Yellow daffodils and
The daffodils are staying here...the toes are leaving for Hawaii early tomorrow morning!
Looking forward to some sleep, sun, more sun, and some quiet time knitting before and after sunning!
See you after the 1st of April!
Thanks for all the congrats about becoming a matriculating student. I've gotten my head wrapped around it as much as I'm going to until I talk to advisor in a few weeks, which must be why I actually got some stuff done this week.
One of the nephew's birthday is in early April, his 1st birthday this year. I wanted to do something a little nicer for him than the usual stuffed animal and sweater, and I wanted to learn a new quilting technique - flying geese. Combine the two and we get -
A Beatrix Potter quilt!
Its just the right size for his car seat and stroller, its going to be 35" once its finished. The wonderful bit is that a friend has agreed to do the quilting and put the binding on for me. Not because I can't, but because I'm going away for 9 days and don't have time and can't take it with me.
The other thing I've worked on is Juno from the Fall 07 Knitty. (by the way...the spring issue is out!)
I'm using the Atacama Alpaca that I brought back from Scandinavia a few years ago...using the stash!
And I started a sock...with the intention of its going with me on vacation...Veil of Leaves from Cat Bordhi's new book -
To the gloriously warm, wonderful island of Oahu! For 9 days, no work, no cold, no rain (I hope). I'm going to visit a friend and hide for a bit...still figuring out what I'm taking to work on..maybe I'll know next week!
As I fall of the face of the earth again....I'm alive. February is one of the worst months for me...I hate winter, its cold, dark and miserable and I just lose all my motivation to deal with anything outside of school and work. I don't think I've honestly knit anything since the last post...not joking. I've barely done any quilting and what I have done is just because I have to finish something quickly...
March is a little warmer and I'm soon heading for a warm vacation, my outlook is improving a bit. So while I have nothing to show you today, I'm hoping next friday I will.
So my news is that after 8 weeks of what seemed like interminable waiting and probably the reason for part of my funk the past month - "The Letter" dropped from Harvard yesterday. As of 3/4/08 when they wrote the letter I am officially a Harvard Bachelor's Degree Candidate through the Division of Continuing Education (i.e. night school for people who have to work). Between what they transferred and what I've taken I have 40 credits left to complete, 10 classes. Theoretically I can be done in 3 more semesters and possibly 1 summer school session. I've emailed who they assigned to me for an advisor and I'm planning on meeting with them in april at some point to figure out exactly how this is going to work. I need /want to do this as efficiently and quickly as possible without going totally nuts. From what they sent me I don't have think I have enough wiggle room left to do a special concentration for the bachelor's, I've got classes like foreign language, ethics, logics/stats, and writing intensive courses and a few other "requirements". I'm sure there's a way to combine it down, but I'll need help figuring it out.
Its a full fledged Harvard University ALB Degree, just done at night. Having it will go a long way if necessary down the road. My immediate goal is to finish this, then the next semester start a master's program through the extension school the next full semester. I can do this at night as well, if I decide to go for a PhD, then I have to switch to day school. That's a ways away, but still tucked into the back of my head...as that path means a lot of changes for me with work and personally.
I didn't think they were going to: A) really admit me and B) give me as many credits as they did. So I'm still reeling a bit from this. I'm thrilled and relieved but now also a bit terrified. Its now gone from taking classes because my brain is melting from boredom to I'm really doing it, again. I'll be fine in a little bit, but for now I just need to get through this semester and have a game plan for the remaining time.
So after all that I have a silly picture to lighten the post...
Cauliflower sheep!
Off to let my head spin a bit...hopefully real knitting content next week!
Might of had something to do with the dreary weather we're having. Its been basically cloudy and grey for a week. Not my favorite weather.
Since things are slightly calmer this semester I've been trying to take one day a week to do some spinning...this week I was on the lovely Drudik wheel...with some hand dyed merino top.
definitely enjoying spinning on the Drudik. Right now I'm guess this yarn is going to come out somewhere between a fingering and a DK once plied. Definitely dark blues, but there are some lighter shades in there as well. I've got 8 ounces total of this roving, I've split it into 4 ounce balls, we'll see how much there is when I'm all done.
