UFO Brigade

I am zooming along on Seraphim. According to the triangle shawl calculator, I am 64% complete, with only a chart and a half to go. I'll take that progress, and I foresee quite a bit of shawl knitting in my immediate future, since it's still a nice portable knit.

I was taking a tour through my Projects stash on Ravelry (username is Mikaiya, of course, feel free to friend me!). And I realized that the UFO count is really very scary. I don't even have everything IN Ravelry to count!

But here's the current sad state of affairs, and my goals for the month, before November hits and I rush off with my laptop for some mad writing time.

UFOs of Doom
- Pink Fuzz. It did not work as a length-wise scarf! Maybe I'll have more success the next time around. I'm going to knock this sucker out this weekend, or cry in the trying.


- Seraphim. She is not languishing, true, but I started this shawl in September! I aim to complete it and wear it by November 1. That means blocking. Darnit.


- MS3. This one is definitely in time out. Am I scared of doing the center pattern? Why have I not at least completed Clue 4 on the second half of the symmetrical shawl? I need to wake up on this one. My goal is to do Clue 4 by November 1.


- Trellis. I tried again to get going on this, but it was NOT an airplane project. I need room, and the fact that I'm working it on size 8 metal needles isn't just unusual. It's loud. I think this is not a difficult project at all, but I need to just start the fronts fresh (and the second sleeve, too). I'm thinking this will be a good project for immediately after Seraphim- knock it out and be done!

- Super Secret Project - over half done already. Eeeeh, I don't know on this one. I think I'll try and work on it the last few days of the month. Shouldn't take too long!

- Hanami stole. It's so purty, so very very purty. And I just couldn't get into it. I'm not frogging, oh no, but this is going on hold until post-holidays.


- Empire Line Cardigan. I finished the back, cast on for one front... and just can't make the effort. I loved knitting the back! It was easy and fun! I think this one is waiting until January.

- Sampler baby afghan. This is not hard. It's fun to knit. It's cute and portable. And I just started to hate it! Most of the hate seems to be because I didn't check sizes while knitting (I'm knitting with a different gauge yarn than is called for, but that's no excuse for having two identical squares be different lengths). It's not going to the baby it was meant for. I'm going to suck it up and finish it, someday. I promise, on my honor I will try, to pick it up the next time I hear someone is pregnant. But not before.

- Broadripple socks. Cute, just haven't felt like sock knitting.

- Manly socks. Endless miles of simple stockinette. One's already done! One to go. This is a priority for November, since it's simple and I can knit it on the metro when I'm not TYPING.

- Purple lace scarf. I was going to give this as a holiday gift this year. I still might- it's to be worked on in December.


- Sand baby sweater. Just needs to be finished! Someday.


- Molly Ringwald. Almost half done. I'd like it finished by May.

- Pastel baby blanket. This one can languish for all I care. It's fun and easy, but too big for the metro. Even if I did start it last November.

- Peach cable baby sweater. Eeeh, next spring.

- Baby Owl sweater. Another sad little one. I forgot which needles I used for the back, which makes it a bit tricky to knit the fronts and sleeves! I may (gasp) frog the whole thing and try again. Don't tell anyone.

So in order of approximate priority:

By November 1-
Re-do the Pink Fuzz.
Knit, bind off, and block Seraphim.
Finish Clue 4 (again) on MS3.
Finish re-knitting Trellis.
Finish Super Secret Project (I'm ok with this one falling off the radar until December- but it IS part of Socktoberfest).

By December 1-
Finish the Pink Broadripple Socks!
Knit the second Manly Sock.

By December 25-
Knit the purple lace scarf.
Finish the Super Secret Project.
Also, knit a Chullo and Convertible Mittens. Woo!

I have ink!!!

Really. Four cartridges worth.

Sometimes it's the really small things that matter most. Off to knit holes in Seraphim, after a brief glance into the current state of things:

Seraphim herself:


A glimpse of the super-secret project:


Autumn Rose in all its kitted glory:


And a taste of vacation.
Epcot:


And my fantastic parents at a very autumnal Magic Kingdom:

A very knitty October, before a very wordy November

I have sold a whole bunch of skeins of yarn since Ravelry came out. This makes me happy. Sometimes I just get very freaked out by clutter and messiness. Looking at old pictures of my old apartments reminded me of how very much I need to get back to taking care of my things, and thus taking care of myself. It really is all connected- I need to move my body, eat a bit more worshipfully, tidy my living quarters, and shape up my reading and knitting queues. There are so many partially finished projects that it has begun giving me heartburn! Well, maybe.

My biggest heartburn, or at least heartache, is that I CANNOT knit Seraphim anymore. All the color printers are on the blink at work, and I am out of color ink at home (as I have been for months now)... which means I have no way of printing the charts. I finished the stockinette section this evening, and was raring to go when I realized that I can't read charts via computer screen. Apparently our intrepid heroine will be trekking to Best Buy in Tenleytown tomorrow- my favorite last-minute stop for necessities such as iPods (mine was broken!), headphones, and of course color ink. It's a PSC 1510xi All-in-One. That's my gentle reminder for tomorrow.

