casey knits

You know you’re a knitter when all you want for your birthday (and Valentine’s Day) isn’t jewelry or flowers or whatever, but a yarn ball winder.  And you know your boyfriend is a keeper when he not only comes through for you, but takes it up a notch and buys you a heavy-duty “professional” version instead of the cheap one you asked for.

I promptly did this, and was very excited.

Beyond that, there was a really nice dinner out with friends, oodles of fun/silly gifts (my favorite kind!), TONS of birthday wishes from friends all over the world, and this is all a very, very good thing, because up till then, this pretty much summed up how I felt about my birthday this year:

But, you know, I survived.  And now I “pre-date dirt”, as my baby brother (who will be 30 this year and therefore HAS NO ROOM TO TALK!) cheerfully reminded me. 

I’m knitting my annual sweater-for-myself. Slowly.

Very, very slowly. I started on January 31. Two weeks later, I’m not even at the underarms yet. Yeah. Slowly.

The pattern is Melissa La Barre’s Garter Yoke Cardigan (Ravelry link), and I’m knitting it from Malabrigo worsted in Marine.

I agonized quite a lot about the pattern, because I hate the idea of spending months knitting a sweater that’s a really basic design. I mean, if I put that much effort into something, I want it to be something really freaking unique. But in the end, the yarn won - Malabrigo is so beautiful that putting it into something complicated seemed like it would be doing the yarn a disservice. Besides, I really am a plain-sweater kind of girl.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling less like a chicken running around with its head cut off, and more like a normal college student who’s anxious about getting first grades back. Those have been… just okay. This will not be a 4.0 semester. But I think I’m starting to be okay with that, too.

As I hoped would happen, photography is turning out to be the highlight of the semester. Don’t be fooled: it’s a lot of work, way more time and money than I thought I’d have to put into it. So far, though, it’s also been a lot of fun. (Not a surprise: the science major likes to play with chemicals in the darkroom! Hah!) This is from a contact sheet (hence the graininess), from a self-portrait shoot I did last weekend. Yes, I really did run around in a frozen cornfield, with no coat on, in February. We suffer for art, right? This Friday, I will attempt to make prints for the first time… here’s hoping for the best!

Today we had a much-needed break in the routine: a snow day.

I’m not gonna lie; I went back to bed and slept till noon. Ahh…

I wanted a piece of handknit lace for a photography project, but didn’t have time before tomorrow’s lab-time to knit even a swatch, so I blocked the “point” of my current shawl in progress.

Before: bath scrunchy
After: leaf lace!

It’s amazing what water and a few pins will do.

As for the shawl, the pattern I’m using is this Blue Jeans Leaf Lace Shawl.  It’s the first time I’ve ever knitted a point-up shawl, and I’m liking it so far simply because it’s so darn mindless.  Without the increases in the center of a typical triangular shawl, there’s absolutely no thinking to be done except on the edges.  Right now, mindless = good.

I chose this pattern, not because I particularly liked it (I mean, I obviously do, but it wasn’t tops on my to-knit list), but because the idea that she got a 65-inch-wide shawl out of a single 440-yard skein of lace yarn intrigued me.  I’ve had this orphan skein of handspun, hand-dyed, wool-silk-blend lace yarn from Frelsi Farms, bought at the Fiber Frolic a couple years ago… the variegated shades of blue-violet, reminiscent of Starry Night, drew me in, but the yardage… only 265 yards.  I could have knit a cowl or a short scarf, but… meh.  I like shawls!  So I’m trying this pattern, and I’m aiming for a shawlette that’s maybe 45″ or so across.  We shall see, eh?

At this point, my greater hope is that the yarn softens with a good conditioner-laden soak before blocking.  Because holy cow, this stuff is like knitting with wire!

One of Woody’s requests, ages ago, was a doll version of himself, with the base pattern being the ever-popular Kate.  The plan was to get it finished as a Christmas present, but that just didn’t happen.  The next goal was to present it to him on his birthday (January 11), but that came and went as well.

