Knitting Update

I've been doing a lot of knitting without blogging lately.

First I finished these, which I call Fe Fi Fo Fum



Hand dyed by Nerdclub2000 as part of her chemical elements, this is Iron Ions (hence the name). It spoke to my inner chem geek.

Next were these, for my mom.



The pattern is Hourglass from Knitty. I entered them in Knit'n From the Heart's Socktoberfest and despite some initial confusion I won first place. 20% off sock yarn for a year!

After all of that pattern going on I decided to knit another pair of plain socks



They're out of some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock I bought awhile ago at 3 Kittens and finally got around to using.

Now I've decided that with winter coming I need a new set of hat and mittens.



Turns out that this was a good decision as there was a wee bit of snowfall today. None sticking to the ground yet, at least.

Thus ends the crazy long update. Clearly, I need to update more frequently. That shouldn't be a problem as I'm going to attempt NaBloPoMo again this year.

Does Not Compute!

There's this article on the Nielsen ratings of cable shows followed more by Republicans, more by Democrats, and those that have a generally bipartisan viewership.

I find it generally interesting but one entry in particular doesn't quite make sense to me. Doctor Who, especially New Who. Granted, I don't know that looking at only viewers through SciFi is all that accurate for Doctor Who. Nielsen ratings puzzle me in almost any case. Plus, I think I'm really burnt out on politics.

Ummm, Uhhhh

I'm a bad, bad blogger. I have some photos of a finished pair of socks and a hat that did not go as planned but I won't be posting any of those now. Especially not the hat, the hat is better left to die and be reincarnated as a newer, better project. This hat did not go as well as the last hat I knit when I was bored.

I did buy a new coat, though. Perfect excuse to make new knitwear to wear with it, yes? Even though anything that went with my old black-and-white tweed coat will almost certainly go with the black-and-white houndstooth. Shh.

Avast!

Arr, me wenches and mateys, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! In honor of this most joyous occasion, I have found a new identity. Enjoy the day, be ye swashbuckler or landlubber and eat plenty of oranges to avoid scurvy (seriously, that stuff is nasty).

My pirate name is:

Mad Jenny Cash

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

In Which Emily Learns Things

I made snickerdoodles today. I have also learned that Firefox's built-in dictionary does not include snickerdoodles. Just on Friday, I found out that MS Word doesn't include hemorrhoidal. I think my job might be very odd sometimes.

Besides getting my bake on, I've been watching QI, which is fantastic. It's a British trivia show hosted by Stephen Fry where the questions are extremely difficult so the point is to be "quite interesting" more than being right. There are four pannelists, generally comedians of some sort, and it's great. I've learned many, generally useless, new things. For instance, there is a US Patent for a Santa Clause Detector (a sort of rigged Christmas stocking).

While gaining all of this knowledge, I finished the second test knit sock. This one (on the right) pooled more than the first creating socks that are more than a little bit fraternal. It's still nice to be on a bit of a finishing kick. Unfortunately, I only seem to be able to finish things recently started, not the many UFO's I have left in my wake.

Test Knit Spectacular

I finished a test knit sock for this lady. The pattern is Water Rescue Socks and I used Knitpicks Essential Multi in Jester and Size 1.5US needles. I had actually finished over half of a sock on 1's when I realized that I really didn't have gauge and that it wasn't going to fit. One trip to the frog pond later, some more knitting, and I have a sock. I'm actually to the heel flap of the second sock and hope to finish it this weekend.

There is a similar effect created to the Jaywalker but there are quite a few differences and things like yarn overs, twisted stitches, and purl bumps create a lot of great textural elements.

Hey, Teach! didn't win a prize at the Olympics but it wasn't perfect, it was in kind of a boring color (I wanted a neutral) and I'm still just happy to have finished it in the specified time period. I'm going to go pick it up tonight before knitting at Starbucks so I'm excited to get it back. I'll see if I can do better for Socktoberfest, which Knit'n from the Heart is doing again this year.

Lastly, for all my fellow sci-fi/Whedon fans out there, check out this picture (flickr link), especially the far right. Awesome, yes?

Crossing the Finish Line

Done on time! I bought my buttons and went straight over to Knit'n from the Heart to sew them on and then turn in my sweater for voting on the Olympics contest there. I think I finished about 15 minutes before the deadline. For now, I'm going to take a little break from knitting.

Finish Line in Sight?

The bulk of the knitting on my Ravelympics project is complete. I took this photo prior to steam blocking and tomorrow I can start the button band and/or neck band. (Hopefully) better pictures to come! I also still need to buy buttons.

Ends, Ends Everywhere

I've started the front and if I keep up at this rate I at least hope to have the main body complete by the end of the week. That'll leave me with the sleeves, button band, neckline, and finishing for week two. I'm trying not to lose momentum.

