Resurrection

Hey there!

I graduated. Moved to Texas. Trying to find ways to fit knitting in to my postdoc reality.

Life is good. Pictures forthcoming.

Projects and Weddings and Cats, oh my!

Annnnd trying new imaging service. :) This post brought to you by ImageShack. Without further ado...

The Tablecloth of DOOOOOOM!!! (36x36 inches)



This picture was taken on the Holiday Inn rug, as soon as I finished embroidering the sucker. Half an hour later we left to go see this. Man, was I relieved.



Aren't they cute? This is one of the few pictures I took that was neither red-eyed nor blurry. You get to see Dad, Jessica, Jordan, and Mom.



THESE are my Jaywalkers. It's finally cool enough to wear them. I think I'm going to have happy feet this winter. It makes me want to start another pair. Knit in the Socks That Rock in Farmhouse. I actually finished these before the TableCloth of DOOM but it was usually TOO HOT in the apartment to want to wear them long enough to snap the picture. :) (fabulous picture taken by the DH. :)



This is me and Smokey, the first cat who fell in love with me. Poor Smokey; I was a junior in high school when we got him as a kitten, and try to explain going away to college to a cat! Smokey is now almost thirteen years old. He's a sweetheart in general and usually doesn't like being photographed in particular... Usually it takes a couple days after I've been home for him to realize that I'm not some ghost come back to haunt him. I miss Smokey a lot. I hope someday I'll meet another cat that likes me as much.



This is Bandit. Fellow SnB's might remember Bandit as The Cat That Bit Mom and Sent Her to the Hospital With a Gianormous Bacterial Infection. He's sitting in the window of my parent's bathroom, and I'm on the deck. I'm rather glad I got this picture, as this was Bandit's favored position when quarantined some weeks later in the same bathroom. ;)

Dad says it was tempting to skin Bandit after Mom's five day hospital stay, but he settled for squirting him with the garden hose whenever the opportunity arose. (Given it was a hot August when he said that, this kitty was not in any serious danger.) He's now strictly an outdoor kitty, and my Mom no longer feeds strays.

Here's the best picture of Susie, my mom's kitty, that I got. Susie didn't like me, so taking her picture proved to be a pain.



No, I'm not looking at you! You didn't surprise me by hiding around the corner!

Okay, last picture, and it's somewhat of a cheat.



See this cannister from the Jaywalkers picture? Inside it is a 40" size 0 Addi Turbo with two top-down socks in Knit Picks Parade. It's going to be Mel's Christmas present. I've been knitting rather slowly on it, but now that the fall weather is here I might pick up a bit. (Not lots though. I'm trying to work more on science than knitting of late.)

I've also been reading Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman. So far I like it. :)

Okay, I'll try to take some pictures of the Mel socks-in-progress and bring those in. Anyone remember other pictures I promised and didn't deliver?

Still here!

Saw a post about abandoned blogs and felt really, really guilty.

I have several excuses, but really they're just excuses. :) So, how are all of you? (Seriously, I've been trying to refocus life on the whole scientist question. I don't want to play at being a scientist, I want to be one, which means that some hobby stuff has to take a back seat in my thinking.) The other reason is that I need to get off the fence and figure out where I can host my images, since I think blog postings without pictures must be a bit on the boring side.

What was I up to crafty-wise this summer?

The Big One - My mother demanded requested that I make something to adorn the table my father was making for my little brother's wedding. (Oft referred to in my LJ as 'the tablef--ker'.) I did manage to finish that, though it was very close. Honestly, it wouldn't have happened without the 20 hours in the car on the driving trip TO the wedding. There was much ranting, back and forth, confusing emails, and gnashing of teeth on this one, especially since I was convinced that the bride didn't really want a tablecloth at all. (I still think Mom steamrollered her into picking one out.) Anyway, my mother was very happy when 'she' was able to present my little brother and his bride with a table made by my father, a tablecloth embroidered by moi, and candlesticks purchased by my youngest brother. Mom gave her the jewelry she wore for the wedding. (Dad and I clearly got the short end of the stick on this one.) I felt very light and free when that was done. Free enough to give my mother a pained/pissed look when she asked for yet another pair of legwarmers. (After all the trouble about her picking last year's yarn, too. Sheesh.) After seeing the look on my face, she changed the subject. I wonder if it will come up again. If she doesn't give me hell about staying in MA this Christmas, she might just get (designed by me to be MUCH less tacky) legwarmers as a bribe. We'll see. (She'll probably give me hell though. What will be worse is my father's dissapointed voice, really. I miss him.)

