'm not thrilled about the whole idea of turning a frumpy pullover sweatshirt into a strange and frumpy cardigan sweatshirt that doesn't even fit. So I put it away.

Percy also got no love from me during January, with the exception of being fished out for a picture.

Now that January is over, my Finish-it-up-itis is clearing up and I feel a definite case of Startitis coming on. To that end I've already got my yarn wound for my next new project: Camilla by SpillyJane.

The top yarn is Koigu Premium Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM), and the bottom is Knit Picks 100% merino fingering that I dyed myself with Jaquard Acid Dye.

I'm also going to be starting the Eternalism Vest soon, using the Malabrigo from my last post.

Not too shabby.

I was going to post about my painting, but I think I'll save that for later. I'm just going to leave you with a picture of Westley's wound from the FIGHT he SNUCK OUT and STARTED with Gray Cat.

Big Post Today

2011-01-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

Ooo boy are you folks in for a picture treat today. I've been busy since my last post.

On the knitting front, I did finish the collar for my sweater, but it's too big. By a lot. So I've decided that I'm going to figure out how I need to make it smaller, frog it, and reknit it to the proper size. Damson is out of hibernation, and I have counted, tinked, counted, tinked, and counted it back to the correct number of stitches and am successfully working through the stocking stitch border. It looks like a scrunched mess right now, but I'm confident that it will be completed before the end of the month.

I tried some more natural dyeing this past week using purple cabbage. I went from this:

to this:

And then, after over 24 hours in the dye (plus 6 hours in the mordant bath) and several heatings, I ended up with two skeins of this:

Yep, the yarn took up none of the dye. I was assured by a book that this would work. The two skeins are currently dripping in my shower, and I'll dye them over in the future, probably with Wilton's.

Yesterday I almost died in the wilderness. Ok, so that's an exaggeration, but there was quite a bit of back and foot pain involved when I went for a hike. I did get some lovely photos, though.

Tonight's sunset was also the subject of some photos.

I'm hoping to take some of my photographs and translating them into paintings. I've recently rekindled my interest in the Impressionist period, specifically in Vincent van Gogh, who is my favorite painter of all. I went a little crazy at the library today, getting books and DVDs on Impressionists and how-to paint. I'm going to do some more reading before I jump in, but I've already picked up my basic supplies so that when I do go to start, I don't have to postpone anymore.

And finally, my little local yarn store has started carrying Malabrigo. I got bitten by the Malabrigo Bug years ago, but kept it under control through distance. I stopped by today to see what she'd gotten in, and two skeins followed me home.

The color way of this yarn is "Hummingbird" and it reminds me of van Gogh's night time works (there was some worked up at the shop).

I've decided to save the pictures of my finished items from my January challenge until the end of the month. I think it will be a nice way to wrap up my personal challenge.

That's all until next time.

Twice in One Month!

2011-01-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

I finally finished one of my projects left over from 2010!! Last night I bound off for my Valium Bandit. I don't have pictures yet, though, because I need to block it, which requires a soak in the washer, which is tied at the moment. I'll post pictures of that once it's dry.

I've also made progress on two of my sewing projects. First my coat, which now needs only the sleeves hemmed and the buttons sewn on, and second my brown and teal dress, which only needs the arm hole finishing.

My NaKniSweMo sweater is next, assuming I can find the !!!!!! two balls of yarn that I bought extra to finish it off. Luckily I know where they aren't, due to an ill conceived notion to air out my stash.

I think I've decided that this is roughly 2/3 of my stash, but there is a distinct possibility that it's more like 1/2. Also, it's very hard to get my whole bed in the frame due to lack of space issues in here.

For this pictures, I cleared out my storage ottoman. But if you ask Westley, I cleaned it out for a different reason.

And finally, I learned a new technique at my ASG meeting on the 8th: sashiko (a style of Japanese embroider). It was even a hands on meeting.

I did that during the meeting. I usually hate hand sewing, but this was lots of fun. So much so that I got a book from the library and have traced out my next design.

Cause I needed another hobby.

I've even worked on my thesis, and have more work scheduled. So far 2011 is off to a positive start. Until next time be safe, keep warm, and stay tuned.

Taking Stock

2011-01-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

It's my first post of 2011.

I'm not a huge believer in new year's resolutions. I don't sit down and make a list with "lose 20 pounds" or "get organized" or "knit the great american sweater." Those are vague and set up for almost immediate failure. However, I am a big believer in starting as you wish to go on, and so I try to spend each January breaking bad habits from the year before. By baddest habit from 2010 was eating out too much (especially across the street at the Mexican restaurant) because I never went shopping with a list, and therefore never procured any food fit for lunch or dinner for more than one night. So this year I'm breaking that habit and replacing it with meal planning, grocery lists, and home cooked meals complete with sides. My grandmother gave me her old miniature food processor, complete with the shredder/slicer blade, and I've used it 3 times already this year.

The second bad habit I'm working to break is inactivity. Towards this end I'm enrolled this quarter in Taiji (more commonly but incorrectly, it turns out, known as Tai Chi) and Ballroom Dance I. For one hour each day, four days a week, I will be engaged in some sort of physical activity. I'm especially excited about the Taiji. It's very centering, the way Aikido used to be for me, and is going to be great for toning my lower body.

Another thing I'm keen on in January is finishing up any projects left over from the year previous. Procrastination is something I've worked against my whole life, and I'll leave a project left undone forever if I don't make an effort to get it done. 2010 seems to have left more projects unfinished than years previous. Currently there is:

Damson (counting issues, garter section done, needs border)
Valium Bandit (working on edge chart)
NaKniSweMo sweater (collar needs frogging and re-knitting, 2 seams)
Percy (stalled in second repeat of chart B)
Knitter's Carry-All Bag (needs handles, pocket lining, interfacing, and putting together)
Plaid Coat (sleeves hemmed, buttons and button holes)
Brown and Teal Sundress (hem at bottom and arm holes)
Maroon Sweatshirt (front facings, sleeve treatment, button, snaps, neck treatment)
Thesis (redo data analysis, write last 2 chapters, revise, revise, revise, defend).

That's 5 knitting, 4 sewing (the bag gets counted as both), and one thesis. I'll feel very accomplished if I finish all but Percy and my thesis (I'm not really aiming to be done with my thesis by the end of January, but I will hopefully be in the "revise revise revise" stage). I also have a TSP (top secret project) that I started on the 31st. I wasn't going to start anything new, but NOTHING on that list is appropriate for bus/travel knitting.

Now, on to some pictures. First, pictures from my trip to Texas. Mom and I spent my last day there (the 30th) at two of the university's art museums. One had an exhibit "Turner to Monet" and the other was "The Language of Photography." Pictures were allowed at neither exhibit. However, in the first museum pictures were OK outside of the traveling exhibit, and downtown Austin has some magnificent architecture.

Both Westley and I traveled to Texas for 10 days (+2 for travel). He had lots of fun once we managed to get down there. The windows were particularly fun.

My parents have a cat, Betty Boop, who is much shyer than my big pirate. She wasn't too thrilled about having her house commandeered.

I also finally got my package from the Buffy Swap I participated in back in October.

The last picture is for the witch PEZ dispenser that I forgot to put in the full picture. And yes, Angel's nose comes off (with velcro).

That's all I've got for this post. I'm also working on breaking my bad habit of not posting for long stretches. We'll see how that goes.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2010-11-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

So I told you last night that it was snowing. A little while after that post I took the following picture.

Those thin white streaks against the darkness are more snowflakes falling. When I got up this morning, the same view from my front door yielded this:

It's not even Thanksgiving and already it's a winter wonderland out there. So I decided that we'd celebrate it. After a 9am conference call in my pajamas and a very warm shower, I hooked the Dread Pirate Roberts up to his leash and carried him outside.

We were only outside for about five minutes. I could tell Westley was cold, but he didn't want to go back inside. *Sigh* sometimes it's so hard to be a little kitty.

With all this snowing it's nice to have something(s) wool on the needles. I'm sort of still working on my Valium Bandit (so named because I started it when I had a pinched nerve/muscle spasm in my neck that required a short ER visit and a prescriptions for Valium).

This is being made out of Cascade Pastaza (50 wool/50 llama) that I got at Goodwill (3 skeins for $5).

The other big project I've got going is my NaKniSweMo Challenge. That's National Knit a Sweater in a Month. I'm knitting Debbie Bliss' Shawl Collared Jacket (aka Alex) in Peruvian Highland Chunky from Elann.com.

So far I've done both sleeves, the back, and the left front (in that order). The right front has been cast on. I might make it.

