Sweater finished!!

It's finished! The fit is great, and probably the first time I've done so much to customize a sweater to my seemingly long torso. If I were to do this over, I'd make the sleeves a little smaller, but I'm still pleased with it.And a closeup of the buttons - after an excruciating search at JoAnns, I picked these. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough, so I bought a toggle button for the top. I figure it's ok to have one button different :) Though I have no idea what I'll do if I lose one of the fish.....

Still sick, but not as bad as yesterday. Hopefully back to work tomorrow!

Busy with WIPs

Well, it's been crazy the last 3-4 weeks at work, so the motivation to blog has been steadily decreasing. Luckily, the motivation to curl up in front of the TV and knit hasn't :) First up, progress on the Buttony Sweater:

In spite of the weird looks I got yesterday when I pulled it out at a Super Bowl party, I knit for almost the entire game and made a ton of progress. A few more inches, and I think I'll be ready to bind off and start on the sleeves.

I also managed to make 2 trips to Anacapa Fine Yarns this weekend. One, just to get some Noro for the famous striped scarf, and the next day because they were having a Super Bowl sale (had I realized how late the game was starting and that I'd be able to go for the sale, I wouldn't have bought the first batch of Noro....). But, I also bought a new spindle:


My spinning is getting much more consistent, and I'm almost ready to break out the pretty roving I've been holding out on (until I got better. And stopped making slubby yarn)

And, finally, my sewing machine has been getting a workout. I made myself a circular needle holder awhile ago, but I decided I wanted one hold for all my DPNs and circular needles. So I came up with this:

Here it is, folded up in thirds (I still need to sew in some snaps, but you get the idea)
....and opened up. 9 pockets for circular needles.
...and here with one of the sets of circular pockets flipped over to reveal the DPN slots. I haven't used it yet (sew in snaps....must sew in snaps), but I'm pretty excited :)

Alright, that's it for me. Time to curl up in front of the TV (if only the TV put out heat too. Two birds with one stone there) and get to work on finishing that sweater. Happy Monday all!

PS - there was an etsy update this weekend. Just so you know :)

Wicker

Wicker
Seaming in progress - use #26 for hair clips!

Artistically draped over the back of my couch

...and on me (courtesy of the self timer - Marie hasn't learned how to work the camera yet)

I'm proud of myself for finally finishing it - it took over a year and almost 8 balls of Debbie Bliss alpaca silk. I've learned my lesson about Rowan patterns - sit down and write out all the instructions, line by line. Be more realistic about gauge - especially row gauge. And understand your own measurements better - without blocking, the sweater is a little short on me. We'll see how blocking takes care of that.

And new on the needles:

Buttony Sweater. I redrafted the pattern last night to be more specific to my size and gauge and cast on. I'm using Malabrigo Chunky, in the colorway Charrua. I love the look of brown and blue on the skein, but I'm not sure how a whole sweater of it will look - thoughts? My LYS has a spectacular selection of Malabrigo Chunky, and I'm sort of tempted to exchange what I haven't knit up for another color....

In other news, work is still stressful. My computer started acting up last week, so I had to get my hard drive replaced. I got my computer back with the new hard drive today, and hardly anything has gone right. Email, Word, Excel, and printers all not working properly. Some have been fixed, but it put me a solid day behind. And with one report due Friday and a set of experiments due the 31st....I need a break. Unfortunately, it's going to keep on at this pace with two new sets of experiments next month and 4 or 5 reports to write around the middle of the month. And I found out today that my grandmother in Germany passed away yesterday. It's not surprise (we found out when my brother died she was sick), and I haven't seen her since I was 13, but with all the thoughts about trips there as a child, I'm a little sad.

Seriously, I need a break :)

Back to knitting!

Finally finished!

A relatively quick knit, though the monogomy of it was driving me crazy by the end. I opted to make the top border shorter and not do the picot edge, partially just to finish and partially because I was running out of yarn. I love the body of the shawl, though I think I prefer the method of the Flower Basket shawl than this one with it's knitted on border. The yarn, Misti Alpaca lace, is very soft and nice to work with. A little splitty, but the overall feel was worth it. And it's done in time for Christmas.....

Though I found out today, via MySpace of all places, that my mom doesn't want to celebrate Christmas this year. I know that the holidays are rough in many ways for everyone and even more so for my parents. Sigh.

I'm looking forward to being done with work for the year - I worked from home today because I've been feeling a bit sick this weekend. I got bronchitis, or so I thought, last year and have had a persistent cough ever since. Not a hacking up lungs cough, but just a hoarse voice that turns into a cough after of talking. Dr. 1 tried me on an inhaled medicine and then sent me to a lung doctor, who did a breathing test and ruled it as allergies. Dr. 3 tried me on a few allergy meds, none of which have made the cough go away. So back to Dr. 1 to come up with another diagnosis, of possible acid reflux. The meds for which have not been agreeing with me, or made the cough go away. There's always the chance that my cat allergies have gotten worse and the meds just can't make those go away, but who knows.....That and having to go back to the physical therapist to re-diagnose my knee make for alot of doctor visits!

