Hemlock Ring Blocked

Yesterday was my birthday. I worked. I spoke on the phone with many family members and friends. I also blocked Hemlock Ring. Twenty six is looking a lot like 25.

In addition to Hemlock Ring, I also put down to knit a small Ishbel for the Knitting Olympics. I've finished the stockinette portion of it and I'm on to the lace part. I didn't get a picture before it got pretty dark out tonight so that will have to wait for another day.

I also haven't mentioned my new favorite podcast on here, yet. It's A History of the World in 100 Objects, put out by BBC Radio 4. Every weekday, the director of The British Museum discusses one object from the museum's collection. He describes the object, significant features of the object and how it fits into the history of the world. It's pretty much my daily fifteen minutes of history geekery. Podcasts and audiobooks certainly contributed to the speed

Knitting Olympics

I've decided to do the Knitting Olympics. I'm for sure knitting Hemlock Ring. I cast on Friday night during the opening ceremony (which I liked better than the overly-showy Beijing one). I had already finished the central flower by Saturday morning.

Tonight, I finished the first skein of Eco +.

I also put myself down to knit a small Ishbel and since I think I'll finish the Hemlock Ring by the end of this week I might even be able to finish it.

Before setting the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan aside for 16 days of knitting frenzy, I did finish the first panel.

I also got a few repeats into the second panel.

I should be done with the knitting in time to absolutely in no way want to be seaming a wool afghan on my lap.

Finishitis?

I've been on a bit of a finishing kick the last week or so. I think it's because I've been avoiding the repetitive cables of the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan.

First, I finished the linen stitch sock yarn scarf. This is a little more of an honest finish as I did start it before the afghan.


(Salon hair. If only I could make it look that way on my own.)

Then I made Zoe, a shawlette or kerchief by Emily Kausilik, for the second time. This time I did it in some Noro Silk Garden Sock which I fell down and got because it was soft and pretty and 20% off.



Finally, I got around to knitting myself some Veyla by Ysolda Teague.



Now to go back to the pair I had started for my sister in lavender. She decided she'd rather have the cuff from Veyla but then have the hand be a regular mitten to wear while walking around campus in the late fall and early spring. Good thing I love the girl.

Extra note - this is the first time I got to use the "finished project 2010" label. Awesome.

More Actual Knitting Content

I've continued to work on the linen stitch scarf and have gotten pretty far. Between last weekend's Doctor Who (watched it twice) and discovering the awesome that is Modern Family, I've found that it makes excellent TV knitting.


Hand included for scale.

I wanted something more complex, though, and something that didn't involve hauling around a few small balls of leftover sock yarn with me. I bought the yarn for the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan (Ravelry link) when Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool was on sale at Michael's a few months ago and was just waiting for the perfect time to cast on. The too-large Vine Yoke Cardigan is still on time out so away I went on an afghan for my futon.



It's really making me want to knit an aran sweater, now. Maybe a baby one, though. I don't seem to do so well with the adult-sized ones.

Happy New Year!

Here we are, two days into 2010. Resolutions generally go to crap but I'm making one anyways. Going forward, I want to have less clutter in my life. First step is to use up some leftover sock yarn bits and ends.

I cast on 500+ stitches (an odd number) on US 6 needles using a cable cast-on so that I would have an end on each end and not have to guess how long of tail to start with. Then I started with a new piece of yarn and began to knit in linen stitch.



Linen Stitch (2-row repeat):
Row 1: K1, (s1 purlwise with yarn in front, K1) repeat to end of row
Row 2: K1, (p1, s1 with yarn in back) repeat until two stitches before end of row, p1, k1

To create a fringe, I start each row with a different yarn, leaving a decent-length end and break off the yarn at the end of the row, once again leaving another decent-length end. When I'm done, I plan to either braid or twist the fringe together in groups of 3. Bonus - I have no ends to weave in.



I got a large amount of the knitting done while watching Doctor Who last night. It was fantastic! The end had me crying and laughing. I'll miss David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor dearly but I'm even more excited for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor now. Then I saw this trailer for season 5. I'll be over here, squeeing in the corner.

Christmas Music for the Absurd

I often find the lyrics to "Baby, It's Cold Outside" to be a bit date rape-y but this video of Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews is something else. Bloody Welsh.

Happy Accident

I had my second Kai-Mei from Cookie A.'s Sock Innovations just a few rounds of toe decreases away from being finished for several weeks yet it just sat by my chair, tucked out of sight. This weekend, I finally pulled them out and finished them.

