monday mara

I feel slightly disingenuous posting this … even though I might have taken mara out for a quick snap in the last of the January sunshine, I didn’t actually work on it.

See how I’m stalled at back on the needles with inches of final flutter to go?  The problem is, it’s just not portable at this size and, well, in my mind if I could take it with me to campus, I’d be sure to work on it.  No other (smaller) projects to catch my eye and keep me unfaithful.

Once a cheater, always a cheater.

snow day!

This is how much snow it takes to get a snow day in Nashville.  Yep, I just canceled class.  I’m trying not to let the power go to my head.

Theoretically, snow days mean more time for knitting.  Today, it might just mean more time in the library.

The semester is a cruel mistress.

progress report

One of the things that I find the most exhausting about graduate school is the amount of time I spend saying to myself, “I can’t …”  Always accompanied by, “… because I have to …”  It’s the constant gesture of denial and deferral that eventually wears me down until I feel like some kind of academic robot.

So I knit.

Since graduate school has bascially become a lifestyle for me (seven years in, I think it’s safe to say that it’s about time I came up with some coping mechanisms), I’m finding out just how important those few moments of relaxation can be.  For me, it’s all about the decision: “No, I’m going to knit.  Not read.  Not write.  Not worry about explaining the past tense conjugation of irregular weak verbs to a room of equally busy grad students.”  Just saying “no,” gathering up my knitting, and watching a little (or more than a little) internet television goes a long way to restoring some semblance of balance.

Yeah, it sometimes means I’m not as prepared as I’d like to be or that I don’t know the right answer or fail to fully explain just exactly why weak verbs behave the way they do (and, let’s be honest, do you really want me to get into historical linguistics here?  Do we really want to trace this development back to some whacked-out innovation of Middle High German or the sound shift?).  But, overall, it means I don’t go crazy.

And I have lovely handknit socks to give to friends.  Everyone wins.

futur II

The semester starts and it seems like life just slips into Futur II: In February, I will have … read 1000 pages … heard many job talks … drunk too much coffee … hopefully completed these socks.

So far, the Noro Silk Garden is dreamy.  I love the think-and-thin texture and the slubby bits of silk that pop up now and then.  These are already a super late Christmas present (thanks, end of last semseter) and I decided on straight-ahead stockinette over 60 stiches on US2/3.00mm for maximum speed.

On my way.

hats!

I’ll admit it, I went a little hog wild with the Patons Classic Wool.  This stack o’ hats is the fruit of my knitterly labor over the Christmas break.

The four on top are all variations on the superlative Super Hero Helmet Hat, minus the all-over garter stitch and the ear flaps.  I meant to add ear flaps, but just never got around to it.  I also added in some spiraling stripes à la this tutorial.

Which brings us to the two on the bottom … Ripley!

Can I just say: this is an awesome pattern.  I wasn’t convinced — the folds look kind of funky, after all — but as soon as I put the hat on … well, that was all the proof I needed.

So much proof, in fact, that I went and knit both versions.  Admittedly, this is a bit more feminine than my usual style … but I think the contrast could work.

Funky, right?

What you can’t see, is that I totally f*ed the lace edging when it came time to kitchener the ends together.  Yeah.  I had to frog, pick up the stitches around the brim, and reknit.  Kind of reverse engineering the whole shebang: a knitted on border, basically, cleaned up with a row of single (?) crochet.

Things have seemed a little unsettled lately and I’m certainly putting toes in waters all kinds of unfamiliar.  All the while desperate trying to remember that no matter the specific situation or context “nobody ever died of awkward” (see Queer Fat Femme).

The hats were a nice way to relax and just enjoy knitting.

new year knitting roundup

Somehow I’ve managed to accumulate a shocking number of works-in-progress.  How did this happen?  Though a firm believer in project monogamy, I seem to have strayed frequently from the path of righteous exclusivity.  My moral fiber has obviously weakened.

Let’s take a ramble through my indiscretions.

1. mara:

Things were a-ok, then my needles broke.  I haven’t yet sat down to face getting the approximately 3 billion stitches back on a (new) needle — because, well, I think I need to frog some of the ribbing.  The 1×1 section strikes me as (proportionally) too large compared with the 2×2 section.  So.  I should really get on that.

2. der blaue Mond:

These are my portable campus project: no big hurry to get them done.  Though I would like a new pair of handknit socks.  So maybe I should hurry up just a little bit.