Besides continuing my love affair for Schaefer Anne and the Seraphim, which will be perfect metro knitting should I ever manage to print the pattern, I realized I have very little in the way of convenient portable knitting. I try to keep a few relatively simple projects on hand at all times for the metro- simple baby blanket squares, patterns with easy repeats, scarves and such. But right now, apparently everything on the needles is just too complicated. The super-secret holiday project is fairly portable, and the aran baby blanket would be fine if it weren't already a pretty hefty project. Maybe I should start a sock pattern? Unfortunately, all the socks I want to knit right now involve plain-colored Opal yarn in fantastically intricate cables. That defeats the purpose of portable!

What's a girl to do. Besides obsessively read Anne of Green Gables. I had forgotten how much I adore this book. I had forgotten how it made me laugh aloud, and weep copiously when I first read it in third grade. I thought maybe that was because I was a high-strung child. I know I've become more calm and rational in the intervening decade since I last read the books. But within a page I was laughing and tearing up. Oh, LM Montgomery, what a mighty tale you weave. My mother insists I was Anne-like from the beginning, so I didn't simply model my curiosity and wordiness and obsession with beauty on her alone. If I did not consciously mimic her, then we must simply be perfect kindred spirits. She was the first memorable heroine in my world, literary or real, and it is such a pleasure to revisit her now. I want to scream and shout at her that it will all turn out fine, that her optimism is anything but misplaced, that her imagination is natural and to be celebrated. Rereading Anne of Green Gables puts me in the mood to write, fast and furious, and peck out a real story of my own. I'd best get knitting, since it looks like I will be spending November in its accustomed novel-writing haze. Not much time for any other craft once I take up the quill, or in this case my baby laptop, and start on my goal of 2000 words a day. Maybe this year the tale will even be a bit more publishable. To my mother's eternal dismay I did not turn my young love for fantasy and dragons into becoming a JK Rowling, and I don't even write romance novels. I haven't written a memoir of my time in France, even if she did help me with a title. And explaining my job title to the non-computer set poses a bit of difficulty. I am thus somewhat of a failure of a writer daughter. Last November I attempted to rectify this- I ended up writing a lot of tripe, but it was enough to win NaNoWriMo by meeting the 50,000 word goal. Anyone with me for this year? Can we set down our pointy sticks long enough to create fiction? It's not too late to sign up...

Home sweet home

I went away for vacation, and all I got was a stinking cold. Or sinus infection. We'll see.

Buuut it was otherwise great fun. I'll surely update my Flickr soon with my (hundreds) of photos of fun with the parental unit. In knitting news, I completed over half of a super-secret holiday knitting project (so secret that you can't have a progress photo). But it's cute.

I cannot print out the lace charts for Seraphim until I buy color ink or go to work and print it there. So that didn't get to go with me on vacation. And I realized all my other projects weren't portable. C'est la vie!

My Autumn Rose yarn and book arrived while I was away. They are sitting on the floor in the living room, waiting for me to swatch. For the safety of all concerned, I'm waiting on that until my nasal passages clear up a bit- way too many nose bleeds for comfort in knitting! Nevermind that I probably can't handle fair isle with this cold...

Coming up in October (oh goodness, it *is* October!) is the Anne Knit-and-Read-Along. So! I need to decide what I'm knitting for that. And start reading the first two books. How exciting! Fall is the very best time of year.

FO!

Guess what I finished last night? Took me another 3 hours of finishing... that's about 6 hours total, just sewing/weaving/collar. Whew.



Now on to other things. Mostly Seraphim. When I was looking for a bag to put the sweater in for transportation, I located two Addi Naturas I didn't even remember buying. How sad is that? They are the needles I've been wanting to knit the baby fair isle sweater- it figures I already bought them. I'll probably work on that a bit this weekend, to ramp up for Autumn Rose.

Knitalong Happy

Seraphim continues apace- I've got 61 stitches in each of the stockinette pattern sections, which means I have only another trillion increase rows to go. Trillion may be putting it strongly. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, for essentially knitting stockinette fabric for most of the shawl.

Brian's sweater is so close to finishing I can taste it- I completed the sleeves, picked up and knit the neck, and sewed the sleeves to the body. I even wove in a bunch of ends. All that's left is to seam up the sleeves and the sides of the sweater, but that is apparently proving to be too much for me. After all, just the two small seams and the collar took me 3.5 hours. Did I mention this is a huge sweater? Maybe I'll go home and finish it tonight.

Or I could go to a new knitting group and work on Seraphim. Hmm!

In other knitty news, I have joined my third knitalong. MS3 is essentially over, though I have 3 more charts to complete before my shawl is actually done. Clue 4 has two charts, and then I have to do the inset piece to bind my two symmetrical sides together. My Autumn Rose fair isle can't get going until the yarn gets off backorder- presumably the 25th, and they will ship it after that. It's quite likely that the yarn will not arrive before I head out on vacation, so I will not be starting that until at least the second week of October. Then yesterday (care of Ravelry), I discovered the Anne of Green Gables Read and Knit Along and I'm in love. I truly adore LM Montgomery. I have all but the most recently printed couple of books- all lined up in a row of my bookshelf. The goal of the knitalong is to read two books a month, October through January. And knit something Anne-related while doing so. I'm suspecting I would like to knit a counterpane or a tablecloth. This is one nice resource for vintage patterns: the Antique Pattern Library. I could also just make some military-issue WWI era socks, but that's not the challenge I'm hoping for. I need to bear in mind that November is inside the KAL months, however, and I might not be knitting or reading a thing that month. If I decide to write another novel. I will probably try to read one of the books for that month in October and December, respectively. No worries.

