Knitting Musings

Where I'll Be This Weekend

Of course, it's supposed to rain. But with temperatures in the 70s, I can't complain too much...

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Oops, I Cast-On Again!

Carolina - no pressure or anything, but...

... and it's good. Really good. Love me some lace good. Not that I'm trying to peer pressure you or anything, but everyone's doing it.

And in other equally exciting knitting news, there may be some Rogue zippering in the works - I did my basting, I pinned in my zipper, and thanks to a day with my butt parked firmly in front of the tv (except for dog walking and rug-steam-cleaning breaks), the zipper is 1/2 installed. I'm going to fire up the latest (and long awaited!) edition of Cast-On today and finish it up.

I'm also going to go pick up my wedding dress... I won't tell which one in case certain people who aren't supposed to know accidentally click on some links, but I'm very happy with my choice, and I'm equally glad to have it taken care of!

On Wednesday night at the Happy Place, I happened to glance over at the computer to see this scene:

The first thing that popped into all of our minds was "p*rn"... and, of course, we were (mostly) right - that, my friends, is what happens when you start pulling up knitting patterns on the internets around a bunch of other knitters. The sound effects were eqully funny - "oooooo! I like that!" "mmmmm, not really doing anything for me..." and so forth. Ahh, good times...

On Friday, I spent some "good times" (hah! almost a segue!) dyeing up some more sock yarn - I'm still not totally satisfied with my results. I usually end up with yarn that I like, but it's very rarely exactly what I had in mind. I'm hoping that I can take a workshop at MDS&W to get some more pointers. I'll take some pictures of the finished products once they dry (and once the sun comes back out!)

Of course, while I was dyeing my little heart out, I was fully supported by the entire crew. Abby made sure my spot on the couch stayed warm...

... while Cricket made sure that Abby's spot on the doggy-bed stayed warm.

There may have been a small failure to communicate, however, as Cricket did not seem to be interested in Abby's attempts to sit on her doggy bed. In fact, she seemed pretty much unphased by even the full force of the puppy-dog eyes.

Do I look like I would be interested in a smelly, dirty doggy bed? Please.

Labels: Abby, Cricket, Dyeing

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Rogue Deadline? What Deadline?

So today is Wednesday. And the Rogue Cardigan is, alas, still unfinished. I did receive a perfectly matching zipper - who knew that light purple would match better than any pink? Love the folks at zipperstop for taking the guesswork out of the equation. But I stalled on the whole "graft the hood cable together" thing - I know I did it before, but I'll have to figure out how to fudge the grafting so the cable looks continuous. I just wasn't up to it. Nor was I up for the whole installing the zipper thing, especially since I don't have any matching thread, so I felt justified in stuffing the whole thing back into its bag.

I distracted myself with my new shoes... the Merrell Siren Ventilators. These are BY FAR the most comfortable sneakers I have ever put on my feet. I may never ever ever take them off. (Snowglobe flannel pj pants, however, are optional.)

And look! More distraction! My dad gave S and me a little present last weekend...

... his old SLR camera! It's probably about 30 years old, and I have absolutely NO idea how to use it. S thinks he'll start playing with it, though...

And check out the cool telephoto lens! Again, I have NO idea what to do with this, but I'm thinking it'll be fun to play with. I just wish it fit on my new digital camera!

And finally, just for fun - check out all of the various "holiday snoopies" that S has given me over the years - that's Easter Snoopy, Winter Snoopy, and 3 different Valentine's Day Snoopies. :)

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I'm the Boss of My Knitting

Way back in 2005, I knit this sweater. It's a simple top-down raglan out of cascade 220, and I thought it would be a great weekend sweater. And it would have been, except... well, it's a little too short. Both the sleeves and the body needed just a bit more length for me to be able to wear it without doing the "tug it down" dance.

On Friday, I was going to wear this sweater. I put it on, wore it for awhile, and decided it was too short. Instead of taking it off and stuffing it back in the wardrobe, however...

... take that, knitting!

MUCH better. I think I'll wear it this afternoon.

In other news, apparently I've strained the tendon on the bottom of my right foot (at least that's what the doctor-of-dubious-competence at the student health center said). She also told me to, among other things, ICE MY FOOT for 20 minutes, twice a day.

She wants me to put what on my what? Does she have ANY idea how hard I have to work to keep my feet from turning into blocks of ice? This is SO not fun.

I'm still plugging away on the Rogue Cardigan assembly - my goal is to have it finished to wear on Wednesday. I might get it - depending on whether the zipper arrives on Monday or not. I'm thinking it'll take me 2 days to put it in, so if it doesn't come until Tuesday, I might not have time to finish everything up.

And now for something completely different - cooking! The other night, S got all inspired and made this SUPER yummy lemon-y indian chicken dish. It was one of the best things he's ever made!

