Let the Chaos Begin: WIPW

Unfortunately it looks like my free time is going to be very scarce this semester. There is a bit of mourning about this loss. The hope is that I am fresh, bright eyed, and bushy tailed.

Mostly this means dredging up very old memories. Like to how to appropriately tutor sophomores, and electromagnetics, and other fun things. Old, but hopefully not painful.

I haven't had as much time to photograph, though I have had a ton of time to knit. And I definitely have a lot to talk about, but not a lot of time to figure out a blog post for it.

Hey, did you know I am almost done with another piece of Beatnik?

I ended up ripping a decent chunk of the part past the arm holes because of a miscrossed cable today, however it was a big enough mistake on the front I could not let it stand. Since it was in the center cable, I could not drop down to fix it. The cables are too interlinked to get away with that.

The back is good to go. There are a couple of strange counting errors in the pattern when you cast off for the arms. Honestly I tried to pay closer attention to the total stitch count rather than how many stitches per how many rows. Good news is that the front shorter than the back, so it should finish up quicker.

Did you know I did half of a foot while watching a movie?

Tuesday has become movie night, so I have been using the time to crank out the knitting. Last Tuesday we watched Dark Knight Rises, and I did not want to set up a cable chart in the dark, so I pulled out the socks instead. Yesterday was Mission Impossible, which I worked on the Beatnik instead.

I finally managed to get a good shot of the ramifications of my pattern change on the Monkey socks. It started as a 'what if?' while was knitting on the pink socks. I thought a really cool pattern could come from the monkey chart, where every repeat the chart was rotated by half a repeat. I like it, and you can hardly tell that this monkey comes from the same chart as the other monkey.

The wave and ovals has a really cool look. You could even sub in garter, or all knit or all purl too.

Did you know I finished the first half of my fiber optic braid, and started in on the second half?

Yup, pretty awesome eh?

This half I am spinning from red to blue, because blue is my favorite, so if I am going to be working on this for awhile, I want the blue to last longer.

I wound off the first half onto a toilet paper roll, which buckled part of the way through winding. Now that the blue section is no longer hidden, I realize I did a lot of learning in the course of the first half. I am not sure if I will give a shot a drafting out and spinning the really thick sections.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished single. I will get around to it at some point, no worries.


That is all the news fit to dish. Please check out the other happy bloggers in the WIP Wednesday crew.

Take care guys,

Molly : )

Da Stash

I have been posting like a madwoman. However I feel when I take the time to organize the stash and take photos, I might as well share it with you guys.

I take part in the flash your stash thread on Ravelry. It is interesting to see what people have, and know my stash isn't completely freaking insane, or that I have nice things : )

Also it was time to break out a little project I had been working on. I totally ganked the idea from Ana of Unfrogged. At the beginning of the month she has an excel spreadsheet of how many miles of stash she has. This is pretty easy if your stash is in rav, or in my case, all of my not acrylic. There is an export stash to excel button, use it, be amazed! So I spent today making sure my totals were correct, and then I go through and write down the amounts of total, sock, and lace.

It is interesting to see how constant it has been. It is funny to see how miles and total skeins don't correlate entirely.

Here is my bookshelf of stash before.

Here is the rainbow photo of the stash.

Here is the sock yarn. The left are the whole skeins, the right also includes all of the partials. Many, many partial skeins.

The lace

The Wollmeise

The Handspun

And everything all put away again.

In order from top to bottom, nick knacks, lace+books+handspun, sock yarn, worsted+acrylic, and notions and things.

Last year I made a lot of noises about stashing down, and well, I think I lost. I did knit most of the Wollmeise I got last year, but I also replaced most of it, and then some. I wanted to reduce the future socks from current socks, and well, I am pretty sure future is well outnumbering current socks. So, here is the plan. I am keeping track of what I have, I tossed it around, got the broken bags replaced and bagged the stuff that didn't fit in the bags I already had, and I will happily knit whatever I damn well please.

According the the knit meter, I knit 6.92 miles this year. So my stash is a little smaller than 3 years of knitting. Either I have been knitting a lot, or, knitting lace really adds up.I think I knit a mile or two more than last year.

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )

FO Friday: Hat Trick!

So, three weeks of no blogging also resulted in a pile up of finished objects. Additionally a New Year/Winter Break left me with a bit more crafty time than normal.

