Look Ma, No Needles!

It’s an awfully good thing that this month is Socktoberfest and not Sockstoberfest. Otherwise I would be completely unable to rejoice at the completion of this:

And I am rejoicing. Yay yay yay! I knit a sock! I knit a sock. That’s pretty awesome. Here are more pictures. First, proof that I can actually wear it.

Toes! I had an, um, experience with the Kitchener stitch this afternoon.

You see, as pretty as she is, she is not without a mistake.

Or, ok, two.

But whatever! I knit a sock, my first sock, and I can wear it. Now all I have to do is knit the other sock.

That might be hard considering what came in the mail today.

Now that I have the yarn for Mom’s Clapotis I have to finish the Cabled Coffee and Hand Warmer so I have needles free to get started. I also have the needles to start the sleeves of my Thermal – I won’t have the circs for the body for awhile, but I want to get going already! That blue tweed is soft and yummy. For that matter, so is the other yarn. See?

You can’t tell it, but I’m smiling. It even smells good. Mmmm. I’m actually leaving you now to enjoy it further. Yarn, yarn, yarn, yay! My day has definitely taken a turn for the better.

*Sigh*

I have sunk into the depths of despair. Not only has my best friend gone back to Atlanta, not only has my Knit Picks order still not arrived, not only was I out of coffee this morning (except for decaf), but I have…oh god…I almost can’t say it it’s so terrible (cue dramatic swoon)…I have succumbed to the Ugg trend. I was in NYC this weekend, as you know, and it was SO COLD y’all. SO COLD. And the boots were there, and suede, and all fuzzy warm on the inside and they seduced me. So I bought them. I wore them that day. I wore them yesterday. I’m even wearing them RIGHT NOW. Oops. Ah, well. My feet might be uggly, but at least they’re warm.

Anyway, on to the knitting. I was hoping to return from dropping my friend off at the train station to find that my Knit Picks order had arrived to distract me and make me feel less sad. Then her leaving wouldn’t have sucked quite so much and I would have had a triumphant ‘Look at my yarn!’ post, to boot. Sadly, it was not to be. I returned home, still feeling sad, made tea, reclined on the couch (in my boots), and read too many blogs. I read so many blogs that Cass (one of my favorite bloggers, though I’m certain she doesn’t know I exist) managed to convince me that I, too, must – MUST – have a Cabled Coffee and Hand Warmer of my own. So I almost do. Yeah, I could have worked on my socks last night, or even the long-overdue Amherst Scarf, but I wanted something new and mindless and easy. Looky:

I’m 24 rows or so in and it’s a quick knit so far, though from looking at it I can tell that I’ve apparently been needing some work on my cabling skillz. No matter. It’s cute and warm and red and using up old yarn that’s been laying around looking lonely – no downsides here.

Now I’m off to do some work at the library and dream of my knitpicks order arriving today. Hopefully there will be a triumphant post this afternoon…

I’m Gonna Sock It To Ya

Sorry, couldn’t resist. Here’s a picture to make up for it:

And another one:

I should get my Knit Picks order in the next few days and be able to graft the toe – then I’ll give you a proper picture where Hedera doesn’t look so forlorn. I’m casting on for the second sock sometime today, I hope. Things are a little busy right now because my best friend is flying up from Georgia to spend a few days with me. I pick her up from the airport tonight at 10:30 or so and she doesn’t leave until Monday night. Yay!

Not yay is the fact that I am now frantically cleaning my house. She knows I’m a slob, but I still want the place to be somewhat presentable when she gets here. I’m halfway through my laundry, haven’t started my living room, the kitchen is still disgusting, and let’s not even talk about the bathroom or the bedroom. I guess it’s a good thing I have 10 hours. It’s a measure of how awesome she is that I’m willing to clean for her. In any case, I’m not casting on for Hedera2 until I’m done cleaning. That’s good incentive, no?

I’ll post more pictures when I get my Knit Picks package or Lisa goes away, whichever one comes first. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

ps – I know my pictures are all fuzzy. I don’t know why, but I’m working on it. The FO pictures will be non-fuzzy. And yes, I realize that one sock is hardly an official FO, but I’m counting it as one anyway. So there!

New Projects! And Other Stuff.

