sort of a bad week

Yesterday the curmudgeon and I decided to break up for a while. It was mutual and will probably be good for us in the end, but for now it sucks. We've been together for two years.

In other ways, today was good - I had some bonding time with my housemates and friends, I went to the gym and ran some serious uphill on the elliptical, got my homework done, and did not cry in public*. Overall, though, I am terribly sad about losing the best partner in crime I've ever had.

Times like these it's nice to be wrapped up in woolies. The weather has just turned cold, and that along with my current slightly ragged state has made appreciate warm things a little more. This morning I dragged out a Malabrigo scarf I made about two years ago. It's not perfect - it rolls, and it's a little too long - but the color is spectacular and it's warm as hell. It was perfect for today.

*bonus points to anyone who gets the Radiohead reference. Because nerdiness must be cultivated and maintained at all times.

Vacation!

This is a pod of elephant seals chillin' on a beach in Santa Cruz, CA. The day was warm. Two adult males butted heads for about five seconds, then decided that they were le tired and settled down their 2-ton selves for a long, delicious, and terrifically stinky nap. It's molting season, so little flecks of elephant seal bristles lined the path down to the ocean.


Whew! That little hiatus was longer than I expected. Unfortunately I have no knitting content (again), mostly because I have done precious little knitting in the last glorious three weeks of my life. Much yarn was bought; many sights of California were... sighted... ; dorkages with a good friend and the Curmudgeon were had. Skirts were bought with great joy and wringing of hands. It was a good time.


The above picture was taken by the Curmudgeon in Big Sur. I was walking down the path and all of a sudden he said, "HANG ON you're all flippy and modelly, I'm going to take a picture ok?" Big Sur, incidentally, is like an alien planet where blue jays like to attack humans, birds, and squirrels alike, where everything is large and either very foggy or very blue. See?


Anyhow. Skirt story: I had ducked over to a lovely knitting shop, The Swift Stitch, and a little vintage boutique the day before and scored a high-waisted wool/cashmere skirt for $40. Also, let me just say that my bank account is far more meager today than it was three weeks ago. I blame my undying support for local business, because apparently "supporting local business(es)" to me means oh my gosh they have madelinetosh/jade sapphire/habu/handmaiden/yarn spun from the underbelly fluff of pymgy marmosets! I could make that into something, right? yes, yes I could! And then I hand over the debit card and... well, it's all over after that.

some of the haul:

- 1 skein madelinetosh sock, fucshia + green = win
- full color set of jamieson shetland spindrift for autumn rose pullover (planned to have a higher neckline!)
- 360 yards of burgundy bison/alpaca blend set to be this adorable eyelet cap from the new VK
- 2 cones of silver-grey jaggerspun zephyr to make the crown prince shawl
- 2 skeins shibui sock in chinese red
- 2 balls dark green baby ull to combine with unknown white stash yarn to make laila's socks
- 2 skeins lorna's laces in a beautiful red/purple/gold colorway, at deep discount, to make 3x1 ribbed socks

all this, plus the sock yarn that I had left at home because "I can't knit it all while I'm at school!" Hahahah. It's all coming back with me, because dammit, I have to try.

I would say that I'm going to have a serious yarn hangover when I get home... but no. No, I will not. I will just spread it all out on the squishy new bed of my squishy new apartment and nap in it.

..... at least, until I have to start taking physics.

Boyfriend Socks Are Not Made Of Fail!

Backstory: I started a pair of gorgeous blue Gentleman's Sock with Lozenge Pattern socks for the boyfriend about 5 months ago. I used size 0 US needles, just like it recommended in the pattern. As the sock got longer, I started to suspect that they would fit me, but not the boyfriend. So I had him try them on... and they wouldn't even squeeze over his instep. D'oh. But size 0 is very small, and I had almost a whole sock, so I finished them and kept them.

Then, I thought that I would use some stash yarn to actually make him some socks. I used the Gentleman's Fancy Sock and size 1s, which are a size up from what is recommended. I started the sock in Bali, and then realized that I was having the too-small problem again, but wouldn't be able to prove it until I got home. So I put the socks away for a while. When I brought them out again, I had him try them on......... and they were too small. I gave up entirely. I knitted the Rib Fantastic socks. I tried not to be too disappointed. I mean, I've knit the guy two scarves and a hat, and I knit about a thousand socks for myself every month, and yet he only has one pair of worsted-weight (and now felted!) hiking socks from me. I want to share the goodness of hand-knit socks with the dude I like, and I can't because I keep on underestimating the size of his freakin' feet. Sigh.

So: last week, I re-started the boyfriend's socks on size 2 US needles with the same yarn (charcoal Baby Ull) and have now knit the cuff, heel, and some of the foot. And today was the moment of truth; I took the sock over to his room and had him try it on... and it fit. Kinda perfectly. Yessssss.

Knitting mojo = 5 billion

Knitting fail = 0

I feel silly for always doing this, but I knitted yet another thing for the Curmudgeon. The last one was a pair of socks that I never blogged (until now - hahah!) and that didn't actually end up fitting his feet. But this was a totally successful, super easy project. Behold, the Hat Fit for a Curmudgeon! I mean... Boyfriend!

Oh, did I mention that it's been snowing? It's been snowing. It's been a frustrating experience, especially since Seattle so seldom gets snow or extremely cold weather in the winter. Many people complain about how no one in Seattle knows how to drive in the snow - I know I don't! My car has been the Metro this week, and holy crap, kudos to them for showing up and driving up treacherous streets for us poor, stranded residents. Seattle drivers have to deal with a crapton of hills and an infrastructure that just isn't meant to be snowed upon, so it makes sense that it's hard for us to drive in the snow - and one of the main reasons that I don't. It will be the first white Christmas that I've had (ever, I think?), but I'll be pretty happy when it's gone.

