Yay a post!

I finished a thing and I thought I'd share it with you.

This is a baby blanket for an expecting friend. The pattern is Cozy Luxe Baby Throw by Lion Brand done in Hoetown USA bulky yarn also by Lion Brand. It was a great pattern, easy and quick. I messed up a few times here or there, but that's more from me watching Firefly than from a difficult pattern.

I also finished a pair of socks but they're plain with self-striping yarn and pretty boring in terms of knitterly interest so I haven't taken any pictures. I still haven't done the second red string of fate sock, but I started another pair with the same pattern in a whale blue/gray for my mom's upcoming birthday so maybe I'll post pictures of those once they're done. I haven't touched my improvised sweater for a while because the next part involves seaming and joining and sleeves and I just don't wanna. I've finished both fronts and the back though.

*what follows is a sob story so if you don't want to read skip down to the bolded statement*

I haven't been knitting a whole lot lately because  my hands and wrists constantly hurt. They have for a couple of months now. I went to a walk-in clinic and they tested me for arthritis, which thankfully I don't have, but they don't do any follow ups so I've got to go to my primary care physician, about a 3 hour drive away since I didn't switch when I moved. I don't think it's anything serious but for now I've been trying to take it easy. Of course I can't quit knitting altogether because I'll go insane and start stabbing people with my knitting needles but I really only get about an hour in a day in little ten minute intervals.

Sob story over

Anyway, I'm gonna try to update as I finish things, rather than on a set schedule, so if I don't post for a while it's because I don't have anything finished.

Red String of Fate...

That's what I'm calling this little project:

I've also got a headband I'm working on for a NS's birthday (that I missed cause I'm a horrible friend), and an afghan just like DM's but in Tardis blue for me. I've got a few other projects started and abandoned. I can't settle.

Things in my personal life have been seriously crappy lately, especially today, but I've set aside this day to be self-indulgent and drink tea and watch Avengers so everything should be good.

Finals

It's finals week here, and I've been working on a few different school projects. Sorry about the long time between posts.

I have two FO's to talk about since I last posted.
First, Platypus socks:

These were completed the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, which was fortunate since my family took vacation in Virginia with friends and it was COLD.

While I was there I meant to work on some lace socks and a scrap afghan, but I also started a hat for myself using one of the balls of acrylic for the afghan. I think it turned out great:

I did actually work on the lace socks:

and the ripple afghan:

But neither are finished. The afghan probably won't be finished for some time. I think I might have to buy yarn to finish it, which is the exact opposite of my goal. And it wasn't meant to have a pattern at all, because that causes problems when I start to run out of yarn, but I accidentally started one. I really don't know with this one. And there are so many ends to deal with...

As for NaKnitMo, I finished my goal about halfway through the month, which made me eligible for a prize drawing. And I won! That never happens to me. I won two mini-skeins of 100% silk yarn in yellow and a multi of orange, yellow and pink. It should come in the mail soon and I can take photos then.

I still have two Christmas projects to complete as well. A toy for baby Benji, and something for my friend Jodi, but I haven't come up with anything yet.

National Knitting Month

Today I have classes and a proposal essay to write in between with whatever free time I can spare, but I'm procrastinating cause I don't wanna. (Can you hear the whiny tone to that?) Actually, my first professor cancelled class after giving us candy and bonus points for showing up today, because it's Halloween and she didn't have a voice to lecture with so I have a little bit of extra time and I thought I'd update the blog. 

I have no new projects to share, but I was excited to announce that I'm gonna participate in National Knitting Month (NaKnitMo). I actually really wanted to participate in National Novel Writer's Month, but I realized I'd be sidetracked by my knitting, and I really do have to get DM's afghan done. (It's just shy of 90%, with only 2 pattern repeats left, and the 8 row moss stitch border). Anyway, I decided to look and see if there was a knitting equivalent for NaNoWriMo, and there was! I joined a Ravelry group for it, and pledged to do 30,000 stitches in the next month, beginning tomorrow. That's about 1,000 stitches a day, which is about 3 rows on the afghan. I've been known to do 9 or ten in a day, so I knew I could manage the number of stitches. I was worried about what I would do when I finished the afghan, because I know that at that rate, I would be done in less than 2 weeks, and probably sooner because I'm an overachiever when I want to be, so I committed to actually start Juliana once it was done (using the yarn frogged from the Owl Sweater).