Seraphim, apparently, is the right choice

OK, I couldn't hold out on the High Holy Day lace project.

First, I had seven dollars in my PayPal from selling some yarn. Seraphim pattern? Six dollars.

Second, I have two skeins of Schaefer Anne. Fingering weight wool blend, gorgeous. I was going to make a circular shawl (from a Schaefer pattern)- I even started it. And I just hated the pattern. It didn't seem clear, and it was bothering me.

Seraphim requires about 8 oz of fingering weight yarn. I have 2 skeins of the Anne- that's 8 ounces. Seraphim is pretty, and will look beautiful in a mildly variegated color scheme (which my Anne is).

Score. I wonder how far into the stockinette I can get, and still finish the second sweater sleeve this weekend? First sleeve? DONE!

I'll post a status photo at the end of today. For now, I think it's time to get some laundry going and cast on for this shawl. I even have the right size Addi Turbo lace needle, right with the yarn. It's bashert.

Sweater of doom

So. Brian is a nice guy. Fine coworker (sort of, we work rather tangentially together). But he's not tiny!



Front and back are complete. I'm just about done with the increases on the first arm. If I never see this denim bulky yarn again- it will be too soon. If I really bust my butt, I should be able to complete the sweater before I leave for Yom Kippur at the parents' place. So much for lace knitting; it's all sweater all the time around here.

My Autumn Rose won't even ship until after the 25th. I will survive, to be sure.

Apparently my sister has some good pictures that I had not yet snagged. First, knitting in action (Bobble Blue, as seen after her pinning ceremony):


My sister is a nurse now- so we have two RNs in the family. Like mother like daughter. I, however, am a knitter first and foremost. Here's proof!


Aren't we a cute little family.

I went to a new (to me) knit store recently- Knit Happens in Alexandria. It might have been on Rosh Hashana. At least I went to services first! I picked up a couple really cute things there, including Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport for the snowflake socks and two skeins of Rowan 4ply Soft for Endpaper Mitts. I think the yarn I was going to use for the socks (Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport) is instead going to become a Seraphim. Eventually.

Also at the store, I had my first Ravelry moment. You know you're overly web-enabled when you meet someone in a store, and only later realize you recognize them because you've been lusting after their FOs. I really need a knitted skirt, apparently!

Post Happy: the other stuff

In addition to the baby stuff going on around here, there has been a small amount of other progress. Not with holiday knitting, though. I am woefully behind, having not yet started.

I picked up the needles again for Brian's Behemoth Sweater. The back has been done for a while, so I'm trudging through the front in the hopes of getting it to him before the weather gets too cold. Here's the progress as of this morning- note the back is too big to fit in-frame, so I draped it over the bed:


It was noted at SSK yesterday that last year The Purloined Letter and I both worked on Adamas during the High Holy Days. Obviously, a new lace project is needed. The High Holy Day tradition must go on! I could finish the Mystery Stole 3 project... which is probably 70 percent complete... but I have to knit it at home, and that's frustrating. I could work on the Hanami shawl, but I just don't have it in me to do the basketweave lace pattern right now. I do have two good options!

First, I could knit the Butterfly dress- I have the book and yarn already. When better to knit it than now, in my (almost late) twenties. It's not the type of garment I envision wearing much past 30 odd. I linked to the KnitPicks page, since I purchased their yarn (in the green colorway, Tide Pool), and I envision doing it without beads. Beads are gorgeous, but I've read in numerous places that they make the project far too much of a hassle. Lace alone will do me!

My second option is to knit the Fiddlesticks Lily of the Valley Stole. Again, I have the pattern. I think it would be scrumptious in this yarn, which really is that bright:


I still have a few days to decide. Or I can chicken out and finish MS3. Or perhaps finish one of my numerous UFOs?!

Babies, Babies

There's been a lot of pregnancy going on. Not close to home, but in the family and friends arena. Let's recap my failure to actually complete a baby project... but first a review of the more successful baby gift ventures.

First up, the ginormous lavendar baby blanket. I prefer not to think how much time I spent on this. It was definitely over a year- maybe 18 months? Cry. It hasn't found a home yet. I should get a better detail picture- but imagine, if you will, lots of cables and lace in that purple blob.


Next, a blanket for my boss from last year. Cute! Aran! I love this pattern wholeheartedly.


And then a crocheted blanket for a coworker and his lovely wife- that was recent, it's in the archives.

Another blanket made a brief appearance. I love the yarn and like the patterns, but I think I'm afraid of the edging. It has been sitting lonely for quite some time now- I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 done with the squares now, and just need to get my butt in gear to finish it.


