Catching Up

I still need to block Branching Out. I'm waiting for a day that I wake up (and GET up) early enough to be sure that it is dry by the time I go to bed, as I think I have to block on my bed. I'm uber excited though, since blocking lace is magic! After I block it, I have to figure out where it shall live. I'm thinking TheBoy's mother shall be able to find a good use for it.

I'm not sure about the color, though. I loved the color online, but now it looks rather ... blah. Maybe I'll knit a swatch with the VERY LITTLE I have left over and see how that works.

In other news, I've been given Timmy for the summer - the horse that can jump 4'6" with no problem. He's awesome and I'm having a blast, even though I'd rather not sit again for a few days. There's talk of doing an A rated jumpers show in July, which is already scaring me. Those turns are gonna be TIGHT and Timmy is either fast or nimble and both are needed to do well.

Tomorrow, I plan on attempting to find a sock pattern (or to create one) for my sock pal. I also need to figure out my next "big" project. I have to finish my sister's second Bayerische sock and I started a new pair of socks the other day - I'd finished the monkey socks and we were going to a movie. You know it's bad when you think you twisted the join during your cast on and PLAN ON CONTINUING to knit ANYWAY, just so you have something to do during the movie. (I didn't twist, but I did get some 4.5 inches of cuff done during Knocked Up.)

For now, to bed with my lap top and PSU's subscription to Practical Horseman.

Finished Object: Monkey Socks

The Specs:
Pattern: Monkey Socks, from Knitty. I didn't modify the pattern at all, which surprised me, as I hate heel flaps.
Yarn: Claudia's Handpainted, fingering weight. 100% Merino wool.



Colors: Ocean Depth, which has some awesome shades of blue, green, and purples. LOVE this color. However, I have not been able to photograph it correctly. Much more vibrant.
Needles: Plastic 5" US size 2 dpns, set of five.
Start to Finish: May 14-29. Very fast for me.
For: Me!



Notes: I am in love with this yarn so very much. I really hope it wears well. I'm kicking my self for not using my favorite heel - short row - since I have yet to figure out a way to knit a heel flap that actually fits my feet. I really like this pattern, but it has caused me to start sketching and swatching for a different sort of pattern, just without the purl stitches. We'll see. I also ended up breaking the point off of one of my dpns - I was poking my father in retaliation of his poking me. The needle is still usable though, you just have to watch which end you use when that's the free needle.
Final verdict: love, love, love.



(ps: I cast off for Branching Out tonight as well. And I have a bunch of other updates, as well. Stay tuned!)

Random Monday

Really, if I change the day of the week of my random posts, that means nothing, right? Right.

• Downtown is DEAD. And it is AWESOME. I love State College without all the people. Sadly, classes have begun and there are some more people around now, mostly those who will be freshmen in the fall and I'm remembering why freshmen are annoying. But oh well.'
• I've been knitting. A lot. I finally started the second Bayerische sock and am at the point where I need to start looking at charts again. Hopefully this one will be faster than the first, so long as I can dedicate time just to this sock. Maybe one hour of tv three nights a week shall be for this sock? I'd like to finish it uh, soon.

• I finished one sock with my awesome Claudia's HandPainted yarn. I am SO TOTALLY in love. The colors rock, the yarn rocks... Oddly, this is the first time I have EVER gotten 8sts/inch for a pair of socks. It seems very weird to hit gauge. I'm using Cookie A.'s "Monkey" pattern from Knitty. I really like it with this yarn. However, I'm in the middle of a swatch altering her pattern.. If I like that, I might use it for my Sockpalooooza pal socks. I can't decide if it is "overly lacey" though. Any input?

• Oh, yeah. I think I finally found a yarn for my sock pal. Now I just need to wait for a pay check to be able to buy the yarn. She likes very deep, saturated colors and I tend more towards pastels and the like. Picking a color has been HARD.
• I've decide to take only the Bayerische socks, the second monkey sock (I'm halfway done the cuff already) and the Branching Out Scarf home. Not that I ever have time to knit, but you know. That way I'll HAVE to knit on Branching Out. And then I might finish it.
• I went to the library today. Main Campus libraries don't have anything by Neil Gaiman, yet branch campuses have Nora Roberts. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Tomorrow, I'll stop by the library downtown, which actually has a contemporary fiction section.
• I got Guilliver's Travels, a couple of Jane Austen books, Weithering Heights by one of the Bronte sisters, I can never remember which one, and a few Philip Roth books, which for some WEIRD reason, the library actually had. I find it amusing that my "pleasure" reading includes books the average person would never think to read.

• And that's all, folks. Bed time for me.
  

