The STL

Tonight, we are heading out for St. Louis, where I am from. We will be gone until just before New Year's Eve. I'm so excited. For some reason, I love St. Louis now. I hated it when I lived there. I guess when you live in a place, all of the fun things get all spread out and you don't appreciate them as much. Now, we will be cramming all of those fun things that I used to do all the time into a nice compact, action packed, two-week vacation.

The coolest thing is...are you ready? There is a new (ish?) yarn shop in the Delmar Loop area, which is only my favorite place to be in St. Louis. Every time I would walk around there, I would think to myself, "Man, I love this area...all it's missing is a yarn shop." AND NOW IT TOTALLY HAS ONE!!!! Looking at the map on their website, it seems a little off of the beaten path where most of the really cool shops are, but all the same. I'll take a walk passed Skinker, no problem with that here!

There is another awesome shop in St. Louis called Knitorious. It's HUGE and wonderful. I'm pretty sure they have just about any yarn you could want, and even some local hand spuns/hand dyes. I'll be heading in there for sure as well, but I need to be careful. Really, I should swear to only buy laceweight because it is truly the most economical and I have tons of lace on my Ravelry queue.

Speaking of LYS's, I have finally gone to one called Zora's Yarn which I was sort of afraid to go to and I am so glad that I got over that fear and went! It is run out of a woman's house, so I felt a little odd walking in, but once I did, it was definitely a yarn store. It was definitely a really AWESOME yarn store. Her selection was awesome! The TOFUtsies yarn I showed you all yesterday was from her shop. I had never seen it anywhere else and was always curious about it. I will probably be going there from now on rather than my truly local yarn store, Knitche, in Downtown Downers Grove. They never seem to have anything that appeals to me. It's a nice shop, don't get me wrong, and they've gotten their fair share of business from me, they just don't carry a lot of the yarns that I am interested in. 'Nuff said.

Well, I have a pretty busy day ahead of me, full of cleaning up the house. I want to have it practically spotless before we go because A) I don't want to come back to a dirty house and B) I don't want those who feed my cats and give the diabetic one his insulin to think I run a loose ship around here. I've been at it since 9 and am getting tired! lol

I will try to update at least once while on our trip, but no promises. I need to decide what knitting projects I want to bring (other than all of them, lol). I know I am going to bring my spinning and my swallowtail shawl. What else?? I'll have to think about it. :)

Until next time!!!!

Adulthood

Today, I got my driver's license!!!! For the first time!!!! And I'm 24 years old!!!!

And very happy...

...but other than that, I have an FO to show you!





The blocking worked! I love it!

Look at this:


TOFUtsies! I'm not making socks with it, though. I'm thinking of a lace scarf or something along those lines...

I got on my flickr page and someone favorited one of my photos. Then, I looked at the person's page and their favorites are all redheads! This means some dude is probably at home right now, hunched over his computer, wanking to a completely innocent photo of me and my cat. Whatever, glad to be of service. lol

A little stress

Personally and physically.

I'm not doing well. Enough said on that topic.

My Inga Hat is not doing so well, either. I finished her today and tried to put her on. I had to force it to go onto my head because I guess I didn't have my floats loose enough (although, I could have SWORN they would be). When I finally got the thing on, it covered half of my eyes!

Grrr. Just Grrrr...

I washed it and it is blocking right now. I packed it as tightly as I could with garbage bags until it felt like a nice heavy little ROCK and it is now drying that way. I hope, hope, hope that this works because it is a very pretty hat. I'll be sad if I spent all that time on it and never get to wear it. ((P.S.--Ripping is not an option for me. If I have to start over, it will be on something else.))

New Jessicas

We happen all the time.

I got together with my friends Sandra and Alyssa to have a super fun hair dye party! Here's the three of us together:


Sandra's ended up much darker than we expected it to and Alyssa's and mine look very similar in the photo, but are less similar in real life I think...lol ;) It was so much fun. Sandra is coming over on Wednesday and I will be adding some highlights to her hair...and we might put some carroty orange-red highlights into mine. I have the dye, but I sort of like it how it is...I have a few days to mill it over. It's only hair, right? Right. lol ((more photos are on my flickr page))

Alyssa really want to learn to knit and I think she is going to come over sometime this week so that I can try to teach her. Sandra mentioned too that it might be fun...which is funny because I tried to get her to learn through college when we were roommates and she showed no interest whatsoever. But YAY! More knitters!! I'm luring them in!!

My mom's socks are done!!!!


They look great after a nice wash and block on a towel!! I hope she loves them! I think they will be a nearly perfect fit, if not completely perfect. Proud. lol

Since my mom's socks are off my mind now, I worked a bit on my Purple Lace Blouse (a bit means 16 plus rows, which encompasses two decrease rows on both front pieces). I will probably work more on it this afternoon after I get in some spinning time. I want to at least get the singles out of the way before I head "home for the holidays." I think it will be much easier to ply on the trip than to spin up singles and I definitely want to take some spinning with me.