Meanwhile, I decided to make a bunch of other baby things. First up is another version of the Aran blanket. Well, after repeat 3 of this one I discovered I had been completely destroying one of the cable patterns. Let me say this again. I knit an entire afghan in this pattern. And 3 more repeats of another one. And only THEN do I realize that I was reading it incorrectly! Lucky for me, this yarn is so sparkly and funky that nobody except a fellow knitter would ever be able to tell. Mwahaha. Here's the latest project pic, more than 4 repeats in (thanks to my progress at SSK yesterday):


I also started a bunch of baby sweaters. First up (and finally photographed!) is the coral cabled sweater:

I finished the majority of the body, up to where one joins the sleeves. And somehow I cannot knit the sleeves. Here's an example of wacky laddering and icky shaping:

So I frogged the sleeve, and am back to just the body of the sweater. Two years later. But look, pretty cables!


Then there's the blue sweater. I started this for Scott's baby, and sadly I realized after knitting the two fronts that I had made them for a girl. This yarn screams baby boy. Oops! Here it lies yesterday evening, photographed for the first time- back done, two fronts done, one sleeve done, and one sleeve on the needles:

And after the frog pond, here's the current state of affairs:

But look! Cables!


There's also the Baby Owl sweater- I have completed the back (and only the back):

Progress?

I need to locate my camera, post-wedding, and get some pictures up. I never posted the blue sweater- probably just as well, since I need to rip out both (completed) fronts. Sigh. Frog pond, here I come!

I have completed three repeats of the pastel baby blanket, as originally seen here- so for now, imagine a little bit more than three of these:


On vacation I ended up not knitting as much as I anticipated. I still am on Chart 3 (for the second time) for my symmetrical stole. But that's progress, right?

My Autumn Rose sweater kit has not yet appeared in the mail- insane demand has apparently lead to the shop running out of yarn. No word on if it has been shipped yet- so I'll just wait patiently. And play with the baby blanket, which is like pastel crack.

In the absence of real knitting news, here are a few clips to amuse:
Avenue Jew
GMail on the move

Notes to self

I really want to knit the Autumn Rose with the knitalong I joined. And I will! But not yet. My budget has tanked. I think I should practice a little bit of fair isle first, anyways. Since I already have the yarn, I'm thinking baby sweater: you can see it on this page, it's the little fair isle cardigan with peach trim near the bottom of the page (shown with peach pantaloons). I'm actually almost done with the cabled sweater next to it, in a darker shade of peach, but for some reason I can't get the sleeves to work for me. Every time I try to knit them, I screw up the cables. For someone who loves cable barf (the more cables the better!) that is more than a little disheartening!

I have a new technique I want to investigate. I want to learn to double knit. Not in the sense of knitting really thick scarves (I can already do that!), but in the sense of knitting two things at the same time. Like two socks... at once. I am talking about extreme knitting here. Kory Stamper has an excellent article about it from Knitty, Fall 2006- I really have to try it with some self-striping yarn. I want to try plain stockinette socks, so this would be a great time to use some Opal I have in stash, like this

or this

I don't just dream in color, I dream in fair isle. Don't you?

Oh, what an exciting Monday. I am not sure I can make this coherent, because it is all just too exciting.

First, I get quoted on DCist for my review of Firefly- the DC restaurant, not the TV series... though I do love both wholeheartedly. I love DCist because it tells me when and where to go, what I need to know about my fair city, etc. Also it hooks me up with events like seeing Jasper Fforde in person (so funny!) and on Friday, William frikkin Gibson! Cyberpunk FTW! That's assuming I don't check out one of the restaurants that has extended Restaurant Week, or head over to CityZen with a coworker for their astonishingly almost-inexpensive 3-course tasting meal- there are so many choices. I love DC!

I also love DCist because it brings random people to my blog, who are then exposed to knitting content. Hello, random people...

Right. That was a good start to a Monday. But then it got even better- some local knit ladies have started a knitalong for Eunny Jang's gorgeous sweater, Autumn Rose. It is a stunning fair isle sweater that, frankly, I have coveted since I first saw it on her blog. It isn't just fair isle. It's fair isle for a modern figure. It scoops, it flatters, it curves, it would look just as good on a busty thing like me as on a little waify girl... what I'm saying is that it is HOT. You can check out some photos in the Simply Shetland 4 book, at Simply Shetland. I really have to knit this sweater; it's just the perfect fair isle. So let's forget about that Philosopher's Wool beauty I have sitting balled up and ready to go. And that baby sweater that was going to be my first fair isle project. And the trillion projects I have going right now. I simply *must* knit and wear that sweater this winter.

That is perhaps a bit dramatic. But it would definitely give me more street cred in the office as an accomplished knitter! It's not just that the sweater is amazing- but I get to be part of this In Love With Autumn Rose knitalong! Since I should have my MS3 done very shortly, I'm feeling ready to get the yarn for this sucker and cast on, leaving my holiday gift knitting plans in its wake.

