It's not what you think....

I purchased my first Barbara Walker book recently, and it arrived in the mail today. Having been an avid knit-blog reader for years, I'm well-aware of who Barbara Walker is in the knitting world, and have made at least one thing derived from one of her patterns. So imagine my confusion/amusement when I accidentally bought one of her books without noticing it. It took Amazon's handy suggestion feature, as well as a trip to Wikipedia to confirm, before I accepted it.

The book? Feminist Fairy Tales. Nothing (externally anyways) that has the least to do with knitting. This isn't so much a thesis-intended book, as one I came across in my readings that seemed worth checking out as a "for fun" book. 'Cause, you know, nothing to do with my thesis whatsoever, fairy tales and feminism...

I finished a pair of mitts for my grandmother. While she was out here for my little sister's graduation, she noticed I was wearing a pair of garter stitch mitts and suggested something similar would be good for her arthritis. I've been starting and restarting a pair for her for a couple months, and finally just went (impending departure is a good motivator, apparently.) I settled on the Nalu mitts, done with Rowan Tweed DK. I'd like it if they were softer, but haven't washed them yet, so that may help. I wanted to finish them before tomorrow, since I'm going down to my parents' house for the last time before I go. This way, I don't have to be responsible for getting the mitts to my grandmother.



Because I go soon (12 days), I realized that there are various things I wanted to make before I go. The mitts were one, but I also make a pair for DB each year because he's SO hard on them. I know I'll never EVER knit him a sweater or socks, so mitts let me express my knitterly affections without hating him and whatever it is I'd make for him. The first Christmas we were together, I made him a pair of convertible mittens that he never wears because they're "too hot," so no more fingers for him. But his hands are so big that I could fit both of mine into ONE of the mittens I made for him, but he still stretches them out when he wears them.

So my current project is making the second and third of Queen City mitts for him. I doubt I'll have any problem getting them done before I go, at the rate I've been doing mitts.

Last Minute Knitting

Two weeks, 3 days. I've been avidly working on what I intend to be an 8-foot scarf (really, I want to make mitts to go with it, so I may make those and knit the scarf until I run out of yarn.) I'm forcing myself to put it aside though, so I can make fingerless mittens for my boyfriend and my grandmother before I go. The scarf is on bamboo needles and is easy to compact, so it'll make for good flight knitting when I go anyways. As I said though, I'm also packing and doing various last-minute things, so will be sporadic for the next few weeks, probably until after the week-long orientation I have once I get there. So brief missives for now.

Wedding Pictures (Picture heavy)

The wedding was on Saturday, finally, and went off pretty much perfectly. There are a lot of things I wish I had gotten pictures of, especially my DB and the other best man (yes, two best men) giving their toast. They did a bit of a comedy routine before getting to the nicer emotional stuff, and it went off perfectly and, according to the maid of honor, almost made the groom cry. That's what happens when you ask two writers to be your best men.

So I wanted mostly to put up some of the favorites of the pictures I took. Also, the shawl. Now, to explain, it was about 97 degrees Fahrenheit and humid, which it is never humid in Colorado. (On a side-note, DB had his hair straightened before the ceremony--you cannot tell in these pictures. That humid.) If I had taken any pictures of the audience just before the ceremony, everyone was in the back three rows for the shade. So no shawl came out, until towards the end of the night when I specifically asked for a few pictures. They're mediocre pictures because I really didn't want to bogart the bride for very long. Here goes (Click pictures to go to Flickr):

A certain best man and me (isn't he handsome?)

The beautiful couple towards the beginning of the ceremony

The couple at the end of the ceremony with one of the flower girls

The two best men and maid of honor walking back (This is probably my favorite non-Bride picture. I love how happy the three of them look, especially our friend on the left.)

The bride's rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Sorry for picture quality--I think you can still see how much fun she's having.)

And finally, THE Shawl!

Potential Departure Date

Two brief updatey things.

1) Knitting HURTS. I don't know if I've been sleeping strangely or what, but from about the middle of my back, through my left shoulder down to the elbow hurts. It's a dull pain most of the time, but knitting for the last couple days has mostly been just doing a row to see if it still hurts too much. This started the day after DB was talking to me about knitting being a compulsion, to which I said "I can quit anytime I want!" Just because I can doesn't mean I want to.