And for my part, I finally had to figure out how to make banana bread to use up the over-ripe bananas I've been saving in the freezer. I checked my standby cookbook (How to Cook Everything), but there was only 1 banana bread recipe, and it included coconut (ew!). So I was complaining to my roommate about how I couldn't believe that we didn't have a banana bread recipe, and she pulled out this cookbook from her grandparents' church...

8, count them 8, banana bread recipes. And that's not counting the banana muffin recipes. Of course, I had to doctor it up a bit - I added vanilla, and more nuts, and chocolate chips, and I used cream instead of milk.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Unfortunately, because of the chocolate chips, Abby couldn't share. So she retaliated by taking my spot on the couch...

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Getting Back into the Swing of Things

I think the hardest part of starting a new semester is nailing down the new routine. I have classes at new times, new professors with different ideas of "reasonable workload," and a whole new set of tasks for my journal. Plus, this stupid brief won't be finished up until tomorrow, so that's hanging over my head as well.

But overall, I'm happy with my schedule, especially as it seems to allow me plenty of time to head to the Happy Place for late night on Wednesdays!

Abby is also enjoying my new schedule - I'm home most afternoons, so she gets to come over and keep me company.

And I also have time to knit - I'm in the finishing stages of my Rogue Cardigan - I sent a sample of yarn to the nice folks at Zipperstop, and they're hopefully sending me a zipper that will match. Thanks to my, ummm, unintentional shading variations in the dyeing process, I knew there was no way I could pick out a zipper from the color cards on the internet, so I'm grateful that they were willing to help me match my yarn. And of course, I'm also working on the ubiquitous sock for S...

S, as far as I'm concerned, will be getting a LOT of hand-knit socks. He gets SO excited when I start a new pair of socks for him, and he wears his hand-knit socks every day until he runs out of pairs. He says they "massage his feet." Plus, he shows people that he's wearing hand-knit socks. So, despite the 10.5 EE feet, he gets more socks.

Labels: Abby, Rogue Cardi, Socks

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One Week Down

And it has been BRUTAL. Well, I can't complain too much - my classes are over at 1:35 each day, and, since I got up at 5:45 am to study before class, I get to go home and ~~fall asleep~~ do something productive in the afternoons. But it is really tough to go back to the whole "school thing." These professors actually expect me to THINK!

But I just mailed my bar application today - I'm celebrating with some wine, some Grey's Anatomy, and some knitting.

Speaking of knitting, the Rogue Cardigan is going slowly but surely. This weekend, I need to send some yarn snippits to the zipper people so they can help me match colors - otherwise I will manage to finish the knitting, but still won't be able to wear the sweater. And I might already be done with the knitting if I hadn't run into a teeny tiny little problem...

I was HERE when I realized a simple truth...

... that BO 1 st beginning of each row 6 times does NOT equal BO 6 sts beginning of each row. So RIPPPPPPPPPP.

And in other exciting news, I have a new toy - I'll post more about it later, but it's pretty freakin' cool. Check out the "super macro" function:

Eventually I put the new toy down and got back to knitting - I've finished the left front.

And look! S modeled his Christmas-present hat - it's finally cold enough for him to wear it - he didn't even need to wear it in Minnesota over the holidays. He likes it, and I liked making it, and it was knit from stash, so everyone's happy.

My new toy also has a pretty awesome zoom - here's the view from where I was sitting...

... and here's the same shot, but zoomed in with the 12x optical zoom. I love it.

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Stupid Law School

It's my last weekend of winter vacation - Monday sees me back at school and trying desperately to care about all of the work I have to get done. January and February in particular are going to be pretty rough, mostly due to a Moot Court competition I'm headed to at UCLA in February... in the next few weeks, I need to finish (perhaps start?) the brief I've been avoiding all break... that lovely green binder is chock full of all of my research. The brief will not be great - I've already accepted that. But it does need to get finished...

Speaking of finished, here's another photo of Grandma with her new lap blanket - because Grandma is so freakin' cute! Plus, she'll be 94 next week. 94!!! I'm sincerely hoping I got some of those genes...

Right. Perhaps this entry should have been titled "totally incapable of segues." Or perhaps next time I shouldn't write a blog entry before 8 am... on a Saturday... (1 guess as to what I got up early to do. I'll even give you a hint... it starts with "write" and ends with "brief"...) So anyway, apropos of nothing, check out what happened on my bed the other afternoon. I may have been "writing my brief" by watching a movie on my laptop and knitting... and I may have had some help! This is a HUGE step here in the "Cricket needs to get over herself because Abby is moving in soon" household... usually, Cricket gets all pissy when Abby is over and promptly leaves a surface (bed, couch, etc...) if Abby gets too close. But this time, Cricket held her ground and everyone had a lovely nap. Incidentally, this situation is exactly why S and I will be purchasing a new king-sized bed once we get all settled. How is it, exactly, that a combined 40 pounds of fuzzy-animal can take up more room than humans weighing 3-4 times as much?