Finished Object: Blaze

The Specs:
Pattern: Blaze, from Knitty. I made the body a little longer, as with the sleeves. I have a long torso and long arms and hate having to tug sleeves down a lot.
Yarn: KnitPick's Andean Treasure, 100% Baby Alpalca. YUM!
Colors: Fog, a really nice grey.
Needles: Susan Bates US size 5 circ for hem and neckline, Boye US size 6 circ for body and yoke, 5" wooden DPNs in US sizes 5 and 6 for the hems of the sleeves and the rest of the sleeves.
Start to Finish: Beginning of January 2007 to Monday, May 14th, 2007. I actually finished the knitting long before - the end of April, but as I blogged before, the neck line needed a little help and it took me a while to figure out what, exactly, to do about that.
For: Me!
Notes: I love this yarn, very soft and smooth and not overly itchy. I'll probably wear a tanktop underneat because that's what I always do with my sweaters, just in case I get way too warm. I hate 5" DPNs - they stab me in the palm of the hand with every stitch, no matter HOW I try to knit. But I'm super happy with the results.

Trying to take pictures of yourself can get ... interesting:

Or you end up with shots like this:


And the neckline, once I strung a pice of "elastic line" that is NOT AT ALL ELASTIC through it:
(Michael's didn't have any elastic thread ANYWHERE.

Finished Object: Waffleweave Socks

The Specs:
Pattern: Mostly my own, but I stole the waffleweave pattern from Thermal, at Knitty. Ten rounds of knit 2, purl 2 ribbing, two rounds of purl, then started pattern down leg. Short row heel, some sort of toe -- I don't know the name but it involves decreases, not all of them at the sides. I dislike pointy toes, I like rounded toes.
Yarn: Austermann Step with Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil. 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon.
Colors: 16, some blues and greys with an underlay of white throughout. I really like the color pattern with the stitch pattern.
Needles: US size 1s, bamboo, for the very top of the cuff; plastic US size 2s for the rest of the socks.
Start to Finish: Um.. Good question. I started sometime in the beginning of April, finished today on May 14th, 2007. I'm getting faster at this whole knitting thing, it seems.
For: My mother
Notes: I really like this yarn. It is smooth and soft and fluffy. The yarn stretches a bit when knitty, so the resulting fabric is slightly loose and nice and fluffy. If I went down a needle size, I'm sure that would not happen. But it was fun to knit with, even though I don't think the aloe vera really had any effect. But my mother will like them, so that's ok. I really do like short row heels in garter stitch, but I ought to start experimenting with other heels.

A close up of the stitch pattern:

This is what it looks like, on a foot:



The color is probably most accurate here, in the cuffs of the socks:

Random Thursday

I am done. DONE. No more finals, no more papers. I am currently waiting for grades to come in, but at this point I can't do anything about it, so who cares?

Reasons why today rocked:

• I slept until I woke up. I know, I know. But I woke me up, not the alarm clock, not the trucks emptying the dumpsters (very loudly) at 8am. This is a new and novel concept and I enjoyed it very much.
• It rained today, a pouring torrential downpour. I had already shut the windows of my car, so I just enjoyed the rain storm, thunder included.
• My riding lesson was awesome. Timmy was calm, collected, and focused throughout ... oh, let's be honest - throughout the beginning. But he was very fancy for those 10 minutes of warm up.
• I'm realizing that my confidence level has skyrocketed, as I didn't blink at Earl's .. creation of a hogback jump using the ring fence again. Of course, I still grab a few handfuls of mane as we approach that jump, but that's ok
• The baby was in a very frisky mood, cantering, rearing, and bucking. So cute to watch! She's gonna be a handful as she gets older, as she's so independent already. Lady has to call the baby back, since the baby has no problem wandering away.
• I only had one final today and I barely had to study for it. All told, I need a 95 on the final to get an A for the class and I'm pretty sure I pulled that off.
• I have 9 pattern repeats and the toe to finish up the waffleweave socks. I think that might happen tonight.
• I bought yarn! I shall share details later.
• Grey's Anatomy starts ... now.
  

Four Reasons I won't Be Blogging:

Warning: Not for the Squimish.

My schedule for this week:



My left pinkie:



My left middle finger, the first side:



My left middle finger, the second side:

(that's a blood blister. That one doesn't hurt nearly as much as the others, but is just as annoying.)

I rode 6 miles in 1 hour and 21 minutes yesterday. It was supposed to only take us 1 hour and 27 minutes, but we went a little fast. In my case, we went a little fast AND sidewise, which is why all the blisters are on my left hand. Also, the left side of my body is a) sorer and b) sore in more places then the right. Thanks, Timmy, for demonstrating that you are a left-sided horse and for cantering in place, sideways, for that hour and 21 minutes. (Even with all that, I had a blast and would do the same thing this weekend if I had a chance.)

