Simple Joy

I'm swatching. For a new project. Wendy's iPod sweater. My socks are done (pictures when I put batteries in my camera).

I'm making headway on my summer projects. I can play a couple chords on the guitar. I've driven around the neighborhood at a glorious speed of fifteen miles per hour. I only have three hundred pages left in the huge book i want to finish. It's been a pretty productive day. Add to that, two more skeins of yarn to use up before I start my Central Park Hoodie all makes me a happy nose-pierced knitter!

Sad Story

I just binned a pair of socks. The socks I knit last summer, the blue ones that I like very much. They are very soft and have lovely colors. And many holes. Those socks travelled with me to Europe. I should keep them for sentimental value. But I can't. Because they have irreparable holes.

 

I am considering buying more of the yarn and reknitting them to make myself feel better. 

ETA

Yeah binning is a lie. they're going in the back of my sock drawer.

Dear Me,

You are not a process knitter. Please keep that in mind when you try to cast on socks without checking gauge. All sock yarn is not the same. Hell, your needles weren't even the same.  Do not think that you will have the patience to unravel or *shudder* cut the toe of your sock to fix ANYTHING.. You won't. Will Not.  You also will not (got that) put away this yarn and move on to the pretty new blue yarn you bought in Pennsylvania.  You will meekly cast on a gauge swatch (though it is okay if you want to use the untouched ball) and restart these socks. And if you're still knitting them during finals, you will have learned your lesson.

FO: Pink and Blue Socks

I think I'm finally in love with sock knitting. They fit. They're pretty. Did I mention that they fit?I knit the top of the cuff, the last three rounds or so, with size eight needles, to keep them from being too tight. And they're perfect. They're Fortissma Sock, details hereI started them in January, but only just finished them thanks to the wonder that is higher education. And papers. But I was determined not to be on the same project that I was one at Christmas during Spring Break, so when I took a cab up to the post office yesterday, I spent five hours at the nearby Starbucks listening to podcasts. I came out with socks!  They're toe-up (of course) with a heel flap, which in my opinion is the best of both worlds.Look, this one fits too:It's so nice to have an FO. I must admit I love my mostly monogamous knitting ( I have a charity hat that I work on at knitting club), but it is nice to be done with something and move on.And move on I shall since I have next to no homework this weekend. It's all during spring break :(

FO Jeans Socks!

These socks are knit from the yarn my LJ Secret Pal sent me (thanks Lauren!). They're knit in Knitty's toe-up pattern, exactly, but still a little loose in the foot and the heel's long. I think I'm going to try a backwards flap heel next time. Still, they fit. Poor darlings were so streatched out after I wore them yesterday though!



 Next up is finishing the scarf I started before Europe, and then swatching for Wicked!

How about that time when I FINISHED MY SOCKS!

That's right, you heard me, the socks of forever are DONE! Ladies and Gentlemen I have knit my first socks for myself! (my first socks were actually for my best friend Carly).

See? Proof:



And more proof!


I'm seriously excited just to have done these and have them fit, but I do have some pattern notes.

Pattern: Knitty's Universal Toe-Up Sock Pattern

Yarn: Knitpicks Parade, Gumball (discontinued, I think) 334 yrds (2 balls)

Notes: I knit them too big. They fit, but the slide down on my legs and the heel on the left one sticks out of my shoe :-/. When the pattern says multiply by .9, multiply. The socks has been measured to your foot, it is not going to make it not fit. I promise. Also, my Socks on One String technique works well, but remember with a pattern like this knitting from the opposite side of the ball will cause it to reverse as seen in the top cuff of my right sock.

I also wasn't nuts about the yarn, it split easily, and in the end I somewhat dislike the colors and the gray bits.... but it is cheerful!

Aside from all of that, I am enamoured of sock knitting. I found a couple balls of sock yarn in my mom's stash and will probably steal one to make more that actully fit soon. And these will be bed socks. Yay bed socks!!!!!

Two Socks on One String

Hi y'all.

Socks aren't done. Surgery took more out of me than I thought :-/. it was sucessful though, and I'm happy with it. My body's just like "Ha, you thought you could do things to me and then go on with your life, haha"

So I didn't get back to working on them until last night, and then I figured something out.

I'm on the cuffs, and I want them to be even, ish. So I rolled my yarn into a center-pull ball and put together Socks on One String!



