There Will Be Blog

Tuesday's meeting was full of finished projects

Sock!

Hat!

Scarf!

More scarves!

And one not-cursed sweater!

I finally finished one Christmas present.

I hope it fits my brother's noggin.

Now I get to make a second one for his twin. I think I'll make it brown and green. They're twins, not clones. The only frustrating part about making the hat (Turn a Square by Jared Flood) was that I had to knit it on double pointed needles rather than circulars (my longer circulars still weren't long enough for magic loop). So, if I lent you my size 7, 12inch circulars, you can help ensure my family has Christmas this year by returning them. There's also a good chance they're lost in one of my knitting bags.

Tuesday we're having a super sweet knit-a-thon in the HUB of the SUB starting at 10am. Come for an hour between finals or stay the whole day. This might be your last time to knit with the amazing Alex Klein for a very long time so don't miss out!

If you have a few minutes and would like to geek-out, watch this video Anna shared with me (she's pictured in the blue hat, above). It's about a project that aims to recreate coral using math and crochet. Yes, crochet. I'm trying to be tolerant. Margaret Wertheim is a brilliant public speaker. Then again, maybe it's that killer Australian accent she has.

It snowed in Kirksville yesterday. I fully intend on donning a handknit cowl, hat, mittens, and socks before venturing to the library.

Vanna's Choice

Well, I survived my crazy week. It actually wasn't too stressful. It felt great to be so productive (nerdy, I know).

On Tuesday, Madeline was caught red handed knitting with the most intriguing yarn (her mother-in-law's choice, I believe). It glimmered like a one of those Twilight vampires.

Doesn't she look thrilled to be knitting with it?

Alex also rocked his newly completed sweater. The pattern is Huron by Jared Flood. I'm ashamed to admit that I thought he had bought a new sweater when I saw it from afar. It's so much superior.

The only progress I made on my second thrummed mitten this week was during SnB. See how happy magic loop makes me?

Kat's "Not Cursed Boyfriend Sweater" is coming along nicely. She's discovering how difficult it can be to match self patterning yarn from different skeins.

The faster I finish this post, the faster I can get back to those mittens. So...

Thrums up for Stitch 'n Bitch!

Why, hello End Of Semester. I didn't expect to see you so soon.

This week is shaping up to be "The Week From Hades." I've pretty much coasted through this semester without any considerable stress so I figure it's overdue. With a paper, two tests, and one insect collection due, it promises to be the kind of week where I have no time to knit but have to knit just so I don't kill anyone.

I took a rather extravagant trip to my local yarn store over break. Among my purchases were three skeins of Cascade Ecological wool which I hope to transform into Aidez. If I look half as hip as the girl modeling the sweater, I'll be content.

Yeah, it's going to be grey. So what if I knit things in grey or green most of the time?

I'm the one who will be wearing it!

During one of three (!) turkey-centric meals I enjoyed at home, I made my siblings model some handknits.

Their names are Jackie and Jon, in case you were wondering.

I realized when we were taking these pictures that Christmas is only a month away and I have yet to do ANY Christmas knitting. Ohhhh crap. I suppose Madeline was wise to start her Christmas gifts last spring. Looks like it will be hats for everyone. I can whip those out like nobody's business.

I did git a bit of knitting done over break. I had a lot of time on my hands, so you'll have to excuse the...artistic... nature of these pictures.

This hat was made for the new daughter of a former classmate. She was born prematurely in August and should be headed home soon.

See, sometimes childhood toys come in handy! And to think my mom wanted me to get rid of baby Kermit.

One thrummed mitten down, one to go.

Oh yeah, here's that Gryffindor hat I made. I realized over break that I never posted a picture of the finished hat. I totally wore it when my brother (Jon, see photo above) and I went to see HP7Pt1 over break. Did you notice how many sweaters Hermione packed for everyone!? Apparently those in the wizarding world hate doing laundry.

Bother.

I was going to write a lovely post involving thrums, baby hats and sweaters. But I forgot my camera cable in Kirksville.

Instead I leave you adorable dog pictures I already had on my computer.

Here is JD, the most adorable labrador in Kirksville.

Let's not forget Benny and Barron. They share the title for "Most Adorable Lab in Camdenton."

To make this post somehow knitting related, I suppose I could tell you that a sweater knit from dog hair would be 80% warmer that wool. Then again, if you hang around Madeline Nash there's a good chance you already knew that.

Magic Thrums

Two posts in a week? Who do I think I am? We'll I've caught an acute case of knitting fever and have to share. It involves thrums. And the magic loop (not Harry Potter related, even though we are mere HOURS away from HP7Pt1). I'm currently working on a pair of thrummed mittens.

Hopefully they'll look something like this:

Earlier this evening I described the mittens as "regular mittens with warm, wonderful cotton candy inside." In hindsight that description just sounds sticky.

Interweave Knits does a better job:

The original fleece-stuffed mittens came from Labrador and Newfoundland in eastern Canada. Small pieces of unspun sheep's wool were twisted, and then worked in every few stitches to create a fleecy lining.

Both Madeline and Alex made these mittens last winter and I've been dying to make some. Madeline was generous enough to share her extra roving for my project. Alex also shared tidbits from his spinning endeavors. I've had the roving for awhile but didn't have any yarn the correct color to knit the actual mittens. Luckily, today I was gifted a skein of wool from my friend Caitlin.

The perfect brown and big as a baby.