OK, I feel like watching anime all day now. So, I'm going to do that. ;p

Update

Vermont is pretty cool.

And my mom's socks are done. Currently, they are sitting in front of the vent in the guest bedroom so that they will dry faster. I must tell the truth, I did not reach my Friday goal. I finished them at around 3 today. Still, not bad. They are done...and my mom totally knows she's getting socks for Christmas because I've already opened my big ol' mouffff.

That's right...mouffff.

Something I've been thinking about: Publishing. Writing. Poetry. Graphic Novels. I may decide to self publish a collection of poetry. I may start working on some kind of graphic novel/not so novelic comic and self publish that as well. I've made a lot of false starts in the graphic novel department (I started fantasizing about it in high school, actually), but I might be ready to do it. I think I need to just "go for it," as they say. The same with the poetry. "Go for it!" I just need to get my act together and actually motivate myself. That is where most of my problems lie. I really really really want to be a writer...so, I need to work for it. Plain and simple.

Enough of that for now. This is a knitting blog, after all! :) A post proper in the morrow.

Spinning

Today was all about the spinning. I seemed to be doing it for hours and my basket of fiber is still relatively full. I've noticed a difference in weight on the spindle and I am wondering if I should unload it. I really do not want to because the only way I really know how to ply right now is by winding it all into a center pull ball and winding both ends together. I'm sure there are other methods, but I don't know them and/or am too scared to give them a try just yet. I'm still a beginner; keep that in mind.


This will end up being a pretty fine yarn. I'm hoping that it will be laceweight, because, as we know, I love lace. I will have to wait and see after I ply it. While spinning, I've been trying to make it as thin as possible without it becoming too weak for the spindle, which makes a pretty fine singles. Of course, I have seen much thinner spindle spun yarns. The type of spindle I have does not really lend itself to such fine yarns. What I really want to get my hands on is a Russian style spindle. Any true lace-lover/spinner should have a few. These are the spindles used to make the gorgeous Orenburg lace cobweb yarns. But, until I can get my hands on a few (you actually do need more than one, and separate slightly larger one for plying), I will have to be satisfied and skillful with what I have. What I have is a perfectly good spindle that I still think is gorgeous and very high quality. I love it. No complaints!

I want to spin more, but I have to finish my mom's socks. If I can get through the gussets tonight, I see no problem finishing these by tomorrow evening. My Friday goal is in sight.

But before I even pick up those needles, I need to do some intense stretching. Spinning, more than knitting, tends to hurt my shoulders. I think it is because I do not spin as much as I knit and I am using underused muscles. Breaks help.

Catch you all later and hopefully tomorrow I will have some FO shots for you all!

On the right track

Well, well, well. Look what we have here. A sock and his half finished little buddy.


More photos here.

OK. Here I go. I have to make an explanation. As you can see, I have decided that the best route to finishing these suckers involves knitting one sock at a time. I just couldn't handle the tangles from the mega ball anymore. Enough is enough. I still prefer to knit two socks at one time, but it was just too much to use two ends of the same ball. Next time, I will divide the hank as evenly as possible into two separate balls before casting on. At least that way I can keep the two balls separate. It's kind of hard to keep two ends from the same ball from tangling. Lesson learned.

I made some changes to the pattern (most likely the same or similar changes that others have made according to the KAL). I'm pretty sure the pattern had mistakes in it anyway, as I had to correct one for the heel in order to make it even. The pattern said to knit 30 rows for the heel, slipping the first stitch on each row. Then, it said to pick up 30 stitches for the gusset, which did not make sense to me. What was the point, then, of slipping those stitches? Normally, you pick up one stitch in each slipped stitch, not two. So, I did what I've done on every other sock I've knit thus far and picked up 17 stitches (the extra stitches were to keep it tidy and avoid gaps).

The sock is only slightly big on me, which is a good sign that it will fit my mom, who is a size or two larger than me in the foot-al regions. :) I hope they fit her, though. I also hope that they do not pill too much. I've noticed that the finished sock has developed a little bit of a halo just from the knitting and I am wondering if that is going to become a problem with wear. I'm pretty sure that she has a sweater shaver. So, if it gets that bad, she can go to town with the thing.

