Small things

The best part of the flu that left me in bed for about a week this spring was finding out that I could watch American Experience on Hulu. I'm such a nerd for public TV, but this was an amazing discovery. I particularly enjoyed learning about the history of the lobotomy. Tonight, I'm learning about Wyatt Earp while working on my second-attempt socks for Fallyn, as pair 1 failed. These lacy beauties are amazingly fun so far.

Tomorrow's project: Winter wardrobe maintenance and packing, and beginning a denim quilt from the jeans I refuse to throw away!

July 3, and I'm just home from Grandma's, where my cousin put on an awesome fireworks show last night. Tonight, Dad's side is coming to our house, and while fireworks are expected, it seems possible weather will keep us indoors.

That, however, is hours away. Right now, there's light rain and gentle thunder, and I have A Prairie Home Companion on the radio and a cup of special coffee next to me. Knitting will soon commence.

Summer reading

I rarely have time when I only have to read for fun, so I've been trying to make the most of it this summer. I've been trying to keep track of the books I've read. Here's the list so far.

1. Mainly on Directing - Arthur Laurents. This is Matt's book that I borrowed, and to be fair, I started it before it was officially summer, but there you go. I love reading the stories behind the shows I love, and that's definitely what I got from this book. I saw West Side Story this spring, and I felt like I understood the choices made for the revival production better after I read this. It was also a rather poignant read -- Mr. Laurents passed away when I was halfway through the book. The book left me with a feeling of how prolific an artist he really was.

2. O Pioneers! - Willa Cather. I have a habit of collecting classics when I find them in garage sales and the like, and this is one that's been sitting on my shelf for ages. I really enjoyed this one for its description of land in the Midwest and how it relates to those who dwell there. Flew through this one and really enjoyed it.

3. Just Kids - Patti Smith. This might be my favorite book I've read in the last year. Memoirs are my genre of choice lately, and this one goes beyond simple storytelling into a more poetic realm. At the same time, it gave me a glimpse into that world of New York in one of my favorite eras and talked about the lives of artists whose work I've long enjoyed.

4. Fear and Trembling - Soren Kirkegaard. Well, I was in Copenhagen, and I needed a book to read, and I saw this at the National Library of Denmark... Why WOULDN'T philosophy be a good trip read? Ok, this was a challenge for me, even if I was interested. I think I could read this another 20 times before I actually grasped it. That being said, I took some ideas away from it, so I guess it was a good time investment.

5. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris. My life is full of people who love True Blood, and after Kirkegaard, I needed something quick and fun. This is how I filled the day we spent travelling on the boat, and it was a perfect read for sitting on our balcony with music and watching the landscape go by. I do think I'll wait to library the rest of these rather than spending money on them. This one was also borrowed from Matt.

6. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles - Jennifer 8. Lee. Wow, I know a lot more about Chinese food now than I did a month ago. Picked this book up after reading all I'd brought on the trip. Good airport read, though it made me hungry as I went.

7. It Gets Better - ed. Dan Savage and Terry Miller. Borrowed from Breezi. This book was interesting in so many ways. Of course, it's emotionally moving, being the stories of so many people who experienced discrimination based on sexual and gender orientation, but it also shows the broad diversity of experience in this area. As someone who enjoys looking at things through the lens of queer theory, I certainly found myself pondering identity politics and communities as I read through this. Also made me aware of issues I want to keep in mind as I study school psychology and when I work in a school in the future.

8. Obee & Mungedeech - Trude Martin. This young adult book has been sitting on my shelf for years, but I can't bring myself to get rid of things until I've read them, so I grabbed this and read it in an evening. Quick, interesting, but not my favorite.

And currently, I'm working on Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama. I started reading this my freshman year of college, before I understood what textbook reading would be like. Clearly, I didn't make it through at that point, so I'm giving it another shot!

This weekend, I went to a friend's wedding in the town I'll be living in soon. It was simple, elegant, and personal, and it really represented the personalities of those getting married. The colors, beige and peach, were classic, and allowed for each bridesmaid and groomsman to put together an ensemble that worked for her or him. Of course, the perfect weather really made the outdoor reception -- it was a perfect way to get together with school friends to celebrate.

Collegiate Scarf

...At least it hasn't been six months.

I will have had this blog for a year in December, and I would like to have ten posts by then. That's not a terribly lofty goal, is it? Many circumstances have to align, however, for me to post. I have to have a finished object, inspiration to photograph, and something to procrastinate. Luckily, these all are present today.

I don't have the regular information for this scarf, such as pattern or modifications, because it was designed out of trial-and-error, and while it may have been a good idea for me to record these things, I was too lazy. I will regret this at some point. It's a cable from my stitch dictionary applied to a scarf knit in the round out of Paton's Classic. I'm calling it my Collegiate Scarf because it was made for a friend going off to school in the northern US, and if it hadn't been for her, it would have worked well at my college, too. I am secretly hoping she opens her mail, hates this, and sends it back to me.

Me? Blog?

So, yes. I will admit that I've ignored this blog for about 8 months. For several of these months, not much knitting took place, due to serious lack of time, but once I was through graduation, my schedule cleared up significantly, and knitting regained its place of importance. I have not, however, lost ALL of my laziness concerning this blog, so I will just briefly update on several projects I could find nearby to photograph.

