Sigh...

Finals week, work, packing and a breakup--I will try to get back on my horse soon, but please bear with me in the meantime. This knitter is especially unhappy today.

Dramatic

I'm hitting a bit of a knitting wall, and here's why: I'm currently trying to finish up my Forest Canopy Shawl by May 11th for Mother's Day. There's just onnnnnnne problem--it's taking FOREVER! Does anyone else run into this rut? I feel like everyone else whips out lace shawls like it's nobody's business. I find it very discouraging that with every other row, my project just grows larger and larger. Now, none of this would matter if my mom were into smallish neck scarves, but unfortunately, I managed to track down one of the shawls that is much more her style. The verdict? Very drapey & dramatic and of course.... large. I tried out my hand at this style with jovial results. heh.

Sorry mom, I borrowed your glasses too...

After my silly photoshoot (and after being asked about my peculiar lipstick) I took an actual account of how much larger that shawl is than forest canopy. Yeah. It's quite a bit larger...

Sigh....

I currently have 13.5 pattern lace repeats done and I'm guestimating around 17 or so to make this bad boy large enough. I definitely understand that blocking will do wonders, but making sure I don't run out of yarn will be my biggest concern. Wait scratch that, attempting to finish this shawl during finals week is my biggest concern. Anyway, updates to follow.

It should also be made known that my mom did make the larger shawl pictured. When asked, she speculated the creation date to be around 1976; exact date/time will remain a mystery to us all.

Hopelessly Devoted

No knitting to speak of; financial accounting is consuming my soul (of all things!). Trying to not think about the 30 some page portfolio I have due tomorrow, and instead looking forward to this Saturday when my brother will be marrying this lovely woman (yup, she's one of us!). Joel is my only sibling so this wedding will be extra special! For those curious, I will be a groomsmaid. Hilarious.

Bike update: bittersweet news again regarding my stolen bicycle. Saturday night The Artist called to tell me he actually found my bike. Unfortunately, he followed that with the news that he found it on the side of the road after it'd been absolutely manhandled. Sigh. Lessons learned:

• People can be dumb.
• Vandalism is real.
• Buy a better lock.

Hopefully this inspires you to go and hug your bicycle and be weary of shady characters!

On the upside: let me introduce you to Sandra Dee: my mom's cruiser that she generously donated to my commuting cause-- Thanks mom!
"But blue Schwinn don't you see? There's just no getting over you...I'm hopelessly devoted to you..."


(fans of 'Grease' are hopefully smiling)

Bittersweet

Let me tell you, this week has been unbelievably hectic. I know I'm not alone in feeling this way, almost every person I know here is feeling the end of the year crunch. But guess WHAT? Despite everything I have going on all at once, I have a FO to show you! No second mitten syndrome for this gal, I count two!The second mitten went significantly faster than the first; that certainly was a pleasant surprise. I'm very happy to have them finished (just in time for 60 degree weather!).

Are any of you being drawn to that gorgeous pink peony in the back? You're in luck! My fabulous roommate, Jamie (pictured below), recently purchased a crepe paper peony set a la Martha Stewart. It was such a cool process to watch--the kits are highly recommended!

Lastly, I have a sad bit of news that has added to the stress of this past week. Do you remember when I said I knit the special side thumbs on my mittens in order to be conducive to biking? Apparently I spoke too soon...Last week Thursday my [adorable] blue bike was stolen (we're talking the lock was smashed in pieces stolen) and I'm still mourning it's loss. I recently remembered these photos which were taken last fall for my friend Kevin's product line (he sews a fantastic line of messenger bags and accessories!). I wanted to share them with you in an attempt to help me grieve. Sigh. You will be missed bicycle, I hope we meet again.**Afterthought: I did knit the hat I'm wearing in the picture--it's my chevron newsie hat. I've never written the pattern for it, but it certainly wouldn't be that hard to do. Thoughts?**

Okay Okay...

I suppose I owe you an actual blog post hmm?

First of all, thank you so much for all of the kind birthday wishes!--it certainly made my day that much happier! (Those of you who are interested: yes I had a fantastic time that night and yes I remember every bit of it!)

