Oh Hello, February!

Where did you com from? Between continuing to travel all over the place, hosting some lovely friends, and running my league's very first home team bout, January seems to have passed me by - and with very little knitting done, not to mention any homework whatsoever for my penultimate Masters class.

Two unfinished socks, a stack of books, some tea, and a cat who is about to be an asshole. This sums up my January nicely.

Maybe today I'll peel myself away from the Derby Inbox of Doom and finish something knitting-related while I listen to Brideshead Revisited.

Yep. That sounds like a plan.

Someone is "helping."

UFO Files: Shetland Shorty

Last spring I started making the Shetland Shorty pattern from Knitty Summer '08. I used some black Panda Silk that I've had in my stash forever - I think I bought it in San Jose when Commuknity went out of business.

I made it through the garter stitch ties, the honeycomb lace body, and the 3-needle bind-off before the ends began to unravel from under the sleeves. It turns out that a yarn made of bamboo and silk doesn't stick to itself as well as a yarn made of wool; go figure. It's been in Time Out ever since with a vague impression of "UGH re-work ends..." attached to it.

Today I pulled it out along with a bottle of Fray-Check, that incredibly useful sewing glue, and set to work.

Dear Reader, you may imagine my amusement and irritation when I tell you that it took literally fifteen minutes to finish the garment. A spot of glue here and there, a re-knitting of 3 rows of sleeve, and a bind-off were all that was left. After fourteen months of avoidance, a mere fifteen minutes sufficed to take the (admittedly tiny) weight of this project off of my mind.

Better pictures to follow, but for now it's blocking:

Crystal Palace Panda Silk, Black, 380 yds.

Instinct tells me that it will grow a bit, which is fine since I made it a little snug in the first place. The yardage gives me a bit of breathing room on the 11-Mile Quest, as I'm finding it difficult to knit 126 yards of lace per day even though I started a Pi Shawl for relatively easy, low-pattern knitting.

Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, "Tidepool" 1760 yds in stash.

I may have to branch out and start some sock-weight projects!

What Are You Doing Tonight?

I'll be here:

And in preparation, I'm spending my last free hour-and-a-half listening to the Derby Deeds Podcast and seaming up my Sacred Sweater. Will it be done in time? It's not looking good; I blame my monkey arms.

Seaming seems to take forever.

101 in 1001 Part Deux-over Update: Part 1

Since my 101 in 1001 Part Deux-over is about 1/2 done, I figured I should revisit the idea a little and allow myself to tweak the list. Slightly shy of 3 years is a long time, and a lot of things can change. SO! Here is the first part of my list: the Lifestyle Section.

Lifestyle

1. Walk for 30 minutes 50 times (0/50)
2. Design and find someone to start new tattoo
3. Donate blood 8 times (0/8)
4. Find a new form of exercise that I enjoy and engage in it 2x/week for 6 months (see #13, may extend beyond end of 1001 days)
5. Lose 15 pounds and maintain that healthier weight
6. Make a list of 100+ things that make me happy.
7. Make a new 101 in 1001 list by July 1, 2012
8. Take a multi-vitamin and vitamin C daily through one bottle of each
9. Try 5 types/nationalities of food I have never tried before (0/5)
10. Create an outside play area for the cat
11. Donate 500 items to charity (0/500)
12. Get geneology from mom
13. Get health insurance
14. Go to a museum once per month (0/30)
15. Go to the dentist Summer 2010
16. Leave someone a 100% tip (on a bill of $15 or more)
3-15-2011
17. Rip big book of CD’s into iTunes
18. Try 100 fruits/vegetables (3/100)
19. Try 100 more fruits/vegetables
20. Try 100 MORE fruits/vegetables
21. Try 100 new recipes (5/100)
22. Try 100 more new recipes
23. Try 100 MORE new recipes
24. Try 50 new foods (fruits/vegetables don’t count) (4/50)
25. Try 50 more new foods (fruits/vegetables don’t count)

Ooooh jeez. Let's see, I guess I should start with... 

#1. I loathe walking. And really, the outdoors in general. I know that makes me a loser, but there it is. Perhaps I should revisit this idea, or just force myself to do it once the weather is nicer? Restructure it is!  

#2: I found the tattoo I want, so now I just have to find a good place to go. I like Wild Bill's where I got my wrist pieces done, but with the wealth of tattooed people in derby, I really should ask around. I'll get on that at tomorrow's practice.

#3: Donating blood is an issue for me; I don't get all woozy or anything, but I do have tiny, deeply buried little veins (to go inside my tiny little wrists and elbows), so going to the Blood Truck doesn't work. I have to go to the actual Red Cross place, and we all know how likely THAT is. Nevertheless, I looked it up and apparently there are no donation centers near here? That seems weird. 

