Cabled Hat

I am finished with the cabled hat. Isn't it pretty:

Say it's pretty dammit. very good. Actually I completed it last week, but I just now got around to taking this lovely photograph of it. Here is the top, I just love how the spiral pattern fell into place:
And you can see how nicely shaped it is, sitting atop the head-shaped bowl. Almost no mistakes, too. Now I am getting started on the scarf. I thought it would be more challenging, because I have to knit the backs, but it is really quite easy. I have finally got to the point where I don't need to have the pattern with me. I took it to my second SnB last week. I was actually productive in my knitting and participated. Whoo-hoo. Now I am getting more excited about the new local yarn store opening up. Three and a half weeks is sooo long to wait.

I also drew another cartoon, for your visual enjoyment:

Like this image? Check out www.zazzle.com/historyweaver

First SnB

I went to my first local Stitich'N'Bitch group knitting night. I am not a very social person, so it took me a bit to get up the nerve to do this. Two glasses of wine during dinner sure helped though. I arrived fashionably late and did the round of introductions and promptly forgot everyone's name (I am quite horrible about that). I was then faced with the great dilemma. What do I pull out of my knitting bag to work on? Do I pull out the very pretty cabling hat which states that I might actually know what the hell I am doing as well as have some sense of style, but which there is no way I could actually work on while talking to people at the same time and I would end up having to frog everything I did? Or do I pull out the ugly- ass- first- knitting- project- I- started- eight- months- ago- and- left- at- the- bottom- of- the- bag- because- I- realized- how- atrocious- the- yarn- color- really- was- and- haven't- touched- since- then- going- to- donate- to- the- humane- society- with- the- hopes- that- it- will- make- the- kitten- look- that- much- cuter- in- comparison- so- someone- will- want- to- adopt- him- blanket, but that is really easy to knit because it is just a rib stitch?
Well, I pulled out the ugly duckling project, because as a newbie knitter I am still deathly afraid of messing up and having to frog several rows, especially with cabling. Of course everyone in the group was terribly nice to me and I had quite a pleasant time. It very much strained my multi-tasking skills, though, as I was trying to actually knit correctly myself, listen to what people are talking about, and then even contribute to the conversation now and then, so I don't look like a complete idiot. Meanwhile, simultaneously while doing all this I am desperately trying to covertly stare at what everyone else is doing with their hands, as I have never actually been in the presence of Real-Live-Knitters. I am filled with a profound sense of Awe and am battling with the conflicting emotions of "Wanting To Learn Everything There Is To Know About Knitting Right Now" and "Feeling Like an Utter Idiot Because I Don't Know Anything At All About Knitting." Will have to go again soon.

For final news, I am super-excited because my Solstice gift to myself arrived today, a wonderful order from KnitPicks:
Harmony Wood Interchangeable Needle Set as well as two sets of double pointed needles (size 1 and 2) and two skeins each of Felici Clay, Pebble, and Arugula. Very, very excited.

Raven and knitting

I have been spending more time on Photoshop than I have with my knitting...

but I rather like the results:

Like this image? Check out www.zazzle.com/historyweaver

I did do some knitting over the weekend while we were traveling. My husband brought up the potential for bodily harm when handling knitting needles in the car. I did have the gruesome image of being speared by a bamboo skewer, but continued nonetheless. I couldn't help but do the math and computed that on average I knitted 8 stitches per mile...

Cabling Progress

I have been making more progress on the cabled cap. I am now getting ready to start the decreases. I messed these up some on my brother's cap, so I am going to pay more attention this time. The green yarn is in there to keep track of the starting point and what row I am on. I weave it in and out every four rows, which is once every cabling cycle. And of course Mr. Frodo had to be in on the shot as well.


I just love how cabling looks on white yarn. The shadows on the cables add this great sense of dimension. Here is what the cap will look like with the edge turned up.

Belated Christmas Cartoon

Brrrr, it's cold outside! Have to go back to work tomorrow morning... Definitely not looking forward to that.

A New Year

So it is January first. A new year and I am writing a blog entry for the first time. The idea of writing the first blog entry seems so pointless. Here I am, writing about myself with the full knowledge that no one else will read it when it is published because of course right now no one even knows that this blog exists. In reality this first entry is more for me than anyone, and I am writing to celebrate my freedom. My Master’s degree is done! No more classes! No more assignments! The next time I sit down to write a paper on “potential educational interventions for students with moderate to severe behavior disorders” it will be because I chose to (I hear you snickering… but perhaps one day I will actually write a paper with the intention of being published instead of graded).

So for the first time in a long time my evenings will now belong to me (at least the ones when I am not at work… still have to figure out how to be independently wealthy). I am tingling with anticipation when considering all I will be able to accomplish between the hours of 5:00pm and 10:30pm – and then the weekends! What joy! My mind is swimming with everything that I am sure I will be able to accomplish in those five and a half hours (never mind about dinner and laundry and annoying details like that). Seriously, I am trying to be realistic about everything I will actually be able to complete, but in an effort to maintain my excitement I have made a list. I refuse to call them New Year’s resolutions, as I will not feel guilty for dropping a few if my priorities reassemble themselves, so I will call them my goals for the post-graduate life:

• Spend more time with hubby
• Knit more
• Finish hats and scarves for my stepson, my brother and his girlfriend
• Knit socks for my hubby
• Knit more for charity
• Make backpack for my niece, which was originally going to be finished for Christmas (hah!). Maybe I will aim for her birthday in June.
  
• Finish quilt for Project Linus
• Make the lap quilt which we bought the kit for in November
  
• Make a quilt for my stepson and fiance. Maybe I can actually finish it by the wedding this fall?
  
• Eventually make a quilt for our bed. Actually make something for us? Surely you jest.
  
• Cook more. I got my brother a "Mr. Bento" for Christmas and while searching for reviews, I came across this flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/mrbento. Seeing all those delicious, well-packed meals just makes me want to spend the time in the morning to bring my own lunch to work, as opposed to the frozen food I tend to live on. So I have purchased one for myself. Let's see how long I can keep up with making my own lunches?
  
• Learn InDesign (take a class)
• Read more. I would like to actually pick up a book for enjoyment, instead of for research.
  
• Finish Lord of the Rings cloak for my mother - it has been sitting on the loom for almost two years now. I fear the the yarn which is sitting there exposed will be several shades lighter than the rest of the roll.
• Re-learn Spanish - yes, after seven years of taking classes from eighth grade through my sophomore year of college, I still have the speaking ability approximately equivalent to that of a five year old. Shameful, really.
  
• Paint my future office, so that someday I may move my desk and assorted computer apparatus out of the living room - what an amazing concept.
• Exercise more. Yes, everyone always states this as a goal; I hope to actually follow through with it.
  
• Take more photographs. I still occasionally surprise myself, and I keep thinking that I should do something more with this.
• Submit photos (and get accepted) to contribute to iStockphoto.
  
• Purchase a new video camera
  
• Learn Final Cut Pro.
• Post videos to iStockvideo.
• Make things for zazzle and etsy.
  
• Write more. I actually wrote a one page fictional passage last month. I haven't written anything (not counting papers and assignments) since high school. I think seeing the light at the end of the tunnel jumpstarted my creativity.
  
• Make an outline for a book (you gotta aim high).
  

On to knitting… I have made my myself and my brother the simple cabled hat from “Cables Untangled” by Melissa Leapman. I am now working on one for my brother’s girlfriend in white. I am using Patons merino wool and it is working out very well. I plan on following with the matching scarves afterwards, but we shall see. I will have pictures soon; at the moment my stepson has absconded with my photography lights and it is far too cold and snowy to photograph outside in natural light.