Now, we all know it won't happen that way. I'll manage to create a bunch of gifts. I will probably even compete in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this November. But somehow, I will manage to do this knitalong, and I will hopefully end up with a gorgeous Autumn Rose of my very own. I'm giving myself two weeks to finish MS3 and at least one gift, before I can buy the yarn. But then it will be September- what an excellent birthday gift for myself! Mm, yarn. Mm, sexy fair isle. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Oh, did I mention that I saw Casablanca on the National Mall tonight? A perfect evening, perfect weather, and a perfect movie, marred only by not knitting (I didn't want to fade the yarn in the sunlight). Let me say it again- I love DC.

On why I knit

First, MS3 Clue 1 is complete (again). Before I get back to the Empire Cardigan or do some real work, I had a few thoughts this weekend on why I knit.

I like what I do for work, but it is essentially a means to support my life. I happen to have a job I enjoy doing 40 hours a week, but I'd have to do something to pay rent whether or not I liked it. So work is a necessity.

Outside of work, a lot of my life is based on other people. Not in the altruistic sense so much as in the realistic sense- I choose activities that will allow me to spend time with my friends, which means I often choose to do things that I enjoy well enough, but may not be my favorite activity. In college that meant watching a lot of Grand Theft Auto at my friends' suite in the dorms. In grad school it was a mix of necessity (grading, writing, reading) and activities I could do with friends (going out for drinks, getting together at Barnes and Noble to grade, late night runs to Steak 'n Shake). Now that I am all grown up, or closer to it, I still end up choosing to do things quite a bit of the time based on other people's interests, and joining them in what they enjoy doing. I get sucked into video games because my friends play, or pick up my guitar again because I hang out with friends who play more consistently. I read more when I hang out with readers (not that I ever really stop reading). Their hobbies remind me of my old hobbies, and I pick them up again for a bit.

Knitting isn't like that. Admittedly, I attend a few knitting groups. More of them when I first moved out here and didn't have a large network for companionship, but I still go to them now when I can. But mainly knitting is a personal choice. It's what I do for me- because I love it. I can spend an entire weekend doing nothing but knitting and occasionally surfing the web or cooking dinner. I knitted all through my cruise last December, and all through grad school when I wasn't actually working or hanging out with my pals. And sometimes when I was hanging out with pals. I'm not sure why I keep thinking about this today, but I suppose it's just a realization of how much it means to me to have this hobby. To be in a way connected to a huge collective of knitters worldwide, of all generations and geography and skill levels. And more importantly, to have something for myself that is completely independent of other people, of responsibilities. I choose to knit for others because I hope that something I knit will make someone else happy. But mostly I knit, whether for myself or for gifts, because I would do it anyways. The act of wrapping string around two needles and creating fabric is mesmerizing and beautiful and simple and infinitely creative. It makes me calmer, happier, and more at peace with myself.

I do almost everything in my life because of what I must do, or because other people expose me to it- knitting is a personal victory. People can laugh at my yarn stash, or roll their eyes at my handknitted sweaters and socks. I just ignore them- I am warmer and and more human because I am a knitter. I am many things- a girl, a Jew, an American, a francophile, a displaced New Hampshirite, a Marylander, a geek, a reader and writer and lover. How odd that above all these things, I identify by my craft. That a clumsy and wacky person like me can manage to create beautiful things out of simple materials will never cease to astonish me. That is why I knit.

Weekending

Apparently my aunt and uncle have begun reading this blog... hello! Mom said you submitted comments, but I never saw them. FYI! But welcome! For my other blog readers, I feel obligated to tell you that my Mom and her sister are possibly the greatest living crafters I know. I am awed and humbled by their speed and finesse, at everything from sewing to quilting to knitting and bear-making- and probably every other craft under the sun. I'm hoping I'll catch up to their skill level in a few decades!

It's been a pretty solid week for knitting. I'm just inches away from finishing the back of my Empire Cardigan, which I hope to complete this weekend. And I finally decided what to do with MS3. I just can't imagine myself ever wearing it with a wing- though that is sure to be interesting, it's simply not me. No worries! I cut the yarn at the appropriate point in Clue 4 (the mandatory lifeline), and started the whole thing over again tonight. I'll work the same charts, Clue 1 through Clue 4 at the lifeline, and graft the two ends together. Voila, symmetrical and beautiful shawl. I'm happy with this decision. The "secret" part of the pattern that will come out in the finished for-purchase pattern is a stole with two wings- now *that* I could consider making. I am certainly buying the pattern anyways, in support of Melanie, so I will probably work on that sometime next year.

In the meantime, I've been thinking gifts, especially holiday gifts. As soon as I finish the back of the cardigan, I am going to cast on for a few of them. I don't want to spoil any surprises, but thus far the list includes some socks, some hobo glove/mittens, a baby hat, etcetc. All the yarn is ready to go, I just need to get knitting!

I also really need to try quilting again. I don't mind it- and I loved doing the piecing. But so far I am definitely not in the groove of hand quilting, so everytime I think "hmm, I should finish that wedding gift..." I pull out some yarn. C'est la vie.

I thought about going to see my friends' band Fools & Horses tonight, but the lure of knitting was too strong. Also, I don't like driving all the way to Annapolis by myself. Nevertheless, my room is clean, I have a few more Buffy episodes to watch, and I aim to finish Clue 1 (the second time) tonight. I'd best get back to my "exciting weekend" so I can do a few hours for work tomorrow in between projects. Hopefully we'll get some good in-progress or even Finished Object pictures by mid-week next week!

