Crafty Pay it Forward: Part II

Okay, so I still haven't passed these along to their intended recipients, but everyone's been super busy, so I haven't had a chance to see them since about March.  I will finally put the things in the mail this week, though.  I promise.

For Terry, The Nemesis Socks:

 

 The pattern is by Susan Dittrich and was featured in Knitty Deep Fall 2010.  You can also download it for free on Ravelry.  I really enjoyed this pattern!  I started out rather ambitious and tried Eunny Jang's Bayerische Socks, but they're out of my league.  Size 0 needles and ~a million tiny cables.  I probably *could* have knit them, but they were extremely difficult and required more effort than I wanted to put into this project.  Sorry, Terry, but I wasn't looking to create masterpiece socks here.

Nemesis, however, was quite fun.  If you can read charts and you can knit and purl, you can knit these socks.  The hardest part was paying close attention to the chart and remembering my place.  A row counter definitely came in handy here.  It's a long chart, too, so I never got bored knitting it.  I might knit another pair of these for myself later!

The yarn, however, I did not enjoy as much.  It's Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fina, which I have used in the past to great effect, but found frustrating this time.  It was splitty, prone to tangling, and I had to use both wet and steam blocking--on socks!  The tangling was the worst part.  I had it wound all prettily into a yarn cake, but while I was pulling from the center, it collapsed into a knotted disaster that took an entire afternoon to untangle.  I will be steering clear in the future.

At least the color's pretty.  Hopefully Terry will like them.

For Jennifer, The Little Gems Mitts:

 

At first, I had no idea what to knit for her, but this came right after I finished that monster of a sweater, Venezia and I had a dozen leftover bits of Palette yarn--perfect for little mosaic mitts! (Yes, all the colors are Palette). The pattern is by Donna Kay and was featured in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007.  

These were a little bit harder than the Nemesis socks, but after Venezia, they were a piece of cake.  They look like intarsia, but there's never more than two colors per row, so you can strand away.  And if you don't like the look/feel/process of knitting all the fingers separately, you could also make them true fingerless mitts and knit that all as one piece.

I probably would not knit these again.  They're pretty cute and good for using up some ends of yarn, but there were a lot of ends to weave in for such a little project and it didn't use up hardly any of my leftover colors, just the gray.  I suppose you could fix that by only using one or two accent colors, but then what's the point?  There are way cuter fair isle patterns out there for mitts.  Good to try new things and use some of the patterns that are already in my library, though.  I should do that more, considering I've got roughly 500 patterns at my immediate disposal...

I do like the effect of all those blues in the gray background, however.  I hope Jennifer likes them as well!  Too bad it's about 80 degrees right now and she won't need them until November.  Oh well!  That's just one of the pitfalls of knitting year-round.

Good news: I finished knitting the Aeolian Shawl!  I plan to block it out tonight and maybe, if you're really really nice to me, I'll post some pictures of it blocking...

Cheers,

-Allie

Socks, Socks, Socks

I wish I had more to show you for my lateness, but things have been rather busy lately.  First, there's Walker's classes (which are going very well, despite the high time commitment) and second, I started another yoga challenge earlier this week.  Once more I'm shooting for practicing 5-6 times per week, but the difference this time is that I will be blogging about it in more detail. 

Don't worry, I will not be hijacking this blog.  I started another one here.  So if you're interested in the benefits of a regular hot yoga practice or just want to see the wild and wacky poses I get up to when I'm not knitting, check me out.

Anyway, knitting:

Stocking Ornaments
You all remember the dozens of stocking ornaments that I cranked out at Christmastime for, well, everyone?  Well, Kathryn loved them so much that she commissioned me to make a few more for her three kids.  I panicked a little because I didn't have any of the Christmas colored Palette I used before, but she assured me to use my best judgment with the colors I had and this is what I came up with:

Cute, huh?  Kathryn sure liked them--she wants me to make two more for her pets!  Man, my queue just keeps getting longer and longer!

Paraphernalia Socks


This pattern was a real joy to knit.  This was one of the very rare patterns that did not once bore me. I never wished that I was done with the project so I could move onto the next one. Maybe it was the size of the pattern chart and that I only had to repeat it times. It was easy to memorize, but I was never bored. Bravo.