Here's a random factoid I wasn't aware of until recently: Did you know that you can purchase online gift certificates for Ebay? I was not aware! I found out when my wonderful friend Kyle generously gave me one for my birthday! The one requirement? It was for yarn purchases only. Well if you're going to twist my arm Kyle...

and look what he ended up getting me!2 skeins of gorgeous Malabrigo Kyle? What fantastic taste you have! What am I making with this gorgeous color? Only time will tell...

Moving on in knitting news, I opted to make myself a new pair of mittens after I was dubbed "a bad little kitten who'd lost my mittens," earlier this month. After it randomly (and I mean randomly) snowed 4 inches in one afternoon about a week ago, I decided that this replacement needed to happen sooner rather than later. Enter Mitered Mitts:These mittens really need no introduction, but for those who are interested, it's EZ's Mitered Mitts from Knitter's Almanac. This probably has to be the easiest mitten pattern ever. Since these mittens are going to be used while I'm commuting via bike, I opted to do the standard side thumb shown a la Grace Schnebly. These are such a quick knit my only excuse for not having them finished is that I've had my mind blown by college this past week. Here's the progress on the second one...I've just cleared the thumb which means nothing but clear skies and smooth sailing here on out!

Lastly, I've decided to start a secret project which I'm incredibly excited to begin. (Observant readers will note that this yarn originally debuted here). What on earth could I be doing with 2 skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic and one GIANT crocheted chain?? (*hint* the chain will be for a gigantic provisional cast on). Yikes! You won't be kept in the dark too long, more updates to follow in a more reasonable fashion!

A Love Story

There once was a chilled bottle of soda who lived alone in the kitchen.

"Brrrrr, I'm cold!"

Then, at that very moment, she received a toasty sweater from a secret admirer!

"A secret admirer?....me?"

The sweater kept her warm, but she soon grew lonely...

"*waaaaaaahhh*..."

Chicklet was rushed in to cheer her up

"Awww, Thanks for the hug Chicklet--I needed that."

Feeling a little better, she decided to get gussied up to go out that night...

...and she ended up meeting the bottle of her dreams!

"Did you like the sweater I sent you...?", he asked. "It's perfect!" She replied.

And they lived cozily ever after-- The End.

Surprise!

Somebody turned 21 today!

(*pssst* it's me!)

So raise your beer cozies & yarntinis--this college knitter is especially happy today!

Basking

Spring break is coming to a close and I must say, I've enjoyed myself thoroughly. Now, I generally like to keep this next tidbit on the down low (for my own safety), but this semester I [somehow] managed to schedule all of my classes to be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday of each week. That's right, you read correctly: 4 day weekends. My point being that the rest of my colleagues (including the Artist) are back up at school anticipating class bright and early. Whereas I am four glorious hours away from school and not heading back until Tuesday morning. I can bask in what little time I have left, spending some quality time with family & hometown friends. Oh, and knitting of course...

I have been working on the Forest Canopy Shawl, but opted to not bore you with new pictures of it since a triangular shawl with fourteen repeats looks a lot like a triangular shawl with nine repeats. If you're feeling slighted, just scroll down to my last post, squint your eyes, and pretend it has grown a couple inches. I promise I'll give you a real update at some point. Eventually...

In other news, I found a knitted item from Christmas past! Does this happen to anyone else? I guess I feel a little goofy for completely forgetting this poor thing. Though (in my defense), after reflection I remembered it being created during one of my [frequent] knitting blackouts. Problem solved. I give you the DROPS shrug:(The look on my face epitomizes my feelings about my 4-day weekends. heh.)

I was equally excited about finding my [WARM] wool shrug just in time for the heat to stop circulating in my bedroom. Uff da.

Here are some stats:

Pattern: DROPS Shrug (Ravelry)
Designer: DROPS design...? (It's very vague)
Yarn: 5 skeins of DROPS Eskimo in light iceblue
Needles: US 15 Addi Turbos
Estimated time of knitting: 4 hours in a trance

And here is a better picture of the frontIn a nutshell, It was quick. It was easy. And it's warm. 'nuff said. My only complaint is that the back gapes a little bit at the bottom, but nothing a good blocking or cleverly placed front button wouldn't fix.

Stay tuned to see the fate of this yarn, as well as a surprise sneaking up at the end of the week--hooo boy!