I’m back from New York, and what a trip I had! On Monday, my friend Maryna and I traipsed all over the city visiting knitting shops. There was a lot of sighing and yarn fondling and calculating of credit limits. In the end, though I was incredibly tempted by some gorgeous Koigu at Purl, I was good and bought nothing. Instead, we ended up at The Point – which was a fantastic knitting environment, by the way! – chatting, eating delicious Red Velvet cupcakes, and knitting our hearts out. The result? Hedera is damn near done (I’ll talk about it more in a minute)!

I spent the next day in the New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division, trying desperately to find enough information to write my seminar paper. Ugh. It was fun – I do like to research, after all – but absolutely exhausting. There were so many hoops to jump through and though I showed up ready to work at 11:30, I wasn’t able to get my materials until 3. Then the archivist gave me the wrong box of materials, and there wasn’t much that I could use in the right box anyway, and when all was said and done I was actually pretty happy to leave at 6. I even caught the express train home.

Yesterday was sortof better. I didn’t have much work to do for class because I had read the book over the summer, so I was able to dig up the notes I took on it then and use those for class discussion. I love it when that happens! I did well so I’m pleased that I didn’t bother to reread the book. What I’m not so pleased about is Hedera. She has not been behaving very well of late. I thought I had knitted enough on the foot to start the toe, so I did the toe. I finished all but the grafting, tried it on and… it was too small! I thought about just leaving it and blocking the socks, or gifting them to my mom, or even just frogging the whole thing, but I ultimately just sucked it up and ripped back the toe so I could add length to the foot. I’ve now added 8 extra rows and I think it’s time to do the toe for real this time. I unfortunately can’t find my tapestry needle so there will be no actual finishing until my KnitPicks order comes in, but I can go on and start on the next sock anyway. That will be my train project for tonight.

Now for the really exciting news: New projects!!! I think I might be on project overload, but I’m going to try not to think about that right now. I’ve just joined the Clapotis Second-Wave KAL and I’m participating in NaKniSweMo, too. I’m knitting the Knitty Thermal for NaKniSweMo, and I’m hoping to get in on the action in that KAL as well. I just placed a huge order at KnitPicks last night that, yes, involved more than a tapestry needle, so I should be able to start both relatively soon. The only disappointment is that the needles I need to start the Thermal and Clapotis are on backorder. Thankfully I have the right size needles to start the Clapotis anyway. I’m just a needle snob and can’t wait to switch to the Harmony Wood circulars I’ll soon be ordering. The Thermal will have to wait, but I can use that time to finish the Hedera before November rolls around.

So, project details:

The Clapotis is for my mother, and I’m knitting it in KnitPicks Swish Superwash Clematis Heather. I’ll be using Harmony Wood size 8 circulars and I’m really hoping to have it done for Christmas.

The Thermal, on the other hand, is mine, mine, mine! I’ve never knit a sweater before, and I suppose that NaKniSweMo is as good a time as any to give it a try. The pattern was written for KnitPicks Gloss, but I just couldn’t get into any of the colors. I’ve also been harboring a major tweed craving lately. Oh, and I’m also super lazy and don’t want to handwash an item I’m sure to wear frequently. With those things in mind, I chose KnitPicks Essential Tweed in Marina. I’ll be knitting on Harmony Wood circulars and DPN size 2, if I can get gauge.

So, there you have it. Am I insane for starting projects late in the semester when I have tons of work to do? Well, yes. But now I’ll also have lots of stuff to work on once break kicks in. Besides, I seriously think I can get that Thermal done in November. It sounds like crazy talk, but I’m doing it, y’all. At the moment, however, what I’m doing is work. I have to read a book for class today and, damn it!, I am not walking in unprepared again. I am banishing the mid-semester slump and diving back into my work with a vengence. Now.

Back to the Grind (Ha!)

Why the ‘Ha!’? Because my “grind” consists of me going to NYC today to visit knitting shops with a friend, researching in the NYPL archives tommorrow, and then awaiting my best friend’s visit (during which we will spend the entire weekend in NYC) later in the week. Thus I repeat: Ha! And Ha! again. My life is rocking lately and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time for a comprehensive update. I have to pack and get going! However, you may note that I have a new project in my sidebar – the Clapotis. I’ve just joined the Second-Wave KAL, I’m excited to knit it, and I’ll post about my yarn, etc. when I get back from NYC.