2) I got an e-mail from the Seoul office about orientation and when I'll be heading out to South Korea. Departure date: August 16th. Maybe 15th. I need to get to Seoul on the 17th, and with the time change and a very long flight, it may mean two days allotted for travel. So that means just barely over a month to pack, get everything paperworky filed and whatnot, and spend time with friends and DB. It suddenly all seems intimidatingly close.

Picture is from my previous orientation with the same office. I'll probably (almost definitely) be in the same building. These were for a different orientation or....something after ours ended though, so only showed up the day we left. I like how pixelated they are.

July? When did that happen?

Well, it took me about two weeks to get my camera back. And now I'm just....apathetic about taking pictures of things. Maybe tomorrow. I need to block the shrug I made (but probably didn't mention on here) before the wedding in a week. So this is just a quick apology and explanation on the off-chance someone's out there.

It's summer. It's summer when all I'm doing is waiting for fall. I have to struggle to get thesis work done because my schedule is so unstructured that I can't convince myself to get started working. And I'm broke, so I can't just go to ye olde local coffee shoppe to get work done there. I've been knitting, but much of that has been messing up, restarting, and re-restarting, so it's not very exciting. So here's the deal: I'll update very sporadically for the next month. I'm sure I'll post some about the wedding (especially pictures of THE Shawl in action), and what's going on with that. If nothing else, I will get pictures of DB in a tuxedo. But other than that, there's just not much going on. But when it's closer to the move, and of course after the move itself, then hopefully I'll have more to say.

Oh, just fyi, I did send off my lit. review and proposal. So until my advisor gets back to me about everything, I get to actually act like it's summer and I don't have schoolwork. For a few days.

Haha!

Well, it only took about three years, but I finally finally finished Camden. Or almost. I finished the sleeves the second go-round, and they're drying from blocking right now. So I need to cut off their ends once they're dry, sew on buttons, and then I'm done. Done done done done done. But I still don't have my camera back, so pictures will be forthcoming.

In other news, my mother's birthday is tomorrow. She's having a palindrome birthday. I won't tell you which one. So if I had my camera, I could get action shots of the shawl I made for her. I'll probably ask one of the various other family members to send me a picture. So Sunday or Monday, you'll get FOs in action. Really.

Not really a lot to say, and I'm still lacking my camera, so I'm going to throw in a few pictures from my North Korea trip. Yes, North Korea. I spent...possibly about 24 hours there, at Gamgangsan. If you're ever in a book store and you see this book, you can look up the area I visited. Pretty well everything in that book they suggest doing in that area (except the Dr. Fish), I went and did--hiking, watching the performers. I like to tell people I was probably the only American in the country at the time which, for all I know, is true. I was one of two non-Asians in the area. Anyways, I took a lot of pictures of the water while we hiked, because I grew up in Colorado and I still hadn't seen water that clean before.


I can't remember if I mentioned this trip before. Those are the rock carvings you can see pretty frequently when you hike around the allowed areas in NK. Most are propaganda.

One FO, no waiting

My little sister graduated a month ago--almost to the day--from college, with a BA in Social Studies Education (History). For her graduation gift, I decided about the middle of April that I would make her a cardigan. Specifically, the well-known and oft-made (currently 10980 on Ravelry) February Lady sweater. Dear sweet boyfriend and I went up to Fort Collins (I despise Fort Collins) to meet with my family and watch her graduate and whatnot, and I gave her the cardigan. I also gave my grandmother the shawl I made her, Jared from Brooklyn Tweed's Juneberry Triangle. Finally, this past weekend, I was able to take a few pictures of the Julie Lady sweater:


Julie is also working on getting a job for teaching in Korea, as I think I've mentioned here a few times. So a good solid (warm) cardigan to throw on during the winter over there will likely be helpful.

In other knitting news (that word looks wrong to me), I have remade one sleeve from the Camden disaster, and have started the second. Given that it's my only current brainless knitting, I get a fair amount done whilst researching for the thesis. The first sleeve took one full ball (of which I had about 3 1/2) and a little bit of a second, so I almost definitely have enough yarn for both sleeves and seaming. Yay! The body is blocked, so I may try to seam it up today. However, a friend is borrowing my camera for a few days, so there will be no pictures until I get it back.