Spring Break!

Soooo...I was expecting to fill this post with super crazy pictures of me wearing my PowerPuff girl costume (congratulations to those who rocked the 90's trivia). However, the thing about themed dances is this: sometimes everyone and their mom dresses up, and sometimes they...well....don't. This occasion was definitely a "don't". And luckily my best friend and I checked out the scene before arriving as Buttercup & Brittney. Thank god. I will post a photo of me in that costume at some point, but for now I am empty handed

I've been pretty occupied with the list of itinerary that I'd mentioned prior, but since my last post was a little lacking of knitting, I've decided to spare you the details of Boston's awesomeness. Instead, I'll show off what I've been up to!Enter the Forest Canopy Shawl. This pattern = perfect for airplane/subway knitting because the pattern is so simple it can be easily memorized. In the end, this little number will be gifted to my fantastic mom (along with knitting [and every other crafty thing known to man], my mom has her own chain maille jewelry business! If you do click, disregard the ginormous picture of my face as well as the blinding glare off of my fake engagement ring. heh.)
The story of this shawl goes back all the way to January. My mom had bought 5 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino baby and, after a few failed attempts at finding a good scarf pattern for herself, she generously donated the yarn to me. Little did she know that I was going to be making her yarn into a shawl for her! Initially it was going to be a secret, but (as I learned with Jamie's vest) it's too much hassle to hide a project from someone you live with. Production on said shawl came to a halt after knitting 7 repeats on needles that were to small. Ugh. It is officially the largest gauge swatch I've ever made. I switched to size 8's (much better) and knitting commenced!

Now, lets check out the shawl's view out of the Harvard "dorm" windows!What is that stately looking brick building you see? Is it a library? A science center? Admissions? a bank? A museum? NO! It's still the dorms. Seriously.

Turning our heads, we have yet ANOTHER view!If you can bring your eye past the extensive courtyard (seriously), you'll be able to see the scenic Charles River! Yeah. That's what I saw out of my dorm room too. No wait, the view out of my freshman dorm room looked like this:I kid you not. That's not a lake or a historic river either. I took that photo out of my freshman dorm window when our campus FLOODED due to the heavy snowfall we'd gotten that year. In fact, that's almost exactly what campus looks like now. I guess I will eat my jealousy and instead continue to enjoy my time surrounded by redbrick buildings, crown molding, hardwood floors, and a YARN SHOP that's two feet away here at Harvard. sigh....

One Savvy Shopper

So as mentioned in a previous post, I will be leaving this Thursday to travel off to the Boston area. More specifically, the Cambridge area. More specifically than that, the Harvard area. No, I'm not transferring to Ivy League glory, but instead, becoming an honorary student for the 6 days that follow my arrival. I have been given explicit instructions to:

A. say I'm an Anthropology major (?)
B. tell everyone I'm Jewish (which I am)
C. let everyone know I'm originally from Wisconsin.

I've heard these things will make me friends, though I can't help but question why. Regardless, my best friend has drafted up an itinerary of events for me to complete while I'm there. One of the more substantial events will be a "90's" themed dance on Saturday night. My first thought? No PROBLEM! After all, I did spend my blossoming years growing up through 90's; in fact, it's the only decade I can claim as my own!

Trouble is, I was in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL through most of the 90's, and (believe it or not) none of my clothes still fit me. Heh. *Enter intense brainstorming period*

My [patient] friends helped me come up with a ton of costume ideas spanning from Clueless, to Full House-- Boy Meets World, to the Spice Girls. If I had had unlimited time to gather materials or create something, that would have been different. Heck, if it were up to me, I'd find a full sized animal costume, cut out a giant tag board heart and go as a Beanie Baby. Alas, the character I decided on had to be dreamt up in less than a week on a college budget. So, what's a girl to do? I went to our friendly neighborhood Goodwill of course! And I came home with...
A green [J.Crew!!] dress for $6.99...

A black belt half priced at $0.99...

A pair of white tights [unopened from Walmart] $3.50...

A pair of black patent mary janes [Clearance for $6.00!!]...

and lastly (the knitting part) the ever-popular Hallowig, in black. [priceless].