My overall plan for this challenge is this:

• Knit 30,000 stitches for the month
• Finish DM's afghan, using it to complete a part of the challenge
• Work on Platypus socks at school, making sure to keep track of the number of stitches knit for those as well, because I'm not sure at-home knitting will make the cut.
• Finish up my stitch count with the Juliana sweater, hopefully getting a large percentage of that project done so I might be able to use it while it's still cold.

I've decided to get Benji's teddy bear done next month unless I finish the challenge early. Because it isn't a knitting project, I doubt my ability to actually count the stitches and I actually really hate crocheting toys (sorry to you amigurumi lovers, but I suck hard core at it) so I'm putting it off until I absolutely have to do it.

Anyway, that's pretty much it. And since this post looks really boring without a picture, let me give you this:

That's my arm where mom and I played hangman while waiting in line for early voting. In our defense, we aren't actually crazy, we were just really bored and we only had a pen to entertain ourselves (I had only brought DM's afghan to knit, which I couldn't very well do in front of her). 

I haven't really got a clever name for this post

I have an FO to showcase:

I've finished DS's Harry Potter Hufflepuff bag. I'm entirely not happy with it, and I've already told her that if she doesn't like it, I'll make her some socks or something. The tension on the checkerboarded part is horrible, the yarns weren't the same weight and it definitely shows.I am happy with the lining though. It took me a couple of hours, and there was a day where I started it and had to completely pull out all the stitching because I didn't have any pins to keep the fabric lined up straight (yes, I sew by hand, I really need to learn how to use the machine I've got cause I've apparently lost all talent for the seamstress thing since those costumes for Drama Club in high school). Today I went digging around in the boxes and finally found my sewing kit, and voila, pins! Anyway, there's that.

I've also got a go-to-school project since the only other Christmas projects are an afghan (which is too big to take with me) and a crochet bear (which is too fiddly to take with me- don't start with me, I know it's only crochet but those amigurumi things throw me for a loop, no pun intended, every time). So I started a pair of socks with the yarn from my Georgia vacation, which comes with a coordinating color for the heels and toes:

 I'm doing an afterthought heel on these because they're for me and I like the look of the afterthought heel better than my short-row heels. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but mine don't look as tidy as they should. The colors remind me of Perry the Platypus, thus the Ravelry name. It astounds me how much I've gotten done just at school. Well, there was that movie I watched with mom and I couldn't work on her afghan, but mostly this is just what I've gotten done in the last two weeks of school. I blame Astronomy lectures and poor scheduling which caused about 2 hours worth of gap time between classes.

Mostly, my life lately has been this monstrosity:

It's about 75% done, and has only about 4.75 pattern repeats before the moss stitch border. It looks like it'll be wide, but not that long, which is good for mom cause she's short but she likes to wrap blankets around her shoulders. I'm hoping it'll be finished by the end of the month, but it might spill over into November. Regardless, I've got plenty of time,  which is really nice. I still haven't looked into what I'm working on next but I really should. I fear startitis, but I think I've ever really had a problem with it.

Frogged

It's been waaaaaay too long since I've posted. The beginning of a new school year has been a little annoying, despite being pretty easy (gen ed courses are all retarded) and I've been in the process of moving in and unpacking all of my things (which all fit nicely into my closet). This, of course, is made all the more difficult because I can't move any furniture into my room until the floors are re-done. The wood has to be chemically sanded and re-varnished due to the damage done by the previous tenants.
I did get the opportunity to locate all of my yarn, which is a pitiful stash, let me tell you. I have a filing box full of acrylic nastyness, which is destined to become another stupid crochet chevron blanket- I really thought I had gotten rid of all of the leftover Red Heart crap, but I guess not. I don't actually mind acrylic yarn, though. Being a relatively poor person and a college student has made it difficult to be picky about my yarn, and I have a deep and abiding affection for Caron Simply Soft because of it's sheen and rich colors. In fact, that's what DM's afghan is made of. I just don't like Red Heart, I guess.
I also had a milk crate filled with WIPs, excluding DM's afghan and all of the materials for the Tardis socks, which I have re-started. In that bin, I found my Harry Potter scarf, (so close to being finished that it's laughable), and my Owl Sweater.
Thursday I spent the day working on DM's afghan and making these two lovely Christmas gifts:

