All Over the Place

Okay, so you have probably figured out by now that I have less self control than I ought to have when it comes to acquiring yarn. You've also probably noticed my propensity for buying all new yarn for a project instead of using what I have in my stash. Well, both of those things are true, I admit it. But it is also true that I am learning (sloooowly) to buy appropriate amounts of yarn for the intended project, to check Ravelry for a) project yardage requirements and b) my stash listing before diving into a knitting store, and that I'm trying hard to finish projects before I start new ones.

Next week is the end of my second round of grad classes. This session has been more back-loaded than the last, so I've been kept busy writing papers and doing projects. I'll be glad to see this session be finished; my classes weren't as entertaining or informative as the previous ones, and there was one in particular that just irritated the crap out of me on a regular basis. But overall I'm really enjoying the 9-week terms. It's just enough time for me to lose steam in terms of getting good grades and turning things in on time, so all my teachers think I'm a Good Student. Poor, deluded dears.

ANYway, I finally finished Torchwood: Children of Earth last night. I watched episodes 3-5 in rapid succession and spend the bulk of the time with my jaw on the floor. It was... incredible and heart-rending and really, really well-acted. John Barrowman is completely underrated, at least in the US. I understand that he's quite appreciated in the UK, which is, I suppose, acceptable as he is one of those rare successful British actors who doesn't seem at all interested in moving to LA.

I also finished my Risata socks!

Knit Picks Risata, "Fairy Tale"
330 yds.

I quite like the way these fit. I adjusted the peasant heel flap according to my last post and Suzanne's suggestions, and they fit much better across the instep. They're a tad big, but my mom says that her Risata socks have felted (and therefore shrunk) a bit in the wash, so I'm not too worried.

What I AM chuffed about is this:

(click to enlarge) (that's what she said...)

That heel flap and heel turned out PERFECTLY. There are a few loose stitches, but I'm pretty sure those will even themselves out with washing, and if they don't, it's nothing a darning needle and a scrap of extra yarn can't fix. I'm excited to mess a little with the colored heel/toe scheme as well, but that will have to wait a bit. I may be the teensiest burnt out on socks, which is HILARIOUS considering that I just purchased enough sock yarn at Stitches to reach from my house to the nearest yarn store.

What I have been craving - possibly because I got a chart keeper - is lace. Specifically, sampler lace to keep me interested and involved. What's that? I already have a "lace" project going? You're right, I do, and it's going just fine. But it's 90% knit stitch! That's not the lace I'm craving! I want complicated, fussy, multiple-stitch-marker and life-line-requiring, make-you-blind, tiny needle lace. Hazel Carter and Sharon Miller lace.

I hear it's excellent for knitting in class.

A Tale of Tape Measure Whoa

This is my favorite tape measure.

It used to have a Fibersphere logo on the sticker, but that wore off a long time ago. The nice folks at Fibersphere gave these away the first year they were at Stitches West. It's got a metal tape measure in the top and a pen in the bottom, and it's lived in my purse for nearly 2 straight years now. That scrape along the pen barrel is from being run over by crazy conservatives in Nevada when we went to canvas for Obama. We managed to lose every other pen we came across, but that one stayed with me.

Last year at Stitches, I bought 2 more of these miraculous tape measures. I put them in my bag, I saw them in my apartment once, and then -POOF!- they disappeared. I'm sure they're in a place so safe, they're protected even from me.

This year, I completely forgot to hit the Fibersphere booth at Stitches and get more tape measure pens. Sigh.

*****

Shifting gears, I like to order from The Loopy Ewe. I usually order Lorna's Laces from them because they carry loooooots of colors and I'm getting pickier and pickier about my sock yarn these days. The socks I've made from Lorna's Laces haven't faded hardly at all and haven't felted even a little, and that's with a ton of wear. My Daffodil socks were my go-to pair in Mexico last year, and I wore them all over the cement floors with no problems. They are arguably my favorite socks, so they get tons of wear and I love them.

But anyway, back to The Loopy Ewe. They have this cute little system of sending small gifts with your first 5 orders and on the sixth, you become a Loopy Groupie with all the perks and benefits therein.