It seems to be working well. I do a repeat or so on one and then even the other one up, so there shouldn't be too much of a cuff difference between them. I'm going to work on them and listen to The Sticks and Strings Podcast, Lime and Violet and Cast-On before the Grey's Anatomy Season Finale!

I leave you with: Sinister Ducks! and my teddy bear who has taken up knitting:

Weaving Tales

Is it odd that I suddenly find myself encompassed with the desire to learn how to spin, dye and weave along with my knitting? Something about creating more things with fibers just appeals to me immensely. I think I may make that part of this summer's endeavors.

My socks are coming along, they should be done by Thursday. I'd say Wednesday, but I'm having minor eye surgery tomorrow and I may also have to frog the cuff of the left sock and kint it with larger needles.

My wonderful swap partner from the LJ Swap 4 sent me the pattern for Wicked so I've spent a lot of today browsing for yarn online. I'm thinking Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in the color Wine. Any thoughts?

Not much else for today; pictures when the socks-that-may-actually-be-wearable are done!

LOOK IT'S SPRING!

See? That's my friend Sandhya up in a tree, and her boyfriend below her. It was hilarious, because she just grabbed a branch and climbed up, and then was like: how'd I get up here?

It was a very pretty day, and very college-y. I spent much of it outside writing sonnets ( I kid you not) for my medieval renaissance final. I plan to post a couple here when they're typed up. For now I can give you a poem that was published in the litmag; I'll post it at the bottom of the entry.



That's me, sitting with them while they read philosophy and I wrote sonnets.

You'll be proud to know that I started a new sock. Sock's demise did not turn me off knitting them forever. This one's toe-up using the Knitty pattern, and it looks like it actually might fit! We'll see when I get further into the cuff, but there's a lifeline after the heel!

I also received my letter from the Knitterly Letter Swap yesterday! She's like an older me, I swear! And I wish I had time to write back this second, but it may have to wait until the weekend because finals are eating me.

Yesterday Rie and I went to Why Knot Knit and I bought two skeins of Kureyon. I plan to do one Lizard Ridge Block in between Sock and his mate, although I'll cast on the mate first to avoid Second Sock Syndrome.

This may be my last entry for a couple days until finals stop eating me. I have a two page French paper due April 30th, Medieval Ren paper (the sonnets) due May 1st, Honors paper due May 3rd, Shakespeare Preformances May 3rd, French final May 3rd and then a final paper due whenever before May 10th. I'm probably heading home around the 7th and then SUMMER!

For those who didn't know, Shakespeare's birthday was yesterday and in honor of that, I bring you this. Watch. Laugh. Be happy. I'm seriously considering Shakespeare Scholar as a career choice.

And now, knitting poem:

Afghan

Unexpected child, unexpected change

Mother with pursed lips reluctant to lay blame,

Sit in the creaking chair with a ball of yarn.

Clicking needles, ticking clock

Fabric formed under shaky hands.

Baby grabs at moving wooden sticks

Siblings lay quiet on a braided rug

Mama’s singing hugging them tightly as

Papa bangs around the room. Wary eyes do peek

Staring down as stitches fly snow and leaves outside

Wrapped in wool; clock still turning

Children done with growing up

See only a quiet woman in a corner

Kittens crawling on the floor beat yarn about.

Smile up at Grandma, pull a sock off of your foot

The room is still, light is gone

The rocking chair stands still

All that remains is wool and memories

Of a girl, young and scared

Of an unexpected child, the unexpected change.

Tales from the Frog-Pond

Meet sock.

(And his pals, Water and Bottle. Water is rolling on the table laughing at one of Bottle's witty jokes)

Sock thought he was a pretty cool guy. He chilled all over campus with his friends, the quadruplets Size 3 Needles and the Doodad who held the needles together.

What no one knew, not his friends, not the Nose-Pierced Knitter, no one but Sock himself, was that Sock had a terrible secret.

He hid it well, all through the time that he grew a cuff, and was dimly aware that eventually he'd have a heel, a foot and then a mate to call his own. He was very happy about this, and also did not want to disappoint the NPK, so he kept quiet.

Then a magical day came. The day Sock got a heel:

He was so excited! So excited that when the NPK decided to try him on, he forgot to hide his secret. It was that moment that led to all that was to come.

