Knitting Musings

That'll Teach Me To Not Post...

So I finally got around to uploading my recent photos - all 130 of them. So rather than force y'all to wade through all 28 "blog-worthy" photos in one entry, I'm spreading them out. The unifying theme will be, "here's what I found on my camera."

So a few weeks (!!) ago now, I ordered some shoes. Specifically, I was searching for the shoes to wear for the wedding (success - shoes for under $30!!). I ordered a whole bunch of shoes from one of those online shoe places with free returns and proceeded to try them all on. I had a little bit of help...

What, this shoe box lid wasn't placed here just for me to sit on? Really? You sure? Because it's really comfy...

And (according to the order of photographs on my camera), later that week we stopped in at Knit Happens for the birthday celebration, where Abby met a new friend...

... and later took a nice long nap in my lap.

And look! Knitting! That's my version of 2 sleeves for the Refined Raglan that I'm knitting out of the cormo yarn I dyed. Thanks to the magical blooming power of cormo, the sportweight yarn I ordered has since become a heavy worsted. I'm winging it with the pattern - we'll see how it turns out!!

And finally (for this entry, at least) - sleepy doggy. She looks so tense and worried...

Labels: orangecicle

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Best Movie Trailer EVER

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A Little Knitting News, But Mostly Abby Pictures

I'm plugging away on a few projects - and I've been doing a little "clean-up" work on my blog. I finally updated my "works in progress" list, and I also redesigned my finished object galleries. I'm also looking forward to having much more free time as most of the law review work that has eaten up my time in the last year is now being done by my replacement - I mostly just have to forward emails and answer questions, rather than making all of the decisions and having all of the responsibility. WHEW!!!

So in celebration, I kinda sorta maybe cast on just a little bit for the refined raglan from W2006 Interweave. I may have also kinda sorta just a little bit dyed all of my cormo a beautiful cantaloupe color specifically for this sweater. :) Oh cormo - I love you with a passion that should probably only be reserved for my fiance...

I will say, however, that this "sportweight" yarn is actually a heavy worsted. I think the shepherd underestimated the bloom of cormo - I still love it, but my quest for a true sportweight cormo yarn continues. Luckily, I have a few leads for my next cormo purchase - you know, strictly for science. Or something.

And remember how I described S' sock-abuse? Here is his latest sock - after exactly 12 hours of wear, during most of which he was parked at his desk at work. That, my friends, is what his feet do to the heel of 100% merino sock yarn in ONE DAY.

All I can say is that it is a REALLY good thing that he is so unbelievably cute and excited whenever he gets a new pair of socks that it's still worth it to make them for him!

And speaking of making things - here's dinner from this past weekend - crock-pot white chili with salsa, avocados, cumin-sour cream, cilantro, cornbread muffins, and (of course), a nice cold Smithwicks. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! Definitely a perfect meal for curling up with a nice movie for a stay-home-date-night.

On a completely unrelated note, check out the cool book that S got me - I've been on the lookout for a "so you want to take non-crappy pictures" digital photography book, but most of them are mostly about image editing and software rather than photography techniques. Admittedly, I haven't gotten very far in this one yet, but so far, it looks very promising!

Right. Enough with the so-called "content" - onto the cute doggy pictures!

Ever seen a 3-legged doggy dig a hole? It's amazingly cute...

And with temperatures climbing into the mid- and upper- 70's, we had to help poor Abbers out... see the fur around her collar? That fur is approximately 3 inches long, and she doesn't shed that until later in the season when it's already ridiculously hot. So we bought a set of clippers from Target and thought we'd give her a quick buzz-cut around the neck.

Unfortunately, poor Abby got completely freaked out by the clippers, and struggled and thrashed so much that there was absolutely no way to get close enough to trim her. Luckily, she didn't mind the scissors, and doesn't seem to mind the somewhat-choppy cut that resulted.

But look how much cooler she looks! :)

And I know that this is quite late to the "show cute feet on your blog" party, but isn't this adorable? I swear I didn't stage this... she actually sleeps like this!

In honor of the Ides of March (happy birthday, Dad!), listen to 99 bottles of beer on the wall .... Roman style.

