Fortuitous Possibilities

Today was the first day of classes. Yes, it is that time of year, and this time things are a little different-- I am in my first year of graduate school. That feels so weird to say. I'm on a two year track to get my masters in history, which is simply bizarre. Today was my first day of class for an independent study course and a Russian course which I'm auditing. Tomorrow I start one of my two regular graduate courses, which I'm quite excited about as well (despite the fact that they are 3 hours long). In addition to this, today was also my first day as a TA. I introduced myself to the class, held my first office hour, and had a student come up to me after class to ask a question.

Why could you possibly care about my classes? This is a knitting blog after all. Why in the world would I drag academia into it all! Well, it just so happens that I'm addicted to syllabi. I love getting a new file or handout that lists all the new opportunities and possibilities for something fun and exciting. I know, I'm a nerd. But a new syllabus is a lot like new yarn. New opportunities to create something beautiful and enjoyable.

Last week I ordered some new yarn via the "trade/sell" option on Ravelry. First I got some of the super popular Three Irish Girls yarn. There was a thread in the Stash and Burn forum and it piqued my interest. I'm still very new to yarn buying and since I don't have a lot of money to spend on yarn (being a TA is not the most lucrative field), I've never gotten in on the ground floor of something like this. But thanks to Ravelry, I now have some very fancy, very beautiful new yarn!



This is a sock yarn called Adorn. It's super soft and so pretty! The colorway (Erin) is actually a little brighter than it shows in the picture, but it is a definate sea green style color. The thing about Three Irish Girls yarn is that it is dyed to order, so if you order from their site they don't dye it until you pick your fiber and then your color. I'm very excited to use it, and am planning on making a gift for a very special person who I think will love it.

In addition to the above, I also purchased some destashed Cascade Jewel. It is 100% wool and is quite a lovely shade of purple. And it is not going to be a gift. I've been planning on making a hat for myself with this yarn, and after looking at other people's projects using this yarn on Ravelry, I think it has to be Ysolda Teague's Urchin, which was published in the Fall 2007 issue of Knitty. I've never made a Ysolda design, but I'm really looking forward to it, especially since I've never done grafting before.



With regards to my own knitting, there really isn't much to say. I'm working furiously on Miracle Laurie's scarf (which will get its own post when it is done) and it is almost completed. The Great Gatsby Dress is once again in hybernation as I am easily bored with such large projects. I am also working on some projects for friends, including a baby gift for a dear friend of mine on Twitter. No details until she recieves it, but if it works I know she will love it. I really should start gift knitting. Since school is starting and there will be tons to do, it would be fortuitous to start now rather than later, right?

Purple Rows

I'm sitting on the same couch from which I wrote my previous post, only in a much better frame of mind. After three really long weeks I have an apartment! I'm moving in next week, so in the meantime I'm living with my aunt and uncle. I have been blessed to have a lot of people help me as I deal with everything that was going on, and now am happy to report that next month things should be more settled.

In the meantime, I have, of course, been knitting. Last week I misplaced the pair of circulars that I needed to knit the next section of my Great Gatsby Dress, so I stopped by AC Moore and picked up supplies to knit the Grace Lace Beret. This beret is a fast knit, but intricate enough to yield a stunning result. I used NaturallyCaron.com Spa in "Green Sheen", which as you can see is quite a nice color. This is the first time I've used a bamboo yarn, and I've been very pleased with the result. It's a very soft texture that is different from other yarns I've worked with. Smoother, I think would be the word for it.



I've also been continuing to work on my Great Gatsby Dress. The picture below is of the completed back skirt, but I've finished the ribbing on the back bodice and am starting to increase up to the arms. I had a lot more completed but unfortunately I somehow misread the pattern to read "three inches" not "three rows." To those who don't knit this might not seem so bad, but in a tight knit, this can be very long. Add the fact that the section is done in stockinette, which bores me to no end, and I was not a happy camper when I found out my afternoon of knitting was for naught. However, my summer job ends this week and then I hope to put more of my attention on finishing this garment.