My other dark blue of the week is Ice Queen from Knitty! I absolutely loved the way this looked on the model, but light blue is not a good color choice for dark brown hair and pale skin, I went with....midnight blue Kid Silk Haze from Rowan and A#11 seed beeds.
You can see the highlights of the beads, they're a bit more subtle than the larger beads the pattern calls for. I chose them mainly because they are what I had in my bead stash. If I decide to make another one, I think a trip into Beadworks in Harvard Square may be in order. The pattern was quick to do once the set up was taken care of and using the cotton for the provisional cast on made it extremely easy to pull out afterwards. The DH is debating on whether he'd like me to make one for his grandmother without the beads for Christmas...are we already thinking of Xmas gifts?
With this little project done I'm thinking of what I want to do next...I need to make socks for the DH, I'd like to make myself a sweater, but I also have a few non lace UFO's to think about. I also have a couple of quilting projects on the burners...I feel a case of startitis coming.This past weekend I felt like doing some sewing, I did my block of the month quilt square but I felt like doing something else too, but not a quilt per say. A few weeks ago I had made this bag, from a pattern I picked up at Quilter's Way in Concord ma.
Is a patchwork bag..I love the sandcrab in the middle. It adds just a little bit of funk to it. This is a very soft bag, its been lined and quilted around the fabric squares. These are Kofu squares, slightly heaver printed japanese shirting fabrics. The bag I lined with with some cool grey/red/black dragon fabric I had stashed. And its just big enough to hold a large sweater project or several small ones
See? So i had fun with this, and I learned something new. So i decided I wanted to do something else, smallish just to see how it would go. I ended up making two things..a little zip pouch and a small clutch.
very cute...and i learned how to sew in a zipper! Not bad for the first one. I was so pleased by this little experiment that I decided to go a bit bigger and made this clutch for myself.
Stash fabric and a stash button! One I had picked up this fall at Rhinebeck. Its just a little different and think adds to the bag. You can see the deep crimson red I used for the lining.
Both of these projects came from this book...and I would recommend it to anyone newish to sewing and looking for small projects but instant gratification. There are some larger ones in here to do, like some more bags...We'll have to see how much trouble I can get into to.
On a side note, I'm going to start trying to post on Fridays/weekends once a week. With school and work its just too hectic for me to do so more regularly until June..we're aiming for starting this weekend...maybe with some beaded knitting pictures if the weather ever clears enough for me to get good shots!
Usually at the end of a semester I'm wiped, but this time I was really wiped out and just kind of became an unfocused puddle for the remainder of the month. So January is a wash and almost over..I'm still feeling pretty beat but the spring semester started last night so wonder woman is back in action again. I did at least decide to only take one class this time...with a professor I adore and admire (and who actually remembered me and seemed to be pleased I was in his class). While there will be a bunch of work....like i need to read "The Tain" by next tuesday, I'm looking forward to it.
I did finish up two simple projects. One was J's scarf for christmas. It is 8 inches wide, because that is what he wanted. The scarf is a bit heavy in the handle because the herringbone weave makes it dense. But it is also warm and he's wearing it all the time, so I guess is a good thing.
Started: Dec 2007
Finished Jan 2008
Yarn: Classic Elite Inca Alpaca Red, 6 skeins
Needles: #5 circs.
I also finished up a scarf for me that has been hanging around since October and Rhinebeck...my Quivik Scarf.
Very simple lace pattern, the softness of the Qiuvik makes the scarf. I need to steam it to make the edges lie a bit flatter, but this will be nice to dress up some of my button downs and basic "nice" tee's.
