Grape Leaves
You can tell that school is over and I’m on vacation because I’ve started knitting again!
I’ve been wanting to make Peapod for ages, but never had the time or the right yarn coinciding with the appearance of a baby in my extended family/friends circle. I went through my yarn to find projects for the trip to France, and I found some Knit Picks Merino Style that Dell gave me a long time ago. It’s such a pretty purple, but it definitely makes my Peapod a girly Peapod. I don’t really have a baby girl coming to our lives any time soon, but I might as well plan ahead. The next little girl will be lucky enough to get something BEFORE she’s too old for what I knit. (I hope.)
Anyway, the project works up really fast (this is just since Thursday, and only done a bit at a time) and it’s very easy to follow so far. I had to give myself a quick refresher on reading charts, but this is really simple as far as charts go. The yarn is nice to work with too; I just hope that blocking the sweater will make the leaf lace pattern stand out more.
Travel knitting
I have finished finals for what should be my very last semester EVER of undergraduate studies. As long as all professors involved get my grades in by December 30, 2007, I graduate and I am DONE. This means I have a LOT more time for knitting now!
We’re headed to France for vacation tomorrow, and I stood over my knitting boxes puzzling over what I should bring. I wanted Eris to be finished (it isn’t) so that I could wear it around freezing cold French countryside. Will suggested bringing it with me, but it still needs sleeves, then weaving in, then blocking, then adding the zipper. I don’t want to take that much time and that much yarn! At this stage, Eris isn’t exactly a portable project …
I’m thinking about frogging the “Sydney Socks” that I started to make while I was on an airplane for bazillions of hours going to and from Sydney. I think I want to do the Monkey socks (like everyone and his or her dog) but I can’t make up my mind. Whatever form or pattern it takes, that project will go with me. If I can find the socks I’m making for Mom, those will come with me too.
I think that I’ll take Something Purple with me, too. I’m still on the first skein of yarn, so this is definitely at the pack-and-go stage.
I’m just so glad to have time to knit again!
What’s this - new knitting?
Why yes, it is! This week’s cast-on, again brought to us by Southwest Airlines, the BWI Airport taxi system, and soon to be sponsored by the Washington, D.C. metro system*, is my second attempt at Jaywalkers. I’m really hoping that these socks don’t end up as a donation to Southwest Airline’s lost and found. They’re intended as a Christmas gift!
Other pictures are at Flickr, and I’ll post ones showing more progress once I actually have some. Still, this isn’t bad for about 1.5 hours on a plane and in the taxi!
The five-year-old next to me on the plane was fascinated by my knitting. I was fascinated by him, because he looked at my yarn and needles and asked, “What are you knitting?” Very impressive, little man! His mother said she doesn’t knit, so extra impressive.
Then he looked at the yarn cake and exclaimed, “That’s a lot of yarn! You know how much yarn I think it is? I bet it’s a 100!”
I told him (and his surprised mom), “You know what? You’re exactly right. That’s about 100 grams of yarn.”
I think that made his five minutes.
*This sponsorship has nothing to do with proposed Metro rate increases, trust me.
Sydney Socks
I had two weeks between the end of my summer semester and the beginning the fall semester. Amazingly enough, the timing worked out for us to spend most of those two weeks in Sydney, Australia, for the wedding of one of my husband’s good friends.
The travel time from Houston to Sydney is about 23 hours, not including delays. And yes, we had some. Remind me to tell you about the one with the airplane getting a “Door Open” light during takeoff, coming back to the ground, slamming on the brakes, and blowing 8 tires.
Thus these socks, a combination of a broken rib or twisted rib or something rib sort of cuff, and the start of a simple cable for the body of the foot. It’s a little fun not knowing exactly what you’re doing!
Blogathon, Potterthon, and a Horcrux
Have you heard about Blogathon? It’s a way for bloggers to band together and raise money for charities. This year I’m part of a group blog called Potterthon — you guessed it, all about Harry Potter. Don’t worry, though: we have a strict spoiler-free policy for Deathly Hallows!
