tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90800138037142146942024-03-13T13:08:47.049-07:00Truman Stitch 'n BitchTuesdays. 7:00PM in the HUB of the SUBkboeckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053434353903200827noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-69632942649898335152013-10-07T20:28:00.001-07:002013-10-07T20:28:37.376-07:00A Plethora of PicturesFirst of all, I just learned how to spell the word "plethora".<br />
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Uh...so according to my camera's memory card (and the blog post pertaining to the meeting that happened 2 weeks ago), I failed to upload any pictures the last time I posted. Whattttt?<br />
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So, here we go. (Also, I acknowledge that my captions could probably be done without; however, since I am the author of this post, I get to decide what commentary goes into it, which means you're a little bit out of luck.)<br />
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Kat happily knitting away on these very long socks. Did these get finished? I have zero idea.</div>
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Um..über precious.</div>
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Happy Mary. This is lovely.</div>
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The most happy. LOVING the bow tie. So classy.</div>
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Madeline. Probably surprised by some wonderfully thought provoking comment I just made. Probably. And the reason she's not looking at me is because she's verifying the awe factor of my statement with the other members. I'm so sure.</div>
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A good pictorial indication of my mental state last week. For those of you who need a refresher, see last week's blog.</div>
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And now on to last week's pictures! I realize I failed to gain information about everyone's respective projects, so information is rather sparse here. At this point I shall again cue my own comments to make up for the lack of useful tidbits. (Speaking of tidbit, I had a waitress at Bob Evan's named Tidbit. Real life.)<br />
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Mother and daughter happily knitting up a storm. But clearly a very content storm.</div>
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Dat face. I feel like this is a little sassy. I can't remember what I did to deserve a sassy look, but here it is. Must have been good, though.</div>
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All of the concentration. Working on her Halloween costume I believe. A flapper. With leaves on her hips, if I recall, which is what she is currently beading.</div>
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Close-up of the beading. By that I mean I was playing with the zoom on my camera and needed a subject.</div>
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I don't remember Madeline wearing that shirt. But clearly she was sitting right in front of me. My eyes must have been turned off that night. If I had noticed this shirt at last week's meeting, I would have informed her that I am a fan of it.</div>
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I believe Lauren was trying to finish up an assignment so that she could spend some time knitting. Although, I regrettably had to dart away before I could see the knitting portion of her evening. Also, that is the face I give most of my technology related items.</div>
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Small update on my life: I am exponentially less stressed out than last week. And by that I'm not sure if I mean I'm just not letting myself get stressed over the mess that is my life or if I've actually got a handle on things. Sadly, it is probably not the latter..</div>
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2 more days this week and then break! Just in time, too. My sanity tank is running on E. (Sanity tank: a small portion of one's brain where one retains sanity, must be refueled regularly to avoid breakdowns, anxiety attacks, insanity, etc.) But I'm going to make it!</div>
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That being said, I should get back to studying for my accounting test tomorrow. I'm currently trying to teach myself two chapters worth of material. "Rough" doesn't even begin to cover it.</div>
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Anyway, ta ta for now!</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-1156646220067035362013-10-01T15:38:00.001-07:002013-10-01T15:38:11.190-07:00Such is my lifeOkay. So I might have been MIA for the past two weeks. I don't have much to say for that, except do note that I am making last week's blog post before this week's meeting. I think that means I'm not late yet. As for the blog from the week prior to last...well, yes. That one's just not going to be in existence.<div>
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I had been a little worried that my blog posts were going to center too much around my life instead of the happenings at the actual meeting because of how crazy my schedule has been and how little time I've been able to spend at Stitch 'n' Bitch. However, at last week's meeting the two of those became the same thing, so...there's that.</div>
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A big realization I had at last week's meeting: There are really simple solutions to my problems. Problems that, mind you, are causing me a rather unhealthy amount of stress.</div>
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The first problem I managed to acknowledge, not without a little struggle, was my texting issue. <i>My name is Jordan and I'm addicted to texting.</i> I check my phone so often it looks like I have a nervous tick. I so wish I was kidding about that. I've always known that it significantly decreases my ability to be productive and I've tried to have a strict no texting policy while I do homework. But that doesn't work because I feel detached from the world.</div>
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Stitch 'n' Bitch Solution: the Do Not Disturb mode on the iPhone. It's this nifty feature that silences all your notifications while it's engaged. You can set it to allow calls from certain people and such. But the idea was that I'd work for 50 minutes, with the mode engaged, not checking my phone, and then I get a 10 minute break to do whatever I want, which could potentially (and usually does) include texting. I worked on this a bit last week, but I am going to start using it more religiously because it helped a whole lot.</div>
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I complained about a few of my classes. And by "a few" I mean "all". Our professor friend Mary's (I just called her by her first name. I feel weird about this. But that's allowed, right? <i>Right?!</i>) advice here was to use my time better. If I'm not getting anything out of a particular class, then use it to sleep if I need to. Just...brilliant.</div>
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My dad has also told me to concentrate my biggest efforts on a few classes and just get by in the others. That's hard for the perfectionist in me, but that's a thought. And one of my friends called me up the other night (I think it was last night...) and just said "You're trying to do too much. You can't do <i>everything</i>." I get defiant when things like that are said, but he's right. I can't expect to be 100% invested in everything. I mean, by definition, that's impossible--there's only 1 of me. I have to split myself up. I don't know that there is anything I can (or would tolerate) giving up right now, but I can at least be more realistic of my own expectations for myself.</div>
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Also, I am going to go utilize the counseling services here and figure out ways to deal with my stress better. Otherwise I literally won't make it through the semester after another morning like this one. I had an anxiety attack in the middle of one of my classes. I was <i>unbelievably</i> restless, in a dead panic, and felt like I was going to burst into tears if anyone so much as touched me. Not again. Can't handle it.</div>
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And I'm going to start concentrating more on me. This girl is single (for the first time ever in college, mind you) and, by golly, everything is going to be about me for once. I don't have to think about anyone but me and I'm going to fully embrace that from here on out. Woo! So ready!</div>
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So I've got a plan of action for my assignments this week and hopefully I can make it to break without another bout of anxiety. Just 3 more days this week and 3 next week.</div>
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LET'S DO THIS!</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-9035845052652752192013-09-16T10:24:00.003-07:002013-09-16T10:24:37.459-07:00Short and SweetThis particular entry isn't going to be very long, which has something to do with the duration of my attendance last week and something else to do with the rather intimate gathering we had again. I wasn't able to stay very long at last week's meeting, but I did manage to snap a few pictures while I was there.<br />
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Here's Kat working diligently on her super long, super colorful socks. Which reminds me: I need to get back into some sock knitting. But I've already got a few projects lined up this semester, so who knows when that will happen again?</div>
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And Dr. Shapiro and Clara of course, neither of whom appear to be doing anything yarn related. Although, Dr. Shapiro was texting Madeline, who was doing something work related. That's the only detail I succeeded at gleaning from my brief interactions last week.</div>
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My head cover is at least showing some progress from the first (and only) picture I posted; however, I have yet to dignify said (slow) progress with a picture. I also need to find some more time to work on those outside of SnB because clearly an hour a week is not enough to make sufficient progress on these. My dad might not see these until next golf season. I think he might cry a little bit on the inside if that ends up being the case. So I'm going to make better efforts.</div>
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-54378316947419991112013-09-07T10:50:00.003-07:002013-09-07T10:50:38.511-07:00I don't know how this got in my ball of yarn, but that is not my hair.Clearly, as one can see by the title, we had some rogue hairs at Tuesday's meeting. One of which found itself wound into Kat's yarn ball. As one of my friends would say, "I have very social hair." However, the owner of this social hair is, as of yet, unknown.<br />
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Our group was rather small and intimate this week. Madeline had either a migraine or a head cold, but either way: I hope she has long since been feeling better!<br />
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A very adorable picture of Kat working on the mate to this very long (and cute) sock:<br />
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She uses lots of bright colors and I'm a huge fan. Can't wait for that rainbow sweater to make an appearance this year!<br />
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I think at this point Clara is casting on. For a project whose identity is currently undecided. In Kat's words "Clara is a very conceptual knitter."<br />
Also! She pulled out a small rectangular "I just had this in my bag" piece of knitted-ness and used it as a lap blanket. I was a big fan.<br />
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This picture looks like I creeped on her. And I kind of did. Although, I'm fairly certain she was aware this picture was being taken. And by fairly certain, I mean it could go either way.<br />
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[On an unrelated note, I was just deafened by a fire engine going by my apartment. I just woke up a half an hour ago and I struggle in the morning, so I'm extremely discombobulated now. Just FYI, in case I start spouting nonsense in the remainder of this blog.]<br />
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Like mother, like daughter, Dr. Shapiro came to join us later in the meeting and informed me that she is also unaware of the identity of her knitting project. It looks really soft, though. I restrained myself from going over to pet it.<br />
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She decided this picture of her, with the knitting needle in mouth, was an accurate description of her life as a knitter. I agreed.<br />
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And then Lauren graced us with her presence and I captured this very adorable picture of her. I'm rather proud. Although, my friend so wonderfully told me once, a photographer only has the opportunity to capture beauty, never create.<br />
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She is working on her very first sweater!! What an exciting undertaking. I am anxious to see how this turns out. I want to make a sweater at some point.<br />
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But that would mean I need to finish making head covers for my father. OH MY GOSH. He told me these were the last set. I don't know if he means it, but I do. Driving me crazy. I thought about taking a picture of my project, but the cover looks just about the same as it did last week....<br />
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Also I'm going to bring my actual camera to the rest of the meetings. I tried to convince myself my phone would take decent pictures, but I'm rather unsatisfied with them. This blog needs quality, darn it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-19661314973203307232013-08-29T20:30:00.001-07:002013-08-29T20:30:07.879-07:00Hip-hop violinist is not hip-hop. Or a violinist.Everyone. Mark this day in your calendar. This is the day I make my first Truman Stitch 'n' Bitch blog post! Cue the celebration!<br />
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I did a happy dance. I hope your celebrations were of a similar nature.<br />
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I have yet to get the hang of a focused blog. I keep a personal blog and it's more of a journal-type blog, you know, just my thoughts and stuff. Except my brain jumps all over the place, so the topics of my blog do likewise. I will try to keep it together for this particular group of readers, though.<br />
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We had our first meeting of the semester this past Tuesday night. We had to relocate ourselves because our usual meeting place was being taken over by the audience of a visiting performer (refer to title above). So our meeting conversations were punctuated with frenzies of violin (that was maybe not a violin, according to Kat's musical instrument expertise, or at least violin expertise) and bursts of applause. Never fear, we knit on!<br />
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I promise my pictures will be better in subsequent blog posts. I somehow convinced myself that taking sneaky pictures would be a good idea. Really, they are just rather unexciting. The subject matter, on the other hand, is lovely. Just so that's out there.<br />
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Dr. Shapiro (am I allowed to call her Mary? I don't know. Not going to risk it.) and Clara knitting up a storm.</div>
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It doesn't appear that Madeline is knitting at the moment of this picture snappage. Untangling yarn perhaps.</div>
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I believe at this point of the night Kat was looking up the origins of the word cahoots. We had a unexpectedly long discussion about it.</div>
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This is a picture of the project I'm reluctantly working on. Can anybody guess?</div>
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......</div>
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While all those were valiant efforts, I will just say: golf club covers.</div>
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In my defense.... Well, I don't have much to say in my defense. My father asked me to work on these over the summer, but between an obnoxiously filled schedule and a complete lack of desire to knit yet another set, they didn't get done. This is the sad progress I made on the first of four covers--over the course of a few months, mind you. He mentioned paying me for them if I finished them before I go back to school, but clearly that didn't get done. So I'm not sure if that means I'm no longer getting paid for this set or what. Updates to follow.</div>