Finally, I just buckled down over the weekend and knit the darn thing.  Sometimes that’s what it takes, you know, and especially with these kinds of projects, because as much as I love to knit, I LOATHE the process of finishing.  I’ve had far too many projects over the years that knit up beautifully, only to be completely ruined at my hands when I tried to embroider, assemble, whatever.  And guess what?

I hate the way this came out.  I mean, really hate it.

I was fine with it until I did the hair, and then all hell broke loose.  The stupid part is that, other than obvious yarn-vs-hair texture differences, it LOOKS LIKE WOODY’S HAIR.  And I don’t hate Woody’s hair on his head.  But I hate Woody’s hair on the doll.  IT MAKES NO SENSE.

But damned if I was going to make another one, so Woody took the doll with him to work on Monday (and he dressed like the doll, too, which made it doubly amusing).  He crafted a pair of bent-paper-clip glasses for it, which improved it a bit.  Apparently, it was a hit, because now his boss wants one of himself.

I guess the moral of the story is that I’m a perfectionist, and it kills me to send a knitted good out into the world when I’m not happy with it.  (Seriously, I actually cringed.)  Or maybe it’s that whole beauty’s-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder thing.  Either way, I’m not happy with this project at all, and I’m even less happy that it’s in public rather than in a trashcan somewhere, but I suppose I’ll deal with it. 

NOW I’m going to knit things for myself for a while.  If, you know, I can find the time to do so.

Oh hi!  I have a blog?  Actually, I remembered that I had a blog… what I didn’t realize is how quickly time flies, even if you aren’t having fun.  The new semester has begun - 2 weeks in already, if you can believe it, because I sure can’t - and all I can say at this point is that I’m NOT having fun yet.  I really do hope this changes as I get used to my very hectic new schedule and heavy courseload, but if it doesn’t… well, I guess I was bound to have some not-fun semesters sometime in this process, right?

I’ve been so busy - and so exhausted - that I haven’t even really been knitting much.  But in the spirit of catching up with things I’ve meant to post about for the past couple weeks, I do have a couple projects to share:

One of the Christmas presents I couldn’t share previously, because it was still in transit, was a Colonnade shawl for my dear friend Heather.  I used Cascade 220 Heathers (hee!) in a lovely shade of purple.  The funny thing about this pattern is that I really kinda disliked it as I was knitting it;  something about the column lace was very awkward to me, and didn’t flow nicely as I worked it.  But once it was done, I loved it - not just the finished project, but the pattern as well.  It was so fast! and cozy! and NOT-GIRLY!  I think I’ll be making one for myself, if I ever have time!

While I was in New York, I finished a hat for myself that I’d started working on during finals.  The pattern is I Heart Pompoms by Karen Borrel, and it’s my new favoritest hat evar! Once again, the yarn is Cascade 220, this time in Bluebell.  (I think 220 is quickly becoming my default yarn for everything.)  I made a couple very small changes - essentially, making it a pattern repeat + a couple ribbing rows shorter - and managed to get the entire hat, including the pompoms, done with one skein of yarn.

Then, before the semester started and my life went to shit, I started these:

Socks for my cousin’s girlfriend, Evelyn… IF I ever get them done, I will write up the pattern, because it’s one of my own creation and I’m quite pleased with it.  As I often do when I’m giving gifts, this pair is knit from acrylic (easy care!), but knit in wool, these would be fantastically stretchy, sproingy socks for a wide variety of sizes, and I think that’s a good thing in a sock pattern.

Unfortunately (sorry, Evelyn!), the socks are on hold for the time being, because I’m finishing up a belated birthday present for Woody, and then I’m knitting something for myself.  For the sake of my sanity, I have to;  this entire semester is going to be about self-denial on many levels, and so I have to do something for myself, you know?

I just haven’t figured out what that is yet.  By the next post, perhaps…