FO

The knee socks are done with some very shoddy pics.

Heavily modified from the plain Widdershins pattern on Knitty.


Here they are in progress. Note the difference in the striping on the feet. I was in the process of reworking the calf increases on the first sock and couldn't believe how different the stripes were turning out. Don't really care for the way the color pools on the shin of the sock on the right, but I think it adds a little something different and didn't particularly want to redo them again!


Twinkle toes (on a very dusty mirror).

I'm planning on wearing these with my knee high boots so the stripes don't really bother me terribly. It was more an experiment in doing my first pair of socks, and on that note I think they were a resounding success. Yay socks!

(Edit: Good Lord, my calves look massive)

Massive Update?

1. I am not in hibernation. It is July in the Northern Hemisphere.

2. I am taking a microscopy course for conservators this week at the IFA and have little access to email and internet which is torture when you get to #6 on my list. It's me and 12 other conservators from various fields: paintings conservation, textiles and paper, etc. So that was fun when we introduced ourselves and said what we work on. So after people saying "Paintings", "Books", "Anthropological Artifacts" we get to me: "Buildings" Beat that fancy pantses. Actually though they are all very nice. And I am having a great time. Makes me dread actually going back to work. I really need to be a professional academic.

Today we looked at fibers! Wool! Silk! Cotton! Alpaca! Linen! Huzzah! (also bizarro stuff like Kevlar) We talked S-twist and Z-twist. Funny how in reading about spinning I never totally understood what that meant, but thanks to this course I can identify them! We started on pigment identification today and will continue tomorrow. I am, understandably, very excited about this class and wish it could last forever.

3. I am in Ravelry! Got the invite this morning but could not promptly start loading pics and projects due to item #2 above.

4. Socks are progressing nicely. Hope to have them done this week.

5. Bedbug extermination finished (?) Have commenced the unpacking because I refuse to live out of garbage bags for 3 weeks (the most asinine directive ever IMO). Yarn remains in ziploc bags and probably will stay there for quite a while. Made the trip to the Container Store the other day and bought new storage containers for it. Not the pattern I would've chosen ideally, but otherwise I'm loving them. I was warned about the velcro closure on the front in advance but figured I'd be storing most of the stash still in the ziplocs.

6. Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Many tears were shed. Loved it. Loved it. Loved. It.

More discussion, more depth later. Right now must commence uploading to the wonder that is Ravelry.

When Muggles Attack (on two fronts)

1. First The Times

2. Then the techies

I love the comments on the second article. I'm fairly sure they weren't expecting this kind of reaction. *sigh* only 510 people ahead of me in line.

As for the first, The Times has received an angry letter to the editor from me.

On the knitting front, the socks are almost done. Huzzah! Here's hoping I find time this weekend in between all the Harry Potter reading!

2 days...

I. am. freaking. out.

I cannot mentally comprehend the fact that all of my questions will be answered this weekend.*

Barring any unforseen douchebaggery by non-believers/muggles (and I'm not talking about the non-knitter muggles the Yarn Harlot discusses, I'm talking the originals!) I am certain that I will be very surprised when I crack the spine of my copy of HP and the Deathly Hallows.

Will Snape be a double/triple/quadruple agent?
Is Harry a Horcrux?
Will Ron and Hermione totally make out?
Is the giant squid really an unregistered animagus that will swallow Lord Voldemort whole and drag him to a watery doom at the bottom of the lake?

I'm all aflutter just thinking of it. I plan on going into seclusion starting as of about 12 hours ago, helped along mightily by the fact I'll be out on site visits tomorrow and Friday. Anyone who ruins this for me though will regret it. I promise you that.

*I am not as optimistic as Ms. Rowling that all questions will be answered. In fact I'm hoping they won't because if I have nothing to debate with my friends, a big chunk of the fun this book has brought me will be lost. Plus, it leaves me hope that we'll get some fun tidbits in the future.

Bohus

Wendy Keele's Poems of Color has been sitting on my desk here at work for about a week. I leave it there so that whenever I'm desperate for something to distract me, I can open it up and stare longingly at that beautiful colorwork.



I confess I had no idea what this type of knitting was called until the Harlot wore her Guld Bohus to the Represent event at FIT in March. So pretty, it makes me want to weep.

I'm pondering this as my next big project. Premature? Hush, we shall not discuss the numerous UFOs currently taunting me. It's not my fault if you're all unappealing to me at this moment in time because you're:

a) not for me (Fair Isle Kid Cardigan)
b) hefty and cabley and very much a boring solid color (That's right. I'm talking to you, Blaze)

c) hefty and cabley and very much a boring solid color and so old I can't remember why I ever thought you were interesting (cabled blanket)

Only my knee socks are at all appealing right now. Could it be because they're tiny and portable enough so that I can knit on the train? Could it be because they're stripey in all kinds of weird wonky ways? Could it be because of my schoolgirl fetish for knee socks? Could it be because just the name "Cape Cod" gives me warm and fuzzy memories? Perhaps it is all of these things. But they will soon be done and that means I want another eye/brain/hand candy project to keep me glued to my needles.



This leads me to a dilemma (or actually two dilemmas):
1. What kind of yarn to use?
2. Where to find a suitable yarn?