#4: Derby. Started keeping track the first week of March. NEXT!

#5:  Derby may actually interfere with this - my shape is changing, but my weight is staying the same. I'll give it a bit more time and see what happens.

#6: I should work on this. It's now a .doc file on my desktop.

#7: Yeah yeah, not till next July. NEXT!

#8: Talk about annoying. And yet, chewable vitamin C is on my list for my next Trader Joe's run. 

#9: I love food and this goal is totally achievable if I don't slack on it. Mental note.

#10: A little chicken wire, some zip ties, and a new screen door should do the trick. Thank you to Saturday's storm for ruining my current screen door - it didn't stay in its track anyway.

#11: This one I can totally do. In fact, I cleaned out 3 of my drawers on Monday and took a big box of stuff to the Sacred warehouse for their annual rummage sale! I'll have to count how many pieces there were before practice tomorrow; I hope it's at least 25!

#12: I have this, I think? Hmm. Maybe I should ask.

#13: AHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA next.

#14: Jeez, ambitious much? Made a date to go with Jen either this Friday or next week sometime. 

#15: DONE this summer! Who waited 12 years between dentist visits and has no cavities? This girl. 

#16: DONE!

#17: What. is. this? They're in a book! Why would I mess with this? Stupid. Revisit.

#18-25: Argh. These definitely need restructuring. I like new food, I like messing about with recipes, and I agree that some of the 101 in 1001 should be a challenge (otherwise why do it?). But holy experimentation with my gut, Robin! Revisit and make achievable. 

Well, that's it so far. 25 of the 101, considered! Several are on their way, and two are verifiably finished. Now I just have to come up with new or altered ideas for the stuff that's unreasonable. Yikes.

It's a Wash.

And oh, how I wish I meant this kind.

He can captain my spaceship any day, if you catch my drift.

But alas, I do not. At this point, I'm not even going to bother weighing and counting up my yardage for this year because it won't make a difference and I prefer to imagine that my 2-3 pairs of uncounted socks add up to enough yards to magically take me to 11 (miles) and also I have yet to find my stupid kitchen scale.

I feel that I can confess to you, my dear readers, that my knitting mojo deserted me this year. I'm sure I did something to drive it off, but it takes two to ruin a relationship, and I was left with a closet ::cough:andahalf:cough:: full of wool and no mojo to make it sing to me. Like Garfunkel, I have stopped singing on my own; my knitting mojo's name, it appears, is Simon..

Next year I intend to start afresh with both the 12-Mile Quest and my Input/Output Equality Experiment. There's a picture on my camera that shows the closet all tidy and organized and the daunting Tika-high stack of boxes full of yarn that didn't fit in said closet; once I find the proper camera cord, I will reveal them to you, although I warn you beforehand that it's slightly distressing. I have a short and therefore do-able list of things I'd like to... do... before 2010 ends. They are:

1) Dig out all my WIP's and either auf them or place them in prominent locations so I can finish them. This should greatly help my totals for next year.

2) Clean my cherry Schact and make her ready to actually earn her keep this year. Not that she didn't last year, but it wasn't exactly a spinning-friendly household so she's rather dusty. Or a Tika-friendly household, to be honest. I'll stop now.

3) Bag up and prepare 12 months-worth of spinning for Spindlicity's 2011 Stash Down. This requires a Tossing of the Fiber Stash, which can't be a bad thing. it will also require a lot of discretion in choosing monthly projects!

Tomorrow is the 30th of December. I should probably get on this list.

It's been a tough year, gang, and I've just barely held it on the rails. Thanks for sticking with me; next year will begin in a much better place, and I'm more excited about it than I have been about the last several put together. Bring on the '11!

Moving Day!

And of course I was all, "most of my stuff is still in boxes in the garage, so packing will be a snap!"

I was wrong. I have a lot of shit (on top of the books and yarn, despite my best efforts last year) and not very many boxes, my Nieblings. This will be a Move in Stages, of which I am looking forward to the Final Stage the most.

Stage 1: Paint!

No mustard, just catch-up.

My internet friends! I have missed you! It's been a month and ::mumblemumble:: days, and in that time I have finished precisely NO knitting, so I blame my absence on that. There are several half-finished and even some mostly-finished projects sitting on my desk right now, but since I am a Gold Medalist in the Procrastination Olympics, I don't know when they will be done.

So what else have I been up to? I suppose I could show you my Hospital of Unfinished Goods. It's not a Graveyard as yet - after all, they're still on my desk in their little quilting cotton bags (thanks, Mommy!) instead of shoved on the top shelf of my closet like last years November Sweater*. We shall proceed in order of completeness, from least to most. It's more climactic that way.