I have lately been annoyed by the slow-yet-steady disappearance of my DPN's, so I ordered a set each of 0 and 00 Hiya-Hiya's last week, then in a panic sent Sherri an email asking if she could add 2 of her carabiner tape measures to the order. Oh yes - carabiner tape measures.

Heck yes! I'm thrilled with these (and my DPN's). One will go in my knitting drawer for emergencies, one will attach itself to the handle of the pen mug next to my computer, and my pen tape measure can go back to living happily in my purse. And if you look again at the picture, you'll notice something that makes me extra-happy: the stopper. See how I'm not holding the tape measure out? FanTAStic! So useful.

And on top of that, I'd completely forgotten that it was my 6th Loopy Ewe order. I got a much larger package than I had anticipated today, and inside was this!

A tote with the Loopy sheep on the front, some Herhsy's kisses, a sock pattern, an adorable sheep calendar, and a skein of Enchanted Knoll sock yarn! I was, once again, thrilled. Not only do I have a fresh new set of DPN's AND extra tape measures, but I also have a spiffy new bag and (even more) sock yarn! The yardage totally counts toward my yearly intake, though. But that's ok; I'm working on the second sock of my Risata pair, and they're moving fairly quickly.

I think tonight I'll finish up those socks and watch Torchwood: Children of Earth on Netflix.

Oh, and did I mention that I have a 7-page paper due tonight? That I turned in at FOUR THIRTY this afternoon?!? HAH!

No WoW Wednesday

Because my classes are in the evenings, I tend to go to sleep late, wake up late, and play a lot of video games. I've been playing World of Warcraft with some dear friends since the game started in 2004, and it's really easy to just log in for a minute or two and get sucked into several hours of laughing and pwning with a group of buddies.

Thus I have dubbed today "No WoW Wednesday." Well, today and every other Wednesday. While I don't log in every day - or even every other day - having a specific day seems to keep me more motivated to do other things.

I've also started logging off when my 9-5 friends do instead of staying up with the late night crowd. That means I'm out by 10 or 10:30 and have an hour or two to listen to audiobooks and knit. It used to be that I would either knit or play WoW in a day, but now I manage to do both.

Time management is not my strong suit, can you tell?

Anyway, since I added 4.7 MILES of yarn to my yearly total at Stitches 2010 I've felt a little pressure to start chipping away at the Stash Equilibrium Goal, and by default also at the 12-Mile Quest. Thus I present my Peasant Rib Socks:

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in "Ashburn" and "Chocolate"
243 yds total

This is the first time I've tried anything like this. I've made peasant heel socks before, but the pull across my instep in a way that heel flap socks don't. I'm messing with a way to make peasant heel socks that also have a heel flap to give my high arches the ease they need:

It's relatively successful. However, these are only 56-stitch socks, and I don't really like the way they are so stretched on my leg. I'm debating either a smaller needle/larger cast-on combo, or perhaps a 60-stitch cast-on and then decreasing down to 56 stitches after the heel. I think I'll try both. Additionally, I think I'm going to knit with the extra picked up stitches for 1/2" or so before I start to decrease. (At this point, the non-knitters are rolling their eyes and the knitters are nodding in agreement. Such is the lot of those not involved in our obsessive, math-oriented hobby!)

What I really like is the contrasting heel/toe, especially because the peasant heel construction allows for replacement. I don't wear through my socks very quickly, but I like the option of replacing the heels should I snag them on an unfriendly shoe. And because my feet are fairly small - a 37 EU/7.5 US - I actually managed to squeeze this pair out of ONE skein of the main color sock yarn. That means that with a little tweaking, I could reliably get two pairs of plain socks out of 100g of yarn plus the contrasting color, leaving me with very few leftovers. The perfectionist in me is utterly pleased by this potential development.

In other news, THB and I watched The Informant last night. I thought a lot about this movie afterward and came up with a few notes:

• Matt Damon is a fantastic actor, but why would he be cast as the anti-Jason Bourne? I didn't believe for a second that he was a bumbling FBI informant, having seen him kick ass and take names across 3 movies and like 12 continents.
  