So. Can you guess what I'm going as? I won't declare this an official contest, but know that if you can successfully guess what I'll be, I'll be sincerely impressed with your 90's wisdom. Seriously impressed.

Also, check out what else this savvy shopper snagged while thrifting[!]:That's right. 7 glorious balls of super bulky wool (I did the burn test). Pretty darn pleased with myself for finding that one. Chicklet's excited too. Once I establish yardage, I'll start brainstorming patterns...hoo boy!

Not quite Miss Kinkos

I got home from work around 1am and, as per usual, I couldn't get to sleep. After dealing with my sporadic sleeping habits over the past year or so, I've learned that the worst thing I can possible do is to lay [awake] in bed wanting to go to sleep. Instead, I need to do something productive! Who cares if it's 3:45 am!It's all the more reason to tackle my unfinished projects since there won't be any of those pesky distractions (like other lifeforms) that are usually lurking during the day. What did I do you ask? I decided to be resourceful! I printed my own gift tags:
I had been meaning to make these ever since before I got my fantastic sew-in labels for the holidays. These tags are just a little something to personalize a gift one step further. They're also the ideal option for the baby garments I'll be shipping out tomorrow to ensure there won't be any rough edges that might irritate sensitive baby skin.So huzzah, call me Miss Kinkos because I feel pretty darn resourceful. But wait--it wasn't really that easy, was it...?

hah, NO WAY!

For your comic relief, I've captured my mistakes and have decided to share them openly. (Feel free to gawk at my awkward learning curve.)

FIRST Try: I put the paper in upside down, but more importantly, the rounded rectangle I had added to the back side of the card was horribly out of alignment. Goodbye rounded rectangle!
SECOND Try: I decided to try a darker (more sophisticated) yellow than the first time and instead got a decidedly un-classy highlighter/popcorn yellow. Oh, and my margins got reset to default after all of my careful measuring...round 3 shall we? (Note the detail shot of my horrible margins*).
THIRD Try: I opted for an aqua blue since my eyes were still burning from the first two tries. A little too dark, but what's this? success! This run is looking good... now just to print the back! Oh geezus......maybe ON the back next time?
FOURTH (and final) Try:
color?adjusted.
Margins? set.
Paper? right side up.
Planets? Aligned.
Product? 30 cards wasted, but 10 cards: SUCCESS!
Lessons learned? I do not yet hold the title Miss Kinkos...but I can dream.Also note: Those of you wanting to print business cards at home, make sure your printer isn't a model that likes to eat cards for breakfast. My model is apparently the new HP Card-Cruncher. And what an awful sound that was.

Busy Busy Busy!

I know it's bizarre (especially lately) for me to just disappear for a week, but I have my reasons! I spent the first half of the week down in Lake Geneva for an industry related conference (Those of you feeling nosy can Google WIGCOT 2008 to see more). On the plus side, the conference was informative, entertaining, and enjoyable. On the minus side, the professional conference environment isn't exactly conducive for knitting. At all. The end result was me getting about 3 hours of knitting time in the car there and back. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining since, as before mentioned, I had a great time. That being said however, the rest of the week was spent catching up on everything I had missed the first 4 days of the week. Isn't that how it always goes? Playing catch-up? Regardless of how much I think I've gotten done, I'm nowhere near finished with everything I need to have finished up by next week. What better time then [heh] to decide to write a blog entry! Anyway, here's what I have to show for myself:Yes, he is that cute in person. I had been eying up Ysolda's "Elijah" for months now and finally decided to make the commitment to actually knitting him up. Now, did I have sport weight & DK weight yarn on hand? YES! Did I choose to use either of them? hah-NO WAY! Why make the easy decision in a situation like this? I had 3 skeins of Blue Sky dyed cotton in a pretty ice blue. I actually got the idea from seeing Ysolda's newest toy, Otto, whom she made out of the same yarn in white. "Elijah would look cute if he were bigger too", I thought. "I'm going to give it a try!". The saga continues from there...

I might also add that the pattern construction on this project is just mind blowing. There was A LOT of careful thought put into this pattern. I'm talking meticulous diagrams and fantastic descriptions. Given my previous experience with her patterns, I'm not surprised in the slightest. He does look awfully goofy with no arms, ears, and only one leg though--that alone is enough to give me motivation to finish him!