For now, though, I promised you pictures of Amherst, so pictures of Amherst you’ll get.

The drive up there wasn’t terrifically fun.

But by the next morning the weather had calmed down and it was GORGEOUS out. Though I have to say that it’s probably not supposed to be 70*F in Massachusetts in late October.

We watched the football (sortof).

Mostly, we just hung out and looked cute. Or rather, I looked cute and my husband, for some reason, looked demonic.

It rained in the afternoon while we ate yummy free food with some friends. We decided to leave and walk around campus at just the right time.

A friend took some pictures for us. As you can tell, we like to goof around.

Still, the rainbows were seriously beautiful.

And big.

We went to a concert that night with bunches of friends, stayed up WAY too late playing an incredibly intense game of Jenga, and then got up too early to spend a pleasant afternoon outside. We ate lunch downtown in the park.

Sadly, we couldn’t stay. Also, sadly, we had to take the GW Bridge going home. I tried to think of the traffic as a coming full circle thing.

Anyway, the weekend is over and I have things to go do. Like pack and head to NYC to knit with my friend. Have a great Monday, y’all.

It’s Friday! It’s Friday!

After a long week of school-related agony, I am glad to be starting my weekend. I feel the end of my procrastination streak coming on! My mid-semester slump is over – and all I can hope is that my knitting won’t suffer. The mid-semester slump is great for one’s knitting.

Here’s the evidence: Alex and I went to the park Wednesday afternoon to study. Look at him, being all cute and studious:

Meanwhile, what did I do? You guessed it.

Although, I’ll admit, I studied some, too. Just a little. Even though it’s hard to concentrate when you’re studying cuddled up to your husband on a beautiful fall afternoon.

I read enough to get by in class, but my real progress from this week is in the realm of Hedera. I’m so excited!

I can almost wear it.

I’m hoping to be done by the end of the weekend. Speaking of which, though it was a valiant effort, I did not finish the Amherst Scarf for this weekend’s Amherst Homecoming. Oops. Ah, well. We’re still going to have tons of fun, and I’m looking forward to visiting Massachusetts for the first time and taking in all the fall scenery on the drive up. Yay yay!

Those of you going to Rhinebeck, hope you have fun, too, and I’ll post pictures of Amherst’s awesomeness when I get back.

Swap Questionnaire

I should totally be reading for Technology, Culture, and History class today, but I don’t feel like it. I’m burned out from all my work this weekend and I have entered hardcore procrastination mode. Can I get away with skimming today’s book and only having a few talking points? I sure hope so. Besides, who wants to read a book called The Railway Journey anyway? By a dude named Wolfgang Schivelbusch? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

So….Here’s work I don’t mind doing. Enjoy!

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Warning: I included a lot of extraneous pictures and stories about me. Sorry!

Coffee

What are your favorite kinds of coffee? (Brands, Roasts, anything at all you’d like to share!)
As I grad student, I love coffee pretty much any way it comes; however, as a grad student I’m also pretty broke and haven’t had time to cultivate a great love for any one particular brand. Last year was a bad coffee year for me and Alex – we actually had to buy the crappiest, cheapest stuff we could find because that’s all we could afford! Ugh! Now, thankfully, we’re better off and we’re able to get Starbucks coffee. I like the Colombia stuff, but I’d also love to expand my coffee horizons. I’ll admit to being disappointed when I realized that we could afford decent coffee, but our location in New Jersey doesn’t have as much good local coffee as Georgia did. Grumble grumble.

Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee?
In my house we have a rule: He who wakes first makes coffee. That’s usually me, since I’m a freak and wake up naturally at 7am. I love the whole process and find it to be a fantastic morning ritual…. clean French Press. Measure beans. Grind beans. Boil water. Make coffee….mmmm. Very relaxing. On the rare mornings when Hot Stuff get up first, I also like the feeling of being half asleep and waking up to the noise of the coffee grinder and the aroma of brewing coffee. Does that sound crazy? Perhaps, but I’m comfortable with it. Anyway, it should be abundantly clear by now, but whole bean, please!

This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees – do you drink flavored coffee? Do you enjoy special blends?
I do like flavored coffee, just not anything fruity. For example: chocolate raspberry? Blech.