Hawaii Socks:

I cast on waiting to board the plane. You can see the pattern in there, Monkey, by Cookie A.

I got pretty far on the leg during the first  plane ride. And there was a 3 1/2 hour layover before the second.

It was a real challenge to stay motivated by the end of the second plane ride.Damn that heel flap was boring, and the in flight movie was beyond lame.

But I did arrive, and I got lei'ed. I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to take more sock photos for a whole week. My room was pretty sweet though. Check out this chair!

How did they know they would be hosting a knitter, that would be totally geeked over a knit wicker chair.

I managed to finish the first sock in the first week, and I started on the second. There was much knitting time because there was much driving around.

The second week was in Maui, and I kept on having insomnia. Since I was on the sunrise side, these were the sort of views I was catching, sitting on the lanai, knitting my sock.

This was across the street.

See! Look! My lovely view, and happy sock, and pink coffee cup.

 I finished the sock, walking down the tunnel to board the plane.

They have really long legs, because I wanted them to be.

Eye of Partridge heel, I used the purls, the yarn is a yummy MCN I picked up at Vogue Knitting Live. I find it appropriate that I knit the June Wedding during my honeymoon. I liked the pattern so much I cast on for a second pair. All in all, a nice project.

Rabidly Rose-Hulman:

I got home, bringing 2 WIPs with me, and came home to 3 more waiting for me. Something had to go. I actually managed to knock out 2. The hat was the clear one, it was close to being done, and it was really freaking cold when we got back. Actually this was also out of yarn I bought at Vogue Knitting Live too.

I nearly ran out of yarn. I used up all of the original black, so I went to the LYS and got some Cascade 220. But I had to ration the white and red, since that was all I had. Since the red was my own dye job, there was no back up plan. The inside is a mess of intarsia and three color colorwork. The DSLO was impressed with the ridiculousness. I was so proud. When I gave it to him he verified the washing directions. This hat will be hand washed by me. I am pretty sure the red and white would felt in the washer.

Mountain Colors Targhee Top:

So I predrafted this fiber instead of packing the night before we left for Hawaii. We were chatting with  a friend, and that was an easy way to hang out instead of knitting or packing haha.

I am assuming I must have posted this before, because I already shrunk the photo.

I managed to rip the top into 16 pieces, and I really worked the predraft to get everything soft and fluffy. It made it very easy to spin.

It was really easy to tell which sections I did a good job, and which once I did an ok job. I could feel a really big difference. Which is good news, because I can feel it.

I hope that I will continue to learn and understand. The DSLO was asking how far this whole spinning thing was going to go. I am borrowing a spindle, and it is sorta expensive to practice since I am spinning weights I don't normally use. And, getting a wheel is a very expensive ending step. I might take a break soon. I explained that spinning is a problem I don't know how to solve yet. It bothers me that I don't understand how yet, so I want to figure it out.

Singles!

Center pull ball for plying

Here is a macro shot of the singles on the spindle. You can see the thick and thin, a join, perhaps how overspun it is, maybe.

 I would not feel comfy using this as just singles. There is just something magic about plying. It is so freaking awesome to go from crazypants to normal.

What what! Bulky yarn.

 

I got 48 yards, ish. I made 24 wraps on my 2 yard niddy noddy. When I tied it up, there was only a half twist in the skein. It was very balanced.

Here it is all washed and thwacked. I am not sure what I am going to make with it. I was thinking while I was spinning that a hat would be neat. Who knows! I am learning and growing, and yet I still do not understand.

SO, that ends my FO Friday update,  go comment on the other posts! It is fun to see what other people have done.

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )

WIPW: 3 Weeks of Knitting

You know it is bad when you don't even know what day of the week it is. It is Wednesday. I am back at work, pondering what I should be working on. Haha, it either means I did a good job of clearing my desk, or there is just way too much to do.

I have a strangely huge number of things on my plate. I came home (trip post later, it is hard to pick and choose photos out of hundreds) and realized I had six works in progress. I brought three skeins of sock yarn and Evenstar with me on the trip. I left behind a pile of predrafted fiber, a sweater and a hat. Honestly I prefer the one at a time, though obviously this hasn't been the case recently.

Since then I have finished one pair of socks, and the hat. I'll have a little happy dance about those Friday.

