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Thursday, June 30, 2005
Success!!!!She may not have a hood, but I love the way this FINALLY turned out: Oh, and she also needs a zipper. But that will come later. For now, I'm thrilled that the shoulders aren't 200 feet wide, and that all the ends are woven in, seams are sewn up, and other assorted finishing details are all taken care of! :)   So as my reward, I got to start Trellis - and, at the shop, they had the most perfect buttons ever!  You've got to love baby projects- last night I finished one front, and I'm just about done with the second! Those familiar with the pattern may notice that I've changed the twisted stitch patterns to cables, and I'm skipping the armhole shaping. I'm still debating about whether I want to add in a strip of the dark pink at the side seams - I'll figure it out once the back joins the party. :)  Speaking of parties, Rossana, with Cindy's help, treated everyone to ice cream at Late Night! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.... ice cream AND knitting...  Well, I should be off to bed. While the amazingly talented Kristine goes and finds more yummy yarn in Italy (and hopefully has a fantastic vacation - very well deserved, and then some!), I'm pitching in at the shop - both "real" AND "online." WHEW! Between that and trying desperately to compile statistics on "identity theft in Europe and Canada," I may just have to clone myself to get it all done. And the icing on the cake? The "Fall Interview Program" (a.k.a. "get a job at a law firm for next summer") has to be all set up on my part by the 27th. So now I get to whittle a list of 192 firms down to 35, and get my resume, transcript, writing sample, first born child (wait, that's not right...) And really, I don't even feel like THIS summer has started, so how can I be worrying about NEXT summer? {sigh} Right. Off to bed! 0 comments || # Wednesday, June 29, 2005 Maeve vs. The HoodI so won. First, I finally made the stinkin' hood long enough. I bound off, pinned it together, and tried it on. And HATED it. The hood, now longer than called for to accommodate the new raglan shaping, looked awful hanging down the back. Even though I knew what I had to do, I put it off overnight just in case it thought about what it had done, and fixed it. Surprise - the next morning, the hood still looked like crap. {sigh}So this:  Turned into this:  and then, after I mastered the concept that the collar needed to be reversed (so the right side became the wrong side), it became this:  Here's a close-up - I used the same ribbing pattern as at the waist.  I have a few more rows to do on the collar, and then I think it will finally be done. So hopefully, while I spend the entire day at the shop, I hope to seam this bad boy up and call it DONE. 0 comments || # Monday, June 27, 2005 The Never-Ending HoodI've been re-knitting the hood for Pines for approximately the last 2.5 billion years. Seriously, this thing is going on forever! Part of the problem is that the original hood is supposed to be 11ish inches long. Fine. But the NEW hood has to be longer since my raglan shaping modifications widened the neckline quite a bit and the hood has to make up the difference. {sigh} I'm hoping that I'm almost done, though, since this is all the yarn I have left from the ripping-out fiesta -  I have a couple of extra balls in the drawer somewhere too, so yarn is not a problem (thankfully) - but still, I think the new sweater shouldn't take any more yarn than the old sweater. (Plus, I'm getting really really tired of knitting this hood!) After I finally finish Pines and sew up all her seams, I need to finish up Mariah - by re-knitting the *(#@&$(*@#&$(# front that I screwed up the first time. But once she AND Pines are done, then I get to go find (or order) zippers for both of them, and drop them off at the nice tailor's shop for zipper installation, since I hate sewing in zippers! :) And my reward if I'm a good girl and finish both zipper-sweaters? I get to use this stash yarn:  to start on Trellis!!! :) The yarn is cotton ease in pink, and mission falls cotton in magenta - both discontinued, so I hope I'll have enough! I'm going to take StitchinGirl's advice and forego the sleeve shaping - I'll just pick up around the armhole and knit down, and I'll probably make the sleeves shorter. I'm still not sure exactly how I'll incorporate the magenta yarn - I'm thinking I'll use it as edging on all the sleeves - I'd like to knit all of the borders in it, but I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn. I guess I can try it on one of the fronts and see how much it uses up... my other idea was to crochet an edge all the way around the buttonbands and the collar, and put cute little stripes at the bottom and top of the ribbing sections on the sleeves and body. Hmmmm... ;)  I'm also working on another pair of Knit Happens baby socks since mine have been donated to the shop. Apparently, if you don't have a baby handy to try them on, they work well as water-bottle decorations:  In other news, despite the high temps in DC this weekend, I took a nice long walk to feed the geese some stale bread - they got a little bit pushy with each other, and actually would bite other geese on the bum to get them out of the way (is that where "goosing someone" came from?)  