Professor Knitwit

Now what?

2007-07-13T18:28:00.001-04:00

Before I start the post for real, I want to thank all of you for leaving such kind comments. I was a little concerned that since I dropped off the face of blogland that I would have lost all of my readers as well. So, thanks!!

Anyway, so what have I been up to in the last few weeks? Well, school has definitely been a little slower - with the summer break and all. Still keeping up with the research - but it makes a big difference to not have classes constantly.

So, I sent in the baby gift and it was very well received. So, now it's onto the next set of baby gifts for my sister-in-law. We don't know the sex of the baby yet - so I decided on something gender neutral:

You're looking at the Cot Blanket from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. I just love this book - and this looks like the perfect gender neutral project.

So, I started working on it - and have completed 3 squares. By the way, I will not be doing another 49 square bonanza. Oh, you know you remember this. No, I will never be doing that again. This baby blanket is much more manageable. Only 12 squares. That means that I've completed 25% of the squares for the entire blanket. Not bad!! Those are squares that I definitely can handle...plus, it's kind of fun to knit.

Check out the squares I've knit so far:

So, on the left is the Six Heart Square (can you see the 6 hearts? It's a little tough w/the lighting). I've done 2 of those - they're all done (only 2 squares of each color, yay!). On the right is the plaid square - and I still have one more left of those.

Well, I'm enjoying it so far. By the time you get sick of the square, you get to move onto a different stitch pattern. The only thing that you get an opportunity to get sick of is the seed stitch border - and while it's annoying, it does look great.

That's it for now - enjoy the weekend everyone!

Boy! It has been forever!

2007-06-30T10:56:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that it's been over one month since I've blogged. I can't really explain it - except that I had a really busy few weeks and then...I just didn't feel much like blogging. Have you had that feeling before? I just wasn't in the blogging state of mind, and I honestly didn't have all that much to report.

Our little trip to the Northwest was really great. We had a wonderful time - we were in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. It was just fantastic to get away for a few days, and we really had an opportunity to relax.

Since we got back though, it's been pretty uneventful. I've been working on a few things for work, doing a little bit of knitting, a little bit of reading, catching up on some research, etc. etc.

So, in terms of knitting, I finished the gift set for my brother-in-law's brother's new baby. Actually, they just had their baby this week - and I just finished the gift. So, it went in the mail today. Anyway, so check out everything in its finished glory:

Harvey Kimono Wrap Sweater

Didn't it come out nice? I'm really happy with it. Plus, I got extra special buttons for it. I went to this specialty button store in the city (all they sell is buttons!!!). I think I picked the perfect cutest buttons. I won't tell you what I spent on them b/c it was outrageous - but it really makes the sweater. So, here are some closeups of the buttons:

Can you see them? They're little bears!! I think they're just adorable - so those are right on the outside of the sweater..and then, on the inside:

Little flowers!! So cute!!

Amelie Dress

Next up, the Amelie dress. I decided to add way fewer flowers than the original. I just thought it would get to be a little over the top. So, I randomly added flowers to the front and back - I also got special buttons for the dress too - it's hard to see so I'll just describe them. They're little mother of pearl heart buttons at the top by the strap. They really just seemed perfect for the dress. Anyway, here's the front and back of the dress. It didn't photograph nearly as well as it looks in real life - but you get the idea:

Marshmallow Bonnet
And...last but not least, the marshmallow bonnet - this was also a little hard to photograph but hopefully, you get the idea. I did end up knitting this as suggested with Rowan Cashsoft and Rowan Kidsilk Haze - and it really makes a big difference. The bonnet just ends up looking delectable.

So, the baby knitting is done, right? I can actually knit a little something for me! Well, not quite. We just found out that my sister-in-law is now pregnant. So, the baby knitting just doesn't stop. Since this is my husband's only sibling who is pregnant, I'll be going all out with a bunch of different things....so, it'll be all baby knitting, all the time!!

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy July 4th and the rest of the weekend!

It's been another busy couple of weeks

2007-05-19T22:10:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been another two weeks since I've updated my blog. It's just been a busy few weeks - as I predicted. Also, I'm sorry I haven't been as good about commenting on your blogs as usual. I just haven't been able to keep up recently with everything on my plate...but soon, things are about to quiet down.

So, about a week ago I was in Israel. Everything on the trip was fine - but exhausting. I was basically advising students all week from 8 in the morning until 5 - it was a very long week. Plus, Israel isn't my favorite place in the world so I was just very happy to come home. On the bright side, I managed to get quite a bit of knitting done due to the extremely long plane ride (on the way home it was 12 hours!!!).

Once I got home, things didn't exactly quiet down b/c my students had exams that needed to be administered and graded and then there was commencement. So, it was very busy. The good news is that everything is graded - my final grades are all in. So far, no complaints about the final grades either - but we'll see how long that lasts.

So, I think things are about to get a little more manageable. Right now, my husband is away at a conference in California - and on Thursday I will be meeting him in San Francisco for our little vacation. We'll be spending a little over a week going from San Francisco to Portland to Seattle. Even though it means getting on more planes and packing yet again, I'm very much looking forward to getting away for a few days. I think I deserve a little vacation.

In terms of knitting news, I have managed to get a nice amount done in the last two weeks given the circumstances. So, here's the progress on the Amelie dress:

So, looking at the picture, the back (on the right) is finished - and for the front, I need to just shape the neck. So, we're almost there - then it's seaming and creating the little flowers. I think it's really looking good - but I'm getting tired of all of the st st. By the way, in case you're wondering, that's Sam's paw in the upper left corner - he just can't help himself whenever I try to take a picture of my knitting.

Anyway, that's basically it for now. I'll be sure to update before leaving for my trip. Until then, enjoy the rest of the weekend!

I've been tagged...again

2007-05-19T21:53:00.000-04:00

So, earlier this week while I was in the midst of grading papers, exams, etc. I was tagged by The ADD Knitter for the 7 random facts about me meme. I feel like I've already posted a bunch of these on the 100 things about me- but let's see if I can come up with a few others.

1. When I was a young child, I had this strange bump on the inside of my wrist. The doctors called it a ganglion and said that it would mysteriously disappear. It did sometime in my teens.

2. I am left-handed - although not entirely. I prefer to use scissors with my right hand - but that's probably because they never had any left handed scissors in art class.

3. I took both French and Latin in school - and learned up through the AP level. I even won several national awards for each language in high school. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take foreign languages once I got to college.

4. I do not wear glasses or contacts. This is a pretty weird/random fact for me because everyone in my family wears glasses. Somehow I managed to escape - although I know I'll probably need them when I get older.

5. I am a young professor but I look even younger. In fact, I was recently carded for buying an "M" rated video game...um, that means that the woman behind the counter thought that I was under 17!!!

6. I am obsessed with time and being on time. In fact, when I was about 6 my parents decided I needed to get a watch because they couldn't handle my constant questioning of "what time is it?"

7. I often prefer a quiet night at home with my husband and my cats to going out for a night on the town.

Well, don't say I didn't warn you!

2007-05-04T16:21:00.000-04:00

Didn't I tell you that my posting would be more erratic than usual? I'm sorry to say that my predictions were correct. This really is the only free few minutes I've had to stop and blog. Plus, it's not like it's any quieter right now either - I'm leaving on a plane to Israel tomorrow and I haven't even packed yet!

So, two weeks ago (geez, has it really been that long??), I was telling you about the conference that I was about to have. Well, it was really quite a success. First, it was great getting some warmer Florida weather. But, I really didn't get to sightsee so much. I did get to present my research, and it was a lot of fun and very well-received. So, it was pretty successful - and I got some work in and a little knitting on the plane. Here's the progress I've made so far on the Amelie dress:
I think it's looking pretty cute - but the miles of st st is starting to get to me. Too bad I still have the back to finish and the entire front to start.

I know the progress I've made so far isn't terribly impressive - but it is impressive given everything else that's been on my plate.

So, I got back from the conference on Sunday and since then it's really been a whirlwind as I tried to fit everything in before leaving again. To give you a sense, I was up until 1am on Wednesday this week working on a paper that's due today!!

I just had a ton of other meetings along with the last day of classes this week, exams to prepare, papers to grade, etc. etc. Lucky for me, this will all be behind me soon - and then things will be back to "normal".

I still have a bunch of things to deal with this summer - so it's won't be a cakewalk - but not having to worry about lectures for the time being will make things a touch more manageable.

Okay, so that's it for now. Sorry for all the craziness - believe me, it's no fun living it!!

Ever have one of those weeks?

2007-04-20T18:25:00.000-04:00

Well, boy did I have one! It was a brutal week this week. I got very little knitting done - so I will have to bore you with a pictureless post. I should have predicted it though - I am about to embark on a series of very crazy weeks. So, this was the last week before I'm all over the place which meant I had a lot to get out of the way first. What exactly am I talking about?

1. Well, this week was "normal". Meaning that I had my normal classes and was home.

2. Next Wednesday, I leave for a conference in Florida (yea! sun!) and won't be back until late that Sunday (4/29).

3. Then, I have a semi-normal week except that there's reading week and the last day of classes - but on Saturday night (5/5), I leave for Israel for school (don't ask).

4. I'm away in Israel until the following Sunday (5/13)

5. The following week, my students have exams and commencement (I can't believe the school year is almost over - this is actually very scary b/c it means that I will have been through 2 whole years as a faculty member. Woah!)

6. The week after that starting 5/24, hubby and I are going on a little vacation to the West coast and I won't be back until 6/4

Did you manage to get all of that? So, basically it's going to be very crazy and I will be living out of a suitcase for the majority of the next month. As much as I love travelling, I'm kind of torn about all of this because I usually prefer my routine of being home and snuggling with my cats...but I guess there's always time for routine.

Anyway, so about this week - yes, so it was crazy. I was getting home very late each night - and really had no opportunity and was too tired to knit. I assume you get this way as well, right? It was just too much to grasp those needles.

So, what was I doing? A lot of different things...mostly meetings. I ended up serving as a last-minute judge for a speech competition over here - and had to sit in on a few job talks for another department - and had meetings with students...it was just crazy.

I'm just very happy that it's the weekend - I have a lot to do before I leave, but at least I'll be able to get in a little more sleep.

So what does all of this means? Well, most likely, my blogging will be even more sporadic than in the previous few weeks. However, there is some good knitting news in all of this - lots of plane rides means lots of knitting time. I can't wait to catch up!

Gimme a break!

2007-04-10T18:09:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been a little while since my last post...I'll explain.

As I mentioned last time, I'm on break right now...classes begin again on Thursday. During this break, I had envisioned getting some extra sleep, extra work done, and of course, some extra knitting done. Well, I actually did get a lot of work done and some sleep in...but unfortunately, I came down with a cold!! Yes, it always seems that whenever I have a break, I end up sick..and of course, that happened here. It's such a shame because I hate being sick on break!!

So, I didn't get nearly as much knitting done as I would have liked. But, I did nearly finish the Harvey Kimono. Check it out!!

I know it looks finished, but I still need to seam one side and block it. Once I do that, I'll post more detailed pictures. But, it's soooo close to being done. What do you think? I'm really happy with how it came out.

So, I started working on the Amelie dress too. There's still a lot ahead of me for that one though so it's not worth taking a picture of yet.

Anyway, that's basically it for now. Just one day let and then it's back to the grind!! Lucky for me, the end of the semester is right around the corner!

Now, I know I said I'd show you a completed back

2007-03-30T15:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it's official - I'm on break!!! Thank goodness because I really need a break. Today, I am happy to say that I did nothing. Well, not nothing - I did a little knitting...but nothing for work. Of course, that's quickly going to change - I have a lot to get done during break..but I figured that I deserved one day truly "off". I haven't had a day of no work since probably winter break - so it's long overdue.

So, onto the knitting...I know I promised I would show you a completed back for the Harvey Kimono. Well, I actually have something better! I finished the back AND the front!! That means that all I have left is the sleeves, edging, and seaming. Here's what it looks like so far:

Doesn't it look great? I love the color - the picture is a pretty accurate depiction - it's this very soft subtle pink. Do you see the picot trim? I just love it.

In terms of the knitting itself, I'm really enjoying working on the kimono. It's not the fastest baby sweater to knit (like this or this) but it's very enjoyable to knit. So, I think that's why I was able to whip through the front of it. Anyway, this pattern definitely gets my two thumbs-up because it's so cute and very fun to knit.

In other knitting news, I forgot to mention a few of my new finds. First, I got that new Favorite Socks book. If you haven't gotten it, you should. It has so many very very lovely patterns. As soon as I get out of this baby knitting, I will definitely knit up some of those pairs.

Also, I found a new site that I thought would be of interest. If you haven't seen it, check out The Walker Treasury Project - at this site, people are contributing color photographs of swatches from the Walker treasuries. As much as I can appreciate the treasuries, the black and white doesn't quite do it for me. So, this project is just very very cool. Enjoy!

Just Two Knotty (Hats)!!

2007-03-27T18:38:00.000-04:00

I had a few free moments so I thought I'd take the time to post. Thanks for all of your comments about the future baby projects. I actually have decided to do them all - it is family, afterall!!

I started working on the Harvey Kimono. It's in the most precious pink color - I love it. Actually, I'm really enjoying the pattern so far. I'm almost done with the back - my plan is to show you a picture when the back is done..so I'll keep you in a little suspense until then. But, I just love that picot trim. So adorable!

In other knits news, since I last posted, two new knotty hats have been brought into the world. Check it out - Erin did hers in Rowanspun DK:

Lovely!

But, that's not all. Get this - blogless Beth did a second knotty hat (she did the previous knotty hat post, the first) because she liked the pattern so much...but used a St. Patty's day theme!!!

Just fantastic!!

In non-knitting news, school has been pretty busy as usual. Lucky for me, this is my last week before our spring break. I can't wait - I certainly need a bit of a break - especially with the glorious weather - it's giving me a bit of spring fever. I don't have any big plans - just plan on sleeping in, getting some extra work in, and do lots of knitting. Can't wait!!!

Ahoy! New knits ahead!

2007-03-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

Yes!!

They're done! They're finally done! No more baby booties. Both pairs are now officially ready to go. I mean, they are very adorable..and I am sure that they will be a big hit with the new mommies...but it was a lot of work for something that probably won't be worn very much.

So, what's next? If you remember, I have yet another family baby to knit for. A girl! Yeah! There will be no baby booties in sight. So, what am I thinking of? Well, I will be knitting two items from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding. Specifically...

The Harvey Kimono for girls with the picot trim and

The Amelie Dress

Also, I thought I'd try another one from Itty-Bitty Hats since the Pumpkin/Apple Hats were so successful. So, this time, I'm doing something a little more girly and I've chosen the Marshmallow Bonnet.

So, what do you think? Now, I just need my yarn to arrive. I can't wait to get started!

It's that time again!

2007-03-16T18:47:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's that time again - paper time! Do you remember last semester, I was complaining about being in paper grading hell because I decided to assign two papers in each of my three classes and gave my students the opportunity to hand in early drafts? Well, I still decided to give them the opportunity to hand in first drafts for comments and preliminary grades..but there's only one paper in each class - and they're slightly more spread out. So, this round isn't nearly as bad as last semester. I'm already more than halfway through this group of drafts. So, the end is in sight - but this gives you a little sense of what my weekend will be like.

In other news, I'm almost through with the last pair of baby booties. All of the knitting is done - I've just got sewing to do..which is my least favorite part. I just heard today though that family baby # 3 is actually a girl! I'm so excited. So, once these gender neutral gifts are out of the way for two of my cousins, the third will be a whole lot more fun. I'm thinking a knitted dress will be in the works!

So, I think I'll leave you for this week with a really snuggly picture of Frodo.
Is he too cute or what??!! He's snuggling up to the cushion!!

Ok...it's time

2007-03-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

My weekly post is a bit late, I'm afraid. What's worse - I have to follow up my lateness with a less than satisfying blog post. You see...I'm still at work (more on that later) and hence, camera-less. So, no pics to brighten up my post. I'm hoping you'll forgive.

It's just been one of those weeks - and it's not over yet.

On the knitting front, I finished one of the bear booties...so 3 down, 1 more to go! I'll tell you - it'll be a long time before I knit baby booties again! Especially booties on bamboo size 1 straights (don't ask).

I also was at Purls of Hope last week and taught a bunch more people how to knit - plus, I'm working on another hat pattern for them...which I will probably post on this blog as another free pattern when I'm finished. It's a lovely cable and rib hat b/c I've been seeing a ton of cable and rib hats recently. Is it just me or is there some kind of cable and rib trend? Anyway, the news on the hat front is that it got me to learn a new skill. Yes! I can now cable without a needle!! I knew it wouldn't be much of a problem..I just needed to find the time to sit down with that tutorial. Which tutorial? That tutorial. Very useful if you haven't seen it.

On the non-knitting front, it's been hellishly busy at school. Yesterday, both TAs for my lab class were sick so I had to fill in for both of them which meant I was at school very late. This was the same day that I heard from one of my students that the student club (which I advise) would be having a "Career Night" tonight at 8pm. So, I feel like I'll never be getting home. Which is exactly why I'm blogging now - because it'll just never get done otherwise!

But, there is good news - one of my papers that was under review is getting published. Hooray! And, it couldn't have come at a better time b/c my yearly faculty review is due Friday! This is certainly one time when procrastination comes in handy!

Sometimes we just need a little break

2007-02-26T19:44:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much for all of your comments regarding the Apple hat. I'm so glad that you all liked it and the leaves!!

So, at the end of last week, I finally went to get a haircut...You see, I have this affliction. The longer my hair gets, the younger I look. Now, you may think that this isn't really a problem. However, I'm already a young professor - as my hair gets longer, I start to look more and more like one of my students. It's kind of like a twilight episode. Now it's at my chin and all is good. But, I digress...

So, my favorite hairdresser happens to be about an hour away - it's well worth the drive because it's a really good haircut and the same haircut would be twice as much in the city. But, of course, I didn't go to just get a haircut. They have a Michael's in this town which allowed me to stop and get some cheap yarn. We have LYSs a-plenty over in the city - but no cheap yarn. Anyway, I picked up a few balls of Sugar 'n Cream and created a little diversion for myself.

Sometimes we all need a little diversion. I needed a little one from the booties. I made great progress last week on the booties - I just have the cuff left from one of the booties..but knitting with size 1 needles started getting a little tiresome. I needed a diversion.

So, I knit up one of the ballband dishcloths from Mason-Dixon knitting. Here it is:
After knitting this up, it has become clear to me why this dishcloth swept the knitting blogosphere several months ago (ok, so I'm a little late, but again, it's because of the lack of availability of cheap yarn). For those of you out there who haven't knit one of these babies up, the best way to describe this pattern is: delightful.

Yes, delightful. I don't say that about many patterns. But, what makes this pattern so great is that it's easily memorizable, quickly finished (only took me a few hours) instant gratification, knit on size 7s (compared to size 1 - this is a nice change), and I love the colors I chose - I even have enough yarn to do a blue dishcloth with yellow (as opposed to a yellow w/blue).

So, now after my very brief break, I feel refreshed enough to go back to those size 1s.

Apples - not oranges!

2007-02-21T19:55:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a crazy week. Meetings and classes and writing, oh my!! Good news at work though - one of my students just won a travel award for a conference to present our research. So, that's good news for my student and great news for me!

In knitting news, I finished the apple hat:
What do you think? I'm pretty happy with how it turned out...and it will go well with the red sweater too.

So, now I'm working on that second pair of bear booties. It's slow going - but maybe since I've done one pair already I'm hoping it'll go a touch faster than the previous pair.

Love is in the air!

2007-02-14T18:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope that everyone is having a fantastic day!

Since this day is supposed to be about love, I thought it be kind of fun to think about five things that I really love (hey, feel free to do this as well on your blog - think of it as a little love meme). Now of course I love my husband and the rest of my family and my cats. But, I thought I'd think about the other things in life (the ones that we may not notice, everyday kind of pleasures) that I love that make my life happy.

I love spending the entire day indoors in my pajamas especially when it's cold - just spending the whole day with my hubby and the cats, snuggling, watching bad movies and tv, and knitting.

I also love spending the entire day with my husband, walking the city, holding hands, and just talking, talking, talking. With both of our crazy schedules, this is a real treat.

I love how I feel after an incredible lecture that I've just given - the kind where the students are constantly participating, engaged in class, seeing things in a new way..there's learning and laughter and excitement.

I love when Frodo has this overwhelming need to be loved NOW - he jumps on the couch, snuggles in one of the couch nooks with me, starts purring like crazy, and gives me lovey dovey eyes. This is especially meaningful because he's the more reserved of my two cats - so when he wants love it's very special.

I love that feeling of the first day of a vacation or weekend - or the eve of that first full day of vacation. All that free time ahead of you (all that free knitting time) - from this vantage it seems almost like it'll last forever (at the same time, I also hate the last day of any vacation, I'd actually much rather deal with the first day back at work than the last day of vacation).

I also found a new pattern that I love love love!!! I recently saw the previews for the new RYC book Classic Coast. I adore this pattern:

Hartland

It has certainly stolen my hart.