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Tuesdays, SUB Hub, 7:00PM. BE THERE!</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-6610820814313859062013-04-14T20:27:00.000-07:002013-04-14T20:27:03.519-07:00I hate jazz. I'm going to go.The SUB was a hoppin' place this Wednesday night: There was an awfully loud rehearsal for lip synch going on, and then a rather large and noisy group of people waited for something for a while, before all getting up and leaving at once. The night ended rather abruptly as the Jazz Combo performance was about to begin, when Madeline announced that she didn't like jazz, and was therefore going to leave. It was still a pretty nice night though, and much yarn was knit (and crochet) by all!<br />
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Katherine was working on sleeves: <br />
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Nope, just sleeves. Like the kind you wear with something that doesn't have sleeves. So that it does. You know.<br />
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Lauren was taking a brief but productive break from the Flounder socks to work on a new shawl (which I want to knit too! We can be buddies!). It is a pretty nice looking shawl so far- I'm a fan.<br />
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Yeah, it is just in time for it to be warm outside...But who cares? Knitting!<br />
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Katherine was knitting a not-sweater, even though her sweater has yet to be finished.<br />
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I am impatient! But then again, really if you think about it...So is she....<br />
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Madeline was working and reworking a baby Aviatrix hat out of Malabrigo...(whoever the baby is, he or she is very lucky, and is going to be knitwear-spoiled by the time he/she can talk.) <br />
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Plus, the colors are purple and green, which is wonderful! you can sort of see them down in the corner there. A nice mossy green, and a warm purple. Yay! Colors!<br />
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Jordan, meanwhile, has decided that a garter stitch blanket will be more exciting than a garter stitch scarf (even though the two are basically the same, except one is ten of the other.) I brought this point up to Jordan, but she did not seem discouraged. Just keep knitting, just keep knitting....<br />
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What do we do? We knit, knit, knit! Even when you're knitting a really big blanket in the middle of summer! I smell a vacation to Alaska in her future!<br />
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Aric, meanwhile, was not knitting, but spent his time apartment hunting for grad school next year. So far, no concrete leads have been formed, but there's still time. I hope. <br />
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I was working on a sweater, while convincing myself more and more of the fact that I am going to run out of yarn. The sweater is now mostly done, and I have become certain that this yarn shortage is imminent. I think I'll be okay, though, because the dye lot difference won't be too noticeable since the only thing left is the edging. It can just be purposeful. I hope. I am a pretty big fan of it so far- it has short sleeves! It's for layering- and to show off the awesome yarn.<br />
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Next week at Stitch n' Bitch- Madeline will be attending a showing of Zombieland, in the Baldwin Hall little theater, and she invites all of you as well! I'm not sure if I'll be there or not, but let's keep in mind that one could potentially knit during this movie...so really, it'll be basically the same thing, except with less talking. Does that mean more knitting?Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-34529151249237780132013-04-08T20:09:00.000-07:002013-04-08T20:09:14.049-07:00in which there is an ivory tower, and Sgt. Pepper's namesake group returnsI was excited to come to Stitch n' Bitch this week, because I was unable to go last week, due to the nature professors seem to have to make everything due in all classes on the same day (this has occurred twice this semester. I believe it is slated to occur once more. Maybe I can prevent it by working harder now...)<br />
Imagine my surprise when I was the first one there, 10 minutes late! Lauren came, after 15 minutes or so, and Katherine came 15 minutes or so after that, for half an hour. We were Sargent Pepper's lonely knitters club, once again. I do suppose everyone's stressed and busy, like I was last week. Madeline was sick, with an unusually unforgiving case of strep throat, and Mary had a migraine (I bet you could make a really morbid children's rhyme out of that... except the syllables aren't quite right).<br />
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I took the time to work on some beaded shank buttons for the communion purses I made for my cousin's kids:<br />
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Rose pink seemed like an appropriate color, but I really have no idea, it just matched nicely. I got 1.5 buttons done during our unusually quiet Stitch n' Bitch!<br />
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Lauren is making pretty wonderful progress on the Flounder socks:<br />
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Check it! That's a second sock with opposite-colored toe! How cool! It's like, the same- but different!<br />
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Sorry. I get excited about socks.<br />
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Katherine was there too, I promise- I was just a little engrossed in my button while she was working on her pokemon critter, and I...forgot.... to take a picture. But she was there! The critter looked excellent, as usual.<br />
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A few days later, I ran in to Madeline, who was feeling much better- and she had a surprise for me! An article in a scholarly magazine about- what else? Knitting! It's called "Ivory Tower Fiber Freak Comes Clean" (Jennifer Burek Pierce)- it chronicles the thoughts and events that led her to end up researching the history of knitting (gasp!), the way it has changed to accommodate electronic media (whee!), and the way knitters 'now' are different than knitters 'then' (whoot!). It's pretty cool. I bet she's even cooler in person. Wouldn't it be fun to do graduate level research in knitting? She is a professor at the University of Iowa, for any interested parties. That's the sort of thing I love about all this, the social history of our art form, and how we adapt it to suit the needs of our changing world. It's all just so darn cool!<br />
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Also, I finished some things:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whoot! bamboo, purple, and big enough that it doesn't fall off my shoulders!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">thickest socks known to man. My feet would be sweating in subzero temperatures. Not going to wear them until next winter... But still awesome socks, from my first handspun yarn!</td></tr>
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...We're Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope that you enjoyed the show!...Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-45080687683683796262013-03-27T08:05:00.001-07:002013-03-27T08:05:44.711-07:00in which there is a photoshootIt's getting to be that point in the semester when everyone's stressed, and it seems like the world is crashing down around you. Projects and papers and tests seem to all clump together on similar dates, and if you look into the deepest darkest corners of the library, students can be seen sitting on the floor with their knees to their chest, rocking back and forth with wild eyes and wilder hair.<br />
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I have a project, a paper, and a test tomorrow. This exact thing happened to me a few weeks ago, on the other day this semester that I didn't attend Stitch n' Bitch. Depending on how much I get done today, I may be able to come for a little while. Here's hoping! Meanwhile, last week!<br />
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Jordan was busy making epic progress on her new crochet granny square bag (which I have heard is finished, and will be displayed tonight. Due to a lack of desire to follow gauge, the bag is smaller then anticipated, but Jordan is still very excited about it, and it is now her new project bag!<br />
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Madeline was looking pensive while Jordan regaled her with tales of buying stamps from actual people- this is probably the build up to Madeline telling Jordan that there is such a thing as a 'Stamp Machine' where one may buy stamps without ever interacting with another human being. Technology!<br />
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Meghan was working on a soon-to-be-felted pokeball, the white yarn for which was left behind last week, but has since been reunited with its owner:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lonely yarn sat and mingled with us for a while, and after a long journey, it has made its way back to be turned into said pokeball!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I thought about ransoming it, but decided that would not have gone well. Jordan also suggested a dead drop, followed by a series of mysterious text messages (maybe containing clues to its location?) but it's been a long week and I had homework. Such a lame excuse, too....<br />
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Clara, meanwhile, was patiently chugging away at yet another unidentified thing- this time with stripes!- while Mary worked on organizing the students in one of her classes into research groups, instead of knitting. I wonder where she is on Fred's handknit chess set?<br />
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Katherine, clad in matching blue warm things, has finished all the yellow squares for her blanket, and has moved on to new colors to continue the process. She had better hurry up, or the weather will be too warm for that blanket!<br />
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And then there was me, photos courtesy of Madeline:<br />
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I am currently (if by currently you understand that I mean in this picture, as I also have approximately five other projects going on right now...) working on a Malabrigo short-sleeved sweater, which I will hopefully happily wear all the time, and will definitely be a very good garment to have for spring. I'm about 2/3 done with the body part (there's an edging as well) and am contemplating two things: 1.) There is the distinct possibility that I will run out of yarn, and 2.) the colors are pooling in a very unusual way- the blues, greens, and purples are striping consistently, and the golds and purples are striping between them. I've never seen that occur, so I am currently figuring out a way to stop it from happening. Meanwhile, there are other projects. <br />
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There! So many pictures of me (also my awesome hat that I finished a week or so ago, minus the pom pom that is going to happen hopefully maybe this weekend?)<br />
<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-8514637461651998542013-03-19T20:25:00.002-07:002013-03-19T20:25:41.534-07:00In which there is a 'learning face'It's been so long since our last meeting, but do not lament, there's one tomorrow!<br />
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Seriously. You should be there.<br />
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Last time, some pretty epic things went down, including, for starters, my tendency to take pictures at weird angles that makes them look sort of unusual no matter which way you rotate them...<br />
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Clara, once again, does not know what she is working on, and we have come to expect nothing less.<br />
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Lauren is working on Emma's socks:<br />
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Flounder socks! Look at that heel-in-progress! Well, you can't see it...but it's there! I promise! It was done by the end of the night!<br />
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This is Jordan's 'stop making fun of me' face- and also the very first time in the history of this semester at Stitch n' Bitch that we have captured Jordan in a non-smiling state. It will most likely also be the last, as upon closer inspection it becomes evident that Jordan is in fact, still slightly smiling in this picture. She's working on her daffodil bag, but we'll get to that again later.<br />
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Madeline, wearing a very warm and wonderful looking shawl-shawlette-triangular scarf- thing (I love them all, but I never know what to call them....) was making some pretty epic progress on a sock with a slip stitch pattern, using Knit Picks' Stroll (I think the color is kindling?) It's such a pretty color- I have some and am going to pair it with blue to make a truly epic pair of colorwork socks. Eventually. The slip stitch pattern is really cool looking- I like the texture when combined with the tonal yarn!<br />
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Katherine was working on a yellow blanket, following her usual trends of using exciting, brightly colored yarn! I'm not sure, but it looks like all that's left here is sewing the squares together! That's pretty exciting, given the current temperature trends.<br />
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Katharine is SO CLOSE to being done with the second sleeve of her cardigan- in fact, she might have been so close to done with the second sleeve at the end of our last meeting, that it is highly possible that progress will have been made on the yoke portion of the sweater by now! I can't wait to see it done! I'm also curious to see how the construction goes.<br />
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Here's me- with one finished Six Sheep Sampler Sock, and the toe of the second one started. The sock is super-thick, really warm, and not quite all the way knee high, but high enough to stay up. I'm pretty pleased with how my handspun is knitting up! Progress has since been made on the second sock: I'm a few inches past the ankle, about to start the calf increases. Since our last meeting, I have also started and completed (minus the pom-pom) the most wildly colored hat I will probably ever wear. That makes it officially my first handspun project seen through to completion! The socks are still the first yarn I've ever spun (on the wheel, at least...)<br />
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And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!<br />
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I really hope this works: I hope it's not all grainy and weird. Sorry if it is. Also, sorry for the ambient noise in the background- it seems as though my camera has a pretty non-directional built in microphone. However, it looks like there's a microphone plug in my camera- so if Jordan wants to make a habit of reading her patterns aloud to us, I could probably obtain a microphone from somewhere.<br />
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For the record, my favorite part is 'Look at that learning face you just made!'- if the blog title this week wasn't a dead giveaway on that....<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-49943892056790252112013-03-04T11:31:00.002-08:002013-03-04T11:31:56.376-08:00Sargent Pepper's Lonely Yarn Club (something goes here to replace 'band' and I don't know what it should be...)I like where the title is going, but I don't know how to finish it. Oops.<br />
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We were missing some folks at Stitch n' Bitch this week. It may have had something to do with this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow Day!</td></tr>
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Just one day before our meeting, Campus looked pretty much like this.<br />
And this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blocked sidewalk in front of Kirk Memorial</td></tr>
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And the Sunken Garden was particularly creepy:<br />
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But, some would say cold weather is knittin' weather- at least it makes you wish you had knit more warm things to wear...<br />
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This week, Meghan was working on a hat:<br />
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She claims to have just started this hat, but I seem to remember her casting on for a white hat the last time we saw her at Stitch n' Bitch. I cannot be completely sure, though- and she was pretty sure I was wrong. I probably am- it's hard enough to keep track of my own knitting, let alone everyone else's!<br />
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Katherine was working on a bright red vest:<br />
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The nice thing about big projects like this is that they behave like blankets while you're working on them!<br />
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Lauren is back up to speed on her sock, after having to restart the whole thing:<br />
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Maybe the pair will be done when we all get back from midterm break!<br />