Creatively Dyed Yarn from MWF&F with Meghan. Calypso base, "Gris" colorway.

These are the Primavera Socks (Ravelry link) from Natalja. They came about because I needed "cooler knitting" (according to THB) than the next project for an event I was going to. More on that later. During the event, I made it all the way down through the heel and about 3" onto the foot of the first sock, so they're about 25% finished at this point, or maybe a little more since the leg is 9" long before the heel starts. I've been experimenting with taller socks because I am now apparently fully a wimpy Californian and cry about 60-degree weather. The mind boggles!

This is a plain Hap Shawl, or will be. I decided over the summer that a Hap Shawl was just what I needed, mostly because I wanted an excuse (HAHAHAHAH!) to buy a bunch of Dream in Color Baby lace yarn. And then it came and my Grand Plans for the color scheme were thwarted due to the deadly difference in real color vs. online color, so I just HAD to get two more skeins of lighter for the center (shown here) and now I have an extra 2 skeins of Baby in a periwinkle blue and a medium charcoal grey. I think I will make Wicked sweaters out of them for when it's not so damn cold in California...

I keep using this picture because it still looks the same.

This is my Hera Mountain Ridge Shawl, recently returned to me by my mother. I left it up there during a visit just after I posted about it, and she thought it was hers until she opened the bag (we have a lot of similar quilt cotton bags because she makes all of them. I am a lucky girl!). I think my Knitting Mojo was in the bag too since I really want to finish this now!

Pagewood Farms Alyeska Sock yarn, "River Rock," 360 yds. + 5 yds of misc yarn for finishing!

THIS is my Baby Bliss for Miss Evelyn's first birthday. In true knitter fashion, her birthday has come and gone and this is obvs. not yet finished. It is currently in the same state it was ON her birthday because I ran out of yarn and have to go stash diving to find something similar enough to sew on the second strap with. Sigh.

ETA: I sucked it up and finished this after I wrote this post! Wahoo! That's 365 yards added to my 12-Mile-Quest total.

Panda Silk, "Black"

And finally, the thing that's the closest to being done is my Silky Shetland Shorty, which is currently shoved in a bag in disgrace. I have ONE SLEEVE CAP left - about 15 minutes' work - but before I can do that I have to figure out how to stop the underarm from unraveling. ARGH. I think some knots and a little Fray Check will probably solve the problem just fine.

Obviously some of these pictures are old. I've been struggling with the light in this house since I moved in; it turns out a fancy paint job doesn't help with photography!

Let's see, what else has been going on? Mom and I went to the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat for the second time this year. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and THIS time I brought home some yarns and some fibers! There aren't pictures (yet) but I picked up some gorgeous RedFish silk in tonal greys to make a shawl I can wear with my black dresses, some white alpaca lace from Alpenglow Yarns for something similarly pretty and warm, and a braid or two of Bee Mice Elf for the spinning I haven't been doing. A couple of highlight pictures:

I can be a highlight, shut up!

Knitting and Spinning in the evening

I love this wine. It is full of win.

Mmmm. crab rangoon! A favorite.

Caffeination is key in the morning. And anytime, really.

And finally, we come to the aforementioned Event. I tend to be a diver - that is, I decide I want to do something and I don't really research it out first - and this was no exception. At the end of September, I was looking up dates for the next roller derby bout in my area and discovered that there was a Derby Boot Camp scheduled for 10/10 where the derby girls would teach us how to skate! So I took THB and his girl, Friday (see what I did there?), down to the newly-opened local skate shop and got myself a pair of bomb skates, some pads, a helmet, and headed out to learn how to fall down on roller skates. The other local team's tryouts were for 10/17, so I went thinking that if I didn't make it, it was no big deal - the Boot Camp team's tryouts were in January. But I DID! And now I am part of the newest Fresh Meat class for the Sacred City Derby Girls! I am ecstatic and so ready to get on skates next Monday to start my training, you have NO idea!

So that's the state of things. THB, Friday, MyNadia and HerHusband and I went to the Sac City Roller Girls v. Bakersfield Revolution last weekend, and it was GREAT.

After the anthem I stopped taking pictures because we were busy drinking, like good derby-goers should.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and  I cannot WAIT to play some derby. Expect catalogues of bruises in the future!

To finish, here is an adorable picture (though I say it myself) of THB and Mr. Darcy. Awwww!

*The astute among you will notice that this is from 2008. I didn't even blog about Salina last November, despite trying to finish it. This November's not looking good either. Sigh.

Start-itis...

...I haz it.