3. earth stripe wrap:

Yep.  Haven’t really worked on this one much.  All of that mohair is a little intimidating after a long day.

4. cherry blossom bandit:

This is part of my shawl-enlargement project.  I’ve already added a bunch of repeats to the body section (4?); if my cunning plan pans out, I’d like to add a bunch more for a super-soft and super-cozy bandit of epic proportions.  It could happen.

5. owls:

Oh, owls.  How I want to wear you right now.  How I wish you were a cardigan.  How I wish you were not huge.  Yeah, that’s going to take some time.

6. girasole:

Hey, long time no see.  Since I stuffed the project bag in dark corner of my crafty closet of doooooom.

7. futur II socks:

As in, not only am I total German grammar dork, but I haven’t even started some Christmas knitting.  Sheesh.  (Futur II = to express an event that will be completed in the future = By the end of January, I will have completed these socks.)

Guess I should get busy.

and so the semester begins

… with sweet kittylove and bags firmly in place under my eyes.  I’m off to teach — German for Reading, but I’d rather it was German for Knitting (side note: maybe I could slip it in without anyone noticing?  who needs conjugation when you know how to ssk and k2tog in German?) — and go to seminar and basically, um, not knit.

Once I have the time to get some decent blue-table photos, I’ll attempt to document my wild holiday fling with Patons Classic Wool.  Many, many hats.

Also, mara broke my needles.  And I just couldn’t deal, sitting there in Denver waiting for my connection.  Still can’t.  Between books (warning: two novel-heavy seminars does not lead to financial security) and activity fees (but I have no activities) and regular bills (or time for cable), new circulars just might have to wait.  Good thing I have lots of 47″ cables still intact.

knitting year in review

1. hat-o-matic, 2. owls, 3. silk kerchief, 4. blue damson, 5. cherry blossom bandit, 6. moonpie swiffer, 7. weaver’s wool mini shawl, 8. 85/15, 9. aestlight, 10. fancy socks, 11. hybridity v.3, 12. springtime bandit, 13. baby sock, 14. lil’ devil hat, 15. hybridity v.2, 16. hybridity, 17. necklace v.2, 18. ishbel v.2, 19. ishbel, 20. go with the flow, 21. masonic lodge socks, 22. marian, 23. dolores park, redo, 24. no-twist marian with buttons, 25. fangirl, 26. moebius, 27. gentleman’s rainbow, 28. embossed leaves, 29. shello hat, 30. bsj no. 1, 31. selbu modern, 32. waving lace, 33. topographical socks, 34. crown mountain farms

the stats:

5 hats

1 sweater, non-baby

1 cardigan, baby

12 shawls

2 miscellaneous, swiffer covers

9 s0cks, pairs

1 necklace, crochet

4 cowls

new year

The title says it all, really.  And I won’t lie: this has been one tough year.  I certainly don’t have enough perspective on it yet to get it all in focus.  A kind of almost but not quite impossible year.  I almost gave up, the bastards almost got me down.  But, as always, the almost is the important bit.  Turns out, I’m tougher than any old stupid year.  In the end, I managed so much that I’d long ago given up hope on ever achieving: a master’s degree, a second chance, new home and new friends, papers turned in on time, steps in the right direction.  Even a couple of dates.

Oh yeah, I made some pretty stuff, too.  And got to share it with crafty, funny, supportive, and downright wonderful fellow knitters.  You all helped a girl through.

Though horoscopes are an amusing distraction I attempt to read with a grain of salt, I somehow seem to end up on the right page at the right time.  Here’s mine from a few weeks ago:

“Lately you remind me of the person Robert Hass describes in his poem “Time and Materials”: “someone falling down and getting up and running and falling and getting up.” I’m sending you my compassion for the times you fall down, and my admiration for the times you get up, and my excitement for the times you run. It has probably become clear to you by now that the falling down isn’t a shameful thing to be cursed, but rather is an instrumental part of the learning process that is teaching you marvelous secrets about getting back up and running.”

That’s been my year.  Here’s to a 2010 with a bit more running.

so close

So very close.

Break has started and I’m celebrating by knitting … and watching lots of internet television.  But let’s concentrate on the knitting.

These socks are already wonderful and they don’t even have a toe.  Or a mate.  Despite those minor difficulties, I love the colors, the stripes, the sturdy feel of the yarn, the pattern.  They’re the kind of project I want done right. now. for immediate garment enjoyment.

Soon, very soon.