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Jordan started work on a new bag, which she is understandably very excited about:<br />
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Then again, maybe that's just how excited Jordan is whenever she's around all this yarn. Yay! Yarn! The picture in the pattern for her bag looks pretty exciting too, except that the colors Jordan chose are totally cooler.<br />
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I made some progress on the fourth sheep of the Six Sheep Sampler. I started the sixth sheep this morning in class!<br />
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It's a really stiff sock, because my gauge is crazy-tight. These socks are going to be like ovens for my feet: waterproof ovens, at that. I'm very excited about this!<br />
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Hopefully the rest of our lovely Stitch n' Bitch peeps will be back to join us this week- especially since it's the last Stitch n' Bitch meeting before spring break! I'm curious to see if progress is being made on Clara's Tubes and other assorted yarn things!<br />
<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-18432619647923734282013-02-25T09:50:00.000-08:002013-02-25T09:53:33.479-08:00BelatedWell.<br />
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It's been quite some time since I last blogged: but things are beginning to slow back down to a manageable speed, so we should be good. Last week (or the week before, depending on how you're keeping track) was the first time I missed Stitch n' Bitch since I became blogger (gasp!) but this week's blog will make up for it. There are pictures!<br />
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Katharine managed to almost-finish a tie blanket, which was a gift for a friend of hers in Prim Roses: <br />
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Epic fringe and everything! We had a discussion of the different tie styles that it is possible to use to make one of these- the method she chose was faster than mine would have been, and probably produces a bouncier fringe. Next, she's sewing-something- into the bottom corner, and then boom! Back to knitting for Katharine!<br />
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Lauren is working on a sock for my roommate, Emma:<br />
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Which has subsequently been ripped back and started over (due to the accidental production of man-proportioned socks...) Fortunately, as they tell us in vis comm, it's always faster the second time! In this case, it really is faster because it's a smaller sock with less stitches! Check out those colors, though! It's like Flounder from The Little Mermaid:<br />
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Bright blue and brighter yellow! I told her that when they're done, she should have Emma's feet pose in the socks, surrounded by forks, hairbrushes, and other random stuff. This continues to sound like an excellent plan to me.<br />
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This is how excited Jordan always is when she crochets: <br />
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She is making a hat, having found the perfect pattern. Despite multiple bouts of confusion, she still refused to read the pattern all the way through. Get it girl! Who needs patterns. They're more of suggestions, anyways. Guidelines. I have a movie reference for this too: Pirates of the Caribbean. Because of the 'Guidelines' thing. I bet I can think of a movie reference for all the pictures!...Let's see.<br />
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Okay, now I've set myself up with this one... <br />
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Clara is making a nameless thing again! The Tubes are on hiatus, but whatever this is, it will probably rival the tubes in coolness factor. The movie I'm thinking of, which I haven't actually seen, is The Odd Life of Timothy Greene- because it is interesting, fantastic, wonderful, and based on just having seen previews, you don't understand it. Bam.<br />
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Madeline is making Borough Gloves!<br />
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Can I just use Doctor Who as this reference? or is that too obvious? I'm going for it. Furthermore, Check out that beautiful Malabrigo! I just want all the Malabrigo all the time. What I actually want is a herd of Malabrigo sheep.<br />
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Look, it's me!<br />
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I debuted the wonderful rainbow sweater at Stitch n' Bitch! Movie reference? I don't know, anything in technicolor? That counts, because I am making up the rules, here. This, by the way, is me modeling my sweater during that day when it snowed epically, and I am still wonderfully warm! Wool is wonderful. Everything is wool.<br />
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Now- should you get bored with your knitting, I would advise you to investigate the wonderful world of alien-abduction thwarting headwear. Yep- it's a thing.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-20247720227769465652013-02-12T17:34:00.002-08:002013-02-12T17:34:30.987-08:00the speed-bloggerAll of the things are happening right now- internship applications are due, homework, tests (everyone starts having tests at exactly the same time, I'm pretty sure...), papers, and this very silly web design project due on Thursday for which the requirements have just changed (again.)...<br />
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so I'm blogging fast!<br />
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Here's Mary- hard at work on another little black horse (or dragon. or gargoyle) chess piece! An interesting conundrum has been occurring that involves Madeline and Mary/Clara showing up every other week, but these weeks are also not in cycles with eachother. Fear not! I have a solution! Everyone should just come all the time! (This is the 'do as I say' part. Continue reading for the 'not as I do' part)<br />
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And Clara, working up a crochet storm on something whose final form is not yet known. Right now, it's just a rectangle- and a very good one at that!<br />
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Megan has, since last time, finished her jiggly puff and cast on for a hat!<br />
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Katheryn is making a set of coasters in highlighter- yellow. My theory is that the color choice is so that people in need of coasters can spot them easily. I can never find a coaster when I need one, so this would work well.<br />
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Lauren is working on (and has since finished) the Hairiest Alpaca Scarf Ever Known To Man Or Woman or Anyone Else. Seriously. I found alpaca hair in a ball of yarn from a project I wasn't even working on at Stitch n' Bitch. It's all over the place. She informed me today, however, that the yarn stopped shedding considerably after she washed it. All's well that ends well!<br />
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There's me, because interested parties think that there are too few pictures of me on this blog. Also, there's the nearly completed sleeve of my rainbow sweater. The sweater is now completed, and I even wore it! How cool! It's very heavy and very warm. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but I have another project halfway done already, so that's pretty exciting too!<br />
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(here's that 'not as I do' part I was telling you about before)<br />
I hope that you will all see my sweater, and that I will see all of you, on Wednesday- however, due to the previously mentioned changed requirements, I have a website to finish- it may put my social knitting time in jeopardy this week, which would be an absolute travesty! In order to right this potential wrong, I am going to work super hard and super late tonight, and hopefully finish it so that I can come tomorrow! Wish me luck!Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-40740255449870149122013-02-02T18:51:00.003-08:002013-02-02T18:51:37.469-08:00This Smells Like Alpaca (or: Everything is Knitters!)This week at Stitch n' Bitch was pretty exciting, if I do say so myself.<br />
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and I do.<br />
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First: Everything was knitters!<br />
I got to Stitch n' Bitch early, because my class got out early, which generally messed with my schedule, but it was okay, because when I got to the SUB, there was a group of numerous knitters in our usual spot. I was confused, but the back of someone's head looked sort of like Katherine, so I went with it. By the time I realized that I'd just pulled my chair up to a bunch of strangers, it was too late- so I went with it.<br />
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1) it turns out strangers are friendly when they knit!<br />
2) it also turns out that these strangers were TLS (or at least part of TLS. I have heard that this is a sorority, but I do not claim to know these things...), and that they had decided to all learn to knit as a group, coincidentally, on the very same night that Stitch n' Bitch meets! It was pretty cool. By the time the rest of Stitch n' Bitch got to the SUB, I had already taught two of the new knitters how to cast on, advised one on yarn choice (fuzzy 'homespun' from walmart maybe not the best choice for a first project...), and taken a commemorative picture for the blog:<br />
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I actually missed one person, you can see her foot if you look really close. Sorry :(<br />
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We decided to leave them to their group, because they were having a committee meeting, and Jordan thought that might involve 'super secret sorority stuff', which sounded important so I went with it. Speaking of Jordan, she has revolutionized the art of making flowers for a scarf:<br />
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This is a chart of every available color combination, so there are no repeating colors on the scarf (which is finished, by the way). There is even a row of boxes around the outside so she can cross them off when she's done! This seems like something I would do...crazy in a good way! Here's what she has done so far:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Each color-coded with scientific precision!</td></tr>
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so colorful! Next week, I bet this scarf will be done! <br /><br />
Madeline is making an alpaca hat, having just finished another alpaca hat. (one can never have enough alpaca hats. They're really quite important)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This week was full of alpaca hats!</td></tr>
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Also, check out that sweater! All of the knitted things!<br />
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Woody has cast aside (albeit temporarily) his blanket square for a hat, and some very well chosen purple nail polish. My TARDIS blue nail polish is less exciting, but still pretty cool.<br />
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Here is a pretty fantastic basketweave scarf, made by yet another of Woody's yarn-loving friends:<br />
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I kind of feel like this scarf was a little less orange in person, but my camera is usually pretty okay with colors, so I went with it. But seriously- that basketweave is going to be awesome for this scarf!<br />
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Katharine is working on a blue scarf- in direct retaliation, I'm sure, for the worsening weather that we encountered this week. Sidewalks covered in ice? snow swirling from the sky amidst gusts of 40 mph wind? Don't worry- yarn's got your back! No cold's getting through these handknits (and crochets)!<br />
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Katherine is plugging along on the second sleeve of her sweater, as I am on the second sleeve of mine. The woe that each of us faces in this process has led me to believe that Second Sock Syndrome is not nearly as horrible as its lesser-known counterpart, Second Sleeve Syndrome. One would think that the prospect of a finished sweater would encourage the affected knitter, but this is often not the case. Often, the knitter is sick of the sweater, and just wants the whole thing to be over, and to be put out of her (or his) misery.<br />
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In more exciting news: A hat!<br />
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This hat is all the things I love in a hat. It is slouchy, there is a pompom, it is purple and grey, with colorwork and a twice-as-thick rim using a provisional cast on, and it generally looks great! Also, it is alpaca and everybody loves alpaca, and alpacas, too, for that matter. Remember the sitting alpacas? I do. How could you forget? It took about an hour of ravelry searching, but I have determined this hat to be the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garfunkel-hat" target="_blank">Garfunkel Hat</a>, which is a free pattern and very exciting indeed! I even have a cake of alpaca all ready to be this hat! I do not, however, have a contrasting color, and I cannot break my yarn diet- I've come almost 3.5 months! We'll see. Maybe alpaca doesn't count. We all know it does... Maybe Yarn Diet is not equal to Yarn Starving, and what I'm doing is Yarn Starving. I guess a better term would be Yarn Fast, not yarn diet. At least on a diet, you still get a little bit of food. For the record, Katharine made this particular Garfunkel hat with alpaca yarn from knit picks, although she didn't know what kind. I would venture a guess that it's Andean Treasure, because that's basically the only remotely hat-like alpaca that knit picks sells. I got really excited about this hat (I think you'll agree-for obvious reasons), and this, combined with my horrible enunciation skills, led to half of this post's title : This feels like alpaca turned right around into 'This smells like alpaca'-which I guess is also a thing as well. Sheep has a smell, I don't know why alpaca wouldn't...<br />
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The other half of the blog post, was determined by this photo:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything is Knitters!</td></tr>
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Half of the HUB, ladies and gentlemen, was knitters! Okay, maybe a third...but we were loud knitters, so it was basically like half. It was great. If you look real close, you'll notice something- clearly Jordan understands the excitement at the quantity of knitting going on:<br />
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Sorry it's a bit fuzzy, but I feel like the point gets across.. All the yarn!<br />
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Speaking of Jordan, she was having quite the dilemma over a book called 'The Joy of Socks'. She wants, or is going, to make a pair of socks from said book called "Takeout for Two", but didn't understand why this pair of over the knee socks didn't have heels or toes. We hypothesized on the root of this design element. Maybe they are yoga socks? Maybe they are for wearing with shoes that are too small for the added length? Maybe they are for wearing with peep-toe or open toe shoes? All of these are questionable reasons, at best. One thing's for sure, they are definitely for doing sexy poses involving laying down with one's legs sticking straight up in the air, crossed at the ankle. In case anyone needs a more visual explanation of this concept, Woody was willing and happy to oblige:<br />
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He even added the complimentary finger-to-lips trick. It's a good thing we knitters have a sense of humor. There are additional pictures of this pose on Ravelry, coincidentally. We all reassured Jordan that she would be able to knit these socks with the easy addition of heels and toes. We cannot, however, reassure her that she will not feel the urge to throw her legs up in the air whilst laying down, and cross her ankles. This may or may not happen as a side effect of the socks. There's only one way to find out!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-17230250759895099332013-01-26T15:54:00.001-08:002013-01-26T15:54:23.234-08:00Projects Underway; a Blanket FascinationWell, it's been a few weeks since school started, and I still don't know my schedule. Also, I am perpetually confused by the layout of Violette.<br />
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But, Knitting!<br />
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Clara's productivity level seems not to have been impacted the recent return to structured educational things:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It shall be called the Confetti Cake Blanket! (for obvious reasons, of course!)</td></tr>
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One baby blanket for her grandmother- All done! Now, she can focus her efforts on very exciting things indeed:<br /><br />