• Actors playing liars have a huge task in front of them. We already know they're playing a part, so their job is two-fold: we must buy that the actor is the character and that the character is telling the truth, otherwise the Grand Reveal at the end is all for naught.
  
• If a script doesn't allow the actor time to draw the audience into the world of the con man, then the Grand Reveal is also all for naught.
• Buster will always be Buster, and Biff will always be Biff, and it's really tough for me to take either of them seriously.
• The music and comedic timing of this movie is brilliant. Damon's voiceovers are hilarious, and the 60's-style location splashes made me smile.
  

Next up is Brigadoon (1954), in Cinemascope no less.

Stitches 2010 - Continuing the Exercise

Well, THAT was a whirlwind of fun! I think my credit card caught fire at least twice. Oy.

AVFKW - 50/50 yak/silk in "Le Cirque"

You know how the other day I said I'm going to try to maintain stash equilibrium this year? I put a serious dent in that resolution this weekend, but based on last year's yardage totals, it's still easily do-able.

Pigeonroof Studios - Siren Too "Autumn Cherry"

Then again, the year is only two whole months old at the moment!

Stitches West 2010 started with Mom and I carefully marking our market floor maps so we could easily find the shops we wanted to visit. One of the challenges of Stitches is that the location of the entire thing is the same, but every year the booth numbers change, so one cannot rely on one's excellent sense of direction as a guide. But no matter - I did just fine on my own, thank you very much!

I hit Lisa Souza at the beginning. Her Hardtwist Merino Petite is one of my favorite yarns both to ogle and to knit with.

Lisa Souza Hardtwist Merino Petite - "Deep Sea"

Please don't be distracted by the fact that I haven't finished anything with her yarn; I am a process person! But of all the handdyers I have whose yarns I have used, I like the combination of the thinness and the spring factor in the HMP. I find them especially good for Cookie A's sock patterns. Because I like my socks to be snug, I have been experimenting with triming my stitch count back to 60 or even 56 stitches. But Cookie's patterns don't lend themselves well to adjustment in that way, so using the HMP and tiny-ass needles does the trick nicely.

Lisa Souza Hardtwist Merino Petite - "Printempo"

The above picture might look familiar. Ahem. (On another note, I'm looking at my pictures from last year and this, and last year is MUCH more interesting and better-lit. I need a new place to take pictures, but the light isn't super-cooperative in this house. Hmmm. Time to get creative!) I also decided to try out a new-to-me yarn base from Lisa mainly because the colorway looked better in it than in the HMP:

Timaru Sock Yarn - "Delft"

This is white yarn with flecks of Delft blue. The HPM base yarn is more off-white, so Timaru it was! I also picked up a couple (only two!) bumps of 50/50 merino/silk for spinning. I figured that 10 oz total of spinning fiber isn't completely unreasonable for someone who isn't spinning at all lately. Holla if you hear me!

Cynthia, Colleen and I all hit Tess's Designer Yarns at the same time and I walked away with this:

It's this really nice semi-solid SW merino that is destined for some kind of Hot-for-Teacher Sweater. I also bought a green version, but I misread the labels and instead of 3 skeins of 570 yards each for a CPH, I have 3 skeins of only 285 yards each. ARGH. I'll be calling the Maine store to see if I can arrange an exchange. But in the mean time, I have Creatively Dyed Yarn to console me!

Creatively Dyed Steele Sock Yarn - "Protea"Creatively Dyed Calypso Sock Yarn - "Roots"Creatively Dyed Calypso Sock Yarn - "South"Creatively Dyed Calypso Sock Yarn - "Dahomean"Creatively Dyed Calypso Sock Yarn - "Parade"

Oh yes. And lastly, here's a little Wool Candy for your enjoyment. I bought this along with the Pigeonroof Studios yarn at the Bobbin's Nest Afterparty, which was (as usual) super classy and a lot of fun.

Wool Candy Marzipan Sock - "Fresh Fig"Wool Candy Marzipan Sock - "Ice Cream"Wool Candy Marzipan Sock - "Cerise"Wool Candy Marzipan Sock - "Peaches"

I see many, many socks in my future. But that's fine because I'm still angling for a student teaching position up in Portland, where warm socks will be absolutely necessary most of the year, especially if I can realize my vision of being the teacher who wears cute skirts, knee-highs and kicky shoes. A girl can dream, right?