Anyhow, knitting! This hat is the Hat Fit for a Boyfriend by Stephanieknits. It took one skein of Malabrigo worsted in the colorway Cypress. When I first bought it, I thought that it was black, but it's actually a very, very, very, very, very dark green. I made the body of the hat 9 inches instead of 5.5, because a foldover brim is nice in Ohio.

Yay fast and easy Christmas present!

And finally, the socks that were supposed to be for Graham:


I have recently become obsessed with Vintage Socks.


These socks took about 3 weeks on size 0 needles, which was a little longer than usual on a smaller needle. But the yarn is nice (Cascade Heritage) and the pattern is just about perfect. I have found, though, that I need to go up .25-.5 mm in needle size for all of the socks.


They kept my feet toasty in the snow going to Kirkland for shots yesterday. I still need to hit up REI for deet and a life jacket (wheeee!) but other than that, I have my clothes and shoes and holy crap, I'm going to Bali! My arm was sore all night from the typhoid shot, but it was really nice to get it over with. The family is now out in Ocean Shores for Christmas, and I'm busy knitting socks and wrapping presents.

Hope everyone has a merry Christmas, happy Hannukah, and a beautiful New Year!

Oh hey, I'm alive!

A lot has been happening here in Ohio since I last wrote. First off, the fact that it's Ohio and not Seattle. Surprise!

But moving on. We're about halfway through the semester, with fall break sweeping in on Friday afternoon and taking most of us to New York, Chicago, New Orleans, or some other exciting place. I'm staying here, knitting, watching movies, tinkering with some Silky Wool for a jacket, and doing organic chemistry... and I'm actually looking forward to it quite a bit. I will definitely appreciate some quality Oberlin squirrel-bonding time, if nothing else. For some reason, the roly-poly red squirrels that start going nut-crazy this time of year are charming to me. Sometimes I'll be walking along Tappan Square and happen to see a squirrel perched halfway up the trunk of a tree, glaring and chattering at me as if I greatly offend its squirrelly sensibilities.

There has been a lot happening on the knitting front, but very little photographing of said knitting. I finished the Fair Isle cardigan about a month ago, and have finished two pairs of socks in the last three weeks. I also cast off a simple basketweave scarf for the man friend in some squishy Malabrigo. He is still from California, I reasoned, and has but one scarf. Even if it is one that I made him. Cough.

Malabrigo Delicious Scarf

I knitted up both skeins of Colinette Jitterbug in my stash, which made two gorgeous pairs of socks. I love the colors, and I found out that the skimpy yardage is actually just enough for a pair of my plain 3x1 ribbed socks. Perfect for raising some swing partners' eyebrows.

Doin' the Charleston, in Jitterbug (how fitting!)

Some friends and I are planning an FO party soon, where we will photograph our finished objects, chat about yarn, and maybe watch some X-Files. In the meantime, I'm working on a cowl pattern from some handspun wool/tencel yarn from a local studio, a kicky red vest a la Father Dougal McGuire from Father Ted, and a match to the cabled gauntlet I finished back in July. It doesn't want to knit itself, dammit.

II. In Which Our Hero Goes to Applebee's

The other day, I went to dinner with a bunch of my friends. We went to Applebee's, which is about a 20 minute drive from town, because the Olive Garden had a wait time of an hour and a half and we were on a time-crunch. Still, it was a Saturday night, so we ended up waiting for our table for almost an hour. My friend Ondrea and I both brought our knitting, and we sat on a metal bench outside the restaurant with our friend Will sandwiched between us, both muttering and knitting. (Ondrea is working on a teal baby sweater; I'm working on the Interlocking Balloons scarf for my lab partner, who is from California and has no scarves to speak of.) While we were sitting there, a woman walked out with her family, stepped off the curb, saw us both knitting, stopped and looked dumbfounded. She said something like, "Wow. It's not every day that you see two women knitting outside an Applebee's." Then she laughed awkwardly, got into her car, and drove away.

It's funny that knitting has become so much a part of my life that I get confused when people tell me that they have never seen anyone knit before. I'm perfectly willing to answer questions, and I have no problems with knitting in public, but it is interesting that the first two things that come out of a person's mouth in response to my cabled scarf are, "WOW. What are you doing?" and, upon learning what I am doing, "WOW. Will you knit me a scarf?"

And I do occasionally knit people scarves - the projects that rekindled my addiction when I was sixteen were four basketweave scarves that I knitted for my ex, two old friends, and one of my (still) closest friends. And then there's the interlocking balloons scarf, which I am knitting for my Californian lab partner, a little because he asked for a scarf, but mostly because I've been eyeing the DK-weight charcoal alpaca yarn at Smith's for over a month.

(Seriously, I'm going to marry this yarn someday and we will make lots of cabled scarf babies and a couple of fingerless mittens and a sweater, and we'll sit around drinking hot chocolate that has peppermint teabags thrown in for some broke-ass-college-student flavor.)

Sometimes I wonder if I actually do like to knit, or if I just like to think about knitting - but then I rediscover a beautiful yarn in my stash and realize that - oh, my gosh, I can turn it into that little surplice camisole from Knitting Lingerie Style! - and then, from cast-on to endless, mindless rows of stockinette, I am addicted, planning every exam and homework session and dinner around When I Will Get To Knit Next. Sometimes it goes in cycles, but after a long day of studying and class and frustration, a couple of rows is exactly what I want and need before I go to bed.

Speaking of which, I have been putting off calculus homework for over an hour.

It's a shame how classes cut into my knitting time.