Started: Oct 2007, Finished Jan 2008
Needles #6 circ's
Yarn: Windy Valley Musk Ox, 100% quivik
Pattern: Little shell scarf, free with purchase of yarn
The other constructive and necessary thing I did was evaluate what I had lying around here as a UFO and decide what I was going to do with it. There were 12! One is a sock, the Pomatomous socks, those are going with me on a plane at the end of march to get done. The constant twisting of the stitches is killing my hands but the second sock will be completed. Another is FLAK, its not going to the RIP pond, but I am going to pick it up next fall to do and finish. Just not in the mood right now for it. I've got two lace shawls sitting...Melanie and Spring Shawl both from Heirloom Knitting. the spring shawl can sit, the wedding i was going to wear it to has been postponed at least until 2009 (couple realized paying for school and wedding at same time bad). My hope is that once I come out of the fog later in the spring that I'll want to work on both of them again but for the next few months they're going to wait. I ripped out two other projects that had been sitting and obviously were not thrilling me.
A few other have been hanging around less than 6 months, so I'm not ready to decide about those yet.
Then there's the promenade shawl...garter stitch, garter stitch, garter stitch. Mindless (good) but boring (bad). I just have one side left to go. I will finish it this year, but again I'm just not in the mood right now. Yep, January has been a drain on the ole creative juices here at Tall Gal..
I did try several times to start a sweater for me, note the word 'try'. I even did gauge swatches, washed and blocked, got gauge there, but when knitting commenced, gauge changed....reason why - my hands are killing me this winter with the up and down cold and the work load. For small amounts of time I can maintain gauge, but then it goes either up or down, mostly loosening because I can't maintain the tension. I'm not happy about this right now.
J is getting a sweater - one where my hands seem to be behaving - Jared Flood's Cobblestone. Good old Bartlett yarn comes to the rescue again. It's hiding the minor variations in my gauge well, much better than the more refined, thinner yarns I prefer for my sweaters. He's a boy what do you expect...I put him in cashmere for a sweater and he'll felt it or do something else weird to it.
Bartlett is a man's best friend.... and mine right now till it warms up. I hate to say it, but looks like worsted weights or better are my yarn of choice for the next month or so. I will make my self a sweater, but I think until the weather gets a bit warmer and my hands aren't quite so tight, we're going to work on other projects...
By the way, grades are out...
What Kind of Knitter Are You?
Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
Wow, another year has gone by, hard to believe.
Here's a photo wrap up of the xmas gifts.
Godson's fair isle vest for christmas
J's Christmas socks
comfy sweater for godson, perfect for snowy days
And last but not least....J's xmas scarf, its still on the needles, the first time in 11 years I've had to give him a gift on the needles, but he loves the pattern, its about half done.
Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth...school and work, we're in the home stretch for the year, i've just to got survive until next thursday and I'm done with work until 2008 and the first draft of the final paper is due that night as well. Its going to be undergoing some major revisions during the break before the official revision after its review just because..speaking of which if anyone of you have some good insight on Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House and the female gothic drop me a line....
this is the state of my desk...the work box is off to the side.
articles and books for the papers, one of J's xmas presents, my application for matriculation shoved along side, can we say a bit chaotic.
Any who, I have a surprise to show you. I treated myself to something, something that was a once in a life time 'you've got to be kidding me' double take.
its a box, kinda big right? It got here wednesday ahead of the snow storm.
Can you guess who made the wheel...
its not made by a mass wheel producer, and not made by someone who I owned a wheel from up to now...
Here's my surprise, I am now the ecstatic owner of a Magnus Drudik Wheel! She's made out of solid myrtle wood and has ratios of 5.8: all the way to 30:1. She's used, but in perfect condition, someone needed to part with her and I just happened to be paying attention on the spin-sales list at the right moment. The general consensus is that Magnus has stopped making wheels, or the wait list is so long (even though I "think" my name is on it) that it would never happen.
She's been named Priscilla by my MIL and FIL (because she came a similar way that Elvis the dining room set came). That huge box, my FIL made for her to be shipped to me in. Here's santa's helper at work...
They sent me this picture to show me how they were putting the crate together after I explained to them what needed to be done. Thanks Guys!