Despite the myriad of things I have on my needles (Salina, I'm looking at you! Really, it's on my desk right now staring right back at me. Sigh.), I can't help but be distracted by the even bigger myriad of things getting started right now. Maybe it's because I rarely knit the same thing twice. Maybe it's because January seems like a good time of year for starting new things. Maybe it's because I just have a raging case of start-itis and that's all there is to it.

The primary offender is Brie, who started a Stonington Shawl the other day. I'm deeply jealous because I have some beautiful silvery (or maybe the purple...) Gloss Lace that would make a fantabulous Stonington.

This jealousy is increased by my sudden and immediate love for my Citron Shawl. I've been wearing it almost non-stop since I pulled it off the blocking pins, and as much as I love having hand-knitted socks on my feet, I love wearing a ruffly neckwarmer even more. It feels grown-up and pretty and goes really well with my brown wool Anne Klein Jacket, and I just love knowing I maaaaaaade it. In fact, I wore it to my final class of the session, and before my teacher allowed me to begin a presentation she made me take it off and show everyone. They were appropriately impressed and I was appropriately bashful. My friend Jay - the only guy in the class and a future amazing teacher - asked me to knit him a pair of slinky boxer shorts out of the Malabrigo Sock Yarn because his wife would love them. I replied that I am nervous about how our relationship is progressing: when we first me, he wanted a beanie, and now he wants underwear! I may, however, be prevailed upon to knit him and his 2 sons (one 11 and one 3 months) matching hats. Maybe. One of these days.

So here's a list of things I'd like to begin in 2010. This list is, like all of my lists, subject to change, but these are the projects that have been weighing on my mind lately:

1. Stonington Shawl (all Brie's Fault!)

2. Spiderman Blanket - another repeat, but really I have a ton of friends and they are multiplying apace.

3. Wool Peddler's Shawl - All knitting all the time until the lace border. Cuddly and warm.

That's it, really. One of the things I notice about these 3 projects is the abundance of plain knit stitch. Throw in the Vanilla Rib socks that have come off the needles lately, and it's not a huge step to think that maybe my Knitting Mojo is telling me something...

I've set myself a goal of finishing 2 current projects before I cast on for a new one. I'm not sure how long that resolution will survive given the pull of the silver yarn I pulled out of the stash the other day, so to that end I'm of to knit like the wind in hopes of outpacing the Start-itis demons!

Just a Bit of Knitting

For whatever reason, I haven't been knitting lately. Partly because of some fundamental shifts in my space - moving to Roseville, making new friends, grad school, none of said new friends being knitting people, etc. - and partly because I've been trying a new thing: knitting monogamy. I've gotten frustrated with the number of unfinished projects looming over my head, so I've been slowly trying to finish things up. Interestingly, this has caused the sheer volume of knitting to go down, possibly because some of the projects aren't as portable as others.

This means I'm clearly NOT going to finish the 12-Mile Quest this year, despite my best efforts during the first 6 months of 2009. But in the spirit of working through my 101 in 1001 goals, I am going to shift my focus and try to finish at least my Salina sweater before the year is out.

To this end, I give you some sleeves:

Roughly 1.5 sleeves, to be exact. After the second sleeve is complete, I just need to complete the front half of the sweater (already more than 1/2 finished), then knit the collar and set in the sleeves and I'm done.Well, almost done - I am pretty sure that I'm going to have to pick up the bottom edge of the sleeves and add about 2" onto them due to my monkey arms. Sleeve knitting is one of two times I bemoan my long limbs; the other is when my new jeans, which have been deliberately purchased to drag on the floor by 3", shrink up to my ankles. Lest my shorter friends poke fun at me because their jeans are always too long, allow me to remind you that you all can get your pants hemmed to the perfect length for about $9, while I am doomed to look like an afficionado of the 80's highwater pants era.

Anyway, sleeves. They're nearly done. And after that, I have a pair of socks that are about 25% finished out of this yarn, which is another colorway of this yarn that made these socks, which I am currently wearing. And then there is the blocking of my Shield of Bees shawl - did I mention that the same day I got my $20-worth of T-pins in the mail from WEBS, I also found my other boxes of T-pins, thus making me the T-pin Queen? Other unfinished projects, according to Ravlery, include:

*Mingus Socks (need to rip and re-start according to original pattern; why the Koigu version was miles too small and the current version is miles too big is beyond me.)
*Norfolk Ramblers (must take picture of Welsh Heel Disaster '09 to send to Emma, then rip and figure out WTF is wrong with my pattern-reading skills)
*Very Happy Scarf (need to rip edging and find another smaller treatment for same. Beginning to recognize a theme here...)
*Honeydew BSJ (sew. on. the. damn. buttons. Will probably take 15 minutes and have been procrastinating for almost 3 months.)
*Great Bebeh Project (perhaps am in the right place for miles upon miles of garter stitch, finally?)

