Reading, Writing, Knitting, Living

January Socks

2011-01-09T10:12:00.001-05:00

Chameleon Scarf and First Game of the Season

2008-03-30T19:16:00.004-04:00

I started working on a pattern out of the Interweave Knits I bought yesterday--the Chameleon Scarf. It's going to be one of those projects that is kind of boring to make, but a great finished product. Here's some pics:

All stacked up:

Laid out so far:

Also......BRAVES BASEBALL STARTS TONIGHT IN LESS THAN 1 HOUR!!! Woohoo!!!

P.S. I forgot to mention in my last post that I ribbed the hat I was working on (the yellow and blue one). I finished it and it was horrendous. I thought about letting it sit for awhile with the hopes that it might grow on me, but it took me about three minutes after binding off to realize that it was awful and had to go away. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I'm finally an adult!!!!!

2008-03-29T18:25:00.004-04:00

Well, chronologically I've been an adult for five years now, but I finally FEEL like an adult because I FINALLY landed a full time job!! With benefits!! It doesn't pay a whole lot, but that's okay because it will be good experience in my field and the cost of living in my town is very reasonable--reasonable enough that I've been able to survive off of a part time job for the past few months, although it hasn't been very fun or comfortable. I'll be working at a behavioral health center as a mental health tech. I don't fully know what that entails yet, but I'm excited nonetheless.

I thought now would be a good time to revisit my "non-resolutions" from the beginning of this year and see how much has happened these first three months of 2008:

1. Get a full time, post-college job that I actually enjoy - Got the job and hopefully I'll enjoy it!
2. Get accepted to grad school for the fall, and if not, then make a second go round at applying for next year. - I applied to 6 and have been rejected from 4--still waiting on the other two.
3. Knit when I feel like it, not when I feel like I should (same goes for shaving my legs) - I think I've done a pretty good job with this--thankfully I've felt like knitting a lot lately.
4. Go to Braves Spring Training again - not this year, but maybe next (?)
5. Get a massage (hopefully soon, since this is one of my graduation gifts from my friends!) - no, but soon I hope, I could sure use one.
6. Go to a casino with $20 and see what happens - not yet.
7. Ride some roller coasters - not yet.
8. Write when the urge hits me - I've been better about this than in the past, but still not as much as I should.
9. Stand up for myself and my beliefs - working on it.
10. Take more pictures - working on it.
11. Ride with the sunroof down - YES! And it's been amazing!!
12. Love my body - hmm....
13. Love my neighbors - doing my best.
14. Beat my Dad in Rummy every time - maybe not every time, but most :)
15. Expand my boundaries in every sense - working on this one too.
16. Get a pattern published - not yet, but I definitely have some unique ideas floating around
17. Sleep in until 10:30 every once in a while - I slept in until 10:20 a couple of weeks ago on accident...and then I felt lazy...
18. Tell people how much they mean to me - I could always be better about this.

So far, so good I think. The only one I can't do now is number 4 because ST is over, officially, today. I'll just have to go to extra regular season games to make up for it.

In knitting news, I just finished two bib and burp cloth sets for a coworker who is expecting in about a month and that's been fun. I've never knit for babies before, but I found the process completely gratifying--there's something very enjoyable about knitting practical items. I mean, I love knitting beautiful items as well, but when something can be put to use, that makes me happy. I also knit a hat this week, one of my own design which was a lot of fun, because it's the first time I've invented a successful pattern, right down to the stitch. I'm trying to rid myself of pattern dependency to a certain degree. On that note, I did buy the Spring '08 Interweave Knits today. Oh well, I like the pictures...

I'll try to post some pictures of my new hat tomorrow, and of whatever I'll be casting on tonight. Happy weekend!!

Finished Penelope Bag

2008-03-16T10:35:00.003-04:00

So I decided to felt the Penelope bag and I'm pretty happy with the results, but I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to line it.

I feel like I should, but I'm kind of lazy, honestly. And I'm not very good at sewing.

I started making a hat this week, which is kind of silly since it's warming up and hats will no longer be needed for the year, but there's always next year.

I got the pattern off of Ravelry, which continues to rock my world. I'm not sure if I like the color combination or if it's too bright, but I love the pattern.
This week I'm going to work on some baby knits for a girl at work who's due in a month and a half, so that should be fun. Other than that, I plan on enjoying the warm weather and sunshine for as long as it lasts.

To felt or not to felt

2008-03-08T22:12:00.002-05:00

My Penelope inspired bag is almost complete--both side panels are done and now I'm working on the bottom, sides and strap. I'm still torn over whether to felt or not. If I don't felt, I'll have to line the bag, which I've never done, but I really like the way the pattern looks unfelted. If I do felt it, it'll have mroe structure and I won't necessarily have to line it, but it wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't know...I'll probably felt it...or not...I'm very ambivalent aobut it as you can see.