I really, really did not like that it required dividing the stitches onto four needles, so I cheated a little and had to put the end of the round in the middle of one needle. Since the cabling makes your place in the round very clear, this was never a problem.

I also omitted one pattern repeat in the leg on each sock. I was worried about running out of yarn--and was right to do so, since I would have run out had I completed the full length of the leg section. I like the way this turned out. They are beautiful and are just the right length for my snow boots.

I would happily knit this pattern again.

But not for a while.  My backlog is getting a tad out of control--Venezia and non-knitting time commitments are eating into my time and motivation.  Maybe by spring (I mean Maine spring, not the Vernal Equinox) I will have that monster sweater done and be able to move onto other things...

Cheers,

-Allie

A Finer Peace Socks

As you may have imagined, with the addition of birthday yarn and now with more Etsy yarn on the way, my stash has gotten a bit out of control.  So here's yet another (rather meager) edition of my stash-busting efforts:

A Finer Peace Socks:

The pattern is by Wendy Johnson and can be found for free on Ravelry (link above).
Enter at your own peril, however, for these socks are knit on (DUN DUN DUN) size 0/2mm needles.  I've never knit anything with needles so tiny, but I really really love the way these socks came out.  I would say that it took a really long time to finish them, but then if you were to visit my project page and see that it only took 10 days, you would probably roll your eyeballs out of your head.  I put in a lot of hours, okay...

Now how did I finish a whole pair of socks on teeny tiny needles without completely losing my mind, you might ask.  Well, the secret to that is frequent breaks (so your hands don't cramp up) and a very light touch with the needles.  That, and modifying the pattern so that k3tbl (scary on larger needles!) became S1, K2tog, PSSO instead.   I did break one early on the first sock, but I maintain that particular needle was faulty.  Knit Picks came to the rescue and sent me a new one immediately and without question.  I didn't have any other breakage problems...

The detailing is absolutely gorgeous:

I'm sorry it's so hard to see in that photo--both the yarn and our apartment are really dark. 

You might recognize the yarn from my Myrtle Cardigan earlier this year.  I had ~300 yards leftover and it was just the perfect amount to finish these little socklets.  In action they come up to about the top of the ankle on size 8-9 women's feet. 

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping them or not.  They are up for grabs if anyone would like to claim them as a "Christmas gift" (or "miscellaneous" if your name is Jodi).  They are very warm, the lace inserts are quite lovely, and they would be perfect in a pair of short boots/other fall/winter footwear.  Let me know!

In other knitting news, Ivy is now finished.  I'm not entirely in love with it, though.  I'll give you a full assessment in next week's post.   I am also trucking along with my Que Sera--almost done with the torso section and right on schedule to complete it when the in-laws come to visit next week for Walker's birthday.  And then after that, I actually plan to give Venezia another try.  Wish me luck that this second attempt proves better than the first!

And now a cute kitty picture to close out this post:

I just love him, don't you?

Cheers,

-Allie

Leopard Print Vest

I know I've been talking about it for ages, but it's finally here!  It's finished, pressed, and delivered to its recipient.  No action shots yet--still too hot for wearing a vest, even if it is cotton, but here's a photo of the completed vest:

For the shape, I used the Geek Chic Argyle Vest from Picture Perfect Knits.  Rather than knit the front and the back separately, I knit the vest in the round to the armpit and the knit the front and back separately, ending with the 3-needle bind-off.  I have to say, avoid stranding when knitting flat.  It's doable, but such a pain that I would really rather steek. Unfortunately, cotton doesn't hold up to steeking, so I was stuck purling.

Intarsia's kind of a pain in the bum, though, so I used the "Tarzan" pattern from Vogue Knitting's Stitchionary of color motifs.

Here's a close-up of the leopard pattern:

This photo is a little truer to color.  We really need to move into an apartment with more light for better knitting photos!  (Might be happening fairly soon--stay posted!)

I'm really really pleased with the way this turned out.  It was a little tight on Vicki when she first tried it on, but that was before blocking and since it's cotton, it should stretch some.  The cotton will also make it easier to care for, even if it's not my favorite fiber.