And finally, at the special request of my mom, a final picture of the snow, Westley, and me. Sorry it looks a little odd, I had to tweak in in photoshop. Because of all the white, and the glare, and the timer, the photo was a little over exposed and washed out, but it was actively snowing and Westley wasn't up for multiple tries. But hey, I got him to look at the camera, so I count it as a win.

It's Snowing

2010-11-22T21:33:00.001-08:00

If it keeps up and sticks overnight I'll take pictures. For now I'm going to turn off the security light. The snow triggers it.

And The Beat Goes On

2010-10-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'm back to finish up my lengthy update. I don't have pictures of the sewing or spinning that I mentioned earlier, but I do have pictures of the dyeing. The following skeins are all Knit Picks bare, 100% merino fingering. I recently ordered 17 skeins to take advantage of a really good sale. It was quite impressive to open the box.

For the first skein I dyed, I used three colors of Wilton's food coloring (brown, teal, and delphinium blue) and mason jars. I baked the whole shebang in the oven. For my first time using this method I think it turned out rather well. I haven't named this color yet. Anyone have suggestions?

The second Wilton's skein was done with a mix of the leftover teal from above and a whopping dose of royal blue, which apparently didn't dissolve all the way, which led to some very pretty results. I can't get the camera to pick up on the full range of colors. :-(

Within the dark blue spots there's actually some very pretty dark purple. It really is quite stunning in person, and I can't wait to knit something lovely with it.

Finally, I've begun experimenting with natural dyes, using only food safe mordants and dyes. I decided to start easy with onion skins.

I brought the skins and water up to a simmer, then covered it, turned off the heat, and let it steep overnight. I mordanted the yarn with 10g pickling alum and 7g cream of tartar, also overnight. The steeped skins produced the most gorgeous amber colored liquid.

I exhausted dyed this yarn (as I do with most all my dyes) and the resulting skein is beautiful.

It came out with fantastic depth of color. It's not a color I can wear, but I'm sure I can find someone who wants it.

That's all I've got for today. I'm going to keep dyeing (there's no shortage of yarn here), and my goal is to get all of the pieces for my tote blocked out so I can start the sewing process. I'm also going to work on my sewing project and get some photos of it, so keep watching.

I've Been Busy

2010-10-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know where to start with this post, I've got so much to put in it. I've been knitting, sewing, dyeing, spinning, and Westley's right in the middle of all of it.

My knitted tote is almost done (well, with the knitting, then there's the sewing). I was working diligently on it, which apparently Westley took exception to. I obviously wasn't paying the appropriate amount of attention to him, so he took matters into his own paws.

I've also been working diligently on my Percy shawl, but I've hit (another) snag. 17 more rows of chart B and I should be in the clear to finish it up.

Of course, all of this got put on hold for swap knitting. I'm participating in a Buffy the Vampire themed swap on Ravelry, and now that my swapee has received her package I can post about it here.

First, I designed and knit a fancy pair of fingerless mitts inspired by Drusilla.

The colorwork (my first ever stranded work) is supposed to represent blood dripping, and the fancy cast on gives them the frilly Drusilla vibe. These were done in Cascade 200 Sport on US 3 needles. I learned the cast on from Lucy Neatby's Knitting Gems 4 DVD.

My second contribution to the box was some custom dyed roving. My partner put in her questionnaire that she is itching to learn how to spin, so I picked up 4 ounces of undyed Polwarth at the yarn shop and used Kool-Aid to turn it into this:

I used a combination of cherry and black cherry to get the color I wanted, and I named it "Blood of the Innocent" (inspired by something Buffy said to Spike in Season 4, "Something Blue").

I wanted to add one more handmade thing to the box, so I went back to the yarn shop and picked up a ball of cream colored DK weight superwash, sat down (with my US3s again) and designed the following on the fly.

That's right, I knit Spike. His clothes are the same Cascade 200 Sport as the mitts. His clothes are removable.

The biggest challenge was figuring out how do put on his hair. In the show, he's got platinum hair that is wavy but slicked back. It's pretty much the same color as his skin, too (the whole no sunbathing thing). I spent hours thinking about it, and finally came up with the solution. Crochet.

I picked up a loop of yarn through his head, and did a chain one, single crochet repeat down the back on his head. I repeated this across to create his hair. I felt right clever about it, too.

To round of the swap box I sent, I added a drop spindle (came with my wheel, I wasn't using it), a Buffy book with 3 short stories, a bar of Dagobah organic dark chocolate with sunflower and hemp seeds in it, 2 skeins of Knit Picks Shine Sport in "Hearts Blood" (they call it "Holoyberry on the site), a ball of Kathmandu tweed, and a Brittany Birch shawl stick (for vampire protection). My swapee loved what she got. I'm still waiting to get my box (not coming from who I sent mine to). I'll post pictures of what I get when I get it.

Westley says it's lunch time, so I'll complete my update in the next post. See you then.

YES!!!

2010-10-18T20:49:00.001-07:00

see more Funny Graphs

Drive By Pictures

2010-10-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Now those are some happy toes.

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

2010-09-25T20:34:00.001-07:00

It's been some day. I'll probably go to sleep just as soon as I'm done posting, even though that will probably be around 9pm.

First off, let me show you (some) of what I've been working on.

This is a baby blanket for one of the women in my knitting group. Her little daughter, Namoi, was born on the 13th of this month. I did not the entire blanket. It was a group effort as far as the blocks went (I knit 10 of them). I did, however, do 100% of the put together (including weaving in almost all of the ends). All of the neutral color little strips between squares? Me. It was a lot of work, but not as much as the beautiful little baby who now has a nice, warm, full of love blanket.

These are the pieces (thus far) for my Knitter's Handy Carry-All, from Knit Picks. So far I've got the outer bag (gray), the inner bottom, outer pocket, and part of the inner side (green).

The other two projects I've got going are secret. One's for a swap and one's an X-mas present.

Today was one day of the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (as you might have guessed from the title of this post). I did a small amount of shopping (I've got so much yarn and fiber right now I can hardly store it all). The first thing I bought was a pattern.

Sorry it's a little blurry, the camera kept jiggling at the last second, and I was too tired to fight it. It's a gorgeous circular-knit jacket. I've been eyeballing it for ages, and the designer was there with the patterns and samples and all and I caved. It's so very---elegant.

We walked around for a while after that (I went with Amy, Allison and Jill, Amy's mother in law). We watched some very enthusiastic sheep dogs herd some very aggravated ducks. We looked at pretties. We met up with Beth and had lunch. At lunch Amy showed me something she bought, and I loved it, so after lunch we went to Peru (well, not literally) and I bought this:

It's 100% alpaca from Peru. And if it looks long it is. I comes to about 2 inches above my knees. It looks good with jeans, but will be really cute with tights this winter. And it's got llamas on it!!

(That picture was right side up before I uploaded it).

We walked around lots after that, seeing pretties, woolly animals, more pretties, and lots and lots of pretties. We all started to get tired (and i was getting a headache) so we wrapped up our trip with a last go past the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth, where I got this:

It's Socks that Rock lightweight in color "Spike" from Buffy. It's black, reds and white, and will be excellent winter socks. Vampire serial killer socks.

Finally, I want to leave you with pictures of my new teapot, which I painted myself at the do-it-yourself place downtown.

(that picture was also right ways before I uploaded it. I don't know what's up)

How have I lived so long...

2010-09-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

...without a garlic press? I picked one up last weekend at IKEA and I used it for the first time last night. It's brilliant! I can't wait to cook more stuff with garlic.

Speaking of IKEA, there are those of you out there who are waiting for pictures of the big purchases. I finally got around to taking the pictures today (I've only had this stuff for a week, it took a little while to get everything settled). I'll give you the before and after picture for each piece.

First, the TV area.

There was a small blue shelf with quite a bit of wasted space. Also, it wasn't quite sturdy enough to have a teenage hooligan jumping on and off of it several times a day. So I replaced it.

This is the MALM 4-drawer chest in birch. It's quite a bit larger than my previous dresser (next furniture picture) which means I've been able to make more space in my closet for sweaters and other bulky winter clothes. It is shorter than the shelf, and it took me about a week to figure out how to raise Westley's Window Spot to it's previous height where he could lay around looking out at the world. I finally wrapped an old pillow in his blankets and it works great.

So I got a new dresser and dumped the shelf. But I need a shelf, so I replaced the old dresser...

...with a new shelf.

This is an EXPEDIT series shelf, and I filled it with KASSET boxes (six of which I already had). See the little orange moose in the upper middle cubbie? That was an impulse purpose at IKEA. I don't feel too bad, it was only 49 cents. Four of the boxes and the bottom two magazine holders are still empty. I love having room to grow.

