How I spent my evening

Knit, knit, knit, knit....... food and liquor.... knit, knit, knit....

12:25 Fezzy tries to tell me that I need to stop when I finally cast-off the damn thing for the second time and it's still an inch short....
12:35 I didn't listen to Fezzy
1:45 The damn thing is done and tomorrow is busy day so I might not get to do as much work as I might like to.... I need to learn up on how to do seaming so that it looks good and then I have to do it as well as add a collar to 'finish' the cardigan.

Feeling Better

Today I went and picked up the pictures that Michael and I took right after we got engaged. I didn't plan it that way but the photo place was advertising a really good deal so I signed up. Here's the two poses that I picked, I think we look quite cute together! This sure perked me up a bit.
So, while I had my camera out I went ahead and took pictures of other things. The yarn that I bought.. It's a cone of linen/cotton/rayon that I bought for $11 at Shuttles as opposed to buying the yarn the pattern suggests for $90 at the store where I bought it.
To use for this pattern in the magazine that I bought...

As well as the progress that I've made since learning that I used the wrong size needles to finish the last piece of my cardigan. (You'll notice that I remembered to switch to the red needles.)
I'm REALLY hoping to finish it for real tonight or tomorrow and move on to another project. This new yarn, while strikingly similar to what I'm already working with, is teasing me by peaking out of the yarn basket where I have banished it to while I'm finishing this darned cardigan.

Tada!!

It's done!
But wait... weren't those red when I finished the last piece?
Yes, they were...
Double check.... this is way too small.
Ugh, I'm having a really bad day. I didn't get the job that was perfect for me and that I interviewed for flawlessly. I bought a magazine and some yarn yesterday, it's gonna have to wait for a happier mood.

Progress..... if you want to call it that

Well, first things first. It's been raining ALL DAY!
My little seedlings love it, but they are not getting the brunt of the storm quite like the grass is.
I'm not too worried, that's the view from my second story apartment... the people below me however... They are sitting at the lowest point in the complex! And.... here come the big huge snow flakes!

I've been working on my cardigan quite diligently today.
I finished the button side of the front last night and cast on for the other side this morning, challenging myself to see how far I could get in one day. This is all I have to show.. I really think it's kind of pitiful!
And you know what could make it even worse? Maybe you could see it in the picture... What about now?
That's right the button band is on the wrong side! Oh the agony. I had even taken a small break to work on plying my variegated yarn. I finished the plying, skeined it, and set the twist all before realizing this horrible twist of fate.
I was clearly tempting the knitting goddesses when I realized that I was on the home stretch with my cardigan and thinking that I might be able to get this thing done by the end of the week. How frustrating. I think I might have to get started on some more spinning to relax me after this incident. I might also be going to a new yarn store tomorrow!

Weekend Update

Friday night Michael and I went to see Trace Bundy, he plays acoustic guitar (and quite well I might add). He and Michael know each other quite well for a fan and a musician and I think it is due to the fact that every concert we go to Michael finds something to talk to Trace about. It's cute really. This concert was a benefit for Justice for Children International. It was quite an eye opener but I'd had a long day so all I wanted to do was knit and listen to some nice music.
Good news! I finally looked up the correct decrease for the jaywalker pattern and was able to knit some more on the socks during the benefit. I've still got quite a ways to go but I think I'm getting ready for the heel flap here.
I got a little work done on the cardigan since I last posted, just a few more buttons worth. My mom and I have been a little excited about wedding planning so not a lot of knitting has gotten done.
A little seedling update. They've grown! As green things tend to do. I'm a little worried though, not all of the pots have sprouted. The lavender hasn't but that's to be expected because it is a bit more substantial than the flowers. The other pot is just some posies I think. I've been treating all the pots equally so why this one hasn't sprouted is beyond me.
I'm not sure if you can tell in this next picture but someone (or something) has been digging in my pot! That 'big' sprout has been uprooted and the shadow is covering a small divot in the soil. Also, some sprouts on the right side of the pot (out of the picture) were covered in loose soil. I think the culprit could be some rascally squirrels! I knew there was a reason I didn't like them!
Today I had an interview for an entry-level position with Array Biopharma. It was my first interview since I graduated from college and I really think that it went well! While the position itself does not interest me, the company does and this company would much rather promote from within than hire from without. Also, I think that I would feel better about a higher up position if I really knew what the underlings were doing. If you are interested you can go to the website for more info on the company. I met with 5 people: The boss and 2 superiors as well as 2 people that I'll be on a little more equal footing with. I really liked all but one guy and he is the GMP guy... the one who is paid to be anal and psychotic about all the products that leave the building, so I geuss that is to be expected. I sure would like this position since A) I haven't had any other interviews, B) I am interested in the company, and C) this position would allow me to work a little bit with the various groups in the company and see what should be my next step in the corporate world.

