I 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!

Katherine was working on sleeves:

 Nope, just sleeves. Like the kind you wear with something that doesn't have sleeves. So that it does. You know.

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.

 Yeah, it is just in time for it to be warm outside...But who cares? Knitting!

Katherine was knitting a not-sweater, even though her sweater has yet to be finished.

I am impatient! But then again, really if you think about it...So is she....

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.)

 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!

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....

 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!

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.

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.

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?

in which there is an ivory tower, and Sgt. Pepper's namesake group returns

I 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...)
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).

I took the time to work on some beaded shank buttons for the communion purses I made for my cousin's kids:

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!

Lauren is making pretty wonderful progress on the Flounder socks:

Check it! That's a second sock with opposite-colored toe! How cool! It's like, the same- but different!

Sorry. I get excited about socks.

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.

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!

Also, I finished some things:

Whoot! bamboo, purple, and big enough that it doesn't fall off my shoulders!

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!

...We're Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope that you enjoyed the show!...

in which there is a photoshoot

It'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.

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!

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!

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!

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:

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!

 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....

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?

 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!

And then there was me, photos courtesy of Madeline:

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.

 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?)

In which there is a 'learning face'

It's been so long since our last meeting, but do not lament, there's one tomorrow!

Seriously. You should be there.

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...

Clara, once again, does not know what she is working on, and we have come to expect nothing less.

Lauren is working on Emma's socks:

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...)

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!

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.

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....

Sargent 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.

We were missing some folks at Stitch n' Bitch this week. It may have had something to do with this:

Snow Day!

Just one day before our meeting, Campus looked pretty much like this.
And this:

Blocked sidewalk in front of Kirk Memorial

And the Sunken Garden was particularly creepy:

But, some would say cold weather is knittin' weather- at least it makes you wish you had knit more warm things to wear...

This week, Meghan was working on a hat:

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!

Katherine was working on a bright red vest:

The nice thing about big projects like this is that they behave like blankets while you're working on them!


Lauren is back up to speed on her sock, after having to restart the whole thing:

Maybe the pair will be done when we all get back from midterm break!

Jordan started work on a new bag, which she is understandably very excited about:

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.

I made some progress on the fourth sheep of the Six Sheep Sampler. I started the sixth sheep this morning in class!

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!


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!

Belated

Well.

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!

Katharine managed to almost-finish a tie blanket, which was a gift for a friend of hers in Prim Roses:

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!

Lauren is working on a sock for my roommate, Emma:

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:

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.

This is how excited Jordan always is when she crochets:

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.

Okay, now I've set myself up with this one...

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.


Madeline is making Borough Gloves!

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.


Look, it's me!

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.

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.

the speed-blogger

All 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.)...


so I'm blogging fast!

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)

 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!

Megan has, since last time, finished her jiggly puff and cast on for a hat!

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.

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!

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!

(here's that 'not as I do' part I was telling you about before)
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!