I have been all over the internet (in the absence of my knitting books, which are currently packed away until a post-July 20th time when they will be accessible once more) looking for a source of angora/wool blends. Harder than one might think actually.

Then, since it's been so difficult to locate angora/wool blends, I've been trying to determine whether there are any substitutions that will give me similar results. What are the characteristics of the way the yarns behave that might make them good/bad for use in a sweater like a bohus. Do I really want shedding angora fuzz all over me anyway?

Another problem is that I would like to have the colors readily accessible so I can experiment with color combinations. I don't want a kit because, for me anyway, that takes a lot of the fun out of it. Between the Yarn Harlot's bohus and the fantom bohus over at Hello Yarn, I just can't get these sweaters out of my head! Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's a particularly sweet form of torture to think about nothing but beautiful knitwear all day.

So what to do??? Do I:
a) wait for Rhinebeck in October?


or b) try to find yarn elsewhere?

Knitting Article in The Times

Here.

While I consider my knitting far, FAR from some of the chic stuff described in this article and really don't particularly aspire for it to be chic, anyway (I'm a simple girl!), I think the article makes some really interesting points that, for knitters anyway, won't come as much of a surprise. We've been saying these things all along. But one of the points which I've heard so many times really speaks to me: the idea that in an increasingly hands-off (hands-free?) world, knitting gives us something low-tech and physical that connects us with our own brains and with other people. Does that make it ironic that knitters seem to be so tech oriented? What with Etsy, blogs, online newsletters, and now Ravelry there's an awful lot of technology that revolves around a craft. Kind of exciting really. It makes me feel like knitters are certainly very interesting people with a lot of tools at their disposal. (Not that I ever doubted that before ;) )

Awe-some

Harry Potter? Loved it. I'm still exhausted from my 3 am evening tuesday night and I've already had a day to recover. By far the best of the movies IMO and considering I didn't particularly care for any of the previous ones you might think that's not saying much, but really, I thought it was delightful. (Or as delightful as an incredibly moody, dark movie based on a book I love that also happens to be incredibly moody and dark can possibly be). The 3-D stuff at the end? Wow. Audible gasps in the theater when that started. I think they finally managed to do justice to the book. But I'm still perplexed at the people who complain that so much was cut out and yet claim that movies 3 and 4 were great. Honestly??? Oh goodness I cannot wait for the 21st. This is torture! I've been spending pretty much my entire day at work trauling the HP fan sites (lexicon, TLC, QQQ, HP7, mugglenet) like a complete and utter freakshow. I really cannot continue to be this unproductive.

Not much progress on the sock unfortunately, I've been so neglectful although I did manage to do a few rounds while waiting for the movie to start. So that's something. :) I also managed to leave the pertinent page of the pattern somewhere so I'll have to reprint from Knitty. Although I just came across some toe-up sock stuff in the Summer 07 Interweave Knits that makes me wish I had used their pattern. Oh well. First sock just means that there can be many more socks to come!

And more HP

Meant to post this yesterday, but completely forgot. I'm particularly partial to Damon Lindelof's and Larry Doyle. Coincidence that they write/wrote for two fantastic shows? Heh.

HP

I'm going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix tonight (at midnight, good lord) in IMAX-3D. And I've noticed I am surprisingly pumped for it. I generally don't like the movies all that much but for some reason this one has appealed to me more than the others. I'm certain I'll find something to bitch about, but I'm hopeful that overall it won't disappoint totally. In fact some of the reviews have been pretty good, which is promising.

In the spirit of HP, I've been looking for some HP themed projects to make for my brother's birthday in September. He's soon to be a senior in high school. He's adorable. He also happens to be a bit of a jock. For some reason I can't reconcile my baby bro with that last statement (or the first one for that matter). Anyway I want something that he will actually use and a knit wand or wizard hat does not exactly qualify. I was thinking an iPod cozy, but he (like me) only has an iPod Shuffle and personally while the house colors are lovely, it doesn't scream HP (although, maybe that's a good thing?). Dilemmas, dilemmas. I may just try socks again because I really am lacking in the idea department when it comes to teenage boys.

Back and oh-so-tan

What a wonderful break that was! We had some lovely weather on LBI which meant that I spent an awful lot of time on the beach rather than knitting, but somehow I managed to read 3 books and at least 5 magazines, ride 20 miles on my bike to Barnegat Light and back, get some swimming in, and knit a knee sock.

That's right my first sock has been completed, but my camera is currently hiding out in NJ so I won't be able to post just yet. Turning the heel was positively glorious! Who knew? I'm now on the gusset of the second sock so it won't be long now until I have some knee socks to wear. Oh wait, it's 97 degrees outside? Looks like I will still be waiting to wear them anyway.

Actually it may take a bit longer, because I really like the way the self-striping yarn is looking on my second sock rather than the first. It actually looks more like a real pattern, which is a bit disconcerting. Also, I am not terribly pleased with the way the increases for the calf turned out. Must make a mental note to find some knee sock tips.

I was also disappointed that I did not make the trek to Island Knits. I'll just have to save it for the next week of vacation I take, I guess. I'm curious to see what they have to offer.

Must make a concerted effort to take more pictures. I have such a lovely camera and it's a shame it doesn't get taken out more often. Same could probably be said for me, but that's neither here nor there.