There Is No Try

Yoda's maxim has seeped into the lexicon of my generation, and I find it occasionally frustrating, occasionally useful, and always true. Therefore, I present you with my Olympic "Do Not."

Here is how far I got on my Olympic Stonington by last Sunday - halfway through the Knitting Olympics:

It is at this point I decided that no, I canNOT live with the edge treatment here even if I'm going to pick up and knit around the edges and it won't really show. I would know, and that's unacceptable. In more knitterly reasoning, I'm creating a diamond-shaped center for my square shawl, and if one half of that center has a looser edge than the other, it will hang and stretch funny.

So here we are, back to the first half of square one:

See the difference? It makes me breathe a sigh of relief. I freely admit that I've been slacking on my Olympic project. In my defense, grad school has been tougher this session and I've been busy running all over the place. I haven't spent a weekend at home since the end of January, and won't until the end of March. Mr. Darcy is getting quite put out with me!But the last two weekends have been spent in great enjoyment and ::ahem:: procurement. My student aid finally came through, and I may have bought a little yarn. Really not a lot, comparatively.

"Montrose" x2

"Clara's Garden" x3 (knee-highs!)

"Rocket Pops" x3 (more knee-highs!!)

I do love me some Lorna's Laces! And yes, that comes in at just under a mile - 1720 yards. I also got my hands on 5 skeins of Panda Silk in black for the edge of the Olympic Stonington, so that total goes up to 2740 yds, or just over 1.5 miles. I'm not certain I'll need that much black for the edging, but this thing is looking like it'll be pretty huge and I'd hate to have to skimp on the edge treatment. I ended up having to buy the Panda Silk on the internet, despite having called three LYS's and two in San Jose! Everyone seems to have put their stock on clearance; I really hope that Crystal Palace isn't planning to discontinue this yarn. It's just so lovely and drapey and, well, silky. Even the online stores didn't have much left and I had to wait a few days for the new shipment to come in at Jimmy Bean's. Luckily that wasn't a problem (see above re. slacking, busy).

As far as the 12-Mile Quest 2010 goes, I think I'm going to attempt to maintain Stash Equilibrium over the course of the year. The above yarns are the the only (yarn) thing I've bought since my trip to Portland in November, so it'll be easier to keep track this year than in years past. Ahem. Spinning-wise is a different story, but more on that later. I'm adding a note in the sidebar about yards in compared to yards out; it'll be interesting to see how that works out by December. This coming weekend at Stitches West will be the big stash-enhancer, although I'm feeling very sanguine about my stash at the moment and don't really feel the need to enhance much. Famous last words.

I finally sewed the buttons on to this and breathed a sigh of relief. Mom and I are going to see Miss E and her parents this weekend, so I'm excited to bring her more handknits! She's such a cutie. Don't worry, there will be pictures!

And speaking of pictures, here's what I've been up to lately:
Sheep shearing! It was totally fun and really informative. Back at Retzlaff in June, I had a conversation with Sue Reuser about how to get my hands on a few of her fleeces without having to pull hair or get up at 5am. She mentioned that she shears in February and that people who are at her barn usually end up with first pick, so I signed on right away for that little adventure! Sue's cormos are famous in the handspinning world for their softness, crimp, and beauty; her house is chock-full of trophies and awards, and rightfully so!

The first weekend, Mom and I lasso'ed my stepdad into going by telling him that it would be fun, but NOT telling him what he would be doing. He figured it out about halfway to Sue's, and I'm glad to say he had a really good time. Well, ALL of us had a really good time. We met some amazing and amazingly knowledgable people and were generally merry all day. My only complaint was that all the sheep we skirted were white, and I'm not really all that into white fleeces. I think that if I'm going to spend the time and money to wash, draft, spin, and knit a fleece, it should be a pretty color! Although I have to admit that a few of these whites made me consider changing my mind.

Luckily, AuntieSocial and I had a plan to head up the next weekend, which was dedicated to the colored sheep. And oooohhhh, boy howdy, were they ever gorgeous.