I have no new knitting pictures to share, but I do have a picture of my new haircut. I probably hopped off about four inches, give or take.

I'm happy with it, but the day after I got it done I wore it curly and at first I looked like Little Orphan Annie, but it settled down after an hour or so.

I also got my first grad school rejection letter this week. I won't be going to Princeton, it seems. Oh well, 5 more chances after this. I wish I could get my $75application fee back though...

Knitting with my Cascade

2008-02-26T16:09:00.002-05:00

My first project with the Cascade I bought a couple of weeks ago is going to be a bag, though I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to felt it. At first I thought I would, but now I'm not sure because I really like the way it's looking unfelted.

The pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting, but the project is inspired by the trailers I've seen for the movie Penelope with Christina Ricci. In the previews, she's wearing a scarf with this pattern and for the past couple weeks every time I've seen one of the previews I kept thinking, I love that pattern, and I knew I had seen it somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. Then it dawned on me that it was in either the Mason-Dixon Knitting book or Alterknits. Sure enough I found it in the first and the pattern is suprisingly easy--much easier than I was anticipating. I am done with one side panel and just cast on for the second, so it's a pretty quick knit too.

More pictures to come!

Not much new...

2008-02-20T13:10:00.004-05:00

I don't have much to update--I haven't done a whole lot of knitting this week, mostly because I've worked a lot more this week than usual, which is great. My second toe-up Broadripple is almost done and progess has been made on Pamela's Cape. I still don't know what to do with all the Cascade I bought a couple of weeks ago--any suggestions??

I'll try to post a better update with pictures within the next few days!

Socks and Augusten Burroughs

2008-02-13T10:37:00.002-05:00

My toe-up Broadripple socks are coming along, slowly but surely.

Their progress has been impeded by ther life adventures such as the never ending job search and this: http://www.digyourowngrave.com/flight-of-the-hamsters/ which I don't recommend clicking on if you are easily addicted to stupid games.

I also haven't had a chance to think about what I want to do with all my beautiful Cascade. I think for the Noro sock yarn I might do Monkey (from Knitty). I think I'm starting to feel a little sock burn out though. I knew it would happen eventually, but maybe once I finish the Broadripple, I'll feel motivated enough to cast on one more pair.

I've been doing some work on Pamela's Cape, and hopefully I can have that done soon. I feel bad because this is definitely a cold weather garment and pretty soon it's not going to be cold enough for Pamela to wear it. It's taking longer than I expected, but it's definitely been fun figuring things out as I go along. I just hope the finished product is worthy of the person it's going to.

Lastly, in non-knitting news, I found this at Barnes and Noble the other day in the bargain section:

It's a British printing of Augusten Burroughs' Magical Thinking. I'm so excited--I love the cover (compared to the U.S. version) and it was on clearance so it only cost me $3.50 which is great for my budget right now. Not to mention it makes me feel more worldly to have a book printed in another country...I'm so lame sometimes...

Anyway, since I have the day off today, I'm going to work very hard to finish up the last two panels on Pamela's cape and if I have time after that, I'll put some more work into the second Broadripple!

The unintended yarn fast is OVER!

2008-02-06T10:02:00.000-05:00

I went home this weekend, armed with my gift certificate to The Whole Nine Yarns, my favorite yarn shop ever, and bought some fabulous yarn.

Of course the majority of my purchase consisted of Cascade 220 (even though I have no projects in mind yet--its a great yarn just to have because you can do just about anything with it)

but I also bought a ball of Berroco Comfort Sock yarn, which I've started knitting with already (toe-up version of Broadripple from Knitty)

and I was able to trade in my extra ball of Noro sock yarn for a different colorway.

All in all, a great trip and I'm very excited to have new yarn!

Disappointment

2008-01-30T09:55:00.000-05:00

I meant to post yesterday (despite my unexplicable lack of knitting activity) but then I received a call telling me that I didn't get this job that I really, really wanted, so I was too bummed out to do much of anything but lay in bed and feel sorry for myself. I did get called into work last night which was good, because it got my mind off of things for a bit. I'm still pretty upset about it, but now it's mixed with panic over the fact that I still don't have a full time job and I'm not making enough money in my part time job to cover all my bills for the month, not to mention the little things like grocery money and new clothes (which I desperately need--I practically had to hold my pants up at work all night). It's such a catch 22--you have to cut back on food because you don't have enough money, but then you lose weight and your clothes don't fit, but you don't have enough money for new clothes. I don't know, maybe that's not a catch 22, maybe it's just unfortunate...