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A smaller, but not for long, incarnation of The Tube in crochet form. It is a relative-but not the same. Check out that awesome patterning that the colorful yarn is doing! Soon, this Tube will be as long as its predecessor!<br />
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Megan has nearly finished her jiggly puff- all it's missing now is a face. She was worried about its curl not looking right, but was assured that it was just as it should be. <br />
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Now the question is, is she going to "knit 'em all"?<br />
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Lauren is happily working on her hat- which is a good thing, considering that by the end of the night, she'd run out of yarn! Thankfully, two dye lots probably won't show up in this particular project.<br />
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Katheryn has been making a pair of slipper soles, to be slipped into an uncomfortable pair of shoes. She has a pair of comfortable slippers, and thought she could recreate the feel inside some shoes by creating some padded inserts. I hope it works!<br />
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Jordan has made some pretty significant progress since last week on her netted scarf-that blue is so pretty! Soon, it will be decorated with colorful crochet flowers, as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pieces of squishy, soft chess-domnation-clad in darkness!</td></tr>
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<br />My iPhone is kind of a downgrade from the old Blackberry in the picture-taking department- so the pure awesomeness that is Mary's horse-head-chesspiece-that-looks-like-a-gargoyle/dragon has not been sufficiently captured. I can't even imagine how great it will look once it's been stuffed! Fred is the luckiest kid on the planet, and he has no idea. The question is, will she tell him that it's a horse, or a dragon?<br />
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Woody stopped by this week, and brought a rectangle he's been working on: it will eventually be combined with a lot of other rectangles into a knit-scrap blanket! The yarn was really soft, and the brown-aqua combination is pretty cool too!<br />
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He also brought some new friends!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So excited to be making a hat!</td></tr>
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Sharon has just begun the making of a hat-it does not yet have an intended owner. It involves the making of a hatband, to which the rest of the hat is joined.<br />
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Also, this is Katie:<br />
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She's just cast on for a scarf (see it there? hiding under her hand?) I bet it will be much bigger this coming Wednesday. She, also, does not know who her scarf's recipient is, yet. Maybe "I don't know" is actually a clever code for "I can't tell you because the person it's for is listening right now." Have you ever used that as an excuse to disguise who you're knitting for?<br />
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Agatha was also new to our group: She is making this fabulous, brightly colored crochet blanket-Those are colors I would never expect to see together, but they're just so awesome! This time of the year is a good time to be working on a blanket project, because you can have it in your lap while you work. We certainly had a lot of blanket references this week, too- Besides Clara's finished one, Woody's blanket rectangle, and Agatha's wonderful afghan, there was much discussion on Lauren's part of the merits of starting a blanket project-she's even brought yarn already! We might as well change the name of the group to the Blanket Club. No...not quite as catchy, really...<br />
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It really makes me want to knit a blanket, which I have told myself I will not do...at least not until I have a place to put it. A long-term place, at that.<br />
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Wednesdays seem to be working out well for the lovely people of Stitch n' Bitch- and I'm also surprised at the number of new people we have joining us on a weekly basis- despite our unfortunate lack of posters. Of course, whenever I see people knitting, or whenever people comment on me knitting, the thing I usually say to them is "you should come to Stitch n' Bitch!" None of them have- maybe my enthusiasm is scaring people away... I have known to be enthusiastic about yarn.<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-57516330972858188742013-01-20T09:21:00.000-08:002013-01-20T09:21:07.432-08:00Is it because you don't have any friends?Maybe it is. Maybe it's because we don't have any friends. But we all don't have friends together, so I guess that makes it more okay.<br />
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On the first of many wonderful Wednesdays of the semester, we had a few new faces, and a lot of new projects! Lauren was working on a hat, which I think suspiciously might be modeled after my current prismatic sweater project ;)...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a great color!</td></tr>
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You can barely see the hat under how extremely excited she obviously is about being able to attend Stitch n' Bitch this semester! It looks like that hat will be done in a few days, and then, when I wear my sweater on the same day that she wears her hat- We're going to be, like...rainbow superheros!<br />
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Brandon was a newcomer this week, working on reteaching himself how to knit (he mostly had it, he'll be a pro in no time!)<br />
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If you look really close, you can see that he's holding his left needle like a pencil. This is very confusing to me, but it seemed to be working for him surprisingly well. The most confusing thing about this is that the hand on the right is holding its needle normally- it's the one on the left that's trying to get creative. I wonder if he's a lefty- I should have asked.<br />
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Katharine is working on the second sleeve of her sweater!<br />
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This is so exciting! It's so close to finished! Just the rest of this sleeve, and then joining everything together with the yoke!<br />
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<br />Madeline is working on a hat, but not from a pattern:<br />
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I love that color! It's mostly green, but there's a little bit of blue in it, and the pattern has some pretty cool texture going on- maybe it will be finished next week!<br />
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I should point out that the reason I keep thinking that everyone's projects will be finished this week is because it's a three day weekend (four, if your photography professor cancelled your only Friday class, but we'll get to that in a little bit...)<br />
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Mary was, in fact, present at Stitch n' Bitch- but she was trying to figure out what her yarn wanted to be, and also thinking about how she should be working on Fred's birthday gift (which, by the way, I can't wait to see done as well!)<br />
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Kathryn was working on a multicolored scarf for her grandmother's birthday:<br />
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That's one lucky grandmother- Also, if you didn't believe me when I said Mary was there- That's her foot in the lower left corner of the picture. Proof of life!<br />
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Megan was working on a jiggly puff plush toy...<br />
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...which I thought was a pig (it looks like a pig!). It's the right color and everything. My confusion probably has a lot to do with the fact that I don't actually know what a jiggly puff looks like,,,<br />
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Clara has been working on awesome things, as usual:<br />
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First, the baby blanket which she has decided will be finished when the yarn runs out, and she's mostly there! She's more than halfway through the last ball.<br />
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Second, over break she made this awesome scarf with <i>pockets</i>! It also happens to have an impressive amount of colorwork, and check out that fringe! Apparently, her classmates are in love with that scarf as well- and who could blame them- pockets! My sister had a scarf with pockets, once. It was all one color but had different patches as a stitch sampler, and I always wanted to make one. This one is way cooler. My sister's scarf didn't have fringe. Let alone two-color fringe!<br />
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Clara has friends. You can tell because of how awesome her scarf is.<br />
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Jordan is making a decorative netted scarf (with flowers!) from a pattern in a magazine: <br />
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Check out that super colorful sweater she's wearing! Even if she didn't make it- it's still an awesome sweater! Jordan's hair is growing back pretty quickly too- I feel like if I blink, it might be halfway down her back again!<br />
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Jordan's friend, whose name I can pronounce but forgot to ask how to spell, came this week as well! My best guess at a spelling would be Sadya- but when I googled it, Sadhya was an equally popular alternative. ( I am sorry, Sadya, if I have butchered your name! I'm horrible at names... If it makes you feel any better, I have to look up my middle name every time I want to spell it...)<br />
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She's working on a scarf for her roommate so she won't feel left out from the awesome-but-also-warm (because warm is important) scarf club.<br />
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I, when I wasn't taking pictures, was attempting to work on a shawl/wrap project for one unnamed sister's upcoming birthday- but I decided that pattern with that yarn wasn't working out so now I have to think of something else. I have a couple of options, so I'm not too worried...yet.<br />
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I didn't have any classes on Friday, which was a wonderful start to my weekend indeed, so I spent a good part of the day working on finishing this:<br />
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149 grams of fingering weight (ish) yarn, spun from the hand-dyed roving I was working on over Christmas break! I gotta say, I was worried for a while in the middle, but now I think it turned out great! Right now, I'm thinking it's going to be a boneyard shawl, because that pattern has a little bit of visual interest without being complicated in a way that would distract from the awesomeness of the yarn. That being said, I currently don't have any cables in my interchangeable needle set that are not already in use in another project-so I guess I have to wait on that (six is probably a good number of projects to have going at once, anyways...) I probably have six projects going on at once right now because I don't have any friends...<br />
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Okay, friends! See you on Wednesday!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-27479252656026171002013-01-15T19:58:00.002-08:002013-01-15T20:02:33.957-08:00A welcome back, a birthday, a distraction, and a lot of pictures.Spring 2013 is in full swing! (although, to be fair, it feels neither like spring, nor like 2013...) Fortunately, I've not had to date any papers yet. I, so far, have very little homework, but I estimate that will change in approximately one day. Or less.<br />
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In other very important news, happy birthday to everyone's favorite Madeline! I hope it was filled with lots of yarn, and lots of Tilda and Bella doing Tilda and Bella things.<br />
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In honor of Madeline's birthday, we shall start with her:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All knit up and ready for the cold months!</td></tr>
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At the Reading Day Knitting Marathon of Awesomeness, Madeline showed off her lovely new sweater, an equally lovely shawl, and a wonderful earwarming headband device (I know that there is a name for those things, but I cannot recall it at the moment....) I believe she also had some handknit socks on, but you know, only so much awesome can fit into one picture...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She even brought a Christmas-themed Pandora station!</td></tr>
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Briana was hard at work on a couple of projects, including the beginnings of a hat, and the scarf pictured.<br />
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Kathryn was hard at work on a green and white Christmas gift blanket (Now would be a good time to say in advance that I hope everyone got their Christmas knitting done! I was exactly two days late with one of my gifts....<br />
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Lauren was working on an orange monster plushie, and we'll be seeing a lot more of her now that Stitch n' Bitch has moved to Wednesdays of Wonder!<br />
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I'm sorry. That might have been too much. It's tomorrow, though. You guys, I'm excited.<br />
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Katharine was working on a Christmas scarf for her Dad, and much progress was made during our marathon! In fact, I believe I recall that she only left because she ran out of yarn....<br />
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Clara, who sadly did not have the day off, stopped by after school to make some progress on the baby blanket she was working on for her grandmother. Epic progress! I bet it's done by now. I bet that baby blanket is done, and the Tube is probably longer than the English Channel. I bet it's the size of a snuggie for the world's skinniest skyscraper. I bet Clara's new fancy bedroom is mostly Tube.<br />
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As you can see, the Reading Day Knitting Marathon was pretty sweet! I spent a good chunk of time charting the superwoman logo for my sister's gloves, but then I finished a glove after that as well! I finished the second one on the train back from Chicago, which was wonderful, by the way.<br />
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Now, you may be wondering:<br />
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"Gee, I wonder why it took Kat over a month just to tell us all that! I mean, I bet she was swamped, like all other knitters, with Christmas knitting, but Christmas was pretty early in the break- what did she do for three weeks after that? Was she avoiding the blog on purpose?"<br />
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Well, let me answer your wonder, my friends!<br />
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It's true, the first week I was knitting (and felting, and sewing) Christmas presents, but that all changed on one not-very-cold Tuesday morning.<br />
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Twas' the night before Christmas, and I had finished my gifts (all but one) early enough to make custom sized bags out of the Sunday Post-Dispatch for each present. I wrapped them all up, and stashed them under the tree, much to the delight of my family.<br />
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Christmas morning upon us, we opened our gifts, and I made out like a bandit- new sweaters, new yarn (and a pattern!), and a lens for my camera!<br />
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But Santa had one trick left up his sleeve...<br />
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A spinning wheel! Just for me! It was the only thing I really really wanted, and also the thing I *knew* I wasn't going to get. I didn't even bother asking for one, because it was too ridiculously unlikely...But I have a spinning wheel!!!<br />
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So now you basically know why I didn't blog. Or, really, do much else (the occasional sewing...but only while thinking about spinning)<br />
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In case you don't believe me, here's some photographic evidence. While boy was busy with his baked goods:<br />
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I was making fuzzy things!<br />
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Here is my very first bit of 'real' spinning (not including the ugly white mess I produced while I was learning how to make it work... It's a Six Sheep Sampler I got from my local yarn store- it is fleece from six breeds of sheep, in six colors, so you can experiment with spinning each one! I took a sample bit of each fiber and spun it up, and then:<br />
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I made a tiny hank from the two ply samples, so I could wash it,<br />