Unfortunately because I changes the color pattern around so much, it was difficult to estimate how much yarn to order and I had a lot of the cashew color left.  So I searched through my library (Man, I sure do love Ravelry) and dug up this little number, the Citrine Socklets by Marylin Webster from Interweave Knits Holiday 2007.

I had just the right amount to whip out a pair of cute little socks.  I had to make the leg section a couple of pattern repeats shorter, but they'll make great little slipper socks for Vicki, whose yarn it is in the first place.

Right now I'm having a very hard time being faithful to one project.  I'm working simultaneously on the Goddess Top by StitchDiva and the Ivy Sweater from Knitty.  Not making much project on either since I can't decide which one I like better.  And then to make the sluttiness worse, I've got about 300 yards of the yarn left from the Myrtle Sweater and cannot for the life of me find a pair of socks this yarn wants to be.  I tried Bayerische by Eunny Jang, which has a 7-stitch cable I couldn't wrap my head around, and the Cablenet Socks from Knitty, whose teeny-tiny cables don't show up well in the heathered yarn.  I'm thinking I'll have to find something ribbed or lacy...wish me luck...

In non-knitting related news, I have made the all-important decision to dye my hair red.  I have always admired auburn hair, but have never dyed my own.  This changes now.  As soon as I can fit in an appointment, I am going to show up at my hairdresser and demand that she imbue my locks with my alltime favorite color.  Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have some photos for you of my new tresses!

Next time: Knotty but Nice patterns, new hair?

Cheers,

-Allie

Entrelac Socks

I'm back!  So sorry for the long wait.  My motherboard truly was fried due to a faulty video card and I had to completely replace the machine.  My computer guy was telling me about all the recalls HP has been doing lately, so I decided to go in a completely new direction and am now the proud owner of a brand-new Asus!  So far it runs great and I couldn't be happier.  All my data is loaded in and I am back in business.

 In the interim, I got a whole lot of knitting done.  The entrelac socks are finished and blocked, Moebius Cowl and Hat are done (but not yet photographed--too hot!), I finished a quickie lace pullover, the February Fitted Pullover (also waiting for a cooler day for a photo shoot), and made some excellent progress on my Myrtle Cardigan.  I'm really excited about Myrtle.  It's going to be in a lovely dark teal alpaca/merino blend and (hopefully) will be pretty.

I'm also pretty excited about these entrelac socks, too.

The pattern is by Eunny Jang and I used two of the ~2 million balls of Palette I have in my stash, these were Teal and Hyacinth.  The only modification I did was to make them much shorter.  The original pattern resulted in knee-length socks, but I knit these up to mid-calf--because that's how high my snow boots go.  Awesome, yet practical.

The hardest part for me was knitting them from the toe-up.  The Turkish cast-on was really difficult to wrap my head around (har har) and took a great deal of frustration and cursing before I finally got my first toe going.  The second time was much easier.

After that, at least for a while, the entrelac was really fun to knit!  Even though it looks like woven bands of knit fabric, it is nothing of the sort.  You actually knit each square individually in short rows, so a finished tier looks something like this:

And then the inside looks something like this:

See?  No weaving and the only sewing is sewing in a couple of ends.  Waay easier than it looks, but it does get a touch tedious toward the end.

Kitty update:
The Good News: Everyone is getting along great!  They are playing and wrestling and generally having a good time.  I do, however, think Arty feels more comfortable with Branwen than she does with him.  I've seen him try to rub his head against her or snuggle and she shies away, confused and agitated.  I don't think she's quite figured out that she can have kitty friends in addition to her human friends, but Arty remains as cheerful (and purry) as ever.

The Bad News: Poor Arty may have ringworm.  I am supposed to hear back from the vet today, but we're pretty certain our little kitty has a fungus.  It's not life threatening, but he seems itchy and we'll have to give him medicated baths to get rid of it, yay...  I haven't seen any signs of it on Branwen, though--thank goodness.  Giving her a bath would be terrifying.  Here's hoping it doesn't spread and it's easy to eradicate...

And here's hoping it doesn't spread into my stash...


Next time: February Fitted Pullover by Amy Herzog

Cheers,

-Allie

We're in Business

I'm sorry this post is so late this week, but a lot has been going on, like my first AND second sales!! Okay, the second was to my mom, but the first was to a total stranger! And I even got a request for a custom item this past weekend, so I am officially in business!