Some of you may recall the Monterey Wool Auction of 2008, in which the incredible (and sadly internet silent lately) Aija went on a very successful Fleece Mission. I'm pleased to report that Henna is still alive and well, and her fleece is still as gorgeous as one would hope - if a little lighter:

The outside of Henna's fleece

She's a big girl - after the shearer skirted off the particularly objectionable bits (belly, behind, face, leg, etc.), her fleece weighed in at 8.1 pounds. I immediately entered into negotiations with Sue to take it home with me on the spot, although I tried hard to believe that if she wanted Henna's fleece to go to a show, I would be willing to wait.

Inside of Henna's fleece, skirted to 6.5 pounds

Now, I've been on the prowl for the Perfect Honey-Colored Fleece ever since the '08 auction, and so far it has eluded me. No longer! And I'm doubly chuffed because of Aija's success with this same sheep a couple of years ago. My plan is to blend a pound (or two...) with about 20% Tussah silk and spin it frog-hair fine for a Shetland-style Wedding Ring Shawl. Of course, said plan has only gotten to Step One: Find The Fleece, and at this rate will be done when I'm about 75. But no matter!! Sue let me bring The Fleece home and it's now residing in my garage in easy view so I can poke my head in and look whenever I want.

I may have also brought home an equally lovely lavendar-grey fleece that kept catching my eye every time I walked into Sue's shed. The picture isn't ideal, but the moment the sun comes out I'll take it outside and get a good shot. This is one of those things that snuck up on me - it was on the shelf the first week I was at Sue's and I kept going over to look at it, then walking away thinking, "I don't really want a grey fleece..." I'm pretty sure I did that about 10 times the first day and probably even more times the next weekend. Finally I caved and pulled it off the shelf - just to look, mind you - and that was the end of that. If I had left it on the shelf, it would have haunted me, I just know it.

And now you know why I'm not counting spinning fiber in my Input/Output tally. I definitely have more fiber than I need, especially since I haven't been spinning at all lately. But I'm also sated and happy and utterly thrilled with my two gorgeous fleeces. Perhaps they'll help push me back into Spinning Mode! And if not, there's always next year's fleeces...

Knitting Olympics 2010

I signed up for The Yarn Harlot's 2010 Knitting Olympics.

Mostly because I am crazy-sauce with not enough to do considering grad school, sheep shearing this weekend and next, and Stitches West.

Also because I desperately want to knit my Stonington Shawl and this seemed like the best way to accomplish that goal.

Which means I have to go work on my [redacted] now, because there is NO WAY it will be finished before 6pm on the 12th, and the 28th is uncomfortably close to when the [redacted] will be given away. Also I have to wind yarn and order the Panda Silk edging, which will hopefully arrive quickly, in the appropriate dye lot, and with very little fuss. Did you know that Gloss Lace now only comes in 4 colors, NONE OF WHICH GO TOGETHER and none of which are black?!? WTF is that? I know I could dye some of my Gloss Lace Bare, but I don't want a semi-solid border. Also the Panda Silk is slightly heavier than the Gloss Lace, so I think it'll give the shawl some nice extra drape. Or at least that's the hope...

In addition to working on the [redacted], I have 2 school projects due this week. Perhaps my knitting ambition is getting the better of me? Or perhaps I just need a high-pressure project to get myself motivated in more aspects of my life? Yea... that sounds good. We'll go with the second one.

My eyes are bugging out of my head just thinking about it.

Why So Familiar, Tika?

I am a consummate Starter of Projects. I get all wound up about an Idea, gather Supplies, and dive into the Sea of Possibilities.

You know how in the Carribean Sea there's an island-sized floating mass of garbage? My Sea of Possibilities has one of those called the Island of Discarded Beginnings. It's full of half-completed paintings, beaded bracelets, sewing projects, photography series, and Grand Organizational Lists. There might be a few relationships or good intentions out there too, but we won't talk about those.