In any case, I mentioned earlier my lack of knitting this week. A good deal of it has to do with my lack of yarn at the moment. I did, however, figure out what I'm going to do with Pamela's Cape, and it involved ripping out several panels and now I'm starting to rebuild them.

I have, however, done a little bit of spinning, and unlike my last attempt, I'm pretty pleased with the results so far.

That's all for now, but I feel another post coming soon. Happy Wednesday!

Di.ve' Ribbed Scarf complete!

2008-01-24T20:46:00.000-05:00

I finally went down to Maggie Mays and bought another ball of Di.ve' to finish this scarf and I'm so happy with it.

The yarn was super soft to begin with, but doing the rib pattern with oversized needles (US 11) made it that much more soft and cuddly. I had a little bit left over at the end, so I decided to add fringe. And then I was left with this:

Which is just how I like it. I'm not a big fan of leftovers (well, leftover yarn, that is...leftover food is great!)

Overall, I love the finished product and it was nice to get back to wool after messing with that Cascade Sierra for the past 4 or 5 days.

My roommate and I went "shopping" earlier today at the mall. ("Shopping" because we didn't actually buy anything, Erin doesn't have a job and I wouldn't exactly call my job stable employment) We went to Maurices and it took a lot of effort not to buy anything. I've never been much of a shopper, because I've always had a really hard time finding clothes that fit--between my extreme tallness (6'2" with a 38 inch inseam) and my body shape (i.e. big booty) but I've lost about 30 pounds recently, and I haven't been this thin since I first started college, or maybe even earlier than that. Now I understand why some people love clothes shopping. It's really fun when you can try on just about anything you want!

Anyway, I'm hoping that I'll have a full time job within the next few weeks and I want to lose another 25 pounds, so we'll see if either of those things happen anytime soon :)

Rib Lace Socks: Frogged (short update)

2008-01-23T12:04:00.000-05:00

Just a few quick updates:

Okay, so the first sock was fun to make, but when I tried on the finished product it looked beyond horrible. End of story :)

I think I might try to spin some more yarn today, without plying it and see if I can keep it from breaking every few yards. We'll see how that goes.

In non-knitting news, I have a job interview today. It's a second interview for a job I really want, so I'm slightly nervous about it. Wish me luck! Hopefully I'll have a full-time job within the next few weeks...

Homespun Ambivalence

2008-01-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I finished the yarn that I was working on the last time I posted and I just don't know how I feel about it now that I'm knitting it up. I was afraid that by plying it, the colors would mix strangely and turn it kind of muddy and that's kind of what happened. I don't completely hate it though.

I don't really love it either. In fact, I don't know what to do with it. I don't think I made enough of it to do anything huge. I might be able to squeeze a hat out of it, but do I really want a hat out of yarn that part of me thinks looks like cat vomit? Maybe I'll just let it sit for a while...

I guess the lesson learned here is that this yarn should not be plyed. But everytime I try to make single ply yarn with my drop spindle, it's always breaking off, unless I make it super thick. Anyone have any suggestions?

In other (exciting!) news, I FINALLY got my Ravelry invite the other day and I've been spending too much time on there ever since. I love it! Since I thought I was out of good yarn this weekend, I decided to fill out the needle inventory on Ravelry and in the process ran across two skeins of Cascade Sierra that I forgot I had. This was pretty exciting.

So in continuation with this weird sock fixation I've been experiencing lately, I decided to make a pair of lacy socks with a stitch pattern out of the Vogue Stitchionary book (which I never would have thought of to buy, except it went on mega clearance at Barnes and Noble this past summer--and now I'm really glad I have it). Hopefully I'll finish up at least one sock today before I have to go to work. I want tall socks, so I still have a ways to go on this one.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good MLK day! Find me on Ravelry: lizknits1485

What do you do when you run out of yarn? Make your own!

2008-01-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

A tragedy struck this afternoon when I came to the realization that I am out of yarn.

Out of yarn. I couldn't believe it.

I mean, I'm not completely out, I have an odd ball here and there, but not enough to make anything of substance. And I do have a few projects on the needles, but one is at a standstill until I figure out how I'm going to keep the edges from curling (Pamela's cape), another is on hold until I get one more ball to finish it (ribbed scarf--picture below), and two more I'm just not feeling at the moment (Anniewulf's doggy sweater and Hurry Up Spring armwarmers).