Fun with Flickr

Blogger needs to save faster. I hate losing entries. Cry!

I left work early today so I could pick up my bridesmaid dress- hurrah. I also wanted to head to WoolWinders to get more details on the class I'll be teaching this fall- Absolute Beginners. I'm so excited to teach in a more formal setting! I hope it goes really well- surely it will.

While I was up at WoolWinders, I managed to get a bit of knitting done. Evidence! Ignore that it looks completely gray- I swear it's a green sweater:


I also picked up a few skeins of yarn for gifts. I have most everything I need for holiday gift materials, but I was missing a few key things. This is it, so far:



And a little gift for someone special- it's a tape measure! Did you know I grew up on Ladybug Lane?


Pretty productive day. I can't believe Sharyn's wedding is so soon! For that matter, I can't believe I'll be on vacation the week after next. I think that I will need to bring a very large suitcase- just for the yarn.

I also had a bit of fun with Flickr today, investigating the contents of my purse. Maybe that's not exciting to everyone, but I found it a bit enlightening. You surely can tell a lot about a person by what they tote around with them day in, day out. I suspect most people don't have this variety- but then, I spend at least an hour and a half commuting by metro every day. That's a lot of knitting and reading time!

Toe Ups

I've been feeling less bloggy lately (ooh, yet another bad use of the word blog). This is mainly because I have been sucked into the world of Ravelry. I'm loving the community aspects already, and of course nothing is cuter than seeing loads of photos of your projects, stash, everything- all neatly organized.

My stash doesn't seem so daunting compared to some I've seen on there- though I must note that so far only my sock yarns and laceweight yarns have been fully documented. Looking at those, even as a fraction of my total yarn, has very much inspired me to GET RID OF IT. And by get rid of, I mean knit things. Not give away, that's cheating.

Currently, I'm completely obsessed with the Empire Cardigan from Debbie Bliss. No recent pictures, so no visual representation here. Let's just say I'm already past the armholes on the back, with a nice straight easy section ahead of me. I hope to complete the back this week. The only difficulty with that is that I'm also still on Clue 4 for MS3- which makes me a week behind!

Ah, MS3. The theme has been revealed- as Swan Lake. Frankly, that's what I figured from the beginning. I'm less than keen about the idea of knitting a wing, however. The last time I wore wings, they were part of my cosplay costume and I was accosted in Baltimore by someone who decided they would like the pretty wings and tried to forcibly remove them from my body. Not the greatest experience. I realize this is altogether different- one wing, and more an impression of a wing to boot. But I'm feeling that if I just knit the symmetrical stole, it would be something I'd be much more likely to wear. To bring to work, and throw around my shoulders, and wear with pretty garments and even in Bloomington for the rehearsal dinner, etc, since I could probably finish it by then. This is still a choice- I'm only just up to the lifeline point, and therefore can decide either way without ripping back any rows. There is a part of me, however, that wants to do this mystery thing right and actually do what it says. A knitted wing- why not? It would be pretty stellar to wear at a certain holiday party for knitters later this year. But I have to think about this some more.

Anyways, once I get over the stellar excitement of knitting the gray-green lace and cable alpaca silk blob (mm alpaca SHEDS, and yet I love it extremely)... I am ready for something new and exciting. I want some toe-up socks. I haven't knit a pair of toe-ups yet, though I believe someone in the Sock It To Me group in Bloomington showed me how to cast on using the figure-8 magic loop cast-on. Then Wendy pointed out this nifty site, and I decided it's worth a try: Judy's Magic Cast On. See, I have this leftover yarn, Schaefer Anne, in a random and impossible colorway that looks like Flames:

And I suspect that although it may not be enough for two full socks, I could at the minimum get ankle socks out of it. So how would one go about that- knitting socks without dangerously running out of yarn, since it's stash yarn leftover from a pair of men's mittens and there is no more to be found... oh yes!
Toe up socks. Both knit at once. Using the magic loop method, with this Magic cast on. Voila- a star is born. I think I'm going to make up the pattern, too. Can our intrepid knitter actually manage this? Will the socks ever be completed? We'll see... I'm envisioning wearing them with my clogs all fall...

I'm also supposed to be quilting. Somehow that project got out of circulation. Here's hoping for a productive week ahead, hmm?

Stash of Doom

I knew my stash was getting out of hand. I could feel it creeping out of its cubby holes and baskets and into the fabric of my life. And not just in the form of UFO's, oh no! So I went on a photo tour today. It was terrifying. I'm starting to put stuff up on Ravelry, but in the meantime, here's a taste of the "before photos" and why I need to seriously finish some things!

First up is the Wall of Stash:

Sure, this may not look so bad. There are books in there! There are cubes of fabric, and even a cube of toiletries chilling out there because there isn't room in the bathroom. But consider the layers of yarn in each cubicle. Consider the massive amounts of it hidden in nooks and crannies. Imagine turning around and seeing a lot more of it.