Anyway, this last weekend THB and I went up to visit my mom and hang out. I took the [redacted] thinking that I could complete a large chunk of it while waiting for my Stepdad to finish his turns in Settlers of Catan. Then on Saturday night while watching the first Harry Potter on VHS*, I ran out of yarn. Or to be more precise, I ran out of the yarn I had brought with me; there's plenty of yarn for the [redacted] at home. Since Mom and I had just spent the afternoon photographing her stash for Ravelry** I now have a pretty good idea of what her stash looks like, and because we share a terror of being without Something to Occupy the Hands, she happily loaned me 2 balls of KP Risata and a set of needles.


I really like this yarn so far, and it's gotten pretty decent reviews from Mom and on Ravelry. Combine the reviews with the reasonable price point [~$10/pair (non-knitters will be horrified, knitters will be relatively impressed. Such is the knitter's life)], a desire for more solid-colored socks, and my sudden realization that I absolutely do NOT have enough pairs of handmade socks (especially if I'm going to move to the PNW where I will need to wear socks more than half of the year), and I was ready to order a few dozen balls of this yarn the moment my student aid check comes in the door.

I've been playing with an idea for peasant heel socks. In the past when I've used a peasant heel, my socks have stretched too tightly over my instep and made my feet fall asleep. So in this pair of socks, I added a tiny heel flap to give ease over the instep, then inserted the scrap yarn for the peasant heel to be added later. And that brings me to the Familiar portion of today's blog post. Here was my thought process:

1. Risata comes in a bunch of colors!
2. Peasant heel socks lend themselves neatly to contrasting heels-and-toes, don't they?
3. In fact, 3 balls of a main color and one of the contrasting color would give me two matching pairs of socks; maybe even three!
4. I shall have a veritable DRAWER full of socks with contrasting heels and toes, both of which can be replaced at very little trouble!
5. I am so clever!
6. I can't believe I have never thought of this before!!
7. wait a minute...

Yep. I have definitely had this idea before, but with Lorna's Laces. And it's definitely a good one, but in the last few months I have become something of a tightwad and I can't shake the idea that I should at least dig into the LL stash and ::cough:: try the concept ::cough:: before I invest in a whole 'nother stash of sock yarn with the same goal. I know, right?

So I put aside the Risata Socks, dug through the Monster Stash (I need a better filing system than "that looks like sock yarn..."), pulled out 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces, and wound them up:

"Chocolate" for the H/T, "South Shore" for the body

I'll be casting on in a few minutes and then I'll let you know how it goes. Lorna's Laces is one of my favorite sock yarns despite the fact that I only have one pair of socks made out of it. They are without question my favorite socks that I've made, and I've gotten more compliments on them than on anything else I've knitted for my feet. Having more socks made out of yarn that is a) already in my stash, b) one of my favorites, and c) possibly the culmination of several months of thought about sock design makes me feel virtuous and happy. Also Stitches West 2010 is coming up, but we won't talk about that either...

Time to dive in again!

Darcy knows by now to duck and cover in times of Great Crafting Creativity.

*We had to remember to be kind, rewind at the end. Much hilarity ensued. Also, the Harry Potter kids were SO young! It made me feel SO old!

**Aren't I a good daughter?!?

Things To Do, 1/26

This is what my To Do list looked like today:


At 10 pm, I looked at it again and realized that if I were to blog, I would have done everything on my To Do list. Blogging doesn't take a whole lot of effort, per se, but sometimes setting up for it does, especially when it's dark and thus difficult to photograph finished knits. But more on that later!

This weekend it continued to rain in Roseville.
So THB and I decided to head down to Alameda to visit our Second Brother. We picked up a couple of friends on the way, namely That Sarah and Kai's roommate, and headed out for a fairly epic Bar Crawl. Now, I've never been one for bar crawls. Usually we pick a place and stay there all night. But this time, there was a double mission: to try all the bars in town (or as many as we could handle, which turned out to be quite a few), and to find The Birthday Guy. We accomplished the first goal admirably and to everyone's satisfaction, but unfortunately Birthday Guy didn't show up. I'm beginning to think he may have been a figment of my imagination. But I digress.

Here are four of us near the beginning of the night:

SB's Roommate, Me, THB, Second Brother
(That Sarah is missing because she's the photographer)

On Saturday we all woke up, staggered about for a bit, and then headed to a local diner for some greasy breakfast food. Later, my San Francisco friends showed up and we got to see Baby E, who is 3.5 months old and weighs a mere 9+ pounds. She's like a pocket baby!