I also replaced my desk chair with a TROBJORN, since my old one hit right below my shoulder blades and made my back hurt, but I didn't photo it. I got the black one. It's comfortable.

Finally, the biggest change of all is my bed. My old bed was a traditional bed, but in this small space it took up so much space, and I decided to do something about it. So I went from this...

...with this:

Doesn't look much different, still sort of bed like? Well, it also does this:

This is the PS frame with the LOVAS mattress. It's a futon-style sofa bed that is very comfortable for both sleeping and sitting. It's awesome to have a sofa again! I didn't get the sofa cover since I didn't want to a) strip and remake the bed everyday, or b) find a place to store my sheets and comforter during the day. Having the sofa bed now gives me lots more room and makes this place feel bigger. Westley loves having the extra space to run.

So far I've sold the old bed, old dresser, and old shelf. I'm also selling my old desk, which has been in the house game room since April of last year. Someone is coming at 2pm today. I'm also thinking of selling my "living room" chair since I now have the sofa. I haven't sat in it all week, in fact it's buried in stuff. I'd like to replace it with a small side table so I don't have to keep my lamp, book, and glasses on the floor next to the bed.

In other news:

--my thesis is moving forward.

--I've finished the outer body of the Carry-All bag.

--I've got 2 more rows to attach to the baby blanket.

--Percy is hibernating.

It's time for lunch, both mine and the Westley Monster.

Conundrum

2010-08-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

I finished a knitting project yesterday, and now I'm at loose ends about what to start next.

Actually, let me clarify that. I'm at loose ends about what sweater project to start next. Small bus knitting is decided (and will be started soon), and I'm currently working on the Knitter's Handy Carry-all Kit from Knit Picks (which is moving along nicely), and Percy is on-going (my goal is to have it completed by the start of fall term). However, I like to have a sweater project, and I'm keen to start making a dent in my exponentially increasing stash (despite my not buying yarn, the stash is still growing). So I'm going to lay out my options here and see if typing helps focus my knitting fancy.

First up is the Trellis and Keyhole Tank from Interweave Knits Summer 2009. I've got 5 balls of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in royal blue that is just perfect and waiting to be this tank. However, since we're rapidly moving into the season known as "Fall" around here, as soon as I got this done I'd have to pack it away for 8 months until the weather rolled back to warmer. Not very practical.

Next possibility is Margot from Knitty Fall 2009. For this I would use more of the same yarn that I knit my Braided Pullover from last year (I've got 7 balls left over). It would be an easy knit, "mindless" comes to mind in fact, when thinking about it. I like the lines of the sweater and it's a classic, everyday kind of look.

Third is the Tweedy V-Neck Jacket by Stefani Japel (ravelry link). For this I'd use the $1/ball navy blue Peruvian wool that Mom got for me. It would be worn lots in the winter, because I love this kind of jacket and navy blue is a nice neutral color. I do own the book, so pattern acquisition isn't an issue.

I also have the yarn and pattern for the Geodesic Cardigan from the Winter/Spring 2010 Knitscene (third down), but the project I just finished was in the same yarn so I'm going to take a short break from it.

Choices, choices, choices. Maybe I'll start a new spinning project instead.

Ode to Buffy

2010-08-23T11:03:00.001-07:00

It's Monday, and I'm back in the lab (no, I haven't moved in, and I've only got 2 hours today). I can't watch movies in the lab during the week, so I thought I'd give you all a run down of my favorite things about my favorite TV show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I watched Buffy from the very first episode to the final battle. Sure, there was that period during Season 6 when it had switched to UPN and we didn't really get UPN on our TVs, but I watched it all snowy anyways. I watched in in college, and even got my best friend hooked on the show so we could watch it together (because my roommate didn't want it on her TV). I've read essays written by serious people about the show and it's many messages, I've seen every episode ever made multiple times, and I own all 7 seasons on DVD. I've watched the interviews (but not commentary, I don't like people talking while I'm watching TV) and I've got my favorite episodes that correspond with my many moods. Following is a list of my many favorites about the show.

Favorite character: Xander. A close second is Tara.

Favorite love: Willow and OZ.

Favorite Buffy love: Buffy and Angel.

Favorite season: Three

Favorite episode: "Dopplegangland"

Favorite Halloween episode: "Fear Itself"

Favorite pick-me-up episode: "Prophecy Girl"

Favorite birthday episode: "Helpless"

Favorite scene: in season 2 "School Hard" where Buffy is fighting a vampire outside the Bronze so that Spike can assess her, and she sends Xander in for a stake, and he's going through her bag and pulls out a yo-yo, then a tampon, at which point he kind of freaks and filps it around, then pulls out the stake. The look on his face and his reaction to the tampon are priceless (at least to me).

Favorite rivalry: Angel vs. Spike. In fact, this is what redeemed the show Angel for me in it's fifth season. They play so well off of each other, and their petty bickering is hilarious, like an old married couple, they know how to push each others buttons.

Favorite character growth moment: Season 5, when Buffy puts the stupid Watcher's Council in it's place and tells them what they're going to do for her instead of jumping through their stupid patriarchal hoops.

Favorite supervillan: Caleb, cause I like Nathan Fillion and it was very gratifying to see Buffy split his misogynistic butt in half.

Favorite minor villan: Vampire Willow and Xander

That's all I've got for now. I've got an hour left here in the lab, I'm going to see about knitting another baby blanket square (got three done yesterday).

In the Lab Again

2010-08-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

But this time I have pictures to share.

First, I have pictures of Westley in his improved window spot next to the TV.

Yes, they are basically the same picture, but the second one gives you a better idea of what he gets to look at out of the window, and the first shows the indoors off better.

Westley LOVES his spot now. He's very nearly glued to it. He naps there, watches the world there, bakes in the sun there, and surveys his indoor kingdom (aka my apartment) from there. He still has to share with the alarm clock, but that may change soon. The only down side (for me) is that this shift required that I move the TV antenna 10 inches to the left of where it had been sitting, and this was apparently enough to lose the tenuous connection with the air waves and I can no longer get OPB (PBS to the rest of the world). I miss getting to watch Nature and Antiques Roadshow.

On the other hand, I do find myself with more free time now (not lots more, cause I didn't watch TV that much anyways) but enough to give into the fiber dyeing impulse. This time I dug out the 4 ounces of ecru merino roving that I treated myself to for my birthday back in April. I used Kool-Aid and vinegar (only food safe dyes in my house on account of the Dread Pirate Roberts), but instead of simmering or steaming the roving, I decided to try baking it.

I got a large aluminum roasting pan from the Dollar Store, soaked the roving for an hour as per usual, then I painted the roving.

I made the base dye bath (the blue) using 4 packets of Blue Raspberry something or other and one packet of Grape. This went into the pan and the wet roving went in on top of it. I used my (very dry) hands to squish the dye (gently) into the roving. I had beautiful blue hands at the end of this process. The red is Cherry that was applied with a dropper.

After I took these pictures I sort of squished the red dye in so that it wasn't so...in your face.

I then put the pan into my cold oven and set the temperature for 200 F. My oven, being the piece of junk that it is, got up to 250 (and was still climbing) so I turned it down to 150 for about half and hour, then turned the oven off and just let the pan sit in the hot oven. Right around the time that the pan was cool enough to handle, all of the dye had been exhausted. I then dumped out this water, put in a 1:5 mixture of water and white vinegar, and let it sit for about an hour (it really doesn't need an hour, but it doesn't hurt anything and I was not in a hurry). During this bath, I was sitting on the floor next to the pan when Westley decided to pounce on my toes (I might have been egging him on). He managed to get his back foot into the pan of vinegar water as he pounced, and he was SO SURPRISED!!!! Now he had a WET FOOT!!! I couldn't stop laughing as he step-shook his way over to the rug, where he spent a great deal of time cleaning his toes off (between every toe).

I rinsed and squeezed the water and vinegar out, and spread it on my baking drying racks overnight. I don't have more pictures, because I'm not happy with how the blue turned out. It's much too pale for what I wanted. So I'm going to do another blue dye bath (with more dye) and bake it again (which was a great method!) to see if I can get a better color saturation before I take finished photos.

I'm going to finish off now and go knit some (more) four inch squares for a friend's baby blanket. And work on my sock, which I did a fantastic and death defying cable fix on yesterday, and last night I finished the gusset, turned the heal, and started up the leg. I'm on the home stretch!!!!

