shippin out to boston

Yay my beloved Sox won the World Series!

In celebration I'm considering knitting a pair of red socks.

musings

For months now I've had an intense desire for a brown cardigan. Why? Well, maybe because my little black cardigan gets so much use, and I just want it to have a buddy. Perhaps a brown cardigan seems like it should be wardrobe basic, and my wardrobe is just incomplete until I have one. Or it could just be because I got a pair of super cute brown flats a couple months ago and I just want to expand the options of what I can wear with them.

Regardless of the exact reason, I've decided that my next big project should be said cardigan. After months of looking at patterns and dreaming up the features of the perfect cardigan (seriously I put a lot of thought into this) I've deiced upon Chicknits' Ariann. I've even picked out my yarn, Knitpicks Andean Silk in Chocolate.

But I'm not going to start it quite yet. I bought all this yarn in October and I've decided that I simply must do something with some of it before I can start a new project. The red yarn is Malabrigo in Vermilion to make Foliage and the gray Lamb's Pride is to make a new pair of Fuzzy Feet. Sadly, my old pair had a giant hole in the toe. I over felted them so they wore a bit quicker than they should have. The pale yarn is Malabrigo lace weight in Bluesurf. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with that so I won't worry about it quite yet. But I want to make at least one of the above projects before I continue my brown cardigan quest.

However, before I even get to that I need to finish this hat for a charity auction in a couple weeks,

all for swinging you around

There she is! All done and just hanging out drying is my tilted duster. I tired her on before blocking and she was quite cute and cozy. However, the duster was not without some battles. The sleeves are set in which I've never had to deal with before, and my sleeves seemed a little big for the armholes. But with some basting action and then several attempts of careful seaming I was able to get everything to fit. I think I redid the first sleeve three or four times before I was happy with it, and it was definitely one of those experiences that I feel would have been much better if I had a little rum in diet coke. So the seaming isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone will notice but me and it doesn't bother me enough to rip it all out again and do it over.

But for some seam-free fun I started Knit and Tonic's Le Slouch so that I could answer the eternal question: do Irish girls look good in berets?

And the answer?

Well, maybe. I'm not completely sure I like it yet. Its not that I don't like it, I think its pretty cute. However, I also think its just a touch too big so I'm considering frogging it and making it again with smaller needles. But then maybe Irish girls and berets just don't mix after all.

suffer for fashion

I'm done! I have loads of civ pro homework to do for tomorrow, but the important thing is that I'm done! I just finished the Tilted Duster from the Fall IK. Unfortunately, none of the batteries for my camera feel like working right now. So pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.

So what's next? Well, I'm also working on Le Slouch in a pretty purple, and that should be finished soon if they stitches ever stop slipping off my dpns. Luckily, I've started the decreases and this shouldn't be a problem for too much longer.

I've also done some major supporting of my new LYS. I have projects in my mind for all the new yarn so I don't feel too guilty about splurging a bit.

Pictures coming soon, I promise.

two at a time

So how does a busy a law student managed to get all her homework done and still find time for knitting?

Very easy jobs apparently.

Working in the law school bookstore isn't very demanding it turns out. Everyday I pack up my backpack to bring to work with books and my computer but no yarn. At work there is often nothing to do but sit behind counter and stare off into space, however instead of staring at nothing or obsessing over how much coffee is left I actually do homework. Of course sometimes the temptation to refold the sweatshirts is overwhelming when faced with personal jurisdiction and estoppals but then I think, "If I get through this, if I survive, than I can knit all evening."

So far this tactic seems to be working, because I'm getting my homework done and plenty of knitting. I've finished the back and fronts of the tilted duster and now I'm making good headway on the sleeves. I've already done 4 of the 7 increase rows so I'm making steady progress, and am really quite pleased with myself.

Now if only I could get myself to work on my SKB or that sweater for my sister I'd be all set.

makes me wonder

All right, so here's my shooping tunic. It's all done, and in under week. Too bad it looks better on my bed than on me. The cowl neck is a little too floppy, and its just HUGE. I didn't think it was that big looking at other FOs but I felt a little silly when I tired it on because of the neck. Seriosuly, it just wasn't working for me.

I'm not completely giving up hope. Perhaps if I wash it and everything it will look better. Maybe? Please?

Hopefully, my titled duster will turn out better. I got the yarn earlier this week, and I just love the color. It has touches of all sorts of other shades through out it. So when you look at it from far away it looks like a plain tan, but close up it has reds and purples and yellows playing through the fabric.

My guage was off, and 16 sts/4ins instead of 17 on size 9s. But I can't really go down to 8s because my 8s are kind of broken. So I had been planning to make the 36" size but now I'm going to make the smallest size which with my guage should give me about a 34" finished size instead, which is actually more of I wanted anyway. So we'll see if I can actually make a sweater that I like this time.

take what ya take

So what happens when you're two days ahead on your homework and you have a whole Sunday with nothing to do?

Lots and lots of knitting. Or finishing as the case may be.

I've finally finished my blackberry, or perhaps I should call it strawberry. It only took me 3 months and that's with about half that time no work being done on her at all. The only modification I made was leaving off the bobbles, because I'm just not a fan of those things.

It's been a couple days now and she's still drying from the blocking. However, I did give her a quick try before blocking and I am happy to say that I did not look like a strawberry in it. She was quite cute actually, it'll be the perfect sweater for wearing around the apartment on those chilly days when I'm too cheap to turn up the thermostat.

Next to my strawberry is another calorimetry. I got a hair cut yesterday that I'm not overly thrilled with and decided that headbands will be a good accessory until I feel like risking the scissors again. On the plus side, I now have a cute headband that matches my sweater.

I'm still waiting for my Peruvia for the tilted duster, but in the mean time I've casted on for the Shopping Tunic. I'm using wool-ease in charcoal since that's the only super bulky yarn that I can afford, but I'm still excited about it.