Earlier this week (I guess now it was last week) I picked up a copy of KnitScene for Fall 09 in celebration of finally finding an end to this madness. I love the style with which the designers approach garment knitting. Every page made me think "I want to wear that." Ultimately I bought it for the Balmoral Vest pattern, but I see myself making time to knit most of these pieces if I have the funds for all of that yarn. It has definately succeeded in reminding me how much fashion is influenced by knitted items right now, which makes this so much fun.

My last bit of news is very exciting. My friends Frank and Andrew host the Echo Alert Podcast about the show Dollhouse (I believe I've mentioned it before). In their last episode they interviewed Miracle Laurie, who plays my favorite character Millie/November/whoeversheisnow. On a whim I had the guys ask her if she'd wear something I knit, and she said yes! Now I'm searching for patterns for a light scarf that I can make in a really soft yarn (I'm pretty partial to bamboo right now). She said her favorite color is purple, so I'm waiting for something to inspire me. Right now I'm just very excited that one of my favorite actresses on current television is willing to wear one of my handknits.

Flood Victim 101

On Monday, July 6th, my life was fairly average. I had the day off work and spent time cleaning, doing laundry, and working on some podcasting. My boyfriend came over and went to the store with me to buy groceries, after which we made dinner. We watched Jeopardy and started a movie -- Ghost. I was finally introducing him to Patrick Swayze. All in all, an average summer day.

That all changed at approximately 8:15 pm. Shortly after beginning the movie I started hearing a really weird noise. We weren't far enough into the movie to get past the creepy part and into the funny part, so I made my boyfriend get up to see what it was. Thank God for the life size cutout of Luke Skywalker that my friends had given me back in high school. Luke was scratching the wall because he was standing in water.

Forty-five minutes later we were about a foot and a half deep in water climbing out the window in the dark. The water rose so fast. Within ten minutes the water had passed my ankles. We weren't sure what was going on, so we started with ground level items and then moved up from there. The water was coming in from both doors and was significantly higher outside than inside. It's amazing how calm we managed to stay and how I was able to just let some things go because I couldn't save everything. In the end we were in the dark sloshing through the apartment and climbing out of the window into the knee deep water and rain.




When I went back the next day the water was out of the apartment and was going down in the apartment, though my car was still standing in it. I got a few things and then went back to the house to try to sleep. My mom made it down that afternoon and we headed over to the apartment where they told me I had until 8pm to move everything out of the apartment (we were told this at 4). Thankfully we were able to get some help and a walk-in special on a climate controlled storage unit. Somehow we got everything moved. I'm still amazed that we pulled it off.



Officially I am not homeless-- the proper term is "displaced student." The Red Cross has given me a little money to help buy food and my university that I will be attending in the fall has pro-rated a dorm room for me until the end of summer school (about 2 weeks). The damage is extensive enough that I have to find a new place to live before August. But so far I've been blessed to have everything fall into place. My car has been cleared by a mechanic, and I have a meeting with our Dean of Students to work on a long-term solution. My aunt and uncle live nearby and were kind enough to let my mom and I stay with them while these solutions came together, so I haven't had to stay in a shelter at all throughout all of this, which is unbelievably amazing. Overall God has blessed me with people who have the means and have been able to help.

If there's one thing I now know, always buy flood insurance.

Oh, and make sure to always have your knitting supplies in a bag. I can't work on the Great Gatsby Dress even if I have time because my stitch markers are in the hastily packed boxes in the storage unit. Guess I'm stuck working on washcloths.

Fashion in the Dollhouse

I've kind of fallen off of the knitting bandwagon lately. I still love it. I'm still passionate about taking the collection of fibers that have been made into beautiful yarn and turning that yarn into something I can wear. But over the past week or so I've been kind of coasting. I'll pick up a project, knit a few rows, and then put it down. I'm not sure why this has happened, but I'm hoping to fix it soon. I'm almost done with the border of the Great Gatsby Dress, so things should get more interesting after I finish that piece. Of course, that means acquiring the proper needles for this project. Hopefully my friendly neighborly AC Moore has the giant circulars in stock. Oh and those "hockey gloves" I'm knitting? Yeah, haven't worked on them since. *sigh* Poor boyfriend's going to be freezing for quite some time.