If you haven't noticed yet, I finished listing the rest of my inventory, both baby and adult accessories. I also made a few more baby sets this past weekend. This strawberry one is my favorite:
Too cute. I made them in KnitPicks Shine Worsted, so they knit up really fast, are 100% washable, and really, really soft. I just love the mary jane booties, don't you? I have 2 other sets up there in the same material. Check them out!

I also made a facebook fan page for the shop this week, so if you're not a fan, the link is in my sidebar. Become a fan and suggest the page to your friends! Please help me get the word out.

Enough about Etsy, though. I have found the time to knit for my family and me, too. Apparently, I have little to no self control when it comes to yarn. I had nothing to do one lunch break, so I thought I would check out a yarn shop I'd not yet visited. I told myself I would just browse, but I walked out with two hanks of Shibuiknits Sock yarn in the perfect peachy pink and superwash merino. I used Mother's Day as an excuse, but we all know that's a big lie...

Anyway, I did knit some lovely slipper-socks for Mom. She has been working too hard lately and needs to find a little time to relax on her own, so these socks are strictly for relaxation time.
I used the pattern Voronetz Socks by Tia O'Connor and while they came out nicely, the constant cabling was a bit of a pain in the butt. Socks aren't really my favorite thing to knit, so I don't know why I picked such a labor-intensive pattern. Silly me. At least there is a lot of love in these socks--Happy Mother's Day Mom!

While I've been waiting for the yarn for a couple of custom orders, I've been doing a little knitting for myself, too. I made a lot of headway on the Swallowtail Shawl, so next week I hope to show you some before/after pictures of the magic of blocking!

Here's a shot of Branwen being a kitty parrot to end this post:
Enjoy the rest of your week!

Cheers,

-Allie

Things are changing

So by now I'm sure most of you have heard that Walker and I are trying to orchestrate a move to North Carolina. In fact, this weekend, we're flying down there to scope out a few apartments and meet with some job contacts. If all goes well, we'll be down here in March, which is really really coming up fast. If all doesn't go well, then I don't know what we're going to do, so keep your fingers crossed.

As far as the job things go, Walker is still looking to pursue a legal career (which is one of the reasons we're looking to move to NC now rather than later). But, as I'm sure you've all heard, I've been turned off quite a bit by the legal profession and am looking to transfer into the financial sector. Wish us luck--we're probably going to need it!

And now, knitting news. I know I neglect this blog and I'm really sorry that I do. I think the reason is that I wait until I have pictures to show and since I'm often way too lazy to take pictures, the projects pile up and things get rather daunting. So I resolve to update this thing much more often, with or without pictures. Also, no more than one project per post. It's getting out of control. Further, once I come up with a new name, I intend to move this blog. Blogger won't let me change the user to my new email address and it's a bit of a PITA to keep logging into old email. I'll let you know and leave the forwarding information on this blog when/if that happens.

Progress toward the etsy shop is plugging along. I hadn't been very inspired lately, but I have 2.5 hats that I think might sell, so hopefully soon I'll be posting about my Grand Opening! This is another incentive for switching the blog: I hope to link the two in a feeble attempt to generate sales. We'll see how that goes...

Today's project: Spiral Boot Socks!

I finished the first one ages ago and set the other aside so that I could finish my Christmas knitting. I really like this yarn, Lion Brand Superwash Merino. It's about the only Lion Brand yarn that I like and it was a royal pain to acquire, but for these socks, it was worth it.

This pattern was a joy to knit. Easy, but not too easy and kept me interested the whole time. The only problem is that I wish instead of the lacy edging that I had used ribbing because they have a tendency to fall down. Maybe the boss is right and I am too skinny. If my calves were meatier, I wouldn't have this problem...

They are super soft, though and I love wearing them. I may make them again, just shorter next time.

Maine!