And also super-cute to boot!

I, for one, am thrilled that she's a wee slip of a thing because it means that she can still wear the baby-sized things I made for her before she was born (that only took 6+ months to get to her parents ::cough::)!

Then THB and I went to the Oracle Arena to meet up with some friends and see EDDIE IZZARD!! This is the face I made pretty much the whole time:
Eddie is one of my very favorite comedians. He's smart, thinks about things, and his comedy is intelligent. He's also altruistic and freakin' adorable, which doesn't hurt. I should have taken my camera in - I was going to, but I didn't know if cameras were allowed and I didn't want to have to run back to the car. So no pictures of Eddie. Boo.

But there ARE finished knits! Awhile ago I promised That Sarah a pair of socks for her birthday. Her 2008 birthday. She has been patiently reminding me of this promise ever since, and I finally am ready to pay up. I actually wanted to finish the socks in time to give them to her this weekend, but I ended up about 1/2" plus the toe short, so I'll have to mail them. However, she's already seen them and approved, so I can show the rest of you as well:

Vanilla Rib Socks, 258 yds.
Fannie's Farmhouse Yarn, "Victoria"

The colors here are pretty accurate. My bedroom walls are not quite that radioactive green, but the socks at least are pretty vibrantly pink and black. AND I have another 150 yards to do something else fun with! But not right away...

I mentioned in this post that I needed to finish 2 projects before I would allow myself to start something new, and I did in fact stick to that (go me!). But the project I started was not the Stonington I had planned, despite the wicked-cool center I graphed out for said shawl and the beautiful silvery lace yarn all wound up and ready to go. Instead I started a [REDACTED] for [REDACTED], who I am pretty sure reads this blog at least occasionally, so until I'm done you're going to get only hints and snippets of information and some color-altered close-ups like this one:

I think that [REDACTED] will be tickled pink, don't you?

So I leave you now with some words of wisdom that I remembered over the weekend: don't try to finish the night with giant margaritas. It can only end in a desperate need for greasy breakfast the next day.

And possibly in some utterly hilarious pictures.

A Quiet Holiday

Today it is raining outside
But my house is snug and warm.
There is completed knitting

Citron #2, 440 yds.
Malabrigo Sock "Velvet Grapes"

And Knitting-in-Progress.
I am listening to Anna Karenina and watching the rain on the windows. The spring green of my walls keeps the room cheerful even when outside is cold and damp. I have hot tea with milk, warm handmade socks and nothing to do today on this last day of my between-term-vacation. It's peaceful here, unlike so many places in the world. I wish I had a skill that would allow me to go to Haiti and help Doctors Without Borders, but I fear I would just be in the way, so I stay home and knit in the rain. On this day, the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am knitting prayers for Haitians into the socks I make. Prayers for peace, for health, for aid. Prayers that this disaster will open up new lines of communication between Haiti and other governments of the world and help this little nation blossom into peace and prosperity. My prayers climb the raindrops like a child climbing up the down escalator, high into the heavens that have finally opened up and wept for the devastation of a people who did not deserve such a blow. Weep, you heavens. I will pray.

The Knit Signal

I cut/pasted this directly from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog. I'm certain that nearly everyone who reads THIS blog also reads HERS, but even one extra person's donation helps. The moment my financial aid hits my bank account (please, PTB's, this week would be great...), I pledge to send $60 to Doctors Without Borders. Let me know in the comments if you make a donation; I'd love to hear how we help!

The Knit-Signal

As I'm sure most of you know by now, yesterday, while we knit, ate, drank and slept - a massive earthquake struck Haiti, largely effecting the city of Port au Prince. Haiti itself is a very poor country with other problems - and that means two things. (Well. It means a lot of things actually, but lets only dwell on two of them at the moment.) First, it means that they entirely lack the ability to respond to this emergency without a lot of help, and secondly, it means that when the quake struck, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières was already there.

