casey knits

And you’d also be dead wrong. 

Somehow, I’m still just as obsessed with shawls as I was a year ago.  After some hedging between a simple shawl in a striking yarn, or a complicated shawl in a plain yarn, the fancy yarn won and I cast on a Revontuli, using the Zauberball that’s been taunting me since I blogged about it last week.  Totally smart choice.  This yarn is rocking my socks.  The pattern is monotonous, but the yarn is so freaking cool that it makes me want to knit more rows just to watch the magical transitioning of colors.  (Yes, I AM easily amused.)

I predict this will be a quick knit… though not as quick as the last couple (yes, couple - there’s a project I haven’t blogged about because it’s a gift!), because Spring Break has, sadly, come to a close, and tomorrow it’s back to the academic grind.  Boo!

FACT: this little kerchief/neckwarmer was, hands down, the most fun I’ve ever had with a knitting project. Period.

Calamity Jane by Kirsten Hipsky :: Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk

See, I kinda have knitting ADD.  I know… what knitter doesn’t, right?  But seriously, it’s extremely difficult for me to finish what I start, even if we’re talking something as basic as a cowl or a hat or a pair of mittens.  Once I start to get bored, I’m done for, and it really doesn’t matter how small the project is.  (I’ve had Christmas-ornament UFOs before, okay?  ‘Nuff said.)

This?  Never gave me a chance to get bored.  The body is symmetrical, and builds logically, but never repeats.  The border is knitted on sideways, binding off the stitches as you go.  You cast on 7 stitches;  you bind off 5 stitches.  It’s great!  I started on March 1 and finished on March 4.  Throw in that I knit the entire thing with one little 146-yard skein of Alpaca & Silk (with 5 yards left over), and you have one nifty little project.  I seriously can’t say enough good things about it.

My only fault with the finished object is one that’s my own damn fault:  I did a halfassed job with the blocking.  I was too lazy to go back downstairs and get a second piece of my blocking board, which would have let me block it out a few inches wider (and, um, STRAIGHT - sigh!).  So the finished width is 32″, when it really should have been at least 36″, if not even a bit bigger than that.  But I’m not going to quibble.  I’m going to make another one!

Kirsten, if you ever read this, thanks for such a fun little pattern - it was perfect spring-break knitting!

I finally got around to adding my Christmas yarn to my stash on Ravelry.  And it’s only March 1! Go me! But seriously, I’ve come to realize that I’m never going to have MY ENTIRE STASH listed on the Rav.  I mean, I have 6 huge Rubbermaid tubs full of yarn.  Who has time to take pictures of all that stuff?!  Not me.  Not even me-when-I’m-on-spring-break, like right now.

(And yeah, I know - you could tell.  Two updates in a week?! OMG, WTF? Heh.)

So I spent the first 3 days of break asleep, pretty much.  I was literally awake for about 6 hours total on Saturday.  Despite this start to the week, I do have a few plans for my time off.   My big goal for the week is to reorganize and rearrange my office space downstairs, to hopefully make it more conducive to actually working.  I also need to mercilessly purge my closet and dresser and get rid of things that don’t fit me anymore.  Plus, you know, there’s homework to be done - like I was going to get away with having no homework!

In between naps over the weekend, I also managed to knock out a piece of commissioned knitting.  Even though I have several WIPS on the needles, I feel compelled to start something else.  I think part of my problem this semester is that I’ve been so focused on “mindless knitting” as a counterpart to my more overwhelming classes, and I’m starting to think that maybe I should change my strategy and start some complicated lace.  You know, to keep my brain from getting too mushy.  I’m not sure this plan will make any sense to anyone but me, and maybe a couple other diehard lace knitters.  Ah well.  Time to dig through the Rav-queue and see what speaks to me. 

I’m a reasonably strong believer in “you are what you eat”;  I think that if you put junk in, you shouldn’t be too surprised when you get junk back out.  As this semester’s gone on, my diet has slowly gotten worse, and worse, and worse, and I was so concerned with the numbers (calories), thinking that alone would help me, that I stopped considering what I was feeding my poor body… which, by the way, has enough problems without me helping any of them along.

So, starting this past week, I made a concerted effort to eat more fresh things.  I still eat way too much crap - and way too much food in general - but I know it’s a start, because I feel better in some respects already.

And bento lunches?  Are the most fantastical way EVER to eat better, I swear.  Having limited space forces you to make conscious choices about what you fill those spaces with.  (This may look like a big lunch, but it’s slightly deceptive;  that box is about 6″ long and 2.5″ wide, quite a bit smaller than a standard container full of leftovers.)  The whole concept of bento encourages beautiful, appealing food, which naturally makes you want to eat your veggies.  And, you know, a really cute lunch box with Totoro on it doesn’t hurt either!

If you’re a fellow bento enthusiast, I’d love to hear what you pack in your lunches.

In other news, about a week ago, the darling Mr. Houchens just about got skinned alive.  I was cleaning the living room, moving things around, and discovered - to my absolute horror - that at some point in the night, he had crawled into my della Q knitting basket - which contained 6 skeins of Malabrigo yarn and my garter-yoke sweater in progress - and PEED.

PEED!! !!!

Since I know my fellow cat-owners will ask, at this point, it appears to be a territorial/possession thing - there’s a couple other key things he’s always trying to “mark” - and I guess, with 2 other cats, I shouldn’t be surprised.  We have to be really diligent about not leaving bags sitting around the living room now.  On the plus side, he only ruined the basket. But that basket - beyond being expensive - was a gift from my mom, and now I’m sad. It can’t be replaced, either; that style was discontinued years ago.

He’s darn lucky that he’s so freaking cute.