I can't wait to start knitting it. That is, once I can finally finish all of those baby gifts!!!

Special day for a knitter

2007-02-09T16:23:00.000-05:00

So, for those of you who knit and create your own patterns, you probably remember it - the very special day. That is, the first time that you became aware that someone had knit one of your patterns - and liked it.

Well, my friends, that time has come for me. Yes! At least one other person has actually knit A Knotty Hat. I kind of feel like a proud mama - you send your pattern into the world of knitting (which turns out to be a big one - ever since I submitted my pattern for Knitting Pattern Central, that site has generated a tremendous amount of traffic on my site...but not exactly the best kind...the kind that just checks out the pattern but then doesn't check out the rest of the site..but I digress) and then wait to see what happens. With all of the free hat patterns out there...and there are a lot...would anyone actually take notice of my little unassuming hat pattern?

Apparently, yes! It makes me very happy and makes me look forward to creating new patterns.

So, without further ado, check out the pictures of the first A Knotty Hat created by someone other than me!!

Just fantastic!

Twice the cuteness

2007-02-06T17:12:00.000-05:00

Another crazy busy week at school. Lots of meetings and long long days. I didn't get much knitting done because by the time I'd get home I would just be exhausted - too exhausted to even hold a couple of knitting needles. However, I did manage to finish up the pair of bear booties!! Here they both are - double the booties, double the super cuteness!

So, what do you think? I'm really happy with how they came out. So, now one pair done - one more left. However, I'm going to make another pumpkin hat (except it'll be in red as an apple hat to match the red sweater) first - and then get back to the other pair of booties.

By the way, the hat was very well received at Purls of Hope - and I'm in the midst of starting another hat for them - I'm thinking something with cables. The crazy thing was at Purls of Hope last week I didn't spend that much time knitting - instead, I taught about 5 people how to knit at the same time. It was exhausting - but really fun! I hope that I was able to pass on that love of knitting to others!

Well, I think I'll leave you with this really hilarious picture of Frodo and Sam.

Doesn't it look like they just had a one night stand and Frodo is about to leave??!!

Disaster Averted!

2007-01-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been a little over a week since my last post. This weekend turned out to be quite busy. I had a kind of weekend retreat at school which ate up my entire weekend leaving what little free time I had to do...you know..work!
I did get a little knitting done though in the past week or so. I didn't get a chance to mention this, but I've been involved with this organization, Purls of Hope, which basically serves to knit items for teens with AIDS. So, last time I was there (about one month ago), they asked me to design a hat that the other volunteers could knit to keep the fashion conscious teens warm in this cold weather. I've been struggling a lot with it because I wasn't able to knit something that I was really happy with. I'm still not 100% happy with it - but the pattern is due tomorrow so it'll have to do. Anyway, here it is:

In case you're interested, it's basically increasing rows of seed stitch followed increasing rows st st. I should mention that I managed to avert disaster in the midst of my knitting - or actually, once I finished. I tried it on and it was just a bit too long. DH agreed that it needed to be shortened up a bit. So, I used the book, Knit Fix to help me..and it really did. I was able to detach part of the hem and reknit from the top down - which worked out much better. So, it is much improved and I learned a new skill. How about that!

By the way, does anyone know how to respond to comments via email? I currently get your comments in my inbox - but then I can't email you all back because it's a dummy email address (something like blogger@no-reply.com).. Just know that I love all of your comments and would love to respond - but haven't been able to quite figure out how!

Quick post for this week

2007-01-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

For this week, I need to just post a quick message. It's been a crazy week! As I mentioned last tme, classes started this week so it's been busy. My classes have been going pretty well so far - but it's a little early. Other than that, lots of meetings with faculty, students, etc.

So, I didn't get much knitting done this week. I managed to work a little on the booties - but still need to finish up the second booty from the first pair.

That's basically it - work, work, and more work! Should be a busy weekend up ahead!

CAUTION!! Extreme Cuteness Ahead!!!

2007-01-13T18:54:00.000-05:00

Well, happy weekend everyone! It's been a busy few days as I've been frantically preparing for the upcoming semester. I am so not ready to start! I could definitely use another week - but such is life!

I've also been able to get some knitting finished. I finished the seaming of the Bohemian Like Father Like Son Sweater:
I still need to sew in the ends - so that's why you see a few loose yarn pieces - but other than that, it's done. I'm a little nervous about the neck - for some reason, the neckline came out a little narrower than the Gingersnap version - I think it should still be large enough for a baby head to fit through - regardless, I'm going to block it and I'm hoping that since it's merino wool that it will stretch a bit further. I really just love the color of this one - it's a little hard to tell from the photo - but it's got the most lovely vibrant reds embedded in the yarn.

Okay, so you may be wondering...what's up with the title of this post? Well, I also managed to complete the first of the bear booties. It is beyond cute - if you can handle seeing it, it will most definitely be the cutest thing you've seen all week! No question!! So, here it is:

Don't you love it??!! It is so freakin' adorable - it gives me a sweet tooth!

So, I'm very happy with how it came out - I'm glad I like it b/c I have 3 more to do!!!

Anyway, so that's basically it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

Back from Charleston

2007-01-09T15:56:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! DH and I are back from Charleston. We arrived late last night after a horrible flight back. Actually, flights back...our original direct flight was cancelled so we were re-routed..and didn't get back home until much later. This was a perfect bookend to our arrival which also was problematic...our luggage was detained for homeland security..so we arrived in Charleston..but our luggage did not..at least, not right away. We had to go back to the airport to get them. Anyway, aside from our troubles in travel, everything else was great. We had a great rest..saw much of the sites..and ate and ate and ate. I'll definitely be working on my eating for the next few weeks to make up for it!

While I was away, I managed to get some knitting in too! I finished the pumpkin hat! Check it out:

Isn't it adorable? If you recall, this hat is from the book Itty Bitty Hats. This one is made with RYC Cashsoft DK in Clementine - and the stem and leaves are in Rowan Handknit Cotton. I basically knit the pattern as is..but added a second smaller leaf.

I am very happy with how it came out..I think it looks great - so cute! Plus, it was a pretty easy knit and the pattern was well-written.

I also started working on the Bear Booties from the book, 50 Baby Booties to Knit. Here's my progress so far:

I think it may be a little hard to figure out from the picture so I'll walk you through it. The bottom cream color will be folded around for the sole - the dark brown above it is a very cute picot trim..and above that in the light brown is the main part of the booty - the part that comes out in the center will hold the foot..and the bear face will be embroidered there - and bear ears need to be knit. Right now, I'm working on the ribbing for the cuff.

Other than that, I'm freaking out a little because classes start up next week! So soon!! I have quite a bit to take care of before then - so, let's hope I can get it all done!

I've been tagged

2007-01-09T15:31:00.000-05:00

So, while I was away, I was tagged by my SP8 pal, Linda. I know most of you have seen and/or done the 6 Weird Things Meme...but just in case:

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. Food weirdness: I have a couple of weird things when it comes to food. For one thing, I have this thing against food "contamination"...not contamination in the normal sense, but instead, when I have food on a plate, I don't like the different food items to touch..I like them to stay separate. For example, it would bother me if I was having chicken with a sauce that got on the potatoes on the plate. Second, I have a very strange relationship with cottage cheese. There have been times when I have been obsessed with cottage cheese - wanting to eat it all the time..and then something will happen and I won't want anything to do with it. I'm currently in the latter phase.

2. I can't stand being late - I'd much rather be 15 or 30 min. early for some event than to be late. In fact, I often feel that being on time is really being late.

3. I talk to my cats - yes, I will have full conversations with them. They may not answer back, but I know that they're listening. In fact, because of this, my cats are rather vocal especially for British Shorthairs who are supposed to be a very quiet breed. I think they've learned that I communicate with my voice so why shouldn't they??!!

4. I love beauty products such as body lotions, soaps, bath gels, etc. I can spend a tremendous amount of time in a Bath and Body Works just checking out the lovely products. On a side note, I have a hard time throwing away products that are almost empty or that I don't use anymore..because I just might get back to it.

5. I frequently will burst into song about anything mundane. My husband will also join me in this. One of our current favorites is, "I don't need no stinkin' ipod" (we do own an ipod by the way...it just doesn't get used all that often.

6. Although I recognize that techonology is important and useful..there are a few areas of my life where I do not like technological advances...for example, I still use a filofax planner - I tried the PDA thing..and it just didn't work for me. I also still write out all of my teaching notes in a notebook rather than moving to typing everything into the computer...I probably should digitize my notes...but I just love writing them out by hand instead.

Well, there they are!! For any of you who haven't done this yet, you're tagged!!

Quick update!

2007-01-02T21:18:00.000-05:00

Happy 2007 everyone! Can you believe it? I can't believe that it's a new year...actually, I can hardly believe that we're in the 21st century - I never quite got that one...and to think that we're nearing the end of the decade is just ridiculous!

As I mentioned during my last post, DH and I celebrated New Years' Eve with a totally fabulous meal that we cooked together. What was on the menu?

We started with these things called Gougeres - the best way to describe them is that they're flaky cheese puffs. They make them at one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Artisanal, which is a French bistro that specializes in fancy cheeses. So, the chef at the restaurant published a cookbook..and of course, we bought it and DH was set on making them for our dinner...and they were amazing!!

Then, we made cauliflower soup with truffle oil and pecorino romano cheese - this was soooo good.

Next, we made these things called Gnudi - which are very popular at some of the trendy restaurants. What are they? Well, imagine ravioli without the pasta..and we had the Gnudi with wild mushrooms. These were unlike anything I've had before...but in a very good way - very decadent.

For the main course, we had cornish game hens with caramelized root vegetables - also very delicious.

Last, we ended with homemade tiramisu with champagne of course! A perfect end to a perfect meal. By the way, if these recipes are of interest to you, the soup, gnudi, and hens with vegetables are from the current Bon Appetit magazine. All highly recommended - not easy and not exactly low fat - but it was a holiday afterall!

In knitting news, I finished the red baby sweater - at least the knitting part...it still has to get sewn up...I also started the pumpkin hat, got the materials for the pumpkin hat in red (which will be instead an apple hat), and also materials to make the bear booties from 50 Baby Booties to Knit. So, I'm on my way to being closer to being finished with the first set of baby gifts!!

Lastly, this post is also to inform you that DH and I will be visiting my mom in Charleston for a few days while I'm still on break from school. So, I won't be posting again until next week. Until then...happy 2007 again everyone!!

Closing out 2006

2006-12-29T16:17:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

I am pleased to announce that the semester is finally behind me! All of my papers and exams are graded and the final grades are in. An added bonus...as of this minute, no emails complaining about grades! We'll see how long that lasts! So, now it's on to planning next semester!

In holiday news, on New Years' Eve, DH and I will be doing our yearly tradition - ever since we started dating, we celebrate New Years' Eve by cooking together a really amazing meal. We haven't finalized the menu - I'll be sure to post the menu in my post next week - but I can tell you that it will involve...cornish game hens! Then, on New Years' Day, we'll be over at my in-laws...every year they always have everyone over so that should be fun.

In knitting news, I finished the first "Like Father, Like Son" Sweater:

Isn't it adorable??!! It looks to me like it should fit your average 1 year old. As I may have mentioned last time, it was knit with Rowan Big Wool in Gingersnap. It's 100% merino wool - and so soft and cuddly. I hope that they like it!

So, once that was seamed up, I started the second one - this time knit in Bohemian - a lovely vibrant red!

I just love this color - right now, I've only finished the back, but I know it won't be long before the whole thing is finished. I just love this pattern - it is such a super fast knit!

So, with that...I think I'll end my post with a somewhat obtrusive picture of Sam!

Happy 2007 everyone!

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well, my weekly post was a little delayed. It's been very busy around here - as I mentioned last time, I was a little under the weather and then I've been grading papers nonstop and then I had exams!!! Luckily, my exams are now over so I just need to grade them. The semester is finally coming to a close.

In knitting news, as promised, here are pictures of the Hubby Hat and Knotty Hat being modelled:

Also, I've posted the pattern for the Knotty Hat in the post below. So, check it out!

In other knitting news, as I mentioned last time, I got the news that there are going to be 3 babies born in the next 6 months or so. So, I've started knitting baby stuff. So far...one baby sweater almost done - it just needs to be sewn up and the neckline needs to be finished.
I'll repeat that - yes, I basically finished a baby sweater pattern in about 3 days. How was that possible? Well, it's the "Life Father, Like Son" pattern from the Yarn Girls' Guide to Kids Knits. Here it is so far:

It's knit with Rowan Big Wool in Gingersnap. Now, I'm not usually a big fan of the huge needles (I used size 15 needles for this)..but it certainly works for instant gratification. This will eventually go with the Pumpkin Hat that I'm planning on making from Susan Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats.

I'll be knitting another one of these sweaters with the same yarn in Bohemian (a bright red color) with a hat in red to match.

Well, that's it for now - I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

A Knotty Hat

2006-12-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

See copyright details at bottom of pattern

Original Pattern by Professor Knitwit

This hat is fun and quick to make - plus, the yarn is super soft and warm!!

Measurements
Circumference unstretched: 19'' at brim
Height: 7''
Size: Snug fitting - to fit women's average head
Gauge: 4sts/ 1''

Materials
Yarn: Catalina 100% Baby Alpaca - 1 skein (109 yards); Color: Lavendar Melange 105
Needles: 24 or 16 inch US 8 Circular needle; 1 set US 8 dpns
Note: Because you will be doing many p3tog and k3tog, it's a good idea to use needles with pointy tips. I used Bryspun Circulars and would recommend them for this project, but any pointy tip will do.

Pattern Notes
Make Knot: p3tog leaving sts on left-hand needle, now knit them together, then purl them together and slip off needle

Knot pattern uses a multiple of 6 + 5 sts - to increase or decrease size of hat, keep that in mind

Directions
CO 65 sts
Work 2 rounds in garter st
Start knot pattern:
Round 1&2: st st
Round 3: K1 *make knot, k3; rep from * to last 4 sts, make knot, k1
Rounds 4-6: st st
Round 7: K4, *make knot, k3; rep from * to last st, k1
Round 8: st st

Rep previous 8 rounds until hat is 5 inches from beg

Start decreasing hat on round 2, 4 , 6 or 8
Decrease 6 sts evenly in round
Transfer to dpns
Continue dec 6sts every OTHER row
When 23sts remain, dec every row
When 11 sts remain, break yarn and thread through remaining sts

Weave in ends

Enjoy!

Copyright information: 1. Contact me (professorknitwit@gmail.com) with all questions pertaining to the copyright, the pattern in general, or if you plan on distributing this pattern in any way for free. 2. This copyright notice and webblog address must remain intact on every printed pattern that is distributed. 3. No profit may be made from distribution of this pattern or the production of the finished hat. 4. Enjoy and happy knitting!

Yes, I do make things other than hats...just not this week

2006-12-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

I think I mentioned last week that DH wanted a hat to go along with his new gloves. Unfortunately, I did not have enough left over from the gloves so I had to go and buy another skein - luckily, the store still had the same yarn and dye lot. Well, it didn't take me long to finish the hat:

I'll have to get DH to model it soon - but the good news is that it fits him and he likes it so that's great. I used the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns as a template - it's just a 3 x 3 rib on the bottom and then st st for the rest. Easy as that!

Then, I ended up making a new hat for myself. Don't get me wrong - I looooove my Droplet Hat. However, I think it's not as warm as I would like beacuse of the yarn. So, I bought a skein of this lovely bulky Catalina baby Alpaca yarn. This yarn is so luscious so soft! Plus, it's Alpaca so it should be very warm.

Anyway, so with this yarn, I knit up my very own first pattern! Here's my new hat:

It's knit with little knots throughout - here's a closeup of the stitch pattern:

If people are interested in the pattern, let me know and I'll be sure to post it in my next entry. It's pretty easy and super cute. I also promise to post both pictures of myself and DH modeling our new hats too. Unfortunately, I'm a little under the weather, so I wasn't feeling up to posing for the camera!

That's right...I'm feeling a little under the weather...again! Of course, this little cold came on immediately after my last class for the semester!!! Yes, classes are finally over!! Now, I just have a bagillion papers to grade and exams next week!

In other news, I just heard from my mom who happens to in from Zurich for the winter that two of my French cousins are now pregnant. Supposedly, they've been pregnant for some time..so, you know what that means....baby alert!! My brother in law's brother and his wife is also expecting - so I'm going to be knitting baby items for the near future!

Knitters unite!

2006-12-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

Another busy week comes to a close. I'll tell you...there's just something about the end of the semester that drives me nuts. Aside from all of the papers that are due and exams (and yes, I'm still grading stacks and stacks of those papers)...by the end of the semester I always find that I'm sort of sick of my classes. I felt this way as a student too - so it's definitely time to move onto another semester!

I have been knitting though despite the craziness. I've been meaning to give an update on the next pair of socks I've been working on. Here are my Oriel toe-up socks:

The pattern is another good one from Sensational Knitted Socks - but it's an intermediate sock pattern so I'm taking it up a notch! The stitch pattern is a little hard to see - I think you'll get a better feel for it once I've finished it and can try it on. But, it's been taking a little longer because the stitch pattern is a little tricky. In terms of the sock itself, it's knit in a peachy Koigu.

Actually, so I have an interesting story to tell about these socks. So, this week I did a sort of stitch n bitch session as part of this community service project at a home for people with HIV/AIDS. It was my first time at this particular center...and the more knitters I meet, the more I realize that the online knitting community is not representative of your average knitter. I took out the sock and you would have thought that I had brought out the most complicated knitting project ever created. Most of the knitters there did not know how to purl and never moved beyond scarves. I don't know - it's just such a weird thing..because I thought everyone was like the average knitting blogger - and that my knitting skills are nowhere near those of many online knitters. But, instead I was treated like the "expert knitter". Weird. So, it was kind of a bizarre eye-opening experience.

In other news, I also started a hat for DH. After working on the gloves, he decided that he wanted a hat to match. So, I may need to run out and get another skein - for the moment I'm working on leftovers from the gloves and have gotten this far:
The hat is based on the basic hat pattern from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns. The bottom edge is 3x3 ribbing - and then just stockinette. It's looking like I will probably run out of yarn - but we'll see.

That's it for now! Have a great weekend.

Oh the booty!

2006-11-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all of your comments regarding our Thanksgiving dinner and such. I know many of you were interested in the apple cider brine. I was going to post it but I feel bad about doing that since it's copyrighted in a book. But...I can tell you which book it's from! It's from The Thanksgiving Table: Recipes and ideas to create your own holiday traditions by Diane Morgan. In that book, we used the apple cider brine recipe on page 53 (but also added the Juniper berries from the juniper brine on the same page). Then, we used the Herb-Roasted Turkey recipe on page 64 to actually cook the thing. Since we used a turkey breast, we waited until the internal temperature was around 155 and then had it sit for 30 min before carving...and that's it! I strongly recommend the book for your Thanksgivings - it has a lot of other really amazing recipes in there.

For those of you who wanted to see the setlist from the Coffee Music Mix from my coffee pal, Chris posted it on her blog in this post. So, you'll get all the various details there.

In other news, I received my knit kit from my other pal. Here's what I received:
So, you're looking at a kit for a lovely lace scarf pattern. The kit was sent with a pair of size 11 Brittany needles and 2 skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in pink and 1 skein of Louet Sales Mohair also in pink.

I must say that my knit kit pal definitely got down that I love pink and love natural fibers!! So, I'm very pleased.

In other knitting booty news, I went to the annual Smiley's yarn sale in NYC. If you haven't heard of Smiley's, it's a discount yarn store and although they're located in Queens, every year they have a big blowout sale in Manhattan. Anyway, check out what I bought myself!

So, on the left are 4 skeins of 100% cashmere - yes, pure cashmere yarn by Filatura Lanarota. Because it's a little hard to tell from the picture, the yarn is in a soft gray color. Each skein has 140m...so that's pretty good yardage. Here's the best part, I got a bag of these 4 skeins for $60..which is about 50% off of the regular price.
On the right, is a box of 10 skeins of Filatura di Grignasco Nature yarn - 50% merino and 50% alpaca. It's really beautiful, really soft & natural. Again, I got a super deal on the box - only $40.

So, here's the big question...what to make with such beautiful yarn? I can't decide so I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Many Updates!

2006-11-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been over a week since my last post. Sorry for the delay - it was unintended. Although I was off from school both Thursday and Friday, it was not exactly a vacation. Thanksgiving was great - very successful! However, both my husband and I were exhausted afterwards. We were cooking until about 2 in the morning on Wednesday evening and then cooked all day on Thursday.