Not being a masochist - at least, not a KNITTING masochist - I don't expect all of this to be done in the next 18 days. But I bet I could finish at least the Salina and the red socks, which would mean I could wear them to my final class of the session in early January. My classmates would get a kick out of seeing me wear stuff I've been working on since October.

And speaking of masochism, I had a great weekend in the East Bay and Menlo Park. Well, a great 24 hours - South Bay friends, don't get out the pitchforks! My step-grandmother was in MP for the weekend and I went down with my Other Brother who lives in Alameda in order to brunch with her. On the way there, I spent Saturday night partying in downtown Alameda with a new friend, Malia, whose name endeared her to me immediately because the only other Malia I know is my beloved soul sister in Oregon (Hi 'Bean!). I didn't run into the kissing stranger from last weekend, but if he's meant to turn up, he will. Like a shiny penny, or something... In the meantime, New Malia knows a LOT of people in Alameda, and has undertaken the amusing mystery.

My life is often like a soap opera, have you noticed?

In Which We Procrastinate

Tomorrow is the CBEST, which might as well be called the SAT for Aspiring Teachers. I have reviewed the Princeton Review book on the subject, taken the reading portion of the test, and am now settling myself down to aspire my way to a "pass." I am assured by everyone I know who has taken the CBEST - which is a much larger number since I started grad school a month ago - that I will pass easily. While this is probably true (almost my entire undergraduate GPA was based on test scores - none of that "homework" for me!), I am still a smidge nervous. Therefore I spent today watching the latest episode of Glee, playing a very little bit of World of Warcraft, and sorting through my Portland pictures to place here for your viewing enjoyment. Sadly, by the time I realized that I should have taken daylight photos of some things, the daylight was waning. Curse you, Daylight Savings Time!

Anyway. My trip to Portland was great fun. Shannon was quite pleased with her gift, it went beautifully with her face (as intended ::cough::), and I got to see lots of friends who are doing very well indeed. I have a couple of dear friends living in high Bohemian style on top of a parking garage across from the Crystal Ballroom who have turned out to be quite brilliant businessmen - or have at least chosen to surround themselves with people who make them LOOK like brilliant businessmen (probably more the case). I am currently mocking up a monogram of "fake it till you make it" that we may or may not be tattooing on our arms for future reference.

I made a morning trip to Mecca:

where I purchased three (3) trashy historical romances and one (1) Russian classic, and where I also came upon this gem of a judgement:
I do love it when a bookstore doesn't sugar coat things. I also love the variable meanings of words. I do not love Jane Austen pastiche, though, and so my three (3) THR's were not of the JA variety. Just so you know.

A hop, skip, jump, and 2 traffic lights down the street from Powells is Knit/Purl, the Portland knitting store of which I have heard so much. Here's a shot of the inside:
That's pretty much the whole store, although there is a basement level that I believe is for teaching classes. I didn't go down there, so I don't know. What I DO know is that the same person who owns Knit/Purl is also responsible for Shibui Knits, and that I love her color sense. I also know that while I left footprints and took pictures, they weren't the only thing to come home with me; I also managed to escape with an Ivy League Vest and Anemoi mittens-worth of Shibui sock yarn and a copy of Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, all of which I justified by using many logical fallacies but am still quite pleased by. I've decided that if I am to be a teacher, I'd rather wear stranded vests than blazers, and since I have never been a big fan of vests, I should probably start working on my collection. And if I am going to attempt another stranded project, I should probably start with something small. Thus, the mittens. See how I'm not just jumping in the deep end of fair isle knitting here? Acknowledge and appreciate my growth, reader.

Unfortunately, I managed to get a sore throat and headache the day I was supposed to go see Malia and her gorgeous boys, and while I desperately want to see Liam while he's just a little guy, I also don't want to do it at the expense of my friend's health - especially when she's got a 5-month-old baby who would likely also get sick. So instead I stayed in Shannon's apartment, reading books and watching TV and bemoaning my cruel, cruel fate.

Speaking of bemoaning, I think I'll toddle off and do some more homework. This accelerated teaching program is awesome because it's so fast, but shit in terms of how much stuff I have to do all the time! I guess it's good training for being an English teacher, though...

The State of the Knitter 2009

There has been... very little knitting going on. For whatever reason, I have been Not Feeling It, nor have I been feeling the spinning bug. What I have been feeling is the World of Warcraft bug, so I've been feeding that particular obsession regularly. But despite the lack of knitting, there has been some.