I haven't watched too much of the actual Olympics but I've caught a bit here and there. I find the Montenegro Men's Water Polo team particularly fascinating. It's their first Olympics and apparently it's a huge sport for them. I completely stumbled upon their first qualifying match against Hungary which ended in a tie and now I'm hooked. Go Montenegro!

Baby Got Back

I've divided for the armholes and I've only got about two inches left of the back before I shape the neckline. I'm totally amazed at how quickly I've managed to whip through this pattern. I'm super excited to get it done and I'm kind of sad I decided to enter it in Knit'n from the Heart's Olympics contest because that means that I have to hand it over by 5:00 next Saturday evening instead of getting some wearing enjoyment out of it first.

To break up the monotony of beige sweater pics, I've decided to go back to including music.

This is "Marry Me" by St. Vincent, the moniker of singer-songwriter Annie Clark. It's a gorgeous song. I wish I could have found a decent live version because she mimics the trumpet sounds herself when performing. Bonus, the song's name (also her album title) is an Arrested Development reference.

Behold, Bodice Lace

I might just get this crazy sweater done in time.

The lace pattern is pretty simple but interesting enough to get me through the 50 inch rows (purling the wrong side is a different story, though). In about 2 inches I can separate to shape the armholes. I think I got three rows done at lunch today so in the grand scheme of things it probably barely made a dent but all of it adds up. Dinner's been made and consumed so it's back to knitting!

Weekend Knitting

I haven't gotten as much knitting done this weekend as I would have liked but I have made some progress. I only have an inch of stockinette left on Hey, Teach!

And I finished Rose's Wristwarmers (granted, all I had left on those for the weekend was the thumb).

Will I finish my sweater on time? Maybe. No big plans for next weekend, so that should help.

Doomsday Coincidence?

I've been rewatching season two of New Who and I was just clipping off the last woven-in end when the Doctor was on the beach saying "Rose Tyler . . ." Total accident, I swear. And I may have been slightly teared up at the time. Maybe.

I still have the second one to go (as is too often the case with my projects) but maybe casting it on will distract me from wanting to cast on Hey, Teach! Just about two days to go.

Let the Games Begin!

I caved. I'm totally knitting Hey, Teach! for the Ravelympics.

I got the yarn at Knit'n from the Heart where their cottons are 20% off right now. I might also enter it in their Olympics competition, too, although their rules are a little more restrictive. Either way, going by the finished ones on Ravelry it might just be a quick knit. Remind me I said that when I'm out of time and still getting pissed at my first button band.

I'm going to try to blog my progress often so, if nothing else, this should get me back to more frequent updates. Might even do a music post again here and there if something strikes my fancy. Now I just wish it were Friday so I could cast on.

Ravelympics

Every instinct I have says that they only way I should be signing up for the Ravelympics is in the WIP Wrestling category yet I really want to make Hey, Teach! Talk me out of it, please? Although I'm thinking about stopping at Amazing Threads on the way home tonight so it may be too late.

I Wants!

I feel that I need to have this shirt

and/or this shirt

xkcd is wicked awesome

It's Getting Closer!

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Go to DrHorrible.com for more info. Definitely click on "Read the Master Plan" as it is both informative and entertaining. Joss Whedon has more than his share of awesome in this world.

Babies

One of the many reasons I shouldn't be allowed to have children.

Comic from xkcd

Four Day Weekend That Started Early

My boss let us go at 2 today and we don't have to be back until Monday. Such an exorbitant amount of time to myself. I've been working some on the stole.

It's kind of in the "black hole" zone but I'm still enjoying knitting it, albeit at a slower rate. Still nervous about working the border.

During my lunch breaks (that are an excessive hour long), I've been working on Pomatomus.

I took this last night so I'm actually a little further along than this picture and I'm really loving it. This is in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino that I've had in stash for several months and I couldn't have asked for a more suitable yarn for this project.

I tried to knit these before using Schaefer Farms Lola which is not a sock yarn so the gauge was too tight so it didn't stretch enough to fit a leg. It does fit an arm, though, so they will become arm warmers a la Jess of Ravelry and considering that when my sister saw the leg of the second sock this weekend she thought that it would make a good fingerless mitt, she might get them. Maybe. We'll see how I feel if I actually finish the mitts.

Other than still feeling my way through the new job, I've been Plurking. Lime and Violet sucked me in. I definitely agree that it is better than Twitter because it allows more direct replies and doesn't seem to have the frequent outage issues. Plurk is definitely an interesting new thing and I'm interested to see how it continues.

Finished Project

Finishing projects is fun. I should do it more often.

My third pair of Monkey socks, second in Fleece Artist, is done. These are going to my sister but I think I'm going to hold onto them until she goes back to school in August as part of a care package of sorts. Erin, if you read this, you're still waiting until you go back to school to get the socks. Not that withholding wool socks in summer is that big of a deal. And not like my sister ever really reads my blog.

As for that original sock?

1 Skein Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 = ~ 2.5 Women's US 7 socks.