I did measure Dad when I saw him so I could try to make him a vest. I got some gorgeous cocoa Main Line from Knit Picks on sale. THAT will have to wait a bit though. :) Attempt two at designing a vest such that it's not going to make either Dad or Hooney look tubby. (attempt 1 is in the frog pond, 'in process' on being fixed.)

Previous to the tablecloth from hell, I DID finish my Jaywalkers in Socks that Rock. They're quite lovely, and I think I have pictures somewhere. (must fix image hosting issue)

After that, I got the idea to make a Christmas present for a friend who does check this blog, so those pictures will have to wait a bit. (I'll give you a hint though. Google a condition that means you're running out of oxygen.)

I'm also making a plain-ish pair of socks in pink/purple Knit Picks Parade as a Christmas present for a grad student down the hall. (Wool socks for the terminally cold are a Good Thing.) These are being knit at the same time on one circular needle to try the technique. This has been going majorly slowly as I'm trying to cut back on the knitting, and I'm pretty okay with that. (I may freak out when it's closer to Christmastime.)

Other than that, I've been cross-stitching this picture. I've got over half of the orange pumpkin done. (I have to bring something to SnB so the gift recipient doesn't see her present too soon, and this project is for Hooney and I.) Since Hooney has been reading Pride and Prejudice to me while I stitch, this has been very pleasant.

My boss has finished the other papers in line in front of me, so I've been working on more science stuff lately. =) I'm excited. Off to look at sequencing now. Please feel free to berate me with comments demanding pictures.

April update

Happy May Day!

I didn't update much over the last couple months. Mea culpa. First off, I have to show you the picture of Mom's Twist shawl that I sent her for Easter.




This was a quick knit, done in Broadway Lights, that used four and a fraction balls. (Very small fraction. Mom may see that yarn in purse form at some point. ;) Can you figure out from the picture how I screwed up the pattern? (I decided to leave it.)

Now, guess where I went on Apr 22nd?




Yep, the SnB girls took their first Grand Day Out and went to see Stephanie Pearl-MacPhee at WEBS. It was a very fun day, so much so I forgot to eat at points. (By the way, Stephanie, I'm very sorry about the picture. It really is the best one. Yikes. She really looks much better than that.) I felt bad for Stephanie; while she was fun, funny and witty, she looked terrified. However, a 'group hug' with that many people would be MUCH, much worse. Our group was in the back corner of the first talk picture. Thanks for coming, Stephanie!

Here's the haul from WEBS and the bead store in Northampton (the yummy dumplings and yak sausage somehow didn't make it home from the Tibetan restaurant for their pictures...)




You'll note the presence of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool; I wandered with my fingers burrowed in a ball for twenty minutes trying to figure out if it would make me headachy. It didn't seem to, so I was happy! (I also didn't get any employees asking why I was using their yarn as a Chinese finger trap. Bonus.) This yarn looks very fun, and it was on sale for $5 a ball. Too bad Good thing they didn't have a full bag of the eggplant or cyan, or I'd have a new sweater project right now. (and I said 'no sweater projects!) I got some random colors to make hats and scarves, possibly Odessae with the beads you can also see in the picture. :) There's a couple balls of black for another Odessa or other black beaded hat for someone for a Christmas present, and you'll note that I got sucked into a ball of the discounted sock yarn. (I finger trapped this one also. It seemed to be okay... and if that's true, I've got a whole new happy world of sock yarn to play with.)

I also got some Addis, one for Mom's Wool Peddlar in a long length for when it expands past my 24" size 4, and a 40" size 0 so I can try this whole magic loop thing. I got a Chibi because it was cute, blue (I really like blue) and I've always wanted one. ;) I got some Inox sock needles in 0, 00, and 000 because it looked like I was going to snap my bamboo 0's on my car project, and I've been wanting more sturdy steel ones.

My car project to and from Northampton? Jaywalker socks. I've managed to get down to 7st/inch with the Socks that Rock yarn, but it's been a challenge for me. I worked on the heel flap only pretty much there and back. (some wooly nylon added to the heel flap for support.) Here's a picture from the Sunday after the Northampton trip... I've finally turned the heel!




At SnB last Monday, I picked up a bunch of stitches for the gusset, and then went round and round and round and round decreasing them away. Man, that seemed to take FOREVER. I finally finished the gusset on Friday. (GUSSET!) I've worked on the foot some, and I'll snap a couple more Jaywalker progress photos. (I might have one or two on the camera that I forgot about.)

I'm lucky; my Jaywalker-in-progress seems to fit my foot pretty well - not too tight! The stitches are hopefully tight enough that I won't feel them when I stand up. I'm grinding away at this pattern, though... it's a slow knit for me.