It was the first time that I cooked Thanksgiving for my in-laws so I didn't really know how/if they would like it. But, everything came out great. Everyone seemed to enjoy everything and the turkey was especially good. You'd like to know what we served?? I was silly and didn't take pictures of anything (I was honestly too much of a cooking maniac to think photographs), but I can tell you what we prepared:

Appetizers
Thai Pumpkin Soup
Salads that my MIL brought with her
Potato Scallion Bread (baked by DH and our bread machine - of course, people ate this throughout the meal - but we introduced it at the start)

Main Courses
Roast Turkey breast with an apple cider brine
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Coconut Pecan Sweet Potatoes
Apple Onion Stuffing Muffins
Green Beans with Frizzled Shallots
Brussel Sprouts and Chestnuts
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce (this we didn't make ourselves though)

Brief Interlude
Lemon & Strawberry Chardonnay Sorbet (this we didn't make either)

Dessert
Apple Crisp
Chocolate Trifle with Cranberry & Cherry Coulis

As you can tell, it was quite the meal - and except for the few things that I pointed out, my husband and I made everything!! Let me tell you, we will have leftovers forever!!!

Speaking of my husband, I finished his gloves!
Here he is modelling them for me! They fit and he likes them. So, another FO in the can! Hooray!

In other news, I got a very exciting package in the mail on Friday...from my awesome Knit and Coffee Swap pal, Chris, aka Stumbling over Chaos. If you haven't seen her blog, you should! Get this, she also has two cats - and they're both black! Quite a coincidence.

Anyway, let me show you this amazing package that I received from her.

First....the coffee:
All very interesting flavored coffees, of course!! So, at the top are three packages of peppermint chocolate coffee, a package of buttered rum coffee, and chocolate turtle coffee (then a mini mug ornament on the right). Underneath that is a huge package of Ghiradelli double chocolate coffee..and then packages of chocolate nirvana, icing on the cake, chocolate raspberry, and gingerbread coffee. I can't wait to try all of these!! We tried the chocolate nirvana coffee on Friday and it was amazing!!! I'm sure the others are just as good too!!

Then, there was even more!
Starting from the left, that's a really cool tape measure with a coffee theme! You can never have too many tape measures - and this one is just adorable. Then, yarn!! That's one skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in the color Java!!! I can't wait to make a pair of socks with these - it's really a gorgeous skein of yarn! Next, two bars of yummy dark chocolate...and last but certainly not least...a CD with a mix of songs all about coffee. My Coffeeswap pal has the coolest taste in music ever!! So, I've been really enjoying listening to the mix.

Well, that's it for now! I have another very busy week ahead - let's hope I can get in some knitting!

I'm in paper hell!

2006-11-17T16:55:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true. I've entered paper hell. Here's why: I made a decision that would help my students - but hurt me in the process. I teach 3 classes and in each of my courses there are two papers due. So, here's the really stupid part. I allow students to hand in their papers 2 weeks early to get feedback and a preliminary grade so that their writing can improve for when they really hand it in. That's good for them - afterall, they get a better grade usually and they get to improve their writing skills. However, that's very bad for me because it basically means that I'm grading papers twice...and with about 100 students combined for all of my classes, that's a lot of papers!

The amount of papers for this week is particularly bad and so I thought I would share the amount of grading I have to finish this weekend:

This is our dining room table - and as you can see, it's covered in papers!!! I've graded about 12 or so of them so far - but have about 35 more to go! Fun fun!!

Plus, it's just been a crazy week - one of my classes had an exam - I had many meetings...I was at school late every day...it was just nuts.

So, unfortunately, I did not get much knitting done this week...I'm sure you'll understand. I thought I'd show you the progress on the gloves though. As I mentioned last week, one glove down and now the cuff and a pinky down on the other.

I'm really hoping that I can finish them this week...but we're hosting Thanksgiving - my in-laws are coming so there's going to be a lot to do this week!!!

I've also been preparing the packages for the swaps - and they're just about ready. So, I'm hoping (unless I get buried under these papers) that I'll make it to the post office tomorrow!

Coffee Swap Questionnaire

2006-11-10T15:25:00.000-05:00

Scroll down for my post describing my crazy week!

As you know, I'm in the Knitter's Coffeeswap, and a questionnaire is now up on the site for my swap pal. So, here are my responses:

QUESTIONS

1. Whole bean or ground?
Ground coffee - we don't have a coffee grinder. I know, it's shameful..but we've never gotten around to it.

2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
I'm all about the fully-loaded coffee! Caffeine doesn't really seem to bother me - I actually have no problem falling asleep after drinking caffeinated coffee!

3. Regular or flavored?
I LOVE flavored coffee. It's definitely my favorite - especially flavors that are more creative than vanilla or hazelnut.

4. How do you drink your coffee?
With cream/milk and sugar/sweetener in a lovely mug

5. Favorite coffee ever?
I think my favorite flavor is pumpkin spice...especially this time of year. I also like white chocolate mochas.

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
I do like good coffee - but I'm not a coffee snob. Especially if I need coffee to stay up late, I'll drink whatever I can get my hands on.

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
Baked goods - cupcakes, brownies, etc. But, anything chocolate is good too.

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
I can't seem to think of anything. I'm pretty easy-going

9. Yarn/fiber you love?
I love natural fibers especially wool, cashmere, mohair, angora, etc. I recently learned how to knit socks so I'm very much getting into sock yarn.

10. Yarn/fiber you hate?
Any novelty yarn

12. What's on your needles?
Right now - gloves for my husband also still working on the sleeves for the Matilda Jane sweater and am about to start another pair of socks

13. Favorite colors?
Pinks, purples, blues

14. Allergies?
Nothing that would really affect the swap - just hayfever and pennicilin

15. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest?
Um...I think that's it for now!

Total exhaustion

2006-11-10T15:14:00.000-05:00

What a week!! I can't believe it's finally over - but it was a crazy one with things at school. For example, yesterday I had a lab meeting with my research assistants and then treated everyone for dinner. So, I didn't get home until around 10pm. What also made this week different was that DH was on nightfloat - which means that his hours were from around 6:30pm - 10am all week. So, I haven't had much of a husband this week.

I have been doing a bit of knitting though - I started a pair of gloves for DH. He's been wearing the same gloves forever - I think they're from his teenage years! So, it's time for new gloves. I'm making them with Classic Elite Inca Alpaca yarn in a charcoal gray color. It's lovely to knit with and very soft. I finished one of the gloves - so I'm half way there. Once I finish the second glove, I'll be sure to post a picture.

I also forgot to mention that I had signed up for a Knit Kit swap. Basically, in the swap, you put together a kit for your partner - including pattern, yarn, needles, and notions. I'm also very excited about that one. Again, it's just one package so it's not a long commitment so it should be fun!

Sorry for the photo-less post. Next time, there will hopefully be glove pics!

Droplet hat finished!

2006-11-04T09:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much to those of you who had positive comments about the socks and the baby blanket!

Well, after only about days or so, I finished the Droplet hat, and I love it!! Here are some pictures of the hat:
Here's another picture from another angle:
I couldn't decide which picture I liked best - so I thought I'd put them both in. What do you think? The hat is very comfortable and just looks really great. In fact, I was commenting that it was really the perfect knit - it didn't take very long to finish, it had just the right amount going on to keep you interested but not too much that it was overly complicated...and I just love the colors. So, another finished object in the can!

In other news, DH and I went to go see the new Borat movie. So funny!! If you have the opportunity to go see it, definitely go. It was the funniest movie we've seen in a very long time.

Knitting galore!

2006-11-01T19:19:00.000-05:00

I had a few free moments so I thought I'd take the opportunity to post. Anyway, the good news is that I have lots of FOs to report...okay, not lots - but a couple and one very much on the way so it just feels like lots.

Anyway, I finished the hubby socks in time for the birthday - and he loves them! Hooray! Here he is modelling them for me:
Don't they look great??!! And they fit. All good news. So, I'm happy to report that I actually finished my Socktoberfest socks in October as planned!

I also finished the baby blanket. Here it is in all of its glory:
I definitely don't like the blanket as much as my other projects - it's all the yarn's fault - but that's okay - I'm sure that the blanket will be appreciated nonetheless. I must say though that I will never use Homespun ever again - there's plenty of other suitable baby yarns out there!! So, now I just need to wash it before giving it to the parents - and that's all!

I also started the Droplet Hat from Knitting Nature. I've had my eye on this pattern for quite a while..and I was just waiting for the right opportunity. So far, this has been a great knit. Here's the progress so far:
I don't know if you can actually see the drops and the bobbles - the lighting wasn't the best - but they're there. I picked up this yarn when I was in London and just love working with it - it's very soft. I think that the colors might be a little distracting for the pattern - but I don't care - I like it anyhow. So, the pattern itself is pretty great - it has just the right amount of intricacy. This is actually my first hat and I'm very much enjoying how fast it's going - I'm about 2/3rds done, and I've only been working on it for a couple of days!!

In non-knitting news, last night I went out to dinner with DH and 12 students!! There's this promotional thing through the school that allows a faculty member to go out and spend time with students in a more relaxed atmosphere. So, we all had a very lovely Italian meal..lots of fun - but I ended getting back pretty late.

Oh, and the birthday was a success!! We had a lot of fun, and it's just always a treat to spend extra time together. I was planning on us going apple-picking...unfortunately, the weather ruined our plans..so we went to a museum exhibit in the city and also went to one of those pottery painting places where we painted a "tea for one" - it's a teapot with a teacup - once we get it back from the place, I'll take a picture of it so that you can check it out.

Well, that's it for now! Have a great night!

Happy Happy Happy

2006-10-27T18:01:00.000-04:00

Well, the week is finally over - and it was another busy one - one filled with many many meetings. I promise I won't bore you with the details...but on the one hand, I now know what classes I'll be teaching for next semester so I'm quite happy about that.

In knitting news, I've still been working on the baby blanket...not quite done with that though. I did happen to finish the hubby socks. I had some extra motivation to do so - it's DH's birthday tomorrow! So, I really wanted them to be finished in time. I am very happy with them, and I hope he will be too! I'll be sure to get a glamour shot from him after I give them to him.

Yes, his birthday is tomorrow! I've got lots planned..but unfortunately, I can't share any of it with you for now. You see, my husband and I are into surprising each other. He always plans these huge surprise bonzanas for my birthday...and although it isn't quite on that level, we've got to keep those plans quiet for a little while longer. I know he reads my blog so I can't give him any hints!! But, I'll be sure to fill you in in a few days.

Lastly, I joined another swap. I just couldn't help myself. I had such amazing experiences this summer with SP8 and my one skein pals that I had to sign up. Anyway, it's the Knitter's Coffee Swap!

I'm pretty sure that there are still slots open so if you're interested sign up! It's a short-term swap with only one package which I felt I could handle..as much as I'd love to do a more extensive one like SP9 - I just don't have the time. So, this seemed like a much better option.

Well, that's it for now! Enjoy the weekend!

Busy, busy week

2006-10-20T16:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been about a week since my last post. It's just been so busy over here! Now that school started up again this week, it's been non-stop. I've had tons of meetings all week, one of my classes had an exam that I had to grade, and a variety of other school related stuff. So, I'm just so happy that the week is finally over!

I did get a little knitting done this week though! Specifically, I finished one of the hubby socks:

It's a simple six-stitch pattern - again, from Sensational Knitted Socks. It's a slipped stitch rib pattern. Anyway, I was a little nervous about it while I was working on it and especially once I finished it because I was concerned that it wouldn't fit my husband. Afterall, it is only my second full pair of socks, and it's not for me so it's not as though I could try it on as I go. But, the good news is that it fits and my husband..and he likes it! This is his first pair of handknitted socks so he was surprised at how different it felt from the machine made socks. So, it's all worth the effort. Now, I've just started up on the second sock. I just need to get myself past the cuff and leg - I find that the most annoying part. After that, things get more interesting and it goes a little faster.

I also finished the second skein of the baby blanket and am working on the third and FINAL skein! Hooray! Here's the current progress:
As I mentioned before, I like the feel of the knitted blanket so far - just not that yarn. I'm sure that the parents and hopefully the baby will appreciate it - I'll just be so happy to be done with it!

Well, that's it for now - have a great weekend everyone.

I see London, I see France...okay, just France

2006-10-12T16:57:00.000-04:00

So, I'm back from France - and it was fabulous! Such a nice break from the daily grind. It really felt like we were a million miles away. Just to give you a sense why, I thought I'd show you a few pictures of the places that we visited in the Loire Valley.

We stayed in a small Chateau - named Chateau De Vau. Here's what the Chateau itself looked like from the front:

Isn't it beautiful? Can you believe we stayed there? It's a little B & B that was very special. Now, here's the view from our window:

I don't know if you can tell...but those are sheep!!! Yes, we could actually see sheep from our window. We would wake up each morning to the baaing of these sheep. I kept trying to make friends with them...but unfortunately, they weren't the most friendly of sheep.

So, for our trip - the Loire valley is known for having all of these amazing chateaus (castles). The most famous of which is Chateau de Chenonceau:

It is very beautiful - but because it's the most famous of all of the chateaus, it was overrun with tourists. It was very crowded. Plus, we made the mistake of going on a Saturday so that didn't help things. So, we didn't enjoy it as much as we had expected because of all of the crowds.

Our favorite chateau, by far, was the Chateau de Villandry. The castle itself was quite lovely from the outside as well as the inside:

But, it was the gardens that were truly spectacular. Here's an image of part of the gardens that's particular gorgeous:

As I mentioned, this is only PART of the gardens - there are other parts that are equally beautiful, but I can only post so much!

Anyway, this is just a small taste of our experience in France. We went to so many chateaus - and saw so many little towns. We also ate the most amazing food - very rich and delicious food. It was really all very special and magical - and now it's so difficult to be back to reality!

Quickly, in knitting news, I'm almost half way done with the baby blanket. I still HATE the lion's brand homespun yarn - it keeps squeaking and bunching..yikes! But, I know that when it's done it will really make a lovely soft blanket..so I'm putting up with it. Also, I've been working on my hubby's pair of socks - it's on size 2 needles - so it's taking a little while - but I'm still enjoying it.

So, I still have off from school until next Tuesday. It'll be hard going back - but I'm trying very hard to get a lot done in the next few days - lectures, writing, recommendations, etc. etc.

A bientot, mes amis!

2006-10-03T16:10:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, my post has to be a little brief today. In a few hours, we will be heading to the airport to go to France! I promised that I would do my best to post before we left so I didn't want to go back on my promise. Anyway, I'll be sure to take pictures of our trip and fill you in on all of the details when we get back!

In knitting news, I've been working on the baby blanket diligently and making good progress. It's knit with Lion Brand homespun - and I must say that I'm not really digging the yarn - although it's soft and will make a lovely baby blanket, but it's not so fun to knit with - it's a little squeaky and snags a little on the needle. Luckily, it won't be a WIP for too much longer. I'm also taking yarn on the trip with me to make DH a pair of socks.

So, that's it for now - I'll send France all of your best wishes!

P.S: If you don't speak French, the title says: See you soon, my friends!

And it only took 4 months and 6 days!

2006-09-28T20:51:00.000-04:00

Guess what....the Granny Square Afghan is finally finished!! 49 huges squares and over 4 long months. In my defense, I was very sick and unable to do any fiber-related crafting for about 1 month...so I guess it's not too bad. Here are a few pictures of the finished product:
This was my best attempt at trying to capture the entirety of the afghan. As you can tell, it's a little too large to do that - but I think it gives you a good sense of the scope of the thing - it basically covers all of our queen-size bed.

In case you're also interested, here's a birds-eye view of some of the squares:
I'll tell you...the last few bits were a little frustrating. Doing 2 rounds of single crochet around the edge of the afghan took forever! It also ate through about one full skein of yarn!! Can you believe that?? Then, weaving in all of the little ends - it can drive you crazy...with 49 squares - that's a lot of ends!

But, the important thing is that it's done - and it's lovely and it's occupying a very nice spot on my couch and hubby and I will be able to snuggle underneath it...so it's all worth it!

I'll tell you though - it'll be a while before I do another granny square! Time to move on to other things.

In other knitting news, I've been making a little progress on the simple baby blanket - and Matilda Jane is plodding along...for whatever reason, I can't motivate myself to really sit down and devote several hours to working on those sleeves...it's just something about going round and round and round that's driving me a little batty.

In other news, I'm on a little fall break as of today! Hooray! I have the next two weeks off. I don't think I mentioned this yet but my husband and I will be going away next week for about a week to France. We're spending a few days in Paris and a few more days in the Loire valley - with all of the lovely castles. I'm very excited!! Don't think it's a completely random trip or anything - we're going to really celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Yes, I know that already happened in August..but we didn't have the time to really celebrate then. I'll be sure to blog again before we leave - but thought I'd just give a heads-up!

And then there were two

2006-09-25T16:48:00.000-04:00

Well, since my last post I finished my first pair of adult socks! Here I am modelling them:
So, what do you think? I'm very pleased with them...and now I'm totally in love with sock knitting. These were so fast to knit - it's great! I think each sock took me about 2 days!! Can't beat that! I think that my next pair will be for my husband once I get him to pick out a stitch pattern he likes.

Speaking of my husband, it will be one of many projects that I'll be working on for him in the next little while. Including - a crocheted runner for the bookcase in his office and a pair of gloves.

I also heard from my husband that friends of ours are expecting...and soon! So, I need to get cracking on a gift for the new baby. Well, I settled on a baby blanket..and maybe a hat depending on how I'm feeling...but I told myself that I could not start a new blanket until I finished that crocheted afghan! Well, good news, the afghan is almost finished!!!! All squares are crocheted and sewn up!! What's remaining? I just need to sew in some of the ends and do some single crochet around the edge. So...almost there. It's looking great - it's certainly big enough. Once I officially finish it, I'll be sure to post the picture.

This past weekend I was with my family for Rosh Hashanah. I wouldn't exactly say it was the most pleasant experience - family holidays never really are...but it was good to see my parents. Did I mention that they live in Zurich now? So, I don't really get the opportunity to see them very often so it was good to catch up.

One real sock completed! One to go!

2006-09-20T19:02:00.000-04:00

So, I was working on my first pair of real socks - the kind that would fit me rather than a baby..and I was making great progress...until I realized that I made a size too big. So, instead of just putting up with it, I decided to rip out the entire sock and start from scratch. Plus, I went back on my promise to keep it simple. Instead of just doing a stockinette sock, I decided to take it up a notch. I used the Four-Stitch Ribbing Pattern from Sensational Socks and used the Elongated Corded Rib stitch. Well, I finished my first adult sock - and it fits!

Here I am modelling my first sock. By the way, I'm using Artyarns Supermerino - which I love! So, soft! Here's also a side view:

Anyway, I'm very proud of it as you can probably imagine. No second sock syndrome for me - I love the way that the sock feels so much that I just can't wait to finish. I've started up on the second sock and am currently working on the leg - so I have a little while to go. Well, I'm just really glad that I decided to frog the larger version - this way, I'll actually be happy wearing it!

I have a bunch of other news to share too. On Sunday, I went to the big Knit Out in New York. It was a lot of fun and I got a lot of free stuff - mostly free knitting patterns but also some yarn and needles. But, I had the most incredible experience that I need to share. I went to one of the booths for Crochet Today magazine (if you remember, when this magazine came out, I just raved about it). So, I wanted to give them my positive feedback. So, I spoke to the woman at the booth, and she asked me why I liked it - and I basically told her..and then I said that I really liked the designers in the issue too. So, the rest of our conversation went something like this:

Woman at booth: "So, which designers do you like?"

Me: "Oh, I just love Candi Jensen and.."

Woman at booth: "Wait, I'M CANDI JENSEN!!!!"

Me: "OMG! YOU'RE CANDI JENSEN!! IT'S SO GREAT TO MEET YOU!!"

Can you just imagine my excitement? She said she got goosebumps during our little exchange! I told her that I saw that her new book (that I've had on my Amazon wishlist forever) Knitting Loves Crochet, came out and how much I liked it, etc. etc (great book, by the way - but that's really another post). So, of course, I ran right over to the Barnes and Nobles across the street and had her autograph my book. What a nice lady! It totally just made my day to meet her. Can you believe that happened to me? I couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the day.

In school news, we had a big departmental party with faculty and students yesterday. I organized the whole thing and it was a huge success. We had a very large turnout and everyone thanked me for putting it all together. Hooray!

Anyway, my second sock awaits!

I did it!

2006-09-16T19:54:00.000-04:00

Behold!

It's my first sock completed!! Now, of course I can't wear it - it would probably fit a baby, but the point wasn't for me to wear the sock - the point was to learn how. In case you're wondering, I knit the Class Sock from the book Sensational Knitted Socks. If you haven't checked out the book and you're a sock knitter or you'd like to knit socks, GET THIS BOOK! It made learning how to knit socks doable.

Honestly, the hardest part was getting used to those dpns. Once you get that down, the rest isn't all that bad. In fact, I'm hooked - it's so much fun! I really like how there are all these different parts of the sock: cuff, gusset, heel flap, heel turn, etc. etc. It really makes the sock interesting. So, yesterday I went out and bought a bunch of sock yarn...because it doesn't really count towards my stash, right? Right???!!!

So, I'm currently working on my first REAL pair of socks - you know, a pair I could actually wear. I'm having a hard time putting it down it's so much fun. I'm currently working the gusset decrease of the 1st sock - next time you'll see a picture. But, I've chosen something super simple - just k2p2 for the cuff and st st for the rest...just to build my confidence. After this pair, I'll branch out to something more involved.