Once I had my hands on the appropriate yarn, I wasted no time turing my roving into thrums. This involved pulling off small sections of wool and twisting them into something resembling an infinity symbol.

Repeat until you have oodles and oodles of thrums. No matter how inviting they look, resist the urge to curl up on top of them.

See, my cotton candy analogy wasn't completely off.

With thrums complete, the fun part begins. I've knitted my first row of thrums in and the inside looks like this:

Another fun thing about these mittens is that I'm knitting them using the magic loop method. This method involves using an long circular needle rather than a standard set of double pointed needles. It's a fairly popular knitting method but after a failed attempt last year, I've been a bit scared of it. Turns out there was no need to fear the magic loop. Please be reminded that there are still many reasons to fear novelty yarn. That remains unchanged.

I am so excited about these mittens. Thankfully I finished my physics homework before the yarn arrived. I foresee two solid hours of knitting before class tomorrow morning!

They're hungry for blood...and blog posts.

Here's a pie chart of how cool SnB was this week:

As you can see, it's the whole pie.*

Why was it so cool?

For starters, Alex brought in his amazing sweater vest.

I'm green with envy. (get it???? It's green! Bahaha)

Anna is flying through here mistake rib scarf.

I'm a big fan of the yarn combo Lilia is using for her drop stitch scarf.

Jordan II finished her amazing squirrel mittens. Madeline is jealous.

Kat's boyfriend Aric will be the lucky recipient of the "Hackysack Hoodie." I'm sure this won't end in a manifestation of the sweater curse...

Allison's recruit Cassie is working on a stockinette scarf in a chunky wool yarn. (GO WOOL!)

I'm also training my own knitting army. We will spread love through handknits and fight evil with burning balls of acrylic. Here are three of my new recruits.

While I'm certainly excited for Thanksgiving break (food, family, HARRY POTTER) I will miss my fellow Stitch 'n Bitchers while away. To cope, I'll just have to do copious amount of knitting. I think I'll survive.

*Mom, you're probably confused right now. Please click here.

Baby, Do You Like My Sweater?*

Tuesday was the big sweater unveiling! Mr. and Mrs. Nash rocked a pair of fabulous sweaters knitted by the latter. Alex wore a cardigan that would make Elizabeth Zimmermann proud. I'll admit it made me swoon.

Squirrels! What else?

Yes, that's totally a Hogwarts house sweater. John's a Slytherin.

Lookin' good!

Nash bookends

Clara, our littlest knitter, has been making progress on her red scarf.

Anna, a new addition to SnB, has an aunt who moonlights as a knitting fairy. Harmony needles and Noro yarn for her first project? Classy.

We also had a crocheting panda stop by for a bit.

Emily (Shewhomustnotbepictured) finished her first hat! Next up: learning how to purl. Of course, she has to obtain some more yarn first. Since I successfully converted her to a wool lover, she may have difficulty finding anything in Kirksville (insert plug for combination yarn store/bike shop in Kirksville).

As for me, I've been chipping away at Selbu Modern. I'll admit the ribbing section made me want to punch a baby. But not a baby in a cardigan. No amount of anger could make me want to punch a baby wearing a cardigan. Anyway, the colorwork section has proven to be immense fun. I'm optimistic that it will be finished for Deathly Hallows, Pt 1 premiere.

*500 bonus points if you correctly identified the title as Relient K lyrics. They played this weekend in Kirksville. Of course Matt Theissen got married before I finally saw him in concert.

Knitting in Action

On Friday a few knitters ate some delicious chili at the Globe Med fundraiser. I guess you could say we showed our handknits off around town. Or campus.

I am in love with Madeline's socks

Allison and her super sweet shawl.

My "Give a Hoot" mittens

In honor of the holiday here is some truly terrifying knitting. Happy Halloween!

Alright, I'm a slacker

So...it's been awhile!

I had an excellent midterm break, it just didn't involve blogging. It did involve knitting! I finished the Tonks socks. Woot! Thankfully I finished them in an area with plenty of hardwood floors. Celebratory and, in my opinion, obligatory sliding transpired. I didn't snap a photo, so just imagine another sock identical to the one I pictured last time.

I also hit up Hillcreek Yarn Shoppe in Columbia. I was extremely impressed. Their ratio of wool to acrylic was much more respectable than my local yarn shop. Besides picking up some yarn of my own (gray and green, naturally) I helped my friend Emily buy her first skein of wool yarn. She sped through a garter stitch scarf and started on a hat last night.

As per her request, I omitted any head shots of Emily. If you think you can figure out who she is with a bit of facebook stalking, the joke's on you! I know multiple Emilys!

I've showcased a few of Alex's handspun skeins in the past (behind the blog title, for example). Last week I got to see him spin in person!

Drop it like it's hot

Yeah, he's got skillz.

Kat finished some sweet fingerless mittens last week. Or should I call them wristwarmers? Oh well. As you can see they extend from her forearm to the base of her fingers. Call them what you like. They are awesome.

We had a great turnout for last night's meeting. Four new people, if I remember correctly. That included our youngest member ever.

Imagine the kind of knitting I could be turning out now if I had started at nine years old.

In other knitting news, Jordan II's squirrel mittens are FANTASTIC.

Seeing her awesome colorwork made me really excited to start Selbu Modern. Madeline's pickle stitch marker helped too.

For the record, Alison was there last night looking fabulous (I wish I got a shot of her shoes) but not knitting.

John was also present and not knitting. I don't recall his shoes. I'm going to go with my gut and say they were black. Or gray.