Boredom

2010-08-14T12:33:00.001-07:00

I'd forgotten just how mind numbing 4 hours in the computer lab can be. So far I've printed 3 patterns, transcribed a thesis interview, dinked around on the internet, read some of my book, and gotten to a point in my second sock (the only knitting I brought with me today, in a total preparedness fail) where I got to looking at it compared to the first sock and I think something's gone wrong. This is a pattern I'm designing, so I can't just check the pattern or Ravelry. No, I have to go back and count the rows I knit for this section of the first sock, then go count the rows I knit for this section on the second sock, and if they don't add up...well...

I'd transcribe more interviews, but it's not really a practical thing to do when I've got to monitor the lab. I'll be sitting here for ages with no interruptions, and then as soon as I start transcribing 15 people in a row come up to me with questions. It's like how my mom knows just when to call me as I'm handling raw meat or in the bathroom.

I've got two hours left. Anyone feel up to bringing me some new knitting? No? Fine, I'll just have to work with what I've got here (which means I may be ripping the entire thing back if I've done this section wrong, since I have none of my knitting tools and this yarn is kind of splitty).

Less Than One Month...

2010-08-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

...since my last update. I meant for it to be less time, but I'm happy that it is less than one month (if only just).

I'm going to start off this update with my most favorite of kitties.

He's been such a bug lately, stealing all sort of places to sleep.

He's stolen my "living room" chair:

He's stolen my pillows:

And his favorite new place to nap the day away is my desk chair!

It is very difficult to work at my computer when my chair has been usurped by a furry body. When he's not napping, he's in full attack mode. He's very fond of a new bag (which has been utterly destroyed since this picture, but remains a favorite even in it's ragged state).

I've been attacked several times out from under this seeming innocuous bag.

His Dread Pirate-ness is currently on top of my "entertainment center" where he surveys both the yard and his personal empire. I'll leave this part of my post with one more picture of my buggy boy.

(He's cuddling with a stuffed shark. He's my boy!!)

In more fibery news, I have the results from the first County Fair that I've ever entered items into (which is news to my blog readers because I've been so bad about posting).

(I just got up for something, and when I came back my chair had been commandeered!!!!!! That's what I get for housing a pirate, I guess. I'll have to get one of the folding chairs out.)

(When I went in the kitchen to get the folding chair, I was followed by my pirate in case I might feed him. I've reclaimed my comfy chair.)

I entered four items into the county fair this year. I will post them here in order of ribbon and proudness, and will include the judge's comments.

My Hot Pink and Vintage cardigan garnered a second place in it's class. The judge wrote:
"Try to bury yarn @ seams not in middle of work--when yarn source is ample - split plys + go in 2 directions to reduce bulk. Left seam sleeve incorrect. Pretty front, pattern even, buttons evenly spaced." It's true that the left sleeve seam is wonky (you can see it in the above pictures) but it doesn't show while wearing so I left it.

My tank top, knit from Moda Dea "Wool Bamboo." The judge had this to say: "Lacing at top thru open hole + both ends coming out same hole could be more attractive. Loose stitch @ lower bind off edge. Lovely yarn feel, great c-front pattern." Sadly, there aren't enough holes at the top for the lacing to do what this judge suggests.

A sundress that I made from free fabric. It currently doesn't fit, but I still love it (it's a cotton poly blend so it doesn't wrinkle or stain). There were no judge comments for this dress. My sewing skills left them speechless. :-D

And finally, my most favorite:

3 ounces of two ply light sport colonial wool top. This is my fourth yarn I ever made and I'm very proud of it. I'm not sure of the yardage, cause I stopped counting at 85 loops on the knitty noddy, which makes 5 ft loops, which makes approx 141 yards and I only counted about 1/3 of the loops on the noddy. It's soft, it's even, it's drapey, and it's a lovely heathered color.

I'm already starting to think of what I'll make for next year's fair. Perhaps the blue ribbon yarn will return as a lovely shawl...among other things, of course.

And finally, a few weeks ago three masked knitting bandits (Tink, Frog and Lifeline), whose true identities are unknown, yarn bombed this fair city. I captured evidence on "film" so that I could share it with you. Enjoy.

Update Pt.1: Yarn

2010-07-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger. It's been a month since my last post, and I'm very sorry. Yes, there was a time of busy, a time of crazy, and a time of exhaustion, but that was done about 2 weeks ago and the rest has just been laziness. So today I put "Blog Entry" on my to do list, so here I am. And since it has been such a long time, I've decided to break the update up into more than one part, more for my sanity than anything else.

For anyone who is wondering, Westley slept on the plane from Phoenix to Austin, which means he was well rested for a night of not sleeping, which means I didn't sleep well, either. Come to think of it, I didn't really sleep well any of the nights I was away from home, which probably contributed to the week of sleep I indulged in when I got home.

The wedding was nice. I sewed my own bridesmaid dress, fixed the other four bridesmaid dresses the day of the wedding, ate yummy BBQ and groom cake (which I also made), and thought all sorts of nasty thoughts about the family of chimney swifts living in the chimney of the cabin.

Sadly, the wedding coincided with Black Sheep Gathering up here, so I had to miss the fun (and the cool weather). I didn't miss out on awesome yarn stashing, though. On Saturday (the 19th) Mom and I went to a little shop where yarn is one dollar per ball (you read that right) and I laid in some serious stash.

1 ball black cashmerino aran

at least 2 balls green cashmerino aran (the lot was $1 since some of it is knit up, which won't stop me).
1 ball grey cashmerino aran (which mysteriously flipped when it uploaded)
2 balls goldenrod 1824 Mission Falls Wool. I'll probably overdye this so that it's a green color.
1 ball Temptation (which is aptly named, it's deliriously soft).
3 balls of Reynolds 3-ply bulky alpaca.
5 balls of Reynolds 3-ply bulky alpaca. I'm thinking over overdying this a darker blue and the pink a purple color.
7 balls of purple cashmerino aran (whose color I could not accurately capture, this is too red).

Remember, all of this was just $1 per ball. I also got 3 pairs of needles, size 5 and 6 US Chiagoo circs ($2 each), and a pair of 40" size 9US addi turbos ($4). Yes, I'm bragging. I also got the Stitch'n B!tch Knitter's Design Journal.

All of this is added to the yarn that my mom got for me a few weeks ago at this same place.

1 ball of pinkish(?) colored wool from Montana.

1 ball grey of the same wool as above.

And, drum roll.....

14 balls of Peruvian Collection highland chunky in a lovely navy blue color.

Then, on the day after the wedding (when I was still quite drained from the bridesmaid dress fiasco) Mom and I made our way back to Austin via Elgin (the wedding was in Bastrop) and stopped at the new little fiber mill. This was dangerous, since I was quite vulnerable in my emotionally and physically exhausted state. The fiber mill was lovely, and carried lots of local fibers, especially mohair. I ended up with approx 4 ounces (they sell it by grams) of combed superwash merino top in a lovely new growth spring green.

Then, when I got home, Amy and Allison had a surprise for me (or, a partial surprise, since I requested it and paid for it but left color choice up to them so long as it wasn't purple).

That, my friends, is a skein of Sock that Rock medium weight with no name because it's a mill end. It's pink, blue, green, and NOT PURPLE!!!

By the end of the wedding I was fairly anti-purple since the dresses I fixed (after sewing my own) were all purple. I'm slowly getting better.

Next update will contain knitting project updates and Westley news.

Adventures

2010-06-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

I know I promised pictures of my positive purple socks last weekend. I took the pictures, I really did (the Monday after the weekend I promised them to you, but I took them). They are currently languishing on my camera's memory card. I had two big final projects this term, and school work trumps blogging (almost) every time.

I finished the dress. Well, mostly finished the dress. I still need to finish the armholes. But other than that it's finished. Unless I decide to unpick and resew the hem. I did get it done enough to try on for fit, and it's P-E-R-F-E-C-T. I love this dress. I'll probably end up wearing it to the rehearsal dinner next weekend. I also re-sewed the crotch seam in a pair of wrap pants that I got on sale at the fair trade shop downtown, and now they fit great, too. I'd have worn them today, but then I thought about the logistics of tie on pants and air plane bathrooms, and went with jeans.

As for knitting, I've got a good start on the Scoop Neck Pullover from fall 2009 Interweave Knits going, but I left it at home (wool knitting was not what I wanted for this coming week). I'm using Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in a deep magenta color. It feels lovely knitted up. This morning I started Percy (ravelry link) in Arucania Lonco (the purple cotton that I got at Yarn Garden a few weeks ago. It's coming along nicely now, though I did have a rocky start and seem to mess up every third pattern row. It might not have been the *best* choice for plane knitting, but I chose it and I'm sticking with it.