I must say also that learning how to use dpns have really opened up a whole new world. I haven't talked much about Matilda Jane in a while, right? Well, aside from me being too sick to knit for a few weeks, I slowed down because I started the sleeves and the pattern suggested to use 12" circs. Have you ever used 12" circs? Well, they're very small and very uncomfortable. So, I couldn't do too much in a sitting..but now that I learned how to use dpns, I've since moved the stitches onto dpns and things are much better - I'm able to move quicker and more comfortably. So, we're back on track - except my gauge has changed - so I need to purchase a larger set of dpns. So, hooray for dpns (never thought I'd say that one!)!

Are you also wondering about the crochet afghan? I've been working a little on it this week too. Plus, I've realized that we're not going to be able to do all 56 squares - it'll have to be 49. I just won't have enough yarn - that's become quite clear. Believe me - it's big enough!! So, I have only 2 more squares to go - and then they just need to be sewn up. Almost there!!!

Oh yes I can!

2006-09-14T20:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I got back from the conference earlier this week. I wish I could say that it was a good conference, but it wasn't all that useful. My poster describing my research project was very well receiving though - so that's the important thing. So, because most of the research had nothing to do with my area of interest, my husband and I had a little vacation in London. It was fabulous!! I just love that city - it feels like coming home for me. We managed to cram in quite a bit in just a couple of days.

Oh, and I did do some shopping - oh yes! I went to this department store, Liberty, which was recommended as one of the best knitting shops in London...and it was! The store is a Rowan wonderland - I've never seen so much Rowan yarn in every color imaginable...and they had all of the Rowan books - as well as Jaeger too. The prices on the books especially were much better than over here. So, from RYC, I got the new Alpaca book, and well as Classic Garden, and Classic Woman. Then, I spotted the Jaeger Roma book from Spring 2006 which I also loved and bought..and fell in love with the pattern called Sissy in particular.
So, I took the opportunity to purchase the yarn for the pattern there as well. Very successful trip indeed!!

Other than that, this week has been a busy one at school! I have this new advising position - don't be impressed - it's just that no one else in the department wanted to do it - anyway, it's created a ton of work. I have students up the wazoo making appointments with me to discuss their futures...but the students have been finding it useful and helpful so that's what's important. Classes themselves are really in full force and very busy. So far though they're going very well.

Lastly, I've hit a major knitting milestone. I've really wanted to knit socks for some while but I've been having trouble with dpns for sometime. Well....

I've conquered those pointy beasts! There's the beginning of my k2p2 ribbing!! Anyway, I'm sure that I'll run into more bumps in the road along the way - but it's a major accomplishment to have conquered those dpns - they've been causing me a ton of frustration lately.

A conferencing I will go!

2006-09-06T13:29:00.000-04:00

Just a super quick post today because....I'm leaving for a conference in only a few hours. Where am I going? The lovely lovely city of London! I'm especially excited because my husband is coming as well. Because the school is picking up the tab for my airfare and lodging and food, we thought it would be a great opportunity for my husband to come along since we'll only need to pay for his airfare and food. Not too shabby!

I'm presenting a poster on Thursday evening - but am planning on enjoying the city Saturday and Sunday morning - we return on Sunday afternoon.

Anyway, I'm super excited because if you remember, I grew up in London so it's like coming home for me.

Well, I'll be sure to say hello to the queen - and check out a knitting store or two, of course!

Until then - cheery-o!

The end of the Secret Pals - How Sad!

2006-09-01T17:02:00.000-04:00

So, if you can believe it, my SP8 pal sent yet ANOTHER package. This time, unfortunately, it's the last one - but certainly not least. I can't believe that it's all over. It's been such a fabulous summer being spoiled by two amazing pals. Well, I'm really excited though to know who my pals are - and to make a few new knitting friends! I guess that's really the point!

Anyway, so check out this package. I opened it up - and of course, I was greeted by many smaller little wrapped packages.
So, there they are - and you know that Frodo and Sam had to inspect as usual!! At the top, is a lovely letter from my secret 8 pal. Her name is Linda aka Craft Junkie. I think that she's probably one of the coolest women ever. She's from California and is a legal secretary, paralegal, and notary public. She's been married to her high school sweetheart for 37 years (what an accomplishment!) and has two grown children and one totally adorable grandchild. Anyway, it was just so awesome getting a chance to read up on this amazing woman who has been spoiling me all summer!!

So, what was inside those packages? There were so many that I broke them up into themes. First, a sheep theme!
Starting at the top and moving clockwise, that's a sheep piggy bank you're looking at. So adorable! Around the sheep's neck is a little sign that says Secret Pal 8 (it's actually the same icon I have on my blog). That way, I'll always remember my pal and this amazing experience.

Moving on, a set of size 11 straight needles - and at the top of the needles are two little sheep - one black and one white. I love them! They make me want to make something with larger needles so I'll get a chance to use them!

Next, that's a pez dispenser and key chain in the shape of a sheep! I love pez - and what better than a sheepy pez dispenser??!!

Lastly, is a very special sheep tape measure. I love cute little tape measures - but I don't have this one so this is a real treat. So adorable - and you can never had too many tape measures - so I know that this will come in handy. I love it!

So, onto the next theme - this one is a knitting/dying theme.
So, on the left are several skeins of cotton yarn and many many packages of Kool-Aid along with a little tutorial from Knitty to get me started on dying yarn. I'm very excited about this! I've thought about learning how to make my own handyed yarn - so this is exactly what I need to get me going.

Then, on the right, a lovely Knitting Journal - filled with empty pages for me to keep track of all of my projects. What an amazing way to keep track of all of my knitting and crochet progress. I can't wait to start using it!

And now, onto the last theme:
Two cat toys! I thought this was so sweet of my pal to think about my cats. As you know, Frodo and Sam have had tremendous fun with all of the boxes and wrappings that have arrived this summer - so it was so thoughtful of her to purchase a "real" gift for the cats. They love them both too! Here are some action shots of Sam playing with them:
These pictures are a little misleading because it was very hard to get them to "perform" on camera. You know the way that cats are. Also, Frodo has taken ownership of the toy on the left - which is quite an accomplishment because he's not so into toys (unless they're dangling on a string from a stick - those he adores) -but for some reason, he's really into this particular toy. So, that's great!

Anyway, thank you thank you thank you, Linda, my SP8 pal! I love everything - I've loved everything this entire summer and I'm so sad that this all has to end. Whoever you end up having as a pal in SP9 is going to be VERY VERY lucky!!

So, that's it for now - I'm still recovering but am feeling significantly better. Tomorrow we're having lunch at my uncle's house - which should be interesting given that I haven't eaten much more than tea and toast for the past 2 1/2 weeks - so I hope that they understand that I won't be eating with the same degree of gusto. Then, on Sunday, a friend of mine who I've known since I was about 3 or 4 years old is getting married. So, I'm really looking forward to that!

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Still sick...but I think I'm finally on the mend

2006-08-29T17:15:00.000-04:00

So, if you can believe it, after 2 weeks, I'm still sick with this nasty virus. In fact, over the weekend, it started getting WORSE. My fever started going up, I had a harder time breathing, and my cough was worse. So, I finally had enough yesterday and went to the doctor. It was a good decision because the doctor figured out that my oxygen levels in my body were very low (around 88-89% when it should be around 99%). So, she ended up doing a nebulizer treatment in the office and prescribing some asthma medication to open up my lungs. Can you believe that I basically had an asthma flare up after all this time? I haven't had problems with asthma since i was about 9 years old - so this virus thing has been a real doozy. Plus, I'm on an antibiotic. I do admit though that since yesterday I'm feeling MUCH better. Thanks to all of you for your well wishes - it is greatly appreciated.

It's been very hard the last few days because I've still been managing to go to work with everything - but coming home early right after classes. Luckily, it won't be long before I'm totally better - and then I can be back to being my enthusiastic hard working self...for now, I'm just focusing on getting well.

Well, in the midst of all of this, I got a wonderful surprise from my One Skein Pal. My final package! My One Skein Pal's name is Bekka and you can find her blog at: http://potlikker.typepad.com/bekka/. She's an academic librarian from Tennessee and just seems so cool - well, I already know that she's super cool because she's been such an awesome one skein pal - but now it's nice getting to learn a little about her after all of this time. Anyway, check how she brightened my lousy day yesterday with this great package. First, I opened the box:

Look how lovely the little packages inside are. I just love the tissue paper and ribbons. So coordinated! In the note at the bottom, my one skein pal revealed all about herself which was a great read for me because I was so curious after all of this time!
Then, look what was inside:

At the top, another set of great notecards! I can't wait to use them - they look beautful! Then, the very special one skein gift! SOCKS!! My very first pair of handmade socks! Aren't they gorgeous? Look - and they fit too - here's what they look like on my feet: Don't they look great???!! I LOVE them and they fit perfectly!!! They're made with Artyarns Selfstriping on two circular needles - and they just look fabulous! The funny thing is that my one skein pal and I must be on the same wavelength because I had sent my one skein pal, Kimberly, 2 skeins of Artyarns Supermerino because she just learned how to knit socks with 2 circular needles! What a coincidence!

Anyway, I should run - sadly, no knitting news to report because I've just been trying to get better. I can't wait to get back though.

Also, quickly for those of you who use Bloglines - I believe that the problem has been solved. However, all of my subscribers were deleted - so you'll need to resubscribe to the blog to get your Professor Knitwit fix! Thanks!

I hate being sick!

2006-08-22T17:05:00.000-04:00

So, in my last post, I mentioned that I was feeling a little under the weather. Well, since the point, it's been more than a little. I was hit HARD by a very bad virus that left me with a fever of 102. Not fun! So, between the body aches, and the chills, and the coughing - I haven't been able to do any knitting - zip, zilch, nada. All I've been able to do is focus on sleeping and watching bad tv to pass the time.

I'm feeling a little better today - my temperature dipped slightly below normal for the first time. So, I think I'm out of the worst of it - which is a good thing because I had an advising day today and classes start tomorrow! It's just that this virus was such bad timing - there was so much that I needed to get done in the few days before classes started - but instead, I was stuck.

So, yesterday I was feeling pretty lousy - until - I got a surprise box in the mail! From my Secret 8 Pal!!! I opened it to find a wrapped box with a card:
How festive!!!

I opened up the wrapping and look what I found!:

On the left, a birthday card (my birthday is on Thursday!). Not just any birthday card - but probably one of the BEST birthday cards I've ever received because when you open the card, the "Chicken Dance" song starts playing. Let me tell you, I was feeling so sick yesterday that it was exactly what I needed to cheer me up - I just burst out laughing when I heard that music!! Too funny!

Then, on the right, a bottle of cabernet chocolate sauce!!!! It's supposed to be used with desserts - on ice cream, poundcake, strawberries, etc. This looks so awesome!!! I can't wait to try it!

So, thank you again, secret pal!! This was such a surprise!! I was not expecting to receive anything like this - I am truly spoiled!!! What am I going to do when this month is over, and I don't have you as a secret pal anymore??!!!

Before I close for today, I just thought I'd leave you with possibly the cutest picture of Sam and Frodo EVER!!

School is right around the corner! Aaaah!

2006-08-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

It's been a few days since I've posted - I meant to post sooner - but I'm actually feeling a little under the weather. I've just been feeling achey and tired and just generally out of it. I'm currently on tylenol and feeling a touch better which is why I decided to set some time aside to blog. I think I'm just basically stressed about everything that needs to happen before school starts - next week on Aug. 22nd!! Yikes! I've had a lot of aggravation trying to get these computers set up for the experimental course - not fun at all! But, I'm hoping that everything will get sorted out in time.

In knitting news, I've made major progress on Matilda Jane. Everything is done except for the sleeves!!! Hooray!! Here's what it looks like right now:

Just realize that the hems need to be sewn down - and at that point you'll see the pico hem. Also, the button bands need to be sewn down as well - but this really gives you a nice sense of what it looks like. I really like it a lot except that I'm a little concerned that some of the lower buttons won't close or that they will close but will be a little too tight. I'm hoping that everything will be okay and that maybe a little blocking will take care of it. But, I'm also thinking that maybe that won't be a huge deal since I never actually close my cardigans - so we'll see. Regardless, I love the sweater - the yarn is so soft and the cardigan is really well constructed.

I'm sorry to say that there's been no progress on the afghan - I just haven't been that motivated to work on it...but I bought that new Crochet Today magazine..and boy is it good!! Here are some of the highlights:
Don't you love this jacket??!! I can't wait to make it. This is definitely going on my list of things that I need to make.

Next, this little capelet.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of ponchos and capelets in general - but I really do like this one - it really says "fall" to me.

Last, look what they've done with the edges of these napkins.

These look like they'd make a great gift. I'm actually thinking of making a set of these for a friend of mine that's getting married labor day weekend. They seem easy and quick enough.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this new magazine. I'm really looking forward to seeing other issues and making things from this one. But - I really need to get to that afghan!!!

Before I close I just want to mention something to my bloglines subscribers. There seems to be something very strange going on with bloglines and my blog. Just thought I'd let you know that I'm aware of the problem and the tech people are in the midst of investigating. Until then, you'll just have to keep checking for updated content.

Look what came in the mail!

2006-08-13T20:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I had such a pleasant surprise in the mail. Yet ANOTHER package arrived from my sp8 pal. As with the previous packages, my pal really went above and beyond the call of duty. So, I was greeted by this HUGE package and look what was inside:
Don't the separate packages look gorgeous??!! Really - it looks like it was wrapped professionally with the paper and the beautiful ribbons...and of course, this was very exciting for Sam who had to inspect as well.

So, I went ahead and unwrapped everything - and behold!

I should first mention that my pal put together a package with a "keep cool" theme. So creative!! As you know, I was complaining quite a bit these last few weeks about the hot weather over here so this package is certainly very appropriate.

Anyway, so starting at the bottom left and moving clockwise, another amazing handmade card!! My pal really does have this incredible talent for card making - each one that she's sent me (and there have been many) has been a work of art!!

Then, above this a little battery operated fan. Certainly useful in the hot weather! I think I forgot to mention it on my blog, but the other week we went to go see a minor league ball game (so fun - DH and I just love baseball) - and this woman next to me in the stands had one of these little fans - and I was quite envious at the time because it was quite hot and humid at the game. Anywya, so next time we go to a ball game, I'll be sure to bring it!

Then, to the right of the fan, huge sunglasses with hearts!! So fun and glamourous!!

Then, to the right of that, in a plastic drink container (with fun tropical drink umbrella straws) - containing 3 skeins of Rowan kid silk haze - 2 in bright pink and 1 white!!! I just love both colors!!! If you remember, I had made my To Dye For sweater in kid silk haze - I loved the feel of it then - and I love it now. So luxurious!! Can you believe the creativity of putting it in a drink container as if it was some cool drink???!!! Love it!

Next, a package of raspberry lemonade mix. This looks delicious!! The perfect hot weather drink. I can't wait to try it. Yum!

Next, underneath that a pattern for a lace scarf - to be knit with one skein of kid silk haze. It looks beautiful and certainly a perfect pattern for the warmer weather.

Last, a great new knitting book - "The Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting". Notice again the keep cool theme! This book looks great - as you know, I love all knitting books, and this one has some great fun and funky patterns that I can't wait to try.

And before I forget, both cats had a lot of fun with the box it all came in!!

So, thank you secret pal!! I can't believe how you managed to put all of this together. So thoughtful and creative! As I mentioned before, you've really gone above and beyond what was required of a secret pal. I am truly the luckiest spoilee!! I really love everything - so thank you so much again!!

Anyway, it's getting a little late - and I still need to eat some dinner - but just a quick knitting update...the body of Matilda Jane is done!!! I've been working on the buttonholes but have been delayed again because I'm a little stuck..however, I've been in touch with Ysolda and she's been very helpful so far so hopefully my issues will get resolved soon. In the meantime, I'm going to get some work done on those squares.

One last thought - only 9 days until school starts! Yikes!! I'm so not ready for summer to be over!!

Knitting delays and a new pet (sorta)

2006-08-07T20:34:00.000-04:00

The weather has been slightly cooler the last few days - so I've been more in the mood for knitting..but I was delayed in my knitting attempts for a few days anyway. In the midst of working on Matilda Jane, I realized that there was some unevenness in the stitch counts between a few markers. So, I emailed the lovely and helpful Ysolda who provided some much welcome advice (basically, I'm ignoring it since you can't tell anyway) - and in the last couple days, I finished the bust shaping! Hooray! Plus, I can actually try it on - here it is so far:
I had a lot of trouble trying to take this picture because the flash kept bouncing off of the mirror so I decided to take it without the flash - and the colors aren't quite right..but I think you get the idea. Anyway, I LOVE how the cardigan is turning out. It's really a fantastic design. And the yarn - the yarn! I know I've gone on and on about the Rowan Wool Cotton - but it really is fantastic. Well, anyway it actually won't be too much longer until I start working on the button bands and facings - which should be interesting since I've never knit a cardigan before..but this is such a well-written pattern that I know I'll get through it!!

In terms of the afghan progress, I managed to crochet one more square. I know - not very impressive. I just really can't bring myself to play with wool right now...but maybe in a few days I'll be able to get over that.

In other news, DH and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend! I can't believe that it's been 5 years - the time has really flown. My husband is big into surprises so he managed to plan this whole anniversary bonanza - from breakfast to dinner with a concert in between and just got to spend a lot of time together (which is a bit of a luxury given how busy we both are). Plus, to mark the occassion, he got me a Nintendo DS with a bunch of games. I know that this might sound kind of odd to most of you - but if you remember from my 100 things post - I have this guilty pleasure for video games. Anyway, one of the games is called Nintendogs - and I have a new virtual dog - meet Chewy!!!

Chewy is a shetland sheepdog and is very cute. Anyway, it's been an excellent source of procrastination.

Lastly, something very excited happened in the mail on Saturday....I received my first Crochet! magazine!!! They have a couple of patterns that I'm thinking about making - but it was just so cool receiving the magazine in the mail - it really made me feel more like I'm part of the crochet community. Thanks secret pal, again!!!!

Anyway, time for me to deal with dinner - have a great night.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2006-08-02T21:01:00.000-04:00

It's very hot here in knitwitville - I know it's very hot just about everywhere in the country - but I've just about had it with this heat over here - it's supposed to get a little cooler this weekend - but who knows??!!

So, to keep cool (aside from staying in A/C as much as possible) I think about fall - my favorite season! I just love that crisp air! Sweater-weather - you know, the weather where you need a sweater but NOT a jacket. Love it!

Well, it's actually been easy to think about fall because so many fall previews are up for the knitting mags. I just love checking out the previews - even if I'm not so interested in a particular pattern - there's something about getting those sneak peaks! I'm very much digging this Bianca Sweater pattern at Interweave in particular:
There's something about it that seems so earthy - maybe it's the yarn - but I just love some of the details in the sweater pattern. So, I think that may be on my list at some point!

Did you also see the new Rowan? Also, very intruiging. Some of those fair isles are fantastic - so British!

I must say that I'm also very anxious to see the new fall Interweave Crochet and the new Crochet Today magazine.

So many magazines - so little time!!!!

Now that I think about it, it's pretty funny that I take such pleasure at looking at the fall knitting patterns because I am not a fan of looking at the fall previews in the clothing stores. For some reason, it just seems to hot to be looking at fall clothes - but not fall patterns - go figure! Maybe I'm just odd that way.

I've been continuing to make good progress on Matilda Jane - I'm still really loving it. I haven't made any progress on the afghan though - I think it's just too hot to deal with all of that wool!!! Even in the air conditioning!!!

Anyway, I've got a big day tomorrow - I'm meeting up with my TAs for the lab class. Let's hope it goes well - I've put so much work into this course - it better be great!!!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

2006-07-30T18:20:00.000-04:00

So, the weekend is coming to a close. DH is on call in the hospital today so I have a few spare moments to update my blog.

I've had a pretty productive weekend! In terms of knitting and crochet, a friend of mine came over on Friday and we got to knit together - and yesterday I also got in some quality knitting time so I've made some good progress. On the Matilda Jane front, I finished all of the Raglan increases and am currently working on the body. Here's the progress so far:
I've marked where the sleeves will eventually go so that you have a better sense of what you're looking at - otherwise, I feel that it's a little non-descript. Also, know that the light lavender is the neckline. This is definitely the hardest project I've worked on so far. Specifically, this was the first time that I ever worked short rows and also paired lifted increases. Those raglan increases really gave me a hard time...well, I just wasn't sure that they actually looked right...that is, until many rows in where I could see the point of having those raglan increases look the way that they do - and now I really like them. So, a few more skills under my belt! I've got a few more rows of mindless stockinette to go and then onto the bust shaping.

I've also made some more progress with the granny square afghan. I have now sewn up all the squares that I've crocheted. A total of 42 sewn up! Hooray!
So, hopefully this picture gives you a sense of how large the afghan is. That's a queen size bed that it's sitting on. So, I still can't decide whether I should stop at 49 squares or go all the way to 56. I really think it's going to come down to how much yarn I have. I know I have enough for 49..but 56? Not so sure!

