Random Thursday

• I actually enjoy handing in papers when I feel like I wrote a solid argument. Also, clever titles make me happy.
• I have an 8-10 page paper due tomorrow morning at 10:10am. As of right now, I have some notes, a three page rough draft, and need to look through some 400 pages of Paradise Lost to pull out relevant quotes. Of all of that, the quotes are going to be the worst.
• I only have one day and one week of classes left. This semester just FLEW by without my noticing.
• Lack of sleep, over a long period of time, can feel an awful lot like a hangover. Personally, I'd rather drink to earn the hangover, but there's no time for that.
• A Margarita, a huge platter of fries, and a salmon club sandwich is an awesome way to end a rainy Wednesday.
• I've realized that the end of this semester is slightly easier than last semester, as all the craziness is occurring BEFORE finals week. Can't I just have another semester of 5 exams to take for which I need to actually STUDY? You can't study for an essay exam on Paradise Lost, since there is NO WAY I'd be able to re-read the whole thing.
  

I tried Blaze on last night, after realizing that I need another half a pattern repeat. Here it is:

You can't see it, but my bra straps are showing! The neckline, what with decreases and being knit in a smaller needle, should pull the top in a bit, to keep it from looking funky. In that shot, I think the needles don't really help too much.

It falls down a little bit as I attempt to take pictures, so I think I COULD get away with knitting the neckline now and calling it done, but I really ought to add that pattern repeat. Bras are required when in public and I want to show this sweater off. Also, I hate the bra strap peeking out from a wide-necked sweater look. And the tanktop under wide-necked sweater look. GAH! I'm so close to finishing, but that makes me want it to be perfect all the more. I've spent some 4 months on this sweater, it better be awesome.

This is not homework

Even though today's high was something in the 80s, I'm still slogging along on Blaze. I have 15 rows to go.. but with nearly 300 stitches per round, that takes a while. Maybe I can wear it to work over the summer, as I tend to freeze in air conditioning.

Soon, I'll need to pull Sizzle out and finish that. Then I can wear that one to work as well. I think after everything settles down a bit. One rough draft and a final paper for FR, one final paper for 301, one final exam for 301, one final paper for 497C, one final paper for 409Y, one book report for 176, one final exam for 176, one take home final essay for 303, and one quiz for 497C and I think I'm done for the semester. Of course, I also think I'm forgetting something.

The finished waffleweave sock:


For some reason, the sock does not lie flat. I haven't blocked it however, and it fits a foot perfectly, so I'm not too worried about it. You can also see that I've started the second sock. I'm about two pattern repeats into the 18 repeats that make up the cuff. I don't see it taking too long but I also don't see me having that much time to knit.

Bayerische is slowly coming along. See:

Because of the crossing of stitches every single round, I've had to distribute stitches in a slightly ... uneven and strange way. DO NOT LIKE. It is almost enough to make me consider two circular needles, but that will prolly never happen.

The sock is pretty there, but it totally blooms on the foot:

The color is close to true in the first picture, this one is a little washed out. It is seriously hard to get a decent picture of a sock on needles on the foot with weird numbers of stitches on each needle and NOT accidentally getting a corner of your drying rack which is currently home to some 14 bras and pairs of underwear from the last two weeks. Love the internets, but I'm not posting pictures of my underwear. (if you have other requests of things that I could also show my parents, let me know.)

I think I'm going to try to finish the waffleweave socks, then Bayerische. THEN, I can cast on a pair of socks for me.

That's part (and a small part, at that) of the windows in the Urmila's uncle's house. SO COOL.

Random Thursday

• I'm fairly certain I have a job for the summer.  Training shall happen between now and the end of finals week, at which she'll decide if we get to stay.  Even if I hate the job, I'm planning on staying because I am lazy and don't feel like attempting to find another job.
• I have an interview for a paid internship at the library during Finals Week.  I am one of two people being interviewed and one of the interviewers taught my archival management class last semester.  I'm feeling like my odds are fairly good.
• I recently found out about a scholarship for Libral Arts majors, focusing on Jewish Studies and the study of the Holocaust in particular.  The requirements pretty much fit me exactly.  My GPA (a 3.75) might be a problem.  Yes, I feel that a 3.75 is "low."  I want to graduate with a 3.8.  To do so, I need to get a 4.0 for three semesters running.
• My lesson today rocked.  Jumping BIG fences is fun!  Jumping in and out of the ring and running around like an idiot is even more fun.  I am so very much looking forward to the summer at this barn.  I will, of course, miss every one from the barn at home like crazy, but living with my father and siser will drive me crazy.
• I have started two of the five papers due next week.  Clearly, I'm right on top of things.