They are a modified version of the Chain Loop Circle Scarf. I just chained until I got the right length using my yarn and preferred hook. They look really cool, despite being just about the simplest and quickest FO's I've ever made.
 I had classes on Friday, and I spent the evening at NB's apartment about an hour and half's drive away. I sometimes wonder if I'm a dim person (lightbulb not on and all) or if I'm just really absent-minded. I forgot my knitting, and so lost a lot of time I could have been working on it. Luckily though, I was prepared for this eventuality, since it has happened more than once. After that, I decided I needed to keep an emergency project at NB's place, so I gave her the second skein of the yarn I used for DS's birthday hat and an extra hook so that I could make another. I got about 80% of the hat done while I was there, so I guess I should remember to pack more emergency yarn to keep at her apartment.
Saturday morning I visited NS at her new apartment, which happens to be in the same city as NB's since they both attend the same school. We hung out for a bit and I headed home.  Once there, I went about doing some more organizing (I think that job has made me a bit OCD- about every 10 minutes I had to walk around and straighten chairs or clean tables or sweep or mop or clear off counters or clean up toys). When I encountered my Owl Sweater I decided it was high time to frog it. I like the yarn a lot, and I was never going to actually be able to fix the problem with the sweater. So I spent the night frogging and reskeining, and came up with this:

I think I'll be able to make a nice cardigan out of it, owing to the fact that my sweater was about 3 times too big from the collar up, and about 4 inches too long. The yarn is Cuddle by Jo Ann sensations, in Lt Green. It's DK weight and it will make a lovely cardigan one day. When Christmas knitting is over.

I did restart the Tardis socks, but DM and I don't spend too much time together, so I've mostly been working on her afghan and my homework. The first sock still looks like this:

The day before I moved, I took one last trip to the LYS and bought a second skein of this yarn so that I would be able to make another pair of Tardis socks once I finished this one.

DM's afghan is over halfway done, so as promised here's a picture:

It really looks a lot prettier than that, but there's only so much that can be done with a camera phone.  The afghan is wider than a standard twin bed, but that's good because DM likes big afghans.

Checked

So my idiotic self decided I didn't need to check the fit on the Tardis socks because I'd done a gauge swatch before I started. I didn't really deem it necessary to try on the WIP until this point:

where I determined that my first foray into intarsia didn't go very well and my tension was off, and the socks were so tight around my ankle/calf that my foot went numb. The lettering is almost unreadable and the sock itself is definitely unwearable. I think part of the problem is that the white yarn was mystery stash yarn and was a bit thicker than the black and the Tardis blue yarn that it was contrasting. That meant that the spaces between white letters were way too small to be noticeable. And to give myself some credit, it was my first try with intarsia and I thought it looked great...when I wasn't wearing it.

In other knitting news, I've done 6 pattern repeats on DM's lacy throw (and my nerdy self calculated that this is exactly 29.54% complete). It still looks pretty much the same though, so I think I'll post another photo at the halfway point. It's coming along nicely- it isn't taking nearly as long as I thought it would.

I also started a pair of plain stockinette socks for Chris for Christmas (try saying that 3 times fast). The yarn came from Tuesday Morning of all places. I had heard they sold good yarn, but when I went in to check I walked every aisle and didn't see any at all. Then I wandered in with DM looking for something entirely different and the yarn just materialized in front of me like magic. And it was all awesome. Anyway, it's Wisdom Yarns Marathon Socks Phoenix (I think they specify the city in which the colorway was dyed) in the colorway Salt River. And it really does look like a salt river when knit, check it out:

I also picked up some more Marathon Socks, this time dyed in the Twin Cities I guess, for Jeff, Chris's husband:

He'll also be receiving a pair of plain stockinette socks. One day, when I haven't got quite so many gifts to give, I will make a pair of patterned socks in the two-at-a-time toe-up method. I'll also make myself a Haapsalu shawl, or maybe try Ravelry's Queen Susan shawl. One day, you know when pigs fly and all my dreams come true and they finally come up with fat free cheesecake that doesn't taste like crap.

I tested out some turmeric dyeing for Erin's bolero and the smell seeped through NB's entire house (she and I collaborated on this experiment). Here are some photos:

Not my favorite color, but definitely Erin's, so it'll do. I'm planning on dyeing the other skein as part of the hand dyeing competition in the Ravellenic Games, then entering the bolero as part of the sweater competition. Maybe I'll do a pair of socks as well, but that might be overstretching my abilities.

Promised

Pictures as promised:

 This is really overdue, but this is the best FO photo I have for Erin's Owl Socks. I think the color, combined with the fierce Florida sun made it insanely difficult to get a good picture of the stupid things.

 Obviously the last four are of the same object. That's DM's afghan, and the paperclips indicate the number of pattern repeats, which at most recent count numbered 5 and 1/4.