I haven't provided an update on my professorly duties in a while also. So, I sent over the second paper that I was working on this summer to my graduate advisor (because she's also on the paper). I haven't heard from her yet - but I'm glad that it's off my desk for now...and so I started paper number 3. My goal is to have this finished before school starts on the 22nd. Lofty goal - but I think I can do it. The lab class has also been coming along. The lab part itself is completely done - I'm meeting with the lab TAs this week to go through the experiments with them...and I've also been working on the lectures (this course is a BIG job). So, I don't think I'll have all the lectures written before school starts, but I'm hoping to have a very good head start!

Anyway, I'm going to head back to my knitting - I haven't gotten in any today since I've been busy with work and errands! Have a great start to the week!

100 Things About Me

2006-07-27T10:54:00.000-04:00

I know I'm a little behind the curve on this one, but I thought I'd take the time to tell you 100 things about myself! Here they are:

1. I am an only child.

2. I am left-handed.

3. Growing up, I spent time in 6 different schools.

4. I’ve lived in New York (Long Island & NYC), Connecticut (two different towns), and London(twice)

5. Because I learned how to speak in England, I even had an English accent!

6. It’s long gone now.

7. I have been to England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, and Canada.

8. My next big trip to a new country will be to Spain.

9. I own two British Shorthair cats named Frodo and Sam.

10. Yes, I’m a little obsessed with the Lord of the Rings.

11. I’ve seen the movies so many times that I scare my husband from time to time.

12. It’s always been a dream of mine to go to Australia – and while I’m there I want to go to New Zealand and get the official Lord of the Rings tour.

13. When I was younger, I was very allergic to cats.

14. This really broke my heart because I adored them and wanted to own a cat or two more than anything.

15. Luckily, I outgrew my allergies to animals.

16. But, I’m still allergic to a ton of stuff and will take prescription medicine for it if it gets really bad.

17. I also managed to outgrow the asthma that I had as a child.

18. I have high cholesterol even though I watch my diet and exercise regularly.

19. When I was younger, I used to ride horses.

20. I even competed in horse shows and won a few ribbons.

21. I also went to horseback riding camp for 3 years.

22. I had to stop horseback riding when high school became too demanding.

23. I also stopped because I was at a point where if I wanted to take my riding to the next level, I really needed to own a horse, but my family couldn’t afford it at the time.

24. I also used to play the flute for about 5 years.

25. When I was at my best, I practiced for an hour a day.

26. But, again – I stopped in high school when I didn’t have the time for that.

27. So, instead I sang in the school chorus which I enjoyed very much.

28. If you couldn’t already tell, I went to a very competitive prep school.

29. I attribute a lot of my current success to the high quality education I received in private school.

30. Even more so than college or grad school.

31. However, I do believe that more than anything, a top college opens many doors for you.

32. I also used to do a lot of black and white photography in high school.

33. I haven’t had the time to do that in a while though.

34. When I went to college, I sang in an a cappella group.

35. We would go on tour a lot and performed all over the country and the world.

36. It was an amazing experience but totally took over my life.

37. It left me with very little time left over to do anything but my school work.

38. However, I did make time to meet my husband in college.

39. He swept me off my feet at the very young age of 19

40. Okay, it was about a week before my 20th birthday but I love to tease him that he dated me as a teenager.

41. He was also a young thing of only 23.

42. We met through a dating service at a coffeehouse.

43. It was actually the coffeehouse on which the coffeehouse on Friends was based.

44. I never intended to marry someone from a dating service like this.

45. We got married on August 5, 2001.

46. We had a very traditional orthodox Jewish wedding.

47. My parents became very religious when I was a teenager.

48. I am not very religious though.

49. In fact, I don’t really think that God exists.

50. But, I do believe that there is a universal need to believe in some form of God or higher being.

51. I am very much a liberal democrat.

52. I’m also proud to be a liberal – both socially and fiscally.

53. I managed to complete my Ph.D in four years.

54. It was the hardest four years of my life.

55. However, I managed to land my dream job so it was all worth it.

56. I teach three courses each semester.

57. I also run my own lab with about 8 students.

58. I take great pride in my role as a professor and know that I am a very good teacher.

59. My students love me NOT because I’m an easy grader (because I’m definitely not) but because I really devote every aspect of my self to them.

60. It’s amazing that I can make time for knitting – but I do.

61. I also try to make time for exercise at least four times per week.

62. I learned how to knit in October 2005.

63. I fell in love with knitting immediately and became very obsessed very quickly.

64. I could very easily spend hours in a knitting store – especially one with knitting books and magazines.

65. Because of Debbie Stoller’s Happy Hooker book, I decided I needed to also learn how to crochet in April 2006.

66. I love both knitting and crochet equally – really I do. I can’t pick a favorite because they each have their strengths and weaknesses.

67. My guilty pleasure is watching re-runs of Sex and the City on HBO on demand while knitting and crochet.

68. I don’t care that I’ve seen each episode many times over.

69. I also have a guilty pleasure for playing video games.

70. When I was younger, I used to have sleepover parties where we would play Nintendo all night long.

71. When I was a kid, I used to dream of going to the Nintendo championships.

72. My husband and I play different installments of the Legend of Zelda series together where I will do the gameplay and he will be the navigator using a walkthrough guide.

73. I promise you – we’re not dorks.

74. I prefer playing games by Nintendo because I think that the Playstation and Xbox are a little too “serious” and have taken a lot of the fun out of video game playing.

75. I used to work as a Weight Watchers leader after I lost about 20 pounds with them.

76. I gained some of it back.

77. I have a strong genetic disposition to obesity – both my parents are obese and so were 3 out of 4 grandparents.

78. However, I am strongly committed to NOT following in their footsteps.

79. I was actually very close to being featured in Weight Watchers magazine; however, I figured that it wouldn’t be very “professorly” to be featured in the magazine in a bikini!

80. They were very disappointed because I was their first choice.

81. I was also recently approached to be in a Firm informercial because their videotapes helped me lose my weight.

82. I also declined the invitation.

83. I also worked once as an intern for a very large investment firm after my senior year in high school.

84. I took that as an opportunity to learn that I am not interested in finance – at all.

85. My first job was as a babysitter when I was a teenager.

86. Other than that, I’ve just been a student.

87. I was a tour guide in college for a very short period of time though.

88. Although I have been a tour guide, performed in a singing group, and get in front of large groups of students to lecture everyday, I am actually a very quiet and shy person.

89. My students don’t believe me when I tell them this.

90. I am also very obsessed with being on time.

91. I get very annoyed/nervous/upset when I am running late.

92. I love cooking and going to good restaurants with my husband.

93. We cooked our first Thanksgiving for our family in 2005.

94. It was a huge success – I don’t think our families thought we would be able to do it.

95. We planned the menu for at least one month in advance – and even had a few trial runs.

96. My uncle is a true gourmand, yet we even managed to impress him.

97. We’re planning on hosting Thanksgiving every year now.

98. My favorite food of all time is macaroni and cheese – in all forms – from the cheapy kind in the blue box to the gourmet variety in a restaurant.

99. I also love chocolate in all forms as well – but doesn’t everybody?

100. I can’t believe that I managed to complete 100 different facts about myself!

Oooh! Knitting progess!

2006-07-22T16:04:00.000-04:00

As promised last time, I have photographs of the finished Lace Tee to share! I finished all of the crochet edging on Wednesday night, blocked her, and then even wore her out on the town! Well, actually I wore her to work - nothing too glamorous...but you get the idea! So, I have a few shots to share. Here's the requisite "FO on the table" shot:

It's really amazing what a little blocking will do. The stitches look way more even than before. Ok, so how about on a human being...and by human being, I mean me!
So, there she is in all of her glory! Now, it certainly fits in all the areas that it needs to - except it's a little wide in the shoulders and neck. If I'm not paying attention, one of the sides will drop down past my shoulders - think '80s fashion. But, it's not too terrible. The main thing is that it is certainly wearable and looks pretty good, if I do say so! When I wore it out, I didn't have any weird "what is she wearing" type stares - so I guess that's a good sign! So, another object finished!

Since I finished up with that, I started working on Matilda Jane - and I've finished the lace neckband. It actually is pretty long! I could barely get the whole thing on camera:

But, you can't really see what's going on there so here's a closeup of the stitch detail:

Much better! I think it really looks nice - so now I've got to pick up the stitches on the straight end and start working on the body of the sweater! How exciting! This pattern is going to be a bit of a challenge - I can tell already...however, the yarn - Rowan Wool Cotton - is a real treat to work with. As silly as it sounds, it makes me feel special just to work with it!

The afghan is also steadily coming along - 42 squares are in the can - I'll be spending the next few days sewing them up and adding them to the 28 that are already together. After that, I'll get a better sense of whether we're stopping at 49 squares or going all the way to 56!

Briefly, in school news, I've been making steady progress as well. The labs are done! Hooray! I also submitted an abstract to present at a conference in Spring 2007 - and I'm almost finished with some revisions on this 2nd paper - 2 out of 3 for the summer almost through!

Sewing is Sew Not Fun...and Surprise, Part 2!

2006-07-18T18:01:00.000-04:00

What have I been up to lately? Well, as far as knitting goes, seaming, seaming, and more seaming! I've been seaming up the granny square afghan so that I get a sense of how large it is before I go ahead and crochet 56 squares. So far, 28 squares have been sewn up - and the afghan is pretty big!!! I think that I might be able to get away with 49 squares instead of 56 - especially since I might run out of yarn by then!

I've also been sewing up the lace tee - and all of the seaming is done!! However, you'll have to wait for next time to see a picture because I need to put 2 rows of sc at the neckline and sleeves. I can tell you though that it's looking pretty good!!

I've also started Matilda Jane. No seaming here, thank goodness! I would have started on this one sooner; however, it took me not one, not two, not three, but FOUR needle changes to finally get gauge!! I'm apparently a very loose knitter - at least in comparison with Ysolda!

In other news, as you could tell from my title, I received another glorious surprise yesterday from my One Skein Pal. When I received the package from our doormen, the package was an interesting round shape - that's because when I opened it, look what was inside:
The loveliest little round box! Inside, I was greeted by a number of goodies. Yes, it's true - not just one skein - but many fun things inside!
So, starting at the top and moving downwards:
1. A wonderful note from my one skein pal

2. A package of notecards - so cute and will be so useful to write to all of my future secret pals!

3. A gorgeous fan - so very useful in this terribly hot weather - I think it was over 100 degrees today!

4. An orange thimble - I can't help but think that my one skein pal and I must be on the same wavelength since I've been doing so much sewing!!!

5. A packet of playing cards - so whimsical in bright green!

6. Candy! Candy! You're looking at lemonheads and laffy taffy in grape. So good I've already helped myself to one of the laffy taffies!

7. Beautiful handmade soaps! These smell so good - in brazil nut, honey almond, and verbena scents. Yum!

8. Last, but certainly not least - the skein - you're looking at a skein of Noro Iro (75% wool, 25% silk). I LOVE IT!!! The colors are so bright and whimsical. I don't have anything like it - and I can't wait to make something really fun with it.

So, thank you, one skein pal! I love everything - you've really gone above and beyond the call of duty yet again!! I am really blessed with the BEST secret pals. Thank you so much again!!!

Surprise!

2006-07-12T19:24:00.000-04:00

So, I'm back home! I arrived back home late on Monday and was just too exhausted to write until now (I've had a bit of jetlag).

Anyway, Paris was great! This was our second time in Paris as a couple (I've been 4 times). My husband and I just love the city - so absolutely beautiful! We were only there for a few days - one of which was taken up completely by the wedding...so we didn't get in too much sightseeing, but we did check out the Centre Pompidou - the largest modern art museum in Paris...which we really enjoyed. We also ate very very well. Saturday evening we had dinner at this AMAZING restaurant - Les Ambassadeurs which was really life changing - ultra-expensive but definitely the best meal of our lives so far. The wedding itself was beautiful. My cousin looked stunning - and it was great seeing all of the family. It had been about 2 years so it was great catching up with everyone.

In the past few days since I arrived back home, I've had a few surprises. For one, I got a lovely little postcard from my One Skein Secret Pal. It was in our mailbox when we just got home so it was a very nice surprise to know that my one skein pal has been thinking about me. Thank you!

Today, I got another big surprise in the mail. A package from my Secret 8 Pal! My pal REALLY outdid herself. I could tell that this was going to be quite the package - so I took pictures all along the way. Check out what I pulled out of the box:
Just the package itself brought such a smile to my face. Will you look at how she wrapped everything??!! Plus, that's another incredible homemade card! I just felt so special just opening the box!

Then, once the wrapping was removed, I was greeted by several smaller separately wrapped goodies!

Each little package was wrapped up with its own little notecard giving a little hint as to what was inside. This only created greater suspense because I knew I had to take a picture of all of these little jewels, but I couldn't wait to tear them all open. Plus, as you can see, the tuile that was wrapped around each package was very intriguing to my cat, Frodo!

So, enough suspense! What was inside? Take a look:
If you couldn't tell already, the package is completely crochet related!! Starting at the top left and going clockwise:
1. A Locker Hook: On one end is a crochet hook and the other is the eye of a needle. I know this will be very useful!

2. A crochet hook case! I can't even tell you how much I need this. As I'm crocheting more and more, I'm accumulating more and more crochet hooks...and they're sort of all over the place..and I've nearly lost probably each of them several times. This way, they can't get lost! Hooray! Plus, notice there's a tootsie roll pop in one of the pouches - I'm embarassed to say that it's already been eaten! I just couldn't help myself - it's been a very long time since I've had one of those!

3. A Circular Crochet Hook: I've never seen one of these before but imagine a circular knitting needle except that instead of knitting needles on each end - there are two crochet hooks. Talk about cool! I can't wait to play with it!

4. The July 2006 Crochet! Magazine - I've been eyeing this at the bookstore, but just haven't gotten around to purchasing it. So, this is great...but that's not all. Get this...my secret pal got me a SUBSCRIPTION to the magazine!!!! I'm so excited! I think it's definitely the best Crochet mag out there - no question - and it's my first subscription to any fiber arts magazine so I'm just thrilled about this.

5. Lastly, the Crochet Answer Book!! This was on my Amazon wishlist - I checked it out of the library and thought it was awesome - so I'm really excited to have it in my library. Such an amazing resource.

Plus, one last unintended part of the package:Yes, a cat toy!! My cats have been absolutely mezmerized by the wrapping! Aren't they so cute?

Well, that's everything! Thank you so much Secret Pal 8!! You really went above and beyond with this package. Such an incredible surprise, and I feel so spoiled! I really love everything - thank you thank you thank you!!

Anyway, it's time for me to go and make some dinner - but just thought I'd give you a little update. I finished the second sleeve on the lace tee - so now there's just seaming ahead!

I'm leaving on a jet plane

2006-07-06T09:36:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's true - I'm leaving on a plane today. For whatever reason, I kept forgetting to mention it on the blog. But, my hubby and I are going to a wedding in Paris for a family member of mine. We'll be coming back late on Monday - so we won't be gone for very long. She's getting married on Sunday so we'll have a few days beforehand to enjoy the city. Paris is one of our favorite places - so we're quite excited. As I type this, I'm reviewing my French by listening to one of those language cassette tapes. They're always so ridiculous, but I guess if I ever need to say, "He is the 22nd fireman", I'll be all set.

In knitting news, it won't be long before the lace tee is done. I'm almost done with the second sleeve - and then I'll just need to sew it up. Although I won't be bringing it with me on the plane because seaming is something I really need to do at home rather than on an airplane. I'm also making good progress on the afghan. 38 squares are now done - and I've sewn up 8. Take a look:
Looking good! This way, it gives you a good sense of what the afghan will look like when it's all done.

Also, my yarn for Matilda Jane came yesterday. I have to give major props to www.craftandsave.com. I ordered it on Monday morning, and it arrived yesterday - that's with the post office being closed on Tuesday. I'm just shocked. Plus, my yarn was cheaper than any other place I checked. So, here are the colors:

The yarn is Rowan Wool Cotton in August (the blue color) and Hiss (the lavender color). If you haven't checked out this yarn before, you should. It is heavenly. Soooo soft. I guess that's because it's 50% merino and 50% cotton. So, I can't wait to start on it - I'll be bringing a few balls with me to Paris.

So, I still have some packing to do - so I need to get back to that...but I'll be back soon!

Lookie! Lookie!

2006-07-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

Look what came in the mail yesterday!!
Isn't that just the most adorable card ever? Did you check out the inside? It's actually a card for Secret Pals!! I didn't know that they made such a thing! Anyway, thank you, secret pal! It truly brightened my day to receive your card in the mail. So unexpected!

I can't believe the week is over. It was a productive one. I managed to make more progress on my course (almost done with all of the labs) and I've been making progress on this other paper I've been working on forever.

In terms of my knitting progress, that's also been going well. I finished one of the sleeves for the lace tee - I can definitely see that light at the end of the tunnel!! Plus, 35 squares are now done on the afghan! I actually started sewing together some of the squares too for two reasons:

1. I'm really not looking forward to sewing together 56 squares all at once - I'm thinking that will lead to major procrastination
2. I'm a little nervous I might run out of yarn. This way, if I start sewing them together and it looks like I'm going to run out, I can stop at a number of squares that make sense.

Yesterday, I had a great day. I saw the friend who had her bridal shower last week. I'm so happy that we're back in touch again. It was really too long. We got to talk and talk and talk and just catch up on everything. Sooo much fun. Plus, she knits...well, she used to knit. She hadn't knit in about 2 years. So, I had to remind her how to cast on, knit and purl. It's such a strange thing because there are actually a lot of knitters out there - I've met a number of dormant knitters (my friend clearly being one of them) - but most knitters that I've met (aside from the ones that go the stitch n bitch type events) have generally been stuck on scarves. Are the majority of knitters like this? You know, lapsed knitters who stick with pretty "safe" projects? I'm starting to think so. I think that as knitting bloggers we kind of live in a different world than the "average" knitter.

Now a call for pattern suggestions - my husband recently got his first real office as a doctor. In his office, he has an average size bookcase that's probably about 4 or so feet tall. Anyway, the other day, he took a look at the top of the bookcase and said, "Hmmm...I think I'd really like to get something to put on top of this - like a runner or something". Now, you know the minute I heard him say that I jumped in, "I can make you one! It could be really great. I could knit you something - or maybe crochet would work better, etc. etc." He looked at me a little skeptically but later agreed that I could if we picked out a pattern together. So, any ideas? He sees patients in this office so it should be something that looks somewhat conservative - and since he's a man, nothing too frilly. Suggestions?

One step closer with the lace tee

2006-06-26T18:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post. I had intended on posting Friday or Saturday but what little free time I had got tied up.

In non-knitting news, I had a wedding shower to go to yesterday for a very very old friend. I've known her since we were both 3 or 4. I hadn't been back to her family home for quite a while - and it was just so strange because I remembered everything from the eyes of a 12-or-so year old. I also had very strange deja vu feelings from the neighborhood. It was just a feeling of familiarity and newness all at the same time.

At school, I've been making great progress on my course for the fall. I'm almost done designing all of the labs - so that's majorly good news...and I submitted that paper for publication that I mentioned last week. So, I'm glad to get one of those off of my desk.

And now...to the knitting! I finished the front of the lace tee!!
Doesn't it look so great? I managed to figure out how to turn off the automatic flash - and I think it really allows you to better view the stitch pattern.

Anyway, I'm really happy with it so far - it needs some serious blocking - but overall, I think it'll really be great when it's done. So, now I have to cast on for the two short sleeves - but I definitely feel that the worst is behind me!!

Also, I have passed the halfway point for the granny square afghan. So far, 31 squares down!! I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet - but I'm inching my way closer.

Easy? Intermediate? Advanced?

2006-06-20T20:41:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd take some time in my post today to discuss something that's been weighing on my mind for some time. My usual updates about my daily adventures will resume later in the week.
I love going through knitting and crochet books. I'm not saying that I necessarily have to buy them - but I love looking at patterns. I love stopping in a Barnes and Nobles to check out their craft section, and I love getting knitting and crochet books from the library. I know that I'm certainly not alone in this. But, when looking at these pattern books, I've noticed something a little frustrating.

You know - that little (sometimes present) subtitle that tells you whether the pattern is for beginner, intermediate, or advanced knitters or crocheters. So, here's the frustrating part - what exactly does that mean? Have you noticed that certain books or magazines will have different criteria as for what is easy and what is more difficult? For example, in one knitting book, a simple drop-sleeved sweater knit totally in stockinette (except maybe for some ribbing at the bottom) was given a rating of 5 - meaning it was very hard. However, in another book, that very same sweater would be considered easy. Does this drive anyone else crazy?

With knitting, I pretty much get what makes an advanced pattern. Usually it's something that includes a complicated cable pattern that requires you use a chart, or maybe a tricky intarsia or fair isle pattern. What becomes more difficult is distinguishing between what one pattern designer might consider easy vs. intermediate. Usually this involves some sort of shaping to be considered intermediate but not always.

