I'm gonna be busy.

Before I launch into the reasons why I'm going to be busy, I have a finished set of mittens that need their proper glory time: my brother's squarish mitts are all finished up and officially gifted to him.

These were kind of weird to knit. I could only find 3 size 5 DPN's, so I knit the gloves (both of them!) on the three size 5's and a size 4. They fit, but it's irking me. That and I somehow didn't match the shaping at the top of one mitt, so it's slightly bigger than the other. The tops are square instead of rounded. I think I'm going to just say they were "architecturally inspired" rather than pointing out the fact that I am rather lazy. You won't tell, right?

My crescendo socks are really uninteresting to look at. It's just more of the same (mostly). I got caught up in something else (you'll see later) but you can barely see the tiny beginnings of phase two of the sock.

I'm changing up the texture in the middle a bit by replacing what were previously knit stitches with purl stitches. I hope it looks the way I want it to.

For Christmas, Nathan's parents gave me a gift certificate to Michael's. So my mom and I were out shopping a couple of days ago, and we stopped in at the store to spend it (I already knew what I wanted). I picked up 8 balls of Lion Brand Wool Ease, 3 balls of Bernat Soy Natural blends, 2 balls of Patons Classic Wool Merino, a new set of size 8 straight needles (one of my others snapped), a painter's paintbrush roll (perfect for needle storage) and a nice little basket.

Yee-haw. I'm planning to give shedir another shot with the soy yarn, and make a pair of these knee-high slipper/sock things out of the Patons Wool. The Wool Ease, though, is the thing that is holding me back from further sock designing. I've been lusting after (my own) version of the cable luxe tunic for some time now. The yarn snob in me was telling me to blow the whole gift certificate on 100% woolly goodness, but the practical college student in me was telling me to get something I could throw in the washing machine with the rest of my clothes. Practical college student won. Yarn snob is currently pouting in the corner, huddled under a mountain of natural fibers.

The wool ease is 80% acrylic and 20% wool, and it's the yarn the pattern calls for (the pattern is lion brand). It's actually kind of fun to work with. The acrylic isn't bothering me so much. That teeny bit of wool it has in it makes me feel like it will still be properly warm, but will also be practical for my current lifestyle.

I started working on the cable for the yoke of the sweater last night (but decided my brother REALLY needed a second mitten first). Hence, there's not a lot to show. But I'm so excited to see this thing take shape! I have a lot of modifications planned for it. Weirdly, although there are a bajillion cables for the thing, the pattern uses no charts. I'm thinking of charting out the main parts of the body (the part that gets repeated) because I think it would help to make my modifications easier. I don't want that flare at the waist, and probably less flare in the arms as well. I tend to like my clothes to be a little bit more fitted, and if this works the way I hope it will, I think it'll be a winner.

Next up in the exciting things department is news from the spinning front. My Mom bought me a newbie's spinning book with zillions of illustrations for both spindle spinning and wheel spinning.

There's tidbits about the history of spinning, pages devoted entirely to learning about different kinds of fibers, and sections on preparation, dying, plying, EVERYTHING. This is very useful, because a friend of the family just sheared their alpacas, and they have 3 bags of raw (unwashed) alpaca they are willing to part with. I'm definitely going to need to read that washing section a hundred times. I know alpaca probably isn't the best thing for me to learn to spin on, but if it's free...I don't think it could hurt, could it? We'll see.

Lastly, tomorrow I (weather permitting) hop in my car and drive back over to the region where I attend school. I had a really nice visit with my family and I'm actually kind of sad to have to go. Cross your fingers it isn't snowing and treacherous at the top of the mountain I have to drive over. It's supposed to be sunny, but you never know. Wish me luck, and if I don't blog tomorrow, have a safe and happy new year!

Sock it to me

Now that Christmas is over, I feel like it's time to give back. To myself. And giving back to myself means knitting something for me. I had purchased a shiny yellow yarn to make Eunny Jang's Bayerische socks, but after multiple attempts, I've just decided it isn't going to happen anytime soon. They are immensely beautiful, but right now, I can't handle the billion twisted stitches each row (not to mention this yarn is a little on the splitty side in parts from having been worked so much).