(it looks innocuous from the bed, until you sneak a peek beneath the quilts and pillows and reveal another huge stash pile!)

For shame, it's taking up random floor space at the foot of my bed (disregard the fact that obviously yarn clutter isn't my only issue right now):


Oops, other side, too (quilting crap AND lots of yarn and random projects, oh boy!):


It's amazing I ever find what I need.

Now imagine taking a tour of the living room, and finding yet another big basket (all fair isle!) and 3 small ones. Oh jeez. I didn't tackle it completely, but I did pull out most of the UFOs that are not currently in my project bag:


Funny thing- that pile of white yarny things is 32 out of 61 hexagons for an afghan I was going to make for charity. I think I used some of the yarn for other things (teaching, most likely), but I should probably finish the thing and give it away. I was working on it in Rockville, and would love to get it out of my life before I move again. Whenever that is. For that matter, I would like to get rid of a good percentage of this yarn before I move again- I may need to destash. More likely, I need to finish projects. Yay.

And I reorganized the baskets. Slightly less gorgeous sock yarn is in a plastic bag in the cubicles, but the pretty stuff and all the lace got basket space:


That's definitely enough for tonight. My goals??
- finish MS3 Clue 4 (probably could do it Wednesday night, in preparation for the clue Friday)
- work on the cardigan (because I know darn well I'm going to whether it's on the list or not- that alpaca silk is like crack!)
- do at least 2 baby blanket squares... and another 2 on Saturday!! Zoom zoom!
- give the crocheted baby blanket away, to get it out of the house. Also because the baby is due soon. Hurray!
- finish the first Pink Broadripple sock- I have visions of wearing them this fall with my clogs and want them DONE.
- clean my room (well, obviously- you've seen the evidence)

Hopefully I'll get to Clue 5 this weekend, but I'm ok if I can't because I'm finishing the back of the sweater. Can I really get that far this weekend?? Anything is possible, I don't have much in the way of plans...

EDIT:: Roommate wants me to note that in fact, there are 3 baskets in the living room. They're inside the coffee table. So mostly hidden in plain sight... I'm all over it, Martha! In fact, Roommate pointed out that I could have had a perfectly lovely Ethan Allen coffee table, with two matching couchside tables, but I turned them down. Because I would have to give up my storage cubbies in the cheap Ikea table. Dumdeedum!

Wacky Week

I have not accomplished much crafting lately. This is for a few reasons- mostly I've been working like crazy, and in the evenings I've been a busy busy bee. Here's a taste:
Saturday night to Sunday afternoon: Harry Potter, of course.
Sunday evening: Cooked dinner for Mom and Roommate.
Monday evening: Finished the crocheted baby blanket (OK, so I did a little crafting).
Tuesday evening: Bethesda Restaurant Week- I went with a group to Rock Creek, which was delicious.
Wednesday evening: Went to a signing by Jasper Fforde, who is amazing and funny and he stamped as well as signed my copy of "Thursday Next, First Among Sequels"
And coming up?
Thursday evening: Transformers with a fellow UMBC alum.
Friday evening: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, at Woolly Mammoth (I couldn't resist the cheap Goldstar tickets).
Saturday evening: Gallathea (really?? Gallathea on-stage? So excited).
If you extend it out a bit further, my Crafts Cluster is meeting Sunday afternoon in Virginia, and I'm going to see a sneak preview of The Ten on Monday night. Whew!

That's a total of two fancy dinners, one book signing, two Fringe Festival plays, and a pop culture movie. Not bad! On the craft front, however, there has been slow progress. I really have been working on the MS3- I am about a quarter of the way through Clue 4 (so halfway through the first chart). That's slow going since I can't knit it on the metro. Then I did finish the crocheted Victory V baby blanket:

The edge, which shows off the Victory V's:

I'd love to say I used a pattern, but it's crochet. Easy peasy. This is TLC Baby, so a sport weight yarn- I crocheted a chain that was something long. And then I did the V stitch. And when it was about square in size (it's actually pretty ginormous, in the end), I did one round of double crochet in blue. I tried single crochet and two rounds of double, and double then single- I liked the cleanness of this version best. I rather miss crocheting- it's so quick, satisfying, and eminently easy. I have to pay attention when I knit. Well, I tend to knit lace and cables and things that require counting. It was a real treat to just zoom through an easy stitch pattern that required no counting and no real effort. It was perfect for watching more interesting TV- Roommate and I are watching Lost, and there's no way I can knit MS3 while watching that!

Ahem. I also cast on for a new sweater. I am knitting it as pictured, right down to the Alpaca Silk DK and the colorway. Because I love it.

A key feature is that you run the empire-waist creating ribbon below the bust, through the eyelets of the lace pattern. This means that I can make an empire waisted top without having to worry about altering, modification, etc. I think it will be quite flattering, and completely appropriate for work. It will also be warm, which is key in my overly-A/Ced environment. Only one small issue- alpaca sheds like crazy. Aaah well.

As if that weren't enough, when you add in slogging on the baby afghan for mid-August, I also have been doing some socks. Here's one, now ready for me to turn the heel on the metro:

The yarn is Cascade Fixation, and I'm knitting the Broadripple Socks again. Note the fantastic Lantern Moon tiny DPNs- they make me much faster. Not as fast as Magic Loop, but sometimes you don't feel like playing with Addis.