Yay, we're finally in Maine! We've got everything moved in and put away and you can see some pictures of the apartment here. No jobs yet, but I'm sure we'll find something soon. The temp agency says they're working hard to find us something, anyway. As you can tell, I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done since my last post. So much for posting more often. Sorry :-/

I recently came to the conclusion that the hat I made for myself last fall makes me look like a pinhead. So I tried to make myself a beret and pretty much failed. I think my head's just too fat. Instead, I ended up making this folded brim number, based loosely on Knitty's Coronet hat, but bigger and with a different cable pattern on the brim, which is a little tough to make out in this picture.It's a little bit big, but that means, no more hathead! I'm in love with this yarn, too. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd make everything in Knitpicks' elegance yarn!
I mentioned in the last post that I would be making my mother a scarf to match the gloves I made her for Christmas, well here it is!It's pretty much just a big scarfy tube with part of the glove chart stuck on it and with the ends sewn together. Mom loves it, so it's a success in my book.

Now for the stash-busting. I still had a lot of fingering weight yarn left, but not much in any one color. So I made these little stripey socks in an attempt to kill a couple skeins. I think I'm going to mail these to a friend of mine.Unfortunately, they were unable to kill my remaining fingering weight yarn, so as usual with little scraps of yarn, I made this adorable trio of cat toys. Left to right: Asparagus man, Mr. Stegs, and Morlock.And Mr. Stegs from the side:

Our naughty kitty is so lucky he can benefit from my yarn scraps! Now all of my fingering weight yarn is left, a couple skeins of worsted (future mittens and valentines miscellany), one of dk (future gloves, elegance!), and that remaining ball of bamboo lace. I swear, this time, I'm really going to get back to working on the Seascape Shawl! I mean it!

Sorry, no pictures of kitties in the beret. It's too big for Jericho and Fatty flipped out when I tried to put it on him :( Also, if there was anything in the previous post that you would like, (as in the Alaska Hat, Vespergyle Mittens, washcloth, or cat beret) you're absolutely welcome to them. I have no idea what to do with them and don't really want to just donate them to charity.

Jericho will wrap things up for me with his customary shot of cuteness.

Cheers!

Wedding Bells

Of course you all already know our big news, but I wanted to share it again: we're engaged, yay! We haven't set a date yet, but if I get my way, it'll be in early October, so clear your calendars! I even have a date to try on some wedding dresses while I'm home for Christmas. It's really happening now, guys. :) I'll let you know as more things progress and fall into place.
Some less exciting news: I did hear back from that job and they have a hiring freeze right now. Awesome. They think they should have an opening at the beginning of the year, but I'm not so sure that I really want it anymore. Now that Walker's stint at the Penn library is almost over, Walker and I are seriously considering moving to Maine and have been looking for jobs there. We even have interviews with a staffing agency next Monday, which will hopefully result in a very positive change in our financial circumstances. Wish us luck! The interviews also mean that Walker will be joining my family and me for Christmas, more yay!
Having only a part-time job has given me lots of time for knitting, both for me and Christmas presents for my family. Here's the Stardust cardigan/Christmas sweater I made for myself:
Note the lack of awful applique reindeer. It's a little smaller in the bust area than I had thought it would (which is a really weird thing for me), but I think if I tighten it at the tie joint, it should look at little better. It's still cute. Because we're a little short on funds this Christmas, my family's getting gifts that don't break the bank, but are made with lots and lots of love. Walker's getting another pair of argyle socks, which I think are even better than the last pair (that I accidentally shrank). The cuffs are looser, which means they're easier for him to put on and I like the color scheme better than the last ones. When I asked my sister what she wanted, of course she had to ask for the most ambitious of projects, a sweater. And since she didn't like any of the patterns, I could find, I actually wrote this pattern for her. I really really hope it fits her okay. It might be a little shorter than she would have liked and the neckline may not hit where she wanted it to, but I'm fairly confident the torso measurements should fit okay and the yarn is super soft. So regardless of how short it is, it'll still be really comfy. Now I only have my parents' projects to finish. Dad's getting the Triumph Scarf in jade green and I'm about halfway through with it. Mom will be getting some Nordic-inspired gloves, once the book Selbuvotter arrives. They're going to be in some combination of red and white; I'm not sure which will be the background and which will make the pattern. I'm leaning towards red bg and white fg. I'll post pictures when I finish those. Yay, Christmas!
And here's a gratuitous picture of Jericho in an empty box of propel. Too cute!

Cheers,

-Allie

Philadelphia!