If you haven't guessed from my hints, I'm traveling. I'm actually posting this from the Phoenix airport (hence no pictures, too much hassle to pull everything out of my carry-on). I'm heading to my parent's house for a week and a half because my brother is getting married on the 21st. And I'm not traveling alone, either. Westley is laying very calmly in his carrier next to me on the airport seats. He's done marvelously today in the car and on the plane. He was such a good boy going through security, too. Just sat in my arms and watched what was going on around us. I'm a little worried that he might be getting dehydrated (I gave him wet food last night and this morning to boost his moisture intake in preparation). I've tried to give him water but he's not having it. I'm betting he'll sleep good tonight. I'm hoping he'll sleep good tonight, because I'd like to sleep good tonight, and the two are directly related.

Well, I just checked and my flight is delayed by about 25 minutes. I guess I'll pull out Percy and get some more work done when my ears aren't popping and I'm not being elbowed by a too close seat neighbor.

Yes, I've got an addiction

2010-06-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

To taking photos of Westley.

He's just so cute!! Even when he's attacking me as I try to do sit-ups. Do you know how hard it is to do sit-ups with a 10 pound cat attacking you? It's even harder when you're laughing like a Hyena.

The sleeping pictures are from yesterday. He hasn't settled down yet today.

In other news, my Hot Pink and Vintage is still without buttons, my dress is as it was the last time I posted, but I have finished my Positive Purple Socks and still haven't photographed them. This weekend you'll have pictures, I promise.

The Continuing Story

2010-05-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

Of the Dread Pirate Roberts (aka Westley).

It has been non-stop fun here at chez Whale Daughter, thanks to Westley. Even as I type this I have to get up to rescue toys and interact with my little bundle of energy. He's talking away, chasing his ball and hunting ants and trying to convince me that he needs second supper.

One of Westley's favorite "toys" is his Trader Joe bag (we're on the third bag now).

This is his second bag, which was retired shortly after these pictures. We both play with the bag. I'll put one of his jingle balls in the bag and Wes chases it around the floor, attacking the bag until the ball comes out.

He'll also hid in the bag and attack out of it. Sneaky cat.

This is why this bag got retired. It wasn't much of a bag anymore.

A job well done. Pirates love destruction.

We've been on a couple of outings, and mellow man is a great traveler. I'm counting on this, because we are BOTH flying down to Texas for my brother's wedding. He loves his carrier, and chills during car trips.

I've been busy, too. Remember that fabric I got at Fabric Depot? Well, I got the pattern for it (Vogue 8571) and finally decided to start working on it this past Friday so that I can have it for my Texas trip.

Westley decided I needed help with my sewing.

This was the calmest helping I got. It was So Much Fun to wait until I'd gotten the fabric laid out, flat and lined up, and then ATTACK from under the bed, rumpling the fabric into a big pile. This was especially fun when I was pinning pattern pieces to the fabric. This help lasted for the entire time I was cutting out the patter pieces (despite my many attempts at attention relocation). Then, when I was done, what do I find?

"My job here is done." Rascal.

Yesterday I worked on my dress (with only one mishap, where I ironed the interfacing to the right side of one of the yoke pieces) until I ran out of brown thread. I biked over to JoAnn's today, resupplied on thread, and would have worked more on my dress if I hadn't taken a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon. Maybe I'll work on it tomorrow.

I've also been knitting, and have 3/4 pair of socks done, but I haven't yet taken a picture. I'm using the Positive Purple Panda Soy that I got on my birthday yarn trip to Woodland Woolworks. I got the first sock done in 6 days, and should have the second sock done in a similar time frame. I'm already starting to think about my next project, which will be a sweater from stash yarn.

That's all from me for today. Despite my nap I'm still tired. I'm going to work on my sock for a little bit and then crawl into bed with my pirate. Thanks for joining me for another Day in the Life.

More Pictures Please!

2010-05-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

This post is in response to a request for my pictures of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Seeing as I'm totally smitten, I'm only too happy to oblige.

He'll just flop over and fall asleep. He is a long kitty, too.

I have to be careful where I leave my glasses, too, because apparently they are fun to lay on. Also, for the record, his tail just lay in that position for as long as he was on my glasses. It's like he's never quite sure of what to do with his tail.

He really likes sleeping on the bed. I flipped the covers back the other evening in preparation for bedtime, turned around to brush my teeth, and when I turned back I found this!!! Where am I supposed to sleep?

Sleeping with Westley has been fun, but I found myself getting much too hot at night with my winter sheets, comforter, and bed monster. So on Sunday I stripped the bed, took off the duvet cover for washing, and put on my summer sheets. I put out my brown blanket so that Westley would have something soft to sleep on, should he choose to.

Well, when it came time to put the cover back on the duvet and the duvet back on the bed...

I didn't have the heart to disturb his nap. He looked so happy and relaxed.

The bed isn't the only place where he lays, though.

He's decided that the computer chair is the place to be, especially when I get up to freshen my tea. Cheeky cat.

I also have a surprise that is not cat related.

The Hot Pink and Vintage sweater is FINISHED!!!!!!!

Well, there still aren't any buttons on it, but I haven't decided which buttons I want, and button decisions for a cardigan of this magnitude shouldn't be rushed. It is quite wearable without buttons (I'm wearing it today) and it fits perfectly. I'm trash at self portraiture, however, so pictures of my wearing the sweater will have to wait.

Westley has settled in for his afternoon nap, which gives me time to make lunch before I have to leave for class.

I'd Like to Introduce...

2010-05-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Westley.

Wes came home with me last night (legally). He's 2 years old, laid back, friendly, and has a clean bill of health from the vet.

He's named after the character in The Princess Bride.
His alter ego is the Dread Pirate Robert. Or Bob, for short. Just kidding.

He's adjusting well to his new home.

He spent most of last night exploring.

He's not the only one who's tired. I was awake for most of the night, too, listening to make sure he was ok in his exploring. Plus he's occasionally come up on the bed looking for company and reassurances that I was still there.

I'm totally in love with him.

That's all for tonight. I'm about to crash. Hopefully we'll both have a more restful night (though Westley got to have some naps today while I didn't.)

I forgot!

2010-05-02T20:10:00.001-07:00

I finished the first sleeve of my Hot Pink and Vintage Cardigan, and am about 3 inches into the second sleeve. I kind of stalled out on working on it, but I think I'll pull it out this evening.

Finished sweater, here I come!

I'll Just Make One Myself

2010-05-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've been searching for a watch. Yes, I do frequently just use my phone or ipod as my clock, but I'd rather have a watch. Especially when I'm doing observational research at the edge of the touch pool and the aquarium and there are rambunctious children around. That just has "ends badly" written across it.

I've tried on several watches. I've tried on metal bands and leather bands (no plastic bands!). I've tried on smaller watches and larger watches. *sigh* I hate them all. The men's watches are too big, and the women's watches are somehow insipid to me. And all the bands either pinch or itch or scratch...it's bad all around.

I've come to the decision that I'm going to have to make my own (non-insipid) watch. I can get watch faces of various shapes and sizes at the bead store in town. I'm thinking of knitting the band in a wider cuff style, and having an overlay bead strap. That way I have sparkle without the irritation of the beads right against my skin. I'm going to use a nice plant fiber yarn so that it's cool in the summer (probably cotton or bamboo).

Of course, I'll probably be done with my touch pool observations before I get around to making a watch band, so don't hold your breath.

I do have crafty news with pictures. I finished my first plied bobbin of the brown alpaca that was a gift from a spinning buddy. It's mostly sport weight, and I have tons more roving to spin.

I used my swift for the first time when I wound the yarn off the bobbin. I wish I'd remembered to take a photo of the full bobbin. I filled it so full I thought it was going to explode!

I soaked it last night and hung it outside to dry this morning, and it's well balanced and ready to be added to the yarn stash.

In that last picture you can see the shawl that I bought this weekend at the clothing consignment shop downtown. It was on clearance. It's a lovely, lightweight cotton, and the dots that form the flowers have been individually tied before the shawl was dyed. It's going to be lovely to wear this summer.

Alright, it's time for me to find a snack and start to wind down for the night. Until next time...

Oh what a day...

2010-04-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I want to start and end this particular post with happy, positive news. I'm going to start with an update on my Hot Pink and Vintage cardigan.

That's three whole pieces, the entire body of the cardigan. YAYYYY!!!! And, just today I finished the first sleeve and cast on the second sleeve. It took about a week for the first sleeve, so I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is this cardigan. I should get it done just in time to be stored away for the summer.

My next sweater is going to be knit on at least size 7 US needles. I will knit sweaters on 2s and 3s in the future. Just not the immediate future.