And lastly, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that SPRING BREAK starts in six short little days. Get ready Boston, I'm almost there! (Those of you in the Boston area: any LYS's to check out??)

Girlyness!

I have been one busy lady! I have two FOs to show off today (one won't be quite as exciting since you've already seen most of it), but regardless, I'm still excited. What took me so long you ask? Getting to the store to buy that darn ribbon! I finally mozied on over to pick it up at 1 am Wednesday morning after I finished my late shift at work. By 2 am I had ribbon in hand and was ready to finish these little items off! Brace yourself, here is the first:Um....I can't even handle it. Can you handle it? I can't handle it. Let's consult the "girlyness" meter for a moment shall we?:

• There is pink
• there is lace
• there is ribbon
• there is a bow
• and you can't see it in that picture, but there's also a pearl.

This Girlyness reading tops the charts at: OBSCENELY GIRLY! This top has it all and is enough to make any tomboy cringe.

The pattern itself is from the book "Special Knits" by Debbie Bliss. Overall, I'd say this little top was way more tedious than it needed to be, but mostly due to user error [knitting in the wee hours...] rather than pattern default. I will say though, thank goodness for Ravelry! There is no picture in the book of that cute little keyhole button closure in the back, and trying to make sense out of that part of the pattern without seeing it first would have been madness. Ultimately though, this top makes me complete and I can't wait to send it off to Leah. Here is a montage of more awesomely girly photos!

(My photoshop refused to make that bigger, but all of those photos are uploaded onto Flickr here!)
As if the top weren't girly enough, The already adorable hat has gotten a cuteness makeover. What is showing up on the girlyness meter this time?

• there's a ruffle
• there are stripes
• there are pastels
• there are eyelets
• and, to top it all off, there is coordinating ribbon!

This Girlyness reading comes in at a close second of DISTURBINGLY GIRLY! Question: What more could a baby girl ask for? Fact: not much. Girlyness abounds in this apartment and after a trip through the wash, these little items will be wrapped in tissue paper and sent off to Virginia to their new home! I love happy endings...

**Oh! I apparently got a little bit of a shock out of some when I mentioned that I was colorblind in my last post. To shed a little more light [har har], I am red/green deficient. That basically means that I can still see colors, just different versions than the ones you see (try wrapping your mind around that!). There is a small spectrum of colors in the olive greenish brownish yellowish area that I could not distinguish for the life of me--they fall into an aptly named "grey area" for me. Essentially, what it comes down to, is that I wear a lot of neutrals (greys, blacks, whites, & browns) and then add a punch of color to spice them up. This way I don't have to worry about my colors clashing horribly or making myself a public spectacle. I often will ask for color help from nearby shoppers or sales clerks if I have questions about colors, but ultimately it ends up being an adventure rather than a hindrance--but yes, it does sometimes make knitting a little interesting! **

Quirky

Uff da. I just finished up a crazy week of projects, studying, meetings, work, and exams--and let me tell you, this girl is exhausted! I've been pretty much useless this week in the realm of knitting, and all I had to show for myself is about 4.5 inches of stockinette stitch on a baby garment for Leah's little one. It's not too exciting yet (stockinette rings never are), but here's what it looks like as of 11:45 this morning...
How riveting. Luckily, stockinette goes quickly and now that I have some free time, this little monster shouldn't take much longer. I'm using KnitPicks shine sport in the color Coral which I got on clearance for $1.99/skein [!]. It is so soft I can't even handle it--perfect for sensitive baby skin. Eventually, it'll be turning into this adorable baby top (I apologize for the increased amount of "cute" content lately, it'll stop soon). here it is:In other news, I was recently tagged by Susan and Rachel to talk about 7 things that make me "unique" (my first thought was "heh, just seven?!"). Due to lack of good knitting content, I figured this would be as good a time as any to do so. Here it goes:

1. I prefer to walk/always be on the right side of people
2. I always check my back seat before getting into my car--thanks a lot Urban Legends.
3. I've never eaten a McDonald's hamburger before. I've heard I'm not missing much...
4. I collect sugar packets wherever I go.
5. I managed to make it into the .5% of women who are colorblind. Hooray for heredity.
6. My right thumb is about 1/2 shorter than my left. (Causes to consider: problem with growth plate in wrist, shop class, UFO abduction...[lol?])
7. And lastly, I learned how to land an airplane after becoming paranoid reading Gary Paulsen's "The Hatchet".