Yarn is Cascade Heritage in some non-descriptive color number.

Today I wore the socks and looked down to realize that the shoes I had picked quickly before running out the door this morning showed off the pattern quite nicely.

See?

I was so taken by this happy coincidence that I even put the socks and shoes back when I got home after going straight to the gym from work. I needed the picture that much.

Venting Frustration

There is no picture of a finished Vine Yoke Cardigan in this post. There is a finished Vine Yoke Cardigan in my apartment. It is not a Vine Yoke Cardigan that fits me. To distract me from the failure, I decided to make the antithesis of a woolen, knit cardigan. That object is a cotton, crocheted potholder.



Double sided, started after eating dinner and paying some bills, I still managed to finish it in one evening. It fits in my hand. It is making me much happier than the Vine Yoke Cardigan. I may be going insane.

Now that I've made it through NaBloPoMo, I'm going radio silent for at least tomorrow if not through the rest of the work week. I hope to reblock the cardigan this week before I inevitably give up the ghost and frog it. I'll blog about it once I can properly address it. On the upside, I'm not as big as I thought I was.

Another Pair Down

I finished the RPMs this afternoon after I finished packing up all of my stuff at my parents' house.



After checking on the Vine Yoke Cardigan when I got back, I'm starting to think that I should have gone down a size or two. I'm going to put the buttons on tomorrow and then see what I think. My gauge was on but I'm thinking I need a new bust measurement taken.

The Thanksgiving Letter

Last year, CaliforniaKara posted a Thanksgiving letter passed down to her from a coworker. In the letter, the coworker's sister gives very specific instructions for what she is expecting people to bring for the meal, down to the appropriate recipe to use and container to bring it in. One of my favorite selections was to the family tasked with bringing fifteen pounds of mashed potatoes "in a casserole with a serving spoon".

Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because
you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the
mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plastic
container and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size
casserole dishes with lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.

I shudder to think what this woman would do with my family's assorted collection of plastic dishes and the occasional aluminum foil or cling wrap cover.

I Braved Black Friday

I went shopping on Black Friday. OK, we didn't even leave Litchfield for the Albertville Outlet Mall until 9 this morning and all I bought was a long-sleeved red t-shirt from Old Navy but I did survive. My sister, mom and I went with two of my aunts and a cousin who had already hit a bunch of the usual suspects earlier this morning. Shopping-wise, it may have been a waste of time for us but we did have a good time together. Also, because the drive to the outlet mall isn't that short and we also went to St. Cloud after we were done there, I got a decent amount of knitting done today.



I'm continuing to knit from stash with KnitPicks Sock Memories, a yarn that was discontinued a few years back. The pattern is RPM by Aija Goto from Knitty Summer 2006. I cast it on Tuesday night after finishing the knitting on the Vine Yoke Cardigan. I'm already past the ribbing on the second sock. They're on US Size 1.5 needles so they're a relatively fast knit as far as socks go.

Tomorrow, I think I agreed to do more shopping, this time with my mom and grandma to Jo-Ann's for pillow forms. I end up being so much more of a "girl" when I'm home. I even end up wearing make-up on a semi-regular basis. It's like I become a curious study in traditional gender roles.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm not even going to try to find time to blog during the rest of the day. I'm off to help get the last few things ready and then spend some time with my family.

Almost Done

Before leaving for work this morning, I blocked the Vine Yoke Cardigan.



I had debated taking it with me and blocking it at my mom and dad's house so I could be finished that much sooner but I decided to be a little patient. Sunday night, the buttons are going on, though. I cast this on sometime on Halloween weekend, so I'll still have a fully-done sweater in less than a month.

I've been finishing cleaning my parents' basement tonight. I feel like vacuuming at 10:30 at night is completely unnatural. My sister and I are rewarding ourselves with tonight's episode of Glee before bed. If we don't watch now, one of our cousins is sure to spoil us tomorrow.

Buttons

As the end of the Vine Yoke Cardigan has been getting close, I started to look for buttons. I was almost positive that I was going to have to order them from somewhere as even when I'd find ones that would kind of work, I wasn't thrilled with them and there were never at least nine of them which is what I need. Then I stopped at Lila and Claudine's in Mahtomedi for the first time.

In addition to being a cute shop with a decent selection of yarn, especially considering that it's not huge and is also a gift shop, they had buttons that look like they're going to work perfectly.



Now I'm off to finish the knitting while watching V. Can't believe it's going on hiatus already.

Palette Cleanser

I think The Pipettes have scrubbed the endless loop of "Bad Romance" from my head.