This is my FO of the day. Crochet hat for Stevie. Finally, a finished Christmas present! Born of the spark of inspiration created by my last post, this will go directly into the Christmas box. When I find a good place to store said box of course. There isn't room at NS's and the rain keeps making its way into my car and destroying or moldering my possessions. And that's enough about my personal life for one post.

Vacationed

So this week is my family vacation. I write to the Blog from the porch of the cabin we rented, overlooking a beautiful river.

River

Cabin

Top of the state park where we hiked

which is also a part of the Appalachian Trail

DM, DS and I are the only inhabitants of our cabin. We had meant for a few family friends to come along, but disaster struck last week and a deer hit their car (I'm actually more inclined to believe the driver hit the deer, but that isn't the way the story was told to me). Don't worry, their all fine, including the deer, which ran off just after causing the accident. The only casualty is the car, which meant that they couldn't drive to meet us here. Anyway, I've been really excited for this trip for a few reasons.
1. No work. That means no screaming children, no annoying boss, and no coworkers or parents who seem bent on ruining my relationship with NS by pointing out how much of a better teacher I am than she was.
2. I get a room to myself at the cabin. Sharing a room with someone is difficult. DS and I did for about 2 years, right up until we all moved, but we managed it by not ever being there at the same time except for sleep. NS and I are managing because we're good friends, but I'm really a recluse and I like to be left alone most often, so it's hard for me.
3. Knitting/Crochet time. The drive was 9 hours, which gave me lots of time to work on NS's crochet afghan. I chose it for a driving project because the other projects I had were DM's afghan, which I couldn't work on in her presence, and my Green Katniss socks, which had 5 dpns that were looking a little sharp to be working with on the mountain roads. NS's afghan was in hibernation for a while, but at last measurement, it was a little over 2 feet long:

It's now a little less than 5 feet long:

and I've chosen some really intense colors for the last few random color stripes. I'm running out of purple yarn for the stripes between random colors, though. I decided to replace the light purple with a slightly darker purple and the dark purple with a brown in order to finish. I think one more white/purple/white combo should be long enough. It won't be a very large blanket, but it won't look out of place either. The goal here was to use up acrylic stash yarn, and I've definitely done that. There won't be any more of that purple, and very little will be left of the white, along with all the odds and ends I used for the random colors. I still have about 1/2 a skein of that dark deal and 3/4 of a skein of a wine red that almost, but not quite, matches DM's Christmas afghan. I think I'll turn both into Christmas hats to be gifted at random.

In the time that we've been here at the cabin, I've waded in the river, hiked part of the Appalachian Trail, hiked some more to see a waterfall (that was worse than the Appalachian- it was like a 45 degree grade and that's insane for a Florida girl who's never known hills), intertubed down a different river, gone to the local yarn shop and bought yarn locally spun and dyed (I spent waaaaay too much money there, but vacations are always more costly than you expect), and got lost multiple times. Did you know that a car with a shoddy transmission has a really hard time going uphill? Well, we did, but we drove it anyway.

The yarn I bought is called Footprints by Blue Ridge Yarns, a Superwash merino sock yarn, and comes in two skeins: 300 yarns variegated yarn, and 100 yards solid yarn in a matching color for the heels and toes of a sock. Brilliant idea, isn't it? Mine was one of the last two at the shop, and it appears to have no name for the colorway, just the number 028. It looks like this:

The shop owners were very kind, and spoke to me about a few techniques while I was there. We discussed blocking socks and sock blockers, tricks and tips for modifying a pattern if your gauge doesn't match, and various yarns and patterns in the shop. DM kindly shut her cakehole while I spent more than my fair share of time there, and way more than my allowance's worth of money there.

While we've been here, I've also had some knitting time. I've worked on the second Green Katniss sock, and I've just turned the heel and begun the gusset decreases on that. Today DM and DS went horseback riding, and I didn't have any interest (citing the excuse that horses are big and scary and smell bad), so I started DM's birthday project. I only have 8 days left to finish it! I cast on for two-at-a-time toe-up socks and it's my first time using either technique. I'm hoping that doing them two-at-a-time will make them go faster, but I'm no stranger to math. 2 is still equal to one plus one but I'll let you know if this new method involves magic. Here's a progress photo of that (keep in mind I started today, and had to frog them twice before I got the hang of it and managed to figure out the right number of cast on stitches):

Pictured

Here's what I've been working on:

Yarn dyeing. The colors turned out way more pastel than I wanted, but that's what you get for having a vegan mom who can only receive bamboo blend sock yarn. Rainbow socks will be her birthday gift, June 28th.

