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.

We Can't All Be Mad Hatters

I finished Michael's Beanie last night. It was kinda out of the blue but I remembered last post that I still had to make that, and it was the perfect size project to take to school, so I brought it for classes yesterday. It started the day like this:

 After my Astronomy lecture, the two hours of breaks between classes because of poor scheduling, and an extra hour because my statistics lab was cancelled, it looked like this.

At home, I only had to add maybe an inch (which flew by on my size 7 needles) before I began increases, and it was finished before I knew it:

Sadly, though, that was the last Christmas project I could fit in my backpack and take to school.

The Hufflepuff bag is flying by, and I'm studiously ignoring the very obvious tension problems, mostly because I think they're due to a difference if yarn weight and nothing I can do short or tearing the whole thing apart, buying more yarn and starting over will help. I don't think my sister will mind, so there's that. And you can clearly see the badger, and that's the most important part.

I also worked a little on DM's afghan, and I'm excited to get back into that once my sister's bag is done. I'd forgotten how much fun the pattern was. And it goes so quick, I should be done in no time. Then maybe I can start on something for myself. I'm thinking of making myself a pair of wristwarmers like Renee's, or a bolero like Erin's, or maybe the Julianna cardigan on ravelry. Plus, I still have a skein of footprints sock yarn from my stay in Georgia that I think I'll take to school for something to knit while I'm there, since I can't bring an afghan or a stranded bag (the bag isn't that big, but the pattern isn't simple enough to work on during the Astronomy lecture, and my biggest goal for school knitting is to stave off the boredom during that class).

Also, Howl's Moving Castle on audiobook finally came in and I've been listening to it for the last few days. It's been super awesome. I think having watched the movie made it easier to understand the setting (since this author is notorious for lack of context). Anyway, I've got nothing but praise.

Relieved

So today, I dealt with a personal problem that's been dogging me for almost a month now, and I'm very happy to see that worry put to rest. To celebrate, I'm gonna update the Blog (and watch Avengers, cause that's how lame of a life I have).

I started and finished (today!) another Christmas present since I last posted. Renee's Fingerless Gloves (for Renee of course), a super easy and fun project, and I seriously don't want to give them away. They'd definitely come in handy in my Astronomy lecture, where I swear if the ceiling were inclined to pour water, it would turn to snow and we'd all make snow angels, it's that cold. But, alas, they have another destination. Actually, that puts paid to the entire set heading to Virginia (Salt River Socks, A Manly Sunset, and Spicy Turmeric Bolero are also headed there, all to the same family).  Oh right, a picture would be nice:

Sorry about those pictures, but seriously, I defy you to get a good picture of your own arm while holding the camera in the other hand. And of course, I couldn't get a pic of both at the same time. Anyway, there's that.

Also today (well actually yesterday but I frogged that one) I started a new project. A Hufflepuff bag for my sister, using some truly craptastic stash yarn. It's going really quick actually, which makes me think that the finishing is going to take a lot longer than usual, because nothing just goes well for me. Anyway, pic for that:

So it's October now, and I have exactly 4 Christmas projects left to finish, including this one. A hat, a crochet bear, and half an afghan await me once this bag is finished, but I might have to concede to starting a pair of socks to knit at school since all of those are either too big or too complicated for that. Anyway, I do expect to finish on time, and maybe a lot earlier than originally slated. I should probably plan for that eventuality and have a project ready so I don't develop a case of Startitis. 

Anyway, Avengers awaits. I'll have an update when I'm done with this bag probably.

TARDISed

Yesterday I finished my first pair of Tardis Socks, The Doctor's Wife on Ravelry. They're blocked and everything!

They look so very lovely, I don't even have words for how well they turned out.

I got sick of working on DM's afghan, and I wanted to be sure I got all the other Christmas projects done on time, cause DM knows she'll get her present eventually. Anyway, I started another pair of stockinette socks for Jen (NS's mom, who so graciously hosted me this summer):

I ordered a set of size 1 circular needles from Knit Picks for the second set of Tardis socks because I've found that the way I hold my dpn's causes my hands to ache a lot, and I'd like to do the second set two-at-a-time. I found that doing them one at a time was frustrating. I didn't think I had a problem with second sock syndrome (and I guess I don't because the second was completed shortly after the first) but the repetition wore on me, especially because it involved colorwork.

Aside from Jen's socks and NS's tardis socks (the finished ones were for NB, who conveniently wears the same shoe size as me),  I still need to make a pair of socks for Jen's husband Joe, a pair of wristwarmers for Renee, a hat for Michael, and I need to decide whether DS gets socks, a bag, or a hat this Christmas. I really wanna do the Harry Potter fair isle bag for her but I really don't think I'll have enough time. I might have her give me an extension on that. I hope next year I can afford to buy more gifts because this is a whole lot to knit while also taking full time classes and looking for a job.

