Just checking in

Wednesday morning, my hard drive crashed.

This afternoon, my new hard drive arrived.  After some difficulty what with pieces not seeming to be the correct size and shape, I figured it out and installed the new hard drive.  And reinstalled Windows.  And then updated my graphics driver so that I could actually use ALL of my screen, rather than a 5x8" section in the middle.  And installed a bunch of other things, like my web browser of choice (Opera) and other programs, such as virus protection and sypware detection and so forth.

And now I have to attempt to remember all my bookmarked websites.  However, there was a reason I bookmarked them - so I wouldn't have to remember them.

Funny how that works.

But that would explain the lack of posting and the lack of pictures - I haven't installed all the stuff for my camera yet.  Or ripped all my songs off my iPod.  Or any of the other thousand things one must do to set up a computer to their specifications.

Minus working a 7 hour shift tomorrow, leaving the barn at 7am for a horse show on Sunday (and taking a mostly white horse, meaning I'll be up and at the barn by 6am to bathe the horse), I should be up and running in now time.

And thanks for the comments on my last post.

Of Mice and Men

What I planned on doing today:

• riding lesson
  
• clean bathroom
  
• clean kitchen
  
• take out recycling
  
• straighten room
  
• knit
  
• read three chapters of my book
  
• go to the gym and kick my own ass
  

What I will Most Likely End up Doing Today:

• read half a chapter of my book and fall asleep
  
• attempt to straighten my room and give up half way
  
• curse a lot
  
• attempt to knit and discover that your middle finger is really quite required for the whole process
  

And the reason my to-do list will end up so very NOT to-did?

But there's a valid reason for drinking before noon on a Thursday:

You see that line about a third of the way down my nail?  It was bent backwards - and STUCK - at that line.  I managed to rip off a large portion of my nail during my lesson this morning.

Doesn't it look pretty?

Good thing I went bowling last night, otherwise I'd be bowling left-handed.  Also, that happens to be my middle finger, so I've been walking around like I'm giving people the middle finger.

Yesterday, I was bucked off.  Twice.  By the same horse.  I had bruises by the time I got home.  They look funny (but don't photograph well - believe me, I tried) because the surface of the ring is uneven, so I have "dotted" bruises.  A couple scrapes as well and some really nice and sore muscles to boot.

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow when I ride.

In knitting news, I tore out the majority of Sizzle.  I tried it on again and finally convinced myself that it is too short, too wide, and not something I would wear.  So, back to the seed stitch border to start again.  I went down a needle size, figuring that will help with the "too wide" part.  I also knit an extra inch before starting the decreasing darts and will knit an extra inch or two in the shoulder straps, I think.  Also, I knit that back when I was twisting my purl stitches by purling incorrectly for the way I knit (or vice versa, depending on how you want to look at it.)

I finished the sock I started while watching Knocked Up and offered the pair - once I finish it - to my sister.  I'm knocking around ideas for my sock pal's socks, but I want to start at the toes and knit my way up.  And use little to no lace.  I'm thinking of modifying the Bayerische pattern to use the two cable patterns that I really like.  I think I'd have time to finish them.  Right?

Finished Object: Branching Out

About time I finished this project....

The Specs:
Pattern: Branching Out from knitty.com. No known mods - I think I messed up the first five rows of garter stitch, but that doesn't count.
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, 65% wool, 35% silk. 192 yards/50g ball. I think I used all but half a yard or so.
Colors: That's a very good question... I can't find the label, but I think it was sandstone or oatmeal or something of that nature.


Needles: US size 8, 14" metal straights from Boye. By the end - after I knit some many pairs of socks, I found the needles too long to be comfortable. Or make it was the limited width of the project for the needle length.
Start to Finish: Um, started some time back in 2006, I think around the beginning of April. I cast off on 6/3/07, so one year and two months for a very simple lace scarf.
For: Again, a very good question. I HAVE NO IDEA. Any suggestions?
Notes: Lace is fun, chart reading is a lot easier than it was when I first started this project. Now I really want to try my hand at a shawl but I know I would never wear it. Lace is a lot easier than it looks and pointy needles are the best thing in the whole world for lace.

(that little bit of yarn to the side is all that is left over.)

Free time = no blogging?

Hi Blog!

I know, I know - I suck at this whole updating thing. And it isn't even like I'm all that busy. I wake up whenever, get breakfast, make my bed, take care of little things around the apartment. For example, yesterday I ironed the sheets I put on my bed. (What? There was a wrinkle along all four edges of the flat sheet that would NOT wash out. It almost didn't IRON out with steam on the highest setting.) I read, I eat, I go to both the gym and the barn. Four days a week or so, I head to work for 3-4 hours. (I really need to find ANOTHER job.) Oh yeah - from time to time, I knit as well.

See? This is the sock that I started in the theater, watching previews before Knocked Up started. Great movie - I loved it. At first, I thought I had twisted my join and would have to start again, but I decided to just keep knitting cause it would be too distracting to do so during the movie.



I really like the top edge, with the little bit of white/black bit:


I might give them to my sister, as I finished her first sock and cast on the second one and haven't touched it since. Just not quite feeling the Bayerische love these days.

Yarn arrived in the mail yesterday!


One skein Lorna's Laces in Hawaii for me (I'll be able to make a decent pair of anklets out of it) and two skeins in BlackWatch for my sock pal! Now, I just need my copy of Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave to pick a pattern. Something interesting and beautiful, but not lacy. Any suggestions?

And I'll leave you with a bonus image of BranchingOut blocking on my bed. I need to post the finished object entry so y'all can see how pretty it turned out. One of these days?

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.