And on the way back from the walk, I saw a magnificent blue herron -  Well, off to run some errands before the rain hits! 0 comments || # Friday, June 24, 2005 Health Update, and A LIST ;)Thanks so much for all the good wishes! I went back to the student healthOn the knitting front, I'm still churning out baby socks... I'm making another pair of Knit Happens socks because the first pair has become a shop sample - seriously, the knit happens colorway makes the BEST socks for babies. And we're getting more in stock online! ;) But I see the baby sock craze winding down - mostly because no baby really needs hundreds of pairs of little socks. So I'll make one more pair, and move on to something else. Here's the "to-do" list:
If I manage to finish the items on the list, THEN I get to dive into the yarn I bought at Sheep and Wool. I have 3 arans in mind, plus a pullover, probably with a v-neck. But not until I clean up some of these projects!!! :) 0 comments || # Tuesday, June 21, 2005 Pulling a Kristine?So this weekend, I got together with some great law school friends to jointly celebrate birthdays. We went out for Mexican, had a few margaritas, and then retired to the outdoor patio to enjoy the amazingly refreshing 70 degree weather. Me? After eating a full dinner, drinking plenty of water, and having only 1 margarita, I decided to faint. Repeatedly (although I think the repeat performance had something to do with the fact that the well-meaning and extremely helpful friends kept standing me up!). Now, I'm pretty sure that there is NOTHING WRONG... I have pretty low blood pressure in general, and I'm sure it just dipped too much for some reason, and out I went. Once I sat down in the cab, and then lay down in my bed, I felt MUCH better, and there have been no repeats. But just to be sure, I went to the extra-crappy student health center to get checked out (I'm still waiting on the lab results).Let me just say, for the record, that I HATE when health care practitioners assume that, either because of my age or my sex or both, I am an idiot when it comes to my health. I understand that this particular doctor, working as she does at the student health center, is used to dealing with extremely clueless undergrads. But come on! Here's the list of things she assumed about me without actually bothering to ask the appropriate questions:
Luckily, I am seeing a different doctor for follow-up tomorrow. Ironically, I agree with Dr. Idiot that there's nothing wrong with me - but I don't agree that she can assume that I'm pregnant, then anemic, and then incapable of having one drink without hitting the floor. GRRRR... I'm getting frustrated just thinking about it! So as a distraction, here are the world's cutest socks -  Now, they're so cute because they're so little. Otherwise, they're no different from big people socks. But somehow, in miniature, they make even the most grumpy person melt and start to go all gooey. Plus, you can finish a pair in a day or so! I'm planning 3 more pairs - one pair for a baby shower this weekend, 1 more pair for my CA friend, and 1 pair of Knit Happens socks for the shop, since they are irresistably cute. :) Speaking of cute, Cricket is trying to strike a balance between "work" and "rest" -  
0 comments || # Thursday, June 16, 2005 Cutest Socks Ever They're baby knit happens socks! I can't believe how adorable these are, and that they'll actually fit over a little foot. The recipient is due in October, so I'll make several more pairs of tiny little socks out of leftover sock yarns to properly outfit the little cutie in handknit socks. But tiny knit happens socks? SO CUTE. If I have enough yarn, I think I'll make a sample for the shop! Oh yeah, and some big, grown-up socks too - the Peace Socks are finally done! They still need to be blocked like crazy, and I'm positive I made a couple of typos... but they're socks, and they get the point across, and Mum will love them. So we'll move on. :)  In other knitting news, the fabulous (and expecting) Erica stopped in at Late Night last night with the most amazing goodies EVER -  She brought banana pudding, and CHOCOLATE COVERED FRESH BERRIES. Strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. OH MY GOD. SOOOOOOOO GOOD.  And then, when I got home, my fabulous roommate cooked me an amazing birthday dinner, complete with homemade chocolate cake. I'm so spoiled. :)  Today's Public Service Announcement, brought to you by Cricket: always wash behind your ears. ;) 