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and then I made a tiny ball from the tiny hank!<br />
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I made a swatch, too, but I didn't take a picture of that. I'm working, right now, on spinning the rest of the Six Sheep Sampler into yarn for socks (I love socks! and sheep! and these colors!) But that little instant gratification of a swatch was pretty nice. I also love saying 'Six Sheep Sampler'<br />
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In order to guarantee that my stash of colorful fluff didn't run out, I began plans to figure out how to dye roving (a never-before-attempted project...)<br />
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It went like this:<br />
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White! The dye colors I chose were Royal purple (mixed with a bit of extra red), moss green, and silver grey. Three colors. I didn't think anything could really get weird with three colors...<br />
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After painting the roving with my colors, you roll the wet roving up into a really entertaining jelly-roll type lump, and stick it in a steamer basket with some water in the pot, and let the whole thing cook for a bit. Taking pictures of steam is way fun!<br />
It was at this point that I realized that something wasn't quite right...the dye was too concentrated, or there was too much of it, or something, because it didn't look like any of my pictures, but I kept going. Kind of hard to go back, isn't it?<br />
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After a scary moment where I thought I'd felted the entire piece, I realized that it only looked that way because it was wet, so I left it to hang in a warm place overnight, and in the morning, voila! fluffy, not felted, and so colorful! Note, however, that those colors are not limited to royal purple, moss green, and silver grey....<br />
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Spun up, It's not at all the long-repreat striping yarn that I was expecting, but more of a wildly unpredictable pile of colors that I fortunately happen to be quite fond of. This is the first single. It will be followed by another, and then plied and knit into a mysterious thing that I have not decided on yet.<br />
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If you would like to watch a video about that roving, and if you're interested in me rambling on in a more visual kind of way, it's on facebook. Blogger made the video quality really horrible, so I'm not posting it here. I made it so a friend could see me spin, even though she lives very far away now.<br />
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Here are some other things I did with my break:<br />
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I dyed some fabric to make bags for some drop spindles...<br />
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I also dyed and screen printing these:<br />
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Project bags! They were, with the exception of the blue one, which I kept, Christmas gifts. These are big-project sized. I also made some smaller ones, which are just big enough for my favorite extra-long steel double pointed needles, plus the little sheepy needle protectors, which add about two inches...<br />
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Those are the four I kept for myself, plus my spindle bag in the middle. I gave all of them two drawstrings, so you just pull two strings to close the bags, rather than try to wedge it closed with one string. This makes them less likely to fall open, as well.<br />
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I'm going to go out on a limb here and and say that most of you probably watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special. If you didn't, don't worry, I won't give anything away. It was really fantastic, but that's all I'll say. I can, however, talk about the Who-related things I made!<br />
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One skein of freshly TARDIS blue yarn, slightly tonal, for the Doctor Who wrap I will soon be knitting (And probably a matching hat or something, this is a pretty hefty hank. It's 750 yards...)<br />
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Also, one TARDIS digital drawing tablet sleeve! I feel as though the TARDIS is appropriate, because a tablet is one of those things that will do anything you can imagine, which sort of makes it 'bigger on the inside'...in a more conceptual sort of way...<br />
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I also made a new pencil case, to replace the one I made in middle school, and I didn't post any pictures of Christmas knits (although it's all on Ravelry...), and I made a bridal party for a set of dolls, and a skirt for me, and I did a little bit of knitting, and things like that. I don't know if you've figured this out, yet, but I'm one of those people that goes crazy if I don't have something to do, but I had so many projects over break! It was wonderful, I loved it. I hope yours was as good as mine!<br />
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GUYS! I'll see you all tomorrow!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-32736009713278413862012-12-07T22:10:00.000-08:002012-12-07T22:10:39.891-08:00Epic PlansThis Wednesday! This Wednesday shall be the greatest Wednesday for knitting of the semester! This Wednesday is the wonderful, once-a-semester Stitch n' Bitch Reading Day Marathon! (*happy dance!*)<br />
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I will be in the SUB knitting from 10am to 4ish pm (or at least I promise to be there during those times, except for a break for lunch...) My finals are over on Tuesday, so Wednesday is going to be full of hard core knitting!<br />
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The next important announcement of the blog this fine day, is that Wednesdays are going to be getting a lot more exciting next semester! Why? You may be wondering. Well, I will tell you why! Stitch n' Bitch will be moving to Wednesdays next semester! (same time, same place, of course!)<br />
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Wednesdays, from now on, are going to be pretty freakin' awesome.<br />
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Meanwhile, on a pretty awesome Tuesday:<br />
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My roommate, Emma, stopped by this week, with a Squirrel! Isn't he adorable? He is. He's pretty much begging for an acorn though, so that will be happening soon, I've heard. She has since made a dachshund (which is very entertainingly, smaller than the squirrel....)<br />
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Jordan is Very Happy indeed, to be finished with the (hopefully last) set of golf club covers! They all received pom poms while we were there. There was much rejoicing afterwords, as well:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"should I shake them, or hold them still?" .... "you can shake them if you want."</td></tr>
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Action shot! you know it's true, because the pom poms are blurry. All that happy! Now, it's finally time to get back to those awesome granny square blankets!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Christmas, I would like to see a picture of their family Christmas tree wearing Clara's Tube as a sweater.</td></tr>
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Clara has made a million feet of progress on that baby blanket of her grandmother's. That's going to be one toasty blanket. Madeline discussed with Clara the possibility that the blanket looked a bit like a funfetti cake. I am inclined to agree, although it is a very toned down version.<br />
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Mary has made significant progress as well, on Fred's traveling chess set. I can't wait for the little chess pieces! Fred, apparently has been inquiring on whether or not boys are allowed to come to Stitch n' Bitch. Of course they are! Aric comes to Stitch n' Bitch (when he's not busy doing physics) and so do other boys! Knitting needs more boys.<br />
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Katharine, unfortunately, has had to put her sweater on hiatus until the Christmas knitting marathon is over. Here, we have a hat for her sister. I hope we see the sweater soon! That yoke is going to be exciting. I can't wait to see it done!<br />
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Here's Megan, working on yet another new project (a new one every week! she must have all the time in the world to knit...) She never did tell us how that Halloween sweater for her dog turned out... Probably not well, if I had to guess.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cliche caption time: "Gotta Crochet them all!" (My apologies, I don't have anything better than that. I missed the pokemon craze- spent my childhood hanging out with Bill Nye the Science Guy instead.)</td></tr>
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Katherine, apparently, has absolutely no homework whatsoever, as you can see from the amount of pokemon amiguri she's made between the previous two Stitch n' Bitch meetings. Plus, she's working on another one too! This girl is productive. If I was that productive, I'd have three years worth of Christmas Knitting done by now.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They should make 'pocket Potter pals', like they have Potter Puppet Pals. They could fit into Madeline's miniature sweaters!</td></tr>
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You can't really tell from this picture, but Madeline....Madeline is making WEASLEY SWEATERS! and not only that, Madeline's Weasley sweaters are Christmas Tree ornaments! She's doing the whole family, I think, and already has a few done! That's going to be the most exciting tree in the history of ever. True story. They're even going to have little initials on them! How wonderful is that! She should make an extra pair for herself and John. I just thought of that. I would totally wear a sweater with a big 'K' on it. I might even make myself one. With bulky yarn, in a color I don't usually wear. This is sounding like a better idea the more I think about it.<br />
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There's no action shots of me this week, but my yarn is pretty exciting!<br />
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One almost-finished sock, and one now-ripped out glove. The sock is going to be getting a toe soon, and the glove is supposed to be a Christmas gift for a sister, but I had to rip it back, because the red in the checkers was going to interfere with the motif I had planned. I restarted with corrugated ribbing, but my gauge tightened up, and now the cuff is too small. I'm going to rip it out and cast on again with more stitches. This will work eventually! The sock, on the other hand, is going very smoothly.<br />
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On the bright side, I have decided that corrugated ribbing is awesome! Actually, This is the first time I've done any sort of for-real colorwork...(okay, I knit the front and one sleeve of a sweater with a rib cage on the front of it in high school, but I never finished the back, and it was acrylic and therefore does not count)....but I'm a fan. I might have plans for a fair isle sweater. Seriously though, Christmas knitting has to get finished first! There's only 17 days left! Then, it's back to knitting things for me!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-41219294791094161172012-12-03T13:50:00.000-08:002012-12-03T13:50:03.533-08:00In which I forget things, and in which there are exciting things.Last week, I got distracted. I got distracted by how nice the weather was, and how cool the fog was (I didn't have to drive anywhere, so it was cool and not scary), and how I had so little homework, and could sort of relax- I got so distracted, that I convinced myself that I had already written the blog post! ...Since clearly I was so on top of things....<br />
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This week promises to be less boring.<br />
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Last week, one of my prints was selected to go on some kind of Truman thank-you cards (weird?)<br />
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I thought you guys would enjoy it, since it involves sheep. I feel like this is a weird choice for thank you cards, but recognition is recognition, I suppose.<br />
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We were joined, last week at Stitch n' Bitch, by a very distinguished guest: Mary's mother (therefore Clara's grandmother)! Here is a multi-generation picture to prove that fact:<br />
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She regaled us with stories of hurricane Sandy, and of other, happier things. She was not knitting- she had a proxy for that:<br />
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Clara diligently plugged away at a baby blanket for a baby she will probably never meet (This, Clara, is where you start lobbying for a trip to New York City)! As such, this week, we were Tube-less.<br />
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Mary is working on this AWESOME chess set for Fred's birthday: I believe the final piece will be Doctor Who themed, which makes it 11 times more fantastic! The best part is, she can knit it in front of Fred, and he's so oblivious that he's none the wiser. I wish I could knit my gifts in front of their intended recipients. I wouldn't have to spend the two months before Christmas stealth-knitting...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The coolest bit, is that there's going to be a drawstring around the outside so that the chess board is the carrying bag as well!</td></tr>
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The look on Jordan's face pretty much sums up everyone's feelings concerning her Christmas gift for her Dad this year:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This set is Truman-spirit themed! To match a golf bag, and polo shirt. This man is going to be the most matching golfer in town!</td></tr>
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Golf club cozies. Gotta keep those poor golf clubs warm, after all... I've been saying 'hopefully the last set' for the past four sets now, so I won't bother.<br />
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Here's Katharine, with one very exciting completed sleeve:<br />
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I know you're thinking 'gee Kat, that doesn't look much like a sleeve... Are you sure Katharine isn't knitting legwarmers for flamingos?' -But I can assure you, that it is in fact a sleeve. There are two things you should know: The most important thing is that this is a bottom-up raglan sweater, and the yoke is knitted last, attaching the body to the sleeves...so that's why the sleeve doesn't have any increases. The other, only mildly important thing you should know, is that Katharine didn't knit a gauge swatch. (Insert internal *gasp!* here)- others may not be gasping, but gauge swatches are still important. I am an advocate of those which cannot stand up for themselves in the faces of ridicule. Gauge swatches unite!<br />
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Megan has begun a hat- not that she'll need it with this balmy excuse for a December...<br />
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And Katharine has made some progress on her blanket (again, not that she'll need this either...)<br />
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Woody is making a furry scarf, which is pretty exciting, because it looks like animal print. Random tangent: I wonder if anyone's ever tried to spin the fur of the big cats, and knit with it? Wouldn't it be great if knitted cheetah-fur had spots like a cheetah? That would certainly take some doing.<br />
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A rare sighting:<br />
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It's not often there are actual pictures of me on the blog these days- Woody was kind enough to snap an action shot. Let's dissect this picture, shall we: Note the new teal iPhone case, which features a silicone grippy surface for nonslip protection, as well as a hard plastic middle layer to offer more substantial protection, and an unseen underlayer to aid in shock absorbtion. Also, a built-in screen protector, and a cutout in the back that lets everyone know I'm carrying an apple product, even if it looks like a wad of colorful bubble wrap (which it basically is). Also, note the drawing tablet, which is the homework I should have been doing at the last meeting, and the knitting in my hands, which is what I was actually doing. Jordan appears to be mildly dillusional in the background- she is smiling while working on the golf club cozies, which is something I would not be doing. (Smiling? you ask, or working on the cozies?--The answer is simple. I would be doing neither.) She is a very loving daughter, apparently.<br />
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My dad does not appreciate knitted things, so he's the only one not getting knitted things this year. Not even golf club cozies. To be fair, though, he doesn't golf...<br />