However, with crochet, I'm still completely confused. I can't figure it out at all. Again, some books will consider anything other than a scarf advanced while others use more subtle criteria. Specifically, I've been a little stumped by this book I got from the library, Cool Crochet. It has some very lovely patterns - but it seems like all the ones that I want to do are for experienced crocheters. Yet, I can't figure out why those patterns are advanced - they don't use any charts, they don't use any crazy color combinations, they don't use any fancy stitches. Yes, there's shaping but that can't be all because there are other patterns in that book for garments with shaping that are labelled advanced beginner. Advanced beginner??!! As if that doesn't create even more confusion! (Note: I do not mean to just single out this one book - just about every knitting or crochet book do the same type of thing - Cool Crochet just came to mind because I just got it from the library)

So, I guess the other alternative would be to follow the likes of Debbie Stoller (Stitch n Bitch) and the crew at Interweave Knits who don't include any indication of how difficult a pattern is. In one sense this is a good thing because it doesn't discourage people from going outside of their comfort zone. But, on the other hand, I think it's also useful to know what one is getting into when starting a pattern.

I wish I had some sort of solution. It would be very nice and thoughtful if all of the publishers and pattern designers could come up with a standard set of guidelines regarding pattern difficulty. But, that probably won't happen any time soon. Until that time, if you design patterns, why don't you let us know why you've designated something as easy, intermediate, and advanced? Maybe that way we can all start speaking the same language.

Any thoughts on this?

Ok - my thought piece is done for the day! As I mentioned before, a more "normal" posting will resume later in the week.

Forging ahead

2006-06-17T11:40:00.000-04:00

So, the weekend is here! I made a lot of progress work-wise - I sorted out what labs we will be doing in my experimental psych. class that I'm creating. So, I've made some major headway with that. I'm also almost ready to send out that paper I was mentioning - so all is looking up.

The afghan is also forging ahead. I try to do 1 square a day and have been pretty good about sticking to that. I'm almost half way there!!

I have also been making great progress on the lace tee. I've been working up the front with the lace pattern. After two sets of pattern repeats, here's what the front looks like so far:
Can you see the lace pattern going up the middle of the front? I'm actually really looking forward to wearing it now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think it'll be really lovely when it's all finished.

So, as I'm seeing this end of the tunnel, I've also been thinking about what my next knitting project will be. Have no fear though - I'm not starting anything until I finish this one first - otherwise, I feel that I really will accomplish nothing! Anyway, after stumblling around a few blogs, I think I found my next knitting project!

So, here she is, Matilda Jane:

Obviously, these are front and back shots. I think the color scheme I'll be doing will be a little more conservative though. I'm thinking of doing a dark bluish/lavender for the body of the sweater and a light blue on the trim and ribbon for the back. But, we'll see when I actually decide on a yarn to use. So, what do you think?

Thank You, One Skein Pal!

2006-06-14T18:19:00.000-04:00

I got such a wonderful surprise today when I came home. There was a package waiting for me from my one skein secret pal! There were so many goodies inside - I couldn't wait to post about it.

First:
The skein - this is a one skein exchange afterall!! Well, I didn't receive just one skein but two arrived in the mail! The one on the left is a skein of natural 100% wool from Beaverslide Dry Goods. It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but the skein is more of a maroony type color (technically, it's autumn dogwood). I absolutely love it!! It's so rustic and seems like it will be so warm. I think that I will eventually use it to make a hat or some other winter type garment - maybe gloves or mittens.

The second one on the right is Outback Mohair from Plymouth Yarn. I do love mohair and these are some of my favorite colors so this is right up my alley! It actually reminds me a lot of the contrasting color I used in the afghan I had made back for the engagement. It's hard to tell from the picture - but these are practically the exact same colors. I loved them then and I love them now!

But, that's not all! There was also this:

At the top is a lovely note from my one skein pal. Then, underneath that is an adorable cell phone holder called "poire" - which means pear in french (because if you notice, the cell phone holder is in the shape of a pear!) and the blue package is a package of cards and envelopes. I can certainly always use more stationary - especially as a secret pal!

Oh, but we're still not done! Candy!
Pez and pop rocks! I haven't had these in ages! But, these were some of my favorite candies as a child! Yum!

And, we're still not done if you can believe it - and I've left one of the best to the last (they're all the best, it's hard to decide, but this is certainly extremely thoughtful):

They're magnetic dolls of Carl Jung (left) and Sigmund Freud (right). You see, my one skein pal has done a little detective work and discovered that I'm a psychologist - which up until now I haven't revealed on my blog. For those of you who aren't into psychology, both Jung and Freud had a major impact on the field - especially in the clinical and personality domains. They were close friends and colleagues but then had a falling out for reasons that are a little beyond the realm of my knitting blog. When I saw these two little guys, I just burst out laughing - they're so cute and such a thoughtful gift. I will definitely be keeping these little guys in my office!

So, my one skein pal - thank you thank you thank you!! This is really way above and beyond what was expected. I feel very fortunate to have you as my secret pal and feel very spoiled indeed!

Back to normal with a finished back

2006-06-13T17:55:00.000-04:00

Things over here have been pretty much back to normal. This weekend was a little crazy though so I didn't get much knitting or crocheting done. On Saturday, there was a conference in honor of my undergraduate advisor that I had to attend which took up the whole day and left no time for knitting...I didn't think it would be appreciated if I brought my projects. People just wouldn't understand and would probably be offended! On Sunday, lots of errands errands and more errands.

However, yesterday, I did finish up the back of the lace tee:

I'm pretty happy with it so far - although I think something went wrong up by the shoulders. One side seems higher up than the other - I'm not sure sure why that would be. So, I'm just hoping that it straightens itself out or that it won't be visible when worn especially since it's the back of the tee.

I also got one square done yesterday after school. So, after today, one third of the squares will be finished!

Other than that, I've been busy writing at school. I'm almost ready to send out a paper for review so that'll be great once that's out of my hair. Have no fear though - there are PLENTY of other things that I need to work on writing. Plus, I've been working hard on putting together this course for the fall.

That's it for now - I'll probably be sending out my second package for my SP8 tomorrow. Wish I could fill you in on more - but it's a secret!!

I'm back home!

2006-06-09T19:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm back from Charleston. It was good to be down there for a few days - but it really is good to be back home again. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures while I was down there - but I'll fill you in on some of the highlights.

Sunday: we drove and drove and drove down there - took us about 12 hours! But, we finally arrived exhausted.

Monday: my dad took me on a carriage tour of the city - the kind where the tour guides dress like they're in confederate army:

We also went to two Spoleto events - we saw a chamber music concert and an orchestral concert with a large choral component.

Tuesday: We went to Middleton Place - it was a plantation and was simply beautiful. They had such amazingly beautiful grounds with all sorts of wildlife. We saw alligators, all sorts of wild birds and they had a farm with chickens, sheep, horses, goats, and peacocks! Here's a birds-eye view of what the plantation looks like today:
The picture doesn't really do it justice - it kind of looks like a golf course/country club from the picture - it's much more natural and untouched in real life. Believe me, it's beautiful.

On Wednesday, we went to some of the beach towns nearby and also checked out this Hopper exhibit at the Gibbes Museum of Art.

Thursday, I came home but was delayed and my trip ended up taking over the whole day.

During my trip, I made a lot of progress on my projects too. I got through 7 more granny squares and am almost finished with the back of the lace tee. So, I'm quite pleased about that.

In other news, I heard an update from my friend about the engagement. It's officially off - as I had suspected. Although I didn't suspect how it happened - to make a long story short, he basically walked out on her. Everything was okay and normal - he went off to work - and when he was at worked he emailed her saying that the wedding was off. EMAILED HER!! Plus, no explanation why. She's tried calling him and emailing him to find out what happened - and he doesn't return her calls or emails. What a coward. Can you imagine? I mean I guess it could have been worse - what would have happened if he decided to walk out on her when they were married with children - but it's still quite devastating.

Anyway, so I'll be getting together with her this week to catch up and see how she's doing.

That's it for now! It's great to be back home!

One more post before I go-go

2006-06-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

I had to put up one more post before I left for Charleston because I got the most amazing package in the mail from my SP8. She sent me a book - not just any book though. A book of her own from 1989 entitled Granny Crochet Favorites by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. The entire book is composed of projects that use granny squares. Here's a sample of some of the projects:

I love it! I think that with some different colors the projects could look very modern. I can't wait to try some of them out - that is, after I finish the current afghan. But, I should also mention that this book is really not just a book of granny squares - for my secret pal it has tremendous sentimental value which she described in this amazing note with a card that she made herself!

Thank you so much, secret pal! I can't tell you how moved I was to receive the book and your description of your memories with your grandmother crocheting. I know that this book has beyond monetary value for you so I was just totally blown away to receive it. So, I couldn't leave without sharing that.

Also, Frodo felt left out of the last post, so here's a picture of him sleeping on our couch this morning!

The week comes to a close

2006-06-02T18:14:00.000-04:00

Well, the work week is just about over - I can't believe it. Overall, it was a pretty quiet week - I managed to get a fair bit of writing done and prep for my course in the fall. Of course, there's plenty ahead but I'm making progress.

Progress is also happening on the afghan and the lace tee. 12 squares are now done and I have about 3 inches left of the back of the lace tee before I start shaping under the arms.

I heard some shocking news also that's been on my mind so I thought I'd blog a little about it. Do you remember those friends of mine who got engaged very suddenly? You know, the couple who I made that amazing afghan for a few months ago? Well, I'm pretty sure that the engagement is off. I'm waiting to hear about the details, but I'm pretty sure it's done considering that on my friend's friendster page, it says that she's single and all the pictures she had posted with them together have been deleted. Plus, a little while ago, he had mentioned in passing to my husband that things were a little rocky between them. So, I tried calling her cell and haven't managed to get in touch with her yet - just left a message..so I don't know any details. But, I'm just so sad for them. I'm 99.999% positive he broke off the engagement - and it's just terrible because they had a date, booked the place, and she had a dress. I know that it's better that the engagement is broken off rather than them getting divorced down the line especially if kids ever came into the picture...but it still must be very hard for her to handle.

In other news, more positive news, I leave for Charleston on Sunday morning - 4:55am to be exact according to my dad. Did I mention that we're driving down? And that my dad is totally anal-retentive that way with time? I'll try to post, but regardless, I'll be back on the 8th - so I won't be absent for too long.

So, then let me just leaving you with this - a sleeping picture of Sam:

It's been a few days

2006-05-30T18:22:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been more than a few days since my last post. With the holiday weekend, I was out gallivanting with my husband. The weather is finally getting nice around here - so we took the opportunity to go for a bit of a drive and go hiking. I should have brought my camera to take a few pictures - it was just so incredibly beautiful.

Since my last post, I also participated in the undergraduate graduation. That was quite an experience! As a faculty member, I actually got to sit on the stage! I must say though that it was a little overrated because it was very hot from all of the lights and just exhausting. It's a good thing that the faculty had special ceremonial garb though - that way I wasn't mistaken for a student. A little funny thing happened - on our way marching to the stage, I was next to this other new faculty member who is also young - definitely under 30...and as we walked up, one of the parents said out loud, "It's so nice to see young faculty!". It just kind of made us laugh!

In knitting news, I picked up the stitches for my lace tee and am now working on the back. I've done about 25 rows but it's taking a while to make any kind of progress as I am on size 3 needles. Also, the grannies are coming along - I have 8 finished and hope to have 9 after today. Slow and steady.

I also received a package in the mail. I thought that the package was from my secret pal, but after some detective work, it turns out that it was from my secret sister. The secret sister swap ended about a month ago so I totally forgot about it, so thank you secret sister. So, check out what was inside:
A variety of lovely stitch markers and...

Four skeins of wool yarn from Dale of Norway - I think they're navy - although it's probably a little hard to tell from the picture. But, they're a very dark navy almost black. Regardless, very useful - I know I'll be able to use them in the not so distant future. So, thanks again!

I also received a postcard with this image from my one skein secret pal with a heads up about my skein on its way. It should be very interesting to see what arrives.

It's just been so fun checking the mail each day. Thanks to all of my pals!

I have 3 grannies!

2006-05-24T11:55:00.000-04:00

3 granny squares that is! Yes, my yarn from knitpicks arrived on Monday, and I've started working on the granny square blanket. Here's a sample of 3 of the squares:

Aren't they just adorable? I love them and can't wait to see them all finished. Although that will be a while..the whole afghan is supposed to be 56 of these little (ok, not so little) granny squares. So, 3 down 53 to go! As I finished my first square, my husband was kind enough to remind me that if I do one a day, I'll be done in 2 months! Argh. He's probably right - but it was something else to hear it out loud. But, it'll be so cute when it finally is finished.

In case you're interested, the afghan is made using Wool of the Andes. Hyacinth is the main corner (on all outer borders). The other colors are: blueberry, hush, mulled wine, chambray, asparagus, violet, and tulip.

I also finished the lower border of the lacy tee:
It's blocking right now before I go ahead and pick up stitches and start the back. I can't wait. I'm really happy with how it's coming so far. The lace pattern is just so lovely.

Also, the second half of the ribbon purse is finished - I just need to put the two together.

In other news, my classes are finished! My exams are graded and the grades are in! I'm going to my first graduation as a faculty member tomorrow so that should be kind of a kick. Now with the semester behind me, I can get back to writing again and planning my courses for the fall.

My secret pals have also been hard at work. Yesterday, I received a little package in the mail from my sp8 pal. Here's what was in it:

That's a handmade card that you're looking at - with the prettiest little stitch markers. Unfortunately, one of the stitch markers did not fair well in the mail and broke - but I just love them! Thank you secret pal - I am just overwelmed!

Speaking of secret pals, a package for my secret pal will go out today - and I can't wait to hear how she likes it!

I have the best secret pals!

2006-05-19T19:11:00.000-04:00

I just want to start my post off today with a big thanks to both of my awesome secret pals. Thanks so much for your comments (and also to the rest of you who have also left comments in the past few days). It makes me feel so loved! In fact, you wouldn't believe what arrived in the mail yesterday:

Yes, I got the most darling card from my sp8 secret pal just saying that she was thinking of me. It totally brightened my day. So, thank you secret pal!

Thank you also to my one skein secret pal for your detailed info on Charleston. I have been there once before - my parents actually recently bought a house down there to escape the bad winters. But, there's plenty that I still haven't seen - and I definitely plan on checking out the festival - even if I will only be there for a few days.

In knitting news, I'm making good progress on the lacy tee - as of now, I have about 10 pattern repeats down - 8 more to go..and then the hardest part of the project is over (at least it seems that way from briefly glancing over the instructions). I've really been enjoying working on it - the lace pattern is really beautiful.

I'm still waiting on my knitpicks order so that I can start my crocheted afghan...but I've been going into a little crochet withdrawl...so I couldn't help myself. After looking through Crochet Bags! by Candi Jensen which I have been fortunate enough to have been able to borrow from the library (I know I mentioned this before - but I love love love the library for knitting and crochet books - the public library is just the greatest invention for us knitters and crocheters because otherwise, I'd be so in debt from all the books I would have bought). Anyway, there are a number of really cute bags in the book - and I spotted this quick one skeined project for a little change purse made with ribbon yarn of all things:
So, I couldn't help myself...I popped into a lys and bought a skein of ribbon yarn..and so far have finished one side of the little purse.
The good news is that the purse uses so little yarn that I'll probably have enough for at least 1 or 2 more...so I'm thinking one might end up going to one of my secret pals. We shall see!!

In non-knitting news, I've been grading papers and exams like crazy. One of my classes had their final yesterday - the grades are posted...and no complaints which is always a good thing. I'll tell you - I'll be so happy when my first year teaching is actually over. I have so much writing to do - and actually prep for one of my classes in the fall!

My bag is complete!

2006-05-16T19:16:00.000-04:00

Very exciting news today! I finished the fat bottom bag. Here's the finished product:
What do you think? I'm personally thrilled with the outcome. Notice the flower??!! Yes, I crocheted that myself too!! I really really love the purse - I can't wait to take it for a walk in the real world! Plus, the whole thing was rather painless and fun to make.

By the way, no need to be alarmed...that black and white blob in the top right corner is just my other cat, Sam. They are both very nosy when it comes to my knitting.

So, now that that's finished...I ordered some yarn from knitpicks because I want to do a crocheted afghan...something very retro - I'm thinking granny squares. It should be fun. I just can't wait for my yarn to get here. Plus, I wanted something super portable because I'll be going on a little road trip in a few weeks with my parents to Charleston so I want to bring projects that will be easy to bring - and squares are just the thing.

In terms of knitting news (yes, I still do knit, silly) - I've been making decent progress on the lacy tee. So far, I've gotten through 3 pattern repeats of the lace pattern for the bottom edge:

I'm definitely enjoying this project more than the vintage short-sleeved. For one thing, every other row is a purl row which makes things a little easier. Anyway, I'm pleased with it so far. I think it'll really be beautiful when it's done.

In other news, I'm going to my graduation tomorrow!! Well, I officially defended my Ph.D. in July and got my degree in October - but I didn't get to participate in any formal ceremony...so tomorrow is the formal commencement. I may already be a professor but nothing was about to keep me away from commencement. I worked very hard to march and get hooded!!

A new camera!

2006-05-13T09:47:00.000-04:00

I had intended to post sooner, but there were a few things that got in my way this week. For one, classes were wrapping up. As of now, my classes are over for the semester - I still have exams though and tons of papers to grade! But, at least no more lecturing for me until the fall! So, anyway, I had a variety of loose ends to tie up this week.

Also, my husband has been on vacation which has left little time for blogging. Oh - and we had the great misfortune of both coming down with a cold this week. We definitely caught the same bug - we had the same exact symptoms at the same time.

I do have good news though - we actually bought a digital camera! After doing a lot of research on the matter, we finally made our decision. This is great news because my photos should be a lot better than before! For example, look at this great picture of my cat, Frodo (hint: sarcasm)!

Doesn't he look possessed??!! I honestly don't know quite what happened here. He looks good but his eyes look so strange - which is such a shame because he's such a beauty. Next time maybe I'll try taking the picture during the day time.

But, seriously, the camera has already been taking some much improved pictures of my projects, and that's the important thing! The crocheted fat-bottom bag is almost finished - I just need to work on the handle flaps..and then get myself a handle! But, I took 2 different pictures so that you can get a sense of what it looks like:

It's coming along quite nicely I must say! I took a picture of the bag folded up to appromixate what it will actually look like when it's finished.

I also started working on a guage swatch for the lacy tee. I'm excited to get to work on that one - the mercerized cotton is just so lovely.

So, I should really run - but I thought I'd give a shout out to my two secret pals! It was great getting emails from you this week, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you over the next couple of months.

More adventures in crochet

2006-05-06T11:36:00.000-04:00

So, I finished the striped scarf that I mentioned previously. Here it is:
It only took me a few days - everything goes so much faster in crochet. I really like the color pattern - although it was a little different than the color pattern pictured in the book. I'm thinking I might send it over eventually as a gift for my secret pal..but we shall see.

That reminds me, I got the contact information for me secret pal. It's going to be a fun-filled next few months.

So, with the scarf finished, I started working on the fat bottom bag from the Happy Hooker. Here's the picture from the book:

I'm doing mine in blue though, and I think I'll crochet a little flower rather than get a fake plastic flower pin. So far, it's going well - once I figured out that I needed to download the errata because there was an error in the first row!

I also got a new crochet book from amazon while I was picking up a little something as the last gift for my secret sister (hey, I wanted to get free shipping - ok, poor excuse). Here's the book:

They have some really cute patterns listed that I'm really excited to make. But, that won't happen until I finish a few things first.

In other news, classes are almost over and I'll really looking forward to having a slightly slower pace. I can't believe that my first year as a professor is almost over. It's been quite an adventure...but a successful adventure at that so far.

Secret Pal Questionnaire

2006-05-03T10:51:00.000-04:00

So, I should really be focusing on grading papers right now, but I thought I'd procrastinate instead especially since there happens to be construction and lots of loud drilling right by my window! No, instead I thought I'd post my SP8 questionnaire. Here it is:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I've been having some traumatic experiences lately with cheaper fibers. Specifically, I'm using Paton yarn that my striped scarf pattern called for and while it is soft due to the acrylic - it keeps splitting!! So, I really do prefer natural fibers overall: wool, mohair, cashmere, cotton, etc. I really don't like the look of novelty yarns - anything furry or sparkely turns me off.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
The packaging it came with - if it came with packaging and in a Ziploc bag. So sad! I'd actually like to get a case for my crochet hooks soon because not having a holder for them has become an increasing problem.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting for about 6 months so I'm a relatively new knitter, but given the projects I've been working on, I think I'm intermediate...I'm also adventurous..so if a pattern uses a new technique, I'm happy to learn and give it a try. I just learned (literally - as in, last week) to crochet so I'm still a beginner with that. But, I love it and am also up for any challenges.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes! My amazon wish list is: here. It's just books though - there are plenty of other knitting related items that I want but that amazon doesn't sell.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I like Vanilla a lot - but the weather is getting a little warm for that. So, in the summer months I prefer fruit scents and also green tea scented items.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Chocolate of any kind is good - very good but also very bad! I especially love white chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I don't spin - the only other fiber craft is crochet..although I used to embroider when I was much younger. I also love to cook (that's DIY, right??!!).