Wow, it's been a while

So since I last blogged, I have completed a number of projects, with pictures to follow. I had a whole semester of college and a new semester just began last week. I'm taking a whole load of stupid classes, but they're all gen ed or required for my major. Mostly I chose the stupid ones because I had to take my classes online (long story) and the only ones available are ridiculous. I'm taking Communications, Theatre Survey, American Government and Intro to Tech for Teachers. Though they are all classes that would require very little effort at college, online they require about 8 times more work, albeit busy work. Aside from all of that, I am on my way to a Rise Against/ A Day to Remember concert tomorrow with a friend and I'm really excited for that, though I have to brush up on my ADTR because I only know a few of their songs. I had a pretty uneventful Christmas, and my birthday was around the same time, also uneventfully.

I started watching Dr. Who with a friend and have been getting very involved in it. I've only gotten about midway through the 4th season and I've been avoiding spoilers like the plague. I absolutely adore it though. In addition, my other friend was jealous that I was watching Dr. Who with someone else, so she decided we would watch the spin-off series, Torchwood, together, and we've been doing that off and on. I think the next episode we'll watch is the first episode of season 2. Really, the way it works with these two is that whenever we have time we hang out, so I generally end up watching maybe one or two episodes a week.

In books, I've been listening to the new Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince, on audiobook. I love the character of Jem. I'm also trying to reread Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld because he just put out a new one in that series and I don't remember what happens. I'm rediscovering though that it's a little bit childishly written. I read the new Inheritance book by Christopher Paolini and I hated the ending. I won't spoik it any more than that. I gave up on Atlas Shrugged because it got really boring. I finished the first of three parts, and it seemed like the book could pretty much end there. I listened to the Charlie Fletcher Stoneheart series on audiobook. That was also a little juvenile but with a good plot. I'm eagerly awaiting Crossed by Allie Condie. I requested it at the library over a month ago, but I'm still on the waiting list. I'm also excited for the Hunger Games movie, though the ending of the last book did sort of make me want to die a little.

On to yarn crafting. I created a whole series of berets with leftover yarn for myself. They're all in bright colors. I also made I think 2 scarves for myself. I also recently completed a pair of my very own socks. For Christmas gifts I gave a bright green beanie, a dark green scarf, a black scarf, a red beanie, a blue beanie, a beautiful red cable scarf, a bright orange beanie with purl heart, a multicolored lace eyelet beret, a yellow and black steelers beret and a knitted sock monkey which took forever and made me want to stab its eyes out. Right now I'm working on a gray beanie with cabled owls at the brim for my friend and a light green sweater with cabled owls at the hems for myself. I've never made a sweater so it's kind of an adventure for me. I've made nearly anything else one could think of so finding a new project is rare for me. I've also just gotten a hank of laceweight yarn to make a lace shawl. I'm still working on my harry potter scarf, but I only pick it up every once in a while. I'll post pictures in a few days I think. As soon as I figure out my sister's camera and I get her to let me borrow it.

Edit: I forgot to add a few other projects. I did the Knitty Fish Hat a couple of months ago, in pinks and purples. I also bought some gold crochet thread to do the lace shawl in another color with bigger needles. As promised, here are the pictures of all this:

Afterthought Heel socks from Kathleen Taylor's book, The Big Book of Socks

Self- designed berets. There were the only three I could find today, but there's also a bright blue and bright green and maybe one more.

These two are self-designed scarves. The first is just a double crochet pattern with a Q hook. The second is a design based on a granny square, only it is done in rows, rather than rounds

These two are the Knitty Fish Hat by Thelma Egberts.

These next two are the same shawl done in two different yarn weights and needle sizes. The first is gold crochet thread and size 6 needles and the second is an alpaca blend laceweight yarn that A from the library traded me (I gave her some leftover sock yarn for it). It's done with size 2 circular needles.

This is the multicolored eyelet beret I made for my DS for Christmas.

These are all parts of the sweater I'm working on. A close-up of the owl cables on the torso, the full torso, the full sleeve and a close-up of the owl cables on the sleeve. The last picture is a close-up of the original swatch I made before I started the sweater.

This is my Harry Potter scarf, done in a K2, P2 pattern with size 3 needles and worsted weight yarn, which makes it super thick. The other picture is the Gryffindor patch that will be ironed on to the scarf at the end. I think that's about it for now. All of the other projects I mentioned were given as Christmas gifts, so I don't have any pictures of them. Sorry about the fish background to the pictures- that was about the best lighting in the house, and the most plain background I could find.