So I went in search of the perfect pattern with which to adorn my precious feetsies. Lots and lots of beautiful socks presented themselves to me - cables, and lace and stripes abounded! But none seemed to be quite right. None of them really seemed to scream "Knit me, woman! I want to warm your feet until my fibers fall apart!" So, what do I do? I start thinking. And thinking hard.

No more stockinette socks. I need something with a little ACTION! A little excitement! A little spice for my sun-shiny yellow yarn. I cast on and knit up a toe. And then I got to work. Brain abubble, I actually managed to formulate a pattern that I think might actually work.

These are the beginnings of what I'm tentatively (or maybe permanently) calling my "Crescendo" socks.

These socks will be knit toe up, with an increasingly dramatic pattern moving its way up the foot and leg - shifting from something that is merely texture to an actual cable. Or so I'd like to think at this point. We'll see how it goes. The name seems to coincide perfectly with the concept I have in my head, and it also goes back to my musical background. In order to effectively perform a crescendo (this is what it means to get louder, gradually), one must start small in order to get bigger. Cross your fingers that this one works. I really think it will, and I'm excited!

Also, if you're reading this, and you like to smell good, get yourself to bath and body works. Because Nathan and I went on a gift-certificate spending spree today, and the store is having a sale for only like 4 days or something. I walked in with a $25 gift certificate. The sale was so huge that I got $77 worth of merchandise for $21. Yeah. Pick your jaw up off the floor and go get something.

And then watch as I try to design a sock. Yee-haw!

P.S. - To whoever it was that reached this site by googling "alisha round and brown super fine", I'm terribly, terribly sorry to have (probably) disappointed you. I wish you all the best in your future searches. And thank you for providing my significant other and I with a very good giggle.

Happy Holidays

Today marks Christmas, and I hope everyone has had an enjoyable and safe holiday. I got to spend a happy day with friends and family. The knitting I finished was appreciated, and so I couldn't be more elated. Here are the finished pictures.

Hemlock Ring Blanket:

I have never been so proud of a creation. I think this is probably the most beautiful thing I've made to date, and my parents are proudly displaying it in the living room. I love it so much, and I'm so glad I could give to people who I love (and who will appreciate it!)

I ripped out and re-knit from the end of the gusset on one of my Dad's socks last night...it takes a lot longer to knit half a sock than I thought. My Christmas knitting was done today at 6:02 AM. I was gifting at 11:00. I would like a nap, but I am so satisfied with the way things turned out. My younger brother ended up with only one mitten (and a matching one I drew on a piece of paper), but he appreciated the first one and is ready to have the other one. He still gave me a big hug and a thank you for his lone mitten.

I knit the entire Nereides for my Grandma over the course of a few days, and ended up doing the fringe last night while playing games with my family. It too, looks beautiful.

My grandma wore it all day. She absolutely loved it, and loved that I made it (on the needles she gave me!). I wanted her to know that her needles had been passed on to someone who was going to use them!

My parents gave me a college-cookbook (for those of us with little money), and a basket full of cooking basics so I can go home and make cakes and cookies. Hooray!

Nathan, that oh-so-sweet man in my life, presented me with this:

If I remember correctly, this is a 1.4 oz Chestnut and Mesquite top whorl spindle. The initials of the maker are written on the shaft of the piece, and the colors of it are beautiful. I love it. The yarn on it is a sample - I tried to spin with the tiny little bit of fiber attached to it, but it just sort of wilted away. I'm going fiber hunting tomorrow.

I think I was more excited to give my gifts this year than I was to get them. I was so focused on getting everything done in time and making sure X item would fit X person that I think I kind of forgot that people might be getting me things too. It was almost a surprise to see the kind things the people in my life presented me with. I had so many practical gifts this year. I got absolutely NO JUNK gifts whatsoever. This is glorious. I will use every last thing I received. This is the first year I can say that! I mean, even my stocking had a knitting magazine and an investor's magazine in it. Everything was useful.

I wanted to end the day kind of reflecting on the last few weeks. I mean, now that it's all over and done with, what exactly do I do? There's no more deadline to meet, and besides another mitten for my brother, I get to stop and relax and try to make my hands look like hands again (not claws). Giving things I've truly put my love into this year made them so much more meaningful. I loved it so much. I look forward to knitting for my family again in the future. But until then...