Knitting Randomness:

• I finished a sock!  The first of my waffleweave socks is finished, ends weaved in and everything.  Start to finish, that sock took 2 weeks, 3 days - not bad for a college student who only knit the sock while reading Paradise Lost, Mr. Sammler's Planet, Of No Interest To the Nation, and while watching The Lives of Others.  It took me forever to figure out the math for the toe decreases, as I wanted a garter stitch toe but did not want to do my normal short row toe.  
  
• Blaze is slowly moving along.  I ended up having to rib out another two rows when I realized I had moved cables in the wrong direction for no real reason.  That being said, I think I only have 1.5 repeats left to knit.  At that point, I might add another repeat as I want to be able to wear a bra with this sweater and no have bra straps showing.  Broad shoulders can be a bitch.
• I found a lace pattern for the cardigan I want to knit for myself.  Now I need to find the yarn.  I really think I might end up knitting this one on size two or three needles, since I think I will like it better then - assuming I ever finish it.  I have hopes of wearing it to work over the summer.  Like, the end of August.  Maybe size 4 needles.  I need to sketch it out, figure out where the lace parts shall end and solid parts - useful for the whole seaming issue - will start.
• I skipped Hist 409Y this week, so no work on my sister's socks.  I'm going to finish the waffleweave socks, mail them and the pawprint socks to my mother, and then finish my sister's socks.  Then, and only then, will I cast on my Claudia's Handpainted Yarn.  That's some serious motivation.
• You are not allowed to hold me to that later, when I cast on Claudia's yarn and ignore my sister's sock.

Let's play Catch Up

Not this week, but next week, I have a paper due every day of the week. For five days of classes, that is five papers. I've avoided putting together a page count, because then I just might cry.

I started a new pair of socks, with the Austermann Step yarn, in a waffleweave pattern. I have no idea if I've blogged about these before and I'm too lazy to look it up. But here's the current state of the sock:


I've decided that I really love garter stitch short row heels. Somehow, the row gauge of garter works well with my theory of 50% of total stitches for the heel, and knit and wrap 66% of those, leaving the remaining third for the middle. I forgot to center the instep pattern with columns of purl stitches framing it, so after I knit the heel, I ended up ripping the whole heel out to center everything. I'm much happier now. (And actually, I think the foot is longer now than it was when I took that picture. In an inch or two, I should be ready to start the heel. YAY for Paradise Lost reading, which I'm currently avoiding by writing this post.) These socks are for my mother and I think she'll really like them.

I'm avoiding Blaze. I'm angry at myself for not finishing Blaze before spring arrived. (Then again, Spring HASN'T YET ARRIVED, so I'm still not late. But I don't think I'll finish in time.) Thursday night, I was knitting away on Blaze and discovered one fewer stitch than required. Well, one fewer going by the tried and true method of going around and checking to make sure there were four purl stitches between every two knit stitches. Lo and behold, I was missing a stitch. I checked and didn't discover any dropped stitches.. Ripped back a few rounds and didn't magically get the correct number of stitches. I don't know what happened, but since there aren't any dropped stitches, I really don't care. I just picked up an extra stitch in pattern and kept knitting.

Of course, I ended up ripping out about an inch worth of progress. In one three hour long class, I tend to only mange 5-6 rows of knitting and I tend not to raise my hand but just blurt things out. GAH!! I could have avoiding ripping, just added a stitch and kept on going.

While I had the thing on multiple needles, though, I did take the time to try it on. It fits! YAY! I really do need another 3-5 inches though, or the thing will become an off-the-shoulder- sweater and I just can't pull that look off.

Last night, the Boy and I were watching Firefly and I wasn't knitting, per usual. He asked why not and I replied that I just didn't really feel like it. He became convinced that I was about to fall over and die. Annoyance with Blaze, not being able to look at charts and knit Bayerische while watching TV, and not wanting to hurry my reading sock knitting along left me with nothing to work on. Also, my pinkies hurt from the double reins of Timmy's bridle and knitting really doesn't help the pain.

Now that I've wasted a good two hours, I'm going to go read ... something and try not to fall asleep. This week is going to be hellish and next week is going to be even worse.