So after a brief moment of panicking, I remembered something. I have roving! Beautiful roving just waiting to be made into beautiful yarn! And I love spinning with my little Ashford drop spindle, but it can be very tedious after the first half hour or so. Nonetheless, I need yarn, so I'll be spinning for awhile until I have to go to work.

I'm doing a two-ply, and I've already spun the first and now I'm working on the second. I can't wait to see how it turns out, hopefully the colors won't look like mud when I ply them together.

Socks again!

2008-01-13T20:07:00.000-05:00

Usually one pair of socks every now and then is good, but something has compelled me to create another pair less than a week after I finished my Noro's. Part of it is because I came across a skein of sock yarn that I forgot about. My excitement about this would be closely matched to the level you feel when you pull out a pair of jeans you haven't worn for a year and finding ten bucks in the pocket. So needless to say, I had to make some more socks.

I completely forgot how much quicker it is to make socks on size 2 needles rather than size 1 or zero. I don't know what compels me to only make socks on microscopic needles most of the time, but there you have it. Even though it takes so much more time, they just feel a lot better than socks knit on bigger needles. Either way, I like this pair of socks. They're just long enough to be covered by my jeans when I sit.

I'm not sure what I'll be working on next, but it'll have to be something from my stash, since I can't afford new yarn or needles at the moment.

In non-knitting news, I had a job interview on Wednesday, so hopefully I'll hear back about that this week. I have mixed feelings about how the interview went, and I know that there were three other people interviewing for this one position, but I'm really hoping that they'll want me for the job. I could sure use a break these days. I have two days left at my job at the library before they kick me out, so I need to find something soon...

Have I mentioned my love affair with Noro sock yarn?

2008-01-07T22:16:00.001-05:00

I finished my Noro Falling Leaves socks tonight and I couldn't be happier with the results.

They're long-footed (I wear size 11 shoes, so I like my socks to be a little roomier than average) and come halfway up my calf and I still have nearly a whole color repeat left in the skein (each sock was about 1.5 color repeats). What more could I ask for? The pattern worked great with the stripes and I love having a touch of lace to my socks. Of course, they're so pretty, I might not ever want to wear them, for fear of messing them up, though the yarn is incredibly sturdy. Sock knitting is kind of hit or miss with me, but this project kept my interest the entire time. Okay, enough gushing about the socks. Luckily, I bought a second ball a couple of weeks ago so more socks are on the horizon.

A New Year

2008-01-04T13:08:00.001-05:00

Rather than make a list of resolutions that I usually end up breaking by mid to late January, I thought I would instead make a list of things that I hope/expect to happen in the next year, without the pressure of keeping to some strict regimen, be it knitting/dieting/exercising or whatever.

1. Get a full time, post-college job that I actually enjoy
2. Get accepted to grad school for the fall, and if not, then make a second go round at applying for next year.
3. Knit when I feel like it, not when I feel like I should (same goes for shaving my legs)
4. Go to Braves Spring Training again
5. Get a massage (hopefully soon, since this is one of my graduation gifts from my friends!)
6. Go to a casino with $20 and see what happens
7. Ride some roller coasters
8. Write when the urge hits me
9. Stand up for myself and my beliefs
10. Take more pictures
11. Ride with the sunroof down
12. Love my body
13. Love my neighbors
14. Beat my Dad in Rummy every time
15. Expand my boundaries in every sense
16. Get a pattern published
17. Sleep in until 10:30 every once in a while
18. Tell people how much they mean to me

Like I said, none of these are resolutions, just things that I would like to see happen, but by no means will I kick myself if they don't (except for #1--I really need #1 to happen in the near future...)

Happy Holidays

2007-12-30T21:40:00.001-05:00

Christmas was pretty uneventful--I went to my parent's home for a few days, and had a good time, until I wanted to pull my hair out, and then I came home. I feel bad for saying that--but it's the truth. I can't be home for more than 24 hours it seems without something happening to make the house feel like a prison. Anyway, guess what I got for Christmas??

Yup. Knit Picks Harmony Wood interchangeables. And they are everything I was hoping for. Between these and the gift certificate I got to my favorite yarn shop, I'm going to be set for awhile.

I can't believe I'm comparing myself to Jessica Simpson...

2007-12-24T09:40:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make, but first a little background information. I started working at Barnes and Noble in June. Once school started and it became obvious that I couldn't keep working 40 hours a week and take classes full time I switched to seasonal employment. I started back this week after graduating last weekend.