Wow, that was quite a digression from knitting :) For the rest of the week, I'll be working on my dad's socks and some other gift knits. Most likely they won't be done by next Tues, but everyone's very forgiving about that :) In the new year - the resolution of no more gift knitting! Or at least, no more last minute gift knitting.....

FO, WIPs, and moving on

The manly socks are finally done and have been gifted to their owner. A few months late of his birthday, but he seems pleased with them. And decided not to take them on his latest camping trip, because he didn't want to "get them dirty." I wonder how much use they'll see with that philosophy!

I'm dividing my time now between some gloves and socks. With a little work on the Hourglass Sweater to give my hands/wrists a break. I've been noticing some tingling in my arms and some back pain, so I'm trying to take it easy. Of course, this rules out making stitch markers as well, so I really don't know what to do with myself! The testing is going well, as far as getting feedback on how the first set of markers work out. After some initial results, I'm thinking the method Teresa taught me may be more knitter-friendly and that the method I use is probably better suited to earrings and the like.

This past weekend was full of football and movies (and eating!) I watched way more college football than I intended, but really enjoyed the Cal game (I may have to organize a viewing at some sports bar for the next one!) M and I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum on Sunday, which I liked quite a bit. I wasn't as much of a fan of the second in the series, but the third was right up there with the first. If you like action and twists, I'd recommend checking it out while it's still in theater (unless you have a big screen TV and surround sound. In which case, invite me over some time)

My parents seem to be doing well after the letter was published. The Napa paper has a censoring policy on all comments submitted to their site (which the other papers don't seem to be as strict with, given some of the responses to my dad's letter earlier this year) and all the comments I've seen are positive and reaffirm the fact that not much is known about the possible side effects. I'm still trying to deal - feeling somewhat deserted, though I realize no one really knows what to say to me. I'm told this is the awkward point in the timeline - where it's been long enough that other people have moved on and you're just starting to deal with it. Or where people are still giving you distance when you're finally ready to talk. It's been frustrating to an extent - the times I do mention it, no one knows what to say and the atmosphere gets awkward. Society has a hard time acknowledging death and its aftermath in general, at least in a way that doesn't leave the survivors feeling like they should be keeping quiet about how they're feeling.

So I've removed the chip from my shoulder and have been harassing people to hang out with me until they feel comfortable enough to do it on their own :)

And in the interim, I'm getting caught up on my Netflix subscription....I'm still coming up to movies I queued back in grad school!

Pictures!

A finally finished gift for a friend
Yarny prizes for the contest
More yarny prizes
And a very tiring but very worthwhile hike.

FOs and Destash

Two FOs that I've been waiting on posting about until they were mailed off - the top is the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting (I think the title is appropriate) and the bottom is another pair of Roll Top Bootees from 50 Baby Bootees to Knit - by far one of my favorite patterns. You just can't be unhappy when you have a pair of baby bootees. I see what Stephanie is talking about (the Bee Shoes are also on my list)


I'm still plugging away at the manly socks - the first was finished last night (not pictured) and has been tried on to confirm fit before starting with the 2nd. I need to figure out what knitting to bring along with me this weekend to Vegas. I imagine the grad students will look at me funny if I start knitting while they gamble, but I'll need something to do on the drive out there at least :) I received my copy of Knitting Lingerie Style, and I absolutely love it. I haven't looked too much into the specifics of the patterns (sizing, difficulty, yarn requirements), but at first glance it's one of my favorite books. There's alot in there I could see myself making (if I ever get through the huge cache of projects I already have....)

In other news, the Destash blog is closing down today. I can't blame the moderators - Blogger has been exceptionally buggy with that blog and it's caused alot of problems of multiple posts or posts not appearing or who knows what. Plus it's a huge endeavor to manage. There's already at least 2 wordpress blogs reserved to replace it, plus some discussion on Ravelry to start a sell/trade page with links to people's stashes.

Science of Knitting

After months of sitting on my wall o'yarn, the day to dye had come. Teresa came over and we dyed yarn in 3 easy steps:
First - blend the dye (cake dye, with hula girl swizzle sticks of course)
Second, squirt and blend. Be sure to wear gloves!
Third - admire!

Ok, actually it was more than 3 steps, but I'm out of pictures :)


My new favorite quick knit - calorimetry (yes, I even know what a calorimeter does). Knit in an afternoon catching up on Lost and Grey's Anatomy online using Malabrigo. I, like everyone else, didn't knit the pattern as written, but cast on 96 stitches (following Eklectika's mods) and did short rows until I had 48 stitches between the markers. The yarn bled quite a bit, staining my hands an attractive orange. But it's been washed and is ready to wear! And I love it :)