Sock, you see, didn't fit.

Oh, it wasn't his fault. The NPK simply hadn't cast on enough stitches, and he just couldn't stretch enough. Unfortunately, it didn't matter whose fault it was.... The truth was there.

Sock began to panic. And then he heard it. The sound that all knit objects on the needles fear.

Rip-it...

Rip-it...

Rip-it....

Closer....

Closer....

Dun-dun-dun:

That was it for Sock. He was unraveled. But not dead. Oh no. He lies in wait for the day that he will be cast on again, this time with more stitches. That day, however, will be several FOs in coming, due to the disappointment of Sock.

Tangles

First off, this is hilarious. Oh the amazing things that you find when you click random page on Wikipedia.

So, last night went well. Amazing time with the other Campus Crusaders at Tech, GA State, Kennesaw and others. And lots of work on teh Sock. One thing to keep in mind: There are several things that should never be stored within a foot radius of knitting. Ipods with headphones and camera cases with straps. They all decide that they want to be close personal friends and they get very very tangled.

Today I was supposed to be doing volunteer work, but it was raining lots earlier so things got called off :( . More knitting time. Most of my friends are going camping this weekend, but that's not my thing. I'm going dancing at Agnes Scott instead, and there will be swing dancing! Yay!

Before I disappear for today, I'd like to sing the praises of these little babies. Lime and Violet talked about them in September and Mom and I ordered two sets after I got her addicted to the Cult of L&V at Christmas. They work fantastically to keep you from pulling out an entire needle's worth of stitches accidentally. I refer to them as my doodads, and when I've misplaced it you will often here me muttering: "Doodad, oh Doodad, where did you go???"

I'm going to go listen to L&V and knit. I am going to turn that heel today!!

This morning I actually slept in. And by that I me...

This morning I actually slept in. And by that I mean slept through the night until 8:30 when the landscaping outside decided that it hated me. Le sigh. But still, later than I've slept in a while even if was before my 8:42 alarm. Yay Tuesdays and Thursdays when I don't have class until 10:00 and my ride doesn't get here until 9:45.

Got batteries for the camera. I swear I have double As somewhere but they have been stolen by Robin Goodfellow and the other fairies in my room. Speaking of gentle Puck, I have notecards and a plan for my presentation, which means I feel better about posting when I should be working on, you know, schoolwork.

The more I read A Mid-Summer Night's Dream the more I love it. My initial reading of it (my first Shakespeare play) was due to this book which no one's ever read, and I love more than life. Now it's because I'm just a little bit fairy obsessed.

I mean, look at my purse:











But back to the topic of this post. Today Sonya, Rie and I got Chinese. It was meant to be a bit of an informal knitting club thing because we didn't meet yesterday, but only I had out my knitting, because Sonya had class. Still, the sock likes Chinese.



Here, I google text to find out the addy of the cheapest Chinese place we know of:


Sock + Chinese. And Rieddhi's hand....









Sonya eating yummy food

Sonya and juicebox! I've decided that college brings your food likes back to the age of ten....



And speaking of the sock; here's sock on the Knitting Chair:









Miss Violet, I must tell you that last fall when the Knitty with my darling Lizard Ridge came out I was scared silly. "Maybe some day, when I'm more experienced" I thought. And then I read the pattern. Short rows? I can do that.... maybe. And thus far my only problem has been yarn tangles, since I'm knitting with two ends alternately. Safety pins make my world.


Pictured are Under the Sea and The Secret Garden. Carnivale is in my bag in Sonya's car, so there shall be pics of him when he is retrieved.

Tonight is Real Life Metro over at Tech. I shall probably get odd looks for knitting, but whatever. People at Bible Study have stopped noticing. It helps me focus. I do not put knitting above God, and He knows it. We've talked about it.

I want Starbucks. I need a car like yesterday.....

Oh, and remind me that I never ever want to read the AOL message boards. This story was up there today and if I saw "Sew her up" or "Catch her and preform a full hysterectomy" one more time I was going to scream. Honestly people, this woman needs help. Be compassionate!!


I'm going to go answer my pen-pal letters and then knit before trekking up to dinner. *wishes she could knit self a car*



PS. You know you're a knitter when your first instinct upon finding out your phone has fallen between your desk and the wall is to attempt to fish it out with a needle. Only when that fails do you move on to a hanger....