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In other news, Madeline and I were prominently featured in a Truman Index article recently, which, to my knowledge did not contain a single typo (yay, Truman Index!). it features this photo of me:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRNmo2bLzwo/UL0cMOz-vgI/AAAAAAAAAPg/4wRevpPHCAU/s1600/pile+of+yarn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRNmo2bLzwo/UL0cMOz-vgI/AAAAAAAAAPg/4wRevpPHCAU/s320/pile+of+yarn.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(From over the summer, when my hair was long and all this yarn was still yarn and not knitted things)</td></tr>
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and it is very exciting indeed! It can be found here:<br />
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http://tmn.truman.edu/theindex/2012/11/28/for-the-stitch-of-it/<br />
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How famous are we! Not very, but still. I do feel like the reporter could have interviewed more knitters, but it's nice to get the word out, and get people to know how awesome it is! That's basically what Stitch n' Bitch is all about, right? We are some pretty cool people. In case you don't feel like seeing the article online, don't worry, because I grabbed 12 copies and I am hoarding them, like any self respecting person would.<br />
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Next week, we'll hopefully have our official Reading Day Knitting Day, in which we do not study, and this week, we should all be thinking about what time we would like to meet next semester! How exciting!... I'm going to work on some posters. Promise.<br />
<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-19202699225230470942012-11-23T22:42:00.002-08:002012-11-23T22:51:12.246-08:00Thanksgiving Break Bonus Post!Good day, folks! What follows is my attempt to make up for the lack of Stitch n' Bitch this week, by talking about all the stitching and bitching that I've been up to so far this week.<br />
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I started off the break by spinning, dyeing, and knitting a top-secret Christmas gift for my wonderful roommate, but unfortunately I did not anticipate one minor detail. The colors I chose partially make up the wardrobe of one certain well-known person, and I'm afraid this particular Christmas gift will be interpreted as an homage rather than a well-intended accident. (The following photo is from Google and is not a picture of my knitted object, but I feel as though it gets the point across)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Marley, and all his best-known colors, everyone!</td></tr>
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I do have another color in there, but I fear my efforts may not be enough. I have to finish the project first to find out, I suppose. Here are some action shots of the progress!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S7ungGoYwlM/UK3J61-NHMI/AAAAAAAAAK8/bgJVpUgPoRs/s1600/hanks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S7ungGoYwlM/UK3J61-NHMI/AAAAAAAAAK8/bgJVpUgPoRs/s320/hanks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">if by action shot, you understand that it's me taking pictures of my project, and not someone taking pictures of me working on my project...</td></tr>
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Here's my freshly dyed and dried handspun- ready to be wound into balls,<br />
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and here it is being wound:<br />
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I had to sort of improvise with the yarn winder and swift situation. My swift is made from tinker toys, which I dug out of a box in the barn for this very purpose, and my yarn winder is from a lego robotics kit I got a few years ago. It worked alright, especially since the yardage was pretty low.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all those little gears! I love legos, legos are cool. Apparently useful, too!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Here's a picture that I hope doesn't completely give away what this project is. I'm not even sure if the intended recipient reads this blog, but you know, better safe than sorry. Does this look a little too Bob Marley to anyone? There's more blue than the picture shows...maybe that will help. I have recently learned that I am absolutely awful at picking out colors (I realize how this is really a bad thing for an art student to have problems with)-I have a hard enough time deciding if my outfits match, let alone if colors do. I tend to either wear all greys and purples, or attempt to wear the entire rainbow at once. <br />
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Fast forward a few days. Happy, joyful, beginning of break was replaced with the beginning of a miniature technology apocalypse. Yes, that's what we're calling this, an apocalypse. It possesses no government, and only one law:<br />
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Murphy's law: anything that can go wrong, will- and at the worst possible time. <br />
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My beloved blackberry, whom I have loved dearly for the last 3 and a half years, finally acquired a mortal injury: Besides lacking the ability to make calls, I could no longer use the space bar, so texts were difficult as well. Some people got fed up with this, and I had to get a new phone. I'm kind of a sucker for apple tech, so I got an iphone (which I am very excited about, you should know)...it's just that I have this sort of pathological aversion to change, and I guess I just wasn't ready to see my blackberry go. I miss the notification light, and the real buttons, and how even if I turned it off, it would turn itself back on again if I set an alarm, and how there were so many ring tones to choose from. The iphone is pretty, and all the buttons work- plus it makes calls now which is a pretty sweet improvement...and the data thing will be nice in case of emergencies...But I don't like change. Give me a couple of weeks to let the emotional sting wear down. Plus, that thing slides around in my hands like a stick of butter. It just can't stay put. I ordered a case for it, but in the meantime I guess I can only handle it while sitting on the floor. Carefully. Also, I turned the autocorrect off. I've seen the internet, it's not pretty.<br />
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First, all my texts looked like this:<br />
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But I got better. At least they don't look like this:<br />
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I tried for about half an hour to find one that wasn't too awkward to post. They're quite entertaining, but I would imagine not if it happens to you. Plus there's the whole laughter-at-weird-moments thing. Nope, I'll risk extra letters in my words, rather than a miniature computer with a superiority complex trying to mess with me for fun because it has nothing better to do.<br />
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Meanwhile, my blackberry is trying to make me sad by still sounding its wake up alarm, and sitting all mournfully on my windowsill...<br />
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Aric and I also spent a few days making croissants (it's kind of a process...) but they were done perfectly in time for thanksgiving! The trick is the European butter and special flour.<br />
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Actually the real trick is probably not trying to rush the process....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was our contribution to Thanksgiving dinner! (The cranberry sauce was my sister's)</td></tr>
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And, since I've already sharply digressed from the topic of knitting, here's a really old car!<br />
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This is my dad's new pet project: it's 1981 Fiat Spider, if you were curious, which makes it considerably older than me. If it is a mid-life crisis, it has to be the most well planned for mid-life crisis in history, so I'd say it's probably not. What it is, however, is a fixer upper. Besides having no anti-lock brakes (I have a thing about anti lock brakes...), no power steering, no rear view passenger side mirror, and no air conditioning, and no air bags, it also boasts a nonfunctional horn, a ripped soft-top roof, a broken radio, broken heating system, and assorted rusty bits. It is, however, a drivable vehicle. It has 'antique' license plants and everything.<br />
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This is what the inner bits look like right now- I have been told they will look different upon completion of the project.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TLK57N-7avc/ULBnSjJbUTI/AAAAAAAAAMw/11GTtx26Spk/s1600/fiat+inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TLK57N-7avc/ULBnSjJbUTI/AAAAAAAAAMw/11GTtx26Spk/s320/fiat+inside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite part is that tangle of wires at the head of the center console...</td></tr>
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Hard to believe it drives...but it does. I drove it, even despite its lack of power steering! It does a whopping 65 miles per hour. While I was driving around in the middle of nowhere on a country road, I discovered a very exciting alpaca farm! Alpacas look funny when they sit. I couldn't take pictures because I was driving, but here are some Google pictures to prove that fact:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iJyuldAlYGU/ULBtl8w-fYI/AAAAAAAAANg/I_sIrIprEPg/s1600/alpaca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iJyuldAlYGU/ULBtl8w-fYI/AAAAAAAAANg/I_sIrIprEPg/s320/alpaca.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that! It's like he was just kind of absorbed into the ground. His legs have completely disappeared! His perceived lack of ears is also amusing.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zBD3nJuQgLc/ULBtm6qKeII/AAAAAAAAANo/GAaD1QsHQOI/s1600/sitting_alpaca_by_digimaree-d4b96rt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zBD3nJuQgLc/ULBtm6qKeII/AAAAAAAAANo/GAaD1QsHQOI/s320/sitting_alpaca_by_digimaree-d4b96rt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To prove the first picture wasn't just a legless alpaca- another picture. </td></tr>
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Having now actually driven a convertible, I can still say that I am not a convertible person. Sorry. Any car I end up buying for myself is definitely going to need anti-lock breaks. Also, a roll cage. Definitely a roll cage.<br />
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If you were reading this and thinking to yourself that there wasn't a whole lot of knitting for a Stitch n' Bitch blog, you should know that I agree! It's okay, though, because there's more knitting!<br />
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This is the beginnings of another Christmas present, which is really obvious, but I'm not too worried about this person guessing what his presents are anyways, because he's too busy to think about presents right now anyways. I'm still faced with the challenge of not being able to work on it right in front of him, though. It's slow going, but it will be worth it!<br />
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This concludes our Thanksgiving holiday bonus post. May the rest of your break be full of yarn and other wonderful things! <br />
<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-90526134020125006672012-11-20T12:06:00.003-08:002012-11-20T12:06:48.809-08:00are you guys still doing your thing? Because there's another thing going on...First, my apologies for last week's bloglessness. I was studying for a surprise Chaucer test (one day's notice was a little scary, but it all ended up okay).<br />
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This week at Stitch n' Bitch, things got a little strange. There was another event (one which drew more of a crowd than we yarnies are used to) so we relocated our little circle to the TV lounge downstairs.<br />
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We had quite a few new faces at Stitch n' Bitch, but of course I forgot my camera and had to take pictures with my phone-<br />
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Before we get to that, here's the all-about-Clara section!<br />
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Look at that fabulous sweater! I'm sure you'll remember her knitting that sweater last year. Also, observe the ever-lengthening tube, here functioning as a lap blanket!<br />
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Here's a candid picture of Clara knitting while waiting for Fred at a music competition. What is she knitting? It certainly isn't the tube. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will make an appearance at Stitch N' Bitch in the coming weeks!<br />
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And now, new people!<br />
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A suggested title for this week's blog post was "a blind man could see what you did there"- courtesy of these two lovely ladies- Sharon (on the left) and Marita (on the right). They, as you can see, were quite the giggly personalities this week.<br />
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This is Woody. Despite my picture, I promise he smiles. I think he wasn't sure I was taking a picture of him. He heard about Stitch N' Bitch through his guidance counselor- I didn't know that guidance counselors knew about Stitch N' Bitch- but regardless, it results in new faces, and new faces are awesome!<br />
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Madeline is working on yet another sweater with some moderately scratchy wool yarn- but, like Noro, I bet it'll soften up when she washes it. Mary is working on trying to get her yarn to speak to her. It appears to not be ready to talk yet though.<br />
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Katharine has begun working on the sleeves of her fingering weight sweater, and we had two other new faces this week, whose names I forgot to write down. I also have no picture evidence to suggest their presence- you'll have to take my word for it. While I was going around the circle taking pictures, my phone died, in a permanent sort of way (or so I thought...) I tried to take the battery out and put it back in, which did nothing to solve the problem. As it turns out, the battery has exploded internally, and the it can't handle taking pictures any more. It sort of shocked the phone I think, and it took overnight to recover. I also can no longer make calls on my phone, and the space bar has recently stopped working. I've had the phone for longer than I've been at Truman, so I suppose it's about time for it to go. As a matter of fact, I think my dad's about to take me to the AT&T store to pick out a new phone. Field trip! We'll see how this goes.<br />
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Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving Break blog post, in which there will be many exciting things!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-20312717075788003702012-11-01T21:17:00.003-07:002012-11-01T21:17:47.353-07:00So- do I put it on my head with the plate still in it?It's that time again- Blog time! Some very exciting things went on at Stitch n' Bitch this week (but then again, very exciting things happen every week...)<br />
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Today, art history was cancelled, because our professor was sick, but she didn't send out the email until about 3 minutes before class started, so I was already up. Lauren and I decided to spend the usual art history time working on our knee socks in progress instead! Knitting, I'm pretty sure, is the best use of a morning ever. Not that I wouldn't just have been knitting during class if it had happened anyways... <br />
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Lena has made some pretty considerable progress on her blanket (remember how last week it looked like a scarf? It doesn't anymore!)<br />
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apparently, Downton Abbey is a great show to make epic blanket progress during, and apparently, Lena watches a lot of Downton Abbey. (Also, my apologies for accidentally telling who died. I promise I didn't mean it, and I'm not saying it again, just in case. Maybe Lena will forget.)<br />
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Katharine is so close to starting the sleeves! At last count, she was five centimeters away- and at her current calculation of one centimeter per hour, I'd say she should be on to sleeves by next week, wouldn't you? It's beginning to look a lot like a sweater!<br />
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Mary is having problems hearing her yarn. She doesn't know what it's telling her it wants to be- it's probably screaming at her, but she can't hear it. Here's my theory, though- Since the yarn she's working with is yarn she bought in France, it's probably (no, definitely...) screaming at her in French. She's just not listening in the right language! Also, even if she was listening in french, screaming french people are really hard to understand on a good day, so imagine what screaming french yarn must be like...so right now she's just swatching.<br />