That still leaves four current projects. Spinning thinner with my Mountain Colors Targhee top, the never ending Evenstar shawl, Chromosome Socks (Monkey with a twist), and the Beatnik sweater. Woo!

I project, that by tonight I should have the spinning done, because I want to finish it. I spun a little more than half of it last night, because I received fiber for my very first spin-a-long. The limiting factor was the fact that I couldn't flick the spindle any more because my thumb was getting sore.


I was really proud of myself. I stopped doing the park and draft, and started to stand up and continuously spin. I am still wrapping my head around drafting. Occasionally it works, occasionally it doesn't. I have no clue why.

I did a few rows of Evenstar on the trip. I had a bout of insomnia before flying, so made some progress then. I temporarily lost one of my four DPN's in the car, so my carry around knitting was Evenstar while I tried searching for the missing needle. I eventually found it in an awkward space between the cup holder, and the cup holder cover.

Evenstar is currently in the shawl desolation stage. 'I did all of this work, and it is only half way?' Since it is not deadline knitting, it will continue to linger. See, it is in the mesh bag of shame.Highlighter tape is the key to all of this slumber time. It is wonderful to be able to pick it up and know where I am. It was highly optimistic to take the beads with me. I am a long way from beads.

I started the chromosome socks on the plane ride back home. While I was knitting the pair I started when I was going to Hawaii I wondered if the pattern would look cool if I rotated the chart after every repeat.

The answer is yes, it is very cool. It makes a waves and diamond/oval pattern. I am charmed, even though it is the same chart as Monkey, it looks cool. I am now knitting these socks for the Sock Knitters Do-Si-Do KAL. I am a part of team Monkey. I found it easier to make the project I was already working on fit the KAL rather than start a whole new project. The premise is you agree to knit the same pattern, or same yarn and colorway as at least one other person. I am excited because there is good participation, and excellent chances for double dipping. So the above picture is how far I got on my first flight. Below is how far I got after the layover and the second flight.

Here is where I stand now. Not too much further than before.

 It's time will come, after I get at some low hanging fruit.

The last project is the Beatnik. I am carrying it around now. I got to 10 inches of back last night, which was promising. Sorry, I was in the middle of a row. The twisted pair cables are a pain, at the same time, they are really cool. Many people are subbing them out. I am sticking with it, because I am stubborn.

The deadline was extended to the 30th for the Whatcha Swatching KAL, so I think there is a good chance I can get it done in time for prizes. I was going to enter it into the Deep Stash Dive. However, since it didn't come with me, not much happened on it. I wish I had started it after Thanksgiving. There was no way I was going to knit a sweater in 2 weeks. Or since the Deep Stash Dive was sorta extended to Saturday, there is still no chance.

Check out the other happy Work in Progress Wednesday folks, go forth and comment and be merry!

Department of Stashquistions
 
So I did a Christmas swap. And . . . I got Am Kalten Polar in Twin! Squee!

 My swap partner also turned some of my fractals in to cards, which I thought was pretty cool. I also received some Regia. I was really happy.

I also got some fiber in the mail.

Pictures don't do it justice, and hey, pictures can not describe how it feels. It was quite pleasant draped around my neck. I will be spinning this next for The Knitgirllls FiberOptic SAL. Once I clear the spindle, this is going on. And there might be some consultation with my resident spinning experts. Who knows if I have the mad skills. Honestly, based on how awesome this feels and looks, it will be quite awesome yarn, regardless of my spinning.

I think I'd better get to it. I have a lot of crap to knit and spin!

That's all for now, take care guys,

Molly : )

In Retrospect

2012 was a year of huge changes. I know it is impossible to predict the future, but life threw some pretty big curveballs at me.

I knew about the wedding, but who knew I would be a homeowner now.

I had been blogging, but I would have never imagined it would grow so much this year.

I started working for a new advisor, but I had no clue how much of a change that would entail.

I feel like an old grad student now, but I made several new friends. When your support network falls out from underneath you, it is really important to build it back up, quickly.

I was never going to spin, and well, about that . . .

What is life without a few surprises?

Now that my Honeymoon is over, there are a few days to regroup before it is back to the grind.

Honestly, I don't want to have goals going into the new year. It is too often a chance to procrastinate. I will keep trying to do my best. And beyond that, there isn't too much more than I can do.

Take care guys,

Molly : )