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like mostly Indie type rock - Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, and Beck have been some of my recent favorites..but I also like a little Classic 80s pop - reminds me of my childhood!!

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I really like blues and purples and pinks - but am really open to anything.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm very happily married - in August it will be five years! I can't believe it. I have 2 cats: Frodo and Sam (can you tell that we like The Lord of the Rings?) that I love very much. No kids - probably not until tenure or around then.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I do wear scarves with my coats and jackets - although I don't know how much longer with the warmer weather coming. Hats and mittens I also wear - but not any longer. I have a few ponchos that I will sometimes wear - but I feel that they don't always look so good on me.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I love knitting sweaters - even if they take a while...it's very gratifying to wear something you've made.

13. What are you knitting right now?
Well, I'm working on the Airy scarf for Mother's Day. After that, I bought this pattern from Patternworks:
Pretty right? So, I'll be working on that. I'm also working on my crocheted striped scarf and will probably pick a crocheted bag to do next before moving onto something more challenging.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circular needles - I'm currently hooked on Addis. For crochet, I prefer metal/aluminum hooks

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope - I wind my own with a lot of "help" from my two cats

17. How did you learn to knit?
I took some private lessons that we being offerred (very cheaply) at this craft store near my apartment. Anything more advanced has come from books or www.knittinghelp.com

18. How old is your oldest UFO?
Not so old because I haven't been knitting that long..but both my vintage sweater and socks are on the backburner. I think they've been there since March or so.

19. What is your favorite holiday?
I don't celebrate Christmas - but I love the Christmas season. Everyone is generally so happy and everything looks so beautiful with the decorations. But, I love Thanksgiving - my husband and I hosted our first Thanksgiving and it was so fun because we love cooking.

20. Is there anything that you collect?
Hmmm - I don't think so.

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Well, you can see my Amazon list for the books. I love Rowan designs - but since Kim Hargreaves left (I love her designs), I haven't liked their more recent things as much. I am planning on subscribing to Interweave Knits though - after knitting the shrug from the spring issue, I think it'll be worth it to have a subscription. I just haven't gotten around to it.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Eventually, I want to get to Intarsia.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
My first socks are on the backburner for now...but I'm a size 6 1/2 or 7.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
August 24th (08/24)

Phew! That's it for now - I've really got to get back to that grading!

Am I now thrown out of the club?

2006-05-01T19:11:00.000-04:00

First, I apologize that it's been a few days since I've posted. With the end of the semester upon me, Prof. Knitwit has been up to her eyeballs. I'm hoping that I'll have more time for blogging once classes finally finish - May 9th. Counting the days! That's not to say that I won't be busy during the summer. For those of you not involved in academia, no classes does not mean vacation. All it means is exactly that - no classes...but I will still be working on research, writing papers and grants and preparing my courses for Fall. But, not having classes is one less thing to deal with.

So, as promised, I have some pictures to show you of the Streakers Shrug.

Here's a front view of the shrug. Note the kitty in the upper left corner

Here's a side view - again curious kitty on the side.

Did I mention how much I love this shrug? I loved knitting it and I love wearing it even more. When I'm not wearing work clothes and not dying of heat in my apartment that still doesn't have A/C, I'm wearing the shrug. It's absolutely my favorite piece that I've knitted so far.

I also have something else to report. I love crocheting. I had my second and final crochet class last Friday, and I love it. It's just so much easier and faster than knitting. So, I've recently been crocheting more than knitting. Hence the title of my entry - does this mean that I'm thrown out of the knitting club? Of course I'm still knitting - I'm actually working on a scarf for my mom for Mother's Day (The Airy Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts) - but I've been having so much fun with crochet. So much fun in fact, that I've finished my first scarf. I finished my first scarf in only a few hours - compared to about a week that it took me to complete my first knitted scarf. So, here's my first crochet project...it's the One Skein Scarf from Stoller's Happy Hooker Crochet Book .

So cute right? It's bright blue - I don't know if you can tell. I'm also in the process of working on another crochet scarf from Hooked on Crochet by Candi Jensen. I recently picked up the book and just love it.

So, why the shame? Why should I need to feel as if I'm need to explain away my love for crochet? What is it about this knitting vs. crochet rivalry? Why can't we all just get along?

In other news, I was contacted again about SP8 - so excited!!

quick catch-up

2006-04-22T12:32:00.000-04:00

Super quick post for today.

My break has been going well although it is now coming to a close. School starts again on Monday! Luckily, I managed to get quite a lot done - although not as much as I fantasized...does anyone else experience this - that when you have a few days off, you picture yourself getting soooooo much done...but you can almost never get that much done - it's impossible!

In knitting news, I finished the shrug! I will post a picture next time. It is fabulous! I love it!!! It's by far my most favorite item that I've knit. I'm very proud of it.

I also got my knitting teacher to teach me how to crochet yesterday. Very exciting. So far so good. It'll take some time to get used to it - it is a new skill, afterall...more on that too next time.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Quasi vacation

2006-04-15T21:36:00.000-04:00

Yes! I'm actually on a little break from school now due to the holidays. It's so nice having a little more time to myself - but I say that it's really only a quasi vacation because I'm still trying to get work done during this little break. Specifically, I'm trying to finish up on the last few lectures for one of my classes. So far so good, I have about 3 lectures or so done out of the 5 I need to finish. Plus, I'm in the midst of working on papers (mostly mine for publication - not my students). So, it's a quasi vacation indeed.

However, this break has allowed me to do a little more knitting than usual, check out some of the knitting stores in the area that I've been meaning to get to, and get in some much needed exercise. I'm out of shape a bit because ever since I took up knitting, if I have free time, the free time that used to go towards working out has gone towards knitting. Has anyone figured out how to get that balance? How do you motivate yourself to workout when you'd rather be knitting.? Are there actually people who knit while working out - I've heard rumors that such people exist - but I'm wondering if it's really just a myth...because if you're knitting and working out at the same time, it seems to me that you'll just end up doing a shoddy job on both. However, on my quasi vacation, this is all much easier because there's enough free time to go around for both...but under normal circumstances, I hate that I sometimes have to choose.

So, how about that knitting? Well, the shrug is going quite well. I love knitting it - it's so much fun and I just love that yarn. Here's my current progress:

I'm currently working on the sleeve and have only about 2 inches left on that. After that, I can start decreasing and get on to the collar. So, the end is very much in sight.

Not so for my vintage sweater. I've had some drama with that one. First, it seemed like a lifetime before I finished up with the k1p1 ribbing on size 2 needles. Now, I've switched onto the actual pattern and size 3 needles - and it's just gotten ugly. Yes, this pattern is definitely kicking my butt. But, I shall prevail! Basically, early into the stitch pattern, I forgot one stitch and it threw off the entire pattern - everything seemed a little off. So, I had to rip out several rows back to the ribbing and start over. I'm now respecting the pattern - taking it more seriously and putting in stitch markers at the repeats. What's annoying is that the repeats change with every row - so I have to keep moving the stitch markers after each row. All in all, this is going to take forever. But, I know it will be worth it when it finally is finished. So, here's where I am so far:

It may not look like much - but there's a lot of agony in those few inches. Can you see the stitch pattern at all? Cables AND lace! It's my first time with cables - and although it was a little awkward at first, I've gotten more used to it. So, I'm just taking it slow and steady - a few rows each day. I just would like to finish it by the end of the summer so that I could actually wear it in the appropriate season...but I'm going to try to be patient.

Here's a question for you who may have worked with similar patterns - I'm about to start increasing - the pattern says to increase at the end of every 12th row, working the new stitches into the pattern. I'm concerned though that by adding a stitch it will end up throwing off the entire pattern. How can I add in a stitch properly without throwing everything off? Something tells me that I'll just insert that lifeline already and just try it out and see what happens.

That's it for now - have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Right around the corner

2006-04-10T12:35:00.000-04:00

Well, it's a new week, and I must say I'm quite excited about it - despite the fact that I'm exhausted after getting home from the wedding of my brother-in-law's brother at 1 am last night! For one thing, the weather is getting slightly warmer - but the real reason is that I have a little break from school due after Tuesday. I can't wait! I can really use the week and a half off.

Since I last posted, I've made decent progress on both projects. Well, great progress on the shrug not so great progress on the vintage sweater. Did I mention that I'm just loving working on the shrug? Here's why:

1. I looooove the yarn - it's so soft, easy to work with, and its hand-dyed-ness is just lovely.

2. It knits up quickly thanks to size 9 needles

3. These aren't just any ol' 9 needles - it's my first pair of Addi turbos and it's such a pleasure to work with. Before I had been using mostly Bryspun circulars which I also quite like (they are certainly much cheaper) - but the Addis are just magic

4. Easy pattern but I've learned enough along the way to make it interesting (first time with an M1 increase and knitted cast-on)

I haven't made nearly as much progress on the vintage sweater. The size 2 needles and k1p1 ribbing are making me nuts. I think it'll be better once I pass the ribbing part - more challenging but at least a little more interesting plus I can switch to size 3 needles. Not a huge improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

In other news, I bought the Yarn Harlot's new book: "Knitting Rules".

I wasn't planning on purchasing it just because I feel like I've blown my monthly budget on knitting related objects (KROs) - but on Saturday I was sitting in a book store trying to avoid the rain, saw it on the shelf, picked it up, and couldn't put it down. How's that for advertising?

Well, it's fabulous. I haven't read the whole thing yet but I've read enough of it to get a sense of it. Her personality and voice come through loud and clear - very witty, engaging. It's like having a knitting budding sitting next to you. It's probably one of the few things that I don't mind giving up knitting time for. Aside from having incredible insight into the hearts and minds of us, the knitting-obsessed (and I take the liberty of using the 1st person plural here because if you too are an avid knitting-blog-reader and/or writer, you've most likely crossed the line from from hobby to passion), she provides all sorts of "recipes" for patterns (e.g. hats, shawls, etc.) that I'm sure will be quite useful. So, definitely check it out.

Well, enough procrastinating. I've got to get back to my real job!

New projects on the horizon

2006-04-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

Spring is in the air - well, almost. It actually snowed today. Argh! Just when I was getting used to the warmer weather too.

In knitting news, I started up on the new projects - the shrug and the short-sleeved vintage sweater. The Rio de la Plata is really working out great for the shrug. The yarn is really lovely - it feels so soft and is just a joy to knit with...especially after spending several weeks knitting with 3 strands of Kidsilk Haze held together. So far, I've finished the ribbing on the shrug. Here's a progress picture:

As I mentioned, I also started the vintage sweater. Now, this is going to be much more of a challenge. For one thing, it's knit on size 2 and 3 needles. I'm using Rowan 4 ply cotton in cooking apple. Here's what the color of the yarn looks like:

I'm actually pretty excited about the color - I don't have anything in that color green. It'll be great for spring - that is, provided I can finish it before spring is over!

Sweater #2 in the can!

2006-04-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been quite a busy week! First - knitting news: the To Dye For sweater is finished!! All done and blocked too. Here I am modelling it:

So, here it is from the front - again, sorry about el crapola camera. The colors are just horrible - but to get a better sense of the color of the sweater, check out some of the pictures in the previous post (if you haven't already).

Here's also a side view:

So, what do you think? I'm happier with it now that it's all done than before...but I still think it makes me look a little chunky. I think it's a combination of the large gauge (knit on size 13 needles) and that the yarn isn't form fitting. But, I must say that as my second sweater, I'm quite pleased.

So, what's next on the horizon? Oh - there has been such drama on that end. So, I ordered online the yarn for the Streakers Shrug. The thing is that it's a special yarn - Streakers by Lalana Wools. I ordered 5 skeins - which is more than I would need but just to be safe. Anyway, all is fine until the day that I check my bank account and see that about $128 has been deducted. I thought that there had to be some mistake because I had calculated that it would come to around $32 since I thought it was a little over $6 per skein. But, it turns out that I didn't read the fine print. It's actually $6.50 per ounce - not per skein and each skein has 4 oz. Yikes! So, I cancelled my order. Needless to say, I was quite disapppointed with the whole thing.

Well, today I went to one of my favorite LYS and found what I consider to be a very appropriate replacement. It's Rio de la Plata in dusk blue. It's really just lovely and much more reasonable - especially compared to paying $26 a skein. I also tried to purchase Rowan 4 ply cotton for my vintage project, but they were out. Sadly though, no knitting can go on because I ordered my needles through the internet and even though I ordered them on Monday - they're not here yet! Waaaaah! So, my itching fingers will need to wait.

In other news, school has been busy busy busy. That fancy dinner I went to was quite nice. The president of the university is living in quite a nice pad if I do say so. It was catered and allowed me to meet some of the other new faculty. So, that was quite nice. I also started running an experiment this past week so I was very busy with that and had been staying late at school all week.

Tonight, DH is on call in the hospital - so it's just me. It would have been a perfect time to get in some quality knitting - but that won't happen. However, I'll probably take the opportunity to catch up on all of those chick flicks.

Also, I signed up for Secret Pal 8. This will be my first time as a secret pal so I am very excited!!!

Back at the ranch

2006-03-27T19:52:00.000-05:00

I'm home! It's so great to be back home. Don't get me wrong - the conference in San Fran was nice and all - but it's nice to be back to my routine - with my hubby and my cats. I learned a lot at the conference - it gave me some good ideas for my own research. So, I guess on that end it was successful.

It was also successful on the knitting front. As of this evening, the pieces of my To Dye For sweater are finished and I've seamed up the shoulders and have set in the sleeves. Tomorrow I'd like to try to finish it - but it probably won't happen because I have a fancy dance dinner tomorrow evening at the home of the president of the university. Yes, it's true. The president of the university is having all new faculty over to his home for dinner which I thought was quite a nice gesture. Unfortunately, it will probably cut into my knitting time..but we shall see.

Anyway, I'd thought I'd pass on some of the progress:

So, here's the main body of the sweater

and a close-up of the lovely bell sleeve:

I'm definitely liking the sweater more now. Plus, the yarn is so soft. I can't wait to finally wear it! The verdict is still out on how figure flattering it will be... so stay tuned for that!

Until then - I'm off to check on dinner!

Yes, I'm still alive

2006-03-24T19:51:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to drop a very quick note letting you all know that I am still alive! I am actually at a conference right now and so haven't had an opportunity to update my blog. All is well though. I think I had mentioned that I was looking forward to getting a lot of knitting done at this conference. Unfortunately, that hasn't exactly happened. I've been going to session after session - which has been quite interesting but also exhausting mentally and physically. So, I haven't knitted since the plane on Wednesday. I guess that's not so far away - but it just seems that way because I'm itching to knit! Between all of the sessions and work that I have to do and jetlag - I wasn't up to doing much knitting yesterday..but I'll try to get some in today.

I will be returning Sunday night - so hopefully by next week I'll have some good knitting progress to report!

Dying to finish

2006-03-19T09:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a few days since my last post. I was planning on posting yesterday, but I had the most terrible day. I ended up spending the entire afternoon at the car mechanic. I originally went because my battery needed changing - but of course, there turned out to be other problems as well. Luckily, there's nothing too serious with my car and nothing too expensive - but it took several hours for a part to be delivered and installed - and then it turned out to be the wrong part. So, my car is still in the shop, and it ended up being a total waste of an afternoon.

However, it wasn't a complete waste because while I was waiting I made great progress on my "To Dye For" sweater. As of last night, I finished the front. Here's a picture of it:

I must tell you though that at the moment I have mixed feelings about the sweater. I loooove the feel of the yarn (Rowan Kid Silk Haze). It's so soft and yummy. But, I hate working with it - especially since the sweater is knit with three strands held together. The yarn keeps catching on things. So, I keep getting tangled up. That's the thing about mohair - I love the way that it looks and feels but really don't like all the trouble I get from it while knitting. The other thing is that I'm concerned that the sweater won't be flattering. It's knit on size 13 needles so the gauge is quite large. The yarn also seems to be stretching a little as I work with it. I'm hoping that with some blocking at the end that the problem will rectify itself. The good news is that I'm loving how quickly the sweater is going. I'll be off at a conference in San Francisco this week - and with the plane and extra downtime that I'll get, I feel that the sleeves aren't too far behind!

In other knitting news, I stopped by a Barnes and Nobles the other day. Just to "take a look" at the selection of knitting books and mags at this particular B&N. Yeah. Sure. Of course, I came out with two small purchases. I'm still feeling a little guilty about it even though it was only $25 - but I couldn't help it. I ended up purchasing Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits. There are so many that I have my eye on knitting. So, I'm thinking about knitting either this one first:

or this one:

Come to think of it, they're actually pretty similar looking - I could do both as a twinset. Although I'll need to think about that one since both are knit on size 2 and 3 needles. I hope I won't go insane! That's why I might start with the shortsleeve and see how I feel at that point. Regardless, I have in mind to also do a quicker project at the same time so I'll feel that I'm making some progress. So, I also ended up picking up this season's Interweave Knits and am planning on working on this one next:

Now if only I had unlimited funding for my yarn budget!!!

One last thing - I cast on and did a few rows of my first sock. First time with DPNs - so far so good!! I do feel a little awkward juggling so many needles at once...for some reason, an octopus comes to mind...but I'm determined to master it.

Now that I have multiple projects in mind - I decided to put up knitting meters in the sidebar. That should keep me motivated and on track!

A Citizen Model or Model Citizen??

2006-03-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

As promised, here's a picture of my hubby modelling the Manly Sweater:

It's a little big on him - he's actually quite slim - but he seems to like it. Unfortunately, he probably won't be wearing it until next winter. It's just getting too warm and the sweater is quite heavy.

In other knitting news, I'm making good progress on the To Dye for Sweater. The back of the sweater is finished. Tomorrow I'll start working on the front. So far, I'm happy with the way that it's looking.

I'd also like to take some time to discuss something completely non-knitting related. Yesterday, we got the paperwork for our taxes in the mail. It turns out that hubby and I again owe the government more money! This year, because some bonds of ours matured, we now owe the govt. over $2,000! This is only slightly less than what we actually made from govt. bonds that have been maturing for the past 30 years! Now, my question to all of you is: does this happen to everyone else? Does everyone else end up shelling out the big bucks come tax season? I feel that no matter what we do, we always end up owing money. The thing is - I am very much a democrat. I have no problems with paying taxes - that is, if my tax dollars end up going to worthwhile causes such as a national health care system, a better educational system, or a regulated system for daycare. But, I do have a problem when my money ends up going to war or tax refunds for the wealthy. Argh. It just seems that no matter what we end up doing, we just can't get ahead.

Well, enough of that - I'm not about to depress what few regular readers I have!! So, let me conclude on a more positive note. I just found this great new website: http://www.phdcomics.com - I don't know if you're familiar with it - but it's very witty. Those of you who have gone or are going through grad school will find that a lot of their comics hit very close to home. Here's one that I found especially relevant:

I've reached the finish line!

2006-03-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

Today, there's only good news. I finished the Manly Sweater! Yes, it's true. I got over my complaining with the mattress stitch. The seams came out pretty decently. The only ones I would have liked to have done better were the shoulder seams - but all the others look pretty great. A giant improvement since Zeepy's Bag (there's a good reason why there's no closeup of that FO!!).

Anyway, no more anticipation. Here's the Manly Sweater finished and ready for blocking to begin:

So, not too shabby for my first sweater, huh? The red stripe is much more maroony - here it looks very bright. But, you get the basic idea.

Now the sweater is sitting and blocking - I'm hoping that I was able to get the sleeves to shorten a little and the shoulder seams to flatten a little.

Once that's done, I'll have hubby model it for the full effect...but that might be a couple of days. What's more frustrating though is that the weater is getting warm. Too warm for him to actually wear the sweater! Let's hope for a freak snow storm. Otherwise, my work will remain in the closet until November!!! Regardless, it's the process, right?

In other knitting news, I also started up the To Dye For sweater. I'm loving the Kid Silk Haze - sooooo soft. Here's my progress on that so far:

Again, not the greatest picture - it's more lavender in real life. It's knitting up pretty quickly so I'm hoping it won't be too long before I'll have a sweater to call my own! Lucky for me, it's such a light mohair that I'll certainly be able to wear it in the spring.

Although I must say, after these two sweaters, I'll be working on a few things that will give me gratification a little sooner.

Other than knitting, all has been going pretty well - but very busy. I've been bombarded with students recently. But, that's a good thing since they're really such a pleasure to meet with!

Have a great weekend everyone!

I seam to dread seaming

2006-03-07T08:33:00.000-05:00

Good news: I'm out of my knitting blues.
Bad news: I'm stuck in seaming hell.

Yes, it's true. I finished all of the pieces of the Manly Sweater. Since I last posted, I finished the second sleeve and fixed the first sleeve then did the neckband - which created a little bit of confusion as to how to attach it to the sweater properly...but I think I figured it out.

So, now I have the very daunting task of seaming the whole thing together. Now, I know I'm not the only knitting who really dislikes seaming...so why is it dreaded by so many? For me, I feel that after spending weeks knitting this thing, now that the knitting is done - I wish that the whole thing were truly done...but instead, it will take a few more days. But, why is it that those few days seem like an eternity? It will be done before the week is out - and that's not so bad in comparison to how long it took me to knit the whole thing...but I'm really trying to get myself to relax a little bit about it. I wouldn't want to wreck weeks of knitting because of a shoddy seaming job.