Wow, it's been an awfully long time since I've updated this thing and so much has happened since then! For starters, I finished all my schoolwork (on time, I might add) and we all graduated June 2nd with much pomp and a slight hint of rain. They were so concerned it was going to downpour that they even gave us plastic baggies to put our diplomas in!
Of course I also finished all the graduation gifts I'd planned for the girls and they've all received them, but unfortunately, I am not able to locate the images I took of them. I really have no idea what I did with them. Perhaps they didn't make it to this new computer after the old one broke. (Yes, again.) So I don't have any pictures for you of those and you'll just have to imagine how pretty they were.
Then after graduation, Walker and i made the move to Philadelphia and are finally all settled in. Everything is put away and the stove (finally) works. There are still some things that need to get patched up around the place, but those are supposed to happen today. I am still unemployed and getting rather anxious about that. I did find a job, but that basically required me to waltz around Home depot and harass their customers about getting their cabinets refaced. It was awful and I quit that last week. Fortunately, however, I had an interview at a law firm on Monday for a paralegal position that would allow me to actually handle cases and not just run errands or do boring research. The woman seemed to like me and when I called her on Tuesday, she seemed optimistic about having me come in for a second interview sometime in the next couple of weeks. I really hope that works out because I would really love that job! Right now we're surviving on savings and Walker's job at the UPenn manuscript library, which is all the more reason for me to find a job and fast (which I promise I will do once I finish this post).

But back to knitting. Since I am unemployed right now, I've had some time to work on some knitting projects, like the seed cabled cardigan, which is pictured below.Even Walker tells me about how much he likes this one! I got the pattern out of the book Sensual Knits and used Knitpicks CotLin yarn, which is super-comfy! The only thing I changed (apart from the yarn) is the width of the ribbing on the front; I made it a little narrower and am very pleased with the outcome. Maybe I'll get a picture of it on me in a later post--my camera always seems to be on the fritz when I'm wearing it.
Because Walker's been so nice to me, I decided to reward him with another pair of socks, but I couldn't bear to make another boring forest green pair, so I made him some argyle socks!

I got this pattern out of Mary's book Never Knit Your Man a Sweater until You've Got the Ring! and used Knitpicks' Essential sock yarn, which means these babies are not only more interesting, but also machine washable. The only thing I don't like was that the pattern was so complicated that it required me to knit the leg portion flat and seam it afterwards, which means there is a moderately uncomfortable seam at the heel of the sock, but Walker says he doesn't mind, so I guess it's okay.

So now all that's left in my knitting bag is the Cleopatra wrap and its yarn and a some red and blue yarn from those socks. I don't know what to do with those partial balls of fingering-wt yarn, so I think they'll just hang out until I make another fair-isle fingering-wt project. But I don't know what I'll be working on once/if I finish the Cleopatra wrap. I've only got about another 2 feet to put on the thing (I have 4 1/2) and it'll be finished. I've been thinking I want to make the Goddess Top by Stitch Diva Studios in a mulberry colored bamboo yarn. What do you guys think?

I should probably scoot off now and do some more job searching.

Cheers!

Spring Break!!

