Ravellenic Games Recap

I really did mean to keep up-to-date on posting during the Ravellenic Games, but we know what they say about good intentions.  I had two projects to work on during the games, and I managed to complete one.

I worked on the Autumn Vines Beret (RAV) first, and finished it in decent time.  I would have finished it earlier if I had really committed to the process, but there were some nights I just didn’t feel like knitting, which that will get me every time.  This was a fun pattern to knit, and one I actually think I’d be interested in doing again, perhaps with the yarn suggested in the pattern because I love the color (they had it at Stitches West 2012 and it was fabulous).

My second project was the Citron shawl.  I started it the morning after finishing the beret, but I only had a little more than a week to get it done.  I actually managed to get a good deal of it done on a trip down to San Diego to take the Academy of Certified Archivists exam.  My dad drove me, so I was able to sit in the passenger seat and knit, knit, knit.  Of course, the problem with a shawl is always the fact that it gets bigger and bigger the further you get, and I had decided from the outset to knit 7 sections rather than the called for 5 sections (I wanted to make sure I got every color of the progression into the shawl).  I got to the 7th section on Saturday, August 11.  I thought I was good to go, but then I discovered that I had read the instructions incorrectly, and that instead of having until midnight of the 12th, I only had until 4 pm my time.  I kind of gave up then.  I even put my knitting down and didn’t pick it back up for almost 2 weeks.

Maybe it’s a good thing that I put it down.  When I picked it up again, I decided to see if I could get an extra section out of my yarn.  With worry that I might run out, I knit an 8th section and started on the ruffle.  Amazingly enough I got to the end and still have a little bit of yarn left.  Now the shawl is cast off and just in need to a wash and block.  Now where did I put those T-pins….?

Baby gifts and socks

Just a quick post to show off a few finished items.  They’ve been finished for awhile, but I had to get the photos off my camera, which took great effort.  First up are the baby gifts I knit for my friend — a simple roll-brimmed hat and the Little Sky socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters.

They were all knit out of Dream in Color Classy in the Happy Forest colorway.  I really like the way the yarn softened up when I washed it.  A sweater out of Classy would be really nice, and I’m remembering seeing one of the new semi-solids from DiC in a pretty, chocolaty brown.

Next up is the pair of socks I knit my mother for her birthday/Mother’s Day gift.

They are knit out of Jojoland Melody Superwash.  They took 2 skeins, and I thought it was interesting just how different in striping the 2 skeins turned out to be.

Making it through another week

One would think that with such a beautiful wheel and no thesis taking up my time, I’d be getting tons of spinning done (which I should be doing since I have tons of fiber lying around after joining the Spunky Ecelectic Fiber Club).  But after twisting my ankle last month the spinning slacked off.  It got better just in time for me to ingest some mystery item that has left me with a beautiful case of hives for the last couple of weeks.  Benadryl induced stupor is not the ideal spinning frame of mind, sadly.

I have been trying to get some knitting done.  I have a friend who’s baby tried to make an early appearance… 9 weeks early.  She’s now on bed rest and I have been given warning to get the baby gift finished cause the kid may be here sooner rather than later.  I picked up a skein of Dream in Color Classy in Happy Forest, a nice, cheery green because I don’t know if it’s a boy or girl.  I knit up a quick roll-brim hat and a couple of booties to match.

The booties were a lot of fun to knit.  I had picked up Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways book a couple months ago, but had done nothing but flip through it.  Someone at my Saturday knitting group had done a couple of the practice booties from the books and I liked the way they looked.  So, I whipped up a couple of the Sky Arch booties over the last couple of days.  My drugged attention span caused me to miss the instruction to knit 8 rounds after the ribbing, but I think they still look completely cute and should still fit alright even without the added length.  The baby won’t know the difference, and I won’t tell.

Startitis

I finished my Gretel hat a few days ago and it is currently blocking in the bathroom.  I’m working on a pair of basic socks for The Husband and I’ve got a surprise on the needles for The Loopy Swap Round 3 on Ravelry.  So, why is it that I keep looking at my stashed yarns and thinking of the various things I could cast on?  

I’ll admit that the things I’ve been eyeing are mittens, which would be handy to have for Canada (it’s snowing and cold there, ya know) but I don’t have enough time, and a sweater vest, which slightly confuses me because I’ve never really been a sweater vest wearer.  Both these things are probably on the forethought of my thinking because it’s finally starting to look like winter around here (I actually had to turn on the heat for the first time Sunday).  

The startitis really doesn’t make sense when I haven’t been knitting.   The last few nights, when I would normally sit on the couch watching TV knitting, I’ve not.  It’s sitting right next to me.  Instead of knitting the projects I have going and need to knit, I just plan all sorts of other things I could be working on.  *sigh*

Being Thankful

I meant to post this sooner, but the cold knocked me on my butt hardcore.

Finances are tough all around, which means that as more people need the help of their local food banks, people donate less. If you are able, please consider donating to a local food bank — if you’re in the US, you can check the Feeding America website for a list of local banks that will be grateful for anything you are able to give.  

Okay, public service announcement over, onto knitting.  I cast on and finished my Gretel hat.  It is quite nice and warm, which will be great for an upcoming trip to Canada.  Now I need to figure out how to block it since it has a tam shape.  The question is whether to block it with a plate in it or not.  