I think I owe myself a nice pair of socks.

Happy Holidays.

FINISHED: "BARBIE" ENDPAPER MITTS

Pattern: Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts
Yarn: Dale of Norway - Dalegarn Baby Ull
Needles: Takumi size 0 DPNs, Susan Bates size 2 DPNs.

I love this pattern so much. I would have enjoyed working on these more when I didn't have Christmas knitting to do for my own family (these are a gift for a friend's mom). They turned out looking great, though. These are always a winner. I may have even had a celebratory drink...or three...when I finished.

This means today I get to work on sock number two for my Dad. I mostly finished the first one, but the heel on it looks really strange. I think I had some gauge issues - after doing miles of stockinette for the body of the foot, I had to then turn the heel and I think that my brain had some trouble shifting into "purl" mode so the heel is of a different gauge than the rest of the sock, despite having been knit on the same needles. Nathan tried it on, and confirmed that the heel felt too big. So I'm putting the sock on some spare needles, and I'm going to knit up the other one and see what I can do about the heel. If I can fix it, I'll just rip the first sock back to the heel and redo it. It's worth it - the socks are really neat. When Nathan tried it on, he said: "You know, if these weren't for your Dad for Christmas...I would steal them. 'Cause they're pretty sweet." YES! Words a knitter loves to hear from her significant other. Maybe there are some socks for him in the near future. We'll see.

Lastly: There is a mooch in the house. She eats your food when you aren't looking, she jumps into your arms while you're standing around. She'll lick you like there's no tomorrow, and she is a hopeless attention whore. She also likes to try to eat yarn and needles, if she sees them. Interfering with knitting photoshoots is also a recently developed skill of hers. Who would do such things to an innocent knitter such as myself?

Cleo would.

This means war.

Yes, I am a knitter

And today I finally have the evidence! I actually have been knitting up a storm. Yee haw.

First up, is a pair of socks knit for my mom:

These socks are knit in the "Brown Badlands" Colorway of that interesting Ditto yarn I picked up a few weeks ago. They're kind of more purply-red and not so barf yellow-green like the picture shows. When I took these, I was severely lacking natural light, so the colors are a bit off.

Next are the barbie endpaper mitts. This mitt has been sitting at this stage of completion for around 3 days now. It needs one more repeat of chart A (which is 10 rows) and then some ribbing and a thumb. I just can't bring myself to do it for some reason. I don't know why. But then I think of how I still have to knit ANOTHER MITT and I want to curl up into the fetal position and not do it. Ack.

I think they're coming out pretty stinkin' cute, even if they're a bit lumpy in parts. I think a nice bath when they're done will probably help...but these are a gift for a non-knitter, so somehow I doubt they'll care (or notice). We'll see how I feel later.

I realized a few days ago that the skein of ditto I bought to make my dad socks just wasn't gonna cut it. Men need more than 220 yards to cover their big feet. So I went a-hunting at the LYS here, and found a neato sock yarn called "San Diego". It's a self striping yarn, and I tried to pick out something with manly-ish colors. I think I succeeded. This sock is soooo cool. I did end up having to rip and re-knit it because my gauge is a little bit off, and the sock was just too big (I tried it on Nathan's foot - he and dad have about the same size feet). I love the striping and the colors.

I mean, even though there's purple in the sock, it still looks neat, right? Right? I'm really enjoying the knitting on this, just to watch it all come together. Fun.

And last, but CERTAINLY not least, is our dear friend hemlock. Hemlock's knitting was actually finished last Thursday, and it's just sort of been hanging out with all of the other WIP's by my bag 'o knitting. The color in this photo is finally kind of close to what the actual color of the blanket is, too:

Not the best picture, I know, but at least the color is semi-accurate. All hemlock needs is a nice bath and a good blocking to flatten it out, and it'll be beautiful. But then again...it's not like it isn't beautiful already.

Hee Hee.

12 days.
1 scarf for my brother
1 scarf/shawl/wrap for my grandma
1.5 socks for dad.
1 more glove for Nathan
1 more endpaper mitt.