Yay, we're on Spring Break!
This is the less exciting of our two weeks off: hanging around with Walker's family in Athens. I can't complain, though, since it has been a relaxing and worry-free several days. Flying down here was relatively painless. Our flight was on time, but the "tornado" weather in Atlanta prevented us from landing promptly and we had to circle around in a holding pattern for about an extra hour. I would say that it would have been a good time to work on my knitting, but I was working on a hat made from the leftovers from that last pair of socks I made for Walker and there wasn't quite enough to finish. It was really cute, though, so I think I may get more yarn and make it anyway--I can get it for cheap at knitpicks ;-). But since we've been here and hanging out in their basement, I have finished off that stripey sock yarn, making a pair for Sunmi's little feet: Aren't they cute? I don't have a picture of the pair I made for me, since I figured it would be redundant, but they're just as cute =). That yarn went really fast. I know you all aren't shocked by how fast I cranked out those socks, but I am! Anyway, Sunmi and I each have nice new pairs of Williams-y colored socks.
In between hanging out with Walker's family and visiting with his friends (this evening we went bowling and I threw my best game yet: 114!), I've started on that delicious Cleopatra wrap with the bamboo lace yarn.Pretty, huh? It's a little hard to see the definition, but the color came out clearer without the flash--that made it look much too orange, ew. Oh, I love this yarn. It's sooo soft, but it's also sooo slick and I've accidentally dropped a few stitches and made several mistakes. Hopefully the holeyness of the pattern will make them less noticable :-/. It's going to take me forever to finish this (comparatively), but it'll be so worth it. It is so full of pretty =).
In other news, I've figured a way to use up some of that lavender yarn and some leftovers from graduation gifts (which I also finished right before we left for break). I'm going to take a stab at these lovely Latvian-Inspired mittens. I don't yet know who will be receiving them--perhaps with their purple and red colors they'd appeal to Jodi ;-). One would think I would be doing well with the stash-busting, considering I'd have all the yarn in my stash planned into projects (just the wrap and mittens, plus one more lavender ball), except that when Walker's mother saw me working on the self-striping socks, she remembered that she had some stripey yarn that she'd bought a while ago and probably wasn't going to use:So now I've got two balls of that plus one ball of lavender yarn to plan out--no buying more yarn before the 4 projects I've got left. I mean it this time. Anyone have any thoughts for the remaining yarns? Want me to make you something out of them? No reason to feel guilty since neither cost me a dime.
To finish off this super-long post, I thought I'd throw in a picture of the Valentine's Day surprises that I forgot to post back in February: a little Valentine's bear! Isn't he cute? He's about 6 inches tall and has two brothers that were also distributed on Valentine's Day. No grad gift pictures, though. You have to wait for those--keep you in suspense. So have a wonderful second half of spring break! I probably won't update before we get back since we may not have internet in Florida (leaving Georgia on Saturday) plus I won't likely have anything to report--this shawl is not going very quickly. It's gorgeous, but slow, and I should be out in the sun anyway, just as the rest of you should =).

Cheers,
-Allie

Senior Spring: Not as cool as you'd think

So it's been a really long time since I've updated and I'm sorry about that, but there have been some minor crises and adjustments that took place in the last few weeks. Not the least of these crises was the LSAT a couple of weeks ago--just awful. I'm still awaiting the results, but I already know they're not going to be good. My relentless (and often invisible) optimism was the only thing that kept me from cancelling the scores, which in retrospect, I probably should have done. Too late now. I'll just have to deal with the shame and grief when it comes. The other major crisis was my computer crashing and the OIT people having to reinstall EVERYTHING, which means that I'm still missing a lot of data and many of my programs are either non-functional or not present. So rather than losing a best friend (on whom I greatly depended), I have to deal with one that suffered a severe blow to the head and now copes with acute amnesia. Awesome.

But now that I've got my drivers mostly reinstalled, I can at least upload pictures again and update my blog! I should also add that I've been neglecting my e-diary because of the rather intense reading workload this semester, much of which is in French. With fewer art history classes comes fewer pictures in the reading, which makes the reading longer and considerably more boring. I know that makes me sound like an elementary school student, but isn't my love of pictures why I'm taking art history in the first place? It makes sense to me anyway.

Anyway: knitting. As I mentioned, the increased reading load seriously cuts into my knitting time, so I don't have much to show for my near 4-week absence. But being the accomplished knitter/procrastinator that I am, I have managed to make some progress.

I finished both the pairs of socks that I'd been working on. I like the way Walker's turned out--he even wore them the other day! But the elasticity of the yarn leaves something to be desired, so not quite perfect socks. Yet another reason not to go back to that shady yarn store in Adams. I don't really like mine, though. They look nice there, but they kinda look stupid on my feet. Could be something to do with the Walmart yarn, could have something to do with the pattern. Either way, I'll probably be donating them unless someone really takes a fancy to them.I also have been working hard on the Bella Paquita sweater with the yarn that Mary gave me. I started it a few weeks ago, but didn't read the instructions clearly enough and started it from the wrong direction. So I got about halfway through the thing before I realized that it was all wrong and I had to take it apart and start over. Now I have about half a sweater worked in the correct direction and should be finished with it pretty soon, especially since the correct first half was the harder half and the rest should flow fairly easily--just some K2, P2 ribbing. All that will be left once I finish that (which I should be able to accomplish during the ridiculously long screening of Les Miserables this week) is to adjust the neckline lace to it sits right. Woohoo! I'm really excited--this one's going to be pretty.