In happier news, I'm blogging live from my brand new computer! Last week my best friend came to visit and went up to Best Buy with me. I now have a lovely HP Compaq Presario. It's black and has a wider screen than what I'm used to. And it's absolutely amazing. I'm pretty insane about it, but it's such a relief to have a computer that works! My good friend Frank gave me the opportunity to test out the audio capabilities yesterday by recording an episode of his podcast Echo Alert (if you haven't checked it out, you should. It's about the new hit tv show Dollhouse and is tons of fun to listen to). It was so cool to record and have it actually sound good. I've already gotten a piece of a chip (flax seed tortilla) stuck under the zero on the key pad . . .



But back to knitting. . . .

My subscription to Vogue Knitting finally started. Earlier this week I got my first magazine. It's all about luxury yarns and long, light summer knitting. I haven't read all of the articles yet, but I really like it. The main reason I wanted the magazine is because of the last pattern, #31 It's a pair of socks by Mari Muinonen that look very similar to the socks worn by Eliza in the Dollhouse opening credits. I've never knitted socks before, so these probably should not be my first pair, but I want them soooo bad! I pretty much want the whole outfit, but I'll settle for the socks. For now.



I've been thinking a lot about fashion lately. Not in the "oh, I want to be a supermodel and wear designer clothes" way, but in a more practical sense. As you can see in the previous post, I recently acquired a new pair of glasses. I've worn contacts for years, but as I've moved out of my parents' house and taken on a lot of my own finances, contacts are no longer financially feasible. I mean, I'm taking over my car insurance soon, I can't really afford $30 a month for contacts on top of rent and food. So anyway, it's becoming more difficult to figure out what to wear because things look a little different with glasses. Plus, even though I'm a college graduate, people at work still think I look sixteen. So now I've started going through my clothes pulling out stuff. Half my clothes I've had as long as middle school, so it's time to grow up. Items like the green jean skirt I bought when I was fourteen just don't fit with the image of a graduate student.

Once again, what's all this have to do with knitting? Well a lot of fashion has embraced knitting, and in the same vein, a lot of knitting is fashionable. It's no longer granny sweaters and mittens (though oversized mittens have become quite popular). So by playing with my knitting, I'm able to find more of what looks good. Knitting magazines have become a great way to see what is out there and I've been getting a lot of good ideas.

Now if I could just find the desire to actually go shopping.

First Sweater Woes

This time it is officially complete. I finally bought buttons at my local A.C. Moore and put the vest together. I love it, despite the fact that it is too big. I was worried that it was going to be too small because I made the smallest size and tend to knit rather tightly. I guess I should give in a buy a measuring tape and figure out how to rewrite patterns for my measurements. Because I'm self-taught, I've been learning these things as I go, so I already have some idea of what I need to do. I still love it. I mean, after all, it is my first sweater, right?



In other knitting, I finally picked up the hockey gloves again. My boyfriend keeps whining about how his hands are cold when he plays, so I finally gave in. The only thing in the winter hand wear that I've ever made are the Bella mittens, so it's yet another completely new venture for me. They are made on straight needles, which is another foreign concept to me, but things are starting to take shape. I've finished the thumb on the right glove, and it's actually starting to look like a glove, so we'll see. I'm hoping to have them done by the end of the month.

The Great Gatsby Dress hasn't really made any progress in the past week, but I'm still liking it. However, the daydreaming has begun about other patterns. I bought the pattern for the Alene Camisole by Joan McGowan over at White Lies Designs back in March. I never got around to purchasing the yarn, but now I really want to make it. I think the move to the coast has had something to do with the desire to make this. It would be really cute over another camisole. Just have to find the right yarn to tolerate the humidity. Any suggestions?

Hazy Shade of Raspberry Summer

I finished it! Well, mostly. I've finished all of the pieces of the Wicked Vest except for the seaming and buttons. I'm off of work tomorrow, so the plan is to put all together then.

In the meantime, I have begun the Great Gatsby Dress from this summer's Interweave. It's really pretty, and I was prepared for it to take forever, but . . . the lace section is kicking me in the butt. It's much more complicated than anything I've ever knit before, but I'm on the fifth repeat and I think I'm finally starting to get it, so that's good. I have several other projects that I should be working on, but I'm enjoying this one, so we'll see how long I can stick it out.

