Running Through Wool

Looking at the calendar it is hard to believe that it's already October. We actually experienced a weather change here last week but it was back up in the 80s again today. Sad as it is, this is what life is like when you live at the beach (evidentially. I've only lived here since May so I don't know yet). October is my favorite month. Not because the leaves change colors (though I'm from a mountainy area and do miss that), and not because it's my birthday month (Saturday. The 10th if you're wondering. I accept cash as well as material goods), but because of that weather change. I've always loved the sudden crispness to the air and the way it burns the back of my throat just a little. I have this old ugly sweater I pull out to wear that I've had since I was, oh I don't know, 8? 9? 10? It's a hand-me-down from some old neighbors so God only knows how long that rust-green and royal blue have been cohabitating.

Knitters, I've discovered, are very fond of this season. It's like a new year of knitting just opens up to us. Here on the east coast and especially in our humidity in the South, it's really hard to knit with heavy or sticky yarns during the warmer months so you end up doing a lot of fingering-weight projects or just taking time off altogether. But when it gets cold suddenly you can knit in wool and heavier yarns that would just cause itchy misery no matter how soft and beautiful (I'm not saying wool is itchy. This humidity could make anything itchy. Even the air gets itchy).

I currently have two beautiful cold-weather projects on the needles but they're gifts so they must remain locked away in my ravelry page until they are finished. BUT, I finally splurged and bought Whimsical Little Knits 2 (only the digital version. I can't afford the print add-on at the moment), so I'm planning on making one of everything very soon. Particularly Ripley and Veyla. And maybe Damson if I find some yarn that just speaks to me. I'm very excited because I recently purchased fourteen sets of bamboo 8 inch double pointed needles. They're gorgeous and only cost me $20 total because I bought them on Ebay!



Because of this I may very soon knit my first pair of socks. I know, it's Socktober so I should of course be knitting socks, but with November looming with all of its giant deadlines (one of my classes doesn't meet again after Thanksgiving) I don't know if I've got the time to teach myself such a skill.

I did finally finish hand-winding all of my Three Irish Girls Adorn sock yarn (I don't reccomend this if you can help it. It got tangled right away and took me FOREVER), but I don't want to make socks with it. I've been thinking for a month or two about a shawl pattern that actually seems to be becoming popular on Ravelry. It's called Traveling Woman and is partly inspired by the character of Angela from Bones. It was written by Liz Abinante from feministy.com. It's a gorgeous pattern written for a single skein so it's be perfect for this gorgeous yarn.



And speaking of yarn, she also has a very unique and awesome collection of yarn over at her Etsy shop. If you look at the sock yarn you'll notice that five colors are from her True Blood collection. I know, awesome, right? They're $23 so it might be a while, but I definately want to try at least one of these to work with while I listen to the audio books (I'm on book 3).

Another thing I've been doing to keep myself from becoming emotionally unstable because of all of this work (I feel like I complain about school alot. I actually love school. It's been better than I could have hoped) is I have started running. I was in a car accident at the end of August and suffered some injury to my neck so I'm not able to do my pilates for a while until it heals. Because of this I have no form of physical activity left to me. I know, it sounds sad. All there is for me to do is run. It's my last resort. And I don't necessarily like it. But it has been good for me and I love the way I feel when I finish. I'm not that good yet. I think I ran a total of 10 minutes today (3.3 songs or so) and walked a comparable amount. Anyway, the point is that I was remembering this passage from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and it really describes how Bridget is running again after letting herself wallow in self-pity for a very long time. She runs and starts to feel the freedom of being herself and the burden she's been carrying starts to ever so slowly slip away. That's how I feel. That freedom. I'm not saying I enjoy it. I still hate running. But the freedom is starting to kick in, and that I truly love.

Urchins Live At the Beach

Single Skein September ended last night. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, September is the month set aside by listeners of the Stash and Burn podcast to knit those random single skeins that knitters inevitably have lying around. Unless you're me and you actually don't have much of a stash and actually have to go buy the skeins for those projects. Kind of defeating the purpose, but that's ok. I'm the moderator for the Ravelry thread so starting tomorrow I have to start counting everyone's projects to put in the spreadsheet. It is a lot of work but it's also fun. I'm getting to see all of this beautiful knitting and getting great ideas.

For example, I'm becoming obsessed with fingerless gloves. I really like Fetching which has been the #1 glove pattern for a while. I started looking at Debbie Bliss yarn last night on Ravelry and had to convince myself I don't have the $7 quite yet that I'd need for this pattern. I also really like Suzie's Reading Mitts and CanCans so I'm thinking I'm going to use that extra skein from my Summer Beret.

My own contribution that I'm most proud of is URCHIN! Yes, I finally finished and just in time for the hint of a season change. I'm hoping to find an excuse to wear it this weekend because I'm so excited to finally have it finished. Despite the headache it caused I still love it so much.



I'm now wanting to make more designs by Ysolda. In particular I'm really liking the things I'm seeing come from Whimsical Little Knits 2. Especially Ripley and Veyla. I could just buy the patterns online which would be about $10 or so, but I want the book version to, which means I'd spend around $22 because it's shipped from Scottland. I should probably just buy the digital version and get the print add-on later, but I'm not sure I can afford it so I just keep looking at the patterns and sitting on my hands while I drool.

School's keeping me super busy (surprise!) but I did find time to hit our LYS here, The Quarter Stitch, for the first time today. It was a wonderful experience. There were women knitting and talking and the store had that close in, friendly feeling. Yeah, I loved it. I'm still such a newbie when it comes to knitting (not a noob, that implies incompetence and I think I have the hang of most things now. Except socks. I have yet to knit a pair of socks). When I go in a store I just have to touch everything and I'm shocked by the amount and variety and the colors. It's like a sensory overload. So of course I bought some things (duh!). I picked up these amazing Japanese bamboo circs for the project I'm making for my twitter friend Amanda's baby due at the end of the year/beginning of '10. Can't tell you what it is because it's a secret, but I promise to post a preliminary picture once she gets it and later a picture of the adorableness once the baby is born. I also picked up a skein of Borroco Ultra Light Alpaca in color way 4288. I know, sounds like nothing, but it's a stunning deep grey-ish blue with flecks of dark purple. I fell in love with it and the fact that it was under $6 guaranteed I was buying it.



One last thing. I just heard from Frank that Echo Alert has been in touch with Miracle Laurie and she remembers the scarf I was making for her. She will be at Big Apple Con this month and wants them to give it to her there! I'm so excited (even though I won't be there). Of course because they're giving her something I've made, but also because they get to meet her. Yeah, I'm really really really jealous.

Ok, I'm stopping for now. But the fact that I have more to say is a good indicator that I'll update sooner rather than later (provided my classes don't cause me to jump out of my second-story window. JUST KIDDING MOM!)