Labels: Dyeing, Socks

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Marching Band Goodness

During my visit to New Mexico, I accompanied my friend to the campus of UNM. She went to a few meetings, and I went to the Student Union building to study. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when instead I was treated to an hour-long MARCHING BAND 'CONCERT' from about 50 of the 180 members of the Langston University Marching Band. I must admit - I LOVE marching bands. In fact, there may have to be a roadtrip next January to the 2008 Battle of the Bands.

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Odds and Ends Before the End of Vacation

This past week, I've been thoroughly enjoying my spring break. I went to New Mexico for a few days, took the always fun standardized law test (MPRE if anyone is keeping track!), and have been tying up a few loose ends for the wedding.

I've also been finishing up some knitting - 2 pairs of socks - first one for S (he's already worn them, and nearly felted the heels in just 1 wearing!)

...and the super-long arm-monster socks for Jesse, which are even now USPS-ing their way to California. I really hope they fit!

And finally, I had a dyeing day on Thursday - see, Chaos, May, and Chris had ordered some purple sock yarn, which I then discovered I had GASP already gifted and forgotten to take off of my "for sale" site. Luckily, C, M, and C were VERY understanding, so I dyed up a new skein (which will be in the mail on Monday!)... and I also dyed up a few other things. That orangie-brown yarn? That is, in fact, cormo. I went with the orange and dyed 5 more skeins - but more on that later!

Here's the purple sock yarn I dyed up - hopefully the Black Kitty Brigade (and Chris) will like it!

And here's my attempt at dyeing my laceweight to match. Yeah - not so much. But I think with a nice dark blue overdye, it will be beautiful.

Right - enough with the knitting! So I spent last weekend in beautiful New Mexico - where we even found a waterfall on our hike!

But don't let the "hiking" fool you - most of my time was spent snuggling up with Smidgen. Smidgen is all of 8 months old, so still has what you might call "energy."

Smidgen was found, half starving, under a trailer as a kitten. She's fattening up nicely now - and has determined that the Q-tip is her natural prey.

While I was there, she also discovered that knitting is a VERY entertaining hobby...

... and back at home, there were more cute pets practicing for the sunny-spot Olympics...

Right - I should probably go attempt to clean up the mess I made dyeing before my poor roommate comes home tomorrow - but as soon as it finishes uploading, I'll be posting a video of the most fun you can possibly have in New Mexico, so stay tuned!!!

Labels: Dyeing, print of the wave, Socks

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The Scale Doesn't Lie

The lace is currently sitting in a corner, thinking about what it's done. I'll explain in a minute.

But first, happier news... I finally took the other pics of my latest attempts at boy sock yarn.

S is still "on the fence" about this one. It's purple and black, overdyed with gray. I think it's muted enough for boy socks, but we're still deciding. Obviously, he wouldn't wear these with a suit, but I thought with a pair of jeans, they'd look fine.

This one was much more successful - navy and green overdyed with gray. As I complained last night, it's BORING - but S loves it! I just cast on with it last night.

Tonight, I'm jetting off to the International Sunport (and environs) for a mini Spring Break, and the only knitting I can pack is my current sock in progress because both of my other projects are waiting for next Wednesday's date with the dye-pot. Specifically, the cormo needs a bath in a light orange, and I need to dye some laceweight.

The talented and loverly Elspeth suggested that I knit up a repeat of the edging, weigh it, and see if I have enough yarn. Here's 1 repeat on the scale... the scale isn't registering anything because 1 repeat in laceweight apparently doesn't weigh anything.

So I unravelled my repeat and I measured out double the yarn to see if 2 repeats would weigh something.

So it took about 1 gram for 2 repeats. I have 84 repeats total, with 72 repeats remaining to do.
72 * 0.5 = need an additional 36 grams to finish.

I have (duh duh duuuuuuuuuuh....)

3 grams.

Dude, so not even CLOSE to close. Luckily, I have like 44 grams of undyed (plus more light blue that I could overdye) - so I'll have to attempt to match my random dye process to get something that looks even remotely close. I'm thinking that if all else fails I'll overdye the whole thing with a coat of darker blue just to match everything up.

I went ahead and skeined up my precious remaining yarn to be ready for dye-day, because if this project stays in the corner much longer, the whole "finishing this up" plan may be in jeopardy.