Speaking of the alphabet, John Oliver admitted in this week's episode of The Bugle that after filming the segment of The Daily Show where he was reading Sarah Palin's book to a bunch of six-year olds, he did have to read them a bit from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a book about the letters of the alphabet climbing up a coconut tree together. Unfortunately, he did this reading while the camera and sound crew packed up their equipment so there is no recording of it. Also not shown on camera but discussed on The Bugle was the fact that while John Oliver was torturing children with Going Rogue, Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard were in the same bookstore and were witness to it all. Never thought I'd want to be a fly on the wall in a bookstore where the words of Sarah Palin('s ghostwriter) were read aloud.

So Close Yet So Far Away

I've finished the left sleeve of the Vine Yoke Cardigan and am on to the left front.



I've begun to search for buttons with little luck. I need nine of them and it seems that every time I find some I might like, even if they're a bit more than I'd like to spend, there are never nine of them. I'll have to keep the search going and hope that I don't end up with a completely finished cardigan that I can't fasten.

I'll just keep knitting away and watching Spooks. It was titled less creatively as MI-5 in the US. I say less creatively because it's about a bunch of spies that work for MI-5, the UK domestic intelligence agency. I'm on the second season, which has Matthew MacFadyen and Keeley Hawes. It's extremely well-written and they aren't ones to resort to torture a la Jack Bauer.

Mind Leap

Earlier today I had this in my head.

I could blame Chris from knitting on Thursday night but Lady Gaga is pretty ubiquitous these days. Not so common recently are The Everly Brothers yet they are responsible for my current earworm.

Today was another beautiful day and I was out and about for a bit enjoying it before coming home and watching a lot of the TV I didn't watch this week. Glee was a little more awkward and cringe-making than normal but once again featured Artie singing so I was happy and I really enjoyed this week's Fringe. It was also a fantastic week for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I do wish the little kids could have convinced John Oliver to actually read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, though.

White Collar

On recommendation from a friend, I checked out White Collar, a show about an FBI agent who needs the knowledge of a con artist he put away to solve a case. He gets the con released into his custody and they go around solving cases together.



It's a fairly middle-of-the-road, entertaining cable procedural. I'd put it on par with Psych but not quite as good as Leverage. It's got Tiffany(-Amber) Thiessen as the FBI agent's wife if you're feeling any Saved By the Bell nostalgia. Not shown in the trailer is Natalie Morales who was in the fantastic but short-lived The Middleman, which was a poor choice for ABC Family which is more interested in poorly written teen pregnancy drama. She runs and points guns really well which is a great skill to have when you're playing an FBI agent in a procedural.

Because Then You Don't Freeze to Death

Someone is tweeting as Laura Ingalls Wilder (@HalfPintIngalls) and as someone that grew up as a Little House obsessive (books, not TV series) I am highly amused. In the spirit of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), or NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month), Laura is participating in NaTwiHayMo (National Twist Hay Month). She's twisting up 33 sticks of hay a day to use as fuel.

Twisting 33 hay sticks a day for NaTwiHayMo is hard, but it's so satisfying when you win! Because then you don't freeze to death.

On October 27, she was getting ready to celebrate the harvest and Halloween

It's time to bob for apples! Except here on the prairie we bob for salt pork instead.

She was a bit afraid that her costume was a bit edgy.

It'd be a riot if I dressed up as a grasshopper plague for Hallowe'en, wouldn't it? Or is that "too soon?"

But have no fear, she made it work.

But I'd be, you know, a SEXY grasshopper plague.

At least when Laura finds the high point in Chicago not getting the 2016 Olympics, it doesn't come off as really negative.

Chicago is now out of the running for the Olympics. Maybe now De Smet will get it? We have PLENTY of room in S. Dakota!

Laura's really taking to this internet thing.

Oh dear, I clicked on this link and learned what "NSFW" means. Naughty Shameless French Women! http://ow.ly/li2g

Wish List Time

My mom called me the other day asking me to send her my Amazon wish list for Christmas again this year. Last year, she finally saw the value in this and I got a few movies and the Yarn Harlot calendar from it. I'm building a new list for this year and I'm looking for suggestions. This is what I have so far. I'm looking for suggestion. A book you think I shouldn't miss? A fantastic movie? I really don't go to see movies at the theater often so there are plenty I haven't seen yet. I'm also looking for more knitting books to add to the list.

If there's something you think I'm truly lacking in my life, suggest it in the comments. My family are fans of a long wish list so the gift still has the feeling of surprise about it.