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Madeline, after a harrowing journey to find fish food, made some more progress on her baby sweater. I just love that yarn so much! That's going to be one lucky baby.<br />
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Unlike Mary's french yarn, the Tube speaks to Clara all the time. See all those color changes? That's not Clara deciding to change colors, that's the Tube telling Clara that it's time for something new. This picture doesn't show it, but the Tube has already consumed quite a bit of that eyelash yarn Madeline gave Clara a few weeks ago. I'm just waiting for the Tube to tell her that it would like some stranded colorwork sections. I wouldn't put it past the Tube.<br />
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Katherine is working on a very specifically requested purple scarf for her brother (if your brother asks you for a purple scarf, you make him a purple scarf. That rule is probably actually written down somewhere. It's a nice, wide scarf as well.)<br />
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Jordan has finished her hat! Basking in the wonder of not knitting cozies for golf clubs any longer, she went right to town on that hat, and now all it needs is a good blocking...(don't worry, Jordan, blocking isn't hard!)<br />
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It was a very entertaining conversation indeed when Madeline began explaining to Jordan the concept of putting a dinner place inside her hat, and steam blocking it using an iron (oh, Jordan doesn't have an iron..)...using the steam from a boiling pot of water(oh...Jordan doesn't have a pot either..)...using the steam from a boiling...pan.. of water. We college students have to get creative sometimes.<br />
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I am almost finished with my socks-that-are-to-be-worked-on-between-projects. These socks have been in progress for about a year and a half now, so it's high time they were finished, but on the other hand, I'm soon going to need to start another pair of socks to work on between projects. I'm going to be sitting down to do my sweater math tomorrow afternoon (it's in the calendar), so the sleeves should be back on track soon. I have a pretty strong itch to start some new projects as well- a hat for my head of significantly less hair than I'm used to, two pairs of socks, a wrap (or three...) not to mention the TARDIS blue yarn I'll be dyeing soon. We'll see what havoc I can wreak on the stash this weekend!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-80611262746987401152012-10-28T21:23:00.002-07:002012-10-28T21:23:31.967-07:00A much belated thing or two...Oh, my! I got so good about blogging on Wednesday nights that I sort of assumed on Thursday morning that I'd done it, and then things got hectic! (We'll get back to that...)<br />
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This week at Stitch n' Bitch:<br />
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Madeline made an appearance with not one, but TWO completed sweaters! Check out the fabulous buttons on this one! Plus, that I-cord edging that I still haven't found a project to try out for myself! I like it. Combined with Katharine's diligent progress, It almost makes me want to knit a fingering weight sweater. Almost.<br />
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Here's the other one, with a very happy Madeline inside:<br />
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Clara is sticking her tongue out in this picture, which makes me smile. Madeline is hard at work on yet another sweater (this one, however, is baby-sized, and should move a lot quicker for that reason.)<br />
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Speaking of Clara:<br />
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Look at the size of that Tube! It grows ever so much longer. Maybe she should suspend it from the ceiling and use it as a Tube of silence. Maybe it's a sleeping Tube. Maybe it's a top down sock for a particularly tall person. It could even be a carrier for a great many cats. It could be a Tube trap for assorted mythical creatures. It's up to us to guess, I suppose.<br />
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Aaaand look what we have here, ladies and gentlemen! A sweater that surely, by now, has sleeve progress, as this picture is a few days old. Katharine is making record time on this sweater, it will definitely get some wear before too much longer!<br />
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Check out the crochet stitch pattern on Lena's blanket! I know it looks like a scarf right now, but it's not. It's a blanket- the beginnings of a blanket!<br />
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Here's a yet-to-be-determined project and some ever -so -diligent crochet chain stitch practice (practice makes perfect! I read somewhere that it takes the average person 300 hours of doing something in order to become a master- like drawing, or playing the violin. There's no reason 300 hours of chain stitch would be any different, but I doubt I'd make it to 5 before I started second guessing the merit of mastering it.)<br />
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Here's a Halloween doggy sweater for Megan's new puppy. She seemed to be aware that most dogs do not enjoy sweaters, and seemed also not to care. We'll see if her puppy stops wiggling long enough for her to snap some pictures in costume!<br />
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Look! A foot! and Jordan's <i>Ridiculously Organized</i> bag of yarn for her sister's granny square blanket. I should have taken a picture of my yarn bag for comparison. Also, you can see my toes in this picture- which reminds me that this week is a very important week- Halloween on Wednesday means it's Halloween sock week! I started with toe socks featuring skulls and roses, and then today was black and white striped witchy socks! Whatever will tomorrow bring...Halloween is the best time of the year for sock shopping. But I digress...<br />
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This is what Jordan's sister's blanket will look like when it's done. I don't think the colors are quite right, judging by the yellow of the carpet. It's still really awesome though! That's one lucky sister. The good thing about granny square projects, though, is how portable they are. As soon as she fills her bag up with squares, she can just empty it out and start over until there's enough- no lugging around a big old blanket!<br />
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And then there's silly old me- as if knitting wasn't weird enough:<br />
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I'm making yarn! I know it looks like I know what I'm doing in this picture, but I promise I don't. I keep dropping the spindle because such thin yarn requires quite a lot of twist. I'm working on it, though. 300 hours, like I said. I'm still stalled on my sweater because I haven't had time to sit down in a quiet place and do the math to figure out what the appropriate increase pattern is. Math is hard. Maybe tomorrow. I have been just as hard pressed for knitting time as I have for blogging time!<br />
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And now, a story:<br />
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Aric and I visited Iowa State University over the weekend, because they were holding an event for prospective graduate engineering students. I drove. We were nearly there, when I spied a Joann Fabrics sign right next to a Michael's sign, right next to a Target sign, so I did a little happy dance and got off the highway...Bought some fabric, and something truly fabulous that I will show you all on Tuesday. When we were pulling up the ramp to get back on the highway, we were stopped in a line of cars because a police man was at the top of the ramp, stopped with his flashers on, and blocking traffic. I thought there was an accident or something, so we waited. All of the sudden, ten or so police cars drove by on the (empty, because the ramp was blocked) highway- followed by exactly two black SUVs with tinted windows, and eight white SUVs. Behind that, were two large luxury busses ( I don't know what the word for them is- the kind that look like RVs, but they're not...) The not-RVs were followed by an additional eight white SUVs, two black SUVs, and a bunch more police cars with flashing lights. Following up this parade were two more police cars, blocking traffic so that nobody could get into the caravan.<br />
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Every time they passed an on-ramp, a car from the front of the line would block it, and a then join again at the back. When we got to Ames, they exited onto a new highway (we watched all this from the bridge over said highway)- and two cars stopped traffic on that highway so that it was empty for the caravan.<br />
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Aric and I resolved to Google when we got home, to figure out who the very important person was, blocking traffic and traveling exactly at the speed limit (Gah!).<br />
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Wanna Guess? You really only have two options.<br />
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It was Mitt Romney. He made a campaign stop in Ames, Iowa, while we were visiting the Applied Mathematical Sciences lab at Iowa State.<br />
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In other news: the bell tower there played the theme song from Mario at 11:00.<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-24910568364306808682012-10-17T23:02:00.000-07:002012-10-17T23:02:42.427-07:00In lieu of other thingsI forgot to bring my camera to Stitch n' Bitch this week. I even forgot to bring my back-up camera, and my phone was dead. Imagine! So I don't have updates to current yarn projects, but I do have some evidence of yarn-y awesomeness nonetheless, and her name is Clara:<br />
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It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's the ever amazing Clara, who has attached a zillion handmade pom-poms to the ceiling of her bedroom! Makes my lousy glow-in-the-dark stars look completely lame. (Which really they are, because if you're supposed to be sleeping but your desk light is still on, and then you hear your mom coming to check on you and you turn off your light, and really quick jump in to bed, the glow in the dark stars betray you, because the ones around your desk are particularly charged and therefore extra glow-y....) Anyways. These pompoms show no signs of betrayal, so Clara is probably okay. <br />
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Meanwhile, you're going to have to take my word for what went on at Stitch n' Bitch because I have no pictorial evidence. Clara has extended her sock-thing past leg length (what it is now is anyone's guess...a very skinny sleeping bag, maybe? or maybe the statue of liberty's feet are particularly cold this winter). Mary is knitting experimental yarn things with yarn from Paris- she doesn't know what the yarn wants to be yet. I didn't pet it or look closely, but it looked pretty french from where I was. Katharine is making excellent progress on her sweater (more excellent than my progress, but we'll get to that), and Jordan (Whose last name I now know) has...drumroll please.... FINISHED THE LAST OF THE HEAD COVERS! Except that her dad has recently bought a new set of golf clubs. First, he is a crazy person, second, he apparently bought the golf clubs to match a golf shirt that she bought him, which is even more crazy, and third, he seems to be expecting obligatory matching golf club cozies for this set as well. Jordan is currently working on a hat, as well she should. Madeline skipped Stitch n' Bitch last night to watch the presidential debates, but she has promised us that she will be displaying not one, but two new sweaters! So I definitely have to remember my camera next week.<br />
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In yarn-bomb preparation news, I have completely forgotten to ask Dave if I can cover one of the pillars in the Hub with granny squares, on the six or more occasions I have seen him since the conception of that idea. Even, in fact, one occasion where he asked me if there was "anything else I could think of that I wanted to ask him"....I'll remember next time. Or the time after that.<br />
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There's this thing that's happened to me this week, and I'm not at all a fan of it, and I think that I might actually implode (or explode, really, any sort of thing like that) if this thing is not rectified soon. It's a very bad thing: I have not knit anything since Saturday. That makes three whole days with not so much as a single stitch knitted-that's how busy I've been. Even now, the only reason I have decided there is time to blog, is because I am procrastinating on writing a paper. Like I said, there might be some kind of implosion soon. I think the rush is almost over, though, and hopefully I'll get some knitting time this weekend. Hopefully.<br />
So what did I do at Stitch n' Bitch this week then? Well I'm glad you asked. I worked on homework. There was stitching involved, though, and probably some bitching as well. I bound a little over half of my hand-printed books for printmaking class with a method called 'Japanese stab stitching'- which really is not a very accurate title, considering you pre-drill the holes. It's really more like a 'Japanese poke a needle through pre-existing holes to make fancy patterns stitching' My book is about a dog my family used to have named Tinkerbelle, and all of the silly/memorable things that she did. Well, some of the things, at least, because I couldn't make the book as long as I wanted. There are 18 copies, because there had to be enough for everyone in the class... The books are really massive projects, and they have been eating my knitting time alive, but I'm turning them in tomorrow, so maybe my knitting time will come back to me. Also the 'surprise' take-home-paper-test-thing that was assigned today and is due tomorrow is done, so bonus points for me!<br />
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Way back in the day, when I still had knitting time, I finished the front and back of my sweater and stitched them together, and cast on for the sleeves....I knit six inches of sleeve before I realized that I was increasing much too quickly for anybody's good, despite my careful calculations to do what the pattern was telling me to do...so now when I sit down for the first time in 3 days (which will probably turn into 4 before I have time) to knit, I'll be ripping out six inches of sleeve, and resolving from now on, to do things my own way, if and especially when the pattern I'm supposedly following looks funny.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-67550540110491104632012-10-03T20:12:00.000-07:002012-10-03T20:12:10.179-07:00A 'Short' Answer.Hello, internet world!<br />
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Sorry about the lack of blog last week. There was confusion. And unsureness. This program seems to think 'unsureness' is a word, but I am unsure. Just go with it. Katharine will be blogging next week, so that will be an exciting change of pace! Meanwhile, you're stuck with crazy old me!<br />
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This week at Stitch n' Bitch, many exciting things happened- but many exciting things often do.<br />
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Clara was working on a smaller, and closed counterpart to her big papa tube. It looked like a sock, so she tried it on. Best.Sock.Ever:<br />
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I should also mention that this device is crochet, not knitted. This girl is the whole package! Also, Madeline was quick to point out that she is dressed like a pirate. All she needs is a parrot. or an eye patch. or a peg leg. or, you know, all of the above. Halloween is coming up!<br />
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Speaking of Madeline, here is an almost finished cotton-wool sweater!:<br />
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second sleeve almost completely finished! We won't get to see it finished next week because she's ditching the booming metropolis of Kirksville for a visit to Albuquerque (which I did not spell correctly without spell check. Close, but no cigar...) but the week after that, certainly. I wonder what her next project will be! whatever it is, it will surely involve new and exciting yarn to pet!<br />
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Mary's pile of accent scarf is getting ever so much longer: <br />
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I love it! I love it all.<br />
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Check out Katharine's progress on her fingering weight cardigan!<br />
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It's knit with palette (which I might have told you) and I was informed this week that she did not swatch. The daredevil. It will be a lovely cardigan regardless, though. She has some bulky yarn lined up for a cowl in the future, in case she needs a break from all that fingering weight.<br />