Random Saturday

Yeah, so I missed random Thursday. We're gonna blame that on spending some .. 3-4 hours at the barn, a two hour Grey's Anataomy special, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which is my current book.

• the first Bayerische sock is completed!
• the second sock has been cast on. I'm still on the ribbing, but that's ok.
• I'm past the heel for the second waffleweave sock. Maybe I'll finish this thing by mother's day. Maybe not, given what I have to do between now and then.
  
• I have an 8am final on Monday
• I have a paper due at midnight on Monday
• I have another paper due at 5pm Monday
• I have not yet started either paper
• I have to be at work at 7:30pm on Monday
• I might be going to a paper chase tomorrow, early like
• I'm tired, my feet hurt, and I have to be at TheBoy's in an hour to go to a party hosted by his 70 year old proffessor. Apparently, everyone wants to meet me.
• I ought to try to work on a paper between now and 5pm.

Here's what I did for part of those 3-4 hours on Thursday:


It looks really easy, but that's cause Timmy is awesome.

Clearly, I need help:

This is what I currently have on needles:


Sizzle, Bayerische socks, waffleweave socks, and Branching Out.

I've got one row to go and then I can cast off the neckband for Sizzle. After that, I have a few ends to weave in and the sleeve trim to do - but I might not do the sleeve trim. The sleeves a little tight as is right now and I'm not sure how much of a problem adding the trim would cause. Though, I suppose finding out will only take an evening.

(The color, not so very correct in that picture.)

After a three hour long class and a few hours of television this evening, I'm working the toe decreases for Bayerische.

I need to stop and do some maths here - I have 46 stitches on the sole, as my sister has large feet. As a result, if I decrease as the pattern tells me to, the decreases will be in weird places. I think I might just put some of the sole stitches on the top two needles and decrease in pattern from there, so that the toe doesn't end up looking too funky. That, of course, means I need to tink back two rounds, since I forgot to think about that BEFORE I started the toe.

As I've finished Paradise Lost AND Paradise Regained, the waffleweave socks are kinda lagging behind:

(Six inch dpn included for scale.) I'm on repeat 12 of 18 before starting the heel. They move pretty quickly and I have a movie to watch tomorrow, so they should be near the heel soonish. Maybe even before mother's day? Nope, not gonna happen.

And no picture of Branching Out because I promise that it looks exactly the same as it did the last time I posted a picture. Whenever that was.

And here.. here is almost all of my stash.

From left to right in some sort of order: Louet's Gem in navy, KnitPicks dye-your-own dyed with koolaide, a skein and a small ball of Lorna's Laces, two cakes of Claudia's Handpainted yarn, some Sock it to Me Collection sock yarn, more of same, and some Opal.

The Opal is for my mother, the blue sock it to me is for Tina, the Claudia's is for ME, ME, ME, ALL MINE, MAY NOT TOUCH, and the rest is pretty much up for grabs.

And the rest of it....

I have enough yarn for 8 pairs of socks and 5 skeins of the yummy purple alpalca that knits up into the most awesome swatch ever.. About 1000 yards. AND NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

I really, really, really, really want to knit a shawl. A lacey, needs to be blocked to make the pattern beautiful shawl. Problem is, I would never use it. No one I know would ever use a shawl. I'm thinking that I might offer to knit a shawl and donate it as a prize for someone's drawing for something good, like Steph's Knitters Without Borders.

So, conclusions:
a) I need to buy more yarn.
b) I need to knit a few more pairs of socks for myself
c) I need to finish Branching Out
d) I need to decide what to knit next.

Any suggestions? (Donations of yarn also glady accepted. I might even knit what you want and send the knitted item back to you!)

Almost a Finished Object

I cast off Blaze yesterday!!!!

However... It is not quite yet an FO. The top... it has problems. Such as, it doesn't stay quite where it belongs. See?


(You have no idea how hard I was laughing during that shot. Nothing like taking a good look at your own cleavage.)

There is also this problem:

I can't go any higher with the knitting, but I really don't quite like that. I COULD rip back my cast-off and the neck shaping and the last pattern repeat and throw a few decreases in here and there and hope that would keep it where it belongs.

However, what I think I'm going to do is run a small strand of elastic around the inside edge. Also, blocking might help a bit.

Other than the neckline problem, Blaze is looking awesome:

The back view...

The side view...

And the front, not-yet-floppy, view...


Now, I just need to find the time to run to Walmart or Michael's and find elastic to finish it off. And weave in all the ends. And block it, maybe? Blocking requires waiting for it to dry, and we all know I'm not so very good with the waiting. Also, I have no where to STORE it while it is drying. YAY small apartments.