0 comments || # Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Hot Flag DayIt figures, there's a heat advisory today with heat index of 100++++... but I don't care. It's Flag Day, which means it also happens to be my 26th Birthday! So I plan to knit, go0 comments || # Sunday, June 12, 2005 Ways to Avoid Writing a Memo, Part IIOrder almost 400 prints of pictures, mostly from Alaska, but from other random events as well. Gasp that you just spent almost $100 on pictures.0 comments || # Thursday, June 09, 2005 Ways to Avoid Writing a Memo, Part ILast weekend, while avoiding RESEARCHING for said memo, beloved roommate and I wandered over to Old Navy - I stocked up on flip flops. I mean, 2/$5 for the best summer footwear ever! :) Plus, I found quite possibly the most amazingly comfortable yoga pants imaginable. I may never wear "real clothes" again - just yoga pants and flip flops. Oh, and maybe a shirt would be a good idea...But ANYWAY, while checking out with said stash of flip-flops, I saw the cutest little notebook for a whopping $1. It is destined to become the next knotebook -  I mean, check out the great surfing pics inside! No, surfing and knitting aren't really related in any way I can think of, and no, I actually DON'T surf, despite spending 4 years in Santa Cruz, CA. But the images are so cool!  And next in the serious of things that aren't related to my memo assignment OR knitting, I present this summer's garden - I actually planted it last week, but neglected to take a picture. Here we have the baby tomato plants - last year, the squirrels ate all my tomatoes, so I kept having to pick them extra-green. But then I discovered that green tomato salsa is REALLY good with black bean soup, so all was not lost. However, this year, I would really appreciate it if the squirrels would eat something else. I might have to send Cricket to enforce!  Also, the herb collection has been pruned, repotted, and supplemented. In the big pots, we have basil, rosemary, sage, and oregano. In the little pots, thyme and peppermint. All have grown alarmingly in the last week - it might have something to do with the 90+ degree weather, the extreme humidity, and the almost-nightly torrential downpours. At least the squirrels seem to leave the herbs alone!  And now, some almost knitting! I'm actually cruising along nicely on Pines, The Sequel - but I still have quite a ways to go before it is a sweater again. The proof? Even after using up 2 whole balls of yarn that I ripped out, here is the remaining ripped-out yarn still to be re-knit:  And for those from Late Night who wondered what kind of yarn I used for Pines? Here's the label - I believe that it came from Elann, at least a year ago - not sure if they still carry it. It's the same yarn I used for Rogue -  And in defense of my procrastinating, sorry-a$$ed self and my lack of progress on my first assignment for my professor - let me just show you what my desk looked like this morning when I sat down to get to work. Pay attention to me! Why aren't you paying attention to me? Do I have to bite you? Wouldn't you rather pet a sun-warmed kitty than type a stupid paper? 
0 comments || # Monday, June 06, 2005 An FO, and A Project RevisitedDespite my aversion to thumbs, I managed to finish Mom's Mittens last night - the thumbs still need blocking, but the mittens are otherwise completely done! I'm trying to "clean up" all the lingering projects that are sitting around with only a little bit of effort standing between them and completion - before I allow myself to start on my nice, new squeeky clean sheep and wool yarn projects. We'll see how long I hold out! :) But speaking of "cleaning up," remember this sweater? I LOVE this sweater... in theory. In practice? The bulky cabled yarn + set in shoulders = football player chic. NOT my look, and I avoid wearing it because it makes my shoulders look HUGE.  In an attempt to remedy this situation, I'm doing some drastic pattern altering - I'm ripping back to the armholes, and I'm going to try it again, this time as a raglan. I really really hope that this works, since this sweater is the perfect weight for those almost cold fall days... at least, as a raglan, I'll be able to try it on before I knit the entire hood. But currently, I'm still in the process of ripping back - and then I'll have to get all the pattern pieces "on the same page" so I can join for the raglan.  And now, I really have to work. REALLY REALLY REALLY have to write this memo about wiretapping and the fourth amendment - even though it's not due for over a week, and part of me just wants to keep procrastinating it and spend the entire day loafing around. But since I did that yesterday, I think I have to actually get some work done... 0 comments || # Thursday, June 02, 2005 SP 5 Questions1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?More of a yarn snob than not - but I'm allergic to wool, so I LOVE the amazing cottons, and extra soft blends (calmer is a personal favorite). But I'm forcing myself to get used to the natural fibers - especially cashmere, and merino, and now cormo. Oh, and silk. :) One note - alpaca makes me CRAZY itchy. Like fire ants crawling on my skin. So no alpaca, please! :) 2. Do you spin? Crochet? Um, no. Crochet scares me, and spinning? It's the "dark side." ;) 3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) As I stated above, I'm allergic to wool (oh, the horrors!) So anything scratchy gives me a rash, and alpaca makes me very grumpy. Other than that, though, I'm pretty much in the clear - don't like smoke, but it'll probably wash out, so not a huge worry. :) 4. How long have you been knitting? 4 or so years now! 5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, for Amazon. Speaking of, I should update that sometime! 6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I love vanillas, and anything flowery or citrus-y. :) Basically anything, I guess! 