leftovers

leftovers, originally uploaded by katie:m.

You know how sometimes you need a change? I need a change.

I mean, I’m almost there … with this moving to Nashville, starting a new grad program thing. But I want something sooner, too.

Maybe I just need a new knitting project.

I ran out of yarn.

baby sock of doooom, originally uploaded by katie:m.

I’m back in the homeland for a while, so as I attempt to relax and write (in that order) in the Great Northwest (TM), posting might be a bit sporadic. Kind of like my progress on the baby sock of dooooom and surprisingly high yardage.

The weekend was spent at a family member’s wedding, which went about as smoothly as the aforementioned baby sock of dooooom. At least it was fun hanging out with my cowboy cousins. Who seem to know a surprising amount about musical theater.

Go figure.

i’ve been bitten …

… by kidsilk haze.  I can’t get enough.

Although I already have a shawl in progress, I couldn’t resist the siren song of the kidsilk.  It’s just so shiny and pretty.  For some reason — having to do with VLT, I suspect — I bought four balls of candy girl (606) a couple of years ago.  Those with eagle eyes and even sharper memories will note that I have knit nothing from the aforementioned VLT, instead I have just noodled around with rather more straightforward stockinette + lace scarflettes.  As a result, I have two remaining skeins of the lovely kidsilk haze in eye-searing pink with which to play.

As a reward (albeit small) for avoiding the latest threat of nervous collapse, I picked up Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle.  Enamored of Strikker’s Wool Peddler’s Shawl, I wanted one of my own.  At first, I was convinced yellow was the way to go — for a full-on copycat version.  But none of my yellows were right; it had to be fuzzy too.  But none of my fuzzy yarns were right either.  Then today, I remembered the kidsilk haze in the stash — in a decidedly not-yellow color — and got started.  So far, so good.

The yarn doesn’t really lend itself to being knit while reading, so this will definitely be my relaxation project.  As I don’t have quite enough yardage, I might have to do some fancy footwork and modify the number of repeats (is that possible? must check.) for a slightly smaller shawl or just buy more yarn.  Only time will tell.

something old

According to flickr, I finished this on April 2, 2009.  This version did not self-destruct; indeed, it even made it all the way to Switzerland in one piece.  Notice the lack of glass beads.

No new knitting around here, hence the dive into the archives.  Things are looking up, though, as the kindess of professors is coming through in a big way.  Today, I actually relaxed.

don’t stop ’til you get enough

I’m keeping on with the force.  These shawls are so addictive.

So far, I’ve just got some yummy Jitterbug in Vincent’s Apron, size US9/5.5mm needles, and a dream.  A dream of stockinette and a kicky edging pattern.  As of yet unknown.

Blogging is proving to be a nice break from writing … we’ll see how I keep up.  Unfortunately, writing also cuts into my knitting time — or, rather, my knitting brain power — so although there is the will to blog, there might not be the material to blog.

Now, it’s time to get down with my bad self and some 2ndary sources.

random bandit

1. The bandit (minus Smokey, unfortunately) is finished.  All the details here.

2. Work, work, work.  It’s going.

3. Luckily, I still have time for knitting.  And Cary Grant.

lil’ devils

More baby knits, brought to you by my tired brain.

I finished this up a couple of weeks ago and have yet to add it to my Ravelry projects.  Oh well.

It’s the lovely lil’ devil hat in some basic Paton’s Classic Merino that has been in the stash practically since I started knitting.  Some rather punk-rock friends of mine are having a baby; as they are avoiding the obviously girly-girl pink, this seemed perfect.

In other news, a blog post over at Little Purl of the Orient has provided me with a new mantra: “I decided to FO it.“  Something about it just seems perfect — the hint that it might be a dirty word, the decisiveness of it all, the inherent truth of the sentiment.  At some point you do just finish it up and get on with things.

random

I’m going to copy the Yarn Harlot and do a random Wednesday on Tuesday.  Just to mix things up.

1. Work sucks.  Baby socks are cute.  I would like more baby socks in my life.

2. About that work: I think I’m going to have to cut some draft pages.  This is hard, as they were very painful to write.

3. In fact, I might just have to take a step back and figure out what the heck this paper is about.  Other than, you know, um, stuff.  And maybe a bit about travel.  And, oh yeah, memory.  Could be reading, too.

4. I have a foreboding of FAIL to which I will not give in.

5. I wish I could name the professor for whom I’m writing (of whom I’m also terrified because he is quite good at this literature thing) and then burn him in effigy on the blog.  But I am a consummate professional.  I will keep my fantasy immolations to myself.  Or at least off the internet.

6. More knitting: I restarted the springtime bandit.  So far, so good.

really hip knits?

Two knots in one skein?  Gob Bluth says: “C’mon!“

That said, the silk yarn is lovely and knitting up nicely.  As a springtime bandit.  I’ll detail my battle with the caprice of  hand-painted yarn when I have a bit more time.  Deadlines are coming up and things are busy, busy, busy here at chez furball.

Mission before moving: to see “9 to 5: The Musical.”  Years in the suburbs have to be rewarded somehow.