Now on to the saga that prompted the title of this post. This particular day was primarily yesterday, but it's bleeding over into today and tomorrow.

This all started weeks ago when I got tired of my leaky shower and emailed my landlord. He contacted a plumber, and after a couple of false starts he finally got here yesterday. In a normal situation, this would have been fairly simple. Take the faucet apart, replace the gasket or equivalent, put the faucet back together, done.

*Sigh* Things just can't be simple around here. I'll let the pictures tell the story (for the most part).

What you're not seeing in these pictures is the three times the pipe joins failed when the water got turned back on. You're not seeing the water inside the wall. You're not seeing the muddy drywall dust tracked through my apartment. You're not seeing the continuing leak. You're not seeing the rotten water pressure. So the plumber is coming back out tomorrow.

Oh, and the hole (which is about 13"x13") won't be fixed for a while because Jesse wants to get home and have his buddy do the drywall work.

So, I want to end this post on an up note. Today I went to Portland with a friend of mine. We went to the Yarn Garden first. I ended up with a skein of yarn:

It's 100% mercerized cotton fingering weight, and will be a lovely summer shawl.

I also got a Norah Gaughan pattern booklet (vol. 2 from spring/summer 2008) and a package of coil-less safety pins.

Then we meandered our way over to the Fabric Depot. I was going to be strong and not buy fabric, but totally caved.

This is a lovely summer weight cotton blend knit, and I got 1.75 yards at 50% off (end price was $6.56). It's also 60 inches wide. This is going to be a lovely, simple summer dress. And possibly a skirt, since I seem to have quite a bit.

I also got some brown bias tape to finish my modified sweatshirt. It's on the list for this week, since my May ASG meeting is coming up and I want to show it off.

Finally, at the register I picked up two fat quarters for a small take-along knitting bag.

The light blue will be the lining. I love batiks.

Well, that's all I have to report for today. I'm pretty tired from the exciting day and my hour walk I took this evening, so I think I'm going to crawl in bed and read for a little while.

Talk to you all again soon.

Today's Post Brought To You By...

2010-04-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

DUCKS!!!!!

Not the University of Oregon, perish the thought. No, I mean actual ducks. A mated pair of mallards has discovered the absolute glut of food available in the backyard pond. They first showed up on the 10th of this month, and I snapped these pictures in case they disappeared and never came back.

If the formatting seems a little wonky, it's because blogger is being silly with the pictures, and is only offering me the little screen for creating my post, so I can't see the final formatting.

The ducks hung around for about half of the day, then went away. I was a little sad, since they are funny to watch and I like having backyard wildlife. BUT, they've now been back several times, and I've seen the male flying in the neighborhood. Also, the female now feels secure enough to come on her own for a bite to eat.

In addition to being brought to you by ducks, this post also has funding!! The follow portion of this post is brought to you in part by Melissa and my grandmother. It was really nice this year to not have to use my birthday money for groceries or other bills.

This past Saturday, I traveled to Woodland Woolworks in Carlton OR with three of my good knitting buddies and the main instigator's mother in law. Despite living within a two hour radius of this marvelous yarn resource, I'd never been before. Why would I have been? I've either been poor or broke, it would have been cruel to take me to a house of wonders when I couldn't partake of them. Now I have the ability to enjoy this resource, and I'm spinning, too, so I could appreciate (and raid) the extensive spinning fiber stock.

The first stop we made in the shop was to the clearance room. There we were greeted by extraordinary news. Every ball of yarn in the room, regardless of what it was marked, was on sale for $3 each. If it was a ball of yarn, it was $3. We all went a little crazy at first. And it wasn't just the crap that no one else wanted. There was lots of Rowan, Jager, Jo Sharp, just to name a few.

I finally settled on 7 skeins of Miracle by Classic Elite Yarns. It is 50/50 alpaca/tencel, with a put up of 108 yards and is DK weight. I snagged the last 7 in a lovely denim blue. This yarn has a lovely sheen, and the hand is excellent even in hank form. This will be an open front, half sleeve cardigan.

I then moved over to the regular priced yarns, and the roving. I browsed the roving extensively. I petted, touched, considered, petted more, and browsed everything at least 4 times. There were so many to choose from, I wanted to make sure that I got what I wanted. I ended up with the following:

That's 8 ounces of natural creme colored blue faced leicester. It's deliriously soft.

I loved the color of this merino, and I think that it would make a lovely lace shawl once it's spun up.

This was a total impulse, and 80/20 mix of alpaca and cultivated silk. It's a little lighter than this in person, but I was having trouble with the lighting when trying to get the correct color. It has an unbelievable luster.

On my way to the check-out, when I was nearing total mental fiber overload, I passed the display of sock yarn. Sitting on top was Panda Soy by Crystal Palace. It's 60/22/18 bamboo/soy/elastic, and I thought that it would make nice summer socks. I chose the one that is primarily purple with shots of teal, lime green and violet running through it.

I didn't realize until I looked at my receipt later that the color is called "Positive Purple." That tickles me for some reason, and I can't wait to get knitting on my positive purple socks. Maybe I'll wear them for my thesis defense.

Now, you may be thinking that I must be done. I've talked about the ducks, buried you in fiber photographs, and chatted on like a ninny. Well, you're wrong. In addition the the fiber goodness that I purchased through birthday funds, there were also people who supplied me directly with fibery goodness.

Amy (the instigator of the WW trip) gave me an art batt that she carded up herself with fiber that she's also washed and prepared herself. It's primarily alpaca (which is softer than kittens).

I also got a hand carded art batt from April.

Kelli gave me a beautiful Dicentra Designs roving. It's blue faced leicester, and the colorway name is Bouquet 2.

And finally, Michele got a shipment of roving in from Ashland Bay Company, and I bought myself a little birthday present. I got 4 ounces of white merino roving that I'm going to have fun dyeing.

That's it, I'm done, there's noting else to post. Ooh, there's a woman on antique roadshow with a fancy old swift. I'm going to put my attention on that.

Until next time...

Breaking Rules

2010-04-14T00:16:00.000-07:00

Generally, I have a strict rule against doing schoolwork in bed. It dates from my time in the dorms during my undergraduate. The desk was for homework, the bed was for relaxing. This rule has served me well as a graduate student, too, since my apartment is smaller than my old dorm room and my bed more appealing than what I slept on in those days. I can read at my desk, in my "living room" chair, or at my office on campus. The bed is off limits.

Turns out that rule becomes void after about 11pm. Here I am, on Wednesday at 12:19am (Happy Birthday to me) with my netbook and my scribbled field notes from yesterday's trip to the coast.

I've been ill since last Thursday (there was a memo). By Saturday I almost felt like a real person again. It all went south on Sunday, when I napped for 2 hours and watched TV from my bed for most of the rest of it. Yesterday I was wiped by the time I got home from the coast (though to be fair I'd been gone from 9:30-5:00) and spent the evening watching TV in bed. Today I had trouble getting up. I managed a few errands, a grand total of 2 hours where I traveled a mile from home and back. That did me in, and I ended up napping again for 2 hours. Even after that I was groggy and fuzzy headed. I figured I'd sleep like a rock tonight.

Wrong. I'm so freaking wide awake I'm considering getting dressed and going to the 24 hour diner. Ok, not really, cause pajamas are too comfortable, but I'm much to awake to sleep. Trust me, I tried. So I'm up, and I've got my field notes and my netbook, and I'm going to try to make some headway in my homework. All of my napping has me behind, so I guess I have to do this when I'm awake, regardless of what the sun (or common sense) would usually dictate.

So, sorry if that seems a little rambly, but I don't do my best thinking at 12:25 in the morning (Happy Birthday to me). Next time I promise to blog about something fun. No really, there's going to be ducks.

Bummer

2010-04-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

I hate being sick. I managed to go all of last year as a healthy individual. Now twice in 2010 I've been struck low by a sub-microscopic invader.

This time I have a Horrible Virus that has attacked my throat. I thought it was strep throat it hurts so bad. But the doctor reports that there are no strep organisms in my throat, but there is a virus running around causing these symptoms.

I'm not sapped of strength, but I do have a serious lack of will to do anything besides just laying here. Everything I do hurts, even moving my head around, and it stays nice and still while I'm propped here in bed.

I'm going to continue to lie here, watching the last three episodes of The West Wing: Season 3, and indulge in a small little pitty party about being sick. I'm feeling especially isolated because I can't talk. That means no talks on the phone. No chats with friends. It's lonely here in Whale Daughter country.

Blah.