Too Hot to Spin?

The consistent trick with summer crafting is finding the right project to not make the heat of the summer worse. You don't want to work on a giant woolen sweater (like I am) when it's over 90 degrees F. You don't want to bring that light silk project to the pool. And I haven't been doing this very long, but I'm pretty sure it's a bad idea to spin with sweaty hands. Which is really just me trying to make an excuse for why I haven't crossed "Spin a Tuft" off my to-do list in a few weeks. It rained, so it's a little more humid but a lot more cool than it typically is. So this would be the ideal time to spin, right? So I went to take a picture of what I want to work on today. I realize that the technical term may not be tuft, but this little spiral that my roommate's cat is eying is the amount I want to convert into what will eventually be my first attempt at plying.


I decided I wanted to take a picture of the yarn, and went upstairs to where the light is better and there's something white I can take the picture against. And Trevor was sleeping on the blanket, so I had to wake him up. Then I realized the color wasn't too far off from his fur, which is all sorts of adorable. So he gets his blog debut. For anyone who's curious, he's named after the main...male character (I wouldn't call him villain or protagonist, he just is) of Aeon Flux.


Apparently, outside of some light patting, he wanted to sleep more than look in awe at my yarn. That's fair. He's been pretty good about leaving my yarn alone--with one exception, but it was yarn leftover from a completed project, so not too bad.

An intensely blah day

Yesterday was a very frustrating day. I found out on my way to the bus stop--I swung by ye olde local coffee shoppe to break a twenty in case the bus driver wouldn't accept my student card anymore--that the authentication stuff I was going to Denver to do couldn't be done there. No, it has to be done in D.C. So three weeks minimum before I'll get it back. I'm worried if I don't get my paperwork in quickly enough, I'll lose the job. It might not be that serious. But then, it might. I don't know. But I spent a ton of money trying to get it done as quickly as possible, so we'll see.

It's really glum outside today, so after yesterday's anxiety, I'm just in a weird mood. In Colorado, it tends to only really rain in May and June; most of our precipitation comes in the form of snow during the winter. So it's hard to get annoyed when it does rain, as we usually need it. But it still gives everything a weird level of light. Makes me generally apathetic about whatever I'm working on. Like the Dude. I don't know what it is with this guy, but I just don't care. Even on the easy bits, I almost have to argue with myself to keep going. Given that I want to get him done by the time I leave, it shouldn't be this hard. Maybe I need a break from knitting? It wouldn't hurt my thesis any. Anyways, this is as far as I've gotten on him since I started:
I should probably take this mood and get some work done on my thesis, instead of fighting with myself about knitting. I'm working my way through the first chunk of The Madwoman in the Attic, by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar--one of those texts that if you're doing feminist literary analysis, you're going to read. Given that everything I'm analyzing in my thesis is written by men, the sections about women writers are less-than-useful, but there's a fair amount on recreations of binaries (angel and monster) that may be useful. One day, I'll actually sit down and start writing the review itself, instead of just clogging my brain with loads of books and articles and ideas.

False Starts

The sweater is frustrating. I've had very little practice with stranded knitting, and my understanding was you're not really supposed to do it back and forth. At least not typically. But that's what this sweater calls for. So I'll have about 30 rows of easy, 10 rows of dragging, 30 rows of easy, 34 rows of dragging, etc. I'm only about 45 rows in.

The mittens for my grandmother have been tricky as well. I started the convertible mittens from Knitting New Mittens & Gloves. Yarn was too thin. Then I tried the Evenstar Gloves I found on Ravelry, and had the same general problem. Which means I finally tried searching for a more accurate weight of yarn for the pattern, and finally settled on Warm Heart Warm Hands mittens. I got there eventually. I do want to try the other two patterns at some point, but not today.

So, pending a call from my little sister saying she got her CBC, I'm going down to Denver today to get mine apostilled. (If she gets hers, I'll wait for her to come up so we can go down together.) Given that it's almost an hour on the bus each way, I need something to work on. The Dude sweater's too big, and the mitten might be more intensive than I want on a bus, since I get motion sick. I think I'll cast on for the Camden sleeves since it's all mindless in-the-round after the first four rows.