While you and I knit and we (or at least me) considered problems that now seem rather trivial, there are suddenly dead people, hurt people, trapped people, lost people and hundreds of thousands of homeless - all struggling to figure out what comes next. I spoke briefly on the phone this morning with the MSF office here in Toronto, and they confirmed several things.

Things are bad.

The MSF Hospital has sustained damage that means it isn't functioning as a hospital right now. Staff have moved to the courtyard and set up tents and what materials they could retrieve from the building and are doing their best to help people as they can. Doctors who were providing maternity care are now running a trauma centre.

They, and their sister offices in other countries spent all night figuring out who could go and how to get them there, and staff is packing as we read this to get there as fast as they can. They'll be taking inflatable surgery suites with them so they can use that instead of their damaged buildings.

They believe that some of their staff are among the casualties.

They recognize the power of Knitters Without Borders and the force that we can marshal in a pinch, and they are grateful that you've been able to help them in the past, and they would very much like your help now, and right away.

There are directed donation sites set up for Haiti on all of their websites, but I'd like to take a moment to ask you to please make your donation "undirected". Money given to a specific fund can only be used for that area and making sure your donation is undirected helps them a lot. It lets them keep serving other crises that continue to happen while the world watches Haiti, and more importantly, it allows them to be first responders.

On their websites (Canada here, USA here, Other countries can find their site here) when you give there is a drop-down menu that you'll see called "I would like my gift to be directed to..." and you'll see a lot of choices. Please consider selecting "Greatest Needs" or "Emergency Relief" so that they can have the flexibility that they need to do their best work.

I'm going right now to give my share, and I know from my inbox that many of you have already done the same. Really, it's pretty hard to sit here with a Bohus, a pot of coffee, a laptop and this much sock yarn and do otherwise. I hope you feel the same way. They need you knitters, I hope you can help, even if it's only a few dollars of your yarn money.

I'm going to go and keep the Knitters without borders tally running, since it's a tangible way to see how donations, even little ones, add up like stitches on a sweater, and people are already offering karmic balancing gifts for any draw I might do... though I know that really, nobody cares about that right now. If you're like me, you're too busy being grateful that you're not a mother in Port au Prince right now.

Boldly go, Knitters.

Filmy Goodness

Happy Kate Winslet Day, everyone!

Feel free to celebrate by watching your favorite Kate movie or perhaps one you have never seen. For myself, if I can't find a copy of Titanic in our house (likely, depending on THB's movie collection), I will indulge in Sense and Sensibility while adding a few choice titles to my Netflix queue.

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!

A Good Beginning

Today is the last day of my first grad class, and tomorrow is the last day of my first semester as a grad student! I'm on track to be done with all my projects and provided nothing goes horribly wrong in the next 30 hours I will have accomplished something that I have never even tried to do before: I will have turned in every single assignment for all of my classes for an entire semester. I may have mentioned this before, but my modus operandi for my entire school career has been to figure out the absolute minimum of busy work I could do and still get a decent grade while I bank on my excellent test-taking abilities. But I have had no desire to skip any of my assignments this time around, which might have some root in the fact that this grad program feels more like vocational training than anything else. I can easily see why I need to know how to write a lesson plan, understand multiple intelligences, and learn good classroom management skills; so I'm willing to actually do the work.

And speaking of work, I have some completed knitting!

Citron Shawl
Malabrigo Sock, "Lettuce," 440 yds.

I plowed right through this project. It was an easy knit, I am thoroughly chuffed with the results, I've gotten huge compliments on it, and all I've been able to think about is how much I'd like one in purple, one in black, and possibly one in rust. It's fairly rare that I come across a pattern I want to knit over and over again, and I'm not certain how long my Citron mania will last, but in the mean time I've been giving my lace and sock yarn stashes the hairy eyeball.

I haven't made any more progress on my Salina, but I'm okay with that. This might be a 2-year Sweater, or I might pick up steam on it again later. For the moment, I'm enjoying knitting stuff that a) doesn't have a specific size or b) I know how to make fit already (socks...).

So that's the New Year so far! And now to go diving into the stash. I thought it was organized when I put it all into the big plastic tubs, but it turns out that it was only organized in my HEAD and not in REALITY. There is an excel spreadsheet and a new stash bin numbering system in my future...