I went to the local LYS here to get yarn for Dad's socks and the Nereides Wrap for my Grandma, and checked out their fiber section and got to talk with the owner for a while about learning to spin and all that jazz. Because I really want to, but it'll just have to wait until after the Christmas frenzy. She stuck me on their mailing list for knit nights and things. And then I made myself look really cool when she asked me what I was making with some of the yarn I was buying (it's a pretty blue slightly variegated nylon/acrylic yarn, something easy for my grandma to take care of), and I declared quite proudly that it would be a "sharf". Which I guess is kind of appropriate, given that it's like a shawly-scarfy thing. I'm not entirely sure she even noticed that I was making up words. I had to explain it, though, and she nodded approvingly. Go team.

I can't stay any longer. I need to bathe and knit. Because there are only 12 days left and I have lots to do. But here we at least have evidence that I am trying. Really.

I swear, there's been progress.

It's just that in the last week, my body decided to strike me down with not one, but two sicknesses. Sickness one had me waking up on Wednesday with the worst sore, swollen throat and fever. I had to go to work, because...if I don't go to work, I don't have a place to sleep/can't eat/can't drive my car/can't buy yarn. So I went...and drank MASSIVE amounts of hot, wonderful tea. Thursday was better. No more fever, no more sore throat. A little bit of a scratch remained, but I felt tons better.

Saturday, though...I get knocked down again with some cold from hell or something. It's only around in the mornings and at night. I swear. It's nocturnal. My whole upper body is congested and so I breath through my mouth when I sleep and I wake up feeling like poo. So then I'm grumpy until I've eaten and showered and brushed my teeth (all of which makes me feel progressively better). Then as soon as I lay down at night, wha-BAM! Congested again. And I can't help but wake up every few hours realizing my nose is no longer functioning.

That was probably way more than anyone wanted to know about the recent activity here at Alisha's body, but it's the reason for the lack of blog posts/knitting activity. When sickness mode 1 hit, I was incapable of doing anything. I was good at one thing: laying around miserable until falling asleep. So there was no knitting, despite the gung-ho attitude on the hemlock ring of awesomeness.

Sickness mode 2 (this weekend's sickness) has left me with the late morning to the evenings to knit. And knit I have! I finished my friend's oh-so-manly fake isle hat with earflaps and tassels. However, I am stupid, and forgot to take a picture of it before giving it to him. He is very very happy with it, and even asked me how to take care of it. What a good lad. He is very grateful of its woolly goodness.

I've started round 3 of the endpaper mitts (cast on last night and knit the ribbing for the cuff). Today I worked the 3 repeats of the fair isle at the bottom, and I think over the next two days I'll do the thumb gusset part. That part takes a while.

Lastly, hemlock and I have renewed our love for one another, and I'm chugging along. I just timed one of my last rounds (just knitting) and ladies and gents, it's taking me 12 minutes just to do a round. Aaaah! I even tried to figure out about how many stitches I do per minute. I think I'm pretty slow - only about 35-40 stitches per minute, but then again, I'm shifting the stitches around on the cable needle because the whole project is getting sooo heavy! Eeek!

I would stick a few pictures of it up, but it LOOKS exactly the same as the last time I took a picture of it. It's just lumpier and there are somewhere around 150 more stitches on the needle. It's boring, I swear. But two people actually added it to their favorites on ravelry! Wow! I was so excited. And then I looked at the pictures I had put up of it and went: "...why?"

Guess I need to take advantage of Nathan's camera a little more often. I think I actually use it more than he does. Hehe.

Also in the land of good news - I'm all set up to work from home over the winter holiday break from college, which means that while I work and wait for pages to load and things, I can be knitting! I love multitasking! I'll be making money, and making presents! I just have to resist the urge to cast on for a new pair of socks for me. I had to restrain myself from restarting my Bayerische socks just a little while ago, actually. They'd just be sooo pretty on this shimmery yellow wildfoote sock yarn I have. Ah, I want them.

Next time: I hope to have the lace edging started for the hemlock going. That's going to take a looooong time, and I'm going to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 stitches to work. Oh my god. Also, here's hoping I'll have the pink endpaper mitt #1 close to finished. And then I have to work on the print o the wave. And my brother's scarf. And another glove for Nathan. And socks for mom and dad. Oh my goodness. How many days until Christmas again? Let the countdown begin.

22.

*runs screaming*