I'm just itching to sit and play with it more than this, but work and that friggin paper come first....December 21st can' get here quick enough.
winter hat rough draft, for several reasons...doesn't go with any of my winter coats. Yep, its warm, love the corrugated ribbing for the extra stability, the pattern I chose is great, the varigated yarn is great. Second problem, you can't see the pattern that well in the body of the hat because I used a dark skein for the background color...duh.
1 skein of cascade 220 grey heather that I've had kicking around here for about 10 years, and a skein of rustic wool from the queensland collection . But its still all stash yarn.
So its version 1.0, the rough draft. I have colors set aside to do V2.o, hopefully over thanksgiving weekend. Not stash yarn for the second go, I wanted to make sure that we had better contrast instead of randomness this time.
Something that does go with more of my coats, but will also be an option for inside wear too is my newest scarf.
The first picture shows the color much better (and is a more pleasing shot). This second one shows the pattern bit better. Just a simple 4 row repeat easy lace pattern. A quick knit on #11 needles. About 5 hours.
This is Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk. Again it has been kicking around my stash for a while, I think i got this from her club a few years ago as my membership gift. 2.5 skeins of luscious cranberry red. soft, warm.
Now back to work, have a great weekend!
This was the view out my office window after the storm cleared out earlier this week. Its currently 34 in Boston...late fall has set in. The tomatoes may have frosted last night, I haven't gone out to check yet this morning. I'm refusing to turn on the heat until I absolutely have to, that's what layers are for, and all this wool I own right...
So the office is freezing, about 62-64 degrees, good for the computers, bad for the extremities. I have polartec fleece gloves that I wear on my hands that I buy every few years, yes I could make them, but these fit perfect and are warm, I'll pay for the convenience this time. But I have no lap blanket this year, I'm wearing hikng thermals under my flannel to deal with the draft on my legs, and now these...
They may not be glamorous, but they are warm! Leg warmers out of angora blend that has been kicking around my stash for years. They are warm, lofty and I made them big enough to go over any pair of flannel or fleece pants that I wear during the winter.
Along with this I realized that last winter I lost my favorite hat, bought one that is too big to be warm on really cold nights. So I'm plotting away
So as a reward to myself for getting through the KFYS 2007 relatively intact and not having even more yarn coming out of the room (i.e. I didn't have to buy more storage units) we went to Rhinebeck a few weeks ago. The main purpose was to drop off some roving to be turned into quilt batting. I took 5 out, and should about 5 or 6 king size batts back that I can then cut up and use as needed. I don't expect to see them much before january.
I usually go with a large shopping list, this year not so much. I was looking for a particular book, which I found, and buttons, no definite fiber plans of any kind. That says one of several things -
A) I've lost my fiber mojo - not bloody likely
B) I've maxed out my yarn and fiber stash - I repeat, not bloody likely
C) I'm truly swamped with school and work and just haven't done squat since september
The answer is C, which partially explains the lack of posts lately, nothing to show and I hate rambling just for the sake of a post.
So what did I get, the book was Simply Shetland 4 with Eunny Jang's Autumn Rose sweater, which some day I plan to make. The link sends you to Two Swans, a place I like to drool at. I picked up some replacement needles thanks to a dog that had a chewing fetish and buttons, pretty, pretty glass buttons.
These three all came from Moving Mud Studios, and let me tell you, her work is absolutely gorgeous! The first two are just singles of a set, the darker brown one I have six of, the smaller one I have three of. This large one is a single button and is about 2.5" in diameter, it may sit and wait for a perfect bag to be the closure for, or I may turn it into a pendant. The glass swirling within each of these buttons is just amazing, and playing with them in the light was a lot of fun, I may post the other pics on the flickr account when I get some time.
I also bought buttons from another vendor, and I've lost the slip already, but they're just as attractive.
these buttons with the sheaves of wheat just had a fall appeal to me. I can see them being used as individual buttons on bags, or if I were to knit a big sweater coat they would work great too.