And now to bed, so I can punish myself with more pictureless reading in the morning.

Cheers,

-Allie

Our Very Last Dead Week

Well, our last Winter Study has come to a close. I won't lie and say it was my favorite class ever, but it was fun and I got some really beautiful quilts out of it. The following is my technique sampler, done mostly by hand to get the hang of quilting. Who's surprised that I chose dramatic Asian fabrics? I'm not. I think it's absolutely gorgeous. Even though I won't be pursuing quilting, I'm glad I gave it a try. The next one is my big independent project, done in the Native Rainbow pattern. The color selection was from Walker's suggestion of dark greens and purples that I expanded to a general bruise color scheme. It's not quite bed size, which is a little sad, but it will make a very nice throw.

So after quilting class ended, we has us a very relaxing Dead Week,but was it productive? No. But I did get a bunch of knitting done, including one of the mint-green socks, pictured below.
And here's a closeup of the scales.
Cool, huh? They'll make a neat addition to my sock drawer, once I knit the other one, anyway. And, as per tradition, I started a pair of socks for Walker with that nice yarn Christina and I got in Adams last week. The yarn is a lot smaller than last year's yarn so I only finished one sock and am I about halfway through the other one:
Man, boys have such big feet! Eleven inches is a lot of foot to knit and, oh goody, I get to do the same thing on the other sock. That's the trouble with socks--no matter how accomplished you feel by completing one of them, your jubilation is overshadowed by the fact that you have to make the other one, too. Oh well, he'll have some really nice merino socks once I'm done.

I do need to ease up on the knitting for the next few days anyway, since I'm taking the LSAT this weekend. Yuck. I've been studying and I'm a little more confident than I was last time, but you never know and I could get screwed. We'll see. And on top of that, classes start tomorrow, so that pesky reading should start eating into my knitting time. *sigh* So many projects, so little time. Once these two pairs are finished, I want to start on the Bella Paquita sweater and finally use up that yarn that Mary gave me. And then I can dig into that self-striping yarn that I also bought in Adams. Geez, I really do have too many projects. At least I'll never be bored, right?

Cheers,
-Allie

Last Week of Winter Study

*sigh*

The last Winter Study of my Williams' career is about to come to a close and then a nice, peaceful Dead Week, where I'll have plenty of time to work on this stash busting and studying for the LSATs, since that Feb. 2nd date is starting to look far too close.

Quilting turned out to be far more stressful than I thought it would be--it's a lot to accomplish in 3 weeks, but it looks like I will accomplish it by the end of this week. Or die trying. I don't think it's a hobby I'm going to carry on after this class. Knitting is my calling, after all. I will, however, provide pictures of those quilts once/if they're finished, which should be some time this week.

I spent last weekend housesitting for the knitting instructor's neurotic dogs--that was a chore. At least she paid me well for it and I had time to make this charming fellow:According to the pattern, his name is Francois. Funny name for a Maine lobster, but I think I'll keep it. Here's another view:

I also have not been true to the 'no buying yarn before you finish what you've got' dictum, since I went with Christina to a rather overpriced yarn store in Adams, that I don't think we'll be revisiting, and bought some really nice sock yarn for Walker and some not-so-nice, but self-striping sock yarn for me =). So many projects. Now I'm really not allowed to buy any more yarn until all of this stuff is used up. Okay?

I have been working on the rest of the yarn in my stash, though. That odd ball of kid mohair that I used for those socks earlier in the year is being turned into a really loose and lacy scarf for my mother. If she doesn't like it, I'll just have to donate it or something. I've also broken open a ball of fingering wt yarn that I've had in my bag since summer--I don't really know why I bought it, but it's going to make a nice pair of mint green socks for me.

Looks like fish scales, doesn't it? So cool. I'd say it's been a fairly productive and satisfactory Winter Study. The only thing I would change is the amount of snow we had. It keeps flurrying and not sticking and it makes me very sad. We had so much in December and now it's all gone. What's that about? Oh well, good thing we weren't planning on going skiing this year.
Cheers,
-Allie