1. Mom's Birthday Clapotis - Yes, I know I'm a bit behind, and that everyone in the knitting world completed their Clapotis two years ago. I didn't, though, so I made one for my mother for her birthday. It was well-received, and I have seen her wearing it several times already.

2. Yet-To-Be-Blocked Scarf - Okay. This was a present for a friend that I seem to have forgotten to block and mail. As she is now overseas, the mailing part has become much more complicated.










3. Baby hats - I produced three baby hats in a couple days as gifts for all the people I know who are pregnant. I've gotten to the point that I would feel weird if any acquaintance of mine had a baby and did not receive a hat from me.








...and more to come. My computer is giving me trouble with images, so I will wait until it seems to be agreeing with me.

Ice and snow mean lots of knitting time.

So I've been stuck in the house for three and a half days now, due to weather. Well, other than going outside to take pictures. That lasted all of five minutes before my tolerance of the windchill was gone. I'm much happier inside under my several layers of blankets.

Obviously, this meant that I knit a lot. A friend's birthday is coming up, so I decided to make her Odessa. I didn't have enough beads in a coordinating color, so I did it without. After I finished it, though, I realized I had made her a headband for Christmas. Normally, I wouldn't worry about it much and would give her the hat anyway, but I needed another project... This picture is terrible, by the way. It really isn't shaped like a bucket.

So. Another project. I decided to go with a scarf, because everyone needs a good wool scarf, and I don't believe this particular friend has received one from me yet. I made her a vertically striped garter scarf. My original plan was to use a fun stitch pattern, but as I experimented, I realized that the yarn would look best plain... So it ended up just 11250 knit stitches. Yeah. Suffice to say that I was ready to be finished long before it was done. But I held out and read while I knit, which always makes a project go faster for me. I do definitely like the finished product. Yay snow days and scarves.

Scarves.

I love scarves. I think that no matter how long I knit and how skilled I become, scarves will still be my favorite thing to make. I'm not sure exactly what it is that I enjoy so much about making them, but whenever I want to start a new project, scarves are the first thing I consider. So, here are some of the scarves I've recently finished or been working on, including my first FO of 2007.

Which is this! I started this scarf using the Branching Out pattern. I've made Branching Out before, and normally I don't repeat patterns very frequently, but I bought this gorgeous handpainted alpaca that just seemed to WANT to be Branching Out. And who am I to defy the wonderful yarn? It's slightly shorter than I'd have liked, just because I only bought one skein of this yarn and so when it ran out, I was a little out of luck. It blocked out to a reasonable length, though. I want it to be autumn so I can wear it.

Second. I finished knitting this scarf in November, but I didn't block it until this week. I made this pattern from a mishmash of things I'd seen in various other patterns and books. I believe I got the stitch pattern from Knitting on the Edge and used the idea of knitting it the long way from Scarf Style. The blocking... didn't go so well. I may have to redo it, because I think I was too eager and unpinned it too soon. It's still a little curly. I used Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky that I got from a sale bin at my LYS. Yay sale!

And then I have two that, when I was taking pictures, were on the needles. The blue and grey one is simple stripes knit in the round for my band director. He has attempted to take my favorite thick wool scarf that looks quite similar to this on more than one occasion, so I knit him one with spare Caron Simply Soft. I decided to go ahead and use acrylic because I know that he will throw it in the washing machine, no matter what I tell him. I actually finished it last night, but I'm too lazy to take more pictures of it, so this will have to do.

And last but not least, the only one I'm still working on. I'm using the Misty Garden pattern from Scarf Style and JoAnn's Sensations yarn in a variety that I can't quite remember and doesn't seem to be on the website. I'm going to give this to someone. I just don't know who.

Various Gifts...

... that I had sitting around while spending some time with my camera. Nevermind that I didn't take the time to photograph a complete stocking when I finished it. Anyway.

First: My mom's shawl. I started with a pattern from Interweave's holiday edition. Then I decided I didn't want to follow the pattern -- a bad habit of mine. So I frogged it. And wrote my own pattern. It's not a great pattern, but it was one I could complete in the day and a half my mother was out of town. It's made of a mohair/wool/acrylic blend that has been sitting in my house for much longer than I've been knitting. I was pretty pleased to be able to use it on something for my mother.

Also, small project: stocking ornament number 16. Nice, quick, and easy. But I definitely found it a bit repetetive after stocking 10... I think I have three more to make, too, by the end of the year.

Merry Christmas!

And a happy new year. In honor of receiving lovely gifts today, I want to make it part of my New Year's resolution to always have something for someone else on the needles. By that, I mean a specific object for a specific person. I have a habit of making things and thinking "oh, I'm sure I can give this to someone" and then liking them and keeping them. The thing is I really don't need any more hats, scarves, gloves, or knitted items in general, and I love knitting for other people. This way, I will spend time thinking about all the people I care about as I make the item for them. So I will come up with some vague ideas that I can elaborate on later.

• Baby items for all the wonderful babies I know
• Graduation gifts for many of my classmates - dishcloths, pillows, blankets?
• Lacy items for my mother
• Dishrags for my grandmother -- for some reason, this is the only knitted item she is interested in receiving.
  
• Scarf for my teacher who wanted to steal the one I've been wearing this winter
• Socks forfriend who said he's always wanted a pair of hand-knit socks
• Eye-masks for people I'll be travelling with this summer (always great for plane trips)
• Leggings for friend who has been requesting them for ages. I have yet to find the correct pattern to use.
  

Any other ideas?