So there you have it. I am what some people might consider "quirky", which I actually rather enjoy. I could have gone on, but seven was the lucky number. I'm not keen on tagging people for these sorts of things, so if you haven't been tagged yet and are interested in doing this, consider yourself TAGGED! Also, thank you to Sarah for awarding me the "You make my Day" award, it (for lack of better words) made my day!!

Blackout

Everyone knows what a blackout is, yes? Some people have medically related blackouts, some have anger blackouts, and then there's me: I have knitting blackouts. What do I mean by this? I mean I sat down to talk with a [close] friend last night and about three hours later I had 3/4 of a children's hat completed.

I don't [consciously] remember choosing to make this hat, finding the yarn, downloading the pattern, checking gauge (okay, realistically I know I didn't check gauge on this one), or any of the other preparation type activities that go into starting a new project. I'm starting to think that this might be the cause of my accumulated WIP collection though....sigh. I give you: Thorpe
Mr. pumpkin is hiding underneath this time...maybe he's camera shy tonight, who knows. Anyway, this hat was made for my fantastic manager's [sited here] daughter, Allie. She will be turning 2 in April, and cozy hats are never too plentiful this time of year in Wisconsin! Here are the stats:

Pattern: Thorpe
Designer: Kirsten Kapur
Needles: US 10 Addi turbo circulars
Yarn: Plymouth yarn Indiecita Baby Alpaca Grande
Start date: sometime (?) early a.m. 2/18 End Date: Afternoon 2/18

So exactly what happened during those hours between midnight and 3am, nobody will ever know. What is known is that a cute and simple toddler hat was born in the process. Modifications? Well, my gauge was obviously smaller so that's how I go the hat to be kiddy sized. Since the pattern size was making the hat longer and I didn't know Allie's actual head size, I opted to leave off the earflap part, despite how cute it would have been. Also, I used magic loop from the top down which was challenging at first, but better than futzing with DPNs in my opinion (also I didn't have any, and in my "haze" I decided I didn't care). The alpaca knit up so smooth and dense, and the double thickness of the colors will really help keep Allie warm!

Also, here is a shot of my pet chicklet helping me show off the other label Lindsey graciously gifted. This one is a little more feminine than the one I sewed into Koolhas, and I love them both equally.

And yes. I know that's not a real chicken, but I don't have cute cats to drape my knitting over...wind up toys will have to do.

Awwww....

I have been busily working on finishing up some baby items for my friend Leah, who (as evidence by the photo below) is one of the cutest pregnant ladies ever. Leah would be classified under the "one of my favorite people of all time" category. I met her in high school and she, being several years older, acted sort of as my adopted big sister during those years. She married a wonderful man (also pictured below) my sophomore year of hs and now is expecting a little baby girl within the next few weeks.

Can you even handle how cute she is? I can't. Speaking of cute...

Enter the most adorable baby hat ever. (I should make it known ahead of time that ruffles excite me almost as much as poms do)

This hat, graciously modeled by Mr. Pumpkin, makes me so unbelievably happy. My mom had made one [Ravelry] several years back and I um..."borrowed" the pattern from her so I could make one while I was at school.

Why the holes in it you ask? Well, in a few days this hat is going to get even cuter (as if that's even possible) than it already is. Yes, ribbons get tied through those little holes and are looped around the whole hat. The original pattern called for twice as many ribbons as will be on mine since I think there is a very fine line between "adorable ribbons" and "nauseating ribbons". I'm opting for adorable. More photos and pattern info coming once it's actually finished, I just couldn't resist showing it early. Oh, and I almost forgot....

One of the coolest features of the Artist's Koolhas hat was that it was the first time I'd been able to use my new labels (!) given to me by the artist's sister--we'll call her "Lindsey". This was such a thoughtful gift from her and I absolutely love them! Thank you so much Lindsey!