I'm feeling pretty lazy about pictures today, so I'll show off a fairly old, but still very well-used knit. I decided at some point a few years ago to make all of my friends personalized dice bags. We all play Role-Playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons, if you're not sure what that means.) With each of my friends, I have a specific character or game that I associate with them, because they have a particular preference for a group (clan, kith, etc.) with each game. So I made up a bunch of dice bags in various colors, mostly appropriate to the book covers--green is Vampire the Masquerade, by White Wolf--and embroidered them with an appropriate symbol. I still have three or four bags that I never embroidered...one day. This one is the one I made for my boyfriend; the symbol is for Clan Malkavian. They're crazy, and so is he. I've only seen him play a Malkavian once, and it was a subtle kind of crazy, but it still always seemed like his clan.

Another week, another list of plans

Last week, I had this list, and this is what got done (I don't know how to do the nifty crossing-out thing people do with lists and posts, so blue is completed.)

• read Peter Pan
  
• read Through the Looking Glass
• read The Wizard of Oz
  
• acquire and read Ozma of Oz
• read at least three printed articles (but preferably everything printed)
• write lit. review stuff for all articles (re)read
• find articles about bildungsroman and women/girls (I was told very briefly in a class years ago that novels about girls cannot be considered a bildungsroman or coming-of-age/development novel. The intent of the genre is an escape from family and home. Girl's novels are about the submission to the family and home. Now I need to see if someone actually made this argument somewhere.)
• spin a tuft
• make at least 4 more coffee sleeves
• check with Korea about documents by the end of the week, if not heard back
• get boyfriend measured for tuxedo (for the wedding I made the shawl for)
• buy yarn for a yoga bag for one friend, and appropriately sized needles for various upcoming projects
• block and maybe actually complete one day Camden

Some of those solved themselves, such as checking with Korea. I'm not sure about the coffee sleeves anymore. We'll see. So this week's list:

• Type up/salvage the lit. review information for all articles
• Towards that extent, collect all articles in one place
• Go down to Denver to get CBC apostilled.
• Send off apostilled CBC
• Read Through the Looking Glass
  
• Finish back of the The Dude sweater
• Make mittens for Grandma before moving on to the rest of the sweater (I figure a piece of the sweater, then another mini-project, should keep me entertained.)
• Spin a tuft
• Read at least three books for thesis

Shorter list, but some of those are actually huge tasks. This may become a weekly thing until I move, or at least finish the lit. review stuff. I'm shooting for the end of June.

Because I really like having a picture of something on a post, I'm going to start sharing my years-old picture from my previous visit to Korea. I'll try to find the ones that have humorous explanations behind them, or at least a good story. For today, you get the only bathroom I decided to take a picture of (which, in Asia, shows a great deal of self-restraint.)

Knitter's ADD

I think it's very important to acknowledge this harsh disease and combat it in any way possible. This is a disease that (I assume) affects many of us. My current mantra, aiding me in resisting the nature of this awful affliction, is "Two more rows. Two more rows."

I have two more rows on the personally dubbed Rivers shawl I'm making for mi mama. Well, technically one row and the bind off, but given that it's a shawl worked outwards, that's about 1000 stitches of constant focus. I'm in love with the complexity of shawls only when I've got a good TV show to get me through the tricky rows. Otherwise, I like stockinette. It's easy and I can not pay attention to my knitting. What's that? Isn't the point to have something to do?

I'm a product of my generation. I'm a Millennial. I thought I was just at the tail end of Gen. X (I was born in 85, if you're curious), but apparently not. I am part of the ADD generation. The ones who have been raised on the internet and commercials. We are superb multitaskers, but you ask us to do and focus on one thing, and it's a no-go. In my undergrad, I should probably have minored in film. I was the head projectionist for the film series my university had. I was paid to go watch movies--at least 10 hours a week, and sometimes as many as 8 films in a day during festival season. And I fidget. People often ask me when I'm in a coffee shop reading and knitting how I do that. I learned how to knit, in the dark, during those 8-films-a-day marathons. Somehow managed not to drop stitches, too. I'm an English major, also, which means great swaths of my life are spent reading. I wouldn't knit if I couldn't multitask. So I do. But sometimes that makes for frustration when I can't do two things. Like very lacy rows and bindoffs.