Still trying to finish the Jaywalkers for me, which means that for Mother's Day Mom is getting candles. (I doubt she'll be upset.) I've decided to use two leftover balls of black with the green yarn for the kitty bed, or one of black and one of the brown, to get rid of the foecal quality. Mom still hasn't sent me any kitty bed pictures, but I do have this one she emailed me last week. :)



I think she liked her surprise. :)

Have a fun May Day!

Too long.

It's been too long since I've updated. Sometimes I view this with amusement, that it was last before my vacation, and some with embarrassment. I know I don't have the time to be one of the top bloggers, but I offer you guys my apologies for being incommunicado this long.

What have I been up to? (All photos pending)

Well, I finished the kitty hat in time for the trip... and then remembered that I'll be wearing a ski helmet on the slope, so I really didn't need to panic about the hat. Oh well, it's still done.

I also began and finished Odessa, in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Nymph, with cool pearlized aqua size 6 seed beads. It's a lovely hat. What I learned from Odessa is that knitting with beads is fun, and that Cotton Fleece is NOT as stretchy as Cashsoft. This meant that my hat didn't expand as much, and as such was really tight on my head. It was pointed out to me that my co-worker who had lost her hair due to Lupus had a really small head. She tried it on and it looked lovely. My heart wrenched but I gave her the Odessa. I still have enough beads and have procured enough yarn to remake my hat. I'd have to make it again anyway... I'm planning on going up a needle size to 2's for the body of the hat. I had to go to a size 1 to get gauge previously, and I think that that will be enough to expand the hat so my ears don't feel like they're being squished bloodless. ;)

I had a conversation with my Mom about getting yarn instead of tchotchkes for St Pats and Easter. She was keen on the idea once I proposed yarn requirements for a couple of 'surprises' for her. Basically, this meant that I told her 'for surprise A, you'll need nine balls of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in a color you like to wear that's not black. For surprise B, you'd need five balls of Knit Picks Twist in that black.' (Project A would have lace repeats in black, and I decided I didn't want to deal with that.) She ended up getting me both sets of yarn for the proposed projects from Knit Picks, and her Easter present is the 'drop stitch Twist shawl' from there in 'Broadway Lights'. I mailed it out today... hopefully she'll get it in time.

For any of you out there, I found the Twist shawl easy and fast. The self-fringe is very neat, and the shawl simply won't lay right until you do it. Note that in person the Broadway Lights colorway sometimes appears black and sometimes a very dark navy blue. Not a problem for my Mom, but someone hoping for a true black will be in for a surprise. My biggest problem with knitting the shawl was getting distracted by science and reading. I've discovered Tamora Pierce recently, and have happily borrowed most of her backlist from a good friend. ;)

What's in the works now?

I'm also knitting with Socks That Rock in Farmhouse... I'm trying another Grumperina pattern, Jaywalkers. I've heard many complaints that they come out too small. Since I knit a bit on the looser side, I'm using my size 0 bamboo dpns and *hoping* that my actual gauge when I'm telling myself to knit tightly will yield a good compromise sock. I'm worried because the leg looks a bit large, but I'm only 2" in. I'm fairly certain that the Socks That Rock is a bit thicker and sproingier than Opal, and I want to get a nice plushy fabric. The Dancing socks featured on this blog have shown one tendency that saddens me greatly... when I'm standing in them, I can feel the stitches. All my reading indicates that that means I'm not knitting near tight enough. So I'm trying again with the Jaywalkers. We shall see.

I also got some sock yarn from Knit Pick's clearance. (Now there's a sale to sadden the heart and lighten the pocketbook.) I had some of it earmarked for a birthday that's coming up until the DH admired it for himself. D'oh! (Sock Landscapes Mesa. Lovely colorway.) Not a problem, I bought the birthday girl something else. I also got some Parade, and am planning on making some nice squishy slipper socks for myself and perhaps a couple of friends who have been helping me out in the science department. :) Any Parade reccomendations gladly accepted.

What's Surprise A Wool of the Andes for? Well, Mom got me Hollyberry, and it will become one of the shawls in the Folk Shawls book. As she also requested a kitty bed in shades of green, it's more likely she'll get that first. She's got five indoor cats, and only three beds, so I've some catching up to do!

Last question. Is Photobucket a good option for hosting photos, moneywise? It appears that I've used a great deal of my Photobucket account space, and must switch to paid subscription soon. I've been pondering whether or not I want to go there... any other suggestions? :)

Thanks for reading.