I also experimented a little with navajo plying and I'm really starting to get the hang of it. More in the next update.

Cute little sprouts!

A couple of my cute little seedlings sprouted over the weekend. I took this picture of them on Monday and they haven't changed much since.
Also, I finished both sleeves for the cardigan and have started adding buttons to one of the front panels.
I think I've forgotten to mention a couple of things on this blog. I have signed up for Anne's spinning club: The Wooly Wonka Fibers Spinning Club. Every couple of months Anne sends out 4 oz. of fiber along with directions on how to spin it up and a pattern that she wrote for the project. I think the first batch of fiber will be sent out around May 15 and Anne has told us that it will be rambouillet. I'm really excited for this because there will be a few non-wool fibers and I have yet to spin up anything but wool.

Today I plan to spin up some more of that variegated merino I bought a while back. I spun some on Tuesday night and realized that I'd forgotten how meditative it really is. I'm thinking I should really make more of an effort to spin at least 2 or 3 times a week. Also, I don't want this fiber to look like some extremely variegated yarn that was poorly matched or plied. I was thinking that it won't really look good plied with any other yarn, even an undied yarn. So I've decided to try my hand at navajo plying for this. First I have to finish up a good sized bobbin and then I'll post my efforts on the new plying technique.

Since I finished my shawl my fingers have been itching to get started on a new, more challenging project (the stockinette cardigan is pretty hum drum). Jenna's lace hoodie really moved me, so I think that will be my next large project. I just have to track down the pattern. I'm pretty sure that it's only in the Rebecca magazine, issue number 32. Well issue 33 is out now so I would have to special order it from most places.

Also, I've really been craving some sock knitting but my jaywalkers are so dark and heavy.
I want to work with some more spring-y colors. I have some cute green sock weight yarn that I bought from knitpicks quite some time ago.
Also, Val knitted up some cute little summery socks by simply ommiting the cuff and she said you could knit two socks from one skein! I haven't picked out a pattern yet but I'm thinking something kinda lace-y and free... maybe from knitty.com?

General Update-iness

Ok, first things first, I'm going to explain the series of images posted a few weeks ago. You should briefly go and look at the pictures again because I think I lost them in my computer! I'll wait...

Ok, the first four pictures are a dye day that Val and I did with Stacy from Adoreknits. Her son is just the cutest!!
And her stash is just the biggest!! Holy moly! This isn't even all of it, and those big plastic bags in the back are full of fiber. Her stash is so big her son could dive into it and make yarn angels if he wanted. (He did dive, but there was a lot of fuss about this before he was able to successfully wreak havoc.)
The last pictures posted of the yarn are from when it was still drying, here are some images of the finished, skeined product.
These blue-ish skeins were my first few attempts at spinning and aren't perfect but Michael really likes the color so I'm thinking of knitting some simple socks from them.
With these red skeins I was trying to match the ones on the left to the ones on the right. The right side was stuff that was dyed and given to us during spinning class and I liked the color so I wanted to knit something from the yarn but there wasn't enough. As you can see, the colors really aren't anywhere near the same. The original yarn has some orange and brown in it while the new stuff is a deep, variegated red. I love it all. I'm thinking that I will save these to use in a hand-spun, dyed and knit afghan. I will continue to spin up un-dyed yarn and dye it various shades of red or brown and then knit up a rustic look afghan for my living room!
This stuff is a silk, merino blend that I bought off of a cone from Val and dyed that same day. As you can see it turned out a nice variegated sea-foam color! I'm going to knit a triangular shawl from Vintage knits with this gorgeous stuff.