And then there are new projects, waiting just around the corner. The sleeves to be re-knit from yesterday's horror show. Look! Salvaged yarn! Two full-size balls, three ....half? balls. Yay! Still nervous about having enough, but I showed the damage to the friend who helped me buy the yarn in Dongdaemun years ago (thanks Marie!) and she said she may have some of the same color lying around that she could send me. This means the sleeves are now on the list of things to finish before Korea, so if I need more, she's only doing Canada international shipping.

The next project that I'd like to get started (and finished) this weekend is some mittens for my grandmother. She was out a few weeks ago for my little sister's graduation, and saw the garter stitch handwarmers I made at the beginning of the winter. Commented that something like that would be great for her arthritis. So of course I'm trying to make something before I go. I'll probably make a pair of basic mitts like what she saw for around her house during the winter. One of my first times using Rowan, too.


So now that I've rambled for a good long while, I'm off to actually finish the shawl. Promise. Then I'll let myself cast on...everything.

Warning: Graphic Knitting Content

I was all set to talk about the blocking process for my long-awaited Camden, in preparation for a wearable FO. Was in the process of tracking down a documentary to listen to whilst pinning and measuring. And then. There are pictures below. Look only if you're strong of will and stomach. Seriously, it's horrific. I showed one of my roommates (none of whom knit), and he responded with more anger than I've heard him use in awhile "Was it my cat?" Which it might have been, but as I said, two years without touching the sweater, it could've been anyone. Anything. My money is on the mice that got into the Aeolian (as I mentioned previously.) I'm glad "they" chose the sweater, towards that extent. I can deal with this. But the fact that even my roommate gets how bad this is should give you an idea of how bad it is.

But to derail a moment, if only to bump the pictures down far enough that you can avoid them if you would prefer to: I went to the dentist yesterday. I got a temporary crown, post root-canal. They cut my tongue. In addition to my tongue feeling weird and a little sore, things taste funny today. I ate a cookie, of the kind that I know are really bad for me, but they just taste so good. And it was awful. I ate only half, because it tasted so strange. If it were at all intentional, or desirable, this tooth issue I've been having would be a great diet. But I'm pretty skinny as it is (and about to move to Asia where, from previous experience, I'll probably drop 15 lbs. within the first month anyways.) So once flavors return to normal, I can return to regaining the weight I lost when my tooth started hurting in the first place. I realize this is all so exciting. So now, without further ado:





Both sleeves, right in the middle. Of course. And over easily about 20 rows each of unsalvagable yarn. But here's the kicker: I bought the yarn in Dongdaemun. In Seoul. In a pack of 10 balls. Ravelry suggests that it is Michell Suri Alpaca, which I can't link to because I can't find anything that directs to that company. So here's the plan: I'm going to rip past the carnage first, saving as much of the yarn as I can. I have probably a ball's worth of yarn that was set aside after the sweater was all knitted up for the sewing part of the finishing. Hopefully that's enough to fix this. If not, the body of the sweater somehow remains unscathed: Worst case scenario, I have a very warm sweater t-shirt. I'll keep you posted.

Deconstructing

I woke up this morning to an intensely humid room. I go to sleep far before my other half (and occasionally wake up after my full 8 hours before he's gone to bed), and even in the summer, he closes the door. So I figured it was us breathing in a closed room. No, it's humid. In Colorado, that's always strange. I don't own an umbrella. I take pictures of leaves when I travel elsewhere because we don't have green here. So humid=weird.

One result of this is my desire to work on a shrug for Korea. I went without shrugs and such before. I wore short sleeves through summer when I was teaching and *gasp* tank tops when I wasn't. But I have a tattoo, and Korea doesn't like tattoos. In general. I was told once that tattoos can only be given by licensed doctors over there--it's considered a medical procedure. Anyways, tattoos are one thing. Korean-language tattoos, like the one on my shoulder, are probably another thing entirely. So the quest for comfortable covers for an intensely hot summer begins.

I made the Inamorata tank from Knitty last summer, but never quite finished it. Why, you ask?


I appear to be one of those women who has a little trouble figuring out what my actual size is. I am 5' 7". I am not wider than I am tall, especially around my torso. I'm not sure what I thought was going on when I made this. Didn't bother with buttons or straps. So now this will become several rewound balls. Then I'll figure out what the next step is. Any suggestions?