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Katherine is making speedy progress on her Halloween costume (she's got the right idea. Start early.):<br />
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It also has a matching skirt. Not finished yet, but she has a whole month, so progress is being made!<br />
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Megan is making a table runner:<br />
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Check out that lace pattern! I hope it's not a terribly long table!<br />
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We had two new people join us at Stitch n' Bitch this week:<br />
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Bri, who is making a brightly colored scarf:<br />
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Fabulous! Mary showed her how to purl, so now we'll be expecting great things.<br />
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And I forgot to ask our other guest's name: She was invited by Katherine (Katherine, not to be confused with Katharine, or me- Kat... there are so very many...) and was learning to crochet: she seemed very intent on her learning:<br />
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I am still working on my rainbow sweater- a little over 2/3 done with the back. I had a hiccup where the stripes didn't match up (which makes absolutely <i>no sense</i>, but it's yarn, and it does what it wants)... I seem to be back on track now, though. Soon, I'll be starting sleeves! I also got a new shipment of yarn in a few days ago- two pairs of socks, and two extra balls of rainbow for the sweater, just in case.<br />
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Group Picture! Everybody do something with your face!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And quite a group it is!</td></tr>
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Jordan came a little late, and I forgot to snap a picture, but she is working on finishing up that set of golf club covers... and her Dad asked her to make <i>another set</i>! The nerve! We agreed that there has to be an intervention. Things are getting out of hand. However, in anticipation of being done For Good with the golf club cozies, she is excited to be thinking about knitting things for herself! In her excitement, she asked me a dangerous question: What kinds of yarn are there?<br />
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We were talking about Knit Picks, and other yarns, and where to get them, and how we knew they would be soft. Jordan enjoys knitting with Simply soft, and was worried other yarn would be expensive. We talked a little about it, but it was near the end-half of the group had left for the night already, and so today's lesson (remember my knitting history lesson?) is about my experience with different types of yarn!<br />
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A quick note on yarn weights. They go like this:<br />
<b>Bulky:</b> is bulky...<br />
<b>Worsted:</b> is average 'normal' yarn. A lot of sweaters are made with Worsted. Unless you're Katharine.<br />
<b>Fingering:</b>
one half the thickness of worsted. For shawls on the
thicker-but-not-too thick side, and thin knits that could be
accomplished with worsted as well. Holding two strands of fingering
together will give you close to the same gauge as worsted.<br />
<b>Sock yarn:</b>
fingering weight yarn with a percentage of nylon in it. Nylon keeps
your socks from getting holey. You can use sock yarn for things other
than socks, I promise.<br />
<b>Lace weight</b>: around one half the
thickness of fingering weight yarn- this weight is good for wedding
shawls and other very thin knits. Things knit with lace weight wool can
still be surprisingly warm.<br />
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We'll start with animal fibers:<br />
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Firstly, and most obviously, Wool:<br />
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There's a million different types of wool, and some of it is best suited for carpets, while others are better for sweaters and hats. The most recognizable breed of sheep for garment yarn is the Merino, and its wool is very soft indeed. If you're going to knit something that will be next to your skin, Merino is a pretty safe bet. Softness can be affected by a number of things- if your wool is blended with something softer, then it will feel softer. Sock yarn can sometimes feel softer because there's a bit of nylon in it.<br />
Also, if it is spun tightly, it might feel less soft than if it is spun loosely, and single ply yarns often feel softer as well, but are more likely to pill. There's a certain balance there, because the tighter it is spun, generally the more durable it is. If there's a micron number listed wherever you're buying your yarn, look for something under 30. Anything above that, most people find scratchy. A micron is a unit of measurement that is pretty standard for measuring the width of a single hair. Merino usually runs about 20 to 23, average.<br />
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Alpaca!!!<br />
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these guys are so cute. Also, they look silly when they're shorn. Alpaca yarn is very, very soft. Like, a lot. It has a bit more of a sheen to it than wool. It can't take the same beating that wool can, so I wouldn't use it for gloves. It tends to fuzz up, which is either very good, or very bad, depending on your project. If you want to make yourself a sweater that will make people want to hug you with a very strong magnetic pull, then Alpaca can do that job. It has a light halo of fuzz that will make you the softest person on the planet. It may pill a little, but you can cut off the pills, and they will stop after a few washes. On the other hand, if you make a hat, it won't pill at all, because it's a hat, and hats don't rub against anything the way sweaters do. Alpaca can get as small as 10 microns, for those of you keeping score at home. It's pretty slippery to knit with, but not in a bad way. It's really just different. Awesome. It's important to swatch with alpaca because it is more likely to grow, shrink, or stretch than wool.<br />
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silk!<br />
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I've not shown you silk worms. You can look them up, if you like. They just look like caterpillars.<br />
Silk is spun by silkworms, and is generally known for its drape, and its shine. Silk isn't especially warm, but if you want elegance, you've come to the right place, Unlike alpaca, it has an excellent stitch definition. It's very soft, but without the fuzzy halo. It can also increase the stitch definition of other fibers if it is blended with them. I like silk for shawls and wraps, but you can use it for anything you want to have excellent drape. I should also mention that the process by witch silk goes from those little white cocoons to yarn is some kind of voodoo of which I am not currently familiar. I had a friend who went to Japan and tried to explain it to me, but she didn't know yarn, and I didn't know silkworm-farming, so the whole thing ended with no knowledge gained. I've been told they unravel the silk in one long thread, but this sounds difficult.<br />
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Those are the major animal fibers, I think, so I'll move on to plants:<br />
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Cotton! cotton is very practical, but a lot of people don't like to knit with it because it doesn't have elasticity. Things knit with cotton tend to sag, but if you account for that in your pattern, it's not a problem. It's extremely durable, and you can just throw it in the washing machine, unlike most other fibers. It may get a little fuzzy, but that depends on the yarn specifically. It has a pretty wide range of softness. I read an article in a spinning magazine earlier today about a woman who spun yarn out of cotton balls, which I believe is a crazy thing to do, but she did it anyways. One could make a light summer wrap out of cotton- drape wouldn't be an issue, and it would keep the sun off your shoulders without being too warm. Also, dishcloths, and face cloths.<br />
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Linen: Slightly less used, and sometimes expensive. Knitting with linen is like knitting with grass. Once you wash it, though, it magically becomes soft. Then, it magically becomes softer every time you wash it after that. It can also sag, and has little elasticity, but so many people love the feeling of it that it doesn't matter. Its heaviness allows it to drape a little better too. It's good for cool, summer knits.<br />
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Bamboo!! A personal favorite of mine. Bamboo is naturally antimicrobial and 10 times more absorbent than cotton. It can be processed a lot of different ways, so the yarn can be anything, really. It's good for baby clothes because it's super soft and low maintenance (did I mention super soft?) It has a drape and sheen like silk, and a pretty great durability as well, in my experience. A bamboo-wool blend is very similar to a bamboo-silk blend.<br />
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The most important thing when knitting with a new fiber is to swatch it, to see how it will behave. Or, not, if you're adventurous. Also, If you're not sure how durable something might be, you can make a little mini-hank (or swatch) of it, and attach it to your key chain for a week or two, and see if it ages nicely.<br />
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I'm sorry if you knew all that already. Also, I ramble, I know. It was a lot longer than my history of knitting...I don't know if I meant for that to happen. Mostly, I just really like talking about fibers- and that was the short version! Blame Jordan. She asked me that dangerous question.<br />
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Just one last thing: I learned to spin yarn properly a few days ago! I though I couldn't do it, but it turns out I was just doing it wrong. So, there will be many hand spun projects in my future!<br />
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<br />Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9080013803714214694.post-12297318423420135902012-09-19T17:46:00.000-07:002012-09-19T17:46:49.260-07:00I don't know what to do with my face!Hello again! It's me again this week, because Katharine has informed us that she needs time to prepare herself for the great task that is blogging. Also, she just got new yarn, so we should probably leave that girl alone so she has time to knit. She's made some progress on her thrummed mittens, and rightly so, because the weather is starting to turn!<br />
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After that, a sweater will be on its way, as well as some socks, and even a cowl! She is going to (and I'm making it blog-official so don't forget, Katharine!) bring the new yarn to show us next week. If everyone else brings some exciting yarn from their stash, we can all pet new yarn, and take pictures! I think my whole entire stash is a little too big for transport right now, and I'm sure I'm not alone (I hope I'm not alone. It keeps me from having to admit that I have a problem...) but I'll probably bring some highlights!<br />
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In other <i>Very Exciting</i> news, we have a new member!<br />
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This is Margaret (Margaret, I'm sorry if I've spelled your name wrong, I didn't think to ask how you spell it...that's how my cousin spells her name though, so I took a guess...) Margaret moved here recently from D.C. (which is cool! Also it is bigger than Kirksville...) and she works at A.T. Still. She is working on a very lovely looking scarf, whose stitch pattern makes it look like it's made of a bunch of little fans! How neat is that! <br />
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Madeline is making pretty epic progress on her sweater- It's the cotton/wool blend that felt more like cotton, so its blocking behavior was pretty questionable. I bet we're going to find out how blocking went soon, though, because it's nearly finished!<br />
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I am so excited about that stitch pattern! I can't wait to take the first finished-object picture of the new school year! I wish I had as much time to knit as Madeline does. I am working on that, though. Also, apparently this sweater has been officially played with by at least one of Madeline's dogs, so I'd say its an official part of the family now! I think I'd be rather upset with my dog if she tried to play with something I was knitting...although she's not a huge fan of chewing things up, so much as just taking them, and keeping anyone else from having them.<br />
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The ever-persistent Clara has begun winding yet another ball of fantastic fun fur in a new color. The rather unfortunate side effect of this is that she hasn't had time to make more progress on the Tube.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look! a new furry necklace in a new color!</td></tr>
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Mary is working on making her accent scarf even longer:<br />
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Look at that! We're going to start approaching Doctor Who scarf length here before too much longer!<br />
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Lena is making a hat:<br />
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That yarn looks like it will make a very warm hat indeed! Also, according to Lena, apparently the french toast muffins at the SUB are quite tasty. Trust me, there was much excitement.<br />
Jordan is plugging away on those golf club cozies- how many cozies make a set? Six, maybe? Or does it depend on the set? I don't know much about golf, but thanks to Jordan, I do know a thing or two about golf club cozies. At any rate, one's done, and another one started, so I'd say progress is definitely being made!<br />
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I also took a group picture- I apparently was very thorough, and made Jordan nervous... she didn't know what to do for the picture, which led to the title of this very blog post- I think she did alright though:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I don't know what to do with my face!"</td></tr>
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everybody's faces look thoroughly occupied with their knitting, so all is well!<br />
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I finished the front of my sweater while we were gathered:<br />
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Rainbows are cool! I used just over 2 balls of yarn, although I really didn't want to go over 2... I was about to start the back of the sweater, but I realized that all my other balls of yarn are wound backwards! Instead of the colors going purple, blue, green, pink, aqua, they go aqua, pink, green, blue, purple! I guess I'm not an expert on yarn factories (other than that they are magical places and if I had to choose one place to live for the rest of my life, it would probably be a yarn factory...) but I'm a little confused at them for winding some balls one way and some backwards. Regardless, I have realized that I'm going to need more yarn to finish this project, especially if I'm going to make the stripes in the sleeves match each other like I am for the front and the back. That's been ordered today (along with more yarn. I won't admit I have a problem. ) but in the meantime, I need to work on getting the back of the sweater's stripes to match up with the front, which is proving to be a task in itself. I really want this to be done before it starts getting too cold out! I need a defense against the Kirksville winter!<br />
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Next week's blog will include a discussion on improvisational knitting tools, and little things knitters do that most other people wouldn't do. We talked a little about it this week as we were leaving, because I told a story about using a crochet hook as a cable needle, with most pleasing results. Also, I'd like to let you all know that I found a cable needle under my pillow today while I was looking for my glasses...I bet that doesn't happen to non-knitters...<br />
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By next week's blog I mean the next time I blog- unless Katharine would like to blog about it- if Katharine is blogging next week. You and I will both find out together- it's all rather confusing.<br />
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Dear Kaylin (and everyone, but especially Kaylin): if you would like to see pictures of a cute baby wearing a cute knitted thing, you should go to the yarn harlot blog, because there is a cute baby waiting for you there. I think it was the post on September 18th. That blog post makes me want to go make friends with the people that eat breakfast at the same time I do in the dining hall every morning. They have a baby. It too, is very cute, but I have not witnessed it wearing any knitted things.<br />
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Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07217230919240106410noreply@blogger.com0