For the Artist

Oh who are we kidding, I can't keep anything from you guys! No more secrets! I cheated on my promise and there's no getting around it--100% guilty as charged. Heck, I was even apprehended by one of the local police officers who, after reading of my promise, caught me knitting this forbidden item on one of my shifts! That's when you know you've crossed the line. I know I said I wouldn't slip, but that being the case, at least my fall from grace was not done in vain...

My outcome was a surprise Valentine's Day gift for my [patient] boyfriend, whom from this point on I'll refer to as "The Artist" (per our mutual decision). I noticed immediately that one of the things that was really popular throughout blogging communities was the creation of "aliases" for family and friends whose identities were too sacred (or too something) to be made public. Most of you know by now that my name is Rachel, but the bf was intrigued by the idea of picking a codename for himself (what guy wouldn't be...?)

"The Artist" is just about as suitable a name as could be chosen--Art is as much his passion as knitting is for me, if not more so. Right now he's a TA for the ceramics department at our university and, [unfortunately] he had to work tonight. At least I was able to get some fun aerial shots of him in his "element" while he was there! He is by far one of the most talented artists I know and I am constantly amazed by the FO's (potters have them too!) that are coming out of his studio. (More photos can be seen here!)

I spliced in some silly pictures too. The one of me being anxious to share this hat with you on Tuesday, and of course the middle shot of my beloved summer splurge paired with the Artist's work shoes. What can I say, we both love patterns on our feet! Oh for heaven's sake, enough about shoes--bring on the knitting! Here are the stats:

Pattern: Koolhas
Source: Interweave Knits, Holiday 2007
Designer: Jared Flood
Needles: US size 2 & size 7 Addi Turbos
Yarn: Berella Muskoka --100% Superwash Merino
Start Date: 2/10 End Date: 2:12

I loved making this! Something snuggly (err...manly) to keep the Artist's head warm was WAY overdue, and this pattern was the perfect remedy. This hat went very quickly and was so fun to knit! It's a very easy pattern to memorize, and without a cable needle, all of those little twists were fun rather than tedious. I highly recommend this pattern.

That's all for now, perhaps now I will get back on track now that I got that hiccup out of my system. Or maybe knitters just weren't meant to have these sorts of boundaries...?

Sneak Peak

It's confession time, for I fear I have let you down.

My lack of willpower can be seen here on Ravelry (apologies for those who can't access yet!). More [and much better looking] photos to come later this week-- stay tuned!

How on Earth?

So here's something knitters don't exactly love to do-- showing everyone our mistakes. I was knitting along on Tree Jacket when I realized I'd made a mistake...or two...or three. I was definitely in denial about the back of this sweater. Keeping in mind that this was primarily football knitting, so it's possible that some of the mistakes came when an interception was thrown or an opposing team threw a touchdown. Yeah. That's where the mistakes came from...

So first, here is the front of the sweater (aka what it's supposed to look like):See how the rows all go straight back and the stitches between the lace portions all match? The front, minus the wrinkles from being stored in a Ziploc, is looking good.

Now, to show you the [misbehaving] side in question:Most of the problem has been contained to that middle column. I have no idea how, but I've slowly been losing stitches (which means I've added them somewhere else since my stitch count is still dead on).

It has gotten to the point where I can no longer deny that this is a problem. What's even worse is that I've started to strongly dislike working on this sweater because of the mistakes--I know I wouldn't wear it often either. As a result, I've decided to frog back to the start of the lace pattern. Do I have the support of the masses on this one? Am I making the correct choice to remove my Treebeardy from the needles to make it right again?

Regardless of my decision, I'm staying positive on this one. The lace pattern on this one knits up so quickly it won't really be a setback. I do hate ripping out afternoons of work though-- It's a good thing it's in my favorite color...

There's Always Money in the Banana Stand

Any knitting Arrested Development fans out there? Check it OUT! That's right, we've made some serious ground as far as getting our presence known! The Arrested Development Documentary project is sweeping the nation to interview die-hard AD fans for their film! I'm a huge advocate of this project (who wouldn't be?) and wanted to spread the word. Especially because it has now been made known that we collectively (as knitters) love the show! Here is a link to their trailer for the project!

And I know it's posted right on the side of my blog, but again I proudly state: