Migration

I'll be migrating all my knitting posts over to the main blog since I haven't really been posting any knitting content lately. Check in on me over at Sanity Not Included.

Updates

So I haven't posted for a while. Here's a quick peek at what I've been up to besides drowning in homework:

Here's my traveling sock. It's a pair for DH to replace his store-boughts which are quickly collecting holes. It travels with me here and there, mostly to my lecture class, just giving my hands something to do during idle time.



I've begun the KnitPicks Aran Braided Sock. This thing knits up so fast. What you see here is all of a half hour of knitting, on and off. I'm loving it. I think I'll try to see if I can finish it before Spring Break is over.



Then, in a complete bout of insanity, I downloaded Cookie A's German Stocking pattern and cast it on. I say insanity because my mindset at the time was that I had just read Stress Reflex from the Yarn Harlot where she talks about the mailman showing up with yarn she doesn't remember buying. For some unknown reason this compelled me to see if I could finish my German Stocking before she finished hers. *sigh* I think I have a case of startitis.



Finally, no picture, but I have scraps of sock yarn laying around. Everywhere. Several yard long lengths left from cutting the start of a ball to make self-stripping patterns match up, bits left over from finishing said socks, bits given to me just as a sample of what a particular yarn is like. So, instead of trying to bury Shelly Kang with these bits, I've taken up making the squares for my own modular sock yarn blankie. If I run low on sock yarn bits (yeah, right, that'll happen in this house =P)I may send out my own plea for donated bits. Of course, now I'm wondering if these bits can be put together to make Frankenstein socks.

Swept Away (photo heavy)

Or at least, it feels like we've been Swept Away. Seriously, it rained for three weeks! So when I looked out my window and saw this:


I thought we finally had been swept off to some unknown land where there was actual sky.

But hope springs eternal! The mail lady honked her horn one dreary January afternoon and VOILA! I have a Knit Mitt Kit Swap package! Click for a bigger version of all the yummy goodness!



I think my favorite is that sheepy tape measure. That's just insanely cool. And for you yarn p0rn freaks trolling blogs for a fix, the lovely purple yarn there is Koigu KPM. Lemme tell ya, that was some soft stuff running through my hands on to the ball winder!

So, what have I been knitting up you ask? (okay, you didn't, but I'm telling you anyway so *pbbbt*). Well, I did finally finish the Cigar gloves that I started for my father back in September. Here's a bad picture that I can't retake because he has them now:



I've also managed to start on the Rectangular Square Cover Shawl that my MIL gifted to me for Christmas. I spent a while just drooling over the hanks before finally windng one up and casting on. I can't believe how light but warm the alpaca/silk blend is! Just to get used to the chart (since it's my first chart ever), my swatch was one full repeat:



I've set aside the Aran Pocket Shawl that I was turning into a blanket. There's only so much seed stitch I can take in a month, and I've reached my limit. Of course, by the time I finally get back to it and finish it, baby boy won't need it anymore. Oh well, it's still really nice:



I also started a "sharf" (shawl/scarf) that I'm just making up off the top of my head based on a mistake I made early on in the Rectangular Square Cover Shawl. Once I've got it finished and blocked, I'll write up the pattern. I'm calling it Life, the Universe and Everything because I pulled out a random length of yarn and cast on until I ran out. When I counted it all up, there were 42 stitches, which is, of course, the answer:



Finally, we have my "January-ish" socks. They're "-ish" because I obviously didn't finish them in January. It was my goal to knit one pair a month this year, but I guess I'll be re-writing that to one every other month:



TTFN!

One Word

1. Yourself: Waiting
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/fiance(e): Innocent
3. Your hair: soft
4. Your mother: insane
5. Your father: DADDY!
6. Your favorite item: scrapbook
7. Your dream last night: none
8. Your favorite drink: alcoholic
9. Your dream car: Shelby
10. The room you are in: new
11. Your ex: bastard
12. Your fear: Snakes
13. What you want to be in 10 years? graduated
14. Who you hung out with last night? family
15. What You're not? post-pardum
16. Muffins: cheesecake
17. One of your wish list items: ball-winder
18. Time: dragging
19. The last thing you did: type
20. What you are wearing: clothing
21. Your favorite weather: breezy
22. Your favorite book: Hamilton
23. The last thing you ate: Pizza
24. Your life: complicated
25. Your mood: blah
26. Your best friend: Heidi
27. What are you thinking about right now? knitting
28. Your car: Saturn
29. What are you doing at the moment? Gee...
30. Your summer: Hell
31. Your relationship status: married
32. What is on your TV? CSI
33. What is the weather like? wet
34. When is the last time you laughed? supper
35. Who did you steal this from? shadKitty

Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading

We now bring you my contribution to the Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading. I've chosen local singer, songwriter, and poet Zachary Richard (that's pronounced Ree-shard).

Mississippi River Rainy Afternoon Haikus

          I

Fog bank on the river,

     tug boat moving down,

          bell ringing through the mist.

          II

Cloud moving from blue-grey,

     Southern wind damp,

          fog on the water following.

          III

Wild poet screaming to the other shore,

     heard clearly,

          though still unseen.

          IV

Sound of broken glass in

     waves washing ashore,

          water color muddy brown.

          V

Tug boat with barge

     moving against the wind

          showing only her fog lights.

Departure

Not everything I do is knitting related. Sometimes I have to answer the "mommy" page for the toddler standing beside my bed at four in the morning, I need to prepare a project for class, or I just absolutely must scratch my MMORPG itch. In the end though, I almost always end up bringing knitting into it all somewhere. I knit while I rock my child back to sleep in the wee hours, I doodle pattern ideas in the margins of my notebook, or I catch up on knitting blog posts while my game loads. Then, once in a while, something that seems to be a complete departure from knitting gets my attention. For this post the "for instance" would be a post from Creating Passionate Users, a programming blog that my husband happened to have left open in the browser window. A post title on the sidebar caught my eye and I found myself reading Code Like a Girl when I should have been doing my homework.

It must have been the similarity to "throw like a girl" that attracted my eye. Any which way, it did and as I digested the author's thoughts on writing code that is not only functional but beautiful my mind made that slow revolution around to knitting. The things we knit are pretty, so why aren't the patterns? Even in professionally printed books I find that while the content has been carefully laid out, the patterns themselves seem to just be plopped on the page with all the finesse of your third grade lunch lady glopping out the mashed potatoes. So why can't publishers start paying more attention to the design of the pattern? The indentation, the typeface, the spacing... it's more than just a set of technical instructions. A pattern, IMHO, should be a reflection of the finished work.

So maybe it's just me, but can we please "pattern like a girl"?

[In the interest of full disclosure, I have written exactly one pattern, and it too is glopped like potatoes.]

Best Quote I Heard All Day

We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting/movie homage to bring you: The Best Quote I Heard All Day

Two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered by water. The rest is covered by Reggie Bush.

BLACK AND GOLD SUPERBOWL!

Thank you. Please calmly return to your sticks and string.