We’re going to take shifts during Blogathon to entertain the masses while we raise money for First Book. Here’s the mission of First Book, straight from their website:
First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. We provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs.
You can still support Potterthon by going here and registering to sponsor us.
I’ll start adding my posts in later today, and I have a feeling that I’ll be focusing on knitting patterns. I do love knitting patterns, you know.
Speaking of knitting patterns, I did NOT get my Horcrux socks finished in time for the big ol’ Harry-fest in the middle of this month. I have one sock finished and the other sock started, but there just wasn’t enough time to get the second one finished. Maybe I’ll work on that today as part of my Potterthon …
I’m also tempted to whip up some sort of knit wizard hat and slap it on Clive, just to see what the poor cat would do!
Horcrux Socks: Crazy shot
I am amazed by one thing right now: how something as seemingly simple as Ravelry can make me want to update my knitting progress records, keep knitting, and find pictures from three years ago to upload back to Flickr. Yes, I have been hunting down old knitting pictures, posting them to Flickr, and then entering a project with those pictures. All because I just want to remind myself that my knitting HAS accomplished something! It kind of gives a girl hope, if you know what I mean.
Some of that hope spilled over into the Horcrux socks. I’ve been picking this up and knitting a while longer while I’m reading for school or watching television. I’ve almost finished the first one (yay!) and now just have to keep going so I get the pair done for July 21st. (SQUEE!)
[Aside: Stupid school. I’m glad that I should finish in December so I can concentrate on important things like knitting more.]
As for these socks, I think I like how they’re turning out. I probably should have gone down another needle size, to a at least a 1. i’m using a US 1.5, and I think this might have a little too much stretch. We shall see, though …
Eris: Hmm, ends not woven in.
While I had a two week break between classes, I pulled out some of my knitting projects and got started on them again. One of those projects was my much-loved but oft-neglected Eris. I meant to have Eris finished for my April 2006 trip to France. I missed that deadline, then got engaged and had a wedding to plan, so pretty much all knitting went by the wayside. So, about six months after our wedding, I pulled it back out. We’re planning an August/September trip to Sydney, Australia, and I think this could be a really nice thing to carry along for a bit of warmth in their early spring. (If I’ve done my math correctly. We shall see.)
I love Eris, though. I still don’t like wool very much because it makes me itch and sneeze. The teeny fibers hurt my eyes when they fly up after lots of knitting. I know that my yarn for this project (Elann’s Highland Wool in Raspberry) isn’t necessarily the best quality wool, but it’s good enough for me. It’s a beautiful color, and I like how the fabric looks. I’ve finally finished ALL of the body hem, so I only have sleeves and finishing left to do. That’s kind of hard to believe!
Guess what?!
Guess who finally got her invitation to Ravelry? Guess who has been taking pictures and uploading projects all night? Guess who is actually knitting again but keeps forgetting to update the blog?
ME!
You win. :-) Updates to come soon, I promise.
Horcrux Socks!
Originally uploaded by dormousie.
I’m late joining the party on Six Sox Knitalong for the Horcrux Socks, but of course I had to make them. I saw these one someone else’s blog and decided that this is what I needed for the end of the Harry Potter book series in July. I was going to knit my version in some Socks that Rock, and THEN Adelle surprised me with the gift of some Ravenclaw Sock Yarn from Scarlet Knits. Add in a plane ride to and from Norfolk, Virginia, and we suddenly have sock progress for the first time in forever.
I have more progress that I’ll show later, but I’m so excited about actually knitting again. I had a two week break from school and managed to finish the hem on Eris, start Something Red, and then pick up these socks. I need to remember that I can actually knit while I watch television instead of just sitting and doing whatever on the computer.
Anyway, these socks are on US 1.5 needles, and here’s hoping it’s a gauge that’ll be tight enough for my foot since this is supposed to be a stretchy pattern. We shall see!
Baby knitting resources
Posting these up here for general resources … they’re a list that we’ve collected in a Yahoo group, but they might be helpful for others!
Also, try a del.icio.us search for baby knitting!
