30 April, 2007

Of Verbs and Vices

Here are some verbs I have come across in the last 2 weeks:

Gallivant: v., 1. to gad about with members of the opposite sex, 2. to go about in search of amusement or excitement.


Reproduce: v., to produce again; make, form, or bring into existence again or anew in some way, as, (...) d) to make a copy, close imitation duplication, etc., of; e) to bring (a past scene) before the mind again.

Knit: vt., to make by looping yarn or thread together with special needles.

I arrived in Michigan on Friday to hang out with Erick for his graduation. I'm taking the week off of school and staying for about 10 days, so we'll see how *that* all turns out. I had an instant of panic last week and chucked the embroidery project in favor of reproducing a pair of Mamluk socks from roughly 1100-1300CE. It's such a relief, since I wasn't going to finish the embroidery in time for the last day of class, but the stockings are ticking along quite nicely. Added bonus that it's the first time I've done stranded knitting, and picked up the idea quite quickly once I figured out how to hold both strands of yarn in my left hand. I'm sure I'm going at it all wrong, and my Fair Isle friends would be horrified, but since they're due the 14th of May and I'm not likely to wear them myself, I'm just focused on not making glaring mistakes and getting the things off my needles. I'm quite enjoying the process though; watching designs spring (mostly) full-formed from my yarn-tangled fingers is delightful.


As far as the rest of my knitting is concerned, well. I've put myself on a Yarn Diet until I can get some of my needles free - one of the benefits to having a limited number of needles is that I can only have a limited number of projects going at once (or that's what I'm telling myself). I have a few things up my sleeve, including finishing my German Stockings and the Mystery Monkey socks (x2, but that's another story - and no peeking, Swix!!). I also need to start my Hogwarts Swap Socks. Perhaps I'll give in and simply order the proper yarn since I am using the last of my Bare stash for the Mamluks, but I haven't decided yet and really don't need to until 1) I get home and 2) get the Mamluks off my needles (school projects trump sock swaps, after all).

And as for vices, well... how can I resist this face?