I did buy a bit of yarn, my single splurge was this
Yep, a lone skein of pure 100% quivit yarn. A scarf for me, at $69 (it was on sale for the show, is normally a lot more for the pure musk ox fiber) for 218 yards, it stays right here. I've bought plenty of expensive yarn(s) before, but not a more rare and luxurious feeling one. It feels to me softer and more buttery than our friend cashmere, I love that one just as much and will share those skeins as precious gifts to dear friends. This time I'm being greedy. I'm keeping the pattern simple, it will be a dressy inside scarf for me, hopefully before it gets too miserable out there
I also got more STR, but those are headed to my Ravelry page at some point soon so check there for the new colors. I'm tallgalknits there too. I also picked up some yarn from Briar Rose this year, some lace and some sportweight. She does nice color work and I like the fact that she does colors that are muted and toned in a different way.
grandma's blessing, sport weight, I've got about 2000 yards of this, it may be destined for sweater coat for next fall. And a skein of their alpaca lace weight - Angel Face
no immediate plans for it, and yes I was having a blue day, because here's my final purchase
This along with 11 friends (gunmetal blue) is from Shelridge Farms, I bought it to make this sweater, which has been cast on and like everything else is waiting for me to get away from this desk...not a peach/orange girl, but this blue suits me just right. I like the fact that the lace changes for modesty at the right point. I bought extra so I could lengthen the body and arms if need be. I took it with the wool/nylon combo because I have a feeling this is going to become a favorite sweater and having the bit of memory from the nylon may not be such a bad thing.
Well, that's all I got honest...pretty small for me. I'm off to enjoy a friday night on the couch without books, is paper writing week so I probably won't surface again until next weekend..
Oh by the way, first paper got an A (WOOHOO), second quiz not so good 16./20 (see first part of sentence), I'll live. I need the expo class as my last requirement before applying for degree status the happier that prof is the easier my life is.
Its windy and blustery here, sorta setting the tone for Samhain, unfortunately I'll be in class getting a quiz back that I don't entirely want...then I think its margarita time.
Catching up a bit on the easy stuff. Dear Jane blocks ..Jason's Jacks we did already...and since the Red Sox got to the world series and then won it...On Game 4 night I did the World Series Block
the DH insisted (politely with a smirk) that I had to use red sox colors, or at least as close as I could get and stay within the reproduction theme. Not bad if I do say so. even though its going to stick out like a sore thumb with the pinks and browns...oh well, there will probably be a few more like this if I let him choose colors. this one was done with my so far favorite technique, freezer paper and basting. the not quite perfect curves would be anxious moments of the game, eh the sox aren't perfect either ;-)
Then there is Piercing Rays, the one i hand pieced. UGH.
this is after being ripped apart because I didn't like how it was coming out
Not lining up with the inner part, one eighth part is significantly smaller than the others, and yuck.
So here's the redo.
In the greater scheme of things, its not that bad, its only about the fifth bit of handpiecing I've done, the center part isn't awful, but my intersections do need practice. At least I can tell what the block is suppossed to be. I haven't decided if its heading for the reject pile or not (i.e. pillow tops or small "reject blanket"). I was pretty upset about it because i did spent a significant amount of time on this one trying to get it to line up all the way. After talking to my quilting friends they all said leave it be for a while, and move on to another block. So its in the pile with the other three. I may just redo this one on the machine...depends on if I'm still annoyed with it next spring. I've three picked for November, but haven't done any trace work for them yet so I can't remember their names.
Next up...pretties from rhinebeck
feh, that's what I have to say to this month.
School is kicking my butt, I did well on the first quiz for the old english class, the second one, probably not so well, we'll find out wednesday. This class is generally only offered at graduate level, and I understand why 7 weeks in, this class is not your typical intro to language course. I hate parsing and conjugating and trying to remember classes of weak and strong verbs, gender, number and tense. At least the background history material is interesting and I'm doing the work, but its definitely slogging. No more quizzes until the final, so now its all translation and class participation work, hopefully some of the technical bits will sink in more before then.
Thursday I get my first paper back, hopefully that went better, have to draft 1 of the second paper this weekend.