Finished Object: Pawprint Socks

The Specs:
Pattern: Basic toe up socks, using Judy's Magic Cast On from Knitty and a pawprint motif from WendyKnits! (I'd link, but I'm lazy.) Short row heels and twenty rounds of knit two purl two ribbing at the top.
Yarn: Opal Dreamcatcher, Color 1235, 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. I used the majority of a skein, but I could probably get a pair of baby booties out of the rest of it.
Colors: Color #1235, a dark blue, dark gray, white, and bright blue stripping yarn.
Needles: Size US 1s, bamboo.
Start to Finish: Started back in November, I think on the 14th, and completed on April 2nd.
For: My mother
Notes: I hate toe-up socks. Never again. The cast on is way too fiddly and I had major trouble getting the bindoff to be stretchy enough to let human legs wear the socks but firm enough to keep the socks from falling down. I loved the color and enjoyed the pawprint motif, even though I regularly messed up when I forgot where I was, what I was doing, how to knit.. You know, the usual. I am very pleased with how well the pattern matches. I also realized that I need to start writing down my numbers so that all aspects of my socks will match. Like how many stitches to wrap for the heel, for example. That's an AWESOME number to write down, because that's also a hard number to count on a finished sock.



And let us ignore the pasty-whiteness that is my skin color. It gets darker in the summer, but I still have my heat on since I dislike frostbite.

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.)

A preview

A full update tomorrow, I promise!

Getting There

Both sleeves for Blaze are completed! I sat down today and finished the right sleeve because Blaze goes with me to class on Wednesdays and I wanted to be sure that I'd have something to do. (Ok, so that sentence doesn't QUITE make sense...) But now one sleeve is attached to Blaze. See?



Right after I took that picture, I realized that I had started in the wrong point of the stitch pattern.. and had to tink my way back to the starting point. I have managed to catch up back to were I was, however. And I am slowly realizing that the rest of this sweater is going to take longer because, dude - there are a LOT of stitches in each round.

However, I am happy to report that one ball of yarn gives you this:


That's right folks. I knit my sleeves a bit longer than called for in the pattern and was wary about the amount of yarn I'd need. I to knit about 5.5" after this point and I have 3 full balls and most of a 4th. I'm fairly certain I'm going to have enough yarn, even with a longer body and sleeves.

The Pawprint socks are also well on their way. This is what happens when one has three hours (or more) of Paradise Lost to read each week:

That, by the way, is my knit/read set up. My laptop is propped up by two stacks of two Altoids tins in the back. I put my stapler on top of the closed laptop lid and then prop my HUGE text book up against that whole contraption. So far, the two socks are matching fairly well. I'll have to check in a little bit if that's still the case up the leg.

I also kinda feel the need to figure out my next big project. I need to finish Sizzle, which only needs a neckband and finishing touches at the sleeves. Branching Out could be finished. I have two pairs of socks on the needles right now, but I also have an empty set of DPNs. Hrm...

I think I shall be signing up for Sockapalooza this year. I figure, free socks in exchange for a pair of socks! I'm hoping that my pal likes the color blue, because then I can use stash sock yarn - which is pretty much the ONLY yarn in my stash.

In other news, I shall be in Lyndhurst, OH this weekend! I'm so excited! If any of the other many knitters planning to be there reads this, will someone say Hi to me that day? I'm guessing that I'm going to be in hermit mode and also, scared witless because I WON'T KNOW ANYONE. And we all know that's how nightmares start. (Well, either that, or you know EVERYONE. And you are in your underwear, for some reason.) The Urmila will visit the bookstore with me, but she doesn't deal with people. I'll post a picture of myself later this week and which ever project I decide to take with me!

NYC - 2007

The Urmila and I visited New York City this weekend. I was very disappointed to miss the Yarn Harlot on Thursday, but NYC is a 5 hour drive from school, so that wasn't quite going to happen.

We did, however, visit the Museum of Arts and Design and saw the exhibit on Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting, which was amazing. There was a dress (that would have fit me!) knitted out of some 800+ dollar bills. Someone else cut a fender, a hood, and a few other pieces of abandoned cars into a form of lace that was quite pretty. I was surprised at how small the museum was, but I think it is moving to a new location sometime in 2008. We stopped at the MoMA store as well, and I got a print of Munch's "The Scream," an all-black dubber ruck, a post card of the "OOF" painting I loved so much last year, and a post card of a Dali print.



Following that, we had lunch (for less than $10) and wandered over to the theater to see Avenue Q. I loved the show and would see it again, if not for the price. Amazing and funny and true and many other things. The show brings up some very controversial topics, such as homosexuality and racism, but handled the issues in such a way to demonstrate that yes, they recognized the problem, yes, they knew that they sometimes added to the problem, and yes, they don't have all the answers. More conservative audience members might have been uncomfortable with puppet sex or a gay character, but I think that's to be expected.



After the show, we wandered around Times Square, ducked into the ESPNZone, visited Barbie's House in the HUGE Toys R Us, and other such touristy stuff until we were hungry, when we stopped into John's (on 44th) for dinner. Very yummy garlic bread and a bruschetta pizza cost us again, less than $10 each. We went to Dylan's Candy Bar afterwards and picked up the same five bars of chocolate as we did last year.