Time's fun when you're eating flies

So, this Mystery Stole. I'm getting a bit worried. I finished Clue 3 last night (horror of horrors, it took me more than just the weekend). I blame this on the obsessive kitty hat making, but I did get seven of the little suckers off to Gaia to sell at Otakon. She had three already, so ten total isn't quite such a sad inventory. I need to try selling them on Etsy, but only after my hands recover from all the acrylic.

So I finished the third clue last night, well maybe 12:30 this morning. Tuesday night... that's a new low. Most of the knitting was done at Columbia Mall before the Decemberists show at Merriweather- I scared a few of the kids hanging out by the "water feature" I think. The rest of it was on the couch while watching America's Got Talent. I hate to say it America, but I'm not so sure about that Talent label.

I probably would have completed it faster, except for the baby blankets I'm working on. Funny how I continue along with my knitting life, completely blase, until the moment I realize I have less than a month to finish two blankets that I started ... 3-6 months ago. I anticipate that the crocheted blanket will be 100 (long) rows, and I'm on 64 as of this morning. Amazing how much you can complete while waiting for the cable guy to show up. The knitted baby blanket will probably be 30 squares, and I've completed 10. So that's some progress, at least.

I'm scared about the next clue for the stole. Instead of 50 rows, we have well over 100. Also, Melanie suggests strongly that we use a lifeline in Row 287. I hate lifelines. They offend me. But if the designer is telling us to suck it up and use one, in this particular row, so be it. I have this sinking feeling this is going all multi-directional or something. I have trust in her that it will come out lovely, but I admit that I'm less in love with it after 1/3 of the stole than I was in the first clue. I still love the intricate border, though, so maybe I'll be able to regain my initial admiration somewhere in Clue 4 or 5...

What I did over my summer vacation...

A little trip in pictures. If you will recall, we last left our intrepid knitter just home from Mom and Dad's. Forget R&R, this was a working break! Here's the evidence:

Posing with a work in progress:


Pieced apples:


Messy work in progress (I love my mother's sewing table. Oh yes I do):


Finished but for the quilting:


I also received my snazzy bag from the Craft Exchange right before I left. The outside:


And print interior/alternate exterior:


And not to be biased, but my favorite project of all?? The Mystery Stole 3, Clue 2 completed about a half hour ago:


Hurray for pretty projects. Did I mention the four kitty hats that need ears? And the charity scarf that needs to be completely redone by Saturday? I'm getting there. I would have been significantly more productive if I hadn't had a stomach bug today, but that didn't keep me from knitting this week's MS3 clue. I did have to rip out three rows, however, since I evidently lost my place while losing my cookies. I'm not sure which bothered me more.

Next post: I take on quilting, the actual hand quilting part, and see how many kitty hats I can knock out in short order. Here's my first kitty hat, back in Bloomington, when I decided it was almost as fun to leave the ends out and go Fraggle Rock:
(Care of Yahoo Photos, which has conveniently sent all sorts of old photos I'd forgotten about into my Flickr account!)

Quilting Lessons

I took a very long bridge-the-gap weekend. Wednesday I had off for the fourth, and by taking Th/Fri off I get a 5 day weekend. Nice! I spent the majority of it learning how to quilt and making a wall hanging.

Yes, there will be pictures. But not quite yet.

This weekend I knit 4 kitty hats (rather, four bases, but not the ears yet). Also 6 or 7 rows of the Mystery Stole, which is a piddly number but I have a whole day tomorrow to work on them. I also knit another bit of a square for the baby afghan.

Much more importantly, I finished a wall hanging to give as a wedding present to a very old friend of mine getting married in two weeks. By finished, I mean I completed the piecing, got the backing on, and my mom was sweet enough to baste it and add the binding. All that's left is to quilt the sucker! Mom taught me the basics, and my stitches were looking almost acceptable on our practice placemat after a few hours, so hopefully another couple hours to practice and I'll be able to whip through and mail the finished project off. I also learned some neat tricks for making squares of two fabrics on the diagonal, without cutting triangles. I hate cutting triangles, so that was a godsend. This got put into use for another quilt project, which is super secret for now.

I also received my craft exchange project from Dallas's exchange group- crafted by the ever amazing and talented Dallas herself. Again, I have pictures to post later, but it is the cutest thing ever! Adorable bag, exactly the perfect shape to use as a purse and stick a small knitting project inside. It fits exactly under my arm, so I don't need to worry about things falling out. It has a cute little rosette flower attached (in hot pink, of course). Best of all? The whole thing is reversible!! I can do sophistocated black, or an amazingly cute and bright swirly print, a bit Pucci-esque. I love it! In fact, I'm already using it as my purse. I went with black for my night on the town tonight, but I suspect that print is going to get a fair bit of use this summer.

One more day of freedom. By next weekend I hope to have a bunch of kitty hats done, and to have completed the second MS3 clue. Here's hoping! Otakon is almost here... so I definitely need to get cracking on those hats, if I ever want to make back the yarn costs...