While I was visiting my family, my mom and I went to visit my aunt. We went to one of the local yarn stores in Hickory, NC, A Strand of Pearls. I don't know much about yarn shops, but I really enjoyed this one. All of the yarn was organized on the walls with a table in the middle of the main section at which several people were knitting. In one section was a reading corner, with knitting books along one wall. The other wall featured a large tree made out of balls of yarn. The owner was very friendly, as was her 10 week old korgie.



They were having a sale while I was there: a basket of Loop D Loop by Teva Durham Moss, buy one get one free! So of course, I bought some. Two beautiful skeins of bright raspberry pink. Now what am I going to make with this yarn? I'm not sure. This is the first time I've bought stash with no intended purpose. Common for knitters, but very uncommon for me. I may just have reached a new level of obsession . . .



. . . but it's so pretty!

Finals, Moves, and Other Distractions

Between three senior projects, finals, graduating, moving, and not having access to my pictures, I have managed to go quite some time without posting anything on here. However, that does not mean I have stopped knitting. In the past two months I have completed my undergraduate degree and moved to a southern coastal town to attend graduate school in the fall. Since the move it seems that I can't do enough knitting. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I know a total of four people (my boyfriend and his family). I'm not an overly social individual and would rather just hang out in my apartment (roommate-free for the majority of the summer) chattering away on twitter and watching tv shows, which I have been acquiring more of again.

Unfortunately my new home, which is within walking distance of the campus, Best Buy, Starbucks, and TJ Maxx, is still without a local yarn shop. Fortunately I live behind an AC Moore, so am not quite as devoid of yarn as I have been, which is causing my yarn stash to grow once again. I'm currently in love with Caron's Simply Soft which I used to make my purple hat back in January. I have a gorgeous dark green that I am using for the Wicked Vest. I love how soft it feels and the way patterns really show up in its texture, making it great for these projects with lace elements. And even though I'm not very enviromentally concious beyond those things which make good economic sense, I do appreciate the fact that each skein contains .6 recycled plastic bottles.

Speaking of vests, the super secret project is complete! For my mother's birthday in April I knitted the Mistake Rib Vest from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. What started out as a fun simple project quickly became something that I dreaded pulling out, taking the place of my friend Jessica's blanket from Christmas break. Mostly the problem I had was that there was barely any variation in the pattern coupled with the fact that it shortly grew to be too big to carry around with me. It was knit in one piece, which was nice though I still had to seem the sides. Overall I am pleased with the result though I'm not looking to make the pattern again. My mom was thrilled with the finished piece, which made all of the frustration worth it.



In stark contrast to my mom's vest, I am thoroughly enjoying the Wicked Vest that I mentioned above. the measurements and pattern changes are far enough apart that I can watch tv while working on it, but still are enough to keep me interested. I started the project two weeks ago, but took a week off in the middle to work on another project that I've since frogged out of frustration. I finished the back of the vest today and am anxiously waiting to start one of the front panels. It's the first big project that I've made for myself, and I'm absolutely loving it.



I've decided to start making more projects for myself because I want to be able to show off my knitwear. This is not to say that I won't keep knitting other projects for friends and family, because I really do enjoy sending projects to people and hearing their reactions. However, I'm really liking the fact that I can expand my own wardrobe in a way that I can completely control. After I finish Wicked I am planning on starting the Great Gatsby Dress from this summer's Interweave Knits. My mom bought the yarn for me-- more Caron Simply Soft in a beautiful grey/blue. My new rule is to only make things that I could wear for the teaching assistant job that I will be starting in August. I have a lot of great ideas and can't wait to cast on more. Even more than before, knitting has become an addiction that I can't bear to shake.

There is so much more to discuss, but this is going to be it for tonight. I'm visiting my family for the week and when I leave I'm planning to finally take my mother up on her offer of one of her sewing machines. I want to start off with a needle case to make traveling a bit less chaotic and am planning on making a lining for the Luminarie Skirt (in the new IK) once I get around to knitting it. Hopefully I'll be updating on a more regular basis (weekly?), but I make no promises I can't keep. We shall see.