7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes. Especially for dark chocolate and haribo gummy products. But really, all candy is good candy, right? Oh - except that I hate anything coffee flavored. ICK! 8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I've tried soapmaking, and that was fun, and I've made bath salts - but not for ages. I'm in law school now, so my free time is non-existent - most days I'm lucky if I get in any knitting! In the summer, though, I grow herbs, and tomatoes, and I love to cook... 9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) MP3s definitely - I have George, the Ipod, and I love him. In terms of music, I'm pretty much all over the place - classical, opera, rock, classic rock, pretty much everything except rap and most country. :) 10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? Love blues and greens - not so into purples, oranges, and yellows - they tend to clash with the coloring. I love earthy colors, and tend to like heathers more than jewel tones - but it all depends on the yarn! 11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live with a roommate in an apartment across the street from my boyfriend. My life is completely controlled by my black kitty, Cricket. 12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) At this point, I'll settle for making it through law school with some semblance of my sanity. 13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? Oh, that's a tough one. I really love some of the cashmere blends - like DB's cashmerino line, and the new Rowan Cashsoft. But there are so many yarns I haven't tried yet! I'd also love to knit with some of the new organic cottons - like blue sky - so amazingly soft! 14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Not so big on traditional 'red heart' acrylic. Also not so big on the scratchy wools - at this point, I can't even wear merino wool against my skin, so anything scratchier only gets worn when it gets REALLY cold and I can handle a sweater + a turtleneck! 15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Right now, I'm totally into colorwork. But based on my purchases at MD S&W, my obsession will soon change to arans. I'm also always knitting socks, and would love to try some of the lorna's laces and other amazing colorways in sock yarn, but my sock yarn stash is too big to justify the $$! 16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I always have a pair of socks or mittens on the needles for "portable" knitting - but I would say that my favorite things to knit are more complicated things. I LOVE fair isle (like my dad's vest) - and I like traditional Aran designs. I'm not so big into lace (yet)... 17. What are you knitting right now? Oh. Right now? I'm doing a lot of "cleaning up." Mom's mittens need thumbs, Dad's vest needs neck and arm edging, Mariah needs a new front, I've completely forgotten about Trinity, and then I have a few past "finished" projects that need some love and attention. And then, once I've been a good girl and have tidied up 18. What do you think about ponchos? Some people can pull them off without looking goofy. Some people can't. I feel that I am definitely and unreservedly in the latter category. 19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circular or DPNs all the way - I literally do not own any straight needles. I gave all my old ones to a friend who was learning to knit. 20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? All my DPNs are bamboo, but I'm thinking I should try metal to see if my sock knitting is faster (plus, I warp bamboo sock needles like crazy - apparently I hold onto them just a little too tightly!) For circs, I use the Needlemaster set, so those are all metal. 21. Are you a sock knitter? I used to scoff at sock knitters, and now there is always a pair on the needles. Plus, if I make them short enough, I can wear them too! 22. How did you learn to knit? I tought myself through the internet and with books. My first 2 sweaters I knit entirely through the back loop because I didn't know any better! 23. How old is your oldest UFO? within the last year... but likely to keep getting older! 24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Sea otters. 25. What is your favorite holiday? It's a close tie between Fourth of July (I live in DC and LOVE the national fireworks) and Christmas... but I think Christmas pulls ahead because I love giving people gifts and baking obscene amounts of cookies. Plus, at Christmas you get a tree! 26. Is there anything that you collect? Not really - except, of course, yarn. 27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Interweave 28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Probably lots - right now, I'd have to say past Rowan mags always have some great patterns, and some of the debbie bliss and jaeger patterns also. I have a lot of designing books, so I should probably get more "completed pattern" books for inspiration - oh, and I'm TOTALLY wanting fair isle pattern books - I saw some great ones at MD S&W, but I didn't buy them. I have AS' fair isle knitting, but would love to get my hands on some of the other great collections out there! 0 comments || # |
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