And finally, knitting - which I have (of course) been doing WAY too much of in my attempts to avoid the dreaded brief-writing. There may be two Rogue Cardigan sleeves...

and check out that skein of yarn on top - it's Koigu kppppppppppppppppppm... I knew that my "dye-pot accident" colorway looked familiar! I accidentally created a colorway that is astonishingly similar to a koigu colorway. Now if only I could recreate it ON PURPOSE...

and I'm moving right along on the body - I have pockets! Well, I'll have pockets as soon as I get a zipper, finish the front, and sew up the front edge. (Note to self - you'll need to buy a zipper. You might want to order one...)

And in even more exciting news, the lovely and amazing Carolina SPUN ME SOME YARN!!! I'm so excited that I can't even stand it. It's mostly? all? angora, and it's so soft and beautiful that I just want to pet it and snuggle it. See?

And I tried to take a close-up, but it was a little, ummm, not-bright this morning when I was taking the picture, so the colors are a little off... they're better in the first picture. I was going to just leave the skein on my desk and pet it all day, but Cricket decided that she needed to bite it in preparation for all sorts of kitty-hijinks, and I had to put it away.

And finally (and again, randomly) - Holly - this one is for you. A t@rget trip for under $20... and I swear that I didn't get back in line to buy more stuff. And incidentally, am I the only one who finds it funny that I bought 38 pounds of cat litter for an 8 pound cat?

Labels: Abby, Cricket, Rogue Cardi

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New Year, New Beginnings

It's a new year, and I'm trying to start with a relatively clean slate. I'm cleaning out my inbox, backing up all of my photos and documents, and working my way through the "must finish before classes start on Monday" list that I've managed to mostly ignore until now...

Knittish tagged me AGES ago, but I'm just now getting around to it! Here's my 6 weird things...

(1) I am a strictly go-in-order girl. If there's a series of books? Have to start with #1. Ditto on tv show-dvds etc... If I (gasp) can't find book #3, I am totally incapable of reading book #4 until I do.

(2) I flip through magazines from back-to-front. Not sure how this works with #1, but I never claimed to make sense...

(3) I used to be a classic night-owl and thought that waking up before 9 was some form of torture. Now, I very rarely sleep past 8, and usually am up before 7. Gone are the days when I was all productive from like midnight until 3... now, if I don't get my work done before about 2 pm, I start losing brain cells rapidly and by 6 I'm approaching useless. This was really great when I worked in IT, but perhaps not-so-great for the law firm. We shall see.

(4) I hate coffee in all of its manifestations. I hate drinks with coffee in them, coffee ice cream, coffee-infused cakes (tiramisu? ick!). I even hate any drinks made with Kahlua. But I like the SMELL of coffee, and I liked the milkshakes a high school friend made with Ben & Jerry's White Russian ice cream. Go figure.

(5) I'm a DC-native - born at GW back when the old hospital hadn't been blown up into a giant rubble-field. But I've never actually lived in DC - I grew up in Maryland, and now I live in Virginia. (This may not seem weird. But pretty much everyone who is from DC seems to move by the time they hit their 20s, so most people around here aren't from around here.)

(6) My hair doesn't stay curled - no amount of hair spray/gel product will keep my hair from straightening back out. This was extremely inconvenient in high school when I was in plays/musicals that called for curls. I used to have to re-curl between each scene. And those fancy up-dos for prom or whatever? Yeah, not happening. But I am not complaining - I don't own a hair dryer, and I was able to spend 5 days in Ireland without a hair brush without looking too awful!

Instead of tagging people, please - help yourself. It's actually really fun to try and think of things about yourself that you want to share with the internets and that are kinda strange.

In other news, I need to take pictures of my latest knitting. But for the moment, I'm going to stay away from pictures and cameras and computers - yesterday I got the new card reader for my new camera - camera hasn't come yet, but the card reader did! So, thinking that I was all smart and helpful, I noticed that my roommate's camera had the same type of memory, and that I could use the new card reader to transfer her pictures for her. Or instead, to somehow corrupt the memory card with ALL OF HER CHRISTMAS PHOTOS ON IT. I'm not sure what happened, but it was AWFUL. She was so amazingly sweet about it, but I felt so terrible. Luckily, $30-something later and THIS wonderful program got back all but a couple of the photos, and even got back the movies she had made. I've never been so happy to see photos show up in my entire life... And afterwards we were talking, and remarked that it wasn't as bad when you lost a roll of undeveloped film (back in the days when you, you know, had actual FILM) - because you didn't know what pictures you had lost! But here, we had SEEN all the pictures, so the loss felt more real. (Oh, did it ever!) And I guess it's good that now we have the data-recovery software should anything like this ever happen again (knock on wood), AND we both got freaked out about backing up our pictures, which is good because I really should put everything on my external hard drive more often - but I still think I could have used the lesson say, with pictures of knitting instead of with my roommate's irreplaceable Christmas pictures.

So yes, me and the camera are going to have a little time apart today. Unless, of course, my new camera arrives from UPS, in which case all bets are off...

Labels: Random

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ireland cardigan