I started my Norfolk Rambler Socks for the Gives Good Knit KAL and made it to the heel of the first sock before I broke down forgot how to knit took a break. Whew, that was hard work! But I'm looking at the bag containing 25% of a pair of socks and thinking that maybe I can do this. It just takes not being quite such a knitting flake as I have been lately.

But Tika, you say, what do you mean, "knitting flake"? Well, dear reader, I mean that I have in the last few days started TWO other pairs of socks. One pair will be the Mingus socks by Cookie A with just a little modification on my part to make them a wee bit bigger (my first iteration was much too small) , and the other will be a plain top-down k3p1 rib much like my Vanilla Santa Fe socks (Rav link) - although I think the linked socks were toe-up. But still - k3p1 rib. Those will be my purse knitting, as apparently anything beyond the said rib pattern is beyond my powers of comprehension right now. I wonder why that is?

In terms of the 101 in 1001 project, I've tried a couple more recipes - two, to be exact. I know that puts me behind, but I've been researching recipes and watching Julia Child on YouTube, so I'm considering this to be the "research" phase of my project. Hee. But seriously, because of the lack of finances, I'm thinking that baked goods might be the order of the holidays. THB and I are having Thanksgiving at the house this year with (so far) just the two of us, so that'll knock out a good chunk of attempts as well. And there is a pile of pumpkins at the grocery store just begging to be turned into pies, breads and waffles...

In other news, I am still unemployed and that might be the reason for my lack of focus. I originally decided that if I couldn't find a job before March, I would start looking into graduate schools; however, I ended up attending an informational session at the beginning of October for Chapman University, and I was pleasantly surprised by their attentiveness and willingness to get me out of school as fast as humanly possible. Tonight I attended the new student orientation, and I start classes next Monday. By this time next year, I will have my California single-subject teaching credential, and by the middle of next spring I'll have my Master of Art degree in Teaching. That should set me up nicely to start teaching class in the fall of 2011; hopefully by then the economy will have recovered somewhat and I'll be able to find a good place in a Portland-area school. My plan is to move up there once I'm done with my degree to start the job-seeking process, but as I haven't even started my first class yet, that's always open for debate.

Let me tell you, I'm not 100% sanguine about starting classes again. I was hoping for a longer break between educational facilities, but it's nice to have a plan again. Especially a plan that eventually involves summers off!

So that's the update. One of these days I'll blog during the day and actually give you pictures of how little I've gotten done! But for now, Mr. Darcy is stretched on one side of my desk and begging for pets, so spare a tiny good thought for my knitting mojo and I'll come back with better, more energized news soon!

The Plague

I has it. 

It's harder to write blog posts when I have to go to bed at 8:30 every night in order to make it through the next day. Hopefully this clears up soon; I have a stealth trip planned for this weekend. 

There has been knitting. I will show it to you once I can stay up with the grown-ups. 

Spend It, But Don't Waste It

As I may have mentioned before, the Relatively Normals are Jewish. This means that instead of taking the Elder to catechism, I take her to Hebrew school, and that I get what are to me random days off when there is a Jewish holiday. It also means that around Christmas time they need a sitter for their kids, as they don't celebrate the season the same way my family does.

All this to say, today and tomorrow I planned to work from 8-6 so that the parental units could work while the kids enjoyed Hannukah break at home. Unfortunately, the Father caught some sort of 24-hour flu that has been going around his family - first the Younger, then the Mother. I got a call at 7 this morning telling me for God's sake to please stay home and don't breathe around anyone who might be sick, because they would certainly need me tomorrow. I told them to call me if they needed me to shove anything through the mail slot.

But it gives me an unexpected day, for which I am grateful beyond belief. I intend to buy cat food because the term "scraping the bottom of the barrel" became thoroughly clear to me this morning, and to take my student assistant papers to the SJSU HR department so that I can work in the slide room next semester. After that, my duties will be done and I can watch Smallville for the rest of the day.

Perfect.

Epic But Not Legendary

There's this famous line of Mandy Patinkin's in The Princess Bride that talks about how difficult it is to explain everything, and instead one should just simply sum up. You probably know it. And hence, you probably already anticipate what I'm about to do.

Tomorrow is my last final. It's not going to be tough because my professor is going to Iran on the 27th and doesn't wish to grade any essays, so we get slide ID's instead. I love this. I can cram for slide ID's like my brain was made for it. Therefore, in my head, I'm pretty much done with this semester, and it looks like I'll only need 2 more classes to get a BA. TWO. After twelve years of college, fiddy-billion credits and not a few false starts in majors for which I am clearly ill-suited, I'm going to be done. Done, done done!!

Give me 5 years in the real world and I'll be begging to get back into academics.