How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf?
Full throttle, lotsa cream (I can’t help it, I married a Spaniard and they sure like their Cafe con Leche), and Splenda.

Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer?
One of my favorite mugs right now is this one:

It’s a handmade mug I found for sale at road-side pottery stand in Athens, GA, where I used to live. The only mug I love more is one my parents gave me that has a lot of sentimental value.

Winter and Holidays – PLEASE be descriptive! Your pal will need this information to be sure to put together a package you will enjoy!

What is your favorite part of Winter?
Christmas! I’m very close to my family, but don’t see them often since I moved 800 miles away. Now, more than ever, Christmas is important to me because it means I get to see them. Also, the rest of my winter is taken up with coursework and paper-writing so Christmas break wins by default. Other than family time, I like sweaters, Christmas music (especially that with a big band or motown feel), and the feel-good movies that are inevitably released in December.

Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday?
You probably guessed already, but I typically celebrate Christmas. That’s just what my family always did when I was a kid. However, I am an athiest and I really don’t want any overtly religious stuff. Please no Bible verses, “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” cards, or the like. Trees and wreaths? Great. Stuff that says Merry Christmas? Ok. Stars and nativity scenes? Still fine. Just no God mentions or hints that I am somehow deficient for not being Christian. I hate to be picky, and I certainly don’t want to offend anyone by that pronouncement, but religion is just not my cup of tea (mug of coffee?) – and after a lifetime of living in the South, I know I’m defensive about it and I’m sorry for that, too. I’m not usually this prickly about things, I promise!

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree?
Yes! We have this one:

What can I say? Our apartment is tiny and this one was so cute! We gave it a good home.

Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package?
I don’t think I have a preference! Surprise me!

Do you collect anything? Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect?
Alex and I collect books that we need for our history careers. We also collect horrifically ugly magnets from touristy places we visit. Looky:

Other than that, no. Our apartment is too small for us to collect much of anything.

Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats?
I am ALWAYS cold, and the temperatures in New Jersey are kicking my ass. I woke up the other day to temperatures of 37 and forecasted high in the mid-60s. In October. Weird! Georgia, by contrast, had a temperature of 47 and a high of 82. I don’t know how to handle this change! So yes, I wear all three. And lots of layers, and big heavy coats, and I still bitch about how cold it is. What can I say? I’m a Georgia girl.

What is your favorite holiday or winter treat?
Gingerbread! I’m hoping that Alex and I have time to make a Gingerbread House this year. How fun would that be? (Correct answer: It would kick ass.)

Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory.
It’s not a one-ime memory because we do things the same way every year, but I love my family’s Christmas Day. We wake up, make coffee, read the paper, and wait for everyone to come downstairs where all the presents are. I always sit in front of the fireplace and next to the tree, my Dad always takes the armchair, and my Mom and sister sit on the couch. We all open our stockings (which, for my Dad, always has a bad of good coffee and a few shot-sized bottles of rum or brandy), and then my sister and I hand out the presents. We toss all the wrapping paper into the fire when we’re done so we can watch how the different dyes make the flames change color, and then we put on our favorite baroque CD and start cooking. It’s always cornish game hens, Mama Stanberg’s cranberry sauce (thank you, NPR), stuffed mushrooms, brussels sprouts, dressing, sweet potato casserole, and Dad’s amazing pumpkin pie. On the years we get really lucky, we’re able to have Christmas pudding with Byrd’s custard, too. We usually eat dessert upstairs while we put on a Buffy DVD and have a family Buffy marathon. Yes, we own all 7 seasons. Yes, we’re big geeks. And yes, I can’t wait to go home and do it all again.

Yarn and Crafting

Do you Knit or Crochet? For how long?
Knit, usually for only an hour or so at a time….. Just kidding! I’ve not been knitting long, only about a year. I’ve really only done swatches and scarves, but I consider myself a pretty good knitter anyway. I can do cables and lace no problem – even the tough stuff – and I can figure anything out with little trouble. Right now I’m tackling my first socks and I’m totally digging it.

Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight?
Straight and bamboo. I don’t own many good needles, though: only 1 pair of size 5 straight needles and 1 pair of size 1 DPN. The other ones are crappy metal ones that I hate. Oh, and I’ll admit that I probably haven’t given circular needles a proper chance. I need to get a pair and learn to use them.