Gauge. It seems loose for a sock. I'm worried about the strength and durability of these socks, especially considering the halo and possible pilling. I think socks should be knit at tight gauges, don't you? Otherwise, I just don't think they are strong enough for everyday wear. My Child's First Socks were knit in a sturdy non-sock yarn (Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool) at a really tight gauge and I am confident enough to wear them in shoes with backs. My Orange Breeze Socks, on the other hand, I only wear with my Birks. Maybe it is paranoia, but so be it. Max's socks got one hole and another about to happen after a little more than a week of wear. I'm still trying to get over the bitterness of that one. So, I don't know. I keep thinking that I won't be knitting many more socks in the future, but I just love the look of them...and I still have sock yarn that needs to be knit up. I could always do shawls instead, but there are so many sock patterns that I also love. I'm sure I'll knit more socks, but it really helps to think that this is the last pair I'll ever make. I don't know why. ^.^

I know that I said I would talk about NaNoWriMo, but I don't really know what to say other than it was a great experience. It was very difficult at times, but I pushed myself to the limit (or what I, as a huge cry baby, have labeled as the limit) and I pulled off just over 50,000 words one day before the deadline! I am surprised with myself and also quite proud. My story surely needs a lot of work. I have not even read through it yet...not once!...and I probably won't do a read-through until it is actually finished. I'm just now approaching the first of the major climaxes (don't ask) and it will probably get up to 80,000 words before it is actually done. At least that is what I am hoping. Then, I will reread, do the first edit and allow a few close and interested friends to read it over and give suggestions, questions, etc... That probably won't be happening for months because I'm so secretive about my writing. I'm getting over it, slowly and surely, but it is still hard to talk about it with people...especially when they ask what it is about and I just sit there for a while and try to come up with something interesting! lol Well, anyway, I loved NaNoWriMo. I learned that I am capable of doing a lot of writing in a very short period of time and I am capable of writing fiction under a deadline, which was something that had always worried me about becoming a successful writer with a contract from some publishing house. I can do it.

I can do a lot of things...I can finish these socks by Friday!

Another thing that has been going on in the past few days is a little bit of spinning:



I'm planning on devoting more time to it tomorrow, but isn't it pretty? I don't know what to make with it or what it will look like once I ply it, but it makes me feel good all the same. ^.^

Oh yeah, and the new knitty is up! I want to knit this! I like this too, but let's be honest, I won't be making it anytime soon.

OK, a whole lotta knitting love to all. I'm going to enjoy a nice hot cup of ecinacea tea (good for your immune system and tasty, tasty, tasty...it's naturally sweet too!) and my hot shoulder/neck pillow while watching silly internet shows with my charming Russian husband. Life is good...in spite of it all.

F-ing Os!

I'm a little ashamed to talk about this right now, but I have an awful number of WIP's. Granted, a few of them are in a frog pile (Cabled Cardigan--remember the white one?, Yarrow Ribbed socks--I hate Socks That Rock--may not actually frog it, but it sounds good every time I think about it...) or in perpetual hibernation (such as the cabled stole I'm designing, Estonian Garden Shawl and Purple Lace Blouse. These will be finished someday, but not yet...not yet...). However, there are quite a few little projects that aren't in hibernation.

My mom's socks. I can't stand working on them and I am not sure why. There are a few weird issues with the pattern and I'm hoping that it will all work out. The heel is kind of funny as it's written in the pattern...meaning off center and wrong. Others have found the same thing with this pattern. So, I know I'm not just messing it up. I fudged it and am moving on now, but it was kind of irritating. I'm learning from this project that it is no fun to knit two socks at the same time from the same ball of yarn (one end from the center of the center pull ball and one end from the outside). I've found that it is just about impossible to keep them untangled as you work. At least with two separate balls, you can easily put one on each side of you and criss-cross them to untangle as you go. With only one mega ball, it is sort of confusing and it all becomes a twisted mess. Perhaps this is another reason that I am not enjoying these socks. Well, whatever the reason, I must finish them pronto. My goal is Friday. Check up on me. Keep me on task. My mom needs handknit socks she'll probably never wear...NEEDS them as a token of my love, for goodness sake!

My Inga Hat is becoming quite a beautiful and majestic little unfinished thing. It will take basically no time at all to pull together. I'm not at all worried about that. I know I'm going to love it, so I have been using it as a diversion from my mom's socks. This is not a good idea. Friday, people. Friday. Hold me to it.

That sweater. You know. The one with all the horrible stockinette and raglan sleeves? Yeah, well, It's a drag and a half. A drag...and a half of one. However, the gift of needles Max gave me was enough motivation for me to finally cast on for the sleeves and they are now each three inches long. I knit sleeves two at a time because otherwise I'd most likely consider shooting myself in the eyeball.

The Swallowtail shawl is probably my second favorite WIP, next to the Inga Hat. It's coming along nicely and I'd much rather work on it that the socks or the sweater. I seriously need to hide both of them somewhere out of my sight so that I can work on the boring stuff. Stupid boring stuff.

OK, well I am going to end this blog. I just wanted to get things up to date. We are going to see Beowulf tonight. YAY! Tomorrow I will be trying to get back into the spinning. With NaNoWriMo and all, I just didn't have time for it. Oh, that reminds me. Tomorrow's blog will most likely be about Nano. Stay tuned...nothing profound or anything, I promise you that. :[