Stripes!!

Are addictive!



I started this (the Stripes to Keep Me Warm Cowl) at knitting tonight. And I don't seem to be able to stop. The orange/red/gold/peach yarn is handspan from a fiber club (Lulu and Pancake, a present from Kevin for Christmas last year), and the brown is a partial skein, left over from a Harminia's Rings Tunic I knit this weekend (as my break from the purple sweater). It's String Theory Merino DK, bought as a second at Stitches East. I'm going to try to wear the tunic (more of a vest) tomorrow, if I can successfully assemble an outfit. Maybe I'll even remember to take a picture or two.

Orange/red/gold/peach aren't really my colors, but I'm hoping the brown will help it look more like me... It seems like it's working so far, but I won't be sure till more of it exists.

Unsuited

In addition to my hatred of having dirty/dusty fingertips while being otherwise clean, I am also unable to type the word "papers" correctly on the first try. It generally comes out as apeprs, because apparently my hands type at different speeds, with my right hand getting ahead of my left.

Really, is there a profession to which I am less suited than archivist? What was I thinking?

In other news, I spoke too soon about the purple Zora cardi going relatively quickly. It's now going incredibly slowly, and I am contemplating taking a break from it to knit something speedy and instant-gratification-y.... like a sweater. But with short sleeves! On size 8 needles (or 9! depending on gauge!)

Finn-ished

My spinning group met this weekend, and that inspired me to finish the batch of wool I have been working on forever--the half finnsheep fleece I got over the summer.

As I was spinning I found some spots where it turned out that the fleece wasn't completely clean (no surprise since this is the ony fleece I have ever washed, and since the main thing I learned is that I don't enjoy it enough to do a good job!). Now that it's all spun, what seemed like a few spots feel like a lot more, so tonight I'm going to try washing it again.

I'm also still thinking about dying it. It's a pretty cream color (of which I will someday take pictures!), but I wear dark and jewel tones much more frequently, so if I'm going to keep whatever I make, it might be more useful in a darker color. I suspect the lanolin would prevent those areas from taking up the dye, so unless I want it to turn out spotty, that's another reason to give washing it another try.

Untitled

With Christmas out of the way, I'm back to the sweater for myself which I can't remember if I've mentioned here, Zora. I started it at the beginning of November, with the delusion that I might finish it during NaKniSwMo (am I forgetting a syllable? National Knit a Sweater Month?).

By the end of the month, I had a number of other things finished, but only a sleeve and a half of Zora (it's knit on size 4 needles, with fingering weight yarn... Plus, I got distracted). Then I thought I might work on it in December after finishing my Christmas presents, but that didn't happen either. Now though, I'm making good progress. I finished the sleeve last weekend, then cast on for the back on Thursday night, and have 7 or 8 inches finished. It's a longer cardigan than I usually knit, so I have a bit more to knit than usual, but still, it feels like I'm making progress.

I do have a question. Does it seem to you that the ribs on the body are a little low? I think I might rather have them centered at my actual waist, not offset towards my hips. What do you think?

Random New Year’s Thoughts

I’m never going to catch up on telling you all about the fall, am I? Or the summer, for that matter. So I’m going to give up, halfheartedly catch up with Christmas knitting, then move on.

I’ve been thinking about Russia lately. Partly because Kevin gave me a book called Travels in Siberia for Christmas (technically, he gave it to me last year, but it took us till this year to realize that he had received the gift email instead of me, and that he needed to forward it so I could actually get my present… on the bright side, this year he gave me an iPad as well, so it was easier to read than it would have been last year on my phone). Anyway, the other reason I have been thinking about Russia is that I bought some completely useless (but very cute!) shoes—grey booties with high-for-me heels and pointy-for-me toes—and tottering around in useless shoes but otherwise sensibly bundled up in wool and down makes me feel like my Russian roommate from when I studied abroad there. They are awfully cute though, and since they are grey they match my entire wardrobe.

Kevin and I are thinking about running the Reykjavik Marathon at the end of August (this relates to Russia, just wait!), for our anniversary. Six is the marathon anniversary, didn’t you know? And we got married in Iceland. Anyway, I haven’t run a marathon since I was so annoyed about how I did in the last one (in 2009? I think?). But thinking about running a non-crazy marathon like Reykjavik has me also thinking again about running a crazy marathon: the Lake Baikal Marathon, in the winter on frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia. What could be more fun? This wouldn’t be till March 2013, so there's plenty of time for the whole thing to become impossible due to global warming, or for me to regain my senses.

Back to the Christmas knitting: much as knitters complain about knitting like mad for a deadline, it is also kind of fun. So, to have as much fun as possible, I knit nearly all my presents in December. I always give socks to my sisters, so I made those ahead of time (plus a matching pair of baby socks for an impending niece). However, that left plenty of knitting to do at the last minute! In December I knit half of a (small) blanket, 4 hats, 1 scarf, 1 cowl, 3 sweaters (2 kid for kids, 1 for a baby), 2 pairs of (adult!) socks for people other than my sisters, 1 pair of mittens, and 2 pint glass cozies. The blanket wasn't even a present (but for some reason it felt like I should finish it before I started on my Christmas knitting), and one of the hats was for a birthday. Fortunately, we didn’t see my side of the family till after Christmas, so I had a few extra days… otherwise, I would have had to start at Thanksgiving.