Since the middle of November, lots of things have been going on. I direct your attention to my San Diego Trip * and also the joint Birthday Party that Chloe and I had at the Cal Academy. Missing is the Mexico Trip because the photos are all on my laptop and I'll have to upload them later. There were pelicans, baby lions and tigers, pelicans, family, and lots of long-exposure night shots. It's awesome, and apparently I have a thing for Mexican pelicans. Weird.

My Salina sweater is a double fail. It's still sitting in the bag; I've finished up to the armpits and half-way up the top of the back, but good lord that much stockinette is mind-numbing. Also I had to work on an as-yet unphotographed embroidery piece for my Islamic Art class, which cut into my knitting time by quite a bit. However, I still intend to finish it; I'm taking it to Mom's for Christmas holiday knitting. Here's what I have finished recently:

Socks for Gabe in Regia 4-ply (Man Yarn!)

One of 2 Elder R-N Socks - leftover Opal from Natalie's BSJ

A beanie for Alexander - leftover Classy from umpteen baby projects

Seriously, I think I have a hob goblin of some sort in my Dream in Color stash. I've been knitting with this Classy for a year, inserting it here and there, and it's still not gone. I thought for sure this hat would finish at least one of the 2 colors off, but no. Hopefully the addition of a huge pompon on the top will help. Anyone know where I can get a giant pompon maker?

These projects bring me close to completion of my Christmas Knitting. Of the 4 households I intended to give knitted gifts to, I have one completed (minus the pompon...) and nearly wrapped and ready to ship up to Alaska. I'm not finished with Household #2 because my mother called me and announced that my grandmother, aunt, and 2 cousins are coming for Christmas, so I added Aunt C and Grandma M to the list. (Maybe I won't be knitting on my Salina after all...). Household 3 celebrates on January 6, so I'm ok to start late for them - which is good, because I just ordered the yarn for their Christmas gifts yesterday. Hats and Scarves for all on that one. This is one of those times when I bemoan my inability to knit with chunky yarns! The 4th household is the Relatively-Normals, and while I may not get their gifts finished in time, I can give them knits any time. Maybe I'll buy them a board game instead - perhaps Settlers of Catan.

So the count stands at:

Household 1: 4/4 (pompon!)
Household 2: 2/4
Household 3: 0/4
Household 4: .5/2

Sigh. And I thought I was doing so well! Tika 2009 is going to be all about reasonable expectations, I swear. But more on that later - Tika 2008 needs to feverishly finish her Christmas knitting.

* Complete with Adorable BabyBean pictures! Laurie, I set it so they're not downloadable, but if you want'em I'll email them. Malia, same for you.

Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve

It's Thursday, Oct. 30, and in any other year I would be cackling over my Halloween costume and planning my route to various parties. But this year, I'm simply sitting, waiting anxiously for Tuesday. Everything that doesn't involve voting somehow seems unimportant, which is how I can justify procrastinating on my paper for Biology. This year, I am going to only one gathering - not really a party, more a collection of friends - at Jasmin's house to play Rock Band and hand out candy to kids. My costume will consist of a pair of rockin' jeans, possibly a corset but more likely a tank top, and some yet-to-be-procured colored hair gel. Oh, and a plethora of eye makeup.

The stasis I feel about the election seems to have very little impact on my fingers. Knitting is a fantastic pastime for the twitchily anxious, and in that light I am thrilled to show these off!

Elphaba Socks, Knit Picks Multi "Meadows," 531 yds.

They're just a teensy bit tight; next time I'll start the calf increases a little lower. But for my purposes, I love them. The night I bound them off, we went to hear our friend Juanita sing at Unwined and had a fantastic time.

Me, Lisa, Jasmin, and Gigi. Photograph by Andrew.

I came home and immediately started another pair of socks in the same yarn base so I wouldn't have to fuss with swatching. I'm nearly to the heel of the second sock, which is a small kind of miracle as I had to think very carefully about whether to frog the first one and start over. These socks are Duckling socks of the highest degree. They are stunningly ugly until you put them on your foot, and then they're quite nice. Since I don't intend to show them to many people off my feet, I decided to keep going along and finish the pair. I'm fairly enamored of the colorway; I dyed it way back in the day with Kool-Aid, and I may need to figure out a way to reproduce it using more professional-grade dyes.

Duckling Dove Sock #1

Now if you'll excuse me, my coffee is finally ready and I can now go check out 538.

Compromise is the Spice of Life

The other day there was a fire drill at SJSU. Yes, a leave your bags don't come in the building kind of fire drill. I felt like I was in high school, except that I didn't feel like such a total dork talking only to my professors. And I went back to class instead of going to coffee. But anyway.