March 18 Goals

Almost every year, someone in my family gets me a day calender for Christmas. And almost every year, I've stopped pulling off the dates by February and instead use it for scratch paper whenever I need some. Which is why on May 28, I am just now removing March 18. At least it's for this year.

I have until I leave the country to write a thesis proposal and literature review for said thesis. This gives me, at this point, three months to write maybe twenty pages. 20. I once wrote about 65 pages in three weeks, and still managed to knit in my free-time. It's a little tough to get myself moving on this process, despite the fifteen or so books I need to read in order to write the lit. review. If you include source books, about thirty. So I make lists on the months-passed day calender sheets. In one week (ie, by next Saturday), I hope to:

• read Peter Pan
  
• read Through the Looking Glass
• read The Wizard of Oz
  
• acquire and read Ozma of Oz
• read at least three printed articles (but preferably everything printed)
• write lit. review stuff for all articles (re)read
• find articles about bildungsroman and women/girls (I was told very briefly in a class years ago that novels about girls cannot be considered a bildungsroman or coming-of-age/development novel. The intent of the genre is an escape from family and home. Girl's novels are about the submission to the family and home. Now I need to see if someone actually made this argument somewhere.)
• spin a tuft
• make at least 4 more coffee sleeves
• check with Korea about documents by the end of the week, if not heard back
• get boyfriend measured for tuxedo (for the wedding I made the shawl for)
• buy yarn for a yoga bag for one friend, and appropriately sized needles for various upcoming projects
• block and maybe actually complete one day Camden

So them's the plans. I will almost guaranteed add to the list, and have little expectation of finishing everything, but it gives me things to focus on. This may become a consistent listing if it seems to help.

Morning Routine

I had the urge to record my routine. I'm a big fan of routines. I'm a fairly early riser, even during the summer when I have no reason to be--I'm usually up by 8:30 every morning, whatever else has been going on. I get up, make my coffee (in the mug with half-naked mermaids on it), read several webcomics (in a very specific order), read through my blog reader, and head to League of Legends (LoL) to play a game or two. LoL is a tower defense game, which I am told is based on DotA (Defense of the Ancients, maybe?). Through all of that, when I'm not clicking furiously (usually when I'm dead, which means I have about a minute until I can continue playing) I am knitting.

The green yarn in the back is just some acrylic yarn I've been making coffee sleeves out of. I'll probably discuss those eventually. The blue is the shawl I'm making for my mom for her birthday. I'm kind of non-plussed about it right now. Not excited, not quite exasperated. Just getting it done. I'll show/explain it (and the annoyance it creates in my younger sister, perhaps) when it's finished.

THE Shawl

Initially, my desire to start sharing my knitting came from knitting something I was really proud of. Way back in...oh, say August of last year (I really don't remember when exactly,) Friend Em asked me to make her a shawl during the same dinner her fiance asked my boyfriend to be his best man. Given our level of friendship vs. her fiance's and my boyfriend's, this still seems oddly appropriate. I had never knit a shawl before.

I sent Em a variety of options, of which she chose Aeolian. The big one. For a wedding, and for the drape and whatnot, I started perusing silk yarn. There's the second first: I'd never used much besides acrylic and wool yarns. Also never used lace-weight anything. Oh, and never blocked. I hadn't realized previously that I followed a go-big-or-go-home philosophy to knitting. Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, Silk Lace, Shells on the Beach.

The single snag along the way was mice. Yes, mice. I very carefully stored the shawl anytime I wasn't actively working on it in a sealed plastic bag, in amongst my other yarns. And they chose this one bag to chew through and try to take away its contents for their home. Most luxurious mice on the block, I tell you. But they didn't get away with it and somehow managed not to cause a single break in the yarn. Yay!

Come January, the shawl was knitted up completely, but still didn't look like much. I got some blocking squares and pins from KnitPicks but didn't have the time or inclination to actually block until April. In the meantime, I made and blocked two other shawls for practice. It was another month practically before pictures could occur. I have a battery charger for my camera now.



Modifications: Skipped beading, and for the most part (read: after the first row) did 7-stitch nupps instead of 9-stitch nupps. Not bad for a first time, eh?

Come back end of July to see it in action.