The fifth picture is the finished back of my 3/4 sleeve cardigan. There has been some pretty good progress on that project too! What you see here is a finished sleeve and the cuff of the second sleeve. I'm probably going to need to pick up some buttons over the weekend before I can get started on the front panels. Any advice on how many buttons would be 'normal'?
The ball of mixed color merino is exactly that. I think it looks quite pretty in the picture and it's great in real life too. I'm just a little uncertain about how to spin it up! I first started by splitting off the various color segments and trying to spin them seperately to get a striping effect. That was HIDEOUS and I forgot to take a picture of it before I covered it up with some better stuff. This picture is with me just pulling off a chunk of fiber, pre-drafting it and then spinning it. It's quite difficult to picture and to see the details here but it's much better than my first attempts.
The last picture is, of course, the Yarn Harlot's most recent book. Well I've finished it by now and I must say that I loved it!! I loved her writing and the way it was presented with the interesting pictures. I also really enjoyed the 'letters' between various people that are spread throughout the book.
Now, on to some new stuff. Today is quite rainy and unfriendly. So, to cheer myself up a bit I went to Home Depot and bought some flower pots, seeds, soil, and plant food. I layed out some garbage bags and planted my seeds in the house.
In about 10 days I should start seeing some green shoots coming up through the dirt! For now I have to keep them inside because we are supposed to get even more snow and frost this weekend. BOO! Here you can see the seeds that I planted, I hope that I can actually grow the plants this summer!
Oh, and this man:
asked me to marry him!

FO: Cap Shawl

Started: March 11, 2007
Finished: April 10, 2007
Yarn used: Knitpicks Shadow in Vineyard
Finished Dimensions: 46 in. diameter on US 5s
Pattern Dimensions: 76 in. diameter on US 7s
I really enjoyed knitting this shawl even though it is far from perfect. When I found a mistake I tried to fix it as best I could but I rarely ripped back if the mistake was only one or two stitches. A few times I misread the pattern and knit a whole row wrong, that I would fix. When I pinned the shawl for blocking it was already 2:30 am and I didn't care about getting the blocking perfect or trying to hide any mistakes because I know that I could always reblock and get the shape better if I wanted to. I really enjoyed the knitted on border, especially since I've been reading horror stories of picking up hundreds of stitches to graft a border on. EW!

I'm not sure if you can tell but the very center isn't quite the same as the one in the book. It's much more open... That's because when I was blocking I ripped the yarn attached to the center cast on and it wasn't even tied or stabilized! I'm worried about losing the whole shawl... that would be VERY unsettling. I took rash measures... I put clear nail polish on the center hole in an effort to save my lovely lace. I'll have to let you know how it holds up.

Well, I think that this is a little bit smaller than I would like. I knew that once I got it finished I wouldn't even wear it if it was as big as the book said it should be. I supposed it's good that it's smaller, but it's almost a little too small to wrap around me loosely. It's a little hard to describe without being able to show you. Right now I don't have anyone to take pictures of it on me, but I promise to post a few when I can get them.

So, I could see myself knitting this pattern again with a thicker yarn and bigger needles to make the whole shape a little bigger. While this was made out of merino wool it is not very warm. I think a thicker yarn would help make it warmer and that shawl would then be used in the early spring and late fall. As soon as I can get a photographer I will take pictures of me wearing the shawl to give you a better idea of the size.

Tune in tomorrow for an update on the cardigan and an explanation of the pictures posted on March 30th.

I FINALLY have updates!

But it is 3:30 in the morning... I'm going to bed. However, I PROMISE that there will be updates made through the next couple of days with pictures and explanations of the pictures I posted in the last update. Sleep.... drool.....