Once I finished struggling with the collar yesterday, I seamed up both shoulders and part of the side. Tonight, my goal is to seam in the sleeves. I think I can I think I can!!! However, my new yarn should be arriving tonight - so I might end up getting a little diverted while I play with that for a bit.

Bad, bad blogger

2006-03-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

I've been a very bad blogger. I know. I was intending on updating earlier in the week...but a couple of things came up:

1. Primarily, the knitting baby blues. I finished the 1st sleeve on Monday night. Yeah! Or, so I thought. I was working on the sleeve while watching "Sense and Sensibility" -
One of my favorite Jane Austin movies (I just love her in general though) - and I guess I was more caught up in the movie than paying attention to my sleeve directions. So basically, I got the point where I was supposed to decrease at each edge for a number of rows. For whatever reason (ok, I know the reason - I was watching the movie instead of paying closer attention to my knitting), I ended up binding off rather than decreasing. Of course, I didn't realize that this was probably going to be a problem until I had triumphantly (or so I thought) finished the sleeve. So, that means I'm going to have to rip back a few rows. Sigh. It's only about 20 rows - no big deal...but I always get nervous about doing that. So, what's my response? I've moved on to the second sleeve. Procrastination. The stitch doctor will get back to the first sleeve once the second one is properly finished. On the positive side, the second sleeve is already on the red part of the color pattern so it won't be long!!!

2. My hubby and I went to a Lord of the Rings festival a few days ago where we watched the Return of the King in the late evening. So, that left no time for knitting on Tuesday night - although I did think about bringing it with me - there would have been a few problems. First, the theater was too dark. Second, even if it was light enough I would have likely had a replay of Monday night b/c I'm even more into the Return of the King than Jane Austin. Third, I think my hubby would have really thought that I've gone off the deep end with the knitting stuff if I had brought my sleeve to the movies.

I'll tell you though - I'll be so happy to be done with this sweater! I'm almost there. So close in fact, that I purchased yarn for my next project..which will finally be for me!! I don't know if I mentioned it before - but my next project is going to be the "To dye for" sweater from the Stitch 'n Bitch book (I promise you - I do have other projects in the queue than those from Stitch n 'Bitch - but I wanted another simple one to do first before moving on to something a little more ambitious). The original sweater is knit in a mohair by Halcyon - but I heard that it's a little scratchy. My skin is pretty sensitive so - I took the plunge and ordered 9 skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze (according to the lovely woman who helped me from www.theknittinggarden.com I will need to knit it with 3 strands together to attempt to match the gauge) in this color:

It was a little more money than I planned on spending, but I figure that I'd rather spend a little more on a nice yarn that will feel nice and I'll want to wear rather than a slightly cheaper one that will make me itch all day. Rationalization?? Anyway, next Wednesday I'm going to a little Sit 'n Knit event in my neighb so I want to be ready to go for the new project because I WILL be done with the Manly Sweater by then!

Have a great weekend all!

That's a wrap

2006-02-25T21:28:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a few days since I last posted. It's just been rather busy over here. Tonight, DH is on overnight call at the hospital (he's a doctor) so it gives me a bit of a chance to provide an update and get some extra knitting in. Speaking of knitting, the first sleeve has been going pretty well:

Here's my progress! I had the very ambitious goal of being done with the sleeve by tonight for my post..but I still have a few more inches to go. It's starting to slow up row by row with all of the increases...but I'm happy with how it's looking so far.

I've been reading a few posts about the Manly Sweater over at www.craftster.org and it appears as though people have found the sleeve on this sweater to be too long. So, I will be shortening it as I get to the sleeve cap. I still have about 20 more rows until I get to that point though. But, I measured DH's arm from the top of the shoulder - and it's about 20 inches..but the sleeve is knitted to ~ 24 inches long. So, I'll be playing around a little with that in a bit.

In other news, the big unveiling of the afghan occurs tomorrow. We're going out with the newly engaged couple - we haven't seen them since they got back from their little vacation on Monday. Anyway, I read in a bunch of articles that the key to getting a good reaction to a knitting gift is to wrap it. So, after all of the time I spent knitting the afghan, I wasn't going to cut corners by not wrapping it. Well, DH and I went to this specialty paper store to do this because I wanted some sort of box to put it in. While we were there, we were so taken with all of the gorgeous wrapping papers and ribbons that things got a little out of hand...so, here's the wrapped gift in all of its glory:

Gorgeous, right? I mean it certainly does justice to the gift inside, but I don't think I need to tell you how much the paper and the ribbon cost. They better appreciate it!!!! DH and I were commenting that we've never gotten anything wrapped as beautifully as that before. Regardless, I don't think I'll be doing that again - it's just too expensive. I think in the future I'll just stick to buying the cardboard box for $7.50 (which isn't exactly cheap either) but then using regular wrapping and regular ribbons from a pharmacy. Well, I'll let you know about their reaction after tomorrow evening.

Well, I think that's it for now...I really want to make some more progess on this sleeve before the evening is out.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!!

The ecstacy and the agony

2006-02-22T19:36:00.000-05:00

So, first the good news...two days ago, I finished the front of the Manly Sweater. I am very happy with it:

There will be a black neckband at the v-neck - but that won't come until later. However, I did not stay happy for long. Yesterday, I started on one of the sleeves, and there was just bad knitting juju. Have you ever had one of those days? Well, it was very frustrating because I really wanted to make progress on the sleeve - and it just wasn't happening. I had to rip it out twice due to the trouble I was having with the increases.

However, there is hope! Today, I started back on the first sleeve...and so far (fingers crossed) so good.

In other news, school stuff has been good. No 2 hr long faculty meetings this week, thank goodness! Just lots of other smaller meetings. Plus, I think I mentioned that one of my classes had their first exam last week - and they did well...the average was an 84...which is basically what I aim for so I'm happy with that.

So, that's it for now - I'll be catching up in the next couple of days..hopefully by that point, I'll have better luck with the sleeves!!!

My cats take some of the spotlight

2006-02-17T20:18:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday turned out to be a total bust. I got no knitting done because I was stuck in this faculty meeting for about 2 hours. So frustrating!! Plus, we didn't even discuss anything really essential - we were voting on this faculty handbook (ok, that's essential) but these faculty members were arguing about the most ridiculous semantic issues. When I came home after 8pm, I was just mentally and physically exhausted which meant that I did not knit and could not think about posting on the blog.

Today, I had a quiet day because I'm home on Fridays (no classes, yeah!). So, I got a lot of knitting done. So much, in fact, that I finished the red portion of the front of the sweater. Check it out:

Looks like I'm making good progress. I'm hoping that tonight - I'll start working on the second black stripe and will finish it...but we shall see.

How's everyone doing with the knitting olympics? I am not participating, as you know, but I've certainly been watching a lot of the olympics...it's very conducive to knitting. Anyway, for some reason, practically every time I sit down to watch the olympics (when it's not prime time), I keep getting Curling. Has anyone else experienced this too? Now, I don't want to offend any curlers out there - Curling is perfectly fine - I wouldn't mind watching a match or two even though it's not the most exciting - but everytime??!!

And now for something completely different, my cats wanted some blog attention. So, here they are:

So, you've met Frodo already. This is him again in all of his glory. He's the big brother - and if that's not enough - you get a view of my bathroom door and hamper (which desperately needs attention - but lucky for me I won't need to suffer that embarrassment since the top is cut off).

And this here is Sam - the little brother. He's still a kitten..but not for long, he'll be a year in about a month. Although he was very interested in the camera, by the time the delay kicked in between me pressing the button and the picture actually being taken, he kept finding something else to be interested in...so, this was the best glamour shot he'd give me this evening.

So, that's it for now - I'm actually starving so I'm about to heat up some dinner - and then back to working on that sweater!!!

It's good to be back

2006-02-15T18:15:00.000-05:00

So, after putting away the afghan for when my friends get back from their little engagement vacation, I started working back on the Manly Sweater. Boy, is it good to be back!!! After dealing with mohair and lace for the past two weeks, it's nice to get back to wool and ribbing - so that I can actually see each individual stitch! Something tells me that I'll be able to finish the front in a relatively short amount of time. It just seems so much easier now!

In school news, things were relatively uneventful. One of my classes has their first exam tomorrow - so I've been preparing for that. I also just found out that one of my students actually lied to a Dean - hoping that she'd be able to sneak into my already full class. The Dean actually called me at home about this - oh boy. She's going to be let into the class but the Dean really felt like it was a difficult dilemma: let the girl into the class vs. teaching her a lesson against lying. I also had a Town Hall meeting that was led by the university president for faculty and students. It was a complete waste of time - but I thought it was the right thing for me to do to go.

Well, I'm going to get back to my sweater now...I'll post a picture of my progress in the next few days.

The afghan is complete!

2006-02-14T19:59:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
I hope that everyone is celebrating with lots of kisses and chocolate!

Sorry it's been a few days since I've posted. There's a good reason for that. I REALLY didn't want to post again until I was finished or very near finished with the afghan...and it's DONE! Hooray!! Here's a picture:

So, here's the whole afghan - again the colors aren't so hot but you get the idea. That's my cat, Frodo, again at the top of the picture. It turned out a little shorter than it was supposed to - that's what happens when you decide not to do a gauge swatch, but I think it's long enough.

Well, I'm quite pleased with it. It's really just beautiful - the picture doesn't quite do it justice..and the yarn is just so soft and yummy. Beyond the finished product, I really learned a lot in the process - it was the first time that I did any sort of lace work and the first time that I did fringe so it was a good experience overall. Plus, it took me about 2 weeks. I think that's pretty good too - especially considering how long the sweater has been taking me....

Which reminds me - so, now I can get back to working on the Manly Sweater. I'm definitely looking forward to it because it'll be a lot easier than the afghan. Plus, I just want to get it done already!!!

In other news, classes have been going well - no complaints. Not much new on that front - except that I had a really great meeting with one of my colleagues in the department. She confided in me how she's been struggling with the students in this one particular class - because they basically challenge everything that she tells them - even if they're presented with tons of empirical evidence. So, she's very frustrated. I was just touched that she felt comfortable enough to share that with me. She also shared her frustrations with the tenure process since she's coming up for tenure this year...it definitely scared me to death! Luckily, I have some time before I need to worry about the whole tenure thing.

So, I need to run for now - I still have to deal with dinner both for myself and my hubby and my poor cats - but I wanted to make sure that I got to a little update!

Until tomorrow!!

News, news, and more news!!!!

2006-02-10T13:54:00.000-05:00

Well, there's quite a bit to report for today. Much news!

So, I got assigned my secret sister from the secret sister swap. Of course, I can't tell you who it is - but I'm very excited about it. If anyone has any good ideas about little gifties, that would be appreciated. The limit is $10 for all 3 months of the swap - so keep that in mind. I also got a little email from my secret sister - although she's not a secret. She revealed her identity - but that's okay.

In other blogging news, I signed up for another knitalong. It's the "Year of the Sweater" KAL - I thought it would make sense to sign up since I'm working on the manly sweater...well, once I actually get to finishing the afghan (more on that in a bit). Plus, I have many more plans for sweaters in the near future. So, I thought - why not??

Just a quick thought - is there anyone out there who HASN'T signed up for the knitting olympics? Don't get me wrong - I'd love to - but I have just too much going on to get involved in the knitting insanity - and that would also mean that I'd have to put my current projects on hold - and I really don't want to do that. I feel like we should - I don't know - create some kind of group for the rest of us who are knitting olympic spectators. I just feel so left out!!! Well, clearly I'm not the only one who feels this way. I was checking out Hazel Nutcluster's Blog and I found that she has this great icon:

This just totally sums it up for me!!!

The afghan has been coming along nicely - I have less than 2 more skeins of the MC to go - so almost there! The big engagement was last night - and then they leave for a surprise vacation (well, it's a little surprise for the bride to be) for about a week. So, I'm planning on giving it to them when they come back. I should definitely have it finished by then based on the rate that I'm going.

In other news, classes have been going well - but keeping me VERY busy. But, I found out something so weird - one of my colleague's daughter is in one of my classes!! I still haven't sorted out how I feel about that - but it just seems so surreal.

Prof. Knitwit strikes again!

2006-02-08T19:12:00.000-05:00

Okay - so I was hoping to give you some inside info. about the sister swap...but the coordinator hasn't been feeling too well so it's been delayed. I'm just dying to find out who I'm paired with!!

In other knitting news, the afghan has been moving along well. At this current moment, it's long enough to be a lap blanket. I have about 3 1/2 skeins down - 2 1/2 more to go!! It's really looking good...but I'll tell you - I'd kind of like to make myself something soon! Both this afghan and the manly sweater have been gifts for others...I'm dying to get to the long list of knits that I want to make for myself. But, it will just have to wait.

In my blog readings, I came upon this site: http://www.snapshirts.com/custom.php : so, according to the site, here's my blog in a nutshell:

Pretty cool, huh? It gave me an outsiders view of what I've been thinking about for the past few days.

In teaching news, all has been going well. My advanced class was not as scary as I feared on Tuesday - of course, I have it again tomorrow so the anxiety is rising - but I think it gets easier with each class. Well, I actually have to head out to do a little extra planning for tomorrow's class. I was planning on doing a little class activity - so I need to check up on that.

Until next time!!

And the afghan moves on!

2006-02-06T19:19:00.000-05:00

Well, it's a new week!! I've been working furiously on the afghan and have made a lot of progress. This is how it looks so far:

The colors are a little hard to see - for example, the stripes are in bright blue. But, you get the idea. It's moving a little faster as I get more used to the lace pattern - I'm about half way through and I'm really happy with it. I'll tell you though - I'll be happy to get back to the Manly Sweater - it's so much easier in comparison!

The engagement is scheduled for Thursday - I probably won't have it finished by then - but I'd like to finish as close to the engagement as I can. At the rate I'm going, it'll probably be about a week or so before it's done. That's not too bad, right?

In other news, classes have been going well - it's been busy but enjoyable. I still get a little anxious before my advanced level class. It's always so hard to conduct a seminar style class - and my students are so bright. I just want them to get a good experience out of it - most of the advanced seminars I took as an undergrad or grad student were just horrendous - and i'd hate to have them feel the same way.

What else - well, the sister swap starts tomorrow. I'll be really excited to see who I'm paired up with and to start sending little gifts. How fun!!

Have a great night everyone!!

Just for a little fun

2006-02-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

So, in my recent blog browsings, I came upon a post from The Scattered Gemini and she described something that sounded like it would be fun to share with my blog readers.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

So, I went over to one of our bookcases (we have waaaaaay too many books, our bookcases are overflowing - but that story is for a different entry) and randomnly pulled out Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions.

Let's hope that this provides us with some wise words:

"It was collapsing into all the holes which had been dug into it"

Now, I'm going to get back to working on my afghan while I ponder the deeper meaning of that!!

Progress!

2006-02-01T18:04:00.000-05:00

Well, last night I tried to work more on the afghan - and it was just a total disaster. So, I ended up frogging the whole thing - it's really not an easy feat doing lace work with mohair and holding two strands together at once!

So, I realized one of the big problems is that my needle wasn't working for me. In the pattern, I need to do a yarn over, slip the next, and then knit the next two together and pass the slipped stitch over the two knit together. Basically, it became very difficult for me to get the tip of my needle in to knit the two together. So, I went today to a LYS and picked up a different size and style of needle - and it's working much better! I've done a total of six rows and so far no errors! Hooray! What a difference a needle can make!

Here's the progress so far:

Overall image

Close-up of stitches

Again, sorry the image quality isn't so hot. One day I will have a good digital camera.

Ok - but get this - I got such a great compliment today. As I was getting my new and improved needles for the project, the woman working at the LYS actually complimented me on my scarf - that's the same scarf in the sidebar! She said it was just beautiful. What a thrill to get such a nice compliment from a yarn goddess! It really made my day.

So, back to working on the afghan...the engagement isn't too far away!

Where have I been??!!

2006-01-31T20:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been a few days since I've posted. There's a very good reason for that. Unfortunately, I caught my husband's nasty virus. So, I was not well enough to tend to the blog. I'm feeling much better now which is the good news.

On the knitting front, my yarn already came for the afghan. In only two days!!! That online store rocks! So, anyway, I started working with my new yarn. It's the first time that I'm working with a yarn that's mostly mohair so it's a little tricky. Plus, I've been struggling a little with the stitch pattern - I've only done about four rows - but it's taking me forever because of the tricky yarn and it's knit with two strands together..plus, there are lots of increases and decreases interspersed...why this afghan is rated as easy is beyond me. So, I may or may not decide to frog it and start over - the beautiful thing about mohair though is that it hides a lot of problems - so it may not be such an issue.

The manly sweater has been coming along too - I'm working on the color pattern for the front of the sweater...but since my friends' engagement is not too far away, it'll have to be put aside for a little while until i finish the afghan.

So, I noticed I've been tagged! How fun! Thank you, Terry! So, here are the questions:

Four jobs in your life [best to worst]
1. My current job as assistant professor is definitely the best
2. Teaching assistant/Research assistant
3. Consultant for textbook company
4. Summer intern at Merrill Lynch (my dad works in finance and thought I might like to try out finance - I did NOT enjoy it)

Four movies you could watch over and over
1. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Ok - i know this is really three movies - but it's my meme so I get to fudge the rules a little)
2. Kill Bill vols. 1 & 2 (same rule applies here)
3. Mean Girls (everything you ever want to know about adolescent behavior is in this movie)
4. Anchorman

Four places you have lived
1. NYC
2. Fairfield county, connecticut
3. London
4. Long Island, NY

Four places you have been on vacation
1. London
2. Paris
3. Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, etc.)
4. Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich)

Four websites you visit daily
1. various email sites (gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc. - i have waaaay too many email accounts)
2. http://youknitwhat.blogspot.com
3. www.google.com
4. www.knittersreview.com or www.knitty.com

Four of your favorite foods
1. Mac n Cheese
2. Chocolate: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, or just chocolate au naturale
3. Grilled cheese
4. Spinach Pie

Four places you'd rather be right now
1. Actually, I'm at home right now, and there's really no place I'd rather be - but I guess I wouldn't mind being on vacation!!

Four bloggers you are tagging
How's this - if you're reading this and you haven't been tagged yet - YOU'RE IT!!!!

Have a great night everyone!

A solution and a sickness

2006-01-27T16:34:00.000-05:00

Well, the weekend approaches. Hooray! I'm not quite sure if I'll be able to post during the weekend. We shall see.

A bunch of knitting news to report. First, you may have noticed that I decided to join a knitalong. Specifically, it's a knitalong for people who want to make their first sock. Since I have this fantasy of knitting myself some cashmere socks one day, I thought that this might be the motivation I need to learn how to tackle socks and dpns! Unfortunately, it may be a little while before I can get going on them because there will be a number of other things occupying my attention (more on that in a bit) in the next few days.

The manly sweater is coming along well - I was able to finish about half of the bottom gray portion of the front of the sweater. My goal was to finish the gray bottom part today - but I may be prevented from doing so (more on that in a bit too).

The last bit of knitting news is that I was able to figure out what to do about my friends' engagement gift. I got a bunch of knitting books from the library (I just love that the library is so fabulous for getting all sorts of knitting books! It's a great opportunity to check them out before actually purchasing them). One of them, Gorgeous Knitted Afghans has this one afghan in particular that I have been drooling over. Here's a picture of it - it's called Autumn Twilight:

So, what do you think? It's made with Artful Yarns Portrait, and I was able to get a FANTASTIC deal on it at http://www.knit2purl2.com. They're selling the yarn for $8 a skein (when it's normally about 10.50 a skein). Since the afghan requires about 8 skeins, I think it's a good choice - both special and won't break the bank.

In non knitting news, my husband caught a terrible virus and is sick - VERY sick. So sick in fact that he had to stay home from work today which he's never done as long as I've known him (which is about 7 years). So, I may not be able to get in any knitting tonight because I'll be looking after him. It's no fun being sick!

Well, I think that's it for now. Thanks again for those of you leaving comments and reading my blog! Back to working on school stuff - lectures for the upcoming week! Fun fun!!

Knitting Guru!!!!

2006-01-26T17:39:00.000-05:00

So, I took this online test today titled What Kind of Knitter Are You?

Here are the findings:

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.

I think it's so funny that I got labelled a Knitting Guru considering that I haven't been knitting for that long. But, aside from the name, the description fits pretty well considering that all i want to do in my spare time is knit - and I actually just packed all of my stash on supplies when I went on vacation for a few days. So, I guess it's not completely inaccurate.

In other news, I've started working on the front of DH's sweater - it's slow going but making steady progress.

Other than that, I taught my other two classes today. One of them is an advanced seminar - and I managed to frighten a bunch of them away with the workload..but that was kind of the intention considering that way too many students registered for an advanced seminar. But, both of my classes were a lot of fun - and I'm looking forward to a new crop of students - even if I'm going to be bogged down in work!

Well, back to my knitting!