Anyway, somehow back when I first started working there, I got a reputation of sorts of being a little flaky and stupid. I'm not sure how this happened, probably a combination between my gullibility (which is a characteristic I only have when working at B&N, because you never know if the managers demands are serious or not because they're always unreasonable and ridiculous it seems) and the cheerful, upbeat persona I adopt when I'm there. And yeah, I say stupid things sometimes on accident, but who doesn't? (As an example, the other day I said "reindeers" instead of "reindeer" for the plural--sue me)

Heres the thing: it started out on accident, but now that I'm aware of my reputation (or what I feel is my reputation--no one has called me a dumbass to my face yet), I've started playing to it a little. I really don't care if my coworkers at Barnes and Noble think I'm an idiot--in fact, I'd rather not let them get that close to me. I mean, they're nice people and all, but it's not like I'm forming lifelong relationships here--when I leave I'll probably never talk to any of them again.

So I was thinking about this situation this morning and for some reason I found myself comparing mysef to Jessica Simpson in this situation. She has a reputation for being stupid, but I've also heard that she was putting on an act for her television show and now she's kind of stuck with that reputation. I have a feeling that no matter what I'll be stuck with this reputation at B&N but at least the people who really matter know I'm not stupid. And at least, unlike Jessica Simpson, it's just a handful of people at the local bookstore in northwest Georgia and not the whole world. The only time it really bothers me that they think I'm stupid is when I say something intelligent and they look at me like, "where did that come from?" Or when I was telling some of my coworkers that I'm going to get a Ph.D. and that I applied to Princeton and Cornell and I can tell they're thinking that there's no way in hell I'd make it in to any of those places. Maybe I'm overanalyzing things, maybe they don't think I'm as much as an idiot as I think they do. Maybe I care more than I let myself believe. But like I said, I'm not sure I want to let the people at Barnes and Noble in that much.

Oh well, just something that's been on my mind.

As Promised

2007-12-20T18:09:00.000-05:00

Here's some pictures of what I'm currently working on:

I am SO excited about this Noro sock yarn. This picture doesn't quite do it justice (no picture can do Noro the justice it deserves) but the colors are absolutely amazing and I love the way the stripes are interacting with the pattern (which is from knitty.com). If I didn't have Christmas projects for others to be working on, I would definitely have these done by now, since I got the yarn last week.

This is my stepmother's Christmas gift (shh...don't tell her). The yarn is Manos Del Uruguay and it's everything I heard it would be. The colors (like Noro) are absolutely wonderful--very deep, very autumn-like. The stitch pattern is from Vogue Stitchionary Volume One. It's pretty close to being finished and ready for blocking, I just want to add a little bit more length.

Off to raid the cabinets for something to eat for dinner, and after that, more knitting.

All by myself

2007-12-20T14:43:00.000-05:00

Today has been quite uneventful. I finished up my last grad school application (for now) and sent it off, so that was pretty exciting. Then I got to work at the library and it turns out I'm the only one working circulation today, so it's a little boring and lonely, but it gives me time to read and work on customizing my new blog to the best of my ability--which is fairly limited. I'm wishing that I brought my noro socks to work on today, but it's probably best that I didn't, because even though there has only been a handful of patrons in today, there's still work to be done. Only two hours and fourteen minutes to go...

When I get off work today, I'm going to go buy some batteries for my camera so I can take pictures of everything I've been working on. That is, assuming that the problem with my camera is that the batteries are dead. I haven't been able to get it to work lately, but then again, I haven't been trying fresh batteries in it. I hope the camera's not dead. It's only three and a half years old, which, I suppose may be considered old in digital camera years, but I hardly ever use it and I don't envision myself buying a new one any time soon, even if it is broken. I'm just not a picture taker--pretty much the only time I use my camera is to take pictures of my knitting projects, and since I was so busy this past semester, I never had a chance to knit, thus the last time I picked up my camera was probably March, when I took it to Florida for spring break. Maybe it died from loneliness and lack of attention. Or maybe it's just being dramatic in a desperate plea for attention. Or maybe I need to get a good night's sleep tonight since I'm anthropomorphisizing my camera.

In any case, assuming I remember to go buy batteries tonight and assuming my camera comes back to life with said batteries, I will do my best to post a picture blog either tonight or tomorrow morning.

A fresh start

2007-12-19T14:17:00.001-05:00

Throughout my life I have had this one problem--among others of course--of not carrying through with things that I've started, specifically things of the written variety. As a child I would write in the first few pages of a crisp new journal, reporting faithfully every day for a few weeks and then slowly taper off. Each time I would feel the urge to journal, I would be overcome with some strange feeling of guilt for picking up where I had left off in the old journal. So I would begin a new one again. This has not left me. Now that I've moved much of my musings and such online (though I still try to keep a written journal) I'm having the same problem. I think it arrives out of a need to reinvent myself, erase the past and start brand new.

So that's what I'm doing. Welcome.