On the sad knitter front, I was forced to go out and buy a couple of sweaters to make up for the great lack of sweaters in my wardrobe and the coming of the voyage into the cold.  Can someone please explain to me why I go to the store and all the women’s sweaters are mostly cotton and acrylic with a little bit of wool and the guys get the 100% merino wool sweaters?  Aren’t women supposed to be the ones that are always cold?  Cotton just doesn’t do it in the warmth department for me and it has the unsightly tendency to grow in length.  It’s a  good thing I knit, cause it’s a pain in the butt to find basic, classic wool sweaters.

Well, I think it’s cold

Boy, am I glad I got my hat finished up at the beginning of the month. It had been cold when I started it, but then it warmed up a bit around here*. Then, it rained on Sunday, and the wind shifted… now the air’s coming down out of Alaska, and it’s gotten damn cold around here… okay, it’s only like 54 F out, but consider that before the storm rolled through it was getting up to 68 F… that’s over a 10 degree difference practically over night… and that’s why I wore both my new hat and the fingerless gloves I made last year** this morning just to get to my car.

Boy, I ‘m glad I know how to knit.


*This of course confused my iris bulbs, so now I have irises sprouting in several of the pots on my balcony and I’m wondering if I should worry about them with the frost advisories the area is starting to get… or should I just think that’s how natural selection works. *sigh* Thankfully, my bearded irises, tulips, and crocuses seem to have more sense.

**At the old building my company was in we had problems like needing winter coats while sitting at our desks in July. My fingers were literally turning blue, so I decided to try my hand at gloves and used the Interweave Knits article that tells you how to make gloves/mittens with just gauge and the size of your hand. Fingerless gloves turned out to be wonderful for keeping my hands warm while still allowing me to type.

Slow going

The decreasing rows on Lavender Twist are going much…. much… slower than the cabling rows. I blame this on them being wacky. Unlike the cabling rows, which have a symmetry to them, each row of the decreasing rows requires constant vigilance as I work my way across. In fact, I had to set down the knitting for a moment last night to hand out candy* and when I came back, I had no idea where I was and could not figure it out without going back to the beginning of the round and counting stitches. On the cabling rows, this would have been unnecessary because of aforementioned symmetry.

I plan on buckling down and, hopefully, finishing the hat tonight. This should be made easier by the fact that I have a paper due on Saturday that I am avoiding.


*The husband was busy taking the roast chicken out of the oven, and since I love his roast chicken, answering the door and handing out candy to cute trick-or-treaters was an easy task.

Happy Halloween!

Lavender Twist is progressing nicely. Although, now I need to tink back a row, so I can begin the decreases. I measured my head…. if I do the pattern as written, it will have a depth of 9 inches… that would cover my eyes. But, if I leave out one pattern repeat it should fit well. I keep forgetting what a small head I have.

I finally have an in-progress picture… Yea!


Class yesterday went well… paper turned in, 7 rows completed on Lavender Twist, disaster planning discussed*, and wet book received. Yes, wet book. My prof has given us an extra credit project… a wet book… that we must dry out and write up a report about the experience. I’m going to try the freezer drying method. The book I got is not a hardcover, so standing it up and fanning the pages won’t work very well… and I don’t want mold to develop. Mold growth = game over… we can still get extra credit, but we’re supposed to throw the book out so we don’t risk our health. I have to admit the Preservation Management class had been quite interesting… protecting books and protecting wool have a lot in common… there are pests to worry about… disasters to plan for… that sort of thing.

Hope everyone has a good Halloween!


*I never realized that practically every kind of disaster involves water damage… hurricanes and floods are obvious… but fires have water to put out the fire, earthquakes and tornadoes can break pipes… so, in a library anyways, you always need to be prepared to handle wet books and papers.

Lavender Twist

I do believe the Mountain Colors yarn will be really nice, if not perfect, for the Shedir pattern from Knitty’s 2004 Fall Surprise. However, I was wrong about it being 100% wool; it’s Mountain Goat, which is 55% mohair and 45% wool. The color is called Sweet Lavender.


I got it started on Wednesday and am on row 24 so far, just haven’t had a chance to take an in-progress picture yet. The only thing that is confusing me so far is the twists and cables. I keep wondering if there’s an easier way to do them. According to the pattern, for a left twist you slip the next st onto a cable needle and hold it to the front, purl next st, then knit st from cable needle. I once made socks that used a twisting pattern, but to make the twists you knit into second st, then knit into first st. or knit second st tbl, then knit first st. Now, if I could substitute one or both of these for the way the twists or cables are done, this would knit up a little quicker. Right now I’m doing each cable/twist per the instructions, but without a cable needle, and it seems a bit cumbersome. The twists I did on my socks went smoothly compared to the ones on this hat. Unfortunately, my brain gets tied up in knots when I try to think too deeply in three dimensions.

By now, you’re probably confused as to why I’m thinking so hard about this… well, I have a paper due tomorrow, and this is how I avoid working on it. *grin* I had to perform a building survey (with preservation management in mind) and now have to type up a 5 page report on the risks I found. I’m having problems with where to start… and how to get 5 pages out of this. So, I started a new project instead. *sigh* Geez, is that sad, or what?

The new project has been added to the sidebar, and it will be updated when I get an in-progress picture taken. I’ve also reorganized my Fotopic photo page. I started with just a knitting section, but decided to split it up into finished objects and works in progress. Ah, organization… yet another of my distractions from school work. I’m such a procrastinator.

Now for something a bit different… I usually don’t go in for quizzes, but this one is knitting related and kind of cute.

Knitting Guru
You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can’t imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.

http://marniemaclean.com

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