There has been sporadic hand work this month, but not as much as I would have liked, or needed to happen...but I'll try and do posts on each of those later this week, along with pics of my haul (pretty small for me actually) from rhinebeck. We've hit the end of the KYFS 2007, and for the most part I did stick with it. I did use my 'get out of jail free card' for the order with J&S earlier in the summer and aside from an odd skein of sock or lace yarn here there I really didn't add to my stash this year that much, my yarn stash that is ;-)
So the highlight of October is this mess
has been replaced with this
My old mac mini has been replaced with a 24 inch IMac, significantly faster, bigger hard drive and less messy, less cables and stuff hanging around. Even has a copy of Leopard on it :-) Now back to work, its monday which means a different kind of slogging
right now, multitasking at its finest! But I decided instead I'd take a quick break from trying to remember cases of Old English nouns for a quiz tonight (cross your fingers, toes, hair and anything else that my brain doesn't freeze at about 7 p.m. tonight when it hits) and post about what I did this weekend, besides write a shitty, in need of some work and I've got a few holes in it first draft that is need of some editing, but that's what revisions are for right, and the point of this class. Writing 4-6 pages on a single story, with no outside resources, not my idea of a cup of tea, but since I'm stuck in this class if I want to matriculate, we're trying to put a happy spin on it.
Anyway, not a lot of knitting because of the writing, so instead when I couldn't stand it any longer in the evenings I was quilting... Here's my second DJ block - D-3 Jason's Jacks, which is appropriate since the DH's name is Jason, and he even got a kick out of it (even didn't mind I made it pink).
This one is appliqued as well with the freezer paper basting, I like this technique, it makes good clean folds to sew on. The next block will be hand pieced, H-11, Piercing Rays not something I'm great at, but getting better, and this block really doesn't lend itself to applique work. I'll be taking a small trip to my LQS for a tip or two about the next one. I have a third in the line up for October, but only if....the Red Sox make it to the world series, because that's the block's name B7 World Series. If we don't make it then it goes back in the pile until next October. So we'll see what happens...
Saturday I gave my self a break from note taking and outlining and I took a trip out to visit a friend and she put a new quilt project under my nose and said "lookee here" how's that for hooking someone into a project... it was leading and a loaded gesture and she knew I was going to ask where she got it....and like I needed another project to do, yeah, well at least this one is on a time schedule that I have no control over. We have yarn clubs, sock of the month clubs, KAL, well now I've walked into a true Q-A-L block of the month club....sighing with a smirk here's my first block for this one.
this was at 11 p.m. on saturday night...and I'm still wired so I decided to go ahead and join the rows together and complete the first block.
And here it is by midnight....I'm rather pleased minus the one triangle in the upper left that is a bit short, but I tried a new triangle technique and that happened to be the first one, so I'm okay with it. Here's the deal, you pay for the pattern and the first installment of fabric which was 12.29 plus 5 for the fabric, if you get the block down by a predetermined date every month, you bring it in, get it checked off and you get the next block's fabric for free, for the entire 12 months. If you don't make the deadline, then you pay $5 for the next installment, pretty reasonable I think! So my catch was that this started in mid september and the first block is due Oct 20th, now I could have let this sit until after the paper, but knowing i was going to be spending the entire friggin day Sunday writing the paper I needed to do something else....so block one is done!
Sunday night as a reward for writing the paper, I decided to pull out a project that I've been wanting to learn how to do...sashiko. I've been collecting books and tools and notions for it and finally decided I was going to sit down and do it. Here's my first attempt.
Sorry for the slight blur, but the weather is crappy and the lighting is not the best when I took this. But I'm pleased with it. The traditional sashiko fabric is thicker and sturdier than normal quilting fabric and requires different needles and thread to be done properly. I have five of these coasters to practice on. It helps significantly that the lines for spacing are on the fabric (they'll wash out when I'm done) to help me get used to the spacing when sewing, and I think this will help with my hand piecing technique as well, the 'rocker motion' required for this seems to agree with my hand. I have lots of toys to play with now I just need some more time.
I am knitting, I'm working on the FIL christmas gift, part of it should be done by the end of the week and I'll post pictures, but for now, back to parsing out OE....
