New Project: Miraldette

After several months of a pretty severe knitting slump, I've found love again.

The yarn: Jade Sapphire 2-Ply silk/cashmere blend in colorway Hydrangea, bought in Half Moon Bay while yarn touring northern California with my mom.

The pattern: Miralda's Triangular Shawl, from Knitted Lace of Estonia.  Perhaps one of the most beautiful patterns ever committed to paper.

Knit during in-between moments amidst coffee, translating, and working the desk at the student union.

Perfection.

Outfit Post: January 19th

9 am.  Wake up.  Grumble profusely about waking up.

9:15 am.  Put together outfit.  Decide that schoolgirl vibe is present but within acceptable limits.

9:30 am.  Eat Pop-tarts while checking email.

9:45 am.  Leave for Slow Train cafe.

10 am.  Acquire coffee.  Acquire comfy couch seat.  Translate until brains dribble out ears.

11:52 am.  Realize that am supposed to meet friend for lunch in eight minutes.  Decide that there's definitely enough time to finish translating sentence.

12:03 pm.  Realize that I am already late as scrambling to get to restaurant in heels and badly shoveled sidewalks.

12:08 pm.  Lunch!  Nomnomnom.  Chat with friend about life.

12:45 pm.  Decide that there is definitely enough time for a trip to the yarn store with friend.  Pet yarn.

1:10 pm.  Stop by weaving Winter Term project, which is a million looms set up at FAVA.

1:45 pm.  Walk to language building.  Chat with East Asian Studies receptionist and receive very nice comment about GPA.

1:50 pm.  Meet with translation project advisor.  Start to calm down about how much work I still have to do.

2:20 pm.  Awkwardly take pictures of outfit in Science Center.  Get embarrassed whenever someone passes by, as they are obviously judging me.

4 pm.  Return to room.  Get really excited about writing a blog post.

4:01 pm.  Forget about blog post and start tagging faces on my new shiny version of iPhoto.

4:30 pm.  Oops.  Hi there!

Outfit:

Skirt: Pendleton wool pleated skirt, found at Stella

Blue striped button-down: The Gap

Red vest: hand-knit, Back-To-School U-Neck Vest from Fitted Knits, Cascade 220

Crochet beaded necklaces: Ginko Gallery

Boots: Miz Mooz

Badassery:  All mine.

Winter Outfits: January

I got back to Oberlin a little more than a week ago.  To get here, my friend and I took Amtrak from Seattle to Chicago, then to Elyria, which is the closest train station to Oberlin.  It ended up being a more exciting trip than we had bargained for: we missed our first train and rescheduled for a second, then I got pinkeye and we had to skip our layover in Chicago.  When we got to Elyria, it was 5 am and there were six inches of snow on the ground and counting.  The train station itself is a platform in the middle of nowhere, and every taxi company in the area either charged a buttload extra money to come to Lorain County, or the proprietor was asleep and did not sound happy to hear from us.  We thankfully ended up getting a ride from one of my friends.

Luckily, since then, I've been able to move into my new room, get settled, and start to work on my winter term project.  On Monday, Ratsy's was having a sale, so I popped in to see what she had gotten in since I left.

I usually don't like polyester so much, but I couldn't resist the shape and color of this little dress!  It was really freaking cold when I got these pictures.  You can't see my giant cashmere coat draped over the railing, but it was definitely needed.

Dress: Thrifted '70s 

White long-sleeved tee: Nordstrom BP

Belt: Thrifted

Necklace: Costume jewelry from my grandmother

Boots: Miz Mooz

I wore this to work yesterday.  I've been working a lot of hours, which trips up the translation work a little since I'm incapable of getting actual schoolwork done while I'm on the job.  We're allowed to do homework, but I'm really particular about where I work on things that require my brain.

It hasn't snowed in probably four days, which means that I get to wear whatever shoes I want!  Usually in the winter, I'm confined to a gigantic pair of hiking boots that go with approximately nothing in my wardrobe.

Pants: Liz Claiborne, thrifted

Turquoise pumps: also Liz Claiborne, thrifted

Purple Belt: thrifted

Hat: from Japanese department store

Blazer: New York & Company

Pink bow socks: Tutuanna, in Japan

Tunic: Jude

I've also started swatching something new.  My knitting mojo has been a little lackluster as of late, but I'm hoping to start a bunch of projects soon so that I always have something to work on.  This is Silky Wool to make the Honeycomb Vest from Knitty, which I've been pining to make ever since I saw Mintyfresh's gorgeous version.

I swatched on US 4s, but I think I'm going to have to go down a needle size.  Not looking forward to purling through the back loop on US 3s, but luckily the honeycomb pattern is easy on both sides, and comprises most of the vest patterning.  I also cast on for a new Miralda in delicious hyacinth-colored Jade Sapphire silk/cashmere to replace the one I lost in Japan. Pictures of that to come!

Meet my Jackalope!

My brother got me a stuffed jackalope for Christmas, and he took to my yarn famously.  He did get a little carried away in the end, though.

Here he is playing nicely with some Handmaiden Camelspin.

 

 But now he's getting a little more personal.  Down, boy!

Give a jackalope a cookie... (or some Rainy City Fibers, Madelinetosh, and SHELTER)

 And he may end up covered in yarn.  (Manos del Uruguay lace, Prism handpainted laceweight, Madtosh sock, and Madtosh lace.)
Any ideas for jackalope names?
I'm thinking Rupert.  yarn gif by gifninja.com