The Story of a Fleece

2010-03-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been 20 days since the last update. I've been busy busy busy this last month with thesis work. I've gotten my proposal written and accepted by my committee, however, so I'm right on track and was able to take a vacation-at-home during spring break (tomorrow is the last day :-( ).

On the knitting front, I've finished the right front and back of my Hot Pink and Vintage and started on the left front. No pictures, though. My Damson shawl is in a long term time out until I can stand to unknit (stitch by stitch) 6.5 rows. Don't ask, it's still too painful.

Spring is continuing it's march forward. I caught this little ladybug on the green of the daffodils in the back yard.

What I've really been spending my time on, though, (besides the thesis stuff) is my spinning. Here are some better pictures of my first yarn that I discussed a couple posts back.

It's wonderfully soft and sproingy.

I also finished my second yarn, which I started spinning just before the winter Olympics started. My consistency in weight improved with this yarn. It's going to make a lovely something, probably modular in garter stitch to showcase the colors.

But my big project has been my fleece. My alpaca fleece. I got an alpaca fleece, fresh off the alpaca for a steal (it was going to be burned!!! Who burns alpaca fleece?!?!?!). It's a first shear (as in, the first time this alpaca had ever been sheared) so there aren't any guard hairs to worry about. It was incredibly dirty from the dust baths this alpaca had enjoyed. Wanna see it?

That's a regular size laundry basket, for reference. I tried cleaning it in it's natural state, but the dirt was all trapped up in the locks. I ended up borrowing a drum carder from a friend of mine.

I carded all of the alpaca (a two day affair that left my right shoulder and arm sore) and knocked a lot of dirt out of it (plus picked out large stuff by hand). Now it looks like this:

It's just about doubled in volume, and is even softer now. It is cleaner, but still has dust and some vegetative matter in it. I tried washing some of it yesterday, but it didn't work well. I think at this point the best thing will be to spin it and wash it as yarn to get the rest of the stuff out of it.

The wheel in my last spinning related post is going home today. It was a loaner from a friend who was recruiting for the cult of spinners. Now that I'm hooked, I found a great deal on craigslist for a wheel of my very own. It's smaller and more portable and fits much better in my tiny space.

The woman I bought it from had left the bobbins full so I inherited that. I wound it off so I can work on my own yarn. Like this:

This is some lovely brown alpaca that was a gift from a friend of mine. I've got positively tons of this roving, so I should get a good amount of yarn out of it.

That's all I've got for now. I've got to work on reorganizing (again) my yarn stash so that it seems to take up less space.

I Forgot!

2010-03-07T14:00:00.001-08:00

I also have a couple of pictures to share from my Doctor Who swap that I participated in on Ravelry. I spent quite a bit of time working on a top secret project, which was a TARDIS bag.

This is the bag folded in half, it ended up being quite deep. I lined it with the black fabric in the top of the picture. I had 1/2 yard of the fabric and used every scrap in the lining.

My swap partner sent me this:

A knitted Dalek. It's about 12 inches tall (that's a standard PEZ dispenser there next to it).

EXTERMINATE!!!! EXTERMINATE!!!!!!!

A Doozy of a Post

2010-03-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

I've been busy since my last serious post. I had a cold, I've been working my tail off on my thesis proposal (my adviser is reading it now, so I have a day off), I finished up the knitting olympics, and I've been trying to at least break even with the domestic housework of everyday living.

First off today, I'll cover what I've been knitting. I lost my teal sanddollar hat (very sad, still not over it). I decided to shop the stash for something to make a new hat. I don't have anything that will do for a new sanddollar, but I did find 4 hanks of discontinued Elsebeth Lavold Angora in Burgundy Red. I dug around my patterns and decided on Pauline, which is a lovely little bonnet. It took me all of about 2 evenings to make, even with the applied I-cord (my first time). This was the first of my Ravelymics projects.

I've gotten lots of compliments on it. I was worried about the gauge, which was much looser than I usually knit at, but the angora yarn bloomed beautifully. It's soft and silky and very warm.

The bonnet only took one and a third skeins of the yarn, so I then cast on for Snapdragon Flip-Top Mitts for my second Ravelympics project. These took more than a week to make because the pattern was more clever than I was. But I finally got them done and they are also warm and soft and silky, and my knitting group thinks they are adorable. It is much too warm these days to wear such warm mitts, though, except late at night while driving.

The loops on the tips are supposed to go with buttons on the cuffs to hold the flip top down, but i have no idea what buttons I want, and the flip tops do stay down on their own fairly well, so I'm not worrying about that.

I finished these the Friday before the end of the Olympics, and I knew I couldn't get my third project done, but I decided to get as far as I could in the remaining 2 days. The third project is Damson, made in a lovely yarn that I got as a gift. It's a two ply 50/50 wool/kid mohair that was done up in Lancaster, Texas. It's so soft and lovely, and I love the earthy colors.

Here's where I was early Saturday morning.

And here's where I got to by the end of the Olympic games on Sunday (well, the end of the closing ceremony). I've since gotten farther, but it looks pretty much like the above picture, but more bunched up, so I haven't photoed it.

On Tuesday this past week I also got out my Hot Pink and Vintage and worked on it for the first time in ages, but I haven't photoed it. I'm hoping to have it done before the world comes to an end.

Next up, we've been having some wonderful weather lately. Yesterday was so nice I had all of my windows open, and the door, too. Things are starting to bloom, and last weekend I was inspired to get out my camera and take a short walk around the neighborhood. Here's a small selection.

The last one is newly sprouted rhubarb. I just loved the texture of the unfurling leaves.

Finally, since the weather was so lovely yesterday I took the opportunity to work with my spinning. I decided to do some plying, since I had quite a bit of spun fiber on two bobbins. The problem was that I had no lazy kate (which holds the bobbins so they don't fall over while plying). What to do? I found a chunk of styrofoam in a box that I've neglected to deal with since November, got out a short set of US size 8 knitting needles, poked them up through the styrofoam and voila, instant poor girl's lazy kate.

So I plyed away, merrily turning my singles into a nice two ply yarn. Yes, there are areas that are thicker, and areas that are thinner, but for my first ever spun yarn I really like the way it looks. I got 2.5 bobbins full of plyed yarn. And, with the lovely weather, I've been able to hang it outside to dry in the spring air.

It's soft and sproingy and perfectly balanced for all it's thick-thin quality. Now I just have to decide what to knit with it.

Now I'm going to sign off. Until next time!

Some Days....

2010-02-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

If you're ever wondering how I feel as I write my thesis proposal, or later as I work on my thesis, this is a good representation.

It's Mardi Gras!!!

2010-02-16T14:40:00.001-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Good Advice

2010-02-12T13:36:00.001-08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I just have a cold, but the same principles apply.

They Got Me

2010-02-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

And by "they" I don't mean the cold viruses that have invaded my body, though they also have gotten me. No, "they" are spinners.

For more than a year (close to two years actually) I have resisted the call of the spinning wheel. I have rebuffed attempts by those under its spell who attempted to seduce me. I've resolutely walked away from the most luscious of fibers. I have held strong in the face of temptation.

Well, I broke. I thought I could "try" spinning just for a weekend and then go back to my knitting ways, leaving spinning behind. I'm sure there are heroin addicts that would tell you the exact same thing, with exactly the same results. One go and I was hooked (well, after we got a small technical detail of the wheel not working right solved and out of the way).

This all took place this past weekend at the Newport Spin-In. I decided I needed a weekend away, and for once in the longest time I actually could afford it. One of the local spinners owns a cottage out at the coast with lots of sleeping spaces, and every year for the spin in she opens it up to other spinners and asks only $10 for the weekend, plus some help with food. The cost of the spin-in was $4. I caught a ride with someone who was going anyways (though I still want to give her some gas money) and Friday I was off. This said carpool friend owns two spinning wheels, and has said on numerous occasions that her Ashford Traditional is just sitting in a corner collecting dust. I asked her if I could borrow it for the weekend, and since she's been one of the prime culprits in wearing down my resistance, she jumped at the opportunity to drag me into the addiction.

Well, Saturday arrived, and after a walk around of the vendors and some careful consideration, I bought 5 ounces of Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) in a mixed naturals color.

Pretty, isn't it? Take a closer look:

I wish you could feel it through the computer monitor. It's deliciously soft. It's also shiny and silky and has a nice staple length to make a sturdy yarn.

I started spinning, but there was a problem with the drive band dragging on the wheel, which made spinning (especially for a beginner) nigh impossible. It took the better part of an hour to get it sorted out and a new drive band attached, but after that the spinning went remarkably well. According to many, I'm a natural. At the end of the day, I'd spun less than half of my original 5 oz and nearly filled my first bobbin. I loved it so much, I bought 8 more ounces.

