Yarn Harlotry

So, weekend recap:

Friday was spent doing homework, more homework, homework, and more homework. Eventually quit homework in favor of the gym, shower, dinner, and out for a few drinks and then to see a friend's band play.

Saturday morning, Urmila and I left around 8:45am and got to Cleveland a little after 12:30. We grabbed lunch at the bookstore. After waiting FOREVER for the check, I returned to the area that had the highest concentration of knitters to discover all the chairs were gone and I'd have to stand in the back. I ended up right behind this...



...which is the book upon which I will most likely be writing my thesis. I need to read it again and I SO considered buying that copy.

Luckily for me, Steph soon showed up.



Seriously, how many pictures exist of Steph taking pictures of a sock and a crowd? I would argue that the answer is "not nearly enough."

She was everything you'd expect from her blog, and more. (Actually, her voice and manner of speaking reminded me - very strongly - of someone from back home. I just can't think of who, unless Steph and I have known each other in past lives and somehow.. that seems like a bit of a stretch to me.) I pulled out the pawprint sock and knitted away - it seemed fitting to knit a sock while listening to the Yarn Harlot. And currently, after only another 800 lines of Paradise Lost, the sock is less than ten rounds away from completion. I am trying SO HARD to actually Do Homework and not knit. Because if I finish the sock, then I'm going to have to cast on another. And well, that's just a slippery slope that I can go flying down tomorrow, as my three hour long class has been canceled.

Um, so back to the Yarn Harlot. She only said "arse" two or three times. And I am so glad I can knit without looking, or else I would have missed this:


I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO PETS YARN. I feel normal now!

I stood in line for only an hour or so - amazing, I know! - and got my two books signed. I'm so mad that I forgot to bring my copy of Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much - but hey! Just an excuse to go see her again! She 'bout knocked me over when she said that she recognized my blog name - THE YARN HARLOT RECOGNIZED MY BLOG NAME. That means she's BEEN here. And as I stood there, with my sock and my camera, she asked if I wanted a sock picture. That I looked like someone who wanted a sock picture. Of all people, Steph should recognize such a thing.


After that, Urmila and I went to her uncle's house... where I later took this:


That house (and the people who own it...) are going to need a post all of their own. But that is ok, because I met the Yarn Harlot, spoke to her, and didn't fall over dead at the end of it. (Or, if I did, I'm not aware of it so let me stay unaware, s'il vous plait.)

Knitting is a disease

One ball of this:

Can knit into about this much sock:

I finished them last week, on Sunday, I think. Since then, I've been working on my lace scarf (on the 5th repeat out of 27...) but I actually have to pay attention to that one and read the pattern, meaning that I can't knit and watch TV.

I'm also working on a felting project- pot holders. I ended up with a lot of Patton's left over and it is supposed to be great wool for felting. My mother has been after me to knit potholders and I figured I could manage to knit and felt a potholder before finals week.

I bought three skeins of Opal sock yarn off of eBay this week, two arrived today. I'm excited to start with those, though the yarn looks super tiny. Lots of little stitches on little dpns. Woo!

I also ventured out to Stitch Your Art Out today, the local yarn/quiting store. Cute little shop, lots of awesome and yummy yarns. Sadly, there is a yarn store closer at school than at home... Bah. Oh, well. Should just encourage me to buy online or in bulk. (Somehow, that doesn't seem like a good thing for my wallet...)

So, now I have three balls of yarn to start for socks so I'm looking around for patterns. And I'll be able to start my SixSock knit-along socks, which will be awesome.

The Evolution of a Sock

I blame the Yarn Harlot for my decision to make a sock. (ok, two. Socks are not useful if you only have one unless you plan on making sock puppets.) But first, one has to learn how to knit in the round on dpns.

So cute! So tiny! So pointy and hard to hold!

Then comes the swatching and the measuring (of swatch and foot) and the calculating. Then one can cast on the sock, join, and knit.
I think my aunt has had that table cloth since forever.

I ended up knitting while reading for class. And while watching TV. And on the bus to NYC, during Phantom of the Opera, the bus ride back.

Also, while reading knitting blogs.

The leg warmer became a leg-and-ankle warmer, which then grew to warm a heel and part of the foot as well.

I also knit when I should be working on a study guide for an exam.

Eventually, I ended up with a whole sock. That I knitted all by myself in less than 3 weeks. I'm proud to announce that I've already cast on the second sock and am over 4" into the 6" cuff. Funny, how the second sock seems to go faster, once one actually has some idea of what one is doing.

A sock! Made by me! And yarn and sticks! And it looks very sock-like!

After the sock, I want to knit with some mircospun by LionBrand. Problem is, I can only find patterns that require more than one ball of yarn. I, the nearly broke college student, only have one ball of lilac and one ball of white. I'm really liking the way it knits up on smallish needles- solid, dense, and soft fabric. But what do I do with it? Right now, I seem to just be admiring the swatch. Any suggestions? Any? No? Ok then.

Band-aids

If I were smart and hard working, I whould be editing a paper that's due on Thursday.

Clearly, I am not all that smart and hard working.

My family always gathers at my aunt and uncle's house for holidays such as Labor Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Thanksgiving. Last year, my almost-sister Tina brought her boyfriend, Brandon, along for the day. Her mother, visiting from Arizona, also came along. And somewhere in the weeks before that particular trip, Tina had learned to knit from her mother.

She finished one project, started on another. My sister, Tina, Brandon, and I ended up bored - and at Micheal's. (We celebrate holidays early. Something about avoiding traffice and time and a half or double time.) Brandon had decided if Tina could knit, so could he. He struggled all afternoon with US size 4 needles and really crappy yarn (100% plastic). But he eventually figure it out.

Me? I got some awesome soft, fuzzy wool/acrlyic blend and knit me a scarf, learning both knit AND purl from the help of Tina, her mother, my mother, and my aunt.

Scarf curls in on itself, as stockenett stitch seems to want to do. But I knitted it. All by myself. And somehow, there were the same number of stitches when I finished as when I had started.

Then life set in- work, work, more work, sleep, work. Then school. I had brought my yarn and needles to school by mistake, not planning to knit and then stumbled across the Yarn Harlot.

Since then, I dragged a friend to Micheal's (hey, it is near Walmart and he wanted bagels. Plus, I was driving.) Bought some yummy yarn and more needles. Knitted another scarf. Then a cable purse, once I figured out how to cable.

Now, I'm working on a pair of socks. Well, in theory, a pair of socks. As TheBoy would say, I currently only have a heel/ankle warmer, but it shall be a sock. See?














Now, as I'm attempting to figure out what my thesis statement should actually say to reflect what the paper ended up being about (what, you're supposed to write your paper based on the thesis statement? Yeah, right) I was knitting a round on my sock.

And discoverd that my yarn smells like band-aids.