Puffy little shoes, er, sweater

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Anyone else a Presidents of the United States of America fan? The band? Kurt used to love the Puffy Little Shoes song when he was younger. He would want to listen to it over and over and over.

Classes started last week and I was feeling pretty good about everything until about yesterday. Now I feel behind in a couple of classes and am hoping the long weekend will help me catch up, even though I made too many plans for it. I don't have tests for quite awhile though so I should be fine.

The puffy sleeved cardigan is going pretty well. My gauge was off a little so I just ended up not doing as many increases. I was definitely cool with that. Then I got all excited when the directions said to start the shaping decreases that I didn't actually try it on and think about it first before I jumped headlong into them... and, of course, they were way too high. Pretty much right under my bust. I waited until one of my knitty friends came over last night to rip it. Now I'm back on track to start the decreases again, in the RIGHT place this time. I'm also lengthening the cardigan so that makes a difference too.



Anyway, here it is before all the decreasing drama started. It looks kind of funny because it still has the needles in and can't curve to fit right but you get the idea. It's going to be so cute!

I also finished the other Stripey socks with the leftover Opal from my sister's socks. They ended up being anklets with a couple of their own issues but they're cute and they're done and that's what matters. I'm thinking my next socks might be my dad's or brother-in-law's. Hopefully I'll find time to cast on for those this weekend so I can put them in my backpack for knitting on in between classes next week.

Okay, that's my quickie update. I'll post again next week for sure. Maybe even with pictures of the new Stripey socks.

Meeeeeme

Friday, August 17, 2007

Since most of this week was spent in cars and hospitals (my mom had a procedure, she's fine) and then at a daytime baseball game I had a lot of knitting time. I ended up finishing a whole sock! In one week! I haven't taken a picture yet but it looks just like my last Stripey Sock, so it's nothing really new. I also got a few more rows in on the puff-sleeved cardigan. It's excruciating to just knit 300+ stitches in one row though so it's going very slowly.

Luckily for me, I've been tagged for a meme by Gena so I have some blog fodder for a Friday afternoon.

I think I've probably done this one in the past but I don't remember answering all these questions so I'll do it again anyway.

Four jobs I have had:

1. Record store clerk. Yes, I was one of the snobby ones. I tried to be nice but when people would come in and want to know what CD that song was from, you know, on the radio? It goes like this? And the video has these birds in it and a guy dancing on a thing? I just couldn’t help but get a little annoyed.

2. Assistant librarian. That’s actually a glorified title. I loved working in the library though.

3. Lab technician – QA for McDonald’s French fries. Talk about a yummy job. I actually really enjoyed this job. It was interesting if a little monotonous and since we had to run tests every half hour, I was always busy and the nights went fast.

4. Americorps VISTA. This one is actually cheating a little bit. I WAS a VISTA but I did my service here where I live and didn’t travel off to some other part of the country. I did basically the same job I do now – they hired me after my service was done.

Four places I have lived:

1. Tiny town about an hour north of where I live now.

2. I spent about four years growing up, ages 7-11, I think, in Rosamond, CA. I liked it there but was okay with moving back to North Dakota as well.

3. My formative years (junior high and high school) were spent in a slightly larger town than my hometown – about 5,000 people. I hated it there and I hate going back to visit but it’s where I’m from.

4. Now I live in a small city of about 50-65,000 people. Just my size. I’ve moved away once as an adult, to Washington state, and loved it there but ended up back here and I’m totally cool with that.

Favorite Food:

1. My homemade Phad Thai. It isn’t authentic but it is freaking delicious.

2. Chocolate. Depending on my mood of the day it could be candy chocolate (PB Twix), ice cream chocolate (Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked), or good old chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting.

3. Homemade bread. Yum. Especially just from the oven with some butter or toasted for breakfast.

4. Pasta. Particularly homemade pasta (is there a theme running through my list?) with a garlic cream sauce.

I would rather be:

1. At my dad’s farm, just hanging out.

2. Sitting on my porch, drinking beer and knitting.

3. In Italy! Where I’ve never been but have always wanted to go.

4. Anywhere but here, and on vacation.

I can't think of who to tag because everyone I think of I kind of think has done it already. Jenna? Big Geek Beth? Cathi Pink?

Have great weekends everyone!

Is that like building a skyscraper on a lake?

Monday, August 06, 2007

That's right: unique construction. That's what the Mystery Stole can be summed up as. Well, not completely, of course. The theme was revealed and is......


(don't read if you don't want the secret ruined yet)



(really, I'm going to write it right below this picture so if you don't want to know...)




Swan Lake!

I was a bit miffed at first that two of the main motifs didn't end up having anything to do with the theme but were just "space fillers". It was the main motifs we were scrutinizing so much to try to figure out the theme! But, eventually, I just gave it up to good strategizing on Melanie's part. I had to or I would be eaten up inside by the miffed-ness. Hah. ;-) Just kidding, it wasn't that bad.

The second shocker was that the last part of the stole is actually a.... wing. Completely and utterly asymmetrical. I went through feeling intrigued, excited, and now sort of intrigued but removed. I had resolved to do the wing no matter what - knit as designed, knit outside of my comfort zone, all that business and then... I started seeing pictures of the wing. And it is beautiful, it is. But it really is asymmetrical. It's basically a beautiful feather pattern that comes out from one corner of the end, straight along the top of the stole, and then curves gently at the bottom to meet in a point at the final end.

Thing is, I am such a symmetrical girl. I hang all of my pictures in the center of the wall... I get out the tape measure for fuck's sake! So, you know, I think I'll be sitting this wing thing out. Only problem is that means I'll have to reknit a second of the piece I already have (which is actually farther along than in the photos here) and graft them together. *sigh* It may become a UFO for awhile. I don't want it to, it's gorgeous, but I really have other projects I want to work on before school starts in a mere two weeks because I just won't have the time anymore. And, in the mean time, I can continue stalking the Ravelry sites and blogs of those who ARE knitting the wing and see if I can talk myself into it.

P.S. I missed a couple of beads on the shawl, can you see where? Guess I'll just sew those on later, huh?