Urmila had picked out two bars she had wanted to try, but they were too far away to make it there, grab a drink, then run over to Dean & Deluca's for Italian Sodas, and then find the bus again. So we stopped in a P.J. Morgans and ordered drinks without being carded. Very strange feeling and neither of us looks 21. Appletinis continue to rock my socks. As do caramel Italian Sodas.



We didn't get back until 2am, so the weekend was pretty much over by that point. Friday night was spent with dinner (chicken with sage and thyme, served over rice with cream of chicken sauce poured over), brownies, and a bottle of wine while watching V for Vendetta, as Urmila had not seen the movie.

We're driving to Cleveland this weekend, which means I get to see the Yarn Harlot! In theory, I could see her in Pittsburgh on Friday and OH on Saturday, but I think the Urmila would cry, as she is NOT a knitter and often says "I need new friends" when we all start talking knitting. So, just Saturday and I need to get directions to the bookstore. I am SO excited, but slightly sad, since I left my copy of "Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much" at home. I'll have to be content with taking Knitting Rules.

Recap

For some reason, my computer does not like to associate with fiber-optic internet service. As a result, it ... doesn't. While at home, I'm forced to either use my father's computer or my sister's computer. My sister's has the disadvantage of being located in HER room. Getting to the computer desk is a feat of balance and flexibility, as there is no walk-way ... just piles of STUFF. My father's computer is not only in a common location of the house, but one doesn't need to warm up before attempting to approach the machine. However, his computer's main language is Swedish. No matter what program you have running - and even if you have an English version of the program - error messages pop up in Swedish. I don't know Swedish. (Neither, for that matter, does my father. That makes tech support quite fun.)

As a result, no blogging. As a result of lots and lots of stuff to do, not quite as much knitting as I would have liked. I did manage to tack on another 5 pattern repeats of Branching Out, for a total of 27, which the pattern calls for. I think I'm going to knit til I run out of yarn, rip back to the end of a full repeat, and finish the thing. Some year. No pictures because it looks like the other pictures, just ... longer.

I finished the one sleeve of Blaze and started the other:



This shouldn't take me too long, as there are only 4 pattern repeats, for a total of 72 rounds. (8 rounds of 72 stitches = 576 stitches. 7 rounds of 74 stitches = 518. 8 rounds of 76 stitches = 608 stitches. And 49 rounds of 78 stitches = 3822 stitches. For a grand total of 5524 stitches for one sleeve. [I'm on round 7 right now, after the 8 rounds of ribbing.] Clearly I'll be done in no time.)

As for my sister's sock,



I also turned the heel, picked up gusset stitches (um, 19 of them, rather than the suggested 16. Not sure what, exactly, I did there), and started the decreasing part. What with the plain stockinette stitch of the bottom, I'm kinda hoping that the foot of the sock goes faster than the leg did. I do have three hours a week to spend on it, though.

Here is Eeyore, modeling the foot of the second pawprint socks.


If they fit her, these socks will go to my mother. These are knit while I'm reading Milton's Paradise Lost.

And then... then I have THIS:



I'm quite sad, even messing around with light balance and color settings, I can't get the real color of this year. There is more green, more blue, more purple. SO PRETTY. That was the awesome part of visiting my mother - she lives in Harrisonburg, VA. So does Claudia, of Claudia's Hand Painted Yarns. As I had hoped, yarn stores round there tend to carry LOTS of Claudia's yarns. I got two skeins, so I'm hoping I might be able to pull off two pairs of footlets. Or maybe this yarn is meant to be a taller sock. Maybe even a toe up pair of socks, so I can knit as much as possible with this yarn. We shall see. I need to finish three pairs of socks before then - pawprint, Bayerische, and this....



The color is very close in this shot, actually. My mother liked the idea of socks with Aloe Vera in them and I can't say I mind the idea of knitting with it. I think I'm going to steal her pair of light cream Opal sock yarn for myself then... This will be her third pair of socks from me.

To completely change the subject, I made the ... mistake? Not sure if that is the correct word... of looking at working student positions for event riding. A found a few that pretty much provide everything I need, plus lessons, horses, coaching at events, a chance to compete.. I wouldn't be able to get one for this summer, but maybe that's what I'll do right out of college. I already know that this isn't the kind of thing that I am going to forget right away, so it can stew in the back of my mind for a while. Until tomorrow, for example.

I'm about to leave for a meeting with a faculty member to discuss the possibility of Holocaust Literature as a thesis option. I'm not sure where his office is, even though I've asked twice. Hrm.