I showed my Niebling doily to my Islamic professor, and she said that there is an Islamic debate about lace - it's sensual and attractive, which sort of goes against the idea of the hijab - which both she and I argue is a precursor to the mantilla. Ahem. Moving on. So my prof said that I would have to at least imply the link between lace and Islamic art, which would require a paper. And since my point was to avoid writing a paper for this particular class at any cost, I've gone digging through my embroidery stash to see if there's anything remotely useful in there.

Lo and behold, there is. Check this out:


The mini mandalas of Martina Weber, otherwise known as Chatelaine. Her designs are absolutely stunning, and this particular little trio will work nicely for my class - especially since I have already begun the project, and thus have all the necessary accoutrement.

Thus - and here is the material point - I can now start the something lacy and lovely I have been dreaming of. Brie, are you ready?? :D

The Siren Song of Television

So lately I've been avoiding the knitting. Like Jas, I've been on a spinning jag, which is good considering that I just acquired a significant portion of my body weight in unspun fiber. But avoiding or not, Elizabeth's wedding is a week from yesterday and I need to finish her shawl before the bocce ball reception on Sunday morning. So I did what any self-respecting knitter with sass would do: I started a new project. 

I wanted to start the Persephone scarf from MimKnits, but both the Perplexed yarn and the pattern thwarted me. So instead, I whipped out the Black Magic yarn and the Forest Canopy Shawl pattern and went to town. It called for sock weight and size 8 needles; I'm using roughly DK+ weight and 8's. It'll be larger than originally intended, but I'm okay with that - in fact, I'm looking forward to it. 

Pictures? Okay. But just this once. 

I put a couple more repeats into it last night after Elizabeth's bachelorette party. We lingered deep into the wee sma's over a bottle of delicious port and talk of video games - the perfect end to a lovely day.

Forest Canopy Shawl from I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can

Black Magic handspun, ~383 yds.

I had an interview with a family today, and the mom wants me to come back to speak with her when her children are away so that we can have a conversation that's not punctuated by offerings to see the playroom/backyard/favorite stuffed animal. That's a good sign, right? They live nearby, which would save me a not insignificant sum in gas money every month, so we'll see. I'm cautiously optimistic, about both the job and the mojo.

And now, Tim Gunn, popcorn and the Sonata are singing a sweet tune of spinning and fashion madness. Au revoir, ma cheries. 

P.S. - the Mint Crisp M&M's are secretly filled with crack. Don't buy them, and for god's sake don't eat them. Consider yourself warned.

Finally!

Holy crap they're over and I've just now gathered up my strength to collect all the things that have happened recently into a cohesive post. Sigh. I'm thinking short on words and long on pictures will be the best route, so here we go. 

1) I sent my HPSS3 package! And only 5 weeks late. Go me. 

Cressida, I hope you like it! :D 

2) I opened my HPSS3 package. The blasted thing has a been taunting me for a month (see #1), and it's fabulous. I adore everything in the box. Thank you, Auntie Enid! 

3) I also got a package from Lady O, who is awesome.  I sent her some grey 4-ply soft that I bought to make Slytherin socks and never used, and in return she sent me this: 

Handpainted sock yarn, 100g

Handpainted tussah silk, 25g

Someone got the better end of this deal, and I'm not ashamed to say it was ME! Thanks, darlin'!

4) I finished the merino/soysilk from A Girl on the Rocks:

450 yds. 2-ply, fingering weight

Oh yes, it's shiny. It's been living next to my computer so I can love on it all  the time. It's put me over into Mile 4 of the 12-Mile Quest, so I'm nearly 1/2 way there! And the entire summer is stretching in front of me, so I have high hopes. Spinning-wise, I've moved on to the Easter Egg colorway in the same fiber (no pictures yet) for Jasmin 2008. Since she gave me the 2 bumps (the fiber wasn't really her thing, but I like it so I win), she's requested the one I'm currently working on for herself. She may have to wrestle me for it - if so, I'll sell tickets. There might be Jell-o. 

However, it's been hard for me to keep working on said Easter Egg roving because this has showed up: 

That would be TWENTY-SIX 8.5 oz. bumps of roving from Crown Mountain Farms, plus 2 pounds of undyed SW merino roving (in the paper packages). Between that and the Black Bunny Fiber Club 2, I'd say I spent my stimulus check appropriately, wouldn't you? And since it's not money that I was expecting, it doesn't count towards "spending," either. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. 

In celebration of the fact that I might have just achieved SABLE, I've decided not to buy anything until at least the Wool Auction on August 17. I figure I have plenty of yarn/roving to keep me busy until then, so I'm stealing a page from Crazy Aunt Purl's book and will write down everything I desperately want between now and then, and revisit the list come August. I already have a salad spinner, but we'll see what I come up with. And pay off.