I finished the first bobbin on Sunday morning.

Also at the show I helped our group win one of the trivia contests, so the group gifted me with part of the winnings. I got:

On the left is a cherry wood nostepin, which is used for winding center pull balls by hand. It's a little like a fat, stubby magic wand. To the right is what's left of 2 oz of baby camel roving (without a scale, I can't be sure of the exact amount, but several people took bits for playing with).

Yesterday I finished spinning the last of my original 5 oz of BFL, but I've been feeling too off from the cold to spin today, so the wheel has been sitting idle.

On it is my second bobbin, waiting for me to get to spinning on my next 8 ounces of fiber.

On the knitting front, my top secret project has been finished and mailed out. Pictures will come when it is received and revealed. I'm really rather glad it's done with. I've gotten back to my Hot Pink and Vintage cardigan. The right front is done, and I'm working on the armhole shaping for the back. It would have gotten a lot farther if not for the above described escapade into spinning.

Finally, using my new nostepin, I've wound my yarn for my next portable project: socks. Yes, I'm giving socks another go. They should go faster this time, as the yarn is sport weight and I'll be using US 4 needles.

*Whew* I think I'm finally out of things to update you on. I'm off to find something soft and warm to eat that doesn't require much dish washing (seeing as all my dishes are currently dirty). Hopefully it won't be so long till my next post, it will help that I'm not working on classified materials at the moment.

Quick Report

2010-01-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to report on the bag's first few days in use. It holds an amazing amount of stuff for it's outward size appearance. It hasn't fallen apart (which is always a plus!), and more people (me included) like the lining more than the exterior fabric. Hurray for stripey goodness.

If I don't plan on walking to campus, this is a great bag for carrying my mini-laptop. The straps are wide enough so that they don't dig into my shoulder, and short enough that the bag easily stays on my shoulder.

I'm already excited to make another one in a more "me" fabric. And I'll have show and tell at my next sewing meeting, which is really exciting.

Oh Geeze

2010-01-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't quite realize how long it'd really been since I last posted.

On the knitting front, I don't have a lot that I can really report right now. My super top secret project is going along nicely, though I have gotten tired of knitting on just it. But, it will be done by the end of the month, and then I can get back to working on my Hot Pink and Vintage, at least until the Ravelympics start up.

I do have something to share, don't despair. This weekend I dusted off (literally) my sewing machine and supplies and made a wonderful new bag.

It's not flat, like it's picture, it has a nice wide bottom so that it is nice and roomy. It will make an excellent mid-size project bag. It's also fully lined (which is a nice feature, and gives the bag more body). I used a cute striped fabric so that the inside is as cheery as the outside.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and the excellent job I did making it. I was so pleased, in fact, that after I got everything put away and the bits of thread and fabric vacuumed off the floor, I had a piece of pie to celebrate.

Lemon Meringue, my favorite. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Ok, time now for getting ready for bed and then watching Emma on PBS Masterpiece Classic.

Ob-La-Da

2010-01-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

Through some feat of scheduling magic, I managed to land a whopping 8 hours at work this week. That's about 2 weeks worth of grocery money if I'm frugal (which I've learned to be). Woo-hoo!!

In other news, I've been knitting and organizing. The first week of term has been slow, which is good because it turns out there was a million and a half little things I needed to get done. One of those things was organizing my articles for my thesis research. I've now got 3 binders housing articles, two 2 inch binders and one 1 inch. One of the two inch binders (containing most of my research and sources on Free Choice Learning) is full. The one inch binder holds the various chapters of just one book that I've had for various classes (I have almost the entire book at this point. This year's new cohort has to buy the whole book). The third binder has all of my gender related articles. All are arranged first by topic, and then alphabetically. Right now these binders are being moved from ottoman to chair to bed to floor as my needs change for space. I have a feeling that some desk reorganization is in order.

On the knitting front, I've finally got back to knitting on Hot Pink and Vintage. I've worked the first set of armhole decreases on the right side, and am now continuing up the armhole. Turns out I don't have to shorten the sweater by taking a pattern repeat (or at least half of one) out because my row gauge is significantly shorter than what is called for in the pattern. I've done the math to figure out how many inches I needed to knit to when the pattern said "knit until piece measures 12 inches." I still will need to do more math to resize the sleeve caps, but that's a ways off.

I finished my Prairie Boots on Tuesday. They have completely redefined how I think of warm feet. I leave them on the bed at night so I can put them on first thing in the morning, and I've seriously started questioning my need to go outside so much, as this requires the removal the boots.

I used remnant yarn for these boots, donated by Lydia and Amy. I also knit a second set of the soles and stitched them on to the boots after they were completed in order to make them extra warm and squishy. The cold of my laminate covered concrete floors hasn't yet managed to penetrate the double wooly soles. To top them off, I used bright buttons that claim to be made of 80% recycled cotton.

And now, without any further ado, I give you Prairie Boots!!

Turns out, it can be difficult to photograph ones own feet. I ended up using the timer and positioning my feet while looking at the tiny view screen (mine swivels and flips, which does make it easier). Not the greatest, but shows off the boots. And my socks, which are not part of the boots. When I come home I take off my shoes but leave on my socks and just shove my slippers on over them. It's a bonus wool layer.

I have another project on my needles right now, but it's super top secret so I can't say anything more about it until February.

In knitting related news, I've been watching the Knitting Gems DVD series by Lucy Neatby (I've got them from the library). I LOVE THEM. Last night while watching volume 1 I learned how to knit from the left needle to the right needle so that I can do garter stitch WITHOUT TURNING MY WORK. It's brilliant!! I've been practicing, and it's really easy. I can't do it without looking yet like I can tradition left to right knitting, but I've only been doing it for under 24 hours.

And last, I've managed to completely misplace my ball winder. I have a vague recollection of lending it to someone, or at least of someone asking to borrow it, but I can't remember who or if I actually gave it to them. All I know is it isn't when I keep it, and I don't really have a lot of space to lose things. I ended up winding 437 yards of fingering weight by hand, and then another 220 for the Super Top Secret Project that I can't tell you anything about until February. I will leave you with a picture of the wound fingering weight so you don't feel too neglected. It's Cascade Heritage Painted Sock in Wild Roses, and it was part of my Christmas present from my bestest best friend in the whole wide world.

That's all for now. Talk to you all later on another Day in the Life.

The Start of Something New

2010-01-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's January 4th (as most of you are probably aware) and the first day of winter term (which some of you might not be aware of). I've been at work for nearly an hour now, and have an hour of work left to go. I go lucky when I logged on to check for hours up for grabs this morning, and despite the fact that I got out of bed at 9:50, I took the 10:30 shift. That meant no shower, and not much in the way of breakfast. A glass of orange juice, a couple handfuls of saltine crackers, and 1/3 of a 100 calorie pack of sweetened dried cranberries. However, I do need to cram as many hours in as I can before the 15th so that February won't be so financially...creative.

I have spent a good part of this morning at work reading Gender Identity in Consumer Research and doing more research as something in the article tickled a neuron or two. This article, and the new ones I've procured, are pertinent to my thesis, in specific to the thesis proposal that I need to get whacked out and approved hopefully by the end of February (at the very, very latest). I need to email my advisor for a meeting to discuss my partial proposal that was a paper for a different class (funny how these things can work), contact the graduate school office for a list of graduate student advocates so I can start the arduous process of securing one for my committee, find the final member of my academic committee, figure out why the class I'm registered for isn't available to me through the online network, and set up a workable excessive schedule so that my muscles don't completely deteriorate from all the reading and writing while sitting.

Finding balance in my life as always been tricky for me, yet it is unavoidably necessary for my mental and physical well being. I know that my knitting time took a hit when I got out of bed this morning. In fact, I knew it last night as I raced to finish my Prairie Boots. The knitting is done, and I have all the buttons and the extra soles all ready to be sewn on so they are actually finished. They are quite lovely, if I do say so, and I do plan on getting pictures up just as soon as I can. At some point I plan on getting back to my Hot Pink and Vintage cardigan. The post-it note I had marking my place on the chart has vanished, so it will involve some close inspection to figure out where exactly I am (though I do have a vague idea). My knitting will slow down again, and I'll have to figure out a good, small traveling project for bus rides. Maybe I'll give sock knitting another go...

Some of the shiny has worn off of the start of term, as the years progress. Maybe it's the knowledge of what's to come, or maybe I just needed a better breakfast than saltines and cranberries. What I do know is that Gender Identity in Consumer Behavior Research is waiting, and it's just the tip of the iceburg.

Oh hey, my online class just showed up, too. That's one thing off the list.