DM's Lacey Afghan. Almost two pattern repeats, each 16 rows long. Finished, it'll be 21 pattern repeats long. 

I lost all the materials for the second Katniss socks, but I just recently found them. I keep all of the materials for every sock I'm working on in little makeup bags like this one:

which is nice when I'm digging through my purse-the needles don't stab me and I can find everything all at once, but it's unfortunate if I take the bag out and can't find it again.

I've also finished 1 and a half yellow owl socks for Erin. The owl is too little, but I'm lazy so I'm not changing it.

Sorry about the lag in posts. I've just recently moved into NS's house because my mom and sister moved away and my house has no water due to a dried up well. It's been really hectic trying to get settled in here, made only the more chaotic by the fact that my boss cut NS's hours and gave me her class, so I'm now officially a preschool teacher as opposed to an assistant, and now I have a pissed off friend (not at me, because she insists it isn't my fault, but she's angry at the situation).

Laced

I actually don't have a theme or idea at all for this blog post (not that I ever actually follow my themes, I mostly just write what pops into my head and edit a little later), so I'll just give a little update on my WIPs.
First up, Katniss. I finished the first sock yesterday. I even wove in the ends. Check it out:

I love the braided cable so much! I had to guesstimate on sizing, and I won't know if it fits til July, but I sized it a little big because she's still growing. These are for a friend whose birthday is in early July.

Second, DM's Lacey Throw. I worked the last 2 rows of the beginning moss stitch border and started the patterning (before I realized I had messed up and increased a stitch and had to rip back two rows). It's starting to look like a project and less like a pile of yarn with the intent to become a project:

Even though this afghan isn't due til Christmas, I wanted to work on it because I didn't want to cast on for the second Katniss sock. I guess I probably do suffer from second sock syndrome, but not in the way most knitters do. Most of us don't want to start another because it's boring to do the same pattern twice. I just thought this pattern overly difficult to read and I hate actually casting on and working the first few rounds on DPNs. I'm not saying I find it difficult or anything, I just don't enjoy that part of the knitting experience. For me, knitting is all about enjoying it. Since I almost never keep the products anyway, I'm not so much a product knitter as a process knitter.

That's it for projects. I guess I should probably start that second Katniss sock or the yellow socks for my other friend whose birthday is in July. Coincidentally, the two are actually sisters, so I can't just knock off and do one but not the other. I have to do both or neither, otherwise jealousy abounds, as I know it would between me and DS.

I got my paycheck Friday, and I've decided that I want to set aside $50 of it every paycheck for knitting related purchases. I know if I have a budget, I'll stick to it, but if I don't I would probably spend wildly. Yarn and other knitting related items are the only things I spend wildly on, and even then I mostly have some idea of what to do with them, but it's still good to limit myself so I don't buy everything I need at once. Anyway, I took my $50 and went to the LYS (which actually isn't too local, about a 30-45 min drive with traffic). I took NB, who if you recall, I was teaching to knit. Though she took to it immediately, she really had no interest whatsoever, so when I asked if she wanted to accompany me, I expected her to react with an opinion akin to the one you would have if someone asked you to watch grass grow with them. But she said she'd love to, so we went. I picked up some black sock yarn for my Tardis socks and some white bamboo nylon blend yarn to dye rainbow sock yarn for mom for her birthday, plus a row counter, which would have been seriously helpful when I was knitting my owl sweater and then I wandered for a while with NB in tow.

We sat on one of the couches to talk a little about knitting and to examine their display items, and of course there was yarn next to us. I picked up a skein of Freia Ombre Lace in just about the most beautiful blue colorway I've ever seen and admired it, saying how much I loved it and would like to take it home, but that I had no plan for it and it was lace. My only lace project has lain dormant in my project box for months because I never have time to work on it between birthdays and Christmas, a fact that still shames me because I've never completed a lace project before. It's about time too. I've been knitting for 7 years now, and lace shawls are my favorite item to gawk at. Anyway, NB told me I should buy it anyway. I said it was $32 and would put me over budget by about $8 and she said it's only $8. I said I have no plan for it and have never even finished a lace project. She said buy it anyway. I said I shouldn't. She said buy it anyway. So I did. It's quite beautiful:

I couldn't get a perfect picture of it, but this is close. The pale blue on the very outside of the skein is actually more teal. The colorway is called Atlantis, and I'm in love with it. I've even queued like 10 different lace shawls in an attempt to find the perfect one for this yarn. Check out my Ravelry queue if you're interested. 

Quote of the day:

Me: It's rainbow, I want it, give me!