What sort of projects do you enjoy making?
Socks! I want to get Nancy Bush’s book “Folk Socks” and knit more, more, more.

What are your favorite types of yarn to work with?
I don’t know! I started using cheap stuff I got at Michael’s, and then I got Knit Picks stuff for my socks. I’ve wanted to try Lorna’s Laces and Malabrigo and Koigu and Noro, all these fancy yarns I’ve read about, but I don’t know which yarns are best for which projects, and I’d feel awfully guilty buying such an expensive yarn. I will eventually – I mean, we can afford it – I just have to get over the guilt first.

Do you spin or dye?
Nope.

Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else?
Nope.

General

When is your birthday?
July 9

Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!)
I wish! We have to wait until we’ve gotten further into our studies, though. Now would not be a good time to start a family. As for pets, our University Housing won’t allow them.

What are your favorite colors?
Dark blues, greens, and purples. I also like pumpkin and butter-yellow.

Do you have any allergies?
Only to bees, but if you had planned to send me a box of those you are a sick, sick person and should probably seek some kind of help.

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap

In my last post I forgot to tell you about the awesome swap I’m participating in – it’s a coffee AND yarn swap, during the holiday season. Pretty great, yeah? Registration opens October 24 and closes November 1, and you can click the link on my sidebar for more information.

Surprise!

What’s this?

Oh, look: it’s Hedera, with the heel turned and the gusset started.

Y’all should be proud of me! I actually cast on for them this Thursday when I was on the train to class. I’m seriously amazed that I managed to get so much done during such a busy week.

What else did I do? Well, you saw my Hedera. Unfortunately, Amherst Scarf didn’t get the same kind of love and looks the same as it did last post. My kitchen got plenty of love, though! I went to the Farmer’s Market:

and discovered a BRAIN TOMATO!

It was yummy.

I could also tell you about the two papers I wrote and the 500 pages I read, but the brain tomato is way more interesting so I’ll just leave you with that.

Fall Has Fallen.

And so has my level of motivation, y’all. I haven’t accomplished that whole big long list below (yet) but I did rock it during my class presentation yesterday – or, well, at least I think I did. Though the professor tells everyone they did a good job and my friends could have just been telling me I did well because they’re my friends, I choose to believe that I really did do well. So there.

Anyway, since I finished preparing for and leading discussion I have no desire to finish reading for today’s class, pick a topic and start writing for Sunday’s paper, or start reasearching for Monday’s paper. Ack. Too much to do, too little drive to do it. I’m sure I’ll get it done, but I’m going to procrastinate for a little while first. And there you have it, a two sentence summary of the life of a grad student.

So, on to the knitting. I’m sad to say that I lied to you guys: Amherst scarf is not finished. I have no hot husband pictures for you. I also haven’t started back up on my socks, yet, which I realized yesterday is probably a bad idea if I want to complete a pair for Socktoberfest. I do, I really do, but damned if it isn’t mid-October already! I’d say that I’ll be casting on for them this weekend, but given the work I’ve got due Sunday and Monday, that probably won’t happen. What about Tuesday? I’ll make a date with y’all for Tuesday, cast on for them then, and post pictures. Promise – cross my heart, hope to die, this blog will be about knitting again soon, and you won’t have to hear about my graduate career for awhile.

For now, though, I feel that I should give you something nice to look at even if it has nothing to do with knitting.

Yes, I am immature for a 24-year-old, and feel compelled to share this street sign I ran across on my walk home yesterday. It made me giggle like a 14 year old boy. Sigh. Will I ever grow up? (answer: probably not)

But wait! There’s more! A real grown-up picture befitting a blog post titled “Fall Has Fallen.” I initially planned to write about the changing weather, and how it makes me think of apple cider, and how I’m pulling out my sweaters and curling up on the couch with my favorite afghan my mom crocheted for me, and how I’m really really missing Georgia right now…. but maybe I put too much Bailey’s in my coffee this morning because I’m feeling scattered and hyper and I kind of forgot and now it’s too late. So here’s a picture to evoke the feeling of fall for you instead.

And on that note, I hope that you, dear blog reader(s?), are satisfied, because I’m leaving you with that for now.